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