Dirty Things - Hawthorn Woods 'Cross

My bike was really, really muddy after I finished. I was even more muddy.

I had a weak moment and decided that yes, I am indeed going to race some 'cross this fall. Today was my first stab at the Chicago Cross Cup - the third race of the series held in Hawthorn Woods, not terribly far from the city. It needs to be noted here and now that taking my bike off the hook in my bike room yesterday was the first time I'd so much as touched it since having it overhauled at the Pony Shop more than a month ago. That's right - not a single practice or even a pavement ride. I was rightfully nervous given that I understand the competition at 'cross cup races has been pretty good this year. Honestly, my biggest concern was that I not wreck and hurt myself - self-preservation at it's finest.

I was representing for Verdigris with June on the line with 8 others. The course was actually pretty good and it suited me well. Not sure how long it was but it was mostly flat with lots of grass, some pavement sections, a barrier, an off-camber section that turned into a mud pit (ick), and the premier feature - the sledding hill that we had to climb, descend, jump a barrier then climb and descend again. I was stuck starting in the back since I've accrued no series points which turned out to be a good thing - I was able to sit in for the first lap, ramp up the pace gradually then open a gap at the beginning of the second trip up the sledding hill.

After the second and third laps I settled in and was able to keep an eye on what was happening behind me at various points along the course. June shook off Holly and was sitting 2nd which ended up being how we finished. I even got some inches on truesport.com! The Verdigris men also earned a bunch of top finishes - a great showing for our team today!

Dirty girls post-race (yep - that's mud on June's arm - ick).

I only bit it once when with 2 laps to go an unfortunate Cat 3 guy I'd caught went down in front of me - IN THE MUD. Nice. I was covered - there was mud on my face, on my teeth, in my hair, in my ears....you get the idea. The highlight of it all? I managed to finish the day with all fingernails intact (yes, there was mud under them).

The Pony Shop guys were out tearing it up today too - check out their blog here. Also, Chloe Kuhn got some great shots of the 30+, 40+ and 50+ men's races - see those here. Extra special thanks go out to Roman and Mark who sat on the hill eating pizza and cheering us on through the suffer-fest.

I have to send a 'kick ass dude!' shout to Mike Wakeley who had some great finishes in the Cincinnati area over the weekend. He's really hitting it hard this 'cross season and doing well - way to go Mike!!

What I'm reading right now 'Bluebeard' by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. What I finished, 'Fight Club', 'Fugitives and Refugees' and 'Rant' by Chuck Palahniuk. Up next - dunno!! Maybe some Steinbeck, John Irving or more Vonnegut. As for music, I've been in this jazz mood lately but I'll need to come up with a playlist for next weekend's warm up so I'll post it once I've finished it.

Final Road Event for 2009 - Fall Fling Time Trial

Post-TT cupcakes - yum...guys, are you wearing them or eating them?

I'm sort of a lightweight when it comes to racing in cold weather. I don't mind training in the bitter cold but I really don't enjoy racing when it's cold. My last road event for 2009 was Saturday - a short time trial in Maple Park, IL before I begin cyclocross next weekend. Temps were in the upper 30s in Maple Park when we rolled and fortunately things warmed up to the low 60s by start time. Representing for MetLife/Pony Shop were Josh, myself, Mike, Dan and Ansgar. This was Ansgar's first crack at a TT - he was sitting in 2nd position in the overall for the Fall Fling and needed the points to secure a solid place heading into the final criterium on Sunday.

The TT course was about 9.5mi long and mainly flat with a few turns and two 180 degree turnarounds. Wind was definitely present though not horribly so - headwind on the way out, nice tailwind on the way back. Warm up wasn't great for me but not bad either. Once I got rolling it was difficult to find a decent rhythm with all the turns and turnarounds so I never really felt 'comfortable' out there. When it was all over I ended up first with the fastest women's time on the day. I believe Mike and Josh both nailed top 5 times in the P1/2 and their age groups. Sorry to say that I'm not sure about Dan and Ansgar (I haven't looked at the full results) though I suspect they both managed excellent finishes as well.

It's hard to get my head around the fact that the 2008 road season is over - while there was plenty of racing, travel and training along the way it sure seems to have flown by quickly. There were some little bumps and low spots along the way but on the whole I'm pretty satisfied with how things went for me. I won a couple state championships, had my first top 5 finish in an NRC event, learned how to do a pursuit on the track, and nailed a silver medal in the TT at master's nationals, along with a lot of other good things.

Up next is some cyclocross with my new cross team, Verdigris. I'm really excited to be racing with this group of very talented master's men and women - first race is next weekend and I really need to practice or risk making a fool of myself! Beyond that I will also be riding for a different road team in 2009 though more information to that end is not forthcoming at the moment. It's definitely time for a change of direction and my new team will allow for me to explore some other opportunities on the bike - my way.

I suppose this might be the most important part of this entire post - to all the guys I race and train with, Josh, Ansgar, Ted and especially Mike - thank you. You have no idea how much you have helped me be better, smarter, more patient, more confident and mentally tough (HTFU!!) both on and off the bike. There is no way I would have accomplished so much in 2008 without you.

Go-Go White Sox!!
Sorry Cubs - I guess I was wrong on that one....

Stuff: Changing

This spider has been hanging outside the studio window for two weeks. I don't like spiders.

I've been neglecting the blog of late - there's stuff going on but it's too early to type about yet. Suffice to say that there are some important changes happening in the next 6 weeks or so that are good, exciting things that are still developing. Part of that is the fact that I will indeed be racing a cyclocross season, albeit abbreviated as I've literally not even touched my cross bike yet. I need to do a little practicing if I expect to perform respectably for my new cross team.....

Here's the playlist from this morning's spinning session - some tasty 10min threshold intervals on short rest - and then a few other things I've been rotating lately. Enjoy.

White, Discussion - Live
Hey Man, Nice Shot - Filter
Such Great Heights - The Postal Service
The Pretender - Foo Fighters
Get off My Cloud (live) - The Rolling Stones
Heavy Fuel - Dire Straits
You - Candlebox
Gamma Ray - Beck
Watch the Tapes - LCD Soundsystem
Emerge - Fischerspooner
Turn My Head - Live

Other good stuff:
On the Airwaves - The Shazam
Can't Stand It - The Greenhornes
My Kind of Girl - The 45s
Gimme That Shot - The Charms
Lost my Motto - Cotton Mather
Put Some Hurt on You - Boss Martians
What Ever Happened to My Rock n Roll - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Straight Shooter - Reigning Sound
I Woke Up This Mornin' - The Mooney Suzuki

I have to give a little time to the Chi-town MLB scene since I am a serious baseball fan. As I predicted months ago, the sorry sorry sorry Chicago White Sox are not going to make the playoffs and will go down in flames due to an inconsistent starting rotation, a weak bullpen and failure to execute the aggressive 'small ball' tactics to score runs and win games. Sorry boys, the long ball isn't everything. The Cubs, on the other hand, are the real deal and I noticed that a long time ago. They've got all the pieces to the World Series appearance puzzle plus some helpful luck here and there - not to mention Sweet Lou driving the bus. Boys, it's your year!!

Okay, I'll start being a girl again now...thanks for reading - I'll be keeping the blog updated as stuff develops.

A Day in the Land of Beer, Brats and Cheese...

Mike Santi's rooster, The Flying Dutchman

Details of the annual Wisco ride are forthcoming....

A Good Day - If You're a Duck...

Josh and Mike - Post Ride

Rain had been falling steadily for nearly 24 hours when the clown car headed for Garden Prairie for a 40K TT, the final event in the Mid America Time Trial Series. Josh and Mike were sitting untouchably 1st in the 50+ and 40+ masters categories and held 1st and 2nd in P1/2 going into today's TT. I was feeling good after a hard week of training and a day of rest - and hoping that the rain would slow a bit before start time. There had been significant flooding throughout the area so there was a legitimate possibility that parts of the course would be affected. Fortunately, that turned out to not be the case.

I found myself sitting in the car as the rain cascaded down the windshield without any motivation to get on the bike - I was not 'feeling the love. 'I've raced in the rain plenty and it doesn't bother me in the least, especially not for a time trial. Something was missing today - odd too, because up until the very moment that I decided to bail I was in a good mental groove and ready to hit it hard.

I think maybe I'm really just ready for a racing break. Don't misunderstand - I LOVE to race the bike and don't want to stop training hard, riding my ass off, getting stronger. It's just time for me to step back from the anxiety for a little while and race because I want to, not because I feel compelled to. What does that mean for cyclocross? Not totally committed either way, really. It'd be hard to blow it off entirely so who knows? I might show up for a race or two or three....

So my sorry, wet ass waited for Josh and Mike to come back in after their rides and tell me all about what I missed. Josh rolled back first with Mike not too far behind. The were both thoroughly soaked and actually had a very good day on the bike. In the end, Mike had the fastest time on the day and earned 1st place in the Pro1/2 category for the series. Josh was right behind with the second best time on the day and 2nd in the series. So impressive - I can't tell you how happy I am for both of them. Way to go guys - you are my heroes.

The latest playlist included some Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, more Kings of Leon, Dead Can Dance (The Ubiquitous Dr. Lovegroove), more 22-20s, The Les Claypool Frog Brigade, Boy Kill Boy and some Elvis Costello, just for kicks. In print I've started 'Breakfast of Champions' by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. so far, so good...

To close I want to wish my parents a very happy 39th Anniversary. Mom and Dad, thanks for everything.

Da Champs - Again!!

Ted, Paul, Mike and Josh - TTT Champions! Boys, you look EXCELLENT in stars and stripes!

* Sigh* I did not ride my bike today. Instead, I got to drive the support vehicle for my favorite masters time trial team for the FIAC 4 Person Team Time Trial. I did it last year and had a blast so I was flattered when I was asked to again be Directeur Sportif for the day. The guys were the defending champs and entered this edition of the 4 person looking to have another winning ride against 10 other teams in their category.

We rolled in the dark to lovely Utica, IL under cloudy but not threatening skies (listening to the soundtrack of my choosing, thankyouverymuch). As the sun came up the fog burned off and we were left with a nearly perfect day. I say nearly perfect only because there was a significant amount of wind that definitely had the ability to suck the life out of the legs on various stretches of the 50K course. The guys were all very well prepared and warm-up went without incident. I ran around pinning numbers, pumping tires, setting up trainers, motivating (take no prisoners!!) and getting the car ready for 'go time.'

In the start house

Things were running a little late but once we got going everything was moving right along - the guys passed the three teams that started before them well before the turnaround point. From my vantage point in the car it seemed that at times they had to work a bit after taking a pull to find the draft but otherwise they were relatively smooth. It all went pretty much without incident - Josh executed an impressive maneuver to avoid a snafu through one turn but other than that it was uneventful.

My view from the car - can't beat that with a stick, eh?

I pulled up next to them a few times along the way just to see how things were going - I must say that to witness how incredibly hard they were all working was pretty amazing. They were intensely focused and totally burying themselves and suffering - going as hard as they could. Shiver. Winning was so gratifying - they EARNED every bit of it. Overall their time was fourth fastest - pretty darn impressive when you're competing against teams with a current National Champion and one with a former USPS pro and a professional triathlete. Guys - you fascinate and impress me beyond words. I can't think of a better way to have spent the last part of my birthday weekend - thank you!!

What I'm reading right now: 'Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad' by Gordon Thomas. Next up: 'Breakfast of Champions' by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. The latest grooves: Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon, Devil in Me by 22-20s, I Will Possess Your Heart by Deathcab for Cutie, and some random Goldfinger and Arctic Monkeys, among LOTS of other things that I don't have time to list right now.

Thanks for checking in....one last thing: CONGRATS to my friend Kurt McDonnell who finished his first ever Ironman in less than 13.5hr. Way to go Kurt!! Now, let's talk about that bike leg...

The Illinois Time Trial Championship (and a Birthday Party...)

At long last the final really important race of the season was here - the Illinois state time trial championship. I was defending champ and was feeling the pressure of having to compete against Leigh Thompson - the very worthy current masters national TT champion. MetLifeGuy and I both had early start times so we rolled at stupid-early-o'clock to Harvard under sunny, cloudless skies. Wind was minor but definitely present and thankfully the corn is up - it offered some shelter at certain points on the now familiar 33.3K mostly flat course.

Warm up went well though not great - my legs were not super so I hoped they'd come around at some point once I got started. I have to admit that my motivation has been lacking of late - I'm mentally ready to be done racing for a little while. Since doing the state TT last season I've gotten my position dialed in and learned a ton about pacing myself - two things that lend themselves to doing a faster time trial. I kept my effort under control for the first half to keep from smoking myself early then kicked up the pace slightly for the way back. I had Pink Floyd and Janis Joplin running though my head along the way and was really focused on passing people and staying steady (that's right - I'm old).

Coming up on the finish was a little confusing - there were two different tape lines on the pavement, one apparently identified a 300m 'sprint' line and the second was the actual finish line. I sat up as I crossed the first line, assuming it was the finish only to be told that the actual finish was the second line - I easily lost 15-20sec if not more because of the screw up but thankfully in the end I still had the fastest time on the day and repeated as state TT champ with a time that was about 2min faster than last season. Leigh was kind enough to inform me of the result as we left before results were posted. We still don't know where MetLifeGuy finished but his time was 1.5min faster than last season - I'd say he probably got on the podium in the very tough 45-49 masters category.

Winning the title again was cool as was the occasion to celebrate the birthdays of my two nieces, Lindsey (who turned one) and Elise - my god daughter - who turned four. My brother and sister-in-law hosted a huge party on their behalf on yet another perfect summer day.

I always brag about my brother's classic Mustang so below are a couple pictures of Richie's 1970 Mach 1. He got the car when he was 14 - it was in rough condition. He and my dad partially restored it so Richie could drive it when he turned 16. About 10 years or so later Richie dropped a new engine in it, hung new sheet metal on the entire thing, restored it to it's original color and started to enter it in car shows - he's won twice this year!

Richie's 1970 'Stang - restored to mint

A sweet, sweet ride - 351 Windsor under the hood....

That's all for now - just kicking back, enjoying what's left of Labor Day weekend. Thanks for checking in - there are a couple of things on the calendar for September so I'll definitely be posting even though the season is tailing off.

Winding Down, Shifting Gears

Wow - summer's almost over and here I am wondering where it all went! Funny how easy it is for a full racing season to go by so quickly when you're training, traveling, racing, working (yes, I have a real job) and trying to recover all while attempting to have a personal life. I did a fair amount of road and track racing this season and am not finished yet - I will be doing a cyclocross season, though not near the level that I did last season where I traveled a bit for some UCI racing. Oh, and soon I'll be hitting the driving range with some regularity.

Last weekend was some track racing in Kenosha - a velodrome I've not ever raced on. Whoa - it's significantly more steep than Northbrook and made me pretty nervous! That said, I did a decent 2K pursuit and jumped into the points race to mix it up with the guys. It was truly a lot of fun - we had excellent weather and the vibe was so mellow it was almost like I wasn't racing. Well, I take that back. I was 'slightly' tense before my pursuit.... The guys had an impressive team pursuit performance - fast and smooth. It was cool just to watch them.

'Cross for me this year will be totally without stress - no anxiety and just try to have fun. It's not going to be about winning but instead just staying fit and being positive. I'm going to try my best to avoid having the ever-present right calf bruise courtesy of regular pedal smacking this fall. Cross is dirty and well, I don't like dirt. And I really dislike mud. Anyone who knows me is aware that when I was a kid I was a really good softball and volleyball player but never played basketball. Why? Because it made my hands dirty. Beyond that, the risk of breaking a nail is ever-present and my risk-averse nature just begs me to keep things low-key and safe.

Coming up is the state time trial championship - something I've been looking forward to for a while. It'll be a fitting end to the 'formal' road season. I'll be doing some local small races later in September with the guys but other than that, it'll be cross until I can no longer stand the freezing coldness.

What have I been listening to? Lots of stuff. Here's a sample:

Gamma Ray - Beck
Electric Uncle Sam - Primus
Only - Nine Inch Nails
The Fool and Me - Robin Trower
Driven to Tears - The Police
Murray - Peter Yorn
Original Fire - Audioslave
The Hives Meet the Norm - The Hives
Every Day I Love You Less and Less - Kaiser Chiefs
Juicebox - The Strokes
Deep - PJ
Jane Says - Jane's Addiction
French Fries With Pepper - Morphine
Get off This - Cracker
Temptation - The Tea Party
Nothingness - Living Color
Sweet Wine of Love - Robin Trower
Right Place, Wrong Time - Dr. John
March of the Swivelheads - The English Beat

Thanks for checking in - I hope to have some good news to share post-TT this weekend!

Crit Nationals at Downers Grove

Things at DG went much better this year as compared to last year's debacle. The temp was perfect, the sun was shining and there were no clouds in sight. I'd had some decent days of training the past few weeks and my legs were feeling really good today so I was hoping to have a strong showing at this season's criterium nationals. My head, on the other hand, was in sorry shape. I've done a decent job of handling pressure and nervousness this year but today was another story entirely. In fact, I'd been horribly anxious the past 3 or 4 days about the race and had slept very little because of it so I was also tired - not a good combination.

I did start to feel better after arriving at the venue and seeing my teammates - they're a great group of girls who are always very positive so being around them before start time was good for my always fragile psyche. That, some groovy tunes, a can of Whoop Ass and some pre-race encouragement from a friend (you know who you are) helped me get to the start line with a better mindset - thanks for that, it made a tremendous difference.

Representing for Kenda today were myself, Catherine, Kat, Kristin, Jessi, Andrea, and Amy - all strong, smart racers. Standing on the start line and waiting waiting waiting in the field of 86 for the 'go' signal just kills me but we were off soon enough and things were hot from the very beginning. The national championship course in DG suits me - an 8-turn mile-long course with tight corners, a couple gradual uphill sections and one very minor bump of a hill between turns 3 and 4. All the big US teams were represented and there was a lot of action at the front with a fair number of primes and a couple small breaks - we really never sat up at any point in the 31 lap race.

Gaining and holding position on this course is the real battle. I always had to be thinking 2-3 turns ahead, deciding whether to use energy to move up only to lose position 3 turns later or just stay where I was. I guess you could say I raced conservatively - safe and protected. I tried to stay in the front third to half as much as possible which worked out pretty well - I was usually able to move up when I wanted to and managed to mostly stay out of trouble.

At 6 to go I was sucked into a wreck just after turn 1 but fortunately got up and was put back in without much problem. Things were starting to wind up and the pace was pretty high. I was happy with my place in the field on the final lap - until someone skipped her back wheel in turn 7 and someone else scraped a pedal in turn 8 - I lost a LOT of positions because of those two things and ended up finishing 23rd. Really, when you think about it, criterium racing is the ultimate crap shoot. You can have the best legs of your life, be exactly where you think you need to be and still end up as an also ran. I didn't check the results very closely but I know Catherine and Amy were just ahead of me and the rest of my teammates finished respectably - well done, ladies.

Thanks to all my friends who came out today to watch the racing - there were so many of you that I can't possibly list you all here - I appreciate your cheers and encouragement. Congrats to Bill - you do belong out there. Also, I had the occasion to talk with Jim Scott who is recovering after a pretty heinous wreck at a Superweek race - so great to see you, Jim. That's a mighty nice scar you have...

Up next, the state pursuit championship on the track. Should be interesting - I've never ridden a pursuit and I understand that they hurt a lot. We all know how much I love to suffer (NOT!) so I'm really looking forward to it!! Beyond that maybe the state road race and then the state TT championship before transitioning into cyclocross season. If I happen to get my hands on any photos or links to photos from today, I will update this post. Thanks for reading....

The Glencoe Grand Prix Post-Mort

I was totally stoked and overly nervous to be racing in Glencoe today. I finished second there last season, winning the field sprint with a rider off the front at the end. I knew going in that the field was going to be small but that the riders present were all good racers which meant there would be a lot of watching and waiting. The organizer had done a fantastic job of putting together a good prize list for the women's field - I wish there had been more of us on the start line. There was even an in-race points sprint competition for a pair of diamond earrings - not something you see very often. This was a chip timed event so at the end we would know the results within minutes which kept the waiting around to a minimum - nice.

The course in Glencoe is completely flat with 4 corners - the first two being 90 degree lefts, the third slightly more than 90 degrees and the last turn significantly less than 90 degrees before the final home stretch. Last year the pavement was pretty bumpy on the back side of the course but I was pleasantly surprised when taking a pre-race lap to see new pavement from curb to curb - verrry nice. I was so happy to see that my teammate Jessi came up from Urbana to race - seems like we haven't raced together in ages. She was feeling tired but worked really hard at one point to haul in a break that no one else wanted to touch - thanks Jessi!

We rolled from the start of our 50min +2 laps race and things were relatively pedestrian until they rang the bell for either points or a prime - I don't recall exactly. Two or three times along the way a solo rider was off the front for a little while but we pretty much hauled anything back in before too long which basically meant it was going to be a field sprint. It seemed like no one was really in the mood to take any big risks after a while - probably a good thing because I was feeling good and my plan was to counter any move that went late, which nothing did. I wanted to test my legs before the end so I jumped late and got a prime along the way which provided some much needed confidence. I had no desire to sprint for the earrings and basically sat on for all of the point sprints.

In the end I made the error of coming out of the last turn sitting 5th behind a bunch of good sprinters - d'oh! I had decent momentum so I just moved left and drilled it to the line - passing three riders and missing out on first by (literally) .03sec. to Devon Haskell who had exited the final turn sitting in first position. This is definitely a case of 'hindsight is 20/20' because I should have known better than to be so far back at the end. It's disappointing to lose by so little but also encouraging to know that my sprint is strong enough right now to make up a lot of ground if need be. I thought all the time trialing I've been doing would kill my sprint but I guess not - there's still some twitch in there.

I heard later on from the guys who did the two person 50K TT and they all just killed it - way to go Josh, Ted, Dan, Mike, and Jim! Up next for me is criterium nationals in Downers Grove on Sunday followed by the state road race and time trial the two weekends after that with a track event thrown in there too. It's going to be a busy close to August - good thing because I'm starting to feel a little burned out.

As always, thanks for reading. If I get my hands on some pictures I'll be sure to post them later this week. Also - thanks to everyone who was there in Glencoe cheering. I heard you all and I really wish the outcome would have been different but as the old saying goes, 'that's bike racing.'

'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"

The TT beasts had to do their first ride on wet pavement. Who said we'd have rain today!?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!

So we rolled at stupid-early-o'clock to Harvard for the Bryce Masters 20K TT. As we approached the parking area the sky was looking ominous and shortly after we arrived the drops began to fall. I whined earlier in the week about a too early start time (that had me going a minute before MetLifeGuy) and was pleasantly surprised when I received notification that my time had been changed - to an hour later, thank you very much. I'd not slept much the night before so it was nice to have the extra time to get my head straight prior to go time. The rain tapered off before long but the pavement was still wet when Josh and Mike headed out for the first of their two rides. I hit the rollers for a little while, got in a decent warm-up and headed over to the start/finish area just as the guys rolled back in for a short break before TT #2.

Things started off oddly for me - I missed my pedal when I rolled out from the start. That is something I NEVER do - it's one of the most basic skills for any decent cyclist to master and I was actually sort of embarrassed... I recovered quickly after marveling at my blunder and settled into the ugly-yet-tolerable place we call threshold. There was a headwind on the way out so I made sure not to smoke myself early by going out too hard. At the turnaround I saw the guys coming up behind me and wanted to just finish without getting passed. It was nice to have a tailwind on the way back but I was concerned that Josh was going to pass me - he started 2min after me. I heard a disc coming up when I was within sight of the finish line but it turned out to be the guy one minute behind me, not Josh (though he wasn't too far behind!). I thought for sure I'd be passed much sooner so I was pleasantly surprised when I crossed the line alone.

In the end my time was good enough - not great but OK. We left before final results were posted but due to the relatively low attendance I'm pretty sure I won. Josh and Mike put up very fast times - both in the top 4 on the day - fantastic job guys!! Their fine efforts were rewarded with some killer chocolate chip cookies (you bet I made them!). Tomorrow both of them are doing two 50K 2-person TT's - best of luck to you guys, you're simultaneously insane and awesome. I'm not as tough as they are - I'm just doing a little criterium in Glencoe as a tune-up for Downers Grove next weekend.

What am I reading now? Two things: Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk and Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. A weird combination of things but that's to be expected of me.

As for the title of this post, well, you had to be there :)

Elgin Criterium - Racing With the Boyz

I love to race with the 40+ masters men for a lot of reasons - they're pretty much all nice guys (save a few creeps but that's just how life is), they race hard, they're aggressive, they race (mostly) smart, and the majority know how to race. When the whistle blows, it's go time and there's no screwing around. Sure, things slow down here and there and every once in a while someone f's up a turn but I seem to get more out of racing with the guys at local stuff. The slower guys are usually gone in the first few laps and things thin out nicely. Plus, the added bonus - it's an opportunity to watch man-butt.

I lined up today in Elgin flying Snoopy blue with Ansgar who I found out last night is sitting in 1st place for the 40+ Tour of Illinois and Wisconsin. Yesterday I was sort of on the fence about racing (my fragile psyche has been kicking in for some reason lately) until I heard that. Then I felt like I had to go. The course was pretty straightforward with one small technical left/right downhill/uphill chicane section that had been making things interesting all day. I knew when I saw a wall of hay bales at the bottom of the hill that there might be some action down there...

Warm up was decent and I think we had near 40 on the start line - lots of really good bike racers and some well, not-so-good. The Planet Bike contingent lined up with (I'm not kidding) HELMET MIRRORS!! Gotta love the Wisconsin guys. Stuff started off well enough and before long I got involved with the first of two wrecks in the chicane. I don't really even know what happened to cause the wreck - so many ways to screw up that turn - and it really doesn't matter. I went to the wheel pit and got my free lap and returned to action. Later on some primes were thrown out and a small break was away for a few laps but nothing that caused any concern - they were brought back into the main group before too long. With 3 laps to go I got stuck in another CF in that chicane and unfortunately Ansgar got caught up too. I got a free lap but had to chase to get back in - I was never able to close the gap and finished behind the main group in 11th. Ansgar snagged 9th and pretty much sewed up the 40+ masters TOI/WI points series - way to go Ansgar!!

After I got home I just couldn't stay in the house on such an amazing day so I headed over to the lake and killed a couple of hours reading by the beach - always good for clearing a mind full of traffic. What I'm groovin' to lately - Death Cab for Cutie, Hot Hot Heat, The Raconteurs, Matthew Sweet, Beck and R.E.M. with some Allman Brothers thrown in just because. What am I reading? Total schlock - the Scott McClellan book. I needed some mindless reading and it fits that description just right.

Thanks for reading - up next maybe a time trial on Saturday and the Glencoe Grand Prix on Sunday.

My Next Distraction

A message from the morning Spinheads/Humbled Minions - Where's the love?

It's the end of July and I'm already looking forward to what I'll be doing to keep myself occupied in the off-season. Maybe a little premature but I like to always stay one step ahead. Of course I'll race some cyclocross but I've been thinking that I need something else to fixate on for a while. In the past I used to spend time at the batting cages hitting balls - I was a pretty darn good softball player back in the day (fast-pitch, that is). It was always a good way to clear my head and well, meet boys.

I've grown up maybe a little bit since then and have decided to learn how to drive a golf ball. It's no secret that I love golf - but I've never actually played except for kicking ass at putt-putt when I was working next door to a championship caliber course. We killed many an afternoon playing golf and 'working' before proceeding to the Mexican restaurant across the street for margaritas. My first adventure at the driving range is approaching...

This morning in Spin we did some tasty intervals and the playlist was pretty good so I decided to share it. Here goes:

Piss it All Away - Puddle of Mudd
Mysterious Ways - U2
It's the End of the World As We Know It - R.E.M.
Rebel Rebel - David Bowie
Potion - Morphine
I'll Stick Around - Foo Fighters
Lump - The Presidents of the United States....
Read My Mind - The Killers
12:51 - The Strokes
Bring Me Some Water - Melissa Etheridge
Let My Love Open the Door - Peter Townshend
Slither - Velvet Revolver
Trouble - Coldplay

Other things getting heavy rotation of late - an odd mix as always:
Crossroads - Cream (just finished the Clapton autobiography...wow)
Far Behind - Social Distortion
Cuttooth - Radiohead
Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin
You've Got to Hide Your Love Away - Eddie Vedder
I Predict a Riot - Kaiser Chiefs
Little Wing - Hendrix done by Stevie Ray Vaughan
The The - Waiting for Tomorrow
Smoking Gun - Robert Cray
John the Fisherman - Primus
Run to the Hills - Iron Maiden
Think I'm in Love - Beck
Bela Lugosi's Dead - Bauhaus (excellent for threshold intervals)
Temptation - New Order

That's all for now - time to go do some intervals in the scorching heat and humidity...I LOVE it!

Chicago Criterium Recap

Today was the inaugural Chicago Criterium which was held in Grant Park with the start/finish right by Buckingham Fountain. The course was essentially flat, starting on Columbus, heading north to Jackson, turning west to Michigan, south on Michigan, up over Congress Plaza and back to Michigan, east on Van Buren and then north on Columbus to the start/finish. There were three small 'humps' over the train tracks and up to Congress Plaza that were pretty much insignificant and a few small areas of bumpy pavement with some manhole covers but nothing terrible. The wind, however, was ubiquitous as only we would have it in Chicago.

It would have been nice to do this race without having been wrecked/Jones'd a few days ago - I am quite sore and have a lot of significant bruising, swelling and burned skin from Thursday evening's track mishap (see previous post for details). Fortunately I've moved beyond my ear problems and can now hear again. I'd had a good warm up riding over to the course and was feeling pretty decent when things got started. Representing for Kenda were Kristin, Catherine, Jessi, Krystal and myself. Paul was there to support us - thanks Paul! TIBCO (probably one of the very best US women's teams) was present with a full squad which made for a fair number of attacks early on.

Kristin was able to get away in two small breaks and actually snagged two primes before being brought in. After a few laps I bridged to a small break with a TIBCO rider and Julie from Revolution. They rang the bell as we came through the start/finish and we had a decent gap so I figured we'd probably still be away when we hit the start/finish so I decided to go for the prime - and got it! A nice $200, thank you very much. We still had a decent gap after the sprint but we were all pretty gassed and got sucked up on the back side of the course.

Things stayed more or less together until about 35min into the 50min +2 race when Amber Rais (from TIBCO) attacked and no one responded right away. She built a sizable lead over the next few laps until she had about 20-30sec at which time a little action at the front to bring her in started. Like any good team should, TIBCO pretty much neutralized anything that tried to bridge to Amber which made it clear that we were at that point racing for 2nd place.

Kristin, Catherine and I all had good position near the front going into the last turn on the inside when for some reason things got a little tight and we all got pinched. Everyone who took the turn on the outside moved up - sort of screwing us in the process. In the end we scored 18th, 20th and 22nd with Jessi and Krystal a little farther back.

Our team's finishing positions aren't all that impressive but we all did a fair amount of work bringing in small breaks, spending time in breaks off the front and keeping things together. It sort of burns my butt that riders who don't do a lick of work during the entire race end up finishing better just because of some little snafu - but it's all part of the beast that is criterium racing. You might have the best legs out there and do everything you can to have good position when you need it BUT, it can go away in a split second - and all your hard work lands you as an also-ran.

I was amazed by the number of people who came out to cheer and watch the races today - I heard my name yelled every lap! Thanks so much for being there - it means a lot to hear my name when I'm out there on the limit and trying to make something happen. As always, thanks for reading - I have to go ice my ass cheek and recover from the post-race charred Polish and fries....

Crash Crash Boom Boom Part Deux - The 'Drome

An old shot from the 'drome compliments of Chloe

I really wanted to have all of my season wrecks done at NVGP back in June. I figured biting it three times in the same race was more than enough to last the remainder of the season. Then I went to the track on Thursday night. Racing at the track has been sort of an adjunct to this season so far - I'm really not emotionally invested in track racing at all right now but it's good training and can be a lot of fun. I decided to race with the Cat 3 men as the field was bigger than the women's field and the guys are more aggressive, so there's less attack/sit-up/attack/sit-up in men's racing. They just kind of go harder and faster the entire time with more aggressive moves along the way, unlike the women's field which can sometimes be very pedestrian. I usually get my ass handed to me by the guys but was able to get 4th in the second session's scratch race and a whopping $5.

The last event of the evening for the 3's was a points race and everything was going reasonably well. The speed was getting up in the last lap - I don't have a computer on my track bike but we had to be hitting the upper 20's or even 30mph down the back stretch going into turn 3. I was in the sprinter's lane and hanging on when a rider (who shall remain anonymous as I don't want to start any drama) came down the track and shoved his elbow into my shoulder and knocked me down/Jones'd me - freaking hard.

The guy must outweigh me by at least 80lbs and he did not look before coming down - or he would have surely seen me and stayed high as track racing etiquette dictates. On the way down I think my front wheel was clipped by his back wheel and I went over the bars, hit the ground, was hit by my bike as it flew over me and then I continued forward about 10ft until finally sliding down the track and stopping halfway through turn 3. I didn't move right away because I didn't want to get run over by anyone behind us.

I stayed down for a few seconds and then sat up and noticed that my bike was somewhere in the infield. Yeah it hurt like hell but I was really more pissed than hurt so just sitting there wasn't going do do me any good - I picked up my bike and wanted so much to just throw it out of anger and frustration. Fortunately someone was there to take it from me. It was irresponsible of an experienced racer to come down the track without looking and while it might be wrong to think so, I can't say for sure that the move wasn't deliberate. He never came over to apologize.

So I have a ginormous burn and bruise on my right hip and ass - it looks like a third ass cheek. Gross. Yesterday someone intimated that it looked like an alien's attempted exodus. Thanks. My elbow, knee, ribs and ankle are all bruised and burned. My shoulder and neck are very sore and the top tube on my bike is dented. I'm okay, but it could have been so much worse. Thanks to everyone who ran over to make sure that I was alright - it couldn't have looked good.

Don't worry Mom and Dad - I am and will be FINE.

Superweek Evanston Recap

Photo compliments of Luke Seemann, chicagobikeracing.com

Superweek was kind of super-weak for me this year. I've been having an issue with my ear that's kept me dizzy and nauseous much of the time so I only did a couple of the 7 races for P1/2/3 women. During the week I also managed a successful night at the velodrome but I'm still not feeling like myself. The criterium in Evanston is one that I was looking forward to for weeks - the course suits me and the crowds are always fantastic. We had perfect weather and a strong group representing for Team Kenda Tire - Kristin, Anne, Amy, Krystal, Catherine and myself.

There had been numerous crashes in the races held before ours so I decided to pretty much sit near the front as much as I could to minimize the possibility of being caught up in a wreck. From my vantage point things were fast but safe - I only had someone's shift lever shoved into my ass once, so that's pretty good. As for what was going on behind me, I can't say. There were a fair number of attacks throughout the 35 lap race but nothing stuck very long. I tested my legs early when I got off the front for a short time (maybe a lap) with a rider wearing Rock Racing kit and took a cash prime, after which we sat up and were assimilated into the field. Kristin, Catherine, Krystal, Anne and I did a fair amount of work along with the other teams to keep things together which meant it was going to be a field sprint at the end.

As the laps were winding down the sprinters were moving forward so I moved with them and found myself in the unenviable first position coming out of the last turn - which meant I got stuck leading out the final sprint. That's not always a bad thing because I'm pretty good from about 250m but the sprint in Evanston is longer than that, so as I topped out approaching the line I was passed by what turned out to be first through fourth place. I hung on for fifth and I believe I had 3 teammates in the top 15 - not completely sure on that as I haven't seen final results yet.

final sprint (me with head down after leading everyone out...D'OH!!)
photo compliments of Luke Seemann

In retrospect, things would certainly have been different if I'd come out of the last turn sitting maybe 3rd or 4th but it doesn't really matter. We had a strong team showing, I was feeling good and my legs are (somehow) fantastic right now. Can't wait for the Chicago Criterium next weekend....Thanks to all my friends who were there shouting and cheering - I did indeed hear you all and I totally appreciate it. In fact I was teased in the group about it - too funny!

What I've read lately: Night by Elie Wiesel. Wow. Magical Thinking (very funny) by Augusten Burroughs (author of Running with Scissors and Dry). The Sorrows of Empire by Chalmers Johnson - brilliant. What I'm reading now: Clapton, the autobiography.

What I'm listening to: the most recent R.E.M. release titled Accelerate. The entire cd is excellent but the best cuts are Living Well's the Best Revenge and Supernatural Superserious.

A Change to the Blog

It's been about a year now and I have to admit that until just recently, posting on this blog has been a lot of fun. It has enabled me to keep my friends and family informed of what I am up to since I sometimes have difficulty keeping up with everyone given my commitments to personal endeavors and my work (yes, I have a real job). I've written before about how this blog is public domain and therefore open to the scrutiny of anyone who chooses to look at it - both a good and bad thing. The contents of this blog are my personal opinions, accounts, observations and recollections of things from my vantage point. Others are bound to have their own opinions, personal accounts, observations and recollections - that's how it should be and very much how the world works. If we all thought the same about everything what would be the point?

Of late I have had the unfortunate occasion to field a number of unsolicited, bitter and shallow comments from individuals shielded by the anonymity of an internet screen name. I am sorry that those individuals feel the need to snipe and pass judgment - and I hope they can understand that comments of that nature are not welcome here and probably not on anyone else's blog either. As I said above, we are all entitled to our opinions - and very often, depending on individual vantage point, opinions and accounts differ. That does not infer dishonesty or guilt - it's a basic difference of opinion, and we are all entitled to have our own opinion.

While I've not made a permanent decision yet, it is possible that I will be restricting access to the blog - I will have to maintain a list of 'invited' viewers and only those who are invited will be able to read and comment. It's unfortunate that it's come to this, but I feel as though I don't have any recourse at this point. I'm sorry that a few can ruin the fun for many. This is a decision that I have arrived at after a lot of thought and consideration and while my decision is not yet set in stone, I am anticipating that this change will happen soon and adequate notice will be provided to that end.

As always, thank you for reading and sharing in what has been something I've rather enjoyed up to this point.

Superweek #1: Richton Park

Being from Chicago's south suburbs made racing the Richton Park Criterium especially fun. I haven't visited the area for a while but I completed graduate school not far from the race venue so everything around there was familiar and comfortable. The area has changed a lot since I was last there but as a new race location for Superweek it gets my thumbs up - a good, fast course through a residential area with smooth pavement and shady places for warm-up.

I was totally stoked to be racing with Anne, Kristin and Amy who respectively traveled in from Canada, Wisconsin and Boston to represent for Kenda. Other teams present in numbers included Team Revolution, HUB Racing, Verducci-Breakaway and HPC/List - all of them very strong criterium teams. In fact, Teresa Cliff-Ryan from Verducci was our national criterium champ a few years back and (I believe) has been part of the US team for some track events - she's pretty amazing. I think there were maybe 50ish women on the start line - I didn't actually count but it seemed to be that many and pretty much all of them were very strong riders which would surely make for a fast, hard race.

We were scheduled to do 55K and things rolled off the line pretty hot from the gun. There was a fair amount of activity at the front and an early crash in the second turn but it appeared that everyone was pretty much put back in a lap or so later without much harm done. We decided as a team to just observe what the strong teams would be doing and sort of feel things out before being very active. Amy and I stayed closer to the front third for most of the race and sort of got on the train whenever things got animated. Kristin put in a couple of strong attacks along the way and Anne did a good job of moving around through traffic and staying safe. The larger teams mixed things up a lot and attacked quite a bit so we just covered moves and helped other teams bring breaks back in or control the speed at the front. I wasn't feeling particularly 'snappy' after a 40K TT on Sunday so contesting the points sprints was not really something I was up for.

55K on a 4-corner course starts to wear on you after a while and I found myself with empty bottles at about 15 laps to go. I knew I'd start to cramp eventually as the temp was in the 80s with some humidity. As the laps started to wind down I decided to just try my luck in the field sprint from whatever position I could achieve without totally cramping. As it was my hamstrings and quads were locking up every time I had to accelerate - and I'm thinking I was probably not the only one experiencing that. In the end Amy crossed the line 13th, me 16th, Kristin 19th and Anne 34th. It was definitely a good race - difficult, sometimes twitchy but that's just part of criterium racing.

I sat out Tuesday's Bensenville Crit #1 in favor of work and was sorry to hear that Jim Scott was hurt in a crash just past the finish line. Jim (otb4evr), I hope you feel better soon.

Yet Another Time Trial

Hey bikerdude, see below....I have a response for your ignorant comment about my previous post. I rejected it, because it was obnoxious and um, well, inaccurate. And as for your second comment in response to your first comment, I have much better things to spend my time on. I think maybe you should start using your energy toward positive, productive pursuits - bitterness never got anyone anywhere so try to be happy, okay?

So I headed across the fine state of Illinois to the border with Iowa to do a 40K time trial in Cordova (population 650). A great way to warm up for Superweek, eh? Not a whole lot of interesting descriptive narrative on this one - there's not much going on over there. Warm-up was going decent until about 10min in, when my power meter died and I was left to warm-up and race by perceived exertion and my watch.

The course was pretty straightforward - out and back with one turn, a few curves and a lot of wind on the way back. The way out was good - I was looking at a great time at the turnaround but suffered like a dog on the way back in. Not my best day by a long stretch - and a finishing time that I was not at all happy with. It was good enough to be the best time by a female on the day but not nearly indicative of what I am capable of. I'm not terribly upset by it - the even really wasn't well attended (even though D.I.C.E did a great job of organizing - thanks Donnie!) and there are plenty more time trials to do in the next couple of months. It was great to see some of my favorite guys out there racing hard - nice job gentlemen!

Up next, Superweek starting tomorrow. I guess that's good, since everyone seems to think that all I can do are criteriums. A bunch of my teammates are coming in for the week so I'm looking forward to some good hard racing and the opportunity to sprint a little bit. While I certainly like it, this time trial thing isn't nearly as exciting as a gnarly fast crit!

The Local Criterium

NOTE TO BIKERDUDE/JERK-O WHO MADE A FALSE COMMENT-SEE MY RESPONSE BELOW. WANNA TALK ABOUT IT? BRING IT ON. YOU AIN'T GONNA WIN.

I liked the previous post so much that I contemplated making it my final post and shutting down the blog. Then I remembered that I needed a forum to blast the Chicago PD and to occasionally blow off some steam, so the blog lives. Today's target of my scorn is the no-name creep-o masters racer with hairy legs who outweighs me by 100lb and insists on pinching me into the corners of a crit - so the story begins....

Yesterday was a perfect day for racing - high in the low to mid 80s, no clouds in the sky and a bit of wind to make things interesting. I rolled with MetLifeGuy and Ansgar to Wooddale for the ABR Illinois State criterium championship - held in an office park. The course was short (maybe 1K?) and smooth with a slight downhill curve on one side and slight uphill between the last two turns. I did the 40+ masters race because those "old" boys are all pretty darn fast - and most of them are decent bike handlers which typically makes for fast and mostly safe racing.

I was representing for MetLife/Pony Shop and had no expectation for myself other than to be aggressive, race hard and try to get one of my teammates into a break. On the line along with me were Tom, Dave, Mike, Ansgar and Dan - all of them strong enough and capable of winning. Things got off to a decent start with a few short-lived attacks and counter-attacks though nothing early stuck. I even got in on the action a couple of times, just for kicks and to hear Kenny Labbe call my name as we crossed the start/finish.

There were a few close calls with twitchy dorks doing stupid things (like the Team Mack dweeb I mentioned above) but fortunately we all stayed upright. At about the halfway point a small break got away that included Dave so I saw it as my job from that point on to sort of just cover things that went off the front and wait for the last lap to come. When we heard the one-to-go bell I moved to the front (THE FRONT OF THE FIELD BIKERDUDE/JERK-O, NOT THE BREAK - PITY. FUNNY HOW NO ONE ELSE THERE DISPUTES MY RECOLLECTION BECAUSE THAT'S HOW IT HAPPENED - YOU MUST'VE BEEN IN/OFF THE BACK. SO GET A LIFE) and drove the pace for about 1/2 a lap then pulled off to let the field sprint go - I had no desire to get mixed up with a bunch of guys much bigger than me doing stupid things. Sure enough, someone bit it hard coming out of the last turn so I just sort of avoided the pile-up and rolled to the line for a field finish.

Bottom line - it was a most excellent day of racing for a few reasons: June and Hank came out of racing hibernation to throw down - it was so great to see them again. I was feeling really good and got a solid crit in my legs before Superweek starts next week. Post-crash MetLifeGuy returned to criterium racing with a respectable effort. MetLife/Pony Shop put (I think) 3 guys in the top 10 - I'd say that's a pretty good day.

Masters Road Nationals - Time Trial

Can you say bling? It's silver, in case you can't tell.

Note: This is a lengthy post - sorry for my long-windedness. USA Cycling considers one to be a "Masters Athlete" at age 30 (actually 29 but no matter) which means I've held that designation for some time now. Trust me, the term 'masters' means nothing - these athletes are fit and go to nationals because they can throw down. When I was doing some goal setting early in the year, I decided that I'd like to do well at Masters Nationals in Louisville which basically means earning a medal in the time trial, road race or criterium. Being from the Midwest, I suppose criterium racing is my best discipline - the more dicey and technical, the better. In looking at the way events were scheduled for Masters Nationals week in Louisville, it was obvious that the TT was the only race I was going to be able to do - or else I would have had to spend all week down there, something I really couldn't do.

I jumped in with Josh for the ride down to the Lou and we arrived late Saturday at my teammate Janeen's place just as the adult pajama party was starting. About Janeen's parties - legendary would be the most appropriate word. The first thing I saw when I walked in? Some guy wearing a floor length satin fuschia nightgown - one of those disturbing things you just can't really ever "un-see." I visited briefly with Paul and Lori but was really tired after a long day so I headed up to my third floor retreat for a little reading and some rest. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep until the power went out at about 3am at which point everyone left - to get breakfast.

Sunday was spent getting bikes checked, picking up race numbers, previewing the course and getting some rest. Josh and I grabbed some excellent barbecue at Mark's Feed Store - me opting for some chicken and Josh devouring nearly an entire pound of barbecue pork. I have to say, it was truly impressive...the menu calls it 'World's Largest Barbecue Sandwich' - and it definitely was!

Monday morning we awakened to cloudy skies and some on-again, off-again rain. Heading over to the race venue with Lori I turned on Josh's ipod and the first thing I heard was "...now imagine your pain as a white ball of healing light..." Thank you very much Tyler Durden - you just made my day. Josh and Paul had headed out earlier as their start times preceeded ours and by the time Lori and I were getting ready to go, the sun had come out and the wind had picked up. Warm up was stellar - legs were good, I had my head together and The The (The Mercy Beat) was the last thing I heard before heading to the start house - perfect.

The course was 38K of rolling, curvy terrain and it suited me well (no climbing!). It seemed to be windy almost everywhere except for a short stretch on the way back that felt like tailwind. I needed to keep things under control and not overstart - I have a tendency to go out way too hard and blow up early, so I kept an eye on the power meter and settled in. I'd passed the 4 riders ahead of me by the turnaround and picked off one more about 3 miles later. I rode hard the entire time but never really suffered - to do so could have been dangerous in the later stages of the ride, so I just kept things steady. In the end I came across the line well behind the winner but very comfortably ahead of third place - a strong performance that could have maybe been better, but certainly not one that could have won. The first place time in my age group was the fastest time for a woman on the day - I think mine was 3rd fastest.

Time trialing is really sort of a new thing for me - in all my years of racing the bike I never worked at being a good time trialist. This season alone I've done more time trials than in my entire (eeeek!) 15 or so years of racing and I think I'm beginning to like it - it's made me stronger on the bike in general and helped me to discover an aptitude that I wasn't aware I had. Even more excellent is the fact that I haven't lost my sprint - at all. There are so many people responsible for helping me get to this point especially my favorite local masters beasts and my coach, John (who, along with Andy Coggan won their tandem category). Thanks guys - I can't tell you how much you've impacted me this season but I think the medal speaks volumes.

Any podium finish at nationals is a very cool thing - I'm very pleased with how things went for me. My teammate Lori also earned silver in her age group and I believe Kenda's Arizona contingent got a medal on the tandem. Over in Columbus we scored a bunch of top 10's at the Grandview races so it was definitely an excellent team weekend. Not to be overlooked were a bunch of top finishes by other Midwest masters athletes including Leigh Thompson who won the 45-49 age group. I have to occasion to race some of the local TT's with Leigh - she's super strong and is a truly deserving champion - way to go, Leigh!

If I get some photos I'll be sure to post them - thanks for reading. Up next, Superweek!!

Holy Crap Batman!! Post Number 100!!!!

Thanks to Johnny W for the pic from the track a few weeks ago. My thought at that very moment? This is a RACE - will someone else please do something? I'm tired of doing all the work around here!!

Can you believe it? This is the 100th time I've allowed my brain to flow freely through my fingers and to the keyboard to post on this silly blog. What an occasion. Why not start it all off with the story of my super run-in with the Chicago PD this morning? What's that? Good idea? I thought so too - here goes.

It was raining and I was totally soaked to the point that my feet were squishing around in my shoes as I made the trek home on Milwaukee this morning after teaching a class and torturing a couple of clients. I had a green light at Paulina and was heading through the intersection IN THE BIKE LANE as a Chicago PD car (not an unmarked one - this one had lights and the whole cop getup going on) GOES TO TURN RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! No signal, no warning, nothing. So I yelled "YOOOOOOOOOO!!" about as loud as I possibly could while grabbing two handfuls of brake and skidding across the wet pavement in front of his bumper.

The car stopped just in time - he was this/close to hitting me so I very calmly said, "nice job - you are a COP and you almost just jones'd me - I had a green light, you used no signal." The response? "Well, we heard yelling." Uh, YEAH because you almost just smashed me (asshole!). The driver was leaning over to the passenger side as his partner kept saying the same thing, "we heard yelling." My thought? Jeeezus, can't you come up with something better than that, tool? Admit your f*ck-up and move on!! Looking at the two of them a thought ran through my mind - collectively the IQ in this car might be similar to that of Forrest Gump. At that point it was obvious that putting any more time and energy into dealing with those jerks was pointless so I rode on, only to have them pass me and turn left at the next stop light - Wood St. - using NO SIGNAL. WTF? Chicago PD - still on notice because you're still disrespectful and incompetent jerk-o's.

I feel better now. I think I'll share my most recent playlist for post #100 - an odd mix, as always. I've found/rediscovered some old stuff I had sitting around on CD that I never transferred to my itunes library. Here goes:

Doesn't Remind Me - Audioslave
Wynona's Big Brown Beaver - Primus
Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple
Brain Stew - Green Day
Ramble On - Led Zeppelin
Garden - PJ
Sick of Myself - Matthew Sweet
Lies - Nine Inch Nails
Bodysnatchers - Radiohead
Aneurysm (Live) - Nirvana
Driven to Tears - The Police
Jerry was a Race Car Driver - Primus
Romance - R.E.M.
I Will Dare - The Replacements
Shattered - Rolling Stones
Mary Jane's Last Dance - Tom Petty
Hash Pipe - Weezer
Karma Police - Radiohead
Icky Thump - White Stripes
Flathead - The Fratellis
Shake Hands with Beef - Primus
After Midnight - Eric Clapton
Us and Them - Pink Floyd
I'm the One - Van Halen
YYZ - Rush
Jet Airliner - Steve Miller Band
Please - Chris Isaac
Reach for the Sky - Social Distortion
Even Flow - PJ
Cuttooth - Radiohead
Deadweight - Beck
In the Light - Led Zeppelin

Race wise, not much to report. I sort of did a TT last weekend - it was all good until the corner marshall didn't tell me where to go and I went about 2 miles off the course before hitting a dead end and turning around. Corner dork claims to have yelled at me to turn around but with a TT helmet on I didn't hear a thing but for wind noise. Whatever. Josh rode two strong 40k's and MetLifeGuy had a pretty darn good day on the bike, all things considered. They're both still sitting at or near top of their categories in Rider of the Year points. Well done, gentlemen - you're the best.

What have I read lately? Invisible Monsters (decent) by Chuck Palahniuk, Best Friends by Martha Moody (total schlock), and The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (fascinating). Up next, a trip to Louisville for Masters Road Nationals. I'm nervous....

NVGP Day 4: Mankato Road Race

Brooke and Wakes, 2/3 of our fantastic support staff. Thanks so much for everything - you guys are the bomb!!

Saturday morning came long before I ever wanted it to and we rolled out to the race venue still tired from last night. I have no idea how Wakes, Brooke, and Paul are managing to do such a fantastic job of supporting us on so little sleep! I can't thank them enough for all the help they provide at stage races - cleaning, tuning and repairing bikes, loading and unloading the car, getting us wired with radios before races, feeding us during races, driving in the caravan and keeping us all apprised of what is happening in places we can't see, roadside service during races, attending meetings, planning travel logistics, taking care of everyone post-race...it's insane. I can't say exactly why they do it (gratis, no less) but I know they love bike racing, they believe in us and in what we are doing. So, thanks you guys - for everything.

Back to Mankato...what can I say? 91 miles made a bit more tolerable for me by Wakes who played some Frank Sinatra, Cream and Jimi Hendrix on the race radio - oh yeah...nothing like grinding up a hill with Voodoo Child or Sunshine of Your Love blasting through your earbud. Conditions were sunny and hot, some nice windy exposed stuff, lots of fine 'organic' smelling farms, a few wrecks and tons of twitchy wheels, a steep as hell hill at the end and my feet - literally burning inside my shoes starting at mile 20. By mile 70 I could no longer tolerate the intense pain, even after removing my feet from my shoes and riding with them on top, triathlete/dork style for a mile or so. I waited for the car, sat down on the side of the road and wept as Brooke poured water over my blistered feet. I was having an excellent race - I was feeling confident as we approached the final stretch into town, killer hill and all. I have to suspect that my steel cleats had something to do with transferring heat from the baking pavement up to my feet, causing the problem. Due to the DNF, I was unable to start the final stage the next day in Stillwater (big bummer there....). By this point, a few days later, I've finally finished pulling off all of the loose skin and am healing nicely.

Kristin and Jackie both did a great job at Stillwater the next day - not a very nice course at all. It has a block long stretch that averages something like 20%. Standing at the bottom you actually can't really see the top - and that's just one of the climbs...there's another one around the corner that's pretty killer too. Seeing as how I am allergic to climbing, it was nice for me to sit on top of the RV with Ed and cheer on Kristin and Jackie as they represented in fine fashion. Well done ladies - maybe someday you can teach me how to love climbing as much as you do.

Travel home was tedious as the interstate was closed due to flooding near Wisconsin Dells, necessitating a long detour and lots of time creeping along on side roads. My back still hurts from being crunched up in the car for so long!

I'm finally feeling good today, after a couple days' rest and a spirited group ride with the boys last night. Up next, a local TT, some specific training and then off to Louisville for Masters Nationals. As always, thanks for reading and for your comments - I do appreciate it.

NVGP Day 3 Part 2: Downtown Minneapolis Criterium

After a little nap we headed to the evening crit venue in downtown Minneapolis. We had 25 laps to do on a course that's about .9mi long and completely flat with 6 turns in sort of an 'L' shape. There are a few slippery manhole covers, pavement striping and some potholes here and there, pretty typical stuff for this type of course. The stretch between turns 3 and 4 is extremely narrow so bikes usually have a tendency to pile up there if someone overcooks the turn or hits the brakes. Otherwise the course is pretty straightforward - and it begs to be ridden fast-fast-fast!! We had decent weather - upper 70s and some sun with a minor shower about 30min before start time. There was a stiff headwind on the long backstretch and a killer tailwind on the start/finish stretch.

Kristin, Lori, Jackie and I were representing and everyone else was still around to cheer us on. Thanks to Brooke for snagging me a pre-race doppio from the Buck - I needed it! I had a good warm up and was feeling most excellent. Unfortunately I didn't get great position on the start line and had to work my way through a lot traffic for the first few laps - that was tough but I finally got where I wanted to be and rolled through the attacks and sprints still feeling good. I don't actually recall that there were any wrecks but there were TONS of really close calls - twitchy riders picking bad lines through turns, bumping, crossing wheels, jumping out of the saddle rocking their bikes all over the place, etc.

As things picked up for the final sprint I had decent position and thought another top 20 finish was possible until the Cheerwine and TIBCO leadout trains sat up and spread out across the street - basically causing a lot of sitting up and easy rolling over the finish line, all at the same time. I crossed in 26th position. Kristin and Jackie also came in with the main group but unfortunately Lori got hung up in early traffic and couldn't make it to the end.

There were a lot of cameras on the course and Jackie and I made cyclingnews.com here. I eeked my way in behind Canadian national champ and Olympic team member Anne Samplonius on Velonews here. We headed out directly to get home and rest - Saturday's 91mi Mankato road race was going to be epic, and I needed to get some sleep.

NVGP Day 3, Part 1: St. Paul TT

Morning arrived sooner than I would have liked, given that we got in pretty late last night and I slept very little. We rolled out at stupid-early-o'clock in the morning and arrived at the St. Paul TT venue with plenty of time for a course preview and good warm-up. The course was 6mi long and flat - with the last .5mi being uphill with the grade at somewhere between 7 and 8%. Not killer steep but definitely UP. Unfortunately there was not room in our car for me to bring my TT bike so I snagged a set of mini-clip ons from a friend in effort to at least attempt to be more aero. I didn't think it would really make a difference in my time but I have to admit in retrospect that having the TT bike would've DEFINITELY been advantageous. My time was not stellar and I was not pleased with my performance but it got me within the time cut with a large cushion, so I wasn't going to complain. We found out later that the time cut was being enforced so the field was shrunken down to 99 on the start line for the evening criterium. A lot of very strong riders were time cut, including half of our team - a major bummer.

Ah yes, climbing like the sprinter/time trialist I am!!
Thanks to Ryan Staab (Kristin's brother-in-law) for sharing his photos.

We headed back home soon after the TT for lunch and a little rest before the evening crit. I actually slept a bit and was feeling pretty good when we rolled out to the race venue - I love tight, technical criteriums and this course suits me well so I was hoping for another good finish.

NVGP Day 2 - Cannon Falls RR

We had near perfect weather for today's 66 mile road race that began and ended in Cannon Falls. Temps were in the mid to upper 70s with lots of sun, a few clouds and a fair amount of wind. The course was mainly rolling with a few short climbs - a significant one at about 3 miles in that was an opportunity for queen of the hill (QOH) points. Admittedly I was worried as hell about that first climb and I suffered like a dog for the first 10 miles or so - bad enough that I wanted to crawl back into the car.

There were a few little wrecks here and there that I got stuck behind but fortunately none of us got sucked into any of them. I was feeling a little tired after 50mi or so but fortunately my legs came around and I was in good shape going into the half mile long gravel/dirt stretch and killer bumpy downhill section leading to the final circuit where we did 5 laps. I got sort of pinched going into that part and lost some position so I just drilled it and bombed the dirt stretch then rode the right side gutter (with cascading water and potholes) down the hill to the right hand turn - flats and crashes be damned!! My thought at that very second? God, it's like cyclocross...ick. It worked - thankfully or I would've looked like an idiot - and I was on the circuit with the lead group, feeling great. Going into the final sprint we had a downhill off-camber left with about 1K to the line. Someone went down in that turn so we had to take evasive action to get by. At the line I was in 20th - I was very pleased with that, given that I was contemplating having a rough go of things early on and the fact that we started with something like 145 on the line. That's a lot of bikes to fight through!

Everyone got in safely so we all lived to fight another day. That's more than I can say for my power meter...I lost the cpu somewhere along the way so I have to fly commando the rest of the week. I think there are some photos posted on cyclingnews.com - we were lucky enough to have one of the photo guys riding in our caravan car and he snapped some good race shots.

NVGP Day 1: Crash Crash Boom Boom!!

Today began the 5-day 6-stage Nature Valley Grand Prix with the St. Paul lowertown criterium. The course was an approximately .6mi L-shaped 6-turn loop with a slight downhill grade on one side, slightly uphill on the other. We've assembled a strong team for this event - Jackie C, Kristin, Yukie, Andrea, Kat, Jessi, Lori and I are all here to mix it up with the big girls. I love technical criteriums - it is probably what I am best at as a racer so I was pretty excited to get this whole stage racing thing off to a good start...then the weather intervened. There had been a lot of severe storms in the area the entire day and early on there were discussions at race HQ that the event would be canceled. We arrived at the race venue prepared to race or not - we had to be ready no matter what the officials decided.

It was almost comical to be witness to the steady rain interrupted from time to time by an occasional deluge as we warmed up in a sheltered area not far from the start. Massive amounts of water were running down the streets searching for an area to drain at start time and yes - it was pouring on us as we rolled off. The race had been shortened from 40 laps to 30 but it really didn't matter - the field was blown apart early and the wrecks began in earnest on the first lap in turn 2. I had the privilege of meeting with the pavement on three separate occasions (the dreaded auto-jones), the last of which found me chasing to get back onto the main group with 3 laps to go (the wheel pits were closed at that point).

Reports coming in last night were confirmed this morning that due to the inclement conditions, the stage was neutralized and will not be considered in the overall GC. No sprint or QOH points were awarded and today's road race that begins and ends in Cannon Falls will be stage 1. Probably a good thing since only a third of the field was left at the bitter end of last evening's crit and some of the partial released results were incorrect. There were a lot of photographers on the course so I'm sure there is plenty of fine footage to be found on cyclingnews, velonews and the various other outlets that are covering this event.

After a fitful night that saw me sleep very little I took a "self inventory" this morning. Overall, I feel like I was hit by a truck. My entire left ass cheek is a growing contusion and I have some other little random areas of bruising on my elbow, calf and ankle but no road rash - I just slid 10-15 feet or so on the pavement each time I went down. I guess that's a bonus, in a sick sort of way. Oh yeah - most disappointing and traumatic of all - I also broke a nail. Don't worry Mom and Dad, I'm fine - nothing a little ice and some ibuprofin can't handle.

Word this morning from Mike (our mechanic - I'll call him Wakes from now on) is that aside from pulling an enormous hunk of glass out of my rear tire, my bike is totally fine. I live to fight another day!! We head to Cannon Falls this afternoon for a road race - I'll post afterward...right now I have to drink some more coffee and enjoy what will probably prove to be my last extended bit of rest for the week.

I Could Not Help Myself...

What can I say? I laughed so hard when I got this from (of all people) my parents that I just had to post it.

My Opening Night at the Track

I sat in 90min of creeping traffic Thursday afternoon just so I could race at the track for the first time this season. Opening night at the track was really about a month ago but cold weather and travel have kept me away until this past week. I made the mistake of taking the top off my Jeep so I just sort of cooked in the heat and humidity the entire trip while sipping fierce melon Gatorade and blasting some R.E.M. and Green Day loud enough for the entire North Shore to appreciate.

Racing-wise I wasn't quite sure what to expect of myself as I'd not been feeling so good the entire previous week. Temps were in the 80s and the humidity was pretty stifling so warming up was easy. I wasn't feeling the best but my sprint acceleration was decent so I was thinking that a respectable performance was possible. I'd pondered racing with the men but I wasn't feeling very brave so I stuck with the women's field since the turnout was pretty good. On the schedule for women were a Danish (win-and-out), 24 lap points race (sprints every 3rd lap) and unknown distance. I don't make a habit of racing all three sessions as it tends to make for a long night and a lousy Friday morning so I just did the first two races.

I won the Danish pretty easily - I was surprised that no one really chased when I attacked between turns 1 and 2 on the 4th lap. I really wanted the racing to be hard so when the points race started I went to the front (on the neutral lap...) and pushed the pace, eventually taking the cash primes and 7 of the 8 sprints. That race just cooked me. I didn't look behind me very much but I'm pretty sure the pack was shattered early. I just kept trying to drive things and score sprint points and it all worked out well for me.

I was still pretty toasted on Friday morning when I headed to the lakefront path for an easy ride. In fact I was still so fried that I rode for only about 2 minutes with a couple of the MetLife studs before just turning around and heading home to put my feet up, recover and rehydrate. Sorry guys - I was hurting pretty bad and I'm still not quite better yet even today (Saturday).

The heat and humidity is killing me right now so I'm trying to just rest and prepare for the upcoming week of racing in Minnesota. Not sure I'll have a chance to update the blog while I'm gone but if I do, I'll be sure to provide a daily summary of the joy and suffering part of stage racing that I've come to love so much. Thanks for reading....

Runners - aka: Speedbumps

I love runners....especially the really clueless ones who step right in front of you during an LT interval at 25mph and you plow them over at full speed. This, of course, after you've done your duty as a good cyclist to warn them that you are fast approaching "on your left!" WTF? Yep - I did that very thing this morning on the lakefront path. Fortunately she was the only one to hit the pavement. I had to clip out but pretty much just got back in the saddle and continued on after telling her, "there's a reason for the line in the middle of the path." She took exception to that and let out a pretty impressive string of expletives (which confirmed that she was okay) so I rode on, laughing all the way. Lots of hostility going on there, I'd say. Or, she was just embarrassed. I seem to recall seeing tire marks on her leg.

I've been under the weather the last few days so I've been trying to rest and get better as Nature Valley Grand Prix approaches. NVGP is a very important race for our team and we've gotten a super strong group together for the 5 day 6 stage event in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. This weekend I'll be helping out the Wisco girls at their state road race championship on Sunday before heading to NVGP next Tuesday.

What I've been reading lately: Choke by Chuck Palahniuk (who wrote Fight Club). Great, twisted, sickly demented funny stuff. Also: Where Does the Money Go? by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson - a guided tour to the federal budget crisis (gotta read something intellectually challenging once in a while). Further: I finished High Crimes by Michael Kodas last week. It's an interesting look at the commercialization and lawlessness that plague the Mt. Everest climbing community.

Oooops - almost forgot to mention that Trudy, my old Kenda teammate from Australia is in town with her husband. We had a great visit last week before she and Herve headed to Urbana-Champaign to spend some time with friends down that way. It was so great to see her - I miss her and racing with her a great deal.

That's about all for now - it's been a pretty unremarkable week but I plan to race at the track this Thursday, so I'll post if anything interesting happens. As always, thanks for reading!