Winter Carnival - Friday, February 1st!

Join the Bike Fed and hundreds of your fellow bicyclists for a mid-winter celebration of bicycling at our Winter Carnival at Ray’s Indoor Bike Park!  There will be beer.  There will be delicious Carnival-themed food.  There will be bike-themed carnival games.  There will be fun for the whole family!  

 

$25 Admission gets you:

FREE riding at Ray's from noon to 5:00 p.m.

Games and prizes

Raffle for sweet bike gear, frames, and more!

$10 in tickets towards great food and drink

Stunt team performances

New!  Nonmembers will receive a FREE annual membership (valued at $35),

Current members will receive 50% off Bike Fed merchandise at the event
 

 

RSVP TODAY to save $10! 

It's a carnival of bicycling fun to be had by everyone!  

 

Wisconsin Bike Fed Winter Carnival

 

Friday, February 1st, 2013 

Noon – 5:00 p.m.: Open riding 

5:30 – 9 p.m.: Food, drinks, carnival games and more.

 

Early online registration discount only $25 for adults ($35 at door), $12 for children ($15 at the door) 

Invite your friends via the Facebook Event here.

 

Volunteer at the Carnival and ride 2 days at Ray's for FREE! Volunteers gain free entrance to the Carnival, get to ride the day of the event AND get a free pass to Ray's to use at a later date.  To view the available volunteer opportunities and sign up, click here. 

(Note: Free admission does not include $10 of tickets.) 

 

Stay the night!

The Four Points Sheraton Hotel is just around the corner from Ray's and is offering a special rate for out of town attendees. Simply follow this link for hotel information.  Mention Ray's Indoor Bike Park and you'll get a fantastic room with a shuttle from the hotel to the event! 

 

Season of surgeries

Instead of racing our bikes this year, Forrest and I have spent our time on the sidelines due to injuries and surgeries. First, surgery for my ACL and recently, Forrest had surgery on one of his hands for carpal tunnel which has been bothering him all summer. Next week he gets the other hand operated on. 

And now, the team's very much admired, Dave Blomme is the next orthopedic patient. We sure are bummed to hear that news and hope for a lightning fast recovery Dave!!
Hopefully next year we can all be back in the swing of things with our repaired body parts!

-Shelley Smith

Watch those slippery leaf piles!

dblomme
While on a quick road ride the day before the Thanksgiving feast (wanted to be ready for the last half of CX season), I wiped out on some slippery leaves and dislocated my left forearm from my elbow – not good. Been a rough week. I go in to the OR tomorrow to see if I’ll need surgery. Either way, I‘ve got some months of recovery ahead of me. I’ll still ringing the cow bells and talking smart, so race hard!

Masters Champs!

TMT members picked up a bunch of awards tonight at the WCA road banquet,
including the Masters Team Championship - nice work team!

How to Win, by Greg Ferguson

Submitted by Mike Meteyer...

Last year in the WCA 45+ races it was the same old story where JW Miller would walk away after the first lap and win, Greg would chase and finish in second solo, and third was up for grabs.   This year after the first 2 races, the race has been up for grabs with  2 to 3 guys together going into the last lap.  Estabrook was no different, but for the 6th time it has ended the same. Ferguson wins. 

I have been around racing of various types most of my life.  There are some people that know how to win and Greg is one of those guys.  He has the knack.  It’s been great experience to race with him this year and to see him make it happen on so many occasions.  That has really been fun and motivating for me.

The following is my race report on the 45+ race at Estabrook. Greg and I have been employing team tactics or at least attempting them in cx this season.  Our pre-race conversation was the same as it has been all season.  And it goes something like:

Greg – Mike, I think we should try and get you the win this race.
Mike- sounds good to me.
Greg- I’ll get the hole shot, you be on my wheel.
Mike- sounds easy enough (not)
Greg – I’ll need to slow down after the first lap,  you take over if you are there; if you are not, I’ll make JW work to catch me
Mike – ok
Greg, you understand that you need to be on JW’s wheel or whoever is chasing me down?
Mike – understood, I’ll be there don’t worry
Greg – thinking to himself – wonder how many crashes he’ll have to recover from or if he’ll get clipped in at the start, or have air in his front tire, …..
Greg - once we get to 2 laps to go  attack / counter attack until the end
Mike – ok
Greg – be in front before the corner on the ball field.

Gun goes off, Greg gets the hole shot.  I’m not on his wheel but I’m sitting 4th going into the first corner … until some other really tall dude cuts the corner and pushes me into that mud hole on the outside of the first corner.  In a heartbeat, I was sitting about 10th place and several sets of groups behind Greg and his chasers. 

After a couple of laps, I eventually  caught up to JW in second place and sat on his wheel until he caught up to Greg.  Greg with 2 laps to go (I think) attacks.  It takes JW the entire lap to close the gap just at the start of the last lap.  I counter attack just before the first left hand turn and get a good gap with Greg’s help. 

JW pulls me back and passes just before the spiral and gets around lapped traffic coming out of the spiral that ended up in our way briefly.  Had to go like hell to get back on his wheel just prior to the barrier in the woods but my left cleat didn’t release and I found myself on the ground. I thought it was over and was settling for 3rd.  I also thought Greg would not get to JW and our streak of winning all the 45+ (except the one neither of us attended) was coming to an end.  

Well, Greg had other ideas and bridged up to JW and attacked him and dropped him before the corner on the ball field to win his 6th WCA 45+ race this season.   His experience and knowing what to do is part of it.  But there is a huge gap between knowing and doing. He just knows how to find a way to make it happen. Impressive to witness up close. 

Greg, thanks for ANOTHER learning opportunity.

Estabrook Cross - A Lesson Learned

I am beginning to like these Milwaukee-area cross races.  Get up, get dressed, ride to the race.  It couldn't be simpler, except of course for the fact that one actually has to race.  The Saturday race at Estabrook Park proved something of a challenge for me in that regard.  I ended up finishing the Masters 35+ Cat.4 race in 10th place, which would not have been a bad result if not for some tactical mistakes that cost me about 4 spots.

The day started well enough, though cold. The ride to Estabrook was a good way to get an early warm-up started.  I did not have a chance to pre-ride the course, but managed to ride nearly the whole thing outside the caution tape.  The course was fast and flat with a couple of long sections where you could open it up and go all out.  The County opened up the Estabrook Park beer garden for the race and had a German polka band for the occasion.  Though difficult, I managed not to enjoy a liter of Hofbrauhaus before race time.  The Hampshire team had ample course marshals and ran an organized event.  

After registering and warming up, I felt pretty good going into the race.  At the start I managed to stay with the front pack and was in 6th position for the first lap.  When I hit the straightway to the finish line on the back of the first lap, I realized the unpleasant fact that my warm-up was inadequate (too casual).  I blew up and could not keep up with the pace on the long, fast flat section.  On the road, I am usually a strong rider on the flats so this was particularly demoralizing.  I lost a couple of spots but managed to stay with a group of three riders and was in 9th place.  We ended up catching a rider from our age group at the first set of barriers on the second lap, but I took a spill when I didn't get my left foot out of the pedal in time.  Second week in a row.  This has to stop.

After the barriers, the three riders I had been with pulled away.  The rider we caught stayed tantalizingly close, never getting out of my sight.  By the third lap I seemed to recover and managed to pick off two riders who caught me shortly after my crash at the barriers.  On the last lap, I actually put a significant gap into these two and started narrowing the gap to the 9th place rider.  I went full gas on the long back stretch and finally felt like I had some power in my legs and executed a flawless mount after the run-up, but there just wasn't enough time to catch him before the finish.  

I cannot complain too much because I was outside on my bike racing in a classic setting along the Milwaukee River.  That being said, it was frustrating to feel like I was physically capable of a much higher finish had I been adequately warmed up before the race started.  I am learning that cross is markedly different from road racing in that regard.  Cross has no pack in which to hide while you get your legs and lungs comfortable with the effort.  I noticed that the second lap was just a gut-wrenching disaster because I had to work through the final stages of my warm-up on that lap.  Once I recovered I went pretty well and finished the last two laps faster much faster than the second lap, and felt strong at the end.

I stuck around for the Cat. 4's, but was unable to stay for the rest of the races.  Hopefully any Trek Midwest Team members who raced did well.  I for one learned a valuable lesson, if nothing else. 

Patrick Callahan

Halloween Cross

Getting an early jump on the cross season, I raced for the first time yesterday at Washington Park in Milwaukee.  I love this race primarily because the start line is less than a mile from my front door.  If only every race were so convenient.  The race went well for me and I ended up with a sixth place finish in the Masters 35+ Cat. 4 despite some on-course gaffes.  The weather turned out to be beautiful as well which made the race even more fun ('fun' being a word I can now use to describe the experience because I no longer feel like my lungs are going to explode out of my chest Alien-style).

I have to mention the wisdom of cross guru Greg Ferguson, which I unfortunately did not follow and which in turn led to the on-course gaffes.  As the cross season approached, I asked Greg for some advice about training for cross races.  He mentioned doing shorter intervals and getting used to the sprint being at the beginning of the race instead of the end.  In addition, Greg advised me in perfectly clear and understandable terms that practicing cross skills is critical to cross success (genius, right?).  This was the part I did not hear so well.  As a result, I spent a lot of time on the cross bike but never practiced dismounting, running over barriers, and mounting.  My training, or lack thereof, came shining through yesterday:

• I failed to completely unclip on one dismount and became acquainted with the ground
• One attempt at a mount resulted in a gash to back of my left leg (smooth performance and only slightly less embarrassing than a chain ring tattoo because it is not obvious what caused the laceration from its appearance)
• At least two attempts to mount that resulted in both feet not being able to click in right away requiring me to ride for a bit on my heels, which had to look ridiculous.

Overall, the race was great despite my lack of barrier skills.  Unfortunately I could not stick around to see the other team members race.  I hope everyone who raced did well.  I have to say that I am hooked on cross and will remember Greg's sage (and what should have been obvious) advice to practice the skills you use in the race when I am out training this week.  

-Patrick Callahan

Sun Prairie Cup

We were spoiled with both a beautiful day and race event!

Let's play two!

Hey Mike!
That was so much fun, as Ernie Banks used to say, "Let's play two!"

ET Twilight Cross 45+

Fun times at the ET Twilight Cross.
Slapped together some photos/videos that Heidi took while spectating the 45+, 55+, and Women's Pro1,2 race; right after sunset, under a full moon.
Hope you find something in there entertaining!

Race recap:
I drove the pace for about a lap and a half. Then Mike attacked, I blocked, forcing Tedd to pull. He dragged us back up to Mike, who unfortunately fell on the slippery infield "sand" just as we were about to get back to him. Tedd attacked, I followed. I ran past Tedd at the barriers and blocked for half a lap, hoping Mike would be able to close it to us...then attacked coming out of the infield on the bell lap, got a gap and held it to the end - going through one male and 3 female racers right before the finish, at the barriers, with Tedd hot on my tail and Mike oh so close behind him...fun race!

Thanks to Ron and Ellen and everyone who helped put on the race.
Thanks to Lester Quitzau for the "Rollin' and Tumblin'" music!