Carl G's Blog

May 6 Van's Intervals

2009-05-06T19:26:00.000-07:00

I figured the WNWorlds would be kinda slow do to the big stage race this weekend, so i decided to try out Vans Interval Training. Nothing like kick'n your own butt. Its a nice place to have a little more motivation for the Intervals.

3/29 NWA Classic Road Race

2009-03-29T19:18:00.000-07:00

NWA Classic Race Report;
Jay, Bob, and I made the last min. get in ur car decision to drive (bob did the driving) 4.5 hours and go to a one day Road Race in North West Arkansas. The course was for the most part flat with one decent hill and a few rollers, and the weather was a bit cool at first but warmed up nicely. This was the first time we have all three raced together and i must say it was a great experience. The first lap had a few break attempts that got reeled back in and the second lap was more of the same with bob doing a few solo moves that no one wanted to bridge up to him so he came back to the pack. There wasn't a breakaway attempt without either me, bob, or jay in it and that took alot of pressure off of all of us to try and cover everything. It was much easier than trying to guess what breakaway would stick and/or cover as many as you could before you were to tired to do it anymore.
On the third lap a fossil guy got up the road a long way and the pack went nuts trying to pull him back, and due to good pack positioning, and some great blocking by jay and the okc velo team a 13 man breakaway got motoring down the road with a nice rotation. At first everyone was working well together, but a group of three caught us and after there bridge sat on for recover which upset some of the break but with a little verbal encouragement we got it going again and everyone was doing there fair share of the work. Before the big hill i started sand bagging the break big time, so i would have enough energy to cover if anyone attacked the hill and bob took my pulls for me as i sat in the back. I hid to the left of the last guy rotating so he couldn't see me an just sucked wheel for a good portion of the 3rd lap and i think they confused bob for me and him as he was doing a lion's share of the work at the front. As luck would have it everyone was content to go easy up the hill (thank god) and we all stayed together but alot more people started hanging out at the back with me for some reason.
Bob put in a few attacks to try and get away as the others didn't want to burn up there energy before the sprint. It all stayed together for the end and i positioned my self about 4th wheel just before the big spin up for the sprint, bob got pushed a little farther back and got a little out of position for the sprint. The sprint started a long way back and i sat on an Undiscoverd guys wheel and was going to go around him but i thought it was way to long of a sprint still so i just waited until two guys came around me and i hung on there wheel but didn't have enough gas to get around them for 3rd. Bob made up for his lack of position and got stuck behind two guys that quit the sprint early, passed them and passed my Undiscovered leadout man to take 5th. Jay came up in the pack and won the pack sprint for 13th.
Its was awesome to have a teammate block and sacrifice his own results to help other teammates get up the road and try to win the race, even before the race racers where pointing jay out and telling there teammates that he was the wheel to watch for in the end for the sprint. It was with our ability to cover every break and Jays legend of killing everyone in the sprint and doing a great job blocking that we where able to get the results that we did.
Great job Bob and Jay! I look forward to racing more with you two, George, and the next 4's very soon to be threes as the season progress's.

6x 3min Intervals

2009-03-26T17:07:00.000-07:00

Kicked out a few 3 min intervals before the big snow storm... blizzard... blowing snow with lightning... snow and lightning... Kansas rocks....

Hells Kitchen RR

2009-03-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

I took the fam to missouri for spring break to chill at the lake house and figured while i was here i would drive the hour and do the hells kitchen road race. What a great idea! I took the two days prior to the event off, not even turning a pedal so i could be well rested for this race, one that i consider to be the hardest race on the calendar.
For those that dont know the rr, it is a 20 mile loop that cruises up a few little climbs and then near the end of the lap there is a monster climb that takes about 6 min's to climb. Most use a 27x12 gear ratio in the back so they can spin up the thing, but im not most people and figured i'd just suffer up the thing like a real man in the 25x11 (i need the 11 for the sprint you see), anyway as im cruising along on the first lap i notice that the ol legs arn't real happy about taken two days off and feel like concrete. Not a good thing to feel before we even started climbing, so i figure that the 40min spin to the first hells climb they would warm.
I made it to the climb and felt ok but as i started going up these guys ramped up the pace pretty hard, I was pushing 420w for the first two min of the climb till the legs told me to take a hike and the grouped kept cruising along and dropped me like a bad habit, the average wattage for the climb was 367w and took 5min and 45sec to climb, near the top i was wishing i had that 27x12 gearing as it was all i could do to granny up the end standing and keeping the bike going in a forward direction. My power to weight ratio is not so hot and the climb showed it fo sho.
In the end i caught up with 5 guys, and waited for another so we could finish the race and get some good training in just the same, but after the first lap two undiscovered guys that were with us quit and headed to the car so that left 3 of us to soldier on for the next two laps. Looking back on the power files i worked harder out of the pack than i did drafting in it so i ended up with a good workout.
Great results for the folk that kicked it up in kc last weekend. We are having a great start to the season.
Time: 3hours KJ: 2457 TSS: 274 NP:289 VI: 1.25

Jan 2009 CTL/ATL/TSB

2009-01-07T17:57:00.000-08:00

Blue=CTL, Pink=ATL, Yellow=TSB, Red=Max 20min watt avg

More Intervals

2009-01-07T17:42:00.000-08:00

1.5 hour TT with 1 x 40min interval averaging 240w and 1 x 24.5min Interval avg 298w. A pic of the 20+ min Interval on the left. Slight head/cross wind on the way out. Blue is speed and yellow is power.

The numbers so far

2009-01-06T21:17:00.000-08:00

I've have been getting some good miles in over X-mas break do to the nice (for this time of year) weather. My CTL is 61, eq to late Feb. from last year. Two months ahead of schedual on the build. Hope to hit 80's by the end of Feb.

KCCX Scuffel Cross

2008-12-20T05:42:00.000-08:00

This thing is getting beat to death. Go figure someone going to a cross race and having a little to much fun. http://velonews.com/article/86089/scuffle-at-kansas-city-cyclocross-nationals and if that isn't enough http://velonews.com/article/86104/columnist-patrick-o-grady-weighs-in-on-the-kansas-city I know Cale, most of the guys that i raced with on Champion Cycling Team went to BMC after the team disbanded, and hes a nice guy, probably just had a few 30 packs and thought he would have some fun at Pages expense. These guys sure dont mind giving it back to him though, let alone calling him, his club, and springfield out. Must have been a slow news day for velonews.....

12/14 ChristmasParty/Tulsa 3Hour ER

2008-12-14T17:28:00.001-08:00

Friday was the Specs Racing Christmas Party located at Specs Eyeglass's @ the water front. Had a good turnout and ate some good BBQ from Pig in Pig out, with an after party at a local bar i didn't get to the rack until 12.30 am, and i had to be in Tulsa @ 8am the same morning... suck-o.. so i was trashed saturday and slept for most of the day after i got out of work.

As for Sunday i got out of work and it was, no joke, 70 deg's. Can't beat that for December, even if the wind was blowing out of the south @ 20mph. so i jumped on the bike and took of for a 3 hour ride to Sandsprings (up the 3 sisters), Sapulpa, Kiefer, Mounds and back to Tulsa.

On most of my rides i occasionally see cool stuff on the road in kansas, but Tulsa was the mother load, there was all sorts of crap on the roads there. First was a women’s leather boot that went up to the knee's, dont know where the other one was or what the story is behind losing it, but it must have been a dandy. Then i saw a ball hitch that looked like it had never been used, and a lock blade knife, and last but not lest a plastic snake. The snake scared the crap out of im, and I bet if the Hamster would have seen it he would have dropped a nugget in his shorts. Now i know what to get him for Christmas.

On the flip side coming back to Tulsa they had the main road near the river trails closed for the annual toy's for tot's Motorcycle ride. I did the ride when i was a kid with my step-dad, we had this big bear and strapped it down to the front fender in front of the headlight. (sorry to the kid that got the big bear with a hole in the back of its head, guess those headlamps get pretty hot no matter how cold it is outside).

Its was fun to be able to ride back to my old stomping grounds when i was in middle school. I went to Kiefer from the 3rd grade till 8th grade before i moved to Neosho, mo and the place hasn't changed much at all.

Found out my guard unit put me on the Hawaii trip for January. I’m stoked to be able to ride in some warm weather for a few weeks in January.Suckers! I'll be thinking of u guys while I’m basting in the sun!

12/11 Cold Weather/Elephant Stop?

2008-12-11T17:43:00.000-08:00

The weather dot com said 55deg as i left work today so i tore home and jumped on the road bike to hit the training crit course before the sun dropped out of the sky. I found a nice little spot that they are throwing houses up that makes a sweet .6 mile loop and did a few 15 min intervals. Im sure the guys building the house and the lady walking her dogs thought i was a crazy nut driving the intervals at around 22mph for 15 min on a .6 mile course.... what tha, there he goes again, and again, what the heck is this guy doing? tongue hanging out and breathing like a chain smoker going up 3 flights of stairs.

After about 30 min the sun dropped and in my haste to get out the door i didn't put toe warmers on and damn near lost a few of them. Without that ball of heat in the sky it gets cold quick, and with all the moisture on the ground, it makes for a fringed spin.

A few months ago Trey H (aka skinny bastard that can climb like a goat) kicked out some info on a funny bike blog that i have been reading for the past few weeks, its entertaining to say the lest check it out @ http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/ the guy must have all day to look crap up on the internet. I like the showcase of freaks doing the single speed elephant stop (pictured above), what the hell is that? Check it out.
Another cool blog site is http://www.belgiumkneewarmers.com/, has some cool u tube vid's of the classic greats kick'n the crap out of each other... there is a ton of cool bike race After a few days of freeeeezing weather i jumped out on the old road bike to hit a local neighborhood "crit" vid's on utube...
Tomorrow is the Specs Race Teams Christmas Party, and should be a nice gathering of bike nerds and beer drinking fun...

12/5 Friday

2008-12-05T15:11:00.000-08:00

Man it seems like fridays last forever! I'm glad to get the hell out of work and do nothing for a few days. I dont know about you but this winter thing sucks, get up go to work get home just in time for the sun to set, I dont get the whole fall forward and spring back, seems ur screwing the the a.m. and the p.m. up. Why not just jack up the morning and leave some damn daylight for the night so one can get some sun? That would leave one less hour of christmas lights burning and such. I'm sure the damn farmers don't give a damn what time it is when the sun sets.
Anyway, it looks like the weather is going to warm up for the weekend to a nice and toasty 40 deg's. Hell ya! better break out the banana hammock for that heat wave, put some extra sunscrean on the buns cause you aint going to hit 40 deg much more during this year, at lest there is allways Jan/Feb to look forward 2.
Planning on 3 hours saturday dirt roads and 3+ sunday on the road.

12/2 Trainer Love and some Dirt Roads

2008-12-02T21:07:00.000-08:00

Monday i did some indoor spinning on the trainer and i have to say it sucks. Nothing like riding a bike indoor's and basting in your own sweat for an hour or so.
Tuesday had another bought with the indoor trainer this a.m., I caught the p.m. dirt road group ride for a good two hour ride. Gets kinda crazy riding at night on the dirt roads, the group strap some lights to there cx bikes and zipp over washboarded dirt roads, gets real fun after they lay down new sand/gravel like they did in a few spots tonight. The dogs were out in force tonight, seems like everyone in the country has a damn dog that likes to run you down and try to take a bite out of your legs. I guess it helps the sprints out later on!

11/30 Forgetaboutit

2008-11-30T08:05:00.000-08:00

With 35 deg weather on top of 35mph winds, its probably best to train inside today. I'm pretty beat up from the last two days.

on a later note, i think i'll take a recovery day and watch football.

BP 106/59 with a resting HR of 58.

11/29 3.5 ER

2008-11-29T17:02:00.000-08:00

Woke up this morning to some snow and overcast, another long day of endurance riding. Only one more day to go to finish out a nice 3 day block of riding. BoB was pulling my legs off all day, but i managed to hang on and finished with a 197watt average, pretty crazy since i sat on for over half the ride just trying to hang on. Legs are trashed, need to eat some grub and gear up for Sundays ride.

11/28 Three Hour ER Ride

2008-11-28T18:15:00.000-08:00

Got most of the Catagory 3 team together for a 3 hour ride today. I'm still working on getting back in shape for the `09 season. The weather was 39 deg. (it was actually 40 but 39 seems much colder so im sticking with it), and the wind was blasting us from the North/East. I was doing fine but about an hour into it the toes got wet and froze for the rest of the ride. Two more days of 3 hour ER (endurance zone) rides should get most of the Thanksgiving's Day Dinner worked off! Tomorrow's ride starts in McPherson and includes some of those famious Kansas hill's located in the Flint Hills of Kansas.

Dirt Ring Road Races

2008-11-27T18:10:00.000-08:00

Specs Racing put on 2 weekends of dirt road races over the last two weekends. I got a chance to ride two of the courses in the 1/2/3 cat field. Nothing makes u feel weak like riding with some cat 1/2's. More pictures of the races at http://photobucket.com/WichitaCycling

11/14 PT Graphic

2008-11-14T15:37:00.001-08:00

Interval Suckage

11/14 Back in the Saddle

2008-11-14T15:16:00.000-08:00

Another kick butt day in Wichita Kansas. I just got back from the armpit of the world Balad Iraq, and Kansas doesn’t seem so bad.... now. Ive been back at work for a whole week and i got out of work early to go to a veterans appreciation thing for my youngest (13) daughter Emily’s School. She plays the french horn for the local hs band (usually plays the trumpet) and she did great. My oldest daughter (15) Jen is a driving machine and has been helping drag emily back and forth to school...
I've gotten back on the bike after 45+ days off (they wouldn't let me ship it to the suck) and i have a shit ton of work to do before next seasons racing starts up. Cycling has a lot to do with the power/weight ratio and my fat butt isn't going to do well on the climbs at the moment. I got home and figured out i gained 15lbs from the lack of 2-3hour rides and the same amount of chewing. So now im kick'n the calories back to 1500ish a day and riding 2+ hours a day to get my butt back on the right path. My sadistic buddy Erik Schick has bull dogged me into doing some 15+min intervals and i have to say they suck on a trainer. I got on the bike around 6am and did 2x10min Int's and 2x5min Int's....
Saturday and Sunday im promo'ng the Dirt Big Ring Race series. Its 4-tuff ass courses on local dirt roads and should make for some good racing.

Pic's from Iraq

2008-11-10T17:37:00.000-08:00

Im back, here are a few pics from Balad. Lots of long hours and not much training, i did some running to try and stay in some kind of shape. I did the army 10 miler in 1hour 16min, and the Tulsa 15K in 1 hour 10. Not bad for a fat boy that dosn't like to run i guess... glad to be back home and back to the bike.

Qatar it be hot

2008-09-12T14:49:00.000-07:00

Just arrived in Qatar, not to bad at night, but i got up this morning (2am wichita time/10am local) to a 100+ deg. scorcher , im planning on running nights NOW. I'll send some awsome pictures of the lush green grass and huge trees as soon as they get them. I guess this will make up for the lake of summer in wichita. Reminds me of Dallas but in September.

Ashlea came to visit me for the send off in tulsa, we went to a run store and i got this nike plus over glorified pedometer to get some kind of idea on what mileage/pace/times im doing. Ive been running for a little over an hour so just around 9 miles as a kind of base before i jack up the intensity to get to a goal of maintaining a 7min/mile pace for this 15k. Will see if its going to work out soon enough.... I found out there is a army 10k the week before the tulsa 15k so that should be a good warmup for it.

St.L Gateway Cup and 15K

2008-09-04T20:46:00.000-07:00

Fast and faster, i didn't do so hot, seemed it was all i could do to hang on to the pack. Not the best way to end the season but im looking on to other objectives like the 15k in October. Should be fun and something to do while im away from home. I think it will be a good step toward getting my cyclocross legs under me.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080717_12_A1_spancl960067
Cya in a few months.

CG

HH100 Pics

2008-08-27T20:43:00.001-07:00

Hot'r Than Hell Road Race

2008-08-27T14:07:00.000-07:00

Bob and I went down to the boombin metro of Wichita Falls for the Hotter than Hell this year. We got there just in time to watch the 1/2's kick off there crit on friday to watch andy and jay. It was hot then at around 6.30pm. After the race we went to the bike expo were they had all sorts of deals, bob and i checked out the orbea bikes. We got to the start thirty min. early and its a good thing we did. Ended up wading threw tons of people on bikes to get to the front were the racers started, got there with about 2 min. to spare.
No wind and flat as a pancake.
The race started out fast, i think we were cruising 26 threw town and for the first hour into the race. We caught the 1/2's and passed them and then it settled down. There was a ton riders that wanted to beat the crowds of the start on the road for the first hour so it would go to doble file to keep within the yellow line rule alot. A few got off the front then the pack would real them in and then it would happen again. An okc velo guy got off the front and CRRC would block along with Tulsa Wheelemen so i got kinda worried that he would get away. Had a pretty good gap so i attacked off the front just to see the pack pull me back in but it kept the gap close. The group caught him 1/2 a mile before the finish and ramped it up for the end. If you have never raced the course before it finishes in town and there is a overpass that you go up just before u make a hard right then left and right to the finish (each a block apart) so it ended in a crit sprint finish. I didn't have to bad of position but the speed was so fast that the field was strung out. I think i passed one tulsa wheelman for 16th. Bob overcooked a turn before the overpass and lost position before the ramp up to the sprint finish and finished 30th.

30 Sec Intervals

2008-08-19T05:02:00.000-07:00

30 Sec. Intervals, I can only manage 2x6 without vomiting. Im such a wimp. Maybe next time i will do these before i eat, but what would be the fun in that?

WNWorlds 8/13

2008-08-15T08:44:00.001-07:00

A quick pic of the workout from WNWorlds 8/13 edition. No wind to speak of and i worked out at the front of the bunch for most of the ride with attacks and counters.

ANG Fit Test

2008-08-15T08:37:00.001-07:00

The results from my fit test. I hate running so this is the once a year run that i do, had shin splints from running on the crapy concrete track for 3 days after this flip'n run.

BTW i think the f'd up my numbers for the situp's and the pushups, kick'n my damn perfect score to 99.5% Probably wouldn't be worth bitching about and not looking like a butt monkey for bringing it up.

Guard Drill and the 3 sisters

2008-08-13T09:29:00.000-07:00

i got hosed going to kc and drilling it with the other racers this weekend do to guard drill, so i ended up doing a 2hour loop and hitting the 3 sisters in tulsa sunday. had alot of overcast and i thought i would make it without getting wet, but 10 min. into the ride the heavens opened up and drinched me for the rest of the ride. the power tap quit soon after so i didn't get any ride info besides time and rpe.

i had a military fit test before the ride. ran a 1.5 mile course in 9:33. Not bad for someone that runs once a year.

i rode with brad nelson who is a full time guardsman. he told me that he dosn't race and rides only ms rides and fundraisers, so i put on the heavy commute tread to make sure i got a good workout in. ya, well he held his own for the whole ride no problem. funny how i figured he would be a little slower just becaue he does centry rides, but he was realy strong.

after the sat/sunday drill i went down to camp gruber, just east of tulsa. makes me glad i am in the airguard. those army guys were sleeping in non a/c bunks with open shower/bathrooms. ya not me, so i hooked up with a nice a/c spot to sleep via brad nelson who lived 12miles away. heck ya!

i got back tuesday and drove up to buhler to ride with jay hawkins for a few hours and loosen up the legs from the run on sunday. man running sucks!

Summer Heat

2008-08-05T17:27:00.000-07:00

Man is it hot, I'm still riding in to work as much as possible but the heat is enough to kill on the ride home. I have switched to getting up early in the a.m. and getting a few hours without the heat, then using the afterward commute as a heat induced Endurance Ride to prepare for the Hotter than Hell 100 at the end of this month.It's going pretty good, the hardest part is getting up.

I've also been going to the gym three days a week during my lunch break and swimming for 30 min. to get a little extra training in, and to keep me from falling asleep after lunch. So far so good.

This weekend is Kansas Cities Cliff Drive and two criterium races. Unfortunatly I have to work in Tulsa, at lest i will make some money : ) I plan on hitting the sisters this weekend and hammering it out in Tulsa.

SPECS Racing Van

2008-07-28T13:02:00.000-07:00

Bob has worked a deal with a new title Sponsor Secs Eyewear out of Wichita Kansas. This is the van that we might be taking to some of the races.

check em out at www.specsrx.com.

Working on getting a race team website up and running with dreamweaver 8, and finishing up the sponsors for the 09-11 seasons. The jerseys are next on the agenda.

SunFlower State Games

2008-07-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

More on this later, Bob and I contested the Sunflower Races in Topeka.

OKC Crit Weekend

2008-07-25T03:32:00.000-07:00

Day 1, Undiscoved put on a nice crit at the fire hill fire station, big hill every lap, it was a hotter than a fire cracker on the 4th of july going up the hill with a tail wind and black top till the top, E. Schick and Dave Wills started it off in the 4/5's race and did well for only there second race as a 4. The crit was no joke, probably the hardest ive done this year with that flipping hill, and near 100 degrees heat index (probably 101). I did the solo and tried to hang with the group in the 3/4's. It was attack after attack up the hill, a break would get away and then the catch. Probably 3 times before a group got away and Team Fossil with a man in the break put the breaks on the pack enough to give them the gap that no one could pull back. I would say there were 5 in the break and after a few more laps 5 in the chase group with two of them being of the Fossil type, so there was no pulling them back. I ended up taking second in the case group for a grand total of 7th for the day. Not to bad out of 30 starters, and i did end up winning a prime for some cycling gloves! B Jay and Andy M raced the 1/2/3's race, andy got off the front and drove it home for the win, B Jay got 5th.
Day 2 OKCity Crit (OK State Championship) it was the first year they ran the race in this location. Very clean and fast course with a small little riser to the finish line and a lot of corners on the back side of the course. David W. did well and ended up with 17th in the 4's, he also jamed it for a prime and guess what, HE won a pair of cycling gloves. I did ok and hung in there till the end.. i kinda lost count of the laps to go and how much time was left and next thing i knew the bell was ringing. I asked the guy next to me if it was a prime lap and he said we were down to two laps to go and i was mid pack. Not a good place to be for a fast, flat crit course. I tried to move up a little and went around a few, on the last corner i hit the gas and probably past 10 guys but my position in the pack was so far back that i didn't have a chance to open it up in the front. I ended up with 10th or 11th. Jay Hawkins made it down and finished 4th (the guy knows how to ride a crit) i tried to shadow him for the crit but ended up losing his wheel near the end. He usualy maintains a top 10 position throughout the crit. Thats about it for the weekend, no rain only sunshine and some nice fields for some good crit action.
Next weekend Sunflower Games in Topeka.

Baldwin City Road Race

2008-07-25T03:28:00.000-07:00

Baldwin is a 72 mile road race with rolling terrain and a nice long hill at the finish.

Nice result this weekend, the 3/4 race was a true team effort, wouldn't have gotten the placing without the team effort of blocking and following attacks.
I got off the front with jason fife (KCOI) and we worked for about a lap and a half until the pack caught us. A few miles later an SKC redheaded ponytail guy took off on a solo break, an unattached guy jumped a few miles later and Gary O stuck to his wheel and worked with him to catch the red ponytail skc guy. Curt Shelman from Chamos Butter Team dropped the hammer and tried to real them in with me on his wheel, after his pull i sat behind him and discouraged him from working anymore, then another Chamos Butt'r guy took off to bridge and i got his wheel, he got tired of pulling me along and just as the pack caught us another Chamos guy took off with no one covering his wheel and ended up bridging up to the lead group. With the big teams in the group SKC, Chamos, and Oz kinda noodled on the front and got the break a nice gap. Bob got tired of chill'n in the pack and started attacking the pack into the headwind section, which wasn't to hard to hang on to, then the lone mesa guy did some attacks on the cross wind section and guttered the field. I got caught at the back of the pack in the gutter with kent, Jason Fife (KCOI) an SKC guy, and a velotek guy and we popped off the group.
In the end Gary O stayed away with his break companions and finished 3rd. Great Job in the break Gary. Bob Finished 9th ish with the pack. Kent sucker punched me and faked a cramp only to blast past me on the climb for 12th and i got lucky 13.

Kansas Masters RR @ Olsburg

2008-07-25T03:27:00.000-07:00

Bob and i made the drive up to Olsburg for the masters RR. They combined the 30-34's, 35-39's, and 40-45's into one group to give us a grand total of around 20 guys for a 72 mile RR.
This was my first master’s race, and they are a little different than reg. cat races. Instead of the first across the line winning, all you need to worry about is the guys in your age group.
A group of 8 got away (bob included) with trey h, Jeremy pike (cat2) and the rest of my age group in the back group. I tried to attack and bridge the gap to at lest make the 30's guys put in effort to chance me only to see trey dragging them back to me.. i wanted to make it to the group before the climb. trey wanted to keep us together till the climb, go figure.. so we hit the climb and trey and pike hammered it to the lead group and the 30's guys ended up doing the last lap with only a few 40+'s that were with us. I attacked a lot to wear down the 30's and after the last climbs i took off on a flyer that seemed to last forever, i think it was around 5 miles, and ended up staying away (who said those tntt's wouldn't pay off)
In the end Bob got second for kansas in the 35-39 age group, and I won the 30-34 age group (out of 3). We got a lot of miles in along the way.

YTD Summary

2008-07-11T18:11:00.001-07:00

July 11th TSB/CTL/ATL

2008-07-11T18:02:00.000-07:00

M, T, Wed Rides

2008-07-10T16:33:00.001-07:00

Rode into work Monday, for once not much of a breeze out of the south (its a south to work/ north home route). I did it on the CX bike because i didn't put the chain on the road bike yet.

Tuesday it rained so i ended up just doing an hour on the spin bike.

Wednesday was WNWorlds near Park City. I felt pretty good, probably do to the few easy days and did alot of work off the front. I switched my tires to some fat 25 meats, im sure you could use them in cross if the course was not muddy, and i still managed to stay up with the lead group. I met up with an old friend Kent after the ride that is working out of wichita a few days out of the week. He's lives in Garden City and is going to be making a few of the rides while he is in town. I'll be glad to see him on his bike because last year he was in an car/bike accident and mangled his ankle. He is planning on doing a few of our Tuesday TT's and the WNWorlds.

4th o July

2008-07-07T13:53:00.000-07:00

Went to the knob this weekend (shell knob, mo) with Erik Schick and family for some good ol hill riding. Makes me glad that i live in kansas after a weekend of climbing...decending...climbing....decending....climbing....
well u get the point.

That afternoon we drank a few beers and tried not to blow off our fingers! Erik ended up blowing a hole in his new t-shirt and i just have a few burn marks on the fingers.. now kids that's how you have fun on the 4th!

Saturday Erik and i did another 3 hour ride, he took off on the BFHill as i was fixing my derailleur that was dragging on my spokes and i spent the next few minutes trying to catch him... i ended up breaking my chain at the top of the last hill from the shear power i put in to try and catch him... that and the fact that im not much up on lubing the thing.. it had a ton of miles on it..

anyway i got the cross bike out for the next ride and did a little bit of dirt road riding the next day.. thank god for cross bikes..

Sheehan RR

2008-04-28T19:43:00.000-07:00

Sheehan RR. It was a cold start the the Sheehan RR near Leavenworth Prison. I didn't see Mike Vick but there were a few buffalo's near the prison walls. Must be guard buffalos. The 3's field was super small, so they combined us with the 12's. The start was fast and Andy Malcom got off the front after a few attacks and a few miles later his team mate bridged up to him and they team time trialed it for 50 miles to take 1st and 2nd. We had 4 chasing for the rest of the race in a nice paceline. Only one other three made the break with us Alex Edwards from Mesa team. The Mesa guys are raceing very well this year. We stayed together till the very end and the final hill to the finish Alex dropped his chain. I didn't want to take advantage of the situation so i waited for him to put his chain back on so we could sprint to the finish. I wonder what the offical's thought as we stopped at the start of the last hill before the sprint?

Hermann Missouri TT/RR

2008-04-24T09:35:00.000-07:00

Bob Cummings and i took of like a rocket to Hermann Mo last weekend with his car loaded down like a pack mule. We got to the TT just in time for Bob to get his number and dig his bike out of the back for his typical 5 second warm up before his start. His Sony GPS had us going the back roads all the way there.. Nice if you want to take in the sites of Missouri, not so nice when you want to get from point a to point b.

The TT course was an out and back dogleg that went over the river on the north side of town. It was a cool course and flat as could be. Bob hammered it on the course and put in a great time, unfortunately because we were late he didn't know the finish line was a little farther down the road than the start and hit the breaks a little to early before the finish line (see Pic). He still yanked out 2nd place but missed first by 2 seconds, easily what he lost looking for the finish. To save room we only took one TT bike and after a few minor adjustments to the seat height i was off. I pulled out a tie for 3rd place, not bad for a non time trial type, but i think the flat windy course was to my advantage.

Now the Road Race Well, let me tell you about the road race. There are a few HILLS in it, just a few, and after your lap you are greeted by monster hill in town that at the peak is 18%. Who's the guy who didn't bring a 27x12. Man i wish i had one. There didn't seem to be a stretch of road that was flat. After dropping off after the second time up the monster hill a group of 4 chased the pack down for a whole lap finally catching on just before.... ya the big hill again... so the guys i worked with quit the race and i did a solo lap chasing a 5 man group that dropped off the pack. On the last uphill section of the course someone dropped there chain, and another just blew up, so all the chasing had me up two spots. Ya Fun in the sun.

If you are crazy enough to go to Hermann race next year stay at the city park. camping is only... 10$ a night. can't beat that!

WNWorlds April 16

2008-04-17T05:37:00.000-07:00

Road into work today and out to the WNWorlds RR. Don't think i ate/drank enough. I died a thousands deaths at the end of the race. Could be because i had a long sleeve jersey on from the morning commute and it was 75 degrees. Doing the Hermann Races this weekend. http://tourofhermann.blogspot.com/

Thursday: Recovery Ride

LT Intervals

2008-04-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

Winds blowing 30mph and gusting to 40. I know lets do some headwind intervals... Great Idea.. well it was slow going but i put in some solid intervals, i think i was cruising at a blistering 13 mph into the headwind, and 25mph without pedaling with the tailwind... Stupid Kansas wind.. at lest the temp's were in the 70's.... tomarrow forcast 20+ winds again.. God i love kansas.....

3 Sisters Oklahoma

2008-04-14T19:59:00.000-07:00

Tulsa Guard Drill Weekend. Did hill Intervals (dont have many in KS) and just before the sun went down i got a nice blast of cold and rain.. Couldn't do the amount of time i wanted so i put in some good efforts to help keep the tss up....

Rain and Cold

2008-04-11T11:34:00.000-07:00

The weather has been absolut garbage latley. Good timing on the spin bike.. ive been hitting it morning and night to try and keep the legs spinning for when the weather changes to the good.. I still need a fan or something.. after an hour i have a nice pool of saltwater under me..

I had to get a new battery for the Polar HR monitor. They charge you 30$ to ship it to them and change it, so i went to the local batt. shop and picked one up for 3.95$. Polar are some price gouging bastards..

Headed to Tulsa this weekend for some hill repeats and a few 3+ hour rides.. i hope it is warm there......

R Monday & v TNTT Kechi

2008-04-08T18:25:00.000-07:00

Monday: i took a rest day. I picked up a spin bike and it is sweet. It has a 50lb fly wheel and after a little clean up it was ready to ride. I did aroun 45 min with a moderate spin. I plan on using the hr monitor to do controled intervals on it and ride it during the cold wet rain day's.

Tuesday: Road out to do the Tuesday Night TT in Kechi, the North/South Course. It had a good headwind for the first 4.5 miles that i think i went out a little to hard on. I averaged 322watts for the first headwind section, and 289watts for the return tailwind section. Bob Cummings who just upgraded from a 5 kicked my butt. Must be the new bike bob :)

Bazaar RR

2008-04-08T18:11:00.001-07:00

I stayed local for the Bazaar RR Sunday. They joined the field for a 123 catagory and you can only hope to be in with the 12's when it all goes down (thank god only 3 showed up). The race started out tame enough, i got into a 5 man break early and thought that it had decent team representation that it might stay away for a while but two guys from the same team that were in the break saw the pack closing in and quit working. After the pack caught us there were a few small attacks with a ton of guttering. In fact the whole North cross wind section was single file until the hill's hit. There were a few long false flats with a decent pitch at then end. I took a stab close to the top to see if anyone wanted to try a break and i ended up by myself, no way that was going to work so i went back to the group and waited for someone to start the action up and try to latch on and work with it. Finaly near the top of the climb Trey H (cat.3) and Andy M(cat.1) jumped and i tagged onto the tail and we started working together to get a small gap on the guttered field. We got a little gap and the next thing i know the two other cat.12's that made the race were with us and we were motoring away from the chasing field with a nice echelon into the cross/headwind. On the last decent accent Trey H pulled away from our now 4 man break and motored away 6miles with a tail wind to take a solo win. I worked with the now 4 man break figuring we would pull him back in but he was gone. I tried to stay as fresh as i could and about a mile till the finish when it was my turn to pull i hit it hard and pushed it to the yellow line and spun my 53x11 as fast as i could (it was a big tailwind) to hold off for 2nd. I think the 12's miss understood that they were racing among themselves and let us 3's go, well me anyway.

Month/Week Totals

2008-04-03T17:18:00.000-07:00

Intervals 10min

2008-04-03T17:08:00.001-07:00

10 min intervals done into a headwind.

Tuesday Track Practice

2008-04-02T12:32:00.001-07:00

Rallied the Oz Racing Team to get some "Track" practice at the safe Ventures Park crit course. It turned out to be a heck of a workout. Started with a 5 lap scratch race, then an Danish win/out, then a 5 team TT for five laps, and finally a Chase the rabbit (3 aginst the pack). I think this will help out the team as we work rotations/leadouts/sprints.

Monday Commute

2008-04-01T14:24:00.001-07:00

My Commute is a north south route that is around 15miles one way. The begging leg is south and the return home trip is north. I usually tack on a few extra miles on the way home when it is warmer out and daylight is aplenty. For some reason every time i ride in this year i have had a headwind in both directions. Ya lots of fun, but it makes for great training. I didn't use the power tap today because of the chance for rain, and if you get the thing wet there is a chance it will stop working, the hub gets wet, it blows up. So i manually put in a 210 watt average for the ride (probably a little low but i would rather not cheat myself to the high side).

NWArkansas Classic

2008-04-01T14:17:00.000-07:00

Well i planned on racing the NWA Classic this weekend, but sanity and alot of thunder and rain spooked me from heading out to "ride the lightening". Insted i took a few days off to hang with the family and get rested for another 3 week block of riding.

Thursday Commute

2008-03-28T11:11:00.000-07:00

I commute in to work as much as i can to get the most time on the bike as i can and avoid the high costs at the gas pump. It was a nice ride in but the ride home was a stiff headwind out of the north that was blowing around 20+ mph. Gota love Kansas. It seems the spring is fighting with summer and the temps were very cool for my tast (the wind didn't help). Friday i am planning on taking the family to table rock for some lake time and a few hill intervals saturday.

WNWorlds Recovery

2008-03-28T11:08:00.000-07:00

I skipped out on the WNWorlds ride tonight and spent some time with the family. Well i guess it was a god send because there just happened to be a crash in the group that took a couple of locals down with some minor scratchs/bruises and a dislocated shoulder.

TNTT St. Marks

2008-03-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

The first Tuesday Night Time Trial in St. Marks. The weather was around 60 with a 10+mph ESE wind that kept it cool. The course is a West then East route with a few rollers (for kansas) in it. It was a nice quartering tail wind out but the return wasn't as fun. I put in a 21.58 but know i got smashed by Kent again. He's crazy fast on a TT bike. Average watts 309, not bad because i didn't feel that strong and figured it would be below the practice tt i did last week.

Bob got a kick butt Felt TT bike, has nice aero lines on it. Total ride time today is just at 3 hours with my commute in to work and then out to the tt course.

Monday Easy Ride?

2008-03-25T19:08:00.000-07:00

Went out and tried to do some easy spinning but had to contest with a monster headwind for half of the ride... on the flip side the tailwind pushed me up to a 33mph! Nice spin workout at a high cadence. 198 average watt's is not a great recovery ride but it beats sitting on a trainer.

Ventures Crit

2008-03-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

Local racers raced the Ventures Crit today in the March Madness Practice Race Series. Started off fast and had a few attacks to keep it spicey. After a few attacks, Kent Bradford (oz), Jay B (tulsawheelemen) and Rich H (rcrc) got a good gap and worked together to get a nice gap. Jay Hawkins from RCRC wanted to get a good work out in and attacked to try and keep the gap managable. He would attack and the oz team would get to the front and pull him back. Finally he attacked and brian pollan covered, they slowed and the group caught up with them then Jay attacked again and i covered and we got a sizeable gap. I worked with jay for around 25 min. to bridge the gap to the leaders (he had to slow down alot after his pulls to allow me to catch on and pull through). We finally caught them and i was fried. Our 5 man group stayed together till the last lap when Kent (oz) attacked and got a little gap but slowed due to the headwind. Jay B, Jay H, and Rich H. dropped the hammer, and i got pinched off from kent trying to catch there wheel so i lost contact for the sprint. In the end Jay B from TulsaWheelemen 1st, Rich H. (rcrc) 2nd, Jay H. (rcrc) 3rd, Kent B. (oz) 4th, and Me (oz) 5th. A lot of work and a great workout for a practice race.

Frisco Superdrome 3/22

2008-03-23T08:40:00.001-07:00

I went to the superdrome in frisco to take the new commers class to track racing and do a few practice races. I am headed to Seatle Washington later this year and an X Oz racer Bret Seahorn said i should check out the track scene when i get there. I went to Frisco to get a head start so i will be able to actually race in seatle.

It was a lot of fun! The Superdrome has a circumference of 250 meters with banking of 44-degrees in the corners. The front and back straights are banked at “only” 17-degrees. 44 degrees is like staring at a wall when you walk up to it. The faster you go the greater the inertia that pushes you outward against the track surface. Also, the faster the you travel the more you will lean away from the track, which increases good tire contact. This outward force overcomes gravity that is pulling the rider down. As long as inertia is greater than the gravitational pull you will safely stay upright on the track. I think you could ride the minimum of 11mph and not slide down the track.

After the class we had a practice race and before you start everyone has to bunch up so as not to get an unfair advantage at the start. This is probably slowest you go, two guys in front of me slid down the track before we ever got started. After we bunched up the offical blows a wistle to let all the riders know its time to race. Track races are pretty short (8 laps on 250meters) and its goes fast from the gun. It is a great short interval workout and you race around 5 to 6 races a day. In all I raced around 6 races total for the day.

WNWorlds 3/19

2008-03-20T13:32:00.000-07:00

I kept attacking off the front until a select group of Jay Blankenship (Tulsa Wheelman), Trey Harrison (Chamos Butter), Rich Hostert (RCRC) (tall big guy, nice draft!), and John Flesher (RCRC) joined to make the final selection. We road a lap and then I attacked again, nobody followed so I ended up getting sucked back into the 4 man group for the final and third lap. On the north side of the loop as after I took my pull Jay B attacked and Trey followed and I had enough to hang on to the wheel, the other two popped off. As it went south again Trey and Jay were taking big pulls and I was sitting on, so Jay (2nd wheel) let Trey get a gap to force me to work. I sat on and the other 2 that we dropped caught back on as Trey pulled away. I attacked again to try and keep Trey close and then the group worked together until the final turn to pull Trey back. The pace got faster and faster until it was Jay and I pulling to get Trey back, around the bridge Jay took off to bridge the gap (and made it to take the W from Trey) and I rolled in 3rd. Good workout for sure.. I was kicking 400+ watts for 45 second pulls with jay to catch trey for about 6 pulls at the end of the hour + effort.

TSB Graph

2008-03-19T10:58:00.000-07:00

This is my Current TSB Graph from Training peaks. Check out the power 411 linnk for more info on how to read this graph.

In a nutt shell the red line is 7 days accumulated training stress that pushes the blue line 30 days of stress.

The Orange line is the recovery/rest and zero is the ideal "fresh" for race balance that you would like with a high blue line thingy... ya i know what im talk'n about, i think....

TT Position

2008-03-18T10:52:00.000-07:00

After getting my butt handed to me by kent at the local tt. i asked him to drop by and check out the tt bike and my postion. I had alot of spacers in, so he gave me advice to drop all the spacers and get as low as i could, and move the seat forward for a better aero/fit on the frame.. Maybe i can improve my time next week?!? I also put a 10 speed chain on the tt bike so i can use my power tap to record the tt's. Should be fun!

I road to the St. Marks TT course an East-West course that is 9 miles long with a few little rollers in it, and did a pre TT with Daryn K. I did it in 23.03 at an averge wattage of 299 and speed of 24.2, there was a NorthEast wind so going out was nice but making the return trip wasn't. I averaged 311 Watts going out and only 292 Watts on the return, looks like i went out a little to hard?

Hell's Kitchen RR Arkansas

2008-03-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

Bob Cummings (cat.4) and I drove to arkansas for an easy 60+ mile course ) a small riser and a few other little hills. I'm glad i could use brian's 27 cog. The hill was tough and the 3's ramped up it fast (in around 6 min's), i went cross eyed trying to stay with the lead group.. i got gapped every climb but killed myself to get back on, and did the first two laps.. the third lap i didn't have enough left in the tank to catch back up with the leaders .. i estimate a top 22 finish out of 60+.. not bad for a non climbing type..

bob did well and his field was 80+! they had a crash, and he did some lance armstrong cross to stay out of trouble

The pic's shows it took me 5.30 to climb at an average of a little over 350Watts, and its 0.9 miles long.

3/13-14

2008-03-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

After two days of decent race efforts i debated going out for a spin after work but my back is sore so i decided to take the night off. The weather was awsome, and it kill's me to let a nice day go but after a day of rest my back feels much better. I need to start streaching the hammy's after riding to keep from getting a sore back.
I am going to go out and spin a little tonight and get ready for Hells Kitchen RR in Arkansas this weekend. Its going to be a killer race.

3/12 WNWorlds

2008-03-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

With the time change being earlier the WNWorlds starts earlier, the weather is warm and very little wind. WNW is in ParkCity and is a 10mile loop that is for the most part flat, if there is a wind out of the north or south then there is a decent cross wind componenet to consider for breaking up the pack.

Trey Harrison (Chamo's Butt) 1st
Bob Cummings (0z) 2nd
Carl (0z) 3rd
Ryan Chrisler (0z) 4th
Stan Kolbec 5th (RCRC)
Trina 6th (RCRC)
(Jay B pealed off after the second lap)
Great results for oz... Trey took a flyer on the last half lap and the oz boys along with a few pulls from Stan kept Trey close. Bob bridged after the turn and I sat on Stan's wheel for his attempt. Ryan kept the pace moderate with stan but Bob and Trey stayed away. Letting Stan stay in front for the sprint I attacked after the bridge taking Ryan with me and Stan sat up after he couldn't catch on.

3/11 Tuesday Night Time Trial

2008-03-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

Nice weather for the First Time Trial of the year for most @ Kechi Kansas. Wind 6mph out of the South West a nice and sunny 60 Degree day. After the first decent effort at 15K my lower back is killing me. Probably a lack of streaching and not riding the tt bike as much as i should.

Kent Bradford 20.21
Carl Garrison 20.36
Jeff Usher 20.44
Bryan Pollan 21.02
Bob Cummings 21.27
Tim Voegeli 21.28
David Wells 22.16
Randy Sommerfelt 22.36
Chrissy Usher 23.02
Rick Claiborne 23.53
Phil Voegeli 24.11
Dan Perry 24.19
Daryn Ketter 24.50
Josh Wade 25.45
Aliscia Pollan 28.21
Ron Wade 32.17