Dirt Crits & Creek Crossings

(Thanks to Mike D. and Pfoodman for the photos)


As you can see from the photos, this weekend gassed me. First the B race and some serious racing for sure and then the PF race, which is when this pic was taken. I had just come off one of the first laps having really put the hammer down. As you can see, neither me or Jeremiah were looking ready to hit it again. The PF race was like riding hard intervals in front of a crowd. Fun stuff. In the end, I made too many riding mistakes and it cost our team. Most of my mistakes involved the creek crossing. I could never pick the right line and as a result, I often dabbed or in the case of one crossing, crashed on the far bank of the creek. On the time I crashed, I was unlucky enough to snag my necklace around my handlebars and since I had one arm pinned under the bike, it was a little awkward getting up. That crash left me with some nice bruises on my legs. However, on my second to last lap our team was about to get put a lap down by the Ploch-Cash powerhouse. As we took our hand-off's Carrie was about 3 bike lengths behind me. Carrie and I had a good race together in the B race and I was going to give it everything to keep her from passing me. I was mostly successful until we were about to pop in the start/finish area wherein I hit a tree with my right shoulder while flying along pretty well. It certainly got my attention (as well as the attention of the spectators and even Carrie.) Stunned and with my right arm hanging, I made it to my teammate and evaluated another lap. I did finish, but it was only because I had one lap to go. I felt bad for my teammate Rob Oellerman. We certainly could have finished closer to the top, but it was fun racing with him nonetheless.


During the B race, we had a train of 6 in the first chase group which included two of my teammates, Kent Jones & Mark Hasler, racing with Carrie Cash, Todd Holtman, and another rider. We were putting down some serious efforts hoping to catch a glimpse of the lead group of 4, but it never materialized. It was okay for us, as we had a teammate in the lead group, Zak Hafner, but he was up against some serious competition in the form of John Peiffer, Jeff Powell, and Devin Clark. Those guys were thrashing each other with Devin, John, Zak, and Jeff going 1-2-3-4, respectively.



Here I am after my teammates broke free of the train before the creek crossing to get away and I'm waiting to get through traffic and bridge up to Todd Holtman. Carrie Cash is so pro, she offered so much encouragement to people during the race. I really enjoyed the competition with her during the race. (Little did I know one, Casey Ryback was lurking in the pack as well.)




I made the bridge up to Todd, but in the end he had too much for me to deal with and he beat me out. He's a strong dude that will be more competition for the Sport racers next year.

In the end, I finished 8th out of 29 racers and that was a solid effort. Big thanks to my teammates and to Pfoodman for putting the series together! Well done and look forward to next year!!!

Dirt Crit Finale (aka I hate creek crossings)

Very sore shoulder, multiple bruises, big ol' smile knowing our team had 4 guys in the top 10. More to come later.

I'm Yearnin' for Burnin'

Last year was my first year racing and I had no idea what Burnin' was or what I was missing. After living vicariously through others, I made a vow that come hell or high water, Burnin' would be on my calendar as a main event in 2008. It was the first race on the calendar and everything in the fall revolved around the event. That is until my wife's cousin decided to plan her wedding for the same weekend in Omaha. Now, I'm missing the race so she and her sister can fly to Omaha to attend the wedding. You know what, it's cool. Yes, I'll miss the event, race, and party of the year but I'll get to spend a little time with my kids and rest up before Bubba hits full swing the following weekend. It just leaves me with another year of Yearnin' for the Burnin'.

Push-Ups...Day 2

Yesterday morning was push-up workout #2. The Perfect Pushup workouts schedule a day off between each workout. My arms felt a little better following the first workout, but they never really quit aching altogether. Many years ago I remember doing weight-lifting workouts with a trainer and recall the same kind of soreness. I began the second workout feeling a little better. The regular pushups went by okay, the wide set was a little harder, but by time I attempted the close arm pushups, my arms were again fried. While doing the first 8 close arm push-ups I was using ever fiber in my body to complete these. Chance of doing the remaining 6, then 4, and 2??? Dwindling quickly. I rested a few seconds, and then got 4 more push-ups before my arms were toasted.

Overall, are these "Perfect Push-ups" doing anything for my arms and upper body??? Way too soon to tell, but I am definitely feeling the soreness in the muscles I've never focused in much (mainly triceps, pecs, and abdominals.)

I Can't Touch My Head

I decided to focus more on my upper body and core development for this part of the season. More sit-ups, crunches, planks, etc. I always wanted to do push-ups as a part of my workouts, but ever since I had a cyst removed from my wrist, the outward flex on my wrist required for push-ups would greatly aggravate my wrist. I decided to take a look at the Perfect Pushup. My thought was that would be a solution to not putting undue flex into my wrist and also provide a little more than the standard push-up. It did seem gimmicky to me, however. But for a $39 investment, I figured it was worth a try.

Here's what the marketing lingo says about the product:
"The Perfect Pushup's rotating handles allow your arms to rotate naturally the same way they do when you throw a punch or press up a dumb bell. This unique feature engages more muscles and helps reduce joint strain. Works for any fitness level – from beginner through professional athlete. The Perfect Pushup was developed by a US Navy SEAL using the latest in biomechanics and engineering to help you achieve better results from your pushup workouts. Smooth rotating handles accelerate results by engaging more muscles in the arms, chest, shoulders, and back. It also helps reduce strain on wrists and elbows, and helps to stabilize and strengthen the shoulder joint."

Now I know many of you can do push-ups, do them well, and do a heckuva lot more than I can. I'm a whimp, I know that, and I'm okay with that. I have no upper body strength and I could never do many push-ups. As you read the instructions for they ask you to do a maximum number of pushups using the product and several times they mention "be honest," "don't cheat." I could do 10. Now, I've been able to do as many as 30 'regular' pushups at one time, but with these I thought something's gotta be wrong, because at 10 I'm quivering. The workout is simple.



For the first set-up, your arms are placed in the normal position (shoulder width) and in the span of 2 minutes do 8 pushups, then 6, then 4, and then 2. Then put your hands wider than your shoulders and do the same (8-6-4-2) in 2 minutes. Finally, you put them together near your belly button and do (8-6-4-2) in 2 minutes. That's it, you're done. Hmmm. Seems easy enough.

I tried it last night after my interval workout on the bike. I BARELY completed the workout. I'm serious. On the final 2 pushups I was quivering and wished I was back doing 30 second sprints with 30 second recoveries. They were brutal. When I was finished, I did crunches, sit-ups, and leg lifts. When I jumped in the shower, I attempted to wash my hair, but it was hard getting my arms up to my head. The rest of the night, simple tasks like scratching my nose or rubbing my eyes were a real chore. I'm not being melodramatic here, I'm being brutally honest. If a regular pushup is great, I'm wondering what in the heck these things are going to do for me. In addition, I felt no wrist pains or soreness while using them. I'll keep you updated.

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.

An Evening with Jennifer (and Katy)

About 10 days ago, I was in need of a recovery spin so Jenifer and I dropped Collin off at soccer practice and drove over to the Katy trail for a just that. Jennifer had the benefit of gears, while I chose the s/s mtb. She rolled off a few minutes ahead of me and I found myself pedaling as fast as I could to catch her some 10 minutes later. (I guess her spinning classes are paying off.) After I caught up with her we pedalled for an hour and then buzzed back to pick up Collin. It was a perfect day for both of us and perhaps this could become a regular date??