Tour of Kansas City (it happened a while ago)

In keeping with my theme lately this post is waaay behind schedule.

Enjoy...

The Tour of Kansas City happened a few weeks ago. It was 2 crit races. One Saturday and One Sunday.

Saturday:

This was my first time on this course and i had a great start which was helped by my front row starting position. i'm getting good at that. I was having fun but then 15 minutes in i got some stomach cramps. The next 10 minutes i was entirely focused on deep breathign and making them go away. They did. Then i started to get tired. I didnt feel like myself on Saturday and i wonder if taking 3 days off (wed, thurs and friday) had somethign to do with it. I felt weak. maybe i didnt eat enough.

I got dropped.

Bummer.

I volunteered to help tear down both days and tonight i got roped into barrier / cone / hay bail duty. Not easy. We rode around on the back of a trailer loading up all that stuff, then drove over to tomorrows course and unloaded. i had on a sleveless shirt (streetcred 2009, the last chasam year (but not the final chasam year?) )and looked the part of the volunteer thrn and thru. Volunteers should always wear sleveless shirts. Got home at 11 and crashed soon after, but not before destroying some Taco Bell.

We have a few out of town racers staying with us. I like it.

Too bad the race didn't start at 4:20, because that would be totally cool.

Some coconut waters don't have much sodium, which is a bummer, so choose wisely.

Whose ready to volunteer... this guy!

Setting sun during the fast race.

This dog is kind of a big deal around here.

Bicycling thru the American dream.

Sound Pony man with a great finish, he didnt win but i intend to post pictures of guys in Sound Pony kits whenever possible.

Sunday:

Today i double up, something i've only done a few times. this thinking was that it would make me stronger for the Tour of Lawrence.

The 3/4 race was first.

felt great the whole time, was never in difficulty, even moved up with two to go. Lost concentration or maybe i just hit the ceiling of my ability and finished towards the back of the pack. I'm a 4 so feeling that good in a 3/4 race was awesome. There were 49 starters and only 13 of us were 4's. That was a big confidence booster even if the course was waaay easier than the day before.

did i mention how hot it was all weekend?

i did a good job of staying hydrated all week as well as during the races (coconut water is my new favorite thing) but i dont think my post race nutrition was what it should have been considering i had another race coming up becaue i cramped up in that next race. Maybe that was inevetable given the effort and temperature but i should have eaten more salt, maybe some pickles and pickle juice. Or a BLT. Something. Cramps suck.

cat 4 race:

not much to tell. the legs were a little tired but a double espress clif shot helped me warm up. The heat was not bothering me that much and since this was my second race i just kind of went thru the motions. I think i need to start listening to upbeat music to get pumped up for these races. i'll be bringing my i-pod shuffel to Tour of Lawrence and i'm filling it with 'Super get pumped up and kick some a**' music. 

Translation: Traveling Wilburys.

Anyway...

About halfway thru the cramps started. pretty soon getting out of the saddle was a problem. At first i thought i could finish the race with the pack by just sitting down the whole time but that started to hurt too. Then my ankles started to cramp, which was weird. Eventually i sat up before the cramps could really set in. I rode the last 2 or 3 laps solo.

During my post race Sonic (soooo good, it's americas drive in, dont you know) my entire left leg locked up (hamstring) and i had to hobble around and do some streching. Luckily there were no lingering effects. Bad cramps can leave your muscles sore for days and i dont want that for the Tour of Lawrence.

Okay, thats it.

One more big road bike race weekend coming up!

Pre race grocery stop.

Double up time.

I should have eaten the entire Salted Nut Roll between my races.

I ove this photo. Amazing sonic meal in the foreground and Lyles in the break in the back ground.

Ben is from Nebraska and he was staying with us, his race ended poorly on Sunday. But he's young and he'll be back in no time.

Lyles crossing the finish line 1st in the cat 3 race. No victory salute, just a smile.

A moment of silence before the fast race for local cycling big man Chris Smedley.  I never met him but everyone said he was one of the good guys. X new him and i just asked her "didn't you say he was a nice guy?", her response..... "the nicest".

Ice Cream tastes really good when it's 100 degrees. Thanks Charlie.

Im imagining song from 'Saturday night fever' playing right now.

Tilford and Kusiak.

Where else can you find guys sitting on a sewer drain next to a row of port-a-potties eating pizza out of the box? The pizza looked pretty good too.