Chillin' In Da Hood

Long week of cycling. Although I rode OK this week, I will say it was not a good training week. Every time I rode, I rode hard. When I should be resting, I did not ride - So every time I was on the bike, It was like full throttle - I want to be in top form by Gateway - It is a goal. To get there, I need to set two goals - First is eating right and the second is training right. Summer school is over this week so my plan is to go into effect soon.

First, the only photo of me at Winghaven - a picture of my ass (#587) - quite appropriate


Tuesday Night Crits - A good time - Temp was HOT, HOT, HOT. I felt OK - I wanted to lay myself out for part of the race - so I chose the prime. I took to the front, on 5th wheel going into the turn at the top of the hill and got blocked out by two Big Shit guys - however, good effort - unfortunately, I was toast. I finished with the pack. After the race the ICCC treated everyone to some nice refreshing snowcones!



Wed Night Throwdown - I hung on for dear life - Fell off on Conway but caught back on.

Thursday and Friday - Sat on my ass. I really want to ride the Marquette ride - maybe in a week or two.

Saturday Hub ride - fast, but not that fast. Started off really fast, but eased up after awhile.

Ok here it is - THE HUB WEBSTER GROVES CRIT!!! Bring it on...It was broughten!

Highlights from the day as seen by me:
Arrived at 7:00 felling very hung over from the night before - Went to a buddies 40th party and saw Gilbert Gottfried - Freaking hilarious.

The day began with set-up:

My job for the day was registration - set up and prepared for the chaos. Everything throughout the day went great - the beauty is having Ron Clipp as the promoter. The only complaint I had was this one guy who bitched about the extra release form - I tried to blow it off, but true to asshole form, he kept bitchin. I finally said, "you know who loves to hear complaints like this - Ron Clipp - he's right over there." The guy said, "that's Ok, I won't bother him." And I replied, "Now that's a good call." The best thing about Ron, he can out-crazy the crazy!

I must admit I did not see much racing - registration sucks - and is constantly busy. Everything comes your way- registration, questions, comments - it's like the focal point for people to go. The highlight was this one dude who got a one day license to race the Cat 5's. I swear the guy was not right - he showed up to race without a helmet, found one, and signed up for the Cat 5 and 4/5. I asked if he has ever raced before - The answer - I raced Collegiate at the University of Arizona! I was like, man, you're going rock out there. And rock he did - by crashing out a few in the field like Andy Berger before the third lap and riding like a nuthead. By the forth lap he was gone. After the race he came back to registration and wanted to drop out of the 4/5's - So, instead of letting him sulk away, I had to give him shit - like: I guess Missouri racing ain't like Arizona racing, is it? Man, was that funny.

The Saxton Kids did the kids race - super cool

After the race, they rode in the pace car for the 4/5's. It was hilarious seeing Gracie's head sticking out the rear window every lap with a huge grin on her face!


The best racing highlights included the super crash in the 3/4's - Ambulance and all and the great work int he 4/5's - coming into the last lap was The Hub train on the front - get the fuck out of the way!

If you want a detailed report - see Bill's blog

For the 1,2,3 race, registration was closed, so I jumped in the car for a ride, but ended up driving because Andy was sick of driving - as always - super fun.


And for the conclusion - it wouldn't be a Hub race without copious amounts of beer!


Good job to The Hub - a great racing team!

A View from the Cheap Seats

It has been awhile since my last update on the riding journal - so here it goes.

Saturday - did the Hub ride - felt tired. Took it easy and cut the ride a little short and rode with Ron. The group caught us and I rode with the group the rest of the way in.

Sunday morning - Knucklehead - Felt really good - except for a "little" problem. While we were waiting for the ride - I had to take a major dump - It was really bad. I tried to sprint ahead to Starbucks on Clayton in the strip mall - ran to the door and... They were closed! There is hardly anything open at 6:30 on a Sunday morning. So I sprinted to Schnuck's, ran inside and the bathroom was locked. I was in shit hell. Rode across the street to the other Starbuck's and... SUCCESS! So, after I dropped 5 pounds and missed the ride, I decided to ride Clayton to Kher's Mill and ride the route backwards until I caught the group. The Hub guys were on the front (Kevin, Ron, Adam, Mark) and I joined in. It was a great ride - the best was Mark who got up front and laid the hammer down. We got stopped at the light at Baxter and I looked back and Mark demolished the ride - all that was left was us!
Mark The Anihilator!
Tuesday night crits - rode down with Kevin and raced - felt really good. The race started out and there was a crash on one of the early laps on the back hill - I was behind it but was able to move around it. A gap formed and I tried to sprint to close the gap and instead pulled to whole group back together. Oh, well. I was doing great and with three laps to go moved up into great position. Some dude was yelling for me to pull through the group but with three to go - I held up. I do not know if that was a mistake or not. The last lap got really sketchy and bunched up - guys were bumping like crazy and I got pushed back and finished with a group sprint.

Wednesday - did The Hub throwdown and felt really good. Although the pace was a little slower - I stayed with the whole ride and finished strong. As we went through RocK Hill, the Hub ride caught up with Team Rev's ride and I saw Judy and finished the ride with her - I know, I'm romantic!
That night we had the Webster Crit meeting complete with...beer! We stayed at The Hub pretty late drinking and planning!

Could not ride Thursday or Friday for personal reasons.

Saturday - did the Hub ride and I felt really good. Took it a little slow with some good pushes. When we got back to The Hub, members from Jelly Belly - in town for Winghaven - were there doing a plubicity thing for the Tour of Missouri. It was cool talking to a few of the guys - and the best was the free shit!

Sunday - Winghaven. Hubbers Bill, Bryan, Robert, Eric, Greg and Eddy

The big race - the only NRC race in Missouri. It was awesome having the Sram cars and motos with Zipp wheels following us and two police on motos leading us. Cars with guys with cameras were all around us while racing. Our race was really early and I arrived latter than I wanted to and so I was only able to take one warm-up lap - instead I took two and lined up at the end of the pack for the start with Bill and Robert. Eddy was on the front line. We than sat and waited at least 30 min. in the heat because things were not set up. We did have some scenery to keep our minds off the wait, unfortunately the heat factor increased (I was not as descriptive nor detailed as Bill! - but the socks with the shorts kicked ass!) Finally the race got under way and the three of us moved up nicely after the first round-about. Tucked in down the big hill and up the short steep climb there was the first big crash on off to the side. The race was going fine except for the back stretch. Guys would break hard into the really sharp turn and then blast it through the major hill on the start/finish line. The fourth lap, I was headed down the back hill and up the steep climb and right next to me - another big crash, taking out a few guys. When we came into the turn for the fifth lap, I was on Eric's wheel and was hurting big time. The temp was really hot and I had drank very little water. The heat was totally getting to me. The sprint out of the corner left me falling off Eric's wheel and falling off the pack. By the time we cleared the second round-about and headed for the hill to the start/finish line, I was gassed and lost all contact. My race was over in a bad way. I regrouped with Eddy and robert and we punished ourselves to stay in the race. We all finished somewhat together. Although I was not there for the sprint, Bryan said he ran out of gas going into the hill, Bill sat up and blocked and I think Eric finished in pretty good standing. After the race we were all so dehydrated and zonked that we just sat on the grass unable to stand because of the heat. When we finished the temp was around 97 and climbing.

Other races I saw:
Mark and Michael raced in the Master's 1-4. I didn't see much of the race - I was passing out at the time but I did see the end and Mark - a steady blog follower!- finished with the pack in the sprint - an awesome job considering the talent in the group.

The ladies race featured Alice and Kate. Kate followed my racing strategy and Alice stayed with the group and finished strong. I had recovered by then and took a couple shots:
Kate:
Alice:

Alright Louie - ville

Louisville: Title=Jamie Curtis from Trading Places - you know, "Alright Louie"

First let me give props to my wife on her second century of the year - way to go Judy! With company from Andy Bergermeister, Judy rocked without me. 2 down, 3 to go.

Well, I have been out of the normal regiment for a week and I am sure I have ballooned to a fat ass. The Louisville trip is done to grade AP Exams and hang out with some buddies. By hang out, I mean beer, food and more beer. An example:

The Famous "Brown Sandwich" from the Brown Hotel in Louisville: 1/2 pound of Turkey, heavy bread and a Bashamil sauce with cheese I do not know the mount of weight that has been gained here, but to get ready for Winghaven I am going to have to do some pretty hard-care detox.

Met up with Tom Z. from Truman U. at Kirksville

Yes, I did give him the customary Big Shark crap like God, Big Shark riders are like roaches - they are everywhere, they multiply and could survive a nuclear war, bikes and all (after all, they say "Big Shark" on them - the words themselves are like a nuclear force field) - Tom is one heck of a rider and a few of you probably recognize him from Masters races - he used to ride with Jelly Belly before Big Shark. I rode with Tom one day and we rode the Masters Nationals course in Cherokee Park. It is a cool as hell course 5 miles with one substantial climb (not as steep as Herman, but longer) and another noticeable climb. It is an awesome course that winds through the park - it does have some good turns. Tom smoked me up the two aforementioned hills - come on, I'm a suck-ass cat 4 and I read exams for 8 hours.

Did do some solo rides and one group ride with the Cycler's Cafe.

This was supposed to be a Tuesday Night Throwdown - this was told to be the racer ride at throwdown pace (a step below race pace)
The ride: for a group ride - it was huge - I guess about 50 guys - all racers from mostly three teams, the biggest was Team Louisville - and it was a drop ride. I sported The Hub kit in Louisville determined not to embarrass the store and the hood - and I did not disappoint. The ride was really cool. This ride took over the streets - I mean, the entire lane, blasted through stops, etc - It was a wild. Tom took over at the front with another guy and my ass landed near the upper middle. This ride had a lot of build-up. This Cat 4 guy next to me said when I asked about the ride - you picked the best one, Cat 1 and 2 guys up front, Blah, Blah, Blah, etc. I will not knock their ride, I had a great time, however, these are a group of guys in desperate need of a Tuesday Night Worlds Crit. This ride was like a road race, guys jockeying for positions, covering breaks - all on the road with cars - in this way it was a little crazy. The pace itself was fast, but these guys have never done The Hub Wed. night throwdown. This ride was almost all flat and needed some hills - however, when we pulled off, there were only about 20 guys left. I could have done more, but with not knowing the course - I am far from Tom, knowing me, I would get to the front, hit the only hill on the course, and blow up! So I was fine were I was and I covered two breaks.

OK - coming home to the land of milk, honies, and my biking. From Louie-ville, peace out (man, was Jammie Lee Curtis hot as hell in that movie)

A Damn Stupid Move

Riding: Monday Night - renewed the Monday Night fixed Gear ride - It was an awesome night. We left when it was still light. In attendance was Andy, Tom Eaton, and El Cavano. We had a nice headwind going out - mostly downhill and a delightful tailwind going back. The pace was great - an awesome ride.

OK - now for the Stupid moves. Tuesday looked horrible as far as rain - so I bagged on Tuesday Night Crits - and the rain never came. The race would have been dry and by the time it rained, I would have been home. So... no riding for me

Wednesday Night Throwdown - Man was this tough. Either I'm a fat ass or I'm fucking slow (or both) I was second from the front going down Geyer headed to Geyer Hill (which is a very steep two tier hill) At the base before the turn, Chris Miller comes up and says - let's attack, or some shit. I politely tell him no, I want to be here in the end. Well off he goes - I do not chase, but pick up the pace around the lead guy into the hill - I hold the front of the whole two tier hill and edge up by the top to Chris' wheel, closing the gap. Chris begins to pull the stretch to Clayton and then falls off leaving me to finish the pull. By Clayton, I was smoked. When we turned on Clayton, David Mark and Danny F took massive pulls up front. The Pace was something like 27 mph - super fast considering the incline. When we hit the light at Ballas, Bill says next to me that he was 5 seconds from bonking - My response was - your ten second ahead of me - I'm out. We continue the ride and I fall off on Clayton but am able to catch up and on Conway near the top, but once again, close enough to catch up. I was toast on the sprint. I swear I never recovered from the first part. I looked like I was beat too - so much so that people commented - AHHH!

I'm off to Louisville for the week. Yes, I'm bringing my bike and I think I hooked up some group rides - will see how they go. Also, wish Judy luck on her second century on Saturday. Andy Berger will watch over her. As a parting shot - check out this dude's mailbox I ran across while out riding:

The weekend, the family and my comments

The racing scene - well, I don't have much to say because I was not part of it again. I know, man do I suck ass. Actually, I feel really strong and I wish I could have raced O'Fallon Road Race - but I had family duties.

The two big races were:
O'Fallon Grand Prix Road Race - Bill H gave a great race report and has started a blog - http://thebillhgenericracereportblog.blogspot.com/ - I have added him to my blogs I'm following.
Tulsa Tough - Heard it was an unbelievable time - will put this on the calendar for next year.

My riding:
Saturday - Showed up at The Hub for the ride but it was raining. I was so in the mood to ride and was willing to go - but I was alone! I missed Mathew by minutes which was a bummer - it would have been a wet bummer but I was in the mood. I should have gone alone, but eggs and bacon were calling and the rain was falling!
The day cleared up nice and Judy and my daughter Isabella - who is just starting to kick ass on the bike, went to Grant's Trial for her first big ride. She rode the whole trail!
Isabella rocks!

Sunday - Knucklehead:
Knucklehead ride was huge. 50 people showed up for the ride. It was such a huge group riding down Clayton. We saw a scooter driving the other way and we joked that he might turn around and start honking and passing out DQ's and time penalties!
Here are two pictures with me in the middle of the group.


When the group broke up - long/short - I took the short route and all The Hub riders - Kevin, Mark, Bill, Adam and Mark and his wife (in a state champion jersey) on a brand new Calfee tandem with HED wheels (this thing was bitch) moved up to the front. It was really cool with all of us in our kits leading the pack down Strucker Road. Adam said he was a few riders behind but have to move up because the scene looked so cool. We started rocking the pace as we hit the first major climb. The pack quickly blew apart the ride and by Clayton it was only us, Chuck from Velo, a Big Shark guy, and two other guys:

The ride down Clayton was super fun. My claim was leading a strong pull at 25 mph down past Mason rd. The best part of the ride was turning off onto Geyer and taking it easy into Webster - After jamming the ride, it's so fun to cool down and take it easy. On the way home we ran into the Big Shark ride headed west.

My Comments: Someone in the Webster/Kirkwood Times wrote a letter to the editor about group rides in Webster not stopping at stop signs. This opened up a huge discussion on the Message Board with all these people writing in about people stopping and other lines of bullshit or we will make the community hate cyclists. Ok - here I go - Shut the Fuck up. You know, I don't give a shit. I don't really care if people hate cyclists because some group ride held them up or some other bullshit. I stop when I need to, and when I don't, I don't. People who hate cyclists hate cyclists and that's it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not an angry cyclist and I am always nice on the rode and if someone pisses me off, cuts to close, etc. I 'll let them know it. When people are nice, I let them know I appreciate that too. The fact that some woman wrote a letter complaining makes we want to kick her in her head - I mean, for real, shut the fuck up!

School's out - Alice Cooper Baby

Saturday: Rode with The Hub - I felt bummed that I did not do the Wild Horse Creek Time Trial. Honestly, I forgot about it. I knew I was going to bag on the Cherry Hills crit on Sunday because of the kids, but I forgot about the TT. I love riding Wild Horse Creek - too bad for me.

The Hub ride was pretty surreal. We began dry and it began to rain. Cruising out Clayton, Dave Smith hit this gigantic pothole dead on.

He blew out his tires on this monster. I almost clipped it on the Wed. ride, but luckily missed it. I knew it was coming and told Rock, who was riding next to me, it was coming. Wow, I guess I saved Rock's life - you hear that Rock, I saved your life! It took awhile to get Dave Smith going again and we were back in action. Going around Ladue onto Mason, David Mark wiped out on some slick road and went sliding into traffic - a Mercedes, driven by some old dude, slammed his breaks as David spread out, sliding on the wet road, straight at the car. The car and David stopped about two feet from each other! A crazy Saturday ride.

Sunday: Ok, Judy and I went out and I woke up feeling like it was a good day to sleep in. I wasn't planning on racing - but congrats to Danny for Second Place overall and Stephanie for 1st place overall!


Wednesday: I was unable to ride Monday and race Tuesday - but I have been looking forward to Wednesday. Having the entire day, Michael, Jeff and Mitch left about 10:30 to begin our Journey. I was hoping to ride a solid 100 but we rode 75 miles with a good 5000 vertical feet of climbing - good stuff. It is hard to remember our exact route - but the Hills were numerous.

Rode out Conway to Valley
North on Valley to Orville (west)
to Wild Horse Creek
to a back way into Babler Park
rode the Circuit race around Babler (4 miles)
out Babler to Pond
to Old Manchester
to Glencoe
to Melrose - cross Hwy 100
to Bouquet
to Old Manchester
to Little Tavern
to Hwy T
to St. Albans for lunch. We stopped at that historic sandwich place in St. Albans - freaking good food - had a Chicken salad sandwich and salad (too much food!) and we sat outside in these awesome chairs and relaxed - super nice

out Hwy T
to Melrose (freaking climb right after lunch!)
to Old Manchester - should have done Melrose to Woods :(
to Hwy 100
to Hutchinson
to Clayton and back home! 75 miles on the nose.
I had planned to make it an even 100 with The Hub Throwdown - was planning on taking it easy, cheating up Conway, but in came the rain with a vengence - Ride cancelled.
Bummer.

Side note: Rode the Babler X-treme Circuit Race - and I can only say one word - FUCK! Man, this is one serious race. The hills were extreme - My race would be 5 laps, 20 miles or I could do 4/5 Masters of 4 laps - either way - I do not know if I'll be there in the end - I'll have to think on this one - Remember, I'm fat and suck ass

Ole'

This week in riding:

Sunday - took the day off after the century - I wanted to do knucklehead - but I thought Judy might kill me!

Monday - Went out for a short spin - 15 miles or so through Kirkwood. I'm going to cough this up as the most expensive spin I've had in awhile. While riding down Adams, right after Woodlawn - my rear tire has a blow-out. Something ripped through the sidewall - So after using a CO2 to fill up the tire enough so I could limp home - a stop at The Hub for a new Michelin Pro Race 3, a new tube because I'm running low - Damn.

Tuesday - Went for a ride after work with Michael and Jeff - instead of heading West - we thought we would head into the city to Forest Park. The weather was amazing and we had one thought - a nice easy ride!...and Wash U chick in sport bras. Well the weather was awesome, the ride was nice (with some spurts thrown in) but we totally missed the memo for the day. Zero chicks, zero sport bras, zero jogging - however, about 20 shirtless guys running everywhere we went...not that there's anything wron...whatever.
That night was Tuesday night crits. Rode down with Kevin, Adam, and his brother Tom. Felt really sluggish, even during the afternoon ride. The pace for the B race was really fast. About two thirds through the race I felt great - and then - BAM! I don't know what happened but I started to peter out (no Forest Park jokes) quickly. With three laps to go, I glance behind me and I'm the ass of the pack. With no juice to moter up - I hung on until the last lap and then dropped off the back. I guess this kinda sucked.

After the race Devin, BillH and myself headed to Taco Tuesday at the Tower Pub. This was an excellent time = Tacos, meat burritos (no Forest Park jokes), beer, Ole'. Sat around and talked with a lot of good people and headed home. It was a great night to ride home, and in by 10:00!

Wednesday Hub Ride.
Once again I felt sluggish. The pace was wickedly fast. I felt fine until we turned West on Conway. There was a deer running down the road on Mason and ran right out into the road and a car almost nailed it (no Forest Park jokes) - missed it by inches.
Well, something happened to me because I looked up and guys were flying up that little hill. I tried to put it into gear, but I could not catch up off the back. I was thinking they would slow-up down Mason, but not. Myself, BillH, Matthew, and a couple of Big Shark guys were blown off the back. We chased like crazy and came about 30 seconds (no Forest Park jokes) from catching them twice, but never could. I worked my ass off (no Forest Park jokes) during this ride and was exhausted. Nonetheless I was dropped and it pissed me off. I am having a hard time doing back to back efforts this year.

Thursday
Went in for root canal - I'm amazed at how far they drill into your (no Forest Park jokes) tooth - I said tooth. This was my first time and everyone said it would be painful - (Stop thinking about Forest Park jokes - shit) - but it was not. I took the day off and I was out of the dentist by 10:30. Since I had the day, I decided to meet Judy for lunch and rode out to her work. It turned into a nice 30 plus mile hilly ride on a great day.

A side note - This my sound juvenile (like this entire blog isn't), especially after the Forest Park theme, but I will say, I know nothing about Pearl Izumi Octane Pro crap except for two things - First, it's freaking expensive for clothes!
Second -
I love the back cover Velo News ads!