Wednesday, June 17, 2009

suffer cup

So today was the last day of a short week of training for the Subaru cup. Which in my mind might as well be called the suffer cup because that's how it's going down on Saturday with or with out rain. I've raced this course twice now, once wet and once dry and they both hurt like hell. In my mind the person that is willing to suffer the most will win this race. There's not enough technical sections there to put a technically inclined rider at an advantage. Just alot of climbing. (for wisco) GET READY TO HURT!
Ok where was i ?? emm yes the last training ride. Well it started out alittle different in the fact that i chose to do my 37 mile loop backwards. That was only the beginning of the madness, as i made the turn off center rd i saw one of my favorite cows wanting to race me? He was looking right at me with his front legs on the top of the fence as if to say i bet you'd be going faster up that hill if i was chasing you. I agreed and stood up and grinded up the remainder of the hill. I made it about 15 miles further into my ride before the first bird started chasing me. I'm not sure what i was more worried about getting pecked at or pooped on. I mean after all i was wearing my frank jersey. He hung with me pretty good until i hit 25 mph then he said screw it, i'll just call a few miles up the road and have my buddy chase you. And he did just that because oh i'd say about two miles up the road i started getting chased again. I tell ya... Most people get harassed by dogs. Not this guy, birds and cows! After that the rest of the ride was pretty low key. When i got home i ate some raisins, cut the grass and now it's time to rest. Resting is laying in bed with a bottle and your legs up.. Digging up your back yard, that's not resting. : )

One of these days i'll get the camera out again. I wish i coulda got a shot of that cow.

Monday, June 8, 2009

wors # 3

The big ring classic (Wausau) race number three in the WORS series.
I had my doubts going into this race based on the rain that George called for. But after pre riding Saturday with Nate and Jesse in the rain I felt better, the course wasn't in to bad of shape yet annnnd i was still holding out hope that it would stop raining before Sunday morning.
I woke up Sunday morning and jumped on the computer to check what it was doing in Wausau........NOT RAINING. Awesome I thought, so awesome that the fact that it was only 40 some degrees at the time really didn't bother be that much. Going into this race I knew the lead out would be fast and that part held true as we pushed up, down and around the double track leading to the first climb at which point I was following about seven guys. I passed a few of them before getting to the first single track section and a few more as I gunned it into the double track leading to ho chi min. By this time I wasn't seeing to many number plates with four numbers
(my competition) But I knew I had to keep pushing because one error on my part and they'd be right back at me. And that's just what happened towards the end of the first lap I was trying to make a corner and took the high side on a big wet root and went down hard. I got up only to find my chain had fallen off (story of my season) at least it didn't break. I put it back on but by this time a few people passed me and a few more were hot on my tail. I recovered and took back some of the ground I had lost in the crash. The second lap was not the greatest either I had some shifting problems going into the climbing section of the course and mid way up ho chi min i dropped my chain again and was forced to run up part of the devilish climb. At that point I felt like I was taking one step forward and two steps back. So the remainder of the race I tried to keep the gearing somewhere in the middle which made climbing harder and took some sap out of my legs but seemed to help keep the chain on. I ended up finishing 10th out of 84 and 2nd in my age group. Looking back I'm happy that I was able to finish a race but it just leaves me even more hungry for that oh so elusive perfect race....... Nordic?
After I got home i played around with my rear derailiour with little or no luck. It seems fine shifting up but dropping down gears It's a mess.
Back to the shop it goes.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

lets try this again

Today was my last training ride before WORS #3 which was refreshing just to think about. Since i didn't race last weekend and with my chain breaking at Iola , i've been looking forward to this race for awhile now.
I headed towards the lake and was moving along pretty good and all i could think was "man i must have some major tail wind action, the ride home is going to suck" But i figured, all well if i have it now, i might as well use it now. As i made my way up and over a bridge i saw a tractor and decided that i should chase it down. I sprinted up skeleton bridge (sounds hard core right) i caught him and motor paced him down and around the corner until he turned off. It wasn't nearly as cool as it sounds, for one.. freshly cut hay might taste good to the cows but i am not a cow and two... i was only going 22 mph. But a fun story none the less. Speaking of tractors, judging by the large amount of cow dung i encountered in various locations today on the road i'd have to say it's manure spreading season! I thought for sure on that last patch i was going to blow a tube. I saw it coming from a distance and thought oh boy this is going to be a story. But as luck would have it i sailed right through it and it wasn't even wet. "great success"
I took an extended loop today that i hadn't taken before and i'm glad i did. It took me right past a little ol car shop that had five el caminos!!! I've wanted one of those since i was a kid and i'm not really sure why. I guess i just like/liked the idea of having room to put stuff and not having to drive a big truck to do it. So needless to say i enjoyed the extra four miles.
The wind i was dreading riding into on the way home ended up being more of a breeze than anything and was a nice way to end the ride.
Now it's off to softball..... Still unbeaten!