dan ryan woods race.......

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.........

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.....

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!!!!

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........

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.