Flight of the "Tuff-Lucks"

Born from the soles of Steger Mukluks, the knees of Wintergreen Design windpants, and the heart of a Specialized touring shoe comes....the "TUFF-LUCK". Part mukluk, part cycling shoe...all BUSINESS!
Well...in theory. Test flight to follow soon. Here is the birth story:

Just When I thought it was Safe

So, I'm walking home tonight from work and it's late and I'm tired. I had a wonderfully hard ride earlier in the day, and the hill to my house was now reminding my legs of the day's activities. As I was approaching my door I had a sense of contentment with my cycling goals for the time being. I felt a welcome reprieve from competition and the need to push myself. I got home, showered, ate several bowls of Cheerios and was about to retire to my room.

Then I did something stupid. I checked the Arrowhead 135 Ultra website. There, I was informed that the registration was closed and I, as expected, was on the roll call for this year's event. But what was disturbing was the flood of competitiveness that I felt as I read the names of those signed up (and there are some BIG names signed up this year...) It was frightening, exciting and perplexing all at the same time.

Just when I thought I could relax for a week or so...now I'm planning for a full winter offensive starting with the Tuscobia Ultra and hopefully ending with the Arrowhead.

By no means will I come close to winning either one of these events. But that seems to be irrelevant to my brain stem. It appears to be a deep, dark necessity within me to be part something like these two races. They are hard. They are beautiful in their environments. And they must fulfill some bizarre missing element within my otherwise wonderful life. So in I go. See you on the other side.

Wanted

OK...This will be quick. I am on the lookout to either buy or borrow a wide wide wide set of 29" wheels for the upcoming Tuscobia and Arrowhead 135.
I am also looking for a new (to me) -20...-40 degree down bag.

Thanks!

The Almanzo Gravel Road Series: Race for the Cup

This, www.raceforthecup.blogspot.com/ is going to be great! Please check out the masterpiece that our man in Rochester, Chris Skogen, has designed. The Heck of the North will proudly take part in this one of a kind series. I truly think that it is a one of a kind event in the USA. I will be an active participant as well as a director in the AGRS and I can't wait for the dust to start flying! Stay tuned!

The Bluffland Epic 12 Hour Enduro

There have been a lot of firsts this year in my cycling life. Gravel road racing, event creation and now a 12 hr race. Honestly, these 12 (and 24 hr) loop races never grabbed my attention before. I like A to B courses much more, and I thought I would go a little more insane doing the same course over and over and over...

What I found from a totally newbie perspective was this... this is a long time to be on your bike, particularly on a really challenging course! After the first lap, I really doubted whether I had the skill to do this all day long. With only limited mt. bike experience, this trail was easily one of the hardest I had done. I also decided that I would continue using my rig set up as single speed. After consulting with a few people about gearing, I decided to go with a 32 x 20. This ended up being about perfect. But the course was very physical! I took one hard fall on an off camber corner and bumped a really big tree that didn't move (so my shoulder and hip did!). I thought to myself that this is going to be the most brutal days of riding I have ever had (think rugby on a bike). Ironically, as the laps started adding up, I found that I got stronger and more skillful at negotiating the course. I thought for sure my first lap would the strongest, but really the laps toward the end were cleaner and more satisfying.

This type of riding is challenging because unlike A to B courses (where you don't know what's around the next bend) you are fully aware of what to expect, what to fear, what to watch out for next time (that particular slippery root, that log that is really greasy, those two rocks that you have to ride perfectly between). The "pit" row, the tents, the loud music coming from the speakers, all make a nice place to come back to...refill water bottles, do a quick repair, slam some food (salt, salt and more salt) and do some bastardized yoga pose that might ease my tight back. But then it was back onto the lane to the start tent...take your number and wish you farewell again. Back onto the course that you know is going to be tough, physically and mentally. I would talk out loud to myself the first 100 yards of the trail going over things that I needed to watch out for, remember and other Jack Handy bits of encouragement. I think it helped. Then it is all focus. This course demanded all of my attention. I barely had time to drink from my bottle because the trail always demanded two hands on the bar.

At the end of the day, Charlie asked me what I thought and I said I wouldn't exactly call it fun. See said something to the effect that...no kidding, it's not like a day at the amusement park! I think this type of event fits squarely into the category of what my dogsledding boss Paul Schurke would say when he was asked why he did his epic arctic trips...it's like hitting your thumb with a hammer...it feels so good when you stop. I know there is some messed up psycho-something involved with endurance activities. What I have grown to love about the sport of endurance cycling so much is the discovery of what I can do in a day. You face demons, and total bliss and pain and relief. You make great stories and share adventure with others. And you expand your world of possibilities. All under your own horsepower. Pretty cool.

I think there will be another one of these in my future. I think a team 24 hr would be pretty cool.

Thanks to Tim Ek, Charlie Farrow and Jason Buffington for sharing bits of their years of cycling knowledge and being great travel companions. Look forward to the next one.

An End to the Summer

Eric Sudheimer photo

It's done! It was great, I think. I know I thought it was. I guess that's what really counts in the long run. I hope others thought so as well. I am already planning for next year. Refining. One of the biggest challenges is making sure there are no land issues again. What anxiety! Not this next year!

One of the things I loved most about the Heck this inaugural year was how people gave to the whole event; food for the potluck, trophies, cycling caps, clever post card entries, and volunteer time. It was beautiful. I will really strive to keep this element of the event alive.

Another thing was the relative diversity of the riders. On one extreme you had people that were really fast. On the other were those that simply wanted to go out and finish a challenging century, and have a good time doing it. Who ever knew you could ride a gravel 100 in Crocs? I should have guessed.

I am anxiously looking forward to Blufflands Epic Enduro 12 hr. I have never attempted one of these. I hear tell that this is a very hilly course, too. I want to finish the warm season with something like a bang. I think this will push me to new places.

Here's to the end of Summer. This photo sums it up nicely:

All my Efforts

All of my creative efforts these days are going toward the Heck of the North http://heckofthenorth.blogspot.com event I'm producing for this Fall. So not many posts on this blog. The Heck has turned into a really nice creative outlet for me. It has the physical (finding and riding the route), the geographic (pouring over county maps) and the artistic (creating the blog, sewing up caps, and designing the logo.). It's been a lot of work. But as all things that come from passion...it never seems like a burden. I am really thankful my family puts up with my endless mumblings about the event. I am a lucky man.