Rich's Ramblings

Last and first race of the season.....

2011-12-04T16:55:00.003-06:00

It was a busy weekend for me. I had to work on Friday so I didn't make it back to St. Louis. It also helped that there was a dryland dogsled race yesterday. The Missouri State CX championships was today as well as the Illinois State race here in Chicago. I decided to just stay put and do my/our first dog race and then do the Illinois state race today. I was a little disappointed I couldn't improve on my 2nd place finish in the Masters race from last year.

Todays race was at Montrose Harbor, right on the lakefront. I wasn't really feeling it, my motivation to race has been a little low. I don't know if it's the commuting, the weather, or maybe because dogsled season is around the corner. To make matters worse, I knew I wouldn't get a good start position so the thought of starting in the last row was a real downer. I think staging was done in order of Chicago Cross Cup points, then Crossresults.com points. I figured at least I could get into the mddile of the pack. The next thing to figure out was which race to do, the 40+ masters or the CAT 3. The promoter emailed me stating there were only 55 preregistered in 40+, 85 in CAT 3. 40+ it was.

40+ was the first race, 8:45. I got up around 3:45 and started to work on my bike. I hadn't done anything with it since the Mt. Pleasant Winery bloodbath. I cleaned it up, tweaked the brakes, and cleaned the mud out of the right shifter. I got all packed up, made it Starbucks, and then headed out. For somebody who doesn't usually register until the last minute I actually made it there before registration even opened. I love when the preregistered line has 20 dudes in it and the day of line has nobody in it. I signed up and rode two laps. I got 1.43 miles per lap. The race had a nice mix of features. a couple sand pits, some twists and turns, and then a nice little climb straight into a headwind.

There were roughly 65-70 racers. We staged and I didn't even make it to the middle of the pack. I was propabley two to three rows from last. I was able to make up some ground on the long straightaway, but once we got to the first turn everything bottlenecked. I had to take some risks and I ended up going down on one turn, but I was quickly back up. I could see two groups forming in front of me. I thought maybe 20-30 guys in front. I had such a bad position to start from that catching the lead group was a pipe dream. I ended up picking off a few guys and then at the end I was in a battle with about three guys. I caught and passed one. I traded the lead with the next guy, but then he faded. The last guy had a sizeable gap, but I ended up keeping pace and then he must've faded. I caught him just prior to the last lap and I just stayed on his wheel until the twists and turns. I passed him and gassed it out of the corner. I slowly grew my lead on him. Even though I wasn't in contention just catching and passing some strong riders was a victory in my book. The IL CAT 3 champ from last year could only muster 2 places in front of me.

Chicago is a whole different animal then Bubba. There's twice as many guys in each field, and that includes three masters fields, which Bubba doesn't even have. That's no knock on Bubba, but Chicago has so many more racers to draw from. I've gotten a few people saying I need to CAT up, but they are the same people who haven't raced up here. While I've been pretty consistent in Bubba(especially after a few updgrades), having all top 10's and several podiums, I'd be hardpressed to say I'd be that consistent up here. It would be nice to see how I would've faired in the CCC series. I may still CAT up and next year concentrate on Masters and CAT123.

Now for the first race of the year, my first, I mean, our first bikejoring race. I met the Green Valley Dog Drivers group once last year, before I left for Kansas City, and then once last weekend. They let me take out an 8 dog rig for the first time. The most I'd done was four on a rig and on my bike. Anyways, I made the 2 1/2 hour drive up to Fond du lac, WI. It was raining when I got there and continued to rain off and on all morning. I decided to enter the four and two dog class. They were pretty laid back and ran rigs, scooters, and bikes all in one class. I was hoping to run my dogs with one of the strong lead dogs from the group, but as it worked out I ended up using my dogs in lead with two unknown dogs in wheel position. Kasha looked just like Teemu, only she was all white, and Kormack was a tall lanky husky. Nothing went right. My phone went to roaming so I had no maps on my phone gps and I had to call Jess for directions, then I wanted a Starbucks, but once again, couldn't dial one up on my phone. Then I went to prep my bike wanted to strap my gps and video camera to the handlebars. It wa just too cold and wet to tape the camera up. We finally got them staged to go. sFrom the start Skates and Teemu were enthusiastic and were perfect lead dogs. They were really going. I had no idea what to expect from Kormack and Kasha, but they both did great. Kasha pulled her little heart out. My first bikejor race didn't go without a hitch though. Kormack decided to take a poop break, then I took a good spill. The dogs were really going and there was a big long puddle right at a turn. I hit that puddle and there must've been ice at the bottom because my front tire washed right out and I ended up plowing right in that huge puddle. I was up and back on pretty quick though. My next hiccup was when I got to another transition. I ran into a fork and had no idea where I was going. I decided to get off the bike and run the 30-40 yards so I could see the next marker. I got my bearing down and then we finished it up strong. I brought the dogs to the car and gave them some canned chicken. We had about 20 minutes before they had to go again. This time the enthusiasm wasn't quite there for Skates and Teemu. Right from the start they just trotted out of the chute and found the first tree to pee on. Then then Teemu had to go poop. It wasn't until after about the first mile that they started to go. They were pretty tired. Since this was an all class race I was told to either not pedal or take off the chain. I just didn't pedal, but I did use it scooter style and pushed my bike with one leg. In the four dog group the GreenValley club had four of the top five spots. I ended up in 5th, about four minutes down on 1st place. In the two dog I ended up in 4th. All in all we had a great time and I learned a little bit more about this sport.

Mt. Pleasant mudfest.....

2011-11-14T19:22:00.004-06:00

Yesterday........or should I say today since I haven't slept yet, was Bubbacross #9, Mt. Pleasant winery. I had been feeling a bit under the weather on Saturday. I actually had thoughts on skipping out of the race because of it and I didn't do much for training during the week other then a couple hours on the trainer on Wednesday. I woke up sunday to cold and wet conditions. I had a lot to do before the race since the race was an hour away and then had to make the drive to Chicago after that in my old, loud, rusted out, lacking of any power 94 Jeep Wrangler. I knew it was gonna be a long drive. Short of waking up with the flu, not racing was out of the question, especially since it was really the first race this year in true cross conditions. Aaron called me on the way to say it was coming down pretty good, great, more rain was not what I wanted.

I got to the winery an hour before the start. It was cold, wet, and had,the makings of something really miserable, but I usually do pretty good in the mud. I was able to sneak onto the course for half a lap to check the conditions. They pretty much sucked. Aarin had said it was a skating rink out there, but I had to experience it for myself. As I rode back to the car my nemesis Peter, from Bigshark was sitting on a trainer under a tent.......hmmm, propably the only smart way to warm up in those conditions. I had to get my heartrate up, especially since I hadn't really done shit all week. I did a few quick sprints in the parking lot.

Everyone was already lined up, I lined up right behind Peter. We started out neutral through the slick pavement area and then hit this grass, or should I say mud. Everyone was taking it very cautiously around the turns. It soon started to get thinned out with only four of us. Peter, Matt, myself, and some other nameless guy I'll refer to as mt. Bi,er dude, only because somebody else refered to him as that. The race at the front started to get established. Peter, then Matt, myself, and then mt. biker dude. There were gaps being created between all of us. A few laps later I suddenly passed Matt. I could see he was in some sort of difficulty. I ran passed him on the big hill. I didn't see him again until the end of the race. I was having all sorts of difficulties navigating the big off camber turn in front of the sellout crowd. It was fun hearing all the cheers and heckling. I was able to ride it about a third of the time, the other thirds I was crashing, having to run it. I think my lack of practice and tire pressure on that did me in. I also took it too hot. I seemed to have forgotten that one rule that sometimes its fast to go slow! I started to slow and soon the mt. Biker dude caught me. We played cat and mouse for a few laps. He'd catch and pass me before the big hill, but then I'd end up passing him on the climb and then put a gap on him. It was during theses last few laps my fingers were so numb from the cold I couldnt even shift or brake without feeling pain if I could even do it at all. Finally, before the last lap I figured if I just stayed with this guy to the hill I'd easi y pass him. That idea didn't pan out. I went down on Amen corner which allowed him to get a gap that I couldn't recover from. I'd say he only got 10-20 seconds on me, enough for second, and I got third. About a minute or two later I was surprised to see Matt come in for a sprint finish for 4th with ss Pete.

After the race I made the trip to Chicago in my old faithful Jeep. Almost 20 years old, but still keeps truckin along. The natural 70 mph governor kept me at the speed limit, but it was a long and slow drive.

My next race may be in two weeks. I'll more then likely be up here in Chicago for the holidays. Jinglecross over in Iowa looks like the closest race this weekend.

Two'fer cross weekend.....

2011-11-14T06:30:00.003-06:00

Another two race weekend. Saturdays race was at the Concordia Seminary where I took third last year in my only bubba race, and Sundays race was in my backyard at Creve Coeur Park. I really needed to get some points this weekend after the fiasco last week when I forgot my shoes and had to drive home and try to make the B race. I missed the start by about two minutes. I ended up just doing the A race, which wasn't bad. I ended up 13th out of 18 racers. I did beat Denny though, my nemesis from crossresults.

The Concordia course was set up similar to last years, which was a good thing, technical and fast. I finally got my spare bike built up and was able to get it in the pits. It's actualy nicer then my regular bike. I was able to get a partial lap in for my warm-up. I had a decent spot in the first row. There were 32 starters for this one. From the start I was able to get a good jump. I tried not to start out too hard, but definetly wanted to be in a good position before the tree section and definetly before the log obstacle. I figured too far back and I'd get caught up in traffic. I was third going into the woods. There was one guy I tangled with a bit, I tried to squeeze by and he shut me down. I was finally able to pass him a bit later. I can't remember if I was first over the log, but by the time I got back to the start/finish line I had the lead. I think I had a pretty good gap with only a few guys in the chase. I was eventually caught by Peter J, and SS Peat with Patrick G not too far behind. We were making good ground and Peat took over the pacemaking on his singlespeed. I knew Peat had just raced and thought he might fade so there was no sense in taking the lead. Peat was struggling up the slight incline after the log all day and Peter decided to hammer it and we eventually dropped him.

It was a two man race after that. I had the luxury earlier in the race to follow Peat's line outside the staircase while Peter was in the lead. On the last lap I took the outside line while Peter ran up the staircase. It gave me just enough time to get out in front and put a small gap on him. I didn't even think of it being illegal at the time. There was no tape and several other people were taking that line. I just thought of it as being another risk vs. reward obstacle. There was a post that was situated to the right that really could've created havoc if you got your bar caught on it. From a strategic standpoint, Peter didn't have the advantage of watching Peat take that line. I don't know if it was because of this scenario, but apparently there was a thread started on the stlbiking messageboard about people taking that line, http://stlbiking.com/forum/index.php/topic/29086-riding-around-obstacles/. In any case, I stand by the line I took. I put a small gap on him, but I knew I had to work because he was just a bit faster then me on the slight incline after the log. When I remounted after the last staircase he was right behind me through the twist and turns. One bobble and he'd pass me. We came out of the trees and I sprinted the last 200 meters to the finish. I waited for him to come around, but he never did.

I've had a few seconds and thirds in road, mt. bike, and cross, but my first victory since my xc mt. biking days in the mid 90's. As much as I enjoyed that win I think Denny was actually happier then I was.

It was back to work on Sunday to try and get back those points for the overall. After checking out the points, it looks like it may be an uphill battle with the amount of races left. It was nice having this race in my backyard, but the course setup did not suit me at all. It was mostly flat and not too technical. Before the race I saw teammate Dwayne G. It was his first cross race. He asked for a bit of advice, but honestly what could I tell an off-road superstar that he doesn't already know. I just told him to treat it like a mt. bike race and he'd do fine. I got a couple practice laps in and knew it would be a tough course for me. We lined it up and from the start I was out in front for the first two laps. As we started the third lap I had Mark H and Dwayne behind me. I didn't want to lead this race and blow myself up so I let dwayne and mark go. Dwayne really poured it on as he passed and soon he and Mark had a gap. Matt D eventually caught me and I pulled him for a few laps before I decided I shouldn't be doing all the work. He took over and we soon caught and passed Mark, but still had a contingency of riders just behind us. I soon fell off Matts pace and was caught by Peter, Mark, and I think Patrick. I still kept the lead throughout the last lap half heartedly thought I could make it stick. Pete made a well timed pass at the end to get in front of me. He had the jump on me on the last turn and we sprinted for third. He won. Teammate Dwayne showed his ability by walking away from the rest of us to take the win by a decent margin. Great job Dwayne.

Next up is Pleasant Hill Winery.

Cross season in full swing.....race reports

2011-11-01T18:54:00.005-05:00

As the title states, the cross season is well under way. I started out the season slow with only hitting one Pride race where I raced the Masters, and then the Chicago Cross Cup race. Those were my races to get the cobbwebs off the old pistons. It's now three weeks, and five races later. I've been concentrating on the Bubba Series B race(cat 3/4). This is only my second season doing cross so I'd like to do well in the B's before moving up to the A's and get my ass handed to me.

I've been doing relatively well placing in the top 10 through the first five races. I'm actually in contention for the overall sitting in fourth place. Two of the guys ahead of me have have now upgraded to CAT 2's so now I'm actually in second place, but I really need to bear down and pull out a victory to gain maximum points. The other guys in the top 10 are still very strong and it's gonna be tough to maintain high places for the rest of the series. My travel and work schedule make it hard to get some good mid week training in, but I've been making do. I've been trying to put up my race reports, but usually after every Sunday race I'm getting in my car and making the five hour drive to Chicago which doesn't give me a lot of blog time.

Bubba #1 Queeny(night), 5th
Bubba #2 Queeny, 6th
Bubba #3 Fort Bellefontaine, 7th
Bubba #4 Faust Park(night), 4th
Bubba #5 Faust Park, 3rd

Bubba #4

This was a night race and I was pretty tired. I helped Denny pour concrete in the morning. He supposedly gave me the easy job, but it was still back breaking work. My upper body was a little tired and sore eight hours later. I was able to get on the trainer for about 10 minutesbefore the race, enough time to get the heartrate up a bit before heading to the start line. There was about 35-40 racers and I was able to get into the first row. There were plenty of costumes at the start line. The best was the dude with the creature strapped to his back. I felt how heavy it was and I can't imagine him having much fun. While I was there Sunny G.(triathlon superstar) squeezed her way right next to me. She was in a nice Sequenced short skirt, I didn't know if I wanted to pass her or stay right behind her. As the race started Devlin took off and I stayed right behind him. After about 3/4 of a lap I had to make the pass along with a few other guys. It came down to myself, Frenchy, another guy named Pete, and Matt D. We had a four man lead on everyone else before I started to fade. Those guys were really hammering and the course and played to their advantage. I was in no mans land and I could see Peter J in his bright orange carrot suit hot on my tail. The last couple laps I started to have drivetrain problems. My chain was slipping and I was just hoping to keep it in one piece to the finish. I was able to hold him off for fourth place. The next day I looked at my chain and it turned out one of the links got bent, so I ended up replacing the chain.

Bubba #5

This race was a crap shoot. I felt like crap. I dug so deep the night before that I had stomach cramps that kept me up all night. I had to take a little pepto just so I could fall asleep. The weather was made for cross, mid to low 50's, windy, and a little drizzle. Once again I was able to get a front row spot. There was only 30-35 racers for this one. Right from the gun I got the holeshot and just kept on hammering. Before I knew it I had a decent sized gap. I started wondering if I had started out too hard, but the body wasn't telling me I had. I decided to slow up just a bit. I led for about two laps before finally being caught by Patrick. Later he told me he was actually yelling at me to wait for him. I didn't hear him, but it worked out and he caught me. Patrick and I took turns for a few more laps. I could see Matt D slowly creeping in on us and I told Patrick we needed to get on our horse because that guy really has a motor. It didn't matter, he ended up catching us and we had a three man paceline going. Myself and Matt ended up taking turns pulling as Patrick sat on complaining about his back. Matt really did more of the work, but we also had a Mack guy slowly catching us. He got really close a couple times, but Matt and I really kept the hammer down as best we could. On the last lap I had just taken a pull through a bit of an uphill section as Patrick came around us like he was shot out of a cannon. Matt followed, but I just didn't have any gas. I did what I could to keep the Mack guy at bay. Patrick took the win and I took 3rd.

Bubba #5 Faust Park, 3rd

dan ryan woods race.......

2011-10-10T18:57:00.005-05:00

This was my second race of the cross season. The Chicago Cross Cup races are great and very popular here in Chicago. I did the Wauconda race last year and had a blast. I had to start work at O'hare today so my original plan was to drive up Saturday afternoon and get settled in at my crashpad and then be rested for Sundays races. I also planned to do two races. Originally, I wanted to race the 40+ and then the CAT 3 race. I would have, but as Saturday wore on, it got later in the day and plus the Blues home opener was on tv that night. I decided to just stay in St. Louis and then drive up in the morning. I got up at 4am and was in Chicago by 10am. I had to scratch the original plan to race the 40+ since it started earlier in the morning. I then tried to sign up for both the CAT 3 and CAT 123. I didn't read the fine print on the flyer and found out day of registration was an extra five dollars, so instead of $40 for both races it was $45. I only had $40 on me. I figured I'd try to find an ATM after the CAT 3 race.

I warmed up on the trainer for about 15 minutes and then rode one lap around the course. The course was longer then I was used to. It had a nice steep tree covered climb, another climb, some technical stuff, two barrier sections, and a log jump. It had a bit of everything, but it also had some good, flat power sections which worked to my disadvantage.

When I got back from my warmup lap they started call ups. There was close to 70racers, and when it was all said and done I was in the last row. This ended up working to my advantage. When we started everyone got piled up within the first 50 yards. I hadn't ridden this part of the course and I couldn't believe there was already a pile up. I thought there must've been a sharp switchback turn. I ended up crashing into someone. I got my spokes caught in someone's skewer, but was able to untangle myself pretty quick and get around the worst of it. I could see the rest of the race splintered, but had no idea what position I was in. I ended up passing a few more people before everyone settled in. I could only think I was in top 30, possibly top 20. After a few laps I decided to bunny hop the log. It made for a smoother transition. I was also in a battle with a couple guys, one was an ABD guy, the other a PSIMET guy. They were both very strong. Over the next several laps we were all exchanging the lead. I then ended up slowly putting a gap on the PSIMET guy, but he kept on digging back up to me. I decided I needed to get away from him, and right behind him was the ABD guy. I didn't want to ride with these guys because I figured I'd lose the battle on the power sections towards the finish. It was hammer time, several times he caught me, but each time he did I laid it down before I broke the elastic and distanced myself from them. I could still see them bearing down on me which kept me motivated to keep pushing. The bell lap finally rang and I had the gap I needed, but just needed to keep it going. I actually gained more time on that last lap and cruised in comfortably ahead of my biggest rivals in the race. Having those guys to battle really made it hard, but fun at the same time.

I was satisfied with an 18th place considering my start position and limited racing. After the race I rode out to a Walgreens down the road to get some cash, but by the time I got back they had closed the CAT 123 registration. Honestly, I wasn't too heartbroken, I was pretty spent from the CAT 3 race, so I just watched a bit of the race before I headed out. I gotta thank the Beverly bike shop. They trued up my reynolds carbon wheel for me after the race and then I went to their shop and they replaced my bent spoke(from the crash) free of charge and even gave me a spare.

If you get a chance you've got to get out to a chicago cross cup race. There's plenty of competition, big fields, plenty of cowbells, and just a lot of fun. I'd love to do next weeks Wauconda race, but I'll be back in St. Louis for the Bubba series.

first cross race of the year.........

2011-10-02T20:35:00.005-05:00

Well, time for my quarterly update. My job in Kansas City is finally history. I thought I would give KC a try, but it just wasn't for me. It was great for commuting, but eventually making it a permenant home was just not appealing to me. I then thought I may be going to Colorado Springs when my company put in a few openings, but as luck would have it they seem to have put it on hold. My girlfriend and I were pretty disappointed about that one. My second choice, and propably the smart choice was to head back to Chicago. I was able to transfer back and should be up there within the week. I was a litte apprehensive when I originally transfered to KC anyways, so I'm lucky it worked out and I can head back.

Time to get to the racing. I had a pretty successful cross season last year eventually placing 2nd, right behind Denny, in the masters field at the State Championships. The start of the cross season hasn't exactly been ideal for me. The Pride series races over in Alton only had one Saturday race which was disappointing for me. Last year I was able to go right from the road season and right into cross. This year I haven't been able to race the road as much, having a wedding to go to, and the lack of Saturday races has really put me behind the eight ball. To really put salt in the wounds KC's cross season finally started yesterday, but I had just packed up and moved out of my apartment the day before and headed back to St. Louis. Luckily the Pride series had there one and only Saturday race yesterday.

I had to take my nephew to his soccer game in the morning so I was only able to make either the Masters or Open race. With the lack of racing in my legs I decided the Masters race would better suit me. I was short on time and still had to do a lot of work on my cross bike, which I hadn't touched since the State race last year. I got to the race about a half hour before the start and still had to adjust my brakes, change tires, change, and register. I got that all done, and still got a one lap warm up in.

We lined it up behing the Open field and they started us 30 seconds later. I didn't have my Garmin mount and my Dogfish skinsuit had no pockets. My only choice was to throw it in my skinsuit and I figured it needed to be on my back to recieve the satellites....not the best choice. I was able to get the holeshot, I didn't really even try too hard, but managed to be first. I had to look back because I was sure everyone was breathing down my back. They weren't. With my lack of racing I started to wonder if I started out too hard and if I'd hit a wall. Right about that time I got passed and looked back and saw my teammate Berndt with his crosshairs on me. I just kept trucking along. Remember that GPS I threw in my skinsuit? Well, not so much, eventually it worked it's way down and after dismounting to go over the barrier it ended up in my butt and I was sitting on it. It must've been a sight to see as I was digging it out of my ass. I never wanted to stop so I eventually did work it to the top of my leg. Berndt eventually did pass me. I stayed with him for a bit before he pulled away. Now I was in third with several guys clawing to catch me. I picked up my pace and just kept Berndt within striking distance. That worked out because the guys behind me finally faded and I had a sizeable gap and was assured a podium so long as I kept it upright and didn't have a mechanical. I even started closing in on my teammate. I don't think he finished more then 20 seconds ahead of me. It was a good Dogfish 2-3 finish.

Next weekend I plan to be in Chicago for the Cross Cup series.

alligators creek triathlon and other going ons.....

2011-08-15T20:42:00.002-05:00

it's been a while since last updating, but a lot of things have been going on. first, i've pretty much wrote the rest of the road season off. the constant commuting and long hours have finally made me decide that i was just wasting my time and money trying to be competitive this season. basically, my training just hasn't allowed me to be competitive. i decided to pack in the season and start fresh for cross season, but back in early july i did a team triathlon with my girlfriend and another friend. i had a blast. i've been wanting to do a full one, so what better time then to start then now. over the last several weeks i started putting in more time at the pool. i also started running, which i hadn't really done in years, just because it hurt so much, propably because i still biked 99% of the time. i actually used to be a decent runner until injuries and bike racing got in the way. it's easier to do swim and run workouts in kansas city too, where i don't have a lot of free time. i can have a workout done in less then an hour.

i really wasn't training for any specific triathlon when i first started running and swimming six weeks ago. i tried to sign up for lake st. louis, but it was full. then i stumbled upon the alligators creek triathlon. in o'fallon it was a sprint and only a 300m swim. it was actually the perfect distance for my first triathlon since i hadn't ran anything significant and only ran four miles once in the last six weeks. my run times had been pretty poor too. back in the day(15-20 years ago), i was putting out six minute miles, now the best i could do was just under eights. jess has also been working on my swimming over the last couple years, so it was time i put her tutelage to the test.

she gave me tips on for the swim and for the transition, but it was up to me to just go out there and do it. we got set up next to eachother in transition. she went off about 25 minutes before me. i also talked my buddy greg into doing this with me, who's only done a couple tri's himself. he was only two minutes in front of me so it gave me something to go after. it was also a pool swim, so i was somewhat used to it. all my nerves went out window once i got into the water. i was going to start my stopwatch at the end of each event, but once i started i hit the wrong button and fumbled with that the whole length of the pool, still not ever starting it. i gave up on that. i was nervous about getting caught from behind, but actually caught about four people and at one point they both stood at the wall and let me go past, pretty cool. when i got out of the pool i wondered why the people in front of me were going so slow, i thought it was a rule or etiquette, but i just ran to my bike at a good clip. when i got to my bike i realized i hadn't opened up the straps and latches on my sidi's, and had to fumble with that, got a gel, and got going. i knew greg was only a couple minutes in front of me and i figured i might catch him, which i did, a little earlier then i thought. i caught him within the first couple miles. i think it gave him a bit of an adrenaline rush because as i passed him he grabbed my wheel. he hung on for a while. as my gap grew further i yelled "you'll catch me on the run!!!" while riding, i thought, hmmmmm, why is everyone wearing their number, is the chip for the bike and run? in the heat of the moment i forgot to strap my number belt on. i was pissed that my first tri would be negated because of bonehead move on my part. i thought i just needed it for the run. oh well, couldn't do anything more, but race. i passed quite a few people, i even thought i might get dq'd for passing a cop on the centerline. they were slowed by a couple slower riders and i had no room on the right so i made the pass on the left. i'm so used to road races so it felt a bit awkward, and especially since it was an o'fallon cop i passed. the course was a little hilly, i had almost 1300ft. of climbing, and i couldn't really get into a good rythm until the final few miles. i blasted to the transistion and started out for my run. i wasn't much more then a mile into the run when greg ended up passing me. i couldn't believe he made up that much time. i caught a few people on the run and got passed by a few. it was only three miles, but i could feel it in my legs. in the last half mile jess ran towards me and gave me a boost. as i came in for the finish i sprinted the several hundred yards to finish in about 1hr 23m. i told them about the number issue and she said don't worry, "you were entered manually", phew, i was relieved. i ended up finishing 13th overall and 2nd in my age group, i'll take that for my first triathlon. on a sidenote, my girlfriend jess finsihed 1st overall for the women, not too shabby for someone i had to talk into doing. i was pretty happy for her for her first triathlon in four years and several injuries later.

lastly, i may be moving to colorado springs. over the last two years since they shut the maintenance base in st. louis i've been trying to find a city i wanna call and it looks like it may be the springs. there's more details i've got to get before i say for sure that i'll be leaving kansas city.

Ste. Genevieve State RR(#12) and the KOM!!!!

2011-06-12T22:50:00.005-05:00

Today was the Missouri state RR. I've had some disappointing finishes this year so my main goal was to finish with the main group. I also took it very easy on the bike prior to this race. In some past races I've done too much riding during the week and not enough resting. I made it a point to turn that around. I did an hour recovery last Sunday after the O'fallon debacle. Then on Monday I rode three hours, Wednesday an hour, and friday another hour. It must've worked because while the legs didn't feel 100%I could tell they had a little jump to them. The race had three short climbs per lap and in the end it was almost 4000' of climbing. I lined it up in the front row and stayed towards the front for the first lap. Two miles in Sean, from momentum, went solo. Nobody followed. He's done this before, but it's like rolling the dice. While it was almost a 70 mile race he has the ability to stay away, but still we let him go.

The first lap was uneventful, except for one guy who always dices things up in the first few miles of a race and then gets dropped. One of these days he's gonna cause a crash. He's always the most animated in the fist 10 miles of a race right before he gets dropped. I find his antics somewhat amusing though. When we came to the first little climb it caught me by surprise and I couldn't shift to the little ring and had to tackle the first climb in the big ring. It was fairly easy in the big, but I didn't want to put to much lactic acid in the legs. The next two climbs went fine and I was able to stay near the front. I was able to stay near the front after the KOM and we blasted back into town. At the feedzone both Denny and Brian grabbed bags of waterbottles. I got mine and we gave a couple others away. I was prepared for it to be another hot one, but I don't even know if it made it to 80*. I only drank one bottle that first lap.

The second lap was a bit more animated with several breaks trying to go away, but all were brought back. I could also start feeling cramps in my legs so I stretched them out on the bike and tried the best to shake them out. Maybe I should've drank more water that first lap. The first and second climbs I could feel my legs cramping a bit more. I started to foresee myself cramping to a halt, but I tried to shut it out of my mind and just kept spinning. The last climb came and I was still towards the front. For some reason I could remember suffering a lot more on these climbs in previous years, but it was still took an effort. This is also where the final selection was usually made in the past. I was able to hold off the cramps and make it up in the top 10 or so. Luckily I was able to somewhat recover before the surges to the finsh started. I was able to stay around the top 15 as we hauled ass into town. We made a left onto the main finish straight, but I wasn't sure where the finish was which was my downfall. I thought we would go around town and finish in the same direction we started, but we finished in the opposite direction. This effected my positioning and when I started to kick it up it was too late. I ended up in 13th and Brian was just out of the money in 6th. Denny, Aaron K., and Dwayne were just behind.

The team is growing and looking pretty strong. We had several guys make some moves and animate some of the race, but in the end it was all together. If I could ever get any consistency I could be more useful to the team. I can tell my climbing is coming around and if I could just lose that extra five pounds I'd be that much better. We also have two more CAT 4's that are getting consistent top five's so we should have a few more strong riders soon.

Now for the KOM, it wasn't me who won that, but my girlfriend Jess. It was also her first roadrace. I do a lot of training with her in tow and know she's got some ability. While she's done triathlons before she was a bit worried about riding in a pack which she's not used to also. She also looked like a rookie because she usually rides with a tanktop and I didn't know that she had to wear a sleeved shirt. She ended up pinning her numbers to her t-shirt. Denny and myself gave her as many tips as we could think of. I also know how good of a climber she was so she may want to go for the KOM. I told her if she got up the KOM in the lead and depending on the gap then she should just bury it and TT it to the finish. She took that advice, but a couple girls were able to close the gap for a three girl break for the finish. They made it back onto the finishing straight before getting caught by the group, but was still able to hang onto fourth. This race was a learning experience. She took a couple extra pulls on the way into town because the eventual winner skipped a couple. It was one of those things where that could've been her strategy, but then if she didn't pull they could've got caught a lot sooner. I'm sure next time she'll think twice before taking those extra pulls. All in all it was a great first race, she got paid, and I got a great KOM jersey out of the deal..............just kidding Jess!

Another great race Todd and thanks to the folks of Ste. Genevieve.

Races 8, 9, and 10........

2011-06-08T13:37:00.006-05:00

The last three races I've done I've DNF'd, pack finish, and DNF'd. This is not quite the season I've been striving for. Since I moved up to CAT 3's I have yet to be in the same form I was back then. I used to be able to mix it up and go on attacks back then and be competitive. Nowadays the struggle is just to not get dropped. While there is additional stress of working and commuting to Kansas City I refuse to let that be an excuse. I think my biggest downfall is my lack of races, lack of pre race preparation, and being about 5-7lbs. over my ideal weight. i know that doesn't seem like a lot, but for cyclists, that can be a lot.

My last race was the Hot as Hell O'fallon Grand Prix road race. A 75 mile tour around southern Illinois. It was in the high 90's and it just really felt like an oven. By far the highest temps I've ridden in this year. I figured this race would be a race of attrition since there were no real kickers or places to get a split in the peleton. The race started out easy enough. It was pretty much a parade lap. When we came into town up the hill I was up in front with no issues on the climb. I ended up being the first one to take a feed. I actually had a good gap and could've rolled off the front with a good lead, but I knew I didn't have good legs and I had Denny and Brian's bottles. It didn't matter. We were neutralized shortly after the feed because a bunch of guys were crossing the center line and one guy was dq'd. I ended up staying out in front for most of that lap. I even rolled off the front to see if anyone wanted to follow to catch the few riders off the front, but nobody followed so I drifted back to the peleton. Everyone was just content in staying put with the heat........so I thought. As I drifted back to the middle a few attacks started and there was a group of seven, then everyone turned it up and I had to go. My only problem was my legs would not go into overdrive. I had too much lactic acid in my legs from the previous weeks training and not giving them some rest. I paid for it, I couldn't latch onto the effort made by Brian and I was shot out the back. That was the race for me. I rode with a few other guys, and caught and dropped a few more. There were two Chicago South Wheelmen guys riding really slow. Later, I found out that they were in the lead break and one of them rode onto shoulder and caused a pile up. One of them was Brian who went over the handlebars. Luckily he was ok and stayed in it to get a top 10 along with Denny. As for me, I really thought about doing another lap, but with as hot as it was I just called it a day and chalked it up as a training race. The fact that I rode three hours two days before the race didn't help. I really need to start being smarter in my training and learn to take it easy the week before big races. I've got a new approach for next weeks race at Ste. Genevieve.

race #'s 6 and 7....

2011-04-16T23:58:00.002-05:00

If you're wondering why I went from race #4 to # 6, well, I forgot about Hillsboro. Anyways, it seems as if this moving shit is like a broken record. Between moving my things from Chicago to a storage here in St. Louis, to a new apartment here, and then also moving into another apartment in Kansas City it just seems as if this moving process is never going to end. Anyways, I took this weekend very easy and tried not to move too much as to keep the legs loose for this weekends races. The only problem is I rode semi-hard on Thursday which is what did me in today. It was supposed to be an easy ride, but the wind didn't help.

The Tour of St. Louis was this weekend and since I couldn't race on Sunday I figured I'd just do two races today. I did the Masters in the morning and then the CAT 3's a little over an hour later. The weather was pretty horrible, it was drizzling and about 40* and windy for my first race. My goal was to try to get a top 10, but as the race started I soon found out my legs had nothing. There was no overdrive and I was doing everything I could to just be mediocre. I'll contribute that to my ride on Thursday. The masters races are a little harder then the 3's seeing how there's a lot of good, well seasoned riders and less riders, which doesn't bode well when your redlining it and need to recover and there's nowhere draft or to hide from the wind. The bottom line is a break went away and the pack wasn't too motivated to chase it down so I ended up with a pack finish.

I ended up going to Starbucks after the race to thaw out and dry out all my clothes using the heater in my car. The CAT 3 race was next. There were twice as many guys as in the masters race. We had plenty of Dogfish riders in this race. Seeing how I didn't have much to give in this race I did what I could. This race for the most part was a bit easier, but there were still moments where I was struggling to get my legs going. This race was pretty much the same. While there was no rain it was still cold and windy. A break got away and ended up with another pack finish. There's more racing tomorrow, but intead I'll try to get in a recovery ride before my drive to KC. No racing this weekend, so hopefully I'll be done with all this moving crap. It looks like the racings pretty slim until Tour de Grove so we'll see what races are upcoming.

race #4 Hermann RR.......

2011-04-11T17:19:00.004-05:00

I decided not to do the omnium and wanted to just concentrate on the road race. Having to commute back and forth for work now just doesn't give me enough time at home. I've also taken on more of a role keeping up with my niece and nephews sports. Either way, the Hermann road race is tough enough on it's own.

I made sure I road early in the week as to save my legs for Sunday. I usually don't ride on my work days because I'm too tired after 12-14 hour work days, but I road the trainer on Tuesday and then I was able to get out for two and a half hours on Wednesday before work. I also didn't move anything from my storage as I did the days before Hillsboro, and paid the price. Needless to say, I thought I was as prepared as I could be for this race.

I made it to the race with plenty of time to get a warm-up on the trainer. When I made it to the line I saw we were well represented. We had Dwayne, Denny, Brian, Justin, Dawson, and myself. By the way, Dwayne was sitting 5th overall in the omnium, pretty good for his first season of road racing.

We started through town and made it to highway H, the first climb of the day. I made it up in a decent position. I could tell that the compact cranks really helped. It still hurt, but now I could spin more then power up. Throughout all the climbs I was able to maintain a decent position. I only had one bobble where I almost lost my chain shifting to the little ring, there's a little more I'll add to that later. The first 12 or so miles was just undulating hills that seemed to never quit. We finally made it to the next major turn which was fairly flat and fast for the next several miles. Brian really laid the hammer down on this section to really string it out and see if we could lose anyone hoping to recover. This is also the section our other teammate Denny lost his Powertap head unit hitting some of the nasty potholes in the road.

We were also getting close to the KOM and several attacks were launched. They hurt, but I was still able to keep my position and if I lost any it wasn't much. As we flew down the hill into town I was able to gain positions. These new Reynolds wheels are FAST!!! Heading out of town and up Guttenburg, not sure of the grade, but has to be around an eigth of a mile and at least a 25% grade for some of it, I was not too far of the lead group of twenty or so. I got to the top with a couple other guys and we were able to catch back on within the next mile or two. We hit a few more climbs and my legs finally started to slow and now I found myself getting spit out of the lead group. The group did some damage because it was in these next couple miles guys were getting spit out one by one. I found myself catching and passing a few guys, but now also found myself on my own. A couple guys caught me too and I tried to stay with them, but my legs had other ideas. I would be on my own for about the next 8 miles or so. I started thinking to myself that this wasn't too bad. I got further with the main group then I did the past two years and if I could just make it up the last few hills to the flat section I'd be able to recover enough to make it to the finish line with a result I'd be happy with. That was until my chain broke going up one of the last hills. It was an awful feeling. One minute I'm telling myself I'm gonna finish this damn race this year and the next I'm picking up the pieces of my chain. I have a feeling that I torqued my chain earlier in the race and it was just deteriorating from that point. I use a connex(quick link) so I searched for the pieces and found them intact. I put it back together and about that time I saw Denny and Brian coming with a group of four or five guys. I latched on and made it about 10 feet and my chain came apart again. My race was over at that point and knew there was nothing more I could do.

As I waited on the side of the road for the sweep vehicles none ever came. I saw many racers pass and one I even gave my last bottle of accelerade. to who was dieing for anything. Since sitting there wasn't getting me anywhere I decided to walk up the hill and then I coasted/walked to the next turn where there was a marshall. We sat and talked for a bit, but now time is just ticking away and I'm not any closer to my car. Out of the blue I asked him if he had any safety wire. He said he didn't know, but he had a bunch of junk in his trunk and I'd be welcome to anything in it. There was a coat hangar and all kinds of stuff. At the last minute he pulled out the safety wire, but now I need something to cut it and twist it with. Next he pulls out an old pair of rusty needlenose pliers. I was in luck. I put my chain back in place and connected it with the wire. It worked. I was saying to myself I don't care how far behind I was I was going to cross that damn finish line. I made it about five more miles down the road, but then as soon as some more hills came the tension was just too much and my chain blew apart again. As I was fixing it for a third time some woman driving down the road asked if I needed a hand and I said, "ya, a ride back to Hermann!!!", she said hop in. I jumped in the car and had a nice chat with her. I know she'll never read this, but thank you. Well that was my 2011 Hermann road race, until next year!!!

races #'s 2 and 3, Forest Park

2011-03-21T21:15:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was the Forest Park. I entered the Masters and CAT 3's races. I was a little skeptical that my legs wouldn't hold up since I moved a bunch of stuff into our new place over the weekend, but thought I couldn't miss an opportunity to gain some fitness.

The first race was the Masters. I think there was anywhere from 30-50 guys in it. The race was pretty smooth. I chased down a few breaks and tried to catch another group of two up the road. I got caught in no mans land and realized my legs didn't have overdrive so I gave up the chase and fell back into the group. About 2/3's through the race there was several guys up the road a bit. A couple guys jumped and another groups was slowly starting to form. At this point I found myself in front leading our the main group only to watch a few guys jump to catch the few up the road. I saw that Denny was one of the guys that jumped so I held off and just held my ground allowing the group to form. It was at that point the lead break formed. I was relegated to the second group. I think by the end of it we widdled our group down to about 10. One guy jumped before the last corner and I thought he would take our sprint. I was about third or fourth wheel and as we sprinted towards the finish we caught that guy and I ended up getting second out of the field sprint.

The CAT 3 race was right after the Masters. I got one cool down lap before lining up for the 3's. I changed water bottles, but had no gels. I forgot them all in the car. The goal for this race was to just have a respectable finish and get more racing in the legs. I would also try to help my teammates in any way I could having just done the masters race. The only problem was that we didn't communicate anything to anybody and had no idea who was doing what. We basically had no gameplan, well, at least that I knew about. We also had several new faces that I never raced with before. The Dogfish representation was by far the most talented I've ever seen in a CAT 3 race. We had a mix of everthing, sprinters, all-arounders, workers, you name it. This race had at least 50 guys in it. I was a nice sized field and not too shabby for an early season race. The race finally settled after about 20 minutes and I was able to get into a rythm. I started to position myself on the last few laps to get towards the front. I thought the best line would be to stay on the outside on the turn heading into the headwind. I seemed to be getting boxed in on the inside. Well, that was the wrong decision. On the last lap a couple guys bumped and they were swerving from left to right. Finally, the guy absolutely lost it and turned right in front of me. I had nothing to do, but T-bone him. Fortunately for me he broke my fall and I was unscathed, just a chip taken off the paint. I was back on my bike in a matter of seconds, but long enough that the group was out of sight. I checked my bike, jumped back on, and rode to the finish. That's when it got a little embarrassing. After I crossed the line I looked down to check my bike and when I looked up I nailed the curb and fell into the grass. I played it off as best I could, but still pretty embarrassing.

All in all it was a good day. Afterwards I drove to Kansas City and then straight into work.

2011 season begins......Froze toes

2011-03-03T11:33:00.004-06:00

It's been a while since I've updated this. Since December I've started working and commuting to Kansas City. I finished off the 2010 season with the Missouri State Cyclocross Championships where I got 2nd place in the 35+ Masters. I then took a month off the bike until early January where I hit the trainer pretty hard. With the winter being what it was this year I spent all my training indoors on the trainer, except for the bikejoring with the dogs. That hardly counts as training though.

I hadn't had good starts to the last two seasons, but mainly because I stopped after Gateway Cup and did little winter training. This year racing cross I hoped to take my season deeper and have a little less time off the bike. With that being said, Froze Toes was this past Sunday so I figured on getting a headstart on the season. It was also my first ride outdoors for 2011.

My racing age is 40 this year(that doesn't sound right!), but here in Missouri most masters fields start with 40+ for some reason. Anyways, Denny talked me into doing the Masters race. It's a smaller field with less riders then the CAT 3/4 field so I figured I'd get a better workout since this is what it's all about this early in the season. I had to park pretty far from the start so I had to go back to my car and when I rode back the Masters field was rolling out. I guess I timed it just perfect. I only knew it was the masters because I saw Denny in it. With only 20 or so guys I was able to make it to the front pretty easily. Klages from Bigshark started out at a decent pace for the first few miles before we mixed it up a bit alternating pulls. A few breaks tried to get away, but none ever did. I had just taken a pretty good pull and then an attack went, Denny was in it so I didn't chase. The everyone else started to chase it down and I had to jump on. That one really hurt, but I was able to latch on and recover for a bit. About midway through the CAT 3/4 field was smokin' up our rear so they neutralized us and let them pass. Upon our restart we finally got our shit together. We soon came to the rollers and I went to front and started to drill it the best I could. Then more breaks tried to go. Denny tried one, but no one went with him and he dangled out front for a mile or two. He was finally swallowed up and the another guy went. He got a pretty decent gap and then Sherkat from Mack went, then I followed. Nobody else went and before we knew it we had a sizeable gap. I actually looked back and thought with the three of us and all the rollers we had a chance to stay away. That is until we caught the CAT 3/4 field again and came to a crawl because we couldn't go around. They finally let us pass, but at that point we were caught and we were all together again. We took our small group to the finish and the sprint seemed to start from about a mile out for some reason. My legs were toast at that point and I was only able to muster up a 10th place. Denny was able to get sixth. I was satisfied with my performance in the race considering it was my first actual ride outdoors since early December.

2010 race season comes to an end........

2010-12-05T18:21:00.006-06:00

I officially finished off the 2010 bike season yesterday in Kansas City, which could also be my new hometown. I did two races on Saturday, the Masters 35+ in the morning, and the CAT 3 in the afternoon. We drove up the night before so we wouldn't have to drive up so early, plus it gave me a chance to check out the area since I may be moving there in January. I was able to get in a warmup lap and that was about it. This being my first year doing cross, I'd have to say this course had the most to offer. A little bit of everything. The Masters race was first off in the morning. It was so freaking cold out and wasn't quite sure what to wear, but made do with just some legwarmers and an extra jacket. Could've used some warmer gloves as my fingers started to become numb, but I managed. There were only about 20 guys in this race, and not too sure who was who as to know who to mark. Getting a good spot wasn't too bad since there were only about two and a half rows of guys. My only concern was that I was right next to the tape and I was in that half row. I didn't want to get crowded and boxed in. It didn't matter that I didn't know who to mark, teammate Denny set out first and I was able to make my way pretty easily to the first couple guys. Denny stayed out in front keeping the pace. I maintained about third of fourth place right behind Bowen. As the laps ticked off the other guys started to fade and I just maintained my own pace along with Bowen until he finally faded. I could see a guy in the background making up ground on me every lap and thought he'd catch me at that rate. I was right, at this point I was in second, but there was about a 15-20 second gap behind denny. I could see he had caught Laberta so I'm sure they worked together. This guy finally made the catch and I let him do some work for a lap or two so I could catch my breath. I then proceeded to take over. There was now another lap or two left and I was sure this guy was gonna stay on my wheel until the finish and then try to outsprint me. I thought about letting him take over for a while and use those same tactics. Well, I don't normally follow Denny's all or nothing tactics, but I did. I just kept my pace high and tried to shake him. He stayed right with me until the last 1/4 mile or so until I was finally able to get rid of him. I ended up 20-30 seconds down on Denny to take 2nd.

The CAT3 race was three hours later so denny. We waited around in the cold for the awards ceremony then drove to starbucks. We got back with enough time to get dressed and do it all over again. There was around 35 guys or so for this race. They had callups for this race and after it was all done myself and denny were in the last row or somewhere near there. This race was all about survival and hopefully not dfl. The race started and I found myself able to move up a little. On the first little technical off camber 90* turn someone stumpled and everything got jammed up. Denny and myself were able to ride right around everything. I passed up Denny at some point and then he passed me for the final time. There was a St. Louis group of three that formed, a Bigshark guy, Stu, from Off the front, and myself. We rode together for a while until I bit it at one of the barriers. My foot never came out of the pedal and plastered myself right into the barrier. It caused Stu to readjust and the Bigshark guy saw it so he saw the opportunity to get on the gas and he put a gap on us. Stu and myself rode the rest of the race together until the last lap when I started to get gassed, actually, I already was at the start of the race, and he put a small gap on me. I ended up 15th, Denny was 12th. The worst part of this race was at the midpoint and I heard over the loudspeaker, "six laps to go". It really mentally demoralized me, but I pushed on.

All in all it was a good, cold day of racing. I got second in the Masters 35+, and I didn't DFL the 3's race. A good way to cap off the season.

I love cross!!!

2010-10-27T09:51:00.004-05:00

Once again, it's been a while since I've updated this. A lot has gone on since then, pretty much since the Gateway Cup. The biggest thing thats happened to me is getting back together with my girlfriend. We were only broken up for two months, but it was the best thing to happen and now we're back together even better then ever. I also did my first cyclocross race and absolutely love it. They're pretty fun. My $200 frame is awesome matched up with my Campy Chorus group. My first cross race didn't go so well, but considering I was up all night and never slept I'd say I did alright. I've really taken to it and it suits my off road skills from mt. biking. I'm doing ok in the Pride CX series with two seconds and an eighth place, and an 11th place(in the lead group when my crankarm fell off). I also had a 12th place in a Chicago Cup race. My most recent race was last week in Bubba #7, The Seminary. I was able to manage 3rd in that race. Today is the last race in the Pride series over in Alton. It's a smaller series, but pretty fun nonethless and the fast guys are still the same guys doing the Bubbas. I was hoping to make the overall podium, but after my crankarm fell off during the race two weeks ago I went from 4th in that race all the way down to 11th. I'll have to pull off a great result today. I'd like to make more Bubbas, but the schedule just doesn't work with my work schedule since I'm up in Chicago every Sunday.

That brings me up to my next topic. I've really thought long and hard, but I've decided to transfer from Chicago to Kansas City. As it is now, I'm commuting every weekend between St. Louis and Chicago and that's almost a five hour drive, longer if I hit Chicago traffic. The commute to KC is only three and a half hours and should I decide to move there long term it's a hell of a lot cheaper to live there then Chicago. There's also other factors like traffic, congestion, and two more months of winter. Just as a comparison I'm paying $1200 for a two bedroom apartment and I can get the same size apartment in KC for under $700. I also don't see too much riding in the winter months up in Chicago.

Gateway Cup weekend.....

2010-09-07T07:58:00.003-05:00

It's finally over. Going into this weekend I didn't have really high hopes. I thought I'd give it a decent effort and see if I could break a top 20. I was feeling pretty decent last year and broke the top 30 a couple times, so a top 20 would be an improvement on that. The fields were as normal for this weekend, easily over 90 guys in each race.

Here's a rundown of each race:

Friday night, Lafayette Square: I had just driven into town and went straight to the race. I got in a good warmup and was feeling pretty good. As the gun sounded and we were off I could tell my legs were feeling a little fatigued. It was my long work week, meaning little sleep and no riding. I did, however, have the day off before to make up for it. I also road the trainer for about an hour which is all I did for the week. It was pretty uneventful for most of the race. With this race being held in the darkness it usually causes a few wrecks. I stayed around the middle of the field for the most part. With about seven minutes to go in the race I saw a guy in the distance trying to go it alone. I really didn't know what I was thinking, but I decided to join him. We had a nice gap for a lap before we were both gassed. I still found myself hovering middle of the pack when there was a crash just a few bikes in front of me. My butthole puckered as his bike came right into my path. Then as I was about to crash into it the thing just bounced straight into the air and I gave it a karate chop out of my way. Needless to say I lost contact with the rest of the group as I almost came to a complete stop. I was looking forward to seeding it on my video camera, but do you believe it ran out of juice on the last lap?

Saturday, Tour des Hills: This was another basic four corner crit. Not much to say other then stayed about mid pack. I made a futile prime attempt. Attacked from about mid pack and already had one guy that got a good jump on everyone. Myself and another guy tried to bridge, but he did a good job to hold us off. A few other guys tried to make the bridge, but they failed too. There was one crash right in front of me. A guy tried to cut into my teammate and he just shrugged him off and then that guy went down. Maintained that position until the finish where once again there were a couple crashes.

Sunday, Giro della Montagna: The gameplan was to go after a prime. I usually do pretty good on this course on the slight uphill where I usually have no problems gaining multiple positions. That went out the window after the first lap. I got a light massage after Saturdays race and my legs just felt like crap. I guess I got them too loosened up. Now I maintained a position in the middle of the field, but it hurt a little more then it should have. I was slowly making my way up towards the front when my front spoke popped off. I shut it down, went to the pit and got a replacement. Luckily it was just prior to the five to go. Now I had to make up all those positions again. I ended up finishing in the middle of the field. This race was certainly harder then I remember it.

Monday, Benton Park: I had about four hours of sleep. The parents pull out bed and basement finally getting to me. My legs were really feeling fatigued and my whole body was really just spent. This race really left a sour taste in my mouth. I really liked the course, but with all the turns I could never find a good spot to get a little recovery in. It was pretty much on the gas after each turn, and there were 10 turns. With as bad as I was feeling I was able to stay with the main pack for the most part. Then with what I thought was about 15-20 minutes to go I gave it one last effort to stay with the main group, but dug too deep. I decided to pack it in. At that point I wasn't even the last guy, there were still another 10 guys behind me at least. I thought with the way the whole weekend was going I'd had enough. I rode back to the start/finish are only to see like 6 minutes left. Had I known that I propably would've found the extra motivation to at least stay in the race. Oh well, I still got most of the race in, but a thought I should've just finished it. There were still a lot of riders behind me formed in small groups that I could've latched onto. That'll teach me to quit a race. Next time I'll make them toss me out of the race.

Overall I was happy with the weekend. While I didn't get my top 20 it was good racing. I think the fields were as strong if not stronger then they've ever been. I got some awesome video footage of each race that'll be posting soon. Now it's time to get that cross bike built and prepare for the upcoming race.

Glencoe results.....

2010-08-16T04:36:00.002-05:00

Saturday was the Glencoe Grand Prix. Denny and the family were coming up from St. Louis so I'd have at least one teammate here. Like usual, we signed up for both the masters 1234, and CAT 3. They were back to back races which had me wondering how I'd fair. As we were getting dressed I noticed I hadn't brought my heart rate strap. Denny had another one, but it was at his car which was parked at the beach a couple miles away. We registered and then he got on the trainer and I rode to get the strap. That was pretty much my warmup. I don't even think it was four miles.

The first race was the Masters race. There were some pretty big guns in our field. My legs were still a little heavy from a hard ride a couple days before so I was pretty nervous to see how they would do. Usually in a CAT 3 race I could get through the worst part, but now this was basically a CAT 1-2 race. Right from the start a few guys took off and the pace was pretty high. I had a decent starting position, but soon found myself drifting to mid pack. We made it up the hill, which was just a short punchy climb, not even that steep, but still did it's job. I could tell my legs were saying no. I made it three times up that hill, but on the last one my legs just weren't recovering like they needed to so I pulled out and saved my legs for the CAT 3 race. Denny stayed in the race and was with the main group until the last couple laps when he fell off the pace. He was able to stay in a group just off the back. He was the last group to stay on the lead lap. It was a good race for Denny with all the traveling he did for work and then having todrive up the night before. It was actually good I pulled the chutes when I did because when I went back to the car an officer was writing me a ticket. I guess I was parked within 30 feet of a stop sign, ok, maybe I was within two feet of it. The officer was nice and gave me a warning if I moved, which I did.

The CAT 3 race was much better. After my three lap warmup my legs were feeling a little better. The race went pretty smooth, I maintained my position somewhere in the middle. With all the corners and accelerations I just couldn't gain many positions. With the narrow roads and all the turns the pack pretty much stayed strung out. The first corner for some reason was the scene of a few crashes. It was also one of the only areas that saw the group get bunched up. There were two crashes in my race and I saw two more in other races at that same corner. In my race I know somebody tapped my back wheel and then I heard the sounds of metal hitting asphalt. I know I didn't cause it, but somebody propably just not paying attention. The next crash was on the last few laps and I don't know what happended, but I did capture part of it on video. I looked like he may have clipped a pedal, but I couldn't really tell. During the last few laps I was gaining positions, but it was only two or three at a time. On the last lap everything came apart and there were gaps everywhere. I ended up in 38th place. Once again, just happy to stay upright and finish a tough race.

This was one of the best courses I've raced on. In St. Louis it reminded me of the Soulard course and most recently the Tour de grove course. You gotta love any crit course that has more then four corners.

Glencoe Championships this weekend.......

2010-08-12T15:43:00.002-05:00

Sitting here watching Pawnstars and laughing my ass off. Chumley is such a tool that he's so damn funny. Glencoe is this Saturday. This is the same crit championships that had been held at Downer Grove. I never did that race, but I guess now I'll be doing it, only it's in Glencoe now. I've now raced the past two weekends and hopefully my form will be coming back again. Last week I did the Grayslake crit. The plan was to do the CAT 3 and then the masters a couple hours later. I didn't have a great race. I could tell my body was a little tired from training a little too hard during the week. I only did the one race. I think I ended up somewhere in the middle of the field since they only placed the top 12. I did a good three hour tempo ride yesterday. It must've been a hard ride because I was completely useless when I got home and fell asleep on the couch. I'm still gonna get out for an hour today and then take tomorrow off before Saturdays races. I'm signed up for two races back to back so we'll see how that goes.

Tour of Elk Grove races.....

2010-08-02T05:03:00.005-05:00

I knew it had been a while since I last updated this, but I didn't think it was this long. The last race I did was back in St. Louis at the Tour de Grove. Two days of racing in the St. Louis heat. My legs and form were just coming around back then and I was feeling pretty good. I got a 25th place on the second day which was a three mile circuit race with a ton of turns. It reminded me of Soulard, but bigger. While it wasn't a great result I was happy with it since it was a Cat 2/3 race with a lot of strong 2's. I was 10th among the 3's though. That was my last race until this past weekend. I spent five weeks of basically riding tempo and doing long training rides, barely any high intensity stuff. Work seemed to get in the way and I wasn't sure how my fitness was going to be going into the weekend. Saturday was the Cat 3 race. It was on a six turn circuit with a tight 180* turn, but then the rest was super fast. With my fitness being what it was my goal was to just finish with the pack. I told myself if I just made it through the first 20 minutes I'd be ok. Well, I made it through, but I went through some ridiculous pain. I made it through to the end of the race, I was about middle of the field. I'd say there were around 60 guys racing. We averaged 26.6 for the race. Sunday was the Cat 3/4 masters race. I was feeling pretty good about myself for this race after the day before. I though I could only improve on the previous days result. This race went pretty smooth for me. I didn't go through the pains I did the day before, but I still had to work pretty hard. There was one incident though that I wasn't too happy about. I was making my way through the pack and I clearly had a hole and grabbed it. I guess the other guy thought differently and felt the need to speed up and bury a shoulder into me. I did all I could to stay upright as I was now leaning into another guy on my left. It would've been really ugly to go down where it happened in the middle of the pack. I yelled at him and so did a couple other guys. The last thing I'd expect from a masters race is some a!@hole to get all worked up over me grabbing the hole. The race continued and I found myself feeling pretty good. I got in a good position on the last lap. I was around 8-10 guys back as we cooked it around the last corner. I had so much momentum that instead of staying on the guys wheel in front of me I drifted to the outside a little. That was a big mistake. I found myself out of the paceline and directly into the wind. Instead of sprinting out of that group I basically had to sprint from that point just to maintain my position. I eventually swallowed up at the line. I think I finished around 20th place. I'm not sure the exact placing since I wasn't on the results sheet. I propably got behind some dude again........I just checked the official scoresheet from the website and I finished in 19th. I wonder how much I missed out on since it paid top 20. I was able to finally get some race footage with my camera. I had no way to mount it on the handlebars and I wasn't liking it mounted on my helmet. I crudely taped it right on top of may garmin. It worked, although I couldn't use the info, but who needs it for a crit. I've never done the Tour of Elk Grove, but it was an NRC race and by far the largest purses for the pro's and paid 20 deep for my races. The racing was good and now that I'm living up here I'll put this weekend on my calendar. I was surprised nobody from our elite team was up here, but I guess the state crit championships was this weekend.

Time to move on......

2010-06-18T22:05:00.003-05:00

It's been over a month now since my brother was killed in Afghanistan. He was killed while transporting a minesweeping vehicle called a husky. I'm told that it was very rare for one of these things to take a hit like it did. He was basically hit with an RPG which I'm sure also ended his life. I'd like to thank all that have shown their support and offered their condolences to our family. Thanks go out to radio host Jamie Allmon, Operation Homefront, Steve Zangrille, and everyone else that made his homecoming a little more bearable. I've been spending more time with my brothers kids who are 10 and 11. I bought Aleks a nice Trek mt. bike with the money raised from a fund raising benefit a couple weeks ago. This should be a good way to get Aleks into biking and maybe racing.

As for the racing, I've done several races since then. I did two races up in Chicago, and I didn't crash!!! I also did the O'fallon Grand Prix RR, and both races at the Tour de Grove. The races in Chicago were the day after finding out of my brothers death. It was pretty tough to really focus, but I got through them. The O'fallon GP went ok, I was in the final group, but couldn't get better then 18th in the final sprint. The Tour de Grove was last weekend and it was pretty freakin' hot. The races were Cat 2/3 rather then Cat 3 only since they were NRC races. That made for a bit harder racing, but not bad. Saturdays race was just a standard crit and Sundays race was a circuit race on a three mile course. The best way to describe it was a large scale Soulard race. There was a lot of turns over the three miles. It was basically a race of attrition. If you could last through the heat and all the accelerations out of every corner then you had a good chance of a decent finish. It was so hot that I remember passing the lap counter and thinking there was two laps left. I passed it and it said four, you talk about heartbreaking. It mentally took a lot to convince myself four laps wasn't much, but it really was. I ended up moving up on the last lap and kicked myself in the butt for not being more aggressive and moving up more. In the end I picked the right line and avoided a crash on the hairpin turn to finish 25th, nothing spectacular, but happy to stay upright. My arm is still in pain from the Vernon Hills race, but signs are there that it's getting better. I'll be skipping out on Babler this Sunday, but tomorrow we'll be doing a 75 mile ride with Jess and a few friends. I've got an early start so I should propably end this here.

RIP BROTHER, YOU'LL BE MISSED!!!

2010-05-19T22:10:00.003-05:00

My brother Denis was killed in action on Friday while in Afghanistan. He was the most giving and caring guy I know. He will be greatly missed.

Vernon Hills Grand Prix......

2010-05-04T09:29:00.004-05:00

My first official race up here in Chicago was this past weekend. It was the Vernon Hills Grand Prix. It was only 10 miles from where I live, but I managed to be late for the race. I gave myself enough time to jump on the trainer for about 15 minutes, but the map of the race wasn't too descriptive and I ended up getting lost and being late. I saw a police officer at the barricades and he directed me all over the place and I missed one of the turns. I came back to him and he pointed out the directions again, but now I was really late. The plan was to do two races. The Masters 30+(cat 1-4), and the Cat 3 later in the afternoon. At that point I was relegated to just doing the Cat 3 until I went to register and they told me I could still get in the masters race. They were running about 15 minutes behind. I quickly got my number and changed doing my best superman impression. I didn't have time to change my wheels though, which was a good thing as I'll explain later.

The course was very open with a fairly stiff crosswind, though not too bad. The roads were good with only two 90* turns. I lined up in the last row. It took a little while to get warmed up and the attacks didn't help either. It was a pretty fast race and the pack got strung out a few times. I managed to keep myself in decent spot until the last turn. I was propably top 20 going into the turn and was just winding up my sprint when a guy went down right in front of me. I thought are you kidding me? How does this guy go down on such an open course with wide roads. Well, he's directly in front of me and I had nowhere to go but up and over him. I remember riding over him pretty smoothly, but somehow after passing him I ended up over the handlebars. All I thought about as I was upside down seeing my bike in the air is please survive, not me, but the bike. I sat there stunned for about half a second and then get ran into from behind. After composing myself for a bit I felt ok, so I got up and checked my bike. It was in working order other then a flat and a bent front rim. I got back on and limped it to the finish line about 200 meters away.

I must've hyperextended my arm because it was killing me to move it. Anyways, I had another race to do and other then my arm and a bit of a sore back I did the Cat 3 race two hours later. I changed my wheels and got an ace bandage from the paramedics for my arm. The first half of the race was very easy with little attacks and few teams wanting to pick up the pace. I was cherishing every bit of it. It started to pick up later in the race and I was now feeling the pain in my arm and the tiredness in my legs. Every time I got out of the saddle I felt pain in my arm. I couldn't put much pressure on it. I didn't get in good position for the sprint, but just happy to finish the race upright.

My garmin had 34mph when I went down. I had 26.5 for the masters race and 25.5 for the cat 3. My bike was ok other then the front wheel and bent seat rail. I was propably going to get a new saddle anyways. It was a good training day. The next couple races should be back in St. louis.

Tilles and Hermann race reports......

2010-04-20T07:35:00.002-05:00

Tilles was last weekend, the day after hillsboro. Not much to be said, it was a typical crit with nice weather. I was able to stay at the front for most of the race and chased down a break. I think I may have had a teammate in it, but the numbers weren't looking good as they had about 15 guys in it and others trying to bridge. I managed to keep my position, but started out my sprint a little too late to gain a better result. I ended up in 12th.

Hermann was a different story. This was one race I should've just packed in. This is by far the hardest and most challenging race of the year. I was nowhere being 100% for this race. I spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wedensday packing up my apartment and moving to Chicago and then working my normal shift Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Beyond my better judgement I ended up riding two and a half hours on Thursday night too, which I normally never do during my work week. I drove back to St. Louis Saturday night only to wake up Sunday and then drive to Hermann. Needless to say, I was pretty much sleep deprived, and physically tired. Now, to the race. I knew I was pretty tired, but thought I'd give it a go. The race started out hard with a lot of climbing. I made the first climbs just fine, but could tell I wasn't recovering normally. About mile 11 we he hit multiple climbs with a lot of the pack doing the accordian thing. I was falling to the back and the body was just not having any of it. With as tired as I was I could not see how my body was going to make it the rest of the way. I didn't see how finishing the race could do me any good. I was too tired to even continue the race and call it a good training ride. I decided it was too much to keep digging so I just called it quits and come back another day when I was rested and not physically tired from moving. Oh well, I know it's a lot of excuses, but that's all I've got for that race.

I'm not sure what the next race will be. The Tour of St. Louis is next weekend, but I think I need to stay here in Chicago and try to get settled in and find some training routes. Hellbender and Ste. Gen are on the schedule, but that's in mid may so I'll have to see what local races are up here in Chicago/Wisconsin. I have yet to find a place since I'm still living in a hotel, but that should change today. I hope to move in today and then go for a ride this afternoon.

hillsboro and chicago......

2010-04-10T23:01:00.006-05:00

the hillsboro-roubaix race was today and i'd have to say that my results were less then stellar. basically, i let myself get too far back around mile 40. we got to the area of the course where there were many turns and accelerations. we made a left turn right into a crosswind and being so far back the peleton got really strung out. i had no protection from the wind and i was still recovering from having to jump the last gap and was redlined. i couldn't make it on and decided to just call it a day. i recovered and then just went at my own pace. i caught up to several guys and we worked together for the final miles. i ended up about 10 minutes behind the main group. i also used my new bike which i'll have to tweak since it wasn't as comfy as the canny.

i also started working in chicago this past week and will start to pack up the truck monday morning for the big move. i still haven't found a place to live, but i've got a few places in mind. so, basically, this is officially my last weekend in st. louis. tilles tomrrow.

Season preview and going ons.....

2010-02-25T11:23:00.004-06:00

Today I feel the best I've felt since Sunday morning. Last Saturday I had a great ride with two teammates, the K bro's. It showed that my legs were certainly coming around and that my "cold wx training camp" had been working. This winter I did quite a few rides in the sub freezing temps in hopes to be ready for the early season races which elluded me last year. Anyways, after a good ride I took the kids down to Castlewood for their own training. I mushed them for about five miles on the wet soaked Al Foster trail. That night I couldn't sleep and ended up waking up and heaved just about everything I ate for dinner that night. It wasn't a good feeling. I just figured it was food poisoning and I'd be fine the next day. Well, it certainly wasn't food poisoning and I was full blown out of commision for the next three days with a severe case of diarrhea and flulike symtoms. I made a visit to the doctor when finally able and was told it was a stomach virus going around. I sure don't wish what I had upon anybody......well, let's just say most anybody. I'm still not 100%, but thankfully I've got several more days off from work. I'd gone a long time since being really sick, but it finally got me.

My main goal for this year will be to break the top 10 as last year I was really out of sorts for the first half of the season and not in race shape until mid June. I did have a few decent races last year where I took a prime in one race and got 14th. I thought I might break the top 10 in the state RR too, but after we were left with a small group on the run up to the finish I didn't quite have the sprint in my legs to beat out my fellow riders and ended up in 15th. So, this season I was on track to start off on a better note then last year with all my winter training, but now having to relocate to Chicago is throwing a wrench in all that. I'd still like to do all the St. Louis races so I'll keep those on my schedule, but it'll be more clear once I actually start working in Chicago. I know there are some big races there and being so close to Wisconsin may open up more races for me to do, especially Superweek. As for my preview it's looking pretty clouded right now, but once I'm established in the windy city everything should come together a little better. Let's hope!!!

St. Louis days are numbered.......

2010-02-19T10:28:00.004-06:00

Well, the weight of moving is starting creep in. I've gone through this one too many times. I start work in Chicago the first week of April. I've got to find a place, box up all my crap, and still find time to train, race, work on my bikes, and take the dogs out on runs. I've really grown to enjoy living here in St. Louis again after many years away, but duty calls and I got bills to pay. It's unfortunate that working for the airlines in this fragile economy has come down to this, but even in a great economy the chance of being relocated is always there when in the airline business. What can I say, it's the career path I chose, it's had its ups and downs, but all in all it's treated me well, paid me well, and allowed me the opportunity to travel. The days of working at one place are no longer the norm. When I hired on with United Airlines in the late 90's I thought that was the job that would take me to retirement. That hasn't been the case. I've now been at my current job for six years and next year I get that third week of vacation. That means more bike races!!! All I can say is that right now I'm getting tired of checking craigslist, and all the rental sites for places to live. Next week I'm going to have to get up there and look around.

As for my winter training I've actually been able to get out quite a bit. I guess you could say it's my own training camp. I haven't had to leave home and go somewhere sunny, but I have froze my ass off quite a bit. I've stepped up the monotanous flat boring rides with more rides out in the hills. I'm especially tired from yesterdays ride, but today i'll go for an easy spin with Jess. Tomorrow's ride will be with Denny and Brian. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we can get in a legburning effort which is what will be needed before the upcoming races.

Moving............again!!!!!!

2010-02-10T21:27:00.004-06:00

we finally got our notice the other day. my last day working in st. louis will be april 6th and then i start in chicago on the 7th. i guess things could be worse, on the bright side i've still got a job. american airlines pulling out of st. louis has effected a lot of people here. i don't know yet if i want to move or just commute back every weekend. i'm sure gonna miss riding the varied terrain st. louis has to offer.

this is my long weekend and last weekend the weather didn't cooperate. today it was pretty cold, but i was still able to get in about three hours......layers and more layers. tomorrow another ride and taking the kids out mushing is in order. just when i've found some good trails to take them i'll be moving......did i mention this sucks!!!

almost like real sled dogs.....

2010-01-14T07:51:00.005-06:00

last weekend we had quite a bit of snowfall for a change. i was able to get them out for several four mile runs and one of almost eight miles. lost valley and castlewood were my trails of choice. i didn't have a three dog line so i left bailey off and she just ran out in front. there was about six inches of snow and i was the first one to cut through it. bailey out front worked out really well and found the trail effortlessly. she even made the right choices when i gave her gee and haw commands and the other two followed. the next day was back at lost valley. i only planned to up their mileage by about a mile, but i ended up getting lost. go figure, getting lost at lost valley. don't ask how i got lost out there, but i did. anyways, it took me through about two miles of the newer cut singletrack. i eventually wanted to take the dogs on the singletrack, but not this soon. they did really well on it. skates got spooked a couple times on the abrupt downhill sections so i had to get off the bike and walk down them slowly. oh well, we finally made it to the trailhead and they were all pretty pooped. i also had a nice crash that everyone got a kick out of at work when they saw the video. holding the handlebars with one hand and the camera in the other isn't cutting it so i'll have to buy a real action camera soon. the next couple rides were at castlewood on some singletrack and horsetrails. once again they did pretty good, but they (skates and teemu) still need more conditioning. anything over four miles and they start to get tired. playing out in the woods also got me sick, but it was just for a couple days and now i'm completely over it. they're really coming along, i even made my own gangline to get bailey tied into the action. it worked really well, but it was the wrong type of rope(polypropylene) so i ordered the polyethylene rope which should be in sometime today or tomorrow. the weather is warming up into the 40's so it looks like i'll be limited to the gravel trails to take the dogs on. it also means i may head out for some rides of my own this weekend. the race season starts in less then two months so i need to really start getting out on the road more. the trainer is getting really old!!! update: i did get out to lost valley today. i parked at the mound since the snow was propably going to be all melted and didn't want to ruin the trails. i was just going to take them for four miles, an out and back. they were a little tired and think they may need a couple days of rest. i was also able to get out on the bike for a little training of my own. i did 44 miles at a nice easy pace staying in zones 1-3. a little more biking in store for tomorrow.

productive day.....

2010-01-07T21:19:00.009-06:00

i got a lot done today. it always happens that way when i get my riding done first thing in the morning, which usually isn't the norm. i was able to get two hours on the trainer and then i got the dogs out to lost valley for a little bikejoring. i didn't know what to expect once i got out there because of all the snow we've just gotten recently. i would've been just fine with the cold weather with no snow, but oh well. i'd have to deal with it. this is also the first time i hooked the tow line to the bike. i usually just hang on to it, but that's training a couple miles around the neighborhood. with 4-6" of snow i needed both hands to hang onto the handlebars. well, they graduated to the trails today, but a sled would've been in order. they did really well and bailey is understanding her commands better. hopefully one day i can get all three hooked up. we got about five miles in which is pretty good for these guys since they're still in the learning/training phase. tomorrow i may try to hit castlewood.

some new wheels in the works. i'm thinking about pulling the trigger on theses wheels, williams cycling system 58's. they're similar to the zipp 404's. i'm gonna be so fast!!!! i don't know much about williams wheels, but they get good reviews online. they're also about $1200 cheaper then zip 404's and i may be out of a job soon!!!

it's no wonder i'm having allergy problems. i got a new vacuum and after vacuuming for 10 minutes this is the resulting outcome. the canister was just about full. i guess that 12 year old vacuum wasn't cutting it.

Holidays over.....

2010-01-06T08:54:00.006-06:00

well, the holidays are over and it's freakin' cold outside. the race season is about two months away and my training hasn't yet begun to get into full swing. my training has consisted of a few hours on the trainer a week and eating a bunch of skinny cow ice cream sandwhiches, my favorite food of choice lately. don't really know how those fit into my training, but they are good!!! i'm also looking at getting some new wheels for the upcoming season. i'm leaning towards some williamswheels racing system 58 carbon tubulars. they're not quite as light as zipp 404's, but their about half the price. i can actually get two sets for less then the price of one set of zipps. hopefully the weather starts warming up so i can get on the road. that's right, i'm not ironmanning it out in this frigid weather.

the sled dog training continues. they're coming right along. even with this cold weather i've been able to get them out there and work them a little bit. i got out to creve coeur park on christmas day and new years day to run them. christmas day was a mess, not too fun on rollerblades in 20* weather with patches of ice on the trails. i did have an inspirational run with bailey the other day, she made me proud. hooking up three dogs isn't an option right now, so i let her run in front of the two huskies, which were hooked up to me while on the mt. bike. she stayed about 15 ft. in front of the other two and listened perfectly to my commands. the other two followed her without skipping a beat. she's definetly picked up on the whole sled dog thing, moreso then the other two, so she's earned the right of being my lead dog. i suppose i'll give denny a plug for giving me such a smart lab. anyways, i'm excited to get them out this weekend. i think i may take them out to lost valley to actually get on some real trails for a change. i'm also close to pulling the trigger on a new scooter. i think it'll give it a better feel of what it's like to be on a real sled, at least that's what i've been told. they're not cheap so i'm just gonna see how it goes with the bikejoring for now.

sled dog (bladejoring) training.....

2009-12-18T11:01:00.004-06:00

well, still training the boys....and girl. there have been good days and bad days. having a third dog really throws off the dynamics of trying to train two dogs. i think i'll have to only train two at a time. i have been putting bailey and skates together while also holding onto little teemu. it's had it's ups and downs. my biggest problems have been trying to get them to stay still when we stop and also how to focus on traveling without stopping for distractions. bailey and skates work well together, but when i put little teemu with bailey or skates he gets too rambuncious and tries to play/bite the other dog and the lines end up getting all tangled. anyways, i think i'm going to have to start at the beginning and train them to first stand still when i'm getting all the lines hooked up. the second thing is to get them going straight ahead instead of coming towards me. skates and bailey know what hike means, but sometimes they decide to come towards me which once again tangles up all the lines. i think they're getting confused with all the different commands being thrown at them at once. it also looks like i may have to get some new rollerblades since my current ones don't have any brakes and i'm wearing out all my wheels on one training run trying to use the old T-stop. it's a good thing i've got a bunch of spares from my pro inline hockey days waiting in backup. for what i'm going to do i need to get some basic blades with a rear stopper type brake though.

as for cycling i've just been on the trainer the last couple of weeks. the new dog and the weather have been keeping me indoors for now.

new addition to the family.......

2009-12-12T09:10:00.006-06:00

i had been thinking about getting another husky for some time now. i wanted to get a puppy, but the thought of going through raising a puppy wasn't too appealing. i had been searching online for some and i decided to do my part and adopt one instead. i found a 10 month old red/white husky in indianapolis. he looked very cute and after talking with stephanie, "grippo's" foster mom, i was reassured he was what i was looking for. he was partially trained, still a pup, and he looked good. i couldn't understand why someone would surrender him unless they just couldn't deal with a husky. on thursday i loaded up the muts and drove to indy, my old stomping ground where i lived for eight years. i met her at the eagle creek dog park, where i'd been a few times, but it was at least six or seven years since i'd been there. i got lost, but finally did make it there. it was pretty damn cold, but there were people there and i saw grips running around with the other dogs. i brought skates and bailey. there wasn't really much of an introduction, but i did notice grips follow skates a few times. skates seemed to be pretty indifferent to him though. he seemed like a good dog so i paid his adoption fees and we were off back to st. louis.

the drive home was pretty uneventful, just a few nips and growls of testosterone between the two huskies. i couldn't see calling him grips, grippo, or even g-man, what stephanie was calling him. it would be too confusing to yell gee to g-man. i'm training them to be sled dogs and gee is a commonly used term to turn right, so no g-man. his new name had to be something with hockey. i narrowed it to tuuk, which is the name of the bladeholder on hockey skates or teemu. teemu(taymoo) is after teemu selanne, the hockey player, the finish flash. i decided on teemu. he did good in the crate and he seemed to be housebroken. his only accident was the next morning when i took him out of the crate and he dribbled right by the front door. the same thing skates used to do when he was learning to hold his bladder. he was also a little agressive when i tried to take his rawhide away so i put him right on his back. he's a little food aggressive, but i've been able to put my hand in his bowl now. i feel a little more comfortable doing that then i did that the first night.

yesterday was our first full day together and i brought them all to the park for little sled dog training. i didn't know how he'd do. skates and bailey did really did a good job pulling the tire around the park. there weren't many people there and it was great. teemu took to the harness without any problems. i wasn't going to hook him up to it, but he started pulling when i had it on his collar so i hooked it up to the back of the harness. i think he's gonna be a natural. he made it around the whole loop. he did exceptional for his first time. he didn't even get scared that i was on rollerblades. no biking for me this weekend, i haven't ridden the trainer or done any spin classes. may get on the trainer later this afternoon though.

winter update.....training, biking, my new hobby, bikejoring

2009-12-08T13:44:00.013-06:00

it's been a while since i've last posted anything on here. my last race of the season was way back in september. i did the gateway cup and then the following week a race out at castlewood. my form was pretty decent back then as i got a late start in training last year. this winter i'm not playing hockey. i thought i'd concentrate on more cycling and just try to be in top shape for the spring road races. i was able to get out about once or twice a week in november, but recently, the weather has not been cooperative and i've either been stuck on the trainer or doing spin classes. i did get a new bike for next season though, a trek madone 5.2 with full campy. i've also been taking up a new hobby and the beneficiaries are my two dogs.

i've decided to train my dogs to be sled dogs, even though one already should be a sled dog. we don't have consistent snowfall here so i've just decided to try bikejoring and skatejoring. basically, you put a harness on your dog or dogs and let them pull you around. i already did that in rough form with my husky, but it wasn't exactly true to form and far from the sport of bikejoring. he would always run behind me or to the side of me, rarely in front, and rarely pulling. he did get in a workout though. he was also in a cheap glorified petsmart harness which isn't exactly made for pulling. my lab would just run off leash following us. well, i bought the correct harnesses for them along with the correct tow lines. getting involved in this i've really learned a lot about sled dogs and the training involved. so, right now the biggest problem i've got is trying to get my husky to pull since everything i taught him before was to stop pulling. it's definetly not as easy as one would think. i've also got a whole slew of terms to teach them. my lab, who's rarely ever been in a harness, and who's always ran free, now has to be contained. i'm sure she's going through a major change having all these lines and harness on her, let alone have to pull something. their training has started with them pulling a motorcycle tire. they're a long way from being sled dogs, but they've shown improvement just about every time i've taken them out. skates has even learned what gee means!!!

oh cyrstal ball, oh crystal ball.....

2009-09-23T08:27:00.003-05:00

tell me what the future holds in store. unless you haven't heard, american ailines has decided to pull out their hub here in st. louis. that is about 90% of our business here in st. louis. working as a regional airline we are at the mercy of the mainline, american. with them moving all these flights up to chicago, it doesn't leave us with much work here in st. louis. we've already been notified that we will either shut down our operation here in st. louis or possibly maintain a smaller version of our current operation to do maintenance. that hinges on our other mainlines(cont, usair, delta, frontier, midwest) bringing in a few more flights. either way, we will more then likely still have layoffs. i'd like to say i'd be safe being one of two supervisors, but i'm not counting on anything. going strictly on seniority i'm right on the bubble. if i had to relocate, i've been told milwaukee, kansas city, columbus, oh, or possibly back to indianapolis may all be open to relocation. denver might even be another possibility since we bought frontier airlines. it's only a matter of time before we start opening maintenance positions there. I would think we would bring in more of a presence with frontier to to give southwest a run for their money, that's just my opinion. ain a market like st. louis how could you not bring them in. another low cost carrier here is just what we need. My goal however is to stay here in st. louis and not have to worry about any of that. taking a layoff right now is certainly not in the cards for me.

i just got a new cross bike a couple weeks ago and have since have decided to sell it. as much as i want to keep it i can't justify several uses when i've got all this going on with my job. i also got a new trek madone 5.2. it's got all ultegra sl that i'm getting ready to strip and sell. i'll be putting on all my campy stuff. i tried the ultegra, but i just can't get comfortable with it. something about that cable sticking out of the shifter and the way it shifts, preference i guess.

Castlewood XC race....

2009-09-12T20:56:00.003-05:00

I hadn't planned on racing this weekend until somebody mentioned the race at Castlewood this Saturday. I thought about taking off the next couple weeks after Gateway and then start concentrating on Cross. In fact I was going to skip the first cross race in Alton, but then the CW race won out.

I rode part of the course on Friday just to get acquainted with the dirt again. It didn't help much as I really didn't have a great day resultwise. First, I thought I'd do the expert race, but with the later start I just decided to go with marathon race which started two hours earlier. I didn't get off to a very good start. On the first lap I rode the wheels of Mitch and Jeremy until getting a rear flat about midway through. I got it changed pretty quick and then got back in the race. During the second lap I thought my front tire was going flat so I took the rooty and rocky sections with caution. When I got to the feed area I dismounted and filled up both tires with co2. I rode lap three without any problems, but then at the end of lap four I came up to some other racers and they took a wrong turn where somebody tore down the markers. Myself and a couple other riders followed before we realized it. Some riders kept going, but myself and two other riders turned around. That propably cost me about another five minutes or so, not that it mattered. On the fifth lap my lower back was killing me and my knees were starting to hurt, so by the end of that lap I called it quits.

I only road 10 miles off road yesterday and today I woke up a little sore, I can't wait for tomorrow morning......which comes in about six hours.

All in all I had a good time. It was my kind of course with lots of climbs and technical stuff, but I certainly need to ride more dirt to be competitive. It was a good time and saw some old faces I hadn't seen in a while, noot a bad way to spend a Saturday.

Now ready for cross!!!

2009-09-03T17:45:00.002-05:00

After years of racing mt. bikes and roadbikes, and even bmx when I was a young lad, I'm ready to try my hand at a little cyclocross. I'm looking forward to it, but first gotta get through this little race called the Gateway Cup.

Sedali/Otterville carnage...

2009-09-01T18:21:00.006-05:00

What had hoped to be some good prep prior to this weekend of races ended up backfiring. I thrashed my legs out at the TNW's doing both the A and B races and then was going to rest up for Sedalia. Well, all went well until Friday, when I brought my husky, Skates, to my parents house while I rewired my dads 55 Chevy pickup truck. Well, just like any husky, they love to get away and are escape artists. My mom put him on his leash and tied him in the garage. I then hear a noise and look over and see his little tail running off. I end up having to chase him down at a full sprint, then stopping, then sprinting again. I finally chased him down to a lake which he decided to have a little fun in. I saw it as an opportunity to grab him so I jumped in after him. I was able to grab him and I ended up putting him around the back of my head and carried him home. After a shower I started to work on the truck again. An hour later I hear the phrase, "skates got away again". I dropped what I was doing and chased him down again and this time had a little help from my niece and nephew. Not a fun time, and definetly not pleased to be running before the weekend.

Saturday rolls around and Brian picks me up for our trip to Sedalia. We have Denny, Brian, myself, and Ron, who I didn't think would be there in Saturdays race. It's a six turn course much like Soulard. The roads were rough and had a lot of potholes, but once we raced it didn't seem like it made much of a difference, it was everybody else that made the difference. The race was full throttle from the start. Plenty of accelerations which could be expected for this kind of course. My legs felt ok considering the day before. Denny took some massive pulls at the front for a while until he went down by himself going too hot into a corner. Thankfully he didn't take anybody out. Nice strawberry on his hip and ruined bibs. He was able to get back in the race. I then decided to attack and got a pretty good gap. another guy joined me for a lap and then I was on my own for another. I burned out and integrated back in the pack. a couple laps later a guy goes down in the middle of the straightaway, apparently he broke his chain while trying to go out on attack from the field. He took out my teammate Ron, who snapped his stem right in half. I was a couple bikelengths behind and a guy fell in front of me. I rode over his tire like it was a little ramp and jumped over it. I thought I had gotten a flat so I went to the wheelpit for a tire change. Apparently Brian also was involved and had to bunnyhop the sidewalk to avoid it. He didn't make it and ended up over his bars. At about five to go I Denny took his brother to the front for two laps. I decided it was better to let me lead and save Denny to bring Brian to the finish so I overtook Denny and told him to get my wheel. I guess I went to fast and he lost my wheel. Brian was able to hold my wheel and I was able to go hard for another two laps, but I started to tire and I was back in the pack until one to go. I then go into turn one and some guy on the inside trying to divebomb the turn crashed and took us all out. I had nowhere to go and went over the bars at about 25mph. I ended up being tangled up in a bike and needed help out of it. I had blood all over my arm and my race was done. Brian and Denny both finished with Brian taking fifth. I ended up in the emergency room with stitches in my elbow.

Sundays race wasn't much better for us. Ron ended up with a flat early on the second lap. I fought to keep cramps at bay the whole second lap and Jeff got in an ill-fated break. I almost went down again when there was a big pile-up of guys going up one of the short steep climbs. It looked like someone dropped a chain and came to a complete stop. I saw one guy go over the handlebars which was seemed kind of hard to do on that grade, but he did. As I took to the outside and thought I was around it it felt like someone just grabbed onto my back wheel and tried to pull me down. Well, I got around and was back into the group. I didn't get to the front in time and before I knew it the second to last turn up the hill was already in sight. Here's where it gets scary. As we made the right turn up the little climb I see out of the corner of my eye, actually, I got full view of Brian going wide and smacking a moving car at full speed. I saw him do a superman through the air, but saw him move after landing. Denny, was right in front and yelled "that was your brother". We ended up both riding up to the finish and then made our way back. He was shaken up but he was alright all things considered. His bike was totalled, but all he had was a bruised knee. He was also my ride home. I offered to drive, but he insisted on driving himself. I'd normally say hockey players are tough, but he was pretty tough after hitting a car and walking away from it. I ended up finishing 19th. I wasn't in good position to make a good run to the finsih, but I was happy with the race overall.

This certainly was not one of the better weekends for Dogfish. One totaled bike, one broken stem, a dent in my top tube, four stitches, flatting out of a race, a bruised knee, and a skinned up ass pretty much sums up our weekend.

finally a weekend and a race in indy......

2009-08-12T10:24:00.003-05:00

after one day off over the last nine days i can finally sit here in starbucks and enjoy the first day of me weekend. the last race i did was the state crit, but then i worked five straight days of 14 hour days, ate like shit, slept like shit, then had one day off on saturday. i did a 50 mile ride to st. albans in the middle of a heat wave. needless to say i felt like crap. i then worked my normal week on sunday. i got off yesterday in time to make the tnw a race. i thought i'd better go and get the cobwebs out and all the junk food i ate over the last week and a half out of my system. saturdays ride was hard and not too promising. i thought i'd feel like sluggish and have to bail out of the race. i managed to survive the initial surges and even gon in a semi break to catch the five or six riders in the main break. i could tell i was having a hard time staying in that group so i eased off back into the pack. it was a good choice as they were all brought back. i thought about the b race, but that would've done more harm then good so i left. this weekend there is a race in indy i might do. it's the mass ave. crit. it's right in the heart of downtown indy. i remember watching it back in the day when i lived in indy and only raced mt. bikes. i'm looking forward to going to indy and doing this race.

2009 MO. State Crit....

2009-08-02T20:40:00.007-05:00

Today was the State Crit down in Jeff City. Just a few days ago I only had plans to do the Cat 3 race, but once again Denny talked me into doing the masters and the 3's. The last time this happened I made the mistake of getting a massage the day before and I guess they went a little too deep and my legs were worthless. That was two years ago and a big waste of time since I ended up only did that race. Last year I only did the 3's and managed to get a 9th place finish. Since the weather was mild compared to temps in the 90's the past two years I figured I'd give it ago.

The Masters race went ok, I didn't go into the red zone right off the bat. That was a bit unusual since I didn't get much of a warm up if any at all, one lap around the course does not constitute as a warm up. The race was going good and after about 20 minutes Denny was on a break with some Bigshark guy. They had a several second gap. Next thing you know a guy blasts out of the group to bridge. I hesitate and think for a bit, should join Denny and put two Dogfish in the break? I decided to put in a bridge attempt to latch onto him. I finally catch him and we catch Denny and the Bigshark guy. We made it around another lap and I was spent, so I told Denny to go and I was gonna get back in the group. I spent the rest of the time recovering, but during the last 15 minutes I tell I was getting gassed. I was having to put in a big effort on the left hand turn on the straightaway just after the hill. It took a bit of a sprint to grab a wheel. Needless to say I finished the race at the back end of the pack for 15th place. I felt like throwing up and tried to get the thoughts of bailing on the 3's race out of my head.

I sat in my car with the air conditioning on and just rested after that race. I made it up to the line for the 3's race feeling a little better, but not by very much. The race started and I was actually not feeling too bad. I didn't do anything crazy like try to go off the front or cover an attack, actually I was doing all I could to just get my ass to the finish. The last 20 or so minutes my calves started to cramp up and I had to stretch them out on the downhill portion. I managed to keep them at bay. The last couple laps the pace really picked up and I couldn't make it to the front for the final sprint. I ended up finishing in 19th. All in all a good day of racing. I may take this week off the bike since I may have to work all week, so it kind of works out.

I had planned on doing the Tour of KC, then I found out they weren't doing The Cliff Dr. Classic. That's an awesome race and a good reason to go. Then I planned on just doing Saturdays downtown crit, but then I found out it's a late afternoon race. That's not going to work with my schedule so now I don't think I'll be racing next weekend. I may go to Indianapolis for a crit in downtown Indy in two weeks. It looks like a fun race and a good excuse to make it to my old stomping ground.

Today is my B-Day.........

2009-07-30T11:15:00.002-05:00

and so i'm another day older.....so what!!!!! well, not up to much today, propably run by the folks house and get a few pictures of the '55 chevy to post on craigslist. anyways, the last day of the dirt crit's are tonight. i wanna do them, but after a hard ride yesterday and shitty sleep i don't know if i'll make it. just like last week sometimes rest is more important then extending yourself to depletion. i over did it last year and by the end of the season i had nothing left, all the power in my legs were gone. the state crit is this weekend too so i may want to lay low and just get some easy miles in. yesterdays ride didn't go so well, i met dk for about an hours worth of hard tempo riding, but i didn't make it too far. i flatted and then my spare had a flat, i had to patch up and then by that time dk was done. i took his wheel and finished my workout. it ended up being 48 miles with intervals into a nice headwind.....the body is feeling it today, so more then likely no dirt crit for tonight as much i'd like to say screw and head out anyways.

BOINGO!!!!

2009-07-23T08:09:00.002-05:00

don't really know what boingo means, but it works and it's cheap. i'm just sitting here at starbucks using their wi-fi. i did have a verizon card, but found it too pricey for what i used it for. while it sucks that starbucks charge a fee, i found that using boingo wifi is the cheapest way to go. sometimes i bring my laptop to work and you would think that a major airport like st. louis would have free wifi, but it doesn't. i did find that boingo charges $10 a month and has partners with all kinds of businesses, airports, and coffee shops. i barely have a signal at work and is slow(because my work area is below the terminal), but it's better then nothing. today i'm to testing its use outside of the airport and can say it works great here at starbucks. starbucks charges like $20 a month for the use of their wifi, so i've got to say it's a deal for $10 a month and use at multiple locations. i guess they just piggyback off everybody else's signal.

i managed to make the tuesday night worlds. i only did the a race. it was pretty hard, but managed to survive. a group went off the front halfway in and i attacked our group with about 20 minutes to go to try to make the bridge. i brought two other riders with me and we worked together for a lap. we had gotten so close, yet we were still so far. it took a huge effort to get a gap and we were all spent. we ended up getting swallowed up by the group. i managed to finish respectably in our group, however i felt like heaving after the race. we had a cookout at work and i ate like crap, the usual cookout food, burgers, chips, and potato salad......not exactly power food for racing.

i'll stay off the road bike today and try to make the dirt crit races tonight somewhat fresh. goal for the race? just make it on time!!!

Summertime blues......

2009-07-17T20:53:00.004-05:00

What have I been up to you may ask, well, not a whole lot. It seems as if it's been a while since my last road race. The last race was Winghaven almost a month ago, hence the blues. I was supposed to do the Babler circuit race last weekend which would've kept my race legs going, but wouldn't you know it, it got cancelled becaused of a little rain.......argggghhhh!!!!! That was a wasted vacation day!!! So this weekend I thought I'd head up to do a couple circuit/road races at Superweek, but I cancelled at the last minute. I couldn't see driving seven hours by myself and then shelling out over $300 for two days of racing.

I decided to hang out here and do the Thursday short track xc race. I've been meaning to make the first two, but prepping for Babler it didn't fit into my schedule. I've only had a handful of rides on the mt. bike this year and even had to renew my off-road license yesterday since it was my first mt. bike race this year. I got to the race late and registered as my group shot off the starting line. The fine folks in charge, Dave and Ralph let me jump in after they came by after their first lap. Seeing how it was my first off-road race of the year I'd propably be in that spot anyways. I shot off and proceeded to follow, no warm other then the 20 miles I road earlier in the day, and my heartrate paid for it. It spiked up like a 7.0 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale. I hung in there and finished. The next race was the B race which I also signed up for. I didn't have any big hopes for this race since there were like 45 guys in this race and I figured the trail would clog up pretty good. I just wanted to keep my legs going. I didn't go for the holeshot, in fact started out a little nonchalant. I just tried to get in a decent position as to not have to many riders to contend with. It still seemed as if there were about 20 guys in front of me. Anyways, I passed a few more here and there. On the final two laps I had two more guys in my sights and finally caught and passed them. I figured it was decent enough for a top 10. Today I found out I ended up in third. The night was mission accomplished, good training, good racing. Hopefully next week I'll make the A race on time.

This weekend is the Tour de Soulard, a favorite of mine, but I won't be doing it since I decided to take vacation for Babler instead. Next up on my schedule is the Tour of KC, so until then I'll hit up a race here or there, whatever fits into my schedule, there's a few to choose from.

Tales from Winghaven....

2009-06-22T10:55:00.002-05:00

I did this race last year and made the mistake of popping a couple Tylenol PM's the night before. Propably not the smartest thing to do, needless to say, it was a hot miserable day which ended up with me getting shot off the back of the peleton with about three laps to go. I ended up riding with another rider for the last couple of laps. Yesterday, I actually got some sleep and the legs seemed to feel pretty good. I thought if they were having the KOM, actually more of a hill competition, I'd go for it. It was going to be a tall order though since this was an NRC race and a CAT 2/3, instead of just 3's. They announced 93 entries for the race. It turned out to be a bigger field then even the pro,1's field. As for the team, we were going to try to get somebody in a break and try to control, which is propably what every other team was going to try. After about 10 minutes on the trainer I headed over to the team tent only to be delayed. While waiting myself and a couple teammates took a warm-up lap.

After waiting around it was finally time to line it up and I got a front row spot. At this point they told us we were now doing 10 instead of the 12 laps of the 2.74 mile course, and there there would be no KOM competition. Well, there went my plan for the race. It was actually a good decision because once we got going I could tell my legs were not as good as I thought they would be. I don't know if that was from the heat(mid 90's plus humidity), doing 45 miles in the heat a couple days prior, or just the fast pace of the race. Either way I'll chalk it up to a combination of all three. Once the gun went off I stayed towards the front for the first two laps, but soon found myself fading towards the middle of the pack. On the second or third lap I went around athe first round-about and heard the awful sounds of metal hitting pavement. It turned out it was just behind me and caused several riders to come to a complete stop including a teammate. Those riders were not able to bridge back on because of the blistering pace, especially having to go up the climb with zero momentum to take you through. As the race went on I found myself getting delirious from the heat. I took two bottles of accelerade and another with water. I should've taken two with water because I went through every bit of it just to cool myself down.

The team was not able to sustain anything and soon everyone was in a big group ride. Any breaks that went off were quickly covered. The heat was enough to contend with let alone trying to stay off the front. All pre-race planning was out the window at that point and the task was now to get our sprinters to the front. With a couple laps to go the pace grew and on the last lap coming down the 40mph decent there was another crash on the 90 degree left hander. I took the inside and didn't even know or hear the crash. It took out two teammates, one being our sprinter and a buddy from another team, also a sprinter. I ended up doing my own impression of a sprinter and sprinted to the uphill finish. I narrowly avoided one guy tumbling to the ground. He apparently crashed by himself from sprinting too hard, weird. Glad that the race was over I crossed the line in 28th.

The race afterwards was the Pro, Cat 1 race. I envy the guys who finished that race, hell, even for the guys that didn't. It was even hotter then our race and almost three times as long. I stayed and took lessons from Brian Jenson who put on an impressive one man show of how to go on a break. He ended up finishing second, but impressive nonetheless.

Ste. Gen RR

2009-06-17T08:57:00.004-05:00

My goal in this race was to try to get a decent finish (top 10) and stay in the lead group since my fitness hasn't been there after a long break over the winter. I could tell my fitness has been coming around and yesterday was a good guage. I also made a big move about a week ago to go with compact cranks for hilly road races to give me a little more low end for climbing. In the end I actually increased my top end also by going with an 11-25 cassette instead of my 12-25 so it was a win win situation. As for a team, we hadn't really talked about anything special and we were more or less in survival mode and wait and see what transpires. Ron is usually our strongest rider so if we could help him we would.

Early on Denny went on a break by himself. I thought it was a little early, but his lead grew to the point he was out of sight. Not bad I thought, so I decided to go to the front and try to slow things down a bit. Myself and Ron were up there and accomplished this for a few miles, but soon Bigshark and Momentum were starting to chase. We just sat third or fourth wheel. I could tell we were going to catch them so I asked Ron if he was going to counter, but he said no. We did catch them and then soon after the KOM came. I managed to make it up in the top 15-20 guys safely in the field. After the KOM everyone was back together and Denny asked me about his rear wheel. I told him it looked a little low, and that he may want to get a wheel from the wheel truck. A few other guys told him the same thing.

As the second lap came I started to feel a cramp coming in my right leg so I kept drinking and eating. I only brought three bottles and started to worry about having enough. A few miles into the second lap I looked back and noticed that we hadn't really dropped anybody, at least that's what it seemed like to me. It started to worry me because my initial thought was that I was in bad shape and everybody else was doing just fine. A few other guys took off one by one and nobody chased them down. At this point there was three or four guys up the road with Bigshark controlling the peleton. The field was getting a little antsy, but nobody wanted to chase down the break. After the first climb on the second lap I finally saw Jeff and Jeremy who I hadn't seen all race. Two more guys got away, and then another group of about seven went. I grabbed the last wheel on that train, but then really felt the cramps and backed off and got back in the peleton. That break was then quickly caught. Finally we got to the KOM and my legs felt fine. I spun up the hill in good position. Yielding looked really good and had about 20 yards on me. We reorganized and dropped more riders and were down to about 15-20 for the run into the finish. I got into a sweet spot up the final hill to the finish. The pace picked up until about 200m to go and Aaron Rauls/Ghisallo made a dash. It was sprint on and I passed two riders. With the five from the break, I got 10th out of the sprint for 15th place. In hindsight, I was feeling pretty good at the time and thought about attacking in the last uphill to the finish. I decided to play it safe though and stayed with our group. I'm not sure where everybody else finished. In the end I went through three bottles(two accelerade, one water), 5 GU's, granola bar, and a banana. I never did completely cramp.

I achieved my goal of staying in the lead group, which ended up being the second group after letting a break go. It wasn't a top 10, but in the company I was in for the finish I'll take it. It was certainly a weird race as nobody got organised to chase down the initial break including us. We had five guys in the peleton and could have had a good shot had we kept Ron up there. Next to Bigshark and The Hub I think we had the most guys besides maybe Trek and Gateway.

This has to rate up there in favorite races and Ste. Genevieve was a great host city with excellent facilities. Todd did another great job organizing this race. The course had a little bit of everything, climbs, rollers, and fast sections. I did this race two years ago and remembered it killed me. I had bad memories of the climbs. I had put in a lot of miles(50 then 20) the two days prior to that race thinking that was what I needed and I paid for it. This year I kept my riding to a minimum prior to the race and while it was still a hard race it wasn't as hard as I remembered.

Winghaven is up this weekend and will be another true test as it will be a CAT 2/3 race. The way it works out is that I'll have five days off prior to this race and I'll have to do all I can to stay off the bike, at the very least keep the miles to a minimum.

State RR prep.....

2009-06-11T16:30:00.003-05:00

Well, I haven't really been doing anything really special. I haven't had a season I can feel good about so far. The almost seven month break I took last year from complete riding propably hurt me more then it helped. It put me behind the eight ball for all the early spring races and am only now feeling my fitness and form coming together. My ideal weight is right around 135 and I'm now a few pounds shy of that. My eating out at work and sweet tooth just get me in too much trouble.

This race has a little bit of climbing to it, while it's no Hermann, it'll still have some. I've known a few guys that have actually been using compact cranks and been doing just fine on them. After some thought I decided to go ahead and try them. The idea is to eventually build two bikes, a climbing bike and a crit bike.

While I have no grandioso plans of winning the State race, my main goal will be to stay in the main group until the finish. It'll be good to see how my form is coming along. I imagine with all the climbs in this race it will be a race of attrition.

I got a good deal on some Campy UT cranks and put them on last week and did two rides with them. They felt fine on the Ghisallo training ride, I was first on the Ossenfort climb, but then dropped the chain shifting the front derailleur and pedaling too fast. I guess I learned a lesson there. I didn't feel I was too undergeared, exept when trying to bridge after dropping the chain. I also felt fine on the hammerfest back. The Tuesday crit was a different story though. I did feel a little undergeared at times and I've also learned I've got to spin a lot more then I'm used to. It also takes a few shifts to find just the right gear too. Because of this, accelerations made it harder to keep up. I don't think I'll always keep these on my bike, but also think I could get used to them and use them in a crit if I had to. Hopefully after Sundays race I'll have good news to report about these cranks.

O'Fallon GP.....

2009-05-31T04:01:00.008-05:00

What does one do when it's 2:30am and can't sleep, well, you write on your blog of course. Actually, I've got to get up at 3:30 anyways for work, but could've used that extra hour since I didn't got to bed until 10pm.

Anyways, the O'Fallon Grand Prix was 67 miles of short power climbs, headwinds, crosswinds, and twists and turns. Accelerations were the norm out of each turn, not as bad as some race though. Normally, a 19th place finish wouldn't be cause for celebration, but with my legs cramping like mad during the last 15-20 miles and riding on a back tire that was slowly going flat it was a definite victory, well, sort of. I had four teammates with me for this race, although one guy is new and don't really know him.

I didn't do this race last year and didn't know what to expect. It was a weird course doubling back on itself several times. It wasn't too bad though and the climbs were as stated, big ring climbs. The first lap was just to get intimate with the layout. I ended up staying towards the front and before I knew it my teammate Ron was off the front. I thought it was a bit early, but he thought he had the legs to go. Who am I to judge and if anybody could do it he could, he's done it before. He had another Bigshark guy with him, but with just the two of them with headwinds and 45 miles to go it would have taken an exceptional effort. We, I should say they, ended up catching them before the end of the first lap. It was a good effort, but short lived. Not much to speak about on the first lap other then a guy making one hell of a recovery when his wheel got caught in a crevice. He was directly in front of me and had he gone down I was sure to follow.

There was not much to speak about on the second lap. Now I found myself fading towards the back of the pack as more riders were getting a little revved up to get in better position. A few attacks started, but were all extinguished. There was even a strong group of seven that went away, but they were brought back too.

I made my way back up to the front and as the third lap started myself and a bigshark guy found ourselves at the front. We made a left turn after the feedzone and we soon found ourselves with a little bit of a gap. We both looked at eachother and talked about how neither one of us wanted to go on our own break so we started to let off the gas. About that same time we got attacked by Russ, an Indiana guy, and then a few others. I think it was five up the road then myself, bigshark, and a hub guy with the pack breathing down our throats. We gave it a bit of an effort, but the five was too far for the three of us to bridge. A little too few and a little too late. Soon I found myself pulling pretty hard into the wind on an uphill grade. All I did was tow everyone else. I decided it was more work then I was willing to do with 20 miles to go. The pace picked up and as we were going up another hill a guy bumped my back tire and just hoped I wasn't gonna go down. A close call averted. It was about this same time I noticed my back tire really losing pressure. As the race went our group was now around 15 guys. With about five miles to go a mack guy wasn't paying attention and bumped the wheel of another guy. That created a little chaos, but i think those were the only two to not make it back on. Myself and Ron were on each side and made it around unscathed. The next thing I know I'm once again driving our group into a headwind, don't ask me why, but I just ended up there. With about a mile and a half left and a tire that propably had no more then 70psi my legs locked up at the last climb before the final stretch. I fell off the back of that group to finish about a minute behind. Ron was able to finish 12th, myself 19th and Matt and Justin just behind. As for other CATS' Brian got 6th in 4's, and Mark got 3rd in the pro 1,2's.

It was a fun race even though I suffered through cramps on the last lap. It turns out I propably didn't drink enough as I found I still had about half a bottle left out of the three I brought. The little bouncy ball I waas riding on propably didn't help either. I was lucky to have finished because it was completely flat about an hour later. In any case I'll call it a personal victory with the problems I had on that last lap. My fitness is starting to come through as I found myself doing a little more work than I had in previous races.

It was good to see a few guys from Indiana that I knew. Russ, the guy who got second, was a strong rider that I'd ridden with when I lived in Indiana. He used to go out on solo breaks on our training rides, much like he did yesterday.

Next up is the state roadrace, but I just may go to Indiana and do their state rr which is next weekend.

hellbender, 2009 edition

2009-05-18T10:49:00.004-05:00

I gotta say I thought I was feeling pretty good. I got a lot of rest in and only did the tuesday night crit. I actually got to a race early enough to do everything withou being rushed. The race started about a half hour behind so that didn't help my nerves out. I usually like toget going when they say it's supposed to start. I guess I hate waiting around just like anybody else. Last year I got 12th, but I was also about seven pounds lighter. My fitness was also much bettrr at this time last year. Anyways, the race was uneventful for the most part with the exceptuion of a few failed atacks. Then the one major decisive climb came. It's usually make or break on this climb. You either make it with the lead group or your chasing. I was actually towards the front at the crest of the hill, but soon faded and was falling back. I ended up in a chase group of four. I was still redlined and fell off that group and was in no-mans land. A few minutes later a freight train of about six guys came trucking past. Denny was in this group. I latched on and we attempted to bridge. This took a major effort from everyone. I was definetly the worse off in the group. I took one more pull then went to the back and soon faded. I was so close to the main group that I could've thrown a rock and hit them. I was pretty much done at that point. Another group of five riders cam by that included another teammate. I hooked up with them into the feedzone, but two quit and I had to persuade a couple guys to do anoth lap with me. I ended uup dropping my bag at the feedzone and went back to get it. Another mesa kid decided to turn around because he had no water. I had two fresh ones and gave him one. We were now four until one guy decided he'd had enough and turned aroun.. it was his first cat3 race. The three of us ended up just cruising along the rest of the way. It was aggod first lap with some good efforts put in, but in the end I just didn't quite have the gas. Now if I can just lose that extra five pounds I might be alright. Next up is the wildwood tt. I hpe my typing wasn't too bad since I did this on my g1 phone. It's not that bad typing with thumbs.

o'fallon gold cup and other stuff....

2009-05-11T07:58:00.004-05:00

Last week was just another week of training, it's hard though not to go on long training rides because of the upcoming races. I tried to make the Tuesday crit last week, but wouldn't you know it, I got out of work late and could only make the B race. I suited up only to find out I didn't have my helmet. I asked a few people and nobody had an extra one. I thought about asking a few guys just getting done with the A race, but the thought of wearing somebody else's sweat soaked helmet didn't really appeal to me so I just went home. I don't know what it is with Tuesdays, but i can get out at 5pm on the dot every other day, but then Tuesdays roll around and it's like pulling teeth!!! Somebody just doesn't want me to do those races. Fast forward to Saturday and I was taking my dogs out for a run in the morning, actually they ran, I rode my mt. bike. I had skates on the leash. Skates decided to turn on the gas and try to catch Bailey, so I stood up and tried to sprint to catch up. Next thing I know I'm on the deck. Grabbing the handlebars with the leash wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done. I ended up with a bruised shoulder, and hurt ego, hopefully nobody saw me.

Later in the day was the O'fallon Gold Cup race. The legs were a little fatigued from my long ride on wedensday....the legs just don't recover like they used to. My teammates for the race were Denny and Ron. We had quick talk about a game plan and then the race was on. Things started out uneventful. The three of us stayed towards the front. A few breaks tried to go away, including efforts by ron and denny, but all were brought back. The course had a little hill in it just to shake it up a little bit. It wasn't really anything special, but just enough. About half way into the race I noticed a kid from maplewood going to the front. I was pretty sure he won Hermann so I figured he could climb and that he might try to make a move on the hill. I marked him and was second wheel up the hill. I started to pick up the pace and then I heard it was a prime lap and so I turned the screws a little more up the hill. I guess I got the jump on everybody including the maplewood kid. I figured he'd be right there with me and we'd have to fight it out, but when I looked back I had a good gap. Later I found out I had a little help from my teammates and eduardo from bigshark. They were in front of the pack and just rode tempo. I redlined it up the second incline to the backside of the course. At that point I had a pretty sizable gap. I ended up riding another lap solo and by the second time up the hill a bigshark guy joined me. I tried to go with him but was pretty gassed from my effort and told him I was going back to the peleton. As I drifted back Denny made the move of the day and joined the lone bigshark guy. They rode off the front for a while then waited for a hub rider who decided he wanted in on the break. Meanwhile, us and bigshark just worked for the break the rest of the way. I guess another gateway guy caught the break at some point, I don't even remember when he got away. It stayed like that until the end. Denny ended up finishing in third. It was good to see him get a result. He's one of the hardest working guys in the peleton, and finally got a well deserved podium. All in all it was a good day for dogfish, I ended up in 14th and a prime and ron in 16th, he made his move a little too early for the bunch sprint. Up next is Hellbender, actually, also the tuesday crit, but we'll see if I make that one.

tour of st. louis...

2009-04-29T11:55:00.003-05:00

tour of st. louis was last weekend, i only did saturdays events since i had to work on sunday. that included the crit and then the tt in the evening. the crit wasn't really anything special, just a plain jane four corner crit. it was fast and i was able to take it to the finish. i couldn't really get into a good position and started to fade in the last 50 meters or so. it turned out a few breaks had gone away but were all brought back, or so i/we had thought. it turned out one guy was away and stayed away. i had seen a rider in the distance, but thought it was just somebody preriding the course. oh, didn't really effect my outcome anyways, but good ride by him.

the tt was in the evening and was running late. i ended up riding another 10 miles for my warm-up since i had an hour to kill. the tt went ok. i felt good for about the first two miles and thought it would be good to have this tailwind for the first half. that only lasted that two miles because soon it took a right turn and into massive crosswinds. i was getting beat up and felt the wind through the vents on my helmet. i also never did tape my aerobars so all i heard was awful whistling noises. i tried to reposition my hands to cover them. it was really messing with my head. anyways, i got passed by two guys in full tt gear, but i almost caught back up to one of them going into the headwind. don't know where i finished in that.

i was also able to make my first tuesday crit this year. the plan was to do both a and b races. i was at work and things were going as planned until the last five minutes when everything went south. three airplanes broke and had to stay late to get those worked and turn everything over to the oncoming shift. i missed about the first five minutes of the a race. the legs felt good and the races went well. i'll try to make more of these in the future.

a little c'wood today.......

2009-04-23T19:50:00.003-05:00

so i looked at the schedule and saw that the castlewood xc race was coming up. i figured i'd do that race and thought i needed to get down there to shake some of those off-road cobwebs, plus i'd just take it easy from the ride i did yesterday. well, wouldn't you know it, just before i headed out i double-checked the date on that race and i've got to work that day. for some reason i thought it was a saturday race. oh well, it was a fun day to get out on the soft stuff, not to mention it was too nice of a day not to ride. i ended up riding for an hour and enjoyed every bit of it. i'll propably take off tomorrow since saturday is the tour of st. louis.

Tour of Hermann...

2009-04-21T18:23:00.004-05:00

Well, what can I say, it just wasn't my weekend as has been lately. The TofH got off to a decent start with the TT. I gave it a good go in the TT. I was satisfied with my performance and it was an improvement over last year.
After a subpar lunch at some dive restaurant we headed to the Crit venue. The battery in my car also died so I had to find jumper cables and then get my car jumped. Mission accomplished. We sat around for several hours waiting for our crit to start. It was about this time I wish I had a hotel to go crash at. I thought I would be ok, for the crit, but my legs were just not up to par. I stayed up late the night before to watch the Blues game and ended up not sleeping a whole lot so by the time the crit started I was already pretty tired. My legs were also physically not recovered from the TT. Anyways, the crit started and everyone started out like a bat out of hell. There was a huge downhill with a 90 degree right turn. I started towards the back and just couldn't maintain my position after all the turns. It was also wet out and after the first two laps I was off the back because of all the turns and not being able to bridge. The climb and my legs didn't help either. I ended up duking it out with several riders the rest of the way. My teammate also ended up in the same position, we actually traded spots every several laps. I haven't felt that bad in a race in a while. The only difference was now I felt that bad and I was well out of the mix. I ended up finishing the race though, got a massage, and then drove home.

The next day came the road race and I decided since I already paid for the race I'd at least show up, which is really about all I did. I got there and had just enough time to change and get to the line. I didn't warm up at all. I thought since it was a road race I'd feel better after a few miles. Well, I don't know what the hell I was thinking. The first climb came three miles in and I was already bad shape. Next, I actually did the first smart thing the whole weekend. I packed it in. I turned around, rode down the monster climb, turned in my chip, changed, and watched the rest of the races from the Dogfish tent. It was pretty demoralizing at the time since I was right in the thick of things in last years race.

I've come to the conclusion that I need to step up my game. Even if I did have some rest, my fitness level is just not where it needs to be for some of these races. I'm going to have to race myself into shape. Although my fitness is not there it's good to see a lot of my fellow racers showing good form. They've all stepped it up and now I've got to do the same.

As for my health, I go to get another MRI on my cervical spine. My catscan found a 3mm bone spur right in the area I've been having problems. My doctor doesn't think it's big enough to cause my symptoms so I go get yet another MRI. My other doctor also found an elarged tonsil, so I'll do a few more tests for that too to see if it needs to be removed. Wow, I'm pretty f'd up.

It's time for Blues hockey, it's do or die tonight. GO BLUES!!!

BLUES GO FROM CELLAR DWELLAR TO STANLEY CUP HOPEFUL

2009-04-11T07:45:00.002-05:00

Even though my BHL (beer/brentwood hockey league) season is over since we tanked in the playoffs the Blues are in the playoffs!!!! As of last night I watched the Blues on the telly and the Nashville/Minnesota game on the laptop. It was great to see Nashville go down.....I really hate that team for some reason. Anyways, the Blues completed their bid for the playoffs with a big win against Columbus. Can you say who OOHHWWWNNSSS THE BLUEJACKETS??? That's right the f!@#ng Blues. I also made my tribute to TJ Oshie by honoring him with his own youtube feed as you can see above. I believe if he hadn't been injured for 25 games he'd have been a legitimate shot at rookie of the year. Just so you don't think I'm just joining the Oshie bandwagon, I picked up this kid for my fantasy team at the beginning of the year when most of St. Louis didn't even know what they had in him....jus' sayin'. One last thing is Murray should get coach of the year for what he's done.

As for my training, I had a good ride on Thursday and I'll ride today at some point. With Hermann next weekend the goal for week is to only do short rides of light to moderate effort. My two and half hour ride on last Wedensday may have done me in for Saturdays road race, so no rides over an hour this week. I checked my weight this morning and I've still got a few lb's to be at my ideal racing weight.

My husky skates was feeling not so good yesterday as he jumped over the gate in the kitchen while we were out and decided he needed some B complex vitamins. He tore into the bottle and ate the whole bottle. Well, I came home to two big huge spots on vomit on the carpet, not pretty. He seems to have his jump this morning though.

BHL season finally over!!!

2009-04-08T10:08:00.006-05:00

my hockey season is finally over. my teams play over the summer, but to be honest i couldn't wait for this season to be over. after last seasons cycling debacle i needed a break and lacing up the skates was just what i needed. now that cyclings finally here and i've started training again there just doesn't seem to be enough time to do both. anyways, there are three leagues in the BHL, a tuesday, wed. and thurs night league. i play on wed and thurs and the way the playoffs work is the top 12 teams from all three leagues combine to make the playoffs and play eachother. i haven't played for about three weeks and i had the hillsboro race on saturday, which my legs are still trying to recover from. as it turned out, i, and about four of my teammates had to play back to back games last night for both teams since both of them made the playoffs. needless to say, we didn't do so hot. i was pretty much worthless, didn't do much more then take up space on the ice. i just didn't have the jump in my legs and without playing for three weeks my hands weren't there either. by the way the games were at 9 and 10:30 last night which also didn't bode well. by the second game i was so tired that i was just watching the clock click down hoping for a way to speed it up. i actually didn't even want to go out for my next shift i was that tired. we ended up losing both games which pretty much ended the season. sitting in the lockerroom i was the last one to leave, i just sat there so tired i couldn't even change. when it was all said and done i packed up my locker, had my one on one chat with the coach, said bye to the boys, and told them i'd see them in training camp next year.............of course we don't have coach, lockers, or even a training camp, but it sounded good.

on a high bluenote, the blues won last night which put them in sole possession of the final playoff spot.....GO BLUES!!!!! this would be so great for them to make the playoffs. the kids on the blues could learn so much from the playoffs and excellerate their development. heck, even this stretch run has helped them gain confidence and has been beneficial. they're going to be a powerhouse team in the next few years.

i also finished my first week on dayshift working from 5am to 5pm. coming from midnights, now i actually get to enjoy my three or four days off. being on midnights usually sucks because it seems like you're always behind a half day and the full weekend is never like a full weekend, not to mention having to readjust to living like a normal person. heck, this is my long weekend and i don't know what to do with myself. i don't have to be to work until sunday morning. i suppose i'll ride, although the weather may not cooperate. i'd like to ride today, but my legs and body are just screaming not to. time to take the kids to the park.

Hillsboro Roubaix wake-up call!!!

2009-04-05T19:06:00.006-05:00

The day started out with me heading to Bigshark in the a.m. to purchase some new Vittoria's for my second race of the season. I called the shop the night before and Mike was nice enough to meet me since he was going to be there anyways, gotta appreciate that. It was about time I get rid of the training tires. It was also the first race for the newly rebuilt Easton 90slx's since they were destroyed at the Gateway Cup last year. Oh, I should mention how nice it is to have a Johnny on the Spot at an offramp!!! Let me just say it was certainly johnny on the spot!!!!!!!! I picked up Denny and we were on the road. After a few scheduled pee stops we arrived an hour early and after registering and putting my number on I barely had enough time to ride before lining it up. I also turned on my garmin and no heartrate, great.

I lined up towards the back third of the 3's and we finally started. The race started like I thought it would. Ride, turn, accelerate, catch up, turn, accelerate, turn, hit afterburners, recover, turn, bridge gap, fight headwind, recover. I did that for almost two full laps before hitting the last turn into town. I just didn't have the jets to bridge that last acceleration. I had to shut it down. I kept the field in my sights, but there was no way I was going to catch them. Running into town I rode by myself and decided whether or not go out for another lap. Well, I was already there, what the hell, I went out for another lap. While out there by myself I wondered what the hell I got myself into. The headwinds were crazy and I was hatin' life being out there by myself. I was actually hoping Denny would've gotten dropped so I'd have somebody to ride with, but as it turned out he pulled the chutes on the second lap. He was suffering from a cold all week and have to give him props for just showing up.

I'll chalk that that one up as a good training race. I ended up 53rd of the 63 finishers. All in all I was satisfied with just finishing that race.

a long week...

2009-03-22T03:18:00.002-05:00

here i am at work, on my lunch break of course. i've got the milan-san remo race on the laptop in the background and just thinking.......this is going to be a long week at work. i only got two days off this week and spent my last day at work for 20 hours trying to get an airplane fixed. one of my best mechanics had a massive brain dump and over a tug with the airplane. it wasn't a pretty sight and i feel so bad for him since it may cost him his job.

anyways, as it stands, i'm on day two of seven in a row. it's going to be a long week leading up to dogwood. i did get two good training days in on my days off and denny kicked my ass on one ride. i definetly felt the pain. the most riding i'll be able to get in the next week may be a couple one hour rides or maybe just on the trainer. this may actually help since i tend to ride a little too much leading up to races.

my garmin 305 is pissing me off. this is the second time it's takin' a crap. i haven't even had it a year and it just died again when i tried to plug it into my laptop. it won't power up at all!!! hopefully they'll warranty it for a second time

Forest Park Crit...

2009-03-15T21:32:00.004-05:00

This was the first race of the 2009 season and I'd have to say I was happy with my performance. I basically ended up around the top 15, although I wasn't scored. In fact my number wasn't even on the results anywhere. I didn't get a chance to protest it because I knew I wasn't top 10 and plus I wanted to put in some more miles before I had to go in to work tonight which is where I'm at now, on break of course. It kind of sucks, but, as they say, I guess only the top ten matter.

As for the race itself it seemed fast at the start with a few surges, but then settled down. My best position I could maintain was about mid pack, which is about where I wanted to be anyways. I made one attempt to bridge a gap of a group of about 10 pulling away. I shut off the gas when I realized the effort I would have had to put in and seeing the group behind coming up pretty fast. I sat in the rest of the race before putting myself in a good spot for the finish. I was about top 15 coming around the last corner to the final straight, but with no one in front of me I had no one to draft off of and pretty much finished in the same position. Next up is Dogwood.

ready for days....

2009-03-10T02:03:00.004-05:00

i'm on my lunchbreak right now, it's 1:30am, it still seems odd saying that after all these years working this shift. the good news is i just found out that I will go to days. i was able to maintain my supervisors position. i'm so ready to get back on that shift. i've been eating like crap lately, but what's new. wednesday i go in to see another doctor. i did go last week to a neurologist and he showed me my mri. it turns out i do have damage and a herniated disk that is poking into my windpipe. he said it's not bad, but in 15-20 years i may need surgery if it gets any worse. he just gave me exercises to strengthen my neck and lower back. my lower back is causing my hamstring problem, so he says. i liked that doctor. he was up there in years, but seemed old school and was matter of fact. when i asked him about trigger point therapy he said "bullshit, that crap doesn't work, do these exercises and that will solve your problem." after just thinking about it, it really didn't solve my problem. i still have this tightness in my throat, i guess he's saying i better just live with it. i go to see an orthopedic spine doctor this week and we'll see what they have to say about all this stuff. i just can't believe there is nothing they can do.

on another note, after not riding for almost four months i've finally gotten in over 500 miles. just in time to get them ready for some spring races. i still haven't had anything high intensity. i've been playing hockey for that that, and speaking of hockey, several more weeks left, maybe this week i'll make both my games.

Lucky I have a job.....

2009-03-05T01:50:00.004-06:00

This was written last week, better now then never to post it. Well, for the last two and a half years I've been working the midnight shift at our hangar here in St. Louis. I was just notified last week that we will be shutting down our maintenance facility here and maintenance will be performed at other bases around our system. Our lease on our hangar was up in April and there was no other suitable hangars to move into. Actually, there were hangars available, just not what our company was willing to spend. It now looks like we will go back to a line maintenance station, meaning we will fix and put band aids on anything that breaks here, just like we did before. We will be laying off roughly 30 employees, although many were offered employment elsewhere. I feel for many of the guys that worked for me. They worked hard and we went through a lot of growing pains opening up this new maintenance facility. Now that we are like a well oiled machine it's going to be dimantled. It also sucks for the guys being offered jobs elsewhere. They were basically given one week to make a career decision to move to another city or take the layoff. I'm sure it's going to be tough on them and their family. I, on the other hand should be safe here considering my seniority and position, although nothing is set in stone. On the bright side I will go back to a more "liveable" shift, either a dayshift or nightshift postition. It won't be the graveyard shift. In fact, that was one of the main reasons I moved back here almost three years ago, to get off the graveyard shift until I was offered my new position. Anyways, just getting off graveyards should help me physically and mentally throughout the race season. It's bittersweet.

As for my health, I go to the doc today, a neurosurgeon. Amongst my groin and ankle pains, I have neck pain resulting from several whiplash injuries. I should've been doing all this during the offseason, but never did go in until today. I will find out if the bulging disks are what is causing some of my aches and pains in my neck. I'm pretty sure they are so the question will be, what do I do now? Surgery, therapy, rehab? I'll find out some information today and then next week when I see another doctor for another opinion.

Time to get back on that bike....

2009-02-13T06:30:00.004-06:00

Well, after a subpar end to last season and taking an extended break off the bike I've decided it's about time to start training in earnest for the upcoming season. I can now say I've actually been on the bike for maybe five rides so far this year. I've done a ride here or there, the trainer, but since last weekend I've officially started putting in base miles. I even got a new set of tried and true Rubino Pro's for the training wheels. I've been through many sets of those tires and they've always come through for putting in the miles.

I've been playing hockey all winter, but it's not the same as getting in the long miles on the road. It's great cardio, but now it's time to get that endurance up. I can tell I'm not totally out of shape, but also know I'm nowhere near where I used to be. Hopefully the long break is what I needed. I took such a sabbatical from biking that after last years Gateway Cup crash that took out my Easton EA90SLX's I finally got them sent back into Easton for repair. $130 to replace one hoop and true the other seems pretty reasonable. I was actually expecting to pay a lot more. They were a $700 wheelset so it's well worth it.

My latest dilemma is getting a new phone and plan. I like gadgets and now I've got to have a smartphone to include in my collection. I've had pocket pc's with wifi before and thought having it on the phone was so gay. I've seen a couple new phones like the iphone and blackberry touch screen and thought, these would be great to have for the road, not to mention accessing the web at high speed from anywhere. I guess I would say I'm somewhat addicted to being "wired". The GPS would come in handy driving to races out of town. I even thought about integrating the GPS into a cycling computer somehow. I've already seen a couple applications that make your smartphone into a cycling computer. I've already got my Garmin, but it would be pretty cool to have a color screen of the route your riding and not spend another $500 for a cycling specific computer. I've even seen that Garmin is coming out with a new phone.......I wonder what kind of applications that will include.

Note to all you travelers. I was just told by the young Grasshopper aka Casey, that he was walking through the airport the other day(on his way to Jelly Belly camp....lucky dog) and saw a bunch of pictures promoting St. Louis. One of which was of the Gateway Cup. He said it was a huge poster and I was right in the middle of it. That's pretty cool. I work at the airport too and seemed to have missed it. I guess I'm not getting any royalties for that one.

New Season Approaching...

2009-01-31T21:28:00.004-06:00

This was written back in January and never posted it so posting it now. A new seasons approaching. I can't say I'm raring to go just yet. I haven't really been riding much since mid september, in fact I can count on one hand how many times I've been on the road since then. I've been keeping in some sort of shape though playing hockey a couple times a week and riding the trainer. I've upped the time on the trainer lately, but really need to get outside on the road. I've also gained a few more injuries from hockey(bruised back, bruised ribs, arthritic wrists), but those should be totally healed by the start of the season. It's my ankles with tendonitis I hope will have been totally healed from the end of last season. I also need to shed some pounds, but that'll come with some miles on the road. At this rate I'd say my base miles and fitness should be in by mid march or later. I haven't looked at the race schedule yet or even know if it's out to know which races I'll do. I guess I could check out the stlbiking site, but I'm to lazy to do that right now. I'll check it later. It'll be tough to get in the miles and still play hockey since the season won't end until March or April. With any luck I'll be ready for all the early season road races.

Now for the dogs. Skates' training is coming along and he's turning out to be a great dog. I've taken him to the dog parks and he always makes friends. In fact it was pretty cool the other day when I put his food in his bowl and he sat there a foot away just staring at it. He was waiting for me to say "go" and I wasn't even trying to train him. He's also walking better on the leash. As for Bailey, she's just happy as long as she can play with her tennis ball.

a little off-season update.....

2008-12-24T22:15:00.008-06:00

it's been a while since i've last updated. i haven't been up to much other then putting on a few winter layers around the mid section. all the holiday foods, plus not much riding may have something to do with it. i've just been working and playing a lot of hockey to stay in shape and get in a little cross-training. i haven't ridden outside now in almost two months? i really can't remember. the only biking i've done is riding the trainer for about an hour twice a week. i've really been away from the cycling scene since about mid september when a complete break was in order. i've been playing at least two times a week since then. my new skates i got last month are finally starting to get broken in.

the two teams i'm playing on down at brentwood are doing pretty good. we're in first place on wed. night, and i think third on thursdays. we had a hard battled come from behind victory a couple weeks ago against the second place team, o.b. clarks. they're one of the better teams from all three advanced leagues at brentwood. we didn't really beat them, but tied it in the last minute which felt like a victory for us. it was also nice since i knew most of those guys and played with and against a lot since high school and through the years. it's nice when you can take a spear to the back of the leg and then turn around and give him a smile instead of a two-hander.

last weekend was our francis howell high school alumni hockey game. it's amazing that i was a part of that team when it was just in it's infancy. just to put it in perspective, we were the only st. charles team to field a team and we even had to take a few guys from our sister school francis howell north. now you look at it and just about every team in st. charles county has a hockey team and some even have two or three teams. we also had to drive 30 minutes to north county for practice and now there are about 10 sheets of ice all within about a 20 minute drive of where i grew up. the alumni game was a lot of fun. it was actually pretty good hockey for an alumni game. i got to see some young faces and skate against some youngsters that graduated last year.

i hope everyone is enjoying the holidays and not packing on too many pounds. tomorrow i'm planning a two hour ride on the trainer......we'll see how that goes. hopefully next time i'm on here i can say i've got a few road miles under my belt.

GREAT SKATE ADVENTURE '08...

2008-11-07T20:19:00.002-06:00

Well, here I sit in the Denver airport. This time yesterday I was sitting in the Chicago airport. Let me fast forward a couple days. I ordered a new pair of skates online the other day and when I received them they were defective. Now I've got to send them back, so in the meantime I've decided to get another pair. Since I've got abnormally narrow feet I can never get anything that fits good. I've always got to settle or make do. There is one pair of skates on the market that fit me the best and let me say when I received them in the mail I didn't like what I saw when going over the workmanship. So, Thursday morning I decided to fly to Minneapolis thinking that's the "state of hockey" they should have some quality hockey shops. Well, to my dismay, they weren't any different then shopping for hockey equipment here in St. Louis. Nobody ever carries narrow skates. I never even left the Minneapolis airport. I called about 10 hockey stores only to get the same answer, "NO, don't have that size". I then had the idea to fly to Vancouver. There was a store that had my size there and decided to fly out. I was hoping to make it in time to catch the Canucks/Coyotes game, but my flight was delayed in Chicago. I did finally make it only to get a hotel room. I got up this morning and got my skates, and they do fit like they were made for me. I guess it's like bike shopping for bike parts. Skates are like a good component group. Next pair of skates I'm goint to pay the extra money for a custom fit pair of skates. If I can spent several thousand dollars on biking stuff, whats $650 for skates.

It's too bad it was raining in Vancouver, it looked like it would've been beautiful. You could see the mountains right across the bay through the low clouds. Mt. biking seems to be pretty big there too. I drove down one street and I saw like three bike shops along with all kinds of outdoorsy type shops. Think I'll try to visit again and stay more then 14 hours to take in the sights. All the architecture and buildings made it look like some Scandinavian country. You know mt. biking is big when the magazine shops in the airport carry three different mt. bike magazines along with the usual bicycling. I thought I was at Borders.

a much needed update.....

2008-10-29T02:14:00.002-05:00

it's been a while since last updating this. i've been doing a lot, keeping busy, but none of it on the bike. a few weeks ago my neck chronic neck problem that's plagued me for about the last 10 years reared it's ugly head again. i had been doing ok with it, but i started to get headaches and just felt like i had a lot of tension in my neck and head. well, i got x-rays and an mri. the x-rays showed considerable arthritis. the results from the mri were bulged disks in the c3-c4, and c5-c6 regions. i'm not too sure where i go from here. i'm supposed to go back for a follow up visit in the next week or two. i can fully function, but sometimes just have this ache and pain in my neck that just won't go away. i started playing hockey again after taking a year break and was not sure if the added strain was causing it to hurt, nonetheless i'm still playing. any damage is propably already done.

as for hockey i'm finally feeling normal on the ice again after a year and a half break, mind you i've always played hockey every year. even when i was in the marine corps i was at least able to play a little roller hockey. the two nights a week is going good although back to back nights can be rough sometimes. thank god it's not full contact anymore. i've even started buying some well needed new equipment. it's funny how out of date i am with the latest and greatest when it comes to hockey equipment. it's just like biking stuff, something better always comes along, as much as you resist the new stuff always wins. i'm old school with my skates though, but i finally broke down and bought some bauer vapor xxxx's. these are such a nice skate, i'm so impressed with them, but unfortunately i may have to get different ones since they don't quite fit right. i've got two new pairs, but i just don't want to spend the time to break in either of them when the ones i really want are the new graf 703's. i have such narrow feet that graf skates may be the way to go, plus i used to have a pair and they fit like a glove.

skates is doing well, he's getting bigger, but i would've thought he'd be much bigger by now. he'll hit his growth spurt soon and be as big as bailey soon enough. as it turns out, i wasn't feeding him enough. i was going by the recommended feeding on the bag and was told by my vet that wasn't enough. bailey is bailey, always wants to play ball, she's a good girl.

i've actually gotten on the trainer the last couple of days and did a few spinning classes. that's about all the desire i have right now to be on the bike. enough to get my heartrate up an break a sweat.

Season in review....

2008-10-10T01:18:00.003-05:00

Well, it's been a while since I've posted here. I guess I should end the road/mt. bike season with some sort of season in review, so here it is. The goal back in March was to concentrate on the mt. bike races, and even go back to Indiana to do some Dino races, well, let me just say that went out the window. Most of the early mt bike races were either rained out or mud fests that I was not inclined to do. I also didn't get in as many races as I would have liked.

The best part of the season would have to be the road races early in the season. I got in the main races I wanted to get in and was in lead group for most of them. Dogwood was a blast. Hermann was another sufferfest, but a fun race. The state race really had me mentally and phyically abused. I was in the lead group until about the last 15-20 miles and was not recovering from all of the attacks before being dropped. I guess it was a blessing. I was able to recover and then solo'd a few miles by myself until finally catching the group and just missing the top 10 for 12th. That race really had it's ups and downs for me and I'm not talking about the terrain.

That brought me into July with a bit of a break from the road and got in some short track xc racing. Those were too much fun. Then in August came Jeff City and my first crit in about six weeks. I didn't think I'd do too well because of not getting much high tempo work other then a couple stxc races. Well, after suffering for the first part of the race I ended up getting a great line to the finish for 9th, my best finish of the season.

That would be my last good finish because the rest of the season was just a bad nightmare. Some of my old injuries from years of playing hockey started to flare up. Mostly my ankle tendons which were suffering from tendonitis and some neck pain which I'm now going to the doctor for. It turns out I've got arthritis in my neck and propably some torn ligaments, not good. I get an MRI in the coming days. Anyways, back to the races, several DNF's and a couple crashes pretty much brought my season to an abrupt end. Not to mention I ruined a set of Easton EA90SLX's that I still need to send off to get fixed.

That brings me to what I've been up to lately, hardly any riding at all. My legs would make sasquatch proud!!! I've added a new addition to the family, a siberian husky puppy that I name Skates. Speaking of skates, I've also laced up the skates and started playing hockey two times a week. I'm playing with and against some of my old beer league and Jr. Blues pals I played with years ago. It's nice to see old faces. I gotta say I've missed playing hockey again after a two year hiatus away from the ice. You would think that with all the riding I'd be in great shape, but riding doesn't do anything for your upper body and you've got to retrain those fast twitch muscles to start firing again. It's taken a couple weeks, but I'm finally feeling comfortable out there.

Although the bike has been pretty much put up, I'm sure in a couple of months I'll be raring to go. Hopefully this much needed break from the bike is just what the doctor orderred. That's about it, thanks for reading and see you next season.

Tour of Missouri, Stage 6

2008-09-13T22:59:00.003-05:00

this weekend i took a couple days off to watch to ToM. denny had an idea to ride out to the schluersburg and then head back to st. charles for the finish. we met denny, dave, and brian at creve couer park to head out. let me just say after not riding the last two weeks and cashing out my legs playing hockey the day before i was in no shape to do a ride like these guys wanted to do. as we headed out we hit some nice big climbs that woke up the legs. as we got to the base of schluersburg my legs were in full cramp mode and just barely made it up. as i road i saw plenty of familiar faces from the local racing scene.

we waited around for about an hour before the first break of 11 riders came up the hill. you could just see these guys suffering. a few minutes later the main group came across. i made out hincapie and vandevelde in the top 10 just cruising up the climb. a few minutes later one sole tecos rider came through. i was inspired by everyone cheering this guy on and i had hoped he would make it back to the peleton. riding another 50 miles by yourself in these hills is not something i would wish upon anyone. i didn't know if he'd make it to the group or make the time cut, but i believe he was the tecos rider the dropped out of the race.

after they passed it was time to head back. we were down to three now since denny was going home with his wife. believe me, i was so close to heading back with him. i decided since i took the day off i might as well ride back. we took a combination of roads and the katy trail to get back. we timed it perfect and arrived about 15 minutes before the finish. cavendish completed the hat trick and missourian brad huff pulled off a 3rd place. we got in about 77 miles and got to see some real bike racers. excellent day!

New member of the family....

2008-09-08T00:01:00.003-05:00

I started writing this the other night at work, while on my lunch break of course. A few updates to it since then.

It's been almost two years since my last husky, "stanley", passed away and have been wanting another one for the past several months. Bailey needs a partner in crime also so last Thursday I found one on craigslist. I tried the pounds and the Husky rescues with no luck, and to be honest, it's just easier to get one from a local breeder. Some rescues want to do a complete background check and find out all about you before they allow you to adopt a husky. It's funny how I ended up with this pup. I found an ad a couple weeks ago and called the breeder, but he was already taken. Now fast forward to Thursday and I'm trying to find this female puppy ad that I had seen the previous day. I ended up finding someone selling a male husky, which is what I wanted, so I called and found out they were 15 minutes from me. I drove there and picked him up that night. It dawned on me later that he was the same one that I had originally called for the week before. It turned out the previous owners had bitten off more then they could chew and only had him for a week. He's a great little dog, typical husky, drama queen, and a thinker. Housebreaking is a bitch, but I'm confident he'll come around in the next couple weeks. I named him "skates".

Now as for racing, I haven't ridden since the Wash Ave crit, and to be honest I really haven't had a desire. I went to see the orthopedic surgeon on Friday and was basically told to rest it. So that is what I'm doing. I've got another appointment on Wedensday for some prolotherapy, basically reinjecting your own plasma to speed recovery. It's been a long season and I've put in a lot of miles. I've needed a break and so I guess my break is maybe just ending the season a little earlier then I wanted to.

I've been getting the bug to lace up the skates again after a long break. I haven't skated since I hoisted the BHL cup in April of 2007.

Now, as for an update, yesterday I had my PRP shots in both ankles. It hurt like a bitch, needles probing all over your ankles is not fun. This morning my left ankle is in serious pain and hurts to walk on it. I'm hoping it gets better by tonight since it's our first game down at Brentwood.

As for Skates, I've now had him for a full week and he's made great progress. He went to work with me this past week. He was great, he sat in my office and was pretty much perfect. He laid around a lot and slept. In fact while typing this he actually barked at the door to go out. Bailey is feeling a little more comfortable with him too.

Tomorrow there is a race down in Jeff City, but seeing how I haven't ridden since Gateway, and my ankles being sore, I really don't see it happening.

Gateway Cup and other shiiiiiiaaaatt!!!

2008-08-31T13:46:00.007-05:00

Well, what had been a hopeful weekend to improve on the previous weekends roadraces and crash has been anything but. My weekend started off ok, but still hadn''t done any type of recovery from the races the previous weekend. I woke up Wedensday afternoon and decided to go for a short ride. It ended up being a short three hour ride, more on this later. So now on Thursday I went to see Dr. Crane to check on my ankle that's been giving me some tendonitis pain. He used his trusty ultrasound machine to look around my ankle. I thought I had torn ligaments several years ago which I thought was causing all the pain. As it turns out, the ligaments were in tact, but my perroneal tendon was likely torn. He said what's normally 2-4 mm's was like .2 mm's, wow!!! Hopefully a little rest(yeah, right) and a round of PRP shots in both my ankles will do the trick.

Now, to the races. I was hoping to just survive Fridays race at Lafeyette Square. There was like 148 guys listed at the start line. By far, the largest field I've ever raced in. All previous battle scars bandaged up and I was ready for action. The race went ok for the first couple laps until going into turn three. Somebody flatted several riders in front of me causing a few guys to go down. Everyone started fanning out and I just did the same. Wrong move, I got barrelled into from behind causing me to hit the guy in front of me. I never did actually go down, but my bike did. When I picked it back up both rims (Easton EA90SLX's) were taco'd so riding back to the pit was not an option.....so I ran the half mile back(perfect, triathlon training) and got some sweet Zipp 404's and I could definitely tell a difference right away from my standard wheels. I sure didn't want to give these back. Anyways, several laps later, not feeling it, I decided to call it a night. I only reopened the wound on the hip, a little blood soaked through the shorts, but it was ok. The next day, I looked at my bike and as it turned out, my bike never made it into the big chainring. Somehow the cage was lower and would hit the big ring when trying to shift up. With all the bad luck, I figured my body was telling me it was time to take a break and skip Saturdays race also. Well, being as stubborn as I am, I ended up going to Saturdays race only to bow out after about 15 minutes. My legs were just not recovering when they had a chance, they were shot. I felt like I was working my ass off and yet not making any ground, in fact I was losing ground. I had to head to work right after the race, so I just called it a day and headed into work.

So, basically my highlight of the weekend was a three hour ride that seemed to also be what did me in for the Gateway Cup races and my fantasy football drafts. Tony Romo better have one hell of a season, that's all I can say. I also ruined a nice set of wheels that I propably won't get back any time soon. Oh well, I had a pretty good run for a while until these last several weekends. Luck and fitness were definetly not on my side. Two crashes, lots of donated skin to MODOT, actually INDOT, one flat, and four DNF's in the last six races is definetly not how I wanted to end the season. I could say I've had a lot going on lately, moving, racing on three hours of sleep, doing big rides before races, nagging injuries, but you know what they say, excuses are like assholes and everyone's got one. I rode throughout the whole winter never really taking a break and now I guess it must be catching up with me. Alrighty then, back to bed, hopefully I can catch a few more ZZZ's.

Race weekend......

2008-08-24T18:27:00.002-05:00

I wasn't able to get a vacation day for the Gateway Cup, so I'll only do the first two. However, I was able to get a day off this weekend to give me the whole weekend off with two races to choose from. At first I chose to do the Sedalia/Otterville races, but then I remembered that Indianapolis had what I thought was to be like the Tour of St. Louis, a road race, TT, and a crit. I lived in Indianapolis for eight years and never did that race or really even heard of it since at that time I was mostly racing mt. bikes. So it was set, I went to Indianapolis. I was to wake up around 5am and leave by 5:30. I ended up getting up at 2am and never did get back to sleep, so needless to say I only got about three hours of sleep. I figured what the hell, a couple cups of coffee and I'd be good. Four hours later I finally arrive and register. They raced the 1, 2, 3's together, no big deal, 3's were going to be scored differently. Now here's where it gets weird. The race flyer called this a road race on a 2.5 mile course. I figure it's a typo and should have been called a circuit race. As we line it up the official says we're doing 80 plus 1, hmmmmmmm........that sounds like a crit to me, but on a 2.5 mile course? Then he says if you flat come back and you'll get a free lap..........how the hell does that happen, ride a mile on a flat???? Also, the course is on a road no wider then a one lane road, so about 6-8 ft. It's basically like racing over in Illinois on the MCT trails with covered trees on both sides. Really, the course I could deal with, but the race flyer was very misleading. The race finally gets going about a half hour late and the first lap goes without a hitch. Second lap a few breaks go away and one with a few 3's so I decide to chase it down. As I attack the climb up the hill I look back only to find two guys follow. Only two of us rotate pulls as the other guy only wants to sit in, so I'm back at the front. I'm propably doing 25mph when a 90* turn approaches. I come into it hot and had to lean the bike over pretty good and then I made a rookie mistake. I tried to pedal out of it and went right to the asphalt. The guy behind me goes down and ends up in the grass, mind you these roads are fairly narrow. At this point the main group goes by and I expend every bit of energy I have to latch back on. Very bad!!! I was already operating on three hours sleep and could tell I didn't have that extra gear to put into overdrive. Two laps later I'm dropped and one lap later I'm done. I didn't even stay to do the TT. Disappointed with the race I decided to drive back to St. Louis and do an actual road race. I visit my old neighborhood, then drive back to St. louis in time to get some sleep. That leads to todays race in Otterville, MO.

I met Brian, Denny's brother at 5am to make our way to Otterville. Thank god he's driving, eight hours yesterday is more then enough for this weekend. A little battered and bruised, but no worse for the wear. Todays race went well for a little while. I stayed at the front for most of the race, no more then three or four wheels back and played honorary blocker for my teammates who decided to go on the attack several times. My race went well for the most part until about mile 40 when the legs started to really cramp up. At this point I was still at the front with a teammate in a four man break. The peleton was really trying to chase it down now and some guy, upset that he couldn't get around finally crossed the center yellow line. He caught the break and was with my teammate Jeff as the last two on the break. I was sure Jeff was going to win it. Now to the last five miles, all the guys that I had seen for the first time since the start were also deciding to all move up, bad combination with my legs starting to cramp. We all made it to the final climb to the run-in for the finish and my legs locked up. I had to let everyone go by and go at my own pace. I ended up passing Jeff who was in the break, his legs were in full cramp mode and got passed by Denny. I ended up finishing just behind the pack, but was satisfied with the race as a whole. I really thought Jeff had it in the bag. Now here's the twist, the guy who won the race was DQ'd for the center-rule, and my buddy Todd, from Bigshark got the victory. Awesome race Todd!!! I saw him protesting with the officials afterwards, but seeing how he advanced several postions in that move, I believe it was correct.

Gateway Cup next!!!!!

fluff....

2008-08-17T04:44:00.002-05:00

Well, it's been a light night here at the grind so I'm cruising the web, reading a few blogs of their races and I've got to admit, I wish I would've done more mt. bike races this year. I'm getting kind of anxious to get out on the old hardtail and push it through it's paces. There's a race tomorrow and here I am at work. I'd love to do it, but I would be in no shape to do a race after being up all night and getting days off are few and far between with the road schedules. Guess I'll have to make the next one.......again.

As for the homefront, I'm all moved in. No more lugging up boxes and tables up three flights of stairs. I'm all done, now all that's left is to find a place for all my crap. After last weeksTour of KC I've been able to get some good miles in this week. I got about 90 at the beginning of the week and then today got in about 72 before heading back to bed before work. 42 was solo at a good pace and then came back and picked up Jess for another 30. All that's left are some easy rides before heading to Sedalia this weekend for a crit and road race. It's easier said then done. I know Thursday will roll around(my day off) and I'll get the urge to go out for 40 or 50, it happens every week. I just signed up for the Gateway races, but unfortuneatly may only be able to do the first two races. I'll see how that plays out.

Just one more thing to add, when there's a known hornets nest in the vicinity, don't f!@# with them. I got stung about three times in the arm and it itches like crazy and it's all swollen up, all because I was trying to be a hard ass.

Tour of KC, 08 Edition...

2008-08-09T22:51:00.003-05:00

some race weekends are definetly better then others. this one was definetly not one of them. this year i was only able to do the first two races since i've got to work on sunday and didn't want to burn the candle at both ends. anyways, fridays crit was the kansas city crit which consisted of two hills. one fairly short with a gradual climb and one about twice as long, though nothing too steep. it was definetly fast from the get go and i was only able to last about 8 laps. it was one of those races where you just have nothing in the legs. i suppose the 45 miles i rode the day before might have had a little to do with it. hey, i thought i rode nice and easy. well, that said, i pulled the chutes early in that one and figured i'd come back to fight another day..........the next day, actually, at the cliff drive classic circuit race.

new day, new legs. i felt my legs were going to be under me in this race. they were feeling much better then the day before. i was expecting it to be hot and humid like it was last year, but this year it was cool temps and drizzling rain all morning and lasted into the first part of the race. the previous racers looked like they just got done racing a muddy paris roubaix. compared to last year, this years seemed to be faster. no time to sit up and take a bit of a break like last year. this was pretty much full throttle the whole time. i was right in the thick of things the first five laps and even led the peloton over the nice little climb and about another 1/4 mile before realizing that it was time for me to get back into the peloton. the 6th lap seemed to have done me in. as we neared the climb i looked down only to find my front tire had flatted. that was pretty much my race. i waited for the wheel truck and swapped wheels, but there would be no catching the peloton at this point so i just road the last three laps solo. hmmmm.........two wet races(last years winghaven) and two flats??? i don't think i'll be running those tires in the rain again. i love my vittoria open corsa's, but they're not made for the wet stuff. i didn't want to run my trainers either because those have seen better days so i stuck with the vittorias. bad choice i guess.

more races upcoming and things can only get better after this weekend. oh, i forgot to mention my unsuccessful search for a hotel room. i ended up paying an overpriced $100 for a cheap delapadated double because that was all they had left. i knew i should've reserved it online before i left!!!

RACE...

2008-08-05T04:10:00.003-05:00

Start race. Make left turn, almost hit Jeep parked on side of road. Make another left, small acceleration then coast up and around the bend to small hill. Pedal up hill and try to survive acceleration coming out of the next left turn. Do this 25 more times and fight the temptation to call it a day because it's so freakin' hot and sprint for 9th.

same ole, same ole.....

2008-07-30T02:16:00.004-05:00

well, here i sit at the daily grind reading some articles about more layoffs within our company. i've been through this several times and it's always the same. first at twa, then at united. thought united airines was gonna be the job to end all jobs, but nowadays, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of jobs that one can make a career at. lots of talk and speculation, seems like months, and then next thing you know you've got your layoff notice. thus is life in the airline industry. with gas prices the way they are, it doesn't seem like an end is in sight anytime soon. oh well, i'll just play it out and see where i end uponce again. i could use a career change anyways.

as for the bike, not much to talk about there either. although i've still been getting the miles in, i haven't gotten much racing in other then the thursday short tracks. my ankles had been giving me problems also, my surgically repaired right ankle is actually the better one, but after tearing ligaments in my left ankle a couple years ago, i've gotten a case of tendonitis. needless to say it's been a quiet month and half. i didn't even feel the need to go up to wisconsin for superweek. i've actually even thought about breaking out the old cleveland golf clubs and hit the links. with gas prices the way they are, layoff rumors, the thought of moving in a couple days, and my tendonitis i haven't really had the urge to go out of town for any races. the last third of the season is coming up with plenty of more local races, so should have more race reports soon enough. yaaaaaaaaawwwwnn!!!!!!

My dilemna......

2008-07-14T23:55:00.003-05:00

As I sit here at the grind with a little time on my hands I think about the dilemna I'm in. My dilemna is this. I had planned on doing a couple of races at Superweek up in Wisconsin to get in some races, but do I really want to spend $300-$400 for a couple of races? That is my burning question at the moment. They are great races to attend, but with the STXC series going on here I'm actually looking forward to doing a little off-road racing even if it is short track. I'm still getting a great workout and if I do both races like I did last week then it's definetly worth staying here and saving some dough.

The seasons got about two and a half months left in it and I'd say I've accomplished about 3/4's of my races that I've wanted to do. I wish I'd done more mt. bike racing as was the goal at the beginning of the season, but priorities have changed. There's still a lot of racing to be done in these next couple of months though.

This past Saturday I took a VO2 max test. I'm not sure how accurate it was though. two hours prior I had just gotten done doing a hard 60 mile ride out to St. Albans from my apartment. It was with the Ghisallo group. It was a good turnout, they always are, about 30-40 riders. It was pretty tame as usual until I got to the ossenfort climb, which, of course I had to hammer. It was pretty high tempo from there into St. Albans for a five minute break and a little regrouping. We headed out tame once again until the climb up melrose. I think I was first or second up the climb and then to Ossenfort before a few more riders latched on. It was full throttle the rest of the way back. It was about four of us, and we caught another Dogfish rider David. He made it with us for part of the way back before hitting another climb and then it was the four of us again. These are some of the hardest 12 mile stretches back to Ghisallo. I'd say it's safe to say average over 26 or 27 mph for that stretch. That was my first Ghisallo ride for the year and I'll hopefully make more. Needless to say, I didn't have much left for my VO2 test. I'll have a better report on my next test, good thing it was free.

I've gotten a little off track, but back to my dilemna, I think I'll stay in town and save some money. The STXC race is a blast anyways.

Castlewood STXC #3...

2008-07-11T01:22:00.005-05:00

i've got to say that i was looking forward to tonights race. after doing a short 15 mile road ride in the morning i came home to try my luck on the computer playing a little ghost recon. i put the flight sim on hiatus for a little ghost recon to kill the time on my weekend. after a couple hours of getting killed about 15 times i proceded to take a nap for a couple hours and almost didn't wake up in time, not to mention taking 50 minutes to make it 12 miles to the wood. as usual making it just in time to make it to the line. the race had a lot of heavy hitters today, not to mention a few more then last week. i'm not very good starting out these races full throttle so the goal was just to hold my own and then just settle in. we had the dogfish train going for a few laps with myself, brett, and jeff. it was good to have us all riding together. myself and brett flipflopped taking pulls before finishing together with jeff just behind us.

after a little break, jeff was planning to do both races and with myself needing the extra training i decided to have another go in the b race. it started with quite a few racers lined up. my plan was just to sit in and get in the miles. well, the b race start was a little more tame then the a race and i found myself up towards the front. i saw jeff take a pretty good lead and i just tried to keep the pace high. slowly i picked off guys and road together with a christian(iccc, i think). on the last lap i saw jeff about 20 yards in front with plans of catching him, but as the exhaustion started to set in i started to make mistakes and just about went over the handlebars after hitting a root right before the riverbed crossing. the wind was let out of the sails and i was just trying to stay with the christian. i finished behind him. i guess jeff got 1st and think i was 3rd.

once again a great turnout. props go out to all the organizers. the one bad thing about this is that it ends in a couple more weeks.

a training week...

2008-06-14T16:06:00.002-05:00

that's what it's been, a good training week. it started last sunday at the winghaven race, then i rode to work on tuesday afternoon with a stop at creve coeur park to get in a few laps around the lake and then rode home the next morning. while riding through the old bridgeton neighborhood that was condemned, i got to thinking that area would make for a great circuit race. there are no homes up, but the streets are still there. i think i may ride to work more often on tuesday afternoon, which is basically my friday. it's tough to do on any other day because i've got to be back in 10 hours later and suffer through the midnight shift. anyways, myself and denny got in some good miles on thursday and then today i got in about 85 and more tomorrow. what am i training for? i don't know yet, looks like i may not be racing until superweek up in chicago and wisconsin.

now you may ask what's up with the picture? well, they've got something in common besides me sucking down a waterbottle. they were both races i really suffered in. last year at dogwood and this years winghaven. winghavens got my number, i was going pretty good last year after taking the first two kom's and about to snatch a third before flatting. hopefully they'll have it again next year. i've heard some rumors that it may not happen and some of the sponsors may pull out. we'll see, i'd like to see it because it's a great event that's local.

winghaven debacle...

2008-06-09T01:41:00.002-05:00

well, today just wasn't a good day for me. i hadn't been sleeping well lately and so i took a tylenol pm last night thinking i had plenty of time for it to wear off. the race wasn't until 12:30. i guess i was wrong or at least i'd like to think that. my legs felt heavy from the start and i just wasn't feeling like it was going to be a good day. it was crazy fast from the start, which is hardly anything new. i periodically checked my heartrate during the first few laps and i was continuously in the 190's, high 190's. with three or four laps to go i started getting to that breaking point, mentally i just wasn't there, thinking do i go into overdrive and into the red zone and hang with the pack? well, with five laps to go, my mind got the best of me and i just popped off the back of the pack. i wasn't feeling well and i had to work tonight, so what the hell, i'll take a dnf and come back next race. so as i make it up the one short, punchy climb i start to realize that i may be able to latch back on and give it another go. instead of making a right turn i proceeded to give what i had left. they weren't too far ahead, but i just couldn't catch back up. at this point there was only four laps to go so i figured i'd work with some other stragglers and maybe reel in the pack or just finish. i ended up catching and dropping a few guys before finally working with a hub rider. we worked together until the end and he took me on the sprint up the hill. it was a rough day in the saddle, but all things considered it was a success. i ended up finishing on the same lap as the main pack although a few minutes back. oh well, back to the grind!!!

O'Fallon RR report....

2008-05-31T22:49:00.003-05:00

There would be a report had I done this race, but since I could only manage two hours of sleep I guess my better judgement got the best of me this time. As of last night, the plan was to pick up Denny and make our way to the race. Anyways, I tossed and turned before just getting up and watching the tube. I took some tylenol pm, with no luck, and finally decided the race wasn't going to happen. I didn't feel too bad leaving Denny out to dry since he was on the fence anyways. He was at Georgia Cup the previous weekend with five days of racing and was needing a break.

The tylenol pm finally kicked in and before I knew it I was waking up at 1:30 in the afternoon so I decided to go out on my own ride. I'm not the best when it comes to a disciplined training regimine. I usually go out for about two and a half to three hours, maybe four and get my intervals in powering up some of the climbs, that's about it. Now, after having my Garmin for a couple weeks I decided to use the virtual partner. I had used it before, but this time I had to beat my last time which was pretty fast. That little blip on the screen was kicking my ass. I found myself really trying to outdo my previous ride. I was basically attacking myself. It was even funny that I found myself swearing up and down that little computer, I wasn't going to be beat that day. I've got to say that feature really adds to the dynamics of a ride. It's a pretty cool function on those days I just can't get the urge to go hard since 90% of my rides are by myself.

My next scheduled race, considering I get some sleep the night before will be Winghaven. There is Dinoseries race in Indaina the following weekend, but with the way gas prices are I'm just not too sure it would be worth it.

Saturday race prep.....

2008-05-28T19:07:00.004-05:00

Well, it was a long week at work and an exceptionally long morning at work. I had felt good going into work last night and thought we were going to have an easy night. I figured if I got off at 6am I'd be able to get home, get some sleep and go for a ride in the afternoon. Well, the night turned upside down and ended up having a broken airplane in the morning and had me scrambling to find a fix for it. It ended up taking a one hour delay, for something really stupid, but a requirement for aircraft dispatch. If people only new the real reasons their flights were delayed. Some are warranted and some are just plain stupid. Anyways, 6am turned into 10am and needless to say I got home, went to bed, and got up too late to head on out for a ride. Now I suppose I'll go out tomorrow and Friday for a nice ride while trying not to go out too hard. I'm not quite sure what to expect for Saturdays race, I've never ridden out in that area. I'm supposing it may be a little different then the last several RR's I've done this year, meaning a lot less climbing. Sunday is also the Matson race, but don't think I'll be doing that one. What had been a goal of concentrating more on mt. bike racing this season has just not come into fruition. There are just way too many roadraces and crits within driving distance. The schedules just don't seem to work for me, so for now my mt. bike sits restless.

I grew up in Chicago and have always been a Cubs fan. Hell, along with hockey, I also grew up playing baseball. So I just happen to have it on WGN and the Cubs game has come on. I can't say I've followed baseball much this year, or for any other year for that matter. It's just not my cup of tea nowadays. I usually tune in right around October for the World Series. Anyways, I can't believe they are doing so good. They have the second best record right now and the announcers are giving them all kinds of accolades, WOW, is all I've got to say. Where the hell have I been? Maybe this will be their year..............yeah, right.

OK, gotta refill my coffee........decaf!

Hellbender State RR

2008-05-19T10:03:00.004-05:00

Once again, rode hard on Thursday and then long and slow on Friday, not the smartest preparation. I didn't sleep well the night before and the body was pretty tired as it showed on my heartrate monitor. I procrastinated and didn't even think I was going to go until the last minute and then totally mistimed how long it takes to get there. I thought it only took about an hour, only about a half hour off. I got there 20 minutes before the start.

After getting all the prerace stuff out of the way were off. The race starts with a long ascent, although not steep, it got the heartrate up. Shawn took over the pacemaking from the start of the gun and went out hard. We all followed him up for several miles before he finally gave way. It was pretty uneventful. After the only significant climb of the day we were still mostly all together and through the feedzone at 25mph. I figured it wouldn't be neutralized so I brought four bottles with me to do away with the feed.

The second lap starts with more aggressiveness as several riders attack. They never get too far and are all brought back. Then one attack goes away with several riders and it's represented with three or four teams, I tell Casey that this might be the one and he should go. He waits and prepares to launch himself and finally goes. He bridges the group of around five or six riders. Bigshark had a guy in the break and are also in front controlling the peleton, pretty content, as was I, Casey was up there so we were good. Suddenly, Shawn O'neal attacks the left side and he's bringing another group of riders with him so we give up the control and all latch on. It was a pretty big effort to catch the lead breakaway, but now we caught it. Moments later Jim V. attacks with somebody else and they get a pretty good gap. He's a pretty dangerous guy to let go like that so I take over to lead the catch. I pulled for a while giving it all I had before giving way and now we are all back together again. Now that we are all together. Mark G, from Gateway attacks and gets a very large gap, so far that he's out of site. I don't know much about Mark, but I do know he's 50+ years old and a wiley veteran, your typical masters type guy. He's up the road for quite a while. The make or break point is upcoming on the one tough climb, although after the Hermann RR it didn't seem quite as torturous as last year. It still hurt though. I made it up with the lead group, but am in some serious pain now. Denny unfortuneately is nowhere to be seen. After several more miles we catch Mark. Then repeated attacks come and I'm falling off the back, and having a hard time recovering. I'm finally the last wheel and losing ground until none other then Denny comes barreling past me. I yell at him to pull me up, but he's only got one thing on his mind, to catch the group. Casey hears me yell and slows and pulls me up to the group. I was a little pissed at the time that he didn't pull me up, but this is the second time he had to TT to catch the group after that climb and understand his focus.

Now that I'm back on the group is being continuously attacked and doing the yoyo effect, basically me. I'm the only one it seems to me to be in real trouble. It's taking longer to recover from each attack before I'm finally shelled. I wave the wheel truck to come on through and I'm demoralized that I didn't stay with the pack. I finally do recover and am resigned to the fact that I'll have to time trial it all the way back by myself. It was shaping up to be a repeat of last year after I crashed in the gravel driveway going around the sharp right hand turn. My legs are feeling pretty good at this point and am going at a pretty good clip. Then, like a kid in a candy store, I see the pack again and I'm gaining ground on them. I eventually rejoin the pack for the run into the finish. I ask Denny if he wants to try and lead out Casey and before I know it he's in the gravel passing everybody to the front. Only a centerline rule, right? Several guys are laughing their asses off and I'm just thinking he's nuts. Oh well, that's Denny!!! As we make the run into town we pacelined it pretty hot around the last corner and several guys shot out into the gravel, unlike Denny who does it intentionally. The final sprint pretty much finishes in the same order. I couldn't make any ground on the Mesa kid in front of me and I got passed by Mark at the line for 12th. Denny placed 13th, Jeff 25th, and wonderkid Casey got an awesome finish for Dogfish for second. This kid just keeps on finding ways to get results.

As for other Dogfish guys I know Denny's brother was leading the 5's before coming to the last turn and somebody pointed right so he went right. That costly mistake cost him what could have been a fist place finish. I think he ended up 15th, tough break.

TGIF!!!!!

2008-05-13T16:25:00.007-05:00

well, tonight is my friday. it's been a long week at work which started on saturday. i missed the castlewood race because of work and just absolutely needing a bit of a break of the high intensity of racing over the past several weekends. i decided to take it easy on saturday and go for an easy road ride only to have the rain come down on me for over an hour, so much for an nice easy ride. now i was cold and miserable.....thinking, maybe i just should've done the race. anyways, it's been a nice, stree-free, uneventful week at work......i propably just jinxed myself. upcoming is the state roadrace and hope to get in a few more training rides beforehand.

for those hockey fans out there in case you didn't know, the world championships are going on right now. team usa is still in the fight with single elimination rounds coming up. this team is somewhat of a "new kids on the block" type. i understand it's just the world championships and not the world cup or olympics, but either i'm getting older or all the usual suspects are still involved in the nhl playoffs. the usual suspects i'm talking about are chelios, roenick, weight, amonte, and tkachuk, just to name a few. i guess i am getting older and so are those other guys. it's nice to see a new crop of american kids coming up. the thing i don't know, is why the blues' eric johnson did not play in this. he would've been a big help on the defense.....hmmmm. check out another blues player, david backes making mince meat out of some poor finish player. here's something you don't see much of in international play. it reminds me of my worst beating i've ever taken as a hockey player. it was during jr. blues practice and i had just burned our defenseman on one on one drills. he was also our enforcer and propably had me by about 50lbs, and that's no shit. anyways, i skate to the corner and next thing i know i'm getting pummeled out of nowhere and couldn't do a thing. i tried to fight back, but it wasn't going to happen when fighting an experienced guy like that. i turtled and took my beating like a man. needless to say i was seeing double and had a headache for several days afterwards.

Washington Crit report.......

2008-05-05T07:34:00.002-05:00

Well, I wasn't so sure I was going to do this race. I've needed to take a week off and I had to work last night, as I write this I will be going on my 26th hour of being up. I also did the Ghisallo ride Saturday morning which was supposed to be a very slow easy group ride which I figured wouldn't be too bad. That wasn't the case, I definetly went over the rev limiter and wasn't really feeling like I had anything in my legs yesterday morning. I debated and did the pro con thing and as it turned out I went to the race anyways.

I'm glad I did, it was a good, hard race. A weird race. First, it was supposed to be 40 and five, then they say it's 30 and five. I'd say I strive on the longer crits, but oh well. Next, I'm involved in a wreck that took out about four or five dudes including my teammate Jeff. The worst off was a Big Shark guy that looked like he was in bad shape. It wasn't pretty. It was weird, right on a straight stretch of rode that you would never think a wreck would happen. Anyways, they stop the race for about 15-20 minutes as the ambulance takes care of the guy in the middle of the road. This brings up a question. What is the etiquette in a crash like this? I've been involved in plenty of crashes and witnessed them, but this one was just kind of strange. There were five of us trying to get back in the race and before I saw how bad he was I was up and ready to head to the wheel pit area. Myself and another guy just looked at eachother wondering what help we could be. His teammate was by his side and there were several other people coming to his aid. I'm not a paramedic and don't practice medicine so I figured he was in good hands as the three or four of us rode over to the pit area. It was just a strange feeling seeing him like that. I hope he's okay.

As for the second race, the five laps after the stoppage, the pace was high and I stayed towards the front. I tried to keep my position, but the pace picked up even more and my legs started to feel it. During the sprint I was only able to muster a 15th plsce finish. All things considered, it was a successful race. I feel good taking a week off from racing before the state roadrace in a couple weeks. The Castlewood mt. bike race was on my calendar for next week, but I just don't see myself doing it, but we'll see.

Tour of St. louis, Carondolet crit...

2008-04-28T13:44:00.001-05:00

Well, after almost considering not doing this race, I was able get the urge needed to get out the door. I've felt a little blah lately about racing crits after the Hermann and Dogwood races. After some fun road races to begin the season, I just wasn't feeling like doing a crit and especially knowing that I had to go into work that night meaning another 24 hour day of being up. It's not fun to begin the work week like that. Oh well, enough bitching, the bottom line is I need a new job!!!!!!!!!! Wait, where are my priorities, I need a job to afford to bike, ok, priorities are in line again!!!

Now, back to the racing. I arrived late once again, as proven by the fact that I arrived at the registration tent a half hour before start time and there is nobody there to register me. I finally get registered and I get in a total four miles or 15 minutes of warm-up in, good enough I suppose. We've got four Fishes in the race, denny, casey, matt, and myself. Right from the gun the pace gets fast and furious as there are a lot of attacks, it seemed like it was attack after attack. A few stayed away for a while, but all were reeled back in until the final several minutes when a group of four got away. Somehow they just snuck away and seemed to have been forgotten. Now with this group away were down to several laps to go and as we come up the small hill I'm with Casey. I hammer up it like a bat out of hell determined to lead Casey to the lead group of four who are within sight. As I jumped Casey followed and we put a gap on the group. I led Casey around to the backside, and I must've pushed too hard because as Casey passed, I could not go with him. He put a bit of a gap on me and so he knew our efforts were futile so we both shut it down and got back in the peloton. During the race, I told myself to go either go outside or inside up the slight incline to get a free pass to the finish. Well, what do I do? I stay right behind a bunch of riders and before I know it it's too late to make my move to the outside. I end up finishing 22nd, Casey got 5th, and Denny was just behind me and I'm not sure where Matt finished. I have no idea how Casey slithered his way up there. I would've liked to have done Forest Park where I took 3rd place last year, but work had my name this weekend. There will be plenty more races to come.

Passenger Jets are meant to fly with one engine!!!!

2008-04-24T08:09:00.003-05:00

So I come into work the other day only to find out that I'll be missing half my crew. As it turned out, one of our airplanes, which was flown by a friend of mine and a fellow cyclist, had landed in Belleville. We don't fly to Belleville!!!! Well, let's just say it had engine trouble and made it there on one engine. I wouldn't say this happens all the time, but these guys are trained for that and I've got to commend my buddy for doing his job and my mechanics for changing the engine. There's nothing like changing an aircraft engine at a remote airfield, outside, mosquito infested, with limited resources, but it's just part of the job and my guys did a great job to get it flying again!!!!

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/illinoisnews/story/F318B303633AB2BB862574340011F21B?OpenDocument

Tour of Hermann.....

2008-04-21T09:18:00.004-05:00

Well, the weekend is over so that mean the Tour of Hermann is over too. It was a long, fun weekend of racing. Saturday was my first road time trial. I was scheduled to go off at 3:21 and arrived in time to pick up my registration and get about 15 minutes on the trainer. Conditions were still somewhat fall-like, and a little windy. I felt a little out of place as I didn't have any aero bars or fancy deep dish wheels, but nonetheless, I don't claim to be a time trialist. I run what I brung!!! Although, that's not to say I won't have a makeshift tt bike for my next race. I've got a couple things in the works and an extra frame just screaming tt. First though, is to build up my new dogfish CAAD9 frame without parting out my current bike since that will be my training bike.

Getting back to the TT, the plan was simple, go balls to the wall without blowing up and hope to have something left for Sundays road race. It's funny, the guy lined up right in front of me has a tt bike setup using the same frame I've got in my closet!!! It's time for me to go, all ready for action. Heading out I notice it's windy, but not as bad as most people are talking about. I do notice that I could've propably used some clip-on aero bars at the very least. I'm out and back in a time of 25:34, not a great time, but within a minute of most of the other CAT 3's. I was satisfied with that time.

Sunday rolls around for the road race. I'm not sure my legs are quite up to it, I'm really skeptical about what the day has in store for me. We have Matt D, Denny, and Casey in the race joining me. I don't get in much of a warm-up in as I use the first couple of miles for my warm-up. The race starts and we cruise around town before hitting some of the first climbs of the day. They come early and often on this hilly course. Great!!!!! Right on the first steep climb my chain starts to skip in the largest 3 cogs, the ones I'm going to need!!!! The one thing I failed to check out before the race was to make sure it was shifting perfectly. I have no barrel adjusters on my bars, only on my rear derailleur so I'm screwed. I'm not about to stop. I'll have to put an adjuster on now after this race. Well, after the first few climbs, even with the shifting problems I now find myself towards the front. My legs feel like shit, yet I seem to be able to stay towards the front. As we end lap one and head into town we pass the feedzone and hit "the wall", something like 18% grade, and I'm still around top 10 grinding my gears all the way up. I tried to soft pedal up, but that just wasn't happening. I wasn't about to power up it and make my legs suffer, so grind on I went. At the very least, it gave me a wide berth for some unobstructed climbing. I guess the guys didn't like what they were hearing!!!! To be honest, that climb was not too hard for me, it was the next couple gradual climbs right after that that I hated. After that first climb out of town we put a gap on some of the other racers. Casey was with us as he came along side me. I passed Denny on the way up and I had no idea where he was at. I looked around and did not see him. After a few more miles I notice my buddy Ron from ABD, and Denny. I guess they had to bridge the gap, but now they are able to get on. Denny said it hurt, but they did it.

Now on our second lap the Mesa kids are all up front, they push the pace a bit. Everybody is waiting for Shawn O'neal to go. He tries a few times, but he's covered and nothing ever develops. Finally, about mid lap, three guys go, including a Mesa kid. Nobody covers that attack and allows it to get up the road. I don't know if nobody thought it would stick or what, but we truck on. A couple minutes later, Dave, from Cycleworx, goes, but nobody follows. A couple minutes later, grasshopper Casey goes, once again nobody covers and he's allowed to get up the road. The group starts slowing and nobody seems to be concerned about the guys up the road. At this point there are five guys up the road.

We are now in the feedzone, I'm good and I don't grab anything, ready for lap three. As we hit "the wall" once again, my chain starts skipping, but I make it up with the our group. We drop a few people and unfortuneately Denny is one of the culprits. He was pretty beat up by that climb and didn't have anybody strong enough to help him bridge. It's now just me in our group of about 10-15 guys, including Shawn, and Jim V from Get a Grip. I'm waiting for them to make a move, I'm thinking they will not let that group stay off the front, but nothing ever comes. At one point some guy yells at us to paceline and catch the lead group. The Mesa kids aren't about to go, I'm not about to go either, so we just go at our own pace for a few more miles. Finally Jim V starts to make his moves, but are all covered. He's a one man wrecking crew with his accelerations, I'm sure we must've dropped a few more guys. Needless to say, our pace starts to pick up. Several other guys start to attack, but all are covered. We go through the town of Berger and I'm about fourth or fifth wheel, I'm hoping to stay in this spot to the end and fight for a top 10. Our group is now down to about 10. Two or three mesa kids, Shawn(Ghisallo), Jim(Get a Grip), Ron(ABD) a Trek guy, a Gateway guy, and a few others that I can't remember. As we hit the last KOM about half way up somemore attacks start. My legs start to lock up so I can't follow, I'm just off the lead guys over the KOM. I try my hardest and pass one guy on the descent. There is one guy drafting me and we now have three guys going into town. The lead group are only about 50m's in front of us, but we're not making up any ground. I end up finishing 14th. Casey got an awesome third place finish for Dogfish and Denny came in a few minutes later for 21st.

This is now my favorite race edging out Dogwood. I didn't stay in town, but it's an awesome venue and gotta give credit to Jeff for a well run event. I guess there was a problem with the officiating in the p1,2 race, but that's no reflection on Jeff or the weekend. This weekend is the Tour of St. Louis, but I think I'll just be doing the Saturday race. Now, off for a ride.

The Tilles Report.....

2008-04-13T12:27:00.004-05:00

Well, first off, what's up with this f@#$!@$ weather??? What had been clear skies and warm weather the weekend before turned into cold, dreary, windy fall-like weather this weekend. The plan in the a.m. was to do both races, the 3/4 in the morning, go home for a bite to eat and then head back for the P1, 2, 3 race in the afternoon. Let me just say that when I got home and laid in front of the tv for a few minutes there was no prying me off of that damn couch, especially since I was going to have to pull an all nighter at work that evening. I did manage to get off the couch for a few minutes to get some McD's ice cream cones..............about the time I should've been lining it up for the P1, 2, 3's race. So, needless to say, I only made it for the 3/4 race.

As for the race, it went pretty good. We had five guys in the race and we did a lot of work at the front mixing things up a bit. I even had a scary moment, not so much for me, but the guy behind me when we attacked and put a little gap on the field. We were about 40 meters off the front and I turned around to see what kind of damage we had done and the next thing I know is I feel and hear that dreaded wheel touch. Yeah, the gateway guy behind me had been on my wheel and apparently we both looked back to assess the situation and when I turned back around he must've still been looking back and drifted right into my rear wheel. I was just waiting to hear that unique noise a bike makes when hitting pavement at 25mph. I looked back once again to see him off to the left in the grass outside the barrier. The guy saved it, I gotta give my hats off to him as that was propably no easy task and propably had to change his bike shorts after that one. I was told later that he rode alongside the group in the grass and got back on. After playing at the front for a little longer, unsuccessfully chasing down a prem, I decided to ease back on the throttles and just take what I had left to the finish. Well, that was a mistake. In doing so I ended up losing positions and then had to try and make my way to the front again on the final laps. This was no easy task to do on this narrow course. Everybody was jammed at the front and there was nowhere to go. The field never did string out. All I heard from everyone after the race was how they got boxed in. I won't let that happen again......right. Forutneately, I didn't have a guy totally uncontest the final sprint and sit up in front of me like Denny did. I was able to weave and pick my way back through the front pack for a top 20 finish, I think I was 18th or 20th as they didn't have me scored, but there were two unidentified riders in those positions so I'm claiming one of them!!!

It was a fun, hardfought race. Denny, Casey, and myself, toyed at the front at times to make things interesting, cover a few attacks, put on a few attacks. Basically for me and Denny, did a lot of work for nothing other then get in a great workout. In fact a couple times Casey took off and I just said to myself "he's going to burn himself out." Well, I was wrong, young grasshopper still had enough in the tank to get an awesome second place finish in the sprint. Mr. Consistency Sven got eighth, and Matt was up there too. Great finishes for everyone and a good race for Dogfish as a whole. I talked to Casey later to find out he also took 9th in the P1,2,3 race. Casey's been on a roll here lately. He's had some good results and the seasons just begun. I'm gonna have to start charging him for gas now that he's bringing home some greenbacks for his results.

Up next is Hermann, hopefully there will be some sunny skies to debut my new team frame.

why am i watching america's next top model????

2008-04-11T10:38:00.002-05:00

oh, because there's a bunch of materialistic, immature hot chicks. did i just admit that i watch that show? guess i did. my weekend is winding down and will culminate with either one or two races tomorrow. i've already come to the conclusion with having to work tomorrow night it will be another marathon day.......and night, and morning. the tilles race is tomorrow, which isn't really a priority, but need to get these races in when i can. i'm still not sure if i'll do the 3/4 race in the morning or the 1,2,3 in the afternoon. heck, i just might do both. i love going into work like a zombie, i'm there, but nobodies home comes to mind. i've heard that statement more then once!!! after dogwood last weekend my legs were junk, but i was finally able to get out yesterday after the storm rolled through for about three hours. it was a good ride, long yet slow. i kept my heartrate low, and mostly spun the whole time. i thought about going out some time today for just an hour. with winds howling at 25-30 mph, my motivation is low, but i'll get out at some point!!!!

Dogwood RR...

2008-04-07T07:54:00.002-05:00

My race day started at 4:30am with young Grasshopper Casey arriving shorty after for our drive to Bradleyville, MO. It was an uneventful drive with only a few close calls with the highway patrol, until just outside Sprinfield. I lookd into my rearview mirror only to find johnny law. Yes, I got a ticket for 82 in a 70, nice way to start out the morning!!!

We finally get there, register, and change with just enough time to make it to the start line. As the race gets underway Shawn Oneal, as usual, goes off the front. He got a bit of a gap, when Jim V, from Get a Grip decides he's had enough and sets off to bridge. Nobody cares to follow and we finally see the last of the two of them. As the race heads out of town several people take up the pacemaking until it hits some of the steady climbs and teammate Jeff Yeilding starts to lead the group. Next thing I know I'm in front setting the pace. I was out there for a while when I decided it's somebody else's turn. Well, nobody came around so I stayed out there a little longer. Finally, somebody else takes over and shortly after the attacks start coming and guys try to get away. The wind didn't help them and all were caught for some more uneventful riding until the KOM. As we start hitting the climb I find myself about third or fourth wheel until about 3/4 the way up and my legs start to growl at me. I slow a bit only to find Grasshopper flying up the left side taking the pack KOM. Later, I found out Denny had told Casey he better go now and Casey heeded his advice. At this point I found myself about 9th up the climb with a gap between myself and the lead group of eight. Myself, Denny, and an Accelerade guy are caught in no-mans-land. We try our hardest to catch the group, but couldn't make up any ground. After a few miles the rest of the group catch the three of us. At this point there's about 12 of us and we try to get something going, but nothing ever really develops. Between the guys just sitting in, the guys just trying to survive, it was a very chaotic group. Not much organization or communication going on. We pretty much stay like this until the last 10 miles when we hit some of the last few climbs. I try to fight my cramps and stretch out while on the bike. I almost fell over one time when I'm stetching out one leg while supporting myself with the other and that leg cramps up!!! I can't imagine it being a pretty sight. As we make it over the last set of climbs we find ourselves down to about a group of seven. We end up with a sprint finish, I finish last in our sprint as I wasn't able to get out of the saddle without cramping.

As for the team, we finished strong, and Casey got a 6th place finish. Jeff, Denny, and I finished 13th, 15th, and 17th in that order while finishing together. Flatlander Matt Dawson, finished just behind us. I was happy with my performance while having to fight through cramps. My legs were tight from the start, so I'm happy with just making it through and being competitive.

Next up is the Tilles Park crit. I'm pretty sure I'll be doing that one.

Dogwood preview....

2008-04-03T09:53:00.003-05:00

This upcoming Sunday is Dogwood, one of my "A" races for the season. I'm gonna try something different before this race, I'm going to keep the long rides at a minimum. I'm also going to try something different during the race, I'm not going to go out on a solo effort right before the first major climb, and I'm going to bring extra water so I don't run out like I did last year!!! I'm actually glad it's raining this morning, I don't feel too bad for not getting out there. I did do the Tuesday crit however, and am happy with the way I did considering I'm usually pretty sleep deprived from a long week at work. It was actually kind of weird doing the A race, I found myself in unchartered territories, riding at the front for a few laps with some heavy hitters. I was propably third or fourth wheel for a few laps before I realized it so I backed off so I'd have something for the finish. I ended up finishing top 20 somewhere which wasn't bad considering it was my second A race. I know, it's just a training race. Over the next few days I'll propably just get out for a couple hours for easy rides with a few hard sprints to get the legs and heart going. I'm going to keep the rides short!!! Hopefully next week I'll have some good race results to report.

Busy April.....

2008-03-29T07:05:00.002-05:00

This morning I should be getting ready for the Hillsboro race, but instead I'm getting ready to go on a training ride. I didn't get signed up in time, oh well, just one more day of vacation to save for another race. The Rimwrecker race is tomorrow, but I'll be missing that one too. I've gotten in some good training rides over the last two weeks and even got in a training crit. This month's schedule is looking pretty busy. I've got Dogwood next weekend, then a Dinoseries training race in Indianapolis, and then the Hermann TT and RR, and then the opening Dino race in Warsaw, IN in early May.

This is the first year of not playing any hockey over the winter, in fact I haven't skated in over a year, HOLY CRAP, has it been that long? I had to get my fix on nhl.com and ran through this article about Patrick Roy's son, who's also a goalie playing in the QMJHL. Anyways, check out the video. Gotta love this shit, I can't believe that guy turtled like that and didn't even throw one punch!!!!! After looking at his stat's, it's no wonder why he wanted to fight, I would too.

Time to move on....

2008-03-20T09:08:00.002-05:00

After last weekends fiasco it's time to move on and get back on with the training. It looks like is will be a nice weekend for me with sunny skies and mild temps. I've gotten my 19.5 hours of sleep in and feel refreshed after a long week at work. It's hard to believe one can sleep for that long, but bury yourself for three or four days and it's easy to do. I really don't know what to do with all of my time this weekend. No racing and just a lot of down time. Time to go wash the bike from last weekend. Adios!!!

The Lost Valley report that should be lost....

2008-03-17T07:18:00.002-05:00

I just raced out at Lost Valley yesterday and this is one report that should be lost in the trash. I pretty much new it wouldn't be a good day from the start. Let me take you back to three days ago when I did five laps out at LV. I was feeling good so I decided to make up for four prior days of no training into one day. In fact I saw TK out there and he told me it my be a little much. Well beyond his better judgement and mine I proceeded to finish the five laps and then went and got a light massage thinking that might help me recover quicker. Now, fast forward to yesterday, I'm not sure if it was because of that ride, but my legs were shot from the start, that heavy feeling was setting in right from the start. I guess if I were riding sport I still would have done fairly well, but now back riding in the expert class, there's no room for off days. These guys, or the trails for that matter will eat you up and spit you out!!!!! which I learned yesterday. For such an easy course it was pretty darn tough, lots of soft, grassy trails to really soak up your power, not that I have any, but what little I did have. Lets just say my race did not go at all as planned. Well, I'd like to udate more, but I'm falling asleep at the wheel so to speak so I'll end it here. I guess I've always got the next race!!!

St. Joe XC race report....

2008-03-04T17:49:00.006-06:00

Well, where do I begin. I've finally found the time to update this thing. Last Sunday was the first mt. bike race of the season. I had been pretty excited about it since it is where my roots began and what I really do enjoy. The problem is the road took over and haven't done much off road racing over the last few years. Well, this year my focus is really on road races and mt. bike races and limiting the amount of crits I do.

Last Thursday was a big day for me. I got my PRP shot for my groin and then I strolled over to Ballwin cycles to pick up my new Chris King front wheel. Anyways, I was pretty excited about that, but my leg wasn't feeling that great after the shot. I wasn't even sure if I'd be able to race on Sunday. If you've never had it done, I would recommend it. I had a pulled groin and it was sore from the shot for two days. By Sunday it wasn't even a problem.

Now for the other dilemma I had, "how were the course conditions with all the rain we'd had the previous week?" I really, and I really didn't want to race in muddy terrible conditions and I didn't want to waste a vacation day for that. I asked a few people, got a few responses, but nothing concrete to go on. I had some time on Saturday so me and Jess headed down so I could preride the course and Jess could go for a walk. As I'm riding the trail, I'm thinking to myself "this trail isn't that difficult and there's definitely not that much climbing." I ended up doing it in 57 minutes, thinking that wasn't bad. Booooooy was I wrong!!!!

Sunday strolls around, I'm late as usual. I arrive at the parking lot at 10am for a 10:30 start, dress, put bike together, gather up gels, and head to go register. As I'm registering he mentions were going a little later then expected. No big deal, in fact great for me. So I'm warming up and decide it's getting close. I turn around only to find out the expert field is all lined up and getting ready to roll. As usual, limited warm-up. I really gotta learn to warm up better. I know where I stand in a race so I fall into the back of the line. Race starts and I'm hammering, I'm around 10th or so into the singletrack. Not a bad start for me. I hung with that group for about four or five miles before falling off the pace. I'm really getting warm with my vest on so at the picnic area where I had set my water bottles I took it off and saw my buddy Matt Keevan, I say hello and him and Jess get me back on my bike and away I go. First lap 52 minutes, I'm pleased with that.

Now for the second lap, not much to report, I'm just cruising along at my own pace looking back every once in a while to make sure nobody is coming up on me. I must've passed several other riders from different classes. I also noticed several unfortuneate expert riders either on the side of the trail or walking their bike. I'm just glad that's not me. I'm not sure how long it took me, I forgot to set my splits.

Third lap, I really start to slow down. The course is taking it's toll on me. I think to myself that this is not the same course I rode the day before. I don't remember there being this much climbing. A couple times I could feel the onset of cramping in my legs so I do my best to combat that. I ran about 41 psi in my tires to account for the soft sections, but a lot was already dried out and my back was starting to feel the pain. I thought about stopping and letting pressure out, but didn't want to jinx myself and just toughed it out. Now I'm just thinking to myself, "now after this I get to go to work for 14 hours!!!" I pass maybe one or two expert riders trying to make it through and also get passed in the last mile by a guy who I had seen repairing his bike. I come to find out that he broke his chain and had caught back up with me.

I finish the race with a time of 2:51:08. I'm just glad to finish. I ended up in 10th place, out of 13 finishers. The winner finished in 2:18, insane. This race was kind of bittersweet. I thought my times would be better, but then again, I hadn't ridden my mt. bike but twice over the last four months. That includes my preride the day before. All in all it was a success. It was a good gauge of my fitness which I'm happy with, and I have to mix in a few more mt. bike rides into my training. Up next is Lost Valley.

Froze Toes part 2.......

2008-02-24T22:03:00.002-06:00

It's over, the first race of the season is in the books. I didn't know what to expect as far as this race goes, I've heard it's a training race, don't worry about it. Well, I can tell you it was just as much a race as any other race I've done. Early on, I could tell my legs were heavy and that I wasn't really feeling good, I just kept telling myself to play it cool and just hang in there. The attacks went early and often. Finally the legs started feeling good, but now I happened to hit a huge pothole that was so hard I was lucky I didn't flat. It hit so hard the guy in front of me lost his bottle and my handlebars rotated about a quarter inch. As the race played out I was feeling good about my form and was looking for at least a top 20 finish. I was able to stay in the top 1/3 and even had an attack and pulled up a few of the hills. With about 300 meters to go the pace was high and I was moving up. I'd say I was in the top 15 and looking to move up even further when right in front of me several riders go down. I'm forced into the ditch ala Lance Armstrong. Well, that was it, that was my race. I was able to stay upright, but as I got back onto the road I tried to count guys going past, but it was like a streak, I couldn't even begin counting. I was just happy to stay upright. As for my performance I was pretty satisfied, but on the other hand everyone else's looked just as good. As for our team? I believe everyone was satisfied and Jeff and new guy Jose had good finishes. It looks like we'll be well represented at all the races this year. Now time to look to the dirt for the upcoming mt. bike races.

Froze Toes....

2008-02-23T08:58:00.002-06:00

I guess you could say the season begins tomorrow. I don't know how tomorrow will play out. I don't even know who is going to be there from our team. Denny is sick, Yielding will propably be there, but that's all I know of. I'm not too worried though, it's just a training race, in fact, I'm not even 100% sure I'll even be there. My fitness is not too bad I guess, I took a couple weeks off, not by choice though. My groin injury is still present, but can tell it's healing. With all the weather we've had over the past couple days they say the race is still on so I guess we'll see who's in good form if I'm even there. It's time to wax the legs.........yeah baby!!!!

The season is fast approaching......

2008-02-14T05:08:00.002-06:00

Looks like the season is fast approaching! My injury seems to be making a turn for the better. I was able to get out twice last weekend and get on the trainer for another couple of hours. I wore a groin wrap that helped out a lot. I can still kind of feel though, which tells me it's not completely healed. I woke yesterday evening and went to my first spinning class this season. Last year I had gone to at least a couple a week, but not this year. Today looks like it might get up to 50* outside so I'll be riding outside at some point.

I got a call last night from Denny and he said Hillsboro filled up. Wow, I even had a chance to sign up and was going to do it this weekend, but looks like I'll be watching from the sidelines. It's just as well, I won't be able to get as much time off this year for races because of my schedule. I work every other Saturday night into Sunday morning so it makes it kind of tough to make a Sunday race, which are about 90% of all the races. I'll mostly be concentrating on the mt. bike races and the spring road races, then Superweek up in Wisconsin and then the Tour of KC, and finally the Gateway Cup. I'll also try to fit in a couple Dinoseries(mt. bike) races in throughout the year. My plan of doing a 1/2 ironman looks like it may fall by the wayside, as I cannot even find the time to do all the bike races I want. It also allows for more opportunity of injury which means time off the bike. I think I may do a couple local sprint triathlons, but certainly am not making triathlon any priority in my upcoming season. See you on the road.

Injury update....

2008-02-07T11:03:00.001-06:00

Well, last week I saw the doctor and he confirmed that I did have a pulled groin. He actually saw it using a little ultrasound. We discussed a few treatments and have decided to have PRP injection. I think that's what it's called. He said they draw blood, add there magic potion, some good doping agents I hope, and then reinsert into the injured area. That's all that was said when I left and I was left wondering what other treatments I could do in the meantime. I won't be able to get this done until March.......THAT SUCKS!!! Guess I'll try to get an earlier appointment. After calling him back they said to just go about doing my daily business, so I guess riding was back in order as I finally got back on the trainer last week after being off the bike for almost three weeks. That's a long time for me! I felt it too. Not much else going on this weekend other then going to see the Bodyworld exhibit tomorrow and a team ride on Sunday....maybe. Just more swimming and time on the trainer. Pretty boring.

Injuries SUCK!!!!

2008-01-30T11:58:00.000-06:00

Well, not too sure what the hell is going on with my groin, but I see the doctor tomorrow. I haven't been on here for a while, I also haven't been on the bike for almost three weeks. In one respect I would say it would be a good thing, but I've kind of been forced off of it. It started about three months ago when I noticed a slight groin pull in my left leg. I didn't think much of it as I could still ride through the pain until it started to be a little more of a nuisance. I've also been going to a chiropractor who thought it might be my sciatic nerve causing the pain. It's been almost five weeks and not much better. My little crash a few weeks ago didn't help either. Tomorrow I go see a sports medicine doctor to see what's up. I'm getting sick of being off the bike, but if I've got to be off it I guess this is the time to do it. This weather sucks!!!! Too damn cold!!!! Anyways, it's giving me time to overhaul my mt. bike. Installed some new SRAM X.O shifters and derailleurs, new carbon bars, new front juicy disc brakes(my first introduction into discs, yes, i did just say front), and I get some new Truvativ NOIR cranks tomorrow. I'd love to get this hardtail down to 21lbs. It's at 23 right now. I'll post pics once I'm done. I've basically just been swimming a few times a week and that's it. Even running starts to hurt. Oh well, enough of my bitching. The season starts soon and I just need to get better. Hopefully I won't fall behind the eight ball!!!!

BRRRRRRRRRRR...............

2008-01-13T12:25:00.001-06:00

it was definetly a cold weekend. i'm happy with the weekend even though i had no energy to ride on friday. after a run on wednesday and a cold and wet ride on thursday, the plan was to ride on friday, but i had absolutely no motivation or energy to ride. well, i did go for about 85 on saturday with the dogfish boys, no accidents. i ended up riding out to webster groves and then out to six flags and back. today i met a few of the ghissalo guys and made it for another 41 miles today. it was by far the coldest day i've ridden so far this year. i ended up with a good ride even though the other guys took another loop for an extra 10-15 more miles, i had to get back to catch some z's before work tonight. anyways, all things considered it wasn't too bad, although i wish i would've had time to go to the pool. well, i better end this for now, i can feel the tylenol pm starting to kick in and want to be somewhat coherent while writing on here.

do i ride or not??? that is the question.....

2008-01-11T09:37:00.001-06:00

well, here i sit aimlessy searching the internet when i should be out riding. actually, i'm also searching for a new episode of "the office", who knows when they'll start showing new episodes again. anyways, it's already 9:37 and i just can't get myself ready to go out and ride. it's cold, it's miserable, and yesterday i went out for 45 and got rained on. so now the question for this morning is, do i go swimming, ride to the pool and swim, or just stay here and ride the trainer, and then go swimming. my life is so rough right now. anyways, that's about all i've got for today, i can't wait for the weather to warm up.

took a little hiatus....

2008-01-08T17:22:00.000-06:00

well, it's been a few weeks since updating this. all i can say is that i've been on the trainer quite a bit over the past month, actually got out last friday and saturday though. i've also been getting in some time at the pool working on my swimming. the swimmings coming along. what's up with this weather over the last couple of days? saturdays ride was a little scary as we started out in the morning and it was a little cool and the ground was still wet from the morning rain that came in. as we were riding down des pere road right under the manchester bridge somebody had yelled the road was slick and before i new it my bike was sliding out from under me. i went down and took out two other guys. it was so slick that after washing my shorts there were no tears or signs that i had even gone down. the guys i took out were from the iccc team, i guess the dogfish guys no better then to ride next to me.........i'm kidding. we had about five or six of those guys and we had myself, greg, denny, and casey from our dogfish team. casey had on his jelly belly team shorts. that's awesome the guy gets to go to the jelly belly team camp in a few weeks. hopefully that means he'll be back here ready to tear up the local race scene or maybe he'll even be lucky enough to do something with jelly belly, we'll see. anyways, this weekend calls for more of the same, a little biking, swimming, and definetly riding whether it be on the trainer or outside. the new cannondale is working out well and it definetly feels a lot better out on the road. well, gotta cut this short, gotta get ready for work, thank god it's my friday. it's been a long four days and i've done nothing for training, wanted get in a few runs, but hadn't even done that, oh well. that's what the weekend is for.