Nordic Nuts-Home

10/29/07 Jonathan Page Style?
This Saturday morning we rolled out of Ashland with the team car loaded with bikes, gear and Scotty N., Dennis, and Katin. We got down to Taylors Falls in plenty of time to get registered a tour a few laps of the course before the C race took off. Even though the course was pretty flat, I was feeling pretty good about it and was feeling like I could have a good race. I really like the run up. Scotty and I cheered Dennis and Katin through rockin' performances in their race and managed to catch some sweet photos, which should be up on skinnyski sometime soon. After the C race was over, I grabbed a quick lap of the course before lining up for my race. Feeling cocky, I lined up on the front row. We got things under way in short order and I had a reasonable start off the line, but let some guys through in the first few corners and was probably sitting 12th after a lap or so. A lap or so later and I was dangling off a group including Todd Nesvold. I dangled there for what seemed like forever. There was a pretty solid wind on much of the course that made riding solo a pretty bad plan. I would bring the group back to spitting distance before the gap would stretch again. After a few laps I finally tucked in with Todd after the group had exploded. Dennis told us we were sitting around 10th, which sounded like a good plan to me. After finally getting so suck some wheel for a lap or so, I was feeling like it was time to go, so I moved to the front and started pinning it through the pine trees. In one corner, my wheel slipped out or something, and the next thing I knew I was hooking my handlebars on a Christmas tree and giving the tree a hug. I do have to say the the tree was actually an exceptionally soft place to land, so I can't complain too much. Somewhere in this neat little course of events my shoulder got tugged on pretty hard. As I untangled myself from the tree, I was more or less upright, and I realized that my shoulder was pretty sore, and that I couldn't really move my left arm. After a bit, the pain got a bit better and so I decided to hop back on my bike. I got the pedals turning over and ended up in a group with Scotty and Shawn Gort. I was pretty content to sit in the group and just ride it to the finish, but when I saw Scotty making his move, I had no choice but to try and follow. It worked as we shelled most of the group. I ended up in a 2 up sprint with Jeff Ingham and managed to pull out the final kick for 15th place. I was a bit dissapointed because I think without my silly crash I had a shot at a top 5. After the race I hung out and generally vegged. In rather strange form for me, I decided to chill in the car during part of the A race instead of watching the suffering. After a few minutes I managed to throw some clothes on and mosey over for a beer and a hot dog. I sat down with Shawn and June Sayers and didn't move for a while. The beer definitely made my shoulder feel better... As things were wrapping up and I was pondering the intelligence of racing the next day, Mike W. offered up an on site diagnosis. He had me do a bunch of fun things with my arm and told me I probably had a minor torn rotator cuff. Exciting. We drove down to Scott's folks place and they prepared a fabulous spaghetti dinner for us. After stuffing myself and icing my shoulder and passed out for a nice long night's rest. The next morning after a delicious breakfast, we drove into Northfield. I had decided not to race the night before, but waking up Sunday morning, my shoulder was killing me and I was thinking that was a good decision. It felt weird to not be suiting up. Good times were had by all and the course looked killer. After the races were over we grabbed a bite to eat and headed back north. I got in to see a doctor today and the preliminary diagnosis is that I just have a case of tendonitis. I'll defintely take that over a torn rotator cuff. I cruised a bit on the cross bike tonight and it felt fine, but I think my cross season might be over since it won't be 100% for a while and I don't want to reinjure myself right before ski season. Time for some oreos and milk.

10/25/07 Steel is real
And so are gravel road rides by the light of the moon on road bikes. After a long day of work, I took the trusty Trek 400 out for a spin on the gravel roads tonight. Once it starts getting dark, I feel like riding the gravel, lower traffic roads is a lot safer. I brought along a light, but as the sun was setting, I realized that the same moonlight that bathed my run at Valhalla last night was more than adequote for some solid gravel road cruising. When riding west with the moon at my back I could easily see my shadow. I did some exploring off of my new favorite gravel route from town. I exhausted the options I could explore in the dark in under two hours, but there were a couple of promising roads and trails that could be explored in the daylight. I was feeling pretty pro crusing the gravel on my 28c Bonty Hardcases. The 70 psi in the super tires and ultra-cushy ride of the 400 kept things smooth. As the ride wore on and the temperature dropped, I started feeling less pro and much more cold, and then had trouble deciding if I could feel anything in my hands... I made it home with all of my appendages still functioning. A hot shower, a monster bowl of pasta with my secret sauce, and a glass of vino from our neighbors to the north had me feeling rockin' again. Thanks to all of the folks who came out for BayCross this past weekend. Check out a sweet write-up on that Charlie did, or peruse some pictures on skinnyski. There are a few pictures that I didn't get emailed to skinnyski and you can check the A-class, B-Class and Junior races here. We'll be back and better than ever next year. This weekend we'll be doing up a double at the red barn cx and back 2 school cx. It should be rad. I'm off to eat some ice cream.

10/15/07 I love running!
Things up in the land of Ash have been swell since my last update. The Brothers Rimm Century was a rousing success. We had a reasonably nice weather day and a nice turnout. That capped off a pretty solid training month of September for me. On to October, I've been getting in some sweet rides, especially on the mountain bike. We scraped frost of the windshield of the car after the ride last Thursday over in Ironwood. I've been getting out on the cross bike a bit too. The first few dismounts sure felt rusty. We've started having "cross practice" on our Monday night rides because want to be cool like people in the cities. Last Monday we had a little time trial just to wipe of the cobwebs a bit and going into the barriers the first time at speed is always a trip. This past weekend I did the "B" race up at Spirit. I got a good start for about the first time in my life. Going through the finish line on the first lap, they announced a prime for the top four guys on the next lap. I was sitting in fifth and feeling pretty comfortable, so I figured that was a good sign. We went through a couple of sets of barriers and were headed out to start our second lap when I clipped a pedal on a rock and went down hard. So much for the prime... By the time I got back up and at it, I was sitting in about 10th. I think I passed one or two guys pretty quickly and then was stuck about 10 meters behind Mike Weispfenning for what seemed like at least three laps. I was getting super feeds from Dennis, which was nice since I was feeling pretty thirsty. Then all of a sudden somebody released the slingshot and I started picking off riders like apples off a tree. Ok, I was working pretty hard for the spots, but they were coming back steadily. I didn't really feel like I sped up that much as they were slowing down a bit, but who knows. Going into the last lap somebody told me I was about 3rd. I was riding pretty close to Mark Mettler, and managed to reel him in going into the last open section. I stuck on his wheel for a few seconds before passing on the next uphill, flowing the singletrack and sprinting uphill to the finish. It turned out my effort was good for 2nd place in the Bs, which I consider a pretty good race for the first one of the season. Scott Nesvold continued the representation from the bay area with a strong 8th place. Dennis Liphart had a solid ride in the Cs before doing a marvelous job of handing up my bottles. Thanks Dennis! Scotty KJ pulled out a 2nd place in the As on a sweet Specialized 29er. Todd Nesvold and Mettler were true rockstars riding the As in addition to the Bs. The Duluth crew did a superb job with the race. I would have prefered the monster run-up from last year, but this year's course was still quite challenging and had a lot of variety. A+ job in my book.
Speaking of cross, next weekend is BayCross. I was just out on the course tonight and it is in super shape. We have all kinds of goodness planned for this year, so be there.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention the high tech new doping plan that I'm on. I've added a solid 10 lbs. since the beginning of the summer, a fact that I'm most proud of. How did I bulk up so much you might ask? Lots of LSD workouts, protein powder, and eating a lot, like really a lot. Now that I'm up to a huge 165, I'm shooting for 170!
Out.


Home	racing	Links	snow report	etc.
10/29/07 Jonathan Page Style? This Saturday morning we rolled out of Ashland with the team car loaded with bikes, gear and Scotty N., Dennis, and Katin. We got down to Taylors Falls in plenty of time to get registered a tour a few laps of the course before the C race took off. Even though the course was pretty flat, I was feeling pretty good about it and was feeling like I could have a good race. I really like the run up. Scotty and I cheered Dennis and Katin through rockin' performances in their race and managed to catch some sweet photos, which should be up on skinnyski sometime soon. After the C race was over, I grabbed a quick lap of the course before lining up for my race. Feeling cocky, I lined up on the front row. We got things under way in short order and I had a reasonable start off the line, but let some guys through in the first few corners and was probably sitting 12th after a lap or so. A lap or so later and I was dangling off a group including Todd Nesvold. I dangled there for what seemed like forever. There was a pretty solid wind on much of the course that made riding solo a pretty bad plan. I would bring the group back to spitting distance before the gap would stretch again. After a few laps I finally tucked in with Todd after the group had exploded. Dennis told us we were sitting around 10th, which sounded like a good plan to me. After finally getting so suck some wheel for a lap or so, I was feeling like it was time to go, so I moved to the front and started pinning it through the pine trees. In one corner, my wheel slipped out or something, and the next thing I knew I was hooking my handlebars on a Christmas tree and giving the tree a hug. I do have to say the the tree was actually an exceptionally soft place to land, so I can't complain too much. Somewhere in this neat little course of events my shoulder got tugged on pretty hard. As I untangled myself from the tree, I was more or less upright, and I realized that my shoulder was pretty sore, and that I couldn't really move my left arm. After a bit, the pain got a bit better and so I decided to hop back on my bike. I got the pedals turning over and ended up in a group with Scotty and Shawn Gort. I was pretty content to sit in the group and just ride it to the finish, but when I saw Scotty making his move, I had no choice but to try and follow. It worked as we shelled most of the group. I ended up in a 2 up sprint with Jeff Ingham and managed to pull out the final kick for 15th place. I was a bit dissapointed because I think without my silly crash I had a shot at a top 5. After the race I hung out and generally vegged. In rather strange form for me, I decided to chill in the car during part of the A race instead of watching the suffering. After a few minutes I managed to throw some clothes on and mosey over for a beer and a hot dog. I sat down with Shawn and June Sayers and didn't move for a while. The beer definitely made my shoulder feel better... As things were wrapping up and I was pondering the intelligence of racing the next day, Mike W. offered up an on site diagnosis. He had me do a bunch of fun things with my arm and told me I probably had a minor torn rotator cuff. Exciting. We drove down to Scott's folks place and they prepared a fabulous spaghetti dinner for us. After stuffing myself and icing my shoulder and passed out for a nice long night's rest. The next morning after a delicious breakfast, we drove into Northfield. I had decided not to race the night before, but waking up Sunday morning, my shoulder was killing me and I was thinking that was a good decision. It felt weird to not be suiting up. Good times were had by all and the course looked killer. After the races were over we grabbed a bite to eat and headed back north. I got in to see a doctor today and the preliminary diagnosis is that I just have a case of tendonitis. I'll defintely take that over a torn rotator cuff. I cruised a bit on the cross bike tonight and it felt fine, but I think my cross season might be over since it won't be 100% for a while and I don't want to reinjure myself right before ski season. Time for some oreos and milk.
10/25/07 Steel is real And so are gravel road rides by the light of the moon on road bikes. After a long day of work, I took the trusty Trek 400 out for a spin on the gravel roads tonight. Once it starts getting dark, I feel like riding the gravel, lower traffic roads is a lot safer. I brought along a light, but as the sun was setting, I realized that the same moonlight that bathed my run at Valhalla last night was more than adequote for some solid gravel road cruising. When riding west with the moon at my back I could easily see my shadow. I did some exploring off of my new favorite gravel route from town. I exhausted the options I could explore in the dark in under two hours, but there were a couple of promising roads and trails that could be explored in the daylight. I was feeling pretty pro crusing the gravel on my 28c Bonty Hardcases. The 70 psi in the super tires and ultra-cushy ride of the 400 kept things smooth. As the ride wore on and the temperature dropped, I started feeling less pro and much more cold, and then had trouble deciding if I could feel anything in my hands... I made it home with all of my appendages still functioning. A hot shower, a monster bowl of pasta with my secret sauce, and a glass of vino from our neighbors to the north had me feeling rockin' again. Thanks to all of the folks who came out for BayCross this past weekend. Check out a sweet write-up on that Charlie did, or peruse some pictures on skinnyski. There are a few pictures that I didn't get emailed to skinnyski and you can check the A-class, B-Class and Junior races here. We'll be back and better than ever next year. This weekend we'll be doing up a double at the red barn cx and back 2 school cx. It should be rad. I'm off to eat some ice cream.
10/15/07 I love running! Things up in the land of Ash have been swell since my last update. The Brothers Rimm Century was a rousing success. We had a reasonably nice weather day and a nice turnout. That capped off a pretty solid training month of September for me. On to October, I've been getting in some sweet rides, especially on the mountain bike. We scraped frost of the windshield of the car after the ride last Thursday over in Ironwood. I've been getting out on the cross bike a bit too. The first few dismounts sure felt rusty. We've started having "cross practice" on our Monday night rides because want to be cool like people in the cities. Last Monday we had a little time trial just to wipe of the cobwebs a bit and going into the barriers the first time at speed is always a trip. This past weekend I did the "B" race up at Spirit. I got a good start for about the first time in my life. Going through the finish line on the first lap, they announced a prime for the top four guys on the next lap. I was sitting in fifth and feeling pretty comfortable, so I figured that was a good sign. We went through a couple of sets of barriers and were headed out to start our second lap when I clipped a pedal on a rock and went down hard. So much for the prime... By the time I got back up and at it, I was sitting in about 10th. I think I passed one or two guys pretty quickly and then was stuck about 10 meters behind Mike Weispfenning for what seemed like at least three laps. I was getting super feeds from Dennis, which was nice since I was feeling pretty thirsty. Then all of a sudden somebody released the slingshot and I started picking off riders like apples off a tree. Ok, I was working pretty hard for the spots, but they were coming back steadily. I didn't really feel like I sped up that much as they were slowing down a bit, but who knows. Going into the last lap somebody told me I was about 3rd. I was riding pretty close to Mark Mettler, and managed to reel him in going into the last open section. I stuck on his wheel for a few seconds before passing on the next uphill, flowing the singletrack and sprinting uphill to the finish. It turned out my effort was good for 2nd place in the Bs, which I consider a pretty good race for the first one of the season. Scott Nesvold continued the representation from the bay area with a strong 8th place. Dennis Liphart had a solid ride in the Cs before doing a marvelous job of handing up my bottles. Thanks Dennis! Scotty KJ pulled out a 2nd place in the As on a sweet Specialized 29er. Todd Nesvold and Mettler were true rockstars riding the As in addition to the Bs. The Duluth crew did a superb job with the race. I would have prefered the monster run-up from last year, but this year's course was still quite challenging and had a lot of variety. A+ job in my book. Speaking of cross, next weekend is BayCross. I was just out on the course tonight and it is in super shape. We have all kinds of goodness planned for this year, so be there. Oh, I almost forgot to mention the high tech new doping plan that I'm on. I've added a solid 10 lbs. since the beginning of the summer, a fact that I'm most proud of. How did I bulk up so much you might ask? Lots of LSD workouts, protein powder, and eating a lot, like really a lot. Now that I'm up to a huge 165, I'm shooting for 170! Out.
Archives
December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006		August 2006 September 06 October 06 November 06 December 06 January 07 February 07 March 07	April 07 July 07 September 07
©2005 Paul Belknap All rights reserved. Why do I do this? Check out About Contact Me My disclaimer: The opinions expressed on this website are mine and mine alone and they do not reflect the position of Gonzaga University, if they did, you would be hearing as much about their nordic ski team as their men's basketball team. :)