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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Tuesday crit results and a Warning

Before I post the results I want to bring up an issue that was brought to my attention tonight. Rumor had it that someone who has been sprinting for points has been showing up late and jumping into the race. The unwritten rule has always been,"If you sit out a lap and jump back in you don't sprint". I would assume everyone would agree that if you missed the first 5-10 laps of the race the same rule would apply. I spoke to Chris Hess tonight and he confirmed that this has been going on for most of the summer. Going forward we won't score anyone who has not raced the same number of laps as the rest of the field.
Bottom line is this: don't sprint if you miss a lap/s for any reason. Remember.....this is supposed to be fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday KC Crit results
  1. Jeremy Pych
  2. Shadd Smith
  3. Bill Marshall
  4. Tom Price
  5. Chris Hall

Tuesday KC Crit Overall Points as of 9/29/08

  1. Shadd Smith 80
  2. David Hedjuk 35
  3. Joe Schmalz 27
  4. Tom Price 22
  5. Bill Marshall 18
  6. Jeremy Pych 17
  7. Cam Chambers 17
  8. Adam Mills 14
  9. Phil Gronniger 12
  10. Brian Jensen 8
  11. Steve Tilford 7
  12. Graham Aldrich 7
  13. Phil Mann 5
  14. Jeff Seese 5
  15. Chris Hall 4
  16. Adam Lang 3
  17. Nick Coil 2
  18. Jeff Schroeder 2
  19. John Shipman 2
  20. Mike Palitto 2
  21. Kurt Mulebach 1
  22. Bill Stolte 1
  23. Mark Cole 1
  24. John Palman 1
  25. Chris Wallace 1

Sunday, July 27, 2008

The Law of Negative Returns

So what is this Law of negative returns? For me it's when you feel so crummy on the bike that all ride plans are tossed out the window and you just go home. I'm sure we have all started a ride and thought, man I feel terrible and the legs just won't go. And we all stick it out for a while, but at what point do you pull the plug and go home? Bottom line, when the training ride becomes less than a ride and does more damage than good both mentally and physically. This weekend I really wanted to get out for some longer training rides since I took a few days off midweek to recover from the Colorado trip but it was not to be. Saturday I started off well but half way into my planned ride I started to feel the power loss and a short time later I was in trouble. I thought I might be delirious as I rolled into a small town and saw this sign.
I thought I was back in Cleveland Ohio until I saw the population. There's just a few more people in Ohio but it looks like they are adding all the time here in Missouri. So I ride on and as I'm stopped at an intersection trying to decide if I should turn for home or carry on a chubby old guy rolls by me at 10 mph and tells me to jump on. Hmmmmmm, time to bag it as I don't think I can hold his wheel. 7 bottles later I arrived back at home barely able to pedal. Sunday was just more of the same but I was smart enough to call it a day way before I got myself in trouble.
So the law of negative returns was in full effect for me this weekend. I'm usually pretty good at going home early if I'm not riding well enough to call it training but Saturday I didn't and that did the damage for Sunday.
So now I'm off to see if I can hurt myself on the backyard slip-n-slide. If you see me with skid marks on my arms and grass sticking out of my ears you know I overshot the end of the slide.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Tuesday KC Crit Results

Tuesday KC Crit Results
  1. Brian Jensen
  2. Phil Gronniger
  3. Jeremy Pych
  4. Bill Marshall
  5. Mike Palitto

Tuesday KC Crit Overall Points as of 7/23/08

  1. Shadd Smith 76
  2. David Hedjuk 35
  3. Joe Schmalz 27
  4. Tom Price 20
  5. Cam Chambers 17
  6. Bill Marshall 15
  7. Adam Mills 14
  8. Phil Gronniger 12
  9. Jeremy Pych 12
  10. Brian Jensen 8
  11. Steve Tilford 7
  12. Graham Aldrich 7
  13. Phil Mann 5
  14. Jeff Seese 5
  15. Chris Hall 3
  16. Adam Lang 3
  17. Nick Coil 2
  18. Jeff Schroeder 2
  19. John Shipman 2
  20. Mike Palitto 2
  21. Kurt Mulebach 1
  22. Bill Stolte 1
  23. Mark Cole 1
  24. John Palman 1
  25. Chris Wallace 1

MIA

It's been a while since my last post but as you can see, I've been busy. We left last Wednesday and drove to Lincoln to pick up grampa. Then it was off to Steamboat CO for 4 days. We had a great time hanging out with family, fishing, hiking, and for me....riding.

Since my brother in law's condo was at the base of the mountain all I had to do is roll out in the morning and head up the mountain. Basically I'd climb for 1.5 - 2 hours and then descend for a 1/2 hour to the bottom. The elevation gain every day was just over 3000 ft starting at 6,900ft and hitting the peak at 10,372. After 4 days my brake rotors are blue from the heat and the pads are gone. Pretty cool that there was still some snow at 10,000ft when it was 80 degrees at the base. By far the best time I've had on the bike in Colorado in a long time. The Paragon was awesome both going up and descending. No doubt the 29er works going downhill in the bumps.
You may wonder why I only rode for 2-3 hours a day when the riding was so awesome. Well, the answer is right here. I had the family with me so I got to have my fun and then they needed to have theirs. We went to Dumont Lake on Rabbit Ears pass (10,000Ft) to fish. We managed to catch 4 good size trout. The boys were super excited as they got to reel in some good sized fish by themselves.
This is Dumont lake. It doesn't get much more relaxing than this. No planes,trains,automobiles, or anything else, just us and a few others staring at our poles and chatting, hoping to catch something.
As awesome as the vacation was the trip home was not without it's problems. The last time we went to Colorado we totaled the van the way home and a few of us were injured. This time it was just a flat tire just after crossing the Wyoming border. But what a pain, unload the back of the van, remove spare, install, then reload van leaving room for flat tire. Now drive 60 mph on interstate when everybody else was going 80 for 50 miles to a town with a tire store. First tire store discovers a cut sidewall but then discovers that they don't have a tire. But hey.....we're in luck, there is another tire shop in town that has a used tire that will get us home. Three hours since we discovered the flat, and 40$ later we're on our way. We arrive in Lincoln and move all of our stuff from Gramps van to our van and get ready to head for KC. We jump in, pull into the street.........and discover that the speedo and tach don't work. Everything else works so I figured I'll tag onto a semi and get to KC. While driving into Lincoln I noticed a storm building to the east and by time we hit Interstate 29 it's just east of us. I have never seen that much lightning at one time and it was there from Nebraska City until we stopped in St.Jo for gas. Guess what happened when I fired up the van after getting gas........the speedo and the tach started working! So the end of the story is that we finally arrived in KC at midnight.........we left Steamboat CO at 6am, you do the math. Of course I'd do it again next week if I could!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

KC Crit Results

Tuesday KC Crit Results 7/15/08
  1. Shadd Smith
  2. David Hedjuk
  3. Bill Marshall
  4. Joe Schmalz
  5. Jeremy Pych

Overall Points as of 7/15/08

1. Shadd Smith 76
2. David Hedjuk 35
3. Joe Schmalz 27
4. Tom Price 20
5. Cam Chambers 17
6. Adam Mills 14
7. Bill Marshall 13
8. Jeremy Pych 9
9. Phil Gronniger 8
10. Steve Tilford 7
11. Graham Aldrich 7
12. Phil Mann 5
13. Jeff Seese 5
14. Brian Jensen 3
15. Chris Hall 3
16. Adam Lang 3
17. Nick Coil 2
18. Jeff Schroeder 2
19. John Shipman 2
20. Mike Palitto 1
21. Kurt Muleback 1
22. Bill Stolte 1
23. Mark Cole 1
24. John Palman 1
25. Chris Wallace 1

Monday, July 14, 2008

Omaha Weekend/ Tour/ Horner

The weekend racing in Omaha went well and all of my worries were unfounded. Scott, Tanya, and Troy handled the bulk of the childcare duties with Eli while I raced. Thanks go out to everybody who helped out so I could race and not worry, turns out it must of helped.
I've got a few pic's from the weekend and a Readers Digest style write up to share as well.

Noah and Craig showing the Lincoln Industries colors in the Juniors and Masters races.
Abby Burke sprinting it out with Kent McNeil for the win in the kid's race. She got him for a can of Sprite.

Kent went on to race in the Masters and Pro 1/2 race later in the day. He had stellar rides in both races even after a 24 hour flight back from France.
Scott and Troy rode in the Cat 3 race. Small field but with everybody at equal strength it proved to be quite a shootout. Unfortunately there was a crash in the last turn that took out Troy and sent Scott off course. The good thing is that there were no injuries other than road rash.
The Pro 1/2 race lined up with about half of the field made up of HRRC/TREK Stores riders. From what I could see it was fast and furious all night. For more info I'm sure Steve and Adam will have something on their blogs soon.
I raced the Masters 45+ category that was mixed in with the 35+, 55+ all weekend. Kind of nice that we raced together so the races were more exciting. On the weekend..I won the TT in the 45+ and had the 5th best time overall. 2nd in the Saturday crit but 1st 45+. Sunday I was 1st 45+ and 3rd across the line. Both crits I tried attacking on the hill and both times I got caught right at the line. Seemed like the safest option as both last turns seemed a little schetchy at best.
Saturday's crit in was put on by the Midwest Cycling Community and had a great atmosphere. Cheap food, free Powerade and a inflatable house for the kids to bounce around in. Now you know where I spent all of my time when I wasn't racing.
Had to throw this pic in of Chris Horner at the Cascade Classic. Sounds like he was just rolling in after working for Levi and found this guy on the road after crashing. So he rode him in and they finished something like 58th and 59th. Check out the guys bike, wheel, shifter, yikes! There was another picture from the other side and that guy was a mess. Anyway, I've all ways liked Horner. He's usually cast as the underdog and just seems to find a way to survive the up and downs of the Pro cycling scene.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Racing N Ridin

For your amusement..... So what do you do when you rode the kids to school and now you have to get the bikes home without the kids. For those of you old enough to remember toe straps, they work great for holding things together. So yes....I actually rode this mess home, not far, and nothing was damaged. Victory !!!!!!!!!!!!
That said, it was a pain and I doubt I'll do it again.
So now that Jonas is into riding Eli has decide join in as well. Since I had dead legs it was family night on the bike path. Pretty nice nite and we got in 10 miles to boot.

Tomorrow I'm off to Omaha to race in the Omaha cycling Weekend. Kind of have mixed feelings about this one. I'm running solo with Eli so I'm scrambling to find the right mix of friends and buddies to watch him while I race. I'm truly one of those paranoid parents so unless I'm totally comfortable he's safe I might as well not even sign up. Then there's the MTB race at Smithville Lake. I'm finally getting it together on the MTB so I'd like do that race as well. Again childcare is and issue so that's out anyway. So here I am, 11:30pm with nothing packed, screwing around on the computer. With work, packing, ect... I'll be lucky to hit the road before 7pm. Oh well, looks like I'll get to race something and I can't complain about that!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Wet Tuesday Crit / Fresh Corn

It was a wet Tuesday Crit but not nearly as wet as the last time it rained. 25 or so hardy souls ventured out in the wet to give the crit a go. I was less than excited as I rolled out of the shop and into the rain. I got there and found few riders. Dean was there and we rolled around for a few laps talking about what we were going to do when they decided to call the race for a lack of participants. We decided to stop and see what Chris Hess had to say and suddenly there were enough of us to race.

So off we went to sprinkles and wet roads. I expected a slow race due to the lack of riders but it felt pretty hard because everybody was being careful in the corners. Going hard in the straightaways and slow in the turns becomes a interval workout real fast. Cam was the energizer bunny for most of the race. Every time I looked up he was on the front and hammering. I wanted to attack a few times but I wanted him on my wheel and didn't want to jump him while he was pulling. In the end I attacked less than usual saving a bunch of energy for the finish. At three to go Cam attacked and got a gap on the field. With 2 to go I really wanted to go up to him but told myself to wait. At the bell we caught him at the top of the hill and I found Shadd's wheel for the sprint. Coming out of the last turn Shadd rocketed ahead for the win and I managed to hold off the field for 2nd. Kudo's to the crew who made it out tonight for the race. Everybody rode smart, no crashes, and good training for the time that you go to a big race and it's raining.

Now for the Tour. Stage 3 was great to watch. Will Frischkorn of Garmin/Chipotle starts a break at the gun and then manages to make it to the line. After a crazy sprint he ends up 2nd. Great result for an 8 year pro who's best result is 2nd overall in last years Tour of Missouri. Got to love the underdogs!


Stage 4: 3 guys in the top 15 for Garmin/Chipotle, very nice! Hincape had a good ride to slide up into the top ten as well.
Now for the Garmin kits......these TT kits are sweet. As you can tell I'm all about color and the black and white bibs on the road kits just are not working for me.
Zipp seems to be working overtime on the stickers as well. Millar had a British flag on his wheel as well. Wonder if CSC had fancy wheels as well?
Bring on the mountains!

Tuesday KC Crit

Tuesday KC Crit 7/8/08
  1. Shadd Smith
  2. Tom Price
  3. Jeff Seese
  4. John Shipman
  5. Chris Wallace

Tuesday KC Crit Points as of 7/8/08

  1. Shadd Smith 71
  2. David Hedjuk 31
  3. Joe Schmalz 25
  4. Tom Price 20
  5. Cam Chambers 17
  6. Adam Mills 14
  7. Bill Marshall 10
  8. Phil Gronniger 8
  9. Jeremy Pych 8
  10. Steve Tilford 7
  11. Graham Aldrich 7
  12. Phil Mann 5
  13. Jeff Seese 5
  14. Brian Jensen 3
  15. Chris Hall 3
  16. Adam Lang 3
  17. Nick Coil 2
  18. Jeff Schroeder 2
  19. John Shipman 2
  20. Mike Palitto 1
  21. Kurt Muleback 1
  22. Bill Stolte 1
  23. Mark Cole 1
  24. John Palman 1
  25. Chris Wallace 1

Sunday, July 6, 2008

BooBoo's and Tour of KC training

Decided that I better get out on the MTB this weekend while I had a chance. I guess we got a bit more rain than I thought and Minor was still muddy in places. Once I got up on the ridge it was good but way overgrown. Great, now I'm muddy and paranoid about getting covered in poison ivy. So I slink my way through to the other end but not without bashing into a tree and losing a little skin.
Then again that was nothing compared to Eli's black eye. Poor kid slipped on a wet floor at day camp and bounced his head off the floor. This was the next morning, his eye got much more colorful the next day. I guess he really is daddy's little boy.

Yesterday's ride will go down as one of my most memorable ever. Jonas is getting more and more excited to ride his bike and yesterday we pulled on our matching team kits and went for a ride. I know, the geek factor was high but he was super excited and so was I. Now to keep him riding every few days so he feels ready for the kids races at the Tour of KC.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Tour Time/ Gardner TT

It's Tour time again! It's going to be fun this year as there are 2 American based teams in the race. Here's the new kit for the Garmin/Slipstream crew. That's quite a bit of white, bet that won't last long in the rain. Speaking of rain.....hope those white shorts don't become see through when they get wet like most do. Could get ugly. Wonder what Team Columbia 's kits will look like? My favorite for the win.....kind of like Cadel Evans. Old mountain biker and all plus you can't argue with his record.

Not too much to say about the Gardner TT. I rode pretty well but my time on my HRM and computer was a bit better than I got on the results. I'm not sure what the actual times were but I heard there was a problem. They have me at a 13:09 and my stuff has me at 13:00. I know that's not much and this is only for training. That's why I'm not complaining, my goal is to get it under 13:00 anyway. Quite a few people rode well including Dean and Phil. Phil was smoking fast as usual and set the fastest time.

No races this weekend so enjoy the 4th and be safe!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Tuesday Crit

Tonight's crit again proved that you really can't predict what's going to happen. The pattern of the races are changing from the weekly breakaway to a late break or field sprint. The races seem to get faster every week so I guess summer is here. Tonight it was attack, attack, attack, and then with 10 minutes to go a group of about 6 got off that got whittled down to 3, and then 2 with 1 lap to go. Adam Lang made a great move and attacked up the hill to stay away for third.
For some reason I didn't commit to jumping with Adam which put me on the front with a half a lap to go. Nothing left to do but lead out the sprint and get out of the way.

Tuesday KC Crit

Tuesday KC Crit Results
  1. Shadd Smith
  2. David Hedjuk
  3. Adam Lang
  4. Jeff Seese
  5. John Palman

Overall Points as of 7/1/08

  1. Shadd Smith 66
  2. David Hedjuk 31
  3. Joe Schmalz 25
  4. Cam Chambers 17
  5. Tom Price 16
  6. Adam Mills 14
  7. Bill Marshall 10
  8. Phil Gronniger 8
  9. Jeremy Pych 8
  10. Steve Tilford 7
  11. Graham Aldrich 7
  12. Phil Mann 5
  13. Brian Jensen 3
  14. Chris Hall 3
  15. Adam Lang 3
  16. Nick Coil 2
  17. Jeff Schroeder 2
  18. Jeff Seese 2
  19. Mike Palitto 1
  20. Kurt Mulebach 1
  21. Bill Stolte 1
  22. Mark Cole 1
  23. John Palman 1