Playing in the sandbox

The day started like this...

Playing 'rock jenga'

Resulting in this...

Riding 'rock jenga'

Collaboration with the Wolf Tooth/ Otso/ Toro boys who also enjoy playing rock jenga in the sandbox... 

3 weeks/ 20 years

Off the bike for 3 weeks, longest stretch in 20 years.

Excuses since DFunkes B day ride; Rt IT Band/ knee, face rash- chest rash- time in the weeds building bike trails, lymes disease? (nope), blacked out (electrolyte imbalance), mid back muscle agony, Ring work that moves, ring finger -crash at Piedmont, now the worst of these- inflamed bursa of the hamstring/ left sit bone (ass).

C5 get's it done, no excuses either.

But hey, we got a bike trail built down here, I just can't ride it...

No Quarter.

Everything can be related to a Led Zeppelin song...

More time has been spent lumping in the woods working on new trails then 'training'.

Speed on a bicycle has dropped drastically... New trails are done, volunteer force is in place and sustained, focus can shift back to the bike...
.

Trailwork dirty clothes don't leave the garage.

The last medal won for a race... Is the time spend toiling over bicycle speed worth it? At some point priorities change and time is better spend elsewhere.

2012 WEMS long distance winner.

Choose a path where no one goes... They hold no quarter.

Zeppelin and winter is coming.

Chequamegon 100, nope.

So many excuses for the lack of results... At some point you just say to yourself, taking a chute back to the start ain't so bad...

Another comment and all that really matters is I wasn't cheated. I made it 50 miles after a good sized crash, rode the best and most technical trails in the camba system, got to practice my tube changing skills amongst a limitless supply of mosquitos, and spent some quality time with one of my guys (Everybody Knows Eddie). DNF, but we were all smiles, confusion, and wisecracks.

Thanks goes to the folks (Tim & Odia) and sponsors (Wolf Tooth, Terrene Tires, Rivers Eatery) of the Chequamegon 100. There are select MTB'ers that hold high regards for this race, the forest, and camba trails in NW WI. The remoteness and technical nature of these trails for 100 miles brings forth a looming risk factor of never returning. This creates a race that no other races in WI/ MN can compare too.

Oh, and too the folks that started with 100 MILES in mind, and ended with 100 KM, then got their skirts all bunched up for calling it DNF, LAME. You are racing Cheq100 for the wrong reasons. You should stick with the Lutsen XX if that is what you are concerned about. Or cat 3 road racing.

This member of the goon squad is missed... Circa 2005

Up next?
Good question... For sure trying to return a bludgeon thigh from the meat locker.

Spring Thaw-

My Spring thaw-

•  Equates to an Arizona trip to hang with the Folks and 'YMCA camp for seniors'. Rode some great trails and got into difficulty around Pass/ Usery/ Gold Canyon/ Superstition Mtns.
• Next, pull off coordinating and racing my own race along with 155 other people. Still have people listed as MIA, not sure what to take of that.

Getting drug around by Team Velo Vanga... (TMB Photo)

• After that, quick first time visit to the quiet and chillaxing Sanibel Island of Florida. Was able to witness my wife in her zone of shelling. Was even able to carve out time for an MTB ride on a local 10 mile singletrack loop that runs both ways.
• Flight home at 11PM, at the Ragnarök starting line at 7:30AM the next morning. Took 35 miles to shake off the jet lag, then got into some sort of grove til I popped on a deal Heath found.
• The next morning, lead an effort to break ground on new local trails.
• Multitasking... More dirt work. A back to back double ride/ morning Club ride with Silvercycling and HWoods, afternoon B day ride for my guy D Funke. 3 miles from the finish I hit a milestone. First time in 20 years I wanted to get off my bike and walk. Right knee pain so bad I was melting in agony.
• Up next. Try and decode a bad knee and IT Band. I tell my daughter 'you can't break steel', but you sure can melt it.
• That and more trail building.    

Winter Racing Bust.

8 races on the winter calendar, 4 pre-registered, 4 canceled, 3 DNS, 1 pack filler finish (w/ participation medal). The good news, AZ->LML->Ragnarök->DickieScrambled->Dirt.

More good news. I kept all my teeth on this face plant.

Editor Note- recent tragic death of Scott Spoo made me realize what people appreciate aren't the results, but what a person does with their time and influence on others. It is obvious Scott S was an elite racer...