pp

Summer is for pop punk

Powderhorn24

The first Powderhorn 24 is coming up soon. It's a 24 hour race that takes its inspiration from the Milwaukee Riverwest 24, but fortunately for me is not nearly as far away. Anyway, it looks like an awesome time and for $10 it's a heck of a bargain even if you just show up for a t-shirt.  Registration closes on the 1st so act quick.  Learn more here  

congratz

Saturday a bunch of us headed down to Madison for this guys wedding.  I just want to say the whole thing was gorgeous, sweet, and fun and I wish you guys both the absolute best.  I want to conclude by saying my legs still hurt from dancing so hard and it was hands down the most ridiculously fun wedding I have ever been too, which I kind of saw coming when their was beer available at the ceremony.  I'm just upset my camera died so quickly.   

south of 8

New North of 10

Northoften Spring/Summer 2011 from North of Ten on Vimeo.

fo sho

CE

Cadel Evans has gotten a ton of attention this year on the Tour, and has quickly become my favorite guy to watch in the entire race. Between his freak eyes, sniffles, Jackson family face and voice, and nonsensical commentary he is just to funny to not like.

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

commuter man

The other day Volume One posted an article on summer bike commuting in intense heat.  The two major points I think it missed are bring water and bring deodorant. If you commute in this weather you WILL need both, fact.  Hand sanitizer is a nice gesture, but you just need to accept the fact you are going to smell like sweat.  The best way to fix that is bring a sweat towel, wipe down and reapply generous amounts of deodorant. And with all of this insane heat sending people indoors to complain on the internet I decided to take a few pictures of my summertime commuter. 

'

There it is, nothing new or fancy, just a straight forward solid bike that has upwards of ten zillion miles on it of commuting and goof off time. Old Team Miyata, with a hodge-podge of junk on it (Iro cranks, messenger chainring, bianchi quill, turbo saddle, weinman/formula wheels, flop and chops,eggbeaters)and a paint job  that suits it just fine.

 I really can't say how much I like this bike enough, and some day when it falls apart from years of abuse I'm going to be very upset.  Now that my post quota is filled it's time to get in front of a fan and watch the tour stage before heading out into this 115 degree windy garbage weather for work.

500 flat

 If their is any destination I have taken more photos than my house it's probably of road trips to A to Z Pizza Farm in Stolkholm WI.  Probably for two reasons, the driftless landscape always leaves me slack-jawed and because a trip to the pizza farm always means a road trip and a good time with friends.  So yea, we went to the pizza farm and I took more pictures and feel like I  need to validate my reasoning for posting pizza farm photos here all the time.

 Yes, that is a Wisconsin flag full back piece. Roots run deep.

Also, this is my 500th post. Good for me.

draggin

 Just got back from a ride, humidity has been turned on.

waiting

 Keeping busy and looking forward to the weekend.

tourmalet

I posted this last year as well, but the Col du Tourmlet was today and this is too good to pass up posting again.  Watch them pull a guy up a cliff with tires tied together at 3:30

"The Col du Tourmalet is one of the most famous climbs on the Tour de France. It has been included more than any other pass, starting in 1910, when the Pyrenees were introduced. The first rider over was Octave Lapize, who went on to claim the yellow jersey in Paris. In 1913, Eugène Christophe broke his fork on the Tourmalet and repaired it himself at a forge in Sainte-Marie-de-Campan.

Since 1947, the Tour has crossed the summit 47 times, plus a stage finish at the summit in 1974. As of the 2010 edition of the tour, the summit has been crossed 75 times in the tour's history. There have also been three finishes at La Mongie. Since 1980 it has been ranked hors catégorie, or exceptional. The Vuelta a España has also crossed the pass several times.

The 2010 edition of the Tour included the pass on two consecutive stages, crossing westward on the 16th stage to Pau and eastward on the 17th stage with a finish at the summit.

At the col is a memorial to Jacques Goddet, director of the Tour de France from 1936 to 1987, and a large statue of Octave Lapize gasping for air as he struggles to make the climb."

fc3

 Rode out to the Firecracker yesterday morning for the race.  It was my first MTB race ever and it was a total blast.  I ended up racing Citizen and took 27out of 122 total and 7 in my age group which I feel pretty good about.  Especially considering I was riding a small 20 year old single-speed with a bent frame, v-brakes and a bunch of other cheapo parts racing against a field of shiny new geared bikes.  Definitely could have taken another lap however to help level the field against some of the fast burners, and a higher gear to help out on all the double track.

 After the race we hung around to watch everyone else try their luck and heckle.  Got to see a handful of mechanicals including the guy below this walking his bike back with two busted chainstays.  Not a happy camper.

 We eventually set up camp and helped course martial/water boy for the rest of the elite racers.  By this point it was well into the 90s and people were clearly hurting.  Had to have EMT's come in and take away a few racers and sit one down in the stream.  We ran out of water and ended up just hucking stream water at racers the rest of the race and doing a few beer handouts.

Tore down, hopped in the stream for one last dip and headed out to help tear down a little more before heading home, showering, getting some cheese curds at the Cn'H with Jen and crashing out. Again, this was a total blast and I can't wait for the next one.  Hats off to CORBA for getting this together and all the sponsors for making it possible.

more like

More like Tour de' Fence...

"Hoogerland finished the stage, claimed his KOM Jersey on the podium and even did some interviews before getting 33 stitches to repair the damage."

Am I right?  The guy definitely deserves both the KOM and most combative jerseys after that.

big falls

TNR Big Falls Ride, 18ish people, perfect weather, loads of fun.  The vibe riding back from Big Falls in a big group late at night is always just amazing. Your bad if you missed out.

5thV2.o

How can we make this more fun?

5th

4th of July recap.  Bike riding time

firecracker

    Saturday Derek and I went out to Lowes Creek to help out with some trail work before the firecracker next weekend. It was an entire day of hard work, but at the end of it we built a pretty sweet bridge, and my enthusiasm for racing the Firecracker went up ten fold. It's my first MTB race ever and I can't think of a better time or place for it. 

 Before and after

Start planning now, it's going to be a blast.  More info here!

starting tomorrow

I'm getting pretty excited about this!

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Man, I get that Contador is not a popular guy right now, but this makes him look like a serial killer.

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