It's been a while and just to touch base - Winter appears to have settled in for good - Santa Rampage was a blast on Saturday. Once I get my photos off loaded from the camera I'll share with you all.

John

Oh yes - the flicker site has been updated with the new Sheboygan pictures from Sunday's race - the site can be accessed by clicking on any of the past flicker links below.

A photo taken at the Bear Paw WORS race - when asked how do you guys do this crazy racing stuff I can show them this picture - Let the force be with you. Look Mom no need to keep the eyes open!

New pictures are up and ready for your viewing pleasure on the Flickr Site slideshow - WORS - Bear Paw 2009.

Photos from this past weekend's racing are up on FLICKR - Fall Fest & USGP Cyclocross.

Wow! What a difference a year and good weather conditions make.

Lynne and I raced the Chequamegon Fat Tire Fest yesterday.

After previewing the infamous Fire Tower Hill on Friday we were stoked for the race.

We awoke to dry and cool conditons with forecasted highs in the low to mid 70's. We both enjoyed the race with Lynne finishing in 3 hours 23 minutes and change. I finished in 3 Hours 5 minutes and change which was 27 minutes faster than last year. If you all remember Lynne had broken her collar bone last year 4 weeks prior to this race and couldn't partake in the cold / wet fun! Now she knows what it's like to race in almost perfect conditions.

Pictures to come out on our flickr page so check back soon for a link.

Racing this weekend went well - especially since both Ben & I were sick with a pretty nasty head-colds - hopefully mine will be gone by this weekend and Fat Tire Fest.

Photos from WORS race # 10 - TREADFEST - at Lake Geneva - the 'old' Playboy club property - have been uploaded to flickr.

Lynne - 3rd in age group

Ben 1st in age group and 3rd overall

John 1st in age group - first time I ever placed this high in a WORS race.

Reforestration Ramble pictures have been uploaded to Flickr site:

Save the link and check back frequently for more updates.

John

Being a parking Nazi rocks! I had a blast helping out at Alterra's rendition of the WORS circus. Team Extreme came through again. We helped and assisted no fewer than half a dozen racers through out the day. It gives me a good feeling inside to help out when we can. You guys Rock! And to top it off, our fearless leader Capt. Randy gets huge face / interview time on the local Fox affiliate - TV 6 at 10 PM.

My photos (taken mostly be Ben) are posted and up for your enjoyment.

Made it safe and sound back from Boulder and our climbing adventure for this year.

Photos have been uploaded to my flickr site for viewing. Click on the hyperlink.

Roosevelt National Wilderness Area Climbing Trip 2009

SUNBURST PHOTOS UPLOADED TO FLICKR SITE

Sunburst race update:

Ben 1st in age group - 6th overall (180 or so participants)

John 6th in age group and 115th overall

Lynne unfortunately could attend - we all know she would have rocked the climbs!

Photos to be uploaded to the flickr site tonight.

A big thanks to Russell for another memorable July 4th.

What do you get when you put to great heads together?


Drinking beer from a licorice straw? Nothing finer!


Safety first!



Blinky Butt - drinking beer from a licorice straw from Katy. Tosa's finest by Bubba (I think??).

The TOOL trying to figure out which end is up.

Yours truly made the report from WORS on the SUBARU CUP RACE.

Scroll down on the link above.

Paul Traeger's photos - SUBARU CUP 2009

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25645729@N07/sets/72157620106331377/

Latest race photos are updated.

John

We're alive! That's all I got for now - that storm rolled through last night was a real doozy!

It started around 11 PM and When it finally started to die down it was around 2 AM or so.

The local TV station was saying at 2 AM that West Allis had received 4.7" of rain so far - with 3.5" falling in the 1 - 2 o'clock hour. Streets flooded, water in basements, rivers have overflowed their banks.

Good news? More on the way for this afternoon. Yippee Skippee!

Ben wins a couple photo contest catagories in the WORS photo competition in addition to doing very well in the races themselves, he's now an award winning photographer too!

Contest announcement

Photos from this past weekend's WORS race in Wausau have been uploaded to my Flickr site.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25645729@N07/

Enjoy!

Rhinelander Crystal Lake Classic - classic indeed! The Boy Scout camp opens it's doors for another weekend in the WORS circus tour. While the blue train was in full force we were a force to recon with. Congratulations to all who made the trip north (Megan, Keith, Mark, Chris, Travis, Jack, Paul, Sue, Mike, and those few others that I have yet to remember your names - SORRY!).

Race # 2 report for us:

Ben finishes 2nd in his age group - finishing 22 overall SPORT.

Lynne finishes 7th out of 9 in her age group - 16 out of 25 women Sport riders.

John finishes - enough said right! 7th out of 10 age grouper old guys - in top 100 of 135 total finishers in SPORT. That hasn't happened for a while!

Weather was terrific if not a bit cool for spectators. I found it great for racing. Next up is the Big Ring Classic in Wausau. Here's to another great course! No pictures to post. Check out Lynne's facebook for a couple of photos shee was able to take.

Drizzle and light rain began to fall during the middle of the Pro / Comp event - just enough from what I heard, to knock the dust down. A thrilling sprint to the finish by Brian Matter and Jesse LaLonde to top it all off. Multiple gears win this round.

Having missed out on all the fun team ride on Saturday (May 23) a small group of us headed out to the Tosa & Harley trails for a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon.



Next up Rhinelander WORS race.

Best of luck to Christiine & Ty as Ty mends after a road ride crash.

Thoughts & prayers to you both!

John & Lynne

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25645729@N07/?saved=1

more photos on my flickr site here.

Update:

The first mountain bike race of the season occurred this past weekend Sunday in Iola Wisconsin. The WORS dirt circus invaded this tiny town and the course rocked! Team Extreme was out in force.

Lynne finished 4th in her age group.



Ben finished 2nd in his age group.




I finished 7th in my age group.




As we checked our results a strange pattern seemed to be occurring. We all finished in the top 50% of our respective age groups. Weird.

First Time trial race of the year tonight at Crystal Ridge. Registration opens at 5:30 with racing to begin at 6:30. See you there.



Next up Rhinelander.

It's been way to long since last updating. Many things going on but nothing all that important or interesting for you all.

Drew has had another shoulder surgery. Same as last time but the left shoulder now. He's on the mend and doing better.

Ben has been running on the Tosa East track team and is doing well. He's run the open 200 and the open 400 so far. His times are fair (25.7 & 58.9). He's also really pumped up about the upcoming mountain bile season. He's in prime shape now and I wonder how many times he'll pass my up during a race.

Lynne's been doing more running this off-season. She's aiming for the Door County half-marathon as a first race. She too is in great shape.

I look forward to the new team kits arriving any day. The blue train will continue this year.

That's all for now.

A short video from last weekend. Riding the power-lines in the U.P. of Michigan.

Going Vegan? They have better sex by themselves using veggies?

Let's make some hottub soup!

I might also have to buy a Dodge too while I'm at it.

Who's gonna win the SB? my pick - Steelers in a romp. We'll see.

Well well, it's been a hectic holiday around our house. I broke a bone in my left ankle the first Saturday of December which has laid me up for a while. I'm just now getting back into the gym. Having been away from the gym for almost 5 weeks, this week I'm trying to get back into the workout routine. The ankle is resisting some.

My Holiday was not as interesting as this guy's!

Ben & Lynne were in Paris with the Tosa Band Marching as part of their New Year's Celebration. They returned last Saturday and are in the process of trying to re-acclimate themselves to Central time.

Happy New Year everyone - see ya for now.

John