May is the beginning of what I think will be the most ambitious season so far. Even Epic, perhaps?

 

First up is a 12-hour mountain bike race at Reforestation Camp just north of the Green Bay on May 9. We’ve put together a co-ed team including Beth Peterson and Bean Linzmeyer. I think this may be the first time any of us have done a race of this length. No doubt many lessons will be learned.

 

Rounding out the big events in May is the Duluth Classic, a four day stage race in the vicinity around Duluth over Memorial Day weekend. The event kicks off with a time trial that Friday, a pair of road races over the weekend and a crit in Cloquet on Memorial Day. This will be my first foray into racing on more than two consecutive days, but I’m really looking forward to this event.

From VeloNew's "63 Must-Do Bike races of 2009 (note: Minnesota has 10,000 lakes, not 1,000 as cited in the article. Those pesky zeros)

 

 From what I’m told one of the courses has a nasty climb in it — that will probably push me to my max.

 

And the final “epic” event of the summer (so far, there’s the chance I may do a another 12-hour night race in September) is 24 Hours of Nine Mile in Wausau. Again, we’ve put together a four man team for this (racing in the over 35 “veteran” division) of myself, Chad and Michael Carter and Vince Meyer. The race is just what it sounds like, 24 hours around Rib Mountain — 11 a.m. Saturday July 25 to 11 a.m. July 26.

 

I have no idea what to expect from this race, but needless to say I’ll have plenty of time to find out.

 

It was somewhere around the half way point that it really started to hurt.

Was it just really heavy rain or hail? I've heard both. I tend to think it was hail by the just has how sharp the sting of the falling precipitation was on my face. I'm pretty sure I tasted blood at one point too after being pricked in the mouth with said moisture (either frozen or just really big).

 

Wet and dirty, post race

Anyway, that was probably the story for the Pedal for Proceeds race Saturday in Whitewater – rain, thunder, hail and wind. It was quite the day.

Not unexpectedly, the really strong motors in the race took off early in five or six man break that stayed away for the duration of the race (eventually won by Mark Brone).

 

I, and most others, were left in the chase group which seemed to have 20-30 riders at any given time but shrunk as the race wore on. I did little more Saturday than do my best to keep my nose out of the wind and race with the people around me (besides we had one of our riders off in the break).

 

Riders in uphill sprint finish (photo by S. Kloepping)

 

I finished somewhere in the 20s in the main chase group. There were some scoring issues still being worked out when I left and I was moving further down in the results. No worries. It was a fun day in challenging conditions. We had a packed car to the race (Mike Buelter, Justen Stracey -- both teammmates -- and Quentin Gnoit of the Titletown Flyers) that made the drive too and from the race almost as enjoyable as the event.

 

Rain delay in the car, pre-race

 

Buelter wears arygyle leg warmers to post-race meal (in public)

 

Justen Stracey got a pinch flat after hitting a pot hole

Next week is's a 16-mile time trial in Willard, which means I'll need to spend a little time on the TT bike this week. I think I have a grand total of 48 miles on that bike so far this season (compared to about 1,000 on my road bike).

 

Well, we’re in.

 

I just registered a four-man team for the 24 Hours of Nine Mile mountain bike race in Wausau in July.

 

This is completes registration for the triad of epic-like cycling events I’m racing this year (look for a longer post on that next week).

 

Here’s the team: Nate Phelps; Chad Carter; Vince Meyer, Michael Carter.

 

I’ve adapted (well stolen), the team name from one of teammates who is riding a 12-hour MTB race with me in two weeks. The 12-hour team will be called BaRF (a play on the abbreviation for Big Ring Flyers); so I opted for BaRf V2.0 for the 24-hour team name.

 

Man, this is gonna be fun!

 

Just hit 10,000 page views since December of 2006 when I started this thing.

 

Total page views: 10000       Page views today: 64       Page views this week: 204      

 

Hopefully you all have foud something at least least a little entertaining or insightful over the past few years. The content here continues to evolve and, thankfully, is becoming more conversational - I hope.

 

Thanks for looking, all of you!

 

Reflection over, time to forge ahead.

 

 

Pretty hard to complain about a day in the lows 70s racing with people you haven't seen in months. After a 40-mile ride it was down to business in a 20-mile race from Thorpe to Willard, Wisc.  It was a generally safe group of riders and was overall what I would consider a good -- and fun -- race. I suspect I'll come back to reality starting next week when the race tempo will probably bump up a notch of two.

Nate and Julie at the Thorpedo, Thorpe, Wi

 

The team had a lot of riders up front ( a big numerical advantage will generally do that) and most of us took a turn off the front at some point. Nothing that lasted, but it was pretty fun to see various folks taking turns.

Pre-ride photo, a few team members are missing from this photo

In the end in the sprint, the team managed to get Jeff Colbeth into second place; Dave Oachs into third; and Jim Frame into fifth. Andrea Potyondy-Smith won the women's race and I finished somewhere around 10^th (It was a non-scored race, so I don't have a hard finishing number, but that's pretty close).

It felt great to be back racing in a pack. I had forgotten just how fast we take those corners as a group. When you're riding solo training you can pretty much take any line you want, but that changes when you have people all around you and really forces you to concentrate on holding a steady line. Pretty thrilling stuff!

I shot a few photos off the back of my seat post. Pretty happy with the way some of them turned out (with a little bit of TLC through cropping and color enhancement). It's kind of a neat perspective of the race. Of the 1,900-plus photos I shot, these turned out the best. Click photo for larger image.

This one is my fav. That's Vince Meyer in the foreground.

 

(L to R) Dave Oachs, Vince Meyer, Jim Blodgett

 

Dave Oachs is in the foreground (race winner Jon Eiden on far left)

We get down to points racing next week in Whitewater.

After a day of high-speed carbon fiber race bikes and 70-degree temps at Willard, it was back to heavy aluminum, dirt, 40 degrees and rain Sunday at Reforestation Camp near Green Bay.

I headed out with H. (which I have determined will now stand for Hercules – he won't tell us what it is) Marc Larson and Chad Carter for 20 miles of single track mountain bike riding. Despite some rain overnight and misting in the morning, it was a pretty good ride, but one that kicked up enough mud to warrant spraying down the bike.

 

I think we had the best part of the day for the ride as it's been a pretty steady rain since I got home early this afternoon (man, I had a sweet nap about 4:30, Woke myself up with a little snoring).

Pounded out a fun forty miles this morning with guys from Titletown (and a lot of new faces) before work.

 

I’d post up some photos, but once again I blew it with getting the bike cam on the right setting — so I got nuthin’. I tried mounting it in a new spot (off the drops on the bars), so we shall have to try it again some other time.

 

Hittin’ Scray’s Hill and Pine Grove Road tomorrow with Mike Buelter (and whoever else shows up) for the first big hills of the year.

 

My heart rate monitor went on the blink over the winter and the alarm for my max heart rate doesn’t sound anymore — I think that’s probably a good thing. I won’t have to listen to it chirping at me tomorrow or the rest of the season when hitting those long, steep — or both — hills.

Here’s to quiet suffering!  

 

Been a windy week on the bike. Every day: 23 mph gusting to 32 (or some variation of that) -- all out of the north too, so it's not a warm breeze. Fun week though, went out with the Bike Hub group ride on Thursday, rode withChad Carter Friday night, and of course today's ride.

Much more fun riding with others...