First Ski Race Of The Season

My first ski race of the season was Saturday, January 29th at Phalen Golf course in Saint Paul. It was the revival, after many years off, of the King Boreas 15K event. Things went about as well as could be expected for a guy who needs to lose a few pounds... I started out with Bill Stuber and John Wyland. Bill was right in front of me during the early going until a couple of skiers got in-between us. Stubes looked very smooth as he gradually pulled away from me. I kept up my pace and found some other guys to ski with. After a while, the top women, who started one minute later, started to pass us. I never got into a good rhythm though and wound up passing skiers, who then passed me back and then I'd pass them back again. Amy Cichanowski caught up to me and stayed behind me for a kilometer. Then, she passed me and I figured her pace was pretty good so I decided to follow her. I finally got into a comfortable groove and passed some more guys. We passed one more guy with a couple of hundred yards to go. He passed me back on the inside finishing corner but I out-sprinted him to the line to grab 68th place. Stuber got me by about a 1:30 and I got Wyland by 1:50. Lori Belz, Tina Olson, Nora Bengel and John O'Connell all did the race too. Afterwards, we all went to Bill and Kim Stubers house for food and beer. Others there were Tom and Jan Bengel, Jerry Engen, Bob Woodruff, Pete Thurmes, Joe Stuber and a few more.

Back from New York

I had a good time in Upstate, New York in the Saratoga and Lake George Region. The total time out there staying with Kathleen's relatives was almost three weeks. I cross country skied at Cronin's Golf Course in Warrensburg and at Mount Van Hovenberg in Lake Placid with Dave and Wendy Matthews. I also climbed French Mountain in Lake George. It's 1,040 vertical feet to the top. As always, I climbed it without stopping. Don't know why but I'm much better at climbing mountains than I am at riding or skiing up hills... I also went downhill skiing at Gore Mountain with my Co-Bro (Common Law Brother In Law) Frank. The place has 2300 feet of vertical. During a crash though, I pulled a calf muscle that put me out of commission for skiing and climbing for the rest of the trip. The broken toe from November was still healing too so it was probably good I didn't do any workouts for over a week. Also went to the Saratoga Battlefield National Park. Colonial General Gates defeated British General Burgoyne there in October 1777. Since getting back, I've cross country skied a lot at Lake Elmo and Green Acres. I'm not as concerned about my skiing but it is a great weight loss program. I came back from New York at 181.5lbs. Mid-170s now. The picture above is Lake Elmo from a couple of days ago.

A Few Pictures Lately

Skiing at Lake Elmo, the Solis road bike and rollerskiing the Afton Coulee.

Back on the Blog

It's been a long time since the last post... Months... I'm off my job for the winter so I've got a lot of time to keep this thing going. If I didn't mention it already, I'm selling asphalt and concrete driveways, patios, sidewalks and parking lots now so I get the winters off... With my first year of selling asphalt and concrete, I didn't ride much. I worked a lot and was learning the business. I only have 2,345 miles on the bike this year. That should change as I get better with time management. The weight was hovering in the low 170s for most of the summer but I somehow got back to 180lbs a few weeks ago. I rollerskied a lot this fall and got in some good training. When the snow came, I got in some classic skiing with the waxless crowns and then some good crust skating on a local golf course. That ended when I broke my toe last week while skiing on said golf course down a hill after the sun went down... I plan on trying to skate ski in a few days. Classic skiing will be prohibited until the bone heals... Anyway, I raced four time trials this year with mediocre results and then only two cyclocross races. I would have raced more cross but my weight kept getting in the way of fast times...

Afton Cruise

Bill Stuber and I rode to Afton today from my house in Saint Paul. I rode the new Solis Umbra carbon bike. It's made by RavX, the company I sell components for. The bike worked great on the 48 mile round trip. Otherwise, I got in a few rides during the week including one time trial training session on the Greenway. Plus a few rides on the Bottecchia fixed gear.

Building The Solis And Enjoying The Lake

I worked on the Solis carbon fiber road bike over the weekend. They sent me two left side SRAM Force shifter/brake levers so I have to get the one for the right side. Also, I went fishing with Jerry Engen and his 15 year-old grandson Zach on Sunday. After getting my boat and truck stuck in Lake Jane (thanks to Barry Torgerson for pulling me out), we went to Lake DeMontriville. I caught a big northern and a few bass plus one sunfish and a perch. Zach caught a northern, a few bass, one sunfish and a rare, blue sunfish. Jerry got a bunch of small sunfish with one big one and he also caught a bass. It was the shakedown cruise for the Hiawatha boat's 28 hp Johnson motor.

Second Bike Race Of The Year

I rode in the rain with John Wyland last Saturday. We rode the Greenway loop. A light rain at the start turned heavy about 1/4th of the way. We stopped at Chipotle for lunch so that was okay. It was 31 miles of riding... Sunday, it was back on the Greenway for more time trial training. Another 31 miles with time trial intervals mixed in. The Ride and Glide Tuesday Time Trial was postponed to Wednesday because of rain. Tommy Bengel and I drove out and raced it. I got 19th in a time of 33:15. My average speed was 24.36 mph. On Friday, I got in 20 miles on the Greenway, Kenilworth Loop. I rode the fixed gear Botecchia.