Darkhorse Racing

Cross Stuff

2010-10-20T21:00:00.008-04:00

2010-05-23T15:52:00.000-04:00

I ended up driving down to Frankfort by myself (actually had a good time and enjoyed the drive) for my 11am start. The course was a classic four corner crit, composing of 2 longer straightaway's with 2 shorter side streets. The road surface was "okay" but not great - I thought my tires were going to come unglued on some of the rough spots on the corners. The course was less than 1 mile in length and positioning was key. There was a sweeping left turn onto some cobles that was the back half of a "around about", leading into the finish line. Interesting thing was that as soon as you came out of the last turn, the finish line was less the 100 meters away. We had a field of about 36 start. Lots of attacks by the host team McDonald's, as well as Bike Clicks. Steve Fine from Team Dayton was there, along with two other guys from Greater Cin. The pace stayed pretty hot for most of the race and was single file through most of the turns. Felt pretty good and was able to respond well to surges and attacks. I got lucky early on by making a move to the front just as a series of attacks and counter attacks kept the pace extremely high for about 3 laps (if you look at the garmin, this is was the first of two times my heart rate spiked into the 180's). I was able to stay in the draft and near the front during this brief surge and didn't burn too many matches. I think my race would have turned out a little different otherwise - I remember looking back once and it was pretty strung out with guys working hard to pull it back together. With 4 laps to go, things got pretty hairy with everyone trying to get to the front. I fought like hell to hold onto my placing. There were a couple of attacks that we'd pull in and then with 2 to go, this dude made a sweet move and got a really good jump on the whole field that no one wanted anything to do with. He managed to stay away and deservedly took 1st place. Coming into the last lap and racing for second, the field swelled to about 6 wide with one or two guys dangling off the front. I was in a good spot when two guys from Scheller's Fitness & Cycling made the jump coming into the first turn of the last lap, easily taking the lead. I saw the move and jumped onto their wheel and went with them. I remember the guy in front of me screaming at his lead out man to "go-go-go!" And boy did he listen: great lead-out. I stayed on this wheel until we came through the cobles and out of the last turn and sprinted my arse off - four guys came around me (because I can't sprint) but managed to hold off the others for an 8th place finish. Needless to stay, I'm pretty stoked! However a little bittersweet - If I was a better sprinter, I maybe could've held onto a fourth or fifth place easily. Oh well.

Bond Road Race Cat 3 Report

2010-05-17T22:18:00.004-04:00

Bond Road lived up to all my expectations:
1. It's going to be hard
2. Seven times up that hill is going to suck
3. I will cramp before the finish

It was hard. One of, if not, the hardest road races I've done. It started the very first time up the hill. The 3's were combined with the 1/2/3's again so this made it really exciting. The spanish mountain goats blasted up the hill and had the entire field strung out immediately. I was somewhere in the middle when we started the climb and had to dig real deep to stay on a wheel that was still attached to the guys in front. I think the field split in half at that point but came back together after the descent a few miles later. The next time up the hill, another selection was made and I was feeling pretty good to be in it, along with Chris Anderson. The next time up the climb, the big boys got tired of the child's play and took off. Bye, Bye. A group of 8 or 10 of us decided we liked our own pace better and rolled on our own, content to still be out in front of the rest of the field. Things were going OK during the next couple laps, then with 3 laps to go the cramps had set in on the climb and I couldn't keep the pace. I yelled to Chris that I was out, and proceeded to race that 2nd to last lap solo. On the bell lap, another chase group swallowed me up and I integrated with them rotating through. This wasn't too bad as it was during the downhill and the flats leading up to the climb. When we hit the final climb, I stayed left and waved the others by, knowing I'd be keeping it slow to prevent a complete lock-up of the legs. I nursed it up the climb and managed to cross the line. That Sucked! But in a good way ;) Just checked the results and looks like I finished 13th. I'll take it. See you at Ault Park.

Georgetown

2010-05-05T17:04:00.004-04:00

The Georgetown road race (#6 of the Series) was not only my first road race win but also my first race as a member of the Darkhorse Racing team! The excitement of winning was an awesome feeling, so much so that I stopped short of the finish line (half disoriented from the extreme effort of my breakaway) and walked my bike across the finish line. I must say it kind of takes some of the luster of the win away when you get reamed by the race director for being a potential hazard for the sprint finish that came about 15 seconds later, but oh well.

That being said here is a general overview of the race:
It raining all day but the temp was very comfortable and the course was not was curve filled as advertised so the wet roads weren't that dangerous. The Cat fours started with 17 and ended with 9 and all 9 rode alone together the last 2 of the 4 twelve mile loops. One descent followed by a nice curve, where at least two racers whiped out (Dan says someone in his race even nailed a road sign) followed by a little climb was the only signifacnt elevation change during the race.

Alex and I talked a little strategy during the race about the right location to make a move towards the last half mile but I noticed that any time some one flew out in front of the pack it would take quite a while for the pack to get a chase organized so that was the big clue that a break away could hold to win the race.

With about 1.5 miles left in the race I decided to make a move at a location I had pinpointed earlier as being ideal. The attack came just after a sharp 120 degree turn where I coasted through at the front with the hope of sneaking down the dip in the road following by a short incline. The plan worked and I was out in front before most noticed the move and then I just kept hammering away, I briefly went off the road while turning onto a new road, then I'm sure I lost a little ground during the last half mile but I just cruised to about 10 feet short of the line and trotted the rest of the way (accidentally).

From there is was all jokes about my bonehead finish which I'm sure Lance and Alex will never let me live down. Overall the races and group rides with darkhorses have made cycling even more fun and fulfilling than ever before. I'm looking forward to riding, racing, and jumping up categories to help bring even more noteriety to the Darkhorse team than we already have earned! Thanks for making me part of the team!

-Dave Minner

Vandervoort's Corner Road Race Cat 3 Report

2010-04-18T17:24:00.003-04:00

First real race of the season for me since I can't count Hueston's mechanical issue last week as a race. Brett and I lined up for the 56 mile journey. Things started pretty tame and actually stayed pretty tame throughout the race. A couple of mini breaks went up the road but were eventually reeled in. I tried to get into a couple of them, but with no success. Finally with maybe 2 laps to go, two guys went off the front and had a pretty good gap. Then, somehow, one of them was caught but the other found his way in front of the pace car. I don't think a lot of guys realized this, even after stating to them that he was out there. Anyway, long story short, the last lap got ramped up thanks to Dayton and Abundance. With a couple miles to go, I found myself way too far back in the pack and decided I needed to get to the front. Got their pretty quickly. Looked around to see who to follow and didn't recognize anyone familiar. Just as we swallowed up the lone guy off the front, I went left of center on the road (legal for the finish) and took off with 200 meters to go and was able to hold it to the line. Yes, I won! Felt great, no cramps, perfect. Big thanks to Chris Muse for coming out to photograph us. Props to Brett for finishing 10th!!

Imagine that on Uranus

2010-04-02T15:35:00.003-04:00

Step into the way back machine // Mike's Bikes and O.B.

2010-03-17T22:50:00.003-04:00

Sunday, March 07, 2010 // Northern Kentucky Ride

2010-03-07T16:54:00.002-05:00

A tough day at the office, thanks to Chip and Doug bringing the hammer of Thor on today's ride. I hurt all over. I hope the west side branch of Darkhorse fared better. Twenty one days and counting until the first Ohio Spring Race Series!

3000 Words

2010-02-21T23:05:00.006-05:00

A picture is worth a thousand words, so here are 3 to back up Lance's blog below.

Team Camp 2010

2010-02-15T17:01:00.004-05:00

The morning of the Darkhorse training camp started at Alex's house, a central place for all, in the dark at 5:50 AM. We finally got loaded up and set out around 6:30, seven guys, two vehicles. We drove south on 75 for Gatlinburg, happy and excited. We stopped at Cracker Barrel for what Chris described as breakfast cooked in butter, and arrived at a Chic FilA in Gatlinburg around 1:00 PM. After lunch we headed to the spot where the casual afternoon ride would begin.

There is a crossroad where a vacant BP station is across from a new grocery store, distinguished by the words "Bulk Food" on the facade. We asked the kindly lady if we could possibly change our clothes and park our cars in their lot. She was kind enough to offer the new, state-of-the-art restrooms in the adjacent building for us to change but suggested we find somewhere else to park--no problem: vacant BP across the street. After getting changed (taking over both the mens and ladies facilities) we setup in the gravel lot next to the BP, and set out from there.

The first inkling that there may be some problems was the couple of snow flakes that flurried around as we pumped our tires. Not to worry, a couple of flurries never hurt anyone. We rode off happy to finally be on the road and out of the car. Dan forgot his water bottles; no problem, he went back to get them and we soft pedaled till he and Chris caught back on, and we were off. The snow had picked up.

We were riding well (I was trying like hell not to get spit out the back in the first 5 miles) and we came around one corner and I looked up at a snow-covered mountain and I said something like "That's pretty cool looking". That was the only cool looking thing I remember seeing all day. Did I mention that it was snowing? Not flurrying, snowing. No problem though a light snow never hurt anyone.

It was mile 15 when we stopped and Dan, the man with the map, said well we can turn back now or we can keep going. If we keep going we will have another 30 miles. I never heard how quickly we could get back, because I wanted to keep going, and I didn’t listen to anything about going back. Finally I think 6 of us voted for going on, and I don’t remember any strong protests. Chip was going to be so proud of us!!

I think it was 3 miles later that I got a flat on the front wheel. No problem, Brett came back, everyone stopped and he had my tire ready to go in no time, telling me to relax and let him serve me (he said something about it being like washing my feet).

We were off again (after I went back and got my glasses that I left on the ground). Did I mention that it was snowing? Oh and just about now I started to notice something: The snow was not sticking to the roads, it was melting. The roads were warmer than the air, so the snow was hitting the warm road and melting. No problem though. I remember Nate saying “At least it is not cold and raining.” True.

We rode on, and got on a road that was very busy. Someone said that there was a sign that said “Bike Route”--I didn’t see it. But the there were a lot of cars. I stayed in back with my flashing taillight, Alex and I were the only ones with tail lights, and my Planet Bike Super Flash was by far brighter. It was snowing and overcast and the road was busy. Doug stayed in front because he can, and because he was having problems moving over with all of the traffic.

Finally we turned left to the roar of irritated traffic behind us. This was a road along a creek and it was the first time that I noticed that there were big puddles. Not just damp roads but wet roads with big puddles. No problem.

We rode on.

At this point we had been attacked by maybe two dogs. We climbed away from the creek on a narrow road with little traffic, but lots of dogs. It seems like we were chased two or three times on this road. The snow continued, the roads got wetter, and I am not sure but I think it was getting colder.

It was here that there was a climb, not crazy steep, but it left Nate and me at the back on the descent. Nate said “I think I have a flat.” We slowed to look and it looked to me like his front may be losing air, we slowed some more, and then he said “My back is definitely flat.” So I said “Ok, I will let the guys know.” I looked up to see them disappear around a bend in the road. When I could see them I whistled, I can whistle a lot louder than I can yell. When they weren’t stopping, I just figured they couldn’t hear me so I rode on, knowing that they would stop eventually. At this point I was in no-mans-land. Do I turn around and go back to help Nate? Or keep riding so that they at least know what is going on? After I got past another dog attack, I opted for continuing on. When I rode up at an intersection where they had stopped to wait and told them that Nate had a flat “way back there”, Alex informed me that it would have been a smaller problem for everyone if I just would have rode my bike faster—point taken.

We resolved to turn around, after a discussion of splitting up (bad idea). At least it was downhill back. We arrived at Nate with both wheels off and his bike lying in the ditch. Turns out that Nate had no tire irons, and his hands were too cold to pry the wheel off. It was about 10 minutes before we were ready to go. Did I mention it was snowing? I really didn’t realize how much until I saw Dan brush snow off of his saddle before he got on. I looked at mine and sure enough that was a nice covering of snow.

When we started back up, I was COLD. My fingers were so cold that I couldn’t feel them shift. I knew I shifted because it got harder or easier to pedal, but I could not feel it in my fingers. Nate commented that now it finally made sense how people could get frost bite. I told him it wasn’t cold enough to get frost bite, it was only 31 degrees—for the record I have no idea whether I was right, but it made sense, and I think he believed me.

We got back to the intersection where they had waited for me and I think I heard Dan say, as he was hunched over the Garmin, “12 more miles.” No problem. Freezing temperatures, snow, wet roads, ice caked on my bike, dogs—miles 34 to 45 were going to be easy.

The road spray. It was now that road spray started to become annoying. It was there before, but I didn’t really notice it. Now it became a real pain. I think that this realization coincided with the water in my shoes. My feet were completely soaked and I decided that this road spray had to have something to do with it. When I had to take my glasses off because of the ice that was caked to the lenses, I realized that it must have been getting colder. I vaguely heard Nate cursing the Red cassette that is machined from a single piece of metal and was caked full of ice, forcing him to ride in his small chainring and 28 cog in the back. He had a pretty high cadence. Nate reminded me that he was glad it wasn’t raining earlier, but now it was the road spray acted like rain and the snow kept coming.

Twelve miles. Had to be less than that now. I came to another intersection and heard Dan say “right turn.” I may have heard homestretch, or thought I heard it, or wished I heard it. Dan passed me. Chris passed me. Doug passed me. Alex passed me. This was becoming a trend. Back in no-mans-land, riding alone separated from the Alex in front and Brett encouraging Nate to keep fast pedaling behind. I came around a corner; it had to be less than 4 miles now. A downhill. Shift into the big chainring and…..wait, something’s not right. Hey why is that front derailleur hanging in my chain like that? I pulled over at a corner. Sure enough, it came off. Well, if I can just thread the bolt back on enough to hold it out of the way, I can ride the last less-than-4 miles. Try. Try again. Here comes Nate and Brett. In disbelief at my predicament Nate stopped; Brett kept going.

Nate is standing watching my futile efforts, while Brett is about 50 yards up the road having a conversation with some random person on the porch of his trailer. Brett rides up to us and says that it is only 1.5 miles to the vacant BP and that he really believes that this man who had given him this information would be more than happy to let all three of us come inside. I looked up at Brett and it all made sense: His eyes were sunk in his head, he was shivering, he was hypothermic, and he was completely serious.

I decided that the only way I was going to get back was to take the derailleur off. So I unscrewed the little screw at the back and loosened the cable bolt and it came right off. Wrapped the cable around my bottle cage and we were off.

I looked at a family on the porch of their trailer as we rode past. They stared as if to say: "These tourists get stupider every year."

As I rode, I noticed that something was rubbing against my front tire—the ice-covered front-derailleur cable was hanging under my down tube slapping against the tire. Wow! If that gets tangled in the my front wheel that will be a problem—it didn’t.

We arrived at the cars safely.

Now off to the cabin. Drive up the mountain road. Turn on the cabin road and stop. Turns out the road to the cabin is steep, and it had been snowing there too. Some 12 others had attempted to get to their cabin, and had slid off the road into the ditch, the road was closed and would be opened until Saturday some time.

So, we had a choice: Find a Laundromat and a hotel willing to accept 7 filthy bikes, or go home.

Over dinner, the group decided that home sounded pretty good. And we all jump in the cars and headed north on 75. Nate and I arrived at his house at 1:00 AM. Ten+ hours of driving, 3 hours of riding made for a full day.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I had a great time.

The Best and Worst Airlines for Cyclists!

2010-02-11T09:06:00.003-05:00

Airlines generally allow a bike case that measures no more than 62 dimensional inches (length plus width plus height) and weighs less than 50 pounds to fly as regular checked baggage. Beyond that, you'll pay extra. All figures quoted are for one-way travel.

// THE BEST (aka. I heart cyclists) //

Frontier (more info.)

Weight/size limits: 99.9 pounds/109 linear inches

Cost: $50

Notes: All bicycles are transported by hand, from ticket counter to aircraft hold.

Southwest (more info.)

Weight/size limits: Any bag over 100 pounds must be shipped as cargo

Cost: $50

Notes: Without exorbitant fees, this airline has managed to turn a profit for 36 years straight.

JetBlue (more info.)

Weight/size limits: 99 pounds

Cost: $50 domestic, $80 international

Notes: Bikes are cheaper to fly than pets ($100)-but Fido earns you frequent flyer points.

// IN THE MIDDLE //

US Airways

Weight/size limits: 100 pounds

Cost: $100

Notes: Liability waiver required

Continental

Weight/size limits: 70 pounds

Cost: $100

Notes: no liability for soft-side cases

// THE WORST (boo-hiss) //

Delta (and its subsidiary, Northwest)

Weight/size limits: 100 lb

Cost: $175 domestic, $300 international

Notes: Need a laugh while you're weeping over this surcharge? Read the rules for checking Christmas trees.

United

Weight/size limits: 50 lb

Cost: $175 domestic and Central America, up to $250 international

Notes: Weight allowance all but rules out hard cases, which weigh 30-plus pounds on their own

American

Weight/size limits: 70lb/115 inches

Cost: $100

Notes: You also must pay the regular checked-bag fee ($20-$30).

Pack Smart

*Don't use the bike bag as your suitcase. Some carriers assess both oversize and overweight charges.

*Read your airline's policy carefully. United, for example, will not take packed bikes over 50 pounds, period. They also charge extra on flights to Japan and Brazil.

*We hesitate to say this, but with increasingly stringent dimensional and weight restrictions, hard-shell cases are looking like a poor idea. While their protection is superb, most weigh more than 30 pounds-empty. That said, some carriers require liability release forms for soft-side cases.

*Airlines don't accept liability for improperly packed items, so use pipe insulation on frame tubes. Remove quick releases and pedals, wrap separately, and get plastic axle guards from a bike shop. For mountain bikes, remove brake rotors. Remove your rear derailleur hanger if possible. Use axle blocks, especially with soft-side cases.

*CO2 cartridges are prohibited in all checked bags and carry-ons.

*Checked bag liability usually tops out at $3,300 for domestic flights. Damage must be proved. Check your homeowner's policy to see if it covers items damaged in travel.

*Finally, it's an urban myth that your tires will burst in the cargo hold-there's no need to deflate them.

This is what team is all about...

2010-02-07T19:53:00.003-05:00

Mike More and Steve Brown hamming it up a climb!

Step into the way back machine...

2010-02-07T19:41:00.001-05:00

Stumbled across Mr. Grim (from the Seattle office) back in the day.

Upcoming team camp & all things wet...

2010-01-24T21:50:00.003-05:00

Today's weather prohibited my SECOND west side ride in the same year! So, in preparation for team training camp, I slogged my way through the rain solo. The temperature was a mild low 50 so that was the upside. I felt a modest sense of accomplishment which was eclipsed by Chip's text message flexing his over trained stats. Thank you Chip, as if the grit and grime from the road that permeated every niche wasn't enough, you had to utilize Verizon's text messaging capabilities to undermine my efforts...
Try again Chip, try again...

Hyde Park Blast Criterium 2010

2010-01-20T15:34:00.003-05:00

This year's Hyde Park Blast Criterium is officially part of the USA Crit series! A huge thank you to our team mate Greg Tankersley for his hard work and dedication in making this a must do cycling event for 2010!

Happy Holiday to my team mates!

2009-12-22T20:55:00.002-05:00

Gents,

Happy Holidays and here is looking forward to a great 2010 season!

Shannon Smith!

2009-12-22T20:48:00.002-05:00

Shannon,

I will truly miss you.

2010 Spring Series Schedule

2009-12-10T20:18:00.002-05:00

Hey fella's, courtesy of BigDaveSports, here's a tentative Spring Series schedule.

March 28th Germantown Road Race
Apri 3rd,, Saturday Michell Memorial Forest- BigDaveSports
April 11th, Hueston Woods Team Hungry
April 18th, Vandervoorts Corner Team Dayton
April 25th, Spring Valley, Project Velo
May 2nd, Georgetown Road Race, BigDaveSports
May 8th, Saturday (Open)
May 16th, Bond Rd. BigDaveSports
May 23 St Leon Biowheels/BigDaveSports

Gun Club CX

2009-11-03T14:48:00.015-05:00

Alternate title: Boom Boom, Out Go the Lights.

Sunday morning was cold, crisp, and sunny as I trundled two tired legs out to the Sycamore/Pheasant Hill Gun Club for round 9 of the OVCX series. For the past several weeks locals have had the chance to hold Wednesday practices on this course, so I knew it would be tough, muddy, and technical. I like the course, but am painfully aware that it doesn't suit my strengths, such as they are. (This, to me, is the paradox of cyclocross: CX racers relish exposing and testing their weaknesses in a masochistic adrenaline rush.) I also knew that in a couple places I might benefit from the home-court advantage -- especially on the wicked up-across-and-down hillside cut. Finally, I had this pie-in-the-sky hope that the suffering I had done the previous day had opened my legs up, and that I'd feel strong and ready to go for this race.

Ha.

But I get ahead of myself. I lined up with the rest of the 35+ and 45+ cat 4 men; my OVCX series position got me a nice front-row callup, right next to Butch, who was itching to race after a couple weeks off. I think I saw flecks of saliva on his lips, and he may have barked once or twice. A man fired a shotgun, and we were off. I tuck in behind Butch and Scot Hermann, and we make our way through the "easy" wooded section: a straightaway, then a soft right bend up into the woods, a steady uphill on dirt, left and then right around some bushes, and then a gently curving 180 that better riders -- like Butch and Scot -- took at speed without touching their brakes. At this point I had let a small gap open up, and my legs were tight and sore already. Uh-oh.

A long straightaway back to the finish line, over the pavement and into the sand. By now I'm fourth or fifth wheel, but doing okay. Out of the sand, 180 degrees on the grassy hill, and then the off-camber 180 back around a small tree. I screwed this turn up every lap, but never more so than on the first lap, when I slid out, unclipped my downhill foot, and stumbled to get going again. By this time Butch and Scot are gone with a number of other riders. Down the hillside and sweep left through some mud to the first barrier and runup. Around and down to the right through the bushes and then up to the second time through the sand. It was here that I knew I didn't have it today: it was slightly uphill, and pretty churned up, but should have been rideable (and was for many). I got three-quarters of the way through and just kind of keeled over when I didn't have the power to finish it off (2nd lap: tried to ride again, but dismounted 3/4 of the way through; 3rd lap: "ran" it). Get up, run the rest, hop on, and head for the wooded gravel stretch.

Pick up a little speed there, but scrub it at the end for the left hander into the muck. Pedal pedal washout pedal washout through a couple of twists, and then the out-and-back along the fenceline. About 3/4 of the way coming back the ground turned to mush, dismount, shoulder the bike, and slog along the fence to the righthand uphill turn. Slog up, find the footholes of others for traction, use the fence to make a tight 180-degree turn, and remount before getting too far down the hill. Sweep right (watch the rut) and set up for the left-and-right swoop leading up to the cut in the hill.

Here's the one place where I made up some ground during this race: dismount before the hill, shoulder the bike, and run up, across, and down as tight on the inside as possible. Many riders tried to ride the uphill and washed out, others ran the uphill and struggled to remount while crossing the hill, which was virtually impossible unless you could remount from the right (uphill) side of the bike. Set the bike downhill, remount, and use momentum to curve in a big rightward sweep back into the woods.

And here, in the wooded section, is where I gave up spots all day: grind uphill, then left, right, and left over some loose dirt, mud, and gravel. Okay there. Painful, but okay. Back further into the woods for a gentle downhill to the left turn creekside. Okay there -- I actually worked that turn out with a left-foot-down-and-take-it-tight technique. Then loop toward the steep little kicker that had been rideable in practice, but was a runup (at least for me and those I saw) in Sunday's mud. Remount, and then take the downhill righthand bend tight into the section of the course that made me ride like a clumsy donkey: a slippery little uphill where I kept losing traction and actually dismounted once or twice, a mushy lefthander that I took very gingerly, another tight mushy lefthander that came out of nowhere and kept going left left left, until it came back right and down to solid ground.

On the third lap in this section I was passed by the two leaders in the 45+ category; I was tired; I was cranky and a little puzzled by how poopy I felt, and I was in a lactic haze. I lost traction in one of the mushy lefthanders, dismounted, and actually ran along behind those two guys through this section until we headed to the righthand downhill. Mind you, it was relatively level here -- tight and twisty, but far from a running section of the course. But I was so dismayed at my lame-o handling skills that I chose to jog until I found safer ground. Part of me also thought, hey, we're in the woods, so it's not like anyone can see us. And then, to my horror, I heard the clipped British accent of our announcer describing the very duel for the lead of the 45+ race going on right in front of me. I almost stopped and left the course in mortification as it dawned on me: if he can see them, he can see me; and if he can see us, everyone over on the hill can see us. I kept waiting for him to say something like "and as these two duel it out for the lead of their category, some Darkhorse chap has forgotten how to ride his bike and is trudging along on foot behind them. That's a puzzling tactic, and not one you normally see in a cyclocross race." After all, he had earlier pointed out that I had dismounted "a little early" before the double barriers, so I knew he wasn't afraid to offer, um, constructive criticism. Mercifully, he refrained from commenting on my hike through the woods, or at least I didn't hear him.

Anyway, after the diabolic wooded section came a little passage through some trees, the "horseshoe" with Tony on the drums, the double barriers and a gravel downhill to the start line. Each lap concluded with the same "easy" wooded section that kicked off the race. Three laps, barely hold off Sparky at the finish, and be happy with 7th.

And I am -- happy with 7th, that is. At least, I can talk myself into being happy with it, even though it was disappointing to push the accelerator and have no response both days this past weekend. Sunday was, by my count, my 28th race in 2009, and while I've had significant stretches of not racing (mid-July to mid-September), that's more than double the number of races I've ever done in one year, and triple what I did last year. The smart part of my brain tells me to shut it down, to increase race and training loads more gradually year-to-year, to rest, recharge, and begin building a base for a bigger season next year.

This other part of my brain, though, I can't seem to shut up. It's whispering to me: Lexington -- come on, just one more ...

[pictures from Jeffrey Jakucyk]

Uncle Steve's Halloween CX

2009-11-02T14:39:00.013-05:00

Ventured north on Saturday with the family for a big day of cyclocross, hanging out with friends, and trick-or-treating in the state capitol. We had rain all the way up 71, and my enthusiasm for a rainy, cold race waned with every drop. But (as the weatherheads promised), once we turned west toward Marysville, the skies cleared and it turned into a crisp, sunny, lovely autumn day.

With really muddy ground. Again.

Uncle Steve's, round 2 of the Cap City Cross series, was a different animal than the OVCX races: fewer racers, fewer races (3), more casual. Add in the Halloween celebration, and you had an atmosphere of general fun and good times.

Which was good, since we got a later start out of Cincinnati than I wanted, and we got a little lost on the way, so I was totally off my game by the time we arrived. Plus, after putting on my costume (Darkhorseman of the Apocalypse, of course), pinning my number on twice (to ensure visibility even with the cape), and riding my sole practice lap, I realized that the cape on the costume turned me into a windsock on a windy day, made remounts a blind leap of faith (and if there's anything in CX you don't want to be a blind leap of faith, it's the remount), and was destined to snag me on multiple tree branches and course stakes. So I made a quick switch into more typical raceday garb, which entailed re-pinning my number super-fast, and telling the organizers that I was forfeiting the half-price entry fee because I couldn't wear my costume because it wasn't safe but I had to race right now and I'd get them the $10 after my race. Which of course, I forgot. (Team Awesome, I owe you $10.) All of these things had me just frazzled enough that I forgot my helmet when I headed to the start line. Only the kindness of a competitor saved me from realizing this too late. Add in the fact that I was venturing into the B field (aka 3s, aka 45 minutes) for the first time, and I needed a fun, positive atmosphere around me.

We lined up, about 30 racers: costume callups to the front, everybody else behind, and we're off! I started back row left, and hit the first left turn pretty much near the back. The main field -- essentially a large back yard, now that I think about it -- was set up as a series of taped twists and turns: not really a pinwheel, but I imagine it had a similar effect for spectators. The first set of barriers was in here somewhere, and they were tough: the tape narrowed to make them at most two across, they were spaced awkwardly to disrupt running rhythm (mine, at least), and there was a righthand 180 afterward that made remounting before the turn too tricky for most to try. We rolled through a dirt trail in the woods, and turned up to a few taped switchbacks: up, and then down, and then up, and then down, and finally up again to the road, a muddy 180 next to the road, a long sloggy straightaway where, if you took the fastest line, you'd get whacked in the head by tree branches, up and over the driveway, and left down toward the pond and the technical stuff. Loop around a tree, drop down a muddy leftward stretch with water on the right, curve around the water and hit a steep little mudslide that I only ever managed to ride up once, and wished I hadn't (since it was slower that way), along a ridge and left back down into some swampy suff that was turning to peanut butter. Right again to a short RR-tie runup, and then back along the ridge to drop down left again. Short straightaway, right turn, and then 180 around a tree; left onto another straightaway, another 180 around a tree, and then a long swooping left toward the second, wider barriers. Remount, loop around a couple more trees, then up the hill, hairpin, and down through the finish line.

After the second lap, the official shouted "6 to go!" as I rode by; I had to fight the urge to get off and throttle him then and there. I thought better of it when I realized that my legs were such jello that I might not be able to walk. I think he took mercy, because by my count we only did 5 more, for a total of 7 laps.

This was racing in a paper bag, the course was so tight. And where it wasn't muddy and swampy, the ground was bumpy and rutted enough that I was never comfortable: at different points in the race I was sure I had pinch-flatted my rear tire and broken my seatpost. Just a tough tough course. At least, that's what I kept telling myself, even as I knew that I also just wasn't having a good day: my legs weren't responding, and they hurt when I tried to power over little rises and around tight corners. I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one suffering: on the last lap I rode back up to a rider who had passed me earlier in the race. Coming up the last rise and around the final hairpin into the finishing stretch, I caught him, and then gunned it a little to pass him in the stretch. He wasn't happy about someone "sprinting for 14th place," and let me know. I smiled and said "It's racing, man -- come on!" I don't think he was persuaded.

Looking back over this race report, it might seem like I didn't have a good time, but that's just not true: my family was there with cowbells, our Columbus hosts were there for their first-ever cyclocross race, and the Farmers were out there giving me extra cheers. Mark even told me that his grandmother would beat me, which really inspired me to ride harder. With the tight course, they could all pretty much stand in once place and holler for me five and six different times per lap. It was like having an entourage, and I loved it. I wish I could've raced better, but I loved it. And at least once per lap, the announcer would exhort the crowd to have more beer. And the Jeni's guy who raced in a diaper got his costume stuck in his rear brake on the second lap and raced the rest of the day in his tiny red tighties. I beat the cheerleader (I think), but got beat by the wizard, the skeleton, and several zombies, which is okay, since they probably ate the brains of anyone who beat them. The Mormon missionaries were drinking Miller High Life, and my remount is getting smoother and faster, although I'm still losing time getting clipped back in.

In short, I'm keeping this one on next year's schedule, and I'm already looking for the right costume: scuba diver, maybe?

Happy Birthday Brett!

2009-10-28T10:43:00.002-04:00

Brett,

I wanted to wish you a happy birthday and to tell you that you are an excellent team mate and great human being! I am proud to call you my friend.

Lungbuster CX - Mayberry, MI

2009-10-28T09:22:00.001-04:00

So, Nate and I didn't think we'd get much competition if we headed south to the USGP's so we went 5 hours North to the little town of Mayberry, MI. I had a family reunion in norther Ohio, so it worked out.

It is interesting to head to a race where you do not know a single other racer there... feel like a real Darkhorse (pun intended). Anyways, Nate lined up w/ 30+ other riders and got a great start and settled into 6th place for most of the race. A ferocious battle of man vs chain ensued, and he ended up loosing several spots on the last lap due to some untimely mechanical to finish 12th.

I lined up w/ 22 other B racers and headed into the sigletrack 6th. There was lots of singletrack, and MTB's at this race. I moved into 5th on the first lap and took a bike so that Nate could untangle the weed that had engulfed my cassette. Pit bike worked great and I kept 4th place in sight, hoping to make a move on the last lap. The 4th place rider ended up having some problems, and I caught him early in the last lap. I waited and waited till the last real straight heading into a single high speed barrier before sprinting around, taking a very hot dismount and remount, got a mall gap and kept it for 4th. Great little road trip w/ family and friends there to enjoy it with.

-tinny out

USGP of Cyclocross Derby City Cup Day 2

2009-10-27T12:42:00.014-04:00

Day two of the USGP included a few changes to the layout of the course: most notably, the demons in charge had used the runoff from the cleaning area to create a new obstacle on the backside: a large mudpuddle curving around the hill to yet another runup of RR ties. The conditions were also significantly different: it was colder (cold enough that after my pre-ride of the course my fingers hurt enough to throw a couple chemical warmers into my gloves), and yesterday's slick, sloppy mud had turned to a thick peanut butter that was significantly faster along the straightaways and that had created little berms in the corners -- if you caught them correctly, you could actually hold some real speed through them. Otherwise, they were just there to knock you over.

I lined up mid-pack again, on the right side of the field, with one guy between me and the barricade. Moments before the whistle, I noted that the guy on my left had his left foot up on the pedal, whereas I and the guy on my right had our right feet up. Now the tendency when you slam your top foot down in a start is to drift a little to the opposite side of that top foot. That meant the guy to my left and the guy to my right could both be angling toward me at the start, narrowing my window of forward progress.

But that wouldn't happen, right?

Nah. Worse. Three-Stooges worse. The whistle goes, the guy to my left moves in front of me and my bars hook into his. The guy to my right bumps shoulders with me as he drifts left, and my bars hook into his. The bump into me knocks him back toward the barricade, and the other side of his handlebars hook into the barricade. For a moment (as the rest of the field pedals by), the three of us are locked together, and then the guy on my left takes off (after all, he had nothing impeding his forward momentum, since I was hooked behind his bar). By the time I got untangled from the other guy, the pack was almost to the turn onto the grass. (I should mention here that the whole comedy sketch was amazingly polite, given the possibilities for frustrated outbursts and obscenities: "Sorry -- Here --" "No -- My bad..." "Okay, got it -- good luck!").

So not only am I starting 100th of 100+ riders, I've given them all a 200-meter headstart. I sprint and catch the tail end of the pack right before the turn onto grass, and come across two riders sprawled across the course. Slow down, go around, accelerate to the next left, where I avoid another downed rider and head toward the money pit. More carnage, riders sprawled left and middle -- dismount and run around right (oooh, that mud is cold!), remount, and then try to settle into a routine of passing riders, moving up, keeping my cool. At least one guy asked "what are you doing back here?" I chose to take it as a compliment.

After Saturday I had spent a lot of time thinking about how I could improve in Sunday's race, and here before I even got off the start line all those thoughts had been thrown out the window, at least in terms of overall placing. There was no way I'd see the front of the pack again -- or even the back end of the front -- and for a second I was kinda bummed and pretty frustrated. Then I took a deep breath ...

... And had a great time. I moved up throughout the first lap, and came across the finish line to discover that they were shortenning our race to 3 laps today instead of 4. "Two to go?!" I hollered to the officials. "Really?!" "Yep." For the first time ever, I was a little bummed that my race wasn't going to be longer -- I was moving up on every lap, getting the feel of the course, the cold and wet weren't cold anymore, and I felt pretty darn good. So for the final two laps I held myself closer to the redline, pushed when I might've let up in a one-lap-longer race, and tried to make the most of it. I took too tight a line in one corner, ended up in the brush, and dropped my chain again, but today it seemed like a minor inconvenience. Dug cheeered me on when I finally caught him, I heard others out on the course cheering me on, and at one point my heart lit up when I heard Carole and Mairin hollerin' for me. Eamon was ringin' the cowbell.

I rolled across the line tired and smiling, figuring I might have broken the top-50, and maybe squeaked into the 30s. Cleaned off the bike, changed, and was more than a little pleased to see my name next to #28.

A great weekend of racing, socializing, and spectating. The USGP and Louisville really put on a show with this event, and combined with the emergence of the UCI3 weekend in Cincinnati, the Ohio River Valley region is becoming a real heavyweight in the national CX scene. That's a Very Good Thing. (third photo courtesy of Ben Wilson.)

USGP Derby City Day 1

2009-10-26T10:49:00.019-04:00

Made the pilgrimage to Louisville this past weekend to race both days in the USGP of Cyclocross Derby City Cup. The races are already starting to run together into one big lump of pain, so I'd better get these race reports out fast.

Saturday: We cat 4s got the 8:30 start (apparently an improvement over last year's 8:00 start, which happened to be two minutes before sunrise), which meant that most prerace preparations happened in the dark. by 7:45 it was light enough to preride the course without a headlight. I wish it had still been dark, because what we saw was the promise of sweet pain, a gift from the rains on Thursday and Friday: wet, boggy straightaways, greasy off-camber turns, a mucky down-up-and-back-down through a soggy drainage ditch, and four (4) rideable-but-only-on-the-right-line sandpits.

I lined up in the middle of a one-hundred-odd man pack, and when the whistle blew I got the best start I've had yet this year. Long paved start where I moved from fifth row to about second (row), a sweeping left across the field, left around a tree and then a curve right down into the drainage ditch (aka "the money pit") -- ran it the first lap in the crowded carnage (rode it otherwise), and moved up a little more -- up and then down right back through it. Turn through some trees and then a sloggy straightaway to the barriers, which felt deceptively high after grinding across the muck. Under the Green Monster (renamed "The Jolly Green Giant") and toward the pits. Over the pavement and a couple of twisties, and then the first sandpit, which had a drop-in to a nice (narrow) hardpack line where you could pick up speed all the way through. Left turn right out of the pit, so don't carry too much speed or you're breaking tape. Not much later you hit the second sandpit, which was hardpack for half, and deep sand for the second half: if you carried speed through the first part, you could get through the second without much pedaling. I know this because I dropped my chain first time through, and made it to the end coasting (more like flailing, but hey, it's my story, right?). Pulled off to the side, watched the lead group ride out of sight and a bunch of the others pass me as I forced the chain back on, hopped on, and rolled down the off-camber to a paved section. Back up through some muck, around a tree, down and up a tricky little grass-paved-grass off camber, and eventually you hit two more sandpits, both rideable (first one hardpack all the way through, the second a sloggy grind, but not too bad).

Somehwere in here on the second half of the course (or right after) was the Bob's Redmill RR-tie runup, as well as a long headwind straightaway so sloggy that I thought it would never end, the very entertaining off-camber positioned right near the beer tent (many slideouts with many beery "Ooohhs!"), and finally a straightaway toward the Green Monster: for me it was hoist the bike up, get up there, throw a leg over and let go, trying to at least get my feet (or one foot) on the pedals for the down ramp, followed by another downhill off the shoulder of a former tee-box. A real-live roller-coaster-type whoop-de-doo. Get around the corner, clip in if you haven't yet (and I hadn't, believe me), and pedal toward the start-finish area: loop around a tree and head out to the road. For all the manmade and other barriers and features of the course, the last 20 meters before the roadway on Saturday were the cruelest: flat, swampy, slower than slow, with speedy pavement sticking its tongue out at you just a few feet away. Finally back up on the road, and let's do it again!

On Saturday we did four laps: by the fourth I was pretty much on my own, although a Bob's Redmill guy was hanging with me, catching up on the technical stuff and after remounts. He slid out on a corner, but got up and rejoined me. Then, on the second sandpit (the same one! my nemesis) I came off the hardpack into the deep stuff, and saw a rut going the wrong way: sideways. It ate my wheel, took me down and bent my right shifter in. Got up seeing a few stars and rolled the rest of the lap solo, finishing 21st.

I was very happy, both with the course and atmosphere, and with my race. I had made a good start, and (I thought) except for my chain dropping, had put myself in position for a pretty high placing. I had kept an eye on the riders I know have scored in my OVCX field, and think I fared pretty well. (The plan as I understand it is that the OVCX scorers will separate out the age-group categories for purposes of that series -- all cat 4s regardless of age were scored together this weekend in deference to the "big show" in town). Plus, I knew there was tomorrow, which held out the promise of fairer conditions, and where I could work on improving some things from today.

Heh. More on that later... But before I go, let me give a shoutout to all the Rogues who put up with me this weekend. Special thanks to the OVCX Commissioner of Results Agitation Brian Segal, who not only put up with me, but put me up for the weekend. Those Rogues act all tough, but they're a bunch of softies, and they love their CX. (photo by Marcia Seiler)

Harbin Park 35+ 4s

2009-10-14T16:11:00.012-04:00

I know Friday's wet trench warfare conditions got everybody all hot 'n' bothered and squeakin' 'n' squawkin' "epic! epic!" but with beautiful fall conditions and a good time racing, the chill sun of Sunday morning at Harbin Park was more my style. The ground was still wet, several places on the course were muddy enough to matter, but the sunshine made the festivities even more festive and the racing more racy.

Mitch designed a great course -- plenty of fast, plenty of turns, some off-camber, a diving downhill familiar to anyone who's done the Wednesday night practice rides, and the classic double sandpit, complete with Tony on the drums.

Lined up with my field, and was surprised not to see Greg (ZWS), who had taken first and second on Friday and Saturday. Saw him later, and he was an injury scratch. I was sad to see him go, although it most likely meant that almost all of us would move up one spot in the results. Chatted a little bit with Scot and Joern from Dayton about the little mulch bed with RR ties on either end: I had no spare wheels and couldn't afford a stupid pinch flat, so we were discussing whether or not it was totally lame to run it, or worth the risk to put my (questionable -- oh who am I kidding: nonexistent) bunny-hopping skills to the test. I asked Scot where his spare wheels were in the pit. He laughed.

The start was a pretty long flat paved section, and by the time we got to the off-camber section next to the road, today's winner in our field was away. Things really backed up, and I wasn't sure where I was positioned going toward the finish. The most aerobically challenging part of the course was the long headwind uphill grind over the field to the finish line, with a cruel little kicker up and over the line, continuing up through the uphill side of the sandpit. Did I mention that this section was uphill? I haven't looked at my max HR from the race, but I'm sure it came right as I exited the sandpit. At this point I make my way through the twisty section and come back down through the sandpit. I ride it clean, and am so stoked that I almost stop and look around for applause. Instead, I keep riding onto the section of the course that suits me better: some twisty sections through the trees, through the little mulch bed (please don't pinch flat on the railroad ties! please?! I repeated every lap). First lap I came off the mulch bed, bounced a little to check rear air pressure, and Joern, right behind me, says in his German-accented deadpan, "Shannon: you have a flat." Scot laughs. I panic for a second until I realize he's kidding, and we ride on. We take a long grass straight onto the backside of the course, 180 around a tree and onto pavement, fast down to a muddy transition back to grass, back to pavement and up around a turnaround, back onto grass and toward The Big Roller, aka Collarbone Corner: a diving downhill where -- with the right line -- you could release your brakes, pick up huge speed (for a CX race), whip up the other side and around the bend into a wooded section. I liked carrying speed into that section because for some reason I had good power through there, and was able to drop some folks and pass others. Around some trees, up and over the barriers, cross the road, around the pine tree and down to the mudhole. After the mudhole, make up as much ground as possible before zig-zagging through the off-camber and then into the headwind and the long long grind up to the finish line, knowing and dreading that the uphill slog through the sandpit awaited once again.

On the second lap I was pretty sure I was riding in second position, and sure enough as I rode the downhill side of the sandpit (cleanly, for the second time), the announcer says "and there's a Darkhorse rider, #601, our second place 35+ rider ... Shannon Smith." Now the pressure's on: one thing about CX I haven't got down yet is riding from the front (and from what I can tell of the first-place finisher's race, we were pretty much in a race for 2nd -- so for me, this was the front). I tried to relax, keep it steady, and push myself to just this side of the limit. But I couldn't help looking back, and it didn't seem like I was getting much distance between myself, Scot, Joern, Butch (Smitty's), and a QCW rider I think was Sparky (there were probably others in there, I just don't know them yet). And once I overcooked a pretty easy corner and went down on the 3rd lap, I figured holding off the chasers might be more of a challenge than I'd hoped.

So I let up a little, knowing that they'd join me, but knowing some of the risks involved with that: I was, after all, letting two teammates join me, but I was hoping to put some of the onus for driving the pace on Dayton, recover, and make a push to get away near the end. And so we headed into the fourth and final lap as 4, competing for 2nd through 5th: me, Scot and Joern, and Butch. We went up through the sand, hung out through the twisties, and headed back into the downhill sand section. I tried to take the same line I had all three previous laps: start right, grind it and drift left, clearing the pit just as I got near the left edge. This put me behind Butch, but no problem: Butch is a mountain biker, and he'll clean this easier than me. D'oh! Butch got sideways, I got into his rear wheel, and Joern and Scot were off to the races. I came out of the pit raring to go, and got a little gap on Butch that held. I rejoined Scot, but Joern was turning in one of his strongest laps of the race, and I didn't see him until he was prostrate on the ground at the finish. I led Scot around for the rest of the lap, trying to hold off Butch and wondering what I was going to do about Scot at the finish. And then I learned I was dealing with a true gentleman: near the end of the final lap, as I was working to keep Butch at bay, Scot told me not to worry about him, that he appreciated the work I'd done and wouldn't come around at the end, and in fact, here, let me see if I can lead you out. I finished as strong as I could, but pictures show that he may have had to hold up to avoid passing me. Let me add here (and Scot may now regret this) that Scot and I are very close in the series points standings for our category. So by removing the final contest for third place, he 1) surrendered a few OVCX points to a close rival, and 2) may have given up a place on the podium -- he definitely gave up a chance at the podium. I believe the term for this is mensch. I now owe Scot a solid, but I told him it might have to wait until road season.

Devou Park Darkhorse Cyclo-Stampede

2009-10-12T14:14:00.014-04:00

I'll skip the parts from 7 am to the start of my race at 12:30, and from 1:15 until I rolled home at 9:15 pm, because, after all, they weren't racing -- well, the parts from 1:15 until 6:30 featured racing, but not mine, and I'll let others tell their own stories -- they were all that other stuff that goes into putting on a race: unloading and setting up barriers, taping the course, manning the course crossings, shuttling messages between registration and the announcers, breaking down and re-loading barriers, pulling stakes and tape in the dark, etc. (Okay, so maybe I won't skip those parts.)

I will add also that after forecasts of a deluge, the rain itself for the most part stopped Friday morning and, except for a few drizzles and spits, held off until we had wrapped up the last bit of yellow tape. But the course -- wow, was it wet. And my teammates had designed a diabolical course that would have been challenging and technical in the driest of conditions: tons of off-camber, some short but steep little legbreakers, a fair number of grass-to-pavement and pavement-to-grass transitions, and several nice little twisty sections.

But I'm getting ahead of myself: the dual logistics of running a weekday race and a UCI race meant that cat 4, cat 35+, cat 4 45+, juniors, and women cat 3/4 and 35+ would all be racing at the same time. I heard someone mention a total of 155 riders, and I'd believe it in a heartbeat. We were also going 30 minutes instead of the usual 40, but given the conditions and the challenging course, I didn't hear a single complaint.

My race kinda went like this: sprint off the line, weave through as much of the cat 4 open field as possible on the paved section up past the finish line and then right up toward the museum, watch Greg Fasig (Cycledots) power away through some magical hole in the field, never to be seen again, and then hit the greasy downhill from the museum toward the golf course. Whoa! Gridlock, and guys behind yelling "Ride! Ride! Don't stop!" and people stopping and dabbing and cursing until back out onto the pavement and right into off-camber #1 along the golf course; left foot out, coast through, and then a series of rollers and twists until up up up can I ride this? No. But look, I'm running past guys who are riding it, so let's run from now on. Back over the path and a few twists (where I'd have a slo-mo crash on a later lap) and down the cart path where, like on all the paths, mud would build up in a slick mound down the middle, so you'd think whew, I'm on pavement and safe for a few seconds, but oh no: on the second or third lap I'd see a guy wash out right in front of me. Carry some speed up and over, and then down past the barn and -- hey look, that rider (Kerry from Hungry) is dismounting before the end of the gravel -- wonder why. Round the bend, into the muck, up a little rise, bog down -- oh, that's why. Smart Kerry. Awkward dismount, run up, remount and ride down the slogfest clip in clip in clip in arrrgghhh oh well at least get one of your feet on the pedal, dismount and slog up the muck. Onto the path, back onto the bike, heading for off-camber #2. (This became a great spectator spot later in the day, since it got so bad that the pro riders would propel themselves as fast as possible along the off-camber until they couldn't pedal any more, hold their skid/slide/hydroplane until the last moment, dismount and find some way up the steep little kicker back to the road. Many superb riders misjudged this delicate ballet, and much tape was broken.) Claw, scrabble, and slide my way up to the road, remount, and head through the pits. The pits had one of the most deceptive difficult sections all day: a stretch of innocuous flat ground that was so soaked that it took forever to pedal through -- didn't look bad, didn't take riders down, but it sapped a lot of energy and stirred the seeds of panic: hey! I should be able to get through this no problem -- what's wrong? everyone's gonna catch me! Up out of the pits toward off-camber #3, this one with roots and juniors and a hill that was rideable the first lap, and maybe the second, but after that, get off, run up to the path, remount, back towards the road -- oh, crap, I forgot: barriers. Who put barriers on this course? -- that's inhumane, I tell you. back down twisting past the pits, and up through the finish line.

One down, three to go.

The race was a survival fest, and I had little sense of how I was actually faring. In fact, I had little sense of actually doing any racing, until the last lap: I got caught by a guy in my field (Sparky from QCW). I knew he had better handling skills than me, so I followed his line as much as I could through the lap. I decided I wouldn't panic if he gapped me, but that I'd sprint on the pavement to the finish line to catch him if I could (a roadie's revenge if you will). After the barriers he had 15 meters on me, and he gained a little more through the pit area. I hit the pavement, shifted (it still worked -- small miracle) into a harder gear, and passed him at the line, mouth open and totally gassed. It's little things like that I love learning in each of these races: where I can give ground, where I can make it up, how to recover just enough to make one more effort, and even when I've gone too hard and need to cut my losses by letting someone go.

There's no hiding in cyclocross, even when you're covered head to toe in mud and muck. Of course, the finish-line grin gives you away every time.

[Jeffrey's pictures are now up from Friday's race]

Tour de Louisville CX 35+ 4s

2009-10-05T16:02:00.008-04:00

Left at dawn in Dan-O's Pilot w/ Tinny, coffee, 4 bikes, spare wheels, and more. Drive to L-ville was uneventful, except I just couldn't get over the GPS lady: does she talk back? does she yell at you? no and no, apparently, but her voice does take on a certain urgency when she says "recalculating ... recalculating..."

When we got there, we unloaded the bikes and headed for registration. I learned that pinning numbers on a skinsuit is way harder than on a simple jersey. I also learned that it's best to finish using the port-o-lets before putting the skinsuit on, but I learned that the hard way.

Unlike Kingswood, the organizers lined up the 4s Open first, then the 35+ 4s, and then the 45+ 4s, and sent us off individually. This was my first chance to look at the guys I was actually racing against, and put a few names from previous results to faces (and bib numbers). Anyway, the 4s went off, and we were ready to go when one of them went down in the starting straightaway, and didn't get up for what seemed like forever. We were going to go 30 seconds after their start, and as the time ticked down everyone kept looking at the guy on the ground, and then over to the official with his whistle in his mouth, and then back to the guy still on the ground, and ... finally, he got up, got back on his bike, and rode off.

And we were off! I'm still working on my start -- I think I came into the first turn in about 7th position, when I would've preferred to be in 3rd or 4th. The course was entirely on grass except for a couple of path crossings, and it was twisty and rolling. After one lap it seemed like there were about 4 of us at the front of the 35+ group, and we were beginning to pick our way through the back of the first field. I had pegged two guys at the beginning of my race to watch: Scot Hermann (Dayton) and Greg Fasig (ZWS): they had finished 1st and 2nd at Kingswood, and I had been well behind them there. Here I was keeping with them, and then Greg disappeared (I learned afterward that his chain, already with a faulty pin, had snapped). So I followed Scot a bit, along with a Smitty's rider (Butch); we were trailing at least one guy ahead who I didn't know. I felt pretty good, so I took a dig and Butch came with me, and then he dropped off a bit (after a painful remount experience -- I feel for ya, Butch, really I do), and then I was alone for most of the rest of the race, picking off the occasional rider from the field ahead, but eventually losing sight of the one guy I knew was ahead of me. We raced 5 laps; sometime in the fourth lap I started looking over my shoulder to make sure that no one was closing on me, and began pacing myself a little more carefully: those steep little kicker-hills were beginning to hu-u-u-rt, and I was starting to take poor lines on turns. I finished thinking I had probably got 2nd, maybe 3rd, and worst-case top-5 (in case I hadn't recognized two or three other riders in the grouping ahead of me). Initially the results came back saying I was 3rd, but they were corrected and I indeed did finish 2nd. Mairin helped me with my podium form before the awards.

For an all-grass course, there was a whole lot of variety: the downhills, tape placement, and tons of off-camber made for some real exercises in cornering, and I washed out my rear wheel a couple times and was fortunate not to go down. Several places were boggy mud that got more rutted as the ride went on. And the cruelly placed steep little kickers took away momentum just when you really wanted it, so there you couldn't really get a long stretch going. I guess it worked for me.

After my race we stuck around for a picnic, watched the 3s, and wore out our cowbells -- Nick represented well, and said he felt a whole lot better than at Kingswood. Dan went out and won the 35+ 3s. That's our Quarterback-horse.

Kingswood CX races

2009-09-23T11:59:00.003-04:00

The last two months:

"Hey, Shannon -- come on out for a ride."

"Naw -- I gotta go out and do throw-up intervals. Better off alone for those."

"Huh?"

"Hey Shannon -- meet us for a ride."

"Naw, I'm running today."

"Wha--?"

"Hey Shannon, are you even there?"

"Naw, I'm training for 'cross -- I'm on another planet. Planet Pain."

Came out of hiding to double up at Kingswood last weekend, and see if all those intervals and runs and more intervals and practice dismounts and more intervals had added up to anything. Turns out that even when you prepare, 'Cross still hurts -- a lot!

And it's still fun -- a lot!

Saturday: Warm, sunny, dry, and dusty: lined up in the second row with 40+ cat4s and took off like a madman at the whistle. I was sitting in top ten when at one of the first turns a rider swung way wide and almost knocked me off the course. With that I was gapped from the frontrunners, and spent the rest of the race making up ground and losing it back. I made it up on straightaways and up hills -- the power was pretty good. I lost it on turns and (especially) in the sandpit, where the two times I tried to ride I went down. At the start of the 4th lap (of 5) I was by myself, missed a right turn in my anaerobic haze, and went off course, breaking the tape. Lost a few places there. On the final lap I ended up with one other rider -- he pulled away a little, but I closed it down in a twisty section (ironic, huh), and led through the last turn to the finish line. I thought leading out of the turn would be good, since the sprint was pretty short, but I didn't have much left, I hit a bump pretty hard, and the one-chainring thing drops the top-end a bit -- or he was just faster, and he pipped me at the line. Somewhere top-15 overall, 3rd in 35+ cat 4s.

Sunday: Opposite day: cool, grey, rainy, and slick. Lined up in the fourth row of 115 racers (!) behind a tiny junior. Did okay on the hole shot, and was far enough ahead to miss the carnage on the hill. From Jeffrey's photos, it looks like this was where field separation really took place. I was slow and tentative on corners and the off-camber stuff, but the sandpit was a piece of cake (the course ran in the opposite direction Sunday, meaning that the lip that took me down twice yesterday was more of a launchpad into the pit today). I was pleased with my race, and started moving up through riders. Found myself on the wheel of another junior (those young guys are solid) on a long straightaway before the runup. I was gathering speed, he was losing a bit, and I stupidly crossed wheels with him. I went down hard, and lost all the places I had just madeup. I got up and kept racing, pretty much holding my position but cursing my stupidity -- I had determined to ride a smarter race Sunday, and I was doing it in all the ways I thought I should. And then I went and made a total roadie mistake by crossing wheels. Grrr. Still, 8th in 35+ cat 4s, somewhere mid-20s overall.

Tuesday evening: No, no race Tuesday, but that's when I discovered (while wiping down my frame) that my right seatstay is cracked almost all the way through. Fortunately I've got at least one weekend with no races scheduled to find a new setup.

QCW Team Time Trial

2009-08-16T16:31:00.005-04:00

Well, I've been looking forward to this event for sometime now and had high hopes for a multiple Darkhorse team (A team, B team etc.) turn out. There was some serious arm twisting the night before at the team meeting (at the Ott Estate) but to no eval. We did have a committed group of four Ott, Hoffman, Dobson, and myself), as well as our newest memeber, Doug Polignano (AKA Dudehorse), who was going to make the trip with us, just to get some quality hang time.

So here's the low down: ten teams registered, most with tricked out TT bikes and helmet's. The new guy's on the block, Team Hungry represented "old school" with all four rocking their normal kits and road bikes (Nice!). On the warm-up, Hoffman called-up Doug from the minors, who stepped admirably in his place. The line up: Ott, Brevoort, Dobson, & Polignano (Tall guy/TT bike, short guy/road bike...).

All I can say for certain is that it hurt really bad! The heat added to the intensity of the event and I think all four us were on the rivet the whole time. We started out of the gate pretty fast and didn't let up too much. Half way in, I think our avg was around 27. I ate too many brats the night before and some of my pulls at the front were pretty sorry.

Chip & Dan came through big time and put in some serious pace setting at the front. Doug's debut was pretty impressive, and all four us stayed together almost to the very end. I say "almost" because, I think I might of had an out of body experience with about 2 miles to go. I was brought back to the world of the living, when Aslan, I mean Chip, started yelling at us to "go-go-go...1 mile left...do it for Narnia!" I was like, "What is he talking about, has this heat and that TT helmet cooked his brain?" Ha! I love it. Anyway, with the finish line in sight, I exploded into a million brett-peices and Chip pulled through with Ott and Dudehorse in tow. Way to finish strong boys!

Well, I had a blast and can't wait to improve on our time and do it again next year. Listed below are the results for the top 3 teams, which can also be seen at http://www.qcw.org/.

7HR Men's 1
Mike Abney
Greg Tombragel
Jim Wilson
Marty McGrory
22:27.0

Darkhorse Racing
Dan Ott
Brett Brevoort
Chip Dobson
Doug Polignano
23:10.0

Team Hungry
Mike Starr
Scott Pardi
Mike Chewning
Andrew Suchocki
23:36.0

Purattacking

2009-08-03T20:02:00.005-04:00

Instead of a long narrative, I'm opting for a twitter like blog...So, here it goes: Nick and I signed up for the 2/3's at Pur Tour. We were greated by mild temps, headwind on the down hill, bit of a tail on the backside and a headwind again at the finish. Lots of attacks but nothing gotta way for very long. I wish had more to offer Nick, who was committed to leading me out. We communicated well but I think he'd agree that we were just a little bit too far back at the start of the sprint. Enjoy the pics fella's:

2009-07-28T19:21:00.008-04:00

Thought I would post a few pics from Tour De Burg. Enjoy:

Team Dayton Crit

2009-07-27T18:56:00.004-04:00

After a long season of racing, I thought I'd better blog at least one of them. I should also thank Shannon for recaping most of my races in his blogs. Thanks Shannon! You made it easy for me to not blog.

Well, after last years mishap in the race with Chip, costing a trip to the hospital, I was sent back to fight some seious demons on his behalf. With heavy legs from a stout group ride the day before (The Team Nickmaxson-climb fest 2009), I trekked-up I-71 only to find Shannon racing (what the?). I thought he had retired his CAT-4 license for the year? So, instead of warming-up, I watched the tail end of Shannon's race.

At the start line, we had a field of about 30, mostly flush with Team Dayton and some random ex-pro guy (so, I heard). For a majority of the race, with "tired legs," I was a good boy and sat in at the back of the pack and did'nt have a lot of fight in me.

On the third corner (off-camber) going into the last lap, I found myself in the grass and riding cyclocross style, thanks to my own poor line (perhaps?) and some guy drifting a little too far left coming out of the turn. The strong crosswinds didn't help too much either, I suppose. So, I managed to get back on the road and in the pack safely. By that point, it was a pack sprint in a brief up-hill to the finish. I worked hard to pass as many guys as I could. I have to admit though, that I think many had stopped sprinting. I finished 10th place, which turns out to be one place better than last year. I'll take it!

Well, it was a fun race and a good vibe. Not sure who won, just know that Todd Frye finished 3rd. Nice work Todd (who also took a prem early on).

My race report isn't as good as Shannon's but at least I finally posted one. Later...

Team Dayton criterium

2009-07-26T22:17:00.003-04:00

So long, road season. Wrapped it up today with the Team Dayton criterium at the Renaissance Festival grounds in Harveysburg. Sad to say, I hadn't touched my bike since my cool-down lap in Miamisburg last Sunday. And last Sunday I had told at least 17 people that I was done for the road season, I was skipping next weekend and getting ready for CX training. So my expectations were low, and I lived up to them. Sort of.

We rolled out with a small field (17, I think) swollen with about 7 Dayton riders. I took the front at the whistle, ramped it up to a whopping 21, and looked back to see a 100-yard gap. Huh. I pedaled steady for a lap and a half, had stupid thoughts about taking a real dig and seeing how far out I could get, finished warming up, and then welcomed the field back as it slowly made its way to me.

After that, I was one of several other singletons on the defensive as Dayton made attack after attack, most of which we had to take somewhat seriously. I patrolled the front, took digs when I needed to (and sometimes when I didn't -- I was a little tired of my previous strategy of "sitting in until I found a good wheel on the last lap," so I tried to be more active).

With a few to go, a Dayton rider and a NE/COBC rider got off the front, and it started to look serious. I got on the front, and so did Shayne (Abundance). But third wheel was always a Dayton rider, so our turns were short, and the suffering was long. We brought the break most of the way back, but when a surge went to shut it down the rest of the way, I popped, and watched them ride away. And then they slowed down. Oh, man, I can get back on. And I did (with some real help -- thanks Chris), only to get dropped again when the riders began winding it up for the finish. I rolled in off the back, and only learned a bit later that Shayne attacked in turn 3, avoided a crash, and rolled away for the victory, while Bo Sherman took second for the home team. I'm alright with that -- two very good guys I've lined up with a lot this year.

Good times today -- not a great result, but I didn't expect one. Most important, I had fun racing. After Steve G's news this week, I'm very grateful for that opportunity.

Brett represented DH in the 3s, and brought home a very nice tenth place, especially after the hill- and sprint-fest of the MAXtour the day before.

I'm hittin' the beach. Gotta do something about this biker tan.

Tour d' Troyburg Classic ...

2009-07-20T11:59:00.003-04:00

... or is that the Classic d'Burgtroy Tour?

Anyway, three races this weekend, two at Troy and one at Miamisburg on Sunday. You understand why I might be a little confused.

First, I lined up for the 40+ Masters race at Troy. Our field was mixed with the 30+, and starting a minute behind us were the 50+. A few laps in, figuring out who was who required a little focus, and a few laps later, the race was over. Well, not quite, but at 12 laps, it was pretty short. Jamie from Abundance kept attacking and attacking -- I did my share of chasing him down, but was always too gassed to help form a break. Jeff Aufdencamp (Olympus) was a real engine in this race, driving the front and chasing down breaks. It came down to a sprint out of the roundabout -- a rider in front of me almost overcooked the turn and I lost some momentum. I got it going enough to finish 5th in the race and 3rd in my field. Oh, and I got a nice Bob Evans giftcard for a prime sprint that I have to admit went largely uncontested.

The 3/4 race a few hours later was a different story. Big field, lots of nervous energy, and for some reason riders who could easily navigate the nine corners in the course couldn't get through the roundabout without swinging too wide, or overlapping wheels, or whatever. A crashfest became carnage when it began to drizzle. The painted strawberries on the road took down a few riders, and after 8 laps (of 20) I came into the roundabout, saw a pileup ahead of me, tried to take evasive action, and before I knew it found myself skidding on my left hip. My bike was fine, I was fine, but I passed on the free lap and headed home. Brett and Chip, who both finished the race upright (nice work, gents!) told me later that the crashes continued, so I have no regrets about that DNF.

Plus, I wanted to turn my attention to Sunday morning's Cat 4 (or as all the promotional materials had it, Cat IV) state championship crit at the Tour d' Burg. This race was good -- I think I was a little focused on cornering after Saturday's crash, and a little uncertain how my body would react to going race-pace for the third separate time in 24 hours, so I wasn't as relaxed as I'd like to have been. It was a pretty tactical race, with a few guys making breaks for it. Mostly Dayton brought things back together for their sprinter Bo Sherman. I rode at or just off the front for a couple laps, partially to test the legs, partially to get the speed up, and partially to give myself the choice of lines in the corners.

With two to go the officials rang the bell for a prime (WTF? a prime with 2 to go? in the state championship race? really?). When we came through for the prime, the bell didn't ring for 1 to go, but I assumed that was because they were catching the prime winner's number. I should've looked at the lap card again, since it apparently still read 2. The next lap was confusion, with riders asking each other how many to go. I was in the "this is the last lap" camp (figuring it was better to sprint twice than not at all), and I got in good position for my sprint. I took off, and then my heart sank as I heard the bell this time around. Okay, do it again -- catch breath, move up, get in line, and be in position before the last two corners. On the backside, I rolled up the single file next to Shayne from Abundance, and nudged my way in front of him, figuring he might not mind being on my wheel and I wanted to be about where he was. Ready to go. Except now the Dayton train was one guy, and he was shot from pulling for two laps. Nobody else wanted to go to the front, certainly not me. So we came around the last corner into the straightaway at a pretty low speed. I expected to get swamped, but instead only Nate Grubbs (UC) went, and went early. Bo followed him, and I followed Bo (still too early I thought).

But it wasn't, and we picked up speed from the slo-mo start down the straightaway. I closed down some ground between myself and Bo, and he closed down ground between himself and Nate, but we hit the line before anything changed.

The family came up for the day: Eamon joined me on the podium, Mairin dominated the kids' parade in a breakaway, throwing elbows and resplendent in her facepaint, and Carole cheered loud and long for me. We caught Brett's Cat III race, which featured a big field and a fast pace -- he did a solid job finishing with the front group in the top 20.

In summary, then: two days, three races, one crash, two thirds, one of which was kind of a fifth, one Bob Evans prime, one state criterium championship bronze medal, no podium girl. (She was there for the earlier races, double-cheek kissing away. Harumph. We got the promoter, sans kisses, thankfully.)

[pictures at Jeffrey's site]

Plus 1!

2009-07-11T20:55:00.005-04:00

More Darkhorses than I knew we had lined up for the 3/4 Ault Park Plus 1 event his past Wednesday: Coach, Tin, C to the A, Quarterbackhorse, BBoy (who got a special haircut just for the event), Kaiser, Matt B, Bad Boy Bill Hoffman (two weeks in a row!), and yours truly.

Over burritos the week before, we had discussed a loose plan: Tin and Bret would be the presprint guides and team lieutenants; CA, Coach, and Bill would drive the front and chase breaks when necessary; Matt would be pure bonus, since he's still getting up in the middle of the night with his new daughter; Dan, Alex, and Shannon would sprint as their legs permitted. Chris, Bill, and Matt weren't there when we decided their roles, but they didn't seem to mind. Wednesday night before the race began, we decided that Alex and I would go for the odd # sprints, and Dan for the evens, including the biggies at #20 & #40.

And as a team we were good, and smooth, and communicated well, and things worked out pretty well overall. Oh, sure, we didn't produce the winner. And we didn't make the podium. But we raced together as a substantial team for the first time all year (and first time ever for me), and we worked our roles. Four Horses scored, led by Dan. By comparison, only the dominant Dayton (who grabbed the first two podium spots) and the cheeky Hungry boys put as many riders on the charts.

And I just gotta say: after forcing myself onto strangers' wheels all spring, it felt damn good to look around, find Tin, or Dan, or Bret, or Bill, or oh-man-do-I-really-have-teammates-to-choose-from?!, and know whoever it was, was going through the pack to get me to the front for my kick.

My favorite moment of the race was lining up behind Tin for a sprint and just as I started my kick, I heard Alex on my wheel yelling "Shannon, GO!"

Don't have to tell me twice.

What a great time. Troy Classic, anyone?

Ault Park B #5: end of the series

2009-07-02T15:25:00.004-04:00

It was a hurly-burly night in the Bs: very tactical as the riders took a look around, measured their chances, double-checked the points totals, and got ready to defend, attack, or survive. I had decided that #1 & 2 were too far off, so I should focus on keeping #3 overall. That meant watching the two guys behind me, one from 7Hills who seemed to have peaked earlier in the series, and one from UC who was coming on strong. Alex was right behind them, and he was aiming to leapfrog at least one and finish in the trophies. The two of us lined up with Matt and the elusive Bill Hoffman. Bill Lorenz called the top five to the front, teased Alex for being #6, and sent us on our way.

I promptly went out and lost the wheel of the UC kid (Nathan) on the first sprint, which he won to close the gap on me to virtually nothing. For the lap #10 sprint I was more assertive, and took third place for four points, and then did it again for two points at lap #15 (which Alex won in his effort to secure fifth place -- more on that below). So going into lap #20 I had pretty much neutralized Nathan's early gains, and just wanted to watch his wheel and pip him if it looked like he might score.

In a young-guys sticking together move, Charlie (Turner, and the series winner) led Nathan from the top of the hill on lap #20 around to the sprint. I tucked in behind Nathan, and when he stood up to go, I did too. It looked like 1st, 2nd, and 3rd for the sprint were already out of reach, but I wanted to be sure, so I stood up to follow Nathan's wheel, and felt something grab my right leg and knock into my bike. Then I heard the sound of riders and bikes going down. I got held up and missed the sprint. I think Nathan grabbed 4th for 2 points, but it wasn't enough to overtake me in the series.

So I came away with a nice functional 3rd-place trophy (this year they engraved metal insulated water bottles instead of wall plaques), a few bucks, and a tire burn on the outside of my right leg. Alex, who did enough to overcome one of the guys ahead of him (and, we thought, slot into fifth place) got blindsided by Andrew from Team Hungry, who racked up 20 points (!) in last night's race alone to emerge from nowhere (15th) to snag fifth in the series.

I'm pretty happy with the series: I was consistent, and sometimes got better results on night when I felt bleh than when I felt like the king of the world. I hated to see the last sprint of the last lap of the last race in the series end with a crash, and that kind of put a damper on things at the end for me. But if all goes as planned, this was my farewell to the B race, and I'm pleased I was able to put up some results.

Hyde Park Blast 4/5

2009-07-01T09:20:00.006-04:00

After two hours of sweeping corners and helping set up for the races in 90-plus degree sunshine, I suited up with Kaiserhorse and a bunch (55? 60?) of other riders for the 30-minute 4/5 race. We had callups, but not like I've ever seen -- first went all the teams with 5 or more riders, then a select few presumably based on results, and then the rest of the field in alphabetical order. Somehow, despite throwing down a few decent results this year, I didn't make the cut and ended up with other "S"s near the back of the field.

No worries -- just a little assertive riding and in a few laps I was up where I needed to be: near the front, taking the inside lane through the hairpin (missed two crashes that way), risking the outside line up Shady Lane to secure the inside track on both the turn at the top and the sweeper back onto Erie.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

During the race a few riders attacked -- especially two riders from Ontario who were making a southward bike-racing weekend of it: Michigan on Friday, the Blast on Saturday, and Grandview on Sunday. They made the most of their race, attacking and counterattacking, countering their counters and keeping the field on its toes. Thanks for coming, fellas! 7Hills and Dayton did most of the chasing, which was just fine with me. I stayed out of the wind, watched which wheel I was on, and tried to gauge which moves might be dangerous.

With two to go the pace eased and everyone left up front got ready for the last corner and the final straightaway. Coming out of the square after the hairpin there was one more dodgy move and one more crash, leaving me with some space to make up. It ended up being too much, as a rider from Lexington took a nice win with a clean set of wheels ahead of Dave Steward (7Hills). I managed to make up some ground along Erie and turn what looked like 6th or 7th into 3rd by holding off Geoff Reynolds (Dayton) and Justin Ling (Jeni's Ice Cream). I'm still looking for the lung I left in front of the public library.

The podium setup was sweet, 2johns were rocking the house with good tunes and insightful analysis (exactly why did the 7Hills rider chase down a break with his teammate in it? I asked myself the same question in the middle of the race, but I wasn't going to complain), and the atmosphere was pure summer festival. I rolled home, showered, and came back for some OTR ale and to cheer on Nick, Chris, and Bret in the 3s. Big ups to Tank and Mitch for stellar work putting on a marquee event, and thanks to all my Darkhorse teammates (and friends of Darkhorse) for their hard work making it go so well.

Pictures are up at Jeffrey's site.

Ault Park #4: B race

2009-06-25T09:14:00.003-04:00

Hot 'n' muggy last night up at Ault. We had a big field with a fair number of new riders even at this late stage of the series. I entered tied for third with Greg from 7HR, and we were both 17 and 19 points behind the top two, so not much hope of catching them. The goal: be more active than last week and get a few points ahead of Greg.

Matt and Alex lined up this week, and both were strong men tonight. I told Alex that I would fend for myself on lap #5, but that I'd love a ride toward the front on #10. Then we'd see how the rest played out.

I missed out on the lap #10 sprint, and even though I thought I got 4th on both #5 and #15, apparently I got fifth. No points. I didn't know this at the time, but even when I learned it afterward, I didn't care, because I felt so much better than last week, and I was having fun racing. Alex, on the other hand, nailed the lap #15 sprint and finished second I think.

Near the end of the race I found Matt's wheel. He took me a new way to the front, riding the curb and taking it tight. On lap #20, he ramped it up on the downhill, and as we came around the bend one guy took a flyer. It got a little crowded, but I got a great jump off Matt's leadout, and headed in pursuit of the flyer. Just then, I heard disaster strike behind me: one of the Turner rider's chain broke in full sprint. I held my sprint to the line in second, for six points on the night.

Big thanks to Matt and Alex, who both win "Most Amazing Fitness Gains in One Week" awards.

And it was great to see even more Horses line up in the A race -- 4, if I count correctly, including the enigmatic and elusive Chris Anderson. I even saw Tin finish just out of the points on a sprint -- nice!

Come on out to the race this weekend at the Hyde Park Blast: fast, fun, good crowds, plenty of stuff to do, and your registration fees go to charities (not our pockets). More information at hpblast.com.

Ault Park #3: B race

2009-06-18T10:09:00.005-04:00

What a difference a year makes. Last year, if you'd told me that I'd contest two sprints (one of them double-points) in the Ault Park B race and take 3rd in both, I would've been pretty stoked. If you'd told me that I would do this three days after the state RR, with some sharp pain in my lower back, and after a poor night's sleep, I would've thought it was beyond what I could possibly do.

Last night, all these things were true, but I expected more. Yes, I've become greedy.

Lined up with Matt and Alex and 50 others. Unlike previous weeks, it was fast from the start -- Ben from Team Hungry even took off like a bat out of hell on the first lap. On lap four, I got on Alex's wheel, but by the time we reached the downhill on lap 5, it was clear we weren't getting to the front. So we sat out that sprint, and hung around for lap 10, when Matt took me around the outside. I got a decent sprint in, and came in third, behind Bo Sherman from Dayton (series leader) and Charlie from Turner (Cat 4 state champion, probably second-place in series by now, and quick-recovering youngster -- grrr.). I've been trying to get around Bo and Charlie since week one, and it's just not happening yet. Meh -- but four points is four points. Soon after, as I was beginning to get some position for the lap 15 sprint, I saw that Matt & Alex had done their day's work -- so I found Geoff Reynolds's wheel, kicked it, and -- we had a carbon copy of the lap 10 sprint: same players, same top three sequence.

After that I was gassed -- more tired than I realized. I sat in for three laps, tried to get to the front for the final lap but didn't have it. As I rounded the bottom of the hill and saw that I was in about thirtieth position, I eased up and soft-pedaled in. Apparently there was a sprint for thirtieth that nobody told me about, however, because someone rear-ended me tire-on-tire. I heard a "Hey!" and the sound of bike on pavement. After I crossed the finish line, I tried to figure out what happened, but no luck. My guess is someone was head-down trying to finish fast and didn't expect to come upon a slower rider, but that's just a guess.

So like I said: a couple good sprints and six points on a night when I felt like a scuffed penny. Not great, but certainly not bad. I'll take it, but I'll be back next week looking for better.

State RR cat 4

2009-06-15T14:16:00.004-04:00

Yesterday at Caesar's Creek, I lined up with about forty other hopefuls in the cat 4 OH state championship road race: there were a lot of new faces from upstate (and beyond), and we were missing some familiar ones -- recent upgrades swelling the ranks of the cat 3 field to over 80 riders.

The course was twisty and rolling, with one extended downhill and, at about 1.5 miles before the finish line, a tough hill that started out steep, eased in the middle, and then kicked again near the top before "leveling" out into a false flat for a while. Then, a right turn, and about one k to the slightly downhill long straightaway to the finish line. When I saw this during warmup, I practically salivated: if I could make it up the hill near the front, there was enough space between the top of the hill and the finish line to regroup and position myself for what looked like a sprinter's dream.

Or so I thought.

The race was, to say the least, pretty uneventful for a while: no dominant team, so not much in the way of team tactics. With a bunch of singletons, or pairs of teammates, we rode around, reeling in the occasional frisky feller. I stayed out of the wind, drifting back through the field and then taking rides back up to the front third. The field strung out on the climb, but no one really used it to launch anything, and it always seemed to come together. For the third lap, one rider attacked just past the feed zone (I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt here, since the general grumbling opinion was that he attacked in the feed zone), built up a lead of about 30 seconds, but then popped when he got to the hill. After four laps, it was gruppo compatto, and I mentioned to the rider next to me that it looked like we'd roll neutral through most of the lap, and then go balls-out from the hill.

So we get to the bottom of the hill, and I'm pretty much where I want to be. I shift down, take a deep breath, and stomp -- and the guy right in front of me does the same, but stops cold when he tries to pedal, as if he'd hit a wall. In fact, the field explodes -- I think five laps was exactly necessary to make the hill matter in this race. I had to brake and turn my front wheel to avoid him, and then build momentum all over again. I'm cramping a little, but no panic, since there's all that room after the top of the hill, right?

Wrong. I reach the top further back than I wanted to be, and form into the third group on the road. Justin from Jeni's takes a huge dig to bring us most of the way to the second group. I keep taking peeks back, thinking that other groups will be coming forward and wondering if I should save something for a group sprint. But no one appears to be joining us, and finally I lower my head in the second group and get on the front, pretty sure that we can bring back the leading six, but not sure if there's enough room left to do it. Dick from Abundance is on my wheel -- he promises to come through and pull, but later tells me he couldn't. I drop my head and dig deep, and when I look up ...

Carnage. Four of the six leaders were splayed across the road, and the remaining two -- Charlie from Turner and Mike Malmer from Dayton -- were making the run for the line. I towed Dick through a clear spot in the middle of the wreckage. Now I know that not only do I have Dick on my wheel (although at this point I think he's cheering me on), but I know that others are coming up on me. I gave what I had, which meant I caught a fading Mike just before the line for second. Dick got pipped and ended up fifth. I rolled across the line, caught Bret's eye (thanks for coming out, Bret!), and nodded "yes!" You can't really holler for a second place, but I was pretty durn happy with the result, especially given the way the finale played out.

People keep telling me that the 3s are waiting, but after seeing ninety guys line up in that field, I'm not really in a hurry. The 4s are strong, and tough, and I got a little lucky (and others got a little unlucky) yesterday. If I had made the front of the race after the hill, after all, I stood a good chance of joining four other riders on the pavement. Instead, I've got this nice official USAC silver medal.

19 laps of futility, plus one

2009-06-03T22:03:00.003-04:00

or, Ault Park B race #2.

Lined up tonight in unseasonably cool temps and foreboding skies with Mike M. and Alex. The squirrels came out to play tonight -- it certainly seemed a bit twitchier than last week. We skipped the first sprint, but after it three riders went off the front and stayed there. I chased, Alex chased, BioWheels guy chased, and Geoff from Team Dayton chased. We never caught them until after the lap-10 points had been gobbled up. Two guys crashed on the backside. For lap 15, I thought I was in perfect position: on the wheel of a strong rider. When he went, I stood up to go, and the gap closed as riders on either side of me stood up to sprint, squeezed in, and went nowhere. Nowhere. I yelled at them to stay out of the way if they weren't going to sprint, and instantly felt like a jerk.

I was frustrated. Three sprints, no Darkhorse points. I found Alex's wheel and stayed safe for laps 4, 3, and 2 to go. On the bell lap I followed him around the right side, where he picked up Geoff and the other Team Dayton strongman. We bided our time, and when Alex went, I went. Alex stayed strong and won the sprint; I couldn't come around him (believe me, I tried) and rolled in second, hollering "Yeah!"

After 19 laps of futility, we had one perfect lap. Sweet.

A Long Ault Night

2009-05-28T09:02:00.002-04:00

Ault Park #1 started with a whopping 2 warm up laps since I got there late. We had a felon holed up in an apartment on Winton Rd. that almost called for SWAT but we were able to get him out before it went that far.
So I started the B race a bit frazzled and no where near recovered from Monday's 74 mile sufferfest. I told Shannon I would work for him and we decided to forgo the 1st sprint to let things settle down and get a warm-up in. The 2nd sprint went pretty well, I tried to catch the lone guy off the front but my engine isn't quite there, I managed to get Shannon near the front for a respectable 3rd. We weren't planning on the 3rd sprint, but I thought, "Why not?" so off we went. I was near the front around the bottom with Shannon hot on my wheel, he took off and grabbed another 3rd while I held on for 4th.
I was totally shot at this point and dangled at the back for the next 4 laps, I even got separated but managed to fight back onto a wheel. When the last bell lap started, I started to make my way up the group and told Shannon I could get him to the front but wouldn't be able to lead out a sprint. The BioWheels guy (forgot his name) got on my wheel with Shannon on his as I got us to about 4-5th wheel around the bottom. I looked back and Shannon was right on my wheel so I stood up and went and eeked out another 4th while Shannon zoomed past for another 3rd.
It ended up being a pretty good night for Darkhorse but my night was only just beginning. I was on Ridge getting onto WB 562 when I rolled up on an accident. I noticed several people trying to get someone out of a Saturn that had been hit pretty hard. I then noticed a guy running across the interstate and try and stop a car and get in. The driver sped away and that's when I jumped out, grabbed my gun and radio and went after him. He went toward the woods, but was more stumbling and staggering by the time I got to him. I got him on the ground, where he lunged for a security guard's gun and fell flat on his face. He didn't move much after that until Norwood units arrived and got him into custody. Apparently he had shot his wife in the head then fled the wrong way onto the Lateral, hitting the lady in the Saturn who had to be taken out with a Hurst tool (Jaws of Life). She was conscious when they took her away, hopefully she will be ok. A couple of news links can be found here:
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090527/NEWS0107/305270076/1055/NEWS/Woman+shot++suspect+crashes
and http://www.wcpo.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=33421@wcpo.dayport.com&navCatId=23
All in all, just another adrenaline filled day for KaiserHorse.

...by that much!

2009-05-26T23:31:00.002-04:00

Newmark crit, 4/5 race this past Sunday: we had the early (9am) slot, which was good because it was only gonna get hot 'n' muggy later. Almost 40 starters, light headwind on the backside, pancake flat. The course is a D, with the start/finish on the straight line. To recap: flat, two right turns, no wind to speak of.

I smelled a bunch sprint.

And we got it -- even with five or six early primes, no one really tried to stay away. I sat in, bided my time, noted the obvious sketchy riders, and before I knew it the lap cards for 6, 5, 4, and 3 to go had come and gone. My strategy, limited as it was, was this: Team Abundance had three guys in the race: two were working, and one (built like a sprinter), was laying low. From 6 to go I kept an eye on him, and from 3 to go I sat on or very near his wheel. Hang on 'til showtime, and hope I'm faster.

We came around the last corner, and I was right where I wanted to be: toward the left of the field, on the correct wheel, and with a good mental marker of when to jump. 'Breathe, don't go too soon, and you may have a shot,' I said to myself.

Only my guy didn't really jump.

So finally I did, kicking myself as I wound it up, moving past a few folks on my right, thinking 'you dummy, you're gonna get like eighth because you waited too long on one guy's wheel.'

Or maybe I'll get sixth.

Or fourth.

Or... hey! Look at that!

Second by half a wheel. To a guy fading fast, who'd jumped strong but early. (A Cyclesport rider who assured me after Germantown that he was upgrading before his next race. And didn't. I teased him after this race that he'd have no choice now: the win would force his upgrade.)

The kick was there Sunday, and it felt good -- let's hope it's still there tomorrow, and for the rest of the Ault Park series.

[Jeffrey's got pictures here. And be sure to check out Bret getting his prerace instructions from Chip here.]

sometimes you eat the bear ...

2009-05-09T19:14:00.002-04:00

... and sometimes the bear eats you. Today at the Germantown Circuit Race, the bear ate me.

I actually like this course: .6 mi (aka 1K), start/finish at the highest point, the course is 2/3 downhill (with a sweet 120 degree turn near the start of the long downhill) and 1/3 uphill. A strong-guy course, and in the 4s I've felt like I could hang in such situations.

But not today: I felt good at the start, hung front ten for a while, and then started having a bit of difficulty on the hill. I'd start out near the front, and sag back to the back. Catch up on the downhill, and do it again. Until about 8 (of 25) laps to go, when I disconnected on the hill and couldn't find the punch to get back. I popped -- hard. I got lapped with four to go (I did take a good dig up the hill since Ian Newcomb was off the front, and I wanted to give him a little encouragement), and pulled off since the official said they'd be pulling riders. Everyone goes by, I'm lamenting my day, and the official comes over and say he's stopped pulling riders, and if I don't want a DNF I should get going. So I do, and I finish.

The high point of my race was a front-row seat for the sweet bike-handling by the Team Hungry guy who had a tube blow in the sharp downhill curve. With a rear flat, downhill at over 26 mph, in a sharp curve, with riders on three sides, he overcorrected, caught it, wobbled a bit, and slipped nicely to the side of the road -- upright. Very sweet, especially since I would've been one of about ten riders at least affected by a crash right then.

'Nuff said.

Oh, except: sorry for talking you into this one, Bret, and even sorrier I got in your head before the 3s start.

Spring Valley RR: cat 4

2009-05-04T09:19:00.008-04:00

First things first: I like this course. It's fast, and curvy, and not too windy, and the big hill is just on the cusp between a power rise and a sit-down-and-grind-it-out honest-to-goodness-climb. After that hill (and the ensuing false flat), the road levels out and even drops a bit, and suddenly there's the 200m to go sign and if it's your last lap it's time to wind up with whatever's left. The other significant hill really only becomes noticeable after two or three laps, when your legs get a little weary and you hit it and think "now where did this come from?"

The course is 9.2 miles (that's 14.8 km to you, Adam), and the 4s race was five laps. We rolled (climbed) to the start-finish line for staging, where a few key players were missing. Most notably, Dayton was down to five from their usual 10-12. But Abundance and Cyclesport had the usual suspects, and there were a number of solo racers who would be quite active during the race (from Team Hungry, Buckeye Cycling, National Engineering/COBC, Echelon, Justin from Jeni's Ice Cream, and Mark from Ohio Orthopedic/Moro). I mentally committed to not doing anything rash for at least two laps, and we were off.

And for two laps, I sat between 6th and 10th wheel, taking it easy as we cruised around the course. On the hill I stayed toward the front but didn't kill it. A few pairs went off the front, but I made no moves: it was early, and they were always missing a key component (in this case, a CycleSport or Abundance rider).

And then, at the top of the hill beginning the third lap, Rodney Roof from CycleSport drilled it -- hard. I hesitated, but then Ian Newcomb from Abundance went and I thought here we go -- time to race. We bridged up to Rodney with an Echelon rider (in his first cat 4 race after riding away solo from the 5s for a few weeks running) and started to swap turns. We got a good gap, and a decent rotation, and suddenly we had over a 100m gap. It held there for a while, and then just like that the field was out of sight.

And then we came up on the 3s. I happened to be pulling as we came up on them, and then the driver of our pace car was telling us to hold on, hold on, hold on until he could neutralize the 3s for us to get around. Hold on? We knew we had a good gap, but didn't know how much it was, and we needed to keep building it or at least maintain it: if we could get to the top of the hill and start the 4th lap still out front, we had good odds of being the top 4 finishers.

After what seemed like an eternity, we got to roll past the 3s and get back up to speed (the 4s stayed out front of them the rest of the day). We still felt pretty good, since we knew our 4s field would have to get past them to get near us. Apparently they had no similar holdup, though, because halfway up the hill we were reeled back in. So close. I think.

I left the fourth lap for others to duke it out and caught my breath. On the final lap, it got punchy again, and another CycleSport rider went off, again with the Echelon rider. As we got closer to the line, most folks were watching the winner of the past two races, Andrew Prickett (Dayton). We pretty much stuck him on the front: no one wanted to pull him up to the front of the field.

The finale started to play out before the sharp turn to the hill, when a Buckeye rider took a hard dig, and from there it was a full-on chase. We made it around the corner safely (I smelled burning carbon all day long in that turn), and I thought okay, one minute, maybe two, of excruciating pain to see what I've got. I big-ringed it up the hill, not getting passed (much), but not gaining on too many others. Ian, who's got a good kick and whose wheel I'd been watching, had a shifting problem, so I left him earlier than planned. Through my lactic haze, I saw young Jonathan Freter (Turner) scamper up in a gear I just didn't have. He caught the two breakaways before the line and won a well-earned victory. After the crest of the hill, I put it in gear and tried to sprint, but I'm not sure my butt left the saddle. I managed to pip Mark Farmer (Ohio Orthopedic/Moro) for 6th (sorry, Mark!), and then went about trying to stuff my lungs back into my body.

Oh, and because of a morning mechanical to my lighter rear wheel, I raced the PowerTap. So Chip, I've got some data. I'll spare you most of the boring details, but for the "sprint" I was putting out a whopping 496 watts, my speed was 51 kph (31.7 mph), and my heartrate at the line was 198. I looked like this. I'm beat.

Cavortin' and Vandervortin'

2009-04-20T09:58:00.009-04:00

(If Brett can pun, why not me?) With the forecast calling for rain and 50s, Brett and I almost talked ourselves into a day away from the races, but ultimately decided to go. Mike More zipped pass us on 71, making it a three-Horse race. Short drive, light drizzle, we get there and find a sweet parking place right next to registration. Rain stops. Rain picks up for a few minutes, then stops -- for the whole time we're racing. Nice.

So in the 4s, I scout the competition. Dayton has the numbers again, and Anthem and Cyclesport have their own tough guys there. I decide that I'm either going to get in the winning break, prevent a winning break from going at all, or go down trying. And that's my race: on the first lap I thought we had a good one going, with me, a Cyclesport guy, the rider from Dayton who won last week, and (I think) one more. But we didn't keep it together, and it all came back together in the crosswind/headwind sections on the backside. Lather, rinse, repeat. Each lap until the last one, I thought I might be making a break that could stick, but it would get chased down -- more than once (okay, twice) I was dismayed to have a few seconds with a couple guys, and looked back to see a teammate of one of the guys leading the chase.

And on and on. I gotta admit, I felt pretty good, but I was up against the odds, and on the fifth lap (of 6) a guy from Dayton made a super-strong move and held it to the end. His teammates did a nice job blocking, and when I did take the rightside gravel line and try to get away, every time there was a Dayton guy sitting there, smiling. A little later, Shane from Anthem and a Cyclesport rider took off right when I was gassed from covering a move; they ended up 2nd and 3rd. I settled in and tried to save something for the field sprint (and maybe a few series points). Not much left in the tank, but I did what I could. All in all, good times and a fun race.

[photos from team Bike Source]

[edited 4/22: more pix from velocityimages]

Brevoort at Vandervort

2009-04-19T16:37:00.002-04:00

The forcast looked forboding, with lots of rain on the radar but luckely, Derek Beasley doesn't know what he's talking about. Shannon, Mike and myself rolled-up to Vandervort's corner for the third Spring Series race of the year. Props to Shannon for being the only DH to race all three.

We all expected wet conditions but surprisingly, the rain never came. There was a good turn out too, which was nice to see. I still feel like an underclassmen in the 3's, and in some ways, I feel like I'm learning how to race all over again. It's been a long winter and the faster pace of the 3's is making my poor training quite evident.

Anyway, the pace was brisk but slowed considerably on the back half of the course. The head and crosswinds in the back half of the loop were simply demoralizing. The tailwinds on the front half the course were welcome but kept the speeds high and by lap 3 of 7, I think it our avg. was hovering on the high-end of 24 mph.

There were many attacks, at least that's what I heard; because I was in pretty much in the back of the pack trying to figure out how inthe heck to move-up without blowing-up. On lap 5, I was feeling better and actually saw the front half of the pack. That's were Dan Lock tried to solicite my help in a break. I told him that I didn't look likely, but I thanked him for the warning.

The break was likely no more than 3 to 5 min off the front and if a second strong group got away, they'd surely catch them. As predicited, as we came out the tailwind-straight-away and banked a right into the hellish crosswind, those that were able to, took off, shattering the field in what look liked to me as several smaller groups...a cycling "trail of tears."

I had nothing but was able to stay with a group of about 8 men that were still holding there own and chasing. Long story short, after the hill, the course turned right into a strong tailwind. Myself and two other riders got gapped coming out of the turn. I pulled through the "S" turn and back into the tailwind. I pulled through and a rider from Dayton sprinted past me, taking another rider (I think from Ohio University) with him, bridging to the group.

I chased them in vain, only to watch the Dayton rider successfully pull himself and the Ohio U. guy back to the pack, at which point he sat-up. I passed him in a matter of seconds and I didn't see him for the remainder of the race, which turned out to be a two lap solo effort.

I probably finished near dead-last but that's okay. I had a blast, and hey, it didn't rain.

guess who I rode with?

2009-04-18T16:16:00.006-04:00

Tank 'n' Tin!
Brett, Tank, Tinny and I set out for a nice ride on this beautiful day. Caught a few pix at the turnaound spot. Good to see the boys.

Deer Creek RR

2009-04-12T12:35:00.007-04:00

I knew I was flyin' the DH flannel solo for the race, so on the drive up I slipped some Beta Band into the CD player and contemplated how to approach the race. The smart lone 'horse approach would be to bide my time, save my energy, let the early laps play themselves out as the bigger teams worked out their issues, and then either make a move toward the end, or try my luck in the bunch finale. Chatting with Chip on the phone reinforced this idea, since he said the hills wouldn't do much, and the real feature would be the winds. (He was right--the only Turner rider in the cat 4 pack -- a skinny kid -- was getting blown all across the road all day.)

A danger with this approach is that if the decisive move goes early, you're out of luck. And that's what happened. Sometime early in the second lap, a Cyclesport rider took off, dragging a Team Dayton rider with him. Suddenly, the strongest team and the biggest team each had someone up the road. Danger. I chatted with the Anthem boys, and Dick and I even tried a move a bit later in the headwind section, but no go -- we just hung out in the headwind section for about a mile. I tried to prolong the move with another Anthem guy, but same story. Just as I was sucking wind back in the pack, trying to recover, some riders in a crosswind section went to the front and drilled it, stringing out the group. I almost got disconnected, but managed to get back on just in time to watch a Panther rider leave the pack and attempt to bridge.

After recovering, I got to the fourth lap with the 2-man break a minute up and the Panther rider somewhere between. The pack seemed deflated, and the speed dropped. I decided that I'd rather try to make something happen and finish off the back than sprint for fourth (especially because the sprint was downhill with a cross tailwind, and was likely to feature a group of 20+ cat 4s choosing lines at 35mph -- no, thanks). So in the headwind section I eased up the left side, tapped another solo rider who'd been complaining about the lack of activity a lap earlier, and launched. Nobody came, so I buried my head and tried to dose my effort. At one point it looked like they'd given up, and if I could make it to the turn I might get a little assist from the wind. Then, head down, I discovered myself in the gravel on the side of the road; I recovered, looked back, cramped, and saw the pack getting closer. So I sat up, hung on to the end, stayed safe in the sprint (especially after my hamstrings locked up), and finished.

So, yeah, kind of a "meh" race. On one hand, mediocre placing in a race dominated by (smart) team tactics, and a day of dodging riders dealing with crosswinds. On the other, I got to race my bike in the sun, I tried to make something happen, and it was all good fun.

Spring Series '09-Hueston Woods

2009-04-05T20:13:00.002-04:00

While I did not have the winter I had last year, I rolled into today's race thinking I was not that far off. I registered for the Cat. 4 race today, getting a couple of stinkeyes from people who thought I should have moved up to Cat. 3. Mostly young people with no kids and no real jobs. Anyway, the race started pretty tamely, then a few attacks were launched maybe 3 or so miles in. I worked pretty hard to reel them in, then Shannon took over as the reeler, as our plan was to have Bill there for the finale if it was all together. Lap 2 or 3 (it's all fuzzy) two riders went off the front with one of them, a Cyclesport rider, staying away. On the last lap, I went to the front and asked the Dayton and Anthem guys if they were content racing for 2nd. They said they were not, so we started to reign him in. Except I feel like I was the only one doing most of the work. This was probably smart racing on their part, but after 5 or so miles, I had nothing left and he was still 100 or so yards off the front. I ended up being dropped but managed to fight back on. I was at the back of the pack going up the first hill by the marina but starting to move up to help with a team sprint. Approximately 3 miles from the finish, there was a massive crash, with bodies and bikes flying all over. This brought me to a screeching halt, almost endoing. By the time I got going again, the peloton was already out of sight. I tried to catch back on, but they were too far, and that's when the cramps started. It was so bad, I had to dismount to stretch them out.
Certainly not the result I was hoping for, but that's racing.

2009 Ohio Spring Race Series

2009-03-02T10:08:00.001-05:00

Camp Pain

2009-02-17T20:06:00.007-05:00

Team Camp '09 began with 5 of us getting down to Gatlinburg Friday and doing a 40 mile route including the Cade's Cove Loop. I launched a beautiful attack about 5 miles into the 11 mile loop and managed to hold off the other 4 until the end. That is until a guy in a pickup informed me that my teammates were "back yonder fixing one of the guy's changer thang" My victory was due only to a mechanical involving Brown's chain, oh well. The rest of the gang arrived Friday night and we all psyched ourselves up for the following day's 'festivities'

I woke up Saturday feeling sore, queasy, and tired but managed to eek out the 61 mile "Wall Route" that included 4.6 kajllion feet of climbing and ascents that averaged 89 percent (at least that's what the day felt like). This Alexander had a "Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day"

Sunday was the ride to Clingman's Dome, something was inside me consuming every ounce of energy I had and after a whopping 12.9 miles I called it a day and ashamedly entered the sag wagon piloted by a limping Matt Bell. We leapfrogged the splintered group up the climb, yelling "encouragements" and time splits. We waited at Newfound Gap as they put on more clothes and finished the ascension to the Dome. There were probably some unwise clothing decisions as most of the team was wet and freezing upon return but we made them descend anyway. After the cold was too much for 3 of the Horses, I was forced to remount a little more than halfway down the mountain. I rode for all I was worth to the bottom, then started back up toward the cabin. After a couple of miles of climbing, I was an empty shell, but Steve Brown came back and dragged me onward. It was getting dark and every time I saw headlights, I prayed it was the returning sag wagon. Finally, I saw Dan's new Subaru drifting rally-car style through a curve with Matt Bell behind the wheel. After watching a bear on the other ridge, we jumped in and headed for the cabin. 3 days later and my stomach is still a wreck, but I still had a good time hangin with the guys, as always!

T-minus Four Days

2009-02-09T13:16:00.004-05:00

The fine fine weather (for February) this past weekend made for a couple of chances to get out and dance with fellow Horses. On Saturday, Dan-O rolled eastside and we looped up and over Indian Hill a few times, including a repetition of Camargo's dead-end segment in honor of the Chipper. By the way, in the winter, when the leaves are gone, that house at the bottom of the hill is even more striking. Or weird, depending on your take on contemporary architecture.

Sunday Chip got things together, and we rolled over a lot of the same roads with Mike More (sweatin' out a week in Vegas and rollin' Belgian-hardman style with no kneewarmers), Chip's friend Ron (who hung tough and then popped spectacularly on Roundbottom Rd. after a tough pull), and young Turner Logistics stud Corey, who schooled us in all the sprints he contested, usually without even getting out of the saddle.

Bike's dirty, legs are tired, and it's almost time for ...

...camp, baby!

Weil Rd. Attempt #1

2009-01-11T21:50:00.003-05:00

You gotta love technology. Today, 5 brave Horsemen (Chris, Steve B., Shannon, Chip, and myself) set out for an "epic ride" to Weil Road, which is supposed to be a nasty hill way out past California and Point Pleasant. Unfortunately, the uploaded route on my GPS had too many waypoints so we were riding blind, trying to guess the route. We took a very wrong turn in Nicholsville (I'm sure you've all heard of that budding metropolis) and ended up on 222 so we just stuck with familiar roads at that point. We rode past East Fork, Covered Bridge, up Mt. Zion, and down Sugar Camp. Somewhere around 45+ miles the cramps started biting. We limped back for a while, with a feeble sprint attempt at the end of Roundbottom.

After thrashing me on Camargo, Chip and I ended up back at his house with 68.9 miles. That was a little too close to 70, so we rode a big circle to arrive at the magic number.

Great ride, hopefully more can make it next time we try this again.

Happy New Years!

2009-01-01T10:56:00.004-05:00

Happy new years folks... w/ the new year, we'd like to welcome BioWheel's on board as Darkhorse official shop sponsor. If you are in need of any cycling related products or services, check them out on the corner of Miami and Camargo in Madeira. Mitch, John and company will treat you right!

Cap City Cross

2008-11-24T12:17:00.002-05:00

Don't my legs look all ripped while I pick up the remains of my bike after wiping out yesterday? That must have been the only time that I going slow enough for the camera to catch me... right!

Great setup, and good use of the venue... I think i was in the low twenties of about 30-35 racers. Good time, but I can feel the body saying its time to "shut 'er down." We'll see if we can't fire it up one more time and Brookside.

:::tinny out

Gun Club 'Cross

2008-11-02T20:49:00.005-05:00

Nice work to John Gatch and the Hunington Bank team for putting on a great race today. It was home grown cyclocross at its best. I think there were about 25 men in the elite 1,2,3 race, and it was really an odd feeling to be racing a "local" race. Don't get me wrong, everything was very well done, but in the last month I've raced 5 UCI level events, so it took a little while to soak it all in. I had a poor-to-OK start, and it was pretty chaotic as things started to stretch out into the singletrack, and then got mixed up again as we entered the sandpits. After a few laps, I found myself w/ Matt Fox of BioWheels and an Alderfer Bergan rider. I was leading it into the sandpits and heard some chaos behind me.

I gunned it for 10 seconds and looked back to find a small gap. I kept the gap for a while and got to see Matt and the AB rider duking it out behind me as the course doubled back on itself. The laps were short, btw 6 & 7 minutes short. I remember looking down at my HRM to see only 18 minutes had passed and about fell off my bike. There was also a hill that we climbed (on our bikes) every lap. It was steep and really rough. This is me at the top of that hill.

This is what that hill felt like toward the end of the hour long race.

Chip got me all hot and bothered about my Darkhorse bretheren coming out to the race at the end of thier ride, but they never showed up :(

So, I was left to answer all the questions about "Where are all the other Darkhorse's?" Where's Dan? Where's Brett? Has Chip taken really up professional knitting after his accident this summer? Is Alex really training for the 2009 World's Strongest Man competition? Did Tank really import 16 year old kids from Perto Rico to play on his Pop Warner football team? Some questions are just unable to ever be answered...

:::tinny out

US Grand Prix of Cyclocross

2008-11-02T20:34:00.004-05:00

I know that I am way overdue for a blog about my cyclocross escapades, so here is my chance to play a little catch up. Last weekend was the USGP in Louisville. I ventured down both days to do the sandbagger race (CAT 2-3). I really felt sorry for all the poor CAT 3's as they had thier race bolstered w/ 20+ displaced CAT 2's. We'd all get our jocks handed to us in the elite race, so we pay-it-forward to the 3's. Now that is trickle-down economics! There were a ton of photographers there, but this was the only pic I could find of me. It may because I'm not very good looking, or because my races were at 9:30 in the morning. As usual, I am trying to ingest my bottom lip, this is affectionally know as my "crossface" in my inner circles of friends and enemies. I finished 26/71 on Saturday and 24/80 on Sunday. Champions Park in Louisville is just a great place to race your bike!

Nice work to all the folks in Louisville for a great weekend.

Pecha Kucha

2008-11-01T14:19:00.003-04:00

Pecha Kucha is a presentation format developed in 2003 by a couple of architects in Tokyo. It was invented to be an informal way for young designers to present their work in a public setting. Each presenter is allowed 20 images and exactly 20 seconds per image. This keeps the presentation concise and moving and 6 minutes and 40 seconds later the next presenter takes over with no pause in the procession.

At Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects we have adopted this format with a slight twist. Since we are immersed in design every day we use this format as an opportunity to talk about our lives outside the profession. For our most recent presentation, I was selected along with 5 others. I decided to talk about bike racing and my passion for the sport. Among the images shown was this one captured after Hueston Woods in 2007.

October 30, 2008 was the day that Darkhorse Racing to introduced to Seattle.

CycloStampede Photos :: 2008

2008-10-18T12:38:00.002-04:00

Cyclo Stampede Photos by our own Mike More.

Thank you Mike!

--> photos <--

Directions to the center of the Cycling Universe:

2008-10-06T12:01:00.002-04:00

Use your favorite web service to get directions to Friday's Darkhorse Cyclo-Stampede:

England/Idlewild Park
5550 Idlewild Road
Burlington KY 41005

TTT: A New Form of Pain

2008-10-05T20:07:00.011-04:00

As Alex posted, Darkhorse tried to represent on Saturday at the QCW team time trial. I am sure that most cyclists have dreamt of doing a team time trial of some sort, either seeing the teams roll around a race track at the Tour de Georgia or seeing a teams rolling around France in July.

Here we are a few moments before the start.

I rolled w/ the A-Team (try to say that w/o hearing the theme some in the background). Brett, Dan and I had come out and practiced a few weeks back and that was a huge help. An obvious factor in a TTT is raw fitness, but it is rare that you'll have a perfectly balanced team, so communication is key. During our little workout, we had established a basic code for Dan, your going too fast, Nick, stop rocking your hips, and Brett, turn down your handlebar-bling, its hurting my eyes.

Check out Dan- he's busting out his Space Balls Halloween costume early.

One strategy that we implemented that worked pretty well was to have the rider that was in the second position be the "coach." that person could kinda keep the guy out front honest. It seemed to work OK. This would be really fun to do in June when we'd all have a little more consistent fitness. I think we ended up in 2nd place w/ a time of 23:17. Not to bad for a bunch of hacks.

Chip getting the 'Horses in line

Here we are digging deep into our suitcase of courage...

Mike More was strong early, but we used and abused him... Thanks for selling out!

Triple T (B Team)

2008-10-04T14:37:00.005-04:00

Today was a beautiful day for a bike ride, unfortunately it was a little hard to enjoy it being in the pain box for 25:38. That's how long it took us to cover the 10.2 miles of the Queen City Wheels Team Time Trial. Darkhorse had 7 representatives out today, so we split into 2 teams of 4. The A team was Dan, Nick, Brett, and Mike M. B Team was Chip, Mike G., Micah (friend of Chip) and myself. I have never ridden the Cleves TT loop, so I had no idea what to expect.

Here is a link to the route: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/email/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=15361&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=6908574

As you can see from the profile, it is relatively flat, especially the last 3-4 miles. But when you are trying to go as fast as possible, it hurts regardless. We all took pretty equal pulls and I feel we worked well as a team, especially having never tried this before.

While nowhere near the top, I'm pleased with our time, considering the time spent off the bike for all 4 of us. Chip is still coming back from his shoulder injury, Mike G. has a hurt back, this was Micah's first race of any kind (great job and thanks for helping us out!), and I've been too busy eating Bon Bon's and picking lint out of my belly to ride.

Great job to the A team and we will do it again next year!

Assaulted by Mt. Mitchell

2008-09-23T16:22:00.007-04:00

This past weekend I rolled to Charlotte, North Carolina to visit my best bud and roommate/classmate from college and his wife and their two little ones. Jeff and Leslie are dear friends of mine and are always gracious, generous hosts for my pretty-much-annual trek southward to “hang”. In 2004, the three of us and two of their local friends went to France to visit friends and follow the TdF for “No. 6”. One of those friends, Nate, was the logistical mastermind for planning a good bit of the trip and finding the “double-secret-probation” route up the “other side” of Alpe d’Huez to ensure we had a great spot to experience the uphill TT.

Recently, Jeff, Nate and I talked about putting together a weekend riding trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway. As they are much more familiar with the territory, I left it in their capable hands to develop the itinerary. I arrived Thursday evening and my car was loaded with the three of us Friday as we headed to Asheville, NC. Somewhere along the way one of them mentions something about “when we do Mt. Mitchell on Saturday”.

Crap! Cool! Wait … they didn’t tell me that! I shoulda’ brung my 12 x 27! Shut up … you need the work Brown! It promised to be an excellent weekend.

We rolled into Asheville, where I had visited once briefly between stops of catching a stage of the old Tour du Pont and a Pink Floyd concert in Clemson. We found our urban abode, checked in and rolled out for a ride. The plan was to do an out-and-back loop up onto the Parkway and to the Biltmore for (hopefully) a lap around the grounds. A mile or so out of town and it was “up and away”. I haven’t done a lot of riding in the last month and even less climbing, so I knew it could get “interesting”. After about 24-25 miles of riding we arrived at the gate of the Biltmore, but the $47 admission fee was a little steep, so we settled for some espresso at the nearby Bux. Back on our steeds and to the hotel we went. At the end of day one, we had easily done a month’s worth of climbing (for me anyway) already. We cleaned up, headed out for Boddingtons (beer) and a great Italian dinner in downtown Asheville.

Downtown Asheville has a more “Euro” feel to it than Cincinnati for sure … lotsa’ little shops opening onto the topographically-varied streetscape, and some intimate little plazas. One of them hosts a nightly assemblage of street musicians … essentially a “drumming” that has become a tourist stop. I think I heard Jeff refer to Asheville as “the San Francisco of the east” … based on what I experienced I would concur. I was imagining how much Chip would enjoy the strains of the drumming and the scent of patchouli and clove cigarettes filling the air as we hung out for a bit to soak up the nightlife. ;)

The next morning we loaded up the V-Dub and headed for Marion, North Carolina. We had heard that a portion of the Parkway was closed to traffic, so we altered our route to Mt. Mitchell. “Luckily” (sarcasm) it made the climb tougher. Jeff has been racing 3’s for 20+ years and has done the “Assault on Mt. Mitchell” several times, and knew that Marion would be a good launch point. The race is 100+ miles and rolls thru this little burg before the 30-odd mile climb upwards. In short, the route leaves Marion and hits Route 80 after a handful of miles, then onto the Parkway, then Mt. Mitchell Park (Rte. 128) itself.

Route 80 is basically a bunch of switchbacks for about 12 miles. The last four miles leading up to the Blue Ridge Parkway are a steady 8-10 percent grade … probably the hardest stretch of the ride. The 11-mile stretch of the parkway traversed here is mostly uphill. First, a 4 mile section (passing through three tunnels), then a 2-mile descent, followed by a 3-mile climb. The climbs average about 6 percent, amping up to 8 percent in several spots. After turning off the parkway, the first two miles up Route 128 are stiff (8-10 percent). From the park entrance, the road nearly levels out before the final climb to the top. From the parkway to the summit is 4.7 miles.

Jeff later reminded me that we had ridden through a cloud right at the park entrance … my own memory temporarily hazed-over by my aching quads and back.

At the top, chill was setting into my sweat-soaked body and the kindly shopkeeper gave me a thick brown paper bag to put under my wind vest. The temps in Marion were probably in the low to mid 70’s and overcast, while the summit was breezy and maybe 60°. I began my teeth-chattering (and white-knuckled) descent. I’m not a huge fan of descending, but it is a fun drop … I’d be more comfortable if the road was closed!

Epic day.

8,000 vertical feet and 62 total miles later we are back at the WalMart in Marion and heading for Hound Ears. This reclusive hideaway near Boone, North Carolina is the location of the weekend/mountain house of a friend of Jeff’s, where we were to lodge for Saturday evening. Our hosts included the gracious owners, their daughter, another couple and the owner’s 90 year old grandmother who was the life of the party! As the only “Yankee”, I made an effort to be on my best behavior, although our hosts did have some familial ties to Ohio and Cincinnati (whew!).

Our dinner and evening including thick steaks, several bottles of red wine, southern bourbon and cigars out on the secluded deck were the reward for our wrecked legs. My legs have never been as tired after riding as that day. :)

Sunday morning we ventured out from Hound Ear’s, which is conveniently nestled at the bottom of about a 5 mile long climb up to the Parkway, similar in grade to Indian Hill, but mostly switchbacks. It’s a gorgeous area and is as nice a climb as anywhere. Onto the parkway we rolled for our “recovery ride” to Grandfather Mountain. Nate pointed out the engineering feat that was a portion of the Parkway we were on … cantilevered viaducts that “enhance” the notion of being up in the mountains and almost levitating. We rolled out about a total of 20 miles or so, then reversed back, actually riding “through” an organized “Bridge to Bridge” century that was routed along a portion of the Parkway.

Back to Hound Ears for cleanup and heading back to Charlotte … gotta’ stop for food! BARBEQUE! Nate scouted out a “shack” and we scarfed down some local fare whilst watching the “pre-game” of the last game at Yankee Stadium on ESPN. Sad to see the edifice go I suppose … sad that the trip was winding to an end.

Kudos to Jeff and Nate for their planning and camaraderie and to Charles et al in Hounds Ears for the ultimate in Southern hospitality.

Tour of Missouri :: Stage 6 Recap

2008-09-14T00:07:00.006-04:00

The Darkhorse reporter in the field covering the last two stages of the 2008 edition of the Tour of Missouri. One word, FANTASTIC! For several reasons, the KOM stage today, was a test of man versus weather, terrain, and more weather (ie. humidity that was BRUTAL).

FOR DARKHORSE RIDERS ONLY: THIS WAS A CHIP DOBSON CLIMB OF EPIC PROPORTIONS!!!

Laura and I met up with my best friend Mike to drive south into the foothills of Missouri in majestic wine country. The setting was perfect to test the mettle of the pros. The crowds were large, the energy and excitement of pro level racing was enjoyed by young and old, cyclist and non cyclist.

Admittedly, I am very star struck after today, I met Mari Holden, olympian and world champion cyclist. See photo of me completely dorking it out, smooth move...

In addition, I was able to stalk Christian Vande Velde afterwards for a photo op as well. Don't worry, no Darkhorse insignias were noted, so for the future, other team mates can approach the Slipstream boys.

On the back braking climb today, sporting my super stalker Garmin podium hat, screaming and yelling like a maniac, I was actually interviewed for a documentary piece about the U.S. domestic team showdown between Garmin and Columbia. Apparently others said I was very articulate and appeared to be knowledgeable, I shook like a leaf on the inside and thought I was a goon. Oh well, it was fun, nonetheless.

Photos:

- Top of the climb for Stage 6, look for Mark Cavendish, (green jersey), he hung in like a trooper to win the field sprint today!

- Spongebob extraordinaire, one of three great guys we chatted up all day on the climb, they were fantastic and so damn funny! Check out his blog! They have some great shots from the climb today as well as SpongeBob ripping up the hill!

- Me in reporter mode

- John Gatch (one of Cincy's best cyclists and part of the dynamic duo of TwoJohnsPodcast) and his pimp ass adidas shoes. John somehow finds time to beat up on everyone in town on a bike, then travel to work as a team rider liaison for the Tour of Missouri and the Tour de Georgia! (John, does this get me the ride in one of the team cars in tomorrow's final stage still???)

- Christian Vande Velde's TT rig, the one that was used in the Tour de France. Ridiculously LIGHT!!!!

- Me and Christian, total serious dorkface on my part.

- Me and Mari Holden, she is an amazing athlete and so nice to pose with the likes of me...

Sunflower Revolution

2008-09-09T11:16:00.003-04:00

Thought this was blog worthy:

I wanted to thank Mike More and his parents, who afforded Stephen Brown and I the opportunity to participate in the Sunflower Revoltion Ride on Sunday.

“The Sunflower Revolution bike ride celebrated its fifth anniversary Sept. 7 with new courses that begin at Riverside II Park in Milford and wind through Clermont County. It was a beautiful day with a touch of rain, which added to the sweet suffering that was endured. The ride, which raises funds for Parkinson’s disease research and wellness at The Neuroscience Institute at University Hospital and the University of Cincinnati, is presented by the Davis Phinney Foundation of Boulder, Colo., in partnership with the University Hospital Foundation. Phinney, a former Tour de France cyclist who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at age 40, will headline the event for the fifth straight year.”Cyclists can choose among routes of 100, 40 and 20 kilometers and of course we chose the 100k. By my estimation, around 150 cyclists were at the start line at 730am, ready to race…I mean ride the 100k charity race…I mean ride, complete with a timing clock and transponder chips. That’s right, a charity “ride” with a time clock and transponders…that leads me to the “challenge”, Mike proposed to me the night before…“Athletes entered in the 100K event can participate in the second annual Platinum Challenge, which offers a goal-setting opportunity. Those who cross the finish line in less than 2 hours, 45 minutes – an overall average of 22.5 mph -- will receive a platinum-level medal. Wayne Stetina, a three-time Olympian and five-time national champion, set the standard in 2007 with a time of 2:32:16. Cyclists who complete the 100K in less than 3 hours, 15 minutes will receive a gold medal, and those who finish in less than 4 hours will receive a silver. All remaining 100k finishers will receive a bronze medal.Leading cyclists entered in the 100K will be divided into starting corrals according to their qualifying times. To earn a position in the platinum-start corral, cyclists must have:• earned a platinum time of 2:45 in Sunflower Revolution IV• earned recognition as a CAT 1 or 2 cyclist• qualified at a Sunflower qualifying event• earned recognition as a Triathlon All-American by Inside Triathlon• received a special invitation”

Well, that’s all it took really…Mike and I had agreed that we’d shoot for the gold medal, which seemed like a pretty loafty goal, considering the lack of consistent riding we’ve both been doing.

Anyway, I wont bother you with a play-by-play of our 60 miles but I can say that it was one of the more enjoyable cycling challenges or rides that I’ve been a part of, in a very long time. The route and the people were great and considering the scope of the course, it was very well marked and marshalled by police and a host of volunteers.

For a race against the clock, the three of us busted our humps and did very well. Mike and I stayed with the main pack till about 20-25 miles-in (after the covered bridge dismount) and formed a six person group that worked hard to finish under the 2:45 Platinum time. The six of us barely made it, coming in at 2:35, averaging around 22.5 mph. Brown was riding like a champ and finished only a few minutes behind, earning the gold.

The food and after party was a lot of fun and I look forward to hopefully doing this great charity ride again next year. THANKS MIKE!

http://www.velonews.com/calendar/detail/79674

http://www.davisphinneyfoundation.org/

2008 Darkhorse Cyclo-Stampede UCI race course

2008-08-26T22:20:00.003-04:00

Let the Registration Begin...

2008-08-26T08:57:00.002-04:00

http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=7040

oh, so this takes practice?

2008-08-25T15:20:00.005-04:00

took the cx bike up to ault park yesterday to work out the fit and try my hand at a little dismount/remount practice. i thought i remembered how the dismount worked: unclip right, swing leg over and through, grab top tube with right hand, unclip left, land on light feet, and leap! piece of cake, right? so i get to my first dismount, and i unclip left, almost slip off the pedal, grab the top tube, then unclip right, and basically hurl myself over the side, coming to an almost complete stop facing the side of my bike.

smooth.

i got a little better after a few tries, although i found myself slipping to a cheater's dismount: unclip right, swing leg over but not through, leave both hands on the bars (forget the top tube), unclip left, and go. fewer steps to tax my aging brain, and i don't think it'll matter in the c races -- and i can use the c races to work on form, right? right?

the remount, if possible, was worse. of course, i was taking the dreaded stutter step. and for some reason, when i could eliminate the stutter-step, i was jumping way too hard to get back on, instead of simply taking a large step over the bike: step-step-step-jump-OOOFF! and the back tire would wiggle and squish and complain under the stress. after about two laps of the little soccer field up by the wednesday series course, i remounted so hard that i pinch-flatted my rear tire (which, in my defense, was squishy to start with. of course, that means that i didn't check tire pressure before leaving the house, so it's back to no defense at all).

i'm heading up to harbin on wednesday -- at least i'll provide some entertainment for the folks who know what they're doing.

Super Dan Ott...

2008-08-23T23:05:00.004-04:00

Ok, we all have to admit that Super Dan Ott is the man and he makes any picture that he's in look sweet (check out this pic on Velonews http://velonews.com/photo/62849), but the biggest reason that I am making this post is because the picture that Brett posted the other week really makes me uncomfortable...

BTW, its pretty ironic that we are caught in the exactly opposite order that we were continually trying to be in at Ault...

:::tinny out

Hour of Power

2008-08-08T18:56:00.003-04:00

Two days off the "hour" and I'm already regretting it. Matt Bell and Alex Hasse had a healthy serving of the heavies this morning. The awe inspiring kettlebells seemed to provide talking points far beyond the hour work out this morning. Shannon found the quote of the day, when he asked what kettlebells were. Silly Shannon, you will learn soon enough, I'm sure.

"Who trains with kettlebells? Hard comrades of all persuasions. "

Top 10 Rampage Highlights

2008-08-06T18:32:00.007-04:00

1. 7hills started this weekly east side romp, known as the Rampage in 2007...last nights seven hills attendance: 1
2. The Rampage is aka the Team Huntington Bank whoop ass ride
3. Riverbend traffic and cyclist=slow speeds and rubber necking
4. Darkhorse attendance: 2
5. Dave Matthews Band fans like the Tour de France
6. Attractive women like Dave Mathews
7. Dave Stewart is stupid fast
8. Sergio really does make "race car noises" while riding his bike
9. Shaonnon designated Brett as the honorary " sweeper for all hills longer than 20 meters
10. Mike Moore was seen stumbling into Riverbend shouting incoherent cheers for Darkhorse

Pur Tour: the same ol’ cup of water still satisfies

2008-08-05T12:09:00.001-04:00

The Pur Tour marks the winding down of the local racing season and in the heat of the summer, it’s always scorcher. With little to no warm-up area and a crab grass-dust bowl parking lot, it resembles what I imagine a circuit race in Saudi Arabia might look like (imagine Yakima mounted Camels). Shelter tents and umbrellas were prevalent and a vital component to pre and post race staging.

Shannon, Brown and I arrived with about an hour before the 3 race. Alex arrived shortly after, along with Chip, who came to cheer us all on. I managed a brief but adequate warm-up before lining up with about 30 others. The wind speeds were worth noting; a headwind at the finish, a strong tail wind from the North, pushing a fast pace down the back side of the course (reaching max speeds around 40 mph) and a stout cross wind that became a headwind as the course looped around to the hill and back to the finish line.

I thought I was ready for this race but as a newbie to CAT 3 races, I keep forgetting to take into account all the breakaway attempts and attacks. It really does change the whole dynamic of the race and it is contrary to what I’ve grown accustomed to. I think I need to tape a Post-It Note on my stem as a reminder; “someone’s going to attack” or maybe something like “attack early and attack often” or “be ready for a breakaway” or perhaps, ”suffer chasing or suffer breaking.”
Anyway, that about summed up the race for me. I was either in an ill-fated breakaway or chasing one…mostly chasing, unfortunately. We averaged 26 for the first couple of laps and the group stayed together. Around lap 3, Ryan Good was anxious to get a break started and being on the front when he attacked, I unexpectedly found myself in a break with him. For some reason, I remembered that old reality show, “You are the weakest link.” The break was short lived we were pulled back in. I was able to integrate back into the pack (surprisingly) without feeling totally spent. Despite the quick recovery, I was not feeling the same pop and zest in the legs that I did a few short weeks ago.
Shortly after the first break was reeled in, a second break of about 3 to 4 men escaped. I was in no shape to respond and I appeared to be in good company, as no one around me seemed capable of giving chase. As a result, the break slowly made time on the field and at one point was about 15 seconds in front and still well within striking range…that was the case until our pace suddenly became dangerously slow.
No one wanted to work to pull it in. There was the usually barking from the men in the rear about not chasing or whatever, but of course they wanted nothing to do with the work required to do so at the front. I suggested taking turns, pulling through at a decent pace in order to close the gap. I honestly don’t remember what was said next, but a Louisville guy told me to go…so what was a horse to do? I knew I’d never be able to bridge on my own but that maybe an attack might result in the rest of the field in chasing me (thus closing in the break). Well, I went as hard as I could for about 15 to 30 seconds and another rider went with me. I did not look back but I could sense that I had decent gap on the field but I was smack dab in the middle of no-mans-land. The plan sort-of-worked: the field reacted to my actions and caught us and the speed continued to stay brisk; thus putting some time on the break. When we came around the hill again, we could see the break. They were so stinking close. Only a few more collective efforts were required and we would have had them. The break dangled precariously out in front of us like that for the next several laps. Dayton had the largest numbers but from my point of view, were not able to orchestrate a solid effort. They were however able to bridge close enough to put a man in the break, which I suppose is worth applauding.
Once Team Dayton had secured its slot in the break, it seemed one of three things was transpiring back in the chase group…men were either dropping out, chasing, or bridging solo to the break. These solo bridges usually occurred on the hill and their efforts seemed Herculean.
I think all but two Team Dayton riders dropped out by this point (the remaining Dayton racer in the chase group was actually taking turns on the front, drilling it). A racer from Olympus Homes reminded him that he had a man in the break, but it didn’t seem to phase him (great team work).
By this point, the break consisted of seven men, all deservingly reaching the finish line before the chase group. They only paid out five deep and I wish I could have seen them finish. The chase group dwindled down to a hand full of us and on the last lap, on the hill the two remaining strongest riders attacked to take 8th and 9th place respectively. I duked it out with the remaining few men for 11th. It was an interesting race and I learned a lot. I hope to be more aggressive in the future to avoid being a spectator within the race. It really annoyed me to see the real race unfold in front of my eyes, mere seconds down the road.

PUR tour 2008 -- 4s

2008-08-04T09:39:00.007-04:00

PUR tour: one turn, one hill, long straightaway to the start/finish ... a simple course, right? Go hard, go fast, and see who's there at the end? Well, on Saturday the wind had other ideas, making this a far more tactical race than I would've thought possible. We lined up with 4 horsemen: Steve, Alex, Mike M., and me. Pre-race conversations focused on maybe getting Alex in the money (and outta the 4s) with a 1-2 punch in the finale -- one of us go on the hill, and when that person was (inevitably) brought back (since it's so far from the finish), lead Alex out hard.

The best-laid plans, right? First, three other teams had greater numbers and were in a much better position to determine the way the race went. Dayton mostly patrolled the front, but didn't seem willing to stick their noses out for very long; 7Hills did the same; and Anthem, as usual, kept sending one after another after another into the wind. Seemed like Anthem would alternate with one of the unattached guys in the race -- first one of the u/a guys would go, then an Anthem guy would go. We mostly hung tight, stayed out of the wind, when possible, and paid attention.

Mostly. With six to go, I wanted to move up in the field after the hill -- somehow I had gotten way to the back. I rolled up nice and easy on the left side, didn't see any places to jump back in, and suddenly found myself at the front -- at about 18 mph. What the heck? I thought -- I'm pretty fresh from sitting in. Let's see if we can animate this here race. So I picked it up a bit, and started drilling it, right about the time they rang the prime bell. I could almost hear the dogs start barking and drooling: someone to chase, AND beer at the end!!! Instead of sitting up like a smart guy, I decided to drill it to the turn and see what happened.

What happened was that no one came with me. On the backside, a couple Louisville guys came up, but the pack was hot on their tails, so we got nowhere. Oh well, at least Mairin didn't have to pick me out of a pack that lap.

Fast-forward about 5 more laps, 500 m to go: I'm where I want to be -- on Geoff Reynolds's wheel when he goes too early. I haven't had a chance to look behind me, but I'm hoping Alex is nearby. I follow Geoff, but it's taking more than it should to hold him, and when it comes time to go around, ppphhhhhttttt! nothin'. From the corner of my eye I see Mr. Steady Mike More roll in for a top-10 (go Mike!).

It was a fun race -- pretty sketchy, though: once people started learning where to be in the wind, they started doing whatever it took to get there. It got really narrow on the gutter in the staightaway as riders squeezed left, and then squeezed some more, and a few guys did the whole across-the-road swerve that scares the socks offa me.

Oh, and I have new pet peeve: guys who sit in the middle of the pack during a tactical race like this one, never go near the front, and complain that we're not racing. Loudly. Get on the front, boys.

Hour of Power

2008-07-31T11:49:00.003-04:00

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).

2008-07-22T16:49:00.004-04:00

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

2008-07-22T15:43:00.004-04:00

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

2008-07-19T20:09:00.003-04:00

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?

2008-07-10T22:25:00.004-04:00

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)

2008-07-09T23:23:00.006-04:00

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...

2008-07-08T09:24:00.003-04:00

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

Ault Park #5 (and Seattle)

2008-07-04T16:59:00.003-04:00

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.

Hyde Park Blast 2008 ... now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout!!!

2008-06-30T08:13:00.003-04:00

Cat 4 podium with Matt Bell (1st) and Alex Hasse (3rd).

Dan Ott getting nipped at the line to finish 4th in the Cat 3 race.

Blast Off

2008-06-29T16:03:00.004-04:00

The 2008 Hyde Park Blast presented by Darkhorse Racing-RPC Mechanical went off, in my opinion, without a hitch. Plenty of stress, sweat, blood, hunger, and work, but no hitches.

I got there with Ethan (my 7 year old) around 11am, counting on a little caffeine from Nick's promised Awakening's offering. Nick and Tank were already hard at work though, no time for coffee. The Red Bull girls came to my rescue and all was well with a quick shot of the sugar free variety please. Nose to the grindstone from then on, we worked solidly setting up the course with barricades, hay bales, and plenty of sweeping throughout. I came up for air for about 2 minutes to eat a pretzel and take 2 sips of a Smoothie King.

Next thing you know, the Cat. 5 race had begun. It went great, followed by the women. I was at the registration end of the course and realized I needed to get back to the square to help with the podium ( I offered to be a Podium Guy but remembered the Tour de France rules stipulate you must be single, oh well). As Ethan and I were running back, we were rebuked by a wall of water and hail stones and had to seek refuge on the steps of St. Mary School until it blew over. Blow over it did and we started back up with the kid's runs, bikes, and junior races with minimal interruption.

45 minutes before the Cat. 4 race was to go off, I realized that was me and figured it would be a great time to start getting ready and maybe eat a Clif bar. My warm up consisted of riding down the sidewalk from the Square to the registration area, not ideal. I got my heart rate up with a quick sprint to the Port O Let and got back in time for the pre-race instructions. We went off impressively close to on-time and I held on for dear life for 30 minutes.

I was at the back for most of the race, not the best place I know, but all I could muster considering my long day. There was the expected yo-yoing around the 180* turn at the square and I felt like I had to sprint every lap to catch up. There were about 5 laps where I had to close a 10 meter gap as riders started to lose contact with the front group. A rider had broken off the front earlier and had a pretty good gap on the field, I was debating whether to chase it down for my teammates when I noticed the pace car was back in front of our group again. I found out later he flatted, bad luck for him, good for us. The 5 laps to go sign finally came and I started to move up a few riders at a time each lap. Starting the last lap, I was near 10th wheel and as we came down Montieth, I swung wide and started the finishing straight in 8th with Matt Bell right on my wheel. I stood up to go way too early, probably 250m to go. I found myself at the front way too soon with that far to go so I started soft pedal/sprinting. I felt like 4-5 riders passed me, including Matt, so I reaccelerated, taking back a few spots to get 3rd overall. Even better, the lead out worked and Matt took the sprint, again showing he is in top form. We should both be in the 3's soon. 1st and 3rd was a great result for Darkhorse, made all the better by Matt's sweet looking podium.

Thanks to everyone who cheered, I heard people yelling my name all over the course, that was a great feeling and definitely helped!

The 3's and Pro 1-2 race also went off smoothly and we were busy tearing down the course till 11:30pm, when the final light was loaded into the back of the RPC trailer. Thanks to all who planned and helped and worked tirelessly to make it a great day, I'm sure Tank is glad it's over!

25 June 2008 /// Ault Park B Race

2008-06-26T16:35:00.005-04:00

I knew better and now I am kicking myself up this hill. Where is that ugly red and black duct tape line?

I don't care what I have to eat before a bike race, as long as it is oatmeal! It has been this way for years; probably beginning in '95 before a muddy Paoli Peaks XC race or maybe it was '01 after a good go at 'cross nats. Similar to stepping on the foul line of the ball diamond, or Sabo not having his shoes with fresh Krylon red paint, I knew I was risking a lot without my oatmeal. It is my mojo. And aside from the psychology of steel cut oats, physiologically, oatmeal has more merit. Racing hungry stinks. Racing on empty hurts.

And so, with a few laps to go, racing without the oats jinxed me. I got popped into the gutter. I hope it was an accident and "EN GARDE!" if it wasn't knucklehead! The 'cross skills came into play nicely as the Mavic's screamed. Aluminum on cement is a bad, bad sound. Cone created a clumsy bridge across the storm grate. One foot out and back in. Floored it to get out of the soup. Found myself too close to the front on the way down the hill. The usually suspects let off the gas and I felt it was time. Half-a$$ed gas from the bottom all the way up and it was enough to hold them off. Endorphins are good!

Ciao for now.

My apologies to The Hasse for the erratic race on my part. We will get them next week. With my oatmeal and without the gutter.

the_pale

Ault Park A’s #4

2008-06-26T15:00:00.001-04:00

It was just the three of us tonight; Chip, Nick, and I (Dan Ott was out and was sorely missed). After the usual safety speech from Bill, our very own Chip Dobson made a few announcements about the Hyde Park Blast (Sunday June 28th). After his standing-o’, Chip returned to his rightful place on the right side of Tinsler. The field was little thin but at least 35+ racers were lined-up; including all the really fast guys that I secretly wished would stay home. Our average was toasty 26 mph for the first 10 laps or so and by the end it was hovering just a tad over 25 mph. A break of 7+ men escaped early and unlike last week, I was a lot less nervous and was able to focus on the events as they unfolded. From my perspective the break went too early but no one was really making any effort on the front to pull it in. That is of course until I noticed the pace starting to ramp-up and saw Nick, on the front and leading out the entire field. Nice job! Thanks to Nick’s example, others followed and the break was eventually pulled in a lap or two later. Nick’s effort cost him though, as he tapped-out for the night (and returned to his rightful place on the right side of Stephen Brown.)

Throughout the race, there were several text book counter attacks, as breaks were pulled in. UC made some valiant efforts on the front, as well and should be commended. The “up hill” was a little sluggish at times and there seemed to be a slow and fast lane (left and right lanes, respectfully). Team Dayton had some large numbers but proved to be no match against the Goliath-like Huntington Squad, who continues to play this race like a fiddle. Tenacious-Dobson took a few turns on the front, showing some good fitness and did a good job staying near the front of the race. As for me, I need to do better of following his lead but it was fun just to finish.

Burnt Toast (Ault Park 4, A Race)

2008-06-26T11:26:00.007-04:00

This report will not take long as my participation in last night’s race was not a lengthily ordeal.

At the start line, I noticed that the field felt a little lean, like it was missing a few key players, although I couldn’t put my finger on any specific person that wasn’t there. I did notice that Huntington had a full squad there and Mike House was there as well. I knew that was not a good thing because the last time Mike House raced at Ault Park was several years ago and he lapped the field by himself. On the 3^rd or 4^th lap, the first brake got away. It had 5-6 people including House and Pete Bauer, so I know that was bad news, but I also knew that it was early and it would be difficult for any break to last an hour… be patient, Nick. Then a few laps later, a second break got away, also about 5-6 strong, including Eric Knight of Huntington Bank. Now things were ugly. Multiple folks were throwing half-hearted attempts at bringing back the breaks, but w/ little to no progress. I started to get a little nervous that we would be lapped, and the general demeanor w/i the pack was one of a wounded gazelle, just biding our time till we are put out of our misery. I hate that feeling. The sands of my patience hourglass ran out and I decided that I needed to either pull that break in myself (at least initiate some cooperation) or die trying. I got to the front on the back side and started ramping it up as though I was leading out a teammate. I drove well past my redline and pulled through the finish line w/ no one coming around to share the burden. I continued through the chicane and gently pulled off to the right to find a nice place to die – I was toast, burnt, crispy toast.

I rolled around a few laps only to find that the break(s) were brought back in, trying to take some solace in my effort somehow triggered that sequence of events. I am still sulking; hopefully I can focus that energy into the Blast this Saturday.

Ault Park #4 (B Race)

2008-06-25T22:12:00.003-04:00

My race was over before it began. At work, we escorted the Special Olympics Torch from Downtown to Springdale today, 32 miles in 4 hours in 95 degree heat. I had no legs tonight, the first time I tried to sprint on the middle lap, I was on Matt's wheel but just couldn't get anywhere. I was maybe in the top 25 (out of 25 :) I tried again 5 laps later on the 15th lap and got 3rd, good enough for 2 points. For the last lap, I got some great help from Shannon Smith (thanks!), who brought me toward the front, right next to Steven Hughes and Geoffrey Reynolds. As we reared up for the sprint, I noticed that guys were passing me right and left so I just sat up (safely) and limped in for the finish. Fortunately, Matt decided to show what he was made of and blasted off the front of the field and easily took 1st on the last lap, great job!

Ault Park#3, A race #1: aka Pack Fodder 2008

2008-06-24T15:53:00.001-04:00

Last Wednesday I gave the A race a try for the first time. I got to Ault early to warm-up with the guys in the B race and I was excited to watch and root from the sidelines. They had a strong representation with Alex, Matt, Brown, and Moore mixing things up. Alex scored enough points for the night to take second place overall. They showed some real team work out there and Matt Bell gave a strong lead-out on lap 5, rocketing Alex into 1st place.

By the time the A race started, I was a ball of nervous energy and couldn’t wait to get this thing over with. It started out fast and pretty much stayed that way. It wasn’t as smooth as I was promised either and there were countless gaps that would open, causing lots of surges (herkey-jerky) in the pack. Chip later concurred and said that he didn’t think that was typically how things play out. Anyway, I was feeling pretty gassed and praying for forty laps to feel more like twenty, but without much luck. I was also oblivious to all the usual questions: what lap, who’s in front, was there a break? What I like to call my “race situational awareness” was totally absent and my only concern was staying in the race.

And like an answered pray my rear tire blew on the back side of the course on lap 8(?). I hurried (walked) back to the start area, only to be berated by my many supporters (sarcasm). Alex shouted, “Check his tire…make sure it’s really flat” and Bill Lorenz just stared at me and said, “Aren’t you supposed to be in the 20K?”

Matt, who interrupted my sign language and incoherent mumblings, hurried across the course and gave me his wheel (funny back-story: his rear tire got a flat during warm-up and I gave him a tube…and he later lent me the same wheel/tube. Now that’s teamwork).Thanks Palerider!

I rejoined the group a lap or so later (on the sprint lap) and before I did, I was given strict orders by Bill not to contest the sprint. Right! No chance in Hades, I promised. I managed to reintegrate without any problems and eventually settled in. A couple times I tried to get behind Chip or Dan but that was ridiculously harder than I imagined and forget about getting in front of Dan, that man is strong. So strong in fact that I later learned Dan got into a break and stayed away for some points, while Chip made a valiant effort on the front, to slow things down. I on the other hand, had no idea what Chip was talking about a few laps later when he was telling me all about it.

That was pretty much the story of the race. I sat in and got a really good interval work out and about 10 minutes after the race, I rode to the back of the course (to pick-up my water bottle) and threw-up the entire contents of two water bottles and multiple sport gels. I only say this as a cautionary tale: hydrate the day before the race and several hours prior to the event, not the hour before.

Newmark

2008-06-23T11:32:00.001-04:00

With an hour and half to start time, the rain came down in sheets. I was already nervous about entering a 2/3 race on wet pavement and the field size was looking pretty slim. Some real talent had already registered and I was without any team mates. I also spent most of my warm-up time in the car, contemplating going home. But half way through the Women’s race, the weather let up and it stopped raining. The temperature must have dropped about 10 to 15 degrees though, and it was downright chilly. I managed a few warm-up laps and the stout winds the 4/5 race experienced, died down considerably.

During the warm up, I heard Ryan Vingris from Team Abundance talking to his other two team mates about instigating a break. He and another rider had big plans to get away, while the other rider was to sit-up and try to slow things down. Mmmm…

We’ll my hat is off to Ryan and his boy’s for a mission accomplished. From the start, the pace was “stupid fast”, as Dave Stewart use to say (speaking of Dave, he was the lone Huntington Bank Rider in the pack and it was fun racing with Dave, who is always friendly and a good sport). Anyway, I digress…when a large break of 7 riders escaped, our average was 26 mph. I was winded, but felt good and I was annoyed when the pace slowed down, as guys realized that just about every team had a guy in the break. For several laps the break was within view but they were slowly gaining time on us. Dave and another rider (sorry, don’t know his name, but have seem him around a lot at races) asked if I wanted to help launch some attacks, in an effort to either break things up a bit or perhaps pull the break in. This sounded interesting but by the time the plan was devised and implemented two laps later, everyone was well rested and our attacks were not fruitful. Altogether, it was fun changing-up my usual race tactics and working on the front a bit.

With two laps to go, Ryan and his team mate passed the field (impressive). There was quite a bit of grumbling regarding how to proceed, but everyone agreed to let them go…everyone but an Olympus rider that is, who seemed to like the idea of a free ride, as he attached himself to the break (Readers, I realize we were only sprinting for like 8th place here, but come on…I was so annoyed). I was later told with authority to “check the rule book” but whatever….

The ninth place finisher was about a bike length behind from catching Olympus, who took 8th. I managed a 13th place finish. I had a lot of fun and I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

Summer Solstice

2008-06-23T09:42:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the delay...here's the Summer Solstice Race Report (Saturday 6/14/08)

Well, I can’t say the weekend was a total loss but I had high hopes of racing all three days. Friday night’s race plans were prematurely cancelled by some serious candy in our nether regions. The rain started around 4pm on Friday and didn’t let up till almost 6pm. The radar wasn’t promising much of a break in the Wilmington area either. After much inner debate, I packed the car and headed up I-71, only to be thwarted by Friday night traffic. Doah! I turned around and went home.

Saturday’s weather was much better and several of us DH’s (Tank, Stephen, Goert, Moore, and myself) headed north for some bike racing. We arrived to find out that the previous evenings races were not cancelled and stayed fairly dry (Doah!). We also discovered that today’s course contained several miles of gravel that was recently laid in preparation for new black top (Doah!).

Kudo’s to the race officials, who likely heard all the grumbling and made a solid of effort to quickly re route the course. As a result, the finish line direction, feed zones, etc. were changed. The race was slightly delayed, which was kind of nice, as we were able to take are time getting ready. Instead of racing a 13 mile loop, an 8 mile (lollipop or circuit) loop was devised. On the last lap, the official would ring the bell and we would make a left back to the finish line. In other words we only passed the finish line once (at the end).

It was my first CAT 3 race and I kind of felt alone, as the rest of my team lined up behind me in the 4 race. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t regretting my decision to up-grade. All in all, we raced 8 laps for about 67 miles. Our average was a little over 24 mph. The pace was tolerable but the distance and heat were another story, entirely. The story for the day was hydration. I ran out of water almost immediately and relied on the feed zones, which were very dangerous and not worth the risk and effort required to snag a bottle of 90 degree water at 20 miles an hour. There was at least one crash that I’m aware in the feed zone and I heard of other mishaps in the 4’s, as well. On one lap, I was so determined to grab a bottle that I had to slow down to almost 10-15 miles an hour to get one. This was a big mistake, as the rest of the men kept riding along at 23miles, leaving me no choice but to produce a massive effort to get back on (one handed, juggling a bottle of water in one hand). A Saturn of Dayton rider gave me a swig of his water bottle.

There were a few attacks early on by Olympus Homes but then things calmed down considerably. Besides the feed zone crash, a man went down on the back side of the course, before the hill. The mishap occurred on the course’s fastest section; a moderate down hill with a roller and a soft “s” turn with a bit of gravel on the road. The racer apparently bumped another rider (a team mate of his) on the turn and went down. Luckily, no one else went down with him.

With 2 to 3 laps to go a three man break stayed away for the duration (Greg Cavanagh, Ryan Vingris and Kris Siatkowsky). Every one seemed content with the break and things were moderate for the rest of the day. There was one hill that took its toll, though. Every lap, I was grateful to have climbed it and with the pack. The hill was rather short and probably not that steep for a lot of guys, but the speed in which the pack climbed this thing took getting use to. I also think the right hand turn right before the climb was a factor. If you were not the first 15 guys through the turn you had to sprint to catch back-on and then…boom; the hill and then steady rollers for another quarter mile.

Anyway, with one lap to go, a solo break went with about 2 miles to go. It was an impressive solo effort by Cameron Jackson of Rgf Solutions that no one contested. I heard a few folks grumbling that this was a stupid move, but not really. He stayed away and finished fourth. Nice job. The pack was sprinting for 5th. I expected it to be harder to move to the front as the finish line approached, but found a strong wheel to get behind (Thanks Christopher Beck, Fed Ex) and tried to stay strong to the line. He finished 5th overall and 1st in the field sprint. I held on for 10th overall and 6th in the field sprint. Lots of room for improvement but I was happy with my results and even happier to get off the bike, where I was greeted by my team mates. All in all, I was sun burnt and dehydrated but it was a fun day.

Newmark Crashterium

2008-06-21T23:44:00.004-04:00

Seriously, how hard is it to ride in a straight line?

You couldn't ask for an easier course. 5 laps to go and someone goes somersaulting into the grass on a long straight away, unacceptable.

1 lap to go and I am where I want to be with about a 1/2 mile to go. About 3 or so riders in front of me, someone decides they don't know how to hold a line and down we go. Jim Dennedy of Abundance was right in front of me sliding on the pavement, I tried to go over him but he didn't make a very good ramp, so down I went. I rolled as best I could and then braced for the impact, sure enough a couple more riders slammed into me. I got up as fast as I could and tried to remount my bike. I couldn't even find it at first, it was like a scene from 'Saving Private Ryan' shot in colorful Spandex. Once I sifted through the carnage and figured out which heap was mine, the pack was long gone and I was holding my broken steed in one hand and Jim's broken collarbone in the other.

Ault Park #3 (B Race)

2008-06-19T21:23:00.002-04:00

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times (although it could have been much worse). Much of last night was a blur, so I will be as brief as possible. 4 of us started the B race, Steve Brown, Matt Bell, Mike More and myself. I stuck to my plan of only contesting the double points sprints, despite the yelling of Chip from the sideline, sorry coach ;) Due to the help and maneuvering of the DH men, I was able to come through 1st on the 10th lap.
I recovered for the next 9 laps and got ready for the finale. I was toward the back, I know, I know, and as we passed the chicane to start the bell lap, Geoff Reynolds and Harry Wicks got close and personal causing several of us to come to a stop. Of course, this is when the pace at the front was ramping up for the last hurrah. I got around the mess and had to make up ground on the whole field. I could see Mike More at the front doing an awesome job leading out the field, unfortunately I just wasn't in the field :) I basically had to do an 800 meter sprint to get toward the front and was nipped at the line to finish 5th, one spot out of the money. I received compliments from others on the teamwork of the Horsemen, you guys rocked! Matt was flying as well, I think he got points on 2 or 3 sprints, nice work!
I still ended up 3rd for the night so it could have gone much worse. Thanks for looking out for me throughout the race guys, I'll do a better job of staying toward the front next week.

Ault Park #3 (A race)

2008-06-19T00:12:00.001-04:00

What a beautiful night to race bikes! Cool temps (which meant I got to where my long sleeve skinsuit) and fast racing were on order for the night. With Chip and Brett by my side, we started the race with the same plan as always, go for the sprints when you feel good enough and help each other out whenever possible. I can't even remember at this point which sprints I tried to contest, but managed a 3rd or 4th on a non-double lap. After the 10 laps to go sprint (which I did not contest), I found myself near the front and passing everyone and then having a pretty good gap. I looked back a few times and then thought, what the heck! So I put my head down and the gap started growing. After a few laps by myself, a Turner rider (Neal?) bridged up to me to help the effort. So on the 5 laps to go sprint, I was able to come across the line first. We then continued to work to try to stay away, but I knew there was no way Huntington was going to allow us to stay away and steal those precious double points for the final sprint. Sure enough, with 2 to go, we were caught. I tried to jump on the right wheels to position for the sprint. I managed to get onto Eric's wheel initially, but by the time we rounded the final turn, I was maybe sitting eigth wheel and just didn't have the legs to contest.
It was a fun night of racing and having my family there to watch Daddy "winning" the race for a few laps ;) Brett did a great job in his first A race and even tried to get me to the front early on, but blew a tire right after I got on his wheel. He grabbed a new wheel and remained in the fight til the end. Chip was steady eddie and tried to do some blocking while I was out front. Thanks guys, I totally appreciate your sacrifices!

Ault Park Blast

2008-06-17T14:57:00.000-04:00

“Confidence is the most important single factor in this game, and no matter how great your natural talent, there is only one way to obtain and sustain it: work.” Jack Nicklaus.

I can honestly say I thought this day might never come; my final B-Race. The thought of moving-up and far from the comfy confines of the B’s was not always an inevitable notion but yet always a scary one. Just last week, a rider from a team that will remain nameless called me a “sandbagger.” I have to admit, this is a word I do not identify well with. Excelling at sports has never been an easy task. I think one of the reasons I like cycling so much is that it there are no balls to throw or catch and certainly words like “athlete” are not commonly used.

When I started racing several years ago, Ault Park was a very difficult race for me and it certainly continues to be a challenge. Physically, the speed and endurance required to finishing this or any race is painful, but the hardest part about racing (at Ault) was putting my fears aside. My fear of crashing continues to be something that has to be put far-far away and in place that my “confidence” can not find.

I clearly remember my second Ault Park race. I spent the majority of my 20 laps at the back of the pack, scanning the field for signs of a wobble or a crossed wheel; wondering if I was going to be a victim or perpetrator of an accident. This essentially nullified my competitiveness spirit and relegated me to the back, were I quickly became nothing more than an idle observer; a passenger. I don’t know when it clicked for me (it may have been a slow process that is still evolving) but I think less about this. It’s important to place fear to the side, otherwise there’s no place for confidence.

Bike racing for me is the most exciting thing that I can possibly imagine. I love the discipline and focus it requires; to become a master of your thoughts and to enslave the voice in your head that tells you to quite. Racing is a gift. It is all together beautiful, dangerous, and thrilling to me. As silly as this sounds, it provides me with a larger framework for community and friendships.

Well, I know this is overly sentimental and painfully self-aware but I wanted to take a moment to contemplate what this race has meant to me and will continue to mean to me. My father, who was eternally absent from my soccer and little league games as a child, attends almost ever Wednesday night in June, and even though every week he needs a quick tutorial on when the point laps are, he enjoys watching. For as many reasons as there may be to move to the A’s, there were likely twice as many to stay in the B’s. Foremost on this list was that I was having fun. I’m thankful for the opportunity the B’s afforded me to grow in my confidence. It took me several years to finally feel just the slightest bit confident in this event. There’s often a lot of negativity surrounding the B-Race but I loved every minute of it. Although the B Race will always be the little brother to the much longer and arguably steadier A Race, there’s no shame in the fun and challenge offered by this event.

So here’s to seeing every finish line as the next starting point. BB

Ault Park #2

2008-06-12T23:53:00.004-04:00

I arrived at Ault Park Wednesday a little nervous for a couple of reasons. I hadn't ridden in almost a week and I hurt my knee running in a triathlon relay on Sunday ( we still came in 1st in the relay (out of 1) :) My legs felt a little hollow warming up, I was pretty tired from riding all day at work in the 90+ degree heat. Anyway, the B race started and I immediately gave up on my goal of contesting the first sprint. Luckily, Matt and Brett sped to victory, taking 1-2 on lap 5. I worked to make sure I was in good position for the middle sprint, and with help from my DH brethren, I was able to pass Geoffrey Reynolds (now with Team Dayton) at the line for 1st on the double point sprint.
I recovered for basically the next 9 laps and was still toward the back as we approached the end. I could see Matt and Brett ripping it at the front and was able to hitch a ride up to them for the finale. As we rounded the bottom, Matt came toward the outside and I rode his leadout as long as I could. When I came around, I had to slow for second as a rider from a team who doesn't need to be mentioned had died and was weaving all over the road. This stall was enough for Steve Hughes to get a good jump, taking 1st in the sprint, with me right behind for 2nd. I ended up tied with him for 1st for the night, moving into 2nd for the series.
Another good night thanks to my Darkhorse teammates, Matt, Brett, Tank, and Steve.

Hyde Park Blast Exposure

2008-06-12T14:33:00.002-04:00

Our man Tank in action!

2008-06-08T20:17:00.002-04:00

The ever eternal optimitic, Nick Tinsler. Looking good, buddy.

Friend or Fred

2008-06-06T08:47:00.005-04:00

During my daily fix of coffee and cycling webfodder, I came across this very interesting post over www.belgiumkneewarmers.com about the rights of passage of cycling.

"We’re not cool. None of us are hip. We are, however, a brethren with a respect for each other paid each time we follow a wheel, each time we tell the story of another rider’s attack that sent us into debt. Suffering, in the end, is the thing that unites us, the grand equals sign that differentiates the accepted from the stranger. Suffering and surviving is our rite of passage."

Check it out at www.belgiumkneewarmers.com

Ride Cincinnati

2008-06-04T18:05:00.005-04:00

Tank, our sponsor John Lowe from RPC Mechanical, and myself participated in the Ride Cincinnati cycling event to raise funds for breast cancer research in the Greater Cincinnati area this past Sunday. Completing the 63 mile journey along NKY's Rte. 8 was a joy ... especially behind the beastly pulls of Tank. Thanks buddy!