LSC Training Camp Sag Wagon Food

What keeps the LSC motors running?

• 15 cases of Gatorade Rain
• 5 cases of Cookies
• 4 cases of Salted Nut Rolls
• 2 cases of Pop Tarts
• 2 cases of Nutrigrain Bars
• 2 cases of Trail Mix

Sorry, no Cliff or Power Bars. If that's your energy food of choice, you'll have to supply your own.

Training Camp Prep Ride

We wanted to get a longer, hilly training ride in before heading for camp next week, and Sunday was the day. Thankfully, the rain an snow held off, and 7 of us rode to Hagar City and back. Jordan, Painman, Treb, Kullman, Dan and Dave Meyer, and Jimmer.

Painman was riding his brand new Specialized Tarmac SL2, weighing all of 15.7lbs., for the first time. Pretty sweet ride. Jordan was sporting his new "White" bar tape, which turned purple from his gloves over the course of the ride. I did warn him.

30 miles into the ride, my rear derailleur cable broke at the lever. This has happened to me no less than 3 times previously, and I change my cables every year. The sad thing is I thought about swapping out the cable Saturday night, but I figured I'd wait till after camp. Big mistake. Luckily, I have the greatest wife EVER, and she met us with a new cable, and we were able to continue with almost no delay. Your a life saver Carla, I owe you big time!

The Meyers broke for home as we continued south to Hagar City, and started hitting the hills. Our rest stop came just in time. We were starving. We took the highway all the way back to Prescott, and then rode Treb back home to Woodbury before heading back to Hudson. We kept the group together very well, and we were all flying the team colors too. I was most impressed with Jordan, who was still dropping the hammer on the hills, even after 90 miles. Thanks to everyone for joining us on the ride. See you at camp.

One final note. We got home, and Carla had dinner ready and waiting. Jordan and I are 2 of the luckiest guys in the world. We love you Carla.

West Side Training

Teammate Rennert has been leading training rides on the west side of town, making our way to a loop in Medina where we mix it up with hard efforts during the course of each lap. It was a ton of fun, and my first sustained intensity of the year. Rennert and I matched up really well, and Jordan was able to match up with others in the group. The down side is that once you get dropped, you're on your own to rejoin the group, or continue the efforts with whoever you're with. In other words, it really helps if you have someone to match up with. Thanks for the excellent training opportunity Paul. We'll be back.

Life is good

Seeing Casper busting out his new Addict road bike inspired me to finally break out the road bikes Thursday evening. It was Jordan's first ride on his new Giant. The ride was pure heaven. Our cross bikes have taken a beating this winter, and are in dire need of a tune-up. It was great to get on a bike that rolled smooth, and shifted effortlessly. Jordan was thrilled to be able to sprint out of the saddle without fear of the chain skipping. And to think snow was in the forecast today. Life is good.

Stout Track Meet

Maren ran her first varsity track meet at the indoor track at UW Stout on Tuesday night. Mom and Dad made the drive to watch here race and were very impressed. She finished second in her heat of the 400m. Way to go Maren.

Back from the Caribbean

What better way to celebrate Easter, after returning from a week long Caribbean cruise? Poor Treb suffered along with us on his MTB, while Jordan and I rode our cross bikes on the surprisingly dry roads of the Prescott Loop.

Newsflash: Maren makes Varsity

Maren had her 1st indoor high school track meet this past Thursday, and nearly won her heat in the 400m, taking a very close 2nd. This was after running in the 4x800m. Her time was good enough to qualify to run varsity at her next meet, and she's only a freshman. Congratulations Maren!

LSC Training Camp Competitions - Revised

New this year at camp will be several "tongue and cheek" competitions including:

KOM and KOS point competitions have been replaced with "Race Simulations" in the second half of the rides on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Heaviest Rider:
Single layer of clothing, no shoes

Lightest Rider:
Single layer of clothing, no shoes

Heaviest Bike:
Must be ridden on at least 1 of the 2008 training camp rides (weighed as ridden)

Lightest Bike:
Must be ridden on at least 1 of the 2008 training camp rides (weighed as ridden)

There will also be a "Cycling Addict" award, given to each rider who completes the long routes (as designated by Jimmer) on each of the 4 days of camp.

2 Loop Weekend. Riding with a World Champion.

Saturday morning was way to cold, so we waited till the afternoon to ride. 20deg was good enough for us to do the Prescott Loop. The SSE wind is my wind of choice for the route, in favor of a good push home at the end. We saw fellow Hudsonite Roger Parenteau finishing his ride as we departed. Stops in Prescott and River Falls were spaced perfectly for warming back up. We finished up in the dark, our lights ablaze.


Sundays weather was much, much better. 30 deg and sunny, with a similar wind. As luck would have it, we came upon Roger Parenteau again, only this time he was just starting. He stayed with us for the first hour, and pressed Jordan in the climb up Trading Post in Afton. Roger has Masters Worlds Track Championships in the Kilo and Pursuit. He coming back from a couple years of battling illness, and is doing very well I must say. It was sure great catching up with him.

After Roger left us, we continued on our 2nd Prescott Loop of the weekend, and even added on a hill and some mileage. At our rest stops, I've been eating Apple Pies lately since I heard Gordy Paulson does the same. Jordan and I also drank a quart of chocolate milk in River Falls, and Jordan paid the price. He had a nasty stomach ache for the last 10 miles. Maybe a pint will be plenty next time?

Longer Days and Reasonable Temps

Hooray for more daylight, and temps around freezing. The last 2 weekends were all about riding outside with Jordan and others. We're even able to get out during the week, after work now. I'm a bit envious of those who made room in their lives for a cycling trip to a warmer climate, but it only fuels our motivation to ride outside in this fickle winter weather.

Last year at this time, Jordan and I were having the time of our lives, skiing out at Big Sky, MT. No ski trip this year, in favor of a spring break trip to the Caribbean. Definitely looking forward to the white sandy beaches, crystal blue water, and quality time with the family.

Fun with Dan and Linda

Jordan and I met up with Dan and Linda at the Birchwood Cafe at 9AM with plans for a 3-4 hour ride. Paula joined us as well, and Shana stopped by for breakfast.

We rolled over to St. Paul along the river, picking up Dave Gray, headed up Little Italy, and then down Summit. We bumped into Joe Johnson who said the LGR crew was headed to Afton, which we had considered for our plan too. We kept rolling west since Paula had to get back home by Noon. We saw Patty Cakes, Ellis, and a couple others who had just rolled out of GP headed east on Summit. We waived, and they spotted Jordan and gave him a cheer. He's almost famous.

We dropped Paula off, and headed back east to catch up with the LGR crew and head out towards Afton. Casper and Mark B. took the wind all the way to Afton. The tempo was moderate to hard, rather than the level 1 I expected, but Linda and Jordan were fine, so we just kept at it.

We separated from the LGR crew at Afton, and rode to Dave Gray's place to drop off Linda and Jordan who were pretty spent. They ended up with 4.5hours and 70 tough miles. Well done guys.

I mentioned to Casper that we should go for a Hundo, and we attempted to take a less direct route back, but it wasn't to be. We ended up with 5.5hours and 89 miles. We were all pretty happy to ride longer than anticipated, especially with the relatively nice weather. Thanks Dan and Linda for a great ride, and thanks to Dave for taking care of Linda and Jordan while we finished our ride.

Take Your Son to a Bar Night

We were in downtown Mpls already for the LSC get together at the Fixx, so a bunch of us headed over to the final coldsprints at Grumpy's Bar. This is after I had decided earlier in the week that it would not be an appropriate environment for Jordan. Then I thought, it couldn't be any worse than the environment at Donimator's LSC party.

The environment was not roudy at all. Not very many roadies, but we did see many of the LGR crew, along with Hollywood, Kristy, Timmer, and Hareland. Painman, Red Lantern, A-Train, Stamm, Skibby, Olga were there too. I asked Jordan if he wanted to do the qualifier, and his immediate response was no. A short time later, he changed his mind, and jumped on. That was enough to convince myself, Skibby, and A-train to give it a go too.

Jordan qualified 16th with a distance of 1226 feet.

I qualified 15th with a distance of 1228 feet.

The effort was very hard, and I was lucky not to hurt myself. The top 16 made the head to head 500m rounds. I drew the 7th seed, and actually beat him, mostly because he got mixed up and rode poorly. Jordan drew the 8th seed, and was narrowly beaten. Jordan had the last laugh at my expense as his 500m time was a full second faster than mine. Well done Jordo.

I matched up against A-train in the 2nd round, and he whooped my butt. He made it all the way to the finals, and finished his customary 2nd.