From the 60's to the 20's

WOW, what a great couple of days with Trek guy and racer, Jake Gretz. Hit Indy as related earlier this week, but on Wednesday got to meet Mike and Renee at Cycle Sport in Loveland, OH. The highlight of the trip has to be margaritas at Adobo, or was it Adobe right? No, the real highlight was the "Lee song" by Tenacious D! (More to come on that one. Thanks Jake!.)

That's their place right next to a Starbucks. How good is that? The optomotrist next door has moved one slot over, so sometime soon, they will add space to what is already a really great bike shop. I was looking at all of the things they have that any of us might look for. Believe me, they have it! (They even had Suly's Van)

They also have a pretty awesome bike trail that runs right along the little Miami River. Hope I have my geography right!

Bike guy Jake mentioned some great work being done on some MTB tracks down in Versailles, IN. Will try to get a couple of links to slip in sometime soon.

My time in Cincinnati also took me to Trek Store up on the north side. Jason, Jacob, Bill, Josh and Shellie were all great.

What really got my attention is the love they are all showing towards the VW team. I believe the count is now 3 Vdubs in the Trek store fleet. The pic just on the left is but two of the team fleet.

They are really comfortable and really tight!

So tonight I am back in the north and left temps in what would be the 60's down in southern OH to return to the high teens here in Madison. I think that winter is officially here!

That means we have made the turn towards Spring 07!

Back home again in Indiana

This scene is from the Bike Line store in Indianapolis, IN (Broad Ripple neighborhood to be specific.) Please note the yellow doors in honor of the TDF and Lance getting #7 a while back.

Really neat area of the city with a major bike path that cuts right through town and adjoins the store. I can only imagine what this place is like in the summer time!

Restaurants, brew pubs, outdoor cafes, bike trail...hmmm!


So before I got here today, I had the pleasure of climbing aboard a Raytheon Beech 1900-D and ending up in the last row. This pic is from all the way back there. No toilet on board and a guy sitting next to me telling me how he had been drinking water all morning and had relieved himself before getting on board, but worried about the 25 minute flight to Milwaukee.

For those of you who do not know, the Raytheon is a twin engined prop plane and has the ability to take off on short runways. Not much in the way of creature comfort but it got me from point A to point B, so that is all good!















Got a guided tour of Indianapolis prior to landing and got a great fly over of some race track in town. The weather was much better here than in Madison with no rain and some sunshine. The temps were in the 60's! All this is coming to a change later this week.

Dan the Man in New Zealand

So here is Dano enjoying a rather hilly ride in NZ a few weeks back. As he put it, "did a 100k road race in the coromandel pennisula a couple weeks back and placed 10th. not bad for an mtb rider! my time for 100k on very hill course was 2:42 and change."

He is living the dream and looks to compete for a slot at Beijing in 2008 for Canada! Good luck, Dano!

Back to reality!

Yup...the 4 days are over and we head back to it in the AM. Great weather and good times, but way too much food this weekend! That is why we head back to reality in the AM. The next three weeks are full of travel and getting things keyed for 2007!

Since posting that image from Kennebunkport, ME last night, it got me to thinking about other great shops I have seen these past months. Put Bike World in San Antonio, Texas at the top of your list for a one of a kind shopping experience. this image was shot about a month ago just prior to their grand opening. It has everything, even a cafe where you can grab a sandwich or just chill with a latte!

This week brings a new adventure in Indiana, Kentucky and Southern Ohio. If all goes well, I will be at Xavier on Wednesday night in Cincinnati for a home basketball game! See ya!

Check this place out when in Maine

In mid November 2006, I got to go to Northern New England and make the rounds with one our Trek guys, Dustin Easter. End result was I saw some great scenery and some great bike dealers. Never been here before, so I got to check another one off the list!

So this is the Cape-Able Bike Shop in Kennebunkport, Maine. This place just oozes cool with the woodburning (oh yes, and sometimes grease) stove and all the wood and solar lighting, etc. Ask me about the dogs!

Brandon and crew do an awesome job of building their bike business and preserving today for tomorrow! Those Mercedes you see in front of the shop run on diesel or grease. Billy was actually upset he had to spend a whole $2 for diesel to get home.

I was so impressed! More to come.

Bad day for Bucky!

Yeah, Bucky sucked today. First the UW Men lost to Missouri State in basketball and then tonight Pucky dropped one to Michigan 4 to 3. The gals won over K-State..."goody!"

Also no pix though I did get in an uptempo ride on the Trek 930 classic. Temps still in the 50's here in WI for another day in November.

Dano advised that there is no snow in Calgary as well...What the heck is going on this year. The kids next store showed me "Phil"...a furry caterpillar on November 24th. Incredible!

Surviving Turkey Day 2006

23rd of November in South Central Wisconsin and we had temps in the high 50's. Incredible!

To help offset the infusion of calories later in the day, had the pleasure of riding the country roads on the outskirts of Verona on the Madone and then back in to Mad town. With very little breeze, it was a day of extremely great riding. Is it really late November?

The new Nike Race shorts are GREAT!

Dano checked in from Sweden and had ridden well in a NZ race. He is more of an MTB guy but grabbed a 10th place in a 100K race somewhere in NZ. Lots more hills there than here, but did get some good climbs...OK, good for Madison.

Dinner followed in Waunakee...still the only one in the world! MJ checked in from Mini-No Place as he had risen late and just showered. Kev and Laura ate twice today...he can afford to! Thats the bird up above!

Hey, the stores opened at 9 PM tonight for the early bird shoppers. Me? I am taking a pass on this and will head out the day before Christmas, maintaining a personal tradition.

That's it for now...tomorrow I will see if I can add some pix to spice things up.

So here we go!

Do I have any idea what I am doing here....NO! Anyway, let's get this started and see where it takes us. Lots of experiences and even some pictures to help tell the story that you can never give up! No matter what, it is always worth the challenge.