Sunday, October 26, 2008

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 .

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

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.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

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.

Monday, October 6, 2008

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?

Sunday, October 5, 2008

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