My Wife Is Faster

New Pfoodman Blog

2011-01-18T18:53:00.000-08:00

I'm moving my blogging to the new Pfoodman Racing blog. New entry just posted.

http://pfoodmanracing.blogspot.com/

Bubba Opener

2010-10-17T18:52:00.001-07:00

Bubba series kicked off Saturday night. Wasn't sure what to expect from a racing stand point, but I knew it would be hard and fast. the course was flast, had gravel, fast sections, and some tight stuff.

Lined about a few rows back. Off the start the rider in front of me stalled and plowed into him which wasn't fun. Meant I was going into the first 180 about 20th. Sweet! Two words summarize my night: crashing and chasing. I can recall clearly 6 crashes that occurred 1 or 2 riders in front of me. First lap to last lap and every lap in between. In 180 corners, sweepers, left, rights. Didn't matter. If there was crash in the B race it happened just ahead of me. And of course each time it caused a gap which then caused me to chase. The lead group of 8-10 riders was continually about 20-50 yards ahead of me. To me the course was in two parts. Flat, roadie friendly to start. then a tight twisty section for dirt heads. One rider and I passed back and fourth several times. He would pass me on the open sections, and I would repass in the twisty section. Finally made it close the large lead pack with 1 to go but I was gassed from chasing all race long. Overall came home 8th.

I was happy with the result. Little frustrated because I felt like I could done better, but not disappointed because haven't really "trained" a lot this year. Just worked on riding when I can and having fun. The CX season is nearly 2 months long so hopefully can build some form as the season progresses.

The Unanticipated Race Report

2010-10-15T18:40:00.000-07:00

This past week I got back to racing on fat tires. The plan going in was to race as part of a 3 man team in the sandbagging Fast class at the 12 hour race at Council Bluff. Friday morning I went out for a quick ride with the wife on our single speeds. Nothing to big, but a short ride of the front side of Castlewood. Then back to home to pack 2 cars to head 2 different directions for the weekend.

Arrived at CB in plenty of time to setup camp and then head out for an easy 7 miles. Then fellow Shark Pfood teammates and I ate like kings, drank like fish, and planned the assault for Saturday's race.

Wake up feeling good about our team's chances in the sand bagging class. Then at 8:10 I received a message on my phone. My 3rd teammate was out. Couldn't make it. Too late to find someone so I opted to switch to the solo 6 hour category. So at 8:25 I was getting dressed, slamming calories down my throat, and applying liberal amounts of chamois cream.

Line up for the usual run to your bike start and at 9AM we were off. Since I was not to mentally prepared for
A) a 6 hour solo race &
B) had no plans to start the race
it made for for an interesting start of the day for me. I basically followed wheels and took it easy and took my place in line as we entered the single track. I was feeling pretty good and was glad I road the first 3 miles of the race course the day before. There were a couple near misses, a few folks decided to check out the woods as the blew corners, and a lucky flew got to change their tires after only 4 miles.

About half way into my first lap I thought, "Yeah I can do this for 3 or 4 more laps." Really didn't press to hard I. Took the long climbs easy and just road a comfortable pace. Coming around to the end of the first lap I hit the climb back up to the camp ground. A few riders that had just passed me were slowing up the hill so I went around them and arrived back to the timing line at 1 hr 16 min according to my watch. Not bad for opening lap. After I looked at my watch for a lap time I saw my other potential 3 man teammate, Struckman, at the top. He finished a few minutes ahead of me. He proudly announced he was done, "One and done. Time to drink beer." So we chatted a few minutes. I grabbed some shot blocks from him, at a Z bar, new bottle of electrolights and a fresh camel back. Then I went around and officially timed my 1st lap at 1hr 25 min.

Round 2. Feeling confident my newly secured two wheel friend I started to go a little harder on lap 2. At mile 3 there was a fix a flat clinic going on. I swear I saw 6 folks all within about 100 yards fixing flats. Dry trails are fast by the make the rocks come out in force. Then about half way around I felt the first twinge of a cramp. Not a big one. Just a slight wake up call from the legs. From then on I realized that making 6 laps would be about taking care of myself. Eating plenty. Drinking plenty. Not crashing, not flatting, and not cramping. I also replayed all that I ate and drank that previous 48 hours and began to realize that I probably would of eaten differently if I knew I would be racing for 6 hours.

Came around to finish the 2nd lap. A little slower than the first, but not surprising given I was trying to spin more and not have as much tension in my legs to avoid early cramping. My team of support crew were there with my requested turkey sandwich and coke. Slammed that, fresh bottle, and camel back and I was off again for 3rd lap. The third lap was uneventful, which was good. I began to run numbers in my head to figure out of I could make 4 laps or 5. Somehow I reasoned that I could complete 3 laps by the 3 hour 10 min mark I would be able to make 5 laps. Well that I didn't happen. I was at the boat launch ramp at 4 hr 10 min. Right then and there I figured I could take my time and plan on making 4 laps total. As I finished my 3rd lap my PRO support crew again had a sandwich coke, and fresh drinks for my final lap. I just enjoyed the ride and focused on not stuffing my face into a rock or a tree. I hit the base of the climb to the campground as the clock ticked over the 6 hour mark. In the end I had 4 laps, 6 hours 10 min. 6th out of 30+ starters in 6 hour solo.

I ended up riding less laps than I thought I could do at the start of the day, but not bad for me. I'm sure some folks planned for a while to ride the 6 hour class. They probably did long rides on the trail and or the road to prepare. They may of even drank less than 6 beers and 2 rum and cokes on Friday night. Me I did none of that. I rarely ride mountain bikes for more than 1.5 hours. I get in a road ride of 50 miles once every two weeks. Most of my riding is the 1 hour pain train variety at Castlewood or on the CX bike. So making 4 laps in 6 hours at CB was fine by me.

Upward and onward with the CX season. StL kick off race is under the lights. Should be a good time.

Back Racing

2010-10-06T04:20:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile. A while since I've been back racing and back blogging. I'll keep this brief. The past month has been a return to cross racing. I haven't raced much this year. Doesn't mean I have stopped riding. Just that most weekends are now filled of two hour rides with the trailer, a CX bike and 1000 feet of climbing. Good muscle tension workout. No real intervals or specified riding plans. Just plain riding.

All along I this year I was planning to do more racing in the fall, because as Jeff Yielding says, "There is only one race season. CX season." As a kick off I raced the Jeff City 6 hour race over Labor Day weekend. My teammate and I ended up fastest of the non Cat 1's in the duo category. Not too shabby all things considered. Would of liked to get a top 5 but there were some fast folks there. Just happy Matt and I didn't crash, have any major issues, and put in a solid training effort.

CX got started September 18th in Herman at the now annual night CX race. The fields were respectable and the fans were numerous. I wasn't sure how I would fair but ended up scoring at top ten in the sand bagging class of Cat 4. Time to upgrade.

From there I sat out a few local races. I did manage to make it to Carbondale last weekend for the CX race at a winery. The course was laid in the wine and apple orchards. Talk about bumpy. Was hard to work on corner speed when each lap meant another rut or clump of grass caused your bike to move around a lot during high speed off camber turns. In the end I had another top ten in a B race.

Two races, two decent results. See if I can continue to build on this over the Bubba series. Next up is an assault on Council Bluff for the 12 hour race.

2010 State Mountain Bike Race

2010-06-15T18:21:00.000-07:00

The 2010 Missouri State Championship Mountain Bike Race is in the books. I didn't race. Others did. 162 actually. Sorry for those who couldn't make it due to work conflicts.

Also if you have been up to speed on Dan Miller you can appreciate how great his victory was. Guess anytime I hear from someone "I can't" I'll tell them two words, "Dan Miller."

Also there was a small controversy in the Men Cat 2 30-39 race. Plenty of banter on the local racing discussion website.

Here are some reports:

Elwell

Schottler

All around badass

Boat Racer

Mr Herman Cycling

Big Red

100 Miles to Nowhere

2010-05-10T17:21:00.001-07:00

A while ago I signed up to be an official participant in Fatty's 100 miles of nowhere race. A race where everyone wins. I had never ridden a 100 miles before. Neither had my wife. Something we were rather proud of actually. I have done some 6 hour mountain bike races and 12 hour team races so the 100 miles at my own pace wasn't too much of a daunting task.

However, I wasn't too fired up about riding 100 miles inside in the spring so following the lead of St. Louis locals Team Seagal from a few years ago <http://teamseagal.blogspot.com/2008/01/100-miles-of-forest-park.html> and I mapped out a 4 mile loop which I could repeat 25 times. <http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/mo/chesterfield/594126901957571966>.

This route went around Lone Wolf Coffee Co. <http://www.lonewolfcoffeecompany.com/>. in Ballwin, MO.

It headed east down the ever popular Clayton Rd. bike lane and then west through a quite neighborhood which featured several rollers. The route around Lone Wolf was key to my success in this event due to their outstanding support of me during this event with platter full of wonderfully tasty granola bars and fresh roasted coffee.

Preparation for an event like this is key. First, I asked my wife, The Pro (she's a Professional Engineer), if she wanted to ride with me in an unofficial capacity. She agreed even though she was unhappy I didn't sign her up to race officially. After she finally calmed down about not getting a t-shirt we then set Friday May 7th as our race date because we needed to honor some family commitments on the official race date of May 8th. The night before I did the normal pre-ride checks including a quick recable on The Pro's bike, cleaning my bike, mixing up my packets of Carb Rocket and putting beer on ice. Also, heeding Fatty's recent I checked The Pro's cycling cleats to make sure they were tight after I had checked my cleats. I also noted that we too could compete in an Ironman because we apparently (by Fatty's own fake statistics) have the two most popular tri bike brands: Trek and Cervelo. Road bikes not tri bikes, not that there is anything wrong with tri bikes.

Race day. We arrived at our start to see nobody around except The Pro and I.

Despite the lack of prerace ceremonies we started our ride. We had a strong tail wind as we headed east down Clayton which turned out to be a good thing. We also enjoyed the full use of the bike lane on Clayton Rd.

The turn south off Clayton we encountered our first city limit sprint, which I handily won. I ended up taking 20 out of 25 in total.

The turn east meant a head wind, but it was reduced due to the homes, rolling hills, and big trees we passed on Claymount. Next a short trip on Kehrs Mill and we back to the start. 4 miles down, 125 ft of climbing complete. 24 more laps to go!

10 laps into the race our fans came out steal our tasty tray of granola bars from Lone Wolf Coffee. Each one of our fans said they would ride with us, but came all up with multiple excuses as to why they couldn't. One said he had to meet his boss later in the day. The others are self employed and don't have bosses. One spouted some babble about growing "O" sports in St. Louis. The other whimpered about taking care of his wife who had the flu and his kids. The final one said he was racing the next day and Friday was his rest day because his coach told him to rest.

The 50 mile mark was a big milestone because after that the Pro and I were in a rhythm. Ride 5 laps, stop and get some food and drinks, get going again.

We did encounter a few folks who live in the neighborhood. When I asked them if they were going also participating in Fatty's 100 Miles of Nowhere they all got mad because they thought I said, "You are fat and are pedaling nowhere." Other than that is was business as usual for the final 50 miles except for the tree trimming crew who started to give us dirty looks the 10th time we passed their tree trimming operation. By the time we passed them a 12th time they FINALLY offered a friendly wave hello.

Other highlights from the ride were I got a fairly good look at the outside of the four homes for sale in the neighborhood. 2 for sale by owner, and 2 with agents. I think I know which one I would buy.

End of the day came and we officially finished with 101 miles in 5 hr 51 min of pedaling with 35 minutes of stoppage time and my first century complete.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/32512031

Thank goodness for Lone Wolf Coffee Co's support of the Pro and I for this event.

PS-Note of the laps have inconsistent lap distances because I forgot to push the lap button on my Garmin or sometimes pushed it by accident while riding but the total distance is correct.

2010-02-17T19:06:00.000-08:00

Well thanks to the most excellent frame warranty from Trek I now have my replacement Rig frame. It was a sad day to take the old frame down to bare metal. That whole process took 10 minutes which included the 5 minutes I spent finding a shoe box to put the parts in. Add another few minutes for drinking beer and really it took about 3 minutes to strip the frame.

One last look at the old friend.

Here is the new frame when I started. It is pretty bright. Ready for a snow ride.

A few things stand out different from the original Rig. First, all the frame tubes are a quite a bit different. Gone is the 2" extension of the seat tube above the top tube.

Second, it is no longer a single speed only frame. Yeah it has an eccentric bottom bracket, but also has all the frame mounts for adding a full compliment of gears. The original Rig frame has a vertical non-replaceable drop out. You bend it you are screwed. But how could you bend it if you don't have a rear derailleur? The 2010 spec model has a replaceable drive side drop out that can swapped for one that has a derailleur mount. Might be useful down the road, or trail.

The next big difference is the 2010 headset has an integrated headset. No more Chris King for me. I now own a Cane Creek AER integrated headset that has the fancy new bushings. No more traditional bearings. A sealed bearing's job is now being performed by a super slick low friction PTFE bushing. Pretty cool and hopefully it holds up over time. I think it will based on some knowledge I have of PTFE.

The final difference is in the bottom bracket. The 2010 uses a narrower bottom bracket than before. Not a big deal. I could of used my old eccentric but opted to spring for the new narrower one. The two pretty much look the same.

Much to my surprise the new one had another big difference when you look at them at a different viewpoint. It appears that folks Trek learn the librally use an end mill.

That mass of metal removed is approximately 50% reduction in mass. Not too shabby.

I think I'll try and locate an end mill and hog out the my old one to retrofit Sara's Rig with a lighter enccentric.

In the end I was happy with the build. It was pretty painless really. In case you were wondering, yes, I did install the flask first. Now if the trails would either A)Freeze or B)totally dry that would be swell so I can ride my new ride.

Saying Goodbye

2010-01-31T18:02:00.000-08:00

We've been together for 5 years, you and I. It was love at first sight. It took a while to find you. Once I found you it took a few months before you were ready to come home. You were worth the wait.

You were always there, waiting patiently for your time to go out. You never got upset when I left at you home and took out another.

Then there two. The day we brought home your companion and replaced part of you with non-OEM part you were so so happy.

You didn't complain when we took another to Colorado for two weeks in 2006. Remember how we made up at the 12 hour race after that? We took you there to ride. But we took our time to ride a couple laps at leisurely pace while others were racing.

In 2008 teamed up to make our debut on a national scene. 2008 Cyclocross Nationals. We made a great team. That day we were the first race of the day. 8 am, mid-teens, frozen solid ground, covered in snow and ice. It was a great time. In the end we brought home a finish on the lead lap and even beat a great racer, Gunnar Shogren.

In the recent years I took some time away from you. You still didn't complain. While I dabbled in the latest damper technology from the fine folks at Fox, you patiently waited because you knew I would be back.

And when I returned it felt so great to be back out with you. That is why today was so horrible. They trails were frozen. We headed to Chubb. It was like old times. Others said, "No way, your are crazy!" But you didn't pay any attention to the nay sayers. We took our time and just enjoyed the day. At the end is went it all went wrong. You could of told me how you feeling before it happened, but now there is no going back. What is done, is done.

It is time to say goodbye. I will miss you. You cannot and will not be replaced.

Furby vs. Armstrong

2010-01-16T12:47:00.000-08:00

Today while I riding with my daughter in tow I was listening to the Spokesman Podcast. Those affiliated with family services can relax. I was on a multiuse path, had only one ear bud in, and had bells and reflectors. Anyways, the panel was discussing various topics Fred related and they mentioned that Lance Armstrong became all "furby" like with his adoption of social media in his comeback. That got many thinking. Dangerous I know.

First thought, the effect social media and Web 2.0 and it's impact on subcultures. More specifically our cycling community. Local and global. I won't bother with you any long winded description on that. My brother already wrote an graduate level paper, which has been published here, on the internet and subcultures and offers great insight into a website run by a certain Big Johnny and how Drunkcylist.com is a prime example. Big Johnny gave him an A on it.

I'll stop digressing now.

Second thought and point of this rambling. Back to the Armstrong is Furby like thing. Since both are on the internet I thought I would compare the two to prove that Lance is no Furby. But it might be cooler if he was.

Round #1: Who was there first?

Easy. Furby. He was blogging way before Armstrong was twittering. He may not travel to Hawaii for training but he does provide some great training insght.

Round #2: Who has more watts/oz?

Seems like every "serious" cyclist has a powermeter these days. I don't have one, because...well.... I'm more concerned about the beer being cold after the ride then how many watts I averaged or maxed out on during a climb. If you take total watts and noralize it by dividing by beer consumed in oz. per week Fubry's Watts/oz is far superior to that Tour de France winner.

Round #3: Who has done more for the cancer community?

I have to give Armstrong at least on softball. But Fatty would give him a run for the money.

Round #4: Guy I would like to ride with, but haven't.

Riding with Lance would be a pain. All those cars, cameras, and on lookers? Pfft. Have you seen some of his rides? 1000+ showed up in Ireland. 5000 in Australia. Talk about road rage from drivers?!?!?! I would feel much safer with Furby. Keep the group small. Besides at the end of the ride, or more likely during, there will be beer. Cold, clean, refreshing beer. He also has the can lead you the best road food out there. I challenge Lance to name one convenience store food that makes for excellent cycling fuel.

I think it is safe to say that both Furby and Armstrong have adopted Web 2.0 as a way to keep in touch with their cronies, but I also know that Mr. Armstrong is no Furby.

CXMAS makes the season

2009-12-21T09:08:00.000-08:00

I attended CXMAS as rolling spectator yesterday. Good times were had by all. 132 brave solders were there. Only one say to sum up the day.....HERE

Fresh Start

2009-12-17T06:11:00.001-08:00

The past week has been a little hectic around the house. Several very good reasons why. With all that has been going on I did manage to sneak in some rides. A couple to the hospital. A few out on the roads. Zero rides on the trails.

I have also been trying to figure out what is the proper attire to wear under my winter riding jacket. I procured this jacket after the most of the winter had past. My old jacket I have had for 6 years and I knew what I cold wear and be comfortable. Not too cold. Not too hot. Just right. The one jacket is a far superior riding jacket. I road Thursday and it was in the teens. I had the jacket, base layer and Giordana winter jersey. I was melting in 2 miles. Most of which was down hill. Road at the freezing mark in base layer and jacket at a very slow pace. Melting again. Guess I'll just have to wear nothing under this jacket. I would rather be a little warm than cold any day. Just wish I could figure out the proper layering under it before CXMAS!

CX is still hard

2009-11-22T17:25:00.001-08:00

I went ahead and signed up for the CX race today. Single speed. It was hard. I kept my SS mountain bike gearing, 32/18. Glad I kept that! Just simply switched the fat tires for CX tires. Easy change.

Got there early enough to do one recon lap. That was enough. Then they lined up for the start. 15 SS. Started us 10 seconds in front of the other C racers. My goals were not to crash, not get crashed, and have fun. Pretty much accomplished those goals. Although I did a nice slide on the 180 on the pavement on the final lap. No injuries except the ego. Thank goodness for sealed parking lots, they allow you so slide without injury.

The start was not bad. Took a spot at the pack and just took my time. Passed a few folks on the climb the first lap and then that was it for me. Just riding laps after that. I forgot how hard CX really is. It is hard. No bones about it. It was awesome! I settled in and battled a few folks back and forth. I did manage to make up some ground on the climbs and the long run up along the fence. I have to give Jonathan Schilling some props for his cheering on the hill. For a young lad he did some great cheering and did a good job of motivating me, and others.

I ended up getting lapped by Chris Connelly, but he lapped a ton of people. I wasn't last and I think it was a good day to return to racing.

A Typical Day

2009-11-04T18:11:00.000-08:00

So since I'm not really racing or training for anything I don't really look at any data anymore. Until the other day. I began to think, which is never good. Cyclist always look at their data after a race or a training ride. It used to be heart rate was the big indicator. Now a days it seems like any low life Cat 5 has a power meter. Some people use them for good. Others just use them for show. I'm still in the heart rate monitor mode. Anyways, since I'm not racing I figured I would log my heart rate for a day at work. Could I see moments of stress? How low would my heart rate be while I was in deep thought. Would a cup of coffee cause a heart rate spike. I even went so far as to try and write down when I got up, ate, drank, etc. to see if I could detect those spikes and lulls. Well here it is. My typical day. All the spikes pretty much equate to getting up to do something. Walk, talk, get a book, whatever. A find it interesting that my maximum is 112 BPM which I'm fairly confident there are some around me who would log that for a minimum.

Bubba is upon us

2009-10-16T18:56:00.000-07:00

Less than 24 hours until Bubba. Night race. Mudd. Cowbells. Beers. Racers. Bullhorn. It will be an event not to be missed.

2009-10-13T19:03:00.000-07:00

I could try and tell my version of what went down at the Burin, but Team Seagal did it with a far surperior state of writing. Click the link to the right.

I had a great time spectating. No injuries to report for me. A fellow Shark suffered an open fracture on his first of three laps. He is a tough dude to do 2 laps with a broken bone in his knee!

I did spend an hour on a Di2 equipped bicycle. If you have the means...

STL CX 2009

2009-10-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

The schedule is out. Two night races. One on Halloween. Time to polish the cowbell! Even my daughter has got to have more cowbell. She picks them up, rings them, and smiles up at me. She's got the cowbell fever and there is only one cure, more cowbell.

I continue to prep for CX 2010. Did 2 hours of hills last Friday. Today I road home from work. Big milestone for me. It was windy as all get out, but at least it was dry. There were a few spots where I did some hops and manuvering the bike to avoid or go over some pavement gaps and those slight efforts sort of bothered my healing foot. So no mountain biking for a while. Friday I will ride back to work. The ride in will be a nice cool weather ride on the CX bike to test out the brake hardware.

Country Road

2009-09-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

Another milestone in the road to to cyclocross 2010. I road outside today. An hour. Nothing earth shattering, but it was 8 weeks to the day it all went down. I made sure to avoid a couple things while at Castlewood. Well really two things. PBR. Running. No foot snapping would occur this day.

In other news random news....

It appears I should polish up my resume and send it to Renault. But I fear my resume could be lacking in the dirty rotten scoundrel area.

Tom Danielson is out of the Vuelta and could be out for the worlds team. I understand that the road racing season is long and tough, but I tend to question the lack of a serious assault of the world championships by the US. It is like the US team look at the road worlds like French cyclist look at Le Tour. They just give up before the race starts and don't even try for the win. Maybe the fact there will be 3 US based Pro Tour team next year will change that. Maybe the USAC folks should get off their buts and actually try and ride the wave of cycling popularity and put a full on Dream Team assault on the 2010 road world championships. You don't see lame USA participation at the track world championships.

Guess it is moot at this point because cyclocross gets in to high gear this weekend. Locally and nationally.

Don't Call It A Comeback

2009-09-06T08:56:00.000-07:00

After 6 weeks of doing nada I got back in the saddle. No crazy wrist snapping like what occurred at Binder Lake, but the full weekend of racing and crashing had me inspired. So I put mountain bike pedals on the road bike and took the trainer for a spin. Foot is still a little swollen so went with mountain bike shoes which have a little more room in the foot box. I had my left shoe on but hardly buckled. It has been so long my tires were at 20 psi so I had to air them up. When is the last time you aired tires to ride the trainer? It never felt so good to spin the 39/23 on the trainer. Managed a few intervals of 39/21, but that about it. Total ride time, 25 minutes. It is a start. Don't want to push too much because I don't want any set backs. Only thing that would be worse than getting injured would be getting re-injured. Plan is to get 30-60 minutes a day until I can get back up to full song and begin riding outside. Next year is my year.

Putting Weight On

2009-08-27T14:48:00.000-07:00

I've begun the slow process of putting weight on my foot. It is a slow building process.

I liken it to having a top notch MS150 rider tossed into a Cat 3 (or higher) crit. He maybe in fine shape and dropping all kinds of folks on the MS 150. He might of seen several Tour de France's on TV or even a few local crits like Gateway Cup. However tossing a rookie into a upper level event is certain to end badly. Even if he dosen't end up in a ditch or a metal barrier he will be scared out of his club fit jersey and he may never return to racing. Similar process for me. I walk with the add of my aluminum buddies and apply a little load and every day or two I add a little more weight. If I went full bore now it would be a major setback and it would only extend the recovery. And recovery is going very well thanks to my superior state of mind. In a few weeks I will be at full load and hopefully can ditch aluminum walking sticks. Thankfully during my 4+ weeks of inactivity I haven't added any additional weight to myself so I won't be added additional days for the extra weight I could of added.

My goals in the next few weeks, once I can stand, are to ride the trainer and use the recovery time to go through the stockroom of bikes that live at my house. Two need new forks that are on the way along with a complete recable. If I ever get some new front wheels for those I'll put those on too. Two need a complete clean, recable, and new chains. One got back from bicycle hospital )ie-Big Shark) and has a new fork thanks to the fine folks at Felt. After two seasons of cross it needs some TLC too.

Rest Period

2009-08-14T07:01:00.000-07:00

I'm about half way through my time off from everything cardio related. Been attempting to do some core muscle exercises but not much else. My "race" this weekend will involve watching Leadville online why some teammates compete.

Win

2009-08-07T14:56:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I now feel okay with everything going on in my life.

Win

Win Win

Recovery Started

2009-07-29T13:47:00.001-07:00

Finally made in to see a foot specialist on Monday afternoon to discuss my broken foot. He was pretty amazed at how bad I hurt myself because I am not the typical profile for this type of injury. I have a LisFranc Fracture. He scheduled surgery for 7:30 AM Tuesday which meant I had to get to the hospital way early.

Surgery was successful and no issues were encountered. Hope to make it out to the Dirt Crit final party at Lone Wolf. Guess this year's cross season is down the drain for me other than spectating and cowbell ringing. Definitely no PBR handups.

So the rest of this week I'll stay home and watch useless TV shows and research some things online that I need to procure.

Spectator Down

2009-07-24T08:05:00.000-07:00

Last nights down pour and slick conditions were enough for me not to race the A race. Probably could of entered the B races but it was still muddy and I was already a few beers into full cheeering mode. Anyways for the Bs I gave a PBR handup to THE LC, it was his race. Then when running to give another PBR handup to Matt from the Seagals I heard and felt a pop. Spectator down. Turns out I have a broken foot.

So I don't race so play it safe and I break my foot spectating. Snap!

Simplify Life

2009-07-21T19:03:00.001-07:00

As another Thursday Dirt Crit approaches I'm going to make some changes this week. After three weeks with small wheels and way to many gears I'm going for big wheels and one speed. After last weeks performance I can't get any worse.

Goings On

2009-07-14T19:06:00.000-07:00

Since Webster crit I have completed two dirt crits. Went on vacation. Help my parents move to town. Put on a USAC mountain bike race. Did my annual triathlon and hammered some tri geeks on the rolling hills on a short 14 mile course.

The dirt crits are in full swing now. Ralph and his crew are putting on a stellar display of pagentry. I'm racing the A's this year. First race I was mid pack when I flatted. Rather than quitting I grabbed a spare wheel, sat out a lap, and rejoined where I was. I was fine with being scored last but I wanted to race and finish strong. I never could manage to successfully cross the creek properly so I gave up after 3 laps and just cyclocrossed it. Jim Krewet had an issue with this so he passed me on the last lap. I had to work hard, dive bomb the inside of the final corner and out sprint him in front of his family to get back around him.

The second week was a better race from the stand point I didn't flat. But I didn't have any legs. I could make a ton of excuses but bottom line is I was all show and no go. I just road around and beat the folks who dropped out. I made up for it with the post race party effort. Thanks to some superior coaching I put out a PRO effort at the post race part and after hours party.

Sunday I made my apperance at the Lake Freeburg triatholon. I'm glad I finsihed. I was 4 min 30 sec slower this year which sucked. But I didn't put on aero bars for the bike leg because I really just didn't feel like it. I exited the water only 10 second slower then last year. Once on the bike I paced myself on the first couple hills. This bike route has a few turns and lots of roller hills. All of the course is on rough roads too. I know this route very well and I push on the flat but not all out because the hills are plenty. I think I passed the same guy 4 or 5 times. Every time the roads went up I went by. Then he would bomb past me on the down hills. Next hill I would repass. One time I asked him for a truce. He admitted I would drop him on the return trip. And drop him I did. Caught several other folks in the process. One guy I passed on the 180 turn around. He got there first but couldn't turn. So I passed him at the turn. It must of pissed him off because he came flying back by me. That didn't last long because 1/2 mile later there was a steady short climb and I dropped him and never saw him again. The run was 3 min slower largely because I haven't been running a lot lately. The run leg is fairly hilly and I started slower this year but after 2 miles I picked up the pace and finished strong. Once I got down my knee hurt some but not bad. I did some stretching afterwords while I waited for awards and ate ice cream. Overall I was happy with how things went. Pushed myself pretty good but realized that I wasn't at the level I was last year so tried not put my knee too hard. I will note Sara did the short course for fun. Kept her heart rate in check and still managed to beat some folks and have a decent bike spit. Not bad for a preg-o lady.

Webster Crit

2009-06-28T18:40:00.000-07:00

I ventured out for my 2nd crit of the year. I don't count Tuesdays as races, they are just riding around with friends. I debated which race to enter 3/4 or the 4/5. Opted for 4/5 for easier life scheduling purposes. Turns out that was the better choice. The 3/4 race has several crashes. The 4/5 had none. Also was told by a guy who did both that the 4/5 race faster. Not by much but it was faster. Found that interesting. Not verified by anyone else but what I was told.

Lining up I had the usually prerace nerves. Those never go away. I actually yawned on the start line while waiting for Buddy to fire his starters pistol. Once were gong I settled in and rider by rider I found myself at the rear of the field. The pack wasn't surging too bad so I just settled in there rather then fight it out to stay at the front. Also the pace wasn't that hard so I was able to move when I wanted too. After half way I moved up to the top third of the pack. They called a prime and no one was goig so I took a flyer with a half lap to go. That hurt. I gave it all I had, which isn't a lot, and kept going. A few riders were strung out single file behind me. Including my teammate who was on to what I was going for. He just missed out on the prime, but I give him credit for sitting the chaser's wheel and then making a run at it. I think he waited a bit too long to sprint for the prime.

After a few laps at the back I got back near the front. With 3 to go the pace slowed again and I noticed some teammates were very near the front. So I took another flier. This one garnered a bit of sponsorship time because I lead the pack around the 4th turn and across the start/finish line. After that I was spent and rolled around the back of the pack and finsihed nearly last in the pack.

Overall I was pleased with how things went. I hadn't raced a true race since Memorial day. And only the 3rd time this year. Tour of StL Sunday race was the other. My knee issues are getting better and as of this evening I don't have any knee pain so that is another bonus for me. I was able to make a few hard efforts in a small attempt to help my teammates so that was good enough for me.

Dirt crits start Thursday and I can't wait for these to start!

I'm a PRO

2009-06-22T19:10:00.000-07:00

This past spring while many cyclist were out logging miles and entering early season races I was at my desk studying for a P.E. exam. Well it paid off. I'm a professional engineer now. So is Sara. That was great day of news around here.

To celebrate I road home from work today. A few coworkers were concerned about my decision given the heat. I had three bottles for the ride home and I drank plenty of water all day long. It wasn't as hot as I expected when I headed out the door. Yeah it was warm, but not unbearable. I was covered in sweat, but I had Craft pro-cool base layer on and that thing really did the trick. Not a paid product endorsement statement, but everything I have that is Craft has exceeded my expectations. The only time I was burning up was when I got stopped at stop lights and had to wait in traffic with no shade next to running engines. Once I got going again it felt like I was sitting in the A/C.

Off road crit practice

2009-06-17T18:15:00.000-07:00

This was week was round two of commuting to work. Another awesome ride home Thursday and sweet ride to work Friday morning. The ride home was pretty uneventful, which was good. I took a slightly different route home to avoid being on Clayton Road as long and also avoided a busy road near my house. The new route was a little longer, had more hills, but was much better with respect to vehicle traffic and my safety. The hills were close to my house. Good for the end of the ride. I can use some more hill practice anyway. Made it home and enjoyed a nice cold beer in the back yard while watching my daughter play in the yard.

Friday at 5 AM I rolled out of the driveway with blinky light, white blinking light and my night mountain bike riding light. I was immedately greated by hills. Thanks to some new stop signs at the bottom of the hills I pretty much had to stop at the bottom of every one. It could be argued that I don't need to stop at stop signs in a neighborhood at 5AM, but I prefer to play it safe.

Close to work I passed the government records center on Page. The sweet smell of fresh baked doughnuts could not be ignored there so I stopped at a bakery and gave the guy $0.70 for a fresh glazed doughnut. I told him I didn't need a bag I was eating it now. They guy laughed and told he was building up an old road frame someone gave him. He wished me luck on the rest of my commute and I was out the door. So it was great way to start the day, nice 30 miles and a fresh doughnut.

Tuesday I made it out for a another Tuesday Worlds. Maybe it is me but seems like there have been several crashes this year for no reason other than in attention. This week was no different. Going up the hill along the barriers two ICCC riders touched bars. Not sure who really was at fault but it involved larger and more senior rider and a junior rider. Well the larger rider ended up leaning into the junior after they bumped and being that he had 2x's the body mass of the junior it meant the kid went down. My teammate was riding behind the kid, and me behind my teammate. Needless to say the kid is laid out on the ground and my teammate runs into and over him and goes down. Next up my turn. At this point I have a couple of choices. Look the brakes and stop and pray no one hits me. Swerve left and take down a bunch of innocent folks. Swerve right and blast a metal barrier. I took a different approach which should not be tried by any true roadie and is better left to those with some off road ability. I ended up slowing down some and while the kid is laying on the ground I pull up the front wheel and roll right over his lower legs. Sort of like riding a log on a mountain bike. Pull up on the bars, then shift they weight around and pull of the rear as it hits the logs or in this case, the kids legs. Miracle of miracles it work. I made it over the kid and the proceed to ride between a gap the metal barriers so I don't have to ride over my teammate who had by this point tumbled over the kid and next in line for me to ride over. They guy behind me locked his brakes and did a sideways dirt slide. So in the end two guys went down and two more of us were involved but kiss the ground. I took a few laps to help the kid out and make sure everyone was okay. It was pretty cool to see several other folks all stop and offer help and make sure everyone is okay. Biking karma I guess. Eventually jumped back in and sat in the middle of the pack. Towards the end I jumped on Claw's wheel and got a decent tow towards the front and I was close enough to the front I felt compelled to make some attempt to sprint. I can't sprint really so I was more like a small surge.

Fitness is slowly coming back around. Tossing in some runs one or two times a week so I can be prepared for cross season.

Grant Trail and Farm

2009-06-09T18:49:00.000-07:00

Saturday we did a family ride on the Grants Trail from the newly opened Kirkwood parking area at Big Bend and I-farty far. We got there early-ish. Sara had her shify mountain bike with 26" cross tires and I had the cross bike with the trailer. Getting started we took it easy because Grants Trail has a ton of traffic. Walkers, kids on bikes, beach cruisers, roller bladers, and runners. The pretty cool thing is that at all the major roads they have stop signals that serve no purpose other than to stop cars and allow Grants Trail users to cross the road. As we got closer to the south end of the trail near Grants Lodge there were less people and Sara picked up the pace. She had the biggest gear she could get cranking full on. I was drafting her with the trailer. At one point we had a girl on a road bike drafting the trailer for several miles. When we turned around she kicked back up to full tilt. I was hold her wheel for everything I had. It was a interval that far exceeded anything I have had at Tuesday Worlds race this year. I was pretty impressive really. Yeah I'm pulling a trailer, but she is dropping the hammer while keeping her heart rate below 150 bpm. She kept it up until we went back by Grants Park where there were more people again. I was relieved the trail got crowded because I wouldn't of been able to sustain a full 8 miles of that pace.

So we made an out and back run on Grants Trail. Went back to the car, put on some street shoes and road 2 miles back to Grants Farm which was now open. I enjoyed the ride and it saved me $11 for parking at Grants Farm. We boarded the tram to the farm where we did the usual feed the goats, checked out the turtles and birds. Of course we sat down for a few cold beers. How sweet is that? Go ride with some intervals throw in followed by cold free beer. I'm hooked and plan to go back a few more times this summer before the Inbev folks close the place down in an attempt to squeeze all possible pennies (or euros) out of AB because they WAAAY overpaid for it.

My First Commute

2009-05-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

This week was a big week for me biking wise. For the first time I commuted to work on a bicycle. I am not a bicyle commuter. Yeah, I know it is a couple weeks past bike to work week. But two working parents and a little one at home mean you sometimes have to put the family before you desire to ride. I can say that after this week I am hooked on commuting to work. Two things struck me after doing this. First, it was really enjoyable to get a ride in while going to and from work. Second, I was amazed that the most of my traffic concerns occurred near my house and not near my work.

It is just shy of 30 miles from home to work by bike. Little too far to do the round trip time wise so I drove to work Thursday and then road home in the evening. Friday AM I road to work and then drove home. The ride home took 1 hr 45 mins. Not too bad considering I was still learning the route and I pulled off just about any time a car came up behind me on the busy roads. The ride Friday morning was pretty good and had no major issues. I was 5 minutes faster which I think was because of traffic and I knew where I was going a little better. It will note I obeyed all traffic laws and came to a full stop at intersections. Don't want to get ticket in Frontenac.

Of course having my bike sitting at my desk all day encouraged questions of all sorts. The most popular were: how much does that bike weigh, do you ride the MS150, how far is the ride, and of course the expected how much did that bike cost.

I'll be back for sure. I may even stop at the doughnut shop I passed on my was to work Friday morning. Those fresh baked pastries smelled oh so good an hour into my ride because to be honest I ride a lot so I can that kind of stuff with no guilt.

How not to train

2009-05-26T17:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend marks about 4 weeks since I have been back into a more traditional training and racing plan. One thing I can recommend is not waiting until the of April to start increasing your mileage and also to start racing. Sunday I road over to the race in Wildwood. Provided a decent warm up. I was able to get out for some good riding Friday and Saturday which worried me for Sunday. It was actually pretty enjoyable to ride to the race. I felt okay until the race started. The course had a few turns, but the quick hills did me in. About half way Boz rolled up and said, "Good news, we are at the back." I was riding in the same spot I had been for the first part of the race. Unfortunately a couple folks dropped off each lap and then it was my turn. After a few more laps I was done. It was a great race and fun venue. Hope the race comes back next year.

I think it is safe to say that waiting until the end of April to up your mileage and also start doing intervals/racing isn't the best way to get ready for the early summer racing. It was a bummer to get dropped, but Sunday's race wasn't a cake walk. A lot of folks got shelled. I'm still targeting late summer to shine at some crits and then roll that into cyclocross season.

After the race Sara and I rolled out with me towing the trailer. Did another 20 miles around the bike paths of Wildwood and Rockwood Reservation. The climb out of Rockwood took some effort pulling 50 lbs behind me.

Slow Ride.....Take It Easy

2009-05-23T17:58:00.000-07:00

Friday we out for a nice and easy 42 mile ride. Some of you are familar with the phrase drinking for two. Well I was riding hills for three. To keep Sara's heart rate down I would help push her up the hills. Does that count for a double the elevation gain? The ride took a little longer than our normal but it still wasn't too bad all things considered.

To make myself feel better I went out to the KATY on Saturday and I TT'd past some freds while pulling the trailer. Actually, didn't really blow by anyone but I did run over three snakes. One black and two green. We took our time and rode from Weldon Springs to Augusta for lunch and then rode back. Lot of folks out enjoying the trail which was pretty cool to see. I would say about 50% had helmets. One girl was riding her bike with training wheels and had her helmet hanging on her handle bars. Dad riding next to her with no helmet. On the return trip I saw that same bike with training wheels and helmet still dangling off the handlebars parked randomly on the trail with no one around. I did a bit of a double take and didn't see anyone around. That was a little creepy.

The Cat Is Out

2009-05-22T07:46:00.000-07:00

Guess the cat is out of the bag on THE STATE MTN BIKE RACE.

Rolled an easy lap of the front side of Castlewood last night. Opted for gears. Only complaint I have is the remote lock out cable broke on my front fork. Oh the humanity. Had a great ride. Road Reis over there. Took Roller Coaster to Grotpeter. Quick lap of Lone Wolf and then picked up the dirt crit loop CCW to the ranger station. Up Love Trail to Reis to home, Only saw a few riders. Was surprised the park wasn't crowded. Guess folks are resting for the weekend.

Never too soon to start running

2009-05-20T18:28:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was another lack luster World's for me. I got in 2 warmup laps and then it was time to race the Bs. Nothing too crazy for me. Just riding around in the pack. Fitness is starting to come back. Choose to set the last lap craziness.

Wednesday on the drive home I spotted the Bugman on his commute home. He was LOOK-ing good.

Once I got home I decided to test my knee with a run. I've been doing some stretching, avoiding the single speed (which has been killing me), and put on new road pedals. All of those things combined have greatly reduced the knee issues I have been battling for months. So I got the kid-o setup in the jogger with a water bottle and snack and I rolled out the garage for a 4 mile run. I haven't run in in two weeks and perhaps a total of 6 times in 4 months. So needless to say it was a shock to the system. Pushing 50 pounds doesn't help either. Once I was done I felt pretty good. No knee pain at all. Legs ache some due to the lack of running and then going out for 4 miles and pushing myself. I'm going to try and run at least once a week to break up the cycling some. Come cross I may increase that some. I could tell my lack of running made running over barriers and recovery harder.

Nice Ride, Then Flu

2009-05-18T17:53:00.000-07:00

Sunday we made it out for a nice 2 hour + ride of quiet Wildwood. Nothing too fast or crazy. Just some easy miles. I had thought about going to the Hellbender since I used to ride those roads all the time years before there was a race. But my lack of mileage and intensity made me think I should skip the Hellbender this year. Surprisingly we saw a few cyclist out early Sunday morning when we were out.

After returning home I started to not feel so good. By evening I skipped dinner and tried to go to bed early. I was up all night. Come this morning I bagged the thought of going to work. I decided to sleep from 8AM-3PM. Today was a rest day for the Giro and me.

Coming Around

2009-05-14T18:48:00.000-07:00

After a good weekend of riding the quiet roads of southern Missouri I made it out for my third Tuesday Worlds. Spent more time near the front. I am slowly getting back into it. With 2 to go I got squeezed on the outside going up the hill. It was either hit the barrier because they stacked up in front of me. Not that I was at the front, but it was frustrating to see several rows fly by me. Then the final time up the hill there was a crash about mid pack. I slowed down in plenty of time to avoid it and I doubled back to check on those that went down. They were fine except for some road rash.

Wednesday I did a DVD on the trainer due. Tonight I ran 3.5 miles. First run in nearly 2 months. Looks like my knee issues maybe finally resolved because my knee doesn't hurt.

Giro Starts in 1 day

2009-05-08T10:09:00.000-07:00

Pretty funny snip from an interview I came across.

TRK: Any truth to the rumor that you have singed up to race Leadville on a tandem with Lance?
LL: That’s a first, I think we’re busy at that time

TRK-is a Giro rep
LL is Levi

Apparently Lance will be using the entire month of May to convince LL to race Leadville. I can imagine the conversations now
Lance: You want me to pull that break back?
LL: Yes
Lance: You doing Leadville?
LL: No
Lance: I can't pull that break back then.
LL: On come on man!!!!
Lance: You doing Leadville with me?
LL: I don't know....can't we focus on this Giro thing we doing right now.
Lance: Hey, don't change the subject. Leadville or not?
LL: Okay I'll do it, but only for fun and I'm walking all the downhills.
Lance: Fair enough. Not step back, I've some f-ing work to do to close the gap.

Also, just thought of this one. Wonder if Horner has any bad feelings about leaving Lotto. Another scenario I see happening
Setting: Giro mountain stage.
Announcer: They are flying up this HC mountain climb. I see now Cadel Evans is riding at the back of the lead group of Astana, Cervelo, and the rest of the race contenders
Announcer: Looks like Evans is barely holding on. He has no teammates left.

Horner: Johan, I got this one. Step back boys. I'm going put Evans in the hurt locker. Those Lotto folks said I wasn't worth the money 2 years ago. Payback time!

Announcer: What's this?? Looks like Horner has gone the front eaten a Little Debbie brownie and now has opened the throttle. Nobody can come around.
Lance: Hey Redneck. slow the F down will you! Levi is complaining even.
Horner: Shut up one nut. Just stay on my wheel. Just tell me when Evans blows up.
Annoucner: Well that is it for Evans. Off the back. His Giro is done. The pace set by Horner is too much for him.
Lance: Hey redneck, Evans popped! Slow down now.
Horner: No way, you just want me to slow down so you can win the stage.
Levi: You two shut up and focus on me will you!

Truman's Day

2009-05-08T09:37:00.001-07:00

Today is Truman Day for the state. With the day off we are in southern Missouri with an agenda of pretty much nothing. Pretty nice actually.

Sneaked in a mountain bike ride Thursday evening before we left town. Castlewood had a a few spongy spots. But that didn't stop the horses or other mountain bikers from getting out to ride. This morning we did a cool 18 miles before the rains came through southern Missouri. Timed it pretty close to rain. Rolled in the driveway 5 minutes before the rain came and the tornado sirens went off.

If it clears up later I may go back out for a ride this afternoon. Quiet roads around the in-laws house, considerate motorists, but crappy pavenment. Guess two out of three isn't bad. Hopefully crank out another high mileage weekend like I did last weekend.
But high mileage is a relative term.

2009-05-06T18:48:00.000-07:00

After the lack of rain over the weekend I opted for an easy spin at Castlewood Monday evening. Proved to be a good choice. The night before I replace the derailleur hanger on the shifty bike. Proved to be a good move. After I put on the new drive train it just wasn't shifting right. No amount of cable adjustment was able to fully fix the shifting issues. Put on a new hanger and I was in business. No cable tuning needed. I laid the old one a bench and is tweaked ever so slightly. Anyways, back to the ride. It was as much fun and I could have on a geared bike. Did some more tuning on the Fox fork I put on over the winter. I had been running a pretty high compression setting so I backed it off some. I was amazed how much such a small change of a couple clicks made to the compliance over small bumps. Day and night. I'm pretty much convinced the Fox forks are some of the best in the business. Not the lightest, but they have some of the best damping control around.

Tuesday I made an appearance to the Tuesday worlds. Nothing spectacular to report. Just getting used to the dynamics of a crit. Fitness is coming around. I didn't hurt too bad afterwords so that is a good sign. Was able to move up when I felt the need. I kept following the wrong deal and eventually found myself at the back of the pack. Next week I'll spend more time at the front rather than bringing up the caboose of the race pack.

Weekend Update

2009-05-03T17:35:00.000-07:00

Finally got out for a couple of back to back weekend rides. Saturday I rolled out of my driveway with two teammates. We headed west for 45 miles of hills. Some of the roads I knew others were new to me. All of it was great. It did prove out the theory the way to get better at hills is to climb more of them. However I haven't done many lately so I suffered some. But not bad. I was able to recover and do some pulling on the last stretch of rollers.

Sunday was a family ride. After breakfast at Lone Wolf we hit Creve Couer on the way to the KATY trail. I think in the future I'll ride more KATY and less Creve Couer Park trail. Generally most people were cool. I took my time didn't force any passes. It is Sunday and I'm pulling a trailer. Just taking it easy. However after nearly 30 miles and less 1/4 mile from the car I came across the typical Creve Couer park A-hole. The one guy who who can't wait to pass someone who is slowing him down during his interval session on a multiuse trail. Two walkers headed my way. A roller blader behind. I'm approaching with caution just about anytime I pass anyone going the other way or my way. Because really, if I wanted to race I would of been at Jefferson Barracks. Anyways as I come across the two walkers going the opposite way the roller blader decides he has to pass RIGHT NOW. So he proceeds to go around the two walkers, cross the center yellow line into my lane, and squeezes between two walkers me and my trailer with the little one in it. Mind you I'm rolling the right wheel of the trailer in the grass at this point. He managed to get through. No injuries to report. But to the roller blader...WTF? Had I not been more aware it could of been worse. Three or four people could of been hurt because you wanted to get through and couldn't wait 15 more feet to get around two walkers.

Regardless of the guy being a a-hole I had a blast of doing nearly 30 miles pulling the trailer. It felt like I was climbing a gradual hill the whole time. Two things are clear. First, I need more hill training. Second, cross season can't get here soon enough.

Rain Wins

2009-05-01T19:30:00.000-07:00

Wednesday I managed to sneak over to Casltewood to test out the new drive train on the shifty bike and also ride a lap of Sunday's race course. I think I dropped 2lbs on the new cranks and bottom bracket. Nine years was long enough for the old cranks. I saw several other folks out there pre-riding as well. Unfortunately that is all we will be able to do. Having put on a mountain bike race or two I can agree with the choice to post pone Sunday's race. Honestly, if it was wet and muddy I wouldn't of raced anyways. Not like I'm in the running for the points and I don't feel like replacing all my cables and brakes after a race.

I'm still on the mend from some knee issues that have plagued me for a while. Decided to park the single speed until they go away for good. I also have given up running until the knee issues are settled. Not that I'm a "runner" but I do run some. Now that I'm not reviewing the big engineering book every night I've been riding the trainer more. Really focusing on trying to spin and not mash gears. Did some videos on the trainer the past two days. Remember, riding the trainer gets you no where. Looks like I'll have to do some more if it keeps raining this weekend.

Plenty of time to prepare for cyclocross.

Tuesdays are Back

2009-04-29T18:19:00.000-07:00

I made it out for my first Tuesday World of the year. Nothing spectacular to report. There was no wind which was a plus. Pretty much road around holding up the back of the pack. I found myself up at the front after a few laps. It was down hill after that. Overall, it was a good workout for me. Second interval session of they year for me. First one was Sunday at the race. Other thing I worked on was riding in a race pack again. Getting back in grove of the group dynamics of a racing pack. There were only a few sketchy moments. Which for the record didn't involve me. I think after another week or two I'll be back in the swing for racing in a pack. Tuesday's effort wasn't that hard per say, but I could tell my racing skills were a little rusty.

All and all it was good to catch up some friends I had not seen in a few months. Probably one of the best parts of bike racing. See familiar faces who all enjoy the pain and enjoyment of pushing yourself while riding around in a bike race.

For recovery today I road a lap of the race course for Sunday's mountain bike race. Trail was in perfect shape. Hope we don't get much rain after Thursday.

Return to Racing

2009-04-27T18:36:00.000-07:00

After nearly 10 hours of testing Friday I was ready to return to my normal riding routine. Well as routine as I can have anyways.

Before we left town with 300 pounds of reference material we did a nice 20 mile ride to Ridge Road and back. Going for a ride after studying 400+ hours but before an all day test was perfect. During the ride I convinced myself that I'm probably one of the few cyclist out there who could read all the equations Andy Coogan spits out in his books and be able to fully understand what all the terms are without having to look at his references.

Saturday we repeated the same ride to Ridge Road and back, but it seemed more enjoyable since I didn't feel like I was neglecting the First or Second Law of Thermo. But I did think about the Moment of Inertia of my calucations I couldn't get right the day before.

Later Saturday we did a family ride from the Great Rivers Greenway parking area at 141 in Valley Park. Pretty decent. Only one rough patch of bike path. I had been wanting to check it out for a while. Can't wait until they get the next stage of the Greenway open along the Meremac River.

Sunday I ventured out on the racing ciruit. Choose to remain a 4 again this year. Probably should race the 3s. I'll try and do a 3/4 race next time. Sunday I got there later than I planned, but thanks to Shark-time I was early. The race before mine started 20 mintues late. No worries. Talked to some familar faces, registerted and warmed up with a teammate. Lined up at the start with 1-2 minutes to spare. First announcement was they cut our race short by 2 laps. Now big deal to me. Started out and it was pretty clear that wind would be a factor. Remember wind drag is nonlinear. I took my position near the back. Couple reasons. First, there weren't many racers so being at the back still meant I was in the top 40-50 riders. Wasn't sure about those racing. You get used to racing the same people and since I had not done a crit in 6-7 months I wanted to see who was a weapon. Figured out those folks in 2 laps. Third, I had only done 1 interval since December's cross season and I wanted to ease into this race. Finally, since there were no real corners I wasn't worried about any hard breaking and hard accels like you normally see in a crit.

Overall the race went as I expected. It hurt some, but overall because of the wind it was pretty low key. Almost to slow really. I was able to move up when I wanted. Managed to miss the wheel rubs and the guy who rubbed his foot against the inside curb for several feet. On the final lap my strategy of hanging out at the back fell to pieces. A rider who was 5-6 riders in front of me gapped the field and the guy behind refused to move around. We were single file into the wind and a 15 yard gap opened up and that caused us to get dropped of the back. Kind of sucked. I really was impressed by they guys who sprinted out past me for 30th place.

Tonight for recovery I put a new drive train on my nine year old mountain bike. I think I dropped 2-3 lbs just by putting on a new bottom bracket and set of cranks. I also cleaned up the single speed while drank a glass of red wine.

Training Like a Pro

2009-04-16T19:03:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a lot of training lately. If I was riding as much as I was studying I would be logging some big miles.

Today I...
Drank coffee while I reviewed engineering problems at 6AM.
Did a 4 hour practice test from 7:17 to 11:17 AM. That's half the PE exam.
Mowed the yard for a study break. 35 minutes.
Reviewed my practice test. I got a passing grade at least.
Did 3 more hours of studying.

After all that studying I went out for a short mountain bike ride. It was too nice out. For the recorded I didn't go out for a ride until it was after my usual get home from work time. I also opted for gears. Been having some knee issues lately so I'm letting my beloved Rig get some rest. I thought my knee was getting better but I road my SS and while it was a great ride for me, it wasn't a good ride for me knee. Although while riding with gears today I found myself wanting to mash big gears like I was on a SS. Kept having to remind myself to spin easy. I also saw the guy who wants to sell your year and Twister in the parking lot.

Then while riding Love trail towards Reis and home I felt the dreaded rear squish. I got a flat on the way home. Tried to put some air in it with my pump while I waited at the stop light at Big Bend. No go there. No big deal. Only 1 mile from the house. I can walk. I didn't feel like replacing a tube only 1 mile from the house. I had the tools, but busting a bead on a tubeless tire rather sucks and when you don't really want to do it. But cyclist karma was on my side because I was offered a ride by a guy who I see very frequently at Castlewood. Appreciate it man. I'll pay it forward. That marks twice I've been given a lift home from a cyclist I didn't know.

Good times

2009-04-15T17:01:00.001-07:00

Today is 63. I didn't ride. Yeah, it sucks. Tomorrow senior I will be out.

Weekend Wrapup

2009-04-12T18:06:00.000-07:00

What wonderful weather we are having?

Been hitting the books a lot lately. After a long day of studying Saturday I went out for a road ride with my father in law. Great guy. Always has a cold beer for me and likes to ride bikes. One odd thing about him though is he is a thin guy. Yeah most serious cyclist are in the thin department, esp. compared to the rest of the American population. However, my father in law can put on a pair of cycling shorts and they will be loose around his thighs. Typically the critical factors for sizing of shorts are: length of the bib straps, tightness around the boys, and too tight in the waist. I think most cyclists would agree that having the shorts too loose around the thighs is ever a problem. Except for my father in law. None the less we set out for a moderate ride on some quite rural roads. Saw two dogs. One we chased off the road. Then saw some locals out. All of whom gave a friendly wave and passed around with plenty of room to spare. It was pretty nice. After he was done I went home and Sara and I headed out for a nice short ride of 40 more minutes. Not a lot of miles but it was good to get out after studying for 6+ hours Saturday. 2 more weeks and I can go back to riding normally again.

More gears and beers

2009-04-05T05:57:00.000-07:00

I've continued my racing sabattical this week. No Rim Wrecker, Hillsboro, or Tilles crit. I did head over to Castlewood for some more trail time. Surpising the trails were in great shape Tuesday and again Saturday. It was a nice day and the trail was packed. Good day for a demo day by the Trek folks. I was lucky enough to make it out on a XL Superfly. I normally ride a L, but I do have a lot of seat post showing my my Rig so figured I would give it a ride. I was not disappointed. The bike climbed great, bombs down hills fast and is just plain quick all around. If I won the lottery that bike would be the first thing I bought. After wards Sara met up with me and I strapped on a pack and took the little for a hike. It was good, but I like biking much more then hiking.

Sightings

2009-03-30T17:45:00.001-07:00

Today on the way home I saw the ultimate commuter. The Bugman himself. Secretly he is my idle.

Then when I got home I went out for a short ride. I made the jump to some new pedals. After a four trainer rides last week I decided to go out for a road test. Cruised over to Castlewood and back. Imagine my extreme surprise to see a teammate out who had a bit of a rough year last year. His first ride outside in months.

Guess that is one thing about cycling I like. I've met tons of great folks who I wouldn't otherwise know. All share the same interest for cycling and it is always great to catch up with old friends.

Making Laps

2009-03-27T18:55:00.000-07:00

This past week I took a few days off. No reason to peak too early!

Did manage to get in a nice mountain bike ride this afternoon. His's and her's Rigs were present. I road legit today. Been riding with gears a lot in the past few weeks to give my knee a rest. Seems to be working. But today I couldn't resist the tractor beam pull of the Rig. I was able to redeem myself and beat Sara to the top of the Lone Wolf. It was due to my superior state of gearing. Although let the record reflect Sara managed just a fine on her Rig and climbed in a superior state of mind as well. Ended up with a good 14 miles of trail time. Not too shabby for two working stiffs who have a little one at home.

I'll miss another edition of the Rim Wrecker. Good luck to all those racing Sunday. Someday I'll make that event.

Single Speed vs Gears

2009-03-22T04:28:00.000-07:00

Friday we both made it out for a mountain bike ride. I had been riding my shifty bike lately and decided to stick with that. Sara? She went with the single speed. Geeeeeeez. Make me look bad would ya? I hoped I we didn't see anyone we knew. To start I joked we should go right up Lone Wolf. She didn't think that was funny. We opted to go up Love to Roller Coaster. For someone who doesn't get out on a mountain bike as much as she would like she was flying up Love like a Spanish climber in the Alps. It also verified to me that I don't climb as fast with gears compared to without. After roller coaster we rolled down Grotpeter.

Next trick? Climb Lone Wolf. We started at the base side by side. She road the whole thing on her single speed. 32-19 gearing on a 29 inch for those interested. She beat me to the top of the double track. By a lot. I'm not ashamed to admit it. But I then managed to pass her on the second part of the climb before heading down the back side twisty stuff.

After that we did another climb up Love and down Grotpeter without hitting Roller Coaster. Just under an hour all told. It was a good day.

Dirt, Gears and No Racing

2009-03-18T18:16:00.000-07:00

Did make it out for a couple hours Friday with Sara and two team mates. Followed that up with another team ride on Saturday morning. I cut that one short and headed for home earlier then the others. At least I got to ride some with them.

Recently I made it out for 3 rides in the past 4 days. All of them under an hour and all on the shifty mountain bike. Quick trips on the old Kaitai to Castlewood and back. Each time I took some time to adjust the bike some. It is amazing how much fork technology has advanced in 9 years. The gears, small wheels and fork are a nice change and provide a good chance to push harder on a ride that is less than an hour.

This weekend is more racing but not for me. Racing season for me begins after April 25th.

This weekend is more studying and 12 hours of Sebring.

Rolling Along

2009-03-12T05:05:00.001-07:00

Business as usual for me. Work, ride some, play with my kid, and study. Another crit this weekend and it will be a DNS for me. Also a DNS for the Bone Bender this weekend. Sounds like it would of been a great event but the rain gods had other plans.

Did sneak out for a 50 minute mountain bike ride on Tuesday at Castlewood. Started up Love Trail on the way home when it started to rain. I then did an interval session to climb up Love to Reis Road to beat the rain home. First time in the hurt locker for me in a couple months. Since December really. It hurt, but was good to get back into the grove of a mock race pace.

Going into the weekend I should be out for my usual biweekly road ride with Sara. It won't be 70 like earlier in the week but it will be mild and dry. Not before I recable my road bike in prep for the 2009 season.

She is still faster

2009-03-01T18:11:00.000-08:00

Sara returned to racing Saturday. Not before we did a nice 2 hour ride Friday.

Saturday she raced a ten mile trail run at Castlewood. She did not train per say for the event but she has been running a lot with the jogger. The plan was to run the event with no plans for doing well. Fun run basiclly. Well given that she was not pushing 40 pounds of jogger and she knew the trails very well it meant she ended up doing very well. Won her age group and 8th female overall.

I watched and rang cowbells. Great event and thanks to the Big River Running folks for putting it on.

Happy Frozen Trails

2009-02-22T13:29:00.000-08:00

This morning we planned to go for a road ride. Last night I spent about an hour getting the road bikes cleaned up, some tire changes, slight cable adjustments to fix some minor shifting issues. I find working on bikes a bit relaxing and I have a nice mini workshop setup so I enjoy doing that stuff. Woke up this morning and saw the temps and wind chill. We opted for a mountain bike ride instead. I then took 10 mins to get both our single speeds ready. Amazing how easy those things are to prep for a ride. Here is my normal check list: Do the tires have air? Is the chain super dry or not? Done. So simple to get going. We managed 1.5 hours of frozen trail times. Sara was on fire. For a person who mountain bikes once a month she rolls very well. Climbed everything, plus a few spots I didn't and bombed the descents faster then I could keep up with times on my rigid bike.

After that we picked up our daughter and hit Lone Wolf for a late breakfast and some tasty coffee.

Getting ready for some Tour of Cali coverage this afternoon. Last day. Two things have confirmed my appreciation for Chris Horner's abilities. Once early this week he was asked by Johan where he was at. His reply, "In and Out Burger, cheese burger, fries, coke and chocolate shake." This morning at the team breakfast he and his girlfriend walked in with two huge boxes of doughnuts. A guy after my own heart. Puts in tons of miles who then eats what he wants after wards. I enjoy riding a lot, but truly enjoy the ability to enjoy some "excess" calories with minimal consequences. Plus the guy can motor on the front for his team. Maybe that should my new training plan. 100 mile days and doughnuts.

Racing season starts Sunday

2009-02-18T14:53:00.000-08:00

This weekend is the world famous Froze Toes. It will go on without me. I will keep up with my usual biweekly road rides with Sara and Lone Wolf Coffee runs with the family. All supplimented by the trainer for a while longer. At least I can watch subpar Tour of Califonia coverage while I ride in place.

Argile Everywhere!

2009-02-13T15:48:00.001-08:00

The above picture is a new contact lens case the Mrs. picked up for me. Apparently the Slipstream folks have licensed their logo to new market segment.

Took advantage of the nice weather today and made it out for a 3 hour ride this morning and then headed to cheese cake factory for lunch.

Z's stink

2009-02-07T08:04:00.000-08:00

The title is for my friend. He has two non running Z's to sell cheap.

Anyways. That last two weeks have been okay on the biking front. We did manage a nice 35 mile ride last Friday. During that ride I did manage to crash solo at 20 mph. I stood up and when attempted to pedal I came unclipped and over the bars I went. Flat onto my back and rolled into a snow bank. I give my self a 6.2 on the landing. No real road rash. Biggest hit was the my helmet. Cracked in four spots. Also tore my old winter riding jacket. Backside looks like a dog chewed it. The destruction of a new helmet was a bit of a bummer, but it did it's job and a new helmet is cheaper then a trip to the hospital.

The next day I went skiing with my in laws. I tried snow boarding for the first time. I was making good progress thanks to lessons from my brother in law but then after making it down the hill twice with out falling I was on try 3 for a clean run when I got blasted from behind. Completely blind siding. It knocked me pretty good. Enough that a Hidden Valley worker who saw it came over and told me to take a break and they called someone to look me over. I was mostly okay, but after that I went back to skis. Turns out the choad who blasted me did the same thing again later to another person.

Rest of the this week was low key. 9 deg Monday and 60 by Friday. WTF? Me I had a 3rd round of a stomach bug. After three rounds of this I back to my typically summer bike racing weight. What a weight loss plan.

With the warm weather I saw some bikers out after work and I was a bit jealous. I do have to rant about one thing. I was coming home and was stopped at the light at Clayton westbound and Old Woods Mills, near the new Whole Paychek. Red light. Then on my right a cyclist blasts right through the red light without blinking an eye. Guess he figured the red light didn't apply to him or perhaps he thought we were just sitting there for fun. That stuff annoys me. Not to wish ill will on the guy, but perhaps he needs some close calls to learn to stop at red lights.

Anyways today we road up to Lone Wolf Coffee for breakfast. Good times. Wish they had a bike rack though! It was a good family trip out there and back. If you are a cyclist and need a coffee break please stop. They even brew new coffee every 2 hours so no matter when you stop you won't be drinking stale coffee. How great is that?

Unexpected Training Day

2009-01-23T06:05:00.000-08:00

So I'm sitting at work I get the call. The call parents dread, your kid is sick come get her. Turns out it wasn't too serious. But a case of pink eye which means she needed to be away from other kids. So after a couple of phone calls and I was on my way out the door, pick the little one up, grab some medicine on the way home. Then what? Well what would any self respecting cycling do in January when it is 60 degrees and you have the afternoon free? Yep, go for a ride. Well go ride after I attempt to put eye drops in 1 year old's eyes. I think climbing Heart Attack is easier.

I bundled her up with a coat, hat, and blankets. Then I hooked up the trailer to the cross bike and we went for a nice 90 minute ride with a few hill repeats (on very quiet roads). A good day in my book. Plus my daughter loves the trailer. It her favorite napping spot. So I get to ride and she gets a rest. The little one is doing better today but we kept her home so I just may have to go for another nice set of hill repeats while pulling the trailer.

Flu Part 2

2009-01-14T08:04:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend I got a second round of a flu related bug. It felt great to be so sick on my little one's first birthday. Thankfully my family that came in town were good sports and helped out a ton. Someday I'll get back in shape, but two rounds of the flu have really helped increase my power to weight ratio.

Sick-O

2009-01-08T16:51:00.001-08:00

Haven't been doing much lately other than traveling and being sick. Fun stuff. Drove 10 hours, unloaded the car, got sick. Drove home, went for a ride, got sick a good head cold. Being stubborn I road the trainer with a sweatshirt to ward off the chills while I spun and watched the news.

This will totally ruin my plans to peak for Froze Toes. Next year is my year.

Holiday Break

2008-12-24T07:55:00.001-08:00

Now that cross season is over I guess I can start rebuilding for next year. Who am I kidding? I don't have a plan. I just ride my bike. Given the craptastic weather this past week I've logged some trainer time. This morning I road a nice 1.5 hours while watching a 2001 Tour DVD. Didn't really have much structure just tried to keep the legs spinning at higher than normal cadence for me. I've gotten used to a slow pedal RPM and need to work on that I think. Watching old races is a bit inspiring because I tend to pick up the pace when they come down to a sprint finish or when they are attacking like made in the mountains.

Later today I head out for a series of adventures to visit family. One cool thing is when going to the in-laws I can just take my pedals, shoes, and other riding clothing and use one of his bikes. He has two road bikes and a Long Haul Trucker waiting for us to ride when we get there. How great is that!!! That's almost pro. Just show up and your bike is there ready to go!

Cross Nationals SS Race

2008-12-17T16:42:00.000-08:00

Well I headed to KC for the weekend of Nationals. Rolled into town Friday evening. Got up early Saturday and got to the race site before sunrise. I had followed someone reporting on CXMagazine.com and it was muddy Friday, but Saturday morning the course was soft but not muddy. I got in an hour of pre-riding. I did stop and talk to a few friends along the way but I did get in 7 laps. I was trying to decide if the 32/15 gearing was going to work or not on Sunday. It was a lot of climbing, but I figured the high winds on Saturday would help dry out the course so I stayed with that gearing. Also figured if I went to a 16 I would just go slower and it would still hurt climbing.

So I got changed after riding and settled in for a full day of spectating. With beer, BBQ grill, and shark suits. We had some other Big Sharks in the races through the day. Nate and Josh were first up in the 30-34 Masters, or as I see it the former pros race. Nate had a good race for 5, 6, and 7 and ended up 7th. Just off the podium. The final race of the day featured Claw. It was a total team effort to cheer him on.

I finally made Velonews!!!! Not in the way most would expect, but I'm made the big time. After that race I went home.

Sunday I got there early again for a 8AM start. Made a few laps on the course first and crashed once. At the start I was outside the second row. After Saturday's race and the wrecks that occurred I decided I wanted to be outside for the first few turns. Right off the start it was a fast as hell race. It was full sprint to turn one. I lost a couple spots, the first of many. Of course there was a crash and I avoided that. Then after that about 20 sec later there was another crash in front of me. Avoided that. Then we started the climb. It was a freight train of guys passing me. Finally made it to the top of the hill and started back down. Around the left hander at the tree I tried to accelerate out of the corner around a rider. It crashed solo. Even got road rash from the mud. Got up and got going again after losing more spots. From there I pretty much settled into the hurt locker and got passed by a few more guys near the end of lap one. Then from there I started to pick a few guys off. The soft ground and relative tall gear I had made me hurt for over half the course since there was so much climbing. At one point the Latern Rouge folks at the top of the course were playing Rocky I theme and that song's beat matched my cadence well climbing. So I was climbing, with the eye of a tiger. It was cool. On the second lap I managed to ride the short hill after the run up. I got some props from the fans for that. It was a good time to ride the race and have some people yelling out for me but I was in no shape for racing.

I rolled home 1 lap down in 40th out of 70 starters. I really wanted to stay on the lead lap but it just wasn't in the cards for me.

After my race I settled in for another full day of shark suits and beer drinking. Watching the pros go off was great and we tried to put in a good fan effort for all the locals out there in the elite race. In the end the Shark fans made cyclingnews.com, bicycling.com, velonews.com, usacycling.com, and countless other photo websites. Not to shabby for a bunch of hack riders like us.

MO Weather contines to impress

2008-12-17T07:06:00.000-08:00

I raced this past weekend. More on that later.

This weekend in CXmas. Looks like the weather could be a little cool for me to enter the family class, but I may go out and watch. I would like to clarify for the 3 people out there who read thi. I really had no plans to non-race, but plan hanging out and f the weather permitted riding the KATY some. Looks like it will be too cold for a family ride this weekend, but wait 10 minutes and that could change.

Herman Cross 2.0

2008-12-10T16:05:00.001-08:00

You could say that Herman served as a great bookend for the local cross scene. Kicked off the season in style with a night race that had a ton of fans, beer, and racers. Jeff and his crew put on another top notch race last weekend for the MO State Championships. I would write about my non epic performance but others have summed up the weekend pretty well.

http://teamredwheel.com/

http://teamseagal.blogspot.com/2008/12/2008-hermann-cx-state-championships.html

http://www.pedalordie.blogspot.com/

http://www.cyclingdiary.blogspot.com/

The short version of my race goes as follows. Did a warmup that was too short. Lined up at the back. Early in the first of 4 laps a rider crashed in front of me and that opened a 40 yard gap. I then set out to chase riders. It took me all the first lap to get warmed up since I failed to get in a real warmup. Slowly I caught a few guys. The stairs were brutal to me. I did catch Boz on the end of the third lap and pulled him up to two riders. The four of road together for a short bit and then Boz and his teammate dropped off. I did everything I could to stick with that rider but I was dropped big time. I finished 5th out of 5 in the Masters 30-34 behind Dr. Mark, Jay, Naggie, and a Verge rider. All top notch riders. I finished just behind the 35-39 rider who finished 2nd in his class.

This weekend I will head to KC for Nationals. Tonight I just converted the Rig to cross mode with skinny tires and alternate gearing. Looking at online videos I went with a 32/15 gear for starters and will bring a 13, 14, and 16 with me in case I want to go up or down. After that I will be at CXmas and will enter the family class because I will have my daughter in tow.

Cross Progress

2008-12-05T04:34:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was another round of pre-bubba memorial. I think some folks really looked forward to the wet and muddy conditions. I'm more indifferent but had a good time while racing. Cleaning my bike wasn't much fun afterwards though.

I lined up in my usual last row starting spot 10 minutes before the race started. It was strung out pretty quickly and I tried to move up on the first couple of higher speed turns before we rolled into a series of slow 180 corners. I made up a few spots there. Then we hit the fast downhill that lead into a tight and slow 180. I pushed my way on the outside while riding in the unmowed grass going into the corner. That gained me a few more spots. Then from there I pretty much road my race. I was happy things strung out quickly because I felt more comfortable going around the course without pure roadies around me. Given the course's slipperly conditions I thought I could carry more speed on some sections of the course. Eventually I settled into a nice battle (meaning-chase some guys) with Wild Track rider and Dent Wizard rider. At one point I crashed infront of them on a tight 180 and I let them around. The next lap I got in front of them and in the same corner I crashed a stick got wedged in my rear brake locking my rear wheel. I had to get off and fix that and start chasing again. From there I started working to pull those guys back. Klages was long gone in front of me but I tried to chase the others down. I kept it in tall gears and road like I was on a single speed. That worked for me. It hurt but it worked. On the uphill sections I would stand and mash the pedals. With a couple to go I caught the Dent Wizard rider and he road on my wheel for a lap but crashed on one of the 180 corners and I was able to keep him at a safe distance after that. Rolled home 15th out of 30. Average.

Overall I wasn't too disappointed with my race but I wonder if I had a better start if I could finish better. Either way I think I'm getting ready for Nationals in a little over a week. Today I plan to conver the Rig to Cross mode and may ride that Sunday in Herman. The thought of those stairs brings pain to my body.

Why riding is fun

2008-11-26T06:21:00.000-08:00

After this weekend and the great crowds and cheering at two days of cross races I have been thinking about why riding a bike is fun for me.

1. I meet a lot of people I wouldn't otherwise know. Doctors, Lawyers, Professors, Truck drivers, construction workers, engineers, bike shop people (owners, managers, worker bees). All kinds of great people who just like riding bikes and racing them sometimes. You could really sense the whole biking community vibe at Saturday and Sunday's cross races because everyone was cheering, ringing cowbells, and encouraging everyone they knew to keep going. It is pretty cool to hear that from the side lines when you are deep in the pain cave.

2. It keeps me skinny so I have a nice calorie offset to drink PBR, Strohs and O'Fallon Gold.

3. Going out a nice ride, no matter what kind, just really hits the spot. Any ride, any time. It is a time to relax, enjoy the sites, and my wife and I can just chill for a couple of hours on the bikes without much else to worry about. I use it to decompress and I occasionally have some good thoughts that come to me about a problem I trying to solve at work because somehow the ride relaxes me and helps be think more clearly.

There are probably more reasons why I enjoy riding but that pretty much the main ones for me. This weekend I'll be enjoying some biking in the KC area on the mountain bike Landhal will be on the list and perhaps a trip to Shawnee Mission Park.

Good Weekend for Cross and Other Stuff

2008-11-23T17:16:00.000-08:00

Well started out Friday morning at home and decided that since it was nice and sunny we should go for a nice 40 mile ride. Now, I'm not a big endoser of products to tell someone to go buy this for cycling, but I must say I was very pleased with the performance of my Zefal metal thero water bottle was awesome Friday. Started the ride in Elliseville with a full mug of hot pumpkin spice latte. Then we road to St. Albin's refilled our themro bottles with more hot coffee and road back. It was sweet! I managed to stuble into these a couple of years ago in the twin cities area while up there for a wedding. Between the wedding and the reception we hit a local bike shop and they had these things around and I figured I would try them out because riding in MN has to be cold in the winter and the shop guys recommended them. Come to find out they are impossible to find anywhere else. Anyways we got in a good 40 miles, at 30 deg, while I had the O.A.R song 52-50 stuck in my head.

Friday night I snuck out for little over an hour of night riding at Castlewood. Worst part of that was my water bottle froze. Truck temp said 19 deg.

Saturday I had some family in town so we took advantage of that and Sara and I headed over to Castlewood for 1.5 hours of singlespeed splendor. Of course she road up Lone Wolf again on her Rig which meant I couldn't give up if she was riding it. It hurt but I made it to the top. She does have a 32/19 versus my 32/18 gearing but anyway you slice it she's strong and can ride a Rig well.

Saturday night I wasn't able to race but I did make it out the Bubba in the dark about halfway through the B race. It was a great atomosphere and great time. Lots of cheering, bells, beer, nice crowd and fast racers all around. It really got me jazzed for nationals in a few weeks.

Sunday I had some friends step up and their kind help allowed me to race. Got my now normal back row spot at 10 minutes before the race is supposed to start. Had a decent start and moved up a couple of spots quickly. Then the twisty stuff. Klages and I did a couple of passes and repasses but he eventually dropped me. I pretty much took an outside line and moved up a few spots on the entry of the first couple of 180 corners. Then I managed to grab a nice draft and sit in a little. I was able to move a few more spots before the end of the first lap. The expected bottle neck occurred at the WALL and the twisty sections. Not too bad though. After the first lap I advanced a few more spots and lost 1 spot to Alan from Gateway. He went ahead and caught a few more guys. I think I finished 15/16-ish. About what I expected. My legs were a bit dead from the Friday and Saturday stuff. About halfway into the race I started riding a big gear to practice the single speed stuff in prep for nationals.

Nationals in 3 weeks?

2008-11-20T18:45:00.001-08:00

Ah 3 weeks out from my "A" race for the season, cross nationals. I use the term "A" race loosely because an "A" race for me involves drinking fewer beers the night before. I can't really say how I will do this year compared to last year. Last year was epic with the conditions and who knows what to expect this year except there will be more climbing than last year. I managed to stay on the lead lap in 2007 and hope to do the same in 2008.

I squeaked in a mountain bike ride Wednesday at Castlewood. I had some new equipment on the shifty bike to shake down and the shakedown went very well. Almost came head to head with another rider as I blasted around a blind corner. I took to the brush and grabbed two handfuls of brakes to avoid certain destruction.

Then today I had another sweet day as I was able to get my hands on a very elusive bottle of O'Fallon Whiskey Smoked Porter. I sampled this beer 2 years ago and have been searching for it ever since. Today was a good day.

The weekend is shaping up to a lot of fun with a double header cross race featuring the WALL and Dave Towle. Wonder if the sharks will be there?

Great day of watching

2008-11-17T14:47:00.000-08:00

I went to the cross race Sunday. I forgot my bike. I opted to enjoy the day in park with my daughter, friends a few cold ones. I felt lame going to a bike race and watching but at the end of the day I still had a great time. A few mentioned I choose a good one to skip because it look like that course hurt. I'll be back out next weekend. Hopefully for 2 races.

A Good Cross Race!!!!

2008-11-10T15:52:00.000-08:00

Sunday was another round of cyclocross. This by far was the best cross race yet in the St. Louis area. Bar none. It has a great course with a usual pagentry, 2 short sand pits and the WALL. I also had a much better race this week which helped a ton.

Prior to the race I went for a good 2hr+ singlespeed ride with Sara. That was good, Sara even climbed Lone Wolf on her Single Speed so that was even better. She was ahead of me on that climb and we passed some hikers on their way down. He mumbled something about how I had to ride it because she was in front and was still riding. Thanks man!!! Sunday I went back to Castlewood to ride a Superfly. Man that bike was sweet. If I won the lottery that would surely be a first purchase item. I got in about an hour of mountain biking which was a nice warmup for the cross race.

Anyways, back to the cross race. I got there earlier this week and had some warmup time and checked out part of the course. I lined up at the back because I foolishly was not at the start line 12 minutes before the race started. I waited until 7 minutes to line up which meant I was in the back with Klages. Got off decently and made it to the barriers ahead of some people who did start before me. Then headed through the fast twisty stuff. It was strung out single file. Wasn't too bad, but you could tell you quickly who could ride the twisty sections fast and who couldn't. It wasn't really a power output type of issue, but more of an issue of who wasn't comfortable on dirt. Then we came to the wall!

It was sweet. My first time up it and it wasn't too bottle necked. The worst part was my saddle got hung up in a Mesa Jrs rear wheel. I felt bad about that but it happens. Don't worry, he passed me back and dropped me for good shortly after that. Then we hit the first sand section. A straight shot with lots of speed on entry. Then next sand section has a sharp right hand turn in it. I tried to ride it the first lap and had to put a food down. Got going again. Back under the wall and completed the first lap. Repeat for another 50 minutes. It was a blast. Each time down the ramp of the wall I felt like a little kid riding a bike. Just jump on, put your feet on the middle of the pedals, stand up and roll with it. Once on the grass clip in a go. There is a lively discussion going on stlbiking.com about the wall, but I give it two thumbs up.

The race progressed well. Was able to make up a few more spots and finished ahead of some guys who lapped me last week. I was able to ride the sand pit completely during the middle third of the race when there lots of people around so that was fun to hear the cheers and cowbells. I tried to catch the guy in front of me but realized I couldn't with 2 to go. I kept going though because there were some guys chasing me just as hard. Overall I finished 11th out of 29 starters. Much better than 40th out of 45.

2008-11-07T04:21:00.000-08:00

Not much to report this week on the riding front. Did do a couple of trainer rides while watching 2006 SCCA Valvoline Runoffs on DVD. Tuesday I went to work early and left early so I could vote. Despite the horror stories I had no waiting to vote. In and out in 10 minutes. I then proceeded to go get my free coffee from Starbucks and then head home. Once home I realized it was only 3:30 pm so I got the rear disc brake back on the singlespeed (while drinking my free coffee) and made it over to Castlewood for 1.5 hours of good riding before it got dark. Later that night I go downstairs to check the bikes (put them to bed) and low and behold my front tire has a huge gash and the tire is flat. WTF? Good thing I made it home.

Today is Friday and I'm going to head out for a 40 mile ride with the wife this afternoon. Should be a good fall afternoon to make a trip to St. Albins and back.

Hopefully Sunday's race goes better than last week. But then again it probably can't get any worse.

How not to prep for a cross race

2008-11-02T15:31:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago I did a cross race. I finished just inside the top half. Today I finished ahead of 5 people. So for review I present things not to do for a cross race.

1. Run 4 miles Friday.
2. Biking 35 mins on the KATY to ride to the wineries in Augusta to sample wine. Then head to brewery and have a beer and a snack. Then ride 35 mins back to the car. The whole time your are riding the KATY while pulling a trailer and trying to keep up with your wife while she tries to drop you.
3. Going to a Halloween party Saturday night and drinking 8-10 cans of Strough's.
4. Waking up dehydrated and with a slight headache.
5. Riding 1 hr and 45 mins Sunday morning with your wife.
6. Eating mexican for lunch at El Meguay's at 12:00 PM.
7. Only making 1 warmup lap.

Not sure if you can't do 1 to 3 of the items listed above, but I don't recommend doing them all in the days and hours before a cross race.

Regradless I still have fun and look forward to the next cross race. But today was frustrating to see guys ride away from you that previously you were able to stay in front of.

Weather Report

2008-10-31T18:42:00.000-07:00

The weather looks too good to pass up. This past week I road the trainer Monday. Ran Tuesday. Took the shifty bike out Wednesday and Thursday. I had a most epic flat Thursday. Couldn't stop soon enough from hearing the "PSSSSSSSSS" before it was flat. I did get enough air into with my small CO2 and limped into the parking lot and borrowed a floor pump from a nice fella who was going out to start his ride. Near the end I meant the man, the legend, Grand Master Geezer (GMG). Hell of a nice guy and BS'd with him a few minutes and then went on home. He's still tough and fast as ever even though he claims he hasn't been riding. Friday I ran again.

Then I sat in the driveway, drank beer, sat around the fire pit and handed out candy. I got to thinking how lucky I am. I've been a reader of Fatties for a little while and all I can think to say is WIN. I have a inlaw going through a similar ordeal right now. My inlaw will win. She must win! My family is happy and healthy. I have a great group of friends. What more could I need? I'm fortunate to go to work everyday with some great people and get to do cool things. Then at the end of the day I can go ride and everything seems less important.

This weekend's weather will cause me to ride a lot. Family outing on the KATY Saturday. Then more riding Sunday AM before I race in the PM.

Back to Normal?

2008-10-28T17:28:00.000-07:00

Well my riding and running patterns have returned to somewhat normal. Normal as can be with a little and two working parents. It helps when your spouse is active and supports your riding addiction and even encourages you to ride more.

After 8 hours of fun on Friday I was ready for some riding. Went to the in-laws for the weekend and got in 4.5 hours of riding. My father in law likes to ride and I enjoy riding with him every chance I get. He's not a racer, but he would hold his own among the typical MS150 rider. Saturday was his first ride in a while and it showed. He was hurting. Not sure what his deal is but I was more than happy to take my time. The weather was great, the views and trees were awesome, and the cars were nonexistent. Sunday I went out for two rides. One early ride alone. I road 2/3 of what we road Saturday in half the time. Then later Sara joined me for one last hour ride before we headed home. We figured we owed it to ourselves and the grandparents not to leave early and to go for a ride while we had baby sitting.

This weekend marks my return to cross. I was thinking about going to KC for the race on the nationals course but will pass and instead opt for a family ride on the Katy and some local Bubba cross racing.

More Bubba

2008-10-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

How did I miss the bike toss?

One bright spot of the day was the non-knee pain. Started to have some knee issues midsummer. Nothing big, but annoying. I've never had knee problems. The other week I started thinking. When did my knee pain begin? Mid Summer. What changed midsummer? Start riding my cross bike. What did I change on my cross bike from last year? Oh yeah, my brother borrowed it and I lower the seat for him. Then I raised it back up, but way to much. I then started riding it more over to Castlewood and back for the dirt crits and what not. Dope! 3 weeks ago I lowered it back down to match my saddle height on my road bike. Finally, knee issues solved. Sweet!

In the coming weeks I'll do some more running and somewhat structured trainer rides in some attempt to regain some form on the bike.

Buba #1

2008-10-19T15:27:00.000-07:00

Bubba #1 in the books. Wished I could of stayed around longer but at least I raced.

Speaking of the race. Mine was pretty much what I expected. I had no preconceived notion of doing well but only hoped to not get lapped and mix it up with those I usually race around.

The start was low key and I wasn't very aggressive. That was a bit of a mistake, but didn't really make or break my race. I road around and put in a decent training ride and finished mid pack.

Training Block Coming To An End

2008-10-16T16:47:00.000-07:00

My longest (and only) serious training block ever is almost at it's end. By October 24th I could turn PRO.

Went for a run tonight for the first time in 3 weeks. It felt pretty good. Only did 33 minutes but it was better than the 0.0 minutes I put in Tuesday and Wednesday.

If things go well I'll be at the start line on Sunday and will hold down the back of the field in the Bs.

Trainer Rides

2008-10-09T17:51:00.000-07:00

This week I road the trainer a couple of times. One day it was raining. The others I just didn't have the chance to leave the house so I road inside. One positive is I think riding the trainer forces me to do a better workout rather than just riding to Castlewood and back on whatever bike I choose. Tonight I did go out for a hot lap of the front side of Castlewood on the single speed. Met up with a teammate who is going down for the 6hr class at the Bluffs this weekend. I tried to keep a good pace and hopefully wasn't too slow for him. I'll be greatly missing that event while I travel out of town for another wedding. Life happens, but I'll be back at the Burnin' next year.

2.5 weeks till I resume normal life on the bike.

Live from Landahl

2008-10-04T05:30:00.001-07:00

Well I'm in KC this weekend for my brother's wedding. A trip back home to see my parents and of course do some riding at Landahl. Make that - Prime Awesome Riding at Landahl. Sara and I road for 1.5 hours (all we could squeeze in Friday) and it was everything I could hope for. Only real pain was the numerous deer that stood in the trail and wouldn't move until you were about 5 feet away. While riding there I started developing a plan for 2009 - ride every race held at Landahl. Logistically this shouldn't be too hard. My parents live 4 miles from there and I'm sure they wouldn't mind watching their grand daughter for a bit while I race. It could happen because next year is my year.

2008-09-28T17:17:00.001-07:00

Made it out for a couple of back to back days of riding. Friday the wife and I went out for 2 solid hours of mountain biking. A rare thing this summer given all the rain. It was good. She was really pushing on logless roller coaster. It was not having an easy time keeping up. Our 2nd lap of the front side she was even faster. Dropped me down Grotpeter (going CW). I spun out both times up Lone Wolf which meant walking for me once I spun out, but she road it in the middle ring no problem. Show off.

Friday night was an even more rare night ride at Castlewood. I had never road my single speed at night until Friday. Always dreaded the full rigid in the darkness. Always felt I would bash my hands because I would be hitting stuff I don't see. Turns out, not that bad. Fun really.

Saturday we headed out on a road ride bright and early. 7am. It was cool, sunny, and truely awesome. 35+ miles of hills and fun.

Sunday I passed on Bubba 0.5 and studied. Took a 4 hour practice exam. It took me 5 hours.

The Day The Music Died

2008-09-23T18:46:00.000-07:00

Don McLean wrote the song about the day the music died - American Pie. The day in 1959 when a plane crash killed three musicians: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.

Well today I felt like the music died on Roller Coaster at Castlewood. Recent storms had caused one big tree to fall and another rideable tree to fall on that trail. Today I road it and those recently fallen trees were gone....along with every other fallen tree including the ever so fun triple log combo. If there was a limb across the trail before, today it was gone forever.

Big thanks to the asshat who went crazy with the chain saw. Next time please pave the trail while you are there.

Herman Cross

2008-09-21T07:02:00.000-07:00

Jeff Yielding put on a top notch event in Herman to kick off the regional cyclocross scene. Night event, live band, great spectators who all had personal bottles of wine, and 100 racers.

Thanks to Boz who shuttled Rich, Zak, and myself to Herman we got there in plenty of time to warmup. The key points of this course were: series of tight 180s after the S/F, sand pit, muddy 100 yard section, and the stairs. While warmup up I wasn't sure what to expect. Felt okay, but not fast by any means. Tried riding the sand pit, but that wasn't gonig to happen. I never really ran up the stairs while warming up since I figured I would have plenty of time for that in the race.

I was a late addition to the field which meant I started at the back of the intermediate race. Which usually isn't that bad, but shortly after the start there was a series of tight 180s. I went through those with one foot out on the start. I did make a up a few positions there but it was tight. We then bombed down a paved hill and into another series of much wider 180s. If I felt more comfortable I would of dived under some guys there, but it was a little hard to see and I didn't really feel the need to be that aggressive. I hind site I probably should of been more aggressive on the opening laps into and out of corners. Oh well. First time into the sand I did run by someone who just passed me. Sweet. Then we hit the mud hole. Sort of reminded me of swamp buggy races where you are flying down the course and the you hit the bog and you grinding just to keep moving and stay upright. Then more pavenment, but I was so gassed from the mud hole I slacked the road sections. Mistake #2 of the night. I should of pushed much harder there. Everyone was hurting so going harder wouldn't of hurt that much more. Then the stairs. Never fun, always hard. But it was great on the opening lap to hear bells, cheering and seeing photo flashes as you rn up. I pretty much did the same thing for 7 laps. The last 3 laps I ran the mud hole. Probbly not faster, but I didn't feel as gassed when I got through it.

Overall pleased with my efforts, but should of gone harder. I was making up some ground on Boz late in the race, but he was too far ahead. 10 ft a lap doesn't really help when he is 20-30 sec ahead of me. At least I finished, but I did lose out to Pete on a single speed. He and I went back and forth a little trading positions, but he flew around me on the flat pavenment section at the end. He was flying and I was not. Zak pretty much started where I did, but had a much better race and brought home 6th. He was flying last night.

It was great and I'm glad I went.

3 days and 3 rides

2008-09-20T06:13:00.001-07:00

Well after 4 days off the bike and doing nothing I made it out for some mountain bike. Shirt rides, but it was riding none the less. At least I'm able to open the garage door and ride to the trails at Castlewood. Makes life grand. I haven't mtn biked much this summer except for the dirt crits, but I don't count those as true mtn bike rides. They are fun and fast, but not technical and no climbing is invovlved.

Mtn bike ride #1
Equipment: 2000 Gary Fisher Kai Tai with mostly free stuff. It is in good running condition but I don't spend much money on it outside maintenance. If fact the tires are freebees I think Sara won.
Review: After riding a new Fox RLC a spring in oil RockShox isn't much use. In fact, it sucks.
Ride: Short, about 1 hr, dry trails, 3 hike bike sections due to downed trees. Felt squirlly and realized how much I stink at riding a mountain bike.

Mtn bike ride #2
Equipment: Gary Fisher Rig, original Purple edition. Has recently received a new custom built front wheel, new cranks Bontrager SS cranks and Crank Brothers bottom bracket.
Review: Man I love this bike. Even though it is full rigid and completely amish I love this bike much more than the bike from Ride #1. Also thought, why didn't I put in a new BB sooner, this new one is so much nicer.
Ride: Short, 1hr, road the same route at Ride #1, but felt much more comfortable overall.

Mtn bike ride #3
Equipment: Gary Fisher Rig, original Purple edition.
Review: Still love this bike. Climbs well, corners well, tons of fun. Did drop the front tire some because I had way to much pressure in it from ride #2.
Ride: Road the DRJ Race course backwards. Saw 5 other riders, 3 of whom did not have on helments. Stopped at Lone Wolf to check out the river, still up and flooded. Also crossing the creek at the bottom of Lone Wolf is much different than earlier. Took me a minute to figure out where to cross because it was so much different. Overall good ride.

Saturday is Herman Cyclocross race. Should be a good time.

Ike Won

2008-09-17T18:53:00.000-07:00

Spent the end of last week following the Tour of Missouri. Went to Rolla for the finish and then went to St. James for the start. It was pretty fun to see them ride roads I used to ride all the time. J hill looked like they were hurting just as bad as me, but going 10mph faster. At least they were standing and were in their small chain ring.

The start in St. James was carnival like. A lot of local booths and wares available for purchase. Most of the riders were just hanging out and relaxing. It was very low key except for the crowds around Columbia and Slipstream and those people were very polite to the riders. I guess that is what impressed me the most. People wanted to see riders, but they gave them room and always said "please" and "thank you." I think the riders, esp. those who ride in Europe, were very taken back. Even Cavendish who just finished in Rolla and was tired as hell took the time to smile, sign autographs and pose for photos after he got off the bike. The funniest thing was Danny Pate. He crossed the finish line after drilling it for 95 miles in 3 hours and 18 minutes to keep Vandevelde in yellow over Michael Barry. He rolls over to a BBQ they had for the motorcycle support riders at the finish line and asks, "Hey, what's cooking? Can I get some?" They gave him a brat right from the grill, he said "Thanks a lot! This tastes so good! What else would you eat after a tough stage?"

While in Rolla I saw some good friends and enjoyed some Alex's and Slice of Pie. The Tecos team was at the local Trek dealer so of course we saw them. I think I stop at the bike shop in Rolla almost everytime I'm there since the shop owner is a former roomate and good friend. While there I picked up a new set of cranks and bottom bracket for my Rig. It needed it badly. It took some work to get the old cranks off, but I eventually got it. The new set is installed and ready to roll. I went with the current Bontrager SS crank offering and opted for a Crank Brothers bottom bracket because it has a 5 year warrenty. 5 years for a bottom bracket! What do I have to loose?

This weekend was supposed to be a the Chubb TT, but Ike came through and flooded the trail. Now I'll be studying most of the weekend - including Friday night. I'm taking a break Saturday evening to go to Herman to race under the lights. It should be interesting since I haven't been riding or running much lately. I think some others will me more prepared than me for it, but who cares. I've never been super serious about cross races except for Nationals. I figure I have 3 months to prep for that.

Slow Run

2008-09-08T18:18:00.000-07:00

Made it out for a nice 3.5 mile run. First one in a while. It hurt. Pushing the jogger didn't help. I was slow but it was a good family time. We beat the rain although I think rain would of helped because it was pretty humid and I was covered in moisture.

Is it cross season yet?

Slow Week

2008-09-06T07:27:00.000-07:00

Didn't do much this week. After 6 hours Saturday I went out for 42 miles with Sara on Sunday. I was in the hurt locker. I had no go. At 20 miles I ate my Clif bar. At 30 miles I ate Sara's Clif bar. At 32 miles I was dropped by her going north through Rockwood Reservation. Seems like the 0.005% slope of Rockwood was too much. Guess I didn't eat enough Saturday during and after the race. Don't worry Sara put me in my place by calling me slow, old man, fred, etc.
The picture below illustrates how much I got dropped. The small spec at the top is my lovely spouse. She is faster than me.

Later Sunday we went down to watch the GIRO GIRO GIRO and have some pasta. Hard to beat $7 dinner on the Hill.

The work week consisted of me studying, getting a bad cold, and more studying. I road the trainer 30 minutes and that was about it for me this week. I haven't had a cold this bad in a long time.

Weekend of great weather has arrived and I'm feeling better. Still studying and hope to make it out for some riding Saturday and Sunday. At least go out for some hot laps on the cross bike and maybe pull my daughter around for some strength work.

6 hours of Pfun

2008-09-01T14:53:00.000-07:00

We group of us made the trip to Jeff City for the 6 hour race. There were plans of having relay teams, but then we all decided to go solo. I just wanted to see what it would be like to try a longer race and some of my teammates are signed up for a most excellent race in September in Wisconsin so they wanted to use this as a training session.

Well I was not sure what to expect, but I was pleased with the result. I made 7 laps on a 7 mile course. I could of gone for 8 because I was done with 7 before 6 hours was up, but I figured cold beer was better than another lap. I think I finished mid pack. Don't know for sure and didn't bother to check. I deemed the race a success because I road for nearly 6 hours and didn't crash. I also managed to recover my multitool which fell out on my 3rd lap.

Matt and I road pretty much every lap together. We were both in solo, but he and I are similar ability. I have a little better strength and climbing but he has far superior technical ability. We road 2 laps back to back to start. Then stopped, ate some refueled and went out for 2 more back to back laps. After that we stopped every lap. It was warm and we weren't really in the running for anything. The next 2 laps were good. After six we stopped and were both aiming to do 2 more. Early into lap 7 Matt had some problems told me to go on. I did. I also managed to catch some riders and it felt good to at least pass some people even though I wasn't battling them for positions really. Then I came to the end of lap 7 and looked at my watch. 5:49pm....should I or shouldn't I? I decided nope. I was done. Took my time and finished just before 6 with lap 7. I was sore. Legs weren't too bad, but my body was sore. I haven't been on road ride over 3 hours in almost 3 years and I think my longest mtn bike ride was 2 hours. So 6 was enough.

Glad I went and plan on going back next year with goals of squeaking out 9 laps.

Riding Through Life

2008-08-27T18:32:00.000-07:00

This week has been unusual for me. Got a nice mountain bike ride in Monday with the wife. It was great. Only an hour, but a good hour.

Then I got some news that has bummed me out. A good friend lost his father this weekend. Kinda deflated me some. Mr. Schmidt knew most everyone and if he didn't know someone, Uncle Jim the judge did. I met him a few times over the years. Always was welcomed to his house to visit with my friend. Always in a great mood and will be missed by many. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

It also got me thinking about some of the great people I've got to meet in my life and a few that I never got to know better. I'll be thinking about you all this weekend as I go for my first 6 hour mtn bike race.

2008-08-23T13:30:00.000-07:00

Our biweekly Friday afternoon ride started out dry and ended dry. The middle part was pretty wet. We made it out to the store in St. Albins and only experienced a minor drizzle on Bouqet. Started the return trip and it rained pretty much from before Bouqet back to Rockwood Reservation. It wasn't too bad really. Temps were mild, no lightening, and only painfull thing was dropping down Melrose. Rain at >30mph hurts. 40 miles or riding, 25 were wet. There were hardly any cars out and even less riders. Riding in the rain still beats working for the man anyday.

Most guys have a wife you who says, "It looks like it could rain, you still going riding?" Mine says, "It looks like it could rain, but it isn't raining now so we are going riding!" It was a good time. Of course I was the lucky one who got to clean the bikes and drivetrains. Also the fun of dismounting tires to drain water out of the rim times four. I don't mind. Working on bikes is relaxing. They are simple machines and give me a break from the fluid dyanmics I've studying this week.

Back Home

2008-08-20T18:44:00.000-07:00

Finally made it out on the Rig after a long time. It was rolling with a sweet new wheel that friend helped put together. It felt great. The new wheel is stiffer than the old one and it climbs even better than I can remember.

All the new full suspension bikes are nice and I do enjoy them from time to time but I really getting out and riding my Rig. Simple. Easy. Fun.

Maybe I'll be in shape to race the Chubb TT. Someone was talking about running a 32/16. Crazy talk!

Hitting the books

2008-08-17T17:39:00.000-07:00

This past week I kicked off a full campaign of studying for an exam....that is 2.5 months away. In between study sessions I went to work and did some riding and got a race permitted for Sept 21. I did hit the Tuesday worlds and made some glories riding around the pack moves. Didn't really feel slow or that bad, but just didn't care it seemed. Finish in the back of the pack. I did avoid the big crash what started when a guy next to me decided to stand on the "climb", rubbed elbow or shoulders with the guy next to him and then brought down a lot of riders.

Did some running to break things up and one slow ride on the cross bike to Cattlewood. Thursday must of been the day to go because the place was packed. Not much else this week.

The weekend brought the in-laws in to town. My father in law wanted to ride and drink some beer. Two things I can help out with. Did 20 miles with him and Sara on Saturday. Then I studied in the afternoon while they all went to Creve Couer park with the trailer and Sara's brother. They road while her brother ran 10 miles. Pretty good for a 16 year old. Hopefully he keeps it up and can break a 18 min 5k this year.

Sunday the three of us did another 30 miles of fun in Wildwood. Ton of riders out. It was wicked nice. Then more studying for me. That will be more of a priority for the next couple weeks. Maybe this "intense training session block" will give me a break from things so then cross season will be a good reward after Oct 24th.

Week Off

2008-08-09T05:29:00.000-07:00

No real riding this week. I did get in a nice 2.5 hour ride Sunday but after that I did a lot of walking Monday through Thursday. 10 miles Mon, 13 Tues, 11 Wed, 10 Thurs.

Before I left I did manage to eject myself at the dirt crit. There is a small story about my lack of skill in this photo but I'll not bore you with it. Instead just enjoy these series of photos. I'll admit that the water felt refreshing since it was hot out. Also note the 3 point stance the Kaitai took in its refusal to fall. Kind of reminds me of a horse who bucks it's rider and then just stands there while the rider lays on the ground. Ass.

We went on a family trip on the train to Chicago to spend a few days and see the museums. Also saw a lot of fixed gear/single speed messenger bikes. Probably the most tricked out was a Klein Quantum Pro (Al/Carbon) frame, Spinergy Rev X wheels, single speed. It had flat handle bars that were about 12" wide. Just wide enough to fit mountain bike grips so all you saw was left grip, stem, and right grip. It also had a single rear brake. They guy polished it off by wearing an old school black leather helmet. Perhaps he is Style Man's brother.

Hope to get back on the bike more this week. Skipped out of the Tour of KC which was bit of a bummer. Next year is my year.

Racing Overload

2008-07-29T18:48:00.000-07:00

Went to Springfield for their two day affair. Saturday was a new venue in the redeveloped downtown. Fun course.

Our race was dry. We had a small team but figured we would all work for one guy to win and place in the overall for the two days. It was strung out from the start due to the 8 turns. The turns weren't bad, nice and wide, but there were some pavement changes that made things interesting. Of course their was a big wreck in the front straight. I got stopped and then run into from behind. Bent my wheel. Got what I thought was my teammates wheel. Same brand wheel, same brand tire, wrong gearing. 478 and 418 look a lot a like scribbled on not book paper. I got a Jr wheel, which meant Jr gearing. I had a 28-14. It felt like home again on my single speed. Got back in and went to the front some. Then a teammate got a small gap and I sat on and watched people chase. With 2 to go I clipped a pedal and gave my bike a shimmy. That was okay, but the unstable input caused the rear tire on the borrowed Jr wheel to roll of the rim. Sliding I went. No road rash thanks to the miracle that I slide right in the square middle of my chamois. My teammate got 3rd.

Sunday was much better. Avoided the wreck since it was behind me. We pretty planned to setup Trent again. But this time with a leadout. The middle third got slow. At one point I just pedaled off the front and got a gap, but then the cat4 panic set in and they chased like hell and then sat up again. It really slowed down to 21-22 mph so I started pulling half a lap at time. Pull the front side of the course, settle in 2nd or 3rd wheel, recover a half lap, and then pull again next time by the start finish. Just trying to keep the pace up. Did that for several laps. Finally at 3 to go the called a prime. Again the paced slowed so I cruised up and took off again. Didn't quite have the pace to hold it but I did give a primo leadout to a Mesa Jr. That surge setup the single file pace for the last two laps. My two teammates were lined up perfect and sat 5-6 while I was trying to win a prime. Then with 1 to go they were 1-2. coming into the front straight. Ended up 2nd and 4th and we won the overall for the weekend.

Races weren't that hard, but fast and fun. Small fields of about 50. It was good to work for some teammates, but next time I need to be a little more greedy. Won enough to cover entry fees. And it might be worth a pair of bibs not to have road rash all over my rear end. The bent rear wheel kinda sucks though.

Next up (hopefully) is the last round of dirt crits. Next week I'll be up in Chicago for R&R. Maybe Fat Matt can clue me in to the training races and I'll drink some beers while I cheer him on.

Bees Knees

2008-07-22T19:07:00.000-07:00

Went out for a nice hot ride Sunday afternoon. Nothing crazy. 2.5 hours of hills and medium pace. Well on the return trip towards Rockwood Reservation a bee decided to sting my knee as I was bombing the hill. At first I didn't know what happened, then I swatted at it and realized what it was and saw the stinger stuck in my knee. Rolled to a safe stopping spot at a driveway and pulled the stinger out. Sprayed some water on it and rolled home. Hope the bee was happy because he gave his life for that one.

Made it to the Army Worlds tonight. Pack fodder sums up the evening there. Pace didn't seem bad and I rolled in with the back of the pack.

Right Bike Wrong Motor

2008-07-17T18:59:00.000-07:00

Another week of dirt crits. New course. Back to the back of Castlewood and the traditional dirt crit circa 2003. I did a test ride on Wednesday and determined I would ride my cross bike. Nothing against the Kaitai, but this weeks dry, wide, and fast course demanded I take some skinny tires and 2 more gear combos.

The start. I think I may of been next to last. I got a horrible start. Into the twisty stuff and I managed not to get dropped, except by the lead group. The start of the lap was open field and then some single track that wasn't technical but bumpy and twisty for a cross bike. Not too bad really, but I was holding on for dear life. I played follow the leader and then we hit the section by the bunkers. I made use of my Push to Pass Button and took off. Passed some riders in an attempt to catch the lead pack. I was paying for my bad start. Pretty much did that the rest of the race. Made up time on the double track section along the river and followed people in the twisty sections.

Never did catch the lead group or the leader. I did pick off a few more riders and ended up top 10 I think. One thing I did notice is I had to much pressure in my tires. I was concerned about pinch flats, so ran higher pressures. Bad idea. I felt every bump. I didn't flat though so that was good. I was happy with the cross bike and will run it again next week. I did have to pay attention more to what I was doing because the bike was more lively than a typical mountain bike. I just have to learn to relax a little more so my forearms don't hurt as bad afterwards. Logan ended up winning the B race on a cross bike so next week I work on getting a better start and shoot for a top 5 result.

She's Still Faster

2008-07-16T18:05:00.000-07:00

Ah..great weekend of riding and racing.

Started out Friday with a nice 2.5 hour ride around the nice Wildwood Hills. Started in Ellisville and road to the store in St. Alban's and back. Then we changed, wet wipe showered, and headed to Mountain Grove. Of course we made a stop at Slice of Pie in Rolla. They have the best pies around.

Saturday morning Sara and her dad went out for a 25 mile ride while I stayed back with the little one and watched the Tour. They got back and then it was my turn. I had no real plans on where to ride or for how long. I just kinda of went around some roads in Mountain Grove. Low traffic (good), poor pavement (bad).

Later Saturday evening Sara and I road over to register for the Lake Freeburg Tri in Mountain Grove. Never heard of it? Not many people have. Basically a lawyer in Mountain Grove has a private lake, 1.5 mile paved path around the lake, and likes to do tri's. So she holds a tri every year. We decided to enter at the last minute. This would be my 3rd tri ever. I haven't swam in 1.5 years and I stink at swimming. So we road the 2.5 miles over there, registered and road back home for some BBQ!

Sunday we got up and road over to the race. It was pretty sweet actually to show up to a race on your bike ready to go. The race distances were 600 meter swim in open water, 14 mile bike, 3 mile run. The canon went of and next thing you know I'm in a pack of people trying to swim and I'm trying not to drown. It wasn't too bad but it wasn't the most fun. At one point a guy doing the breast stroke passed me. 13 minutes later I was done. Thank goodness. Time for the bike and time to start passing people. The bike course was pretty much rolling hills on bad pavenment with a couple of corners filled with gravel tossed in. It was 7 miles out, turnaround and 7 miles back. I began chasing people on hybrids, mountain bikes, and a few road bikes down. I was also chasing Sara who was 2 minutes up the road. Finally saw her as I neared the turn around point and she was about 1 mile in front of me. Kept chasing and chasing. Finally caught her as we transitioned from the bike to run. Game over for me. She got her running shoes on faster and was gone. I was still there taking bike shoes off. In the end she was 20 sec faster than me after 1 hr and 19 minutes. She was 3rd female overall. I was top in my age group, but there weren't that many people there.

Thursday is another sweet dirt crit and it maybe time to bring out the cross bike for a race.

Sunday

Kaitai 2, Me 1

2008-07-11T08:25:00.001-07:00

Last night the Katai took care of me. After last week I did some recabling, cleaning, and put on a rear wheel that wasn't missing spokes. I also swapped the front and rear tires around. I now had a IRC Mythos front and a skinny (and super thin) Schwalbe out back. You would think that you would want a wider rear due to weight distribution, but putting a skinnier rear seemed to work much better last night. I also had a small cheering section this week which was cool.

Lined up with a lot more racers last night. Great weather and a dry course must of brought out everyone. Free beer helped too. We start and I get my usual non-aggressive start position. Logan leads out on the cross bike. I was top 12 I think. Once to the single track I started to make some time. The first lap I mainly just followed the wheel in front, but first time into the field I made some passes. Back to single track for more follow the leader. At this point Bob Crow was just in front of me and we caught a Mesa rider was we hit the field again. I made an effort to get around the Mesa rider and he challenged me a little as we headed back into the singletrack. I managed to just get in front of him and take the line away. I didn't cut him off per say but I didn't just cleared him into the corner. Eventually Bob got around him and we took off to chase down the next victim. I asked if he wanted by and he said nope. He faded some and I chased down the two riders in front of me. When I got to the two ahead, they had become three. Seagul, Dogfish, ICCC, and then me. I asked he was the leader and told nope one guy was out front. The Seagul rider was fading and we slowed as we road the first quarter of the course. Lying fourth I didn't think I could pass all 3, but about the time I was thinking about trying Mark from ICCC said we needed to get moving. He and the Dogfish rider passed the Seagul before the creek. I got around the Seagul rider after the creek. By that point I was dropped my Mark and the Dogfish rider. I just kept going and rolled home fourth.

So just to recap. Last week I crashed twice, broke 4 spokes, got lapped and was at the bottom of the score sheet. This week the Kaitai took care of me and I scored a top five. Guess a little TLC helps and it is feeling better after getting some trail time. Wednesday also renergized the fun I have at cyclocross.

Afterwards I enjoyed some great food and cold beer and picked up a great new T-shirt from Dogfish. If you haven't made it out to these races you are missing out. Even spectators are welcome to food and beverage.

Mackland Mile

2008-07-06T18:22:00.001-07:00

Ah, the 4th. We headed down to South City for Big River Running's First Annual Mackland Mile. Price was low, course was short, and the fun to be had was extreme. Plus it had a later start of 9am which was nice. As the name indicates the race was only a mile. Point to point. Men start at 9:00AM and women at 9:15AM. Chip timing was used so that meant you didn't have to on the front line to get a good time in the record books. The extra bonus was it was a down hill route. I lined up way in the back because I was pushing the jogger. Yep, me and the daughter. I was jazzed and she slept.

I let the last of the starters get about 50 yards down the road and then I started. Nothing like having a couple hundred rabbits to chase down. It was pretty cool to have the entire width of the road and I needed it so I didn't cut anyone off. I had no expectations of what my finish time would be. I was really just wanting to run fast and not run over anyone with the jogger. It was fun and waiting helped because I pretty much stayed to the left curb and passed people. I have a bell on the jogger to warn walkers around the local streets and trying to warn racers of my impending pass didn't really work. They just thought I was cheering them on. Not to worry I had plenty of space to get around everyone and most people made sure to get out of my way. I think we were the first jogger to finish. Not sure on that. They announced it anyways. Of course I was beaten to the line by my daughter. Yeah, I probably will have to get to used to that more later in life. I ran a 5:58.1. Not shabby for a guy that only runs once a week and never does speed workouts and drank many a beer the night before at the Dirt Crit.

Kaitai 2, Me 0

2008-07-04T11:43:00.000-07:00

Last night was round two of the dirt crit series. Started out a wonderful night. Since they have food Sara decided to run over, eat, and then run back. I got the Doodle bug all setup to tow over with the Kaitai and then had the jogger wheel so she could run home. Sara went over and got a head start ran to Castlewood from home. I pulled the kid-o in the trailer and caught up to Sara on Keifer Creek. Few comments from passing racers about my whole setup and what race we (Elaine and I) were entering. Sara grabbed a beverage and some food. Lucky for me I also brought the Doodle Bug rain cover and put that on while converting it from trailer to jogger because at the end of the A race it started to rain. By the end it was an out right down pour. Start of the B race was wet. Standing water wet. Riding in a river of water wet. Not good for me since I stink at muddy cross races.

Once again I failed to go when the race started and got shuffled back. Bad move. Got around a few folks and then at 1/4 into the lap I crashed. My bike has new free tires, but free tires are not always good tires. Down i went in the middle of the pack. I moved out of the trail and waited for the rest of the race train to pass. I got going again and then crashed, again. This time I had not only hurt my pride, but also broke a spoke. Stupid aluminum nipple broke. Rolled around to the S/F line, tied the broken spoke around a nonbroken spoke and got going. I think I managed to pass 3 people after that. Got done, couldn't see, got lapped and then I looked at my rear wheel. 2 more broken spokes for a total of 3. All three where in the same spot on the wheel. Amazing the thing still rolled straight. I, along with every other racer, was covered in mud. Jumped in the creek to wash off along with my bike. I was covered in mud and needed wash off everything. Topped the evening off with a couple of cold beers and a couple of ribs.

Thanks Pfoodman and everyone else that helped. It was epic. Now I have to actually put some money into the Kaitai and rethink my tire choices. Once again the Katai showed it's anger at not being ridden for several years. I'll try again next week.

Kaitai 1, Me 0

2008-06-26T18:57:00.000-07:00

Ah the first dirt crit. I brought an old friend, or at least I thought it was my friend. 2000 Gary Fisher Kaitai, imported from North Carolina where I bought it brand spanking new. We've been through a lot. A couple rear derailures, that included some spectacular failures indeed. An old spring in oil fork, that last year was upgraded to a the extreme to a Fox RLC 2008 edition, and now currently sports a 2003 Duke POS that claims to have some rebound control. Basically I have a philosphy on this bike, I'll maintain the consumables like cables, brakes, and chains but everything else I get for free. Not spending money on this bike for upgrades. Case in point, the drive train is all new except for the OEM cranks and chain rings. The cassette I got with store credit Sara won. The front derailure is premium XTR I was given from a friend. The seat I traded for. The rear wheel I was given. The fork is Sara's old fork since she now sports at 2008 spec Fox RLC that I acquired at a very low price that to a friend who is super nice and really knows a lot about forks. The tires are a mix match of tires Sara won. Can you tell she's better than me? I don't ride this much but I do keep in running just in case someone shows up and needs a ride or as was the case tonight I wanted to ride it.

Anyways, back to tonight. My old friend was going fine in the warm up. Then the race started. I lined up and hoped to be at the back. Nope, front row. Damn. We start and I roll in back to start. Pass two riders and then I hop on the train in front. We came to the creek crossing and BAM. Down I went. My old friend paid me back for not riding it for a few months. My good friend and teammate went by laughing at me. So I did want any self respecting friend should do. I pushed him off his bike. Yep, that right. I'm down, and now so was he. Not so funny now is it? I the mean time I lost the train. Great. Get going again and now behind my teammate. Came to the S turns at the S/F and now he drops it. First thought in my mind is that he will push me off so I swing wide. For some reason he didn't pay me back. I was really expecting it. Oh well. After that I settle in and start trying to catch riders. Slowly I did. A couple here, one there. It took a few laps to get my shifting right. I treat dirt crits like road racing, down shift if needed and then accel out of the turns. It took me a couple of laps to hit my shifting and braking points. Eventually I got better, but still not that great. In the end I was as high as 7th and tried to close down on 6th, but I couldn't. I'm slow. One last time across the creek and I dorked it up again and had to put a foot down. Lost 7th there and rolled home 8th. Lame. I had some good competition and had fun so that's all I was looking for.

After the finish I grabbed a cold Bud and washed down my sorrows. Thanks to the Pfoodman and all those that helped tonight. I'll be back next week. Perhaps with big wheels and less gears.
We will see.