Primus Mootry crit

Another early season (or is this mid season for me?) race held in an office park between Boulder and Longmont. I had much better hopes for this race since it's been a month since I returned to altitude and it was basically as flat and wide open as they come. I was the lone Skins racer as some of my teammates opted to double up and race 45+ and 3s.

The weather was cool enough that I decided to race in knee and arm warmers. It would later warm up to 70 after my race.

I started out well feeling better than I have in a while. There were a few early moves but nothing stuck until halfway through the 50 minute race 2 riders went clear. 2 laps later Bob Dahl of team Excel Sports attacks and gets a Mob rider to go with him. They bridge up and I waited to see what the reaction from the field would be. After seeing no movement I hit the afterburners to try to bridge up solo. I came close, within a couple of seconds, before my lack of intensity training kicked in and I fell back to the field. I lasted 2 laps in no man’s land. It was a good effort and I got lots of cheers which really helped out in the end when I was really hurting to catch the leaders. The Mob riders effectively shut down the race behind. None of the other riders had teammates and really profited from this generosity. I sat in and waited for the final few laps debating to attack again with 1.5 laps left but someone beat me to it. Good thing I didn’t go as we caught and passed him before the line. In fact we almost caught the leaders as they had slowed significantly in a game of cat and mouse. I was mid pack when I passed the last corner but was able to find the right wheel to pull me past most of the field to finish 17th.

My teammates in the cat 3 race did well with some interesting happenings.

TR broke a spoke and made an illegal pitstop at his car to change a wheel and in his haste he forgot to close the quick release skewer. His rear wheel basically fell out when I picked up his bike to move it after the race. Thank goodness he didn't sprint all out, he might have taken the whole field out.

CF and some other riders were taken out in the final kilometer by some young'n riding stupidly. He ended up with a taco for a wheel.

KOB was back up to prime form as was DK who unfortunately led the field around the last corner which was 350 meters too soon.

Garrett, a day after having to shoot pics at the Nuggets/Lakers game the night before, raced the 35+ cat 4 race and finished in the pack.

all in all a fairly good day for the crew.

My next race is in 2 weeks.

Snow still?!?

Woke up today to blowing snow. Will this ever stop?

It warmed up to 43 today so at least it disappeared and allowed me to get in a quick outdoor spin with the dogs. I had to have them burn off some energy after I found they had caught a bunny to play with. Unfortunately the bunny did not last as long as a dog chew toy. Poor bunny, next time stay away from my bushes and flowers.

My new Stumpjumper hasn't arrived yet but I did grab a new bike from the shop. It's an '07 Specialized Sirrus Sport that had been sitting on the floor. I've been trying to sell this to people as the ultimate commuter (which it is), but even with a discounted price for last years stock no takers. It's a aluminum road bike with carbon fork and seat stays and a flat bar like a mtn bike. Handles like a bike messenger bike in NYC. It's a blast to ride. I'll try the work commute on it Monday. Pictures as soon as I find my camera.
Tomorrow is a pancake flat criterium. I hope to feel better about myself after that race.

Work and racing

In the last post I mentioned a follow up to Sunday's race, after a busy week of work I forgot that I hadn't posted anything.

The AST criterium in Golden Colorado was a blast. Got together with most of my team and flashed some Skins power. Unfortunately, my power was short lived (re-aclimation phase) and my teammates were unable to bring down a top 10 finish. Afterwards we had our Team Photographer, Mark Woolcot, shoot our team shots. We then headed out to our various assignments that we had volunteered for as co sponsor of the race. Some of us even had a go at a second race (me included) and did well (I got shelled after 3 laps of the Pro race).

Monday I arrived at work to find about 2 dozen repairs awaiting me. As service manager you would think that I would have someone there to assist me. Well I do for about 3 hours when the youths get out of school. I'm not complaining, I like the challenge. Although I am looking forward to when I pick up another day mechanic late May. One of the busiest days so far was this Friday. I went into work at 9:30am and left @ 7:30pm. I didn't have one break, it was fun.

I'm on my way to owning a Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Pro Carbon compliments of the employee purchasing program at the bike shop. This will replace the '04 Epic that I sold tonight.

I've already commited my entry into the Laramie Enduro to break it in at a race setting.

It occurs the same week as the Salida Omnium that I won 2 years ago when I raced as a 35+ cat 4 rider. I have no intentions of racing that race in the open 35+ category until I grow wings on my back.

Tomorrow (or is it today) I'm headed down to Boulder to ride with the team up to Ward.

Sounds Fun

L8r

Work, snow, and altitude

3 days after returning from my trip I landed a job as the service manager at a local bike shop. This was the type of job I was looking for - fun, challenging, and a change of pace. I'm once again a productive member of society.
Then last Sunday was my first race back at altitude. It did not go too well as I was dropped early and fought my way alone for most of the race.
Now it seems my last name must be Jones because since I have returned with my shiny new trailer 2 of my nieghbors have gone out and bought new travel trailers (not Airstreams though)
in the 2 weeks that I have been back I believe it has snowed 6 or more of those days.
Tomorrow I'll post today's race results in Golden CO

Home again

After travelling almost 5000 miles with a trailer and a few hundred more miles of sidetrips with the truck I returned last Saturday. If I had known what kind of weather was on the horizon I would have just stayed at my parents house in Indiana.

The day after my return greeted me with this white stuff that I had all but forgotton about.

Time to think about moving south

More Georgia racing

10 miles from my sisters house was the "EPIC PERRY-ROUBAIX - Georgia Cup Series 7" in Perry Georgia.

I skipped the morning time trial in favor of the circuit and road race. It wasn't a stage race so time didn't matter. I got in a nice warmup ride to the course. My sister Chris, husband Shack, niece Katie, and a few of the local riders I had been riding with including Felix - a rider I new from my days in Germany. No pressure at all on me to do well :-). Race was 20 laps of a 1.35 mile loop. Pace was fairly civilized because of the TT many of the riders had done less than 3 hours earlier. I took a flier off the front to chase down a lone rider early on just to stretch my legs before sitting in and waiting. With no teammates there was no need to react to any of the attacks. There where others willing to do the work. I was focused on the final sprint to the finish and would save my legs for then. 2 riders ended up crossing the line before the field (1 guy, a track rider took off with 4 to go and soloed to a win) I was able to grab wheels near the front for a leadout coming around the final turn. Unfortunately the rider in front of me pulled off with 300 meters to go leaving me with a clear road into a headwind to the finish. I was nipped by 2 other riders at the line fiinishing 5th overall, 2nd 40+. This meant a podium spot for me.

Sunday Was the "Epic Perry-Roubaix" road race. It's styled like many of the early season races in the US after the Paris-Roubaix race in France which consists of cobblestone and dirt sections that are really nasty when it rains as in this YouTube video.

I started the day with another 10 mile warmup ride to the course feeling pretty good. The overnight thunderstorms had left some moisture still on the road and I was wondering how the dirt section would be. The course is 12.4 miles with 2 bothersome climbs back to back coming within the first 2 miles after the start. The “Roubaix” part is the 2 miles of slippy, softening mud/dirt road that comes at about 5 miles (this was my favorite part). Well the race started fast at over 30 mph approaching the first climb. My legs were not feeling spry but the pace slackened to a manageable pace on the climb. The pace picked back up after the climbs, and on the dirt I rode 3rd wheel. In fact every lap through the dirt I rode at the front, partly to lessen the amount of mud on my face but mostly because I kept having visions of mid 80’s Paris – Roubaix with the music of John Tesh running through my mind powering me on.
8 riders attacked at the start of the second lap and the way my legs were feeling, I was not going to join them on their assault of the hills. The race pretty much got shut down then with 2 strong teams represented in the break. So for the next 4 laps to the finish (except for a half lap where a couple of jacka$$es jumped in the passing break from the cat 3 field and we ended up going full tilt in pursuit to slap them around for their wrongdoing) it was a fast training ride. My legs started cramping with a lap and ¾ left and my whole lower body was burning with pain from various muscle aches. I even entertained thoughts of dropping out but decided to give it one last go on the climbs and if I cramp then it’s over. Somehow I made it through the climbs and was able to shift all focus to the final 1km run into the finish to win the field sprint.

With a long 1km straight away to the finish I again made it up near the front and chose a wheel that looked best. Speed was winding up again and I was sure I had the right position this time. But with 300 meters that rider died and once again I was in no mans land. “Oh crap, not again”, I thought as I opened it up. I couldn’t even keep it going hard out of the saddle and sat down and continued to pour on everything I had fully expecting to be passed.

I wasn’t.

It felt good, even though I wasn’t first I had still beaten out the rest.

I was 9th overall and was the 6th 40+ Master rider.

and unlike Colorado racing, I took home $75

Rain and sickness

It was just a matter of time before I succumbed to a cold, stuffy head, cough, runny nose feeling. It's been going on since late Tuesday. After a 2.5 hour ride yesterday I'm glad that is is raining today. Hopefully I can regain some semblance of form for next weekend. This cold is killing me.