After a few weeks of not posting, I figured it was time for
an update.
Going back a few weeks, the Team Wisconsin 2012 Team Launch
was held in Delafield, WI. I made the journey early on Friday night thanks to
my Dad to pick up the new off-road rig. More on this after I get a better
chance to ride it more. One this is for sure, and all my teammates and friends agree,
it very sexy looking. Huge thanks to Trek and Emery’s! That Saturday Morning I
woke up early to get in a ride with the hard men in the morning before the
meeting. It was a fun little 2 hour jaunt, pace was solid, but you could tell
we all were looking to show our stuff. The launch went off well; I picked up
tons of new gear and got the new kits. I’m really excited for them. I picked up
a new size small kit and it fits so much better. Plus the Kalas Clothing is
really comfortable. The post meeting ride was good as well. The elite crew took
it easy apart from a tough race to the ‘finish’ at the end. Despite it being a
free for all, we still worked well together, go figure. It’s a good sign for
the coming year.
My blog also received quiet possibly its biggest endorsement
thus far. DAVE ECKEL WANTS YOU TO READ MY BLOG. Despite all the typos, miss-spellings,
and other signs of illiteracy, he says it’s a good read. I found it oddly endearing
that when he mentioned it almost everyone alluded to the bad grammar and
spelling. At least I know people read this stuff, and for that I thank you. I’m
working on my English skills, but I make no promises.
I then had a hectic week getting ready for spring break in
North Carolina. Lots of things to pack and a few things I wanted to polish off
before totally checking out from the world. A few things were for sure, my
beard was mighty and my legs were ready, and with that I took on the 15 hour pilgrimage
to the Nantahala Outdoor Center in the Great Smokey Mountains forest area. As
is traditional I got no sleep on Friday night and rode when I arrived on
Saturday morning. It wasn’t going to be a hard ride, and it really didn’t seem
hard, but I hammered on a few of the climbs for the fun of it. Sunday, we smacked
down. The legs were on and I was able to really bring the pain to Skip. I beat
him up a few tough climbs which was very gratifying. I could tell he was
hurting a little that day, but still.
After getting a chance to ride the MTB on Monday,
Cheroholiday was on Tuesday. The entire ride felt a lot short than in years
previous. We got to the ranger station and I felt like I was only warming up. The
attacks started early on the climb, and it came down to Skip, Brian Fosler and I.
We dropped Fosler after an attack and Skip and I continued to set tempo after that;
or his tempo until I just couldn’t hold it anymore. I slowly faded back and
lost about 1 minute on him by the top. I’d like to think I gave it a good go
and made him dig deep to keep me off, but I’ll never know. Due to rain we cut
the ride short and only did 80 miles (only 80… I know).
I took an ‘easy day on Wednesday which turned into a nearly
3 hour ride with a few fast climbs and gravel roads. It was a lot of fun. Skip
and I started out alone and ended up meeting up with two others on the ride. We
explored a little bit and it was a beautiful ride. Thursday, it was time to
teach the children. Jamie Kimberly and I
rode out with some of the more promising newer members and did a back side of
Wayah Road which is a very steep 2-3 miles climb. We focused on riding well as
a group. While a few were pretty bad in the group setting, the majority was
really good. Then when we hit the gas hard on the climb it was good to see that
everyone stayed together pretty well until the really steep parts. The Plan for
Friday was to do an epic Georgia boarder run which would be 112 miles with a lot
of climbing. Thursday night I questioned my ability to do it not having taken a
day off yet, but committed to it anyways. I think I’m going to cut it short
there too keep the post short. Look out for the exciting conclusion soon!
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