'09 Kansas State Time Trial

Missouri State TT is fast approaching so I needed to get a 40K in my legs. That usually means a trip to Arkansas. Unfortunately this year schedules conflicted so I head to Walnut, KS for the Kansas State TT. I figured cool, its Kansas it will be dead flat & fast. Nope! Take a look at the profile. Just a few speed bumps, right? Not even close. Driving in I was shocked at the amount of climbing. Don't get me wrong the climbs aren't Mountains but enough to put the hurt in your legs. I figured I had better come up with a pacing strategy or I was going to be toast the last 10K since the hardest part of the course is 10-30K. Especially since I had a very hard week of training in my legs already & was feeling the load.

I got to the race in time to register & learn I had to kill off 3 hours before my start. It was 80F & humid @ 6:30am so I kept up my hydration plan & kicked up my legs & watched the officials set up & racers start to show up. I chatted Bill Hall & his wife up for awhile. Then it was time to start warming up. Of course now the blackening clouds decided to drop some liquid humidity. I set the trainer up under an entry way & put into action my secret hot weather warm up strategy.

Start time is within 15 minutes so I put the trainer up mount the disc wheel & put the pointy helmet on. Time to get in line. I'll give this race props for having their crap together. 3 tents set up in a row for staging. No standing around in the hot sun, or rain in this case. The rain did let up about this time though leaving the roads wet.

Missouri could learn a thing or two from Kansas on how to put on a time trial. They have plenty of officials & volunteers. The start area has the road all painted up with sponsors logos. They even have a holder. Something Missouri used to do & has given up in the last few years.

I get my turn & the count down from ten begins. The official says 1, go & I push off & spin a wheel on the painted logos. Oops. I only loose a little momentum & I'm rolling. I decided not to go out crazy fast & get up to 45kph in about 30 seconds. I feel comfortable & the heart rate climbs to only 165. About what I want(normally I do a 40K @ 171). Pacing plan is in full swing. It feels weird not going balls out but I don't want to over cook it. I hit the first climb & I keep my rhythm. The course is L shaped & right after the L turn I hit a slight cross/head wind & my legs give me that first Oh Shit feeling. I work through it telling myself I'm not going that hard & can recover. I get my legs back & keep ticking away @ 40KPH. Shortly I see Willy Gualt hauling ass on the return(on his way to a high 52!) He's on one of the descents & I decided I need to really kick it up on the steeper descents on the 20-30K Section.

I hit the turn around @ just under 29 minutes & Laterne Rouge Roger is warning me to slow down the turn is very slick. I get around safe & I hear him yell good job now get your ass moving! OK Roger I'll see what I can do. Turns out not much. The 20-30K section beats me up but I keep my pacing strategy & roll on. I'm still on pace for a sub 59. At the 5K to go mark my one minute guy catches me. Oh well this is just training. I let him get the legal distance & I get to the side of him to avoid his draft. I hit the line in 58:56 feeling fresher than I ever have @ the end of a 40K.

Probably paced myself a little too well. I figure I had a 57:30 in my legs. The course is deceptively fast. Next year I'll know better. But a sub 59 after a hard week I'll take any time. Now I have to keep my focus, make it through Tour of KC part 1 & do some specific work. If the weather cooperates on race day I might finally get that 56 I've been shooting for.

Good thing is my worries about my new TT position seem to be unfounded. I made quite a few changes this spring & in testing this week it seemed fast but I wasn't able to put out the power #'s I have in the past. I figured either it was better aerodynamics or it was a crappy set up. Either way I'd find out in a race. Turns out, I think, its better aerodynamics. Now a few more tweaks & I should have it dialed.

Bike Tech Sunday

My bikes were in desperate need of some TLC. Sunday I spent the vast majority of the day overhauling & modifying.

Look closely. See the tricks?

Shrink tubing to hide the cables.
That's a die spring to give me a better feeling brake action on the TT bike. TT bikes are notorious for shitty brakes. Not with this little trick. Snaps right back & very linear.

New to me Dura Ace 7800 crank & external BB. No more Octa Link on this rig.

Back to my old sponsor Oury Grips. Not the lightest option but hard to find a cushier grip. No more bruised palm for me.

That's right. I built my road bike back up. I figured if TK the dirt road king did maybe I should as well & give my CX bike a well deserved rest.

I know white before Memorial Day, but need a little pizzaz. Thinking white saddle as well.

55 days till CX

Does this skin suit make me look fat?

61 days to CX season Excalmation Point!

State TT sucked!, the race sucked!!, the wind SUCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, I sucked!!, The freaking USCF GENOME NAZI irritates the heck out of me. They finally figured out registration. Now they need to figure out what a start time is. 9:14 my ass, try 9:45. Screw warm up that's what the first 10 k is for.


PATE ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best Tour stage I have seen in years. Just shows how clean racing is much more entertaining than the all drug Olympics of the past. Not sad to see Pereiro crash out. There have been some serious internet rumors that he was going to be the next to test positive anyway.

CX bike is on the stand getting ready to start earning its keep.

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?

Lost TT VID ToM

I forgot to post's Friedman's TT @ the ToM

3000 clicks a day

Where have I been hiding? Good question. I feel bad Skip had to call me out on not updating the old blog. Have been pretty busy lately at work. Being on the computer non stop @ work I kind of lose interest in sitting at it when I get home. I had to manually transfer a ton of data from the old system to the new. It takes about 3 mouse clicks for each task. That adds up to about 3000 mouse clicks a day. My right forearm has been getting a hell of a work out. Good thing I have developed it over the years. There I beat (no pun intended) all of you the the punch. LOL!

On the collarbone front got bad news on Monday. Have to have the plate in another 6 weeks+. Plus my range of motion isn't where it needs to be so I have to go to therapy. To add insult to injury I found out today because of my new insurance I have to switch to Cox. That means a new Ortho. So I can't start therapy till I go see whoever my current Dr. sends me too. Way too complicated. The only other option is pay up front & get reimbursed. Not sure I'd like to part with $30k for another surgery.

On the riding front I've been doing some. I rode just over 100k last week! The good thing about going metric is it sounds like more. This week I'm already ahead of that pace. Who knows maybe I can get in some sort of shape & go make a fool of myself at State TT. I really should try & defend my jersey. I got out last night for a shorten Wednesday night ride with Roger & Peter. Road smartly & kept the HR down so not too kill myself. It sucks being out of shape. I've rode less than a 1000 kilometers this year. That's about what Mertz rides in a week.
I now have no excuse not to ride. We went a saw Roger over @ A&B and bought a trailer.

Mia likes it!

A lot.

Only 2 weeks to go till she turns 1. Just chillin out waiting for the party.

I have been doing some things around the house. I finally got around to framing in the under stairs storage closet. That's a home made door frame. Our house had a door in a stupid place which I took down & have been storing in the garage. I cut it down, rehinged it, made a door jamb & hung it. Still need to add trim & some paint but not too bad.

We had wellness checks at work today. Had blood drawn, got my BP checked, weighed(150 lbs) & my body fat checked. 11%. It was from a scanner so think its off. If I had to guess I'd say I'm really around 8%. All for now.

Why I suck & other truths of life

State TT was a big fat flop o rama! I had a pretty good time going till 10k to go then took a big dump right there on the 30k mark. Went from 26mph+ to 23mph- literally as I crossed that mark. The mind was partially willing but the legs refused to cooperate getting on top of the gear. I guess my collarbone has been the nail in the coffin for this year. Granted 3 weeks on the bike isn't much. I did set a PR but not by much. I was hoping for a sub 55 minute time back in May. Was on 56 minute pace for a long time till I lost 2 minutes in 10k. Maybe I should go ahead & join the pro domino tour because I suck @ the bike game. Any one want to buy a low mileage TT bike? I can't make it go very fast maybe you can.

This is how impressed Amber was with my finishing time.

It is a cool venue with the Capital in the background.

The day on the whole was pretty fun Amber & Mia came along. My little sister showed up with my twin nieces Nina & Ashton. So I had a pretty good cheering section for the 10 seconds they got to see me @ the start & finish. Mia did get wore out after waiting for 3 hours for results to not be posted. So we load up the car & headed back to the SPR.

Espenkotter on the P3. So damn fast I couldn't time the shutter. I hope his wife did better than I did getting his pic.

No word on my actual placing. Word has it OG placed 5th breaking the hour in his first attempt @ the 40k. I guess the P3 helped. The Ken won another state title in the almost older than dirt but moves a little quicker category. On the watch comparison I just barely beat him. The Hammer took the bronze in the same cat. EPO got 2nd in the breaking the law 45+ division. You'd think a DR. would know better than to pass an ambulance on a bike. When results are posted I'll get them up. I am curious to see how bad I got my ass handed to me in the master's 35+.

Back to the drawing board.

What's been happening?

Let's see quite a bit since my last post. I celebrated Bastille Day as any good Scotsman would. Loads of beer. Amber & I went to Earnie Biggs that night to celebrate her cousins 21st bday. Earnie's is always fun. I started my "night" that AM after work though by having the 1's good, 2's better, 3's half way, 4's getting close, 5 & 6 because who wants to leave 2 in the fridge. That's right what a better way to finish off the week than by drinker a sixer, taking a few hour nap, then getting up & doing it again. Just like when I was in college.

Did get in some riding this weekend. Not the mileage of last weekend but its been too freaking hot to put in the big digits. I did manage to get in a quality ride on my TT bike on Sunday. Not sure what it means for next Sunday's pointy helmet day, will just have to wait & see. The rest of the week will be just that, rest & hydration with some practice on my TT bike for good measure. Word has it there will be a shiny new P3 somewhere behind me. Today was my last night of rehab for the shoulder. Still weak but a lot better than when I started. Tomorrow is a big day for Mia. She gets her first rounds of shots. Amber & are very worried for her. This will be our first traumatic experience as parents. Being my kid I should be prepared for lots more. My mom got to take me to the ER a lot when I was growing up.

Pics courtesy of RXJimbo

I've been dreaming of a new TT frame lately so these pics are appropriate. Mr. Coker took some time out from dealing drugs down on the corner in Mansfield to send me these from State TT last year.

Recognize these 2 wahoos?

Off I go.

Got on the antibiotics yesterday so hopefully I'm on the road to wellville. Going to try some easy miles if the weather cooperates today. Looks like it might be a trainer day though.