Monday, August 20, 2012

Race The Lake

I prepared all summer for the Race the Lakes.  It was one of my goals in life to ride my bike around Lake Winnebago and on Sunday I did it!  I wasn’t as fast as I would have hoped but I’m still very happy, excited and proud that I finished the 90 mile bike race.

Before the race I was very nervous.  I’ve never ridden that far or with that many people.  There were great fans sprinkled around the course cheering and ringing cowbells.  My parents even went from stop to stop cheering me on. 

Riding right in the pack for the first 20 miles or so was a blast…and really easy.  I barely had to peddle and we were flying.  I just had to make sure I didn’t run anyone over.  All the other riders throughout the race were super considerate.  Once we got to Oshkosh I ran into my first issue.  I hit a man hole and my water bottle fell out.  I should’ve just left it but I stopped to get it.  That’s when I lost the group which was upsetting.  I tried really hard to catch back up but only caught the tail end so instead of riding with 150 people I was with 12.

I stuck with that group until we got to Hill Cliff State Park, which is the half way point of the race. That’s where I pulled ahead with a different group of riders.  After training to go up the ledge and going up Hill Cliff for the Tour De Fest I knew what to expect.  A different group caught up to me and I tagged along with them after the climb.  I was feeling really good, strong and fast until it was my turn to be the leader of the group.  I’m not strong enough to do that.  I took a short pull and fell back in line but my legs were starting to die and I lost the group.

That was about the point of the race where we crossed Hwy 151 and headed east.  Up until that point I’ve ridden pretty much all of the roads.  I was tired but was having a great time, riding with all of the groups.  However, I was not really for the final 20 miles.  Farmland and hills after farmland and hills is what I encountered and I was all by myself.  I tried a few times to keep up with some groups passing me but couldn’t do it.  Then I had to stop again because I had to take care of a bloody nose.  I really didn’t have too much left in my legs for the home stretch but was happy because I knew I was going to make it.

Once I got back into town my parents and girlfriend were there to cheer me to the finish line with 1 mile to go.  When I got into Lakeside Park I could see and hear people cheering and the announcer calling off finishers’ names.  I was so happy and proud to have finished in 4:35:20, even though I could barely walk back to my car.

I need to thank all of the volunteers, organizers, and supports along the way.  It was a great event.  I also need to thank the guys at Attitude Sports.  What they taught me throughout my Summer Ride with Attitude Sports really helped for the race.  I really did have a great time Racing the Lake (especially the first 70 miles.)


Monday, August 6, 2012

Forget the 90's?

I'm a 90's kid and I get very nostalgic over the last decade of the millennium.  I miss good old Nickelodeon, AOL IM, and Super NES or N64.  However, there are a few things from the 90's that we should be glad we rid of. 

A few have to do with fashion.  First and foremost is the dreaded bowl cut.  I'd say 85% of my friends male and female at one point had this awful hair cut.  I'm one of the lucky ones.  I promise you I never had one. I had the shaved head with steps in the side, not sure how much better that is. The other bad hair day from the 90's is whatever Justin Timberlake was doing.  You know the hairdo that looked like Raman noodles.  The other thing I didn't like was the ridiculously baggy pants that we all wore. 

A lot of technology came along in the 90's.  They all brought some good but with the good comes the bad.  CD's. You don't need to rewind the darn tape or worry about your little brother pulling out all of the tape from the holder.  The bad with CD's, the skipping disc sound is still like fingernails on a chalkboard to me and I hated it when you would burn a CD but the CD player couldn 't read the disc.  I just wanted to hear my Weird Al mix, is that too much to ask?  The internet also came along in the 90's.  Information was at our fingertips, after that horrid sound to log onto the web.  Darn you AOL.  Finally, Pokémon.  I never got into Pokémon.  I never collected or played the card game, never watched the TV show, and never played the Gameboy game.  My friends were all about the pocket monsters.  All they talked about from 4th grade to even 8th grade was those darn Pokémon.  I felt so geeky, hanging out with a bunch of bowl cut wearing, Pokémon playing guys.  Now to be fair I did enjoy Pokémon Snap.  What's better than throwing apples and pissing off Meowth?
Still, with all of that, I miss the good old days of Rugrats, Doug, SkiFree, and using other people's IM names pretending to be them while listening to Limp Bizkit.




Friday, August 3, 2012

Summer Ride With Attitude Sports

My Summer Ride with Attitude Sports has come to a conclusion.  The guys at Attitude Sports have been great, hooking me up with a Specialized Secteur Sport and some great tips and hints.  They've helped me ride all summer and you've won as well by guessing the miles I've ridden.  This month Attitude Sports is giving away a seat bag tool kit to Kevin Bauer.  Kevin guessed 204.9 miles which is 4.5 off the 208.4 miles I peddled.  It was a long month on the bike but a lot of fun.  I'm sure I'll be visiting Attitude Sports a few more times this summer.  Their staff is full of knowledge, weather it's getting you on the right bike, getting you prepared for a long ride, or getting you the right gear.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

More Photo Bombing




I've said it before and I'll say it again.  I love photo bombing.  I don't care if it’s a birthday party, Christmas, a wedding, or just out with friends, I enjoy it.  I don't even mind if I'm photo bombed.  I enjoy giving kudos to a good bomber.  I came across a list of some of the greatest photos that were bombed, not by people but our fuzzy, fishy friends.  I still think the photo of my mom being photo bombed by a horse at the Kentucky Derby could make this list.  I also think that the 3rd ranked photo is the best photo bomb ever, if not the funniest photo ever.  Here's the list.  Enjoy and if you have any photo bombing photos, share them on our facebook page.  Here's a few of mine.