24-9

Well, 24-9 has come and gone for another year. Team Thunder Clutch consisted of the Fab Four (Carlson, Dookie, Puker (aka Giffey 1), and me) and our new addition for the year, Matt Appel. Joe's friend Brett taped off our trademark campsite on Thursday night and the bro got to Wausau by 9 to seal the deal. The site was set up sweet with two hammocks, three workstands, an easy up, and a new and improved fire pit. We headed to Benji's parents for a pre-race carbo load of salad, spaghetti, garlic bread, and most importantly, ice cream. Saturday morning came and once again I was relegated to starting duties. The run treated me well as I passed people on the inside of the corners. Then for about 20 seconds I couldn't find my bike, but then I was on my way. I threw a wheelie across the start line much to the excitement of the announcer, my droves of devoted fans, and of course, the ladies. Unfortunately they yanked the first bit of singletrack for the first lap, so we were wide open for a couple miles. I spun my gerbil heart out, but just couldn't compete with the gears. I returned home after a disappointing 1:15, but luckily I didn't kill the team. Rob and Carlson were strong all event long; throwing down some seriously fast times. I feel Rob's quickness was due at least somewhat to his wardrobe choice on his second lap: shoes, heart rate monitor, helmet, bibs, and a smile, with no silly jersey to slow him down. In the end, we repeated as 3rd place in the 5 Rider Open Division, despite my horrible lap times. We got cups this year instead of medals, pretty lame if you ask me. After a confusing meal stop at Noodles and Co., we headed our separate ways.

Once I got to the parents house, I showered up and had some delicious french toast. I made it to bed by about 8 I think and was dead to the world until 9:30 Monday morning. I was pretty much a lazy piece the rest of the day and making it back to Sheboygan Falls was the big accomplishment of the day. My legs are still a touch sore today, what a sally.

All Revved Up and Ready to Go

Well I think I finally have everything ready for 24-9. I finished up my food shopping, laundry, and packing tonight and shoved it all in the faithful C-ride race support vehicular. The new light is charged and ready to rock and I even threw some new brake pads on the Dambala tonight. I'm eager to see how it performs under race conditions. I even polished up the Trek to bring as a backup bike. Go team Thunder Clutch!

Eagle Riv

This weekend I headed up to Eagle River with Tim, Chris, and Joe for some Northwoods craziness. I checked out of work at 2:30 and met up with Tim in Appleton and headed for his parents cabin on Scattering Rice Lake. The Prizm Racer burned up the road passing cars and Dutchmens left and right. We got some pizza and decided to hit up the lakes for a quick speed run on the new Sea Ray. Once Joe and Chris arrived it was time for some billiards action (Combo Basket) and some DT Eagle River. I got the privilege of driving the Passat home from the bars, and I must say it is pretty sweet. Chris finished off the night with some sweet eyes closed pizza eating and near water spilling.

Saturday morning meant water time and we headed out to the chain. We started off with some intense tubing which left Chris's swim attire around his ankles. For lunch we hit up some delicious eats right on the lake followed by some food settling lake touring. Then we parked the boat and had some swim time highlighted by some bottom touching pencil diving. Next up was some water skiing courtesy of Joe and Chris. Everyone was getting pretty hungry, so we headed in and checked out the 12 Pines Restaurant. They served up some very delicious broasted chicken. After that we decided to hit up the go kart track for some intense racing. Joe narrowly beat out for the win on the road course with some very strategic blocking maneuvers. Then we headed into Eagle River for some night life.

We hit up the water again on Sunday morning for some wakeboarding. Tim impressed with his mad skills and Chris took a nice face plant. Joe was up next, trying out wakeboarding for the first time. After many failed attempts and water fist-pounding, he finally arose from the water. We decided to check out the rope swing on the island next, which turned out to be quite intense. The water was quite shallow so dismounts had to be taken quite carefully. Joe decided to man up and go for the high mark, but unfortunately didn't get high enough on the rope and smoked his ankle on the shore quite nicely. After a few more death whips on the tube, we pulled the boat in for the weekend. After one last meal at Sweetwater, we called it a weekend and went our separate ways.

I got my light for 24-9 in the mail today after much debating on Thursday. I've fully charged and discharged it once already, and Sigma's claimed burn time seems to be pretty accurate. All in all it seems to be a pretty solid little unit, but what does one expect from Deutschland.

Grip It and Rip It

I made it out to Evergreen once again today to further test the limits of the new steed. I even managed to hook up with two guys to ride with. We did one medium pace lap, as one of the guys was pretty new to the whole MTB thing. But after that, the other guy (who happens to ride a gray and pink 1FG in Elite) and I headed out for another lap and a half of singletrack rippage. The Dambala responded nicely and ripped it up. The legs even felt pretty good today with plenty of power for the climbs and flats. The dude was even impressed with my climbing skillz as I ripped it all the way to the top of the Eliminator. The hands and lower arms were a little sore by the end of the ride, but I'm sure they'll come around as I get used to riding rigid again. I got an email back from Sigma today that they have no more lights to rent for 24-9. Frick. That means I'm gonna have to start scoping the net for a good deal on a decent light real soon. Maybe I should just strap one of these puppies to my helmet.........

Cherry Time

I took the Dambala out for her first ride tonight at Evergreen. I put in a couple of laps and ripped it up. I ran a 32:18 gear ratio which should be about equivalent to a 2:1 ratio on a 26. The thing absolutely flew on the wide open flats and seemed like it spun out way easier than the Trek. Otherwise, the gearing felt good in the singletrack, with the bike accelerating nicely out of corners. The thing just begs to go flat out in corners with spot on handling a tons of grip from the Maxxis Ignitors. Bunny hops were also a cinch as I noticed I got way more air than with the Trek with barely any effort. Climbing was good as well with the Dambala ripping up the Eliminator on its first try. I plan on hitting up the trails again tomorrow night for 3 laps and find out endurance of the new ride.

Here are some more pictures. So dirty.............

Completed Specs:
Frame: VooDoo Dambala
Fork: IRD
Headset: Cane Creek S3
Hubs: WTB Laser Disc Lite
Spokes: DT Swiss double butted
Nipples: Green alloy (oh yeah)
Rims: Sun DS-2
Tires: Maxxis Ignitor
Cranks: Truvativ Stylo Team GXP (with Truvativ bashguard)
Cog: Some old 18 tooth from Momentum with the backside painted yellow
Spacers: Gray plastic
Seatpost: Thomson Elite
Seat: Selle Italia Cuda
Stem: Truvativ Team 31.8 100mm
Bars: Truvativ Team Flat 31.8
Grips: Salsa Pepperjack
Brakes: Avid Juicy Seven

29er

Well, I finished up the 29er last night. Here is a quick pic of the build. Details to follow............

Hammer Time

I suppose it's time for another blog post........ This past weekend I hung out in the Dells at the Chula Vista for my neighbors wedding. How perfect; the hottest weekend of the year and I'm right next to a water park. The water park consisted of an outdoor section and indoor section called Lost Rios. (I think I'm going to have to open a resort called Fiesta Cancun with an indoor water park called Los Chipos.) One of the rides was 3 equal slides right next to each other for racin'. The best part was the speed readout at the bottom with my personal best being 37 feet per second.

I've pretty much just hung out and chillaxed Monday and Tuesday after putting in some solid overtime at work. Today I finally got out and rode, putting in some time at Evergreen. I finally hooked up with somebody from Fat Kats/PCW and I'm going to be on the official email list. I rode with a guy that also rides Comp (he's actually fast, though) and I ended up putting in over 20 miles on the mountain bike today. I just finished up watching today's stage of the Tour de France with my boy Thor Hushovd bringing home the victory. I think I'll try and bust out the MTB again tomorrow.........

Ridin' the Storm Out

I decided to head down to Platteville on Tuesday night for this Fourth of July. I arrived to an empty house, so I headed over to Momentum to check out Joseph's new cycle. He finally beat me to a bike this time, being the first to get a 29er. We headed to TJ's for some supper and he put the finishing touches on the baby blue GF Ferrous. Then J and I headed to DBQ for some fireworks action. We barely made it in time for the start since they pushed up the start time for incoming weather. We parked in the casino lot and took in the show just before it decided to downpour. I headed out to the Fritz Farm the next morning for a little riding. The place is totally different in the summer. With so much foliage and the raging humidity it felt like a Brazilian jungle.

Today I was back to work harder than ever putting in my first overtime with a 9 hour day. I threw the 2:1 ratio back on the single once I got home and headed out to Evergreen Park for some solid training laps. Driving towards Sheboygan, I noticed some ominous looking clouds over the lake. I was greeted in the parking lot by some gusty winds and distant thunder. I scurried to get ready and headed out for hopefully 3 laps. (Cue REO Speedwagon's "Ridin' the Storm Out".) I was putting some pretty decent speed on the first lap and by the end of the lap, I noticed that the dark clouds were moving inland to the north of Sheboygan. No biggie, I can easily get another lap in. I put down another lap and noticed the clouds were moving south over Sheboygan. No worries, I'll speed through another lap. The thunder grew louder and about 1/3 of the way through the lap, the heavens let loose. The tree cover provided pretty good protection for a while, but the trails soon became rivers of water. At this point I was so soaked and muddy, there was no point in heading back to the car, so I soldiered on. My 2.0 Geax Arrojo's performed their best imitation of their big brother 2.25 (more like 2.35) Sedonas and delivered me back to the C-ride with the rubber side down. I heart Geax!

(Feel free to set this as your new flashy desktop)

Weak End

Thursday night Sully, Kim, and TD came down to hang out. We checked out Firehouse Pizza in downtown Sheboygan Falls for supper and then came back to the apartment and watched a little 40 Year Old Virgin (laughing out loud at comic book). Then we went to the Odyssey Fun Center for some bowling action. And what a deal on Thursday nights, $8 for as many games as you can bowl before 2 am. As nice as the lanes looked, though, they were probably the driest lanes I have bowled on for quite some time. Needless to say, I bowled pretty worthlessly. The Prizm Racer headed back to Appleton amid much tire squealing after 3 games.


This weekend I headed up to the Firecracker WORS race in Eau Claire. The course was dry and fast for the pre-ride on Saturday. It was even drier for Sunday with many of the corners turning to powder. During the duration of the race I think I swallowed approximately 2 pounds of dust. I felt pretty decent for the first 2 of the 3 laps, except for the 5 minute gerbil spins on the gravel and grass leadout every lap. About half way through the 3rd lap it all came Undun (The Guess Who style). I think two or three Comp SSers passed after that point relegating me to DFL in the class. Wow, a new racing low. Needless to say, the overall result was quite appalling as well. Now I sit here and ponder the hilarity of me ordering a new bike when I'm not even competitive as it is.