Tuesday Crit

Super nice nite out for the Tue KC Worlds, the rain quit just in time for the roads to dry just as we started. Small group of around 30 tonight, I'm sure the weather made quite a few decide to stay at home. There were quite a few attacks during the race and a few times a group got off the front and got a gap, but everything came back. That is until 5 laps to go when Phil rolled off the front as the pack slowed and soon Shadd joined him. Nobody reacted and that was it, they were gone and we were fighting for the last three points paying positions. For me it was a bit of a off night. Six days since my last ride left me a little flat but I still managed to hang in there for 6th. Teammate Scott had a good ride to end up 7th. Hard to believe but there are only 5 more Tue KC Worlds left!

Results:

1. Phil Gronniger
2. Shadd Smith
3. Bill Marshall
4. Mark Cole
5. David Hedjuk

Total Points as of 7/28/09

Shadd Smith 77
David Hejduk 27
Phil Gronniger 27
Brian Bradley 20
Mark Cole 18
Brian Jensen 17
Tom Price 17
Chris Hall 11
Bill Marshall 11
Joe Schmalz 10
Adam Mills 9
Adam Miller 7
Stefan Rothe 5
Matt Ankeney 4
Nick Coil 4
Jason Knight 4
Lawrence Simonson 3
Lyle Reynolds 2
Marlin ? 2
Paul Fancher 2
Andy Lucas 2
Patrick Angell 1
Jeff Winkler 1
Jeremy Pych 1
Andrew Coe 1
John Sieczkowski 1
Doug Plummer 1

Last Lincoln Run.............for now.

Now that's more like it! The last trip to Lincoln with the trailer I was getting 8 mpg. This time with the van loaded to the hilt we got 21 mpg. Much better!


Pretty quick trip, work till 12:30, hit the road and arrive in Lincoln in time to load the van and head to Coach's house to meet for the Wednesday Worlds Ride. Kinda wondered how big of a ride it was going to be, as we pulled into town we noticed that the sky was really getting dark to the north, bad sign. But, we drove 3 hours, we were going no matter what. We........ I forgot to mention that Scott decided to go along and help load the van and make his return to Wed Worlds after being away for 4 yrs.
















The ride started out pretty quick with a double paceline into the wind for quite a while. Turning into the crosswind we string it out and hammered away(but kept it out of the gutter). Nice to ride in a strong paceline for a change, seems like it's been a while since I've done that. Anyway, as luck would have it, the rain caught us as we were barreling back into Lincoln with a tailwind. We hit a bunch of junk on the road and got 3 flats within a mile. On the positive side the rain quit when the flats happened so at least we didn't get soaked.
















Coach still uses the old style hand pump, seems to have the stroke down pretty good.


Rolled it into town and back to Coach's house to clean up. Grabbed some food and hit the road for KC. Quick trip, left KC at 12:30, got back at 11:30pm, in bed by 12:30.......my head is spinning.....
















We actually had most of the team on the ride last night so I had to get a pic of the bikes. Pretty sweet!

So today starts Pinkies cub scout camp so I'm running solo with Curly for a few days. Three days off the bike is definitely not in the training plan but that's the way it goes. Now, I just need sleep, I think I'll head off to bed to read an article about making sleep part of your training plan. I just don't think 5-6 hours of sleep a night is cutting it!

Tuesday KC Crit and a video question

No pictures this week, I've got to get someone to take pictures next week! Seems like it was a pretty quick race with attack after attack. Nothing ever got much of a gap so it came down to a field sprint. Pretty interesting in the last 3 laps. Bill started the leadout with 3 laps to go, then Fuzzy took it at 2 to go, then Joe took over on the bell lap and did a monster pull stringing out the field before the sprint. I had the perfect position coming out of the last turn, right on Shadd's wheel. I also had the perfect view of him standing up and riding away as I attempted to sprint. You can see from the results Shadd was fast and Fuzzy recovered fast enough from his lead out lap to pass me in the sprint, darn kids!

KC Crit Results:

1. Shadd Smith
2. Chris"Fuzzy" Hall
3. David Hedjuk
4. Tom Price
5. Jason Knight

Overall Points as of 7/21/09

Shadd Smith 73
David Hejduk 26
Phil Gronniger 22
Brian Bradley 20
Brian Jensen 17
Tom Price 17
Mark Cole 16
Chris Hall 11
Joe Schmalz 10
Adam Mills 9
Bill Marshall 8
Adam Miller 7
Stefan Rothe 5
Matt Ankeney 4
Nick Coil 4
Jason Knight 4
Lawrence Simonson 3
Lyle Reynolds 2
Marlin ? 2
Paul Fancher 2
Andy Lucas 2
Patrick Angell 1
Jeff Winkler 1
Jeremy Pych 1
Andrew Coe 1
John Sieczkowski 1
Doug Plummer 1

Now for the amusing part, check out this video and see what animal most closely resembles how Choch and Marshall are going to look after Walt's birthday bash. By the way, the fruit that falls from the tree has a high alcohol content and only falls once a year. Somewhat like Walt's birthday. I pretty much like the monkeys, see what you think.

Is it over yet?

Last weekend was another trip to Lincoln. This time to collect some furniture and a piano. Yes, I said a piano. I managed to borrow a piano dolly but there was no away around the fact that we were going to have to lift it at some point. But first we had to get there, enter one well used Caravan and the shop trailer. Mathgeek figured just getting to Lincoln towing the trailer would be a victory, me, I was confident we would be fine.

So here we are on the flats near Rock Port on I-29. Hmmmmm seems the trailer is a bit of a drag behind the van. What to do.........................................

Like any Nascar fan would do, I quickly snuggled up the next semi I could find. Unbelievable difference, rpm's went down, mileage went way up, not too shabby. Kept it up all the way to Lincoln. Now the easy part is done. Next morning I called up some of the Lincoln crew to get the piano out of the house and into the trailer. The gun show arrived but it was definitely of the smaller caliber. No worries, a 4x8 sheet of plywood smoothed out the stairs and it was smooth sailing into the trailer. A few more dressers and a desk and we were loaded and we were done.

The trip back was pretty uneventful, except for Mathgeek freaking out in the first mile after we left the house. Seems she didn't like the feel of the trailer jerking on the van. If you've ever towed a trailer that out weighed your vehicle it feels a little funny at first. She looked over and me, dead serious and said,"we need to rent a truck". I took a bit to convince her that the van would be ok, and it was. We went 60-65 mph behind semi's the whole way and I swear we got better mileage than if we were just driving the van and going 70-75 mph.

Once home I called Scott and drug him over to the house after the shop closed to help unload. Now he has some real guns so we were a little unbalanced with Mathgeek and I on one end and Scott on the other. I so needed to get that picture. So that parts done yea.........

Got in a ride Saturday and stopped off at a little car show. Mostly classic cars but there were a few rods there. This one was really nice!

Got back to find the shop swamped in repairs. I mean so swamped that they were stacked up in the breakroom. Jonas is hanging at the shop this week and he's looking a bit stunned. Today we worked through a ton of tickets and there were even more in there than this morning.

So is it over.............. not yet but close. One more trip on Wednesday to fill up the van. Hmmmmm, Tuesday KC Crit, Wed Worlds in Lincoln. Amazing how that worked out!

Wed Hill Ride, Tour of KC, Cross news

First time out for the Wed Hill ride.
Pretty big group heading out but it got much smaller after the first hill. Not too sure why they feel the need to go 30mph on the flats before the first hill. Half the group doesn't even make it to the first hill with the main pack.

This week there was a crash. Most people thought Fuzzy crashed due to a blown bunny hop over the roundabout. What actually happened is the chain came off upon landing and when started pedaling he went over the bars. Crazy thing is that he came into the shop today barely sporting any road rash and very little damage to the bike. Man...... if I crashed like that the damage would of been far more substantial.
























Pic of the 2nd to last turn of the OP crit at the Tour of KC. Seems the city plopped a roundabout right in the middle of the turn. Actually it's not too bad, if you took a bad enough line to hit it you would of been in the outside curb anyway. Could of been worse, the intersection one block west has bricks in the whole intersection, corner to corner. Rumors are out there that there are construction issues on Cliff Drive. Seems like there are issues there every year but people are talking about cancelling that race and moving Fridays event to Saturday? Anybody?



Cross Nationals News: Troy sent me this blurb from Cyclocross mag about signing up for Nationals. Looks like you will still have to have fast fingers but will now need to be a cat 1 or 2 to be up front. Check it out here. I think I'll request an upgrade soon!

Tue KC Crit

No pic's this week, I just never had the time. Hot, windy race that started fast and just stayed that way all night. I didn't think that I had cramped that bad in Sundays race but I sure felt it tonight. Sat up near the line to finish some where near the top ten.

Heard the Tour of Missouri is moving forward, YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tue KC Crit

1. Chris Hall
2. Phil Gronniger
3. Shadd Smith
4. David Hedjuk
5. Mark Cole

Overall Points as of 7-14-09

Shadd Smith 68
David Hejduk 23
Phil Gronniger 22
Brian Bradley 20
Brian Jensen 17
Mark Cole 16
Tom Price 15
Joe Schmalz 10
Adam Mills 9
Bill Marshall 8
Adam Miller 7
Chris Hall 7
Stefan Rothe 5
Matt Ankeney 4
Nick Coil 4
Jason Knight 3
Lawrence Simonson 3
Lyle Reynolds 2
Marlin ? 2
Paul Fancher 2
Andy Lucas 2
Patrick Angell 1
Jeff Winkler 1
Jeremy Pych 1
Andrew Coe 1
John Sieczkowski 1
Doug Plummer 1

Omaha Cycling Weekend, Cross Nats Travel

Photographer John Peterson from Lincoln took this shot of Shad winning the Pro 1,2 race Saturday. He took the win out of a two rider break after being off the front for most of the race. Fuzzy and Nick did a stellar job of controlling the field and sprinted for 4th and 5th.



















Our own JT took a prime and finished in the top 10.

For me the crit was a bust, not sure why but I was off and recorded my first DNF of the year. Oh well...... there's another race tomorrow.

Dave Babcock RR: PRO, 1-2-3 all race together. Probably a good thing due to small field sizes. To make a long story short...... we got Chet(a Lincoln Industries rider) away with another rider on the first lap. Troy and I rode tempo and covered attacks on the front of the group for the group for the next 3-4 laps. About the 6th lap Fuzzy attacked on the hill and took 4 other riders up the road. By then Chet had about 4 min on the group and I figured he had a decent chance of hanging on to the group if they got caught. Then next time up the hill I went with an attack and got away with 2 other guys. Here's where it gets interesting.......due to the weather we are told the race is going to end on the next lap, they tell everybody.............except the 5 rider chase group! Fuzzy said they were chasing hard when they noticed the corner marshall's were gone and pretty soon there was nobody out on the course. At some point they were told that the race was CANCELLED so they just rode it in and didn't sprint. The funny part is that they actually scored them as they crossed the line even though they had no idea they were still out on the course. I heard the guys did an even split which is pretty cool since a bit of money was up for grabs but as Fuzzy said, "what else are you going to do?" Overall the courses are good, the money is good, they just need some more riders.

Cross Nationals Travel:

I've been talking with the powers that be at the TREK Stores about travel to Cross Nationals in Bend, OR. They would be willing to use the companies Sprinter Van and large trailer to transport bikes and equipment to Oregon for the last USGP and Nationals. We have not figured out the logistics yet but we would haul your bike(s), wheels, gear, and you could just fly out, pick up your bike and race. We have talked about bringing the shop tents, trainers, a power washer, racks for bikes, ect.......you get the idea. There will be a cost involved since we have to drive the thing out there and it's a haul, but don't worry, it's going to be way less than it would cost you to stick all of your equipment on a plane!

Let me know if you are interested so I can start working out the logistics and cost's.

I'm at a loss..............

I really don't know what to say. Mathgeek's dad passed away after a short battle with cancer. I was lucky to know him, Bill along with his wife Jean were the in-laws that dreams are made of. Now it's time to deal with the estate, not much fun selling off what has been our second home for so long.

















During Bill's illness we spent most of our time in Lincoln. I got out and hit a bunch of old routes on the bike. Last weekend I hit the last of the 4 corners of Lincoln. (and some gravel, those guys love gravel roads). Saw this carving on a tree stump near Panama, NE. pretty cool.
















The boys looking pretty stylish.

While in Lincoln I got "Burked", Coach had me out on the Mopac trail, gravel roads, ect..... and at one point he looks at me and asks"what direction are we going?" Not quite epic but fun .

In true teammate Troy fashion I didn't go around the detour, I went through it. See those two little boards over the creek. Fun with cycling shoes!

So now it's off to Lincoln for more estate/house fun and then up to Omaha for the cycling weekend. I'm going to do the RR and Crit.

TNW KC style

Looks like there are a bunch of tired legs out there after Tour of KC followed by the Tour of Lawrence. Numbers were a bit down but the pace was still pretty quick.

Results:

1. Shadd Smith
2. Mark Cole
3. Bill Marshall
4. Tom Price
5. Andy Lucas

Overall Points:

Shadd Smith 65
David Hejduk 21
Brian Bradley 20
Phil Gronniger 18
Brian Jensen 17
Tom Price 15
Mark Cole 15
Joe Schmalz 10
Adam Mills 9
Bill Marshall 8
Adam Miller 7
Stefan Rothe 5
Matt Ankeney 4
Nick Coil 4
Jason Knight 3
Lawrence Simonson 3
Chris Hall 2
Lyle Reynolds 2
Marlin ? 2
Paul Fancher 2
Andy Lucas 2
Patrick Angell 1
Jeff Winkler 1
Jeremy Pych 1
Andrew Coe 1
John Sieczkowski 1
Doug Plummer 1

It's a Coaches job, Tour of Lawrence

Tonight is the last chance to enter online for the Tour of Lawrence! Get it done now or pay the $20.00 late fee on race day. If you decide not to race volunteer and get a front row seat to the best racing so far this year. So much to do.........

So what does a coach really do for you? I really wondered, I mean I've got the powermeter and Adam crunches the numbers and sets up my training schedule. Now you may think that's about it but I've found it's not just that. Adam and I talk and e-mail often about how the training is going and how I feel. He makes adjustments to the schedule as needed and we go on.

Today we were discussing the Tour of KC races and I was a bit disappointed in my results and felt like I had a few life challenges that held me back. With out hesitation Adam replied, "Don't you think everybody else has challenges as well". Brutally honest, I need to quit worrying about what is going on in my life, deal with it, and do the best I can. I've never had anyone tell me to just shut up and ride (of course in a very nice way), but he made me think, and that's a coaches job.

Then as we were ending the conversation he did mention that I set personal records in every power category during the weekend races, ahhhhhh, the feel good portion, that's a coaches job too!