Opportunist

@AMY

To exploit circumstances to gain immediate advantage.  Eating healthy sucks in that you never seem to feel full, which means I'm not eating healthy.  After the firecracker I new I had to gain some sort of immediate advantage.  Throwing out my consistent principles, I stuffed my mouth full of McDonald's cheeseburger and fries and drove down to Levis for the Levis 100.  

Three loops with a total distance of 25 miles did not seem all that bad until after the race.  23 of the 25 were on single track which makes for a different race all together.  Let's just say conditioning plays a whole different roll on mile 22 of single track.  All in all it was a fun race and for the most of it I was out on the course alone with no one around.  Great way to connect with the bike and the trail.  Oh yea...that immediate advantage worked and I took third.  Nothing like a new shirt and water bottle.  Someday the paycheck will come...I think.

But that's not the news for us.  Adam is getting hitched.  he popped the question to Steph in anon romantic setting.  That is beside the point.  The minute the sucker knelt on one knee he set the ball in motion for a life committed to utter submission and nostalgia.  "You know she is not another notch in the old belt."  Let it be known today that Adam doesn't wear a belt...beltless.

The starting line up looks something like this - me up first as the BM, followed by Michael who will step in if I can not carry the team.  Seth snuck his way in at the third spot and Adam is trying to make good with the brother-in-law my putting him in last.  Its a good line up that is bound to get the woman looking. 

"Give us a couple boilermakers.          Two up.    

Well, here's to the heart, goddamn it.

Oh, Lordy." 

-River Runs Through It 

You have those… (Sunday, July 5th)

…days where you wonder what went wrong between the time of your last race to this one. I have to remind myself that my last MTB race was the ‘08 Chequamegon. That hurts but yet it helps to remind me to take this race in stride with the long season. Keep in mind “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” –Mahatma Gandhi

In a nut shell. I went out too hard and gotcaughtin a pretty face paced group of riders. Throughout the race I couldn’t get my heart rate down and on this particular course there are no places to recover. You have to be stuck on someone’s tire or be left in no mans land.

Lap 1 – went over my handlebars and messed up my saddlepositionwhich made for an uncomfortable lap 2 & 3. burped my rear tire and was losing air slowly with every root and rock that I went over.

Lap 2 & 3 – spent trying to recover, catch the riders ahead of me, and filling up my burped tire.

In short, it was a long day of racing that I ended up chalking up as a training ride. This weekend I hope for better. I will be down at Levis riding the in THIS race.

Hopefully my form comes back to me by Saturday.

Single Swizzle

Sturgis

Tuesday, July 7th - New Member

Today, I initiated Beers 'N Gears' newest member, Jeremy Bennis.  Jeremy and I rode an easy 24 miles out past Fanny Hill.  It was my first day back in almost 2 weeks after vegas.  I think stogies caught up to me. . .oh and I definately caught up on the BEERS.  Jeremy rides hard and thats about it. . . He is much like me (adam) where he only knows 1 speed. . .hard.  (we're just too dumb to pace ourselves).  At the end of the ride I told  Jeremy I was going home to blog about our ride, he said "tell everyone about how bad we suck".  He is going to fit right in.  

In the next universe, Aaron rode the typical Spring Street Sports tuesday night ride.  I am only going to write 1 sentence on this because this ride is not in typical Beers 'N Gears fashion.  He went 53 miles averaging 22 MPH. . . SICK.  Hence why he is president! Oh and I'm drinking beer right now!

Out. . . oh and I just got engaged.  Do I need permission to go on a ride now?   

Pre Ride

We will see. Its going to be a fast track with good weather. Good thing tomorrow's race is on my stomping grounds.

Snap crackle, oh shit

I do not have a problem pushing hard. It is when I push hard too long that I get in trouble.

SNAP

CRACKLE

POP

Monday, June 29th - Biking in the shower

Nate, Adam, and Aaron went for an hour and 45 minute fat tire ride today out to the singles of lowes creek. With the Chippewa Valley Firecracker fast approaching (July 5th), Nate wanted a "tour" of the course before he attacks it on Sunday. Adam will be in Las Vegas for vacation on Sunday taking care of the "beers" so he will be unable to ride. Aaron seems ready but admitted it may be a tough race for him on Sunday. Nate seems to be able to attack pretty hard and should be able to get with a good group of guys and hang pretty well. Aaron was Aaron and led the way stopping at every fork to wait for Nate and Adam. . .only God knows how long he actually is waiting there too, it could be for 2 minutes at a time. Nate and Adam seemed to ride at a similar pace. Adam had 3 "near death" experiences. He rides extremely hard but that also means he breaks extremely hard as well. Who knows what would have hurt Adam more in the one close call. As he locked up his breaks, he could have collided with a tree, very large stump, or go over the cliff edge that was a mere inches away. . .you pick, but somehow he managed to keep the bike on the path and actually stay on top of it. On our ride back to town, we were cooled off by a nice 5 minute downpour in which we are reminded of Nate's thought pattern at which point he hollered out at the top of his lungs. . ."I feel like im biking in the shower"! Good stuff

Quick Ride

On June 26th I took the opportunity to do a short shake out session on Hwy C prior to our 9:30 showing of Transformers. I brought a Patrick Keyes with me to see if could handle the strains of being on a team such as Beers n' Gears. He fared quite well and the 18 or so miles went smoothly and quickly. I guess any ride isn't complete without one hiccup or two. We had just passed the Water street district on the trail when we had the unfortunate loss of one of our furry friends. Without notice or even a head nod a poor defenseless squirrel jetted out in front of my tire. Before I could adjust the poor guy suffered the wrath of my front tire. Although, he was able to scurry off he may have learned his lesson to look both ways before crossing the path.
~ Michael
Treasure

ITS STREP. . .who the hell gets strep throat in late June. This sucks. . .no ride for me today.

ADAM - Thursday, June 25th

IM SICK. . nuf said. I'm heading in to urgent care to get a severe sore throat and swollen neck looked at. It may be from drinking beer from water bottles during rides. We'll see if I ride.

ADAM - Wednesday, June 24th

I am at Racys coffee shop in Eau Claire trying to come up with a good excuse as to why I didn't ride today. I have this giant boil of guilt whenever I do not ride. I hate it. Instead, I sit in Racy's finishing my final project for my first Graduate class. . . .an assessment program. This sucks. The only good that comes from this is that I am all jacked up on caffein from the 3 lattes that I have drank. Wait, thats not good! As they say in Germany, beer tastes better after you actually do something. I cannot drink if I do not ride. . . Thats official Beers n' Gears bylaw 235.12. I'm FREAKIN BORED

Tuesday, June 23rd - 2 YEARS

El Presidante Sturg was celebrating his 2 year anniversary with Nikole so he was unable to ride. . .CONGRATS you two. There was no real ride planned today (as there usually never is) but Michael was itching to get back on the road bike after battling a bad sinus infection for the past two weeks. The weather has been brutally warm and muggy. The temp at ride start was 95 degrees but dropped when the sun went behind the clouds. Still, the heat index was over 100 at the hottest part of the day. Struggling to find the motivation to go, Nate and Adam joined michael for what was supposed to be a brief "hour at the longest" ride at about a 15 mph pace. 25 miles later, the sweat soiled legs circled back into Eau Claire. Traveled west of town and did Cty Rd. C and looped around by Fanny HIll. Michael felt "great" and had some fresh legs. Nate and Adam were still recovering from the 35 (nate), and 40 (adam) from yesterday but once the legs got churning, the miles came easier. Tomorrow Nate and Adam hope to hit up the singles south of town with possible special guest Bernie. Does anyone know if Sturg is going to come? Where is he? I am betting him and Nikole are still gazing into each other's eyes across a candle lit table while sipping on a bottle of wine. . . gross. Get your ass on the skinnies!

Monday, June 23rd - Rubber Meets Asphalt

Nate is in Eau Claire for 2 weeks so what a better chance to hook up with Sturg(Aaron) and Sturgie(Adam). Went for a healthy 35 miles south west of Eau Claire following County Road Z. All riders looked healthy. Adam dropped on hills at about mile 28. We stayed together and tried a pace line later. . .tough with only 3 riders and only one really knows what he is doing. Nate let most of the way which is good because he's fat and cut (plowed) the wind well.