Thanks to Don Lowe for the pic!

What a week!! First, a big congratulations to Gina Champion, Mike Ozment, and Uncle Gary for bringing back wins at the Illinois State Criterium Championships! Robert Kron narrowly missed the win, taking second in the 40+, and we had a strong crew in lots of the races. I was bummed to miss the event.

Steve Hall and I were both waylaid by family commitments, and had to take the shorter trip to Webster Groves, where Steve was narrowly nipped out of the 50+ win. I wasn’t feeling so hot, and tooled in with the pack. Gary Meredith made the trip up with me, but didn’t get a free lap on a mechanical, which wasn’t cool. Later, Chief and Dave Neis showed to represent So. Ill. Dave scored 10th in the 3’s, and Chief ate oysters.

I’ve been suffering from some bug combo for a while, but I felt a little better Monday morning, so I went ahead and did the out and back to Louisville on Tuesday for the Masters National Championship “Road Race”. It was really a mostly downhill crit on an extremely technical course. Over 100 people started in the 40-44 race, and it was not my type of race. I should have driven up the night before, and should have brought a trainer to warm up–there was no place you could ride in the area. It was the park, which was occupied to capacity by the race, and then busy neighborhoods all around. To make matters worse, there was a scrum for the real starting line after callout, and I wound up behind a guy who was trying to put on his helmet–which put me in the back row for the start. Not that it mattered much.

On the line, there was the usual banter, mostly about pedophilia and beastiality. But, some of this was prescient. Mike McShane from Calistoga was being ignored by the race official who was doing call off. He yelled at the woman several times and asked if he was listed, and she wouldn’t even look at him. I said “gee, looks like maybe it doesn’t pay to be on the home team, eh?” He said, “yeah. We have issues. She put my 9 year old daughter in a stranger’s pick-up truck in rural Kentucky when they took the juniors off course at a race. I must have missed that part of the release form where it says that you agree to have your kid raped by hillbillies.”  So, confidence in the race officials was quite high, especially for the home team.

True to form, the lap counter board was screwed up (I could tell that, I was off the back and had nothing to do but count laps). Then, the lead moto  took a couple of guys who were 75 meters from winning the race, including Columbia Mo’s Dave Henderson, around for an extra tour of the course. Then, they decided to ignore the officials’ error and place the winners where they stood in the pack after doing an extra lap. I’m sure glad I was off the back. Hell, I could have won the race. I should have just sprinted up from the feed zone at the appropriate moment. I probably would have been scored. But, then I would have had to hang around longer.

It was great to see Kurt Russell on the sidelines after my ignominious exit. He was up next for the 45+ and trying to feed Kurt Fletcher. We learned this weekend that white is in. I stood there with Kurt R for three laps, and I only caught a glimpse of Kurt F once—and Kurt R. didn’t see him at all. It was a  sea of studly looking old guys in white with a hint of blue and grey. Kurt F was in the hunt all the way until the last lap, when the final selection was made among about 8 guys.

Robo was in the mix in the 45+, and in the TT. He finished in 46th in the RR, and an excecptional 17th in the TT. Way to go Robo!!!

Horner will resume his Rickshaw service this July

Oh boy, the team selections have been announced, and there are controversies in all of the teams with key Americans. First, it was a shocker to hear that Chris Horner was left off by Astana. Horner proved his form in the Giro, but had another mishap. And, Astana is deep. And, Astana had to take a Kazakh….Or else, they’re never gettting paid again. You can bank on that. Even one Kazakh may not be enough to ever get the Kazakh mafia to pay again. Truth be told, Astana had SEVERAL really strong riders  who didn’t make the squad. Including Colom, Rubiera, and Vaitkus. So, Horner was among four really strong guys, one of whom got screwed when they had to choose a Kazakh kid. My take is that Vaitkus is the guy with a beef. He’s been riding strong, and the real reason not to choose Rubiera, Colom, or Horner is to prevent dividing the team in case of a 1986-like team split between Armstrong and Contador. As it is, there are two Spaniards and two Americans, then a full international set (which also maximizes global marketability).

Next, poor Tom Danielson didn’t make the squad at Garmin. At first, I thought this said something about  TD’s form, but now I think  Tyler Farrar is the reason. Unfortunately, Christian Vandevelde is probably not gonna have a great Tour. He may win the Vuelta, but he’s barely raced since his injury this year. So, it’s better to have a Julian Dean as an extra fast guy to help Tyler Farrar, than it is to have TD struggling with Vandevelde. With Wiggins and Millar in the stable, they have guys who could solo off and steal sprint stages, and they’d still have strong guys to help finish it off for Farrar if Wiggo or Millar get caught. It’s a great strategy. Farrar is the shit. He has beaten them all, head to head:  Boonen, Pettachi, McEwen, Cavendish, Freire, Hushovd…and, notably, Boonen and Pettachi ain’t gonna be there. Cavendish isn’t going to finish, even if he cleans up in the first week.  So, Farrar is a strong contender for Green.

Ah, then Columbia. Greipel, their second winningest rider this year, isn’t going. Who hung in the balance? George Hincapie. If you’re all for Cav and all for Cav, then it seems like you’d pick Greipel. But, Columbia wants to win other shit, and they should. They have a legit chance for the White Jersey in Tony Martin, and with Kim Kirchen and Michael Rogers both on form, they want to win some other stages (and maybe a polka dot, who knows?). I’d peg them the favorite in the TTT. With those goals, you’re better off having Hincapie–who can lead out, time trial, and make it up mountains–than having a fifth sprinter for the leadout train. Cav’s gonna win anyway. And, Cav’s been working with Renshaw, who would be the weakest selection on paper.

Danny and Justin battling it out, Thx Beth for pic

I was bummed when I saw early on in the season that Winghaven would conflict with an annual father-son camping trip we had planned. I hoped for a delay on the camping trip after the storms down here, but, alas, they found a new site. I really like Winghaven, and I’m usually able to help the team in a race like that. Robert Kron was doing fine, though! Robert’s won this one before, and he was only bested by Dave Stone this year. Dave’s a really nice guy, and an incredible racer. From the chip results, it looks like Stone took it out of a small break which had Robert and Gary Dyer (another great guy!). Mack had a lot of usual suspects in the race, with Darrell coming in next, followed by Jeff, Gary, Robo, Mark, and his brother Mark.

In the 2-3 race, Danny the Rocket Robinson took 3rd! That’s an incredible result for a fairly new (and very young) Cat-2 in an NRC race!!! Wow! Justin Armstead was also up there in 13th! Justin just cat’d up to 3’s, and he’s already scoring points in 2’s races!!! And Gina Champion pulled into the finish in a huge race! That’s serious shit at an NRC race.

I’ll be racing the Masters at Webster Groves this weekend. I can’t swing an overnight stay in Peoria, unfortunately. I love the Proctor Crit, but it’s hard to justify the 4.5 hour drive and overnight stay once the road race got canned. Especially since I can get to Webster in 2 hours. After that, I’ll be giving it a go in Louisville for the Masters National Road Race. Woo Hoo!

This hurts....

The Sandia Crest Road Race is one of the hardest races in the US. It sports 7800 feet of climbing over a 57 mile course, finishing at 10,500 ft. Check your TDF info and you’ll see that that Mont Ventoux is 6,300 ft, and the Alp de Huez is 6,100 ft. This race starts at 5500 ft. 

I was glad to once again have Mike Pease helping me out with the details. It doesn’t hurt that he lives less than two miles from the start line. We tooled over to the race start prepared for the usual day of sweltering heat and sun. It was supposed to be cooler and cloudy, but we didn’t believe that and packed four bottles–instead of maybe packing a rain jacket for the trip back down the mountain, or something….

The 3’s race started out just like last year, rocketing off out of the parking lot. A psycho kid was passing our lead car before we even turned the corner out of the Albertson’s. After about a mile, the pack started to chase, and it was strung out for a good five miles before the Sports Solutions kids decided to bag the chase until later. That was good, because I was sitting on lower 190 BPM on my heart rate for a few miles, and was wondering if maybe I should turn back and see if they would let me in the Masters race (which does half the course).

The breaks kept coming, but were mostly short lived until we got to the Mailbox climb. Then, the Sport Solution kids put down a hellish pace. I was worried at first. We were hammering really fast in the big ring on most of the climb. I didn’t know how much I could take. I knew I had to match the efforts or I’d be done. But we were flying, and it hurt. But, gradually, I felt better. I went from not trying to get dropped to making sure I wasn’t behind people who were popping. I was hanging, and I wasn’t the weakest guy in the group. I was moving up as the climb went on.

Then, I saw Pease. He was done. He didn’t feel well that morning, and had some kind of a stomach thing. Pease was heading back down from Mailbox, resplendent in his Big Shark kit, giving me a thumbs up which seemed to mean in equal parts: (1)  good job, (2) I’ll meet you at the top with the car, and (3) I’m going to puke, again.

The kids put in another hellish surge as we neared the top of Mailbox, but I was fine. I’d done it. Getting over that first climb without being dropped was my main goal. There was no way in hell I could be dropped again until Heartbreak Hill, and by that time I’d be in some sort of a chase group.

Then I dropped my chain on a small riser c0ming into Triangle. I couldn’t pull it out. I had to stop. Fortunately, it was a pretty significant climb, and the pack had backed off–which is why I was shifting into the small ring…But, I’d have a tough chase. It was starting to rain, but mostly I had a tailwind, and I hammered fuckless over through Triangle and down the long descent of Hwy 14.

Then the rain started to come down in buckets, and the temperature dropped 15 degrees, and the wind picked up to a swirling gale. I couldn’t see. I couldn’t hold the white line, but I had no follow car on a major tourist highway. I was going 43mph on a long downgrade with a 30-35mph tailwind, and my wheels were slipping on the flooded pavement. I was cold.  But, I was hammering. Then the crosswinds nearly blew my front wheel out. I thought “gee, surely there will be a crash in the pack and I’ll pick up some people.” I slowed down. I was freezing, and I knew there was no way in hell I could climb Sandia.

About the time I should have been crossing the line, Pease and I were sitting at a really nice italian brew pub at the base of Sandia. Even there, 4500 ft below the Crest, it was 60 degrees and spitting rain. I’m fairly certain that if I had not dropped my chain, I would have continued, and I may have wound up in the hospital. Ah well….it was fun to hang for a while.

Congrats to the Mo Chumps!!! Kurt Russell!! Not a surprise in the 40+, the man can climb.  The problem with ST. Gen is that Dave Hixson’s grandkids live within spitting distance of the start line. That makes the 50+ race rather difficult….But I guess he’s not from Mo….

ouch!

Last year at this time I was racing up Sandia Mountain, which I thought was a better first race back after breaking my hip and wrist than Tulsa Tough.  I’m not so sure it was. It was bad. I was hurting, and was the last fool still trying to climb the mountain–Mostly because I had no choice, since Mike Pease was at the top with the car….

So, this year, I was definitely going to Tulsa Tough. Only, then my kids’ school was closed for a week of ice storms, and then a week of inland hurricane, and next thing you know, the kids are in school until June 6! Inconveniently, we were going to visit the in-laws in Santa Fe the week after school let out….and, wouldn’t you know it, they backed up the date for the Sandia Crest road race by a week.

So, instead of racing that easy flat race in St. Genevieve this weekend, I’ll be stuffing as many water bottles as I can get into my jersey and trying not to get dropped on the first climb. It’s Pease’s last year in Albuquerque, before running off to a REAL JOB as assistant professor of geography at Central Washington University in Ellensburg WA.  Pease claims that this year he’s going to suffer it with me. We’ll see….

Nurse Shirley wisely dons latex

The O’Fallon Grand Prix race was a great event. Dave and I got to ride in a golf cart. It’s a much more technical course than I thought it would be. I had fun. Team Mack did a bang up job all around. Uncle Gary went off the front and won the 50+ race, with Mark Shea in 3′rd and Steve Hall in 6th. Justin Armstead came back from a chase group and posted a 3′rd in the 3’s race. All accounts have this as a heroic feat. Steve Driscoll was up there as well, taking 14th, right in front of Young Danimal Williams. And, Gina Champion posts a 2nd place!! And, Marilyn Powell used the powers of grandmotherhood to secure 5th.

Dave crashed out of the main chase in in the 3’s, and well, you can see above from the photo stolen from Dave’s blog. Pretty nasty blister. We managed to keep it from cropping up on the way home through generous intraveneous infusion of bood light. Gloves are good. Still, Dave was having a great race, and it’s a shame since that finishing straight was made for him.  Just a silly crash. It happens. Chad helped him in to a top 25 finish, even with the crash.

Molteni and Gary did the 5’s race. They were stylin’. Sebastian was up there somewhere in the 50+. I couldn’t stay for results.

The 40+ was quite a slugfest. Things got pretty hot and heavy halfway through the first lap. Darrell Bratton won the second prime sprint, and then he opted out of the third to take a flyer. That was about halfway through the race, and it was a perfect setup. There had already been several breaks, and Robo had softened the field with some hard pacework. But, Springborn was just too much for Robo in the end. Robo got 2nd, with Darrell in 6th, and Mark Tank took the group in with 7th while I was 9th. Gary Dyer was up there in 4th, I’m not sure who was 3rd. Rob Landes was in the race, finishing somewhere in the main chase.

May really has been interesting….On the racing front, Robo and Mark Shea continue to tear it up. Driving around the country like Thelma and Louise in Robo’s cruiser. So far, it’s been good for them–both posted top 10 finishes overall at Joe Martin! Wow! Still, I worry about Robo, Mark is likely to corrupt him.

I met up with the dynamic duo in Newburg for Hellbender. I like Hellbenders. They were once rumored to be found in a creek in Northeast Oklahoma when I was a kid. No doubt they are no longer there. It’s a fragile species. Much like me in the hills. Geez. Mark had a great race finishing second to the indominable Evan Wykes in the 50s. Steve Hall put in the money for 6th, and Robo took 5th in the 40s. I was somewhere. I think.

Dave Neis had a great race in the 4’s, taking 2nd. He was pretty upset at the finish, and thought he should have had third. A gaggle of goons conspired to get a DQ on a guy who pasted the field for over 30 miles. I can understand the issue of gaining advantage by crossing the yellow, and I know that Buddy or any official has to abide strictly by the letter of the law. But, when a guy ditches the field for 30 miles on a course like Hellbender, his little foray over the yellow isn’t the reason why. It’s not like the guy jumped at 2k in the wake of a passing truck. I’ve never seen Dave so pissed. The guys who conspired to DQ the winner also failed to take pulls or even bother to chase. Ah, well.

Chief Reimbold, Molteni, and Farmer Bob are training for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre National Championships in Crawford Texas. Inspired by the recent  inland hurricane which laid waste to So. Ill, they’ve taken up competitive tree removal and decorative sawing. Rumor has it that Chief can now carve an indigenous person from a stump of pine in under 20 minutes.

Someday, he'll be shot by an angry husband

How time flies…I’ve been too depressed about missing so many cool races to blog about them. But, there is Mark Shea, once again in the winner’s circle at the Leland Kermesse, a tough race by all accounts.  Neil Thomas and Don Lowe were in the action, and Don scored a 5th place…which may round out his results before some hernia surgery. Don’ll be back, stronger than ever.

I managed to sneak out for the Tour of St. Louis, which was once again a great event! Thanks to Mike Weiss and all of the Big Shark people. Ah, but this year, the South Central Mack group can’t buy a break. Uncle Gary was gunning for an easy win at Delmar, when his front deraileur exploded, he dropped his chain, put it back on in the middle of the sprint, and still took third while sprinting in the little ring. He’d broken a chain sprinting for a prime, and it trashed the crank and der.  More kudos to Mike Weiss and Big Shark for getting Uncle Gary right back in for the TT.  Jeff Williams had to deviate his sprint when Gary went haywire, but managed to cling to 5th, with John Fleckenstein in 8th and Robo in 11th (overall). Robo is an animal!!! He’s scored podiums in huge races down South at Hells Kitchen, and was also on the podium at Hermann. He obliterated the time trial, posting the seventh fastest overall time in 18:45, and winning the masters. Uncle Gary took 3rd in the 50+tt, with Steve Hall in 6th and Fleck in 7th. Justin Armstead put in an awesome effort, as did Frank Brummer! I think Justin must have won the overall in his last 4’s race (I heard) with a 3rd, 2nd, and 2nd. Frank took 6th in the tt, with a smokin’ time. Gina Champion dropped in to take 5th in one of the crits, and Mike Ozment banged heads in the crits as well. Mark Tank was doing great work in the Sunday crit. Both he and Fleck bailed out on the Northland races, where it was 45 degrees and raining….

Thanks to Kurt Russell for dropping off Gary’s Banana Pie. I didn’t get any of it, and I think Uncle Gary polished it off for dinner. You may have seen Team Mack fanned out in the parking lot on Sunday looking for a Coke, as Gary was getting a bit delerious from the sugar imbalance….I don’t think he’s supposed to eat pie, certainly not a whole one.

Gary repeated his 3′rd overall on Sunday, and it was a frustrating race. I really liked the longer Carondolet circuit, and it looked like we had it sewn up with 6 guys in a 10-12 man break begun with a classic John Fleckenstein solo–they seemed off and gone with with two laps to go…but no. It came back, and we didn’t quite have the organization to give Gary a leadout.

I raced like a pansy. I suppose I did ok on Saturday, and I pulled the first part of the train in the closing laps. My time trial sucked, though I was in the points (there was a brutal wind). On Sunday, I raced like an idiot and a coward. The former can’t be helped, and the latter is Joe Walsh’s fault. He scared me. I was doing ok, and it was halfway through the race. I felt a little bad in the early laps, and Jeff Williams was on fire and punching off the front in several forays. So, I didn’t do shit. Then, with about 5 laps left, Joe Walsh takes a flyer. Jeff takes after him. Aaro Froese, wearing his leopard skin housecoat, primes the lap as they came through off the front. But, this is Jeff’s fourth time off the front, and he loses headway on Joe. I’m thinking, OK, my turn, so I blast off the front and catch Joe on the hill on the back side. Af ter I catch him, Joe turns around and says “You can have the prime, then I’m going to drop your pansy ass and solo for the win.” Or, that’s what I heard. I freaked and chickened out. I should have worked, taken the prime, and waited for my teammates to bridge up….Sorry Joe, I’m a wuss. But, at the time, all I could think about was either Joe riding me off of his wheel, or handing me my ass in a 2-up. Then, I’d get the lecture from Uncle Gary….

Lots of Carbondalians in STL! Diamond Dave did a great job in the 4’s, and Chief Reimbold and Shirley were in action for Chief’s birthday race. Berto and Kelly were also racing and playing. And Sebastian Dimmaggio was flying in the 50+!! Some of them got to do Sylvan (even Molteni, and Gary Meredith!), and Dave took 4th in 3-4. He’ll be sandbaggin’ the 4’s until Proctor, I think. What’s he supposed to do? You have to preregister and all…

Did he tell his wife yet?

I wish I was up in Hermann this weekend. The spouse was doing River to River Relay, which was a great event, once again. I should be back for Tour of STL barring tragedy. Pictures are up and it looks like many of the usual suspects were in play. I hope Steve Hall, Mark Shea, and Robo had good races. Looks like Gary Dyer was in the action…man, look at that new bike he got for a post surgery present to himself….

I was happy to see Ivanov take Amstel. He was the most active person in the last 40k, and narrowly missed sticking an earlier break with Nibali and Kreuzinger. It’s debatable whether Nibali should have shouldered down and worked, but given the way they were all cooked on the next climb, I guess it didn’t matter. Sorry to see Kroon miss out, his team made that win. Saxo had three guys slowing the pace in a critical juncture within 3k, and that was the difference in the race.