Thank You WTB!!!!

Here is a plug for the outstanding service that I received from Chris at WTB. Given my dementia and perhaps to a lesser degree my reliance on copious daily intakes of that magical elixir of fermented barley and hops of antiquity, I special ordered the wrong saddle from WTB via QBP. Upon receiving it, rather than just dealing with it and sending it back, I decided to keep the one that I got (WTB Rocket SLT,) and throw away any evidence that I had purchased it. But alas several dayz later, I knew after only about 20 minutes on the trainer (of which I had mounted the new saddle) that it was not the right fit. Essentially, while it is highly thought of by many top-notch endurance riders, The Rocket is too narrow and contoured for my aged backside. In any event, even though I had no receipt, no box, nothing, coupled with the fact that I rode the saddle for a good thirty minutes; the guyz at WTB still worked with me and let me exchange the saddle for the Devo model (which is flatter and more suited to my big ole backside!!!) Thanks again to WTB and if you need a tire or a saddle they make great gear…The Nano Raptor in my humble opinion is the best all around tire out there and the 2.55 Weirwolf is a great tire as well…

I am forced to skip the big WORS race at Eau Claire this coming Sunday as my wife needs to leave for graduate school on Sunday in the early afternoon. Itz a bummer as itz a totally great course that attracts lots & lots of great riders, plus I had a great week of training and I am hungry to race a short&flat and fast course…Good Luck to all the Ski Hut riders and everybody else too…

Itz only four weeks until the 24 Hours National Championships at 9 Mile (August 2nd & 3rd) and just three weeks until the local Spirit Mountain race…The plan is to taper big time after this coming week in terms of hours on the bike with a concerted effort to totally recover and rest up the ten dayz out from the Big Dance…In my little amateur world, the 24 Hours @ 9 Mile is the main event for the Summer, so I want to have a priority, relatively top-notch performance (Note: It breaks down like this- The Arrowhead 135 for Winter, The Trans Iowa and/or the Red Ass 300 for Spring, and the Minnesota State CX Championships for Fall). I’ll use the Spirit Mt Race here in my backyard on the Sunday before the NATS to simply clean out the spark plugs and make sure the trusty Gunnar is ship shape and ready to go. The possibility exists that I may be able to borrow one of those fancy Asian plastic jobs with all the bells and whistles (or may be borrow a front suspension shock) to ride later-on in the race to help on the wear and tear that comes on about Hour 10 and really begins to intensify with the loss of the sun. In any event, I am pumped to beat my last year’s effort with an eye on finishing better than 12th place….Although as anyone who has done it can attest to, 24 hours on a rough mountain bike course is a very very tough proposition and super hard on the body and even more so on ones soul!!!! Last year, I started well, but with the darkness came destructive merciless demons, one of whom for a crucial time span stole my timing chip sending me into a major tailspin of woe and despair. While the logistics, tactics, and pre-race preps are relatively straightforward as compared to the AH 135 or the Trans Iowa/RED ASS; I'd say that it terms of time spent lamenting in the "hurt tank" the 24 hours @ 9 mile is the most grueling event of the year. Of course, itz a sin to bury a healthy body...

PS: Kudos to Charly Tri (from my hometown of Rochester, MN) for an outstanding effort at the Levis/Trow 100. Very impressive effort...I would wager that Minnesota and especially Wisconsin has one of the largest collections of Enduro-freaks in the nation. He beat Tim Ek and me by well over an hour on a very ch alleging course and he beat a host of other talented guyz by 30 or even 40 minutes...including Chris Schotz (spelling?), a WEMs legend and several other "real deals."