Week on the bike

HELLO Michael Rawitscher! It was good to hear from you.

Sunday: Got home from the lake and did the Hour of Power ride a little easy at 1:10 - nice to be spinning.

Monday: Went over to Illinois to ride with Rich Witt on the Metro East Cycling ride. A really nice, car quiet and fast course - Illinois farm roads - a little hilly - a perfect 30 mile ride. Took it easy, Avg. around 20 mph - which was pretty easy considering the course. It was nice to ride with Rich - especially the fancy drinks after the ride!

Tuesday Night Worlds - a really cool night - I rode to and from with a jacket on (in July)! The race started and I felt really good.
Bryan says "hi to all" When the race began, I quickly moved to the front and was in the top 5-10 for most of the race. With about 10 min into the race, I rode on the outside and Lendel let me in front, about forth from the front. As we came through the start/finish, a break went off the inside and Lendel jumped right on it. I saw it unfold and should of sprung with Lendel - but he jumped first and I was afraid I would pull people up to him - so I sat on the front with Mark and a Big Shark guy and did some awesome blocking. It was a blast. In the break was a Big Shark, Dogfish and of course The Hub - and we did a great job disorganizing any pursuit by Ghisallo and ICCC. One ICCC guy got all worked up that we wouldn't pull through and when we did, laid up. I drove the pace at one point and sat up as we crested the hill! Sweet! My goal was to move off the front, but with not being in the break, I was content to work at the front. With about 25 min in the race, I started to gas and dropped back. I was in the sprint but finished mid-pack.

After the race, we (Bill, Devin, Bitch Tits, Eric and Robert) all rode over to Burrito Loco and did our own Taco Tuesday. I swear they served the biggest burrito I ever had. I could only eat half the thing - this is what was left over: Ole'

Wed. Night Throwdown - BUSTED!: A large group, good weather. I begged Heine for a little warm up before the thrashing began - I think he obliged, not quite sure! When we were climbing the hill on Geyer, we rode through the stop sign and were caught by a sitting cop. Pretty funny and he was really cool, telling us to slow down as we went through - nice. The pace quickly picked up again. My only complaint, which was huge, happened at Babler and Ladue. While turning on Ladue, a car came around the bend and split the group into about 2/3 that went and 1/3 that waited. I was in the wait group. The front group did not wait and lit it up down and up the hill. I jumped on the wheel and Heine pursued back up to the group. This blew up the back of the ride, dropping more than half the chase group. I was able to catch back on, but I was smoked. As we turned on Conway, I was hurting and I fell a little off the back. I was able to catch the group at Ballas. I was sort of pissed I felt fine the whole ride to this point and was saving this ball busting effort for Conway, not chasing the group! I was in the mix the rest of the ride and contested for the sprint - it felt good. AVG. 21.9 We all got stopped by the train at the end of the ride and waited with the Ladies ride and Judy!

That night we went to The Tin Can and met up with New Belgium and Ryan Van Duzer who is being sponsored by New Belgium to ride his bike across the US (Cal. to Wash DC) on a 3 speed New Belgium bike. Ryan was a really nice guy and advocates biking over driving through his program called Team Wonderbike. It was a nice small group (Ron, Andy, Ryan and my Misses from The Hub), great weather and free New Belgium beer! Check out Duzer's website www.ryanvanduzer.com. The guy is really funny and does a dance while crossing each state line - worth the view.

Thursday: Went our for a nice easy spin out West and rode Marshall - always a workout. Looking forward to Chicago this weekend. I am dropping some weight and can feel it in my cycling performance.