Tuesday Nite Crit

Cam's got a new bike! Look how happy the Chamber's are and why not, Cam just got 2nd in the Tuesday KC Crit.
Interesting night at the crit. A stiff wind out of the south looked to make for some pretty negative racing. So we get started and pretty soon a break goes up the road and it's got some horsepower. I spotted it and bridged across but when I got there only a few of the 8 or so guys were pulling. I looked back and we had a pretty good gap and I thought we were gone. Alas.....too many passengers and not enough ponies. At one point Shadd rolled back to the baggage and said "you've got to be kidding", and off he went. So we got caught.
Now I know better to get shuffled too far back when the break gets caught and I only went back 10 places or so......but Cam and Shadd rolled off the front just as the groups came together and that was it. The rest of the race was spent just getting a workout and then my DUH moment came. I just finished pulling and went all the way to the end of the pack, yes, I was the last guy. Then as we are cresting the hill Chris yells "3 to go". Bummer, now I've got to get to the front. I punch it on the backside to get back into the top ten, 2 to go holding in the top ten, 1 to go kept from getting boxed in and find Joe's back wheel. He's getting a huge leadout and takes me all the way to the the start of the sprint. Joe's 3rd and I'm 4th, sweet, if only this was for money!
I cramped in Sunday's MTB race and now my legs are hurt even worse than they did when we started. Cramping is bad, but continuing to race with cramps tears your legs up even worse. If anyone has the answer to cramping in the MTB races Cam and I would love to hear them.
Speaking of Cam, check out the War Axe socks he's sporting. Pretty sweet. If you think the socks are cool wait till you see the frames and forks.

Landahl MTB

Sunday morning came early as I made my Scott and Liz leave in time to be at Landahl by 9:30am. We ended up getting a awesome parking spot and also got to do a few laps of the course. That's what I wanted to do so I could get used to the 29'er. The bike is awesome and I felt at home right away. The bike is snappy in the turns and even with the big wheels accelerates well out of the turns.
Course conditions were great and race time was nearing. Liz wore her pink shorts to make sure the boys knew who they were racing. Sully was ready to rip as well. I started on the front row but got a poor start and ended up somewhere in the top 10 going into the singletrack. That's where things get a little fuzzy. The fast guys are off and running, then there's me, and I have no idea what's behind me. Soon I see Kent on the side of the trail fixing a flat. By the 2nd lap I'm starting to cramp but holding my own but by the third lap I'm in damage control mode and just trying to finish. About then I move over and the Kent McNeil train comes through with 2 other riders on his wheel. Now it's lap 4 and Sully is catching me I just move over and let him go.
In the end Liz ended up 2nd in the women's race. I ended up 2nd in the 45+ race and 8th overall. Not too bad at all. The competition was tough and conditions were as well.
Am I a geek or what! The only guy to stick a team jersey on for the podium shot.
So you know you had a bad day when your bike ends up here! Scott crashed out today but we took his bike home with us. He's ok and his bike will be fine, this one, not so much.

Here we go...............it's Landahl!

As crazy as it seems we are going MTB racing tomorrow. I hope it's true and it's tacky trail conditions and not mud. I'll be breaking in a new Fisher Paragon tomorrow as well. Not only is the bike new but it will be the first ride/race on a 29'er. It will also be the first race sporting the Fisher 29'er Team Kit as well. Here's hoping for the best.
Here's the end of the Wednesday night Hill Ride. The last guys standing as it seems rolling back to the finish. Hot and windy made the ride hard but it's only going to get hotter.
Today was another two game Saturday. We thought it was the last game for Jonas. Little did we know there is a two weekend tournament.
With gas prices going up again we started to ride to the games. Roe park is pretty close and on the bike path so why not.

So now I've got to go pack and get ready for tomorrow. We will see if I made the right decision.
Road or MTB.........stay tuned.

Tuesday crit and more new posts

So here I sit, posting all of the last few days events as it's pouring down rain outside. It's been about a week since my last posty so tonight I got caught up. Four posts later I'm down to tonight's crit.

We started the crit and the roads were dry, but the storms were brewing all around us. Lightning and thunder was close but looked to heading away. So we got started and after a few laps Shadd, Joe, and another guy were just off the front. I jumped up to them and away we went. I never looked back as I was staring at the wheel in front of me so I don't know how quickly the gap grew. Soon the rain started and I freaked out. It's the first rainy crit since last years crash and $10,000 worth of surgery on my hand, I didn't want to go through that again. On top of that I 'm didn't want to slow the break in the corners so I started to tailgun the break until I got comfortable. Shadd and Joe were nice enough to let me hang on until later in the race when I felt good enough to start pulling. In the end they let me win, thanks guys!

Now we can only hope that we get better weather the rest of the week. The MTB race Landahl looks doubtful at this point. State Champs down south? or big bucks at Tour of Winghaven in St. Louis? Hmmm what to do?

Tuesday KC Crit Results 6/3/08

Tuesday KC Crit results 6/3/08

1. Tom Price
2. Shadd Smith
3. Joe Schmalz
4. Bill Marshall
5. Graham Aldrich

Tuesday KC Crit Overall Points as of 6/3/08

1. Shadd Smith 46
2. Joe Schmalz 20
3. David Hedjuk 19
4. Tom Price 14
5. Adam Mills 14
6. Cam Chambers 13
7. Bill Marshall 9
8. Steve Tilford 7
9. Graham Aldrich 7
10. Phil Mann 5
11. Jeremy Pych 5
12. Phil Gronniger 4
13. Brian Jensen 3
14. Chris Hall 3
15. Jeff Schroeder 2
16. Mike Pallito 1
17. Kurt Mulebach 1
18. Bill Stolte 1

Tulsa Tough "The Races"

It's hard to believe that Tulsa was the first Crit that I've done this year. Friday, what a way to start, 100 guys and it's going to get dark, well at least it won't get dark until I'm done. So the race went OK for me, went for some primes but just missed, and then ran out of steam in the end. Overall not too bad of a race and ended up 12Th in the end. After the race we had a great time watching the PRO races IN THE DARK! YEA!!!!!
Saturday: After the storm the races restarted and all of the amature races were shortened to get things back on schedule. It didn't help me as my legs were dead and either off the front or hanging at the back. Then I had a brain fart and screwed up the laps at the end of the race. Ended up 24th, paid 15.....duh.
Sunday: No race for me. Some of the races were cancelled after the storm due to damages to the area and a downed power line. They did manage to run some of the races later in the day so we stuck around to see the Women's PRO and Men's 1-2.

Pictures: A rare one of me, the PRO women dropping down the hill, the break in the women's race, and the Men's 1-2 on the downhill.

Tulsa Tough, "The Storms"

We went to Tulsa for the Tulsa Tough Crits and got a bit of a surprise from the weather. Friday night was good, nice and warm, just my kind of weather.
Saturday we woke up and we looked out to the North and it looked pretty iffy. So we went to the race course a few blocks away to sign up Jonas for the kids races. About then we saw the really dark clouds and lightning coming in and decided to run for the hotel.
Glad we did, gale force winds, hail, and heavy rain rolled in just as we got back. After an hour it was over and the racing went on. Sunday....this was the big one, storm that is. As we were getting ready to go to the race course it looked on the radar like a huge storm was about to hit, what to do.....we ended up hanging out at the hotel. Good thing as the storm was bad and there was so much damage that some of the races
cancelled. Check out the pictures. Jonas and Eli checking out the port-a-pottie. Bummer if you were in there! Bigger bummer was if you owned the car under the tree. That was right next to Sundays course. You know the race course is muddy when the promoter gets the Fire Department to come out and hose off the course.