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.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
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!
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!
Monday, July 13, 2009
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!!!
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!!!
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Season Over?
So yesterday, Bethany and I went up to the Twin Cities for our friend Kat's 21st b-day. Kat, TPow, Doug, Beth and I were there. It was fun, we went to Sayja, a Japanese restaurant where they cook right in front of you. It was really sweet, the cook was very funny and made great food. From there, we just hung out at Kat's house and watched a couple movies. This morning( Sat) we went out onto Lake Minnetonka in Kat's boat and did some water skiiing and tubing. I left at around 11:30 for Northfield, for my first race in 30 days.
Got to Northfield, got everything going and legs felt pretty good. Took a little bit to get back into the groove of things, but it was fun. All9 guys had a few racers. So towards the end of the race, I moved up and got ready for a field sprint. Nothing was going to get away in this race. Sprinted to about 12th or so? Not to bad, but didn't get as far up in the pack as I needed.
Anyway, right after the race, I was climbing the short hill on course and all ofa sudden my pedals stop and it sounds as though my chain fell off. I got off and notice my derailleur had snapped in half. It got caught in my wheel afterwards and bent my derailleur hanger. On my bike, the hanger is an integrated aluminum forge, and thus can't be fixed.
My frame is toast, and so I don't have a bike to race. I am going to talk to Hall's and here in Decorah to see if Trek has anything I can do. If not, I don't know what to do, I don't have the money being a college student to just get another frame.
I feel as though part of my life was just ripped away from me. I don't know what to do with myself now. This was my best season so far and I was getting ready for State Road Race and Tour of Kansas City. I am just at a loss for words as I drove home. I guess I can just get started with swim season and just swim the rest of the summer.
Have to miss my team's first race in CR tomorrow.
Got to Northfield, got everything going and legs felt pretty good. Took a little bit to get back into the groove of things, but it was fun. All9 guys had a few racers. So towards the end of the race, I moved up and got ready for a field sprint. Nothing was going to get away in this race. Sprinted to about 12th or so? Not to bad, but didn't get as far up in the pack as I needed.
Anyway, right after the race, I was climbing the short hill on course and all ofa sudden my pedals stop and it sounds as though my chain fell off. I got off and notice my derailleur had snapped in half. It got caught in my wheel afterwards and bent my derailleur hanger. On my bike, the hanger is an integrated aluminum forge, and thus can't be fixed.
My frame is toast, and so I don't have a bike to race. I am going to talk to Hall's and here in Decorah to see if Trek has anything I can do. If not, I don't know what to do, I don't have the money being a college student to just get another frame.
I feel as though part of my life was just ripped away from me. I don't know what to do with myself now. This was my best season so far and I was getting ready for State Road Race and Tour of Kansas City. I am just at a loss for words as I drove home. I guess I can just get started with swim season and just swim the rest of the summer.
Have to miss my team's first race in CR tomorrow.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Decorah (Luther) knows how to grow them!
My body/mind has sort of hit a road block on the bike. I have put in so much training in the last few weeks that I have never done before, that I am stating to see signs of fatigue both physically and mentally on the bike. Did some VO2 intervals tonight and couldn't get my HR to go about LT threshold numbers. I am gonna chill for a couple days with some spinning and see how the numbers come out, hopefully they will raise again. Only 1 more week of hard stuff then a rest week to taper for my races (FINALLY)!!!!
Tomorrow, Bethany and I are leaving for the Twin Cities to attend the Rascal Flatts concert at the Somerset Country Music Fest. These tickets were my gift to Bethany for our wonderful first year together back in May :) . It will be a good change of pace and allow the body to recover!!!
So back to the title of the post. Decorah cyclists have been doing a great job so far this season!!!
I have had some good results and won Snake Alley.
Sarge (Luther Grad and Decorah resident) WON the first day of the Cat 3 Tour of America's Dairyland and will have a great shot at winning the whole thing. Garrett is also coming into some great form and finished 11th!!!! Also a great finish by Chad Bishop!
Matt Busche went to Luther and WON the first day of Pro Tour of America's Dairyland.
We have much credit to the terrain and amazing roads around Decorah. So many roads that connect to other roads that make a 4 hour ride easy without seeing the same roads!!!! Climbing is also the key as you have to really climb at least 1 mile in any direction to get out of town and then rollers/long climbs dominate N. E Iowa. It also helps to have Novian Whitset as a riding partner, I have talked about him before, so no need to keep going.
Looking forward to Northfield Crit and Cedar Rapids Gold Fitness State Crit!!
Tomorrow, Bethany and I are leaving for the Twin Cities to attend the Rascal Flatts concert at the Somerset Country Music Fest. These tickets were my gift to Bethany for our wonderful first year together back in May :) . It will be a good change of pace and allow the body to recover!!!
So back to the title of the post. Decorah cyclists have been doing a great job so far this season!!!
I have had some good results and won Snake Alley.
Sarge (Luther Grad and Decorah resident) WON the first day of the Cat 3 Tour of America's Dairyland and will have a great shot at winning the whole thing. Garrett is also coming into some great form and finished 11th!!!! Also a great finish by Chad Bishop!
Matt Busche went to Luther and WON the first day of Pro Tour of America's Dairyland.
We have much credit to the terrain and amazing roads around Decorah. So many roads that connect to other roads that make a 4 hour ride easy without seeing the same roads!!!! Climbing is also the key as you have to really climb at least 1 mile in any direction to get out of town and then rollers/long climbs dominate N. E Iowa. It also helps to have Novian Whitset as a riding partner, I have talked about him before, so no need to keep going.
Looking forward to Northfield Crit and Cedar Rapids Gold Fitness State Crit!!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Update!
Not to much to update about, but doing it anyway.
Been working quite a bit and also had some good weeks on the bike. Getting ready for the month of July where it looks like I will actually be able to race my bike. Kind of wanted to go up and do the two NVGP Cat 2,3 races this weekend, but I had a wedding to work last night and didn't get done until about 2AM. Money is good and it can work better than wasting my money. Also missed the chance to go back to Ohio with Mercy for the Tour of Ohio this next week.
Gearing up for the Iowa State Crit Championships and then Clear Lake Race Weekend. Both will be a good way to test my form from a month of hard training. Will be epic with 80 mile RR and a crit the day before. Usually very windy over in Clear Lake.
Will keep posted on news/results and life.
Congrats to Amanda Miller and Nick Frey, both road very well at NVGP and also Amanda winning the Best Young Rider jersey. Not to long before she will be winning like Kristin Armstrong.
Been working quite a bit and also had some good weeks on the bike. Getting ready for the month of July where it looks like I will actually be able to race my bike. Kind of wanted to go up and do the two NVGP Cat 2,3 races this weekend, but I had a wedding to work last night and didn't get done until about 2AM. Money is good and it can work better than wasting my money. Also missed the chance to go back to Ohio with Mercy for the Tour of Ohio this next week.
Gearing up for the Iowa State Crit Championships and then Clear Lake Race Weekend. Both will be a good way to test my form from a month of hard training. Will be epic with 80 mile RR and a crit the day before. Usually very windy over in Clear Lake.
Will keep posted on news/results and life.
Congrats to Amanda Miller and Nick Frey, both road very well at NVGP and also Amanda winning the Best Young Rider jersey. Not to long before she will be winning like Kristin Armstrong.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
New Roads!
Went out for 3 hours this morning on a great tempo ride. Took some new county roads I had never taken before and ended up being a great loop. A stretch of about 5-8 miles of gravel had to be taken to connect roads I found, but the gravel was pretty much non existent and yielded instead pavement. The scenery around the area was awesome, could look forever in any direction and then when I descended into the Upper Iowa river valley, great winding roads. Ended up coming out on Iowa Highway 76 and encountered a long/steady 2.5mile climb or so, not the steepest until the end but enough to put some pressure on the lungs/heart.
Overall it was a great ride, made up for not having any of the guys to ride with.
July 5th is the Iowa State Criterium Championships. This is in downtown Cedar Rapids, a .7mile course, very flat and fast. It goes over the 2nd and 3rd ave. bridges, two of the very bridges you saw underneath the wrath of the Cedar River, just 1 year ago. Check out the website for details on a big weekend. Enter more than 1 race and take home some good cash with a 7,500 dollar cash payout for the day. One of the bigger races in Cedar Rapids, and help to celebrate the downtowns rebuild from the floods!! Could even come a day earlier and experience the July 4th Taste of Iowa celebrations!
It is also the Iowa State SINGLE SPEED Championships, so bring your fixie/single speed!
Thats the area of the race course, while under water last summer!
Overall it was a great ride, made up for not having any of the guys to ride with.
July 5th is the Iowa State Criterium Championships. This is in downtown Cedar Rapids, a .7mile course, very flat and fast. It goes over the 2nd and 3rd ave. bridges, two of the very bridges you saw underneath the wrath of the Cedar River, just 1 year ago. Check out the website for details on a big weekend. Enter more than 1 race and take home some good cash with a 7,500 dollar cash payout for the day. One of the bigger races in Cedar Rapids, and help to celebrate the downtowns rebuild from the floods!! Could even come a day earlier and experience the July 4th Taste of Iowa celebrations!
It is also the Iowa State SINGLE SPEED Championships, so bring your fixie/single speed!
Thats the area of the race course, while under water last summer!
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