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Sunday, July 10, 2011

Last week in pictures........

A week ago was the Tour of Lawrence which was a so-so weekend for me. The first two races were terrible but I really had a great race on the final day. Monday the 4th I had went for a easy ride and felt good and I though I was ready for a few hard workouts before a 4 day rest. Tuesday I found out how wrong I was, pre-race intervals were a disaster, and when Tuesday night Worlds got going I came off and headed for home. I guess I was more than ready for a rest. On that note, lets look at the pictures.......
Here's Joe Schmalz from the Elbowz team celebrating a big win at the Iron Hill Criterium in PA. This was race 5 of the US Criterium Series and puts him 9th overall as well. Another great ride for Joe, 2 wins in 2 weeks! I can't wait to see what he can do when he joins the KCCX/Fuji Cyclocross team this fall.
On the 4th we headed off to our annual Pool party at the Kesslers. Curly had a good time riding Jaws around the pool while we hung out with the adults. It felt really good to take a dip in the pool and scare all the kids with my bikers tan lines. Jobro on the other hand decided to go to a local pool with his buddies since there are only girls his age at the party. Wonder how long it will be before that changes, at his age it won't be long!
After the pool party we headed out to another friends place to watch the fireworks show. We got home around 11:00pm and the kids had to light some of the fireworks we bought the outside Lawrence. It didn't take long for some lights to go on in a few houses so we called it a night before they called the police.
Thursday I decided to go out and see if I could complete my scheduled interval workout. The problem was that I need a uninterrupted, flat, stretch of road and that just isn't going to happen close to the house. The next best thing is a long gradual hill and that I can find relatively close. Lets see if any KC folks can figure out what hill I was on by the sculptures nearby. The one above looks like the Terminator without any skin and was at the  top of the hill.
I finished my intervals and they went very well proving that I am finally recovered and my legs are working again. I found this sculpture just down the road from the first sculpture. Pretty easy to find since it sits in the median.
A little further down the road I found this last sculpture. All three are pretty different from each other but still pretty cool. This reminds me that I need to change my routes a little more often. You can see so much more on a bike that I'm often surprised at what I missed when I was in the car. Anyway......guess what road I was on when I was doing my intervals and then you will know where the sculptures are.
Carly is still growing but I don't think she's going to get very big. Oh well, you never know what you are going to get when you rescue a pup. She is definitely smart....or lazy, I'm not sure which. She eats lying down and that could go ether way.

I've been watching the Tour de France this week and it has really been a crazy with all the crashes. Quite a few of the favorites have gone down and a number of them are out all ready. My personal favorite, Chris Horner went out in a scary crash that left him so concussed that he didn't know he finished the race. He actually rode the last 30k to finish last on the day.

Today's crash(s) were bad as well. The first one had guys walking out of the woods, some carrying injured riders. The 2nd one is the one that will get all the press. The video above shows a media car passing the riders in the break as it swerves to miss a tree on the side of the road. The car hits the riders and takes two of them out. Both riders eventually got up and finished the race but you have to wonder if they will continue after the rest day.

So that brings us to today, my 2nd day off the bike. Yesterday I was solo with the kids so I decided to get some projects done around the house. Last night I woke up with a mild case of Vertigo so there was no riding today with my head spinning. Tomorrow starts another week and by then I should be ready to ride. I'm hoping for a good training week before we head up to Omaha for the Omaha Cycling Weekend.

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