This weekend is probably the hardest weekend of racing for me this year. I am sure you have heared, Gerlach is in town, and I told him I would do 6 hours with him Monday. That is before he and 100 plus other pros unleashed a whipping of pain for a combined 170+ miles over 2 races.
Have you ever been suffering so bad that you start loosing your bike handling capabilities?
I guess it is cool to be fit enough to be able to push yourself to the limit where your balance, dextarity and hand eye cordination start to be impared. In the back of my mind though, I tell myself it is cooler to finish - with the highest result possible, so that next year I can improve on it. After these last two weeks of racing, I am going to be flying I think.
There were times during the races where I thought, 'this is great, these ARE the real races, and I am participating!" That make me smile.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Looking Forward to this Weekend
Last year at the Air Force Cyling Classic the average speed was over 29 MPH for 93 miles. Ouch!
Last year Magnus Backstedt flexed at the Clarendon Cup. Ouch!
I am lucky to be able to do these races in the Pro events. I would hate to be on the sidelines watching it and I am glad we get the invite. Word on the street is that in the road race the big pro teams are going to keep it together for a field sprint, or for a 'what's left of the' field sprint.
Battley Harley is going to look good because:
This year, we have Jonathan Page so we have a top level sprinter.
Russ is focused on these races, and he always puts on a good show.
Dave Fuentes is injury free this year and this last week his motor seems to be dialed in.
I heared DC Velo got in, that's cool - it increases the probability of locals getting in the results.
The only down side is my rear wheel situation. (in order of racing wheel preference)
Wheel 1 - Cosmic, spokes taken out at Bike Jam by a front skewer, with mavic for repair
Wheel 2 - Mavic Team CSC, spokes broke on first ride out of box, at shop being rebuilt
Wheel 3 - Ultegra, super heavy, spoke broke at Ricola, going to try to get it fixed today.
Wheel 4 - Mavic Performance, piece of junk, but it is straight and works.
See you out there!
Last year Magnus Backstedt flexed at the Clarendon Cup. Ouch!
I am lucky to be able to do these races in the Pro events. I would hate to be on the sidelines watching it and I am glad we get the invite. Word on the street is that in the road race the big pro teams are going to keep it together for a field sprint, or for a 'what's left of the' field sprint.
Battley Harley is going to look good because:
This year, we have Jonathan Page so we have a top level sprinter.
Russ is focused on these races, and he always puts on a good show.
Dave Fuentes is injury free this year and this last week his motor seems to be dialed in.
I heared DC Velo got in, that's cool - it increases the probability of locals getting in the results.
The only down side is my rear wheel situation. (in order of racing wheel preference)
Wheel 1 - Cosmic, spokes taken out at Bike Jam by a front skewer, with mavic for repair
Wheel 2 - Mavic Team CSC, spokes broke on first ride out of box, at shop being rebuilt
Wheel 3 - Ultegra, super heavy, spoke broke at Ricola, going to try to get it fixed today.
Wheel 4 - Mavic Performance, piece of junk, but it is straight and works.
See you out there!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Brian Butts to-do list
OK, I understand fixing the bike- which was done, and paying the credit card - which wasn't done, but who puts on their to-do list "is the Slap Chop for real"? Poor Brian, controlled by infomercials. He is the only person I know who wipes his bike down with sham-wow, turns his light on with the clapper and probably has a cleaner colon than a 2 year old.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Break Dancing in Delaware
Wilmington was the first race I can remember where I never saw the front. I got a terrible start and just picked my way to the front, and only had to jump across one gap in route. By three to go I was top 20, and on the last lap I was in 8th spot in the lead out train when I slid out in a turn. I somehow did a 360 and bounced.
People told me it looked like I was break dancing. Miraculously, I have no road rash, my clothes did not get hurt and my bike is fine. Along with my ego, my butt may be bruised.
I heard Evan Fader's mom took a picture of me after the race wiping my junk with a towel and hopefully this will be my debut on the blog 'You Got Dropped'.
People told me it looked like I was break dancing. Miraculously, I have no road rash, my clothes did not get hurt and my bike is fine. Along with my ego, my butt may be bruised.
I heard Evan Fader's mom took a picture of me after the race wiping my junk with a towel and hopefully this will be my debut on the blog 'You Got Dropped'.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Fort Ritchie and Another Dam Road Race
1998 Another Dam Road Race (which was really the name)
What a great Ideal it was to go to the race in the desert early. Without hesitation, Chris Baumann turned off the road and we made our own path with the sand kicking up behind the van billowing into a cloud behind. Our bicycles which hung on the makeshift bike rack on the back of the 79 VW Van were being pelted by all kinds of debris - but we didn't care because these four friends were going camping.
Luckily we were not only 20 miles from the race course, but about that same distance from the local Search and Rescue. After a night of beer drinking and story telling around a fire, we woke to find that the van had sunk into the desert sand. Ryan Smith and I thought it was funny, but realized after several hours of failed attempts that we were screwed. We even tried various twigs and rocks and placing them under the tires to gain traction, but to no avail.
We pulled our bikes off, kitted up and headed for the populated area. Luckily, the first building we came to, in big black letters on a red wall said "Search and Rescue".
The big red neck dudes who followed us behind our bikes had no sense of humor, and apparently this doesn't happen all the time. Also, our fire was illegal.
2009 Fort Ritchie.
Fort Ritchie is a cool coarse. The weather was great, and Joe Jefferson was spinning records and yapping up an exciting commentary on each race.
When we walked up, he said over the load speaker ," Uh-oh, is that Chuckie Hutcheson?, Look out Chuckies in the house", so I waved and felt all special. Then he did it to Dave, and that made me feel less special. Then I noticed he knew and recognized EVERYONE, and I was just one in several hundred! Joe, I thought it was just "Chuckies in the House!"
Dave Fuentes and I decided to do both the Masters race and the 1,2 race as training for all the big races coming up.
I didn't warm up, and just hoped in my bike and started racing. The plan was to sit in and maybe sprint at the end and then really race in the 1,2, but we ended up in a break on the 2nd lap. On the 3rd lap Dave was away from the break. On the 4th lap I jumped across to him and we were gone. We pulled half laps each, and that jerk made me pull on the down hill and tailwind sections! We lapped the field and started to pull in the break, but when we got pretty close, decided to save some for the 1,2 race. When he asked me who gets the win, I said 'Me, you got it last week', but he heard ,'let me win for my kids', or something.
The 1,2 race was a blast, pretty big field and tons of attacks. Josh Frick went from the gun, and I bridged up a lap latter. We were out there forever, but by the time the field caught us it was pretty small. Although there were some promising breakaways which were comprised of some strong riders like Jason Meidoff (aka Chewbacca) and Mark Sommers (the Ferret), they all got pulled in. In the end, Dave ended up leading out Todd Hipp and Dave Bozak and another DC Velo (not sure who it was - took a weird line and disappeared). I was next and coming out of the turn let some space open up, and as soon as I was sure Todd was clear started sprinting for what I thought was the line. Right before I got to that line I got swarmed, but apparently the real line was sooner and I got 3rd in a photo finish with Jared Neiters. After bouncing around in some pot holes on the outside of the coarse, Dave ended up 6th.
Payout at this race was trippy.
$300 to 6 places for the Masters
$300 to 8 places for the 1,2
We made much more money in the Masters.
What a great Ideal it was to go to the race in the desert early. Without hesitation, Chris Baumann turned off the road and we made our own path with the sand kicking up behind the van billowing into a cloud behind. Our bicycles which hung on the makeshift bike rack on the back of the 79 VW Van were being pelted by all kinds of debris - but we didn't care because these four friends were going camping.
Luckily we were not only 20 miles from the race course, but about that same distance from the local Search and Rescue. After a night of beer drinking and story telling around a fire, we woke to find that the van had sunk into the desert sand. Ryan Smith and I thought it was funny, but realized after several hours of failed attempts that we were screwed. We even tried various twigs and rocks and placing them under the tires to gain traction, but to no avail.
We pulled our bikes off, kitted up and headed for the populated area. Luckily, the first building we came to, in big black letters on a red wall said "Search and Rescue".
The big red neck dudes who followed us behind our bikes had no sense of humor, and apparently this doesn't happen all the time. Also, our fire was illegal.
2009 Fort Ritchie.
Fort Ritchie is a cool coarse. The weather was great, and Joe Jefferson was spinning records and yapping up an exciting commentary on each race.
When we walked up, he said over the load speaker ," Uh-oh, is that Chuckie Hutcheson?, Look out Chuckies in the house", so I waved and felt all special. Then he did it to Dave, and that made me feel less special. Then I noticed he knew and recognized EVERYONE, and I was just one in several hundred! Joe, I thought it was just "Chuckies in the House!"
Dave Fuentes and I decided to do both the Masters race and the 1,2 race as training for all the big races coming up.
I didn't warm up, and just hoped in my bike and started racing. The plan was to sit in and maybe sprint at the end and then really race in the 1,2, but we ended up in a break on the 2nd lap. On the 3rd lap Dave was away from the break. On the 4th lap I jumped across to him and we were gone. We pulled half laps each, and that jerk made me pull on the down hill and tailwind sections! We lapped the field and started to pull in the break, but when we got pretty close, decided to save some for the 1,2 race. When he asked me who gets the win, I said 'Me, you got it last week', but he heard ,'let me win for my kids', or something.
The 1,2 race was a blast, pretty big field and tons of attacks. Josh Frick went from the gun, and I bridged up a lap latter. We were out there forever, but by the time the field caught us it was pretty small. Although there were some promising breakaways which were comprised of some strong riders like Jason Meidoff (aka Chewbacca) and Mark Sommers (the Ferret), they all got pulled in. In the end, Dave ended up leading out Todd Hipp and Dave Bozak and another DC Velo (not sure who it was - took a weird line and disappeared). I was next and coming out of the turn let some space open up, and as soon as I was sure Todd was clear started sprinting for what I thought was the line. Right before I got to that line I got swarmed, but apparently the real line was sooner and I got 3rd in a photo finish with Jared Neiters. After bouncing around in some pot holes on the outside of the coarse, Dave ended up 6th.
Payout at this race was trippy.
$300 to 6 places for the Masters
$300 to 8 places for the 1,2
We made much more money in the Masters.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Bunny Hop
Last year I got 5th in the 1,2,3 race and 3rd in the masters 35+. This year I got 5th in the 1,2,3 race and 3rd in the masters 35+. The difference? It was hot as hell last year, and this year it was raining. There was also a difference in my form. I was fitter last year, and this year I am on my third week of training after letting my form go for a month to ramp it up in preparation for the NRC races and the UCI race I will be doing in the next few months.
When your getting fit for the first time, or getting back into racing after a very long break (8 yrs for me), I think you have to get every mile you can and just beat your self into submission. Once your competitive at an elite level, you go through cycles of build up and let go. For me, it is hard letting form go, but I realize the benefits. I am not a believer of avoiding burn-out, if you burn out from doing what you love you probably are fooling yourself and don't really love it at all and need to do something else. I think the real worry is getting flat, stale. What ever.
My wife bought a few records at the thrift store yesterday. She doesn't really know the 70's rock, but she'll buy them all and right now I'm blasting 900 watts of record crackling guitar screaming "Frampton Comes Alive", and if I get any more pumped I might throw a beer bottle through the window. Oh yeah, I'm having a few beers right now. Perfect post race meditation.
During the 1,2,3 race I yelled "If you can't sprint drop back", I was halfway joking. One guy (who I will not name) said "I can sprint!" Three corners later, out of the last turn, I heard a wet swoosh and a Batman like "SMASH" "BOOM" and "POW". I was told he crashed. Maybe I jinxed him? I hope he is OK.
A very good rider in the 1,2,3 race told me pre race that only 3 racers he knew of that were cat 1's blogged. Myself, Russ Langley and Pete Cannell. He said the only reason he saw for blogging was to say "HEY! Look at me, how good I am!" or "This is my excuse". He then promptly went home and posted on Facebook how well he did. I will probably be de-friended now, but I'm just saying... Funny thing after he told me that, another person said I should blog more, like once a day. If social acceptance is what I needed, I would be bi-polar.
I got to the race way early and watched the juniors, women, cat 4's and a bunch of other races. If Steven Black, the Junior, sticks with racing he is going to crush everyone.
On my way to the race, I had an incident. Leaving 495 to branch ave the cautionary sign says '25mph', so I did 15mph cause I drive like an old lady. As I got onto Branch Ave, my car started fish-tailing. I over corrected what seemed like 10 time, but was more like 4 and succeeded in sliding backwards facing traffic - which was doing an excellent job of avoiding me. I handled it like Jason Borne (if he almost shits his pants in these situations). I was breathing heavy and I could feel my heart pound in my ears as I looked at the cement wall I was parallel parked inches from. The the first car to come off the off ramp came flying at me and had to skid around me and into Branch ave. More cars came skidding around me as I tried to start my reluctant car. Finally, it started and I started driving as fast as I could backwards down Branch ave. After about a half mile, I stopped, then luckily God decided to stop toying with me like a cat with a half dead mouse and all 4 lanes of traffic stopped. I did a U-turn and drove right past my exit. I just kept going straight until my heart calmed and I could let the death grip off of the steering wheel to shift gears and use my turn signal.
When your getting fit for the first time, or getting back into racing after a very long break (8 yrs for me), I think you have to get every mile you can and just beat your self into submission. Once your competitive at an elite level, you go through cycles of build up and let go. For me, it is hard letting form go, but I realize the benefits. I am not a believer of avoiding burn-out, if you burn out from doing what you love you probably are fooling yourself and don't really love it at all and need to do something else. I think the real worry is getting flat, stale. What ever.
My wife bought a few records at the thrift store yesterday. She doesn't really know the 70's rock, but she'll buy them all and right now I'm blasting 900 watts of record crackling guitar screaming "Frampton Comes Alive", and if I get any more pumped I might throw a beer bottle through the window. Oh yeah, I'm having a few beers right now. Perfect post race meditation.
During the 1,2,3 race I yelled "If you can't sprint drop back", I was halfway joking. One guy (who I will not name) said "I can sprint!" Three corners later, out of the last turn, I heard a wet swoosh and a Batman like "SMASH" "BOOM" and "POW". I was told he crashed. Maybe I jinxed him? I hope he is OK.
A very good rider in the 1,2,3 race told me pre race that only 3 racers he knew of that were cat 1's blogged. Myself, Russ Langley and Pete Cannell. He said the only reason he saw for blogging was to say "HEY! Look at me, how good I am!" or "This is my excuse". He then promptly went home and posted on Facebook how well he did. I will probably be de-friended now, but I'm just saying... Funny thing after he told me that, another person said I should blog more, like once a day. If social acceptance is what I needed, I would be bi-polar.
I got to the race way early and watched the juniors, women, cat 4's and a bunch of other races. If Steven Black, the Junior, sticks with racing he is going to crush everyone.
On my way to the race, I had an incident. Leaving 495 to branch ave the cautionary sign says '25mph', so I did 15mph cause I drive like an old lady. As I got onto Branch Ave, my car started fish-tailing. I over corrected what seemed like 10 time, but was more like 4 and succeeded in sliding backwards facing traffic - which was doing an excellent job of avoiding me. I handled it like Jason Borne (if he almost shits his pants in these situations). I was breathing heavy and I could feel my heart pound in my ears as I looked at the cement wall I was parallel parked inches from. The the first car to come off the off ramp came flying at me and had to skid around me and into Branch ave. More cars came skidding around me as I tried to start my reluctant car. Finally, it started and I started driving as fast as I could backwards down Branch ave. After about a half mile, I stopped, then luckily God decided to stop toying with me like a cat with a half dead mouse and all 4 lanes of traffic stopped. I did a U-turn and drove right past my exit. I just kept going straight until my heart calmed and I could let the death grip off of the steering wheel to shift gears and use my turn signal.
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