Back from Utah

Hey,

I was bit sad knowing how much snow was falling in the mountains outside of Salt Lake City and I had to get on a plane to fly back to Wisco. I feel very fortunate to have spent 6 days in Utah and to have been able to experience some of the best skiing I’ve ever done.

Last Monday I took an early morning flight from Milwaukee. Usually there are not that many people for a 6am flight but this time the line to check in and the security check were backed up so much that I barely made my flight. Seems like there should have been a few more people working. That's just my opinion.

I don’t mean to complain but on my two flights that day I was wedged in with some rather large people. I realize we all come in all shapes and sizes but why should I have to pay for a whole seat and then literally only get to sit in ¾ of it?

While waiting for the rest of the crew to show up in SLC, Chris D. came to pick me and we went to a favorite restaurant of mine downtown SLC for some good pizza. Eventually, most of the players arrived and we headed to the condo to wait for some of the other late arrivers.

Monday night we went night skiing at Brighton. Dumping snow and good friends. The lift ride was a bit brutal but the going down was sweet.





Tuesday was the all day epic at Alta. We had deep snow in the morning with clearing skies in the afternoon. I had a great time skiing, but more importantly I got to share it the my bros. It was a great day to remember. We even got to play with some new TIMEX GPS product. I think its alright to mention it. It’s a new wrist GPS that does so much stuff it boggled my mind.



I tried to take my skirt off so I don't think I sucked too bad. I figured if I fell it wouldn't hurt too bad. I did pop out of the binding once. Luckily, the ski was not buried but it was a struggle to "sidestep" the 5 feet back uphill to retrieve it. I had a little help from a passerby. I thought it was a guy so I said something like, "Thanks dude". Then I realized it was a woman and had to backtrack and say something even dumber like, "Thanks lady", even though she was probably 20 years old. Looking back, that was also the day I used the women's bathroom by mistake. I wonder if I hit my head that day?



I must admit that my legs were hammered after Tuesday’s ski. We were all feeling it, so Wednesday was a welcome day to transfer to the Marriot downtown and rest up for another day of skiing.



While my other mates had to work the Outdoor Retailer Show, Tristan and I took advantage of the bus system to get us up to Snowbird for more powder skiing in the morning. Once again I had a blast. I wouldn’t say I’m the most accomplished alpine skier. I stay within my comfort zone that’s for sure. I can’t imagine a better feeling than skiing in snow up to your knees and linking some sweet turns together. I imagine surfing gives you a similar feeling. It’s definetly addicting and I would live in a shoe box if I could experience that on a regular basis.



After a full day of being back in Wisconsin I’m glad to be home with my own bed, kitchen, and guitars but I do miss being in the mountains and seeing everything covered in a blanket of white.

A weekend of skiing noteworthy-ness

Hey,

What a weekend it was for skiing all over the world.

Tim Burke made history again! With his 2nd place in Sunday's World Cup Biathlon race, he became the first American to podium in a Biathlon Mass Start event. He was 2nd behind the great Ole Einar Bjoerdalen of Norway. Holy Cow!

Check out the video below for a short behind the scenes video from the event. Timmy is wearing a dark blue Adidas suit. This race was in Germany wear the sport of Biathlon is huge. It is shown on primetime television and their athletes are very well known to the public. In the U.S. we have never done extremely well until now. The whole team has experienced forward momentum with new coaches and funding to help these US guys compete on the world level. It's exciting to see.

Tim Burke from J Teela on Vimeo.

In Italy, Billy Demong and another US skier, Todd Lodwick made history by placing 1 and 2 in Sunday's Nordic Combine World Cup race. Way to go Billy.

My weekend was spent in Cable Wisconsin attending the 24 Hours of Telemark. While I was not competing, I had an enjoyable time working with the set-up and tear down crew. It was not all work though. I got in plenty of skiing. Northern Wisconsin has tons of snow. It bought back memories of snowy Lake Placid winters. There were two highlights of the weekend. One was the excellent classic skiing conditions. It wasn't hard to find the right kick wax at -18 below one morning to watch the sun rise or to ski out onto the Telemark's vast network of trails at night where it was totally quite and still. The other highlight had to be cranking Hendrix's version of the Star Spangled Banner before the race start. I pegged the volume on PA system to eleven! (I'm waiting to post a video or two once my camera battery charges up so check back.)

Cheers,
DJB

Tim Burke makes history books

A native Lake Placid friend of mine, Tim Burke, has made the history books as the first U.S. biathlete to reach the top of the World Cup rankings. HUGE! I know it has been a lot of years and a lot hard work.



Here an article about Tim's latest success that appeared in the NY Times.

He Shoots, He Skis, and Europe Takes Notice

By KATIE THOMAS

As an American in the biathlon, Tim Burke is used to being overlooked by the sport’s most passionate fans.

His German and Norwegian rivals are celebrities in their home countries, where biathlon is broadcast live on television and races draw up to 30,000 spectators. In Germany, he is perhaps best known as the boyfriend of Andrea Henkel, a two-time Olympic gold medalist.

So when Burke took first place in the World Cup standings last weekend — the first time an American has ever done so — his achievement stunned the sport’s mostly European fan base.

“They’ve always been at the top of these sports,” Burke said by telephone this week from Oberhof, Germany. “I think it would be like our Olympic basketball team getting beat by the Germans. I don’t think that would sit so well at home.”

Back in the United States, however, Burke’s achievement is being hailed as the culmination of a plan hatched four years ago to transform the Americans into world-class competitors. Aided by an infusion of cash from the United States Olympic Committee, U.S. Biathlon, the sport’s governing body, has made changes as momentous as hiring a new head coach, and as seemingly trivial as tinkering with the way that athletes hold their rifles.

Now, team leaders say they are hoping that Burke’s spectacular season will propel the team within reach of an even bigger milestone: becoming the first Americans to win Olympic medals in biathlon.

“The kind of consistent, strong performance that Tim has had this season really does give us more confidence than we’ve ever had,” said Max Cobb, executive director of U.S. Biathlon. “I think what we’re seeing now is the coming together of four years of really concentrated effort.”

The move to transform the program began after the close of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, where the Americans twice came tantalizingly close to winning a medal. Jay Hakkinen was in position to win a bronze in the 20-kilometer (about 12.4 miles) individual event but missed a target by a fraction and ended up in 10th place. Then, Hakkinen briefly held first place in the team relay, but his teammates lost ground and the Americans finished ninth.

Despite the disappointing performance, the team showed promise, said Mike English, the chief of sport performance at the U.S.O.C.

“We could see they were going through some much-needed change and they had a good, credible plan,” he said.

Since 2006, the Olympic committee has increased its financing of U.S. Biathlon from about $250,000 in the year leading up to the Turin Games to $1 million this year, Cobb said. The governing body’s total revenue has increased from about $1 million to about $2 million over the same period.

One of Cobb’s first steps was to hire Per Nilsson of Sweden as head coach. Other Europeans soon joined the team, including ski technicians from Germany and the Czech Republic. Cobb also promoted Bernd Eisenbichler, a German who had been the team’s head ski technician, to high-performance director.

Nilsson said the Americans were not necessarily deficient in shooting or cross-country skiing, the sport’s two elements. “They were pretty good in both but not good enough in any of them to be up in the top,” Nilsson said. “We saw that we had some work to do, for sure.”

For Burke, the change represented a renewed opportunity to make a name for himself after a series of setbacks. In 2002, Burke had hip surgery to correct a degenerative condition that doctors warned might end his career. In 2004, he had mononucleosis and had to sit out the season. And at the Turin Games, he failed to finish in the top 30 in any of the three events in which he competed.

Burke, who is 27 and grew up outside Lake Placid, N.Y., has always excelled at skiing. But as with other members of the team, his shooting has sometimes suffered. So in April, team leaders made one final change: they hired Armin Auchentaller, the former coach of the Italian men’s team, as a shooting coach.

Auchentaller began by taking a fresh look at every movement the athletes made as they switched from cross-country skiing to shooting — a crucial moment in the race because the competitors must lower their heart rate and get into position to take five shots at a target that is 50 meters (about 164 feet) away.

Burke changed his transition routine and practiced the movements as if they were choreographed. “I practiced 100 times a day,” he said. “I was doing the transitions when I was in my apartment, with my eyes closed.”

Since Auchentaller’s arrival, the Americans have shaved off one to two seconds from each transition, an improvement that can trim as much as 15 seconds off the longest races. Those seconds can move a competitor ahead seven to eight positions.

Given the relatively simple fix, “I’m surprised the amount of teams that aren’t working on it,” Burke said. But given his success this season, he acknowledged that some teams may try to catch up. “In fact, maybe over the Christmas break,” he said.

Despite Burke’s recent success, Cobb and others caution that biathlon is a notoriously unpredictable sport. “It is akin to batting in baseball; people get on runs,” Cobb said. “It’s really not uncommon for someone to be on the podium one day and to be 35th the next day.”

That is what makes Burke’s lead in the standings so meaningful, said Eisenbichler, the high-performance director. “This was not happening after one or two races, but after seven races and after one-third of the whole World Cup season,” he said. “This was a very important step for Tim, to show that he’s a world-class biathlete.”

If you haven't seen biathlon before, try to watch it at the upcoming Olympics. With the real time graphics it can be pretty exciting to watch the shooting range action and skiing. You never know what might happen. I doubt the US coverage will show it much but who knows. Having Tim as current WC leader might change their minds to show it at 2am in the morning. HA! As always, I bet Canadian coverage on CBC will show some. If you are lucky enough to live near the border...can I come stay with you for two weeks so I can watch more than just figure skating and hockey.



Along with Tim, there are several other Lake Placid Olympic athletes I'm proud watch compete at the world class level. Watch for them! Lowell Bailey is on the biathlon team with Tim. Haley Jonhson is on the women's biathlon team. Nordic Combined World Champion Billy Demong will be there. Andrew Weibrecht in Alpine skiing. Crazy sliders Mark Grimmett and Brian Martin, Olympic silver and bronze medal winners along with six World Championship bronze medals, will compete in their fourth Olympics together, going back to 1998. It will be Grimmette’s fifth, adding Lillehammer in 1994.

Cheers,
DJB

Irondequoit

A trip home to Rochester, NY would not feel complete without poking around the "Great, Great, House of Guitars." I made my niece snap this pic on Christmas Eve after we went to church. The church I went to as a kid is conveniently located across the street. A few days later, I was back rummaging through the guitars.

BIG MARE

We had quite an enjoyable Team Sports Christmas. Mary (Known by her kids as Big Mare we found out) kept us rolling with her hilarious and true stories. We were all in agreement that she should write a book. Chapters would be titled, "The Bus Highjacking", "Roaming the french countryside looking for a wedding barbecue", "Does anyone else smell something burning on the plane", "The Margaritas were so big we almost missed our cruise ship." The stories went on and on without much PC editing either.

Merry Christmas,
DJB

What the....

Does my new haircut make my ears look bigger?

I invite you...

I invite you to leave a comment. I'm not sure anyone else other than Chris Davidson reads this anymore. If I'm only writing for Davidson, then that makes it feel like a bro-mance and that's not what I'm going for here. HA!

Thanks for reading Chris!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS,

DJB

Have A Rockin' Holiday Season

I made an effort to decorate at the office a bit. Can't you tell? The Christmas lights I put up around the desk. Nice Huh?


Jingle Bell ROCK! Happy Holidays!

Real Riding

Hey there,

Check out this video of Amsterdam. Where riding bikes is expected for getting around. Young people all the way to older folks. Pretty girls on bikes too.

GO ON THE BIKE!!!!!!!!!!



DJB

No more summer- Kona memories

i've been back from kona for 10 days. Summer seems like it's gone for 2009. Milwaukee has been mostly grey and cool. Here's looking back a few more images from the trip.


Of course the obligatory sunset-from-the-balacony photo. Every year I post the exact same photo. That tells you something about the weather there. It's always the same for the most part. It must be boring to be the local weather man.



This year was the first time I've ridden the course up to the Havi turnaround point. No that's not my bike I'm holding. I wouldn't be riding a tri-bike. Riding the course gave us all a new perspective on the race. In a car you don't notice the undulations in the road. It's not exactly flat. This ride was one of my top 20 rides I've done. We didn't turn around in Havi but took the right which climbs and climbs and climbs and climbs. Right Keith? While it was not actually my birthday that day, I considered it my b-day ride. To me, there is no other way to celebrate a birthday than a ride with good friends. I don't really care for typical birthday celebrations. Thanks to Brett, "the Schultz", and Special K for being there with your bikes this year. We got to do it again next year in the other direction maybe.


The beach. Playing in the waves turns you into an instant 8 year old. Until that huge wave comes along to pumble you into the sand.


Would you believe this bike received a lot more attention than expected. It's a small replica of our team bikes that Mark Andrews from Trek made as a side project for his 6 year daughter. He showed me pictures of her OCLV singlespeed bike too. What a cool dad and what a cool job.


Now you must remember this is what we do for a living. I was working in Kona. For example, networking is a popular activity in our industry. It might look like an evening spent next to the ocean with an open bar and delicious finger food but its getting the job done. Are we witnessing a big deal going down here? Brian from Sugoi, Bill from WTC, and the boss from Team Sports.


See! I'm working race morning along with Chris Davidson (Zoot Sports)


Women's Champ, Chrissie Wellington, at the finish line that night greeting Ironman finishers. Some of those people were shocked to get that honor. Class act!


The Champs. Craig Alexander and Chrissie Wellington.



Timex Athletes are class act folks too.

Mahalo for reading,

DJB

Ironman Spirit

Hey,

Spending my last night in Kona. It's been a nice trip again. Sometimes I have to remind myself that even though I'm working it's not all bad. I could be sitting in an office somewhere pushing papers around. I'm pretty blessed to work with some great friends. I was going through some videos I took of the finish line and thought I'd share some with you before I left the island.

The Ironman is not like many others races. In many ways it is really much more than who won and who was the fastest. Many people have no dreams of winning but doing the best they can with what the day gives them. The whole family atmosphere is addicting. Especially the last three hours of the race.


A huge crowd assembles around the finish line to cheer on the remaining finishers that have been out there for 15, 16, and 17 hours. Its electric I tell ya!


I know of no other type of race that cheers on the last official finisher. The cutoff is 17 hours and this guy was brought home by the cheering crowd with less than a minute to spare.


While some may not make the official cutoff time, the Ironman family of finishers will still cheer for you. Wow! This guy was the winner of the "Biggest Loser" tv show and wanted to prove to himself he could do an Ironman.


Some folks push themselves to the limit just to finish. What other event are you greeted by a world champion at midnight? Craig Alexander and Chrissy Wellington were the big pro winners that day and both showed up to honor the heart and soul of the Ironman spirit. For several hours they placed finishing leis around athletes necks. It was awesome to see people's expressions as they were presented with a lei and hug from Chrissy. Many couldn't believe their eyes that she was taking the time to care about their finish. They both seem to be class acts.


The island spirit is all over the island. You can sense it all week, so it is fitting to end the race day with a prayer. Thousands of people in hushed silence and reflection on what the day has been. For the athletes it might have been about their personal race and what it took to get there. Families reflecting on loved ones support. New friendships formed in the heat of battle. It is really something that is good in the world... this Ironman stuff.


Just in case you didn't follow it race day here is Chrissie's finish line.

Alright then. Off to bed. i'll have some more Kona pictures sometime this week to post up so check back again.

Aloha! Mahalo!

Read Linsey's blog by clicking right here

Kona has been hot. You pretty much stand around in the expo hoping to catch an ocean breeze. Any sort of breeze will do.

Here is a humorous blog entry from Linsey Corbin. She and her husband Chris are some of the best people I know and she has a great perspective on being a pro triathlete. I even made her photo montage. Click on my blog entry title. Yes, the one proclaiming in green letters to click here. I couldn't figure out how to make the link work but somehow I did it so you click on the blog title.

While I'll be cheering for many people on race day, Linsey is one gal we will be rooting for to have a great day out there.

MAHALO!

DJB

KONA BOUND

Aloha! Heading off to Hawaii. Land of great sunsets and daily Lava Java Milkshakes. This will be my office view for the week.

Something Different For A Change

Hey,

I've been trying to update for quite awhile now. I think I'll have to just start with this past weekend and at some point go back to the other stuff from the past few months. I should have a ton of photos to share from Utah and Colorado.

I got the call a few weeks ago to help Chris Jones while in town this past weekend for the Cyclocross Grand Prix in Madison. It was a pleasure to work with Chris. A true professional and a good friend.

Working the cross race was fun since it was not the same old routine I'm used to. As far as cross races go it was pretty easy for a mechanic. Typical weather for cross is mud and cold but this past weekend was relatively nice. Saturday was dry and warm. It rained a bit just before the men's race on Sunday which changed the conditions a bit but it wasn't soupy.



Cyclocross News was interested in the Focus bikes.


Chris rides Focus for the cross season. Focus is starting to make in-roads to the U.S. market.


Mechanic and Chris "Money" Jones.


For my techy friends out there, can you detect a modification to the brake to achieve some toe in with the brake pads?



Here is a little taste of the past. Back in August (I think) I stopped for the night in Boulder, CO and stayed with friends. Although my stay was less than 24 hour, it's always nice to be able to visit Boulder and get a ride in.

If you look up "cool" in the dictionary you might find a picture of Erin Kummer. She ROCKS! As a plus there was enough room to drop the truck in her neighborhood which is sometimes hard to do when you want to crash with friends.







Cheers,
DJB

Uncool Storm

Hi,

I have tons of photos and vids to show sometime. Coming soon. Here is a little craziness from today.

STAY TUNED for the biggest and best update.






DJB

Ah Bend

More from Bend

A NICE SCULPTURE TO RUN ACROSS OUT ON THE TRAILS


SKELETOR LOG




MOVING THROUGH THE PELOTON TO THE BREAK

Hey there,

Here is a quick re-cap of the last two weeks. Drove from Milwaukee to Bend, OR for the Cascade stage race. Long drive. Interstate driving is pretty uneventful so I decided to take highway 12 from Missoula, MT through Idaho on over to Oregon. That was a very scenic drive but it took me all day to drive only 400 miles as it was a twisty two lane highway through the mountains. Not sure if I'd do that again in the truck.

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Route 12 somewhere in Idaho.

I love coming to Bend. Always meet great people here. The race went well except for those darn Shimano shifters that keep crapping out. Fortunately, Ryan at Shimano Neutral helped me out with a couple of new ones while I try to bring them back to life.


Caravan Life


Hotel Life

Enjoying some time in Bend to do as much mountain biking as I can. Linsey Corbin hooked me up with her parents, Tom and Betty Pickell, so I've had a free place to stay and sleep. Hot weather here so trying to stay in the trees as much as the trails allow. Water, water, water!


Thanks Linsey! You Rock!


Riding the Deschutes River Trail in Bend, OR. Benham Falls then Bonking Falls.

Catching Up A Little

I should have a lot more of this and that to update soon. For now I wanted to see if this might upload okay. It's from the Quebec City stage at the Tour de Beauce. I apologize for Gord's french. Enjoy the behind the scenes and the view from my "office".



Ah what the heck! I'll take a break from gluing some tubulars to update for all my loyal peeps! On my way back from Quebec I stopped for a sweet ride on the Kingdom Trails in East Burke, Vermont. All I can say is I needed another 3 days to ride more of the trails. I've often read about this place in magazines. They don't lie. If you are on the east go there soon. Tons of east coast singletrack. My 5 second movie does it no justice. This particular part was more hairy than it looks. It was slick and rooty with a big drop-off to my left. REALLY IT WAS TRICKY ONCE I GOT PAST THE CAMERA!


This picture of me and Gwen is from April. I stayed with Candice and Dave in Tucson and got to become pretty good pals with Gwen. A real cutie!



Got to love the front door parking. Early bird gets the worm. The overhang kept me out of the rain but my location meant that every hotel guest walked by and asked questions. I don't mind really, but if you choose to ask me if I can leave one behind for you or if they are for rent or some other witty remark don't expect a big guffaw from me as I hear that one about 3 times a day. If you are a bike racer and ask nicely chances are I can diagnose your problem. I had a blast helping out quite a few athletes that were at the race without their normal support or are a category racer and were blown away that I could help them out.


My pal Shane is starting to build some stringed instruments. I'm in awe. My stay with Athena and Shane wetted my desire to attempt bulding a guitar of my own sometime. This is the Telecaster style he made. In the evening we spent several hours "jamming" with 5 of us. Who knows if it was any good but probably one of the best times I've had. I was bummed when we went to bed. I could have stayed up all night. So much fun was had. Shane and Athena are like that. Good friends you can start right up where you last left off. I haven't seen them in more than a year. Maybe even two.



I joined Athena and Andrew at the station. They volunteer at a community radio station in Massachusettes where they live. We had another good time talking about being a Pro mechanic, Lance at the Tour, why Frank SInatra is cool and even got to bring in some tunes to play. I was impressed that their local station is all volunteer. They feel strongly about acting locally to bring about change. I have cool friends.


MY MOM!!!!! Enjoys her card night. I was told she is quite the shark. It was good to see my mom for a bit and visit her new home. It was a big change for her, but she seems to be getting into the groove and able to enjoy herself at some of the activities.

Cheers,
DJB



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