Jingle Cross Day 1

Quick results from Jingle Cross Day 1.

2 - 3
1st Chris Wallace
2nd Tom Price
3rd Troy Krause
7th Matt Tillinghast
12th Jesse Peterson
19th Ryan Legg
20th Nate Woodman

35+
4th Dan Hansen
33rd Craig Schmitt

Good conditions on day 1, a little bit of ice in a few of corners, pretty muddy on the run up, but overall pretty nice. A bit of snow /rain/ice predicted for tomorrow should make it interesting. I don't have any results from the Elite race, the KC crew was looking good but the race got so spread out I couldn't keep track of what place people were in.

More tomorrow.

Thanksgiving

When you are in first grade this is what you get at Thanksgiving. You dress up as a pilgrim or Native American and have a feast. And what a feast, Turkey wrap, carrots, cheese, orange slices, and popcorn. Pretty amusing watching them pick at the food while eyeballing the pumpkin cake.

So here's the real deal. Mom made a feast for the four of us that's going to last as leftovers for weeks. Good thing I did a bunch of yard work today, I'm stuffed!

Of course Thanksgiving would not be complete without a toast. Jonas is going with milk, I'm going with a clear liquid that goes well with lime.

As is our tradition the dogs got a few scraps while carving the turkey. You just have to watch the fingers until they calm down.


Tomorrow it's off to Iowa City and Jingle Cross. Should be fun!

Lincoln CX Weekend

Wow, the weekend went past so fast! I got up to Lincoln Thursday PM and by 8am Friday we were out at the park laying out a course. By 3pm the course was set and marked and we got to do a test ride to make sure the course rode like we thought it would. Saturday and Sunday we were all out at the course by 8:30am to get ready. Ever wonder what would happen if you promoted a race and nobody came? Every promoters nightmare. If you've been racing in the KC area and were used to 200+ riders, our turnout was rather poor. In fact if it weren't for the people who traveled to the race it would of been much worse. A big Thanks to all the folks who traveled for the race!

Now for the good stuff: As you can see from the opening picture Dan seems to be somewhat confused at the top of Hooligan hill. Seems Hayden doesn't seem to fit in with the PCL(Pirate Cycling League) image. Or he just likes the picture, Dan?


Then there was Nate. Now I know I can jump the barriers like Nate but the Pain VS Gain factor is not in my favor. This was reinforced when I watched Nate have two spectacular crashes. One he managed to jump off the bike and run it out while his bike cartwheeled away. The 2nd he got crossed up going into the 2nd barrier and went over the bars. Hmmmm........not for me.


A few laps into the 1,2,3 race on Saturday. Darn kids are leading the race and would go on to sprint it out for the win.
It's good to see Bill up there, it gives me hope.


Andy climbing Hooligan hill on Saturday. I thought it would be unrideable but quite a few guys made it up.

This was one of my favorite sections of the course. 2 lines, a high line that was off camber, and a low line that was fast but longer. Overall I thought the changes we made the course a little bit more technical while still keeping it fast and flowey.

So now it's over..........wish I could of raced. Hopefully I'll be able to lift my bike and race Jingle Cross this weekend.

Lincoln CX Weekend is here!

This weekend brings cyclocross back to Lincoln's Pioneers Park. My crew is running the race this weekend so I'll be heading up tonight so I can help set up the course tomorrow. Look for a classic Pioneers course, fast with good flow, hooligan hill, and maybe something a little different. Since I'm right handed and my injured shoulder is on the right I should still be able to hold a cup of coffee(or some other type of beverage) and point out things to be done with the left. Racing is definitely out, since I'm gravitationally challenged it's a bit too risky with Jingle Cross and Nationals coming up.


Now for some pictures:

Bill at the USGP in Jersey. Kudo's to Bill for letting Chris Wallace ride his 15 lb bike in the slop in Jersey. Chris had a great weekend and held on to his leaders jersey in the Crank Brothers series. I'm sure the bike helped and with Bill working the pit Chris had awesome support.


On a related note, I've been helping Bill out this year with his bikes and last weekend totally trashed his bike. Virtually nothing spun and if it did it sounded terrible. Stripped the bike down to the bare frame and threw everything into the parts washer. A little TLC and lube and it's back to new again. It sure is fun to work on the new cool stuff!

Ah yes, the trainer. I tried to ride outside yesterday on the bike path but after a short ride the lump on my shoulder was swollen 3 times the size it was when I started and hurt like hell. Oh well....... So this is my set-up. TV, VCR, DVD, fan and a window so I can look out and wish I was there. In that cabinet there are tapes of pretty much every bike race that has been on tv since the 84 Olympics. All that and I still can never last more than an hour.

KS State Champs - Three Strikes your out!

This year the KS State CX Championships were held under sunny and mild weather conditions that made for some great racing. The new course at St. Marys was pretty good and had a nice flow to it. As you can see in the picture Chris and the crew put in a lot of work to make this a good course(that's a bunch of stakes).

So now I'll start my sorry of a day gone wrong............. It was just a normal race day, got off to the races on time,wait, that's unusual. Anyway, I'm cruising along with my mind somewhere else and find myself driving to the Wyandotte Co. park course. Damn, there's road construction on K-7 so now I have to backtrack. But I'm not stressed, no, because I left on time..... (Strike 1)So I get to the venue and pull my bike out of the van to do a quick pre-ride lap before I sign up. I get back to the van and hop in the front seat, kick back, and give Troy a call to help me decide what race to do, Masters, 1,23, or both. Decide to do both, hop out of the van, lock the doors and slam the door shut. About then I patted my leg to make sure I had my wallet in my pocket and found out that both my wallet and my KEYS fell out of my pocket and are on the floor of the van.(Strike 2) Still not stressed(ok, now I'm a little stressed) but I saw a campus security guy earlier and I figured they all ways carry slim jims (not the kind you eat, the kind you slide down inside doors) So I find him but all he can offer is to help me find a coat hanger. In the meantime I went dumpster diving to find a hangar and did end up finding something that might work. Got back to the van and Mr. security shows up with a coat hangar, yea, my savior! 30 minutes later I managed to get into my car. Yea, I know, daddy was in the car business so I know how to get into cars.
So now I have just enough time to sign up, throw on a kit, and head to the starting line for the masters race. The race itself was going pretty well and I was sitting in 2nd with half a lap to go when I crashed. (Strike 3)I guess there was a hole in the corner but I never saw it. One of those crashes that you don't see coming and you'r picking yourself up before you know what happened. From the looks of my jersey and helmet I hit head and shoulder first. My helmet has cracks on the inside and the jersey is stained right on top of the shoulder.

So I got up and knew that was as far as I was going to go. Walked a bit before I noticed a huge hematoma on my shin and started to feel sick. I had to sit down and collect myself and figure out how bad I was hurt. I was worried it was a collarbone because of the lump developing on my shoulder but I had pretty good movement. I've broke quite a few bones in my time and I didn't think that was the problem. I got back to my car thanks to Scott and Ben who helped me get packed up so I could drive home and pack myself in ice.

So today I went to see the doc. After some poking and prodding from the doc and plenty of squirming and wincing from me I was off for x-rays. The x-rays comfirmed my doctors and my suspicions, no broken bones, YEA!!!!!!!!!! Diagnosis, a separation of the AC joint. That's where your collarbone and shoulder bone meet. After some tests it appears that the joint is not torn and is just badly bruised. I asked the doc how long before I can race again and he asked me how much pain I can stand. Hmmmmmmmmm, So for now it's time to take a few painkillers, ice the injury, and wait for the swelling to go down. I guess I can live with a few days on the trainer as it's a whole lot better than a broken collarbone!

T-n-T will fix what ill's ya'

Well.... maybe not but it can't hurt. I heard that Pine Nuts were good for you and Tangueray has Pine Nuts in it so it's all good. Heck, with the vitamin C in the limes I feel better all ready. Well......maybe that's something else but whatever.

Anyway, I gave up and got some antibiotics to kill the crud that I've been fighting for the past month. Oh well, antibiotics will make you slow for a while but it's worth it to make my eyes stop watering.

Vet Cup

This weekend it was the Vet Cross so we were up early since the whole family was going to make the trip. I'm still working on my Belgian waffle making skills but this version is pretty good. Seems like the toppings make the waffle so I'll keep working on it. Some day I'll have to get over to Belgium to see how its done.

Here we have Ben from the shop stalking the competition. Third place in the 5's I think and soon to be racing the 4's.


Another poor picture of Craig. Not sure why I have such issues taking pictures of this guy.....must be the blazing speed:)

Look at that, Scott does actually race cross. After it was over he was heard saying, "I rode ok, I didn't hurt myself, or anybody else" Hmmmmm

As for me, I'm waiting for my doctor to call back to tell me he called in something to kill this illness I can't shake. That pretty much sums up my race experience.

KC Crit News!

Yesterday I was in the shop when Dean said he thought he saw the city repaving the crit course. I thought it was to good to be true so I stopped by.

Turns out it is true, look at that pic of the run to the finish line. Now the whole course is fresh pavement......................except......for the last turn.


Oh well, at least they patched the holes.

November Thunder

What's up with the crazy weather we're having today. Gale force winds, driving rain, and thunder and lightning! November 5th......go figure. 70 degrees today and 37 degrees with a rain/snow mix predicted for tomorrow night.


Anyway......I thought I would get back on the bike and try to get in some training. I headed for SMP on the MTB looking for some fast laps. First I ran into Ted getting in some laps, he said something about riding for 2 hrs. Hmmmmm..... better get at it. It was not to be as I hit something under the leaves after about 10 minutes and I started hearing the tell tale spit, spit, spit, sound of Stan's not sealing the hole in my tire. Bummer, time to put a tube in a slimy tire.



Not long after I start working on my tire I felt something on my leg. I looked down and saw this guy looking back at me. Geez.......kinda freaked me out, he's as big as my hand. Eli looked at this picture and proclaimed that it's a "Stick Bug". Anyway, I wanted to take him back with me but he wasn't about to let me pick him up and I had tire issues to deal with. See, I wasted one roadie size CO2 attempting to seal the tire, now I have a tube and 1 CO2 left(and it's a small one). In the end I got just enough air in the tube to get out of the park and to the shop.

I guess I got a power workout riding a nearly flat tire a few miles to the shop so all was not lost. Too bad I couldn't bring my buddie with me!

Halloween, Soccer, cubscouts, and Cross

What a busy weekend! Friday brought a bunch of stuff to do during the day and then there was Halloween. We did a family style Halloween. That is we went out with 5 other families, (we all have kids in the same grade at school), and while the kids went to houses we hung out on the sidewalk and had cocktails. We had a route figured out that brought you back to the hosts house for refills (cocktails, not candy) every 20 minutes or so. Fun night but that's a lot of walking!














Friday I got to build up Bill Marshall's Scott Cross bike. Sweet build and pretty fun to do when you have all the time in the world to get it done. 15.4 lbs as it sits, that's light!


Saturday was Jonas's last Soccer game for the year in the am and then off to the Cross race.
This one was a write off from the start. I got sick last week with the same illness that's been hanging around the house for the past month. I'm the last in the family to get it so I'm hoping to keep it out of my lungs and recover soon. Craig made the trip from Lincoln for a few races on the Nationals course.
As far as the course design goes I've heard mixed reviews. Some liked it, some hated it. If you've got tons of sit down power it's definitely a course for you. I'll just keep quiet on this one since I was sick and rode poorly. Kinda hard to make a judgement after a DNF.

So after the race it was off to Weston, MO for a Cub Scout function. Nothing like wandering around a corn maze for an hour with tired legs. The kids had fun in the maze and then if was off to the campfire for hot dogs, chips, and smores.

The dinner of champions, Yea!!!!!!

This I thought I would never see again, gas under $2.00. WOW.

I had to fill up just because.....

Sunday I met up with group ride from Starbucks. 4hrs at an easy pace was just what the doctor ordered. I felt pretty good except the sinus headache that came on in the last hour. I came home and drugged myself and slept.

Wonder what this week will bring.........................