Hour of Power

Who knew that you could ride thousands of miles a year, climb hills hard enough to see stars, suffer like a dog to hang on in a crit, drag one last burst of energy out for one last sprint after laps and laps of surges and breaks, pull on your handlebars hard enough to make them creak like an old lady's ankles, bump with some of the scariest and sketchiest riders ever to grace a pack ... who knew that with all that ...

... you could still be soft? ... like a little pile of pizza dough? ... or a kitten? ... or a quivering mass of jellied flesh?

Apparently Alex knew, 'cuz every time I show up at the Hour of Power, he shows me over and over again just how soft I am -- with walking lunges, or circuits of terror, or the diabolical descending push-up/ascending situp routine. And every "morning after," when I can barely run the soap over my body for the pain in my "muscles," I repeat to myself:

"I am soft, but not for long... I am soft, but not for long..."

Thank you sir -- may I have another?

7/27/08 Tour De Burg (Ohio State Criterium Championships).

I raced this course last year and really enjoyed it. Fast and technical with a really good crowd and a family fun atmosphere. I love the bleachers…that were present at both Troy and Burg (bleachers for Hyde Park Blast?) Anyway, my legs felt pretty good considering the previous day’s race in Troy and I was anxious to put this race behind me, unscathed. A smaller CAT 3 field size today compared with yesterday but still around 40 riders.

The Burg course is fast but the corners are a little slower in comparison, requiring a bit more power. There is one lazy “S” turn (obstacle course) coming out of turn one, before hitting an old brick road section, which continued to make things interesting. Coming off the brick into a left hand turn, riders face a decent head wind. Coming out of the wind, riders take a short left and right turn, before heading down the back stretch into a fast left before making one more left before the final 200 to 300 meters to the finish.

Ryan V. from Team Abundance was present, which meant his modus operandi would be in full affect: fast start and multiple early break away attempts. I considered this, I was a little concerned that this race was going to be a little hectic from the start. McCoy from Olympus was present along with several of his “homey’s” from the Olympus Homes crew (no pun intended). I recognized several that raced yesterday and was hoping there legs were sore. There was not a lot of banter, just steely eyed stars from afar. Some one from Dayton waved and said “Hi Chip.” What’s that about? It was nice to see Todd Frye, from Team Dayton, however. They’ve really been racing well as a team this year and have been producing some good results.

When the race started, a rider on the far left lost his chain immediately. Things were reportedly dicey behind me, as a gap opened, forcing a small group of riders to chase from the start. There were at least two crashes that I’m aware of. One was about halfway through the race, two turns after the bricks. I was behind the spill and had to go wide left to avoid it. I was able to stick to the back of the main group and avoided spending too much energy. The second incident occurred on the final turn before the sprint finish. I saw in my peripheral. I didn’t have quite the positioning and lead out I was hoping to bogart but managed to get behind this really big man who was really cranking it up with about 50 meters to go. I whipped around him on the left and shot past him, catching view of Todd Frye on my right and about 2 bike lengths in front of me. Todd’s a hell of a sprinter and I was lucky to close a little distance on him but never had enough to beat him. He finished 12th and I came in behind him at 13th. Fun race and again, just glad to keep the rubber side down. Lots of bad mojo out there lately and it’s starting to get to me. Hope to find some cool pics, and will add them later. Peace.

7/26/08 Troy Classic Criterium

Nick, Shannon, Alex, and I carpooled to Troy for a mid afternoon ¾ Crit that promised fast turns, including a fun roundabout. The course did not disappoint and the temperatures were in the 90’s and the humidity wasn’t good. Chip’s presence was a pleasant surprise and provided some much needed cajoling and coaching from the sidelines. 57 riders started, with Alex and Nick on the front row. I was positioned about 2 rows back and Shannon was at an early disadvantage, at the very back of the starting field. Not too many familiar faces today; only James Turner (I Pro) and the usual suspects from Olympus and Saturn of Dayton were present. Jeffrey Renyolds was also there with his camera mounted fore and aft. Everyone else, by virtue of their anonymity, held their cards close to their chest.

From the start, the pace was break-neck and held in the high 20’s-low 30’s. I know I use the word “fast” a lot and it’s probably looses a lot of its meaning (especially in cycling blogs) but believe me when I say that the speeds were fast (think Ault Park A’s). The corners allowed you to hold a lot of speed, while pedaling, which kept the over all average speed rather high. The round about was fun but a little dicey, as many folks clipped their pedals on the blacktop.

From the start, Nick was able to maintain good positioning near the front end of the field. I struggled to move up and had to fight just to maintain my current positioning near the middle (back?). It was a difficult pack of riders to maneuver through, and progress was made in slow increments, unless you were okay unnecessary risky moves (like waiting till a turn to pass 15 guys on the inside…my new pet peeve!).

Eventually, the pack reshuffled the deck and the pace slowed down a tad. I was able to find Nick’s wheel but somehow ended-up passing him and managed to find myself tucked behind the 4TH wheel from the front. This is about as close to the front as I ever want to be, especially with 30 minutes of racing left. Doah!

So, considering where I was, I tried to make the best of things and tried to keep things together the best I could. At one point, I believe myself and three other riders were likely about 20 yards off the front. I was grateful that it was reeled in. After that, I was sucked back into the middle somewhere and pretty much stayed there, trading places with Nick and Shannon periodically, as we tried to avoid crashes while inching are why forward, ever so slowly.

Unfortunately, Alex was seen on the sidelines and had pulled out. So, with this realization, the three of us stayed relatively close to one another and we did a pretty good job of getting near the front and staying together at the end, but with five laps to go, we were just not close enough to the front to really be affective in the sprint. I think everyone in the race felt like they could win and for every rider I passed on my why to what would be the lead out train, two to three riders would move pass me.

I wasn’t as aggressive as I needed to be, for sure and for the most part, the sprint started as we approached the roundabout and didn’t let up till the finish line. Nick did the best with a 16th place. I placed 18th & Shannon 20th.

My max sprint speed was a sluggish 37 mph (need to work on this). We averaged 26.02 mph and overall, I’m very pleased and had the most fun racing that I’ve had in quite some time. The road tripping with the boys was good fun and I’m happy to say, that despite all of us rubbing shoulders, pedals, and wheels with everything out there on the road, we all stayed up right and were able to cross the finish line safely. Now…to do it all again tomorrow (stay tuned for my Tour De Burg blog).

troy classic

what i remember from the troy classic:
a whistle.
clip in.
go. hard.
go harder.
it's hot.
it's fast.
my head's going to explode.
oh man, it's really hot.
wait, there's 5 to go? i thought there were only 4 left.
i think i'm overheating.
wait, there's 4 to go? i thought...you get the picture.
was that chip, telling me to move up? can't he see my lungs sticking out my ears?
okay, bell lap, better move up -- d'oh! 2 to go?
who put the felt in my mouth?
hey look, nick and bret -- hi guys!
i wonder what happens when your core temperature hits 200 degrees?
made it. whew! now, a cooldown lap and water.
oops, didn't see that barrier -- i should probably look up when i ride the cooldown lap.
water.
water.

...the rest is a haze, but i do know i had a great time flying the darkhorse colors at a weekend race for the first time with alex, nick, and bret. thanks, guys!

does this skinsuit make me look fat?

Here is a picture of some of the Darkhorse brethren after the last Ault Park race of the year. Thanks to Jeri Gatch, John's wife for the great pic.

Ault Park #6 (A race)

Entering the final race of the series after missing the previous 2 weeks had me a bit relieved. The reason being was the fact that I was sitting around 10th place with no real pressure to score a certain amount of points to improve my placing (unlike last year when I started the final 5th, but ended up 6th). So my goal was to test out the legs when I felt the urge and have some fun. I figured I'd go for the first sprint lap since I would be my freshest. Wrong! I missed 4th place by a tire width (thanks John Gatch!). Speaking of John, he had a stellar night scoring like 28 points and even hitting the pavement at one point in the race.

So, I needed to rest up after that effort; and I did for the next 20 laps!! On the bell lap for 15 to go, I see Nick and Brett come by me on my left looking like they were on a mission. I jumped on the train and somehow got in between them both and was glued to Nick's wheel. We were probably sitting around 6 or 7 riders back (the front 4 were all Huntington). I shouted to Nick to go right and take the outside line at the bottom of the hill and he took off. That was all she wrote on that one as Nick delivered me to victory on that sprint. Thanks Nick!!!!

After that, Nick and I were both dangling at the back of the pack for the next 10 laps and with 5 to go we made our way up toward the front for what was likely going to be our last hurrah. We get to the bottom of the hill and start ramping it up only to get boxed in. Crap!

Being the last race of the series, I decided I wanted a little more, even though my legs would have liked to have gone home 35 laps ago. So I moved my way up toward the front over the final few laps. I managed to get on a good wheel or two on the final lap and was able to take 3rd on the final sprint giving me a total of 9 points on the night and moving me up to 9th overall (I think). I happened to see the final results for the series and they have me at 7th overall! Woohoo!

Many thanks to Brett, Nick, and Chip for their selflessness during the series and for putting your trust in me. I'm honored. I will return the favor soon!! Speaking of Chip: Heal fast!! It's not the same without you out there with us!

The 2008 Cyclo-Stampede...

...is coming on Friday, October 10, 2008 as part of the Cincinnati International Cyclocross Festival. Follow all action at:

Ault Park #5 (and Seattle)

I wasn't planning on blogging, but with such a good looking picture, I couldn't resist ;) All that needs to be said is that we didn't score a single point, we will do better next week.

The only positive was my sweet looking ride, Chris Anderson did an awesome job designing decals for it. When I get back in town, I will post some pics of it.

I am in Seattle right now, visiting my brother. I also raced with Steve Grimm this morning. Stout 24.5mph in the 3,4,5 Masters Race. About 5 minutes in, I felt the previous day's 15 hours of standby travel and just tried to sit in. I tried to move up with 1 lap to go, but a bobble in front of me put me too far back to contest and I finished with the main field. Huge thanks to Steve for loaning me a bike.