Spring Fling #3. . 5 start and 4 finish. . uh oh!

Spring Fling #3 was shaping up to be a great day. . . It was about 70 degrees with light wind and sun. We had 5 guys from the team there including myself and we were ready to defend the Yellow Jersey. We welcomed Dale to his first race ever and tried to give him some pointers on staying upright and finishing. . . things don't always work out like you mean for them to.

Picture of all of us waiting for the 34 and younger CAT 5 guys to get done. . .. From left to right.
Me, Eric, Dale, Dave, Randy

The race started off as normal, it seems the warmer weather brings out more guys, but not too many. . . I sat in the middle to watch any attacks that might come with teammates behind me ready to help out if they had to. You will notice that two guys back from me is Dale. I think he crashed shortly after this picture. I guess a guy from Bike Shack came across and hit his wheel. . Dale went down pretty hard and had some road rash and pretty good cut on his elbow that needed stitches. I hear he is doing good, but probably a little sore and stiff.

The sprint lap on the race was number 6. . . man. . that almost threw off my entire day. It took me 2 weeks to understand that the first sprint points were on lap 5 and now they are telling me lap 6!!!! I figured I would just listen for the bell this time. The next picture is after the sprint lap. . I am leading the front group. . I wanted to put a little extra hurt on some of the guys. I might not have the raw power that some of the bigger guys have, but I can sustain what I do have for a longer period of time. I got 3rd or 4th on the first sprint points. Randy got First!!

Here I am looking to see who has come with me. .shortly after I pull over and let someone else do the work. . .

With the sprint lap being on lap 6 and the final lap being lap 10, it didn't leave much time in between till we had to rev up and sprint for the line. . ..

Here I am trying to chase down the two guys in front of me on the final lap. . . Dave got me to this point and the rest was up to me. Eric and Randy helped me out earlier in the race by pulling and taking sprint points away from the other teams.

Coming off the final turn, I knew that I wouldn't catch the two that were in front of me. With about 30 yards to go I caught the second place guy and had my eye on the guy in first, but again I ran out of real estate and ended up getting second on the final lap and Second overall for the day. I do retain the overall lead thoug for the series. . but since I can't race this upcoming weekend, I need my team to all place so they eat up points so the other teams can't get them. . . .

Kloden at the Spring Fling. . in 10 years he will be able to race juniors. . . :)

What lap are we on? Spring Fling Series

Oh it looks fast, but it is just a bike and needs someone to make it go. .. am I worthy? Saturday morning started off well enough. It was 35 degrees and I had a Time Trial at 9:50 in the morning. I needed to place well in the time trial in order to be in the running for the overall series, since I will not be able to race on the 28th. Anyway, to make a long story short, I ended up getting first in the Time Trial, with Randy Booth (from Team Bike Stop) getting second and Dave Corwin (another Bike Stop temmate) getting 5th. Not bad for a new team.

After the Time Trial I went home to get the road bike and then headed back out for the Criterium in the afternoon. The Crit went well for the most part, but someone forgot to tell me (actually I forgot what lap we were on) that the sprint lap was lap 5 for points. Sure enough when we were coming into lap 4, I took off as fast as I could and was pleased that I placed FIRST!! But what did that get me? You guessed it a BIG ZERO POINTS!!! Hey, Jared. . the sprint lap is LAP FIVE!!!! Oh well, I was tired, pretty much out of it after that and then Randy came rolling around after the second turn and said, "get on my wheel". I picked myself up and gave it everything I had to get up to speed with him and hang on to his wheel. For those that don't know cycling, he was being a GREAT Teammate! He could have just took off and went for the points himself, but instead he sacrificed his own sprint to pull me up to have a shot for points. As we came to the finish line I barely squeeked out second place. . .thanks to Randy. Eric, Max and Dave each took turns pulling for the next 4 laps and just being good teammates all around. It is amazing how nice it is to have 4 other guys out there with you when you are racing, just made me feel more calm all around.

Going into the last lap, the guy who won the week before took, off, it was basically a repeat of the week before for me, except this week I got 4th on the final lap, which ended up putting me 3rd for the race.

So a first place in the Prologue (Time Trial) and a 3rd place in the Crit. . not bad but I need to do better in the Crits.

Not a lot of pics this week. . . why you ask? Because the Team Photographer (Amy) was busy. :)

Dave and Randy warming up.

Spring Fling

The weather was beautiful on Friday (March 6th). . . so much so that I actually ran outside in shorts and a tshirt for my morning run. . . this was going to be a great weekend, I could feel it.

Friday night I decided to switch up the normal group ride and head over to Lakewood to meet up with some other triathletes who in turn would head out to Longview lake to meet up with some other triathletes. Eric came along from the normal group, so I met him on my way up to Lakewood. Now I knew Friday night that I should errrr take it easy Saturday morning, because there was a good chance that I may race that afternoon at the Spring Fling series at Clinton Lake, Kansas.

When I took off from my house at 6:45 am, I knew right away I probably should have left a few minutes earlier. There was a very strong wind out of the south and my 10 mile ride DUE SOUTH was going to be a tough one if I was going to meet up with the guys to head out to Longview Lake. I think my average was around 15mph on the way up to Lakewood. . . and just so you know, the economy is alive and well, because Corner Cafe was PACKED!!! at 7:00 AM and yes on my return trip home the parking lot and surrounding countryside was filled with cars at 10:30. . .so obviously people aren't hurting that bad.

To make a long story short, I made it to Lakewood, met up with Eric along the way, then met Hugh and Tim at the Lakewood clubhouse and headed out to Longview via Rhineheart Road (Big ole hill). The wind was even stronger now and it took all of our might and a lot of Hugh pulling to get us to Longview by 8:00AM.

I think we rolled in a few minutes late and my odometer already read, 22 miles. .. great, so if I turn around now, I get 44 for the day, but I knew that in the end it would be much more, which would make for tired legs for the Spring Fling race later that afternoon.

We headed around Longview clockwise and Hugh pulled most of the way until I decided to attack coming off his wheel for KOM. I shouldn't have done that and later apologized for having him pull the whole way and then I jumped for the top (he said to not apologize because he would have done the same thing to me). :) You have to love cycling. . .

After we came down the hill and headed north on Raytown road, I had put a bit of space on the main group, but I knew with the winds at their backs, that the train would be coming by shortly. . and come by it did. . they came rolling past me at probably around 28mph and then I jumped on. Hugh was the engine pulling the train and Chris Yows and Wheaties guy was right behind him with me and then some others behind me. Hugh picked it up and then pulled off and Chris took off like a rocket, Wheaties guy couldn't hang and fell off pretty fast, I bridged the gap and was giving it all I had to try and catch Yow's wheel. I looked down at my speedometer at one point and it said 38 mph!!! This is on flats with a small incline mind you. . ..

We ended up waiting for everyone at the dam and tried to keep it together from there on out. I guess everyone had their fun for the day. All in all I ended up doing 68 miles for the morning ride. . . and my legs felt every mile of it. . .

Are you up for a Spring Fling???? The Spring Fling Criterium series is basically a series of bike races throughout March and into April.
Saturday afternoon we loaded Kloden into the Sable with his stroller and my bike and Amy and all of the bike gear and Kloden's gear. .. we were full and ready to go!!!

We arrived at Clinton Lake and after a brief sight seeing tour, found where we were suppose to be. I had about 45 minutes till the race, so I got setup, registered and headed out for a warmup. When the race was finally ready to go, they told us we would have 10 laps total with a "Sprint Lap" on the 5th lap, meaning that you can pick up extra points if you are one of the top 4 to cross the line.

When the gun went off, everyone jumped to get going and we were off. The pace quickly picked up and I felt the 68 miles from earlier in my legs right away. Randy and Dave (the other two Bike Stop guys) seemed to have no problem staying in the front. They both said before the race that they would help me out as much as possible, all the time I was thinking, don't worry about me, I will probably get lapped at some point. :)

I found myself at the back of the pack pretty quick. I was trying to negotiate the corners since they can get tight, fast and scary. I honestly thought after the first lap that I was probably not going to make it with the main group. After about the 3rd lap I started to feel a little better as my legs were convinced that I they needed to pitch in and help out. Going into the 4th lap, I knew that lap 5 was coming up and that was the sprint lap. My legs were back and I moved up to be closer to the front of the pack. Coming around the last corner to the finish I was probably about 7th or so and just turned on the gas on the inside. I knew I would catch most of them and had a shot at 2nd place, but I ran out of realestate and ended up getting 3rd for the sprint points. I wasn't too upset since I was having fun and my legs still felt good. I will admit though that the sprint did take a little out of me. Thankfully most of the other guys were tired too and the pace backed off a little.

About lap 7, Dave come flying past me and says "Relax" . . . I knew that he and Randy had something up their sleeves. Randy comes up too and takes about 3 guys with them and pushes the pace a little. I know they were trying to tire the guys out by pushing the pace while letting me rest a little in the pack. They were being good teammates is what that comes down to. Not to mention the fact, that I think I asked Dave twice which lap we were on during the race. :)
Coming onto lap 8 the pack slowed down and it seemed as though no one wanted to be out front. I got close to the front, but never wanted to pull at this stage of the game. Going into the final lap I just wanted to be close to the front and wanted to make sure that I was able to get out of the pack when I needed to. With about halfway to go in the final lap, a guy takes off and I figure I can't wait anymore, I need to go too. I jumped and took off after him, as I came off the second to last corner I caught a glimpse behind me and could see the pack was coming to. The first place guy wasn't going to be caught by me, this much I knew, and here I was out in no man's land. I spent energy trying to catch the guy and now I thought for sure that I would get passed by the pack and end up 10th or so.

Coming off the last corner, I hadn't been passed by anyone and just put my head down and took off, I could see the finish getting closer and closer, and I was just trying to hold off as many as I could. One Cycle City racer caught me and passed me by about 1/2 a bike length and then the race was over. I got 3rd overall (although I haven't seen the official results)!!!! I am happy with the result, I learned a lot and I think I am hooked a little now. :) Enjoy the pics.

Colorado fun

Colorado was a lot of fun. I always have mixed emotions about going on vacation. It is such a chore to pack and get everything ready and then to travel to get there. . . I always think to myself that it would be much easier to stay at home, save the time from packing and not miss any workouts.

We left for Colorado at 4:30AM Monday morning (2-16-09) and I wasn't really looking forward to the trip. . I don't mind car trips, but this would be Kloden's first real trip in the car and I think we were anxious to see how he would do. Plus, Amy woke up sick with the flu. . . luckily it was gone the next day, but it came back later in the week to visit the rest of us.

We arrived in Grand Lake at around 4:30 PM mountain time and got everything unpacked. Amy hit bead to try and recover from the flu and the long trip. Now I have to confess my secret, I took my bike and trainer and set them up in the garage. It was cold in the garage (probably about 40 degrees or so) but I had to do something since I had been cooped up in the SUV all day long. My legs were very tired and stiff from the 19 mile run that I did the day before, but when I was done, it felt good to get at least something in.

Tuesday: I slept horrible Monday night, probably just from being in a new place and I was worried about Amy and Kloden, hoping they were doing all right. Woke up early at about 5:30 am and decided to go out in to the living room and see if we had any additional snow. There was a few snow flakes, but nothing major. A couple of hours later I put on the running gear and decided to get in a run. Running at 9500 to 10,000 feet is a challenge to say the least, plus throw in some cold and snow and you have yourself a good ole time. I decided to run up the mountain to the trailhead and then turn around. It was basically 3 miles up and 3 miles back down. . . Here are some pics of the trek.

Tuesday night I hit the trainer again, no pictures, plus, pics of me sitting on a trainer in a cold, dark garage isn't that exciting.

Wednesday: I hit the road again, this time I decided to run around the "block" and then up the highway to the next condo complex to see what was up there. . . no snow showers this day, but cold and altitude help to keep the ego in check. At least the sun was out today. While running I had the idea (for the next day) to run into town. Town is about 5.5 miles from the house and basically all uphill. Plus you have to watch out for snowplows on the highway. . . they can be tricky at times. We also went down to Sol Vista ski resort on Wednesday. Jen, Lisa and Ashley all went and we had a great day on the slopes. We actually had about a foot or two of fresh powder on some of the ungroomed trails.

Here is a pic of Lisa and I trying to teach Ashley how to ski.

Thursday: Run to town/coffee shop. Thursday, the plan was for me to run along the highway into town. This is basically a 6 mile uphill run that takes me along the shores of Grand Lake and then into town. I would meet my brother and sister in law at Grand Lake Coffee shop (see very first picture). A great little coffee shop that I love. They have a ton of cycling stuff there and come to find out the guy working is an avid cyclist, so I spent some time after my run talking with him about cycling in the area. I feel a fall training camp coming on . . . It was a great run and great just sitting in the shop drinking the hot chocolate and looking at the internet. Grabbed the bike and hit the trainer again. . . no pics. . .sorry.

Friday: A run and then some X-Country skiing fun. I hit the road knowing this would be my last run, so I decided to hed down the highway in the opposite direction of town. I noticed right away it was a tad cooler than normal. Come to find out the actual temperature out was -10 degrees. .. no wonder my eyelids froze over and I had ice all over on the outside of my clothing.

Amy and I headed to the local X-Country ski park and decided to try it for the first time. I really enjoyed the sport and while it does take some getting use to, it is a great workout and a great way to be outdoors. At one point it seemed as though we were out in the wilderness all by ourselves. Although I knew there was a house just on the other side of the hill. Here are some pics. . .

Saturday: Starbucks and Chinese then the great escape. . . After a trainer bike ride in the am we headed down to Winter Park to get some Starbucks from the lodge and then do some shopping in town. We ended up eating lunch at a great Chinese place and then did a little more shopping. This was our last full day, so we headed back to Grand Lake to pack up. We were planning on leaving Sunday morning, but when we got back to the house, we found out that Brian, Ashley and then Jacob got sick with the Flu that afternoon. Andrew had been sick on Thursday so it was apparent that it was spreading. After Jacob got sick (their smallest one) we decided at the point to vacate the house and head back to KC. At least get away from the sickness. Well, the car couldn't travel that fast, we got to Limon, Colorado and in the morning after staying at the beautiful resort hotel Econolodge, Andy (my father in law) and Stephanie (my mother in law) were sick. This left me with the driving duties, so we loaded everyone up and headed east. They seemed to get better as the day went on, but as we got closer to KC, I could feel my own sickness coming on. By the time we hit our house, I was really bad. I basically walked in, upstairs and got into bed with the worst case of chills I have ever had. .. .luckily it was only a 24-36 hour flu thing.

AHH, it is good to be home. :)
Here are some more random pics.