Kettle Win

Our team came together for the final WEMS race of the year. We were joined by Vesrah's Mark Junge as this is his favorite place to ride. It showed as he had the fasted overall lap of the day. The course this year was simply the fast blue loop and just over 9 miles. Ken started the day with the lead and we all were able to help during the day to end up with a 20 minute lead over 2nd place.

This is the end of my racing for the year. A year ago is also when I broke my left elbow. It has been a tough year of physical therapy, emotional pain over the ordeal and then the added pressure of the major home gut and build. All in all things have turned out quite nice. My speed on the bike was still strong once the season got going. My arm will never be straight again, yet the pain is very infrequent. We are now living in our renovated house. Life is good!

My racing goal for next year is simply to have fun with my friends.

Big thanks to our team sponsors for a great year!

Results    Pics

Thunderdown in the Underdown

Another great race in the books and another crazy day! My day started early with a hour trek up to Merrill for another 12 hour team event. Thankfully the rest of the team went up the day before which allowed me to have a late arrival. I arrived by 11AM to find out the fastest lap times were 90 minutes. This is exactly what was expected as race organizer Chris Schotz has been talking all season about the length and difficulty of his course. The course was almost 100% twisty tight singletrack with continual climbs. It was a true Northern Wisconsin trail with similarities to the Ojibwe Trail in Cable, although alot more climbing. My first lap was all out and ended up as the overall second fastest lap of the day. A bit of rest while Ken and Mike took their turns and then I was up again for the night lap. Northern Wisconsin, pitch black, 100 minutes of solo racing in bear territory. Needless to say I was a bit freaked out. I did have to yell at a porcupine to get off of the trail. In the end, we came out on top with 20 minutes over 2nd place! Trophy in Wisconsin style was a 64 oz growler inscribed with race details. Next up is Kettle 10 hr!

The long time continued as we stopped for dinner and the drive home. Mike's car started have steering and rear suspension issues on the trip which kept the speed at a maximum of 55mph. Ken and I followed him slowly back to Chicago, well Ken did as I slept as usual only to arrive home at 4:15AM.

Results   Pics

Blue Mound

The Team had other plans, yet I've had such a long summer with the house and need some time away unwinding with some racing, thus it was time for the roughest course in the WEMS series. The 3 hour event is all I desired after Palos as my back has been aching a bit on longer rides. 

Traditional Lemans start left the slow runner in about 12th position heading into the woods. Thrown into the tough downhill section of the course, the brakes were on as the group was getting all bunched up and nervous. A slight break down the two track and I was still in about 11th. Now the crawl, the group was killing me with their speed yet the line was not easy to get around. There was plenty of walking up the tough climb in the middle in which I ran past a few others. It was partially ok as it takes me a bit to get going. I spent the next lap riding with a guy who was right at my pace and thus we had a good lap together. He fell on a climb near the end and was new to Blue Mound and thus about done. I saw him two laps later walking a hill as I lapped him. 

I stayed steady each lap and focused on enjoying the race and staying safe. I had no idea on my position as it gets confusing when you start passing 6 and 12 hr racers. I finished up my final lap to find out I placed 2nd! Congrats to Carlos Haeckel with the win as he was flying.

I really do love Blue Mound as it is a technical course that favors my type of riding.  After my race I headed out to ride the section of the 12 hour course that they remove for the 3 hour racers. I was able to ride with Strout as he was in for 12 hours of pain. He was still going plenty fast for me after 9 hours of racing and ended up with his own 2nd place.

Results

Palos Meltdown

A beautiful Sunday afternoon of racing 30 minutes from home! Quite a bit different than my '07 outcome. It was a hard race for me. My legs didn't want to turn and I kept thinking about all the things I really needed to get done at home. I was ready to leave after lap #1. The next lap wasn't much better and I almost left as I knew I was so far back. I didn't want to quit as it is so difficult to work out the time to finally get out there and then to have a race so close to home. Therefore, I pressed on with a new attitude, yet lap #3 was my slowest yet. Finally, lap #4, 24 miles in and my mind and legs started working. Big ringing, passing other riders and enjoying the ride. The result was 20th overall, not great, yet I'll take it at this point.

The rest of the weekend was alot of fun. Friday night High School Football game as Drake is playing the sousaphone for the Marching Band, Saturday afternoon at the Sandwich Fair with the boys and then off to my twin uncles 50th birthday party. 

Pics, Results.

Stump Farm 12 Hour

Team Vesrah Brakes headed up to Green Bay on Saturday for more WEMS action. I left my house at 4:45AM and arrived back home at 1:15AM the following day. Laney and Peet started the first two legs of the race while Melville and myself were driving up. We did our first two laps and were already 7 minutes behind the leaders. Our team was riding fairly well, yet the competition was going to be tough to beat. We beat the team last year and they wanted revenge. They got it as we ended up second and a full lap back. Regardless, we had a great time racing and challenging each other for the fastest team lap times. I ended up with the fastest by 1 second over Ken. The picture is the secret to my success, sleep between laps. In my defense, it was an early morning.

I had my first mechanical over the past two years racing with the team. I noticed on my second lap that my seat was loose. After my nap I tightended it, yet it really didn't need it. I was still a bit sleepy and thus didn't think much about it. About midway through the thired lap I noticed my seat flexing back and forth as I leaned. No time to stop as lap times are important so I kept racing. Five minutes from the each as I hit a bump in the fire road, the seat and partial post go bouncing down the trail. I whip around, pick them up and then race the remainder of the lap standing up. Legs were sure tired by the time I ended the lap. Easton EC 90 Carbon post snapped right at the frame. Hoping for the warranty! I finished up my day doing two more laps on Peet's Trek Fuel EX 9.8. Very plush!

Homeless

It has been silent on the blog as of late, yet the adventures are still taking place. We sold our primary residence over 3 weeks ago, yet our new home wasn’t ready. The new home is a 50 yr old farm house under major renovation. I’ve been the GC on the project and have enjoyed many aspects of the project. We were on schedule until I hit some permit roadblocks which set me back 6 weeks. Well, here we are in the home stretch and most everything is coming together for a final inspection this Friday! School for the boys and my wife starts Monday so I’m under the gun to get this pulled together.

The sale of our primary residence was a blessing in this market, yet now where do we live. Family some, a camper that sleeps 8 many more.

Why? This is a question I’m often asked and at times wonder myself. We were living in a large 4BR home in a very nice neighborhood. We purchased a very rare piece of land .6 miles from our current house. We had a vision to build a new home and I even have the final drawings from an architect after quite a bit of work. The housing market started to fall and the thought of sinking $$$ into a house and in reality being a bit finacially strapped was more than I wanted to bear. Thoughts and small attempts of selling came up short as I didn’t want to give away something which is a once in a lifetime type of property to come across. Thoughts changed into what could I do with this old farm house? I posted an Ad on craigslist for cheap labor and the phone didn’t stop as jobs are scarce in the building industry. We began with a full gut immediately and haven’t stopped. The only thing remaining was the roof and exterior walls. We are now close to wrapping up the inside of what will be a 2000SF 3BR 2Bath Ranch with a full basement. The house is still very ugly on the outside and is a far cry from your standard Naperville home, yet internally it is a new home. The outside transformation won’t be as great, yet still will get an update.

Still why? In Naperville, where do you find 1.5 acres of land with 150 year old Burr Oak trees that is surrounded by and even denser forest that will never be developed? This doesn’t sound like much to those in the sticks, and that is where I’d rather be, so this is a refreshing bit of feeling like I’m in the middle of nowhere while being somewhere.

All that matters is that it makes sense to me.

Endurance Commuting in Chicago - 109 miles offroad

Gas Prices, Traffic, Offroad route and a desire to train are good reasons to bypass the car for the bike. There are a few obstacles with the biggest one being the distance. I presently commute 42 miles through Chicago traffic to work each way. Insane and not desired, yet temporary as I'm self employed and this is where one of my clients is located.

The route consists of two main trail routes, Des Plaines river trail and the Illinois Prarie Path (IPP) with the addition of one mile of road from the office to the trail, about four miles to connect the two and 10 miles through Naperville to reach home. The IPP is well maintained, well mapped and hard packed limestone. The Des Plaines is quite the opposite, not maintained at all, single track, multi track, mud, ruts, swampy, crosses a few sets of RR tracks at non crossings, multiple under bridge crossings with water and desolate. You don't even realize you're near O'Hare when you pass.

I've been wanting to do this ride for sometime and finally took the challenge yesterday. The decision was to drive the car to work in the AM, ride the bike home, sleep for the night and then ride the bike back to work so that I had enough time and energy to complete the task. I left work about 3PM with warnings of high winds, thunderstorms and lightning. I was able to make 2/3rds of the trip before it sprinkled, yet the winds and sky kept me on my toes. Arrival time was 3 hrs 50 minutes after I started with no stops or rests with the exception of a few traffic crossings. I was whipped, ate well and wondered how in the world I would make it back to get my car. I even reviewed the Metra schedule as my body wasn't feeling well.

The next morning came quickly with the alarm at 5AM. Showered, Cheerios and many pondered thoughts. The bike finally won out and I was out the door by 5:40. The rains did come over the DesPlaines river trail after I passed the day before which made for a very muddy commute and lots of standing water. I showed up at work quite dirty, another non-stop ride 3 hrs and 59 minutes later for a round trip total of 108.99 miles, most of it being offroad in Chicago!

Pics from the cell phone to follow...

Levis Trow - Good family time

This weekend was a great time for the entire Vesrah team as we raced and our families camp along to make it a great family weekend. Camping, cabins or hotel rooms for the families. We enjoyed a small cabin on Saturday night which provided some tough Hearts competition followed by four tired racers, runners and riders.

The race course was the best we've come across with lots of singletrack, climbing and descending. They even routed the course along Toad Road this year. We had some tougher competition along with a flat and a crash that provided us with third place. Our first non win over the last two years. Hopefully this isn't the direction that will continue.

The kids race was another story as they made up the difference. Vesrah shirts and fast kids provided a win in almost every category and many smiles among the parents.

Glynnis needed a long running weekend for her Marathon training and loves to run in the woods. She was hooked with trail running after our Cable vacation last summer. Therefore, while we were racing, she and our boys were out running any trail they could find that we weren't on as well as a few we were on. Two and a half hours later they finally made it back to our truck with many stories and laughter.

We made a long weekend out of the event as life has been a bit busy lately and needed to get some good family time. On Sunday, we enjoyed our own Church service in the cabin and then headed back to Levis Trow for further adventuring. Glynnis wanted to run more, I wanted to ride more and the kids, well, they were good sports and came along. We worked our way up to Northface which we climbed and then played around on Toad Road. We left the boys up top as they wanted to enjoy the views and simply be boys while we continued our run/ride. We worked our way up the Hermosas (many nice climbs) and did a few loops of Sidewinder. That was a real treat as I hadn't ridden that before. Glynnis freaked out a bit due to the exposure and did a slow loop while I did my few. We seperated and I worked the race course back to find the boys up at Toad Road. They did excellent coming down Northface which was a pleasure to watch. They then went off to find the truck and lunch while I went searching for Glynnis. It ended up being around two and half hours of running for her and she was all smiles. That is a real mini vacation, lots of outdoor adventuring with friend and family!

Weekend pics

12 Hrs of New Fane

The season opener was a great success in that we started off the season with a win! This time we approached the race as a 3 man team, yet hoping our 4th would show up. Three men, a bit unprepared for the season due to injuries and other responsibilities were up for the battle. Ken and family drove up Friday night to start the weekend camping while Mike and I came up in the wee hours of the morning. Mike was starting with less than 4 hours of sleep while I was starting with less than 6.

It was great to see the many faces we had grown accustomed to seeing at these events. These events provide a great festival feeling as you race hard and then enjoy times with the other racers in between sessions.

Our plan of attack was to do two laps a piece all day long. Ken started, then myself and then Mike. Ken started a little easier than usual in order to pace himself all day. It proved to be a good plan as his laps were very consistent. Reviewing the results shows we didn't have the fastest times overall, yet most consistent and even among team members. I was able to follow suit and ride just a tad slower than Ken, yet remain consistent and feeling strong throughout the day. He did bring out his secret weapon, his girls who kept cheering him and us on all day. Mike started strong, had a few hard laps late in the day due to some lack of sleep and late week floor hockey. He came around later in order to finish up strong. This allows us to finish the day one lap up plus 4 minutes over second place.

The biggest challenge of the day didn't actually come from the open team division, yet from the solo division. Ron and Chris each had steller races which kept us pushing. It took up 5.5 hrs to pass Chris and we never saw Ron. We actually thought he was going to lap us which was baffling how one man could beat three. The end of the day Ron did beat us by 5 minutes and we only beat Chris by 5. Hats off to these guys as they are not human.

Big thanks to Vesrah Brakes, Trek/GF, Hayes, Sun Ringle, Manitou, Bidtool, Verizon on their support this year!

2008 29er

Out with the old and in with the new. Sponsors have come through big time again for Team Vesrah Brakes to kick off another great year of racing. A big thanks to Sun-Ringle, Hayes Disc Brakes, Manitou, GF/Trek and of course Vesrah Brake pads. It has been a very long rehab winter and I'm looking forward to getting the Endurance series going this weekend at New Fane!