Grind

The Bubba CX mud today was thick. I'm am too new to this style, I'm still working out the basics of it all. Even though my results don't show much, the improvement is building. I started fast out of the gate with good position, but two sections of soft sod on the course proved I would not be a contender. I pushed myself to hold my position but I was slowly losing that battle. In the middle I found myself in company of my teammate Mathew. He was fading. I told him we're finishing this thing and so he sticks with it. On the last lap I flatted and I am still without a spare set of wheels -- I'm still using a seriously cheap set for the front line. Mathew was just behind me and we pulled into the pit and he lent me his spare front wheel. I had enough nuts loose in my head to attempt to run the entire last lap, but I know I wouldn't have made it. A good team makes the finish.

After a mess of a year and many things off the saddle distracting me from really enjoying any saddle time, I find myself out of shape and struggling on terrain I used to eat up. The divorce is nearly through and with it's weight and all the problems before it lifted from me, I'm rediscovering good time in the saddle again. The commutes to work are once again refreshing and the trainer time isn't nearly as dreaded. It's good to grind again.

Maelstrom

June is nearly over and so much has happenned it is hard to pick a point. The whole world is in a mode of destruction.

I abandonned my hopes for the state road race, knowing I could not close the deal given my condition. But I was proud to see Devin ride on to take the jersey home for the team. I was glad I could help. I have ridden little since. This is definitely out of character.

The ground is in upheaval around me. The storms have whipped black and gray; hazardous debris circles, drooling for flesh. I am firm, resolute. Through the darkness I see my path, my line. My heart beats steady, my breath roils of purpose.

We'll see what happens at our home course this weekend. I feel no expectations, but I plan to ride hard and true to the finish. It is just a day in the sun; another day closer to a finish.

The world may fall but I will stand.

Racing in the homeland

Last weekend started an exhausting month. Norfolk Classic Road Race started in Stanton, Ne on a wet stormy morning. I arrived the night before at my brother's house to take part. Like last year, I was the only St. Louis racer there, but this year the 3's were racing against the 1/2's and the fields overall were larger and stronger. Riders from Colorado, Kansas, and Minnesota showed up to really stiffen the competition. The course is a simple square, 32 miles in length. The hills are light rollers, and the wind is treacherous. I felt stiff from the 8 hour drive the day before and the rain didn't make me feel very confident. The race had a 1 mile neutral rollout and things seemed nice, then the race started. For the next 15 miles relentless attacks occurred. I stayed back with the group as I was alone in this one, and I had only myself to look out for me. About 20 miles in, I discovered that I had let myself hang back too much and I was gapped and out of the race. I was with a small group and we started to work together because we could barely see the main pack through the fog and rain. On the last leg of the first lap, we were just four guys. 2 guys seem to be fading hard. Turning for the second lap, one of them bowed out, three guys. We start hitting the rollers and the two guys behind me are struggling. I waited for them on a couple of hilltops, but finally they waived me on.
I solo'd for about 30 miles. No pack in sight for most of them. Finally I caught them with about 6 miles to go. I settled in for a rest in the back of the pack. In the last two miles the attacks started again. I just held a wheel, and kept holding. Suddenly I see the finish. I sprinted not for the placing or to beat anyone to the line. I just wanted to end this thing. 3rd in the field sprint, 10th overall. After a post race beer, my brother, his wife, and I packed up and headed over to a local Stanton bar called the Wolf's Den for a true Nebraskan style post race meal:
Can't argue with a 1 lb. burger, Onion rings and a couple of beers and still get change back. Later that night we met up with some friends in Martinsberg for some more beers and more incredibly awesome burgers. However, I didn't test the town law:
I really did try to bribe my brother to test them though.
The next day started with some dime sized hail hitting town. The cat 5's were cut short because of it. I waited it out at my brother's house, not sure if the race was a go.
It went on. The course was wet and fast. Even more out of state pro/1's showed up to put on a real cooker. 25 mph average on an 8 turn course in the rain, it was rough. A crash early really broke things up and it was utter confusion for me since. I just kept trying to go as fast as I could with the guys around me. Somehow my final placing in the 1/2/3's was 11th. I think I was lapped by the leaders, but I'm not sure.
The weekend was fun but the Monday morning I had to leave, this time with another vehicle, borrowed from my brother and another old eagle in tow to scrap for parts on mine. I haven't ridden at all this week, everynight has been spent tearing apart the parts car and collecting the keeper parts. We'll be done with that this weekend and start repairing the damage on the original. The project car will look really good when done.

Just another weekend

I'm not sure if it was the new TT steed or the fact that I was chased by one Shawn O'Neal in the time trial Saturday, but it looks like my best time trial run yet.  I finished with a time of 27:53 and 8th place.  This was a definite improvement over the Hermann Time Trial.  I don't attribute this entirely to the bike though.  At about the 3/4 mark, Shawn passed me and that gave me a little mental edge to go harder.  I can even see it in the data from the Garmin.  To keep  improving I need to improve my mental fitness for TT's  I don't think technology can help me near as much as training my mind for the effort.  

Danny did a fare better than me at 27:14, enough for 4th.  So Sunday as a team, our goal was to get Danny into the top 3 over all for a omnium podium.  In general, we had three of us to control the break aways or the field if Danny was lucky to get into a break.  The course was a good one for breaks: lots of corners and narrows with just enough climb to be noticed.  On the second lap, after the 'climb' the whole pack slowed to a crawl.  I wanted this to be faster to weed people out, so I snuck on the side-- a bit dangerous normally, but the curb was a rounded ramp making the sneak really smooth.  I meant only to pick up the pace, but I caught people early and made a gap.  

I think it was Patrick Hawley who joined me on this little break early and we swung it around to the start finish where they immediately called a prime.  Great, just a little more carrot for the rest of the field to chase.  We took some even turns on the lap until Patrick slid out on a corner and swung wide onto the sidewalk and maybe into someone's yard.  I looked over to see that he was okay and coming back on, but it looked like he was going to drop to the pack at that point.  I decided, why not see if I can stick this to the line for the prime.  I renewed effort, solo.  

I brought it around and picked up the prime and then let up for a recovery pace.  If they didn't catch within a half lap I would have renewed a steady pace, but they did and I settled into the field while Devin and Mark handled the breaks and the pace for roughly the next 10 laps.

On the final laps I shadowed Danny.  I kept telling him that I'm there and I'll come around to lead him when the time comes.  That was the start of the last lap.  I came out on the side and powered alongside the field to the front with Danny in tow.  

Danny slid into the front of the pack as I started my final pull of the race.  I held it for half the lap then slid off  the back of the pack.  I gathered what I could and latched onto the back to finish the race knowing that Danny was in the top 5 wheels with less than a half lap to go and all the major turns covered.  Devin was up there with him, but just in case I pushed to see if I could rejoin.  No dice, I was done I filed across the line in the back of the pack.  Danny came out a little early on his final sprint but was able to hold on for a 4th place finish, propelling him to a 2nd place over the two days.  It was an excellent day to see the team execute nicely and finish with a guy on the podium.

TT Ebay Special

First ride on the ebay special time trial frame.  I was pleasantly surpised.  It isn't the best by any measure, but for the price it is thus far proven unbeatable.  I have found only two issues on the build so far.  First,  I was able do my entire 11 mile rough road commute on it with only dropping the chain to the lower ring once over some RR tracks.  It's not a safety issue but an unintentional downshift would probably cost time in a TT.  So a front deraileur, regardless of function, would be good insurance.  The second is the cheap Bontrager post I borrowed from the commuter has issues staying in place on this frame just like the last.  Now it is possible that both frames, being unmarked ebay bargains, suffer from the same defect, but I think that the post is more likely.  Clamping it with extra force seems to remedy this for the short term.  I'll replace the commuter post with something basic.  So after the rework tonight here it is in all it's glory (don't laugh it works):

It has 9spd downtube DA shifters running a 10 spd cassette -- hurray for old fashioned friction.  The front deraileur I just added tonight will keep the chain on the big ring for now.  I don't plan to shift it in tomorrow's TT.  The fork is cheep but it keeps the front wheel in place so I'll run with it for now.

"Not the Victory but the Action; Not the Goal but the Game; In the deed the Glory"

-- Hartley Burr Alexander

Recovery

Last Sunday's Hellbender lived to its name.  I think most people stuck to a strategy of just sit in till the end and hope their still there.  However when everyone does this, the result is a race where everyone is just waiting to start.  I don't like races like this.  The result: I pulled a lot.  That's okay I knew the pace would keep my full team refreshed and ready for the end even if I wasn't.  The finish hurt alot.  A cramp crept in with about 10 miles to go and I kept working to keep it back.  But in the end I just decided to fight through it.  Painful.  I hoped that a jersey was on my wheel as we crossed the bridge, but there wasn't.  At that point I just kept going in my position and finished 8th.  The next day I was dead tired and all of my muscles hurt.  I skipped my ride into work for the Jeep.  Tuesday was even worse.  By late Tuesday night I was fully blown and contagious.  So the next two days' effort have been to shake it off.  This was maybe a bout of flu, I'm guessing not the swine type because that's supposed to be an apocalyptic plague, and here I am on the mend after a couple of days.  Maybe it's a sign that the dooms day architects are just getting lazy.

Either way I'm hoping this doesn't affect me much for Saturday.  I don't have a chance at winning a time trial, but it is a personal goal to do better than bringing up the rear like last year.  The new ebay special time trial bike is nearly ready, tomorrow will be a test run.

A view from the 3rd step

I still have a lot of work to do on my time trial ability. I wasn't very sure of myself coming into this weekend; a lot of things off the bike going on that has hampered my riding. Add the weather factor, I didn't expect much good coming. I figured I'd get a real good look at how much farther I need to work. The time trial went well enough for me, but minutes behind the Cat 3 winner. I clocked a 23:51, better than my goal of under 25. I was satisfied, but at this point I figured my weekend would be for the individual events.

We spent the rest of the day looking at the new road course and dining at Stone Hill Winery. I figured my racing was done, so I indulged in some wine and sauerbraten and waited around for the start.

The rain let up for our race thankfully and the weather was looking good. I did a quick warm up, scouted the super fast descent and lined up. On the first lap, I had to yell at a guy holding his brakes on a straight descent. He gapped big and I got around him just in time to keep from being eliminated quickly. The first time up the hill, I could feel the field splintering. I drifted towards the front, and it no longer felt like a field but a small collection of grueling duels. I felt like I was getting nashed by every little move made by the riders. I was finding it more and more difficult to respond to every move. Then Alex showed up and things calmed down. I was glad to see another jersey.

It was down to a few laps to go, when Alex finally faded to the back of the break and I was mostly alone with these two really strong kids and another good rider guy. I almost started to feel defeat set into me. I could feel my legs just giving out and a pain deep from my pits pull over my body. My thoughts drifted from the wheel in front of me. Just before hitting the hill again, I regrouped my concentration. I forgot about the race. I forgot about the people. I forgot about all the shit. You have two choices, fight or lay down and die, if you fight then you'll either win or die trying. That's when I resolved that these kids aren't going to take me out of this race, and I was going to finish it. I came over the hill with a resolved attack at the top. I could hear the announcer calling out my name as I powered over the hill. I couldn't shake the kid yet. For me at this point it was just me and him in the race. People were running up the side of the hill yelling, cheering. My heartrate was pegged at 200 bpm. Apparently this was a really good race for the spectators. The race leader, a kid with strong legs and a good future, being pushed to his limits by a career amateur 'old' guy.

Last lap, last time up the hill, the top is the finish. I couldn't hear the crowd. I felt like blood was shooting from my eyes. I hit the hill ahead of him.. not a the position I should have. I have to be ready to respond to his attack. I picked my gear I thought could do. He attacks me for the last time. I respond but am gapped by a bike length, then two, then more. Out of the saddle every inch of me wanting to get him before the top. I close one bike length, he's fading and I'm gaining, but it's too little too late for me and roll across the line behind him. I stopped to talk to Rusty, but I could still hardly hear. Alex rolls by a minute later yelling something about another lap. I go after him lightly trying to tell him that it's over but he's convinced he still has to go. I decided to follow. For some reason I thought I heard an old Cake song playing in the background.

The Battle

The Defeat

Sunday, we drove back to Hermann through the rain. We got ready through the rain. We warmed up through the rain. We lined up through the rain. Alex and Chris were back and Devin and Mark joined us. We had a good team for the race. For the first 20 miles or so, they kept me well protected. I paid for it with water spraying my in every direction. I could barely see anything at times. Finally, some moves were made and Devin helped me stay with them and when the time was right we started some counters. The large break of 15 or more was made. When Patrick came by and let me know that the race leader wasn't in the group, I decided that it was time to make this stick. It stuck. I knew my team was back with the rest of the field holding them back. Coming back into Hermann I saw that the wheel truck had come behind us. Then the wall. I hit it hard. 16 was too big of a number, we needed to get this down to a more civilized size. Over the top, drop into a strong pace, the wheel truck stayed back and the motorcycle followed us till the wheel truck could return.

We were down to 8. That's a good number. I can do well enough with 8. So I mustered them to work together. Tried to organize some pace lines. The rain was still assailing us from every direction. I was drenched. We almost lost one here or there as the hills came and went, but at the end on the KOM, we were all still together. No one wanted to pull any more. We haven't been making great time, maybe a little paranoid. It didn't seem like the rest of the field should be that far back. I let them attack on the KOM, followed wheels. Over the top, two had a gap, but the descent is fast and by the first turn in Herman we were together again, except two that fell off. My legs were too tired though and I couldn't find a finishing move. I was fifth wheel in the last turn and 5th accross the line.

Thanks to one rider not racing the road race on Sunday, I slid into 3rd place overall. Alex lead the field in at 9th. I couldn't have asked for a better team. The kept me in the race and on Sunday I knew I couldn't let them down. I also have to give thanks to my friend Michelle for the pep talk before the weekend to keep my focus. I don't think I would even showed without her help.