Start of the 1-2 race 

Sometimes the best laid plans

If you could script bike races what would be the fun of racing them. You can only plan so much then you have to hang on & see what happens. Today was one of those days. As a team ICC, Stoker Ace, Super G, & I probably raced are best race yet. We just came up about 400 meters short. Today we were active @ the front but not dumb about it.

Stoker Ace had a great day sitting near the front chasing & watching. He managed to get in a break with Super G that I thought would stick but wasn't in the cards. He snuck into another break after a hard chase with about 10 minutes to go. I was sitting in the pack wishing it to stay off but you can't wish the race to the finish unfortunately.

ICC had some issues today with the oppressive heat but kept me company with my new game plan for the day resting @ the back. He guided me through a couple of potential crashes. Plus positioned me mid pack a few times when I was determined to stay @ the back.

Of course Super G had another fine display today all over the place molding the race duking it out all over the front. More on him later.

As I said I stuck around the back mostly trying to conserve energy. I did see 2 Cow Town guys get into a break that I chased down. Going from about dead last to bridge a 10 sec gap. The Cow Town guys are currently Super G's main competition right now in MOBRA thus the crazy chase.

With 5 minutes or so to go I moved toward the front, which took about 2 laps to get done. With 2 laps to go Super G tells me to move up. So time to go to work. I look around & everyone but Super G out weighs me by 20-30 pounds! Man I'm glad he's going for the final sprint & not me. I hit the climb on the front & I here who I think is Stoker Ace to slow up. Then out of the final turn I hear "GO,GO!" So I put my head down & go for all I'm worth down the finish straight. Through the finish to take the bell. Its starting to hurt, but I get a little recovery through the next to turns. Then its to the downhill & I shift into my 11 & completely bury myself. I plan on pulling off about the start of the backside rise but I figure I better go till I pop to be safe. That just happened to be 50 or 60 meters more. I swing off & hear"NO,NO!" I look over & know I've screwed the pooch or Super G in this case & yell"SORRRRRRRRY!" Damn it, it was Super yelling @ me & not Stoker. I've just hung him out to dry. But he recovers nicely & slips behind another wheel. Unfortunately in the last turn some idiot crashes about taking Super down. He manages to recover & take a 6th place. I feel bad for him that his lead out guys were climbers & not sprinters.

We really missed CMac today. Our lead out was almost perfect. Four guys is one guy too little. We needed CMAC's sprint power to finish it off. But like I said today was about as perfect a race as we raced as a team yet so the future looks bright when we get our big diesels recovered & or returned. You know who you are ICC, CMac, VanFasten.

Oh Skip You Magnificent Bastard!

Little late posting this. Typing this up before heading up to Jeff City for State Crit. After Thursday duel with the dirt the black machine(please pronounce with a Mexican ascent) needed some loving from the magic hands of Skip. That's right Friday he got up before noon to help me out & straighten my deraileur hanger & tighten up my headset. Took it for a quick spin Friday evening before the deluge hit. I can honestly say it now shifts better than it ever did. Nope Skip didn't do the initial build up on my bike(I now wish he would have).

Well gotta run(ride in this case). Skip there is a gallon on Arizona Green Tea in my fridge for you! Thanks again.

Scoot

Crashes come in 3?

There is an old adage that bad things happen in 3's. I guess(hope) that goes for crashes as well. Three of the OCC boys have now hit the deck in a week. Super G hit the deck pretty hard the Friday night before the city crits. He got some nice road rash out of it & some lovely stiffness. Sunday during the crit Stroker Ace bailed out into the grass when a guy who weighed almost 250 crashed in front of him. So no place to go he went down. As far as race crashes go he came out good. Some minor bike damage & he was back in after his free lap. Tonight I made it 3 going down in spectacular style @ a city limit sprint. I came so close to saving it it was sick. The ditch I rode the nose wheelie into had a divot in the bottom & stopped me cold. Granted by this time my speed was down to almost nothing so I come out unscathed. The Felt got its deraileur hanger a little tweaked, nothing the Skip can't fix up though.

I guess I should back up a little & explain how it went down(no pun intended). The big boys went for the Rogersville city limit sign. I jumped & my chain jumped off, no big deal shift it back on & start sprinting. Now I was way to far back but figured I'd at least close it down. So I'll take the blame for this one. Should have known better than sprinting in a group ride. It was bound to happen , the group rides are starting to get really fast & couple that with a lot of new riders with less than perfect handling skills rides get a little sketchy. In this case though it was me & Norton who got tangled up. He started to drift left as I passed him probably too close. Some how he got his shifter caught in my shorts. Then it gets really fun. He leans into me & I don't want to lean back because I don't lean back because I don't want to crash him on asphalt. So we start to go hard left to the shoulder & I break free which puts me in the dirt & my rear wheel pops up & I'm riding a nose wheelie. I thought I could ride it out through the ditch but as I said earlier I ended up on my ass & Norton rides of a little shaken but still upright. No harm no foul. Lets just hope that's the end of the OCC boys crashes for the season. All of them in less than a week too.

On the way over ICC, Stoker Ace & I took some digital assault from local super star HuffyUSA. Some people I swear. Wear the green jersey @ the Tour De Toona for 4 days & you can flip off everyone on a bike. Oh well it was impressive so I can put up with some one finger harassment.

Luck?

Headed over to McBride today for the Wednesday Night Big Ring. Decided to drive over so I could have a cooler of ice cold water when I got done since the temp is in the high 90's. On the way over I got pulled over in front of the new Battlefied Middle School. The Battlefield Police had a nice speed trap set. Once the cop came up I asked when had the speed limit been dropped to 25mph? He replied it has always been that way. Now I swear I thought it used to be 30mph the whole road to McBride. To make a short story shorter he lets me off with a verbal warning & tails me all the way to McBride. So be warned they're ticketing for 1 mph over since its a school zone with zero tolerance according to the officer.

Small group tonight: ICC,OG(Icc informed me I need to change it to Ozark Greg since he lives here now), Joe, & Sliderule. Little factoid; Fri night Sliderule started shaving his massive calves. I'm guessing he crunch the numbers & figured the aero benefits were worth it since the following day he solo's to victory in the city crits. Just wanted to get out tonight & blow some junk out of my legs with a few hard efforts. Had ok sensations out of my old legs, but not as good as I would have liked. I'm hoping it was the heat. I did manage to clock 40mph out of Boaz without getting out of the saddle. I know that's nothing to the greeker & HuffyUSA, but to a skinny dude like myself that's something to brag about. OG is riding strong with several hard efforts & Sliderule road off & left us in his new soloing style, while ICC & I paced Joe home.

Tonight @ Hell I encountered one of the hazards of my occupation. Got my arm jammed in a machine when a guard phantom closed on me. Had to pry it out. Of course the emergency stop only jammed it in harder. All's well though, just a couple of scratches & a lot of F Bombs thrown @ the crappy machine. So I guess I've used up my luck for this 24hr period.

Queen City

For Results go to Mylaps.com The results for the 3's are a bit screwy but you can see our fastest lap speed which is cool.

Great weekend. Weather cooperated this year. Turn 2 for Saturdays crit is going to need a total overhaul before next year. The vast majority of the wrecks(& there were a lot) were here.

Well VanAsten asked for a "move" part Deux. I obliged & gave him one. How about a break from the 2nd lap? A Tyson guy went down in turn 2 & some heads up riding got Greg & I around it. ICC BURIED himself to get a gap & keep me up there. He redlined after a couple laps & had to go back to the safety of the pack. I stuck it out & seeing that the other 5 guys in the break each had @ least 20 pounds of sprint on me I made a quick decision. Take 6th & keep the break away. So I did the vast majority of the work & kept us free. Cale rode a great final field sprint to nip 9th place. So 6th & 9th not too shabby for the OCC boys in a crit that avg about 26mph.

Today the OCC boys made the race. Super G ended up 9th in the Sprint but we really animated it. We sent attack after attack. Stoker Ace took a tumble early on so had some wounds to lick & ICC was just spent from the pressure of putting on what was an excellent weekend of racing. They did manage to hold on to the back & finish with the group. Cale , Super G, or I was either in every break or chasing it down.

I must have lost my mind this afternoon, call it too much sun. But I lined up with Cale & Super G for the start of the 1/2/3 race. I planned on going in 15 min intervals. From the whistle it was balls to the walls. At one point I though t my shifter was broke. Turns out I had run out of gears. I've never used my 53x11 that much, ever. We were going up the finish hill @ close to 30mph. I guess we avg close to 29 mph for the first 30 min. Of course as soon as I pull the plug @ 31 min the pace slows up a bit. I'm still kicking myself for not hanging on a little longer. But it was an experience. Cale hung in valiantly for almost 60 min(the 1//2/3 race was 75 minutes plus 5 ICC is a sadist!). But Super G hung in & finished sprinting @ the end to score 12th place! That's why we call him Super.

I heard Skip got abducted by the Taliban today. We tried to raise his ransom but all we could come up with was $1.67 & some pocket lint. Sorry Skip don't let them brain wash you too much.

Thursday Night

Hooked up with ICC & Stoker Ace to ride the Greenways over to the Thursday night ride. Of course the usual subjects were around; The Hammer, Hulk Hogan, NYG(those new Ksyrium's are fast), & a few tri geeks. The Thursday Night loop is a pretty good one when you throw in the ride to Ozark. My senior citizen legs were having some better sensations today but still not up to snuff. I was able to avg about 12.789534 Kilojoules today with some peaks around 45.987544 KJ. I'm thinking I need to get with Scot V & have him talk to Carmichael about using my formula to train his truly top notch athletes.

I've been working on a little science experiment in my head lately & today I discussed it with resident physicist ICC. It involves a very hot day, a hotter bottle of water, & a CO2 inflater. My thinking is that since a tube valve freezes from CO2 shouldn't one be able to cool a bottle by shooting CO2 @ it? The next really hot day I'm going to pick up the super pack of CO2 cartridges from Wally World & give it a shot. I'll be sure to let everyone know how it turns out.

This weekend is finally the City Crits. The team of Champion seem to be on good form. So between them & Big Shark chasing MOBAR points the OCC boys will have their hands full making a good showing. But I have faith with State crit a week away we might have a few surprises up our sleeves. Sunday will be interesting with the bulk of the OCC 3's slated to hop in the 1/2/3 crit to attempt 75 min of hell.

Huffy can't get no respect. Cyclingnews.com have waited till a pro takes over the Green Jersey to post pics of the holder. While everyday posting pics of all 3 jerseys holders on the women's side. I'm thinking they are dissing the amateurs just a little much. They should have been excited over the David & Goliath story they had on their hands. Oh well he did ride to a very respectable 10th today. Greeker dropped out today suffering from what I hear is a very bad cut on his foot.

Breakaways aka Vino's

Today's workout we'll call Break aways or Vino's for Scot V. Basically going all out for a period backing off just a hair for a little while longer followed by a equal recovery to be repeated. Really its just the quickest way to get to sufferville. I felt somewhat better today but still the equation #'s weren't up to par. Probably 23.98990 kilojoules(after modifying the equation for windspeed & headset looseness per Skip's suggestion, I don't use butter so had to delete that idea). Hopefully I can get some snap in make legs by Saturday.

Today was a sad day in my life. My truck & I parted ways. Yes believe it or not I sold it. It was becoming an eye sore on the neighborhood & I thought perhaps one of the local Mexican Brick Layers could get more use out of it. So hasta la Bye Bye Jeep Hola B2 TT.

Go HuffyUSA! Still in Green. Looks like he's going to need a few top 10's to keep it. Let's hope he can do it. I'd say the Green Jersey @ Toona is the fast track to a Pro Contract.

Speaking of Pros. Vino to Liberty Seguros? Not sure about that one. I guess the Disco boys have a lot of faith in my man Salvodelli.

Me on the last rapid(really the only rapid) of the Nantahalia River, NC 

Me above Hell, Hell Hole that is on the Ocoee River 

After the Nashville Rednecks got done with my Car 

MMMM beer 

Holy Crap that's a long way down! 

Amber kissing the Beaver 

In 20+ years of living in Missouri I'd never been up in the Arch. 

on the way to Six Flags 

self explanatory 

Back in the Saddle again

8 days is too damn long to go without saddle time. My next recovery week I'm going to be a little more active & a little less alcoholic. I knew doing the Tuesday night world's was going to hurt but not that bad. I was screwed from the get go with Sandbagger Skip, The Hammer, CMac, SuperG, Hulk Hogan, & Mr. B(who's pimping a sweet Moots these days) all showing up. That's a combination that doesn't bode well for the Senior Citizen Circuit ride I was hoping for. Oh well the lungs needed a whomping.

From the top of Turner Station hill I was having what felt like cardiac arrest. Legs felt a little heavy but for the life of me I couldn't get the heart rate down. The double pace line action probably wasn't helping. That & the fact that I was putting out an impressive 36.789 kilojoules. A figure I derived from a complex equation I developed myself to be able to post data for you techies. You first add your age to your jersey size, divide that number by the size of your biggest chainring, add the total of teeth your rear sprocket has, multiple that by the average number of riders in your group, subtract your shoe size(metric shoe size), then divide the total number of ounces you consumed on the ride. I know its a little complicated but I hear it will be an option on the new ONSTAR bike computers due out soon.

I popped pretty good coming into the Rogersville High school crossing. Turning out those kind of numbers most people would have popped much earlier, believe me. So I got to suffer in most of the return by myself missing one train & getting caught @ the next one(who lays out a route where you cross the tracks twice?).

Had to hit the Senior Citizen recovery drink(Boost) pretty hard when I got home. I managed to stumble into the shower & drag myself to bed for a nap before heading to work. By that point I had reverted to cave man language(monosymblistic). Able to utter things about being old & needing a nap.

With the forecast for rain Wednesday I think I'll skip the big ring fest & punish myself with some intervals. Less people to see me explode that way. It is hard to wash that goop out of ones jersey.

Toona

Just in case some of you don't follow www.cyclingnews.com as close as I do HuffyUsa & the Mercy boys are racing @ the Tour De Toona. HuffyUsa put up a badass TT to sit 13th on GC.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2005/jul05/toona05/toona051

Monday means Navigation

Monday's have become an interesting day in my training regime. This spring it was a weekly trip to Petra's Rock Gym to work on my climbing skills for the Ozark Challenge & to strengthen my massive upper body. Currently Mr. B & I are using Monday's to bushwhack through some of the most over grown terrain in the country.

In AR racing my weakest link is navigation. I'm not horrible, when I'm on I can find a needle in a haystack. When I'm off I couldn't find a lighthouse on a dark night. So to even things up Mr. B & I have been training our navigational skills just like it was running or cycling. We have ourselves a little O course set up & attempt to find our markers. It is an enlightening experience. Tonight we learned not to take the marker for grated, read the map. Oops. Found an old flag & thought it was ours without consulting the map. Lessoned learned, knowledge stored away for Nationals in November.

I hear the OCC boys did well on Sunday. A big Congrats to CMac on a fine 3rd place!

I'm thinking tomorrow night I'll have to make an appearance @ the Tues Night World's. Think I'll drive over though, too damn hot for 80 miles.

Home Sweet Home

Got home late Saturday afternoon to a scorcher. It is freaking hot here! We left the Smokies @ a very nice 76 deg to come home to Sprinburg @ a whopping 100+ deg! Damn want a change.

Well no word yet on how Scot V did @ Mt. Evans. I'm guessing he's taking his time to tell me I won his contest. The rest of the OCC boys are taking on the heat in Pittsburgh, KS. I'm guessing we'll have another fine result from Super G. I'm hoping Sandbagger Skip will get a good result as well, his form is certaintly there.

Scott V probably is crapping his pants about now. His boy Vino WON the final stage. Shame the time bonus' were voided. He'd have moved up a place to 5th beating Levi. Earlier in the stage it was cool to see Vino take on 4 Gerolsteiner riders @ the first sprint & win. Vino is starting to win me over as a fan. I like his attacking, throw caution to the wind style(sounds vaguely familiar).

NEWS FLASH: Vino got the 20 sec bonus! He's 5th on GC! Sucks for Levi but Vino deserved it with the last 2 days he's put in. Well now they're saying maybe not. Dman French can't make they're minds up.

Vacation is over, recovery week as well. Time to get the kit back on throw my leg over the bike & get some good training in this week in prep for the Queen City Crits. Who knows on Sunday I may suit up for the double & race with the 1-2's as well.

Out East on Vacation

7/20/05

<>
I guess Springfield is a little farther ahead than I thought. Every where we’ve been so far people look @ you like your speaking a foreign language if you ask about WIFI. I even asked one lady who was holding a laptop & got the 10 mile stare. I then had to explain to her what that little red square on the side of her computer was. I suppose I’m spoiled by having access to the internet all over town. Not so in the East, so far.<>Tuesday Amber & I slept in a little & leisurely got around to start our drive in a generally Easterly direction. We had decided to stop in St. Louis for a few hours @ Six Flags. We managed to ride all the coasters in less than 4 hours. My personal favorites being Batman & the Boss. On Batman we actually got to ride right on the front (a first on a roller coaster for me). The Boss is cool because it’s an old school wooden roller coaster with lots of speed, twists, & turns.

With no real time schedule we decided to go tour the Arch, something neither of us had ever done. We decided the ride up to the top counted as another coaster ride to put us @ 7 for the day. We did all the silly tourist stuff taking funny pics in the museum & from the top. Will post a few later when I get a chance.<>I’m typing this up in the internet less hotel room awaiting the real reason behind our trip the Dave Mathews show. Amber is starting to get pretty excited; this will be her 4^th Dave show & my 2^nd.<>

<>Got to the room just in time to watch my man Sallovdelli win a Tour stage! I said he was one to watch. More later.

<>7/21/05

<>Let me say the Dave Show last night was the best live show I've ever scene. DMB was on fire. They jammed for over 2+ hrs then came out for 2 encore songs. here's the set list for you audiophiles:

Wednesday Jul 20 2005
Starwood Amphitheatre

Everyday
American Baby Intro
Dream Girl
Crash
You Never Know
Time Of The Season
Hunger For The Great Light
Jimi Thing
Steady As We Go
American Baby
Crush
You Might Die Trying
Stolen Away On 55th & 3rd
Warehouse
Stand Up *
Louisiana Bayou *
__________________

Old Dirt Hill
What You Are

Show Notes:
* Robert Randolph

indicates a segue into next song

The show started with Free parking! Yes Free Parking! I'll definetly go back to shows in Nashville. The parking is in a big grass field. It rained before hand so it was muddy. Needless to say the car got a little dirty. I'll post pics later.

We slept in a little got up watched a little of the Tour & loaded the muddy sub up. Off we headed for the Ocoee River to Whitewater rafting. Amber had never been on the Ocoee since its a little more advanced than her current boating abilities. I had some doubts going into the trip since I've boated the Ocoee so much. It surprised me & was extremely fun. We had a first year guide who was very talkative & entertaining. She only got us stuck on some small rocks once. Amber was grinning ear to ear the whole time.

After boating we stopped for a very nice dinner & headed on to the Nantahalia River for the site of tomorrows fun. Amber is going to suit up & get back in the kayak for hopefully a more entertaining time for her than her last trip. She ended up with a few swims & some nice bumps & bruises. We had planned on camping but our favorite campsite has been turned into a river front development. Damn money hungry people. So after a short sidetrip we decided on grabbing a hotel with wireless & a pool, & a nice hot shower.

White Line Fever

State TT finally got here. I've been waiting for the hour of pain it would dish out for awhile now. Not a great day but a good day . Plus it kicked of my vacation nicely. ICC's Dad is probably one of the greatest hosts I've ever had. That man is great, full fridge(with good beer), & he slept on the floor so we would have comfy bed's. No that is going all out in my book!

ICC & Cale got all geeked out & I was a little nervous that they were subtracting precious seconds before even getting in the cluster F called registration (those aero helmets are scary fast). Imagine 100+ people all trying to register first, ready, set, get in line! I used my weasel skills to get toward the front of the line & guarantee a "cool" start time(remember its July in Missouri & its always HOT). So after a little discussion about helping Super G by stealing some MOBAR points, we all bucked up & registered as 3's instead of Old Men.

I think ICC pulled a fast one on me telling me the race didn't start till 10 & we could go back to his Dad's & chill drink some java & eat some breakfast. Turns out the start was @ 8 & my start time was 8:16. By the time I got registered it was 7:15, oops. A made dash to get the bikes. Dressed & on the bike with 15 mi to spare. Plenty of warm up for a guy who doesn't like to warm up too much. My old school thinking believing it just wears you out. I think I'm going to change my belief on this one for TT's though. It took me 10k of struggling badly to get my rhythm.

I rolled to the line with 2 min to spare after my truncated warmup. Just enough time to wish Cale luck & yell for him as he pushed of in a huge gear. A deep breath & off I go. Like I said struggle is putting it nicely for the first 10k. I couldn't get a gear to roll. Finally I found my rhythm & started riding on the smoothest part of the road, the white line. Clipping along @ 27-28mph I should have realized I had a full blown tailwind. Somehow I convinced myself it was a cross & I'd be good for the return. Nope. At the turn I snuck up on Cale & nipped him just after. Unfortunately the eventual winner of the 3's also caught me for 2 min @ the turn,WOW! The return for a lack of a better word sucked. Headwind. I struggled a long @ 21-23 mph Mostly @ 21 mph. With 8k left I found some reserves & kicked it up to about 26 mph to really struggle to the finish.

The $400 min was actually 58 seconds. 58:35 not what I wanted but good enough for 3rd in 3's. ICC came home in 58:52(Not sure how I beat him) good enough for 4th. That's all the results I have for now but will post the rest of the OCC boys times when I find them on the net. But from talking to everyone Springfield made a showing. With @ least one Jersey that I know of, good job Diane.

Well I'm off for vacation. Will post as I can to let everyone know of the adventures that will likely ensue.

Luck?

Don't know if it was luck but was headed out for an easy ride this afternoon when I realized @ the edge of my subdivision I didn't have my seat pack. So I turned around & picked it up not wanting to tempt fate. Well it was a good thing because about 30 minutes later I got a rare for this season flat. Phewww! Dodged a long walk on that one, since against Amber's best advice I don't carry my cell phone either. I know they can be handy but I don't like the idea of someone being able to intrude on my ride. I also know I can turn it off but its the idea of it that gets me. Next season when someone comes out with an ONSTAR cycle computer with built in Watt meter maybe I'll get one of those.

For some reason I can't figure out the roads North of me have been repaved with the smoothest pavement I've ever ridden on. If one could ride on a giant baby butt I'm thinking this is what it would feel like. It lets you cruise along effortlessly; if your feeling good & today didn't start that way. After my flat things start to gel a little & I got in a rhythm that allowed me to not focus on the bad sensations my legs were giving me & let my vacationing mind do there thing. A thought that did strike me today was how much faster the Felt feels than the Beast. I hate to say this Scot V. but ten speed & Ksyrium's aren't hype. They are freaking fast!

See what I say about my mind being on vacation already? I had somewhere I was going with this entry but I guess its going to end up with me posting it & going on to the 3 S's.

Tour daze

The last few days my day has consisted mainly of the Tour de France. I start reading the Live coverage @ work around my 5am break. Then @ 7:30 I speed home to catch the live coverage till about 11am. Then I try & fall asleep(this week unsuccessfully). After watching what are my favorite stages the mountains, I'm a little too excited to fall right off to sleep. So training this week hasn't been the greatest so far.

Monday I did get in a very productive orienteering workout with Mr. Bradley of just over 2hrs. Tuesday's stage was epic so I couldn't sleep, so no workout. Today still couldn't sleep but knew I need to get something done. After a short almost 4 hr nap I got out on the TT bike for some intervals. Being overly tired & trying to do intervals on an aero bar don't mix incase you needed to know. I have this theory though about not quitting an interval workout so I mustered on. I think if you quit when the going gets hard you'll plant that seed of doubt in your mind & when your racing that feeling of giving up will creep in. Its all muscle memory so if you teach them to quit that's what they'll do. I'm sure Mr. Coach can confirm or deny my theory.

Next week I'm going on a much needed vacation(Don't worry I have a laptop). I think my mind has already left so the rest of the week my body is going to be fighting my mind over how to prepare for my beating @ State TT. If today's workout is any indication then its going to be bloody.

Tour De Soulard, Emory, ICC, & Super G 

Me @ Tour De Soulard Crit 

Pics from Tour De Soulard Crit, ICC & Super G 

Another Pic form Columbia RR I found on hte net 

PIc from Columbia RR I found on the net 

Soulard

I haven't raced a crit since Joe Martin so I was a little anxious before the start of a 10 turn high speed crit. Add in the fact that 70+ cat 3/4 we're entered I knew it was going to be an interesting day. Emory met ICC, Super G & I @ the race. Skip was supposed to show but I think he's dodging USCF officials who have an upgrade notice for him so just the 4 of us toed the line.

As soon as the course was open for a practice lap 70 guys toed the start line ala mountain bike style. ICC, Super G, & I took our lap & our position @ the back of the line up was ensured. Being the seasoned mountain biker that I am I weaseled my way up to the 2nd row with a straight shot @ the inside line of the first turn. Having Norba National race start flashbacks I hit it super hard from the start & hit the first turn 5th wheel diving in hard hoping no one would clip me from behind. I then dug deep to get on or near the front as soon as possible. The first 5 laps hurt! My speedo hardly dropped below 28mph on these early laps with me either on the front or 2nd or 3rd wheel. I figured the best way to avoid crashes was to be up front out of trouble.

ICC, Super G & Emory didn't far so well & had to battle up. Emory got caught out & rallied on till being pulled with over 1/2 of the field. ICC & Super G kept picking off people till ICC missed a gap & had to soldier on in the chase groups till getting pulled with less than 3 laps to go. Super G made it into the front group of about 25 with me. I got some bad info & thought the two of us were in a small group of the front so I tucked my head & kept the tempo fast. I figured if the pace was really hard no one could get free & Super G could easily win the field sprint. Well it worked in a way. There were more people than I thought but breakaways were kept to nill.

Super G snuck up & won himself a lovely prem of a CD that won't play. He later went for another one & kept going with 2 others in which would be the deciding break. Once he had a gap I got on the front & slowed things up enough to keep him away. Super G then pulled up a little in the sprint so as not to look greedy & win twice in two weeks(no sense upgrading this late in the season unless your Skip). So he pulled out a nice 2nd & I sat up my job done for the day & coasted in the group. Things are looking good for State Crit.

Sat @ Home(for a change)

With the price of gas now @ a whopping $2.20 I've decided to skip Sat Cougar Crit(never liked SIU anyway). So I'm sitting here on the couch lazily drinking a nice cup of java, surfing the net, & of course watching the Tour. First day in the Mtns & all ready people are dropping like flies. Today's going to be a day of errends & chores. I think I'll even break down & mow my pathetic little lawn.

I think 4 of us are headed to Soulard tom. Not a full team but Gunga's firing on 24 cylinders, ICC is gearing up for State, & Skippy's looking for his final upgrade points. We should put in a strong day. I hear the course is crazy technical. Something like 12 turns! Its going to bea fun day for sure.

Watched Troy last night after going for a nice run with Amber on her blades. Let me save 3 hrs of your life. Brad Pitt kills everyone he meets, sleeps with most of the chicks, you see his naked ass 3 or 4 times, & because of his heel he dies & becomes famous. Can you give a movie negative stars?

Oh yeah Bob Roll's an idiot.

VROOOM!!

Tonight the OCC boys went out for a motopacing session. Super Gunga, Stoker Ace, ICC, & myself. Skippy the Sandbagger generously offered to drive the Zebra scooter for us. We all hooked up on the Greenways for some pre workout sight seeing. Skip showed up after some stealth riding on the Greenways wearing what can only be described as bug goggles. I'm guessing they allow him to get intouch with his inner butterfly. He did seem a little to giddy about the opportunity to ride us into the ground.

We decided on rotating out @ 30 sec intervals. Easier said than done. Its easy to sit in the draft of the scooter but getting back on the tail end takes a massive sprint. My thanks to the douche bag who caused us permanent hearing damage when he came by on is teenie weenie bike.

A quick out & back being drug by skip was plenty for my legs tonight. I'm not sure but I think he gunned it everytime it was my turn behind the scooter & then again when I rotated out so I'd have to chase back on. This can't be confirmed though & I'm sure he'll deny it. But my legs are almost positive that's what was happening.

Well we're racing this weekend in St. Louis. I'm fence sitting on doubling up Sat & Sun or just Sun. We'll see how my old decrepit legs feel tomorrow.

Wed Night Chill Ride(almost typed that with a straight face)

First this is being retyped a day later, because my 1847 computer @ work crashed when I hit the publish button last night. It likes to give me a blue screen about 2 or 3 times a night to try & raise my blood pressure.

After my last hot Wed night ride I decided to drive over to McBride so I could have a cooler full of nice cold agua. After the usual dick around we rolled out nicely. ICC, Stoker Ace, EPO, Gunga, Skippy the Sandbagger, & a couple of others who didn't stay around for the night's slow pace.

We had a nice leisurely ride to the first hill talking about the tour, etc. My legs weren't feeling too bad today so when EPO gave his usual attack on trailer park hill I gave it a go(a big go). I think I even heard Stoker Ace breathing heavy @ the top. The next hill we got to see Gunga's new climbing legs. I think unemployment has made him hungry. Jamesville showed me 2 things: I need to work on my climbing & when Stoker Ace says he feels like crap what he really means is he's going to rip your legs off & shove them in your wheels.

From the top of Jamesville is usually a nice stroll to Boaz & tonight was no different. The speedo never dropped below 25. We hit the Boaz sprint with me pulling on the front desperately trying to hold my set pace of 34. Farasy screamed past me @ 70(watts or mph the lingo is confusing) to take the sprint. I enjoy the section from Boaz to the next stair step climb. Tonight saw the pace get really hot. After one long pull I actually Buked. That be burping with chunks that land on your top tube.

EPO decided the pace wasn't hot enough so we rode to Battlefield with our tongues in our spokes. Somewhere along the way Skippy stopped to smell some flowers & chase butterflies. I'm thinking he believes if he fakes getting dropped we'll give him less crap about being a sandbagger. Guess its working.

I decided to mix it up in the Battlefield sprint. I managed to get in the perfect starting spot(I've been watching the Tour Sprint finishes). But watching and doing are two different things. I got confused about which side I should come around on(senior moment) & could only manage getting within a half bike length of Super Gunga.

I hear Cale skipped tonight's ride to do some secret ninja assassin TT workout. Now ICC is talking about doing a week of TT training before state TT. I think they've joined some crazy TT cult where they put funny helmets on your head & chant about the aero effectiveness of frisbees. Holy Crap I think they've brainwashed me into joining!

Road Kill

After a busy Monday of driving home, a Fat 4 hour nap, a nice run with Amber while she rollerbladed(turns out blading burns more calories than running), a very good BBQ @ the Pettus'(Petti?), & a night from hell @ work. Tues AM called for a relaxing few beers while watching the Tour Team Time Trial. A great race & I really felt sorry for poor David Z. Sucks to loose the jersey like that. 500 meters more & he would have had the same finish time & he would have been tied for the Yellow.

I decided to bag what has become my ritual of riding to & from the Tues night World's & go for an easy spin. I was just spinning along enjoying the new pavement the county has so nicely supplied me when.... BAM! A rabbit shoots out & I run it over! One dead bunny brings my Weekly total to 1 dead rabbit & 1 dead squirrel(from Sundays ride). I guess the stars have aligned & animals have decide to run into or under the Felt's front wheel. I wish I could say this was a first but its not. A few years back in the course of a week I ran over the tails of 2 squirrels. One on my MTB & one on the Beast. I'm hoping the size of the animals is not increasing that I'm hitting because eventually I foresee a deer. Funny enough(not for the poor guy) in a mtb race I saw a guy ride into an elk. The elk walked off & the guy got a trip in an ambulance plus had to replace his bike.

Living in a "target rich environment" I'm getting a little worried. Every night I drive to work I see several dead animals. If this is the case my odds of more bicycle road kill increases greatly. I wonder if I need to get a hunting license? I'll have to inquire with my brother-in-law the Conservation Agent.

H2O

Sunday saw me skipping racing & heading to my parents house @ the lake. Figured I start my day by riding as far as Ava(about 60 miles). A good ride with a nice headwind & some quality rollers. My legs had good sensations after a good night of recovery from Columbia.

The rest of the day was spent on/ in/under the water. Either in the pool or in the lake. My twin nieces & my twin cousins + a single cousin where down. Yes twins run in my family. I spent more time under water than I have in years. A very enjoyable day with a little Pro Tour Freestyle Tubing thrown in for good measure. Although Amber's Pro days were short lived. Followed by some really good fireworks & some good bbq & @ a family friends house.

Good Job Farasy on the Fine win in the Columbia Crit! Wish I would have been there to help.

Flat......

Well my legs maybe but not the course. I have to say that this was about a perfect a course for me as could be found. But this day it wasn't to be since I haven't raced in a month & there was zero snap in my legs. It turned out to be a good day of training though. Wish I could have done more on the front. I can't believe we let a guy get away on the 2nd lap of 11 miles & stay away. DUMB!!! It was a good move on his part though. One I should have taken advantage of in my new opportunistic racing style.

Racing in Missouri is a lot different than in Arkansas. Gunga had warned me of this before the start. I think if given the opportunity I think Missouri racers would ride 12mph to the last 3/4 mile then start sprinting. Kind of what happened in this race. No one would work. Just like racing in AR though I heard talk about the OCC boys. There scared of us & they expect us to do the work as well.

Also like AR you have the total dumbasses who attack in the feed zone. Why? It's 100 degrees out let everyone get water. I expressed my view point to the Dogfish idiot on his total lack of common sense after his 2 min break away. Wow! Well worth causing people to miss bottles. I guess that's these idiots game plans. Make as many people as possible miss there feed so they have heat stroke & have a seizure on the side of the road. Then there will be less people for the final 3/4 of a mile sprint. Once again. DUMB!!! Learn to race idiot!!! You know who you are dumbass.

Once we got to about 3 miles to go Farasy & I had a 3 stooges moment over who was going to lead out who for the sprint for 2nd. Something like this:
"You want me to lead you out?" Farasy.
"I'll lead you out." me.
"I'll lead you out." Jim.
"No I'll lead you out."
"No let me."
"No I'll do it." Me.
Well I won out & got to lead, kind of. The uphill sprint started @ 4 or 500 meters. So to keep Farasy in the mix I had to wrap it out full bore to bridge him up & total baked myself. Sorry Jim I had 200 meters in my legs. Hated to leave him on his own with 200 to go but figured he had a better chance on someones wheel as opposed to no ones. Well it was a little to far for both of us. Next time.

On to the hot lap. All I can say what a mess. 1 lap around the circuit course. Thank god for bar end shifters. I shifted every 50 meters it was that rolling. A lousy time though since my legs were shot & I had one hour cool down/warm up before. I don't want to hear it Huff I'm a puss & I know it!

Great job Skippy! You rode great. You need to follow the golden rule. If there is a climb in the last 5 miles be in the top five @ the bottom so if you fade you'll still be able to hold on or bridge back. Also sorry for that acceleration on said climb thought you were following my wheel to the front.

Hopefully a good week of training will be on deck.

the Beast lives. & yes Huffy those are Bar End shifters(8spd old school!) 

CC dreaming

Blew off yet another ride today. Decided instead to go for a run(yes scot I know) & start building up my interim TT Bike. Over to Sunshine to pick up some bullhorns & bar end brakes from my man Emory(2 for 2 on things I need). Then a quick trip to Sam's for monthly supplies. While @ Sam's the sky's opened up & a deluge ensued. Kind of glad I blew off that ride. The power actually went out. But Walmart/Sam's had that covered, the cash registers stayed powered up via generator so not to loose a single penny. Gotta love big business.

The following pic shows where I got on the bike. Almost done except came up one cable short in my parts scrounging. Actually have enough parts/frames to build up 3 bikes! All old school of course.

Since I'm not racing Sunday I've decided to do the Hot Lap after the Road Race as punishment/training for State TT. So I'll be able to see if the Beast experiment as with my time. Should be a fun RR since Skippy & Emory are racing in the 3/4's. I'm thinking they need to go off on an early break while the boys & I sit back & block.

Anyway to the run. It was nice & cool(80 deg) by the time I got around. Being late I figured a little golf course poaching would be fun. Actually got to run 4 holes before the sprinklers kicked on. Running up & down the fairways got me waxing nostalgic for my cross country days. This fall I think a trip to the Chili Pepper Cross Country Festival in Fayetteville, AR might be in order no spikes though. Its been a long time since I've raced cross country & I'd almost forgot how much fun/suffering it was. Running so fast you pass out(which I did once in high school). Running in cold, mud, blood, snot, & puke; man what fun. Though collegiate cc kind of sucks the fun out of it since they turn it into a job. I'm no where near as fast now in my old age but I can appreciate a good sufferfest still. I got so excited thinking about the "good ole days" the pace got a little out of control & had to back it down a notch. So I'll admit it running's not so bad.

Change of pace

A little change of ride time was in store to try & beat the hottest day of the year to date. Even @ 8am though it was already 80 deg. ICC, Greg G, & I took off to do the Boaz Wed night loop. Nothing super hard but did get in some good efforts. Next season we'll have to get Greg G in some kit, he's going to make a fine racer once he gets used to riding in a pack.

Did manage to take a 3+ min pull @ close to 35mph today. I'm starting to get excited about MO State Crit. People are going to crap themselves when the Big Red Train (minus 1, Scot you'll be missed) comes to the front @ the end to deliver Gunga to a State Title. Since I have NO sprint I'll be up front burying myself with 35 mph pulls to discourage potential escapees. So look for me to be not so popular again (ie Tri Peaks). I can be pretty intimidating when I throw around my 155 lbs. Not really but it sounds tuff though.

Congrats to my former roomate in Gunnison, CO Brian Smith. He was a member of the 4 person male winning team of this year's RAAM. Team Beaver Creek/Vail.

Is that a jet chasing me?

Decided I'd better get back on the bike if I was going to keep any semblance of fitness. As a little motivator today I gave the disc its inaugural spin. According to all the data I've read a disc wheel will save you 60 sec in a 40K TT. Cool @ $400 a min I need to spend $1600 to get in the 55min club. In theory. We'll find out @ MO state TT later this month.

The disc surprised me a little. Having never ridden one in all my years of riding & racing I thought it would give a harsh unresponsive ride. Actually it accelerates nicely & is fairly smooth. Plus it makes the coolest noise: Like a jet off in the distance behind you.

To get the most out of the hour I had allotted for sweating in the heat today I figured a little Fartlek workout(speed play for you non runners) would do. In college this was my favorite type of interval, since it didn't involve me running around the track. 45 min later my legs felt a little heavy from the effort but all in all not a bad workout for being so short.

I'm having some serious motivation problems right now so going to have to come up with some entertaining workouts to keep me motivated. I'm sure thay won't be VanAsten approved but if nothing else they will be a guide of what not to do.

$420 minute? 

Orienteering....AKA Wandering around in the woods lost

As part of my training now John B & I have added what will be regular Orienteering workouts. My AR team is fast of foot & wheel, but that damn nav always gets us. So to help our chances @ Nationals we're going to train @ it like every other discipline. Sounds good? Well how does one go about that? You get famous Rogaine course setter Brad Bledsoe to flail around in the woods setting impossible to find markers for you to go out & find. Easy enough.

So John, Anna A, & myself load up & head off to Rocky Barnes CC area. We hadn't been there 15 min before we are in the middle of a downpour/lightning storm. A few close booms of thunder will wake even me up in the afternoon.

2.5 hrs later we finally stumble onto a marker completely by accident. So John & I start really studying the map. Well it looks like we weren't lost after all. Bledsoe had used a GPS to get the coordinates for the markers. Usually not a problem but the Willard Topo is so old it uses the 1929 Datum & the GPS was set for WGS 84. Not to get technical but the Earth moves & maps are adjusted accordingly. Oops we've been off by 200-300 meters on all our points. So we're not the crappy navigators we were beginning to think we were, whewww!

So I'm sure future Nav workouts will have some entertaining stories especially when we do some night nav. Some of the funniest AR stories involve tricks of the compass. Just ask Bradley how all our compasses were broke & South had to be North; actually that's more of a sleep deprivation story.

Lax

After Wednesday's overheat I've been a little lax in my training & my upkeep of my blog. Thursday was spent mowing & vegetating followed by a brief visit from the Pettus' so Julie could get a massage from Amber to help heal her ailing quad.

Friday was another scorcher so decided not to ride again. On tap though was walking in the Relay for Life on the Ava High School track with my parents & their neighbors. It was actually pretty fun. I ended up walking about 8 or 9 miles so actually not a bad workout. One guy was going to walk the whole time(7pm-7am) & another was using it as training for a 100 miler & running the whole time. Maybe something for me to shoot for next year.

Saturday was yard work. Ick! I can think of @ least billion other things I'd rather do. But today none of them seemed appealing(riding included) so I covered myself in sunscreen & mustered on. Got quite a bit done & finished in time to watch a little of Firefall from the deck.

Later that evening Amber & I ventured downtown to Ernie Bigg's Piano bar. One of my favorite places to go have a few downtown. The other being Patton Alley Pub(they have a beer menu, enough said). Ernie's has an interesting group of people. Everytime I've been there is always a bacheralette party so you get a lot of comic relief from that. Then you have various drunks & people looking for a good time. So everyone mingles together & sings along with the piano players & its a great time. After last call we went over to Ziggie's for the mandatory after hours breakfast, yummy.

Jim & Cale, glad to hear someone's training is going well. Good luck tonight on the track. Post some picks of the OCC colors going around in a circle. Keep the rubber on the track boys!

Melt Down

Well it finally heated up here in Springtown. 90+ today hotter tomorrow. I knew it was going to be a rough one when day 3 of my current semi annual bout of insomnia struck. 3 days of 4 hours of sleep wears on a guy. I had prepared for the heat by freezing 2 bottles of water to help keep me cool. I'd put a fan in my pocket for Skippy to ride along side me & fan me with, but alas he no showed on me(something about rockets & a possible job with NASA tracking them).

I guess the heat scared most everyone off since only senor carbon, Stoker, ICC, John Jones, & myself showed up @ McBride. I was struggling from the get go. My ride over I felt like I was maxed out riding @ 14mph. I've never been great in the heat but I can usually deal with it. Not today. With the increased training load & lack of sleep I melted today. We'd be climbing the smallest hill & I'd be hanging on for dear life spinning my smallest gear. So the Boaz shortcut was in order today, followed by another shortcut/more direct route home. 2.5 hr ride time saw me drink 5 bottles of water! Plus non stop drinking when I got home.

I'm thinking tomorrow will have to be a rest & recoup day since I have in 6.5 hrs this week already(almost the same # of hours I have in sleep in the same time period). Hopefully the insomnia will go by by & I can get one of those epic 14 hour sleep days.

Summer Solstice

First & foremost its about damn time the News Leader gave Huff some recognition Springfield Misleader

Well the Tues night ride has quickly made me forget about my need to motor pace. As more & more people show up to display there summertime form the pace gets quicker & quicker. I'm currently getting in almost 4 hrs on Tues by riding over & back from the hacienda. Most of that is @ 20+mph. This week was a PR up the Turner Bend hill with Stokes ramping up the pace as usual. But guess who was tucked in tightly behind Stokes & me? Mr. I Can't Climb(ICC) himself. You want to feel fast ride up that hill @ over 22 mph!

This week my ass kicking started in the parking lot from fellow blogger & white shoe aficionado Skippy, literally with a ride by kicking(who plays dirty?). I knew all hell was going to break loose when the Hammer rolls up & within 5 min I catch him tightening my barrel adjuster on my rear brake. I guess it was pick on Scoot week. I think it was because I had decided to go Virenque style to stay cool(jersey zipped behind back) & all I was doing was paying homage to Skip for his feeling euro days.

After a slowwwww roll out the pace quickly got hot like the temperature. With a group consisting of the Hammer, Stoker, ICC, Skippy, Scot Davis, & the ever improving Mr. Bradley(he's getting fast & threatening to start bike racing), oh yeah & the old man me. Davis has got a motor when he decides to turn & burn & a tight paceline soon formed. Toward the Rogersville High School I saw the pace was starting to wear on people so I yell @ICC to ease up. Well he later said he thought I said pick it up so he did, dropping everyone but a struggle Stoker & me, struggling even more. Actually I think he was making me pay for Sun but he wouldn't admit to it.

Well with the temp predicted to be even hotter tonight I have bottles in the freezer. It's going to be a rough one tonight, so hopefully cooler minds will prevail & the pace won't get to crazzzzy. Till tonight.

Me right after the finish of the AR state TT 

1 Down 51 to go

Yea I know 50 states but the USCF recognizes the District of Columbia & Puerto Rico. What the title means is I'm now the AR 30-34 TT champ (if I lived in AR that is) unfortunately I don't so some guy who rode a 1:10 is.

I'll take this as a gift though since there is no way I should be able to beat Pettus in a 40K if he's having a good day. I think the wind going out played the key role. I was struggling to maintain 22.5-23 mph. I hit the 20K turn around in 32:00 just behind Pettus. On the return I was able to punch it up to 28mph & really feel the burn.

I caught Pettus, my 30 sec man, with about 8k to go. I stayed ahead of him for about a min & a half when he decided to make me suffer for my faux pas of passing him. I was starting to have some serious ass problems but realizing that I had a shot at a sub hour(my first) finished strong passing Pettus for the win @ the line. Finish time 59:33(talk about negative splits!) Pettus came in 2nd in 30-34 in a respectable 1:00:05. Given the wind & knee pain he was having earlier in the week I'll call myself lucky & get ready for him to beat me unmercifully @ MO State TT. After the race I got to experience my first ass cramp, no wonder no one wants to do 40k's. They really screw up your body.

So a pretty good showing for the OCC boys 1-2 in our old man division. Everybody else stayed @ home scared of the TT (Like I now am).

Fast? Hopefully 

Shake down ride & lessons learned

Well went out to today & bought a set of aero bars for Sundays TT. Let me say my faith in Springmo retailers might be turning. I actually walked into a store & bought something without being told "We don't have it but we can order it." Sound familiar? Well it seems to happen to me every time I need something regardless of the store. But not today walked into Sunshine & Emory hooked me up. I even got to watch him patiently explain to a customer why he couldn't superglue a visor to his helmet. After about 5 minutes of this discussion I would have told the guy to glue it to his forehead because that would be all the protection his helmet would offer after being exposed to superglue. I guess that's why I'm not in retail. My hats off to all those in the retail trenches fighting stupidity on the front lines.

Got home and no Disc @ the door(oh well). So I went ahead and installed the bars on the non recommended FSA handlebars. Hey I may not be super bright but Pettus is doing it too & no I wouldn't jump in front of a train if everyone else was. Now without having access to a wind tunnel I did my best guess on what should be a good position. A quick 25 miles later I learned a few things about aero bars.

1) They're fast
b) If you blow snot you'll swerve
3) If you look left or right you'll swerve
d) If you move a muscle you'll swerve
5) If you look @ a chic's ass you'll swerve(wait that happens without aero bars too)
f) If you peddle you'll swerve ( see my dilemma?)

So I'm guessing if nothing else I'll be swerving a few extra miles on Sunday. Sir Phil Ligget says the TT is the race of truth. I guess I'll tell a little lie then because I'm old & slowwwww.

Later got to go drink a few cold Guinesses.

UMMM Steak!

According to the Veal episode of South Park if you don't eat meat you will grow tiny little vaginas all over your body until you turn into a pussy. So after 2 hard days of training followed by no sleep & an even harder night @ hell, Amber talked me into a rest day(she only yelled a little). After a nice 8 hours of sleep we went for some FAT steaks @ her parents house. Nothing like a medium rare Jumbo hunk of beef to stock up on leg rebuilding protein. Yummy!

This weekend should be interesting. Going to scramble around Springtown to scrounge up enough stuff to cobble together a TT bike for Sundays AR State Time Trial. Hopefully my Disc will show before I leave tomorrow or I'm riding the Felt stock(old school style). Then I'm loading up my kayak for 2 days of cross training @ Rockport near Hot Springs, AR. If I can find some WiFi I'll upload some pics & maybe some video of my lame ass boating skills. Other wise you'll have to wait till I get home.

Has anyone besides me noticed VanAsten pushing running? I think he's trying to restart to jogging craze of the 70's.

Wed Night Death Match

What is it about the Death Match Ride that makes people not want to turn out for it? When I first started riding in Springtown everyone said don't do the Wed Night ride its fast, they won't wait for you, it sucks! Sounded like a challenge to me. So I started showing up getting dropped licking my wounds & coming back till I could hang with the Greeker & the Hoganator for the better portion of the ride. Of course this is where my sense of humor started working & I had people convinced I'd never ridden before & had just recently picked the bike up @ a yard sale. But still the Wed night ride is fun, all be it hard.

This Wed most of the usuals showed Stokes & Pettus("I can't climb"), Farasy brought his Louisville Slugger to beat us about the head & neck with. The Sandbagger Skip showed to do a little beating on old men, women, & children. Giving us a good group of 5, just enough to really heat things up.
This week the pace actually stayed reasonable without the constant attacking of EPO(currently #1 on the Sandbagger list). Lots of nice tempo being set. If I hear Pettus say he can't climb one more time I'm going to get off my bike & beat him with it. He set one of the hardest tempos up the Jamesville hill that I can remember in a long while. At the top Farasy broke out the Louisville & whacked us all but Stokes who just sneaked away from a beating. Farasy's another one of those classic "non-climbers" who's going to take a bike beating for complaining about not being able to climb. Supposable I'm a climber & these boys are taking it to me. Maybe I should start crying too.

At the top we meet up with John tri3sports who decides to pull us home @ 30+mph. WOW! Some serious hanging on for dear life there. Boaz sprint I actually felt frisky(mistake) took a beating from Skip(got his old man beating in on me) & Farasy(that ball bat hurts).

Limped on in my legs burning from 7 hours in 2 days of riding with lots of tempo. Hopefully I'll be able to find some speed to help Farasy take home a state jersey in the MO Crit this year. With the way he's swinging the bat right now I don't think anyone can touch him in 3's.

Later

Tues night ride

First & foremost read Van Asten's Bee story. I'm still laughing @ his handling skills & the whole description. A must read. Second Farasy must like unemployment because he's flying. I think he's trying to become a climber as well. He better get in some crits soon or all the local group rides will be filled with whiners complaining about how fast the pace is (me for one).
Tonight was a lovely day in the Ozarks, unlike last night’s almostornado. Little windy but great temp. Cruise over to the Tues night ride & in rolls Farasy & his faithful sandbagger sidekick looking for a rumble. Well I haven't ridden in a week but never one to back away from a good beating I could tell tonight was going to be fun! Oh & it was as soon as we drop down into Turners Farasy's winding it up to 35+ and I'm looking for more gear. Hit the climb & I'm all over the road trying to drop him. I think he's been in his evil workshop & built a tractor beam because he was all over my wheel.
After a quick regroup Faresy, Scot Dirt rider, & the sandbagging sidekick decide to open up a big ole can o whoop ass (redneck style). I'm hanging on for dear life & Faresy & sidekick are peeling people off one by one till its just 3 members of the Big Red Train left. Then just about when I thought I was going to have to put the sidekick on the Sandbagger List he pops & Faresy continues to beat me about the head & neck area. Now I'm just a little frail old man so this ass kicking is getting out of control so a truce is called till Wed when there are more victims to succumb to Faresy's peddle mashing.
So the moral of this story is learn to ride downhill with no hands Scot. Never play poker with someone named after a city. Be weary of riders in white shoes because if they can get away with wearing them because they can back it up. All in good fun. Peace.

Running

I can’t believe I used to like running so much. It’s such an inefficient mode of transportation. You do get the most bang for your buck fitness wise, but it’s so hard on your body. Your feet hurt, your legs hurt. Running to me has become a necessary evil. I’ve got to do it to stay competitive in Adventure Racing.

I’ve put it off long enough and have started up my run training again. Inspired by the greats; Van Asten and both Pettus’. I’ve run 3 times in the last week. Now too most that doesn’t seem like much. Coming from a guy who ran 40 miles TOTAL in 2 months before running a 50K, it’s a ton. So 3 times is a pretty big deal.

Now I have to stay motivated to run and continue getting on the bike. No longer do I have the persistent coach of high school and college days to motivate me. Now if I don’t fell like it I can just blow it off. To stay motivated I’ve formulated a goal. It’s a simple goal, to run a complete lap around the Deer Lake Golf Course. Goal? Well kind of because it will involve speed, endurance, and the agility in being able to elude golfers and stray golf balls. Plus I’ll have to steer clear of pesky golf marshals who would like nothing better than give me the boot of their course. So I’ll get some navigation training in there as well (call it a brick workout). My goals aren’t normal but not much about me says normal now does it.

Rankings

List & numbers appeal to me for some reason. They put order to jumble of uncommon things & make them nice & neat. Those who have raced with me know about my need to have an 8 or something that adds up to 8 in my race # for me to "feel" like I'm going to do good @ the start line. Call it superstitious but that's me. I'll make list after list, call that OCD. Couple that with ADD & you got a good idea of who I am. Anyway the USCF has this lovely little mathematical equation we're they type in your race results, add a billion to it, divide it by your age, then add the # of friends you have(or something like that).

To see for yourself.

USCF Rankings

Here's a quick run down of how the OCC boys(yes I realize swap that C with a D yeah, yeah).

Road Race Cat 3 Men for the Whole Nation
56 Scot Van Asten , 86 me, 146 Jim Farasy

Crit Cat 3 Men for the Whole Nation
42 Jim, 200 Cale McAninch

Stage Race Cat 3 Men for the Whole Nation
11 Me, 125 Greg Pettus, 138 Scot, 148 Marc Stokes

Crit Cat 3 in Missouri
2 Jim(the Man!), 15 Cale, 28 Scot, 35 Greg, 39 Stokes

Road Race Cat 3 in Missouri
1 Scot(The Machine!), 3 Me, 5 Greg("I'm not fast"), 6 Jim, 17 Stokes, 22 Cale, 37 Jim Coker(laying it down for the Team)

Stage Race Cat 3 in Missouri
1 Me(guess what type of racing I like the Most?), 5 Greg, 6 Scot, 7 Stokes, 8 Jim

Wow we've had a Hell of a Spring campaign! Two first place rankings & One second in the State; Plus some pretty respectible rankings in the nation.

Fine WIne

Why should I get excited about getting old? It wasn’t too long ago I was agonizing over turning a ¼ century; then I turned 30. Now I’m on the verge of having my racing age be 35. Well it excites me for several reasons. 1) I can double my suffering by racing open & masters. 2) Master’s Cross Nationals enough said. 3) Experience (refer to Scot’s Blog on “The Move”). 4) The majority of OCC’s 3’s are 30+ can you imagine the Master’s team we’re going to have? 5) There is a Master’s Crit with a prize purse of 10K!!

Master's Crit

That’s only a partial list but the one that excites me the most is the Master’s team. Up until this year I had never raced on a true team. This year has been great training & racing with a bunch of guys who don’t care who wins, or who places. I think the moment of the season was when Jim & Greg caught back on during the Nebo stage of Tri Peaks. We were by far the 5 most excited guys in the group. But I diverge a little. In a few years we’ll be able to race as “old men” with the other elder statesmen of OCC, Kurt (sandbagger) & Ken. Then we’ll have some horse power for sure.

When I was reading about the Master’s crit with the huge purse it was saying how USCF # is growing older. Well that’s a good thing for us because we’re only going to get better with age, just like a fine wine.

Urban Boating

OK I haven't been in the boat since January. The lack of local water & the high price of gas has limited my East trips. Coupled with a new found focus on cycling & that makes not much time to get wet.
Well the drought has finally let up a bit & its rained. I've been eyeing this spot since we moved & finally driving home from Hell it looked like a GO! So I shot home gathered necassary gear including Amber & her AM margarita(Remember our AM is your PM). So off we go. Now its not much but what can you ask for 3 miles from home? Well a lot but this spot has potential & I'm not going to let the cat out of the bag; for now.

Plus as you can see I've almost grasped how to post pics. Yeah me!

My sweetie 

not much but enough for now 

H2O finally 

AM Margaritas yummy 

Scott's Spot SHHH! 

Oh My God Becky!

Holy crap I've gone to new levels of sore! I guess I should have put in some running miles before the Greenways. Write that up as another lessoned learned. I'm so sore I can't get a massage. WOW! Last night @ Hell almost dropped to my knees when my old legs locked up on me. Man I hate getting old. I used to be able to get away with things like that, not anymore. I guess it’s a good thing that this week is a planned recovery week so I can recoup the damage I've done to myself.

Well I have a couple of Macro cycles before my next AR race so I can log some good miles. Really there was a method to my madness in not trianing the run before now. I wanted to bring my form along slowly so I didn't burn out before November's all important date with AR Nationals. Plus I wanted to have a good spring campaign on the bike. Which I think I accomplished both. No super high placings, but I was consistently there @ the end & work well for my teammates on OCC.

Next up I'm going to figure out how to post pics on here so stay tuned.

I hate B

The Greenway's Adventure Race. It's become my personal nemesis. In three attempts I've had 2 near wins & one utter disaster. The first near win was my first attempt in 2002. We got DQ'd while in the lead for basically using a map instead of following the "marked" course. I say "marked" because it wasn't marked because the volunteer who's job it was to mark this section couldn't find the course to mark it. I'm only a little bitter about that. The utter disaster was mostly my fault in lack of respect for the nav; enough said about that. The 2nd near win was this years & probably the biggest disappointment.

I can honestly say if that if there was a favorite it had to be my team Dynamic Earth. Granted we were without are strongman Bradley, but Anna had supplied us with a tried & true vet in Greg. I was a little nervous(ok down right sick with worry) about racing with a new person let alone one I'd never met. But everyone spoke highly of him so I put doubts aside(turns out he was the biggest surprise, more later). So we had high expectations going in. Bradley gratiously opted to be our team driver/gopher/coach for the weekend so we were set to go.

After a few emails & phone calls a leave time was set. I finally got to meet Greg & we were on our way. A quick hour later we were @ the race site in search of our diesel member Doug. He had come earlier with his girlfriend Dana to snag a campsite & set up the big Dynamic Earth HQ/Basecamp tent. Kudos to them for getting it set up(I've done it & it's a bear). The others on the team had a fitful night of sleep supplied by our rowdy neighbors, but not I who was sleep deprived as usual & passed out in the team bus on a comfy crash pad.

AM always comes early on race day especially when you have to get up @ 5am to get race info. I start looking over the races instructions(no utm's here). Not to bad this year it is a bikers race instead of a runners race like in the past. I give a big sigh of relief since I haven't ran since the Ozark Challenge! It does start on the bike so we decide to stake out our start spot on the front early.

We get all lined up & Greg looks over & notices the team next to me has a member with a flat(luckily them & not me who I thought he was talking to). Anyway they loose their premo start spot to change a flat. The race director informs us of a surprise we'd get about 5min after the start of the race. OK this could be interesting. Since we're already going to be riding on dirt roads for a few miles hopefully its something to distance us a little.

Then out of the blue the start horn goes off. Crap here we go. We blaze off get in a pace line & immediately start distancing ourselves from the field. 2 minutes in I see 3 or 4 race volunteers standing in the road. Hmm what's going to happen here: Am I going to have to come to a stop or are they going to direct us off the road? At the last second they start waving for us to go off the road; ok into a clear cut under the powerlines. About half way is an unrideable section so off the bike. Well we come out still in first & start to gain more time as I pull the train full bore towards the first of 2 runs.

A quick transition & we run out the way we came for 2miles to the canoe. Now I made a little misjudgment here. I told everyone to drop everything since we'd be back to the bike & just carry a water bottle. Well I didn't factor in the 7 mile canoe. Luckily Anna had lost a bottle on the descent into the transition so we picked it up on the way out(only good luck of the day). We were shocked to see we had almost 5 minutes already.

Onto the canoe & we're flying. I can say this was by far the best canoe leg I've ever had in an AR race. I think we actually gained more time. So after a quick paddle we're back to the bikes & much needed fluid & food(or GU in my case).

Now for a technical bike to a mystery event followed by a run section. Not too technical but it increased our lead. The first mystery event was a Frisbee throw @ a gun range target. Greg & I sucked @ this with numerous throws each while the clock was ticking on our lead. Anna the super woman she is hit it first try & Doug didn't take but a couple of tries(just long enough for Anna to drop her shorts to pee). Off on the run we go.

4.5 miles doesn't seem far but when you don't run much its a ways. I started lagging a little behind Anna & Doug's pace. Luckily Greg didn't want me to be lonely so he hung with me 30 meters being the Awesomachers. We hit the TA & Bradley is there freaking out with excitement. He says we're flying & no one is even close to use. So onto the bikes we go to another mystery event & the O course.

The mystery event was to carry a team member through some staggered tires. Easy; Anna hops on my back & we're done in 5 seconds. Now to get our O map. Of course the first thing I do is drip water from my hat on it. I get my bearings look at the order & off we go.

We had to go C-B-A. I hit C perfectly(& I mean perfectly). I then decided to take the path of least resistance & use the road to attack B. My thinking being the road offered me better land marks than bushwhacking would, since B was on a semi featureless flat. Well I found my attack point & dove in. We actually swept for 30+ min then retreated to C to shoot a bearing & bushwhack to B incase our attack point from the road was wrong. I know I didn't stray from my heading enough to be super far off the mark. But I guess with the foliage we walked right past it(again). Then some more random walking several reattacks from the road. Then we walked out to the road getting ready to go back to C again & I like what I saw on the map when we hit the road & decided to dive back in & walk down farther to compensate for the 20 foot intervals & the length off the road which I had scaled @ about 300 meters(Paced out close to 400-500meters when we found it). Bang straight to it! Then shot my bearing to A to bear off a little to the left of it since it looked to be marked directly in the creek. So hit the creek & turn right & walk to it, nope. Walked about 400 meters in the creek bed & I knew we had gone passed it. Saw several teams who had been looking for it for awhile. Looked @ one of their maps & saw that it was plotted ever so slightly on a 20' interval line. So we went up about 20-30 ft of L & back tracked straight to it. Then a beeline to the road & a desperate sprint to the finish line(out of the woods 11th).

We hop on the bikes & Doug starts lagging. He says he's not feeling good so we start pumping him full of all the GU we can find to get his energy levels back up. We start passing teams left & right in the "technical" bike section. Then Greg yells & we think he has a flat so I go back to help him & tell the others to drink & eat to get their energy back up. Well disaster has struck; its not a flat, its a busted pivot. What to do? Breakout the allens, pull the bolt, force the pivot back on, & lock out the shock. It works & Greg rides it all the way back in. By the time we hit the road section to return to the finish Doug is really hurting so I tie a couple of tubes together & fashion a tow. Now towing a guy Doug's size by a guy my size is not easy @ all. After a few attempts I figure out the best way to do it.

We struggle in to finish in a disappointing 4th especially after we find out that we @ one point led by an hour & fifteen minutes. Still we find the bright side, we did go from 11th to 4th. Oh well there is always more races. As usual I learned a lot from this race: Anna is probably the best female athlete I've ever met. I need backup on the Nav(gotta get Bradley healthy). When its hot water, water, water, & when your sick of it more water! Be prepared for the worst & make the best of it.

Tour De France predictions

I'll make an unpopular prediction for the Tour.

Salvodelli is going to pull of the Giro/Tour Double & win the Tour this year.

1. Salvodelli
2. Ullrich
3. Vinokourev
4. Armstrong
5. Basso
& my out on a limb prediction is Zabel is going to pull off a Jalabert like ride & get a top 15 finish.

Wednesday Night Big Ring Loop

Nobody wants to come out & suffer anymore. Even Stokes bailed this week. Luckily Kurt's always up for a punishing. For an old guy he can create some power. The needs to cat up & race with us already.

Well I was right legs were crap & felt it everytime I jammed up the hills. Its a good thing I had an excuse to bail @ Boaz because Jamesville would have hurt. So I skipped out & rode home solo for another quality 45+miles. That makes 120 in two days, better back off a little for Saturday I suppose.

Now for my excuse: McMillian called earlier saying I need to be @ the airport @ 10pm to pick up a box for work. All right no problem. Went & pickup up the part that got itself a plane ticket because work can't afford to stock parts for priority machines(but it can afford downtime & plane tickets, go figure).