HWY 40 TT

Today, I was pretty happy the weather gods were nice and gave us a not so bad day to ride the road bike in the time trial. Having not ridden to much since September I was just happy to be out on my bike. I don't even have 10 rides on this bike yet. Today, was also my first ride on my new wheels. The Addict in itself is already a wicked light bike but with addition of the carbon wheels that are crazy light too made me feel like I was riding a feather. The time trial was billed as 9 miles but I only clocked 8 miles. The HuB was out in full force too. It was nice seeing all the guys out. As for the ride I didn't expect much just to go out and put it down to see how an out of shape racer could do. I felt like I did at the beginning of any season, which is not that great. My clock had my time in the 24 minute neighborhood which is a minute slower than the first time trial I did at the Tour of St. Louis which was also at the beginning of the season. I'm excited to race next season to say the least. I know you get out what you put in so I'll definitely hope to put my fair share of time in to be competitive at the next level.

Wheel BLING

I now have a pair of Rolf Carbon TDF 58's on the road bike now. I still need to get a cassette for them but here's an early look of the bling action on the bike. These are the wheels I spoke about in the previous ebay posting. They weigh in at 1310 grams.

Bubba Night Cross

The night cross race had all the bells, whistles, cheering, and jeering one could ask for. Sadly enough that race did pretty much seal the deal for me, at least for this season as to if I really want to race cross. I have tried to find the "fun" or "the race within a within the race" but it just doesn't click with me. In any hobby I'm involved in, it has to be fun for me. Cyclocross not so much for me. Even without having a competitive mindset at ALL it still isn't fun. When I wasn't competitive on the road, I welcomed the challenge of getting stronger and faster. That challenge was fun. I chatted up lastnight about selling my cross frame but I will not make any rash decisions. I will return to spectator status for the remaining races.

I did get the carbon wheels I ordered off ebay. Once I have my camara I'll post some pics of the wheel bling! My time trial helmet should be in Wednesday too.

Bubba #5 Cyclocross

I FINISHED!!!!! Goal this week was to do just that, finish. I started the first lap running the same pace as the leaders but as the first lapped neared completion, my heart rate was threw the roof so I backed off and eventually settled into a pace I could maintain and actually in the closing laps the legs felt really good. I'm actually looking forward to racing this weekend and having fun just being out there.

EBAY

I've been very fortunate to have very pleasurable experiences on Ebay both buying and selling items. Last Friday I won an auction for a set carbon wheels I had been eyeing and used paypal to pay for them within hours of the auction ending. Naturally when I'm the seller I put things in the mail immediately once I have the money. Lets just say this seller didn't do the same for me. It is now one week later and I have no wheels. The seller has only responded to one email I've sent him. Tonight I had it in mind I would go through the motions of trying to recover my money. I used the Ebay chat session to have my questions answered on what route to go. They recommended I get the sellers phone number. My first thought was why even bother talking to the person that has been the cause of the problem anyway. I did go ahead and request the sellers phone number and did speak with him. Long story short he says he has been really busy but not so busy that he still found time to transfer my money to his account. He says he emailed me the tracking info yesterday and the wheels should get here no later than Wednesday nextweek. I have recieved no such email with tracking info. He is currently not at his residence so he says he will send the tracking number again later this weekend. I will say he has bought himself some time and I don't feel as worried as before but the jury is still out until I have the wheels in hand.

BUYERS BEWARE

Cycling ROCKS Birthday and Bubba Week 3

Friday was my 26th birthday. The girlfriend threw me a surprise dinner with friends at PF Chengs that evening. She also hook me up with several great gifts. The first being 2 Rock Racing shirts. I like to consider myself a fashionable guy lol and Rock Racing owner Michael Ball designs some pretty cool cycling apparel. The kits they offer are all pretty cool but a bit pricey. We are talking about $300-$400 for complete jersey and bib kit. I had on one of the t-shirts Saturday.

She aslo got me a Giro Advantage II 09 edition time trial helmet. Only she got me the wrong the size. It will be shipped back this week and exchanged. I only need a bike now!
As for the race today, well I didn't get involved in any crashes. The course was pretty brutal on the legs. Cx racing is definitely not coming easy for me. I got out into about 10th place and felt the gaps opening behind me in the field. Big problem was I was running pretty much full tilt to keep my position and I couldn't maintain that pace. So I started to ease off the pace and watched people pass me by all up until the point where I threw in the towel. I really just need to sit in and suffer and enjoy just being out there. I will start this philosphy in the next race, but the competitive edge in me always wants to simply compete and heck maybe even win. I went through the same thing racing on the road and it took a couple years to get the legs to be competitive in that discipline. Until then though I will enjoy the atmosphere, music,and food!

After the race I headed over to my league basketball game. I was alittle late and the game had already started when I got there. We were down by 10 points just three minutes into the game. I hit the floor and we were right back in the game taking the lead by 2 points heading into half time. The second half I couldn't sink any three balls but had a few hard drives to the bucket and got fouled then knocked down my free throws. Needless to say we lost by 2 but we had every opportunity to win the game in the last 2 minutes. We are now 0-2.

This week I'm heading back to my alma mater of Tuskegee University to take part in Homecoming activities. I'll be flying out to Atlanta Thursday morning and driving down to Tuskegee, Alabama. Its only about 1.5 hour ride. So that means no cx race or basketball for me next Sunday.

new CX bike and my first CX race

Busy day busy day...........Picked up my cx bike Friday after work. Its a Specialized S-Works fitted with a 105 grouppo. I like the fit of it and it definitely fits the entry level of bike I was wanting to piece together. I rode it for like 20 mins Saturday after I got in 30 miles on the road bike. Fast forward to one day later (today) I was doing my first cx race. The course was pretty flat and really suited me well being it was my first ever cx race. I like the vibe and relaxed feel the cx races have. I can't say a whole alot about the race as I was only in for 3 laps. I was sitting in 4th place and then I goofed on a dismount and had to stop and really just walk over the barriers. After that I dropped back to like 8th and here is when my day ended. We were going through a winding section of the course when the guy in front of me washed out his front tire and went down. I'm right behind him and with no where to go, I hit the deck. Falling on to the grass was not that bad but my right hammy just wasn't right after that and it took a few minutes to check the bike out and get back going. Needless to say I did enjoy the cx race and I'm looking forward to racing next weekend. I was in the C race forgot to mention that. Erik took 2nd place for The Hub in this so that was pretty awesome.

My day wasn't over after the bike race. I got recruited to play in basketball league on Sundays too. After the race I headed straight to Priory HS to hit the hardwood. I put in 20 points in a losing effort by our squad. I hadn't played basketball in about 3 months now since my time in California. Overall though the body is pretty beat. I'm pretty much dead tired. Nextweek I've got my Tuesday training ride, Sat morning shop ride, and rolling right into another busy Sunday with cx race and basketball game.

My birthday is this Friday too. Another year in the books.

The New Ride

Scott Addict R3

So I'm rolling a new Scott these days. The bike is all that and more of what it is hyped up to be. The bike is light and responsive. I wasn't really sure how I would like another Scott because I wasn't to impressed with my CR1 Team. I say that with some reservations because I didn't take the time to dial in my CR1. I knew it had somethings that didn't make the fit just right for me that I never took the time to get adjusted because it was just a back up bike. A couple things I had adjusted on my Addict were the handle bars and a stem. The new handle bars have a shorter width and the stem is also a 100mm inplace of the 110mm. The bike came with Mavic Ksyrium ES' but I had those replaced with Rolf Prima Vigors. The grouppo is SRAM FORCE. I had never used SRAM before but I really like the set.

In other new ride news, I'm piecing together a Cross bike. It should be ready to roll by middle of nextweek and I will race in the Bubba series next Sunday. I'll post a pic of that also and give a little more details on it then. One last bike I will probably get sometime soon is a Time trial bike. The cross bike is being put together with used parts and the TT bike would also be something that I piece together. I went and rode the TT bike I'm talking about and it really fit pretty well.

Back at it Again

Returned to the bike yesterday and today. The return was a filled with much anticipation as they had my new bike ready to roll for me for its maiden voyage. Prior to this weekend we were tweaking a couple things on the bike to get the fit pretty close to perfect. I had new handle bars (ones that came with it were to wide) put on and a shorter stem. So looking good on the new bike I got 30 miles in Saturday on the shop ride. Although I didn't feel good at all and just rode at the bike most of ride it was great to be on the new bike. After that ride I knew the handle bars needed to be raised up so we added some spacers. Wanting to check the fit with the spacers and I went today for a pretty long ride. I got in 65 miles. I rode out to my parents and watched about 30 minutes of the Rams game while there and replenished my bottles. Then I set out towards the loop to grab a quick treat from Smoothie King then out to Forest Park and finally back downtown to my place. The first 30 miles went really well but the last 30 or so were pretty hard because my legs were shot. Big thing is, I think we have the fit of my new bike to my liking. As for what kind of new bike I have, I will post about it later. Lets just say it is very light.

not to much and Cat 3 racing

Haven't ridden any since the St. Gen road race besides tooling around downtown. I've enjoyed the time off the bike but I'm to point I am ready to jump bike on the saddle. This will happen once I have my new bike, which should be ready to go Saturday. More on that in a coming post.

Someone posted a link to the cat3phenoms blog on stlbiking.com and I find this particular entry pretty revelant since I'm made the jump up to the cat 3. Read below his entry entitled Cat 3 racing is the tougest. This isn't serious his blog is pure humor.

"That's right, racing as a Cat 3 - or in my case, dominating as a Cat 3 - is the hardest thing to do in all of bicycle racing.A quick lesson for the non-cyclist on Racing Categories. When you begin racing, you start out as a weak little Category 5, or Cat 5. I prefer calling it the Crash 5's. You wouldn't believe the amount of 'squirrily birds' they have in those groups. Once you do ten races, you can move up to a Category 4. Unless you are a Nancy-ass sandbagger, then you stay as a Cat 5. Why would you do this??? I guess some people like gay medals to hang on their walls.So Cat 4's is a step up from the Cat 5's, but this does not mean a thing. All it means is the person likes to race, not that they are any good at it. Anybody can be a Cat 4, or Cat 5.To become a Cat 3 - hereafter referred to as 'the Ultimate Cat' - you must earn points from the races you compete in. You must have 20 points in a 12 month span in order to accomplish this. The only point value I know is for first place, because that was where you could always find me.So you get you 20 points and have shown you have some talent, so now you're in 'the Ulitmate Cat'.Now that the briefing for the uneducated is finished, I can discuss why Cat 3 racing is the toughest...First off, the bike handling of most Cat 3's has not improved since the time they were a Cat 5. At the same time, leg strength and power has generally increased among these same people which means everyone goes faster. That, combined no bike handling skills, results in carnage waiting to happenOr picture it like this: You go out on St. Patty's day, consume massive amounts of Irish Car Bombs so you've lost all control over your body and it's functions. You then have a choice of hopping into a souped up Corvette capable of 0-60 in 3.5 seconds, or throwing your leg over a 1946 Vespa that lacks the horsepower the get you over that big neighborhood speed bump.In the Corvette, you're lucky to make it out of there alive. You wake up the next morning and are just counting your blessing that you made it home in one piece. You know you escaped a wreck that could have cost you your life. This is like Cat 3 racing.On the mighty Vespa, you're just lucky if you make it home before daylight due to the slow speeds that you putter along at. You know full well that the only damage that's going to be caused in a wreck might be a little skin off the body. This is Cat 5 racing.It is for this reason that during Cat 3 races I just stay off the front, constantly attacking my opponents to wear down their legs. I slowly turn those 09 Corvette legs into the wet noodle that is the 46 Vespa. By the time the bell lap rings I have turned what was once the Ulitmate Cat into nothing more than a bunch of spandex-wearing sissy-boys.As far as Cat 1's and 2's are concerned, their bike handling does not allow for the difficulty that is involved in Cat 3 racing, thus making Cat 3's - the Ulitmate Cat.Well that is all for now, I'm off to get my bike fit perfectly to my body. I feel as though my seat is 1 nanometer too low, thus impeding my ability to maximze my already superiour power on a bike. Have a good one!"

2008 Season Review and looking ahead to 2009

OK so the season is officially over for me now. I can definitely say the hard work in the early months of this year paid off for me in the end. After only doing 2 races in 2007, I was pretty anxious to get back out on the road in full swing. I started riding back in February, probably right around the time I started blogging. The blog king of held me accountable since I was riding by myself out in the desert nearly 3 times a week. If you put in the work, the results will come. I felt very strong in nearly all the races I competed in this year. I'm still chasing my first win, but this year I came very close on several occasions to getting it. Some races that stick out in my mind are the California State Road Race and Cliff Drive Classic in Kansas City. Those races were both really challenging and just a lot fun. With that said, I'm very pleased with the year I had.

What does 2009 have in store for me? One big thing is I will start the year racing as a Cat 3. Wow, is all I can say about that. I remember like it was yesterday doing my first race as a 5 and getting dropped like a bad habit. Also, next year the goal is to do a couple Stage Races and the state time trial race. Hopefully the job will allow for me to train enough to be in a position to have some results next season. The first race of the year for me will be in February at the Valley of The Sun Stage Race in Arizona if all goes as planned. Several Hub riders should be at this event in the Cat 3's. So I'm really looking forward to training for that. I will be on a new bike for 09 and I hope to purchase a time trial bike too. I'll post at later time on the new rigs. I'm really looking forward to riding with the other Hub guys currently in the 3's. It has been a few years since I have raced with them. Get those trainers out racers because 2009 will be here before you know it!

St. Gen road Race Saturday Sept 20

Plan on lining it up one last time for the 08 season. Course is a 33 mile loop with 3 nice climbs from what I hear. Looking forward to it as I havent done a road race since the State Road Race in California.

Tour of Missouri

The Tour of Missouri took to the roads of ole Missoura, not Missouri but Missoura. Really who says that?!!?!? ITS MISSOURI!!!!!!!!! Say it like it reads. Ok the race waspretty cool to follow online and see BIG time racers right here in our state. I saw 3 of the stage finishes over the course of the weekend. Rode down to Jeff City Friday to catch the finish, then in St. Charles, and finally a few blocks over the from house on Market St today. It was pretty amazing how close you can get to the teams and all there equipment. The lessor known riders hung out more outside there team cars and the big name guys came out for autographs and then jumped right on the bike. I hung out with a Rock Racing rider Justin Williams for a few minutes picking his brain about what it was like riding in the Tour. This guy is only 19 years and is the current reigning U23 National Crit Champion. He also recently beat the Cuban Missle in a sprint finish about a month ago out in Cali. This was his first stage race and he is very excited to return to the Tour of MO next year. I also got a jersey autographed for a friend Dan, of a rider that won the 2005 National Road Race that was in Philly. Dan had a jersey that he has been holding onto for the last ten years to get it signed by Chris Wherry (only j/k about Dan holding out for ten years, that gives the story alittle more kick though!!)

The Hub was out in full force too, had a good time hanging with the guys.

NEW KITs NEW KITS NEW KITS

Yes, we've got them in. The new kits, the Hub has a new look essentially for the 09 road/crit season! Pictures to come soon...if I race tomorrow, those will pics of the kit will be posted.


EDIT to add photo of our new jersey. Ok so that's the new jersey. Heine wasn't in full kit, only the jersey, so full kit photos will come after the St. Gen road race next Saturday. It's pretty coool how our wings favor Rock Racings signature design.

2008 Gateway Cup Wrap up

Overall a really good weekend for The Hub at he Gateway Cup. I felt really good all weekend, only wish I would have made a couple moves late in some races. My goal was to finish top ten in all four race and I was able to do that. Here they are:

Friday Lafeyette Square - 7th place
Saturday Downtown - 2nd place
Sunday The Hill - 4th place
Monday Delmar - 6th place

Pictures will come later and maybe I'll talk more about each race. Peace

KC photos added

Tour of KC results from this weekend

Weekend race report from the Tour of KC. The Friday night crit course had two nice ascents on it. One ascent was leading up to the finish. For this race most of field just stayed together and it was an all out sprint up the hill to the line. I came out the corner and up the hill in third but then found myself quickly getting passed by most of field well before the finish. Not exactly sure where Dave Smith finished but I know he passed me and I finished 28th in that race.

Saturday a circuit race was on the agenda. We were set for 7 laps around the course. It was raining and a pretty cool day. I could have actually used a jacket for this race. This course too had a switch back climb up to the finish. It was definitely worthy of the small chain ring. Race had several crashes early on but then after that the field got split up and we were able to settle into a good pace. Heading up the switch back on the last lap I really just didn’t have enough to really be in contention for sprint up to the line, but I rode in for an 8th place at this venue.

Today the coursehad 2 slight ascents and was my favorite of all the courses. The course had I think about 7 turns on it. It was definitely important to be up front as to not get strung off the back. There was a 2 man break early on that got away but one of those guys eventually got dropped somewhere along the line. The group pretty much conceded the victory and we were set for a field sprint at the finish. Just like the first 2 races this one had an ascent right before the finish. Heading up this on the last lap I was able to pass a number of people and had a good sprint up to the line for a 4th place finish today.

All in all KC provided 3 challenging courses and a fun weekend of racing.

Tuesday Night Worlds

Most Tuesdays since I have been back I have tried to make it over to the Tuesday Night Worlds Criterium series. I use this race to work on different tactics and just pulling and recovering. Tonight I got a 5th place finish and we also had Devin not to far off my wheel on the finish.

Photos up from Jeff CIty Crit

Click photos tab

3rd Place at the State Criterium and the BRONZE MEDAL

Finished third place in the Missouri State Criterium. It was a very hot and humid day on the course. Around 40 to 45 guys started the race. From the start I didn't feel good at all. I had the feeling that if I did any pulling or rode near the front my day would be over. With that said, I rode in pretty much last place the entire race. I didn't start moving up until the last 3 laps. By that time though I did feel pretty decent and knew that I could make a run for it because I hadn't been up front all day. On the last lap I pushed up to about 14th or so and then as we were heading up a couple quick turns that were on a hill I punched it through a gap and found myself in the sprint for top a top 3 finish. I couldn't reel in the first place finisher and the guy who got second past me maybe like 10 feet from the line. I'm very happy with the race today. Not knowing if I was going to be able to finish the race and then being able to pull off a third place. I caught alot guys by surprise because I was in the back the entire race, some were saying they didnt even know I was in the race! Pictures will come soon

Photos from QUEEN CITY ARE UP

Queen City Results

Overall weekend was pretty good...right up until I went down today in the crit. First though, I had a strong ride and finish on the crit Saturday. The course had 8 turns and a nice long stretch up to the finish. The field was 50 deep with 4's and 5's. Pretty much after the first lap alot guys were getting spit off the back. Not really knowing any of the riders there, I sat around 10th place the majority of the race until we got down into the last 3 laps. With 3 to go the lead group was only about 10 bikes with a chance to win it. With that said I didn't have enough in me to overtake anyone on the sprint to the finish and finished in 5th place. Now to today, the course was perfect. Only 4 turns and smooth pavement. The pace of this race was really slower than any training ride I go on. In the middle of the race on a STRAIGHT AWAY of all places there was crash and I didn't have anywhere to go except down into the crash. Bike was ok and I knew my right side took all the impact. More on that later. I got back in the race and settled back in with no problem but still felt like the pace should be faster. After several guys sprinted for a Prem I shot off the front with the hopes of several joining. One Mesa junior joined me but he couldnt hang for more than a 1/2 a lap off the front. With that said I sat out front maybe 50 yards in front of the group right up until the 2nd to last turn and then dropped into the front but I didnt have anything left for the sprint finish. I just rolled in with the group. I could have easily sat in with the group and finished alot better but I just a move needed to be made and who knows if I went a 1/2 a lap later I would have won the race. Have to keep pushing the limits and taking chances cause one day the move will stick. Back to the crash, my body is extremely sore. Thinking about getting some xrays tomorrow just to be sure nothings broken. Next race will be State Crit, a week from today. Pictures from today will be posted soon.

Pre Race info Queen City Criterium

heading down to Springfield today for the Queen City Criteriums. I will race the 4/5 and the 3/4 Saturday and only the 4/5 on Sunday. Weather is supposed to be nice. Not looking like there will be other Hub racers in the 4's field with me this weekend. Results and pictures to come on Sunday.

CHecking IN folks

I have been back in St. Louis now for almost a month. I have made it to all but one of the weekly rides I used to do when I was here fulltime back in 2006. The legs have felt pretty good the past few weeks. I have been alot more aggressive on the rides I have been doing. I feel like sitting in won't get me to the next level of fitness. I haven't been shy about taking an aggressive pull or punching it up any hills we are on. Actually took my body to a level it hasn't been at EVER on our Hub ride this past Saturday. I did alot work in random places all through out the ride and we had broken the group up to a lead group of 5 guys. We were approaching the final sprint on the ride and a teammate says grap my wheel so he could lead me out. I grabbed his wheel and he ramped the speed and I shot off from behind him giving it ALL I had only to still get beat by our resident pain deliverer Ryan Heine. After the sprint I didn't feel so good. The heart rate was going to many beats per minute and I was just really hot. The end result was me pulling over and hopping off the bike and purging all I had in my stomach. After the stomach was empty I felt better and the teammates brought me several bottles of water to dump over my head to cool me down. I can definitely say I found my redline point. The goal now is to know how to ride hard right up to that point but not cross when I'm sprinting at the end of rides or races. With that said I did the Tuesday night Criterium series today. I felt pretty good all race but on the last few laps several Big Shark guys really ramped up the pace and I was sitting in 8th place and thought it would be easier to swing around after the last uphill but I couldn't close the gap up to the sprint thus finishing in 8th place. My riding schedule is pretty much set to, I ride Mon,Tues,Wed, and Saturdays. There a few races next weekend I'll be making it out to. With all that said, I'm glad to be back home.

Webster Criterium results

The Webster crit was today and I my legs did show up for one of two races. The first race was the category 3/4. I knew from the get go, this race would be very fast and I might have some issues hanging in there. Twenty minutes in I dropped off the back and retired to save any energy for the 4/5 race that was an hour later. The 4/5 race is definitely a huge change of pace from the 3/4. Here you didn't have guy after guy driving the pace. I felt really strong and comfortable from the start. With the added confidence I went for a Prem lap which would have netted me $50 for crossing the line first, only I caught at the line. After that I just sat in and recovered for the next few laps. Fast forwarding to the last lap I moved up to about 5th wheel and with 3 turns to go. We have a guy on our team that is a really good sprinter so I told home to just hold my wheel until the straight away for the finish. He was there until someone ran him into the curb and he went flying, I then sprinted to a 6th place finish, my best of this season thus far. I can't really remember the sprint, I wish someone had a video of it so I could see why I didnt sprint past the guys that were in front of me. Needless to say I'm very happy with the finish today not to mention one of our guys won the race too. Pictures will be posted soon .

Sudden death playoff

TIGER WOODS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this guy is clutch. Tiger wins again.

another DNF (San Fernando Crit) and todays ride

Made the 2 hour ride up to San Fernando yesterday for a criterium. Race had about 35 guys in it. The course was a fairly flat P shaped .8 of mile loop. I rode fairly decent for the first 20-25 minutes but once again I just didn't feel like I had any legs so I just dropped out. Of the two criteriums I did in California both I did not finish. Maybe yesterday I wasn't prepared as I had only ridden twice in the last two weeks but still, I thought I could at least finish with the group. No dice. Posted a few photos from the race. I'm in red/white/gold as I rode in my Pax-Velo kit.

Rode today and felt really good.....so definitely a plus after a not so good performance the day prior. I will get one more ride in here before I pack the bike up and have it shipped to St. Louis. Goal is to have it there and ready to roll for the Webster Crit a week from today.

Rolling

Back in Cali = back to my regular riding. Got in 26 miles this morning. There is a crit tomorrow about 2 hrs from here, I'm thinking about heading up for it. It should prove to be a good race before the Webster Crit next weekend.

hola

I have been working in Vegas the past week and 1/2, I did bring my bike. I've only got two rides since I've been here. I rode Red Rock Canyon, which was a nice ride but it was really really windy. My next ride I did was on base. 11 MORE Days and counting!!!!!!!!!!!!

Memorial Day Weekend and A big fat DNF

Quick and dirty, only took the bike out once lastweek before heading up to Orange County for the weekend. I did a race in Long Beach, it was a crit that was scheduled for 45 mins plus 5. Lets just I say only hung around for 26 minutes of that. Pace was very quick on a flat .7 of mile course. From what I heard from the locals this course was one that was raced often kind of like the Carondelet course of the Tuesday Night Worlds in back in St. Louis. Not sure what was all wrong with me, but I felt like I was pushing the limit and that doesn't mix well with asthma. I usually ride with my inhaler in my back pocket but that day I forgot it in the car. So I shut it down at the 26th minute. Prior to though, I did put in big effort to change and start and break with 3 others, we had maybe 5 secs on the field. Then 5 others joined and us while I was putting in a pull at the front. I look back and see the field charging so I pull off the front and let the others work up. After this lap and half up front I was pretty tired and just sat in after that to recover but could never really settled back down. I've got 2 weeks of work in Vegas before moving back to St. Louis and hopefully being ready for the Webster Groves Crit.

Finally got out

Got back on bike for first time since the 70 miles on Sunday. Weather has kept me off all this week except for today. I got out for 30 mins today, just wanted to get the legs going again, it was still kind of windy so I didnt want to suffer through a ride with the wind. Goal is to get out tomorrow weather depending and get bike ready to head up to L.A Saturday afternoon. We're heading to a CARDS game Sunday, they are playing the Dodgers. Monday is when I line it up in Long Beach for a criterium that morning.

Hell Bender race recap

Overall fun race, nice weather, flat and rolling course with one big wall to go up. Field of about 40 lined up for the race. Everyone was together until we hit the wall, and those that could make it up and keep it moving were all apart of a group of about 20. Not sure how close if at all the group that was chasing came to catching to the lead group of which I was in. After the wall the fellows at the front really dropped the hammer. I looked down and at times we were cruising at 30mph. This group again stayed together until the 2nd time up the wall. Here the group of 20 was shattered into bits. I hung on to the first group very briefly only to have my legs seize up, muscles just got really tight like a 'charlie horse' in both my legs. That was it for me, I could only watch the group ride away from me and others pass me by. I rode solo for the last 13 miles to a finishing place of 13th. I thought i would get caught from behind because I wasn't setting a blistering pace just cruising along. I wish had my SPecialized for this race, I just haven't felt at home on the Scott bike I keep in St. Louis. Next race is a criterium a week from today in Long Beach, CA.

HELL BENDER

Heading back to St. Louis today and then onto Springfield and Rolla. Looking forward to racing at the Hell BEnder Road Race.

See ya

Wagon Wheel Lunch time ride

I made it out today for my first one of these rides this year. This ride goes out weekly. Today there was a group of 6 or 7. The ride has slight two gradual ascents. On the second ascent I found myself out front and being chased by the group. One guy did catch me before I made it to the turn around point. Two things happened leading up to him catching me, the first my chain fell off. I had to hop off bike and get it back on and when I got back on bike he was one bike length in front me. I caught him and then attacked leaving him at least 7/8 bike lengths behind me and I thought this would be enough to hold him off but he caught and passed me beating me up to the turn around point. The ride is an out back and on the return the group stayed together hammering all the way back in. Pretty fun ride.

new PHOTOS tab see above

next to the HOME tab on the top of the page, I added a PHOTOS tab. This tab links to all my cycling photos from 2008.

peace

Sunday Post Race Report

WOW is all I can really say about this race today. 87 guys started I know that many did not finish........I read the race flyer and it said one good climb and then some rollers. This one "good climb" was the back breaker of this race. The race started at a pretty group ridish pace (first sign of trouble), I was wondering why no one was really picking it up. So about 7 miles in the initial climb starts and then it just really NEVER ENDED. Somehow at the start of the climb I found myself way in the back so I started working my up to about 30 and thought this would a good place to sit, then I look back and everyone is falling off. I gave out just before the top and could only watch the wheels in front of me pulling away. Because so many people had fallen off we put together a chase group of about 6 guys and we came within about 200 yards of catching the top 30 but never could close the door and after that I never saw the lead group again. I worked together with this group for much of the 2nd lap until several of them decided to break away from this group (made no sense really at this stage of the race) but ok. I rode solo down the descent for much of it and then a couple guys came from behind and I finished the race with these guys and a few others we caught (same dudes that decided to leave the small group we initially had). No doubt this is the hardest race I have ever done, 62 miles of hurt. After the race I initially I thought I wouldn't ride my bike for a very long time :) Now that I'm settled I will get back to it on Wednesday or so. I will try and find some photos from the race, it was very scenic but between catching my breath and the sun beating me down I could barely take it all in. I saw a guy almost go off one of the cliffs too, now that would have been very bad, we were on the descent and he was to hot into a turn, he had to slam the brakes and go 2 steps over edge. Another side note, I met a guy in the field that was a Shimona rep and he said he had a couple HUB t-shirts from his trips there a few years back.


Race stats:
avg: 20.4 mph
ascent: 3,617 feet of climbing

Pre-RACE ride

I set out today wanting to spin about 30 miles or so putting out very little effort. Keeping my effort low was no problem but instead of 30 miles I ended up with 48. I got new shoes and a different set of wheels that I will ride in a race for the first time tomorrow so I definitely wanted to feel them out today. Feeling very relaxed and ready to race to tomorrow. WIsh Me luck!! Stay tuned for the race report tomorrow evening.

Tuning UP

Again in an effort to make it out before the winds came, I was able to take a longer lunch so I could get my ride in today. Today's goal was to ride the 26 miles as if I had to do the loop twice. Most days I just go as hard as I can for the loop but since I will be doing at 62 mile road race on Sunday I thought it would be better to simulate a nice paced looped hopefully similar to what the race will be like. Then again you never know how I race will play out.

Racing in CALi

First things first I haven't been on my bike since Sunday. I have been feeling pretty fatigued the past few days. I wanted to get some miles in today but the wind was gusting at 33 mph. I can hopefully get back out manana to freshen the legs up.

As for the race, I signed up for a race in Bakersfield, CA this Sunday. Definitely last minute as far as me being mentally ready. I think I have gotten in enough miles to be able to put up a fight. The race is 62 miles with 1,669 ft of elevation gain. I'm very nervous to say the least about lining the bike up this Sunday. A lot going on in my head.......what wheel to follow, what break to be in, what break to let go, should I make a move, etc etc. Goal I guess will just be to let my race come to me and see what happens.

This is a video preview of the course of Sundays race


I'm also thinking about doing a Crit in Long Beach on Memorial Day, more on that to come once I'm registered.

Also, I picked up some wheel bling from a former Big Shark racer that has moved out East to PHilly. I'm hoping to have them for the race on Sunday.

Long Rides

Put in 57 miles today on the bike. Felt pretty tired most of ride though, definitely feel the need for a day or two off to let the legs recover. Over the past two days I've done longer rides in prepartion for a road race that is 70 miles. I feel pretty good with where I'm at now. On the last ascent today Larry (guy I was riding with)surged alittle to get up to the top, I was really laboring leading up to this, but I was able to hold his wheel no problem.

Peace

IRONMAN

Rode 63 miles today, with 4,228 feet of elevation gain. Felt pretty good on the climbs, just worked on pushing alittle and then recovering. Focusing on possibly being ready for a road race here in the coming weeks, with what I hear there are a few short hills on the course.

Unrelated but tonight we went and saw Ironman. I usually don't dig scientific/comic book movies but this was actually not to bad. One thing I dont like is how all movies feel the need for a sequel.....if this movie does well at the box I'm sure the sequel will soon follow.

Thursday RIDE

Winds stayed down and I was able to get in the 26 mile loop. Time was 1:16:17. My new best time for the loop is 1:15:22 which I did last Thursday prior to the Tour of St.Louis. I'm thinking I can keep knocking more time off, the biggest area I can gain or make time up on is on the back stretch but it usually happens that the wind is blowing on that side of the course just enough to throw things off. Tonight what I did notice was the difference between riding a carbon wheel and the a regular wheel without a dish on it. I deeper dish wheel is definitely an advantage for time trials and really just carrying speed. I would bet if I had these wheels for the time trial in St. Louis I would have shaved a few seconds off my time along with carrying a faster average for the 9 miles.

Tour of St. Louis wrap up and todays ride

It was great being home and seeing all the The Hub riders out in full force over the weekend. Not to mention the new faces of Hub riders I met over the weekend. I do not feel like going into detail about the races but the quick and dirty is I'm in shape and rode strong on both days. Big thing I need to work on is last lap positioning and staying patient. Sunday I tried leading out Bryan but I exploded a little bit to soon. Bryan still managed to get 7th place though. I'm very excited now to get back to StL so I can race more frequently because this weekend really definitely reignited the flame in me. Not sure what race I'll be back for in May but I can tell you I'm counting down the days and training that much harder to come back and be that much stronger.



For the ride today I thought I would just cruise around town but with the weather being a pleasant 87 degrees I put a nice ride in with a moderate climb. I did notice some differences when I returned to my bike here. My SCOTT in StL has a longer stem thus stretching me out more. I'm going to shorten the stem on the Scott because I like being a bit more compact on the bike.

Ready...... set..... Go

Getting ready to head back St. Louis and fortunately the winds were in my favor this morning as I was able to get 26 miles in before I head up to LAX. I beat my previous time by a minute, plus. I don't have time to look at any data but I definitely felt good today. We'll see that I can do this weekend. I'm really excited for the Time Trial. I've never done one but with my current training it would seem I should put a good number. Meet Me in St. LOUIE!!!

Lunch time Rolling

In an effort to beat the wind if you will I decided to ride at lunch instead of when I got off work because the winds tend to pick up as the day goes on here. My theory almost proved true but I still head a pretty nice head wind much of the ride. It wasn't terribly bad but boy what would I give for a ride with ZERO wind. Overall though it was a very good ride, I beat the Virtual me on the Garmin by a few seconds. So that was a good accomplishment for the day, I was starting to think I couldn't beat that time. I would like to get one more ride in before I fly back to St.Louis. I may try the lunch time "Wagon Wheel" ride here on Wednesday. It's a 21 mile let it all hang out ride that people do here weekly. I have yet to do it this year, but last year when I did do this ride I was spit off back after the first ascent. We'll see though, have to make sure I can leave work for a few hours first.

Weather man was right

Weather man called for wind gusting 25-35 mph and that is exactly what it has been doing the past 2 days. He's calling for winds 10-20mph for the next few days. I should be able to get out in that. Plan on getting at least one more ride here before I return to StL for the Tour of St.Louis.

The Ride

Rode the usual 26 mile loop. Nice but really just to windy. I mean I guess I'd rather have 75 degrees and windy versus rainy weather but I really am tired of riding in the wind. Only for a few miles was the wind not a factor today. This was also the second ride on the new wheels. On the ascent out I again felt like the wheels were a definite disadvantage, but on the flats where the wind was not pounding me I could feel the advantage of them. Forecast is calling for 25-35 mph winds the rest of the weekend so I will probably hit the trainer.

The maiden Voyage

It has been windy here the past 2 days, so much that I wouldn't think of riding a bike. Today the winds died down enough that I took my new wheels on there maiden voyage. I got them yesterday and took them to the shop so they could put my cassette and the new hub on. Once that was done I struggled at putting my tires and tubes on. Really caught me off guard at how much I struggled to get them both on. So by the time I was ready to ride I wasn't in the best of moods. One other thing is putting air in them is not elementary either. Finally set out on the ride and could immediately notice how stiff the wheels are. Going up the ascent I felt like I was riding with bricks on each wheel, so no climbing benefit for me. The wheels performed well though on the flats and once spun up it was easy keeping the speed up. I use speed loosely speaking because on the entire ride I had a headwind which didn't make for a pleasant ride. I was around 3 minutes off my best time on the loop, so the pursuit to beat that time is still on.

Wheels:
2007 Spinergy Stealth SS
1699g per set
black/white spokes

Fifty Plus, on Sunday

Today met up at the Sho N Go ride. Road 58.64 miles and a total of 2,105 feet of climbing. I did get dropped briefly on one of the final climbs, I wasn't exactly at bonking point but I knew we still had 20 miles left and wanted have something left for rest of the ride.




My new wheels should be here sometime this week!!! They had a campy hub in them so I ordered a Shimano compatible hub from Spinergy that arrived last Thursday. So once the wheels arrive I'll have that swapped out and then I'm rolling. stay tuned

Saturday on the Slopes

Spent today skiing at Mammoth Mountain. Riding the bike manana.

Thursday rolling

Set out on the usual 26 mile ride. Not to much wind today. I used the virtual partner again to race against the virtual me. I didn't feel like a had much for the ascent out so the virtual me left me in the dust. For the most of the ride I couldn't see the virtual me (VM). Finally I brought the VM back into site and managed to come pretty close to beating the VM. Although I felt weak on the climb I was able to make up time on the flats by just staying at a steady pace. All in all not a bad ride and only 55 secs off my other time.

GO OUT and VOTE!!!!!!

Ok so I'm not talking about the upcoming Presidential race folks. I'm talking about the Miss USA pageant coming up this weekend April 11 in Las Vegas. Now why would I care about some silly pageant, for the most part I still don't, but I did have the opportunity to meet our very own Miss Missouri. I was in Vegas Monday and stopped at the Planet Hollywood Hotel & Casino for lunch on the buffet. Can you guess where all 50 contestants grabbed there food from on the buffet, for those of you that answered the salad bar you are correct. Pretty amazing 50 women all eating salads and fruit when there were so many other foods to choose from. Guess with the swimsuit competition right around the corner, everyone was playing it extremely safe.




As for the ride today. Well I had been off the bike for about a week due to the vacation so I didn't want to press hard, only wanted to stretch the legs. Started out up the ascent and another cyclist turned out behind me about 100 yards back, got the feeling he was trying to catch me so goal was just not let him catch me. That was successful, next task I notice someone about 400 yards in front me,goal was to catch that guy and then really just relax the rest of the ride. I caught and past this guy then got caught in miserable head wind. Took my time by choice and cause I couldn't go much faster anyway riding into the headwind. I make my turn for the next flat 8 mile stretch and what do you know there was no wind. Seems like the legs had a mind of there own because before you know it I was cruising around between 25-30 mph. I can never usually hold that speed for to long but to my surprise I had alot in me and the speed was not tapering off....cruising at 30 mph I see 2 cyclist in front of me, one on some road bike with mountain bike handle bars and the other on a road bike. I blow past them and the guy on the normal road bike grabs my wheel and tries hanging....Not looking back at all after about 200 yards of holding my wheel he retired. When I noticed the guys shadow it definitely gave the legs some extra life even though they were already alive and moving. With that said I'm very happy with this 8 mile stretch where I was able to keep the speed at or above 25 mph.

BACK BACK on the mainland

Hawaii was great great great.....saw several cyclist cruising the scene. Definitely gave me the urge to ride but vacation is what this trip was all about. I did do some riding but it was on Harley Davidson.



Also, managed to purchase some carbon clinchers via the internet while I was in Hawaii, they should arrive sometime next week. Not really sure what to expect but I'm anxcious to get them. I have never ridden anything other my Mavic Elites, so will return to bike tomorrow assuming the winds die down here, today it was gusting at 30 mph.

ALOHA ALOHA

Taking a few days off to head to Honolulu and Waikiki Beach. Will return to the bike next week. ALOHA my friends

Chris vs Virtual Chris

So tonight I used the virtual partner to race against my previous recorded time on my 26 mile loop. The feature on the Garmin puts two triangles on your predetermined route. Once you start the course the dark triangle is you real time and the lighter traingle is the previous time you rode. What I don't like about the feature so far is that it doesn't give a time hack of how far ahead or behind you are of your previous time. On the ascent out I was ahead of my previous time and kept a pace which I'm guessing was only a few seconds faster than my previous time but my lead was gone by time I was on the back stretch and saw the virtual me propel out in front not to be caught. It was pretty cool to "race" if you will against the virtual me. Only thing I dont like is the virtual time does not take into account weather conditions, ie the wind slapping me in the face on the back stretch but it's still a great training tool. I finished about a minute and 21 seconds off my previous time. Legs still feeling pretty good, just want to keep the momentum going.

Also, I've been looking at grabbing some new wheels. They will definitely be new to me, but off the used market. Thinking about a carbon clincher. More on that to come.

Have it your Way

So post title has nothing to do with cycling but today in the town I'm in Burger King opened. So you would think people have had Burger King before, but really a line out the door for Burger King?!?!?

As for the ride today wind was blowing as I was heading out of town and definitely set me back. Even on the flat stretches I still didn't go untouched but a pretty steady wind. Results though, I was 4 mph off the ascent pace I set on Sunday and 5 minutes off the total time it took to do the 25.98 miles. Still pretty happy with the ride considering if it wasn't for the wind on the way out I would have been right with my previous time. Couple days off due to travel and back on bike Sunday.

Wind Wind and more Wind

So I missed my ride on Monday (had to work late)thus making me really anxcious to ride today. One small problem was the wind. First thing this morning it was already gusting pretty good but I thought just maybe it will let up by the time I got off work. Not so much at all. Checked the weather before leaving work and the wind was gusting 20 - 30 mph. At this point I should have just passed on the ride but no I felt I just had to get out on the bike. So I get started out on my 26 mile loop and I'm riding at a 80 degree slant just to stay up. So I figure no way I'm going to do this for 26 miles so I went to my back up plan. Back up plan was to ride this climb up to the local community college a couple times. Long story short I made it up once and definitely had enough of the wind for one day. So after a 20 minutes of fighting the wind I was back at home. Check out the graph from my epic 2.5 mile climb.Oh and WinD SUCKS

Weather should be better tomorrow

GARMIN = DATA TIME and the Sunday Ride

So my Garmin Edge 205 arrived yesterday afternoon. A little disappointed I couldn't have had it in time for the ride yesterday but there was no way in the world that I wouldn't put it to the test today. So today I went to do the ride I do on Mondays and Wednesdays so I could have a baseline ride to compete against. After going pretty hard yesterday I thought would not push at all today.....but the weather being so nice 75ish I couldn't resist from seeing what kind of time I could put up. So off I went. Garmin tells me I made it around the loop in 1:16:27 of moving time. With total elevation change of 741 ft and a total distance of 25.98 miles. Below is a screen shot from motionbased.com who has teamed with GARMIN to provide more analysis tools and allows to you share rides. The basic account is free (which is what I have for now) but for $11.95 a month you can have access to more ways to look at data. I'll probably upgrade to this since I'll be training solo pretty much for the next few months until I return to StL. Day one with Garmin and motionbased.com I'm more than satisfied and ready to ride ride ride ride.






It is definitely not as big as I had anticipated.

they are ALIVE

Todays ride 55 miles and 3500 feet of climbing. Started out taking it pretty easy up first climb but the second climb Tim started to pick things up leaving behind the slower group. So our group of 4 continued on pressing out. Goal today was really just to stay strong and not get dropped. I usually bonk on one of the many climbs so definitely didn't want that to happen. I felt pretty strong for much of the ride today. I know I'm feeling good when I pull more out of initiative versus it just being my turn. Definitley a good sign that my legs are alive this year. Same feeling as yesterday though, I really wish I had the Garmin to track the stats for the ride. Total saddle time was about 3.5 hrs with one stop to refill bottles. Overall I think I'm right where I want to be in my training. Just don't want to get burnt out. Not really knowing exactly what races I will be back for its just nice to be getting the miles in on the bike.


Photo of Tim as we are getting ready to make our way up another long steady ascent.

Rolling again

Worked only a few hours today so I was able to pull the bike a tad bit earlier than usual. Weather was perfect today about 73 and su un un un un ny. I couldn't wait to get out there and push it. Goal of the day was to beat my usual time of 1.5 hr around the loop. I figured I could make up most of the time on the slight ascent out of town. So I really pushed it getting out of town. Once I made it up I was pretty winded but for the next few miles its down hill so I used this time to recover. Then it was just about keeping a steady pace and cadence. I ran into a few windy areas on the back stretch but nothing to bad. So as I made my right turn to for the last 13 miles (usually where I can really get it going) the winds hit. It was pretty consistent for a few miles and then I only caught it in a few areas. Mentally and physically the winds really do a number a me. I thought a great day wasn't going to be so great. The winds did disappear once I got a few miles out and my legs came to life. Nothing unusual finishing up and to my surprise I arrived back to my door 5 minutes faster than usual. Mind you I'm using rough calculations here. I look at my phone as I'm leaving from the house and simply look at again when I get back. Can you say GARMIN PLEASE GET HERE!!! It is supposed to arrive on Monday so maybe I'll have some official numbers for that ride.

After a good ride one needs a good meal......for me tonight it was chicken queso served up by non other than me.


Tomorrow I'm going to do the "Sho N Go" ride here. These rides are usually pretty long in the 60-80 mile range. People show up and choose a ride and head out. taking the camera so should have some photos.

Ride + 20 mph head wind = One tough day

So today the wind was really throwing me around on the hill out of town and most of the back stretch of the loop. I figured since I couldn't really work on besting my time around the loop per say I would just work on setting a decent pace while not letting the wind knock me down. All in all I'm pretty happy with the ride today. I usually get back in about 1.5 hr but today I was closer to 2. Riding by myself this much lately is definitely a mental test. No one pushing me, no coach yelling to "pick it up," and really just no one in sight. I do remember one saying that we all know is that you are only cheating yourself if you loaf during a workout. One thing that really keeps wanting to be on my bike and pushing is the weather. Today it was 75, just perfect for the ride. Not traveling this weekend so I'll catch up with the local "sho n go" ride one day this weekend for a long ride. One thing is for sure I didn't ride this consistently when I was in Maryland for most of last year, which is definitely why I had a lack luster showing at the races I made it back for in St. Louis.


PeAcE

Back at It

Returned to the bike after work today. I really think I believe Floyd now. I felt pretty good today on the ride. On the climb out of town I made my way up switching between sitting in saddle and coming out of saddle until I made it to the top. The rest of the ride has a downhill and is flat as pancake making my way around the loop. My biggest challenge has been to keep pushing myself once I get closer to making it back into town. Training alone I can't really measure where I'm at which leads me into next point of purchasing the Garmin 205 cycle computer. I've read this has the feature of letting you race against a virtual competitor or against a previous time you've recorded. I will order one of these tonight or tomorrow. I'm hoping to have it by next week, so I can really see where I'm at from a ride to ride basis. Plus looking at graphs and data is something I do for living anyhow so why not look at cycling data. Tomorrow is basketball night, back on the bike Wednesday.

Edit as of 10:30 pst I just purchased the GARMIN 205 cycle computer from a store on Ebay. Count down until it arrives has now begun.

Chicago wrap Up

Didn't make it to a Bulls game but did see some interesting street walkers entertaining the crowds after the St. Patricks day parade. I hadn't paid to much attention that this was the weekend St. Patricks Day would be celebrated so it was a bonus being able to catch the parade and not to mention the green water.



While walking Michigan Ave I noticed they had a GARMIN store. Unfortunately I didn't get to go in but I've been surfing the web lately trying to nail down which GPS system I'll will throw on the handle bars or should I even bother.






Any recommendations?

All in all good times in the Windy city

Only thought about cycling at times I knew was loading up on food and how much my next ride will probably hurt.

As for getting the bike today, not going to happen for several reasons. First my own self inflicted weekend which lacked any sleep and the one time I'm happy for the winds we get, mother nature is currently gusting the wind at pretty frequent 28-32 mph. So I'll plan on spinning on the trainer an hour or two tonight.

Weekend off from the bike...already!?!?

So I'm heading to Chicago tomorrow morning to hang with some buddies from college. Not looking forward to the 3.5 hour flight, not to mention I was just on the 3 hour flight last weekend back to St. Louis. Add to that the 2.5 hours it takes me to get to the airport and that makes for some really long days of travel. So two things worthy of mentioning, I won't be riding my bike Friday or Saturday and I don't think the partying that will go on will aid me in any positive way for cycling. Well unless a few beers will actually give me a boost like they did our friend Floyd Landis :-)

I do plan on taking to the bike Sunday when I return. Plan on doing one of the longer routes we have here with more climbing.

PEACE out until Sunday

Cycling outside of the Louie

So my journey to average cyclist came to a screeching halt when a change in jobs took me away from the cycling scene I had just come to know so well. I found myself in Southern Maryland working at Patuxent River Naval Base. To my surprise though, the cycling there was pretty good. Not many races locally but you could drive 3 hr to 4 hrs away to get your race on. I choice not to do any races in those parts except for the one held by the club that was in the city I worked in. I got dropped 10 mins into the race and retired gracefully. Funny cause I did bump into another guy I met riding in St. Louis. He had recently moved to D.C to work at the Air Force base there. Such a small world. There they had Tuesday night Circuit training race if you will. It was a 10 mile loop around the base which consisted of 3 groups. The A group contained fastest riders, then the B group middle of pack guys, and the C group I would call mostly guys new to riding in a group so like a Cat 5 group. On my first group ride there which was a Thursday night ride they do down to the southern most point in Maryland Point Look Out, I found myself in 3 man break way ahead of the rest of the guys, we charged down and made it to the Point with the rest of the guys chasing. Mind you this was my first ride with these guys, so I made a pretty good first impression to be in a break with 2 of there strongest riders. One of the guy was riding a single speed at that (Single Speed Dave is what the call him). This guy was freaking amazing pulling at 24/25 mph on a single speed was nuts. I must say I was just hanging on for a good portion of the pull out but I did a few pulls to show I could mix it up a bit. So after that ride they were like I should ride in the A group for the Tuesday night race. Bad bad bad advise this was a pretty popular training race and drew VERY fast Cat 1/2/3s. I did a few rides with the A group but always got dropped on the first lap around. So down graded to the B group. Here I was more at home but always wound up on the front pulling more than I would like and in the latter part of the race I would always fade. Those were very competitive rides on Tuesday nights. racing in

Patuxent Velo Criterium racing in MD last summer


Patuxent Velo Criterium racing in MD last summer




Lets fast forward to today. Today I now reside in the High Desert of Southern California. Here the cycling seen is pretty dismal compared to what I had become accustomed to. Very small town with no RACES locally. You would have to travel down to L.A. for any of the racing scene and I'm not really up for driving 2 hrs to do one race and go home every weekend. On the group rides we do have here though, the small group packs a mean punch. Former Columbia Bicycling Racer Arjuna Flenner will put a bruising on you. Along with Arjuna there are several other resident riders that definitely mix things up. I have been dropped many of times here on the many long climbs they have on the local routes. I'm going to try and get some photos of these climbs so you can really see what I'm talking about.

With that said I'll be here until sometime this summer then I should return to the old stomping grounds of St. Louis. As you all know I have made it make back for a few races here and there but I have definitely have fallen off from where I left St. Louis in the Fall of 06. That had to be my best year yet cycling. I was at my strongest for my first ever Gateway Cup and managed 2 top twenty finishes and 1 top ten finish (was crashed out on second to last lap of the Lafayette Square, so DNF).

I bring this topic up to show you how good you all have it in St. Louis with the abundance of group rides and races that are held there. I truly do miss riding in the LOUIE