Wisconsin is calling...

Land of the Bratwurst! Swiss Cheese Capital of the World! Largest nationwide exporter of cranberries! Green Bay Packers!! Okay, I'll stop there. For those of you who haven't figured out... this post is Wisconsin in nature.

I've officially signed up for my next Ironman --  Racine 70.3!

Photo cred: Ironman Racine

There's no better motivation through a Minnesota winter than knowing you have a race on the books... amiright fellow Minnesotans?

Photo cred: Runner's World

The course starts out with a swim (point-to-point course) in Lake Michigan, followed by a relatively flat bike course, and then it finishes out with a 13.1 run partially along Lake Michigan, past the Racine Zoo and Racine Lighthouse - sounds like there will be plenty of good sights to see!

Looking forward to posting updates of my training... as soon as I get through Thanksgiving. Hope you have a great holiday!

What I'm riding these days: Fuji Gran Fondo 2.1

Lately I've been getting a lot of questions on my bike, so I thought I'd share a quick profile of what I'm riding these days.

I bought Fuji Gran Fondo 2.1 back in July of 2013, and to date have put more than 3,500 miles on it. 

Over the past two years, I've made a few adjustments to the bike including upgrading the rear gears to Ultegra 11-28 - this upgrade lightened up the bike while retaining the climbing qualities the original gears provided. I also upgraded the water bottle, which got the bike under 18lbs.

While I've really loved this bike, I'm actually looking to sell it next summer. But before I get into that, here up the top three things I like best about it:

1. Comfort. It's an endurance bike, and it feels that way. I find that the bike does a great job absorbing bumps so compared to other bikes I've rode, I don't feel stiff after a long ride.
2. The handling on this bike is awesome. It's not too twitchy, like some other race bikes can be.
3. Stability is excellent. The longer wheel base helps with high speeds, cross winds and cornering. 

I would be remiss not to mention that I simply like how it looks too... 

I'm baaaack

After a year+ long hiatus, I'm back to the blogging world. It's been a busy year both on the training and personal front... I completed my first half-Ironman, participated in my first full Ironman (more details on that to come) and took part in several cycling and triathlon events.
Beyond racing, I kept busy planning a wedding (well, my fiance is handling most of the planning), moving across Minneapolis and of course working to finance all of the events mentioned above.

I look forward to sharing my racing and training experiences with you, check back soon for new and exciting stuff.