K cup 2 race mini-series

Saturday:
A 9 lap course with two different faces. The first half was grass roots and tight turns and halfway out the course did a 180 and hopped into single track for the way back. I got a good start into the 2nd group consisting of wes, me, joey, jesse, and sisu guy. We rode together for 4 or 5 laps till me and joey were popped. The course killed me, every lap I thought the barriers were getting taller and the hills steeper. I finished in 7th I think.
Sunday:
A much different course, built more for a roadie with a lot of grass ski trails and only little single track. Oh yeah and a pile of snow at the s/f line every lap. I got into a good group with blu juntti and sam kilpela. Blu and juntti pulled away but stayed in our sights. Halfway thru blu went down and we passed him. We cought juntti and the group slowed for a couple minutes to wait for blu. Then juntti went down hard on single track dislocating his shoulder. Blu sam and myself were the remaining 3. With 2 laps left blu pulled away and sam and myself were left together. Coming to the start/finish with 1 lap left I tripped after the barriers and sam opened up a good gap that stuck. I finished in 3rd for the day and 4th for the weekend!

2 more races in the season.

lots of good photos on the redjacket team forum click "photo gallery" then "k cup"

heres a great one they got of blu

Choco X

Well the weekend didn't quite go as planned. I felt really good going into the race but sometimes luck isn't on your side. half lap in i took a sharp left onto the gravel driveway and went down, cutting my hand pretty good. i got back up bleeding all down my hand and 30 seconds later my chain snapped on a short steep uphill section. this one wasn't meant to be. Juntti won (shocking), after doing an insane race with something like 30 miles of biking and 20 miles of running the day before!!!

this weekend is in houghton on saturday AND copper harbor on sunday. hopefully i have some better news to write about. until then...

Race 2 - Fit Strip

7 of 20 mens Eh’s

Ever seen that Seinfeld with bizzaro jerry? Left is right, up is down bad is good. Well this was bizzaro cyclocross. Finally a race with no problems... ok a bad start but hardly an issue. So I entered the woods in about 12th but everyone was moving pretty quick at the beginning so it didn’t really slow things down. I passed a couple guys later in the lap and was probably 10th, about 2 laps in a group of 4 or 5 guys formed including dg, langlois, tony, tim s, myself and occasionally a sisu guy a red jackets guy (I forget their names). We worked well together taking turns and keeping the pace high, there were a couple times I didn’t think I’d be able to hang on but just managed. as this was happening I didn’t realize but the group widdled down to only me and dave. With 1.5 laps to go the two of us were alone in the 7/8 spot I was back a good 3 seconds or so and coming into the last hard right turn dave took it wide a bit off the course allowing me to get in front and hold it to the end by 2 seconds. The bike held up well. Overall a great race, I got my top 10 I was hoping for! Next Sunday is at Chocolay de Mahaney.

tons of awesome pictures here mens As are last 50 or so.

eric

garrett and i just before entering the woods

garrett

ace train

cyclocross kicked off sunday

13 of 24 for Eh's.

Everybody was there and it went smoothly. I felt pretty good for it being my first time on that bike since last years final cx race. The races started off fast I got a bad start and entered the first tight spot in about 10th. From there all kinds of craziness occurred. My skewer wouldn't stay tight for more than a couple laps so I replaced that for this weekend. Around lap 8 I pass tom because i see his chain comes off and he stops to fix it, he quickly gets back and is right behind me, as I'm taking a left i go down and with great bike handling tom avoided me and i was right back up. This weekend: fit strip lots of hills, single track and lactic acid... hoping for a top 10, is that too much to ask?

1st cx race

porn star joey

belic

eric, me, belic, garrett waiting for the start

giving it everything

garrett sizing up the competition

stolen bike

So I finally picked up my mountain bike from lakeshore the other day after working on it for 4 hours, putting on new cables and a shifter. I ride it to the pief and forgot a lock, so I bring it inside figuring it will be ok if its in there. nope, 30 minutes later im back and its snatched. kind of sucks, i called the police but based on the conversation i had with them it could be in front of their face and they would have no idea.

me: "hi i'd like to report a stolen bike"
cop: "what color is it?"
me: "blue"
cop: "ooook ill write a report and we'll let you know if anything comes up."

im embarrased to say i have 0 pictures of it. its a blue giant xtc mountain bike with specialized tires and duke rock shox so if you see someone riding it you have my permission to use any necessary force to get it back. heres a stock photo...

He's back............

check it

Cyclocross

Getting back into the regular routine of riding. Have been doing about 10 hours a week for a couple weeks on the road bike. The first races is only about 2.5 weeks away at Al Quall in Ishpeming.