Joe the Plumber - Wall Ride

Joe must have been looking for his plunger after he clogged up the pipes on this wall ride attempt.... the onlookers were totally confused.

Once our plumber friend got his chamois changed, he took some vid of guys cleaning the run-up/ride-up.

Albert Clinches his first World Cup

Niels Albert of Palmans Craas laid it down on a stacked field in Tabor, Czech Republic over the weekend. From the beginning he rode super strong off the front. This was Albert's first W on the World Cup scene....expect many more. Nys crashed after a barrier section by running into Mourey's rear wheel, which set him back into the 2nd chase group. Nys clawed his way back into the main chase group and managed a solid 4th. Nys is the man but might need a little technique practice or he could end up with another one of these.

Kalmthout

Smithville CX Festival - Wicked Windy

Wow, what a great weekend of racing. Thanks to Chris, Heather, and all the rest who made this event happen. Sunday's race was the most fun I've had all cyclocross season. It wasn't epic conditions, massive fields, or an incredibly difficult course.... it was just real Racing. The course had a nice road start into a flowy tree section with some slick corners. Then over to my favorite part which was another flowy up down side to side grassy section that was super fun. Then down toward the lake where the WIND unleashed on everybody. It had to be 30mph winds on Sunday that seemed to pickup thru the day. The big crowd pleaser was the Wall runup followed by the money tree.



Day 1 - - - Got a great start and hung in with the uber fast guys for the first couple of laps. That was all great, until I started to fade. That pace was just a little too much for me, and I started getting passed by a few guys on the 2nd/3rd laps. I then glued myself to Studnicki's wheel for about half the race. A few too many gaps and closing said gaps left me out in the wind. Marshall was closing in on me and next thing I know he's way back due to a stop in the pits for a wheel change. I was out of the money so I starting picked dollars off the tree and ended up with a fat $3, a pocket of leaves, and a couple clothespins. Cameron and a few others were riding the Wall with good success.

Day2 - - - 10 degrees cooler, a lot windier, and a similar course with a few reversed/rerouted sections to mix things up. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel after Day1, but I was going to take a different approach. Going for it on the start worked me over on Satuday, so I was going to play it a little slower off the start and work my way up from there. The start went well and was rolling around 5th wheel or so for the first lap. Shadd and Cameron rolled away and Shriner was sitting 3rd with me close behind. Through the whoops section, something happened with my drivetrain as I tried to pedal and it felt like I had no chain, just resistance-less spinning. Keep trying, looking down, but nothing. I jumped off right at the pits, gave it a good spin and it was back on I got rolling trying to bridge back to Shad. I run a double guard single ring, so no idea what happened there. Within the next 2 laps, my group formed. This made the race for me and really had a blast. Shad Shriner, Mark Studnicki, Bill Marshall and I settled in together and the racing started. The group swapped pulls, attacks, surges and made for a lot of fun. With 2 to go, Bill got gapped in the tree section and the pace quickened to hold it. A solid surge on the blacktop section and Studnicki was off, so it was Shad and I fighting for 3rd. Shad then got a gap that I could never close down and I ended up 4th. It was tons of fun out there today getting windburned and my legs torched. Cameron took the W on a borrowed bike, way to go. Same bike as I have and he loved the carbon.... hmmm.


Check out the cool video from mruder

Boulevard Cup Take 3

Yes Take 3 as in 3rd time doing this race. Each time I've done the race, it has been held in Wyandotte County park (home of Cross Nationals 2007) but at a slightly different location within the park. This time it was further back in the park than prior races and on flatter ground. Rolling into the park, there were tons of cars, EZ ups, and people everywhere so looked like a much bigger crowd than the day before. KCBike.com puts on the race and I have lots of good friends still on the two cycling teams, Boulevard Brewing and SKC, so always good to get out and support them and they usually have a bunch of beer!

The Masters were racing, with Scott leading, as I walked up onto the course. Hejduk was chasing, but it looked like Scott had a good handle on things in the closing minutes of the race. He went alone to the line sprinting down the road on those white file treads. I didn't get to see much of the race, but from his report and others, it was 360 runnin' a train on Scott, but they couldn't get organized enough to make it stick. 6 on 1 should be easy pickins', but he hung tough, let them put in a bunch of attacks, tire themselves out, and then roll away... I like it.

I got to see one of my wife's good friends do her first cross race and looked like she was enjoying every moment of it. Caught a few minutes of the 3/4 race, but had to get my own self together for the elite race. I could tell the wind was picking up, but the temps were still very moderate, so heat wasn't going to be much of a factor. The course was tightly mowed and ultra fast, except for a couple places with headwind and mud. 22 starters lined up and I'm totally unprepared when I hear 'Racers Ready; Tweet!' Fumbling as I try to get in my pedals as the race moves up the road. Finally clipped in and get it going and almost DFL as I make it off the pavement onto the grass. Now I'm in chase mode and drilling it as best I can on the first two laps. People are coming back and I'm feeling pretty good around the course, except one spot. On the backside of the course after the double barriers, there was a mudhole followed by a slight uphill drag which was killing me every time. I truly struggled up that thing the whole race. This became apparent to the patient guy sitting on my wheel 75% of the race. Three of us established a "group" that wasn't really working togther but riding together and trying to drop each other. It was Shad Shriner, Andrew Coe and myself. Well Andrew (a Seattle transplant) must have noticed my struggle up that backside pull and attacked hard with 3 to go. He left me and rode away from Shad as well. I settled into my solo time trial mode again and watched those trying to claw their way up to me and finished it out. 9th place on the day, nothing spectacular. There were a couple guys down from Nebraska there put on quite a show bunny hopping the barriers in a crowd packed section of the course. Good day all in all. Thanks to all who put on the race, maybe next time I'll get some of the Boulevard beer.

Capital Cup

The #2 race of Series 60 CX held out in the capital city of Kansas, hence the name. It was the first real fall day we've had for cross, yet it warmed up quite nicely by the later races. Early racers had dew laden course that was frought with spongy power sapping grass. The course was almost the same as last year, but was shortened up to only 3.2K! Wow, it must have been 5Ks last year.

In the earlier races, SlimenundGrossen teammates Scott and Joe both did well. Scott has been solid in the Masters category and again took 2nd place behind Winkler. Joe is still hanging tough in the cat 4 races clawing his way up the rankings. Joe finished in 4th behind his neighbor and cross newbie, Todd. That really steamed him up, but hopefully enough to motivate him to not let it happen again. Joe was less than a bike length behind the neighbor going up the last runup, but alas the gap opened even wider in the closing seconds of the race. Even through my harsh cursing and screams of motivation Joe coudn't close the deal.

My race played out about as expected, especially given the low racer turnout. A dirty dozen lined up for the 1/2/3s and I recognized all but a couple. It was heating up and I had done a pretty decent warmup on the trainer, working up quite a sweat. Downed a bottle before go-time and got ready to roll. The start was fine and I was sitting around 5th wheel, but as the front group picked up the pace on the first lap, I was stuck behind a guy that wasn't going with them. I tried 3 times to get around him, but got cutoff and never got around. Well the front group rolled away as I watched. Made the pass and attempted to close it down some, but they were moving and I wasn't able to bridge up. It was then and there that my time trial started. Just keep the guys behind you behind you and try to move up if possible. When the field is that small and you're sitting in no-man's land, its tough to do much of anything. I started checking time gaps and was staying in the same place 30 seconds back of Shad and 30 seconds up on the 2 behind me. It more or less stayed that way the rest of the race give or take a few seconds. Highlights were the Mound of No-Mercy which featured two steep run-ups, spiking everyone's heartrate and creating gaps on the running challenged. The sponge grass dried up some by later in the day, but still was a power sapping effort everytime through the backside of the pit. I ended up 8th place on the day.

Windy City Cyclocross - - ChiCross Cup #3 Hawthorn Woods

It could have been called Hotter than Hell Cross and they wouldn't have been far off. Honestly not too bad, the temps were in the high 80's with a steady 10-15 mph wind (not too windy for THE windy city) and SUNNY skies. Sounds like a great day to be hanging down at the beach on Lake Michigan with some cold ones but we cross junkies and self proclaimed masochists choose to flog ourselves. The Hawthorn Woods suburb NW of Chicago was playing host to race #3 in the local ChiCross Cup series, so away we went.

After 2 nights of mucho wine, late night cavorting, and feasting like Kings at N9ne what was I thinking jumping into a cross race on a hot blustery day?Not to mention in full Belgium form, we engaged in the drinking of Absinthe, look out! As always I underestimated the drive time and arrived one hour before the whistle... not too bad really. But I hadn't ridden in 3 days, no pre-race opener the day before, so it was imperative to get some type of warm up. I got registered, changed, and headed out for a quick lap. Course was pretty fast with long straight aways and not very technical. The only exception was back to back climbs up a HUGE sledding hill. The base of the 2nd climb had a barrier forcing a dismount, but getting back on the bike wasn't too problematic . Out for a quick warm-up on the road to blow out the cobwebs and then the family shows up to witness this spectacle so affectionately called 'cross. Most of them had never watched a 'cross race, only heard me tell stories about it.

Call-ups for the local studs begin and I zoom up into the 2nd row when they say 'and the rest'. There were 26 starters with riders from teams like KillJoy, SRAM, Planet Bike, the Pony Shop, and Team XXX. The officials said it was ok for handups due to the heat, so my bro Vinny was in the pits with bottle in hand. We don't get feeds in KC, so I really wasn't expecting to use it much, ya right.

Whistle blows and we're off. Fast pavement section into a right hand grassy S turn leading into the first climb. Ride the climb, descend, over the barrier, remount, and ride the climb again, descend... Heart rate at MAX! I'm sitting fourth or fifth wheel as we hit the double barriers. I had a bad line going into them so made for a not so smooth dismount on the choppy ground. Make it around to the mud ditch. My rear wheel loses traction on the up side of the ditch and guy behind me hits my rear wheel and down he goes, Sorry man. Around the soccer fields and thru the pits we are jockeying for position. Back onto the pavement and up the hills again. 3 laps in and still in 4th or 5th with the leaders and my stomach starts cramping something fierce. Must have been that huge Porterhouse lodged in my gullet. This was the first time I really wanted to quit a race. It hurt so bad and I just didn't think I could make it another 45 minutes. The in-laws were all there cheering me on, so I had to stay in. I sit up and ease off the gas and start to drift back through the field. It felt like a ton of people went by, so I jumped onto this group of 3 guys and followed, was more like getting towed. I started taking water in the pits every lap and was still burning up. The sled hill was dredded every time and I wasn't climbing all that well. Zoom in on that hill, I'm up there.

30 minutes in and I'm feeling much better, at least no stomach issues. The pace feels slow, so I attack through a twisty section but get caught near the barriers. I sit on for the next lap and when we hit the long straight along the soccer field, I dropped it a few gears and hammered a solid attack. I look back as I entered the pit area and I have at least 30 seconds on them. Sick! It actually worked. I settle into a pace and now in survival mode with one other guy. He either took a feed at some other point on the course or chose to hold off and drink on the road section. When he was sitting up drinking I was pedalling away on the bell lap. 9th place in the 1/2/3s on a pretty hard course. It wasn't overly technical by any means, but the hills were killer, the heat blasting, and a fast straight course kept the heart rate pegged. All good stuff, but best of all I had the largest fan club out there.