5 Short Weeks Till LSC Training Camp

April 3-6, 2008 in Whalan, MN. Jordan's going to be there this year. If a 12 year old can make it, what's your excuse?

Click here for a 2007 Camp Summary

2006 Camp Summary:
Thursday:
Group of 11 departed at 1:30PM on dry roads @55deg. Rain started on the first climb, and was spotty from that point on.

Stats: 57 miles, 3:15 ride time, 4 significant climbs, lots of rollers, No flat tires.

Friday:
Group of 18 departed at 10:30AM on wet roads @35deg. Rain was spotty for first half of the ride. A few took the short option. More took the mid option, and a hearty 6 took the Hundred mile route. Headwinds were relentless. Speed into the wind on the flats was less than 12mph at times.

Stats: 100 wet and windy miles, 6:30 ride time, 7 significant climbs, tons of rollers, 12 flat tires.

Saturday:
Group of 26 departed at 10AM on dry roads @40deg. No rain. A few took the short and mid options. A record 18 took the Hundred mile route. Congrats to new member Jake Cohen on his first Century (Thanks Neil).

Stats: 102 great miles, 6:00 ride time, 9 significant climbs (around 5000ft total), tons and tons of rollers, no flats.

Sunday:
Pouring rain and freezing temps. Camp deserted. Ride cancelled.

Overall Stats: 257 miles, 15.75 hours in 3 days.

I'll take 100 please

Carla and I had planned a dinner date with Painman and Holly a while back. With the warm weather arriving just in time for the weekend, I suggested to Carla that Jordan and I ride over to Painman's. She and Maren could meet us there, and then we'd go out to dinner. She generously agreed. I'm really starting to love point to point rides.

Then I started to think, if I started early in the AM, I could do a 40 mile loop prior to heading to Victoria with Jordan, and I could log my first century of 2008. Started at 8:30 AM, back home to head out with Jordan at 11:00AM. Bumped into Gary Krska in Woodbury. We arrived at Dunn Bros. in Mpls at 1:30 to meet Painman. Turned out he got confused and left his house at 1:30. We met him in Hopkins and proceeded south and west into Eden Prairie and Chanhassen, before making our way to Excelsior and then to his place in Victoria, arriving just after 4PM. I scored 101 miles and 6.5 hours, and Jordan scored 64 miles and 4 hours. What a perfect day.

Of course the best part of the day was our double date at Benihana, then a night cap a Snuffys Malt Shop. I'm still in a calorie deficit.

I'm ready for winter to be over.

Selander at Tour of Belize

Bjorn Selander wins in Belize.

I've always had wheel problems, but this is over the top

This one's for you Tenacious T. I've broken too many spokes to count in the past. I've even broken the flange of a rear hub. But this takes the cake. 20 minutes into our Saturday ride, I was riding up a gradual slope, and tore 2 adjacent driveside spoke nipples and eyelets through the rim. Holy Crap! These are 32 hole Mavic SUP's, which are pretty bomb proof. They are my oldest wheels, and they have seen a lot of winter miles, so I'm sure corrosion had something to do with it.

Thankfully, I was able to limp home and grab a spare wheel to continue the ride. In the end, Jordan and I were able to get our long rides in Friday night and Saturday morning before the cold snap got here. Almost no chance of riding Sunday based on the forecast. Good luck to the Vasaloppet skiiers. Stay warm.

Strib article on Dan and Linda

Check it out.

Results from their Empire State Building Stair Run-up. Dan was 9th overall, and Linda was 90th overall, 16th Women. Recap from Linda's Blog.

Stone Arch/318 Ride

Jordan and Treb

We finally got Treb to join us on a Sunday ride. He actually rode Saturday with us too. Needless to say, he is a bit sore.

Painman left home at 7AM to meet us in Minneapolis, so he could get home by 11AM. We met up with Jens and later A-train for a relatively treacherous ride on the trails. There were patchy spots of ice. Painman went down twice on the way in, and Jens went down too. Pretty good considering. Both Treb and I managed to go down on Saturday, and were a little sore from those crashes.

We saw Timmer and Pletcher on Cedar Lake on the Loppet course. It was pretty cool to see the racers coming in as we rolled down the greenway at about 12:30PM. I finally got to the car wash and cleaned up our bikes. They really needed it.