merde sandwich v.2...

v.1

the plug has been pulled...

Best case scenario, the roads eventually open & are crappy as hell. How long will it take to get there? who knows, plug has been pulled. I started to go down the "get there at any cost" mentality which is probably not the best way to look at a road trip with the wife & dogs, plug has been pulled.

What is the hardest to swallow is I didn't go to the USGP in Louisville last weekend because I was going to Boulder this weekend. I saw pix from last weekend & they were racing in short sleeve skin suits. Boulder...who knows? Mud, cold, wet...would have been great! I don't mind racing in mud & cold just hate the clean up & punishment the equipment takes.

Now what? Just have to get over the disappointment of not getting to do the Boulder races, best weekend of the year. Hard pill to swallow.

Probably head to Spooky.

later,

t-bummer:(

the pilgrimage...

10-30-09 5:40 am

Packed & ready to leave for the Blue Sky Velo Cup & Boulder Cup, but...80 closed from North Platte West, Plan B...70 open but Blizzard warning @ Goodland, KS & all roads East & North of Denver are closed. At best these roads may open later today but how crappy are they going to be?

Not looking good:(

t-bummed

Madison County CX...

Didn't know what to expect while preparing for yesterday's race at Skyview park in Norfolk. Norfolk not only had a bunch of rain this past week but also a couple inches of snow Thursday night. Actually, I was preparing for mud or at least sloppy conditions in some way, shape, or form. What kind of course would these guys put together? How many folks would make the 2+ hour drive from Lincoln, Omaha, or from points beyond?

Well...the park took all that water really well, unbelievably well to be honest. I had set up both my bikes with Michelin Mud tires & ended up running Grifo's with 30 psi at go time. I guess it makes sense to arrive early & test out what you've got.

The course...for not doing this before, the Elkhorn Valley Cycling Club "nailed it" as far as I'm concerned. Sure you could tweak this or that but basically it was a sweet layout. Really tough. Not many spots to rest & a good amount of climbing, all on semi-soft power sapping grass.

The race...I believe we only had 7 at the line. I was guessing we might have 10 so I was close. This race is new & a little off the beaten path but with word of mouth & a little time hopefully it will grow. I'm coming back. I ended up 2nd. Not much "racing" when a small field strings out over a big course...just keep the hammer down, work on technique, & have fun!

Editorial comment: I've been down south a few times to race this fall & the 1/2/3 races have been 50 minutes? What's up with that? As a matter of fact some of the cat 3 crits down there were only 50? Is cutting 10 minutes off of race times a sign of the times? Am I complaining...I guess so. We're only racing 5 more minutes (or so) than the lower category races. I want to suffer for 60 minutes:) IMHO - If a fast cat 3 cx'er is considering moving up to the 1/2/3's it should not only be a jump in level of competition but also a jump in race time. Racing the 1/2/3's for 50 or so minutes is still hard as hell, I'm just pointing out it used to be 60 minutes of suffering & I respectfully believe it should return to that standard of pain. You know the old expression: "be careful you might get what you wish for". Final comment: I appreciate all the hard work that each & every promoter puts into making racing happen, thank you!

I'm still up here in Norfolk so won't be making it to Smithville today. Wish I could. Like I said the other day...can't do it all.

Give 'em hell in Louisville guys! Coach...good luck today in Maui!

Later,

TK

can't do it all...

Before the CX season I had this clandestine notion about the USGP. I knew I could make it up to round 1 in Wisconsin & from there I would play it by ear. If round 1 went well I would consider Louisville, KY (round 2) which is just a little further but still do-able. Well...Wisco went real well so I had to make a decision. Here's my theory...if a person could make it to 3 of 4 stops of the USGP & place high at each stop that person could podium and/or possibly win the series. So...if Louisville went well I would have an even bigger decision to make because I would have to travel to NJ for round 3. Portland (round 4), although the weekend before Nationals, was out because I can't miss a week+ of work. I decided a couple weeks ago that rather than put myself in a torturous dilemma of trying to figure out how to get to NJ after Louisville that I would pull the plug on the USGP secret plan. Now I have a new plan...it involves TP. Dude, take my plan & go for it. I think you stand a really good chance of completing my scenario by making KY, NJ, & Portland ! Below: helmet on the podium, classy:)

Don't feel sorry for me, not that you were, because I'm still heading to Boulder next weekend for the Blue Sky Cup on Saturday & Boulder Cup on Sunday. My annual pilgrimage of suffering. This will be my third year traveling for this weekend, wouldn't miss it. Can't wait to throw down with CO's best in the 35+ Open both days. Love it...love it! I'm old enough to do the 45's now but I'm not ready to move on.

Bummed I'm missing this: http://spookycross.org/ Somehow this race never conflicted with Boulder until this year. I've been down the last 2 years & we still talk about how awesome these courses are. JJ & Tony are two really creative guys & their courses need to be experienced. Below: Spooky CX '07...historic.

This Saturday I'll be here: http://nebraskacyclingnews.com/events/details/28-norfolk-cyclocross. My wife's from the Norfolk area so its kind of like a hometown race, sort of. Looking forward to it.

Three cheers for Coach KB!!! Dude not only qualified for Xterra nationals in UT a few weeks ago but also got the nod to world's in Maui this weekend. So take my USGP conundrum & throw that out the window...try to figure out how to swing getting yourself, your wife, & your 2 kids over to Hawaii on short notice. Well done my friend. Good luck this weekend, have fun!

done rambling...

Later,

TK

frommage...UPDATED

Saturday Topeka - some days everything just falls into place. The legs, the technique, the blah, blah, blah...pulled a 4th out of the hat, happy about that:)

Sunday Wyandotte County Park (KC) - can't put my finger on it, but it just wasn't there. Dug deep for 10th. I can never be sure how I'll respond on day 2 of a weekend, usually not bad...I think I used up some of the Sunday tank on Saturday. Still had a good time...I think. Below: Alex & I turned a bunch of laps together, that made it fun. I'm on my pit bike at this point after a crash on an off camber that twisted my bars on my A bike. Cool thing was Craigio & I had a super-smooth unrehearsed bike exchange, thanks man! Even cooler was he got a wrench, straightened my bars, & had it ready for me on the next go round. Even cooler still is my pit bike is so identical to my race bike that I opted to just stay out there on it because it felt great.

Great NE vibe going on down there. Ghast was there for Saturday, Mod & MR. Pool n' Spa joined in the fun for the weekend as well. Great spending time with you guys. Wood-man as always, great time!

Craigio rode great, has his mind on an upgrade. Go for it!

Ride(s) of the weekend - Randall Crist! Came from way back on Saturday to finish 2nd in the 3's (better start may have won) & crushed on Sunday for the "W"! With 3 to go he moved from 9th to first & proceeded to ride a clean blistering pace for the win. Congratulations man!

Mathgeek & TP - thank you, thank you, thank you! You guys are the best!

Farewell Enclave...

This Saturday - local-ish racing! Norfolk, NE - Skyview CX Classic

Later,

TK

2nd verse same as the first...

if you tried to get on to SBO last night...I'm not even going to get into it. My night went better, I'll leave it at that.

ok...yesterday, a small Lincoln crew rolled down to good guy Chris Locke's race in Leavenworth. Craigio & myself in one car & wood-man, beth, & k-dub in the enclave.

If I'd looked at the start list before the race I probably could have predicted within a few spots where I'd finish. 25 at the line for the 1/2/3's. All the big KS/MO hitters on deck except the Topeka gang? Well...I would have been really close to my prediction, I finished 13th. Maybe I could have moved up a couple slots but some really strong guys would have needed to have a bad day. Yeah it was a little cold out, if you get a close up of this picture there's a big bead of snot coming off my nose & a "glass cutter" in full effect, here ya go... http://www.flickr.com/photos/lanternerouge/4002607465/in/set-72157622440804065/

Marshall, ScottyD, & myself stayed together lap after lap with myself doing the lightest load of work. Didn't have any desire to stick my nose out to far for fear of it getting lopped off. At times I was giving it all I had just to stay with the group. I did pull up the road twice but the tempo was noticeably slower then when Marshall was on the front. Highlights: I ran over Alex Edwards finger when he crashed in front of me & just missed running over Mills head when he crashed in front of me. I hit the deck myself late in the race when I crossed wheels with Marshall, minor set back though I jumped up & got back in it. When we hit the road for the final time to the finish I was done & I knew it, Marshall lit the after burner & scorched it up the road. ScottyD finished strong putting in just enough hard effort to make sure I stayed behind him. Bottom line: I had a good time & did all I could do.

The front end was dominated by youth: Joe, Chris, Andrew, & the younger Shad. I'm glad to see Winkler up there keeping it real for 40+ set.

What's up next? Topeka Cup/Boulevard Cup this weekend, Norfolk the weekend after that, & then Boulder. What no Louisville? That would have to be a whole other post, maybe another time.

I'll see about borrowing a picture from Roger (or someone) if I find one.

Great seeing everyone, always feels like my fall home away from home down there.

Later,

TK

ok, that sucked...

Cyclocross Nationals registration opened last night at 11:01 pm central, or did it?

I've become a veteran of these set the alarm, go to sleep, & wake up in time to hammer out my online registration scenarios. Since CX is heavy on the start is critical end of the spectrum these order of registration sign ups are well...critical. I have actually become extremely proficient (fast) at this process & have usually "won" the race to get in.

10:20 pm - I wake up from being asleep for about 1.5 hours even before the 2 phone alarms I have set, actually three alarms, my wife set hers for 10:30 for me & I had 2 set on mine for 10:30 & 10:35 (mine is a new phone, I didn't want to mess it up). All those alarms for naught, all I did was lay there for a few minutes until they went off & I turned them off.

10:40 pm - I'm at my post. Logged in & ready, approximately 21 minutes to go.

10:50 pm - I hit refresh & the reload slows to a crawl...uh oh! The page will not reload, server overload?

11:0-something pm - I text TP in KC, problems on my end, u? Response, same problem down here, can't get in! Well son-of-a...Another text to TP & his last response..."its going to be a long night".

I'll condense the next couple of hours, I sat here at my computer hitting the refresh button while surfing other perfectly working sites on other tabs. I visited SBO's facebook site to view comments by other frustrated/thwarted registrants. The comments ranged from mildly confused to pissed off. On twitter I found this amusing link: http://bit.ly/3oYW2A.

unsure about this font change...

1:05 am - the site pops up all of a sudden, I quickly log in, manage to get to the pick your category page & wham...stalled out again. Damn! I thought my misery was coming to an end. In those few minutes it was sort of working I noticed a few people had managed to register. Hmmmm? I can only speculate...

1:55 am - I'm in this for the long haul. I don't have to work tomorrow & we are only racing on Sunday this week so I've got all day tomorrow to recover. Maybe not the best idea but I was pretty tired so I broke out the single serve french press & fired up a strong single of some freshly roasted Guatamalan Huehuetenango.

2:19 am - still tapping refresh intermittantly & VOILA! The page refreshes to the "pick your category page". Not only am I in but I'm right where I need to be! Bam, select my category. Bam, proceed to checkout, Bam, log in super-fast (it had booted me somewhere along the line), Bam, speed glance at some racing age mumbo jumbo. Bam, authorize my credit card already on file &...I'm done.

2:20 am - 4 hours after my adventure began I had succesfully registered. I went back to the page to see how many had registered in my category & it showed one, a couple minutes later it showed 3. I believe I had managed to either be the first or at least one of the first few onboard in my age group.

Now the mysterious part begins behind the scenes. As I understand it, Cat 1 will be lined up by order of registration first then Cat 2's & so on. So at best I should be behind any Cat 1's & the top 10 or 8 or whatever they decide from last year. If it plays out that way I'll be happy...I did everything I can do on my end.

You're going to love this at 6:30 this morning I only counted 181 registered on the male side. It gets better, I just went to count again & add the women in also but I couldn't...the site is down again!

Ugh!

Later,

TK

UPDATE 7:56am - its up again but they took off the # of people registered in each category feature?

taking our show on the road...

We got tired of beating each other up down here in Lincoln so we all drove up to Omaha to do the same. Saturday...11 of the 15 in the 1/2/3 race were Lincolnites, Sunday...9 of 16. Of the 15 on day 1 only ONE person was an Omaha rider, of the 16 on day 2 there were TWO. If there's a silver lining on those stats...Omaha doubled there representation on Sunday.

Thank you Velo Veloce for a great weekend of racing just up the road! Mathguy & crew did a wonderful job. That was the best layout yet at this pretty compact venue.

Tip my hat to the younger Farnham, he's for real. Once he gets the starts figured out...

Cornbread...thanks for the shuttle service!

Lincoln Crew...thanks for the great vibe. Our scene is small but has incredible energy!

Baxter...I'm stoked you found a great home!

Have a great week.

Later,

TK