The 2009 Cross Season is a Wrap......

I got some pics of Saturdays Epic Cx Race. Jacob Pitt...putting it to the 'old' guys!

The last pics are of my Element towing my friends 4-wheeler. I have towed 1900 lbs of concrete with that car as well.

A Big Exhale..................The 2009 cyclocross season went a week longer than the previous year and even started a week earlier as well. That being said, i think i had 2 or 3 more races left in the legs and brain. Oh well. I am still looking to unwind a bit. Mentally, almost 4 months of staying motivated and on top of the racing and recovering properly wears on you. I think figuring that out this year and with the previous 3 or 4 years of cx helped me to finish with some strong results this year during the last few weeks of racing.

This past Saturdays' race was located up north of Kansas City in Parkville, MO. the course was again set up on the property where the sponsor, Epic Bike Shop is located.
I spent Tuesday and Wednesday before the race working to get the course prepped and rideable to race on Saturday. The greenspace where the course was to be set up was actually under almost a foot of snow with 2 and 3 foot drifts as of Tuesday. Friend and Slimen teammate Joe Houston and I headed up to Parkville Tuesday morning to see if we could help promoter Mark Thomas. I was actually able to borrow a 4-wheeler with a snow blade from a friend...Thanks Jeff!! The thought was, with the ATV, that the time to clear the snow from the course would
only take a couple of hours. Were we way off. about 7 hours of shoveling be 3 or 4 of us as well as the use of the atv, and still we had work to do with ice removal from paved areas of the course on race morning. Thanks Roger! So a couple of hours on Tuesday and again on Wednesday afternoon with the ATV and some warmer temps on wednesday and Thursday started to turn our race course into a swamp......maybe we shouldnt have removed so much snow??

We had to, we couldnt count on so much snow melt. By Friday morning though, the temps had stalled at about 29-32 degrees with overcast foggy conditions. Late Thursday nite and Friday morning the temps had dropped to the low 20's and refrozen our course back up. This kept the course somewhat firm and icy in most places, with a little half frozen standing water in a couple of places on Friday around noon. The forecast for raceday was more of the same. Freezing temps overnite and overcast foggy conditions thru till early afternoon. So we were hoping for a mostly frozen course instead of a 6 inch deap ice cold swamp to race on.
I arrived at the race parking lot at around 9:45 am with my race starting at 11am. plenty of time to get dressed properly and get a good warm-up. With both bikes dialed and ready to go, i got out on the course to pre-ride and warm-up a little. I found the conditions of the course a little sloppier than the previous day but still not thawed out. Some scetchy icy spots with some muddy soft spots mixed in with some snowy areas. The sand vollyball court still was fairly firm due to the cold so these 2 sections were still rideable. I am sure the whole course would ride and change completely over the course of 45 minutes of racers riding warm-ups and another 45 minutes of racing on it. By the end of the day, the last couple of races, racers would be in a virtual mudpit. I was glad to be racing first. The faster and icy the more fun i would have and the better chance off a good result as well.

So with the call-ups at 10 minutes before race time, I was on the front row. I was 4th in the overall and really no shot of catching 2nd and 3rd. I needed a miracle with both Andy Lucas and Steve Songer not finishing the race. I had no points in an early race in the series due to sandbagging and racing and winning the 3's race at the first race of the year. I however had 4th locked up with noone being able to catch me as long as i finished. 14 racers lined up for the Master's 40+ 'A' race. Not a great turn-out, but expected due to a long cx season and the not so great weather. Also, i honestly question the 'man-hood' of a lot of our regions cyclists who say they race.....WHATEVER....... thats a different topic for a different day. Not all are 'man' enough or tough enough to race cx in January here in the midwest. I guess the 'roadies' need their rest and have to get in their 'bases' so they can be 'peaking' for the 'all important' Spring-Flings in Lawrence here in a month or so. Those guys really find that the March racing is essential to a 'great' season on the Road..........whatever....enjoy your rest, Pussies!

So roll call and callups are done. Officials give their speal and within seconds, they blow the whistle. I get a good start, and am side by side with Studnicki, sitting just behind Lucas(who got his usual 2 plus second head-start). Before we get to the hard laeft that takes us to the pavement, I yield to Mark and tell him to get on Lucas' wheel. I didnt need to throw elbows witha friend and a guy who is stronger than me, and i didnt want to be responsible fro taking either one of us out. I would settle for 3rd wheel behind the 2 leaders gladly. Once on the pavement, Songer and Houston came barreling by me. I was a little cautious on the pavement, i just felt like at anytime, any of us could lay it down on the slick asphalt. So no need to push it too hard until we got to the grass again. Thats when i realized I could have a problem, cuz the next section was soft and slow due to the mud and water. Joe was already bogging down a little and struggling to maintain the front 3's wheels. Fortunately, joe laid it down in front of me and i was able to avoid him and a few turns later i was back on the 360 + Studnicki train. It took just a few turns and the 4 of us had a significant and permanent gap over the rest of the 40+ racers. Now I just had to race my race and keep it upright......half way thru Lap one, It was Lucas, Studnicki, Songer and me in that order. I was actually comfortable and not over doing it. The course conditions were such that the 3 strong guys couldnt put the hammer down due to the icw and snow. Yes, ice and snow are my friends. With the 4 of us heading thru a soupy slow section and towards the 500 meter pavement section, Andy and Mark get a little gap on me and Steve. Steve has difficulty clearing a tough section that i ride cleanly. I am first to the pavement but was slowwed a little by steve. Andy and Mark are probably 5 seconds up the road. At this time, Andy is getting ready to enter into a snowy switchback section but catches a patch of ice on the pavement, and goes down hard. Mark narrowly misses bashing into Andy and his bike. Songer is now back on my wheel as we roll by Andy who is trying to get back on his back. Its now Mark all alone with maybe a 6-8 second gap on me and Steve. For the next 2 laps, Steve and I take turns gapping each other or just riding on the others wheel. Mostly though, its me sitting on Steve's wheel. I am riding comfortably and smoothly at this point. On maybe lap 3 thru the first sand section and making a right turn, Songer and I are trying to pass a lapped rider. Steve catches a rut and goes down. I bang right into the back of his bike and half fall off of mine. I am back up and going fairly quickly, but Steve is slow to get going. Steve is trying to get is rear wheel to roll seeing as how I crashed hard into it. Oh well, I empathize, but that is racing. Steve had mechanical issues of some sort the last 3 races of the year. I had the majority of mine early and often during the season. So for the next 4 or 5 laps and the remainder of the race, it was just trying to hold off the 360 duo of Andy and Steve. It was nerve wracking having those fast guys chasing me down, but i rode pretty smartly. A couple of bobbles on the last couple of laps, but nothing more than anybody else behind me. Steve at one point got to within maybe 10 seconds of me, but he went down at some point trying to be aggressive and close the gap down. I actually managed to finish within maybe 35 to 45 seconds of Mark in the end, but I know he was just managing his effort on not really drilling it. But it was still second place for me, and I had beaten both Andy and Steve of 360racing. those 2 SOB's are fast. Until a couple of weeks ago, I had never beaten Steve and it had been a couple of seasons since i caught Andy on an 'off' day and beat him. On Saturday i finished in front of both of them. This is significant for me, because I am always measuring myself with these guys. I dont have their horsepower or fitness, but on the right course and me racing within myself I held my own with them. And that sums up the last 3 weeks of racing for me. Smart, comsistent racing during the last 3 races got me 3 good results and allowed me to beat some fast dudes. From my current Slimen teammate Jeff Unruh to my former 360 teammates, racing wheel to wheel with those guys and coming out on top from time to time is what keeps me motivated for cx. I love racing against guys i respect and that i am friends with off the bike.

Knowing Andy, I am sure he is pissed and will be gunning to drop my ass at the next mtb race or the next cx race we line up together. But fortunately for me, there is a good chance we wont be racing in the same age group:) Or maybe we will. so I will be ready for Andy to drill it off the start line, and i am sure I will be hanging on for dear life......but hell, thats half the fun of cx, getting your ass handed to you by the 'fast' guys. That's what makes you faster!

so all of you cx posers.....remember that! Good Luck at the Spring Flings! the 'real men' and 'tough guys' will probably be racing our mtb's.

Next cx race....09/18/10................just around the corner

shovelin' snow and new blogs..

So the 2010 SlimenUndGrossen cycling Team roster is set, clothing is ordered......but there is still some cross racing to finish up. Spent a few hours the last couple days helping Mark Thomas and Joe Houston getting the Epic Cross Course set up. Which means tons of snow removal by hand and with a 4-wheeler with a snow blade. Still very hard work. Course conditions are going to change hourly with forcast of rain and warmer temps over next couple of days before saturdays race. Mark could still use lots of help. Also, I have been working on a new Slimen Team blog...check it out!....slimenracing.blogspot.com.

check out the blog and hope to see everyone to race the last cx race for the next 8 months.

BE THERE!

'Crossin' Off the Old Year' with some frigid cold and white stuff

The pics seen here are courtesy of Roger of Lanterne Rouge Cycling. They were taken this past Thursday on the New Year's Eve 'Cross off the Old Year' race held at Stump Park in Shawnee, KS.

A shout out goes to Mark and Teresa of Local Cycling and all the others that help get the race off the ground this year. 8+ inches of snow and some lots of ice thrown in made getting a course set up extremely difficult for the promoter and designer Mark Thomas. Thanks Mark. Thursday morning saw temps in the single digits and with very little improvement in sight. So getting motivated to get going and get out to the course would prove to be the biggest challenge of the day for me. I find that once i get out to the course and get some kind of warm up in, then i am 'good to go' and ready to race. That proved to be the case on thursday morning. My wife was coming off a 12 hour nite shift at the hospital so getting out to the race 2 hours early proved to be impossible. With race time at 1 pm, i was able to pull into the parking lot of stump park at around 11:40 or so. But, lately with the cold weather and my inability to get to the course as early as I would like, I have been dressed and 'pinned' with race # at home prior to driving to the race. Saves me about 30 minutes of prep time and allows me to make changes in layering on the really cold days as needed. I hate scrambling and hurrying prior to race time. The thing that suffers the most when that happens is my warm-up gets shortened or just plain non-existent. And with the bitter cold conditions, its tough mentally to get a good warm-up in anyway.

I was able to get a good warm-up in on the course before race time. The 1 pm races were the first ones of the day. Late starts and shortened races to hopefully make it atractive to racers to skip out of work early and compete in epic 'cx' conditions on New Years' Eve. Thursdays' course consisted of a course which 95 % of was covered in snow and/or ice. The course was shortened due to lots of ice on a long pavement section. So the race track consisted of a narrow paved start/finish area which led to 2 soggy off-camber sections tied together into a short & slick but grinding climb that led the racers to a icey rutted fairly fast and long downhill section that had a lot of racers on edge. Most didnt feel comfortable letting go of the brakes and just bombing on this scetchy downhill. The downhill led into a slow grinding soft snow section which the racer had to work hard to maintain any of the momentum he/she just built up from the downhill.

From this flat slow section the racers turn right down into a little ravine that had hay bales laid out as our only barrier on the course. Running back out of the ditch the racers were back on their bikes trying to get back up to speed thru a ice rutted slow section which headed back towards the start area and the wheel pit. The racers headed back away from the wheel pit and navigated around a softball field on a soft and slowly melting but snow and rut covered section. on the oppisite side of the softball fields the racers had a decision to make as to run or try to ride a iced and rutted out 500 meters section of covered pavement. this section was basically a swection of landmines of covered soft snow holes, slick ice hidden under a couple of inches of snow and a very narrow line that the racer had to navigate thru all of these holes and slick little areas. I of course tried to ride it every time and thru 5 laps of racing I only rode this section cleanly once, and even that '1' time is debatable. I continually had little foot dabs or 'almost' wipe-out mistakes thru this section. It didnt cost anymore than the guys behind me, but it allowed the 2nd place racer, Jeff Unruh who ran it every time, to maintain or put time on me. His decision to run it allowed him to be more consistent then me and my choice to try to ride it everytime. This tricky section was last section which led the racers back thru the start/finish area.

The Master's 'A' 40+ raced for 30 minutes which turned out to be 5 painful laps. A decent start had me 5th wheel going into the snow covered grass and off-camber section. Matt Eastlack and I avoided running into and over John Pahlman who was 3rd wheel at the time of his wipe-out on the slick off camber grass. From there matt and I passed Steve Songer who had 'endo'd and dropped a chain at a muddy ditch crossing. Steve also dropped a chain which cost him tons of time.
So from early in lap one thru the last of lap five, I was yo-yoing off of Jeff Unruh wheel. On lap four I made a huge effort and attacked him on the downhill. I got by him and began to pass a lapped rider when i caught an icey rut at about 25 mph. Fortunately me and my bike went flying together so i didn't have far to go to get my bike and get going again.....I gained contact with jeff late in lap 4 only to see him attack me at the start of the bell lap. Regained his wheel on the downhill but could never find the strength to do anything other than sit on his wheel. Once we hit the last icy straight away, he had more power than me. So Studnicki Finished first, Jeff 2nd and myself 3rd. Songer made a valient effort after his mechanical issues and finished 4th.

The importance of the 2 guys in front of me are they are my new teammates for 2010. I am rejoining SlimenUndGrossen racing after the last couple with 360Racing. Gonna be a fun year I think. My new teammates are really old teammates because I started riding and racing with these guys about 5 or 6 years ago.

2 races races to go before we shut the doors on the 2009/10 cross campaign. 2009 saw me win
the Boss Cross Master's 35+ 'A' category, which means I will be racing for free in that series again next season. I won the Cat 3 Boss Cross series last year and raced for free in this years series. That free entry helps alot. The last 2 races of the year are apart of the Series60 cross series. The standings for that series are locked up as far as the top 2 spots. Mark Studnicki has got a commanding lead over 360 racer Steve Songer. I am currently in 4th, 10 or so points behind 360 rider Andy Lucas. The only way I will catch Andy is if he doesnt race one of the last 2 races. He in fact raced the elite race on Thursday, which allowed me to gain valuable points on him anyway. So hopefully I can finish strong over the next couple of weeks with a couple of more podiums and finish 3rd or 4th in the overall in the Series60 competition. Hopefull these last couple of races will have some more snow and ice and just all around 'fun' conditions.

See yah at the races!

Still Cx racing here in KC.....

So i've been reading all the cx blogs the last week or so. Seems everybody's local cx scene is pretty much done. Hell, we still have races to go. The last one is january 10th. If you arent making it out to Bend, OR for nationals then it seems everybody is shutting it down getting ready for 2010 road or mtb season. I think the only guys here in my neck of the woods still itching to race cx are the diehards. Thats' ok. to each his own, no. Not everyone is gonna have the cojones to gear everything towards the last 4 months of the year. Not everyone looks forward to racing in 'epic' cold, blustery, freezing, snowy, rainy downright miserable but absolutely 'fun as hell' conditions.

I got goose bumps reading all the Colorado cx blogs about their state champs this past week. Sounds just like the conditions i just described. Perfect for racing your cx bike! Looking at the pics on 'Mud and Cowbells' just totally fired me up for the last 3 races of the year. It really makes me take notice of how the cx scene here in our area has blown up. Just since i have been racing cross since 2005, the fields have really expanded. The KC area is not Portland or the New England area, but i would put our field sizes up against any other area or region. go to kscycling.org or localcycling.com and search the results if anyone doubts me. We blow the Texas and Southeast areas fields away in the 3's and 4's and master's races. We are comparable to SoCal and NorCals' fields. However, the big difference is the amount of races that are put on in these areas. These other areas may have 6-10 races. The driving distance to each race is another difference. These races are seperated by 100 or so miles in their respective regions. The KC region.....We had 17 cx races all within a 60 mile radius here in our region. That is 17 races....nobody and no region provides that amount of racing anywhere. Not all races and fields are huge, we have our down weeks but we also have our big weekends as well. Plus we were within 3 hour drives to 4 races in the Lincoln/Omaha Nebraska area. You are also within a 5 hour drive to one of the best weekends of racing in the country on Thanksgiving weekend with Jingle Cross in Iowa City, Iowa. How in the hell do Louisville, KY and Cincinatti, OH and BFE, North Carolina Continually get 'UCI' Cx race weekends and our KC area gets none? Not a lot of respect.

That respect thing should change though in the next year or 2. just in my race alone last year at natonals in the 30-39 'b' race we had 4 local guys in the top 10 with 80 some odd starters. With me finishing 9th and Tige Lamb and Kyle Bush finishing 4th and 7th respectively and Lawrence local and former Pro roadie Brian Jensen winning the race. KC was well represented in our field. In the 40+ "b' race fellow teammates Steve Songer, Andy Lucas, and Brendan Jenks finished 17th, 8th and 12th from backrow starts to repesent the KC area in a 90+ field. Lincoln resident Troy Kraus finished 2nd in the same race. Troy does 90% of his racing in the KC area and his teammate and fellow masters' strongman and KC local Tom Price finished 3rd. So with other multiple tops tens in big fields from the local guys at nationals the previous 2 years in KC to local master's racers Tom Price and Dean Parker kicking heads in the Portland USGP this past weekend, We Kc and midwest 'cxers' should get a little notice and feel very proud of our growing 'cross' heritage. We now have 2 local local young men being invited to Belgium to join the US 'Cross' camp with a shot at making the USA worlds team. Chris Wallace is back for a 2nd year after racing for the USA junior team at the 2009 World Cyclocross Championships. and this year Lawrence native and prodigal son Joe Schmalz is invited to belgium as well with a great opportunity to be selected for USA's U-23 World's Team. Just more ammunition for the whole respect argument for our area. Chris and Joe are just 2 of the many guys that will be representing the KC area in Bend, OR this week at our country's National Championships. And all of them will do us proud no matter their result. For those of us that werent able to make the trip out to the 'great northwest' to race this year.....we will be pulling and cheering hard for our KC/Lincoln, NE brothers.

Finally.....Good Luck to Tom, Troy, Dean, Chris, Joe, Jeff, Adam, KCCX/Verge and to anyone else i may have forgotten. Race hard and Give'em Hell! We will be racing and competing this weekend thru your eyes and your love of the sport of cyclocross. You do your KC brethren proud already.

see yah at the next cross race......

Nebraska State Cx Championships

I received the OK from the wife mid-week to race up in Lincoln, Nebraska for their big cx weekend. I wouldn't be able to race both days, but i would at least get to go up for one day. Since Heather was working Thursday and Friday nights', she would be sleeping and recovering on Saturday. So it only made since for me to drive up early Sunday morning to Lincoln to race the 2nd day. I would spend the early day on Saturday hanging out with the little girl and Heather could catch up on some sleep. It turned out that the biggest contingent of KC racers would be going up and racing on Saturday and not on Sunday. Turns out that there were quite a few KC guys who stayed the nite and raced both days. Lucky Bastards!......oh well, i at least get one race in for the weekend.

So the plan was to race the Masters' race on Sunday. This would be the first race of the day at 10am. Now that is not too early, unless you live 3 hours to the south of the race course that was set up at beautiful Pioneers' Park in Lincoln. I was up at 430 on Sunday morning and out the door and on the road by 4:45. A quick stop at MickyD's for a breakfast sandwhich and an OJ and i was rolling. Pulled into Lincoln at about 7:45 and into the park a few minutes later. I was there early enough that i could could my morning bathroom break in, check both bikes out, and sign in and dress with out having to feel rushed. Just a chance to calm the prerace nerves and get a good warm-up in. I decided to bring 1 of my 2 dogs with me for the trip. Landis, my brittany was the lucky one. He is great with people and is a good car dog. He probably slept 2 and a half of the 3 hour drive and all of the 3 hours back home. Landis got to partake in a litle of my warm-up and then hung out at the car which was set-up on the west side of the race course. He had a perfect view of everyone racing by. From what some friends said, he actually seemed to be quite intent on checking out the dorky spandex clad racers going by him.

My initial impressions of the course were good. Tjis is the 4th year in a row coming up to Lincoln to race at Pioneers' Park. Have had nothing but great experiences racing at this venue. I new it would be a fun but hard course for me and other racers. The start and the long pavement section was on a 1/3 mile stretch on a gradual incline that was actually into the wind. This would make it difficult for the racers that were going it alone on this stretch with racers that were working together chasing down those lone individuals. Once off the initial pavement section, the course took a soft right hand turn into the grass that immediately began to pitch up and over a little knoll and pitch up again another 20-30 meters to another knoll and take 90' right turn to a false flat that led into another 90' right turn down a 20 meter hill into a fast hard left hand 180' on a little bmx off camber bump. Once the racers got thru the 180, the course then climbed back up the hill, carrying a little momentum, it climbed for maybe 75 meters into a 90' right hand turn. Racers then traversed across the hill gradually descending into a 90' right that took you thru a little chicane that bombed into a fast but soft right hander that led into a 180' hard left hand turn. Carrying speed thru this turn got you up a quick incline for another 90' right turn which led to an off camber 20 meter section into a soft left hander. From here, the racer wanted to maintain momentum around another pine tree right hand turn and bomb down into a little mtb section thru a stand of pine trees that had you going left and down the hill for 75 meters into a hard and fast 180' left that took you back up the hill to the first barrier and to 'hooligan's' hill. The barrier was set up in a place just past the base of the hill that had guys loosing all speed before actually getting to the barrier. For me, the section was always very awkward. I always seemed to be running in 'quick-sand' here, but never actually losing time to the guys behind me. Once the racers were over the barriers, you had another 20 meters before a 180' right hand turn that bombed back down the same hill into a frigging fast 180' left that led you into another pine tree stand up a hill and around a tree, taking a right and flying out of the pine trees, heading down towards the 2nd half of the course. Out of the pines, you were into a power section flying into a couple of fast technical turns on grass heading towards a steep but short 5 meter pitch to a short 20 meters of pavement and then back on the grass down into a bmx type 'dipty-doo' right hander back up and out of a ravine and on to the pavement for another 20 meters into another power section with a series of fast 90' power turns. Thru these turns the racer was met with a decision making seemingly innocent soft, but off camber right hand turn. A racer had 2 options at this right hander. He could set the right hand turn up by staying far left and low which allowed the racer to maintain a high speed into an off camber quick 2 meter incline where the turn was actually at, or the racer could stay way to the inside leading into the turn essentially taking a short cut. The racer had to scrub some speed and travel thru a questionable off-camber rutted out line into the turn. I took the latter line every time thru for all 7 laps. Had no problems whatsoever until the decisive bell lap. Once thru this turn the racer was basically entering the latter 3rd of the 1.5 mile lap. This section was fairly strait foward and simple but was also a real power section that had the second set of barriers and then another 400 meters of grass before the racers entered the finshing 300 meters of pavement to the start/finish line.

With a most of my warm-up done on the course, and a few leg opening sprints and a coiple of hard efforts, I felt i was ready to go. Racers began lining up for the Master's 40+ category about 9:45. Sunday's turnout was much lower than Saturday's races. Unfortunately some of the missing faces were teammates and 'fast guys' Steve Songer and Andy Lucas. they could only race Saturday and had to get back home. This actually left the door open for me and a couple of other guys to battle out for the win. Another regular master racer and 'fast guy' Mark Studnicki wpould race later in the day with the Elites'. I felt like the race would come down to me, friend and deisel engine Dan Hansen and Nebraska resident Randall Crist. He would be vying for a Nebarska State Championship as well. So me and 11 or 12 other guys were ready to go. With roll call at the line finished......

The race official blew the whistle....we were off. I made no effort to get to the front in the long stretch of pavement leading to the grass. I just wanted that 2nd or 3rd wheel and to stay out of wind and use as little energy as possible before we got to the grass and started the climbing. With my extra few lbs this racing season.....i could use all the extra energy when the terrain starts to turn upwards. 2 teammates of mine, Dean Parker and Bill Anderson, were battling it our and coming from there 2nd row start to jockey for front wheel position before the pavement turned to grass. This threw me for a loop, cuz I had never seen these 2 race so aggressive at the start of a race. They were drag racing the last 100 meters of pavement. I had to really catch myself to not go with them. I needed to be patient and race my race. things would settle in and down once got into the grass and the technical stuff. At least that is what i kept telling myself. Climbing up the initial pitch and into the first turn, we were going 3 wide. This was totally unexpected for me, i was used to this in a cat 3 race with 30+ guys duking it out but not a masters race. Oh well......lets' race. Into the 2nd turn i went from 5th or 6th wheel to 3rd by cutting a couple of guys off. Dont remember who, but sorry. I would be the fastest once we got to the high speed turns and it was to my advantage to get in front a.s.a.p. Not to get a gap and go on my own, but so my pace wasnt slowed and dictated by a slower rider in front of me. I knew noone in this group that i was racing against would be as aggressive and as fast thru this technical part of the course after the first bit of climbing. I needed to get to the front. Somewhere in the next couple of turns i got past 1 more racer and was now 2nd wheel. Heading down towrds the 1st pine tree stand i was still 2nd wheel. I accelerated to get past Randall and get to the trees first. I just barely got by him and into the trees first probably forcing him to break check a little entering the 90' left thru the trees. Oh well, we were racing...right??? Down the hill and into a fast 180' and back up towards 'hooligan's hill' to the first barrier. I ran the bike up about halfway and was back on my bike first as Randall was running along side of me rounding a tree into a right hand turn that took us down a bombing hard left hand 180'. Getting on my bike and clipped in before Randall allowed me to maintain my front position and allowed me to just absolutely rail the fast 180' 2 truns later i looked back to see a 8-10 bike length gap. As I got thru the bmx dipsy-doo and into the power section on the back side of the course, I looked back to see my gap expand to an advantage of 3 or turns ahead of a group of 4 racers. I hadnt necessarily planned on going it alone, but I committed to and I was out of the saddle and pounding it now. Fuck It! I was going for it.....

The next 2 or 3 laps were uneventful. My lead, depending on where I and my chasers were on the course was any where from 3 to 15 seconds over the course of the next few laps. Randall finally shed the 2 or 3 guys that were initially with him on the 1st lap. So for laps 2-6, He was just breathing down my neck. He would climb faster than me, so would close the gap to just a couple of seconds on the early part of the course only to have me get all that time back on the technical fast grass turns. It was a constant yo-yo. Every time I would start the grass climb I would question my intelligence(or lack there of) in my decision to try the solo effort. Every I would come thru the start/finish line and look back, my gap on my chaser always seemed to be about the same.....until the start of the last lap. Randall had just gotten in contact with me on the previous lap on the last little uphill dig in the grass, and would have stayed there had I not nailed a couple of turns and gotted an few seconds back on him. But, thru the start finish area on the start of the bell lap, Randall was charging. Midway thru the pavement section I sat up a little to try and recover for his inevitable attack on the grass climb. I knew it...he knew it. I needed to respond and stay as close as possible to him so I could in turn attack him on section of the course that played to my strenths. Hmmmm....if only I had something left. I actually wasnt that blown, but he was going really good, and once we hit the initial climb....he just kind of danced on the peddles and immediately got a 4 or 5 bike length gap on me. I just couldnt close any ground, even on the technical turns. I was so redlined that I couldnt really rail the turns.....it was all i could do to keep my head up and keep pedalling. I was 3 or 4 seconds back entering the bmx 'dipty-doo' when i saw Randall slide out a little and lose some serious momentum. I was up and out of the saddle in response. He had given me and opening to get back in the race and i couldnt let it slip away from me. Within the next 3 turns i was bck on his wheel. Coming out of a 90' left I sprinted to get to that damn '2-line' choice off-camber turn that I had talked about earlier. I felt like if I could beat him to the turn I could take my high line and force him to take the slower low line or have to scrub some speed to allow me thru 1st. Good thought, and poor execution....I totally over-cooked the high line and the off-camber line shot me towards a tree on the left of the tape and i was instantly bouncing off a tree and tangled in the course tape. All I could think about was getting out of Randall's way and not take him out as well. Fortunately, Randall floated by me and my overaggressive moveand was down the road. That was the race.....45 minutes of racing came down to a questionable overaggressive move on my part. Oh well........ it was fun as hell. I didnt take a competitor out and I made the effort to win the race at least. I went for it. In hindsight, I probably should have attacked him at the last set barriers. Live and learn, race and learn. It was a blast, I finished 2nd and am not too disappointed. Teammates Dean, Doug, Keith, and Bill all raced hard and Keith and Dean even lined up 2 races later to race the singlespeeds....they are Hardasses!

A lot of people may think I am crazy to drive 6 hours round trip to race my bike for an hour or so, but it is what I do. It is what I love. Landis got to cruise around with me and chase some squirrels while I cooled down after my race. He got to swim in some nasty pond water and just basically be a happy dog running around. I got to race my bike with and against some friends. I got to push myself beyond my supposed limits, and I won forty dollars for my effort. That covered my gas money, but that doesnt matter. I would have done it knowing I wasnt gonna win any money. Man, I just love racing my 'cx' bike. I just love racing and riding my bike with my friends.

So its monday. My legs are tired and sore. I have got a big smile on my face typing this. No race for a couple of weeks.....I think I will put my little girl in the stroller and grab the dogs and go for a run............

See yah!

Kansas Cyclocross Championships

Kansas Cyclocross Championships were held at St. Mary's University in Leavenworth, KS yesterday. A solid night of rain softened the turf before race day, and a steady drizzle and a field of 40 plus racers starting the morning off turned the course into an epic 'slick as snot' day of cyclocross for the remaining races thruout the day on Sunday.

My race, the Master's 'A' 35+ went off at 11am with the 45+ and 55+ categories. Upwards of 27 in my class and another 30 plus lined up behind in the older aged categories. The temps steadily dropped thru out the morning. by race tine for us it was low 40's and later in the day the temps had dropped into the 30's. The first race at 10 am had 30 plus racers, which led to a 'softening' up of the course. With a steady drizzle the course got slicker and slicker.

Great layout for Sundays' course. Hats off to Chris Locke and friends for all the hard work. I think the course was great and the weather made the day perfect to race 'cx' bikes.

I generally believe i have an advantage going into a race like yesterdays. The layout of the course and the nasty conditions of it make for what i think is a highly technical day of racing. I consider that perfect ingredients for me to beat some of the guys who i feel like are my rivals or guys who are similar ability to me.

However, picking myself off the ground a half a dozen times will not lead to a great result. That is exactly what happened yesterday. Legs were fine, but mentally i was not prepared. I overraced my bike yesterday, raced way too aggressive, i got in a hurry trying to play catch up after my initial wipeout and got careless under the conditions and paid the price. You cant do those things to be competitve in a cx race in our area anymore and count on a good result. The KC area and our region has gotten so competitve the last couple of years. So many guys have caught the 'cross bug' and are really going fast. It is friggin awesome. 2 years ago, weather like Sundays' would have chased a lot of racers away in our area, and we would have been lucky to have half as many racers line up for a race like that. So hats off to everybody who welcomed the 'epic' cx conditions and who really came out to experience a great course and a great day of racing.

Off my box and back to my reflections of my own day of racing..........I also made a bad decision in equipment choices as well. I chose the wrong tires and went with the wrong wheels. This is frustrating because I thought i learned my lesson after racing in last years Boss Cross #2 and #3 races. If you were there...You know these races were absolute mudfests. I made the same mistake last year with these 2 races yet still I chose the wrong tires that i have at my disposal. This was just one of many mental and physical mistakes i made yesterday. Bottom line, I was horrible yesterday. my result could have actually been a lot worse if my legs didnt feel good. Fortunately, the guys behind me suffered some of the same problems keeping the rubber on the ground as I did. So by the end of the 40+ minutes of slipsliding and slopping around in the mud, grass, brick and asphalt I tried to outsprint 360 teammate Joel Hammontree, only to come up a half a wheel short. It was a disappointing 10th place with 27 guys towing the start line for my race. I Got beat by a bunch of fast guys though, so no shame there.

On top of all of my supposed mistakes and slopping around and picking myself up out of the mud....I still had an absolute blast racing my bikes(s) yesterday. Great course, great conditions and above all else....great competition. I love racing against guys and competing against guys who I like and respect. Going against teammates or guys I opposing teams, I really revel in competing against friends and rivals in our area who love 'cx' as much as I do. And there are a lot of guys who love cx as much as me now.

For some good race reports....check out these blogs....http://bike-o-latte.blogspot.com/ and http://onthebikeagain.blogspot.com

hope to see a lot of KC cxers in Lincoln next weekend...

see yah!

pics from saturday nites cross race at the Heartland Speedway in Topeka

Post race trying to keep Brynn busy

Heather got some good pics with the little camera last saturday nite. We also discovered that Brynn doesnt like to share the salsa when we are out eating 'mexican'.....so our waitress brought her very own bowl. Spoiled even by others!

With the sun going down, thats' me hopping back on the bike after the stairs exiting the dirt oval.

Racers lining up before the start of the Master's 'A' 40+ race. I am front row on the our left hand side.

Brynn having way too much fun on the bleachers at Heartland Park. More fun than watching a bunch of weirdos in spandex anyway.....although she did see the racers running the stairs, which had her screaming 'weeeeeeeee'. We were cheap entertainment for her.

Heartland Raceway Grand Prix Results

here is a link to the Heartland Grand Prix results from last Saturday nite....http://www.sunflowergames.com/........dont understand why they are hidden or only posted here.....for now.....

later........

Heartland Raceway Grand Prix under the lights.....

So the race schedule for this weekend was just to race Saturday in Topeka at the Heartland Park Raceway. Last years race was its' first ever at this site, which was again promoted by SlimenUndGrassen racer and Topeka resident, Jeff Unruh. Last year's race to me, turned out to be the coolest venue behind Lincoln, NE Pioneers Park. Racing under the lights adds' another 'cool' factor as well. I won the Cat 3 race at the Raceway venue last year, so i was looking forward to Saturday evening. I had decided i wasnt going to racing Sunday morning, instead i would save the vacation hours and go to work instead. So i could race Saturday without worrying about how i would feel the next morning.

As excited as I was to race, I was somewhat apprehensive as well. The last 2 weekends of racing have been less than pleasing with really the last 4 races producing less than approving results in my mind. I have gone in to the last few weekends feeling fatigued more than normal and really having what i would call 'dead' legs, or no snap so to speak. So with some training adjustments over the last week thinks to friend and coach Mark Thomas, i felt a little livelier coming into this past weekends' race.

The race track at the Heartland venue is 'fast fast,.....Fast!' Jeff is able to utilize the 1/4mile dirt race track and the surrounding land around it. This allows the ability to string together some long and fast flat sections tide together with some technical 180's and high speed 90' turns in the infield, with the remainder of the race course looping around the 1/4mile track and the adjacent concession area. Just a cool spectator friendly venue with a centralized gathering area for beerdrinking and bbq eating family and friends for Jeff and the rest of his volenteers to use.

My recent upgrade has meant no more cat 3 races...officially. However, i have been racing the faster Masters' category races the last 4 weeks anyway, so no big deal. It is just more of a humbling experience, since I go from being the guy that others afe looking to to set the pace to being the guy just hanging on for dear life and battling for a top 5 when all of the 'regular' fast masters' show up. On Saturday nite, most of them did. Mark Studnicki, Andy Lucas, Steve Songer, Scott Fleming and promoter Jeff lined up. Minus a couple of other 'fast guys', it was still a good field with a total of 18 guys lined up for the Master's 'A' 40+ race. With the soundd of the official's whistle, 'fast-startin' Andy Lucas had the hole shot with Songer, Studnicki and me following from the pavement start to the first grass chicanes and onto the initial 'dirt track' section. Studnicki proceeded to takie over the pacesetting once on the track at up to 30mph with the other 3 of us in tow. Mark and his blistering pace had already created a gap for the front four of us, but i was already in danger of losing the wheel of Lucas. I had to kill myself to keep the 3 of them close. However, I was able to reattach to them once entering the 'infield' section of the oval where all the technical 180's and high speed turns. From the infiel portion we transitioned back onto the dirt to do another down and back on the other side of the track's straightaway. This led us into and 'off-camber' 180 uphill to a stairwell taking us down and out of the oval onto another grass section of 180's and hot turns. This is where i was able to keep the front 3 close again. I began to notice that Andy was getting gapped by Mark and Steve as well. The race course proceed to bomb down a grass hill and to the fence line of the speedway property and turn right to slog thru a thick grass section that was slightly uphill that pitched up at the end of this 500 meter section, from there once you climbed the chort little pitch up transitioned back on to pavement a few yards and took a hard left onto the grass to do a 90' right hand sweeper down and around a tree into a hard and fast left. Another 100 meters and the racers were back on the pavement headding towrds the 2nd dismount up a set of stairs and onto the bike heading slightly uphill and off camber into a right-hand 180 off-camber down hill into a 180 left hander that transition onto the pavement in the middle of the turn for the last 50-75 meters to the finish line. We did the 1.5 mile loop 8 times. by he end of the first lap it was me and Lucas together trailing the front 2(Songer and Studnicki) by maybe 5 seconds.

Once Andy and I got back onto the first section on the dirt, i pulled to the front to see if we could close the growing gap that was between us and the front 2. Andy didnt seem on top of his game and I felt pretty good. I found myself having to calm my excitement so as not to get careless. There were plenty of loose corners to lay it down in if I got careless or impatient. Not another 30 seconds later it was Andy on my wheel laying it down in a loose right hand turn. I looked back and figured he would recover pretty quickly and get back up to me....I even contemplated slowing a hair only to see a charging Jeff Unruh closing in on Lucas. So I did the next best thing, I stomp on the pedals and got out of the saddle and charged ahead. I immediately saw dividends in my big effort as the gap began to increase. So for the next 3 laps i was putting a gap and maintaining it on teammate Andy and Slimen racer Jeff. Starting late on lap 4 and early into lap 5 Andy had disengaged from Jeff and was closing in on me. I officially lost all my advantage when i 'brain-farted' and laid the bike down in a loose 180' turn on the dirt track. So much for a clean race, and before we entered the infield Andy was on my wheel. I didnt realize it at the time, but Andy told me later he 'killed' himself to get up to me. In hindsight, that made me feel really good. At the time, I wasnt thinking that way. I had to calm myself and ride smooth to conserve what i had left in the hopes of answering Andy's eventual attack to get away from me. Stupid me, I let him recover and sit on my wheel for almost 2 full laps. At the time I figured he was vying for the overall points lead and I had raced in a different category the previous races. So i really didnt figure myself into the overall equation. I was just thinking about Andy as a teammate. Late in the next to last lap I figured where Andy would probably make his move. On the slow grinding grass climb leading up to the concession area was where i figured Andy had the advantage. I knew it and he knew it. It was gonna take something special to stay in contact with him there. I actually was still pulling Andy leading into that section. Midway to the steep pitch he pulled in front. He didnt blaze by me, just kind of set a little higher tempo and maintained it to the top to the pavement. From there i was already 4 or 5 bike lengths back. Into the 2nd set of stairs the lead was maybe 3 or 4 seconds. Man, that doesnt sound like much, but in 'cross'....that is a definate gap. I didnt have an answer thru the finish area and the ringing for the bell lap didnt motivate any snap in my legs whatsoever. Damn.......i think i mentally gave it to him there. I didnt sit up......but I didnt dig deep either. My best race in over a month and I get that 'satisfied' feeling before i cross the finish line......THAT REALLY PISSES ME OFF! Going into the last part of the bell lap, I thought maybe Andy had started soft pedaling, so I gassed it only to finish a couple of seconds back crossing the line. Wish I had given that kind of effort at the start of the last lap to maybe get onto his wheel to put some pressure on him. Oh well......

It turned out to be a good race. I finished 4th. well ahead of a couple of guys who had been putting down some 'ass-whuppin' on me the previous couple of weeks. Payback is good. I think the tweek in the training paid off as well. I hope to continue to get or feel stronger over the next couple of weeks. The State Championships are next Sunday and I am looking forward to my first clean and uneventful cross race of the year. Cross the fingers.

360racing had a good nite with Steve taking 2nd, Andy in 3rd with me just behind in 4th. Dean Parker was 2nd in the highly competitive 50+ race and Doug Long in 4th and mtb'er Lyle Reidy racing as well. Fellow 360 teammate Shad Shreiner finished 2nd in the elite race to 'wunderkid' Joe Schmalz . Congrats to Localcyling.com racer Mark Studnicki on his 1st place effort in our 40+ race. The guy needs some competition........

Friend and teammate Ted Moore made an appearence as well. Whith the selling of his 'geared' bike, Ted lined up for the singlespeed race. He finished 2nd to teammate Steve Songer, which was his first podium of the year....Nice Racin' Ted!

till next time.....see yah!

pitchy climb makes for tuff cx race.

Saturday's 3rd race in the Boss Cross series was located in the Northland of Kansas City. The venue was again the Platteville Ridge Park used for the 3rd year in a row. With the venue and the course designer, Jeremy Haynes, I knew what to expect. Hard if not brutal test of mental toughness was the theme for the day. I knew the course would not really suit my skill, because of the cousre being on the side of a pretty good hill. This race has always had a couple of tough grinding hills thrown into the race loop. This however, instead of the longer grinders thrown in, Jeremy decided to change it up and throw in 3 short but very steep ride/run ups. Actually 2 of the 3 were ridable thruout the 40+ minutes of racing. The 3rd little pitchy hill was ridable in warmup, but thru the course of the race and the pounding and grinding of the race, it was better and even faster for the legs to run it rather than ride it. It was just steep enough to be faster to run vs. ride it. I felt it also saved a what little power i had in my legs as well.

Regardless, I still felt less than 100%, hell not even 75% truthfully. Last 3 weeks i feel like i have been playing catch-up on recovery and going into each race feeling almost like a baseball pitcher with a 'dead arm'. I have got dead legs. which is confusing, cuz my midweek simulated race efforts have felt pretty good. So until a couple of conversations with some friends, I could not figure out the problem. In retrospect, i had been trying to do recovery rides on the rollers instead of getting outside. Until today, I didnt think that should be a prolem. With the cooler temps and not wanting to subject little girl to a cold trailer ride, the roller rides have been much harder efforts than my recovery rides outside because i was so focused on my heartrate. Big mistake. So with an adjustment in expectations and less focus on HR and more on perceived effort I think I can come into the next few weekends races a little fresher.

So round #3 saw some fast guys line up for the Master's A 35+ race, but not a real large field. Big hitter from the 1/2's race, Mark Studnicki lined up as well as teammate and fast guy David Hedjuk and Doug Plumer. I was gonna be hard pressed to hold onto their wheels but was willing to make the big effort early in the hopes of seperating myself from guys who might be marking me. I was Overall leader going into the 3rd race of the series and none of the before mentioned guys had even lined up in the previous masters races in this series. So regardless of how i finished as long as i finished, i would maintain my overall lead due to some missing faces for saturday's race from the overall points standings.

With rollcall completed, the race official blew her whistle and we were off. Mark Stunicki took the hole shot into the grass after a long asphalt start section, followed by David Hedjuk, me in 3rd whell with Doug plumer breathing down my neck. Teammate Matt Dutcher was on doug's wheel. The front 5 of us immediately gapped the rest of the 35+ field in the grass and began to extend our lead thru the first set of technical 180' s right after the beginning asphalt section. A technical downhill offcamber muddy grass section led us into a sloggy grass trench section about 30 meters long before we took a 90 degree left up the first steep ride/run-up. This little pitchy climb was ridden by all 5 of us. For me i realized it was steep and wet enough that the traction was questionable so i ran this section the last 7 laps of the race, which was the faster technique anyway. From the top of this little pitch the course took another 90 degree left into another 120 degree right hander leading into a technical bumpy rocky 30 meters that was gradualing climbing up a hill that the course was set on. The course then took a 90 degree left down a the hill 5 meters and then a right hand turn back up the slope and onto a false flat running along a bumpy section into a fast downhill that led into a high speed soft 90 degree left turn that you took as fast as you wanted. This high speed rail turn shot you back up and onto a paved road and up a hill about 50 meters and into the grass for a little 20 meter soft soiled uphill climb that just sapped all momentum. From here you took a left and picked up some speed along a section that ran along the side of the slope where the course was at the highest point on the hill. Racers proceeded to bomb into a looping high speed left hander which left you going back the opposite direction and another 75 meters to a right hand 90 back onto the pavement and past the wheel pit. You then would bomb down and back onto the grass for 30 meters and back onto to the pavement and down a hill until you took a fast hard left onto a off- camber grass entrance thru a big dip, down a hill into another slow slogging grass drainage ditch into the 3rd short but steep little pitch. Racers then took a slow 90 degree left which led you into another 180 and back up a small false flat and another left led you into a double barrier set up which had racera dismounting with hardly any momentum at all. Mounting back on your bike and grinding your way to a right hand turn and back on the asphalt for the last section of the racecourse was a downhill bomb into a fast paved 90 degree turn, heading downhill again picking up speed into a fast paved looping 180 and back up the hill towards the start/finish line thru the parking lot was the end of a short but extremely difficult 1.1 mile Cross' course.

I lost Plumers' wheel and began to try to settle into that mode when you are trying to decide how much pain you can take while getting your 2nd wind after a blistering start. Matt Dutcher and I rode the first 3 laps together with Matt mostly sitting on my wheel. Matt decided to take a turn on the front and set the pace, but his pace was just a little bit faster than i could maintain. Like i described before with my lack of snap or dead heavy legs, I was just in that deisel type grind mode. Matt was going good so he left me to struggle on my own. For the next 2 laps i kept a consistent gap behind matt of 6-10 seconds hoping he would gas out or make a mistake, but he never did. He even seemed to get stronger the last 2-3 laps and increased the gap between us to atleast 45 seconds to a minute by the time i hit the finish line after 8 laps. So the 360 racers took 2nd with David Hedjuk, Matt took 4th and i took 5th. The last 3 laps had me battling wtih a couple of fast 45+ racers who were duking it out for 3rd and 4th. I was aable to follow their wheels for a time and stay motivated and not allow any 35+ racers to sneek up on me. I had to mentally work hard not to shut it down both physically and mentally, knowing i want feeling and going like i wanted for that mornings' race. Plus, being the leader of the 35+ A's in the overall points was a motivator too.

I just raced and immediately took off after so i wasnt able to see who showed up and raced the 1/2's race or even the cat 3's race. So I dont have any other race results.

I hope to have some pics posted in a day or too and hopefully i can get my training tightened up so i am flying for the Kansas State Cx Champs in a couple of weekends.

Get out and ride......See Yah!