Belgium Ride in Wisconsin

I had a great weekend of riding this past weekend considering the weather. Saturday I rode 85 miles and my route went like this. I started from my house in West Bend with one of my team mates and then we headed towards Cedarburg to get together with some more teammates. It was flurries to light snow which made the roads very wet. Besides the roads being wet they were actually perfect. No ice on the roads, but very dirty with lots of salt.

We met two other teammates in Cedarburg and we were going to meet up with another group that was going out at a later time, but they cancelled their ride. So, we rode down to Altera by Bradford Beach in Milwaukee.

This was a very wet ride with temperatures in the mid to upper 30's. Stopping at Altera was a great idea, coffee and snack break along with a little warming up inside. The place was surprisingly busy, but I don't think that place is every slow. This is a very nice bicycle friendly community, but we still managed to get a lot of looks as if we were completely nuts!

After our little break we headed back. My feet were completely soaked and my toes were swimming and they became miserably cold. I kept wiggling them to try to keep blood flow in them to get them to warm up, but to much water in my shoes. I couldn't wait to get home to warm my feet up.

When we made it to Cedarburg we dropped on guy off and the other one proceeded with us back to West Bend and then he had to turn around and ride back to Cedarburg (what an animal). All in all was a great ride with great people with crappy weather, but what are you going to do? Sick of riding inside on the rollers. Can't winter be over?

On Sunday some of my teammates planned a ride, and I was going to pass on this one and clean my bike from the previous outing. At the last minuted I decided what the heck. My wife was running and had plans, so I had her gracious to go ride, so I went riding again.

I rode to Cedarburg to meet up with some teammates and then we rode to West Bend to ride with one of our sponsors. I managed to get in 55 miles with some of the best hills in Washington County.

The weather today was a bit better than Saturday's, but still a bit cold but bare able. No snow, but misty with the low clouds we had. Warm enough not to have ice on the roads, but cold enough that the moisture from the mist on my helmet turned into ice. My toes were perfect because they stayed dry. Still great to get outside and ride.

Extreme and P3

Well on Saturday morning I went to Extreme to ride with some of my teammates. I rode for two hours at a light to medium intensity. Brian and I were talking to a new teammate and giving him some pointers and answering any questions that he had. Nothing really too exciting that comes to mind.

After riding at Extreme, Brian and I went to P3 (Peak Performance Pros). This was on the computrainers and the session was for one hour and thirty minutes. We started one program and the coach didn't like it so he switched it. This was actually beneficial for me. This gave me a nice warm up until we started the new program/course. I was able to hang on Brian's wheel, but still busting my butt to keep up sometimes. The intensity for me was race pace, which I haven't done in a long time. I did feel good especially for already have ridden for two hours.

I will be putting in some more hard efforts now and again to start ram ping up for the race season that will be here before I know it!

Superbowl Sunday I wasn't able to ride. I needed to get some stuff done with my wife. We are in middle of remodeling our kitchen. Not a complete remodel, but painting the cabinets, window trim, floor trim, and walls. This is taking a little longer than anticipated but in the end will be worth it.

No sign of spring quite yet. We are expected to get ten to fourteen inches of snow. This would be great if I skied (cross country or skate skiing). That's all for now!

New WCA Rule

New rule posted by WCA and I am getting a lot of e-mails if I have seen the new rule. Yes I have and with the racing year I had last year I am not disgurished at all. Last year I won the overall WCA M4/5 class. My racing age was 30 and was allowed to race the masters class. Last year was my first year of racing!

This year I have had a lot of Masters teammates ask me which races I was going to focus on. Well, with this new rule there is no option but to try to do well in the Category 3 class. I am hoping that some of the Masters guys will come and give me some help, but if not I do understand.

Unfortunatly this takes away some of the doubling up that I could have done. Now, if I want to double up I have to also race with the 1,2's when they allow the 3's to race with them. Which I don't quit now if I am up to that challenge.

I do have another teammate that isn't old enough to be a masters also, so at least I will have him to race with for sure. I will take this as a positive outcome and it should only make me faster.

This rule also makes sense to me because, when you race the T.O.A.D. (tour of americas dairyland) their master class is 35+. This was another reason that this year I was going to race the Cat. 3 class, to help me get ready for T.O.A.D.