Peeling Carrots is for Wussies.

Youre doing it Peter, Youre doing it!

2012-01-04T18:54:00.001-07:00

I thought I had sworn off blogging for good, but recent blogs read have changed my mind and now here I am, blogging again.

Ive been everywhere, man. Like that horrible country song that found its way into a Geico commercial in the past few years. I am confident that’s not right, but as a TV-less individual you have to pardon my ignorance. Right now, I am laying in what has to be my 50 or 60th bed of the last 365 days, already second bed of 2012. What I’m saying is; I sleep around. This particular bed is in Berkeley, CA within the confines of the humble Donald Trivison estate, where he and I will spend our third separate stint of living together in this life (which makes me greatly pleased)… cooking food, talking about life, working too hard, and drinking wine (maybe a bit less for me, the princess). Some beds that I stay in are better than others, this going to be a good bed.

I just finished my third big ride of the year, and followed that with finishing an equally daunting amount of food, all the time missing Miss Annie back in Jackson. Moving around is exhausting, difficult on relationships, and overwhelming. You have to rely on the good will of the people around you to find your way home (or stay out of your way while you bumble around), find a bed, find food, and find comfort. In doing this comes the best part of going everywhere; there will be good people (if not, leave that place, or bring good people with you). Without good people, I would probably still be riding around lost on the other side of this giant hill that boarders Berkeley, where I was lost 3 days ago.

Berkeley is INSANE. I don’t know what I expected, but no one could have expected, or explained, what its like to have people walk out into traffic at will expecting you stop lest you be fined. Yes, YOU be fined. Its possibly the most sacred law here behind no cell phones while driving (oh, and style is whatever you find and wear, like tablecloths, those are popular), people don’t even gesture thanks when you come to a screeching hault, because its just how things are. I guess it would be like me gesturing thanks to a barista who hands me coffee that ive paid for, wait… Hm. Whatever, too much to think about. I walked into a grocery store thinking it was a tiny little market with good food and great produce, but there were one thousand people in there, no joke. The girl in front of me was READING A BOOK in the checkout line, which I thought unusual until I saw that the guy in front of her was turning the page in his book. I am not sure what I bought, but I am sure that I didn’t blink for a solid 2 hours. There were more types of oranges in that store than there are fruits, to my knowledge. I get to the checkout: “$68 sir.” “What? $168? I thought it might be around there.” “No, $68.”

Where the hell am I? That’s all I could think about while picking up my new cloth bags filled with who knows what, weaving myself through about 100 bikes locked to anything standing that will have a bike lock outside the store, and finally sitting in my car (where I sat in silence for about 10 minutes before braving the pedestrian dodge ball obstacle course that are the roads here). There are just so many people, so many Different people here, doing their different things (however everyone is eating bulk foods, this I can confidently state as fact).

So if I were to make conclusions on this place right now they might be:

1. To eat in bulk is to be alive. To not properly mark said bulk food is high mortal sin.

2. I am in the minority among people who ride bikes when it comes to clothing selection.

3. Cars are evil. Evil is EVERYWHERE. Parking is Necessary Evil.

4. If I were a UPS driver and had to deliver a package to Berkeley, I would rather use a slingshot and cross my fingers than drive a brown box truck down university ave.

WHEW. But you know what is nice? Im doing my thing, and you are doing your thing, and we are both all about that, so good for us! High Five! Hey Hey Do yo thang… I said it.

so..

I am back on the bike again, and I forgot how much I appreciate a mean nasty long bike ride. I am so lucky that this is my life, to love the things I do, want to do them well, have good people all around… this is it, im doing it (peter), im doing it!

That’s the thing I forget, because doing it is hard (trust me, I sleep around). I forget that this is what I want to do. I want to be challenged, I want to feel a sense of achievement, I want to be around good people. To realize that I am indeed doing it gives me this kind of calm, patient confidence. It is to feel confidence in yourself that if you have a big heart for something, you can do it. So instead of existing in a zone of comfort (known as “the comfort zone”) I am challenging myself to be uncomfortable, embrace new things openly, and be happy for the new opportunities. That is a good mindset when transitioning from Jackson with its great qualities (one being your girlfriend), to Berkeley, or to anywhere. Its an adventure! I certainly wish that I could dictate all the things that happen in my life, but that is impossible (mainly because trampoline rooms are expensive!) so im just open for new things. No that’s not an easy thing to do, but then again, neither is doing it.

Feeling like writing

2011-03-07T00:56:00.001-07:00

I was out riding today (shocker) and got to thinking; “why am I doing this?” Normally this question surfaces in a passive way when you get 50 miles from home, flip around, and find out it’s a headwind going back (to your surprise), but lately I’ve really tried to put reason to it. Its funny, here in biker house we so often sum up our day with one number; “I got 5” in response to a roommate inquiring about your plans for the day. Why do you have 5 (meaning 5 hours of riding)? First of all, what is it about even numbers that are so important in training? I have ridden past my house at 4:50 and kept going another 10 minutes just so that 5 is there. I call those 10 minutes principal minutes, as I don’t expect them to help me win any race, but I do intend to carry out my plan, so out of principal I pass the house like an idiot for no better reason than completing my goal. I have no intention of going into exactly why I ride how long and how hard because I talk about that enough with my coach and its different for everyone. My question is not really why am I doing this ride, but why am I doing THIS.

This [th is], adjective: Riding a bike.

Today, from a purely objective point of view, I got on a bike, rode south a long way to get water, and then rode back home on the same road. What was accomplished? Upon arriving at home I was out of the water I apparently went so far to get. Aside from my coach and maybe an attentive roommate, there is nobody who knows what I did today and I don’t really intend on telling you the story. Truth is, not a lot happened. A lot of cars passed me in the proper respectful way, and some endangered my life to prove a point. Today I noticed that a lot of snakes unsuccessfully tried to cross the road. My legs went in circles, sometimes it felt good, sometimes it did not. I got home, hung up the bike, and jumped in the cold pool (where I catch up on the day).

After I invented some delicious chicken gumbo (which I spent a lot of the ride planning), I sat down and watched the last 7k of todays stage of Paris-Nice:

You don’t have to watch this, but its here for those of you who do. In fact, politely watch it after I am done talking, thank you.

3 guys escape with 40k (about 25 miles for us Americans stuck using 12 inches to a foot and arbitrarily so on until we get 5280ft in a mile, yea that is easier) to go, never got more than 30 seconds off the front, and the guy who wins just barely does so. Another 500m and he would have been dead last. Seldom does giving 100% of yourself to something result in such joy as arms raised up in victory, in fact most of the time in biking giving 100% of yourself results in nothing substantial. That’s training. It’s the practice of giving everything you have to no crowd cheering at all, and very often it results in no recognition at all. Recognition is not my goal, thousands of incredible cyclists have come and gone throughout the years and we really only talk about 10 still today. I never dream of a legacy like that, besides its not something I would actively enjoy. What I do get to enjoy are the effects of giving everything I can to something, I have found that this is when the rewards are the greatest.

Fast forward to 6 minutes for the finish, this is the best.

His 3rd Tour de France. A lifetime of work (granted he is like 6 years old). I doubt he planned on crying across the line, but I think that’s what all that quiet effort will do to you when the day comes for it all to validate itself. He knows what it took, you can see it in his face. You can call it sacrifice, I think when times are tough I call it that, but its not. “I got 5” seems so meaningless at first but its really easy to do when you love the challenge to be successful. More and more I can see cycling as a way to have exactly what I want in life. I don’t need a lot of money to be happy, which is important in cycling. What I do need is a place to put 100% of myself in something that I love, and I find great reward. There are few things that I find in life I can do that with, and riding a bike is one. Pedaling down to Sonoita for some water and coming back on the same road may seem odd, but the second the thought gets into your head that this “5” can lead to more years enjoying life the way I have enjoyed it thus far, with more possibilities as I improve and more goals achieved along the way, your coach has a hard time keeping you off your bike.

The harder I work the closer all my goals seem, and sometimes that can be the very thing that gets me down because something happens that keeps me from working towards them. I feel more focused and motivated than ever to have a great season with this much improved Kenda 5-Hour Energy p/b Geargrinder group of guys. Everything is building in a positive way to great things this year. I hope to win stages personally, I hope to do everything in my power to help my teammates win stages, and I hope to make this year so good that next year can only be better. If I can do that, next year I might be able to sign a lease and not be such a nomad, set up a nice little kitchen and a good table to eat delicious food at, ride my bike every day, and happily invite some people over to hang out at my table and talk about whatever the heck we want (hopefully nothing to do with my ride that day). Maybe, gasp, invite my girlfriend over for dinner from time to time and not require a plane ticket to do so. If you start thinking like that, and you see a path, it becomes pretty easy to motivate. You start picturing crying across the finish line of the most important race and then have to tell yourself “slow down, you still have a lot of riding to go today.” All these things you do or don’t do on a daily basis are training. Its not just that ride.

I suppose that is a good reason to live this life. Its going to be a good year.

Soooooo gooooooooood.

2011-01-16T21:54:00.001-07:00

I’ve been in Tucson since January 1, 2011. Training is going beautifully here and my legs are satisfied with all the attention they have been getting from my cardiovascular system during the past two weeks. I could tell you about that, but instead I decided to go with the photo montage of how beautiful it is down here, and hopefully convey why being outdoors is good, food is delicious, and hammocks are the answer.

Above: First day up Mt. Lemmon, apparently Wisconsin happened here.

Below: Proof

Above: Delicious DELICIOUS pizzas, there is a direct relationship between goodness and quantity and types of cheese.

Above and Below: My new favorite place to hang out. Above is the view from inside my room (Lemmon in the backdrop), and below is the view from in my hammock (with fisherman’s and figure eight knots thankyouverymuch)

Above: The new kit! And what was supposed to be a funny text message picture, but turns out those are hard to see in general, let alone read. To the right, a trip back to Rome with Donny, bueno. (im aware that is spanish)

Below: Sunset and a book in the hammock. Cold at night? Nothing the sleeping bag cant handle.

Above: Proof that I really only took pictures when laying in the hammock, which I am really only realizing now.

Below: Rest day coffee shop ride!

Above: Chad being to cool to get in the 45 degree water, although no one blames him much. PS my apologies to those of you back in Wisconsin.

Below: The top of Gates Pass as the reward for what was the longest 4 hour ride of my life (long story involving a broken African safari vehicle, tow truck, bad subway sandwich, and high acid content of buffalo wings from the night before.) ADVENTURE!!

Ahh, yes. The sunsets here fill a generally brown place with all kinds of color. We played around in those mountains today which is cool. Tomorrow is an off day hike excursion. Hope to have some more pictures for you, since that makes for the best blog post!

Trying out this new fangled windows live writer blog program

2010-12-29T22:03:00.001-07:00

Hello there folks, its almost Tucson time so that also means free time with tired legs (FTTL) is near. I recently got a new netbook with all this cool software on it, and I am trying to learn to use it. Today’s lesson: Windows Live Writer. Apparently i can write blogs without signing into blogger and therefore not need any internet until posting time. This means i can write and write and write without that fancy internet thing being anywhere near any of my ports.

Ok, lesson 1: Pictures.

COOOOOOL. JIM’S LEFT LEG!!! Yeaaa, thats right, it looks fine. Thought i chipped a bone or something, and that is NOT the case. Found out one thing tho, that being i am a wuss. I must peel carrots.

Umm Lesson 2: Hyperlink

Careful what you type on that fancy iphone

Hope that works. Hilarious. Lesson 3: hmmm lets see, PHOTO ALBUM?!

View Full Album

Thats cool, its like when 1800 tequila pours him a shot and he is pretentious about it. There is the ability to make a table, no idea why, but lesson 4:

Bold	~~Strikeout~~	Underline	Italic
CENTER!!	RIGHT!!!!	This	is
not	very	help	ful

Ok, so that kind of sucked. What do you think “tags” are? Lesson 5, maybe:

Technorati Tags: Bread,Apples,Very small rocks,Churches Churches!,Grape Gravy,A Duck

No idea what that was. That was maybe lesson 4.5. Ok, so we also have a map, this i was not going to do because it seems self explanatory… But here is the cookie cabin for lesson 6ish:

YEA YEA YEA, WHATEVER WILL I USE THAT FOR? Well, last, but not least at all is a video. This should be easy.

I must say:

This new blogger program is fantastic, and hopefully will create a beautiful new blogging something or other that brings you joy. This is me trying out a quote.

Well, there we have it. I leave for Tucson on friday, more to come (not many tables tho, really not helpful) Boom, good day!

BEEF

2010-09-29T10:26:00.000-07:00

For those of you who dont know, or dont remember, this happened:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK81Ej5hm8s

Martin Gramatica, in the first quarter of a 0-0 game, hits a 43 yard field goal and celebrates so hard he ends his career, and places himself atop my "Favorite people to hate" list. This is quite the prestigious list. Second place goes to Leon Lett in the Super Bowl (made better by the fact that he is a cowboy, and Don Bebe can run faster than anyone else wearing only flip-flops)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE1G-Dn7nUs

Anyone who knows me well, and lives in milwaukee, knows that I hate Peter Francis Geraci for his Bankruptcy Info Tape commercials. That nabs him the third spot on the list.

A pretty strong podium there, so in honorable mention on my Love to Hate list is the altitude tent that Marquette University purchased a few years back for their basketball program (see previous blog post)

There it is, my top four. I think it goes without saying that its going to be tough to break into that class of.... wait what happened?

DEZ BRYANT SPENT $55,000 ON ONE DINNER WITH HIS TEAMMATES LAST NIGHT???

You couldn't possibly know this because its a blog, but between typing this and the last line, i spontaneously combusted. Thoughts:

1. Did he buy the restaurant too?
2. If he took the entire 53 man roster out, some simple math here.... oh, $1000 a person?! WHAT DO YOU ORDER?! "uh yea, i want the $80 lobster, but can you make it cost $990? And i will have a light beer. Thanks"
3. If you make $55k a year as a pro cyclist, you are doing VERY well for yourself.
4. Whatever.

Number one on the list by a long shot. Peter Francis Geraci? Off the podium. Martin Gramatica? You had a good run. Leon Lett? SECOND most ridiculous Cowboy of all time. Altitude tent? Dez Bryant's tip to the server was equal or more than your entire cost, you are out of your league.

Maybe they will give Dez Bryant superpowers in Madden 2012 like they gave Martin Gramatica:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxd_SN_tRLA

That is all.

Happy national coffee day, even know its ruined.

Make some noise

2010-09-25T21:53:00.000-07:00

Beware, of the silent urban comedian:
So. How are you? Yea, I am talking to you. Picture yourself in a room, now picture me walking into this same room and beginning a conversation with you. That is a pretty good idea of how it would start off. Then I might ask you some other questions, but what I may not expect is you are tending to move to your left, very slowly, in a circular pattern as your sort of "uncomfortable social twitch" until your like, standing next to me looking at the wall which you used to be blocking from my vision. Why are you doing this? If I compensate for what you are doing, we may start circling eachother like we are slow-dancing eigth graders. BY THE WAY, the gradeschool slow dance is the closest thing in this world to a wigi-board;

"Are you moving us in a circle?"
"No, are you?"
"No."
"...then...why are we dancing in a stupid freaking circle?!"

But your not thinking about assessing a social phenomena such as the circular patterns of gradeschool co-eds, your thinking about the next verse of "I don't want to miss a thing" by Aerosmith because if you dont know the words to that song you will be faced with talking to your dance partner, which is just not an option. So, in short, stay where you are and let me ask you questions and lets conversate, unless you want me to start singing power ballads.

SO. Hows it going? I almost always automatically answer that question the same un-heartfelt response: "Goodyou?" Which means "There is nothing on my mind that I want to bring up at this time, so I will say good. Is there anything on your mind that will keep you from carrying on this conversation normally?"

When i think about that, especially when i think about that while watching rob dyrdek's fantasy factory, I think "What are we doing talking to eachother when we could be launching eachother 50 feet in the air and landing in a foam pit?" Im just saying, and your not argueing, that would be way cooler. Cooler than reading/writing a blog. ...sigh... I want a foam pit.

How do i clear my google search history of "dont want to close my eyes, i dont want to fall asleep" because its embarassing.

Also, I need to stop watching Iron Chef when I know damn well that I have to make myself food later. I feel so dumb when im like "Yea, ok, yesterday's chicken breast in microwave, press 30 second button, check, press button again, toast bun, bring chicken and bun to living room with bottle of BBQ sauce, feel sorry for self."

Annnd. Have a nice day.

2010 Season in Review

2010-09-08T10:13:00.000-07:00

Hello! I just finished writing the following book (this blog post), its my year in review so take your time, come back, read the parts you want, whatever you want to do! I realize that its just a bunch of pictures of me biking, but that is kind of the theme. I promise more silly postings after this, as i really dont want to type about biking again for a loooong time. Enjoy!

Lets see here, I believe the last time we chatted was after Philly, that seems like a forever ago now at the end of a season that held some great things for yours truly. So lets talk about it eh?

Tour of America's Dairyland: Aggressiveness pays off.

Hey look what i found! A pretty jersey!

Yes sir (and maam)! How did that happen? Lets find out. ToAD is put on by my close friend Jack Hirt, and he has done such a good job with the series that I am lucky to put my name on its "past winners" list because I expect this series to have some prestigious names in the future. Then everyone can be like "whos that stemper guy?" 10 years from now (when i will probably just finish up the last bites of that delicious cheese wheel, rosemary and olive oil asiago? yes please).

We started with the Shorewood crit. The plan, having Marco there and Hartley for the overall, was to be aggressive but to line up for the likely field sprint with Marco and Hartley. It was a long time ago, but I still remember going backwards on the last lap because I was so unpracticed with the ardgy-bardgy in the pack, not so great, but Hartley finished well so we were off to another ToAD for Hartley looking good to repeat. The next day was a new course in Theinsville where the rain came to watch too. Rob spent the day in a 3 man break that got caught with 6 to go, we took control of the front and a small miscommunication ("go" sounds a lot like "no") and I found myself off the front with 4 to go in a 4 man group, so i attacked them with 1 to go (with the ultimate pain face to boot):

annnnnd got 4th... not good, my goal of attacking the winning break of a race remained just a goal, and the guys were disappointed with the result, for good reason. Hartley still ran a good spot in the sprint with Marco, and took the Yellow, so the day was not lost. The next day was Grafton, which is without a doubt one of my favorite crits, but sometimes life takes over and good friends get married! So i sidelined myself and celebrated with some friends a great occasion (congrats Mark and Alicia!) and Hartley held the jersey.

Added bonus: Annie was a bridesmaid and she needed a date, i am glad to say that i was the frontrunner in her decision process of who to take.

Appleton: Got it.

Finally, a breakaway, and a victory. It was flat and fast, and we were trying to be super aggressive and conserve Hartely for the likely bunch sprint. I got out solo for about 8 laps and thought to myself "man, i feel really good" so when i got caught, i recollected myself, and went again with 2 other guys. We kept a 20 to 30 second gap on the field for the second half of the race, I picked up a $500 prime, and won the bike race. Check out that picture, if you look behind me in the crowd you see my dad in the red, on fathers day, pretty excited. You can see where i get my celebratory salute from. So, a black and white jersey for the team as well as the yellow! Not shabby.

Elkhart Lake RR: Ugh, this is a tough race. Still focused on Hartley, we needed the double points day to go well for him. Jonny got away in a group of 8 i believe, and just after that Hartley all kinds of broke his bike, bad enough that Rob had to give him his bike and drop out of the race. I waited, and by the time we got back going we were 2 minutes down. It took 1.5 laps to get him back where I then rewarded myself with one of those awesome mini cokes. I think we actually high fived. Later on, with only Hartley and I left to cover the moves, he was looking good but missed one move that i jumped for late, and it ended up not coming back. I ran a spot in the race and Hartley was stuck in the field with 2 groups up the road, losing yellow. Not the best of days but Jonny did podium! SO hey, thats bike racing. More days left to race.

Sheboygan: We were out of yellow but now both Hartley and I were in striking distance, so if I could get a break and take yellow, it would take some pressure off Hartley because it would be another guy for the contenders to watch. Sounded good to me, but we got into the race and i felt horrible from the hard day before. I decided to change my plan of a breakaway and pick up some money, sprinted hard for a small $50 prime, got it, turned around and "damnit, how did this happen?!"

We had a pretty good gap, and everyone was working, so i took a gel or 4 and went to work. I remember Frankie was on the sideline giving me the sign to attack the group with 3 to go and i gave him this look that i hoped said this to him "the only person thats going to get rid of is me" so I took my chances in the sprint, came out of the last corner first and held on to second:

I would have liked the win, but it was a consolation to be in Yellow after the race (although the plan was still for Hartley which made the jersey feel a little lighter on my back). Next up, Waterloo, which is another really great course for a hard bike race. My first day in yellow in any race ever was pretty stressful even knowing I had Hartley sitting back waiting to take it from me, but i guess even if your a decoy the nerves are still present. I tried my best to defend the jersey with a late attack with the Frenchman:It looked very good, but Land Rover organized and chased us back with 1 to go. I tried my best to hang in the sprint, but Bahati's leadout man got in front of me in the last corner and sat up, Bahati won, i got 10th, and my time in yellow was over. I also crashed in the race when someone hit a cone and flew into the field, which hurt the ribs but mainly hurt the ego. I really just wanted Greenbush RR to start, which it did the next day! What a concept! Double points, hilly, and very windy. After a few laps passed, i went to the front in the hard crosswind section and just started to ride in anger because of the day before and because nothing had worked up until that point. Then what do you know!? A big group of 9 or 10 got away and gained 3 minutes in a lap. With Bahati in the feed zone and Hartley in the field, I realized the opportunity at hand, and that if the break stayed away I would be in yellow by a good margin. This was the first time I thought that maybe I could win the overall. Day done, jersey back.

Fon Du Lac followed a good day in the Greenbush state park. I felt terrible and had to just hang on for dear life for the sprint. We got lucky when Passeron and Bergeman got up the road, not a factor in the overall, and Orbea had to chase. Happily I sat on the back of the train which kept me from having to do a lot of accelerations and save it for the sprint, where i got 5th behind Hartley and it was just 2 days to go to victory. We were now racing for me. Downer is of course everyones favorite day, but its been a while since i have been rested for that race, and it requires rested legs to get away at downer with $5000 super primes on the line. United Health Care obliged keeping the pack together and took the prime, I got caught way back on the last lap and had to come from about 30th to finish in the points. One day to go. Waukesha is probably the most nervous i have been before a race i won the year before. Or maybe before any race period. A break went early with Rob in it, a bit later Hilton Clarke attacked up the hill and I followed, eventually we got across to the break and soon lapped the field. With 8 a lap up, and me one of them, it was over. On the last lap i sat up and crossed the line last, posting up the overall victory of ToAD, already thinking about the cheese wheel.

The ToAD win was pretty sweet. But I was physically and emotionally exhausted, which can only mean one thing:

Delicious.

Marion Classic: Lessons learned.

Rested and in full on mid-season good form, getting off the front of the technical course seemed not to be a problem, I think I got a bit cocky thinking i could ride 3/4 of the race off the front with just one other guy but do most of the work, which was going great and according to plan until a fresh guy came across to us and our gap went from about 20 seconds to a minute. I was confident in my chances with the person I was with, but this changed the race and I knew I was in trouble. I let it go to a sprint and straight up got smoked. Learned a good lesson in ego management, because we (as a team) should have won that race without a doubt, so it was completely my fault that we finished second. It was a pretty insignificant race for me and the season in general, but it was a significant lesson. Noone cares if you can hang off the front for the majority of a bike race, if someone beats you, your just being dumb and narcissistic and deserve second. On to superweek! Idiot.

Superweek: Aggressive is good, but dont forget rest, because being tired is bad... how many days are left?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!

With ToAD behind me, it was time for the series that can make or break the end of your season. Using superweek to get ready for Elk Grove, Charlotte, and Pro Crit is a great idea, as long as you do it properly. The key is to not get caught up in a bad performance and race the next day just to make up for it, because you may be on a fast track to dead legs instead of great legs (which, mind you, is the whole point of going to superweek). Alright, lets do this.

The Beverly Hills Crit is probably in the top 3 coolest superweek races, which is saying a lot because there are 17 of them. Fly V was back to defend, and as usual the team to watch, so when Bernie and Thompson went up the road, it was probably a good idea to tear yourself apart to get on that one. Which it was, we lapped up pretty easily (the theme for the first 10 days of superweek this year), maybe too easily. The thing about lapping the field at superweek is when you do, you are not necessarily going to get a break from the action, because now theres about an hour left to race and your really just back to covering attacks from 7 other guys, not to mention that if another move goes it could potentially lap the field, making it really seemingly pointless to even lap the field if 20 guys are going to do it. So we lapped. Then we attacked the hell out of each other until Birdman was away with Bernie and I was away with Thompson, where he proceeded to flog the living crap out of me until i just said "FINE, YOU GET THRID" and finished 4th. Thats a lot of work for first off the podium steps. How many days are left? Balls. We drove to Michigan for an early break from Superweek and did the NRC Meijer Grand Cycling Classic which was windy everywhere, cobblestones, and i really cant even remember what happened. We made a lot of money, and we were on our way back to superweek's hot sweaty uncomfortable embrace for the Homewood Crit. New, technical, and rainy!!! For some reason I decided it would be good training to do the red jersey sprints since i was in good standing after Beverly (even knowing i missed the second day). So I went for the first sprint, won it, and ended up away with Loeberg and Passeron (who won). Bush came across with Hilton Clarke and Bernie. Bush got 3rd after Passeron dropped me with 1 to go and went on to win. I got 5th, secured my first red jersey, and was disappointed i couldnt have gotten passeron back because Bush was feeling great. Next, Richton Park Crit in the red sprint jersey. I think i hate having a leaders jersey because i raced like crap, felt like crap, and decided with Bush (who i found at the back feeling very similar) to just drop out and save the energy because lets face it, its richton park. Ended up being a great decision because the next day at the Willow Springs RR I got away in a good group that probably averaged over 30mph for the entire road race. I tried to stay with Passeron on the last climb but he was too good, I ended up in a group of 3 behind the 2 leaders and attacked on the last rise.... thought i had them.... nope. My sprint is a weak point and something i will be working on in the offseason.

Ok, now to get brief except for schlitz.

I think everyone took at least one lap at the Lake Geneva Crit, super awesome venue, i hope they return. Cudahy Crit the lights were already starting to darken with my fitness from just racing too aggressively, and I missed my first break of superweek (aside from dumb richton park). I got angry at myself and attacked after a late prime and stayed away with 3 guys, took 10th i believe. Needed a day off. Skipped Brookfield Crit to rest for Schlitz Park. Good call.

Schlitz Park: I dont really know what my plan was from the start, I just know that the course is so hard that going as hard as I can will actually do some damage. So thats what i did, when guys stopped being so happy to attack up the hill, i went all in and got a big gap on the hill. Eventually it was a 5 man group that slowly began to lap the field. When we got to the back of the group I honestly thought it was over for me, the smoothness of the break was gone and the choppy field was taking it out of me. Matty Rice nearly stayed off the front but lucky for me there were still a few guys left to try and get across to him, although he was a lap up already. With him back in the fold and only 2 to go, Rob and Chad went to the front and I did everything i could just to stay on Hartley's wheel. Rob got us to the base of the hill with less than one to go, and Hartley took me all the way up the hill, down the back side, and to the last corner... where the lights went on for me. When you can see the finish line and your teammates do that much work just for you, your legs stop hurting and all that matters is crossing that line first. Which I did and got the best W of my career.

That was a highlight. The rest of superweek can be described as very tired. I began to worry a lot about how tired my legs were and the possibility that I would be tired for Elk Grove and Charlotte. I did half of the Evanston Crit before I decided that I was not competitive and pulled out. The Hales Corners RR did not feel good at all, but I worked my way into the break and finished the race top ten. I wanted badly to do well in the next two road races because i began to think about the overall, but 2 bike changes in the South Milwaukee RR put me on the sidelines before the race was over and I decided to skip the Lake Front RR despite getting 3rd there last year. I also skipped Racine Crit to hopefully rest enough for a strong finish and top off the fitness for the rest of the season. I missed the break in Kenosha but I was trying to conserve for downer, only to get crashed off 5th wheel with 3 corners to go by an untimely "chop" from someone who then hit his face on the curb after taking out 4th wheel and everyone behind it. The crash hurt pretty bad and not suprisingly i was tired and sore for Downer Ave where i pulled out with 10 to go with fears of a crash 50 guys back where I was. Whitefish Bay would have been worse to race than to not race. I finished up 5th overall and began the rest a day early with a poor last week of superweek. Regrouped. And started looking to the rest of the season.

Elk Grove: Stick to what your good at.

After some interesting bike fitting with Mantel, I was ready to roll the TT with anger. I rolled, just slower than i hoped, 37 seconds back and 38th overall. A major dissappointment for me. I felt like my inexperiance on the bike led to a bit of that lost time, but also just a reality check that it will be a few years before i can compete with the best in the NRC on the TT. I avenged that dissapointment the next dayin the road race by sticking to my guns, being agressive early, and getting away with Jay Thompson and Kyle Wamsley early on the first lap of 10. Wamsley was happy to sit on because Bissel was in yellow, so it was Jay and I for most the day, building up to a 5 min advantage. The move was big for me because it was a chance to prove my toughness and ability to ride all day, so i was motivated. 2 Kelly riders came across with 2 to go, and drove the break until we got caught with just 8 miles to the finish. That 8 miles was probably the hardest 8 miles of the year just keeping contact to the pack. I was completly destroyed after the effort and upset that we went that far to just be caught. I would do it again.

That night I ate a few dinners to get ready for the crit. I think about 35 guys came to the line of the crit on the last day thanks to a break with Jake in it that nearly lapped the field and crumbled the plans of all the big teams. Horner ended up finishing off the chase... hes good. With 2 to go we had 5 guys, and I tried to take the front with everyone but it didnt last long, its hard for us to go up against the likes of Horner and Fly V, but it dosnt mean we cant try. Maybe it didnt work out for us then, but its a work in progress.

Charlotte: Try hard. Good things happen. Attrition is a big deal. Also, check your skewer after a crash....

I think it was the 3rd lap of charlotte when someone hit the barriers and took out the entire back 2/3 of the field. My bike was in pretty bad shape (which i would realize even more later) and I think i hit my head pretty hard. I got to the pit, the front brake was completly broken, saddle broken and twisted all over the place. So i bent my saddle back into some kind of place, detached my front brake, realigned my bars, and got back in the race. Literally on the next lap i followed Menzies and there was the beginnings of a good group but it just barely got caught and I attacked as hard as i could. I turned around and saw everyone sitting up, a half lap later a group of 7 came up to be joined shortly after by a group of 3 making it 11. Fly V was clearly trying to kill the break not rotating through but sitting 3rd wheel causing splits twice a lap. So there was not that smooth feel and we had to sprint a lot more than I like. Then a $1000 prime got announced and the break reduced to 7 which was much more managable. I picked up a $500 prime in the meantime and it looked like we might be it. Then the craziest thing i have had happen to me in a bike race became apparent: my front skewer was very loose and making loud noise through the corners. I was horrified. Nothing I can take a lap for. Why did i not check that at the crash time?! It must have rattled loose and was now doing nothing for me since my lawyer tabs are filed off. SO, i carefully reach down to the non lever side and tighten the nut on the downhill until its tight to my touch. I had to do that 3 times during the race. It was the scariest (and dumbest) thing i have done on a bike without a doubt. But i earned that break and i was not pulling out of it, because it might go to the line and i want it so badly. Unfortunatly with the race coming to a close the break balooned to 18 with the field 25 seconds back and i was destroyed compared to the fresh guys. I was happy to be in my second important break in 2 straight weekends in the NRC, but again disappointed that I didnt get to the line with my group. We made good money but need to work on finishing as a team.

Pro Crit: The luck and the legs have left the building.

That course is awesome. It suits my agressive style. I even made a good looking move early with all teams represented, but about 5 laps later it was back together and i was going backwards. Nothing left in the legs, I felt like i couldnt even try harder than 75% as i was dropping anchor through the field in the wrong direction, and the race was over only half way through. Dissappointment. Exhaustion. Anger. I drove home in a pretty bad place and needed to do something not cycling to take my mind off the day, luckily my friends Peter and Erin had gotten married at about 2pm, and there was a reception that I was invited to, I tossed on the pretty clothes and didnt talk about biking all night. Just sang "youve lost that lovin feeling" at the top of my lungs and ended up getting a ride home from my gracious and tired brother. Im going to be careful to not be tired for that race next year. Its got good potential for me.

Gateway Cup: Once a tired biker, most likely a tired biker for more than a week.

I tried to scrape together a few rides and get my head back on right with a visit to Jackson to enjoy Annie's company for a week. Hiked and biked and really just enjoyed my time for a bit away from racing. I came back in time to hit up gateway cup where the story was not me, but Rob Bush who racked up 2nd overall and just did nothing but impress all weekend. We had some great hospitality from Kevin Vincent and his family and girlfriend as they took in this bunch of ruffians for a great dinner and ping-pong tournaments. My state of fitness and mind is one of a tired tired american. My best spot was a 5th but it was great to do everytihng i can to help out our great young Rob Bush. He has good things in his future for sure.

The last race of the season is next week's Texas Tough crit. Its good for me to be nearing the end of racing because my legs are protesting anything that has to do with circles at this point.

Looking Back: I had a great year. I trained hard and it paid off more than I could have imagined in febuary when i was racing Valley of the Sun, a measly 7 months ago. The best part of the year was realizing my potential and that I can compete in the NRC. I am excited for some time off in Wyoming where my girlfriend is and has been so patient while i bike my little head off. I am already planning my offseason to make sure that next year exceeds my expectations in a way this year did. I am determined to win an NRC race out of a breakaway, and I want to improve on my TT abilities so that in a few years I am one of the most dominant stage race riders in the country. Kenda has been great and offered me a good contract for 2011, we have also done good work making sure 2011 is better than 2010.

Thanks to all of you that have so greatly supported me in the past and present. I have so many friends who come to my races and a great family that never ceases to amaze me with their support. I cant wait to get training for 2011 and have good reason to write another 40 page blog post about my season.

Check out the flickr account on your right, i will be posting a ton of pictures there soon from the season, and i promise they wont all be of me riding my bike like this post...

Cheers all!

2010 Results (Kenda Pro Cycling p/b GEARGRINDER)
1st Overall Tour of America’s Dairyland
1st Schlitz Park Crit (Stage 9 Superweek)
1st Appleton Crit (Stage 4 Tour of America’s Dairyland)
2nd Marion Cycling Classic Crit
2nd Sheboygan Crit (Stage 6 Tour of America’s Dairyland)
3rd Concord NC Crit (Crossroads Cycling Series)
4th Beverly Hills Cycling Classic Crit (Stage 1 Superweek)
4th Fiddleheads Coffee Crit (Stage 2 Tour of America’s Dairyland)
5th Overall Superweek
5th Homewood Cycling Classic Crit (Stage 2 Superweek)
5th Willow Springs Road Race (Stage 5 Superweek)
7th Valley of the Sun Road Race
8th Greenbush Road Race (Stage 8 Tour of America’s Dairyland)
8th Fond du Lac Crit (Stage 9 Tour of America’s Dairyland)
8th Carl Zach Waukesha Crit (Stage 11 Tour of America’s Dairyland)
9th Overall Valley of the Sun
9th Whitnall Park Road Race (Stage 11 Superweek)
10th Joe Martin Stage 2 Road Race
10th South Shore Cycling Classic (Stage 7 Superweek)
10th Valley of the Sun Crit
11th Lake Geneva Crit (Stage 6 Superweek)
11th Trek Waterloo Classic (Stage 7 Tour of America’s Dairyland)
12th Elkhart Lake Road Race (Stage 5 Tour of America’s Dairyland)
13th Valley of the Sun TT
14th Downer Classic Crit (Stage 10 Tour of America’s Dairyland)
15th Joe Martin Stage 3 Road Race16th Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium

Blogger struggles to blog, breather struggles to breath?

2010-06-08T12:10:00.000-07:00

No, these are not the same thing by any means, but i do consider myself both a breather and a blogger, but in order to be a breather i do indeed have to breathe... to be a blogger... you get the idea. Ok, the last post, a miserable March 21st breifing on what i had been up to during the time i was also sucking at blogging previous to that post. If i breathed like i blogged, i would be a lot like my blog activity: dead.

Well, contrary to blog evidence, i am not dead. I took the long way home from tucson, stopped off in jackson hole (which is a lot like driving to where you are going, but just a lot longer) and visited annie which was totally worth it. Upon arrival home I was greeted with Milwaukee weather and a full season of racing ahead of me.

First off, Sunny King and some random RR the day after. Sunny king went pretty well for the team, Birdman picked up 4th after lapping the field with what can be only described as pretty much the entire field (14 guys?!) and monty picked up just about all the prizes in the second half of the race. I remember nearly crashing myself out on a hard corner thinking "man, i should really get used to this bigger bike" while my rear wheel skips through the 3rd corner at the bottom of the hill. The next day was another half field breakaway that ended like this "why are we all of a sudden going fas... whats that tent doi.... oh shoot thats the finish line isnt it, and there it goes. balls. how do we get back to the start line?" Ok, not a bad start, that is if you ignore near self-inflicted injury and missing all the signs telling you where the finish was. So i was a bit rusty. Lets see, whats another good warm up race....

Dear SRAM Tour of the Gila,

You have got to be kidding me.

Sincerely,
Jim "hello gutter! goodbye field!" Stemper

So my first tour of the gila experiance was eye opening. The first stage was interesting, the break just rode away, and noone seemed to care, it was simply a matter of 10 guys going kind of fast, and 160 or so guys not doing anything about it. I guess this is when i started to realize the difference between the terms "selection" and "the move" as they both have similar resulting looks, but occur in 2 totally different ways. We all missed the move, and frankie was more than somewhat peeved having told us "do not, under any circumstance, miss a move with 10 guys in it" the night before. So my first stage of my first Gila also became the first time i got to chase as a pro. Heres the dialogue for the remainder of the race as i hear it:

Phil: "jim, frankie wants you to chase"
Jim: "shut up, haha, very funny"
Phil: "I shit you not."
Jim: "well..... got another bottle?"

....60 miles later...

Lance Armstrong: "Good job guys, in a mile we are going to ride"
Jim's thoughts: "What does that mean? I wonder if lance makes jokes"

....1 mile later....

Jim's thoughts: "yikes."
(Apparently 'ride' means every single devlopment kid on garmin and livestrong takes a turn doing 900 watts on the front for 30 seconds, shattering the group....oh shoot im the last guy, hope they stop riding soon)

...8 minutes of 9 million watts later....

Jim's thoughts: " "

I got back to the front after lance's minions were done riding and were going back to what i previously thought was riding, but my definition of that will forever be changed, i guess they went back to sleeping in the biking position. We caught the group just at the base of the mountian top finish, where i preceded to climb so slow i considered faking a flat and asking the SRAM support car for a bigger cassette.

Day 1, 9:30 back from leader, woah.

The rest of the race is not worth as much detail. Day 2 was 50 mph winds and i want to talk about it as much as you want to read about it. Got dropped in the cross wind, chased back on the climb, with 2 miles to go i forgot the lesson i learned earlier in the race, and got dropped in the crosswind again. I litterally watched 102 guys pass me on the right, not one of them kind enough to let me into the draft. Day 3 was the TT, a 20-year-old won? Day 4 was the crit and i told the guys i was going to attack until i dropped out of the race, made the first break which got caught and countered by jake who was in the main break of the day, which was also caught, a 20-year-old won? Christ. Day 5 a guy crashed into me 5 miles into the race, rolled the front tubular off my wheel, took out half my team, and ended gila for me and the guys a bit early.

All in all I learned alot, mainly i learned that theres a lot more to racing than going hard and crossing your fingers that it works out for you. I liked getting to chase, and i like getting to work on a team, so the year had some real positive things to come in my view despite a pretty rough gila.

Flew home and flew to Joe Martin a day later. Did not feel very good at all in the TT which was really dissappointing because i really thought it was a good oppertunity for me to show how hard i worked in the offseason. Kept the spirits high and came out swinging in the second stage. I found good legs and followed moves for the first 40 miles but nothing was getting very far. The field hit the feedzone hill and i couldnt believe it, but i was passing people on the climb! I got across to the front group that seperated over the climb, which eventually attacked itself into a 15 man breakaway with 40 miles to go. With about 30 to go i started to cramp up and nick waite smartly told me to sit on, I hung on for dear life to the finish and finished 10th. I wish i would have had legs to help nick who was left to fend for himself and got 8th, i think if he had me to help we would have done better, hydration is therefore important, your teammates depend on it. The third stage was another eye opener: Luca Damani is damn good. I was supposed to keep him in good position but the holes and spots he shoots through kept me doing everything i could just to stay on his wheel. He sneaked himself onto the 4th wheel with 1k to go and i watched in amazement as i couldnt seem to find any space to get to him. He finished 4th on his own and i just sat there open mouthed and totally pumped to have that guy on our team. Quote of the year:

Jim: "dude luca, you gotta teach me that."
Luca: "Sometimes, you just have to close your eyes."
Jim: (aussie accent) "f-en hell"

The last stage of joe martin will go down as one of the most dangerous races i have ever done. I was pretty tired after all the racing and couldnt get good position, so i ended up behind 5 or so crashes that left me chasing, eventually i just couldnt get my legs convinced to go harder and i had to call it quits and watch yet another race finish without me in it. Let me tell you what. There is nothing, in my mind, worse than watching a race that you were in finish and you know you were no help. Its my biggest motivation to train hard when i think about those finishes i was stuck watching as a spectator.

Some time off lended itself to some good money making oppertunities. I went down to quad cities over memorial day and (i will just sum this one up): Burlington RR: chased, didnt get them all. Dissappointed in that. Also a world record number of jersey numbers:

Snake Alley: Made it to the front group but went into the snake with a foot down, never saw the lead group again. Very cool race, i will be back to avenge this thing.

Melon city: great team effort with birdman taking 2nd
Quad Cities: another great team effort with marco taking the sprints, chad just missing the win, rob smashing it as usual, and me having my best legs of the year. I can tell you what, i am going to try more often to gamble off the front at the end of the race because i really think i can do it. OH, and this happened (laundry is sometimes optional on bike weekends, at least if your super-pro like bird):

Chad on skinsuit stench patrol.

Philly...

Philly is going to really be in my head for a while. Coolest, biggest, craziest, longest bike race i have ever been a part of. Our team was so good and so excited to ride in such a cool race. Right from the gun we had 3 guys in every move, and we only had 5 guys covering moves. Nick Waite smashed it, unbelievable ride. He coverd moves, attacked, pulled, bridged gaps, and finished the race on his way to a 4th on the KOM competition. Rides like that really get the rest of the guys inspired. Personally, i would have to say my day was good, but left a very sour taste in my mouth wanting the race back in a big way. I cant wait for next year already. After the first time up the wall i bridged across to the 30 man break with 5 other guys by the top of strawberry hill. Kenda had Waite, Bush (19 years old), Monty (20 years old), and myself in that move and it looked good, but HTC missed it. They chased into the bottom of the wall on lap 2 and got a few across to it including Luca and Jake, but the move didnt last much longer and eventually the field creeped back to a lazy front group as 10 rolled off the front. Waite, after admitting over the radio he needed a break, crossed the gap over the top of the wall on the 3rd lap and we had representation and that was the move. Half way through the race i ran a crashing rider over on the fall from the wall, and broke my rear seat stay in half. I got a spare but the chain was out of whack, so after chasing back on i got another bike change (complements of good old chad thompson, who it turns out, is not as tall or long-legged as me). After i got back the second time I got to do my first on the bike rolling bike adjustment, got the saddle close, and it was back to racing. 3 laps later i think my decision to ride the bike despite it not really fitting caught up to me and it was lights out on the wall. 115 miles in and my philly was over. Nick finished it out like a champ even after attacking his lights out, jake finished a solid 26th, luca felt it and lost contact with only 800 to go and im sure had we all been able to stick it out a bit longer he would have made it, hes damn good and ive never seen someone so dissappointed, still rode great. Phil and Bush finished it as well making an impressive showing for our team. I was proud to be a part of kenda for sure this weekend and i cant wait to hit that wall again in 360ish days from today.

Well.... that just about covers it. I hope to keep you updated on dairyland coming up in just over a week now. If you made it this far tell me you did and i will buy you a coffee next time i see you for being such a good reader.

Lets catch up, shall we?

2010-03-21T15:24:00.001-07:00

Well, its been a while, aside for of course the post I just published about the season not getting here soon enough. I actually wrote that when i got back from Jackson Hole where I was lucky to visit Annie for 4 excellent days. I figured that I would post a picture-heavy blog that goes from the day i got back from Jackson to today! Annnd go.

So, camp was great but did not really put an emphasis on "hard training" and I did zero riding in Jackson (although we did climb, walk, cross-country ski for the first time in my life, and avoided skiing down hills mainly because im a fancy-pants afraid of injury). The word "injury" is actually a great transition to what I did find waiting for me back in AZ: trying to get the new shoes and pedals on the same terms as the old shoes and pedals:

If you think that looks like a mess, you are correct. I rode my left knee into a place of darkness that i hope to never revisit. Key lesson here is to ease into training after off time, especially if you replace every piece of equipment there is to have in biking. 2 hard long rides is all it took to put me out for 2 days bored as hell and forced to do things like this:

Crepe day!!! Theres not much to do here if your not biking, or tired from biking, so i channeled that energy into something somewhat awesome: peanut butter, jelly, cinnamon, and brown sugar crepes. I liked to keep mine modest, brian on the other hand....

Were just going to let you all make up your own comments and jokes for that picture. Moving on, my boredom seemed to infect Sal and Brian which led to the thought "i wonder if you can eat a cactus" well, heres a cactus paddle we found outside:

And here is what the three of us, some salt, olive oil, and 10 slivers later, came up with:

Not so impressive considering where we started, but by the time we came up with that small peice, the taste of it was not good enough to warrant another bout with the prickers of yet another cactus paddle. But, it was good! Thing is, you could put olive oil and salt on a rock and id probably consider eating it.

Lets see, what else happened? Ahhh St. Patricks day Tucson Style:

Dad send his son (me) a nice card and some money to get some beers on St. Pats day, and thats what we did. Tucson aint such a bad place to drink on a porch at night. With St. Pats day over and my knee healing up with max levels of ibuprofen and iceing, I got back to it with really one mindset: smash myself to the best of my abilities. I dont have much time left here so i figured take this time and weather to make it almost a good idea to sit in a car for 2 days with the bike banished to the roof. While thats going on, a few old great friends came to visit me in Tucson, so I found a way to thrash myself AND help them enjoy Mt. Lemmon: Meet me at the cookie cabin.

Pure joy. After the cookie cabin it was on to the hiking portion of the day, having already ridden to the top of a mountain i was looking forward less to this part of the day than the cookie cabin part of the day. Alas, jim earned a gold star for fitness, and also got some great pictures for the effort. Looking down on Mt. Lemmon Hwy (about mile 8 to 9):

Once the tourism portion of the hiking was over, it was time for the "where do you think that trail goes" portion of the day. This trail goes up, no sh%#

There was quite a bit of PA-ing taking place on this trip, since catherine and heidi are both here for a PA conference (who knows what thats going to be like). Needless to say, pulses were checked, and PA's were in action:

While showing people around this mountain that I have spent so much time with this year, I started to get a little nostalgic about leaving this place that has been such a part of my life the past 3 months. So this picture has maybe more meaning to me, as it is Mt. Lemmon Hwy going up, and then again at the top of the picture you can see it way up.
We celebrated a full day of Lemmon with trader joes snacks and pizza, and 2 buck chuck... not really going to say today was full of good feelings in the morning, but i did punish myself during the ride so i am feeling a bit better.

I leave here in 5 days, going to stop off in Jackson since its "on the way" home. Then I will be back home for the summer, getting ready for The Gila and Joe Martin from the comforts of my parents own home :) I cant wait to race, as you can see from the previous post. I will miss it here but there are some great things to come, for example, the Kenda boys ended up with a 2nd overall at Tour of Taiwan this week, great work. I think its a symbol of things to come this year, so im looking forward to it.

The season better get its butt here already

2010-03-12T19:16:00.001-07:00

ALRIGHT, THATS ENOUGH ALREADY SEASON, YOUVE HAD YOUR REST, LETS DO THIS. I think needless to say, I am just about ready for some racing. I remember after the TT at valley of the sun, we were each able to somehow talk about the individual 30 minute effort that was the TT for about, mmmmm, 6 hours. As if living it in person was bad enough, theres only so many ways you can say "it hurt, i could have gone harder tho" and "remember that slight rise? did not expect that" and especially "that 1-k to go sign had to be wrong." This would be the effect of a long off-season, you actually look forward to something that looks similar to this:

I mean seriously season, this is getting ridiculous, i keep calling you, trying to make you feel guilty, and what to i get back?! NOTHING. HArumph. Bah humbug. Guu. Silly noises aside, probably the main reason I feel this way right now can be described here:

Are you getting this, season? Are you picking up what im putting down? If you dont understand, let me put it simply for you. If i cant be with my girlfriend in jackson hole, then there better be a race that i am going to so i can take out said frustrations on a big group of skinny shaved legged bike enthusiasts. Simple enough, i feel. Salright?

Next blog post.

Some was had.

2010-03-06T18:14:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting in my hotel room here in Salt Lake City after a day of travel attempting to remember all those things I wanted to remember for my blog. I am currently unwilling to turn off the TV so i can hear myself, so this is tough. Eh, here it goes.

We got to try and kill each other! I remember that. We had a 5 hour ride, the last long ride of camp, and there was quite a bit of half wheeling taking place on the front (more than normal, at least more obvious this time) and quite a few fellas "marking their territory" or at least trying to via riding a bike at annoying pace. SO, after much playful conversation covering up the thought "whens this guy going to knock it off, this is annoying," the captains called an 8 mile throw down. Not rapper style, bike racer style (that's an 8-mile reference, its a movie, about rapping.... eminem?). So we stopped, at too many sandwiches, and got after it. No one knew where the finish line was, so it turned into a "who can attack more" competition that actually kind of turned into an alright team TT. I think jonny won the attack battle, but our ride leader (knowing where the finish line actually was) calmly rolled across the line on the front and won the day. Nice work christian.

Lets see, other stories... well before i forget theres this: Cycling News Article on team camp. Great write up. Have a look.

What else... picture time? Go:

Nemesis. Thats a picture of the jerk (dryer) that, knowing FULL WELL that it was busted, watched me silently as i put the majority of my laundry that would spend the next week in a box. When i threw the load into the dryer, and paid it for its services, AND pushed the button which started the dryer, i knew not that 45 minutes later i would return to a cold, wet, pile of laundry. Fool me once....

Naturally, I placed another dollar in the machine, pressed the button, came back 45 minutes later..... idiot. To keep the theme of dumb and dumber quotes from the week, "and you TOTALLY REDEEMED YOURSELF!" Behold, the hotel-sized dryer I found in frustration:

Boom. It was free too. This, among a few other key things, prevented me from making it to USPS to ship my bike and clothes back to Tucson. Let me tell you this. UPS Ground = more of a thief than that stupid dryer pictured above. Ew. OH well, times like this call for bottles like the following:
Apparently the oldest living brewery in America? Tastes good, test of time is normally pretty good at judging.

Camp was busy, so I am way behind on pretty much everything that isnt bike camp oriented. Our team is incredible. I cannot wait to race this year, we really are going to surprise people, and I cant wait to see what these guys are capable of with Frankie's leadership and Chad T's constant passion for this team. Its infectious and set a great air around camp all week. I am going to slack a bit here and call this edition off here, but no worries, there will be tons of updates and pictures all year. Its really going to be exciting to follow this team, and I will help you do it.

Thank you too all our sponsors that brought this team together!

ps, some was definitely got.

Dude, bike camp is awesome.

2010-03-01T15:24:00.000-07:00

So its Monday of Kenda p/b Geargrinder bike camp, and its sweet. I don't really know how long I've been in Macon, which is a good sign considering I normally only count down days for two things; 1: when something takes a long time and normally can be described as having a lot of "suck" *cough* superweek *cough*, ahem, excuse me. and 2: days till i actually get to see my girlfriend or family (which is 5 days at this point, so at least i know how much longer i will be in Macon). So, since bike camp is neither a bunch of suck, my girlfriend, or my family, it must be something else... awesome comes to mind. Here's why:

1. The guys that I have met this week so far are awesome. We not only have had a great time but also seem to already be comfortable enough with each other to have a royal rumble in the McDonald's bathroom.... i tell you what, i give the guy in the stall credit for actually coming out of there in the midst of it, if it were me, i would have checked to make sure the door was locked, sat down, and picked up my feet so they wouldn't know i was in there. shows guts, charecter, and an extreme craving for a big mac.

2. We have new bikes, and got them fit, and carbon training wheels, and new kits, and a ton of incredible stuff to go along with the pretty new bikes that makes me happy.

3. (And currently causing my type speech to slur every other letter, this is taking forever to type) Post-ride leg rub-down by Janis. Today, after 6 hours on the bikes, I got my first ever pro-bike massage and it made the last 5 years of working hard TOTALLY WORTH IT. Unbelievable. I am pretty relaxed right now. I blame all grammatical and spelling errors on this, thats right Gaimon.

4. The area we are in has every imaginable fast-food joint on the face of the planet, including Five Guys and Firehouse Subs.... and starbucks *pulls collar while saying ehhhh*

5. The trip to Lifetime Fitness, where if your not careful, you might think your in a resort of some kind. The lockers were all wood and the benches were granite, and i am pretty sure it was the nicest shower i have ever seen. It all almost made this worth it:
That would be the torture device used to measure VO2 levels at threshold and at max effort. The guy said that of the 5 of us that were tested, our average VO2 max was 11 points higher than the average of Amore Vita's last year.... take that! Too bad there isn't prize money for lab tests, because i think we finished 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. not too shabby. (Rob bush smoked us all, 79? I though my 75.5 was good, but that's just ridiculous, now he has no excuses). Oh hi rob! Hey, whats your secret?!

That's a pretty incredible secret. Too bad i just foiled it.

6. We got to go on a 6 hour ride today that included a pretty stiff pace line, that turned into a very stiff pace line, that turned into an all out lead out up a hill for some reason. Clearly the highlight of my week so far was watching everyone go really fast. Funny thing is, you only have the camera out when the ride looks like this:

7. Without getting myself into an endless pit of shout-outs that i just don't have the focus to write correctly, we have great management, great sponsors, and a great group of guys. We have everything we need to win races, so we have confidence. Therefore, if you cannot already tell, we have some serious excitement for the year to come. None of us can wait to get to a race.

One thing that does NOT make my list is the fact that the average plate at olive garden is now $16, which is an obscenity equaled only by kicking puppies. Needless to say, I'm upset and disappointed in the Olive Garden.

We have 5 days left here to really solidify as a team, get all our little "oh poor baby" type requests made fun of and sorted out, destroy our hotel room (which will be tough because the housekeeping crew here is incredible), and try and tear each others legs off. Its going to be, like i said, awesome. With all that said, here's some links to follow all the twitter/facebook/whatever you want for pictures and probably videos from camp:

Team Website

Team Facebook

Team Twitter

And remember that I post all my pictures on my flickr account up there on the sidebar (that's the thing on the right side).

Camp Day: Negative 2

2010-02-24T18:42:00.001-07:00

That's right, were here two days early, well Hartley, myself, and a few other lucky few. Three days of travel sure takes it out of you, and so does packing this sucker:

That's taken at some point where i was clearly not helping fill the trailer all the way to the back, probably drinking coffee, most likely watching Chad T do most of the work, probably handing out help-less input and opinions, definitely sitting down complaining about how cold it is in Ohio. Volunteering to roll the huge trailer down to Macon, GA does come with its perks, like right now, im watching the Olympics on a pretty awesome tv in a warm room writing to you! That's a perk. I figured while i was at it, I would take a picture of our room here on day one of camp, before all of our bags puke all over the place and you cant see the beds:

I will be sure to take an "After" picture at the room's worst. While i am at it, taking pictures of stuff that is, I may as well show you around. Well above you have my bedroom, chad's bedroom, the living room with the nice flat screen, the garbage room, the office, the kitchen table, the foyer, and the art room. Here, follow me to the pantry:
Spacious. Delicious. And maple trim!! Lovely.

Well camp does not really start for another two days, hence the title of the blog post, but it has not stopped us from loading and unloading the trailer, moving the trailer to 6 different parking spaces talking about the pros and cons of each individual space, moving in to our room, setting up our bike building center and fit area for some WN fits, and learning how to cook brown rice in a microwave. OH hey, here's a cool tid-bit of information i got today, apparently i should be riding a 58cm frame, not the 56 frames i have ridden for 5 years... good thing we accidentally ordered 2 extra 58cm frames, apparently.

So, bike camp. Im bigger than i thought. And microwave rice is still really good. All i need now is a way to open the can of tuna. I will keep good updates going, don't forget to check out the flickr photostream (also in the sidebar on the right) that I keep for more pictures from camp that I post this week.

VOS Stage 2

2010-02-13T21:25:00.000-07:00

90 mile road race today, Stage 2 Valley of the Sun. We focused on the stage as a primary goal and the overall as an afterthought today as I was the highest on GC, 2:18 back from the lead. With small time bonuses and only 2 days remaining that seemed like a better plan. We had a lot of plans for the race, and a lot of thoughts on what would happen, but no one thought that 5 miles in, a break of 12 would put 3 minutes into the group in one lap, and continue to an eventual 9 minute lead on the pack. Well, that... just... happened.

Chad took some advantage of a clean run and got a group of about 6 up the road almost immediately into the race. Up the climb the first time chads group came back and 5 countered, Marcotte and Ariman bridged right past me, and I jumped as hard as i could to cover those two, knowing what marcotte has been up too (not loosing any races this year? yea hes alright), before we reached the top of the hill, another group with Chodroff showed up and that made it 12, and 5 miles in it was the race. Johnny and Stefano were in a chase group that sat 15 seconds back from my group but no one was missing a pull up front and it was all but over 85 miles from the finish.

Getting away from a group working that well together and with no wind or really any parts of the course to put anyone into difficulty was tough. A few attempts on the time bonus laps showed that any effort was going nowhere fast. I picked up a 1 second time bonus but that ended up not mattering. Coming up the hill the last time i found Marcotte's wheel but when he went, by the time i got on it, i was already learning how much better sprinter marcotte is that me. I ended up 7th finishing same time, and moved into 9th overall.

Chad rolled in a bit later with a 4 man group, he won the bunch and moved into 13th on GC. All in all, we would have liked another guy up in the break but when its that good a group, theres not much coming across.

The parrish family has shown me and the guys nothing but the best race weekend imaginable, and tonight their BBQ was nothing less. They deserve a ton of credit for taking us in and making sure we have been happy as clams all weekend. I love a good burger.

Tomorrow is the last day, a 70 minute crit and our last chance for what we came for: stage win. The GC is all but sorted out, so tomorrow will be about finding a way to beat marcotte and put the new red pin-stripes on top of the podium. One last note: Congrats to Aly Dudek!! She qualified 2nd in the 500m short track sprint tonight and is moving on to the finals on Wednesday. She still skates the 3000m relay tonight at 10 so wish her luck as she represents the USA. Its incredible, she did it!

Talk to you folks tomorrow.

Quick VOS Update

2010-02-12T20:58:00.000-07:00

Time trial today. It gave us all a chance to see where our fitness is at here in Feb, and get some really great TT race scenario practice in. I concentrated on feeling good and enjoying the fact that I finally get to race my bike, had a great warm up, and consequently a pretty good ride in the TT. It was a little bit slower than I had hoped, but then again, when isnt it? I came in 13th with a time of 30:53, while chad, stefano, and johnny were all close behind. Chad gets honorable mention for the day, rocking a single-speed track bike for the TT, which required a combined mathematical effort this morning to pick a gear. I think he was happy.

We discussed the next two days over dinner and we all seem pretty excited to finally race a bike. Tomorrow is the road race which starts at 11:30am, I will be sure to let you know how it goes.

Also, a fellow Wisconsinite and family friend is competing in the Olympics in short track speed skating (the 500m individual, and 3000m relay) tomorrow, be sure to root for Kenda p/b GearGrinder AND Alyson Dudek tomorrow!!

New Kits and Valley of the Sun!!

2010-02-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

The new kits are in and ready to go for Valley of the Sun this weekend! Chad, Johnny, Stefano, and myself sat in Johnny's living room busting open all our bags of new stuff, and of course within 5 minutes all of us were standing in the living room in our skin suits. The kits are awesome and we are all super pleased with how they turned out. As you will see below, a pretty good look at the kits stationary and in action!

Me and my continuing battle with "mirror pictures" attempting to give you all a good idea of what were dealing with here:

Once outside, we attempted to take some pictures before setting out, i got into a track stand that looks under control, but almost immediatly unraveled into a near first ruined kit of the year moments after this was taken:

Chad showing his new feelings of awesomeness that a day of new kits (and full zip jerseys!! 2 handed high five!!!):
Very confident chad, very cool. Way to be.

Tomorrow is the Valley of the Sun TT and I am super pumped to get out on the road and unleash all the pent up racing energy that builds in the offseason. Cant wait to get that new skin-suit some miles on it.

I will keep you updated on how the racing is going. So until tomorrow, enjoy the kits and wish us all good luck!

My miles program

2010-02-08T14:03:00.000-07:00

Hello, you've reached the miles department, all of our personal miles coordinators are currently helping other customers find out that their miles are about as good as a plane without any gas, Mr Rodgers' sweater collection without Mr Rodgers, or trying to cry your way out of a drunk in public ticket. Dave Matthews without his band? McDonald's without corn? MILK WITHOUT COOKIES?!?!

RRRAH. Im not even going to bore you with the story. Not worth your time.

Oh, hey guys, how do you do?!

Saw some horses, took a bunch of ride-by pictures, they were being all shy and stuff but couldn't help looking to see what the heck was going by, so they tried to hide behind the fence. Fail. Its tough when your a giant animal to be inconspicuous.

So there was the second race of the year yesterday in McDowell Park up in who knows what part of phoenix. "Hey Jim how did it go?" Well.... I can show you how it felt...

Not really a bad thing this early in the year and the day after the shootout, but not fun. It was like dealing with airline miles, you may feel like your working really hard, but you seem to get literally nowhere, and maybe in this guys case, sometimes backwards.

Got to watch the Superbowl, but only the second half. By far my favorite ad was the one with all the old stuffed animals jumping the kia. I don't think i saw anything as good as the 1-second commercial for miller last year, "HIGH LIFE!" and nothing beats terry tate.

Unbeatable.

Whelp, i just enjoyed a nice hour long exploration on the bike at 4 miles an hour. Time for a shower, but, admittedly, its really just to get the sunscreen off. Enjoy your weeks!

Race Picture!

2010-02-02T17:43:00.000-07:00

Well, the season hasn't really officially started until you can find one of these on the Internet:

So that's me. And behind me is Evan, who I have found to be a great guy to ride with down here in Tucson, riding for the Bahati Foundation Pro Cycling Team this year (also a new guy to the pro ranks).

As for answering the question "What have you been up too?" i guess i could do a list:

1. Lost my camera, then found my camera

2. Switched my car insurance to save about 200 bucks next year thanks to being a member of USA Cycling. This also made me feel like a man.

3. Computer started to make funny noises, i have done nothing but squeeze it where the noise comes from until it stops, seems to be working quite well.

4. Finished Omnivore's Dilemma. Currently wanting to have real sit-down dinners for the rest of my life. Current books: Harry Potter 6, American Pastoral, and Racing Weight. I like to keep good variety.

5. Started doing LT efforts, and therefore started doing Yoga to make my legs feel better.

6. Listening to radio milwaukee live stream

So that's a good quick list of the things I have been up to. I've been reading a bit about achieving my racing weight, and despite it being my lest favorite part of training, knowing how to control your body composition can be a powerful training tool in peaking for your target races. I had a short bout with what can happen when you lose too much weight too quickly and get dehydrated, and your body does some interesting things in response to not getting what it wants. When you think about it, your body is pretty temperamental sometimes (then again, nowhere near as temperamental as cyclists). You have to do alot of experimenting to find out the kinds of things that make you happy and the things that get you a night on the couch, figuratively speaking.

Today it rained, it winded, and it cold-ed. So that happened. I dont really want to talk about it, but the pool being cranked to full heat was a welcome homecoming after a long slog.

Theres a race this weekend in phoenix, i think were going to give it a go. We will see, i will talk to you all then most likely.

First race jitters: Offically Out

2010-01-25T19:04:00.000-07:00

So its January, and you all know what that means, thats right, a crit. Wait, no no no, thats wrong, January is for smashing your old heart rate records on the trainer or riding long enough to stop for lunch and actually pay for it. That does, of course, depend on where you live. I have gotten a bit of both worlds this past week, but I will save talking about the weather and my training habits for the end of the conversation, when we have run out of other things to talk about.

So Parrish and I drove out to the race in Avondale, AZ (I drove from Tucson, then John, his wife, and I made the 40 minute journey from phoenix to, you guessed it, phoenix) to find a nice sweeping turn course without bumps and in some places, without curbs, or even a distinguishable finish line (if your colorblind especially). I watched the 3's race and felt sick to my stomach as they went through the first turn thinking "oh man, they are going to crash, sheesh thats fast, we really do this?!" So my strategy from that point on was to spend as much time off the front as humanly possible as to reduce the amount of time anyone else had a chance of crashing in front of me. Many of you who know me are saying "well thats no different than your strategy in every race" and your pretty much right, but today i felt like i had method to the madness: dont die.

This is not a way to go into a race, so i just shut that all out and concentrated on what actually matters: 1) Win the race. 2)Win primes 3)Get a great training ride in. These three things should be taking up your mind power, not "oh my God oh my God oh my God"

So, sack up, sally, and attack the field.

It was one of those days where there wernt any technical corners to slow up the field, no hills to tire the field, no wind to string out the field, and 15 guys on the same team wanting to "show off" their new digs and big numbers. Not letting any of this hinder any pointless breakaway attempt, i tried and tried and tried again, always justifying everything under the excuse of "its good training" which is another way of saying "you didnt go hard enough". I looked down at one point and figured we had gone over the time scheduled, and we had only gone 30 minutes... "oh, drag."

At one point evan rolls up next to me and goes "i think i got an idea! its brilliant! we both attack together!" It was a good idea. it did not work. so 85 minutes of failed attacking later, there were 5 to go and we were taking less than a minute to do a lap. I got a bit swamped but a bit of early season fitness allowed me to make up for that mistake and get position for the sprint. Marcotte made me and the other guy i was sprinting (unsuccessfully) for the win look stupid as he ripped by us before the line as if we wernt riding bikes. I ended up third which i was satisfied with despite the fruitless breakaways, my sprint is getting a bit better.

There are some seriously strong guys out here, thats for sure, and they deserve credit where its do in saying that race was underestimated by me and parrish and everyone else i talked to, turns out the arizona crowd can get going in a crit just like back in the midwest. Felt at home, plus about 50 degrees.

In other recent news, i attended a Jon Chodroff "spin" class during the armegeddon weather week for some good old trainer wars on thursday. I did not expect the following 1 hour of my life to look like this:

Good One!! Yesh.

So, the other big news this past week was the weather. The weather decided the following: nothing. It was cold, sunny, windy, rain, hurricane, snow, pressure washer, el nino, the nino, 4 feet of snow. BUT, when I finally did get to ride outside, i tried to capture some of the beauty that is Tucson doing its best Boulder CO impression:

Yet, when all was said and done, the weather returned to consistency and another sunset became part of my life in a really good way:

Off day jitters

2010-01-21T16:38:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned in the last post, its off week, or for people listening in who are already skeptical that what I do actually counts as "work," welcome to "regeneration week." Rest, as many Americans often forget or ignore, is just as important as the time you spend not resting. In fact, in my opinion, rest days are even more difficult to do right than the hardest interval set imaginable on a bike. Rest days, given proper thought and planning, give time to sit, think, and even stand on the back porch waiting for your chicken to get done grilling, attempting to close your eyes and go 2 minutes without thinking of anything. Thinking of nothing is harder than you think, which is to say, not thinking requires a pretty concentrated effort of thinking.

Often I get caught up in filling my off days with a to-do pile that accumulates on the chair next to me:

That pile of clutter represents a pile of stress on your mind, something you need to ignore to properly rest. So, all those grocery lists with workouts written on them, the power-tap transfer dock, the mail, the bills, the issue of world cycling productions you've been using to shop your clothing sponsor unsuccessfully to local shops, the busted power-tap hub, that movie you've been planning to watch with that one guy from James bond who is awesome, and even the dirty floor need not be sources of stress to your supposedly stress free day. I'm a hopelessly active being, if I'm doing nothing I often consider that time wasted or otherwise poorly utilized, but oddly enough, when I'm being extremely productive and nearing the end of a hard week, the only thing i seem to crave is to do nothing. I don't think this is coincidence, yet i think its my body telling me what it wants, and i have to master a way that gives it to my body. In comes 2 options:
Obviously you are given this choice every day in some form. One represents a more passive form of rest while the other a far more active and rewarding form of rest (hah, the resters dilemma, hah, ok im done). I am finding more and more that nothing can fill your time better than reading a book. If anything, sitting down and actively making the decision on the right over the left is an exercise in mental toughness, at least it is for me. Nothing comes of the left but nervous and stressful energy occupying your mind space. But on the right, you are required to be attentive of your restful surroundings like the music being played, the chair or couch you are in, and even the position of your body. Its also a chance for your mind to move at its own restful pace, and hey, you may even learn something.

Being able to control that nervous energy that, at one point, found me lacing up running shoes at the door ready for a run (for God knows what horrible reason, self hatred perhaps), into something productively restful is a way of training your mind while your body rests. If you think about it, maybe while your spending that 2 minutes trying not to think about anything, having control over your own mind and thoughts can be a very powerful tool. So when it looks like this outside:

And it looks like your going to be pent up in the house yet again, there are good things to do that are not sizing down to-do lists and getting to the end of the day wondering where it went. As hard as you have had to work to get your body to a place where it can take the abuse of a rigorous schedule (cycling, working, school, etc..) mimics the amount of self control required to give your body that uninterrupted "nothing" it so desires in your 40th hour at work or equivalently 7th day of training in a row. Trust me, learning how to rest is important, and i am just at the beginnings of getting a feel for how to do it. I guess you could say today i upgraded to Cat 4 as a rest-er, aka, i feel like i need to tell everyone about what i did and ignorantly think no one else knows what I'm talking about.

Enjoy your rest days! and read that book, its really excellent for more than just its raw history and analysis of the food industry. I really want to visit Polyface farm, or find a way to apply what they do there to my own life.

Long week, or weak

2010-01-17T21:09:00.000-07:00

Woah. First of all, i would like you all to know that I am currently looking at this and it is making me beyond happy:
That being said, its been a long week. Today was the last day in a long series of days amounting to 7 days in total (the number of days in a week). Big weeks have a few things that come along with them, and there is zilch you can do about it:
1. You are going to get tired, and most likely feel similar to woeful appearance of my current shoes (avert your eyes!):
Those babys are ancient, ahem, Wise. Old learned man cycling shoes.
2. With tiredness of your body comes certian mental responses, mainly the fact that you become a universal asshole. This morning i found myself angry at my tires for not being fast enough, then i got angry at myself for making excuses, then i got angry at myself for getting angry at myself, and then with perfect timing my roommate decides to talk and I immediatly figure that whatever hes saying is stupid and makes me, you guessed it, angry.
3. You will get dehydrated. Below i have included my arsonel of hydration tactics that lead to grumpy moods and dry skin on day 7 of the biggest week of the year so far (the including of coffee paraphenilia twice is no oversight, it just proves a point. and yes, thats a gigantic pitcher of OJ, i reccomend 1 a day)
4. Again, you will get tired, and need to relax. I am told that your should only sleep in your bed, not other things like watch movies or read because then you may have trouble sleeping. SO, if you lack a couch, improvise with the patio furnature cusions, a pillow, a good back support, and a floor!
5. Your muscles will revolt. So, like midevil times, when you cannot get something you want out of someone who is to stubborn to give it to you, you torture that person until they give in. The following are 4 effective torture devices for causing your legs and body to submit to your will, nomatter how stiff, sore, and tight they try to get:
6. You get hungry. And you also need to give props to your awesome cast iron pan. So you use it to cook your everything, and then you post a picture of it on your blog. I dont know how, but this somehow has a positive effect on your wellbeing. 7. Lastly, during a long week, when you finally get home from the last ride, you will roll into the rock driveway, relieved that its all over, and get your wheel stuck in the big rocks, be too tired to un-clip your foot, and fall over in front of your house, worthless and exhausted.

So, tomorrow, I plan on sitting in a coffee house for some much deserved time away from the bike. Hopefully the days off will cause the emotional wuss side of me to creep back into the darkness and the "i cant wait to ride my bike" part of me returns.

Oh, and a final note. I have been really wishing i had a place to call my home recently, so I got on the old interweb and searched out homes in areas that are not Tucson yet are condusive to biking (just with more trees and water outside, and less cacti), and a long sickening search ended in my submitting of my resume to a local engineering company looking for a part-time engineer to do solidworks design. Oh well, hard work is good, and money isnt everything!

For old times sake:
Boom.

Summerhaven, Ski Valley, Smithers, and shameless pictures of leg muscles

2010-01-10T19:56:00.000-07:00

Riding to the top of Mt. Lemmon is like riding back home to Milwaukee. You get to about mile 14, turn the corner, and all of a sudden theres snow and trees! This picture is looking down on mile 13 stopped at about mile 15 (snow and trees off to the right, not doing a very good job confirming my descriptions with visual evidence):

So then you turn around and see this guy, who is apparently named after a president, but i think he looks like smithers (from the simpsons? celebrating their 450th episode tonight? anyone?)... So theres smithers, and for whatever president its named after, its no mt. Rushmore, but i guess noone else has a rock formation named after them, so thats good work. A bit later on, again showcasing all the snow that there is on the mountain at about mile 20 (how did we find all these snowless places?!) brian and i decided to take "hi mom" pictures, this is mine:

Thats me doing my best to ride on the white line the enitre time, its a fun game, its like back when you played "dont touch the lava" as a kid... i guess that means i still play that game now, just a bit older. And finally, the snow! This is at the top of lemmon, in ski valley (fittingly named), where you immediately realize the weirdness that 2 hours ago you were in short sleeves in dry, warm, Tucson Arizona. I really want to go skiing in all my biking stuff.

Then, as is my new tradition, the rewarding 2 mile descent back down to summerhaven, which is the taunting and tempting town at the almost top of mount lemmon, which promises places like the cookie cabin pictured below with warm, 1200 calorie cookies the size of a plate. It takes a lot to ride by this place and up to a ski hill when your wearing spandex and have been riding for almost 3 hours. But its a rewarding warm place where the bathroom is out of order but the cash register works just fine.

So that was my day. A good day in the life of jim i would say. Tonight i sat in a room full of arizona fans and watched the defense take 61 minutes to show up, and win the game. That was quite the damper on what was turning out to be a fantastic day on the mountain. I still cant believe that happened. and i spent money at that place too, blasphemy!

Check out the flickr photostream in my sidebar for more pictures from today, and from my time here in arizona!

Tuna Sandwich, Fire on Mt. Lemmon, and flying hubcaps

2010-01-06T18:43:00.000-07:00

So you go for a ride, a long ride, and you decide to pass your house half way through the ride causing you to think about food. So 2 more hours pass, you run out of food, you dont want to buy a snickers, so you create for yourself, when you return, a masterpiece:
That, my friends, is a Tuna Sandwich. Capitol T, capitol S, period. You got your tuna, your salt, peper, gobs of dijon mustard, avocado slices, green peppers, and onions all beautifully "sandwiched" (hence the name, not because of the earl of sandwich) between two peices of soft, high-fructose corn syrup free, wheat bread. Did you feel yourself get unusually hungry at around 3pm today? Thats because that is about the time that this sandwich was born into this world, attended a brief photo shoot, and was then placed immediatly into my belly.

Meanwhile, back at the guesthouse where i currently sit writing to you, there is a fire ablaze on Mt. Lemmon! Its a 4-5 acre fire just off the highway, apparently someone did not heed the warning so clearly and properly noted by smokey the bear today as "moderate". So fingers crossed, we get to climb tomorrow with some of the Kenda boys.

Annnnd another of my wonderful wheelcovers flew off again, that makes one side of my car fully "capped" and one side of my car fully ghetto. I saw a matrix hubcap while riding today, i might go get it.

Have yourself a merry little thursday. Tuna Sandwich.

Kicking off the New Year

2010-01-04T16:13:00.000-07:00

Happy new year! Your power tap is busted.

Oye. Thats just no way to start off the new year, although it is my first test in my new year's resolution to be more patient in all things. I had to be very patient with the service rep at saris when he informed me, very nicely i might add, that even know a hub flange is "technically" a mechanical part, the lifetime warranty to anything not electronic that the company boasts does not apply to power tap hubs. Patience. Its a virtue. Deep breaths.

Oh well, i am not going to let that erase the good mood i was in after christmas with the families (my immediate, extended wards, extended stempers, annie's immediate, annie's extended). I had a LOT of christmases and i loved them all. There is something about wisconsin, i swear, maybe its the fact that it is just so cold outside, but winter is a very warm time there. Christmas lights, family all together, noone has to go to work. Beautiful.

I began to train with TrainingPeaks.com to feed my obsession with numbers and organization. I am trying to learn how to eat in relation to my ride energy expenditure, and its proven to be extreemly helpful. Its also pointed out to me the obvious: if you ride alot, you eat alot. (i do not care that its spelt "a lot" in fact, i think alot should be in the dictionary) It was a bit rough starting back up again after all the pies and pot-luck style eating so condusive to seconds, thirds, fourths, and then volunteering to do the dishes so you can polish off the rest of the meat without being judged. I consider myself similar to tupperware, i am a great place to put your leftovers. So far my training is in place with my goals for the year, and things are shaping up just like the weather down here in tucson: nicely. I got a camera for christmas too which is beautiful and long awaited, so i can show you things like this:

Thats Mt. Lemmon as seen from my window. Takes anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes to get there depending on your motivation at 10am after leaving only because the coffee was gone and you were too lazy to make more. "eh well, might as well go ride a bike." If you look closely, you can see the road cut down on the lower right of the mountian, getting higher from left to right. If you can see that, its about 4 miles of road that you can see right there, just to give you an idea of the scale.

Whelp, thats about that for now. I am currently occupying my free time with:

- My new subscription to nexflix (most recently i watched the documentary "Helvetica" and was inspired to change the font of my entire blog from the movie, yes, its about type faces)

- Starting a long list of books my cousin james gave me (currently the great gatsby, because the first time through was a bit lacking in my effort department)

- Wishing there were more than just 2 books left in the harry potter series.

- Selling pretty much everything i own. So if you want a cycleops fluid 2 trainer, im selling it. Let me know before i ebay it. Also selling all my old biking clothes, some i would reccomend, some i would reccomend you pass on and let someone else buy :)

- Making real almond milk. Just because i can.

I hope you all enjoyed the holiday season and are looking forward to a great new year and new decade. I can wait to see what kind of adolesence we can come up with in our early teens.

Later.

Up and gone to Tucson

2009-12-06T19:24:00.001-07:00

So we woke up in Las Cruces, New Mexico on Friday morning to find 2 inches of snow on the ground, and the town in a form of shambles/chaos that I really cannot describe. Being a wisconsinite, 2 inches of snow barely even gets the time of day to scrape off the car, we just figure that it will blow off by the time we get to the freeway onramp in the morning with the other people not really caring about the snow. But in Las Cruces, you'd be lucky to find a store that actually sells snow shovels, and if you did, they are probably closed because of the snow. So, my logical response to the situaiton as to really any situation involving bikes and snow: move to Tucson.

After a morning full of cleaning the house, i packed my shrinking number of possessions into the Matrix and set out. I saw a good month of training in las cruces, and i will really miss all the glass on the side of the road, but its on to warmer climate and Mt. Lemmon. I moved all my things in while the other guy who is living here was out of the house, and then I left so he would come back to find someone moved in, but not knowing who. It wasnt until the morning when he found a sleeping me on the other bed that he knew, "oh, jim stemper is apparently staying here, man im such a lucky person!"

So, in my new-found excitement for snow-less roads, in true stemper fasion, i overdid it. Climbed lemmon not once, but twice in a row. Theres something really ridiculous about riding up and down a mountian for under 2 hours (a-thank you), spinning the bike around at the base of the mountian, and saying "one" as if you were doing laps in a pool. The "one" really isnt as enthusiastic as the idea of 2 reps was the night before, but more reflective of your soon to be realizatoin of a horrible idea. But thats part of the job, sometimes the only way to get yourself abide by the Eddie Merckx wisdom of "Ride Lots" is to trick yourself into a self-centered ego-trip situation. A situation where you convince yourself that your a wuss if you dont do that completly senseless thing, twice. Naturally, my enthusiasm did not carry into my second day (today), where i again had to trick myself into a ride where the only place for water was 2.5 hours away, so theres no turning back after you get an hour and a half in and realize what an idiot you are. Tis a tricky life i lead.

But, despite the constant lieing to oneself, life is pretty excellent here in the old Tuc-son. No TV, 7 harry potter books, all the high-school books i never acutally read but hear are good, and an under-inflated workout ball have led me to think that somehow I will not only leave here in 3 months a better biker, but a smarter person to boot. Here you see another ploy to trick myself into doing something i may regret later, like starting catcher in the rye, again.

Well, considering the lack of a TV and a couch, i suppose those of you who read this will become overwhelmed with the frequency of similar posts. Just remember one thing, if its raining or snowing in tucson, your job is way better than my job. Otherwise, i pretty much got you on that one (unless you enjoy buying things, because then your job is pretty awesome).

Have a great day!

Let the o-ten begin

2009-11-19T08:49:00.000-07:00

By o-ten, i of course am reffering to the confusing new challenge we have when stating the year 2010. After 9 years of adding an "o" to the front of the year number, we now have to pull ourselves away from the conditioning and calmly say "ten".

I digress. The 2010 training season has begun here in Las Cruces NM. I didnt know what to expect coming here aside that i knew matt busche is a great guy to ride with. On our first ride i saw a dog run across the street and yelled "wild dog!" which it was not. All in all, aside from being completly green as far as my readyness to ride a bike, things have gone well in these first two weeks. The house is good, we went to Tucson/Pheonix to pick up chad hartley last week, so theres surely no shortage of dude in this house.

The diet has changed, which i was pretty cool with, but last night i remember dreaming about a ton of melted cheese mixed in with what can only be described as a bowl of "hot awful". I woke up and kind of shrugged it off, but now i am just a bit uneasy with the entire situation. Interesting, eh?

In other news, Kenda released the new jersey which is pretty exciting, cant wait to get a box full of new things to wear:

Thats sweet id say. Today we get to ride and then head back to tucson for the weekend for some Mt. Lemmon action. I am personally looking to redeem myself after spending at least an hour yesterday cutting the bead off my old tires and placing them in my new tires, only to find you are NOT supposed to cut them to make them smaller. That was a total bummer.

Well thats a good update for now. Tough life man, tough. life.

Halloween and New Mexico

2009-11-07T13:20:00.000-07:00

Halloween. Some see it as an oppertunity for being naked in public. Some see it as a chance to paint something on their body to make it look better. Some make it look worse. And others spend 2 hours at home depot, 3 seconds at target, and 5 hours in their basement to create this:

As you can see, not only was it genious, but also effective. Noone was even trying to get close to me in that thing... oh yes, i am in there. If i retracted my arms and face into the cone, it did a great job of holding my place in line at bar louie. I really dont need to write about it, i need to put more pictures up.

So yes, that happened. I tried to win a costume contest by standing next to it even knowing i hadn't entered it (JJ was there too) and i hear over the loudspeaker "would pooh bear and the traffic cone please leave the stage, you cant win." Oh well, i am convinced i would have won. Annie was a gangster and however overshadowed she felt by both my excitement about the cone and its actual looming presense in a room, it was still a good costume. So holloween was interesting. Its tough to move around in a bar dressed as a huge traffic cone.

In other recent news, I moved to New Mexico yesterday. The drive was a bit tough (not as hard as the leaving) but thats ok. The Matrix lost a hub cap (which is apparently called a "wheel cover"), making my car look super ghetto and making me super upset.

So it was clearly a big week. Had my first ride today. Found some food, met up with Mathew Buche and hit the wal-mart which was enormous (the store, not the meeting up), and things are going pretty well. The most horrifying moment so far was shaving my legs and finding out that all the fat i accumulated in my long offseason went right to my ankles, or what used to be ankles and now just look like a continuation of my leg. gonna have to work that issue out pronto... im spanish!

enjoy your time doing what it is your doing, my free time is phenominal so if you need some busy work done, send it on over, 10 bucks an hour, it will get done. i might even spill some wal-mart style salsa on it, which is awesome.

adios

LEGO SHIRT

2009-10-31T12:10:00.000-07:00

This is incredible.... thankyou BKG for the tip off:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/interactive/bed1/

This shirt may or may not be the greatest idea i have ever seen.

Finally a shirt that will allow me to wear all my ideas and hard work on my chest for all to see. Thats really all i have to say right now. Tonight is halloween, stay tuned for some excellent pictures. Im not going to tell you what i have spent 5 hours constructing, but i will say tonight I will be helpful in directing traffic and saving parking spaces.... And i will not be wearing this: brief jerkey

Talk to you tomorrow.

Well well well, looky what we have here...

2009-10-30T08:26:00.000-07:00

Hey look what i found! Another blog! Another way for me to force my ideas upon you without allowing you any say in the matter. You may already know me from my previous http://busighrus.blogspot.com/ and i would reccomend you check out some of the first posts ever on that blog, they are from my stronger blogging days.
So what start yet another blog if i am admittantly beyond my prime? Because for some reason i feel you, the reader, may somehow be interested in what me, the biker, may be up too. So I thought what better way to achieve that goal than to have a blog about it. So here it is. I am getting a camera to help me help you understand what is going on, so you will have visual information like this:

Thats super helpful, dont you think?

So, anyways, I hope to keep up talking about training, races, where im living, and stuff like that, but i am sure I will mainly focus on typing nonsense and hoping you find it somewhat enjoyable. I also started a twitter account which there is a link for somewhere on this page.

Enjoy your day!