Mohican 100(k)

I am a sandbagger, but the promoter encourages me to enter and win this event, so I guess he is my enabler.

The dryest Mohican yet, (for me anyway since the skys opened up on part of the course about 20 minutes after I finished), saw a talented bunch battling for the 100 mile and the ultra-endurance series. Chris E, Tinker, last years winner Harlan Price and Mike from Bells brewing set a good pace to start. Tinker had his hands full not being real stable on the slick east coast rocks and roots, eventually dropped out. I stayed up with them for the first 14 miles or so until i decided I need to back it off. having just ate my huge mound of mush only 30 minutes prior to the start, little chunks of it were workin their way back up. So then it was just me and a local boy battling it out for the 100(k) crown. A week of sleep deprivation is no way to prepare for a race like this and may total inability to handle my bike was the result. About 18 miles in, over a series of 6 foot or so tall camel humps, i got all ass over ebows and managed to plant myself into the apex of the next little hill, face first. It was pretty good too, blood was oozing at a pretty good rate all over my stem and GU flask (which i later took a delicious shot of blood and chocalate outrage GU, perhaps count chocula's prefered mix, but not mine). I pulled over at a road crossing a mile or so later to have Garth check me out since I had no idea how bad it was (my lips felt like Rudy from Fat Albert, only bloodier). He called me somethin that sounds like wussy and got me goin again, thats my boy. The buckeye i was with took advantage of the situation and had attacked (good move btw, attacking 20 miles into a 65 mile race). I didnt care. I was bloody and tired, i was just gonna ride. If I was caught, fine. If I caught him, fine, but my motivation to go fast was gone.

Of course you all know the story; the tortise caught the hare. At aid station 3 I came around a corner to find buckeye doubled over with cramps. It seems his excitement to unseat me as the king of sandbaggers was his own undoing. So, I kept doing what I had all day and ticked over the pedals at a comfortable pace and came across the line with a decent margin over second, an expert riding for Rays MTB park in Cleveland.

The after was awesome; Kiersta and her husband popped by for a visiit then I sat up on the deck with some folks from the Cinci and Bio-Wheels crew. Got to meet some new faces and caught up with other old ones while the rain fell lightly off and on as we watched folks cross the finish line in a celebration of a hell of a day on the bike. As the afternoon turned to evening, we all drank way too much Sierra Nevada and Bells and stuffed our faces with the TON of food provided. Its a great event that keeps getting better, so next year, dont miss out. Who know, you may end up with a split upper lip the ladies think is sexy. ;)
http://www.mohican.net/100.alpha.htm

Brown County hates me

I guess it's understandable. I'm a pretty detestable guy.

Start of the race was near the entrance of the park in the flat grassy area where the trail dumps out, sort of near the pool. Laps did not come through the start finish area.

So we start out in the grass area hang a sharp right onto the pavement and immediately begin the really steep but pretty short climb which then flattens out and then kicked back up for a longer climb on the pavement towards the tower where we took a right at the top of onto the singletrack. About 50 yards into the woods was the connector and feedzone. It's all really fast through there and the first climb came after about a mile of singletrack, actually probably not that far but the first climb was pretty mellow, nothing i needed to stand up for. then we cruise along for a while on rolling fast trail down to an area were there is traffic going both directions at pretty much the bottom this area is normally wet, but not this weekend. Next we start the longest climb of the day, which is also not that steep but does seem to go on forever. We ride around on the ridge for a few miles and then go back down to the bottom, hang a left and go out on the double track we were riding on a few minutes before then up a little bit to some more fast stuff rolling along till we get to the split for lap or finish. Hang left for the laps and bare straight on for the finish. The lap trail takes back along on a trail near the road that then has a small up to the feed zone. The finish is the trail that goes fast down right behind the bathrooms on top of the hill all the way down and dumps you out in the area we started in.

Okay, now that you have that all straightened out.

Before the race started I was hoping everyone would chill on the first steep paved climb and new things would split up on the second longer climb.

We line up and it looks like a pretty good showing. I'd guess at least 20 in my class but I'm not sure since I didn't look around too much. We take off, make the sharp right onto the road and start the first steep climb. I get up front immediately with 2 or 3 others and gear down. Since I'm hanging on a wheel and noone else is coming around me I figure I'm going fast enough. At the top my legs are feeling it a bit. I noticed the other two in front of me didn't stand for the hill but I did. At the top noone immediately took off or attacked so that's good cause it would have been a pain in the ass. Things speed up and I get behind a kid that looked like he was taller than me and held onto his wheel the rest of the way up. On the last 50 yards are so before singletrack the guy in front attacked and got a gap. I was fine with that and I guess the kid in front of me didn't want to do anything about it either. I was worried someone else might try to come around me but noone did so I go in the woods third. Which I was fine with. I heard that our class had split up into 3 groups by that point but I didn't look back to see any.

Once on the singletrack I noticed that I wasn't having trouble keeping up in the fast stuff. I did feel like if the two guys in front of me were going to get away it would be in some of the climbing stuff. We stay together for a while and. Some short kid up front, then the tall skinny guy in front of me and there were probably 4 riders or so behind me. We had a gap on the rest of the group. I'm not sure how big or small though.

After about 15 minutes the trail opens up for about 30 yards on a bit of an up. #2 attacks and goes around #1. #1 responds to the acceleration and someone comes around me to get in the gap that opened up from the acceleration. The get about a 5 second gap on me and the rest of the group which is where it stayed until we are in the bottom section just getting ready to start the longest climb. On one of the last few turns I notice my rear tire feels squirrely so I ask the guy behind me if it looks flat, he said it looked a little low. so I stop as probably 3 riders come around, and put some air in, the tire didn't seal though because I didn't have enough sealant left in my tire. which is sucky cause the night before I knew I needed to put some stans in my tire but was feeling too lazy to deal with it.

Since the tire wouldn't seal, I have to take it off to put a tube in. Once I get the tube in I realize my CO2 is out and by this time everyone in my class has come around although I was surprised at what a big gap we had on the rest of the field. So I walk about half a mile back to a little feed/assistance area and borrow a pump. Then I cruise around the rest of the course and finish about 30 minutes or more after everyone else.

Last year when I raced at brown county I had some tire deflating issues too. That's why Brown county hates me, but I still love it. Story of my life

To heck with racing

OK, I don't really mean it. But my fork isn't back from Cannondale yet, so no racing for me this weekend. Good luck to the rest of you guys. Besides, it sounds like Ferdinand (2 weeks away) has so much climbing that I'd better start resting up now.

this past weekend

I got hitched. A pro mountain biker and semi pro showed up. Big country was there to document it all

http://www.shutterfly.com/progal/album.jsp?aid=768a5498cf40661d1500

LBL

i went, i destroyed a tire in the first 2 miles. i ran a long way. i fixed it and i still got some good laps/riding in. regardless, good to visit with my sister, brother-in-law and nephews, always a good time there. thats all you get.

and this

I felt like this blog needed a picture. Here is one of the way things are in the mountain biking world. Get used to it women, or men if your girlfriend is a mtb'er.

blah

I hope there is homecourt advantage down there at LBL cause I got my butt whipped, but then again I was the first person between the ages of 19-29 to finish the race in the 19-29 sport men category so maybe I technically won, regardless it was a bunch of juniors that got to take home the prize money.

Race at Lbl this year started in a different location down by the bridge/overpass. Start was up a paved road, right onto another paved road and then sharp left into the woods for a bit of flat rolling rooty stuff about a mile or so worth maybe a little more then a couple climbs, namely the twin sisters or whatever they call those two climbs that are back to back down there.

I felt like ass sitting on the starting line. Kept thinking I was going to vomit. My stomach hadn't emptied out breakfast yet. Judd says go, we take off and Bill (columbia cycling winner of chickasaw) gets out front and I'm fine with that cause I know he is real fast. He got a good gap going down the road but then backed way off once we hit singletrack, I was immediately behind him. Through the first section of singletrack I was surprised at how easy he was going and felt really confident, started to question about whether it would be smarter for me to try to pass and take off cause I knew he was going to have a strong second lap if he was pacing himself that well on the first lap. There were 4 or 5 people behind me, we were all staying together up front pretty well.

In a sharp right hander going up hill I leaned a little hard and burped some air out of my rear tire, turns out I wasn't running enough pressure. That was annoying since I let some out on the starting line. My tire was pretty low and I started to lose contact a bit so when we crested the climb it opened up. I pulled off to put some air in my tire. By the time I finished everyone came around. I hopped back on and took off trying to catch everyone, I think I got a little impatient and tried to pull everyone back a little too quickly cause there were a couple times I had to back off while trying to catch back up with nick.

So I worked my way up a bit before we hit the n/s welcome station but I knew there were at least still 3 people up ahead of me. I kept seeing a kid in a wood n wave kit. I thought it was t.j. gaines. I would catch up with him on the climbs but after cresting them he would take off and get out of site. I hope that is the home-court advantage because I don't think I'm that slow of a descender. Come through for second lap at around 55 minutes. By the end of lap one I haven't caught him nor is he in site any more. I ate and drank a lot during the middle of lap one cause I felt like I needed to, for whatever reason, cold chills of phantom cramps.

Second lap I catch up with a kid that was wearing a red jersey, he looks done. I get around him and try to resolve to make it back up to kid in woodnwave jersey. Part of me is happy though cause I think I'm in 3rd place. I wrecked in an open flat gravely section cut myself up a little and cussed a little. by that time the 30-39 riders were starting to come around. Around the north south welcome station on the second lap, the threats of cramps starts to get a little more serious and I have to try not to push my legs too hard. I drain the remaing fluids I have in my bottles and try to just keep it steady.

Roll through the finish line at around 1:54. Turns out there were three people ahead of me. One columbia cycling and two wood n wavers. Winning time was around 1:46. There is no way I could've done that time even on a good day.

long and the short of it, not a good race for me. Not sure why but I didn't have the legs for that length of time. could've been a ton of different things to cause that but I'd rather not worry too much about it.

Last weekend

Nothing happened.

friendly motorists in Louisville

We hear so much about angry motorist yelling at us and cussing us so I wanted to post a positive experience I had last night while doing the Tuesday night worlds.

Soon after we made the left onto River Road from Blankenbaker I hit a large hole pretty hard. My tire started hissing immediately so I pulled off on a larger piece of the shoulder and began to replace the tube. Out of the corner of my eye I see someone pull in the gravel near me in a silver BMW. A pretty lady gets out and starts walking towards me. I'm thinking she is going to scold me and tell me about how awful it is that we cyclist ride our bikes on the road. Boy was I wrong. When I looked up she said, "I was behind you guys and saw that you might be having trouble so I turned around and came back to make sure you were okay. My family rides so I know how it goes."

I told her that it was merely a flat and I had everything I needed and then tried to thank her as sincerely as possible.

A few minutes later I had to tell some fellow cyclists that I was okay and didn't need any help. The amount of helpful friendly riders in this area is almost annoying at times. Just joking.
I just wanted to share a positive experience with you all and if you know the lady I'm talking about, thank her again for me.

What if the world was covered in Peanut Butter?

So, as the title asks, what would it be like if the world was covered in a gooey, sloppy mess? I'm not sure, but I bet trying to ride the trails would be a lot like what I experienced this past Saturday at the Park Mammoth Mash.

For those of you with ADD, here's the Reader's Digest version: Rain, more rain, Mud, more mud. Sloppy, nasty, Kenda Karmas suck in mud. Nice day to take my bike for a walk. 3rd place Sport overall, 1st place in the Creepy Old Guy division (40+).

If the above paragraph didn't provide enough detail of my 2 hours of misery, you either need to get a life or are at work and have time to spare. So read on.

I finally talked my buddy Sean into racing this year. We debated going north to hit DINO Warsaw, but they had a risk of rain as well and we decided that we would rather drive 2 hours to not race than 5. So we meet at 7:30 am and head down to Park Mammoth. We knew they had gotten some rain, but it looked like it might be rideable so we took the chance. Besides, what else is there to do in Louisville on Derby Day? It actually looked pretty good most of the way down with some sun and light clouds. But as we got to the exit it started to sprinkle.

When we got parked at the race site it started to rain. But the area looked to drain OK, so we decided that the Folks putting on the race were a worthy charity and we ponied up our entry fees, just in case we decided to race afterall. While all this is going on some of the other Louisville characters show up and now we have to race, since we can't let them go out there and do well while we watch. All the while its raining. Sometimes hard, sometimes not so hard, but raining. Now this is where it gets good: Sean says "as long as it's raining it won't be so bad, the mud won't stick". And he was right. As long as it keeps raining the mud doesn't stick.

We go out and pre-ride a little bit and it already seems like a bad idea. The open areas are good, but the singletrack is slippery. Then there's the railroad tracks. A good portion of the race is run on a thruway for 18-inch wide railroad tracks for some little train. Gravel base, actually in great shape and fast. But the track rails themselves, when wet, are treacherous. OK, just stay between them and it'll all be good. So now we are completely soaked, our paper number plates have melted off the bars and we head to the starting line. An opportunity like this is too good to pass up.

So when the experts line up, the take a count and come up one short. 5 show on the list and only 4 are present. So they start yelling my name. Seems a little mistake was made on their behalf and I got registered as an Expert. So we all have a good laugh, and off the Experts go with me lining up with 20 of my closest Sport-Class friends. We get the standard pre-race talk, warned about the railroad tracks and the whistle blows. I try to get a good start and spin out. Mad scramble ensues and i get thru the gate and into the Singletrack around 10th. It's a short section and we pop out into a gravelly-roadish area and I drop the hammer to catch up to the leaders that are about 30 yards ahead. We hit the first section of railroad tracks and it's amazing how hard it is to hold a straight line. I guess everyone was paranoid about making contact with the rails. A couple of guys do and go down. So we work down towards the first real climb of the race. Unfortunately, there was some recent bulldozer action right at the base meaning soft, nasty red mud awaits. I saw this during the pre-ride, and planned to cyclocross it right from the beginning. This paid off as I took the tight line and was off the bike and running up the hill before most of the guys figured it out. I ended up in the lead at that point with Blaine Heppner, Sean and Mitchell K. The 4 of us managed to get away from the rest of the group. We stayed reasonably close together until Mitchell had some mechanical issues and dropped off. So the remaining 3 of us stayed pretty much together the rest of the lap and about half way into the 2nd. We caught up with Kiersta and that's when Blaine left us for good. Sean got away as I took a tumble on a slippery wood bridge right in front of Kiersta, forcing her off as well. It had stopped raining sometime before this point and the mud was really starting to stick. I caught Sean as he was having chain-suck problems and knowing he is a better bike handler decided to open a gap when I could, expecting him to catch up on the technical stuff. Around the end of the 2nd lap/early in the 3rd (I don't remember exactly) I was caught and passed by a guy from the Nashville MTB club. He caught and passed me so quickly I first thought he was the Expert leader, but he was in Sport and obviously handling the adversity much better than I was. I knew I had been in 2nd behind Blaine and was really content to get 3rd as the trail was getting worse and my mental state was going south as well. From that point on it was survival mode. A couple of guys got close but I took advantage of the open sections to maintain a good gap. I ended up finishing in 2:01, 3 mins behind Blaine who took first. Sean ended up DNF due to the mechanical issues.

This race was really tough for me, as it challenged my bike handling skills and didn't allow me to take advantage of my fitness. I pushed my bike up most of the hills as I just couldn't seem to get any traction and running/pushing was faster in most cases. I think I crashed about 10 times. My bike was a mess and I'll be surprised if it works right again. I rode it today and it's heading to the shop for some love. But I didn't DNF. It was the closest I ever came, it's a good thing I didn't know that Sean quit at the end of the 2nd lap or I might have joined him. I give lots of credit to everyone who stuck it out. Also, props to Andrew Llewellyn who won the High School championship race. His frame had arrived at the shop the previous day at 1 pm and was built late that day. Great performance on a new ride.

Stump Jump was cooler than Rowbears lame race cuz i got a tshirt

Does it ever not rain in South Carolina when the Stump Jump is on tap? No. But, the soil down there drains like nothin else. And, they always have good t-shirts.

Saturday, yes, it rained. And rained. Rather than go pre-ride sloppy trails, Jenn an I went to a park in Greenville and rode laps on the road just to get some spinnin in. As I was loading my bike to head out, I noticed my fork had developed an external oil bath, not good. Screw it. The lock-out works, I didnt ride thurs or friday, I needed to do something. Havin not packed for 60 and wet, I had to borrow a rain jacket from the bike shop (The Great Escape) manager. So far, things are kinda suckin from a total lack of preparation. My legs felt cold and weak. I tried some big jumps and hills, but my heart rate wouldnt rise. So after an hour of playing "Lance in a Nike commercial", we packed it in.

Sunday, ah the comedy of errors continued. About the time I pulled off the interstate, I asked Jenn if she remembered how to get there. No. So, no map, not 100% when either of our races start, she starts callin everyone who has ever once been to Spartanburg to try to get some help. With a couple calls and all the grey matter we can muster, we arrive with 1/2 hour to spare until her race started. One of the last things I tell Jenn before she disappears off into the cold wet mud was, "I prolly am not gonna race." (this will be significant in a bit). But, as I said, this place drains great the sun was out, the sport and beginners had worn in some ruts and was tacking up nicely. I decided, what the hey, I was there, I needed to ride, might as well. So 40 minutes prior to the gun, I registered.

Must have been somethin in the air since Rowbear also had some organizational issues, I strapped on my number plate, got dressed and prepared myself to race, but wasnt sure what to do with my bottles. Jenn was still out on the course and I wanted to put them where she would find them, but where they would be out of the sun. So rather than placing them in her chair in the feedzone, (wayyyy to obvious), I put them in the back of the Amigo in a bag. Man, I am soooo smart. Oh, and the lack of fork oil turned out to just be a comfort thing more than an issue with it working.

So I line up to start. Since there was a Gone Riding AMBC (or whatever they are called now) less than 3 hours away, other than Schworm and Johnston, the field wasnt too stacked, about 8 pro/semi total. I had a great start. Into the woods first and better yet, I didnt feel like I worked that hard to do it. I got passed in a ravine crossing that had two lines, I took the slower. I sat behind the kid for a bit until I decided I could be goin faster, and I attacked on a short climb. Not sure what was happening behind me other than I was opening up a small gap and still feelin like I was just riding. The mud that remained made things fun, a bit of sliding here, a big mud hole to splash through there. I shot down through another gully and as I came ou the other side, "psssssssssssssssss..." Crap. I rode along hoping the sealant inside would patch things up. No such luck so I pulled over to see what i needed to do. The valve stem was bent which leads to Anthonys tip O the day; leave on your little plastic presta caps. I was able to fill it and slow the leak to where it held at about 20psi, not bad in the mud, but suffered in the open sections and the fast corners. Battling back from last, I managed to catch all but two, which was a suprise for me at the end. Coming into the feedone, no bottles. Crap again. Then it dawns on me; Jenn may not even realize I was racing and how stupid of a place I had stashed my bottles.

Next lap, other than havin to stop and re-inflate my tire again, nothing bad happened aside from draining what liquids I had left. Next time throught the feedzone, I see Jenn running. "Sweet!!! She has my bottles" I think. So I get up beside her, she has nothin. Funny really, we just kinda sit there lookin at each other and I say somethin to the effect of where are my bottles, i need water. She grabs two that had been sitting on a table (sorry whoever) and hands em over. I stuff em in and get going again. I think one bottle was watered down diet coke and the other was urine, but I'm not 100% on either.

So, all things considered, I coulda been pissed about how everything worked out especially since I had the best legs I have had in about 7 weeks with my illness and wreck at Tiger Rag, but ya'know, most of it was my fault for not plannin and in the end, it was good to just know I can go again. I ended up 3rd which made me happy since, I was gettin paid and I figured I was in 5th the whole time. Jenn, once again won the SC State Championship for her age group. Its not about who is in the race, its all about results.

D.IN.O. #1

The team spread out over the weekend so that we could represent the sponsors all throughout the region. Anthony went to Spartanburg, South Carolina. Duane went to the Park Mammoth race just outside of Bowling Green, KY. I went to the D.IN.O. race in Warsaw, Indiana.

I chose the D.IN.O. race mainly because it looked like it had the best chance out of any of the races to be dry. Only a 50% chance of rain. I also really like the course up there, it's pretty technical but more of the twisty variety, it also has a couple fun jumps. I learned about why I shouldn't hesistate when coming up on a double, it was a really small one but casing it still sucked the first time.

So for some reason I was thinking that every D.IN.O. race was on Central time. We left Louisville just before 8 a.m. Arrived at the race area at around 11:58 or so. I get out of my car and realize that the experts are on the line and the director is telling them they have one minute or something. I immediately start freaking out because that means my class will be going off about 6 minutes after that. I run to the registration table and the lady was nice enough to just give me a number and write my name so I could pay after the race. I run back to the car, start throwing my clothes on, lube my ass, put some gu in my jersey pockets. Get my bike down off the car, put the front wheel on (with a lefty this is a little more involved), put my water bottles on the bike, put one twist tie on the number plate and then give my fiance another twist tie to put on while I run over the bushes and take a pee. This whole time racers are taking off. I get back to my bike and ride up to the line with 30 seconds to go. I was still freaking out because I didn't get to check out my bike or warm-up at all.

We take off and I get a good little jump but don't hold it too long. My bike was still in the same gear I had it in the night before when lubing the chain. My tires still have 50 lbs of pressure in them because I had changed them the night before and put extra pressure in so they would seat up. We take a sharp left hand turn, as usual, but then we went past the spot were we normally go into the woods. I wasn't sure what was going on but just followed the other 8 or 9 guys in front of me.

The speedometer was clicking on the front tire so while we're riding through a narrow shoot with spectators all around I'm leaning way over my bike trying to move the speed sensor away from my spokes. After I get that fixed and sit up the others have about 20 feet on me as we go down a paved section towards the creek area. I then realize that we are going to be doing the course backwards from what I am used to. There are a couple tech sections 100 yrds into the woods some tight turns with roots sticking out six inches off the ground, rock gardens and tight trees. Once we got to a little flat section along the creek I see that the tail end of those in front of me is still just a few seconds off. Someone behind me said something about passing and I wasn't sure who they were talking to but I would just pull back the gap, that way they wouldn't need to pass. So, a minute or two later and I'm back on a wheel as we make a hard left to cross the big two lane bridge over the creek, the bridge was divided because I would have to cross it again later on going the opposite direction. So I ride a wheel for a while and it definitely isn't hurting me too bad but they were going fast enough that I couldn't justify asking to pass. We come up on some rider going considerably slower, maybe from another class or maybe he blew up. The two guys in front of me pass him and I try to do it in a loose gravel turn. With 50 psi I somehow manage to wash out in the front and go down. Some came around and I got up as quick as I could and took back off. We were hitting a couple short climbs so it didn't take long for me to get back on a wheel.

Somewhere along the way I passed a rider or two and then we came to this spot where you could go two ways I went right and say two guys on top of this steep quick up and I knew I would have to stop if I tried to go up it so I went left through the brush real quick onto the path that went left. That made 2 more riders I got around. I think this is when I got on the wheel of a Gray Goat rider. He was doing a good pace and I wasn't being vigilant enough with holding his wheel although I stayed in close contact for most of the lap. It wasn't till less than a mile to go on the first lap that I lost contact with him. It got really twisty towards the end of the lap and I was getting really confused about when it would end. Still, I'm feeling good especially considering I didn't warm up. I tried to drink on the straight sections even though it meant losing a little speed. I didn't take a bottle when I came through for my first lap. My number plate only had two twist ties in it so the wind had blown it to standing straight up above my bars, upside down and backwards so I had to yell out my number to Brian but he was quick to tell everyone my name, sponsor and where I was from over the intercom. That's good stuff right there. Starting the second lap I eat a gu since i didn't get to eat one on the start line. Drink some more and then hit the first single track section. For some reason I was clipping my chain ring on everything though, I got frustrated but when I hit the section along the river I regain my focus and tell myself that I'm feeling good and I'm in a good position so I'm gonna keep it rolling.

For a few miles I was on my own but I was still pushing it on the straights and climbs and trying to do all I could in the turns. Low and behold though, we come to a straight climb that kicks up near the top into a field section with a lot of turns and high grass and there I see the gray goat rider with another guy. So I get on it a little extra and by the end of the field section I'm only a few feet off, they both get a little bit further as we go down a hill but as we hit the first up I charged up on them hard enough that they both let me around so I kept on it and immediately got a gap. I held that till the end of the race. I don't think I passed anyone else. I finished feeling really good though and still had some energy even though I did pretty much all I could in the race other than get there on time so I could warm-up and get a good start. I was thinking maybe I would finish on the podium but turns out I got 4th. Still my best result yet in a D.IN.O. race, other than that time I got 3 when there were only 4 or 5 of us. I was happy after the race and kind of happy I didn't have to stick around another 2 hours for awards. That's all.

I heard the KY race was super muddy and epic, anthony's race was a little muddy too. I got by with no mud and no rain, just cloudy skies and upper 50s low 60s degree weather, Perfect.

Ahhhh man, I just checked the D.IN.O. results and according to those I got 3rd. I don't know if something changed or I looked at them wrong or what. Guess I missed out on some free swag. That's kind of a bummer.

couple pictures with bon jovi new jersey(s)

and......go!

He goes by Rocky and he sleeps as hard as he plays. If he's really happy to see you, you may get peed on, but just a little bit. Good stuff.

rabbit hash boooooowl crap

simple math; harley riders + roadies = clusterfark. why someone would have a road race start/finish at a popular hangout for motorcyclists along a tiny strip of road hardly wide enough for two cars is beyond me. why people are allowed to drink then get on their motorcycles, in full view of the sheriff's deputies, without anyone getting arrested, also, beyond me.

oh well. went out, made some early moves, got in some good climbing, smarted off to some roadies, worked on my 2007 cyclist tan, ran out of water, started locking up, quit. typical road race for me. plus the bonus of, after dnf-ing, returning the favor and gettin in the way of and smartin off to harley riding troglodytes. makes me appreciate mtb racing. speakin of, next stop-spartanburg stump jump. that course kills me, but the company is good.

Ateam's newest sponsor

We would like to welcome our newest sponsor, Jackson's Organic Coffee (http://www.jacksonsorganiccoffee.com/). Sondra and Christopher have busted their butts to roast and brew a mighty fine bean. So Louisvillian's, support your fellow cyclist as well as cyclists that support cyclists (I just want to say cyclist one more time in this sentence) and run by and pick up a cup o joe or some beans to brew.

Butt, meet hole in the ground

Myself, Brian Schworm and Robert headed down south to Clemson/Greenville, SC to race some mtbs. Despite still not being over bronchitis, and Robert with a cold, we had to get outta town, and more importantly, try to infect Brian (hahahaha!). Our South Carolina connection, the lovely Jenn Young was house-sitting this weekend, so for the low price of a ride to the course, she was gracious enough to provide the accommodations that were just a bit nicer than the Sleep Inn. Despite being Einstein's son's old house, it did not give off the effect of staying in a Holiday Inn Express which sucks cuz i could use some extra smarts. Jenn was making her sport debut this weekend and was, yes you guessed it, sick as well. My plan to infect Schworm was working better than I hoped.

So my title, "Butt, meet hole in the ground," that is the way the registration process for the Tiger Rag went. The short story; this was a national calendar event, but they did not have a separate Pro class. So Schworm registers as Ex 19-29 cuz thats what they did last year. I had already registered Ex 30-39 cuz they said that is what I was told to do. After finding out what Schworm did, i went back up to registration to ask if I was in the right class. "We don't know, we called him (whoever him was, i didnt know) and he said to register for whatever class you want." Well, they weren't going to let me in beginner women, cuz i asked, so I stuck with racing my age class. So as we gather on the start line, i finally see who "him" is. after he calls role, i very clearly ask "Are the Pro's supposed to be racing the 19-29 race?" He then announces "We have 1 class, race your age!" I again ask, just to be sure, and am told the same thing. OK. despite the fact Schworm, Rob Kendall, Charlie Storm and other fossils are in the 19-29, I am doin what i am supposed to do. right?

So I started well, and as the spirits of Clemson have it (i have had horrible luck here, including one of the worst wrecks of my career last year), I crashed 2 miles in. I bruised my thigh on a big ol rock, but dammit, i have been sick 4 weeks and i was riding fairly well, no way i was quitting. By the end of lap one, i caught all that passed me after i crashed and was feeling ok. After the second lap, i was still out front, my thigh was hurting a lot and by this point and i couldnt stand to pedal or support my weight. So, I was caught by the only other 30+ racer and I couldnt really respond. Since my goal for this race was pretty much training considering how sick i had been and how gimpy my thigh now felt, I could settle for second.

Post race, i stuffed ice in my shorts leg and came back to the truck, set down in the bed and put my leg up. after about 15 minutes Robert and Jenn came back over (they were waiting for Nikki from schellers and Jenn's teammate to finish. Nikki got second after a flat, not sure about the other girl) and told me my result was being protested. What the hell? So the guy who won was protesting a pro being in the race. I tell the official/race director that that was where HE TOLD ME TO RACE. He says "we'll let it slide." let what slide, YOU and the people running registration screwed up!? I asked no less than 6 times if i was in the right race. uhhhhhhhh! So up on the podium, this a-hole says "come talk to me." i hobble down from my second place step and stroll over. he tells me how he is going to report the scoring, blah blah blah, and finishes by saying "try to be more clear next time and dont let it happen again." if this guy didnt have the power to have my license suspended, i woulda decked him. unbelievable.

why the hell can't people admit they made a mistake? why is that so hard?

anyway, after more than a month off, it was good to race again. it was a good weekend with awesome weather and good company. happy trails and please enjoy the pic of rowbears rear.

Goin' Psycho

I raced yesterday. It sucked. Can't wait to do it again.

It was the first race in the Psycho-Series in Cincinnati, Harbin Park to be exact. The guys from Smitty's did a great job putting together a nice course and a great race.

Here's the rundown: poor start, no improvement into the singletrack, didn't pass as soon as I should, suffer, more suffering, and then it was over.

The bike was awesome except for this little clicking noise coming from the crankset and the fact that the shifting isn't quite right. I'm going to give Bob a chance to fix it, else the XTR stuff is going away and X.O will be taking its place. I create enough of my own problems, I don't need mechanical ones to go along with it.

Since I mentioned creating my own problems: I need to work on my climbing and my bike handling. The Scalpel is much faster than I am.........I have to trust it. I found myself braking for no good reason and doing stupid things just because I could. I think I was subliminally trying to delay the arrival of the next big climb. We were racing at Harbin Park in Cincinnati and it has 2 killer climbs. Not good for us gravitationally-challenged types. But the worst part was that I ended up in the vicinity of a Clydesdale that I would drop going up the hills and he would reel me right back in on the descents. This just confirms that my bike handling skills suck.

All in all my result was OK: 3rd in the Sport 35+ and 6th Sport overall (out of approx. 25 or so). Blaine Heppner and Joe Collins, my travelling partners for the day, took 1st and 2nd overall in Sport, so Louisville was well represented in the Class. I think I finished 6-ish minutes behind 1st and 4-ish minutes behind 2nd. I could probably picked up 2 to 3 minutes just in handling, so I think I know what to work on.

The good news is that my Shoulder didn't bother me at all, except when I rode off the trail in order to avoid tagging a tree with it.

Tips for my next race: Start better, trust the bike, work the climbs.

problem solved

Helga got caught slipping by setting up a blog in which you can see the user's name which is not Helga.

http://nicolettehelga.blogspot.com/

Starting over

So the time has finally come for me to start over...that's right kids my body and head seem to be healed. physical therapy was a joke, prescription meds did the trick, but i am no druggie so i weaned myself off of them...by the grace of god i am healing!

this will be my third week at the gym. Slowly but surely i am building my fitness up. I know the drill, i know the ropes, i just have to get back in the groove.

I also have started riding again, slowly but surely. I was out for 2 hours today on my SS, yup i am cool, i ride a SS and it's a 29er, so don't question my coolness...but man i was worn out afterward. I wasn't riding particularly hard or anything, just riding along and got worn down.
I feel like a young child trying to learn how to walk again. I remember the days when i could put four hours in easily on my bike. I remember the days of being able to keep up with the sport riders without any issues, i even remember when chris eatough let me lead him at the 24 hours of snowshoe and told me what a great job i did, but those are just memories and those days are gone. It's a new day, and a new beginning, and I am here on this earth to grab each and everyone of those moments!

In addition to me finally being physically able to get back into shape, oh what a long road it is going to be, there are some other changes happening in my world...some big changes.
my deck is full, i am finally able to grab my career by the horns and attempt to determine my future (buy khs bicycles!), and pursue my dreams! I am loosing my stable, secure job, but oh well, at least i am not going to be one of those corporate bitter people anymore that are unbelievably unhappy.

That is right, my deck of cards is stacked, and if some things aren't in the cards when they are laid on the table, then so be it. My goal is to good decisions, not necessarily "right-now" decisions, but decisions that will affect me long-term...thankfully some good ones have been made for me.

turned off

I really don't know where to begin. I've just gotten so frustrated by my local club's website, not the club necessarily the club, that I really don't care what happens. And I know it's not right because there are some people in the club that are working really hard. Funny thing is, those people that are working hard aren't the one(s) posting all the b.s. on the site. I have just been trying to not pay attention to the comments questions etc. on that site as of late.

My opinion on the website, if they want it to be a positive site for outsiders and governemental officials to look at then they should do away with the forums. Post as much info as they can on trails and maybe even contact numbers for people to call with specific questions or email addresses.

I like forums though so that I can easily talk with other local racers about races and keep informed so I want there to be forums but maybe they should just be on a seperate site and not look like they are representation of the club. I really doubt that those forums have gotten anyone fired up and ready to pay their member fees lately. It's mainly just arguments and people saying I've done this and this what have you done.

Many posts that question things being done in the name of the club or suggesting alternatives, constructive critisims are often deleted, so it's not like individual members have a voice on there. Why one member that has banned people and deleted several posts at his own volition without consulting other officials (even though that is supposed to be the modus operandi) continues to have administrator privileges is beyond me. Personally, I don't want to be a part of or throw my support to anything that member supports. Maybe I'm just being spiteful, regardless unpopular leaders (or people who act as though they have a leadership role) seem to be causing disenchantment among at least one member. Maybe, just maybe, I'm not the only one.

I find myself more willing to drive out of town to help with trail work than I am willing to help out with trails that are within a 15 minute drive. Re-routing a re-route (because of orders from above, outside the club) that we built 2 years ago was a main point of discouragement for me.

Not like this little blog entry is going to change anything or make anyone see some light. I just needed to vent because I can't post my grievances on the website nor do I want to add to the air of negativity that fills those forums. So annoyed I can't even focus on one point of contention for more than a few sentences.

help me figure this out

who is the person behind this helga personality that has been posting comments on our blogs? At first I thought maybe Creeping Death but now not so much. Then I thought maybe Big Country but now not so much. I'm leaning towards Rusty now. Here are some possibilities, you vote

Creeping Death
Rusty G. Sohm
John Hughson
Big country
other

Leave a comment saying who you think it is

all hail the king

I skipped work yesterday. went for a ride and 15 minutes into it I started getting rained on and hailed on. I ducked under a covered shelter along with 5 other bozos who were out trying to excercise at Iroquois. 5 minutes later the sky cleared and the downpour was over. I continued on to my secret training spots and did some hillclimbs until my legs busted which didn't take long since they already hurt from trying to keep up with the tuesday night worlds the night before. I got dropped by a 12 year old that probably doesn't have pubes yet. Awesome, I feel great about myself.

Coke vs Pepsi

I highly suspect Pespi drinkers of being Commies. Not that a good ol 'merican can't drink a Pepsi, it's when you choose to drink Pepsi you become a bit more Red. Or Canadian. If you have some whiskey and reach for a Pepsi vs a Coke, you should be shipped to Guantanamo and tortured, no questions asked. You have no terrorist secrets, you just deserve a beating.

Wondering what your cola says about you?

Pepsi - commie, canandian, guido
Root Beer - hippie
Tab - jazzercise teacher
Fanta - flower arranger, unibomber
Sprite - fairy, gnome
Diet Coke - you're fat and you eat twinkies
Mellow Yellow - freak
Mountain Dew - 13 year old skater boy or frat boy tool
Mr. Pibb - really, who drinks this?
Vanilla, Cherry or other flavored cola - schizophrenic
7up - alcoholic or botulism victim
Those weird colas in the mexican section at the supermarket or Big Lots - mexican. duh
Sams Choice - sure as heck aren't Sam Walton. At least one car in yard and 1 pet missing some appendage
Dr. Pepper - good person, but one to be watched
Big Red - league bowler

tues nite worlds

Yes sir or ma'am, we did it up. It was hard to pass up perfect trails and weather for some mtbing, but needed to get out an blow the lungs out on the road a bit. Well, it wasn't as bad as past Worlds, seems like many ego's were left at home. It was kinda strange, it didn't seem as though anyone was in full-on attack mode. Many of the usual suspects would attack briefly then sit up, which was fine by me since my lungs are still not back to speed and my heart rate felt a bit jacked up.

There is a fly in the apartment and Mo just ate it. Good kitty. Thanks for havin nothin better to do but read this junk, hope that better days are to follow and I'll be back to full on racing and more interesting blogs soon.

Groovin'

Wow, it's been a week since any of the other guys have posted. I better pick it up and make good for the team.

I was in a groove today, hence the title. 31 miles at Cherokee, 3-hours & 15-minutes, on the MTB. Not super fast, but fun, flowing and exactly what I needed. Yesterday I put in 17 miles also at Cherokee. Day before it was 18 miles at Waverly. So I am getting exactly what I need, time on the trail, on the new bike and without any major shoulder pain. So 60-some miles in 3 days all on trails in fantastic condition. Doesn't get better than that in Kentucky in early April. I'm glad I took advantage of the weather, as it doesn't look like it's gonna cooperate for the next few days.

Yesterday I got schooled, by JoeDoba and a couple of his PJ cronies. They just plain dropped me. No excuses. But it was good, shows me where I need to be to beat him again this year. We're in the same age group now, so unless he races Expert all year it's on. But today it clicked, and I felt a lot more comfortable at speed. Still need to work on cornering, but that isn't exactly a news flash for anyone who has ever followed me on a trail.

my motivation

Tsali race report

Got down to Tsali on Saturday about 3:30 and it was beautiful. A little overcast but not enough to make someone think it would rain soon. The trails were real dry. I rode a few miles out on the big loop then turned around and did the small loop. I was amazed at how fast that place is. It's real pretty too with the blue ridge mountains surrounding ya and a beautiful little lake type water hole you ride around with emarld green water.

After the pre-ride Brian Schworm (anthony is still recovering from tuberculosis) and I head to the Sleep in hotel and relax and eat the rest of the evening. Wake-up sunday morning and look out at the parking lot to find it soaked and drizziling rain still coming down.

We get out to the course and I start to realize it's going to be kind of muddy. At first I was thinking that sandy dry soil would just drink it all up but I guess it rained more than I thought and it was continuing to rain off and on. I started warming up with a steady drizzle coming down. By the time we were sitting on the starting line it had stopped but I had ridden around enough to know that I prolly wouldn't be able to wear my glasses because they were gonna get caked with mud. I put them in my jersey pocket just in case I wanted to put them down on the bridge of my nose to shield my eyes from upsplatter.

So, we're sitting on the line Sport 19-29 and there are at least 30 of us. The guy asks who wants it, Regan Woodall (Ryan's little brother) and Eric Davis are the only two to raise there hands. I actually said, Not me. Not that I wouldn't love to win, I just didn't have the confidence or arrogance to say I was going to. The whistle is blown and we take off, there is about .5 mile of road section. I held my own on that and got into the woods in 4th position which is fine with me. I was on woodall's wheel. Every time I got close though I was getting mud all in my eyes and would temporary have blurred vision with a lot of blinking to try to clear it up. Since woodall won reddick and got second at chickasaw I knew that his was a good wheel to be on. For the first few minutes of the race I'm having no trouble keeping up so I'm thinking, "alright, I can handle this." Then we caught up to someone and both passed but as soon as woodall got around he sort of opened it up a bit and was quickly away. I try to keep it steady because the first climb is right around the corner. Start going up and one guy comes around then up a bit futher in the middle of a switchback some jackhole tried to pass on the inside. That would have been okay had he made it, but he falls over in the apex of the turn and knocks me and another rider over. I was pretty pissed as I struggled to get back up and run the remainder of the climb till it flattened out a bit and I could get back on my bike. That took more out of me than making it through the climb would have.

After the crest of that climb there is some fast descent type stuff. I put the glasses on the bridge of my nose to help shiled me from splatter and turned my rear shock on. I had to brake a little more than on the pre-ride because there were a couple times I was getting a little squirrely due to not being able to turn and lean as much as I wanted for fear of wadding it up. We then make a sharp left to go down a little more on a section of trail that is pretty rutted out. At the bottom it flattens out. I keep seeing four guys ahead of me. So I try to stay focused and get back up to them. Eventually I do. After catching up with them I think the front two guys might have taken off. Next thing I know, the guy in front of me and I are passing Eric Davis. I was pysched about this because I've never beaten him. The whole rest of the race whenever I looked back and saw a red and white jersey I was worried it was him so I was trying to keep him away. turns out it was some guy from an older class.

A lot of the riding was some flat kind of fast stuff with sharp right hand turns thrown in. Coming out of one of them I got caught up in loose stuff and went down. That was bad because it made me ride overly timid on the rest of the sections like that and there were a lot of turns like that, I think that is what hurt me the most. I was doing fine on the climbs and catching people or passing them but then they would pass me back after being on flat curvy stuff for a while. On one of the climbs I put it in granny because I wanted to ride it all the way up and catching the guys walking at the top but as I caught one guy that was walking I said, "rider back." He just stayed right in the middle of the trail and didn't budge. I was forced to unclip and walk/jog up the rest of the climb. When I unclipped I said, "well I guess you don't care." What an assface, if you're walking up a climb and someone else is riding up it and they catch up to you, please give them some room to get around.

The rest of the ride just consisted of me passing a few people and a few people passing me. I was thinking that most of the people passing me were from the older class. So, on the finishing lap I was feeling pretty good thinking maybe I was going to have my best Serc result yet, maybe 5th or 6th plus Eric hadn't caught back up to me.After finishing though I saw the results and somehow I got 11th. That was definitely disappointing and I found out Eric had dropped out of the race soon after I passed him so that was doubly dissapointing. I was covered in mud though and everyone I rode passed was just kind of looking at me and laughing. I had someone take a picture with my cell phone.

The pros and experts had to start a little late because someone had broken their collar bone and couldn't walk out of the woods. They were supposed to do 3 laps but after one, the race was shortened to 2 laps, it was so muddy that a lot of people were having nasty crashes. Earl bradley supposedly broke a rib, some guy broke his leg. I heard another guy saying he got knocked out, tons of people were dropping out.

On the first lap though when they came through for a feed Brian Schworm was out front and had a good gap on two chasers behind him. He rode up the last climb on the lap while a couple were off their bikes running up it. He saw he got a bit of a gap so he opened it up and held it till the finish. 3rd year in a row he has won.

Anna Jean Daliere (nikkie) from schellers- won the womens expert race, she actually caught all the pro women and passed them and quite a few of the expert men.

Keith Lucas got 4th in the Expert men 40+

So kentucky had some good results down there but I wasn't one of them.

After looking at my hr data and I don't think I pushed myself hard enough. I guess I thought I was doing well and got a little too complacent. When will I learn?

Cleared for dirt

Kinda sorta maybe. What the doc said is "if it hurts, don't do it". Therein lies the problem. My shoulder still hurts. Not as much, not as often, but it definitely lets me know when I'm doing something it doesn't like. Which is in the form of pain. Now refer back to the doc's statement. See my conumdrum? But she didn't tell me to specifically stay off the MTB like she did before, so in my eyes that means I'm cleared for the trails. So who knows. I'm gonna play the next week or so by ear and wait and see. But at least if the weather cooperates I may give it a shot.

Demented Rambling

I've had enough. I'm tired of this whole shoulder thing, I want to ride my MTB. I did a fast road ride yesterday with some guys from Team Louisville, we got in 38 miles and it's the first time in a while that I really pegged it. Amazingly, I seem to be slower than I recall. I need to work harder. I logged 57 hilly miles on Saturday on a nice ride with my buddy Sean in a visit to the tiny burg of Westport. That was followed up with a leisurely 26 miles on the Tandem with my wife on Sunday. All good time on the bike, but I feel really slow. I need to work harder. If not, this upcoming race season will be very disappointing. I've looked the the times put up by some of the guys I've raced against and I'm not sure what to make of them. I won't really know how pathetic I've become until we can go head-to-head. I am still planning on Park Mammoth or DINO Warsaw on May 5th being my debut.

I see my doc again in 2 days and hope to be back on the trails after that. Too bad it doesn't look like the weather is going to be cooperative, so even if I get the green light it looks like I won't see any trails for a little while longer. I'm 6-weeks post injury and I think my recovery should be further along than it is. It may be that the damage was worse than thought. Everything I read says 6 weeks recovery for a grade 2 AC joint separation, and that's up on Friday. Grade 3 recovery is listed as 12 weeks - that would not be good.

I was looking at the pics below of Anthony and Rowbear - those boys are dead sexy on their Scalpels. That motivated me to go down into the basement and mount the new Kenda Karmas on my cooler-than-rowbears' Scalpel. I liked Karma's in the past but had problems flatting with them. I hope the tubeless version holds up a little better. I skipped adding some Stan's to them as the Kenda website says not to, but we'll see. First time I flat, bam - it's Stan's time. They're 1.95's and look really skinny. I hope they hold up as well as I think they will.

Just in case you have missed it, this is what my Scalpel looks like:

Is that hot or what? Click the picture to see a larger version

I'm really not worthy, but I plan to ride the heck out of it anyway. Red hubs and black frames are just too cool.

Tour De France history regarding doping

I'm currently reading Between Myth and Modernity: A Cultural History of the Tour De France written By Christopher Thompson (whom I may have the pleasure of studying under next year at Ball State University). All of the information below comes from that book (pp. 232-6).

In the last chapter on doping I found this interesting:

On June 28th 1966 the first drug tests of the Tour racers took place in Bordeaux. Mainly it sounds like the tests consisted of looking through racers stuff, checking out their bodies for needle marks and making them pee in a cup that was then sent of to a lab in paris and police headquarters. Reactions to the tests were mixed, some people saying they were welcome and others being outraged like Jacques Anquetil (five time tour winner). Anquetil was more of the opinion that it would be okay for the older professionals to talk to the younger guys about the potential harmful side affects but that they shouldn't have to do anything further because they had proven themselves (the seasoned pros) to be responsible enough to accept any possible negative repercussions and to dope responsibly, if they were doping.

So on the night of the 28th racers seemed divided about whether to submit to the tests or not, some for it, some against it. The next morning though there were supposedly all in agreement that they would protest the drug tests and that protest was led by Anquetil. He said they were unanamious in the protest although some people said they didn't agree to protest and were not even consulted. So anyway, I guess the protest lasted for a few days in which the peloton was riding the stages but not racing. The strike was ended when a racer who opposed the protest took off on an attack. Naturally, others took off after him thereby ending the protest. His manager said, "To take the start of the Tour is to sign a moral contract. You accept the rules and all their implications, or you don't enter race." That racer that ended the protest was Tom Simpson and it was his manager that spoke of the "moral contract." A little over a year later July 13th, 1967 Simpson died on Mt. Ventoux. I haven't gotten through that all yet but I think it was because he had taken some amphetamines and possibly had a heart-attack.

Just thought that was interesting and pretty ironic.

chickasaw pictures

Here are a few pictures from the Chickasaw Trace/Serc 2 race last weekend.

the first two are of me. In the middle I'm making a weird face. I don't look like I'm trying to hard or maybe I'm just getting ready to cry. If you'll notice the kid that got airlifted to Vanderbilt is laying on the ground just behind me. I didn't hit him.

the last one is of anthony, I think he had already quit by this point and was just doing a cool down lap.

Pictures were taken by www.f-8photography.com

the doctor says im allowed to suck

cuz i have a fever (not of the boogie-woogie variey either) and bronchitis. why cant i get some illness that requires pain killers cuz phlegm drugs an antibiotics dont pack much of a punch.

Early spring blow out/blow up

Chickasaw Trace, yesterday, S.E.R.C. #2. I raced sport 19-29. There were around 35 of us on the line, sport juniors were going off the same time as us and there were 6 of them. I was on the line. He says go, I have a good start, get out front but it's a long way to the single track. after a minute two guys come around, I get on a wheel and we head down the gravel section, make the sharp turn and it's onto the pavement. One or two more come around at that point but I'm still content. With about 40 yards to go about 5 dudes make a charge on the left and get in front of me so I'm entering further back than I want too but there really wasn't anyone in front of me holding me back too much, at least not in my class. One of the wood-n-wave riders went down at the bottom of a steep descent but I had enough time to see it all and react he ended up having to be taken away in an ambulance. I think he is okay though. I didn't really have a good idea of how many were in front of me. I tried to watch Ryan Woodall's little brother because I knew he would do well. he was a few people in front of me and it wasn't long before he was slipping away. I was hoping to catch people on the second lap because I thought everyone was going a little too fast. :)

The weather was hott, in comparison to what I'm used to and the start was fast. I had my heart pegged for most of the first lap. It was hard to settle into a rythm cause there were so many people catching up and passing even though most were from other classes, it's hard to know especially when there behind you. Towards the end of the first lap I was in bad shape. I was going a bit too hard and had to take it easy for a while. I ended up spending 10 minutes in my zone 3, just trying to drink and eat some gu, recover etc. A couple miles into the second lap I was able to get back into a good pace and maintain it, for the most part till the end. I finished with a time that was a few seconds slower than last year but a better placing. I got 7th and a free pair of socks, woo hoo.

I think a steady ride would have worked out better for me than balls to the wall for 40 minutes, chill for 10-15 minutes then steady for the rest. I forgot to look at my lap times but it will be interesting to see lap 1 compared to lap 2. I think it was the lungs more than the legs that held me back but I haven't been focusing on anaerobic stuff in the training so I expect this area will improve in the future.

avg hr 176, max 189, speed was like 11.98 mph or something like that. I was about 7 minutes off of second (I think), first place was a good 3 or 4 minutes off the front.

craptacular

"i know i shouldnt have, but i did anyway." how many stories that end bad start with that line? well, at this point in history, the answer is at least one, this one. my throat was sore and had a little cough since thursday, but nothing bad. i hoped that racing sunday would blow it out - i mean, i knew better - and now it is worse. i'm an idiot. if youre gonna be hanging out at the doctors office today, i'll see you in a few.

little stalins

This life is full of people who love a particular sport or activity but have one little problem; they are not good at it. Their solution? They insert themselves in a role of some sort of power and rule like a little Stalin. Local and national cycling clubs and orginizations, as well as shops, seem to be a haven for these people. They may not be good at it, or do it much, but by God, if you want to be a cyclist in this area, you better give them their due. When you look at the sports world as a whole, I suppose ownership/management is the ultimate no talent revenge. A buncha guys who never could do, but have arrived at a place in their lives that they can now dictate how the game is played.

Fortunately, many of these sparkle and fade. They find some other shiney object to pursue and a new group of people that will be made miserable by their presence. The bad part is, while they are around spreading their misery and mucking things up, they sour people on the sport or set it back years. The point? I dont know. I guess like liars and cheats in life, I just dont understand the motivation. Didnt mom give them enough attention, or did the priest give them too much? Or maybe it was the humiliation of never being picked or riding the pine when they were finally picked. Why cant people let others be? Why is it so important to be, well, important that you'll take the whole shabang down with you if thats what it takes to prove it is indeed your ball and you can take it home if you want.

If you think I am talking about you, I guess I am. Probably didnt write this with you (whoever you are) in mind, but if the shoe fits, it can be yours. In the meantime, I'll support those clubs, shops and individuals who are doing their part to make the cycling community a better place.

a good weekend

Saturday was chilly. Arm warmer and knee's covered kinda chilly, but it was nice as the sun was out and the trails at Youngers Creek for the Toyota Tundra Switchback Attack were dry and fast.

We arrived around 1:30 after many of the days times had already been posted. I did a warm-up for my time trial feeling ok, at best. The day before's workout was horrible, so I didnt really know what to expect. After the initial climb and brief chat with B.C. taking snaps of the action (http://holzking.net/photography/sportsphotos.htm) I rolled through the course taking time checks at a couple landmarks to reference during my actual run. I set out moments after getting back from the warm-up not wanting to give myself a chance to think too much about the pain that was coming. Dustin Greer was on the line before me. He was able to beat my time last year, I like the idea of having a carrot out there to chase. I rolled out calm an shot up the long climb blowing the first switchback. I started to get down on myself, but put it out of my mind just as fast, I had to. The rest was easy. I didnt worry, I didnt think, I just did. When I got to the bottom of the downhill my computer read somewhere in the 14 minute range. I knew from previous time mark I had 2-3 minutes left. I was stoked as the fast time for the day was 18:58. I mean heck, I had time for a crash and still roll across in first. But, that wasnt what I wanted. I rolled across with a 17:34 and felt like I could have gone faster. I was happy. I wish some more of the other area fast guys woulda shown, but still, I was satisfied with what I did.

Saturdays cool conditions turned to a freezing Sunday morning and worse yet, freeze thaw. Nano led out the climb. I had no interest in pace-making yet as this was also my warm-up. Once we arrived at the top, Kevin Atkinson and myself quickly seperated ourselves from the pack and stayed away for the next hour and forty-five minutes. Being a roadie, he was content to sit on my wheel the whole time until I finally dropped him when he slid out around a corner and jammed up his derailure trying to force his gears to go places they didnt want to be. I finished with a winning margin of almost 5 minutes and most importantly, the $100 bonus for winning all 3 events (I was the only Pro in the short-track and thats the kinda odds I like).

Thats the way I like to start a season. The next few weeks will tell if this moral victory translates to more real ones, but for now I am 2 for 2 and feeling good.

Race, color nor creed

Not really a fitting title. Here's what happened this weekend.

Time Trial: I didn't warm up as well as I should have so I felt like I was going to shit my chamois the whole time I was climbing up the ridge. Other than that it was pretty non-eventful. I finished with a time of 21:38 or something like that, good enough for next to last place, but it wasn't last so I was content to not try another run. I was also content with my time because it was faster than all of the sport times I saw posted aside from the one posted by that hummer driving preacher man. I didn't try another run and I didn't do short track because I knew the cross country race on Sunday was going to hurt.

XC: It was freaking cold while we were warming up. The sun hadn't made it to the valley of the shadow of doubt yet so the grass was still frosted and I knew there was going to be some freeze thaw in effect on the trails. After rolling around for a while we lined up and went, the start was relatively slow only a couple guys were up front really working to get the hole shot. There were 20 guys on the line for the expert race. There were quite a few of us that were content to sit back near the back. I got into the woods with a few people behind me and more up front. I was riding really conservatively because I knew it was going to be a long race I think quite a few others were doing the same. When we got to the wagon trail Bo, Tom and some other guy went around. I rode their wheel for a while but then let them slip off because I didn't have much confidence that I could keep that pace for the whole race. I think their gap opened up the most when I stopped to take off one of my shoe covers. Towards the end of the first lap I was catching back up with Bo but Tom and the other guy were nowhere to be seen. I stopped in the field and took of my other shoe cover. Some little girl ran through the finishing area without looking both ways and I nearly plowed her. Second lap involved some serious granny ringing so that I could save enough in my legs to make it to the finish. On the switchbacks I was catching up with a couple other guys like John Grant and the guy I didn't know that had previously passed me. When we got up top they got away from me some but were still within site until I dropped a gu on the wagon road. I stopped to pick it up (because I wasn't in a hurry) but I couldn't unclip so I fell over, one of the screws in my cleat had come out so the cleat was spinning around and I couldn't get out even while I was laying on the ground, so I had to take the shoe off and get it unclipped with my hand. Then I stood in the middle of the trail with one shoe on waiting for the guy behind me to catch up so I could bum a tool. He let me borrow one, I tightened the cleat up and eventually caught back up with him and passed him back. A few miles later I stopped again to add some air to my front tire, it was too squishy in the turns. With a little over a mile to go, I finally caught back up with Bo because he broke down. Apparently he was doing something with his skewer and the end shot off of it to be lost in the leaves of the woods. I finished feeling pretty wiped out, I fell over again at the car, almost on top of dustin greer because the cleat in my other shoe had come undone and I couldn't unclip. Guess I should check my cleat screws before the next race.

Goal for the race: Don't finish DFL. Accomplished. Avg heart rate 168, max 184. That's a pretty low average hr for me. Maybe next time maybe I can be a little more aggressive.

jealousy

As the title of this entry alludes to, I'm jealous. It's the first day of the MTB race season for 2007 and I didn't race. Not tomorrow either. Instead today's excitement was 50 very slow road miles in scenic southern Indiana to be followed with 60 miles on the road again tomorrow. This sucks. I was reading about todays TT at Youngers' Creek and looking at Big County's pics. Man I wanna ride my mountain bike. Rowbear and Anthony look so cool on their Scalpels that I wanna ride mine, it's way cooler than Rowbears.

The shoulder is still tight and I was feeling it for the last 45 minutes of todays' ride. With that said, I guess it's a good thing I'm not trying to get out there on the MTB. 2 more weeks until my next doctor's visit - I hope I get the go-ahead to return to the dirt at that time. As of now I'm projecting that my first race of the year will be May 5th, at the DINO Warsaw race or Park Mammoth if they schedule it for that date. Either way, its 7 weeks from today, so I better get working on my fitness. Wish me luck.

EDIT: After about 15 minutes on the road bike today (Sunday) it became obvious that 60 miles wasn't in the cards. So I suffered thru 32 chilly miles (I was under-dressed). So after that I'm a little less jealous of the guys that raced this weekend.

With so much drama in the LBC

Snoop was talking about Long Beach City when he said it. I'm referring to the Louisville biking community (not the club). Makes me wonder if there is this much drama in other regions. I wouldn't be surprised to see it in many areas where there are competing shops and interests. Sometimes I just wish all we had to talk about was how awesome some local trails or local riders are instead of speculating about whether this role of the marionette is going to pay off or trying to dance around explaining why there are different factions in the community. Oh well.

Younger's creek TT, STXC and XC this weekend. Biiiggg weekend. I wish we had the weather we had last weekend for this weekend though. It's supposed to be in the low 50s upper 40s tomorrow and Sunday. Also, it has rained a crap load and I can't imagine the trails are going to be perfect. Younger's does drain well though so hopefully it won't be sloppy. I remember being incredulous a year or two ago when the trail reports were good, because we had had some rain and I was expecting a full on slop fest. Come to find out on race day, it actually wasn't too bad out there. That new section will have to be holding water though, no way around that. I imagine some people might stay home assuming the trails will be too muddy to race. My logic is that the race is going to happen whether I show up or not so I might as well show up and donate my money because some of that will go back to the club so that they can afford to make repairs and do more trail work in the future. The central kentucky wheelmen have done a whole lot of work out there, I mean a whole whole lot and I'm sure they would be disappointed to not have a good turn-out this weekend, that would be more defeating for them than if they had to do trail repair for a weekend or two after the race. So come out and race, just remember to bring some knee/leg warmers and arm warmers and a base layer. Younger's creek is an awesome trail system, my most favorite in the Louisville area. Come check it out.

Bow before your King

yes. i am the new lord of cat 4-5 road racing. it took 8-9 years before they finally let me do one, i mean who needs that showboaty 1-2-3 crappola? awesome day, very weird organization to the race and any attempts at payout or results. lucky for me, brad nelson was there, a very fast 17 year old from indy, to share the pace-making on lap one and take some short pulls on 2 and 3. the highlight of the day was going through the 3-4 group and saying "cat 5's on your left." so, thats my road race for the year, done and over with. see some snaps taken by the super sexy big country soon to be posted somewhere.

Back on the Bike

After consulting with my doc, I can now ride my bike again. Kinda. Just on the road, not allowed to hit the trail yet. So I made the most of todays fantastic weather and spent an hour on my road bike. 60 minutes of 70-degree bliss in March. Early March at that.

The shoulder was OK, not as good as I had hoped. It was tight most of the ride and a few twinges, but no real pain. I left my house and rode around a little bit before testing on the Sleepy Hollow climb. Things went fairly well and I'm happy to have logged some miles.

It will be at least 3 more weeks (next doc appt) before I'm on the trails again, but I can live with that. There is some catch-up needed fitness wise and the road bike is a fine place to work on that.

incoherent ramblings of a...

Let this be a lesson to you all; kids, dont watch LOST and try to write a recap of your last race. at least not without a proofer in the room. Otherwise, you may end up with the long, rambling steaming pile you see below. Thanks!

Snake creek gap TT

“I need everyone to load their bikes on the trailers by 9:30! If you are in the parking lot and have not loaded your bike, do it now!” Thus began the 2007 racing season. The Snake Creek Gap Time Trial Series isn’t some sissy paved roadie time trial. Nor is this a groomed, shortened XC course either (no offense CKW). This is a 34 mile off-road TT that takes place in the mountains of Northern Georgia, Dalton to be exact, that offers mile upon miles of rock gardens, stream crossings, long stripes of red dirt through bright green meadows, and seemingly endless climbing.

Heavy rains and tornados Thursday apparently did not See Rock City and the trails were in pretty good shape considering the amount of moisture that hit the ground. The morning was cool, mid 50’s and breezy, a downright heat wave compared to Louisville temps. My shockingly white stumps made their first appearance for 2007 and it felt great to jump on the bike without 10 tons of wind-blocking gear on. So we loaded the bikes on the trailers, got changed and headed to the pre-race meeting. After being assured the trail would eat us alive, we headed to the bus for the 30 minute ride to the start line. Nice spot up front, one of the first off. Grabbed the bike and did a quick roll-around to see if all things were good to go; shifters, brakes, computer, all good.

No warm-up is the order of the day, just line up and go. I got out in the 3rd or 4th wave with four riders per wave. As soon as the starter shouted the order to go, my heart rate monitor cut out. Crap. I don’t want to do a 34 mile TT on an unknown trail without at least knowing how hard I was going. I have raced long enough to have a good idea of how hard to push. The race started on a roller coaster of a trail that shot through a deep creek (wet feet became a theme for the day, I love wool socks) that gradually gave way to a long climb. It was a perfect early climb, not too steep, just settle into a smooth tempo.

After about 40 minutes, I caught the last rider to start in front of me except Thomas Turner. This was good an bad – without any rabbits left in front of me, (I knew catching Turner who started 4 minutes up wasn’t going to happen), and no hrm to remind me to keep it rolling, motivation at times was hard to come by. Three hours is a long solo. All I had to go on was time. I rolled through the 1/2 way point about 1:25 and felt pretty good. I kept hoping the monitor would kick in, but instead it was like a severely autistic kid, every now and again shouting “227!" "55!” and the course kept going up. And up.

I finally started catching some of the 17 mile riders who where able to give me distance to the finish with about 8 miles remaining. At this point the popular barns “See Rock City” popped into my head because the last 8 where nothing but a minefield of rocks. By the time I saw the 5 to go, I was cursing the rocks openly. At that point, they cursed back because from then on the trail just went up. It followed the ridgeline of the mountain, so the end of the climb kept looking like it was just ahead only reveal more. Cruel, cruel trail. Finally a station of some sort appeared in the distance. As I rolled up to it, the trail turned to fire road going straight down. And down fast. It was so sweet, just tuck in tight, feather the brakes for the turns and fly. The road turned from gravel to pavement I realized, this was it. Just a couple ticks over 3 hours, I was charged and began to spin the cranks to try to generate any more speed.

I crossed the line at 3:03 my time, 3:09 their time. They screwed up some results that day, but the 6 minute discrepancy only made a difference to me, not the final standings so wasn’t going to argue. Beer, food and a cover hair band followed. I don’t know which was best, but they all rocked. I am happy with the result for the first race of the season, losing only to two local, and very fast, riders. I felt like I could was capable of more, but all things considered, it did the trick.

L'Esprit Road Race

quick race report:

I stayed up front most of the first lap. Pulled back a break on accident the first lap, I was acutally just trying to bridge up to John and some other dude but I accidentally brought the peleton with me. Second lap I pulled back another break, on purpose. I attacked on the third lap but that didn't last very long, the wind was killing and the group wasn't really letting anyone get away. I did stay up with the front group the whole time. With about a mile to go a dude in front of me touched tires and went down, he was immediately in front of me so I hit his bike and went down. i think my bike is okay and my body is alright, except two of my fingers feel jammed, also a couple sore spots on my legs. I got up as quickly as I could after the wreck and finished. I was the first person to finish after the bunch sprint which also had some carnage going on. There were about 14 guys in the lead group, and probably at least another 30-40 starters. I got 12th. I'm happy with the way I rode but really frustrated by the crash.

It was a big week for me. Biggest I can ever remember doing, high volume, steady intensity, not high intensity though. I ended up getting in 13 hours and close to 180 miles. I won't have another week with this type of volume till May or so. I'm looking for this week, only 6 1/2 hours scheduled. I don't even have to excercise at all on Tuesday or Friday. Oh man, what will I do with myself?

Anthony went down to Georgia cause he was looking for a soul to steal, actually he went down there to do a mtb time trial. He did well, I'm so proud of him.

Here are a couple pictures that duane took of the 4/5 finish.

On The Mend

So it's not all bad news. I suffered a minor (grade 1 or 2) separation of the AC joint in my left shoulder. Its getting better every day, and hopefully this coming Friday I'll be cleared to start doing weight-bearing exercises. That will be 3 weeks after my wreck. I have a lot less dull-ache-annoying-pain and pretty good range of motion. It's still a little tender but the ugly bruise is almost totally gone.

Most of the info I've been able to find says an injury like this usually takes 6 weeks for full recovery, so I'm optimistic. Optimistic I'll be out on the road bike this coming week-end and optimistc I'll be back on the trails in late March. So at this point it looks like my first MTB race of the year will be Park Mammoth, depending on when they actually decide to schedule the race. I'm somewhat dissappointed that I'm probably gonna miss the entire Spring Road Race series. I had also hoped to race at Chickasaw Trace and LBL but expect to miss both due to my shoulder and another conflict.

So I have a new Mountain Bike sitting in my basement that I haven't ridden in 3 weeks. And yeah, it's still cooler than Rowbears. But at least I've ridden mine; he has a brand-spanking-new bike that's never seen a trail. Hopefully the weather will cooperate for him and give him the opportunity to get it dirty.

What I'm up to

I'm up to working on getting fast. Faster than Johnnie Huston. He is weak and I will sacrifice his legs upon the alter of the 7 dwarves on March 18th. He is so weak he gives money to the homeless and makes himself feel tough by making the females cry. I hope I see him at cherokee park tonight so I can knock him over while he tries to pedal his fixed gear bike with the silly handlebars.


I expect an anonymous comment to come from this.

-RJT 4-life

i can do it too

post deuce

are you ready? well put on your bib, grab your knife and fork cuz i'm serving up a big ol hot n spicy platter of blog. mmmmm. was it good for you? i spent all day on it.

chaffing my bell-end

I went to Henderson over the weekend to take care of some wedding arrangement stuff, blah, blah. Took my road bike but forgot my riding shorts. I only had my wind-proof riding pants which have no chamois in them. So on saturday I went out for a little over an hour and a half. IN a commando type fashion cause it was only tights for me, nothing beneath. After about an hour of riding I stopped for a nature break and realized that I was doing crucial damage to my little soldier. He was terribly red and it hurt to pee, like I had an std or something. I think all that flopping around and rubbing against my pants was bad for him so I took off my arm warmer and wrapped the little guy up and then started home. Thank goodness there was no permanent damage. That night I went to Goody's and bought some boxer-briefs because I had only brought boxers with me and they don't do a very good job keeping things in place. So Sunday I went out for close to three hours with boxerbriefs and the windproof tights on. It was definitely an improvement but man my butt sure did start to hurt towards the end of the ride. And out of the 4 or 5 dogs that chased me, only one scared me a little. I was doing 25 and that thing was still gaining. That was about all the excitement I had for the weekend. Hope yours was good too. Always remember kids, cycling shorts with a chamois in them make your kibbles and bits happy.

-R

what a vacation

The days that Cory and I spent in Hawaii were so marvelous. He's so silly sometimes but in a good way. This is a picture Big Country took of Cory and I on the beach, our last night of vacation.

Not the way to start the year

This isn't how I wanted things to start this season. I'm sitting here with a sore shoulder, the result of an uncontrolled dismount this past weekend. Had it x-rayed, looks like a mild separation of my Left Shoulder. I'll know more on Friday when I visit the Ortho doc.

I had (still have) big plans for this season. I'm on a new bike, an '07 Cannondale Scalpel 1 and on a new (kinda) team. New in the sense that I'm "on the team" this year instead of just posing like I did last year and racing in an Clarksville A-Team Jersey.

I get a lot of questions as to which class I'm going to race this year. I'm now racing as a 40-year-old, so I get to go against the geezers instead of the young punks. Good deal. This is an opportune time to make the jump to Expert, but I'm not sure I'm ready, now with the shoulder if I have to take any time off the bike it'll create even more doubt. Besides, if I stay in the Sport class I can beat up on Joe Collins of Team Louisville and Bo King from Humana/CC. Both good guys and good competitors.

That's all for my first post, we'll see if I can get this thing to work. And yeah, my bike is cooler than Rowbear's, thanks for asking. Black bikes rock.

Duane

big purchase

I got my scalpel yesterday. It wasn't too bad when I picked it up. Felt alright. I did a couple hot laps around the parking lot. The new x0 shifters and derailer feel so good. Now, how long will it take before the trails are dry enough for me to ride it. Oh well, I'm sure my roadbike is feeling neglected anyway since it hasn't been outside in a few weeks.

Big group rides and cold weather

got an awesome group ride in on Saturday out at Younger's creek. There was snow on the ground and 30 minutes after riding a section our tracks would be covered when we came back to it. Snow wasn't deep, just enough to cover the gound. You could see the white single-track snaking it's way through the woods. Kind of magical and epic. I got in nearly 3 1/2 hours, that's a pretty big mtb ride for me. I had a couple wrecks 3 of them were because I kept trying to make it up the drop in and kept falling over at the top. The other wreck hurt the worst because it was an actual wreck on high speed off camber stuff, I just slid out and ricocheted off the ground, it was pretty hard and jaggedy because it was frozen. John and Anthony rode past and made fun of me. Now I've got a pretty good scab going on in my right ass cheek/hip region. I was pretty beat by the end of the ride and had to take it easy yesterday on the rollers for 45 minutes. I'm getting to where I can watch t.v. a bit while I'm on the rollers. I tried to take a drink too but that nearly ended catastrophically.

stuff

this is my first blog. enjoy.

~Anthony

A new mountain bike

I ordered one of these last week. It will be my first full suspension bike. It will also be my first time with hydro disc brakes. I had avid mechanical before but wasn't too impressed mainly because they always seemed making a little noise. I haven't even really ridden a full sus. so this should be interesting.

It came with an xt group aside from the xtr rear der. I changed the shifters out to x0 grip shift, cause I love grip shift and so I had to change the rear der. to an x0. I also upgraded the pedals to stainless steal eggbeaters. I love my time pedals but I couldn't ignore how much lighter the eggbeaters are. Since the mavic 819 wheelset isn't as light as the crossmax sl's I've been thinking of every possible way I can to shed some weight without springing for the crossmax wheels (they're spensive). I think I'm going to try to change the shimano brake rotors out for something lighter like hope mono mini's if the two will work together, xt calipers with hope rotors. I hope all this money I'm dropping on bikes makes me faster. It's not like I'm training or anything. :)

I'm sure the money I've been spending on coaching is going to do way more for me than new bikes, and the cost of coaching is so much less than the cost of new scalpels and schwinn pelotons.

It has been a little harder than I expected to get rid of my hard-tail. I've resorted to piecing it out but so many people have stuff for sale right now. I think if I can hold off till March or April I will fair much better.

supposed to do a roadrace this weekend, if it doesn't get called because of weather I'll let you know how it goes down.

A little exposure

Here I am running second on the cover of a local magazine. This is from the cross race I did back in December. My first cross race ever, I got 3rd but the two guys who beat me were from Ohio so I am the Kentucky State Cyclocross champion for the C's. haha, lucked into that.

As far as training goes. It has been really freaking cold, good thing about that is that most trails are frozen so I got out on the mtb for 2 1/2 hours on Saturday and then again on Sunday, I rode around on the cx course. It was on 22 degrees and felt like 16 but I stayed pretty warm, that is until I started heading home, my already cold toes became really cold and started hurt a little. I need to get some of those hothand type things for my feet. Today it's like 16 degrees but is supposed to feel like 0 and I believe it. My eye sockets felt like they were going to freeze as I rode my bike to work this morning. I'm supposed to do my first road race ever this weekend, weather prediction is for 28 degrees. Man, that sounds brutal.

yay

A picture from December's cyclo-cross race with me in it made the cover of the Kentuckiana Health Fitness magazine. it's a free monthly publication. In the picture I'm running second, it was right after the start of the race. Regardless, I was pretty stoked. First time I've made a paper since high school football.