matts cycling blog

Sea otter 2.0

2007-04-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

2006-12-08T04:02:00.000-08:00

Pretty solid week, lifted 3 times so far, probably go again today. Riding has been good I've put a good 12 hours in so far, and still have a few rides planned for the weekend.
Averaged 280 watts for spin class this week no idea if thats good or not.

bad luck

2005-12-07T16:21:00.000-08:00

Hello all,
First off I would like to thank Jeremey and Team Wisconsin for all there support in my trip to Rhode Island. Now to the bad news, the chain stay on my cross bike is pretty much cracked in half. I'm not sure how it happened maybe when I crashed at montrose? I could deffinatly tell something was not feeling right though on my ride today. The trip is almost for sure not going to happen.....

cx nats

2005-11-29T18:16:00.000-08:00

I decided last minute to make the trip out to Rhode Island for cyclo cross nats. I've been running alot and i'm still quick on the bike. So hopefully I will do well.

Ouch!

2005-11-22T09:49:00.000-08:00

Hi Matt,

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the fine reports from the Tour de l’Abitibi have finally caught up with you. I see here that the exalted chief commissaire, Claude Deschaseaux fined you 30 Swiss Francs during the event. We have paid the UCI on your behalf and now need to be reimbursed. That amounts to $27 in American dollars. Please contact me about paying this. Thanks.

Shawn Farrell

Technical Director

Our fearless leader

2005-11-21T21:36:00.000-08:00

Double Weekend

2005-11-21T08:11:00.000-08:00

The chicago cross race on saturday was rough. I only raced b's, because I had to get back for the wca banquet. Aaron slipped off the front and no one chased. So, it was a win for team wisconsin. I ended sprinting for 2nd with a Joe farris never heard of him. I got cocky and went to early into the win and he nipped me at the line.
Sunday was the wisconsin state title race. I had the jrs race first. Which was a little bit harder then it normally is. I went hard from the start trying to gap everyone and then ease up and rest for the senoirs race. I ended up getting a 30 second lead and held it there for the rest of the race. Another State jersey YEAH! The B race was Extremely tough. There was an alan guy from out of state who pushed the pace super hard from the start. Jack Hirt and myself were the only ones who got lucky and were able to bridge up. By Mid race we had a 45 second gap. I was hanging on for dear life. Not wanting jack to win the overall or the state title. Gasping for air I finally popped with half a lap to go.... Jack won the jersey, but all was not lost. I stopped a foot before the line so tom got 3rd and myself 4th. So Tom should win the overall by 5 points. I got an earfull from some of jacks friends his "goons" as I call them now haha. They weren't to happy about the move I pulled stopping before the line, but thats team work you gotta do what you gotta do to win.

Super IQ

2005-11-16T13:02:00.000-08:00

So... Way to cold to ride today. It was snowing on my way home from school, scary. I got bored, and took the super IQ test and got a 100 so that sucks. Jeremey is 31 points ahead of me. Anyway last night I went for my first run of the year, ran out to pets and back. All together about 6 miles, my knees didn't hurt so that was cool. Might go do it again tonite since im to lazy to ride.

chi cx #4

2005-11-13T20:07:00.000-08:00

So just a recap of the race today. The course was awsome 3/4 of it was rolling "real single track no sissy stuff with a couple berms thrown in. I got the hole shot into the single track and railed the pace. Pete stanilous came up and rode the 2nd section like a mad man but tripping over a baricade took out his chances early in the race. So I led the race in the single track getting a small lead each lap only to be chased down on the open windy rough sections. About 30 min into the 45 minute race I decided to give it a go and ripped through the tight stuff opening a 10 second gap before the open section. I pushed hard and opened up a sizable lead enough to hold off a hard charging Kip Spaude.
It felt good to get a win again after losing saturday. Damn those stairs.

Damn those stairs..

2005-11-06T17:34:00.000-08:00

2005-11-06T17:28:00.000-08:00

2005-11-06T17:05:00.000-08:00

Estabrook park cyclo

2005-11-06T15:12:00.000-08:00

Today was the Washington Park cyclo cross race. Right next to the wonderful milwaukee river. The course dried out alot after all the flooding in there. It ended up being very tacky the kinda mud you hate. Just makes it so tiring and slow. Anyways on to the race. I got in a top 5 spot right from the gun following Tom straight to the front. The 2nd lap I got on the front and let my "mad skillz" do the work. Bunny hopping the barrairs on the backside of the course and opening a small gap. It was really early in the race, but i decided to see what happened and pushed hard to open up the gap. The gap kept getting bigger and bigger I had at least 20 seconds at one point. Jack Hirt somehow got away from the chase group and bridged up to me. He caught me and we started working together. Our gap exploded it got bigger and bigger each lap. Lap after lap dragged by finally after 14 laps they rang the bell. I tried to pull the same move again like on saturday bunny hopping the last set of barrairs, but I didn't get a gap this time and jack was right on my wheel. I knew it was to late to sit up so I just put my head down and hammered. I took the inside of the final corner forcing him to try and come around me on the outside. He came around but just a little to late. I got it by a wheel length.
Tom ended up 4th, Aaron was 7th I think? Patti took 2nd in the womens A's she was prolly still a lil tired after winning that 1100 dollar frame saturday.

You know you're having a bad day when...

2005-11-06T05:53:00.000-08:00

2005-11-05T21:05:00.000-08:00

chi cross

2005-11-05T20:18:00.000-08:00

The Best race ever? I think so. It was a great course 2 sets of barriars 1 hill run up and even a ditch jump. The B's race was up first. I got the hole shot, but let it go in the first grass section grabbing 2nd wheel. 2 albertos riders rode a very hard tempo with in a lap I was the only one left with them. I thought I was gonna die. One of them would block me and the other one would attack getting a gap and leaving me to close it everytime. They did this most of the race one of them would rest and the other would attack me. Just as I was about to bonk barely even being able to see straight. They rang the bell for 1 lap to go. I had a plan going into it. It was perfect a small sand trap before a set of double barrairs dead flat. I fought to get into the front for this section. It was almost as if it were a game of chicken who would grab the brakes first? We were side by side going into the sand pit. The other guy freaked out and grabbed the brakes. I had it I perfectly hopped the barrairs and opened a 100 foot gap right away. I had a huge grin on my face as I cruised across the line taking the win.
The Jr race was kewl I rode around bunny hopped the barriars showed off a bit. I picked up a sweet pc 89 sram chain for the win.

Stickers

2005-11-02T15:26:00.000-08:00

Well today was interisting Steve and I went to this place called "signs by tommarow" how ironic the name.... We ordered up some stickers with our names on them Steve only wanted 2, and you had to buy a minimum of 20 dollars worth so I ended up buying 38 stickers that say Brandt on them with the Italian flag. Should be pretty cool when there done sometime next week.
After that we hooked up with Dave and went for a couple hour ride on the road. Wonder if anyone went to pets today?

Washington park cyclo

2005-10-30T20:25:00.000-08:00

Well I took the jrs pretty easy just working on getting to know the course I bunny hopped a 3 set of barriars up the hill pretty tough I think I was the only person who was able to do it.

The b's were pretty tough really flat so a big group of 10 or so stayed together for the first half the race. I picked up the pace for a lap or so, but i decided to sit up and relax for a bit. A rider from albertos picked up the pace he was super strong but made the mistake of pulling the whole race. The lead group kept getting smaller and smaller. From 10 to 7 to 5 then to 4. With a lap and a half to go a touch of wheels going into the barrairs sent myself and another rider sprawling to the ground. I was pissed my saddle was sideways, bars twisted, spokes bent, brakes rubbing and my chain was off. I just hopped back on and pedaled as hard as I could. I barely bridged back on with less than a lap to go. The other guy that crashed never made it back. With half a lap to go Damon Rinard put a daring attack in before the last set of barriars. Tom was on his wheel instantly. I was behind the Albertoes guy who was totally blown. I flew around him and bridged up to Damon, meanwhile bender attacked damon and got a pretty good gap I sat on damon until the road section then attacked him hard. Instantly I was gone, shifted down to the 12 and hammered across the gap to Tom. I latched on his wheel at the end of the pavement, rite before the downhill 200 meter downhill grass section to the finish. I went way wide on the corner which cost me a bit but I had just enough time at the end to grab the win by a couple inches.
Another Team Wisconsin 1,2

2005-10-26T17:22:00.000-07:00

Rode for 4 hours and 15 minutes today....

chi cross

2005-10-24T10:09:00.001-07:00

actually making it without crashing

and the one that went wrong....

2005-10-23T19:33:00.000-07:00

Won the b's for the first time ever. 35 bucks nice.
6th in the b's today hopped the barriars first lap got a huge gap. Crashed hopping it the next lap bridged back up to the lead group, then dropped my chain the next lap. Lost pace with the lead group. Ended up 6th got good at hopping all the barrairs though pics of my wicked crashes and my mad skills later tonite.

New blog

2005-10-21T14:19:00.000-07:00

Seems like everyone is getting a blog these days. Heres a cool one of the adventures of up and coming jr racer Thomson Remo.

Remo's blog

Went out to pets again today for a couple hours build another giant log pile. Anyway headed out to cam-rock tommarow for the cyclo cross race should be fun.

Riding

2005-10-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

I went out to pets today and did a few hours before the group ride. Got about 4 hours of ride time in. Looking to put another 4 in tommarow. To tired to talk maybe post something tommarow....

2005-10-17T08:04:00.000-07:00

Cross race sunday was awsome. Very twisty, technical course with a sand run across a volley ball court and a log run up. I easily won the jrs just kinda screwing around saving all my energy for the catigory B race. I won a pedro bike clean kit for my hard efforts. Who knows maybe i'll clean my bike once in a while now.
The b's race was awsome my plan going into it was to shred the field for Tom and Aaron. I got the hole shot and went to work right away with setting a hard pace. I let it all hang out around the corners never touching the breaks. Through the downhill section I gained maybe 100 yards so I just kept riding. Reeling me back was a group of 3 including Tom, Jack Hirt I think, and Kip Spaude. Tom went to the front and set the pace for most of the race. He got a gap on one of the run ups and I went straight to the front and rode a false tempo on the open section then rode super slow through the tight sections. In less than a mile Tom got a 30 second gap. Jack finally relized what I was doing and tried to bridge the gap. I just sat on his wheel for the last lap and a half. He closed it down to 20 seconds, but wasn't able to get across with half a lap to go it was just Jack and I. Kip falling off on one of the hills. It was a uphill road sprint into the wind with a section off grass right before the line. I attacked him 300 yards out or so and he got on my wheel. I pushed hard I went a lil early but ended up beating him by 6 inches or so. So team wisconsin ended up 1,2 again with aaron crashing in the first laps and ending up 6th.

DPRT

2005-10-12T21:18:00.000-07:00

Did about 3 hours today.... Tommarow out to pets after school to get a few hours in before the group ride....

Sheboygan

2005-10-10T08:10:00.000-07:00

Well....
For the first mile and a half or so I thought I had a decent shot at a good finish. I had a good start for once. I was inbetween Jeremey and Bender sitting pretty good just soft pedaling the first mile. Coming into Napoliens jump #40 Justin Salzmen I think is his name tried to pass me as we went off the jump, and twisted my bar in mid air causing me to crash. Some people are incredibly dumb screwing someone's race over just to gain 1 spot. Needless to say I lost at least 20 spots. I just said whatever and decided to immediately get into a rhythm instead of joining up in the first lap rush for position. Several more people passed me, but coming into the end of the 1st lap I started to gain a lot on people picking 10-15 people off in half a lap. Coming up the gravel climb I stood up. I was powering up it just flying when all of a sudden I hear a clunk I slam forward on my bike racking both my knees into the bar. I just sat there for a while, but sometimes good things happen when you just sit and watch. My buddy #40 dropped his chain up the climb the next lap through racking himself in literally the same spot I did. After having a nice point and laugh. I picked myself up and rode back to get changed.

Needless to say my bike is on ebay. So if you know anyone who would be interested in buying it forward them the link.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7188713465&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1

cross #1

2005-10-02T19:29:00.000-07:00

Yo today was the first cross race of the year. I was excited at the jrs race in the morning Kip and aaron were there so I knew it would be a tough race. They have some weird rule with cross racing ages so aaron and kip got kicked out of the race. So, it was me vs a bunch of 14 year olds. I just kinda hung out and cruised around saving it for the b's race. Wow I won musta been my lucky #4 plate. Cole wasn't there so I get to ride around with it for another week. YAY!
The b's race was cool I easily made the group barely even trying sitting 3rd or 4th wheel. I went to the front and picked up the pace. Narrowing it down to a lead group of 4 or 5. I knew some of the guys were quick starters and would drop off pretty quick. Within a lap it was Kip Spaude, Ron, Bender, and myself. I started to struggle and imediatly knew something was wrong I fell off the lead group just as aaron caught on. I look down and I see my rear tire sagging. Race over....
I'm kinda bummed, but overall I'm happy I was quick on my remounts which is something I struggled with last year. 2 weeks to the next race. Hopefully a new set of tires and some slime tubes will help keep me from flatting.

kettle

2005-10-01T18:24:00.000-07:00

Went out to kettle to get comfortable on the cross bike before sunday. Pretty crazy stuff flying down some of the hills there. I made all the climbs on the orange loop.
38x25 all the way. Other than that nothing else to talk about. I'm pretty comfortable on the bike, and it feels really fast. So, it should be a good race tommarow..

2005-09-28T19:55:00.000-07:00

Got some sweet new pedals for cross. I'm hoping they come before sunday.

Coles DQ #2

2005-09-28T18:03:00.000-07:00

Hmmmm, where to begin? Well I start with, I am totally disgusted with most mountain bikers posting on the wors board. Riders who don't even live in the state are talking crap about Cole. My question is how do you even know what happened where you even close to what happened? What I'd really like to know is what you all think of me after I was accused of cheating after alterra? Please tell me seems like the same situation to me. We both were accused of cheating everyone thought we cheated. No disrespect meant to anyone I look up to alot of mountain bikers who think that Cole cheated. So I'd like to know what some of you think about alterra, and that predicament I was in.

sunburst

2005-09-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

I finished a mtb race. I stayed with cole for half a mile after he flatted, cut the course, washed his bike, shined his shoes, and brushed his teeth. OOoooOO just a reminder to everyone, when its muddy you should put mud tires on. After cole got dq-ed i got a first place medal. YAY I feel like a winner again 1st place. Anyway I got the cross bike ready. So I can smoke Jeremey tonite at the ride. The question is, should i put coles number plate on the cross bike to look cool or not? O by the way cole I have you're number plate. I ride around the neighborhood with it on to look cool. Any way looking forward to this weekend. Fall color saturday. Then cross race sunday. I'll be breaking out my size small team wisconsin skin suit. O YEAH!!

Mtb

2005-09-15T18:39:00.000-07:00

Hey,
Just an update of what i've been doing lately. Tuesday I went out to pets after school, and rode a few race pace laps. I felt pretty quick and with a few adjustments to my bike thanks to cole and the cool factor. I lowered the front end something to do with lower center of gravity idk but i'm rocking on the single track now. I dont even have to think about it anymore i just go now smooth as butter. Wensday I went out on the road bike for a quick 20 mile time trail. I felt good putting out alot of power easily with out getting tired. Today Aaron and I went out to pets again after i got out of school. Just cruised around for a bit. Then met up with jeremey and the mini goats. Had a good ride gage wiped out hardcore but got right back up and tried it again. Mitch made most of the big climbs he has tremendous potential hes gonna go a long way if he keeps at it. Well anyway looking foward to this weekend I'll be doing the parkside crit for jrs then heading out to try and protect my overall position for the 1,2 wca series . Hope to see ya there.
matt

DPRT fiasco

2005-09-07T18:42:00.000-07:00

Well tonite starting out being easy, but things dont always last. The jack hammer was firing on a cylinders. It took all my energy to stay on his wheel. B-dog flatted in the first 10 miles or so, but he put a new tube in and we got rolling again. The last 9 miles were insanely hard it started pouring i could barely see all i could see was the outline of the trail. Jack and I just wanted to get out of the rain so we hammered out the last 9 miles. Jeremey flatted the spiffy 29 er single speed he was riding with 7 miles, but finished it out strong. It stopped raining about halfway through my rode home so it turned out to be a decent ride 4 hours give or take. Anyone up for the speed record next week?

2005-09-04T21:46:00.000-07:00

Anyone wanna ride this week?

Illinois crit

2005-09-04T12:36:00.000-07:00

Yestarday cole and I drove down to some crit in chicago. I was totally ghetto glass every where on the course. The course was easy mostly flat no turns just graduall stuff around a lake. In the jrs Cole and I worked together and double teamed the other jrs attacking them. I got away for a lap then got caught. Cole attacked and easily got away. I attacked the group until they started giving us priems so i just kept getting those. Cole ended up lapping us I won the field sprint taking 3rd. I let a jr rider go just being content with taking priem after priem.
The 1,2 race was awsome. I felt like getting a good work out in. Roughly 40 riders showed up racing for 1000 dollars over 15 places. I attacked on the 2nd lap, and got away 1 other rider came with me, we easily put 30 seconds into the field. They brang us back 15 minutes in, but they never fully closed the gap and our advantage stretched out again. About 25 min in endevour decided theyd had enough of the break, and there 4 riders just pushed the pace and brang us back. After we got caught 5 riders countered. Getting a good lead. I waited a lap then bridged up taking one other rider with me. We caught the break in a lap or so sat on and starting pushing the break. I look back and i see cole latch on also to the break. So we had 8 or 9 guys in the break 3 of them were endevour. So our chances of making the break work were good. Every thing was going well until about 20 min to go some of the riders started getting shelled. So the break got narrowed down to 6. 2 riders got away. Then it was me cole and some other masters dude. We had about 16 laps to go. So we just started pulling, we kept our gap on the field. Then with 2 to go cole and i started attacking the other rider with us. He was a strong rider and kept with us. We stopped working together and pretty much sat around with 1 to go. Out of nowhere anther endevour rider bridged from the pack to us and imeddiatly attacked our group. Getting a decent gap. I waited not wanting to chase him and have everyone else on my wheel then get screwed over at the finish. I jumped on a small rise in the last stretch. I thought i had the sprint of our group easily taken when i hear a whoosh whoosh, and cole is coming up on me in the last 10 feet. I clicked it down anther gear, and took him by a few inches. He and i got 4th and 5th out of a tough field. Not bad for a couple 17 year olds. We each took home over 100 bucks on the day. I got 7 or 8 priems on the day. Which included a set of the 180 gram maxxis tires, 15 maxxis tubes, maxxis t-shirt, Vision quest t-shirt and 2 cycling caps, and 2 boxes of clif bars.

bummer

2005-09-01T19:37:00.000-07:00

Well I had a ride to the gateway cup, but people keep holding me back. I'm really bummed/pissed I wanted to go so bad, but ya need cash to make the wheels go round. In times like these theres only one thing to do... Go beat the crap out of oursleves for 6 hours. Anyone up for a long ride saturday morning?

DPRT

2005-09-01T16:37:00.000-07:00

I'll I have to say is wow we were flying. I felt like getting a good workout in so I attacked alot after about 3 miles. No one chased me at first just let the tandem reel me back in after a mile or so. After a few attacks it was pretty much a free for all. Everyone attacking eachother, it never let up all day. I was pretty happy to make it back to the 8 mile to go mark where we usally call a truce, and cruise in. All of a sudden aaron b-dog and jerry are attacking. It got shattered from there Jack and I did a lil team tt effort and got away closely followed by donny k. and aaron. Jeremey did an awsome riding spin tuck draft spin tuck draft all day. Looks like a lil kid riding a bmx bike just spinning away. It was easily the fastest dprt ever 48 miles in 2 hours 12 minutes I heard? It felt great to finally blow off some steam after all this sandbagger/cheater shit. I will be back at wors firing on all cylinders ready to fly. The question is comp or expert? Gears or single speed?