15 KM

15 Kilometers on the skis today.  Wonder how the legs are gonna feel.  I cannot believe I am enjoying this as much I do a good bike ride!

Time of Year

Its getting to that time of year when I start thinking about what I am going to be doing for training in light of the upcoming season and what I will be riding for each of my events.  I am an all around kind of guy and tend to want  the ability to grab and go with a solid ride that I know will be dependable and fast in just about any race conditions.  It drives me absolutely crazy thinking about having to switch tires, bikes, wheels or w/e pre-race  because of wet or dry conditions, so I do all I can to find a setup that can handle any condition I would face, at least in Wisconsin.  Even at the Pro XCT scene I see top finishers rocking very similar setups to what I am running, so I think it could work beyond our own borders.

With all that being said, I am going to have a running review of different products and training techniques I used this year and looks at products and training I am or will be using in the coming year. 

First up will be tires, as they are the things I got the most comments  and weird looks about throughout the year.

Stay tuned for a review of Bontrager Jones XR 29’s along with other tires I have found success with and why.

Getting Pumped Already?

Two ways I am getting pumped up for next season already!

This and today was my first day of weights…wondering how the body will feel tomorrow as I downed a very strong cup of coffee and a power bar beforehand to keep it moving hard through all the reps.

How I do R and R

That is about all that has been happening around here.  I am playing the occasional hockey game.  I got worked this past weekend as only 7 people showed up for the game.  IT WAS AWESOME!  I got so much ice time.  With only 2 on the bench I think I sat once a period.  We tied 2-2, I scored 1 of them and DUG REALLY HARD in the corner to assist for the other one to my man Steve in front of the net.  

Usually I play 3 times a week during this time but with the amazing addition to our family, I am on the night shift and all pick-up hockey happens late night around here.  So just the “real deal” games.  Might not have known this about me, but I played varsity hockey for Arrowhead back in the day, and  hockey was the first place I dreamed about being a pro athlete.  Now I play in a  local C league on the weekends for cross training with my Dad and his buddies on the weekends.  I would play with the B league but its for the the workout and to hang out with my Dad.  The speed and  inability to make plays gets a little frustrating at times, but it teaches me to couch the competitive beast within and see what really matters, time with family and friends, I’ll save winning for the bike anyways.

Absent

My apologies for not showing at the awards banquet tonight. 

First of all I would be flying solo and a 5 hour two-way drive by myself tonight is not exactly what I would call fun. 

Then I would be at a awards banquet where I am recognized for my accomplishments, and although I highly value the racing community, all my friends in it and their recognition/encouragement/camaraderie, the people who I matter the most to and who matter the most to me would be missing me at home and not be able to share that moment with me, which would feel awkward. 

I love the banquets and try not to miss them.  I really wanted to be a part of it to enjoy and support the community.  I actually feel kinda bad for not going, but I just would have a hard time enjoying myself knowing I left the family at home and riding solo.  I really do feel like I am should be there, just torn with life commitments and time.

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH Darrin for picking up the prizes for me!  You are by far one of the best friends I have found in this sport and I appreciate you so much!

The Plan and lack there of!

Friel sums it up well as to why your not getting much blog action. I guess I am assuming you could care less about all the other stuff I do since this is a racing blog, but if you want more from other areas of life let it be known, otherwise deal with silence. :)

Then again Hockey will come soon enough, and I consider that racing, kinda….

Better watch out, new guy is only a few weeks old and Lindsay is setting 1 hour blue laps as an easy pace!

Here are a few more from earlier this month.

Kyle Mykul Guerra

He is amazingly well tempered, feeds well , sleeps well so far….

Born at 3:07 AM October 4th 2009

7 lbs 15 ounces

20 inches

 

Spent the weekend hanging out in a hospital room.  After Lindsay and Kyle were settled in, I went home with the girls on Sunday night, put them to bed and got my race on, since I missed WORS #11!  Hit the trainer for 1.5 hours. Built a pyramid with 1,2,3,4,5,5,4,3,2,1 minute intervals over threshold with half the intervals time in rest.  I thought that would be enough, but felt good and decided to add a 30 min. threshold ride with over threshold for 45 seconds into 30 seconds of threshold and back to 45 seconds until the last 5 minutes where I went over and above till I saw 190 BPM’s for the last couple minutes.  I have never had cramps from an interval ride until Sunday night a little while after the ride I had a crazy one that had me straight legged trying to hold onto my laptop while all sideways on the couch, trainer was as good as racing or maybe better?

Went to 2 classes out of 4 on Monday and took the day off the bike to hang with kids around the house and hang out at the hospital with family. 

Lindsay and Kyle were finally allowed to leave the hospital this morning and I took the whole day off school to help get them home and settled, but got a ride in during a little nap Kyle took.

Made my way toward Delafield and decided to do some warm-up recon for tomorrow with DB and the WETC Gangsters!

 

Thanks for reading,

Nathan

Past Weekend

Saturday

Fall Color Festival

Here is Ron threatening to punch me if I didn’t take the hole shot to be his domestique. As you can see, Ted thought this was kinda weird. Mark was getting his gloves ready cause you know he has my back. But of course the Guatemalan hiding off to the left was watching all this unfold with his mysterious sidekick behind Ron having their back at any hint of insubordination from me.

I got pretty scared with all the WETC Gangsters crowding the start line, so I made sure not to disappoint.

Once we outnumbered the Waukesha elites I gained a bit of confidence and decided to throw down instead of riding as their intimidated domestique.

As usual I think of Him and him on the podium.

Sunday

USGP and Back

Got completely SOAKED through and through, but it was awesome and plenty warm to enough to make it feel like a swimming pool with cadence!

Now off to some true west side story gangster fighting with the WETC, as me and Darrin head out to the Peak to beat each other up.

Treadfest 4TH! :)

This race was really Dynamic with tons of position changes, it made it so fun and interesting to race!

Start was fast, like jockey for position with a stampede fast. Mikey P. was definitely on FIRE and took the hole shot up the first climb and kept it pinned over the top of the ski hill into the first single track of the race. Prior to this our roadie friend Ryan Bauman tried grabbing second wheel and his fine road skills ended up giving mike a bit more room than I was comfortable with which I could have closed but with the fire power behind us of Matter, Marko, Eppen in chase I kept it steady but not full on chase. The whole time I had in mind what Mikey actually said to me at the Alterra race" I was just waiting for you to pop". And so I kept myself honest in my efforts, but just hoping Mike might give too much trying to hold onto the Win.
Half way through lap 1 Marko Bridged up and I played a major Noob move dabbing on the switchbacks twice and let Marko get by and to show me how its done as I ran up feeling dumb. This little bit of extra effort after the first lap PUNCH actually put me in trouble and I thought Marko was gonna just ride away when we came by the start finish. He had a gap going into each climb and I saw Matter and Eppen coming on in chase and I knew they were gonna catch. Going up the third climb to the top of that "mountain" I played the ease up card and latched onto the Brian X2 locomotive as I fueled and drank on this blistering day.
Lap 2 it was the four of us taking super fast lines sticking to each others wheels like glue. Lap 3 Matter hit it pretty hard on the first climb and I suffered to stay latched on to the top of the third peak and back down into the single track, but I managed.
Shortly after starting the single track here on lap #3 Eppen FULL ON NAILED a stump or rock with his left pedal directly in front of me and he was completely sideways, in the air, on a downhill section in the single track. Somehow he stayed upright, and I informed him that his bike looked like it stayed together, but very soon after he was on the ground as his bead gave way from the tire.
So I play chase, back to Matter and Marko. We were going at what seemed a comfortable pace. Going into lap 4 I was not exactly sure what lap we were on, it felt like we were out there a really long time! As we started the 1st climb I felt good and the pace did not seem as fast as I could go, so I just used the screaming super fan energy and the goods legs to see what I could do and punched it up all three climbs trying to keep it high-end while not trying to completely blow myself apart. I got a small gap on Marko and Matter but I knew it was not enough to stick. Tried one more time up the climb to the rock garden, but they were right on it again so I kept it steady through the rest of the lap to try and manage my own pain.
Going into the last lap Mikey was in sight and we were ready for battle and then I drop my chain on the steepest part of the second climb. Off the bike and get it back on, try to move as fast as we were and all momentum is gone, DANG IT! Kept it steady hoping to put in some good effort and maybe pull one of three up front back within striking distance. Then my bike starts making really funky noises and my derailleur starts sucking up and chains is going all weird directions under any hard efforts.....
At this point I started talking out loud "OH Please NO NOT NOW!" and "Cmon just make it to the end" mixed with a prayer or two for help just to finish. I started thinking about how much track was left to run my bike at this point, if it came to that, and what the time gaps were to those chasing....
Tried not to shift much, kept it in a low gear and just spun like mad. Lost two minutes on Marko in that last lap, who ended up taking the Win, congrats man! Don't know if I could have matched that, but it would have been nice to find out.
After the race I figured the noises and slight chain suck must have been just rear der. issues. I packed the bike up, got awards and celebrated with some Qdoba's.
Today I get to Wheel and Sprocket telling the guys about the race and checking out the rear Der., when my main man Derek goes "I think I might see something wrong" in a some what astonished and sarcastic voice.

 

HMMM, HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN???? I would like to assume its just raw power but cmon?!
So I am very happy with this result and it was really fun going back and forth with Mike, Marko, Matter and Eppen. Thanks to those guys for a fun ride.
Huge thanks to Lindsay, Asa, Kiley (sorry if spelling is wrong) and Charis for being the ultimate water crew and family!
Mr. Tree and Gpa Jaws both made appearances as human super soaker's, which was appreciated beyond words into the depths of my boiling over sun drenched skin.
Next up Fall Color Festival and hopefully the next time you see us it won't be 4, but 5 Guerra's all packed into the wanna be Mr. Tree Racing team car/mini-van!
Thanks for reading!

 

Photo Credit to TJ Harron, and Derek Slates

Reforestation Ramble 11th :(

Felt good on start, had lead into first single, cooled it to let someone else lead on wide open flats, where I am not too comfortable. Jesse gunned it and felt like he had rocket fuel in the legs for the next lap and a half. Guess he did since he pulled off the Win. Popped on second lap, I think mixture of last week being off sick (in lungs still) with a flat course which is not my best kind of course. Another week or two to build it back up and I should be good to go.

I popped real bad and soon saw Tristan, Melcher, Maceji, and Ted Hanes coming on and sat up to gel and hopefully recover. It was hard to hold on for a bit, but I just kept fueling and spinning it out while hanging on. Toward the end Lap Traffic got bad, like every 10 seconds calling out our presence and just praying they might move over, otherwise we comletely stop....
Tristan ended up clipping a sport rider who went endo while pulling over, I just barely missed Tristan's bike while he literally went flying a good 10 feet off the trail into the woods. I felt really bad for him since it seemed like he did a lot of the work in this quasi mtb/road race.

I closed the gap created and felt really good the last half lap and was sure I could win a group sprint. Really I should have attacked a bit earlier to try and break it up prior to a sprint because as soon as I started my sprint it came to a sudden halt due to poor course setup in my honest opinion, our whole group found the finish/lap sign right in the middle of the entrance to the finish shoot and brakes were slammed all around and that was it, the order we started the sprint in was where we ended up, Melcher, Hanes, Maceji, Me. I thought about punching it again to sneak by but lap traffic was in front and the lead into the finish was barely wide enough for two bikes???(really what is that about?) Pretty frustrating finish to go from leaders to eleventh, especially when points are valuable this time of year. Although racing here is usually not the best in results for me I was glad to ride with friends and the single track was amazing. Sorry to my fellow racers for the complaints at the line (really what do I have to complain about we are so blessed to e able to race and enjoy our competitions). I was just frustrated with the finish and my performance, it was not directed at you, not your fault at all. I did mention some suggestions for wider finish shoots for races where large groups come in to the line together.

We are in Marquette now half-way to Eagle Harbor and prbably the largest stack of intense training I have ever done to be topped off with the Copper Harbor Fat Tire Festival. Really wish I could get some pics up, but Olympus Customer Service is REALLY bad and we have been without our camera for a few weeks...

Long post, thanks for reading if ya made it this far.

So True

Friend of mine sent me a meditation for the day and this line is sooo right on!

"Happiness cannot be sought directly; it is a by-product of love and service".

Good perspective for my day as pressures of responsibility try to push in upon me. As I tend to grab and take more for my own happiness when things get hectic, I usually end in selfishness and alone with the things I had grabbed for, left empty of what really feeds my soul. "It is better to give than to receive" is not just a virtue to live by, but is actually true about the nature and the fabric of how relationships with everything in our lives have been made.

I hope these words can be living in all I do!

Other News:
Ramble this weekend and then...

Skipping first three days of school to take a long awaited, much needed, vacation in what I like to call the U.P. of U.P. Michigan.

Just so happens this is also happening!

Then back home to catch up on classes.

WOW, if I were doing Cheq. 40 I would be racing every weekend through Oct. 18th, just that one weekend off from here till then. I don't like fire roads much anyways, and I gotta learn Spanish....and I need some time away from all you lactate junkies once in a while.

Score: Mind- 1 Matter - 0 (not Brian of course)

Legs cleared out pretty good tonight and I won a mental battle after the first set of five up and downs on the local slightly leaned over wall we call Nature Hill. After the first set I felt like my lungs were being scraped over with a garden rake. Obviously left over vermin from this weeks flu. But I got through another set, slightly slower than usual, but through it none the less and then did a great 35 min LT over under and really felt like I could find a little extra power mid interval while scraping my heels through length of my hammys and calves. I am so glad I did this LT after debating it for a while since the hill repeats were lack luster in how they felt, MAN THOSE HURT SOOO BAD, but the numbers were not bad at all. Goes to show feeling and performance is not always the same thing. Legs are starting to come around and open up after a torturous ache filled rest this week that I think was needed much more than the training I had planned.

Solid 4-5 hours planned at the Southern Kettles tomorrow. Me and the DB are meeting at Emma Carlin at 8 am. If ya can keep with a steady pace, not race but steady, be there or be.....somewhere else.

Squares are kinda cool anyways, so I thought somewhere else would be way more lame.

kill the slugs!

That is the two lethargic things trying to play off as legs connected to my torso. Yesterday 150's hurt and just for 1 1/2 hours....now I am gonna go and try to throw down 180's? Half the battle won, tell ya about the other half later.

Plans Change

Whole body aches, feel the foreign entities making their way through each muscle group, nose running, sore throat.....LOTS OF ZICAM and smoothies!

I hate being sick but I am actually welcoming this unplanned rest week. Maybe its what I need, I have not taken a full week completely off the bike this season.

I was suppose to have 6 1/2 hrs of riding in this week since Monday.

Total hours riding- 0
Total Hours watching The Office- 6 1/2

I wish laughing made ya faster.

From the Heart

Skinnyski Press from Alterra
Jay asked specifically about Kyle and I put it all out there for him in an email.

Border Battle recap

Lots of talent on the Start Line. 3rd wheel behind J. LaLonde after the crazy straight up into the sky start climb. Into Single Track and passed Macjei after his usual BMX sprint start. Things were much slower than I had expected or I was feeling pretty good. Looking back I should have taken the lead earlier in the lap, cause Jesse, Me, and Marko had a small gap and I felt like I could really rip the sinlge track here.

Train formed of 7 riders, Jesse, Me, Marko, TJ, Mike Phillips, Brendan Moore, and Sam Oftendahl. Jesse seemed done pulling after first half-lap so I took the reins for last half of the first. Felt really strong in the tech stuff, and coming into the monster climb on the second lap TJ put in a hard effort to take the lead and Marko squezzed in behind him. This hurt pretty good and I struggled a bit to close a 10 foot gap for a few minutes as Jesse kept egging me on to "Get On That!". Taking ever turn to its limit to conserve energy at this point and I burped my tire to the rim about half way through the lap. Stopped to fix it and watched the train roll away. Sam O. had fallen off and he came by shorlty after. I had gotten the tire to seal by the time Darrin Braun and Eric O. came up and I led them into lap 3.

D.B. put in a good climb at the start of this lap and we seperated Eric ad I think Dallas was in there before the climb. I took over half-way through lap 3 as I saw Jeff Hall coming and I knew he was going at a good clip. D.B. took a spill and I was solo to fend off Jeff. I started paying for chasing hard here and not fueling right and had to let Hall go when he closed the gap at the end of lap 4, I thought that was it for being caught, but lap five I was hurting bad and still didn't seem to have fuel or maybe lack of electrolytes, as I was kicking myself for not taking any in the heat. A little ways in I saw Cam Kirkpatrick coming on and I knew his late game is always amazing! I thought maybe in the single track I would hold him off, but too much pressure in the rear tire ended that story and probably had a lot to do with losing so much time over the last 3 laps, as I filled it too much after the burp. Cam caught me on an open flat and I had to just let him go.

All the way from lap 3 to the finish the lap traffic was horrible. As I started settling in for a mediocre finish I saw no one chasing behind. I couldn't get by some compy's in a long single track section before the finish and it almost cost me some more places as Macjei, Jeff Melcher, and Ted Hanes were in hot pursuit to clip me at the line. Held them off for 9th, not bad but not too good or what I was hoping for.

I feel great tonight, but I think the Race/Peak Period I have been riding out for a month+ is officially over and I gotta get back to some real training program, as those last laps were not too stellar.

Huge thanks to Caleb Zlomke, my Brother-in-Law, for amazing water hand-ups! You rock BRO!
Thanks to everyone cheering out there, you guys make it so enjoyable, I hope it was entertaining!

Ore to Shore

Update.

Just got home. This race is quite an amazing experience. Huge shout out to one of the most amazing mechanics I have ever met. If you are ever in Marquette and need help ask for Matt at Lakeshore Bikes, he is the owner and amazing at finding solutions to problems no one else can find.

Race start is nutz and kinda scary, things broke two miles in(on my bike that is)...pedal through, with leaders, more stuff breaks or stops working right and have to stop multiple times. Come upon Eppens with flat while I am in "finish it out for fun mode". Then Chris Peariso comes upon me with Jenna Rhinehart and we pull around for a while, his mechanical is way worse than mine and has to ride in much slower than us. Ride solid but with lots of extra effort due to mechanical issues, pretty much just playing around. Eppens come back to me, start chasing them, almost kill myself on drop off into small marsh due to not knowing course and being crazy on descents. Come upon TJ with his second flat of the day, help him with some C02 and ride it in with him and some singlespeed who kept attacking the hills, which made things fun. Disappointing breakdown, 37th yuck...but a great time on the bike and with friends.

Probably write a little more later.

Thanks a ton to Jack Shirpke for the ride and hook ups with a place to stay! Also thanks to Dr. Dave for letting our Motley Crew crash at his place.

Hope I can figure out what the heck I am doing for training this next few weeks after throwing these last two unplanned race weeks into the mix....

A little Press

Claire's mid season WORS write up on MTBracenews.com

Report

At the line I was not planning on taking the lead, but everything just kinda clicked when Don said Goooooo and I found myself at the front coming over the top of the initial start climb. I didn't feel like the effort was huge and I felt like I hadn't pushed my max so I just put down a good pace, but nothing put me into the red and I was able to keep the hole shot. After a few turns I realized I had a gap and just rode as smooth and strong as I could to capitalize on it. Going into the alpha trail there is a long flat and I saw no one chasing on it, which was really surprising. I thought heck might as well make it stick for the fifty dollar prime at the top of the ski hill and began to push the redline a bit through the alpha trail. That is when Bambi showed up and I found myself at the front of a WORS race shooing a baby fawn off the trail as it ran in front of me me. Hilariouis! After Bambi skedaddled I began to hear and at times see Mike Phillips coming on strong, which I expected.
I remember riding the night race with him here a few years back and he literally disappeared the second we hit the alpha trail in the dark, the guy can really rip it here! I knew to be looking for him or matter and sure enough as we came out of alpha and began climbing the forever switch back ski hill, Mike was one switchback behind with Matter one switch behind him. All I thought about at this point was the fifty bucks and climbing that thing as hard as I could, the rest would play out as it needed. I came over the other side thinking at least I made some money today, time to go for some more! The wind was crazy on the flat to Omaley's woods and it felt like climbing just to get through the flat. After the descent and back into the lap I started climbing the start finish hill and I felt like the wind was at my back cause I spun near the upper end of my middle ring up it. I knew the climbs were where I was strongest so I just made sure to really push it there and try and grow the gap rather than ride conservative and maybe allow them to bring some time back. The time gap to Mike stayed about the same for the first 2 laps, but going into three on the start finish climb I knew I was really putting time in as the gap there looked way bigger and I couldn't see anyone for a while once I hit the single track. Had quite a bit of adversity to overcome on this lap. I crashed twice, mostly due to the course changing from dust kick up i think or just fatigue. I almost broke my chain getting back on the bike the second time. All the corners were getting very dusty as the race went on, and I found out the hard way that I could not take them quite as fast as I did on the first and second lap. Cramps started to twinge all over and on a descent back in the alpha trail I saw the game change as matter passed mike on the climb I had just ascended. I knew his chase was on and I had to really hold onto a good tempo to keep him from catching me at the end of the race. The cramps actually went away whenever I climbed only to return on the bumpy descents and crazy single track. Speaking of another adversity on lap 3 occurred when I heard a huge tinging noise come from my seatpost area as I sat down on part of the descent and found my seat had become almost vertical from the force of my body push on the back of it. Oh well, at the front of the race with a gap, ride it OUT! Going into lap four I got a wave of relief as I crested the hill and someone said Matter was starting the climb. I made sure to keep my wheels rubber side down and climbed as hard as I could the last time up the switchbacks, again the cramps disappearing there but I was still worried even with a nice gap as I came over the top feeling like the legs might seize up with every bump I hit. On the last descent before the finish climb I think the cramps were so bad that each bump bruised my muscles. Coming up the climb I just spun the legs and high fived someone ( Tony?) over the line amongst a lot of cheers. Christine got a little interview video of the finish here and here. Great pic of the climb to the 50$ prime and race report by WORS (Claire) here. I can't believe how many people congratulated me after the race and the amount of friends and fans who cheered at the awards was overwhelming! The relationships through racing is really what makes this even better than a few seconds on a podium, prize money, or prestige. Thanks soooo much for caring and letting me get to know you all and helping me and every other rider out there to push each other to the limits in this awesome sport!

HUGE THANKS TO: Lindsay for all her Support this Year and amazing hands ups running up and down the hill 7 months pregnant. Family on course, especially Grandpa and Uncle Mykul J. for being in the action at every turn with coaching and pouring water on me. Derek, Matt, and Chad at Wheel and Sprocket in Delafield, hands down best local bike shop I have ever dealt with and most support of racers I have ever witnessed, could not have ridden so well without your help. Mr. Tree himself for being there and supporting me in everything I do in life, YOU ROCK! Gary Fisher bikes and Bontrager for hooking me up with the fastest bike I have ever ridden and the best products I have raced!

Was not planning on going but.....
Now who wants to give me a ride to ore to shore this weekend? And maybe some lodging too?

For Kyle!

No Joke, Yesterday I did a little personal dedication of today's race to my Bro, regardless of results. Whenever I think about Kyle Mountain Biking I think of this picture which probably had something to do with the dedication.




Kyle @ Alterra Coffee Bean Classic 2008 and me throwing down all I could today for him and family.


Today was for you brother and blood, can't wait to see you when all things are made NEW!

Thanks for great pics Rusty!

Race report to come!

9th :( but $!

Mid season break and base miles after Eau Claire had my legs burning a bit more than usual this weekend at Sunbusrt with Matter setting a wicked cyclo-cross pace at the front, mix lack of high-end fitness with no front brake due to another mechanical issue!....and I was left in the dust to chase. Probably could have done a bit better, made some pretty noob mistakes with bad water bottle handling and almost killing my self as I realized I had no brake on the left hand while holding a water bottle in right going down a ski hill at 30 mph+, bye bye 7th and 8th as I recovered from that fiasco. Still tons of fun and great riding all around. Now back to up down repeat types of workouts. Oh yea, I recently started throwing in some of this, that also had something to do with this weekend, muscles I did not know existed are in the hurt locker, but long term benefits will be a faster and better feeling body.

Off to the races!

Truth in Results

Skeptics and Results.

I found the picture fairly amusing.

Although I was in the skeptics boat at one time.

Apologies

Addition to last post, I want to say sorry to everyone I continually nagged out there for a pass, or to go faster in the singeltrack. My competitive side can get a bit vocal, I tried to apologize out there or at least play it down, but I know I was a little mean to 1-2 guys. Come over and give me crap about it at sunburst, and hopefully call it even.

Eau Claire

16th ain't bad for starting 60th into the single track. Seriously, I looked at the results and after my rear wheel fell out twice and bars got stuck backwards for a minute from going over the bars, due to rear wheel fall out, I was in 60th or so place before the first long singeltrack section. I was riding at the literal back of the pack! On top of this its Eau Claire! One of the best courses for fun, but has to be one of the worst, if not the worst, for passing. I just prayed for the ride of my life and gunned it for 3 laps, caught Neil Swanson and Scott Cole going into lap 3, took a pull too hard and forgot to fuel well while in chase mode, ended up in an almost bonk land, rode like a little girl for half a lap till I smartened up and downed some gel. Grabbed Dallas Fowller's wheel as he went by in a good rythym and made up like 10 spots in the last lap. Thinking if I woulda played it a bit smarter, top ten was easily in sight....OH WELL live and learn.

Compy Broke!

Well something just short of this has seemed to happen to my LED inverter on my lappy. Will keep posts coming as I get access to to some WWW fix, meanwhile I will just fiend and watch movies to tide me over till I get my two non-working compy's up and running.

Oh, and if you have never seen any homestarrunner or strongbad stuff before this, I strongly suggest wasting your time with it, if your into that type of thing.

Weekend Press

Claire did a great write up  about this past weekend that got posted at MTBracenews.com.

Got a lot of catching up to do, I will do separate posts for each race ASAP.  Blogging just seemed like a chore lately, it is on a come back though.  Sleep Now, write later

Long Version

5 Things that might end in a bad result in Chronological order.

1. The day before your race you find out the carbon on the bottom of your shoe is so worn out that the cleat will not stay in place and you strip out every bolt trying to get them to stick.  So you use the wife’s shoes that cramp your feet and do not place your leg or foot in a position that your used to reducing power output, or maybe that is just in my head.

That was no big deal and by Saturday night after my pre-ride finally happened I had forgotten about it.

2.  Race starts and I hear carnage right behind my wheel and am thankful I was not in it.  Stay with the break for the first half of a lap.  I didn't fight quite hard enough for a good spot and got nudged off of Marko’s wheel by Tristan, so I found myself at the back of the break with the Yo-Yo effect out of every opening into double track.   I knew the race deciding moment was coming as soon as the sharp power climbing started at the back end of the course so I put in an effort and got by  a couple people in the group for 5th wheel while Jesse did what he loves to do at the front.  So it is Jesse, Brian, Marko, Bender, and me, with Tristan Chasing back on.  Bender starts to let a little gap on an uphill as the pace starts to pick up some more and I get by to close the gap and on the very next corner I hear a crazy loud ping noise and what sounded like something went flying off my bike.  Immediately it feels like something upfront is loose and I thought my race was over.  Up to this point I was really confident into all the corners and was definitely using this to my advantage to stay with Matter and the bros.  Without a steady front end and thinking I was going to find my face buried into my bars at any second, I started riding like a little baby and had to let Tristan and Bender get by.  So I assume I have to ride with a sketchy front end the rest the race and just live with it.  Later I will figure out it was actually a flat tire, which Bender said he thought I burped my tire before I let him by, but I was convinced it was something metal from the sound. But this is unknown till #4.

3.  While riding like a little baby I decide to be a man and pound the hills cause that is the only place I can really make time with no front end.  Suddenly I find myself standing in place with no rear wheel attached.  Somehow my Wheel came out of the stays on an uphill, so I jump off, accidently pull my rear brake, which closes the pistons…….force the disc back into the rear brake body pushing the pistons apart with the disc.  At this point a few riders had gone by and I got back on the bike to chase Matt Gehling and Macje down.  Got by them and out into the sandy flats. 

4.  Now I hate flats, I wish it was all climbing, descending, and single-track all the time.  But I was going really slow and wondering what was going on and this is when I realized I had no air in the front tire.  I don’t know if it was a slow leak from the burp or it was always flat from there on and I was just in too much a race mode to realize that may be why I felt completely out of control….DUH.  So I go to pull over to the right, and since I was going so slow Ryan Krayer and Seth Lenss came upon me at just the right moment to take me out while pulling off the course.  Krayer got me to the ground and Seth’s pedal kissed my helmet (see previous post for visual).  So I lay for a second in that state some of us know, the daze of am I ok or is this gonna be really bad?!  I get to my feet look at chunks of helmet on ground, inspect helmet and then realize no major damage is done and get to fixing the flat I had originally pulled over for.  Co2 works and I am up and running, with too much pressure for a bumpy ride, but up and running none the less.

5.  Finished my first lap with Lirrette, Pietz and a few others, grabbed bottle from Lindsay and thought man I got my work cut out for me for a top ten.  We hit the sand hill and I got to work.  Picked off a few people and saw James ahead, rode with him long enough to discuss the carnage and appreciate the kind words from him, since I was still in one piece.  Saw Landon around a corner and knew a respectable placing was possible and then…..my chain begins to skip over teeth under any pressure.   I think I can ride it out, but it continues to get worse and I stop to see if I can fix something knocked wrong from the crash.   No avail, back on bike going no where and decide to ride “for fun”.  Get to Lindsay for last bottle and last lap, stop and explain what happened, and get going again.  A little ways in chain magically stops skipping over???  But I am so cold and somewhat hopeless and beat up by the course that is almost impossible to ride “for fun” that I just continue to pedal it in easy for 5 points in my series overall. 

Well that is what happened, slightly frustrating but really I was thankful at the end for a great weekend and great people to ride around with and great people who I would rather have running into me from behind and knocking my head all crazy than not knowing them at all.  :)

Now for a recovery ride

Thanks for reading,

Nathan

Today’s race, Short version

 

 

But this is out of chronological order with the other 4 things that can make for a bad result.

 

Will have full report this week, but till then just know redemption is definitely on the way!

Oh and I know at least 2 Mr. Tree team members had a good race :)

Weekend

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Monday

Today

WEMS on the Map

Put the word in and they gave it a post and spot on their schedule!

Wed night gun show

6:30 GOOOOOOO!

Tuesday

Oconomowoc got a new Bike Path, nice way to work around the fast paced hwy 67 that is not very biker friendly. and just get off the city streets into some nature while heading home.



Made my way down here, can you name the place, always see this on your way in, coming from my direction.

Sorry to say I could not make Tuesday night worlds with Ronsta and crew outta Waukesha, but I did find a different pack to ride with somewhere near Bark River Campgrounds.

For some reason my pictures loaded chronologically backwards, but this was the nice weather and scenery on the way out into the gusty winds.

Monday

Started in a sprinkle.

Ended in some great Sunshine

Hmmm recovery?


When the levee breaks....(those are carp in case ya can't tell, right off CTH BB under Hwy 94)


So I got my new camera in case ya can't tell, and its fricking SWEET!

5th!?$, 5<1

4th Loser, not too shabby for first race.


I may give ya a race report when the house isn't a mess and a ride still needs to happen :)

Otherwise racing in full swing now. Wed. I hope, but I am not sure if they are happening...
Saturday for sure.

Thanks Goat for the awesome photos and encouragement on course

Exams= More trainer time....

Same as last week with shorter rests between sets down to 5 min from 10.
3x3
3x4
3x5
Power was a bit higher, to be expected since we do train for that result :)

Went for a pyramid but got half way through the first 4 min and saw power was lacking so I cut shorter then I had planned. Shorter rests was enough extra load I guess.

Schools out for summer!

Anyone who wants to ride should hit me up, lots of time during the day now.

Rain=Late night trainer

3x3 min.- Hurt pretty bad
3x4 min.-Little smoother and higher HR
3x5 min.-Wow did someone put ecstasy in my water bottle!
Felt a bit of Kyle on this one, I swear he does something in the heaven when I think about him on the bike, suffering turns to joy and overwhelming waves of emotion propel me even harder into the effort.
Saw 191 BPM during the 5 min efforts and smiling :)
Man that feels good!
Solid trainer time!

Anything to win?

Watch at 3min 30 seconds

UPDATE SUNDAY!

With The Southern Kettles being open I am moving the ride to meet at 9 a.m. Emma Carlin trail head for 1-2 connector loops! If you know anyone who was planning on coming to my house on Sunday for a road ride please let them know. And Duh, bring your Mountain Bike. Email me or post if ya got any questions or wanna make plans for some breakfast.

Nathanguerra@hotmail.com

A.F.L.D. ( Always Find Lance Dirty)

Came up negative, but France still looking for excuses IMO.

Then the fact that they didn't even know the guy was a legit tester and the tester said going to take a shower was OK. Seems like they are reaching as far as possible on this one.

H8ter?

Just saw the post for this over at youngblood. Seriously thinking about doing it, but I don't own a cross bike and my MTB might not be here before Friday...and do I really want to ride a MTB in this thing? Anyone out there with a cross bike for the weekend? Not kidding....really if there is one I will do it! Otherwise its more schooling the spandex mafia on their own turf outta Downtown Dousman.

Also epic ride planned for Sunday if the weather man is right. 5 Hours or so planned around Rubicon and Holy Hill if anyone is interested. Leaving my place around 9 am. Will be working the hills BTW, which there will be PLENTY of, but we always bring it back together after elation from elevation.

Alright I'm done now

Race ON!

Well kinda. With the weather looking about as bad as it could get for a crit this Sunday, I think I am gonna call it off for me. Which means full on for the Saturday morning Drop the Doc ride out of Dousman. If ya like to see how cross eyed you can go, I'll see ya there :)

Latest

Starting some intensity on the bike and it feels good! Saturday Morning rides out of the Bicycle Doctor have been well attended. Had the chance to ride with this guy 2 weeks ago on the doc ride and it was a blast to say the least, either barely able to breathe from Vo2 max or laughter, both more than welcome amongst the road atmosphere. Then today I had a pleasant surprise running into this comrade on the doc ride, he likes to write in polish so at least that gives you an idea of who it may be :).
Otherwise, getting fit for the road bike Monday, New Felt on the way and going with the big wheels, and getting ready to race next week in a Mad Town criterium. I guess I have to race 4/5, oh well have fun and go hard, see what happens, oh yeah and DON'T CRASH! From what people are telling me about 4/5's.

Wednesday rides are starting next week out of the Doc in dousman, maybe see some of ya there!

RAIN!

Looks like a good amount of rain is headed our way, and of course right at noon. I'll be down at Barstow to see what its like and maybe do a little local tour, but nothing too far out as 30 degrees and wet can be a recipe for disaster. Wonder whats happening with WETC this weekend?

Noon tomorrow-details

Riding Noon tomorrow for anyone wanting a ride from Waukesha to Lapham Peak, a few times up and a stop by the Cot de Constantine on the way back to Waukesha. Again meeting at Barstow building parking lot, its behind taco johns, email me if ya need directions or any details.

Nathanguerra@hotmail.com

weekly rides with Carroll U

So I am attempting to start a Carroll University Road Team. Weekly rides will be established. Goes nicely with other waukesha stuff happening. First ride tomorrow (thursday) noon, tentatively meeting at the Barstow Building parking lot, its right behind taco johns downtown waukesha, only a few blocks from Ronsta's house. Gonna go do some hills at the Cot de Constantine and maybe Lapham Peak. I may be only Carroll U rider as this is just getting going, but there are a few guys around campus interested. Sorry about short notice, but weather permitting this will be going everyweek, maybe more rides to come! More details later tonight.

Sanity?

Just wondering if I have completely lost it since I actually am starting to enjoy and even look forward to 4 am rides on a stationary bike in a basement in front of a laptop....I guess using it as study time and a little gaming time in between efforts too hard for concentration makes its a bit nicer, but now I find myself smiling a lot of the time jamming to music a ton thinking the first 1 1/2 hrs is just a "warm up" and its getting past the 3 hour mark that really starts a ride?

weekend wrap-up

Friday-Speed Work AKA "hockey" till warmer temps. We won!

Saturday- 30 min Warm up/cooldown +2 hours tempo Solid!...Now tempo defined as Zone 3, or 164-174 BPM for me or somewhere a little ways under 260 watts since I don't have a tap or computrainer and have not tested that zone. But I read about certain people doing "tempo" for 5 hours? Either I am a lesser man in the ability to handle pain or we have a different defininition. Can anyone shine some light?

Sunday-Wiped out after riding all week, hockey game, and "tempo". Rest, Stuper Bowl, Load up on a bunch of food!

This morn got up 3:30 am and did some "hilly endurance" while studying for a quiz. 3 1/2 hours solid and actually found myself telling Lindsay I had a "Great Ride" this morning as she and Charis made their way outta bed.

Thats when I started questioning my sanity....

FULL SWING

Training has been in action since November. Picture of Kyle in front of the trainer fuels emotion to the legs. Closed eyes with visions of being embraced by his light filled body after our time here passes cause moments of ecstasy on 5 hour tours in the basement.

With hours inside coming easy this year, maybe one of these in the near future.

Oh yea we moved into a new house next door. Community building rapidly, sister Hannah and her new hubby Caleb moved in our old place, while we have some friends moving upstairs into Kyle's old place.

Back to books, school starts tomorrow