Nordic Nuts-Home

10/24/06
Back on my roughly weekly updating schedule. BayCross was this past weekend. We had a nice turnout and everyone had a good time and there was some good racin'. I may go race some more 'cross this weekend, but I may move too. We'll see. I'm also busting out the entire next weekend to race, so maybe it will be time to get some stuff done. Ski season is not real far off and it would be nice to be settled in before then. Speaking of ski season, I rode on Sunday at Wolverine with Margaret in the snow. She absolutely rocked the rather treacherous conditions. It was a nice ride. A couple of mellower rides the past couple of days on the cross bike. One easy one cruising the corridor, and one even easier one today just checking out another sweet looking cross location here in town. I dunno if I'm up for a weekend of putting on a double, but the thought has crossed my mind. ba-dum. Out.

10/16/06
Weekends don't get much better than this past weekend. Saturday, Kelly and I rolled over to Duluth for the Spirit CX. Actually, first we got up and cruised 25 on the road with the bros, then we drove over to Duluth. It was my first cyclocross race ever, and I made the highly intelligent move of signing up for both the B and C races. Kelly and I did a couple laps of the course, and I was feeling pretty comfortable on the cross check, especially since my first ride on the actual cross tires was the night before. We lined up at the back of the C race having no clue what we were getting ourselves into. We rolled off the start and hit the first run-up straight away, straight up the ski hill. By the top of the hill I was top 5. Cruising through the lap, past a couple more people. Going into the run-up the second lap, I pass one more guy, but I'm pretty sure there are two guys up ahead. So I keep the hammer down. Then people start telling me I've got time. Am I in the lead? Apparently. The lead was coming down the second to last lap, so I hit it hard the last lap and held a nice margin to the line. Not bad for the first race! All too soon, the B race started, and I sat to the back of the pack a bit, wanting to ease into it a bit. Pretty soon I was back up towards the front but there was not catching the homeboys off the front, as they were flying. After a couple of laps, I could see Aaron Swanson and Dan Meyer up ahead. I tried to pull them back so that Aaron and I could work together, but no dice. They would get a bit closer and then pull away. I pulled in in 5th. Not a bad day of racing. Following a most excellent evening at Blues and Brews (and continuing on at the Deepwater) I was a little late getting out of bed on Sunday morning, but I pulled the boards out, brushed them off and headed over to ABR for a couple hours of easy skiing. The snow was pretty wet by the time I got there, but it was still skiing in mid-October, so no complaints. I plodded around on the classic skis for a while and then skated a bit. It felt good and remarkably comfortable. I think I'd chalk that up to all the time on skis last winter. Photos are up from A Race and B Race at Spirit. BayCross this weekend. Out on the course tonight and it is looking stellar.

10/8/06
Wow, one update for the whole month of September, complete with about a billion typos. Deal with it. I rounded out the month with a great ride in Duluth with some Curt, Kurt, Jay, Chris and a bunch of hooligans from the cities. We rode some sweet trails and had a delightful dinner at Fitgers. A bunch of really fun singletrack, all within the Duluth city limits and about a five minute ride from Kurts house to dirt.. Rock on. I was up early the next morning for the second annual Brothers Rim Century Ride which was a rousing success. We had a nice crew and a beautiful day for riding. We also managed to hit two coffee shops in the first 15 miles. After Dennis broke his bike for the second year in row on this ride, we waited a couple of minutes for the Black Cat to open so we could start the ride off right. After a bite there, it was off to ride sponsor and all around amazing place, North Coast Coffee in Washburn. We got a bit more caffiene and a bit more pastry. So things got off to a bit of a slow start, but after taking on some high octane fuel at Fish Lipps we cruised through the second fifty miles. We polished off the day with a delightful dinner at the Deepwater. Goodness. Such a sweet weekend of "training". I think I put in 12 hours over the weekend. Coming up in a couple of weeks is BayCross. Be there or be square. Contact me if you have questions. I'm planning on hitting up the Spirit Mountain cyclocross race next weekend, for my first cross race I'll actually participate in. Should be fun. Still trying to figure out if I can race Bs or not. I'm not real educated on the whole USCF thing.


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10/24/06 Back on my roughly weekly updating schedule. BayCross was this past weekend. We had a nice turnout and everyone had a good time and there was some good racin'. I may go race some more 'cross this weekend, but I may move too. We'll see. I'm also busting out the entire next weekend to race, so maybe it will be time to get some stuff done. Ski season is not real far off and it would be nice to be settled in before then. Speaking of ski season, I rode on Sunday at Wolverine with Margaret in the snow. She absolutely rocked the rather treacherous conditions. It was a nice ride. A couple of mellower rides the past couple of days on the cross bike. One easy one cruising the corridor, and one even easier one today just checking out another sweet looking cross location here in town. I dunno if I'm up for a weekend of putting on a double, but the thought has crossed my mind. ba-dum. Out.
10/16/06 Weekends don't get much better than this past weekend. Saturday, Kelly and I rolled over to Duluth for the Spirit CX. Actually, first we got up and cruised 25 on the road with the bros, then we drove over to Duluth. It was my first cyclocross race ever, and I made the highly intelligent move of signing up for both the B and C races. Kelly and I did a couple laps of the course, and I was feeling pretty comfortable on the cross check, especially since my first ride on the actual cross tires was the night before. We lined up at the back of the C race having no clue what we were getting ourselves into. We rolled off the start and hit the first run-up straight away, straight up the ski hill. By the top of the hill I was top 5. Cruising through the lap, past a couple more people. Going into the run-up the second lap, I pass one more guy, but I'm pretty sure there are two guys up ahead. So I keep the hammer down. Then people start telling me I've got time. Am I in the lead? Apparently. The lead was coming down the second to last lap, so I hit it hard the last lap and held a nice margin to the line. Not bad for the first race! All too soon, the B race started, and I sat to the back of the pack a bit, wanting to ease into it a bit. Pretty soon I was back up towards the front but there was not catching the homeboys off the front, as they were flying. After a couple of laps, I could see Aaron Swanson and Dan Meyer up ahead. I tried to pull them back so that Aaron and I could work together, but no dice. They would get a bit closer and then pull away. I pulled in in 5th. Not a bad day of racing. Following a most excellent evening at Blues and Brews (and continuing on at the Deepwater) I was a little late getting out of bed on Sunday morning, but I pulled the boards out, brushed them off and headed over to ABR for a couple hours of easy skiing. The snow was pretty wet by the time I got there, but it was still skiing in mid-October, so no complaints. I plodded around on the classic skis for a while and then skated a bit. It felt good and remarkably comfortable. I think I'd chalk that up to all the time on skis last winter. Photos are up from A Race and B Race at Spirit. BayCross this weekend. Out on the course tonight and it is looking stellar.
10/8/06 Wow, one update for the whole month of September, complete with about a billion typos. Deal with it. I rounded out the month with a great ride in Duluth with some Curt, Kurt, Jay, Chris and a bunch of hooligans from the cities. We rode some sweet trails and had a delightful dinner at Fitgers. A bunch of really fun singletrack, all within the Duluth city limits and about a five minute ride from Kurts house to dirt.. Rock on. I was up early the next morning for the second annual Brothers Rim Century Ride which was a rousing success. We had a nice crew and a beautiful day for riding. We also managed to hit two coffee shops in the first 15 miles. After Dennis broke his bike for the second year in row on this ride, we waited a couple of minutes for the Black Cat to open so we could start the ride off right. After a bite there, it was off to ride sponsor and all around amazing place, North Coast Coffee in Washburn. We got a bit more caffiene and a bit more pastry. So things got off to a bit of a slow start, but after taking on some high octane fuel at Fish Lipps we cruised through the second fifty miles. We polished off the day with a delightful dinner at the Deepwater. Goodness. Such a sweet weekend of "training". I think I put in 12 hours over the weekend. Coming up in a couple of weeks is BayCross. Be there or be square. Contact me if you have questions. I'm planning on hitting up the Spirit Mountain cyclocross race next weekend, for my first cross race I'll actually participate in. Should be fun. Still trying to figure out if I can race Bs or not. I'm not real educated on the whole USCF thing.
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©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. :)