Loup Garou Adventures

Tour of America's Dairyland Day 1

2011-06-18T23:05:00.000-05:00

Since I didn't get into Leadville this year, I wanted to do an exciting bike race. What could possibly be more exciting than doing 10 straight days of road racing in Wisconsin at the Tour of America's Dairyland? Eight criteriums, one road race, and one time trial. The answer to that resounding question is NOTHING.

I opted to enter the Masters 3/4 field for the entire 10 races. One reason for this decision is that the fields can be as large as 120 riders whereas the Men's 4/5 is limited to 75 riders. You may be asking, does that really make a difference? If you are an adrenaline junkie such as myself, you betcha. Nothing taxes the adrenal gland more than rider wheel to wheel and shoulder to shoulder with other riders at speeds of 25-40 mph on two wheels.

The first of ten races was in the town of Thiensville Wisconsin, a suburb on the northern side of Milwaukee. This course featured six turns, with turns three and four being very short and narrow which made it very technical. There road between turns four and five featured a false flat, with turn six leading into a small downhill to the start/finish.

There were seventy-two riders who lined up for the masters 3/4 race. Once the whistle the race was off to a very quick start which didn't seem to let up. There were some riders who wouldn't hold their lines in the turns and almost made it ugly for a number of riders. Thankfully though everyone kept the rubber side down for this race.

Knowing that there were mostly cat 3 riders in this race, my plan was a simple one. Stay with the pack, second plan was to stay near the front. Halfway through the race four riders broke away from the pack. One of the riders belonged to a team that had 10 riders in the race. That team knew they had to shut down any attempts at bringing the breakaway back, and they did an excellent job of it too. Any time riders would get to the front and begin a hard charge, up from both sides of the field this team would come to the front and shut it down. There was no way we were going to bring them back.

With five laps to go I worked on moving myself up in the pack. Three laps to go and I was in the top 20. Two laps to go everyone was jockeying for position and the pace was extremely high. I pulled from dead inside myself to hang on. People were doing some stupid and dangerous stuff; I was just hoping they wouldn't take anyone out. I didn't have much coming into the finish but I had a respectable finish in my book.

A major goal has been accomplished, I finished with the pack. 47th overall and 23rd in the 35+ age group. I'm definitely looking forward to the next races to see what I can pull off.

It's been a rough year so far with 2 crashes, one of them bad enough to ruin my brand new bike three hours after picking it up. I've been dealing with some serious mental issues about crashing too, which I think I'm almost over. This has made me overly cautious in the pack, especially when riders do stupid stuff. I may go into more detail about that at a later date.

So far, the Tour of America's Dairyland is a great race series to participate in.

Melon City Criterium

2011-05-29T20:02:00.002-05:00

I awoke this morning to some really bad weather at 6AM in Iowa City. A quick look on the radar and it showed a large system moving toward Muscatine Iowa, home of the Melon City Criterium. I really didn't want to race that course in the rain and was very tempted to not even head out there. However, I am glad I did.

I arrived in plenty of time for my race, which was to go off at 1:30. Due to the bad storm that blew through with 70MPH winds and hail, they had stopped one of the races and sought shelter. I arrived just as the women 2/3 race was being restarted. The announcers were announcing that all the races were starting 2 hours later than scheduled. At least the forecast was calling for the sun to make an appearance and the temps to slowly rise. So, now I had 4 hours to wait until race time. I should have gone to get something to eat, but I didn't think of that until just short of start time for my race.

I pulled out the rollers and rode those for a little over an hour to get my legs warmed up. Then it was off to ride laps in between races and ride through the "wonderfully" paved streets of Muscatine.
Time for my race was fast approaching and I was feeling like I could pull off a pack finish this time. The course is an oval shape with one left hand turn and one right hand 110 degree turn. The real challenging part of this race is the downhill, where at the bottom of the hill there is a 25 MPH speed bump across the road. Then it's up a long hard hill that doesn't appear that way.

Anywho, on to the race. 72 riders lined up, I had good start positioning by being in the second row. I'm feeling good about this. Then we were off, with the typical people having problems clipping in riding all over the road, at a fast pace.

Once we started approaching the speed bump, which never bothered me before, I became too aware of the riders around me and my nerves were reeking havoc with my mind. For the next few laps I would gradually pull back on the descent to give myself plenty of room behind the riders in front of me. Then I would hammer on the pedals going up the hill to catch back on. This is not a good strategy for someone, like myself, who is not overly strong at closing gaps. Around 8 out of a total of 14 laps, I was popped off the back.

Now my plan is to just ride my ride and use this for training. With 3 laps to go, and the pack only a half lap ahead of me, they were pulling riders. I was one of them. This just wasn't making me happy. Oh well, that's bike racing right?

There really is no excuse for myself. I just sucked. My mind is still playing games with me and I can't figure it out. I have already been in 2 accidents this year and one of them pretty bad. In my mind I'm not wanting to feel pavement tear my flesh off and I'm riding overly defensively. In the heat of the moment my mind keeps saying, "It's just not worth it, pull back." In the past I never had this problem and I can't understand why it is happening to me now. I guess it will just take time for it to pass. In the interim, I just need to work on getting stronger so I can pull away from all the sketchiness.

Final result was 40 out of 72. Tomorrow's race in Rock Island, Il is going to be pancake flat and fast. My nerves are already getting rattled. Wish me luck.

Snake Alley

2011-05-28T22:45:00.000-05:00

Snake Alley. To some, these two words evoke thoughts of sheer pain and torture. For the last 29 years Burlington Iowa has had a criterium that has gone up the famed Snake Alley, a 21 degree grade serpentine road that traverses one city block. A race that attracts several thousand cyclist from all over the Midwest.

Two years ago I had attempted this race. Just from the sheer popularity of the race, and wanting to see the famed street first hand, I wanted to go. It killed me, I wanted to die when I was finished, but I also wanted to do it again. Due to unforeseen circumstances last year I was unable to attend, but that was quickly remedied and I was ready to go this year.

I arrived mid morning ready to get a good warm up and ready myself for the adventure. The sky was heavily overcast with a good chance of rain. Nothing was going to deter me from racing. Looking up the hill it seemed steeper than what I remembered. Even the 8 degree block climb into the entrance of the snake seemed steeper too. This wasn't going to rattle me.

Due to a slight accident earlier in the season, my training had gone temporarily off track and I wasn't sure I'd be ready for this race. I grabbed my rollers and headed over to the entrance to the alley and started warming up. After an hour and a half I put the rollers away and rode the hill several times in between the races before my race.

Sixty-nine of us lined up for the race, and I was in the back half of this group and was hoping I could pick my way through this group and finish somewhere in the top half. We were off and it was a fast pace from the get go. We hit the alley and someone had gone down right in the middle of the path which caused a log jam of riders. People were running with their bikes, several chain sucks happened too. I was able to get back on the bike almost immediately after getting past the carnage. On the last switchback I had chain suckage. I jumped off the bike, fixed the chain, and cyclocrossed it to the top and got back on.

Not to be completely deterred, my plan was to catch up to riders on the down hill section, being fat has it's advantages of making you go downhill without having to do much work. It was working. I'd suck wheel through the start/finish and overtake riders on the alley. Slowly, I was moving my way up.
Six laps to go and I started picking up the pace and implementing phase two of my strategy, which started pulling more riders into my sights and behind. Then with 4 laps to go I start hearing the officials whistle at the start/finish. Everyone was getting pulled. Well, not everyone, just everyone except 25 rider, of which I wasn't a part of. It seems that the leader took a flyer off the front and was 3/4 a lap ahead of the main field which wasn't too far ahead of us. To make scoring easy, we were getting pulled.

At first I thought it was because we could hear thunder, but no. Then the skies let lose. As fast and technical as the backside is, I think I got real lucky. The gods must have figured I had crashed enough this year and they had me pulled instead of racing down that slippery stretch of road.
When all was said and done, I ended up 32 out of 69. My legs were feeling incredible and I could have easily gone up the alley 4 more times. Too bad I didn't have the chance.

Tomorrow is the Melon City Crit, which will be another fun race. There is a speed bump we get to race over at the bottom of the hill. I'm hoping for good things again tomorrow.

Apocalyptic Showdown

2011-05-23T10:08:00.003-05:00

With the Apocalypse looming over us this past weekend, I decided to spend it racing bicycles. What better way to go than doing what one enjoys?

This was the weekend of the Flatwater Cycling Weekend in Lincoln Nebraska. The race weekend consisted to one criterium and one rather hilly circuit race (hilly for Lincoln, NE). Since Bike Pedalers brought this weekend back a couple years ago, I have looked forward to doing these races.

Saturday's race, located on the south side of the capital building, is a flat and technical course with eight turns; not to mention some parts of the road are a little lumpy, sort of like mini speed bumps. My choice for this race was to register for both the Masters and Cat 4 race. I had an hour between races and figured that would be enough recovery time. The Masters race started off at 9:30 with a decent size field with some really strong riders. The pace was high for the entire race and I was feeling really good and very happy that I was staying with the pack. There weren't any real attacks, but riders definitely picked up the pace down the start finish stretch and I was able to keep in the mix.

With seven laps to go and no more free laps I felt I could definitely stay with the pack to the finish. Right after coming out of turn 3, a rider in front of me went down. Having nowhere to go, I just rode into his tumbling body and bike and proceeded to flip over my handlebars. The pack was gone, my elbow swelling and bleeding, and no more free laps. I was done. DNF. I just couldn't understand why this happened to me or is happening to me this year. To say it is frustrating really undermines how I truly feel. That's bike racing though. At least the bike was in good shape. Just a few small cosmetic nicks is all and a swollen and scraped elbow.

So, now it was time to cool my already hot head and get ready for the next race which was at 11:15. 30+ riders lined up and we were off. About 10 minutes in, coming out of turn 4, a rider turned into my line in front of me and rubbed my front wheel with his rear. Thankfully, we stayed upright. This sent my psyche and nerves into overdrive. I'm really sick of crashing this year, so I slowly made myself toward the back where I could put a little extra distance between me and everyone else. At this point, I just wanted to finish the race, but being at the back was going to cost me too.

I decided at this point to just ride hard and use this as training. With about 18 minutes left in the race, I popped off the back. Was I upset? Not really, I knew I was going to finish the race and without the loss of skin or carbon fiber. Ended up in 18th place. My brain was definitely in overdrive and I just couldn't be happy with anything. All I needed to do was go to bed and get the whole day behind me.

Sunday the race was out at Pioneers Park. Since there was only 30 minutes between the Masters and the 4's race, I elected to just do the 4's. There is a nice long climb to the finish and a long false flat on the front half. My legs definitely wouldn't have been able to do two races with little to no recovery in between.

So we lined up and were off at 9:30. I had gotten a good warm up, so my legs were feeling very good this day. First lap felt wonderful and my legs were definitely up to the task. As we came around the buffalo, a rider cut Mike Miles's line and almost took him out right next to me. My nerves spiked a little bit, but nothing I couldn't shunt to the back of my mind. Then about halfway up the false flat, I was riding on the inside at the edge of the road.

Here is where my brain gets a little fuzzy. I'm not sure if someone was actually moving over into my line or just moved slightly and my brain thought they were going to cross into my wheel. I wound up riding off of the road into the grass. I kept upright and was waiting until the pack cleared before attempting to get back on. Could I have ridding back onto the road and still been in the pack? Probably, but that is a stupid and dangerous move and not worth it.

Once the pack cleared I got back on the road and tried to catch back on, but it was a headwind and I just didn't have the legs to get back into the pack. Once again I decided to just make this a training ride. I wasn't too happy with the situation but that is bike racing and these things happen.

Overall, it was a great weekend of ~~racing~~ training for me. Next weekend is Snake Alley weekend in Iowa, hopefully I will be over the psychological issues. Either I'm paying off some seriously bad karma at an alarming rate or I'm getting all the crashing out of the way at the beginning of the season. I'm looking forward to writing a race report that has me finishing with the pack.

Weekend in Pictures

2011-05-17T06:23:00.001-05:00

Flying in to Harrisburg International airport getting my recommended dose of radiation from TMI. For those of you young ones, this is what the movie China Syndrome was loosely based upon.

Just outside of Reading beginning my ride to Hershey. It was overcast but the temps were low 60's, perfect. The area is covered in trees and the winds are usually below 10mph, something unheard of in Nebraska.

One of the many old churches and cemeteries dotting the landscape. I think this was outside of Stouchsburg.

Just outside of Hershey Park. Can't tell you how many days / weekends I spent here. Great times.

Entering the famous Chocolate World.

A place of wonders and joy. There is a ride in here which will take you on a tour of the history of chocolate and Hershey.

Once inside, they even have a huge gift shop where you can get almost anything Hershey. Even large quantities of your favorite sweets.

Next it was over to the park itself.

The hotel Hershey where you can get a spa treatment all in chocolate. I kid you not.

Next it was time to refuel and get back to my starting point. No, I didn't refuel with chocolate.

While refueling, there was an equestrian show going on in Quentin.

I bet there is some sweet single track in those tree covered hills.

Next it was time for a car tour of my old haunts. Here is the house we lived in for some time.

My old high school. Still looks as grungy as ever. You would think they would have cleaned it up after twenty-four years. I discovered they did remove the planetarium. What a shame.

This used to be where the movie theatres were, where I watched Rocky Horror Picture show for many, many years. Now it's a food court, so sad.

One of the old shit hole apartments I used to live in. Yep, looks exactly the same and still looks shitty.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show reunion. Everyone enjoying a shot of the old time favorite Peach Schnapps. God that stuff was hideous back then too.

The whole group picture. Some people didn't show up until later and some had to leave early. One day everyone will be in a picture.

Our one finger salute goodbye until the next reunion. I had a great time and hope to make it back there again soon.

Long and Winding Road

2011-05-16T07:04:00.001-05:00

I'm putting up two separate posts, if you want to know about my race in Pennsylvania, then go here, otherwise the rest of this post is about the emotional journey I went on this weekend.

Back in my youth, I was in a dark place I never thought I would get out. In a way, I was the "tragically misunderstood" teenager who couldn't find their place. One night I went to see Rocky Horror Picture Show. Little did I know how this movie would effect my life.

Within a couple weeks of going I had found my niche. These people were like me. A love of theatre, a love of cinema, and most important a love of self. We were a band of misfits just looking for our place in the world.

Every Friday and Saturday we would spend walking the mall until it closed. After which we would park our cars out in front of the theatre until the movie started at midnight. Some of us who would act in the show, myself included, would don our makeup, get into costume and prepare ourselves to bring an experience to others.

You can watch Rocky Horror Picture Show in the comfort of your home now; unfortunately, you cannot appreciate nor understand it unless you "experience" it.

As soon as the movie was over we would invade one of the numerous Bob's Big Boy restaurants. Hours on end would be spent pontificating on everything from who had a crush on who, the latest cinema, novels, poetry, philosophy, and everything life could throw at us.

This weekend, I traveled back to Pennsylvania to see people I haven't seen in over 20 years. The moment I arrived at the location of the reunion, I was flooded with emotions. We talked about our lives as they are today and we talked about our lives back then. It was becoming extremely difficult for me to keep from breaking down. I really missed these people, more than I could ever put into words.

The memories were coming over me in waves. I would love to share them with others, but it would be meaningless. These were memories that I shared with these people, the laughs, the cries, the craziness. That is ours and no one else's and it will forever remain that.

I wanted to go back to that time in my life and do it all over again. Back to a time when we were invincible; where there was no internet or cell phones; back to when seeing a movie at midnight was an experience.

It will never happen, I know that. Even though the old theatre has been torn down and replaced with a food court, I will remember it the way it was. Even though Bob's Big Boy is no longer around, I will remember spending the early morning hours there eating and talking.

These people weren't just friends, they were family and they will always be that to me until the day I die. We looked out for each other in good times, bad times, and the times in between.

I will post some pictures up tomorrow.

Reliving the past

2011-05-14T10:44:00.001-05:00

Thursday morning I headed out to Pennsylvania, my old stomping grounds. The purpose of my visit is to catch up with old friends I haven't seen in over 20 years. I'm really not sure they will recognize me or I them, but it's bound to be fun. There will be many things talked about, however, they will go no farther than there. Only the chosen few will know what I used to be like.

So I packed up my bike and other sundries and began my journey. Unfortunately, pictures can't be uploaded from the iPad and you will have to wait until I get back home to see them.

Only hiccup in the trip was an hour delay at O'Hare airport because they needed to change a light bulb in the plane. It seems totally ridiculous, but I wasn't too upset since it was only an hour.

Once I arrived in Harrisburg, I headed out to my friend Amanda's house in Shillington, a part of Reading. I put my bike together and we headed out to Your Place Restaurant where I have been craving one of their famous strombolis for the last 20 years. I wasn't disappointed, it was as awesome as I remembered it.

I got up Friday morning and had planned to ride out to Hershey and see the park I spent numerous summer days riding the rides. It was definitely a stroll down memory lane when I got there.

Once arriving in Hershey, the air was filled with the smell of chocolate from the factory. It was to die for. After spending about an hour riding around the place I headed back to Shillington. Pennsylvania doesn't have rollers, their hills are long and gradual. Not sure what I think of that, but the scenery was wonderful. I didn't have a odometer on my bike, so when I got back I mapped it out and ended up with a 93 mile ride for the morning. If I would have known that then I would have ridden 7 more miles to get a full century in. Oh well, I was planning on doing a race on Saturday, which I will talk about my next post. Bike riding in PA appears to be very bike friendly. Not once did anyone yell, honk, throw drinks, or try to run me off the road.

The rest of the day was spent driving around my old stomping grounds starting with the house we lived in, then to the school I graduated from. Everywhere I looked the trees were much larger. Then it was over to the mall where I used to rat around. I spent the entire time with my jaw on the ground. The movie theatre where we hung out was gutted out and turned into a food court. The Bob's Big Boy we hung out at after Rocky Horror Picture Show was gone. They went out of business. An apartment I used to live in was still the same shit hole I remember, but I had great times there.

It's just amazing how things change in 20 years. Since this post is getting novel in size, I will leave it for now. One other thing, I love the old houses out here, they are the old colonial style which send you back in time. Until the next post.

A Bajillion Feet of Climbing

2011-05-09T18:56:00.000-05:00

Four years ago I attempted my second ever mountain bike race, which so happened to be the Platte River Battle Royale 6 hour marathon. At that time I completed three laps in just under four hours and crashed 25 times.

Flash forward four years and I'm doing the three hour marathon at the same venue. This time I completed 4 laps in approximately 2.5 hours without crashing. I was amazed that I stayed upright the whole time. There were a couple of close calls but I recovered with grace. When it came to the rock garden I took no chances and walked through it. Something about sharp pointy rocks piercing flesh just makes me not wanting to take chances.

Halfway through my fourth lap, the Cat 1 racers were coming up on me. Wanting to not get in the way of their race, I pulled over to let them pass. Doing this required me to unclip and dismount my bike. This was not a good thing. The moment I did that my legs cramped up something fierce. I'm standing in a thicket of weeds, hoping to whatever god there may be that it wasn't poison something, stretching my legs while the other riders pass. After they get by I get back on the bike and the cramping just wouldn't go away. By the time I completed the lap, I was told I had about 25 minutes to decide on whether starting one more lap or not.

Knowing that my judgement and coordination go out the window when I'm that spent, I decided to quite while I was ahead. I can say I have tamed Platte River and ridden it without crashing. If one ever wants to get some hill work in I would suggest going out and ride Platte River. Ended up 22nd out of 30 something.

It was a great race and I look forward to doing it again next year. Though mountain biking is a bottom priority for me, I have a blast every time. My teammates Ian Robertson, Jason Brummels, Scott Mongeon, and Sean Craig also raced like gangbusters too.

Sunday I went out what I was hoping to be a nice recovery ride but soon turned out to be more hilly and windy than I wanted, but it's all good training. Cyclocross is just around the corner.

Minus 2

2011-01-12T09:56:00.003-06:00

Ok, I was going to do a Biggest Loser update, but I will either do that later today or tomorrow morning. It was a good show last night if you didn't see it. Instead I'm going to talk about my ride in to work.

It was cold this morning. Today's ride is now the coldest ride I have had to date. There are people who have ridden in even colder temps and I'm planning on keeping it up and joining those people. Not sure what my limit will be, but there has to be a limit, right?

I really need to get some cold weather specific shoes, these Bontrager RXL's with Pearl Izumi shoe covers and wool socks are not cutting it in these temperatures; I feel like I have no toes by the time I reach work. I'm planning on cutting up some cereal boxes tonight and put them in the bottom of my shoes.

For the last 2 months I've been trying to get a pair of the SIDI Diablo's, but they have been sold out of my size and they are saying they are now to be available January 31. If the temps keep dropping, I will have frost bite by then. So, I may have to look into the Pearl Izumi Barrier GTX shoes. Sometimes you can't just wait and I'm tired of waiting. I just hope the GTX shoes aren't sold out in my size and that they work in keeping my feet warm.

I'm also looking for a way to keep my ski goggles from fogging up in this weather. They only seem to fog when the temp is below 10. Yesterday and this morning I only had a pinpoint spot that I could look out clearly. Anyone out there have any suggestions?

A little fun in the snow.

2011-01-10T09:26:00.001-06:00

As a child, I enjoyed playing in the snow. Going out to have a snowball fight or ride the sled on the local monster hill created great memories. As an adult I have looked for ways to relive that fun to no avail. I hate the cold, especially if there isn't any snow on the ground.

However, this morning I have rediscovered those lost feelings of youth and playing in the snow.

Last night, in anticipation of riding in the snow this morning, I put the Nokian Hakkapeliitta tires on my cross bike. This was going to be my first full on bicycle ride in the snow.

This morning I awoke to 4 inches of fresh powder on the ground and still more coming down. Normally, I leave the house around 6:45 so I can be at work by 7:30. This time I left at 6:30 with the idea that it will take me a little longer than normal to get to work. It only took me 15 minutes longer than normal.

There were a few treacherous parts, like the street I live on. The city won't plow this street until after Wednesday; I think it is literally the last street to get plowed. So, everyone who had driven on the road had packed the snow and created ruts which one cannot see under all the new snow fall. Riding the quarter mile stretch of it was akin to being a human pachinko ball, thankfully I stayed upright.

Once I got on the trail system it was smooth sailing. There was no packed snow or hidden ice pockets to send you jerking to the side. The studded tires performed admirably in their duty of giving me traction.

The snow was still coming down this morning. The reflections of the snow fall in my bike light was incredible, to say the least.

This is supposed to be my recovery week and I definitely did not ride easy this morning, but it was worth it. If you want a great resistance workout, go ride in the snow.

We are supposed to get a couple inches more of snow today and am looking forward to more fun riding home from work and riding again tomorrow.

Training Peaks

2011-01-06T13:34:00.002-06:00

Looking for a one stop solution to training for any sport is a difficult task at best. In the past the usual solution would be to pay an overpriced coach to develop a yearly plan for you, or you just did what you felt you should do based from what you read in a book.

Over the last few years I have been using Training Peaks. The people there have finally created the solution for the budget conscious athlete. Now you can monitor almost everything you need to do to excel at the sport you are wanting to participate in. You can:

Track exercise, nutrition, weight, stress, and more.
Upload heart rate, power meter, and GPS workouts.
Plan and schedule your own exercise and meals.
Monitor your fitness and health over time.

You can create your training plan with a few simple clicks. Then it's just a matter of creating and scheduling your workouts. If you don't know what workouts you should do, the Virtual Coach feature will generate suggested workouts for you. You can save workouts you like or create your own and save them in your own library for future use, or you can purchase plans from various coaches and they will be placed into your library for use. You will never be short of different options for working out and the workouts will get emailed to you each day so you know what you need to do that day.

If you record your workouts when you perform them, then you can upload that information to your account. Training Peaks works with almost every recording device out there. (Timex, Garmin, Cycleops, Polar, iPhone, Nike, etc...)

Monitoring your own nutrition never became easier either. You can plan and record what you eat on a daily basis, or purchase a plan based on your goals from different nutritionists.

There is a wealth of information that gets logged with minimal input from the user. If you like charts and graphs, you can examine many things on a daily, weekly, monthly, even yearly basis to pinpoint problems or see improvements.

The costs for the personal edition are extremely reasonable and affordable for any person. You can get the free account, which is pretty limited or you can purchase a 1 month ($19.95), 3 month ($49), 6 month ($79), or 1 year ($119) subscription.

Go check them out. You won't be disappointed.

Biggest Loser

2011-01-05T10:31:00.002-06:00

I'm not one for the foul mouth, childish, narcissistic, vacuous television known as reality TV. It just doesn't interest me in watching ugly people for hours on end. It says a lot about our society by the success these shows garner.

With that being said, I have fallen prey to a reality television show; however, in my own opinion, The Biggest Loser does not fall into any of the mentioned categories. The producers seem to do an excellent job in vetting the type of people that would turn the show into a circus act. They create a microcosm of the world around us by bringing people from all over the country, with differing backgrounds. A true melting pot.

For those who don't know about the show here is the premise; Simply stated, they take morbidly obese people and turn them into lean mean fighting machines. They accomplish this by teaching the contestants proper nutrition and exercise with the help of personal trainers Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper and a cadre of expert physicians. Now, this wouldn't be reality TV without a twist. These people are also competing for a grand prize of $250,000; In addition, anyone who is voted off before the finale are eligible to compete for what they call the at home prize of $100,000. Usually, each week 2 contestants fall below the yellow line, lowest percentage of weight loss for the week, and the rest of the contestants decide who gets to go home and who stays for another week.

The physicians behind this show should receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Medicine. They have proven that obesity can easily be cured with proper nutrition and exercise, that you don't need unnecessary surgery, fad diets, or stupid pills. No lame excuses like, "I'm big boned", "It's genetic." Most of these contestants come in with diabetes, and numerous other ailments that requires them to take a bag of pills to just stay alive. By the end, they are completely off the medication and have their diabetes under control without needing insulin. Not to mention they look and feel so much better.

The new season, season 11, kicked off last night with 22 contestants. One of them being the largest person on the show to date, Arthur 5'8" 34-year old father of two who weighed in at 507 lbs. In 2009 he weighed 646 lbs and lost the 139 lbs on his own before coming on the show. Rulon, a gold medal winner from the 2000 Olympics and bronze in 2004 in Greco-Roman wrestling, who weighed in at 474 lbs.

All of the contestants have amazing stories, some of which come out in the tortuous training sessions they have with the trainers. These moments of lucidity lead the person to a new understanding of themselves and those around them and give them a stronger resolve.

As the show progresses through the season I may blog about my observations of the show. If you don't watch the show, you need to at least watch the finale where they show the transformation from the beginning of the season.

Six Weeks

2011-01-04T05:54:00.000-06:00

Last night at the YMCA was ludicrous. Every year, without a hitch, the resolution crowd swarms the gyms and it becomes frustrating for the people who are committed to a regular regimen.

Don't get me wrong, it's great seeing people getting out and wanting to become healthier; however, it is always short lived, like 6 weeks. If these people were effectuated in their endeavors then gyms would have larger facilities and more equipment.

There is never enough equipment, and these people don't know proper equipment etiquette. For example, I was wanting to get on one of the weight machines and there was this individual just sitting on it. I asked him if I could rotate in for one set and he said, "Just a minute, I'm almost done." I figured, okay, I can wait for that. Two minutes later he does a set, and then just sits there. I asked him again and he said that he had 1 more set to do and I then could use it. What a complete ya-hoo, so it was off to another machine that I could find empty. Ugh. It's even more ridiculous with the treadmills. I was grateful that I didn't have to run last night or I would have been there even longer than normal.

Thankfully, the numbers will be dwindling in 6 weeks. I wonder how many of them will stop coming all together and not cancel their membership and end up paying monthly fees for not using the facilities. Gyms don't make money from people who come to workout on a regular basis.

Okay, I was going to mention a solution, but it could be construed as elitist or snobbish, so I will just keep that in my head and suck it up. Oh, and it's a pain trying to find an empty locker to use during this time too. Enough ranting for today, I'm feeling better now.

A Chili Sort of Day

2011-01-03T12:12:00.000-06:00

This weekend I was trying to figure out what to eat for lunch at work this week, so I decided to make some chili. For more than one reason, this has turned out to be a great idea. Not many things come close to being better than chili on a cold day.

My ride into work this morning was 13 degrees with many icy spots. I had contemplated putting the studded tires on but opted not. The trails weren't too bad as they had some crunchy snow on top to add traction. The real sketchy parts were on the roads themselves, with many a close call, but I kept myself upright the whole ride.

The past weekend was a little hit and miss in the workout department. I did get about 3 hours of riding in and 6 miles of running. One could say the rest of it was spent relaxing from the past month. I watched several movies on Netflix, did some research, washed a crap load of lycra (I think my wardrobe now is over 50% lycra), experimenting with food, changing a flat tire, and getting the workouts done. I think I relaxed too much since my thoughts on what to write are just not there today. I'm just real happy that this year is getting started off on the right foot.

Hopefully, everyone had a great weekend too and didn't get in too much trouble. Time to finish my chili.

Selah

2010-12-30T08:41:00.000-06:00

Selah, is a Hebrew word roughly meaning "stop and listen", or to pause and consider. With this being the ending of a year I feel it is a time to selah.

This last year, as I noted in a prior post, was a rather difficult one. Nothing that a little patience and fortitude could not overcome. Many goals or endeavors I wanted to achieve this year were placed on the back burner, but not to be forgotten. It was especially difficult to keep myself from thinking I was a failure, these things happen, it's called life. Everyone has their share of rough spots in life that they need to get through; struggle and strife makes us better human beings because we can empathize with another persons situations. Do I regret anything? Maybe, but I wouldn't change anything because I would not be where I am today and frankly I am happy with it.

Some of the shining beacons for me this year were all the friends and family who were willing to help in any way they could. Just knowing those people cared enough was what kept me going. I didn't take any hand ups but they let me know that they were there if needed. Thank you.

Now it is time to pull those goals off the back burner and put them in place for the new year. Some have changed slightly, while there are a couple of new ones that are in the works. Am I going to tell you? No, that's for another post; besides, a couple of them will not be known for sure until sometime in February.

One last thing, I do not do resolutions. Maybe it is a Yoda thing, "do or do not, there is no try." Why put something off until the beginning of the year when you can do it then and there? If you wait, you set yourself up for failure. I see this all the time at the YMCA this time of year. The gym is packed from January to February and then the crowds go away.

Now, go, have a great time ringing in the new year and to selah on the past to keep yourself planted in the present, so you do not get lost in the future.

The Road to Wattsville

2010-12-29T15:46:00.002-06:00

This past weekend saw me indulging in a lot of my favorite holiday eats, one could even say that it was the equivalent of several bags of sugar. I think Christmas dinner was the only somewhat healthy meal, beef tenderloin with mashed potatoes, and a greek salad. I definitely had extra helpings of the beef. As for the rest of the weekend it consisted of Norwegian Pancakes (I call them pixie sticks), 12 pack of coca cola, meltaway cookies, those yummy chocolate waxy mini doughnuts, a bunch of other yummies that were on the table during the party, a blueberry milk shake, and a few other various items all consumed within 3 days, and a sandwich from Panera.

My thought process was to just have fun and eat what I enjoy because after that, it's time to get back to watching what I eat. It's all about the numbers people. The lower the weight the higher the power-to-weight ratio. The higher the ratio, the faster I will be on the bike. I'm going to be reasonable in this and hope to drop 10 pounds by the beginning of the season, this would put me around 160. Ideally, I would like to be around 150 but I'm not going to push it, we'll see how it all goes.

The plan is simple. Keep the daily caloric intake just under 2000 calories and keep my exercise levels up. No more Jimmy John's or Sam and Louie's. The calories I consume will need to be nutrient dense or I will find myself slipping into the bag of gummy bears void. If I eat out for lunches, I'm planning on getting something from Juice Stop, I highly recommend the Tour De France but have them use watermelon juice instead of apple juice, or brining something from home, protein or energy bars.

Here's to a lighter new year. Hope none of you overindulged as I did, and if you did, hopefully it's just during the holidays. Who wants to be around a grumpy grump who won't eat all the goodies during that time of year. Now, where did I put the bag of baby carrots?

2010 SUCKED

2010-12-28T15:17:00.002-06:00

The year is almost over and I for one am putting it all behind me. Here is a quick breakdown of why it sucked:

1) Lost my job in April. (Not too upset about it since I wasn't happy there in the first place. Just a plain crappy company, think Initech.)

2) Since losing my job, I couldn't really race like I wanted to.

3) Had to really tighten the purse strings.

4) Didn't find work in my field until October.

5) Pretty much threw the training schedule out the window.

6) Had to get a new washer.

7) Had to get 4 new tires for the car.

What didn't suck about the year:

1) Had a job working at a bike shop, Bike Pedalers. Definitely a dream job.
2) Got to ride my bike a lot. Started commuting every day and am still doing it.
3) Raced all the local races, except the Time Trials, I really hate those. Money was tight but I wanted to race.
4) Found a great job at the end of October. No bike shop but it pays the bills.
5) Hanging out with great friends.
6) Raced Jingle Cross.
7) Doing the yearly Christmas puppet show.

Ok, so there were an even number of likes and dislikes. However, most of the dislikes carried a greater burden and made the year tough instead of tolerable. That's all behind me now.

Also, I'm going to do my best at getting back to blogging. Mostly because it's easier to type than to write in my journal. The journal will be left for the more abrasive and emotional writing.

What I will concentrate on will be cycling related things like product reviews, race reports, training points, and just plain fun stuff in general. The hiatus is now over.

The Third Brake

2009-08-09T21:39:00.011-05:00

The pinnacle of summer racing in the Midwest is the Tour of KC in Kansas City, KS. This is usually a three day race consisting of 2 criteriums (KCK twilight crit and the Overland Park crit) and 1 circuit race (Cliff Drive Classic). Due to construction near Cliff drive this year the Cliff Drive Classic was cancelled and the KCK twilight crit was moved to Saturday.

Since Saturdays races didn’t start until 3PM, sleeping in was a welcome luxury to a race weekend. We hit the road around 10AM and was able to make the three and a half hour drive with no stress and arrived around 1:30PM. Plenty of time to walk the course, warm-up, and carb up.

My race went off at 6:15PM. For those who don’t know the course it is a simple square course with a steep climb (8 degree grade) from the start finish to a fast and furious downhill with a 90 degree right hand turn at the bottom of the hill. Shortly after the hill there is a 2 block 2 step stair stepper hill (8 degree) with a right hand turn at the top of the hill. Then it’s flat for about 4 blocks then a right to the start/finish.

The race was off (50-60 starters) and I was feeling good even with the 20mph south wind and 101 degree heat index. The hills were starting to take their usual toll on me but I just hung in and stayed in the top 15 throughout the race. With 6 laps to go my body was just wanting to shut down and pedal easy and let the pack get away but I wasn’t having any of that. I dipped into my bag of tricks and shut the pain out. With 3 laps to go I knew I needed to move myself up to be in good position for the last lap. At the start of the last lap I was sitting 8th wheel. Only a couple more minutes of hanging out in the pain cave and I would be happy. Going up the hill my legs were starting to shut down. Slowly I was falling back, 10th, 12th, 15th. “Dang it, I’m not waisting this effort!” Made it to the finish in 19th with the pack. Very happy. This is how an A race is supposed to go. Now it was time to recover in the next 16 hours for the next days race. I knew I could do this.

Sunday morning had a great breakfast at our host house. (Thanks again for your hospitality Sherri and Rick.) I didn’t want to overdo my warm up so I made sure not to do too much like I did at the Papillion Twilight Crit.

Another 50 to 60 of us lined up and were ready to go at 10:10. I had a good sound strategy and it was paying off throughout the race. My legs were feeling the best they have been in a long time. I was staying in the top 15 for most of the race. With 5 laps to go I started moving up in position. With three laps to go I was in 8th position. Now I was in the position I wanted to be in. If I could hold this out for 2 more laps I would be able to enact my final part of my strategy. My legs were feeling great. I had plenty more in my energy store and could pull this off for a podium or top 10 placing. Three quarters through the lap we had a downhill with a left turn. A rider who was two places ahead of me locked his brakes and went down in the turn. Being in a turning position I had no choice but to keep straight. In the blink of an eye my front wheel smacked into the rider on the ground at 28mph and I went over the bars and used my face to halt my progress.

I didn’t know the extent of my injuries at the time. My side was hurting and I was spitting blood, so I didn’t want to move unless I made matters worse, so I made the smart decision to just wait. Here you will see pictures of my face which we took while I was at the hospital. I could feel my face being swollen and the blood dripping all over the place. Ended up with 8 stitches in the chin, a black eye, 2 avulsions which will need a plastic surgeon to take a look at, and a chipped tooth. Thankfully no bones were broken in the accident.

Upon leaving the hospital I saw my bike and almost broke down in tears. Yes, Shaniqua was beyond repair. She has gone to the great bicycle rack in the sky. I don’t know what I am going to do at this point in time about a bike. More than likely it will be another Madone 5.2Pro or greater. The components look in good shape and it appears that it is only the frame that broke.

My overall thoughts on this is this….That’s bike racing. These things happen and there is nothing one can do about it. I will race again. I am hoping to have a replacement road bike and be ready for the Gateway Cup races in St. Louis on Labor Day Weekend. By the way, the Tour of Missouri starts in St. Louis on that weekend too. Nancy gave me the idea of printing out a picture of my face next to Jens Voight and see if he will autograph it. I think I will do that.

Thanks to everyone who has sent well wishes and offers of help, I greatly appreciate and it makes me happy to know each and every one of you kind souls. A special thanks goes out to DaTerm, without whose presence and help the weekend would have been miserable. I owe you BIG.

For now I will be riding the Grinch. Hey, cyclocross is only a month away.

Taming the Snake...

2009-05-23T20:01:00.008-05:00

The Alley, the Serpent of Pain, and many others are names I have decided to give Snake Alley. You may have heard the stories, you may have seen the pictures, but non of them do it justice. The only true way to appreciate the Snake is to see it in person. It is a 12 degree grade of 5 switchbacks, all paved with cobblestone. There were sixty-five participants in the cat 4 race, including yours truly. From the start we made a right turn onto a hill, which is very similar to the Iowa City Crit hill. Once at the top of the hill we entered Snake Alley.

Cat 4 Entering the Alley

Once we were in the Alley we stayed together for the first couple laps. Several riders made mistakes and ended up falling over on the climb. Once you fall over, you can only hope for some one to help push you back up the hill; otherwise, you can't clip in and you have to run up to the top. Thankfully I climbed the Alley every single time.

Climbing the Snake

Once at the top it was all downhill. The only thing to do here was to recover for yet another climb. It was easy to get speeds upward of 30 mph without having to pedal, which made it that much quicker to getting back to the Snake. I ended up 38 out of 65 riders. I felt great and will definitely be looking forward to doing this race again next year. Many worthwhile lessons were learned and I will use those lessons in future races.

The pain of climbing

Joe Savoie helping out Vaughn after a slight mishap on the Snake.

There are many more pictures, and a big thanks go out to fellow teammate Janna Vavra for using my camera and getting some great pictures of the cat 4 race.

Staying vertical

2009-05-20T16:15:00.001-05:00

This past Sunday saw some fellow Nebraska cyclists racing the Auburn road race in Auburn Kansas. It was probably one of the more memorable races so far this year, and that is not meaning it was a good memory either.

We left Lincoln at 5am and arrived with a little bit of time to get registered and kitted up. There wasn’t time to go drive the course, so it was going to be a blind race. The cat 4’s were to do 2 laps with an approximate mileage of 67. The sun was out, the wind light, it was perfection for a bike race. We kept overhearing people talk of a place on the course called “Girl Scout Hill.” With a name like that, what is there to worry about? The first group off was the Men 1/2/3 and the Women 1/2/3. Five minutes later we were off.

The pace for the first couple miles was very light as we were getting our legs warmed up. Then the pace started gradually picking up. I kept myself between the middle to the front of the pack and was feeling good about this race. I really was thinking that I can hold on to the pack for a good length of the race.

Around mile ten, just past the feed zone, someone up front locked up their brakes and caused some mayhem. Bikes and bodies started hitting the pavement. I spent enough time making love to the pavement last year that I wasn’t going to do it again this year, so I just kept pedaling. I realized I was riding on someones body, as I looked down it was Rich Anderson from the Bike Way team, he twisted and I came to a halt, thankfully still upright. The pack was getting away from me, so I clipped back in and started to bridge the gap that had formed. I really didn’t want to start burning matches this early in the race, but I was determined to get back on. Finally I caught back on just as we were making the first turn. Then I kept hearing a "flip flip" noise. Sort of like a derailleur issue. It would drive me nuts for the entire race. Silly me for thinking I would have time to recover. As soon as the turn was completed 2 riders attacked. As soon as they gassed out, 2 more would attack, and this kept going on for 3 to 5 miles. Needless to say my supplies were running low and I just could hang. Four more people dropped off and we had a real good rotation going. No more than 15 second pulls. We kept the peleton in our sights for some time.

Then we came to a one stop sign town where we made a right turn. Here is where “Girl Scout Hill” is located. Two of our train had fallen off by the time we made the turn, so it was just 3 of us, but not for long. A long false flat with a huge climb 2 tier climb was just painful. By the time I reached the top I lost lots of gas, no not the flatulent kind. I was soon soloing it for one more time around. Nothing really exciting happened on the second lap, except when I got to the hill a second time. This last time up I could barely keep my average around 8 mph, and my muscles started some painful twitching, thankfully it subsided rather quickly.

Crossing the finish I was rather spent. Definitely needed a little more energy juice on the road, something to add to my bag of goodies for the next road race. I felt great the entire race and was very happy with the numbers I pulled off my powertap. Getting this 40 year old body into decent shape is a hard and painful process, but well worth it.

As I rolled back to the vehicle Rich was standing by his vehicle with his front tire in his hands. Upon closer inspection part of his fork was still attached to the wheel. Apparently his fork was snapped in 2, thankfully it wasn’t because of me. Sure hope he gets a replacement before Snake Alley this weekend. As for the "flip flip" sound, it was my tire. There was a slit along the tire that was slapping against my bottom bracket every time it went around. I never flatted during the race. I love my Bontrager HardCase tires. They last a frakking long time.

Well, that is my adventure for this past weekend. Next up, the memorial day races in eastern Iowa, which features the Snake Alley race on Saturday. I am so looking forward to it. I will definitely be happy with a top half finish, the field will be large, I think there is at least 50+ registered so far. Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend, no matter what you do.

Iowa City Redux

2009-04-28T20:17:00.004-05:00

As I sit here, watching The Biggest Loser and eating dinner after a nice ride, my mind has been filled with thoughts on this past weekends race. I headed out to Iowa City for the 32nd Annual Old Capital Crit and Road Race and comparing it to last years performance.

Both days saw the rain gods tormenting all of us. Saturday morning it was raining and the thunder was rumbling. By the time we got out to the course it was just a tad drizzly and stopped when the races started. The 4's went off at 9:05 and it was wet and windy. So glad I remembered my fleece knickers, but I forgot the arm warmers, but it was just warm enough I didn't need them. I felt good the entire time and just kept pushing, even though I fell off the back soon after lap 1. Three of us began to work it and started making some ground on the pack. However, not soon after one of our number fell off and it was just two of us working it. Though we picked up another lonely rider and had another 3 man team. The last stretch of about a mile my legs just blew up. I couldn't keep up the wattage for the push into the finish, so I just kept spinning as best I could. Ended up 29 out of 32, avg speed 22 MPH, 4 MPH faster than last year. Once again, I can see and feel the improvement.

Sunday was the crit. Last year saw me crash after the start on the downhill turn. I wasn't too happy. We arrived at the course in time to get on the rollers and warm up for about an hour. It was raining. I was suffering from some serious anxiety because I just kept thinking of sliding and crashing in the same spot again. About 20 minutes before the 4's race it stopped raining, but the road didn't dry instantly. I lined up and was ready to go, my heart rate was definitely racing. From the start I had trouble clipping in, I'm pretty sure it was my psyche trying to delay the ensuing torture. Everything clipped in I was on the back of the pack, which sort of made me feel a little better. Then the hill came and I was ready, and I made it. With that out of the way I was ready to race. After a couple laps I was blown off the back on the hill. I felt much stronger than last year, but so was every one else. I was out for myself and no one else. For a while there were 4 of us and I was trying to get everyone to work together, but I was getting pissed. Every time I went to pull I pulled hard and fast, and when I rotated back the others went half the speed I was holding. Once we got lapped by the leaders I had had enough so just rode hard and shredded the guys who wouldn't work together. Ended up 17 out of 23. Very happy even with it being a B race.

Well, my mind isn't into blogging tonight, so everything is rather short and sweet. If you want to hear more details ask me in person, I will be glad to talk about it. Hopefully the next race will be the Swanson MTB race this Saturday. Hopefully I will see some of you out there.

That Dam Race

2009-03-10T13:37:00.003-05:00

The second race of the season was located at the Perry Lake Dam in Perry Lake KS, which is located just northwest of Lawrence.

Thunderstorms came in the evening and dumped a whole lot of water. The power had been knocked out, while we were sleeping; thankfully, we were able to get up in time to get some grub and head to the race. I had hemmed and hawed over doing 2 races on this day. The masters race at 10:30AM and then the cat 4 at 2:00PM. The morning temp was 41 and falling with 25+ mph winds, not to mention the roads were soaked. After standing in line for what seemed an eternity in the cold, chilly air, I opted to just stick with the cat 4 race. Craig Harding decided to do the same thing. Since we wouldn’t be racing for another 4 hours, we headed back to Lawrence for some place warm to sit and get some nutrition.

We arrived back with an hour till race time, at which point the temp fell to 39 with 20 mph winds gusting up to 27mph. The only difference was that the sun was peeking out from time to time. We kitted up and got warmed up. There was a fairly good showing of riders, there were 29 in our cat, and it looked like about the same for the cat2/3 race which went off 2 minutes before us.

Lap 1, everyone seemed to stick together, I was sitting in the best I could to save energy for the climb to come, not knowing how well I would do. My legs engine were feeling very strong. We made the fourth turn onto the big hill climb to the start/finish line and I felt like I was flying up the hill. I’m pretty sure I was in the top 10 or 15 to crest the hill.

Lap2, the pack had spread out a little by the top of the hill; however, everyone seemed to have regrouped on the descent to the dam. Stayed close to the team mates and toward the top third of the pack. On the third turn everyone seemed to be slowing up a little, probably in anticipation of the hill climb and wanting to save energy. I didn’t do anything, still trying to gauge the race. Fourth turn onto the hill and I notched up the effort a little more; about 25 yards from the top I was feeling some of the effort. But made it up, I believe, still in the top 15.

Lap 3, made a slight mistake in letting up at the top of the hill. About 10 or so riders off the front had kept the pace and opened up about a 50 yard gap. I had to close it now and didn’t want to wait until the second turn into a head wind. It’s not easy bridging a gap with a tail wind, but I caught back just before the end of the damn. The rest of the pack behind me caught up too as we were making the second turn. At this point I just sat in and did my best to conserve as much energy as I knew I was going to make. Through turn 4 onto the hill I decided stay in the saddle and go up with the pack and not let any gaps form. This was definitely my best climb of the day. I felt like I worked it but I didn’t feel like I killed it. Stayed in the top 15 through the top and onto the last lap.

Lap 4, final lap. Riding next to fellow teammate Dan Spray, we were talking about when and if we wanted to initiate an attack. We had been discussing that turn 3 was the best point since the pack usually slowed down for that stretch of road. I told him that I wasn’t sure if I had it in me to try and go off the front, so we sort of let it go at that point. Approaching turn 3 I made the decision to go on the attack and up the pace. I was sort of hoping my teammates wouldn’t try to join me, because I knew that I was going to probably blow up. For the next half mile I was pushing the pace hard and into the wind. Then Zack (KC State guy) wanted to do another attack before the turn, so I thought, what the heck. So out of the saddle I went to up it one more time. Zack took point and I was on his wheel into the turn. I was ready for the climb, about halfway up is when I blew up. I just settled in and pedaled my tired butt up the hill as the pack began to pass me. Just no more energy, I used up all my matches. However, as fate would have it, my team swept the podium. Vaughn Pierce, Dan Ertz, and Dan Spray took the first three positions. WOO-HOO!!! I would like to think that my efforts helped push them up there.

This was a fun race. These last two days of racing I have learned some valuable lessons on what I need to do to prepare and race this year. One of them being not to burn all my matches. My hill climbing is much better than last year. If I did this race last year, I would have probably been off the back after the second time up the hill and never would have caught back on. I think my nutrition is pretty darn close to being spot on. Probably could have used an extra gel back before or during the race. Now the build phase of training begins. Next race I am going to do will be the Twin Bing Road Race on the 21^st of March, then the following weekend is team training camp.

The road season is now in full swing.

That was fast...

2009-03-07T20:37:00.007-06:00

Well, first road cycling event of the season is in the bag. Arriving in Lawrence KS, we were greeted with a temp of 66 and a possibility of some precipitation. The winds were out of the southwest at 12 mph with gusts of 24.

The race started like any other race, the cat 4 field was the largest of the day with 52 people starting. After the officials briefing we were off for 22 .84 mile laps, and it was fast. From the start we had a slight incline from the start for about 50 yds into a headwind, at which point we turned left for another 50 yds. with a cross tailwind. Then it was another left turn with a modest tail wind for 100 yds where we then turned left for 50 yds into a nasty cross headwind. Then it was another left turn for the stretch to the start finish line. Repeat.

That was a brief description of the course. It was fun. From the get go were were riding at 24 mph average for each lap. The teams there were many and each one had numerous members. Attacks were being shutdown before they ever happened. At any point in the race, people were yelling, "Attack left/right" at which point the speeds went up and the attacks never happened. There were many sketchy moments in the race where we were expecting someone to crash big in the turn. Too many people were cutting into others lines as well as not keeping their own lines. Very hairy at times and it can mess with your head.

I stayed in the top fourth of the pack the entire race. This makes me very happy, especially since I am just coming off my base phase of my training and should be starting the build phase this coming week. I'm thinking now that my goals for this season will be within my grasp. My fellow teammates did a fantastic job as well. Dan Ertz, and Vaughn Pierce finished in the top 5 and Dan Spray finished in the top 10, as for myself I finished in the top 20. Joe Savoie gave a great effort in both the Masters and 3/4 race. Craig Harding also did a fantastic job in the Masters and cat 5 race.

Tomorrow is the dam race, which I am thinking of doing 2 races but that is not a definite yet. I'm going to shower now and get some sleep. Sure sucks that the clocks are changing this weekend. At least it's supposed to be in the upper 50's tomorrow.

Wilderness and Mountain Lions

2009-03-04T10:51:00.005-06:00

I have been away too long. The new job is going well. It's very hard to leave a job you had worked at for over 9 years where you knew the ins and outs of everything to something completely new. In other words, I'm actually working for a change. Still getting plenty of time on the bike too. I bought some rollers back in December and have been enjoying them. They make the time inside a little more enjoyable. I have finally gotten to where I can ride them for 4 hours, though every forty-five minutes or so, I am in dire need of nether region relief.

Recently we have had some great weather and some not so great weather here in the lovely state of Nebraska. This past weekend being one of them. Here is what happened.

Sunday after being on the rollers for a little over an hour, I received a call. Someone whining about wanting to go out and ride Wilderness. Here is a sample of the conversation.

I said, "Are you nuts? It's 7 degrees out there with a 10mph wind out of the north."

Caller, "But you will warm up and you will be out of the wind because of the shielding the woods provide."

"Are you nuts? It's 7 degrees out there."

"But I don't want to go to the Y and sit on the spin bike."

"Are you nuts? It's 7 degrees out there."

"But nobody else will ride with me. Besides there are mountain lions out there."

"grumble, grumble, grumble. Okay, I'll go. But so you know, IT'S 7 DEGREES OUT THERE!"

Now, I am one who has a hard time retaining body heat, no matter how much I move around out there, so it was with great trepidation that I went. Got myself all bundled up in several layers, prepped the cross bike, and headed out for a cold weather adventure.

In the open it was completely miserable, my nose, fingers, and toes were hurting from the cold. However, I will admit, after about 20 minutes into the ride, the trees provided enough shielding that my fingers and nose were warming up. My toes were a completely different issue. They did not get warm until late in the evening.

My riding buddy kept talking about the mountain lions that live in Wilderness, so I was trying to keep in front so if we were attacked, they would go after the slow one in the pack. Much to my chagrin they went after the leader. The picture above was taken moments before my tussle with the ever elusive Wilderness cougar, which is almost as elusive as the photographed Gravy. Thankfully, I won with only a bruised knee.

Riding the cross bike was great fun out there. I probably should have taken the mountain bike, as the larger tires would have provided better traction; but the ride was still just as sweet. There were many moments that I would get hung up in a frozen rut or on something that was lurking beneath the snow. I even managed a really sweet save that you just had to be there to appreciate.

This coming weekend is looking to be fun. Road Racing season begins! WOO-HOO!!! I will be heading down to Lawrence, KS for a crit race on Saturday and the Dam race on Sunday. Some fellow teammates will be down there too and hopefully we will kick some butt, and make them fear Nebraska riders. If not, then at least we will have some fun.

Till next time.

Last Day....

2008-10-31T10:08:00.002-05:00

The showdown will have to continue in a new location. I have only an hour or so left until I leave my current company for the last time. It's amazing how much junk one accumulates over nine years of working in one place. I'm almost in need of a moving van.

Monday is the start of the new job in Lincoln and I am very much looking forward to the new job. I will still be writing computer programs, so I will still tend to be geeky from time to time. Not wanting to spend much time writing here today as I am getting a little misty eyed. So, maybe now, people will see me more often on the bike rides instead of just showing up at the starting place and saying hi, before I head on home.

I'm also thinking of heading down to Kansas City tomorrow morning for the Boss Cross race. Hmmm....do I want to do 1 or 2 races. Guess it will all depend on what time I get up and get down there. I'll try to provide a report if I go. :)

Grand Ol' Time...

2008-10-26T07:03:00.005-05:00

Yea...it was that fun. I decided on Friday that I would head out to Des Moines, IA to ride at least one race of Spooky Cross. I have been getting a little antsy for another cross race and thought that since this one isn't too far away, then I wouldn't have much to lose.

So, Saturday morning came and we were out the door by 7am. The first race, Masters 40+, was to go off at noon, and I figured this would get me there with some time to spare. I didn't head out alone, my dog was anxious to go to, so Baylee took her seat in the car and was ready as I. As you can tell in the pic above, she was very excited to be going to a cross race.

I pulled into the location around 10:30. Tom Price was the first person there and only a couple minutes after I showed up Craig Schmidt, and Troy Krause were joining the fray. The course was looking very juicy and appeared to provide hours of entertainment for spectators and riders alike. I go to get my bike off the car and notice that my rear tire was flat.....*&^#!!!! I go to get my spare tube out of the tool box, and darnit, it was my mountain bike tube. Double *&^#!!! Thankfully I had brought a spare wheel set so I wasn't in too much trouble. However, if I flatted on the course, then I would be screwed. Not wanting to chance causing a flat I just switched wheels. The one that flatted was my PowerTap wheel and I so wanted to get some hard data on a cross race. Well, there went that idea.

Here are a few shots of the course taken with my cell...

The short stretch into the finish...mmmm...juicy

A little stretch through the trees passing some cows on the left.

I felt that the course was just plain fun. It went through some bean fields, which just became a nightmare to get your bike through because it got soggier and slipperier each time through. Down through the trees and up a nice little grade with 2x4s spread out up the hill. Some people were able to ride up it, I just couldn't get the correct line and would get slogged down by the mud. Then it was back through some more trees and what I thought were a couple of compost hills you had to ride over, a set of barriers to hop over then through the juicy start finish area. Then between there and the bean fields was an open field with a couple of barriers to hop over. The open field I thought was just a little rough. Mostly because it wasn't smooth and I thought I lost all my fillings riding through there. The whole place was just dog gone beautiful, on and off the bike.

As for the race, well, when you are up against Troy and Tom, you pretty much relegate yourself to doing your best and not expecting great things because these guys are just plain incredible. Nothing seems to stop them. There were 16 of us in the Masters race and we were off. I was fifth out of the blocks and stayed that way after 2 laps. Then one guy passed me, I tried my darndest to keep up with him but just kept telling myself, "You didn't plan and prepare for this race so don't get too frustrated." Then with about 4 laps to go, Craig and another gentleman passed me. Craig was off like a screaming banshee and I just didn't think I had it in me to keep up with him, but I was able to stay right behind the other guy. We had just entered the bean field with 3 laps to go when Tom Price came by us riding like the course was flat and smooth, we thanked him as he passed because we knew we only now had one lap left after this one. Sometimes it sure feels good to get lapped. Ended up 8 out of 16 and I was extremely happy with that.

The whole thing was just a great time. I stayed around to watch some of the other races. The 3/4 race had a boat load of people racing. Looked close to 30 or 40 riders. I had thought of doing this race also, but just wasn't feeling suicidal enough. Oh well, maybe next time. Nebraska was being represented well at this race as there were several in the 3/4 too. Including Rich Anderson and Paul Eichler both on the Elkhorn Valley Cycling Team. They finished real strong, not sure where since the results hadn't been posted by the time I left, but I think they finished in the upper half.

Now it was time to decide what to do. I figured that Iowa City is only an hour and a half away and I would see what my brother and his family were up to and meet them for dinner. I get there around 5PM and realize that I am starting to slog. However, my niece and nephew were able to spur new doses of energy into me, though it was somewhat short lived. Then as I was thinking about heading back to Des Moines, get a hotel and race the next day, my niece was sort of upset that I wasn't going to be staying and wanted to know why I couldn't. Upset kids tug at my emotional strings. So I am deciding to just skip the race all together on Sunday and spend the time with them. Will I miss the glory of the race, you betcha, but it will be there next year again. Visiting with my niece and nephew is something I just don't want to miss. I hope everyone can understand.

Well, the kids will be up soon so it will be time for me to play. :) Those of you who didn't come out to race Spooky Cross, you have got to do it next year. You will have a grand old time. Here's another picture of some of the scenery out there...

The banquet...

2008-10-20T10:50:00.003-05:00

Saturday was the annual "Bike Bash" where both roadies and mountain bikers come together and celebrate the year of great cycling in Nebraska. I decided to take "Zod" and ride the Platte River single track. I love this course and this was my best ride on that course to date. I didn't crash once. Probably because I was going through at an easy pace and not a race pace. We'll see next year with how many gashes I end up with.

My performance in the road series wasn't very spectacular, mostly because this was my first year as a cat 4 and the guys who were tops were also very strong riders all year. Congrats to Mr. Algomaha who took first place for the cat 4's and will be getting free entry in all the Nebraska races next year. As for the MTB side of things, I ended up with 2nd overall in the Men Masters 35+. (The gratuitous geekdom in the picture is for you Marc.) This doesn't give me free entry, but hey, I got a trophy out of it. Sure doesn't take make to make me happy. hehe

Just a little over a week and a half left until I start my new job. More and more I am looking forward to this change. I won't write here why I am feeling that way. If I have already talked to you about it, then you know to what I am referring.

The weather was near perfect on Sunday with temps in the low 70's. It was made even better with a ride through Wilderness with good friends. Biking is always made more fun with others and one always wants it to keep going long after the ride is over. Then it was off to home to do some work around the house and then just some relaxin' time. I have figured that I will have an extra 3 hours a day when I start the new job. What am I going to do with all that extra time on my hand? Do more biking? or find something else to add to my life? hehe Who knows.

The weather outlook this week is looking rather bleak. It appears to be time to pull out the ol' trainer and start riding indoors. I've even been throwing around the idea of getting some rollers too to help break up the monotony. Oh well. I'm also tossing around the idea of heading to Des Moines this weekend for Spooky Cross. It's only in the thought process at this time, not definite.

Well, time to get some cube cleaning time done. Congrats to everyone who won the Rider of the Year categories. You guys did awesome.

A moment of silence...

2008-10-09T14:25:00.002-05:00

Well, after 9 years of working at the same company and commuting between Lincoln and Omaha I have given my notice. Starting on November 3, I will be working in Lincoln for Interact Incorporated. This wasn't an easy decision on my part and I didn't realize how much until today. I'm looking forward to the new change. A big amount of money will be saved on gas alone. Also, I will have more time for riding my bike and training.

This is yet another short post. So much to do now to get ready for the transition. I will try to put more details and such as the days progress.

Ouch...

2008-10-08T13:32:00.002-05:00

Okay, this is going to be a short post. I had told some people about this article I came across on the web. The story is about David Feherty and his ordeal with getting hit by a truck. Thankfully my accident was no where near this bad. It's a very interesting read and I think you will enjoy it.

Here is the article.
Here is the podcast.

Enjoy.

My new friend, pain....

2008-10-07T13:14:00.002-05:00

This past weekend was the start of cyclocross for me. I decided to race the Omaha CX Weekend at Swanson Park in Bellevue, NE. This race, last year, was my first taste of cyclocross and after that weekend, I was hooked. Cross is definitely a form of racing that you either love it or hate it. Thankfully I fall into the former category.

Coming off a good road and mountain bike season I was stoked for some big hurt. My plan was to race the 3/4 race and the 4's race both days, with only an hour rest between the two races. Up to this point I haven't really done 2 races in any given day and was wondering how it would play out. The first race on Saturday, the 3/4 race, was at noon. I made sure I had plenty of rest and nutrition the day before. The plan was to save most of my energy for the 4's race and ride the 3/4 just at my max. Well, things never work out like I plan. I pushed it way too hard at the start, during the first 2 laps I wanted to hurl. Then everything started coming together, except for a real sharp turnaround in the maze where I took it too fast every time and kept going down. Of which also earned me a nice little grass burn on my knee. Ending up 12 out of 18. The end of the first race, breakfast was vying for a chance to see the light of day again. So, it was a nice easy ride to get everything back under control.

Now I had one hour to recover as best I could. Gatorade, protein bar, banana, and apple. They seemed to really help out and I was ready for the 4's race. I was in much better control this time around, only going down once in the maze. Everything seemed to flow with greater ease, but I was sure as heck sick of that freaking hill by the entrance we had to climb every time. Halfway through the first race I hated that damn thing and I know I wasn't the only one. I finished the second race 5 out of 13. Personally I was really pleased with my performance, I can definitely feel a large improvement over last year.

It was off to home to get some food and rest because Sunday had us starting at 9am and I was going to do two races again. The first race on Sunday, I felt much stronger and confident than the day before. Again I didn't want to go to hard on the first race but that didn't work out. Ended up with a better finish this time. 5 out of 15. This time I didn't feel like vomiting after the race. Took it easy and ate the same recovery food as before. One hour later we were off again. This time I could feel all my reserves being used up. Halfway through I could only maintain, not go any harder. It was beginning to feel rather uncomfortable but I kept it up. Then at the start of the bell lap, I go to dismount and run through the sand pit, which I had done with no issues umpteen times before, and could not get my left foot unclipped and took a gainer into the pit. I knew there were 2 people closing in on me and I wasn't going to lose any more ground, so with an expletive shouted I was back up running through with my bike through the pit. Back onto the bike and I found that last little bit of energy to eke out and get some distance on them. Ended up 7 out of 16.

The thing about cross is that you know everyone else is hurting as much as you. There is so little you can do to save energy unlike road or mountain biking. It's an all out effort just short of the gag factor for 30 to 60 minutes at a time. I think that's why I love it so much.

Good job to everyone who was out racing this weekend. Even though it was a tad warm. It was great hanging out with everyone.

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch...

2008-10-03T08:53:00.004-05:00

The Grinch is in the house. After weeks of waiting for everything to get in, it is finally built and ready to take on all the cross goodness the Midwest has to offer this season. Took it out for a fun little spin and some cross practice last night and it handled like a dream. Thanks to everyone who gave me advice on which pedals to go with, the final consensus was 6 to 1 in favor of the eggbeaters. Besides, the eggbeater C's go so much better with the Ultegra SL and the FSA Gossamer crank (46/36) than the atac pedals. Also, the eggbeaters were 70 dollars less.

My only issue with the eggbeaters is the large amount of float they have. I like little to no float, but I am getting used to them. There is also a soft feeling when disengaging from them too, but that is no problem, just so much different from my Shimano SPD's on my mountain bike.

Nothing else new right now, just too wrapped up in all the excitement this week has provided me. Who knows, maybe more is to come; that is other than the Nebraska Cyclocross Series race this weekend in Omaha at Swanson Park. If you have no idea what cyclocross is, then come on out and try it out or help cheer on everyone. I guarantee you will have a great time. The weather is going to be real nice the whole weekend, so you have no excuse. Also, don't forget your cowbells. You can't have a cyclocross race without cowbells.

Geeky goodness...

2008-10-02T07:29:00.003-05:00

Jon mentioned geek in the comments on my last post, so I thought I would add some geekness today. Once again, I should not be allowed into a store without adult supervision. I decided to adopt a new addition to my electronic haven, a 15" MacBook Pro, so now I am very mobile. Before, it was my work laptop that has been getting me around on the wireless bandwagon; the major problem with that was the lack of space and the fact that I had to have windows on it. Even though I dual booted it with Linux and never really used my windows partition. This bad boy has 250 GB of goodness, and I am thinking of upping the memory to 4 GB. Ahhh, the fun of productivity at its highest pinnacle.

Probably one of the reasons for the above purchase was the fact that my cross bike still isn't completed. You know the old saying, "Idle hands are the devil's playground." The wheels just came in yesterday and I went in after work to find the location of where we wanted to cut the steer tube. The shop said they will put it for a first thing in the morning priority. Since I have about 3 more weeks of vaction to burn before November 29, I'm thinking of taking the afternoon off, pick up the bike and go get some greatly needed cross practice in before the weekend. Trying out a new bike with so little time before the first race makes me a little nervous, hopefully my nerves will just be that. I have a question out there for you fellow crossers. I'm trying to decide on what pedals to get for the bike. I want to know what you think are some good mud shedding pedals. Which do you like better...the Time Atak or the Crankbrother Egg Beaters? Is there another type you think is better, please let me know. Thanks in advance.

Well, this day should go by quickly and be full of excitement. You may be able to find me out around the Cooper Y today cross practicing with some other riders around 6 tonight.

Rough but fun...

2008-09-30T09:58:00.004-05:00

The last five days have gone pretty non-stop for me. First off was the Taco Ride last Thursday. Since the ride starts in the Omaha / Council Tuckey area, those of us who live in Lincoln have relegated ourselves to doing this ride one time a year. Usually late September, early October. This was my second foray into this fun little ride, and fun it was. Aside from getting a late start, the weather was perfect as was the company. I won't go into more detail, as I would then be breaking the cardinal rule of the taco ride, "What happens on the taco ride, stays on the taco ride." :) If you want to know, then you will have to join us next year. I'm not giving away our trademark fun secrets.

Needless to say, I didn't get to bed until midnight after the taco ride. Those who know me, know I usually go to bed early because I drive every morning into Omaha for work. To ensure I can get home at a decent time to get some riding in afterward, I'm usually up at 4:30 and heading out around 5:30. Needless to say, I was dragging major booty at work and didn't do any blogging because I was staving off serious bouts of head bobbing. After work it was time to be social, which sometimes is hard because of my claustrophobia. I met up with the Lincoln crowd, on our bikes for some drinks at Marz, then we headed over to the Bread & Cup for some dinner. Never had I eaten there before and everyone would tell me it's awesome. I must say, that I was very impressed with their fare and would have no qualms about going there again. After sating ourselves with some delicious yummies, we headed over to Ivana Cone. Simply put, the best ice cream you will ever have. They make all of the ice cream there. None of that cardboard tub stuff that's been sitting in a warehouse for weeks. Ol' Loupie had to call it a short night since he needed some sleep as he had the last mountain bike race of the season the next morning.

Saturday morning came and I felt a little more rested. Now it was time to head out to Lake Manawa with Zod for the final Psycowpath MTB race. I was ready to kick some proverbial pyge (it's greek for buttocks). As everyone knows my propensity for crashing at these races, I will give a sneak peak into the race itself before the race report. I did not crash during the race! woo-hoo!!!

I arrived with plenty of time for a pre-ride of the course. As anyone who has raced in a MTB race, you know that a pre-ride of the course is a good way to ensure you aren't thrown any surprises at the last minute. Also, it's the responsibility of the rider to know the course, just ask a couple of the guys who raced in the Beginner Men's Open at Swanson earlier in the season. The course was in prime condition for a race. Everything seemed to flow. Except on the pre-ride when I went over the rock wall and took the wrong line and endoed and sprained my wrist. Damn!!! Rest of the ride was excellent.

I lined up at the start line and had one guy in my sights. My plan was to stay with him, let him set the pace, stay on his six and ramp it up and overtake him in the second lap. Everything went off like clock work. There were 3 of us that hit the single track way ahead of everyone else Derek Yungtum, myself, and Tom Pieper. We were moving along quite nicely, then we came upon the Men's Open that went a minute ahead of us. The first couple we pass with no change in our order. Then towards the end of the first half of the loop Derek passed one guy and I didn't follow immediately. Tom passed me and took second position. I knew that it was a stupid mistake on my part and I would soon realize it. At the end of the first lap, Derek gave Tom and I the go ahead to pass him, so off we went. We came upon another rider that Tom was able to pass and I couldn't because I was now in a really tight section that doesn't have any openings. I was able to pass and worked like mad to catch back up to Tom. Then we came to another person in the last half and he was able to pass on the short open gravel area, but I didn't have enough time. I was able to pass but there wasn't enough time for me to close the gap before the end. Anywho, I ended up second which I am proud of nonetheless. My overall standing for the series is either 2nd or 3rd, which I don't think is too bad since I only did 4 races this year. All the others I ended up officiating. I am definitely going to take an upgrade to Sport (Cat 2) for next year.

I feel like I accomplished a lot this past year on the bike. It didn't seem like it at the beginning, but towards the end I was feeling stronger and more confident and I think it showed. Now I need to work on my aggression and not be such a nice guy in races anymore. Next year will definitely be fun and interesting. Now, if my cross bike ever gets completed, I will be ready for cross. I ordered some wheels 3 weeks back, and they still have not come in. I'm thinking I should have just ordered them online and gotten them a hell of a lot quicker. I am really irritated by this. Nothing will be worse than having only 1 day of riding it before the first race. Grrrrrrr!!! Okay, this has gone on long enough. Hope everyone has a great day.

P.S. I Love You...

2008-09-24T13:22:00.004-05:00

With the road season at an end, the mountain biking season ending this weekend, and cyclocross starting and ending rather abruptly it's time to contemplate next year. Never have I been one to give much thought to planning things out, let alone in advance of more than a couple days. Things are going to be different for me next year. Oh, don't worry, I will still be riding until I am yawning in technicolor both in races and training. But I will no longer be sporting the green kit of teamFIRE.

After some seriously long thought and talking it over with other people, next year, I will instead be sporting the blue kit of the Elkhorn Valley Cycling Club powered by Monster. These are a bunch of great guys and gals with copious amounts of talent and I am looking forward to working and racing with them next year. My decision didn't come easy, but I wanted more of an opportunity to race with a team dynamic, and to grow as a racer I need to have that experience.

My time on teamFIRE has been great, the people were very welcoming and helped me learn and understand the basics of riding in groups and racing. I have only been riding and racing for just over a year now and without their friendship and support, I probably would have gone on to other things. Getting into cycling, not to mention racing, is not an easy thing and it can be very ego shattering at times as well. Great friends along the way helps immensely. I will still do my best to be a part of teamFIRE and help promote the Lincoln cycling scene; however, it will be on a club level instead. I always understood the FIRE in teamFIRE stood for First In Racing Experience, and it sure was that if not more for me.

Thank you to everyone on teamFIRE and I hope you understand my decision. I will miss the green, but the blue will now match my new road machine. :)

Okay, that's my one mushy post for the year. There may be some other good news coming down the pipe, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Will definitely keep you updated on that when I know more. How about a little teaser; if what I hope happens, happens, I will be commuting to work on my bike in Lincoln. That's all I will say about that.

Tomorrow is Taco Ride Night. Woo-hoo!!! There were some takers and we are going to have a great time. If there is anyone else who would like to come along, you can meet us at the Wabash Trail head between 5 and 5:30 PM tomorrow evening.

Also, either tomorrow or Friday I will get some pics up of the new cross machine and it's official name. This time I was able to name it before someone else gave it a silly name. Yea, you know who are. hehe

A small hiatus...

2008-09-23T13:03:00.005-05:00

It's been several months since I last posted. I had been contemplating whether it was worth blogging or not. Mostly though, I was feeling frustrated with my performance on the bike at the races. It felt like I had not progressed any since last year. Damn, it just plain felt like I wasn't any faster. I wasn't expecting to win, but I sure as heck would like to stay with the pack through the entire race.

With added frustration, comes added perseverance, so on the ~~constant nagging~~ advice of my coach I finally purchased a Powertap. I love this thing, I don't know why I didn't purchase one sooner. The feedback is so much better than my other electronic toys. Now I notice whether I am improving or not and it helps even more when doing the workouts, especially intervals. There is so much techie goodness with this toy I am going to try and refrain from getting geeky on you.

Now, after some of my frustration, I was determined to do good at the Tour of KC. This being my last race of the road season, I went at it with the mindset of puking my guts out by the end of each race. Well, to my surprise, this WAS the best race of the season for me. I finished with the pack in the first race. I was in the clouds after that. The next day brought rain and a BIG hill to climb. I lined up and was resolved yet again to finish strong. On the second time up the hill, I couldn't get out of my large chain ring for half the climb. My legs were beginning to feel shredded before I wanted them to. I was able to get back into the small ring, though I had fallen off the main back. With grit in my teeth, literally and figuratively (see above picture), I pushed on with rubber side down. I was between the main pack by about 30 seconds and 45 seconds ahead of the chase group. I wasn't going to fall back to the chase group, but I didn't have anyone to work with which was both good and bad. Good, because I didn't have any extra road spray to swallow, bad because I could have saved more energy.

The last day went well, but I got lapped with 6 laps to go. I think I would have finished with the pack if I didn't have an incident, but that is the nature of bike racing. Live to race another day. I was happy with how I did and how I finished the season. There shouldn't be any reason I can't finish with the pack every time next year, especially if I keep training. And so it ends, and it ends on a strong note this year.

About a month later, while coming back from a training ride, I was run over, head on, by a Ford F-250 Diesel truck. There I was, stopped at a stop sign signaling a left turn when there was this truck on top of me. They took the turn short and ran into me head on. Thankfully, the only thing I really suffered was a bad charlie horse and a scraped knee. Nothing else. Now the bike on the other hand, I was worried about. One could say I am a true cyclist know where I care more about my bike than myself. The driver had progressive insurance and they settled on the bike within a week. They will be settling on everything else in a couple more weeks, which should be another nice payoff. So, off to the bike shop to get a new road bike. The old one now will become my stationary trainer for the winter months. So, the new bike is a '08 Madone 5.2 Pro, which fits and rides like a dream. I still love the old one. The old one is like an old toyota beater that just keeps going, while the new one is like a lexus, the upgraded version of toyota. I won't mention what the bike has been named because someone else named it and it won't respond to any other name at this time. hehe

Now it is time for cross season to get going. Currently, I am having a Salsa Chili Con Crosso being built up and it should be ready by Thursday (9/25), Friday at the latest. Now it's time to red-line at every race, and the race I am looking most forward to is Jingle Cross in Iowa City. Already registered, and I am going to attempt 2 races each day. Nationals is not in the cards for me this year, as much as everyone has bugged me to do it, I figured it would be better to get one more season and one more year of training behind me before attempting it. So, everything for me kicks off in 2 weeks at Swanson Park in Omaha. Woo-hoo!!!

To lower the boredom factor, if anyone is still reading at this point, I will end this for now. Hopefully, I will be able to keep updated a little bit more now. Thanks for stopping by, and I will try to get the stories flowing again.

The ups and downs...

2008-06-10T10:46:00.003-05:00

The last few weeks have not been lacking in the excitement department. There was a major database and hardware crash a couple of weeks ago that pretty much had me living off of minimal sleep and loads of caffeine and sugar to keep going.

Last week was fun on many fronts. First there was a large layoff at work, a lot of good people, along with the lot of useless people. Things around the office were rather tense as we had to take up the slack and wonder where on the list we would have been if there were more people let go.

On the non work side, the weather last week leading up to the Norfolk Classic (6/7 - 6/8) was far from friendly. Since most of my training time is relegated to the evening hours, we had several storms during that time. To save money so I can pay for races and the occasional component, I don't run the a/c during the summer and I have no fans. Suffice it to say that trying to spin inside with the temps around 82 and the humidity through the roof, it isn't easily accomplished and I just couldn't go beyond 45 minutes. I'm one of those people who sweat gallons, and if you have no air circulation, it becomes completely excruciating.

Now for the fun part, the Norfolk Classic. I came into this race feeling like crud mentally. I was feeling like this was going to be terrible for myself. How easily I am proven wrong. We rolled out for the 64 mile race and I was starting to feel real good. One of my goals was to tuck into a good position in the pack and hang as long as I could. This was a very hilly course and part of me was dreading that. I can usually do good on a couple of hills, but more than that or repeats I begin to lose it. On the first lap of the 32 mile loop, there were multiple attacks and non of them seemed to take. My positioning must have been good because I didn't mind the surges and I was hanging on without feeling like dying. (Must be a sign of improvement.) After the final turn in the first lap there are about 4 big hills. Attacks were thrown on them. I dropped off halfway up the second hill. I couldn't believe that I couldn't hold on for 1 lap. Then I saw someone else drop off. I was able to catch up with him and we started working it. The wheel truck passed us to catch up to the pack. I'll be damned if I was going to get dropped that easily, so I laid it down. The guy who was helping dropped back and I was alone, so I just started to chase solo. This eventually worked, just after the turn for the start of the second lap I caught back onto the pack.

I should have moved up into the pack because they were still throwing attacks and in the back you end up constantly surging. Ugh, it was starting to kill me. Then there was crash amongst three riders, I slowed down and steered around, and that was my undoing. The pack was pulling away and I couldn't find any more matches. So I worked on keeping a steady TT effort. I could see some other people up ahead who had dropped off too, and I thought I could catch them.

On the next to last turn in the race, things went from bad to worse. Some farm dog started chasing and barking at me. He was looking at my ankle like it was a juicy steak. My legs however, were not wanting to put any more power out. I was begging the dog to bite me and put me out of my misery. However, I had just enough power to get away. Then my legs started cramping. Not just a light little twinge either. If I stopped pedaling, I could literally see the muscles around my knee knot up. I kept going though. Then the balls of my feet were on fire and my toes had gone numb. But I finished the race. Looking at my numbers, this was my best road race to date, and despite the agony I felt real good. Not to mention there were showers available at the end of the race.

Sunday was the criterium. My race wasn't until 2:30 so I watched most of the other races. Even though I came in last, a lot of good things did happen. This was my fastest sustained pace so far. I didn't crash on any of the corners, and I really liked this course. My confidence in criteriums has been lacking since I always seem to go down. This course really helped start the rebuilding process.

I want to thank the Elkhorn Valley Cycling Club for putting on a great race weekend. I'm definitely looking forward to next years. Also congratulations to everyone who won and or completed your events, everyone did great. That's it for now, hopefully things will be smooth for a while and I can write more and relax more.

Moments of clarity...

2008-05-19T08:01:00.004-05:00

Well, this past week and weekend was extremely busy for me with work, a 40K time trial on Saturday, and the Platte River 6 hour MTB race on Sunday. Fortunately, I didn't get a chance to race the Platte River race, but I will explain that later.

Saturday was the 40K (approx. 25 miles) state time trial in Norfolk, NE. This was the first race I ever did last year and was wanting to come full circle. I like time trials because it is a means for me to measure my improvements over time. Of course there are factors that can also affect the results such as wind, temp, road conditions, etc... By a strange twist of fate, this year was pretty much similar to last year. The wind velocity was pretty much a duplicate, and the temps were just slightly warmer. The only diff is that I have been working my keyster off for the last year. I purchased some aero bars earlier in the week. I probably should have purchased them earlier and started training on them. Sitting in the aero position doesn't seem too bad to me. However, my tender bits seem to disagree. About halfway through the ride things started going rather numb and it felt like the nether regions wear covered in a rather large coating of lead. I took a lot of out-of-the-saddle breaks on the last half.

My final result was that I improved over last years time by 9 minutes, of which I am extremely happy. All of the other good things will come over time, I just need to keep working hard. :) It was great seeing a lot of familiar faces and many new ones at the race. Everyone seemed to have a good time, even though everyone appeared to have a "I gave it everything I had" look on their face. Heck, at bike races everyone knows that's a look of someone who had a great time.

I had planned on racing the Platte River 6 hour MTB race put on by Cycleworks on Sunday. However, earlier in the week I was asked to officiate instead. Since a NORBA sanctioned event can't go on without an USCF official, I decided to step up to the plate and do it. I arrived at the park at the crack of dawn with Zod to get a chance to at least ride the course one time before I had to start my duties. This is one of the most fun places in Nebraska to ride a mountain bike. The course will teach you much about yourself and your bike. The first half is mostly climbing and turning, while the second half is fast and very technical. It was good to ride it. One thing I noticed though, was that my legs were pretty much shredded from the time trial and I was glad I wasn't doing this race. It definitely wouldn't have been much fun without fresh legs. This was my first time officiating and it went off well. At first I was a little less than confident, but as I talked to people and got things on my checklist marked off I felt better. Many things were learned and I will be more than confident at the next race I do.

So, all-in-all this was a great weekend. Now it's time to prepare for the Norfolk Classic weekend in 2 and a half weeks. Main objective is to have fun and ride my best, not to mention no crashes on the crit. hehe Good job and thanks to everyone who raced and/or put on an event this weekend. I know I had a great time.

What the....

2008-05-07T08:58:00.002-05:00

What is going on? I have had 3 flats in 2 days and one of them was on my tubeless, those replacement tires ain't cheap either. As for my training wheels, I put on a new tire over the weekend. Monday morning it was flat. No spare tube, so I put the tubeless on and headed out for the Blues ride, halfway there my rear tire gets a nasty gash in it. I limped home, went to the shop and got a new tube, should have gotten 2, and set up an appointment to get the tubeless fixed.

After getting home I replaced the tube in the training wheels. There was a small hole in the one I replaced, couldn't find out what caused it though. So I proceeded to put in a new one, and left it to its own devices until I got home from work on Tuesday. All seemed fine, it was holding the air I put in the prior day. I was good to go, so I headed out for a hammer fest that I was thinking would only be a couple hours, but ended up at three and a half hours. Ouch. I stopped to get some much needed gatorade and more water. When I came out, my rear tire was flat again. I inspected the tire on the outside, nada, nothing on the outside. I pulled out the portable pump, put some air in it, and it seemed to be holding. It held all the way back home. The whole ride was fun and I got one serious frakkin workout. Will probably do the same thing again on Thursday.

When I got up this morning, I checked the bike out and the tire was completely flat. Then I glanced over to my yeti and it's front tire was completely flat. I love a good mystery from time to time, but these have me completely perplexed as to the root cause. If there is a defect in the tire itself, hopefully I can get a free replacement since I bought it recently. Maybe it's just payback for me only having 2 flats last year. hehe If I can keep the air in the tire tonight, then it is off to the teamFIRE ride tonight. A nice easy ride is what the legs are wanting right about now. :)

Me no go boom...

2008-05-05T09:37:00.002-05:00

This past weekend was both fun and busy. My original plan was to go to the Swanson River City Shootout MTB race on Saturday, then help out at the Lincoln City Marathon and then get a few hours riding time in too, with plenty of time for much needed yard work.

That all came to a crashing restructure Friday evening when I received and email stating that the MTB race was being postponed to Sunday. It was done because of the rain we got during the week and they just wanted to make sure we didn't get any more and that the trails would be in primo condition to ride. So, Saturday morning I decided to mow the yard. Then come the afternoon, I decided to head out to Swanson park and get a few laps in, and to get some much needed time on the mountain bike. It was frakkin sweet. There were a couple of juicy spots but I figured they would be dried up come race time on Sunday. I sure felt like I got a serious climbing workout. I know Platte River will be much more brutal, and that race is the day after the TT in Norfolk. Oh I am so going to be hurting after that weekend.

Sunday morning I headed out to the 20 mile mark at the Lincoln Marathon to monitor the timing system until someone arrived to take over. There was definitely a lot of inspiration amongst these people. It was obvious some of them were doing this just to prove something to themselves and they weren't about to give up. From what I heard there were around 1200 people doing the full marathon. I headed out around 10am to get to Swanson and get at least one warm-up lap in before the race started at noon. Mission accomplished.

This was the race last year that I ripped a seat off of the bike, almost broke my jaw, and ended up a DNF. Not this time, no way. The beginners races have had the ante upped on them by doing 2 laps now. This I liked. However, I wasn't amply prepared for a 2 lap race. I didn't carb up the night before and before the race like I should have, since I was only planning on a 30 minute or so race. To save you from a detailed lap by lap replay, I will summarize it instead. No accidents, 1 chain drop (need to get a dog fang for my bike), no accidents, several tactical mistakes. Ended up 4th out of 13 in my group. I felt really good about that, much better than a year ago. The big mistake I made was thinking the guy in front of me was in my group, so I stayed on his six to try and take him in the final sprint. Damn, he wasn't in my group, guess I need to pass whenever I can and not plan out a final sprint strategy unless I am one hundred percent sure of the individual in front of me.

It was a great time anyway, thanks to everyone who put on, officiated, and supported this race. The whole thing went off smoothly. Now I have 2 weeks to get ready for the state time trial on the 17th and the 6 hour Platte river marathon on the 18th. Oh, I will so be a hurtin' unit after that weekend. Hope everyone had a great weekend whatever it was you did.

The good, the bad, and the not so ugly...

2008-04-28T10:24:00.002-05:00

Well, I am real happy with how I did this past weekend at Iowa City.

I traveled to Iowa City on Thursday to spend some time with my family who currently reside there. The weather both days was far from nice. Thunderstorms and flooding were abounding in eastern Iowa. The outlook for the weekend wasn't looking much better with high winds and not so warm temperatures. Though they did end up slightly warmer than the Lincoln Spring Classic weekend. At least the sun was out.

Saturdays road race was fun. My plan was to go out and do my best. Armed with a new mantra and a plan I was ready to race. With the winds coming out of the west at over 20 mph, the plan was to shield myself in the pack as best I could. My positioning was mostly in the top 10, a couple of times I found myself getting too close to the front and I was not going to attempt any pulling, not with those winds, so I just relegated myself a few places back. One lap down and I am still in the pack, this was looking good, I was feeling real good. Before it was always a struggle to keep with the pack, now I can see some improvement. Halfway through the second lap, I am still there. There was a turn south and up a nice little hill. Here things weren't looking very good. I couldn't drop out of my large chain ring to climb the hill. This had the effect of people passing me and slowly falling off the back. I knew that as soon as I topped the hill there was a turn east and a nice tailwind to assist me in catching back on. I laid the hammer down and was able to gap the 100 or so yards and get back into the pack. Here I was able to relax myself a little and get some water. There was then a turn south with a turn west about 100 yards down. When we turned west and went up a small climb, I fell off just enough to get slammed by the winds. A few other had dropped off too and we had a small train of 6 of us working together to try and catch back up and make a good showing of it. We made it 3/4 of the way through the last lap when I made a seriously bad mistake. I just finished pulling and was letting everyone move up. I knew who the last guy was and was waiting for him. He was about a bike and a half back and when he came up said, "They don't want to work with us any more" I should have looked back and or just grabbed the wheel when I noticed a gap. In those windy conditions it was pretty much hopeless for me to catch back on, so I time trialed it to the finish. I think there was close to 40 some people who started and only 27 of us finished in the cat 4 race. I ended up 22nd. I was really happy with myself and was feeling real good and looking toward the crit on Sunday.

With my family out watching the race on Sunday, I was looking forward to putting the same amount of effort into the race as I did on Saturday. The objective was to do my best, not get lapped, and not crash. Well, needless to say only one of those things came off as planned. Right at the start we went down hill and had to take a right hand turn. Not really sure how it happened, I may have gotten a little titchy, and may be I tried to turn to soon or too sharply but down I went, thankfully I didn't hit anyone else or cause any other accidents. My shorts were torn up and there was some blood on my leg and elbow. The injuries I was able to ignore. Picked up my bike, fixed the shifter and everything seemed to check out. So I ran up the hill with my bike in hand and heading for my free lap.

I'll be darned if I was going to go out that easily. I got back in the race and just did what I could. My drive seemed to have been slightly diminished since I was spending so much time trying to figure out what went wrong and every subsequent time around that corner I became overly cautious. Not sure how many laps I was able to get in before getting lapped and subsequently being pulled from the race. I then went down to the first aid station and got patched up.

All-in-all it was a great weekend. Next year I will be better. Congratulations to everyone else who raced and did well this weekend. Bryan (who has a great write up about the weekend, not to mention his grammar is much better. hehe) , Janna, Sydney, and Marc and all the others who raced.

Some fun...

2008-04-18T09:31:00.002-05:00

Some truly random thoughts and ideas with no consistent form...

Aside from the weather the last two days, it has been a good week. The weekend is looking to be a monumental one too. Could this be a sign of things to come? One can only hope.

I only get to work for four hours today. The entire team is going on a team outing today which will consist of lunch and bowling all afternoon. It's times like these that make working somewhat enjoyable, too bad it's not every day. hehe

Yesterday, and possibly today I am relegated to riding on the trainer inside. As everyone knows, it's boring, even more so now with the weather finally being nice. If anyone hears me complaining about the heat this year, you have an open invitation to slap me into next week with no retribution from me.

With the weather outlook for this weekend being in the 70s and sunny, anyone up for a little picnic in the late afternoon either day at Pioneers Park? If we can get enough people, then we can just have each person bring something. Probably hot dogs and marshmallows. Mmmmm....toasting marshmallows sound real yummy right about now. Maybe we can get the whole teamFIRE crew together for a spring team kickoff.

Next weekend is Iowa City weekend and my nieces birthday. I am going to have a great time no matter what happens. The racing will be fun and even more fun will be a 7 year old Harry Potter themed birthday party. :) Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Tomaru, kangaeru...

2008-04-14T09:32:00.002-05:00

After a weekend of tsunami strength winds and sub freezing temperatures I have decided that it was a good weekend.

Saturdays 49 mile road race started 2 hours later than originally slotted in hopes of giving the riders some slightly warmer temps and less chance of snow. I definitely discovered the secret to keeping warm on those cold days. After all was said and done I was dripping in sweat. At the outset, my personal goals were to keep with the pack as long as I could, and to just shut off the pain. I was able to stay up there for three quarters of the first lap, then it was time for some time trial training. On the turn after the damn on the second lap I went down. Not really sure what caused it, but there went my goal of having no accidents in the road racing venue. After a short time of being stunned, I straightened a few things on the bike and got back into the race. Other than cosmetic damage the only other thing was a bent rear der hanger which was remedied by a quick trip to the shop after the race.

It was time for some well needed sleep and a hot as fook shower. Man did that feel good, I showered until my water heater was completely empty. Then I flopped on the couch, watched some movies and hit the hay rather early.

Sunday morning wasn't looking much better than Saturday. Winds were still in the 25 to 25 mph range and the temps were still below freezing. One bonus was that the sun was out. Arrived at the park around 8AM to get my officials training completed and helped score the Mens Masters race.

It was a tad tough to keep warm, though I took my lesson from the prior day and did the same thing. I was warm. Then it was time to race. The temps seemed to have picked up a little, but the winds hadn't died down so it was hard to notice any warming. Goals for this race was to not get lapped by the pack and to stay with them as long as I could. Well, I stayed with them for almost a full lap. Halfway up the last hill on the circuit I started falling off. I kept cranking it though. Hills just completely kill me at this stage in the game. Though, I didn't get lapped, which to myself is a great accomplishment.

It's frustrating not finishing with everyone, but that is the nature of the beast at this time. With continued training and determination things will get better, even if it takes a couple of years. I have to keep reminding myself that one cannot expect overnight improvements, especially from being a smoking, eating, couch potato. That is definitely the big lesson I learned this weekend; that I need to be patient and do what I can at the moment, and look at every aspect of the whole thing as a lesson in improvement.

Thanks to everyone who showed up to race or to spectate, sure hope everyone had a great time. Thanks to the event organizers and officials for putting on a fun race. Even though the weather didn't want to cooperate, it was still fun.

One last thing, there was a raffle at the end of the event on Sunday and yours truly won a lifetime entry to the Spring Classic. woo-hoo!!! Sure hope this race continues to happen every year. :) Hope everyone had a great weekend no matter what you did. Now it's time to get ready for Iowa City in 2 weeks.

Let the hurt begin...

2008-04-07T07:41:00.002-05:00

Well, this weekend saw me participate in the 2 days of road races in Des Moines, IA. I had a great time, learned many things, met great people, and ended up hurting like a mofo. The old saying goes, "that which does not kill you, makes you stronger." Well, it was pretty darn close to the former, so the latter should become true.

Do I really want to talk about the races? No. As a matter of fact, we are to never talk about those two days ever again. I will be more than happy to discuss anything else about the weekend, just not about my races. Suffice it to say that my legs have never been in the kind of pain they were and still are in. I'm going to try and use this past weekend as a learning experience and move forward. Not necessarily and easy accomplishment since I like to let things simmer and stew until they come to a boil and come out at the most inopportune time. :)

Big thanks go out to the PRC gals for suggesting and inviting us to A-Dong Vietnamese restaurant. That was some really good eats; even though my order didn't come until after everyone else had finished eating theirs.

Now it's time for a few days of recovery and getting ready for the Spring Classic this weekend. Win or lose, I am going to push myself to the edge again and just learn from the whole thing.

Well, time to post this. I have perused it a few times over and I don't think anyone will find it insulting in anyway. So, if you do, then next post I will post some words of advice. hehe

And they're off...

2008-04-03T09:42:00.002-05:00

The bike is in the shop getting her upgrades and will be ready for this weekend. I decided to forgo the Psycowpath race in Norfolk and the training crit in Omaha this weekend. Instead, I have decided to attend the two days of road races in Des Moines, IA. The call of competition is too strong for me to ignore. With the weather outlook looking very conducive to great racing, nothing can dampen my spirits now. This should be a fantastic way to start the season. My plans are to drive out from Lincoln Saturday morning, race, maybe head over to Iowa City to visit my niece and nephew, then back to Des Moines for some well needed sleep, then race it up one more time. Anyone else heading out to Des Moines to race too? Maybe get some carpooling or something going. I love to save money when I can. hehe

I am definitely coming up blank on what to write right now. To some people this isn't a surprise. hehe Next weekend is the Lincoln Spring Classic, don't forget to register people and then 2 weeks after that is the Iowa City race. This one I am really looking forward to racing. The registration is now open.

Well, best get things caught up at work before the weekend. Don't need any extra distractions. :)

About time...

2008-03-27T08:35:00.002-05:00

Maybe it's time I post something, since it has been a couple of months.

What have I been up to you ask? Well, since Jingle Cross in November I have spent over 99% of the time riding indoors. Who wants to hear about riding a bike inside the house? It's BORING, trust me on this. There is only so much boredom a person can put up with and I think I have reached my limits. There has been some nice weather over the last couple of weeks and I have had a chance to get out and ride. It was such a relief, even though it felt slightly cool. However, this week has just plain sucked and I am once again relegated to the inside of my house.

Now, maybe this wouldn't be so bad you think. You say, "Kevin, you have over 400 movies you could watch, or you could watch the Cycling show on versus." You would have been correct a couple of months ago; however, at the end of last month my satellite system just stopped working. Then two days later my stereo A/V receiver's power supply fried itself. The latter has been in the repair shop ever since, STILL waiting on replacement parts. So I have been riding inside with abso-fraggin-loutely NOTHING to moderately decrease the boredom.

I called Dish Network last Friday to cancel the entire service. They don't want to lose customers, so they came out, on Easter Sunday, fixed my dish, upgraded my receiver to the next greatest thing with 150 hours of recording capability, my old receiver only recorded up to 8 hours. They also added more channels to my line up including all the local channels, and to top it off, my monthly bill is actually 3 Washington's cheaper a month. All of this with no extra charge to me. I also now have the versus channel.

This is somewhat good now. The only down side is that since I still have no A/V receiver, I had to hook the dish through the tv, and the tv is mono sound.

Okay, enough feeling sorry for myself. The race season in Nebraska is almost upon us, and I am getting stoked. So much so that my road bike is getting some serious upgrades. New set of wheels, the Dura-Ace 7801 tubeless, upgrade from 9 speed to 10 speed, Ultegra levers and rear derailleur. I am also just replacing a few parts since they are getting rather worn. This is an expensive hobby. However, it isn't as expensive as flying, had to give that up because they fuel prices just kept climbing with no end in sight.

The first official road race is the Spring Classic April 12-13, and the first Psycowpath race is April 5. I will finally get a chance to see if all this training has paid off in spades or if it's just a bluff that has gone horribly wrong.

Also, I decided to attend the Officials clinic this past February, and passed the test. So I will be an official at some of the races this year. Since my main goal is doing well in road races, my capacity as an official will mostly be concentrated on the mountain bike races. My decision to do this was to get more involved in the sport, and also because I can get paid to be an official. Hey, I need a way to pay for all these new things for my bike. Not to mention I want to get an actual cyclocross bike this year and not race on my hybrid. That thing just digs into the shoulder and it's not very light.

Okay, time to wrap up this rambling of mine. Look forward to more frequent updates, especially when the season is in full swing.

Happy New Year...

2008-01-02T08:02:00.000-06:00

This sure is looking to be an exciting year. The race schedule is finally out and I think I have selected the races I want to participate. Now I just need to work my butt off to accomplish what I have set out to do.

Vacations are going to be short and cheap this year. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I said that last year too and look what happened. Well, this time I am going to stick to my guns and not go hog wild. I was planning on doing Leadville 100, but I am definitely going to hold off on that until next year. The entry fee is 240 clams, not to mention what it will cost to get out there, eat, sleep, etc...So it is probably best that I concentrate more on training and getting the miles in. That way I have a better chance of hitting the 9 or 12 hour mark. Also, maybe I can get more people to join me too.

Are you wondering what my resolutions for this year? Me too. Since I don't smoke, don't drink, and have already lost a lot of weight, what else is there? Well, I do have a few but I don't want to mention them else I lose my nerve and give up. I have discovered that if I tell people certain things, the drive to succeed fails somehow. Maybe I should resolve to see a head shrink this year, then I can figure these things out a little quicker. However, I am too stingy to do that and also I don't think they are worth it. Been there, done that, didn't do squat.

Sure hope everyone else had a great past year and are looking forward to this new year. Looking forward to the weather getting warmer and getting back out on the road. Have a great one people.

Xmas 2006...

2007-12-19T21:43:00.000-06:00

And here is last years card. Enjoy :)

Still alive...

2007-12-19T13:36:00.000-06:00

If anyone was wondering, yes, I am still around. After Jingle Cross, everything just hit me like a ton of bricks. Projects with upped deadlines, gifts to buy (still haven't gotten everything), bike riding to do, holiday cards to make. Well, I have finally accomplished the last one. I had the card planned out at the beginning of the year but didn't do a damn thing until last week. Everything I wanted to do on it thought, I just didn't have the time to do, but they are done. Now I just need to find the glossy paper, which nobody seems to carry anymore. The fun never ends.

Do I have your curiosity piqued yet? Well, if you aren't on my mailing list you won't get a chance to see it until after the new year. I don't want to spoil the surprise for people waiting on it. Though to satisfy your curiosity for just a little bit, here are my cards from the last two years. Enjoy. :) Okay, I thought I had both of them on this computer but I was wrong. Here is 2005, I will upload 2006 when I get home.

Going out with a bang...

2007-11-28T09:03:00.001-06:00

This past weekend was my last race weekend until the Spring. I attended the Jingle Cross weekend in Iowa City, IA and had the time of my life. It was a rather tough course, but not too tough.

On the trip to Iowa City, I was contemplating on signing up for the 3/4 race on Sunday, this in addition to the two races I was already registered. Hey, it was the last race weekend for quite some time and I wanted to have some serious hurt going on.

Saturday morning arrived with temperatures in the mid twenties. To make it even more intense, my race was the first race of the morning at 9:30AM. I arrived at the course around 8AM to pre-ride and get warmed up. Since this was the beginners race, the course by-passed Mt. Krumpet, which disappointed me a little bit. I was glad I signed up for the other race on Sunday because the 3/4's go up it. There was one run-up on the first half of the course and it was a little steeper and longer than Hooligan Hill. Though, thankfully, the beginners course had a smaller run-up than the other races; theirs was twice as long.

Anywho, it was time to race, so we were off. I think this was my best race to date. I ended with 5th place out of 38 and in the money. woo-hoo!!! I stayed and watched the other races and helped cheer everyone on. It got a little warmer, but not much. As the races progressed the course got juicier and juicier, and created some nice ruts in a few spots. Then it was off to Donneley's Pub where the Punk Rock Cycling Team had reserved it for an official Jingle Cross Party. A good time was had by all.

Sunday morning arrived and this time my race was starting at 9AM and the temp was 22 degrees. I really hate the freaking cold. I got a couple of hot laps in, this time Mt Krumpet wasn't really by-passed. The run-up was now up the main slope. Oh know, why did I sign up for two races on this day? I wasn't going to let it deter me, I was going to make today better than the prior day. Also, the ruts created from Saturday were now frozen over, not fun if you didn't pick a good line, which was almost impossible to accomplish.

We were off, I was feeling really spry. Two of us broke away from the main group and we were trucking along. Then half way through the second lap, my curse reared it's ugly mug. After leaving the Grinch's Lair, I was turning around a manure wagon in the gravel and went down. Not only did I just slide out, I landed on my chin. I tasted blood and my teeth were hurting. I should have just gotten back on the bike to keep my second place but I just felt stunned. I got back on and started to pick off the people who passed me. Then on one of the turns on the grass, I slid out again. This time no injuries, just plain frustration. Went back after the people ahead of me. Up the climb on the side of the hill I slipped out again. This time onto my right side. It wouldn't have been much of a deal but I couldn't get my foot unclipped to get back up. I eventually got it and was back in the race. I wound up ticking off enough people to end up 9th out of 42. I think I could have at least gotten 5th or better if we had one more lap.

I got to my car and looked at my chin. It was a tad bloody, so I put a band-aid on it. Then Syd and Marc said I probably had too much pressure in my tires. So I dropped 10psi out of them and prepared myself for the 3/4 race. After watching Saturday's 3/4 race I realized that to have a chance in that race you need to be a high 4 to even have a fighting chance. These guys were monsters. Anywho, after two hours resting and thinking it was time for my last race. I pushed myself, but I did it conservatively. Everything was going good, I knew I wasn't last which was good. Then on the next to last lap disaster struck. I'm not really sure exactly what happened but on the barriers, as I dismounted and picked up my bike, either my foot didn't clear the barrier or my tire clipped it, or it could have been both, but I crumpled on top of the barrier and my bike. The wind was taken out of me but I was determined to go on. However, as I remounted my bike, my shin and knee screamed at me and I knew I was done. So I walked off the course and ended with a DNF. I ended up with an charlie horse the size of a baseball above my knee, my shin ended up with two large bruises and abrasions. Not to mention the bruise to my chest which looks like it was the barrier I landed on to create.

All-in-all, it was a great time and everyone who raced and worked the event did a great job. It was even fun to watch the little kids race the Grinch on Sunday. Of course the Grinch tried to cheat and was disqualified. He did end up being a good sport and gave all the kids a present. I am looking forward to doing this race again next year. At that time I am planning on doing much better, there will be no excuse for not having a podium finish.

As you may have noticed, the racing calendar has been removed. No more races for me until the Spring. This means some serious working out to increase my power. Though with the extra times on the weekends now, I can catch up on my movie watching. hehe

Sausage finger...

2007-11-19T07:19:00.000-06:00

This past weekend was the Nebraska Cyclocross weekend at Pioneers Park in Lincoln, NE. Right now I can't cogitate a word that can accurately describe the whole thing, but "freaking fun" fall very short of an apt description. It has definitely set the bar extremely high for Jingle Cross this coming weekend, which for me will be my last race weekend until the spring.

Saturday started out pretty good. I arrived at the park in plenty of time to get a few laps in and so I knew what to expect around each corner. From my perspective, this seemed a much more technical course than Swanson. The area known as Hooligan Hill seemed like it would be a nasty pain giver. I didn't want to blow myself up before the race so I took the hill and the barriers at a leisurely stroll. The first race started at noon, so I took up position on Hooligan Hill with the other spectators and added my cheering to the cacophony of cowbells and cheering to the racers climbing the hill. There were even people hanging dollar bills off of trees and posts, even from their crotches for racers to grab on their way past at the top of the hill. Then it was time for my race, the Cat 4 group.

After lining up, I had my goal in sight, another top 10 finish. We were off. I was feeling a tad zen with the course. Taking all the twists and turns with ease. I could tell I was pushing it harder than usual, my heart rate was sky high, as well it should be. Then we arrived to Hooligan Hill. This was a pure femur creamer, especially after pushing it all the way to this point. I didn't let up though, and because I was shutting out all the pain, I must have shut out all the peripheral stimulus because during the whole race all I saw was myself climbing the hill. No pain, no noise, and dang it I didn't think or look for a single dollar bill hanging from anywhere. The Cat 4 racers did only a total of five laps, and as each lap progressed the hill and the barriers seemed to get higher and higher each lap. However, I kept on pushing to the end. Ended up 10th out of 23. I probably could have done better, but I am happy with how I ended. No accidents, no injuries, and no chumming the field. I stayed and cheered on the Cat 1/2/3 riders, who did the circuit for one hour. Insanity I tell you, not to mention one rider who was in the first race in the morning, had a nasty spill and pulled out. However, she then signed up for the Cat 1/2/3 race and kicked some butt. Great job Sydney!!! You are an inspiration to everyone out there, especially to us newbies.

Sunday saw not as warm temperatures, but the sky was clear and sunny. I didn't get as much sleep as I wanted Saturday night. Had a dickens of a time falling asleep. Arrived plenty early to ride the course again. This time it was in the opposite direction of Saturday. I was feeling good, though a tad worn out. Cheered the other races on and it was time for my race. I set myself up for the same goal, a top 10 finish. However, if anything could go wrong, it went wrong this day. Off the start, I couldn't get myself clipped in for about 10 seconds. This cost me some initial positioning and energy. Then we came to the barriers before Hooligan Hill, and I was on the verge of tripping on the barriers. My feet weren't making it clear and I didn't have my bike high enough and kept clipping the rear tire on the barrier. Then at the top I couldn't clip in again, so instead of dinking with it I just rode down the hill to the bottom of Hooligan Hill with my feet just resting on the pedals. This felt a little creepy and like I didn't have much control. To make an even longer story short, every time I had to dismount, I had a hell of a time getting clipped back in.

Then on the second lap there was a section that went from the road, down a little hill with a 180 degree turn and back up to the road. Well, I must have grabbed my rear brake a little hard because I spun the bike 180 degrees and flipped over. The wind was knocked out of me, a couple people passed by, I got my bearings and I was back on track. Doing a self assessment while continuing, I noticed that I couldn't move my index finger without searing pain and my shin was feeling a bit twitchy. I don't think I can end a race discipline without drawing blood this year. Oh well. Anywho, I made up a little bit of my lost time and distance, but not enough to attain my personal goal. I ended up 15th out of 20.

This morning the only thing that is not feeling good is my finger. Looks like a giant sausage today and it's really hard to bend. From all the fun I had this weekend and all the support there was out there from the racing and non-racing community, I have high hopes for Jingle Cross.

Congratulations to all those who raced this weekend, and a big THANKS to everyone who came out to cheer and support the riders. You are what made the race in my eyes. It wasn't about winning or losing, but just about having a grand old time. I am going to set myself with some even higher goals for next year.

Embarrassing...

2007-11-14T12:38:00.000-06:00

Nothing give a better resistance workout than riding in 25 to 40 MPH winds. Granted it was a tailwind on the way out; however, it's the ride back that matters. I'd rather have the tailwind on the way back but, alas, where I am located relegates me to a south then north ride. Being fall and soon to be winter, most of the winds are from the north.

It was a good ride, a tad on the cool side, but nothing uncomfortable. It was what happened after the ride that is making my day exciting. My companies lack of locker rooms or any type of wellness center for that matter, relegate me to changing in bathroom stalls. Well, when I grabbed my pants, they snagged on the sharp corner of the door and put a two inch tear in the left buttocks region. To make matters worse, for those of you who don't already know, I work in Omaha but my residence is in Lincoln; one hour away. So any chance of changing is not in the cards. Oh well, guess I need to do some clothes shopping this weekend.

Speaking of this weekend, it is time for some more cyclocross action, this time in Lincoln. Woo-hoo!!! Hopefully all my remounts will be pain free. Then one more week until Jingle Cross. After that, it is going to be ALL training for the next 3 or 4 months. Or as Marc likes to call it, TSTWKT (The s*&t that will kill them), I look forward to it. I'm sure looking to see even more marked improvement over this past year. I'm even thinking of attempting Leadville too, as long as there isn't a road race that weekend. Speaking of which, does anyone know when next years race schedule will be released?

Well, need to find some duct tape and do some jury rigged sewing. Hope to see a bunch of you out for the races this weekend, whether your going to race or not. There can never be enough people out there with cow bells.

Great Weather...

2007-11-12T12:08:00.000-06:00

The weather this past weekend was just perfect for some good old fun.

Saturday saw the first annual Cranksgiving. This event was a charitable bike ride which had riders leaving from the Bike Masters bicycle store and visiting 10 different stores and purchasing a minimum 10 different items. The event was organized by Bryan Redemske, who modeled it after a similar event in Des Moines, Iowa. The time, effort, and love that he put into this event was evident by the amount of fun everyone had. Just a little after noon, everyone was off to get the goodies on their list. People with bob trailers, backpacks, ditty bags, and some with their own kids in tow were scattering through town. The official report was that 770 pounds of food was collected. There were even some turkeys and 25 pound bags of flour that were purchased and carried on bikes. One of the people toting one of the bags of flour and had a slight tear in the bag. Needless to say the bike and rider were covered in a white powdery substance.

After returning Bryan supplied some soup, sloppy joes, and other yum yums for everyone. The store even had one of those old fashion big wheel bikes (I have no idea what they are actually called), which Janna, Nicol, and myself got a chance to take for a little spin around the parking lot. Maybe one day I will get one for myself, but not at this time. hehe

Thanks again Bryan for a well organized event and a great time, you did a fantastic job. I look forward to doing it again next year, and I will definitely bring a bigger bag to carry stuff around. That cheesecake sure looked good.

Sunday saw temps as high as 73, and there was a cross practice scheduled in the park. I sure didn't want to miss it since there will be a big race this coming weekend in Lincoln. It sure was nice to ride around without getting cold. There was one slight mishap and that was around the tree obstacle. When attempting my remount of the bicycle, I didn't pull myself far enough forward and landed slightly behind the seat. Though some tender parts didn't miss the seat. Not a very comfortable feeling for a little bit of time. I finished out riding for just over an hour of time. I really wanted to go for a little longer, but I didn't follow my prescribed workouts the whole weekend and I didn't want to mess myself up too much for the coming race.

Well, sure hope the weather behaves for this coming weekend. Then one more race after that, which is Jingle Cross in Iowa City. Woo-hoo!!!

Cryo...

2007-11-06T13:29:00.000-06:00

It's freaking cold outside for bike riding. It's so cold, my tender bits went into cryo. I thought I had enough stuff to keep me warm, obviously not. While my brain continues to thaw itself out I may just do some rambling here.

As many may know, or not know, my romance situation has never been one to write home about. Still that way. Though during one of my many ventures into the underworld of cyberspace, I came across something that may help me. Pick-up lines. I have never tried them, so what do I have to lose? Surely not anything I haven't lost before. So here is the list I came across, I'm leaning towards number 8 as my favorite one to try:

Did you fart, cause you blew me away.
Are your parents retarded, 'cause you sure is special.
My Love for you is like diarrhea ... I can't hold it in.
Do you have a library card, 'cause I'd like to sign you out.
Is there a mirror in your pants? Because I can see myself in them.
If you and I were Squirrels, I'd store my nuts in your hole.
You might not be the best looking girl here, but beauty is only a light switch away.
Man - "Fat Penguin!" Woman - "WHAT?" Man - "I just wanted to say something that would break the ice."
I may not be Fred Flintstone, but I bet I can make your bed-rock.
I can't find my puppy, can you help me find him? I think he went into this cheap motel room.
Your eyes are as blue as window cleaner.
If you're going to regret this in the morning, we can sleep until the afternoon.
Your face reminds me of a wrench, every time I think of it my nuts tighten up.

So? What's your favorite? Do you think they will help me? hehe

Maybe I should start looking for work in a warmer climate.

This Saturday is Cranksgiving! in Omaha. Hopefully there will be a big turn out, and the weather is looking like it will be just right. Mid sixties. So, if you are reading this and haven't heard of this event or have heard of it and just forgot, consider coming out. Bryan is planning some good times. He will be serving soup too. Not sure how I can eat that while riding but it will be challenging.

Happy Halloween...

2007-10-31T09:45:00.000-05:00

The guard was let down and it happened. I had a flat tire this morning. Ugh...and it isn't going to be cheap either. I did bring my bike to work to go riding over lunch again, so it isn't all that bad. This riding over lunch to free up my evenings is a pretty good idea of mine. I very rarely get one, so I have to live it up when it does happen. The weather doesn't seem to be too bad. A tad windy though, 15 to 25 MPH with gusts up to 30.

Hmmm....not much really to talk about. I think I may just go around to all the other offices here and get some Halloween candy. Hope everyone is having a good one.

One last item. Never, ever, no matter how desperate you are go to Jensen Tires for auto work. They are nothing but a bunch of petty thieves and scamsters. I went to pick up my car after they called and said the tires were fixed. I notice that the hub cap is missing, they said it was never there. I know for a fact I put it in the trunk. Also, the check engine light came on and they said it was on when I dropped it off. Fat chance. I swear they did something. They did this to me last time and I just thought they were telling the truth. Odd that it happens more than once and always after visiting them. Stay away from them and give your service to some other place. I am foaming at the mouth right now. I should stop now before I write things that aren't very family oriented.

That was fun...

2007-10-30T13:54:00.000-05:00

After some serious thought and also wanting to get some time in with the new Guitar Hero 3 game, I decided to bring my bike to work and to my workouts over lunch. One thing Omaha does well is bike trails. I was able to ride from my office on Miracle Hills all the way to Bellevue and back without having to stop and wait for traffic or a traffic light. The weather today obviously added to the enjoyable ride, seeing all the colors the plant life was exhibiting sure made for a quick fun ride. Sure hope we have a warm fall and winter because I want to do more of that.

Now on to the fun. Guitar Hero 3. If you haven't gotten it yet, get it. It ROCKS!!! (Pun intentionally intended) hehe Ever since I bought the first want a few years back, these games have made playing video games even more fun. As if one could ever think it could get better. There is as good mix of classic as well as more modern rock songs to choose from. Better still, it is available on all gaming consoles. Hmmm....maybe we should get a teamFIRE winter video gaming party going. :) Just a thought, bet there would maybe be 2 people interested, including myself. I probably should put 120% instead of 110% of my effort into training for next year. Thankfully that's why I hired Marc , so I don't have to think about it. Things like this is so much easier for someone else to tell me what to do. Sometimes I really hate to think. I set myself some lofty goals and he's planning on kicking my posterior to accomplish them. Woo-hoo!!! I love self-flagellation. (Yes, I know it's whipping, but it's such a cool word to use.)

Well, back to the proverbial grindstone. Hope everyone is doing well; also, have a great Halloween.

Magic number 3...

2007-10-24T12:51:00.000-05:00

A couple times a year some really bad things happen to me; I believe it to be karmic retribution. These things always happen in 3's.

Monday morning I followed my usual routine and fixed some cereal. There was something odd about it; there was a slight acidic taste to it. Since I brushed my teeth before eating I attributed the taste to that. However, it kept tasting funny. Needless to say I finished the bowl and drank the milk. Then I decided to open the milk and check it out; mostly because I can't let something go if it bothers me. To my surprise the milk had gone sour. Not curdled or outdated, but sour. How can this be since I just bought the milk two days ago and it's expiration date was not for another 2 weeks. I was then thinking of the movie Warlock, if you have seen this movie, bonus to you. :)

I wasn't to be let down yesterday either. My house was suffering from a power outage from 3pm to about 6pm. I couldn't even get my workout off the computer, so I tried to do it based on what I could remember; wasn't even close. hehe The only thing I really had to suffer was resetting all my clocks.

Now I am waiting for the BIG one to come. The third one is always the worst. Who knows what it will be. It always comes when I let down my guard. hehe

Well, guess I should get back to being productive. It's cross practice tonight, so I am definitely looking forward to that. Hope everyone is having a good week.

Red line Rampage...

2007-10-22T09:12:00.000-05:00

Cyclocross. A race one does not expect.

From the outside it looks easy. A combination of road and mountain biking, in the grass, up and down hills, across roads, over obstacles for several laps. Watching the participants race one gets the impression of a well choreographed ballet as lines of riders flow seamlessly through the course. It looks easy and fun.

From the inside it sure is fun, but easy is so far from the truth. The lungs are on fire, the legs are burning, the hear is on the verge of detonation, and what little breakfast one had earlier is yearning to see day light one more time. It is wonderful.

My first foray into cyclocross was this pas weekends two day event at Swanson Park in Omaha, NE. There were some preconceived ideas that fluttered around the neurons about what to expect and they were no where near close enough to what it truly was.

Saturday presented itself with 70 plus temperatures and a sunny skies. I felt in the mood for a race and set down some personal goals for myself. During the race I set a couple more, but I am getting ahead of myself. After arriving in plenty of time it was time to do a couple of laps before the races started. It was quite fun. I could tell my heart rate had gotten up there; this gave me a little apprehension, considering I wasn't really pushing myself. I'm not sure how high it went, I was going by my perceived exertion.

The first race was off, and I watched and cheered everyone on. These people made the whole thing looks easy. Then again, perception is mostly deception. There was a section of about 5 switchbacks, and watching a long line of people traversing it, was like watching a ballet. To put it simply, it was neat.

Forty-five minutes later, it was my turn. We lined up, and the race was off. The heart rate red lined rather quickly and never went down the whole time. The plan was to get a rhythm going and find spot where I can go quick and get a quick breath. There was no place for that. Climb, turn, climb, turn, was the course. There were two spots where we had to jump off the bike, traverse a sand pit, jump back on the bike and crank it out. I dropped my chain once after going through one of the sand pits. Then another time on one of the switchbacks, I went over the bars. Once thing about cyclocross, if you crash it's a hell of a lot softer than smacking into a tree. Trust me, I know. I was quickly back on the bike and back to it. The people who passed me because of those two incidents were in my sights. I was going to pass them and get back to where I was and I did it. On the last lap, it was time for the final sprint, someones wheel was in front of me. I reached deep inside, beyond the burning and found that last little bit of energy and funneled it out and over took him at the finish. I finished 9th out of 17. My main goal was a top 10 finish and I did it. I kept pedaling afterward because my breakfast and lunch were vying for a quick exit but I was able to keep it under control.

After relaxing a little, I began to ponder the whole thing and came to the conclusion that this cyclocross thing is fun. I couldn't wait until the next days race.

Sunday was completely opposite of Saturday. Not only did we have to ride the course in the opposite direction this time, the weather was the opposite too. High was 55, the sun never made an appearance, and the wind was 20 plus MPH.

After a couple of warm up laps, I watched and cheered the first race on. Then I rode two more times at a real leisurely pace and was ready for one more race. I felt I had it in me and was ready to go. This time I wanted to push myself even harder, and if I had to chum the field, then it would be something everyone would talk about. The first time through the sand pit was good, taking the switchbacks in the opposite direction wasn't too bad, felt my tires slip a couple of times but I kept it upright. I came upon the second san d pit crossing, my left foot had a little trouble unclipping but I was able to salvage it and not fall down. After getting to the other side I mounted my bike and my pedals just spun. The cursed chain came off. DAMN! Got it back on and got back in the game. Came upon the backside switchbacks. Took one of the turns a little too fast and it was tumble time for me. Once again, the chain came back off. This was not turning out to be my day. How many more of these mechanicals was I do suffer?

Time to push it a little harder now and get back to where I was before. It took me a couple of more laps, and I was back. I was on the wheels of Aaron and Ken. It was the final stretch of the last lap. I found the sweet spot on the trail and decided to just pour it on. I overtook both of them. As I rounded the final turn, there was Aaron sucking my wheel. I feel like I burned my last match, I didn't want him to overtake me, but he did and I stayed on his six the rest of the way. I ended this race like I did Saturday, 9th out of 15, another top 10 finish. It felt great, I think I even pushed myself harder this day than on Saturday. Breakfast was even closer to making an appearance.

Kudos and congratulations go out to everyone who raced this weekend. Everyone did an incredible job out there. I may have to do the full season next year. This may mean another bike. Is this bike buying ever going to stop? hehe

Excitement...

2007-10-19T10:45:00.000-05:00

One week and one year older and not a lick wiser. Just more insane. Maybe I need to start making wishes and seeing if they will come true.

Tomorrow will be my first cyclocross race ever. The weather outlook for the weekend is promising to add some extra excitement with tomorrow being sunny and warm, while Sunday will be the complete opposite. My third eye is showing me visions of mud coverings.

I was hoping to have gotten a little practice and taste of cyclocross racing this past Wednesday at VanDorn park; however, it was canceled. There will be a huge learning curve to get over tomorrow. Hopefully I will get the hang of it quickly and have fun, win or lose. Probably more of the latter. hehe

I am definitely planning on spending most of my time preparing for the next road and mountain bike season. I want to be much faster and more confident on the bikes than I am currently. To do this I have decided that my time would best be served not racing every weekend and just limit it to 3 races.

There is also a charity ride I am definitely going to do and that is on Nov. 10, the Cranksgiving ride. It sure looks like it will be a hoot.

The four letter word has kept me pretty busy this week. This is the time of the year people want new programs or enhancements before the end of the year. There was a time I lived for stuff like this, now I just consider it an annoyance. Needless to say that my journal, whose entries will never make it here, has been getting a rather good workout. There are definitely some things in there that would make a drunk sailor blush.

Well, thanks to Gravy for reminding me to update this thing. Now I need to get my lazy butt moving on my Xmas cards. Have fun whatever you do this weekend and if you are planning on racing in Omaha, I'll see you there.

Been awhile...

2007-10-09T10:18:00.000-05:00

It has been some time since I have updated this blog. From one of my many tumbles on the taco run, I must have fallen into some poison oak. My right leg was covered in some nasty itching blisters and it had spread up my torso and down both arms. Thankfully, as of today, everything is much better. The blisters and the rashes are pretty much gone. It was miserable; I think I may have to invest in some of that ivy off stuff people keep telling me about. Especially by the beginning of next season.

Last week, aside from the itching, I was fighting a serious case of the blues. Looking back, I sort of don't blame myself. All summer long I was doing something every weekend, it was usually a race, or a week long ride across some state. Now, all of a sudden, nothing. This may be what psychologists call "withdrawal". When I quit smoking, I did it by just not doing it, never felt a "withdrawal" symptoms. I have done other things, which will not be mentioned, and stopped and never felt it either. Then why now all of a sudden? This might be a worthwhile subject for someone looking for a subject for a paper or something. I'm just too darn lazy to dedicate the time to figure something like that out.

Hopefully my brother will remember to send the stem for my cross bike back to me so I can get it on and go ride it before my first Cyclocross race on the 20th. This should also provide some good fodder for the blog too. Since most people probably enjoy more reading about my bungling around on the bike than my inner wanderings. hehe

This weekend should be a little fun. The teamFIRE group are getting together at Pioneers Park on Saturday evening and riding out to Denton to the corn maze. It should be fun and I enjoy hanging out with those people, they are good people. hehe I am supposed to wear a costume, but I don't think I will be doing that. I really don't want to spend the extra money. I spent so much this past summer on bikes and such, that I need to back off a little.

Also, the new Guitar Hero game comes out on October 27. Woo-hoo!!! I was thinking that it was only going to be available on the Wii, PS3, or Xbox and I would have to get one of those systems. However, I found out that it will be released for the PS2. :)

I have been collecting coke rewards points so I can get myself a Wii. If anyone out there has these caps and doesn't use them, send them my way please. Either e-mail me the codes or give me the caps when you see me. I need a little over a thousand more caps.

This writing was a little cathartic for me today, so I will end this for now. I will try to update at least once a week. More if there is a race weekend. I am so looking forward to next season on and off the road. Things will be so much different.

My first taco run...

2007-09-28T09:43:00.000-05:00

The first rule I learned about the taco run was "what happens at the taco run, stays at the taco run." I am going to diverge from that rule a little bit and mention another lesson I learned there. "Just because it looks like single track, doesn't mean it's single track." Riding Zod is so much fun that most of my common sense and reasoning go right out the window. It was discovered, much to my chagrin, that the trails are horse trails and that they are not maintained. Much flesh and blood was shed that night.

I still had a great time and it was fun being out with a great bunch of people who enjoy riding and having fun. The weather was near perfect with clear skies and a full moon to ride underneath. I heard about a Halloween ride coming up and I may just have to do that too. Just not sure if I could come up with a costume in time. Though if I have many more accidents, I could go as a slasher victim.

Sure hope Sydney is going to have another Cross Training session out at her parents. I missed the last one and from what she wrote up, sure sounded like fun. It would probably be beneficial to me to practice and learn the skills I will need before going to a race. Also, it's another means for me to work on my social phobias. hehe

So bored...

2007-09-26T08:36:00.000-05:00

Well, I thought I would post for the two people who actually read my blog. Not much has happened in the last week. My folks were in town over the weekend so I spent what time I had with them. Went with my mom to see The Brave One. Very good movie, I would recommend it to anyone. It's not a mindless vigilante blood fest, though when people are beat or killed, it does get a little graphic. At least my mom thought it was pretty graphic. I've seen worse; one would expect it since I love the horror genre.

Tomorrow I am taking the day off and doing the taco ride with a bunch of people from Lincoln. Some friends from work said they might go, but last I heard from them, they probably won't. (Maybe my deodorant isn't working.)

Since the season is pretty much over, there really isn't anything exciting anymore. Now I will be doing Cyclocross season, but I am going to limit it to the couple events in Nebraska and the Jingle Cross event in Iowa City. I decided to spend more time to training and getting myself ready for next season. One of my goals is to do a hell of a lot better than this year. Also I have a bunch of things I need to finish before the holiday season gets here too. This years xmas card is all figured out, now I need to get on the computer and start getting all the things together. So be sure to look in your mailbox sometime after Thanksgiving.

The four letter word has me on pager duty for two more weeks. Maybe this is why I am so bored and tired. Those 2AM useless pages don't really help.

Well, if you are going on the taco run tomorrow and you read this blog, then I look forward to seeing you out there. If not, have a good time and keep an eye on here. I will do my best to at least keep this updated once a week, at a minimum.

The tortoise and the hare...

2007-09-17T08:59:00.000-05:00

To quote a greatly used phrase on the local blogs, this weekend was "EPIC". Not only did I participate in a 12 hour mountain bike race, I also did the annual Corporate Cup 10K run.

SATURDAY
This day started off with me and Zod heading out to the mountain bike trail at Lake Manawa in Council Bluffs, Iowa for the Lake Manawa 12 hour presented by the Midwest Cycling Community. These guys did an excellent job in preparing and running this race that I would like to give a great big thanks to and look forward to the next one.

I arrived at the site at 8:30AM for registration. I met the three other members of the four man team I joined up with. Todd, Cody, and Tim all from the Elkhorn Valley Cycling Clubs Monster Team. These guys were great and I was definitely the slow one on the team. We got everything unloaded and the canopy set up. Cody and I went on a quick pre-ride of only the front half of the course. We got back just in time for the beginning of the race. We decided on the pecking order, Cody, me, Todd, then Tim.

Sitting around in between laps we began to feel the effects of the chilly weather that never went away the entire day. I think the temps didn't even reach 55 degrees, not to mention a brisk wind blowing over the Missouri river right onto us. It didn't bother anyone while we were riding; however, within minutes of finishing a lap we became chilled to the bone.

There were two other multi person teams we were competing against. At the outset one of the teams we wrote off as the overall winner because it was stacked with some serious animals, the top experts from the Psycowpath series. We decided to keep our eyes on second place and keep ahead of the other team. This was close, for the first half we were leading them by one lap. As soon as one of us would cross the line, the other was off for their lap. There was no pausing or break between riders going out. This seemed to be a good strategy and we kept to it. We weren't going to write anything off.

As for myself, it was a little tough for the first few laps. It's not really a good idea to ride a new bike you haven't gotten used to in a race. There were plenty of mishaps, both shoulders ended up looking rather bruised. After the third lap, I became dialed in to the bike. Zod and I finally became one and my last two laps in daylight were just plain incredible. It flowed.

Then came the night. I only had one light, an LED that works great when riding on the road but sucks on trails. Everyone else had massively bright lights. My night lap took me 44 minutes. It was the end of lap 22 and Todd took off for lap 23. I took a gander at the leader board and we were now tied with the animals. I couldn't believe it. They stopped after lap 22 to watch the Husker game. I'm not sure if anyone went to tell them but they never came out to catch back up. Todd pulled out an incredible 30 minute lap in the dark. There was 4 minutes left to start one more lap and Tim took off. The win was sealed. Tim finished a 30 minute lap too. We won with 24 laps (6 each), second was 22, third was 21.

Win or lose we all had a great time. If only it would have been a little warmer. MG took the win in the solo category with 24 laps. Congrats dude, that was incredible. Emily Broderson took first in the women's solo with 18 laps. You people are amazing. Congratulations to everyone else who was there and raced. Thanks again to MOD and the posse for putting on a great event. It was "EPIC". I look forward to doing this again next year.

SUNDAY
After five hours of sleep I was back in Omaha for the 10K run. My legs weren't feeling too bad. My left thigh was feeling just a tad tight, nothing debilitating though. After some stretching, water, and a banana, I was ready. I lined up in the mass of people and was ready to go.

While waiting for the start I began going through my goals for the race. Last year I did it in 1:10:??, I had alternated between walking and running several times. This time I was going to limit the number of times I walked. I was going to pace myself and not kill myself. I wasn't expecting much since I only run once a year.

The gun went off and the race was on. At least I hope it wasn't a drive by. It took a little bit to reach the start line and to get moving. Once it opened up and I was able to start running, it was on. I hit my pace and it was feeling great. I kept going, not once did I walk. I ran the whole thing. There were a few times I thought about walking it out, but my competitive side won out and I just kept running. I crossed the line at 55:43. A whole freaking 15 minutes better than last year. Oh yea, I now know my fitness level has drastically increased in one years time. This was incredible for me.

After crossing the finish, I could feel my leg muscles crying a little bit. So I decided to stretch out a little just to be on the safe side. Picked up my mug, some free snacks, and it was back to Lincoln for me. Sitting in the car for one hour was not a good thing. My legs were real tight when I got home. Even now, as I write this they are extremely sore. It's a good sore though, because I know I accomplished something. Next year I am hoping for better results again.

This was truly a great weekend.

24 until 12...

2007-09-14T08:24:00.000-05:00

Just a little over 24 hours until the start of the 12 hour Manawa race. I was on the prowl for a teammate(s) and will be joining the Elkhorn Cycling Club's Monster team as the fourth man on their 4 man team. The weather appears as though it's going to add it's own excitement to the whole race, with highs in the mid sixties and a 40 percent chance of showers and isolated thunderstorms, as well as 10 to 20 mph southerly winds. The psychological factor will definitely play a role in the race.

The new mountain bike has finally gotten a name, Zod. Hopefully he will live up to his namesake tomorrow.

Two weeks until Cyclocross season kicks off in Iowa with the Cross out Crones Cyclocross Weekend. I am still thinking on it, but I will probably give it a try. I need to start the season sooner or later and better that I get into it early to get a feel of what needs to be done and how to do it. Is there anyone out there planning on doing this one too? Maybe get a carpool thing going.

I probably won't write up a race report until Monday. It's going to be a long and brutal weekend and I will more than likely be spending Sunday afternoon resting. Thanks to Todd of the Elkorn team for letting me join their team and good luck to everyone this weekend, whatever you decide to do.

New member...

2007-09-12T14:17:00.000-05:00

There is now a new member of my 2 wheel family. Pictures to come after I get home and go for a ride. It was one heck of a deal I just couldn't pass up. Then again, I shouldn't be allowed to go shopping without adult supervision.

I now have no excuse to not do the Psycowpath series and some enduro events next year. The new wheels is a black Yeti 575. I will definitely ride it at the Manawa 12 hour.

Speaking of which, my partner is definitely iffy about racing on Saturday. So, if anyone would like to do the Manawa 12 hour on a team, let me know. I really don't want to do it solo, but if I have to, then I will.

An idea...

2007-09-11T13:39:00.000-05:00

Syd posted on her blog about setting up a calendar for racing events in our area. The NE Cycling news website only seems to have a partial list, while other sites have partial lists also. On the top of this blog you will see a calendar. You can click on it to see events and/or click on the "google" bar and subscribe to the calendar.

If you know of any races that aren't listed, let me know the five W's and I will post it. Thanks Syd for the idea.

Did my best...

2007-09-10T09:29:00.000-05:00

I think I figured out why people put graffiti on bathroom walls....they are writing to their congressmen.

Well, the road race season in Nebraska is officially over. This past weekend hosted the state championship road and criterium races. The objective was to have improved myself since the beginning of the season, which I started a couple months late. I can honestly say, objective completed.

SATURDAY
This was the road race out of Elmwood, NE which went through Murdock and South Bend, NE. Originally, the cat 5 racers were to do 3 laps for a total of 45 miles. Instead, at the start line they announced that they were cutting out one lap so we only had to do 2, which gave us a racing distance of 35 miles. I lined up with my fellow teamFIRE members Aaron, Adrian, and Emory and proceeded out on the 7 mile neutral roll out. My main objective was to stay inside the pack, save energy, and try to stay with them as long as I could.

Well, it was working, I wasn't expending copious amounts of energy and my breathing was nice and
easy. Then we reached South Bend and for some reason I cannot fathom, I was in the front of the pack and doing the pulling. Not what I wanted, I was trying to slow down and get someone else to pull but nobody was having it. Then we came upon a nice little hill. These are still my major weakness, I am not strong climber. Halfway up the hill the pack flowed around me like a stream flows around a rock. I was able to catch back onto the back for a while until we hit another hill. At this point, catching up was not a possibility. I decided at this time to just keep pushing myself and turn this thing into a personal "time trial". There were some other people who fell off the pack. I was able to catch up to them and pass them. I came upon some others and did some short pulls and drafts with them. The decision to just keep pushing was mine, I wanted to see what new level my fitness has achieved.

The last 7 mile stretch was just plain brutal. There was a very strong head wind, not to mention all the hills. At this point I was kicking myself on not working with the people behind me. Thoughts of drafting were floating in my head like visions of sugar plums.

One the final turn towards the finish, someone came up and passed me. I wasn't going to have any of this, so I stood up and started cranking it out. After about three or four good cranks my legs said, "What the hell are you doing? Sit your butt down!!!" I obeyed, and let him finish 3 bike lengths in front of me. I'm so mad at myself for not pulling something else out of my body. I'm starting to think that I am not pushing myself unless I am chumming the field.

It was a great race and I had a great time. Congratulations to everyone who raced, and there were a lot of people there too.

SUNDAY
This day was the criterium at Branched Oak. The weather was a complete 180 degrees from Saturday. It was cold, overcast, and a 20 mph north wind. It also seemed that many people weren't wanting to race this day either. The field depths were no where near as large as Saturday. There were 14 for the cat 5 race. We lined up for the start. Once again my plan was to start in the middle of the pack and stay with them as long as I could.

Believe it or not, but the same damn thing happened to me as on Saturday. After the first couple of laps I found myself back in the front and pulling. This was not good. I was able to get myself back into the pack, but the damage was done. Slowly but surely, I was falling behind. I decided to get some rest on the small down hill and see if I could catch back up to them. It worked, only for a little bit. Then another rider comes off the back. I caught up to him. We decided that we weren't going to catch up with them, so we decided to work together to make it harder for them to lap us. It was looking good, it appeared that this would be my first crit that I don't get lapped. Then came the next to last lap. Jon and I were about 50 yards from the finish line, when the pack comes up our backside and laps us.

I figured, it was great that I barely got lapped. In the other races earlier in the season I would get lapped multiple times. This time I think I finally noticed an improvement. Congratulations to everyone who raced and thanks to all the people who worked hard organizing these events.

My final results were 29th out of 36 for the road race and 11 out of 14 for the crit. Look for better results next season. I am going to work my backside off during the off season to have a phenomenal season next year.

Now, I need to get ready for the 12 hour Manawa race and the Corporate Cup 10k run this weekend. Then the season will be over until cyclocross begins.

Ponderings of a mad man...

2007-09-04T08:55:00.000-05:00

On this day in history last year, Steve Irwin was killed. Also, yours truly was on an 11 night Alaskan Cruise, which was also my first cruise ever. It was incredible and I would go again. I also took over 2000 pictures on the whole trip.

How are our lives defined? Is it by the number of things we collect, or the number of friends we acquire, or the work we do? Is any of it truly worth it? Is it our fates to become our parents as we age? Why does most of the music today sound like garbage, when music in our day sounded like something incredible, which subsequently sounded like garbage to our parents? Is Murphy's Law the greatest enigma of the universe? Why 42? Of all the words in the spoken language, what is the statistical odd when the last original story will be published and everything else will be a repeat of something else? What came first, the spoken word or the thought behind the word? How come when "aliens" come to visit us they always use the "anal probe", wouldn't one think that with all their advanced technology they would have at least advanced their medical skills beyond medieval medicine? Heck, even we have MRI's and CAT scans.

This past weekend was rather interesting. Friday, my dvd player stopped functioning. It would only play cd's and wouldn't even recognize dvd's. Those who truly know me know that that is like taking the spray paint cans away from a "huffer". Thankfully it was quickly replaced.

Saturday, well it was not very fun so I won't even mention what happened.

Sunday was fun. It could have been incredible, but it ended up just fun. Headed out to the mountain bike trails at Lake Manawa with a few friends from work. After arriving plenty early in hopes of getting a couple laps in before everyone showed up, I pulled the bike off the car and headed onto the path. I didn't get more than fifty feet in and a big stick went right through a weakness in the tire and punctured the tube. I did have a spare tube but no spare tire. So I called one of my friends who was on his way out if they could stop and get me an extra tire and spare tubes. There I sat for about an hour waiting and not riding. Once the tire and tubes arrived I was ready to go. Unfortunately the tubes they purchased were schrader valved instead of presta valved tubes. Not good. I did find a spare presta valved tube in my trunk and I was sure hoping it wasn't bad. It wasn't.

We were off and it was fun. I ended up doing 3 laps. On the third lap I snagged a vine between my bar ends and the handle bar which twisted me and threw me off the bike. No damage done to me or the bike so I cranked it out again. On the last half, I snagged a very solid tree the same way. This time my index finger went numb and I noticed that I ripped up half of the cuticle and it became a little bloody mess. I figured that if no bone was showing it was a good thing. I ended the lap and everyone was ready to head home. I felt good about the whole thing and think that the 12 hour race there in 2 weeks is going to be unimaginable.

As for Monday, well, it was a truly lazy day. I didn't want to push my luck too far so I enjoyed some movies, did laundry, and ironing.

Now it's time to get ready for the state championship road race and criterium this coming weekend. More than likely I won't make the podium, but I am definitely going to make them my personal best races of the season. Next year I am hoping to be much better. Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. See you on the trails.

2 weeks...

2007-08-27T08:28:00.000-05:00

Two weeks to go until the last road bike races of the season, at least here in Nebraska. Then it's time for the cyclocross season to kick in. I will need to make sure I get my bicycle back from my brother and get some cyclocross treads for it.

So, I was thinking, what could I write in my blog since everything has been rather quiet for some time. There probably is no interest in hearing about me playing video games on my Playstation this weekend, so I had done some contemplating on what to write. Here is a short list of things I have learned in life over the last 30 some odd years:

There is no such thing as "risk free" sex. There is always a price to pay...ALWAYS.
O.J. did it.
The best way to lose weight is cut back on portions and exercise. There is nothing easier.
My niece and nephew are the greatest.
If you wash bike shorts by hand, make sure you get ALL the soap out of the crotch pad.
Kids are the only ones with an honest perspective on life.
Internet dating is dangerous and very scary.
Tolerant and open minded people do not exist, they are a myth like the Loch Ness monster.
Bigfoot, Loch Ness monster, the Yeti (not the bicycle), and the Chupacabra DO NOT exist.
Knowledge is a three edge sword, your side, their side, and the truth. The truth almost always gets lost.
The molecules that make us, also make up the vast universe. Therefore, we are all star stuff.
We have advanced so far in medicine that we are no longer affected by natural selection.
We are the sum of the choices we have made in our lives.
Try to do things you have always wanted to do or try. (legally of course)
Pets are the greatest company. There is nothing else that provides unconditional love.
When you try to become a non-conformist, you become a conformist.

That should be good for now. Maybe I will compile a much larger list, who knows. Enjoy everyone.

Slacking off...

2007-08-21T09:20:00.000-05:00

Okay, it has been some time since I have updated this. Things have been slowing down considerably. Races are becoming few and far between since the season is coming to an end. I have two more weeks of vacation remaining until the end of November that I don't want to really touch unless I have to; and because of the rain we have been getting lately, my yard has come out of it dormancy and I have had to start back in doing yard work. If someone wants to know about the daily ins and outs of my life, I guess I could start writing about it. There is a warning about that, it could cause serious bouts of boredom and head bobbing while reading.

One interesting thing I have been doing has been reading a rather interesting book that I think I will provide a review on.

Base Building for Cyclists: A New Foundation for Endurance and Performance
by Thomas Chapple

This is a book geared toward cyclists of all levels, recreational to racing, though some of the more advanced things are for racers. Mr. Chapple, a licensed elite-level USA Cycling and USA Triathlon coach, covers everything from nutrition to the bio mechanics of bicycling to developing proper skills to creating a proper training plan for your base level training.

The book reads more like it is geared toward Powertap users, but he does make some conversions for using just hear rate monitors. The author of this review uses a hear rate monitor at this time, though he can see how much more use a Powertap would be.

The first half covers basic fitness elements before getting to the training part. He provides guidelines on how to perform ones own fitness evaluation and how to breakdown the information. Also, the reader will learn that there are different critical power (CP) zones and that each one has their own benefit. A couple of examples would be as follows:

Duration	CP Zone	Fitness Benefit	Race Application
12 sec.	CP0.2	Explosive Power	Finishing Sprint,Short Hill,Start
6 min	CP6	Velocity at VO2Max	Moderate Duration Climbs
30 min	CP30	Lactate Superthreshold	Long steady efforts

Several more are presented, and Thomas Chapple goes into some detail on how to work each zone and what needs to do to improve them, as well as which muscle types are involved.

The last half of the book goes into some significant detail on how one can build a good base training plan. He provides some sample plans one can use to create and tailor to their own skills and abilities from the beginner to the more advanced cyclist. Mister Chapple also goes into some detail about proper positioning on the bicycle for different situations such as sprinting and climbing. He also provides a section on efficiency which goes into some detail with diagrams on proper pedaling dynamics as well as providing drills to help improve this area and many others. There is also a great section on strength training which gives detailed exercises which are to be performed during the early base phase of training during the off season.

Thomas Chapple has written a very good training tool. His inclusion of real world examples from his training of athletes, and sample training forms is a real benefit and gives a more hands on feel to the reader. If you are from the old school of "No pain, No gain" or "You gotta ride hard to improve" then you need to read this book. If this book is to be broken down to its basic essence, it would be "Ride slow to get faster" which is chanted several times in the book.

This book can be viewed as a great training supplement to an already active regimen, or a great place to start for someone just wanting to get into riding better and more efficiently. Add this to your library and you won't be disappointed.

So damn hot...

2007-08-14T09:27:00.000-05:00

Wow, things have finally slowed down a little. The racing season has slowed down considerably; then again most of it is because I just need to save some money. Nothing sucks more than paying twenty dollars for a race you don't finish on the podium in. I can accept it, that's what I am training to overcome next season. I am also thinking of doing the cyclocross season this fall, mostly the ones in Nebraska and the Jingle Cross in Iowa City in November. Since my brother and his family live in Iowa City, I can mooch a place to stay from them. If he gets grumpy about it, I'll buy some sushi for him, that usually works.

This past weekend was terrible, weather wise. The temps were in the triple digits. I decided not to go to the Psycowpath race on Saturday. Why drive three hours for a one lap race in the god awful heat? Instead, I got up early in the morning ate some breakfast and went for a two hour ride.

Since we have recently gotten some rain my yard has gone out of it's dormancy phase so I had to attend to yard work. I hate doing yard work, but I don't want to spend the money to have someone else do it. As I was finishing up the temps were in the upper nineties. Ugh! Afterward it was cold shower time, oh it felt so good after all the heat. I definitely decided that I would be spending the rest of the day in the a/c. This means movie time for me. Saw the Simpsons Movie, it was great, Letters from Iwo Jima, Zatoichi (2003), and season 3 of Babylon 5, started season 4 on Monday. Felt bad that I didn't take the dog out to the dog run but I didn't think it would be fun for her or me to spend a lot of time in the heat.

Sunday was pretty much the same, except there was no yard work and the movies were different. After seeing the Simpsons Movie, I couldn't get the "spider pig" song out of my head while I was riding. hehe This week is supposed to be the same weather wise. However, it means torture for me since I can't do my workouts until after 5PM and it's going to be hot-as-stink out. Sure hope this heat wave ends soon.

RAGBRAI... (Part 8)

2007-08-10T07:08:00.000-05:00

DAY 8 (Saturday) - Dyersville to Bellevue 56.23 miles
Well, the end has finally come. This was the last leg of the journey called RAGBRAI. The proverbial saying, "Save the best for last" holds true for this route in more ways than one. If anyone is looking for a great training route this is it. There were the right number and mix of hills and enough flat stretches to keep it interesting. The scenery was exceptionally wonderful in the morning sun too.

About halfway through and at the top of a really steep climb a little boy was setting up a water and lemonade stand. This kid was no fool, this was the most ideal place to setup. I am willing to wager, at the end of the day, that he walked away with a nice mint or two.

The next interesting thing on this stretch occurred at the end. There was a descent of approximately 400 feet, which if entered correctly could produce some really fun speeds. I hit the top of the hill at a rather nice speed to start out and began screaming down hill. The speedometer was clicking up the MPH, there was a left bend halfway down the hill, 38, 39, 40. Images of my rear tire sliding out on me at high speeds and my flesh mixing with metal and concrete were flashing through my mind. I didn't care. 44, 45, 46. I came into the bend, my common sense got the better of me, I stopped pedaling and came through the bend. Then I started pedaling again, 46, 47, 48. The bottom was achieved. I think I could have hit 50 but I was exhilarated just getting near that mark. Oh yea, I love adrenaline. I was even considering climbing back up the hill and trying it again. Then I decided I didn't want to do the climb.

Tom and I pulled into Bellevue and found the outfitters. The baggage had not arrived at this time, which wasn't surprising. I decided to head into town and get some breakfast. No, I did not dip my tire into the Mississippi. I know it's a tradition, but I just wasn't feeling it.

There was a little restaurant at the bottom of a hotel every one was raving about. It seemed rather popular as there was a line waiting to be seated. There were two little old ladies running around taking orders, busing tables, and cashing out checks. They were swamped. There were a couple of table available but they hadn't been cleared. I felt for the ladies working, so I ran back to their kitchen, grabbed some bus buckets and began clearing and cleaning the tables. One couple decided to join in and help me. We eventually got the tables cleared, coffees refilled, people seated, and got ourselves seated. There weren't enough tables so the couple that helped me joined me for some breakfast.

This was the best breakfast I had the whole week. If ever back in Bellevue, I will eat there. The bill was paid and so I journeyed back to the outfitters location at the school. Still the trucks had not arrived. Apparently they were stuck in the traffic that had been building up outside of Bellevue. While waiting for them I started looking for my brother. We had arranged to meet at 10AM across from the high school, it was 10 and he wasn't there. Still I waited, 11AM, still not there, but the trucks were arriving. Got my luggage, said my goodbyes to everyone and went to wait and look for my brother. 11:30 there he is coming from the west side of town. I signaled him to turn into the school. He too got caught up in all the traffic, so I think I can cut him a little slack this time. hehe

Well, that is the end of that journey. It was a fun and interesting experience. Would I do it again? Probably. If I do RAGBRAI again, I think it would be a lot more fun if I did it with a bunch of regular friends. The whole thing is definitely different than BRAN. Definitely many more interesting people on RAGBRAI, I had such fun people watching the whole time. A psychologist could probably do a thesis paper on the people that do this ride.

Hope you have enjoyed reading the stories of my adventure; I sure enjoyed sharing them, and hopefully it will motivate someone to have their own interesting adventure in the future. The big adventures have ended for now and it's back to my little mini adventures around Nebraska and Iowa, when I can get to visit my niece and nephew.

RAGBRAI... (Part 7)

2007-08-08T08:02:00.000-05:00

DAY 6 (Friday) - Independence to Dyersville 66.11 miles
Well, this morning was a tad different. I didn't wake until 4AM this time. Must have been because of the storm and the fact that there weren't any bands playing near the campground or people yakking it up outside of my tent; it could also be because of the drugs I took too. However, I was still able to get everything stowed away and ready for the road by 4:30AM. Phil and Steve didn't make it up in time, they must have had a tad too much to drink the prior evening.

Tom and I headed on out. The evenings rain had made the air very axenic and my sinuses remained clear. Though I don't think my head stayed very clear. We missed the turn north in Winthrop. We were about 2 miles down the road when we saw another rider heading towards us. It was Jack the mountain goat, he said that the turn was back the way we came. So we turned around and headed back. Tom and I found the turn buck Jack kept going. We thought he was just going to the Kwiki mart and didn't bother correcting him.

There were many more people out early in the morning than usual. We passed through Lamont without incident. When we arrived in Dundee we got lost again. Apparently, we were supposed to ride into town and loop back the way we came. The signs were not up at this time so we kept going. There were a couple of nice hills that got our speeds up to over 40 mph. Tom wanted to stop because he thought we were heading in the wrong direction so we started looking at the maps. Unfortunately the roads themselves were not marked so we were guessing what road we were on. Jack and another rider come down the hill and join us. We decided to ride the 2 miles back to Dundee and see where we went wrong. The fun part was having to climb back up those hills. This is where I started calling Jack, the mountain goat. That 64 year young man flew up those hills in his highest gear while everyone else was wishing they had a granny gear. Sure hope I am in that good of shape when I am that old.

We arrived back in Dundee and they had the signs up. We were supposed to loop back through the entrance into Dundee and out back on another road. With a quiet gggrrrr we got back on track. There were finally some hills this last half of the route. Now there were hills before, but these were definitely a little more significant and I was able to work on my major weakness, climbing.

Arriving in Dyersville was nice. It is another one of those quaint little towns you read about or see in movies. We found the local diner that was serving breakfast and treated ourselves to some nutrients. Afterward we decided to find the campsite. There were a number of people rolling into town at this time, it definitely looked like people were leaving earlier than they were at the beginning.

The campsite was found, tents were pitched, and showers were taken. I decided to go walking around town and see what there was in the way of food for lunch and dinner. The Basilica of St. Francis Xavier was an amazing looking church. It's hard to believe something that large would be in such a small town as Dyersville. They were also offering an $8 all-you-can eat spaghetti feed for dinner.

Then while passing through downtown I came across a place called Chad's Pizza. They were open for 24 hours for RAGBRAI, with a pizza buffet until 3AM and a breakfast buffet afterward. Pizza was sounding rather good to me so I thought I would check it out. They had menus on all the tables and looking at the menus it looked like even this place was having a hurricane sale too. The cheapest thing on the menu was 12 smacks and that was for a small pizza. I asked the waitress the cost of the buffet and she told me, "12 dollars". She must have seen the cringe on my face and added, "and that also includes a fountain drink", as if this would justify the cost to me. I then proceeded to ask her, "Does it also include a tube of KY?" I don't think she understood, so I decided to find some place else for lunch.

I went to the far south side of town and found a few other places to eat. One of the called Country Junction, a place similar to a Cracker Barrel. I decided to eat there since the prices were unaltered. It was terrible, the food was over cooked, and bland. After leaving I headed back into town and found the library. This was a really nice library. I even picked up the new Bourne book, went over to the kids section, found a makeshift pillow and started reading. When I fell asleep I have no clue but it was good. The librarian was going around waking up everyone and telling them that the library was closing in ten minutes. Dang.

It was time for dinner anyway, so I thought I would try the spaghetti feed at the church. They had the whole thing down to a science. The line moved very quickly and there was a lot of food. They even had meatballs in the sauce, as well as cookies and pies for desert, garlic bread, salad, lemonade, tea, and water. And they weren't skimpy on initial portioning either. Ran into a couple of people I met earlier in the week and sat with them and chowed. I could have gone back for more food but the initial portion was plenty for me.

Outside I saw someone with Power Cranks on their bike. I had a good talk to the gentleman about them and he even let me take his bike for a spin to see what I thought of the cranks. It was not easy, and I can see how they can help a person improve their pedaling skills. It has been decided, I want a set.

In case someone doesn't know, Dyersville is the home of the "Field of Dreams". The location where the Kevin Costner movie was filmed. I am not a baseball fan, never really like the sport; so I didn't go see the fabled field. There were a few people in camp that had gone to see it and they said they enjoyed it.

Everyone was saying their goodbyes to newly made friends since tomorrow was the last leg of the tour and everyone would be going home. The evening was calling to everyone who were hesitant to let the moment end.

Tomorrow...the final leg, some big climbs, a big downhill, best breakfast, a long wait.

RAGBRAI... (Part 6)

2007-08-07T07:02:00.000-05:00

DAY 5 (Thursday) - Cedar Falls to Independence 64.75 miles
Even after going to bed late I was still able to rise without an alarm and get on the road by 4:30AM. Steve and Phil, however, were not awake. So it was just Tom and I heading to the next destination. The ride was pretty uneventful. The passthrough towns didn't seem as active as the other ones on prior days.

We arrived in the northern part of town past the fairgrounds. On past downtown we found our camp ground on the southeast side of town on the grounds of an elementary school. The outfitters, who had arrived the night before, told us that the weather reports gave a high percentage of thunderstorms this evening. Using this knowledge I staked out my camping spot just on the edge of the school building. This was in hopes of defeating most of the wind and rain.

Tom and I then headed into town for some breakfast and found a quaint little cafe called the R&R Cafe. They had a very limited menu because of all the people that would be coming in this day. I had a couple of eggs, hash browns, and some sausage patties.

After breakfast we headed over to the local Fareway, this is a grocer if anyone is wondering, to get some meat and veggies for grilling. The outfitter was providing large grills this evening for us to grill our own grub since our campsite was a tad distant from downtown. We rode back to have them store our grub in coolers until it was time to cook.

I decided I would walk into town and find the local library. My original intent was to log onto the internet and maybe post a quick update to the blog. I know, I know, I had said that I was going to stay away from technology the whole week. Consider it a moment of lapse in judgement. Anywho, I found the library and proceeded to the computers. They were only allowing individuals only 15 minutes at a time to use the computers. This definitely was not enough time to provide any sort of viable update; so instead, I just looked through other peoples blogs to see what I was missing back home.

After my time was up, Dr. Somnambulance was prodding me towards the children's section. There, on the floor were beanie pillows. Snatching one, I proceeded to lay down on the floor and absorbed the air conditioned atmosphere in wonderful sleep.

The pillow must have had mold or mildew in it because after 2 hours of perpetual bliss I awoke with a heavily congested head. It was time for lunch too, so I headed on out of the library and headed back downtown. Thankfully I was prescient enough to have brought tissue with me because my sinuses just wouldn't stop draining.

I found a nice little restaurant to eat, Bill's Pizza and Smokehouse. It was okay, not bad but not great either. There I had a taco salad which sure hit the spot. It seemed to be a popular place, many people were there. After consuming ample sustenance I decided to head back to the campsite. While leaving the restaurant I noticed I was down to my last tissue. Having a fear that this drainage was not going to end I needed to find a drug store and get more tissues and drugs. There, just one block away was the Fareway store. After soaking the last tissue with fluids and throwing it away I moved quickly towards the store. There I purchased some more tissue and some antihistamine, the latter of which I took before even approaching the counter. In case anyone is wondering, there is nothing worse than riding a bicycle with a runny nose. Trust me when I say that if you have no tissue, it can be rather nasty.

Back at the camp I hooked up with the usual crew. The coals were ready for grillin', so we grabbed our stuff, threw it on the grill, and ate well that day. After eating we found a television in the school and decided to check the weather report. It wasn't looking good; however, from the direction the storm was tracking, it looked like I pitched my tent in the ideal spot.

Around 8PM the storm appeared to be on the edge of town, so I decided to head to the tent and get to bed early. The storm hit and it made me fall asleep rather quickly. One of the key effects of the storm was that it kept people from gathering outside and talking loud while people were sleeping. This was the first night that I sleep without interruption.

Tomorrow...finally some hills, home of the field of dreams, spaghetti and meatballs, a really expensive pizza joint, last night of camping...

RAGBRAI... (Part 5)

2007-08-06T08:24:00.000-05:00

DAY 4 (Wednesday) - Hampton to Cedar Falls 72.16 miles
After the usual pack-up routine I was ready to go. A couple of people, Phil, Steve, and Tom, whom I have been chatting with on a daily basis, decided they would get up early and join my ride. I think they got up early because the camp was about 100 yards from some tracks that seemed to be overly active this particular morning. It was an easy shot out of camp down to the route. There was a quick stop at the Kwiki Mart to top off water and load up on Rice Krispie Treats. I swear, these things work wonders for me.

We kept a good pace the whole way into Cedar Falls. Steve, being a retired velodrome racer wasn't allowing any slow pacing. Though he was allowing a slow down in the pass through towns so we could stand and give our butts a much needed rest. When I did BRAN, by this time my butt was no longer hurting. It was as though my brain turned off all the pain receptors because I just wasn't listening to it. Not this time, the pain receptors seemed to have been working overtime this whole ride; however, I ignored it as best I could.

When we were about 10 to 15 miles outside of Cedar Falls, we came across an ice cream cake stand. Personally, I can't understand how someone could consume dairy products after all the pedaling and sweating like a Wyoming hooker on cowboy payday. Just the thought of consuming the stuff was making my stomach feel all funny. But hey, this is RAGBRAI and some people can tolerate it.

As we pulled into Cedar Falls, we were greeted by the local TV and radio stations. We were the first people to ride in. So, yours truly had his first ever TV and radio interview. To top the experience off, the radio station gave me a pair of tickets to the Blues Traveler concert. This was turning out to be a great morning. Little did I know I would soon be embarrassed.

After the interviews, we found our camp ground, it was just about 100 yards West of the Uni-Dome. The luggage trucks hadn't arrived yet, which didn't surprise us. The pangs of hunger was making itself known, so we got the directions to the local HyVee and headed over.

When we were walking into the store, Phil started laughing and asked me if I had some problems with my colon. Not really understanding him, he pointed at my butt. Still not understanding what he was talking about I reached back and rubbed my butt. A slippery, oily substance was felt. When I looked at my hand it was covered in a foamy white substance. My butt was covered in it.

A definite lesson was learned. When you wash your shorts, make sure you have ALL the soap rinsed out of the padding. When it mixes with sweat and riding it foams up quite a bit. It wasn't overly funny at the time, but hey, I know how to laugh at myself. So we sat down for some breakfast and good conversation. Thankfully not much about my foamy butt.

We headed back to camp and the trucks were there. I unpacked and setup the tent. Then it was off to take a shower. The showers were located in the student wellness center of the Uni-Dome. There was also a climbing wall, two pools, and many other things there too. After the shower I found a nice cool corner by the climbing walls and took a nap. I was definitely not the only person who thought of this.

Lunch time saw me riding my bike downtown to a nice little sushi restaurant. I didn't take my journal with me so I can't really remember the name of the place. The sashimi and sushi was very tasty. If I could afford it, this is all I would eat every day, but alas I can't. It was back to camp, and time to hang out under the group canopy and talk some more with others until it was time for the concert.

I was there early enough to get about two rows from the stage. The opening act was The Nadas. They were pretty good, and would hear more of them throughout the night as they would be playing outside in the beer garden later in the evening. Then in between acts, Lance Armstrong came out to give a little speech, then it was time for the Blues Traveler. I have always loved this band and their show was just incredible. An hour and a half of non-stop music that was just plain incredible. Before I knew it, the show was over and it was time to head back to camp. There were still thousands of people milling around outside and having a good time. I headed back to camp in hopes of getting some sleep. It was soon discovered that our campsite was located in "mosquito alley". Luckily enough I had some repellent in the tent, the problem was getting to it in time before I lost too much blood.

It was around 10PM when I finally got settled down to sleep, when I could hear the Nadas take the stage in the beer garden. I was tired enough that it didn't bother me and I was off to some far away land. Not sure if I would get up later than usual or not, but I had a great time this particular day.

Tomorrow...the first bit of rainfall, a comfy library, some good eats, and the usual riding...

Insanity...

2007-08-03T16:01:00.000-05:00

I just had to add this little extra post. While perusing the internet I came across an endurance event I thought was just insane. A 100 mile run this weekend. These people are insane. Burning River

RAGBRAI... (Part 4)

2007-08-03T08:12:00.000-05:00

The question has been asked so it must be answered. Why 4:30AM? Well, several reasons. One of them being that once I wake up I cannot get back to sleep for several hours. Secondly, it is much less crowded and I can get a consistent ride without the stress. Thirdly, it's a heck of a lot cooler in the early morning and I won't feel like I am in an oven at 350 degrees until done. Fourthly, nothing beats seeing a sunrise while pedaling.

Of course these are all excuses; but, hey, they work for me psychologically. hehe

DAY 3 (Tuesday) - Humboldt to Hampton 72.69 miles
The same morning routine was had at the same time. After chowing down a cliff bar for breakfast I was off. My water supply was a little low, one bottle, so I was keeping an eye out for a kwiki mart. There was one on the edge of town but they weren't opening until 7AM. The first town was Eagle Grove, so I was hoping they would have something or I would be spending 18 humpbacks for 3 litres of water.

I arrived in Eagle Grove and fell in love with the place. This is the type of town you find in Country Living. The proverbial "picket fence" community. Everyone was out getting everything setup for the big crowds. They were lining up antique cars on the road. They even had an old bubble gum topped car which looked a little like the one on the Andy Griffith Show.

Then down one of the streets I spied a Kwiki Mart, so I diverted off course and went to replenish my supplies. At this time too, I realized I forgot to bring along any gels or bars, so I needed to get something to munch on. It was then that I spied the Rice Krispies Treats. My brain was reasoning it by saying, "Hey, it's cereal and it has marshmallow for quick energy." This seemed like logical reasoning so I grabbed a couple of those too. Refilled my camelback and bottles, then I was back on the road.

As I was getting back on the route I met up with a fellow early riser. A 64 year young gentleman by the name of Jack; sorry, can't remember his name. He was pedaling one of those suitcase bicycles with an 83T front crank. That man can really move on that thing. We were averaging 21mph. Wait until you hear about this man and the hills, but that is for later in the week. As we entered Clarion, Jack said that his Metamucil was kicking in and had to stopped. I told him it was fun riding with him and look forward to it other days, but I was going on.

Lake Cornelia was a beautiful community with a really nice golf course. After discovering the joys of pedaling, I no longer enjoy golf. I digress though. The next pass through was Alexander and only a few more miles to go to Hampton.

Once in Hampton I was hungry for some breakfast. The locals were telling me about this place called "7 Star Family Restaurant". So I headed there and it was delicious. I had a Belgian waffle with strawberries and whipped cream, a couple of sausage patties, and a large orange juice. All for under 8 Washington's including the tip.

The next adventure began, trying to find the camp site. In all the pamphlet the outfitter supplied said that all we had to do was follow their distinct signs to the camp sites every day. Let me tell you, I never saw a single one the entire week. I'd spend almost an hour riding around town finding the place. Anywho, I found the campsite, it was an old historical place just east of downtown and a few blocks south of the fairgrounds. I think I liked this place the best of all. They even had portable showers setup, though it cost 5 singles. It was hard for me to take only one shower a day, but I survived.

Camp was established, shower was taken, and it was into town for some lunch. Found a good deal, 5 clams for a buffalo burger, bag of chips, potato salad, and a cookie. The meat came from a gentleman who runs his own buffalo farm just outside of town. He sat down with us and treated us to stories about his buffalo farm.

Then it was time to wander around and see what was going on. Got some free t-shirts from a local stand, had an ear of sweet corn for only 8 quarters this time; the proceeds were going to the local school so I wasn't upset paying, heck I even had another one too. That's what I thought this was all about.

It was back to the campsite for a little nap. Ran in to a lot of locals on the walk back and they were very friendly and willing to start up a conversation. Needless to say I didn't get the nap in. Back at the camp the Pork Chop Man was going to be serving up dinner for 10 dollars. I figured I would go for it since everyone was telling me that it's well worth it.

Dinner was on. Let me preface this by saying they cook the pork chops over corn husks and I think I may have to add that to my next smoking endeavor. They were 2 inch thick chops two hand widths wide, served with baked beans, potato salad, coleslaw, and lemonade. It was delicious. Now I have seen the pork chop man setting up along the routes every day. I cannot understand how someone could stop riding, eat a pork chop mean and pedal some more. If I was to try that, I know I would spread sick all over the road and my fellows riders might not appreciate it.

Good times were had that evening. Meeting more people, listening to an Irish band that played at the camp site, and just relaxing. Bed time had approached in no time so I went to crash. Around 11PM the band that was playing downtown could be heard in the camp. It wasn't that I could hear them that bothered me, I can sleep through almost anything, it's the fact that they sucked. They covered the AC/DC song Thunder and it was so hideously done I don't know how anyone wasn't disturbed by it. Thankfully they only played one more song. Then I was back in the wonderful land of slumber.

Tomorrow, I win a contest, get humiliated, get on tv, and get to bed late...

RAGBRAI... (Part 3)

2007-08-02T08:41:00.000-05:00

DAY 2 (Monday) - Spencer to Humboldt with century loop 101.3 miles

Once again, without the aid of an alarm clock, I awoke at 3:30AM; packed all my gear and placed it on the truck. As I was walking back to get my bike, there were these bright flashes of light I kept seeing. After pinpointing the source I noticed that someone was walking around the fairgrounds taking pictures. This did not make any sense to me, taking pictures in the pitch of night. Then again after I saw someone in Lincoln the other week on a recumbent bicycle that had a motor on it, nothing seems to surprise me what people do anymore.

After filling up the water bottles (4 dollars for 2 16oz bottles), my map in hand, and buying a one dollar banana, I was off. This was another beautiful day and I got to see another incredible sunrise. As I reached Marathon, which was the town just before the century loop, I stopped to refill water, eat the dollar banana, tasted more like a 50 cent banana, and mix up one of my energy mixes. Now it was back to the ride. The first leg of the loop was about a 7 mile stretch heading south and there was a 15+ mph southerly blowing. I just couldn't wait to head back north with that wind at my backside. Passed through Albert City and turned on the north leg. This was a much needed break. I was able to sit up, get some good speeds, and enjoy the countryside. It was a 23 mile loop and took a little over an hour to complete.

The loop ended back at Marathon and what to my wandering eye should appear, but a big crowd of people. All the people who left later in the morning were now coming through. It definitely wasn't the size one sees on the news reports so I didn't think it was too bad. As I passed by the entrance to the loop, nobody else seemed to be wanting to attempt it. Then again there were many many more people behind me that would probably do it.

Thankfully the next town wasn't crowded with people so I counted myself lucky. I decided I could use a gatorade and stopped to purchase one. It was one of those small bottle ones for two dollars. Everyone seemed to be having hurricane sales. This was really turning me off to the whole RAGBRAI experience, but the rides were definitely making up for it.

I kept up a nice pace the rest of the way without stopping, concentrating on my pedal stroke, and trying not to think how sore my butt was getting.

Arriving in town I looked down at my bike computer and it was saying 98 miles. Grrr...it was supposed to be 100; however, I couldn't find the signs for my outfitter and spent the next half hour riding through town trying to find it. It was located and the computer read just over 100 miles. Woo-hoo!! My second ever century ride. The body felt so good, I could have probably ridden more, but I wanted to get my stuff and finish the book.

After getting everything setup I headed off to a middle school by the camp site for a shower. As I walked in someone was taking money from people who wanted to shower. 5 DOLLARS!!! And they said "Have a towel too." And this troglodyte gave me an over sized paper towel. He even told me that I didn't need to return it because it was disposable. I then proceeded to ask him, "What? No KY jelly?" He had a vacant expression and didn't seem to get it. So, I decided to just get the shower and figured I was just probably grumpy from low blood sugar.

The showers were scalding hot. This definitely made my grumpiness two-fold, all I kept thinking about was getting back to the book.

After the lovely shower I was able to sit down under the canopies and finish the book. I won't describe the story to anyone for fear of receiving brutal beatings for revealing anything. Suffice it to say that it was a very good read and was what I expected from a Harry Potter story.

Now it was off for some eats. Ate at a local Chinese restaurant, not too bad, prices were very reasonable. Wandered around town, ate dinner from an overpriced vendor. The town didn't have much in the offering for dinner and I didn't want to eat Chinese again.

Hung out under the canopies for a while talking with people. 9PM came rather quickly and it was time to call it a night. I was awoken several times in the night. One to a bunch of locals driving their cars up and down the streets honking their horns and yelling "Get out of our town losers!!!". Oh well, it was bound to happen sooner or later I thought. Then again later to someone playing basketball on the court near the camp site. Some people.

Coming tomorrow...leaning money spending lessons on RAGBRAI, a new tasty energy snack is discovered, and the pork chop man.

RAGBRAI... (Part 2)

2007-08-01T07:47:00.000-05:00

DAY 1 (Sunday) - Rock Rapids to Spencer 74.5 miles
This was going to be an interesting day. Awoke at 3:45AM before the alarm went off and was ready to go. Packed everything and loaded the luggage on the transport vehicle. There were a number of other people up at this time too; however, I couldn't find any place serving breakfast at this time, so I decided to down a Cliff bar and get going. Started pedaling at 4:30AM.

I followed the signs out of town. Unfortunately for me I wasn't paying too close enough attention for signage. For the next couple of hours, I was wondering why I wasn't seeing anyone else or any towns for that matter, but I kept going on. Later on I arrived at Lake Okoboji and found an open gas station and asked to borrow their paper because the routes were posted in it. Well, if you didn't see it coming, I was way off course. The route was a round-a-bout southeast route going through several towns, but I never got near it. The station owner told me that all I had to do was head south and I would get to Spencer. At least I didn't have to back track fifty miles. The bad thing is that the winds were picking up to 20 mph out of the south. So it was a not so pleasant ride into Spencer.

After battling the vile winds I pulled in and found the campsite which was located at the fairgrounds. Unfortunately, the luggage hadn't arrived. So I just sat under the outfitters tent waiting for the luggage. I had struck up a conversation with a local and discovered there was a YMCA in town. Things were starting to look up, I now had a place I could get a decent shower. Now all I needed was some sustenance, hammer gels and cliff bars just don't fully do the job.

I had wondered around the fairgrounds and found plenty of places to eat. One place had steak-on-a-stick and I thought, yummy. So, I went in to get myself one of those mouth watering delights. It was 5 smacks, and for 5 smacks all I got was a small little piece of flank steak on a miniature punji stick, nothing else; NO coleslaw, NO potato salad, NO drink, NOTHING. If I wanted water or gatorade, they had that for sale. They were 16oz bottles for 2 dollars. They also had sweet corn for 3 dollars an ear. After picking my jaw up off the floor at the sight of these "hurricane sale" prices I thought that this one place might just be an aberration; oh how wrong I was. I even then discovered that these people follow RAGBRAI from town to town. I thought this was about giving money to the towns. After this point I thought I would just find a nice little diner in each host town and eat there. At least I know the money would be going to the local economy.

The luggage arrived, I pitched tent, gathered my stuff together and headed over to the Y for a shower. It was free for members of the Y and 5 dollars for anyone else. Though the 5 dollars would give you full day access which was probably the best deal the whole week.

Heading back through the fairgrounds feeling refreshed I saw where the general showers were. They were the cattle show barn in the middle of the fairgrounds and they were charging 5 dollars. As I learned the rest of the week, because this was the only town with a YMCA, showers were 5 humps everywhere. I also came across one vendor giving out free laminated route cards that covered every days travel. This was a must because I didn't want to get lost again.

So I sat under the outfitters tent reading Harry Potter. The outfitter had dinner catered for us which didn't cost anything extra. It was a marinated turkey meal which was delicious. There was potato salad, baked beans, coleslaw, apple pie, and iced tea, lemonade, or water. I even went back for seconds.

Around 8PM I was getting a tad tired, with only 100 pages left to read. I decided it was time
to hit the rack. The tent was still a little warm but I was tired and I was out for the count. Then approximately 10PM I thought I was back in Iraq. It sounded like missiles and mortars were going off all around me. I came flying out of my tent not realizing where I was and up in the sky there were fireworks going off. Everything clicked into place and I knew where I was and what was going on. Sure wish I knew this was going to happen. Thankfully the show lasted only 15 minutes and I was back in the land of the dead.

Tomorrow, my second ever century ride, spending more money, my first taste of the crowds on the road...

RAGBRAI... (Part 1)

2007-07-31T07:02:00.000-05:00

Well, I have completed another 500+ miles and am ready to tell you about all the fun that was had.

DAY 0 (Saturday) - Awoke at my brothers in Iowa City at 3AM to head out to Bellevue, IA to meet the buses so I can have my bike and self transported to the starting point in Rock Rapids, IA. One may be wondering why so early since Bellevue is only an hour and a half away. Well, I wanted to run over to Wal-Mart and get the new Harry Potter book since it came out at midnight, before heading out.

About an hour into the drive (5:30AM) to Bellevue, on highway 151, I saw and passed Team Mata on the road. If anyone remembers who this is, Syd's blog had posted an article about this woman who had a real nasty accident which separated her teeth and gums from her jaw. The story amazed me, especially how the accident didn't even stop her from racing.

Anywho, I thought I would signal them and see about getting a picture, then I realized I had left the compact digital camera my brother was going to lend me back at my brothers house. Oh well, I just thought it was neat to see them all the same.

Arrived in Bellevue in plenty of time. Unloaded the car and my sister-in-law took my car back to their place in Iowa City. The bicycle was loaded into the truck and I sat down to begin reading. Then I realized I left my sunglasses in my car. Argh...this was not turning out to be good, hopefully I would be able to find some cheap sunglasses in Rock Rapids.

The bus ride was a typical bus ride, uncomfortable and boring. There were a lot of people getting liquored up on the bus. There was a large water cooler filled with margaritas and someone was passing beers around. I don't know how anyone can drink at 8AM. The book kept my attention the whole time so all the drunks didn't bother me. We arrived at the starting point at 4PM. Found my bike and pitched my tent.

There were about 600 people with the outfitter I traveled with the whole week. I decided to find the vendor stands and find some sunglasses and get some much needed dinner. I found the vendors and it was crowded. If you have never been in a crowd of more than 10,000 people, I cannot even begin to describe the insanity. Then again most of it might have been my own claustrophobia that was creating the anxiety. I found some sunglasses for twenty clams. After riding the whole week with them they were definitely over priced by twenty clams.

Found some food, headed back to camp, and did some more reading before calling it a night. At this point I was halfway through the book. Was woken up from the people returning from the bars at 2AM. For some reason I thought I had over slept and missed getting my luggage on the trucks by 7AM. Then I realized what was going on.

It was back to sleep. Tomorrow I will tell you more...

Around the corner...

2007-07-19T10:56:00.000-05:00

Only a few more hours of the dreaded income machine then it's vacation time. Time to put some more miles on my legs in hopes to improve myself. This vacation will see me riding my bicycle across Iowa for a whole week in the RAGBRAI. With over ten thousand people I will definitely have opportunities to meet many people and make friends. Sure hope the weather will behave. Pray for low temps and no rain.

On my return I should have many stories to share with you.

Good luck to everyone in their adventures in the next couple of weeks. Good luck to those participating in the Cornhusker State Games and those racing at the Babcook race next weekend. Sure wish I was racing in that race.

This will mark the end of my "BIG" vacations for the year. Does anyone have any ideas on what I should do next year? There are a couple of ideas running through my head. I would probably like to do BRAN again. If I get enough ideas I may have to put up a poll to see which one I should do. If you provide me with ideas make them reasonable please. I'm looking to see what kind of fun and interesting things I can do for under a grand. This is because I have a lot of other things I want to buy. hehe

Have fun with whatever you choose to do for the next week.

Humiliating...

2007-07-16T08:03:00.000-05:00

Well, not really humiliating but after mulling the race over some quiet time it feels that way a little. Saturdays race was the Twilight Criterium in Papillion NE. This was a .6 mile course with a small uphill grade on the start/finish stretch and a BIG downhill on the backside stretch. The course also featured three 90 degree turns and one 70 degree turn, which turned out to be pretty nasty.

Since the race was called a twilight race, this means all the races began in the afternoon. The cat 5 race, which myself belongs, began at 4PM and which seemed to be the hottest part of the day. Temperatures were in the upper 90's.

After approximately forty-five minutes of warming up on the trainer we, myself and fellow teamFIRE member Aaron Gammel, were able to get on the course for a ten minute pre-ride. Coming down the hill on the backside we got up to thirty miles per hour and took turn three with no problem. Approximately 50 yards was turn four. This turn was just nasty, especially at high speeds. One would find themselves almost riding over the curb on the far side of the street.

The race was on and after 8 laps I was lapped by the pack and was subsequently pulled. I wasn't the first one pulled and I wasn't the last one pulled. At the time I wasn't overly upset feeling I did the best I could with the little skills I posses at this time. The reason people were being pulled was due to safety sake, which is completely understandable, especially with turn 4.

The other races were fun to watch. The women's race was probably the most exciting. One lady, a former national cyclocross champion, took a nasty spill on turn 4. She was back on her bike and lapped the entire field three times for the win, completely amazing. teamFIRE's own Janna Vavra kept teamKaos's Morgan Chaffin behind her the whole time and took a third overall. Janna was the definite big winner for teamFIRE and a hearty congratulations go out to her.

After an evening of just hanging out, watching the races, then everyone going out to dinner it was time to call it a night. The next morning was when the hind sight blues started hitting. "If only I would have..." kept leaping into my mind and I couldn't get over it. I just need to keep telling myself that I am just beginning this journey and practice and patience will prevail in the long run.

Now it's time to prepare for RAGBRAI which starts this weekend. Once again I will be away from the computer all next week and there will probably not be any updates until I get back. At which time I will more than likely give a detailed blow-by-blow account of the whole adventure.

12 hours???

2007-07-11T09:53:00.000-05:00

Have I started to lose all semblance of sanity? It has been known by people who know me that I have been living my life on a thread of sanity; now it looks like I may have severed the thread.

There will be a 12 hour mountain bike race at lake Manawa on September 15. I'm seriously contemplating this one with a ninety percent possibility that I will be participating. Not sure if I will do the solo category, but will probably do one of the team categories. As much as I loved riding Manawa at the Psycowpath race this will be so much more fun.

Then Sunday, September 16, comes more fun with the Omaha Corporate Cup Run. My body will definitely be brutalized. Oh what I do for a little fun these days, it's monumentally insane. Anyone else up for doing both of these events? I can't be the only one. Hey, at least it's not a marathon, now that would just be plain silly.

The fun is back...

2007-07-09T08:37:00.000-05:00

Saturday was the Psycowpath race at Lake Manawa in Council Bluffs, IA. For some time now I was starting to lose my excitement about mountain bike riding, until this race. This was so freaking fun I was wanting to keep riding.

It all started when I arrived at 8AM to register and pre-ride the course. First of all, let it be noted that the directions in the race bible suck and if you follow the directions as written, you will end up someplace else.

This course is very deceptive. It is very flat with maybe 10 feet of climbing. About a hundred yards in there is a nice little log pile to climb over. I almost endoed on the first attempt, second attempt the front gear teeth bit into the top log and during the race, well I will get to that soon enough. Then another fifty feet into the trail was a nice drop lined with some rocks. I walked it, my thinking is that I really want to do the Papillion Crit next weekend and don't want to be laid up in a body cast. The rest of the course was flat with many switch backs and "S" turns, very curvy. One would think that this would be relatively easy, well it would be but this course is also very tight; and I mean tight in the fact that there are so many trees and you have maybe 2 to 3 inches between you and the trees at any given time.

After riding through once, I just wanted to go again. There was plenty of time so I did it again, met up with Zach and we rode it together. Congrats go to Zach for taking first in the beginner men's open even though he started a minute late.

Anywho, time for the race. The way the race was started was not very well done I felt. We were herded to the beginning of the path and started from there. Since this is my first year of mountain bike racing, I won't complain too much but I felt they should have had a road sprint to the start of the course like the did at Swanson and Lewis and Clark.

The race was on, my aggression was a little low key since I was a little nervous about the two big obstacles at the beginning. As I was making the turn for the log pile my nerves were justified, three men endoed and there was a pile of metal and flesh. So, I got off the bike, put it on my shoulder and ran over the pile and up the hill. I could hear someone on my rear tire and decided to ride down the rock hill. I made it and was ready for some speedy fun.

I was flying through the twists and turns, my speed was up, and I could feel the adrenaline flowing through me. This was the most fun I have had in a race to this date. There was another pile up which I tried to make it through but to no avail, I came off my bike but was back on in a split second. I could still hear the person on my back tire so it was time to juice it up. Flying through the trees I could no longer hear him back there. Then my left grip and hand got too close to one of the trees and snagged and brought me to a very quick stop. Untangled myself from the tree and got back to pedaling and guess what? Yip, the person who I had distanced myself from was back. With all the twisting and turning and high speeds I felt like an f-22 fighter with a bogey on my six that I just couldn't lose. There were two people in front of me that I had caught up to but I just couldn't get the nerve to pass them. I know, I know, maybe with some more experience behind me I will have no problem in the future, so it will come when it comes.

The person behind me was Rich Wilson who came in first in the beginner men's 45+, congrats Rich. The final result for yours truly was 5th out of 11. I had a great time and I think everyone there did too.

Congratulations go to fellow teamFIRE member Christine Bixby and Stephanie Spearman of Ciao Baby team for making the podium in the beginner women's. There was a large showing for the women's category and they did a great job.

After the race I discovered I was bleeding in a few places. I really don't remember where and how it happened either. It's as though my body's pain receptors just completely shut down. Another thing I discovered is that even though the trails were very dry and dusty, one still gets rather muddy. All the dust sticks to the sweat on the body and creates a mud cake. People who know me, know I hate getting dirty.

When I got home to clean up I noticed my shoulders. They were heavily bruised and covered in road rash. I must have been playing human pinball with the trees the whole time. Like I said, I didn't feel a darn thing.

Well, that is the abbreviated version of this weekend. Hope it gives you some insight into the fun that is sometimes my life. This Saturday is the Papillion Twilight Criterium race and I am really looking forward to it. Congratulations to everyone who raced this past weekend again.

Okay, okay...

2007-07-09T08:22:00.000-05:00

Several people have aired their dissatisfaction that I haven't update this all week. Well, as an excuse, I have been on primary pager duty for w**k this week and it hasn't been quiet. The last thing I wanted to do when I was at home was be in front of the computer for even one second.

Now that I have handed the pager off to the next sucker, the updates should be coming.

July 4, was a fun as well as hectic day. Started out with a small teamFIRE ride to Seward at 6:30AM for a breakfast feed at the fire hall. Sure glad we went when we did because later in the day the winds picked up quite a bit. A great time was had by all in Seward, maybe next time we should plan a whole day thing. The people of Seward go all out for the fourth. The streets were closed and packed with vendors and events for the whole day.

After arriving back in Lincoln, it was time to clean up and head to Omaha for a little BBQ with some fellow co-workers. There were burgers, ribs, chicken, hot dogs, brauts, a very interesting potato salad, and other goodies. The afternoon was getting along and I was starting to feel the drain of the morning ride kick in; so it was back to Lincoln for me. As I pulled into the driveway the neighbors we over to invite me over to their place for some more BBQ, fireworks, and to watch the big show. I just couldn't resist.

As soon as the big show was over, I went back across the street and was hoping to get some much needed sleep. Well, how wrong I was because that accursed pager went off as I was about to have dreams of sugar plums. The whole evening, morning, and afternoon were spent working a big issue. I was still able to get my training ride in before going to bed the following evening. I slept the sleep of the dead.

Next entry coming up will be the Psycowpath race at Manawa.

Da Funk...

2007-06-27T08:05:00.000-05:00

Are you wondering why people don't join you for a bike ride? Do you notice a nasty odor when you get on your bike and you are no where near a farm or water treatment facility?

Then I bet your bicycle helmet suffers from "da funk". The kind of funk that curls your nose hairs? Well then I have the solution for you. Febreeze. Yes it does work on helmet funk. It even works on glove funk and I bet it would work on many other kinds of funk. Though the best solution for the other kinds would be to just wash your clothes or take a bath.

Don't just sit there, operators are standing by. Better still, run to your local store and pick some up. It works in as little as 30 seconds.

Fun time in Baldwin City...

2007-06-25T09:10:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I decided to not do the mountain bike race in Ponca, NE; instead I decided to go down to Baldwin City, KS for some road bike racing. I loaded the car Friday after work and headed down with my dog. We stayed at the Days Inn in Olathe, KS. The hotel was okay, but I had that sense that I was glad I didn't have one of those "black light" things.

Baylee, my 8 year old mutt, was so tweaked at being in a different place she was barking at all the odd noises all night long. It didn't help either that a basketball team was staying in the rooms above mine either. We arrived around 10 PM. I set the alarm clock for 5 and tried to get some sleep. Sleep came in spurts, between sleeping in odd surroundings and the dog getting jumpy I awoke at 5:15 AM. As I was staring at the clock I was wondering why the alarm didn't go off. To my amazing stupidity I had set the alarm for 5 PM not AM.

After getting halfway to Baldwin City I realized I forgot my jersey, so it was back to the hotel. We arrived around 7:30, plenty of time to register. The TT was scheduled to start at 8:45 AM. Took the dog for a little walk around town and realized that I also forgot to pack my camera. Baldwin City is a neat little town. There are some neat things in that little town.

Placed Baylee in the car with some water and the windows down. Don't worry too much, I found a nice shady place for the car; also, the TT was only 10k.

Got on the bike and decided to do a casual ride of the course to get warmed up at 8:30 AM. The course was in no way flat, it was all rollers. At least they weren't "femur creamers" like I have experienced before. I pulled up to the start line to find out when I would be scheduled to start; they stated that they had a small computer glitch and they didn't have the list yet. Also they wouldn't be starting until 9 AM. At 9 AM they stated that the cat 5's wouldn't be starting until after 9:30. So it was back to the car, pull out the trainer and keep the legs nice and loose for the next half hour. At 9:30, I headed back over and my "posted" start time was to be 9:50 AM. So I spun around on the streets a little while and headed back.

The cat 5's were getting lined up. While in the line I heard what I can only describe as a starters pistol going off, I even saw a little powder cloud too. Well, it was the guy three places ahead of me. His tire decided to pop. If a tire blows at 120 psi, it sounds like a firearm. The guy pulled himself out of the race because he didn't have a spare. After talking with him after the race he had only signed up for the TT and didn't think he would need a spare.

I pulled up to the starting line and I was off. After 5 seconds my right foot unclipped. Damn! Took a couple seconds and got it back on. Here I was feeling really good and ready to hammer it with everything I had in me. The hills seemed almost non-existent. Arrived at the turnaround and my time was looking good. I tried to coax more out of my legs and lungs. This race was to see if I have improved personally and I could feel it. The greatest sensation is being able to feel the lungs on fire, the hams screaming, and that lovely cramp beginning to form in the side. At this point I pushed it a little more. Crossing the finish I knew I did my personal best to date. The speed was much better than the past, and the time proved it. I didn't make the podium, they apparently breed them lean and fast in Kansas. I accomplished my own personal goal and can only be proud of that. There is definitely room for improvement and sure hope Marc will help with that. I want even more time to be shaved at my next TT.

The Crit for Saturday was to start at 4:40 PM for the cat 5's. I went to the little wheat pizza parlor for some sustenance. I even brought some back for Baylee. Then it was back to the hotel for some resting for the afternoon race.

The temperature and humidity seemed to have gone up considerably and I decided to keep Baylee at the hotel. The crit course was very interesting. Half of the course was on the cobblestone road, there was even a small climb and a small descent too. Racing on cobblestone was definitely not fun. It felt like I was rattling loose all of my fillings. Once again I didn't do so good in the overall picture. I was dropped by the pack after the second lap. My rear tire did a little slide too on a turn but I was able to keep it upright and continue. I finished the race and accomplished my personal goal. It was fun and I definitely need to work on staying with the pack and build my confidence on riding such a tight course.

It was back to the hotel for some food and rest. The weather reports were saying that Sunday was going to be hotter and more humid than Saturday. The Sunday race was supposed to be a 47 mile road race. At this time I started to do some serious thinking. One, I was more than likely going to get dropped from the pack, my skills just aren't there yet; two, I was feeling apprehensive of keeping the dog in the car that long of a time with those high temps; three, my body wasn't really feeling it, I just didn't want to overstress myself and ruin the training I have received at this point.

I hated to make the decision, but I think it was for the best; so we headed back home. After 10 hours of sleep my body was feeling real good and Baylee was glad to be back home. I think I will just take this coming weekend off of racing and just pay attention to training.

Customer No-Service...

2007-06-22T15:52:00.001-05:00

Attention everyone. Never use Priceline ever again. Use Travelocity or some other company. Customer service at Priceline has gone way down the hill and they seem to no longer care about customer satisfaction. They used to be really great and bent over backwards to help with reservation changes. No more.

It's a long story and I need to start heading out to Kansas so I will leave it at that for now.

Change of mind...

2007-06-22T08:32:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow I was supposed to go to Ponca for the mountain bike marathon race; well, I have changed my mind. Instead, I will be heading down to Baldwin City, KS for the 5th Annual Baldwin City Omnium after work.

Since I enjoy road racing just a tad more, this seemed the right choice. Also, I am wanting to gain a little more experience in the road racing venue. Hopefully, I will be able to learn some more about tactics and such. Saturday morning opens up with a 10k TT then a Crit in the afternoon. Sunday morning will be a 47 mile RR.

Just after a week of easy riding and rest after BRAN, I think I will be fine. Legs and body feel really good. I will have to pay extra attention to my body and if I feel any sort of undue stress I will need to lighten it up just a bit. Not really worried about winning as much as gaining experience.

More than likely I will head down tonight with the dog and stay in hotel for the weekend. Would do the camping thing but I don't want Baylee to be out too much if it gets hot.

Well, good luck to everyone who will be racing at Ponca or anywhere else this weekend. Would like to do the marathon by my heart seems to have a stronger yearning for the road. Maybe I will take my camera and get some pictures.

500+ miles later... (part 3)

2007-06-20T11:13:00.000-05:00

DAY 7 (Friday) - Fullerton to Brainard and back 100 miles
You guessed it. I ended up doing my first ever century. Woke up at the usual time and started tearing down the tent. The mosquitoes obviously didn't sleep because they were waiting outside of my tent to suck my life juice. Luckily the Off! was within reach and they didn't get to drain me.

Brandon and I were the first persons out of town after breakfast. We kept a really good pace, though Brandon wouldn't do any pulling, he would just suck my wheel the whole time. It didn't bother me, it was fun and it was nice to have company too. We stopped at the first SAG to top off the reservoirs and so I could change my lenses to a darker tint since the sun was over the horizon.

NOTE: There was no better sight than seeing the sunrise while biking all week long.

The stop lasted no more than five minutes. We were back on the road at the same pace. The route profile showed a really nasty hill halfway through. It was nothing. The hill in question turned out to be a 250 foot climb over about a mile. It barely registered on the pain meters. It was obvious that we were gradually approaching civilization, the number of vehicles on the road was increasing. We didn't see a SAG stop through Osceola, Shelby, or Rising City. By the time we reached Rising City my camel back was empty and I was on my last water bottle. I definitely didn't want to take the chance that there would be a SAG ahead. It was feared that they hadn't come out yet, so we stopped at a Kwiki Mart, took a bathroom break and purchased some Gatorade and H2O.

All re-energized we were back on the road riding hard. Two miles down the road was the SAG stop, I was so upset with that since I hate to spend money if I don't have to. Oh well, my health is more important than a few bucks. We kept going and passed the last SAG who was stationed 5 miles outside of Brainard. Arriving in Brainard, the 70 mile mark, we were feeling real good and turned right around and started hammering it back toward Osceola and hoping to complete a double metric.

At this time it seemed as though we were riding into a headwind. We figured this is a good thing because we would have a tailwind on the way back. After about fifteen miles back, this would give us our century if we headed back, we saw Janna and Nicol riding in the Bike Masters pace line. It figured, those two finally decide to leave early and not lolly gag in all the towns and deny us our double metric. So we turned around and hooked up with them back to Brainard. I swear that the tailwind we were hoping to have on the way back turned into a headwind. We made one SAG stop to replenish supplies and finished the ride into town. Brandon and I recorded our first ever century ride.

The moment I got off my bike, unpacked my gear, set up my tent and took a shower my body just wanted to sleep. If I wasn't moving it was so hard to stay awake. One person even took a sneaky picture of me sleeping and posted it on the web. I'll leave you to find the picture.

Brainard has some good eats, just like all the other towns. They had homemade polish sausage, fried chicken, and BBQ pork sandwiches. Unfortunately for me there were no BBQ pork sandwiches, they ran out of pork. Janna and Nicol were the ones who had the last of the pork. I was sure wishing Charlotte was there. I had fried chicken for lunch and 2 polish sausages for dinner. We also went over to the Legion hall for root beer floats and brownie sundaes.

After dinner it was time for some serious sleep time. All four of us decided that we will ride the last leg together.

DAY 8 (Saturday) - Brainard to Waterloo 46 miles
After a really good night sleep we were ready to go, except Janna. She did not want to start riding until exactly 6:30 AM. I kid you not, we were lined up on the road and she wasn't going to move until 6:30 AM on the nose. I think she was doing this to irritate Brandon and me.

We were off, Franz even joined us for the final ride too. All five of us had a really good pace line going too. Then we hit some serious road construction where we had to wait a while for the pilot car to come through. We had also caught up to the Bike Masters group at the construction and decided to join them. I was in the front of the line and got to share a couple of pulls, very fun and good experience too. I was pulling when we arrived in Wahoo, then I heard the sound I never thought I would hear. My rear tire had just blown, my first ever flat. Dang it, so I pulled off the line. Janna, Nicol, Franz, and Brandon joined me in repairing my flat. Nicol went to some store and came back with this donut I can only describe as a dentists nightmare. In the middle was this chocolate and peanut butter goo and a Reese's on top. It looked deadly.

While repairing the flat a bug had flown into my eye. Having my hands covered in nasty black grime I enlisted the help of Nicol and Franz in trying to dig the bug out. It had to be one hell of a sight to see. The flat was fixed and we were back on the road home. Rest of the ride was uneventful, but still fun. We ate hot dogs, drank sodas, said goodbyes to everyone we met, loaded our cars and were homeward bound.

This was a great vacation and I would do it again. Maybe next year I can get more people to do it, because nothing beats a vacation with fun friends. Marc had said that this ride would whip me into some serious bike shape. I think he may be right. We will see when it comes to race time.

One really exciting thing to note was that I passed a cat 2 racer (Mark Merrit) on the ride to Fullerton. In all fairness he was standing on the side of the road attending to nature. He then got back on his bike and smoked us. Glory truly is fleeting.

Hope everyone has enjoyed reading this and hopefully it will give you the desire to maybe try this ride next year.

500+ miles later... (part 2)

2007-06-19T08:34:00.000-05:00

DAY 5 (Wednesday) - Merna to Ord 60 miles
Awoke to the sounds of rain pelting the roof of the gym at 3:30 AM. It sure was nice to sleep in a dry location. The quality of sleep seemed to have been very good too. Packed up my bag and was ready to place it onto the truck; unfortunately when looking out the door, it was a torrential downpour. This was not looking to be another fun day. After about thirty minutes the rain turned into a light drizzle. I took advantage of the lull in the weather to walk the half mile to the truck to place my baggage onto it. Then it was back to the school for some grub. Someone had their computer on with the current weather maps up and the day was looking to be really bad. Mentally, I was beginning to lose my motivation.

I decided to just mount the bike and get a move on at 5:30 AM. It appeared as though I was the first person on the road this lovely morning. Just on the outskirt of town I came across another person who was a little unsure as to where we were supposed to head. I hooked up with him for the first ten miles and had a good conversation. The time sure moved by quickly, so quickly in fact I wasn't paying attention to our speed until we arrived at the first SAG stop. We averaged 11 mph. Ugh...there was no way I was going to continue this pace. There were two groups of riders that zipped past the SAG. I felt a challenge and something to motivate me in this will sucking weather. I thanked the gentleman for the good conversation and told him that I was just going to hammer it. So off I went.

The second group of riders was easy to catch. I was averaging at this point 22 mph, this was turning out to be a great day. Then the sky decided to start dumping. For about 30 minutes there was a torrential downpour, the road looked just like glass. Remembering my little mishap at the Beatrice Crit a few weeks back I made sure to practice the lessons I learned. Slowly I was catching up to the first group, once I caught up to them I decided to draft off them for awhile. There was some great conversation with these two even though we were cooking over 20 mph.

We passed through Sargent onto a country road. This road was not very well maintained. Also, because of all the rain, the BRAN markings on the roads were all washed away. It made us unsure whether we were going the correct way or not. I saw some hills, and feeling really good thought I would attack them. That was so much fun, I think I am beginning to like hills. The two individuals I was riding with seemed to have died on the hills and they fell back some ways. There was also a groundhog golf course on this road, 416 holes. Pretty funny I thought. The rain seemed to have let up to a light drizzle at this time.

Reached the end of the road and didn't know which way to go, right or left. There were no markings. Someone came by in their car, one of the people who SAGed themselves in because they didn't want to ride in the rain. They didn't know where to go either and said they would drive around and come back and let me know which way to travel. He came back and said to go right. I decided to wait for the group of two I passed to catch up and let them know which way to go too. Apparently one of them had a flat and fell even further back; it was about a 10 minute wait. When the caught up we headed into town together.

We arrived at the school around 9 am. One of the local organizers was there and told us to come inside, get dry, and relax. They mentioned that the gyms would be opened for people to sleep in. They even opened the wrestling room with the mats. We were the first people to arrive and quickly staked out our spots on the mats. They gave us towels to dry off with, some chips to eat, and two 60 inch screen tv's to watch. They also let us use the schools washer and dryer. The town of Ord went all out for everyone and bent over backwards to accommodate and help us. They received my vote for best host town. Even the mayor was driving the shuttle bus taking people to wherever they wanted to go in town.

The rain stopped in the afternoon. Ate some lunch and dinner and went to bed. Not much else happened this day.

DAY 6 (Thursday) - Ord to Fullerton 68 miles
The usual morning routine was followed. My legs were feeling a tad tight and I wanted to make this day a recovery ride and take it easy. I hooked up with Franz Muller and we had a nice easy ride. Three quarters of the ride was covered in fog. It turned out to still be another day of being wet, but it was a hell of a lot better than being rained on.

When the fog had been completely lifted it was a beautiful scenic ride. We arrived in town at 10 AM. The town had blocked off the main street and were having a little street fair type of event for the BRAN riders. They were making hamburgers and brauts. The best part was that the brauts were made locally by the local butcher. They were yummy. There was even a place offering homemade pies, either by the slice or whole pie. I had to have a slice of apple pie, this being my first piece of pie the whole ride. I swear the pie crust was made with lard, it was so flaky.

The truck finally arrived so it was down to the park to help unload, pitch tent, get a shower and rest. Well, while setting up the tent mosquitoes swarmed all over us. Alas, I had no repellent. I did my best to avoid them until I could get something. It was off to the showers, since the swimming pool was at the park I thought I would try the showers there. Not a good idea, there were 10 people waiting for 2 dinky showers. Later I learned that it was all cold water. So I jumped on my bike and rode over to the high school. Much better than the pool showers. On my way back I stopped at the local general store and purchased some mosquito fogger and some OFF!. At the tent I sprayed the tent with the fogger and sprayed myself with the other stuff. I was left alone for the rest of the evening.

I ran into fellow temFIRE members Janna and Nicol. They seemed to be having a great time too. I saw them in the beginning too, but they would leave much later than me and would stop at all the towns in between. Nicol was still trying to get everything in her tent dry and kept asking if she should put the rain fly on. I kept saying that it wasn't going to rain any more and she would be okay.

NOTE: Never trust my meteorological predictions. I am maybe 10% accurate.

We hooked up with some other people and went to the lasagna / spaghetti feed at the legion. As we were inside and ready to start dishing food onto our plates it started down pouring. Nicol saw the rain coming down and ran out to put the fly on her tent which was a half mile down the road. We stayed and ate and boxed up a meal for Nicol who had not returned.

We arrived back and Nicol's stuff was soaked. A nice local person offered to dry Nicol's stuff. After a while all of us decided to see about getting some pie. Yes, I know, I already had one but I was on vacation and going to have another one. Once there I had a slice of cherry pie this time. We ran into Katie, Stanin, and Steve, some follow Lincoln people. Steve was talking about doing a century (100 miles) or even a double metric century (120 miles). This piqued my internal challenge meter. I thought, I could do that tomorrow. Brandon and I decided that will will attempt either the double metric or the century ride. The next days ride would be 70 miles and we could turn back and add the miles. We decided that we would meet up with Janna and Nicol after our turn around or we would meet them in Osceola (double metric mark), which ever came first.

So, it was off to hang out and get some sleep.

Coming tomorrow...did I do the double metric or did I do the century? You will just have to wait...

500+ miles later...

2007-06-18T09:48:00.000-05:00

Vacation is officially over and I wish I was still out riding. To catch you up to speed on everything that happened over the past week here is a daily synopsis.

DAY 1 (Saturday)
Boarded the buses in Waterloo, NE at 5 AM to head out to Gordon, NE. The ride wasn't all that exciting. Tried to get some sleep but sleeping on a bus is about as easy as sleeping on an airplane in coach class. We arrived in Gordon a little after noon. The town was very welcoming to everyone. The campground was the city park which seemed to be located in the middle of town. Walked downtown to the local diner for lunch and had a chicken salad sandwich on cibata bread. Very tasty. There was a funnel cake stand setup in the park and I just couldn't resist. There was some live country music too in the park along with some hamburgers and fixins for dinner. Then it was off to bed for some needed sleep because I didn't want to ride while being tired.

DAY 2 (Sunday) - Gordon to Hyannis 85 miles
Awoke at 3:30 AM to pack everything up, including the tent and place them onto the truck. It was cold as hell this morning; felt like 30 degrees. Breakfast was being served at 4:30 AM. Since this was supposed to be the longest day distance wise I wanted to get a good early start.

I thought I would take my camera gear and some other things in hopes of getting some good photographic opportunities. This was a big mistake. The rubber hit the road at 6 AM and it was looking to be a great day. There were a few nice little hills out of town and the pedaling was going really good. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, there appeared the hills from hell. These were reminiscent of the hills in San Francisco. If anyone ever tells me that Nebraska is flat, I will slap them up side the head. This might not have been too bad but the fact that I had about ten extra pounds strapped to my back started to take its toll. My butt and other areas were in extreme pain. At the halfway point, I pawned off the pack on the SAG driver; photos be damned, my butt was more important. The rest of the ride went much better; it's amazing how much of a difference a few pounds can make.

Arrived in Hyannis feeling a little tired but not too much. Went to the showers in the high school, the cold water wasn't working so we took showers in scalding water. After we left someone went to adjust the water. Everyone who showered after us, had nice showers. Oh well. The girl scouts were serving lunch in the football field where we camped. Sloppy Joes and gatorade; yummy. Dinner was served by the local church in the school.

DAY 3 (Monday) - Hyannis to Tryon 73 miles
This morning was a little warmer than the first. Awoke at 3:30, packed everything and went up to the school for breakfast. Started on the road at 5:45 AM. Caught up to a couple people I met the day before and finished riding into Tryon with them. When we reached the halfway point a noticeable wind was starting up. For the most part it was a crosswind from the south. The first half of the route was traveling south while the last part headed west. Anyone who started later than us were in for a serious headwind for about 30 miles.

About 10 miles outside of Tryon was a steep hill. Once I crested this hill I cranked it downhill. This was not such a good idea. Towards the bottom of the hill, the area opened up. It was like a valley on both sides of the road. The southerly wind that was approaching 25 mph at this time was slamming into me and made me feel as though the bike was going to get blown out from under me. Not very fun.

Arrived in Tryon, showered, ate lunch and took a little nap. It was hot and muggy in the tent so I went into the school to lay on the cool floor. Dinner time came and this was by far the best place we ate all week. They had loads of home cooked goodies. After leaving the dining facility with a full stomach, the winds had picked up even more and there were some nasty clouds moving in from the west.

The evening in the tent was not fun. The wind was blowing so hard that the tent kept mashing up against me while I tried to sleep. Then the rain came. I did not sleep very well.

DAY 4 (Tuesday) - Tryon to Merna 71 miles
I awoke at 3:30 AM and it was still raining. I rolled off my air mattress into a pool of water. My tent sprung a leak. Thankfully I wrapped most of my stuff in garbage bags for just such an emergency. Everything was packed and placed on the truck then off to the school for some breakfast burritos.

The first half of this days ride wasn't too bad. It seemed like it was going to clear up for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, it turned miserable. It turned to light drizzle and mist. The cool temperatures didn't make it very comfortable either. I even attempted to wear my poncho to warm up and dry up a little. BIG MISTAKE. With a headwind, the poncho became a parachute. It could be a good way to get some resistance training in but I didn't like it at the time. So, off came the poncho. Arrived in Merna not feeling very dry or very happy. The sky was heavily overcast and it was only raining lightly off and on.

Grabbed my luggage off the truck and pitched tent. Went into town to the local eatery for lunch. Apparently people love their hamburgers because when I got there and tried to order one, they were all out of hamburgers. I kid you not. So I ordered a chicken fried steak sandwich. When that arrived someone had just come back from getting more hamburger meat. This was not looking up to be a good day for me.

Arrived back to camp and someone said that the weather reports stated there was going to be 3 to 5 inches of rain that night. Then I heard they opened up the gyms for people to sleep in. Well, my tent seemed to have dried out, so I took it down and decided to sleep in the gym that night. I was going to have a dry peaceful night of sleeping.

DAY 5 (Wednesday) - Merna to Ord 60 miles

More to come...need to eat lunch.

Almost time...

2007-06-08T12:46:00.000-05:00

Well, this time tomorrow I should be in Gordon, NE putting up my tent and meeting fellow BRANers and the community. This is going to be a fun vacation. The approximate distance I will travel on my bike will be 449 miles over 7 days. Definitely some good training time there.

This weekend is also the Norfolk Classic. Sure wish I was going there instead, but I do need a vacation from work. The most talked about match up will be Sydney Brown and Morgan Chaffin. Both women are powerhouses on wheels. If you have never seen these women race or been lapped at a TT by one, you have no idea what you will be missing. I have to give my support to Sydney because she's from Lincoln and trains also with Marc. Check out Sydney's blog site for some excellent race reports.

Alas, this will probably be my last report for a week. If I am not too tired next Saturday there will probably be a brief report. I'm planning on taking my vacation journal to write in and my camera. Hopefully I will be motivated enough to share some of it with you.

Good luck to everyone this weekend at Norfolk. The lineup sounds like a lot of fun. If anyone who reads this is going on BRAN, see you there tomorrow. I'll be wearing my teamFIRE jersey when the ride begins on Sunday.