Baldwin City Road Race

PHOTOS

Sunday I headed up to Baldwin City, KS for my first road race in over 2 years. I raced the old men 35+ so I could race with some of my Slimen team mates. The day started off on the wrong foot when I over slept by about a half hour & had to hit the floor running. Luckily I had packed every thing in the car Sat night & all I had to do was pour the coffee & start driving. 2 hours later I hit Kansas City(yes I used the turbo). It helps that its now 4 lane all the way to KC via Clinton.

Back to oversleeping. Friday night my cell phone/alarm clock disappeared. Vanished off the face of the planet. I knew I had brought it in the house & put it on the counter after work Friday. I was pretty sure I didn't take it to the Big Smith show with me. But for the life of me could not find it. Turns out Mia had decided to play with it & managed to sneak it into her Papa's van. Finally Sunday Amber was able to track it down. Wasn't to worried about the phone or the numbers in it but would have been bummed to loose 2 years worth of Mia pics of it. This week they are getting downloaded for sure.

Back to the race. The 35+ race the largest field with half of them being from team 360(the old team x). It was nice of them to post their Sunday group ride for everyone to attend. The course isn't anything overly hard. The wind is what makes it hard, plus a hill top finish(big ring). We had to do 4 laps so I had planned on pretty much sitting in & hiding out. 360 had different plans. When we'd hit the cross winds they'd "gutter" us to the left making everyone ride the yellow line. When we'd hit the headwind section they'd have 1 or 2 guys sit up & cause big gaps. They had the numbers so they got to dictate tactics. After being intentionally gapped off a few times I said screw this & got to the front 2 rows & started marking one of the main 360 guys. On the 2nd lap 6 guys got away. Wasn't too worried about it since the wind was pretty hard. But we kept catching the 3/4 field so things were hard to keep track off. Just after the start of the 3rd lap Tom Price & Phil Gronniger attacked HARD! I took off chasing trying to bridge up. I burned a bunch of matches but was able to latch on & start pulling through.

When we hit the head wind section we kind of sputtered until Steve Songer(360) bridged up then I knew the break was going to work since he's one of their main guys. I figured I'd work enough to help stay away & hide at the back until someone would cry foul then work a little then go back to hiding. We managed to catch the break of 6 which had come apart so the main break became 9 with 2 teams having 2 guys each & me the lone Slimen & 1 Local Cycling guy, & 1 OKC Velo guy,& 1 strong unattached guy. On the 4 lap Tom & Phil put in a huge attack which I managed to cover but as soon as I bridged up they went again putting me hard on the rivet. Luckily Songer came through & we bridged on. In hind sight I probably should have let the group pull me back up but it sure looked like they were going to stay away. The hard effort to bridge brought about the cramps. I knew the hill top finish was going to kill me. I just sat in & tried to stretch a little over the last 5k.

Coming into the hill I thought maybe I should get in the 38 (I'm running a 38 this year so there isn't much change from cx), but figured if I had any chance I'd better big ring it. We hit the base & my legs started to feel ok so I waited for the attack from Tom or Phil. It came at 200 meteres to go I last about 10 sec then popped/cramped big time. In that time span a pretty big gap opened up & I tried to hold on but Songer came around me on the line once again & I struggled in for 4th. It turned out to be a lot harder race than I figured it would be. The numbers showed some really hard efforts. I hit my max HR twice.

I need to post more photos

Amber broke down & bought us a new digi cam. I have yet to post any pics from it & for that I'm sorry. I have a ton & will do a picture dump soon. Life has been pretty hectic & time is of a premium.

I'm still riding to work about 3x a week. It's crazy how tired it makes you(though I think most of that is getting up @ 3:45am). But by the numbers I've been seeing lately 2 a days are starting to pay off. One of these days I'm going to get to a mtb race I promise. I should have raced Sunday but decided after 3 weeks of racing I needed a break to mow the hay field that used to be my back yard. Well actually Amber mowed while I weed eated & dug up the front yard. A little landscaping project that Amber has wanted me to work on for awhile.

Sunday Mia moved into the Big Girl Bed. No more baby jail for her. She's taking to it pretty well & isn't getting up too much. Hopefully she does better with it than she has been doing with the potty training.

This Friday night were going to Republic to watch an outdoor Big Smith Show. Surprisingly I haven't seen them in a couple of years. They probably have been wondering where I've been since it wasn't too long ago I was @ about every show.

Sunday its off to Kansas for a road race. I'm supposed to race the Master's to help out the Slimen team. I don't expect any results from myself since I'll be playing the domestique role.

Farasy I haven't forgotten about you; the trailer or the kiddo just time is short sorry.

08 AR State TT

Long wknd to "race" 40k. I had ulterior motives so the full aero onslaught wasn't brung. Even without all the weapons still rode a 57:40(3rd in Cat 3's) which is only 15 seconds off my PR on a notoriously slow course. My #'s sucked but leaves plenty of room for improvement in the next 4 weeks before MO State TT. I'm going to try & shoot for 43KPH this year but my legs will make the ultimate decision. Lots of time to be spent on the TT bike between now & then (which means commuting on it yuk!). Racing a 40k with only being on the tt bike twice was not such a hot idea. Weather was good enough to use the long sleeve Ridley skinsuit since I don't have a Slimen skin suit yet. I have a feeling I'll have to break out the old multi color for State, I know how its a crowd favorite.

Amber & Mia gave me the fat hook up for Dad's day. Four wheel Bags, a new rain coat, & a blinky that can be seen from the moon. Broke in the wheel bags this weekend. Why I've never owned any till now is beyond me. It was nice not to get grease in the back of the Volvo. THe blinky I put into use this AM. Holy crap that thing is bright. Its a Planet Bike so the Dunsmuir's are supporting CX. In more ways than one. I'm going to try not to use the rain cape if I can help it. I'm too damn old to be riding in the rain but better safe than sorry with the weather we've been having lately.

Has Jimmy had that kid yet? & if so why are there no pics on his damn blog?

Hijacked

I hijacked these photos from Winghaven

I think the Slimen Unis make me look like a ninja.

BUSY Weekend

This weekend was very, very busy, but extremely fun. Friday afternoon my sister dropped off the twins for us to take to meet my mom. When I got home from work we loaded up & went to the greater greater metro area of Seymour to meet my mom so she could take Mia & the twins for the weekend.

Saturday we loaded up the Volvo, drove across town to pick up Amber's cousin & boyfriend to go to the STL with us to watch the Dave Mathews Show. JP was already up there to meet up with some friends of his wife(see JP isn't my gay lover(see comment in a previous post)). Once up there & after me playing a little mind game with Amber & her cousin. Very gullible girls those two. I yelled there's Dave as we were driving past Busch Stadium & I thought they were going to jump out of the car. Made me laugh.

After getting checked into the Hyatt Regency Riverside hotel(very fancy but over priced) we loaded up a taxi & headed over to the Brewery for some free beer & I guess the tour. Its been several years since I took the tour but the outcome is still the same. Free beer & an attempt to get more than the alloted 2. We were successful on both counts.

After the tour we headed on over to the show. For some reason the Black Crowes only played for 45 minutes so we got to hear most of their set while standing in various lines. Dave came on almost straight away & did not disappoint putting on an awesome show that lasted several hours. They even had a HD screen behind the band that was bigger than the side of a tractor trailer. Busch Stadium is a great venue for concert. With the stage in center field you get the back drop being the arch & all the high rises. Pretty cool.

Sunday I got up & around to head over to the Tour de Winghaven. Cool course but needs to have the fields separated. 130 guys in a cat 3/4 race is retarded. Some of the worst, if not the worst, bike handling/sketchiness I ever seen. People can be outright dumb. Throw in a super hard head wind & everyone puts on their idiot caps. Plus it was like 102 degrees. I pretty much rode around in the pack. I did bridge up to a break that I thought might go clear but they chased us down after a lap. Ended up 18th in the field sprint. Which is all right since I was a little overheated & starting to dehydrate. Went through 2 bottles in an hour. Knew I should have carried the 3rd one. It was a chip race so got to see my lap placings. 57,36,45,2,5,61,67,53,51,18 see what I mean about riding around in the pack? Funny side story is that I got told I was looking skinner than past years before the race. Thing is I'm 5-8lbs heavier than I normally am. I guess its the Slimen Unis. Black is slimming.

After the race I had to haul butt home since I had SRC's box tickets (suite 1 on the first base line)for the Cardinals game Sunday night. Made it home in time to get to the game at the top of the second inning. Was a good time & the cards came back from a 6-2 deficit to win with a walk off 3 run homer in the bottom of the 10th. That was my first walk off homer game so that was pretty cool.

Needless to say I'm a little tired today. I'm also still suffering a little from getting a little dehydrated Sunday. All that coupled with the rain made me drive to work this AM. Feel like a slacker but can't totally cook my legs since Sunday is the AR State TT. Really want to do a descent time to see where my form is at for the MO State TT. What sucks is this will be the 3rd straight weekend in a hotel bed.

Watch this

Part 1


part2


Or the whole thing in one shot

Another anniversery of sorts

2 years ago was the day that change my anatomy forever. oh well shit happens.

On to bigger things. Didn't ride into work this AM. It didn't take much to change my mind but the 40 mph winds & following deluge were enough incentive to go back to bed for an hour. Last night the winds were 30-40 mph sustained. Totally wrecked me. The last 8k of my commute went straight into the wind. I was pedaling my ass off & only going 14kph. Crazy! I did have a cross to tail wind @ one point for quite awhile. I thought I had set a 5min PR but just fell short. I'm discovering that two a days messes with your Perceived Exertion. I think I'm nailing it & really I'm just futzing along. The tiredness in the legs sneaks up & fools you. My commute in the other morning I thought I had put in a pretty good effort only to discover my average heart rate was 116. I'll write that one off as a recovery ride. All things considered I'm starting to like getting my training in by commuting. You rack up the kilometers & if your careful you can get the intensity in too. Now I just have to commute in on the internet junk a few times before I have to race it. The hills by Fantastic Caverns will be a ball on that over geared lead weight.

Riverside Storm & MTB Spec'ing

Steve Tilford has some pics on his blog of the storm that canceled Sunday's race. Read the blog entry about Toyota United. I'm not pointing fingers but doesn't Tilford's guys usually take all the prize money @ races? Though not to the extent Toyota Untied did. They did pretty much ruin the race from what I heard.

My mtb fork finally showed up so its time to build her up & start hitting the dirt! I guess they had production problems & didn't ship them till this week. 1.27kg claimed weight will be nice compared to my old lead rod I was hauling around. I have Hayes Stoker Carbon's to stop me. This is my first go around with disc brakes so it could be interesting. The rotors are attached to Sun Ringle hoops.
The brake levers will be attached to Answer Hyperlite Carbon bar & ATAC XC lite stem.
I'm guessing when all is said and done my mtb will be around 9 kilos give or take.

Tulsa Tough

Did ok about as I expected. 21st on Friday night(one place out of the cash) after starting on the back off the field of 104. A very fast figure 8 course. Missed being caught up in a few crashes. Having cx skills helps out a ton in tight crits. Didn't feel bad & never really had to dig too deep, just sat in & got some moto pacing in. I really was more interested in the act of racing than the results since I haven't raced in 5.5 months. Now the rust is starting to come off & its time to build the speed for state TT.

Saturday was hot & fast. I did OK got 27th out of a field of 95. Was near the front most of the race just hanging out. about 15-20 min to go starting overheating a little since this was my first exposure of the year to 90+ heat. Recovered some after having to avoid several crashes. Everybody thinks they have a chance of winning big crits. They can't except that someone has to finish in the pack & its more than likely going to be them. Hell the 3's field is stacked with with lifer 3's & they come out of the wood work for the amount of cash on hand @ Tulsa. Anyway a fun race besides a few idiots who need to learn to corner(cat 4 wanne be's). Had to actually hop a curb after having some idiot dive in on me in a turn.

Sunday's race was canceled due to SEVERE weather. I think in 20 years its the first race I've ever had called off due to weather. I've had them cut short but never completely called off the day off. The weather was pretty horrible & Riverside Drive did look like it had been hit by a tornado.

This weekend its Dave Mathews on Saturday & Winghaven Crit on Sunday; A twofer. With gas like it is you have to multi task trips. Next Sunday I'm heading down to Arkansas for their state TT. I need to get in some time on the internet junk before State if I'm going to break 56 this year.