Tis the season!

Off offseason training regimen

Cyclocross withdrawals....

Boo hoo!

No more cross racing for the year... thinking of adding 17 or so more gears to the ride for next year... and now... to help with those trainer rides...

If there is a little snow Saturday night I'm planning on doing some sort of ride on Sunday.... stay tuned for details.

Be Thankful! Or just have another turkey leg....

It's that time of year... the cross bikes are all hung up on the chimney with care. And visions of crappy trainers rides are dancing in your cranium. The end o' the year. It was a pretty good one for SPH Cycling presented by Wheelhouse Cycles. The Mad Man Marcus continued to get faster than pretty much everyone. No one got seriously injured (Matt... take it easy on that knee). And we seemed to have some good times. GCSSC !!!!!!

Thanks to the whole gang for another great year. Y'all are the best!

Some thoughts on '012.... we should plan at least one camping weekend/overnight to Cayuna or Levis or CAMBA. Or a longer weekend to Rapid City (though that will be a bit tough). Lets try and get a one-lap race going up on the bluff (maybe before our standard Th rides) just to keep the competitive juices flowing. Keep up the 'cross action... it was a blast! And last but not least... lets make a pact to try not to get burned out by helping put on (or heck... putting on) the race. Let's make it fun by putting on our own stamp. Which is probably sort of like a tramp stamp to be honest...

You know it's time for States....

You know it must be time for the big State Champs 'Cross weekend when the weather starts to turn from this , to this!

Well... it'll only be a half hour (no singlespeed race this year) so whatever. Should make for some interesting times for sure.

Odds are there won't be a stream to run through though...

INUKSHUK!

2012 Jersey Plan...???

Hey all... Matty Ice was getting pumped for next year already (as Matty Ice is wont to do) and wondering about the jerseys for next year.

Now... we've sort of done a new jersey each year for the past few years... but I think in general people seemed to like these jerseys (plus they are pretty decent ads for Andrew's shop... whether they ever got someone to stop by the shop is questionable). So... we could have another year on the current design. It is gaudy yet respectable. Or we could re-write the script and come up with something a bit more garish and true to our origins...

Vote for your favorite option:

1) Keep the same jerseys (we could do another order of these)
2)New jerseys/shorts/etc.

Jake and I were throwing ideas around and if we wanted to get stupid we had the thought of puzzle pieces... orange and green and stuff... or we could resurrect the lederhosen... or go totally old school with the original black design that we had screen printed... MELTY!

KEEP GETTING PUMPED!!!

So... only a few weekends of racing left... this Sunday will see at least one SPHer in Bayport to tackle another 30 minutes of pain (I really need to just upgrade my license even though I am slow). Then at least once next weekend (19-20) will see the crew heading up to take on the fabled course in Crystal for the State Championships...

For a preview of the course....

There are a couple of races in December in Rosemount but who knows how cold that will get. I'm sure at least one of them will see us try our best. Watching the extended weather forecast pumps a guy up!!!

GET PUMPED!!!

Last few weeks of the 'cross season (for those of us not racing in Madison in January... Matty Ice... REPRESENT!!! )

GCSSC Official results

GSCCS 2011 is in the books. With enough wind to set sail almost all of SPH decided to take to land instead. Here are the Official result signed by the President himself.

Jake "Scraggs" Huot 1:26
Marcus "kusethegoose" Warrington 1:29
Elliott "Cabin Boy" Krizek 1:43
Larry "Lar-dogg" Warrington 1:43.29
Isaac "Blackbeard" Giesen 1:46
Eric "The Red" Fredrickson 1:51
Job "Asain Express" Petersen DNF (did make if further than last year)

A big thanks to Matt "Matty-ice" Riley for keeping time and cheering us on. (knee issues stopped him from dominating).

GCSSC 2011 - TOMORROW!!!

Just a reminder...

The second annual Goodhue County Single Speed Championship is tomorrow (Sunday the 6th), beginning at 2 pm.

Meet at the Lower Quarry Parking Lot up on Memorial between 1:30 and 1:45 to go through the details of the course and to make sure that we get going on time.

Rough course outline - North trails on the bluff - Lehrbach, Orchard, Flueger, Lehrbach - south trails on the bluff. Typically we've gone red trails on the north side and blue trails on the south side.

It is deer opener this weekend so our bright colors will come in handy.

Classic!

Wha!!???

http://champ-sys.com/custom/cycling/custom-saddles

A Sa-weet Weekend of Racing!

The cold wind was a blowing as we headed up to Centuria, WI for the Baker Orchard Cyclocross race. This has been a race that I've sort of wanted to do for the past couple of years, but it just never worked out. Well, this year, my awesome wife and I were looking for a reason to get out of town and spend some time together, so.... why not start the day with a 'cross race that is 1.75 hours away!

After a slightly wrong turn we eventually got up to the Baker Apple Orchard with maybe 45 minutes or so to spare. This was pretty much perfect timing for myself... not too much time to get freaked out or do too many laps, but enough time to comfortably pin on the number and get one full lap of recon in. Maybe I should try and get more laps in before the race to really loosen up the legs.... after my recon lap I was pretty pumped up... a little (bit gimmicky) trip through an old barn, a three log run up, a couple sets of barriers, and a big ole sandpit were the obstacles to tackle on the course which didn't have any singletrack but did have quite a bit of winding tree-ey goodness.

Apparently there are some stuck up cat 4 guys, as we staged I heard a lot of swear-laced muttering from behind me. We were put in the blocks by order of registration and a few sandbaggers didn't appreciate it. Lighten up Francis!

The whistle blew and the hot heads pretty much plowed their way past all of the guys that were out there to push themselves and have fun. Sandbaggers must be eternally drawn to hang out with their own kind... anyways... we did the little prologue and entered the course before the first set of barriers. Now, I'm not that awesome at getting back on the bike (stupid stutter step) but compared to middle to back of the pack fodder in the cat 4 race I'm freaking Sven Nys! At each dismount spot I would make up time... then someone piled up right alongside me going intot he barn.... don't really know how... anyways... I got into my groove and spent the first lap trying to dial in the course and where I would sit in the pecking order. Consistently I would put time in almost everyone around me in almost all of the sections. The woods stuff was flowy and I could glide through the apexes while others seemed to always just go down the middle of the trail. There were a few small rises that I would hammer up (as a singlespeed is want to do) and pass even more people.... I think eventually even though I am slow I finished in the first half of the finishers! BOOYA!

Sunday saw Larry, Matt and I testing the legs at the new Hudson Y course. Lots of fun swoopy in the woods sections, a tricky set of stairs and a couple of sandpits were some highlights of the course. I think the circle of pinwheels of death was the highlight for all though. So big. So fun!

Matt got 2nd! in his first cross race ever! SANDBAGGER! I got about 38th I think... Larry 44th. A decent amount of finishers behind us and we didn't get lapped... so all in all a great weekend of cross!

Testing Testing one two one two

Well... things got a bit crazy there for a bit... moving into a house... travel for work... all that good stuff... BUT!!!!

It is now the beginning of the meat of the best racing part of the year.... CROSSS!!!!!!!

Blackbeard tested his SS machine up in Hudson on what could be called a glorified mountain bike course... we'll see how this weekend treats the Grey Goose as it'll be called into action both Saturday AND Sunday! Baker Orchard Cross tomorrow and the Hudson Y race on Sunday. Bring it fool! Should be lovely weather!

results from the SPH off road duathlon

Person, Bike1, Run, Bike2, Finish

Matt , 22:07, 20:45, 21:33, 1:04:25

Marcus, 22:45, 23:52, 23:49, 1:10:26

Larry , 26:31, 25:54, 28:50, 1:21:15

Scott , 26:51, 35:45, 28:24, 1:31:00

Isaac , 26:14, 36:41, 28:07, 1:31:02

Dave , 34:00, 30:45, 32:03, 1:36:48

Mike , 30:10, 37:36, 30:54, 1:38:40

Elaborating on the last post

As mentioned in the last post. Cross season is almost upon us. Everyone should head on over to the MCF website to check out the schedule. The season starts up towards the end of September with a double helping of cross goodness every weekend through most of November. I'm certain that I won't make every race, but my goal is to go to 6-8 of them... missed out on the early season MTB races and have some making up to do!

The "A" races... ones that I would really like to make:

Red Barn CX, Velodrome CX, States/Zac Daab, Hudson Y, maybe the Green Acres one as I've heard good things.....

What ones is everyone else excited for?

Oh.... also... keep Jan 4-8 open... SPH roadtrip to Mad-town for 'cross nats! Not sure if anyone will race, but if the pros are gonna bring it in the snow and cold I think we better be there to witness!

The clock is a tickin'!!!

It's almost cross season!!!

No... not quite....

Ummmm... nope....

There we go.... CROSS!!!!!! HUP HUP HUP INUKSHUK!!!!

WAZZZZUUUUPPPPPPPP

This Friday.... 7:15.... normal spot.... SSSS

That's right... the next installment of the SPH Super Sprint Series.

Man it's hot!!!

Hmmmm

Now that the local mountain bike race is behind us (way to represent 4/8ths of the main team!) it's time for the real season to re-kick off....

Free and fun SPH races!!!!

Firstly... the next SSSS has to happen, and soon! This week... check your calendars... tentatively Friday but heck... tomorrow works for me! We'll be at the standard drag strip... 5 rounds of pain.

Secondly... a few of us have mentioned a Duathlon... well... let's do it! Again... date to be determined... along with the logistics... but we'll try and do a lap of the bluff on the bikes.... a lap "running" (running is in the quotation marks as I don't officially run... but more waddle and walk)... and then another lap on the bike. Maybe 10 miles biking roughly, 5k running?

Thirdly... Remember for the early fall Goodhue County SingleSpeed Championships... Jake won last year, but is this the year that Matty Ice steals the crown?

And now.... for the good stuff...

Ahoy!

Well... somehow it's almost July... lots or maybe not lots of things have been happening since the last post... in order of no order...

1) Blackbeard is now Mr. Blackbeard as Carly and I got married a few days over a month ago.

2) We went on a long honeymoon to Maui.

3) Marcus is dominating. We need to make sure to be nice to him so he'll talk to us when he's all famous and winning Expert races.

4) Memorial is this weekend!

5) Our kit is awesome, but still sort of hard to pick out of a crowd. Hmmmmmm.

6) Eric the Red, Captain of the Hildr (or whatever his signoff on emails is), broke his freaking collarbone. OUCH!

Now.... we got all of that out of the way...

1/2 the kit is IN!!!

AGH!!! All of the bottoms have been delivered... hoping and hoping that the tops come in... the skinsuit that I got is amazing and I know that the jersey will be even better (the narwhal isn't lined up on the back of the skinsuit....

Mmmmmm tasty

Can't wait to eat all sort of beef jerky while on the roads of Ill-i-no-is!!

G

R

A

V

E

L

M

E

T

R

I

C

!

I hope it's not just a bunch of hipsters...

SPH - Wheelhouse Cycles team ready for the season to begin

(AP, Red Wing, MN)

As the Sandwich 50 draws near, final preparations of bikes, nutrition, and bodies are underway for the SPH - Wheelhouse Cycles team. There is an air of confidence and excitement amongst the group. While the first race may also be the biggest of the year for those in the contest this weekend, there is contentment with whatever the results may be and wonderment with how the bodies will respond to such a test.

"We've created a great atmosphere on the team. The guys are all tight and Larry (Warrington) and Isaac (Giesen) have managed to transmit motivation and tranquillity to the entire group," explained directeur sportif Andrew Petersen. "We're setting off knowing that we've prepared very well for the race, which is a very important objective for us."

Both team leaders were aware of the difficult task ahead, but not without confidence. "It's going to be quite a hard Sandwich 50, from the first lap to the last. I think it'll be the most challenging out of all the ones I've faced so far," said Isaac Giesen.

It's almost go time

Like the sweet spinning backhand at a ping pong table the racing season is finally upon us....

Carbo loading has commenced by eating hot wings, little pork tacos, some Chipotle remains, and sample wedding cakes... tomorrow the plan is to drink lots and lots of water

My saddle has been swapped out to something that isn't worn out... and then swapped back to the old stand by. The gearing has been swapped from a real man's gear 36-18... to the more reasonable 32-18...

Let's rock!

Friday Music Flashback!

Huh?

This is spring? More like spwinter! If the weather doesn't get a wee bit warmer and drier soon me thinks that the schooners won't be on the singletrack til nigh on the middle of May! Luckily Lar-dog, probably the youngster Marcus and ole Blackbeard are looking to work our singletrack magic in Rochester for the wacky race called the Sandwich 50 in early May.

SSSS is fassssst approaching!

With the weather finally changing the first SSSS (SPH Super Sprint Series) race is fast approaching!

Meetings are already happening to try and unseat Jake as the undefeated sprint champ.

Initial planning shows that race #1 will be on April 15th, at 6:30. Pre-race "meeting" will be by the old starting line or something like it. We could also meet in the work parking lot and cruise from there.

Here is a sample live chat thing.... for the race... maybe.... starts at 7 if you're interested.

(live chat deleted to make the page load faster)

Have fun!

Weekend ride report

I heard the following SWEET! song so determined that we would have to check out a little bit of the 'rok (please insert the oomlaut) course...

Lar-Dog and I hopped in the man-of-war to get to the testing waters. Some steep uphills and fun downhills preceded a section that I would call "slick"... in fact if you were Dan Jansen you actually would have been in your element...

The snow was our salvation. That turned to sweet sweet gravel... which turned to lava flow looking piles of river silt... which turned to a pile of sand... which turned into 3-4 shocked people out for a nature walk...

The race next weekend should be interesting.

Hmmmmmm... I could go for a cupcake!

After getting in a short ride this afternoon I am craving a sweet sweet cupcake!

The roads were pretty good but it was cold enough where stuff was still frozen. Even when it is 32 degrees, it's awesome to get out and climb some hills. The combination of gravel, hills, and the newly repainted Waltworks was like finding a long lost friend...

Jerseys have been ordered...

Well... the 2011 jerseys have finally been ordered. I would expect them to be around easily a week or two before the first Minnesota Mountain Bike Series event. Big thanks to Andrew and Larry for getting moeny to me in advance. Everyone else... I know where you live so try and get me money whenever you can. They charge 50% upon placing the order and 50% when delivered so it's not a huge deal but I want to have all monies by the beginning of May if possible.

This will be a good time to thank our sponsors (both real and fictional):

Wheelhouse Cycles : Andrew was a founding member of SPH way back in 2007-2008. He now owns a pretty ballin' bike shop down on Old West Main Street in Red Wing (the old Route location). If you need gloves, a saddle, or maybe a helmet... he's got you covered! He also runs an unofficial bike museum with many pristine and really high-end bikes (most around a M or 54") that are lightly ridden. So if you need just a little eye-candy. Swing on down. This year Andrew is also running a more road cycling focused club. Details are being formed now, but weekly rides and maybe some racing sounds to be in the plans.

A Very Swell Idea Inc.: Amos is a swell guy and is great at making your swell ideas become reality. He helped out with our jerseys (he made them look sweet... we subsequently made them clown show again... so don't blame him). Design, engineering, or making Boogerballs... he can do it all.

Cakes by Claire : The name may change, and there may or may not be a website eventually... but Claire is a local baker who is just starting her business. She's made a few really cute cakes, and they are always tasty. The fact that she is married to Jake means that to try and help get her name out... she's a sponsor!

Acme Can Crushers : The summer of '07 (or '08 maybe) was the beginning of it all. All it took was watching someone trying to crush a can with a flat palm in the grass... if you need a great can crusher, you can't do much worse than Acme! Always Recycle!

Thanks all...

The Rains of December have come early!

After getting the "Grey Dart" (or "Gray Dert") ready to go for the SSSS (it's just like last year's SSS but now with more S) I decided to watch some sweet youtubes.... it doesn't get much better than a combination of Salad Fingers and Strongbad....

Happy Monday to Ya'll

The gravel is a-drying and the temps they are a changin'. Twas a good Monday with a busy day at work and then 4 quick lung-busting climbs on some dirt roads.... That deserves a sweet song link thing....

You're welcome.

The Weather is a Changin'

Whoops!

http://www.cheqfattire.com/

We need to get the entry in if we want to give this one a go again...

I think I'd be in, but I won't be heart broken if we don't do it. I would rather do a U.P. race and maybe a WEMS race.... with gas about $3.50 already we'll have to factor in traveling to some of those races.... like I said... I'd be in regardless if others were... probably staying at the KOA campground....

Remember when...

Remember when SPH was just forming and we had already been biking for a solid month on the gravel roads by the time March came about?

GAH! I love winter, but I feel like I have no hope of being in good cycling shape by the time the weather actually gets warm enough to spend 4-5 hours without being totally bundled up. And if I need to be bundled up, I want to be out on skis.

Some things to think about:

1) Let's get our jersey order in by the end of next week if possible. Let me know what style and size of jerseys/shorts/etc. you want. http://www.champsys.com should have the styles and prices. Remember that you can get race and club cut, and 3/4 or full zip jerseys.

2) Big storms predicted again for this week.... GAH! Let's get out on the skis yet again sometime! (I am gonna try to go early tomorrow morning... maybe on the CVT for ease for myself).

3) Chaindrive this year? When do we have to send in Cheq entries?

The Proof is in the Pudding

Read them and weep...

Do ya!!???

It's almost GO time

Winter is starting to fade (though it's cold this week!)... skiing is still going strong but the bikes have hit the road a few times too... time to load up on protein and some carbs....

Dorkfest 2011

Not only are we kickass on bikes, but some of us also have brains(not me). Good luck to Blackbeard and soon to be Mrs. Notsoblackbeard, bring home the 3 peat at the Trivia festival of Rochester, MN(something to do with Mayo High School).

huh?

Whiskey - Tango - Foxtrot

It's the off season!

Though our singlespeed machines are our outdoor transportation weapon of choice, us scallywags like to mix things up a bit in the winter. This past weekend the Midnight Rokkers - Larry, Jake and I - headed to Frontenac to partake in a little cross-country skiing.

The great thing about Frontenac is that when it's 5 degrees outside and there is a Packers game there aren't any crowds! Actually the great thing about Frontenac is that the trails are fun and the park is a whopping 15 minutes away from town. The trails were in great condition! Scenery was pretty neat too.

There was a candle-light ski the night before we went out, so they had a special trail that went out to the main overlook. Normally this trail isn't there, so we were extra lucky! Look at the view!

After about 2 hours and 8 miles Larry still had a little energy left... is this the next great USA skiing star?

What say ye?

Zeroing in....

An update... what say ye?

More jersey discussion!

We have Lederhosen (orange shorts that would be as lederhoseney as possible)
We have just a really simple light colored, no real crazy SPH things (probably black shorts with lots of white, green, and orange):
Some nice SPH embellishments... (orange shorts probably)
If we go with the last one we'll need a better set of pocket logos... I sort of like the Narwal peeking out of the pocket... maybe just have that and Claire's info on that pocket and nothing in the middle....