Monday, June 25, 2007

state TT

sour pain

dybo ready to launch

danny k ready to launch

unfortunately i didn't get all the pics i wanted. it was a hot day. i think the best decision i made was not to race. it was pretty hot but being there got me in the mood. it was great to see everyone race their best race. the team had some great results with clark and card taking 3rd and 4th in the elite. 2 row rode well and put up a silver in masters 35-39. B rex blew it up and rocked the 40-44. dybo turned it up in 45-49 with a nice win and mr armstrong had a great place in 4th.

the TTT was fun to watch. Lathrup killed it posting the best time and my saturn boys pulled out a great bronze. i was happy for them. the club challenge was a success with saturn beating out a very scary fast team mongo by 42.89. very cool.





i'm now convinced.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

allen park

hot n fast

sounds like a fast food chain. i think we had like 60 or 70 in the field today. it was big. its great to see a lot of racers coming out to these events. it seems like we don't have a problem with the road scene and attendance. maybe we can get some of these folks out this fall.


i was pretty tired in the morning. even when i got to the race i was dragging ass. i hadn't had any coffee yet so i ventured out to find some of my sauce to get me going. came back with a venti that had an extra shot to give me a nice little boost. its a rule that allen park crits are hotter than hell. and again it was nice and balmy. we found a nice spot under some trees to set up the trainers. finally the go juice hit my veins and i started to wake up. i finished a short spin on the trainer and went out to the road to get some pavement spinning. did a few laps with friends then watched the finish of the 3's. a really great race. standing there i got my blood flowing and my mind into race mode. did a few more warm up laps to check out the course and find the holes. made it to the line to get prepped for 90 min of hot n sweaty. the first lap was pretty much neutral. i think everyone was just trying to get a feel for how the attitude of the race would be. it was tame. after a bit a few people threw down and the pace picked up. after a bit a move stuck and they began to work up there. the weird thing is each lap that went by it didn't seem like they were really increasing the time by all that much. i heard 35 sec then 45 then back to 40. they bounced around the sub 1 min mark for a while. i guess thats all they needed since they stayed away and derek graham grabbed the win. the guys is riding well this year. we had the black ace in the move and i think craw daddy was up there to help out. a couple crashes earlier in the race woke everyone up to ride a bit more cautiously. it was a decent tempo and speed averaging around the 26 or 27mph mark. the heat made it feel just a bit harder than it was. i raced a couple other races this year that were faster and i felt better. i drank all my fluids and felt decent afterwards. i was looking forward to the beer party later that eve. state TT next weekend.


Monday, June 11, 2007

cedar creek

still going

so we stayed the night in muskegon. i'm not sure if that ended up being a good idea or a mistake. it was a pretty shady hotel. some other riders were there so that was good.

an early start time forced us up and out of there which we were not complaining about thats for sure. it was a bit cloudy but i knew it would be a decent day. sure enough it cleared up and got warm. i had a good warm up and made it to the line for the radio check. the field was big. we rolled out and again within the first miles of the race i could tell i would be ok today. i just hate the days when nothing is there. i don't even remember how far into the race it was, maybe 1 or 2 laps or something. a small group slipped away quietly. they did a good job not getting noticed. i mean its not like the front of the race was all that chatty with move. the cool thing was we had tony in there. finkel got in there and so did ian lockley. i'm not sure who else. so this group gets a solid 3 minutes and no qty's of people were really coming to the front to bring anything back. i think all the major players were represented so we just sat in and closed down anything else that looked threatening. lathrup wasn't going up there. they had a guy, wolverine wasn't going up there, they had a guy, west coast was covered and southlyon had a guy and so did we. i guess essex brass or one of the other smaller teams not represented in the move should of put 4 or 5 guys on the front but they didn't. some single venom guy was dangling off the front all day for no reason. so for what seemed like a majority of the race we just covered little moves. priority? oh well. with 1 1/2 laps left i looked up the road and saw the group. i was sure they had it. either way we got them. on the last lap with a bit to go, clark and shoberg launched the perfect move. shoberg, clark 1, 2. the field sprint was a show from the sidelines i'm sure. coming into the straight, up the right side lathrup had a nice train going but it soon fell apart as things got pretty hot. i thought for a moment i would be able to contest, but in a field sprint of that size if you're not near 95 or 100% for the sprint it is best to stay out and let the sprinters have their day. its not my place to interrupt that. foshag found the holes and made it happen and regan was in there too. i rolled in pleased with my efforts to help the team. i think allen park will be fun. hopefully we can get another good finish. great racing from everyone on the team, tony was stellar in the break. crawford and card, will and adam.


i certainly didn't have any relaxing down time this weekend like the prior week. lots of summer left. oh and perry farrell's satellite party is the shit. he has a new collaboration with some other notables. its a bit weird but damn good.

Monday, June 04, 2007

wisco

mad city


had a pretty kick ass weekend. got to the mad city of wisconsin. more bike paths than any other city in the midwest. i wish ann arbor could take a page from the public transportation book of madison. it certainly would make things easier around here.


visiting the mad city is an annual occurrence for me. at least 2 or 3 times a year. but the one thing is for sure when i visit, and that is making sure i hit my favorite thai food restaurant Lao Laan-Xang. the best i've ever had. awesome.


so the next morning was the big ride. the trek 100. i just love doing this ride. its my 4th one in a row. its a really great charity ride and being on the road with 3500 people is pretty cool. the best part is that the company was doing a media launch for some cool new 2008 product so we got to check out all the new bikes and product a little early.


looks like i'll be buying more wheels again next year. these all new redesigned bontrager race lite and race x lite wheels are really nice. they did a great job. i have to get a set.


and so the big man lance was on the ride. he gave a few pre ride words and we were on our way. l heard from a reliable source that lance was ordered to "go to the front and drill it to thin out the field". how hilarious is that. about 15 miles into the ride we got dumped on with rain and bodies were all over the road like a yard sale. couple people got hurt pretty bad. i guess lance pulled out shortly after that to go have coffee. he must be saving his legs. yea right.

the ride was great and it felt good to get the miles in. we rode with a lot of different people and ate some great food at the stops along the way. can't wait for next years.

every year i do this ride, i always look forward to hitting the water for some relaxing time in the sun with beer and friends. and every year we've had good weather to take advantage of.


frisbee is a plus while we cool our legs in the water after the 100.



relaxing near the water until the eve set in. an awesome day.

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