INDOOR TRAINING

Well the first solid month of training is almost in the books. It's actually been kinda fun this year. Heck, when you can have the tube tuned into the Olympics, the lappy on www.cycling.tv and the iPod on shuffle, you can't lose. Although it's been fun I'm really excited fo the up coming weather. Looks like upper 30's for a while. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this weekend. Of course we'll still get nailed with a dump of snow in March. Maybe I'll be able to bust the skis out for a little XC'n.

Back to the training. I'm feeling pretty good so far. Probably better than ever! The true test will be the road race in Springfield, Missouri. It's about a 10 hour drive down so having to race the next day will be a little of a challenge. Which will be fine since I won't be going for the win. Like I'd get it anyway. Ha ha! I'm really looking forward to testing out my top secret weapon. That's why my first race has to be far enough away so no one around here will be ready when I unleash it. It's going to be awesome!

I just hope that all the hype from everyone expecting me to win a couple races doesn't get to me. I don't want to Bode things up. Honestly, cut the guy some slack. He kicked butt on the World Cup and just because he couldn't be on during the Olympics everyone's down on him. How many people out of all the critics know anything about down hill ski racing? Not too many of them. As far as him partying at night, come on. That's what we're known for. I can say that because I raced for a little bit and skied for over 20 years. Oh yeah, and I'm sure she'll read this blog, Picabo, Shut it! You're retired and no one wants to hear from you. Let the girls have their fun.

Sorry for the rant. Had to be done.

ToCA needs more TV coverage! Way to go Floyd. Too bad Tyler. Nice first race Toyota United. Anyone want to give me a new 80mm black Manitou R7 just for fun?

Look who has the ToCA lead...

I just had to post this for Andy since he can't stand George. He happens to be one of my favorite riders. And I think he's quite underrated.

What do you think?





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1st. Race of the season

Looks like I might be heading down to Branson, MO or a little early season road race. The In-laws are going there to vacation and get some golf in. So, we decided to go with and I thought it would be a great opportunity to start the season with. That leaves me with a little more than a month to get ready. Sure am glad I already started training.

I'm really looking forward to a good season of racing. This year I decided to move up to B1's for cross and had a pretty decent year. I averaged about 15th place and ended the season at the Hudson Cross, GREAT RACE, in 7th. I believe. I addition to that I started training earlier than last year. So I should have a pretty good base and now that I have a bike that actually fits me... Who knows. It may be biting off more than I can chew but I would like to actually win an MTB race this year. I haven't done so since the 1991 Star of the North Games in the beginner class. It would be nice to taste victory again. I mean why go through all this training and pain if you don't hope to win one of these things. It may not come to fruition but it's worth a shot.

So how do we get there? Not 100% sure but I plan on using some strategically placed RR's as tune-ups for the dirt. Here's the tentative schedule:

March 25th RR Springfield, MO
April 15th Oxbow Classic
April 22nd Durand RR
April 29th Kenwoods Memorial RR
April 30th Iron man 100 mile
May 2nd Opus
May 9th Opus
May 20th Spring Cup
May ??th Tour of 10k Lakes (Afton course, my back yard)
June 18th Afton MTB
June 25th Waconia Triathlon
July 9th Mt. Kato
July 16th Muddy River Rock n' Roll
August 13th Welch (WWW?)
August 20th Powder Monkey
August 27th St. Paul Circuit Race
September 10th St. Paul Classic Hill Climb Challenge
Mixed in with all this I'll try to hit some of Penn's Thursday night races @ Buck
Hopefully I can get a spot for Chequamegon
Then... the cross season

And we start all over again!

Who's Hungry

I don't know about you all, but when the training season hits I always find myself in front of the fridge. Our fridge isn't stocked that well right now but keep opening it as if a meal would magically appear. Kinda like the Jetson's food processor. I always used to get crap from my buddy who thought I had a tapeworm. I've always been able to eat a lot and stay around the same weight. Poor Marc I know. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not complaining. But, I do think it has an affect on my ability to maintain necessary energy levels while competing. For example, I burn through 5 energy gels in 1 hour and a half long mtb race. Is that typical? How many do you go through?

United Pro Cycling Team

What a great model for a domestic team. Check this link to Velo News for the skinny:

http://www.velonews.com/race/dom/articles/9465.0.html

Winter Transfers

Some interesting trasfers over the winter:

http://www.eurosport.com/cycling/uci-protour/2005/teamtransfert.shtml

Horner or Joker?

Seriously. This guy loves to ride his bike. He's always smiling. I wonder if I look as happy when I'm racing?




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