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Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Tuesday KC Crit Results 4/29/08

Tuesday KC Crit Results 4/29/08
  1. Shadd Smith
  2. David Hedjuk
  3. Tom Price
  4. Cam Chambers
  5. Adam Mills

Tuesday KC Crit Overall Points as of 4/29/08

  1. Shadd Smith 32
  2. Cam Chambers 11
  3. Adam Mills 11
  4. David Hedjuk 11
  5. Joe Schmalz 9
  6. Bill Marshall 6
  7. Graham Aldrich 6
  8. Tom Price 6
  9. Steve Tilford 5
  10. Brian Jensen 3
  11. Mike Palitto 1
  12. Mulebach 1

Tuesday crit and more

Time to line up for another Tuesday KC Crit. Pretty good turnout for the races tonight and it felt pretty quick. Constant attacks from the gun kept it rolling until a break of 6 got off. Cam and I made the break with Shadd, Adam, David, Phil Gronniger (Ithink), and one other Epic dude. The one Epic dude dropped off and then it was 5. Shadd and Adam were nice and didn't attack the group until the end.


And the winner is..............Shadd Smith!










On a somewhat sad note, Cam and Amber have decided to move on from the the Trek Store to another shop in town. As they say, the offer was just too good to pass up. Can't blame them for doing what they felt was best for their future. Oh well, it's not like they are moving away so we'll see them around. Gonna miss ya at the shop guys.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Go Noah!

Go Noah!

I think this was the first full length race for my friend Kevin's son Noah. I guess hanging out with dad rubbed off on him and he rode a great stage race to finished 1st overall. I'm a bit blown away by the fact that Kevin and I were roommate's in our college years and now we have sons racing. The next few years are really going to be fun. I do think it's awesome that he put the first win of the year on the books for the Lincoln Industries crew. Now it's time for the old guys to get it in gear.
Poppa Kevin had a good weekend as well with a 4th overall in the Pro 1-2 race. Could of rode the 40+ race but he still likes to mix it up with Brian Jensen and the rest of the fast guys in the Pro 1-2 races.
Both Troy and Don had good races as well. Hopefully I'll be able to get out there in a few weeks and try to help get some results for the team.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

What did you do this weekend?

I know a lot of you raced this weekend somewhere, and a few more were planning on racing but got rained out at the last moment. I was actually going to go out to Perry for the MTB race but I'm sort of glad it rained out after riding today. More on that later.

Saturday was spent with the kids at soccer/baseball games. 4 games between the kids made for a busy day.
Eli had his 1st T-ball game and I got roped into coaching the kids in batting. Pretty scary considering I never made it beyond 3rd grade ball. IT was fun and I know most of the kids anyway. Game 2 was Jonas's B-ball game. His team has some players and they ended up crushing the other team 17-0. Fun to watch and they want nothing to do with my coaching skills, even better.
This game was followed 15 min later by soccer games for both Jonas and Eli with the same start times.
Sweet soccer fields for Jonas's team. His team is not the best but he loves it and tries hard. Tough sport so he gaining fitness every week.
So after finding out the MTB race was rained out Scott and I decided to ride up to Leavenworth. I felt like someone stuffed a sock down my throat most of the ride. Got to love antibiotics. That's why I said I was glad I ended up not racing earlier. Good 4 hour ride so I can't complain.
Scott and I found a bit of water on the way in!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Cam's got a new toy

Cam's new 29'er Team Issue Superfly finally arrived today at the shop. Don't start looking for one of these on the showroom floor anytime soon. There's only three of them made for the 29'er wrecking crew and as you can see it's a little different than your regular Superfly. Check out those slider dropouts and custom Bontrager rear hub! The special graphics are pretty cool as well. Can't wait for the parts to arrive so we can get it rolling.
Cam's going to be flying with this rig!



Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Tuesday Crit

So another Tuesday nit crit is in the books. Beautiful weather greeted us for the first time this year. I was a little leery of how I would feel due to the fact that I finally found out why I was struggling with my fitness. More on that later.
The race started off with a few guys attacking and then getting brought back. After a while that pack slowed going into the hill after bringing back a attack
so I punched it with Joe and Cam on my wheel. I took 2 long hard pulls to help get us away but unfortunately I couldn't recover and mentally blew. Cam and Joe were way out there and just waited for Shadd to shake loose from the field and join them. Once that was done deal the pack just waited for the field sprint. I ended up 3rd in the field sprint, 6th overall. Not too shabby for being one sick dog.


Had to try and get a picture of Cam with his TREK KC Jersey and the Fisher 29'er crew shorts. He's got one foot in the dirt and one on the road. He's having so much fun on the road I think we've turned turned him to the dark side.

Here's my listen to your body story. I've been having trouble recovering from rides/races for the last 2 months. During this time I've felt like crap at times, had headaches, and felt hot/cold on and off. So I finally found that I have a infection in a tooth that had a root canal done 2 months ago. Looks like the infection never went away and I've been fighting it ever since. After a weekend on painkillers and some antibiotics the pain is much better. Now I've got to go get another root canal to clean out that tooth and then hope that 2 weeks on antibiotics takes care of the infection.
Moral of the story..........listen to your body, if you wait to get help it will take twice as long to get well when you do.

Tuesday KC Crit Results 4/22/08

Tuesday KC Crit Results 4/22/08
  1. Joe Schmalz
  2. Shadd Smith
  3. Cam Chambers
  4. Bill Marshall
  5. Graham Aldrich

KC Crit Overall Points as of 4/22/08

  1. Shadd Smith 27
  2. Cam Chambers 10
  3. Adam Mills 9
  4. Joe Schmalz 9
  5. David Hedjuk 7
  6. Bill Marshall 6
  7. Graham Aldrich 6
  8. Steve Tilford 5
  9. Tom Price 3
  10. Brian Jensen 3
  11. Mike Palitto 1
  12. Kurt Mulebach 1

Thursday, April 17, 2008

You can tell you're old when............

So last night after the Wednesday Hill ride Jay and I get back to the shop and are discussing how we both have pain in one side of our lower back/hip area. We're in the mechanics area and after we finish our self diagnosis Cam chips in with " Is that how I'm gonna feel when I get old?". Now I know I'm old but Jay is still in self denial about his age. I guess when I look at Cam at the age of 27 I do have 21 years on him so I probably do look a bit old to him. Of course if I'd quit complaining about all my aches a pains I probably wouldn't seem so old.

Speaking of age, I wonder how many Masters riders refer to their age as their actual age or their racing age. If you ask me I'll usually tell you my racing age. It probably stems from the thought of moving to the next age group. Everybody wants to be the young guy in the age group. Heck, 1 more year and I'll hit the 50+ group at Cross Nationals. Now if that's not a good reason to keep on racing I don't know what is.

So the bottom line is this, "You can grow old but you can be immature forever",
you gotta love bike racers!

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Wednesday Hill Ride

The Wednesday ride again upheld it's reputation as one of the more difficult rides tonight. The group had quite a few more people overall and a few more fast guys as well. The pace was a little slower but I think the wind really slowed the pace between the hills. The computer on my bike did show a 50mph max speed from the only tailwind downhill on Woodland Rd. My legs felt pretty good but tired from last nights crit. It looks like rain tomorrow so it will be a day off to rest the legs and get recharged. So what's next, Quad Cities, Tulsa, Joe Martin? Only time will tell.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Tuesday KC Crit Week #5

Here we go!!!! Into the headwind! Tonight we had a much bigger group with a few big hitters to spice things up. The TREK regional team was there as well as Matt and Bill from the Mercy team. Add in Brian Jensen and you end up with one hard race. It didn't take long for the race to blow apart .
And away they go, the break forms and it's over for the rest of us. The chase kept it respectable and we brought back the guys that got shelled in the break.
Where's Shadd?
So it ended up like this. Steve, Brian, and Shadd.
Then the field sprint. Pretty ugly one as it's uphill and into the wind. Those that went early died and most were just too tired to care. I actually rode a bit better than I thought I would. I guess the crappy riding in Lincoln last weekend was better training than I thought.
On a related note, look at all those white legs!
YEA for warm weather!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday KC Crit Results 4/15/08

Results for Tuesday KC Crit #5

  1. Steve Tilford
  2. Shadd Smith
  3. Brian Jensen
  4. Joe Schmalz
  5. David Hedjuk

Overall Points as of 4/15/08

  1. Shadd Smith 23
  2. Adam Mills 9
  3. Davis Hedjuk 7
  4. Cam Chambers 7
  5. Steve Tilford 5
  6. Graham Aldrich 5
  7. Joe Schmalz 4
  8. Bill Marshall 4
  9. Brian Jensen 3
  10. Tom Price 3
  11. Mike Pallitto 1
  12. Kurt Mulebach 1

Monday, April 14, 2008

Spring Classic Day 2

Yep, Sunday was pretty much the same as Saturday. Cold and windy, this picture was from Saturday at start time. The masters race Sunday started with the temp at 28 degrees. Take that Shadd, you guys were a bunch of sissies in Tulsa with 65 degrees!
The Masters race was much the same as yesterday. Pretty negative racing with the cold, wind, and a big hill.
Scott and I did the Masters Race and it was pretty mellow. We were both tired from Saturday's road race so the pace was good. That is until a few laps to go when some guys crashed fighting for the draft and took Scott down. Slow speed crash, lot's of bike damage, DNF for Scott. I ended up 5th. The legs are tired and I'm doing the 123 race in a few hours. Can I last 75 minutes?
So Scott was sitting in the van 15 minutes before the 123 race and bummed he couldn't race when Kevin Limpach from Omaha pokes his head in the wan and askes in Scott wants to race his bike. A quick fire drill later Scott's on the line. He then went on to have a awsome race, driving the pace most of the race while everybody else tried to hide from the wind.
As for me, I just hung on,
covered a few moves and finished 10th. Good training day.
Bring on the warm weather!

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Spring Classic Day #1

Day #1: Today I woke up at 6:00am so I could get out to help set up for the race. My team is promoting the race so I've got to help out. I jumped into the car to go get Scott and noticed that it was snowing, yep 32 degrees and snowing, made me even more unmotivated to race. By time we got to the race site it had stopped snowing but it was still cold and the wind was now blowing 25 to 30 mph out of the north, Brrrrrrr.
As for the race, I did the 123's instead of the masters, why? Becasue I'm a team kind of guy and most of the team is doing the 123's. So the race started and right off the bat a group rolls off the front. None of my teammates are in the group but Jay makes the group. 6 riders and 30+ mph winds I figured they would be coming back. Soooo, we hit the tailwind section and I decide to roll off the front of the group, they let me go and I manage to get out there in no man's land. So I ease up to wait for the group and here comes a group of 5 up to meet me. Kevin's in the group so now we have 2 in the chase group.
Now you would think this would be good but we hit the cross wind and my legs are dead. I mean when I take a pull I barely make it back into the draft. So I sit in and hope to recover. By the 2nd lap I'm not getting any better, in fact, now I'm starting to feel like legs are going to cramp. Lot's of GU and water and I'm still just hanging on the back.
Lap three and the lead group is down to 2 and our group is up to 6, we get the gap down to 60 seconds and the two lead riders have teammates in our break and they stop working so the gap quickly grows.
The last two laps are pretty uneventful as I'm fighting off cramps but the guys in our group are not attacking me since I've told them I won't sprint. It's so frustrating to just have to sit on but I have to do what it takes to stay in the break as I'm in the money in the 123 race, and the bonus for the 3's.
In the end Kevin ends up 5th, I'm 8th, and I think Troy was 10th. I ended up the 3rd cat 3 across the line. Overall it was a extremely frustrating day as I know what to do in the races but the legs just won't go. But, tomorrows another race and it is only April. No pic's today as I was just too cold but I should get some tomorrow. (not that it won't be cold tomorrow)

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Rain...No TT, and boredom

More rain today means no TT and now it's not going to happen until May. Oh well....I'm not riding too hot right now anyway.
Sooooooo what do shop employees do when they don't get enough sun? Tape the Scott to the chair and send him spinning to the front of the store. Yep, the rain sucks but this was pretty darn amusing.
Off to Lincoln this weekend to do a few races and freeze my butt off.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Nope ....it's not spring yet!

That's as far as I got tonight when I got home from the Hill ride. I got absolutely drenched on the way home so I had to strip at the door and head for a warm shower. Since I left from the shop I had my camera, phone, and my I-pod in my jersey pockets so I had to make a quick stop at a gas station for a plastic bag. Hope everybody else made it back ok as it got dark, cold and really wet in a hurry.

Is it Spring Yet?

Man it was cold last night for the crit. Just look at Scott! Man was I unmotivated to race last night. I guess the cold, rain , and too much going on last night with the family had me at the end of my rope. Cam and Shadd were rippin it up as usual. I was close but again just not close enough to make the break. Oh well, maybe next week.
Pretty confusing finish this week with the break lapping the field at the end. If you were paying attention the field ended up doing an extra lap. Bill and I knew and went with Shadd and Cam when they went around the field. If we went by the rule book the placings would of been different but we will use the final lap raced for points.


Tuesday KC Crit Results 4/8/08
1. Shadd Smith
2. Cameron Chambers
3. David Hedjuk
4. Graham Aldrich
5. Kurt Mulebach

Tuesday KC Crit Overall as of 4/8/08
1. Shadd Smith 19
2. Adam Mills 9
3. Cam Chambers 7
4. David Hedjuk 6
5. Graham Aldrich 5
6. Bill Marshall 4
7. Tom Price 3
8. Joe Smaltz 2
9. Mike Pallito 1
10 Kurt Mulebach 1

Sunday, April 6, 2008

The debate over when to ride ended early when I got up at 6am to find that it looked like rain was in the forcast. A quick Sunday paper read and some chow and I was out the door and headed to Minor park. Got out there and did a few laps on the east side before I ran into Andy, Josh, and a 2 other guys. (I know, I should know names but I can barely remember my kids names)

Andy and I were flying down the singletrack when a branch sticking halfway out into the trail took his front wheel out. He went down super hard, but got up and rode the rest of the way out. Glad he wasn't hurt, I really didn'think he was going to get up.

Anyway, as you can see from the above picture I flatted again. And yes, that's a tubeless tire with a big enough cut in it that it won't seal. Below you will find the offending creek bed that cut the tire. So not only do I have to deal with goop in the tire, I have mud and slime on the outside of the tire as well. Got a tube in and went to put the wheel back on, and knocked the brake pads out of the caliper. Yep...this whole fiasco could of won a video award. In any case I finally got it together and wobbled my way to the soccer fields just in time to see the start of Jonas's game. Oh yea, I rained while I was riding to the game.
Sure was nice working in the yard this afternoon.

Oh well....some days you get it right, some days you don't!

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Yep, that's me, overdressed as usual. When I rode into the shop in the morning it was 35 degrees and it was 60 by time I went riding. I just didn't have any more room in my pockets to take any more off. Oh well....... the summer can't come soon enough.

See the construction in the background. Guess I should of stopped when the sign said DANGER BLASTING


So naturally as I'm thinking I need to hurry up and get out of there I got a flat. Quickest flat I've changed in quite a while.

Snuck out and got a few hours in Friday afternoon before going to baseball practice for Jonas.
Saturday it was a double header with both boys having soccer games in the AM. Got out on the road with Scott for a few hours. Pretty tired from the week so it's probably good that I passed on racing.

Back out tomorrow with a noon game for Jonas. Hmmmm... MTB ride before the game or road ride after?

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Rain, Rain, go AWAY, No TT today

The TT bike was done and ready to rip. It looks good....I really should ride it before I race it but that just wouldn't be right. Too bad it's raining.
Yep, no TT today due to rain. I'm not too sure if that's a bummer or not. Once I found out the TT was cancelled till next week I totally blew a gasket and found out how tired I was. Lots of high intensity training and very little sleep has made me a very tired boy. Time to regroup.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Tough Training Week

So far it's been a busy training week. The Tuesday KC Crit was as fast as ususal. I got away with Andy C, Bill, Adam, and Shadd early but the field was not tired yet and chaised us down. Soon after we got caught a group of 20 or so rolled off the front of the field. Shadd jumped up to the break and that was it. Shadd blew the group apart and all that was left was Adam, Joe S., and Cameron.
Bill and I tried to jump up to the break but just missed. Oh well....3 bike lenghts may as well be three miles.
Tuesday KC Crit Results
1. Shadd Smith
2. Adam Mills
3. Cam Chambers
4. Joe Smalt
5. Mike Pallito
KC Crit Points as of 4-1-08
1. Shadd Smith 14
2. Adam Mills 9
3. Bill Marhsall 4
4. Graham Aldrich 3
5. Tom Price 3
6. David Hejduk 3
7. Cam Chambers 3
8. Joe Shmalz 2
9. Mike Pallito 1




Wednesday:
Started the day early with a 2 hr MTB ride with the three stooges (see photo above) Scott, Sean, and Steve + Shadd Smith. We met at Minor Park and hit most the trails on the East side before heading to work. We kept a pretty quick pace so we were all pretty worked by time we made it back to the cars.
Worked all day until it was time to get the kit on for the Wed Hill Ride. Bill Marshall, Chris Wallace, and most of the 360 crew showed up to make it a tough ride. The legs are getting pretty tired but I hung in there to the end with the final group of 6.
Now for the final day tomorrow when it looks like I'll be heading for the monthly TT. It's short at 10K but it will be intense. I might just enjoy sitting down and watching Jonas practice Friday night. The question now is can I recover in time to race on Sunday?