Retro Blogging - Iola

WORS 2010 is well underway so it's time to catch up. 

This year marked my 7th straight visit to WORS Iola.  It was nice to get the first race under my belt and actually have a decent start to my WORS season.

Pictures courtesy of Velogrrl

The start was strangely slow; I got trapped in the middle of the pack on the initial climb.  Subsequently I was unlucky enough to get knocked down in the sand pit at the top of the climb.  As I layed on the ground, the rest of the field rode around me.  I spent the whole first lap burning up my matches, trying to regain my position.  I was able to drop a good amount of women including Patti from Planet Bike.  I rode Laps 2 ,3 and 4 by myself - there was no one in sight ahead or behind me.  

On the last stretch of double track on Lap 4, Patti blew past me like a bat out of hell.  Crap.  I chased like mad and was on her ass though the last part of single track.  We exited the single track and it was a short sprint to the finish line.  The inevitable result was Patti 13th and me 14th on the day.  It's tough to win a sprint at Iola when you are wheel # 2, there is not just not enough real estate there to be successful.  Regardless, it was a good lesson taught to me - I need to pull my head out of my ass and pay attention to the race behind me.

A Crack in the Relationship - No Love For My Mountain Bike

I'm not quite sure how I let April slip away without really having played in the dirt.  I have a grand total of 23.5 miles on my mountain bike.  It's just so wrong.  I promise to show my mountain bike more love next month.

My first journey out was the Spring Fling put on by the WorsWomen.  While Lapham Peak doesn't really qualify as singletrack, it was fun to get out and socialize with everyone.  I'm not a runner so I pleased with the chill pace that was set on the run (more like jogging actually).  I was dicking around in the transition area because there was no hurry to get on the bike.  After all, the vibe of this event was totally relaxed.  Then a handful of faster ladies jumped on their bikes and left me behind holding my knee warmers.  Mountain bikes just bring out the competitive beast in many of us.  I jumped on my bike and chased everyone around as best as I could.  It was nice to have a little bit of a moderate bike effort to go with my socialization.  All in all, a very fun day that cost zero dinero.  I'm sure I'll hit it up again next year.

Photos by Velogrrl and Superfly

That's a wrap.

I'm wrapping up my final week of base training.  I don't recall ever being this far into "training" at the beginning of April.  I think my shoulder injury that resulted in me not racing cross last fall, put me on the early track.

I'm been working hard on my sciatica problem.  The PT seems to think I have the hip strength of an infant on my left side and abs that don't reflect months worth of Pilates classes that I've been attending.  It's both sad and embarrassing, really.  She actually performed the hip strength test twice.....because she thought I wasn't trying the first time.  Planks, Side Leg Lifts (or I like to call them Jane Fonda's) and Cowboy Walks have become a nightly ritual.  I definitely perform these exercises in the privacy of my own home as they are much too silly to tackle at the gym.  The people on treadmills don't need the show.


I'm sure most of my friends played in the dirt yesterday.  Being that I'm always a day late and a dollar short, I brought my bike into the shop last Wednesday to have a bunch of work done.  I'll apparently get it back in  3-5 business days.  I have yet to hear back.  I know, I'm lazy.  I should probably do all the work myself.  But with the 16 hour training week that I put in, plus work, plus weighing/prepping all my meals and finalizing sponsors for our team, I haven't even had time to properly sleep let alone fix any bikes (or even clean them for that matter).  I'll never say that riding on the road is better than mountain biking, but my western Dane county adventure yesterday was pretty fucking awesome.

I'm not sure how much climbing I did, but it felt like an excessive amount for 61.5 windy miles.  Once my Garmin Edge 500 arrives, I can track meaningless statistics like elevation gain and be able to numerically quantifying things instead of using terms like shit-ton and crap-load.

My maiden dirt voyage for 2010 is roughly scheduled for Sunday at the Kettle, weather permitting.  Hit me up through the proper email, twitter or facebook channels if you want to ride.

March is for Building Character

The last few weeks of my life have been crazy - work, workout, work, sleep a little, work, hit a few appointments and go to work some more.  I've somehow managed to get a decent block of training in for the month of March.  Even though I've been short on sleep and time, I took a much needed night off of training this week to see a show.  Jeff and I went to the High Noon Saloon for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.  Awesome.

I've been hitting up a group ride or two, but mostly going it solo.  Yesterday I made my way to Belleville and back.  I found a few hills there and also found myself lost a few times over.  A word of caution - the Bombay Rides book isn't always correct.  Today I rode to Poynette and back.  This is typically one of my favorite long rides to do, but unfortunately I battled a headwind for over two and a half hours.  And while today's ride was extremely miserable, I'll chalk it up to a character building experience.

When I stepped on the scale today, it read 114.0 lbs.  It's probably been over ten years since I've seen that small of a number.  And let me tell you, it is no accident that I've come to weigh this little.  So I rode my miserable 60 miles and celebrated with a butter burger.  The last time one of those things passed by my lips was October.  Character building.

Stick a Fork In Me Cause I'm Done and Other Randomness.

Went on the first major group ride of the year. 6 dudes and 2 chicks with most people sporting road bikes. I wish I would have taken the time to put some 23mm road tires on the CX bike. 3.75 hours later and my legs are shredded from the treaded 32mm Cross Wolf tires that I rolled. Or perhaps I'm shredded from the caloric defict that I've been creating. Either way...I'm glad I got to dangle off the back for a few hours and feel a little pain.

Life has been fairly good. Lots of ups and a few downs. Unfortunately Jeff lost his job in January so money is a wee bit tight. No new bikes or other cycling related toys for me. And no coach to do my training plan. I've been fighting a nasty case of sciatica and will see the PT in a few weeks. Many of my specific cycling workouts have been dumbed down to easier rides. Stupid ass pain. I'll probably have endurance in May, just not the speed. Iola is going to hurt. Other than that, I've been turning the pedals outside and dropping weight like a bad habbit (more on this topic to come).

I saw the list of mandatory move ups on the WORS news page, which includes the Comp field. I love it; this is as it should be. There will also be a very strong and diverse woman's field this year. Exciting. I'm already feeling WORS 2010.

In Memory...

Kipp, Garrett
MADISON

Garett Kipp, age 36, was lost to non-small cell lung cancer on Feb. 16, 2010. Garett was born on May 10, 1973, in Eau Claire. He graduated from Mondovi High School. He was a guard for the 1990 Mondovi Buffaloes Football Team, which competed at the WIAA State Tournament. Garett was married to Vicki Way on April 10, 1999, at St. John's Lutheran Church in Oregon, Wis. Garett, a devoted husband and father, was happiest when doing activities with his sons. He enjoyed photography, and especially liked to take pictures of his sons while they were having adventures with him. Garett graduated from UW-Platteville, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Building Construction Management. After college, Garett worked as a draftsperson and materials estimator at Cleary Building Corporation and later at Brunsell Lumber and Millwork. Garett was a member of the Capitol Off-Road Pathfinders and the Dane County Chapter of the Wisconsin Off-Road Bicycle Association. He coordinated the '12-Hours of Blue Mound' mountain bike race during the past few years. Garett belonged to the Chain Smokers Mountain Bike Team of Madison, and competed in the Wisconsin Off-Road Series of mountain bike distance races. He also enjoyed competing in Cyclocross races and going rock climbing at Devil's Lake. In addition, Garett completed three Birkebeiner Cross-County Ski Races. Garett rode in the MS-150 ride for five years with the Patti's Peddlers team, raising funds for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. As a volunteer, Garett Kipp helped build bike trails at Blue Mounds State Park, Cam Rock County Park, and at Quarry Ridge in Fitchburg. Garett was a member of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. He completed his service in the U.S. Army Reserve in 2000. Although he personified "clean living" and never smoked, Garett was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer at age 35. After skiing 37 miles in the Birkebeiner Race last winter, he developed a cough and was diagnosed with metastasized lung cancer. Each year, 17,000 people who have never smoked are newly diagnosed with lung cancer. 174,000 Americans are diagnosed with lung cancer annually, and 15% are never-smokers. Garett is survived by his wife, Vicki; sons, Griffin and Westin; mother, Susan (John) Schultz; father, Greg (Deb) Kipp, mother-in-law, Lynn, (Troy) McDonald; father-in-law, Mike (Judi) Way; brother, Joe (Shawn) Kipp; brother-in-law, Randy Way; brother-in-law, Rick (Heather Ann Smith) Way; niece, Riley Kipp; and nephew, Tighearnan Way, other relatives and many friends. A funeral service will be held at GOOD SHEPHERD LUTHERAN CHURCH, 5701 Raymond Road, on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010, at 11 a.m. with Pastor Sheryl Erickson presiding. A visitation will be held at JOYCE-RYAN FUNERAL HOME, 5701 Odana Road, on Friday, Feb. 19, 2010, from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. and then again at church on Saturday from 10 a.m. until the time of service. The family would like to thank Dr. Anne Traynor and Dr. Michael Jones at the UW Paul P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center for their excellent care, and the Jodi Lou Lung Cancer Foundation, the friends who put on GarettFest, and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church for their kindness to our family.
Joyce-Ryan Funeral Home and Cremation Services 5701 Odana Road (608) 274-1000 www.ryanfuneralservice.com

Cancer is Bullshit.

Garett Kipp was a husband, a father, a mountain bike racer, a ski racer, a fellow ChainSmoker and an all around great guy. He will be missed.