Boss Cross # 3 - Parkville, Missouri

The races early in the day enjoyed frozen ground with a little snow. Our race at 2pm wasn't as fortunate. The snow quickly melted and the frozen ground thawed, leaving most of the course a soggy grass nightmare. It was bad enough that I swapped pedals on my 2 bikes and started on my pit bike. I'd rather thrash that one since it was 1/2 way there from preriding the course anyway. At least half the course had to be contested on foot. There were 3 running sections that were at least 80-100 meters long, plus the short "run-up" sections and a few other places on the course. After completely screwing up the first turn, I still managed to lead the first part of lap one ahead of Brad Cole and Shadd Smith. Brad Cole quickly ran past me in a tight little section that I stayed on a rode. Shadd quickly got by me and went after Brad. I stayed close for the first 2 laps but my running form went south once the bike weight reached 30lbs from all the muddy leaves, and the shoes were 5 pound bricks. Jeff Winkler ran by me at some point. After 3 laps, the pit bike was done, so to my disgust, I swapped bikes. The fresh bike shifted great, but the bigger Challenge Grifo's were no match for the mud. At least it was 10 lbs lighter on my shoulder, that was now extremely bruised. The course just got worse with each lap. The fresh bike was rendered useless after 2 laps but fortunately that was it. 5 laps in over 60 minutes made for a very slow average speed. I was in pretty good shape after a great week of riding, but having to run that much crushed my legs. Pics taken my Roger Harrison.

I've fallen....and I can't get up!

Global warming my ass. Way to cold (for me) to ride outdoors. I tend to not plan time off during the winter. I just let the weather tell me when to do it. Last week was it. I was wrecked after Nationals and needed a physical and mental break. The weather last week was crap. I don't mind riding in the cold, but riding on ice is not much fun. Last year at this time, I was riding everynight REGARDLESS, and I definatly rode in weather that was JPS (just plain stupid). I figured after taking Monday thru Thursday of last week off, I was ready for a spin outdoors Friday after work. It wasn't all that cold, still below freezing but mid-to-upper 20's at least. Roads were clear (thanks to the salt) but the sidewalks, paved bike trails, and anything that had snow on it earlier in the week, was now melted and re-froze. The worst. Managed to get out to Lake Lenexa, but the loop around the lake wasn't very do-able. I then proceeded to head out to Shawnee Mission Park. the paved trail heading out there was all frozen up. Finally got out there, went about 2 foot into the trail and fell over. I think I put both feet on the pedals and went to actually start pedaling but the bike stalled on a rock or something, bars turned, still clipped in, and over I went. Definatelly ranks pretty high up on "the list" (...of the most stupid things ever down on a bike). Thought for sure my left arm and hand were broke since I landed in a pile of rocks. I was finally able to get up and take inventory. Nothing broke that I know of, in my arm anyway. My left hand has a wicked bruise on it and my shoulder got tweeked. Planning on staying on the rollers until the weather gets better (ie all the ice is gone and NOT in the single digits).

Cross Nationals - Elite race

72nd, 4 laps down. Not quite as good as my 41st and 1lap down from last year. It was $%#%#$ cold and windy and hell. It was 60 degrees in the morning when I loaded up my truck and about 30 when I got to the race site. Not sure how low the temp actually got during the race, but the wind chill was pure brutality. I was just too cold and never really got a good warm up before the race to do anything.
I got a good start in the race but the pace up the hill the first time was insane. Traffic jams and crashes in every turn. One guys front wheel came off and he almost took me down running back to get it. When Trebon went by me climbing up the hill, he was going at least double my speed. The officials never really pulled lapped riders. The only thing I every saw was the finish line official making a throat-slitting motion. I did at least 3 more laps than I needed to, but I was never sure. Last year the officials litteraly came out on course and directed you off. I pulled off the course right after the finish line and Trebon won about 30 seconds later. My legs were still dead from the Masters race yesterday. If I ever race Nationals again (unlikely unless they are back in KC) I need to just focus on the Masters race. I'll leave the Elite race to those that don't have 9 to 5's

Cross Nationals - 40-44 Masters race

Went OK for the most part. Got called up in 53rd, 6th row. In several earlier races, there were crashes down the paved start so I made sure not to get involved in that. I stayed out of trouble down the road, and got be a few guys in the process. Hitting the grass, everybody dove into the first turn then drifted left along the tape and got all clogged up. I saw this happen in every other race, so I went inside, cut hard to the right and rode right past about 20 guys up that first hill. Settled in to 16th and just tried to stay in a good tempo. The course conditions were perfect and the weather was great, aside from some nasty wind. I manged to hang in in the top 20 for most of the race, but the legs got heavy towards the end. Me and Jeff Winkler stayed together for most of the race and I managed to hold him off for 24th place and the first Kansas/Missouri/Nebraska/Iowa guy. The entire course had perfect traction, a bit slick in just a few spots. At the very top of the course there was a short run-up with a tricky down and up section right after it. I rode it a few times in practice but decided to run it during the race. Seemed about the same either way. I didn't want to risk riding it, and screwing it up. The whole atmosphere at the race was awesome. With the weather much better than last year, tons of spectators were out screaming and yelling. BUT...... The weather is supposed to take a nosedive at some point Sunday afternoon, right around the the time I start the Elite race. It's predicted to be around 60 before this happens, and in the single digits late Sunday nite with snow, freezing drizzle, more wind. Kansas Weather: We couldn't make this shit up. The weather has been bouncing all the place for the last few weeks. In fact, in just the last week, we've seen it all.
Ran into a friend of mine from WAAAAAAAAY back in the late 80's. Walt Axthelm won the 70+ Masters race earlier in the week and I saw his name on the results. During my race today I saw him cheering us on. I went by once and said "hey Walt", but he didn't know it was me. So after the race I rode back up there and we got caught up on what's been going on. I used to ride mtb's with him and we traveled together a few times back in SoCal. I moved a few times and eventualy lost contract. I saw he came out to last years nationals but I never could track him down. He now lives in Durango and is good friends with Chris Herting of 3D Racing, the guys that made my frames. Great guy and still strong on any bike. Tomorrow is his 75th birthday.
Also got to catch up on old times with Mark Noble. He got 2nd behind Tilford in that Masters race. Mark and I used to race mtb's on the same team, Brave Cycles, back in the early '90's. His son Chance also races and is super fast as well. We used to live near each other in SoCal and did all of the same group rides.
Saw 2 guys in my race today that i used to race BMX with back Michigan around '85/'87. Rob Foshag and Jeff Weinert are both fast 'crossers from Michigan, Jeff got 10th and Rob 12th.

Boss Cross #2 - Platte City, Missouri

Had to skip Jingle Cross this year. Not sure if it was the 6hour drive, hitting the road at 5am Saturday morning and getting home at Midnight Sunday, or the fighting for that last money-paying spot (25th) in the UCI Elite race. Maybe all the above! No Worries since there was a local race going on. Turnout was moderate since so many people made the trip to Iowa, but descent numbers considering the change in weather. 30 degrees and an inch of fresh snow made a most of the tight off-cambers turns un-ridable. The course was super fun and technical and required more finesse than pure horsepower. In fact, there were only a few sections that you could really put the power down without worrying about sliding off the course flat on your back. The course started uphill in a parking lot and quickly led into a long grass climb that was tough to ride as the race went on. I preferred to stay on bike and keep the bottom of my shoes that much cleaner. After preriding the course, I figured just keeping the pedals clear and getting clipped in and out would be the main issue. Once up the first climb we dropped back down across the road and hit a treacherous off-camber left with the double barries right after it. Back across the road up and short climb, then traverse across the hill and down a short hill. Then the fun really started. A tight right-hand turn led up a short run-up (ridable early in the day), followed by a run-down since right at the bottom, you made another hard right and back up. Shortly after this section was the days big head-ache. A steep run-up that was just straight up and slick. Had it not been for a few terraces cut into it by the race organizers, it would have been hard to get footing. The approach was all off-camber as well and it got really tore up, so you had to dismount a ways out. Once up and over this wall, was a tricky off-camber descent back onto the pavement for a short section then back on the grass for more tricky un-rideable turns then onto the paved start/finish area. There were only 4 of us signed up and only 3 made the start line. On the start line, they reduced our race from 60 to 45 minutes. I got the holeshot so I could pick my line up the first slippery hill. Once I got out front and got a gap on Andrew Coe (SKC), I just kept a steady pace and made sure I didn't make any major screw ups. It was usually faster to take the conservative approach rather than try something that could be faster but more often foolish. Each lap the bike got about 2 pounds heavier and the climbs that were rideable were becoming a less ridable. Surprisingly, my shifting, braking, and pedals worked perfectly for the whole race. Had we went the full 60 minutes, all 3 might have stopped working. I think I was having a little more fun out than than Andew was. This was more my kind of course than his. However, he can make me look silly on fast dry course. Shane Lee (Free State) held down the 3rd spot.

Nebraska Cyclocross Series - Lincoln Weekend Day 2

We had an eventfull night of no sleep at Motel 6 that resulted in a full refund. The plan to get up early and race the Masters 40+ went out the window. Apparently Chris Locke can sleep through anything. I can't, resulting in a couple calls to the front desk and an imprint of my shoe on the ceiling. At least it was warmer than yesterday and a backwards course was still super fun and "flowy". Most of yesterdays cast of charactors stuck around for day 2, expect for Chris Wallace and Shadd Shreiner. The backwards course made for a longer paved start, with a kick into the wind right at the end before hitting the grass. Once onto the grass it was a series of short but steep climbs (that we came down yesterday) before the run-up. They altered the approach to the run-up to keep guys from riding up it. No way me and my 42*26 were going to make it anyway, but they added a little chicane at the bottom to really mess up most guys. After a little comic relief with a false start, we were off and sprinting. I tucked in behind Joe Smaltz and Bill Stolte. For the next lap or 2 , sat on the back of Joe and Bill. Bill would ride off and Joe would ease up (teammates just playing around), so I'd sit behind Joe, then it would come together and Joe would take off so i'd sit on Bill (this was only delaying the eneviteble obviously) . One time through the barriers, Nate Woodman bunny hopped them so fast that he passed both me and Bill in the process and went straight onto Joe's wheel. One back onto the long paved section. Bill was done messing around and sprinted by me up to Joe and the 2 Trek boys were off and running. I purposely didn't react to this move and eased up for Troy Krause and Darren Shlake. This course sucked if you were by yourself. Me, Troy, and Darren rode together for a couple laps, but Darren was riding the run-up and causing some major grief for me and Troy.






A one second gap at the top would become a 2 or 3 second gap once we shot down the short single-track chute and back out into the flatter 2nd half of the course. We managed to close it down once or maybe twice but the elastic finally snapped and Darren was off and running solo in 3rd. Me and Troy stayed together for the last 1/2 of the race. Nate Woodman was behind us about 20 seconds or so and was doing a great job of holding the same gap lap after lap even with me and Troy sharing the work. We were still together on the bell lap and into the barriers for the last time. I needed to get over the barries first so I popped into the lead right before them. I think I got clipped in about 1 second faster than Troy and drilled it. I got to the short paved finish straight with just a second or 2 gap but just enough to avoid having him on my wheel for a sprint. 4th place and stoked again.

Nebraska Cyclocross Series - Lincoln Weekend Day 1

Chilly temps and a late 4pm afternoon start time. I've always loved the course at Lincoln's Pioneer Park. Good flow and some descent climbing. Moderate turnout despite the close proximity to KC and a good payment both days. I've been making the drive up to the Nebraska races for 5 years. Great organization and atmosphere. With a few of the Trek HRRC boys out at the Night Bubba race in St' Louis, it was up to Bill Stolte and Joe Shmaltz(Trek/HRRC) to wave the red flag, and along withChris Wallace (KCCX) , they did. I got a great start, hitting the grass in 4th behind those three. Chris and Joe were 1 and 2 and pulling away. Bill was content to hold down 3rd and I stayed on his wheel. No reason for ME to chase down the 2 youngsters. The race was lining up behind us and I didn't want that so I pulled through breifly before we hit the road section. Once on the road I eased up and let Bill due some work. Cow Town's Shad Shreiner came through. After a couple laps, things settled in with Chris and Joe out front, with Bill Stolte and Shad Shreiner hooking together. I was joined by race organizer Troy Krause and we shared the work and eventually caught back up to Shad Shreiner. Bill Stolte was now by himself in 3rd and the 3 of us were making up some ground on him. Hitting the bell lap, the attention now shifted to how was I going to deal with Shad and Troy. Shad was riding the run-up, and was extremtly fast in the section right after it, so I knew better than to let him lead into that section. I led into that section with Shadd and Troy right behind. I took my time and made sure I nailed the dismount and ran at my own pace. Shadd ran right by me which I sort of expected, and immediately drilled it. It almost killed me to stay on his wheel over the next couple little kicker climbs before the road. At some point between the top of the run-up and the pavement, Troy dropped off the back of me. I'm sure working the race all morning was finally taking it's toll. I hit the pavement about 5o feet behind Shad and took 1 big effort to get back on his wheel. Once I got their, I had about 5 seconds to rest before I had to swing around on his left and got him in the last few meters for 4th. I normally don't sprint well so I was stoked with that. Lately, I haven't been able to "race" the whole 60 minutes so I was stoked to have down that. Race for 50 and ride in agony for 10 was what the previous race was. Tactically I think I did everything perfectly. It's now 5pm, sun is almost down, i'm soaking wet in a thin skinsuit, and it feels like it's 30 degrees.

Kansas State Cyclocross Championships

The plan was to to use the 40 minute Masters 35+ race to get warmed up and get the course dialed in. Things didn't go exactly that way. Great start and I was in the front group and we were pulling away, when I dropped my chain (yes, again). Put it back on and dug deep for the entire next lap to get back into the lead group. Then it happened again, in the exact same turn, exact same bump. Those of you that read my blog know that i've been haunted by this stupid little problem all season. Everybody within a 100 feet heard the R-Rated expletive and saw the equally stupid bike throw. I was done! Pissed off and in no mood to continue. Had a cooler head prevailed, I could have put the chain back on, road to the pit, and finished the race on my pit bike and still made the podium. Well, the cooler head did not prevail. I spent the next 30 minutes trying to get the problem diagnosed. The chain on my race bike was a bit ragged so I elected to put my race wheels on my pit bike and use that for the 1/2/3 race. That race went rather drama free for the most part. Still don't have a whole lot of power in the legs so I finished up mid-pack somewhere. Ironically, Troy Krause dropped his chain in the same turn, same bump that I did. That was just the start of his issues. He flatted somewhere and had to run a good half-lap or so to get to his pit bike, and STILL almost caught me. Brian Jenson and Shadd Smith were glued together the whole race and sprinted out the finish, with Shadd winning by a bike length. Next up is Nebraska. Yes, I will have a new chain on.

DeStad Series/Veterans Cross

Finished 10th. Fairly chilly out. Good start behind Shadd Smith, Bill Marshall, and Chris Wallace, and Brian Jenson. The course was super fast and had no shortage of traction anywhere. Race stayed together for the first couple laps. I didn't have the legs to stay on this train of guys so I backed off and let some guys come up. Adam Mills and Cameron Chambers came up and eventually went by and kept on going. They got a small lead and it just stayed there. Troy Krause joined me and we worked together for a few laps. Coming up behind us was Tom Price and Andrew Coe. Tom was with me earlier in the race but faded back for a while. Now he and Andrew were coming. Troy put in a little surge with a few laps to go and I was started to get cooked. I couldn't hold off Andrew and Tom. Behind me it was a tight battle between Shad Schreiner and Aaron Elwell that went all the way to the line. Can't complain with my effort. I lost 3 spots in the closing laps so maybe I can work on that but other than that, I did the best I could with the legs I brought. With the time change, my already-small amount of training just gets that much smaller. Let's see if "less is more" really works. I knew I was a few pounds over my normal race weight but it turns out to be about 6 pounds. That easier mtb program over the summer is coming back to haunt me!

Boss Cross #1 - Nationals Course Preview

Another rather un-seasonably warm day here in KC and bone dry. Course featured quite a bit of elevation gain, but nothing very steep, and plenty of off-cambers turns on the way down. These will be a handfull should the course be wet in December. All the usual suspects on hand: Steve Tilford, Brian Jenson, Shadd Smith, Bill Stole, Joe Schmalz, Chris Wallace, Bill Marshall, Adam Mills, ect ect. After a couple minute delay at the start while Bill Marshall and the race referree had an entertaining discussion, we were off. I slotted in behind the Trek/HRRC train leading into the grass. Tilford, Shadd, and Brian went off the front fairly quick but the rest of us managed to stay close for a lap or 2. Eventually Jeff Winkler, Joe Schmalz, and Chris Wallace (he's about 1/3 my age) moved in front of me and kept going. I got locked into a tight battle with Bill Marshall, Nate Woodman, Andrew Coe, and Graham Aldredge, and Tom Price. Graham pulled away (he's less than 1/2 my age). I lost contact when I chain dropped going over the barriers and got nice and stuck on the wrong side of the Third Eye. I ran the same set-up for 2 years and never had this happen, but this year it's been an on-going problem. I fought back and got by Nate and Tom (with a little help from his own mechanical). I was making up some ground on Bill Marshall and Andrew Coe but the heat and effort eventually flat-lined my effort. At that point I was just trying to keep Nate behind me. I was still happy with the effort since I was able to race the whole race and never really blew up. Need to fix the chain problem. When I dismount and hop the barriers, the cranks sometimes spin backwards just a little bit. When this happens, nad the bike is at at angle, the chain rolls off the ring from the bottom and then gets down in where the inner chain ring should be. It stays on at the top where the Third Eye Chain Catcher is, but if you try to pedal it back on, the tabs on the crank arm that support the inner ring hook the chain and drag it right into the chain stay. If I grind these tabs off, that should help. How do Cat 4's get into a 1/2/3 race anyway?

Cool helmet cam video below from Gary Calton in the Masters 45+ race

DeStad Series - Smithville Lake Day 2

Same course with just a few little changes. A bit colder, but the wind was even worse. Another good start with Shadd Smith, Bill Marshall, and Cameron Chambers. The wind made for a very tactical race. Some sections of the course were a death sentence if you were by yourself. Shadd Smith quickly took a small lead with me, Bill, and Cameron sticking together. Cameraon left us and bridged across to Shadd and then went off the front solo with Shadd soloing in 2nd. The race for 3rd was tight then entire race with myself, Bill Marshall, Kyle Bush, and Shad Shreiner trading punches the whole way. Countless surges by everybody but it stayed together. Coming into the bell lap, Kyle Bush and Shad Shreiner got a small gap with me and Bill not far behind. I put in a big effort coming up the paved finish hill and nailed then first grass section and clawed back onto Kyle and Shad's wheel. this surge sent Bill out the back so now it was down to a 3 man race for 3rd. Hitting the paved path section after the wheel pit, Kyle put in a surge that I couldn't respond to right away but Shadd stayed on. I got back onto Shad's wheel a bit later but it put me in the red one last time I couldn't hold it. Rolled in for 5th, final podium spot. Kudos to Cameron on a great race, especially since he was on a bike he'd never ridden before. During practice, he attempted to ride the run-up and came to a rather grim ending. The down tube of his frame snapped and the fork went straight back. He was a bit shaken but shook it off and came back on a borrowed bike. That's just shows how good he really is. Now that I have my training program fixed, I feel 100% better physically , but more important, mentally.

DeStad Series - Smithville Lake Day 1

Feels awesome to be back actually "racing". After last weekends race, I took a good look at my riding schedule over the last few weeks and found a serious series of mistakes. I've been so busy, I hadn't picked up on the fact that I hadn't switched my training programs and did my normal phase one for a few weeks longer than I did last year. I changed into my normal phase 2 this week and ohhh what a huge difference. I got my normal good start out with Shadd Smith and Bill Marshall with everybody else lined up behind us. After a few laps, Cameron Chambers came by by and was off and running. Josh Johnson was still behind me but this is his typical race stategy: start slow, then rocket up to the front and go clear. Sure enough, he came by me and was gone. I could see him catch Cameron, then Shadd not longer after that. Bill Marshall dropped back leaving me in 4th. I felt super good on the course and could put out some high watts for the entire 60 minutes. The wind was brutal. Johnson took the win with Shadd Smith 2nd, Cameron Chambers in 3rd and 4th for myself. I was able to put time on the guys behind me in the closing laps. Very cool video our the race posted on Kyle Bush's blog .

Boulevard Cup 'Cross Race - Kansas City

No comment, other than I rolled my rear Challenge Grifo clincher off, causing the tube to bulge out and hit the brake pads. This happend early in the race so my pit bike saw more miles than it should have. That's happened twice this rear. Always caused when the tire slides out, then catches on something. I have been running these things redicuously low, like 30psi. Anyway, that really only lost me 1 place on the results. The legs weren't up to par and haven't been since Omaha. The Bouleveard course was super fast and smoot, which is my worst nightmare. To my own credit, I'm not sure my health has been 100% lately. The warm weather has my allergies raging, and that can lead to weird flu-like symptoms. My right shoulder is still messed up from that crash at the Topeka night race. It hurts enought that riding the MTB off-road is out of the question.

DeStad Series/Chris Cross-Lawrence

Well, first off racing that late the previous night was tough. Never really got any sleep. I was pretty tired just driving to the race which didn't get me off to a good mental start. My shoulder was pretty sore from last nights crash. Normally the Chris Cross course favors me with it's traditional sketchy gravelly single track stuff. Today I just wasn't riding that stuff on par with how I have in the past. I got a perfect start out front with Shadd Smith (Trek/HRRC), Joe Smaltz (Trek/HRRC), and Tom Price. Shadd pulled away early with Joe not farbehind, leaving me and Tom Price in 3rd and 4th. I felt OK for the next few laps staying with Tom, while up front Joe and Shadd joined up. Tom was flying and it was doing everything I could do just staying on his wheel. I didn't want to just sit there the whole race so I tried to come through and do some work but it just killed me and slowed him down. I was just hoping to get towed to the finish, him in 3rd and me 4th. I rode the gravel sections terrible. With about 7 laps to go, I just couldn't stay with Tom anymore and let him go. The next guy behind me was Brian Jensen. I figured I could take a half lap easy, then latch onto him when he came by and try to hold the 5th and final money spot. That was short lived, as I lost Brian's wheel. At this point I just gave up mentally and rode the remaining laps not really giving a shit. A bunch of guys caught me in the closing laps but I lost count and didn't care anymore. Once I lost that last podium spot and felt the way I did, I was done. I almost dropped out with a couple laps to go just because I didn't want to even race anymore. Obviously I was not recovered at all from the previous nights race like a lot of other guys. My biggest problem comes from my ability to get good starts, but that ends up sometimes working against me as I end up at the front following guys that are much faster than me. I end up getting hammered and drifting back. I might need to start further back and ride into the race and move up spots through out the race. I was joking with Tom Price on the start line that this year I definately feel a year older than last year. Actually, it's more like I didn't age at all for 4 years, then did all 4 this past year. Now that i'm 40, I need to really evaluate trying to race 20 cross races a season. I've cut my MTB race schedule down substantially over the years and I probably need to do the same in 'cross. I felt super strong up in Omaha last weekend but doing double race weekends back to back is brutal when you have the 50 hour job, and everything else in between. For next weekend, I'll skip Saturday's Topeka race and just do the Boulevard Race. Sometimes just being at a race knowing how much stuff I need to do at home tends to eat on you mentally. I was pretty devastated after the race today, but ultimately I have to realize that racing is not the most important thing in my life. I watched some of the other races go off today, and it was cool to watch guys in the back laughing and talking to each other and just having fun. I need to get that back. I need to able to go out and just ride my race and not focus so much on doing good at every race. The weather has been playing against me this 'cross season. It's been fairly warm and sticky every weekend. Cold air comes in during the week but is quickly replaced by "nice" weather for the weekend. This past MTB season, I had set a 90 degree limit to race in and might need to set something like a 75 degree limit for cross. A couple years ago, I got heat stroke at a MTB bike race and I've never really felt the same in the heat since. I've still won stuff in the heat but it just feels more miserable now.

Series 60/Heartland Park Topeka Night Cross

Very cool venue and interesting course. 30mph+ on the dirt track interrupted with an bumpy infield mine field. I got a good start just behind Bill Marshall (Mercy/KCCX) as we led on the the dirt track for the first time. Me and Bill traded the lead spot back and forth for the first lap, while the fast guys behind were lining up and kill us. Joe Smaltz, Brian Jenson, Adam Mills, and Tom Price were lined up and quickly came by. I was doing OK sitting on this group till I crashed pretty hard on an infield turn. Kudos to Adam Mills for not running over my face as he was right behind me. I didn't know it at the time but both my front and rear tires were peeled off the rim and the tubes were exposed. I was still in the race and didn't lose much time but the following lap the exposed rear tube finally blew out. I had to run about 100 yards to the pit for a bike change. The pit bikes deep section wheels and very under-inflated Michelin's are on the pit bike for a reason, they suck compared to my "A" bike setup. I still managed to hang on for 9th. Aaron Elwell had passed be earlier and I was starting to real him in but ran out of laps. I felt OK but the late night start time was tough knowing I was getting up to race again the next day. The crash tweaked my right shoulder pretty good. I had separated it about about 19 years ago, then tore the rotator cuft in it about 7 years ago. Thankfully this time around wasn't that bad.

Schumacher tests positive for CERA/EPO

Big surprise here. He's never really been considered a great time trialist, and then smokes the current Time Trial World Champ Fabian Cancellara in both time trials and this only causes a "minor sensation" in the race. Doped to the gills, i think. The only surprise is why it took so long to figure out. They caught Ricco days later. Why did this take a few months? Ricco was already "on the radar" after the Giro but shouldn't Schumachers sudden time trialing prowess put him on somebody's radar?

Nebraska Cyclocross - Omaha Weekend

Back on top! After last weekends embarasing display, I'm glad to have confirmation that race was just a fluke caused by the dehydration and allergies. Saturdays first round of the Nebraska Cyclocross Series at Swanson Park in Bellevue Nebraska (just south of Omaha) was bone dry and super technical. I got a good start out front with KCCX's Chris Wallace and Trek Store co-owner Kent McNeil. After a couple laps I got into the lead but my chain came off the front ring thanks to a mis-adjusted Third Eye. Had to get off and put it back on and dropped to 3rd. It took a full lap at full gas to get back past Kent and then bridge across to Chris Wallace. Once I got back, I sat in a little then started using some of the tight turns and power climbs to distance myself from Chris. Then chain kept coming off since I couldn't adjust the Third Eye so I jumped on the Pit bike for the last few laps and fortunately that bike worked perfectly. Took a few turns to get used to the pit bikes tires and brakes but then it was smooth sailing and I cruised in for the win.
Day 2 had the course reversed which worked to my advantage. The previous days long gravel downhill was now a perfect power climb for me. I used this same climb to help win last years race. Off the start Kevin Limpack (Midwest Cycling Community) took an early lead coming out of turn 1 and I jumped on his wheel. Behind me was the Monkey Wrench pain train consisting of Jesse Petersen, Darrin Shlake, Nate woodman, and Kevin Wilkins. Coming into the Maze Section I popped by Kevin so that I had a clear shot to launch up the long gravel climb. I hit the climb and punched it hard and it definately thinned the race out. Kevin Wilkins stayed with me with Nate and Jesse not too far back. Kevin stayed close most of the next lap but after a few hard trips up the long climb I started getting the gap I needed. I kept the laps consistent and only punched it on the sections I know would give me time. Behind the race for 2nd was changing hands. Kevin fell away as did Nate as Petersen was moving up. With the courses many twists and sections that doubled back, it was easy to guage the gap so I just made sure I was a little faster each lap. I kept the power on even in the final laps to get some good training for the bigger races coming up. Getting the 2 wins was great, but I was more stoked to have full power again and perfect form after last weeks race. I was hydrated perfectly this time and the allergy-related crap was gone. Aside from Saturdays mechanical glitchs that were quickly fixed before Sunday race, I had a perfect 2 days and the legs feel great. Both pics came from Mark Savery's MTB Omaha blog and The Mod Spot

Mens 123 Day 1

Place	Name	Club	Hometown
1	Mark Studnicki	Local Cycling.Com	Lenexa, KS
2	Chris Wallace	KCCX/Verge	Shawnee, KS
3	Kent McNeil	Midwest Cycling	Bellevue
4	Jesse Peterson	Monkey Wrench	Lincoln
5	Kevin Wilkins	Monkey Wrench	Lincoln, NE
6	Kevin Limpach	High Gear	Omaha
7	Nate Woodman	Monkey Wrench	Lincoln
8	Jim Winklepleck	WHW	Lincoln, NE
9	Chris Locke	Cow Town Cycling	KS, MO
10	Mark Savery	29er Crew/MCC	Omaha
DNF	Ryan Legg	Lincoln Industries - High Gear	Atlantic, IA
DNF	Alex Edwards	Mesa Cycles Racing Team	Parkville, MO
DNF	Garrick Valverde	Mesa Cycles Racing Team	Lawrence, KS

Men 123 Day 2

Place	Name	Team	Hometown
1	Mark Studnicki	Localcycling.com	Lenexa, KS
2	Jesse Peterson	Monkey Wrench	Lincoln, NE
3	Darin Schlake	Monkey Wrench	Malcolm, NE
4	Nate Woodman	Monkey Wrench	Lincoln, NE
5	Kevin Limpach	Midwest Cycling Community	Omaha, NE
6	Mark Savery	29er Crew/MCC	Omaha, NE
7	Jay Chesterman	Powerade	Sioux City, IA
8	John Vondracek	Team Kaos	Lincoln, NE
9	Chris Locke	Cow Town Cycling	Kansas City, MO
10	Kevin Wilkins	Monkey Wrench	Lincoln, NE

DeStad Diamond Blackfan Cyclocross

I'm fortunate that I haven't had too many bad 'cross races over the years, but yesterday was definately the worst one ever. Just wasn't hydrated properly and the body didn't react well to the un-seasonable 85'ish degrees. Huge turnout. I got the perfect start, came through lap 1 in 3rd, and settled in with the eventual podium finishers. After about 15-20 minutes, the power output just shut down like someone flicked a switch off. Once guys started blowing by me that never blow by me, I was just mentally not in it anymore. At that point I was just turning the pedals over. I should have just pulled out and reduced the damage but I don't like pulling out of races. Super dehydrated, headache, feel like crap. Rather embarassing to finish like that but it happens to everybody at some point. *******mystery solved: the Pollen count and air-born mold count have been through the roof that last few days with the warmer-than-normal weather. My allergies tend to flair up whenever the weather changes drastically and it sure did last week right before the race. Hopefully FALL is finally here for good and I can break out the long-sleeves.

1 cx race down .... 20 something to go.....and the 29'er

OK. Last weekend after I got back into town from the Hermann Night Race, I took the new Niner out for it's first REAL mtb ride. It had been about 5 weeks since i'd ridden out there. It's ROCKY AS HELL! I don't remember it being that bad at the 3hr race there back in July. We've had about 2 feet of rain since then. I've been racing a full-suspension bike for the last 10 or so years, so this was an eye opener. I need to re-think the whole "keep your ass on the seat and just don't stop pedaling" concept that has won me more races over the last decade, I don't even remember going to some. Anyway, got the first real ride in the books and made a few adjustments. Last night I went back out there "at speed". Since i'm not running tubeless just yet, running 25psi was a huge risk and the end result wasn't avoided.

Hermann Under The Lights

Wow. What a cool race this was. First 'cross race at night for me as i'm sure it was for most of the other racers. The venue was terrific, but brutal. The course's start/finish area was on a grassy flat area on top of a hill next to a large athletic/sports complex area. Once we renegotiated the very technical start with it numerous tight turns and first set of barriers, we bombed down a tricky paved hill and into a super fast paved section that had me wound out in my 42/12. Some of these turns weren't lit very well and they were only taken at speed because i'd prerode the course several times while it was still light. Back onto the grass for several tight 180's, then the mandatory playground sand pit run. Then the real fun started. This entire area was under water just a week ago, so even thought the grass on top was dry, the underlying ground was soaked. The Intermediate race turned this section into a 150 yard long pig trough that got worse each lap. It was barely ridable in the later laps. After the mud pit, it was back on the pavement for bit of flat recovery before the courses most brutal feature, the stairs. I had a good 2nd row call up so I was good to go at the start. I knew the start would be super critical so I made the move right off the start line and got into the first turn in 3rd place with only (i think) Shadd Smith and Nate Rice in front. 2 fast guys to follow for sure. I managed to stay with them in 3 place for the first lap. A couple very fast guys didn't get great starts and were steadily moving up on the wide open course. Eventual race winner Josh Johnson was one of those guys. A front row start for him somehow went bad and he got stuck in traffic but was caming back fast. Behind me was a long line of fast guys: Bill Stolte, Cale McCaninch, Mat Ankney, Adam Mills, Bill Marshall, Jeff Winkler, Ethan Froese, Chris Wallace, Will Gault, and Cameron Chambers. The pace was very brisk and the stairs were taking a toll on my legs. I was still able to make up time on the rest of course, especially in the mud. Bill Stolte got by me as did eventual race winner Josh Johnson. Josh quickly crossed the gap to join Stolte, then left him to join the 2 leaders Smith and Rice only a few more seconds up the road. In the closing laps both Cale McAnich and Mat Ankney got by me. Cameron came by me but then quickly pulled off course with some kind of problem. I was now in 7th with 5 laps to go and plenty of fast legs only seconds behind me. Ethan Froese was gaining on and I really had to push it hard to limit the damage. Behind him it as a wheel to wheel battle between Bill Marshal, Jeff Winkler, Adam Mills, and chris Wallace. Over the next few laps that gap to Ethan stayed the same and we were both putting time into the group behind us. Ethan suffered a late race flat and cost him a few places. Hitting the bell lap, I had about a 30 second gap on the group behind. Right after the start/finish line, the 10 lbs of wet grassy mud derailed my chain, fortunately right before the pit. I didn't even hesitate to switch bikes and only lost a few seconds. Having a nice clean(and light) bike helped on that last lap. I just kept it steady and didn't make any mistakes and came in 7th. Adam Mills get the better of Jeff Winkler for the final money-paying spot, with Chris Wallace, Ethan Froese, and Bill Marshall rounding out the top 12. Only the 12 of us were on the lead lap. Here are the final results. The other 33 racers were lapped and pulled. Very cool race and look forward to doing it again next year.

Out with the Old.........

...In with the new. After a couple years of throwing around the idea of going 29'er, I finally did it. The final part, the Niner EMD frame, which showed up on Friday. Ya, I know, it's been about 10 years since I've raced a hard-tail but what the hell. The Niner EMD frame is fairly light even though it looks big and appears to be seriously tough. Trying a few new things out, and i'm not one to try new things out when it comes to bike setup. I've ran almost the exact same setup (seat height, bars off the ground, seat tip to bars, ect) for the past 6-8 years. I figure since everything in my life seems to be changing for better, it was just a matter of time that I did something with the MTB. Trying a single ring 32 by 11/34 setup. I've ran the single setup in cross and wouldn't go back to a double for anything, but I'm still on the fence how this is going to work off-road. I build the bike up Friday night with the tornado sirens going off. Saturday I took it out for a 90 minute spin. WOW. IT IS EXTREMELY DIFFERENT. Could only do the paved trail since 6" of rain in 48 hours doesn't do the Shawnee Missing Park mtb trails any favors. In fact, it might be a while before I can try out some single track on it. I did do the kitty-litter trail around Lake Lenexa (Blackfoot Park)but that's the only dirt it's seen so far. The 32/11 seemed a big small on the paved trail and the 32/34 might be a hand full on super steep stuff but how often do we see that out here. I've got all winter to get this thing figured out. You definitely notice the bigger mass of the wheels when starting from a stop but once you're going it didn't seem that bad. The Manitou Minute 29'er fork will take some tweaking. The Sun Ringle wheels are nice and tight (although the rim seems a bit narrow) and the Hayes Stroker brakes work great. Maxxis Crossmark tires seem perfect, except they fit very loose on the rims so they wouldn't setup tubeless so they are tubed for now. I've always ran a narrow bar and very LOW in relation to the seat. Looks circa late '80 Tomac'ish, but that's what I know and have always ran it that way. After 20 years, the lower back is begging me to fix this, so I'm going to move the bars up a little bit at a time over the winter and hopefully by the start of the '09 season, i'll be sitting a bit more upright and comfortable. I'll selling all the old 26" stuff so this is all or nothing.
I ended my commuting season with 57 days. I might fit a day or 2 in here and there for not much more. With 'Cross season here, I needed to be a little fresher and I need to focus a little bit on work right now (more on that later). The 'cross season opener in Hermann Missouri just a few days away. I have a descent 25th place call-up out of a big field. There's at least 15 guys up there that are fast so I need to move up fast and get onto those wheels and away from the guys that will just be in the way. Should be epic under the lights. Training has been tough given all the rain. I've spent more an a few rides doing intervals in the rain and covered in freshly cut grass clippings. Stayed up all night to get signed up for CX Nationals. It's amazing how many people are ALREADY signed up when they turn registration on. There were already 55 guys in the Masters 40-49 before the system even let me in. That's still better than last year. I was called up in 97th or something and finished 16th. I have a legitimate chance at the podium if I can get through enough guys quick off the start and onto the right wheels. Last year I spent the entire first lap going from 90th into the top 20, but the front runners that had a clear course were already gone.
For the Elite race, I'm 25th signed up but that's before they stick all the UCI points guys up there. I'm not really worried about that race. Even the back-markers are relatively fast. I'll contest this year on the same duel 3D Racing custom bikes.

Commuting, Tuesday Nite Crit, and the bike biz...

Rode in 4 out of the 5 days this week. That's 144 commuting miles for the week, in additional to doing the Tuesday Night Lexexa Crit and a hard 'cross workout Thursday nite. Doing the Crit after riding to work and back can be a little ugly at times, but I still stayed in with no problems. A few bone-head moves in front of me caused me to make a few of my own to avoid disaster, so sorry to whomever was half-wheeling me when I had to make the adjustement. The rides into work and home are 55-60 minutes each way and more or less a respectable, steady workout, so they have added to my fitness considerably. I'm up to 56 days so far this year. Throw in my 'cross season specific workouts and i'm very fit, but also getting tired. The MTB is hanging on it's hook in the garage where it should be this time of the year.

I couldn't help but notice that Sram(Truvativ) came out with the Hammerschmidt planetary crank set. Way back in the late '80's, Shimano came out with one but it never seemed to make it into even limited production. Greg Herbold raced DH with one for a while, but other than that, they were never seen. Shimano obviously put the kibash on the the project. I know of a former Shimano employee that helped develop the product still had a working unit well after his days at Shimano came to an end. I actually saw this working unit a few times during my time in the bike industry. My guess is that it finally ended up on the desk of the right person, at the right company. That company being Sram. I remember Sram when they were a very small company making one thing, the original GripShift road shifters. Then along came STI (and Ergo levers for you Campy people), and Sram found itself in a bind. It's mtb Gripshifters were still going strong but the road Gripshifters were on the way out. From a mtb standpoint, Shimano had ruled the "complete groupo" market forever. Suntour was prominent in the late 80's and into the early 90's but is now gone. Sachs was right in there with it's road components and it's mtb offerings were shaping up (more on them later). Campy road components were and still are legendary, but that didn't seem to cross-over to the mtb components they tried to introduce. Fast-forward to today and Sram now makes both complete mtb and road groups that are on-par with Shimano and with Campy's road stuff.

I used to work for Sachs Bicycle Components MANY years ago. Sachs was a German company with it's US office in Socal where I worked. Remember the Sedis MTB chain? Modolo road bars and stems? The New Success road group(with Campy-made ergo levers) and the Quartz MTB components? The Lock-Jaw bottle cage (maybe you should forget that one)? The Huret Jubilee rear derailleur? Sachs was primarily a large automotive parts company (clutches, shocks, ect) until 1980 when it aquired the 3 French bicycle component companies of Huret(deraillers), Atom/Maillard(freewheels, hubs, and pedals), and Sedis(chains). Sram aquired Sachs from Mannesman AG in 1997, making Sram the Worlds 2nd largest bicycle component company, and gave them enormous manufacturing capabilites. Sram would later aquire RockShox, Avid, and Truvativ to round out it's component offerings. The only thing left were complete wheels. that was taken care of when they acquired Zipp!
After my tenure at Sachs, I went on to work for Marzocchi SpA, with it's U.S. office in Big Bear California, later moving to Valencia California. Marzocchi Spa is based in Bolonga Italy and is a huge company, mtb suspension being just a sliver of what they actually do. Marzocchi just recently sold it's entire suspension division (mtb and motorcycle) to the Illinois-based Tennoco, a huge automovive company. Tennoco is reasponsible for such automotive brand names as Monroe, Dynomax, Walker, Rancho, just to name a few. Marzocchi already manufacture the Monroe shocks as well as numerous other automotive products.
Speaking of automotive stuff, after my days with Marzocchi, I went to work for Vince and Joe Granatelli at Paxton Superchargers. Paxton would later get sold to a group of investors (more on that later) that ran it into the ground and it would eventually be bought by Vortech Engineering (as in Vortech superchargers). Ironically, Vortech Engineering was started by a former engineer at Paxton. What goes around..........
I missed most of that drama, as I had already left that company and was now and Answer Products (as in Manitou suspension forks/shocks , Felt frames, Atac bars/stems, ect). Answer was a great sponsor of mine going as far back as my days with Brave Cycles. I returned all those years of support with a win at the Sea Otter Industry Cup.
I would eventually go on to various other career "opportunities" in aerospace, biodegradable food service products, and another automotive company, Advanced Metalforming Technologies. Ironically they made the rotary-forged aluminum wheel blanks that Weld Racing (here in KC) machines into their finished products.
Of course I moved to the KC area in 2004 and the first company i worked for was Machine Laboratory LLC in Lenexa. There's another automotive company here in town, Aeromotive, that make fuel system components. I used to deal with Aeromotive when I worked at Paxton (Aeromotive made all of the Paxton-labled fuel system components). Even more ironic, my I.T. guy at Machine Laboratory used to work for Aeromotive around the same time. go figure.

Now I work at Interconnect Devices, Inc in KCK. This company was recently sold to a group of investors..............

Lenexa Dog Swim, Lake Lenexa, and 'cross!

Perfect weather this past weekend. Got in some perfect 'cross training Saturday morning. First ride on the primary race bike (with back up wheels) this year (race wheels are still aging in a cool dark place). Had a few of the normal bugs to work out but now it's 100% ready. Took Louise (the cute white dog) to the Lexexa Dog Swim at the Ad Astra Pool. She did great. Not a real big swimmer. She just sorta floats around.
After the dog swim, it was time for 'cross session #2. Had another good hard session followed up with 5 tough run-ups.

Later that afternoon, I decided to take Kristine out the the new Lake Lenexa/Blackfoot Park. I've been riding thought there since last year but she'd hadn't seen it yet. Perfect weather for a perfect walk in the park.

Update for the Week

1,760 miles! That's what riding to work and back (36 mile round trip) 48 times so far this year gets ya. That's almost 6 tanks of gas at $50-$55 per tank or about $300 total (almost enough for that new Niner EMD 29er frame). Got in 3 days this week: Monday, Wednesday, and today(Friday). Monday was HOT. I knew I was in trouble when it was about 84 degrees on the way in at 7:30am. The trip home started at 4:30pm, 97 degrees. I'm sure it got hotter over the next hour as I went from one drinking fountain to the next coming down the Mill Creek paved trail. By the time I got home, I was DONE. Fortunately the heat wave came to an end and Wednesday wasn't that bad and today was about the same. I'm looking forward to the cooler weather.

Artist of the Week - Buckethead

I have to admit, I didn't really know much about this guy. I'd seem him on the occasional live show as a guest guitarist, but other than that, I just thought he was a novelty heavy-metal thrash axe man. Well, when i'm wrong, I say i'm wrong. He is a very gifted composer and musician. If you get chance, check out his Wiki page. The KFC bucket, mask, and long-hair wig are more than just a novelty here. It's almost meant as a deliberate distraction. Most great guitarists overload your senses with flashy clothes, painful facial expressions, and they run all over the stage twisting into all kinds of weird yoga positions. Aside from the occasional break dance or nun-chuck routine on stage, once Buckethead (real name Brian Carrol)pics up the guitar, everything is played almost completely dead-pan. It's all about the music, there's nothing else going on. Brilliant if you ask me. Him catalog of music is VAST. He had been called the #8 Top Guitarist of all time and if you listen to his stuff, you'll hear why. He has a mystique about him: There are no known pictures of him (aside from an old yearbook pic)without the trademark KFC bucket, mask, and dark-grey painters outfit. I have played guitar for years, and i have developed a 6th sence when it comes to listening to other players. I'm convinced the mask limits his view of his guitar, and like any real guitar virtuoso, he only has to feel it. His diverse range of playing covers the heaviest thrash metal to the most etherial acoustic compositions. He has incredibly long fingers which enable him to construct chords that are just crazy difficult. An example of this starts at 4:15 in the first video below. Most human beings would single-finger pick that.

The older I get, the worse I looked back then!

Mark Savery was kind enough to post some very old pics of me from way back in the day. We all drank the same Kool-Aid and looked like that back then.

Heartland SMP 3/6 hour race

Gotta love having the home court advantage. It’s not everyday that you get to race on your home trails. Living just a few miles from Shawnee Mission Park is very convenient, and those are really the only dirt trails I ride. I wasn’t planning on doing the Heartland 3hr/6hr race there since I figured it would be too damn hot and I’ve been only doing 1 hour rides. After riding the course Friday night and looking at the weather forecast, I decided to give it one more go. The start/finish area was a little ways from the trails on some freshly mowed grass and a new trail along the power line cut. It was wide open for the first mile before that real single track started so I knew it would be a hard start to control position. I got a good LeMans start and came into the bike area in 4th but had a good bike position and was riding in 3rd. Within a 100 yards on got into second behind Cowtown’s Tige Lamb. We swapped positions a couple times along the power line trail, and I managed to get into the trails in 1st position. I’ve ridden these trails enough to know that there are a 1000 different rocks to flat on, bust a rim, or just plain crash on. I knew if I had a clean trail in front of me, I could string the pack out and make the first real selection of the race. As an added bonus, I also had a shot at the Fastest First Lap and Fastest Overall Lap prizes. I put a good effort into the first lap and managed to pull out about a 1 minute lead. I could see the group behind me with Tige, Aaron Elwell, and Jeff Winkler. Plenty of horse power back there and not very far back. I kept it steady and came though lap 2 with a little bigger gap. I was drinking one full bottle every 30 minute plus sipping from the hydro pack. The heat was starting to play a factor. I had a pretty good lead going into lap 5 so I cut back a bit on the speed trying save up for that 6th and hopefully last lap. I knew Elwell could ride the last lap faster than me so I made sure I had enough left just incase he got back on. Coming along the power line trail I asked the course marshall what the time was and he said 2 minutes to 3. From that point it was about 2 minutes to the finish line so I knew it would be close to the 3hr minimum and I didn’t want to do a 7th lap. I came into the dismount area before the finish line and the clock was still at 2:59:00. I walked a bit to eat up some time but I still had about 30 seconds to kill and then I saw Elwell come out of the woods. A slight panic would have set in had I not been so dead. I waited out the last few seconds then walked across the line just as Elwell was coming in to dismount. I was more than pleased with my effort on the day. The heat and terrain definitely cooked and beat me senseless. I had to sit down at the finish for little bit just to recover as the 3hr effort left me rather inert. It was good knowing it was the last MTB race of the year for me. Time to enjoy the summer a bit and get physically and mentally ready for ‘cross season. The Heartland crew once again put on an absolutely flawless event. The organization and stucture of the event always runs like precision clockwork, and the generous awards and raffle items are much appreciated.

Midwest Fat Tire Series - Smithville Lake, Mo

Pretty small turnout even with the perfect weather. Everybody must already be on Summer holiday or something. Course got about 1" of rain on Saturday, but was surprisingly in great shape. Only a few spots of actually mud that didn't pose any problems, but plenty of spots that were greasy and could very quickly have your bike pointed in the opposite direction. Only 3 of us older Vet Experts and just 1 younger Open Expert. I really like the course and it suits me perfectly so I made the holeshot stick and immediately started to drive the pace and get the others off my wheel. The 1 and only Open Expert, John Shottler, stayed on my wheel for the first half of the first lap. He had the fastest overall time on this course last year so I knew he was capable. This course is almost entirely big-ring-able, so I used that to my advantage and ripped up all of the very-gradual climbs and dropped down the tricky twisty descents quick enough to forge a gap. The 2nd half of the 10-mile look gets noticably more technical and rockier and that played into my favor. I kept it in the 46 and increased the gap heading into lap 2. The heat of the day was just starting to hit so that 2nd lap was a bit slower but I kept a good rythem and never got into difficulty and came in with the fastest overall time for the day.

Update for the Week

1,328 miles and counting. That's what 36 days of riding to work and back so far this year adds up to. That's about 4.5 tanks of gas in my truck at about $55 per fill-up. The morning rides in were sure easier when it was 40-50 degrees. Even 65-70 with 90% relative humidity makes for a wet dripping mess. Then there's the ride home! The hottest ride home so far has been 90 degrees, but it was windy as hell and not very humid that day, so it wasn't that bad. I fully expect things to get much, much worse. Fortunately my ride home has numerous drinking fountains so I can drink as much as I need to.
My Final MTB race of the season MIGHT be this Sunday (MWFTS Smithville Lake). I say MIGHT because my last race of the season might have been 3 weeks ago (Heartland Landahl). 89 degrees is the magic number for me this year. I just don't want to race hotter than that any more. Been there/done that and don't want to go back! I'm a 'cross guy now so bring on the snow and ice!

Video's of the week!

No matter how you feel about the war, we owe them a big round of applause. We have the lives we have and the jobs we have because of they do their jobs. Jobs we could never do!



This song popped up on Versus tv coverage of the Tour de France. After several years of doping stories and just bad publicity all around, the race is trying to prove to the World that it can be the World's #1 sporting event again. Sometimes our own lives take different twists and turns, ups and downs. The #1 thing to remember is that it's never too late to make a brand new start. (Thanks Kristine, Athena, and Buster)

Heartland - Truman's Big Love Holy Moly!

When I first saw the course map, I knew it was going to be gruesome, and not in the way I prefer. I'm not the fittest guy out there, so I prefer very technical courses (even a bit greasy) that show-case my ability to ride fast over slippery technical terrain, as aposed to just putting out max watts with max traction. The course they chose for yesterday's race was as fast as it comes. The dirt was perfectly tacky. We started on the usual grass field and quickly lined-up on the first little single-track climb. Shadd Smith skipped the Austin Texas round of the USA Crits series to contest his 1 mtb race for the year. He's obviously super fit and this course was tailor made for him. He quickly set the pace on lap 1 with Cameron Chambers, myself, Dave Breslin, Chris Ploch, Aaron Elwell tucked in (literaly) on his wheel. The balance of the Expert field were left fighting for position behind us. The course is a drag race till you hit the very steep and rocky climb at the end of the Boulevard section. At the top you enter the Family Trail. No sick parent would every consider taking their family on this thing. Very rocky, rooty and zig-zags all over the place. It was still a freight train of 10 guys going through there. I was still locked in 3rd behind Shadd and Cameron coming out of the single track and hitting the long open meadow at the top of the course. The field was starting to get strung out but there were still 6 or 7 of us together. Shadd lead the way down Tasty Goodness and we came though lap one in that order: Shadd, Cameron, myself, with Breslin, Ploch, Elwell in tow. I decided to try my hand at getting the race fired up and took off on lap 2. I led most of that lap and came through to start lap 3 with a slight lead but not much. The race was coming back together behind me. Lap 3 had the freight train back together. Chris Ploch pulled the best move of the day and slid by me going into Tasty for the 3rd time. He was nice enought not to send me into the trees in doing so. Me and him started to pull away going down Tasty and came through to start the last lap together. That's when Dave Breslin moved up and took over, going by us on the climb. Chambers and Elwell soon followed and I couldn't respond to that move. I just tried to hold it together and maybe catch back up if one of them blew up. I was in 4th overall at this point and Ploch was still with me. I had to resign to the fact I couldn't improve on that but I didn't want to fall back into 5th either. The race behind us had finally thinned out but there were still fast guys back there, like Shadd Smith and Tom Price. I managed to stay in front of Chris going into Tasty for the last time and rode my ass off to get enough of a gap so I could relax near the finish. Definately some of the tighest racing I've done this year. My 4th overall was enough for 2nd in the 30-39 group behind Breslin's overall fastest time. The top 4 of us all came in within 1 minute of each other.

Music Video of the week - Asia

Former YES guitarist Steve Howe and keyboardist Geoff Downes, combined with Carl Palmer(as in Emerson, Lake, and Palmer)on drums and former King Crimson vocalist John Wetton came together in the early '80's. The group went though NUMEROUS line-up changes since but the original 4 are back together.

Heartland KC Cup Race.......FINALLY!

The weather finally cooperated with the Heartland Race crew and we got a race in BEFORE the storms hit. We had plenty of rain in the area over the last week, but fortunately the trails at Landahl Park dry out amazingly fast. The course was slick but still had perfect traction. The rocks were a bit slick in spots but nothing too crazy. Since so many races in the area have been rained out, EVERYBODY within a 3 hour drive came to get this one in. A slight change to the Expert payout altered my race stategy. An increased cash payout was going to the top 5 experts overall instead of paying out 100% in each of the age groups. All the Expert age groups started in mass, making for a crazy first 1/4 mile. The course goes straight into the first single track climb. I knew the traffic jam going in there would be terrible, I made sure I hit the climb leading. This feat is easier said than done with guys like Kent McNeil, Steven Jarrett, Aaron Elwell, Top Price, Cameron Chambers, and Jay Chesterman just to name a few. I hit the climb first and kept the pressure on trying to force an initial selection and thin the front group out. Cameron Chambers Aaron Elwell and Steven Jarret stayed with me and we came though together after the first lap. Kent McNeil was with us till he flatted. Cameron took off at the start of lap 2 and Elwell and Jarrett came by me to go after him. Cameron was soon gone but I stayed with Elwell and Jarrett up the main climb on lap 2 before I started to slow. The heat and humidity were brutal and I figured it safe to conserve something for the last 2 laps. I did a perfect high-speed crash on lap 2 but nothing major and only lost a few seconds. Jay Chesterman was a little ways behind me for a lap or so but drifted back out of sight. I solo'd all of lap 3. Lap 4 was uneventful , till I passed a cramped-up Cameron Chambers on the climb. Kent McNeil, easily one of the fastest guy around here, was charging back after his first lap flat. He had been fighting his way through the traffic for almost the entire race and started to catch me near the finish. Coming down the final single track, I could hear him moving up past the slower traffic not far behind me. I kept the pace up as much as I could to avoid getting him on my wheel. He would have easily got me in a sprint so I avoided that and finished a few scant seconds in front of him for first in the 30-39 Expert group and 3rd fastest time overall.

Yes, I stole the 2 pics off of Mark Savery's blog !