HPT Topeka CX and Veterans Cross in Leavenworth.

Saturday night at Topeka was awesome. 

Sunday afternoon in Levenworth was terrible. 

Saturday:

The open race was big for KC. 18. My start was fine but all the long fast sections were killing me. Almost dug too deep on laps 1 and 2 so had to slow up for a few laps in the middle. 

Started to recover towards the end which was good because there were actually people to race with. I had linked up with Pot Pie and we had somebody chasing us hard plus J Fox was close enough in front that we had a shot to catch him. 

Moments like this is why I worked to come back after the collar bone break. Racing people is fun. 

Mark from Velo Tek ended up catching us on the last lap or so but he slid out shortly after so Me and Pot Pie went back around him. I mumbled something about working with John to not get passed and to maybe catch Joe but he was into the race we had going between ourselves. 

We got to the final long strait grass section behing the bleachers and I was on Johns wheel and could feel that Velo Tek Mark would be coming around us and when he did I grabbed his wheel. 

That small moment was another keeper for the memory banks. It's the little things people. And when you've been getting crushed in the open race for three years the little things like that go a long way. 

So I jump on marks wheel but he immediately began to pull away. At this point I'm digging very deep and loving every minute of it. 

Very zen stuff. 

Especially negotiating the few remaining corners. When your on the edge but still riding clean(ish) it's a great feeling. 

Mark was close enough that I had a slim shot, and all the sudden J Fox was close, too. I kept going as fast as possible but we finished in that order. 

Finished maybe 16 of 18 and had a blast doing it. 

(Did get passed by 3 of the 3's. Last year at this race I managed to stay in front of all of 'em).

Sunday

I showed up late and didn't pre ride. 

Mistake.

The 3's started at the same time as the 1's and 2's so I was excited and nervous to see where I would end up. I'm a slow 2 but maybe a okay 3?

Never got the chance to find out. 8 seconds into the race I crashed hard and could not continue. 

There was a slight bend in the long strait start and everyone in front of me kept comin closer and closer to not making the turn until the guy right in front of me, Mark H, was forced to go thru the tape. Except he couldn't go thru the tape b/c a spectator was crouching there and he was headed strait for her. 

So he did the only thing he could do and slammed the breaks. I ran into him and went up and over, landing on my head and breaking my prescription sun glasses and front wheel in the process. 

Race over. 

Mark felt bad and actually drove by my house afterwards to apologize again and make sure I was okay. That was an awesome gesture. I have no hard feelings. 

Neither Mark nor myself had pre-ridden so shame on us, but the start did seem narrow and throwing that little bend in there was a little sketch. 

Oh well, sh*t happens. 

I'm hoping to do two more races this year. Ending with the Parkville one. We'll see if I can find the time and motivation to train enough to give me a few more good experiences. 

I raced cross this weekend, twice. Colavita Cup and Boulevard Cup.

This weekend was my return to racing after the collar bone break. 

It was awesome.

Saturday was Colavita Cup and Sunday was Boulevard cup.

Saturday:

Soon after I broke my bone I decided cross was off. Then I changed my mind. I've been pedaling my bike for the last 6 weeks with the last two being somewhat intense. 

It helped but I'm still terribly slow. 

Saturday was the perfect come back race. Free. Small field. No pressure. 8 starters, I finished 6th. 7th was way overmatched, way more so than me, and 8th missed his start. So I wasn't last. 

It was awesome just to be out there. 

(This is a terrible picture of me).

Sunday:

I figured the field would be bigger for Boulevard cup, and it was. But the turnout was still pretty low. 13 in the open race. I was 13, I wore it upsidown. 

Hung with the group longer than yesterday but still got destroyed. Back tire developed a slow leak and was completely flat with 4 minutes to go. Ended up running it in... In front of the entire 4/5 field who was staging. Everyone cheered. It was pretty f-ing bad a*s. 

Bicycles are the best. 

I love you all. 

Cathedrial Crits

Holy cow, those races were fun. 

Last Saturday and Sunday we had the Cathedrial Crits. I volunteered both days so it was an exhausting weekend. 

Due to our team chasing team kbar I raced the 4/5 both days, instead of the 3/4. I thought I could win, I could have, I didn't. 

Saturday I finished 5th of around 20 and Sunday I finished 4th of around 20. In both raced the team rode really well. Attacking, blocking, helping. I've never been in another race where we had that many strong guys on one team who were all riding as one. Fun stuff. 

I was stupid and let some small gaps open in the final two laps of both races which eliminated and chance at winning. Well, that was more the case on the 2nd day. We also hit lapped traffic both days which added to the difficultly of maintaining a good position. 

Saturday I found myself in limbo on the last lap and the one second it took me to commit to going all in was long enough to eliminate the chance of winning. Sunday was more of a lapped traffic issue but my memory is fuzzy so I don't want to place too much blame on that. We all had to get around it. 

I've raced a lot over the past 5 years but last weekend was, from a team perspective, the best ever. 

Day 1 photos..

Day 2 photos...

Arma Road Race.

My Wife: "so you had already done this turn 3 times and you still f'd it up?"

Me: "Yes"

Last Saturdays Arma road race was pretty awesome,  it was almost the best ever. If only i hadn't botched the second to last turn, which we had already done three times meaning there is no excuse for me turning like a moron. 

Ahhh what might have been...

It was a roughly 50 mile road race and our cat 4/5 field had about 35 starters. I was feeling good and having fun as soon as they said go.

Tcpckc had another great turnout, all season has been great but the last 6 weeks or so have been off the charts awesome. Riding bikes is fun but riding bikes with your friends is even better. In the 4/5 race alone we had Jeret, Micahel, Mark the Brit, Nate and myself.

The race started off fast but for the most part it was a typical 4/5 road race. Lots of speeding up and slowing down, but im guessing a lot of road races are like that, regardless of category. But i don't mind. Especially if the course is fun, which this one was. We did 4 laps, multiple turns per lap, two railroad crossings, one long stretch of crappy road (but crappy in a fun way), one longish hill, not too steep but enough to make a difference in crunch time, especially since it topped out about 1 mile from the finish, then the two tight corners ont narrow roads within about 600 meters to go. Plus the scenery was pretty.

It was a fun course. 

the mood in the field was good, people were chatty, i was telling jokes...

The other day my dad walked up to me and said, 'son, if you don't stop masturbating you're going to go blind. I said, Dad, i'm over here.'

Kyle from KCBC spent a lap or so off the front but we could see him the whole time. We caught him with maybe 10 miles to go and Michael mentioned we needed to be towards the front. Soon after, his back wheel lost a spoke. I was riding behind him and was going to offer the use of my spare in the following truck but after a few seconds he decided it would be fine, which it was. Mark was also sitting towards the front and despite not seeing Jeret i figured he would be there when it mattered. He's rides casual. Nate was also kicking butt especially since its his first season.

We caught Kyle and i moved up to top 5, thinking someone might make a move that i wanted to follow. Never really happened. There was a small move when we hit the crappy road section, two dudes on the same team went off the front, i pulled for a bit, then there was an attack and the group was shortly all together again. As we hit the hill for the last time i was sitting around 10th and had plenty of energy. This was it.

I set myself up on the far right side and had no issues being boxed in when the accelerations came. The last few minutes of this race, starting with the climb, were so fun. I was eyeing everyone, trying to get in the perfect spot. Towards the top the gaps were starting to open but i was right where i wanted to be and well within myself, i might have attacked but i saw Mark doing just that so i grabbed a wheel. I think Kevin from Boulevard had already attacked and i knew he had a chance to hold it and that it was a good move to go with but Mark was chasing him and he had a small gap. He had a rider on his wheel followed by a tiny gap and then two riders that i was directly behind. The wheels i was following eventually caught Mark and we lined up for the first of the two turns.

Things are a little hazy but i was probably 5th wheel here with about 500 meters to go (full disclosure, my estimation of distance in Meters is horrible). This is when it all went pear shaped. The guys in front of me took a horrible line, I thought, so i vow to show them how it's done. i come in fast on the outside, thinking ill carry way more momentum... all the way to victory.

Except im an idiot and I come in too hot and had to go into the grass... NUTS! i never put a foot down and was back on the pavement in two seconds but that was all it took. Any shot at winning was over. I went from having a real shot to having no shot. I still gave it everything, at first, as soon as i was back on the pavement i was pissed and i punched it. Got in front of a guy or two before the final turn (again, the line they took was less than astounding, but i obviously dontknow  what im talking about) and got out of the saddle for the final sprint... i pretty much blew up halfway there and coasted in for 12th.

Nuts.

I never saw Michael in the finish but he was in there and had a shot at 3rd but blew up for 9th. And he started the final climb in the very back! Dudes on fire. Jeret said he was right behind me when i went into the grass and he took 6th. Nathan was 19th and Mark was 21st. I think Mark blew up going for broke at the top of the climb. 

The whole day was awesome except for the last minute. Again, i really thought the course was sweet. The finish was perfect. Having a climb that's just hard enough to create small gaps, then throw in 500 meters of flat before two 90 degree turns onto narrow roads with the finish line just after that.... its like something at the end of a spring classic. At least that's how it felt to me.

I want a do-over.

I won a race on my road bike!!! (Sunflower State Games Crit)

I saw this on last nights ride...

It reminded me to blog. (Funny enough, I was turning right). 

Roughly ten days ago I raced the cat 4 crit at the sunflower state games in Topeka, KS. And I won. For the first time ever, (on road bike at least), after 6 years or racing, I managed to win a race. I can count on one hand the number of races I was close to winning in the past. Only two come to mind. Both were last year. The Stateline road race and the 4/5 race on the last day of Gateway cup. I think I was 6th and 5th. So not that close to winning. 

I was surprised to win. So surprised that part of me was worried it wasn't the last lap and I watched to make sure everyone else didn't keep racing. 

I'll back up and give the play by play... 

We had 20 starters and I felt good from the beginning. I covered one attack from the Boulevard crew but besides that we mostly just rode around in circles. It was a flat rectangle except for a slight 'S' curve on the last corner. The finishing strait was a stiff tailwind. 

Tcpckc (team Colavita Parisi coffee Kansas City) had a great turnout and during the race Mark or James said that Jeret wanted to attack with 3 to go. I was still a little winded from covering the boulevard attack (dude was hauling!) plus I have no power anyway so i shook my head 'no' when Jeret rolled up beside me and tried to convince. 

3 to go seemed to come early and it appeared a group sprint was coming up. I did a wonderful job of being politely aggressive to stay in the front and with 1/2 lap to go I was sitting pretty. 

Before the race started I made a mental note of the tailwind finish. X, my wife, always preached that a long sprint would catch people off guard, so I had this in mind. 

So, on the last lap, as we approached the final turn and the 5 or so guys in front of me seemed to slow for a split

Second and fan out across the road, leaving a perfect opening right in front of me, I decided to go for it. We were maybe 300 to 400 meters from the finish and I was all in. 

The 'S' curve turn almost ruined me when I came in at not the best angle, and had to break, a lot. I stayed cool

And shifted up twice so I wouldn't be over geared after correcting the turn. 

I re-accelerated and the tail wind did it's job. I ended up winning easily. There was no hands up celebration, though. Despite one glance back that made me think I had it I was still convinced someone was going to challenge. But they never did. 

The race was over. I won. About 1 minute later I pulled over and threw up. It was awesome. 

Jeff Unruh was promoting the race and he asked if I was going to blog about it. After I won I told him I had to. He puts on bad a** races. So thanks, Jeff! Sorry it took so long. 

Still more races to go, see you all out there!

Catching up, Tour of Lawrence, Truman Cup, State Line Road Race

It's been busy times around these parts but here's what's been happening on the bike front...

Tour of Lawrence - Campus Circuit:

Started at the back and used a crap ton of energy not getting dropped on the first two laps. Felt like I was under attack almost all race but did manage to move up at the beginning of the last lap... ultimately got dropped as we approached the final climb. Blew up big time and had a terrible result. 

Fun course. Blown opportunity.

Tour of Lawrence - Crit:

Rode around in circles and did a pretty good job making the laps as easy as possible. Was still unable to turn that into a good finish as I ended up 11. One spot out of the money. Not a bad finish but not a good one either, at least compared to what I thought I was capable of. 

Truman Cup Crit

Skipped the 4/5 race in favor of the 3/4. Glad I did. Rode first few laps in top 10 but was using too much energy. Moved to the way back and chilled there till one to go. Felt better all the sudden and moved up big time for a 7th place finish. Very happy with that. 

Plus my awesome wife took this awesome picture. This was corner 1 of the last lap and I was in hyper aggressive move up mode. 

State Line Road Race

Took 6th last year and it's a good course for me. This year I apparently came in dehydrated and lacking endurance b/c after 4 laps of smooth sailing I felt the cramps coming and halfway thru the last lap my right hamstring basically locked up and I had to quit. 

Oh well. 

Didn't take any pictures so here's a random one of my cat from the other day.  

Tour of KC

Saturday

Saturday sucked. I hate this course. More so because I always do terrible. Last year I blew up, this year I blew up. 

I knew it was key to be at the front, and I was. Hit the first corner in the top 5. Micah was really pushing the pace and in the first lap the guy in front if me let a gap open and when a guy shot around me to bridge I jumped to follow. It all came together but that little move was the beginning of the end. I probably lasted 4 laps before dropping off. A group of about 8 survived to the finish. I ended up quitting after 30 minutes.

Extremely frustrating... But let's not dwell on that. 

Sunday

This was an awesome day.

For the first time since 2010 we were back at Cliff Drive. Basically the Crown Jewel of Kansas City bicycle racing. 

Back in 2010 I was a slow cat 4 and the USA soccer team was in the process if losing to Ghana. Fast forward to now and I'm an average Cat 4 and the USA soccer team was in the process of tying Portgual. 

That's called Progress. 

Anyway...

Since the course had a big hill I thought I could do well. 

Something like 50 lined up and I did a terrible job of clipping in. (These look pedals are givinge fits). The first lap was brutal and I had to close several gaps. Second lap was similar. Micah and his mountain biking partner in crime G-Wiz were keeping the pace very high and I was slightly concerned at how heavily I was breathing. 

The middle of the race was uneventful but I was recovering and feeling good. 

We started the last lap, all together I think, maybe 20 of us, and began to think about the finish. 

This race was all about the climb. It's hard and the finish comes about 30 seconds after the top. I hit the bottom of that climb sitting around 8th. I went deep into the pain cave and it's kind of a blur. One of my strongest recollections was the feeling of a large amount of spit sitting on my chin.

That's my heart monitor... How much spit is on your face... a lot means your going hard. 

Besides that I rember breathing very hard and Micah and another dude crashing. And my amazing wife yelling for me and, I believe, saying I was doing awesome. 

The entire climb was brutally painful and wonderfully fulfilling. 

I hit the top in 5th place, right behing J Doug. The only person I could see ahead of us was Jerrett but he had a big gap. I glanced behind and in an oxygen deprived state remember seeing people who could potentially catch us. 

A quick glance at J Doug told me he was spent so I rode past him. Maybe a mistake, but what was certainly a mistake was that I didn't attack him. I simple rolled right past him, close enough and slow enough for him to easily grab my wheel. By this point I was all in and we ended up having a great sprint to the line. We were both sprinting fast but He beat me, by about a wheel if memory serves.  

Next time I won't give such a good lead out. 

So I finished 5th. One of my best results ever. 

Great day.

Tulsa Tough

Last weekend i raced Saturday and Sunday at Tulsa Tough. I've been to some fun races but this ones the best by far. Tulsa has found the magic formula. Fun courses, fun town, every race within 2 miles, lots of spectators... its big time.

Saturday

For the first time in 5 years we decided to drive down Saturday morning instead of Friday night. It's nice to save $ due to one fewer night in a hotel but my legs did not respond well to 4 hrs in a car followed by about 30 minutes of warming up.

I felt sluggish all race. I was still good enough to finish 29th out of about 100 but i was hoping for much better. The result would have been more like 50th if i hadn't taken advantage of a slowing pack on the big downhill approaching the final lap. i forced myself to pedal hard down the hill while most everyone else was taking a last big breath. I actually put myself in a position that wasn't completely terrible and with good legs probably had a chance at a decent result. However, like i mentioned, the legs were not good... plus I was slowed by an almost crash as we started the uphill and then just about rode into the back of someone as i re-accelerated, having to slow again.

All race everything felt harder than it should. Even the smallest effort seemed to be extremely taxing. Luckily im beginning to realize that im a professional cat 4 which means im generally good at making the race as easy as possible, and at a avoiding crashes, of which I witnessed several... All of them stupid. Did I used to ride like that?

Anyway...

Sunday

I knew I would feel better Sunday, and I did. The 6:30am thunder clap was a rude awakening but the rain was light as our race started and might have stopped all together. But it was wet, very wet. 

I've got some fancy carbon wheels with tubular tires so I put the pressure at about 78 psi and made my way to the starting line. 

We did a neutral lap (first time I've done that but a good idea due to the rain and technical final corner) and during it I almost got my chain stuck shifting from big to little ring. After that I kept it in the big ring all race. I do have a compact. 

The chain incident put me pretty far back in the field but I used the climb to move my way up and was sitting pretty after 5 laps. In the last few laps I knew I was strong on the hill and while there were probably only 15 to 20 of us left in the front group i was cresting the hill easily and towards the front.

And then, with one to go, it happened. One of those moments that an average cat 4 with a shrinking window of opportunity will remember forever. Especially one who rarely takes chances.

I attacked!

It was spur of the moment and it was pretty easy, at first. "Attacked" may be too strong of a word but im not sure what else you would call it.

All day i was taking the final corner conservatively (ie slowly), which would leaving small gaps i had to close down. I just really didn't want to end my race by crashing on that corner. It's happened to me before. So approaching the last lap it was the same story and as i accelerated to catch back up i see the group has slowed big time. So without thinking I kept the speed i had and passed everyone on the left side, going considerately faster than the bunch. Somebody yelled "Left side!" and from that moment I was all in. I hit the hill first and poured my life into the pedals. There was a good group of fans already on the hill and that moment was pretty amazing, even if its a blur and even if it was very short. Here i was leading the charge on the final pass up cry baby hill.

I had no clue what was happening behind me but that quickly changed. The first guy passed me pretty early on the climb. He was going quite a bit faster than I was. Two or three more guys passed me soon after him (i recognizance one as velotek) then after a few seconds just about everyone passed me. I was dying, and dry heaving, and loving every second of it.

I kept pushing as hard as i could, never blew up (it was close) and managed to recover slightly by the time I reached the bottom of the hill and started the sprint. I was by myself, with one dude almost close enough to catch and a few guys behind almost closed enough to catch me. I did a pretty good sprint and held my spot, for 14th place. My best result ever at this race and only the second time ive finished it after 5 attempts.

In hindsight im pretty sure i would have had a better placing had i not attacked like that, but im positive ill look back on that  moment, however brief, for years to come. It was just so much fun.