November 22, 2009  A big weekend for Vicious Cycle, we were all over the map.  Cory, Dale, and Scott were in Tucson Arizona for El Tour De Tucson.  They ripped some pretty fast times for 109 miles too.  Cory 4:30, Dale and Scott 4:50.  Kelly was also in Arizona, however he was in Phoenix to compete in his 3rd? Ironman this season  (I lost count how many)  Kelly wrapped up the whole thing in a scant 12:08!  While all these guys were sipping margaritas in flip flops under the sun, Rene and I were braving a winter storm in Coeur d' Alene Idaho.  Cyclocross of course!  The course was snowy and covered in giant slush puddles.  Rene took off at 12:30 where she put her mtb skills to work in the Womens B class.  After 35 minutes of "real cx action" Rene finished in 4th place.  I started at 1:30 in the Men A division were I had a slow start but... ok I had a slow finish too, but I did finish, and am pretty happy to say that.  And did I mention it was COLD!  This being the final race of the series we all gathered at a local pub for overall awards and prizes.  Emde's do a great job putting this series together, big thanks to them!  




November 8, 2009 Ephrata the Dark: Woohoo!  Inland Northwest Cyclocross Series Round 6: Super Duper Woohoo!  What else can I say, it was a great weekend.  Thanks to all that helped make it happen and all the participants.  Check out the the youtube vid 


October 18, 2009  Lots of bikin' this weekend.  We started out with a nice ride from the bike shop Saturday morning.  Saturday night was the much anticipated Darkside ride.  Cory, Dale, and myself, met up with John, Charity, Carson, David, Kelly, and Scott.  The Vicious Cycle crew was in full effect!  It was 18 miles of mud and gnar, as if Mission Ridge trail wasn't technical enough dry.  Despite our best efforts we all walked away unharmed.  At the lodge we enjoyed a full spread courtesy of Garlini's Ristorante... and donuts courtesy of Charity.  Sunday, after shaking off the mud, Cory and I made our was to the 2nd round of the cyclocross series in Liberty Lake.  The course was great with a lot of variety, nice steep run-up (ouch) some high speed dirt road, twisty grassy corners, sand, they even ran a section of course into the lake!  How's that for a weekend of cycling goodness.  Now, think the Monday night boys will go easy on me?


October 10, 2009  Weekend update:  Went for a lonely and cold ride Saturday morning from the bike shop, where the heck were you guys!?  Then spent the rest of the day, still lonely and cold, at the bike shop.  Sunday morning I hit the first of the Inland NW Cyclocross Series in Coeur D' Alene.  Great weather and a beautiful location made for a good time, not to mention all the elbow banging cx action!  This cross racing is a ton of fun, whether your interested in racing or just spectating you got to check it out.  I'm planning to do the series which runs every weekend through the end of November, anyone want to tag along?  Next up the Darkside ride, Saturday the 17th!
Photo credit: Brooklynn Maedke

October 4, 2009  Just got back from the Fall Bike Festival up near Winthrop and had a blast...well ok, other than the whole bike racing part of it, it was a blast.  Went up with Cory and Dale and Steve and Kerri.  The weather was perfect and the course was beautiful as expected.  I discovered that my new rigid 29er is a kick to ride, just not to race, so a new race bike may be in my future (don't tell my wife).  Cory won, although got some nice gravel road rash in the process, and Dale learned how to carry a seat pack in his mouth for 10 miles.  Afterwards we all hit the Twisp River Pub for a bite to eat and cold refreshment.  The next big thing is the Darkside ride up at Mission Ridge.  It is a mountain bike night ride that takes place Sat. Oct. 17.  I would say this is my favorite event of the year without a doubt.  The ride, the food, the beverages, all top notch.  We will be filling up as many Suburbans as we can to get everyone there.


Sept. 13, 2009  I have perma-grin from this weekend's ride, I can't help it, it was that good!  Most of us got to the Silver Falls campground either Thursday evening or sometime Friday.  We got in a nice little warm up ride on Friday, just a taste of what was to come.  On Saturday morning part of the group shuttled while others peddled to the trailhead.  Once at the Klone Peak trailhead we began the relentless climb up switch back after switch back to the top of 6800' Klone Peak.  From there it was absolutely beautiful swoopy singletrack, past two little lakes, and to tommy creek trail.  At that point we had to pay for some of that beautiful singletrack with a few more climbs that hurt a little bit but nothing an espresso gel can't handle.  Down the Tommy Creek trail was rippin fast singletrack with switchbacks and a few stream crossings all under the shade of trees.  By the time we made it back to camp it had been 8 hours, with 32 miles and 6000' of climbing... the rest of the evening was spent in a La Fuma with a Black Butte Porter.  It was quite possibly the best ride ever.  Thanks everyone for a great weekend!

Sept. 2, 2009  Full moon ride!  This Friday night at 8:00 pm, meet at my place.  Saturday morning road ride, meet at Moses Lake Multi sport at 7:00 am, then Monday morning 70 mile Pinto Ridge loop leave at 8:00 am from my place.  Don't forget next weekend the big Entiat trip!

August 26, 2009  It official, the next Vicious Cycle Epic is planned for September 12 & 13 at Sliver Falls campground up the Entiat.  Bring the fam and come out for the weekend.  It's sure to be a barrel o' monkeys!

August 23, 2009  Another busy weekend.  Saturday morning Brian, Scott, Dale, John, and myself met at Moses Lake Multi-sport for a cool 40 miler.  I was again impressed with Scott's route he took us on, nice rolling country roads with little traffic, bonus no wind!  Sunday I met up with Sonia's son Luke and a friend Mark to compete in the Apple Capital Triathlon as a relay team.  You guessed it I was the bike guy, Mark did the swim, and Luke ran.  We ended up winning our division and having a good time in the process.  I also got to cheer on Kelly, Scott Brown, Paul Harrison, and Sonia, all of whom actually had to swim, bike AND run...makes me feel kind of wimpy.  Kelly and Sonia won their divisions too!  Another great weekend of riding in our little slice of paradise called central Washington.

August 17, 2009  Vicious Cycle takes over the Teanaway!  Well at least after the woo hoo campers left, then we owned that place.  It all started Thursday evening, some of the gang got there early to save a spot.  We just so happened to be in the same camp ground as internet legend borneo bob who was nice enough to let us tag along on a ride Friday afternoon.  Saturday was when the real adventure began, once there was no internet legend to lead us.  I wouldn't exactly call it lost because we could see where we wanted to be it's just that we couldn't figure out how to get there.  We did eventually get to the trail we were aiming for but we were all exhausted at that point.  On the plus side I think we found D.B. Coopers hide out.  Saturday evening we enjoyed the spoils of Derks Indie Series single speed championship... margaritas!  Sunday was family day so we took the wives and kids along with us to get lost.  The kids were all hammers and the adults were all beginning to feel the effects of three days of cycling and the beverages that go so nicely with it.  In the end everyone make it home in one piece and a good time was had by all.  There's all ready talk of the next big adventure!


August 10, 2009  We had a monster of a Monday tonight with 14!  There was some hammerin for sure, but a lot of fun.  If you haven't made a mon. or wed. ride lately you gotta give it a go, your missin out.  The big Teanaway mtb trip is THIS weekend.  We will go over all the details after Wednesday's ride.  In case you can't make wed. I'll post up on here what gets decided.

July 19, 2009  Where the heck ya been!?  Ok, well here goes the excuses.  My computer has been a bit cantankerous lately, not wanting to download or upload or do much of anything else for that matter.  Also all the body building tournaments I've been participating in have left me with very little free time.  On with the news... Our Crit series has officially heated up.  We have two down and 3 to go with a BBQ and awards following the finale.  A few weeks ago a group of us made a trip to Wenatchee to ride the #2 canyon and had so much fun we're going again.  We will meet a my place this Thursday the 23rd at 5:30pm, ride, then hit McGlins for some post ride "recovery".  Then Sunday the 26th is the Indie Series Roslyn mtb. race.  Another date to mark is August 15&16, the whole gang is heading to Teanaway for a weekend of riding, camping, and shenanigans.  The Vicious Cycle summer O fun.  Oh yeah, we've got our sweet new wool jersey's and they rock.  If you missed out or want another we'll be making one more clean up order.  Contact Brian or me asap.



May 9, 2009  Thank you to the Vicious Cycle gang for all the help with the Beezley Burn!  It was a blast, but I'm glad it's over and things are getting back to normal.  Lots of races coming up: the Wenatchee Omnium, followed by the 24 hour race, then Mutual of Enumclaw Omnium, Leavenworth Indie Series, Methow Valley Omnium, Winthrop Indie Series... Whew, I'm exhausted, my fingers are cramping.  Top priority at the moment however is working on my sweet Vicious Cycle 24 hr team stash.  It's a team requirement, no more kidding around, we're taking this years race serious!

Vicious Cycle is getting jerseys!  That's right we're no longer a mismatched group of misfits, we're now a matched group of misfits.  The jerseys are from Portland Cycle Wear and are vintage cool wool.  Vicious Cycle will go in large letters through the white stripe in raised flock lettering with Ephrata WA in smaller letters under it.  They are available in short sleeve for $58 and long sleeve for $62.  Everyone asks isn't wool going to be hot in the summer?  No, wool is a natural fiber that is extremely breathable for evaporating sweat.  Isn't wool itchy?  No, this isn't the wool of the 70's, 100% merino wool is very soft.  Bonus: it doesn't stink.  You know you want one, call Brian or myself to get in on it.

Picture this lettering on the black jersey "Vicious Cycle"
with "Ephrata WA" under.


April 12, 2009  Whoa,  Beezley Burn is coming up quick!  We cut in a trail at the north end of Lions Park to bring the finish line down into the park.  We also put in a new trail to drop down in cougar alley.  With that the course is ready to rock (no pun intended)


April 1, 2009 April fools snow storm!  There were at least four April fools out riding in it on Wednesday night.
March 11, 2009  At last!  Time to put away the headlights and bust out the short shorts.  Ok maybe not quite that far, but hey we're close.  I've been out for two spring like rides in the last week.  

March 3, 2009  Spin class has ended and we are finally back outside for our Monday night road rides.  No more head lights next week!!!  Wednesday mountain bike rides are starting get good too as the hill thaws out.  Plus I have sweet new patio furniture for the post ride brew.  Thanks guys!  We will also be having some new single track to ride soon.

Feb. 7, 2009  Slipped in a beautiful 40 mile road ride with the Moses Lake boys today.  Sunshine and no wind, nothing but rolling hills as far as the eye can see.


Jan 1, 2009  The Yeti Ride!!  As expected was a blast.  Some fresh snow in the morning had me wondering if anyone would be interested in riding, but to my suprise there were five of  us that braved the snowy roads to Wenatchee to partake in the 2nd annual Yeti.  We rode our bikes in the snow drank hot toddys and then rode some more.  After all the silly bike riding we finished up at Garlini's for homemade chile and Pikes Tandem Double Ale.  I can't think of a better way to start the new year!