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Closing out 2011

2011-12-27T09:11:00.000-08:00

Been a while since my last post so I figured i'd better get caught up. My last post was about the first cross race of the year. Since then, I'd done only 2 others. The 2nd was on November 6th, and was last minute deal. I'd done a long MTB ride the day before so I didn't expect much. Just wanted to race and get more time on the cx bike, which I needed. The course at Stafford Lake in Novato, CA was really fun if you had good legs. Brutal if you didn't. Mine were a bit rubbery so I was more the later. Super steep and bumpy climbing and descending was a bit different for me, on a cross bike anyway. In general, the course here are really bumpy so I need to start preparing for that different next year. I've never really been into riding MTB trails on my cross bike, but a lot of people here do and I can see why. Anyway, got a good start just to avoid being burried in traffic. After the first couple laps, I was burried in traffic and going backwards. There was one long run up that really hurt. Tried to keep it a "run" up but the last lap or 2 might have been a "fast walk"-up.
Third race was a night race: Round #2 of the Bay Area Super Prestige Series. Rain left the course nice and tacky in some spots, and like greased ice in others. I got a call-up this time around which was nice. 3rd row I think. Descent start but didn't drill it. I'm still a bit timid on the skinny knobs. My fault for just not spending around time sliding around on that bike. Other than having my bars slip a bit in the stem and some nagging shift problems, I "raced" the whole hour and came in 21st, same as the first round, and the same as previous weekend. I could see at least 10 guys in front and 10 guys behind me so it's still pretty tightly packed, 11th place to 31st. Night racing is pretty fun. So 3 races down and I got 21st at all three. Not much to say other than it's exactly what I should be getting based on what i'd put into it. I could honestly say that if i'd prepared right (or at least they same as i'd down a couple years ago), I could have cut those 21st places in half, and been on the verge of top-10. Getting into the top 10 and at least in sight of the podium will take something special. Basically getting faster than I ever have been. Not sure my work/other schedules will allow that so I can't really plan for it, just need to play it by ear next year and see how she rolls.
So 3 races down and that was it for 2011. Came into December with the Flu and some lingering sinus issues so really couldn't do much more. Finally got heathly for Christmas so that was nice. Got a good block of riding in over the Holidays so at least i'll hit '12 somewhat fit.

Bay Area Super Prestige #1 - San Francisco

2011-10-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

Finally got my CX season underway this weekend. I got in 2 small local races last season, but missed all the big races in the area. This time I ended up missing all the smaller races so far but got out for this one. The Bay Area Super Prestige Series is the largest series in NorCal. Today's race was so exception. The Masters 35+ A race was filled (55 rider limit) during pre-reg. They had a standby system for racers that want to get in but is determined by how many pre-reg'ed riders no-showed. 5 no-show'd and I was the 5th racer on the stand-by list. Lucked out. Otherwise I would have done the Elite race which had over 60 guys in it. The first 2 rows in the grid were call-ups based on last years series. I skipped taking one last lap of the course and got to the front of the staging area and ended up in row 3 on the inside. Start was OK, managed to avoid the first turn elbow-fest and settle into about 15th. A few big crashes in turns took a bunch of guys from the front to very back and I managed to avoid all the mayhem. The course was bone dry and super bumpy. Huge holes, dry grass, and big rocks everywhere. Super technical course with very few places to really get out and try to move up. This actually worked out great for me since I was getting through most turns better than most and the faster guys behind me couldn't really chase me down. During pre-riding I burped my rear tire bad and up'd the pressure for the race. With the super bumpy course, I was trying to find some traction and comfort with lower pressure and pushed it too far. With 5 laps to go I almost crashed in a turn and burped the front. Dropped to about 15 psi. Rode the whole lap like that and managed to not make it any worse. I pulled into the SRAM Neutral Support tent for a quick pump and got a great push off by the tech. A handful of guys went by, not sure how many were 35+ or 45+, but I think I passed all of them back in the closing laps. Felt pretty good considering I only did/attempted about 1 week of actual structured cx work.

Lake Tahoe - MTB epic weekend.

2011-08-29T08:55:00.000-07:00

Spent another amazing weekend in Lake Tahoe. Got out on Saturday with an old MTB buddy from way back Mark Roberts. We had an epic battle in the mens sport class at the '88 MTB World Championships in Mammoth Lakes. He's basically a Tahoe local so he knows the trails there like the back of his hand. He took me on a bunch of stuff I hadn't seen before north of Tahoe City. We got in a solid 3hrs of singletrack with another hr of misc pavement at the end riding back from Squaw to Tahoe City and I got in another hr riding before/after for about 5 on the day. I had brought my road bike up with the intension of doing a lap of the lake on Sunday. Given the amount of traffic up there this weekend, I chose to stay off-road (mostly). Did the ever-popular Tahoe Rim Trail from the Rose Summit/Tahoe Meadows trail head to Tunnel Creek, then took the Flume Trail south to Marlette Lake and back, then Tunnel Creek down into Incline Village. Amazing single track with spectacular views of the lake from mostly above 8000 ft. This is one of the most popular "shuttle" rides in the area. Must have been 50 vehicles at the Mt. Rose Summit trailhead and another 40 at the bottem to take riders back up. It's only an 8.5 mile/2800 vertical feet road climb between the two. I started in Carnelian Bay (north shore) and rode the 8 miles over the Incline Village, NV. Then did the 8.5 mile road climb (averages 5.5 %) to the 8900 feet Mt. Rose Summit. The Rim Trail starts just below the summit at Tahoe Meadows. This section of the Rim Trail climbs up a few 100 feet in the first mile or 2, then gets super fun and flowy for the next 8 miles or so to Tunnel Creek rd. A quick descent down Tunnel Creek brings you to the north end of the Flume Trail. Took that south to Marlette Lake. Super fun single-track trail with some cool sections cut into the rock. Lake Tahoe is on your right, and straight down. This secion of the Flume is almost completely flat so it was mosly big-ring seated stuff. I turned around at Marlette Lake and rode came back to Tunnel Creek Rd, which was a wide dirt road downhill all the way down to Incline Village. Mostly deep powdery sand so i'd hate to climb up this way. Once back in Incline, it was a rolling paved ride back to Carnelian Bay. Ended up just under 5hrs total, 27 total paved miles and 22 dirt miles. Close to 10hrs of mtb riding over two days. Feeling it today for sure. Pics coming.

Howell Mountain Challenge - Angwin, Ca

2011-08-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

I had this race on the schedule for a while but sorta waited till the eleveth hour to make the commitment. Angwin is just north of Napa Valley, so it's a beautiful area. The race was 3 laps of a 10-mile loop. 30 miles off-road is a solid effort no matter how hard the terrain is. Couldn't preride much of the course since it went out a few miles before hitting the actual loop, so I only saw the first 1/2 mile and last half mile. The start was on pavement, uphill, to a wide gravel path and eventually onto some dirt roads. I sorta assumed that single track was out there somewhere beyond where I prerode so I attempted to get a good start. The lack of proper warm-up combined with NOT having down a hard start like that in a while KILLED me. I hit the dirt in 4th with completely gassed with ruined legs. I lot of guys blew by me while I tried to re-start the system. Took a few minutes and a good 1/2 mile but I "seemed" to be going good. Started catching back up to the guys that killed me off the start and actually started catching riders from the wave 2min ahead. The course was all dirt roads for at least the first full mile or 2 before hitting singletrack. The singletrack was supper fun and technical. I had never ridden this stuff before but I was at least staying with the guys in front. Got by a couple guys and seems to check out a bit. I was catching guys and the guys I passed seemed to fall away. The course alternated between single track and wide open dirt stuff. All middle-ring climbing until we hit the BIG ONE. 1/8 mile granny gear climb straight up. I generally don't do well on these but I caught back on to the front group the first time up this. Over the top they got a little gap on me again. The course rolled along some more with fun singletrack and middle-ring climbs. Towards the end of the lap was a 3 pack of rollers. Each had a crazy rocky ledge sections leading down so you couldn't hit the uphill part with much speed. Each uphill was middle-ring 'able but definately a handfull to clean. By the 3rd one I was wrecked. Some fun fast rolling stuff finished out the lap. This is around the time I decided that that only way I was going to make it 2 more times around that thing was to put it into conservation mode. Still rode hard and agressive but couldn't do much more than that without risking a DNF.
Got caught by a lot of guys as expected, not sure which were in my age group or not. That 3rd lap was a killer for sure but managed to keep it together and at least finish. Had this been an 1:45 or 2 hour race, I think I could have faked it along better, but 2.5 hours is a bit different. Didn't quite have the breakfast for it. The race was held at a college so we could use the showers in the gym after the race. That is a huge luxary since Kristine and I were planning on wine tasting in Napa after the race. Not sure what place I got since they hadn't posted results when we left. Wasn't top 3. Did win a WTB Mutanorapter 2.4 tire in the raffle so that was nice. No, a 2.4 tire isn't exactly a cross-country race tire, but it will work perfectly for the majority of the stuff i'm doing. Having not raced much over the last year definately became obvious yesterday but that's how it goes. I get in plenty of riding. Good riding, solid efforts both mtb and road, but no amount of hard training can replace actual race efforts. Other than that, the Tomac bike worked flawlessly. A bit more bike than a lot of guys were on out there. If I was really serious about getting back on the podium at every race, i'd probably do a more race-specific bike, but I like a bike I can go beat up in Tahoe without getting destroying or beating me up. I've got that so i'll leave the podium spots to those guys that are simple WAY faster than me for now.

Tuscany 2011

2011-07-30T21:36:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics from Bella Vita Vacations most recent tour of Tuscany.

Italy in July

2011-07-21T11:44:00.000-07:00

Just got back from another fun-filled Bellavita Vacations Italy trip.

BVV clients and staff relaxing in the Tuscan sun.

Catching up on the Tour de France action before heading out to ride.

Looking down on Pizzoferrato, near my house in Abruzzo

BVV clients Scott and Jim with Castel Brolio in the background.

Leading a ride but always keeping an eye on things behind.

Scott filling his bottle at one of the many "drinking fountains".

The BVV nightly dinner table awaits

Every dinner should start like this.

A little laundry hanging on the roof-top cloths lines.

Tahoe 4/8 hr MTB race

2011-06-20T08:53:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to MTB racing again this past weekend. Hadn't raced a MTB race since April 2010. Of course a lot has happened since then so I haven't exactly been bored. I had no expecations for this race. Just wanted to get back into the swing of things. The 4hr Solo race had the same format that i'm used to doing for the 3hr "endurance" races: Go just as fast as if it was a 2hr race, just do it for an extra hour +. Well, 4hrs (minumum) is a bit different than 3, but I did the only thing I know how: Start at the front, lead out the first lap as fast as possible, and try to hang on from there. Starting on the front was no problem. Led up the first big-ring start hill till the altitude got the better of me. I eased up and let one guy go by me and stayed a few seconds behind him while I caught my breath a bit. The rest of the field though it best not to do what we did up the first climb and were back a ways. The first climb stair-stepped up a bit, all big-ring stuff, before the first cool downhill section. Pretty rocky and fast. New bike was a dream through this section and I easily caught the guy in front. He led up the next technical single track climb. Towards the top he pulled over with some kinda of mechanical so I found myself along in front. Over the top it opened up into some fast wide-open slightly down-hill dirt road. A bit more singletrack track climbing led to more wide-open slightly down hill dirt road. A cool flat singletrack across a meadow led to the day's first obstacle: a 4ft high, 100 foot long pile of snow to run through. Running during mtb races always presents unique opportunities. After this section, the piles of snow had either a line going around them OR a line cut right through them. These were really cool. The only thing that wasn't cool was the 35 degree ice-cold run-of f that was flowing everywhere. A constant spray for the next mile or so. After this section, it was another fast rocky dirt road descent to the laps main climb near the end. Nothing steep but it was covered in loose rock so getting out of the saddle was out of the question. Over the top, it led straight into a slightly uphill single track climb, then straight into a dirt road climb. These 3 climbs were really just 1 long climb. Over the top finally and it was flat to rolling to the start-finish area. Came through the first lap with what would eventually be the fastest lap of the day (under 53mins) . No way I was doing another one of those. A could see a group about 1 minute back. I put it into a reasonable cruise mode and clipped off consistent 2nd and 3rd laps (ended up being 54 and 56mins). I was doing 1 Gel per lap and drinking constantly. The 4th lap seemed the hardest (ended up being 59mins). I hadn't touched the granny gear yet but heading up the laps last climb, the hamstrings started locking up so I shifted down and spun super easy. that kept them from getting any worse. I came through 4 laps in 3:42 so out for a 5th lap I went. I knew the gap back to 2nd had been steadily going up each lap but I still needed to survive the lap. Before the race, they had announced that in order for your last lap to count, it had to be faster than the "average lap time", whatever that was. That ended up being 65 mins. Even in my exhausted state, I did a quick mental calculation and decided that 65 mins wasn't much slower than the lap I just did (59min). The legs were definitely getting heavy, but still pedaling smoothing. I tried to stay smooth on the climbs and get some "free time" pedaling the slightly downhill sections. Once I got up the final series of climbs without blowing up or cramping, I could push it more without risk. Somehow did the last lap in 58mins for a final time of 4:40:40 for 50miles. I was definitely spent after the finish and very surprised. I only had straight water, 1 full bottle and not-even my full hydro pack. Did 1 gel before the start, 1 more every lap, 2 on the 4th lap, none the last lap. I can safely guarantee that the race announcer consumed more calories during my race than I did.

This wasn't the longest MTB race I've ever done but it did make the top 4 list (of races I can recall anyway):

1) Brianhead Epic 100 mile MTB race in 2002(?) : 100 miles in 8hrs 45 min

2) Team Big Bear 12hr MTB race: Raced 6hrs out of 12 hrs (2-man relay) miles unknown

3) Norba National Marathon, Phoenix AZ 2005 : 81 miles in 5:41

4) Tahoe 4hr MTB Race : 50 miles in 4hrs 40min

Lake Tahoe - Amgen Tour of Cali pics

2011-05-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

Bella Vita Vacations client Chris Locke has posted some great pics from his recent trip with us.

Lake Tahoe Amgen Tour of California Trip

2011-05-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Tahoe last Thursday to crystal clear skies and warming sun. I headed over to Reno to pick up Chris Locke. We got back in time to get his bike together and do a quick 90min "FLAT" spin ride over to Squaw Valley's Olympic Village. Friday's ride got a bit more vertical with a trip to Truckee, lap around Donner Lake and the climb up to "Rainbow Bridge" at the top of Donner Pass. Plenty of snow still up there. We enjoyed the 72-mile lap around the Lake on Saturday while all the big teams were out pre-riding the course. Interesting weather left us scratching our heads on Sunday morning. We had perfect weather Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The weather forecast called for snow to come in late Saturday night and into Sunday morning, but the forecast has been completely wrong up to this point. We woke up Sunday to about 4" inchs of fresh snow. Most of the roads were simply not rideable and several of the race caravan moto's hit the deck just getting out of town to look at the course. The snow was melting pretty quick, leaving just wet roads to deal with. The race was officially shortened to just 50-something miles when we left to head to the finish at the Northstar-at-Tahoe resort. It was a blizzard there and just got worse. We were there about 15min when we heard that stage was officially cancelled. Several Friends of mine, including Neil Shirley and Keith Ketterer, did the 50mile shortened course as part of the Amgen Ride to Recovery. They finished up cold, wet, and bikes completely frozen-up, stuck in 1 gear. We still enjoyed the expo area for a while before calling it a day. We woke up Sunday to really cold temps but more-or-less dry roads. Apparently the road over Donner Pass was too slick so they moved the Stage 2 start from Squaw Valley to Nevada City, about 70 miles away, so we missed the start of stage 2 as well. Headed out for a solid 4hr ride. Snow moved back in just as we were finishing up. I managed to get Chris back to the airport in Reno yesterday while the road over Rose Summit was still open. It was still snowing yesterday when we packed up and started heading back to the Bay Area. We ran into a blizzard moving it's way toward Tahoe and ended up getting a Police/CalTrans escort down the the hill on I-80. Traffic heading up the hill was stopped at the bottom and we assume was eventually escorted up in groups. Back home and back to the "9 to 5". Pics coming.

...and in with the new.

2011-05-01T17:54:00.000-07:00

Amazing bike. It's been a while since I've had a whole bike that worked perfectly, and this one does. 120mm (front and back) is a lot for somebody that's never had it. The old Niner frame and Manitou forks are already on their way to the Ebay'ers that bought them. Got it out for the first test ride last Friday. Couldn't do much with my sinuses completely ruined. Spent most of that time just adjusting stuff like lever/shifter position, tire pressure, etc. Got it our today for some more serious stuff. Again, my sinuses kept me honest up the climbs, but it definately climbs better than my hardtail, especially on the rougher stuff. Of course going down anything is amazing. My position on the bike has been getting more and more upright over the years as the flexibility in my lower back gets a little less every year. I'm now running the widest bars I ever have and the 110mm stem, which to some might be considered long, is the shortest I have every used. I started on 150mm stems (yes, that is 6 inches) back in the '80's and first half of the '90's, Then went to 135mm for a few years, then to a 120 the last few years. Now it's 110mm. Big difference. The whole 29'er thing just didn't work for me. Granted, if I had built up mine a little better, i might have had a different experience. I just couldn't get past the high rotational inertia of those things. I only had a 1X9 setup on it so that didn't help. One of the new double ring setups would have solved a lot of problems. Amazingly, the new bike is about the same weight as the old one. I was shocked when I actually weight the old one for the first time. I might actually do a mtb race coming up. New bike will be dialed in but it's more up to my sinuses cooperating.

Out with the old..........

2011-04-26T22:40:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to say that the 29'er "experiment", that ended up lasting 3 years, if finally over :-)

Lake Tahoe - Tour of California recon trip

2011-04-23T10:55:00.001-07:00

In Tahoe relaxing and scoping things out for the Tour of California in a few weeks. Still plenty of snow up here and it's been snowing since yesterday. It was perfect weather yesterday when we arrived, but got colder shortly thereafter and then the snow moved in. Might not get a full lap of the lake in this time. Looks like the snow if finally stopping so the roads can dry out a bit.

"Winter"?

2011-02-09T11:12:00.000-08:00

Comparatively speaking....not even close. But no complaints from me when it's
mid 70's and clear blue skies in February. Winter still brings the drag of shorter days, but the weekday Night Rides are slowly moving towards daylight for the first 30-40 minutes, then turn the lights on. Seems like just a few weeks ago it was dark before I even got home from work. Weekend riding is going well. The Saturday "House of Pain" group ride is ramping up into it's normal speed. We still do the optional 5 mile Diablo Junction climb at the very end which really stings. Once the ride is back to ful gas, that finishing climb goes away. I've been reserving Sunday for EPIC MTB stuff with serious climbing, descending, just about everything. I haven't even scratched the surface on the dirt stuff I can ride from my house. I've pretty much covered the North/West corner of the Mt. Diablo area but there is a whole lot more off on the Southern side. It's cool now that I've done a bunch of different loops, i can start linking rides together for some 4hr plus, 90% dirt rides right out my back door. Of course there's still MT. TAM off in the distance that I haven't been to yet. It's on the list and that will take years to ride all of those trails at least once.

Positive Mental......Altitude.

2011-01-17T21:18:00.000-08:00

MLK day MTB ride. I've been up Mt. Diablo on road a zillion times allready but i'm still learning my way around the VAST network of dirt trails up there. Yesterday I had ridden up the road to the mid-way point on the climb to scout out some stuff. I ended up bombing down this ridgeline that i'd been down once before. Crazy micro-climates out here. Leaving the house it was brisk and super foggy. Climbed up through the fog and eventually pop out into clear blue sky as far as you could see. The layer of fog obscurred everything below about 1800 feet. The temperature also changed like a light switch. The fog is actually really cold. Bombing down the ridgeline eventually dropped me back into it so the extra cloths went back on that were shed on the way up. To today I got the idea to climb to the summit and back down on dirt. I climbed up the ridgeline that I had descended yesterday. Brisk and foggy again and perfect sticky trails. The ridgeline road gets more than a bit steep for extended periods so it took some effort. Once again I popped out into clear blue sky around 1/2 up the mountain. I ended up climbing the rest of the way up on the road. Mostly hiking only single track on the upper 1/2. The summit showed the fog layer below extending as far I could see in every direction. I rode back down the road a few miles and found a fire road heading off the north. This thing was amazing as it rolled along with a single-track trail cutting across it and zigzagging down the mountain. Having never been down this thing before, I kept it pretty mellow and enjoyed the amazing views. Cooked the rear disk brake once but a quick stop to take a few pics took care of things. I've never seen a fireroad this steep. The bulldozer that cut it obviously just slid down the hill with it's blade down. Just like yesterday, I descended back to the ice-cold fog so the jacket went on. Popped out on the road and descended the rest of the way on pavement. I passed numerous other dirt roads on the way down heading off in different directions so there's much more to see. Felt great to get a couple good days on the mtb with lots of everything and seeing some stuff for the first time. Legs felt good considering how brutal Saturdays group ride was. I've down the Hop ride (house of pain) twice before. Once in the late summer when it was just rediculously fast and another time a few weeks ago when it was pretty mello but I was way out of shape so it hurt just the same. Felt better this time around and stayed in the front. After the normal couple hour loop down the Livermore and back to Danville, the group heading up to Diablo Junction (the 1/2 point on the mountain) from the south side. With the group still 50 strong, I started at the front just to stay in some clean air. The pace started a mello which is NOT what they normally do. I can't kick on the lower slopes of this climb so I have to keep it steady. I went up the first 1/2 mile or so when I hear this creaking bike coming up behind me. I assumed it was just the first guy in the group, with the rest of the group behind him. It was Garmin Cervelo's Kirk Carlsen. He's been staying in town and lighting things up on the group rides lately. The group was still a bit further back with only a couple other guys trying to bridge up. I figured i'd just hang on as long as possible then put it into survival mode. I amazed myself with some excellent climbing form and managed to stay with him all the way to the junctions, 5miles and 2000 vertical feet. It got really tough a few times and definately got me up the climb quick. The next guys were minutes back and most of the group came in 5mins later so I know we put in a solid effort.

Sacramento Cyclocross

2010-12-19T12:17:00.000-08:00

Race number 2 in the books. Over the last 6 years, i'd usually have about 20 races in by this time, but i'll consider 2 an accomplishment this year and it's all just preparation for next year. Serious rain over the last few days and the half the course was in standing water. The other half of the course was the problem. Super sticky mud a foot deep in spots was impossible to ride through and just a hard to run through. Each step seemed suction-cupped into it. The weather forecast kept a lot of people away so the fields were smaller but still quality guys. There were 14 starters in my Men A 35+ group. There was a tricky off-camber ride-up about 1/4 mile into the lap so I got a good start in 2nd and made a pass into the lead so I had a clean shot and riding it. After that I just settle in and tried to stay on the front as long as I could. That was short lived as we hit the first soggy swamp field crossing. I went left and about 5 guys passed on the obviously-better right side. I was riding good technically but still don't have much fitness to slug it out with the faster guys. I've never raced this heavy and that seemed to make me sink into stuff that other guys were floating through. It started to sprinkle in the closing laps and I was hoping it would rain. Some sections of the course were super sticky and thick and that would of at least helped out. The rest of the course was standing water or really thin soupy mud so it wouldn't have mattered. With about 2 laps to go, Jeremy Ferguson (Cal Giant Strawberries) came by me. I tried to follow briefly but that was pointless. He floated thought stuff that I could barely pedal through. Next to come by me was newly-crowned National Champ Don Myrah. Ya, local races here are a much different deal. Cody Kaiser (Cal Giant Strawberries) was also there but didn't race, probably not wanted to get thrashed before heading over to contest the Xmas week races at Euro Camp. Fun race and a solid effort. I was competative on the sections of the course that were fast but not in the slow thick stuff.

Weekend in Orange County

2010-12-19T12:09:00.000-08:00

Headed down to Orange County to visit Kristine's sister and her family. After a 6:30am flight out of Oakland, an aborted "look see" landing at John Wayne Airport, and a diversion to Vegas, we eventually made it back to Orange County. Had fun with the kids, did dinner at Dana Point and stayed for the parade of lights. Quick trip and back late Sunday night.

Thanksgiving in Tehachapi

2010-12-19T12:00:00.000-08:00

Kristine and I back up the 2 dogs and headed down to Tehachapi over Thanksgiving to visit my family. Tehachapi is right at the southern most end of the Sierra's and even though it's not necessarily "at altitude" it's still high enough to get some tough riding in. Got in a couple 2-3 hr rides. Had fun seeing the family. Weather was nice till the day we left, when some snow and freezing rain came in. I don't need to ride in that crap. Rode out to Stallion Springs to see the Woodward West facility. It was closed but still got a good look at the facilites and the lodging area. Pretty amazing place with tons of cool jumps, ramps, etc.

First 'Cross race of the year

2010-11-21T19:27:00.000-08:00

My 'cross season finally got going today, albeit a couple months late. It was part of the Sacramento CX Series, held at the Lange Twins Winery in Lodi. I've only ridden the cross bike a handfull of times and zero structured work outs like I have typically done getting ready for the season. It rained most of Friday night and then again pretty good last night. I figured the course today would be completely under water but it wasn't too bad. Preriding the course, it was still soupy mud but it was drying out in spots, which made it worse. The Open Men A group went off with my Men A 35+ group 30 seconds later, and a Men A 45+group after that. The start was at the bottom of the finishing climb with a tricky concrete descent into a hard left turn before hitting a tight 180 right turn. It was super narrow entering here so I got as good of a start as my legs would allow and hit the dirt in the top 3. The course wound around a bit with some greasy turns, a 3 step run-up, a greasy ride-up, and a bunch of off-camber muddy grass. straights. I was hoping to leave the "spirals of doom" back in KC but sure enough, they had one here, albeit really huge, on a sloping hill, and all soggy muddy grass. This thing got tough in the closing laps. I prerode this whole thing in the big ring but by the time our race got going, it was just getting super sticky and the ruts were wheel sucking deep. I managed to come through 2nd after lap 1 but that was short lived. I got by most guys just riding the greasy sections better, but would get out horse-powered on other sections. After 3 or 4 laps I was still in the top 5 and only about 100 meters behind those guys, but the legs were heading south and the course turning into glue was brutal. Most of the closing laps were ridden in some small gears just trying to keep some momentum. Kelly Benefits's Alex Candalario won the Open A group and came by me with 2 to go. Nice chops on that guy and he looked pretty smooth. Not sure what place I ended up, top 1/2 of the field at least anyway.

Lake Tahoe Weekend

2010-11-15T20:46:00.000-08:00

Out with the old.....

2010-11-07T16:30:00.001-08:00

After 13 years and 278K miles, it was finally time to let her go. Couldn't count how many

races this baby got me to. A true testiment that American-made vehicles do last. I kept Mobil 1 in this for most of those years and changed it every 3K miles. The same K&N air filter has been in it for ALL 278K miles. Now my '98 Jeep Grand Cherokee that i've had for several years will be the new daily driver. With life getting rather "complex" this year, getting one vehicle out of the way helps simplify things a bit.

L'Eroica 2010

2010-10-07T10:20:00.001-07:00

Back in the States after our 2-week trip to Italy for the L'Eroica period cyclotouristic rally. Truly a unique event that takes a step back in time to the heroic early days of cycling. Held in and around the Chianti Region in Tuscany, the course is characterized by the Stada Bianche, the famous white gravel roads that traverse the region. The event offers several course options with the longest being 204km, a shorter 135km route, and numerous shorter routes. I ended up doing the entire 135km route plus the 25km's from the finish area back to our villa. Riders go off as early as 5am for what can be an all-day ride. Riding that early has numerous challenges to say the least. With 3,500 total entires hitting the road, driving anynear near the start town or on the course was tricky. The entire course is open to traffic which you could never get away with here in the States, but in Italy, where cycling tends to be on another level of the public's conscious, the two co-exist nicely. I have ridden in Italy for 5 years and never once felt in danger on the roads. The famous Stada Bianche are an amazing historical feature similar to the cobbled sections of any Belgium 1-day classic. The entire route is registered as a historic cycling route with clearly-marked signs. Most of the sections are very smooth and fast, and very fun to ride. Other sections get very steep and loose with numerous sharp rocks. An early morning drizzle left them perfectly tacky and dust-free. This also helped on the many steep climbs later in the day that many had to walk up. Thankfully my mtb/cross background providing the requisite body english to get up them on standard road tires, although I could have used something smaller than the 39x25 I had. The rest/food stations along the route were amazing with plenty of very-Italian treats and wine to fuel up. I did have the luxary of riding a relativaly modern bike and it was amazing just watching all the riders on vintage equipment and clothing. The gears are already turning on putting together a bike for this event next year. At one point I had more than enough stuff in the parts bins to do it but I can't keep everything around forever just in case. I have to build up a new bike to take over next year anyway so it's just as easy to build one up with this event in mind. Pictures coming once we get them all sorted through.

Married, Riding, etc.

2010-09-09T20:54:00.000-07:00

Been a while since my last post. Lots of great stuff going on. Lets back up a bit. Obviously had a great pre-honeymoon week in Tahoe that ended with the wedding. The ceremony was spectacular and everything went off without a hitch, except my old IPod Shuffle with the wedding playlist died at the wrong time. Fortunately, I also had the backup playlist on my Blackberry and just plugged that in. A quick trip to the condo for my laptop and we were back in business.
New job is going smoothly. Very big company with complicated systems and processes, but all is working it's way along. As the 2nd largest manufacturer of cookware in the World, chances are you have plenty of our pots and pans in your house.
Weather here in the Bay Area is unbelievable. I'd spent enough time shoveling snow and sweating through sticky summers in pouring rain, bugs, ticks.......you get the point. I'm very-much enjoying this. Few hot days over 100 but it's no big deal since the humidity is so low.
Riding so far is amazing. Actually better than i would have predicted. Road riding is just incredible. Traffic is much more tolerant with cyclist here since there are so many and it's just part of the culture here. I've done most of the local group rides, and there are many to pick from in the immediate area. There are several different group rides just about every day so you can take your pick. Some join up so you can start one and finish with another. The hardest ride in the area is appropriately named "the house of pain" and it lives up to that. I'm pretty fit right but not really race-fit. I somehow managed to stay in the first group but it was a hand-full. That was the fastest average speed over rolling terrain i've done since the days of the old "Simi Ride" in SoCal back in the 90's, when guys like Steve Bauer, Max Sciandri, Harm Jansen, Floyd Landis and just about every other Euro pro was out there.
I have Mt. Diablo right in my backyard so I climb that a few times a week. There are 2 ways up the the 1/2 point then 1 way to the top from there. A few different group rides go up either side to the 1/2 way point then down the other, or all the way up. I can do the entire climb from the "North" side in 60minutes, which is pretty respectable but nothing close to what the top pro's in the area can do. The climb up the "South" side is a bit trickier and I haven't really figured that side out yet I've only done it a couple times, compared to 20 or so times up the North side, and it's always been with a pretty fast group. Of course I was shelled both times about 1/2 way up. Granted, some of these guys have the fastest times up the hill so I can't feel to bad about it. The summit has some amazing view of the San Francisco bay, provided the fog hasn't obscured the view. The fog is pretty creepy here but cool.
Lots of MTB trails in the area and i'm still discovering them. The Mt Diablo area has a big network of trails and that is only a couple miles down the road. Even closer is the Lime Ridge Open Space. I just recently discovered this and its pretty big and has just about everything. I can ride out of my neighborhood and right into the area's large network of bike/walking paths that take my right to it.
Of course we had Lake Tahoe just under 3 hours away and we'll spend plenty of weekends up there. The mtb riding there is just un-describable. Plenty of cool road rides to. I finally did the 72mile lap all the way around the lake. Pretty amazing ride.
Besides Tahoe, we have Napa Valley very close and will be enjoying that very often.
We've already done a bunch of cool things in the area and it's only the beginning :-)

Lots of racing going on in the area but haven't hit anything yet. That will happen when it happens. Cross season is pretty big here and the first race in the area is actually this weekend. i'm not quite on the same schedule this year as in years past so my first cross race will not be until the middle or late October. We have a little Trip to take care of first.

Witness Protection Program

2010-07-02T15:52:00.000-07:00

That's what it feels like out here: New home, new job, new everything. Still feel like i'm on vacation, but this time, i just happen to get a job and stay. It was a long haul getting here and a lot of planning but definately well worth it. The cool dry air, ocean breeze, and new riding terrain, with HILLS, is awesome. The road riding is spectacular. The weather has been pretty much the exact same every day for 23 straigh days: Perfect. A few warm days inland but the low humidity and cool ocean breeze makes it. Our wedding week in Tahoe was awesome. Couldn't have asked for anything better. Getting settled in, finding the local group rides, getting the new job dialed in. Moving is a pretty stressfull ordeal. So is getting married and starting new jobs. Now do all 3 inside of 2 weeks. I wouldn't recommend it, but i'm glad we did it all at once and can now focus on moving forward.

Yes, that water is cold in Lake Tahoe

The amount of MTB trails in Tahoe is just mind boggling, and breath taking.

The view from Donner Pass looking back towards Donner Lake and Truckee at the far end

The wedding location William B. Layton Park in Tahoe City

The new home: Downsized a bit....

and the the yard is easier to take care of (right Joe?)

The happy couple

The view from the top of Mt. Diablo. That's my home...3800ft down there. North Bay and Mount Tam in the distance.

Arrivederci Kansas - final TNW's

2010-06-17T19:05:00.001-07:00

It's been an amazing 6+ years here, but it's now time to move back to the West Coast. Kristine and I will be hitting the road for San Francisco area June 28th. We have our wedding week in Lake Tahoe right after we bet there and settled into our new place. Tahoe is amazing and should get plenty of good riding, relaxing, recharging, but more importantly, getting wedding and spending time with family. I put racing on hold right after the Bonebender race to focus on getting the house here ready to sell and getting rid of all the unnecessary crap that was starting to own me. Still riding enough to keep some fitness but it hasn't been the priority lately. I'll get into the race scene back there when i'm ready. I just want/need to get some good riding in first and explore the new terrain, figure out the local scene, group rides, etc. It will be nice to have HILLS again and there are plenty around the East Bay area where we will be.
My 2 trucks were loaded onto a car carrier this morning and are already on there way, so I rode into work this morning. Very sticky.
Last night Worlds was definately a hot and sticky one. I hadn't really done much out there all year except for a couple finishes in top 10, but nothing close to top 5. I rolled off the front after the neutral lap and got my first solo laps in quite a while. After a few laps I was joined by Andrew Coe, Tom Price, and and another guy. I was hoping it would be easier with 4 than it had been with just me. WRONG. Those guys were flying and it was all I could just staying on the back. I tried to take my share of the work but i had nothing to contribute and probably disrupted the rotation a time or 2 trying. After a few laps I drifted back to the group to recover a bit. Those guys ended up staying away till the end. I hid out in the group for the last 15 minutes and just tried to follow some smart wheels and get across the line safe, somewhere around 10th maybe.

Thanks to everybody for all the great memories.

Tuesday Night Worlds

2010-05-19T06:40:00.000-07:00

What a perfect night for a ride. I was out of town this past weekend, but I heard it was miserable weather, and more is moving in today. At least last night was nice. Good turnout. Mercy had the big numbers but Tailwind was right in there with some quality over quantity. Lot of moves but nothing really got organized. Hitting the bell lap, I was in perfect position, about 15th or so. That's about the right place for me. Any further up and I get mixed in with guys that I know will out sprint me anyway. Any further back and guys start sitting up and messing things up. Well, turns out a few guys around 11th to 14th decided to shut it down coming around turn 1 and that was it. Tried to go wide and get around 'em in turn 1 and 2 but it was already over. The first 10 guys got a 20 foot gap going into the downhill and that was it. The tactic of sitting up right in the middle of everbody and having the entire field split around you works great for the guy doing it and their teammates at or off the front, but not really for all the guys that have to get around that person. It happens a lot out there. One minor crash. Some mtb guy went wide in turn 3, got gutter'ed, and eventually ended up in the grass. No major physical injuries reported.

Ronnie James Dio

2010-05-17T18:14:00.000-07:00

Ronnie James Dio passed away this past weekend after a long battle with stomach cancer. RIP

Update, Commuting, Giro, Etc

2010-05-10T07:53:00.000-07:00

Last 2 weekends have been crazy. It's crunch time on getting the house pulled together and listed. Put in almost 30hrs between Friday afternoon and last night alone. That hurt. I feel worse this morning than I did the Monday after Bonebender. Last weekend was about the same and a few hours every night after work in between. I'm on a racing hiatus until I get the bulk of everything done. Gratefull just to get out and ride for a couple hrs here and there. End result will be well worth it of course. On the commuting side, managed to get in 5 so far this year. Not lighting the world on fire there but getting them in when I can. The Giro is under way. Impressed with Brent Bookwalter's prologue ride. Not impressed with the bunch as a whole in yesterdays road stage. I know it's the first grand tour of the year, but all of these guys have been racing for a while now. The roads in Italy are definately NOT the same as those in the TdF and all of these guys have been here before. Tyler Farrar looked great in the finish line dash, but didn't look good laying in the middle of that traffic island. Good comeback.

Bone Bender 3/6 hr MTB race - Smithville Lake, Mo

2010-04-19T07:13:00.000-07:00

Hadn't done a marathon-length mtb race in 2 years so I had no idea what to expect. Absolutely perfect weather this year. I missed this race (mudfest) last year, but this time around, we couldn't have asked for better conditions. A bit chilly at the start but that was more than welcome. At least severe dehydration crossed off the list of things to end your day. The LeMans start was crazy. The "front row" was about 50 guys wide, and since I really struggle running, I was mired back in the 20's somewhere coming up from the beach to the bike staging area. I lucked out with the bike placement and got by about 1/2 the guys still running to there bikes. A couple hard efforts on the pavement before the singletrack, and I got into good position. Tige Lamb got the holeshot and was going away with Jeff Winkler, Kent McNeil and myselft in two. the first lap pace was crazy fast. Things eventually sorted out with Kent taking the lead with me following, then Tige, Jeff, and Cameron Chambers. Cameron got by me around the mid-way point and Jeff not long after that. The pace of the first lap was a little harder than I was prepared for, and with the real possibility of doing 4 laps, I needed to chill. 2nd lap felt a bit flat after such a hard first lap effort. Had a couple Gu packs and that seemed to help. Omaha's Stephen Jarrett (Kent's teammate) came by shortly after starting lap 2. Felt better on lap 3 once the Gu packs had kicked in. It was close on time so I wasn't sure if it was going to be 3 or 4 laps so I made sure I drank plenty and used every Gu pack I had with me. Sure enough, came in about 5 minutes under 3hrs. The 4th lap was all about spinning the right gear, standing and stretching, and trying to avoid a complete implosion. Fortunately the course doesn't have too many steep climbs that could really sting you you were on starting to cramp up. I could occasionally see the 4th place guy maybe a minute back so I couldn't exactly put it in cruise mode just yet. Came in around 3hrs 45mins and completely empty. Very cool race, Locke and crew put on an awesome event. Might be my last MTB race in KS or Mo and happy to have made it this one.

Weekly Update, MTB racing finally.

2010-04-12T06:26:00.000-07:00

Crazy week. Awesome weather last weekend, rain waited till Monday for a change. Riding over to the Tuesday Nite Crit, the rolling clouds were quite ominous looking. Zero wind (at the start anyway) so that was a welcome relief after the previous week. This was the first Tuesday Night with the new Cat 1-3 only in the "A" race format. Plenty of opinions flying around about that. My opinion means nothing anyway but the end result was not even debatable: Must faster since the field was smaller and there wasn't all of that unessessary pack movement going on. It lined-out from the gun and the first 20 minutes were the fastest of the year, maybe fastest avg speed i've seen in out there in a while. ZERO wind and NO rain up to this point. That all changed very quickly. The wind really picked up and the echelons started. I was in the wrong place a couple times and eventually lost contact. The rain drops started and I was near the back when a lot of guys started sitting up. Starting heading home west on Prairie Star when the real rain hit. Just about had to swim the last 2 miles home. Wednesday's Hill Ride was a small group since the weather didn't look promising, but the rain split completely around us. Wind was another story. Just riding over was a challenge. The headwind blowing up Renner was insane. I ride down that on the way over and I had to work just to keep moving down it. First climb was OK, Tom Bondurant took off and easily went over the top well in front. I came over with a couple other SKC guys. It all came back together at the lights on Midland. As we turned right on Renner, that crazy headwind I had coming down it was know a very stiff tailwind blowing up it. What a great opportunity to RIP up this thing. I took off at the bottom where it's still flat, and was pretty surprised how fast I got going with the wind at my back. I must have hit 30 before the road tipped up. I think I caught everybody off guard a bit. I was still going pretty quick as Renner crossed over 435, but the legs were on fire for sure.
Trails were still closed all last week so I could only use the gravel path around Lake Lenexa to test the new tire setup, WTB Vulpines. 475 grams is significantly lower than the 700+ Specialized full-knobbys I had on before. Since the trails are closed when they're wet, why have knobs anyway? The Vulpines are not tubeless-ready and it was a challenge to get them inflated. Plenty of Stans required to seal up the beads and the entire sidewalls. They still lose pressure significantly overnite but I can deal with that. The course out at Sundays Lawrence River Trails Race is pancake flat, 100% single track, super twisty and fast. My 40-49 cat 1 field was small but the 30-39 group was a good size. I got the holeshole in my group, then started picked off the guys in the 30-39 group that went before us. Made it up to 4th I thing. We cranked out some quick sub-16min laps initially. I managed 4 good laps but the 5th lap was sorta survival mode. Everything hurt at this point. Tom Price, leading the 50+ cat 1 group, went by started lap 5 and left me. Fitness was good and the tires worked perfectly on that course. Hadn't did a mtb race since last summer (or ridden off-road much this year for that matter) and it felt like it. I was back out there yesterday helping out Chris Locke at his Off-Road Duathon. Perfect weather for the weekend. Let's see if the weather holds out for BoneBender next week.

March Madness!

2010-03-22T08:24:00.001-07:00

First Tuesday Night Worlds and Wednesday Night Hill Ride's in the books last week. Some crazy weather this past week for sure. Rode for the first time in shorts-sleeves on Thursday, then the blizzard on Saturday, and back to a beautifull Spring day today. Last Tuesday's Crit #1 was a rather brisk. Small group but definately quality over quantity. Pace started really quick. Everybody seemed to want to get warmed up in a hurry. Group stayed together with nothing getting too organized to go off the front. After a little pause in the speed around the mid-way point, things got heated up. I hadn't done anything to this point. Things started to really wind up with about 15min to go. I got to the front and hovered around the top five for what seemed like an eternity. It was fast (for me anyway) with Shadd Smith, Adam Mills, Andy Coacha, and a couple others periodically taking turns tightening the screws. I got extremely lucky in following the right wheels. All kinds of carnage was happening behind me us , but I was too focused just trying to hang on. A think the group split a few times behind but seemed to come back together. I never had to take one pull at the front, and probably couldn't have if I had to. Right around the time i'd get to 4th or 3rd, 1 or 2 guys would lauch up the side and string it back out. I'd get lucky again, be on the right wheel, and slot back into 4th or 5th, completely wound out. This happened a lot in the closing laps. I managed to hang in till the bell lap. Legs were in no way up for a sprint so I peeled off coming out of turn 4 and got out of the way. Considering I hadn't seen any leg speed like that since the last Tuesday nite crit last year, I was happy with the way it went. New bike worked like a dream. Nice to have 100% dialed shifting for a change. I found myself shift more often. Wednesday was the first of the Wednesday Night Hill rides. Weather warmed up a bit. Small group. First time up Lawrence Hill is always a shock. I don't do this hill on any other training rides, so i'd sorta forgot about it. Pace was good but controlled up the first few steps. This climb gets harder as you get towards the top. Mark Cole was riding well and was really putting it down. I stayed on him over the the last and steepest pitch right over the top and along the flat top section before dropping back to Midland. Legs were definately burning. Groupo compacto at the lights then onto Renner. Matt Dutcher and teammate Joe Houston set the pace at the bottom and up to the creek crossing, I came around Joe and onto Matt's wheel. It was an all-or-nothing deal by this point so I just had to stand up and go. Legs haven't burned like that since I don't know when. Managed to hang on over the top, Matt right behind me, then a good gap back to the rest. Cruised along Renner and the group was back together by the light at 87th. This was pretty much the end of the ride for me since I turn right at Praire Star and the group is turning left. Some last-minute speed work on Renner through the round-a-bouts and that was it. I'm guessing this weeks Tuesday and Wednesday night rides will be bigger groups and harder.

New Cross Schedule for 2010

2010-03-17T09:48:00.000-07:00

U23 'CX Silver Medalist Attempts Suicide

2010-03-15T10:02:00.000-07:00

This is just a terrible story from every angle (story taken from Pez Cycling news - EuroTrash Monday by Jered Gruber)

"The bike racing world was rocked by its latest scandal late last week with the announcement that the Szczepaniak brothers both tested positive for EPO following their beautiful performances at U23 Cyclocross Worlds, which led to a brotherly domination of the top two steps of the podium.The positives were an outrageous story, absolutely brazen, revolting even. After an understandably irritable first response on Twitter, US cross icon, Adam Myerson, wondered aloud: who was responsible for the drugs? This kind of thing does not happen in a vacuum, especially with riders so young.Indeed. It went even further though, and it goes to show just how fragile a potential world beater's world actually is: 19-year-old, second-place, Kacper, attempted suicide this weekend. It was thanks to the boy's father that he's still alive.I hate doping and dopers just as much as the rest, but something like this just hurts. I hope for the best for the two brothers and hope they can find their way."

Agreed. These are just kids.

Perry Damn Race - first win of the year :-)

2010-03-08T08:12:00.000-08:00

First race of the year is always interesting. No exception here. At least the weather was decent, albet brisk, and not much wind to deal with. The Masters race was short, only 3 5-mile laps. That's about 45 minutes. Only 12 guys in our group and that was several age groups combined. First lap rolled along with nothing really happening. Everything stayed together the first time up the hill, just spun up it. On the 2nd lap, on the lower road after crossing the dam, we came across a couple of the cat 5 guys laying in the road. They had went down on their first lap. They were being attended to already, and we were neutralized through the scene and resumed our race. 2nd trip up the hill, I gave it a little big-ring effort. This caused a split. coming across the dam, we could see that the race was being stopped down on the lower road so we just sat up and the group came back together. We arrived at the wreck site to find that the cat 5 field was stopped as the 2 riders were being attended to. Me and the other 11 guys just walked around the scene in the grass and continued on course. We weren't really sure what was going to happen since this was 2 miles before the finish. We sort of rolled up the last hill, somewhat sprinting it out. I really couldn't do much after sitting that long, legs got too heavy. The decision was made to restart the last lap over for all the Masters - in one big group. We rolled on out and across the dam, trying to keep the age groups straight. It was all together with 1km to go. I tried a little move on the run-in before the last right turn onto the climb. It split things up but all of my group was still on my wheel. I led up the climb for a long way but the legs were too loaded-up and the snap wasn't there. I was happy to just get some of the cobwebs blown out.

L'Eroica 2010

2010-02-03T06:33:00.000-08:00

Come join us October 3rd in Tuscany for L'Eroica 2010. Registration is now open. See the official L'Eroica website for details or ask me.

'Cross Worlds in the US in 2013

2010-01-29T06:19:00.000-08:00

Very cool, will definately drive over to Louisville to watch this. Masters Worlds in Louisville next year, not so much. I guess I'm not flying to Belgium next year. I was looking forward to seeing Brugge to. The only problem with having Masters Worlds here is that it will be just another ELITE race. Every UCI Elite guy that hasn't raced in a World Cup prior to the race will line up and turn those Masters races into what the Masters races at Nationals are, but much worse. USA Cycling should really look at this a bit more.

Off Season and Winter's return

2010-01-28T08:48:00.000-08:00

2 weeks into the off-season and I feel reborn. Have about 4 weeks left before the local road events start up. Had 1 good week of weather, but the cold is back for this weekend. Back to wearing every single piece of clothing I own. Plenty of heated discussions going back and forth about who IS a sandbagger and who ISN'T. I don't work for USA Cycling so I can't fix the current system. Been getting some killer riding in with some great guys. Did a tough 3hr gravel ride on Sunday with the 360 boys Andy Lucas, steve Songer, and Brian Williams, with me and Joe Houston representing for Localcycling/Slimenudgrossun. These are all the same guys I race with it by the way. Started from Brian Willians house in Paola. Wasn't bad at the 10am start but the temp gradually went down and the wind went way up. I had forget the leg warmers so I was bare-leg'in it. The wind-chill was ugly by the end. Good roads with little traffic and lots of small hills. 3 1/4 hours for 50+miles felt good.

New road bike

2010-01-24T19:45:00.001-08:00

I don't get new complete bikes very often, so it's cause to celebrate when i do. Picked up a new carbon-framed Sette Primo from PricePoint last week. the carbon frame is well over a pound lighter than the alumimum Kinesis-made frame I was on before. The complete bike comes in over 3 pounds lighter. I typically don't care much about a pound or 2 here and there, but 3 starts to jump out at you. This bike came with a complete Ultegra SL 6600 group. I dig the ice-grey color on those components even though most did not. These shift levers also still have the external shift cables, whereas the newer 6700 levers went for under-the-bartape cable routing. That does LOOK slick, but that just adds a lot of bends to the housing. Considering that most of my 'cross pit bike did not survive it's 3rd (or 4th) season, I was in need of an entire group of components and a wheelset, which is almost an entire build kit. This complete bike was about the same price as a build kit. That also enables me to keep my old road bike complete and use it for commuting only and this one for racing. Yes, racing. I will probably contest a few more road events this year, pending open weekends in the MTB schedule. All of the new Ultegra 10-speed stuff will work double-duty and go over to the 'cross A-bike in the fall and all of the old A-bike stuff will get handed down to the pit bike. The old pit-bike stuff will be reserved for commutter bike backup stuff. Everything has it's purpose(s).

Got the new bike out on the road on Saturday for a solid 3 hours. Rode up and did 3 laps around Lake Quivera (Quivera Road, Johnson Drive, Renner Rd. and Holiday Drive). Pretty hilly little loop and 3 laps is tough. Bike felt super solid. Super stiff but not harsh thanks to the carbon frame. New components always feel great. Neutral geometry doesn't require over-thinking. Besides the complete Shimano component group, the bike came with FSA bars, stem, and seatpost. Nice stuff that all performs perfectly.

Some people critisized me for buying mail-order and not suporting one of the local bike shops. As much as I like to support the shops in the area, and I do appreciate any discouts they give me, I simple was not in a situation to spend twice as much.

Epic Holiday Cross - Kansas City, Mo

2010-01-17T18:56:00.000-08:00

For the 3rd year in a row, the Epic Holiday Cross lived up to it's name.... Epic. Twisting in and around the Tuileries Shopping Center, the course always provides some surprises. Most of the snow had melted away but left the ground saturated and after everything froze during the night, we were treated to a very icy course. Once course after an hour of preriding, much of the ice broke through, exposing several inches of ice cold water and mud. The organizers did an amazing job of melting some very dangerous ice patchs in a couple of the turns in the cobble parking lot. I was happy that the 40+ Masters race was the first race of the day. The course seemed to get worse each lap so later races definately had there hands full. I got off the start in 3rd behind Andy Lucas and teammate Josh Taylor. Josh gave me some room in turn one and I got through and onto Andy's wheel. I was content to follow Andy since he was going pretty good. About mid way on lap 1, I had an opportunity to get go so I took it. One we jumped onto the sidewalk section, Andy came flying by me on the right, about twice my speed, then had a very spectacular crash. Hitting a patch of ice on the side walk, he went by me with his back end sliding out to the right, then back to the left right infront of me. Fortunately he shot to the right before going down so it didn't take we out with him. Looked spectacular but fortunately no major injuries. The left teamate Josh Taylor now in 2nd. For the rest of the race, I just kept it steady and kept Josh at a safe distance. Bob Downs (Planet Bike) had a great win in the 50+ masters field. Starting 10 seconds behind us, he got through the 40+ field and caught me with 4 laps to go. By the end of the race, my feet were more than numb from riding and running through the ice-cold standing water. The course had definately changed by the end of our race. The muddy sections got mudier, but some ruts seems to be freezing back up. Being the 24th race of the this years 'cross season, I was in no shape to race the Open race, so Shadd Smith had to race by himself. Thanks to Roger for having the pressure washer after the race. No I have a month or 2 to relax and get some easy riding in before the local mtb and road stuff kicks off.

Grote Prijs Shawnee Cyclocross

2010-01-10T16:56:00.000-08:00

Wow. What a day. With all the snow we had, it took a lot a people and a whole lot of time to get the course cleared and in some kind off shape to race on. The City of Shawnee provided a Bobcat and several people to do 80% of the work on Friday. I went out on Saturday to help out and put the final touches on a few sections. After working for a while, everybody did laps for an hour or so to get some lines established. The forecast for Sunday was for bitter cold in the morning but up into the twenties by noon. That meant hard and icy (but fast) early, and slushy later on. Most of the course had 1 perfect racing line about 12" wide, some sections had 2, pretty much where the Bobcat tracks were. As long as you stayed right on the main racing line (or the other if it was there), you could actually haul ass, but you get off that and it would bring you to a dead stop, either right in the middle of the course or over a snow bankd and off in the 2 foot deep powder on the other side. No need for much course tape since you couldn't go anyway the Bobcake didn't clear. My Masters 40+ race was the first go go off at 11am and it was still in the single digits. The course was rock hard and fast, provided you stayed on line. Off the start, I immediately pulled my left foot out of the pedal. Hadn't done that in a while. The paved start hill was pretty short so I didn't have much time to move back up before hitting the tricky left turn off the pavement. I did manage to cut off a few guys and was somewhere around 10th coming down the first single file section by the wheel pit. This is where it split into a left and right line. I went right and caught a rut which shot me straight into the 3foot pile of snow along the course. I lauched over the bars and disapeared into a cloud of while powder. My helmet and face were completely packed with snow and my gloves covered. I scamptered back onto the course and ended up completely screwing a few of the 50+ masters that started 10 seconds behind us. I was not only dead last in my race but I was back in the 50+ field. It took a while to get back going and up the tricky section by the tennis courts. Once up that section and around the tree, the course splits in 2 fast lines and I could start moving up. At this point, I was already 30 seconds + behind the leaders. My teammates Josh Taylor and Joe Houston got the holeshot, and rode the first section perfectly and were already a couple straight-aways ahead. I was in serious panic mode at this point. I got by a few guys on the first lap and noticed that I was coming up on Steve Songer and Andy Lucas. Fortunately for me, they didn't get great starts either and were still working through traffic. If they had, they would have been gone. I was definately getting winded chasing back up so hard. About 1/2 way through the race, I managed to get up to Josh with Lucas right behind me. Right after I got into the lead, I did another high-speed snow explosion. This time my chain came off which took some time getting back on. Andy got back by me, so it was back into panic chase mode...AGAIN. I was pushing it pretty hard, which made up time on some parts of the course, but definately caused some catastrophic moments that were counter-productive. Ultimately the fastest laps were the ones where I didn't push it as hard and as a result were error free.

I have to apologize to the girl that was on course that I did a perfect hockey check on . She had taken the low line off of the run-up/ride-up, and I was coming fast on the upper high line. Right before I passed her, she hooked up and came up and onto the higher line, and I just flat-out nailed her. She didn't go down fortunately but i sure hope she's not hurt.

With a few laps to go, I clawed my way back up to Josh and Andy. We all made numerous passes for the lead and we were all banging into each other. One of us would crash, take out the guy behind, letting the 3rd guy by, just to watch him mess up , taking out one of us, and so on, and so on........ I just got back into the lead right before the bell lap. I thought I had a small gap back to Andy and Josh but they got right on my wheel along the long head-wind straight leading to the paved start hill. I had to sprint up the paved start hill in order to get off the pavement first. At this point in the race, I was hurting bad. The only chance I had was to lead out the last lap and NOT screw up. I some how managed to NOT mess up too bad too many times and got a small gap on Andy which stayed till the line. I was completely hammered after that race. Definately the hardest masters race this season, probably hardest race period. It took everything I had and every minute of the race to get that win. Breathing that hard in that single-digit air was nasty. With only a handfull of guys in the Open race, I figured I jump in and get some more pain and misery. By the time that race started, the course had definately changed a lot. A few sections got more rode in, but most of the course was just getting wetter and slushier. Once the race got going, I slotted into 3rd with Shadd Smith running away at the front and Chris Wallace in 2nd with Planet Bike owner Bob Downs in 4th. I managed to claw my way up to Wallace and got by him once, but then I botched the ride-up and he got back by. I stayed close and got back on his wheel before the long head-wind straight-a-way leading to the pavement. Just as I got on his wheel, he slid out and I crashed right into him. I got going pretty quick, but this allowed Bob Downs to get back up to me and eventually by me. I stayed close for a little bit, but I was dying. With a couple laps left I just didn't have much left so it was conservation mode from there and I came in for 3rd.

2009 - Year in Review - Goals for 2010

2010-01-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

Definately glad to finally get 2009 in the books. 2009 had plenty of excitement. A few "Ups" and a few "Downs". The road of life isn't necessarily paved, but more like a Spring Classic, with some moderately-paved sections interupted by cobbled mine fields, or just long sections of gravel.

The first cycling-related event of last year was the same event that was just postponed: Epic Cross. Last years race definately lived up to it's namesake, and this year's WOULD have been worse with the entire parking lot under 2" of snow.

Last years Grote Prijs Shawnee (cross race #20 for the season)was characterized by 2 crashes in the first minute: The first one that handed me the lead, and the 2nd one that put me in dead last. Gave it a good fight but never really got back into the action. At least I could now clean the "A" bike and hang it up for 8 months.

No race action in the area for a while so it was just base training till March.

First MTB race of the year was the Devils Revenge Off-Road Duatholon, which included a short, 2-lap MTB race. I went out there to help Chris Locke set up the course. At the last minute, I ended up jumping in. Full report HERE

The following weekend, I did one of the Perry Lake Training Races. On average, I might do 1 road event each year and this was it. Full report HERE

Sold my '69 Nova on Ebay. That project stopped progressing forward years ago, but I finally put an end to the misery on March 29th.

Worst day of the year was April 17th.

Headed to SoCal to visit family, and watch the Dana Point Gran Prix. Full reports
HERE and HERE

May 19th Kristine and I headed across the pond for our side project
Had a fantastic time. Full trip report HERE
and HERE
Slide shows HERE and HERE

Video clip HERE

Headed to San Francisco for some fabulous wine tasting.

3rd actual race of the year was the MTB race in Emporia

Ended my Tuesday Night crit season on August 1st with 18

Ended up doing 10 of the Wednesday Night Hill Rides. Typically I prefer riding off-road on Wednesdays, but given the amount of time the trails were closed........

Ended my Commuting season on August 2nd with 50 trips to work and back for a total of 1,800 miles and 100 gallons of gas saved.

Headed to Lake Tahoe on September 3rd for some fun with the family.

Watched the final stage of the Tour of Misouri in KCMo

Spent Thanksgiving in SoCal

Cross Results in 2009:
KC Cup Swope Park 2nd masters 2nd open
Diamond Blackfan 2nd masters 19th open(too hot)
Boss Cross 1 11th open
Boss Cross 2 12th open
Chris Cross 1st masters DNF open
Capital Cup 1st masters
Boulevard Cup 1st masters
Smithville Lake 1st masters 5th open
Boss Cross 3 1st masters ? open
HPT Topeka 1st masters
Vet Cross 1st masters
Kansas State 2nd masters
Lincoln #1 5th open
Lincoln #2 9th opeb(rolled tire)
Boss Cross 4 1st masters
Cross out '09 1st masters

2010 Goal: Don't really have any racing-related goals, other than just having fun at the races and not taking myself too seriously. Didn't do much in the way of MTB racing last year since the mtb racing schedule around this area was a bit lean. 2010 is looking to be quite a bit better with the Unified Federation of Dirt thing. Won't do a boat-load of travel but at least there is stuff close by. Not sure I can get back to the MTB form I had in 2008, but i'll give it an honest effort and whatever happens happens.

Cross out the Old Year - Shawnee, Kansas

2010-01-01T09:47:00.000-08:00

With all the fresh snow on the ground, it was a bit of a challenge for the organizers to get the coure into something race-able. I pre-rode it on Wednesday night and it was definately a mess. Lots of snow and it was melting so that means wet feet and a slushy bike stuck in one gear. Fortunately the temps overnight firmed everything up nicely. It was still in the high teens for race time but the sun was out. I kicked myself for not having a dedicated mud-tire setup at Kansas States, which cost me the race there. I made a point to not get caught out like that for these last few races of the year.
The course started on a 5ft wide sidewalk for about 100 yards then onto the first tricky off-camber grass section. Me and Steve Songer started on the front row since we are the top 2 in series points. We blasted up the start and I managed to lead into the first tricky section, but it was easy. The first section is all off-camber with a main high line along the fence and a low line if you couldn't hold on up high. Armed with fresh meat front and rear, I blasted across the upper line and into the next short off-camber climb to the 180 turn. Did a perfect one-foot pivot and hit the next little downhill section and short climb pretty hard. The next section was a long straigh slight-downhill section along the fence. I kept it steady down this the first time to recover a bit. Songer had some issues shortly after the start so it was teammate Jeff Uhnra behind me with Josh Taylor behind him. After the long downhill, there was a haybale dismount than some tricky stuff around the ballfields and back to the start/finish. The entire course had one main racing line about 12" wide, but other lines developed quick. The main line was getting wetter each lap. To avoid the freezing spray, I started using the off-lines more in the later laps. The course actually got faster each lap and it appeared to start freezing up on the last lap. I kept the pace steady and did a farily good job keeping the peddels from getting clocked. Only lost the use of one-side of my right pedal. With the race only 30 minutes, I did an extra lap to prepare for Sunday's Epic Cross race.

Too much of a good thing!

2009-12-28T06:18:00.000-08:00

I was looking forward to getting to some doing snowy mtb rides in. So much for that. Leaving work at 1pm on Thursday, the freezing rain was just starting. Eventually it turned to snow but the damage was done. I attempted to head out on the cross bike but that ice rink below the 1" of fresh powder made just getting out of my driveway scary unpredictable. Saturday I figured everybody would be hitting the trails so I ventured out. Roads were a slushy mess from all the salt so I jumped on the Mill Creek paved trail, or attempted to. Axle deep snow...on average. some spots 6" then a 2ft drift. Took about an hour to go 2 miles. Made it over to the trails to find not a single bike track, or foot prints, or car tracks. Way to deep to ride. No way was I headed back the way I came so I took the road back home.

Off-Season - Almost

2009-12-16T10:05:00.000-08:00

There is 4 weeks between Boss Cross #4 December 5th and my next race (maybe Cross Out the Old Year December 31st or Epic Cross on January 3rd. That's a long way to keep the engine all fired up. Last week was crazy-ass cold so I only rode twice all week and both times were inside on the trainer for an hour. I'm sort of at the bottom with no where to go but up. My motivation to ride outside when it's single-digits is ZERO, and very-little when it's anything below 20. Since it's dark when I leave for work and dark when I get home, I can only do night rides Monday through Friday. I don't have one of those part-time jobs that allows me to ride in the middle of the day on a week day. This past weekend was the first weekend I could actually just ride(without racing) since September 12th/13th so I took advantage of that. Did 3+ hrs on Saturday. Hadn't did a ride that long since this past Summer, and it felt like it. Got out Sunday and did 2hrs and that felt like 4. I just kept telling myself "this is the bottom, looking up". This week just trying to nail down some good "structured" riding. Hopefully after this coming weekend, i'll have all the junk blown out.

Boss Cross #4 - Cold temps and heavy legs

2009-12-07T09:01:00.000-08:00

After taking a full week off the bike after the Nebraska Lincoln races, and celebrating Thanksgiving with family in SoCal wearing flip-flops, I wasn't expecting much from the legs. Thanksgiving weekend was my first weekend of no racing since 'cross season began on September 19th. Only managed to get a couple hours of outdoor riding during the week before Saturdays race. 20 degrees feels worse after you've spent a week in the 70's. Got the jump in the Masters 35+ race with Doug Plummer right behind me and Josh Taylor close as well. I could already tell this was going to be a rough one. Doug got by me pretty quick and I just tried to stay with him until the first good climb. I got by him but he stayed close for a while before slowing dropping back. I had to ease up a bit and only went hard enough to keep from getting caught. Steve Songer, who won the 45+ race going away, started 20seconds behind our group and caught me on the 3rd lap or so, going by me like I was sitting still, and finished at least 1 minute in front of me. I'd say that put's me about 2 mins off from my Pre-Thanksgiving speed. Considering we know have several week before the next race, it will be a challenge to get back up there.

Thanksgiving in California

2009-12-01T19:56:00.001-08:00

Nebraska Lincoln Weekend

2009-11-22T19:09:00.001-08:00

The 2 races in Lincoln Nebraska mark the end of my 'cross season, basically, for this year. 19 races over 10 weekends. Headed up with 360's Shad Shriener so I raced Open both days. Saturdays race went great. Brian Jenson and Shad Shriener were off early and racing against each other. Got into a great battle for 3rd place with Jesse Peterson and Matt Farnham. I started feeling the pinch with about 5 laps to go so I had to let those 2 go just as Troy Krause caught me. Me and Troy worked together for a couple laps and actually started catching back up to Jesse and Matt on the the last lap. Troy put in one sharp attack on the final hilly grass section before the long fast paved finis. I just about came unglued but held his wheel and was able to get him in the sprint for 5th. Brutal hard way to finish a race, and I was completely wasted. Good pizza and beer in downtown Lincoln finished off the evening. Day 2 was a bit more intersting. Jenson and Shriener once again off the front early and nobody really was interesting in trying to hang with them. The battle for 3rd was hot with me and 3 others. I was pretty wrecked from the day before so I had to ease up and put it into cruise mode early. Alone in 6th for a few laps before Nate Woodman came up. Managed to get 2 pair of WarAxe socks on Hooligan Hill (hence the above Pic courtesy of Cornbread). Right before Nate caught me, I slid out in a turn and peepled the back tire off the rim. Yes, same problem I've had before running too low pressure. I slid out pretty hard and the second it caught and hooked back up, off it came. Took forever to get it pushed back on. This happened before the run-up on the far side of the cause so I had a long way to go to the pit. I eventually got it back on put had to let most of the air out. Should have just un-did the rear brake and rode it., but.... ended up dropping to 10th in the 5 minutes or so it took me to get my pit-bike. Got going again and got 1 guy back, and could see 2 others up the road. Unfortunately Brian Jenson came up and lapped me, so I couldn't chase then down. Ended up 9th, the last money-paying spot. Few other low-key races this season but this was the bulk of it. Heading back to California this week for a nice Thanksgiving vacation and a full week off the bike.

Fools in the Rain (KS State Cx Champs)

2009-11-15T15:42:00.000-08:00

After nearly a whole season of dry fast races, we were finally treated to something quite slick. Nice steady rain turned a very fast course into one where pure horsepower only put you sideways or down altogether. In the Masters 30+ race, the long start on the cobble road was quite slick and a bit sketchy. A bit of elbowing put me onto the grass in 2nd. I blew the very first grass left turn, which wasn't there when we set the course up the day before. That put me 50meters behind Tige Lamb with Brendon Jenks right behind me. The course was still sticky enough to offer some traction so I got back up the Tige and went by him before hitting the long run-up for the first time. I led the the rest of that lap but we and Tige swapped leads a couple times each lap for the whole race. As the race went on and the rain kept coming, the course changed drastically. By the last couple laps, traction was hard to find and turning was just a best-effort situation. I was super fit and felt strong but just couldn't get the traction to move forward or attack anywhere. Tige was riding the muddy turns way better than me but we stayed together hitting the bell lap. All was going good until the little "run-up" that we actually had been riding every lap. On the approach, my front wheel just greased out and I came to a complete stop. After running up that and remounting, Tige had a 50 meter gap that I couldn't do much to reduce. It stayed until the finish. Tige first, 2nd place for me with a hard charging Adam Mills rounding out the top 3. As the day went on the rain only got worse the temps dropped. I was signed up for the single speed race, but my first single speed race will have to wait. The primary bike was a mess, and the tires on the pit bike weren't up for the mud. Not to mention myself not really up for another hour of cold rain. By the time the single speed and mens open race got going, temps were down into the upper 30's.

Veterans Cross - Leavonworth, Kansas

2009-11-08T18:26:00.000-08:00

Very cool course, very MTB'ish in my opinion. I like that. The start was back on the long cobbled road. I made it up that and onto the grass first with Doug Plummer right behind me. Once on the grass, I cruised a bit to recover from the hard start. After the first set of barriers was the first of 2 long grass climbs. I pinned the first one, coasted down the other side and pinned the second one. After that I had to cruise a little bit and take a quick inventory of where everybody was. Doug was still really close. After the 2nd set of barriers, the couse dropped down a hairy section through the trees with a nasty S-turn around some trees. The course tape never stayed up very long there. Down by the pond and up a series of grass/dirt turns. We didn't enter the cobbled road at the very bottom this year, but about 1/2 way up. I used the 2 grass hills every lap and the rest of the course to recover somewhat. Hung up for the Masters 35+ win, but Doug wasn't very far back. Racing the previous night and early again this morning was tough. I'm pretty thrashed. Hopefully some cooler weather rolls in soon. It's tought to sweat like that in November.

Heartland Park Night Cross - Topeka

2009-11-08T17:45:00.000-08:00

Night racing can be pretty interesting. Starting a race at 5pm when it's still light and finishing 40+ minutes later when it's dark is even more interesting. The fading light made it hard to focus, but once it was completely dark and the lights of the Heartland Park race track were on, if was pretty cool. The dirt track and
infield was a bit green during the preriding. The track hadn't been used in months. A bit bumpy in spots but everything smoothed our considerably during the night. A tight little s-turn right after the start on just before the entrance to the track kept the entrance speed down. However, that speed quickly built up with a long flat drag to the first 180 turn and back. The the infield minefield consisting of some tricky bumpy turns. Back onto the dirt track for one last stint of speed before a very trick, and aukward stair run-up and quick remount before dropping down outside of the dirt track. A quick climb back up the start area, another stair run-up right before the finish. I got to the start a bit later than usually and sorta had to weasle my way into the front row. Both Andy Lucas and Steve Songer got off the line first and up the first grass hill. I rode the course tape a bit and got passed Steve, then dropped in on Andy going into the little chicane. Once in the lead, I tried to pin it on the dirt track. Steve and Andy stayed glued on my wheel. The infield was tricky and definately easier to be leading and picking my own lines. Me, Steve, and Andy basically stayed together for the first lap. Andy fell away but Steve stayed right on me and definately had my attention. With no real hills to speak off, I had to figure out where to get time on him. Leaving the dirt track, there was the tricky turn with the run up to the stairs, with the re-mount on top then a quick plunge down the other side with a sharp left turn. I noticed I could re-mount and make the quick turn a little better, so I started to pin that section and the following grass section with the climb at the very end. From there, I needed to recover a bit through the start-finish area. The little grass climb just off the start was another place I could get a second or 2 each lap. Once back onto the dirt track, I just eased up and tried to freshen up. Steve would close in here every lap. This pattern went on for about 30 minutes. Fortunately I could get a couple more seconds each lap on the sections I was faster on that he could get me back on during the track and infield section. The un-seasonably warm air made the throat pretty dry and sore by the end but I hung on for the Masters 40+ win with Steve right behind me and Andy Lucas coming back from an early crash to get 3rd. Hung out and watched part of the open race. Those buys were flying. With a race the following morning, couldn't stick around for the finish.

Boss Cross #3 _ Platte City, Mo

2009-11-01T15:08:00.000-08:00

It was about 40 degrees warmer this time around. Perfect weather, bit chilly in the morning but nothing too cold. The course this year was more or less similar to last years: Pavement start with a hill and plenty of climbing. This is one of those courses were I spent about 90% of the course in your 3 biggest cogs and the other 10% in the bottom 3, not much in the middle. The pavement start was flat for 50 yards then a left 90 and up the hill another 50 yards. Sharp right onto the grass and into the bigger cogs. All the recent rain made the grass very spongy but not very muddy. In the Masters 35+ race, I got to the grass first. The first grass section had a steep downhill with a rutted out turn at the bottom, then a hard steep climb. It was farily easy to ride as long as you had a clear shot at it and low enough gear. My 42/26 was a manageble but sure could have used a 39. David Hayduk and Doug Plummer were never too far back so I just stayed steady and tried to use the sections of the course that suited me. The final pavement section through the start/finish area was a bit hairy at race speed, with a hard 180 left turn. The laps was really short and that combined with the steep nature of the course, the race got strung out really quick. I started catching the tail end of the field with about 4 to go. The Mens Open race wasn't until 2pm so I had a couple hours to sit around before warming up again. When doubling-up, the time between races is pretty important. This time I had 1 more hour between races than the previous weekend. It had warmed up quit a bit by the time the race got off. Bunch of fast guys on the line. Brian Jenson, Shad Shreiner, Aaron Elwell, Cameron Cambers, Jeff Winkler, Nate Woodman, and Chris Wallace among others. I got a good start and just got in line and held on. Jeff Winkler, Brian Jenson, and Shad Shreiner seemed to be off and running right away in a front group, then it was a group with me, Aaron, Cameron, Bill Marshall, Chris Wallace stayed together for a couple laps. I was feeling OK so I tried to take off and left that group and was in 4th but it was very short lived. Couldn't keep it going and got caught by those guys pretty quick, then starting go backwards. My legs were pretty dead and getting deader. Shad was flying and lapped me a few laps before the end, as did Jenson in 2nd, and Winkler 3rd. When Jenson passed me, I cut a turn a bit to hard and the back tire peeled off a bit. I could here it as i hit the high speed pavement section, so I hit the pit with 3 to go and got the spare bike. I was pretty dead at this point so the last 3 laps weren't too impressive. I couldn't ride the one long steep hill anymore. Last guy I could tell that was behind me was Bill Marshall but I couldn't see him anymore. Nate Woodman was having a really bad day but got close to me before the finish. Even going a slow as I was, I still caught the tail end of the field.

Smithville Cyclocross Festival - Smithville Lake, Mo

2009-10-25T15:23:00.000-07:00

Perfect weather and great location. I spent a few hours on Saturday helping Chris and the crew lay out the course and pound some stakes. To keep things interesting, I made a slight alteration to the original course. Shortly after coming off the start road onto the grass, I added a tight little chicane around a tree by the bathrooms. Apparently the opinions varied. I wasn't in the parking lot for 2 minutes before I heard the first one. The course featured some cool stuff. The beach section was originally intended to be a run, but everybody was riding it. The run-up near the end of the lap was ridable but sketchy. The Masters 35+ race went off and I got the holeshot with teammate Joe Houston and Doug Plummer right on me. One I got the holeshot, I cruized the first tight grass section, then opened it up once we hit the paved bike path section. I kept the first lap a bit exilerating since I wanted to lead through the beach and not get tangled up. The steps exiting out of the beach that me and the crew cut in worked perfectly. After that, there was one good climb on the course leading up the the awards area. I could really get on it here and keep the pressure on. Over the top and spun a bit through the trees, by the wheel pit and back down towards the paved bike path. The hard right turn off the grass onto the paved bike path caught a few people (more on the later). Brief paved section with a hill, then the run-up and money tree, and finish line. Managed to get $3 during the Masters race. Some guys were riding the run-up but I played it safe and ran it every lap. Since I was doing the Open race later, once I got a descent gap on Plummer in 2nd, I started to ease up and spin the legs out a bit. Held on for the win with Doug Plummer in 2nd and teamate Larry Smith in 3rd. Open race had some good fire power with Shadd Smith, Shad Shreiner, Jeff Winkler, Aaron Elwell, Cam Chambers. Plan was to get a good start then try to settle in and not kill myself in the first 30 minutes. The worked and I got into the grass behind the 2 Shadds. Winkler got by and made his way to the front. Me, Cameron and Elwell had some good battles for a while. The beach section was destroyed but the exit was now ridable. The runup that I ran in the masters race was a lot better so I rode it every lap. At some point in the race Shadd Smith had a comfortable lead, then crashed pretty hard. He needed a new bike so it took him a while to get to the pit. Later he ate it again on the nasty right turn off the grass onto the paved bike path. Not a good day for him from the looks of that knot on the head. Winkler took the win with Shad Shreiner in 2nd. Shadd Smith held on for a hard earned 3rd. Me and Aaron Elwell were battling for 4th for a while. I went by him once and he looked blown up, but came on later and got by me and took off. Cameron was close behind me for a while but faded. Andrew Coe (very fast as of late) had a bad day was a ways back for most of the race. He came on with about 2 to go so I couldn't just roll the last lap. Held on for 5th. Great race and an awesome venue. That shower after the race made a world of difference. I was in there about 3 minutes after I crossed the line. The afternoons rain came like clockwork, right at 3pm.

Capital Cup/Boulevard Cup Weekend

2009-10-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

Capital Cup in Topeka on Saturday. A bit chill and grey air out. Course was the same as last year more-or-less with the double run-up right near the end of the lap. LONG uphill paved start. Got over the top and onto the grass with the Steve Songer and Andy Lucas right behind me. The course was almost completely flat with the exception of the paved start/finish climb and mound of doom at the end. I tried to pin in on those few uphill sections and just stay smooth on the rest. I was able to extend my lead throughout the race but Steve stayed close and seem to gain on me on the flatter stuff. Managed to hold on for the win in Masters 40+. Couldn't stick around to watch the Open race since I had some family stuff in the afternoon: Louisburg Cider Mill and a bonfire at a friends farm in Missouri.

Boulevard Cup on Sunday. Woke up to nice frost. Good size field of 28 guys in the Masters 35+. LONG FLAT paved start/finish straight. Fortunately we had a tailwind down that. Got a 2nd row call up (I didn't prereg), but I managed to line up behind Songer on the far left so I wasn't worried. Got a great start and got into the lead right before the fast turn onto the grass. The first section of grass featured a long slighly-uphill drag before dropping back down and another slightly-hill drag back across the road. Then it got pretty tight for a while before the first barrier section (with an ackward downhill/right turn remount). After that was another slightly-uphill drag over into the parking area and back. After coming back over by the first barriers, the course did a cool little section consisting of series of short uphills with 180 turnes and quick down hills. That section would have been a mess in heavy traffic. After that section was the railroad-tie run up. Tricky approach with a left and quick right going in and an off-camber remount from the low side. Shortly after that it was back onto the long start/finish road section. with a serious tailwind, I got into the 12 down that the first couple times, but settled in with a more-managable 13 or 14 the other times. After a fast hard first lap, I just kept it steady, used the hills to my advantage, eased up on the headwind sections and stayed steady for the remaining laps. Awesome race and good vibe hanging out afterward watching the other races. The Mens Open race look brutal and I'm glad I was not in it. Bill Marshall led things out for KCCX with the teams dynamic due of Joe Smaltz and Chris Wallace hanging back. After a couple laps it was all KCCX off the front with the exception of Shadd Smith. As the race went on, Smaltz pulled away with Shadd Smith staying close and Criss Wallace and Jeff Winkler falling back. Andrew Coe put in the race of the day and bridged across to the lead group from a chasing group and got up to Shadd Smith fighting for 2nd. Shadd got him in the end but 3rd for Andrew was impressive.

Yes, it's very cute, but no we can't take him home

Chris Cross - Leavenworth, KS

2009-10-11T16:05:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday it was 70 degrees and sunny. 1 week later? High 30's and overcast. Not bad considering a couple hours up the road got several inches of fresh snow. Chilly start for the Masters race but nothing a little embrocation can't fix. The course really suited me for this race. Plenty of elevation change. The start was moved from last years cobbled-road to the grass on a hill. Good for me as I powered up and never left the lead. Race was close for the first lap with Brenden Jenks, Tige Lamb, and Doug Plummer right behind me. I used the uphill cobbled climb on the first lap to really test the legs. I went fairly hard up that climb and the start hill climb each lap and used the rest of the course to let the legs come back. Course was fairly bumpy and I had a little too much pressure but never had any issues and felt strong the whole 40 mins. I felt pretty good after the race and recovered well, but the snap was gone from the legs and the lower back was on the verge. I started the Men's Open race with the goal of just getting a solid workout, and I got that for sure. I was 2nd up the starting hill behind Shadd Smith (I thought it was Brian Jensen), and followed him down the little descent that led to the longer twisty climb. I already knew I didn't have it so I got out of the main race line and watched about 25 guys go by in single file. I slotted in behind those guys and by now i was in the back 1/4 of the field. I just put my head down and tried to reel in 1 guy at a time. I was moving up nice, caught up as far as Nate Woodman, but with about 6 laps to go, I was shutting down quick. Lower back was gone which seems to start the ball rolling. Got so tired I wasn't getting over the barriers very pro-like. I finally pulled out with a out 2.5 laps to go. My lower back was really tight. I would have been caught anyway by the flying KCCX kids Joe Schmalz and Chris Wallace and Jeff Winkler. Winkler hung on with those 2 and got 3rd in a close sprint. My goal for the day was achieved with the Masters 35+ win. The Open field is brutally fast this year. I'd managed to be somewhat competitive in there the last few seasons but I can't (and don't really want to) make that kind of commitment this year. With no real MTB season for this past Spring/Summer, it's tough going for sure but fun anyway.

Here's the start of the Masters 35+ race

Here's the start of the Mens Open race

I've fallen.......

...and it wasn't pretty. Not quite the "Joe Houston experience" from last years race, but I did my best :-)

2010 Bella Vita Vacations tours now forming

2009-10-08T09:29:00.000-07:00

'Cross season is well under way and we're starting to put together our Italy tours for next year. Space if very limited since we prefer smaller groups to maintain a more personal experience with our clients. Check out the preliminary trip details here.

Boss Cross #2 - Parkville, Mo

2009-10-04T16:41:00.000-07:00

Ouch. Not sure what feels worse: Racing twice in one day or 2 days in a row. My lower back was welded together when I woke up this morning. Kristine took a hammer and chisel to it and a generous slathering of Tiger Balm got me to the start line. Another stacked field. Mostly the same as yesterday with the addition of Shadd Smith. I took the start a bit easier today, letting the fast guys go first. I slotted in around 10th maybe and just tried to follow some fast wheels without getting gassed too early. Ended up in a 3 way battle with Adam Mills and Cameron Chambers for a while. Both eventually dropped me so I was on my own with about 6 to go. A hard charging Andrew Coe was steadily moving up behind me, gaining a few seconds each lap. I eventually caught back up to Cameron and dropped him, but then Andrew caught him and both seemed to start coming back on the bell lap. Just as both of them caught me at the barriers, Andrew attacked and I got on his wheel and Cameron seemed to be cooked. I stayed glued to Andrew, hoping to get him back somewhere. During all of this, the gap up to Mills was coming down pretty fast. Andrew bobbled a bit in the last sand pit and I squirted by. Ended up being some sort of mechanical for him. Cameron wasn't that far back so I couldn't relax just yet. I think I ended up around 12th or 13th. Not sure. The reversed direction of the course seemed to flow nice. Definately a bit warmer today. Had a few close calls with people walking on or across the course. I think for next year, they need to keep the race confined to one area of that park so that people that want to use the park, walk the trail, their dogs, ect, don't have to cross the course in 10 different spots, or walk right down the course during the race. Just a thought.

Boss Cross #1 - Parkville, Mo

2009-10-04T06:54:00.000-07:00

Super stacked field for Boss Cross race #1. Cool couse and perfect conditions. I got great start and just tried to hold off as many guys as I could. Was hanging tough until the bell lap. We and Tom Price had a been swapping back and forth for a few laps trying to land that last money-paying 10th spot. In the process, we starting to catch back up to Cameron Chambers and Chris Wallace. Tom put in a big surge and I didn't have it. My lower back was in some serious agony by then. 11th is still good concidering the guys that finished behind me. Race #2 today should be just as fast but with a reversed course, things might be different.

Diamond Blackfan 'Cross - Lenexa, KS

2009-09-27T14:51:00.000-07:00

What's with this crazy heat wave. Wasn't supposed to be 85 today. A bit hot for me to be doing both Masters 35+ and Open Men but what the hell. Ride till you fall over and can't get up. Masters race went well. Not much I can do agaist Jeff Winkler but I stayed close and actually lead briefly on lap 2. He checked out shortly thereafter, so I just went hard enough to keep Brendon Jenks from getting close. It was allredy getting warm so I needed to conserve. The Mens Open race was stacked. I started in the back since I knew I couldn't hold on very long. Got a good start and somehow shot past a bunch of guys and ended up positioned really nice. Riding with some fast guys, I hung on and moved up steadily for the first 1/2 of the race. Then the wheels started to fall off. Once that happens there isn't much to do but stay steady, spin a small gear and keep going. Had a front row seat when Aaron Elwell bunny-hopped the first barrier just to smash into the second one. Total yard sale that I had to run around. The speed he was going and the height that he cleared the first one was a bit more than he needed. The lower back was completely seized going through the sand and over the barriers each lap. I really should work on that. Considering the heat, i probably wouldn't have had a good Mens Open race anyway even if I hadn't done the Masters race earlier. The heat is really been my nemisis the last couple years. Last year at this same race, it was hotter, but I came into it super fit and fresh, and did about the same as I did today. Pretty impressive ride by Jonathon Schottler for 3rd, beating Josh Johnson, Brian Jensen, and Shad Schreiner. Josh did his usual "start slow/finish fast" deal. I think he past me a few laps in. Winkler toughed it out for 7th after beating me in the Masters race earlier. Adam Mills, Andrew Coe, and Tige Lamb folloed in 8th,9th and 10th. I was with those guys till about the 1/2 way point in the race, before the heat and 2nd race of the day shut me down. Bill Marshall stayed steady the whole race for 11th. 12th through 18th all pasted me in the last 4 or 5 laps. Will Gault and Mark Cole got me on the last lap. Mark Cole was working his way up and I was going backwards. He got me over the barriers with about 100yards to go. I was so brain-dead, I was thinking he was in the singles-speed group. What a surprise to see gears on this bike as he passed me. I though about trying to pin the last turn and sprint. Great idea, no legs to make it happen. Definately looking forward to some cooler weather. Not the 10 degree crap, but 30-40 would be nice :-)

KC Cup Cross Races - Swope Park, KC Mo

2009-09-20T12:50:00.000-07:00

Pick from Heartland Sports Promotions website

Pic stolen from Shad Shreiners Blog

Photo my Kristine

Heartland Sports and Team 360 used every inch of availble ground and put together a super technical course. Only 1 long pavement section to get things wound up. The rest of the course was tight turns with a nice long section of dirt through the trees. Since my MTB form is in it's "off season" already, I decided to double-up Saturday and do both Masters 40-49 and Mens Open, and not do Sunday's mtb race. Warming up before the race, I got stung by a bee that went into my front helmet vent. Did not feel pleasent at all. The masters race was 25 deep with all the usual suspects. The 360 duo of Lucas and Songer and Jeff Winkler, getting in a warm-up race before heading out to the Hermann Night Race. Uphill paved start was a new twist. Never had to start a cross race in my smallest gear before, but it was cool and suited me at least. I got the whole shot easily with Lucas, Winkler and Songer right there. The traffic jam behind really got clogged up and the 4 of us already gone hitting the pavement for the first time. I drilled it on the front for 4 laps trying to brake up the group. Winkler went by me the road and got about a 100ft and stayed there. I still had Lucas on my wheel and Songer was still close enough to keep my interest. I didn't want the 2 360 guys to get together so I kept the pace high enough to get rid of Lucas but I didn't have much to close the gap on Winkler. He could have easily made the gap bigger but put it in cruise control since I wasn't coming back. Ended up 2nd and pretty happy with that. The Mens Open race was small with most guys out in Hermann, but we still had Brian Jenson, Shad Shreiner, Doug Plummer, and Cameron Chambers. I sorta ended up getting the holeshot after Jenson blew the the first turn and headed down the road, and Doug Plummer drifted wide on the first grass turn. Once on the front, I pinned it with everything I had. Shad Shreiner stayed glued right on me for a few laps then took off. I was started to feel the 2nd race in my legs and had to start conserving a bit. Plummer, Chambers, and Andrew Coe were still close but not really gaining ground so I just stayed steady. After Brian Jenson got back on course, he managed to get through the traffic and up into 3rd. He got within about 30 seconds of me but then stayed there for the last 5 laps or so. This course didn't give him any place to really wind it up. I'm sure he made me look silly on the long paved section, but I seemed to be a little faster in all of the tight stuff. Shad checked out and finished a ways ahead, I cruised in for my second 2nd place on the day and Jenson followed in third. I was pretty gassed at the end. I was open to doing the Sunday's mtb race but the legs were not cooperating this morning. Would have loved to race and support the guys buiding those new trails, but the morning HR confirmed I had raced enough for one weekend.

Tour of Missouri

2009-09-13T16:53:00.000-07:00

Lake Tahoe Vacation Hangover.....

2009-09-09T10:46:00.000-07:00

Had 4 perfect days in Tahoe this past weekend. Flew back late last night into the rain, and it's been raining ever since. Friday Krisine and I went out for a boat ride with her parents, Rich and Carol. Scoped out a possible wedding spot. I got out on the bike in the afternoon. Headed up to Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows. There is an awesome paved-trail network that runs along the West and North shores of the lake with extensions that go up to Squaw Valley. Ran into a bear in the parking lot of Alpine Meadows. Got a picture of it but not with my camera phone so I couldn't twitpic it. Saturday I got out for a long one an rode all the way down the west shore to Sugar Pine Point State Park in Homewood, where the 1960 Olympics nordic ski events were held. Crazy area of interlocking paved and dirt trails. Could have spent all day in there, but I had something else I wanted to see. On the way back up the west shore, I cut off to climb Barker Pass. From the trail map I had, it looked like a 3-4 mile climb, and wasn't very steep so I ripped up that at about 15-20mph. I didn't know the elevation at the "top" so I had no clue. Well, it wasn't just that 3-4 miles. That was just the rode leading to the REAL climb. Obviously the map was not drawn to scale, and about an hour of steady climbing later, 8 miles, and 1500 vertical feet, I reached the top. Most of the 1500 total vertical feet came in the last 4 or 5 miles, since the first half was nothing much at all. Kristine's brother Craig, his wife Kirsten, and there new baby Joss came up for a couple of days. We went to the local pizza place over looking the lake to watch the UCLA and USA soccer games. For my final Tahoe ride, I hit the road for a bit and made it over to Northstar going over Brockway Summit. From there I rode up the dirt service road to the MTB park area and then took another service road further up the mountain. Good climbing but coming back down on the cross bike was a bit sketchy. After dropping back to the main lodge area, I back-tracked on the road to Brockway Summit, where I attempted to pick up the Tahoe Rim Trail. A bit rocky for the cx bike so I jumped on the paved road that goes over past Watson Lake and on to Tahoe City. Time was running out so I dropped down to Watson Lake and then bombed down a jeep trail back to the lake. How I didn't flat 10 times going down that is beyond me! My parents also came up for a couple days. We went out on the boat for a marathon 6 hours on Monday. Serious sun and wind burn.

Weekly Update: Lance, Buckethead, Commuting, and 'Cross

2009-08-31T11:59:00.000-07:00

Those of you that follow Lance on Twitter saw that he went to a Buckethead show. I covered Buckethead in a previous post. Very Cool.
Commuting: Went 5 for 5 last week, 180miles, about 10 hours. Gas saved, about 10 gallons. That put me at 47 days for the year.
Cross: Getting there. Getting everything dialed in, including me. Made some good progress over the last couple weeks. Trying not to "kill it" this year.

Heading to Lake Tahoe this coming Labor Day weekend for some R&R with family. Taking the 'cross bike just in case. May rent a Vespa and do some motor-pacing around the lake. Maybe some high-altitude run-ups?

Tuesday Night Crit: The ticking time bomb!

2009-08-26T09:51:00.000-07:00

Another fast one last night. Super hot and sticky. Commuted to work both Monday and yesterday so the legs were a bit rubbery by the time I got out there, but hung in OK never-the-less. Only took a couple laps before the first crash took out or involved several 360 riders. It was no surprise to anyone who caused it, so it will go without saying here. Hint: same guy that caused crashes at Tour of KC, and definately has reputation for sketchy riding every Tuesday nite, and no it was not one of the 360 guys caught up in it. At least with him taking himself out in the process, the remaining laps went smoothly. With Brian Jensen making an appearance again, the first 20-25 minutes seemed to click off around 29 avg. After that, there was a slowing for a bit before the final windup. Hung in and did my usually pull off coming down the hill on the bell lap as to not to clog the sprint.

Funny Video

2009-08-21T12:32:00.000-07:00

This is funny, very "redneck" looking. I was a bit surprised that this is in Belgium. Sorta expected this to be Arkansas, Missouri, or maybe even Florida.... but Belgium? I'm sure a huge amount of beer (in cans) is comsumed at these events!

Tuesday Nite Crit

2009-08-18T19:08:00.000-07:00

Perfect weather and small but quality turnout. Didn't take long for Brian Jenson to light things up. The pace for the first 30 minutes was pretty quick. I felt great up until about 6 laps to go. Jenson and a few other had a small gap and it looked like a small group was bridging across. I had maybe one more hard effort left so I jumped across to that chase group coming down the hill. Right before I got to them, them seem to sit up and spread out. I should have hesitated, but instead I shot through that group and ended up in no-man's land. Oops. I knew I messed up so I pulled off to the left and got out of the way, a bit too gassed to try and blend back into the group and try to get set back up with 5 to go. Good effort though. Pack behavior was great tonite. Everybody seemed really smooth and controlled. No spazzy Crash-o-vita's to mess up a good thing.

Training, RIM, Rain, Rain, Rain..........

2009-08-17T06:25:00.000-07:00

Won't see any MTB trails for a while. Little too wet yesterday to ride in to work, but I made the ride today. Didn't ride at all on Saturday while most of the local MTB community was contesting the RIM 6/12 race. Didn't really feel that good. Got in a good week so I took the day off. Went to a dog show in Topeka in the afternoon, then celebrated Kristine's B-Day in the evening. Had dinner at Brio on the Plaza right around the time the rain was coming down and the race was being called. Got in some 'cross stuff on Sunday. No run-ups just yet. Want to take a little slower approach to the season than last year. Last year I timed it to perfection with an eye-opening first race at Hermann Under the Lights, but I hit my peak too soon and what followed was a roller-coaster of off-and-on form, and both mental and physical ups-and-downs. This year I plan to keep my head together even if the legs are not there.

Weekly Update - Tuesday night Crit, Hill Ride, ect

2009-08-12T06:32:00.000-07:00

I realized Tuesday that I had ridden 31 days in a row. Wasn't really "training" some of those days. Even my training days off involved 2hrs of commuting. Throw in 4 Tuesday night crits, 1 Wednesday Hill Ride, 1 MTB race (which I won by the way), Bunch of hot laps at SMP, couple rides out at Landahl, and 18 days of commutting (about 648miles or about 36hrs), it was a productive 31 days. Still did the Crit Tuesday night (after the 2hr commute of course)and felt OK considering. I've already started some of my 'cross stuff and wanted to a good test, so I did a few digs early on, and things seemed as they should. Felt good but was in the wrong position coming down the hill with 2 turns to go. Group lined out in the gutter and I was on the left catching too much wind, so I called it a day. Plus a Colivita guy got back in front of me, so the safest thing to do is get as far away as possible, quickly, which I was happy to do. I hadn't done the Hill Ride in a while (Trails were dry most of those days so I was doing hot dirt laps), So I did it last week. Went OK considering I'd been absent from doing those hills for while. Felt good but still had to ease up near the top (of every hill), take a minute to get my breath back, then get back on it. I got back in the front group over the top of each climb, albeit not very pretty, but it worked. Of course I live right at the top of the 3rd climb (Praire Star) so I need to shut it down early and spin a little before hitting my driveway. Didn't do the Hill Ride this week and didn't ride at all Wednesday. 31 straight days was enough. Got back on it Thursday with commuting day #38 and some secret 'cross stuff aftwards. Felt like 10 different kinds of ass. Only commuting today, saving up for the weekend.

Tuesday Night Crit, Commuting, ect

2009-08-05T08:05:00.000-07:00

Big turnout last night. Everybody getting the final prep before Tour of KC. Spent the better part of 45 minutes just trying to stay away from the Colavita guys. That's harder than it sounds, as they seem to be moving from one end of the group to the other all the time and from one side to the other. Based on comments made over the last few weeks and from the races, my opinion is shared by most. Anyway.... with the rain yesterday morning, I didn't ride to work (and back) so I had fresher legs out there than I typically do, and got some itchy feet so I went for it. Had perfect position with 2 turns to go but ended up in 2nd going into the last turn. The front guy sorta sat up just as Shadd and company blew though the inside, leaving me to swing WAY wide and start my sprint from the other side of the road. Thanks to Mark Cole for hunting me down in the last 100 feet to keep from a top 5, but 6th is still good for me. Not that I have much of a sprint anyway and that 20+lb $500 road bike has it's limitations you know :-)

Commuting: today was number #33, mileage YTD 1,188 miles, total time spent on bike commuting YTD: 60.5 hours

Lance + Alberto ='d BIG Problemo!

2009-07-30T08:07:00.000-07:00

Boy how things changed once Lance got on the roads of France and the dollar signs of a "potential 8th win" clouded his judgement and past statements. Simple fact is this. It was Alberto's team and Alberto's '09 Tour to win BEFORE Lance come out of retirement. We all know how long it took to put this Radio Shack thing together. Look at the last sentence in the above article. A "new team based around Lance" (title sponsor was assumed to be Nike back then) was already in the works and Bruyneel was most-likely already part of it. Bruyneel's 8-finger solute indicated what was to come. Lance's 7 tour wins got Bruyneel where he is today and an 8th tour win sure would have put more money in his pocket than Alberto winning his 2nd.

I Pulled this from PezCycling News this morning:
"..Vino has also assured Alberto Contador that the team want him to stay on for another two years and that he (Contador) will remain as the squad’s team leader and Vino will merely be there to be a kind of super-domestique. Now, I wonder where Contador has heard that before?"

Week in Review - Commuting, 'Cross, Lance, Alberto, Astana ect

2009-07-27T08:32:00.000-07:00

Commuting: Made if 4 for 5 last week, 2nd week in a row. That puts me at 27 so far this year, 14 in the last 4 weeks. Had the first serious rain on the way home this past week. No big deal when it's 80+ degrees. Looking forward to some long-sleeve weather, makes commuting a little easier (unless it's raining). In seasons past, I've always started my 'Cross Preparation BS August 1st. That's the plan for this year as well, but I have no expectations this time around. No desire to be as fast as I have been the last couple seasons. Need less pain and agony, and more fun.

Lance: From a purely physical standpoint, he impressed the hell out of me, and most will agree on that. However, when it comes to Lance, it's all about Lance. He came to Astana when they already had the undisputed team leader in Contador, and he seemed to be OK with that at first. After the Giro, he started promoting the idea of a high place in Paris. Then he really changed his tune once the Tour rolled around. Lance bailed on a few Astana team dinners to do his own RadioShack stuff. I feel bad for Contador. His look on the podium standing next to Lance said it all. The top 3 also did not do the traditional "all 3 on top spot" photo op. Lance appeared to make it a point to NOT stand next to Alberto for the Team prize presentaion. Lance is going his way with his new team and Alberto going elsewhere, and with Vino coming back to HIS team, Astana will go nowhere.
This is all in sharp contrast to how some other teams worked: Vandevelde giving up his GC shot to help Wiggins move up comes to mind.

Emporia MTB Race

2009-07-19T18:11:00.000-07:00

Decided at the last minute to actually do a MTB race this year. After commuting to work 4 out of 5 days last week, and doing a respectable ride out at Landahl Saturday morning, what the hell, why not. The race in Emporia KS had been on the schedule for a while but I figured it would be too hot out for me. The temps have been amazing cool which was the deciding factor. 5-10 degrees hotter and no way. Felt good out at Landahl on Saturday and i've been a little curious to see what my fitness was really like after not racing all Spring and Summer like I usually do. Had a full group of guys lined up to car-pool but it ended up being just me and Tige Lamb. Nice to ride some new trails for once. The crew down there put some amazing trails together. Super twisty with a few steep little climbs covered in loose rocks. Fortunately, for the most part, the course was smooth and fast, so the Niner hardtail was OK. 35+ Expert men started a minute behind the younger experts. That was a solid group with Cameron Chambers and Shad Shreiner. I got the hole shot in our race with Tige right behind me. We kept the pace pretty quick through the first section of tight single track and already had a gap starting when we hit the long gravel road section on lap 1. I hit the road and really dropped the hammer. The single-ring 36 34/11 got spun-out pretty good here but not too bad. After the long gravel section, it was back into the twisty single track for a short section before the finish. Me and Tige just shared the work for most of the race and caught all of the younger guys except that class winner Shad Shreiner. Coming off the gravel road on the last lap, I just happen to be in front and got into the single track first with Tige right behind me. I really didn't feel like a sprint on the steep climb to the finish so I just pushed the pace a bit through a series of tight sections and made sure a had a few bikes lengths cushion to work with. Hitting the pond with the bridge, Tige slid out a bit in a turn just as I got on the gas a bit so the gap was already set. We cruised in a few seconds apart for 1 and 2 in the 35+ and the 2nd and 3rd fastest times of the day. Lelan and his group put on a great race. Look forward to heading down there next year, provided it isn't too hot!

Commuting, Training, Hamilton, the Tour.....

2009-07-16T10:59:00.001-07:00

WADA seeking a lifetime ban for Tyler Hamilton ( Click HERE for full story). Is this really necessary for WADA spend time and money on? 8 years is already a life time ban from the sport (unless you're Lance), so why bother kicking a already dead horse.

Lance at the Tour: Doing quite well considering, but I don't think we've had a real selection yet. I really hope that if and when he realizes that he can't win it, that he switches gears and supports Alberto so that he can win it. My previous prediction of the final podium being Contador, Sastre, and Menchov in that order is looking about 33.3% on track. I still think Contador has it. Once we hit his favored(steep) terrain, he'll really light it up. Sastre is already almost 3 minutes back, and Menchov is 5 back. That's a lot of time to claw back. Why isn't Ivan Basso racing the Tour (Oh, THIS is why)

Training: Not much to speak of here, just riding. Trails have been closed.

Commuting: Up to 22 days, 792 miles.

My Tour prediction

2009-07-02T11:51:00.000-07:00

OK, you heard it here first: Contador 1st, Sastre 2nd, and Menchov 3rd.

Contador has been very quiet so far this year, saving everything for July. He also has a super strong team to support him, provided they are supporting him. As long as Lance and Levi place nice and put there individual ambitions aside, nobody important should get up the road. Sastre showed great form right at the end of the Giro. The Cervelo team is strong but lacks the big-gun climbers. Menchov will definately rock the time trials and maybe a hilly stage, but my hunch is he burnt too many matches in May.

Other predictions:

More dopers will get caught, big names just like years past.

Lance may be allowed a stage win (Ventoux i'm guessing), but for the most part, he'll be Alberto's bitch for 3 weeks. Neither one will win if they make this a repeat of the LeMond/Hinault spectacle from years ago. More recently, the infighting between Vino, Kloden, and Ulrich at T-Mobile. Speaking of Vino, interesting to hear what he is saying about already being back on Astana. I wonder what pull he really does have with the Kazakhstan supported team. Could get VERY UGLY.

Weekly Update - Commuting, Training, ect

2009-07-01T11:18:00.000-07:00

Been a good couple weeks of solid training. Finally getting some off-road time in. Took a few days but the skills are still there. The HEAT WAVE from HELL (all of last week) is over. Heading up to KCK to catch the Tour of KC Crit, just to watch of course. Very cool course with a nice hill (or 2). The Pro/1/2 race was pretty animated from the start with Jenson and Moniger marking each other, and the Mercy and Tradewind Energy teams trying to control things. Matt Ankney and Chris Hall got away late and pulled out the 1st and 2nd. No wonder why those 2 smoke me at the 'cross races! Got a good couple of hours in on the road bike in the afternoon. Did the same loop I did the previous Sunday, but the temp was now about 10 degrees cooler than it was then. What a difference 10 degrees makes.

I've commuted all 3 days so far this week (Monday through Wednesday). I still hit the Tuesday Night Crit last night and felt farily fresh. it was a very-well-behaved group last night so kudos to all, especially the guys that always seem to be all over the place. Hitting the trails tonite so it's yet to be seem if I can do the commute a 4th day in a row tomorrow. Might have to cash in the chips and save something for the 3 day weekend.

Weekly Update - The Heat, training, and Lance

2009-06-22T06:30:00.000-07:00

Weather had been crap for the first week after getting back from San Francisco. Rain, storms, sticky air. Miserable. I rode into work last Wednesday, only commute #12 on the year. When I left my house in the morning, it was 75 degrees with 94% humidity.
The ride home that afternoon was about 20 degrees hotter but nowhere near as humid. Still hot and miserable. The hair-drying-in-the-face wind was lovely to.
Hit up Joe's BBQ on Saturday. Rain came through but blew over just in time for the outdoor festivities. I only got in about 1hour on the MTB(paved trail/gravel road only) so I tried to make up for that on Sunday. Got in a solid 3 hours on the road bike and included 3 laps around Lake Quivera (Holiday Drive, up Quivera Rd to Johnson Drive, Johnson Drive west to Renner, North on Renner back to Holiday). Plenty of climbing on this loop. Nice and hot since I was out there at Noon. I managed to get the first 2 hours in with one bottle, but the last hour involved riding from one drinking fountain to the next. I might need to start some indoor workouts. Hard to get any high-HR stuff going in this heat.

Warning: the following is simply my opinion!
Lance winning Nevada City! Why race the Tour de Suisse with the rest of your Astana team and prepare for the Tour when you can stay in the U.S and beat some domestic pro's. He isn't expected to be a factor at the Tour anyway (my opinion), but he keeps dragging Levi to these U.S. races, when Levi should be in Europe. I'm guessing Levi will now NOT be a factor at the Tour either because of this. My prediction is that the Tour winner is in Europe now and recently done one of the more-traditional Tour prep races like the Dauphine, Swiss Tour, ect. Of course there is something financial going on here. Most of those 20,000+ fans would not have been there if Lance wasn't there. Almost as bad as ProTour riders skipping ProTour races in Europe to race small races in the U.S., Ben Jacques-Maynes got 2nd behind Lance and ahead of Levi. I'm sure come December, we'll see Ben take his Pro Road/Cyclocross hat off for a day, and somehow race (and probably win) the AMATURE Masters class at 'cross Nationals.
That's the end of my opinion.

Heat Advisory all this week is nice. With the SMP trails finally open, I've been desperately trying to get my MTB tech skills back on par. Been a few weeks so i'm very rusty. Been out there the last two nights and it's been a steam bath in there. That place seems to get rockier and rockier every time i ride there, or maybe that's just me and/or the hardtail and/or the heat. Hmmmm.
Went out there again last night (before the big storm came through) and finally got some good technical speed work in. The Niner is a handfull at slow speed but as long as you keep it pinned, things tend to smooth out a bit. After the rain I figured the trails would be closed today, so it was commute #13 today.

San Francisco

2009-06-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

Nice to inhale some cool Pacific Coast air for a change. Flew out on Thursday afternoon into Oakland. Kicked it with Kristine's parents Rich and Carrol, and her brother Craig and his wife Kirsten. Friday we did a fantastic wine-tasting tour of Napa Valley. Saturday was the big BBQ at Craig & Kirsten's house. Lots of family members on Kristine's side that I hadn't met before. Everybody was great.

Going back to Cali , week in review, SMP deer problem

2009-06-11T09:47:00.000-07:00

Heading to San Francisco later today for a weekend with family. MTB trails are a disaster here anyway and ME riding the road is a disaster. 4 days off will be good. I have 8 straight days of riding in since I landed back in the U.S. Only 1 commute in last week (#11 on the year :-( ) and none this week. Tuesday Nite Crit Practice was rain free but the pavement was still wet in spots. Very sketchy, guys barging up between other guys, half-wheeling, then indexing though turns. Very stupid. Then the car on course on the bell-lap between turns 3 and 4. If it was stupid before this, it was mega-stupid now. More than a couple cool guys almost came to grief. I did it on my 'cross bike. Staying in the pack is too easy on my road bike, but i'm not strong enough really to go off the front or get into breaks, so I need to make "staying in the pack" harder. Hence the cross bike. I typically don't put out good watt spinning a low gear so tying to hang in with a 42*12 highest gear is tough. Wednesday Hill Ride was rain free, amazingly. Did OK up the first 2 climbs until guys ripped it up near the tops. I like the Woodland climb but now the course goes straight further down Renner then west on Praire Start. Never really "raced" up the Praire Star climb since I live at the top of it and should at least cool down for 60 seconds or so before rolling into my garage. What the hell, who cares. I was near the front hitting the bottom of the climb, going pretty quick. Wasn't sure how this climb played out to know really how to go at it (unlike the Woodland climb). Teammate Joe used his gravitational advantage on the downhill approach and came flying by. For whatever reason I jumped on his wheel, then realized I needed to just sit-up and shut it down. Should have stayed where I was and just drafted right up it. Anyway, lesson learned for next week.

Shawnee Mission Park Deer: As most of you know, the deer "problem" out there is pretty bad. I love deer and love to see them. The real problem is with the Parks Department's lack of making any reasonable decision years ago when this issue first came up. I've already seen the end result of all this first hand. Last week while I was riding home from work down the Millcreek paved trail, I spotted a baby deer walking right down the paved trail towards me. I stopped and it walked right up to me and past me. Couldn't have been more than a couple days old. It was barely walking and was obviously distressed. No adult deer anyway which surprised me. The little guy just walked past me, I petted it on the back and it just walked away into the bushes underneath Shawnee Mission Pkwy. I felt like crap. It's parents died or were hit by a car, or they left it to take care of there other babies, or the parents got snipered leaving a bunch of baby deer to limp around and eventually die, get hit by cars, ect. I don't have the answer to this problem, other than a decision should have been made years ago instead of dilly-dally'ing around for 4 years, just to make the same decision. Now that hunter/snipers will be out there selectively thinning out the deer population, it might be a good idea to break out my old '80's day glow riding cloths. I wouldn't recommend anything brown. I sure hope these Park Department appointed Snipers have some common sense and DON'T shoot the 2 mature deer that have 10 baby deer right behind them. I think i'd lose it if I heard of that happening, but we'll all know it's happening as we see more baby deer stumbling around by themselves.

video clip of leaders at the bottom of Blockhaus Climb

2009-06-09T19:04:00.000-07:00

2009 Giro di Italia - Stage 17 - Blockhaus

2009-06-04T19:34:00.001-07:00

Giro Last Stage Time Trial

2009-06-03T20:37:00.001-07:00

2009 Giro di Italia Trip

2009-06-02T09:18:00.000-07:00

WOW! What a whirlwind 2 weeks. We left on May 19th, and after lunch at TGI Fridays in Atlanta, and flying all night, arrived in Rome on May 20th with Brian (Harz) Roberts from Phoenix in tow. We proceeded to pick up “il monstro”, the giant Fiat rental van. I quick 2-hour trip to IKEA in Rome and we were off to pick up the first of 3 rental bikes, at the bike shop, La Maglia Rosa, in the beach town of Francavilla al Mare. Once we got the bike, it was off to the grocery store than up to the house. Running a bit late to get a quick ride in and we hade some cleaning of the house to do after it was closed up all Winter. Thursday I took Brian out for a 3 hour spin of the neighboring towns and up to the local cross-country ski area. Friday we got in another great 2-hour ride including the “Montazolli short-cut” which is only about 1km long, but hits 22% in spots. We then headed up to our favorite bed & breakfast in Tuscany, Villa di Sotto. Saturday we headed out for wine tasting and a tour of the Volpaia Winery. Then a tour of Brolio Castle. In the afternoon I took Brian out for 3 hours of some of my favorite Tuscany roads. We spent Sunday morning in Sienna where as most of you already know, I finally put a ring on Kristine’s finger.
Monday we drove down to Rome to pick up Scott and Katherine Elliot from Ohio. We picked up their 2 rental bikes at the bike shop and made it up to the my house in Roio del Sangro in time for a quick spin ride before dinner. Tuesday we got in a solid 4 hours of riding then heading down the valley to see the pre-Roman castle in Roccascalenga.
Wednesday we were off to go watch the Giro stage 17 in Pretoro. Pretoro is where the final 15km climb starts and we heading off to ride the climb before having a picnic back in town to watch the race come by. The stage finish was moved down the climb about 5km from the actual summit where I eventually made it up to. Several patches of deep snow and mud to contend with but I made it. Once back down to our picnic spot, the helicopters hovering just above hinting at the building drama. Once the promotional caravan was past, the race came flying by with all the favorites still bar to bar. Pellizotti eventually solo’d for the win. Lance put in a good effort to chase him down but ended up back in the field. Di Luca attacked endlessly but could never shake Menchov. We had perfect sunny skies when we rode the climb but thick fog moved over the finish area for the racers. We also saw an entire family of Cinghiale (wild bore) crossing the road just outside of Roio. 2 very-large adults with several babies in tow. There are extremely rare and not seen very often. Thursday we had a mishap with the rental van a had to spend a few hours getting a new vehicle. The new, and much smaller, rental vehicle made for an interesting ride back to Rome on Friday. Me and Kristine combined our 2 suitcases into one and left a lot of stuff at the house. We took Scott, Katherine, and Brian out for a quick sight-seeing tour of rome, including the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain before a great dinner outside in the Campo de Fiori. Saturday we heading out for the big 3: Collesium, Palitine Hill, and the Roman Forum. A quick rest and it was back out to walk over to the Vatican before dinner. Sunday we got an early start to stake out our spot near the start chute for the time trial. Easy at first, but it got harder to hold your ground once the thousands of tifosi moved in. Got great shots off everybody going off plus pics of Di Luca, Pellizotti, and Menchov coming into the final couple of KM’s. Menchov had his now-famous crash shortly thereafter. We had our last dinner Sunday night in the Piazza Navona before heading home on Monday. Endless memories, hundreds of pics, and met some amazing people.

THAT'S what i'm talking about!

2009-05-15T06:49:00.000-07:00

Shawnee Mission Trails finally opened and it was game on. After riding the hour to work in the morning, then the hour home in the afternoon, I swapped bikes and heading out to meet up with Matt Dutcher, Damian Almanza, and eventually Brian Prosser. Got in 3 full figure-8's. First descent off-road ride since April 10th. I did get in a quick 30-minutes out there Tuesday night, but that was more of a recon to see how the trails looked. Those 3 laps probably did more for my fitness than the last month of road riding has. My body is just hard-wired for that sort of power transfer, and it never really responds or improves doing much else. Ended up with about 4hr's to total riding yesterday, so I obviously couldn't ride to work and back today. Crawled back home after the ride, crawling up the Woodland climb in the smallest gear I had, couldn't feel my legs anymore and had a big smile on my face about it. Got home to find my lovely Kristine had just picked up Chipotle! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. My BikeWeek total mileage ended up at just 65miles. Only 10 commutes so far this year, down from about 20 this time last year. Weather partly to blame but not completely. LOT's of just going on - all good of course.

Wednesday Night Hill Ride

2009-05-13T19:17:00.000-07:00

Boy did we dodge a huge bullet with the weather. That could have been very ugly, but fortunately everything just missed us to the south. Small group, most probably thought it would be a raging downpour but we didn't see a drop. Only about 25-30 in the group. The usually contingent of 20 Team 360 guys were absent, I found myself going over Lawrence Hill in the lead. I guess finally getting some good power work on the mtb last night opened up the legs a bit. Renner went about the same way. As long as I can role on the power at my own pace and build up the pace all the way up, I go OK. I'm not one of those guys that can go super-hard right at the bottom. I got up Renner in the lead with a couple guys tailing me and the rest of the group got popped, but they latched back on on the rollers before 87th. Head wind on 87th so not much there. Once on Woodland, I just did my normal deal, roll-on the power gradually till hit my my limit then just maintained it as long as I could. Legs were screaming at the top for sure,but it would have been worse if it had went slower at the bottom and middle than a hard acceleration towards the top. That crap kills me.

Nothing to see here......Move along.........

2009-05-13T06:06:00.000-07:00

Not a whole lot to report. It seems like it's rained everyday since we got back from sunny Socal. I have 2 yards that need to both be mowed about every other day. The bugs and ticks are terrible right now (ask Kristine :-). A week or so ago, they had the official Grand Opening Ceremony at Black Hoof Park (Lake Lenexa). Very cool. They had a big fish tank there and the Lenexa FD and PD were out there. Kristine and I met up with Damian, Anita, and Aiden and walked down to the spill way. I decided to get some cross-training in and walked back with Aiden on my back. Very awkward and much harder than I was expecting. It was only about a mile, but it felt like 10. This past weekend I finally got out for a ride longer than 2 hours, ended up doing 3.5 on the paved trails with the pit bike. Been a while since I rode the Tamahawk Creek stuff and I found a bunch of stuff that wasn't connected together last time I rode it, very nice now. Only averaging 1 commute-by-bike per week still. This weeks Bike to Work week started off great, but then I chickened out with the weather forecast. The bad weather has yet to really materialize. Maybe i'm only a "fair weather commuter" anyway? Hey, I saw it ALL last year so i'm not missing anything. Next week at this time, I'll be in Italy, relaxing, riding, watching the Giro, enjoying nice wine with Kristine and entertaining Bella Vita's first customers. How is the Giro going? Ale Jet is back on top of the sprinting world, right where he left off. The "Killer" is looking extremely good. This is a big tour for him with several key stages in his home region of Abruzzo, and he's racing for the earthquake victims as well. Lance is looking great, considering he's been out of it for a while. He's doing a lot of work for Levi, so it was no surprise to see him get tailed off at the end of yesterday's stage. He's also doing some new pink wrist bands to support those effected by the earthquake. This is his first Giro and he's finding it much different that a TdF. Traditional, the Giro roads are narrower, twistier, bumpier, wetter, climbs are steeper, and there are about 50 fast-as-hell Italians ALL tying to be the #1 fast-as-hell Italian. At any TdF, you can count the number of fast French guys on one hand :-)
Last night, I headed out on the MTB for some paved-trail "fun". Rained off and on but nothing bad. I decided to look at the SMP trails and they were in great shape, so I Rambo'd and did about 45 minutes in there. Only a couple wet spots but I applied the "80/20" rule.

Dana Point Gran Prix

2009-04-28T08:15:00.000-07:00

While I was in Sunny SoCal for the weekend, we checked out the Dana Point GP. Floyd Landis was there but I don't think he's a crit specialist. He did draw TONS of spectators however. A former MTB team-mate of mine, Neil Shirley is riding for the Kelly Benefits team this year and was on the final 4-man break with a few laps to go. Unfortunately, Rock Racing went to the front on the final lap and set up Rahsaan Bahati for the win. Neil's hard work paid off since team-mate Alexander Candelario came in 3rd. Neil and I were team-mates on the Turner/Fantasy Springs team years ago. I caught up with him after the race to congratulate him.

Sunny Southern California

2009-04-28T08:13:00.000-07:00

Spent the weekend in California relaxing with family and enjoying some perfect beach weather.

Any trip back to California has to start with a stop a Baja Fresh. When I first moved to the Kansas City area in 2004, there were 2 of them still here. Why they left is beyond me. We spent the day at beach, went out to Balboa Island, then headed to Kristine's Sister Michelle and Brother-in-Law Brad's house. Sunday we headed down to Dana Point for brunch at the harbor, then over the the Dana Point GP venue. Gorgeous area over-looking the ocean. Great family atmosphere and the Michelle 2 little ones had all kinds of fun.

Week in Review

2009-04-23T07:06:00.000-07:00

After last weeks emotional car bomb seem to blow both legs off, it was a challenge to get them fired back up. Had a great group of people over on Sunday for some burgers, beer, and hotdogs. Finally turning 40 was sort off anticlimactic, since I've felt about 45 since last fall. Tuesday Nights Crit was fast but a little sketchy. I had no problem sitting it but bugged out with 3 to go. Legs were a bit heavy still after riding to work and back. I accomplished my workout and didn't need to see any more bar banging. Me and a couple other guys hung around and jumped in the B race to help it flow better and stay together. We patrolled around the group and tried to keep things more organized and helped draft some dropped riders back into the group. Mission accomplished as the group was almost intact for the sprint. Wednesday's hill ride wasn't too bad. I "managed" to stay in the front group all the way till my turn off at Woodland and Praire Star. I use the word "managed" loosly here 'cause it wasn't very pretty. I kept getting popped out of good position, then had to fight back on. Did this once on the first climb and twice on Renner. The Woodland climb stayed together all the way up till about 100feet before the top, then I was cooked and the anchor came out. Had visions of finally hitting some trails tonite but then woke up to some impressive rain this morning. The rain actually woke ME up. So much for riding off-road. Might as well hang that bike up. Heading to SoCal this weekend to see family. Watching the Dana Point Gran Prix on Sunday. Should be a good show with Floyd Landis there and most of the domestic Pro guys there. Italy trip is getting close. 4 weeks and counting.

Lou 2/15/97 - 4/17/09

2009-04-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

It was an extremely rough week for Kristine and I. Last Friday we said goodbye to Louise, our adorable little white Westie dog. She had developed complications earlier in the week from a combination of Diabetes, Cushing’s Disease, and Pancreatitis. “Lou”, as we always called her, was a feisty little dog, very funny, very cute and snug-able. Lou was very special.
Lou came into my life about 6 1/2 years ago through a strange set of circumstances, when I still lived in California. I hadn’t had a dog since I was a kid, and at the time, I did not want a dog since I already had cats to deal with. That all changed the very first day Lou came into my life. Not long after I got Lou, I left California behind and moved to Kansas. Lou made the long 24 hour drive with me. She loved to travel and sat on my lap for much of the trip.
Lou embodied all the characteristics you’d expect from a Westie. She was definitely a large personality in a little cute white dog. Everybody that ever met Lou said she was special. For the first 4 years I had Lou, she wasn’t exposed to other dogs, just the 2 cats I had. She was extremely active and chased squirrels around the back yard all day. Lou was my therapy dog, always there for me and she would always put a smile on my face during difficult times. One of those difficult times came about 2 ½ years ago. One chapter of my life had come to an end and it was Lou that got me through it. Little did I know how big a role Lou would be in starting the next chapter in my life. I met Kristine in January 2007. She loved Westies, loved me, and she loved how I loved Lou. Kristine had 2 big dogs and Lou was a bit of a handful around them at first. After all, she’d only been around cats since I had her, so she didn’t really know how to be a dog. She quickly figured it out and before long, she ran the show. Buster and Athena, are about 100 lbs and 40 lbs, while Lou was only 24 lbs. Size doesn’t matter with dogs.
It was extremely funny to watch her interact with Buster and Athena. If Buster got too crazy, Lou was right there. If Buster had a chewy, Lou was right there stalking him trying to steal it. Buster was afraid of Lou since Lou would often nip at him. Lou and Athena would cuddle up together when Athena was cold.
Lou was very protective of us. See would always sit on our laps or on the floor next to us. At night, she would spend part of the night on the floor facing the door. Lou had lots of funny nicknames that all have great stories behind them: Snap Dragon, Shmoodle, Squirrel Hunter, Cute Little White Dog. Lou was extremely happy. The sole purpose in a dogs life is to make its owner happy and she did that tirelessly.
Lou turned 12 earlier this year. She was born 2/15/97 according to her AKC paperwork. She was still active and very sharp but obviously slowing down. She didn’t show this much but we could tell. Dogs will often not show any signs that they are having problems. They do this so that they do not lose there place with the other dogs and to keep making their owner happy. They sometimes do this until it is too late. As dogs do with each other, they could smell something was wrong. She starting having a tough time getting up the stairs and became very lethargic. We took her into our Vet and they ran some blood tests. She probably always had Diabetes but she never let it show. We knew she had Cushing’s disease, but it hadn’t really effected her yet. The Pancreatitis had apparently developed recently and her blood values became extremely bad. She spent all day Wednesday at Aid Animal Hospital, were Dr. Rowe worked to get her numbers back in line. We brought her home that night and she really seemed to improve. She perked right up and her appetite was as good as ever. We were very happy and hopeful, and of course Lou was happy that we were happy. She was hiding how she really felt in order to make us happy and to show the other dogs that she was still in charge. Thursday morning we took her back in for more fluids, medications, and more blood tests to see if things were getting better. He hadn’t improved from Wednesday. We again brought her home Thursday night to be with us. She was very tired and could no longer get up. The harsh reality was beginning to set in that we would have to make that ultimate decision. Lou was a fighter and hadn’t given up. She didn’t really move around much Thursday night, but still pulled enough energy together to go over and take a chewy that Athena had. She couldn’t do much with it expect lay on it to show the other dogs that she still could. She still wasn’t ready to let go. A dog will tell you when it’s time. That time came early Friday morning. I cuddled her in bed for a while before I eventually had to leave for work. Kristine took her to Aid Animal Hosptial for the 3rd day. We both knew what was eventually going to happen but that hardly prepares you for when it actually does. I was not doing very well at work thinking about this and stepped outside for a moment to collect myself. That’s when the call came from Kristine. The hospital had called and Lou’s condition was deteriorating quickly. She was not in pain, but too weak to move any more and her breathing was very labored. We were both there, and Lou was happy, almost smiling at us. She even tried to perk up her little ears when I said “Squirrel?” We took her outside for a while and just held her. It was important that we let Lou know that it was OK to stop fighting and that she could let go. We both petted her and told her we loved her till it was over. This was the first time I have ever went though this and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Lou was a huge part of our lives and it felt like a piece of us left with her. Our Sun rose and set with her. Driving home afterwards, there was the most beautiful sunset. Lou wasn’t just a pet. She was a great friend. Time heals all wounds and time will heal this one. We still have 2 terrific dogs that love us both and we both love them. Buster and Athena are both going though the same emotions that Kristine and I are going though. A time will come when I will be able to think about Lou or see her picture, and it will only bring a smile to my face, and not the tears it does now. How long that will take is unknown, but not a day will go by that she’s not remembered.

I miss my little white dog
I miss my friend….

Tasty Singletrack!

2009-04-09T18:17:00.000-07:00

As I watch the pouring rain and hail build up on my deck, I'm so glad I hit the trails for a hour tonite before this crap blew in. Trails at SMP were BONE DRY and gates still closed. I'm in good shape right now, not great, but the lack off off-road riding really hurts the technical skills. The Bonebender 3/6hr race is coming up. Could be my last mtb race of the year. Heading out to sunny SoCal in a couple weeks to celebrate my big 40th birthday with family, both mine and Kristines. My beloved little white dog Louis gave us a little scare. She broke off a tooth so we got her antibiotics just incase. She seemed to really slow down and we feared the worst. We've since taking her off those and she's starting to perk up again. We're hoping she just had a bad reaction to the meds and she'll be back to her fiesty self in no time.

Too Much...

2009-04-09T06:30:00.000-07:00

Good week of riding so far. Up and down weather as usually. Sunday cold and rainy, Monday just plain cold, but got out and did about an hour on the cx bike at Lake Lenexa. Tuesday's Crit went OK. Warm and not so windy so everything stayed together. Managed something around 10th in the sprint, which I rarely ever go for, but I found myself too close to the front to peel off and get out of the way safely. Wednesday was gorgeous so I decided to ride in the work. 18 miles in about 50 minutes. Only my 4th commute this year so i'm behind last years pace by quite a bit. the ride home in the afternoon was tough. I was just tired and didn't have any snap. the steep climb on Renner south of Holiday sucks as did the the long climb south of Midland. Of course the the climb on Woodland to my house wasn't fun either. Got home just before 5pm, grabbed some food, then headed back out for the 45minute ride over to the start of the Wed Hill Ride. I was feeling pretty stale by now but what the heck, it's just training. Sometimes I can ride through feeling crappy and sometimes I can't. Once the ride got going, the legs just turned into dead wood. I tried to go at the bottom of Lawrence Hill but came to grief rather quickly. That was it and the rest of the ride was just miserable. I've done the commute to work and then did the Tuesday night crit many times but trying the Hill Ride was too much. I ended up have just under 4hrs in the legs by the time I got home. It's good to stress the body like that periodically. With the rain coming today and Friday, i'll get a good rest period and come back feeling great.

Another Tuesday Night Crit - Another kick in the face!

2009-04-01T10:19:00.000-07:00

In years past, I've always have 3-6 mtb races in the legs by now, and a whole lot of MTB training that comes with that. Since MTB racing (& the training for it) make up about 90% of my overall fitness, it's no surprise why i'm not exactly flying on the pavement right now. My off-road form is OK right now, but not even close to 100% given the zero race schedule. I can do all the paved "junk" miles I can stand, but that really doesn't do much for me. Contrary to some popular opinions, riding road doesn't make you fast off-road. Last night's crit was another windy-as-hell 45 minutes. I managed better than the week before but still sat out 1 lap around mid race to nurse a leg cramp. Never really did much expect stay in the right place to avoid the wind. Few more weeks, I should be back out there on the cross bike, and probably going better. I'm only doing the Tuesday crits to keep some high-end over the Spring/Summer for cross season. The Wednesday night hill ride tonite was a good one. Plenty of fast guys. The roll out was nice and brisk. I managed to hang near the front on the first climb till the top when I got gapped a bit. Shad Shreiner went pretty hard near the top and we got an lead group established. The Renner climb was a bit more subdued, with just a few little digs towards the top. The lead group slip in two over the top and somehow I stayed in the front one. I did get spit out briefly along Renner but I got back in with the help of some 360 guys that were popped on the Renner climb. We were all together up Woodland and I managed to stay near the front, till Shad went near the top. I didn't have much left after that.

Week in Review

2009-03-31T09:20:00.000-07:00

Got in a great week of riding last week, before the rain starting Thursday night. Another windy as hell Tuesday Night Crit. The field was already broken up into 3 or 4 different groups by the lap 3. Curb-to-curb echelon up the hill and single file in the gutter down the hill. I never could get any draft off anybody for very long. It sucked. I pulled the plug after 20 minutes and took an extended route home. Wednesday I tried the Hump Day Hill Ride for the first time. It never really fit into my schedule since Wednesday is usually reserved for off-road. Trails were still a mess so why not do something different. I rode for about an hour 15 minutes over to the start at Bates City BBQ. Group finally left and we meandered along for about 15 minutes or so. I've ridden Midland plenty of times, but I'd never ridden that first "Lawrence Hill" so that was new. Nice stair-step climb. My cross bike creaked and moaned all the way up just like my legs did. Still managed to stay with the front group. Next hill was Renner. Longer but nothing steep. The last climb that I did with the group was Woodland. Since I live at the top, and did over an hour of riding before the group ride, I was ready to head home. The climb on Woodland is flat at the bottom, gradually rolls a bit steeper as you go, then finally kicks towards the top. I can't really go easy on a climb, then do a hard acceleration, so I went to the front and rolled on the gas to keep the group under control. About half way up, I really turned the screw and really strung it out. The legs fell apart about 100 feet before the top however. Thursday I got in a couple laps of SMP before the rains hit. Sold my '69 Nova over the weekend. Had it 6 years and just ran out of money, motivation, and knowledge to finish it off. I would have had to turn it over to someone else to finish anyway so might as well sell it and maybe get something else down the road. Crappy weekend for riding, finally got out late Sunday afternoon for a quick spin. Crazy wind for yesterdays ride. Hope that doesn't continue for the Tuesday Night Crit tonite. Probably do the Hill Ride again Wednesday, then maybe ride into work later in the week. Looks like another crappy weather weekend coming up. Great!

I was going to mow the lawn today........

2009-03-28T15:54:00.000-07:00

...but something came up.

Season Update - warm, freezing, warm again.....

2009-03-16T07:12:00.000-07:00

With the trails still a mess, and the Bonebender MTB race postponed, that means one thing: road racing. Ya, I know: Studnicki and road racing? More than a few people asked me if I even had a road bike, since it's not very often i'm seen on one. Last Tuesday I headed out for a 90 minutes spin (on the cross bike) before heading over to the first Tuesday Night Lenexa Crit. The temperature wasn't too bad when I left me house but it got bad about the time I arrived at the crit. If sub 30 wasn't bad enough, the brutal wind was, and this THAT didn't make it miserable, then only have about 8 guys out there sure did. No place to hide in a group that small. The wind forced the "group" to echelon one way up the hill, then switch sides going down the hill. Being the biggest guy out there, it's tough for me to get much of a draft off of 100lb'ers. Never did feel my fingers the first 15 minutes, and I wasn't up for that kind of effort anyway, so I pulled the plug. Tried to spin a lap by myself then jump back in a few times but that is usually worse. I called it after 40 minutes or so and headed home. I'm MTB fit right now but not road fit (and typically never am). I switched up the routine later in the week and did some shorter, harder stuff. Yesterday I headed out to the Perry Road Race with Joe and Tyler. Not counting the Tuesday Night Crits, I've averaged about 1 road event a year for the past 5 or 6 years. The masters 35+ race was 4 laps with 1 good hill each lap. First lap lolly-gagged along. A few guys squirted off the front and formed a 4-man lead group. They dangled out there only 10-15 seconds till the 2nd trip up the climb. I pushed a good effort up the climb the 2nd time and got a good gap on the field and made it about half way across the gap to the lead group. One guy followed me and we gave it a solid effort across the dam to join the leaders. Once we made contact, the 6 of us worked very well over the remaining 2 laps and we all pulled equally. Coming up the finish climb, I led at the bottom before the flat middle section, before the guys sprinted past me onto the final steep section. I didn't have a whole lot of snap so I just kept motoring steadily along and started to catch back up near the finish. I nipped one of the other 35+ guys back right before the line but coundn't get the leader, so I ended up 2nd. Not bad for a 20lb bike I built up for about $500.

Off Season Over - Devils Revenge Duathlon

2009-03-10T07:15:00.000-07:00

After the previous weekends artic blizzard blast, I was looking for forward to some jeans and t-shirt weather. Headed out on Saturday morning at the crack of dawn to Clinton Lake to help with course set-up for the Devils Revenge Duathlon. Had no intention of racing since I rode SMP the night before and just didn't feel good or ride good. Got out there at 7am and spent spent the next 3 hours dropping cones, pounding stakes, putting up signs, course tape, ect. Around 10am I got the wild hair to jump in the bike-only Mtb race, just to get some race time on the new 29er. No warm-up or anything. Just suited up and went to the line. I figured i'd get crushed on the 1/2 mile paved start before the single-track but somehow had my single-ring 32 wound out pretty good and hit the dirt with Tige Lamb leading and Graham Adridge in 2nd. Now I figured I'd just hang on to this train as long as I could then settle in and ride with some guys and have fun. Surprisingly, I stayed on without too much agony. Graham bobbled over a log and I ran past him and got into 2nd behind Tige. Tige was riding well and we were making Graham work to get back on. I led onto the Green Mile climb on the first lap and gave it a good effort. Tige fell away (he also spent 3hrs setting up the course) but Graham stayed with me. He tried a small attack near the top but I went back by him. We came through lap 1 together, then the fun really started. By now the course was choke with duathon riders and we were passing something every 15 or 20 seconds. We stayed together the whole 2nd lap till about 1 mile to go. I heard him go off the course behind and into the bushes. I was not looking forward to a sprint finish and now didn't have to worry about it. Graham didn't exactly get going again quick so I just cruised in. Felt OK but this was a sub-hour race. My cross fitness still lingering. Had I had a 3rd lap to do, things would have felt different. After the finish, I got back into the jeans and t-shirt and it was course tear-down for 3 hours. I'm still on the fence about the Niner 29'er. The single-ring setup is still a hand-full somethings but for 80% of the stuff it's fine. Running tubeless at about 23psi sure helped.

Off Season - Part 4

2009-02-23T06:40:00.001-08:00

Finally getting some descent hours in on the bike, and not just junk miles on the road bike. Good 3 hrs out at Clinton Lake on 2/21 helping map out the upcoming Devils Revenge course followed by a good 4 hr paved-trail ride on 2/22. I am working Devils Revenge race instead of racing it. My commuting season got off to an early start on Feb 25th. A little brisk on the way in but the ride home was warm and sunny. Got in plenty of laps out at SMP last week. 12 to be exact. Would have been 15 if I hadn't ridden to work and back Wednesday. This past weekends blizzard was a bit made the trails a bit slick Saturday morning, but they packed down nice for a few fast laps on Sunday. Those trails will be SOL this whole week so I'll try to commute in later this week. I stepped on the scale this morning, bad idea. Closer to racing Clysdale than I am my typcial race weight. Probably not racing much this year, other than cross season and some Tuesday Niters. Those that know me know the story so I won't elaborate on it here. I'm not missing anything. I've "been there/done that" 10 times over

Off-Season - Part 3

2009-02-02T11:17:00.000-08:00

Saturday, first actual road ride (on my road bike) since..... about last year at this time. Nothing beats 60 degrees in January when it 6 last Saturday. I got on the road early and managed to get 4 hours in. Nothing hard, just steady calorie burning. Changed the oil and did the tire pressure in 2 vehicles and washed a third. Got my wig worked on, then enjoyed some vietemese food at Saigon 39 in KC Mo.
Sunday I was junk. I don't do 4hr rides very often so the legs weren't up for much. A quick 90-minute spin on the paved trail was about all I felt like doing. Walked down the street for the Home Owners Association board of directors voting (I was up for Treasurer). Then it was Super Bowl SUNDY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY !

Here's a couple vintage race pics:

Off-Season - Part Deux

2009-01-26T09:39:00.000-08:00

I nice light dusting of snow Friday night made for a perfect weekend of MTB riding, albeit super ass cold. Saturday morning I couldn't quite get up early enough to meet the group at Landahl at 9am, so I headed over to Shadd Smiths house and we rode over to Minor Park. It was in the single digits when Shadd, Mike Palito, and I left his house at 10am. The exposed windy ride over to Minor was brutal. Wind chills hovering well below zero. We got there and collected the rest of the group and into the trails we went. I had never ridden these trails (yes, after 5 years of living here). Very cool and technical. The light covering of snow (more like little ice pellets) on the ground made for pretty descent traction. After a couple hours, the the sun was starting to melt some of the snow, especially on the rocks. Temps still never got above the low teens.
Sunday I some-how managed to crawl out of bed and meet the CowTown group at Landahl before 8am. Still cold but nothing like Saturday. It's amazing how nice 15 feels after riding in 5. Trails were rock hard and fast. We did a bit of everything out there. All the normal race trails plus all the steep rocky crap they never use for races. Got in a solid 2.5 hours and back home by noon'ish. More snow on the way, yeahhh.

The Off-Season

2009-01-19T09:26:00.000-08:00

Nice to have some time to "reflect" on this past 'cross season, and NOT have to worry about riding at the right heartrate for right amount of time. Won 3 "A" races (2 more than the previous season) but I wouldn't call those deep fields by any means. They were good for the moral and the pocketbook so they were great from that standpoint. Early part of the season was plaged by some mis-timed preparations and some nagging mechanicals. I eventually corrected the preparation part of that but the nagging mechanical lingered for a while longer and cuminated with some verbal profanity at the State Championships race.
Now I have about a month or so to do whatever the hell kind of rides I want and not stress about it. This past weekend was a case of extreme weather changes. Went out Friday night in 2" plus of that fresh powder that fell over night. Just rode down the street to Lake Lenexa and did a couple laps. Once the sun was completely down, the temps took a nose dive to around 20, sending be home in a hurry. Saturday morning was a group ride out at Shawnee Mission Park. Trek Store guys Tom Price, Scott Stevens, and Marko, 360's Andy Lucas and Brian Williams, KU's Shad Shreiner, and my teammate Joe Houston. The weather was warming up fast but the hard-packed snowy trails were perfect for a while. My dry-hardpack tire setup wasn't ideal and I hit the ground once rather vigorously. The snow was melting fast and we exited the trails well before making a mess. By late afternoon, almost all the snow was melted away. Sunday I was pretty thrashed so I went for an easy "paved" ride on the 'cross pit bike. Felt terrible but that's what the off-season is for right? My 'cross "A" bike is now hung up till next August. Took the various pieces off of it that I stole off of my road bike, and put the road bike back together. MIGHT do a few road events this year given the limited MTB races in the area.

Grote Prijs Shawnee Mission - Shawnee, Ks

2009-01-11T16:45:00.000-08:00

20th and finally the last 'cross race of the season. Great weather and a great course. About 20% of the course was paved or gravel, about 75% was grass with really good traction. That remaining 5% is where the race was decided. The start is on a gravel road section that leads in to the parking lot and an uphill drag to the turn onto the grass. Shadd Smith led us onto the green with Bill marshall 2nd, myself in 3rd and Tige Lamb in 4th. After a couple turns Shadd crash in a fast slick turn and tied up Bill Marshall in the yard sale. I was handed the lead, but 2 turns later I hit the deck in a similar fashion. This time Tige Lamb was right behind me and hit mY bike sending him end over end. Took a few seconds to get untangled from the course tape, and I was now in dead last. I put it into serious chase mode. I got back by Tige and Alex Edwards and now had my eyes on Bill Marshall and Adam Mills. Those two were working together and I was solo. Not good for me with the wind and the gravel or pavement section. I got painfully close to guys, maybe 4 or 5 seconds, but the effects of the hard chase were killing me, so I had to watch those 2 ride away and just focus on keeping Tom Price behind me. He got by once and was riding away, then had some kind of mechanical. I caught him just as he was getting going again so I tried to push the pace. I did OK at that for a while, but Tom is relentless and stayed right with me. He eventually went by and just left me for good. While all of this was going on. Chris Wallace was off the front winning with Cameron Chambers in 2nd. Those 2 were together for a while but Chris eventually pulled away. Behind Cameron, Shadd Smith recovered some-what from his first lap crash and held down 3rd. The duo of Bill Marshall and Adam Mills came in 4th and 5th, with me cruising in for 6th. My first lap crash didn't hurt at all, other than my rear wheel got a good wobble in it that brake the brake pads the whole race. I didn't notice that till after the race. Other than the first lap crash, the only other incidents were 1 botched re-mount after the barriers and getting tangled in some course tape on the run-up. The run-up was getting very bad late in the race so the main racing line was moving to the right closer to the stake and course tape. I went over it and ended up getting tangled up. I never saw it but I heard Alex Edwards had a very bad mishap just after the barries and going onto the pavement. Hope he is OK, since he left the race immediately thereafter.

Epic Holiday Cross - Kansas City, Mo

2009-01-04T15:54:00.000-08:00

The gorgeous 60 degree weather from Saturday turned sub-freezing for Sunday's race at the Tuileries Shopping Center. 22 degrees at the 2pm race start, but the course was softening up from the direct sun. Ground was still rock hard but the top 1/4" was like grease. The course was pancake flat and wound all over the shopping center and in between buildings, including Epic Bike and Sport. Good start, led briefly early in lap 1 after Shadd Smith slid out in a turn. I quickly settled into 3rd with Shadd and Cameron Cambers dueling for the lead. I had Bill Marshall and Alex Edwards close for a while. Alex eventually put it in training mode while Bill stayed close enought for the rest of the race to keep me working. Had to stop a few times and dig frozen mud out from the rear brakes. It got really clogged up a few times to the point where it was rubbing on the tire and hard to peddle. The course was much better than last year. They utilized more of the parking area and made the laps longer. Plenty of tight 180 turns that were really greasy. The course was actually starting to freeze back up once the sun starting getting low, but by then the bikes, especially pedals, were packed up and getting hard to clip in.