The House

Okay, so I've received some complaints about not having my blog more up to date, that I haven't posted in a while, so here you are, a post.

I bought a house August 1st, so since I haven't posted anything in a while due to not much new, I've decided to post about my house and include a few pictures. My new house is at 4505 Mineral Point Rd., in the middle of Madison's west side.





I bought it from the original owner, a Russian professor at the UW. He had several cases of volumes of books he's written, so I asked his agent if I could get a copy of each and she agreed. The house has been completely redone, paint, flooring, bathrooms, kitchen, appliances,





so I haven't had to do anything other than mow the grass and clean the house. Come over any time you'd like, just call ahead to make sure I'm not out on the bike or on the run.



...and a few more pictures...





Bedroom #3, the library







Bedroom #4, the study.





The living room.





The upstairs full bathroom.



The finished half of the basement.





The unfinished half of the basement.



Left backyard



Center backyard



Right backyard.

Sorry for all the snow, but we broke the old total snowfall record of 76.1 inches and currently have around 85 for the year.



Another of the kitchen.

Cutting Down My First Tree

So, now that I'm a homeowner, I have to do homeowner stuff, and that was evident this weekend. The first of December was a great day to cut down a Christmas tree and shovel snow. Saturday was a busy day. Kathryn and I got up early to cut down a Christmas tree for my house. It was her first Christmas tree cut, and my hundredth, so she was able to witness my legendary bloodhound tree-finding abilities. I was off my top form this year. The weather was in the single digits, and after the snow started midway through, I couldn't find a good Blue Spruce. I picked out a smallish tree, six feet, because I didn't know how much room I would have with my ceilings. Fortunately, I was able to fit it in the back of my Saturn Vue. When we left the tree farm, I didn't realize how bad the snow actually was. We were in the midst of a decent storm with snow and wind.



That afternoon we headed downtown to watch the UW women's hockey team play Duluth (seriously, giving up a goal with 30 seconds left in regulation and then 15 seconds into overtime, what's up with that?). By the time we left, we had a few inches, so Jake brought out our industrial-strength snowblower while I shoveled the walk.

Not snow, nor getting stuck six times between my house and Kathryn's apartment and the Fieldhouse, nor anything else can come between myself and sports. We headed over to her apartment from my house, and I got stuck a few times trying to get out of her driveway and road. We drove a few blocks through what was now sleet and rain and got stuck again trying to pull into her friend's driveway to park. We stopped at Lucky's (a bar/sports bar across the street) before the game and then headed over to the match...but I wish I didn't. The Badgers got out to a good lead in the first game, they were up 19-11 at one point, and then proceeded to lose that game and the next two games to lose the match 3-0. Once they lost the lead, they were never really able to get their confidence and swagger back. Oh well, at least there's always next year.

Angell Park Speedway

Another day, another 'cross. It's not like I have anything better to do.

So, I'm getting pretty good at this whole cyclo-cross thing. I know that when I step up to the starting line, I have a great shot at winning or I expect to be in the top five. My friend Andrea, see Ironman posts, met me there at the race to watch. She had never seen a cyclo-cross race before and thought that it would be fun to see one up close.



The morning started rainy, misty and foggy, which could have made the race very interesting, but all the weather cleared to provide a cold, clear day. The sun came out once I arrived at the speedway, but the temperature didn't rise until the middle of the race. I started with nearly all the cold weather gear I had. My pre-ride gave me a sense of the many different parts of the course, stair climbs, on-bike climbs, steep downhills, off-camber turns, dirt, grass, tarmac, gravel...remind me if I forgot anything. Part of the course was on the dirt racetrack, and with the rains the day before, the dirt was extremely sticky and wedged between my wheels and frame. Mind you, I'm riding a standard road bike and road setup with knobby cyclo-cross tires, which leaves very little clearance. Mud doesn't do well with my bike. Fortunately, once we actually raced, the track had dried out and a hard-packed 'groove' developed on the inside of the track from warmups.



I lined up at the front of the pack and proceeded to freeze for the ten or fifteen minutes before the race started. I had a good start and was in the top five at we went towards the first turn and to the following barriers. At the barriers the very first rider dismounted and clipped his front tire on the first barrier and proceeded to vault and splay across the course. I was fortunately behind him a few spots and on the other side so I was able to avoid the entire crash. Through first lap I was able to make up a few places and put myself in second after the first lap. During the second lap, I focused on catching the first-place rider and passing him to get a win. In my zeal to get first, I crashed twice on off camber turns and nearly missed a turn, barreling into the tape surrounding the course. It was hard to make out the course because there was grass and leaves interspersed with tape marking the course, and I was more focused on being fast rather than following the course. Oops. I took the next laps much more cautiously. After crashing, I wasn't close to the first place rider, and ended up 30-45 seconds behind at the finish, and a small pack of riders remained at least 30 seconds the rest of the race. I was able to comfortably lock up second.

My race went pretty well. I'm happy with second, but I would have liked to have been a bit more cautious in some of the technical sections. I have to figure out how to be fast in all parts, not just fast sections. Sometimes going slow is the fastest way, always better than crashing.

Thanks to Andrea for coming and taking pictures. Sorry it took so long to post. Be ready for a flurry of posts...just like the weather outside.

Happy Birthday Kathryn!!!

Yea, I know, I haven't posted anything in a while. I didn't do too much exciting or worth posting for a while, and I also just haven't gotten around to posting. So, here you are, a couple of posts to get you through the long lonely nights.

Happy Birthday Babe! I know it was November 9th, but don't worry, we celebrated properly. The day before, we went out with other friends and family (her parents, uncle/aunt/counsins, my parents, el Jake-o, Sophy). For her actual birthday, they went to the UW volleyball match and then they met me at the Angelic Brewing Co. I invited a few of my friends and she brought with a large entourage of Physical Therapy friends.



Here is a picture of the whole crew at the Peppermill Grill, from left to right Kathryn's dad, cousin, uncle and aunt, cousin, my dad and mom, my friend/roommate Jake, me, her, her mom, and Sophy.



PTers (Physical Therapy students) Kerryne, Rachel, Becca, Colin, and Kathryn.



Us. What can I say? I love her, and she let's me kiss her, so I do. She likes that.

Look Both Ways Before You 'Cross the Street

This was the third year of the Red Barn Classic cyclo-cross race hosted by my friend Erik Erickson. (He moonlights as a marauding viking in his spare time, frequently terrorizing Eagan and Roseville.) The course is much the same as in past years. It is flat, with many turns, several barriers and a wicked run-up (see below). The hill is about thirty feet high and extends back ten feet, a 3:1 slope for you algebra students. After two good races this year, I was looking forward to another chance to race, but a bit apprehensive to be racing a B race where I would be racing against Category 3 and 4 riders, rather than just Cat. 4. Minnesota races usually bunch riders together into A, B and C races, rather than riders racing in each category in Wisconsin.









The conditions in the morning were chilly, but the races started at 12:00, 12:45 and 1:45, so it would warm up to a great race temperature. My girlfriend Kathryn came along for the weekend, and brought her bike along, so we rode together for my warm up. I felt good warming up and rode the course a time or two before the C race started to get a feel for some of the changes to the course. The course was lengthened a bit to two kilometers per lap with the addition of two hairpin turns. This was difficult to navigate with the narrow tree farm roads, but I managed to figure out a good line.





After the C race, and a solid third place for another Concordia alum Aaron Kadera despite a broken spoke, it was my time to shine, or at least turn the light on. I lined up in front so I hopefully wouldn't get stuck behind slower traffic and have to pass the other fifty riders. It took me a bit to get clipped in and I quickly dropped to 20th. No problem, I should be faster than the rest, and I knew the course well. The course allowed for many places to pass with several straight-aways and a few wide corners. I picked off several riders on the first lap and quickly got back into the top ten. My second lap was also solid and I moved up very quickly. Maybe the field wasn't as strong as I was dreading. I think some time at the beginning of the third lap, I realized that I was second, and after passing the first-place rider, I was logically in first. I pulled the entire lap, and after deciding I didn't like riding in first in what became a pretty stiff wind, I let him pull the next lap. At the end of the lap, six laps to go, I somehow dropped my chain dismounting before the big hill. It took me only a little time to remount and get my chain back on the ring while on my bike, but I'd given a few seconds to the other rider, and I wasn't able to get those seconds back. We were even the next four laps, he didn't gain and I didn't lose time and distance. With three laps to go, I realized that I had a huge gap back to the third place rider and I wasn't gaining any time on the lead rider, so I decided to take it easy to ensure I had my second place locked up. I came in easily in second after a good 45 minute battle.



I spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying some good chili, a Red Barn CX tradition, on the roof where I was able to watch most of the A race. It was good to see Erik and Mark, another Concordia friend who has been in the Peace Corps since graduating three years ago.



We left the tree farm for a busy evening of seeing other friends and relatives. Erik's wife Shana wasn't able to make it to the farm because she is an assistant coach for women's swimming at St. Catherine's in the Cities and her team had a meet all day. We stopped by for a little while to see Shana and their daughter Anja. Next, we met Kathryn's mom, aunt and her uncle, who was in town from Texas, whom she hadn't seen for a while. It was nice for me to meet them and for her to catch up. After supper with them at Perkins', we stopped by Hudson to see Kathryn's cousin Sara, her husband Omar, and their new two-month-old Amir. We stopped in Hudson last winter after a trip to the Cities, but Omar was protecting the fine citizens of Woodbury, MN, so it was nice to meet him. At the respectable hour of 9:00p, we finally left for home. We only saw one live deer on the way and arrived home at 1:00a. Another busy trip for Kathryn and Peter.



Go to http://redbarncx.blogspot.com/ for more race coverage.

The Circle of Life

This weekend, or last weekend once this posts, was a great weekend. In the midsts of the joy and the sorrow, it was a great weekend. For me, the weekend started Thursday, when I was planning to take a half-day at work and drive with my brother Jonathan straight through the night to Billings, MT for my cousin Anne's wedding. Early Thursday morning, after I had just poured my cereal and sat down to watch the morning news and sports news, my Dad called me to tell me my grandma Muriel Nelson had just died. The work day was surreal. Normally, taking a half-day feels a bit odd, like when you're in school and you know you're getting a snow day, and you're just waiting to get out. Thursday was a mix of sorrow, planning for the weekend and trying to finish things at work.

Jonathan and I left Madison at 1:45p and arrived in Billings at 5:15a local time. A 15.5 hour trip straight through to Montana. It was actually a pretty relaxed and easy trip. We stopped a few times the first few hours to get gas and see our Grandpa Wee in Worthington, MN. After seeing grandpa, we drove on to Billings, battling very high winds from Madison to Cedar Rapids, IA and deer after that to Billings. We were going to call Aunt Judy Rickbeil once we got to Billings to see the family, but 5:15 seemed a bit early. We had breakfast at Denny's, because it was too early for Perkins', and went to see Judy, who was staying with her son Mark and all the other family members that crashed there that night. We got there about 6:30, and when the kids ages 2-6 awoke at 7:00, all bets were off. The bride-to-be Anne was sleeping in the living room after her bachlorette party, but the nieces and nephews wouldn't allow her much peace. Poor thing.

After exchanging pleasantries with the family, I took of to Red Lodge, an hour SW of Billings, to ride up the Beartooth Pass. Unfortunately, I learned that the pass had closed the week before. Undeterred, and with nothing better to do with the bike in the back of my Vue, I put on all the warm clothes I brought and put extras in my pockets. The temperature at 9:00a was a brisk 45, which is slightly cool for cycling, but I was heading 2000 feet or so up the pass to the gate. On average, the temperature drops three degrees for every 1000 feet you climb vertically. This means that I was looking at weather in the high 30s, and with the vicious wind and low rain clouds, the temperature would actually feel much colder. The first ten miles were fine, except for the wind which when gusting, slowed me ten mph in a matter of seconds and pushed me back and forth across the lane. Good thing there was no traffic. The next two miles were calm, but there was a slight drizzle. By the time I got to the gate, the rain changed to snow. I considered ducking under the gate, but I didn't know if a firing squad lurked on the other side. Talking to Mark and his wife Stephanie after my ride, they said people go past the gate all the time, and people are in the forest hiking and backpacking because it is a national forest. Oh well, maybe next time. I had a good climb, and when I turned around, I knew that the rain and wind without any of my own heat generated from my own exertion, would make my body instantly cold. I didn't need that for more than a few minutes.



The rest of the wedding weekend was great. It was fun to see my cousins and other family again, though I saw most of them at Jonathan's wedding in August. Anne and Chad had their wedding at the lodge where Chad works as a guide. The lodge is located on the Crow Indian Reservation, about 70 miles SE of Billings, near the Wyoming border. (Chad, or someone else, can you give me the website of the lodge? This blog reaches millions, and since you're now family, I'll only charge my family rate for advertisement.) For the reception, we all headed back to Billings for dinner and dancing at a saddle club (horse riding for those of you non MTers).

Sunday morning, I got to ride again in the beautiful Montana foothills outside of Billings and enjoy the strong Montana breeze. It actually made me a bit misty-eyed, thinking of the good-old-days at my alma mater Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. There, a calm day was a 15 mph wind, and a 'breezy' day was 40. Occasionally, after a particularly bad day, the local sheriff's department would go out into the country and gather the children that blew away. They usually found most of them, and if not, the cold would flash-freeze them for later use, like frozen vegetables. There was only one or two they didn't bring back to life in the four years I was at Concordia. A good record if I do say so myself.

Jonathan and I left around 11:00 for the short eleven-hour trip to Minnesota for my grandma's funeral. The trip was quite easy. The wind was light, we made good time, and we had much better gas mileage, 25% improved. We arrived at the farm a bit before midnight. Quickly, we went to sleep, glad not to have to drive through the night.

Monday was a beautiful fall day. There was a light breeze, but plenty of sunshine to warm the day. When we got to the church at 9:30, the narthex and fellowship hall was already full of people there to pay their respects. I guess the crops must have all been in, because I actually felt late with most of the people already at the church. The service was beautiful. The pastor at their church had been there for a few years and he did a great job of retelling stories and memories from her life. We drove from the church in New Ulm to the cemetery in Lafayette, only a mile or two from the farm. The analogy 'from dust you were made and to dust you shall return' was the perfect description of the scene. The small cemetery was in the middle of a farm field. I can think of no better place and scene to describe life. Life and death, renewal and eternity, a peaceful and picturesque scene of southern Minnesota. Truly, rest in peace.

The Beyond

...and now for the beyond.

This past weekend I rode two cyclo-cross races to keep up my off-season fitness and just do something different. Also, I had a few good races the past two years, so I wanted to enjoy these races. The individual nature of cyclo-cross is suited to my individual talents versus the other cyclists. You can't hide behind someone else in cyclo-cross. You have to be aggressive and a good individual cyclist to be successful.



First, let me explain cyclo-cross a bit. Cyclo-cross is basically mountain biking on a road bike. The frames and components are stronger than a regular road bike, so as to stand up to the rigors and stresses of 'cross. Cyclo-cross is highlighted by sections where the riders must dismount their bikes (or bunny-hop over the barriers if they are disgustingly talented), jump over barriers with their bikes and remount their bikes without slowing down. When done properly, it looks very impressive. When it doesn't work, it's a great crash with bikes and bodies splaying all over. The two races this weekend featured the best of cyclo-cross two different ways. Saturday's race at Cam-Rock Park #2, south of Cambridge WI, was a fast race because of wide, dry, hard-packed cross-country skiing trails through the forest. Sunday's race was a wet, muddy, slippery race at Badger Prairie Park in Verona WI.



Saturday was a great day for a 'cross race. It was 50, overcast, dry, and no wind. The course started on pavement and quickly changed to grass, and then into the woods, where we raced most of the race. I had trouble clipping in at first, but was able to aggressively move up a few places once I did, and then sat in towards the front and summarily picked off riders when I had the opportunity. I consciously took it easy at first and tried to stay towards the front. In doing this, I didn't keep tabs on the riders on the front, and as they inched away, I was stuck behind other riders. For most of the race, I was able to pass other riders one-by-one and stay fifteen seconds behind the leading group of five. Other riders tried to pass me or stay with me when I passed them, but I was able to ride them off my wheel. At the end of the last lap, I knew I had a good lead over the next rider and no chance of catching the riders in front of me, so I took it a bit easier so I wouldn't go down. I finished the race in 6th. My place was a bit disappointing, not necessarily because of the place, but because my strategy kept me from a better position.



Sunday was completely different. Fortunately, I was asleep at 6:00a when the heaviest rains passed through Madison. When I got up at 7:00 there was a light rain/drizzle and this continued through most of the day. I was able to practice on the course Thursday with some other 'crossers, but I got to the park just as the first race was starting. Without a chance to ride the actual course to see the conditions, I rode around the rest of the park to get a feel for the conditions. After a good warm-up, my girlfriend Kathryn took my jacket just before we started. I was fine with a long sleeve under my jersey in addition to my jersey and shorts, but the start line was a bit chilly. The start was better than the day before. I was able to clip in quickly and took advantage of the 300-400 meters of pavement between the start and the first turn into the grass to advance from my position in the front row at the start to third going into the first corner.



CRASH!!! The course immediately took it's first victim. The rider in the lead lost traction of his back wheel in the first corner in the grass and mud, and fell down. Unfortunately, I was right behind him, but I was able to steadily move up through the first lap. These pictures do a great job of showing the single-file nature of cyclo-cross. It is usually hard to move up if you start in back, so that's why it is important to get a great start. I'm sixth in the second picture.





Below are examples of techniques that are specific to cycl0-cross, dismounting your bike and running with it over barriers.





Below you can see how wet and muddy the ground was. Take a look at some of the other pictures and see how muddy it is around other corners.





The rest of the first lap, I focused on being conservative in the corners, smooth on the straights, and pushing on the pavement. After the first lap, I was in second and feeling pretty good. The second lap was fine until I just happened to think, 'Don't hit the back break. You'll loose traction.' Just then I found myself coming into the next corner 'hot' and my front break wasn't slowing me quickly enough, so squeeze the rear a bit, and DOWN GOES NELSON (a la 'Down goes Frazier'). I slid out on the wet grass and mud, got up quickly, and found the third place rider on my tail. The third lap, he tried to pass me (very foolish FYI) because I simply overtook him the next opportunity. I kept the distance even on the grass and opened it up on the pavement. My road racing really helped from this summer. At the start of the fourth lap I had my gap, dove into the first turn, then a quick right, and again, I lost traction in my back tire and went down.



The third place rider passed me, and though I quickly mounted again, I was still fifteen seconds behind. Another tried to pass, but I easily overtook him and didn't see him again. The rider ahead of me was a bit slower than me on the grass, but I wasn't making up much distance. I gained a bit too on the pavement, but not enough to be close. After a quick bit on gravel and back through the prairie, I saw a beautiful sight for sore eyes (in addition to my lovely girlfriend Kathryn), the rider ahead of me slid out on the next turn and was having trouble clipping in again. I caught up to him again and stayed right on his wheel, content to make him ride hard but just behind in case he went down again. Around turns and hairpins we went with me a foot behind him, keeping him in check, knowing I was faster on the pavement. Over the barriers, around the sweeping downhill turn, and down a small hill, I was three seconds behind him at the pavement. But that was fine. He was screwed and he knew it. I accelerated easily on the firm pavement, took the corner perfectly and slingshot perfectly up to his wheel, stood up, and sprinted easily for second. My plan worked perfectly.



What is the most important part of bike racing? A great girlfriend. In addition to Kathryn being at the start line Saturday and Sunday to watch me, she held my warm clothes I took of just before I started and took my bottles. She is also responsible for most of the great photos you'll see on this blog. Plus, if the race doesn't supply podium girls, you'll at least have your own. Kisses after the race are important no matter on which step you finish, if any.