Perspective

Saturday evening, our good friends Darrel and Lois Keesling invited our family to Windsor Crossing for the Saturday evening church services and then dinner. We went and had a great time at their contemporary services. Afterwards, we enjoyed a great dinner at Matador in the Chesterfield Valley. I don't know what it is about basic Mexican food, but man it sure does hit the spot after a day in the saddle. Perhaps, after a day in the saddle I feel like I'm in the penalty free environment. Second basket of chips? No problem.

Sunday morning was a family day. We slept in. (Well, the family slept in, I was up at 3:30am. Never been a big sleeper.) I made poached eggs for everyone and we planned out our day. We decided to go to my son's soccer game at noon and then spend the afternoon in historic St. Charles. The weather seemed to be ordered by the Chamber of Commerce. What a difference three days makes. Thursday night at my son's game, my wife and I almost froze to death. Sunday, we were working on our tans. We gorged ourselves at Lewis & Clarks (as I told myself, "okay, Boz that's two big meals in two days...don't rebuild the fat guy!") and then walked and shopped enjoying the warm spring sunshine. The day seemed perfect. Then we heard the tragic news of Josh Hancock.

Unfortunately, Josh Hancock, the relief pitcher of the St. Louis Cardinals, was tragically killed early Sunday morning while driving on Highway 40. The details of the accident don't seem overly important to me. Most importantly, I pray Josh is in heaven and living in the glory of God. I also pray for his parents and for their comfort during this most difficult time. Baseball will live on and through Jesus Christ, so will we.

Getting to ride a bicycle is fun, but it's not the only thing that matters in life. Spending time with and caring for your friends and your family is really important. Take time, slow down (not on your training rides, though), wave at people, do good things for others (without expecting something in return), have fun, give thanks, and most importantly, create a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. As we heard at the services at Windsor Crossing on Saturday night, "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you." Joshua 3:5.

I still climb like a FAT guy!

I rode 52 miles this morning to try to get my legs and lungs back in shape for next weekend's 300km brevet. By design, I rode from the house to Ghiasallo for their group ride at 7:30am. I have never ridden in the shop ride, but thought the ride would roll out just about the time I was heading into the valley towards my hill workout. I rolled out with the group and paced along at 17-18mph while chatting with Jim "Johan" Sullivan. The pace was fine with me and then someone rolled up to take a pull at the front and our pace quickened to 20mph. I was still fine with the pace (knowing the climbs would be what shoots me off the back, not the flats.) As I took a couple of pulls on the front, I kept the pace 20-21mph. As we approached the base of Ossenfort I noticed our group was only 12-15 riders. As they 'sprinted' up Ossenfort, I 'lumbered' up like I was dragging a coffin behind the bike. At times, I wished it was a coffin, as it would make it easier to bury my sorry carcass.

After the climb and regroup, I learned the pace was a little faster than the group normally keeps on the way out. I apologized to some riders as I felt bad for being a contributing factor to the speed in the flats. I continued with the group for another mile or so. I then split off and headed for Fenton to watch my son run his second 5k race. I headed towards the hills of Castlewood with a nice little tailwind and kept the pace north of 21mph through the rolling terrain. As I climbed out of the Castlewood area hills, I recall thinking man, I must have a flat or my brakes are rubbing, because I can't be this slow. "Sorry FAT guy, you just can't climb" was the response from my brain.

I got to Fenton 15 minutes before my 9-year-old son's run. Overall, my pace for the ride was 17.5 mph and that included several lengthy climbs as well as some headwinds and rollers. I'm pleased with that pace and feel like I'm really getting over the chest cold and my legs are coming back.

At Fenton City Park, my son and my wife were running today. My wife has been working out a lot, but she's never been a runner. She's encouraging my son to run (in addition to playing soccer) and decided to run with him to further encourage him. This was a charity event, so it wasn't chocked full of serious runners, but there were approximately 50 runners in the event (along with a lot of walkers.) After the first lap, my son came by in 7th position and was within 100 yards of the first place runner. My son finally finished in 8th place with a time of 25:19, which beat his best time in the 5k by 3 minutes. My wife finished with a combination of walking and running in 37 minutes. I'm extremely proud of both of them. My wife for encouraging our children's physical fitness, in addition to her own. My son for pushing himself when it's awfully easy to sit inside and play video games.

Overall, it was a great day of exercise and now we're going to watch our St. Louis Cardinals take on our northern rivals the Chicago Cubs. I may not climb well, but I can relax with the best of them. IT'S TIME TO RELAX!!

I gotta weak back about a week back

Last year, my sewer lateral failed which required the plumbers hired by St. Louis Co. to come in and dig up my front yard. Which also meant they had to destroy our new Tennessee Limestone retaining walls. In all fairness, they didn't destroy the wall, but rather moved all of the stones out of the way before the digging process began. They then proceeded to dig a hole 12-13 feet deep and 8 feet across. I estimated we could have buried my wife's Dodge minivan in the hole and at times wished I would have. The Metropolitan Sewer District and St. Louis County was fantastic to work with and some of the most responsive and caring individuals I've ever encountered in my life of dealing with government. Whatever we pay each year in county taxes for sewer lateral replacements is worth every penny. I just hope you never have to put yourself through the process.

Fast forward a year, I finally got around to rebuilding the wall. I dragged my feet for several reasons. First, I wanted the dirt to really settle back in before rebuilding the wall. Secondly, I really had no experience building a retaining wall. Finally, I wasn't looking forward to lifting those stones. Just to give you an idea, some of the stones in the picture are 12" x 5" x 24" of solid stone. I'd estimate the weigh north of 100# each. There are alot of stones to carry and place.

I've had a bad back throughout the years and really knew this could end up aggrevating my back. I was right. As I finished last Saturday night, I was absolutely beat up. My thighs hurt, my back hurt, and my arms hurt. It made my body feel like I had been beaten with a sack of nickels. After getting back in town from travels, I went out for my first ride tonight. I felt good on the rollers, but the hill climbing killed by back. I think I'm heading into the chiropractor tomorrow. My neck has been bothering me since my 200km brevet on 4/7, and I need an overall adjustment. Actually, a deep tissue massage would be nice too.

Please don't think I'm some kind of pansy here, but let's face it. Outside of working out on my bowflex or riding my mountain bike, I really don't punish my body that much. Maybe I should. I have a cushy desk job and need to experience pain more frequently. My company (Edward Jones) shot a commercial a few years ago which showed a doctor talking a patient through his own surgery. In one line, the patient asks the doctor, "won't that hurt?" to which the doc replies, "pain is just weakness leaving the body." Maybe the pain I'm feeling is a good thing? Who knows?

Warmer weather might just stay

Okay, maybe this isn't the evening skies we have in St. Louis, but the weather is certainly warmer. It looks like we're out of the hole for the winter stuff. Friday night we fired up the firepit for the first time this spring. The firepits in the Boz's driveway are always a great time to reunite with friends and neighbors. I don't know about you, but a firepit always seems to make the day's cares drift away. Friday night was no exception. I hope we have many, many nights much like this past Friday.

It will get MUCH worse before it gets ANY better.

The effects of the highway 40 project will get much worse before they get any better. We're already seeing some of the problems as of today. Clayton Road, which for many folks in St. Louis including me, is the central corridor for many routes east-west has been re-striped to remove the shoulders and add a center turn (suicide) lane. This has also had the affect of putting any cyclist precariously close to all of the mailboxes along the side of the road. Some of this insanity reminds me of the photo of the stop sign.

I'm curious what impacts this will have on cyclists. Let's all pray no one gets hurt or worse, killed as a result of this.

Work gets in the way

I spent almost all of last week out of town on business. Monday and Tuesday were spent in the Four Seasons hotel in Toronto and Thursday and Friday were spent in New York City. Monday was the first day (of an entire week) of great weather, too. It figures. When we landed in Toronto, is was a mixture of sleet/snow and the winds were gusting to 40 mph. IT SUCKED! The weather was crappy the whole time, but at least I spent it in a hotel, so it didn't matter. The weather in NYC was marginally better. Actually Friday was quite nice in NYC. After I finished my business, I stopped by Gotham Bikes at 112 Broadway and picked up a couple of jerseys. My thoughts were since I couldn't ride, at least I could spend some money on something bike related.

Speaking of spending money on biking, I had Mark at Ballwin Cycles order my new long-distance bike frame. It's a Gunnar Sport and will be charcoal silver. I'm planning on using charcoal, black, and silver as the colors for the bike. This will be the frame I ride on 100+ mile rides. 62cm steel frame. I'm having them add a 3rd water bottle mount when they build the frame. Mark is already building a set of wheels for the bike. We're going with 28h/32h Chris King hubs mounted to Mavic Open Pro rims. A standard 3x spoke pattern will be used, as the wheels need to be strong, not flashy. Nothing like dealing with a broken spoke at 8pm at night on a 200 or 300 mile ride. I'll post some pics of the bike when it's done. Right now, I'm hoping to have it ready for the 400km ride on 5/19. Right now, I think I'll be doing the 300km on my Bianchi Veloce.

All I know at this point is that my legs should be in great shape, as I haven't been riding. I'm hoping to start stacking the miles up beginning on Monday. I'm looking to start my early morning rides (leave the house at 5:15am) which enables me to get a ride of 2 to 2 1/2 hours in before I head to work. That leaves me starting while it's dark, but I can use the time to get used to riding with headlights, as is required during the longer brevet rides.

What's going on???

Feeling strong???

What do you reckon the gear is on this bad boy? Looks the front chainring is in the neighborhood of a 68T, while the back is something around a 13T. I guess that's ONLY 141 gear inches. Considering I'm running 68 gear inches on my fixed gear, I suppose it's a little strong.... Hello Penrose!

Another day dawns and I've still got the remnants of my weeklong chest cold. I guess I didn't stand much of a chance to ride anyway. I spent Monday & Tuesday in Toronto and Thursday and Friday in NYC. This weekend's attempt at my first mountain bike race at Klondike will need to be postponed. I'm still hacking up parts of my chest and I haven't been on a bike in more than a week.

Paris-Roubaix was run last weekend. The weather for the race was sunny and dry, but it looked like it caused the riders to ride the cobbles in the midst of a dust storm. I love the fact that Stuart O'Grady didn't let a flat tire ruin his shot at the top of the podium for the Hell of the North. Congratulations mate! He seems to be a great guy. How can I tell? Simple fact that he seemed most excited to see his wife and baby at the finish more than being excited by the win itself. Impressive. However, VERSUS' coverage of the event was horrible at best. I'd bet we actually saw less than 10 minutes of racing in a 60 minute show. Oh well, at least it was something.

Ralph "Pfoodman" Pfremmer announced his plans to again serve as a major sponsor for 5th year in a row at the MS150 in Columbia, Missouri. I'm excited by the opportunity to work with Pfoodman and Jerry "Orzie" Orzano in the next few months. Pfoodman will also get the opportunity to pass along some of his training tips and experiences to yours truly. I recently asked him for help in bridging the gap from enthusiast to competitive level cyclist. He's promised me pain and suffering. I am prepared to suffer if it means getting out of my comfort zone and building stronger riding abilities. I'm 42, and I've gotten soft. It's time to take it up a notch. "Most battles are won or lost before the first shot is fired."

Don't laugh, you try riding with an umbrella!!

Well, it finally finished raining for a while. I hate trying to ride in the rain. Maybe this is the reason, it's just too friggin' hard to hold the umbrella. Oh well, it doesn't really matter much, because now I have a chest cold. The kind that feels like someone is sitting on your chest and you just can get a good breath. Basically, it's not good if you're wanting to ride. Oh well, we got our rain, we've had our cold weather and now it's time to move into spring! I'll be glad to ride the bike without tights, gloves, or booties.

125 miles, 32 degrees, 20mph winds - When do we start???

April 7, 2007 marked the begin of our St. Louis Brevet Series. John Jost is the local organizer of the series and does a remarkable job of putting the route together and providing us with some of the best cue sheets around. John does a great deal of this work all for the love of the sport. I wish we had more people like John around. The rides on the St. Louis Brevet Series begin at the commuter parking lot in downtown Edwardsville, IL. It reminds me of the town I grew up in. Small town struggling to stay small despite of the influx of suburbanites staking their claim on acreage convenient to the greater St. Louis area.

Last year, we had some tough weather (temps in the 40s and winds constant around 15-20mph) for the starting 200km. This year's weather made last year look like a great day. We were greated with temps in the 20s and winds directly out of the west at a steady 20mph. During the course of the day, the weather improved to a balmy 32 degrees and the winds never subsided. For the day, I chose to ride in a long-sleeve polypro base layer, a s/s jersey, and a windproof thermal cycling jacket. On my legs, I decided to go with the Pearl Izumi AmFib bibs and DeFeet Wool Blaze socks. I also added a hand warmer on top of each shoe before slipping on my neoprene wind booties. Under my helmet, I went with the Nike winter cycling cap. My hands were covered by a convertible running glove made by 180s. These gloves are great because they provide the dexterity of a glove, with the warmth of a mitten. To keep my fingers even warmer, I toss a handwarmer into each mitten cover and my hands stay warm all day long. Check the gloves out here: http://www.180s.com/sub_category.aspx?prodtypeid=3&lineid=2&productid=23&psku=75896

I was starting the day with a good cycling friend of mine, Scott Thompson. Scott is cycling's answer to the Energizer rabbit. He can ride a long, long time and never seem to tire. To give you an idea of Scott's stamina, just 6 days earlier, he ran (yes, ran) a 44 mile ultramarathon. When I checked in with him the day after his run, his response was that his legs were a little tired. So, how does one find thrill in a 200km cycling event after running an ultramarathon 6 days earlier? Show up for the ride on a fixed gear bike!! Yep, he's my friend and my motivator!

Also stopping by this morning was another good friend of mine and recent convert to cycling, Keith Dudding. Keith is a great guy and really wants to jump into cycling with both feet. Unfortunately, his knee isn't permitting him to do that. Ironically, it was that same knee that caused him to make the switch from running to cycling. I hope the knee gets fixed soon and he gets the chance to ride the long distance stuff with us. Keith did roll out with us for approximately the first 7 miles. He then had to cut his ride short so he could get into the studio in time for his bluegrass radio show, Down Yonder on KDHX 88.1. http://www.kdhx.org/programs/downyonder/index.html
A finer bluegrass show you won't find!

We rolled out at 7am and began the trek to our southernmost point, Okawville. Okawville will be 67 miles from our starting point and will represent the second checkpoint of the day. Scott and I rolled together at approximately 17 mph. At this point in the day, we had the benefit of the wind coming into our backs or quartering across the back of our shoulders. As we rolled out the main pack of roughly 12 riders drifted off into the horizon, as Keith, Scott, John Jost and I maintained our easy pace. The first part of the ride was fairly uneventful. An interesting twist to this year's start was that John took advantage of the Madison County Trail network to get us out of town. It was nice to start the cold morning not being focused on traffic. After the first 24 miles, we arrived in Pocahontas, home of country singer, Gretchen Wilson. All I know, is that they are also home to two gas stations and that means, restrooms. Scott and I pulled in to use the facilities and immediately got back on the road.

Our next stop would be the first checkpoint of the day in Breese which was scheduled to come at 41 miles. At 39 miles, I had to again take a restroom break and that's when I decided it was time for an all out town sprint. Now, I know racing isn't what randonneuring is all about, but doggone it, I needed to go and we were rolling through a residential area (ie., no way to stop on the shoulder.) As we rolled over the overpast into Breese, I made a beeline through the grass and directly into McDonald's. RELIEF!!

One mile later, I stopped at Checkpoint #1 and found Scott and two other riders. Everyone was trying to thaw out their water bottles and find some carbs on the store shelves. The best find of the morning were the Hostess Fruit pies. Each pie was 470 calories, with 70g of carbs. Yumm! I haven't had one in at least 20 years and gobbled the first one down in a matter of seconds. I learned the other two riders at the stop included a lady from Alaska who came down for the ride. She came to this ride because her parents live in the area. It turns out she works on the oil rigs out in the middle of the sea. She works two weeks and then has two weeks off. Interestingly enough, she found the weather cold, too.

As we got ready to leave the checkpoint, Scott told me to go on riding ahead if I was feeling strong. He knew he was limited to speed and had a game plan he needed to execute to finish the day on the fixed gear. As we rolled out of the checkpoint, I decided to pick up the pace to see if I could catch the lead group that was 30 minutes ahead of me. I started making great time and as we turned onto SR 177, I caught a tailwind and immediately began to take my average speed up near the 25mph range. I felt really good and decided when I rolled into Okawville, if the lead group was there, I would have my card stamped, refill the bottles, and roll out with them. Unfortunately, I missed them by a mere 10 minutes. At that point, I decided to grab another Hostess fruit pie and a coca-cola. Normally, I won't touch that much sugar, but my heart rate monitor told me I was burning through the calories.

After a 20 minute stop, I left and headed into the severe head/cross winds and began the 58 mile trek back to the car. As I turned onto County Highway 6, I cursed for having no one to help break the wind with me on the return route. I also got myself mentally prepared for the bashing I was going to take on the ride home. Feeling someone strong, I kept the bike rolling forward at 12-14 mph, which was quite a chore with the winds I was experiencing.

I knew I had another opportunity to stop for food when I reached New Baden in 23 miles, but since I was pulling a good pace, decided to keep going. Trust me, as I rolled past the McDonald's in New Baden, I really felt like stopping in for a couple of nice warm cheeseburgers. However, also knowing McD's cheeseburgers can sometimes be cold and taste like crap, I decided to pass. As I rolled up Ruth Schoolhouse road, alone, I felt the winds beat on me harder than they had all day, and I was getting cold.

On last year's ride, a little gas station/food mart in Marine was making fresh pizzas that smelled great, but didn't sound appealing with 15 miles to go in the ride. However, this year I was cold, hungry, and very much wanting some pizza. Feeling a sense of focus, I gulped down a couple of Power Bar endurance gels and began tapping out a tempo that I knew I could keep until I was eating pizza in Marine. As I rolled into the food mart, I was already dreaming about pizza. As I opened the doors, I was greeted by the smell of NO PIZZA!!!! Seems as though they no longer make the pizzas on the weekend and therefore, I was out of luck.

I've got to say, I was quite upset. I know I'm supposed to be focused on the ride, but when your body is running on fumes and you've been in the saddle for 7 hours, being disappointed by a lack of a desired food is very hard to take. Settling on a Red Bull and some cheese crackers, I sat around for about 25 minutes as I talked on the cellphone with my wife and family. I finally decided to make a run for the finish and met back up with Keith who came back out to ride back into town with me.

Keith was a welcome sight. Since I had just spent better than 4 hours in the wind alone, it was nice to sit on a wheel and talk with someone other than the voices of Phil Liggett or Paul Sherwin who kept playing solely in my head.

I finished the ride in 9h42m, which beat my time last year (under easier conditions) by almost two hours. I think I could have ridden the ride in right at 9 hours, but with the cold, the wind, and the lack of any drafting, I think it was an honorable day all around. Scott finished the day approximately 45 minutes behind me which was quite impressive. After I loaded the car, I drove home, showered, and ate 1/2 of a large pizza from a delivery place. I gotta tell you, pizza never tasted so good! My next ride will be the 300km on May 5. Let's just pray for light winds.