I’ve been hanging out up in Cable WI since racing in Des Moines. I’m heading up to Marquette Michigan to start my MTB season. I’ve going to race Ore 2 Shore on Saturday. It is a mass start, 48 mile point to point race from Negaumee (where the first iron ore was discovered in 1844) to Marquette, which is on the shore of Lake Superior.

I’ve been riding my MTB on single track some. I can’t believe how sore my arms, back and butt are, once again. It seems like I’d be way past that point by now. Guess not. I have no idea what to expect for this race. I haven’t done a real MTB race in quite a while. I’m not going that great, but I wouldn’t throw my chip back as of now. I am pretty close to being able to go fast, but it doesn’t seem to be accessible at this moment. Hopefully it will be by Saturday.

I raced Ore to Shore a long time ago. I’m not even sure of the year, but it was probably close to a decade ago. I was 2nd to Jeff Hall. I sprinted with Brent Brookwalter, now BMC honcho. The race has a bunch of sand, which makes it tough. It is raining right now here in Cable, so hopefully it is dumping in the Upper Peninsula, making the sand more ride-able.

I did the local club ride from New Moon yesterday. When I got there, it seemed like it would going to be fairly tame, judging by the riders. About 20 or so started out pretty quickly. And we didn’t slow down much. I was kind of looking for an easier ride, to rest my achy bones, but I got into it. The roads are so smooth here and the climbs are gentle, so it is easy to go fast. Just a small group of us got back to Hayward together and we had nearly a 22 mph average for around 40 miles. Pretty surprising.

I have to mess with my MTB bike some today. I got some Challenge MTB tubular tires, but don’t have enough glue to attach them. I need to get more. I doubt I’ll race them this weekend, but I’m interested in seeing how durable they are. It’s a good day to work on bikes, since it looks to be raining all day.

The single track is pretty great here.

A Challenge 29’r MTB tubular tire.

Pretty good tread pattern.

This little guy has been swimming around in Dennis’ hot tub the last couple days. He is very cute.

I have no idea how he handles the 100+ degree water and chemicals.

He has very sticky little fingers.

Filippo Pozzato has been hanging out in Africa (training at altitude in Kenya, which is questionable enough) and is very unhappy about not going to the Olympics. He didn’t get to go to the Olympics because he was using Dr. Ferrari when he wasn’t supposed to. His story about seeing him was only for training and that he never “hid” when he visited the doctor. “Others dressed in black when they went to him so they wouldn’t be seen, but I didn’t. I never hid anything.”

Here’s the deal. If you’re a professional cyclist that has already served a timeout for doping, maybe you shouldn’t go visit a doctor that you know other people are “dressed in black” to visit. I can see it now in the waiting room, all these people dressed head to toe in black, maybe even completely covered like Muslim women, not speaking to each other, eyes facing the floor.

Then Filippo goes on to comment about the recent doping scandal in Italy by the race walker, Alex Schwazer, who was a visitor to Dr. Ferrari too. His statement here was, “I’m sorry for Alex, but my case has nothing to do with his.” Wow, he is sorry for Alex? How about being outraged that Alex would take the Olympic spot of someone else and then get kicked out for doping. He stole a life experience from another athlete. It is criminal. And Pazzato is sorry for the guy. Bad answer.

Anyway, my advise to Filippo is that maybe he should just do his volunteer work at 2000 meters in Kenya and shut the f#%& up. He would be much better off in the PR department.

Last time I looked, Filippo only had the partial fish on his back. I’m glad he added the nice phrase over his carp. It looks great.