Lynne and I have had our check for registration deposited for Cheq. Fat Tire Fest. It looks like we're in.
Now we wait for the official notifiction to arrive via USPS.

On the fun side - I took a VO2 sub-max test yesterday at the WAC. This test is used to find the 90% heart rate of a subject. Then as part of the testing a 2 month long workout is developed based on the 90% rate. My 90% rate was measured at 178 bpm. As part of the testing the subject is given a score that takes into account breathing - oxyegen usage - heart rate - etc... my score was 49 - it was explained that a normal / regular club member that partakes has a score of mid-30's and well-trained athletes at 59 or so. I figure that my score isn't too bad for an old guy like me right?

John

Well Tosa East boys bball won the division one state tournament a couple weeks ago. Local celebrtions have bben had and are now relegated to the memory banks. The weather had been steadily improving until this guy flipped of Olde Man Winter. Thanks for nuttin' Ruskel. It's gonna take a while for this to melt.

John

First outdoors ride of the new year today - spent quite a bit more time down in the dungeon cleaning and drying off the bike. THANK GOD some of those cars needed to drive so close that they were able to splash me too!

I find it amazing how much different a ride outside feels compared to a spin session a the WAC.

Track season starts at East High tomorrow. It is my hope that Ben excels like his dear old Dad did. I can't make him fast or anything, but hope he uses the training offered to better his fitness level. Boy, I wish it was me getting ready for track season - it was the only sport I was good at back then. :(

Congratulation go out to the East HS boys basketball team on advancing to the Wisconsin State Basketball tournament which starts in Madison on Thursday. Tosa plays at 8 PM - the schedule / brackets here.

John

Hey there from Munising Michigan!

Up on the south shore of Lake Superior for a little water ice climbing for the weekend.

Nothing like a little cross-training right?

Weather conditions are expected to be quite nice for today's outing. Early temps being a bit chilly (8 degrees) and by the time we hit the trail the temp should be 20 degreees or so. Right now its beautifully sunny as I look out across the bay from the Sunset Hotel towards the town of Munising. We had a gorgeous sunset last night as this hotel is appropriately named.

Ice fisherman are already out on the lake ice. Fishing shanties dot the surface out there.

Until next time.

John

Did you happen to watch the TV coverage of the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon? What a race it was. And to think we here in Wisco have only a couple more months of snow and ice until most of us can get out on the bikes. Sad isn't it?

Coverage also began on Versus of the Tour of California.


It must be getting closer to spring - right?

Tony Stewart failed to win the Daytona 500 but not without a fight.


Team Extreme had its first organizational meeting of the new year this past weekend. There were about 35 - 40 riders that comprise the mountain bike and road teams. Everyone is looking fit and ready to bust it up out on the course.

That's all for now. Oh yes, I forgot to let you know that it is once again snowing here in Tosaland.

WHITE DEATH ALERT!

The weather prognosticators are saying we are in line for another 7 - 10 inches tonight and tomorrow.

Cool! Bring it on. The local news people are in a frenzy over this and we, as true north country people, we are use to this type of weather right? No big deal.

Spun at the WAC last night with the local cycling ' tool '. I've been working on revising my spin bike set up and, with his assistance, seem to be dialing it in.

Three months until GO time - check out the schedule at WORS.

Until next time.

John

Update of the week - wow - what a week it's been - lost my job due to slow economy and bad realestate markets on November 11th - headed up to deer camp on Friday Nov 16 - opening day has come and is gone already - very slow out in the woods - very little shooting around us in the Harrison Hills area east of Tomahawk. Saw two flashes of deer skipping out of their bedding areas today Sunday Nov 18th.

I guess not all is wrong with the world - the Pakers won for the 9th time.

More later.

John

Again, not much going on this past weekend but here are a few updates:

Drew - the varsity football team lost on Saturday afternoon to Waterford HS - so East is out of the playoffs for this year. They have yet to advance beyond round two ever in the history of the modern playoff system. Better luck to next year's team.

Ben - his team finished up their footbal season by losing to Riverside in a freshman / sophomore team match up. I think Ben had a good season this year having played many minutes on both sides of the ball. He had a couple fumble recoveries and a couple of kick returns to boot. He's looking forward to the weightroom opening up so he can begin preparations for next year.

Lynne and I and Ben went for a bike ride yesterday (10/28) out on the bike path from Theinsville to Cedarburg. We stopped at Ben's old friend's home (Tony Mandela) and as luck would have it Tony wasn't home but thankfully his Dad arrived as we were just preparing to hit the trail. We talked a while - it was good to see past acquaintances again. It appears that the Cedarburg freshman team lost only one game this year and are poised to do major damage next year.

Lynne and I took Kirby for a walk along the Tosa biking trails and he had a blast jumping into and out of the river playing fetch and chase the ducks. Boy did he smell like a nasty wet dog after all of that - wait a minute - he was a nasty wet dog.

And after all of that Drew, Jenni - girlfriend, and Ben and Lynne took out the old photoalbums and had a blast looking at all the pictures from our family's past. Lots of laughing and pointing of fingers - all appeared to have a good time of it. Wow do the years fly by!

That's all for now - see ya!

New post - not much going on in our little piece of the world.

Lynne - Lynne and I headed up to Stevens Point last weekend to attent the WORS end of the year banquette. Lynne scored a Cliff BAR / SHOT swag bag. Added to that she took home first place age group in the Marathon Series and in the Cross Country Series.

Team Extreme took home Team Participation and Competition awards for the unlimited team catagory.

Drew - the Tosa East Varsity football team ended their season with two losses (1 to Brook Central & the other to Sussex) finishing with a 6 - 3 overall record. They had clinched a state tournament playoff berth the week prior to the Brook Central game. In their first playoff game last night they won quite convincingly vs. Westosha Central. Up next is the second round game vs Waterford to be contested Saturday (10/27).

Ben - his Tosa East freshman team finished their year off having no wins. Disappointing? Yes. Ben really was given a good opportunity to play and show what he can do this year. He played Defensive Outside Linebacker and Offensive Wide receiver. A combined Sophomore / Freshman team plays Wednesday evening in a rain out makeup game vs. Riverside - this game is actually a rescheduled JV game with no juniors playing.

Me - having a so so year on the racing front (mountain biking) I'm already in training mode for another big year in 2008. Two climbing trips are planned - one to Colorado and the other to Mount Hood. In addition I'm thinking about trying to get back into a couple of duathlons or triathlons next year as well. I'll see how the knees hold out with an increase in the amount of running that is required.

Iola Part II

This might be the last race for me this year. Yikes! 18 out of 23 finishers in my age group. I completely bonked at the 2 3/4 mark. No power in the legs - they would spin but as soon as I tried to get into a bigger gear and power down, they just weren't up to the effort.

Unique ways to carry an empty bottle?



Dejected and done.


The obligatory speed shot.


Lynne getting another first place medal - definitly upgrading next year.

Well - it's been a while since I last posted. Sorry.

Ben's freshman team at Wauwatosa East lost their third game in a row tonight.

Currently they are 0-3. Mean while Drew's team lost last week to a very good team from Marquette HS, they have a 3 - 1 record.

Tomorrow the Varsity plays a good team from Menomonee Falls. Racing again this weekend in Iola - I am not certain if this course really is all that hard - but my memory seems to be telling me that there is little time to recover.

See ya all at the TaterBake.

Rumor has it OJ was in Vegas for a wedding. Did someone tip him off with some incorrect info and he was really supposed to really be in Reno with Russkle? Just a thought.

Sunburst Showdown Photos and results: Lynne takes another first place in her age group, third overall women citizen class / John 11 out of 18 in his age group.

Cool and calm before the race.


John receives a call up - he must be in the front row!


Lynne chilling after receiving her first place medal - maybe I should race Sport next year?

Lynne getting her first place medal at this weekend's Smokin' Spoke WORS Marathon race in Rhinelander Wisconsin.

With a win she has wrapped up the marathon series - first place in her age group - citizen class.

Congrats Lynne!

Here we go again!

WORS to move on to the next venue - drought conditions most of the summer.

Rain predicted for 8/21 & 8/23. With dry conditions predicted for well into next week. Can it be too good to be true? I ordered new mud tires from the shop today so that pretty much means it will be dry, right?

God only knows!

As I mentioned in the last post the conditions were horrible - If I didn't say it then, I'm saying it now.

Here a a couple of pictures courtesy of RUSTY




We may have a new addition to our bike family - Lynne might be getting this one: thanks Randy for the picture which was taken at TREK World this past week. The new ride is a Fisher HiFi Deluxe GS (2008 model - not available on the market as of yet) I believe

WOW! What a race we had on Saturday in Mt. Morris. Experts went out first at 12 PM. It started to drizzle shortly there after. The Rain fluctuated from light to moderate for the remainder of the afternoon and races. Lynne was able to finish her rain shortened event of 1.5 laps in first place (only woman in her age group to start) and third overall out of 20 or so.

I finished! And that's all I needed to do. The course was in aweful shape with most of the wooded switchback climbing and descending trails being too muddy and greasy for riding. Hike-a-bike was the plan of the day. Rolling the machine along in some areas only caused more hurt than it was worth. Mud adhered itself to the tires like dough. Stopping often to clean things up led to racers passing only to be passed once they stopped to clean their steed.

Oh well, I can only hope things in Rhinelander are better. See you there.

Sorry, no pictures as of yet. Maybe Bubba has some to share- http://www.casadebubba.blogspot.com/

Naturally! The central Wisconsin area has been receiving little to no rain and are in drought conditions. WORS plans a gig and there goes the drought! Can we trust the five day outlook?

Bring your rain gear - maybe we won't need it.

Racing this upcoming weekend at Mt Morris, course description here at MTB GIRLS'S blog. Mt Morris is located west of Oshkosh and south of Waupaca and northeast of Wautoma - map here.

Rain totals from Saturday 8/11 moring - Sunday 8/12 moring:
HI LO precip
WAUSHARA WILD ROSE-6NE-TWIN LKS 89 68 0.35
WAUSHARA WAUTOMA-4 N 89 63 1.03
WAUSHARA WAUTOMA-1 SW-DNR* 86 63 1.46

Daily updates can be found here: scroll down to find WAUSHARA County information

I'm hoping the area gets a bit of rain this week to knock the dust down. We wouldn't want to end up looking like this guy. Sorry about that! I didn't want to scare you off!

John

Raced WORS race # 7 last weekend and of course it had to rain during the overnight period Saturday into Sunday.

Lynne finished first in her age group and third overall.

I finished tenth in my age group - thanking God i finished at all. Conditions were horrendous to say the least.

Ben race in his first WORS race - Citizen Men class - age 10 - 14 years old - and finished sixth out of 12 or so in his age group.

Check out the photos below - and I thought I had a rough time of it! (you don't need to add the language add-ons as my computer was asking me to do)

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-08/07/content_6487623.htm

Next race is at Mt Morris - a new venue and looking forward to it.

Until next time...

A few pics from a recent Crystal Ridge Wednesday night race.