Back in flight.

I use my bike now for other thing than racing, just going places with it. On my time off from Racing I have been shooting long bow again and making arrows and working on making bows, running and climbing rock walls.



The arrows are made of hide glue,turkey feathers(died with pigment)Douglas fir shafts and animal sinew for wrapping front and ends of feathers. There is some cooking to getting the glue, harvested turkey to get wing feathers and then stripped them, cutting and drying shafts and then working them together to make them fly.


Dana and I made a photo booth, I made the frame from Cro moly tubing. It was 90 feet of tubing it cost less then $90 (thats like 5 bikes LOL). The one thing at my work we have endless cro moly and stainless steel of all shapes and sizes for me to play with. So I welded it and painted it. Dana made the curtains. The rest is done but not in photo. We had a wedding on Friday to try it out and it was a hit.



I have slowed on making metal things, The photo booth got me thinking of things I had made and I am going to get forming thing that my mind likes again. This fish was made from Stainless steel,it was inspired by my first fast motorcycle. It was a GSXR 600 and I felt I could fly just for a bit, but sometimes thats all you need is a taste. Some of my bike upgraded stickers went on to him. He is called "The flying fish"

My 1st 24hr 3rd LCR = 8

My first 24 hour race, this is what it felt like. I did the first lap for the team, running start and i get to my bike and I was think when have i last sprinted that fast...? OK biking down road thinking dam I should not of did that, in 3rd spot off the start, the race could of ended there cuss that's were we finished. OK finished lap 1 drink eat get lights, think what the hell did i get myself in to?
lap 2 I hammered it but have no power, so I ride it instead. lap 2 done. Go to camp eat, drink & wash. team racer #4 Larry said "isn't this great!" I try to smile. next lap is a 2 laper lets say I tried to hard to do well & = failed then try to sleep Failed. Team racer 3 ray said time to get up Andy with a sound in his voice like it was a good thing...? 4am like 40Deg out no sleep yet, wet from dew and dark really really dark, so cold sitting at the start waiting for Larry this was the low point in the race. I raced that lap like I was racing for my life, so cold, getting wet, tired, hungry,this week was my fist night riding, and trail was emty, grass and rocks getting really slick. At this point I was thinking wow this is it the lowest of lows and it would not be so bad if I could of stopped, but I have to keep going forward for the team( team sports MTBing WTF over).
I finish lap 5 and its like 5am and tag off to heath and he looks at me and said next lap will be allot better and bikes off into the night, I was thinking what the hell is that? Is the riddler riddling or can he read my mind and is f ing with me or smart? OK go to camp tell ray to get up, wash off in the cold, eat, drink, sleep for 1hr & ray gets me up its sunny out, I get ready and ride it was the best lap yet... Heath is smart! me and eddy race down the last part of course from the top/new top all the way to the bottom/finish we passed some riders, if we had motors on the bikes the passes we made were good! so we said sorry to the racers we ran off the course as we bombed down the hill,best part of the race fun! fun! eddy won he had better passing skills.The rest of the day was a blank I was sad and zoned out. Race over 3 place overall.
The biggest shock was when the winning team got there awards they pulled out salsa skewers.... and that's it? If your racing and racing to win and paying big $ to race, there should be prizes to = the race fee like MNSCS, Buckhill, Murphy tt, and so on.

Things I liked about the race, my team! Larry laughing all the time, Heath so focused and tried 110% every time out & ray just having fun and loven it. This race put me were i do not want to be and thats good some times, I asked eddy "what do you think this race is doing for us" he said "nothing... its only good for your soul really" Nice . The one thing this race did give me was tons of feeling, Good and bad but there was allot of them and thats what makes life life and thats good! I have to give it up to the dark cold hills of Afton on Friday night they made me feel something I have never felt.

KATO

Like kato (Bruce lee)from the show the green hornet.
Mt.Kato is a course that is fast and if your not ready the down hills can give you a kick in the face fast. With some caution I started the race with a slower start knowing this is going to speed up, I needed to be ready for it. with the first lap over and in 13/14th spot (I think), feeling really good and climbing well I started passing a rider or 2 part way in to lap 2 I was in 10th, closing in on fisher and Eric. I closed the gap on lap 3 first hill and sat on there wheels for a lap knowing there is no mans land in front of them so I went there pace for a lap. Lap 4 first hill Fisher fell back and Eric and I held the pace. Eric was riding well but on the tops of the hills he slowed a bit so I was thinking.... Lap 5 First hill we climbed well but at the top I passed Eric and pushed hard off the top and went full on for the rest of the lap, I formed a gap and finished 8th overall and made the $.

A new Race

It was a hot and humid Thursday afternoon with a long drive in front of me. Today is a new race I will race (something new is good and part of my plans for the year, "keeping it fresh" ) There was only one real thought on the way there and It was to ride behind someone for the first lap no matter what place I'm in, I will have no time to preride. I get to the race in river falls and start to get ready, there is hardly time for even a little warm up (not what I prefer but o well ). The race official said "do 3 laps, do the jeep hill on your first lap not on lap 2 & 3" ( I talked to berry about this again to understand better, start area not the same and no coming out of the woods at the bottom of the hill like we do at the border battle). We line up and Go, I wait for berry to go out front for the start and I push others aside to stay with berry! I road with berry for 1.5 laps but you could tell the rigid S.S was getting to him. So on the 2nd field I had gears and I used them, so I went and passed berry witch was a nice pace but now I went full on for 1.5 laps( buck hill style fast). I raced as hard as I could for the last 1.5 laps and there was no one in sight! I raced and finished in the # 1 spot. 1st place ...cool, It felt good . I packed my stuff and went home, great night the weather cooled and the drive was nice I went though Prescott and drove country roads home. Dana had fajitas waiting for me, That was nice. Great day!

Superball

The shake down was if I have a good finish I will get 2nd overall for the series at buck. I was thinking, get a good start and ride fast but nothing crazy and I will be fine. So at the start line there was a joke as every week(not so funny of one this week) 50 seconds 20 seconds 3 2 1, so I went for about 20 feet and there is a pull on my bike and I slowed, heaths bar is pushed in my seat some way from someone pushing him in to me( never my fault by the way, ever). He is now falling so he unclips and puts his foot in my wheel,and I fall to the ground.I am now in mid to 3/4 back of pack I stand up run with bike and get hit and fall again. I go to stand up and I get ran over, (You are thinking did he say ran over, yes I got ran over I have the cut up the back of my leg to prove it) I am back of pack. I jump on my bike seat it is at a 45 degree angle( you are thinking that's funny, no it was not funny at all it hurt all 4 laps). So now my race starts Heath yells "this will be really good training"I have to say at the time I was thinking what type of training is Heath doing? I worked really hard to pass for 2 laps the 3rd lap made up time 4th lap got to berry and he said so your taking your spot back, I did not understand at first. I finished the 4 lap so fast my bike had more traction then ever I was hitting corners full on just to see if I would spin out, lap 4 ended fast, I came in someone called out 4th place as I went through, LOL my fifth 4 place and 2nd overall for the series. I am sore again, bike needs work, racing Rock!

Bucken dusty

Buck hill was sandy and dusty, sand and loose dirt skills R on a rise! 4th place for the 3 time, I would hate to change my placing. I had a good start, half way in the first lap I think I passed Tri and at the end of lap 1 I passed tom, I worked myself a ok gap not making any ground on SAM so 4th lap I was just keeping my 4th spot safe and road it home. I won a shirt drank a beer, MTB Racing at its best!

The ups & downs of Afton

When planning on going fast it helps to go slow. This was my first year at Afton racing Cat 1/pro so the plan was to not ever overdo it. Racing at buck or shorter races trains you to GO GO GO till you cant. So before Afton happened I had to keep telling myself start slow, climb at a speed I can keep climbing all day at, Ride the rest of the trail fast. The start of the race was fun I got a call up, starting in the front is nice. The start was OK, not to crazy fast. We got to the first climb and I was going to stick to the plan so I climb slow per the plan, there was no one going past? Shady lane no one passed went to the switchbacks the same. There was heath and others there but no pressure from anyone. This was good! I hit a rock and heath passed, I road with him till the the short cut/DLA he did not know of the short cut yet. The next lap and a half was just me trying not to over do it. There was some racers behind me but at the time I did not know who was back there. I got up to 7th place when I got past Eric o. Then the 4th lap came up, I was trying to keep it together with no one with in 60 sec or so, about half way through the shock twinges started in the legs. My 1x9 was going to hurt on the manhandler, so I hammered it to finish the day. Almost to the top I passed a green # plate I looked again in shock, I was like o I get to race hard to the finish. So I Dug deep to get to the top and the fastest down hill of the day( for me). Finish 6th place overall, It was a great day