Back in De Pere

This weekend I headed home to run some errands, get my hair cut, to see my girlfriend (obviously), and to get in some training up on Scray's Hill.

I had no major goals other than doing some power intervals.
The first little bit is pretty easy rolling, winding through some houses and then a steady downhill towards the golf course. I started to notice early on that the wind was pretty strong, I think The Weather Channel was estimating 25 mph. Nice. Moving along pretty well I closed in on my second hill (substantially bigger than the last). Suddenly I wanted to be on the golf course instead of climbing this thing (In the distance).
At first climbing this thing was a beast, but as I neared the top, I was quite impressed with my self. (Especially looking back down from the top.
Thus concludes... my warm up. After a little over 6 miles in I headed over towards Hwy X and Sportsman road to do a few power laps among the giants themselves.

After the about the fourth lap I was out of food and the wind was getting old so I headed back in. Not too bad of a day though, I logged another 32 Miles keeping an average of about 17 mph.
Now onto school and a little recovery.

Today, I decided to get out and begin preparing for the last WORS race of 2007. This morning I was a little worried as it was raining quite a bit. Luckily, after lunch the roads looked pretty good and I set out for about 40 miles taking a route I was shown the other week, Heading up Lake Dr, doing a little zig-zag on Port Washington, and ending up on N. Lake Shore Dr spitting me out near Concordia University (Just North of Mequon Road if you know the area). (The Route is in red on the map)

This was the first time on the bike since the weekend so I was a little stiff, but I managed to keep the cadence around 85 and an average speed of 19.2 mph.

I did learn I big lesson today though... It is always good to make sure that you will not have to make a ...ahem... stop along the way. I reached the halfway mark just past Concordia and realized I would not make it back. Lesson part 2, if you are on populated roads, you cannot stop and go in the woods. So the dilemma is obvious, but I had to go. I rode around a little bit and then I saw this little trail heading away from the road. Lots of gravel and still pretty open but I was desperate. Long story short I looked twice and took a "nature break" to spend lots of time looking at birds, the trees swaying in the wind, and the house about 100 feet from where I was and more the street that was more like 20 feet away.

With the nature break out of the way, I headed on back. I felt good for most of the way, but about 8 miles from home I was out of food and my cadence was dropping, so it was time to push all the way home. Thankfully I recovered a little and made it home without and issue.

Overall, a pretty good ride. I think this weekend I am going to head back to green bay to do some power intervals on Scray's Hill. I'll be sure to post how that goes.
~Andy

The Beginning

Cycling has grown to be a passion of mine over the last 7 or so years. It all started when I was young, and looking for things to do. The obvious thing was to take my bike out for a spin. Unlike most kids who hardly rode, I was on my bike as much as I could be. Pavement was OK to ride on, but I found much more enjoyment riding in places "I wasn't supposed to be." I found my first real call to mountain biking while working on the high adventure staff at Bear Paw Scout Camp in Mountain, Wisconsin. There I found some "real" mountain biking trails. So I loved to ride my bike, but what else is there to do? I found the answer I needed at the local bike shop, when I saw their bike team pictures. But for the next two years, I would be too late to sign up for the team. My break came in an unlikely way. I met this guy named Shawn in high school filming football games. As I got to know Shawn, I found that he was active with a team based out of another shop. I told him I was interested and then I have a team. In 2004, I raced in the Phillips Dirtfighter Classic (Part of the WORS Series) for Team 2 Racing, taking 4th place right away. That flipped the switch to high gear and I was hooked. Four years later I am racing for Stadium Bike, and have recently adopted road riding. The bike culture has grown on me enough that I have 4 bikes now (Mountain Bike, Road Bike, Hybrid, Fixed Gear). If I can keep this blog up-to-date, I hope to give people a glimpse into the training, riding, and racing I do.