The end of daylight savings Saturday night pretty much spells the end of riding after work and the return to the spin bike in the basement and Netflix movies next week (which, due to rain, I’ve already had a healthy dose of this month).

I’ve managed to get our twice this week in the dark (with lights), with Julie joining me last night. Riding at night is pretty sweet, though I tend to be a little tense with worries about drivers…. they have a hard enough time with riders during the day.

We’re pretty well lit/reflected and it hasn’t been a problem so far. We’re planning on heading out again tonight and there may be a night group ride Wednesday — not sure if I’ll go or not.

I crossed 5,000 miles of riding for the season this week (it’s actually more but I won’t figure how much more until the end of the season -- it was something like 184 extra miles last year and I expect this year will be the same, that's mainly from warm-ups at races) and will eaisly break last year’s record of 5,050 miles (or something like that. Of course two weeks of furloughs really helped bump up the milage.

I finally got the video from last weekend at Rib Mtn. exported and posted (see below). Just a goofy little video I hadn’t planned on making. I also finished up editing the team’s season in review video this week. It runs about 10 min. and I will be doing a shorter version for our sponsors as well. Look for those here in the next few days or weeks.

Back to CX this weekend in Milwaukee. I’ll be racing in costume, and I hope it isn’t too hot. No worries if it is, it’s only ‘cross.

After the race we’re going to peruse some Milwaukee bike stores for a time trial bike for Julie — a purchase we will be making this off-season.

Somewhere near the top of the road up Rib Mountain (this is a mountain by Wisc. standards) yellow leaves began to be topped by white fluffy snow. While there wasn’t a lot of it, it was still snow.

The two-mile climb up to the top of the really big hill (maybe a better name is: Rib Really Big Hill) was a trudge at times and capped off a nice 43-mile ride around Wausau with a few guys from the team: Jim Frame, Mike Buelter, Jim Saueressig and Chris Mueller.

Buelter, Frame, Phelps, Mueller, Saueressig

None of us have been getting the road time we had been during the height of the season (though you wouldn’t know that from how Mueller was riding) and I know I felt it on every incline we hit on the loop. Not the least of which was the Rib Falls climb.

Snow at the "summit"

While going up hurt, coming down hurt more. I have never been that cold on the bike before. I worked up a pretty good sweat going up (temps were in the high 30s to low 40s ) but coming down my hands were absolutely frozen. A seering pain in my finger tips as we gingerly navigated a road covered in wet leaves and unseen potholes at a cautious 22 mph.

Luckily the sun at the bottom of the hill was in full effect and we all warmed up quickly.

After the ride it was off to King Buffet (Julie and I and pronounce it Buff-it) for some recovery Chinese food. Julie and I have joked about King Buffet for 10 years as we passed through Wausau on the way to Minneapolis, but neither if us had set foot in it until I went yesterday. It was actually some pretty good eats.

All in all it was a great day on the bike and riding with a few guys from the team again really gave me a nice shot of motivation going into what will be depths of the off season. Look for us to do a few more of these rides next spring.

Saueressig, Buelter, Frame

I may have a video up sometime shortly. I “accidentally” shot video on the climb (I wanted stills) and I edited into a short video Saturday night, but I’m having technical issues getting it exported from the editing program.

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I thought this was a pretty good/interesting read (as are many posts on her blog)

A follow up to "Race Across the Sky" from local Rebecca Cleveland who did the race this year: http://thebikehubonline.com/page.cfm?pageID=192

Talk about a crappy week for riding. Looks like rain will keep me off the roads until Saturday when I head to Wausau for a ride with teammates (and even Saturday’s forecast has a chance of rain and snow in the am).

Luckily I was off Monday (I work this Sunday) and took advantage of the one nice day this week to get in 37 miles of road riding. The rest of the week has been on the spin bike in the basement watching F1 races from this summer — a taste of what winter will bring.

Off the bike tonight as I’m headed to see the doc “Race Across the Sky” about this year’s Leadville 100 mountain bike race in Colorado. I have a suspicion the majority of the people in the theater will all know each other as this film has been quite hyped in the cycling community.

I’ve been pretty lucky this year with mechanicals.

I had a few issues early in the season, but nothing major. Heck, I’m still running the same front tire on my road bike I had at the start of the season (almost 5,000 miles later).

CX Practice PRE failure (Mark Schindel photo)

That streak ended Wednesday night. I managed to get the chain on my MTB bike wrapped between the cassette and the hub and it wasn’t moving. The solution, cut some spokes to free the chain.

So that wheel (taken off a 1993 Diamondback Topanga)  is now out of commission (probably for good) and I need to take the bike into The Bike Hub in De Pere for some adjustments to the derailleur, brakes and rear hub of my main MTB wheel. All two days before racing it this weekend. No worries, their wrenches take good care of me.

On a happier note I got a few more photos from last weekend and put together a very short video of the day on Sunday.

Earlier this year the Green Bay area had a nice website that did a good job of pulling the cycling community here together. I found out about events and met people I wouldn’t have otherwise. That site folded this summer. But this week I decided to reestablish a similar site with the hope of connecting riders in the greater Green Bay area (and the UP).

You can find it here: http://greenbayareacycling.ning.com/

I hope it takes on a life of it’s own and I can go hands-off with it in terms of promotion, etc. in the next few weeks and months. Launching it at the end of the season probably isn’t the best time to do it, but if nothing else it will be established and ready to go in the spring when interest picks up again.

Oh yeah. Sounds like we’ll have an ad hoc CX race here in Green Bay Thanksgiving morning. Look for more details soon! 40 ouncers for all (or at least the top finishers)!

It’s amazing to me how much different a mountain bike race course looks when you are actually racing it. Downhill sections don’t seem as a steep, obstacles aren’t as tough and the single track seems to pick up a nice, quick, flow.

But what do I know? I’ve only done six of these things!

That’s pretty much my impression from racing the Wigwam MTB Challenge Sunday in Sheboygan. I was pretty apprehensive going in and dropped to the back of my starting wave heading into the single track to stay out of the way of those were actually racing for something. But after I settled down I had a blast on the course.

I got caught up behind some guys having issues in the first few sections and that cost me some time (but wasn’t the determining factor in where I finished)  and spent most of the race around other stragglers and letting faster guys from other waves through.

Happy to finish

About the only place I made up time on people was on The Equalizer, a steepish dirt hill most of the people around me ran up. I gained a little time on the run all three times (I think in large part to the way I carried my bike, CX briefcase-style).

I ended up finishing 143rd of about 202 riders in the sport division and I was 25 of 28 in my age group. I really wasn’t too worried about results, Sunday was all about seat time and experience — sorta like my entire MTB season.

I think I did better at Rhinelander back in May. LOL.

I had all sorts of issues all day Sunday. A chain that kept dropping from my big to middle ring (then wouldn’t shift back) on rough sections, a few root sections that jarred me enough to cause my shoe(s) to unclip, and a fun little crash on lap two that pin-balled me between two trees (no injury).

But it was still fun and those things had little impact on how I finished.

Teammate Beth Peterson won the women’s sport race. She came whizzing past me about 3/4 of the way through the third lap. He held off her pursuer for the win.

That was pretty sweet.

Look for a short video later this week called “Roadie Goes Mountain Bike Racing.”

Well, that’s it for MTB racing this year. It was challenge and I enjoyed. There’s no question I will do more next year.

There’s about 6 weeks left to the season and it’s all filled with CX racing starting this weekend. I wouldn’t look for any stellar results there, but it sure is fun.

It’s been a pretty light week on the bike.

Mark Schindel and I pre-rode the Sheboygan course  Monday in prep for Sunday’s WORS race. I’m glad we did. I have an idea of what to expect and got to ride a few new obstacles including a pair of log piles and a nifty little two to three foot jump off a log and a small creek crossing.

 This course is all single-track which doesn’t play to my roadie strengths on flat double track! So, I’m going to race it, hope of the best, and stay out of the way of the faster riders that I know will be coming up from behind me. The course also has a nasty hill, The Equalizer, that was able to get about half way before dismounting. I’m not planning on making it up without running it on race day, and it doesn’t sound like I will be alone.

I tired on part of my costume for the Halloween CX race on 10/31 in Milwaukee. It was apparently too small as I got “stuck” in the garment for about 10 min. Julie wasn’t home to help me out (I called her to tell her I was stuck and couldn't get the piece of clothing off; she wasn't very sympathetic), but I eventually got a shoulder free and wiggled out.

A larger size (I hope) has been ordered. My only concern is it’s European sizing (UK) which sometimes runs a little small. We will see. I doubt this costume will be any great shakes, but all will be revealed on 10/31 (look for photos here, of course.). It should match my TT helmet, also part of the costume -- I should test that out too for CX applications.

Tuesday was a much needed off day (beside the Twins were playing a division tie-breaker and I wanted to catch that game).

We had a good night of CX on Wednesday with a small group and darkness that came surprisingly early (around 6:30 p.m.). We’ll eek out at least one more week on Wednesday and then decide as a group what we will do.

Planning on a nice road ride tonight after work, and I’m fully expecting to come home in the dark even if I chop my distance to 20 miles. Head and tail light will be in order!

Oh sunlight our good friend, where are you going?

Is there another hemisphere you need to warm? We enjoy you and you provide us time to ride.

Your departure is depressing as 35-mile weekday rides have been supplanted by 20 or 25 miles rides before you set in the west.

Our days of riding after work our numbered thanks to your departure. If I get fat(ter) this fall it’s your fault! I hope you can live with that.

Come back sunlight, we love you. Nay, we NEED you!

If you choose to leave us, promise to be back next spring.

Essh. It was pretty dark by 7 p.m. last night for Wednesday GBCX. Had a pretty good turn out with about 10 riders, a few of the regulars and a few new faces too. I think guys are getting faster/better, so I’m glad to see this is paying some dividends for those that are showing up and riding.

We’ll do next week at the same time and location, but then we may need to look at moving to a weekend date(s) due to sunlight. Maybe we’ll squeeze a few more weeks out on Wednesday night. Sure hope so, it’s been fun.

I suspect tonight will be the last Bike Hub group ride due to disappearing sunlight. Departure is moved up to 5ish, we should be able to get back just before it gets too dark.

I was asked last week to shoot some video at the WiSport awards ceremony, I’ve put some of that video together with photos Angie Johnson shot during the road race and “music” from WiSporter Steve Fouts that Julie shot back in July (I had that sitting around all summer with no “home” for it, until I started editing this week).

Enjoy!

Twelve hours of MTB racing Saturday in Merill, Wisc. with a four-person team. Watch Twitter for updates from the race and look for a recap here on Sunday.