I Was the First Loser! (2nd Place that is)

A really good week of riding! Seemed like a success with everything I did - Last week it seemed like every ride that I did involved my ass getting smoked - this week was a nice turn around. I like weeks like this.

Monday - went for a nice recovery ride - nice and slow - road to Grant's trail to River Des Peres and back home.

Tuesday - No riding

Wednesday - Hub ride super fast, as usual. Nothing really happened special - just hid in the middle and hung on - and that I did.

Thursday Night track. I rode up to the track with Judy - we got there a little late and they were starting the Scratch Races - Scratch is one of my favorite races - I had to switch out my cogs, take off brakes, etc. - I was trying to fly to get it done. Then my rear wheel was a little messed up, so I missed the first race. Thanks to Robert and Soli for letting me borrow a rear and Devin for fixing mine.
*The second race was a match sprint between me and Dave SmithI lined up on the inside. Dave is really fast but I would try my best. He totally smoked me.
*The third race was an unknown distance. About 10 plus lined up. There was a prime between 2-7 and the bell would be between lap 8-15. I did not go for the prime, thought about it and kept myself close. At lap 12 the bell was rung and one guy took off and won by several bike lengths. I was on a fellow Hubbers wheel and as we came out of turn four, three of us lined up for a sprint - and I won it! Yeah me!
*The fourth race - my second match sprint versus DaveI was lined up on the outside - and... Yeah, he smoked me.
*The fifth race was points - but I had to leave before it got dark.

Friday - no riding

Saturday - did the Hub ride (sorry my finger is in the way) finished the ride strong - a good ride. I even felt good going West on Conway.

Saturday Night Hate Hubres - stud female racer - had her 40th Birthday party at CJ Muggs A lot of Hubbers were there - it was a lot of fun (my wife wanted everyone to know that the only reason she is wearing a white shirt with a black bra was we left the party for a metal show - which she looked smoking hot for)

Sunday - did Knucklehead - I was really tired and a little hungover but I woke up just in time and figured, what the hell - so off I went. I was really planning on taking it easy, but when we broke up, I was in the mood to go. Hub guys included Kevin, Tim, Jeff and Eddy. Dean was there for the ride out and it was the second appearance of the Original Fuck Knuckle! This guy is the biggest douche-bag rider I know (He still wears our old Hub jersey even though we kicked him off the team - we asked for our jersey's back and he said "NO!"... and yes, he was wearing our jersey - and yes, he is still a fuck knuckle. The ride was fast and I kept up front just fine. My only hiccup was the hill on Clayton by Principia - Kevin and two other guys jumped - I jumped too late, so when I got to the top I was on my own, the group behind me and two in front, so I closed the gap, but was really gassed and fell off - but this is the end of the ride where we turn off, so no big deal - I t felt really good.
When I got home, I went out to Grant's trail with Judy and the two kids Bella rode the whole trail and Grace looked so cute on her bike!

Plans for next week - I really do not have any - just to keep riding.

Goddam is it hot!

I'm reflecting back on the posts in the middle of January in which I said, "Goddam it's cold!" Well, today hit 100 with 95% humidity. This shit makes riding really tough - but, like any shitty cyclist, I will persevere.

On a random note - look at this huge concrete monkey I so want this for my yard. I'm thinking about having the paint it any color they want. Ok, back to cycling.

Tour de France - so far the first week of the tour - I swear I can't get enough of this. There have been more crashes than the Cat 4 Gateway Cup series.
Vino, Zabriskie, Van Den Broeck, Wiggens, Boonen - all out. Hoogerland (crazy ass name) getting taken out by a press car, going over the bars and landing in the barb wire fence - that was fucked up - and my biggest loss - Chris Horner. I have always been a fan of Horner and they way he won the Tour of California was tops. I raced in the Chicago Downtown crit that went down Michigan Ave. (truly, one of the coolest crits I have been in) and he was in the race in his Astana kit - that was the year he did not go with the tour because of Contador - cool to see. I had high hopes for him. The only thing that amazes me about the amount of crashes is Vandevelde is still alive - that dude falls down more than me. The highlight of the tour so far was Friday's stage when HTC lined up on the front and drilled it to the finish - they were 9 strong with Cavendish on the back, drilling the pace at over 40 mph - that was textbook cool. Am I a big fan of Cavendish - well my wife is!

Back to me. I need to start re-tooling my riding. I remember showing up to a group ride in Louisville and my buddy, master racer and former Jelly Belly racer said - yeah, this ride has a lot of guys who plan all week to try to hang on - well, that is the way I am feeling lately. I did the Hub ride on Saturday and a few guys up front just drilled the fuck out of it. I feel off going up Conway - I swear I had nothing. It turned out nice and I rode in with a few Hub guys who also called it quits. Sunday I did knucklehead and once again, I gave up on the big hill. Knucklehead is a weird ride (as the name implies) - the ride starts a 6:30, but I pick them up, like most people, along the way. When we pick up the ride, there are about 20 guys. Where I wait adds about 10 guys. After 20 minutes, the ride has grown to over 100. The pace out is really nice, especially for being so fucking early - around 18 or so. After and Clarkson, Clayton takes a huge downhill and the ride splits between long and short at Strucker. I usually take the short which is about 45 miles roundtrip. After the split, the ride gets ridiculously fast as we wind through the bottoms. Going back, the group rapidly dwindles, depending on the fire-power in the group. I took a meaty pull along the bottoms and I kindof gassed myself. I went into the hill giving it up and that was a mistake. They eased up near the top and if I pushed it, I could have caught on at the light - but I missed them by 30 sec. I had some nice alone time riding back.

I missed TNW because we went to the ballgame, missed Wed night Throwdown because of my daughter's birthday, and track was rained out Thursday. Saturday, I did the Hub ride again, but I was feeling really shitty so Adam and I turned off at the outer road and had a nice conversational ride back. Sunday, I rode knucklehead again. This time I had a plan - don't pull in the flats! So I sat in and had a great time. The ride was fast - 21.5 but my avg. watts were really low 215. Mark Gorski was on the ride and he can still ride the shit out of a bike. That guy was such a stud - when I was in grade school I idolized him and Craig Virgin. On the ride was K-dog, Jeff aka. Roadog, Tim, Matthew and Eddie. Good times.

4th of July with the Hub was good times. We met at the shop for the 4th of July parade (man, does my kid look happy) and then had the annual 4th of July Hub softball gameRon trying to give our side a pep talk consisting of - if we drink more beer, we will hit the ball farther.

This week I am planning on riding some track! Oh yeah!

Webster Race

The 2011 Webster Groves Crit - Good Times for All.

Big Props go to Devin Clark - He travels all the way to Georgia for the National Crit - Elite - racing against Rashaan Bahati - and come in 15th out of 165, drives back home and wins the Webster Crit - Pro,1,2awesome. (1. Props to whomever took the pic that I stole and 2. Why can't that be me!)

Had a great time - I helped with registration again, drove the pace car, and hung out and drank. The plan was to do Master's - What a stupid fucking idea. I was pumped for the race and had high spirits, low hopes. It was fun lining up for the race, getting ready to rock it. For the Hub were all the old fucks - Kevin, Marc, Mark Gowler, Bill, Tim, Todd and honorary member Phil. The first two laps were ungodly fast - 1:54 and 1:56 - that would be over 30 mph average! I was tucked in, near the back, and on the third lap, or something, a guy threw his chain going up the hill. I lost contact with the wheel and that was that - AHHHHH! That little glitch saw the demise of all of us - except for 3: Kevin, Marc and Mark Gowler. Phil, Tim and I, who were just off the back, tried like hell to catch on and played catch up for 17 min, until we cashed it in. Although I had fun, it was really an uneventful race.

The second part of the plan worked out great. The rest of the day was laid back and fun. My kids had a blast driving around in the pace car. I swear, by the end of the day, I was plastered. After everything was cleaned up, we all went to Ron took everyone to Llywelyn's for dinner and more beer.

The worst part of the day was the Cat 5 race. A racer - Randy from Team Mack, was coming into the sprint and clicked pedals with another dude and went into the curb - he went right over onto his face into the curb. It was super bad. The ambulance was already there and if we had to wait for them to be called, he might of died. He has been in ICU at Barnes and has had two head surgeries to relieve the swelling in his brain. Although it was not worst crash I have ever seen, it was the worst result I have ever witnessed. I've seen worse crashes were you are like - that dude is dead, and they pop back right up. This was not the case. I hope all goes well and he recovers.

I rode on Monday and my legs felt dead. Tuesday I went to TNW for a little more racing. It was fast and SKETCHY. I rode fin and was near the front for most of the race. I thought about going for a flyer, but Dave Smith stole it from me - just joking - I need to respond faster. I never felt comfortable around turn two, which is a sharp left at the bottom of a hill. When it came to 3 to go, I dropped out, not because I was spent, I just didn't feel the sprint and I though it was a little sketchy and not worth it.
Props to Rich Witt who raced the C race and did great! Now all he needs to do is join a real team and not the MEC Gay-wads.

Did the Wed. Night Hub Smackdown. The group was huge and super fast. Cat 1-2 guys were driving the pace. I was hanging in fine, but I turned off and rode down Clayton to Lone Wolf Cafe to see Loren El Cavano play with Judy, Andy, Kevin, Alex, Valerie and Tom the Chainbreaker. Loren was great and it was a blast!