Ronde von Deathmarch

Yesterday, I loaded up with 3 other teammates, Kent, Rudy, and Zak for a trip down south to Carbondale and the Ronde von Evergreen cx race. The weather was absolutely perfect for a picnic or a BBQ, but a little warm for a cx race. Sunny, clear, and 82 degrees for the start with a slight breeze. Most of the course was in the sun, so that meant even more heat on the body during the race. I mention all of this because it was one of my biggest days of suffering on the bike.

I ate breakfast at 8am and then failed to eat again before my race at 1pm. That's a recipe for disaster for me. Also, the course, while a good course, just didn't set-up well for me. It contained a lot of places where you had to reaccelerate your bike. Over the course of the race, the combination of my weight, the heat, my lower back aching, and my lack of fuel it didn't take long before I was toast. How much so? Let's put it this way, my final lap was my cool down ride. We had enough of a gap on the following 8-10 racers, that I was able to keep anyone from passing me, but let's just say I wasn't breaking any speed records.

Bob Crow and Bill Howells worked me over really well. Bill did it early in the race and he seemed to be riding with a great rhythm and was having a great day on the bike. Bob and I punched back and forth at each other, but in the end, he too had too much for me to hold off and at the pea gravel pit, he put the final nail in my coffin. After the race Anthony Dust told me, "sometimes your the hammer and sometimes your the nail." I responded and said, "well today I felt like the nail and the board."

I finished 14th, while my teammates Zak and Kent finished 6th and 9th, respectively. Rudy had a fantastic effort in the C race with an 8th place finish. He absolutely carved his way through the field picking off racers. After the first lap, he was 20th but rolled a very strong effort to close down on the guys ahead of him and was successful. I think he just needed 1 more lap and there would have been a podium in his sights.

A great day with my teammates however. The ride home is always the best and these guys didn't disappoint me. We were amazed by Zak's nutritional advice and his insights on racing with Kent. Dr. Pierce called us to get a report on the day and tossed in a little good humor that had us laughing for miles. Good tonic to cure and aching body. I'm happy God put these men in my life. And I'm also glad He gives me days like yesterday to keep me humble.

And the Only Prescription...

Made the Leap

Took the plunge and finally upgraded the road bikes to SRAM Force 10-speed. I was probably the only guy left in the Lou running Dura-Ace 9-speed stuff, but once I started having problems with one of the bikes, I figured it was time to replace all of it. The bad news is that I never lost a neutral wheel to someone during a race but I guess that's about to change. The good news is the SRAM stuff rocks. Technically, I made the leap to SRAM two years ago on my mountain bikes, but the double-tap technology on the road bikes just works and works really, really well. Learning to shift the SRAM way took me every bit of 500 feet. Now the only question I ask myself is "why didn't I do this sooner?" Which reminds me, I'll need to start looking more closely for my wheels after races.

Ronde von Evergreen

Taking another carload of teammates this weekend to Ronde von Evergreen in Carbondale. Looking forward to a good race and another good time.

Cross Bike

I should comment that the new cross bike set-up performed flawlessly at Hermann. The single ring 42T chainring with the 12/27 was perfect. No problems with shifting in the front and plenty of tall gear in the back. The only complaint I had was the 42T in the front made it a little too much gear while trying to pedal through the mud as it was putting too much torque on the rear wheel. As a result, my back hurt like hell and I lost a lot of places to people in the mud. Finally, with two laps to go, I started running the mud and that was way better in every way. Lesson learned, but the bike rocks!

Opening Night

Last night was the season opener for the local cross races and our host, Jeff Yielding, put on a heck of a race. We were treated with everything you could want in a race. Chip timing, large fields, tight turns, a sand pit, a mud bog, smoking fast paved sections, and the dreaded stairs. In addition, it was rockstar status for the racers with tons of volunteers and screaming fans at every turn. Toss in the live band and you've got one hell of a fun night!!

I started 12th on the grid and was thankful once I saw the twisty sections that would come early in the race. I really hadn't planned for a fast start, but was lucky enough to come out of the first section around 8th. However, the front guys were pegging it and since I was racing with some guys clearly ahead of my level, I didn't want to burst too soon so I backed the pace off a little. That allowed several people to pass me early in the race, but I was okay with that. I settled into the top 20 riders and began a tempo that would bring me to the end. My teammate Zak Hafner, passed me (from the back of the pack) around the 3rd lap enroute to his 6th place finish.

I kept tempo riding with Kent Jones and Jeremie Meitz and I think we also had Andy Schuette and a couple of other riders in a train on the last couple of laps. I was hesitant to get into a battle with either Kent or Jeremie on the paved sections as they are both strong riders, but now I wished I would have challenged them a little more in the lower field before the sand pit. I don't think I could have made it stick but it would have been nice to make the try. Kent ended up dropping his chain with 1 1/2 laps to go and ended up with a DNF.

On the last lap, Jeremie and others hit the gas in the mud bog and I was too far gone to go with them. I checked our gap to the riders behind and we were clear by several seconds, so I worked enough to stay ahead and took it to the line for 23rd place (out of 58.)

BIG BIG Thanks go out to Matt Grothoff and Robert Metz and the Team Seagal warriors as they were out in full force with cowbells and loud cheering just when you needed it most. They must have had the VIP passes as they were at all the critical sections throughout the race. Top of the stairs, mud bog, barriers, you name it they were there. Best of all, they were at the end of the race handing out cold PBR's!

James Nelson had a great race too finishing in 27th from a back of the pack start. I would see him several times during the race and knew he was certainly capable of bridging up to me, but was lucky enough to hold him back. Rich Pierce was out on the "Deer Dozer" and had a great time mixing it up in the field. James, Rich, Zak and I rode out to the race together and had many laughs on the way out and the way home. True Epicnicity!!

Almost Here....

It's getting closer and closer. Almost like Christmas morning is upon us. Cross season begins Saturday night under the lights and I couldn't be more excited. Last year was an abbreviated season, but this year I hope to do upwards of 12=13 races. I can't say I've been training super hard, but I have been training with the focus of being competitive. Based on the pre-season buzz in the local scene, cross will be hot this year. I'm looking forward to mixing it up with my buddies on the course and then hoisting a cold beer with them afterwards. HUP, HUP!

New Math

Sometimes I feel as though these two are teaching my children the "new mathematics."

I'll Give You a Run-Up

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Saturday morning I held another cross practice in Queeny Park. The early course didn't feature a run-up, so I tossed in a little "heinous epinicity" (local phrase) for the boys. Suffice it to say it had them squealing like piglets. Perhaps, I led the squealin'. The run-up was from near the entrance of the park to the upper road. Approximately 120 steps to the top. HRM blowout to say the least, but look at it this way, the 61 steps at
Hermann will be next to nothing.

Drew showed again, as did Curt, and Dennis. We ran several laps and tossed in some of the gravel roads to work the lactic out of the legs. Great ride overall and spent roughly 2 hours working on our mad skillz.

Queeny Park - Thursday night CX practice

Thursday night at 6pm. Turn on the first left upon entering the Weidman Road side of Queeny Park. We'll practice near the upper parking lot (where last year's Bubba race was held.) I'll have barriers, but at this point, we don't have a stair run-up area. I'll try to work one in on future practices.

Have Barriers, Have Entry

Just completed cutting and fitting the PVC for my new cyclocross barriers. Got the idea from Mud & Cowbells but I made a few modifications of my own. I built 4 barriers so that will give me a couple of spares in the event someone (namely me) heavy foots a crossing. I used the following pieces:

PVC Corner








PVC Tee






I used 10' lengths of 3/4" PVC pipe. I cut the legs 20" long placed them in the PVC corner. I cut two 4' cross members and inserted one end in the PVC Corner and then joined each of them in the center via the PVC Tee. I inserted a 14" leg in the PVC Tee and viola, barriers. Overall, they are just over 8' long and 15.75" high. I'll take some pictures of them at one of the upcoming Queeny Park practices and post it up. For now, it's time for a little HUP, HUP.

We've Got it, It's Not About the Bike

VeloNews Article

Should he come back? Is he coming back? I don't know and really, I couldn't care less. Will it change anything about the sport? Personally, I wish the sport would clean itself up and keep the wind at it's back. Or the sport can continue to operate like an ostrich and bury it's head in the sand. If LA is truly entertaining a comeback, click in, and ride on. Personally, I'd like to see LA compete in some high level cx and xc races.

All Signs Point to "No Go"

This past week was busy with work meetings. All day and into the night through midday Saturday. No time to ride, little time to sleep, and virtually no time with my family. When the meetings concluded on Saturday around noon, I high-tailed it out of downtown and sped for the ranch in hopes of loading up the mountain bike and getting in a few laps at Greensfelder. Jennifer and Collin were at the PGA event and Kelsey was with her grandparents, so the afternoon was mine.

I grabbed the Spider, an extra set of wheels (different tread options), a set of clothes and headed out the door. As it turns out, I forgot to grab a spare tube, pump, or mini-tool of any sort. Luckily, the tires looked okay, but I really had no idea of what sort of air pressure I had in the the wheels. As I suited up and started to roll the race loop, I noticed Team Pirtle-slager climbing up and asked who else was on the course. Word was Pfoodman and Schuck were out and coming up on a lap. I waited and was met by RP and Eric, as well as Mike Gibson. We chatted for a while comparing loop times. The fast experts were quoting something in the 13 min range, while Pfood was more confident of 15 min times.

Once the gang left, I set my watch and rolled to the shelter to begin a lap. I thought my rear tire seemed a little low, but thought I'd give it a go on the course and compare whether or not it was faster due to the better traction. I was definitely grabbing better, but I was also noticing the tire wanted to roll on hard corners. Sure enough, I pressed hard into the bermed corner and rolled the tire off the rim. Hike a bike #1. Up to the car, wherein I grabbed another rear wheel and started to head out. However, that one seemed low on air as well. Luckily, I spotted El Cavano prepping for his throwdown with Senor Grumpke and begged use of a pump. We chatted for a while and then I began another lap.

Not more than 4 minutes into the ride, my front tire started losing air. Within seconds, it was completely flat. Since I was running tubeless, I suspected a decent cut in the tire. Back to the car and tire number three. Quick change, back into the trail, started lap number three. This time it was clean. I pushed hard, but not until the end did I really start pushing my self. As a result, I ran a 15:30 on the nose. I think I could have run a sub 15 minute lap, so I started off on my second loop and right behind the shelter, I tagged a rock and blew out my front tire. Sheer stupidity was the culprit this time. As I had locked out my front shock on the prior lap's climb and since I was bombing downhill into rocks it was only a matter of time before something bad happened.

I was only a slight possibility for the race on Sunday. After my experiences on the trail Saturday, I took those as signs pointing to 'no' and gladly filled the day with church, a round of golf with Collin, and then baseball and dinner. All in all this was a scheduled rest day and it felt like one too.

Time for Practice

Yesterday, I took the cross bike to Queeny Park for some practice on last year's cx course. With the exception of the short, steep uphill section above the parking lot, I was able to run the entire course weed-free several times. After 40 minutes of course loops, I worked my way over to the Dog Museum side of the park to do some hill run-ups. I figured the hill would be the closest thing to the 61 steps we'll be running at Hermann. I did 3 run ups and I'm sure people walking through the park were trying to figure out why a middle aged man was running a perfectly good (and ultra sexy) bike on his shoulder up a very steep hill. Afterwards, I took a lap around the park to cool down a little and then headed for home just across the street. All in all a great workout and the only thing missing was my ability to practice my barrier crossings. However, thanks to Greg at Mud & Cowbells I'm going to be building myself a nice set of portable barriers for practice.