Friday, August 31, 2007

Thursday Night Alterra Ride





We had an awesome turn out for last nights ride by the lake front. The weather was perfect and not a cloud in the sky. I think we had over 20 some peeps show up for the show down. As usual the "A" group split off and took Lori with them. I think they are impressed with her legs and her biting sarcasm. As you can see in the last picture here, I had to get all their attention away from her just to take the dam picture. I think they made a new friend.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Quote of the Day


Victory isn't defined by wins or losses. It is defined by effort. If you can truthfully say, 'I did the best I could, I gave everything I had,' then you're a winner." ---Wolfgang Schadler

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Monday, August 27, 2007

Rhinelander Highlights




Happy Birthday Sam! Does she even look like
she rode twenty miles on a hard tail? Way to go!!
Retro Appliances



pre-ride illusion




Saturday evening on Crystal Lake





Latrine Boy Scout Style





















Front Door Ticket to Adventures









Elvis Best Host at Smokin Spoke!










Smokin Spoke


I hit a brick wall after my record died and they turned off the light switch. That about sums up my race report.


Thoughts that went through my head during the race:


my aching back, I should of took the ibuprofen before the race even thought it could kill me or make my blood thicken.


I feel like puking, I feel like puking, I feel like puking


My shorts are crawling up my crack again and again and again...


I could DNF right now and then I would feel better


Who invented this GEL crap?


Am I being punished for yelling at GREG?


That was number someteen Sport Girl who passed me... whimper, whimper


My next bike is going to be a dual suspension, Oh wait!



To think I gave up alcohol this entire week for this race, UGH







Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Smokin Spoke Course Description

Trail breakdown is:Course is approx. 9+ miles per loop (7 miles for Citizen Youth).60% double-track, 40% single-track Double-track is a combination of hard packed dirt/gravel roads within the boyscout camp at the start with very limited amounts of loose sand, progressing to established logging roads with packed dirt tire tracks and slight grass centers. The lead out is a couple miles of rolling, short hill terrain, suitable for 4 riders side by side (average is 16 ft. wide). This should be a fast area. There are two climbs which require effort.First short single track is through hilly terrain with hard dirt and packed forest topsoil weaving between trees with short rises and dips, and some incline.The next half of the course switches between short, technical single track stretches and short sections of established logging road with several good climbs in a rolling way. The "Boneyard" is a longer climb on looser dirt / gravel to the first water station on a plateau.Leaving the "Boneyard" you go on to the "Wart" on single-track, which is a large raised area with a flat plateau on top. The start is slight switchback up to the top, then twisty, bumpy single track in the open hardwoods. The end of the "Wart" is a 75 yard downhill run to a sharp turn entrance into "the Pine Plantation".The Pine Plantation is undulating and twisty with some off camber spots through hilly terrain with tight pine trees. The end of this portion has two quick drops with a short hump to get air on if you want, but a fast uphill switchback immediately after.This pops onto a gravel logging road double-track which quickly changes to hard packed dirt logging road.Back into narrow double-track in very hilly terrain, although mostly downhill.Next, on to very bumpy single-track for a mile or so.This is about the 3/4 mark, and then you are on 20 ft. wide camp roads, some with sandy spots, mostly hard dirt/gravel. you can open it up here.There is single-track then, which is very fast and mostly downhill decline with flow, and one very short drop and rise to watch out for. Then you have a short plank bridge with high mount, or choose to swing left and go around it.Back out onto camp road for 100 yards, back into single-track in boy scout camp, down some landscaped stairs (6 steps, 5 ft. long and about 6" down at each one), and onto a raised plywood walkway winding through the wetlands for 75 yards. The platform is 30" wide and about 8" above the moss.Back into the last stretch of open, fast double-track logging/camp road through the camp, and then a short section of double-track "speed bumps" before hitting the main gravel/dirt road that passes the start and on to your next lap. This is also the second water/splash station, which will have a misting tunnel on one side for those who need a cool blast for the next loop.I hope that helps. There will be a map of the course at the race for racers and spectators too. The Bikes-N-Boards crew who are setting up the race will be doing our weekly group ride Friday night at 6:00 p.m., and we will also be pre-riding Sat. afternoon. Hope you can pre-ride to plan your strategy!

Good LuckTerry Dahl

I stole this from the WORS message board

Buffalo Bill's Cabin



Team Alterra secured this little shack for this weekends event up in Rhinelander at Camp Tesomas. Sleeps 24, Boy Scout style and even has a kitchen. Located right on the course! After spending almost 72 hours in the outdoors last weekend this will be a treat.
For more info on Cabins at Camp Tesomas contact:

Elvis Bauman
Crystal Lake Scout Reservation Ranger
Samoset Council, Boys Scouts of America

Monday, August 20, 2007

Rained out

I was more than optimistic this week about racing at Mt Morris. I had a chance to pre-ride the course last weekend and it was a blast, dry! The Hee Haw section was my favorite. Don and his crew really did an awesome job to make this course and I was sure it was going to be a great event! As the week progressed, I sat at my computer at work to check the weather in Wautoma through out the week. Every day the forecast upped the anty for rain from 20% to 30% and it appeared the stakes were high for another mud fest. The big question was when would it hit?

I raced around Friday looking for the perfect tires and spent a good day back and forth searching for them. Finally got them, not the ones I really wanted but they would do. Now I could relax. We headed up to the race course to set up camp a bit late. I was going to go up early and set up a bit and then pre-ride but Captain had to work and no one else was available to give him a ride up. We pulled in about 6:30 PM and many racers had already established their camps. We drove around trying to find a spot that was not too low for when it rains. Captain started to set up and let me get in a quick pre-ride. He is so good to me! I did a quick lap about 37 minutes and felt ready to race. Camp was pretty much set up when I got back thanks Greg and Angie who helped Captain. By now the time was late and we were hungry. I was ready to make our tasty pasta and chicken and started to pull out all my stuff until I learned I forgot the pans to cook it in, UGH! All I had was the coffee pot and I was NOT going to cook noodles in it. Everyone else headed up to the chalet for the pasta dinner so we decided to join in. We sat down and were greeted right away by our waiter. We were eager to order the pasta and he sadly told us they were all out. As we quickly scaled the menu the only thing that sounded good by now is the fish fry, burgers were definitely out. The fish was great, we had the perch and the potato salad was home made and it was not gobbed with mayo. We were OK with this and had to make the best of it. The atmosphere was fun and exciting because all the other WORS racers were hanging out too.

Saturday morning, the air was warm and I think there was a bit of sun that peeked out for a bit. We were pleasantly greeted by the camping NAZI at 7:30 AM when she rolled in on her 4-wheeler asking for money for camping. Captain and I were sleeping until we heard her motor vechile right next to our tent. Thanks to Jo for setting her straight and telling her that everyone is STILL SLEEPING and paid for some of us so she would go away. I was about to get up anyway and was ready for some coffee. The morning was great, good friends, a good cup of joe what more could you ask for. Everyone did there own breakfast thing which was great! I had my usual steel cut oats with fresh blueberries that I cooked up in the frying pan :-) I now sat and thought how I was going to plan my next few meals before I race at 3:30PM instead of 11:20AM. I just figured I would eat the same things I do before I ride a usual MTB ride and I think it would work.

We started to prepare for the day and Captain found out that the owners have a garage with an air compressor so I could change my tire for the MUDS since the sky was darkening and my wonderful brother-in-law called Greg to tell him the Rain was on it's way. We grabbed the stans and the tires and headed up for Captain to change them for me. I know, I just learned how to change a tire with stans but before a race is quite nerving and I have a difficult time getting the tire off the rim need I say more. Well it was pretty funny, I was holding the tire for Captain while he was adding more air pressure to seat the bead on the rim and all of a sudden POP so loud I thought my ear fell off. The tire popped right off the rim and stans crap everywhere. I think a few others were laughing too. Finally he got the tires on good, no leaks and I was off to practice. What a difference 1.95 from 2.0, it does not seem like much but they felt so skinny to me. I did a section in the grass and some single track, my favorite hee haw section and was impressed with the way they handled on the corners but I did not like the feel of the nobbies on the grass, it felt like I was dragging and I was not looking forward to that at all.

11:00AM and the Elite's were starting to get ready. The Alterra gang set up the easy up on the last hill climb and it was a perfect birds eye view of the course. I knew I had time to kill before I race so I headed up to join the gang to watch the elite race. The rain had just started when I was taking pictures at the start and I thought to myself those lucky dogs get to race at the usual Sport time today and are pretty lucky to get a dry fun course while it lasts. I really enjoy taking pictures of everyone and had fun watching the details of the entire race through the camera. The rain continued during the elite race but the course did not look bad from where we were standing and I heard that the single track was still in good shape a bit greasy in sections. The crowd got thicker in the Alterra easy-up and I was getting intoxicated by the beer breath standing there trying to take pictures. I wanted to have a cold one but I would be racing soon and had to hold off. Don had just announced they are delaying the COMP start due to the rain. Once Comp started and I am not sure if it was there first or second lap, but when I saw a chain of excellent riders having to walk some sections of the single track and it was more then a hand full, I decided that I was not going to do another push my bike in the mud thing. It got uglier and uglier as the race went on and I knew the other women were going to be tough ass today and race it and I felt like a wuss but I just could not deal with the mud, I wanted the nice dry beautiful technical course not more MUD. That's the life of MTB racing, I know but when do you have enough of this?

I headed back to camp to change my only pair of shoes that were soaked with a pair of flip flops. Mikey was down there recovering form his race and said some shit to me and told me to go suck it up and race. At this time the rain was a bit of a drizzle and I thought, WTF and had ten minutes to change and get to the start. I darted into my tent to change into my kit and just as I put my socks on and was clamping on the bike shoes, IT STARTED TO POUR AGAIN, HARDER. That was it, I ripped off the kit, kicked the shoes off and put on some more warm and dry clothes and took Captain's tennis shoes that were 3 sizes too big and headed up to the alterra tent to drink with the rest of them. I should know myself by now that once I make my mind up, that's it! END OF STORY

SUBARU CUP 2007


Thursday, August 16, 2007

Freak Out!


So what tires are you running this weekend?

Monday, August 13, 2007

The New Taj Mahal


Another addition to Tyrine City.
After several camping trips we decided to get this for some shelter from the sun. 30 X 30
I am sure it will accommodate the Alterra gang and a few friends. Since many racing venues have on site camping we have decided to invest in some shade.
After Saturday's ride I was smelling a bit stenchy on the course and found out
that it was my helmet. I was wondering why it was so hard for me to catch MTB GIRL on those hills, she was keeping away from me because I smelled, LOL! I guess two years or so of sweat most likely is causing a nice growth of something in there so I decided to wash the helmet before purchasing a new one.
I heard you can put a helmet on the top rack of a dishwasher and it will take care of the stench. That would be the last place I would stick my helmet, sounds like a guy thing. So I soaked my helmet in Dawn with bleach and scrubbed the straps in hope to rid those bugs. After that I hung it out to dry on the clothes line in the sun. I think that did the trick. DAWN DETERGENT seems to be good for a lot of bike issues.
I am also finding that since I switched to detergents that are free of dyes or deodorants (because it is suppose to be good for your skin and better for the environment) our uniforms are not smelling too pretty either since the change. So I am back to using TIDE with BLEACH and a bit of DOWNY fabric softener for the Bike Kits. I am thinking this is a REAL good idea for now. I also have read somewhere that DOWNY fabric softener, or any softener for that matter in your clothes and it will keep bugs and insects away, I guess they just hate that smell.
Do any of you have any remedies for cleaning bike stuff ?

Sunday, August 12, 2007

MT MORRIS

Captain, Tim and I headed up to Mt Morris on Saturday to join the gang for some riding and help Don with some trail work. I the directions off MAP QUEST and it took us on a wild country road tour but we finally made it, a bit late but we were still able to help out a little. Don is working on some final touches on a awesome course he and his crew developed. Over 240+ hours of labor was put into the course and the trails are awesome. I think this weekends events at Mt Morris are going to be exciting especially with all the events that are going on. The cross country race on Saturday, Poker run on Saturday night and Super D, Short Track and Slalom race events on Sunday. I even here there is the biggest swag yet in all of WORS history for this event. On course camping will sure to be a blast.

Some part of the course


Single track, DUH

Feet check

Jeff, Captain, Tim and Don getting ready
to have Don show us his course


The Westphal's

Relaxing after all that great food MTB girl brought

I signed up for the Super D and Short Track events on Sunday and I hope to see more of the Sport Women out there to join me in the fun on Sunday, it should be a blast!

Check out the events

For details about the course lay out check out
MTB GIRL she has a good description of how it feels :-)



Friday, August 10, 2007

attacking it

Thursday night Alterra ride was once again a
challenge for me. Riding with these guys, I always have to be 100%
focused at the start to keep up which is good for me I guess. I am suppose to think
of the positive aspects of my rides so here is the data of my best efforts for last night.
These numbers look better than my averages.
Time: 1:44:54
Miles: 31.4
Max Watts: 520
Max HR: 215
Max MPH: 25.4
Max Cadence: 128
Calories: 781

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Skinny Bitch



"Not your typical boring diet book, this is a tart-tongued, no-holds-barred wakeup call to all women who want to be thin. With such blunt advice as, "Soda is liquid Satan" and "You are a total moron if you think the Atkins Diet will make you thin," it's a rallying cry for all savvy women to start eating healthy and looking radiant. Unlike standard diet books, it actually makes the reader laugh out loud with its truthful, smart-mouthed revelations. Behind all the attitude, however, there's solid guidance. Skinny Bitch espouses a healthful lifestyle that eliminates meat and dairy foods, promotes whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, and encourages women to get excited about feeling "clean and pure and energized."




I had the day off yesterday and heard these young author's talk about their smashing new book called the "Skinny Bitch"on the TODAY SHOW. The ideas in the book most likely are based on Vegan practices but I looked at the exert on line and this stuff is hilarious! I wish we could use this type of "IN YOUR FACE " approach in health care for some of our slackers. I think we could maybe help people to wake up and take responsibility for their health if we stop beating around the bush and just tell them like it is. The authors have created some controversy and have really stirred things up in the "DIET" world. I don't agree that women should try to look like anorexic celebrities and starve themselves to death, but I do agree that recognizing what you are eating is very important to your health and performance.

Monday, August 06, 2007

Race report for alterra Mud Fest


Finally, after weeks of preparation the Alterra race was here. During the night it had poured outside my bedroom window through the entire night and I was thinking they were going to call off the race. Marty and Greg both had a discussion about alternate routes and or cancellation if the rain was heavy the day before. The phone rang at 5:30 AM for Captain to wake up. The guys arrived at the course at 6:00 AM while I slept in to 7:00AM. I got a call from Captain that the Alpha trail will not be used, parts of it were under water. They were walking down around Kevin's heaven when I spoke to him and he said it was a bit tacky, wet in a few spots. I hung up the phone and relaxed while drinking my Alterra French Roast Coffee and watching the news. I thought to myself, I prepared for the extra length of the alpha trail for today but now it will be like a Wednesday night race, no problem. I was just ready to leave and Sonia called asking about trail conditions. Never once did I think that I would need mud tires since my Specialized SWORKS Fast Track tires did the job for the last few muddy races.


I got to the course, took pictures of peeps and props and got ready to race. I tried to make mental notes of the start hill and the cap since the conditions are now muddy. While doing the warm up I headed down towards 76 th street and saw hand fulls of Citizen racers stopping and pulling off mud from their bikes. I rode up near the gravel driveway that breaks into the top cap and it was like pudding and my bike got it's first dose of the medicine to come. I looked at the racers again thinking this is going to be hell. Then just before the race, I run into Marty and he tells me to be sure to stay clear of the grassy section on the cap because many racers are recking their derailleurs. I thought Great, what more could I ask for nice thick soupy mud, possibility of wrecking my new bike and or killing myself in the process. Well I am always up for a good challenge and the weather was actually superb for racing since many times the Alterra race has brought sweltering heat to the near 100's with full bright sun just baking you on the climbs.

We lined up at the start and we were off. I got to the top of the climb about where I thought I would be and started to get into action and all of a sudden my bike felt like a fish out of water. So I slowed a bit trying to not wipe out. Once we made the left turn to the field that was it, back tire was ready to slide out from me if I even dare to pick up my pace. Near misses here and there, slowly falling back and back and back, it was humiliating. Thanks to Gretchen and her support at the start, she seemed to make it more fun to hang in there at the start of the race. Off in the distance I saw some of my Peeps slicing through the mud. The only thing I thought to myself at that point is they got some kick ass skill to get through this stuff. It only got better, once we got near Kevin's Heaven to bypass it, their was a pot of soup waiting for us all the way to the gravel road. Finally got out on the road ready to make up some time only to be confronted with more greasy, rooty muddy conditions that made me shake my head knowing how well I know this course and now it is making a shame out of me today. Lap one and most of two was an endurance pace and then trying to make up time on climbs from Crater's of the Moon through the start hill. It seemed I would pass others on the dry sections only to be passed by them again in the mud, it was frustrating but by now it was more fun because everyone else was dealing with it and I think we all pulled for each other in some way with cheers of support to keep going. I think Colleen and I went back and forth for ever and she really did well in the mud and put me to shame. It was also nice to see Greisbach back out on the course and she sure picked a good one.
Finally, after numerous peeps telling me my place on the third lap it gave me encouragement to step it up and I caught up to Sonia on the final climb to the switch back trying to take the advantage of the downhill and into the final single track. Once heading out of the single track it was off to the finish. I continued on suffering this final climb. I hear Sonia say, "Christine your are going the wrong way" again I had to turn around and back track since there was a huge gully and the flagged fence in my way. I saw Sonia climbing towards the finish and tried to catch her. I was dying by now and I caught up to her thanking her for saving me back there. We rode up to the finish together.

I heard cheers from so many my entire race and I appreciate it and thank you all! My helmet goes off to the lead ladies on Sunday, Claire, Amelia, Megatron and SS Amy what an incredible job you gals did at the start all the way to the finish! That's true mountain bike racing at it's finest!

Sunday, August 05, 2007

ALTERRA MUD CLASSIC 2007

CAPTAIN'S PIC OF THE DAY

Saturday, August 04, 2007

ALTERRA COFFEE BEAN CLASSIC 2007

AUGUST 5TH 2007
CRYSTAL RIDGE
FRANKLIN WISCONSIN

Friday, August 03, 2007

Sneak Peak at the Alterra Trails

Crystal Ridge Lodge
The start, laps and Finish.
Just for you climbing freaks there is a
new added section of climbing in the back off the Alpha
Trail prior to the Craters of the Moon Climb for Comp/Expert Field


Top of Expert Comp Hill Climb, Highest point in race.


More views from the top

Down Hill for Comp/Expert after the grueling climb

WORS SIGNAGE

TOP OF DOWNHILL SWITCH BACK

OUT TO O'MALLY'S


TEAM ALTERRA FINALIZING PLANS
FOR THE BIG RACE

JAY & NATE


MORE TEAM ALTERRA


TEAM SASSY