CODY KAISER

I had the idea to write some blogs every day this week but it's now day 3 of the race and I have no blogs...and I really don't have any cool photos either. It seems like all I have been doing since the race started is racing, eating (hence the pic burrito pic) and sleeping which I guess isn't a bad thing. Lots of calories burned and lots replaced.

I had been talking with the crew from Elbowz Racing during the TOC in Sacramento and they had talked about possibly doing Cascade. I had been wanting to do some road racing in the second half of summer and this wound up being perfect timing. Whenever I race with these guys, I'm strictly the worker bee. I'm more than happy to help get bottles, move guys to the front, protect, whatever they need. It's always good training for me so it's a win win. 

Stage 1 was a 113mile fast, FAST road stage ending with an awesome climb up Mckenzie Pass. We were averaging 30mph for the first 100miles...whoa! I ended up getting dropped with abo...

It's been an action packed 48 hours, starting off with The Blitz in Bend, Or.

(Side Note - on Tuesday morning I went out for an casual course pre-ride and ended up crashing and taking a pretty hard hit to my wrist. I was unsure on how racing would go based on that I could barely put pressure on my wrist that evening. I ended up going to see the guys at Rebound Physical Therapy in town and they made some magic happen. After 2 sessions and a good taping, I was stoked to feel nearly nothing come race time.)

The Blitz is the best night of racing! The course is super unique, there's a big payout and it makes for really exciting racing. Starting with a holeshot prime from the Wanoga Snow Park near the base of Mt. Bachelor. We sprint down techy single track all the way into town to the Tetherow Country Club. Near the end of the course theres a huge Big Air Jump on the driving range tee box of the resort. Quickly followed by a "Fastest on the Pavement" Speed trap prime before returning back...

It's awesome to see an event gainmoment and get people stoked. I know abunch ofpeople who have been talking about riding Lost and Found literally from the time they cross the finish line in 2015. And this year, the number of customers we have from the shop who have been prepping is really cool to see.

The route is awesome, the views are awesome and the entire thing is so much fun to be apartof. The Sierra Buttes TrailStewardship has put on an amazing race with the Downieville Classic for over 20 years and now they are doing the samething with Lost and Found. For 2016 they upped theante with the High Sierra Triple Crown. A 3 race overall champ for the kingof the sierras. It includes LnF, the Downieville Classic and theGrinduro in Quincy in October.

So with theprospect of being the true king of the mountains, this year our lead group was filled with heavy hitters. Decker, Wicks, and Myself were probably the only 3 going for the overall title but we had Tobin Ortenblad, LanceHaidet, Matt L...

This extended weekend has been action packed with the Tour of California rolling through town. As  part of the TOC in South Lake Tahoe and in Folsom, I was able to get out and help the SRAM posse with 2 of their Open The Road events. Both were highlighting their new eTap and Zipp NSW products.

The South Lake ride was awesome, 51mi and 5k of climbing and covered some of the most scenic views in Tahoe. We climbed from lake level up and over Spooner Summit crossing over into Nevada. Then headed south through Genoa past the country’s oldest “Thirst Parlor”. All before climbing back up Kingsbury grade and into Tahoe. We motored through town as hard as we could to get to the finish line at Heavenly before the races finished and were able to enjoy some of the VIP amenities.

On Friday we had the same event but down in Folsom which was really cool because we covered roads I get to ride all the time. Showing people around and giving them a taste of the local scene. It’s awesome to see...

After completing and surviving the 2016 edition of The Belgian Waffle I was so stoked on the route and how the whole thing went down that it inspired me to put together a ride that had a similar flare to it around my neck of the woods. After some careful planning and lots of time scouting on Strava I made it happen. 80mi and 9k feet of elevation. Roughly 55miles of pavement, 15 of dirt roads and 10 of single track.

To pay homage to the name of the ride but with a new spin I named it the All American Flapjack ride but there were no flapjacks to be had prior. I was pretty fired up to be able to put together an epic route that has never been done before (not totally sure on that fact but pretty positive).

It surprising took a bit longer than expected creeping close to 6.5hrs ride time, but all good, it was sunny degrees and smiles all around! We charged hard, refueled at the gas stations and kept charging. Only one flat tire and one cracked soul of a rider. As we rode along this one singl...

The Whiskey Off Road weekend has always been on my list of races to do. This year I am super stoked to be able to get down there and make it happen. I had never been to Prescott but after the weekend, I really want to get back down there and explore more of the trails and ride the vast trail network in the national forrest. The town is kind of a flashback to the 1800’s but has some great little spots for coffee and food.

Friday Night is the Fat Tire Crit, which brings the entire town out to enjoy and watch. It’s mostly just an exhibition event to have some fun and create some hype. The streets are lined with people and it has a great atmosphere. You have to ride the same bike during both days of racing but you can swap tires to something smaller with one rule of the swapped tires needing to be at least 38mm wide. It’s a short but extremely fast race with only 20mins plus 3 laps of racing. I ended up getting spit out from the front group with about 8 mins to go and felt like I swallowed...

So there’s a motorcycle hard enduro race called the Erzberg Rodeo. Every year the promoter makes it harder and harder and if more than just a few riders finish he says its too easy and makes it more brutal the following year. I’m going to go ahead and say the promoters of the Belgian Waffle Ride base their ride around a similar concept. If the finishing time is to short for the winner and he feels like it’s “too easy” the previous year, they make it harder. hahahaha. Well this year was the toughest one to date with 145miles, over 11,000 feet of elevation gain, 18 dirt sectors totaling just over 41 miles, and for me a finishing time just under 9hrs.

That was one hell of a day in the saddle and officially my longest ever. Coming into this my goal was just to finish. Obviously being focused on cross primarily we don’t really train for crazy long days, and especially not in April. I had always had it on the list of must do rides and I picked the year to finally do it. The pace off the star...

So last year I flew out to Michigan for a gravel road race called Barry Roubaix after the guys at Greenware convinced me to come out. It was 10degrees for the entire day and I raced in a thermal base layer, LS jersey and a thermal jacket and didn’t overheat. I had so much fun that I had to put it on the calendar again for 2016. This year was the complete opposite and was 75 and sunny!

The race is now in its 8th year and running strong. With 3 distance options and over 3500 participants, it’s the largest in the country! The promoters do a great job and put on a top notch event.  I highly recommend making the trip up here. Barry County fully embraces the event and has every turn on the routes marked with permanent street signs. We need more embracing a big events like this around the country!!! 

This year the pace was crazy fast; we raced 62mi in 2:50ish. The roads were recently grated so it was a workout just to keep the bike in a straight line, super sandy at times and g...

So I hopped on a small plane to SF to take a bigger plane to Chicago to take an even bigger plane to Munich. 

Just about missed my flight to Munich because as we were on approach there was a bird strike on the same runway a few planes ahead of us. We’re just about on the ground and all of the sudden we’re headed back up and making another loop for landing…. We landed at 5:55 and my connecting flight took off at 6:10. 

I sprinted though O’Hare like a total a**hole. (Sorry bout that, but had to get somewhere quick) and got to the gate right after the boarding door closed…. Luckily the dude in charge was cool and we did some finagling to get me on the plane. 

Flight across was solid.

Landed in Munich and jammed down to South Tyrol, Italy in this SICK like Mercedes GLA AMG 45. Got to love German Engineering! 230kph on the AutoBahn!!!!!!!!

I was feeling pretty smoked when we got here but a little afternoon ride helped reawaken me from the fog!  The crew here from Enduro Bike Mag is awesome! T...

This year The Blitz mixed it up a bit by adding some new fun sections to the race course. We no longer finished at 10 Barrel Brewing so it gave us some more room to work with. We added some sweet jumps in the woods near the end of the trails in a zone called “The Lair”. Then straight to the classic jump on the driving range at Tetherow. From there we had the Top Speed competition and back onto the driving range for more of the energy zapping grass all the way to the finish line. Great event as always! Here’s a shortened version but full POV on the event.