What Do You Do When It's Freezing Out?

You ride the trainer!

Winter In California

Ahhhh....winter. I have to say that living in California has it's perks. The biggest one is when it's 12 degress back home in Duluth, MN, it's 70 here in San Luis Obispo. Not bad for an early December day. 

So with the weather so nice and the day off, I decided to take part in a group training ride put on here. It was a great way to get some more miles in and get ready for the upcoming season, now that I can get back on the race circut. it was a good 3 hrs, with a steady pace. Although I was over dressed, still have the mentality of the midwest on dressing for winter rides I guess.

I'm registered for classes now a the UWS Distance Learning Program, and am excited to get to work on finishing up my degree, 30 credits left, man what a day that will be when I'm done. It's taken long enough! I've been going to school for 13yrs on this, might be a record for the longest it's taken to finish a degree. But when I do, I believe that I would be the first person on my side of the family to get a college degree, that would be awesome, to say the least.

The new ob at CBO has been going well, although it's been wierd not being on the road, but it's been good to be around a lot more too. A more steady schedule has been a welcomed thing in my life. Thats the update.

Changes

Well all good things must come to an end, and my job with the Trek Demo program is one of them. It's been a while in the making though. I've decided to move on to other things, mainly to finish school. 

It was a hard decision to make, but in the end it's the best thing for me. The politics of making that move have already started in SLO. I'm going to work for a non Trek dealer, which is causing a stir in my direct friends circle, being that they are almost all Trek people, again, I have to do what's best for me. 

So I'm excited to move on and be in one place for a while, and to feel like I'm making progress in my education. The main thing is to be in one place for a LONG time. The traveling part of the job is getting to me too. So more time for me equals a happy Matt. The big plus is that I get to race again, I've been jonesing for that bad. Looks like the SLO cyclocross race in January!

The Things We Do

Yup it's a regular rock fest when I drive the Eg to my work destinations, as you can see from the prior picture. This week it Interbike in Las Vegas. I ended up having to drive Santa Clarita to pick up the new 09 Top Fuels from our suspesion lab there. It's a cool little place with all the future toys we might or might not get to play on.

So after picking them up I was off to Vegas, the drive out here in the evening is just plain awe inspiring, some deserts are so beautiful in the dusk sun. I wanted to stop and get a few pictures, but, like my grandpa, I wanted to get to my destination. 

There usually aren't many issues for me when I drive, but not this time. There was a real quick glitch with the electrical system, and this thing has a ton of electronics. Everything went dead for less than a second, then everything was back on, but the voltage gauge was reading a higher number than before. So, now I guess I'll see if the trusty Eg can get me back to SLO to get it checked out, or if she'll leave me stranded in the desert. Stay tuned....

The Fast Lane

Today I had the rare opportunity of having a Sunday off from the demo job, so I made use of it and did a nice mountain ride for a few hours. I needed the peace as I had a rough time on he way back from Saratoga, Ca last night. I had a demo there, it was a great time really, hung out, got the bikes out and talked with James, the shop owner who I've become friends with. So I wrap up the demo and start heading back to SLO.

Nothing really exciting happened until I was about 60 miles north of SLO which is King City. I get pulled over by a commercial CHP, these guys are solely responsible for the big trucks and anything with a business logo pulling a trailer, i.e me. 

Now the speed limit for cars/trucks pulling a trailer is supposed to be 55mph, but the standard speed limit is 70mph. I know, I don't get it either. Well I do 70, because if I do 55 I get ran off the road, or the middle finger pops up.  Now I'm not upset about the speeding ticket, but the fact that officer said that the work car and trailer need to be registered in California instead of the respective states that the companies are located, Michigan for VW, and Wisconsin for Trek who owns the trailer. 

I have been through this rigamaroll last year when I got a ticket, I know, don't say it. I had to go to court to prove that the car/trailer didn't need to be registered in Ca because I don't own them and so on and the judge accepted that explanation. Well after I told the officer that, he said that the judge was wrong. REALLY? I think he should talk with the judge, I think he would have a different answer for him. But it is what it is. So part of my time off will be spent in lovely King City, in court. Happy Holiday's! 

Here's Looking At You

Long Day In The Saddle

After a great night out on the town with Barret, Paul, Ryan, and Tyler, there was talk about doing a ride that Barret likes to call the Triple Lindy. Now there are a lot of mountains around SLO, not the Rocky Mtn's, but climbs of 1500 feet or so with some steep 7% grades, so challenging of you put some of the rides together. 

So we met up at Tyler and Ryan's and took off for the more of the hottest part of the ride, Shooters, since it was supposed to get into the 80's today. This part of the ride takes the longest since it has the most distance out the ride. After a couple hours that part of the ride was over. Then it was back into town to refill the water bottles and then head off to the next climb up San Luis Mtn. or also known as "Madonna". We traversed the climb and got to the summit and relaxed for a bit before heading down to the next climb at Irish Hills. This is where the crappy part of the day came. Barret was on the inside of me going down Madonna and was in the really loose rocky stuff and slid his front tire out. Down he goes and slides about 25 feet or so, bikes ok, but he's scuffed up pretty good. So he calls it quit to head home to clean himself up.

Now it's down to Tyler, Ryan, and I. We Head over to Irish Hills and make what's probably the steepest part of the whole ride. To add to it, I'm about done at this point. We already had 3 plus hours in the saddle and I was ready to shower and just chill. To make it short, we made the climb and then high tailed it home. In all close to 5 hours on a mtn bike was awesome and the burrito afterwards was the best reward for it!

Race? Well...Sure...Why Not

So my friend Tyler stops by to say "hi" yesterday and told me there was a road race today that's about an hour away. I wasn't sure that I wanted to do it, being that I really haven't recovered from the long drive back from the midwest. 

But with a race that is so close to home I couldn't pass it up. I woke up at 5:30 to get over to Tyler and Ryan's to caravan up with Tracie, Barrett, while Paul rode with me. After a quick drive, we arrived in the picturesque city known as San Ardo. Now those of you that actually know about San Ardo get the joke.

So I register and get the new SLO Nexus kit on, and start to warm up. I began thinking about the first race I tried, Copperopolis, which totally sucked. Everyone just pinned it from the start. Well I was sure what to expect so I expected the worst. 

The time came and I hit the line, with all the other Cat 5's, ready to do battle. The whistle blew and off we went. To my surprise we went off slowly, it was a total turn around from the first one. 

Basically I was at the back for the first quarter of the lap, then I got a bit anxious and on a downhill turn I gave a quick burst and found myself in the top 10. That's pretty much where I stayed until the last uphill climb to the finish, when I popped and rolled to the lne in the back. I didn't care, I had a great time, with a smile on my face the entire time. Oh and I have say thanks to all the guys that offered me a bottle after I lost mine when I hit a huge pot hole. I was totally amazed at that. Glad to see sportsmanship isn't dead. 

Driving Is Fun

I think this picture was taking just outside of Grand Junction, Co on the second leg of the drive back to California. So I left Madison on Wednesday at 6:30 am to get to Boulder at a decent time, no stopping in Omaha this time, after being on the road for a month I just wanted to make good time and get home.

The drive went well, no problems with the Touareg or the trailer and before I knew it I was in Boulder by 9:30 pm, not a bad days driving. The sunset in Colorado was stunning, it was the first time I could see the silhouette of the Rockies from the sun setting behind them from about 100 miles away, with the redish-orange sky it was awesome. I got to Tony's place and talked with him and his twin Tom while watching the olympics and then went to bed, crashed hard. I thought about staying for the weekend, but the need to get home was too great and started the second leg of the drive at 6 am. 

I was fortunate that there wasn't much traffic at all getting out of Boulder and even on I 70 it was wide open so I was making great time. Before I knew it I was in Utah and then the short stint in AZ before getting into Nevada. That's when the wind kicked up and with the trailer acting as a huge air dam the gas mileage was getting slaughtered, along with the trailer. The right front corner is coming off, again. I had it replaced awhile ago, guess they didn't do a good job. It held on though, with me trying to fix it during gas ups. I hit Vegas and thought I was screwed, rush hour, but thankfully, it went smooth and I was out of there in a half and hour.

I then cruised into California and kept pushing feeling refreshed to be back in my new home state, I eventually made it into SLO at about 12:30am, long drive, but worth it. I got a good night sleep, woke up got my things situated and then went for a ride by the ocean. Not bad.

What Day Is It?

So Trek World has been a blur this year. Got down to southern Wisco, almost two weeks ago, and started building up the new bikes for the coming year, this is a major feat, ad there were 50 road bikes to be built, and about 20 mountian bikes to be built from frames. This means we have to cut steer tubes on forks and press in cups, blah, blah. All this takes a lot of time, so long days were in order, 12 hour days to be exact. 

After a week of doing that, it was time to move on to the actual show, which for us demo people is in Waterloo and Madison. Set up all the trailers and get all the bikes out and split up to there specific areas, and then head down for meetings and presentations. There's two days left for the actual show and then we have have to split up the bikes, get them on the trailer and then head out. For me it's a good four day drive back to California, but I'm going to stop in Boulder again to see a few friends and then be on my way. I'll be taking some time off after this, even though I already had a vacation, we're all just wasted from this event. 

Labor Day weekend can't come soon enough!

Pines

So I was finally able to get the pic uploaded and added one for good measure. This is some of the trails that I have been riding this last week. I have two more days left before I have to head to southern Wisconsin for work. I have to say that I miss the riding here, today I basically have to force my self to do a road ride, there's some things I'd like to check out anyways, and can only do it on the road bike. 

The only real bummer of the trip so far has been that my iPod has crapped out on me, it works if it's plugged in, but not if you want to take it with you, say like on a ride. I have been addicted to riding with it, it seems to make the rides a little more interesting, but without it, I seem to get into my own head too much. But things could be worse I guess. I could be like Sue Haywood and have a broken leg and not be able to do anything. Ok well I'm off. 

Northwoods

So the riding in Duluth has been really good while I've been here. With the dry weather all the standing water has begun to evaporate, leaving a nice tacky trail to ride. I have a geat photo from some the stuff I've been riding on the Treo, but for some reason Blogger can't upload it, but it looks a lot like this shot from the race I tried on Sunday. 

With vacation days dwindling away before I head to Wisco for the annual drinking of the "Koolaid" as some have come to call it, I'm trying to get out and explore more of the trails that have been built since I moved. It's been fun running into old friends and getting out visiting others and seeing Duluth. I have yet to really get out to take some photos of what Duluth has to offer in the summer for sunsets, I plan on getting out tonight to try and do that.  I guess the biggest surprise has been the lack of mosquitos with all the rain Duluth has recieved this year, I was figuring that I would be attacked immediately, like I remember, if I stopped in the woods around here, but so far it's been bearable. Hopefully I didn't screw that up now that I said something about it. 

The Town That I'm From Treated Me Like A Touarist

I haven't really raced too much this year, obviously due to work, and even though I have been able to do the SLO Tuesday Worlds ride, it somehow still doesn't compare to an Expert mtn bike race. So this morning I woke up, packed up the Eg and made my way to Spirit Mountain for the MNSCS race there. 

The morning started out great, cool and a bit of a breeze, so I thought I would be ok. But alas, that was not the case. I got a good warm up with the hilarious Ross Fraboni and even stretched a bit before. Then we lined up for the start and we were off. Right away people were having problems starting at the foot of the climb, missed pedals and such. So I get around a few people and then a guy totally stops right in front of me and I end up doing a track stand waiting for him to get out of the way. He finally gets moving again and then I get around him Ross gets around me and then we crested the hill to get to the single track, and the usual traffic jam happens. We're all waiting to funnel through to actually start racing at that point. 

I was doing ok really, way off the back because of all the start problems, but still having fun. I get going and start passing people when I can, but trying to reserve energy to finish, as the race was two eight mile laps with a lot of climbing. But also trying to stay hydrated because it was so humid out and I was losing a lot of water through sweat. Now I live in California, yes I lived in Duluth, but California doesn't get that humid. So needlessly to say I had to pull the plug after the first lap. I was a bit disappointed, but I still had fun and I was able to ride real singletrack again. Thanks to Bill Schwalbe for doing such a great job as the race director, it's not an easy thing to do. 

The vacation's going good, looking forward to getting out and shooting some pictures and more riding on some new trails that have been built. 

East Bound

Left SLO 7 am Monday and made it to Fruita, CO in about 11 hrs. I was able to catch up to my good friend Q, who deos the Felt demo program, so we got a room, and planned hitting up the trails the next morning before making the drive to Boulder. Well, Q got a call and had to hit the road to make it to Boulder earlier than me, so I rode alone. It was a nice morning, not too hot, but warm. I was able to hit Mary's Loop and connect Steve's Loop which made for a nice 2 hrs before I had to get on the road myself. A short drive and I was in Boulder, I have to say that I love the drive from Fruita to Boulder. The road goes through the mountains which are just stunning. They are so big and remind you that the world is a big place and that your world is soooo small, and that we can get wrapped up in real insignificant things. So I like that part. 

I got into Boulder and rolled to my friend Tony's place ready to maybe go for a spin with him, but he picked up a kindney stone and was in horrible pain, even though he was on Vicadin. Sctracted the ride and a few friends, Catherine and Melanie, came over and made awesome burritos and cookies, yeah, they don't go together, but I don't pass up cookies. 

I stayed in Boulder on Wednesday and rode with Tony's twin brother Tom and Q, it was a great mtn bike ride in elevation and rain. It poured on us! It was great! I haven't ridden in a full on storn like that in a long time and forgot how fun it could be. A good 3 hrs at altitude. Then we hit the Pearl St mall area for some grub, I like Boulder too, in fact I think that's where I'm heading after my stint with Trek is done, I like it that much.

Then it was another day driving, this time to Omaha to see my step mom, Dee, and my aunt and uncle, whin I haven't see in 10yrs or something like that. I was a lot of fun catching up. Of course I heard plenty of "geez, you're not 12 anymore" and "you've grown sooo much". Yup that's the point of life, I think. So it was a quick stay in Omaha, before I was on the road again, this time to Duluth, MN, home for me.

The trip to MN is a great one. Being born in Omaha, I remember some of the drives through Iowa from the very ocassional visits to my dad, and driving to Moab, UT for riding. The time seems to go by so fast because of that. I hit the MN stateline in no time and was extremely overwhelmed. I haven't seen my family in 6 months and was missing them terribly. No real big things happened on the drive out, which is always a good thing, but it did rain hard on the way up to Duluth at one point. I had to slow down to 20mph because the rain was so heavy I couldn't see the car in front of me. 

I pulled in the driveway and saw my dog Gus, gave him a big hug and then searched out my parents. After talking with them for a bit, it was time to get on the mtn bike and spin the legs out. Duluth got rain earlier in the day, and it gets really muddy after a rain, so I was ust covered with mud! Again it was great to ride in that, that's ho I started riding mtn bikes. Long day driving and then riding it was time to chill out. Dinner and more catching up with mom and dad. I love vacations.

Hmmm

So I was told that I was a "hot" 36 today, what an interesting life I lead. It was a 26 yr. that said it too.

More Miles

Today was another mild day in the saddle. Did another 50+ today putting me at 130 for the weekend, not bad. I was afraid I was going to be flat today because of the effort I put in yesterday, but I felt great the whole ride. It's been nice actually having time to myself this weekend, I get to do things that I normally wouldn't, like relax. So my confidence is getting up there about the race on the 27th, looking forard to at least making a showing there. 

Whew!

Two posts! I forgot to mention that I have the weekend off, and with that I was able to get out on a great ride today, 4.5 hrs which translate into around 80 miles. This is the first time since February that I have been able to get out with a group to do this amount of miles, plus I still don't know all the routes here either. I do have to say that I do love the new Madone, it's super comfortable and ust goes. 

I'm Back

Ok so I had some heavy things go down a bit ago and had to delete the old blog. Long story, but the short version is that I'm no longer in a relationship, yup again. So for now I have this going, don't know how much I'll be writing, so enjoy when I do. 

Well with July here it's almost time for me to head home to Duluth for a bit before hitting up Madison for the annual Trek dealer show. I'm pretty excited as things have kind of gone stale out here on the west coast. It will be a great recharge of the batteries to get out of here for a bit, so when I come back it's like a fresh start. As you can see from the picture I have finally built up a 29er. The Paragon frame with Xlite wheels and XTR components and Reba fork, total weight is 23.5 lbs. It rides great. Still not good enough for me to get off the Top Fuel full time, but it'll be fun to ride once in a while. 

So in other things I have been getting things ready to head back to school also to finish up my degree and finally graduate. I'm pretty excited about this. I have been wanting to do this for a while and now have the motivation to get it done. Should take me a bout a year or so, I have about 30 credits left, but with the full time job it will take some major dedication and time management. I'm up for the task though, I don't see doing the demo things until I retire, I mean sooner or later one has to put roots down. 

So I think I told you that when I go back to Duluth that I get to race a mtn bike race while I'm there, I have been training and using the Tuesday rides to guage mself and it wasn't pretty for the first couple weeks, but now the form and confidence is coming back. So I'm excited to get back and see what happens. Hope eveyone had a safe 4th, I'm off for a ride.