Dog days

For more reasons as to why my blog posts have been few lately look here.

DG

Repeat after me "Rubber side down......"

Good luck to those at Stupor week, er, Super Week.

Unfortunately I'm super weak this season, so this is not my ball game. Not that road racing ever was, or will be, as I'm also chicken of large packs and tactically retarded.

Race smart, race safe, have fun.

DG

Also good luck to JS and SK on RAO this weekend.

New news, well not really

Blink, two more weeks gone by.

Last weekend were the Northbrook and Kenosha HPRA races. I went into them feeling less than up to par fitness wise. Especially considering that I was going to be up against Sean Costin, who has always been the man setting international records in stock class sprints. Only now he's trained himself into international stock class hour record setting shape(which he now holds as well at 28.4mph for the hour).
At least I don't have to race him in the fully faired category anymore.

So I started out by doing a pretty crappy job with the 200m sprints, getting second in fully faired and fourth in stock. Then after lunch we proceeded into the lap races. Temperatures were hovering in the high ninties which is always a thrill in the streamliner.


Next up was the 100 lap fully faired race, in which there was a whole herd of streamliners on the track. None of which I had a good feeling for what they were capable of, but most all of their riders have proven to be quite fast in the past. After wiping out at Waterford two weeks before I wasn't too sure how much I could trust my own streamliner on Northbrook's shallow banked velodrome, and it didn't help that I witnessed Warren and Rick crash here last year when there were a heck of a lot fewer liners on the track.
Anyways, I lined up behind Rick who got about a quarter lap jump on all of us right off the start as usual, and Warren got stuck in traffic right away, so I was off to chase. I worked my way up to Rick while testing my comfort level with the corners and dodging lapped traffic every lap. Then Rick tried to cut through some traffic towards the inside and got stuck, so I passed on the outside and maintained my speed. A few laps later I was riding Warren's tail about to put him a lap down. Eventually I made it past him, and lapped Rick as well. Frank, Jason, Rich, and Dave were doing a fine job handling their liners and staying low out of the way. The heat was taking it's toll on everyone and I was starting to get chills in the last dozen laps or so. I finished up in first with about a 36mph avg speed according to the chips, but that was actually closer to a 38mph avg since I was having to run above the blue stripe for most of the race due to traffic.
I'd post a GPS profile of this race but my Garmin was losing gps reception every lap for some reason?? Maybe I'll figure out how to run my Powertap and post that, I think it said I avged like 265watts and maxed out at about 780 or thereabouts. Like I said I need to get it downloaded, but I've yet to get that fiddled with and I'm not sure if the data is still on it since I cleared it to record Kenosha the next day.

20 minutes or so after the 100 lap race was the 50lap stock race. Lots of fast folks here too. Warren and Dave were the only other ones to do both races(Dave did the trike races as well). So we all baked on the starting grid for awhile for good measure, and then finally we were off. I stuck to Sean's wheel like glue trying to recouperate from the 100lap race. Lucky for me he was only holding 28-29mph.....I felt kind of guilty for staying back there so long, so at about lap 30 or so I came around and cranked it up to 34mph or so for a lap. Sean stayed on, I slowed back down to keep from wasting myself completely. I stayed on Sean's wheel again till the last three laps where I cranked it up again, but I could feel I was dying off. Sean made his move on the final streach and managed to beat me by .001seconds. And then he swung out and then swung back a little too quick, slid out and smashed into the wall at about 35mph.......err?? crap, Sean. 2nd place for me with a 28mph avg, thought that was mostly drafting.


Sunday was Kenosha. Like Saturday only hotter and windy. Sprints were crap again, but since fewer liners were racing due to the wind I finished first in Fully Faired and third in Stock. The lap race results were similar to Saturday's, only I had very little in the tank to start with and blew up immediately in the shorted stock race, bonking pretty good about 5 laps in, and then getting lapped by Sean once or twice, I don't remember. Still finished second, but that was a crap effort on my part. I felt faster after Calvin's. I wheeled the streamliner up to the track and stood there awhile trying not to black out. Crawled in the streamliner and rode around in circles trying not to get blown into the fence or the other liners till the fully faired lap race was over. Scraped the ground once, buzzed the fence once, 1st in the fully faired category by outhandling my liner in the wind.
Cripes, I've been doing ultra's for awhile now, you would think I would know how to avoid bonking by now wouldn't you? I will say these races were running waay behind, we didn't start the lap races till about 1:15 when the faired race was supposed to wrap up about then. But I still know better.

Some fuzzy pics of the races can be found here I can be found in the white and yellow streamliner, and in the red skinsuit behind Sean on the lowracer.

Anyways, that was that. My fitness needs improving. The good news is I have been making progress since then. I'm finally back down to working fourty hour weeks, so I've had enough energy to ride three times this week instead of the once a week ride I've been scraping by on. My blog is still suffering, and now I've got like five 80t chainrings to make in my "spare" time, but at least I've had some time to rest in the mornings.

Oh, and as of today I am a twice born again improved driver. Thank you IDOT, I highly recommend the drivers improvement course to all of my friends. It really is good fun....no really, it is kinda fun.



Newest training tool, mmm...fixed, lugs, and chrome

DG

Time Warp

Man I'm losing time lately.

Three weeks ago Saturday I raced the Crowder Crank and Cruise, one of my fav MO mtb race courses, and had a decent time other than losing my water bottle on lap 2 of 4. Finished fourth in the expert 19-29/pro/semipro, top ten or so overall. Good steamy weather and no rain for a change here, good times.

The following Sunday I lended some trail guide services to Amanda, Tracy, Dominic, and Andrea(for a little bit) at Decorah. Lots of riding, pizza, and ice cream. Real good times.
Two weeks ago I raced at the Waterford Hills road course in Michigan with the streamliner, lowracer, and Corsa. Which other than wiping out on the off camber corner before the hill when I bottomed the streamliner out on lap 4 and riding the first three laps with the rear brake dragging, went alright too. Thats what caused the road rash and body damage to the streamliner in the previous post. I would have been unscathed if the canopy would have stayed shut as I was sliding off the track at 30. Oh well, I'm getting quicker at doing body work. Time to rethink my canopy latch system. I managed to pull off a overall win in stock class and a second place in streamliner despite my crappy sprinting.

The following Monday I found a cut in the sidewall of my right front tire on the WRX. Went damn near all the way around the bead.....not sure how that happened, random vandalization or freakish road hazard, it sure did piss me off. I just bought those tires.....
Tuesday I got a letter in the mail from the IDOT stating that I won another chance to take the Driver Improvement course, yippee! One 72 in a 65 on the way to work late last winter, one 72 in a 65 in IL pulling a trailer where I should have been going 55(now I know), one going way too fast 2miles from my house at 5:35am on the way to work. I think it's time to rebuild the VWs, I never had this problem when I was driving 36hp.

Last weekend was supposed to be Landahl(or Proctor), but somebody left the water running down there and I ended up in Boone. Conditions were perfect, great turnout, great company, fun race. I have no idea where I finished other than slightly ahead of Squirrel and Pete, behind Maharry and the rest of the pros, and I had to work pretty hard to stay ahead of Meyers and Patty. I need to fire my mechanic and buy a new cassette, and knees after bashing them into the stem numerous times. The good news is I figured out how to keep it from jumping about a lap and a half in...just put it in the big ring to increase the chain tension and pretend it's a muscle tension workout. Oh wait, I'm at Boone, it already was.

Sorry about the lack of posted pics, but I've got to get back to sanding the streamliner for this coming weekend's high speed affair at Northbrook and Kenosha Velodromes.

....grrr.....

Freshly painted last Thursday


Rare on me


Attempted murder

There's a couple of nice weekends to post about despite these setbacks, but at the moment my mood is boiling in dark blue.

DG

Balltown, Hummer, and Katie Degoursey

Yes, I'm getting behind on event posting. Now get your mind out of the gutter.

I did the Balltown Double Century June 8th in the streamliner, and it went...well...mostly wet, windy, hilly, and bumpy enough to shake my bike apart, but what would you expect? I took a 14mile detour, spent an additional half hour trying to figure out where the heck I was, broke my landing gear, watched my water storage system fall apart, and my GPS went dead all by mile 60. Oh, and it rained from 5:00am - 11am. Then I proceeded to walk the streamliner up about seven long arse hills, catch the lead pack, beat the sag vehicle to the 150mile checkpoint voiding myself of the other 50oz I should have been drinking, and finished about half an hour before second place. Aerodynamics, who knew, eh?



I did the Hummer Hammer June 9th and outsprinted Satan for third place cat3(though Satan is not in my category, mind you) and yes we were both off the back.

Last weekend was TOMRV and the weather was the best I've ever seen. My first time doing this ride on a recumbent(took the Bacchetta Corsa) and it went pretty well. Roadie hunting in the hills is fun stuff. And as a bonus I made some new coastline state dwelling friends(well two of them live in QC now, but anyways...) Be nice to girls from Florida.....

DG

Memorial Day Weekend Races

A weekend of training races for me, really fast training races. One thing about racing underpowered, it forces you to ride smart or get dropped. Good time to practice pack skills. Had a few epiphanies regarding my training, and the solutions promptly presented themselves. I've got a pretty good idea how I'm going to get where I want to go now.

Other than that, I had loads of fun hanging out with friends, hardly drove my car all weekend, and kept all my skin where it started. Special thanks to Tracy Thompson for housing and transportation between races, and Sydney Brown for all the good cooking. Not too often we get a catered breakfast in this group, sweet.

Slide show. Lots of pics of races I wasn't in, but friends were. Had a little fun with the continuous shot mode, speed up the slide show and watch 'em go.

For more hilarity you should check out the local videos on the sidebar here and check out the audio clip here.

Good job to all those who raced, and I hope for a speedy recovery to all those who found the pave.

DG

Ramblings of The Good Life

Spent the weekend hangin out with Sydney and Marc. Good times. A little TT action at the NE State 40k TT Saturday, another spaceship sighting in another rural town.... Giggle all you want about my 30mph wind gust induced wobbling, but it sure was fun cresting hills at 40mph ;) 40K@43:20 in the streamer.
Syd kicked some ass with a 1:03 40k for this hilly, windy thing. Good thing I was cheatin, she would have handed me my ass as well. Nice.

I opted to stop at Swanson Sunday for a little dirt. Almost made a meal of it a couple times, where'd the training go? Went for a ride, finished 7th Expert open.

Ah, 'bout time to reboot the training plan I'm thinking. Next level please...

Memorial day weekend races next weekend....road rash roulette or world domination? Right.

DG

I really dig this photo

This is Dave Balfour's Sourcerer streamlined trike at Casa Grande. More of that to be found here

DG

Calvins Challenge/Indy HPRA

This Past weekend was the Calvin's Challenge 12hour road event. Calvin's is an open road, drafting legal event, that hasn't had a solo rider claim a victory for more than a few years, maybe ever. Always a group finish. Basically you do a big 50 mile loop as many times as you can before 7:00pm, and then they switch you to 7mile loops till the finish. The 50 mile loop has 36 corners, a few gnarly little hills, and two checkpoints that you have to stop at every lap to have your mileage card punched. The seven mile loop has six corners, one hill, and one checkpoint. Kinda like a giant crit course with checkpoints.

The plan was to show up on my Bacchetta Corsa and play the team effort game with the rest of the Bacchetta crew. You know, pacelines, team tactics, organized pits, working for a collective goal and such. I wasn't sure how much I could help out with my knee giving me crap lately and simply not knowing how I stack up against the big names of unfaired ultra cycling, but I was prepared to give it a shot.

I was lined up in the front row with John Schlitter, JV, Troy, and the rest of the big dogs. I had my crap together, bike was in good running order, 53t chainring freshly installed so I wouldn't spin out, pit was ready, informed, and organized. Well, other than I forgot to bring my speedometer with me, but I figured I'd just keep pace with John and that would keep me where I needed to be.

So the pack rolled out, roughly 200 riders, at what I would guess to be around 25-30mph. I was rolling along in the front group and gaining where I should have been. And then about three miles out, before we even made the first corner, pow. My front tire blew. I worked my way out of the pack to the opposite shoulder of the road and bid my farewells to the people I was supposed to be working for. At first I thought I would just change the tube and try to bridge back up somehow, but after closer inspection I found a three inch rip in my new Michelin pro2 sidewall. No dice. And no spare 650 tires in my parts selection yet either, so now it was time to change bikes. I rode back to pit on the flat, had the officials move me into the HPV category, and unloaded the streamliner. I figured I had my work cut out for me If I wanted to catch the lead pack, but at least in the streamliner it would be a little more entertaining.

So after a bit I got back on the road in the streamliner, still no speedometer to gage my speed, and it rolled right along. The corners were marked alright, but I took it a little easy on my first lap to make sure I didn't miss any turns. The wind was mild and the roads were still wet from the previous night's rain. The second lap went a little faster as I was getting a hang for the course, and I caught the lead pack before the halfway checkpoint. I don't think they knew what hit them as I went by them going at least 15mph faster than they were moving. By the end of the second lap I had an 8minute gap on the lead group.

Third lap cruised by. Fourth lap the wind picked up and it started misting just enough that I was having trouble seeing through the canopy. If it would have rained any harder or any less it wouldn't have been a problem, but as it was I was forced to hold the canopy up a little and peek underneath to see what was in front of me.
This got to be a little annoying as the winds would gust and try to yank the canopy all the way open, so I was holding the canopy with one hand and hanging on to the steering bar with the other. Always a good sign to see flags that were hanging straight down the lap before whipping off the pole the next time around ;)

Fifth lap the wind remained, but the mist subsided. Made good time. Another bit to note, I think I spent more time airborn in this event than I have in any other in the streamliner. There were these little dips that would preload the front fork and as the rear wheel hit it would just launch me. I could have done without that, but it sure made me appreciate that fork more.

From there it was on to the seven mile laps. The one hill on that loop was gradual enough that I could carry good speed all the way up. I was making the 7mile laps in 15minutes a piece, and maintained that till the finish.

I finished the event with 297miles in 12hours, minus however much time it took to ride the Corsa back and change bikes. JV, John Schlitter, and Danny Chew finished up next with 267miles. And then I belive local guy Larry Ide finished up just behind them. Not too bad considering the conditions, all the corners, and stopping for checkpoints. It was a fun event, even if it didn't go quite as planned (I swear I didn't flat on purpose John! :) FYI:The previous course record was 264miles, the previous hpv record was 256miles, the previous recumbent record was 235miles. Lots of new records set.

I did have a few complications with my knee, starting around the third lap. I tried to keep my cadence up and the pressure on the pedals as low as I could, but I still had to use a couple IB Profin to keep the pain controlled. Lots more streaching, icing, and maybe a little time off the bike in store this week. The plan to make it to Platte this coming weekend for the 6hr is starting to sound a little less likely. A weekend off to help get myself out of debt physically and financially would prolly be a better idea, but we'll see.

O yea, on the way back from Calvins we stopped at Indy for the second day of the Indy HPRA. I was smoked before I started racing, left my legs in Ohio(duh, right?). So I handed Sean Costin a couple wins on the stock bike, left Rick Gritters have second in stock as well, and somehow pulled off a win in streamlined class. Hopefully I will be a little fresher for the Waterford HPRA next month.

DG

Decorah

I love this place in so many aspects. I could live here.

Oh, and I did the TT. 9 miles of primo singletrack, 2480ft of climbing. Nice. 18th overall, 2nd in my age group. Not bad for a gimp. I've been off the mtb too long, but at least I rode most everything. And more importantly I didn't do any further damage to the knee, and didn't create any new injuries.

Got to see a few TI folks stroll through afterwards. Impressive feat to all those who completed the test. The weather gods smiled on us all. Good to see the Lincoln crew out in force over here, nice work guys.

Next weekend is the Calvins Challenge 12hour UMCA road event on Saturday with the Bacchetta, and hopefully a little HPRA fun with the lowracer and streamliner in Indy on Sunday. We'll see how that goes...

DG

Burning equations

An equation for you:

A sunny 300K Cedar Valley brevet + 2 applications of Bullfrog sunblock + an unfaired Bacchetta Corsa recumbent + 20-30mph sustained winds ALL DAY + an angry IT band = 14.5 mph avg speed + 13 hours on the bike + finishing a 300K in the dark(?!) + finding a new appreciation for IB profin + remembering what sunburns are all about.

Ouch.



This wind is rediculous.
Its past due time to get serious about working the knots out of my knee.

TransIowa is out for several reasons:
1) Recover the knee before I do any real damage.
2) The Calvins 12hour is the weekend after.
3) I would have been riding another bike with zero test time.
4) I get to do the Decorah TT now, hang out with friends, and enjoy myself instead of riding myself into the ground, getting lost, or passing out on a random gravel road somewhere.

DG

The view from inside the Cuda is up on the pics page in the previous post now.

POV

So I've got two streamliners sitting in my shed at the moment. I thought I might do a little pondering on what I might do differently to create a design that would address their shortcomings, take some measurements to see how much smaller of a space I can stuff myself into, and take some pictures to give you a sense of what I've dealt with in the visibility department in these two different designs.


I've only got the pics up from inside the Coslinger at the moment, but I'll have the view from inside the Cuda up in a day or so. Check out the view, pics here
DG

The never-ending road trip

My Schedule since March 29th:

March 29-Drive 3.5 hours to Squirrel's house in DsM.

March 30-Drive 9 hours from DsM to Pencil Bluff, AR for the Ouachita Challenge.

March 30-April 1 Ridin, laughin, sleepin, awsome time in the Ozarks with like nuts.

April 2-Squirrel drives 9 hours back to DsM, first time I've ever been in the passenger seat of my car, I drive another 3.5 hours back home.

April 3rd-5am Drive 9 hours to Dayton, OH in hopes of picking up the Coslinger speedbike and making it back home for a full nights sleep. Or at least what I consider a full nights sleep(midnight to 5:30am). Get ticket in IL because the when pulling a trailer on I70 in IL you must drive 55mph. IL sucks. Arrive in Dayton OH at 3pm to find a bike needing 24hours of work before being truly prepped for the competition I'm supposed to be at on April 6 that is two days drive away, not counting the drive home from Dayton. Work on the bike with owner Thom Ollinger and gracious friend Rich Meyers for 5 hours in Dayton. Consider myself fortunate to be getting to borrow the speedbike anyways. Start driving home at 8:00pm E. Winds are blowing so hard I can't get the car out of 4th gear. Call friend Dave Ford in Bloomington, IL and crash there at midnight to save myself from certain death. Friends are priceless.

April 4th-Wake up at 5:30am get back on the road. Winds are still blowing, frick. Burn a tank of fuel in an hour on the wide open Interstate. When the turbo is pegged at full boost you are not in fuel economy mode. Drive backcountry two lanes home. Already overrunning my fuel budget for the week. Home at 9am, work on the bike until 5pm, load up. Start drive to Casa Grande Arizona. Drive till midnight, make it to Oklahoma City, then the parents take over driving through the night.


April 5th-Wake up in Texas, take over driving. New Mexico is a wasteland, similar to Texas, Oklahoma, and Arizona. People scrape by, the land has little to offer. Gain even more appreciation for dirt, trees, hills, rain, non-arid climates, and Kansas.

Flagstaff is a forest in the middle of the desert, and right before a huge decent into Pheonix, strange.


Arrive at the Fransisco Grande Motel outside of Casa Grande at 9pm April 5th. Our rooms are surrounded by streamliners, cool. I reserved a room with double beds for three adults. It turns out to be a room with two single beds, not cool. No other rooms available, no refund, no complimentary breakfast, smells like the middle of a dairy farm, mocking birds never shut up, bathroom door won't stay shut. Not cool.


April 6th-Drive to the track 8miles. There's a dip in the road so deep cars disappear. Serious dairy farm area, makes the local setups look silly tiny.


The track is huge, 3 lanes, 5.554mile oval, 36 degree banking on the corners on the outside lanes.


A few morning hour attemps are made Friday, but no one finishes due to various reasons. I do a few laps in the warm up area in the Coslinger without the rear canopy to get used to it, and immediately find the funky front brake mount rubbing the tire. Thom said I could remove it if I wanted to, so I get out the hack saw. No more front brake, but the rear drum is adequete for this event. I can ride the Cos at 9mph, but I still wish it had a landing gear.
I take the Cos out for another test ride, this time with the top on, on the track. Vision is not so good throught the nose bubble. The straights are smooth but the corners are bumpy as all get out. My second lap around the secondary chain derails and jams up, I coast from corner 2 halfway through the back straight where I manage to pop the tape loose from the canopy and catch myself before I fall over. Try to put the chain back on and limp in, but the lower chain tensioner pulley disinegrated. Garrie Hill rescues me with the Sprinter van and I set to work with the hacksaw again to install a new idler. Covered in chain grease, I run out of time for another run. Greasy hands are a trend for the weekend. Back at the motel I rig up a camera system so I can see what is in front of my right foot, as the deraillier blocks my view completely on that side.

April 7th- Set up for an hour attempt after watching Sam Whittingham set a new world record. Launch goes well. I make it into corner three of my second lap where the main drive chain derails off the front chainring. Coast through corner four and down the front straight to the catch crew. Head back to pits to build a chainguide out of an aluminum tent stake borrowed from Dave Balfour and some parts leftover from the idler that disintegrated yesterday.
Finish that in time to set up for the low altitude 200 meter run. Crash the first launch, and then spend too much energy getting to the first corner, finish the first run at 47mph. Second run goes better at 48-49mph, but that's still not that fast. Sam finishes just shy of his record at 62mph and change. So I did 200 meters at the hour pace, not unexpected from prior experiences.
The camera works ok at best, resolution is too slow to make out which lines are which at speed. Basically have to try to keep the white line in front of the left foot as it goes around, and keep the round speed bumps on the inside of the track in the right window. Doesn't work to well, since the inside lane comes and goes and the lines fade in and out with tar patches.


I try taking the Cuda out for a lap, but I can immediately feel my IT band tighten up in my knee so that's not happening. I've got to figure out what about this bike is askew, something is out of alignment. Definitely easier to handle than the Coslinger.

April 8th-I'm the first one off today, 6:15 am. First launch is not so good, but they catch me before I fall. The tape on the bike is not sticking too well this morning though, so right away after the launch I can feel that the canopy is not secured, and I can hear the tape flapping. O well, there are no second chances today so I just keep going. I can feel that there was no warmup for todays run, laps one and two are the warmup, the muscles are a bit sore from the previous days. Lap three sees speeds coming up over 40mph finally, then the secondary chain derails on the fourth corner. I just manage to reach up to the cassette and flip the chain back on, phew. The next four laps gradually gain speed again, 39-41 on the front streach, 42-45mph on the back streach. I'm all over the track, usually trying to stay near the center white line. There are two other streamliners on the track with me, Dean Peterson in the Coyote, and Steve Delair in the Mach 5. I catch Dean on lap two, and Steve is out with mechanicals in the first few laps. We started before the sun came over the horizon, which was fine, but as the sun came up I lost most all of my forward vision on corners three and four causing me to slow a bit there in worry of running into the other riders. Luckily I never had to make another pass for the rest of the hour. On what ended up being the last lap one of the folks at the timing tent hollered something at me but I couldn't hear it. I spent most of that lap wondering what was up and slowed just a bit, then as I passed the timing tent again the van pulled up beside me and I was still confused. Finally it dawned on me that I should be sprinting, but it was too late. And that was that. I finished my hour at 39.841miles. I felt like I was just getting warmed up, like I did my hour at 6hour pace, great. At least I finished. Weather was perfect for my run, but not many others.


We hung around long enough to watch the rest of the morning runs as the winds increased, temps increased, and the sandstorms blew up. Then we gathered as many of the liners, riders, and crew up as we could and took a couple group photos, which are historic in themselves. Not too often that you find this many streamliners in one location. Prolly a 15% of the total number of streamliners that exist in the world were in attendance here, with 2/3 of the fastest people ever to pilot them. How cool is that?


The rest of April 8th and April 9th were spent driving home, aside from a short stop in Wellington, KS for a meal. Didn't stop for the deer 50miles from home at 3:30am either. Took out the hood, right front fender, grill, headlight, fan, ect on the van but we made it home by 4:30 am. Went to bed. Woke up at 5:00am and went to work.

Thank yous to Thom Ollinger for loaning me the Coslinger speedbike and a huge thank you to my parents for sharing the driving chores, crewing, and making this trip possible.

A complete list of results can be found here

My photo gallery from the trip can be found here

DG

Happy post-Easter-erer

Results here

There's a writeup to come here with much to tell, but I really need to get some sleep at the moment. Click here for pics, the rest will be up soon.

DG

Epic

Beautiful weekend at the Ouachita Challenge.

Finished up 28th this year with a couple of stops to play with some sidewall pinholes. Not too shabby. The goal was top 30. But you know I must've watched 15 people go by while I was dinking with that.....guess I'll have to come back next year and fix that ;)

Big congrats to Sydney Brown on her first place women's finish. Her fourth mtb race and she smoked 'em. Almost caught me. Beautiful.

Huge thanks to Squirrel for hooking the cabin up, helping get the group together, sharing the travel costs, and cutting down on my driving time. Heal that Achilles up buddy.

Alright, back on the run. Gotta go pick up the Coslinger for this coming weekend's Speed Championships.

DG

Where we roll, buddy.

Can't wait.

Gonna miss the cool dudes who couldn't make it.

But I think It'll be every bit as epic this year. Whole new passle of like nuts.

Hope to avoid having to use the McGuyver skills this time.

In other news: New arrival in the family. More details on that later. Time to finish packing.

O yea, and an interesting thought for you next time you're buzzed by a careless motorist:

"I too have chased down idiots in cars. Screaming at them is never satisfying enough as they don't care. Next time I'll likely do what a friend of a friend once did... He beat the motorist and then U-locked him by the neck to a parking meter and dropped the keys down the sewer." -boulderbird

DG

3Flat/6Hour

I've been finding some interesting quotes lately. Like this one from Woody Allen: "Eighty percent of success is showing up". Well, that might be true, but that last 20% sure seems to be divided up a bunch.

For instance:
The Spoke Pony 3/6 hour mtb race was last weekend. Trail conditions were about as good as it gets there, weather was nice, camping was good. Feel pretty decent going into it. I know the course. I've been on the podium here. But I made a mistake, I put my Stans tubeless setup together the night before. And it didn't seal so well, as I found out on laps 1 and 2. Totally shot myself in the toe there, I knew better. Always work the kinks out of your equipment in training, dummy. (Yea, like I've got time for that)

And then for some reason on lap three I noticed the front der wasn't shifting so well. Thought maybe the cable was slipping, but I was in the middle ring so that's really all I needed anyways.
Later that lap it jumped into the granny and wouldn't shift, so I was forced to stop again. I looked down. The eccentric had worked its way loose and was slid over about 3/4" ....doh!

After that it was smooth sailing. Well, other than the fact that I had put myself in the hole pretty far. With all the stopping for mechanicals and riding way over the threshold to try and catch the twenty or so people that passed by.

At least I didn't hook any trees or fly off the bike for any reason, that trail hurts to fall on. I know, I've tried it. Unfortunately so did Syd. (Sorry Sydney, we truly didn't want to jeopardize your health or future races, but you'll thank us after the bruising goes away and you're flying down some comparatively mild rocky trail in AR.) Even Squirrel made mention of magically ending up running without his bike into a tree. Somehow I escaped the bruising. I feel fortunate for that.

End result? A fun weekend with friends(aka: "passel of like nuts") on dirt and rock. Yes real dirt. Not snow, not gravel, not mud. Dirt. And rock. One of many successful (by another definition) weekends to come this season. Congrats to all that raced.

The definition of success--To laugh much; to win respect of intelligent persons and the affections of children; to earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give one's self; to leave the world a little better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition.; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm, and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived--this is to have succeeded.--Ralph Waldo Emerson


DG

Flat #3 for the weekend

Better now than in two weeks. Better fuel mileage at 50mph anyhows.....

What goes down must come up

40,000ft of climing in 535 miles.

It's tough for me to wrap my mind around these numbers for some reason.

Squirrel's gravel century had about 6500ft of climbing in 100.

RAO has about 7600ft every 100.

Squirrel's route didn't kill me off by any means, but multiply the distance by 5, speed by 2.5 and see what happens?

Makes TransIowa look a little easier.

I see alot of hill training in my future ;)

DG

Fun with Dacron and inclimate weather

Spring was here last Wednesday. Made for a nice, messy, recovery ride.

Back to reality Thursday. Rollers are nice...

More good building weather.

Dacron wheel covers for the lowracer.

A couple more wheelsets to cover.

Gonna make a 700c set to see how they hold up on the larger wheel.

A few more details to work on in the streamliner.

Revamping shell mounts for quicker repairs, landing gear maintainance done,

new seat in the works.

Other news

Sounds like I might be doing a few more road ultras than I had initially planned this season. Maybe in conjunction of yet another team.

Renued my RUSA membership, signed up for the UMCA Year Rounder mileage challenge.

Think I'll try to get a full set of brevets in. One or two KC, One IA, and as many of the Boulder brevet series as I can make.

No, I am not doing RAAM.

Just thinking about that makes my bones ache and my budget shiver.

I do want to do RAO though.

PBP?

And if you haven't heard this is coming up.

DG