Tag Archives: #moveup

Monday Track Race report

July 30, 2018Cycling, Uncategorized#CKC, #fixie, #grasstrack, #kca, #KCBC, #KStrackracing, #lawrence, #localcycling, #moveup, CyclingMivan

At 49 years old you would think I would, as my mother nicely put it, “Sit your butt down for a minute!!!“. So, here goes another first for me. Track racing! Track racing is simple and the purest of the cycling disciplines. Here is the basic premise, GO FAST with no breaks on a fixed gear bike around a 333 meter track. This particular track was on grass/dirt and you had to ride with tires that had a bit of grab to them. The track sits in the middle of a field just NW of Lawrence KS. It was so much fun and I got to hang out with the cool kids (and old guys) of the local track community. So, most of these guys I know or are familiar with and some I met for the 1st time.

So, the pic above is two of the faster guys. Scott Williamson is on the left and sits a top of a specialized and is one of the fastest on the course. To the right is Connor Remboldt and he sits on his 1989’ish rusted out steel frame and this bike you can hear coming around the course:) obviously, these two did some winning on the track Sunday. This also was the State of KS track championship races. Nice to see the old guy beating the 2 young bucks in the Cat 3.

I ended up on the top of the podium in 2 races and 4th in the Cat 4. Not to shabby for my 2nd time on a track!

Above is Dave and I. It was great to get to hang out with Dave and give him a hard time about having to race me in the 45-49 category. I think Dave should hit the CX races and really put his skills to the test. Dave is also a cycling official and is the president of the KCA. He and his wife Cindy are always busy in the cycling community. I have no idea how they keep it all together. I love this family!

Everyone was taking a break between races and this is when the kids races begin. After the races we sat around hanging out and having an adult beverage or two.

Thank you to everyone working hard to keep track cycling alive in the KC area. If you want to know more about it go to localcycling.com

The track cycling community is incredible and will continue to grow. Thank you for reading. Not much happening in the KC race scene this weekend. The next two weekends are busy. Sunday the 5th is the Swope park criterium and the weekend after is the Junction city classic. So, get your road bikes ready for some fast racing.

Happy Monday!!!

Monday Race report from NWA

July 10, 2018Cycling, Uncategorized#bigshark, #cidermillcentury, #CKC, #colavita, #elektraracing, #GPvelotek, #gripnrip, #kca, #KCBC, #moveup, #naturalstatecrits, #newtown, #nwa, #rogersAR, #summerbreeze, #triathlete, #usacrits, #womeninracingMivan

Whether you race or ride your bike. It is a great way to meet new people. This weekend there were a ton of folks riding and racing their bike. Me? I truly enjoy the freedom of being on a bike. This weekend was no different. I wish I could have been a part of the awesome event that was put on by Cycling Kansas City. The Cider Mill century was enjoyed by 385 men, women and children. To put on a ride like that takes a bunch of volunteers and the CKC board. Thank you to all those that participated and took time out of their day to help. The next ride is the Summer Breeze on 8.26.2018 and I hope to see everyone out for this event.

This weekend had so many options on the race/ride calendar. I, however, committed to racing in Arkansas at the Natural State crits. Along with KCBC teammate Kyle Guinn. We roomed with Connor and Ian from Moveup and Alex from Colavita. 3 days of crit racing at its finest. It started with Friday night under the lights and it was .6 of a mile, 6 turn short course. If you were not on the front line, you were left behind. Ian Pepin was our main focus for this race but he ended up on the back row. Alex Flunker and I worked to stay with the front pack. We also had Thomas Lewin from the KC team Grip n Rip join in the fun. I ended up getting caught behind a crash in the middle of the race, then again later in the race and took me all but out of the race. By the end of the 1st race Thomas took 7th, Alex 9th, Ian 17th and I was in 12th. The only female to race from KC was Molly Benton (Elektra racing). Molly took the course with 56 other pro123 women. This was a really tough field and Molly (cat3) took it on the chin like a champ and ended her race in 50th. I’m proud of that lady for stepping in the ring with the pros. Our Cat3 men had Tim Jansen (AKA Jan Timson) of GP Velotek and Kyle Guinn from KCBC. These boys averaged 25+ miles an hour and Jansen came away in the money with a 6th place finish. These tight turns did not favor the time trial champion and Kyle landed in 28th.

Saturday in the town of Rogers AR, The KC area represented with 16 athletes, 10 of the 16 were the women of the KC. All of these ladies raced in the 3 4 5 womans race. This race had 30 women in it. I would have loved to see more teamwork between the 3 teams from KC that were represented. Amy Cottrell took 6th, Kelly Skinner 10th both from Elektra racing and were in the money. Grip n rip showed up with 4 women, GP Velotek fieled 2 and 4 from Elektra. There was a total of 30 women in the race. Velotek, Elektra, KCBC, Colavita and Move up all set up base camp together on Saturday. I would have liked to have the Grip n Rip folks with us but we did not get to coordinate that to make it happen.

20180707_103349(0) — Kelly, Marianne and Molly

20180707_101324 — Connor, Kyle and I with Marianne spinning

Our goal for the men cat4 was to get Ian on the podium. I figured if any course would favor him, it would be this one. We did what we could to keep him protected and he did all the work in the last 5 laps to get into position for the uphill sprint and he took 2nd. The kid that took 1st almost lapped the entire field but Ian kept that from happening. Time to upgrade Ian. Tom Lewin took 7th, Alex in the 8 spot and I was shot out the back and 18th.

20180707_130021 — and though she be but little, she is fierce

The cat3 race had Tim Jansen working hard for a 3rd place field sprint finish. After the race I asked him what he was doing to get him to where his fitness was. He said he put this weekend as his A race and focused on what he needed to do to best put him in position to win. One hell of an effort. Our KCBC teammate worked hard to hold on to the 28 spot. Kyle had a moment where he took off and went for and won a prem. So, our man Kyle did not walk away with out any $$. After the race we invited the Velotek and Elektra team over for dinner and made a hell of a shrimp and pasta meal. The ladies brought over salad, wine and garlic bread. This is where we get to get out of our race kits and just sit around eat, drink, tell stories and just enjoy each others company. Here is a great photo of the ring leader of the evening. Kelly Skinner has a dynamic personality and was nice to have in the mix. The pictures pretty much tells the story.

20180707_205135 — Kelly giving a dissertation on quantum physics

20180707_205140 — Proper top podium pose. why is Kate wearing one shoe?

I think the dinner was the best part of the weekend. We are all amateur athletes and all have to go to work on Monday. We love riding and that is the common bond we all share. We are human and sometimes we suck and other times we are amazing. I hope you don’t judge a human when they are having one of those days that they suck.

Day 3 of the Natural State was a much longer course with more turns than the other two races. The women kicked off the day with a morning race and all 10 of our KC women worked hard to get into position, only to get crashed out in the finale turn while a prem was at stake. Kelly, Sev Tournadre and Carol Stauffer were all but taken out of the race. Marianne Melling had a huge effort and took 5th place. Amy was in the money at 10th, Michelle Sheppard with elektra at 13th. I decided to double up and start the day with a masters race. I was feeling great and sitting in a top 10 position with 8 to go. Then we had a crash and the race had to be neutralized with 7 to go. The last 6 laps were fast and after 15 minutes of waiting in the sun we all were suffering and out of 29 racers, I sprinted for 12th place. Ugh, in 4 hours I get to do it again. Next up, Cat3 race and boy did it not disappoint. It was a battle of positions and Tim was in the money one more time at 10th and Kyle ended the weekend with a hard fought race at 31st.

There were other KCBC athletes out there racing. One of our mountian bikeracers, Michael Conley was racing in the Marmaton Massacre in Ft. Scott. Michael had a rough go at the race in the single speed category and ended up crashing out and breaking his helmet. Glad he was not seriously injured.

Last but not least was our Triathlete Iron Woman, Michelle Lingenfelser. Michelle took the top podium spot at the Big Shark New Town Tri. She also was 5th overall on the bike portion of the tri. That is 5th out of 215 men and women. WOW! Great Job Michelle. We are all very proud of you. By the way, 2nd place was a 15 year old! Don’t you just love it!

Thank you for reading. And remember, every friend you have today was once a stranger. Go out and meet new strangers. Even if they suck at first, they might just be having a case of the Mondays.

Monday KCBC race report 6/18/2018

June 19, 2018Cycling, Uncategorized#360racing, #amesIowa, #amesvelo, #CKC, #criterium, #cyclecity, #cyclingcrash, #GPvelotek, #iowa, #kca, #KCBC, #moveup, #onestar, #roadnats, #SubaruracingMivan

This report should start with the gents that went to road nationals in Agusta GA. But, since I have the proverbial pen in hand, I will begin with the incredible women of KCBC. This weekend we got to see three women race in Ames, Iowa at the 2nd annual Ames Grand Prix. There was a Saturday night criterium and a Sunday circuit race. The Saturday crit took place in downtown Ames under the lights. The race started with all women categories and masters mass start. We had 3 women start that race and the lead pack formed quickly, Lynn Wilson (cat 2) sat in a very comfortable 3rd spot with Madison Shepherd (cat 4) sitting on the back of this peloton. Jennifer Piko was racing in the masters category and missed this break, but held on for a 4th place in 40+ masters. The race pushed speeds of 25+ for our ladies and mid way through the race they announced a $100 prem. Also, there was a local jeweler sponsoring the womans race with over $2800 in diamonds and this is what Mrs Wilson was focused on. As they came into the final turn Lynn was sitting in the 3 or 4 spot and held on to the wheel of Anne Meyer out of La Crosse and Dee Mable of IA. All three of these women laid down the hammer in an all out sprint for the finish line. It was a back and forth race and in the last 30 meters, Anne pulled ahead by a wheel and Dee and Lynn threw their bikes for a photo finish. Lynne took the 3rd spot and one of those lovely diamonds! Madi also took a 3 spot and some cash home.

Day 2 was a hot one and our KCBC ladies were on fire!!! Lynn Wilson took 1st in the 123 race, Madison Shepherd took 1st in the 4/5 race and Jennifer Piko fought it out for a 4th place spot and a little walking around money.

As for us men in Ames? We all worked to get in position and with 2 large local race teams running the race, you pretty much get shut out at every turn.

Kurt Wilson and Kyle Guinn were in the cat 3 race. Kyle had an epic crash with an even better landing (I give his landing a 9.8). Jack Mason of 360 racing was also involved in this mayhem. If you watch closely, at 15 seconds you will see an Ames Velo racer bunny hopping the rider on the ground. At 19 seconds it looks like Kyle is going to finish the race with out his bike with jack pretending to be in his open wheel race car and another racer curled up in the fetal position praying not to be hit by yet another bike.

In Ames on Saturday night here is how the placing looked

Kurt Wilson took 17th/35 in the cat3 race and Kyle Guinn placed 21st in that same race. We also had another Kansas City racer in Ames. Aaron Sims from Cycle City Racing placed 18th in the 3 race.

As for the cat4 race on Saturday evening? It was Ian Pepin and myself representing KC/Lawrence. Ian took 13th of 36 and I limped in with a 22nd place finish.

The gents of Subaru racing out of Lawrence KS worked hard in the pro/1 2 race. but were out numbered 7 to 3. Garick Valverde took 4th, Scott Williamson 6th and Jordan Miller 14th. There were 18 men entered in this race. That is certainly respectable in my book.

Day 2 in Ames for the men looked a bit better. Although with just as many crashes as day 1. We all stayed upright. Cat 3 race – Kyle took 14th out of 22 racers lined up. Cat 4, I took 16th out of 35 racers that lined up. Ian did not finish (DNF) do to several attempts at a break away group and very little sleep:) Great effort Ian! The master race was directly after the 4 race and I jumped in with Kurt Wilson who took 15th out of 20 and I ended up with a 16th place. The Subaru team had a better circuit race and put Garrick in 2nd, Scott in 4th and Jordan in 10th out of 16 men that lined up at the start. Well done Subaru!

NATIONALS————————————-

Mark Horn, Bill Smith, Kenny Carlson from KCBC. Also, Mike Harrison from GP Velotek and Andy brown from 360 racing all traveled to Augusta GA for masters national.

The Friday road race looked like a brutal course and took its toll on the crew. Mark Horn pulled the pin, blew up and decided to save his legs for the crit. Andy 9th in the 70+ with Mike ending up with a respectable 17th place finish.

Saturday was day 2 of the road race with Kenny taking 22nd out of 37 starters and Mr. Smith pulling the plug so not to completely shred his legs. These masters races are basically a bunch of ex-pros that can still drop the hammer. It is a painful event and will put you in the pain cave for the entire race.

Sunday was the crit and the boys did much better. Andy 5th and Mike took 9th in the 70+. Mark Horn 25th out of 52 starters. Kenny with a strong finish, placing 17th. In the masters 40-45 Bill raced the crit and tailgunned it with 5 laps to go. He moved up to the front, and was at the front with 1.5 laps to go, being in a perfect position to contend is extremely tough but a gutsy move. As the front of the pack came through the start finish on the bell (final lap), Bill was swarmed, and they entered turn one, two guys in front of him crashed battling for position and took Bill down and out of the race. With a broken helmet and rashed body, he was out as fast as the race started. To be that close and competing at that high a level he has to be happy with how he performed against the best, but it was just not in the cards. Next time Bill!

Mountain Madness?

Looks like KCBC had one racer in the Mountain Madness race. Mr. Pat Robinson decided to move from the cross country category into the marathon category. This tells me that he loves to suffer:) Well done digging a deeper hole to get out of. That is a true sign of someone who likes to challenge himself. Pat finished 5th overall.

Great job to all of those cyclist out there and keep putting on the miles no matter where you are at in you cycling life.

Remember, Every friend you have today was once a stranger!

The forgotten Monday Race report from 8/21/2017

September 4, 2017Cycling, Uncategorized#criterium, #KCBC, #moveup, #usmes, #usmilitaryendurancesprots, Cycling, Papillion, Papillion twilight criteriumMivan

This weekend took me to Papillion, NE for the Papillion twilight criterium. I have never been to Papillion before so I was excited to see how this race would compare to others. It did not disappoint. I made it to the race around noon and the volunteers were just setting everything up. I had a chance to meet Matt, the race director, and of course asked if he needed any help setting up. They had everything rolling very smooth. He gave me a few pointers about the course and the possible rough spots.

This was going to be my last road race for the US Military Endurance Sports team. I am moving my affiliation to a local team here in Kansas City called KCBC. I have had several guys ask me to be a part of their team, but I feel that these are the guys I can help and in turn they can help me move up. You will hear more about the KCBC team in the near future. I will be staying with USMES for the cross season.

My 1st race was the 40+ Masters. This race has all fields represented from category 1 to category 4. Being a cat 4 in this race is like racing a Chevy Corvette against a Honda prelude. Out of the 8, 40+ guys I finished 3rd. There were a total of 15 in the race and I was 6th overall. This was my best road finish ever. I actually only signed up for the race because there was another USMES guy that was supposed to race in it. His name was William O’Brien and he was nice enough to take the picture below. I want to thank William for not showing up, and giving me 3rd place:) My guess is that he would have been right there with me. In this race I worked much smarter than harder. This really was my only option because the majority of the guys out there were faster than me. So, instead of spending any time out front, I had to sit in and tail gun. This basically means hold on for dear life. I did get dropped during the prime lap, but was able to work with one other guy to catch the small pack that broke away. That took almost everything out of me. I did have about one match to burn in the sprint and I actually used it to pass one guy and go head to head with my fellow dropee. in the last turn he was in lead and I pulled up next to him and just laid it down. We both worked hard in that last 100m. At the last second I did a bike throw and just beat him by a tenth of a second. After the race we congratulated each other on a hard fought race and of course I had to make sure he was a 50+ racer. He was, I laughed and thanked him again for all his work to catch the pack. I didn’t realize that I took 3rd so when the results came out, I said out loud, “I took third”? Totally surprised by that finish. I say that because I always know where I am in a race. You have to or you might miss a guy go around a turn and break away from the pack. I was working so hard to hold on, the only thing I could pay attention to was the wheel in front of me and the turns.

The next race was about 2 hours after. I had to eat and try to keep off my feet. Both I did with some success. I was surprised to see several cat 4 guys from KC show up. Actually, KC had about 10-15 racers show up. I will post a link to the results later. In the cat 4 race I knew what I had to do and I knew the course. The one thing I did not know is would my legs hold up. I also was 100% that I was mentally all in. Not that I am ever not:) This race had a cat 4 national champion in it and of course he was 14 years old. His name was Luke and both him and his father were very pleasant to talk with. During the race Luke and I ended up in a small group behind a 6 man break, that are very tough to catch. I worked as much as I could for him. He sat in for a bit until he knew that he could bridge the gap. When he took off I tried to hang on but since I was just in the wind pulling for him, I was dropped. I did manage to hold on to two of the guys with our 4 man pack. This meant that there were 7 in the pack ahead and 6 laps to go. Want to guess the odds of a 3 man pack catching the 7 in the pack ahead? Slim and none. So, I worked hard with 4 laps to go then 3 laps to go. As I came across the finish line and saw 2 laps to go, I noticed a shadow behind me. These two guys were on my ass and having me drag them around the course. I sat up, dropped my speed to 15 and they were still behind me. I moved to the left and dropped my speed even more and insisted that they pull through. Then one of them jumped and jumped hard, they almost dropped me with 2 laps to go. I made them both pull for those final laps and in the sprint I had the choice of taking 8th, 9th or 10th. We all went into that final turn at top speed and in the sprint I took 2nd out of the three of us and secured a 9th overall out of 25. The legs did well!

After the cat 4 race I sat with Chris from foodys and watched the 3’s race and then the pro 1,2. By the time the pro 1,2 race started it was Chris, Zach and Finn (son o

f Shad, cat 1 racer) sitting around. This is why I stick around the races. To support those guys and girls out there but to also hang out with people I may have never had the chance to meet. Out of the 4 of us we had a span of 4 generations. Finn 11, Zach 26, Chris 33 and me 48. I think that’s pretty awesome. We sat around, watched the race and watched Finn do his BMX tricks, poked fun of each other and, for me at least, just enjoyed every ones company. Racing is fun, but hanging out with these 3 was way more entertaining. After the race, Chris and I were going to grab a bite at the local brewery and asked Zach and Jordan (cat 2 racer from KC) if they wanted to join us. We all met at Nebraska brewing and had a beer, ate dinner and cracked jokes all night and just relaxed. I did tell a few war stories:) I might share some of those here one day.

Thank you for reading. Now go out and meet a stranger and be nice to cyclist:)

Monday Race report 8/21/2017

August 21, 2017Cycling, Uncategorized#criterium, #KCBC, #moveup, #usmes, #usmilitaryendurancesprots, Cycling, Papillion, Papillion twilight criteriumMivan

This weekend took me to Papillion, NE for the Papillion twilight criterium. I have never been to Papillion before so I was excited to see how this race would compare to others. It did not disappoint. I made it to the race around noon and the volunteers were just setting everything up. I had a chance to meet Matt, the race director, and of course asked if he needed any help setting up. they had everything rolling very smooth. He gave me a few pointers about the course and the possible rough spots.

This was going to be my last road race for the US Military Endurance Sports team. I am moving my affiliation to a local team here in Kansas City called KCBC. I have had several guys ask to be a part of their team, but I feel that these are the guys I can help and in turn they can help me move up. You will hear more about the KCBC team in the near future. I will be staying with USMES for the cross season.

The next race was about 2 hours after. I had to eat and try to keep off my feet. Both I did with some success. I was surprised to see several cat 4 guys from KC show up. Actually, KC had about 10-15 racers show up. I will post a link to the results later. In the cat 4 race I knew what I had to do and I knew the course. The one thing I did not know is would my legs hold up. I also was 100% that I was mentally all in. Not that I am ever not:) This race had a cat 4 national champion in it and of course he was 14 years old. His name was Luke and both him and his father were very pleasant to talk with. During the race Luke and I ended up in a small group behind a 6 man break, that are very tough to catch. I worked as much as I could for him. He sat in for a bit until he knew that he could bridge the gap. When he took off I tried to hang on but since I was in the wind pulling, I was dropped. I did manage to hold on to two of the guys with our 4 man pack. This meant that there were 7 in the pack ahead and 6 laps to go. Want to guess the odds of a 3 man pack catching the 7 in the pack ahead? Slim and none. So, I worked hard with 4 laps to go then 3 laps to go. As I came across the finish line and saw 2 laps to go, I noticed a shadow behind me. These two guys were on my ass and having me drag them around the course. I sat up, dropped my speed to 15 and they were still behind me. I moved to the left and dropped my speed even more and insisted that they pull. Then one of them jumped and jumped hard, they almost dropped me with 2 laps to go. I made them both pull for those final laps and in the sprint I had the choice of taking 8th, 9th or 10th. We all went into that final turn at top speed and in the sprint I took 2nd out of the three of us and secured a 9th overall out of 25. The legs did well!

After the cat 4 race I sat with Chris from foodys and watched the 3’s race and then the pro 1,2. By the time the pro 1,2 race started it was Chris, Zach and Finn (son of Shad, cat 1 racer) sitting around. This is why I stick around the races. To support those guys and girls out there but to also hang out with people I may have never had the chance to meet. Out of the 4 of us we had a span of 4 generations. Finn 11, Zach 26, Chris 33 and me 48. I think that’s pretty awesome. We sat around, watched the race and watched Finn do his BMX tricks, poked fun of each other and, for me at least, just enjoyed every ones company. Racing is fun, but hanging out with these 3 was way more entertaining. After the race, Chris and I were going to grab a bite at the local brewery and asked Zach and Jordan (cat 2 racer from KC) if they wanted to join us. We all met at Nebraska brewing and had a beer, ate dinner and cracked jokes all night and just relaxed. I did tell a few war stories:) I might share some of those here one day.

Thank you for reading. Now go out and meet a stranger and be nice to cyclist:)

Monday Race Report. The Truman Cup

July 20, 2017Cycling, Uncategorized#criterium, #independenceMO, #moveup, #ragbrai, #thetrumancup, #timetrial, #usmes, #usmilitaryendurancesprots, #womansfreestate, CyclingMivan

The Truman cup is a series of races that start with a 5.6 mile time trial on Friday night then on Saturday there is a 3 mile circuit race that is a 4 lap race. Sunday is the 45 minute crit. All of the races took place in Independence MO this weekend.

During my race weekend in Lacrosse, WI I met a few fellow cyclist. One of the guys I met that weekend was Ryley. We hit it off immediately. Ryley was a new cat 5 and was fast, I mean, I would put him up against or in any cat 3 race and he would easily beat half of the field. So, Ryley decided to make the 9 hour drive down to KC for this race, and I am glad he did. Here is a picture of Ryley and I tooling around the city.

Another friend that came in for the race is DK from San Diego. Of course she did not drive:) DK and I will be doing the RAGBRAI this week. RAGBRAI is a ride across Iowa. Not sure why it’s not a race, seeing how you probably want to get across it as fast as possible. I am kidding, Iowa is pretty cool and so are the folks that call it home. You will hear more about DK over the next week. We have way to much fun and will hope for no injuries and or arrest this coming week. Thank you DK for all the cheers during the race.
Friday – The Truman Cup Time Trial. This is a solo event so you have to go as fast as you can for 5.6 miles. The last 300m is basically where you empty the tank. Ryley and I headed out to Independence a little early to get the legs warmed up and check out the course. Fairly flat and a pretty good road. All start times were just after 6pm and each racer would start 30 seconds after the next. My goal is always to catch the rider in front of me. After that 9 hour drive I knew his time trail would suffer, and it did. He placed 11th and I took 6th with a 13:26 time, Fastest I have done on that course. During the TT we met some guys from St. Louis that were in town for the entire series. Super nice guys from a few different teams. To celebrate we decided to head out to Lulus. Possibly my favorite Thai restaurant in KC. So, while we were at the restaurant Ryley and I were talking about dating and how I find cyclist attractive. He was explaining how I should ask out a non cyclist. So, with out hesitation I point to a server and asked Ryley if maybe I should ask her out. As he shrugged his shoulders she walked by and I politely asked if she would give us a moment of her time? She stopped and said “of course, whats up”. I proceeded to ask her if she would like to go out on a date. I think Ryley may have been a bit uncomfortable with this whole experiment. Me? on the other hand, I was eating it up:) She was in a relationship and was super nice and went on to explain how when she was in roller derby a lot of the dating happened in the roller derby circle and that most of those relationships didn’t work after they left the sport. I don’t believe I will be leaving cycling anytime soon.

Saturday – The Truman Cup Circuit Race. This is a 3 mile course that has a 1 mile climb, 1 mile of flat and a mile of down hill. I does seem to favor the climbers. Saturday’s heat index was like 300°. Ok, that is a bit high, but it felt like it. This race took it’s toll on several of the strongest riders. I went for a break in the flat of the first of 5 laps. Not the best idea but I wanted to spread that field out. The break did not stick and they caught me on the hill because of a mechanical issue. Ryley crushed this race and took first and $100 for the win. Super proud of that dude. We hung out and chatted with the St Louis guys as DK continued to drink free beer at the Bier co tent. She is possibly already drunk but took some awesome pictures and maybe got some digits:)

Sunday – The Truman Cup Crit. With less than a mile loop, 6 turns and 45 minutes of racing, this is never a dull moment. This race had 51 racers in it and was as fast as it has ever been. We did 18 miles at about 26mph and it looked like the island of misfit cyclist. There were about 30 different teams. Ryley and I held on to the front most of the race and possibly worked harder than we should have but, that’s racing. He took 6th and I placed 16th. Overall we were 4th and 10th in the 3 day Omnium. I was proud of us both!

Always have to give props to the women’s free state team. They always win and look good doing it. Great job ladies!

Case of the Mondays Race Report. The Natural State.

July 11, 2017Cycling, Uncategorized#bikeNWA, #moveup, #naturalstatecrits, #usmes, #usmilitaryendurancesprotsMivan

This weekends races took place in beautiful Bentonville, Rogers and Springdale Arkansas. All three races were Criteriums. By the way, the race report is not always about the races.

Here are most of the actors in this weekends report. Sev, Jordan, Ian, Zach, Molly, Will, Bonnie, Jeremy, Jen, Chris and the race director.

Friday: Sev, Ian and I left Kansas City Friday afternoon. So, this was a surprise road trip crew. Ian and I were set on driving down. The surprise was Sev. I had mentioned the race to her and to drive but didn’t think she was all that interested in going. So, this was our crew. Being on the road for 3 hours is just long enough to get to know someone and not long enough for them to drive you crazy, (I love my road crew). I have been on those 12 hour road trips and by the end of the trip, you have come to the end of your road. I named this road trip the gangster rap race weekend and proceeded to play Tupac as pulled into Cave Springs. My reason for this was simple, it was the NWA (Northwest Arkansas) cycling community that was putting on the race. So, GRRW just made sense to me. After 3 hours of getting to know my fellow racers, we get to Cave Springs AR to our cottage in the woods (thank you Lisa and air bnb). It’s nice to have an entire house and not a hotel that you have cram into for an entire weekend. Enough about our accommodations, here is how the Friday night crit turned out. Well as you may or may not know, I race for the US Military endurance team but have created an alliance with a team called Move up. These guys are awesome and during this race we were hitting on all cylinders. Zach ended up with $100 prime with a little help from me pulling just before the prime was called. I am so proud of Zach and his effort. But Ian, this kid at 20 years old had some wisdom in this race. With about 2.5 laps to go I am sitting at about 4th wheel and waiting to drop the hammer. About that time Ian gets to my right outside wheel and when I looked back he looked loke he used a bit of energy to get himself into position. So, I give him a minute to breath and then I get out of saddle to start a push. Ian tells me “not yet” so I sit back in and wait for his command. This is important because he has a better view of what is going on and will know if a flyer is coming up the side. With about half a lap to go one of the racers gets out of saddle and that’s when I hear Ian say “now go go go”. So I took off and pulled through into the head wind and up hill section. I broke to my left to give Ian the sprinting room and he took off. Ian took 3rd place and I came in at 9th. Between the 3 of us we earned $280 for that race. Ian and Zach split there portion with me. They did not have to do that, I was happy to put in the work. not to mention that I am not a sprinter yet. I am more of the work horse. I am proud of those guys. At 28 and 20 years old they showed class.

Saturday: We were all excited for this race after our strong Friday finishes. But what goes up, must come down. Sadly we missed our start due to some incorrect information from an official. This meant we had to chase the group or get a DNf (did not finish). In hindsight we should have taken the DNF or maybe waited for the peloton and joined in on the fun. We were disappointed and not happy with the officials. Although this was our fault, we should have stuck around the start line. it is a hard lesson to learn. The day was not a total loss. Sev won some money and raced like she owned the course and I got to have lunch with my road crew and Jordan. Jordan is a cat 2 and is 23 years old, he is also a very nice and respectful person. It was nice to sit and have an actual conversation with him. He also took 9th in Saturdays race. which is amazing because he is racing against pros and cat 1 guys. I also got to meet Will and Molly. Will does not race and is Mollys husband. When Molly races he is always there and he likes to call her chicken. I need to ask him why he calls her chicken? It is nice to see how much he takes care of her. I also met Jen and her husband. He is a mechanic and totally takes care of his girl Jen. So, here is an interesting fact, I asked several guys if they wanted to do RAAM (Race Across America). They all looked at me like I am crazy. When I asked Molly and Jen, they didn’t even flinch, they were all about it. I like these two:)

Sunday: Last day of the race weekend and it all started at 5am. After not getting enough sleep and burning out my legs, we all ended up not doing very well except for Sev, she was 9th and in the money once again. Ian ended up taking 12th and I was in the bottom half with Chris and Zach. Although it was fun, just not where we should have been. I did get to have some great conversations with Jeremy (Springfield, MO) and Chris (McPherson, KS). Actually, I asked Chris to come to AR to race. I was surprised he came down. Although, I think he is like me when it comes to traveling.

Racing for me is not about winning. It is about having a great time and meeting new people. Don’t get me wrong, I most certainly like to win but it is not number one on the list. There are people that show up, either alone or with a team, they race and then they go home. Everyone has there own way and I can appreciate that. I am not wired that way. I like to show up early and maybe I get to put up barricades or the wheel pit tent. I get to know the race director (although I totally forgot his name). I figure that 99% of these folks are volunteers and many hands make light work. This is where I met Bonnie. Bonnie and I had an instant connection on Friday night when I asked about results and for some ice because one of the KC racers hurt his knee. We chatted for a few and I thanked her for time and putting on the race. It’s funny, most of the time when I thank an official or director, they will generally thank me for coming out to race. With Bonnie it was no different. I have a feeling that everyone loves Bonnie and she is the glue that holds the organization together.

Every friend was once a stranger. I wonder if that sounds better in french:)