Action at the last Cross Clinic

Returned from the trip out east just to get sick with a migraine, oh yea, too much stress, bad food, and sleepless nights. That's what you get when you drive 14 hrs, and spend less than 24 hrs at your destination before driving the 14 hrs back. Did I mention that the Corvette Club can take up every hotel from Terre Haute, IN to St.Louis Mo. Or that Super 8 Hotel can charge $150.00 a night just because they are there. Just another fun part of the trip. Not to say that it was all bad, just a short trip to deal with some somber family business.

On to some fun stuff......

















Shadd with his new/old/ refreshed A bike.

















Last clinic tonight, after last weeks debacle with the off camber turn Coach Adam, with help from some of his Source Endurance athletes, set it up again with much better results.

I was a little under the weather so I didn't ride but Pinky got out there with the crew and had a great time. He loved mixing it up with all the other riders. How cool is that!

Bill is just a blur while Jason is sporting a sweet white Source Endurance jersey. White jersey+cross usually ends in green stains on said jersey. Have fun with that one Jason.

Bill's off to Gloucester for the weekend, we have Boss Cross here and there is the Omaha Weekend. It's looking like I'll be splitting my weekend due to family obligations but maybe, just maybe............I'll get to start my cross season. Maybe it's time to get that 2nd bike built up.

A Week in Photo's

It's been a busy week so I'm going to throw up some photo's from the road. Yes, I'm stepping it up with a lap top for on the road posts.















Made the road trip to PA yesterday/today for some family business. Got in early and got a ride in the PA hills. I really miss the riding out east, lot's of extended climbing. The climb in the picture is from about 2/3 of the way to the top.

















Went to Wed nite cross practice with Pinky. We had a great time and Pinky learned how to dismount and remount, slow but he's getting it. Now all he has to do is learn to get over the barriers. Good group again this week, 80 people or so. Adam threw in a off camber corner this week that gave quite a few people fits. Guess that's why it's called practice, and why there are coaches there.

















Going back to some training like I did a few seasons ago, note the big fattie road tires.
















Seems like a number of people have saved a turtle this year so I guess it was my turn. Since it was on the bike path he was probably pretty safe but I decided to scoot him off to the side and join the club.

When I dropped the boys off at school I noticed that there was only 3 bike in the bike rack. Rode by another school along the Indian Creek bikepath and saw this bike rack. There was another rack just a full behind the school. School near a bikepath=many kids riding bikes, School nowhere near bikepath=very few bikes. I vote for more bikepaths!

Tomorrow there are cross races all over, except where will be. oh well, have fun and I'll be at it next week. Looks to be a true cross weekend with mud and even some cooler temps at the USGP in WI. Good luck to all!

Long time, no post

Missed the opening weekend of the cross season due to injuries, what a bummer. Lil' Boy and I were over at Marshall's house as the KCCX crew loaded up and headed out for Herman Cross. I do love night races, and a cross race at night would of been even better. Instead we both hung our heads as the team drove off and we headed for home. Closer to home the 360 crew put on a fine cross/mtb weekend at Swope. Well, here's to hoping for a speedy recovery for both of us.

So instead of racing I opted for a flat cruise up to Parkville. Now if you've done this ride before you know there are a bunch of signs and lane changes, you have to pay attention.... or you may, possibly, end up on 635. Kind of wondered why there was so much traffic all of the sudden. Ended up down by the casino on Hwy 69, bushwhacked in the median, and ended up going back on 635 to get back on track. Might have to pay more attention next time. Overall a pretty good ride.

















So why is it that we take vacation time from work............to do work around the house. Something wrong with that! So it was finally time to tackle the hardwood floor. Mathgeek was threatening to hire someone if I didn't get it done and wining about the knee wasn't going to hold her off any longer. (even if she still can't stand to look at it) So here's the view of the dining room pre-installation, pretty nasty stuff under the old carpet!
















Started in the dining room and worked my way into the living room. All most done!
















Overall it took a day and a half to get the floor done. I must of wasted half of the first day figuring out how to get started and how I wanted the floor to look. After that putting the floor down went pretty quick. Renting the nailer is the way to go and I got to get a air compressor out of the deal.
















The finished floor! Yea.........Next up, new base boards and I'm done.
















So I had two days to get the floor down before I had to get ready for our trip out east. In my need for speed I knew I needed to cut wood outside, but close to the rooms I was working in. The garage was out, too far away. The deck was perfect, until it started to rain! Up went the tarp, worked great even in the pouring rain. Kinda trailer parkish but it makes me think that it would be really nice to have a covered deck. Maybe I should leave it up, my neighbors will love it.

Next up, Funeral Service for Mathgeeks father in Pittsburgh. It's going to be a long trip, 14 hr drive each way. Wish we had time to get back to Cleveland but there just isn't enough time. One more week off the race scene then it 's back to the races until Nationals.

Cross Practice

Super nice night out for the Wednesday Cross Practice. It was the first week for me and I was truly amazed at the number of people out there. It looked like there was at least 60 people of different abilities out there attempting to figure out this cyclocross thing. In the picture you see three different groups, true beginners, people with a few races under their belt, and the crew that wants to go faster this season. My coach, Adam, from Source Endurance was there helping with the faster group while Mark, Theresa, and Mike took the other groups. If you are thinking about trying cross I would come on out next week, it's kind of nice to have someone tell you where to put your feet on dismounts!


































Jonas came out to see what this cross stuff is all about. He's loving the new bike even though it's a little big. Might even try a cross race or two.
















But, for now he may have to focus on Soccer. Only halfway through the season at this point. Usually he plays at Heritage but last week he had team pictures taken at the new Overland Park Soccer complex. Super nice place, all the fields are astroturf, they even have finely ground rubber that looks like dirt in the grass, wow.

The End of the Road season, TOM

Went down to Downtown KC to see the final day of the Tour of Missouri with the family. Nice day, huge crowds(TV just said 100,000!)and a great race.We saw a bunch of friends from both KC and out of town. Saw the battle for the KOM points and then headed down to the expo and the race finish. Best TOM yet, hope they can keep it going.

















The sprint for the KOM points!

















Garmin on the front working hard.


















The boys had fun at the race but the highlight usually revolves around what comes out of this trailer. Can you say free samples!
















We ended up with a great spot to see the wind up for the finish. They announced that the field was going through the start/finish @42mph on the first lap. The battle for the KOM and points was definitely on.


So as we were walking back to the car mathgeek says, "I guess this means the road season is officially over." I had to agree, cross starts in KC next weekend. I'm not even close to being ready with bike or body. I did manage to get on the bike while I was in Lincoln and that really helped my knee. Tried to run today and that did not help. I'm hoping for the best this week, maybe I'll try to get a cross bike ready for the Wed cross clinic.















I did manage to get Pinky's cross bike built up tonight. 47cm frame and the seat is set about where it should be. It's going to be interesting to watch him learn to shift with STI and also get used to SPD pedals.

Mmmmmmm, cross.

Gateway Cup: Day 3-4, Tour of MO

Friday night under the lights for the PRO 1-2 men. I mean kinda under the lights. This race has spots of bright light followed by black holes and goofy shadows. Makes it interesting for these guys as fast as they go.

Scott had a good weekend. Rode in the sweet spot at the front of the 3's race staying out of the scrum of 120 guys.

These bikes are cool. Just starting to receive some from the factory in the shop. Maybe I'll get one one of these days. Being the bike geek that I am I was taking pictures of the bikes while the whole Kelly Benefits Team was sitting there. Mathgeek said they were all looking at me while I was geeking over their bikes. Guess it's the mechanic in me.

Here's a video of the last lap at the Giro. It's way too dark out to pick anybody out but they were flying! The Pro race started late because of race stoppages in the PRO Woman's race and the Masters race.

This is a clip of the PRO 1-2 race going into the finishing straight. Joe's on the front in this shot. The local KC/Lawrence crew were impressive all weekend. I don't think I saw many breaks go without a Mercy or Tailwind rider in it.

As for me....... decided to sit out Sunday, hit the zoo with the family and then head to the races later in the day. Glad I did, there was a huge crash in the masters race anyway and I don't have much skin left to give.

Monday I decided to race after Jay called me old and my wife said I was afraid. Old, afraid......Pffffffft bring on those 120 cat 3's. The fact is, the only thing I was worried about is the fact that I wasn't sure if I'm looking at skin or muscle through the hole in my knee. So I race and actually felt pretty good. On the last lap I got pushed into the curb and just wasn't mentally prepared to battle my way back to the front with a half lap to go.

So now I'm nursing my wounds and tallying up the damage to the bike. I'm not sure what's more pain full! Overall the ribs are not too bad,(not sure what the lump is all about) road rash on both hips and shoulders, back, and ankle. By far the knee is the worst and is going to take months to heal.

Oh well, that's racing!

Gateway Cup, Day 1-2

Day 1:Not too much to say here, as all way pretty stressfull getting to the race on Friday. Rode ok, and ended up 13th. Good position going in to the last turn when it slowed down, had to try to get going again without much luck.

Day 2: woke up to heavy rain, the schedule that I had said I raced at 10am, I guess times changed and I really raced at 12:00. Bummer sitting with the kids in the van with it raining. They were troopers through it all and as race time finally arrived the rain was about done. Started the race at the front and about 3 laps in I was sitting in the top 10 when I hit a sunken manhole cover. Last thing I remember is my chest hitting the stem and then looking back to see a whole bunch of bikes heading for me as I was sliding down the road. Curled up in a ball and took a beating. Pretty much junked and SRAM Rival group and every piece of of my kit, yes even my helmet. See the road was like fresh chip seal so everything that hit the road looks like a cheese grater attacked it. Don't know if I'll race anymore, I do have another bike with me so if Scott can come up with another buckle for my shoe I'll see how I feel.

Last Tue KC Crit of the year, Final points

and so ends another season of Tuesday night Crits. Thanks go out to Chris and Kerry Hess(hope I spelled it right) for organizing the event. Large groups of riders showed up on a weekly basis keeping the races hard and fast, just what a training crit needs to be. It's was good to see some new faces and even some of the old guard challenging for those points paying positions.

Tonight's race still had a good turnout for the last training crit of the year. Bill did his traditional attack on the neutral lap and it took a good 20 minutes to pull his group back. After that there were attacks that never really seemed to go anywhere until 5 to go when Phil G. attacked hard with a teammate. It was beginning to look like they were going to make it to the finish until Joe and Adam from Mercy/Source E took some hard pulls to bring them back. In the end it was a field sprint where I ended up 6th. Nearly scored some points but it was not to be.

Next up, a 10k TT on Thursday to open up the legs and then Gateway Cup opens up on Friday night.

Tonight's Finishing Order

1. Shadd Smith
2. Dave Hedjuk
3. Jason Knight
4. Mark Cole
5. Doug Plumer

Total Points after final race

Shadd Smith 97
David Hejduk 40
Phil Gronniger 27
Mark Cole 25
Brian Jensen 24
Brian Bradley 20
Tom Price 17
Chris Hall 15
Joe Schmalz 13
Bill Marshall 12
Adam Mills 10
Adam Miller 7
Jason Knight 7
Paul Fancher 6
Nick Coil 6
Stefan Rothe 5
Matt Ankeney 4
Lawrence Simonson 3
Steve Songer 3
John Sieczkowski 3
Phil Mann 3
Lyle Reynolds 2
Marlin ? 2
Andy Lucas 2
John Pahlman 2
Doug Plummer 2
Jeff Winkler 1
Patrick Angell 1
Jeremy Pych 1
Andrew Coe 1