It's Here!

It is almost time!

Wow, where did it go? 2006 is almost history as 2007 looms on the horizon. It is amazing how quickly this all goes. This evening we welcomed the Ohio Lovetts back to town with dinner up in Waunakee. Lots of good food and great wine! These are the best of times!

Will is really getting in to the cycling "thing" and rides an FX7.2 to and from school. Checked out his computer this afternoon and it looks as if it was installed backwards and with some new quik ties and in the right position, he will be fine! There is talk of riding in Door County and also in Dane County, so things are looking up for the summer.

Prior to all this, I was able to spend about 30 minutes on the roads of Fitchburg and got to see some of the great winter scenery we have to deal with this year!

This will be remembered as the year that global warming really showed itself in earnest. Stay tuned for the winter of 2007 as if we have another one like this or temps in the 50's and 60's instead of the 30's and 40's we will really begin to worry.

It is amazing to see all the brown this time of year. We have buds popping on some of the trees and plants in the yard and it is still December. Makes one wonder what January and February have in store for us.

Went by Johannsen's Greenhouse along the Beltline and yes, that it is blue skies in the background. Denver is getting ready to get hammered and we are enjoying Spring like temps together with clear skies. This is all amazing.















My path thru Fitchburg took me along the Swan Creek development and snapped this one that looks back towards the Capitol. You can just about make out the dome if you look carefully. It will be interesting to check back in 12 months time to see if the buildings are all just a little bit closer.

It is a special time of year!

Well, Christmas 06 has come and gone. MJ has returned to Chi town to get ready for 2007, KJ is doing his thing with Laura and the Ohio Lovett's come to town tomorrow for a gathering in Waunakee.

Ran for 40 plus today and I am really sore this evening. Bikes fill our basement and all we need is truly warm weather to get everyone out on their Trek's . Found Michael Mariani now is on 2 Trek's after telling me he was all about the euro brands. Look forward to seeing him the next time I head East. It has been a long time since we last connected so that will be good.

So much to be thankful for and yet so much to look forward to. 2006 has been an interesting year in so many ways.

More to come!

I am still here!

It has been a strange week what with the unseasonably warm temperatures that continue. Since my last post on Tuesday, we have seen rain and loads of fog. There were even thunderstorms yesterday (Friday) here in Mad town.

The winter scene in my Christmas e-card has gotten rave reviews from lots of people and my guess is that it takes us back to a time of quiet and solitude. I rode today for 17 miles and with dry pavement and gentle winds, it is just not the way it should be on the eve of Christmas Eve.

EHS Alumni game this afternoon and it was great to see the kids in action again. The even years won this annual contest yet again. I am not sure what the streak is but they have always won it when I have got to watch.

Tomorrow, the chaos begins in earnest. I have my routine "last minute" shopping to do in the AM and then will try to get a run or ride in before people arrive at the house at 2 PM and we ramp up to the big meal at our place.

My call with Mike Bielous yesterday was great as it sounds as if he is on the road to recovery even though the doctors cannot pinpoint what is wrong with him. Sounds like he pinched a nerve or something like that as the rest has made him feel better and better.

Lots of people have checked in with news that they are on bikes or thinking about it. This e-card did a lot to get the word out on Trek and other brands under roof. Just keep on doing it!

Ouch that hurts!

So I ran for 4 miles yesterday and did so again, but I have to admit that the coldish temperatures are getting to my lungs. I am pretty good for the first 2 to 3 miles, but as I get colder I get all congested and "mother-asthma" comes home to roost.

The good news is that the mileage is building up and I can feel that I am getting better and stronger. I think we turn the corner on daylight this coming weekend. Missed what would have been a great day of riding today, but still happy to get a run in.

No snow here in Madison which means we are all looking to a "Brown Christmas" unless something changes real fast.

We have got a new shoe shelf coming for Nike Cycling and I have to admit that it looks pretty darn good. Big improvement over what we had previously with enhancements in all the "right" areas! I like the panel behind the shoe which tells the "story."

The line keeps getting better and better.

On another front, Mike checked in from San Jose and reported that he has completed his basic EMG testing and endured the pain but they still do not know what is causing him the problems he is dealing with. The GREAT news is that it is not ALS, but until they come up with a diagnosis and solution, the concern remains!

I also spoke with Dan McDonough, and it looks like we will see him in Waterloo in early January. Sure hope that this weather holds so that we can get him out on some of the trails in Waterloo and also hit the roads for a few miles.

That's it for now!

Feeling a whole lot better!

Yesterday, I tried to tour the neighborhood and get in a run. I either dressed with too much on or just did not have it together. Ran for a very uncomfortable 20 minutes and then walked/jogged the rest of the way. It was really not worth going out there and even doing it. My sense of energy was way off and I think the combination of too many layers and too much to eat impacted me negatively. the weather could not have been nicer for this time of year.

Today I rebounded with a solid 50 minutes on the road. Dressed with minimal layers and worked up a huge amount of sweat and positive feeling. The temps were slightly cooler and there was no wind. Not sure why the difference but it was significant. Kind of takes me back to my race up in Appleton some years back. I think it was a 3 hr. 27 minute marathon after a several year lay off. Sure looks like I am having fun there doesn't it? It was pretty cold that day too! Starting temps in the low 30's!

Followed that up with a 3:20 in Richmond barely a few weeks later.

All this takes me back to an earlier day when I was smokin' it with sub 6 miles. Would love to get back to some sense of endurance level that gets me at a high level. Will seek to balance it out this winter and see what the Spring has to reveal.

At times I feel pretty darn good out there, but at others I feel as if the lungs are going to pop and the legs are going to collapse. The bounce comes and goes, as does the sense of floating along.

It is hard to imagine a 2:59 that day in Madison, but these legs did it and can perhaps deliver yet another great day. The energy level is up and I am feeling a lot better today than yesterday, so we shall see where all this leads. Kind of like this blog, I guess.

The weather is still unbelievable here in WI with temps in the 40's and any snow we had from a few weeks back long gone! By my calendar it reads the 17th of December. Tomorrow, I will do it on two wheels!

Only in Wisconsin

Made the run up to DePere, WI to pick up KJ from St. Norbert College and saw this "shopping cart" on the way back to to highway south!

Not only is the Festival Mart cart a giant sized cart, but take a closer look and you will see that this cart is motorized. Check out the exhaust system on this drag strip ready grocery cart. Not to many of these in the world, I would be willing to bet!

Temps here in Wisconsin continue to amaze. Yesterday we got up to the mid 40's with lots of sun in the Green Bay area, but clouds back here in Madison while still sunny. In a conversation with Trek guy Mike Larson ( who runs the UP and Dakota's) the warmer winters are killing the winter sports biz. No snow for snow shoeing, XC skiing, etc. At this point some snow before Christmas would save the winter but we are running out of weekends.

Flying the friendly skies!

Checking in here at almost 1 AM Friday after a great but long day in NYC, Long Island, Chicago O'Hare and now back in the hood here in Fitchburg, WI, USA. What a long ways from last night!

Started the day in Manhattan with a short ride up to Mike Blatte, Trek New York City's place at 1st Ave. and 81st Street. Fashionable upper east side. Great breakfast at some place called Gracie Mews. Best darn grilled potatoes I have had in a long time. The coffee was great too. Just the right way to start up the day! Oh, by the way, today in NYC it was 60+ degrees with blue skies. All this on the 14th of December. Not too shabby.

So this here is just a little bit of taste of the Bronx. It really does not do justice to some of the things I got to see today. I am sure it is good people all just trying to do some good, but for a kid from Wisconsin, it was just a bit much! Please notice not so much the fence but the barbed wire at the top just to make it interesting.



First Trek stop for the day was Metro Bikes head office and warehouse up in the Bronx. The area is better than it was but still pretty rough. Lots of armoured steel doors and a doorbell to ring to hope to get in. Met the Denison boys. They hail all the way from Beloit, WI but have built a great bike business in New York. Andrew Kelly was in and we all got a chance to meet and greet...talk about the good the bad and the ugly. I think we will do OK with these guys. They only want to sell more stuff. Pretty simple situation. All we need to do is give the right Nike and Trek product and they will rock with it.

So this is the view back towards Manhattan. It was the best we could do what with the haze that was the only negative on a terrific day for business.




The transition from the Bronx, driving past Randall's Island and the mental hospital and then on to Queens and Long Island is incredible. the Bicycle Planet could be a store in "anytown" USA. As soon as Mike and I set up shop to meet with Chrissy and Morrie, things got incredibly busy for about an hour with lots of people coming in to the shop. Great time and we sold another pink MT 220. History repeats itself as it did at Cycle Sales in Youngstown, OH last week. They even went with the matching pink helmet.

These folks do a great great job with apparel and foot wear. More on them at another time because it will be worth it.


Made the turn towards La Guardia at about 2 PM with a stop at North Shore Bicycles and a visit with George (one of the owners). Really nice guy and nice shop in a typical town. From there it was on the LGA (airport code for La Guardia) and the on to ORD (airport code for Chicago O'Hare). Now for several years I have wondered what the heck is going on there. Are they slowing down because they want to build a new airport somewhere and the only way to get people behind it is to get them upset enough.

Delays at O'Hare are notorious, especially for the short regional jet flights that come in from 300 miles or less. Today's affliction was winds, but this is the "windy city" right? Check out this departure screen from about 9:30 PM Thursday night. While resolution is not too good, the key thing to look for are the yellow status labels.

ORD apparently can land 103 flights per hour under great conditions on 3 runways. Tonight we were down to 60 flights on 2 runways. Some things will not change at ORD and that is the winds blowing across the Plains of Illinois. If Chi-town wants to be truly world class, they need to either buy up all the land around ORD and expand or build a new and world class gateway.

So signing off on Friday, this was a great Thursday. Mike Blatte is awesome and really knows his guys and gals. After the past 2 days I come away with a whole new level of love for NYC. It is such a melting pot of peoples and cultures. There is something for everyone there. Good night!

The Big Apple!

So here I am in NYC! Arrived late at LGA after we had a lady get pretty ill on the plane and get taken out by the EMT's as soon as we landed. The good news was she was OK and we did not land in Cleveland or somewhere in between.

As we made our way in to town from the airport we hit one heck of an accident on FDR Drive, which runs along the East River. There were multiple cars in this northbound mess. Glad we went in to town!

Just back from a place called the Blue Room, that had some pretty awesome wings. By New York standards I got out of there for a song. Less than $25 for dinner and a couple of beers. That is a real bargain.

New gal Jenny started tonight and was learning the ropes, while the barmaid who came here at 19 and 1/2 from Sweden worked the room. Typical New York place, but the ambiance was good and the food excellent by bar standards. Prior to that I walked the the town and saw more nail salons than I thought I would ever see. that plus pizza places, stores and shops of all sizes. NYC is non stop noise and hustle and bustle. There really is no place like it anywhere I have been in the world. Tokyo seems mild by comparison, as does Hong Kong or Beijing.

During the walk about, I came across a really beat up Trek. I love the rear tire and the fact that they would chain this up anyway. After all, it "IS" a Trek!

Also got over to the area near the of Plaza Hotel. Under renovation to become condos and a hotel. Trump owns it and this bamboo tree (pix at the bottom of post) is in an atrium is part of the Trump Tower that adjoins Niketown, NYC.

The Christmas tree was in some office plaza but looked cool and worth a digital snap!

Not sure how far I walked but I was on foot for at least an hour or more.

Prior to all this was calls at Paragon Sports with buyer Jim Laros. I learned big time that I was not in the Midwest. Jim was awesome and helpful. Lots of good things we can do with and for him in the future. Paragon is a pretty cool place for sporting goods. Their on-line biz is growing by leaps and bounds according to Jim.

Then it was over to Soho situated Bicycle Habitat. Got to meet Charlie McCorkle and crew. Neat shop that has doubled in size in the past year. Lots of Trek and Specialized stuff to get everyone excited about biking.

Soupy!

The 12th of December and temperatures are now climbing in to the mid to high 40's. What snow we had has disappeared. Simply amazing that barely a week ago it was all about the freezin' temps around here.

Driving to Trek today was enjoyable as the fog was winning. There was one car who felt that he could take risks with his life and try to pass in the blinding fog. It was not to be and he almost ran two cars off the road. Really smart and just not worth the few seconds he might have saved.

The pic to the right shows what the back roads looked like at 8:30 AM. Pretty soupy.

But then at 3:30 or so it magically cleared and the sun came out, sort of. Ran for 45 minutes and at times felt like a runner again. There was some tempo in the old gait. Energy levels are up noticeably and that is a good thing. In NYC tomorrow and Thursday, so 2 days of rest upcoming. The legs feel it and need it!

Out for now!

Back to reality!

Well, the weather man got even with us today. Temps in the 40's but it felt bone chillingly cold! Rode for 12 miles and froze my ass off with the mist and just plain lousy weather. It would have been better if it had been raining.

Forecast for tomorrow...more rain. Oh well, it could be snow!














So why the picture on this cookie. Got to enjoy Eat'n Park for the first time last Thursday in Pittsburgh and got a cookie to go! Pretty tasty. A bit like the Bob's Big Boy restaurants that I have frequented in other parts of the country. Perfect for this time of the season.

Getting Ready!

We are getting closer to Christmas and the task of going out and finding a tree was the hardest that it has ever been. Diane and I normally can find, cut, load and exit a tree lot in less than 15 minutes. that was the case until this year.

Ended up hitting 4 tree farms/lots before settling on a great buy at Johannsen's. What I am saying here is that we drove about 40 miles to find a tree about 2 miles from the house. (Great planning, right?)

More good stuff today as temps hit the 40's and I ran for 60 minutes and sweated for 90! Did my loop through mc-mansionville in Seminole and Harlan Heights. Saw the place on BrynWood that exploded via a faulty gas valve last week. What a mess! The only part of the house still standing is the brick, and there is not much of that.

After the run, the feeling was pretty good, I have to admit. Can feel it in my joints and will do a ride tomorrow even if it is raining. It is good to be burning more calories than I am taking in.

Later this week, I hit the Big Apple. That should prove to be interesting.

This picture shows the urban sprawl we are "enjoying" here in Fitchburg. The golf dome will some be history as Target grows a new mega store just over the hill from where the dome is.

Traffic, which is already bad at rush hour, promises to be incredible when this store and other outlets open up. Who thinks this stuff up?

Cut down the trees and just plop this stuff anywhere. What happened to urban planning?
Amazing! Can't we do better than this?

What a day!

Today is one of those winter days that makes living in the Midwest not so hard to take. With sunny skies and a breeze out of the South, our temps climbed in to the mid 30's by around 2 PM and it was just a great day for a road run of 5 miles.

Lots of sweat pouring off this old head of mine as I thought about Mike Bielous and his problems with even walking and the upcoming tests he will have to undergo. Something called an EMG (?) where they stick probes in to you and then pulse electricity into that spot to check for muscle reaction to the electric shock. It does not sound like a whole lot of fun! All this and they still do not know what he has contracted.

Gives one a whole lot more appreciation for good health and being able to put one foot in front of the other and travel 5 miles on a sunny winter's day! Amazed at the lack of people out today, but most much be watching the UW-Marquette game or at the mall.

Oh yes, the weather out West, where would all like to live. Rainy in Portland and 49 degrees. Rainy in Northern CA and temps in the 50's. Me, I will take the sunshine.

Home again!

Writing this after dodging a potential nightmare of a trip via Chicago this evening. My visit to Ohio and the Pittsburgh area was great in large part to Trek guy Bob Myers. He has got a great relationship with his team of dealers though he still has things he wants to do more of.

That is what it is all about, continually challenging yourself to do better with what you have.

So following my visit to the two Trek stores in Columbus, we started out with breakfast at the Bob Evans in Stow, OH and then headed to Eddy's Bike Shop. A 4 store family owned operation that has a fantastic main store from which Jim Ruggles and his team do some great things.


Their operation is housed in an old supermarket that has been converted in to a really big and still really neat bike shop. Jimmy, PT, Chuck, Arnie and the rest of the team do some great things to grow business in general.

Since my last series of notes, I have been to Columbus, Stow and Youngstown, Ohio. Buckeye football is the big topic of conversation in the State. Don't plan on looking for anyone on the evening of the 8th of January. They will all be watching the game from out in Arizona.

From Stow, we headed to Youngstown , which is the home of the De Bartolo family that owned my beloved 49ers! Actually drove past the DeBartolo Corporation HQ's. While I do not know what it is they do, it was neat. Ron Glove and Cycle Sales have a huge location with lots of upside potential. They do a great job supporting our product sales and we actually had some fun selling an MT220 bike for a young ladies Christmas morning surprise.

Drove some familiar roads from past experiences in my life. The Pennsylvania Turnpike was pretty much wide open with no delays, but those infernal tolls! Uck!

Cranberry, PA and the search for Panera and settling for Applebee's led to connecting with TJ, Janet and Tanya at the brand spanking new Trek store in Cranberry. Even met little Alex who just loved the Trek Trikester.

Don's team has got one heck of a location and right around 5 PM things starting rocking with a steady stream of interested customers and potential customers. It was fun.

Dinner at "On the Border" with Shanya, who also works at Best Buy, getting the business from Bob for "employee theft" after I busted her for the abundances of Best Buy pens she had. Lots of laughs and a great time with Don. the design it yourself burritos were good but not up to Zapata's standards.

The wrap up call of the day was Dirty Harry's in Verona, PA. Will have to check a map to see where this place is, but it was one awesome shop. Barry Jeffries and his team work out of fantastic facility. He does the coffee thing and had great graphics in place with lots of pop color. This place was just a really neat shop that I would want to shop at.

Did the Robinson Trek store and got to meet Chris Palodino and his team including Mike. they do some great things and will sort through some additional photos and post those on tomorrows notes. A really neat store with some subtle elements that I hopefully caught on camera today.

So tonight, I am back here in Madison following visits to some great bike shops in the East. Had 3 days of solid calls with Bob and got to see more of America. The conversations had a similar thread of people trying to get more people in to riding, rails to trails, people coming back to the sport and the hybrid/FX categories are growing, MTB is making a comeback and road bikes have leveled out. The sport is in good hands with the people that I met this week! That's for sure.

Hello Columbus!

Left the balmy conditions in Madison, WI early this morning with the home thermometer registering a whopping 3.7 degrees F. Thank goodness that the winds were not howling.

My travel on to Columbus, OH via this Embraer twin jet was comfortable and not what one would normally associate with travel on a Brazilian airplane. This plane was extremely comfortable and smooth. I was impressed!

As the picture reveals there is no snow in Columbus, OH and the temps were up in the 30's, but once the sun dropped it got VERY cool.

Trek's Ohio guy, Bob Myers drive a Honda Element. This is one cool vehicle that has tons of room for all kinds of stuff. Rides great and gets good gas mileage.


Stops at the Trek of Columbus shops revealed two great retail locations for all things Trek.
This picture is from store #2 in Columbus and opened back in September 2006. Things look great in Columbus and Chris Bishop and team have done a great job pulling customers in to both locations.

I was amazed at the amount of MTB and BMX talk in both shops given the success of road product over recent years.

Nike shoes doing well at both locations and the apparel looks good going forward. Some good suggestions for new stuff from both locations.

Trek the Halls is definitely bringing people in the doors, but the success of the Buckeyes has likely slowed store activity this past Fall. These people are fans and lots of talk about the 8th of January and some game to be played out in Arizona.

Tomorrow, its time for Cleveland and on to Pittsburgh!

How did it get so cold so fast?

So first we got snow and then we get the incredibly cool temps in the single digits early this morning and will again for the next few nights. How soft we get when we are not used to this extreme cold after enjoying the warmer temperatures we got in late November.

Ran for 40 minutes tonight with the daytime temps at a balmy 27 degrees and actually felt pretty good until I turned in to the teeth of the wind. Ran straight in to what Lou Rawls called, "the Hawk!" Ouch

Tomorrow it is on to Columbus and Massillon, OH for the night followed by Cleveland, OH and then Pittsburgh, PA with Trek guy, Bob Myers. Coming down the home stretch for the 2006 on the road show, as after this week, it will be New York City as the wrap up for the year.

Details from the road tomorrow.



To help create warm thoughts, I grabbed these out of the archives to show how warm it is right now in the Caribbean. Yup, blues skies during the day and warm temperatures. Just a few more months...

Dear old golden school days!

Every year, USSF referees have to return to the classroom for a bit of re-education and enlightenment in to the new rules interpretations. Since I had missed the August Advanced School due to Trek World, I ended up in Milton, WI for my class. Having never been to Milton before and after being stupid and not reading the start time for school, I found myself with an hour to kill before class got started, plus I went to the wrong school. Talk about being messed up!

Anyway, with an hour to kill I got a chance to see some of the great architecture in Milton and then saw this artwork created by the snowfall and wind yesterday, here in South Central Wisconsin. Pretty cool to see how the snow was shaped into an awesome awning of sorts.
My guess is that these shapes are now history given the fact that today's temperatures reached the mid 20's, but with lots of sunshine. Mlton is a really neat town and has LOTS of signage for the bike trails that are all over the place. Milton deserves a return vist in the summer time, for sure.



Class started at 9 AM and the good news is that I passed and now have my 2007 badge and retain my Level 7 classification.

The picture below is from beautiful downtown Milton. It is a typical main street in small town America. the Christmas decorations are up and there was even a "cookie walk" in town today, where you could go from house to house and taste, make that eat, cookies! Yummy!


They even do house tours in this great old town. This is small town America at its best, for sure!

And then there is the, "Squeeze Inn."

Milton is known for being the birthplace of a lot of really wonderful people, but for those who follow the NFL, it is home to one, Dave Kreig (sp?). He was a quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks some years back!

I think he would approve.

A dose of winter

So after enjoying those "almost" 70's in southern Ohio yesterday...THIS is what I got to enjoy today on the first day of December. Yup, Winter is finally here. You can feel it! As I believe, it just means we are that much closer to Spring 07!

Pretty slippery going so instead of two wheels I used two feet and ran for 35 minutes. It is amazing how warm and wet one can get running in temps that are in the 20's.

Tomorrow, Recert Class in Milton, WI. What a hassle trying to remember all the games I worked over the past 12 months. Lots of memories from all of the great and not so great games I have had the honor to officiate.

Class is early and I need to be off early, so that is it for tonight!