"ECK STUFF" ....and other stuff

Bike Sow (pig) Status achieved for certain

2005-11-10T14:39:00.000-08:00

Yup...no question about it....when I finally managed to prie Master Daanen's Ti fingered grip from that Smoothie of his, and nestled it in the trunk of the Max yesterday afternoon, I certainly put myself into a diff catagory. Bike-Pig status, perhaps, has already been attained previously by many of us...but certainly I can say that the Bike Lab is filthy full of slop and bikefull waste since ya really don't need a high zoot suspender Ti Steamboat built super bike. But what the heck...At least I know it will always be there and as long as I take care of her, she will be there with me when I am pedalin the hills of Tsali and Fruita and Santa Cruz till it's time for a knee replacement.
So there.... now I feel better. It's totally justified. When I am 80 some years old and Bdog is trying to hold my wheel down in the hills of SC in the year 2045, I guess I can say I was right that this bike is totally justified and is a bike built to ride a lifetime on. I wonder if he will be riding his shiny or the Tweck?

Later,
Eck

Not a epic Moab ride but it felt like it.....

2005-11-04T14:01:00.000-08:00

MM might have Moab to boast about, but my ride yesterday felt as good as a bad day in Moab (there are no bad days when you are in Moab). I managed to get guide the Shark all the way out to Haf's apple orchard near Lake Geneva and the knee didn't complain once. Even took the long way home and stretched it out to a full 2 hr ride. It'll be a while till I fill out the left side of my bike shorts but I have to tell you that it feels so good to ride. At this point I can at least say my quad is bigger than my knee...certainly this wasn't the case a while back.

THE Bike Lab has been working with a few new customers lately which has been nice. Once the USCA guys verify that the only criminal acts in my resume are ignoring my neighbor Bruce, and that I have stolen chain lube from Bdog on race day, I hope to actually have my first level coaches license. No big hurry to actually start coaching but it looks like I have some tentative folks lined up starting December.

Hope it's a good Iceman for all my riding buds,

Eck

Criminal Verification

2005-11-02T10:36:00.000-08:00

Just found out today that I have to pay an additional fee to verify that I'm not a criminal in order to continue the process of becoming a cycling coach in USAC. They increased the fee for the coaches license by over 10 % in order to do this. Wow.

I wonder if they are going to find out I have a single speed?

Eck

My first ride!!! Hooo AAAAHHHH !!!!!!!

2005-10-11T07:38:00.000-07:00

YUP...you got it!!! Last night I aired up the tires on my trusty Landshark, unleashed it from the trainer in the Bike Lab, put on the team kit and went out for my first ride. You can't imagine the grin on my face simply riding out of the subdivision as I headed west with the sunshine in my face. I couldn't hold back and made it all the way out to Wilmot for an out and back time of 50min with an avg speed of 16. My longest ride on the trainer prior to this has only been 30 min and hardly the resistance I did coming back on the rollers from Wilmot. I was glad that I didn't have any problems or swelling today. The small ring is now my friend but it's just a temporary buddy as I did sample the big ring on occasion :)

While there have been tons of folks that have supported me since June 19, I couldn't wait to share that first "real" ride with Kay. We even had plans to go out to Twin Oaks and celebrate afterwards. Until recently, she was there to talk to every single day since way back shortly after the incident. She is the one who was there for me to lean on when I struggled, when the ROM sessions felt like someone was sticking a fork under my knee cap, when I was depressed about "maybe never being able to come back", about worries if the pain might prevent me from riding again. It's always nice when someone is there to be supportive, encourage, and say nice things at the right time. She also gave me some nice stuff from Spri http://www.spriproducts.com to keep my core and other body parts working while I was kind a limited doing stuff. I havn't seen or heard from her in a while so it seems she lost interest or got distracted with something more meaningful. Glad I "never quit" and I intend to carry this momentum all the way through the winter and be ready in spring. At this point I am hoping to leave in the hardware till Oct. 2006 in hopes of being able to skate ski, snowshoe and ride this winter.

Well, please keep me in the loop for easy flat rides on the weekend from here on out. I am looking forward to hooking up with the Rock and DY and Jay and everyone else that will pull us along on the windy days.

Best of rides always !
Eck

Heres my update

2005-10-06T19:29:00.000-07:00

Just read last weeks post on Thurs. Same ol'e news this week.

How many days till the first Doc ride of 06? Gosh I need a bike ride.

Eck

one of those days....

2005-09-29T18:29:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have one of those days or weeks that you just wish ya could Fast Forward through?...or maybe better yet that you could rewind and then flip the channel to have it turn out like something else?
Why does life have to be so darn complicated? Man I need a bike ride really bad right now....
On another note:
I am so close to being able to walk up the stairs normal I can taste it.

Out.
Eck

3 months down the trail and Thanks!!!

2005-09-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

So..this past week was my 3 month anniversary of the Balistic Deer Kneecap Breaking Incident. I am really thankful of the progress and current situation. I am also super thankful for everyone that has, and continues to motivate me to get back to the bike.
Kay has been super motivating, and her training has inspired me to use this time to work on strength and ROM more than I could on my own. I really appreciate this a bunch. She thinks I am just going to be a cyclist when I am all healed up but I am thinking I might have to buys some running shoes and put the smack down on a duathlon next summer. She thinks she can take me. After I put her in her place on that, I am going to do a TriGeek-a-thon and make sure she knows I am not "just a cyclist", and that I am a fast dude...Period.

At this point my ROM numbers are big. Bigger is better and the number right now is 127ish deg. My good leg is 139ish so even if I get to 135ish by Christmas I will exceed original expecations for ROM in both recovery time and deg. The quad is coming back and is starting to resemble something like it's old self. The knee is kinda big yet and I have to accept that this is going to continue look bigger than "pre deer" for at least another year or so. Most likely it won't look as sexy as it used to but thats fine...as long as i can hammer off the front and make Bdog cry for his mama on windy rides next spring is all that matters.
The doc told me today that my recovery is going as fast as he could possibly expect, and that it's going much faster than he has ever seen before. Apparently he was one of the few that didn't know how fast I am. Doc Scott did the Schewamy and finished a respectable 3:15 so thats cool. Today I basically gave up 20 bucks of copay to talk about the FTF race. It could be worse.

I am really happy to hear about the Rocks recovery. Going to see him on Tues night. Recovery rides this winter will have true meaning for sure.

HEY!!! Did everyone hear that Jeremey knocked out the first top 10 of his WORS career? Nice one Dude !!!!

Well......it's official that as of today I am official deeper into the 40 somthin age cat. I think the 40-44 State TT title next Aug is a good objective for me now that I am thinkin about age groupers. Anyways...Happy Bday to me.

Have a good week !
Eck

Fat and Fast!

2005-09-18T11:21:00.000-07:00

The fattest of fat were up at the Chewamy FTF this past Sat.
Our TW "ringer" tandem boys JT and De Kaiser (he is actually bigger than ME!) rocked the course and made the pody for 3rd. Our great TW hope Mr. TOMMY BENDER apparently was motivated and insured his contract for next year with a superb 42nd,...and our very own whipping boy and ER comedian, BDOG got himself a 57th. I have no idea how the "dog" pulled off that result given all his "cross training" during bike racing season. Michelle must be cutting him some major slack and running that office while he is out doing intervals every a.m. My grade school buddy and lawn service specialist "Quadman" managed to finish this year without incident too. He deserved to get a good time given his posessed chain from 04'.
Sounds like the course was ripping fast. That would have really suited me well. I can only imagine a result and it's fun to visualize that course since I have done more than a few times. I bet there were a few who missed my wheel on those fire roads. The only course I have had more fun racing on is Sea Otter. Oh well..I am sure they did fine without me up there while I am working on my "new sport n' stuff".

I helped out the Bdog by drinking his beer and running is dog Fri and Sat. I think his exp. bots of EPO end up in that dog...it is non stop running with "Cleat dog" so good thing he had enough beer on hand to keep my thirst quenched. Now if he would just take care of those snakes around the house.... I felt guilty hanging out on the deck drinking his beer so figured I would mow some lawn also.
Knee is doing good and they are releasing me from formal PT now. I only need another 15 deg and I will be at full ROM. It could take a while to get these last few deg though. I have some Aqua PT stuff happing in the coming wks but really it is up to me know. I know what to do and need to keep up the motivation. My major accomplishment this week was cutting the lawn. I bit dicy in the ditches but otherwise no prob.
Sat I maxed out the Max with a nice wax job and detail. The color is Liquid Silver and it is totally pimping after the Eck detail.
Time for some riding...I am hopeful I can turn over the 175 cranks...not yet able to spin my 177's yet. I should be able to make use of a computrainer this fall and winter so now just need to figure out how to raise funds to get one. If anybody would like to donate a 3D Pro unit I would not have a problem with that.

Have a nice Sunday!
Eck

Kay is Kona-riffic!!!

2005-09-12T11:51:00.000-07:00

Wow...311th place overall and 3rd for the age group with a time of 12:15 and change...and only 50 seconds out of 2nd for the age cat. http://www.ironmanwisconsin.com/results/2005prelim.html
All I can say is that I am so thrilled for her. She had a smile on her face every time I saw her on the course. Sick eh? Man, it was hot, and windy and a Looooonnnnnnnggggg day. The finish line celebrations were so cool. There is nothing like it I have ever seen in sport. TV doesn't do it justice.
Speaking of so cool...the water start is unreal. When the gun goes of it's like a sea of sardines is trying to escape a predator. A chick actually came out of the water second overall. The crowd got a little excited when we all saw that.
On the bike, she was taking back places on every climb and even on the 30mph tail wind section on the way home. I guess the "Lab" will have to get her some more gears for the next event.
I was quite content to watch her run while taking in a few Weis beers with my buddy Erich. Got some cool run shots that I can post later. She had a few ladies get back some time on her during the run but " it is what it is" and she still had a dominating performance relative to the 1700 some that came in behind her.

So...Kay has accepted a slot for Kona. It would have been cool to see her at the awards today but missed out on that. What a huge honor it is to be in a position to attend the world championships for this sport. There she will get to compete with other exceptional age groupers from all over the world. I hope she likes salt water swiming and can make friends with all the ocean creatures during her swim there. I think she has a new bike project in mind for this winter so I hope I have the honor of building the new speed machine she has in mind for her training and Kona in 06.

I need to get in "my" ride today now. Going to see if I can pedal the Shark on the trainer with my regular setup and shoes.

BTW...Madison rocks. I love that town.
Eck

Ironman weekend ahead

2005-09-08T11:01:00.000-07:00

Yup, this is the weekend all the insane and disturbed Tri Geaks will make their journey to Madison WisCONsin, to take on the most crazy endurance sufferfest imaginable in sport. My favorite Tri chick "Kay" is ready and should have a super event. She has managed to keep injury and the BaronFLU away these past days and of course her bike is BIKE-LAB ready to rock. Now all she has to do is fuel up with premium stuff and let it rip on Sunday. My prediction is a slot for Kona (top three age group result). I don't think the other age groupers have much of a chance if Kay has an "on" day. Should be able to follow results on here: http://www.ironmanwisconsin.com (Diedrich is her last name)
Should be a fun experience even to watch...I will have lots of pics to post next week.

Knee update: Up to 115 deg ROM...It's really something how back in July I was sooo afraid to bend it and now very close to full ROM. Now just need to have some quad come back...thats a winter project alright.

OK...time for me to go out for a ride. Talk to ya next week.
Eck

This just in....

2005-09-03T15:06:00.000-07:00

Yup..I rode my bike today. Washed up the mtn dew deer trampled machine, straightened out the steering wheel and went for a ride around the subdivision.

Confirmed...2006 is a recovery year for sure. See you on the start line in 07.

Eck.

Big Numbers...Yup!!! BIG I'm Telling ya!

2005-09-03T05:25:00.000-07:00

94 deg is nothin! I got 110 yesterday and spinning on the PT bike is no problem now. Seems the gains of ROM are coming with less pain this past week. Pitch fork under the knee cap hasn't reared it's ugly points in a few weeks now. If only that pain on the medial ....ah whats the use, I am going to have a pain to wine about forever with this stupid knee thing so I might as well get over it. If I can never hike down to the valley of the Grand Canyon some day, or do a 14ner, or install wood flooring on my next house....that would be just fine as long as I can go out and put the smack down again on the Prince and have a big ole' grin afterwards.
All this chat about how hard these rides are are missing the Eck Factor. It's just not right when this tall figure is not in the mix. Then again they don't have my big carcass to draft off of. Ha!

My favorite minority lawn service came out to Trevor again this past Thur. Quadman is still ringing up some credits towards that sweet Ti seatpost and saddle I gave him last month. (by the way...his saddle issues have dissappeard thanks to the Bike Lab adj) He did leave me some weed wackin to do so I can go out and work on my farmer tan today.

Kay and her Iron friends are doing their final workouts as prep for the big day on 911. Kay is ready for the race today but the reality is, her body will be more ready next weekend. Gosh she is anxious. Last weekend she did 70 miles in the hills by Madison and felt like she didn't do anything. Yikes...she is going to smoke that course.
This past week we did a "fix o flat" clinic at the Lab. The Ironheads appreciated knowing they no longer need tire irons when they ride quality tires and know how to bust the bead from the rim by hand. Today I get to finish up her "backup sweet carbon northshore nose up in the air high zoot" Giant just in case high zoot bike #1 has the unthinkable happen between now and next Sun. I love wrapping up new bars with cool color tape.
Bike Lab is coming into focus. I have some good ideas on what I want to offer and how I want it to look. Once I am more able to do more, the Lab is going to get an over haul this winter. If anybody is dumping old furniture...I might be interested in it for the Lab.

OK..enough for today.
Eck

94+ deg and partly painful

2005-08-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

Whew!!! I got myself some hard earned numbers today. My hardballer PT chick "Di" really rocked my world today. Days like today get me closer and closer to the DPRT this Thanksgiving for the annual Turkey ride. That would be cool. At least today it didn't feel like I had a fork stuck under my kneecap when going for ROM. It's always a different pain each week and thank goodness no more pitch fork. I was certainly ready for a change.
It's now been over 2 months since that deer nightmare...but the stories keep on coming. Most of you have heard about the two guys who crashed into a pair of bambi's about a month ago. Broken nose for one dude and a collar bone for the other guy. Just recently, another Lake County rider got tangled up with a deer on the pave, both went down, and as the deer was trying to right itself, it kicked the poor bastard cyclist in the bloody eye socket!!! Gosh that had to hurt !! The kick actually broke the dudes eye socket. Dang.

Man...these late summer days just rock. Chequamegon is in the air. I would be doing my 10 year anniversary ride at that event. My first "Shewamy" was actually my first bike race period. How cool is that? Bender is going to get that top 50 for me this year if he can burn a few more hill suffer fest training nights with JT.

This Sat is the State Crit so looking forward to seeing everyone there.

Sunday I get to play Director Sportif for some Tri Geeks as a few are riding the course again up in Mad City. The Bike Lab was busy this week putting on some new highzootnorthshore Carbon Fiber cranks with compact gearing to tame those hills around Verona. Normal gearing is fine if you dont have to run a Marathon afterwards...I know...insane eh??
My favorite TriGeek "Kay" is promising Starbucks for the road trip up and Culvers for the drive home so I couldn't resist that opportunity.

Hope everyone has a safe race weekend at both the Crit and the ski hill race at Crystal.

Later
Eck

90+ done deal

2005-08-22T19:19:00.000-07:00

Ya...it's been a while I know.
Today I finally surpassed that magical 90 deg ROM number. I was stuck on mid 80s all last week and paying the price big time. Was able to negotiate my deer leg all the way around on the station bike but had to fudge big time. Crazy to think I have yet to even start any conditioning and still staying skinny enough to fit in my pre crash clothes.
Yesterday I went out to watch Kay at the Spring Prairie Tri at the Ktown rec center. Seems to be a pretty popular sport when you have well over a thousand competitors show up for an event at like 5am. Yikes.
The days first encounter with a TriGeek was at Bucks on 50 for some coffee and a scone. Some dude rolls up in a sweet Big Pimpin BMW 745 with a bike rack on the trunk. The Baron could always try that too if the roof rack gets in the way. I was so amazed to see every imaginable people bike and fitness type. Spectating is pretty cool if you like people watching...it's way better than airports or shopping malls for sure. Bikes with kick stands, guys complaining about not having kick stands, riders racing with their helmets on backwards, more platform pedals then you can count, bikes older than Bdog, more high zoot 7K Gold Card bikes than Albertoes could dream of selling, and then there are chicks like Kay who compete with the best in her class in a short 2.5hr (International distance) and are hungry for another 4-5+ hrs of Goat style training/racing. After getting myself some pool time this past week I am so amazed all these competitors can swim for more than 30 seconds without stopping.
Kay is totally on form for the Ironman (9-15hr effort) and is going to rock that course in Madison next month. She is putting in training hrs that would even make the Goat beg for mercy with his bling bling setup. 911 is the day it's all going to happen. They say the Swim start at an Ironman is one of the greatest spectacles in sport. I can't wait to see it happen and get pics at the finish line.

Got to get another shout out to my favorite Mex lawn service dude ...alias Quadman came on down to knock out the lawn, wack some weeds and even blow the crap off the drive in true Eck primpin form. Thanks Bro !! I will put you down for two credits towards that sweet Ti seat post and San Marco saddle that was given up from the parts infested sweet bowels of the Bike Lab.

Speaking of the Bike Lab...I think it's time I start a business with that. I am seeing so many messed up North Shore bikes and screwed up rider fits I figure I can't miss once the refferals start coming in....and they already are. Who has that sticker connection? Business cards? Is it Kev? I need some Bike Lab stickers to put over all those boutique shop stickers that find their way on these north shore machines. Got to work on a logo too. Oh ya...and that insurance stuff. Hmmmmm.

OK...I better save some key strokes for later this week.
Eck

Knee Brace???

2005-08-01T17:15:00.000-07:00

I don't need no stinkin knee imobilizing knee brace!!! I am Eck!!! Apparently that deer has no idea who he was messing with. I managed to spend the weekend w/o the brace on and while it was scary...it certainly did feel great.
Today the PT chicks had their way with me making me do all kinds of stuff and hooking up electronic stuff to my massive left quad to remind it that it's time to wake up again. I am lucky to have a cool facility to work at ....and also they are going to attempt to set me up with some water therapy action. Center Club will never be the same. I am definitely on the program to get back stronger, leaner and fitter than ever.
My PC here at the Bike Lab is like a "time bomb" so I am told...guess I better call Dell up and have em deliver a new hard drive. Sure would be more fun to buy bike parts.

Have a good week,
Eck

All Good at 6 weeks

2005-07-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

So Friday I went to the doc to have a checkup. Got some xrays and assessment of strength and chatted with my PT folks. All good. Doc says the kneecap is healing perfectly and in the right spot with regard to the interface of the femur. Doc Scott says I should have 90 deg ROM within about 2 weeks. That means full circles on the bike by Labor day for sure. Sweet !!!!!

I detailed the Max today w/o my brace on so gaining some confidence but still taking it really slow. Headed down to Arlington to watch the pro race this afternoon.

Got a craving for a Starbucks slurpy. Will have to hit that on the way.

I need to give a shout out to my buddy Rick (alias "Quadman") for coming down to the Lab to lend a hand with the lawn and some weed wacking. Much appreciated. He was having some bike fit issues with his new Lemond Propod and that usually happens when the bike shop fit dude doesn't level out the saddle before del to the customer. Easy fix along with a few other adj and he was much more comfy.

Nice weekend eh?
Eck

Starting Over

2005-07-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

Well, today I got on the trainer for a whopping 12 minutes. My good leg was completely confused and the injured leg was just simply jealous and annoyed it couldn't get in on the action.
Today's objective was simply to get some blood flowing to and from the injured knee. Mission was accomplished as it only took like 5 rpm's and my HR was up to like 130 bpm.

Starting over sucks...But don't even think about doubting my comeback...I will be back.

Looking forward to tomorrow,
Eck

Tri looks pretty tough and 5 weeks feels like paradise

2005-07-24T19:29:00.000-07:00

Well, today started out with Starbucks and cereal. Basically the same thing I have been doin the last several weeks...BUT.... I was seriously anxious to get out and do something. So I jumped in the Max and headed up to Racine to take in some Half Ironman action and cheer on a friend who was doing her first "half" as prep for the Ironman this Sept in Mad City. Boy...it was pretty amazing to see every imaginable body type and fitness level out there just hammering. The event had 1500 competitors. Thats a ton of Tri Geeks eh? (no offense or harm intended)
The heat was just brutal and the winds were surely a factor. After viewing some bike intersections, and by the time I got to the running course it was 100 deg + for sure. I found a great spot in the shade and was glad to be there for some of the runners for encouragment. "Kay" ended up with a prelim result of around 179 overall, 3rd in age cat, and 2nd fastest lady on the bike. Yikes....she was ripping those gears big time!! Congrats Kay...you Rock !!

Yup...today feels like paradise compared to 5 weeks ago. I am now able to actually see some muscle in the leg when I contract it, and I am able to do more and more reps and activity. Still quite humbling to see the atrophy but I am gaining confidence and strength every day. I will try some 20 min one leg pedalin on the trainer Monday....although I may wait to do it when someone is at the Bike Lab to make sure I dont fall trying to mount one of my trusty steeds. Friday I will see the doc again and get some xrays to see how the bone is mending. PT pain should start on Monday I hope.

Well...Crash Week has come to an end and none too soon. Tommy got caught up in another 4/5 incident Sat a.m. and apparently will get to go bike shopping again sometime soon. Maybe bike insurance isn't such a bad idea? I saw that Scoots got in there for some results this weekend so that was cool. Yes...even the Old Man did a road race?? That HAD to have been scary! My good friend Halvy looks good to take out the overall AGAIN in the 40+. He has so much class and is an amazing talent. It was an honor to compete with him these last few years and this spring. I hope I can do it again some day.
No report from the Mtb punks yet but certain the dominated the Northen Woods WORS.

Vino stole the show today from the Sprinters. You got to hand it to that dude with the way he attacks...after all, "he just can't help himself"!!!
LA had something on his mind and they let him say it on the Pody today in Paris. First time ever the yellow jersey was ever allowed to do this. LA has redefined how to race Le Tour. I feel lucky to have been able to witness such amazing achievement in sport.

I wonder what that stupid deer is doing now?
Stay cool,
Eck

Got it going now for sure....

2005-07-23T14:59:00.000-07:00

What a difference a week makes. My leg is getting stronger each day. Havn't used the crutches the last couple days and no longer need a crane to lift it up on the couch. Got a regular routine going now with all kinds of leg lift reps to re-train the muscles on the front and medial/latera sides of my looong deer t-boned leg. Trying to manage a few crunches to entertain the core a bit also.
A friend is going to set me up with all kinds of w/o bands to use when I start to really ramp up the stregth training. This is basically going to become my new sport for the next 6 months. I am ready to win and thankful for having cool people around to support me.
Today I wore my "Lombard Break" tshirt that Rusty sent me. I couldn't help myself and kept looking down to see myself powering through that corner. Sweet.

Tomorrow will be posting some 5 week anniversary pics. Steri strips are still hanging on. I wonder if they will ever fall off? Stay tuned.

Eck

Slowly but surely...

2005-07-20T16:27:00.000-07:00

I am going to be kicking tail on the bike again. I hope everyone doesn't take up a new sport by the time it happens though. Maybe I should set a goal for the 60+ Masters Nats in 2025? Wonder how many of us will still be training 5-6 days per week then? (Ya..I know the Goat does 8 days a week now...maybe he will drop back to 7 by then and dominate the 50+ NORBA Nats and have the Baron as his main rival?)

This week I am making some gains in straight leg lifts. Before Monday I couldn't even get it off the floor and now can do several reps. Kinda hurts but it's only the beginning of the sweet pain to come. As I have said to my riding partners in Majorca...the "climbing" pain makes you feel alive. I am going to be seriously alive come August when I start PT. Oh how I cannot wait!!! Wish I could trade it for some "sweet-er" pain riding up some cols in France or mashing up the mountain stages with Magnus. One thing is for certain...I simply cannot wait to go out and ride my bike around Lake Geneva again. I sure do miss that ride in the summer time.

My heart goes out to the AU Nat womens team riders, family and friends. How tragic is that situation? Gosh...why do cars have to run into bike riders all the time?

Thanks to Mitchman for being my "everything" this past weekend. MM is welcome to the Lab any time down the road. He drove me to the races on Fri night and Sat, got me lunch both days, carried my stuff everywhere, helped out with the dishes too!! It's kind a cool that we both have done so many of the same things with waterskiing/barefooting, snowskiing and of course bike stuff. If only I could meet a chick like him. I never saw any pink thongs though...Baron, are you sure he wears pink?
Speaking of chicks....what about the "sexchange reversal guy" who is like 6 foot tall and just won a downhill NORBA National as a "chick" ??? Whats up with that!!!

Hope to view some SW racing this weekend. See ya at Downers I hope!
Eck

My Three week anniversary..

2005-07-11T14:02:00.000-07:00

but not much to celebrate these days. I am just a punk slacker getting a nice tan out on the deck and watching Le Tour after the morning Starbuck session. Then again..I figured 3 wks surviving all this slacking deserved some Edys so managed to put this away in a matter of like 3 days. Drumstick could be my new favorite flavor now. Man is that stuff good.

This past Sat my good friends Kirk/Tracy took the huge drive all the way from Chi-suburbia and spent the evening eating some nice stuffed Za and chatting. Trac helped out big time in the Kitch and it needed some TLC for sure given my current plumbing issues(don't even bother explaing this Eck)
Kirk made me seriously jelous as he managed to take on about 2700 cals in three pcs before I could even finish my first. Of course he runs like 12 hrs per day so he can do that without stressin.

Well...I guess my leg is starting to look a little familiar now. Too bad I can't even lift it for one repeat. So much for Cross season I guess.

The half pro Vpunk finally got up the nerve to stop in the Bike Lab today to say hey and handle some important TW biz. I didn't risk taking the brace off my leg since I didn't want to scare him too much. Since I am unable to handle the TW reigns right now I handed over all the special security codes to ensure our team gets some SW and WORS wins in the next couple weeks. Seriously, it's cool to get emails and calls but having folks stop by sure does make the time go by faster.

MM is coming to the Lab on Fri to stay for a few days so looking forward to going to some races and watching the womens races. (I hope) I guess I will have to stay and watch Mitch race too.

My pick for Le Tour stage on Tues is Lance. Stongest guy is going to win the race against all the contenders on this stage.
Eck

Made it to the big time!!!!

2005-07-05T12:34:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Rusty, I am now a local star. Soon my Lombard Race pic's, and all the pody paraphernalia will be available in gift shops and gas stations all over Lombard and Trevor. It's only a matter of time before the "rare" second set of (Deer/ER room) Wausau edition t-shirts become available. If you place your orders before the end of the week, I will also send a cool picture (signed of course) of Bdog with that stupid deer in a headlock. You won't want to miss this opportunity!!! Call now.. 1-800-DEER-SUK !!!

Well....all this Tour watching and lounging on the deck has me so tired. Think it's time for another nap. All this slacking is hard work.
Today I again cheated another crash and did my best impression of a one legged Flamingo in the shower. I don't know what is worse or scary, taking off that brace while balancing on one leg on a wet shower stall floor, OR simply not taking a shower??

The Z man went down today. How crazy is it that the only rider to go down in the TTT would be the yellow jersey. Z hit the floor hard. Wonder if he will get on the bike Wed?

Later,
Eck

Really Looooong "Dependence" Weekend

2005-07-04T10:43:00.000-07:00

My big 4 day weekend started off on Sat by watching LA put a whipping on the boys in France. Props to Z for his great ride to get yellow. Much time spent on the couch, lounging on the deck and then back to the couch to learn more about cycling and energy systems.
Sun got to do more of Letour. It's pretty cool to see Robbie get beat in the sprints...I am not too fond of that little Aussie and taking a liking to the massive 6'4" Boonen rider. My Sis and Broinlaw came over Sun night for some Za and help me do a few yard chores. I always try to keep the Lab looking good on the outside and it bugs me that I can't keep things going myself. My bro found the gap (and filled it)the ants have been helping themselves too so now hope I have that army stopped from penetrating my palace. The neighbors were putting on a good fireworks show and apparently doing a bit of landscaping given the size of expolsives they were doing. I think he was excavating a future pool?

So...I know the Goat has been looking forward to seeing more knee pics. I was doing some major quad flexing and thought it would be good to get pics of the amazing definition in my injured leg. If you look close, you can see the damage to the right knee from the Goat/Eck ride back in Feb which was spent partially trying to kill ourselves on the snow cover ice age DPRT trail.

Actually the swelling has gone down huge and now I can actually identify my left foot as mine and not some dude who weighs like 350. Able to weight the leg and bending is getting a bit more easy although only doing a little each day. I still have to rely on the right leg to act as a crane each time I lift the leg up on the couch or my fancy office pillow/chair rig. I am so amazed I cannot even lift the leg for 1 repeat. Maybe I need to reset my racing goals for the Ice Man ? (JK)

How bout that Big Belgian kid today? He just dominated that sprint.
Well...I think the bdog taxi is coming over soon. Must go to the Dog pad to take in some calories and work my tech skills for getting in and out of the Yukon.

Have a safe 4th,
Eck

Just another day at the Lab

2005-07-01T14:46:00.000-07:00

So today I got interrupted more from work but some really good news to take away from that. I get to do some work from home for a while. They are going to set me up with a laptop and work with me on figuring out how many hrs I can stay busy for working from home.
JT from Team LAPT came over with a big ole' protractor thingy to see how the knee bending is coming along. I am going to need to start doing something other than napping all day so better start doing a few situps or beer curls.

Here is a pic of some new ice packs I scored!!! Big knees need big Ice packs !!

Tour Time starts tomorrow a.m. TIVO is set so hang on for the Armstrong whipping!!!
Honestly, I don't see a rider to take out LA. Whichever rider wins Sat will have a good chance to hold the jersy all three weeks. Exciting stuff!!

Happy Friday!

I scored a slacker parking pass !!!

2005-06-30T09:37:00.000-07:00

Stitches came out on Wed and X rays are looking good. I won't see the doc again till July 29. Meanwhile I get to do leg lift repeats, quad contraction intervals, AND I get to "attempt" to bend it a bit. Right now..I am such a wuss and too afraid to give it a go. I might have to mix up some margaritas before I go out on the deck this afternoon to work on my tan. Maybe some Tequilla courage will help me out?

My stay at home is going to be extended till I can bend my leg enough to get in the Max. Looks like I will catch most of the tour from the bike lab vs internet on the job. Now that I am officially classified as a handicapped slacker, I get to park in the front row no matter where I go till December so thats cool. Now I just need to find a sweetheart to chauffeur me around. My folks leave for a Euro cruise on Friday so if anybody is dying to test drive my Max I might have some opportunities in the coming weeks since the services of the BEST Mom in the world and her Big Ole Buick is going to be "off duty" for a bit.

Here was my first day home on the couch. What a slacker I am eh ?

And the pic you all have been waiting for....(sorry your Goat-ness) * Notice the boo boo from Sat preride as well on my quad.

This is kinda what the hardware in me knee looks like. 100% SS for Eck. No jumbled up eastern Euro fake Ti.

Good luck to the mtb'rs up at Eu Clair....and to my roadie friends, ride strong at Cudahey and Whitewater RR.

Heads up now has new meaning for this rider...ride safe everyone !!
Eck

Recovery day #9

2005-06-28T12:18:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows Tues is a hard training day....so my first effort today was going out to the mail box and back. I am starting to build up some serious crutch endurance and my pecs and tri's are getting so huge from the massive couch to kitchen repeats. Starting to get concerned if I will be able to have enough mobility to get the "Champ patented" 2 arm salute next spring?

Yesterday got in a short road trip in the Big Ole' Buick to AllMart for some food stuff. Got me a fast shoppinggocart this time. This one had a passing gear too. Swung by Mac's for take out salad on the way back to the Bike Lab. Caught a few rays and watched some Tivo of Lance too. What a life eh? True slacking style.

Stitches come out tomorrow....I cannot wait to get the green light to start bending my knee again. Quadman is coming to visit tonight...he is going to get all my bikes hung down in the lab in their resting places for the next few months. Gosh...they miss me so much. I can't wait to kick their asses (my steeds) again. I tell you what...if you don't let your mind/central nervous system get a break now and again, you'll never have the true motivation and ability to have peak performances. Right now I swear I could break the cranks on my Pbike if I had 5 min doing some Geneva leg breakers. I don't think even the "Champ" could hold on to the effort....

Only 2 responses so far about blogging the damage pics. I think I need to wait for more responses before I put em out there.

Eck

To blog Pics or not ?

2005-06-26T09:11:00.000-07:00

So, I am taking weekly pics of the knee till it looks like the Right one again.... OR I win my first training ride. I figure if the knee works good enough to beat up myself on the bike at Lyons for 4 hours it won't matter if it looks sexy OR Frankenstein-ish.

Should I blog em or not ?

Here is a test pic so I can figure out how the post would look. Knee looks sexy in this photo eh ?

Road Trip #2

2005-06-25T06:46:00.000-07:00

Friday a.m. Mom came over early to help out with a couple things and to shuttle me to the Doc for a check up #2. This would be my second road trip and I was hoping this one to be less painful...and it was. This a.m. I got my fat butt off the couch at made the Starbucks. I am feeling better and better each day. Though my gimping endurance is not where I want it to be. Short intervals are my specialty right now.
My most excellent nurse tech unwrapped the knee and I ended up seeing the Frankenstein knee this time. Wow..sure doesn't look like a knee right now. My knees used to be way more sexy than now given the crash on the dprt last Feb on the right one and now the bash-stitch deal I got on the left one. It's going to take some time before all the swelling goes down and I my sexy hairy bikeless legs come back to normal. Doc gave me a good report and said I can begin to put some slight weight on it and do some quad contractions. I was out of there quickly this time.
We then went to Sams..got me one of those electric carts to roll in. My ride wasn't fast enough to get by all the aimless shoppers...pretty frustrating for someone who normally rolls through that place like a crit rider. I found the starbucks and then checked out the loungers they were selling. The Lounger is a nice addition to the deck and I will be using it when temps allow me to at least walk on my deck. Yikes!

Paul and Wilma stopped in the pm on their way out to Beloit to do some Scuba stuff. They picked up some pizza and brought me a "custom made designer full optioned chocolate nutty covered huge apple". They cut in half for me as they were leaving but I gave in and gimped to the fridge to eat the remainder. Wow...that thing was awesome.
I got in a couple movies yesterday thanks to Bdog's playa and Chris/Joy's movie colloection. Nice.

Well...it's Sat a.m. Right now I would be hammering on the front of the Doc ride and sparing with my mates as I put my final touches on the form for Superweek. I had big goals for SW this year and even considered the Downer Ave race "just to say I did it" and maybe then some. I know i was riding well enough to at least finish it and it would have been a really cool experience. Sounds like MM is planning to do a bunch of races. I will be looking forward to reading his race reports for those events.

Today I am going to begin my "formal education" for becoming a cycling coach. Just last week I ordered all the materials and manuals to begin the process of becoming a entry level coach and that stuff came in the mail Fri. There are 3 official levels of coaches in USAC right now; Club, Expert and Elite. My goals are to become an Expert level coach in the next 3 years. There will be a fair amount of time and investment to become an Expert and am looking forward to enjoying the journey. I also need time to establish all my programs and what I want to specialize in. Figure since I never went on to get my MS in Biz, I might as well get my "doctorate" in Bikeology.

All the homi's are out at Kettle today for some bone type hrs. I hope they swing by the bike lab on their ride Sunday. I got plenty of Gatorade left over if they need it.

Have a nice ride!!
Eck

setting up camp

2005-06-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

Recovering at the Bike Lab is kind a like setting up camp at at new venue. You need to have all your Stuff set up in a new place..or some times the same stuff in multiple places. Trust me...I got the Vicoden in like three places. Since I have been hanging on the first floor, now making good use of the guest bedroom and living room couch..I am hoping to venture to the loft during the weekend for some Tivo time.
Last night my sis came over to help out a bit. JT and his wife Cheryl came over to get a hose to a couple of trees that really needed some TLC. JT is going to set me up with some new ice packs today so looking forward to that.
Today Mom picked up a cool couch pillow with arm pads so I can read my Velonews easier. Nice. I am still trying to teach her how to make good coffee. Maybe JR will have to come over and do a demo soon. She did make me a mean bowl of oatmeal today though. I really have it made with her stopping out in the a.m. this week. It felt really strange with her going through both my bike bags (yup..roadie and mtb) and wash stuff and basically put them away for a while. This whole thing is taking a while to sink in. Some time I think it's still a dream. In fact ...that stupid deer keeps scaring the crap out of me with nightmares. Nutty eh ?
Well...I got tons of food in the fridge, a clean house and the pain getting easier to deal with each day. So things are looking up.
Fri I go back to the doc for a new dressing and checkup. Mom is going to run me there in the Big Ole Buick. On the way home we are going shopping for a nice chase lounger for me out on the deck.

OK...time for lunch and a little nap,
Eck

Fast forward to Wed a.m....well maybe not....

2005-06-22T05:10:00.000-07:00

I guess everyone that might browse my blog stuff already knows I had the one in a zillion chance of taking a direct "laser sighted, mach 1, deer torpedo hit" this past Sun during the Big Ring.
Writing today as simple as possible...just notes thoughts and mind wanderings.....

While I didn't enjoy the experience after the explosion there laying on the ground for like an hour waiting for the EMT's to pick me up, it was really cool to see the Goat/Baron tandem come through on the second lap. Maybe next year we can make it a 3way. Gosh, I hope to at least can get back to 90 some %. I won't get too greedy for 100% now. Racing is great but just riding my bike next spring is going to be nice. And of course...there is always bowlin!!! (Yup..bdog and I bowl'd a few games last Sat night after dinner....good fun and I showed some good form with a 190 game including a turkey !) Turkey = 3 strikes in a row.

The ride out of the woods in the trailer wasn't too pleasant...good thing was that an ortho surgeon was the first dude on the scene. Basically I knew what I was up against from the moment he saw and spoke with me. As they loaded me into the Amulance...I remember Amy cheering for me and saying some nice things. Thanks Amy !

Thanks to Bdog he kept the ER crew laughing the whole time they were sticking me with needles and cutting bike shorts off me. Occasionally I laugh at his jokes too just to keep him amused. (jk) Bdogs chat and humor was surely appreciated as that wasn't the most pleasant part of the whole deal. I was glad to head off to La La land and surgery as fast as possible. Bdog even gave a final plead to the doc to "do it right" ...meaning fix me better than good since he knows cycling is pretty much everything to me except for God, family and a job so I can afford the Bike Lab. Friends like Brad don't come around often...Thanks Bdog.
Having the crew stick around for dinner while I was getting put back together meant a ton. I know hospitals are no fun to hang around in and you guys were a long way from home...but having you there when I was waking up was awesome. Thanks for the handshakes and kind words...

I know this was supposed to be fast forward ...oh well.
So, Bdog and I managed to get out of the hospital about 330ish. Man...they really take their sweet time with stuff. PT dude up there tried to get me to run up and down the stairs a whole bunch before I left but I told him no after a few sets.
I was glad to sample the ride of my Max from the back seat all the way home....nice I had a big car to fit in. Bdog promptly stopped for Subway and some cookies and M&M's for the road trip home. Take it easy on Bdog the next few days...he put up with lots of crap all weekend and the drive home dealing with my STUFF. Thanks again Bdog!

So...at this point here is the scoop: Saw my Gurnee Ortho yesterday afternoon after bugging them like crazy to lock in an appt. I knew I was still leaking so they had to redress the wound and give me a new brace. Best news of the day was the doc told me they DID fix the knee as well as it can be done...and that only time would determine how strong and or how much discomfort I will have for riding next spring. Will have to have the wires removed some time next year also so patients is going to be really key.
I am stuck in a brace for about 6 weeks and PT starting in a few weeks. Mother Abbott won't see my face for at least 2 weeks according to the doc.

Mom is coming to make me some breakfast and Starbucks soon....She is a saint!!
Eck

just another ride

2005-06-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

Wed is LSD ride stuff this week. Made the most of it with Peterson and JT from Team LAPT. We managed to dodge the rain by heading north and then west and found the pave a bit damp as we got back to the Lab. Peterson and I even used our rappeling skills to navigate a bridge contruction zone that would easily detour the avg snob roadie punk. Nice.

JT managed to get me dizzy and lost a few times. Covered some pave I haven't seen in a while which was nice. Peterson road strong and kept the pace fast. I had to let him go on the few hills since I am so old and tired. He gets crazy power out of somewhere and you don't even see him plug it in. Next thing you know he got two bike lengths on ya.

To confirm my old and tired status I had no problem going to bed at 930.
Tonight is bike work night. Bike Lab will be fully utilized for the Mtn Dew bike enhancements. I got some sweet new gloves/grips I can't wait to try this weekend.

Later,
Eck

Drive through Bike Lab and another Wkday World Championship

2005-06-15T11:04:00.000-07:00

Monday night I had to defend the Bike Lab against the battle of the carpenter ants. Those things will be chewing up my TT wheels before you know it. I hope I got their offensive strategy figured out now. I also bought this super trick tree pruner thing a ma jig (made of composite...of course) to do some maint. on the trees around the palace. I think I can charge like 10 bucks a night to borrow it since once you buy one of these things you don't ever need it again for like 10 years.
JT shows up on the TT speed machine and I put on the lab coat to check a few things out to make sure he is going fast as possible. Bike Lab is always open for friends or those who show up with pizza and Sam Adams. Bike fit setup is fairly subjective these days once you go beyond the basics. So I shared a couple ideas and basically told him to buy a new bike. He needs another one.
Since I didn't get to complete the Mtn Dew Bike changes I racked up the Pbike Tues a.m. for this years second edition of the Weekday World Championship. JT from Team LAPT and Peterson met up at Dom's and we rolled down to meet the ride. It always amazes me as to how sluggish I feel before that ride only to have the afterburners kick it like 30 seconds after seeing the group rolling on us. I got some nice efforts in and had fun. The ride south on 43 with the cross wind was nutty. The pack shattered just like in the RR last week thanks to Hughs and Sachs from Endeavor. Peterson has awesome power but didn't find an Eck wheel at the right time and came unglued from the tip of the arrow. Bet he finds it next week.

The rest of this week is all about getting ready for my re-entry into the stratophere of the WORS WORLD. LSD ride tonight followed by couch time, beer, ice cream and of course...pizza. More work to be done on the Serotta too.
I have mounted a brush and branch cutter on my handle bars so when I preride on Sat it will take out all "Eck Speed Inhibiting Face Lashing Stuff". Bike racing isn't about dodging that crap with your face is it? Maybe Don will start a Tall Guy Category then if so. I wish Sea Otter would hold a WORS race.

Now if I could just figure out my mtn dew bike front brakes.....

Can't take the heat....

2005-06-13T13:15:00.000-07:00

Started out my day handing up bottles to Rita and Patty. They were rocking up the hill great and did a super race. Each were on the Pody before the day was over.

101 starters in the Elite Masters field. Way too hot...way too humid for a mere mortal like myself. Most already know I am a slacker when it comes to what most would consider "too hot", and of course my torture friends at Gator confirmed that, but I felt ok at the start and got the good position in the front right after turn 1. First time up the climb, no problem but the pace is so fast and the minutes are ticking off w/o many of us being able to reach down for drinks. Bad!!! Position and bumping and guys fighting for wheels all made it worth while just hanging on to the bars and drink when things settle down. Ya right. Mistake. It never did settle down. At one point a break was up the road and I knew my the State Champ was in it. I later found out that JackHammer was in it. (of course i didn't know this till i helped reel it in) Second time up the climb felt great again but on turn one, JV is on the front and only one echelon with even the best riders clinging in the gutter forever. I got disconnected despite some encouragement from friendlys. My day was over before it even got started. I found my cooler full of fluids, big shade tree and some nice turf to fall on. There is always next year I guess.
After I came to my senses, I helped feed all the masters guys: Sap, Baron, Big Mac, Winters, Rock and JackHammer. Glad to see the Baron was able to master the skill of grabbing fluid at 20mph.
We all got so caught up in feeding that we lost count of laps. When I started walking down to the finish line I saw this TW jersey just hammering up the road. It was the Baron. Didn't get to see his punk salute (it was so Richard Veranquie looking eh?) but right after I raised both my hands like a grade school teacher does in the kids first Parents program. He follows direction so well and did the same!! It was pretty cool to watch. Baron followed team protocol by showing the opponent at least a few sets of clean wheels. Nice one.
This is getting long eh? Well..I pumped water in me big time all after noon why watching Bdog self implode and try to take bottle handups with them goofy gloves he has. I actually thing Bdog had a chance of holding on to wheels if he didn't consume so much the night before. He loves a challenge...that is certain.

I felt good on Sun and was ready for the Kettle session with Bender, Goat and Lori. Apparently the Baron needed more pody time so he couldn't make it. I am happy to report that I managed to name a tree "Eck". Unlike attempts by others on TW this year, I managed to mark it three times in one greeting. Fist, shoulder, and finally my sweet Pnewmo helmet. After gathering my senses and broken glasses, I managed to follow TW jerseys around the Kettles ducking and weaving in response to all the overgrown greenery which was taking shots at my unprotected eyes at every opportunity. I am bringing a chain saw to 9mile just in case they think I am going to put up with that crap there in a race.
Thanks to Lori for a keen sense at finding Mtn Dew Bike parts laying on the trails I was able to have a front break on our way back from Emma.
And NO...I didn't make the big log over.

The Max has taken it in the rear

2005-06-10T08:07:00.000-07:00

Yup...I feel so violated and cheap. While on my lunch hr journey to the Barons infamous bike shop last Tues to check out some new foot/pedal interface systems, some lady decides that she wants to kiss the Max while I am waiting for the light to turn green. I actually thought she wiffed, and was glad, only to find out later that night while getting ready for the Hainus ride, that indeed the Max's sweet rear end had been touched by a stranger. Time to get out the "Testors" touch up paint.

So it's been a while since I had done the weekday "World Championship" ride...otherwise known as "The Hanely". For the work I was looking to do there are few rides that allow these kind of efforts. I was nice to see the Baron recovered enough from his high flying act last weekend and riding his share at the front. JT from Team LAPT got up there on occasion as well. It's good to know that ride is as crazy as ever. Future participation tbd.

On Wed I was really looking forward to riding out of the house, but couldn't let the Barons call go unanswered. He just "had to see the RR course" so figured I might as well sit on his wheel for a couple hrs. I actually felt good. Best discovery of the evening was gear selection for the Expert rider out of Gurnee. Bike Lab options were made avail and resolved on Thurs. The operation was preceeded by some Baron delivered "Jakes" and followed up by a social spin to confirm I didn't make any "North Shore wanna be bike shop repair kid" errors. I also had to attend to the Pbike a bit as well. So much for the couch by 8pm. This old rider is getting tired.

State RR this weekend is going to be fun. One of the best courses, and best group of riders will be going for the win. Given it's an off weekend for other events on the calendar, we should see all kinds of bike drivers showing up to put the smack down. The Baron will have a few TW riders to help so I still have my bets on him to take out the Citizen old guy race. I am looking forward to reading his first "real" masters race journal..I wonder if that will happen next year, or if this is just an snippet of his entry into the world of the true omnioum ?
Bdog has some interesting strategy set. I hope he can execute and find his way on the pody.

Jack Hammer, myself and all the other old TW123 guys will be doing our best in the Top Gun Old Guy field. I wonder if Halvy is going to attack the first time on the leg breaker? Stay tuned...

MACC Recap and Busted...

2005-06-05T16:48:00.000-07:00

Sat we had a super nice day on the bike. I had no idea of the amount of folks who do this ride. They actually had traffic control folks directing cars into the lot in the a.m. The Rock was there to greet everone and tell us rookies whats up so that was nice. I heard something like 4000+ riders ?
IS Corp led it out, followed by the big RED Team Wisconsin. I never got to ride with the punk kids but they were slackin as there was prize money to be had this weekend and didn't do the 100mi event. However, I did get the honor of riding with the very gorgeous and fast Ladies from IS corp early in the ride. Carrie Anne, Kristin and Kirsten(?) all know whats up thats for sure. I had to spout out a few rules though after Ms. K called me Mr Eckel...that just sounded toooo strange and had to put a stop to that:)
Big Mac, Paul, Westy, Sapiro, Surges, Patty, Gayner, Keith, Rudy and the Rock all managed to burn 100 miles in a tad over 4:30 hrs. Winters, Jack, Andy/Steph and Rita ended up doing the 100K. Not sure what happened to Linda? All the support staff and rest stop people were just tops. All kinds of food, snacks and drinks were avail....Not to mention chicken and steak fajitas and all the fixins afterwards. Sapiro dug deep for some Culvers and cookies for his post ride treat. From beer to Starbucks to bananas and cookies...it was all there to be consumed, and consume we did. They certainly know how to throw a post ride party.

After the Sunday morning thing I got out with JT from Team LAPT to get some easy miles in. I am convinced that I'm a classics "one day" specialist now that I am old and falling apart. The mind wanted to go to Geneva for some efforts but the body said noooo thanks. So just a spin for a few hrs and then yard work time. Which leads me to getting "Busted".
Some of you know my ledgendary neighbor "Bruce". Apparently he has recognized that I haven't been spending any quality time with him lately and decided to confront me about it as I was wacking some weeds on our common ditch area. Despite my efforts to be short and sweet, he doesn't seem to get it that I just want to do my thing, and that if he wants a drinking buddy, he should go over to Bdogs house.
(I hope he has finally figured out I have nothing in common with him, and no interest in reciting my life story every weekend......and that NO...I am too old to participate in Le Tour...and I don't care if he just bought a wanna-be Harley)
Gosh...apparently becaused I missed a "wave" or two, or didn't feel inclined to have a lengthy conversation from my deck to his property(about 35 yards away) that I am pissed at him. Help me out here...he has a beautiful wife, great kids and plenty to do, but all he wants to do is start a relationship with me? What the ?

State RR this Sat. Not much chance to make any gains so I think I will take advantage and take in lots of sausage, omlettes, pizza, burritos and beer...and of course... Edys.

Later,
Eck

short week....

2005-06-03T19:35:00.000-07:00

These post Goat stage race, short training weeks are tough. I mean with work en all it's hard to recover in order to get back in the game. This week felt like vacation compared to the last few weeks. I guess I needed the rest.
Wed I managed to convince Bdog to come out with me and JT from Team LAPT to get lost in the county (Bdog always thinks we know where we are going) and did some seceret training on my own Thurs.
Just got done checking in all the Borah stuff from this week. The team should be happy with all this new gear. Just think, in only a few months we will be talking about next years clothing order. Holy Crap !
So the Goat & Baron and gang are doing a smWORS race in Rapids this weekend. I got the MACC 100 on my plate. I am looking forward to meeting new folks and catching up with the team for this socialfest. TW gets to ride at the front for the cameras and TV. I think it's because we have the best kits in the pel. Or maybe cause the Rock is on our squad? Or maybe they heard about this big rider from Trevor? Either way, we will all be proud to be there for this important fund raiser.
I must thank all those who dug deep to help me reach my $ goals for this event. No question this is a great cause...and we get to ride bikes.

Good Night,
Eck

Monday Monday Monday

2005-05-31T19:14:00.000-07:00

So as it should be...MMDay was sunny and warm and Kettle ready. On the drive out I begged the Baron to let me change his tires for him. Seems the team Leaders get to do this a bunch as the Goat had to take care of the Godess too.
The trail was a bit slippery and I took it really easy on my radio towered MTN Dew bike. If it rains at Wausau I will be contending the last place for sure. It beats crashing for 30th place though.
Of course Lori made me look like a Citizen on the big log over but I did actually impress myself on the first one out of fear that I couldn't stop before doing something to get over it. I think I actually looked better doing it than the Goat?? Well maybe not. As for the turnstyles, it's a good thing I lost count of how many dabs otherwise I'd be buying lots of coffees at the Store post ride.

In the afternoon, the stage was set...wash everything in site ! The Max, and all my machines got some soap and water. Nothing like a clean bike and a clean car...and being so bored there is nothing else to do other than catch some rays & scrub till I am dizzy.

Monday night I finally had to give in to one my true desires. Afterall, it had been a long time since I have been to the Queen. I even got whipped cream this time. There is nothing like whip cream on top of a PEANUT BUSTER PARFAIT!!!! Oh Ya !!!
Swung by Bdogs and threw the fetch toy for Cletus till I had a blister coming on my thumb and called it a night.

Tues...It was too nice to ride tonight so bagged it and read a book and ate Cake and Ice cream instead.

Eck

Am I still glowing?

2005-05-30T05:15:00.000-07:00

I tell you what..Sat was like a dream. I still cannot get over it. Competing at the top level of the old farts is really cool when you take into account the depth of the fields and some of the guys backgrounds. As I was warming up before the race, Och came over and told me about this and that guy and how they were all on the U.S. "b" team back in the 80's. Gees...these dudes were racing when I was out touring and eating granola while riding my Treck 531 Reynolds machine.

Sunday was a fun time allthough my energy levels were a bit lacking. Guess I should have slammed down some burritos before going to bed. I will know better next time. We got out to the State RR course with Tommy,(nice to have you back!!) Goat, Sabs, Patty, Mootsie and JT from Team LAPT. The Goat seems to have endless reserves no matter what he does the day prior. Kudos to the rest of the gang also. I think Patty did a heck of a job and the Queen of TW continues to amaze me...even w/o her seceret weapons.

OK..time for a quick gear check and meet up with the Baron to head for Kettlefest on my mountain doo bike. I haven't rode it since like a month ago.

Wonder how MM is doing in UT? I love that state.
Eck

Thats what I'm talkn bout !!!!

2005-05-28T19:32:00.000-07:00

Today us old road warriors headed down to Lombard for the big money MMWeekend Crit. http://www.prairiepathcycles.com/Athletes%20By%20Design/racesevents/2005/MemorialDay/MemorialDayCrit.htm
Our 50+ crew did a great job and worked it hard early in their race with Paul up the road in the first break and then the Rock and Mean Gene putting the smack down too. I didn't get to see how the race finished but I know the Rock and Geno were in the winning move. They ended up 3rd and 4th for a nice pay day and some time on the podium.
40+ race had all the makings of an epic. 80 some guys, and none of the big dogs stayed home or went to Quad Cities (Except for one Mack dude who did Snake twice! and then came back to race Lombard and drive right on back out to IA...Yikes.) All the Top Guns were there. Course was actually too easy but like they say...it is the racers that make it hard.
So..the usual fireworks go off only like 6 min into the race with JV and Halvy attacking with Druber. I got my old body in the mix several times early trying to push the pace and force a break but nothing was getting away. I decided that if I really wanted to "place" I better shut up and sit in for a bit and counter one of the weaker moves and try to drag some strong men with me. Well...10 min later the field slows up and lets me drag my big carcasss smack into the head wind climb (we were climbing this hill at 24 mph so it's more like an incline than a climb) I got a huge gap and as I was rolling through the start/finish I had 3 others trying to bridge...so I waited... and then there were 4. 2 of which were Smack and Druber teams so the break had the right stuff for the long haul. I had endless amounts of power today and drove it hard. We kept the field at 20-35 seconds most of the time...head down and suckin wind big time. After 25 min of suffering the 3 laps to go sign comes up....OH YA ! I think I am the strongest in the group but Fleck was good and he doesn't show you his cards all the time...Druber's boy was slacking it and Fabi is still coming back from 4 years off racing and he missed a pull. So with less than 2 to go, I get done taking a huge pull and Drubers boy attacks the break...Fleck or Fabi couldn't bridge right away so I ride up to this idiot and share a few opinions ....1 lap to go....I am licking my chops like Brads dog over his fetch toy. I was shaking and seriously freeking...this race is huge and here I am ...ready to take a win?? So...Numb Nuts attacks on the hill...I chase him and suck his wheel all the way till it's time to unleash some serious anger on the pedals to take me across the line. 2 hands in the air for a very Sweet Team Wisconsin Victory !!!
Pody time, medals, Flowers and big cash....but no Pody girls. Darn....I thought I could have a bit of a Hincapie moment.
Pics coming soon...I hope!!
Eck

I look cool hugh?

2005-05-26T18:27:00.000-07:00

Oh ya...the Goat gave me a hand with my "header" in exchange for Grande Jakes some time in the near future. Maybe we will have to swing by a Mex joint on the way home from Kettle on Mon. The pics are cool right? Come on you know they look cool...I haven't rode by too many glass window store fronts lately like some other "half pro" I know but I just know I am living large in the new kit.

Wed night got out with JT from Team LAPT to get some LSD stuff in. Wouldn't you know it was Christmas last week and JT got himself another new toy. This ones got all the bells and whistles. Now he can tell just exactly how much slacking he is really doing with the new techno mounted on that thing. I am convinced this is absolutely the best looking machine he has now...seems I can't even remember what the others look like as it's been so long since I seen them all. We managed some good tempo and conversation...despite living out here a few years, I still get turned around riding with him on occasion.
This old body was tired and grass needed cut'n so put my Toro helmet on tonight and got out for some laps in the yard, followed by some wackin and some yankin of weeds. Ya...I know, this is way too much excitement. I got to rest up for the weekend though...remember, I am getting old.
Fri and Sat are going to be big days for the Giro. I am pulling for Il'Falco from Disco. Set your Tivo up for some cool stuff...especially on Sat. I will save it in case anybody wants to watch on Sunday.

Sat is the big money Crit in Lombard. All the old geezers 40 and wiser will be in Lombard trying to get to the line first for the big payday. I know I am coming good at the right time. It's going to be fun and with a little luck I hope to get in the right move.

Later,
Eck

pedal up, go back down...repeat

2005-05-24T19:27:00.000-07:00

Tonight everyone bailed on the AV efforts so at least I didn't have to worry about smoking guys on the climb. It was just me and the Shark, power meter and my trusty HRM. Having that stuff on your bike is techy but it's like having two coaches during the w/o.

I am too tired to keep typing....Good night.
Eck

Mission Impossible.....accomplished!

2005-05-23T10:40:00.000-07:00

I guess things were all in order heading into Sunday so I didn't feel guilty heading out for a nice 70 miler to say hi to the mtb crew at AV. Managed 21.2 mph with just me myself and I, so have no doubt a small group of us can do the 100 with an avg of at least 23. Looking forward to riding with Double Trouble on June 4th.

Sunday started out with a few showers but no problem....things were all good by 7ish and we got banners, signs and registration set up. Good thing the campers canceled their spot so we had a nice spot for the start/finish at the top of the hill.
After the typical stuff of getting radios working, course marshals set we got things started about 25min late. Made up the time by cutting a few races short and were back on sched for the last 5 races of the day. Everyone was happy.
My masters race had some fast guys...I wanted to sample some Maxxis tires so figured I would try for some KOM points. Ignored the first bell but scored 2nd and 1st the next times over. On the third KOM time over I kept going and had a couple join me for a game breaker but the field didn't like the break and we got ate up pretty quickly. Thinkin I had the tires won, I went to the front with a bit over 1 to go and committed to chasing 2 leaders. Some dude in a pickup (ya...we were short on traffic help) decided to take his time leaving the park and wasn't aware of 50 cyclist behind him going into the downhill corner at 40 mph. He ditched it slightly at the last moment but by that time the field was coming round me and I hand to break big time....game over for me. I finished my way up to the line only to find I got second in the KOM. Oh well.
Only one major crash early in the day...touch of wheels on the climb and some kid tipped over and broke is collar bone. He is out for 6 weeks but doing fine. Another dude decided to tangle up his bars after the finish and scratch himself up on the pave but walked away just fine. Wheeew!
All the team members were able to race, and Stephanies smorgasbord of turkey wraps, brownies, drinks, fruit and veggies kept us all going strong. JW's beers for the post event meeting tasted nice. Thanks...I'll have another.
It was truly a good experience. While I am bit confused about the folks who were able, but didn't volunteer, or respond to the work schedule....I am grateful for the those on the team who stepped up huge. What a pleasure to work with these exceptional people. They truly supported this team and deserve some major "High Fives".

I love my dentist...

2005-05-20T18:44:00.000-07:00

I am into him so much I spend more there than at the Bike Doctor !! Today I set a new personal best: 4.5 hrs sitting there having him wrench on another broken tooth! (see...I am telling you this body is old and failing)
So finally the Doc gets his tooth tooling machine workin and they make me a new one to paste in there so I can eat more Burritos and chips. Nice...well everything except the fact that I get to put this visit on my CC since my I am putting my dental insurance company out of business lately. I had to convince the helpers there that it likely wasn't a good idea that I put in a retainer while racing my bike. "they think I am grinding my teeth while riding JV and Halvys wheels in these races". Little do they know my tounge is dangling on the top tube under hard efforts.

Well...I wanted everyone to know that its finally official!! Yes...the Christmas Wreaths are now down and in the basement.

I missed riding yesterday and had to cut lawn and wash the max tonight, so I think I have gained like 5 lbs in the last two days. Looking forward to a nice long ride on Sat. I think I will ride up to AV and say hi to the mtbrs in the afternoon.

Things are all set for the Grand Prix. I wonder if Trump would hire me or fire me by this point?

Later,
Eck

Bone Stats

2005-05-18T18:25:00.000-07:00

First of all...what a great day to ride a bike! Ya it was windy but what else is new. You really can't call it a bad day when pedlin, sharpning tan lines and skipping work.

It was great to see everyone (guessing 120 riders)...in fact the groups are so big you don't even get to see who is actually riding until the lunchtime pic at Yellow jersey in Madison. (no link avail yet...although here is a shot of our fearless leader and former US Pro champ Mr Tom Schuler: http://www.yellowjersey.org/daily.html I would say at least 10 TW folks showed.
I got the chance to meet the Borah man, and have lunch with Halvy. Of course..we had Burritos..(Goat..you can never make up for lost miles or Burittos. I hope you come next year) So we finish lunch and up walks the one and only single speed queen from TW..."Amy". Nice she stopped in to say hi.
On the way home I wanted to ride with "Double Trouble" a bit so decided to pedal down some hills instead of coasting and managed to get Mathew to come out front and play awhile. Problem was we didn't know the route so we held up and waited for the first pack. Pace was kinda slow so I stayed out front again solo. The other punk kid could n't stand it any longer so he comes up with some guy named Jim and we opened up a pretty smart gap. Aaron is getting stronger these days...no question about that. This old body was getting tired and ready for the lounge chairs by the ocean....oh wait, this isn't Majorca. Oops.
So we pull into this gas station that we have stopped at other years and all of a sudden two huge packs fly by without even stopping. We got back on the bikes and I told Aaron I was going to wait for another pack...he and Jim went up the road. I found out there were no more packs. Wooops! I hope Aaron caught back on?
So..I proceeded to get lost and for the life of me couldn't find a street to take me East...So I jump on Hwy 16 (this is like a tollway) for about 1.5 miles of motorpacing. Glad I didn't get pulled over.
I think I have had food in my mouth since the ride ended. Mom was in the hood today and dropped off some of her world famous Rubarb Pie and Asspargus. Nice.

Total miles: 118
Time on bike: 5:50
Avg Cadence: 81
Avg HR: 147

Nice Bone eh ?

It's a bone week..

2005-05-17T14:12:00.000-07:00

So need to pay attn to getin stuff done at the Big A and make sure my bike can manage 120 some miles on Wed.
Last night got out for some recovery time with Bdog. Since I was fairly rested and knowing how much the dogger loves climbing these days, I figured a few small hills out west of Willy were in order. Dogger seemed to get pretty quiet when we climbed out of twin lakes at the turn around point. I guess he was ok as I still got invited to some Michelle made Burittos (ya Goat...real home made stuff).

Tonight I have to slack a bit since need to have some legs for the Bone. 12-15 hill repeats should be fine during the 3 hr ride. Wait..that sounds like a "Goat" recovery day...what am I thinkin ??? I'm old and frail, bald and skinny. I can't be doing that to this poor body. Bdog seems daring as he wants to come out and do a few short hill-sprints with me. Wonder if he will be in his truck or on the bike?

I have fallen off the back in the office exercise competition and losing points rapidly. Apparently all the folks at the big A are catching on and now recording their trips to the restroom, lunchroom and copy machine. I just can't compete with all those huge efforts...

The Maxxis Grand Prix is coming together nicely. This is the quiet before the storm though....who am I kidding.

Have a nice Bone.
Eck

The "Lela-Monster"

2005-05-16T04:30:00.000-07:00

So...we drive up to Leland under bright sunny skies only to line up at the start line under a super cold steady rain. At one point it picks up and everyone dashes back to the cars for rain gear and stuff. Bdog takes a pass on the opportunity to back up some smack and races 3's while JT lines up with the others on his team in Masters Best.
The climb starts after about 6 miles into the race....we are all getting soaked from the rooster tails of water. From the back it actually looked like a multi water fountain. Legs were not interested in pedlin but the boys at the front did a reasonalble pace to get the blood flowin. First third of the climb is actually a fairly reasonable pace but I am keen to the Halvy (Chris Halverson is the guy who bascially won everything in Masters 40+ last year - Stat Crit, RR and Superweek Overall) and JV from Team LAPT (who just last weekend beat World Champ Matt Kelly at Musky) wheels in case Halvy pumps it up. Sure enough, we get half way up the first time and Halvy goes to the front out of the saddle....JV and I go around everyone and follow his pace. Nice. So the group is shattered all over the climb and we were responsible...mission was accomplished for me right there as that was my main goal of the day...(to follow his attack).
Well....after more rain, sun, hail, huge wind, we continue to ride that climb 3 more times....a few times I pushed the pace and felt awesome.....(thanks to Majorca and my winter ridin buds)...there was no dropping Eck today.
At the finish, Halvy and JT left it up to me to get creative as I knew I would have a tough time taking those guys in a sprint. I tried one attack with like 300 meters to go but no luck...held on long enough to make it interesting but Halvy came by first for a dominating effort and then JV for second. I came in smilin big time as I just rode with the best of the best...and on the hardest course of the season. Nice.
Bdog and JT were already in the car waiting for me at the finish. They didn't like the weather too much so decided to keep the bartender (small town in Wisco with a bar of course !) company while I was heaving my huge carcass over the last couple of climbs. Got changed and realized would have to wait a while to get paid while all the other riders came in. So Bdog offers up another Sprecher for Eck. Nice.
All in all...this was one of my best days on the bike. Ring it up! Next.....

Worked on the yard in the afternoon on Sun and cleaned the Pbike. Went up north to say goodbye to Mathew Wittig on Sunday night. I was glad to see a bunch of other TW members there, along with many riders from other teams. Tough scene, but "this storm will pass".

I think I did enough rain riding on Sat so if it's likely to rain on Wed for the Bone will go to the Dentist instead....yup....I get to go get another crown done. Ouch.

Leland climbing and Risk...and some other stuff

2005-05-14T05:29:00.000-07:00

Well...Despite all the "stuff" going on this past week, I have been keeping the Leland RR in my back pocket as a reminder that this is the race for which I do hill circuits in Feb in Lyons, ride bikes all winter with the crew (thanks you guys), push the pace in Majorca in March, and do bonus tv time in the front of the 1/2 race last weekend at Musky. I am ready for Leland. JT from Team LAPT and Bdogger from Hayes (who is likely in some smoky diner in small town Antioch eating a greasy omelette right now) will be over soon to depart from the Bike Lab. Bring on the "Leland Monster"!

Yup...Lots of stuff this past week. Have you ever got a dose of bad news, only to be followed by another wave, and then absolutely crushed by yet another ? The sensation of complete disconnect of limbs to the core....and unable to focus on anything much less riding my bike after work pretty much was the way I ended my past week. A new day, and a prayer or two wil bring on something better, another dream, time to heal, a better vibe, and maybe an even better Rainbow. I am looking forward to that! It's coming...it has to. It will.

So...getting back to "risk"..... I read this poem many years ago and it applies to a bunch of "stuff" many of us are going through right now. I dig it out on occasion and it really hits a home run right now. Perhaps only a few can truly relate, or then maybe some cannot??....Hmmm, I guess this is possible. Here it goes;

RISK

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental
To reach out for another is to risk involvement
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self
To place your ideas, your dreams, before a crowd is to risk their loss
To love is to risk not being loved in return
To live is to risk dying
To hope is to risk despair
To try is to risk failure

But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing
The person who risks nothing, has nothing, and is nothing
They may avoid suffering and sorrow, but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow
love and live.
Chained by their attitudes, they are a slave, they have forfeited their freedom

Only a person who risks is free

Author unknown....

Ha!

2005-05-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

Well...I only managed to fool the infamous Bdog tonight. He took the trainer option hook line and sinker while the Goat(earlier) and then JT from team LAPT and I got out for some wind tunnel action. Any day in the wind is better than a day in the Bike Lab dungeon for sure. Trainers are limited to "warmup use only" unless there is water on the pave going forward.

New team jerseys are coming tomorrow. It will be just like Christmas for like the 8th time this spring. I hope they are right.

Time to get reaquainted with the couch...it's been such a long time since I have seen that!!!

MVP

2005-05-11T12:10:00.000-07:00

Well...despite my failing at all kinds of other "stuff", and my many messed up attempts to crawl my way to the upper echelons of the likes of Bdog, Baron, Goat and (insert almost anybody else here), it has been confirmed I am the MVP of my 50some office mates who are competing in the "Exercise across the Big A" for this past week. How bout them apples !! Oh ya..I am the king of all the office slackers here !!! Just cause I rode my bike last week for 12.2 hours won me this fantastic bio thing a ma jig which now I can use to record all the exercise I get by "walking" to the copy machine, getting some water, going out to get the mail, and of course, all those steps used to get to the couch after getting some Edys out of the freezer. AND NO...I am not kidding here...my competitors are actually calling walking "exercise" and using that time to count towards the contest. I am a bit confused about this. Maybe this means that french fries with vegtable oil are really OK and healthy?? Maybe it's really not just about Bacon, garlic and Edys?

Anyway...JT from Team LAPT and I had a another great workout last night on the AV climbs. We stretched out the efforts to a Bdog breaking effort last night. I can totally understand why he wouldn't dare want to come out and embarass himself with us. I managed to chip away 15 seconds off my parking lot climb time so figure the new dope is doing just what they told me it would. Now if I could just figure out how to get my red counts below 51.

New Team Jerseys are coming Thurs...I hope they send Minigoats shorts with the new custom 10" inseam.

Ultimate rainbow ride

2005-05-09T18:17:00.000-07:00

So for us old guys...Monday seems to be a good day for recovery. Today was an epic recovery ride day. I knew the chances of getting rained on were pretty good but I need to loosen up the legs a bit to get ready for Tues. My out and around loop took me out to the lower Twin lake and back. On the return trip...out comes the biggest, badest, VERY CLOSE, most techno colored rainbow I have ever seen. I mean we are talking full on color from one side to the other! Best of all...I got to ride right into the center of it! (come on work with me here!..I am trying to paint a good pic for ya)

Anyways...with all the STUFF going on these days in my truly unimportant world, riding into that rainbow put the biggest chills on my 2% body fat carcass. There was truly a purpose for that rainbow...I know it. Ya ya...rainbow colors mean something and all, but my take tonight was that this rainbow was different. I have never felt like that by staring at a rainbow before...much less get to ride smack into the center of one.
I wish all my riding friends could have been there too. Maybe next time?

OK..back to figuring out how to pull off this Maxxis race. Oh ya...I did get a little wet but it was worth the risk. More about "risk" later this week.
Eck

It's alive !!!!

2005-05-08T18:43:00.000-07:00

Well...I guess it has been a long time. Apparently a month has gone by since Spain. Sometimes it would be cool to turn back the time and ride those mtns now and again. Oh well who needs mtns when we have 20 mph winds every day. My favorite question from a buddy who was new to cycling a few years ago asked me; "Is it always windy when you ride?" Ha ! Oh noooo never windy when I saddle up.

So..everything gets "reset" when a rider goes down like Matt did. Man..we all have our bad days, but the reality is not much is bad as compared to that situation. Power of prayer, great docs and a chopper are amazing....last I heard he's got it in the small ring and climbing his way back and recovering.

Pretty cool racing on Sat with Endeavor and ever and ever....yikes it was like I-Robot in the 30+ Elite race. The E guys were attacking one after another and it looked like fun so I jumped in the game early. Got so excited the first time I cranked it up with 2 E guys, I decided to drive my bike off the pavement for a moment to check that out. Ya...I was lucky with that. 23mm tires ain't made to do anything on gravel at 40MPH. I finished in the final swarm and was getting crossed eyed pretty good at the finish so at least I know I was going sort a hard.
Round two in the 12threes was a bit slower for sure. Figured I might as well get some more tv time out in front and then JV from LAPT does this huge attack and takes along this world champ(Matt Kelly) for a huge break. Not many guys interested in chasing so I figured might as well do some efforts to at least help keep us close. A few sprockets(wheel and sprocket) helped also but we were no match for that horse power. The Pbike was going good in the finale and managed to find myself near the front of the bunch sprint at the end. Not sure if the "kid" got my wheel or what happened at the end. It's all a blur.
So...Sunday...figure I better get out and do some interval training for a couple hrs to warm up for mowing the lawn. Tan lines needed some sharpening too.
I wonder if we will have any more takers for the AV Tues night hill suffer fest with JT and myself? Hardest race of the year coming up this Sat so need to be good.
Oh ya...I forgot to mention...my other goal for the week is to take down the two Christmas wreaths. Na...maybe after the Maxxis Grand Prix.

More from Majorca.....

2005-04-03T09:15:00.000-07:00

Well..Sat was no offical group ride so I started out with a few folks from our hotel who were going across the island to stay at another camp. We pedaled easy for 35 miles and then this German group(imagine that !!) came by us and I need to meet them and find out if they were going to ride in the mtns. Yes...time to play again. So we ride together up the Col de Soller (5 mile climb) and the pack is shattered. I waited at the top and decided to continue when a few of them came to the top. On to Puig Major (11 mile climb) which I ended up doing solo as they went on to the Port de Soller (see the map). No problem for me...this was only day 8 and I am now the bionic bike rider and the head is soooo big after all the praise from the Germans. They cannot beleive how I can climb so well with my huge size. Ha ! So it was super windy and a bit cooler on the climb. At the top in the tunnel the winds must have been almost 35 mph. Once on the other side it was better. Stopped for cofee,oranges and a Snickers. Snickers are better here than in the states. Decending by myself was a total hoot cause I didn´t have to worry about others in the pack coming up on my wheel and taking the fast line from me. Darn cars simply cannot corner with the speed of Eck. I ended up with 94 miles and 5:40hrs on the the Prince. What a machine that bike is.
Billy and Pam arrived Sat afternoon from Team Nova. (ala Wis). Nice to see a comrad from the local scene. I have no doubt he will pickup where I am leaving off. No doubt the smack will go down for another full week. Nice rep us Americans from the midwest have now. (ya....everyone knows me her now...I am the meister)

Sun...Billy, Tilo,Hijo and I decided to do our own ride today. Today was my last day..and a bad one here as we actually had cloudy skies and couldn´t see many views. Oh well, certainly good enough to hammer out another 80 some miles and 4hrs on the machine. Feeling stronger and stronger now. Too hard to tell how racing will be though. We shall see on the 17th.
Billy and I were talking trash and he crashed at slow speed. bummer.

Time to eat..got to run.
Eck

Another perfect day in MAJORCA !!

2005-04-01T07:54:00.000-08:00

I could seriously become a travel agent for this place......it is sooooo cool.
Today started out with some bad news. Our group leader is one hell of a rider. He was a neo-pro and is from Bavaria. Seriously great climber and super kid. His dear friend was killed in a car accident so he went home today for the funeral. What a bad deal. So....we did a ride with the managing director, Marcel, of this particular hub for the Team Max H. A nice 70 miles out and around the central part of the island. No serious climbs but nice rolling with a micro (huge for WisCONsin) switchy climb. Most every time the road went up I was near the front. Marcel loved to hold on to my jersey and I had no problem with that. Good fun and that gave me the chance to put out some serious watts on the power climbs.
During our coffee, orange, cola, cappacino stop in the town of Petra, I met an older gentlemen from Munich. He spoke super English and was happy to chat. Cool guy. He is here for like his 20th time. In fact, I think just about everyone I chat with has been here several times. I can see why after this past week.
Today after the ride, a bit of domestic laundry time, couple of San Miguels, and a little beach and pool time. Ocean is still a bit chilly but some go for it full on.

Tonight is some sort of presentation.......wonder what they have in store??

2 more days......
Eck

IT´S ALL ABOUT THE ROUND ABOUTS AND

2005-03-31T23:02:00.000-08:00

cofee, decending, and coffee, and coffee and ......well, you get the point!!

The round abouts rock. Best thing ever since blacktop. Easy to watch on tv when the pro´s ride through but a little bit more uncomfy when you have to deal with traffic. un like Wis, where the cars would sooner play chicken, here the stop and don´t even think about taking chances. nice.
We have stopped for coffee-cappacino so many times I have lost count. The winter training crew (punks) would love it.......except for the part when you have to get back on and then ride another 70 kms. Reality though is that there is really no hurry as there isn´t much else to do here. Ride, sit in the sun (weather men got it easy here....they set you up for partly cloudy and it ends up being 75 and sunny..Nice)and then ride some more. Also, the oranges here are famous and quite tasty. Cake ain´t bad also. (ya pauly....dessert all the time....you would be proud of me !!!)
Well.......back to riding stuff:

Tues on the decents, the only thing that kept us from going more than 45mph was the cars and oh ya....all those switch backs.
Wed....recovery day. I rode with Tilo (German dude who speaks english) We did about 35 miles and stopped for coffee, lunch and then more coffee before heading back to the hotel. Best recovery day on record in all my years of riding. Tan lines are going good now.
Thurs.....huge day. We rode a small climb with like 25 switch backs. it was about 5 miles long. I nabbed more KOM points from Bruno.....he is such a wheel suckker.but he keeps calling me the Meister so thats a good thing:) Then the climb to Puig, which is the highest point on the island. The climb was about 10 miles long. I did a TT HR effort all the way up. Bounced HR from 179 to 183 and upped the pace on occasion but each time Bruno was able to come back a bit. He still liked my wheel on the windy sections so he still says I am the Meister (champion).
All in all.....yesterday was more than amazing. I am convinced God spent a bit more time making Majorca than Kenosha county. The views are simply amazing. The mountain roads are suburb !! Oh ...and did I tell you about the climbing and decending? 96 miles and 5.5 hrs on the bike with several thousand feet of climbing was what I call a great day. I put my vest on only to ride the main decent.....that took about 25 minutes to ride.
Today is a longish day....most likely about 100 miles but only ¨rolling¨ and no major climbs. Legs will appreciate this.
Sorry bdog.......Gurnee weather doesn´t hold a candle to whats up here. You have to see this place. I am prebooking trip for next year. Who is coming along ??

Nope....havn´t tried the baday (sp) yet. Too risky.
Billy O is coming in tomorrow. Should be fun to ride with him.

Till next time........

amazing......

2005-03-29T12:38:00.000-08:00

The last couple days have been amazing. partly cloudy over here means shorts and a jersey and tan lines. i have been riding with the top level group and putting the hurt on all the big germans. what a hoot. yesterday and today = 180 miles of rolling terrain (that means small ring over here) and some climbs of about 5 miles. will do a 15 mile climb on thurs.
whooops.......only 4 min left on my smoky cafe inet experience for today.

So...this is really an amazing place. the roads are narrow and the cars are small. the big diff is that the cars actually respect the riders. Nice.

Food is awesome...breakfast is kind a funky though. Bdog would struggle a bit on the food thing.. pizza sucks.

Baron would love the group riding.........only hte leader pulls. but we get to contest the climbs so the goat would dig that.

ok...sorry no time left.
Eck

made it here.......

2005-03-26T11:50:00.000-08:00

Well....thanks to my trusty work laptop failing on me i get to spend about 7 bucks per 30 min on a worthless pc of crap hotel pc. internet cafe is all of 3 unts and mouse is messed up and the keyboard is eruo....how dare they !!!
Holy cow....i only have 15 min left !!!
Actually the trip started out awesome as i sweetalked the ticket counter woman and got upgraded to biz class for the ride over to Managed to get some good shut eye and excellent food and wine.
Today arrived at the hotel...sweet place. Put the Prince together and got out for a lazy spin with a couple from NY. Can you beleive people actually take bike vacations w-o even riding their bikes over the past 6 months ?? Hello? Needless to say I had my first opp to dominate. Sunday should be a better test though.
Gastronomic is a big word over here any time you see something related to food. Tonight
Well thats it for today. I wish everyone a Happy Easter and safe rides!
Eck

packing frenzy and last minute stuff.......

2005-03-25T08:11:00.000-08:00
This is the part that sucks about travelin. At least for me cause I know I am going to forget something and just need to make sure it's not a bike required somethin. Underwear and socks are overrated anyways. (don't worry...have plenty of cycle socks packed)

Of course I got in my first leg shave of the season today. Nice hey Pauly ??? Ya, it did feel weird to be doing that and having it snow today, but it's 70 in Majorca today so cycl-tan lines are only a plane ride away.

Mad a valiant effort to dial up on the laptop both last night and today for the workplace but no dice. I am not about to spend time on the helpless desk in my hotel room in spain trying to figure out how to get on line to do WORK. Nope. (now I am really livin it up eh Mitchman??) So that leaves room for more cycing mags in my carry-on. Nice!

Oh...is that the ups truck with our new Team RED KIT? Got to go !!!!!

See ya in Majorca !!!

Doc run and packin it.

2005-03-24T19:00:00.000-08:00
So last night the Goat and I went up to the Doc to drop off some Maxxis tires for the team, pickup our new Bell helmets and a few last minute items for my trip. The Goat even bought me a cup a joe for the drive up in the Max. Nice. Trent up at the Doc has really been taking good care of us. If anybody needs bike stuff....don't hesitate to ring up Trent at the Bike Doctor.
Tonight I packed up the PRINCIPA in it's own suitcase. Good thing I made a final sweep of the Bike Lab as I spied the seatpost/saddle still clamped in the repair stand right where I left it. Nice.
We received some of the Team Jackets today. Keep an eye on MountainGoat News for some pics.....They are way styling ! I should be getting a good portion of the other clothing tomorrow before I head to the airport.
Feels kind of weird leaving all my winter/spring riding pals this weekend...I am going to miss em all.

I wonder if the Baron is going to take a few extra pulls this weekend on my behalf?
Go Baron ....Go Baron ...You go !!!!

30 something feels like 20 something

2005-03-22T16:56:00.000-08:00
when the wind is blowing 20 mph and the sun is only shining in Majorca and not Wisconsin. Just when I put up my winter tights for the season..... I wish I was smart enough to have used em today.
I burned a couple of VA hrs and had a spin with JT whos a former TW dude but now signed on to the new JV Team out of Muckquanigo. JT is coming off a season of ski racing and super fit but now anxious to turn the pedals. He must be pretty anxious to come out and ride in this crappy weather. Yikes.
At least he let me do my midwest climbing efforts so pointed my big nose smack into the Northerly breeze. .... (thanks for that Hat bud!!!)

So.....in the middle of the ride we come across "Gomer" with his kid trying to get their pickup out of the ditch they just stuck it in. Imagine that......Gomer was able to convince JT that the kid was out doing his first pilot session in the family S-10. They must have had some full cans of beer in the bed of that thing as the glass on the back side was smashed upon impact with the tera firma ditch. Well, I heard some kind of "High Life Slang" going on but apparently JT thought it was just a simple speech thing......so he gets down int he ditch and starts pushing this truck with the Kid. No luck. I figured if I went down there I would dirty up my TW Kit and that wasn't happning. Camera phone would have been priceless!!!
By the way....how does Mitchman get all those cool pics in his blog........skool me on that !!

Team clothing is coming soon.....the Goat and I are super excited......Hope I can sleep tonight !!

2 days of work left......4 days till riding with the Spaniards. I can smell the 60 deg weather already.

Still feels like winter to me

2005-03-20T18:17:00.000-08:00
after today. The Baron, Kev and the Goat got a chance to see the AV/Lyons classic route Bender and I did this past Tues. I am amazed how good the Goat and I pulled for the first hr plus. Seems the Barons excuse is he needs an hour to warmup. OK....good excuse as it takes me about 2 since I am so old. Anyway 3.5 hrs of good Majorca preparation training is in the log. Now I just need to figure out how to recover and do rides like this for 9 days in a row. Oh thats right.......Massage.....ya, thats going to solve all my problems and loosen up my wallet a bit but got to make the most of this trip so I can dominate when I come home.......
Thanks to Tivo working correctly today I got to see the Fassa train bring on a super dominating performance in Milano SanRemo. Ale Petachi is the man. I don't think the average rider even knows those dudes raced over 7 hrs today before they saw the finish line. Amazing.

OK......just 4 working days before I forget about work.

Productive Saturday.......

2005-03-20T06:29:00.000-08:00
It's amazing what you can get done on a Sat if yer motivated. Due to popular demand, I installed a water softner. Started sweating pipe on Fri night and stopped when the pizza got done. Took it up again Sat a.m. since it was supposed to rain all day. Well....finished by noon and then reallized the chimps managed to work some weather magic and leave me some dry roads to train on. Nice.
Put some solo smack down with a few TT efforts into a headwind up W for about an hour......then turned it around for a few more efforts on the way home. Nice 2 hr prep for the Sunday Smackfest ride with the boys. After riding the race bike outside last Sun I was again amazed how "soft" and flexy the Shark is.
Folks took a ride out to inspect my plumbing work and a few other recent upgrades to the "palace". After they left decided I better get the wheelies rotated on the Max. God gave us many things......air tools are one of my favorites !!! I can't belive I have lived all of these 25 years without using air tools before. Nice.
Along with a load or two of laundry, fixed up some Nice chicken breasts and spinach pasta nests. That green pasta rocks.
I made it up to the loft for some Apprentice time (thanks to our favorite sponsor: Tivo) and managed to stay awake for "the one from two wks back" ......what a yawner.
ETA for Spain........6 days

Testing......testing......this is a test ??? Really?

2005-03-07T19:13:00.000-08:00
Yup........just a test. Need to get good at this before I start trying to do this in a smoky internet cafe in Spain. Not counting down the days yet.......just the weekends I have to ride outside in order to get some fitness so I can manage to drag my large carcass over those climbs.

Eck