Mother Nature

So Brooks and I didn't do the road race last Saturday. The weather was 25 degrees with rain/snow and 30mph winds at the race site, so it wouldn't have been fun to drive 4 hours each way to race for 3 hours in that crap.

The hockey season ended on a good note for Team Green, as we beat Team White 5-3 in the "Toilet Bowl Game" for 5th place. I scored one goal and got two assists in the win. It was disappointing to finish in 5th place (out of 6 teams) after we led the league for so many weeks, but we'll be back next season. :)

I debated playing in the summer hockey league as well, but decided against it being that with biking, trips, etc that it would get to be too much.

Heather will be gone from Saturday to Tuesday visiting her family in MI, so it is just the kids and I. She found a pretty cheap roundtrip ticket from Madison, so that makes it easy.

There are two races this weekend...a road race in Baraboo, WI on Saturday and a mtb race in Iola, WI on Sunday. I plan on doing the road race for sure, and then possibly the mtb race as well if I'm not too tired out from the previous days race.

Since Heather won't do it...

It appears that Heather is on a blogging sabbatical of some sort, as she has yet to post pics from CO. So I will post some. Enjoy.

Relaxing in our condo with the kids.

I expected the Rockies to be a heck of a lot more rocky than this. ;)
Vontoux and I doing some situps on a hiking trail right out of Red Rocks, CO.

The correct way to do a "side jump".

Heather and Willa's video version of the side jump.

In other news, Brooks and I are heading to Cannon Falls, MN for a road race on Saturday. It will be my first race of the season, and it will be a long one...63 miles for my first race since upgrading to Cat 3. My game plan: just hang on to the peloton and try to avoid getting my ass kicked too bad. :)

Speaking of ass-kickings, my last hockey game of the season is on Sunday night. Team Green really went downhill after dominating the early season. We were in first place for so long, and we ended up in 5th at the end. Not good. I still had fun though, and I think I ended up 8th or 9th in the league in scoring.

My New Mtb

Heather and I got back from Denver on Sunday night. It was a fun, quick trip despite the Sioux getting their butts kicked in the first game. We went to the zoo, went hiking at some canyon place, and relaxed. Maybe Heather will update her blog with some pics from the trip. Of course it snow stormed on our drive out there, but the drive home was smooth sailing (as smooth as a 14.5hr drive can be).

I promised some pics of my new mtb, so without further ado, here they are. I was debating between the aluminum hardtail and the aluminum full suspension (same as Trent's), but in the end stuck with the hardtail. I got a stock Trek 8500 and then upgraded everything except for the frame, fork, and brakes.

The aluminum rocketship.
The new XTR drivetrain is so sweet looking and smooth.

Pretty cranks.

Nice and light rotational weight.

The new XT hydraulic brakes are amazing. You can adjust both the lever throw and modulation easily right on the lever.

Frame: Alpha Red aluminum

Fork: Fox F100 RL

Brakes: Shimano XT Hydraulic

Front/Rear Derailleur: Shimano XTR

Cassette: SRAM 980

Chain: SRAM PC991 Hollow

Cranks/BB: Shimano XTR

Wheelset: Bontrager Race X Lite Disc

Tires: Bontrager ACX 2.0

Tubes: Bontrager Race XXX Lite

Handlebar: Bontrager Race X Lite Carbon

Stem: Bontrager Race X Lite

Headset: Chris King

Pedals: Shimano 959

Seatpost: Bontrager Race X Lite ACC Carbon

Saddle: Selle Italia Flite Ti

Bottle Cage: Elite Gel

Computer: Trek Incite 9i Wireless

Total Weight: a svelte 21.8 lbs

This new bike is a good 1.5 lbs lighter than my old carbon 9.9, with most of the weight savings coming from the Race X Lite wheelset, which shaved almost 300 grams from my King/717 setup. I can't wait for the first WORS race on May 4th to see what it can do.

Greg will be happy to know that it sounds like the Klein lineup is going to be revamped following the dropping of LeMond. No word yet if that means going back to aluminum goodness, or just sticking some Klein decals on LeMond carbon frames. There is also talk of possibly bringing back Bontrager bikes to fill the void for steel road, mtn, and cross frames. That would rule!

Colorado, here we come!

Heather and I take off tomorrow for Denver, CO to watch the Sioux in the Frozen Four. I've gone to the last two F4 in Milwaukee and St. Louis, so we said that if the Sioux made it that we would go and make a little vacation out of it. So we are loading up the car, kids and all, and making the trip out west to the mountains. Should be a great time. Go Sioux!

Congrats to both Dave and Robb on the births of Henry and McKenna!! How is this for a coincidence...

• both of them live in Fargo, ND
• Henry Simmons was born April 6th at 12:47am
• McKenna Lunak was born April 6th at 2:45am

That's just crazy and creepy. Maybe their paths will cross again in the future...

I finally finished my mtb. I'll post some pics next week after we get back. Talk to you all later.

Going to Denver!

Last year the Sioux beat Minnesota 3-2 in OT to advance to the Frozen Four. This year the Sioux beat Wisconsin 3-2 in OT to advance to the Frozen Four. Brandon and I were there, rocking out with the rest of the Sioux fans.

Go Sioux!