Friday

Still a whirlwind of activity around here. Wednesday night Jen and I headed to the North Loop for some trail work. The biggest crew yet showed up! We got a ton of stuff done and should be could for some time. I spent some time running the brush mower. I love tools of destruction. Three hours of trail work flew by. Thanks to Mr. Anderson for making sure I had some lemonade after trail work while others enjoyed a beer!

Plum Creek trail work was last night, but have yet to here a report. It's time to start mountain biking. On Tuesday Josh and I did the North Loop instead of the road ride. I think I hit half the trees out there and totally bonked on the second lap...WTF?!

Work has been keeping me busy as well. The repairs keep rolling in. We get caught up only to be slammed again. Not a bad position to be in.

Looks like a nice morning so I am heading out for a long road ride before work at noon. Some Combichrist and hills...good day.

Eric headed south yesterday afternoon. He will be greatly missed. Being an optimist I keep thinking he will be back someday! Good Luck Eric, GLE!

Later.

Holy Shit

Since Mike never blogs anymore, I thought I'd throw up some info on him. Mike recently finished 2nd in the National 12 hour mtb race in Wasau, WI. A meager 140 miles were required! Ouch! Way to go.

My 8 hour race approaches at the end of August. Instead of the Tuesday road ride Josh and I are going to spend some time on the Mtb instead. Looking forward to it.

Sunday was the last morning road ride with Eric before he heads south to sunny Florida. We made it an epic ride with tons of hills, lots of miles, and even some gravel...good times. His quick wit and abundant knowledge of many "things" will me missed. This is the part of working at a bike shop I never liked. Employees come and go pretty fast...moving on to greener pastures I guess. So far we have lost Darren and now Eric, with Josh not too far behind. Tough shoes to fill for sure.

1 Year

Today marks 1 year of sobriety for me. Oh how time flies when you're having fun. I don't want to say it was "easy" but it has been easier then I thought. I attribute that to all the great people that have given me support along the way...thank you.

Shit, I can't think of too much more to say...bloggers block I guess. Oh well.
Thanks again.

Century

With Brinna feeling better it was decide she would be able to go to my parent's cabin. That meant a long ride for me. In the past when I knew I was gearing up for a century I would have a camelbak, bottles of energy drink, several gels, and Clif Bars. Today I left with two bottles a handful of gels and I was out the door.
The majority of the ride was on the Wobegon Trail and then the Central Lakes Trail with the last 30 on some pretty hilly roads. Despite the headwind the entire ride it went pretty well. I did start to bonk at the end of the trail portion so I stopped and spent $8 on gas station food. Made it to the cabin with no problems and 104 miles. It was shorter than I expected but that is more than ok with me. Headed back home after a couple hours hanging out...I drove this time. I have to get up at 4:30 tomorrow to get ready for the Tour of Saints...ugh.

Out.

I Got Nothing for a Title so...

Action shot of me clearing some more trail at the North Loop and dulling the chain saw. Damn...mosquitos are out in full force. The trail should be a nice little addition. Looking forward to riding it. Kris and Kyia did some more work on it tonight. Should be ready to rock soon.

I had planned on biking to my parent's cabin (about 120 miles) but Brinna is now sick, Avery was before, so plans have been put on hold. I still plan on some riding but keeping it local.

Sunday it's up and at 'em freakin early to do tech support for the Tour of Saints. I've always wanted to do the event, but struggle to pay $35 to ride roads I ride all the time for free.

Next week I hope to do some trail work...I'll let ya know.

Later...gotta go read and sleep.

Nope

No Tuesday Night Ride for me last night. I was all set to go but family duties called. Avery has been running a pretty decent temp lately and Jen has started to feel blah too. Jen is also taking an online course this summer and had a live chat to do as well. I skipped the ride and came home. Ahhh, what a great guy...ha!

Later on I went to the gym in efforts to lose my neck! I weighed recently and should really cut down on the lifting if I want to lose some weight for Afton and Cheqmegon. Whatever...day to day.

Josh and I are heading out this morning for a couple hour ride. Should be good. Even if not we will look good, both sporting our new Garmin Edge 705's!

Turns out I will miss next weeks Tuesday ride as well. Jen and I are heading up north to celebrate our 10 year anniversary! Also the 20th will mark a 1 year mark of me being sober. Busy month.

Out.

Stuff and No Pictures.

Summer...fun time of year but too much shit to cram into a 3 month period. Somethings suffer, this blog being one of them.
The 4th of July has come and gone...sober for me. I biked up to Jen's parent's cabin, about 60 miles, and spent the day in the sun with the family. Pretty good time. Usually people get good and loaded and do stupid shit, but like always, it happened before I got there. Maybe next time. Some guy was drinking Budweiser and smoking cigars. I was really craving that Budweiser, but Pepsi Max was the ticket.

Backing up a bit. The Tuesday Night ride last week was brutal. I always say I am not into numbers, but sometimes they are fun. 64 miles at a 21 mph average. The legs hurt but it was fun. I was humbled several times as I just didn't have enough in the tank to hang on or bridge the gap. Means I still have room for improvement! Looking forward to this Tuesday.
Wednesday Josh and I headed out for a nice recovery ride. We were both tired mentally and physically but it was good to spin the legs. Then on Thursday Mike and I headed out butt ass early to get some miles in before work. We were able to get 85 in. Friday was an off day to recover for the ride on Saturday. A good week of riding capped with a MTB ride on the fixed up Karate Monkey this evening. But damn if a swarm of bees didn't have fun on my right leg.

It's time to get a bit more serious about training. I am doing the fitness stuff fine, between the gym and the bike, but need to be a bit more careful what I eat. Since I stopped drinking I have lost a good amount of weight. With the exercise I feel I can eat anything and everything, which may be true, but what the hell...here we go. I need to head out with Kyia some too on her interval rides. Have to get ready for 8 hours of Afton and Chequemegon!
Oh yeah I took the plunge and bought a Garmin Edge 705. I see most of the Grandstay guys putting the hurt on me on Tuesday night have them so maybe this will make me faster. More numbers...

Out.