More beer than biking- The Webster Crit- and why is my shit falling apart?

The Week in Review:

Keep doing the commuter thang - good times.

Could not race on Tuesday - I don't remember why. It was really hot out (high 90's) and I can't remember if that factored into it. I decided to ride with Andy, Loren, Alex and Joe at night. We left at 8:15 to do the Maplewood shop retired ride. While going up Southwest I heard a snap in my right pedal and the next thing I know, I snapped it off - WTF. It was screwed so I turned around and rode back on the spindle.

Wednesday - super freaking hot - the hottest day of the year so far - over 100 - and I did the Hub Wednesday ride. There were only 10 people who showed up and it started out so fast. Since it was such a small group I was pulling up front for the first part. I totally started to bonk - for no real reason. I had to fall off before the hills on Geyer - I was dropped going down hill - man, did I feel like shit. I cut the ride short and met up with the group on Conway and hung with them fine until I was dropped on Litzsinger - Man, this ride sucked - I hate the heat. The whole ride it seemed my bottom bracket was slipping or my left crank was "skipping." So I took it into The Hub on Friday and Ron looked at it - The problem - not the bottom bracket, not the peddle - no the fucking carbon separated from the metal - are you kidding. Devin contacted Zipp and they are going to send a brand new one - in 1.5 months!

Thursday - Went to the Velodrome for the first time with Andy and Ron- what a blast. All the Hubbers were out there racing. Devin is a beast. Chris Miller, Heine, All my Cat 4 peeps - Matthew, Bill, Robert. Stephanie, Kate and Soli representing the women's team, Phil and Todd, my Gizz-Swallow friends were in the mix - Todd even won a C race - rock on!
Andy and Supported the cause by drinking a lot of beer - Bill even let my ride his bike a few times around - I have to do this. I am leaving for Florida next week and this week Thursday is out - so I guess next year!

WEBSTER CRITERIUM

After track night, we went out to patch the road for the race. Me, Ron, Andy, Kevin, Devin and Taylor were all out there - and we were pretty drunk. The whole time I was giving Ron shit about wearing yellow vests so we don't get hit - he, of course, would call me gay and tell me to shut-up. Well, it wasn't long before the cops showed up, lights and all.
Ron and Kevin explained to the cop what we were doing and the cop said OK - the last words he said before he left - "you guys should be wearing yellow vest." Goddam right Ron Clipp! Well, at least Ron Clipp didn't get me killed that night (who hasn't said that once or twice).

Saturday was The Hub Ride - super nice pace - large Hub group
- had a blast. A lot of guys were resting up for Sunday's race.
I rode my Cross bike and while I was going up the outer rode hill, my chain slipped and I almost went down. Somehow I saved it, but I scuffed my right shoe - yes my patent leather SIDI carbon shoes - AHHHH. No, The Hub cycling team is not a gay group

Sunday - The Race. It was a hot day and I did not race - Why - A) I'm a pussy B) I had no bike C) I'm a pussy. It was a blast. I helped set up
and ran registration and drove the pace car for the 4-5 race and the Pro 1,2,3 race. The winner of the pro race lapped the entire field - the guy was crazy fast. I was driving the car and we were closing in on the back of the field so I had to call the refs to find out what to do - crazy. Isabella raced the kids race and came in 4th! You go, girl! Afterwards we partied hard at the race and at Llywelan's - it was a rough morning!

back in the game - oh yeah - and nudity too!

OK - the WNBR - that stands for World Naked Bike Ride in St. Louis! which equals a lot of boobs.But more on that later!

Still Commuting daily. I took a couple of days off because of the weather and lack of desire - but still keeping it real. The weather has been HOT and some of the rides home have wiped me out.

Tuesday - I decided I need to get back in the game so I raced on TNW. I really wanted to race The Grove - but for $45 - WTF! I mean that is some serious cash. One of my teammates said he feels that he is paying for the higher CATS to race - which I feel the same way. It's great the Pros who showed up got the highest payout in a MO crit - but the lower CATS sure paid for it! They even had to shorten the other races because they started late. I like Bill's comment - They reduced the distance but not the entry fee. SO in the end I said FUCK THAT! Now TNW for $10 - that is more my speed. It felt great to get out and race again. I feel strong, so I was anxious to race. At about 10 min. into the race, I was up front for the first part of the race, feeling strong, and everything seemed to open in front of me and slow down - I was like - GO TIME! - I took off up the hill and was joined by 3 other guys - all strong CAT 3-4 types - not the power dudes. Andy and Loren told me before the race they expected something out of me and when they saw me, they would shout their balls off. Not wanting to disappoint, I came to the top of the hill, in my power break away and there they were, not watching the race and petting a fucking dog - I almost started to stop racing and yell at my small fan base! - Just joking - We were able to stick the break for a full 3 laps which was awesome. The worst part was a pulled the hill on the second lap and that smoked me. When we were caught, I drifted to the back, but a few A racers were tagging along, like Mike Weiss. I tried to snuggle up and rest, but Weiss gapped me and I was blown off the back - I was pissed - That is the thing about the B race - by allowing these big guns to race our race, It ceases to become a true 3/4 race. Example - The guy who won the A race was a pro from Texas Roadhouse Areocat who raced at The Grove. He destroyed the field and won by 30 yards - yeah, he raced our race - and won - what a douchebag. OK, bitching over.

Wednesday - Hub Ride - Although the pace was a little slower (20.8 - 246 Avg watts) it was still super fast and fun. To date - I have not been dropped on a Wed. Night Ride - credit to how good I have been feeling. Ride was awesomeIt's nice to be in the front group at Ballas!

Saturday - did the Hub Ride in the morning - What a great ride. The pace was fast - almost 19 mph with 222 avg watts - but not super fast, so the entire group for the most part stuck together! That was so fun finishing with a large group.
I felt really tired starting the ride, but after a goo or two, I was able to wake up. The best part was going onto Conway - I was second in line, behind Bryan Sauter - When we turned onto the road I said "Man, this is last place in line I want to be - I expect you pull the entire hill!" He laughed and picked up the pace. He made it half way and pulled over and I took over and took it to the top - we kept the pace at 21 mph - I felt rock and roll! It was the Sauter/Saxton Cat 4 team laying the smack down!

Saturday Night - THE NAKED BIKE RIDE! What can I say - A bunch of crazy people acting crazy, mostly cycling posers, riding their bike almost naked and supposedly protesting oil. So let's go through this sentence, phrase by phrase.

First of all there were a bunch of crazy people - including Phil, State Champ Stephanie, Todd, Bob, to name a few
a great group of people!

Second - acting really crazy (how come every ride I do like this we end up taking boob grabbing pics?) So the question is - were the people really ugly? Well, yes and no. There was a lot of flat out nudity - total nudity - there are a lot of bicycle seats that should be destroyed - however, there were a lot of hot chicks too. A huge display of boobs! So... I give it a thumbs up (A thumb - get your mind out of the gutter).

Third - A bunch of cycling posers. The best part was when we were climbing some hills by SLU, people had to get off their bike and walk. When we passed them, one guy yelled - I guess they are too dependent on oil!

Forth - Protesting oil. Most people, including us, drove there and there was even a HUMMER in the parking lot - yeah - I hate oil dependency - let's Critical Mass - what a bunch of DB's! However - Judy and I had a blast, which is why we went! Oh - did the wife go topless - you'll never know because you weren't there!

Louisville

Went to Louisville on work - So... what would a teacher being doing in Louisville for 8 days - grading tests - Oh, about 1,365 essayssounds fun - not.

So onto the cycling. The best part was riding with Tom Zoumaras - former Jelly Belly rider and current Big Shark Masters racer. The guy is a stud and a half
Last year I could barely keep his wheel - this year I am in better shape and did OK.

Showed up on Tuesday and did the Louisville Tuesday Night World's road ride. This was a racer group ride and did not disappoint. I felt great and did great
The Average was 22.1 and my average watts was 246. The ride was fun, but lacked any challenging climbs. Nonetheless, guys were shelled from the back because of the speed at certain points. The ride was large too - probably about 40 to 50.

On Wednesday, I went over to this group ride in Indiana - It was a relaxed 36.6 mile ride on some awesome rolling backroads - almost no cars. The ride was very relaxed, about 18 avg. The scenery in Southern Indiana is really nice.

Thursday - did the smaller version of the fast ride - this was not that large, about 18 guys. Tom went with me on this one. The only thing shitty about this ride is Tom flatted and nobody waited for him. I pulled off, but he yelled at me to go, so I caught back on and stayed with the group. Once the ride picked up, guys started launching mini attacks off the front - why, I do not know, but unlike Tuesday, which had some Cat 1 and 2's, I felt like I was able to contend with the stronger guys. We hit this flat land along the Ohio River (really pretty), Everything opened up in front of me and I launched my own attack, except this one was huge. With grading all day and being really tired, one might ask WHY? and once I did it I strated asking the same thing. Three other guys went with me and after I started getting smoked, I pulled off and let another guy pull through. We had a pretty good break on the group and we started taing short pulls. Everybody was working except for one douche bag who would immediately pull off when it was his turn. Soon we lost one guy and I was left with another dude and douche. We hit a light and I was on the front. I braked into the light and the light turned - the group roared past me and I sprinted up to the back, but I was smoked. I was close to downtown and my hotel and decided to cry uncle - Oh well.

Friday - rode with Tom along the river, had a blast.

Sat - Tuesday, no riding - Too much workbut I did eat a lot!

Wednesday - returned to the Hub ride - It was nice to be back - thought I would get dropped quickly because I was super tired after my trip. Once I started riding, things picked up. I made a great move on Geyer which felt great. On Conway, I was totally getting smoked as the pace picked up to 25 - It seemed like everything was going wrong - I initally got behind FuckKnuckle who cause me to have to close a gap, than another person dropped so I had to close anouther gap, than a Big Shit guy dropped and I had to close another gap. Than I started to fall back and gap, but thank God for Matthew Crews who pushed me back into the mix twice! Matthew is a stud. It was great keeping up and finishing - especially after just returning from my trip - good times.

Still a little uncertain about the Tour de Grove - we'll see. I am kind of happy where I am with cycling and I don;t know if a race is what I want.