State Crit

Today was not raining YAY!!! So met Coach Paul in IC then headed over to Pella for the State Crit Championships. A great course, very nicely set up and run by Doug Klasson.

In the Pro race, Paul got into a break of 3 with Dave Lippold and Chad Vandelune of All9Yards, but Lane Anderson let him go?? Well it turned out to be ok as the 3 lapped the rest of the field, Dave attacked and went away alone and soon after Lane took Chad the rest of the way sealing 1, 2 for All9. Paul was left to fend for himself and with 2 laps to go, was caught by a group of Jim Cochran and co, and Paul sat up and took a hard earned 5th, def. worked the hardest out there today!!! Nice job buddy!

So in our race, we had 35laps....right of the front Chris Hansen pushed the pace, and I found myself back in the middle after not being able to clip in fast, found out later to be missing a screw in my cleat!! AGGG......I spent 3 laps getting into the first 10 riders, and glad I did as with about 25-30 laps to go....we already had a field of 15 or so out of 38, within the next few laps...the group was down to 8, thanks to Chris. I think everyone ended up pulling except for a Poweraide guy and Iowa Ortho until towards the end. I do believe Chris led almost every lap up the hill and through the finish line haha.

So with 2 laps to go, I move up into top 5 and try to hold it....I did, but going up the last hill, I wasn't able to move up and came around the corner in 6th...and hey! I got 6th! So all in all, was def. the hardest race of the year for me...I was tapped out with about 10 to go. Jimmy did some nice work and placed 8th today, and for us two to make the first selection as the only ones under 20 years old!! Watch out Iowa, and the US!!! WE are coming! haha

So anyway, 6th place and a little cash was well worth a last race of the season, now I am leaving for school...and probably won't see many until I return for Kent Park next spring...I hope you all have a great cross season..maybe Ill show up with the Mtn. bike and try it out!!

Peace and God Bless!
Carson

Trek Dealer Show

Went up to Madison/Waterloo for the annual Trek Dealer show. It was awesome, got to see all of the new lineup of bikes and even test road a couple. The 5.2 Madone Frame that Contador won with at Plateau de Beille was on display, that was sweet, I would buy that just to look at it in my house!

The new Madone is going to be sweet, check it out www.trekbikes.com
Trek has also changed the geometry on all of their Mtn. bikes.

I was in heaven, I was able to test ride a G. Fisher Cobia on their Private 4-6 mile Mtn. Bike loop across the road from the factory, while my two Hall's Bike Bros road the new Fuel EX 9 FS.

Also road on the Lemond Tete de Course with Bontrager 5.0 Aeolus wheels, a 9,000 dollar bike, the thing ran so smooth!!! I know what wheels I am getting!

So all in all I was so impressed with how they are going away from the Lance Armstrong style bikes and converting their geometry to a more stiff/stable one.

One week of training to go, then State Crit and Luther, here I come!

State Time Trial.........HOT!

Today was a hot day, 90's by 9:00 o'clock this morning. Im sure while out on course the heat index was over 100. I drove to Nichols anyway with the hope of becoming a better TT man, especially with my size. I believe that it is def. coming around now that I know how to pace myself better and know just how hard I can go and maintain that effort. Entered the U23 division today, hoping that someone else would show up, but ended up racing against myself and the other cats today.

Going out, I was around 185bpm and then from the turnaround at 20km all the way back, right around 190! I had no idea I could hold those numbers, probably high because of the heat. The course just felt sticky along the way but it was flat, which I like :)

Ended up coming in with a time of 1.01.21, the fastest out of the 2 I have done :), the last one in Cordova going a 1.03 in better conditions! I of course, won by default in the U23, but also would have won the Cat 4's by 6 sec. over Jeremy Fry of ICCC.

Poor Jimmy, came down with a cold yesterday and I give huge props to ya buddy for even showing up in that heat and finishing! Awesome job! Get better and you can get ready to tear up the Crit!

So yea, last race of the year will be the State Crit in a couple weeks over Pella, the 25th and then I move back to Luther on the 26th. I just wanna take the time to thank everyone for their support this year when I made the upgrade to Cat 4, and all the encouragement everyone has given me.

State RR

Went up to Sherril for the State RR today on a hilly 10 mile loop course for 4 laps. Hills= uh oh for me, but I was ready to go. I stayed near the front the whole time patroling for strongmen like Chris Hansen (Pedros), Robinson Bro's (All 9), Jimmy (ICCC) and a few others to make sure nothing big went without me. Put in an attack that lasted all but 30sec probably as no-one went with me, so I just kinda sat up as it was half way through the 2nd lap.

Towards the end, things were starting to go haywire with fighting for position, I was able to get Hansen's wheel and knew he would be at the front in the end. As we headed up the last stretch, the sprint started and as soon as I took one left pedal stroke, a cramp seized up my leg, and I had to sit down in order to keep going, and by then...it was all gone. Came across 12th or so, wasn't what I wanted today....to much sitting in, as I think I would do better if the field were strung out more and didn't have the guys that sit in all race and then try to sprint. Oh well, Jimmy ended up in the money, sweet....Either State TT or Tour of KC next weekend, so should be action packed.

Moenk won the pro race with some fine riding by Mercy (Jeff Barnes) on a nice break and Adam Price and John Eppen with some hard work!