Thu - June 29, 2006State ChampOk , I know I said I wasn't going to
update for a while. And I guess that is true. But I had a minute this afternoon
and I'd thought I'd post something. I won the MN state road race championship on
Saturday. It was an uphill sprint in the end out of a group of about 12. I've
never won this race, so it was very satisfying for me to finally put that in the
bag. It really is a shared victory with my Nature Valley/Penn Cycle teammates.
The reason I'd never won this race before is that I had always been outnumbered
by Flanders or GP. But this year we brought a full slate of green guys and kept
the race under control to set me up for the sprint finish. Thanks go to AJ, Matt
M, Micah, Sickboy, Ian, Mean Dawg and Dano. Everyone gave what they could and it
worked out well. I'm proud of our team this year. I think we are really starting
to understand each other, and the way these MN races play out. Our A team has
won the state champ TT and RR titles, the Opus team title, a slew of RR's, Crits
and TT's, and Dano is leading the rider of the year competition at this point.
Next week is the State Championship criterium. Originally I hadn't planned on
going, but I think I might be able to swing it. We'll see. Ok, that's all for
now...
Posted at 04:37 PM Read More 
Fri - June 16, 2006NVGP Stage 2 : Cannon Falls Road RaceThis stage was going to be hard. Despite
it's easy appearance on paper, only 58 miles and relatively flat profile, the
winds and the strong Health Net team were going to make everyones legs hurt.
Bad. Right from the start the HN guys lined it up. Behind them it was chaos. It
was nearly impossible to hold your spot in the peloton. Everyone knew things
were going to hit the fan once we hit the crosswinds and wanted to be as close
to the front as possible. The winds came and the carnage began. HN was drilling
it at the front. The rest of us were left to fend for ourselves. I was pretty
far forward but not far enough, I had to make some insane efforts and started
passing guys into the wind. Everytime I would latch onto the tail of the HN
juggernaut someone would let another gap open. I chased as hard as I could, and
no one could help me. Dumb riders were everywhere, trying to bridge the gap
alone, which just messed up our effort. If we had just formed our own line and
worked together we could have bridged the gap. There is a huge difference
between how the PROS and not-pros ride. Most of the Amateurs seem to be afraid
that if they ever go to the front they will instantly be dropped. I think there
were only about 10 guys that actually took pulls. Where as the top guys will get
to the front when it's needed. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but a lot of guys
were content just to sit there and let the race ride away. I was pretty
frustrated, but there isn't much I could do about it. With that wind there was
no way I could close it down alone. Our group settled in, about 30 strong or so
and rode to the finish. Ian and Mean Dawg made the group. I guess Dan was in a
group right behind us. On a crosswind section later in the stage, I went to the
front to try to hurt the group a bit. It was pretty sweet for a few miles as I
traded pulls with Aric and Pete Hanna, just like the capital crit eh guys!?
Well, I thought I was still ok in the Amateur GC, but it turns out some dude
made the split from ABD so I lost 5 minutes to him. That sucks, but what can you
do? I felt strong and rode the best I could. I finished 30th, right near the
middle of the main peloton. And really, I had a fun time, and that's all I'm
really looking for out of this crazy race. Dan got called for doping control and
we had to wait 2 hours for him to pee in a cup. Dan is like a camel, he only has
to pee like 3 times a day, so I knew it would be a while. It's pretty funny that
Dan got tested. The only thing he rides on is Awesomeness, I guess if
Awesomeness is a banned substance Dan better be worried. They should really only
pull random tests out of people in the top 20 or so. Why waste your money
testing people in the middle of the field? If people are doping to finish there
I don't think we really need to worry about them. Well, Dan took it with a good
attitude. Probably happy to get some quality blog material, eh Dano! Tonight is
the Minneapolis crit. Whoo Hoo...
"Hey man, did you see my Awesomeness pills up there?" Dan says before a winter training ride. Posted at 09:32 AM Read More
Thu - June 15, 2006NVGP Stage 1 TTMy goal for this stage was to finish
under 9 minutes and get a top 10. I knew my time trialing was coming along and I
finally feel like I'm getting used to the position a bit. I took off at the
start and the bike just went up to 35 mph with little effort. I knew it was
going to be a solid ride right away. I pushed about 35 until the hill, switching
between my 54X11 and 12. On the little hill I slowed to 30 then ramped it back
up to hit the turn around at just a few seconds over 4 minutes. I passed my 30
second man shortly after and was still feeling good, but it was getting harder
with the wind change. On the final stretch I was pushing too large of a gear
perhaps, but I kept an eye on my time, it was going to be close... I stood up
and sprinted for the line and nailed an 8:54! Good enough for 7th overall, 2nd
in the amateur category by 1.5 seconds! Ouch. It sure would have been cool to
get the jersey, but I was very pleased with how I rode. It was a long night of
hanging out and trying to stay fresh for 10 minutes of racing. Worth it in the
end, but a long night anyway. Well, I need to go prep my bike for stage
2...
 Posted at 11:54 AM Read More
Sun - June 4, 2006My Own Personal Stage Race: Stage 5, State Capital Crit, St.PaulToday was the final stage of my
week-long race. I actually felt pretty good coming into it except for a few
weird muscle pains from sitting in the TT position for too long. The course
today was really good for me, with a nice little kick of a climb into the finish
line. These are the kind of sprints I can usually do pretty well in. The
promoters did a great job hosting this event. The venue was very professional
and the course was well blocked off and safe. They even had trainers to warm up
on and coolers with culligan water. Nice job. The race went down like this : Dan
made the first move on lap 2 and got away with a few other dudes. They got
chased down about 4 laps later and I countered hard. Hareland and Hanna marked
it and we were off. Ian came out of nowhere and joined us, so Nature Valley was
in the power position. I was feeling great and was taking hard pulls, especially
on the climb. It's been a few years since I lapped the field in a crit, so I
wanted to make it happen. Every one of those guys was working hard and making it
a great race. We finally caught the field about halfway into the race. As soon
as we did I worked my way through it and attacked off the front right away. I
don't think we were even in the field for a whole lap. Unfortunately, Ian didn't
make it through, so it was just Hanna, Hareland and I. There was another strong
break ahead of the main field. With a few laps effort, we bridged up to it and
took a breather for a few laps. Timmer was there for Hareland and GP had
Fairbanks and Sedgwick, but I was isolated. I tried attacking, but was quickly
brought back by the group. Content to wait for the finish, a top three already
in the bag, I settled in and waited. With two to go Timmer lined Hareland up. I
was third wheel, GP was behind me. On the penultimate corner, Fairbanks started
to lead out Hanna on the outside. I was about to get boxed in. I cut hard into
the gutter and started my sprint early on the small rise. I was accelerating and
downshifting the whole way up. With the line in sight, Hareland was right next
to me. We were wheel to wheel. I shifted down again and started to pull away
from him. Then we bumped, his shoe hit my rear wheel, and I rolled in for the
win. Everyone was saying how sketchy it was, but it just felt like a bump to me.
I don't think I moved over on Aric but if I did it certainly wasn't intentional.
So it was kind of a funny win in that sense. Hareland was cool about it after
the race. It's pretty funny how close we are in every race we do. We have
similar racing styles and it usually works out that if he is in a move, so am I,
and vice versa. It's fun having good competition, since that's what this sport
is all about.
I found out there is a time trial on Tuesday. Dan said it wouldn't count for the stage race since I already took a rest day on Friday and to have another rest day on Monday would equal too many rest days, thus negating the effect of it being a real stage race. I was looking for a Monday race, but there doesn't appear to be one, so I have been declared the GC winner of My Own Personal Stage Race 2006. It's been a good run with 4 wins and a fifth. I though first place was going to be a good nights sleep, but I also got some Dairy Queen cake. My mom said it was for Dan's birthday tomorrow, but I'll pretend it was also part of the prize list... Posted at 08:33 PM Read More
Sat - June 3, 2006Stage 4 : State TT Champs. My
rest day went pretty well and I was ready for the next stage, a 40 kilometer
time trial in Saint Peter. The racing started at 8 am, so I had to get up at 5
to get there in time. Unfortunately, the race started like an hour late which is
kind of a bummer since I was up and there and ready to go, but that extra hour
of sleep would have been nice. Road races never seem to start on time, where as
mountain bike races never start a minute late. I guess most of that has to do
with racing on open roads, but it's still frustrating. Once I started warming up
my front wheel sprung a leak and started spraying me with the sealant I used to
fix it on Wednesday. I knew I should have changed that tubular, but I have been
so busy I didn't really have time. In the end I had to ride my aluminum wheel,
which isn't nearly as cool, but is still pretty fast. I didn't really know how
to judge my effort today since I've never done a TT over 20 minutes long. I
started off kind of easy, but then cranked it up to about 35 mph and was holding
it steady for a while. I really felt like I was going to throw down a sick time.
Then I got to the turn around and I realized why I was going so fast. There was
an awful headwind. I leveled off about about 24-25 mph and felt like I was going
as hard as I could to keep my cranks turning. I felt ok, but I just couldn't get
on top of a big gear. I finished strong and was pretty happy with my effort.
Unfortunately, there were 4 other guys with better efforts than mine. Ian killed
me by 2 minutes to take the win. Casper, Paulson and Sedgewick also placed
better than me, so adding that up, I guess I was fifth. Bummer. Those guys are
all great riders and time trialist's though, so it hurts a little less, and
makes me more motivated for the next one. I really need to get a disc wheel and
and aero helmet, oh, and to fix my front Aeleous wheel. That could help my time
a bit into those strong winds. But even so I don't think I could have touched
Ian's time today. Good riding yo... I do have some constructive criticism for
these TT's though, with the exception of the Black Dog I did, the results take
way to long to get posted. In a race when you need to see the results to know
how you did, they really need to get those things up ASAP. I was fiddling with
Excel and I made a spreadsheet in 5 minutes that would calculate results in real
time. Meaning, once you put a rider's bib #, name and start time, all you have
to do is record the finish time, it will automatically calculate the riders
actual time and sort times from low to high. Which means the second the final
rider crosses the line, results are done! So, anyway, I'd be willing to send it
to anyone who would use it. I'd like to be part of the solution, rather than
just someone who
complains...
Tomorrow, My Own Personal Stage Race concludes with the Capitol Crit. Looks like I'm sitting pretty in the GC with first overall. Seeing as how no one else did Buck Hill. I hear first prize is something like a really good night of sleep, so hopefully I can cash in on that. I just hope it doesn't take me too long to calculate the results... -Photo from skinnyski.com , Black Dog TT, Stage 2 Posted at 04:44 PM Read More
Thu - June 1, 2006Stage 3 : Thursday Night at BuckAnother quick update. I've been too busy
with this stage race to write too much! Tonight was a great day for a mountain
bike race. The course was fast and loose. No real hard climbs, some good
singletrack, but sandy. I had a terrible start and actually missed my pedal for
the first time since I can remember. Total beginner move! So I chased Kuzzy,
Brendan, Fisher and Hanson into the woods. I started making moves when I could,
but it was hard to pass. Finally on the paved climb part I was able to attack
and get away. I got a pretty good gap on lap 2 but then a stick got really
jammed in my spokes. It took a while to dislodge it. By the time I did I was
chasing Brendan. I caught him by the end of the lap and attacked again and got
away for the win. The stage race is going pretty well with 3 wins in a row. Next
up is a 40k TT on Saturday. I'll enjoy my rest day tomorrow. I'll try to get
some pics up on the blog for you folks that just hate reading! Thanks for
checking in.
Posted at 11:12 PM Read More
Wed - May 31, 2006My Personal Stage Race : Stage 2 - Black Dog TTJust a quick update before I go to bed.
This stage racing is tough stuff! Today's TT went well, but a freak thing
happened, I tied for the win with Aric Hareland! That's right, we had the same
time 14:18.0, down to the tenth! I have never tied in a bike race, so it was
pretty cool. Aric is riding well this year, I actually expected him to beat me,
so I was happy with my ride. I was hurting a little at the turn around, but
really started going good in the last few K. Casper was third with a 14:37 or
something like that. Anyway, fun times at the Dog. I don't know if I'll be able
to go to too many more since it takes so long to get there from my house, but it
was worth it tonight. Tomorrow I bust out the knobbies for Buck Hill! I didn't
think I'd get to race there again, but now it's stage 3! Hollywood hooked me up
with a sweet Liger armband. You know, half Lion, half Tiger... It's pretty much
my favorite animal...
Posted at 10:51 PM Read More
Tue - May 30, 2006My Own Stage Race: Stage 1 Opus FinaleSo I didn't race last weekend. I skipped
Nebraska, 10,000 lakes was cancelled, and I didn't want to go to Iowa. So with
Anne gone, I need something to do, right? So I created my own little stage race
this week. We are lucky to have so many events going on, and rather than pick
and choose, I'm going to do them all! Tonight (Tuesday) was Opus, Tomorrow is
the Black Dog TT, Thursday is a Buck Hill mountain bike race, Friday is a rest
day, Saturday is the State Championship 40k TT, and Sunday is the Capitol Crit.
I decided to skip the MTB race on Sunday since I can't do both the crit and the
MTB race due to a scheduling conflict and I need to keep racing the road through
NVGP for training.
Tonight at Opus went great! I won a whole bunch of points and the final sprint. I was off the front in breaks all day. Some by myself, some with a small group. For the last 7 or 8 laps it was Dale, Timmer, and Adam F. I was feeling better by the lap and managed to hold off a hard charging Timmer at the end. The points I scored secured the individual and team overall wins for us so all in all, mission accomplished. I'm not sure what to expect from tomorrow's Black Dog. I've been riding the E11 a few days now, but I am yet to put in solid efforts on it. I figure the best way to do that is to give 'er. We'll see how it goes. Posted at 10:59 PM Read More
Mon - May 29, 2006Nature Valley In Nebraska, Duluth, Training For TT'sDan reports from Nebraska. Stages 2 and
3 didn't go quite as well. "It was like 100 degrees with 40 mph crosswinds" Dan
reported to me on the phone last night. "I just couldn't find motivation to go
hard in it." Andy Minier got into a break that finished 6 minutes up on the
field though, so it looks like he's due for a high GC placing in the end. I give
these guys major credit for racing in those conditions, with no one to feed them
no less. "I carried 3 bottles, and someone gave me a plastic one, but I was
still without water for the last 10 miles." Dan told me. The truth is, when it's
that hot out you need a full bottle every thirty minutes. Without that, you are
losing it every minute. I bet Dan and Andy finish each stage 5 pounds lighter
than when they started. Good luck in the crit today guys.
Meanwhile, in the race I skipped up north yesterday, sickboy, Micah and Matt M had a go at it as the Sickblogger reports here . On the home front, it got up to 97 degrees yesterday. This is the hottest it's been in May since the dust bowl. If that doesn't make you nervous, well, it should. I am terrible in the heat. I have a really hard time going hard, or even riding at all in it. But I need to get used to it in case it's hot during the Nature Valley Grand Prix. This race will be my last big race until August, so I am taking it pretty seriously. My first goal is to finish in the top 10 in the opening TT. I have started riding my new Trek E11 daily, and am sore all over from the efforts. My position is so low and forward, it really works different muscles than my other bikes. The good thing is that I can cruise at or above 25 mph. I figure I need to hold 30 for 15 minutes to place high at NVGP. I think once I get my position dialed in a little more I should be able to do it. After my TT ride in the morning I headed over to Chaska to ride the Mammoth trails. They are in such good shape right now, it's so fun. Those trails are very technical, especially if you try to ride them at race pace. I slammed my hands and bars into several trees while attempting to ride all out down the narrow paths. Unfortunately it was so hot in the woods after about an hour I'd downed all my water and was starting to get dizzy. So I made it back to the car and blasted the AC while shaking my head in disbelief at the amount of sweat pouring off my forehead... Posted at 09:18 AM Read More
Sun - May 28, 2006Dan Wins Stage 1 in NebraskaDan is making sure we keep the
streak alive as he showed everyone a clean set of wheels in the first stage of
the Monumental Memorial Stage Race in Nebraska. Check out the race report here
while it's up at.
Posted at 12:10 PM Read More
Wed - May 24, 2006Mountain Bike Racing
Looking for an update. All I have is this cool pic from Matt Johnson. We are building our own wedding invites. It's ok, but I guess it cuts into the blogging... I had a great weekend and won both the MNSCS and WORS races. Mountain biking is fun! Posted at 10:15 PM Read More
Wed - May 17, 2006Sick of the same old entry.I don't have time right now to do a real
descriptive entry. Or put up any pictures or cool links. I do have time to say I
raced at the Cable Off Road Classic on Saturday. It was cold, wet and awesome.
That course is so much fun. I ended up riding away from Jeff Hall on the roadie
section and holding it to the end. Last night was another tough Opus. I keep
making those hard on myself. I was going for the win in a break, which is hard
to do. Hareland ending up marking me and coming along for the ride, beating me
in most of the sprints, since I wasn't going to accelerate hard and blow our
momentum, We were away for 15 laps, until I had to challenge him for some of the
points and we slowed enough to get caught. Then I lead out Dano and Mean Dawg
for some points. Overall, a successful, fun night. I think I got second in
points, with Dan in third. Well, busy day at work for me. Out for now. Mountain
bike races this weekend...
Posted at 06:43 AM Read More
Sun - May 7, 2006Two More Wins!It was a perfect weekend for bike
racing. The weather was warm, but not hot, the wind was blowing, but not too
hard, and it was sunny and beautiful. Fortunately, we were lucky to have a pair
of races to do and I made the most of it. Saturday was the Avon road race. It
was around 90 miles and all the local 1-2's showed up for battle, so we had a
nice sized field. We started off slow and I was getting antsy. I was ready to
start riding hard, but with such a long race I had to be patient. Terry Beneken
and Eric Dahl eventually established a strong two-man move. They were gone. Andy
M, Dano and I decided we needed to shut it down so we got to the front on the
cross winds and drilled it, just like the race last weekend. We'd established a
break of about 8 guys or so and were tearing the field to shreds. Then we got to
a corner and I swear the marshall was pointing right, so we went right. But then
someone realized we'd screwed up and we had to stop, turn around and go the
other way. I was so mad, we'd done this huge effort and it amounted to nothing.
I stopped to pee and Mean Dawg and AJ took me back to the field. The next lap
was pretty uneventful. We went hard a few more times, dropping some guys and
others got back on and we all got stopped by Matt Anderson, the official,
because half the field was over the centerline. It's pretty much cheating to do
that, like cutting the course. It happend everytime there is a strong wind from
the right. People need to understand if we cross the centerline with reckless
abandon someone could get hurt or we could lose our right to race there. Anyway,
we got going again and on the last lap things hit the fan. A group got away on
the descent of the one good climb on the circuit. We had Andy up there and were
sitting pretty. Then the break came back and Flanders and GP were screwed
because they didn't have anyone in the front group. So they had to chase and Dan
and I were able to just sit on for a while. With about 10k to go we caught the
leaders and it was game on. Dewey attacked and Aric and I went with him. We
opened up a big gap and Spring Street had to chase. That was good because they
are really tough sprinters. It was a flat finish and I was much better off
sprinting with Aric than Metza, Johnson or Marcotte. So we drilled it into the
last kilo. Then it was, to use the old saying, a game of cat and mouse. We sat
up and looked at each other. Metza started coming up from the group. As soon as
he caught us I jumped hard with about 800 meters to go. Aric started with me and
I knew I couldn't take him to the line. I stopped sprinting with 200 meters to
go and forced him to lead me out for about 50 meters before I jumped again to
take the win. It was a hard fought ride out there and I was surprised and
pleased to take the win that way.
That night I had to build up my TT bike. I'd just the position dialed in and had to string all the cables and adjust everything. It took forever but in the end I had a sweet TT bike ready to rock. So this morning we rolled over to St. Paul for the Lilydale TT. It's only about 5 miles so it's pretty much and all out effort for 10 minutes. I took off steady and ramped it up. The bike just went like crazy. Even though my legs were a little heavy I was still able to just sail. I ended up winning over Aric again by 3 seconds. Not bad for my first 5 miles on a TT bike ever. I think it's only the third time I've ever used aero bars! Now I'm pretty tired and excited to ride my TT bike some more and dial it in a little bit. It's fast now, but I don't think I could sit on it for an hour. Other than that, sorry I don't have any pics or anything. I guess I should start taking a camera with me to the races so I have something a little more visual. Oh well, just think of this like an Old School Blog. Oh, and I guess I made the St. Cloud paper. Cool, check out that article here . It says I'm a full time roadie now, but that's not really true. I'm racing the Cable 0ff Road Classic on Saturday, and then doing the Alpine WORS race after that. Of course, I haven't ridden an MTB in 2 months, so this week I hit the dirt! I'll toss the camera in my jersey pocket for you folks who only look at the pictures... Posted at 03:22 PM Read More
Wed - May 3, 2006Opus # 2 : Bringing Back the Sprinting LegsAs I type this, my legs are still sore
and I've decided to take a day of rest from training. Opus last night was tough
for me. I was still feeling sluggish from my huge effort on Saturday. For those
who don't know, this Tuesday night mainstay of Minnesota spring cycling is a 1
mile loop on a one way office park freeway. The Opus area is a maze of curved
one-way streets, once you get in, it's tough to find the right way out. Our race
is a 24 lap points race with the winner determined by the rider who accumulates
the greatest number. There is a sprint every three laps with points three places
deep.
The race started off slow and it was difficult to maintain a solid position near the front of the field. Plenty of Category 3 riders were taking half-hearted fliers to the front of the group, only to look around in bewilderment once there weren't any riders left to pass. The officials then forgot to ring the bell for the first sprint, but the pace increased anyway and we set up for it. Dan patrolled the front of the field and Eric Marcotte was the first to attack. I followed his wheel and came around to take the first points of the night. The sprint hurt me though. I could tell it was going to be a long race. Over the course of the next few sprints. I managed to win the next one, then Dano took one, I jumped late and Hareland beat me in another, and I won another one in a close battle him on the next sprint. Then things got crazy. I was dizzy and tired. Pete Hanna was yelling at Matt Henry for some alleged irratic riding. Apparantly a few guys got off the front, but I didn't even see it happen. I made an attack for the next sprint and Eric Dahl came along. He told me he had a teammate up the road, and I in shock that anyone was up there. We caught the move, rode right through them and proceeded to TT our way off the front with six laps to go. Finally my legs started to feel better and I was getting up to speed. Eric and I thought we were winning, yet Bjorn and Dewey were away ahead of us. I let Dahl take the points at three laps to go under the stipulation that I got the win at the end. He agreed and we continued on our ride. With two to go, Dewey and Bjorn appeared in front of us. I realized we'd been riding in third and fourth all along. I went hard at the front to close the gap and dropped Eric. As I came up to the lead duo I hit it hard and rode right by them. They managed to get my wheel and it was on. Bjorn attacked with one to go, but it was too easy to sit on his wheel. I forced him to lead me out and I took the sprint for the win at the end. While our breakaway drama was taking place, there was an big crash near the front of the field. Dan, Aric, Sickboy and a lot of good riders were left on the sidelines for the rest of the race. Fortunately, other than some banged up bike parts, people seemed to get away unhurt. Another win for the green team keeps the momentum rolling into the Avon road race on Saturday. Tomorrow I'm heading over to Hollywood Cycles for a TT bike setup. Every time I call that guy he is busy as hell. I'm really glad he's seeing his dream become reality. Appropriately, I'll sign off today saying "Party On". Posted at 06:21 PM Read More
Sun - April 30, 2006Ken Woods Road RaceEveryone knew it was going to be a wet
day at the races on Saturday. Personally, I like racing in cold weather. I could
do without the rain, but if it keeps it cool, I'm all for it. A few years ago we
did this race in the rain. It was a lot colder then, and raining harder.
Yesterday wouldn't have been bad for just riding around by yourself. The rain
was at a drizzle and you stayed relatively dry with a raincoat and shoe covers.
The problem was once you tried to draft off the next guy you get really soaked.
I was a little cold at the start, but I felt confident and strong, so I took to
riding at the front as much as I could to stay warmer and drier. About 2 miles
into the race, the crosswinds were at their worst. This is where the race would
take shape every lap. I drilled it on lap one, and a few guys were cut off the
group. There was still a pretty good sized field on lap two, so I got to the
front and went hard again. By the end of the crosswind section, the group was
down to about 15 riders. It was amazing how much it had whittled down. I had Dan
and Andy come to the back of the group with me and I told them to stay next to
me coming into the crosswinds on lap 3. As we turned onto that section I pulled
into the middle of the lane, just enough for two riders to be in my draft: Dan
and Andy. I went as hard as I could in the crosswind for few kilometers. I could
look down and see Dan's hub and Andy's rim, so I knew we were doing ok. When I
finally looked back, It was only Dan, Andy and I with Aric Hareland in tow. I
moved over to the center of the road so Aric could have a draft and we started
working together. There was still a tenacious group of three close behind. We
were moving fast, but they were holding us close. Finally Aric saw it was his
teammate Timmer and stopped working. We pretty much sat up and let them regroup
and Bjorn, Timmer and Mike Johnson soon joined us. Onto the final lap, 22 miles
to go. Andy took a flier into the headwind and forced the other guys to pull
into the stiff breeze. As soon as Aric reeled him in, we were at my favorite
section of crosswinds again. With 20 miles to go, I leapt from the group. I
opened the throttle fully and concentrated on staying in my 11 tooth. The group
was losing ground on me and I was feeling good. I found a good tempo and ticked
away the distance. Eventually the chasers were out of sight, but I kept it up. I
knew if I was caught I'd be worthless in the sprint after so much time off the
front. Finally the final climb came and I could see I had it. It felt great to
win in a long solo breakaway. I can't remember the last race I pulled on of
those off. I got my raincoat back on and waited to see how Dan would fare from
the group. I could see two riders fast approaching. Dan was leading out Aric for
a long ways out. Mike Johnson was coming up fast, but not fast enough. Dan held
off Aric for the old Swanson 1-2. That's twice in a week! I think we set a
record or something. It took a long while before all of our extremities regained
feeling. It was a small price to pay for an epic spring "classic" race. With the
win, that's the third time in 3 years we've won the race. Dan took it in '04,
and I've won the last two.
I'm really happy with how great Dan and Andy are riding. Our team was so dominant at the front of this race. We had everything covered. Andy had to chase solo for 5 miles early on after he stopped to pee at the beginning. Even so, he was still taking amazing pulls at the front. When we had a four man break with three teammates I knew it was our race to lose. Bjorn deserves a shout out as well. He made the lead group with his 52X14 junior gear. Remarkable considering I was in a 53X11 a lot of the race. After two lap's he asked me "Doug, what time is it?" "It's 11, why," I asked. "Do you think we'll be done by 1?" "Why do you have a hot date or something?" "Yeah, prom!" Well, we did finish by 1, and Bjorn was fifth out of only seven finishers. Good job. Posted at 10:20 AM Read More
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Total entries in this category: 103 Published On: Jun 29, 2006 04:37 PM |
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