Winter is here. Yay.

Well folks, where did the Fall go?  I was looking forward to a milder winter – a winter where biking would be more prevalent than skiing.  So much for that wish.  The Wednesday Night Kegonsa beer-skis have already started and due to a confluence of events, I missed most of the Wednesday night Springer’s rides.  I  did get in a 50-miler with Mr. Greg Andrews and a few other folks last month.  That was fun until about 2:30 into the ride; the last 45 minutes or so was filled with glycogen-depletion and thoughts about bowling…

Well, maybe this early snow is just a teaser and we’ll actually get the above-average temperatures as “predicted” by the NWS.

Or not.

Cross Time is Here

Well Hello, gentle readers!

This blog apparently took a summer “hiatus”.  The management hopes you weren’t too disappointed by the lack of exciting, new blog entries.

How to summarize the summer?  The new and improved Stoton Cycle shop is up and running; Stoton Velo Club successfully hosted the Badfish Flyin’ 15 TT (the LAST one, swears Phil); Wednesday night rides from the shop have been well-attended; Thursday night rides from the shop seem to be suffering from um, fear?

With the days getting shorter and the nights getting cooler, many of us are turning our attention to the upcoming cyclocross season.  The Planet Bike/Jonathon Page CX clinic is this Saturday at Badger Prairie park.  If you’re interested, go to http://www.madcross.org for details.  Sign-up quickly so Renee can get an accurate count.

Fall brings great riding around here – the CX season will hopefully be blessed with appropriate weather (cool, but not 2ft of snow!) and hopefully we will be able to ride deep into the Fall.

Get out and enjoy the weather folks!

Late Again…

Well gentle readers, it’s been more than a few weeks again since the last post. I’m truly terrible at keeping this up to date. Perhaps a few other SVC’ers might be interested in being contributors? (hint, hint).

The Kickapoo Valley weekend didn’t have weather as nice as last year. Friday was ok, Saturday was 39 degrees and winds gusting to 40mph. Sunday was, well, we hiked. ‘Nuff said.

Back to SVC type stuff, rides from the shop (Wednesday and Thursday nights) have started, the addition to Stoton Cycle is framed and enclosed, and the interior is looking more like a bike shop.

The Badfish TT is still on, despite the conflict with the Belleville Road Race and Run. We’ll fix that for next year.

So, this is short and sweet. If any other SVC’er wants to be a contributor, shoot me an e-mail and I’ll get you set up.

Spring is finally here?

Well gang, that was a bit of time between posts wasn’t it? Too much work and less than ideal weather have been conspiring to hold down my mileage so far this year. Oy. Next weekend is our annual Kickapoo Valley Reserve training weekend. Showing up to ride in those hills with only about 300 miles in may very well kill me. Communications are sketchy at best up there, so don’t expect any blog updates during the weekend. Post-weekend I’ll try to get some thoughts, and hopefully photos, published.

I managed to get out on my fixed gear for about an hour and a quarter today. First ride in short sleeves! Woo-hoo! I also had a pleasant verbal exchange with a couple of gap-toothed mouth-breathers (GTMBs) in a sh*t brown-colored Ford F350.

Seems GTMB #1 had an issue that I wasn’t in the bike lane on Hwy 113 south from Waunakee. For those of you not familiar with the intersection, it’s not a bike lane, it’s a dedicated right turn lane. He suggested that I should use that. I replied that it wasn’t a bike lane, and that state law allowed me to be in the traffic lane. He then asked if I thought I was “special” (I do – how did he know?) I said no and suggested that he look-up state laws about bikes (that may have been asking too much of him – there was no proof that he was literate.) GTMB #2 didn’t say anything the entire time. Might have been embarrassed, but who knows? It should be noted that he was in the left lane next to me – I was not impeding his travel, but my mere presence (and in pedal-fairy shiny pants to boot!) must have offended him so much that he just had to speak out.

The light changed and as he rolled off, he asked me to thank my mother for him. Must have been a long drive to Iowa for him for whatever. What a nice, polite gentleman.

Ah, Spring. When grass starts turning green, flowers start blooming and the mouth-breathing morons come out of their winter hibernation. Be careful out there gang.

Aaaahhhgh!!!

Latest from the NWS – 4 to 8 inches of snow Thursday through Thursday night. I think I can speak for all of us when I say I’m about ready to snap! I don’t know if I can take seeing anymore of that bloody white stuff. Spring Training weekend in the Kickapoo Valley is fast approaching – I’m nowhere near ready to tackle those hills. As it stands right now, barring some miracle with the weather and my ahem, form, it stands to be one god-awful, brutal weekend.

Mr. Phil, a/k/a “Our Dear Leader”, is thinking the new and improved Stoton Cycle will be opening around April 1. Really! No joke! Seriously!

Springer’s Resort ride tomorrow – be there or be stuck in snow again.

Is it Spring yet?

By the calendar, yes, Spring is almost officially here. However…

Just saw the latest NWS forecast – 1 to 3 inches of that blasted white stuff. The only good thing is that it won’t last long. Crud.

Rides from Springer’s resort have started again. It’s nice to complete most of the ride in daylight, now that Daylight Savings Time has kicked in.

We’ll see how long the snow stays around – I don’t want to ski anymore…

Meeting Minutes Now Available

Our “scribe” Nancy, has compiled and edited the minutes from the Spring Meeting.  See the Club News page.

On a completely unrelated note, I spent an hour on the trainer in the basement today.  Ugh.  This mini-thaw doesn’t help when we’re supposed to get another 1-3 inches of that bloody white stuff by tomorrow.  The snow may have finally melted by the time of the Badfish TT in August…

Club News

In case you missed our Dear Leader Phil’s email, we are planning on having an organizational meeting for the club, somewhere in the February 18-20 time frame.  The main topic of discussion will be making the club a bit more formal so that we can gain an “official” USA Cycling team designation.  That way, folks racing CX or even crits can list Stoton Velo Club on the entry forms instead of “N/A”.  Keep checking back or looking for more email as to the exact date.

Ski? Ride? What?!?!?

You’ve got to love this winter!  45 degrees yesterday, now 10 degrees with 40mph wind gusts!  The Giordana is just begging to be taken out for a ride, but no joy with these conditions.  I did manage a nice 2 hour ski in the Arb on Saturday.  The snow and temp were at the right points for my waxless skis to really get a good glide going.  The “tracks” weren’t too bad either, until a bunch o’ snowshoers went and stomped all over them.  Hmmph.

Stopped by the “new” Stoton Cycle last weekend(?).  It looks, well, ah, stark.  The place has lots of potential, but the thing that will really make it is the new addition.  Maybe we’ll get a photo to post up here sometime in the future.

Saw the update on MadCross.org about the new CX upgrade rules.  Makes much more sense, at least for us Cat 4’s.  We can now go up to Cat. 3 (like we really want to) based on start experience.  Maybe I’ll have to cough up for a license again this year.

Waiting for clear roads for a Springer’s Resort ride…

Bike P$rn

It’s ready…