Mid Season Report

Hey everybody,
Hope the holidays are treating you well. I don't get much of a holiday as we are at Luther until the 23rd for our winter training. No trip to a warm place this year, but its still fun. Nothing to worry about but sleep and swimming! Swimming fairly fast and continuing to feel better in the water. Should be a good last half of the year. Hard to believe that I only have less than 2 months of swimming left in my scholastic career. I have swam since the 7th grade, and don't know what I will do without it...... I guess I'll take up cycling all year around, would really enjoy picking up cyclocross!!!

Speaking of cycling, I mentioned that I will be racing for Mercy-Specialized Elite Team next year, and I am stoked. A great bunch of guys, and I know I can continue to learn a lot.

I officially received my Cat 2 upgrade yesterday thanks to Rick Paulos!

I will be starting my 2010 season on Jan 3rd. A month earlier than normal, but I believe it is warranted with some much longer races early on in the year. I will still have swimming 3 + hours a day, but with no class, I hope to get in at least 1 hour if not 2 during the day in between, just some good base mileage!

Check back for updates. Looking forward to seeing everyone again!

Finally..

Hey everyone,
Finally a post. I don't even know if anyone reads this anymore or cares about it, ha. First semester is half over, and so I am a day closer every day to be done with Luther College. Swim season has kicked off great. I have turned pretty much into a backstroker/IM'er for the season and have had some great swims so far. lsdnorse.blogspot.com is our teams blog, run by the managers and head coach. Have some videos of some of the things we do...a great time.

We will be competeing in the Ted Mullins Hour of Power Relay on Wed. Ted Mullins was a swimmer for CarletonCollege who died of Sarcomma cancer a few years ago. The University of Chicago and Carelton co-run this "Hour of Power". What we do is do a non-stop relay style practice for an hour, where the point is to keep every lane on the same lap and do as many laps as possible. We all are given "Cancer Sucks" tshirts and fundraise. Anyone who gives a dollar gets to sign the shirt. The sweet thing about the money, is for every dollar donated, The University of Chicago will multiply by 10! A great time for team bonding and for a great cause. 119 schools last year did it at the same time...... and 112,000 has been raised in 3 years.
Check out the website for more info.

Other than swimming, there hasn't been much biking. It's hard to do when I'm swimming 5 hours a day. But I don't have a class in January and my second semester is looking good, being done in the morning every day.

On the topic of cycling, I will announce my team for next year.

I will be racing for Mercy Specialized. Rick and the guys at ICCC have been extremely generous to give me a spot on the elite team and I hope to help out and make an impact. Sounds like it will be a great team and a great season! I am looking foward to Feb 21st, when I can officially start!

I have been with Hawkeye Bike since the beginning, and I owe them so much. Eastburn, Reed, Vern, Larry and everyone un-named have all been great leaders for me. I hope to work with them on numerous occassions!

Quick Update

Took two weeks completely off the bike and started doing some swimming and lifting weights, trying to now transition from legs to upper body. Been working a lot trying to get some mula for the school year.

Got all moved into my apartment with Tpow for the year. It is gonna be epic!!! Then after work Monday I drove to Cedar Rapids. Gonna hang out here for a few days before going back to school next Wednesday. Went out for the first ride in 2 weeks today and lasted about 2 hours. Didn't take any food with me and I could tell towards the end. Ended up with a good tempo session instead of just cruising haha. I felt pretty good!!!

I am going to try and ride through the winter as much as time and light will allow.

My 21st birthday is coming up next Friday, Sept. 4th. Finally I will join the rest of my class.

Tour of Kansas City

Bethany and I drove down to KC on Thursday for a 4 day weekend. We got down in the evening, dropped off our stuff at her Brother Phils' apartment and headed to dinner. We ate at a "Carlos O'Kelly's" style restaurant called Jose Peppers. Very good, we both had Chimichangas and all the chips and salsa you could want. I was stuffed. Then we just went back, waited for Phil and then went to bed.

Friday we got up and had breakfast and headed to the pool that Phil's apartment complex has for residents. A nice pool, no one around and was able to soak up some sun. Then Bethany and I went to a huge mall complex where all the stores have outside access, kind of like a downtown but all mall stores. Walked around for a couple hours and got Starbucks at Barnes and Nobel. We then went back to the hotel and made BBQ Chicken pizza! Watched movies and went to bed.

Saturday we got up and Phil drove us downtown KC to see where he works at the Mercy Childrens Hospital. We also saw much of the downtown. Very confusing streets and many different interstate interchanges made this a town I don't think I would wanna live in. We headed out east of town and saw the two stadiums where the Royals and Chiefs play. Got stuff together back at the apartment and headed to the race in Kansas City, KS. A two hill criterium that was fast and very windy. All9 Yards had 4 guys, only 4 I recognized and knew. Fast race, single file for much of the race. Felt ok, legs didn't open up like I thought but I ended up top 20 out of 60 or so. After the race, we went to Dave and Busters for dinner. This place is like a Chuckie Cheese for adults, it was a lot of fun.

Sunday, we got up, had breakfast and headed to the race in Overland Park. A flat course with a couple false flats. Very fast race and despite many many crashes, a fun time. I was gapped on the last lap after a crash but still managed 11th. I know I could have gotten higher but because I was gapped, no dice. Got my money back plus some from that race. Phil, Bethany and I then went to "The Other Place", a restaurant started in Cedar Falls, but have two locations down in KC. Very good pizza!! Beth and I then headed home and had some fun times. We hit bad storms while in Des Moines on I35 and I80, going 30mph on the interstate with blinding rain. Made it home around 10PM last night.

Overall a great weekend!! My first time driving in MO and KS, and down there except for St. Louis airport. The racing is pretty good down there, but many sketchy riders. I was so surprised at the number of crashes and wobbliness of the peloton. Also, many teams were represented but no team would keep the pace high. Seems like there are many "single" riders on teams out there.

Don't know if I will be racing the rest of the season, have to work quite a bit.

State Road Race

Saturday was the Iowa State Road Race Championships in West Branch. Bethany and I got up, had a good breakfast at my parents house and drove down. Got my number pinned up and bottles sorted out with the team. 4 Laps around a 27 mile loop made for 108 miles and a long day in the saddle. The weather turned out to be awesome, a little chilly at the start, and a bit warm at the end. Wind also played a decent sized role in the race with wind speeds around 10-15mph.

45 riders, 25 Cat 3's lined up for the Cat 1,2,3 race. Cat 3's ended up being separate in both placing and prize money, which helps the mentality, knowing that there is a better chance to get some mula. We were off and for the first lap, it was pretty chill as no one really wanted to be in a break for 85+miles.

At the start of the 2nd lap, a group of about 6 guys got off the front, and a chase group of 3 after them, all containing the major teams and 1 Cat 3 was among them with Ryan French(All9Yards). The pace slowed down and two guys from Colorado started setting tempo. After a while, the chase group came back which included Bryan Moritz (Bikes2You). They now had no one in the break and had to set tempo for the next 2 laps. At the start of the last lap, the break seemed to be gone and we went through the feed zone, I saw Duey Dickey and Jeff Barnes (ICCC) as well as Paul Deninger (Zoom) go to the front before we turned north. I knew they were gonna put the hammer down and so I got into about 6th wheel.

I was right, once we were going north, they pushed the pace and when I looked back, a split had occured in the peloton, only about 10 of us made the junction. I was hoping not many 3's would have made it, but I was wrong. Shreck(All9), Kris Kunze(Rassy), Sarge(Wheaton), Brendan Keely (ICCC) had all made the split. We were crusing a long and we ended up catching Clark Preibe and Ryan French. That means us 5 were going to battle it out for the top 3 in the state.

We got through the feed zone in Cedar Bluff and Duey made an acceleration that took Jeff Barnes and Jerod Osterloh(All9) with him. These 3 were gone, and the group was down to about 8. With no one coming back from behind, we just set a nice tempo and rode to the finish. I was chatting with Sarge, who lives in Decorah and we have trained together all year. Both of us were cramping.

Turning west, there were some accelerations and we ended up also catching Lou Waugaman(Rassy). Shrek put in a large attack with about 1.5 miles to go and Sarge and I chased it down the best we could. Lou then put in an attack to get rid of Paul and Joe Hetrick. This is when Kris and Brendan chased a while and we stablized Shreks gap. Coming up the finishing hill, I had no snap in my legs but Sarge was able to shoot out and pass Shrek for the win!! I ended up in 3rd place in the 3's and 12th overall in the Cat 1'2'3.

Much better than last year, where I punctured at the start of the 3rd lap and DNF. This was also my FIRST ride ever over 100 miles. I didn't know what what happened, but my training helped out a lot and I had a lot of fun. With my 3rd place, I am pretty sure I have enough points to upgrade to a Cat 2. I am going to wait til the end of the year to try and get my upgrade, just to get a bit more experience.

I am going to Kansas City with Bethany this weekend for the Tour of KC crits on Saturday and Sunday. I always remember some good results for Iowa boys.

A bit thanks to Vern and Larry for their help in the feed zone, wouldn't have finished without you! Also, ICCC and Mark Guthart for all their work to make this a great event.

Blog??

Haven't touched this thing since after Clear Lake, well...because there hasn't been much to say! This upcoming weekend is the Iowa State Road Race. Will be my 2nd try at this race of 108 miles. Last year, I flatted at the beginning of the 3rd lap and had to DNF. This year, with a separate Cat 3's payout, I am even more hungry for the "V". I have trained much harder/longer this year, and hope it will pay off.

Will be a great race, hopefully a field around 50! That would be sweet. Clear Lake was a great race, and should be similar conditions. Sarge/GMac will be coming from Decorah area and Sarge will be the man to watch. He recently won the Cat 3 Overall at America's Tour of the Dairyland. Another good thing is Bethany will be coming with me. I will have to give her a comfy seat, and she can read a book and get tan while I ride my bike for 4 hours. Anyone up to it, invite her to chat and entertain her :)

I have been almost hit training almost 3 times here in the last 3 weeks. 2 of the times have been by people who I am sure have to Class C licenses, or able to drive commuter vans/dumptrucks. They have tried to cut in between myself and another car on the road. I believe State Law gives me 3 feet off the shoulder? And these people would have to know this in order to pass their tests. I just don't get it. Sorry you have to wait an extra 10 sec. to get past me.

After State RR, it is down to Kansas City with Bethany for the T of KC. It will be fun, we are going to make a weekend of it and stay at her brothers!

More after the race!

Clear Lake BBQ Weekend Races

So I was able to get my bike fixed last week by the guys at Halls. Thanks so much to Karl/Steve and the gang for all they do! Raced at the Oval on Tuesday and had some good results, opening up the legs for the weekend.

Drove over to Clear Lake on Saturday morning and met my dad at the AmericInn. He had gone over on Friday to see some of the Blues music going on downtown. We went to the "Other Place" for lunch. Had a good spaghetti dinner and then we drove out to the Buddy Holly memorial site. Then we went and relaxed for the afternoon and then headed down to Clear Lake city park for the crit. Saw some of the other fast guys in the Iowa and Wisconsin scene. Lined up for the 50 minute race. Right from the guy the pace was very fast and it never really slowed down from there. Derrek Cassady and Jerome through down some attacks. I followed and had a couple of my own. We shed most of the Cat 4's but most of Cat 3's weren't dropped. I was surprised at the speed of our race. I didn't see my heart rate under 185 for most of the race, most of the time being 190 or so. Didn't get where I needed to be for the finish and only managed 6th.
After this I lined up Cat 1,2,3 race. Again started out just as fast with B2U sending off numerous attacks and Paul having his own and chasing others. Pretty uneventful, I was behind Tim Campell when he flatted going into a corner, and got gapped. I fell off the pace and couldn;t get back on. Ended with a DNF. After the races, wen to Cancun mexican restaurant with Paul.

Sunday, got up and had a great breakfast at the hotel. 2 years ago at this race, I didn't eat much for a 40miler and bonked, so I knew 82 miles would require big intake of food. Got to the Surf Ballroom and got all ready to go for the 10AM start. We started out North of the "Lake" and the finish was on the Southern end after 3h45min of racing. A couple hard crosswind sections, headwinds and a lot of tailwind on the road home. 2 B2U, 1 All9 and 1 Rassy's got into the break, so Paul, Jeff Barnes and Adam Price set tempo for the first half of the race. They let the gap go to 2 minutes and then let off through the feed zone. This is where All9 picked up the pace as their member in the break was only a Cat 3 (Steve Robinson). We caught the break after a hard chase after about 60-65 miles. They road awesome!
Guys started to fall off the pace in the cross-tail wind and tail wind sections. Tim Campbell put in a great attack with 15 miles to go or so and looked to be staying away. We turned onto the finishing 3 mile stretch of road and the games started. Tim came back at about 500m to go. I tried to follow Lou Waugaman and the Rassy guys. Ended up coming in 5th overall and 2nd in Cat 3's. Rich Winse(Rassy), a Cat 3, actually won the race.

I loved the distance and know the long/hard weeks riding with Novian, Garrett, Sarge, Justin really helped my results here!!!

Next up I think is State Road Race and then Tour of Kansas City with Bethany!!!