Updates...

Not much happening 'round here...in brief:

1.) Got a good one in on Wednesday, whereby I rode about 75-to-80% of the 100 mile+ Heck of the North course with a bunch of great guys from Ely, Grand Marais, and Duluth. It was very hot & windy, and because I had to be back at 3:30 I had to bail early. So on Friday morning, solo, I back tracked and rode the last half of the course in relatively good time as the weather was perfect. The Heck of the North course is unique to the Midwestern gravel road routes that I am familiar with, in that it is decidedly not farm country. Also, there are three short, but tough sections of squalidness on the course that can help to even up the playing field to some extent as there are long sections that could favor the pure roadie-types...

As of last week the first squalid section was quite ride-able except for a brief swampy pond that required a quick dismount. Yet the last two sections consisted of pure squalor forcing one to dismount many times and hiking-the-bike through high grasses, complete with swampy morasses and unforgiving hummocks.

October 2nd is the date and itz gonna be a great one!!! Bravo Mr. Kershaw!!!

2.) Been reading some really good books of late: Right now I am working through Betty Smith's, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. This is a great work of American Literature and in my mind should rank up there with To Kill a Mockingbird or the equivalent.

3.) As of Saturday, for the first time since before the Trans-Iowa, this week I have broken the 20 hour barrier for training rides and more importantly, I have further regained my excitement for racing, which has suffered since completion of mid-June's Trans Wisconsin and compounded by my poor showing a few weeks ago at the Levis-Trow 100. Due to all the construction on our house and the headaches that come with it, I am limiting myself to racing just the 24 Hours @ Seven Oaks for the remainder of the summer season. To prepare for the 24 hours trial, I plan to concentrate on longer rides on single-track. As alluded to above I am also totally pumped for the Heck of the North, December's Tuscobia 150, and the classic 2011 Arrowhead 135...

4.) We have watched several films of late with adult themes as off-spring was off to YMCA camp including the Swedish film, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Shutter Island. The Swedish work was top-notch and highly entertaining if somewhat disturbing, while Shutter Island was an utter failure and cannot be recommended...

5.) I am still trying to get at writing up that last chapter in what will surely go down as the highlight race of the 2010 Summer season for the author; namely The Trans-Wisconsin. Once school starts, I will surely have more ambition to really sit down and put pen to paper in an attempt to convey the surreality of those last hours of that epic experience that I shared with Jeremy Kershaw...