Snow in March is for scurvy dogs

Here is the state of the opening climb of any gravel road ride as of yesterday. I'm pretty sick of winter right about now. Lehrbach (I can't spell it correctly!) was actually rideable up the easy side. Sloppy all the way up, but not too bad.

But once on top of the bluff/hill things got a bit more dicey. It was definately only a one lane thoroughfare as I don't think an official plow had done anything up there. Just some kind soul with a 4x4 and a plow on the front of it. This sketched me out as I didn't trust that I wouldn't die going down the harder side of the hill, so I packed it in and bombed down the hill back to the golf course.


Which left my bike half encased in frozen Goodhue county gravel muck. This stuff is gross, and probably destroyed my BB. We'll see....


Here's hoping for 2 things. 1) A couple of warm weeks to get the Ragnarok course in shape and B) that our Chequamagonagongagon checks are cashed.

Happy Easter all.

Man Down!!!!

Get better soon Scraggs! Don't worry... we'll hold down the fort racing wise until you're back up and sucking in the MNSCS series and stuff. Now you have an excuse for me kicking your arse.

Lose that extra gut that you're growing and build up for Chequamagon! It's only 8 or 9 months away!

Decision time - Finally some real outside riding

I'll let the pictures do the talking. Only enough time for 30 miles... Lehrbach-Orchard-Flueger-Old Church-Hill Valley-Kolshorn-Old Church-Langhans-Flueger-Orchard-Lehrbach.

Chilly Chili Maaaaadness (said in over dramatic commentator voice)

The rickety ole ship sailed on over to Bush Lake in the fine municipality of Bloomington, MN for some always interesting ice racing action. Previous years of ice racing have brought us (in no particular order):

• below zero temperatures
• multiple shazzy lake to land transitions
• mud
• inches of slush
• tight and twisty iciness

As the maroon schooner pulled into dry dock it was obvious that the orange and green army was in for something different. The weather was actually halfways decent (wind was cool I guess, but mid twenties is a blessing in Feb). The on-ice sections were less twisty and less snowy than usual, but fishermen had left the course rutted out with waves of ice that would prove to crash against the bow quite lovingly. The normal hill climb was still there and in perfect shape. The off-season of penguining and a little spinning made climbing the hill seem as easy as trying to make off with a scurvy wench (which I hear is easy, but I have no experience with... so it might not be an apt comparison).

Onto the downhill. Which was shazzy... no... make that SHAZZY. The lead in was 8-12 inches of crusty snow that made getting to the hill a bit crazy... then you get to the top of the hill... and ... lap one left Blackbeard wondering what to do. Someone was on the ground sliding down the hill so he stopped. And then let 4-5 people through so they wouldn't have to try and avoid hitting him. What a doof.

Lap 2 produced this:

Yes... that is the "I'm about to go down and maybe hit some trees but I'm not going to wuss out again" look. With luck the hill wasn't that bad.

Lap 3:Whoops. Guess making it once doesn't mean it's any easier.

Not sure of the finishing place, but top ten for SPH is pretty decent. Not too many SSers finished ahead of the black ship (though not too many were around anyways).

Super Dave represented big time in the A race. He was no match for the SS serenity that is Ezra, but a solid #4 showing and some major style points in making it down the hill every time made the day a complete success.

Thanks to the Asian Express for making the voyage even though his bike was in pieces. Watching a kid almost get taken out by a flying death bike made the trip worth while for sure.

First race of the new year!

Blackbeard and Scraggs hop aboard the maroon cannon and shot up to Elk River to give our best at the Cold Bear race at Hillside. The snow was packed so nicely it felt like riding on dirt. That made the hour and half drive "bear"able. Here is a couple pictures for your eyes to enjoy. We will never be shot by hunters!

Cold days of winter.

Winter duldrums of a biker hits hard sometimes, but here is a way to take care of it. The other way would to man up a little and go outside but this night was not one of those nights. Congrats to Sexy Dave on his nationals results, in the harsh conditions.

MN State 'Cross Championships

This just in. Dave Meyer is a dominating force! Or at least he flew past me like I was standing still on about the third lap en route to first place in the B1 race. This also happened to be the Singlespeed Cross Championships for the State of MN. So, Dave is the champ!!!! Nice job Dave. You made it look easy. Here is a shot of Dave on the podium:

My race didn't go quite as well as Dave's, but I did end up passing a BKB dude on the last bit of the last lap. So all was good. The course was amazingly fun I thought. A hill or two to grunt up (not huge, but something), some tight spots, and a big hill o' steps. Beautiful. If I could design a fun course it would be that, only thing missing was mud, but it wasn't in the cards.

Things to work on for next year:
1) Actual speed. This is sort of an issue.
2) Single out the Poprad (or requisition a SS cross bike somehow)
3) Learn/practice/get halfways ok at remounting. It was embarassing out there yesterday. Seriously. I freaked myself out completely.



Thanks Larry for the cheer section! It was a fun 2007. Dave and Jake may have one more race to tackle yet this year, but I think the rest of the crew is done. Good job all. 2008 is just around the corner.