Mustaches

Some of you may have seen the facial hair, here is the reason...
A couple guys and I decided to grow out mustaches for a big event this last weekend. The following is a photo story of the mustache...
Before:
And another Before Shot:
Step 1: The first cut
Step Two: Begin the 'Fumanchu' (Yes, the FUMANCHU)
Step 3: The 'Fumanchu' (This would have been great if my hair could fill-in)
Enter, 'the Mustache'
Finally, the Head Shot...

Believe it or not, I only some-what look like the creepy used car salesman down the street... Good thing this was only for the weekend. Not go ahead and leave your "why..." comments.

WORS 2008 and Shvegas

WORS 2008 is coming to an official close. Just over a week ago was WORS #12 at Sheboygan and this weekend marks the official end of the season with the WORS Banquet.

Shvegas was great. I had 4th place pretty much locked in so I just needed a solid finish. Out of the start, I was feeling good. I sat back a little and watched the boys battle over their preem money and kicked it into gear in the single track. It looked like Wenzlick and one of the shop guys from Stadium were on my wheel for a while in the leadout, but in the single track I flew away. One of the Sheboygan locals was right up with me and stayed there for almost the entire race. I was with a pack of five or so guys coming into the Equilizer, and knew there would be no succesful climbs today. I hoped off and Cyclo-crossed it all the way up and back onto the bike. We hit the slock rock and then we were out for lap 2. The 4-5 guys I was with were holding their own on the double track, but they were pretty slow in the single track, so once we hit the preem parking lot, I made my move, and shot past all of them into the single track where my goal was then to solo it and bridge the gap to the leaders. I was really flying, but I was using a lot of juice. about halfway in the Sheboygan and the Stadium guys caught up with me. We were working together until two 30-34 guys flew by. I missed the move and watched as the Stadium guy pulled away on their wheels. I worked hard, but just couldn't get up there. The rest of my second lap and my third lap was spent trying to get up front. Every here and there I could see some of the leaders, but I did'nt know quite how far off they were. I was pretty tired and knew I spent a lot of energy on my own durring lap 2. Eventually I recovered, and used what energy I had left to make a strong finish. I hit the line and felt exausted, but after a couple minutes of cool-down riding I felt great. My finish was great. I took 4th (again) in 19-24 and 23rd overall in Sport. I was technically the second fastest Stadium Rider (but the shop guy really doesn't count for me) and 7 minutes back from taking a win.

Next race is the IceMan up in Traverse City! Time to do some training and see where I end up. See everyone out at the Banquet this weekend.

Shvegas

Is it really time for the last race of the WORS Season? Apparently the answer is yes. It is pretty crazy how fast the 2008 season has gone by. Sheboygan is one of my favorite courses in the series and I am excited to hit the course again this weekend. Though it is the last race of the WORS series, it is not the last race of 2008. For the first time, I am adding a post-season race to the schedule. Yes, that means the Iceman Cometh is part of the racing fun this year! Maybe next year i'll pick up a cross bike and add even more races to the calendar, but for now the Iceman is fine.
So on to Shvegas this weekend to gauge my fitness level, then onto training like crazy for the Iceman and Beyond!

School, Bugs, Colds, and the Occasional Bike Race

So many things have been going on, I have absolutely no idea where to begin. The last couple weeks have been filled with work, fun, sickness, and things that are just plain wrong. Obviously school and work are constant pressures of the fall season. Unfortunately my training frequency has started its turn towards the winter season. It is nice to give the legs some time to recover, but I am getting that itch to get back on the road for some good training miles. Just the other week, I received a nice surprise at work; I found that I was scheduled for 40 hours. All I can say is that working 40 hours added to 16 credits of school, training, and sleeping is really fun. The week went by pretty well, and at the end I wanted to reward myself with some good food.
While cooking my breakfast I found hundreds of little bugs in my food.
Upon investigation of my food cabinet, I found even more of these tiny bugs eating through boxes and contaminating all of the food.
Needless say, I spent the afternoon cleaning and tossing food. This process continued through the entire weekend, killing all of my free time.

The following week started off pretty well, I had fewer hours at work, classes seemed to be going well, and I even got a few rides in. Of course this was too good to last. By the time the weekend came, I had a bit of a sore throat and by Monday, I had a full blown cold. Things ran their course and I rode out yet another busy week, this time with a cold. This brings us up to this last weekend and Race #11 in the WORS Series: The Wolf River Rendezvous.
Going into the weekend I felt alright, I knew the race would depend on how I was feeling on Sunday, so no big expectations other that just to finish.
In the start shoot I was feeling pretty good, I had my call-up and I wanted to go. Coming out of the shoot I could not clip in and watched as most of the wave passed me on either side. Once I clipped in, it was time to catch up to the lead group. I think I did pretty good for having a cold. I had a few more troubles with un-clipping, but nothing major.
I felt surprisingly well throughout the race with minimal trouble breathing. As I came into the finish stretch I looked at my time and realized I did alright and came in close to my estimated time of 1:17! Results showed 5th in the age group and 40th overall. And surprisingly 1st out of all the Stadium Boys!
Obviously I was pretty happy with the result. No podium, but still a better finish than some of my earlier ones. Now, I need to get rid of this cold, get back on the bike, and give it all at Shvegas!
Also, a big thank you to Heather for taking pictures at the race!