Posts for August, 2010
Applying the runners’ allegory that training is an investment and a good race is the reward, Jenny Crain cashed in big on Sunday morning.
She secured the returns on three long years of rehabilitation by participating in the Cudahy Classic in Sheridan Park and marking her comeback from a car crash that nearly killed her.
Crain soaked up sunshine and cheers, as she cruised through the five-mile race in a stroller dubbed “Big Red.” Team Make it Happen, the supporters, friends and therapists who work with Crain each week, took turns pushing the engaging star of the show.
Jenny Crain rolls through mile one of the Cudahy Classic. Photo by Brad Vest - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
On a similarly warm morning three years ago, Crain ran the 10-mile version of the Classic in just under one hour. She finished that race in fourth place overall and was the fastest woman by a wide margin.
At the time, the area’s most accomplished female runner was working for one more shot at qualifying to run the Olympic marathon.
She never got the chance.
On Aug. 21, 2007, a car crashed into her as she neared the end of a training run on N. Farwell Ave., and Crain suffered multiple broken bones and head injuries. With severe brain trauma, she remained unresponsive for more than a month. The recovery that led to her return to the Cudahy Classic essentially started when she lifted a finger in response to her medical team.
Although she lost the ability to run, Crain still displays a rare enthusiasm for the sport.
She waived and cheered, “go runners, go runners, go go go,” as competitors passed along the course. The motivation was mutual.
Her post-race routine has not changed either. Near the finish line, she ate bananas, drank Gatorade and talked, and talked some more.
For nearly an hour, the 42-year-old shared strategy and training tips and exchanged stories with dozens of runners who came to greet a familiar face.
“It was a beautiful day today, a perfect day for running,” she said. “I was so lucky to have a great team helping me.”
Cheryl Neumann congratulates Jenny Crain at the finish line. Photo by Tom Held
According to her mother, Donna, the finish line in Cudahy will be a starting point for the next phase of Jenny’s recovery, easing her back into the race scene that had been a cornerstone of her life from high school through college and her pro career.
“To be back in this environment is healthy for all of us,” Donna Crain said. “It’s giving her more hopefulness.”
The awkwardness that Jenny sometimes feels being in a wheelchair in public seems offset by the familiarity and camaraderie of a race crowd.
“I think the more Jenny is out in this environment, it gives her more hope that people are starting to accept her for who she is,” Donna said.
She has more than earned that respect.
Through her diligent rehabilitation, Crain now walks nearly a half-mile with a special cane and some assistance.
A team of physical therapists, including Tom Labisch, Andy Kerk, Gregg Fuhrman and Briana Boehner, is helping her learn again to walk independently, stay engaged and remain comfortable in the stroller over a longer race.
Just as she did three years ago, Crain raced the Cudahy Classic to test her training and focus, and build toward bigger goals.
She’s already looking for her next payday, Oct. 3, in the Lakefront Marathon.
Cudahy results: Nick Szchech, of Cudahy, won the 10-mile Classic in Jenny Crain's last race in 2007 and he repeated the victory during her return on Sunday. The 21-year-old ran a 54:16.
Holly Ochs, 28, of Milwaukee, won the women's division in 1:05:01.
The Badgerland Striders have the full results posted here.
The "Drop Bag" is a collection of news and events from the Off the Couch sporting world.
The name refers to the drop bags that competitors use to get their post-race necessities from the start line to the finish line of point-to-point races.
Transplant games: The National Kidney Foundation U.S. Transplant Games opened in Madison over the weekend and JS reporter Tia Ghose detailed just one of the hundreds of amazing stories in this piece. Jack Eigel put the heart of a high school swimmer to good use, drawing cheers and tears from his donor's family. The games continue through Wednesday.
Riverwest 24: The 24-hour bike race in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood provided some colorful fodder for Rick Barrett, who turned his attention from Harley's to self-propelled bikes for this write up. The scene lacked the raw emotion of the transplant games, but made for a terrific photo opportunity, and an excellent recounting from Dave Schlabowske, who took a six-hour shift for the city employee team.
Sidewalk bullies: Madison writer Steven Elbow's call for a truce on the roads, didn't exactly inspire peace. His follow up detailed the escalating conflict between pedestrians and cyclists on the paths in the Capital City. We've touched on that issue a couple times, including this guidance from safety educator Steve Meiers.
It's Cantwell again: Jonathan Cantwell carried the momentum from his win in the International Cycling Classic to a follow up victory over the weekend in the Tour of Elk Grove, a three-race series in the Chicago suburb. A few of the top local riders limited their Superweek efforts to rest for the Elk Grove race, but Cantwell showed riding fast to be the best preparation for racing.
The hilly terrain west of Madison has reached “mecca” status for road cycling, a feature in the New York Times suggested last week.
That’s not news, of course, to the locals.
As Stewart Schilling shared with me, more than half of the roughly 1,250 riders registered for his fifth annual Dairyland Dare hail from outside of Wisconsin. Cyclists from California, Texas, Vermont, New York and Colorado will be making the trip to ride anything from 50 kilometers to 300 kilometers and tackle up to 20,000 feet of climbing, on Aug. 14.
Schilling also organizes the QuadruPedal Spring Century ride in Iowa County, giving him a solid background to expound on the Times story.
Too much of a good thing? The feature focused largely on the Olympic road course and the Centurion Cycling race, a first-time event scheduled for Sunday. Registration for that ride has apparently lagged compared the rush for a number of other events, particularly the Horribly Hilly Hundreds.
“Many people already know about the great cycling in western Dane County. I’m a fan of those roads, but like a good pop song, they’re getting over played," Schilling said. "Mounds Park road is a beautiful road and a great climb, but it’s now a part of six events on the 2010 calendar (Spring L’Alpe Bl’Huez Time Trial, Fall L’Alpe Bl’Huez Time Trial, Horribly Hilly, Insane Terrain Challenge, US Collegiate National Road Race, and now the Centurion).
“We went out of our way to create an event that offers a substantially larger challenge with out touching Mounds Park road and we went to great lengths to put together a fresh 186 mile course entirely contained within the bounds of Iowa County and without looping the same roads again and again.
Iowa County is "the new black". It’s cycling paradise out here - it’s super hilly, the pavement is excellent, there’s hardly any traffic and scenery is simply amazing.
“It feels to me like western Dane County and the Mt. Horeb area is reaching its limit for the number of events that it can sustain. Add to the six events listed above the myriad others that play in that area and you are reaching the limit of what the non-cycling residents of the area will tolerate.”
Another view: Few people could be considered more of an authority on biking in the Blue Mound area than Bill Hauda, the chairman of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin’s Advocacy Committee. He also followed up on the Times piece:
“Southwest Wisconsin is one of the most diverse bicycling areas anywhere.
“You can do the ‘challenge rides like Dairyland Dare and Horribly Hilly Hundred on the hills the glaciers never leveled. You can do events like Panther Cycling Club’s new April Century to Highland, and learn why that community was named.
You can do the Madison-based Bombay Bicycle Club’s Labor Day Wright Stuff Century on moderately hilly terrain, or the club’s weekly rides that frequently foray into the southwest.
Or you can opt for the Wisconsin River valley flats, where the river has made elevation changes almost non-existent. This part of Wisconsin has variety, and everything a bicyclist would ever want. That’s why I live here. Out the door to anything that inspires me.”
You know election season really is in full swing when even a college cycling team starts campaigning for votes.
At least the Ripon Redhawks Cycling Team has a purpose other than political power. The squad is pursuing from the Pepsi Refresh Project to build mountain bike trails in the wooded areas of the college's Ceresco Prairie Conservancy.
Head Coach Ric Damm has taken on the added role of campaign manager.
"Adding this resource right in our own backyard will make a tremendous difference in bolstering the success of our team and making our program one of the best in the nation," Damm said on the team's web site.
The College has also been giving out more than 150 free mountain bikes a year to incoming freshmen who pledge not to bring a car to campus. These trails will give those students, as well as all mountain bikers a place to ride in Ripon.
"There are many deserving projects competing for limited dollars. Only the 10 projects with the most votes will be awarded grants. Therefore each and every vote is critical," said Damm.
To vote for Ripon's mountain bike trail, visit http://www.refresheverything.com/biketrailripon. You can vote once every day through August 31.
Ashley Kumlien will take a break later this week from the grind of running upwards of 20 miles per day on her journey across the country.
That doesn’t mean she’ll rest.
Her visit back home to the Milwaukee area will be a hectic one, and as always, devoted to her cause of raising money to help people with Multiple Sclerosis. Kumlien founded the charity MSRuntheUS and has been running her way from San Francisco to New York, 3,230 miles, in an effort to raise $500,000 for research.
As we’ve noted, Kumlien gained a purity of purpose by watching her mother, Jill, live with MS for more than 27 years.
Her total raised to date is $24,000, but Kumlien remains determined to reach that $500,000 goal by the time she reaches New York in mid-September.
“American people have shown the ability to raise hundreds of thousands of in just the last hours of telethons, and I don’t see why the same can’t happen with our fundraising,” Kumlien said in a phone call on Monday.
After four months on the road and 2,300 miles, she retains the “anything is possible” attitude that got her started in San Francisco on March 22. As she noted, the MSRuntheUS team didn’t secure the RV they needed until just a few weeks before the departure date.
You never know where you'll find a friend on the road. Photo courtesy of MSRuntheUS.
Without missing a beat, Kumlien will pack in a fun run, a ride in the Best Dam Bike Tour and a Brewer tailgate in her quick side trip home to Brookfield.
“I’m excited,” she said during a break on the road Monday. “It’s a chance to meet the people who are supporting the run.”
Her first local appearance is a Fun Run with Ashley starting at the InStep Running & Walking store, 403 E. Buffalo St. From the 3rd Ward location, Kumlien and this Off the Couch writer will lead the group on a three-mile loop around Lakeshore State Park.
Kumlien will stick around to answer questions on life, love and how to run 20 miles a day for four months.
InStep will donate $10 from each shoe sale, and $5 from gear purchases to the MSRuntheUS charity.
On Saturday, Ashley and her fiancée and support crew, Andrew Date, will rided the first half of the Best Dam Bike Tour, the 150-mile ride for the MS Society of Wisconsin.
The big fundraising event of her local appearance will be a tailgate party at the Brewers game on Tuesday night.
The MSRuntheUS RV will be in the Dogders/Mets lot starting at 4:30 p.m. Join the tailgate party with a $20 donation. Game tickets must be purchased separately.
Kumlien’s last appearance will be Wednesday night, at the Majestic Theater, 770 Springdale Rd., Brookfield. This will be part of a special screening of the movie “Without Limits” which captures the story of runner Steve Prefontaine.
Those who have been following Kumlien on her blog will have noted the upheaval recently as she and Date, now her fiance, hit a breaking point in their relationship. Not unexpected, given the strains of life in an RV for four months.
“Since that hurricane blog, everything is good,” she said. “Andrew and I have been working together well.
“Once you get into a fight and get over the hump it seems like you get back on track. I’m proud of how we came out on the other side.”
The traveling trophy awarded to the victors in the Border Battle of midwest mountain biking hasn't traveled far.
Riders from the Wisconsin Off-Road Series raced to victory in battles one and two, and a LaLonde brother has been the overall champ each time.
Round three in the series pitting the Wisco group against the contingent from the Minnesota Mountain Bike Series will take place Sunday, Aug. 8, on the trails of White Tail Ridge Corporate Park in River Falls. Based on the previous turnouts, upwards of 800 bikers will be competing in the divisions ranging from beginners to elites.
For a look back at what went down in 2009, check this write up from Claire Cannon and Jay Richards, respectively representing the Wisconsin and Minnesota series.
WORS series director Don Edberg takes home the "Border Battle" trophy.
I started my day reading a feature about exercise bulimia in the Journal Sentinel Cue section, then, in the afternoon, came across a report on the ever-increasing obesity rate in the U.S.
The juxtaposition was striking: two stories that detailed an increase in numbers of people suffering on both extremes of the exercise continuum, and the severe health problems they face.
The piece focusing on obsessive exercise quotes Jackie Holmes, director and founder of Casa Serena Eating Disorders Program in Concord: "I think it’s always been there, but it’s so much more pronounced now because of this intense push from the fitness craze that has hit the country. There’s been a shift from dieting and everyone’s gotten into being really fit."
The news from the Centers for Disease Control reports a far different societal trend.
Nine states now have an obesity prevalence of 30% or more, according to the data released Tuesday. Ten years ago, no state had an obesity prevalence of 30% or more, the report stated.
Today, approximately 72.5 million U.S. adults are considered obese, which contributes to several leading causes of death, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some types of cancer. Just in the past two years, the number has increased by 2.4 million adults ages 18 and older, according to the data collected by state health departments through 400,000 phone surveys nationwide.
There is a middle ground, of course, between obsessive and obese. And it's a place to find personal triumph.
Writing for the Fit Milwaukee blog, Sherry Wilde proved just that, with her story of success from couch potato to triathlete.
She found her victory at the start line: “I looked over at my friend who had come to support me. Her eyes were filled with tears, as were mine. Those women about to race had surpassed insurmountable odds. I felt like I had as well. This race was to be my personal celebration of my life, of being saved a year and a half earlier. I had made it.”
The City of Milwaukee 2010 Bicycle Master Plan may deserve a closer look now that we've been warned about the connection between cycling initatives and a United Nations plot.
Dan Maes, a Republican running for governor in Colorado, heroically raised red flags about the subversive elements of biking at a recent campaign rally, according to the story from the Denver Post. (Milwaukee-area cyclist Russell Jobs, no stranger to conspiracy theories, uncovered the story earlier today.)
Maes' bicycle baiting was directed at Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, a Democratic candidate for governor, and an apparent supporter of U.N. sanctioned plots such as bike-sharing.
From the Post story: "This is bigger than it looks like on the surface, and it could threaten our personal freedoms," Maes said.
He added: "These aren't just warm, fuzzy ideas from the mayor. These are very specific strategies that are dictated to us by this United Nations program that mayors have signed on to."
Maes said in a later interview that he was referring to Denver's membership in the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, an international association that promotes sustainable development and has attracted the membership of more than 1,200 communities, 600 of which are in the United States.
Dana Johnson has started a series of group rides from the Wheel & Sprocket store in Brookfield to fill what she considers a gap in opportunities for women cyclists.
While various teams and stores offer organized group rides for more experienced cyclists, Johnson is keying in on beginners.
"In general, it’s intimidating when you see your typical bike rides sponsored by bike shops," she said. "I don’t want to be the one that slows the group down and the distance can seem too far.
"We're calling it 'Roadflowers' empowering women to ride because no woman is destined to sit on the sidelines when sitting in the saddle of her bike."
Johnson previously worked as an outreach manager at the REI shop in Brookfield and recently started her own adventure guide business.
A small group of five turned out for the initial Roadflowers outing on Tuesday night. In keeping with the beginner focus, they covered five miles. Johnson expects to build an audience with the rides and clinics through Sept. 14.
Feel free to share information on similar group outings in the comments section or via email firstname.lastname@example.org.
The Roadflowers schedule is listed below.
Authorities in Dane County are preparing for the hybrid - part-race part-tour - Centurion Cycling event expected to put roughly 800 cyclists on the roads from Middleton to Blue Mound on Sunday.
Those same roads have been used over the years for a number of bike tours and the competitive races organized through the Wisport series, but the Centurion is a first-time event, with unique challenges. Authorities will fully close a number of roads from the start at the Dane County Airport.
According to the Cap Times, the sheriff's department plans to contact residents in the towns of Middleton, Berry, Springfield, Cross Plains, Vermont, Black Earth and Mazomanie, as well as the villages of Cross Plains, Black Earth, Mazomanie and Blue Mounds to alert them to the road closures and added bike traffic.
The Centurion Wisconsin is one of three European-flavored tours launched this year in North America.
Each Centurion Cycling event features fully-stocked aid stations, controlled traffic, technical and medical support, precise chip timing, and ride options of 100, 50 and 25 miles. Based on the gran fondo events popular in Europe, the rides draw a mix of racers and recreational riders.
In a related note, the Dairyland Dare challenge ride, one of the toughest single-day outings in the Midwest, has reached about 98% of its capacity. Ride director Stewart Schilling figures 1,250 to 1,300 cyclists will take the start line in Dodgeville on Aug. 14. The ride options range up to 300 kilometers on a route that includes 20,000 feet of elevation gain.
The editors of Runner's World responded creatively today to a host of critics who criticized the lightweight heft of its content.
Answering the charge that their monthly represents the "Cosmo" of running publications, the editors crafted a series of more serious versions, riffing off the covers of The Economist, Harper's and the New Yorker.
None of those would be found displayed in the check-out aisle of your local grocery, but I wonder if that wouldn't be a suitable point-of-sale for Runner's World. It truly is the mass market publication of the sport, certainly in comparison to more niche products and online offerings.
Even it's sister publication, Running Times, generally takes a less fluffy approach to its editorial content.
I have criticized Runner's World for its repetitive lists - "100 ways to avoid shin splints" - but also respect it for providing some truly compelling pieces. John Brant's story on Jenny Crain in the November issue was, in my mind, brilliant.
It's interesting to note that the debate being waged online this week started not with a criticism of the magazine, but a rail against the dumbing down of the sport in general. A look at the magazine covers stacked next to the candy bars would suggest the dumbing down isn't limited to running by any means.
(I'll toast my bottle of Cytomax to Don Walker for tipping me to the Runner's World story. Even while on the Injured, Unable to Run List, he keeps a close eye on the sport).
Running around the Third Ward won't put Ashley Kumlien any closer to her goal of reaching New York by mid-September, so we plotted out a scenic, but easy route for her Fun Run tonight.
The run starts at 5 p.m. from the InStep Running & Walking Store, 403 E. Buffalo St.
On the loop around Lakeshore State Park, runners should have a chance to talk to Kumlien about her experiences over the first two-thirds of her cross-country journey; what it's like to run 20 miles a day, every day, for five months.
Since March, she has covered roughly 2,300 miles, from California to Illinois, to raise money to help cure Multiple Sclerosis. The run tonight will add about three miles to her total.
For those who don't get a chance to talk with Kumlien on the run, she will host a social hour from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. InStep will have snacks and prizes.
Just days before the 2010 Oshkosh Triathlon, the organizers of the event have been sued by the family of a woman who died after struggling in the swim portion of the sprint race last year.
The Oshkosh Daily Northwestern reported today that Karen Schmidt’s husband alleges his wife died because she did not receive prompt assistance or medical care.
The suit was filed in Winnebago County Court earlier this week. It names Gloria West and her race promotion company, Midwest Sports Events as defendants.
West has directed triathlons for more than 20 years, and Midwest Sports Events puts on five triathlons annually.
The Oshkosh Triathlon is scheduled for Sunday, in Winneconne Park.
Schmidt was one of three competitors who died in triathlons in Wisconsin in 2009. One of them, Daniel Murray, 33, also was participating in a race organized by Midwest Sports Events.
Following his death in the Pewaukee Triathlon, West said it was the first fatality in one of her races.
“I’m going through a lot of grieving,” she said. “This is my first. I haven’t even come close to anything like this.”
The unusual number of deaths in 2009 spurred a number of stories assessing the risks of the growing sport and discussion among participants and race organizers over the need for improved safety measures. A study released by Kevin Harris, a cardiologist at the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, put the rate of deaths in triathlons at 1.5 per 100,000 participants, roughly twice the rate in marathons.
Donations raised by cyclists who pedaled in the Scenic Shore 150 topped $590,000 as of Friday morning, nearing a record for the ride benefitting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
As in past years, a large portion of the contributions were generated by mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters, and friends, who rode on July 24 and 25 in memory of a loved one who died of a blood cancer or someone who has survived leukemia or lymphoma.
Close to 300 of the 963 registered participants signed up to ride for a friend; another 84 were riding for a parent and 25 were survivors themselves.
That included Kevin Shannahan, a real estate executive from suburban Chicago, who once again set the fundraising standard. Still being treated for non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, Shannahan biked the 150 miles from Mequon to Sturgeon Bay and raised $48,575 through his efforts.
His team of 34, nicknamed Riders of the Storm, raised more than $170,000 and help their spot as the top group.
I’ve participated in the Scenic Shore 150 at least a half-dozen times and find the same rewarding experience each year, largely because of those committed to the cause.
I started out looking forward to a well-supported ride and a chance to log 150 miles on a beautiful route up the Lake Michigan shoreline. Then, I saw all those fellow riders sporting t-shirts and jerseys with pictures of a child, or a parent who died of a blood-born cancer, and I realized what an emotional venture it is and the higher purpose it serves.
The phrase “This little piggy went to heaven…” etched across the Team Codie jerseys in memory of Codie Evan van Dalen, who died in 2001 at age 6 1/2, will stick with me months after biking season has ended.
The ride also serves as something of a large, extended family reunion. I look forward each year to connecting again with the van Wieringen brothers who ride in memory of their niece, Jilllian Topel.
The van Wieringens have been part of the Scenic Shore for 16 years, and in their role of jovial ambassadors, adopted speedskater Bonnie Blair Cruikshank into the fold.
The Olympic champion’s sister Mary Polaski, 65, was diagnosed with a form of leukemia about seven years ago. The Blair girls, Bonnie, Angela and Mary, formed the nucleus of “Polaski Pedalers,” and helped raise about $10,000.
“Mary does get tired but her husband feels her riding to get ready was good for her, however she might think differently,” Blair Cruikshank said.
The popular sports figure has seven sets of initials on her team jersey, each representing a relative or friend for whom she dedicates her ride.
Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel has recommended that Town of Summit police issue a traffic citation against the driver who hit and killed a cyclist on Highway 18 on Father’s Day.
The prosecutor reviewed the circumstances of the crash that took Brett Netke’s life and found no basis to issue a criminal charge against the driver, Samuel Weirick, 20, of Dousman. He should be ticketed for failing to follow the state’s three-foot law, requiring motorists to give at least that much clearance when passing a bicyclist, Schimel said Friday afternoon.
He sent his recommendation to the Summit police officials, who have the decision whether to issue the ticket, which carries a fine and a one-year license suspension because the violation resulted in a death.
According to the police report, Netke was riding eastbound on the two-lane highway, about a half-mile east of Highway 67. The 42-year-old father of three competed in amateur bicycling races and was on a training ride early that Sunday morning.
Weirick hit him from behind, about 100 yards over the crest of a small hill. The roadway at that point runs parallel to the Glacial Drumlin Trail, a popular path for recreational cyclists and walkers.
The investigation found that Weirick had no drugs or alcohol in his system at the time and was not using his cell phone, according to Schimel. His estimated speed was 53 mph, just below the limit on that section of roadway.
Witness accounts differed with regard to Netke’s exact location on the roadway, Schimel said. One reported he was slightly to the left of the white fog line, another reported he was to the right of the line, riding on the shoulder, which is about two feet wide.
“Given the differences of opinion, I would never be able to prove a criminal case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Schimel said.
He added that the law does not require Netke to ride on the shoulder.
“The bicyclist has the right to be on the paved roadway,” Schimel said. “I have no reason to believe he was out in the lane further than he was lawfully permitted to be.”
Kevin Hardman, executive director of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, said the enforcement action would be a good reminder for motorists to provide the safe distance when passing cyclists.
“It is no consolation for the loss of a life,” he said.
Witnesses reported that Weirick was devastated at the scene. The Netke family has been overwhelmed by their grief.
“It’s just a horrible tragedy,” Schimel said.
A detailed crash analysis puts the blame for Allen Belonger’s death on the bad driving of a 16-year-old boy, who turned a pick up truck into the path of the cyclist on a rural road in Iowa County more than a year ago.
Authorities in Iowa County, however, have taken no action - no criminal charges for killing Belonger, and no ticket for failing to yield the right of way.
The members of the Spring City Spinners Bicycle Club want to know why.
In a letter mailed to Iowa County District Attorney Larry Nelson, the leaders of the group, Belonger’s widow and the executive director of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin demand at least an answer, if not an official action that acknowledges the driver did something wrong.
“It is our opinion that there must be some official condemnation of his actions,” the group says. “Otherwise, the public may very well and possibly quite reasonably conclude that your county does not take the safety and rights of bicyclists seriously.
“That type of attitude can only lead to a greater disrespect of cyclists’ rights and therefore to more tragedy, not only in Iowa County, but throughout the state.”
The law enforcement response is particularly significant in an area that has gained a national reputation as a mecca for road cycling. Nearly 1,000 riders were expected to participate Sunday in a Centurion Cycling ride and 1,250 have signed up for the Dairyland Dare Challenge, starting in Dodgeville, on Aug. 14.
Each year, more than a half-dozen cycling events take place on the narrow country roads that serve the farm communities in the driftless area west of Madison.
Belonger, a 62-year-old from Waukesha, was participating in one of them, the Insane Terrain Challenge, when he was killed on July 11, 2009.
Bikers view the scene shortly after the crash on S. Clayhill Rd. Photo from the Iowa County Sheriff's Department.
According to the report produced by State Trooper Thomas Parrott and released to the Journal Sentinel:
- Belonger was with two other club members rolling downhill on S. Clayhill Road in the Town of Ridgeway at 30 to 35 mph. He was riding defensively.
- The cyclists would have been visible to the driver from nearly 900 feet away and for roughly 10 seconds before the impact.
- The sun was not a factor; already high enough in the sky that it did not impair either the cyclist or the driver’s ability to see each other.
- “The truck was going slow (about 18 mph) when it abruptly turned in front of Belonger.”
- Based on the estimated speeds, the cyclist had roughly 0.86 seconds to react to the truck’s turn into his path, and he skidded for roughly 23 feet, approximately 0.5 seconds.
- “He was presented with a nearly impossible hazard to avoid. The manner in which Belonger was operating his bicycle was not a factor in this crash.”
- “The driver failed to look before he turned left. The driver failed to yield to the oncoming vehicle. This was a significant factor in this crash.”
Parrott’s findings directly contradict assertions made earlier by attorney Paul Bucher, who represented the driver. The boy, now 17, lives in New Berlin but spent the summer of 2009 with friends in the Town of Ridgeway at the location where the crash occurred..
Bucher said Belonger was largely responsible for the crash, and that an accident reconstruction done for his firm estimated the cyclist’s speed at 60 mph prior to impact. He also asserted Belonger was riding with his head down, and the driver of the pickup was looking into the sun.
None of that is true, according to the Parrott’s analysis.
Contacted on Thursday, Bucher refused to comment. Asked for a copy of the accident reconstruction report he cited in May, he responded, “We’re not going to be releasing anything.”
Report spurs questions: After reviewing Parrott’s report, the leaders of the bicycle club decided to press Iowa County authorities for their lack of action.
In a letter dated Dec. 1, Iowa County District Attorney Larry Nelson informed Belonger’s widow that no charges would be issued. It makes no mention of a citation, and does not include an explanation for his decision.
On Friday, he said the responsibility for issuing a citation rested with the sheriff’s department. He was uncertain why no ticket was issued.
“Sometimes accidents with tragic results are just that, tragic accidents,” Nelson said.
Iowa County Sheriff Steve Michek similarly was at a loss to explain the basis of the decision.
“I’m not sure if it’s an error in miscommunication,” he said.
Initially, the deputy who investigated the crash cited the driver for causing great bodily harm by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle.
The ticket was based on the boy’s statement to authorities that he had been drinking beer with his father at Hollandale Fireman’s picnic the night before he killed Belonger. According to sheriff’s reports, the boy put his consumption at six beers between 9:30 p.m. and 1 a.m.
The crash occurred at 8:41 a.m. and a blood test taken later showed no alcohol in the boy’s system. Based on that finding, the ticket for intoxicated use was dropped and the reports were sent to Nelson for his review.
After determining no criminal charges were warranted, Nelson provided no follow up direction to the sheriff’s department.
The drinking the night before the crash adds to the frustration, said Laura Fisher, president of the Spring City Spinners. While not mentioned in the reconstruction report, the scenario puts a 16-year-old boy in a pickup truck with at best seven hours of sleep and possibly hung over.
“I think you need to stop having sympathy for the violator and have some sympathy for the victim and his family and friends,” she said.
Allen Belonger sporting his club gear. Photo courtesy of the Spring City Spinners.
Fisher said the group remains deeply saddened by the death of a friend, a leader and well-respected cyclist.
Their effort to pursue the case is not meant as a vendetta against the driver, she said.
“I feel sorry for anybody who has made a mistake like that and has to walk around with that guilt,” she said. “The whole point is, he broke a traffic law and caused the death of another human being.”
The penalty for failing to yield the right of way and killing someone, as specified in state statutes, is a fine of $1,000 and a license suspension.
In contrast to the Belonger case, Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel on Friday recommended that the Town of Summit police issue a traffic citation against the driver who hit and killed a cyclist on Highway 18 on Father’s Day.
The prosecutor reviewed the circumstances of the crash that took Brett Netke’s life and found no basis to issue a criminal charge against the driver, Samuel Weirick, 20, of Dousman. He should be ticketed for failing to follow the state’s three-foot law, requiring motorists to give at least that much clearance when passing a bicyclists, Schimel said.
He sent his recommendation to the Summit police officials, who will make the decision whether to issue the ticket. A citation would carry a fine and a one-year license suspension because the violation resulted in a death.
To date, four cyclists have been killed while riding in Wisconsin this year.
Storm-driven waves on Lake Keesus and slick roads forced organizers of the Camp Whitcomb/Mason Triathlon to cancel the swim and bike segments of the race in Waukesha County on Sunday.
After a two-hour delay, organizers turned the event into a 5K run, with about 100 of the 300 registered participants having some fun in the rain.
"We had a ball; it was amazing," Race Director Monica Schick said. "For the people who stayed, it was all heart."
Taking a cartoonish approach to the 5K run. Photo courtesy of the Boys & Girls Club
A time trial format used for the run gave the camp staff and volunteers a chance to cheer each runner at the start line. One of the Camp Whitcomb camp crew, Aaron Roden, turned in the fastest time, 16:39.
The full results have been posted here.
In Oshkosh, 14-year-old Haele Jason topped the field in the women's sprint triathlon. According to the Oshkosh Northwestern, Jason finished in 1:13.26, about 4½ seconds ahead of runner-up Marjie Delo, of Delavan. The Sprint Distance featured a quarter-mile swim, 15-mile bike ride and 5K run around Lake Winneconne Park.
In the Olympic-distance race, Dana Riederer finished first in the men's field and Erin Siewert, of Baraboo, was the fastest in the women's division.
Wauwatosa native Matt "Flip" Busche raced to a third-place finish in the five-stage Tour of Denmark and stood on the podium for the first time in his budding international cycling career.
Riding for Team RadioShack, the 25-year-old positioned himself with a strong time trial and finished behind Jakob Fuglsang (Team Saxo Bank) and Svein Tuft (Team Garmin Transitions).
Team Director Dirk Demerol had this to say about Busche's performance: Busche was a pleasant surprise for us. He did a very good TT. This is his first podium as a pro in an international race. He’s growing better and better every race.”
Busche signed on with Team RadioShack and has been racing in Europe after a break out season in 2009. He started that campaign with the local ISCorp squad, repeated as the Wisconsin Road Race Champion, then took fifth in the USA Pro Championship with Kelly Benefits.
Wins by Wisconsin riders Abigail Strigel and Tristan Schouten in the Pro Cat 1 races on Sunday secured a third-straight Border Battle victory for the Badger contingent in River Falls, but only by the narrowest of margins.
The final tally stood Wisconsin 98 and Minnesota 99, after a full and steamy day on the White Tail Ridge Trails.
The dual race featuring competitors in the Wisconsin Off-Road Series and the Minnesota Mountain Bike Series is scored much like a high school cross-country race, with the low point total winning. Riders compete for their home state and the place of the first finisher from each state is scored in their respective categories.
Strigel, of Madison, and Schouten, of Sheboygan, scored the key wins, but Nathan Guerra, of Oconomowoc also played a big role in keeping the Border Battle trophy in Wisconsin hands. Guerra took second behind Schouten, leaving Brendan Moore, of Savage, Minn., in third place, adding an important point to the Gopher state total.
The result also turned on a flat tire that slowed Sara Kylander Johnson as she led the women’s pro race. The rider from Duluth, Minn., finished 13th.
Nearly 680 mountain bikers weathered the heat and humidity – plus 90 on both measures.
A racer takes to the boardwalk in the Border Battle. Photo by Krystina Wentz-Graff
“It was the hottest day I have ever run a race, no doubt,” said Adam Schmidt, from Muddy Paws Racing. “We resupplied with water and watermelons twice during the day.”
If you find a scoring discrepancy that would change the overall tally, send Schmidt a note. He’d love to pull that trophy out of Don Edberg’s hands.
Warm-weather racing kit. Photo by Krystina Wentz-Graff
Strong thunderstorms delayed, then shortened the inaugural Centurion cycling race in Dane County on Sunday, providing a soggy start to a three-day gathering of Trek retailers.
The Waterloo-based company linked the bike ride with its annual product preview.
About 170 dealers made up a large portion of the 1,100 registered for the 100- 50- and 25-mile bike races based on the European Gran Fondo. After the delays, about 700 took the roads west of Madison.
Company President John Burke was scheduled to deliver a state-of-Trek speech Sunday night, and Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) will update the bike sellers on cycling initiatives in Washington, D.C., Tuesday night.
Summit police have ticketed a 20-year-old Dousman man in the crash that killed Brett Netke, while the local cyclist was on a training ride on Highway 18 on Father's Day.
The municipal citation for failing to provide a safe passing distance carries a fine of $114 and a possible three-point license deduction for Samuel Weirick, of Dousman. If convicted, Weirick also would face a one-year license suspension because the violation resulted in a death.
He has a court appearance in the Lake Country Municipal Court on Aug. 27.
Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel reviewed the accident reports and recommended the police ticket Weirick, after he determined no criminal charges were warranted.
The motorist struck Netke going eastbound on Highway 18, about a half-mile east of Highway 67. Wisconsin law requires motorists to provide at least three feet of clearance when passing a cyclist.
A gubernatorial candidate who warned that Denver's bike sharing program was part of a United Nations plot won the Republican primary in Colorado last night.
Dan Maes, who spent some of his formative years in Rib Lake, Wis., has drawn the support of the Tea Party movement as a hard-core conservative. His now notorious comments about the bike sharing program were part of an attack on Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, the Democratic candidate in the state's gubernatorial race.
Maes pedaled away his from anti-cycling reputation in this interview, earlier this week.
It's still a good bet that he would not be a fan of this post from Dave Schlabowske. The Milwaukee bicycle and pedestrian coordinator argues that the city could eliminate miles of on-street parking to accomodate more bike lanes. His conspiracy credentials will be checked in due time.
Lori Rackl, the travel editor for the Chicago Sun-Times, indulged her fondness for Wisconsin's cheese and bike trails in compiling this Tour de Fromage guide.
Baumgartner's Cheese Store & Tavern, in Monroe; Hooke's Cheese Co., in Mineral Point; and Uplands Cheese, north of Dodgeville, were among the highlights of a two-wheeled tour that followed the Military Ridge and Sugar River State Trails.
Rackl set the scene for future travess with this description: "The limestone hills, kelly-green valleys and fertile farms of America’s Dairyland not only make great cycling terrain; they make great terroir for churning out 600-plus varieties of cheese."
There’s good reason – other than the heat – for runners in the Hank Aaron State Trail 5K to slow their pace a bit on Saturday morning.
A slight pause will give participants time to check out the new bridge over the Menomonee River - installed this week as part of the Valley Passage connection - and the historic shelter placed along Canal St., just east of the roundabout at 25th St.
Promoters of the trail are anxious to use the 11th annual run/walk to show off the improvements to the pathway from the lakefront to Miller Park. Work on a 5-mile extension from the ballpark to N. 94th Place also has started, but that won’t be part of the race course.
Shortly after the start, runners will pass by the new bridge that extends south over the river and connects the valley to 37th and Pierce streets. It recreates the connection that once served workers who walked from the Silver City neighborhoods to their jobs in the industrial heart of Milwaukee.
Crews placed the bridge over the Menomonee River earlier this week. Photo by Gary Porter - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Check out a photo gallery here.
The bridge is scheduled to open in October. The western extension should be completed in November.
In recent years, the Hank Aaron run has attracted a solid group of area runners, most of whom probably won’t tarry long to take in the sights; perhaps on their warm-ups.
Cassie (Peller) Nelson, the just-married Marquette grad, will be back to defend the title she won last year with a time of 18:26.
Aaron Nodolf, a lawyer who ran for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, won the men’s race last year in 15:29, but won’t be able to go for a repeat.
Nelson is expecting tough competition again, in what she describes as a "classic 5K." That means a fair, flat and fast course, solid runners and good prizes.
In a unique twist to the awards, every 44th finisher will win a prize. That’s a recognition of the No. 44 worn by Hank Aaron during his days playing in the Valley.
Registration on race day opens at 7 a.m. and the start is set for 8:30 a.m.
Cyclists and city officials in Stevens Point celebrated Wednesday night after opening a bike trail that connects paths on the east and west sides of the city.
Dubbed the "Heartland Trail," the bike and pedestrian path passes under Interstate 39, familiar to most who have traveled to the North Woods. The story in local papers explains how the freeway limited use of the trails.
"In a city of any size, there are a number of barriers to moving bicycles from one point to another," said Rolf Garthus, owner of the Hostel Shoppe, who started the project. "I-39 pretty effectively divides Stevens Point, from a bicycle perspective, from the east side to the west side. It's difficult to get from one to the other."
City surveyor Jeff Hild said the total trail project cost roughly $300,000. The city received a federal transportation enhancement grant to cover a portion of that cost.
With the new connection in place, Hild said he expects more workers in the Portage County Business Park to bike to work.
Commuters traveling between Bay View and Downtown Milwaukee have found once again that their route appears to follow more of a criterium course than a point-to-point.
Here's the story:
To accomodate utility installation under the Kinnickinnic River, the southbound roadway on Kinnickinnic Ave. has been closed north of Becher St., and will be closed for another month.
Motorists are being rerouted onto S. 1st St., which also is under construction and difficult to negotiate from Lapham to Becher. Most cyclists are taking to the sidewalk, and Milwaukee County Transit System buses are avoiding the whole mess and looping all the way west to S. 6th St.
With work on the Hoan Bridge also reducing the north/south traffic capacity, some have been left with a "you can't get there from here" impression.
Cecilia Gilbert, spokeswoman for the Department of Public Works, said the work to replace communication utilities under the river had to be done in August because the equipment necessary was only available then. The cables buried under the river were removed last year during a dredging project, which also created a challenge for commuters.
By mid-September, the section of KK over the river should be fully open.
In the meantime, bikers can join Dave Schlabowske in dreaming of a bike path on the Hoan.
About once a year, Ben Poston, the Journal Sentinel's database reporter, disappears for a week or so, and returns with sore feet, a slight stoop and a relaxed smile. In this tale, he removes the mystery from his transformation.
Our start to a hike on the Appalachian Trail is usually an easy half day. We get shuttled mid-day to some road crossing no one has ever heard of and hike less than 10 miles to a shelter or tent site.
Once we get dropped off, a sense of unease sinks in.
That’s because I know I’ll only get a hot shower or see my loved ones again after hiking over dozens of miles of rocky, brutal terrain. That fear typically subsides.
My dad, Sam, and I have been doing backpacking trips on the Appalachian Trail since I finished high school in 1998; usually a week at a time, somewhere between 70 and 100 miles. Our goal is to hike all 2,179 miles. We are a little more than halfway there.
Sam and Ben Poston break for a photo opportunity.
The AT is marked by white blazes, which are 2-inch by 6-inch rectangles painted on trees, boulders and posts. Those white blazes are like an old friend constantly reassuring that you are on the right path.
Backpacking is my release. All I need is resting conveniently on my shoulders. I walk along at a natural 2- or 3-mile-an-hour pace. Eons seem to pass in the span of just a few nights. Everything is in the here and now.
Terrain, energy level and weather dictate my mood. Concerns shrink to a few. Finding a good water source from a spring, stream or pond tops the list. Food, then shelter, follow.
We usually encounter fewer than 10 people a day, so human interaction becomes a joy - something to be cherished, not avoided.
We have a bond with our fellow hikers though it usually goes unspoken. We are all crazy enough to leave the comforts of society and somehow compel ourselves to climb mountains and shuffle over a zillion rocks and roots.
Our feet hurt every day. We wear knee braces. We have teeth-gnashing blisters. We have acne on our backs and shoulders where our backpacks chafe.
We smell bad – I mean ammonia bad. We poop in the woods, but preferably in outhouses, known on the AT as a privy. We treat or filter our water to make sure we don’t get the dreaded Giardia, a water-borne parasite caused by animal feces.
We don’t use our real names – instead hikers use trail names like Chipmunk, Fauna, Brookie, Sherlock, Can’t Stop and Cowbell. My Dad, a retired psychologist who lives in Ohio, is known as Festus and my trail moniker is Skid Mark (Don’t ask). I’ve met hundreds of hikers and Cowbell is still my favorite name.
Hiking New Hampshire:
On the first day of our most recent trip, during the last week of July, we hiked four miles from Franconia Notch in the White Mountains of New Hampshire up to a hut on Lonesome Lake. The reward was a beautiful view of Mt. Lafayette, the beastly peak that marks the southern end in the Presidential Range.
Our goal was to trek 70 miles south to Hanover, N.H., on the east bank of the Connecticut River.
After getting settled, I decided to hike a few more hours to loosen my legs loose and acclimate to the rocky terrain. I hiked up a few miles to Cannon Mountain without any clue as to how steep it would be. Somewhere during the ascent one of my hiking poles got caught between two boulders and snapped in half.
Not a great start. But with the help of a few rocks, I bashed a pole remnant to a point and managed to repair my broken pole.
It proved to be a minor obstacle to overcome.
We had ideal weather and mostly good water sources. We watched a sunset from a fire tower atop Smarts Mountain, at roughly 3,000 feet.
The high point of the trek was climbing Mt. Moosilauke, which tops out at 4,802 feet, above tree line. The southbound ascent is regarded as the steepest one mile of the AT – about 2,000 feet nearly straight up. It’s a gorgeous climb parallel to Beaver Brook and its multitude of waterfalls.
My Dad and I are section hikers. No matter how rough it is, we just have to make it through a week or so.
During the trip I thought a lot about the courage it takes thru-hikers to complete the entire trail. It takes guts to get up every morning for five or six months and know you will put your legs and feet through hell.
But it’s more than that.
It requires waking up on countless cold and rainy mornings, putting on the same wet socks you’ve worn for a week, then putting on the same wet boots, shorts and T-shirt. There’s no point in putting on dry stuff when you know it’ll just get wet again.
Hiking makes me appreciate everything I take for granted: dry clothes, toast, a warm bed, ice cold soda, music, a seat with a back and any food that’s not dehydrated or freeze-dried.
The last day of any hike is a joyous occasion. This year was no different.
Hiking those 10 miles into town, I reclaimed the sense of anticipation: all the mouth-watering food I would soon be stuffing down my gullet; a hot shower and the comfort of a bed. I equate it with a feral child being released into society.
Once we walked into Hanover, we feasted on pizza for lunch and added mussels, clam chowder and French fries for dinner and topped our gluttony with ice cream sundaes.
I finally got a hot shower and marveled at the beauty of indoor plumbing. Great fun, backpacking is.
(Next year, we are planning to hike 150 miles in Vermont.)
A three-man team representing the Milwaukee Bike Polo Club scored a 5-1 victory and the World Hardcourt Bike Polo Championship in Berlin on Sunday.
Erik Kremin, Joe Burge and Brian Dillman rolled through the 64-team qualifying rounds spread over two days, and never trailed in their final against another North American squad, Chicago Machine Politics. Dillman knocked in two early goals to give the "Beaver Boys" a 2-0 lead. The local squad closed out the match with a 3-0 run.
With the victory, the Milwaukee bike polo players went from the jailhouse to the top of the world. Kremen, Burge and Dillman were among the three players arrested and ticketed for trespassing in a parking garage in O'Donnell Park in January.
In a deal with prosecutors, the tickets were dismissed and the team secured a permanent court in Washington Park on Milwaukee's west side. It will be a suitable venue to display a world championship banner.
I much prefer icicles on my eyebrows over sweat in my shorts.
That thought formed in my mind during last week's heat wave and sharpened around mile 19 of the Paavo Nurmi Marathon, as I tucked yet another pack of ice under my cap and dealt with cramps in my calves.
With that longing for a windchill to replace the heat index, I found welcome news in the Run for Snow in Madison on Sunday and the prospects for a snowy winter delivered by a La Nina forming in the Pacific.
First the run: The race is sponsored by the Central Cross-Country Ski Association to generate money for its adopt-an-athlete program.
This year of Run for Snow will raise funds to adopt Matt Liebsch, CXC Team Vertical Limit member, 2009 U.S. National Championships Bronze medalist and winner of the 2009 American Birkebeiner 52K Skate race. Matt, father of two future skiers, will run with the kids in the Snowball Kids Trail Run and participate in one of the trail run events.
Running the trails on Sunday , I'll be thinking about this update from WTMJ-TV4 forecaster, Craig Koplein, who assessed the impact a La Nina condition in the Pacific will have this winter.
According to Koplein: "The last time we had a La Nina winter was 2007-2008. That was the winter Milwaukee received 99.1 inches of snow, the second highest total on record.
"The National Weather Service tells us that the forecast is for this to continue, with “moderate to strong” La Nina conditions by this fall and winter.
"This winter’s expected La Nina comes on the heels of an El Nino (warmer than normal water temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean) winter last year. This somewhat dramatic shift from El Nino to La Nina in just one year has previously been observed seven times. Our local National Weather Service looked at how much snow fell during these previous seven circumstances.
"They found that during the late fall and early winter snowfall averaged near normal. Then, during the late winter and early spring, snowfall averaged well above normal. By my calculations, total snowfall in Milwaukee during these previous 7 La Niñas averaged 66.5 inches. That is a little more than a foot above Milwaukee’s average seasonal snowfall of 52.4 inches.
"It is important to note that snowfall was not above average during each of these La Niñas. Five had above average snowfall, one was near average and one was below average. There are always many atmospheric factors at play that determine how much snow we receive. Occasionally, these factors oppose La Nina’s snowy influence on Wisconsin.
"Still, there is clearly the potential for 2010-2011 to be a snowy winter."
In a letter to the Spring City Spinners Bicycle Club, an Iowa County prosecutor stands by a decision to not issue a traffic citation against a driver who allegedly caused the death of a club member, Allen Belonger.
Late last month, the club wrote District Attorney Larry Nelson asking why no citation had been issued against the driver who turned in front of Belonger, 62, on July 11, 2009. An accident reconstruction report prepared by State Trooper Thomas Parrott states the driver, then 16, failed to yield the right of way as Belonger rolled downhill on S. Clayhill Rd., traveling an estimated 30 to 35 mph.
Belonger crashed into the side of the pickup truck and was killed almost instantly.
In his response letter, shared on Monday, Nelson said he supports a decision that no citation be issued largely because more than a year has passed since the fatality.
On the morning of the crash, a sheriff’s deputy ticketed the driver for homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle. The boy, who now lives in New Berlin, had told authorities he was drinking beer with his father the night before the collision.
That citation was dismissed when the drivers' blood-alcohol test came back negative.
Nelson then reviewed the crash reports and determined in January that the driver’s actions didn’t warrant a criminal charge. He made no recommendation regarding a traffic citation, which would be issued by the sheriff’s department.
His letter provides this explanation: “Could I after declining criminal prosecution and having been made aware a citation had not been issued at the scene recommend to the Sheriff’s Department that they issue a citation? Certainly. I expect the Sheriff’s Department would have done so upon my request. I did not do so.
“However, I did not do so out of an affirmative decision not to issue because it may or may not have been warranted. As I stated before, my focus was to review possible criminal charges.”
Laura Fisher, president of the Spring City Spinners Bicycle Club, finds Nelson’s response lacking.
He does not provide a legal reason to not issue a citation, she said.
“I just feel like the answer is ‘I didn’t want to,’” Fisher said Monday.
The club members, along with Belonger’s widow and the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin have sought a citation be issued against the driver as a signal that authorities in Iowa County are willing to enforce traffic laws to protect cyclists.
“I think he’s setting a precedent,” Fisher said. “If you kill a cyclist on the road, you’re not even going to get so much as a ticket.”
Nelson said the criticism was unfair.
"As I indicated in my letter, persons can disagree with its content, however it’s one thing to disagree and quite another to make the statement attributed to Ms. Fisher," the prosecutor said. "If a citation was to be issued, it should have been issued at or near the time of the accident, not 13 months later.”
Kevin Hardman, the executive director of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, found Nelson's response to be lacking. It didn't answer the question: why didn't he recommend that a citation be issued in January, at the time he determined no criminal charges were warranted.
"I think the DAs reponse is unbelievable," Hardman said. "He not only didn’t answer the question, he suggested it was because of the passage of time it was more of a bother for him to look into the case."
Fisher said the club members would meet Tuesday night and determine what steps, if any, they will take from here. One likely action would be to turn their attention to Sheriff Steven Michek and ask for his explanation.
In earlier comments, Michek has said it may have been a lack of communication between his office and the district attorney.
Allen Belonger. Photo courtesy of the Spring City Spinners Bicycle Club
Jim and Janine Boldra have been married 32 years, a figure that matches Jim's tally of Ironman triathlons.
The Menasha couple went beyond even that extreme earlier this month, competing in the Ultraman Canada. The race equates to two Ironman-distance triathlons spread over three days; a total of 318.6 miles.
Jim Boldra, 56, finished in sixth place out of a field of 32, covering the swim, bike and run in 27 hours, 13 minutes, 13 seconds.
Tim Froberg, writing for the Appleton Post-Crescent, details the story of the enduring couple and their commitment to the athletic lifestyle.
"We just love endurance sports and there's always something next for us to do," he quotes Janin Boldra. "Once triathlons are done, we're getting ready for the Birkie."
Running, often used to escape problems, but will be turned into a means to solve them through a social outing to help flood victims next month.
The four-mile Runraiser set for Sept. 8 is the brainchild of Trenni Kusnierek and Mike Wisniewski, who hatched the plan to help their friend and running blogger Tim Cigelske. His house in Whitefish Bay was ruined when water washed into the first floor on July 22.
As plans formulated, the focus turned to help Cigelske’s neighbor, Fran Verito, and other flood victims.
Proceeds from the event will be split between repairs to her home and a donation to the American Red Cross in Southeastern Wisconsin.
“We had a huge outpouring of support for us, and it’s something that we never expected,” Cigelske said. “We needed to do something for someone else.”
Runners will be asked to donate at least $10 to participate in the fun run, set to start at 7 p.m. Sept. 8 at the InStep Running & Walking Store, 403 E. Buffalo St.
The four-mile loop likely will include Lakeshore State Park and an informative discussion of floor-board removal techniques, baseboard replacement and de-humidifier price comparisons.
Measured by shoe sales and official sanctioning by USA Track & Field, trail running in the United States has gained significant momentum in the past decade.
The Wall Street Journal covered the ascent in this piece, focusing on the rush for entries to the Pikes Peak Marathon and similar challenging ventures.
Nationwide, the number of trail races has nearly doubled since 2004; and is up to 220, compared to only eight in 1997, according to the 14-year-old American Trail Running Association.
This explanation for the growth would be familiar to the local runners who hit the trails in Waukesha County every Wednesday as part of the Lapham Peak Trail Runners.
...for all the pain it inflicts, trail running is easier on joints. Much of the growth of the sport is coming from road racers whose bodies—or physicians—urged them to stop running on concrete.
"Alison and Jason Bryant, founders of the Continental Divide 10K, are both former road racers, she a nationally ranked half-marathoner. Injuries plagued them until they started running trails. "Trails are just a lot kinder to your body," says Mr. Bryant, 38 years old.
The competition is also kinder, by all accounts. Out on the trail, road racing's first-to-the-finish-line mentality gives way to a spirit of camaraderie, as Mr. Bryant discovered recently after he ran out of water in the final three miles of a 30-mile race.
The only other runner nearby saw my situation and offered me some of his water," Mr. Bryant says. "That would never happen in a road race."
As a fan of trail running for training and racing, I would advocate for more shorter distance races. In its early stages, the sport tends to skew toward the ultra marathon and beyond. That said, the Glacial Trail 50K in the Northern Kettle Moraine last October ranks as one of my all-time great outings.
This Sunday, the Central Cross Country Ski Association is putting on a trail run in Madison's Elver Park. With distances ranging from 5K to 14.5K, it would be a nice entry point for road racers.
Astronauts on prolonged space missions lose more than 30% of the muscle function in their lower leg, a loss that hinders their ability to work or take emergency measures, according to a new study led by Marquette University biology professor Robert Fitts.
Solving the problem of muscle deterioration will be vital to the success of future prolonged space missions, including a trip to Mars, Fitts said on Tuesday.
Over five years, the MU professor and his team analyzed muscle biopsies taken from nine astronauts and cosmonauts before and after their six-month missions on the International Space Station. Their muscles atrophied and lost power significantly, despite regular workouts on a treadmill and resistance machine.
The lack of gravitational force to stress the muscles continues to be a problem.
“The muscle is being activated, but there is no load,” said Fitts, chairman of the Department of Biological Sciences at Marquette.
“The exercises are not adequate at the moment,” he said. “We showed that treadmill running was more effective than biking in protecting against muscle loss, but it’s still not good enough.”
Fitts has been studying the physical effects of prolonged space flight for nearly two decades, starting with analysis of muscle loss during the shorter space shuttle flights. The results of those studies guided the nutritional and exercise plans implemented by astronauts on longer missions, and the new findings will be vital if the U.S. pursues manned missions to Mars.
The paper published in the Journal of Physiology provides an in-depth analysis of 2,000 muscle fibers sampled from the calves of astronauts and cosmonauts who spent six months on the space station. Their missions were spread from 2000 to 2005.
Fitts found the muscles suffered a 35% loss of force and a 20% loss of size in the slow-twitch fibers. The loss of power – the key to movement – was roughly 45%.
“The biggest problem is the wasting of the muscle and the reduction of the motion, and as a result the power loss is much greater than the atrophy,” Fitts said.
“The danger would be in an emergency,” he said. “If there was an emergency on landing, they wouldn’t be able to egress out of the vehicle rapidly.”
Equally problematic is the loss of stamina. Astronauts attempting space walks or other operations after months in a low-gravity environment would fatigue quickly, limiting their capacity to work.
Fitts doesn’t view the findings in his research as a cause to abandon extended space travel, including the estimated three-year mission to Mars. Instead, he advocates greater use of the International Space Station as a tool to find better methods to protect astronaut’s muscles.
Fitts led research to measure muscle loss afflicting astronauts. Photo courtesy of
I feared that Steve Smith had retired himself as a contributor to Off the Couch after he regaled readers with the tale of his glorious success in the 2008 Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race.
It turns out, he was simply waiting for another epic endurance challenge to spark his muse. Steve sent along this fretful dispatch on Wednesday.
In the middle of a two-hour mountain bike ride in Colorado’s beautiful Arapaho National Forest, admiring the spectacular views and brisk air (Presumed slogan: “Now Oxygen FREE!”), the feeling struck furiously.
The chills and light-headedness didn’t come from the five-mile, switchback-filled grind to a majestic peak at 10,600 foot feet, but the realization that the Unnamed Epic was only three weeks hence.
"25 miles, divide by 130 minutes, carry the 4, subtract 2,800 feet of climbing, add sleet of a Colorado morning…" My mind pureed the current ride stats, legs churned slowly… If my limited math skills weren’t entirely scrambled at these heights, it occurred to me that the 60-ish-mile (actually 75) Epic will require, daresay, an epic effort to finish in under FIVE hours!
How did I overlook the need to put in some epic long-distance training to handle the epic ride?
This season, five hours represented a good night’s sleep and far exceeded my longest training or race efforts.
Sure, there was the occasional criterium race on the local circuit. But competing and training with my Café Hollander teammates generally kept my mindset in the 60-minute range.
Blame work-related travel. Blame any one of the three kids. Blame the products that made Milwaukee Famous. I had plenty of alibis; none legit.
After a week in Colorado celebrating my parent’s 50th anniversary (talk about EPIC!), and back in the Midwest (Presumed slogan: “America’s Oxygenland!”), I’m now in emergency training mode. It will be simple (nervous laugh): hit every group ride, two-wheeled kalatsch or rolling get-together that extends beyond two to three hours. Go hard. Go long. Go like the Barefoot Bandit on a bike….just go.
A Tuesday evening spent on the mighty Trocadero team ride did little to calm my nerves.
Unnamed Epic race organizer and Team Trocadero he-man Jack Hirt praised the quality of the course. It climbs more than 6,000 feet, stretches from Mineral Point, then up through Governor Dodge State Park before popping the cork on some relatively new single track in Bluemound State Park.
“The first mile up the trail into Blue Mound took me almost 14 minutes!” laughed Hirt, who could pass as the progeny of Sir Edmund Hilary and/or Usain Bolt.
I looked down at my pasty stumps, whimpered a barely audible groan, and discretely moved to the back of the “peloton” to contemplate my fate. Relegated to the privacy of the tail end of the group gave me time to implement the second prong of my training: I began to pray that my 44-year old legs would handle an awkward, some may say ill-advised, double-inverse, 10-day brick of a peaking program.
Smith lives in Wauwatosa and works in communications for Rockwell Automation. He is a previous winner of the BCOC division in the Cable Off-Road Classic.
Roughly 300 riders are expected to take the start line for the first Unnamed Epic, a mountain bike race in western Dane County. Registration is $105 through Aug. 20 and $120 on race day. For a look at the course profile and the cause of Smith's worry, click here.
With my attention focused on running the Paavo Nurmi on Saturday, the Ore to Shore Mountain Bike Epic slipped off the back of my mind.
Perhaps it was intentional, an attempt to forget about my own experiences racing on Lake Superior, the long days of suffering in the endless sand. I still get woozy thinking about those climbs along the power line.
Still, it is the first leg of the unofficial Midwest Triple Crown, a great race and a terrific party in one of my favorite towns, Marquette, Mich.
In Marquette, TJ Woodruff (Adventure 212) outdueled a strong group to win the 48-mile Hard Rock. A couple of WORS regulars from the Badger State, Tristan Schouten and Nathan Guerra, were in the mix right at the end.
Jenna Rinehart, from Mankato, Minn., won her third Ore to Shore title, with a comfortable cushion over Susan Stephens, from Harrow, Ont.
Reading about the excitement makes me think a year away from the Superior Dome is enough. I'm ready to give in once again to the lure of Neqaunee.
In the last year, a local surgeon helped guide two women through breast cancer’s three phases – diagnosis, treatment, recovery.
On Sunday, those cancer survivors, Lori Johnson, 43, and Sue Donnelly, 63, will help Dr. Amanda Kong, through three different phases – swimming, biking and running – the three legs of the Danskin triathlon in Pleasant Prairie.
In her journal, Johnson coined her experience “breast cancer: my athletic event” because much of her journey was about overcoming a negative mind set. A victory lap of some sort only seems fitting.
Almost every day for the month of January, Johnson and Donnelly sat together in a waiting room at Froedtert Hospital, where they were undergoing radiation treatment.
The two met in that waiting room and quickly turned a room of silence into a room of conversation, often talking about their active lifestyles.
“You’re given so many restrictions initially of what you can do and you’re just tired, you’re fatigued and there’s a point where you feel like you’re at cancer’s mercy,” Johnson said.
“Every woman who goes through breast cancer has a very individual reaction to it,” Donnelly said. “There was just this need, because I had always been active, to reclaim my body.”
On Sunday, Johnson and Donnelly will do just that, alongside Kong, the woman who supported them through their treatment.
Except this time, the roles may be reversed.
“I’ll need to lean on them,” Kong said. “I have no vision without my glasses and I have to swim across this lake.”
But the women will not leave Kong alone in the often dog-eat-dog environment of the triathlon swim.
“Sue and I plan on being on both sides of her,” Johnson said. “We’re not worried about our times. The whole purpose is that we cross the finish line together.”
Johnson is the only one of the three who has done a triathlon. Before her diagnosis in October, she participated in the Trek triathlon, which also honors cancer survivors.
“The whole speech and everything had literally brought me to tears,” Johnson said of the Trek race. When she was diagnosed, she remembered how touched she had been and knew she would be part of a group like that someday.
She finished her treatment in February, shortly after Donnelly, who lives in Michigan, had finished hers. That was when they got Dr. Kong on board.
Another one of Kong’s patients signed her up for a class where she did 90 minutes of biking and running twice a week.
“Not only has it been great for my health, I’ve learned a lot about how these treatments affect patients in their daily activities,” she said.
The women kept in touch over funny, light-hearted e-mails where they would talk about the trials and tribulations of their training.
Donnelly, who has been swimming twice a week in Lake Michigan since June, said she is still intimidated, but excited at the same time.
“I’ll just be glad when it’s over and I’m still standing,” she said with a laugh.
From left: Dr. Amanda Kong, Sue Donnelly, Lori Johnson in March before going on a bike ride.
A motorist driving a black Ford sedan struck a 12-year-old boy riding a bike on Superior St. in Sheboygan, then fled the scene without stopping, according to this report from the Sheboygan Press.
The youth was knocked over but suffered only minor injuries in the crash that occurred Thursday morning.
The boy had stopped before crossing the street and was in the crosswalk.
The driver made no attempt to stop and check on the boy, who had suffered minor scrapes and bruises. The boy biked home and called his mother, who contacted police.
Anyone who witnessed the crash or has information on the man's identity is asked to contact Sheboygan police at (920) 459-3333.
One of the biggest cash prizes in U.S. cycling will be up for grabs in the race around Lake Winnebago on Sunday morning.
Old Fashioned Foods put up the $20,000 bounty to the first rider to hit the finish line and break the average speed record of 26.1119 mph in the 90-mile Race the Lake. That offer and $10,000 in the prize purse for the top men and women's has attraced a solid field for the third edition of the unique event.
Ryan Baumann, of Madison, set the record pace while winning the race in 2009.
Robbie Ventura's Vision Quest Team and Team Aerocat are among the squads sending top riders to compete.
"The competition in this thing has gotten significantly better," said Tom Schuler, a former US Road Racing champion and an advisor to race promoter Gloria West.
A 90-mile road race with a rolling closed course is a unique event in area cycling. The intersections and roads around the lake are monitored by police and volunteers, and Schuler said he was impressed by the law enforcement cooperation in the first two years.
The elite group will be limited to 100, but another 1,400 to 1,500 citizen racers will pursue their own time records.
Andrew Crater cashed in on one of the bigger prizes in U.S. cycling with a record-settting performance Sunday in Race the Lake, the 90-mile loop around Lake Winnebago.
Crater won the race for a second time in three years. More important, his average speed of 27.91 mph set a new course record and earned the AeroCat Cycling Team rider a $20,000 bonus prize.
The 32-year-old has been on a fast roll this season, adding the Race the Lake prize to his age group win in the USA Cycling National Masters Road Race Championship and a strong showing in the Tour of Elk Grove.
In Fond du Lac, he outstprinted Rob White of Brown Deer to win by just a few seconds. Pat Lemieux of St. Paul, Minn., was third.
The 90-mile race started in Lakeside Park in Fond du Lac, then looped north along the west side of Lake Winnebago. Racers passed through Oshkosh, Neenah, Menasha and Appleton before getting to High Cliff State Park. The final segement took them through Calumetville, Marytown and St. Peter before reaching the finish back in Lakeside.
In the women's division, Laura Vangilder of Pennsylvania outpaced Lindsey Kriete of Milwaukee for the victory.
The folks at the InStep Running and Walking Center in the Third Ward report they have some room available for the barefoot running clinic led by Michael Sandler.
But not much. About 20 people already plan to turn out for the session, which starts at 7 p.m. inside the store at 403 E. Buffalo St.
Sandler wrote the book, "Barefoot Running: How to Run Light and Free by Getting in Touch with the Earth," and is one of the leading preachers in the minimalist running religion. A top cyclist and in-line skater, Sandler turned to barefoot running after debilitating injuries.
From his story: "To Michael, barefoot running is not running at all. He says, “I don’t run anymore. I dance.” The benefits are multifold. Barefoot running activates many more small muscle groups than running with shoes. It allows us to run as our hunter-gatherer ancestors did – the natural way our body was intended to run. It heals old sports injuries and by promoting a more natural form, gives us greater feedback from the ground, and by keeping us lower to the ground, it prevents new injuries.
"Barefoot running naturally promotes better, more efficient running posture and allows runners to surpass any speed they were ever able to attain with shoes. While the body heals, strengthens and economizes, the spirit heals and awakens. There’s something to be said about feeling the earth beneath one’s feet – feeling connected and grounded with nature. Suddenly, you’re thinking more clearly and you’re on top of the world."
It’s a high-pressure system, not the large moon, that makes tonight the night to paddle a canoe across Lake Michigan.
After all, it’s a record not romance that Mike Schnitzka will be after.
The record-setting paddler from Nashotah announced about mid-afternoon that he and his teammate, Dan Hoffman, would launch their 19-foot Wenonah from a lighthouse north of Two Rivers about 7:30 p.m. They expect to reach another lighthouse, just north of Ludington, Mich., after about 12 hours of paddling. The distance is 51 miles.
Based on his research, Schnitzka put the previous record for a canoe crossing of Lake Michigan at 24 hours. According to news accounts, Ed Muzik and Doug Hissom made the trip across in a 17-foot aluminum canoe in 26 hours in 1993.
Schnitzka, 47, has set records for paddling the 430-mile Wisconsin River in six days, in 1995; and the length of the Mississippi, in 23 days, in 1989.
In 2007, he and William Perdzock attempted to set a new record for paddling the Rhine River, but were forced to abandon the effort after just one day.
The paddle across the lake on Monday night is essentially part of his training for another shot at the Rhine in April.
For most of the summer, Schnitzka has been watching the weather for the right conditions to allow for an attempt to cross Lake Michigan. A high pressure system stationed directly over the lake appears to provide what he and Hoffman need: virtually no wind and minimal waves.
A support boat will lead the Schnitzka and Hoffman across the lake, averaging roughly 5 to 6 mph.
“Tonight, we look at as a training run to paddle at a good speed for a long time,” Schnitzka said. “Regular marathon canoe races are 14 to 21 miles, between two and three hours. We call those sprint races.”
Mike Schnitzka (left) and Dan Hoffman practice for their paddle across Lake Michigan. Photo courtesy of Mike Schnitzka.
Mike Schnitzka and Dan Hoffman began their 51-mile canoe trip across Lake Michigan about 9 p.m. Monday, under a nearly full moon.
The paddlers are using the extended effort as training for an attempt in April to set a new record on the Rhine River, Schnitzka, 47, of Nashotah was stymied in an attempt on the Rhine in 2007.
He previously set records on canoe trips down both the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers.
For much of the summer, he and Hoffman have been waiting for a high-pressure system to settle over Lake Michigan and provide the calm wind and waves that would allow a crossing in a canoe.
John Unvare, piloting a lead boat, said one-foot waves were rolling gently when the paddlers set out from a lighthouse north of Two Rivers. They plan to arrive in Ludington, Mich., after about 12 hours.
"They're getting their bearings and getting into a groove," Unvare said. "It's a beautiful night so far."
Word of the launch earlier Monday spurred this recollection from Doug Hissom, a Bay View resident who paddled across Lake Michigan 17 years ago, with Ed Muzik, the property manager at Lapham Peak in the Town of Delafield.
"The 17th anniversary was this past Friday, the 13th.
"We went from Sheboygan to Ludington, 65 miles, which is further than Two Rivers.
"Actually used the ferry to help point us to Ludington, as we had hand-held and dash board compasses to guide our way [no GPS's around] We did it in an open aluminum 17-foot canoe that was won in a 50-cent raffle in 1969.
"We had no chase boat, no radios - cell phones were $1,000 back then - and the Coast Guard said don't file a float plan, but tell the family take plenty of time before calling for rescue.
"Sight deprivation was the big issue, creating hallucinations throughout the trip. Nothing but water when you're out there by yourself, you know. We ate a can of Dinty Moore along the way for fuel, and celebrated with a 3-hour nap and a drive back to Milwaukee. We did it for fun. No special training beforehand except for our accumulated paddling skills over the course of playing with boats for eight years.
"Perhaps the resulting "training" part of the trip was for telling stories about it later on. ... over a beer of course."
Mike Schnitzka and Dan Hoffman abandoned their overnight canoe across Lake Michigan, when waves picked up to about two feet around 1 a.m., their crew reported Tuesday morning.
The paddlers had launched their 19-foot canoe from a lighthouse near Two Rivers about 9 p.m., in an attempt to set a new record for paddling across the lake.
John Udvare, who piloted a support boat, said Schnitzka and Hoffman were in the middle of the lake, about 25 miles from their starting point, when the waves started to swamp their craft. Udvare picked them up and delivered them back to Two Rivers.
"It was the safe thing to do, and safety comes first," Udvare said. "They were good in terms of paddling."
Schnitzka, 47, of Nashota has set records for canoeing down the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers and is planning another attempt to set a record on the Rhine River in April. The paddle across Lake Michigan was intended to be a training run for that expedition.
He and Hoffman waited most of the summer for the ideal conditions: a high pressure system over the lake that would limit winds and waves. The calm water didn't last, however.
While scanning the great cyber world for interesting takes on food, the Journal Sentinel's Post-College Kitchen blogger found the taco bike.
Created by Todd Baricklow, an artist in Santa Rosa, Calif., the three-wheeled bike serves as a movable feast, as long as the feast is limited to tacos.
Baricklow's mobile taqueria is indeed impressive, but in the mixed category of foodies and bikies, I believe the waffle bike still reigns supreme.
The "Drop Bag" is a collection of news and events from the Off the Couch sporting world.
The name refers to the drop bags that competitors use to get their post-race necessities from the start line to the finish line of point-to-point races.
Poetry in motion: An Off the Couch reader found this ad posted on Craigslist: a wedding participant seeking a bike-themed poem to read during the ceremony. Break out your muse and send your contributions to email@example.com for a future posting.
Creative inspiration: Writing on his Over the Bars in Milwaukee blog, Dave Schlabowske shares a series of videos produced to promote bike to work efforts. Trust the Dutch to take a slightly erotic approach.
The state of Lance: For those looking to join Lance Armstrong in the Ride the Drive in Madison on Sunday, the New York Times provides an excellent review of his charity work, the ongoing doping investigation and his intimidating personality.
Milwaukee Bike polo championship: Back to the poetry in motion theme, we turn to this video of the Milwaukee Bike Polo Club's victory in the World Championship match in Berlin.
Athletes who wouldn't take a step without their iPods will find justification in this New York Times story exploring the motivational benefits of music-assisted exercise.
It includes findings from a number of studies seeking to determine how music impacts us physiologically and psychologically.
The key passage: "In fact, it’s music’s dual ability to distract attention (a psychological effect) while simultaneously goosing the heart and the muscles (physiological impacts) that makes it so effective during everyday exercise.
"Multiple experiments have found that music both increases a person’s subjective sense of motivation during a workout, and also concretely affects his or her performance.
"The resulting interactions between body, brain and music are complex and intertwined. It’s not simply that music motivates you and you run faster. It may be that, instead, your body first responds to the beat, even before your mind joins in; your heart rate and breathing increase and the resulting biochemical reactions join with the music to exhilarate and motivate you to move even faster."
The piece suggests, though, that music will be of little help at maximum effort, a point that Jennifer Goebel likely wishes she had considered before she turned on during the 2009 Lakefront Marathon.
My view: I ditched the headphones the last time my Walkman ran low on battery power.
I run or bike or ski to whatever song pops into my head, concentrate on the task at hand, or work through the problems of the day. For the most part, I prefer to focus on the physical experience rather than use something to distract msyelf from it.
And, especially when running or biking on city streets, I like the added safety of free ears.
Limited visibilty caused by the morning sun appears to have been a factor in a crash that killed a 73-year-old cyclist at a rural intersection in Brown County, according to the preliminary sheriff's reports.
The victim was identified as Reinhold Herzog. He is the fifth person to be killed while bicycling in Wisconsin this year.
Brown County Sheriff's Lt. Keith Barth said Herzog was struck while pedaling southbound on Blake Rd. about 7:20 a.m. Tuesday. He was hit by a Ford F250 pickup truck making a left turn to go from eastbound Hwy. 96 to travel northbound on Blake Rd.
The crash site is in the Town of Wrightstown, about eight miles south of Green Bay.
Herzog had a stop sign on Blake Rd. There is no traffic control on eastbound Hwy. 96.
The driver told deputies the sun low in the horizon made visibility difficult. Investigators on the scene reported the same, according to Barth.
Sheriff's officials will analyze the crash and produce a reconstruction, a process likely to take several weeks, Barth said. At this time, alcohol is not believed to be a factor and no citations have been issued.
The Green Bay Press Gazette reported that he was flown by medical helicopter to a Green Bay hospital, where he died late Tuesday night.
Herzog was not wearing a helmet, according to the Press Gazette report.
Lorraine Bunk has finished every race she’s ever started, whether a 5K or 100-mile ultra.
Her husband, Tom, says he's lucky she applied the same determination to their marriage.
Because of that double doggedness, the high-school sweethearts will reach a remarkable dual finish line on Saturday: celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary with a 50-kilometer run on the trails in the Southern Kettle Moraine State Forest, near their home in North Prairie.
The achievements – 50 years of marriage and the ability to still run 50K – are equally impressive to the friends who respectfully call Tom and Lorraine “president and first lady” of trail running. Dozens, maybe 100 of them, will join the Bunks for portions of the run and the anniversary barbecue to follow.
“They’re amazing people,” said Kevin Grabowski, a fellow member of the Lapham Peak Trail Runners group. “Your typical impression of somebody doing their 50th wedding anniversary is that they’re going to be way too old to be running a 5K, let alone a 50, but Tom and Lorraine aren’t just anybody.
“They are very accomplished ultra runners and very competitive.”
They’re also generous with their time and wisdom, and have been the foundation for trail running in southern Wisconsin for two decades.
That's not something you would hear from them. Gracious and humble, they’re more likely to celebrate and boast of others’ achievements than their own.
Another local runner, Mary Gorski, pried loose enough of their story for a piece published this month in Ultrarunner Magazine.
It tells how they met in high school in a class of 19 in Kendall, Wis., and married on Sept. 3, 1960.
Tom, 68, worked as a manager for Caterpillar and then Waukesha Engine, and took to running first. He notched his first marathon in 1980, and his first ultra, the Ice Age 50, three years later.
Lorraine, 69, followed his lead a few years later, catching up to both Tom and their children, Craig and Kim.
She ran her first Ice Age 50 in 1989, planning to do just one.
“Somewhere I got carried away,” she acknowledged, noting that she has lost track of the number of marathons and beyond marathons she has run.
One number that stands out is 19: her official finishes in the 50-mile run on the Ice Age Trail in the Southern Kettle. Lorraine started after number 20 in May, but felt lousy from the beginning and failed to meet the time cut-off for an official finish.
She didn’t quite, however.
“It was just one foot in front of the other,” she said. “I just thought, ‘well, OK, I’ll get to the finish.”
Thinking about it for a bit, she noted the value of a similar approach to marriage.
“It’s not just putting that ring on your finger,” she said. “Fifty years is a long time and there are ups and downs, and there’s a lot to deal with.
“When it gets tough, you don’t throw in the towel, you just keep working at it.”
Both Bunks said running has been a huge help over the years - for their health and their marriage. It’s something they have shared and has been a focal point of their travels.
With all his own achievements, Tom Bunk puts pacing Lorraine to the finish line of the Western States 100 in 1997 near the top of his favorite running moments. It was one of the few times, in all those races, that the two of them have actually run together.
Saturday will be the second.
Tom and Lorraine Bunk. Photo by Mary Gorski
Off the Couch contributor Sara Knutson will depart soon to pursue her higher education in the theology program at Boston College. Earlier this month, she pursued an outdoors education with her mother, brother and sister hiking in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park.
In this essay, she reports the findings of her research.
Car camping is easy.
It’s easy to get people to agree to “You bring the steaks, I’ll bring the beer!”
It’s easy to prepare for; when in doubt about whether to pack something, just bring it.
And in this age of air mattresses and EZ-ups, it’s easy to do comfortably.
Backpacking sits squarely on the other end of the spectrum.
You have to convince friends that – yes - they can handle and even enjoy hiking eight miles while wearing unfashionable clothes and a monster backpack.
You have to track down any gear you don’t already own, and figure out what to buy or replace. And you have to agonize over all the weather possibilities since Mother Nature is not going to take it easy just because it’s your week to hike.
I love both versions of the outdoor experience, but given the option and enough time, I’ll always choose to backpack, even with the added hassle and often longer travel time. Why? Well…
While backpacking, I get withdraw from Smart Phones and iPods and even radios. Whoever I’m with is doing the same thing.
On last week’s trip, my family and I spent hours shooting the breeze around the campfire and sang poorly-memorized childhood (and some Top 40) songs on trail. That old-timey fun doesn’t pop up much anymore in our always-tuned-in, coolness-is-everything generation.
While backpacking, I don’t take water for granted. When every drop requires finding, collecting, and treating, and I’m constantly checking the volume in my water bottle against the mileage yet to be traveled, I see water as the precious resource it is.
Knutston draws water from the Big Carp River
While backpacking, I awaken in a remote area with just one or two other campers for company and go to sleep in a different remote area. There’s no room to worry about grad school or employment when the issues of the day include the threat of rain, the distance to the next campsite and how to fix the water filter. The present is the only thing that matters.
While backpacking, I get to engage with nature: Is it sunny and perfect for a swim? Cool and conducive to covering some miles? Drizzly and crying out for a card-playing marathon in the tent? Snowy and the signal for an early departure?
More than almost any other experience, a backpacking trip is defined by the elements and one’s response to them.
Those benefits aren’t exactly giddy thrills. But they are deeply satisfying and continue to draw me to the wilderness for as long as I can get away.
Sara and her sister Katie on the Lake Superior shore
Mike Schnitzka and Dan Hoffman were disappointed that waves swamped their attempt to set a new record for canoeing across Lake Michigan early Tuesday morning.
Their fate could have been worse.
A kayaker competing in the 340-mile Missouri River Race was knocked out of the competition this week by an Asian Carp that smacked into his head.
More than just one epic race, the weekend calendar offers a trio of events to test the the dirt and chain-lube and sweat crowd in Wisconsin.
There’s the new: the Unnamed Epic.
The well-established: the Seeley Lion’s Club Pre-Fat; in its 15th year.
And the series: the Alterra Coffee Bean Classic at Crystal Ridge in Franklin, race number nine in the Wisconsin Off Road Series.
(For those looking for a more leisurely alternative, on pavement, the Tall Pines Conservancy offers an easy tour of barns in Washington and Waukesha Counties)
The Epic: Race director Jack Hirt, working with Team Sports, mapped out the 70-mile course west of Madison to bring an ultra-marathon mountain bike race to Wisconsin. Similar races, including the Cohutta 100, the Lumberjack 100, and the venerable Leadville Trail 100, have established a growing niche in the mountain biking sport.
About 300 riders are expected to test themselves on a long mix of recreational trails and steep single-track in the driftless area in Dane and Iowa Counties. The race starts at 8 a.m. on Shake Rag St., in Mineral Point, and finishes in Blue Mound State Park, the highest point in southern Wisconsin.
The Pre-Fat: Deep in my dresser this morning, I found the t-shirt from the third annual Seeley Lion’s club Pre-Fat, in 1998. I haven’t missed one yet. The 25-mile race covers some unmarked single track in the Seeley Highlands; but the laid-back vibe of a North Woods race is the big draw. While it’s labeled the Pre-Fat, the race is largely contested on tight single-track and presents a completely different challenge from the wide-open Chequemagon Fat Tire 40.
The trip to Seeley is also a chance to connect with the memory of Gary Penman and enjoy all that he built in the Sawyer County forest.
WORS: The deluge on July 22 wiped out the original date for the Alterra Coffee Bean Classic at Crystal Ridge, but the postponement provided the trail crew time to improve the 6- and 7-mile race loops. A dozen boardwalks have been installed over perennially muddy sections, according to race director Ty Gonzalez.
With the repeated climbs up the ski hill, the classic will test the endurance of the riders competing for places in the overall WORS series.
Tristan Schouten, took home his fifth series win in the Reforestation Ramble last weekend and holds a slim lead over Darrin Braun in the Pro Elite category.
Abigail Strigel, of Madison, has been dominant in her races so far, but is being pressed for the top spot in the women’s ranks by Lisa Krayer of North Freedom, Wis.
On Sunday, the junior races start at 9:30 a.m.. Watch for the youngsters from the EXPO Racing Junior Mountain Bike Team to show off the skills they develped competing in the junior nationals earlier this summer.
For runners, the Crystal Ridge Scramble, part of the WORS Trail Run Series, starts at 8:30 a.m.
Tour: The Tall Pines Conservancy, based in northern Waukesha County, has organized the biking barn tours to raise money for its land conservation efforts.
This edition of “Ride to the Barns,” on Saturday the 28th, offers 30- and 62-mile routes through rolling farmland in Waukesha, Dodge and Washington counties, with rest and food stops at local farms. The 62-mile starts at 8:30am and the 30 miler at 10 a.m. at Highways Q and 83 (Camp/Quad). Registration is a $75 tax deductible donation for land conservation.
The motorist who struck and killed a local bike racer on Father’s Day has paid a $114 fine, in advance of a court appearance Friday morning, according to a Lake Country Municipal Court official.
The payment made on Aug. 5 indicates that Samuel Weirick, 20, will not contest the citation issued for failing to provide the three feet of clearance state law requires when passing a bicyclist. His attorney, Jeffrey Eck, did not return several calls from a reporter seeking to confirm that Weirick chose to accept his penalty: the fine and a three-point deduction on his license.
He also faced a one-year license suspension because the violation involved a death - that of Brett Netke, a 42-year-old father of three from Waukesha.
Netke’s widow, Darlene, said Thursday, she was disappointed no criminal charges were issued against Weirick.
“We didn’t want him to be sitting in jail for 30 years, but we wanted some real consequences for what happened,” she said. “We did feel this was a serious enough situation there should be something more solid than a $114 fine.
“I think his license should be gone for a few years, he should go to schools and talk to people and tell them what can happen. Community service, maybe three months in jail to let people know we need to be alert and pay attention.”
According to police reports, Weirick was eastbound on Highway 18, roughly one mile east of Hwy. 67 in the Town of Summit when he came upon Netke pedaling in the same direction. The 42-year competed in a local citizens bike race series and was on a routine training ride on that Sunday morning, May 20.
He was riding adjacent to the Glacial Drumlin Trail, a paved path used by recreational cyclists, skaters, walkers and runners.
Based on the reports, Netke was pedaling on the right side of the road and the motorist struck him from behind 1/10th of a mile east of Wayfair Tr. The speed limit at that point is 55 mph and the car would have just crested a hill about 100 yards before the impact.
The report indicates that inattentive driving may have been a factor, but did not specify the basis for that.
Waukesha County Dist. Atty. Brad Schimel reviewed the accident reports and determined Weirick’s actions did not warrant a criminal charge. Witness accounts varied on where exactly Netke was on the road at the time of impact, he said.
“Given the differences of opinion, I would never be able to prove a criminal case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Schimel said in an interview earlier this month. “It’s just a horrible tragedy.”
Responding to the Netke case and other cyclist fatalities, the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin plans to pursue legislation that would increase the penalties for drivers who commit traffic violations that result in deaths. The specific proposal will be shaped in the coming months, according to Kevin Hardman, executive director of the advocacy group.
A couple of the area’s best paddlers attempted to reach Lake Michigan by canoe earlier this week.
A much larger contingent will take to the water off the Windy City on Saturday for the Chicago Shoreline Marathon.
One of them, Chris Van Meter, filled me in on the details of this 25-mile marathon from Calumet Beach to Leone Beach, and its significance in the Surfski racing world. Van Meter, 52, can usually be found paddling one of the sleek craft on the Milwaukee River, near his home in the Third Ward.
“This is by far the most prestigious kayak race in the Midwest,” he wrote.
“The race has become part of the triple crown of American open water racing along with the Mayor’s Cup, held two weeks ago in New York and the US Surfski championships held last week in San Francisco, so a large field of the elite international paddlers will be here as well: Dawid Mocke and DeAnne Hemmens, US champ winners, Philippe Bocarro, former French Olympian, Jeremy Cotter, etc.
“This race is unique in that until recently, Surfskis were considered ocean boats exclusively. A few years ago a handful of us in the area, including the race founder Tim Flentye, started playing with them on Lake Michigan and local rivers. Tim decided we needed an Elite level race on fresh water and organized the Chicago Shoreline Marathon. Initially the world class paddlers were drawn by the prize money.”
Van Meter reported the local group of kayakers and Surfski enthusiasts competing this weekend included: Gary Simon, Rick Rojahn, Sue Bartfield, Jeff Seipel, Neil Wiesner-Hanks from Milwaukee, several from Madison, with Kevin Leroy leading the field, and numerous others from the upper Midwest.
"For those of us from the area it is a chance to paddle with the best in the world," Van Meter said. "We race against each other all season and this is our chance to mix it up with guys who usually race in South Africa and Australia.
"Dawid Mocke will also be conducting a downwind paddling seminar Friday and most of the elites are very gracious about spending one-on-one time with us to help us improve so we really get a lot from the experience. Several of the Milwaukee Seakayakers will also serve as safety boats for the race which gets people who don’t race a chance to interact with international paddlers."
In a slight twist on the political slogan, Ripon College Cycling Coach Ric Damm is calling on mountain bikers to "vote late and vote often" for his team's trails project.
Voting closes Tuesday in the Pepsi Refresh Project, an online election with cash awards to support winning proposals. Through Monday morning, the Redhawks' trails project held 10th place, in line for $25,000.
That money would be used to bring the International Mountain Bicycling Association Trail Crew to Ripon to help map out and build trails in the Ceresco Prairie Conservancy.
Damm explained the need: "The Ripon cycling team just returned from its first collegiate race of the season hosted by Michigan Tech. They have some amazing trails up there. We're not asking for an entire forestland of trails, but just a few miles on college property on which to train and hone our skills. Imagine a college football team without a field to practice on. That's where Ripon's mountain bike team finds itself right now. With this grant money from Pepsi, we'll be able to hire a professional team of trailbuilders from the International Mountain Bicycling Association to design and help us build these trails, to help keep Ripon competitive with the other schools in our conference."
Lance Armstrong, the seven-time winner of the Tour de France, proved to be a huge draw for the third Ride the Drive in Madison.
Organizers from the city put the number of folks who enjoyed the car-free streets on Sunday at 50,000, more than double the turnout for the first Ride the Drive in 2009. Similar to the event on Lake Shore Dr. in Chicago, Ride the Drive turns a six-mile loop near the Capitol over to walkers, bikers and roller bladers.
Many relished the sense of freedom that Armstrong talked about during his time on the stage.
According to the Wisconsin State Journal he said he remembered those first few moments of biking without training wheels. Riding down the driveway, hitting the street, going left to right and heading down to the corner. “You take that corner and all of a sudden mom or dad or grandma or grandpa is not watching you and you’re totally free.”
That moment is clear to him even now as he nears 40, he said. Riding a bike just for fun and for fitness, he still appreciates that feeling of freedom.
Participans raved about their Ride the Drive experience on the event's Facebook page, and a number of bloggers captured the day in photos. My kudos to Madison-area lawyer Clayton Griessmeyer who added the detail of Armstrong's bike: a Trek District.
In recent years, I’ve been humbled by far too many skiers blowing by me in the double-pole dash across Hayward Lake, in the final miles of the American Birkebeiner.
With my mind set on reversing that trend, I endured a similar put-in-my-place experience last week: a workout devised and directed by physical therapist and personal trainer John Burns.
At the end, I could barely lift my arms to turn the ignition in my car.
Burns, 55, developed his regimen – the Tao-Well total body workout and the Focused Intense Suspension Training – from his study of martial arts, physical therapy and kinesiology. A one-time factory worker, he was awarded a patent in July for the Tao-Well work-out band and its various applications.
Like me, he started his exploration with the goal of becoming a faster skier.
“I took Tai Chi principals and applied them to cross-country skiing and voila, they worked,” he said in a follow up to our session.
The Tao-Well workout: We started with a series of strength and flexibility exercises using the Tao-Well band, a sleeve with three “training orbs,” (tennis balls). The band served at times as a martial arts sword or nun chucks, swung while standing on one leg to improve balance.
As directed, I held the band taught and created a helicopter motion or a kayak paddle while doing sit ups and stretches and yoga-like poses. The idea is to engage a variety of different muscles simultaneously, as one would do in cross-country skiing, running or biking.
Burns impressed me with his ability to perform push ups and sit ups in different postures, essentially suspending his entire body weight. That sort of functional strength is essential to propelling yourself forward, our ultimate purpose in skiing.
Maximizing strength: Those who have ventured to the Lapham Peak recreation area on Saturday mornings have seen the ropes and handles that Burns suspends from the picnic shelter near the Evergreen lodge. They don't just look like torture devices.
Photo by Alison Sherwood
Exercise number one was a hand-over-hand rope climb, in a seated position, without using legs for assistance. Burns climbed in what seemed to be one quick motion. I reached the top once, then grabbed desperately in a number of futile attempts.
It was a pattern.
Burns quickly and efficiently demonstrated an exercise, and I followed with a fumbling, flopping variation.
In his maximum strength program, Burns proscribes doing each exercise for two minutes. That allows one to sit in failure for much of the time while gathering the strength for additional efforts.
We moved from the rope climb to plyometric exercises of the lower body, in this case leaps onto the picnic bench. Again, I matched Burns’ rapid repetitions with sluggish jumps, filling the two minutes.
Alternating between lower body and upper body, subsequent exercises included pull ups and push ups, requiring balance and strength on the rope-and-handle apparatus.
While I failed to perform each exercise continuously for the two minutes, I met the singular goal: fatiguing the muscle.
“If you’re fatiguing the muscle, no matter the number of reps or the sets, that’s how your body learns to adapt,” Burns said. “You want to elicit the anaerobic aspect of training, seeing how your body can adapt and reduce lactic acid build up.”
The payoff: Nearly all of the exercises in Burns’ program are designed to build strength in the latissimus dorsi and gluteous musles, the large muscles most important for the propulsive motion in skiing.
By making those muscles stronger, increasing functional strength, I should be able to use a lesser percentage of my maximum capacity while skiing comfortably and have a higher top end. That’s Burns’ theory.
For those looking to test that theory, he offers his training sessions at Lapham Peak each Saturday, at 8:30 a.m. He charges $15 a session, and tosses in a free one after 10.
Of course, the real test will be conducted on Hayward Lake.
This variation on pushups builds the core muscles and balance. Photo by Alison Sherwood.
Based on an attrition rate of nearly 40% the Unnamed Epic mountain bike race lived up to its name.
Pat Lemieux, a Texas Roadhouse rider from Minnesota, led the 142 finishers across the line in Blue Mound State Park, after grinding along for 4 hours, 48 minutes and 48 seconds. (Check here for the race recap).
The fastest female finisher, Lindsey Kriete, of Milwaukee ended her victorious ride more than an hour after Lemieux.
Race organizers reported that 242 competitors took the start line in Mineral Point, and 94 of them succumbed to the terrain, or the tire-slashing rocks in Blue Mound State Park. Steve Smith, a mountain biker and Off the Couch contributor, was one of them.
In this dispatch, he tells the tale of the first Unnamed Epic:
If a regular ol’ epic event garners a 10 for difficulty, then the Unnamed Epic easily earned an 11.
Spinal Tap humor aside, the inaugural mountain bike race from Mineral Point to Blue Mound Saturday was no joke.
Billed as a 75-miler, the event bolted on enough challenging features to confound elite cyclists, mountain climbers and cartographers alike. The course delivered a double-down wallop of super-fast, wide-open bike trails for about 50 miles with two “finishing loops” of exquisitely diabolical single track which would have been difficult to navigate with clear head, fresh legs and a team of Sherpas .
Rolling out of picturesque Mineral Point at 8 a.m., with morning fog just beginning to burn off, the anticipation of the 300 competitors to experience the Unnamed (and essentially Unknown) Epic pulled the group briskly toward Governor Dodge State Park and the first “real” off-road action.
Nearing Dodgeville in the middle of a pack of about 12, cruising along at 20+ mph, I was having epic visions that my emergency seven-day double-inverse-interval-step-taper-peak training program was producing results: No pain. No issues. And look! There’s Blue Mound just off in the distance!
One hour in, and having camped, and paddle-boated at Governor Dodge State Park, this leg seemed manageable: couple rolling hills, vast open trails.
Epic doubts started to creep in with the reality that this group was hitting Governor Dodge with the ravenous ferocity of the neighboring park campers setting in to morning bacon on the open fire. My main group shattered shortly in on a sandy climb, with groups forming, dissolving and reforming over each hill and dale.
An hour later, and back out on Military Ridge Trail (oh look, I can see Blue Mound!) my disposition improved slightly as I settled in with a group chugging down the old railway at a locomotive pace (compliments of Head Engineer Russell Jobs).
Blue Mound gradually came into view through the canopy and progress continued unabated. Taking a swig of my second bottle, pulling through Ridgeway, somebody optimistically chirped: “Hey, we are almost half way done!” (Thanks Lindsey).
That hurt. With Blue Mound close enough to practically touch, I could be riding for another four hours.
As if to preview the subsequent hours of toil, the course veered north from Barneveld, taking the tiring Unnamers down a screaming hill (top speed of the day: 40 mph) before delivering a serious punch: a 300-plus-foot grinder back up to the Military Ridge Trail.
The couple-mile diversion produced the first quivers in my calves, partly due getting caught and passed by my friend Brad Verstegen; partly due the chicken vultures circling menacingly in the clear sky. Regardless, I took satisfaction in seeing Blue Mound… just right ahead, over there!
FINALLY getting into the park (hour three), I stopped to quickly zap some air out of the tires to improve traction and set in on the trail system, one I knew to be epic based on a quick pre-ride, but also from numerous family camping expeditions.
And here is where the Epic gods turned it up to an 11.
Up, down, over, through, on the dizzying single-track it quickly felt like I’d reached the small intestine of the park proper. It took 20 minutes log a mile in a repetitious pattern: Tag a tree, bounce off a rock, then hike a hill. An hour in, and I hadn’t even rounded Blue Mound for the first of two laps.
Most of the main muscle groups were protesting mightily, calves, shoulders, hands, quads, even those “unnamed” muscles up by the knee; all of them complained about the pounding of the jagged bedrock, varicose root structures, and endless need to “power climb.”
Riding hills caused my quads to cramp. Hiking hills cramped my calves. Standing on the hills cursing the cramps caused other muscles to cramp.
Then my head started to go. My Garmin would “auto pause” unexpectedly either due to lack of progress or heavy tree cover. At times, riding virtually all alone, I’d see the same spot on the trail I swore I’d just ridden.
Four and a half hours into the struggle, negotiating the cutlery of another rock garden, the rear tire blew.
Before the mosquitoes could hone their radar, the inner tube was changed…but nothing came out of the CO2. Panicked déjà vu filled my head.
It occurred to me that I’d spent this cartridge on the slopes of the Rockies. Somebody kindly offered up a replacement, a nice gesture had the tube ALSO not been punctured weeks ago. Ripping it out, I noticed a 1 inch gash in the sidewall…the final nail.
Trudging out of the forest, other riders grunted past. Most were just about to start their second lap. All looked miserable on an Epic scale.
Perhaps out of respect for the tormented, the mosquitoes then decided to feast on me, realizing that these “victims” would be back for another helping in about 2 hours and another 14 miles. For me, the final 20 minute “hike of shame” provided the perfect time to start planning for next year’s EPIC and, of course, brain storm names:
The Big Cheese Epic
Double toasted Epic
Tom Schuler Said There Would Be Days Like These Epic
Are we Still in Wisconsin Epic
If You Cry in the Woods and Nobody Hears You It’s Not Crying Epic
The Ab Cramp Epic
!@#% Jack Hirt (course designer) Epic
Leg lock Epic
Glacier’s Revenge Epic
I Signed Up For This? Epic
Postcript: Race organizer Jack Hirt reports the Epic remains Unnamed, at least temporarily.
"We're gonna give everyone a second chance to name it now that they have ridden it they might have better ideas," he said.
An analysis by Raymon Britt at www.runtri.com ranks the Ironman Wisconsin course in Madison the second-toughest in a field of 25.
The rankings were based on the average finish time of the competitors. Only the Ironman St. George, Utah, had a higher average time than Wisconsin: 13 hours 47 minutes vs. 13 hours 16 minutes. Ironman Malaysia, at 13 hours 14 minutes was ranked third.
I had assumed athletes competing in Ironman Wisconsin were slowed by the hilly bike course west of the Capitol City. The data provided in Britt's analysis, however, ranks Wisconsin's bike course only 7th toughest.
Wisconsin's run segment, with an average finishing time of five hours 10 minutes, was fourth.
The usual 2,500 participants will tackle the challenging course in the ninth edition of Ironman Wisconsin on Sept. 12.