"If Ifs And Buts...

...were candies and nuts, it would be a Merry Christmas all year long."

My slogan for 2011. A year of good riding, but way too many IFS and BUTS.

Allgood. Just being able to ride a bike, must appreciate that and not get all balled up in the racer boy hoopla.

Border Battle- Not sure it qualifies as a battle, for a MN/ WI thing it couldn't be milder. At the line I barked out a "go gophers" even though I'm a Fighting Sioux. Didn't get any sort of bucky badger comeback...
Overall- was pleased with fitness, BUT didn't take advantage of it (branch in rear end somehow didn't tear off the rd, lame crash/ classic, and the best excuse the bottle blunder with my Honey/ Ha! now but not then... Ha.)...  Shoulda been a fifth lap. 36 place of more than 60 Cat 1's...
Got to thank the KORC (local trail group) guys for building and maintaining that trail that came from nothing just  few years ago...

                                        Token photo...

Up next... Not sure on the race front, but will find a way to self punish on a bicycle... Election in 3 weeks, I think I'm eligible again.

Hey Jimmmay, wonder if a 4.7" is overkill? Can't even run it in the back. From no fat options to too many options = 8.

UP: Ride Time = Drive Time

Thoughts, Speculation, Riddles, and Facts-

• Copper Harbor only has 25 Miles of trail, but everything runs both ways
• Boreal Forest/ exotic ferns grown in the Keweenaw peninsula 
• We didn't have to swat at one bug while in Copper Harbor, but there are weeds Jimmmay
• The new titled Copper Harbor "Flow Trail" downhill makes good use of 400' of vertical, taking 10-15 min
• The Red trail is the gem. 
• Hobs would like going down Pauls Plunge, but coming back up I'd get the look... 
• The MTB folks of copper harbor are adding another 16 miles of out and back trail along the lake, meaning 32 miles
• Horse Shoe Bay, couple miles east of Copper Harbor, get there by bike via dirt road/ hiking trail for swim, rock picking, pics, wandering around in lacra

• Pasties? What? Decoded- Must eat fresh with rutabaga next time
• Houghton/ Hancock has a mini-Duluth vibe
• There are more skinny's/ wood traps in 4 miles of the MI Tech Trails then in MN/ WI combined
• People that live in the Keweenaw have no desire to leave the Keweenaw. UP thing?
• Fancy carbin XTR rear derailleurs can not hold up to the technical hammering and mud = Downgrade to upgrade
• First time to visit a car wash to spray off a bike in last 11 years. 
• Hurley, Wisconsin is a good spot
• The eastern time zone needs to move farther east!
• Another fancy XTR riddle- when your 10 speed chain breaks, a 9 speed sram power link works just fine
• Pivot Company should change name to Pivot Creek Company.
• Lake Namekogon SP Campground has many a memory for the clan
• Wanted to ride the new stuff north of OO, but we were already cooked
• Rock Lake- finally was able to do the hildebrandt loop backwards with the Pirate. He got a fling PT on me
• When your car key/ ignition wont turn (worn out tumbler), tap on it with something. But not too hard...
• Wonder who's Pivot creeks louder Richy's or mine?
• 5 days, 15 hours of driving, 15+ hours of riding. Mission complete

                                    Pirate playing with the Copper Harbor bird...

Buck Raiser/ PugBuck/ Fanatics in town

Buck 2011 closes out with some great fundraising... Thanks to Penn Cycle, Ames Construction, and my Honey Dawn for their efforts to make an impact on cancer. I have been blessed to not have cancer take someone from me until I met my Honey and her story. I haven't looked up the stats, but I'm sure almost everybody gets touched by the cancer killer. As a person of Christian faith, you ask yourself "why", and you lean on what you know is true. You lean hard on it in these situations.

Dawn and Penn Cycle Pat- efforts raised over $3K which will go to family...

Pug Buck- so in classic LCR fashion some show, some don't, some bring the fat, some don't. Disfunction is the function, but the clan stepped up to support the paragraph above...

Good to be back on the Pug. If I had to pick one bike, it would be the one. Racing fat was fun, with the Hillslide not so good of day, needed to make eyes bleed and maintain. Was able to roll the 34lb clown bike pretty good. Don't know the physio lingo, but the higher power ratio/ watts burn helps with the heavier load spin.

Weekend full of Fanatics in town. My boy and his Pops from college days at UND/ Fighting Sioux territory back in town. Back to back Twins games with some catch up on life...

When I say fanatics, I don't jest. Jay'd run through a brick wall to see the Purple on top. For me, 1977, 1998 and 1999 still freakin hurt.

              Jay, Benny, and Kirby Puckett!!! (where's jim's bike?)

Duluth Lester race WAS the target... But all the action of Fri/ Sat and the UP trip coming up gave me a valid excuse to punt... I don't like to punt much, would rather turn it over on downs... Say la vee.

Hillslide... Got a match?

Whaat can I say other than another day of beating meself with a stick... This time it was combo, part mechanical + part ran out of matches.

Day prior, rest and relax on the lake (good sign). Morning of, no hunger (bad sign). Drive up, wondering why (bad sign). At Hillside had new agenda, assist in flyer distribution and word spread for BUCK THURS BENEFIT RACE, so racing was secondary (good sign).

On line, the always quiet and too serious tone split by me and me mouth saying "BUCK THURS BE THERE FOR BENEFIT". Some dood of Freewheel gets offended saying "one race at time", huh??? Young Jack was ready to pounce on dood. Young Jack will be LCR one day.

First lap and half was filled with using up matches to get back after 4 dead stops (bottle fall, RD pop, ting ting, and more ting ting). Had no 5th match, light went dark. Time for survival mode and hold off oncomers.

Problem is, Hillside/ Richy Trail is fun, and the tech makes it more fun. In anti fast guy form I give up time for riding the rocks, teeter, skinnys, flings. It's a Ricoh/ LCR thing. I ain't the most skilled but I will not bypass.

Finished off race head down stairing at front wheel... Many excuses/ poor result. Ha

Allgood. Always another book of matches coming up, just don't know how many sticks in the book.

Anybody guess who this riddler is??? He was the top of the LCR food chain back in the day... He is missed among the OG's...

THURS BUCK... BENEFIT FOR FAMILY TRAGEDY (CANCER SUCKS)- RACE/ RIDE/ FAMILY FUN.

Anytime you can ride a bike and it's about more than just riding a bike, that is a good thing.

Bring out the 4" fats... No snow, sand will suffice.