Cycling in Winnesota.

On Friday August 11th me my dad and my mom all headed up to da UP for Ore to Shore. We pulled into the Marquette campground, located conveniently about 2 miles away from the race venue, setup camp and headed over to the spaghetti feed/ registration with our friends Jay Vandervoort and Eric Peterson and his family.

The next morning we headed to the start area early so I could line up in the front row of the non-preferred start. I stood all ready to go when Swiftie and lil' Sova pull in right along side of me. The gun went off and we headed out, everyone was motorin' it too. I dangled on the back of the lead pack and finally fell off about 5 minutes into the race. for most of the rest of the race I tried to stick with some familiar faces. I ended up losing a ton of places midway through because of Severe back pain and almost dropped out, but started feeling better towards the end. I came on real strong in the last 15 miles and ended up taking back some places. overall I ended up 61st just cracking the 3 hour mark and missing a podium in my age group, i was fourth, by a small margin. Next years bike is definetely going to be a fuel, the ol' hardtail's gettin' me.



the day after the race we headed west to the Porcupine Mountains for some campin' with the fam. We met with my sister and her boyfriend Mike as well as Ryan a friend of the family. During our stay I did a few road rides, lots of climbing, and a mountain ride as well. We hiked a bit and swam our fare share as well, all in all a typical Muraski camping trip.

The day after we arrived we hiked in to trap falls, an 11 mile hike round trip, and swam at the falls.

The whole crew of us, except for my mom, rode to the top of the ski hill, looks different w/ no snow.We found a ship wreck off shore in Lake Superior and swam out to it to collect treasure, well hoping to anyway. I found a 50 lb. iron bar and carried it back into shore, nearly drowning. A lady at a local shop told us that the wreck had been there for about 100 years.

All in all I'd say a pretty sweet family vacation. I came home w/ a sore back, two very beaten-up bikes, and a few counterpoint records, nothing like a little Palastrina, never know what you'll find in some old ladies attic. Anyway another chapter brought to a close.

This weekend helped to really put things in perspective. I realized why I rarely race on the road. I lined up for the big firehouse race behind the 200 preferred start and second wave start riders. I managed to work my way through the madness by the first climb and with use of a little bit of bike handling skill I made it into the front of the pack. Early on I was active in chasing down a few breaks, breaks that were ultimately completely pointless. Most of the rest of the race was spent in the middle of the pack coasting along... until we hit 63. about 5 miles out I kicked it in the ass and got back on the front. I was up in the top 20 or so riders when we crested the final hill and could see grandview below, it was then that I heard it cCCCCRRRRAAAASSSSHSHHH! the riders behind me crashed to the ground.... I never looked back. THe last minute of the race was just like the intervals I've been doing all season... I ended up 12th out of 500 riders, some of them pros. Maybe road racing isn't so bad...

It all started on Friday July 27th, 2006, when me and my pops loaded up the F-250 and headed down to Wausau's famous nine mile forest for 24-9. We arrived at the Chequama Mama's 24-9 camp at about 1:30 pm, and shortly thereafter Jerry, Martin, Terry, Jeff, my dad, and I headed out for a nice easy pre-ride in the 95 degree hotness. The course for this year ended up being about 13 miles, strange that they don't call it 24-13, but it was pretty fast rolling. When we got back we all piled into the Super DUty and headed to Wausau mining company for some food and brews. AFter we were all stuffed to our gills we then proceded to wal-mart. We got lost en route and Jeff and I had to ask a hot blonde with a smokin' rack for directions. Jerry bought us all some "salty snacks" to keep the blood sodium level high and from there we headed to the steak and pub bar. AFter that it was back to mama camp where we all hung out for the rest of the night. Everyone was pretty unwound and we were all having a good time BSing, did I mention that there was a keg of Angry Minnow River Pig pale ale. So anyway it was at about midnight when a nasty storm started rolling in. We battened down the hatches and I went to wake my dad up to tell him he should sleep in the truck, my tent isn't the most weather proof.

I awoke the next morning with numerous aches and pains, guess that's what happens when you sleep in the front seat of a pickup all night, and less than 4 hours worth of legitimate sleep. Nonetheless I was still ready to go. I was the first guy to go for my team so I geared up and at 10:00 am I was at the start line raring to go. THe race started off with a 350-400 yard run, which completely killed me. I ended up way towards the back and had to fight my way through all of the slow people when I got on the bike. I ended up catching Billy, whilst he was putting his transponder back on, and he dropped me just a few minutes later, and then shortly before the trade off I caught him again. Paul was next on the bike for my team, and after him Kurt, Mike and then me again. I rested my legs well and when it was time for me to go again I was ready. Billy and me were both supposed to head out within a few minutes of each other and we were both gunning for sub-hour lap times. I ended up finishing my lap in 1:01:39.7, BIlly's about the same, which ended up being my fastest lap and the fastest overall lap in sport categorie. My next lap wasn't quite as fast. I had a slow transition because I took my light battery off realizing that I didn't need it. I got held up by some chick in the singletrack who wouldn't let me pass too. My lap ended up at a 1:02 which is ok considering. I headed back to mama camp mildly disappointed and slightly tired. I hung what was my second pair of shorts out to dry, which was pointless because the humidity was so high that nothing ever dried out, and cleared a spot in the bed of the ol' super duty to lay down and stretch my back. Kurt and Mike were alternating back to back night laps so I had a few hours to rest.

I awoke from my semi-conscious state just in time to head out for my first night lap. Everything was going dec until the I got passed by the first and only person the entire race in the singletrack and crashed to the ground. I couldn't get my foot out of my pedal. I forcefully removed myself from the 520s and jumped back on the bike, only to find I couldn't get back into the pedal. after about a mile of frustrated angry riding, and a few shin bashes later, I hopped off the bike took out my multi tool and loosened the remaining cleat bolt just enough to move the angled cleat back to center. I knew that once in I would no longer be able to release myself from the pedal. I rode the rest of the lap in anger and finished with a time of 1:11. The next lap started off much better. I went out at about 4:30 am it was chilly in the woods and there were less people to pass out there for some reason. about half way into the lap I started feeling weak, and I realized that I had no fuel w/ me. I knew I had forgotten something, but I just kept pushing through hoping to catch a second wind. In an open section of fire lane about half way through the course I felt the temperature drop 10 degrees in a matter of seconds and saw lightning off in the distance. I knew then that a storm was rolling in. It was that and nothing else that motivated me to pick up the pace. It ended up pouring for the rest of my lap. We're talking complete downpour, the trail looked like a freakin' river, but I made it in ok. You haven't lived until you've raced your bike at 5:00 am in a complete downpour with only a handlebar mount headlamp. When I arrived in the transition everyone was waiting cause the officials wouldn't let us out on the course. I just managed to squeek past the remaing aid stations before they started pulling riders off the course.

Back at camp I rested up and dried off, knowing that I would end up doing a sixth lap. Some dude drove by our camp and said that the race was cancelled shortly thereafter I discovered that the race was infact still on. Kurt geared up to take the next lap after paul's return. Before he got in from his lap they decided to call the race and revert times back to the 5:30 am point. meaning that paul's, kurt's, nor my final laps would count.

We ended up with a podium finish in sport class, thus meaning that I have only competed in one race this summer in which I didn't go home with some sort of award. I slept all the way home from Wausau and as soon as the truck was unloaded I slept through until the next morning, not including the calorie load that happened at about 9:30pm.