Viva Velo Veloce!

2011-11-11T19:45:00.003-06:00

11-11-11: a date that will live in infamy!

So, what were you doing on 11-11-11 at 11:11 AM? Me, I was a mermaid sandwich!

If you read the fine print of my paper, it sez "Celebrating 11-11-11 @ 11:11 AM" Too bad we ended up with the only blind dude in the joint taking our picture with my cell phone. The blurry photo doesn't do justice to Mermaid Carol S on my left, and Mermaid Carol O on my right.

We hooked up at 24 HR Fitness in Ralston for my Extreme Swim Makeover. You know, my swim nickname is Flounder. I earned that moniker during my two triathlons. Bike great, run decent, swim....flounder. Not to mention I can't swim a straight line. I look like a slalom skiier in the water, zig-zagging hither and fro.

Carol O, aka Aquawoman, Dara II, or Flipper, offered to do the makeover. Carol O, she of Marian fame, nationally ranked competitor, certied instructor and molder of clay.

Carol S, winner of a bazillion triathlons, Trek the Towers, Sears Towers and IRONWOMAN herself, waits on the sidelines to provide encouragement and CPR.

So, first order of bizness, sez Carol O, is to see what I've got to start with. Swim an easy 100 meters, please. I plunge in the icy-cold liquid and start my thrash. I couldn't help but notice the other swimmers in the pool immediately vacate the pool lest they be knocked unconscious by my flailing arms. I swim "EZ" back n forth 2x, the oxygen-starved diesel redlining, rip the goggles off and see Carol S trying to revive poor Carol O, who had passed out after witnessing the spectacle. Carol O comes out of her stupor, leaps up and makes a valiant sprint for the exit, but a nice flying tackle by Carol S corrals her before her escape is complete. "Come on, you can fix him, you've seen worse!"

"LIAR!" she retorts. Grudingly, she returns, and accepts the challenge. "Boy, we've got trouble. Right here in River City. Trouble, starts with T and rhymes with P, and stands for Pool. You are a menace in the Pool. However, I'll do it. You will be my crowning achievement!" she tells me.

We get down to Add/Remove Programs. She removes Windows Thrashing. She reinstalls Swim 101 and Drills Basic. I'm rebooted. I learn to glide on my side/back, arm extended, with just my snout out of the drink. Then I add in snout to water and snout back up, I add a stroke to my snout out/snout down move, I flip to the other side, then repeat. I graduate to 3 strokes eventually. At some point, I become self-aware. I begin to THINK. I SWIM! I AM HAL, model 11-11-11@11:11. Makeover commenced, but not complete. Estimated date of prototype release, September 9th, at Ironman Wisconsin, 2012.

And where were you on 11-11-11@11:11 AM?

Joules Cross

2011-10-17T16:13:00.004-05:00

As we head into the heart of the cx season, this weekend of racing in Kansas sounded like a good one to try. The course is laid out on private land, with the owner generously giving the local cyclists a place to race both cx and dirt track. They held a series this summer racing around a 300m dirt oval on fixed gear bikes (using cx tires-this isn't a smooth surface), which sounds like a lot of fun. Anyhow, the cx course was an excellent mix of wide open flats, hairpin descents, a board dismount and a in/out spiral. It was beautifully mown, with little need for any additional marking.The first day course was extremely bumpy in spots, especially on a long descent-none of us could find a good line and ended up feeling like we were operating jackhammers. There were about 40 in the entire masters heat, with 16 in my division (50+ masters) Saturday. The standard set of 360 Racing Team masters were there to beat on everyone, including Steve Songer (10th at Planet Bike USGP a few weeks ago in 45+). I knew that if I was not on his wheel after a 1/2 lap, I was racing for second. They started us in waves (30+, 40+ 50+ and 60+). I had a horrible start and was immediately gapped by Songer and David Moore, along with a couple of other riders, so vying for second it was. I worked my way through the group that gapped me, and after 1.5 laps, only David Moore (and, of course, Songer) remained in front of me, and he was riding extremely well. He's been tearing it up this year, and I started to wonder if I would catch him. I noticed that he was struggling on the climbs of the course. After another lap, I could see that I had made up 5 seconds on him, with another 10-15 remaining, so I redoubled my effort and reeled him in. When he saw me go by on the next lap, he tried to stay with me, but I sat in for a bit, then punched it up the first hard uphill and dropped him. Sailed in for 2nd place.

Other local racers fared well. John Rokke finished 2nd in the 3/4 race, Aaron Treadway 6th; Sydney Brown easily beat out the Open Women's field. The one downer was Rich Pearson's crash in the master's 60+ race: he was handily winning it, but slipped on a corner descent and broke a bone in his shoulder. 4-6 weeks of no racing. Ouch. Sheclismo rider Elisabeth Reinkordt from Lincoln did well in the women's 3/4, finishing 5th. Huge women's 3/4 field, rivaling the size of the men's 3/4, which is a great sign of progress.

Competition for the second day was tougher, with Songer and Moore's teammate Andy Lucas (9th at PB USGP 45+) joining in the fun. The course was fun and fast on Sunday, with hairpin descents that were a great technical feature. Much better start, but Songer and Lucas got away as I was stuck behind a rider with quick acceleration but poor handling skills through the turns. I was solidly in 3rd after a lap, with Moore chasing. Songer and Lucas worked out to a 20 second gap ahead of me, which they maintained. I struggled to get any closer, but a headwind on the flat stretches of the course gave the two teammates a big drafting advantage (though they later told me they were trying to drop each other on the rest of the course). Moore gradually fell back to about 20 seconds behind me, and it stayed that way for the rest of the race, with Lucas winning, Songer 2nd, myself 3rd, Moore 4th, and Dan Hansen (also riding for 360, great photo here) rounding out the top five. I was the VV in the middle of a 360 sandwich.

The Nebraska crew duplicated its efforts from yesterday: Sydney won (beating nemesis Catherine Walberg), Rokke finished 3rd in the 3/4, and Elisabeth Reinkordt 7th in the women's 3/4s.

Two podiums, a terrific course, a well-run event (Free State Racing did an outstanding job of promoting the event) and my wife there to cheer me on made for an excellent weekend of racing. Joules Cross is definitely worth the drive to Lawrence.

2011-10-14T09:51:00.005-05:00

There is proof in the proof. Done, medaled, toasted and the Diet Coke Victory Salute! Chicago Marathon 2011, the Revenge Tour, is in the books!

I haven't had a sponge bath since I was a baby, but these sponges saved my bacon during the crispy hot run!

Added a couple of telling photos to supplement previous Marathon Madness blog below. It's Friday and I'm feeling all giddy again. Resting up after Sunday's marathon is done. Several yoga sessions, Panera's coffee visits, and some easy pedaling and I'm feeling human again.

Need to start training for Ironman Wisconsin 2012, starting tomorrow at the SW YMCA at 7 AM. Must confront the swimming demons and begin thrashing about. Actually, Carol has promised to reinvent me as a swimmer. Let the madness continue.

Maple Y represents at the 2011 Omaha Corporate Cup

2011-10-12T08:54:00.003-05:00

Stacy and I went to the Omaha Corporate Cup Awards banquet last week. The Greater Omaha Metro YMCA lady team finished 2nd overall in the team event. The YMCA men, which included El Guapo Supreme, finished in 3rd. Good showing!

Stacy teaches a mean Body Pump class and Group Cycling. She has a loyal following for good reason. Your truly teaches Group Cycling and Yoga at the Y. If you are interested in attending, let me know. I can drum up some guest passes. Love my Y family!

Marathon Madness

2011-10-11T16:03:00.005-05:00

Race Report for Chicago Marathon 2011:

El Guapo Supreme and his little enchilada Millie celebrate the final result!

The pressure was on after the 2010 Chicago fiasco. You remember last year, where I melted down in the 85F October heat at Mile 20. Walked two miles after cramping and finished at 3:58. Illusions of qualifying for Boston in my 1st ever marathon evaporated as quickly as my bi-weekly paycheck. It gnawed at me ever since. I wore my orange World Vision wristband all year as a daily reminder. I had UNFINISHED BUSINESS!

So, I trained hard for this. I changed tactics. I understood now what to expect.

Game day this year was on, Sunday, Oct. 9th. My goal was harder this year. New Boston qualifying times meant I had to run 3:30 or less. This year I followed WV training plan. No free-lancing. This year I rode my bike around Chicago before the race. No 10 mile death marches the day before the race. This year I had breakfast on race day. Last year nada. This year I ran with Nike pace group. Last year surged out of the gates way too fast. This year more Gu, water and Gatorade.

Started in Corral C next to the 3:30 Nike pace group. Running naked. No clocks, no timers, no Garmins. Just me and my iPod. Took a minute or two to get to the start line after the Kenyans started the clock. The first "X factor."

The crowd was electric. Music and bands everywhere. Millions of spectators. It was so great. One should experience this as either a competitor or a fan! I high-fived some Husker fans. I did some dances. I rallied the crowds. I was into this. No demons this year like last year at mile 7. Good frame of mind. Got to 13.1 with juice. Now down to bizness. Next obstacle was to run thru mile 20 where last year's meltdown started. Did it!

Then at mile 23, the Reaper visited, as you knew he would. My right hammie seized. Arggghh! Not again. No! Decision time. Submit to the pain like last year or refuse to lose? Teetering at the edge of the abyss. Called on old reliable. The Diet Coke. The DC brought me back from the abyss. I was not going to allow this opportunity go. I dug deep. Then deeper. The 3:30 group pulled away when I cramped. I tried vainly to catch back on. They are tantalizingly close, maybe a 100 yards ahead. Finally, mile 25 arrives. 1.2 miles to go. A minute or two to play with. The X factors; the time it took to get to the starting line, coupled with the 3:30 group slightly ahead of pace and the perceived 59 second cushion. Previously, you could finish in 3:30.59 and still qualify.

I could still do it. I'll never do it if I don't give 100%. I ran as hard as I could. I round the final corner. The FINISH LINE was .2 miles ahead. The Nike pace group finishes. I'm a 100 yards behind. My face is contorted in pain as I "sprint" for the line. The clock reads 3:31.50. Was it enough with the X factors?

I think I've made it by the hair of my chinny chin chin. Then someone tells me there is no longer a 59 second cushion offered by Boston. I sink. I despair. So bleeding close. I desperately needed that cushion. Without it I am forked. I am low. Lower than whale poop. Lower than a snake's belly.

I muddle my way towards the World Vision hospitality tent. I am grim. I've been reaped. CK approaches. She had runner tracking on her cell phone. She shows me. Unofficially, 3:29.56.

I'm dumbfounded. I am rescued again. My spirits soar. I have done it. I qualify for Boston by 4 freaking seconds! You know, one banana, two banana, three banana, four banana. The planets align. My guardian angel escorts me. I enter the tent and scream it out....Boston Baby!!! Everyone in the tent claps and cheers. I reach for a Diet Coke. Pop the lid and drink it all in. The DC. Next up, Boston 2013. The Boston DC party!

THE Mullet Classic

2011-10-10T18:40:00.003-05:00

This race has been bouncing around in the back of my head for a few weeks now. Originally I had thought about making the long journey for the WORS season finale in Sheboygan (WI), but work commitments nixed those plans and left me searching for something to sate my desire for one more mountain bike race. After my crash and subsequent shoulder injury last week I figured that racing the Mullet Classic was out of the question. As things slowly got better over the course of the week and I grew restless, I started to consider racing again. I figured if nothing else it would serve as a nice long aerobic workout, which is something I felt I’ve been missing lately. Besides, how can you resist a race that has “mullet” in the name. A spot in the Feagan’s vehicle sealed the deal for me, and we took off bright and early Sunday morning for Lake Ahquabi.

After arriving and kitting up we took survey of the trails before start time. I had heard/read ahead of time that the course was fast, with lots of doubletrack and swooping turns. The pre-ride/warm up did not disappoint as the course was fun and barn-burner fast! I decided pre-race to set up some bottles on the Feagan’s aid table as I didn’t really have a good feel for how many bottles I would need or how long the race would take. I positioned a couple cold water bottles in my cooler so that they would be available for a quick exchange, and headed to the start. Despite the fact that this was supposed to be a low-key race for me I was still nervous. Nobody likes getting their ass kicked, and this was my first cat. 1 mountain bike race. Even if it was a small race there were still fast guys in it.

As the starter sent us off Cam Kirkpatrick and Matias Perret went to the front and lead the group out with Ryan Feagan, Jay Chesterman, and Ryan Nenninger in tow. I started slow, partly as a result of pedal fumbling and partly out of trepidation. I tucked in about 8^th wheel and eventually moved up to get on Matt Gersib’s wheel. The leadout train was moving quickly, and Matt didn’t seem overly concerned with catching them, but at the same time wasn’t riding slow either. I debated trying to get around or just settling in. In my mind I was worried that an overzealous start would result in a very unpleasant death march to the finish on lap 4. When the majority of your races are barely more than an hour in Cat. 2, riding for 2 hours or more is a bit intimidating. So I hung back. After bogging down on a steep pitch behind Matt I went around and decided to set off on my own. I couldn’t even see the top guys anymore and just sort of resigned myself to riding alone for most of the race.

I tried to keep an even hard tempo and ride as smooth as possible with hopes of maybe picking up a straggler or two. I hated the idea of getting beat by Ryan, who although a far better bike handler than me had spent most of his time since Dakota 5-0 training minimally and eating fried food (by his own admission). At this point though Ryan was out of sight and I figured it wasn’t worth worrying about at the moment. I was pleased to find that the backside of the course which we had not been able to ride during the warm-up had some challenging climbs on it. I like hills.

After two laps my bottle was empty and I stopped briefly at the start/finish to pick up a fresh bottle. It wasn’t long after getting going again that Gersib showed up and promptly went around me. I hadn’t realized that he was still relatively close when I stopped for a bottle change and that I had effectively erased any gap I had by stopping. It was then that I regretted not starting the race with both bottle cages full. Matt was wearing a camelbak under his jersey and thus didn’t need to stop for a bottle change. I let Matt tow me around for a while, dutifully scrambling to make up the ground I lost on the descents or fast corners. With my recent shoulder injury still fresh in my mind I was perhaps still a bit afraid to fully let it rip on the fast and loose sections of the course. After swooping around on Matt’s wheel for a while and making a few sketchy passes of lapped riders we all of a sudden came upon Jed Clampet (errr…Ryan Feagan) poking along in his denim and flannel cut off kit. Ryan let out an audible sound of disappointment as we caught him, but nonetheless he kicked up the pace so that we had a three man NE train going! It was kind’a fun.

A little while later the NE train came rolling up on the familiar orange Powerade/Indy Fab jersey of Jay Chesterman. Chomp. Jay was absorbed by the train and we continued to roll. Knowing that we were headed into another section of the course with some significant climbing followed by some fast descents, I decided it was tactically in my best interests to try to get some breathing room on the climbs. As we approached a left turn going into a prolonged moderate climb I whipped around and threw down the attack. I knew that someone had taken up the chase behind me, but I didn’t look back to see who. I just put my head down and tried to build a gap. Not long after that we picked up and subsequently dropped Nenninger. From that point on I built a lead, although I don’t know how big it got at it’s largest point. About midway through lap 4 I realized that I had company, and as we hit the prolonged climb this time it was Gersib throwing down the well-timed attack. After getting the gap on the climb he kept the pressure on in the downhill sections and put some time into me. I tried my best to keep him in my sights, even slamming it into the big ring for the long flat section by the lake. By the time we hit the steep grinding asphalt climb I had made up a little ground, but he was still far enough ahead that catching him would have taken something pretty heroic. I stayed strong for the final climb on the course but wasn’t making up any ground and the gap remained to the finish. After all was said and done Matt was able to put about 30 seconds into me. We finished in just under 2 hours and averaged about 13 mph, which is totally ridiculous for a mountain bike race.

After the race we stuck around for the food and beer and waited for Roxy and Todd to finish the marathon race. When the results were posted it turned out that Gersib and I were battling for the final podium spot. Doh! I wish I had known that during the race. There’s always a little extra motivation to be found when you know you’re in contention for glory and/or cash! I don’t know that I could have caught Matt, but perhaps I would have had a little more motivation to turn myself inside out trying. After an hour or so of eating drinking and socializing we finally loaded up and hit the road. A good time was had by all, and I’m already thinking about where we can get a Camaro with a bike rack for the road trip to next year’s race.

Omaha Cyclocrash Weekend

2011-10-10T11:44:00.006-05:00

Everybody seems to get pretty fired up for the local races, and the hype machine was in full effect going into the Omaha weekend, which for all intents and purposes serves as the first race of the CX season for most of us. This year I already had a tune up race in Iowa and some big time racing at the USGP in Madison under my belt, so I was ready to rock out in the open race. I helped Randy set up the course and organize the registration in the morning so I had a chance to peruse the start lists and noted that while the field wasn’t huge it would be filled with some quality riders. The course at Swanson is a real doozy with lots of grunty short climbs, one sustained climb, and plenty of off camber turns to keep you from getting too fancy. On top of that was a nasty maze slammed down on the side of a hill that was giving riders fits during the practice laps.

After a hard weekend of racing in Madison, and a pretty solid week of training leading up to the Omaha weekend my legs were a little less than fresh, so I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect after the warm-up. As a result of too much dinking around prior to staging I had to start on the third row…oops. I burned some matches trying to move up early on, and probably got myself up to about 7^th wheel before we hit the maze. I got gapped a bit coming out of the maze and really got on the gas to try and make contact again. As a result I came into one of the downhill off camber turns a little too hot and slid out…right in front of a mob of pac man ghosts. I got up quickly for fear of being eaten.

Things happen fast in CX and just like that I lost about 5 positions and almost got eaten by ghosts. I had to take a moment to get my chain back on and get rolling again. I was annoyed with myself for having made a mistake that I knew would cost me, especially so early in the race. Eventually I clawed back most of the positions I had lost, but not without a herculean effort. As the race wore on I found myself locked in a battle with Tyler Carmichael as we went back and forth alternately attacking each other. I had a good gap going for a while, but eventually Tyler worked his way back onto my wheel. We were together flying through the sweeping downhill left known unofficially as the “walnut turn” when I heard the unmistakeable commotion behind me that signifies a crash (usually the sound of grunting, swearing, and bending metal). I didn’t look back, but I knew that was probably the end of that battle for the day. I went on to grab another spot as a tiring Nate Woodman gave me some encouragement as I went by. I finished the race 8^th overall out of 18 starters, which was o.k. I felt like I could have done better, but people always think that, it’s just human nature. I promised myself that on day 2 I would avoid the costly mistakes of day 1. Boy was I wrong.

After a restless night of lazing about with achey legs I headed back to Swanson early on Sunday morning to help with course set-up and registration again. I watched the early races with anticipation and cheered on my girlfriend Emily in her second-ever bike race. I was proud of her for bucking up after a tough first day on Saturday which was capped by a less than fun crash. I reminded her that crashing is part of the framework that makes up the learning curve in cycling…or at least in off-road cycling. And of course by this logic I should be learning a shit-load this season because I’ve hit the turf in every single race so far!

I had a nice start on Sunday, but I was too tentative on the fast downhill section and lost some positions I would have liked to have kept. My legs didn’t feel awful, but had no real pop. I lost the front group early on, and again had to fight back after dumping the bike on a dry slow 180 turn. After that the top 7-8 guys were just gone, and I didn’t have the legs to bring any of them back. Eventually, Steve Jarrett caught up to me and we waged a nice back and forth battle for a while. I fought hard to stay in front of Steve knowing that he would likely gap me in the technical sections if I let him get ahead. I could tell he was working hard by listening to his breathing, and I decided to keep applying pressure when I could, namely in the running or power sections. Eventually, I was able to get a gap that stuck going into the last lap, and was somewhat happy that I would come out on top of this battle.

After completing the climb I bombed the downhill leading into the maze to maintain my gap. Unfortunately, I “got a little too big for my britches” (as Stamper was fond of saying) heading into the sweeping left at the beginning of the maze and slammed hard. In fact it’s probably about as hard as I can recall crashing for quite a while. I landed directly on my left shoulder and the impact was stunning. After I regained my wits I started to worry I had broken my arm or shoulder. After a few moments Steve passed by and told me that we had a good enough gap that I could probably maintain my position (minus what I’d lost to him) if I could ride it out. I checked the bike and assessed the usefulness of my arm. In an effort to see if I could finish, I mounted the bike and gingerly made my way through the maze using the left arm as little as possible.

I was initially so defeated that I didn’t entirely care if anyone else passed me. As I reached the Omaha version of “hooligan hill” the assembled crowd started chanting “beer, beer, beer”, collectively urging me to take a handup. Normally I’m so focused on going fast that I wouldn’t even notice, but in the wrecked state I was in I was happy to oblige. Half a Miller High Life and a few turns later, I limped in for a 10^th place finish among the 19 starters. This was the start of basically a week of moping, poor quality sleep and partial disability. Happily I’ve been able to get back to riding recently, and the shoulder/arm doesn’t seem to be broken or anything. It’s weird what the combination of a bad day on the bike compounded by an injury does to your mindset. For most of the week I didn’t even want to ride, but as things got better I eventually began to think about Mullets…

( I should also add that a number of other VV rides had great races this weekend. Todd Eyeberg, Dave Randleman, and Jonathan Neve raced well in the Cat. 3 races, Ben Swan got after it in the Cat. 4 race, and Randy Crist competed in a stacked masters race.)

U.S. Grand Prix of Cyclocross #1 Planet Bike Cup Day 2

2011-10-04T16:35:00.005-05:00

After all of my whining (in jest) on day 1 about the perfect weather and conditions being inappropriate for cyclocross, mother nature took note and delivered on the weather for day 2. Before the race, I opted for an early brunch at one of my Madison favorites, El Dorado Grill. I watched the rain coming down in sheets from the gray sky as I scarfed down a warm stack of blue corn pancakes with cascabel chili maple syrup and red chili butter and a side of bacon. Today would be a good day for cyclocross. After breakfast we rushed to the venue to see the homies (Josh and Tim) roll out in the SS race. I recon’d the course and took note that all of the off camber sections were shredded to pieces. With continued rain and thunderstorms forecast throughout the day I knew things would only get more awesome.

For some reason getting to the start line always seems to be an adventure for me in that there always seems to be more things to do than I have allotted myself time to do them in. This day was no exception as I scrambled around trying get things in order before staging time. But, because this was a big important race it seems that the adventure/drama factor had to be cranked up a notch. I headed out for my warmup at the normal time after pinning my number to my jersey and leaving it in the car. About a ½ mile to a mile from the venue I stood on the pedals to accelerate as I crossed a major road. Ching! I looked down to see what I intuitively knew, but did not want to acknowledge. Chain broken. After muttering a few curse words I quickly collected my bike and busted chain and started running back to the venue to search out the SRAM neutral support tent. Luckily, I found them and they hooked me up with a new chain no questions asked. Disaster #1 averted. I rolled back to the car to don my jersey and get back lickety split for staging.

As I got back to the car the rain started to fall hard again, and I ducked inside to stay warm and dry while getting ready. After pulling on my jersey I tried several times to zip it up but couldn’t quite get it done. After inspecting the zipper a little more closely I realized that the bottom piece of plastic on the zipper had broken off inside the…thingy. Anyway, the bottom line was that unless I wanted to rock the flying tails look, this jersey was done. I invoked Arrested Development in my head as I yelled to nobody in particular “come on!” Luckily I was wise enough to bring an extra jersey, and quickly made the number switch, being careful not to mess up the zipper this time.

As staging time drew near the weather only seemed to get worse. I was waiting underneath the shelter area watching water pouring off the eaves and lighting flash in the distance when I heard the distinct “tack…tack, tack…tack, tack, tack” of hail. As things went from awesome to more awesome the announcers got on the p.a. and told us that they were delaying staging by 20 minutes to let the worst weather pass. Somehow the race management timed things perfectly as the weather seemed to clear up right around the time we were called to stage. I had starting position that wasn’t terrible, but not great either. I was probably about 5 rows back from the start, with 3-4 rows behind me. I prepared myself mentally for the start.

At the gun I got clipped in fairly quickly but was hesitant to give it full gas, knowing we were going to be flying into a right hand sweeper off the pavement into wet grass and mud. This fact didn’t seem to deter anyone else though as guys flew buy me leading into the first turn. Amazingly nobody went down, and not amazingly I got shuffled to the back of the pack. This is normally a sucky position to be in, but when you are in a muddy race with about 60 guys in front of you it REALLY sucks. I went to work passing guys as soon as I could, but I knew that being hesitant at the start had cost me some spots I would most likely never get back. Once again, the importance of a good start in CX racing was made abundantly clear as I slogged along in the latter third of the field.

Happily I was able to pass a lot of guys during the race and claw my way back up into the top ½ of the field by races end. I might have done even a little better had I remembered to put in toe spikes before the race. Total amateur mistake. I got killed every time we had to dismount and run as I had zero traction. Ah well. Although I would have liked to have done better overall, a top 30 placing in a 35+ masters field at a well attended USGP race was not something to go home and cry about. I actually left the race hopeful that I had room for improvement, and could legitimately be in the top 10-15 in a USGP level 2/3 race and in the top 20-25 in a 35+ race. Time will tell I guess.

Omaha Cyclocrash...err cross Weekend recap coming soon

Velo/Greenstreet Sunday, October 2nd ride

2011-09-29T08:53:00.001-05:00

Hey peeps,

Due to our club hosting the Omaha Cyclocross Weekend on Saturday and Sunday, this Sunday's Velo/Greenstreet ride will be cancelled. Instead, consider coming down and racing or watching at Swanson Park in Bellevue, at about 30th and Cornhusker. Bring your cowbells and lawn chairs. Should be a great day. Playground equipment nearby for entertaining rugrats.

El Guapo Supreme
(no, this is not a Taco Bell menu option)

U.S. Grand Prix of Cyclocross #1 Planet Bike Cup

2011-09-27T13:51:00.002-05:00

Prologue

Going into this past weekend I was super fired up for the start of the CX season. The Planet Bike Cup is the first stop on the U.S. Grand Prix of cyclocross circuit, and is a well organized and super competitive event. Add to that the fact that it’s held just outside of my beloved Madison, WI and you have all of the making s of a great race weekend. I winged in to Madison on Friday evening directly from Orlando where I had been all week for work, and was greeted by beautiful cool fall weather. We received a little rain over night, but upon arrival at the venue the course appeared to be in good shape and there was nothing but cool blue sky and sunshine in abundance.

Day 1 USGP Category 2/3 race

After a slightly rushed warm up I headed to the staging area to prepare for my call up. Call ups are managed by order of registration at the Planet Bike Cup so you have to be on the ball and know when registration opens to get a good spot in the starting grid. While I registered within 30 minutes or so of the opening of registration, I still got stuck about 5 rows back from the line. While not disastrous, it’s certainly a disadvantage to be starting that far back. Luckily I wasn’t one of those poor suckers who was stuck at the back!

The field size was just shy of 100, and the adrenaline was running high as we prepared for the start. The start of cyclocross races are normally a pretty frantic and chaotic affair, but in a field size this big, full of fit and skilled riders, it becomes even more nuts. Some guys up front inevitably have trouble clipping in, while others come roaring up from poor starting positions in the rear trying to weasel or bully their way to the front. Occasionally people touch wheels or crash and ensnare those around them. As the gun fired , the sounds of pedal stomping, drivetrains engaging , and rubber being laid to pavement filled the air as we collectively leapt forward. I managed to hold my position reasonably well during the opening scrum and started moving up on the outside as we flew down the long power section leading into the first barrier section. I swung wide and picked my line as we turned toward the barriers and then before I knew it I was on the ground looking at the rider behind me turn his bike sideways just soon enough to avoid riding over my face. Phew. I got back up quickly and started to run the bike over the barriers. When I got to the other side I hopped back on intent on pulling back those spots I’d lost. It was then I realized that my chain had derailed. Doh! I got off and pulled far over to the side and fumbled around briefly popping it back on. While it didn’t take a huge amount of time to fix my chain, the fact that the crash occurred so early in the race ensured that I was screwed. NOW, I WAS one of those poor suckers who was stuck at the back!

Luckily there is a fair amount of room to move on this course, and I set forth from that point with the intent to do as well as I could under the circumstances. I rode about as hard as I could for the rest of the race and pulled back every rider in my sights. Aside from that initial costly mistake, I rode the rest of the race without incident and was able to move from dead last up to 29^th by the end of the race. It wasn’t exactly the result I had hoped for, but not a bad one all things considered. If nothing else it’s good to gain experience in big race situations. After the race we hung around to drink a few beers and watch the pro races. I got the chance to help out one of the local riders and watch the goings on in the wheel/bike pit, while one of my friends race d to a 30^th place finish in his first cat 1/UCI elite CX race. Pretty cool!

As we headed home to rest up and chow down on some dinner, I looked at the weather forecast for Sunday. The weatherman promised that conditions for CX racing would be EPIC, and indeed they were…(to be continued)

Tour de Offutt

2011-08-28T20:21:00.002-05:00

Velo/Greenstreet ride blazed new trail thru the heart of Offutt AFB

About 30 roadies met at Blue Line downtown on Sunday. A command decision was made to launch towards Offutt AFB in hopes of seeing some flying warbirds and, perchance, to actually pedal into the airshow. It happened!

We pedaled west to Memorial Park, Elmwood Park, scared some commoners as we invaded the Farmer's Market in Aksarben Village. Boogied down the Keystone and pitstopped at Culver's. Then journeyed to Capehart Road, and proceeded unimpeded into Offutt. Led by Colonel Matt O'Donnell and retired Air Forcer Tim Ihry, we stopped for photo right near the airshow. Alas, thunder rumbled so we opted to cruise instead of stay. Pedaled around the runway, hit the cobbles in Bellevue. Soon thereafter the heavens opened and we were nuked. Otherwise, a fantastic day for biking. Join us next week, same bat time, same bat channel. No feeble excuses accepted. El Guapo Supreme.

Hometowned and down: Pig report

2011-08-22T22:17:00.005-05:00

Guapo marvels at the Mermaid. An HONOR to be her partner. I'm not worthy to carry her flippers.

El Guapo Supreme deep-fried after 56 mile @ 24.1 MPH grueling TT, the Orbea hanging in the background on the now-infamous rack. Yo quiero Diet Coke!

So, did my 3rd ever triathlon Sunday, the appropriately named Pigman Triathlon. A pig of a race, or rather of the end results. I was part of a fabulous relay team, where I only had to bike, no floundering on the swim and no stumbling run. It was the 1st relay TT for any of us, so we had no idea what we were to do, especially in transition.

My swim partner was the phenomenal Carol O of south Omaha. Nationally ranked, offspring of Poseidon for sure. A Omaha Marian Wall of Famer. Aquawoman!

Jeff M lined up to do the 13.1 run. Yours truly hoping to hammer the 56 mile bike.

The race started off sweet as sugar! Carol starts in the first wave, swimming with the ELITES, and was 4th out of the agua in a mind-boggling 29 minutes. The PA announcer screams "here comes the 1st of the relay teams, Two Men and a Mermaid." I'm dumb-founded, flabber-gasted. She is 4 minutes ahead of schedule. Swims the 1.2 miles in 29 bleeding minutes! Only 3 pro men swim out before her.

She sprints up the hill from the water to T1, gills pulsing, and passes the timing chip to me at T1 and I'm off on the hilly, multi-turn 56 miles journey. I stoke the diesel engine. Wide-open throttle. Bring it up to red-line. 3 pro rabbits in front of me, multitudes of hungry wolves at the door behind me. Think of sustainable power and the Diet Coke reward. The DC motivates me during the tuff spots where the legs are screaming, the demons are wrestling for control of my mind. I'm up against the Pain Wall. Jack visits me. Yells at me. You need me on that wall. Don't quit! I'm going to rip the eyeballs out of your head and puke in your dead skull if you quit. You get the idea.

Big pressure to hold onto the lead over all the other relay teams that Carol gave to me. I planned on doing a 2:25 bike and 23 mph average, but ended up with churning to a 2:19 and 24.1 mph.
Finally, the last killer hill turning into the park. I scale it. Now a fast last 3 miles and my suffering is nearly at an end.
Slid into T2 and gave the chip to Jeff. We are in 6th place at T2, having only been passed by two elite men during my ride.

Time for me to chill. Time to build a cake or something, maybe catch a delicious bass.

The Mermaid and I now anxiously await Jeff's return. We get massaged. We dance. We gloat. We feast on the visions of the spoils that await us. Jeff runs 1:35 and we end up easily as the winners of the Coed Division by 3 minutes, 50 seconds.

But wait! The local USAT referee informs us an hour later that we have been penalized 4 minutes. For what? For hanging your TT bike on the wrong rack in transition, you dumb-*ss rookie. But the volunteer running T2 told me to put it there! I asked her! Tuff luck pal, you should have known the rules. Now drag your toothless, hillbilly *ss back to Husker-tucky where you belong and take your 2nd place trophy with you.

This penalty allows the 2nd place team, from Iowa (conspiracy theorists chime in here, please) to clip us by 10 miserable seconds. Oh, the humanity! I feel miserable, cost my teammates the WIN. Instead, we are the 1st LOSERS. Only positive to take from this is that we kicked everyone's hiney and they KNOW it.

As Rosanne Rosannadanna sez, "just goes to show you, it's always something." Time to funnel the rage, the humiliation into something positive. Like returning for revenge next year, kicking booty and giving that ref a middle-digit salute as we leave with the hardware. Good night now. Harumph!

Into Thin Air

2011-08-06T18:28:00.002-05:00

Climb Every Mountain Click on pic to enlarge

You can tell by the huge smile that Simone is tickled Velo to be on the very top of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. She's standing in front to of the Never Summer range of mountains at 12,183 feet, sporting her new Specialized Dulce from Greenstreet Cycles. Not many people do this ride. It is rated "very difficult" by all the ride experts. One must battle the altitude as well as the RVers and Harleys.

Simone, El Guapo Supreme, her cousin Alex and uncle Joe saddled up early Wednesday from the RMNP entrance. It's a steady thumper from 7500 feet up to 12183. A few grumbles were heard, but she sacked up and went for broke. Another feathered feat in her bonnet now, to go along climbing Long's Peak 14255 at age 10.

Is there a Triple Bypass in her future? You heard it here first on the hush-hush and quite QT.

Ragbrai 2011 in the books

2011-07-26T21:12:00.002-05:00

Simply Simone!

There are many pros and cons to the annual Ragbrai event. A few of the cons include the embarassing cyclist tan one will get after hours on the bike, being cut off in the left lane by Clysedales, and how can one forget the dreaded recumbents blazing down the hill with that arrogant smug look on their face as they pass you (the look is returned by me as I speed past them up the hill ;). But all in all, the pros outway the cons. The delicious and reasonably priced Farmers Bros. burritos are one of them. Also on my list of favorites is the ice cold watermelon sold by the locals. Their is debate to whether it is truely ice cold or not but it definitely is delicious. And although I'm not old enough to experience the multiple beer gardens, I'm sure that is one of the highlights of Ragbrai for the old goats. Even without my winggirl, Maddie, Ragbrai was a great experience as always. Ragbrai 2012, here I come!

RAG-FRY REPORT

2011-07-26T20:44:00.003-05:00

Sharp-looking Veloers line up to do the 1st day of RAGBRAI. Left to right: Anne, Pete, re-Pete, Simone, Zach n Danny
Hoooey, boy! It was egg-frying hot out on the asphalt for the annual great bike ride across Iowa. Here's my version.

We met early in the inferno at Glenwood. Took group photo, without Dave and Michelle Cleasby, and launched the group towards the 1st rendezvous at Farmer Boys burritos. Quickly realized I forgot my lid. Sprinted back to Glenwood, but alas, my courier had scooted. So, I rode sans helmet, to much heckling from the other riders. "look at that moron. hope he's not riding all week."

Caught up with Simone at Silver City. Hit Farmer Boys and found more veloers. Lost Pete and Anne somewhere. Saw Todd. Saw Brother Joe. Had the absolute tastiest burrito on the planet. Saw the Saint Cecilia's contingent. We hit all the rest of the usual spots; smoothies, pastafari, watermelon, ice cream. Blazed into Atlantic at 4 pm. Rammed home some DCs, the ultimate motivator, at the Atlantic YMCA, gorged at the Pizza Ranch buffet and then hauled buns back for the cool confines of the Big O. Never hooked up with Veloer's Troy or Dave Randleman. Saw some Midwest posse riding against the grain. I cruised all day, not a hard effort at all. Enjoyed the hills. Relished them. And it was hilly!

Favorite bikes? Saw a sweet Euskatel Orbea, a nice vintage Merckx and, of course, Anne's De Rosa. Rode my stylin' Simonetti, got a few kind comments. Glad we bailed out on spending the night, as it didn't cool off at all. I love RAGBRAI, but give me Ride the Rockies anytime. Any other input?

Children of the Corn

2011-07-21T10:31:00.003-05:00

Randy and Pete populate the podium

Corn recap:

I wanted to do the Cornhusker State Games this year fo' sure, cuz I wanted to be eligible to go do the 2013 State Games of America. Didn't know where that would be held until afterwards. Turns out it will be Hershey, PA. Being a chocolate fiend, that will be sweet.

So, I had to scamper back from high-altitude camping at 12000 ft in the Rockies in order to plop my fanny on the TT bike for the 1st time all year. I did the death march from 12000 ft down to the Jeep at 9100 ft. Being loaded down like a yak, it really zaps your quads and tests your fortitude as you descend. Then climb in the Jeep and drive for the whole day. Friday night I was fretting about just being competitive, let alone worrying about winning. Bountiful butterflies circling my brain on Friday night, to be replaced by ravenous vultures waiting to pick over my charred remains on Saturday after the race. Typical demons. Wish I was a vampire or lichen, instead of a mere mortal.

As it turns out, once they launched me out the starting gates, the fretting goes away, replaced by bellowing lungs. I ride naked. No gizmos, like HRMs or power meters or speedometers. The only measuring stick is SUFFERING. Can I suffer more? Or am I at REDLINE? A good TT'er is redlining the whole way. (not insinuating I'm good, I just read that somewhere)

Starting catching rabbits after the 1st mile or so. Passed my 30 second bunny near Bennington Road, then more hares while blasting down Deerfield. Hammered down to Maple, then starting worrying about going up the big-ass hill. Stayed aero the whole way up, but other riders heard the roar as I overtook them on the hill. No, not my aero Easton EC90 TT wheels, the sound of my lungs being sucked in and out of my mouth. Blessed by the east turn onto Rainwood, knowing the only suffering left to do is the long straight away to the finish.

Played on my strong suit again; the ability to suffer. I pumped the 54 yr old pegs to 1st in the Masters and 3rd overall. Spence and that vampire Brady smoked me like a rack of ribs, but hey, as you know, there is ALWAYS someone faster.

Next up....Boulder Ironman 70.3 on August 7. I will journey deep into the PAIN CAVE and confront more demons. I will endeavor to persevere.

Tranquility STXC/Babcook Road Race Recap

2011-07-20T12:27:00.019-05:00

Preface: I didn't have time to do a write up for the Pyscowpath races two weekends ago as I left for a week long trip right after, but I did want to say that the Velo Veloce/Greenstreet crew were able to bring home a near podium sweep in the short track XC race (see photo).

After a week of work and travel in Canada I returned to Omaha for the Babcook Memorial Road Race, the final race of the Omaha race weekend. This was my second road race (ever) and my first race in Cat. 4, and I wanted to represent well for the club and hometown crowd. I managed to get in one ride while in Canada and a few runs so I figured that while not in peak form my fitness would be more or less o.k. Some of the guys on the team had talked briefly about employing some team tactics, but as it turned out our numbers were split as Dave and Pete opted for the masters race while Todd and I battled it out in the Cat. 4 field. Ben Swan and Doug Reid also rocked out in the Cat. 5 race while a trio of ladies (Jackie Wieres, Simone Duryea, and Maddie Eliston) represented Velo Veloce in the cat. 4 women's and junior races.

I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from the field as there were a lot of guys lined up who I had ridden with on the “Wednesday Night Worlds” ride who are pretty strong riders. One thing was for sure though, I wasn’t just going to be able to ride away from everybody, especially on a course that really had only one hill on it that was tough enough to create any separation. I hoped that we would be able to drive the pace hard enough on the climb to whittle down the field by mid-race or so.

We got off to a casual start, but given the sweltering heat I’m not surprised that nobody was eager to get after it early on. The pace continued to dawdle through the early laps, at times becoming painfully slow. I had to resist the urge to charge to the front and I kept reminding myself to try to conserve as much energy as possible while staying out of trouble. The slow pace kept the field together for probably at least 4 of the 7 circuits, and I felt incredibly claustrophobic at times. The climb was particularly challenging as the lane was quite narrow and I was occasionally forced to brake (!) on the climb as riders in front of me were climbing at a slower pace.

There were a couple of people who got off the front occasionally, but I don’t think any of them were real serious efforts to get away. I’m not surprised that nobody wanted to cook out there by themselves on this day. Eventually with about 3 laps to go I was able to get up front, and spent some time pulling the group along. Not surprisingly we didn’t have any organized rotation going in the group so I stayed in the middle of the group and never really saw the front until mid to late race.

Since the hill wasn’t really creating a lot of separation I figured there were two options. Option A was to attack on the penultimate climb with 1 lap to go and hope to get enough of a gap to stay away for the whole lap, and option B was to just wait it out and hope that I could pull it out in an uphill field sprint. While I felt I could probably do o.k. in the sprint I figured I was leaving the door open a little too wide and that my best bet was to attack.

(photo credit to Dan Farnham)

On lap 6 (of 7) I made sure that I stayed close to the front so that I would have an open lane of attack going into the climb. As we approached the base I slowly ramped up the pace and then hit the jets as soon as the pitch kicked up. As far as I could tell I got immediate separation, and I continued to hammer my way towards the top. As I neared the summit, Patrick Sumrell, a tall lean jr. rider who regularly hangs with the top group at WNW pulled up along side me and said something to the effect of “we’ve got it”. Sweet, a gap AND someone to work with!

I latched onto Patrick’s wheel to recover for a bit and then we traded pulls throughout the lap. I rode as hard as I could without blowing up, hoping to stay away to the finish. I was counting on a lack of a concerted team effort and cooperation in the group chasing us to keep them from shutting our move down before the finish. For the most part this worked as we were still free when we hit the 1k to go mark. Just prior to that I had been sitting on Patrick’s wheel resting, and thinking we had the race for 1^st and 2^nd in hand. I came around to ride parallel with him as we started the climb. We both accelerated as we started up but Patrick dropped back slightly and I figured that would be a good time to go for the win. As I got out of the saddle to jump, both of my quads started to cramp…attack fail. I had to sit back down and try to recover somehow as I watched Patrick ride away to victory. It was then that I looked over my shoulder to see Rob Swanson bearing down on me at a rapid pace. Crap. I tried to accelerate again but my legs weren’t having any of it. Both Rob and Ryan Johnston passed me well before the line and I had to hobble it in for 4^th (although scored as 3^rd in cat. 4 since Patrick is a jr).

All in all it was a valuable racing experience as I was forced to think about the race, make decisions on the fly, and pick a strategy that I thought would give me the best shot at winning. I don’t feel too bad as I know the guys I lost to are strong riders, and I’m not sure it would have turned out any differently had I chosen to wait for a field sprint at the finish. I definitely feel like I can win a race like that, it just didn’t come out in my favor this time. My only mistake really I think was not sitting on Patrick’s wheel a bit longer as we approached the finish. I figured we’d just have a head’s up drag race to the finish from 1k out, but I know that’s not how things operate in the cycling world for the most part. Maybe with a little more rest I would have had the juice to more effectively vie for the win (or at least hang on to 2^nd). I guess that’s a question that will have to be answered next time out, perhaps at the Lincoln weekend this fall. Thanks to all who provided support, especially the Greenstreet crew for the bottle hand ups (and post-race shade!) and to the race organizers for a great race. Also great to see all of the fellow teammates out there racing!

OCW/CSG Time Trial

2011-07-17T17:02:00.002-05:00

We had great team participation at the Omaha Cycling Weekend/Cornhusker State Games Time Trial Saturday, with at least 8 riders competing (sorry if I miscounted!), out of 90+ riders. We had 4 medalists for CSG: Pete won the 50+ Masters, I was 2nd in the same group, Christyn Stumps was 3rd in the 50+ cat 4 women, and Shells Lau was 3rd in 40+ cat 4 women. It was a bit ridiculous for Pete and I to compete in the same category, since either one of us wold have easily won the cat 4 men, earning another gold medal for the team. A gold and silver is not too bad either...

Pete had the 3rd fastest time of the day over all of the classes, while I had an excellent day and had the 8th fastest time. The course was a bit of a change from other TTs, with 7 corners in the first 5 miles, a fast descent (I hit 40 mph on it), and a small hill with 2.5 miles to go. Pete's performance was no surprise, since he's one of the best time trialists in Nebraska, but I can attribute the course to my good day. With all of the changes in speed, and the false flats and climb in the second half of the race, it suited my style of riding.

State Time Trial Championship

2011-06-29T21:14:00.002-05:00

Thanks to everyone that helped to make the State TT a great success. Pete did a terrific job as promoter, which is a tough (and often thankless) job. The weather broke out perfectly, with no rain lightening or hail. Well, except for the continuous SE cross wind, but you can't have everything. A big shout out to the Creighton student crew recruited by Kirk Peck to help out with monitoring the course and doing all sorts of important small things that makes the race run smoothly.

The team had some nice results as well: Jackie Weires (Women's 40+), Mike Melton (Men's cat 3 50+), DaVonte Vinson (Juniors 10-14), and myself (Men's cat 4 50+) all received State Championship gold medals in our respective classes. The course was difficult with the SE crosswind: riders fought a headwind all of the way out, and did not really receive the full benefit of the tailwind on the way back. The rollers over the final 5 miles really put everyone in the pain cave to finish up the race.

Subaru Cup Day 2

2011-06-29T15:08:00.006-05:00

Sunday morning dawned bright and warm with low humidity, as apparently the weather gods had acquiesced to the mountain bike gods request for another day of perfect weather. The short track course was all doubletrack with a pair of modest power climbs. There were some rocks, some sandy sections, some long sweeping high speed turns, and one really sketchy gravel covered sweeper. Cat. 2 was split into 3 heats for the men based on age divisions with my group in the middle of the order.

After the first race finished we scrambled to get a good start position. As we lined it up I got that queasy nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach knowing that right from the start we would hit the opening climb at full gas. Don sent us on our way with the usual spirited “goooooooooooo”, and we all went appropriately ape shit. As we crested the first climb I was sitting right around 4^th or 5^th wheel, and by the time we hit the pavement on the lower portion of the loop I had weaseled my way up to third wheel a few bike lengths behind Bryan Frazier (Wildside Velo) and Jason Ruesch (Rib Mountain Cycles). Jason overcooked the sketchy gravel corner and went down almost right in front of Bryan.

Slightly freaked out, I maneuvered around the down rider and Bryan and I charged to the front. After that it was pretty much a “mano a mano” slugfest. Bryan hammered me for another lap or two before I made a move for the front. I let it all hang out on the climbs, but Bryan hung tough. Eventually I was able to create a little separation and eke out a 5 second gap. I knew I had to keep the pace high and avoid any major mistakes, as one significant bobble would quickly erase the lead. Bryan has been riding really well this season and was 5^th overall in cat 2. at the Trek Big Ring Classic (WORS #3), so I knew he wasn’t going to fade.

With one lap to go I hit the line clinging to a slim lead. As I hammered up the first climb a woman who had been spectating the race whispered “bury yourself”. It was an interesting contrast to the usual cacophony that is present at races. For some reason this got me really fired up. I couldn’t tell how close Bryan was going into the last turn but I was scared as ‘ell that I was going to blow the win on that corner. I slowed down quite a bit and made it clean. As soon as I was clear of the gravel I got out of the saddle and put the power down on the final straight, crossing the line in 1^st, just a couple seconds up on Bryan. In the overall standings my final time was 2^nd overall behind Paul Mumford (Kinky Llama racing) , the guy who had taken the overall win in the XC race the day before (with a ~3 minute margin of victory!).

The 2011 Subaru cup weekend was good despite…or perhaps because of the disappointment endured. I’m a firm believer in the value of experience, and that applies to races where everything goes right as well as to races where everything does NOT go right. So I’ll take the good and the bad from this weekend and consider it a worthwhile experience that will ultimately benefit my racing in the future. Next up is some more local Psycowpath action with the Tranquility/Lewis and Clark stage race weekend followed by a week in Canada for work, and then the Omaha race weekend, where I’m looking forward to racing in the Cat. 4 road race. A big thanks to Emily for being an awesome superfan this weekend.

Subaru Cup Day 1

2011-06-28T14:07:00.020-05:00

warning: I wrote this in bits and pieces over the course of the road trip back to Omaha from WI, don't feel obligated to read any or all of it in one sitting :)

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in years of training, racing, and coaching (not necessarily in cycling), it’s that sometimes despite the best preparation there are forces beyond your control whose confluence will derail even the best laid plans. This past weekend of racing was a nice reminder for me that the glory we seek in racing is both accentuated and tempered by occasional disappointment.

I went into this race weekend on a mission. I wanted a top 5 overall placing and an age group win in the massive cat. 2 Legacy XC field, and I was looking for a win in the Impreza short track as well. I’ve never had such a good base going into a competitive season for cycling, and I was ready to test my mettle against some of the top cat. 2 competition in the midwest. After a fairly successful early season campaign in the Nebraska Lottery Psycowpath Series, I figured I had enough fitness and experience that these were realistic goals.

Our travel to the race went smoothly, and we arrived at Mt. Morris (a bit of a misnomer, but Hill Morris doesn’t have the same ring to it) on Friday afternoon for a couple of pre-ride laps. The course was a nice mix of power climbs and semi-technical sections including some nice rock gardens, rooty sections, a few steep drops, and lots of twisty singletrack. The climbing was split between both single and doubletrack sections, so in some areas passing was easy, whereas in others it was pretty much impossible. I came away from the pre-ride feeling good. The course was favorable for strong climbers, and none of the technical sections were difficult or scary enough to force any kind of selection. I was confident I could stay reasonably close to the better descenders in the woods.

The Cat. 2 Legacy XC field was split into two races that were slated for early morning start times on Saturday. The juniors, women, single speeders, and 19-29 age groupers were in the first race, and the 30+ riders were in the second race. Since my racing roomie Tim was in the SS class we had to show up early to have him ready for the 8 a.m. start time. I bummed around for a while and walked the leadout to solidify my strategy for the first segment of the race. The leadout itself was a wide grassy doubletrack with two solid power climb segments separated by a winding grassy descent. I was relieved that there was ample space to allow me to get to the front before we dropped into the singletrack should the start not go as planned.

I got in a solid 30 minute warm up on some beautiful country roads and made sure that I got my ass to the start area early enough to secure a spot on the line. Because WORS races are so big, the sport and comp. races (both subsets of Cat. 2 ) are started in age-class specific waves. For the Subaru cup the normal sport or comp. distinction was discarded and all of the cat. 2 riders were combined and sent off by age group. Upon arriving at the start area I was dismayed to see that our age class was LAST in the starting order. We would have to sift through all of the slower riders in the waves preceding us as the faster riders in the other waves raced ahead with nothing but open trail ahead of them.

The start was the usual flurry of grunting and elbows. The lead group got out pretty hard, but I was able to work my way up to second wheel behind Kurt Schwiesow (Tower Clock Eye Center) by the time we hit the first section of singletrack. As soon as we rounded the corner and dropped in, we came to a screeching halt. I looked up to see a line of riders, many walking their bikes, extended before us for a long ways. I immediately realized that this would make winning the overall title for cat. 2 (based on time) pretty much impossible. Damn, I forgot about this aspect of WORS races! Things eventually got going again, and most of the rest of lap one was a sketchy game of cat and mouse as I tried to stay on Kurt’s wheel while we both made quick passes when an opening presented itself. At some point he got a little too hasty in his attempts at passing and crashed not far in front of me, vaulting me into the lead. Sweet, I’ll take that.

It wasn’t long before we were back together, and he eventually jumped around again with a tricky but well executed pass as we started to hit traffic from a previous wave. After coming around a sharp blind turn I found myself in alarming proximity to a slower moving rider. I feathered the brakes and leaned inside to pass. Unfortunately the rider behind me chose to follow my line…without the slowing down part. He ran directly into me taking us both down in a tangled mess. In most crash situations you can get up quickly and get your bike rolling again within about 30 seconds assuming there is no damage to you or your bike. In this case though, the overtaking rider had managed to nicely wedge my pedal into his spokes. It was a major pain in the ass to get the two bikes untangled and cost us not only a couple minutes time wise but also a loss of many positions. All of those hard won passes earlier in the race were effectively erased.

This unexpected handicap kind of took the wind out of my sails for a bit, but I quickly decided to claw back as many positions as I could. After all I didn’t come all this way to DNF or mail it in. After re-combobulating my bike, I re-mounted and proceeded to scrap for every place I could get. After a valiant but ultimately futile effort, I finished 5^th in my race (~2.5 min down on the winner) and about 40^th (out of ~220 total) overall in cat. 2. I know there wasn’t much I could do to change how things turned out, but I was still really disappointed. I’ve been looking forward to this race for a year, and this was not the way I envisioned things playing out. I know that’s how racing goes sometimes, but it was still a bitter pill to swallow.

We spent the rest of the day “superfanning” for the cat. 1 and pro races. It was awesome seeing the stars of the sport duke it out on a tough course, and I was able to put off the boo-hooing for a while and just have fun. That evening in our hotel room I got back to some proper moping as I rolled my 5^th place medal over and over in my hands. After a thorough self-pity session I made a firm resolution to kick some ass in the short track race the next day and retired for the night.

(to be continued...)

Valet Veloer

2011-06-21T20:32:00.003-05:00

Another Velo First!

Hey,

I had the honor of being the very 1st ever officially recognized biker to take advantage of Omaha Bikes valet parking at the College World Series. Witness the #1 valet ticket that Julie has given to me. She didn't know to whether to give me one or two valet tix since I broke out the 1960 Huffy Daisy tandem. Dig the cool Reds attire too.

The Main Event

2011-06-21T20:05:00.003-05:00

Hey Team,

Are we ready to rumble? Saturday is the Main Event. Steel cage death match. The Nebraska State TT race, which our club hosts. Some notes. Feel free to race instead of volunteer if you are on the fence. We have lots of volunteers lined up courtesy of Veloer Kirk Peck's Creighton connections. 20 something Creighton students are coming to man the intersections, the turn around points, and be a vocal force during podium presentations.

Things you can do to help: Come. Recruit other bikers you know to register. Bring coolers with ice, and bottled water. Bring some brooms to brush the road. Bring bungee cords to batten down banners. Chairs, umbrellas, cowbells, noisemakers, etc.

Veloer Christyn Stumps is making 4 loaves of banana bread. Make some vittles of your own and throw them into the kitty.

Any photographers out there?

The weather is looking good. Volunteers show up around 830 AM. Racers will launch at 930 AM.

Operation Subaru Cup-Engage!

2011-06-20T21:55:00.015-05:00

This past weekend was the Nebraska state championship mountain bike race at Ponca State Park. A small but strong and good looking crew of Velo Veloce/Greenstreet riders made the trek up to Ponca for this Pyscowpath classic. Todd Eyeberg and I contested the Cat. 2 open race while Dave Randleman opted to increase his hipster cred on the single speed. For me it was an opportunity to add an off-road state title to my resume, and to earn some redemption after bungling the Cat. 2 race at Platte River last month. I raced well at Ponca last year, and was looking forward to the punishing climbs and flowy singletrack again this year. Going into the race I wanted to simulate what things would be like at the Subaru Cup next week.

The Subaru Cup is one of the bigger if not the biggest cross country oriented mountain bike events in the Midwest. For the second year in a row it is a stop on the USA Cycling Pro XCT, as well as serving as the midwest regional mountain bike championships for the XC, short track, and super D events.

My plan going in was to get out hard and try for the holeshot. Ponca has a fast flat/downhill lead-out and I figured it would require a lot of steam to get to the front. After going over it a few times prior to race time I opted to eschew my big ring and avoid the risk of a shifting error or chain suck just prior to entering the singletrack. My feeling was that the course at Ponca didn’t really allow a lot of room for passing and so getting stuck further back than 3^rd wheel entering the singletrack climb would be a tactical mistake for me. Similarly, the lead out at Subaru Cup bottlenecks quickly and being at the front is advantageous.

As the starters whistle blew I got off to good enough start, but was a few wheel lengths behind Ian Robertson, a Cat. 2 roadie riding for Flatwater Cyling. I haven’t raced Ian before and didn’t really know who the heck he was, only that he was in front of me and going fast. I expected some pressure from the usual suspects; Kevin Bratetic, Monte Bonin, Ryan Van Houwelling and Steven Mongeon, but I wasn’t certain what kind of a threat this guy presented.

I settled for second wheel going into the singletrack and tried to gradually move my way up to get on Ian's wheel. Just past the first road crossing there is a short quick descent that funnels into a hard uphill left turn. Ian botched the turn, causing me to nearly ride straight up his back. We got going again and I stayed more or less right on his wheel up the next set of steep climbs. After we crested and the trail opened up a bit I didn’t hesitate and went around. I’m not sure exactly how long he stayed with me, but I felt like I was alone before we hit the next road crossing.

Heading into the third lap, my lovely superfan girlfriend Emily informed me that the gap back to the next rider was about 30 seconds. I couldn’t see or hear anyone behind me in the switchbacks, but I had to trust what she told me. I figured 30 seconds was not a comfortable enough cushion with a lap to go, especially if I crashed or had a minor mechanical. I pinned it on the power climbs and rode steady in the flats and downhill sections, keeping a little in reserve in case I got pulled back in by anybody.

I caught my favorite Polish pirate (‘the dread pirate Doloto’) just before the first road crossing, which strangely enough was EXACTLY where I caught up to him last year. We rode together and pondered the significance of this coincidence for a brief bit before exchanging pleasantries and parting ways. The rest of the race consisted of shredding sweet singletrack and was otherwise uneventful. Crossing the line with a finger in the air was sweet, sweet goodness! I took a moment to savor the victory and appreciate all of the things that came together to make for a successful race.

All things considered it was a good haul for the VV crew as Randleman took first in the SS class while VV/Greenstreet group ride regular Doug Reid was second (hey Doug, you need a jersey? hint hint). Todd wasn't super pleased with his race but still managed 9th out of 18 in the Cat. 2 open race. Post race socializing was fun as usual and the EVCC crew was burning burgers on the grill to keep our spindly bike racer bodies from wasting away to nothing (thanks EVCC!).

This week will bring to a close my early season training, and I think my preparations for the Subaru Cup have progressed well. I should be in good form for the big dance, but I’m not exactly sure where I fit in in a race this deep. The last WORS race this season had almost 350 guys (!!) in cat. 2 split between sport and comp classes. At the Subaru cup the cat. 2 races will be split according to age, with the 39 and under in one race, and the masters, juniors, ss, and clydes in the other. I get a little nervous thinking about the size of the race, but at the same time I recognize THAT IS WHAT I SIGNED UP FOR! So bring it WORS, it’s time to see what we’re made of.

Subaru Cup Video Remix Finalist - Martin Tank II from Team WORS on Vimeo.

Auspicious Beginnings

2011-06-07T17:14:00.012-05:00

This past Saturday I raced in the NE road race championships put on by the friendly folks of the Elkhorn Valley Cycling Club (EVCC). I had an awesome time, but going into it I was still a bit suspicious of this road racing thing. I've always considered myself a mountain biker, and scoffed at the idea of joining the ranks of the leg shavin' roadies. I guess you could say Saturday was an auspicious occasion for me. Which in the parlance of my ancestral lands means it was both awesome and suspicious! Anyway...

I arrived at the Stanton Co. fairgrounds early in anticipation of the experience ahead. All of the talk of the randomness and unpredictability of cat. 5 races had me a little on edge, so I wanted to get there early and have some time to just "chill" before warming up. Driving into town I got a feel for the lay of the land, and I excitedly took note of some of the big rollers that were on course. Going into the race I knew my fitness was good, and I felt that a tough course would suit my strengths well. Not long after I arrived the Trek/MWCC crew rolled in. We proceeded to chat intermittently while getting prep'd for the race. After the boys learned that I was racing the 32 mile cat. 5 race I was informed I would not be allowed to return to Omaha if I did not win. Sweet.

After a decent warm-up I hung around the start area waiting as the lower categories were sent off. I talked to my fellow VV teammate Troy Perry, and we formulated our plans for world (or at least cat. 5) domination. I made sure I had a position at the front at the start and off we went after the neutral roll-out. The first couple miles or so were pretty mellow as nobody was in any hurry to get to the front and hammer. I took some pulls, and duly sat in while others took theirs. EVCC junior racer Glen Houts got to the front and finally put a little zip in the pace. There was some mild sketchiness as guys rotated through, but I stayed close to the front and was never really too worried. Although we had not previously discussed it, Troy valiantly and unselfishly proffered his wheel as he guided me out of trouble and into the hills. Unfortunately, not long after that Troy had some mechanical issues that took him out of our pack and left me alone to fend for myself.

Earlier we had discussed the fact that there were some pretty tough hills around the 20 mi. mark, and I tentatively decided that I would bide my time until then and get some pack time in. Going up the first set of decent hills on the course I was first wheel and rode a steady tempo up and over. One of the guys just behind me said something and I looked back to see...daylight. I had inadvertently ridden us off the front. Great, we had a break going about 10 minutes into the race...isn't this what people told me to avoid? At any rate, I wasn't feeling too taxed and just decided to roll with it.

As the race wore on it seemed apparent that the main group was not going to catch us anytime soon as they were nowhere to be seen. Shortly after we made the turn on highway 32 heading west we hit THE hills, at which time I went to the front and laid down a steady but hard tempo. I figured I'd test their legs a bit and see what they had in the tank. If it was necessary I could attack later. As it turned out, no attacks were necessary and i was able to ride both guys off my wheel. I figured this was my chance to take the race so I maintained the hard tempo and the gap grew.

The last 8 or so miles of the race head north over a couple big rollers and then finish with a good long flat section. On this day there was a pretty stiff north wind, and I started to worry that if there was a big group working together that they'd be able to bring me back as I fought the wind alone. I thought of all the grand tour stages I've seen where the breaks that had been away all day long get caught with only a mile or less to go. I put my head down and turned the cranks as hard as I could. Fortunately for me this was a cat. 5 race and not a grand tour, and there was no pack bearing down on me. I was able to cross the line solo for my first win on the road. I gave the double arm salute as EO'B informed me it was now acceptable for me to return to Omaha without shame.

I'm hoping for a category upgrade after my victory, and looking forward to learning more about racing on the road. In the meantime though I have some business to attend to on the trails.

This weekend I'm off to Winter Park, CO for some R&R and I'm hoping that the trails there aren't covered in snow still. Seems weird to think of snow when it's blazing here in the big O. The next weekend is the Psycowpath Ponca XC race, which I believe is also a NE state championship race. I'll be vying for the cat. 2 title there against some strong competition. This will also serve as my final tune-up for the WORS Subaru Cup Midwest Regional Championship at Mt. Morris, WI.

Finally, I just wanted to add that Mike took us out on a really nice road route through Council Bluffs and into the Loess hills on Sunday. Thanks Mike that was cool!

The Best Laid Plans: Race Report State Crit

2011-06-05T22:16:00.006-05:00

El Guapo riding 2nd banana in this pic. Great fast course. Great plan. Bad execution.

Yes, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Jono and El Guapo hit the pavement early Sunday bound for far-away Land of Norfolk. I confided in Jono my plan for battle. Primary plan was to come home with State crown for Criterium, Cat 4, 50-59 age group. Done!

That was the third stone to be gathered to complete the triad; State TT champ, State RR champ, and now State Crit champ for my category/age group.

The battle was won, but the war was lost. Mostly due to tactical blunders by yours truly. I came out of the gates slow. Trailed the first lap, but finally found my wind. Moved up and eventually rode up front. Led for a lap or two, but never further back then about 5th out of 27 warriors. I'm feeling in the zone and listening to heavy breathing behind. Then the weirdest thing. They stop the race about 1/2 way into it. We wait on a railroad train to pass by, even tho the tracks are never crossed. Bad juju for me. Gave everyone a chance to recover right when I've got the turbo diesel at wide open throttle. After about 10 minutes, we fire up for 11 more laps.

I'm riding up front again and then on the last lap, the wheels fall off. First , I get pushed way out to the curb by a some EVCC rider who didn't hold his line. I slow down to avoid crossing wheels and swerve way to the outside curve. People behind me screaming at me, but it tweren't my fault. I lost about 10 places, and tons of speed. Tactical blunder #1 by Guapo. Should have been the rider on the inside track on that turn, not on the outside. I was at his mercy. I paid.

Now I'm in big trouble. I take a corner real steep and catch a pedal. No wipeout, but big scare and I lost a fraction more time at a critical juncture. Tactical blunder #2: Should have stopped pedaling for a fraction of a second at that steep angle. Still, I'm about 15th coming into the final drag strip to the end. I'm gaining, picking off some guys. Heading towards a top 6 or 7 finish. But, wait!

Then the coup-de-grace! My right shoe comes out of the pedal. Tactical blunder #3: I knew I had a bad cleat and spaced off replacing it. I paid.

I have to pedal one leg for the last 100 meters or so. Left leg pedaling, right foot way out to the side. Guys scream past me and I fall to mid-pack fodder. Oy, that hurt. Rode the perfect race until the last lap.

Still, as Kanye sez, that which does not kill me only makes me stronger. Or was that Moses? Whoever.

All in all, great race tho. Felt pegged but competitive. Like the Governator, I'll be back! Bout time to break out the mountain bike for once.

Pioneers in the Park

2011-05-23T13:51:00.004-05:00

El Guapo (blue shoes/6th bike) in the fast lane! Click on pix to enlarge

Crit fever for Jono and Ben as they prepare for Cat 5 launch

It was all smiles before and after the strenuous crit/grand prix at Pioneer's Park in Lincoln Sunday. First time critter Ben (and I think Jono's 1st also) was giddy with excitement about competing in this crit. Tried to think of clever, experienced things to coach Ben with, but the last words out of my mouth were "don't cross wheels with anyone." Racing in those tight turns and all the jostling associated with crits leads to crashing.

My race consisted of 18 racers. The 40+, 50+, and 60+ riders may be long in the tooth, but they still pack lots of punch. I tried for the first prime, but got dusted by Shim on the way up the big hill. It took me a lap or two to recover, then I rode up front till the end of the race. I marked a 50+ Cat 2 rider from Kansas as my man to watch. Turns out it was some other old fox from Canada that ended up beating me to the line by 3 seconds. 2nd place. 1st loser. At least I beat some mercenaries from KC, Kansas, and Iowa. But not that doggone Frenchie from Canada.

I did reap a grand $15 for my efforts. The payout was $90 for 3 places. I'm wondering what the 1st place guy got and the last place guy, if I only got $15? $70/$15/$5??? Curious.

Well, it ain't about the jack anyway, it's about the competition. It was fun and I felt great, even tho the suffering was intense. Need to get in shape and pick up that extra 3 seconds! No DC reward for second place. El Guapo

Capital City Criterium

2011-05-21T18:49:00.002-05:00

After several days of rain and no time on the bike it was time to RIDE and not just RIDE but RACE. Glenn and I were up to the challenge of the good and bad roads of Lincoln near the State Capital. The .7 mile U shaped course has eight turns and a false flat straight that can make it a challenge. Lucky for us the wind was out of the Southeast so it was a tail wind up the long slightly uphill straight.

Had a much better start this year and was able to clip in with no problems. Last year could not get clipped in and had to catch up to the group. This year passed a few people before the first turn, and got ready for the next two turns before the fourth turn which was Glenn's nemesis last year. When you hit the fourth turn you are going from using two lanes to a single lane. If you get pinched to the outside you may be hopping a curb or tumbling thru the grass median. Glen was unlucky last year but made it thru fine this year. By the time we had hit the next corner a split had formed in the large pack. Having done some Crit training last year I knew the best way to make up ground was to accelerate out of the turns. Passed some people in the turns and then it was up the long straight. The last turn has a nice bump and you need to either ride right next to the curb or go outside. Found a nice line and used it the rest of the race to carry my momentum up the long straight.

Was able to hold on to the group for the next 10 minutes and then the 24 mph pace started to take a toll on my out of shape body. The group I was with got a bit smaller but I was still hanging with them. Ray kept encouraging me as I went by, "Go daddy, Go Faster" I wish I could have gone faster but I just did not have it today. Had to drop my pace down to between 18-22 the rest of the race and made sure I got out of the way when the lead pack went by. Lucky for me they caught me at the tight turn so I slowed to stay out of their way and lost touch with the group. Glenn went by me at some point, I had anticipated this so it was not a surprise. I kept riding and hung on to the finish, pushing it up the final straight to make sure I was not passed by anyone else.

When the results were posted they were not correct. A rider was listed twice, my number was listed as someone else(my name is now Chris B), Glenn was listed as 6th not sure if that was correct. After some of this was pointed out it looked like I was given the wrong number and who knows what else may have been missed. Even with the incorrect results I still had fun and was glad I could represent the team. I was not first but I was not last either, so my goal for the year is still intact. Looking forward to my next Crit later this year, got good experience from this one that I can use in the next one. Tomorrow I get to watch Pete hammer it out at Pioneers Park, have a feeling he will do better than I did today. GO TEAM!!!

Velo Veloce Member Wins Holiday Lake Triathlon

2011-05-18T19:36:00.004-05:00

Velo Veloce club member Carol Smolsky had a great race at the Holiday Lake Triathlon in Brooklyn, Iowa, last Saturday, winning the female division. Carol said the conditions were tough. Race officials changed the course at the last minute due to heavy rains the day before. She said that it rained during the bike portion and that it was cold throughout the event (48 degrees).

Also, Carol says she has a friend who's an awesome swimmer (winning meets at the national level) who's looking for a team for the Pigman Long Course Triathlon (half Ironman distance) on August 21st in Palo, Iowa (Cedar Rapids area). She needs a biker and a runner. The bike portion would be 64 miles of beautiful Iowa countryside and the run would be 13.1 miles. Go to PigmanTri.com for more info on the race. Contact Carol at LoveYouCakes@gmail.com if you're interested, and she'll forward your info on to her friend.

Velo Veloce Community Service

2011-05-10T18:14:00.015-05:00

A very big “Thank You” to all of the Velo Veloce’s who contributed their time Sunday with one of our community efforts. This is our 2nd year participating with the Nebraska Department of Road’s “Adopt a Highway” program. “Our highway” is the highly cycle traveled section of Hwy 36, just west of 72nd Street. This community effort provides a very positive image with the community and further promotes cycling on our area roads.

Following this day of watching Randy pick trash with a very unusual apparatus, we had an inaugural 40-mile ride with the newest “Velo Kits”.

Note the perfect Peloton

More racing and rides are approaching. If you have any friends that may share these similar interests, send them to Velo Veloce, the coolest group of riders on the planet!

2011-05-03T09:20:00.003-05:00

My sibling Katy Ramos and I meet post-race to swap stories. Her 1st half marathon, my second. Fun when it was done.

So, I did my best to reach my pre-race goals. I had hoped for Top Ten finish in my age group and to run less than 1:40. I ran my fastest half to date by far, but fell just short of the top ten. RATS! No Diet Coke reward at the end for that. Here are the final stats:

7:05 per mile
168 out of 7221 Overall
141 out of 2414 Males
11 out of 162 Males in the M50 Age Group

I saw fellow Veloers Ben and Jono there. Here's my report:

Started by spending the night at Katies. We got up around 5 AM and did some oat meal with blueberries. Good pre-race food. Parked near campus and pedaled to stadium on my old $20 beater Giant mountain bike. Forgot my lock, but bungeed it to the fence and it was still there when I got back. Dropped off my race bag then got to start line just in time for the opening gun. I happened to stumble in next to the 1:35 pace group which was great. Hooked up the Ipod and away we went. Stayed right in front of them, although I felt like I could have gone faster. Determined to stay with my wingmen rather than go too fast and explode later. But after 7 miles, I found a policeman Jason running a wee bit faster. Got behind him for several miles. I saw one geezer up ahead that looked to be in my age group, got behind him. I lost contact with him with about a 1/2 mile to go. Had I stayed on him and passed him, I may have finished in Top Ten for my age group. Still, when I came into the football stadium and saw time clock at 1:33 something, knew I had run pretty fast. Ended up officially at 1:32.47, but in 11th. Booo. Hiss. Flopped. Still pretty sore today, especially going down stairs. Kind of looking forward to running this one again next year. Maybe go out a little faster and get under 1:30?? Some old goat from western Nebraska in my age group ran 1:21. Amazing. Time for me to switch to Ironman mode with the 70.3 Boulder Ironman looming next.

Hippity hop Easter Platte MTB Ride

2011-04-23T22:09:00.002-05:00

Is this trail the 1. Difficult, 2. Real difficult, or 3. ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR @#*MIND trail, I don't know but you do get to pick your level of punishment, err.. enjoyment. I experienced and gained a potpourri of challenges with each directional decision, giving that edge to a novice to decide for herself what's easy, and what's not("not": bajeeber loads of the fastest descents I ever umm, slid on down but ooh so hot!). There's no settling in: give it 110% for 15 seconds up an incline, change it up NOW for a technical turn, slam on through with 120% surge on loose soil if you dare. Meanwhile, Mother Nature is busy decorating her forest floor with cute little plants, moss and such in sweet soil and I get to roll on through it, climb and descend staircase upon staircase of roots, giving great texture to forgiving tires. But alas, there is no "settling in", no recovery (okay, thank you for the open fields and oh, for the Sunshine on My Shoulders). I'm never alone with an angel on my right shoulder and the devil on my left, we contemplate yet another fast descent, another uphill switchback. Before I know it, times up. That's it, rats! But it was time to be done; the bone hanging from the tree I just passed let me know that, you know, things really aren't THAT bad 'round here. The trail spits me bumpily out and I fully absorb each vibrating pulse sent from thy fork, to wrist, to elbow, through shoulders, and up and out the head: the trails free massage offering after a memorable trail ride.

Velo Veloce Ride for Easter Sunday canceled

2011-04-17T17:21:00.001-05:00

Velo Veloce's open ride from Greenstreet at 11 AM on Sundays will be CANCELED this coming weekend due to Easter Sunday. The ride is canceled and Greenstreet Cycles will also be closed.

We will fire up again the following Sunday, May 1st. Join us for this fun Sunday ride open to all road riders. If you are early, hit Blue Line for coffee. Ride starts from Greenstreet Cycles at 11.

Today's ride headed over the Kerry Bridge and south into Iowa. The A group rode over Green Hill and descended into Mineola and back for 51 total miles. The B group turned around at the top of Green Hill and scampered back to the shop for a total of 43 miles.

For more info on these rides, please contact pduryea at cox dot net. Happy Easter!

Twin Bing Nougats

2011-04-15T11:30:00.006-05:00

Savvy veterans know when to lead the pack for good photo ops! El Guapo leads the way after the 1st 22 mile lap.

Click on photo to enlarge

Some happy Veloers!L-R: Troy, Pete, (kneeling) Jack, Maddie, Simone, Danny, Nick, Zach, (standing) Carol, Glenn, Mike, Ben

Thought it time to post some post-Twin Bing nuggets. First thought, what a great Velo turnout. We had 7, count 'em, 7 juniors show up in force! Nick, Maddie, Danny, Max, Zach, Jack and Simone sweetened the whole race day fun. Congrats to all on fine showings, headed by Max's 2nd place finish, the top Veloer finisher of the day. Juniors, take the time to write up a blog race report here.

We had nine senior riders too, headed by 1st time road racer Carol Smolsky, of Ironman fame. Carol claims that she enjoyed her 1st road race and, just like the great Arnold, will be back. Carol brought dotter Sarah, our new race photographer. See attached photos of Sarah's fine eye.

We also enjoyed our 1st race since the merger with Ciao Baby and Greenstreet. Mike represented the former Ciao contingent and Ben/Jono headed up the Greenstreet assault gang.

There was a mad scramble for arm warmers and extra apparel as the cloud cover and cool, wet winds made for a much chillier-than-anticipated race.

I rode in the B group with Jono, Ben, Troy, Todd, Glenn, Carol, Dave, and Mike. I managed to stay up front the entire race and finished 9th place, about 25 yards behind the winners on the final uphill finish. Not bad for an old goat...bleat....baaa....baaaa.

Thanks all for the memorable experience. Let's get ready to do it again.

Omaha Devo news

2011-03-26T10:12:00.001-05:00

Good buddy Kevin asked me to make sure Velo members knew about this cool program for getting youngsters started in mountain biking. Sweet!

WHO: Kids interested in learning the lifelong sport of Mountain Biking

WHAT: A kids’ mountain bike club for ages 5-18

WHEN/WHERE: Sessions that run from April-August at Tranquility Park in Omaha, and Swanson Park in Bellevue

Omaha “Devo” (short for development) is the product of a partnership with Activate Omaha and local volunteers whom are dedicate to introducing, teaching, and developing kids in the lifelong sport of Mountain Biking.

Omaha DEVO is currently offering 8-week programs to develop kids of all abilities, aged 5-19, in the exciting sport of mountain biking. The program is arranged in a building block style to increase interest in mountain biking and promote each athlete in a positive, encouraging environment.

The practices currently will be held on Monday nights for each age group. U19 (18 & under), U14 (13 & under), U10 (9 & under). Parents can choose which practice site works best for them when they sign up. We currently offer Tranquility Park at 120th & Maple in Omaha, as well as Swanson Park at 32nd & Cornhusker in Bellevue.

All age groups from both practice sites will ride together on Saturday mornings “Just Ride” day. This all club group ride will rotate between area trails. Weekly locations will be posted on the Omaha Devo facebook page as well as communicated at the weekly practice.

In addition, each 8 week session will provide stewardship opportunities as we partner with T.H.O.R (trails have our respect) to do a trail maintenance day with each age group.

Omaha Devo is currently offering free custom Devo cycling jerseys to the first 40 kids who sign up. In addition, each child will get a free Omaha Devo water botte, free bike safety tune up, and for those interested in competeing, free entry into Omaha Devo kids races in the Pscycowpath Nebraska Mountain Bike Championship series events.

Omaha Devo has a talented group of mountain bike coaches and enthusiasts that range from dedicated parents to highly competitive athletes. All Omaha Devo head coaches are pediatric 1st Aid/CPR certified and have undergone a background check with the Sarpy county Sheriff’s department.

For current details chose from the following:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Omaha-DEVO/165227640167055

http://www.omahadevo.blogspot.com/

To register for the 8 week session:

http://www.raceregister.net/RaceRegister/event?action=view&id=28

For more information contact Omaha Devo at:

omaha.devo@gmail.com

Velo Veloce Sunday Training Ride - March 20, 2011

2011-03-22T23:15:00.010-05:00

As an addendum to El Guapo’s comments I add the following. A terrific group of riders Sunday with all levels represented. Our 40.8 mile route(15.1 mph avg, 41 mph max), with paceline training in peloton formation around the airport and climbing intervals (max. at 15%) in the Iowa Loess Hills, provided great training for the upcoming Twin Bing Classic scheduled for April 11th in Climbing Hill, Iowa (more details to follow later).

All are invited for this Sunday morning “no drop” ride. All levels are welcome, with the formation of “A” and “B” established during each ride. We promise a comfortable, or a challenging pace, for anyone with the interest.

Real talent displayed from our junior Velo Veloce racers (left to right: Simone, Zach, Connor, Jack, Danny(front), Maddie, and Nick). Watch for these guys and girls in the race reports over the upcoming season.

Spread the word for these terrific Sunday rides. Again, multiple paces will be accommodated with “A” and “B” groups available. As the season furthers, we will be adding the opportunity for a Tuesday evening ride as well.

Junior Rollout!

2011-03-21T15:02:00.003-05:00

Velo riders/guests about 30 strong swarm the Kerrey Bridge on their way to the Bluffs

Seven "beast" juniors perched atop the Kerrey Bridge. Left to right: Nick, Jack, Connor, Danny, Maddie, Simone, Zach

Sunday's Velo ride featured the Seven Horsemen of the Apocalypse, aka the Velo Veloce juniors. Only hard-at-work-on-Sundays Max was missing. We practiced our pacelining back and forth behind the airport. Then we blasted over the Kerrey Bridge, turned north and ended up on top of steep Monument Hill in the Bluffs. A fast descent back to the river, a romp to the top of the bridge, and a photo op. Then completed the day by enjoying Goodnight's pizza, Little Italy meat lover's to be exact. That goes well with the junior Veloer's battle cry....Looks like meat is back on the menu! They are fired up for Twin Bing!

Green is for GO!

2011-03-19T10:55:00.004-05:00

Sarah, Simone, Maddie and Millie roll out the new Specialized Dulce

Green is for Greenstreet. Green is for Go Fast. Green is for beautiful paint job on a new women's Specialized Dulce for junior Veloer Simone. Green is for dinero-less Dad. Green is for envy and bike-lust. Green is for St. Patty's Day present. Green is for leaving a fossil-free footprint riding instead of driving. Green is good. Green is my favorite color.

Sunday ride report

2011-03-13T19:30:00.002-05:00

Good turnout of hard-core bikers today. Temps were cold at 28F, but wind was not bad. We did a quick turn around the airport and practiced pace lines. Then hit River Road, Ponca Hills Road and attacked 47th street. Ended up in Ft. Calhoun and enjoyed the wind at our back thru Boyer Chute and Surfside Hill. 17.5 mph average pace on the 40 mile ride. Let's do it again next Sunday!

2011-03-08T15:07:00.002-06:00

Update: Now this is a better look at our new jersey. Thanks Mike for an attractive design.

I know it isn't great, but to give you an idea of what the 2011 Velo Veloce team kit looks like, here is the two-dimensional view. Red/black/white. Very sharp looking!

2011-03-07T15:48:00.002-06:00

Veloers and visitors. Please note the following event! Mark your calendars and we'll hang out together at this fun(d) event. El Guapo..

RIDE THE DIVIDE,
AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY FILM,
COMING TO OMAHA MARCH 15

Ride The Divide, the award-winning feature-length documentary about the world’s toughest mountain bike race, will stop in Omaha on Tuesday, March 15 at the Aksarben Cinema. The event will be a fundraiser for OmahaBikes.org.

The film chronicles the story of several mountain bikers who attempt the 2,711-mile race named the Tour Divide along the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains. The movie was named the best adventure film at the 2010 Vail Film Festival.

This film has become an instant cycling classic, and made its television premiere in September on the Documentary Channel. But the Adventure Cycling Association said the film should be seen on the big screen: “The cinematography is stunning!” Added UpaDowna, “Ride The Divide is one of the most inspiring real cycling movies … in a long time.” Epic Riding summed the movie up as follows: “In a word? Fantastic. In more words? Moving, funny, inspiring.”

Ride The Divide embraces the inspiring stories of three of the racers who experience the immense mountain beauty and small-town culture as they attempt to pedal from Banff, Canada, to a small, dusty crossing on the Mexican border. There’s Mike, a 40-year-old family man who uses this challenge to chart a new course in life; Matthew, a leader in extreme endurance racing who’s competing for his fifth time; and Mary, the ﬁrst female rider to race this route. As they set out, they will attempt to accomplish what very few have been able to. Over the course of a few weeks, they’ll attempt to climb over 200,000 vertical feet along the backbone of the Rocky Mountains.

They’ll experience mental breakdowns, treacherous snow, hellacious blisters, and total fatigue. Above all, they’ll race with no support – at times in total isolation. The tests of endurance and the accomplished moments throughout Ride the Divide prompt us to reﬂect on our inner desires to live life to the fullest.

Ride The Divide made its debut at the Vail Film Festival and was named the best adventure film at the event. Outside Magazine proclaimed that “(t)he toughest bike race in the world is not in France,” after reviewing the film.

Ride The Divide will be shown at 7 p.m. at the Aksarben Cinema located at 2110 S. 67th St., in Omaha. Tickets are $15 at the door, and $10 in advance at www.IMAthlete.com/Events/RideTheDividemovie. This event is sponsored by GreenStreet Cycles of Omaha.
Media contact: Garry Harrington 603-209-5010 gharrington3165@hotmail.com

Inaugural Sunday Velo-Greenstreet ride is on ice

2011-03-07T15:10:00.004-06:00

Swan Song! Veloers/guests line up before hitting the wintery traverse across frozen tundra!

Booo-yah! About a dozen hardy souls convened on Sunday for the 1st Velo-Greenstreet weekly ride. The early birds enjoyed triple shots of expresso at nearby Blue Line Coffee. Many a war story was exchanged. Jonathon showed up in shorts! That's one tuff mudder.

After a team pic in front of Greenstreet, we headed north with the wind towards NP Dodge Park, Surfside Hill and Ft. Calhoun. There were some frozen toes and other appendages due to the 34F temps and brish SSE wind, but everyone toughed it out.

The sweepers (Pete, Michelle and Dan) stopped for java hits at Ft. Calhoun and again at Crane Coffee, before completing the ride. That's a 3 caffeine pit stop day, if you're counting.

Thanks to everyone for a nice 1st outing. This Sunday is looking better at 40 F. Hope to see you there early at Blue Line. Bring your friends.

El Guapo

Velo/Greenstreet weekly Sunday rides commencing!

2011-03-04T15:29:00.000-06:00

Velo Veloce Club Ride
Velo Veloce is going to start hosting a weekly Sunday ride. The first one is this weekend, March 6th, at 11 AM. Here are some of the details. Hope to see you! PETE
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WHO: Road or cross bicycle riders interested in moderately paced group road rides. Rides open to everyone, not just Velo Veloce members.

WHAT: Road rides starting and ending at Greenstreet Cycles, 1310 Mike Fahey Street, near the new downtown baseball stadium. See Greenstreet Cycles for a map. Helmets required. Riders understand that Velo/Greenstreet is not liable for accidents.

WHERE: Meet at nearby Blue Line Coffee if you are early. Ride will leave from Greenstreet storefront at 11 AM. Various routes, but 30 to 40 miles in length, approximately 2 hours long, on public streets and highways. Riders must be comfortable with riding on the street.

WHEN: Sunday mornings, 11 AM. Rides leave promptly at 11, so please arrive early.

Biking, and more!

2011-02-03T15:44:00.003-06:00

Pete stinks up the Chicago Marathon 2010

Hi peeps,

We all know we're obsessed about two wheels and going fast. But variety is the SPICE of life. Heretofor I shall be known at Pete Muad Dib, of Dune. (google Muad Dib)
And yes, I control the SPICE.

For some added SPICE, I registered for some non-biking events. I'm in hook, line and stinker for the Trek the Tower on Feb. 26th, the Lincoln Half-Marathon on May 1st, the Boulder Ironman 70.3 on August,7th and the 2011 Chicago Marathon on October 9th.

Why, you might ask? Running is EVIL, it is the Devil's Spawn. Well, I was Born to Run. I have rubber bands in my feet and special neck ligaments. I sweat through the skin and can run down a deer, or an elk, or any other furry friend. I survived when Neaderthal Man went bye-bye. Frankly, it is why I rule the World.

Some thoughts on these events:

Trek the Tower: 40 stories up, as fast as your peg-legs and bellows will take you. Reach the top and hack out huge lung oysters. Hack for two weeks afterwards from breathing in all the nasties that others have expelled whilst they climb in the enclosed stairwell. But hey, there is glory to be had. And Diet Coke is always the primary motivator. Nuke me with DC at the end all the agony is worth it.

Lincoln Half: Haven't done this, but did do the Omaha Half two years ago. This should be a breeze. Flat, half as long as a marathon (like that math?). I will be like a Tarahumara Indian dancing lightly on my feet as I swish to the end. Running with my Maple Y comrades, my brethren, my Bushmen. We shall herd the wildebeest before us, pick out the weaklings, keep them moving till they drop at our feet, and feast on their flesh.

Boulder Ironman: Oh, baby. Kansas 70.3 was a warning sign. I did it in thick air. Now move up to the thin air and try the same thing sans O2. The plan? Go deep into the Pain Cave. Confront Pain. Make friends with Pain. I must embrace the Pain. Make Pain work for me. I LOVE PAIN. My lifelong partner. Only Diet Coke can eradicate the Pain, make it go away.

Chicago Marathon: Oy! Nooooo! I swore I would never be back. Never another marathon. But, twasn't an hour later, the seed started sprouting in the lone brain cell. What if? What if I had started slower? What if I had rested more the day before instead of the sightseer Death March? What if I had eaten breakfast? What if I had taken sodium? What if I had actually trained for this? Now, I must go back. I must answer to the Unknown. I seek answers. Am I doomed and headed for another trainwreck? Or have I learned from my mistakes and have my VENGEANCE. Qualify for Boston with a 3:35? Ram home a DC twelve-pack right there, right after I collapse across the line. Bath in it. Swab me down with it. Inject me with it.

So. There it is. The Skeletons. The Plans. The Logic. The DC. In the end, it is all about the DC. The 100-yr plan. Or die trying.

Usul, the Mouse (aka Pete Muad Dib)

2011-01-24T13:46:00.004-06:00

Team meeting recap.

Velo Veloce/Ciao Baby/Greenstreet met for the first time (officially) as the new merged Velo Veloce Cycling Club. A good representation of club racers, club riders, sponsors, bike shop peeps and juniors swooped into Panera's Saddle Creek last Saturday.

Club President Mike Melton opened the "get to know each other" meeting with a discussion of club officers and sponsors. Mike is our new Prez, Pete is VP and Randy Secretary/Treasurer. Unoffical officers are Kirk Peck, Club Physical Therapist, Troy Perry; Club Social Secretary; and Harvey Kunz, Club Brevet Coordinator.

Four of our projected seven junior racers were in attendance. Simone, aka The Marian Missile; Maddie (Mad Dawg) Elliston, Danny (the Beast) Elliston and Jack "Junior Jay" Perry. Couple this crew with Connor, Nick and Zach and we will field a junior team second to none.

Ben Swan and Sarah Johnson of Greenstreet introduced themselves. They are BIG on bike advocacy in the city of Omaha and are enthusiastic about the merger. We will lead club rides as soon as weather permits on Tuesday evenings or Sunday late mornings from our Greenstreet bike shop on Mike Fahey Blvd., near the new baseball stadium downtown.

The sponsors were identifed by Mike as The Lerner Company, Vrana Construction and the Kaneko Organization, whom make it possible for Velo Veloce to have a great season. We also have several secondary sponsors; Tectonic Management Group, Camp Wayfarer, Lotus House of Yoga and Green Street Cycles. Please endorse these sponsors whenever possible. The Lerner Company is our "Primary" sponsor so our team is VELO VELOCE by: The Lerner Company.

The new kit design will be done soon and Randy will open a virtual store at Pactimo. Stay tuned for an email describing how to do this.

So, it promises to be an exciting year. We want to thank (THANKS!!!) Blaine Westerveldt of Xtreme Wheels in Council Bluffs for being our bike shop affiliate for the last several years.

Make sure you have permission (by emailing) from Randy or Pete and use this blog frequently. We'll also stay in touch on Facebook and email.

Marian Cross Country Missile

2010-10-31T22:19:00.000-05:00

As the lactic acid burned my muscles after each stride, the only thing on my mind was the finish. I had to think about what I truely wanted. At the moment, all I wanted to do was collapse but what I really wanted in the long run was to go out with a bam! I wanted to get the best time of my life considering this was the most important race of my life. Only the elite were there. The best runners from the best schools in Nebraska, and I was one of them. I needed to prove so. I got 34th overall in the Girls Class A State championship and finished 1st for Omaha Marian. I also had the best time of the season for Marian (16:08). My next goal--break 16 and get into 15 minutes. Since I'm a freshmen, I'll have three more years to do so. Go Marian Crusaders! Back in the hunt once again!

Trash or Treat

2010-10-31T22:08:00.000-05:00

Veloers Troy, Fred, Todd, April and Pete gathered early on Halloween to do our bi-annual Adopt-a-Highway litter pickup. We scoured the roadside between 72nd and 84th streets on Hwy 36. Todd found lawn chairs for the biggest litter of the day. No dead critters were discovered. It seems like smokers feel entitled to discard their butts and their empty packs of smokes. Icky and unbelievable.

We decided if anyone found a satchel or duffel of money, we'd put it in the Velo bank account and all get new Cervelos. Alas, nothing of value was found, but we did gather about 10 bags of litter as we performed this valuable community service. We piled bags up under our Velo Veloce sign that adorns the hilltop on Hwy 36. The next scheduled cleanup will be next Spring. Thanks to all the volunteers today!!!

More Cross Racing-Boss Cross et al

2010-10-31T21:41:00.000-05:00

Dave Randleman and I decided to race in KC Saturday at Boss Cross #3. The course was tight and rough, but well-designed, given the constraints of the park. Riders were bitchin' and moanin' about the two sand runs included in the course, other features created more difficulties for them. Tons of off-camber work, lots of fallen walnuts, a large number of turns, and my nemesis, a tricky little dirt berm climb, provided plenty of challenges.

Dave raced 40+ and I raced in the 50+ group. I was late to the start, so stuck in the third row. Dave was well-situated and got a very good start. Halfway through the first lap, he was in 5th place amongst a strong group of riders. Getting to the first sand run, he managed to drop his chain, a action that would be repeated several times during the race. Losing position, he kept hammering away and by the end of the race finished 7th, a very solid ride again a tough field. A bit more luck, maybe the top 5.

My race went even worse. Trapped behind a lot of slower riders, I had a difficult time getting to the front. Meanwhile, Paul Fancher is off and has no one holding him up, gaining a 8 second lead through the first lap. Caught behind a crash (d'oh, Paul, here's 5 seconds you can have), I finally get towards the front, and am starting to close on him, when I drop my chain in the sand run. Here, Paul, have another 10 seconds! Get back on, start the chase again, and crash on the berm, can't get unclipped-have another 10 seconds. Chase again. Too scared to climb the berm, I run it-have another 3 seconds, Paul. I finally ride a couple of clean laps and have closed again, and with 2 laps to go, I'm almost on top of him-he has only a 20 meter lead, has slowed as the race progressed and is ready to be crushed. After the sand, into the tape I go, losing another couple of seconds. Hammer again, get to the berm, and I'm down again, except this time I bend my derailluer hanger. Game over. I cruise through the final lap and finish 2nd. Subtract the 50-60 seconds I lost crashing stupidly, and it's the difference. Just an embarrassing performance.

Made a last second decision (at 9:30 AM) to ride Spooky Cross this morning. Bad idea. Racing the open division, I got into the 2nd lap and my legs were absolutely dead. Saturday was apparently harder on me than I thought. Having competed as a runner and cyclist for the past 30 years, I'm learned not to be too proud to pull the plug on a bad race-there's always another. Not looking forward to spending the next 50 minutes suffering like a dog to finish DFL, I DNF'ed and went home.

Nebraska CX Racing

2010-10-26T08:10:00.000-05:00

Two races in NE this last weekend-nice to only drive 2 hours instead of three to get to a race. Norfolk modified their course from last year and did a nice job. If they cut out some of the repetitive weaving through the trees, it would be excellent, but right now it's a shade too technical. Four of us made it up to the race; Dave, Andy and I raced the masters, and Ted and Dave raced the 3s. Jim Winklepleck from Lincoln won the masters on a mountain bike, which was the right bike for the course. I managed to crash on the barriers on the first lap while in 2nd and Winklepleck's gap was too much to overcome. I didn't think I could beat him on this course, and didn't-ended up 2nd. Pioneer's Park might be a different story. Andy was 6th and Dave 8th in the race, riding well on a difficult course with some climbs. Ted was 5th in 3s, riding extremely well.

Sunday I went to Lincoln for the Flatwater race. It's terrific that the Flatwater team put together a well-organized race with a big prize list, but...Van Dorn Park is a poor cx venue. My rant: I know it's a matter of taste, but the VDP course is just a dirt crit. It's too short-only 2 km, if that. Lots of "turn, three pedal strokes, repeat." Almost all turns are slick dirt corners, but only one dismount, no need for power, handling or climbing skills. The pros in Madison averaged 30 kph on a difficult technical course, and I'm willing to bet that was the average for the masters and open winners on this fast course. What differentiates cx from crits are the difficulties: powering through grass, sand or mud, run-ups and other dismounts, off camber riding, and skills aside from cornering on dirt. There's no point in racing, in my view, if you're not challenged by a variety of terrain and obstacles. I was reluctant to start after riding practice laps and dropped out halfway through the first race lap. I just couldn't see staying on that course being bored for the next 40 minutes, and risking a nasty crash. It clearly suited others, but it didn't suit me.

Quinton and Boulevard Cups

2010-10-17T21:12:00.000-05:00

Headed to KC for more cx racing. Michael Dixon and I were the only Nebraskans racing on Saturday in Topeka. Brutal and fun course, with thick power-sucking grass, several climbs and a very difficult run-up followed by a fun but tricky off camber descent. Entered the 50+, and we were in a heat with the other masters riders (30+, 40+, and 60+). 30+/40+ started 30 seconds ahead of us. I started easy because I knew the course would eat people alive. I was in second on the first lap and did the run-up. Shouldered the bike and must have bounced it because I dropped a chain. Lost 10 seconds to the leader. Started chasing and gradually reeled in the leader (Paul Fancher) a lap and half later. Paul started to gradually wear down during the next lap. I was putting 3 seconds into him on the run-up and a couple more seconds on each climb. Won the 50+ by 25 seconds and finished second overall in the heat. Steve Songer won the 40+ and was probably 1-1.5 minutes ahead of me.

Sunday brought one of the best races in the midwest for pure fun: Boulevard Cup. Free food and beer will tend to do that (8 kegs worth of beer brought to the race!). Didn't feel too bad after yesterday's effort, so I thought I had a pretty good shot at winning. Big masters field: 12 in 30+, 24 in 40+, 25 in 50+ and 10 in 60+, promising a big mess trying to pass slower riders. Course was tougher than last year and much longer, close to the legal limit of 3.5 km. Had a poor start and was 7th entering the holeshot. Fancher got a great start and had 5 seconds on me by the time we got to the first set of boards. We caught up with the tail of the 40+ at a very bad spot-a twisty entrance to a sand pit. Luckily, I saw it was a disaster early, dismounted and ran passed all of the riders struggling to ride through the mess. Hammering the road section and the climbs, weaving though the slower riders, I brought the leader back and proceeded to grind out another win by at least 30 seconds. With a half lap to go, I caught the second place 30+ guy and had him sitting on my wheel, then outsprint me at the finish. Well, he sprinted-I sat up to go in alone. Can't understand why he did that-I wasn't in his race and made up a minute on him during the race. Caught all but 7 guys in the entire heat, even those that started 30 seconds and 1 minute ahead, so a nice race.

A lot of NE people came down Sunday: Rich Pearson and Craig Schmidt were in my heat; Rich easily won the 60+ (would have been fun to have him in my race), Craig finished well in the 40+ race. Jonathan Neve raced 4s and finished 16th (great result-44 starters in that one). Rafal Doloto raced SS and cat 3 and looked great out there. Noah Marcus raced 3s and finished 6th (I think-sorry if I screwed that up Noah), Sydney Brown easily won the women's open, and there were some sterling performances in the men's open. Mark Savery and Matt Tillinghast finished 4th and 5th against brutal competition, battling with Brian Jensen for 3rd place after Jeff Winkler and Shadd Smith managed to get a gap over them. The 3rd place battle was great bike racing, Mark, Matt and Jensen trading 3rd back and forth, finally being decided by Jensen's massive surge on the road section at the beginning of the last lap. Troy Krause finished in the top ten-chased Bill Marshall and another guy, only 5-7 seconds behind, and could not quite reel them in by the end. Nate Woodman had a subpar day, but looked great bunny-hopping the boards during the race. I'll have some photos up on Facebook soon.

The Ecstasy and the Agony

2010-10-12T11:55:00.000-05:00

Yes, intentionally a spin on the famous movie Agony and the Ecstasy about Michaelangelo. This, however, was not a work of art. Here's a "race" report about my 1st ever marathon; the 10-10-10 Chicago Marathon.

The Ecstasy: I've been training long and hard for this. Why a marathon? Easy answer is I'm going thru a mid-life crisis. Trying to purge the inner demons by abusing the body. Also, checking things off of my bucket list. I've decided running itself is evil as it is so hard on the bod. But it is addictive too. It's ez to do by yourself, with your iPod and a goal. My goal was to run 3:30 or less as a 3:35 would qualify me for the Boston Marathon.

The decision to make this a fundraising run was nice. Never done that before. Our FSIS team raised nearly $5000 for Team World Vision and World Vision's project in Zimbabwe. Thanks to all my friends and family who allowed me to reach my individual goal of $1310. At last count, I was over $1500!

Day of the race I got up early. Got on the El and arrived at start area in the dark. Got up front as far as I could in the Open division, just behind the start corrals that contained the Nike pace groups. I found fellow Team WV runner Christine, who gave me good advice. Finally, with the excitement building, we started moving toward the start line. I felt good out of the gate. It was tuff making your way around slower runners due to the jam-packed roads. I eventually got moving unimpeded and found a runner in Team WV gear that was doing a pace I found to my liking. We eventually caught up and passed the 3:30 Nike pace team which started way ahead of us. I saw Millie and Monie rooting for me at mile 11 at the TWV cheer site and high-fived them on the way by. Felt great thru the half way point and was ahead of pace with a 1:40 half. Things started slowing down for me about mile 17, but I was still well ahead of the 3:30 pace. They caught me about mile 19, so I jumped in with them and picked up my pace.

The Agony: Started at mile 21 or so. Working hard and all of a sudden my left leg cramped up. Brought me to a screeching stop. When I bent over to stretch it, the right leg seized. Arrrrgghhh! The best laid plans of mice and men soon go awry. I had to walk (eventually) for about two or three miles. All the progress I

had made slipped away. I coax the legs back to a slow shuffle, then a half-ass jog and finish the last two miles. The goal poofed into thin air. No 3:30, no 3:35, the only thing left to accomplish was finishing. I managed to stumble across at 3:58:26. So bummed out because I had 3:30 right there for the taking and choked it away. After crossing the line I swore I'd never, ever do another marathon. Pain passes tho, and a day later I'm already planning how I'll do it better next time. Train harder. Better nutrition. Better pacing. Etc. Just like Arnold.....I'll be back. That goal was within my grasp and it slipped thru. Grrrrrr!

KC Cross

2010-09-20T13:48:00.000-05:00

Dave Randleman and I headed down Saturday to Swope Park in KC for the KC Cross Cup, the inaugural race of the CX season. It was very warm (85F) and humid, so not exactly cross weather. The course was super technical: 40% single track, one long road section, a set of easy low boards that could be bunny hopped (I ran them-just as fast for me), and three mazes. Fields were decent sized-total masters was 50 people, with 24 in Dave's 40+ race, and 15 in my group, the 50+; it looked like 30-50 riders in every heat.

Dave had a lousy start, which on this course was a disaster. After starting out in DFL entering the holeshot, Dave passed a boatload of people during the race. Never heard a final lap bell, so he had no idea what lap we were on, so missed the opportunity to pass a couple of guys on the last lap (thinking there was another lap left to pass), but still ended up in a solid 10th place.

If you hit the single track behind a slow racer, you could wave anyone in front of you good-bye. I started fine, and in second place just before we hit the single track section. The guy just in front of me shot by a really slow guy from another group wobbling all over on the single track, and I and a couple of guys behind me were stuck. After some begging and cursing, the slow guy let us by, but the first place guy was gone. So, time to chase the rest of the way. After dropping the 2 guys behind me, the leader was finally in sight within a couple of laps. Just like Dave, I never heard a final lap bell and had no idea when the race was going to end. Luckily, I caught him with was to be a half a lap to go and won 50+ masters by a couple of seconds.

It was a entertaining race, and great practice for the rest of the season. the 360 guys did a really nice job of promoting it, and I would recommend it to anyone that doesn't mind a very technical course.

Minnehaha Stage Race Report

2010-08-23T10:45:00.001-05:00

El Guapo on top after all 3 races to claim the GC title (click pic to enlarge)

Xtreme Wheels rolled into Sioux Falls South Dakota this weekend all dee-termined to roll out with prize $ and hardware. Mission accomplished!

El Guapo raced in Open Cat 4, Zach race in juniors and Matt raced in his Cat 3. Zach finished up 3rd overall in the juniors and brought home a nice medal as proof. We left before learning of Matt's final efforts in the crit, so hopefully he'll post soon.

EL GUAPO was feeling rather salty after two weeks in the mountains. I knew that the bike racing season was unfullfilled to date as I had spent a lot of time prepping for the Ironman rather than bike racing. Opportunity arose. Time to let out some bottled up ju-ju.

The Prep:

Two weeks flying up and down mountains at 7500 to 12000 ft. didn't hurt. Did Trail Ridge, Left Hand Canyon, Nederland, Ward, Devil's Gulch. Hurtle back to the Corn. Good blood. Train high. Race low. Get flogged by all my pals on Wednesday Night Worlds. The perfect training environment. No mercy given, none expected. Thanks guys!

Rest up Thoisday and Friday. Spin in EZ to work. On way home, get off bike and walk up hill to conserve energy. Can only imagine what car peeple are thinking...look at that loser walking his bike up the hill. Wimp. Little did they know it's part of a grander plan.

The Plan:

Go up and race in the Minnehaha Stage Race in Sioux Falls. It's put on by the Central Plains Cycling and serves as the South and North Dakota State Championships for time trial (TT), road race (RR) and criterium (crit). Those foreigners from the North have been known to come down on our hallowed Husker soil and steal some of our thunder by winning our state races, although they can't collect state medals/championships. Nevertheless, it goes down quesy, like liver and onions, when they win the race, so I thought it would be nice to return the favor.

Recruit Shelle Lau and junior Tigger Zach Lau to carpool. Restless night on Friday since they were picking me up at 430 AM...barbaric! Plus, starting to get all worked up for the 9 AM TT. Eerie drive up thru dense fog, but Shelle gets us there. Zach and I pollute our bodies with Krispy Kremes and java for me. TT is first, RR in the afternoon and crit on Sunday. You need to finish each race to compete for the overall title.

The TT: 12.5 miles

The motivation to win is always the same. Besides payback, it all boils down to fighting thru the pain by focusing on a single thing. For me, it's all about the Diet Coke (DC). The ultimate award. Never mind the $$ for winning, the notoriety. Never mind the sponsors, the added fitness, the DRAMA. The DC! From the start line pictures of enjoying the reward at the end. Be patient. The pain can be endured. The hammering heart bobbing up in your throat. The legs screaming their protest. Hush! The brain knows. I scream down the road naked. No frills needed. No powermeter. No speedometer. I've got a heart rate monitor on, but can't see it w/o my reading glasses anyway. I'm hurtling towards the 1/2 way point at 6.5 miles. I catch my one minute rabbit and foosh him on the way by. You know, put that little extra mph by as you slingshot past them. Leave the flotsam and jetsom floating in your wake as you motor by. Yes, it's got a Hemi! I turn around. More rabbits ahead. Be very, very quiet, I'm hunting wabbits. With head down, with DC waiting, I'm a diesel buzzsaw running at 174 bpm. Finally, the finish line! I fly by and touch down in the parking lot. Soigneur Shelle and teammate Zach catch my red-hot core and start the cool-down process by popping the lid to an ice-cold Diet Coke. It scalds it way down to my cooling coils. So good. So beautiful. It's my pot-of-gold. Warren profits. I practically inhale the first one. Critical mass is averted. No Chernobyl meltdown. The 2nd one is already being readied. I tell my pit stop crew this is why I race. For the Real Thing. The DC at the end of the rainbow!

The TT results: We return from finding the Holiday Inn in Sioux Falls. Check in. Cool off. Legs in the air. Grapes in the gullet. Chocolate milk being fed intravaneously. Back to Crooks, site of the TT and RR. On the way to check results, the first clues; "blistering time, Pete"; "you kicked *ss". I meander my way over. The results are in. El Guapo-fastest time of the day! Fastest of all the Cat 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s. I grab maximum points in the General Classification (GC). I average 27.2 mph for the 12.5 mile course. It feels good. The motivation...it works!

The Road Race (60 miles 90+ degrees)

Ok. The RR starts at 3. We've got about 25 riders in our Cat 4 group. We're deluged by green goblins, at least 10 strong. Hordes of them. Central Plains Cycling is there in overwhelming numbers. It's their race. They call the shots. I'm alone. I'm lonely. I'm on my own. I think it through. I strategize. I come up with a plan. It's a long term plan. But, it starts right away. I've gotta match whichever green guy is in the lead. Two mean greenies try a breakaway within the first couple of miles. No reaction from any other clubs. They're pulling away....mebbe 100 yards ahead. I work my way over to the left side and fire off the turbos. Full 100% effort to bridge up. The field reacts. They chase us down. Green team plan #1 thwarted. They send other goons up front to push the pace. I latch on to whichever one is leading. I'm on them like stink on doo-doo. I'm flypaper. I'm 100% Velcro Man. They weave back and forth. I weave. They slow. I slow. Another Greenie shoots past. I latch on. I talk to other soloists. Rich from Kaos. Mike from Joyride. Dana from BP. We've got to be alert. Finally, it's the last lap. It's been 60 miles of marshmallow roasting hot highway. But I'm motivated. I'm working for a goal. The Diet Coke waits in the parking lot. It's a dream that drives me forward. It sends power from the dilithium crystals to the warp drive. The finish line is ahead. Massive sprint. I get boxed in temporarily, but churn in to finish 4th, nipping Rich at the line. I get important points from Rich, as he's in 2nd place. Mission accomplished part deux. I fight cramps, like everyone else. I spin back to the parking lot. I ram home the DC! Later, we hit Pizza Ranch. It's open season on DC. Buffet! I immerse myself in it. It fills me to the brim. I'm complete. I'm a new man.

The Crit: 45 minutes of high-noon, 91 degree HELL

OK. Won the TT. 4th in RR. Showdown. Who will show up in my bod today? The guy that HATES crits? Or the guy that wants it all? I know the answer. I want it all and I'm going to have to open up the game plan. The weight of the yellow jersey causes a sleepless night. Throw aside the crit fear. The previous meltdowns in crits. The crit wrecks. I'm first in GC, leading wiley veteran Rich of Kaos by 7 points and Tom of the Green Machine by 11. I plan. I plot. I need to pull this off with foxiness. They announce a 5 point prime. Lap 5. First fella thru on lap 5 receives an extra 5 points towards the GC. Hmmm. I know I can't let Rich win that. I can't let Tom win that. I'm gonna watch them like a hawk. I'll contest it. B4 the race, I yoga for 20 minutes to release the demons. The doubts. I'm a good person, dadgummit, and I deserve the BEST!

The race starts. Tom sprints out of the gates. Tries to put the big hurt on right away. Uphill sprint, turn the corner. He peeks behind. I'm there. I won't be disposed of that easily. Like Bond's martini, I'm shaken, but not stirred. He's flying and I'm behind. He's rounding the corner towards the start/finish line..lap 1. I'm on him. He's in the wind now. He's doing the work. I'm sticking with him at least till lap 5, where the 5 point prime is. He submits. He lets his teammates take the lead. The greenies are there again...10+ strong. I don't care who is in front. I only care about Rich (#2 place) and Tom (#3rd). I'm your shadow today boys. Lap 5 arrives. The bell rings. The pace going up the hill, into the wind isn't terribly fast. Tom and Rich aren't attacking. I'm juiced. I decide to test them by going for the prime myself. I attack. I zoom up the hill solo, I round the corner and start shooting downhill with the wind. I look back. I've got a huge gap. I round the corner again to the start/finish line and I've got a 100 yards on the field. I reap the 5 points. I slay the dragons. I put a hatchet in their plans. Now they're way behind me on points. I slow down. I let them catch up. I go to part 2 of the plan now, suck wheel behind Rich or Tom, whoever is the fastest. They try a couple of attacks, but I'm motivated. It's now a matter of patience. Patience can overcome many obstacles. I'm eager, but good things to those who wait. The planets are aligning. I can win the GC barring wrecks. The final bell lap. I cruise in behind Rich in 8th place. Tom finishes in 6th, but they only pick up a couple of points on me. I'm good to go. I flash into the parking lot. Bump knuckles with Johanna (Shelle) Bruyneel, my race director. She fishes out a DC and I have my reward. It's so nice.

Summary: I secure the overall GC for Cat 4. Nebraskans sweep the TT podium. Rich and Pete, the ancient warriors, put the hurt on the 30 somethings. And the 20 somethings. They are confused. How can this be? Nebraskans? Old timers? I don't tell them the real secret. The motivator. The DC. They're young, they'll come up with their own drive. Boo-yah! I pocket $120 for winning TT and GC. But no medals. Humph. At least I've got the memories. They can't ever take that away from me. Good memories of happy days. What's next? Put the bike away. Ran 6 miles today after school traffic patrol. Lift, spin, run some more. One more athletic goal for the year. Finish my 1st marathon in a time good enough to qualify for Boston. I'll be motivated!

2010 Corporate Cycling Challenge report

2010-08-23T10:33:00.000-05:00

Older Tiger Troy preps the young tiggers Zach and Simone for the 42 miles Ft. Calhoun ride.
Sunday August 15th was a great day for the Omaha Cycling Challenge. Estimates of 4500 riders reminded me of Triple Bypass type of numbers. The cyclists weren't all as fit as you see on the Triple, but the Velo Veloce riders were. Junior Tiggers Zach Lau and Simone, Tigers Troy, Dave, and Pete hammered the long route. Afterwards, Mama's Pizza hit the spot!

Omaha Corporate Cycling Challenge on Sunday, August 15 @ 730 AM

2010-07-29T11:55:00.000-05:00

Hey Veloers,

I'll be gone to montanas in Colorado for next two weeks. Taking my bike, but of course! Plan on billy-goating every road pass I can find. Need to get in shape after suffering flogging on Surfside Hills during Worlds. Of course, getting drilled by the fastest dudes in Nebraska isn't too demeaning. It's not like your getting popped by some fat old zeppelins like me.

Anyway, I've sent out junior Tigger email to our six young'uns. Saying we are getting together for Omaha Corporate Cycling Challenge on Aug. 15. Meeting on west side of start area at 730 AM, on the grass, wearing the coveted orange/blue jerseys. Team pix planned for all who show, so come on down. We'll do the 42 m Ft. Calhoun loop.

Afterwards, the juniors and I will hit either Zio's in the Old Market, or if it is too busy, rendezvousing at Mama's Pizza on Saddle Creek a couple blox north of Dodge, next to Blockbuster.

You senior racers can ride at your own pace, but you'd better be watching over your shoulder. These juniors are FAST!!

See ya then! El Guapo

RAGBRAI 2010 Junior Velo Ride Report

2010-07-27T21:51:00.000-05:00

Simone leading the velo wolf pack down the left lane at RAGBRAI

Averaging 20mph, Simone leads the pack past all the sweathogs and beerbellied old men. Leaving them in the dust she could be Alberto Contador's daughter; sharing the same talent and speed he has. After pit-stops at turkey tom's and hard work I spent the rest of the day with my bestfriend Maddie at Storm Lake Water Park. As I shot out of numerous slides I was finally starting to feel my sore legs. But pain is my friend and has no effect on me what-so-ever. That's right I'm daddy's little girl. The next day we continued our 20mph pace on the miles of flat highway. I have to admit that passing people like they're standing still brings a smile to my face. But so did the finish as I coasted into the final town. It was a fun trip and I don't think I would have wanted to do it without my friend Maddie. I can't wait for next year!

RAGBRAI bound

2010-07-21T06:32:00.001-05:00

Hey there,

Simone and I are getting ready to do the 1st two days of RAGBRAI. We plan on driving up on Saturday PM with brother Joe and his crew, scout out some yard to camp in. Then hit the exposition. Long range forecast looks good. Anybody else coming out to play?

We also hope to have Maddie and Danny (our newest junior racer!!) tagging along. Maybe junior Veloer Zach Lau will surface too. Bring your Tigger gear to wear for team support and high visibility.

Cornhusker TT report

2010-06-28T21:47:00.000-05:00

So, another one is in the books. The 2010 Cornhusker State Games TT was held Saturday out at the venerable Yutan course. Wanna hear about it?

Hot! Musta been about 80F at 9 AM. Brudder Veloer junior Zach Lau and El Guapo sacked up and represented Xtreme Wheels/Velo Veloce. Somewhere around 70 total showed up to race. Most Cat 5s, only a couple of 1/2s.

Zach was one of the first to launch. No mercy for the juniors. They had to go the entire course! Zach pounded pavement and earned 2nd place in Junior's 13-15 age group. Verrrrryy nice effort, young padwan. I collected your hardware for ya!

I warmed up on the Pinarello, fearing a flat on my tubulars during warmup. My only gimmick was my heart rate monitor. Then switched bikes to the Orbea TT rocket. I pulled up to start line. Nancy dialed me into the right lane, Ryan held me up and Kevin counted me down. I took off like a scalded dawg. My 30 second man behind me was none other than Dan "the Man" Ertz, fresh off his State crit title. No time to look over the shoulder. Gulp!

I laid down some scorched earth in the first half. Wind was STRONG out of the south, right in our faces. So most the gains would be in the tuff 1st half of the race. Caught my 30 second man and one minute man, then started working my way thru Cat 5s. Turn around point was manned by none other than Midtown Joe Savoie. He screamed something as I made the turn, but I haven't the foggiest idea what. By now, the ticker had been steadily pounding at 170 to 173 bpms. Ugly hard into the wind was finally over. Sped back up with the wind at my back now, still pulling hard. BPMSs go down to high 160's. Driven by need for speed. This was my first true TT with the new Orbea and aero Easton EC 90 TT wheels (thanks Sean and Jason at BPedalers). Needed to prove that all the dinero was good investment.

Started to go deep into red zone. Watching pavement under bike so intently, lost in the fog of pain, that all of a sudden I'm off on the shoulder, spraying rocks and white knuckling the profile bars. Managed to fight it off and back up onto the pavement without getting splattered in the ditch. Disaster averted. Later, started drifting from one side of lane to the other, sure sign that your burning all your matches. There it is! The water tower of Yutan in the distance, a sure sign the HELL is almost over. Just another mile or two to go.

Fly over the finish line and reign in the sled. Nothing left in the tank, nada, nilch, nein, ZERO. Barely got unclipped. Felt like the Hindenburg going up in flames. No slow cool down ride. Stumble up to the old Mercedes wagon, plop my sorry buns in the well-placed soccer chair. Punished again. Not Ironman pain, but totally fried. Sit stone-like in the chair. Abe in the Lincoln Memorial got nuthing on you, babe, got nuthing on you. Statue still for 20 minutes. Only the eyeballs moving indicate there is life in the body. Zach and dad Randy drive by. They're bailing out early. Zach performs one last favor for team meat, err team mate, Guapo. Pulls my drenched skinsuit down over my shoulders from behind, as I didn't have the energy to do it myself. SAVED my life, he did. (yoda like language, eh?).

Finally, drag my carcass to the cooler in the car and swirl some nectar of the Gods...a Diet Coke. Life itself again courses thru my systems. Back from the brink of death itself. I have evolved from my amoeba like form, all the way to Cro-Magnon man. I make my way to the clubhouse, knuckles dragging on the gravel, stupid looking, to wait for results.

So, the results are in and not to shabby. El Guapo diesels in for the 3rd best time fo the day, bested by two tadpoles. I pull out the Gold Medal in Cat 4. Woo-hoo, another goal for the year achieved. Here are the final times for Zach and El Guapo:

Male Jr. Men 13-15 Years
Place Bib # Last Name First Name Racing Age Elapsed Time Avg MPH
1 239 Skiba Cole 15 1:13:33 17.38
2 238 Lau Zach 15 1:32:31 13.81

Male USCF Cat 4
Place Bib # Last Name First Name Racing Age Elapsed Time Avg MPH
1 275 Duryea Peter 53 0:50:46 25.17
2 276 ERTZ DAN 39 0:53:28 23.90
3 274 Dixon Michael 43 0:54:14 23.56

Ponca Success

2010-06-20T13:41:00.000-05:00

Three team members were on the podium at the Ponca MTB race yesterday: Dave Randleman won the SS division, Conor Randleman won the Juniors, and Todd Eyberg finished 3rd in the marathon despite a flat tire. Great job, guys!

Velo Veloce Exposed (Uncut)

2010-06-16T23:19:00.000-05:00

OK. Pete (aka El Guapo) beat me to this. However, this is how things really went down.

I was travelling down Highway 36 on a ride in an early morning attempt to exorcise the rain demons from my soul, when I noticed a highway patrol hidden on the roadside. Fearing that he would issue a citation to me for clearly violating all speed limits within the continental U.S., I attempted the humility approach and gave the officer the three fingers Velo Veloce handle bar wave (Randy previously instructed me as to the proper use of this technique). He responded with the two fingers One Adam 12 Officer Malloy wave and I could detect I smile behind his mirrored Ray Bans. Having dodged that misfortune, I immediately looked forward….before me this appeared as the Holy Grail…… Obviously, the protector. I travelled the next section with a proud smile on my face and a warm appreciation for the Velo team and their support to the community in this section. It should be note that there are no other sections on Hwy 36 that have an Adopt-a-Highway sponsor. Well done Velo Veloce.

Velo Veloce Exposed!

2010-06-16T10:11:00.000-05:00

A sign of good times!

Road warrior and Veloer Troy "the Hammer" Perry was pounding pavement on the northside today when he spotted this sign. Troy power slid to a stop and snapped this photo for all to enjoy. I'll be sure to point this out to the Wednesday Night World riders when we scream by it tonite. Thanks again to all Veloers who participated in the initial trash/litter pickup back in April. Next pickup will be in October or so. Nice effort Team Velo!

TT tanks!

2010-06-14T12:33:00.000-05:00

Veloers,

Back from Okoboji. I wanted to let everyone that volunteered at the TT to know how grateful I was for your help. We COULD NOT have done this without you. You know who you are, so I don't want to name names, but I thought the race went smoothly. Traffic flowed smoothly, with the exception of the bozos in the pickups who took out cones and scared referees and cyclists. Luckily, we got their plates and turned them into the sheriff. Georgia's pictures are awesome. Ted looks good in each picture, btw. The turnaround point was clearly marked, thanks to Joe, Steevo and Jackie's new signs. Rob resisted throwing down with an irate redneck. Way to show restraint Rob.
Dave handled the bike adjustments for juniors and other tweaks for racers. Chrissy kept oncoming traffic happy. Randy handled all the scoring pressure without cracking, supreme effort. Joe Savoie pitched in on prerace registration. Gracias.
April and Todd kept traffic at the finish line flowing smoothly.

Another big thank you to referees Nancy and Kevin, especially for their patience at the end during scoring.

Obviously, the post race scoring/tabulating was a nightmare. I've some ideas to clean thing up, under the assumption we host the TT again next year.

The online registration will not have the option to sign up as a Master 45 or 55. Just sign up by category, period. We'll fish out the Masters later from the individual cats.

Also, just give one medal in 45 and 55 to the overall Master winner, for each category. No 2nd and 3rd places.

So, while this is all fresh in our minds, send me your ideas for making it run smoother next year.

Again, a big hearty THANK YOU to all volunteers.

Photos from NE State TT Start

2010-06-12T17:56:00.000-05:00

The photos are in start order. If someone is missing it was due to a car passing by at the time of your start.

Photos are posted at http://velovelocecyclingclub.shutterfly.com/

The weather held out for everyone...Yippie. Everyone a job well done.

State Masters Champ

2010-06-07T16:52:00.000-05:00

Matt earned the cat 3 state masters championship in the Norfolk Criterium. Congratulations!

Ironman melted!

2010-06-07T09:31:00.000-05:00

News Flash! Purported Ironman melts down during Kansas 70.3

The truth be told, I'm only a half-Ironman. And 1/2 Ironman melted on the hot asphalt of Kansas yesterday. The course marshalls simply hosed him off the tarmac after he finished. Randy and Matt know nothing about cramping until they've heard my story.

Let's start from the beginning. I guess the real beginning is where I decided to do a triathlon. That probably came from my picking up running again last year. Fared well in 10K, 15K and Omaha half-marathon, so I figure I might as well go for the whole enchilada and do a triathlon. Say, why not go for broke and try a bleeding half-Ironman? How tuff can it be? You're immune to pain!

Was going to do the Boulder 70.3, but had my name in the ringer for the Leadville 100 MTB race. By the time they told me I didn't get selected from the lottery for the MTB race, the Boulder 70.3 was full. So, I opted for the Kansas 70.3.

Knew I had to resume some swimming to train for this. Jackie2 worked with me during this winter off-season in an attempt to make me a sleek, efficient water-eating machine, like her. Unforunately, I remain a thrasher, despite her best efforts. The swimmer's mold was cast, but I was nowhere to be found when poured. But I did manage to swim the requisite distance of 1.2 miles w/o stopping in the YMCA pool. Pretty doggone impressive, considering when we started I could barely do a lap without panting like Pavlov's dog.

Race day: THE SWIM: So, when I actually took to the water to do the 1.2 mile swim during this half, the swimming didn't tire me out. But I lost scads of time lifting my dome up to see where I was. Plus the sunlight was bouncing off the water. The glare prevented me from seeing where I was in relation to the other swimmers. On the postive side of the ledger, I didn't inhale any suds, nor get tired, nor did I get knocked senseless by the flailing limbs of other thrashers. We did get to wear the wetsuits, so the added bouyancy really helped. I crawled out of the water in about 49th position. Ugly. Slow. But survived.

The T1 transition: Had to change quickly from water gear to biking gear. My 1st ever transition and I failed miserably. My time was like almost 5 minutes, compared to others getting swapped over in 2. Couldn't get the wetsuit off, had trouble putting on the biking top, finding the pockets to stuff GU into, you name it, it went wrong. Ugly. Real slow. GNASTY!

The Bike: Ahhh, now you're talking my language. Inhaled a GU. Warmed up slow. Then turned up the RPMS and starting kicking booty and taking names. To heck with Wholesome, steel cut goodness advice to rein it in on the bike. I cannot be stopped. I will soon be catching the pros. Well, I did catch a lot of those amphibious turds who slithered out of the water before me, and really only had one guy pass me, and he was a 44 year old stud. Stayed on him like glue. But, it wasn't as easy as it sounds. Half way thru the course, we had to actually stop, dismount, run around a patch of fresh oil in the road. When I remounted, my bike seat came loose. Ay caramba! Choices presented themselves. Stop and try to fix w/o tools. Keep going and don't get off the saddle for the next 25 miles. I opted for Door Number 2, where the lovely Vanna is standing. It worked, but my quads were screaming for relief by the end of the bike. Averaged 21.8, which I thought was slow, but the course was very hilly. No computer so I couldn't confirm the speed. Pretty. Speedy. Dat's what I'm talking about.It's all good. I ROCK.

T2: Bike to run. Nothing to it really. Take off bike shoes and helmet, put on Asics. Relatively fast.

The RUN: Oy, it hurt. After the first few strides, I knew I was in deep kimchi. Legs felt like hedge posts. Only 13.1 endless miles to go for my first triathlon. By now, I've got no frigging idea where my competitors are. There could be 58 of them ahead of me and I didn't give a rat's patootie. I went into survival mode. There would be no dominating performance on this run. I no longer ROCK. I am a rock. Rock legs, rocks for brains. The miles go by so slowly. 12, 11, eternity. Stop! Just throw in the towel. Go home with your tail between your legs. Fess up, you bit off more than you could chew. Now you know that was NOT going to happen, but I was wrestling with demons by now. I slog on. I OD on gatorade, I douse myself with ice water. I see Jesus and it made sense that he was there. I plod on. I notice I'm passing some turtles with my age group painted on their calves. I'm not going fast, they are just going slower than me. Finally, the last turn. About 2 miles to go. Merciless, senseless, brutal miles. Good hearted fans chanting "good job." If only they knew the truth! It was a horrible job. I'm weak. I'm feeble. I'm just hanging on by the guilt associated with being tagged "quitter." Eureka. The finish line is a couple of hundred yards away. The brain commands the legs to keep moving forward. I'm simulating a run, but moving at a walk pace. I had envisoned some glitzy victory salute when crossing the line. All I could drum up was a DEATH MASK. I stumble across the line. No burst of euphoria, no miraculous victory dance. Some wise medics realize the train wreck that just crashed in their turf and grab me. Despite my assertations that I'm perfectly fine, they realize that I'm lying through my teeth and whisk me away to the Medic Tent. They lay my living corpse on a nearby stretcher/cot. In my delirium, I ask for someone to remove my shoes, telling them they need to depress the red buckle release to take them off. Later, I realize that I actually have on my running shoes, not my biking shoes. Silly Pete. I'm cramping from the bald spot on my noggin to the little toes. I cramped in so badly I'm gnawing on my index finger knuckle trying to divert the pain elsewhere. Does this illustrate how much this race hurt?

But hey, it wasn't all bad. I eventually recover. They have to physically yank me up on my feet. My pegs protest, but I walk a step or two just like the Tin Man after his first shot of oil in years. I'm mobile again. Say now, what's this? It occurs to me. I HAVE SURVIVED! It is in the books! I'm half-Ironman. They can read that at my eulogy.

The results: I blunder my way into 8th place out of ninety-eight registered 50-54 year olds. (The guy before me was a relay participant so he doesn't count) I surpass my projected finish time of 5 hours, 15 minutes, with a finish of 5.01.57. Oh, for a quicker T1!! A minute or two off and I would have been in the magical 4 hour category and moved up a spot or two. I really got dusted in the swim.

Results and splits can be found here: http://www.ironmanlive.com/tracking.php?race=kansas70.3&year=2010

1 PYLE, STEVE
4/1/1 52/M50-54 00:31:11 02:23:59 01:34:57 04:33:16
2 BENNATAN, ANDRE
3/7/2 51/M50-54 00:31:03 02:42:18 01:31:30 04:49:44
3 REYNEN, PAUL
8/4/3 50/M50-54 00:34:16 02:33:21 01:37:42 04:50:53
4 MCCLENDON, JAMES
19/8/4 51/M50-54 00:35:50 02:39:37 01:37:18 04:56:39
5 SALINAS, OMAR
11/13/5 51/M50-54 00:35:05 02:45:51 01:32:44 04:57:37
6 RUMSEY, ANDY
10/6/6 51/M50-54 00:35:01 02:39:12 01:42:01 04:59:56
7 DICK, SAMUEL
18/5/7 54/M50-54 00:35:50 02:37:52 01:43:07 05:00:16
8 SWENSON, ANDY
5/4/7 52/RELM 00:37:12 03:01:20 03:01:00 06:44:17
9 DURYEA, PETER
45/9/8 53/M50-54 00:41:11 02:33:29 01:41:13 05:01:49

I finish in the top ten, which was pretty ambitious considering this was my first triathlon ever. As I sit here typing, as the pain slowly subsides, as the brain elimates the negative and moves forward with the positive, a little, evil voice is whispering in the back of my gray spaghetti. You know what it is saying. Maybe you've heard the same voices. Mine is saying: Uh, dude, what you say we try a FULL BLOWN FREAKING IRONMAN!! 2.4 swim! 112 mile bike! 26.2 marathon run. Double the pain! You love it. You were made to absorb it, wrap yourself in it and immerse yourself in it. You only live once, and your days are numbered. Sack up. Can you say Coure de Alene?

The Cramps

2010-06-05T19:38:00.000-05:00

No, not the punk band. Matt O'Donnell and I raced the Norfolk Classic RR today. The EVCC served up 64 miles of racing, with plenty of wind and humidity for us. Matt raced the 3s, I was racing 4s and we both cramped up during the race. Matt took a flyer in the 1/2/3 race and had a nice solo break going for 6 miles before they reeled him in. After that, it was cramping time. A long stretch by himself, but he finished 11th in the 3s race out of 18.

The 4s race was fun (36 riders-a fairly large group, especially for Nebraska), but there was a lot of negative racing: anytime someone initiated a break, you would end up with some clown getting in and doing no work or screwing up the rotation, or someone with no possible hope of placing well killing themselves to chase it down. Still, it was fast in spite of the headwind that never seemed to go away (the wind actually shifted during the race, so this is literally true). We almost caught the 1/2/3 peloton at the end. On this day of attrition, I was in the lead group of 10 riders that survived acceleration after acceleration. With 2 miles to go I was hit with severe cramping, to a point where I could barely turn the crank. Lost 59 seconds, was passed by a group of 3 and ended up 13th. Still, my fitness is coming along, and if I had remembered to bring electrolyte tablets, I would have survived in the lead group. Live and learn...

Photos from today: Matt and myself.

It's showtime!

2010-05-30T21:04:00.000-05:00

Gulp! Next weekend is the real deal. To date, the single hardest effort I've ever made was the race up Mt. Evans in 2006. Relentless, grueling ascent to 14200ft from Idaho Springs at 7500. That ride chewed me up and spit me out.

It might pale in comparison to the next madness. I'm inked the deal to the tune of 230 clams, to suffer in the half-Ironman in the Land of Oz. Heading to Clinton Lake outside of Lawrence to test my inner mettle. Gonna thrash water for 1.2 miles, jump on the sweet new Orbea TT bike and pound pavement for 56 miles, then lace up the Asics for the 13.1 miles death blow.

Expectations? Not sure. Finish is priority 1, even if I have to drag myself on the pavement to the finish line. Priority 2, finish in top ten of my age group. I suspect there will be some real players here. I don't think a lot of fat slouches, present company excluded, sign up for these 1/2s.

I'm gonna redefine the art of suffering. I'm gonna slam Gu every 10 minutes. This is epic! No rest for the wicked. Flog me please.

Map my Velo Ride ride

2010-05-30T17:24:00.000-05:00

Ain't good lookin' but you know I ain't shy.. Fellow Velo's today, three riders became 10 plus riders, and it was a party train on wheels. Taking this road and rippin' on it wide. Penetrating the hills like One Cosmic Ray (pg 282, Webster's). We cut seamlessly through with no trace behind. With electrolytes and Perpetuem dripping down the legs (bad water bottles), I assumed a paceline position and gave thanks for it all anyway. Didn't need no stinkin' PowerBar leftover from last season; Velotrain swallowed me whole, kept me safe and compressed lending supersonic synergy needed to empower an explosive attack('cept I didn't attack cuz these guys are really nice and who knows where the next turnoff was) BUT you just don't show your stuff off when you got the stuff from your own team! Not now anyway. We knock out more hills and straights. Pass a church right after an impressive incline.."thanks God for gettin' me here..OMG another /^#@*impressive incline, back-to-back!" Life is sneaky sometimes. Fred talks like it's a picnic and encourages me to let me be myself and blow this *@*/ off for good. Pete, my martyr(Webster's, pg 762) has taken off on another route, missing my chance for a good 'Where'd ya get your socks ' conversation; drats wingman next time! Last downhill and I didn't even know it till Troy sped up, if he's takin' it then this must be over I thought. I just had to kick it out now and Shoot to Thrill, play to kill...playin Smoke on the Water, then we had to stop at the stop sign. I hate stop signs but they can save your life. There's all my guys from the break off. And we all take part in this manisfestation of the rides realities, at Scooter's, where the bathrooms are presumably clean. Thanks fellas for making me feel like Queen of the Wheel today. BIKE TRIVIA: In 1927, Tulio Campagnolo invented the what? A: The quick-release wheel. The Italian racer was in the snow when a tire punctured. His hands were too numb to undo his wingnuts! ;D He abandaned the race.
o-o~Speed Queen

Pump, run and pizza

2010-05-17T13:44:00.000-05:00

The truth is.....I am Ironman!

Well, kind of an Ironman, at least when it comes to pumping iron. So, how did you celebrate your birthday? Here's what El Guapo did. Geri from the SW Y, where I teach Group Cycle, convinced me to try out the Pump & Run event she was promoting at the Plattsmouth Community Center. They describe the event better than I can, so here's how it works:

The Pump and Run event includes both the 5K run and a maximal repetition bench press. The runner’s final time many times he/she cans bench press a percentage of their body weight. An athlete’s run time will be reduced by 1 min bench press rep.

So, I weighed in at the usual 175 lbs. For 50-59 age group, you take 80% of your weight, which played out to be 140 lbs. So, when my turn at the bench came up, they piled on 140 lbs. Sporting my new Velo gear, I did 31 reps. This was better than expected, as my previous best had been 27 reps at the Y.

I then hoofed it outside to the 5 K starting point. The course was FUGLY. Not any flat road, rather continual up and down steep hills. I planned on running a 20 minute 5K, and ended up finishing in 20:07. So knocking off one minute for each rep, that lowered my final score to -ll:07.

Ending up winning the whole competition of about 45 people. One young guy benched 32 reps, but I dusted him in the run. Next closest finisher was at -6 minutes. This had been one of my focal spots of the year, so it was satisfying to walk away with the overall win. Who said life ended at 50?

After a quick coffee fix at Paneras, brother Joe, Millie, CK and I hit Zio's for an anchovy and black olive pizza. OMG, mouth watering goodness!

So, now time to switch focus again. Next up, the real Ironman gig. Then we'll really find out how much iron I've got. Gulp!!

Fred on the rampage again!

2010-04-29T08:10:00.000-05:00

This was from the OMaha World Herald. Fred is on his way back. More to follow. Super impressive showing again!

Duathlon: Omahan 3rd at nationals
WORLD-HERALD PRESS SERVICES

RICHMOND, Va. — Omahan Fred Galata placed third at the U.S. National Duathlon Championships for ages 55 to 59 Sunday.

A record turnout of 1,800 competed Sunday, including 53 in Galata’s age group. The duathlon was a 5-kilometer run, a 38K bike ride and another 5K run.

Galata, 59, finished in 1 hour, 46 minutes and 35 seconds, behind a 56-year-old from Minnesota and a 58-year-old from Tennessee.

Galata rides for the Velo Veloce Cycling Club of Omaha

Adopt a Highway Mission Report

2010-04-18T22:22:00.000-05:00

Pictured l to right: Glenn, Todd, Connor,Jackie, Dave, Harvey, El Guapo, Josh, Fred, Troy. (click on picture to enlarge)
Velo is going green. We've adopted a one mile segment of Hwy 36 on the north side of town. Sunday the gang met and broke out the orange bags and reflective vests. Marched the one mile stretch of turf and scrounged up about 20 bags of senseless litter. Couple of dead critters, one driver's license, one license plate. No sachels of $$, rats! The roadside looks fab now, tho. Thanks a bazillion to all the Veloers who showed up. We'll do it again in about 6 months. Look for our sign soon on the section of well-bicycled road.

Litter pickup was followed by team ride through the Trace and Chute. A beautiful sight to behold, 10 Veloers in Tiger stripes on paceline. Like poetry in motion. Heck, we're starting to look like the REAL DEAL. See ya for Trek ride!

Velo Veloce flexes at Le Tour de Husker

2010-04-18T21:59:00.000-05:00

Race report for Le Tour road race. El Guapo decides Friday night to punt on the Ironman training and opts for Le Tour road race on Saturday morning at Branched Oak. The lure of bike racing is like a drug. Needed my fix. So, hop in the Jeep, snarf some wicked chocolate covered, custard filled do-dos on the way done and guzzle a gallon of java the hut, fully leaded 93 octane jet fuel.

Colder than a well-digger's ass while we're getting ready, but as soon as we roll out things start to heat up for the 48 mile race. Dave the Dagger Randleman and El Guapo race Open Cat 4. On 2nd lap, I hear mass carnage occurring behind me. My first thought was that it sounded like carbon fiber breaking. Twas! No time to look back, but turns out to be true. Check out this pic taken after the race!

4th lap, about a mile before the dam, it's my turn. Some clown goes down about 5 bikes in front of me. I scream out "Scheizer" as I eat pavement. (That's shee-yat in German) Nothing broken, just bleeding, so I hop back on my sled and burn rubber out of there as the rest of the unlucky sods are rolling in agony on the tarmac. The lead group is now about 1/4 mile away, so I go into TT mode and go red to catch back on. Rest briefly in the back, slam in a Gu on the way across the dam. As soon as we turn west, things start to pick up in earnest. Kaos Kyle hits the gas, others not quick to react, so I take opportunity to bridge up. We get a gap of about 50 yards. Kyle and I work together the next 3 miles with the pack of rabid wolves nipping at our heels, but our lead holds out to the final turn into Lieber Point. I've got second secured and can't match Kyles strength as he wins by 10 yards or so. The pack finished about 20 seconds behind and the Dagger strikes for 4th place. It was great working with the D, as we both watched out for each other thruout the race. Far freaking out. Roasted like a 'mallow at the end, but it felt GRRREAT.

Mike and Troy race Cat 5, but I'll let them report in on that action.

Everybody loves Tiggers!

Twin Bing Hurricane

2010-04-16T14:07:00.000-05:00

2010 Team Picture at Twin Bing race in Climbing Hill, Iowa
Left to Right in back row: Troy Perry, Jack Perry (junior), Matt O'Donnell, Dave Randleman, Pete Duryea, Rusty Reno, Glenn Houtchins, Andy Keffer
Front row: Nick Ruiz, Simone Duryea (juniors)

So, we met at Zoo and boogied up to the metropolis that is Climbing Hill Iowa for the first road race of the year. Biggest surprise of the day was the gale force winds out of the SE. Made the rolling hills heading east brutal, followed by the flat section heading south. The big moves of the day occurred on the turn to the south. I missed out on the initial breaks there and suffered chasing the rest of the 45 mile B race. Foolish me. I knew it was coming too. Live and learn. I emptied the tank just trying to get back up front. Ended up riding second lap entirely with two others. The lead group was just out of reach ahead, but we couldn't close in. Suffered up the Climbing Hill to finish 10th out of 68 or so. Bummed. Thought I was in shape, but mental lapse was enuf to torpedo any grand illusions of podium. Better luck next year. EL GUAPO

Juniors performed admirably. Simone got lost for 6 miles due to course ignorance and no volunteers at critical turn in Bronson. She rode 31 miles instead of 25. Anybody else out there got a feeble excuse like mine? Please post additional pix and race reports.

MOD's route we should try

2010-04-05T14:54:00.000-05:00

Here's a route from Mark Savery-perfect for a ride from the shop:CB Hill Loop
Find more Bike Rides in Council Bluffs, Iowa

Riders on the Podium

2010-04-04T10:16:00.000-05:00

Dave Randleman finished 2nd yesterday in SS at the Jewell MTB TT, Connor Randleman finished 2nd in Juniors, and Todd Eyberg finished 2nd in Men's 35+ Cat 2, only 5 seconds back of 1st. Rob Livingston rode well, finishing 6th in Men's 35+ Cat 2, only 35 seconds back of Todd. Great job guys!

Cancellara is studly

2010-03-27T14:46:00.001-05:00

What an impressive win:

1st Mountain Bike Trail Ride on new mntn bike

2010-03-26T14:59:00.000-05:00

theBest and Worst of my First new mountain bike ride, on new bike, and first ride at all this year (FINALLY)! 3)the Best: Those quick steep uphill spurts when you grind up the Glutes and can be Queen of the Hill at the top for those few quick seconds! 3)the Worst: Those quick steep angled slopes that approach you and just say 'Are you kidding?'. 2)the Best: Falling the best way possible, remembering it in 3 simple steps as if in slow mo..."now this is happening...now I will do this..". 2)the Worst: Dead pine needles stuck inyour spandex like a porcupine after falling on the "Easy" path. And 1) the Best: The wide, open fields where you can see forever all at once, including the red wig and mannequin parts right where a bike spill would really be funny. 1) the Worst: Having to pass that same spot again the opposite way because you can't find the way out. This was a fun experience overall. Wrists a little tender, I have new appreciation for this! Trivia: In the Tour De France, how many switchbacks does the infamous L'Alpe d'Huez have? A:21 I enjoyed the skill requirements at Tranquility for these both left and right!

Speed Queen

Out with the old!

2010-03-13T11:20:00.000-06:00

So, my trusty old Cervelo is toast. I spent many a suffering hour on that sled. It served me well. But the time has come to upgrade. I sold the Cervelo to Ben out in west O, who wants to start doing triathlons.

Blaine, our shop's mechanical genius and the Midwest's best, is currently assembling a 2008 Orbea Ora for me. Sleek black and white scheme all in carbon. We're building it up with all Campy components, as it would be heresy to put on japcrap. The only non-Campy components are the brake levers, since Campy doesn't make any. I forked over a little extra dinero and bought some SRAM 900 TT levers, all carbon and super light at 99 grams.

With a little luck, I stumbled into a sweet deal on some aero wheels. I bought some brand new Easton EC90 TT wheels down at Bike Pedaler's in Lincoln. Thanks to Sean and Jason for treating me right on those gems. I promised them I'd bring Fred down and we'd do some of their Tuesday night TT training rides.

Not sure what the total weight of the beastie will be when all done. Certainly less than the 21+ lbs. that the Cervelo weighed. I'm hoping 18 lbs or less. Combine that with great aero wheels and I hope to fly down the TT road this year. Of course, I'll need the motor to be all tuned up to make the Ora gold. Uh, can you say sufferfest?

Let the party begin. More story to follow when Blaine calls to tell me the Rocket is Ready.

El Guapo

Saturday night's all right for sprinting!

2010-03-03T16:47:00.000-06:00

A snappy outfit garners El Guapo style points

during the GoldSprints event at Bike Way!

Yo,

Some club members (Fred, Gene, Glenn, Andy, El Guapo) came to the Bike Way on Saturday for the initial GoldSprint indoor bike racing. This was an interesting experience and might not be my bag. I matched up against Aaron in the opening match, thanks to Fred for signing me up.

They said it was a 100 yd sprint, racing against each other on the bike and seeing the progress on the big screen computer. Something was screwed up tho, and we ended up doing the 800 yard race. So, I blew up thinking I only had a 100 yard race. We later raced again and Aaron dusted me. Good thing tho, I think getting eliminated early meant I didn't blow chunks like many racers did later. They had big yellow 5 gallon buckets next to each bike to hurl into.

Andy, Glenn and Gene all did well. Fred and I got tossed early, mostly cuz our feet unclipped during the race. Give it a try!

Trek the Tower

2010-02-21T15:10:00.000-06:00

Betty and El Guapo ham it up before the 2010 Trek the Tower. All smiles here, but that soon changes to the Death Mask!

Are you ready to take on the Tower? 40 floors, 870 steps, and 633 feet into the sky, First National Tower is the tallest building between Chicago and Denver. Get your feet ready and your heart pumping to Trek up the Tower.

Velocistas,

While you were all tucked in and sleeping away Saturday morning, Veloers Betty "Crash" Cook and El Guapo were out cross-training by doing the annual Trek The Tower.

You know, sprinting up 40 stories to the top of the First National Building? Oh, behave!

Ok, maybe not sprinting. Maybe not even going fast, but we did it nonetheless.

And good results! Betty smokes it for a 10 min, 41 second outburst. The worst (or best) part was she wasn't even breathing heavy at the end. I guess its all the xc skiing she's been doing lately, eh?

El Guapo decides to try it for the 1st time too after Betty throws down the fitness gauntlet. Plus, it's another thing they can read over my cold, shriveled corpse at my eulogy. Yeah, something like Simone saying "My dad was a fitness fool. I remember one year when he decides it would be fun to hike up 40 stories of stairs. Rest in peace, you foolish old man, it's no wonder your heart exploded during this latest escapade." (whatever it is that finally does me in).

Hey, who's complaining? Just stuff my cremated remains into the downtube of my De Rosa and put it on your mantle piece (if permissible), or the attic and hand it down thru the generations.

Anyway, back to the Trek the Tower. Pardon my ramblings, it goes with the age.

But, speaking of age, El Guapo churns his way to 1st place in the 50-59 age group, out of 69 total old farts. And dines on quite a few young whippersnappers too, by finishing 9th overall out of 1100+ racers in a time of 5 min, 32 seconds.

Oh but for a few seconds more, could have moved up to 6th overall. Guess I should have picked up the pace the last few flights. Frankly, I don't know if that was possible. Sounds good now, a day after the brutality is over.

Recap:

Betty and I arrive early after meeting at Panera's at 615. Downed a little Dark Roast jet fuel. We sign in early, get our numbers, take some photos. Do some stretching and then get in the "elite" line, as Betty has scorched these stairs before and I qualified for "elite" status due to running a 10K in under 50 minutes (40 min/Corp Cup).

We yak it up with some folks in line. Met Sarah "Smiles" B, who turns out to be an ex- Cat 1 bike racer for Penn State, and her dad Andrew, from Alva, OK. Andy gives me some great tips about how to attack the stairs. Sarah and I exchange emails and she may join us for some racing. Hot damn!

We stretch in line, right behind some Rocky Balboa look alike, jogging in place, all dressed in black. I'm super giddy, thanks to glomming the cups of caffiene. Finally, we work our way up to the starting scanner. Betty blasts first, then they launch me 7 seconds later.

I start motoring up the steps, 2 at a time. Catch Betty, who gives me a rebel yell and an adrenaline rush. I decide to keep my head down and not look at floor signs. Use the railings for some additional pull and start passing some folks. The stairs are surprisingly narrow, with just enuf room to pass shoulder to shoulder, but people are pretty courteous about letting faster folks by. I really only had one Clyesdale slow me down.

Finally lift my head up and catch a glimpse of a "27th floor" sign. Still got some juice in the tank and know I can make it now. By 35th floor starting to slow down a wee bit, and by 37 my legs feel like they are cast in cement. I get to 38th and I feel like a Chernobyl reactor about to melt down. I then spaz my way up to 40 and to the finishing scanner. Bring out your dead, bring out your dead!

No idea of my time, but felt like I did pretty good. I knew from a little research that the previous year's 50-59 winner Bob (who finishes 2nd behind me this year), crushed it in 5.50 or something. I had set some pre-race goals of sub-9 minutes, but then had to reevaluate after seeing the winning times from previous race.

I immediately plop down on a chair, and watch some firemen revive some dude that totally collapses in a sprawled heap on the floor. Definitely deep in the red zone for that gladiator. Been there, done that...can you say criterium around the Flatiron a couple of years ago?

Betty and I circle the 40th floor and let the screaming heart rates come down. Everyone up there is hacking up lung oysters due to something; the effort, the altitude change, the dust in the stairwell, whatever.

We finally board the elevator for the ride down to 1. Gather up some loot, cool shirt, free Whole Foods drinks and parfaits, then plop our sorry buns down at a table and try to equilibreate.
See some old buds from the Y, Vince, Dan, Ellie, Sarah our new bike bud, etc.

The results get posted. We wait in line and approach the results. Totally shocked and awed by my 9th place result. Oh, baby, I think what I'm supposed to say is "Good night now" or "unbeevable". (for you Romey fans). I had told some close friends that I planned on winning my age group, but that was bull talk from a one-eyed fatman. (Fill your hand, Ned! I aim to kill you right here and now or take you into to hang at Judge Parker's convenience. What'll it be?")

BC and I vacate the premises @ 930ish for the return trip to Panera's and some web surfing and Java. Never occurred to me there would be the award ceremony at 11 to stick around for. My YMCA spinning buddy Howie Halperin organizes the Trek the Tower event, so he'll surprise me on Monday night with my "award."

Afterthought: ugly, gasping raw throat choking, but no sore legs today. Good event for bikers to demonstrate their superiority to all those other sports disciplines like running, etc. Might do it again next year, but maybe I won't.

Here are the official results from the Trek the Tower website:

http://www.onlineraceresults.com/event/view_event.php?event_id=4570

Trek up the Tower
February 20, 2010 - Omaha, Nebraska

Overall Individual Results

Place Name City Age Sex Div/Tot Finish
===== ===================== ================= === === ======== =======
1 IVAN MARSH ASHLAND NE 35 M 1/157 4:31
2 RYAN WOLF OMAHA NE 27 M 1/156 4:58
3 GERALD KUBIAK OMAHA NE 35 M 2/157 5:08
4 JEFF MARSHALL OMAHA NE 48 M 1/124 5:15
5 BRIAN WANDZILAK LINCOLN NE 29 M 2/156 5:16
6 LEE MARTIN OMAHA NE 26 M 3/156 5:28
7 BRYAN WITT OMAHA NE 24 M 4/156 5:30
8 KELLY HALVERSON OMAHA NE 29 M 5/156 5:31
9 PETER DURYEA OMAHA NE 52 M 1/69 5:32
10 BENJAMIN GERBER OMAHA NE 24 M 6/156 5:32

MALE AWARDS

********** OVERALL RESULTS FOR MALE RACE ***********
1 IVAN MARSH 35 ASHLAND NE 4:31
2 RYAN WOLF 27 OMAHA NE 4:58
3 GERALD KUBIAK 35 OMAHA NE 5:08

********** TOP MASTER FOR MALE RACE ***********
1 JEFF MARSHALL 48 OMAHA NE 5:15

AGE 18 - 29
1 BRIAN WANDZILAK 29 LINCOLN NE 5:16
2 LEE MARTIN 26 OMAHA NE 5:28
3 BRYAN WITT 24 OMAHA NE 5:30

AGE 30 - 39
1 HENRY KINGHAM 38 OMAHA NE 5:33
2 CHARLES SMITH 35 OMAHA NE 5:43
3 BRIAN RONK 36 COUNCIL BLUFFS IA 5:45

AGE 40 - 49
1 JEFF MADDOX 41 NEBRASKA CITY NE 5:43
2 DAVID SEEVERS 42 GRETNA NE 6:02
3 DAVID FITCH 41 COUNCIL BLUFFS IA 6:03

AGE 50 - 59
1 PETER DURYEA 52 OMAHA NE 5:32
2 BOB HENCHAL JR 56 OMAHA NE 5:56
3 KEITH DOWELL 55 LAWRENCE KS 6:14

Snow Ride

2010-02-06T20:28:00.000-06:00

Took the mtb out for a ride on the Keystone and Big Papio trails before they were cleared. 3-5 inches of power-sucking snow everywhere. It took 90 minutes to complete 11 miles. Here's why:

VO2 testing

2010-02-02T06:58:00.000-06:00

Reminder!

Veloers and other esteemed guests,

If you didn't have a chance to do this before, you might want to consider doing it now before we get all wrapped up in the race season. My pal, Dr. Kirk Peck, top dawg at the Creighton University Physical Therapy Department, is putting together another VO2 testing regimen. He wants to test elite bicyclists and compare the results to elite runners.

This isn't the fully aspirated version, but involves a 1.5 mile full-out run, and 3 sub-max tests; indoor cycling, walking and jogging. Bottom line, the results turn out to be eerily similar to the full-blown V02 test.

Some of us did it last year. Fred was off the charts, and others tested well compared to elite runners and age groupings.

If you are interested in doing this, contact me at pduryea at cox dot net. I'll get you hooked up with Kirk. The testing should be coming soon, February or beginning of March.

Nebraska Cycling Assn. Meeting

2010-02-02T06:46:00.000-06:00

President Ryan Feagan enterains the crowd with geek data from last year's cycling events and the survey sent out to Nebraska racers.

Six Velo Veloce riders met for the beginning of the year Nebraska Cycling Association's kick-off meeting. Gene, Andy, Ted, Randy, Rusty and El Guapo journeyed to Whole Foods in Omaha for this well-attended event. Dandy pizza was available to enjoy during the presentation by Prez Ryan. Many topics were discussed, MTB and road racing, race sizes, age categories, rider-of-the-year calculations, etc. Plus we elected new officers for the upcoming year.

Going from memory here, but Ryan was reelected President, John Spay from Norfolk was VP, Cheryl Gerkins Officials Coordinator, Craig Harding Treasurer, John Lefler Secretary and Kevin Burke Upgrade Coordinator. Good crew! If the crowd size was a good indicator, interest is growing in Nebraska racing.

The next evening, Gene, Andy and El Guapo went to the Waiting Room and snarfed pizza (again) and watched the Greatest Story Ever Told with about 50 other cyclists. This movie was about Eddie Merckx in the 74 Giro de Italia, winning for his 5 consecutive title.

Hope to organize a team ride soon. Looks like some above 30F temps are just around the corner. I'm ready!

None of this weeny spinning stuff

2009-12-24T16:23:00.000-06:00

Duryea, I'm calling you out! Man up! This indoor stuff is for weenies. Ride outside with insane people like me (yes, that is an icicle on my chin):

Winter Training: Part 1

2009-12-23T15:13:00.001-06:00

Check out back, left row...who's that grinch? Why it's Veloer Genius Ray hitting El Guapo's S/SW Y spin class. Look out for big things from Gamma Ray next year...he's prepping early!

El Guapo donned his goofy Christmas attire for Saturday's par-tay! Click on pix to enlarge.

Yes, you look closely and you can see I even wore my Scooby Doo boxer shorts. My S/SW spin class held our xmas party after last week's class. I even burned a blues Christmas CD special for the occasion. Party consisted of egg nog (no rum), bagels, cream cheese and coffee.

Spin passes are always available for my Velo pals or esteemed bike acquaintences. Just let me know if you wanna come do a class, I'll save you a bike. Saturday class is 8 AM at S/SW (132nd and Center) or 615 PM Monday evening at Maple Y (75th and Maple).

Guaranteed fat burner and calorie shedder. Class is 45 minutes long to really cheezy 70s and 80s music. Seated and standing climbs, likewise for runs, with some lifts and isolations mixed in. Usually followed by Panera's coffee on Saddle Creek & Dodge, with mucho ebay surfing for biking parts and what-not. Huge, huge, huge. Let's git-r-done!

Jingle Cross Mud

2009-11-29T19:50:00.000-06:00

Peanut butter mud was the rule of the day at Jingle Cross. Friday night was wild. 25 lined up in my 45+ race at dusk. By the end of the race, it was completely dark and we were racing under the lights. I didn't preview the course because I would have had to wash my bike before the race-I figured that it wouldn't make that much difference anyway. Had a decent warmup, though.

The 3.5 km course consisted of a lot of flat riding, with some muddy stretches mixed in, and two nasty freaking climbs, both unridable. The first was the climb up Mt. Krumpet, which was really difficult-100 ft elevation change running through sticky, gooey mud to the top, then a greasy off-camber descent with two hairpins. The other was a short rise that turned into an unpleasant greasy run-up, with an equally greasy descent into the area between the bluffs and the livestock pens, which was wet sticky mud.

We lined up in the grid and they said we'll start in 30 seconds. I reached down to adjust my shoe buckle, and the start bell rang, so I was in 20th place instantly. Marvelous. I though it was disaster. I chased hard, but didn't seem to make up much ground. Then we got to the run-up to the top of Krumpet. I must have passed 10-12 guys on that climb-it helps to have some natural running talent. I ran the descent as well. With the fading light, finding your line was really difficult. If I had a chance to spend a bit of time practicing it, I probably could have ridden it, but that didn't happen. So I ran it every time and ended up passing people riding their bikes. Every time up the hill I made up huge amounts of time, so that by the last lap I had worked myself back to 7th, then passed Scott Fleming and Dan Hansen on the climb to move into 5th. I almost caught John Meehan for 4th, only a couple of seconds ahead of me; if I had an average start, I would have definitely been 4th and been in the running for the podium.

No such luck Saturday. Bottom of my shoes got wet, so I slipped and could not clip in at the start, thus relegated to the back of the pack again. The Krumpet run-up took a different path and was a freaking mess. The descent was through the crappy mud we ran up on Friday. Dropped a chain on first lap, and stopped three times to clean out my brakes/fork/seat stays so that the wheels would actually rotate-mud would be mixed with grass on the run-up and create an adobe brick in two places on your bike. Lost at least 1.5 minutes with the stops to fix the bike. Horrible day, ended up 9th out of 20 starters.

Deanna and I managed to get a case of bad food poisoning from Chipotle burritos that evening, so no racing on Sunday. That's it, I'm done for the year. For the 14 races this fall: 1 DNF, 3 firsts, 2 seconds, 2 thirds, 3 fourths, 1 fifth and 2 ninth places. A very good season, to say the least.

Some excellent photos here, in particular, the womens 4 race, which was the highlight of the weekend for the male racers.

The end is nigh...

2009-11-23T13:48:00.000-06:00

...if this exists.

Lincoln CX

2009-11-22T19:50:00.000-06:00

As the only racer from the team, I tried to give us decent representation. Both days I was racing master's 40+ (having upgraded to cat 2 last week, I didn't see much point in racing the open class-maybe next year). Day 1 went well. It was a very strong field, with half of the racers from KC, and many of the better ones making the trip. Had the best start I've ever had in a cross race, and stayed with the leaders. After 2 laps, things started shaking out. Tom Price started to pull away from the field (how shocking-he only just won the 45+ at the USGP Mercer Cup in NJ last weekend), Steve Songer was about 15 seconds behind, and I was another 5-10 behind Steve, with his teammate Andy Lucas sitting on my wheel (Andy's been injured and had a sub-par fall, which is why I could keep up). Team tactics normally don't play a role in cx, but occasionally they do, and this was one of those times. I got no help from Andy to catch Steve, so I tried mightily to do it on my own. Got closer a couple of times, but never quite close enough to close it. As I expected, Andy jumped me at the beginning of the bell lap, got a 3-5 second gap, and stayed away for third, while I ended up fourth. Nonetheless, I was happy with the result-it showed that I can hang with the fast masters and compete for podium spots in KC.

Today was just as much fun. Troy, Craig and company came up with another great variant of the course-quite hard, but really fun to ride, flowing beautifully. Another excellent start, I slotted into the front, and had only one person jump ahead, Josh Taylor up from KC. Jim Winklepleck, Dan Hansen and Kevin Burke were on my tail. After the third lap, I dropped the three behind me and yo-yoed between 1 second and 5 seconds behind Josh. Finally with two to go, I saw that he was tiring, so I made a significant effort to latch on at the beginning of the bell lap, and caught his wheel. Just as we were moving off the pavement, I surged and dropped him, opening a 5 second gap. To make it more interesting, with about 1/3 of a lap to go, I had my back tire wash out on a technical section and lost my momentum, so he closed the gap. I didn't feel too bad, so I was pretty sure that I could take him in a sprint. On a tight off-camber S, he tried a risky pass, got by me, but went in too hot and ended up in the tape. I took off and won by about 5 seconds. I hate winning that way, but we both had bobbles in the end taking chances, so things evened out, I guess. BTW, Josh is a real class act and it was great racing against him (see his account here). So a 1st and a 4th this weekend against pretty good competition, and the masters state cx championship. It was a good weekend.

Altoona Cross

2009-11-14T19:41:00.000-06:00

Had a math conference in DM today, so I figured I would kill two birds with one stone-IA CX Championships were just 20 minutes away in Altoona (what a great name for a town-you couldn't make one up that good). Cut out of the last talk in time to head over and race the cat 3 men.

The course was really nice-90 % grass, with gravel, pavement, a couple of nice climbs, plenty of turns for accelerations-just what a cross course should be. The only thing missing was a little sand or mud. I think that some courses, especially in KC, tend to get too cute or mountain-bikey--it would be nice if a few promoters would take lessons from the Altoona guys. Anyway, got off to a decent start, then proceeded to struggle badly for the first two laps. I figured out that I was too cold, both from the weather and from insufficient warm-up, so bringing a trainer is critical for some of these late season races. After the first lap and a half, I was in 8th (out of 10-a very disappointing turnout for a state championship). Once I got warm, things started to go well. Over the last two laps of the race I went from 6th to 3rd, which was pretty sweet, especially picking off the guy in 3rd during the last half lap, who had a 10-15 second lead on me beginning the last lap. The crowd at the top of the boarded run-up was loud and really plastered, doing beer hand-ups and setting out dollar primes sticking out of empties on the ground (I tried to grab one but missed). Looked and sounded like they had been knocking them back since the first race 3 hours earlier.

I was pleased with the race, since I beat some of the guys that beat me at Spooky Cross, and felt quite comfortable during the last half. If the race had gone on for a couple more laps, it would have been interesting to see how I would have placed, but I'm not complaining. Ten races so far this fall, on the podium in 6 of them (2x1st, 2x2nd, 2x3rd), in the money for 8 of them (previous plus 2x4th), one DNF because of a rolled tire, and the other was an open race for training after my main event. Good times.

Spooky Cross in Dead Moines

2009-10-31T20:21:00.000-05:00

What a mess. A very difficult wheel-sucking course, bad lines throughout the race, two stupid bobbles on barriers, and a lack of aggression on the one fast downhill doomed my efforts today-ended up 4th in cat 3. Well, everyday can't be excellent, so why am I complaining? Some pics-first is me post race, second is Craig Schmidt racing the 4s:

Boulevard Cup

2009-10-18T23:16:00.000-05:00

Excellent day for Nebraskans in KC. Sydney Brown won the open womens race, Craig Schmidt won the master 40+ cat 4 race (23 riders-heck of a number for that class-great job Craig!), and I won the cat 3 race. Had another terrible start, but not as bad as Saturday. At the beginning of the third lap I had worked up to the front 5 riders. We got onto the finishing stretch, 300m paved, with the wind at our backs. The group sat up, and sensing it was a good moment to go, I put in the 46x12 and dropped the group. I opened up a gap of 5 seconds, extended it to 10, and maintained that over the chasers (which eventually whittled down to one guy) over the next three laps to win. A huge thanks to the guys from Nebraska-Nate, Troy, Craig, Mark-who were screaming for me the whole way. What a huge difference that makes, 'cuz you don't want to let them down by being a weenie.

Good CX day

2009-10-17T21:15:00.000-05:00

Capital Cup in Topeka went well. Rather than racing Masters, I opted for cat 3 in the hope of scoring some upgrade points to move up to cat 2. 21 cyclists toed the line at the start. After a crappy, crappy start which landed me in 17th place after 500 meters, I gradually picked my way through the field over the next 40 minutes and finished in 2nd place, about 20 seconds behind the winner. A curious race for me with no decisive moment-just a long grind gradually catching everyone then dropping them. The course is very much a power rider/roadie course, with few technical bits and a lot of "drill it as hard as you can" grass sections. Two successive boarded run-ups on the same hill were entertaining: dismount, run up, remount, ride down, dismount, run up. The second time up was not fun.

There were a number of Nebraska riders there. Vaughn Pierce and Rich Anderson were in my race and rode well; Mark Savery, Troy Krause, Nate Woodman and Matt Tillinghast raced well in 1/2/3, with Troy finishing with a great result against the deep KC comp, on the podium in 4th; Craig Schmidt had a great result in cat 4 masters, finishing 2rd. Sydney Brown won the womens open race.

Tomorrow is the Boulevard Cup in KC, which will probably have a stronger and much larger field. Should be interesting.

Fred crushes competition at World Senior Games in Utah

2009-10-16T15:40:00.001-05:00

Fred loaded with gold and bronze hardware, what a haul!

Here's what Fred had to say about his recent adventures at the Huntsman World Senior Games:

Dear Friends,

It's been a whirlwind of racing lately. After finishing 8th in the Duathlon Worlds Championships in Concord, NC, it was a two-day drive home. Then three days at home, and off again on another two-day drive to St George, UT for the Huntsman World Senior Games (HWSG) Oct 5-9. HWSG involves two weeks of sporting events catered to senior 50+ with 27 sports to pick from. I was joined by my wife, Jody, and our youngest daughter, Chrissy. Participation each year is typically around 9,000. Over its 23 year history, athletes have been represented from 60 different countries. It's a beautiful drive, but winds were gusting to over 50 MPH when we arrived on Sunday. Monday was check-in and a mandatory cyclist meeting in the evening to go over the rules and regs. The cycling competition involves a total of four consecutive, brutal events. Each race awards 6 places per 5-year age group, in three Divisions (all annual licensed riders are considered Division I). In addition to nice medals and ribbons awarded six deep, points are awarded for each event. At the end, top riders are awarded their coveted HWSG Yellow Jersey.

STAGE 1: Tuesday morning was in the low 50's (as it was every morning). The winds had subsided for the 5K Hill Climb up Snow Canyon with a 900' gain. Riders were sent off 30-seconds apart in this timed event. As most riders, I decided to ride my road bike. I rode a 13:15, and not only won the gold for 55+, but had the fastest time of all age groups by a full minute. The brutality of this course takes its toll. The climb has 10% and 11% grades and it's all uphill with no breaks in the terrain. If that doesn't get to you, then the dry, cold air that burns the lungs has most of us coughing and hacking long after the event is finished.

OPENING CEREMONIES: Tuesday evening was the Opening Ceremonies mirroring the pomp and circumstance you see at the opening of the Olympic Games! The HWSG really puts on a spectacular program at the Dixie College stadium. Athletes parade in by their sport in alphabetical order. They have hundreds of dancers, singers, performers, etc. They feature flag-bearers for all 60 countries that have participated over the years. Three skydivers land on the field, one bearing a huge USA flag as they make perfect landings. They include keynote speakers and one of the most spectacular fireworks displays at the conclusion.

STAGE 2: Wednesday was the 40K Time Trial (race against the clock) near the entrance to Zion NP, a very hilly and unforgiving course with virtually no flat sections. It's a fulltime effort with riders again being set off in 30-second increments in this race against the clock. You're also sharing the road with high speed traffic, which fortunately was fairly light. I finished with a 55:01 (26.5 MPH ave), and again won gold for 55+. I also set a new course record for 55+ (by 21 sec), and had the 3rd fastest time of the day (one of the Canadian 60+ riders had a better time!).

Stage 3: Thursday afternoon was a 45 min Criterium (mass start lap race) in St George. They combined the 55-59 and 60-64 groups of riders for my race. By this time I was a marked man, and so had difficulty making a successful breakaway despite numerous attempts. I thought the 60+ riders were more aggressive! I won all three premes (special prizes given to the first rider across the line - these are awarded with the ringing of a bell on random laps). Probably not a smart thing to do, as I should have been conserving my energy, but riders were staying glued to my wheel so I just decided to go for it to see what would happen! The finish came down to a mass sprint finish. I accelerated enough near the last turn to be the first rider into the turn. It was a long, two block run to the finish and I poured it on early. At the last few seconds I got passed by two others in my age group (not to mention several of the 60+ riders). The guy that won gold in 55+ was from Barbados, who had literally sat in the very back of the pack the entire race, and never did an ounce of work in the pack! I thought he had been dropped, but he came flying by! I ended up with the Bronze, but still had the overall points lead.

STAGE 4: Friday AM was the final event, a 37 mi Road Race with lots of rollers and several long, challenging hills and descents. About halfway through the course is what officials refer to as "The Wall" - a 1.1 mile climb that hits 11% grade. There are also a number of unprotected cattle guards that must be crossed. Towards the end of this course, you actually descend the same 5K portion that you had raced up during the Hill Climb on Tuesday. The pace was relatively slow, as everyone was feeling the past 3 days effort, and were conserving their energy for what would become the "race" at the base of "The Wall". I accelerated hard at the base of "The Wall" and slowly pulled ahead. Near the top, I had a 20-30 second lead, but to my dismay there was still a huge pack of around 40 riders staying together! A 50+ rider joined me after the top and I motored for the next three miles to the Highway while he essentially drafted me. We started working together for the next 12 miles on the Highway. We could see the ever growing pack getting closer to us at times. We maintained a 30-40 second lead, and felt that if we could make it to the top of the Snow Canyon descent, we'd be home, as that portion had a tailwind which would make for an extra fast descent! Well, we later discovered that although our pace had not slowed, the sharks in the pack had tasted blood, and a pursing group of around 15 riders engulfed us just before the descent!

A lot of these guys are from mountain states, so fast descents down twisty-curvy hills are nothing new to them. For me, it was like descending the 1/2 mile downhill towards Dodge Park on the Wednesday night Trek ride. Despite my bike computer hitting 44 MPH, I started to fade, but rejoined the pack towards the bottom with less than 3 miles to go. Every year cyclists go the hospital due to bad crashes on this stage. The only fatality in this event occurred in 1998 when a senior died from complications after crashing on this very descent. It became a sprint-fest again, and I ended placing 3rd for another Bronze medal. But I had retained my lead to win the yellow Jersey!

BANQUET: That evening the HWSG puts on a great dinner buffet and Awards Banquet when the overall Championship Jerseys are awarded. It was an honor to receive this coveted jersey and inspirational to have participated in all the events surrounded by so many gifted and energetic seniors, up to the age of 80+.

Fred Galata
Velo Veloce Cycling Club

Cross Report

2009-10-03T22:05:00.001-05:00

Last few weeks have been productive for both me and the club. I finished third in the KC Cross Cup Mens 50+. I would have done better but managed to crash twice, once with nasty road rash, that cost me the first two podium spots. Last week was the Capital Cup in DM. I snagged first in 45+, and whined to myself about not racing cat 3 open (my original intent). If I had, I would have ended up at least third, and probably better since I shut it down for the last few laps.

Today, at Omaha Cyclocross Weekend, the race we promote, Ted won the cat 4 race, Pete finished third in the masters race, and I finished second in the cat 3/4 race. Hope to have photos up tomorrow of the winners and of the race.

Mr America at the World Dualthon Championship

2009-10-01T22:56:00.000-05:00

I recently competed in the Duathlon UTI World Championships in Concord, NC (near Charlotte) featuring over 1,000 athletes from 20 countries. Identical to Nationals, it would be a 10K run + 40K bike + 5K run. Competition ranged from the Elites to Age Groupers. After winning the Duathlon Nationals this past April, I qualified for this Worlds event and was invited to become a member of TEAM USA to represent the USA at Worlds which took place last Saturday (Sept 26) at the Lowes Motor Speedway. This was an opportunity of a lfetime, as Worlds rotates countries every year. Last year they were in Italy, and in Australia in 2007. It was a long 2-day drive of 1,260 miles each way, and we camped out in a mini-motorhome at the Speedway.

The weather was warm and quite humid the first few days. The first day was spent getting registered, checking out the expo, running portions of the course, and participating in the opening ceremonies at the Speedway. The second day was full with a TEAM USA meeting, tour of the bike course, and photo session at the Speedway. It was imperative to know the running and biking courses, as they involved a total of over 130 total turns! All the runs were on the same 5K loop (with over 20 tunrs per loop), and the biking covered two loops of a 12 mile circuit (with 35 turns per loop). Unfortunately, it rained during the entire event, and with all the turns would make for a slippery race and likely not produce record times. The race venue had athletes starting in waves and running and finishing on the NASCAR Speedway track, with courses on the actual tarmac as well as on roads around the area which were mostly hilly, to my surprise.

The Opening Ceremonies were cool, whereby athletes from each country paraded in front of the crowd on the Speedway. We were furnished special "parade uniforms" (TEAM USA sport shirt, hat, socks, etc.)that we wore, and were required to race with special TEAM USA race clothing that featured "USA" with each athlete's last name in bold letters. The ceremony ended with several sky-divers landing with a huge USA flag, and NASCAR pit crews provided wheel change demos (those guys are FAST)..

All 50+ males started together on the Speedway start line as the rain started again on Saturday, mid-afternoon. Bikes had to checked in the previous day, so they'd been out all night in the rain! Successive large groups followed in 10-min intervals. The Elites had finished just before my race. When the gun went off, it wasn't long before the lead runners were starting to disappear from sight - some truely world-class athletes from many countries. It wasn't long before the younger runners started to catch the 50+ runners, and some areas of the course got a bit crowded. I ran 41:04 for my 10K and finished intact. I was hoping to make up considerable time on the bike, but knew it would be a challenge with the numerous turns and continuous rain. The cycling portion had been shortened to 11 miles per loop due to conditions on the Z-Max Dragway, which was to my disadvantage!. It was imperative not to crash in the turns, so I had to ride relatively conservative. After every turn, I found myself sprinting to gain momentum. This effort, in addtion to runnung a 10K, started some cramping in my calves. But I caught a second wind in the final 5K and finished strong.

I ended up placing 8th overall, and posted the 2nd fastest bike portion (only the overall winner had a faster bike portion), and no one else passed me on the bike! The offical results show my bike average at 24.8 MPH, but they apparently didn't take into consideration the shortening of the distance. My computer showed 22.2 MPH. The first place 60-year old caught me with a mile to go (Steve Ruckert). We had finished together at Nationals in April to win our age-groups, and now he was on his way to a Worlds title. We exchanged a few words and encouraged one another to the finish. This helped me finish just a few seonds ahead of the 9th place runner.

It was really cool to be able to ride one lap of the 1-1/2 mile NASCAR track per bike loop. The track and entire area covered a huge chunk of real estate with seating for close to 200,000 NASCAR fans. Virtually all the top finishers in my field had recently turned 55, but at age 58, I consider myself thankful for the good helath and vitality to compete in various masters events, and this Worlds event was just frosting on the cake. Found out that the husband of the couple from Canada that camped next to us was the guy in 55+ that posted the 36:53 10K (Bill Wheeler), which earned him a Bronze medal. There were 38 competitors that qualified in the 55+ of which 35 finished the race. I later heard that there were a number of crashes, and spouses, friends and relatives cringed whenever they heard ambulances in the distance. The rain continued heavily after the event and throughout the night. Depsite the fact that we wore ankle timing chips, officials had difficulty scoring the race. Results were still not available at the post race party at the Embass Suites, and did not get posted until 1:30 AM the next day! Unfortunately, they only go 3 deep on awards, so I felt bad for the Italian and Irishman who had traveled so far.

Top Ten 55+ Age Group finishers:
1 - USA
2 - Norway
3 - Canada
4 - Italy
5 - Ireland
6-10 - USA

Here's a link for more info. http://onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php#racetop

Next I will be competing in the World Senior Games in St George , UT with four days of competivive cycle racing from Oct 6-9. See you on the road!

Fred Galata

2009-09-23T15:18:00.001-05:00

September 19, 2009 – Nebraska State Road Race

A great day for the stripes.

Perfect race day weather for this large field of 68 riders. The anxiety of such a large group was apparent with the frequent screams of “SLOWING”, the bumping, even the nervous attitude of the guy that kept returning to my front wheel like a bad sock in the dryer. For purposes of this write up, I will refer to him as “White T-Shirt”. Those who rode will immediately recognize him by this description. He was the first rider in a race I have witnessed experiencing self-inflicted road rage.

Master Yoda (Pete) provided very good pre-race advice regarding positioning in the peloton. As any old Jedi warrior would, I followed exactly. The first lap was more avoiding trouble, than positioning (Garmin refers to avg speed at 23mph). Lap two provided the opportunity to put a little pressure on the heavy breathers (the ones doing most of the screaming, and yes…that included White T-Shirt). When Lap three arrived, which seemed quite early, it was clear which riders were important to keep in your perimeter. With only one real breakaway, it seemed difficult to get any partners to contribute to a chase. The best opportunity was when, wearing the stripes, Ted Lechnowski came by me valiantly in a very fast pace (too fast to react for me). He did stretch ahead, only to be unfortunately pulled in prior to the last turn off of the loop. Next time I will ready to assist.

At the final turn in, I decided it was time to deplete the fuel from the latest powergel I consumed. I jumped out of the seat on the turn and cranked the pedals like never before. Success! This positioned me well in the front group (where I witnessed a very intentional Cat 4 girl-girl shoulder bump…mean), then on the final approach to the finish line I found a gap on the right side of the bunched front runners and let the tiger stripes work their magic. Sixth place overall (my best finish), and actually won the old guy group (40+) at a mere age of 47.
Congratulations to Pete for his terrific finish and 1st place ranking in his group, and Connor Randalman for the same in the Junior category. Stripes has a terrific road season. Thanks for the great year.

2009-09-21T19:35:00.000-05:00

El Guapo sprinting for the finish line in the Cat 4 race. Not exactly a caven-dish fin-ish.

Race report for State Road Race Championship at Branched Oak, September 19, 2009

El Guapo, Sir Troy of Perry, Ted the Menace Lechnowski and young Connor Randleman all sported the stripes at the race. I'll let Troy and Connor contribute their own writeups, but congrats to all for taking state titles. Connor takes the gold in Juniors, Troy crushes his opponents (by Krom) in Cat 5 40+, and El Guapo is teh best of the old goats.

My race was 60 miles. Twenty-four Cat 4 racers of all ages circled Branched Oak 5 laps. There were a couple of ill-fated break away attempts, but the pack wasn't going to let anyone get away. I think only two of the 24 actually faded before the mass sprint at the finish. I spent most of the race yakking with my pals. Chased down one break away with Brady Murphy and Dan Ertz.

So the plan was to be ready for the sprint. Felt strong, thru the hills leading up to the final turn. Had to scrub a bunch of speed at the final turn, but found myself in about 6th position coming out of the corner. Decided to open up the throttles to the old diesel a couple of hundred yards out. Caught most of the racers napping and found myself on the front as we approached the finish. In the last 50 yards or so, saw two guys beat me to the line. Finished in 5th, but that was debatable.

Didn't really matter, since 2nd through 5th are all LOSERS. Congrats to the winner Brandon Fenster. I'd love to try it again and maybe suck a little more wheel leading up to the finish line. Probably launched a little too soon.

Oh well. I did take the state crown for 50+. All the the little packets of Geritol, errr....Gu, must have helped out during the race. Nice to compete against the young studs and not get dusted. Always wanted a state road race crown, so I guess I can check that off the bucket list, but it would have been nice to win the whole enchilada.

Ran the Corporate Cup the next day. First time I ever raced a 10K. Finished in 40.54. Not bad considering I was a little gassed from this road race, plus I cramped up at the 4mile mark and had to slow down a little. At least I know now that at sub 40 10K is doable. New goal!!

Time to call the road season toast. Can you say cyclocross??

Thanks to all for a great season. Velo Veloce did great as a team. Thanks teammates!

2009-08-28T06:51:00.000-05:00

Fred gets ready to fire up the turbo out in SanFran, California. Congrats on great results!!
Team Xtreme,

We've been back almost a week now and I'm finally getting an email to you about the National Senior Olympic Games in the San Francisco bay area that several of you have been asking about. The Games are held every other year by a new host city. We got a new ISP at home which was just activated the other day and I've been busy getting caught up at the office, so here are the results.

It was a long three day drive to San Mateo. No option to fly with 2 bikes and lots of wheelsets. One of the race officials had previously told me in an email to "rest assured, it never rains here this time of year". The morning of the first road race (20K) stated with light rain. but it mostly dried up by race start. All 4 races were held on the same 6-mile course which was closed to traffic and consisted on some nice rollers, some long and but not overly steep. IMHO, the courses were not challenging enough to break up the large pack until the VERY END where the course climbed nearly 200-ft in less than a 1/2 mile. I predicted that there would be crashes at the base of the hill after a fast downhill just before a sharp left hand turn up the start of the big S-bend hill. Everyone, especially the sprinters, were trying to be the first into the turn. About 10 riders were ahead of me when a crash occurred on my far right. It became a slugfest of lactic acid and I finished 5th overall, barely catching the 4th place rider at the line by inches. The winner was from Washington state.

The 40K RR the next day was pretty much the same, except it was much more spirited. They started the 50-54 pack 1-min ahead of us, and as we came down the big-s-bend downhill in a neutral rollout, and then turned right onto the course, we had to stop. There was already a nasty crash in the 50-54 race. Three riders were down and 1 had to exit the race. Once we restarted, the attacks began. I threw in a few attacks myself, and chased down everything that broke. There was one attack that we all rested from, when two riders snuck off the front. They didn't attack, they just slowly rode off the front. Nobody reacted, and next thing they had a nice gap. Found out later that one of the lead riders in our group, who had won the 20K, was essentially "blocking" for another Washington rider in the breakaway. Although I make several concerted efforts with other riders to reel them in, there was not enough sustained effort to catch them. The majority of riders just sucked wheel. Despite the pace, virtually the entire pack remained intact. So I rode hard down the final downhill, and was the first rider in the pack to make the turn at the base of the climb. Several riders passed me but I was able to pass a few and finished 5th again - another "podium finish".

Two days rest, then the 5K and 10K TT's were held on the same course - 5K in the AM, 10K in the early PM. They had hired a professional co. to score the races. They used a nice start ramp and riders were required to fasten transponders to their front wheel for all 4 races for "instant and accurate timing and results". Well, officials didn't know that the city had recently installed wires under the road which messed up the timing devices so they had to score it manually. They were accurate, but we were not provided the results of the 5K until AFTER the 10K was completed!

I ended up with the Silver medal in the 5K, riding a 6:52 at an average pace of 27.1 MPH. When I swept all 4 events with Gold 2 years ago in Louisville, KY, I had set a new 55+ age-group distance record then with a 7:11, so although I bettered my time by 0:19, I got beat by 9 secs this year. The good news was that I had beat the Washington St guy (who had won the 20K RR) by LESS than a second! Scott Sifferman from Missouri won the Gold. Fourth place was just 3 secs back, and 5th was 10 secs back.

Then things really started to heat up. Temps reached 95-100. The winds calmed and there was an air inversion where the air quality turns bad. Riders were hacking and getting dehydrated. Plus the waiting around for hours in the heat for the results was not helping. The 10K started as scheduled. Had I known the results of the 5K I might have changed wheels. But I finished 3rd in the 10K (14:28) with Bronze, getting beat out of Silver by just 1 sec by the Washington guy who I had beat out in the 5K. Scott won the Gold again. The 4th place rider behind me was just 2 secs back (he had placed 2nd in the 40K breakaway), and 5th place was just 3 secs back! Overall for all riders 50+, I had finished 4th in the 5K and 5th in the 10K. It was also amazing to see the winners of both of the 60+ and 65+ age groups ride sub 15:00 in the 10K TT.

In general, the competition was very keen. The only guys that rode better than I were essentially the new 55 year olds that were new to the age group. The NSGA put on a nice BBQ the evening of the last event. Other Omaha riders included Team Kaos riders Suzanne Wilson (2 podium finishes), Gary Schmidt (2 - 8th places), and Doug Semisch and Steve Kramer. Jody and I spent the next 3 days hiking in Yosemite where temps hit 98 in the Valley. Six days of driving round-trip was a bit much, but a great experience overall.

- Fred Galata

Crits and Bits

2009-08-02T17:43:00.000-05:00

Pic: Pedro votes two thumbs up for TT review.

Day 3 recap: For some odd reason, the Men's 45+ Cat 4 omnium was based only on the road race and TT events, not the crit too. Ahh, that's sad.....NOT. You know how I hate crits. So, I finished the omnium in third place based on my 1st place TT and 9th place RR. Cashed in some more hardware (3rd place bronze medal for overall...real cool) and a big ass jar of GU2 powder for swag.

The Crit: I told myself the goal was to finish and NOT WRECK, since the crit didn't count towards anything omnium-wise and it was unlikely I would compete for 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the crit. I finished 18th out of 27, but the race was marred with accidents. Two unlucky souls got carted off on stretchers into the ambulance and straight to the hospital. Do not pass GO and do not collect Primes. Poor guys. The previous race also had a junior wipe out in the same exact location and fracture her clavicle...sound familiar Speed Queen??

So, great weekend of racing. Lots of hardware and swag. Lots of props from the Colorado riders for a flatlander coming in and ruling the TT. Heard some guys behind me in the neutral RR rollout say "some dude from Nebraska won the TT. We Googled him last night." Guess they were worried about me in the RR too.

Sitting in Estes Park drinking coffee at Long' Peak Coffee Haus. Gonna do Trail Ridge Road tomorrow for FUN! (12,189 ft.). See ya back in the 'hood soon! Adios!

Road Raced and Roasted

2009-08-01T21:39:00.000-05:00

Pic: Dad is greeted post-road race by his feed zone pit crew...Millie and Monie

Quick recap: El Guapo rode in the State Games of America road race today in Salida. Had about 20 guys in my 45+, Cat 4 group. We started a minute behind the 40 rider strong 35+, Cat 4 group. It was torcherous. Super hot and sunny. The 12 miles loop was a killer. Long, long ascent up 10% grades. Once over the top, screaming descent, hitting 50mph+ routinely.

I ended up 9th out of twenty. Not sure yet of my omnium position. Hope to hold onto 3rd. The guy who finished 3rd in TT finished 2nd in road race. I'll know tomorrow morning after crit.

I let the mountain goats go once we hit the first ascent. Dudes were about 150 lbs soaking wet and could climb like ivy. I might have finished a little higher, but ended up overshooting a corner at high speed and went down in ditch. No broken bones, but took a minute to shake the cobwebs.

Felt stronger each lap. Had to go up the beastly grades 4 times. Not to disappointed with finish really. Dined on a lot of the 35+ riders. Cramped a little on the last lap, but commanded my gray cells to override pain signals from right leg.

Had Millie and Simone handing me water bottles at feed zones. They were decked out in their Tony Tiger kit. People thought they were sweet. They usually are.

Didn't sleep a stinkin wink last night, period. The extra burden of wearing the mellow johnny, I guess. Hopefully sleep will arrive tonite via Dead-Ex. That's what my body feels like now. Yea, tho I cycle thru the mountains of death, I shall fear no evil, for I love the pain. I was built to process pain. Pain is my life. Ciao.