Willow Creek Trail

Here is a snapshot of the entrance to the Willow Creek path. It was (and is) quite the trail. Thank goodness for cycocross bikes though!!! I cannot tell you how great it is to have a cyclocross bike again. I would highly recommend that if you have a road bike, TT bike, and no CX bike, you are missing out! I should have taken pictures yesterday on my ride with John Stroba, however I forgot to bring my phone. But it was so great it encouraged me to try to re-live the ride solo today. But it's amazing the people you run into around here. As Stroba and I were riding part of Old Caz we met up with a few good friends, not only the worlds fastest Denstist, but also the world's fastest mechanic (Roger Bartels and Glenn Fant), along with select members of the veggie crew. Lots of off road fun was had.

Boy named Suh!

So for my California friends who don't follow Husker football like I do, this is a picture of a Nebraska defensive lineman trying to be tackled by CU's quarterback. Why is he trying to be tackeled by the quarterback you might ask??? Because he has the ball... duh! Like a gnat against a windshield. Anyway, GO HUSKERS!!!! 9-3 baby!!! GO PELINI!!! And happy Thanksgiving!

Sonoma County at it's finest!

Oh man, another beautiful day out here in wine country. JP and I went on a little ride out to the coast yesterday (Sunday) and man was it breathtaking. Here is a picture from on top of Coleman valley a couple miles from the coast. Despite the crappy photography, I think you can still see why I love riding out here so much!

Ride on!!!

CX season just started for me :-)

My cyclocross season has just begun, thanks to Bissell and Glen hooking me up with this Pinarello CX. Anybody up for some trail riding this weekend?

Top 5 Questions about next season...

Over the past few weeks, I have had a lot of friends and family asking all sorts of questions about my team for next year. So I thought I'd put together a little blurb on some of the more popular questions.


Question #1: Are you racing the Tour of California?
Answer: Not in 2009. Bissell has 15 riders on the team and most of them have been competing at this level for years.

Question #2: really!?.. so is it the "real" team?
Answer: yes, it is the real team. Is there a "fake" one that I need to know about??

Question #3: Are you quitting your job at 3M?
Answer: No. Unlike other professional sports, there are no quarter million dollar minimum salary requirements in cycling. However I may have to take some extra vacation and figure something out over the summer. My management at 3M seem pretty excited for me and have offered to be flexible.

Question #4: So how much do you make.
Answer: See the last patagraph from Paul Mach's blog on Monday, November 10th.

Question #5: What kind of bike?
Answer: Pinarello Prince spec'd with Campagnolo Record 11 and Easton wheels.

So that's the top 5 for now.

Photo worth 1000+ words

I had some time yesterday to rifle through some pictures from the past couple years of racing. This photo came up and it opened up a flood of amazing memories from last season. It was taken by Ronnie on a training ride with the team earlier in the year. It reminds me of just how much RedPeloton means to me and how proud I am to be assocated with them. We spent a lot of time together doing all sorts of fun stuff. From cross country skiing up in Tahoe, driving around in Ronnie's and Andrew's team cars going all over the state, volunteering at all sorts of community events (there are quite a few that haven't made it on the website yet), and epic rides on Saturday morning, we sure had a lot of fun. It will be amazing to see the team grow and continue to represent the NCNCA as the primere team from Sonoma county.