This is the end....

So I started this blog installment earlier this week, and had a month by month account of my year going...I decided that this was too much, so I hit the file 13 button!!!

This year absolutely FLEW by!!! It's really hard to believe that it's New Years eve day!!! Anyway...My year was jammed with ups and downs, and I think my only saviour was my trusty steed!! It's amazing what a 50 or 60 mile solo ride will do for ya!!

So what to write about now...I set out this year to have a good season, as I have for every season I have been racing!! I had a great season, I wish I could have raced more!! I recall a coversation I had with a long time riding buddy that happened in January. We were talking about doing a trip to Colorado and riding Mount Evans. During that conversation I told him it would be good motivation for me to get into good shape and that I wanted to win a race this year.

Well...The trip to Colorado didn't happen due to a severely crappy job!!! I will say this, the crappy job allowed me to ride A LOT during the middle of the day when all of the CYCLIST HATIN JACKASSES were at work!!! The only good thing about it!!!

Moving on!! Those of you that follow know how my season went, I won a race and came close on a second, had I not been a bit cocky in my ability on my MTB it probably would have been another...oh well!! :)

So today is the last CX race of 2009, it's 17 degrees, there's at least 6 inches of snow still on the ground, and I'm going!!! My fitness is severely lacking, it's F**KING COLD, and I wanna do it!!! CRACKHEAD!!! Oh well one more race to get so wound up I can't see straight!! WOOOOHOOOOOOOooooooo!!!!

So here's to watching the old year do a one handed wheelie off into the sunset, and watching the new year stick the landing down the backside of the new year TABLETOP JUMP after blasting a crossed up, one handed (so the new year can wave goodbye to the old year), layed over flat, BIG F**KING AIR!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah...I have my work cut out for me in the new year...I'm a 3...can you say more trainer time!!!

Happy New Year FREAKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trail 10 and 11...

The weather over the holiday was FREAKIN EPIC!!! 65 degrees at the end of November...SWEEEEEET!!! Anyway, Saturday was supposed to be an epic MTB ride at Smithville...that didn't happen, mostly due to being a lot tired!!! We ended up doing an epic at Landahl park. Which back in the day was the home of some of the GNARLIEST, MOST ROCK AND ROOT INFESTED single track around!!! Oh yeah...and for good measure, it was either up, down, off camber, or all of the above!!!

On to the ride...I was told earlier this year that the epic trails known as 10 and 11 were open again...with that in the back of my mind, we take off. We drop into the single track and wind our way to the bottom, we make our way across the scout camp and decide to ride the boulevard around to what we thought we be a trail to take us to the creek which accesses the trails...No joy there...someone or some company has purchased some of the land on which we USED to ride...FUCKERS!!!

We sit there for a minute, ponder what to do, and end up going back the way we came...After a scenic route to where we wanted to be, we come to a fork in the trail, decide to drop in and head down. This section of trail is new, it was rocks, roots and off camber...IT WAS SWEET!!!

Fast forward a mile...we get to the creek, and as far as I can tell the place we used to cross says CLOSED!!! We ride on about 100 yards and spy what looks to be another point to cross, that looks "used". So we drop in and cross to see if the infamous trails 10 and 11 are open. We start climbing and finally arrive at an intersection that has new trail markers pointing to trail 10 forward, and trail 11 to the right...hmmm...this is a good sign!! Oh yeah...they are designated black diamonds...the good stuff!!!

Off we go on trail 10. We ride along and I start to remember what it was like. Slowly it starts to get more and more technical, to the point where I have to put the Truth in granny and leave it for extended periods!! We keep on keepin on and I'm having a blast!!

The trails that I have been riding over the years since they closed 10 and 11, are fun, but are nowhere near as technical and challenging as these 2 trails. There's no trail that I have ridden lately that forces you to be in granny for that long...It was GREAT!!!

In the end, this portion of Landahl is a loop. Not a bad thing, it means who ever yanked up the land got some of that primo gnarly stuff that I used to call home!!

I think I managed to clean about 60% of the technical stuff on these trails, would have been more, but the fallen leaves offer no love when it come to needing traction!!! I did make it up some stuff I thought I wouldn't...that called for nice and loud WOOOHOOO!!!

We make it around the loop, head back down to the creek, and proceed to cross again. This is where I did something I haven't done in years!! I fumbled my attempt at crossing this creek and had to put my foot in the water...I just laughed!!!

We grind our way back to the trail head, take a short break, and go back for a 2 mile high speed pass. This particular trail was clean of any leaves and the dirt was hero dirt...which means fast and all of the traction you could ever want...hero dirt!!! I pretty much killed it for 2 miles and managed to go 22 mph somewhere along the way. It was sweeeet and I was flying!!!

It was a good day to ride, and it got even better finding out that the epic gnarly trails 10 and 11 are open again!!

RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE!!!

Caffeine induced boredom post...

So it's been a while since I've posted so here's a new one!!! We are now into the off season, which is also cross season. That being said I have been riding more this year than previous years. The main reason is to maintain some fitness and to race in some cross events!!

As I have said before...I go into these races with no expectations, just to have fun and do my best!! Which theses days the fitness and fun factor is a quite a bit below the first cross race I did waaaaaay back in September...stupid MTB race!!!!!

Oh well I'm over it and slowly clawing back some fitness, I know I won't reach the level I was at in September and I'm good with that!! I just want to ease the suffering when I'm out on the cross course!!! So at this point that means one of two things...riding the trainer, or going out with the head light and riding at night...

I did my first night road ride last week and it was interesting!! You loose a lot of sensation of speed, because of the darkness and lack of info from your computer. I ended up riding a bit harder due to this but that's okay!! The way I see it...I needed to do a stronger effort in order to ease the CX suffering!!!

Hmmm...It's raining today and that means no riding outside...BOOOOOOooooo!!! On that note, the Weather Channel has rain in the forecast until Thursday...Mutha Nature is a HO!!!! That means no more riding in the woods either...Oh well...we got a good ride in the jungle...Hmmmm...I guess it's not jungle at this point...so woods on Saturday, and last week at Smithville...We rumbled for 23 miles there, it was SWEET!!!

I think I'm rambling now!! So I'm done, time to ride the freakin trainer...YEA YEA THAT'S GREAT!!!

Racing starts in about 3 and a half months...

The Dot CX

Hmmmm...not much to say about this race. This was my first attempt at racing again following the Dirt Gods vengeful wrath for doing a CX race on my MTB!! It was also the debut of the helmet cam...Unfortunately my aim pretty much sucks so all I got was a close up of the course 10 feet in front of me, and some pretty good quotes from the audio!!!

A few of my favorites..."Giggety", that was going into the first turn after the start. "POWERTAP...I can't compete with that"!!! A racer passed me that had a Powertap hub. "I'd go faster if I was a pro like you"!!! This was to a junior teammate that is a cat 2 rider, he started at the back of all the cat 4 racers which was about 100ish, I was about 10th at the time and started with the first wave of 4's.

Anyhoo...I started riding again on the Tuesday before this race. My ribs were finally good to go and started pedalling again!! I knew going in that my motor would be lacking a bit of top end, and I was right!!

On to the race...We arrive with plenty of time to get ready, so we watch some racing, sign up, eat some of the tasty confections that were available, and just generally kill time. The time comes to get ready, it's still pretty freakin cold!!! I grab the winter riding jacket and heavy gloves and off we go. Good warm up done, time to decide the dress for the race. I shed everything but a base layer and go with regular MTB gloves, which was the way to go!!!

Aaaaand...we're off!!! I stab the pedal on the first try, and the drag race to the first turn begins. I checked my max speed, it was at the start and was 28.5 mph...love that 46 tooth big ring!!! I lean into the first turn in about 4th or 5th out of 53 and proceed to catch air off of the roller that drops down to the course....WOOOHOOOO!!!!

Rolling along, I'm suffering pretty good, trying to maintain my position in the race. It's kinda working...a rider every now and again rolls by and I just try to maintain my effort and stay steady. Somewhere on lap 3 of 4 I finally breakthrough the pain, settle into feeling good and pick up the pace a bit. I start reeling in a trio of riders that are in front of me, and manage to pass all three on a short off camber uphill left...

One of the three passes me back, and rides me off his wheel. I slowly start reeling him in and get to his wheel at the second dismount. Up the hill and back on the bike, I say to him "kick it in big dog"...the guy was taller than me. He puts the hammer down and I manage to stay with him through the last headwind section and proceed to run out of gas just as we hit the pavement to the finish. Fortunately my last effort was enough to create a big gap and had time to do a wheelie across the line in 12th!!!

Good thing it's been raining, because I would really like to be blasting through the woods on some sweet single track ANYWHERE...and since I've done another CX race on the Truth, the the Dirt Gods might feel it necessary to take revenge again for the desecration of an Ellsworth Truth, whose origins are sown deeply in the roots, rocks, and sweet technical single track of the WOODS!!! Not a CX course...to this I say...It's fun and I await the vengeful hand of the Dirt Gods for lining up on the Truth in yet another CX race.

O gods of dirt and singletrack
Bow down and hear this cry
This Truth rider has faltered
Cross is fun, this is why...
The course of tape guides me
The barriers of wood divide
Take not my mad skeelz from me
NO!!! Not another black eye!!!


I love riding my bike!!!!

The next step...

It finally happened...I am now a 3...The last time I tried to upgrade was 2003. I did a ton of racing that year, but ultimately not enough...not enough of the right kind of racing I should say!!

As I look back on 2003, I did at least 15 MTB races, about 15 crits, and a couple of TT's just for kicks!!! A lot of racing for anyone!!! It turns out that TT's and slogging it out in the woods don't count towards an upgrade...who knew...I didn't at the time!!!

Today...after being called sandbagger for a half and hour by a teammate, I decided to give it another go...You need 20 points or 25 races as a 4 to move up to a 3. I had 17 points from 4 races, I bet my teammate a dollar that I would be denied...I lost a dollar...

So from this day forward I will race as a 3 or not race!! This means my next CX race will be as a 3...hmmm...stupid peer pressure!!!!

Racing as a 3...Lead, follow, or get the fuck outta the way!!!!!

Pay to play...

I lined up on Saturday and Sunday last weekend and managed to hit the ground twice...One because I'm a knucklehead and I like to show off a bit (this one was the least painful of the two!!!), and the other was on Sunday in an expert MTB race. I was lucky enough...or unlucky I should say, to wad it up on the most technical section of the track. This happened so fast I didn't even have time to put my hand out to try and catch myself!!

What I did was an endo at speed and stop myself with my cheekbone...I was 3rd and having a great race up until this point...I got up, out of the way and watched all of the work that I had just put in go by. I tried to get going again, but sometimes when you bail really hard, the flow you once had is gone and never to return until the next race...which is what happened to me!!! I realized this and rode the next 2 miles out of the woods like I was out on a fun ride...NICE AND SLOW!!!

Fast forward a week...I was planning on doing another cross on the 27th, but hammering myself into the rocks on last Sunday put an end to that, due to a vertebrae in my back between my shoulders that's out of place, making it painful to breath really deep!!! I see a chiropractor in my future because this SUCKS!!!

The title of this post is "Pay to Play"...This means if you play hard enough long enough, you will be asked to pay...Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot...

With any sport, this is the case...I have been pretty fortunate and not had to pay very much in the 14 years I have been riding and racing!! But when I have to it just SUCKS!!! I also know that it's part of racing, and move on eventually!!

Pay to play...if you didn't know about this...you do now!!! Welcome to racing!!!

Cross rewind!!!

So the first cross race of the season has come and gone, my 2nd CX race ever by the way!! I'll just say that it ended up waaaaaaay better than I had expected!!

So I get to the venue with a little over an hour to spare, plenty of time to get signed up and ready to race...I grab my license and my race pen, look at my bike and think for a second I should ride to the registration...NAH!!! Can't be that far, so off I go striding along. I wear my running shoes on the way to races for the very reason I'm about to tell...

I'm walking along for about 4 or 5 minutes and start thinking where is registration??? I ask a volunteer and he says keep going the same direction...off I go. A few more minutes of walking and I'm like WTF!!! Here's where the running shoes come into play!!! I start running, and after about 4 minutes of running, not jogging, I finally arrive at registration...at least a mile from where I parked!!! Damn!!! I knew I shoulda rode my bike!!! It's too far to just walk back, so being the whacked ball of race nerves that I am...I run...not jog RUN!! I haven't run that far since high school!!! I've said it before and I'll say it again...Why walk when you can ride!!! I hate running!!!

On to the race!!! I finally get on my bike and start warming up, there is a race in progress so I just ride around on the road doing wheelies...I love doing wheelies, don't get to do them on the road bike. Anyhoo, the race is over and the course is open for inspection...So I jump on it and speed up a little testing the traction in the turns, and just looking at the course all the while still doing wheelies!!

As I'm riding around the course, I come to the first set of barriers. You make a left turn onto this straight that is slightly canted downhill and about 75 yards from the turn are the barriers where low and behold...there's a photographer...So I yank the front wheel up and ride it until I had to set it down to dismount and run the barriers!!! The photog says I wasn't ready...do that in the race...I said HELL YEAH I'LL DO IT IN THE RACE!!!

So the inspection is over and they call us to the line...I farted around to long getting to the line so I was in the middle of the pack...SUCK!!!

They started us a little ways down this hill to try and string it out before the first turn. GO!!! We're off, I stab the pedal on the first try!! Grab a gear and start moving forward, grab another gear and start passing more and more...I'm thinking why the hell are you sissies going so slow!!! We hit the grass and I'm about 7th into the first turn.

At this point I'm on a mission and the MAD NINJA MTB SKEELZ kick in!! I made some of the sweetest and cleanest passes in the tightest spots EVER!! That just fueled the fire!!! We roll into a left hand hairpin and the guy in front of me is going slower than I want to be, so I start a pass around the outside and as I pull along side of this guy he starts to drift to my line, and I say to him "YOU BETTER TURN THAT BITCH"!!! As I say this I stick my left elbow out to ride wide and protect my line, and as soon as my elbow touches him he goes down!! I grab a gear and hammer away!!! It was a clean tactic!!!

Fast forward...still on lap 1. I think I'm sitting about 5th with a gap of about 5 seconds to 3rd and 4th as we roll onto the long pavement section. I jam the Truth into the big ring and start hammering, I close the gap quickly. I sit there for a few seconds and punch it again and go blasting by to the next grass section on the wheel of 2nd. He fumbles in a turn, I rail underneath him and set the sites on 1st, who wasn't but a few seconds ahead.

I get to his wheel and pressure him into a mistake and make the pass for 1st!!! So now I'm in first, we cross the road and make the left turn and head toward the barriers with the photographer...I see him so I grab a gear and yank the wheel up...the first attempt sucked!! So going faster now, I yank the wheel up and ride it baby!!! I set it down, look up, and realize that I'm waaaaay to close to the barriers and going waaaaay to fast!!! I grab as much brake as I can, start my dismount...At this point I'm doing a full on brake slide, totally sideways, standing on the left side of my bike on one pedal!!! IT WAS FREAKIN SWEEEEEEET!!!

I unclip, take a step and yank the bike up by the handle bar, (I didn't have time to grab the top tube because I was going to fast and too close), I make it over the first barrier, and in between I lose grip of the right side, so now the bike is in the air, I'm running with it with my left hand still attached between the barriers. The rear wheel hits the second barrier the same time as I jump it, the bike and myself flip to the ground...

As I scramble to my feet I get passed and drop back to 3rd...At this point I panicked...a lot...and start hammering again while trying to puke my guts out!!! It SUCKED!! I get back to 2nd's wheel and start pushing him again, he asks if I want by, I say no you're fine(I'm still trying to puke at this point). So I finally recover about the time we hit the pavement again, and proceed to ride him off of my wheel.

The next couple of laps I sat in no man's land slowly gaining time on 1st. On the last lap I put it on kill and got within 20 feet of him on the last climb to the finish line...I couldn't close it and he couldn't make it bigger...

I sat out to do this race for fun, which I did!!! As I think about the wheelie incident I laugh every time!!! Go big or don't go!!!! I'm sure the next one I do will not be so easy, because they know now!!! Insert evil tee hee here!!!! It makes me giddy!!!!

Cyclocross

It's Saturday morning and I'm waiting on my coffee, so I thought I would throw a few words down...I have about 4 hours to get my bike and all of my stuff together for this race today!! I was less than motivated last night due to sushi and beer on Thursday night, staying out too late and getting up waaaaaay to early!! Ding!! Coffee is done!!!

MMMmmmm CAFFEINE!!! Anyway, today is the first cross race I plan on doing, last week was a good taper week, one less day of riding than I would have liked but oh well...I'll be fine!! The race starts at 12:15 I think...I should probably look into that!! Should be fun!!!

Race report later!!!

The end...

It's hard to believe that it's the end of August already...What a year it's been so far!!! Rolling into September means the end of another season is rapidly approaching, which kinda sucks...mostly due to the days getting shorter and the cold...oh happy days the cold is coming back...woo.

Back in the day when I raced a ton in the woods, the end of the season couldn't get here fast enough...MTB season is crazy long!!! I kept a journal one season and leading up to the last race of the year at Snow Creek, which was in the first week of November, and the season started at the end of February!!! I was totally burned out and just going through the motions so I would have a decent race, well...like this year Mutha Nature didn't care to much for MTBers and it rained like it was time build an ark!!! That pretty much ended my season because racing up and down BIG ASS HILLS in the mud SUCKS!!! The last entry into my journal said "IT RAINED...THANK GOD IT'S F**KING OVER"!!!

Anyway...racing for me is for the most part finished!!! I didn't race as much as I wanted to but I did have a good season with good results overall!!

As the days get shorter, crit racing turns into cross racing. I plan on doing a few of these races, mostly because it's fun and I will be racing my MTB!!! That's right I'm lining up on the Truth...I've done it before and had a good time!!! This time I have better fitness and my goal last time was to do a wheelie as I pass someone during the race...I did the wheelie...but my fitness was not up to snuff and didn't have the umph to go blazing by anyone on one wheel...

This year I might just irritate a roadie or two cuz I'm bringing good fitness into the cross season!!! ;) The main goal still remains, and that is to go blazing by at least one poor roadie on one wheel!!! Talk about crushed ego!!! The other goal is to have fun...let's face it, it's on the dirt, I have mad ninja handling skeelz and most roadies don't have any off road skills...

With all of that being said, a decent result or two would be icing on the cake, making it even better would be the fact that I was blasting around on my Truth doing wheelies and cool feet up brake slides into the turns, having a KICK ASS TIME!!!! I'm not setting out to try and win or anything like that just to have fun and let the MTB'er in me shine brightly like back inthe day!!!

Hmmmm.....if I didn't know any better I would think that I'm a little stoked about lining up again!!! The end of the season...

So there you go...keep on riding until Ullr the god of snow says ride the trainer, get in the woods if it ever dries out again, drink more beers, and just have fun until it's time to train again...

Rapture in Misery...part 2

Well...another 6 hour 2 man race has come and gone...and the dirt gods smiled on my team ever so brightly!!!

Let me say this first...A 6 hour race is a LONG FREAKIN DAY!!!! My day started at 6am, the morning ritual and load up the stuff and out the door by 8:15. Arrive at teammates house, unload and reload, hit the road to Crowder State Park...2 hours northeast.

We arrive at the venue and head straight to sign up, sign up done, back to the war wagon to set up our pit for the ensuing 6 hour melee, pit set up, time for the racers meeting...at this point it's 11:30 and the race starts at noon. The racers meeting drags on and on and ON!!! Now I'm starting to freak out a little, because I am NOWHERE EVEN CLOSE TO BEING READY TO RACE, AND I'M GOING OUT ON THE FIRST LAP!!!!!!!

So I duck out of the meeting and haul ass back to the pit, change into riding clothes...good thing there wasn't anyone around cuz I didn't cover up at all!!! I was in a HUGE RUSH!!! Put the number on the Truth, and head to the staging area to park my woods rocket, and head to the start line for the Le Mans start...which was 5 minutes later.


My warm up consisted of me riding from our pit to the staging area a grand total of 1/4 mile...The shortest warm up for me for a MTB race EVER!!!!!


On to the race...The start is a Le Mans style...meaning a short run of about 100 yards or so. This one we had to run up a wide rocky trail out onto a flat grassy area to where the bikes were staged. Fortunately I found a tree to lean my bike against that was as close to the start line as you could get, this was a good thing!!!


The course was a 9.1 mile loop with one gnarly section of rocks, which I didn't think it was that bad but anyway, two big climbs that would pretty much suck ass later in the race...I was right on that!!! Lots of fast flowing single track, some screaming fast descents, and a long grinder of a climb!!! Overall it was a good track, it kinda catered to the roadies meaning there wasn't very much technical riding...and those of us that have MAD HANDLING SKEELZ could've benefited from more gnarly sections!!!


Go!!! A mass of loonies is off and running, I grab my bike and head off to the course...I don't know how far back I was from the first rider on the trail, but I'm pretty sure that I was in the top 20.


The first lap rolls by and I come into the transition area and hand off to my teammate and at this point we're in 2nd place 45 seconds back. So I roll to our pit and take a break, refuel, check the bike, get cleaned up, and rest for about 15 minutes after all of that, then it's time to head back to the transition area and wait...


About 5 minutes rolls by and here comes my hommie, I grab the baton and off I go into the woods again. At this point in the race you really can't tell who, by looking at people, your competition is. My second lap rolls by and I crank out a lap 30 seconds faster than the first!!! Into the transition for the hand off and away goes the teammate still in 2nd.


Back to the pit, do the pit ritual and head back to the transition...The hand off is made and away I go for my third lap, now in 4th, hommie got passed some where out on the course...At this point I know who our competition is. So I go hammering along and as I see a rider I make them my carrot. Eventually I see my competition about 3.5 miles into my lap and I put him in the crosshairs, run him down and put it on kill to finish my lap 2 minutes ahead of him and put us back into 3rd!!! At the transition I tell my teammate to not make me have to chase that guy again!!!


Off he goes for his third lap. I go do the pit ritual and head back and wait...he comes in and we are now in 2nd going into my last lap, I grab the baton and head out going as hard as I can possibly go to get as far away from the transition as possible thinking the whole time I gotta get out of sight!!! Out of sight, out of mind...right?!?! In doing this I came to the rock section and bombed it faster than I had all day, I didn't even touch the brakes!!! On I go like my life depended on it. At one point on the course you are out in the open riding across a pond dam, I get to this part and pin it to get across as fast as I can...again...out of sight out of mind!!!


I look back right before I head back into the woods and see no one...yea a small victory at this point. I start this climb and both legs start to cramp at the bottom and I'm like WTF!!! NOT NOW!!! So I keep going and rub them out while I climb...I get to the top and the cramps have gone away, So I punch it and hammer on. Eventually this part of the course winds around and spits you back out on the dam, I get there and beat myself BLIND to get across without being seen...success!!!


So I race on and try to go fast and stay consistent. At about 2.5 miles to go I'm suffering badly and I feel a HUGE BONK coming on quickly and the last long grinder of a climb is about 1/4 of a mile ahead...so I freak out a little because I don't know how far behind third is and if I bonk it's OVER!!! So I grab my gel flask that has my tried and true strawberry-banana power gel in it and gulp down as much as I can, then wash it down with as much carbo drink as I can take!!!


I get to the climb and make it up the first steep section and spin up my speed and try to recover on this flat part that took about 2 minutes to traverse. By the time I hit the first switchback the bonk was gone and I kicked it in again!!!


I finish my last lap and hand off to my hommie and told him to bring it home!!! I wait for third to come in and it's 5 minutes later, so I gave my hommie a 5 minute lead going into his last lap...I think to myself hopefully it's enough!!!


Back to the pit to get cleaned up and get some real food and wait!!!


I'm sitting at the transition waiting and shoveling food in my face like I haven't eaten in days, and about 20 minutes later...my teammate comes rolling in and we nail down 2nd place!!!


No bad considering we were in 4th at one point. Cranking out some good laps and a bit of misfortune by another team paid off!!!

Here are some numbers from the race...36.4 miles at an average of 11.3 mph. I had a max speed of 26.9 mph. I spent 30 minutes and change over 190 bpm, maxed at 198 bpm, averaged 181 bpm for the entire race, and burned 3398 calories for 3 hours and 48 minutes of ride time!!


As I write this, I am flat out SMOKED!!! Racing on the road is hard, but racing in the woods waaaaaaay more difficult!!!

Rapture in Misery...

The title pretty much speaks for itself!! The Rapture in Misery is a 6/12 hour MTB race, a race that I have participated in twice.

The first melee was of course the 12 hour...I competed in this race on a 3 man team. We had no expectations going in to this race, and we ended up on the podium, 3rd overall in the Supa-fast (expert) class. Not bad for some 12 hour rookies!!!

The second incarnation of this race was a 6 hour 2 man team...I chose the 6 hour for a variety of reasons. Mainly because we couldn't find a third to race with...Gotta have standards!!! One more reason is doing a 12 hour race is about the hardest race I have ever been a part of...hence 6 hours.We did pretty good at this one, we managed 5th overall, not bad.

The Rapture in Misery has been traditionally held at Landahl park, this year it will be held at Crowder State Park up north by Trenton. I love riding and racing here, lots of good fast flowing single track punctuated by some pretty long climbs...good stuff I tell ya!!!

This year I will be racing the 6 hour duo again, I briefly considered the 6 hour solo then I came to my senses!!!

Race report on Sunday...maybe...;) The Gods of Dirt beckon!!!

OP crit...

A short story first...I was pinning my number on my jersey when a teammate of mine who lives close to the venue shows up, he has his number in hand and asks me to pin it on...OK I say...As I'm doing this a pterodactyl sized bumble starts to buzz me...I don't dig be stung so I ran like a girl!!! I go back to teammate that's standing there with a look that says...SISSY!!! I'm like whatever dude...

Back to pinning his number...I'm almost done and I see the king bee again for a second and then no more, his number is done and I say to him pull the jersey down to check it, as he does this he puts his hand on the king bee and it stings the piss out of him!!!!

If that's not karma, I don't know what is!!!! On to the race!!!

Today was the OP crit, a race I have done I don't know how many times. Today the field size was 69...Giggety!!!

They say go and we're off!! I stab the pedal first time, which always makes me happy!! I pedal hard a few times and move up close to the front. The first few laps are pretty much a group cluster F**K!!! On the 3rd lap I decide that the pace is too low and pin it for about a lap and a half, fortunately there were other racers that were on the same page with me so the pace remained high for quite a few laps and the field was dwindling because of it!!!

The race rolls on, about a third of the way through the first crash happens...right behind me, so I scream at the guys in front of me to pin it!! We get a small gap for about a lap and it's back together...

The race rolls on, 2 laps to go bombing into the fastest turn on the course at 30+ mph there's another crash...behind me again, so I yell at the guys in front of me to go again, and off we go. We get a rotation started, and that lasted about 1/4 of a mile before a knucklehead screwed it up!!! Shortly after that the riders that were able to get around the crash catch back up.

We roll back around to where the crash was and the course workers are telling us to slow down...which was a good thing and a bad thing...good because it was a break, bad because it was a break for everybody, know what I mean???

So we poke along to the last corner and a rider who ended up 2nd goes to the front and put the pace on KILL for the entire last lap, up the last hill into the last turn I was absolutely DYING!!! I thought to myself going around the last turn I can't go anymore, and that pissed me off!!! So I grab a handful of gears and proceeded to go blind with PAIN to the line!!! I cross the line in 7th, I think I was 12th coming out of the last turn, so I guess I wasn't dying as bad as I felt!!!

On the other hand, after I crossed the line I tried to puke my guts out for the next what felt like an eternity!!!

So I would say I had a good race!!! there's not much if anything I would have done different.

The numbers...we averaged 25.1 mph for 46:30. I averaged 189 bpm and maxed at 199 on the sprint!!

I would like thank the lucky penny I received at the Breakthrough Tour of KC!!! I had a good race and was ahead of the carnage both times!!!!!

Thank you lucky penny!!! You will always be in my gear bag and go to every race until I race no more!!!

Losing all...

At some point in the last year or two I have come to the realization that I have put a lot of time and effort over the last 14 years into what I'm pretty sure I can't live without...RIDING!!!

I am more or less afraid to quit riding because of what you gain over time and what you lose when you quit!! I'm not talking about taking a month off, I'm talking about stepping away for an extended period of time...6 months or more.

Not only do you lose fitness, but the cumulative effect of logging mile after mile, and hour after hour in the saddle. Then there's the one thing you can NEVER get back...age...You quit riding, you get older. Your fitness goes away, you get older. If and when you get back in the saddle, you can regain a lot, but with age you may never be where you were when you stopped again!!!

This is why I am afraid to quit riding...

In the woods...

Hmmm...This year I had decided to play more in the woods, but Mutha Nature, I'm convinced, hates MTBer's...So at this point I have only lined up once, sad I know!!!

When I started riding, my first bike was a mountain bike. The first few months were spent on bike paths and on the road. Then a friend of mine suggested going out to Minor Park and check out the trails there...that was all it took to get me hooked on riding in the woods!!

From that point on me and my riding buddies were in the woods. It's funny as I think back to those days, we would ride for an hour and just be flat out toast when we were done. As we progressed the rides got faster and longer...to the point where we would be wheel to wheel inches apart going as fast as we could go on every stretch of single track we rode. Most of the time it wasn't a problem hammering down the trails this way...most of the time...

One instance stands out to me...this trail at Minor is an old railroad bed and is slightly canted downhill, about a mile long and straight. Big ringing this section at 20mph+ is easy!!!

This day we had been riding for quite a while and were on the return trip back to the trail head. Once we got on this trail the speed went up to at least 20mph probably more...and in usual fashion we were wheel to wheel on semi loose single track trying to go faster!!!

About a 1/4 of a mile into this, a trail intersects the one we're on and there's a small jump...you know we jumped it!!!! That's just the way it is...speed and a small jump what could go wrong???

As this freight train rolled on as fast as we could go, rider number 1 hits the jump a little sideways and flies to the side of the trail, rider number 2 was over lapped a bit and grabs 2 fists full of stoppers, touches rider 1's wheel, starts to wad it up in front of...you guessed it...me...of course I was 2 inches away from his wheel, so I grab as much brake as my hands can hold....

Rider 1 recovers and rides away, rider 2 ends up in the weeds on the ground, and I ended up in the weeds on the ground with a toasted front wheel...to add insult to injury I had to walk out...

Ah yes...the good old days...how I miss it!!!

It's over...

Let the withdrawal begin...The 3 week ass kickin session known as the Tour de France is over... : (

If the powers that be weren't REDNECKS, we would be salivating at the fact the Vuelta a Espana is set to start in September!! Since they are REDNECKS...We get no such love!!! If you like watching bull riding you're golden...I have to admit seeing a dumb ass get on a 1200 pound bull that's pissed off and then get thrown, dragged, and stomped makes me laugh!!!

Anyway...we will have to wait another year...365 days...to see the greatest bike race on the planet...THAT'S FREAKIN FOREVER!!!!

I think it was a good race, and I also think that Alberto Contador is a PUNK ASS BITCH!!! Don't get me wrong, he's a great rider, but he had to steal time from the man because he knew he couldn't deliver the goods!!!

CHUMP!!!

Visualization

So...This is about the race I won...again...not to brag or anything like that!!

As I have said before, I found out about that race and decided to train specifically for it. In that 2 month span I'm pretty sure I started this blog. Anyway...I started paying attention to the effort I was putting in out on the bike, and started sharing this with anyone that cares to read this.

Fast forward a few weeks and the race is pretty much all I think about when I'm at work or out on the bike...I was visualizing how I wanted it to go down...

The race comes and goes, if you read this you know how it went...Anyhoo, a few days after the race I went back and looked at what I had written in the days and weeks leading up to the race, and was pretty much surprised at what I read!!!

Of the 5 or 6 entries that have anything to do with this race, there is one that is more or less word for word on how the race went down...The only things that aren't accurate are the wind direction, which was out of the east...and that's just weird considering it was 96 degrees that day and usually means a south wind...The other thing was the small group of guys that I went up the road with...they were my teammates!!!

After I read this, I was amazed at how accurate it was. I sat there for a few minutes and thought about how much time I had spent thinking about this race and playing it out in my head and was kinda shocked. For at least 3 or 4 days, probably more, while I was at work, I thought a lot about this race!!

I have a friend that has told me that visualization works and I have never put much thought into it up until now...I'm pretty sure it WORKS!!!

If you are out there training everyday for a specific race and wonder what else you can do...See yourself racing...See yourself going as hard as you can, think about how you want it to happen and believe in what you see!!!

I don't know if it was a fluke or what, but if I pick another race that I want to do well at, I can assure you that I will visualize how it's going to happen!!!

I LOVE RIDING MY BIKE!!!

Student of the game

I was thinking about mountain biking the other day, and how much racing in the woods I used to do...I want to do more but Mutha Nature hates mountain bikers!!!

Anyhoo, back in the day when me and my hommies were chasing MTB championship points all over Missouri, we were students of the game!!! By that I mean we knew everything there was to know about our bikes, what tires to use when, the proper tire pressure for the course, how much everything weighed, and the right suspension set up!!

The thing that I think made the most difference in our game planning, was going to the venue the day before and doing an inspection lap of the race course.

We would go out and just ride the course, which had a few benefits, but the main one was learning the fast line and alternate lines through the technical sections. In my experience this generally paid off, especially early in a race when the bottlenecks occurred.

The one instance that I know it paid off for me, was a race at Landahl Park. I went out to ride the course and ended up going alone which is no big deal. As I rode that day I looked at every section I thought I might have problems with from going into and riding out of angles.

There was one section I remember clearly...It was a short climb, not too steep, but it had lots of big rocks...at the top you made a right turn and it dropped away into a rock garden of good sized rocks. The key to this section was to make it up the short climb before it...do this and you will put time on anyone who doesn't clean this section. So I stopped and found the good line up it, and tried to clear it twice with no luck. I thought to myself oh well it would probably be faster to run anyway. So I finish the lap confident with what I learned on my inspection of the course.

On to the race...GO, were off, up the first climb and a small group of 3 ride away, and i'm at the front of the rest. We get out of the first section of single track and I pin it WFO to get across...YEA I made it!! so we keep hammering and hit the next section of single track, there are 4 of us now.

Fast forward a bit...the guy that's on the front tells us that his front derailleur is broke so he will pull out of the way when we get to the next climb. Down to 3 of us. We keep it on kill for the next 3 or 4 miles and shuck the number 3 guy. Down to 2. Racing along and the guy in front of me rides away and i'm all alone now...I think to myself...Great...2nd place isn't so bad. So I keep riding what I thought was a good pace and sure enough I run him down. I get to his wheel and follow for a while, he hits a stick and flips it up into his rear wheel...I say to him...dude you got a stick...as soon as I say this it locks up his rear wheel, around I go and put the hammer down to lead the 1st lap.

Lap number 2 was uneventful...I get to the section I described earlier, and fly up it like it was flat, make the turn and roll down the rock garden and on to the smooth stuff, put it on kill again, and won the race by over 3 minutes!!!

I'm pretty sure that being a student of the game went a long way in that victory!!!

That win is the one I hold the highest over all of my wins!!!

So needless to say, knowing as much as possible about any battle you are about participate in, is a huge advantage!!!

Tour of Lawrence

July 4th I decided to line up in downtown Lawrence, I knew going in it was going to be a fast race..I was right!!! The course had 8 turns, nice and wide, with good pavement...for the most part.

On to the race...Let's start with the wind...It had been blowing out of the southwest all day, which if it had stayed that way the race might have been a little easier, but NOOOOOOooooo Mutha Nature decided to flip it to out of the northwest about 15 minutes before the race...not a bad thing, it meant headwind on the uphill section and tailwind on the start/finish straight. It would have been nice rolling downhill into a headwind and hammering uphill with a tailwind...oh well...

The course is open for inspection and we start riding the course and quickly realize that it will be a very fast race with a blistering fast finish...downhill with a tailwind!!! At about 7 minutes til 4:00, the race started at 4:00 by the way, I realize that I am a wee bit hungry and hadn't gulped the hammergel that I should have ingested 30 minutes ago!!! So I hammer back to the car, and eat it up yum!!!

By the time I get to the start line they are in the middle of the racers meeting...talk about cutting it close!!! So I weasel into line and try to calm down before the race, I look down at my heart rate and it's 155, it was at that point that I started to TRY and relax!!! They call us to the line, tell us it's going to be a 40 minute race with 3 prime laps.

GO!!! For the first time in I don't know how long I miss my pedal TWICE!!! Not a good start...I finally get my foot on and I'm mad as hell!!! I grab 3 gears and hammer up the outside of the race and get to the front. Ahhh that's better...I sit in about 5 riders from the front for a minute to recover a bit, then go to the front and hammer it to try and shuck as many riders as possible, after all...smaller field...better chance...right...right!!!

We had been racing along for about 5 laps, and the first prime is called, the pace is lifted, shortly after and this huge behemoth of a rider attacks with a half a lap to the finish line and sticks it!! I hope it was worth it, because i'm pretty sure he went out of the back shortly after!!!

We've been racing along for about 20 minutes, and an SKC racer attacks at a time that the field was rolling along fairly slow...I'm sitting pretty close to the front and think to myself he looks strong I should go to him, and launch out of the pack and proceed to ride across the gap, fortunately he see me and slows up a bit, which is a totally classy move!!! I get across the gap on the hardest part of the course, uphill into a headwind...can you say DUMB ASS!!! Anyhoo i'm on his wheel and say to him I need a minute and i'll work, to that he says OK...again another classy move!!!

At this point he pulls for another 1/4 of a lap and I come around on the downhill tail wind section and pin it at 31 mph to increase our gap. Our gap increased to 10 seconds, at this point i'm hoping that the fairly large group of SKC riders and my fellow Bicycle Shack hommies are on the front of the main field slowing it down!! My teammates say they went to the front...I never looked back to see, even if I had I wouldn't have been able to see, due to the BLINDING PAIN I was in!!!

For 4 laps it's just the 2 of us and it was by far the most pain I have been in for a looooooong time!!! About half way through our 4th lap off of the front the field has cut down our lead a bit and a rider comes across, I look back and think SWEET!!! I take another pull and SKC pulls through again...new guy doesn't come through, so I go through again followed by SKC and new guy pulls through. This lasts about 2 rotations and he stops again, at this point another rider joins us and I pull through 1 more time followed by SKC, and team Flying Monkey...I wave through new guy and he looks at me, hesitates and then goes by so hard that none of us can follow...This guy is a DUMB ASS!!!!!

At this point the field is on top of us, and we reintegrate...I drift back about 15 spots to recover and punch the gas again to get close to the front. We race on and the 2nd prime goes by and we keep racing. The 3rd prime is announced and a half a lap later my teammate attacks and 2 other rides go with...They get a gap and proceed to keep going after the prime. I have another teammate on the front of the pack, and I think to myself sweet he's going to slow down and I will join him on the front to help, at this point I was 5 riders back, and all of the sudden I see him put his head down and start hammering...WHAT THE FUCK!!!!! I yell at him but he can't hear me and he starts to drag the field up to the break...I was MAD AS HELL at this point!!! Fortunately him and 2 other riders create a small gap and the 2 riders in front of me have riders up the road.

At this point one of the riders in front of me starts hammering, and I yell at him...SLOW DOWN DUMB ASS YOU HAVE A RIDER UP THE ROAD!!!! Surprisingly it worked...we slowed the field for about 1/3rd of a lap and it swarmed around us at the first opportunity.

3 laps to go I'm working way too hard on the easy part and trying to recover on the hard part...Thankfully I realize this and sit in close to the front to recover...going into the last lap i'm sitting about 20th, My teammate goes to the front and proceeds to pin it at 28mph for the entire lap including the up hill head wind section to string it out and it works!!

We get to the top of the hill and start heading towards home and I move up a few spots, we're flying at this point...about 30ish, on to the last turn we lean into that one at 28mph+ I grab a handful of gears and start my sprint I pick off a few guys, grab 2 more gears pass a couple more and it's over...I count the riders in front of me and I nail down 15th...out of 60.

I had a good race, the only thing I would have done different would be to make sure I was closer to the front going into the last turn...closer than 20th more like 10th or better!!!

That's racing...Here are some of my computer numbers...We averaged 25.5 mph, I averaged 190 bpm heart rate for 43 minutes, and maxed at 200 bpm on the finish sprint at 39 mph!! Like I said it was PAINFUL!!!

The Tour of KC is next in about a month...

Racing racing racing...

It's official, I'm lining up in Lawrence this Saturday...Should be a good race, and it won't be HELL HOT!!!! Just now I got a touch of the race nerves thinking about it!! It makes me giddy...TEEHEE!!!

I'll go out for an easy spin tomorrow, then spin my legs out on the trainer on Saturday morning, then blast down the highway to Larry town at 2:00 to race a 4:00!!!

Race recap on Sunday!!!

Addiction

There are a lot of things to be addicted to in life. I have a couple of itches that need to be scratched on a regular basis!!

One is caffeine...gotta have it!! As of late I have incorporated it into my training rides when it's not hell hot!!! I ride about 25 miles and stop for a double shot of espresso with a little vanilla...MMMM MMMM, love it, hang out til I get the shakes and head out again for another 20 to 30 miles.

My other itch is riding, and racing...again!!! There are more, but those are not what i'm talking about here!!! I love to race, I love getting ready the night before, waking up on race day and going absolutely NUTS with race day nerves. Heading to the race cranking as much MOTIVATIONAL METAL as I can stand. I love being in such frenzy that signing up is almost an impossibility. Heading out to warm up usually burns up a lot of the nerves, but they always come back when I roll up to the starting line...

After my race on Friday I can't wait to race again!!! Winning the race pretty much sealed my fate on that!!! So I sit here and punch in my thoughts and think about my next race, which if everything goes as planned, will be Saturday in Lawrence. It will be a big race, there's like 20,000.00 dollars in prize money for the weekend series...which is HUGE!!!

The last race was a good sized field of 70 riders, this one will be maxed out at 125 I'm sure. I will definitely have my work cut out to place well...that's most of the reason I want to go...the level of the riders will be higher therefore a faster and more painful race!!! Sounds good to me!!!!

I've said it before and i'll say it again...

I LOVE PAIN, AND I LOVE TO RACE!!!

Competition

Over the years I have asked people why they are competing in whatever race or sport it is they are doing. More often than not the answer is "for fun". The next question is...do you have a goal for this, and the answer is usually "to have fun".

I don't have a problem with any of these answers, the problem I have is...I believe that no one pays to line up and race or compete in any event and not want to win or at least do their very best.

To me doing your very best means selling out and leaving everything you have out there on your chosen field of battle...that in itself is where the fun comes in to play...knowing that you did your best regardless of the outcome!!

I understand being active, hanging out and having a good time with friends...even then...the will to win is there!!!

So next time you are asked why you are doing whatever sport it is that you do...It may be for fun, but ultimately deep down inside...you want to put the screws to that person in front of you, or stomp ass on the team that's on the field with you!!!

Everybody wants to win!!!

Victory is mine!!!

Today is a day that I will never forget!!! I won my race today!!!

The march to this race started about 2 months ago. I heard there was going to be a race REALLY close to home, so I decided to train specifically for that race. I guess whatever I did worked because I crossed the line first!!

On to the race...It was about 95 degrees today, no clouds and an east wind at about 10mph, an east wind...WTF!!! So I get to the venue and register, pin the number on, get dressed and go for a short warm up spin and look at the course.

The course was 1.2 miles in length, with 2 pretty technical turns and the rest were pretty much standard. The warm up is done...me and the rest of the Shacksters get to the line first, which is a good thing, because it was a good sized field of at least 50 riders, probably more!!

GO!! We're off, I get a decent start hitting the pedal on the first try and settling in about 5th or 6th. The 1st lap goes by and I go to the front and push the pace a little, I do this for a couple of laps and a teammate rolls by me to give me a break...WOOHOO!!! He and I sit on the front for a couple more laps and another teammate joins us, just as we head into a prime lap. The pace remains the same and the field is strung out into a long line, we make the turn onto the start finish straight and my teammate takes the prime...YEA YEA THAT'S GREAT!!!

At this point we pick it up another notch and we create a gap, the first time check I heard was 6 seconds, and I think to myself there's no way we are getting away!!! The next one I heard was 12 seconds and about this time another rider bridged across to us. I think to myself SWEET longer break off of the front...we shot him out the back about a lap later...good one less person to sprint at the end!!!

At this point i'm mostly incoherent and thinking to myself when is this going to end!!! The next thing I hear is 6 laps to go. Back to talking to myself...FUCK that's a long time...keep pedaling!!!
We keep the hammer down and before I knew it we have a half a lap left. So as I pull through I say to the Shacksters we are pooling the money and splitting it 3 ways...the right thing to do!! In the end we put a minute on the field.

We come off of the last turn and i'm second wheel and it looked to me that my teammate jumped so I grabbed 2 gears and hammered by him like he had the brakes on to a hands up victory!!!

I have targeted races in the past and not had the success I had today for various reasons, but today was my day, and DID IT EVER FEEL GOOD!!!!

I LOVE RIDING MY BIKE!!!

Fine tuning...

So today at work I realize that my getaway sticks are sore from the past few days of riding. This means one thing...trainer ride...I chose to ride the trainer because it's waaaaaay more controlled, which means an "easy" ride fo sho!!!

I rode this device of winter torture for about 23 minutes. It's hydraulic so there is resistance, I put it in a not too easy and not too hard of a gear, and spun it out at 95 rpm. Good bye sore legs!!

24 hours from now I will be racing, my legs are feeling good...The rest is up to me to be in the right place at the right time.

Closer

Man...it's been freakin HOT!!! I don't mind the heat because I work in it. I think it will help on Friday, you know...acclimatization. The poor souls that work in the A/C are gonna be hatin it!!

Went out for an easy ride today to flush out the legs from the Tuesday ride. I wanted to ride 20 miles but ended with 16 due to Mutha Nature. She was rolling in some weather, and I didn't feel like getting caught in a Missouri hurricane....highly overrated!!!

Legs are feeling good, I think i'm going to be on good form for this race...Now all I have to do is an easy spin tomorrow, probably on the trainer, lay around on Friday for a while, clean the bike...everybody knows a clean bike is a fast bike!!! Then head to the race.

Oh man is this gonna be fun!!!

I'm in...

It's official, I registered for the races this weekend!! So i'm at least racing on Friday night, might do Saturday, depends on how I do on Friday...Anyhoo there will be a story to tell so stay tuned...it'll be a good one!!!

Taper

Taper: A gradual decrease in effort or force. I've only done this purposefully once before. I suppose will do it again this week. The race i've been working towards is on Friday, and I want to be as rested and ready as possible!!

The race...It's a 1.2 mile circuit, and the only real problem I see is the long grinder of a hill that will surely blow the field apart...which is a good thing, unless you are a casualty of it...I'm also sure that this hill is where the race will be won or lost!! I don't know how far past the top the finish line will be, i'm betting at least 200 meters more...It's gonna be a PAINFUL finish!!! On the plus side, the wind will more than likely be blowing up this hill...which is a good thing!!!

I don't know if I will go after any primes on the prime laps...Hmmm...I plan on launching an attack, if i'm in a good position to do so, directly after one of the primes are contested. There are usually at least 2 during a race, hopefully a small group will go with me or I with them.

Either way I would rather race for a win in a small group as opposed to trying to go blasting by a bunch of BITCHES that have been sitting in the group the whole race!!!

From what I rode on Wednesday, it should be fast, with a HUGE dose of PAIN thrown in for good measure!!!

Get your game face on because it's time to play!!!

Saturday ride...

It's waaaaay too early to be awake!!! I have my LEETLE FRIEN caffeine to cure that.

Today is the Saturday ride from the rec center at Longview. It's a good ride, i'll get about 55 miles today. I'll ride to the start, with a pit stop at JP coffee for a double shot of espresso, then it's a huge mass of riders of all abilities that head south to a Caseys in Raymore for a break to refuel and off load extra water...

Now for the fun part...The 17 mile trip back is a hammerfest, which I have been watching my performance on the way back to gauge my fitness for racing. This part lasts anywhere from 38:00 minutes, which is the fastest time back to date, to about 45:00 minutes. This is the length of a cat. 4 crit, which i'm going to line up in on Friday the 26th weather permitting...

It's a good ride, with a little bit of everthing...Time to get ready to roll.

Bonk

Today I did something I haven't done in...well...I don't remember the last time I bonked. If you have never done this, let me assure you are missing nothing!!!

I rode 29 miles today, and 25 of it was the most miserable i've been on a bike in a long time!!! I take off and head south into a medium head wind, get about 5 miles in and just flat run out of gas...I think to my self, i'm not riding hard i'll keep going. That was a mistake...I can usually poke along at 17 mph with no problem, today I was doing good to roll at 16 mph...it was suckin big time!!!

I get to my turn around point, stop and grab a granola bar and a Pepsi so my return ride with the wind won't be so bad, eat and drink and off I go.

So I'm headed with the wind now, still not enjoying the ride at all, and come to a detour on my route that I didn't know was there...That added 6 miles to my personal hell...yea! It's a good thing I brought a little money or I would've been screwed!!!

One more thing...being chased by dogs when you don't have the energy to sprint by them SUCKS!!! Stupid dogs...That happened 3 times...Yes today was a long day in the saddle...

Tomorrow will be better...

Gambling and beer...

The Stanley Cup finals are in the book...Which means there are no sports worth watching until football rolls around, and that means nothing to make bets on for beers!!!

The only good thing coming up is the Tour de France, and I guess I could bet on that but it would take forever...don't get me wrong, I love me some TdF...but trying to talk trash while watching a stage would be like watching the grass grow and yelling at it for taking so long...It just doesn't work!!

For now I will wait patiently for football, in the mean time I will soak up as much of the Tour de France as I can!!!

Motivation

Last week, I had a great week of riding...12 hours in the saddle. This week my motivation is about -4 on a scale of 1 to 10. I haven't thrown a leg over my bike at all this week...It's not a bad thing, I probably needed to take some days off anyway!!

I'm going to do a crit or two at the end of this month, the first in a few years. The time off now will probably end up being a good thing by the time those races roll around.

Ah yes crit racing...If you have never been to a crit, you should go to at least one and check it out!! It is flat out after the gun goes off and just plain NUTS!!! To ride well in a crit you have to be fearless, afterall riding shoulder to shoulder with 60+ riders through 90 degree turns at 25mph+ or faster is totally intense or insane...more like both, mostly due to the fact that the line you want to be on going through the turns is usually taken by 4 or 5 other riders.

After writing this I think my motivation came back, and I have the itch to go crit racing...again...WOOHOOOOOO!!!!!

PAIN!!!

There are some things about riding and racing that will never change!!

1. There will always be someone faster than you!!

2. Pain...If you go on fast group rides or race, the one thing you can always count on coming along with you is...PAIN.

Some days the pain is easy to push aside, and other days you just suffer...

If you like to ride a lot, race, or both, you like to suffer, and PAIN is your LEETL FRIEN!!!!

I love PAIN!!!

Karma revisited...

I have already thrown my thoughts out there on the subject of karmic retribution...Now I have an example...

Yesterday on my 60 mile jaunt I was buzzed by a JACKASS that was a lot to impatient to wait 10 seconds...Up until this point my ride had been uneventful and enjoyable. Dillhole goes by and disappears up the road. I shrugg it off keep pedaling towards home.

A few miles later, i'm climbing a hill on the 4 hill road and spy Mr. Law has somebody nailed to the radar gun...As I get closer I realize it's the JACKASS that buzzed me, since i'm riding uphill, i'm not going very fast and as I pass, I eyeball this knucklehead until he looks at me and when he does...I laugh...and throw the victory fist pump for good...insult to injury!!!

Karmic retribution people...I LOVE IT!!!!

Monday...

Monday was such a beat down!!! I am at a loss for words...I hate Mondays!!!!!!!!!!!

Wind

I have just realized that most of my topics come to me when i'm out riding by myself...more time to think about everything...

As i was riding along and letting my mind wander, I heard the wind blowing past my ears...I don't use an ipod or anything of the sort, mainly because of stupid drivers that refuse to give more than an inch...FUCKERS!!! That's a different topic altogether. Anyway, so I got to thinking about my favorite sounds, I have a few that are my absolute favs, again...another topic...;) But the wind blowing past my ears as I move along is one of them!!

I found that I like this sound when I was a ski bum in Colorado. I was doing some early morning bomb runs on the corduroy and was going 70ish mph, just before I started to slow down I heard the wind blastin past my ears and it was as loud as thunder!!! It was the coolest thing I think I have ever heard!!

If you care to experience this, there are a few ways to get there, 1. is to go skiing and make 11's (go straight) and 2. is to stick your head out the window of a moving vehicle at 70, you will be amazed at how loud the wind is!!!

One of my favorite sounds is the wind...

Karmic Retribution

I am a firm believer in karmic retribution...Most of the time I run my mouth and talk shit for fun and usually don't mean anything by it!! Well...karma is a fickle BITCH, and sometimes she feels the need to remind me she's listening. Might take a second or it might take a lifetime...No matter how long, karma will get you!!!

For instance...A friend of mine is a HUGE FAN of the Egg McMuffin, so I took it upon myself to tell her that I was going to get one and just basically rub it in!! No big deal, i've done it before and will probably do it again!!! So I dole out the ration of padoobie, eat down my Egg McMuffin and head home to go for a ride...HOORAY!!!

Fast forward about an hour...I'm just about ready to go, gotta pump up the tires still. I grab my pump and hook it on the valve, up to 120psi, go to pull the pump head off of the valve..and the valve comes with it...insta flat, gotta change the tube...

So I change it, finish getting ready, then send a text retracting all statements made towards her regarding Egg McMuffins...Karma!!!

I said once and I will say it again, karma will get you...Might take a second...might take a lifetime, but she will exact herself on you!!!

Lies...

Hmmm.......Why does anyone lie?

The people I really don't understand are the ones who tell lie after lie after lie...They all get caught eventually, then they throw a lie when they get caught...To me this is waaaaaaay beyond stupid, so much so that I can't wrap my head around why!!! It gives me a headache to even try!!!

I don't know...I work with a guy that does this and it baffles me. I am a firm believer in karma, and what goes around comes around!!! I think that sooner or later his sac is going to get ripped off like a paper towel!!!

I would rather say nothing than toss out lie after lie!!! I'm not perfect by any means but WTF!!!

Quotes

Sometimes I get really bored, that leads to sitting at the computer...kinda like now, I have ridden 7 days in a row, I could probably ride today, but I just don't see it happening...at least right now.

Anyway...when I'm bored I root around on the world wide web for shtuff, not anything in particular, just whatever pops into my grey matter whilst I look. Lately it's quotes...quotes on everything...mostly to put on FB, and a little for knowledge,but it helps pass the time.

So as I looked at my notebook of these quotes, I figured I would share some of the ones I like.

When I'm mad and I remember this one it makes me laugh...most of the time...."Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent"

I found this one and I like it a lot just because I think too much...a lot of the time!!! "Thinking is the talking of the soul with itself"

This one I just like!!! "A word to the wise isn't necessary, it's the stupid ones who need the advice!!"

As I was digging one day I came across some of Bruce Lee's quotes...These are a few..."Using no way...as a way, and using no limitation...as a limitation" Kinda makes you go hmmmm...

A simple one..."As you think....so shall you become"

This one I have seen in action several times, and it never ceases to amaze me when the "smart" people don't see or get it!!! "Simplicity is the key to brilliance"

Now back to some random quotes...This one fits just about everything, but for me it's cycling..."The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it"

This one fits a few of my friends, but one in particular...I don't think she ever stops moving from the time she wakes until her head hits the bed...she is a FREAK!!! "Be the first to the field and the last to the couch" I'm telling you it fits perfectly!!!!

I think I have a few more...This one, I wasn't even looking quotes, but it caught my eye..."What a man does for pay is of little significance. What he is, as a sensitive instrument responsive to the worlds beauty, is everything!!" By the master of horror H.P. Lovecraft.

I think ill call it even after this one...if you never ask you will never know..."He who asks is a fool for 5 minutes...but he who does not ask remains a fool for ever"

There you go...some of my favorite quotes.

The simple things

I figured this one out a long time ago, and had forgotten about it until yesterday.

So yesterday was the Saturday morning ride from the rec center at Longview C.C. and I decided to not go the usual way and take the scenic route. The usual way requires me to do a 110% effort after 1 mile...I FUCKING HATE THIS!!!!

I was thinking the scenic route would take longer so I left 10 minutes early just in case...It turns out the this way is a mile less WOOHOO!!! That gave me a lot of time to just ride and enjoy the morning. So i'm riding along and realize that I have a ton of time and start to poke along and notice these purple wild flowers, so I stop and take out my phone, snap a shot and roll on. While I was doing that I realized that all I could hear was the breeze blowing through the trees and the birds, no traffic, no people, no nothing...Just the simple things right?

I wasn't at a good place on the road to be sitting, so I rode up the hill to the intersection and stopped...just to take in what nature has to offer, I sat there for about 5 minutes and thought...wow it's been a long time since I stopped to look around.

It's funny, when me and the hommies would go on MTB trips, I would constantly preach to them to just look around see what's there...If you never look you never see!!! I do look around when i'm out riding, it's a rare thing anymore for me on anybody for that matter, to just stop and look around.

I guess I don't really have a point with this, i'm just saying that it was nice to stop and forget about everything and enjoy some of the simple things for a few!!!

The Stanley Cup

If you're not a fan of hockey, you probably rode the short bus to school!!

I think I have always liked hockey, but since i've lived in a state (Colorado) that has the NHL, and watched it on a regular basis...I LOVE ME SOME HOCKEY!!!

Let's look at this...It's generally a fast paced game, they get to smash each other in to plexi-glass and wood walls...not sure about the wood part...anyhoo, they get to beat the HELL out of each other with bare knuckles whenever the players feel it necessary, and the playoffs consist of at least 5 games!!! A lot of the time 7!!!

So I ask you...How can anyone not like hockey...?!?! Someday in the not too distant future K.C. will have another minor league team...Praise the gods of blood on the ice!!!! You know i'll be there as much as I can handle!!

If that goes well maybe someday the NHL will give us a team, and we will be able to go to a Stanley Cup play off game or 3...and maybe just maybe the Stanley Cup will be hoisted over a K.C. teams head!!!

I LOVE HOCKEY!!!

Ride...

If you know me, you know that I have been riding for a long time...since 1995. As I have progressed through the years, the ride times and mileage for each ride have gone up.

One day many moons ago, someone asked me why I ride, and why so far...I couldn't come with an answer right away, so I pondered for a few days, and sure enough the answer came to me, you guessed it, out on a ride.

The main reason I ride is it makes me feel like a kid!!! Everytime, not for the whole ride, but there is always a moment. Who doesn't want that??

Another reason came to me just today, and that is pain!!! Not like broken bone pain, but the pain you feel from digging down deep and pushing yourself beyond your limits. To be honest I don't really know why, but I love it, actually I think i'm kinda addicted to it.

This was another answer I came up with when people pose the question of why...Because I like to suffer and because I CAN!!!!

I LOVE TO RIDE!!!!

Race review...

So I got up at 5:00am to go racing today. I didn't sleep very well at all...thinking about racing I suppose. It's funny, the races i've gone to and not slept very well the night before, I usually do pretty good. Today was no exception...

So we get there, sign up, change, and go for a little warm up spin...luckily we decide to ride a couple of miles on the start finish road...It ends up being a good thing...The big red, white, and blue flag marked the finish line...More on that later. The race ended up being 66 miles, I lined up with 4 other Bike Shack racers in a field of 33.

Go!!! We're off, cruising along at about 30 mph with a little tail wind, no big deal. About a half an hour later the attacks start coming, 4 or 5 go up the road and are brought back pretty quickly. It settles down for a few minutes, then another attack goes, one guy from the shack is in this group of 4. We let it get out there pretty far, and I decide to try to bridge across, I attacked on a small hill and get a gap quickly...HOORAY!!! I beat myself blind to get across, I get about 2/3rds of the way across and run out of gas...BOOOO!!! Oh well, I got a man in the break, time for others to take hold and chase...life is good.

Well that lasted all of about 3 minutes, the other 3 riders were so strong they shot my man out the back...Time to work again, so for the next 30 miles me and my teammates and a couple others go to the front and proceed to kill it to bring this break back...never happened...They got away and stayed away.

Lap number 2...was pretty uneventful, more or less a fast group ride with some of the leaches finally putting their faces into the wind...BITCHES!!!

Okay, back to the start finish. We finally make the turn onto the finish straight, and have about 5 miles to go. At this point I have been sitting in for the last 15-18 miles, I didn't care anymore, I busted my ass for at least 30 miles so FUCK EM!!! Any way we're about 1 1/2 miles from the finish hill and the road is arrow straight, so you can see it.

We are now at the 1 k to go marker, the pace is picking up. the group is rolling along at about 26 mph now. the final attack is launched, 5 guys and myself are getting after the finish line. The 1st guy blows up into a million bitty pieces, guys 2-5 sprint to the 200 meters to line...they sit up because they thought they were done, and I go blowing by like they had the brakes on all the way to the flag, and take 4th!! WOOOOHOOOO!!!!! Not a win but I will take it anyday!!!

Racing

So I decided to start racing on the road again, and tomorrow is the first installment of the year. I've raced in the woods, now it's time to bring it to the pavement.

The race is in Topeka KS, it's 67 miles in length. My longest ride to date is 52 miles...I have done a lot of 40 milers, some with good intensity. I think i'll be okay. The course is mostly flat to rolling from what I saw on google earth, this is a good thing...it means the race pace should be at least 20mph+ and be over in 3 hours...ish. Breaking out the 303's for the race!!! It will be a nice change to ride some light wheels, and it will SUCK to go back to the everyday wheels after!!

Update tomorrow...I'm setting my goal for a top 10...not to lofty, but a pretty good goal none the less!!!

Boredom

So i'm wandering through the world wide web looking at various things and whatnot, and decided to become a blogger...I don't know if anyone will ever read this, but what the hell, i'm bored!!!