Velosports Racing

New Logo Design for the Velosports Racing Club in 2010.

Stump Jump

Photo taken by Todd Chumley.

7th place finish in my first cross country mountain bike race.

Solo Effort in the High Winds

This was the windiest day of racing for me since a couple weeks ago at the Donaldson. I was lucky and did not get pulled and finished the race and learned a lot about my abilities in a strong headwind and a nice tailwind. This ended up being one of my most enjoyable times ever racing a bicycle.

Not on a break-away....

...and not sprinting for a great finish.

(Picts taken by Jennifer and Lindsay.)

Racing at River Falls

The first sunny day race, with a climb, allowed me 4 laps and the full exploitation of my Cytomax cotton mouth abilities to not finish this race, but a decision to stop and save my legs for the next days race at the BMW test track.

Forks Shoals Road Race in the Cold Rain

I'm 2nd wheel behind my friend Zack in the BioWheels jersey. OJ is two behind me.

See Are Vee to Char Lot T 4 Winter Short Track Race #2

OJ and I jumped in the newly enhanced CRV and traversed la speedy pave to Charlotte for a 2nd hit of the Winter Short Track Series......on this NOT so Sunday. Cold again, but less wind. And.....they ran out of pasta before I could get any!

I raced the Sport category and placed 13th, mind you after a 90 mile and 5 hour road ride on Saturday. I was cross-eyed and outside-of-myself with only 6- hours of sleep between the madnesses.

I can do better. OJ got some great picts of my ride today.

1st race of the seaon results with a win!

My teammate, and good friend OJ Simpson, and I traveled to Charlotte, NC for some short track mountain bike racing. This was my very first short track race and an event that I wanted to try since last year. Since it was my first short track race, I raced the beginner category. OJ says "I'm expecting you to win".

The race was 30 minutes (and 7 laps) around a 1-mile mountain bike trail. Part of the coarse near the start/finish line include grass, sidewalk and parking lot......then back into the woods for the single track.

Leading the pack up to the start/finish line on top of a big gear.

After 3 laps I was away with a 15 second lead. I maintained that lead and eventually increased the gap to 30 seconds.

I increased the gap. OJ claims that I finished a minute ahead of 2nd place. A great way for me to start the season.

See ya!

Bowling in the New Year

You look marvelous!

My Peer review...

You are very welcome! I feel special!

PE&RS Peer-Review list.

"Thank you to the following people who have served as reviewers of peer-reviewed articles in PE&RS over the past year. These people provide the expertise needed to ensure the high quality of articles we publish each month."

Oh (little) Christmas Tree...

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, of all the trees most lovely
Each year you bring to me delight, meaning in the Christmas night
Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, of all the trees most lovely

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, with faithful leaves unchanging
Your boughs are green, in summers glow and do not fade in winters snow
Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, with faithful leaves unchanging

Each year you bring to me delight, meaning in the Christmas night
Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, of all the trees most lovely

If you're looking for motivation.......

.......look no further than this!


This is SO DOPE!

You can't wrap this

Crazy Good

During my last trip home the girls wanted to hit the Dollar General store. It was Crazy Good!

Lucy's Retirement Party

The Great Gobble Days of Bicycling

The Turkey Day ride consisted of 3 hours, 37 miles and 3,862 feet of climbing.

The post Turkey Day ride consisted of 4 hours, 49 miles and 6,043 feet of climbing.

The post-post Turkey Day ride consisted of 3:34, 42 miles and 2,392 feet of climbing. This ride finished in the rain, but we had an awesome tail wind racing back home! No profile posted since there is not much elevation change to see.

5 Pounds of Coffee....

Yeah, I'm ready for the GobbleDays! I have my 5 pounds of Ethiopian Coffee straight from the Yirgacheffe's! Lets Worka!

Disclaimer:
The Cane Creek water bottle and the iPod are of actual size and are used as a reference to demonstrate just how freaking big that bag of coffee really is. This image was not enhanced in any way. Let Me Be Frank is not responsible for any skeptism based on dis-beliefs on whether or not you believe the bag of coffee is the actual size as seen in this digital photograph. This blog post was NOT posted during work hours.

Team Velosports Banner Design

Over the last couple weekends I have been working on web banner designs for Team Velosports. Check them out.

A Bicycle Ride with Floyd Landis

It was a Friday. I received unsolicited intelligence from an undisclosed source that Floyd Landis was in town. A few minutes later that intelligence was independently verified twice by two 4th-hand observers. Yes indeed "Floyd Landis is in town". My suspicion started to rise that Mr. Landis would show up at a local ride the following day. So my peeps convened via mobile-cellular technology (texting) and we decided to discretely rendezvous at the non-disclosed location the following morning at O-10-hundred hours. We arrived and waited and looked around. No sign yet. Then and after a while the one and only, 2006 Tour de France champion, Floyd Landis arrived at the location of the ride departure. There were about 20 cyclist gathered. There was no "star-struckness". I remained cool.

We were off. At times he was on my wheel. At other times I was on his wheel. We stopped at stop signs and red lights together. I heard the same voice in the paceline that I have heard on OLN and VERSUS interviews during the Tours de France. My friend (codename) "Butterscotch" unknowingly tried to run him off the road as we climbed up the short and steep Potato Gap. Floyd was boxed in as we were climbing more slowly in front of him. I blurted, "don't let him out!". We chuckled. Ha ha. There goes Floyd up the climb ahead of us. I can't hang with that. I am hurting. I hoped that I would not get dropped on this rare-opportunity ride. I dropped my chain. Oh, the team car is waiting on me. I hang on to the car as we go up a few of the short climbs. I wasn't going to get dropped. There were no officials, so pull me all the way up. Thanks! ...again, over and over....thanks!

It was like a normal ride.....a normal ride with Floyd Landis. It was pretty cool. He had yellow shoes on. He once wore a yellow jersey. Outside of Marshall, we raced a locomotive going down the tracks beside us. I witnessed Floyd waving at the train conductor. The train conductor waved back. Oh how cool, "he is normal" I thought to myself. The train blew its horn loud. I was getting dropped. I got dropped. Behind me the team car was closing in with several other cyclist drafting behind it. I "got on" and was saved from getting dropped all-together. We rode at 32 mph drafting the team car up the slight grade to catch Floyd's group. This ride would have been fun even if Floyd wasn't here. This is a good day.

My bicycle recording device gathered this elevation-distance profile. I did not take any pictures to protect the innocent. I have memories and some sore legs. It was a great ride. Now I can say that I rode with Floyd Landis. That is cool. Just another day in the Life of Frank. Let me be. Over and out!

Rory Sutherland was on the ride too. The 2008 NRC individual winner.

Cabin Build: The cement is hard and the temps are cold

The cement is poured! The rush was to get this in before the winter set in. Just in time, it was freezing cold this weekend when I visited the cabin site.

To stay warm, I set up my tarp as close as possible to the fire. It was forecasted to easily be in the 20's! I was prepared.

I built a big fire! This thing kept me very warm and it was a peaceful, clear and cold night. The moon was very bright. Made it easy to get around at night without any lights.

What a collection of strange shots.




Gotta go? This is where you go!

Cabin Build: The Last Pour

The winter is coming but the cement needs to be poured to finish the footers.

The forms are set.

The cement mix is ready.

The mixing and pouring begin.