old as dirt

Texas Hill Country 600K

2011-03-15T11:39:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to go to San Antonio , Texas for the Texas Hill Country Challenge 600k this past weekend. I was racing with Tim Case on the RAAM racing team.We had originally intended to support ourselves, but were very grateful when Fred and Rick Boethling stepped in and volunteered to crew for us. I think the hardest part of ultra racing is finding crew to give their time to take care of your every need while you search for the personal satisfaction of an official finish or whatever your goals are.The days before an ultra race are always stressful, rushing around registration, bike and vehicle checks, grocery store trip,rider meetings. A short ride and rest are missed out a lot of the time. This was no different.Tim had been sick for a 10 days before the race, so was unsure how his body was going to react, but we decided he would ride first and we would do 30-45 min pulls.After a quick rollout with race director George Thomas, the race was on. Oh it wasn't really a race as we were the only 2 person team! We still wanted to post a good time. There were two 4 person teams, one mixed and one all women.The mixed team were very fast, especially the woman on that team who took off like a rocket and we never saw them again!The roads were quite busy with a few traffic signals, I had to stop a couple of times, I'm sure these were more stressful for the solo leaders, who were in a tight race at the time, not race changing, but stressful none the less. Oh yes, I was paying close attention to the solo race as my good friend Chris Ragsdale was going up against Marko Baloh, another of the best Ultra Cyclists in the World. They were together at the front of the race with Kurt Searvogel and Bryce Walsh (no relation).I felt ok on my first few pulls and Tim and I decided being our first race of the season, him being sick and my not getting my usual training in February due to less than ideal weather, we would just focus on getting a good hard ride in nice weather. It was mid 70s I'd guess with a light cloud cover, and a little breezy.I was trying to keep my calorie intake down, to see if I could avoid the upset stomach issues I had in previous races. I drank mostly water with one bottle of heed and two of perpetuem. I ate rice cakes, Chips and peanut butter, sport beans and hammer bars.After about 40 miles traffic thinned out considerably, so that was nice. Then we hit some wicked steep hills, Tim got the short end of the stick here having to ride 2 of the 3 steeper hills in this section, the one I did felt like I was not so strong, though it was quite steep. I think if we were in a close race it would be better strategy to switch riders halfway up these hills, though finding an exchange spot could be difficult.We managed to keep a pace just a little slower than the beasts of the solo race, who had started 3 hours before us, for most of the daylight hours. Nighttime was a different story, as with only one follow vehicle every time we did an exchange our race stopped, so that was probably 5 mins or more every hour, we were taking 25 min pulls at this stage.There was one brutally hard section after about 250 miles that was probably 30 miles of gradual uphill with a ferocious headwind and "Irish" chipsealed roads, that was as much a mental challenge as it was physical, even though my speed dropped to 8 mph along here at one point!Up front Marko was pulling away, and Chris was wearing down the tenacious Kurt, to determine the top 3 places.Tim and I battled our way to the finish with great support from Fred and Rick. Our time was 20hrs 40 mins, that was 1hr 26 mins behind Marko and an hour behind Chris....amazing athletes. Everyone who finishes these ultra cycling events are exceptional athletes with dedicated support crews without whom we could not even try to race without.George Thomas has put together a great event that will continue to grow, and with the century, double century and family rides attracting more people to cycling, everyone will benefit from the RAAM Challenge Series. www.raamchallenge.comSo get out and ride, spring is about here...I hope!

I'm trying!

2010-07-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

Honestly, I have half finished a post about Race Across the West, just no time to finish it with work, riding, partying, oh yeah....and Facebook/Twitter
A little more than two weeks to RAO, I'm starting to get mentally ready for that. Have to be mental to be ready for that!!

Spain to win the Tour AND the World Cup!

2009 by the numbers

2010-01-03T20:46:00.000-08:00

Well, ultra racing bring the miles up, and more days off!

Total Miles: 15,921 (25,622kms)
Biggest mileage month: May, 1,987
Smallest mileage month November 797
48 days off the bike
Longest Ride: 217 miles
200+ mile rides: 3
100+ mile rides: 16 (first one on May 2nd)

My goal for 2010 is to increase my longest ride distance :-)
Like 517 miles in July.....

Solstice 200k

2009-12-28T17:40:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I signed up to the SIR email group, just to see what's going on with the Rando side of Riding in Seattle.
It was just an innocent email (I get in digest form) that sugessted a 200k ride from Pete's Coffee in Redmond to celebrate the Solstice, only thing was it started at 9pm! Mr Mark Thomas was suggesting an all night ride to celebrate the longest night of the year!!! He also required you leave common sense at home, I think that's what got me thinking. I spent a week going back and forth, that would be cool, noooo that is stupid....yes I'll do it, no I won't. Also there was the issue of work the next day as it was scheduled for a Sunday night.
Finally, on Saturday, I bit the bullet and decided it would be good "prep" for RAO in JULY!! (leave common sense at home!) I would do the ride until it was time to go to work then head for Bellevue and work 8 hrs with NO sleep, then ride home, hey I can be dummer than the best of them :-)
So, I left home at 7pm (after doing a 35 mile ride in the morning and a short nap after lunch) to be sure to be there in time to hand in paperwork, have a cup of coffee and see if anyone else was crazy enough to do this ride, with heavy rain in the forecast.
I brought both batteries and the charger for my Light and Motion Hi-Arc light, plus a bunch of hammer bars and Martha's Gluten free cookies, my fanny pack weighed a ton!
Much to my surprise there were 12 of us starting this insanity Dominique, Cecil, Geoff, Lyn, Vincent, Dan, Joe, Robin, Steve, Mike,Mark and I. Robin being the only one I had met before, I knew of Mark and Vincent from the Barlow 300k, and Chris Ragsdale had a lot of nice things to say about Mark, who crewed him to victory at The Furnace Creek 508 with Bob Brudvik. Everyone was friendly to me, being the outsider of the group, so that was nice.
We took off just after 9, and headed up Novelty Hill, where it started what was the first of many hour long downpours. Going down Novelty Hill to Snoqualmie Valley was a new experience! descending fast in the dark and pouring rain, but we all survived. I think there were 6 of us together at this stage, so we just rode a steady tempo. The first control was at what was Carnation Farm and was a question that I think only Joe knew what it was, it's too much trouble to take out your card with the question on it in the dark and rain.
After Carnation Robin cranked up the pace and by the time we hit Fall City it was just him and I, then riding up snoqualmie falls we tore the legs off each other, so called a truce and rode around the weyerhauser loop enjoying the night and chatting away, along with getting the wrong answer for the 2nd control question ;-)
We all regrouped at the QFC in North Bend, where Joe took some photos of the crazed bunch.
I was really cold starting back out, at 12.15am, and as we were riding back down to Fall City I had to go fast to warm up, so once again it soon was just Robin and me pounding each other up from Fall City to Issaquah, although I wondered why he didn't stay with me (as it was more likely he would ride away from me on the other climbs). I got to the top and he was nowhere in sight, so at maybe 2am I went back looking for him, I came upon the rest of the group and they said he had flatted and we would regroup in Issaquah.
Riding out there in the dark was so cool, and quite safe, compared to some of the daytime rides I've done. I was just thankful to have a group of people be there too, there is no way I would attempt this by myself, I'm too much of a wuss.
After regrouping in Issaquah we went in Newport Way, all the way to Coal Creek, and on Newport Robin, Vincent and I separated ourselves from the main group, we all got together again at the AM/PM on coal creek, where the clerk was a tad perturbed to be having to serve 12 loons on bikes at 4am in the pouring rain, he was more interested in getting the garbage collected. Newcastle cops showed up here too, asking if we were OK! I won't answer that one ;-)
Next was May Valley, Issaquah-Hobart, Cedar Grove, Lk Francis Rd and Maple Valley. Lyn had a flat and nobody heard her call out, (sorry Lyn) so we were a while waiting there. It was just after 5, I think when we started up the Cedar River trail to Renton and the west side of Lake Wa. I decided to try to make it to Starbucks in Leschi, as I was starting to feel sleepy and some Coffee and food might help with that.
We got to Starbucks just after 6, so I had to rush some food, bid farewell to my fellow insomniacs and head over I-90 to work. Man did I get dumped on!! had to ride as hard as I could too, to make it to work, which I did at about 7.15 just enough time to change and start at 7.30.
That was one hard day in work! Luckily my clothes had dried out from the 130 mile commute for the ride home and it was not raining, but I was not riding very fast and was starting to get sleepy again. I finally made it home at about 6.15pm and eat dinner, prepared for the next day at work and went to bed at 8pm.
It had been 37 hrs since I had woken up on Sunday morning, though I did have a 1 hr nap after lunch on Sunday, and I rode a total of 190 miles in that time.

Can I stay awake that long and ride 520 miles in July??? That's why I'm doing it!

Happy New Year to you all

MjW

Race Across Oregon

2009-07-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

Well, this last weekends race was one I have been looking forward to all season. I was doing the 517 mile Race Across Oregon on the 4 man relay team, Koenig's Kronies.

We were a mix of Ultra Rider Chris Ragsdale, Bike Racer Mick Walsh, Randonneur Brian Ohlemeir and Recreational Cyclist Ian Luttrell. Our crew were guys from SIR randonneurs, Eric Vigoren,Mike McHale, Ian's friend Miles Matsen and the Legend we were named after....Urs.

A lot of organising and planning went into several pre-race meetings and enjoyable dinners getting to know each other, until the day finally arrived and we all made our way to Hood River for the start.

Our goals for the race were to have fun and ride hard first, then try to win the 4 man team division, and we knew if we won we would have a course record, as race organisers George Thomas and Terri Gooch designed a new course for 2009.

Friday afternoon at the host hotel, the Best Western Hood River Inn was a hive of activity, everyone rushing around setting up cars, vans and the 4 Tandem team with their custom built tandem rack built in the back of a pick-up. Bikes had to be readied too, making sure we had the right lights and reflective tape in the correct place. We managed to pass vehicle and bike inspections, so the Urs and Miles made the trip to Safeway to buy supplies for Riders and crew, we were going to be out there for at least 24 hrs, and there were 8 of us to be feed, not to mention gallons of water to drink in the expected hot temperatures .

After a hearty dinner we were off to bed and try to get some sleep, solos left at 5am but we didn't start until 9, so we had a relaxing morning before heading off on out adventure.

The race starts out with a parade led by George Thomas, up a stinkin' hill in the spirit of RAO! After 9 miles George pulls off and away you go! Chris was doing our first leg, so the rest of us had more time to drive to the first exchange, Brian was next, then Ian and finally me. We expected Chris to be first to us at 17 miles, but I knew a couple of racers could stay close to him. We were pleasantly surprised when there was no one in sight when he arrived, he must had had about 1 1/2 minutes on the next guy!!! From the Grundel Bruisers 4 man Team. Brian was looking good on roads I'm familiar with from the Mount Hood Cycling Classic, so I knew his tempo was smooth on an never ending climb. My first pull was after the Cooper Spur turn off, my legs hurt from all the standing around yesterday, but I'll have plenty of opportunities to feel better later :-)
Our vans were set up great, just hand off your bike after your pull, hop in the van and take off the shoes, there was an always stocked dispensing cooler of ice cold water, and I had my Heed and Perpetuem right there, along with Enduralytes and Anti-Fatigue capsules. Also had some Gluten Free snacks and Hammer Bars on hand. We were never short on food or drinks and our van crew Mike and Eric were persistent in asking if we needed anything. How could you not ride as fast as you could?

We took 15-20 min pulls each, and that was plenty of time for recovery, with 4 guys. At the first time station, 70 odd miles in, we were ahead by 14 mins, and it continued to grow throughout the race, so we just had to focus on maintaining our pace, hope nobody got sick and try to catch the oh so impressive Kenneth Philbrick who was ripping it up in the solo division.

I hope to one day do this race solo, but when we were passing the first of the solo's after about 200 miles, I was thinking , that does not look like fun at all, riding 10mph in 90 deg temps, with 300 miles to go...amazing some of them, especially Sandy Earl rallied and made the official finish before 5am Monday.

Night riding was fun with the car headlight making visibility safe. We saw many deer, some elk, a bat, owls and I met a young Coyote that didn't seem to know what to do! Luckily all the wildlife kept their distance and we survived the night.
I think I got two or three 10-15 min naps, and sometimes I was hardly able to keep my eyes open right before I was due to ride, but once on the bike I was fine.
We eventually caught Mr Philbrick on the 10 mile climb between Service Creek and Fossil, and, though going a lot slower than we were, he looked to be in control and riding smoothly. It took us about 375 miles to catch 4 hrs, that's one tough solo rider!
It was great to see Martha as I finished my pull into Maupin, and she leapfrogged us as we went up FR44 near the finish, then Ian's parents showed up.
I got to take the last pull up to the Cooper Spur Resort (Thanks guys!) it didn't seem so bad, maybe I just am used to being under pressure when racing up there. We all rode together for the last mile or so up to the ski lifts and the finish, which was nice.
George and Terri (and Amelia) were there to give us our finishers medals, and Martha had some drinks and snacks for us.
Our finishing time was 26 hrs and 27 mins, all in all a great experience with a great bunch of guys, I suggest you try it sometime, if you're in reasonable shape it is not sooo hard on a 4 person team, yet still challenging and fun. I was super impressed with Kenneth, of course, but Chad Swanson had a great ride in his first Ultra event. The Tandem Team, Yes 4 tandem team!! Impressed me too, I must say I worried that they had bitten off more than they could handle, some had only started riding last fall!! They finished in 34 hrs.

Official results are here http://www.raceacrossoregon.com/race_results

And if you want to try ultra racing on a smaller scale to start try the Ring of Fire 6/12/24 hr TT in Maupin in Sept http://www.raceacrossoregon.com/roftt

Now for Cascade Classic!!

Cheers and have a great Summer :-)

Slacker!!!

2009-05-25T13:53:00.000-07:00

Well, It's been a while, to say the least. But it's not easy riding 43 miles commuting, working 8 hrs a day and trying to keep up on Facebook updates, as well as Cyclingnews.com too.

Interesting year so far for me, started off with terrible weather and an inability to ride my bike more than 12 mph....on a good day!
Luckily I'm married to the best caregiver in the world, and she figured out I might be Gluten Intolerant. Martha has been baking all kinds of Gluten Free goodies and making sure I've had a Gluten Free lunch at work too. Thanks to her I am feeling better, lots a ton of weight and riding many miles this month. In the 10 days to Saturday (where I did 213 miles in the Lewis and Clark Ultra 12 hr) I totalled 900 miles. I feel like I have not been racing very much, probably true. It will be interesting to see how my body reacts when I get to racing at Mt Hood and Elkhorn Stage races.
Then I was talked into racing the Race Across Oregon on a 4 man team, that's 528 miles, in 20 minute increments!!!! Then it's back to Bend for Cascade Classic.
August is my rebuild month to see If I can go back and finish my first 24 hr race at Ring of Fire on Sept 12th-13th.

Hopefully it will be less than 5 months before my next post....but you'd never know.

"Pre"

2008-12-23T07:17:00.000-08:00

I like this quote, and to be able to race like this AND win is a sign of true greatness.

A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more. Nobody is going to win a 5,000 meter race after running an easy 2 miles. Not with me. If I lose forcing the pace all the way, well, at least I can live with myself.

Happy Christmas! or whatever else you celebrate.

Mick

December Already?

2008-12-03T16:05:00.001-08:00

Well, I have a pet peeve, walkers and joggers on the BGT and Sammamish River trail wearing dark clothing in foggy conditions. Impossible to see!
Well, I did EL Tour de Tucson, stayed with Franz and had a blast. I didn't make the split at the 2nd wash (sabino creek) so just cruised in with Bruce from Excel and about 60 others. Hanging out with Dan Byrne, Franz and the HSP crew was great too.
The Thanksgiving Day Ride was a huge success, we raised $1,400 on the day, so Northwest Harvest will benefit to the tune of about $3,200 when all matching is said and done. Hats off to the Seattle cycling community, we need to get some more publicity next year!

Other news, Ed Farrar was moved to Harborview for therapy this week, we wish him well and if
you get a chance, drop by and say hello.

That's it for now, except I hear Two Wheels is working on two tires for Christmas! (spare tires that is)

Mick

Ride For Ed Farrar

2008-11-09T19:20:00.000-08:00

I did the "get well soon" ride for Dr Ed Farrar in Wenatchee today. It was amazing the amount of people who showed up.
Stoked has a full report on her website. Scroll down too and check out her new components and bike :-)

Astoria

2008-10-23T18:45:00.000-07:00

It looks like Astoria is where THE party of the weekend will be ( yes Jamie even bigger than yours!).
Have you seen those Cross Crusaders Party? Here's the "menu" from Brad, I'm sure there will be something stronger too, if you so desire.

Now on to the real important business. BEER. I'm bringing 45 cases ofPortland Brewing beer for prizes for the last two weeks. Also, we have four kegs for the Saturday night bonfire, and there'll be a beer garden all day Saturday and Sunday.

Sunny Saturday

2008-10-18T17:20:00.000-07:00

I did the Excel, Marymoor ride today, just 5 of us. Went up novelty hill and north on snoq valley to lost lake and woodilville.
I got lazy...got?? this afternoon and did not go to the gym. Washed the burner plates on the stove, though while Stoked salved in the garden. Spent some time on Bebo networking site
too :-)

I also got the first of my 2009 Z Team Clothing!! How many of you can say that? and there should be more on the way soon, just got a skinsuit and arm warmers today, Louis Garneau...very nice.

Tandem ride in store tomorrow! Weather looks like it will hold up.

Day off Work!

2008-10-16T07:48:00.000-07:00

I have a day off! I worked last Saturday, though.

Time for a bike ride!

Saturday Ride

2008-10-04T20:11:00.000-07:00

I did the First Rate Mortgage team ride today, they are so nice to let me ride with them even though I am no lomger on the Team. They are nice about it too, thanks guys.

We rode across I-90 to Newport Way-Issaquah (where Salmon Days made it crazy!) Issaquah-Hobart, Cedar Grove Rd and back the Cedar River trail to Renton and up the west side of the lake.

There are still some guys who need to back off the intensity for this time of year, it's ok to go hard up a hill of for a sprint, but you need to limit the intensity for a few months and recover, or build endurance if you have nothiing to recover from.

That said, it was a good ride, despite the fact that Stoked could only ride to Leschi and back, still suffering the effects of a lingering cold.

Tomorrow I get to ride with my only Seattle teammate!

I have been following what is looking like a very intense race at the Furnace Creek 508 between two time defending champion Michael Emde, from Spokane and Kevin McNulty from Ramona, California. After 253 miles only 1 minute seperated them!

Off Season!

2008-09-30T19:44:00.001-07:00

I took two days of work last week as my brother Tony and his wife Joyce came to Visit. They are on a grand tour of the US for their 25th wedding anniversary.
We took the Clipper to Victoria on Thursday. Then went shopping and wine tasting on Friday. Saturday Tony and I rode on the Tandem for a bit (he doesn't ride much anymore) he was the one who introduced me to bike racing, at my parents urging, to get me out of trouble. I don't think it worked ;-). On Saturday afternoon we went to Martha's Dad's house in Anacortes and sat on the deck drinking wine, or beer. then went to dinner.
I had them at the Airport at 5.30am on Sunday, for their flight to Vegas, where they took a Helicopter trip over the Grand Canyon, and tonite they are going to see Mamma Mia on the Strip.
Me, I'm probably going to El Tour de Tucson again this year, instead of a trip back to Ireland!

Cali Dog

2008-09-19T19:07:00.000-07:00

Went to see Mr Pruitt off Last night, had to keep him and stangelator apart, seems like there's some anomosity there ;-)
Good to see bike racer types we hadn't seen in a few weeks, well all year, considering we were in Oregon every week this summer!

After a lot of soul searching I have decided to change teams for 2009, I will be riding for Z Team next year. I think we'll have a great team for Masters stage races, with David Zimbelman, Clint Chase, Matt Slater and me. Then for one days, Nathan Hobson (we just have to teach him some patitence so he can be a force at the finish)Karsten Hagen and Mike Dunn.

and Jen T, we're still thinking of and praying for you.

Duathlon

2008-09-08T17:03:00.000-07:00

Well my 24hr race was spent mostly sleeping!

I was feeling great most of the time, not going too hard, but not quite able to get enough fluids in, my legs were still good after I finished the big loop of 171 miles and I did the 2nd fastest night loop of all my first time around.
When I stopped to get drink and food at the end of the lap, I couldn't stand up and then couldn't steer the bike when I tried to ride on. I had, I think a combination of Heat Stroke and Dehydration, I believe. That was it after 10+ hrs and 184 miles for me, and I was ahead of record pace too, but not halfway through the race!

The hardest part is having to wait a whole year to try it again, yes I am a sick man, but I'm also determined to do this once, at least. Well at least try one more time!

Huge thanks to Brian Ecker for coming all the way to Maupin and providing great support for me. Also to George and Terri for putting on such great events, they really make you feel like you're special, wherever you are in the field.

Also Kudos to Stoked for an excellent 193 miles in the 12 hr, only 9 miles behind the overall winner and a new womens course record. She's looking for a partner for next year to break the mixed team record....any takers?

Thanks,

Mick

24 Hours!!

2008-09-03T21:05:00.000-07:00

No not the TV show, it's a bike race stupid!

"I went down down down and the flames went higher, and it burns burns burns The Ring of Fire"..........http://www.raceacrossoregon.com/roftt

The question is how many miles can I ride, the competitor in me wants to try to beat Urs Koenig's record of 414 miles, but that's a tall order....Urs is a peddaling machine. I would realistically be very happy with 400 miles....A 400 mile ride? even that sounds nuts.

Well here goes! and watch the website, they update during the race. I will start about 6.45 am on Sat and then they want me to go to breakfast after we finish at 7 am on Sunday. We'll see

Summer Riding

2008-08-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

I won a race last week, in Bellingham , Masters of course. I also lost a race by a lot, to one of the best hill climbers on the west coast.

This weekend was a tale of two seasons! Saturday was beautiful and was spent riding my bike for 9 hours in the most beautiful place in the state......North Cascades Hwy. Great prep for This.

Today started out nice, but quickly turned nasty, the seward park masters A race was cancelled, nobody showed up! I bailed on the 1/2s race it was just miserable, so I just rode to Seward and back.

Next week is Eugene Celebration race for us!

Time Trial Perspective

2008-08-03T19:54:00.000-07:00

Sunday 3rd August,

You know, It's pretty easy to offend people when talking about your performance, especially in a time trial.
I did the State 40k TT champs today in Tenino, my performance was not what I hoped for on a fast course. Where Ian McKissick went sub 50 mins!

To say I sucked would be offensive to all the people I beat, and I have heard that many times from riders who have beaten me before.

Let me just say my performance was not what I hoped for, and congratulate all the medal winners.

Next up for me is the State Hill Climb, I can only try to be better there and maybe get in the medals.

Mick

I'm here Still!

2008-07-29T11:51:00.000-07:00

Wow, just never got time, or made time to blog.

I did Mt Hood, Elkhorn and Cascade so far, and survived. Not as good as last year, but ok. Co-Motion Classic Tandem Race was last weekend, and we did manage to retain our "title".

Next big event is the Ring of Fire 24 hr TT! Could be great, could be a disaster, but it should be fun, in a sick kinda way.

Mick

Weekend Update

2008-04-20T19:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, what's up with this weather?

Well, we took a weekend off racing this week and planned on doing some good training rides, maybe even take the Tandem out before we race it in three TT's next weekend in Maupin. Well, we are still stuck on our rain bikes!
We had leftover snow on Sat morn at our house, but still hit the road at 7.15 am to meet the Excel guys at marymoor, well wouldn't you know most of them bailed and Glenn didn't know we were planning on coming, so we missed the 3 that did ride by when we were waiting at the Velodrome? Ended up riding to Carnation for coffee and back home over some hills :-)

Sunday wasn't much better, and Martha rode north while I ventured back out to meet anyone who might show up at Marymoor.....again nobody! Oh well I trugged along and got a good ride in.

My total for the weekend was 155 miles, not bad for snow and temps around 40 degrees most of the time.

Walla Walla sounded like a brutally hard race in all Categories, some fast people lost a lot of time . Kudos to teammate Sile Kiernan for winning the cat 4 womens event, and Robin Secrist winning the Cat 3 race overall, Robin was 2nd overall in the 1/2/3 womens race....and I'm sure there's more to come from both.

Note to "2wheels" It's only one race, you guys Rock and will again. Keep the positive attitude.

Constant Hum

2008-04-18T15:20:00.000-07:00

Well, It has been a while, but life has been.... well, life!

I work in Bothell (for now) and they have been pile driving mondo beams into the ground for the last several weeks. It's part of the Brightwater sewage treatment plant tunnel. It's been a pain, unlike Stoked I can't just pack up and go home when there is an annoying noise outside ;-)

Racing has been average, with stresses at work, they are changing what I do daily it seems. And just not getting enough training, I'm just happy to be riding my bike. Hopefully I will be able to compete before long.

Next up is the Deschutes River TT Festival in Maupin. We are doing it on our Tandem again, I
remember last year my form started to come after this weekend of suffering, so hopefully it will be the same this year. Otherwise I will be in the hurt locker at the Mount Hood Stage Race, which comes two weeks earlier this year. I bet we see snow on both road stages, and not just on distant mountaintops!
Hope everyone has fun at Walla Walla, sorry I won't be there. I am looking forward to all the reports, especially from smack talking Brian in the Cat 3 race.

Local Wins World Title

2008-03-30T18:57:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Jennie!
http://www.usacycling.org/news/user/story.php?id=3520

Blog?

2008-03-05T07:10:00.000-08:00

Sorry no time to blog, too busy working, sleeping and trying not to get my ass kicked too badly at races!
I do have a sweet new bike that fits like a glove, though. No excuces on that front.

Marcroft

A new concept!

2008-02-09T20:37:00.000-08:00

Well, training has not been going too well, I haven't felt sick at all, even pretty good during the week, but the last 3 weekends I have been unable to ride, just sleep.
Today was my return to somewhat normality, I wasn't very fast, but I did get to put in a long ride with Stoked and Ed Harley. We went to Sultan, nice and steady,we even had reasonable weather. I suffered on Ed's wheel quite a bit, but at least I was out there. I know, once again, March and April will be Results free for me AGAIN this year, but I hopefully things will get better by May.

Let's see how I feel tomorrow! That will tell.

I am so looking forward to getting my new race bike built up, just waiting for the components. I think it will help my morale, and hopefully I'll reap the benefit of having ridden 28c tires all winter on my already heavy bike.

I saw my neighbours Marcroft rain bike tonight, it looks great.

Weekend Recap

2008-01-21T12:35:00.000-08:00

Not that I want to go over what was a bad weekend, but here goes.
My freewheel broke on Saturday's ride, all I had was freewheel. Darren P was a hero, though, he rode home from McDonalds hill got his car, and a replacement wheel, and drove me home. Thanks DP I owe you one, or six.
I spent Sat afternoon working on my bike (and sulking!)
Sunday's ride started out promising, but wasn't too long before I figured out I didn;t feel too good. Maybe a coffee stop in Snohomish would help? NOT. I was sooo slow coming back High Bridge Rd. I just told Martha and Martin to leave me in my misery at 8 mph. They waited a few times, I wasn't getting better, eventually I told them "please leave me" and they did, I could always call if I was not going to make it.
Then the Husky Cycling team blew past me, Galen introudced me to them (now they'll know me as the slow old guy we saw in January!) as they passed.
I started to recover a bit after crossing hwy 9, and decide to take a shortcut and hooked up with Martha and Martin before Bothell and managed to stay with them to Logboom.
The one bright spot of the weekend was a good dinner with good friends on Sunday evening. Now let's try to be better next week.

Congrats to Kenny on making the Final of the scratch race at the LA World track cup this weekend!

Mick

Training mode and other things

2008-01-15T07:34:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm trying to get into the swing of a training routine, and trying to ride a little faster (than 14mph!) I'm not doing too well, though we did have a great ride in awful conditions last Saturday.
There were 11 of us rode from "downtown" Arlington,Wa. mostly my Teammates, from Seattle and Bellingham, and Jason, Flavio and Mike from The Garage Team. It was 37 degrees as we left towards Darrington, on the 107 mile trek.
Well, as we neared Darrington it started to rain, then we saw the snow on the roadside and in the fields, that made it colder, plus it started to rain harder! Everyone was struggling to stay warm, and Robin was to turn back, until Ed Harley and I said we wouldn't let her go alone. She stuck it out and was really strong, as usual, by the end.
It was a great training ride, not too hard, but I know I was tired at the end, and felt it on Sunday's ride.
I must say Robin Secrist and Daisy from WWU were really impressive, they never struggled to keep up and took their fair share of pulls, and Daisy only started riding in the fall!

I also wanted to note that my former Club Mate won a Golden Globe award on Sunday night! Yes, though I never rode with him, didn't meet him either :-) But Daniel Day-Lewis was a member of the Emerald Cycling Club in Dublin, as I was. I heard he used to ride quite often back then, not sure if he still does.

I have a couple of photo's I need to post, My new look and my new Marcroft frame....It is really sweeeet!

Let's hope the roads clear up and we can ride this weekend!

Mileage Confessions

2008-01-03T19:47:00.000-08:00

Jan 3rd 2008
Happy New Year

Well, seeems Stoked has started a trend by posting her mileage for 2007, so please forgive me for my sins....here are the details.
Total Mileage........................................... 13,029
biggest mileage month....May .................1,387
Longest Ride.............................................. 200 miles and on the tandem too!!!!
Total days off the bike in 2007................39

Tonight was a nasty ride home from work, was raining sideways. Shouldn't complain wasn't snow or Ice.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2007-12-24T16:24:00.000-08:00

I hope you get some time off work to enjoy the season, and have some fun.
I have to pay for my sins of the past year and only get 1 day off!

Have a great Holiday

Mick

No such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes!

2007-12-22T13:03:00.000-08:00

Well today was one of those classic northwest winter days, rain and 38 degrees, let's hope we don't have too many more.
Due to the fact that I didn't ride yesterday, plus the several pounds of chocolate I must have eaten at work this week, nothing was gonna stop me riding (well ice or snow would) today.

Low and behold, others had the same idea, as we had 10 show up for our team ride, and the Byrne Invent guys, who were originally planning on doing Snoqualmie Falls (that wasn't gonna happen!) had a good turnout too.

It was a nice ride around the lake if, like Stoked and I, you had enough clothes to keep you warm. The fact that everyone was on their rain bikes, and the weather kept the pace more mellow than has been the past few weeks.

We did the CycleU TT on weds too, and I'm happy to report my time was back to my first effort, 15.11. My next one is Jan 9th, I think with all the holiday goodies Stoked has been making, my chances of breaking 15 mins are nil, maybe Jan 23rd?

Crazy CCX riders

2007-12-03T21:22:00.001-08:00

I went to watch the USGP in Portland, I was impressed by the toughness (or stupidity?) of those guys and gals racing in horrible conditions.
Here's a Frazz comic appropriate for winter riding that Splinter Wrenn posted

http://www.comics.com/comics/frazz/archive/images/frazz2007121018501.gif

Ireland and Other Events

2007-11-21T16:01:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm not going to post any pics. Just want to say I had a fine time in Ireland, didn't drink as much as I might, being as I was the designated driver for the duration. I made up for it in pastries and cookies! That's all I ate between breakfast and dinner, washed down with tea or coffee, of course.
My sister and her husband had a slide show on Sunday evening, of their trip to India.

November 28th,

Well, a week later I discover this draft post!!! Happy Thanksgiving ;-)

Yes, my sister and her husband went to an Orphanage in India and spent 3 weeks cleaning it up and bought bedding and replaced windows with money they raised at their church in Ireland. Really cool gesture and an adventure for them too.

We then had a great turnout for the Thanksgiving day ride to benefit Northwest Harvest, with donations totalling $1,500 when all is said and done. Thanks to all who came and donated.

I took a day off work today, as I had two dentist visits to do, I had my crown put in this afternoon. First I went to the Orthodontist and discovered how much that treatment costs! more than my TT bike cost .... and she wants me to wear braces for 2 1/2 years. I do think I need to do it, as it will pay off in the long term, at least I hope.

I'm going to Portland this weekend to watch the US GP cross races, and help Gavin Mannion with anything he needs for the race. I raced with his dad in Ireland in the 80s, before he emirgrated to Boston. Gavin is 3rd overall in the Junior series heading into this weekend, chasing our own NW starlet, Steve Fischer.

M

Buckeye

2007-11-13T21:05:00.000-08:00

I just want to tell everyone that has a CycloCross bike to appreciate what pnwbuckeye is doing for you this weekend and go out and RACE the Washington State CycloCross Champs as hard as you can.
You see, after suffering their first loss of the season last weekend, the Ohio State Buckeyes football team is playing a must win game (against the hated Michigan Wolverines) to get to the Rose Bowl, and their #1 fan is promoting a bike race for YOU!
So, go out there , have fun, and thank Joe for putting on great bike races. I would go but I will be on the other side of the world, visiting the old country (After last years efforts, there's no limits to how far I'd go to avoid a 'cross race).

Have fun, race hard and wear speedo's! and maybe gold body paint?

Mick

Good Weekend of Training

2007-11-11T18:29:00.000-08:00

We had a dry weekend in Seattle, a rarity for November. As Stoked was out of town I got a long ride in on Sat, and another good ride in today.
We had This Guy and This guy on our ride, they ride on this guys Team. It was windy, and we rode across the Lowell Snohomish rd, the first guy tore our legs off, he was on his race bike, mind you.
After the ride I put new chains on both our bikes, hope they work ok! I also discovered we both, especially me, need new pulley wheels on our derailleurs.

Slainte

Breaking News

2007-11-07T20:43:00.000-08:00

Stangelator posted to his Blog Enjoy, and let's take bets on when his next post will be!

I did the Cycle U 10k computrainer TT tonight, I forgot how to suffer, and got spanked, by a non racer, at least I think he is. He should be racing if he can do a 14.55 for that 10k! I did 15.11, only 8 secs off my best last March!

I will wear Axley (or Ginny) on my jersey for at least one race next year if Pruitt can break 15 mins!

Hasta

Thanksgiving Day Benefit Ride

2007-11-05T19:34:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving Ride to Benefit NW Harvest *
For at least the fifth consecutive year, members of the Seattle bike racing community will gather on Thanksgiving morning for a ride to benefit Northwest Harvest. Thanks to the generosity of local cyclists, this ride raises more than $500 each year for local food banks. The minimum suggested donation for the ride is $5 per rider. Riders will gather at 9:15 in the Leschi neighborhood for a social-paced ride around the south end of Lake Washington, departing at 9:30

Be there or be square.....or too round after dinner!

Gossip Column

2007-11-01T07:24:00.000-07:00

She was 12 when he won his first tour?

Ashley Olsen dating Lance Armstong?
Actress Ashley Olsen is reported to be dating former Tour de France winner Lance Armstong.
According to US reports, the pair were spotted socialising together twice this week.
People magazine reports that the 21-year-old actress was seen with the 36-year-old cyclist at the Rose Bar in the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York on Monday night.
A source told the magazine: : "Lance was hanging with her, definitely. [Olsen] was very flirtatious, and was sitting on his lap."
The pair were also reportedly spotted at the Waverly Inn restaurant in New York on Wednesday night.

The Acrobats

2007-10-21T18:50:00.000-07:00

That's the new local team that are gonna be the crit kings? Oh, I mean Adobe ;-)

Well, I got two nice rides in this weekend, south on Saturday and North on Sunday, and wet both days. It was the first good weekends riding I've had in about 6 weeks.

I also got my measurements for my new frame, will send them off tomorrow. It's gonna be a sweet custom job, you'll all want one when you see it!

Stoked has a fun team put together for next year, they are all excited to race and have fun together. That's what it's all about.

Later, Mick

Dog days

2007-10-19T12:28:00.001-07:00

Well, It's about time to post again, but will I?

Maybe this weekend. Not much motivation for anything lately!

At The Dentist!

2007-10-04T12:38:00.000-07:00

Went to the dentist this morning, It had been too long.
Now I have to pay! The bills are already looking to be in 4 figures, after Insurance pays their share. And that's only the beginning.

Do I want to spend mucho $$$ on braces?

Reality

2007-09-30T15:45:00.000-07:00

Well, that day of rain sure brought an end to any hope of riding anything but fender bikes for the rest of the year.
That on top of two days in bed makes racing seem like months ago!

Work has not been much fun lately, don't know what's gonna happen there. Suddenly, after 9 years I've become a problem? To a manager who is 1 year with the company, and complaining will only make it worse. I expect to get demoted in the next few months. What the heck?

I am going to visit family in Ireland for 4 days in November (plus 2 days travelling), hopefully I won't go "Postal" before then!

Post Racing depression?

2007-09-19T10:29:00.000-07:00

Not been feeling too chirpy this past week, is it post race depression, or the fact that my boss has been busting my chops? I even lost my "ride friendly" work schedule....That Sucks.

Oh, Yes go out and buy a MARCROFT winter bike!! or 'cross bike, If you're into that madness.

Ring of Pain?

2007-09-10T20:09:00.000-07:00

I know it's been forever since I blogged, we've had some good races, some not so good. Now this weekend was the 3rd annual Ring of Fire 12/24 hr TT. Martha did it last year and says she had a really good time (the 12 hr version) and she brought me to do the Deschutes River TT festival in April and I really enjoyed the suffering on the Tandem there, ably provided by George Thomas and Terri Gooch and their new baby Amelia.

Well, we decided (or, I was told?) to do the 12 hour version on our Tandem, so as Martha did 186 miles last year, we had to do 200 on the Tandem. That was no easy deal, as we had to do almost 15,000 feet of climbing, most of it on the same climbs as ther hardest stage of the Mt Hood Classic did this year. We started next to last and had the defending champion and ultra distance stud Kenneth Philbrick in front of us, so we never got to see him, we did pass some riders before the climb up to hwy 35, but seemed like we were not going very fast, 8-10mph, plus 2 pee stops and two food stops, how were we going to make 200 miles?. We just kept pplodding along and made it back to Maupin for the 27 mile "night loop" after another bathroom break, we hit 112 miles in about 6 1/2 hrs. The night loop started with a 3 mile climb, followed by a flat 4 miles, 5 miles downhill and 5 miles of hard rollers (on a tandem anyway) then another 1 mile down to the Deschutes River and a 9 mile flat ride along the river to Maupin, or something like that anyway! I know that doesn't make 27, but It was about those distances.

Everything went fine, with stops of about 2-3 mins when we got to the start area at the Imperial Hotel in Maupin, we did 3 laps and need 7 miles for the 200, with 42 mins to do it, I believe. Well with 3 miles uphill, and us getting tired it was not as easy as it sounded, we did make it though, so we were crowned Ultra Cycling's 12 Tandem North American Champions with a total of 200 miles.
When we stopped, we had to turn around and ride back to the Hotel (you tell George and Terri your last mile marker reached when your 12 hrs are up) I almost passed out and HAD to lie down, was in a bad way. Lucky for me, Mike Rogers was passing ( he had to abandon because of flu like sympthoms) on his way home, but was nice enough to take me back to town, thanks, Mike, I owe you a beer!

There was not room for Stoked in the car, so she rode the Tandem solo back, what a woman!

So, now despite my late ride implosion I am thinking of taking on Race Across Oregon , solo in 2008! I think the hardest part will be getting two people to drive support for 35 hrs at 10-30 mph, if all goes well.
Anyone out there want to spend a weekend in a car next July??

Crazy old fool, I am.

The "B" Team!

2007-08-19T19:14:00.000-07:00

Never underestimate the power of the B team......State TTT Champions 2007

Results are here

Though, I was sorry to hear of the Crash the Garage Team had, I'm sure they would have had a fast time. Jason, Flavio hope you heal quickly.

MotionBased

2007-08-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

Tues 14th Aug,
Well if this works, here's the link to my MotionBased training log. Just click on "my Activities".

I do ride slowly, don't I.

More than a month?

2007-08-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

Since I blogged!

Well, I've gone from work to bed to car to race non stop since then, seems like it anyway. Went to , Bend,Eugene,Corvallis and Bellingham on weekends and Pacific Raceways on Tues nights Seward Pk on thurs nights.
Anyway, this weekend was Bellingham Omnium State Champs, I raced Pro/1/2s and my results will prove that I was the oldest guy in the race, my TT was slow (relative to the 17 guys who went faster anyway!) my Crit was ugly, this old body can't go THAT fast from the gun, I wasn't very good at that even when I was younger.
The RR was a bit better, though the result, DFL was not. I had teammates in the top 4 of the race and the BAR standings too, so I could just "have fun" and drive it on the flat section so no breaks would get too far. Well It hurt me, maybe everyone behind just felt sorry for my feeble effort and said nice job as they passed me on the hill. I would get back on each of the first 3 laps and go back to the front for the flat section. Last time up the hill I was "done" and just rode in on the small ring to the finish.
I downloaded all the info from my Garmin 305 onto the Motionbased website and it looks real good, some cool functions on that website if you have a Garmin, or need a good bike computer get a Garmin.
That's all I have,

Mick

Tandem TT

2007-07-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

I know I did Sunday before Sat, but there it is!

Stoked Stoked for me in a 40k TT in Peroria (outside Corvallis) on Sat. Well we saw how fast a sub 50 min 40 k looks! Nick and Dan (don't have time to look up the correct spelling of their last names now!) from Hutch's in Eugene did 49.36......
And we were happy with our 53.03 for a new course record for mixed Tandems, I think a mixed tandem rode a 40k there 8 years ago ;-)

Gotta go

2007-07-09T10:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the State Masters RR at Longbranch, and arriving at the finish we had 3 bloggers out of 4 racers, also 2 sprinters and 2 guys who couldn't sprint out of a paper bag!!

Well we gave it our best, I was inches out of 2nd

Result 1st Rob Campbell
2nd Todd Gallagher
3rd OAD
4th PNW Buckeye

Blogger won't let me title this post??

Hectic Schedule

2007-07-02T20:12:00.000-07:00

We have been spending, as I said in the last post, a lot of time in our car.
We did OBRA Tandem Champs in Eugene, then Mt Tabor Circuit race, followed by Elkhorn and back to Eugene this past weekend for the OBRA Senior RR Champs.

I've had some good results, some not so good! The highlight was winning the Dooley Mountain Stage of Elkhorn in the masters, solo for the last 5 miles. That netted me 3rd overall (I started the day 8th) and 2nd in the FIAC National Championships.

This past weekend I attempted the Oregon Senior RR, and hoped for a good result. The day started off badly, as I awoke with a terrible headache and neck pain. I slept most of the way on the drive down from our hosts house in Portland. That didn't help much, I started anyway, but with Even Elken,Doug Ollerenshaw, Aaron Olson,Ryan Treefarm and Barry Wicks all in there, I figured I should try to get away before them, 'cause I sure wasn't going to go with them!! I tried, but I just felt terrible (legs weren't too bad, but my head and stomach felt crook as they say in Oz)
The break did go early, but ALL the big guns were in there, Dave Zimbelman included, a 50+ big gun there. I couldn't do anything and quit at the feed after 2 1/2 laps, as Martha was doing neutral feeding for my teamate/promoter, Sal.

So, PR and a Tandem ride with family on the 4th, then back down for Corvallis and the OBRA Tandem TT on Sat, then back up for the Washington (yes, a race in Wa!) for the Masters RR Champs at Longbranch on Sunday.

Happy 4th

Road Warrior

2007-06-18T20:45:00.000-07:00

Ok ,so we're in our travelling to Oregon every week mode. I think I'll be doing 8 staright weeks driving south, while Stoked crochet's hats! ( no she does at least her fair share of driving too)

Went to Hood the first weekend in June, then to Rehersal RR the next week, where we raced Tandem. We managed to roll off the front on lap 2 of 3 and only one other Tandem came, several captains had raced the morning race too, so we had an advantage there. The bike that came with us seemed quite strong, and when I jammed our chain on the main climb I was wondering if we'd be able to catch them, but we did.

It seemed like they (Mike and Monica) were fading on the last lap, so I tried to go as hard as we could last time up the hill, hoping we could descend at a reasonable speed (not our strong point!) and have a gap for the last 3 miles of flat. We had a gap, but were almost afraid to look back, we did and both of us thought they were right there, so we kept the pressure on (30-32 mph on the flat road). Well seems like when they saw our gap they decided they weren't going to catch us and just rolled in for second place. I wish we'd have known, those last few miles were painful!

This past weekend we again drove down to the Hobson household on Saturday afternoon to race Mt Tabor on Sunday. I managed to do 2 races, but that was painful! I was not worth much in the 1/2 race after racing hard for 13 miles 2 hrs before?? I guess that's 'cause I'm "old as dirt"

I did manage to get 3rd place in the masters, also winning one of the 2 primes on offer, and being away solo for 3 laps? and getting caught with 1 1/2 to go.

Next up is Elkhorn, and I know of a couple of fast guys who'll be out to make up for not finishing in their usual top 3 placings, due to different circustances beyond their control... It's gonna be a battle from the get go.

Hood

2007-06-05T13:37:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a great race! Just a bit too Hot for me.
The masters race was dominated by Dan Martin form California, who with 2 teammates beat the Super fast AMD-Discovery team.

Anyone out there who won money, I urge you to contribute it to the Ryan McKnab fund (he's the guy who crashed in the cat 4 race in Silverton) check out his recovery at www.ryanmcknab.blogspot.com

Of course it's cool and wet this week?

A WIN!!

2007-05-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

And don't say I poached ;-) Clint Chase or Matt Hill wouldn't like you then.

Yes, I won the Wenatchee Omnium for Masters A overall, plus the Malaga RR (I must add Kerry flatted 2nd time up the climb!)

Of course I'm coming down with a cold now! Might take a sick day tomorrow and try to recover.

Hey, I've been using wedges on my shoes to get more power from my pedal stroke, they work really well. They only cost $24.95 and I would suggest everyone try them out. I just feel like I'm getting more power in my pedal stroke, and you all know how screwed up my pedal stroke looks!!
Contact Paul Swift at , paul at bikefit dot com and tell him I sent you, you will be glad you did it.

Kungfuku and things

2007-05-10T07:40:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a surprise to most of us, Chris Daifuku took the State RR in fine style last Sunday for Team First Rate. He did have two great breakaway companions who worked really well with him. What can you say about David Zimbelman? At 53 yrs old tearing the legs off guys less than half his age!
There was a bad crash that took out Neil Casserly, who broke his arm and cut his face pretty badly (I've been there), so hang in there Neil, we're thinking of you.

Wenatchee is this weekend, I'm racing masters, unlike Mr Z, I am too slow to climb with those young guys, who can ride, and rest as much as they need.

I see Team Axley are skipping Wenatchee, to "poach" the TTT in Oregon ;-)

That reminds me everyone's favorite rider shall be know henceforth as Popeye. Rob hurt his back getting his "Yacht" ready for the trip to Longbranch, and it was noticeable in the race, he was not his usual self.

That's all I've got for now.

DOPERS SUCK

2007-05-07T08:31:00.000-07:00

So, go leave our sport alone!!!

From www.cyclingnews.com

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/may07/may07news3

Predictions?

2007-05-03T15:28:00.000-07:00

So, Who's gonna win State RR this weekend, Cat 1/2 men and Cat 1/2/3 women?

Campbell? Tubbs??? Pruitt??? Stangelator?? CYCA?

Women...WOW!

That Hurt!

2007-04-30T11:22:00.001-07:00

Well, everyone said we would fly on the Tandem on Stage 3....NOT! It was really hard to get going on a 4 mile climb to start and it didn't get any easier for the other 22 miles to the turnaround.
All the guys behind us caught and passed us, most before the turn.

Stoker has a good report on her blog.

What happened at Elma?? I guess you'll say don't go poaching Oregon races if you want to know what happens in Wa ;-)

Any, or should I say how many?, wild happenings at Big Sissy's Birthady Party?

Warm Weather

2007-04-28T20:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's nice to race in warm weather, just two layers and a 9am start.

The first of today's two TT was a 26.2 mile loop, that started out with a gradual 4 mile climb. We just tried to keep the tandem moving going up there, but managed to pass a few bodies, including the 2 other tandems in the race. We got spun out on the descents (still waiting for the 55t ring that is on B/O) but 40-42 mph coasting was ok with me!
We ended up 11th overall for the race.
The big shocker was Dave Z beating Kenny, CYCA didn't like that, so took it out on Dave in the hill cimb in the afternoon.

All the results are here http://www.raceacrossoregon.com/deschutes_results

It's soo nice here our hotel in right on the Deschutes River, and with the warm weather we can just sit on the patio, after dinner (a big burger and fries, with a beer!) and listen to the river flow.

Tomorrow is a 48 mile out and back tt that starts up a big stinkin' hill and is usually tailwind out and headwind back, should be "intesting" to say the least.

Cheers.

Maupin TT Stage Race

2007-04-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

Today was spent prepping then driving to the beautiful town of Maupin,Oregon for the Deschutes River TT stage race. The race is organised by George Thomas and Terri Gooch, endurance cyclists and now proud parents of baby Amelia. George and Terri also promote the Race Across Oregon in July, a 520 mile epic that someday, I would like to do.They also promote the Ring Of Fire 12 and 24 hour TT here in Maupin in Sept, Stoked did the 12 hr version last year.

Oh, did I mention we are doing this hilly TT stage race on our Tandem?? Hope we're on speaking terms at the end of it all, 'coz we are hoping to do the 12 race in Sept on the tandem too!

Kenny came down too, and we stopped off at Salmon Cyclery owned by super fast David Zimbelman, he of national road champion 50-54 in 2005. That's a nice shop in The Dalles, if you ever get a chance to drop by. Dave has lots of his jerseys and other memrobelia on display.

Here's a pic of my bike especially for TEC4

I might actually get to do reports from this race as there is no TV in our room, though we do have Internet access...Obviously! I might get sidetraked surfing the many sites I gaze at on a regular basis.

Anyway, have a great weekend,

Mick

The New Bike

2007-04-25T11:16:00.000-07:00

Well, if I was so inclined I'd post a pic of my new DBR bike with SRAM gruppo, but you'll just have to come out to a race and see it (if you care!)
Our team did get hooked up with our cool new smith shades thanks to Greg "Chopper' Randolph.

Sunday I raced near longview, on a really hard new course. I got to suffer behind Kenny and Chad Hartley ( had big trouble breathing and was throwing up too!) while they bridged a 90 sec gap to the winning break. They then proceeded to drop everyone up there too. Chad nipped Kenny in the uphill finish. According to reports Chad won it with his intial surge and Kenny could not quite get to him, holding all the way to the line at about 1/2 a bike length.

This weekend we're doing the Time Trial Stage Race in Maupin, Oregon...on our tandem!! Sunday is a 48 mile hily windy TT, should be interesting. Nice thing is we will have some competition for the first time this year.

Time to go back to work. Unlike others, I don't get paid while I blog ; -) So no parties over here.

Take Care,

Mick

Life on Two Wheels?

2007-04-20T11:38:00.000-07:00

Peer pressure to blog!! Curly made me do it.

I've just been training like a crazy man, hoping I can do more than get dropped by LFGs big and small. Now I'm just really tired.

Anyway Stoked is taking all the blogging spotlight right now, even Prudog has been quiet.....for once!

No Walla Walla for me this weekend, though. We'll just go down and do the new Three Rivers race on Sunday.

Weekend Off

2007-04-09T19:40:00.000-07:00

Well no racing for me this weekend.
We had a nice long Tandem ride on Saturday and a ride to Carnation for Coffee on Sunday, I was glad I wasn't racing 'cause I felt like poop until I got my Coffee!

Then I watched some Golf, hoping Padraig Harrington (Joey's Cousin) might win the masters, but alas it was not to be. I have been very pleased to see my favorite Football team, Liverpool, doing well lately, though they are too far behind Man U and Chelsea in the English league, they just need to not loose too badly to PSV on weds and they are in the Champions League Semi Finals. This is REAL football, I'm talking about, you might know it as soccer; -)

Anyway we went to see the Boat Street crit on Sunday evening, and I was sorry to see it rain for those guys, though glad I wasn't out there. Poor Chad Nik obvoiusly spent too much time in warm weather, cuz he got dropped from the break. The only reason that happened was too few clothes on no way was he getting dropped, he's too good a crit rider for that.

The race was quite exciting, Russell Sevenson had a good attack with about 6 mins to go, but in the end it came down to a 6 man sprint, and of course CYCA (ok Curly?) oblidged, as he ahd done for the $254 crowd prime and the $100 prime a few laps later. What a guy, he's showing no signs of slowing down approaching 40 years young.
I heard one of the masters racers saying when Kenny rode away from them he looked like he was on a training ride, all he was missing was the rack and bag on the back of his bike!!

As of writing I might actually be going to PR with Stoked tomorrow evening!! I think I've been there once in my 12 years racing in the Seattle Area, so look out!

Going Nowhere...slowly!

2007-04-01T20:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I've spent the past month racing and training, with little success! At least I've lost some weight, but I'm not getting very fast, despite what PruDog says.

I did manage to swing a new work schedule that will get me outta there by 3.45 to ride, still getting used to that, but hopefully I will get some good rides and the occasional midweek race. Then I will be good for the Stage Races coming up later in the season.

The downside to all that is that I have do drag my sorry a** out of bed at 5.15am every day..Stoked is not very stoked about that!! Especially when I toss and turn, snore and snort and the other ;- ) constantly, so she ends up with about 3 hrs sleep.

Personal to Prudog, watch out for The Overatted Sissy aka "Bridge" He like to bring married women out to lunch, be warned and tell Mrs Pru to order the most expensive item on the menu if he does take her out, he got a HUGE pay raise from Boeing this year.

Well that's it for me for another month or so!

ps What a crazy weekend of racing this was, me, Kenny and Brian Ecker were useless on Sat in Bellingham and quit at halfway, but today at Piece of Cake we were better, 2nd for Ecker to Doug O, and Kenny 5th (2nd in pack behind Even Elken) I even managed to get into a couple of moves.

Racing?

2007-03-07T20:49:00.000-08:00

Sorry, no jerseys here...the jerseys I won are all full of moth holes!

Just got a new schedule at work, 7am to 3.30pm. That's good and bad, I get to train ( note I didn't say train more!) but I have to get up at 5.15 am to do it. You might think that's not so bad, but probably in the first 28 years of my life I Never, or VERY rarely got up before 7am!

Last weekend was Mason Lake and Ice Breaker TT. I was not very good at either, I did manage to eventually get to the front at Mason Lake with two laps to go, but that only lasted about half a lap and I was VERY happy to see the finish. Didn't even have the energy to chit chat with Jamie!

I guess I'm not Mr Early Season anymore, I always took pride in being on good form from the get go, but the last couple of years have eneded that. Hopefully I'll be good again in June and July, like last year!

Nine O'clock already!! Bedtime...see you later

And Keep your stick on the ice!

Seasoned?

2007-02-25T21:31:00.000-08:00

Well, I did my first race of 2007 today, considering I did my first bike race in 1977, I would say grizzly rather than seasoned!
The race was the Frostbite TT in Lowell, which is a suburb? of Everett (How bad can it get!) and we rode 4 miles towards Snohomish turned and came back!

I did ok, considering I had to stop on my saturday ride at a Starbucks and wait while Martha rode home and got the car!! I just had no energy, but today was better. No results yet, but compared to the young uns out there, I did ok. Adrian H beat me by a little over 1 minute for 8 miles, not great but after the off season I've had It will have to do. My time was 18.15 (I timed it at 18.10, but what can you do?)
We also did our first race on the Tandem, it went well. I was just happy to have nailed the turnaround, without looking like an idiot. Our time was, by my computer, 17.58. It wasn't a lot faster than my single time, but about where Martin and Martha were in realtion to my time last year, we can get faster.

Next week is Mason Lake on Saturday and Ice Breaker TT on Sunday, my legs should be good and fried for that 10 mile TT (doing again twice) in Black Diamond.

Sad Trip Home

2007-02-07T07:29:00.000-08:00

Well, these are the trips I never want to make to see my family. It also makes living so far away harder.
A brother of mine, I have 5, died suddenly last week, so I planned an emergency trip for his funeral, which was yesterday. It was nice to see many relatives I had not seen in a long time, but in unfortunate circumstances.
I am staying umtil sunday, so I did bring my bike. Not sure how much riding I'll get done. I did do my favorite 60 miler today, it was cold but sunny, like the weather we'd had in Seattle last week. I hope to get a group ride on Saturday,we'll see how the weather is, as there is snow in the forecast up north, so maybe 38 degrees and rain here, on my race bike??? A day of tea and biscuits might be in store, or a trip to the local horse racing track with another brother, gambling and drink beer.
I am pretty sure I will e in full view of the follow car at mason lake this year...again, I just hope it doesn't pass me until at least the last lap.

I think I must comment on the waving issue, when big groups meet, I declare yelling to be ok too.The thing is when it's only one on one that's when you should be sure to wave. We're all friends after all,so just give a little wave ; -)

Keep your stick on the ice!

Yippeee!

2007-01-18T12:58:00.000-08:00

I got to ride to work today! It's been more than a week since I had done that, now to see if I can make 60 or more miles this weekend??
Results from the Velotron Tests came out yesterday, and Congrats to Kele Murdin and Jason Bethel on having the fastest times.
So, who took pnwbuckeye's political sign from his Lawn?? Dang they won't cross the water to race, but they go over to remove his political sign!! Where does it end?

Grrrrrrrrrr and Brrrrrrrrrrrr

2007-01-14T09:33:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm watching Seahawks pre game show on TV instead of riding my bike. There's been snow on the ground since weds and it hasn't gotten above freezing since then either. It's 23.5 degrees right now, when the low was supposed to be 26.
I think there are a lot of frustrated cyclists in Seattle (and Portland) right now I'm sure Michael Emde is laughing at us, as this is normal for him. Shows what dedication he has that he can come out in the first races and be soo strong. Me, I'll be suffering at the back, again, at Mason Lake.

Later

My pet hate

2007-01-03T15:39:00.000-08:00

So,I got totally drenched on my way to work this morning, and now it's sunny and I have to put all those wet clothes back on. I think I'll have an uncomfortable ride home.
Hopefully I won't get trail bombed by Robert from Garage for the third time this week. I shouldn't feel bad, he dosen't even wave to his own teammates. What's up with that??

That's two pet peeves!

I'm becoming a grumpy old fart.

It's Time

2006-12-27T19:22:00.000-08:00

It's getting to be serious training time, Jan 1st is always the start of my favorite season....training season, I just love long epic rides in cool weather (less so in wind rain or snow/ice).
We hope to get some weekend rides on our tandem too, but we must be nice to everyone we're riding with and not go too hard.

Nice to see some new members to the NW Blog community ,Coach Curly in particular, with his witty yet sensible advice colums, but I do wonder what he is doing with all those recipes?

Speaking of advice, I think I might have to take the advice of the esteemed RS and abstain from blogging, so I can get down to riding my bike and not flittering away my time reading blogs ( not likely to happen, but I will try). I will only read at work!!
Oh, yeah speaking of work, I got called in at midnight last saturday to open up the store and give someone from McDonalds a motor he needed to fix a fan that had shut down, God forbid someone would have to go without their Big Mac at 3am!!!! Let me miss my sleep, but don't let Bubba miss his Big Mac, Large fries and large Coke.
If the guy ever comes back, maybe he'll give me some Mickey D's $s, well I'll be sure to pass them on to RS, as I hear when he's out of range of Dicks, he just loves his McDonalds breakfast before a race ; -)

Happy New year to you all and ride long,slow and safely.

Oink Oink!!

2006-12-12T20:41:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas time, so let's pig out... Stoked and I went out to dinner tonight and ate WAY too much. We went to Tutta Bella, so it wasn't hard to eat too much. We started with a mondo salad then both ate a whole 12" pizza, but the best part was the NUTELLA ice cream ( read it and weep .n)......yummy.

re Cycle Me!

2006-12-06T20:31:00.000-08:00

Ok The snow is all gone and we're back on ther road! and on the Computrainer.
Last night I did my second Cylcle-U computrainer "race" and along with gaining 2 pounds in the past two weeks, I managed to go 23 seconds slower! I finished 5th of 7 in my heat, PruDog was 6th, in his 2nd effort of three for the night!!, and Stoked was 7th both not far behind. El Gato was there and despite his claims of drinking beer daily and no riding, he almost put a minute into me.
Luckily it's still early in December, time to start training, if the weather co-operates. And now I have some motivation : -)

Oh, and we collected $750 for northwest harvest on the thanksgiving day ride, thanks to all.

Snow Stories

2006-11-28T20:59:00.000-08:00

I am sure everyone has a good snow story from yesterday's storm, let's hear about them.

I had taken the bus to work, and when I left Northcreek Park in Bothell it was a blizzard, I walked to get the Bus at the UW Bothell campus. The bus never came, I could probably have walked the 10 miles home, but I wouldn't have made it to work Today if I did that!
I walked back to get a hotel room, and spent the night in Bothell " for a weekend or a lifetime" isn't that their slogan?
I-405 was soooo amazing, cars for as far as you could see....and none of them moving. The Hotel/Gas Station area was surreal they never saw so many people there and probably never will again. People who abandoned efforts to drive 3 miles north after not moving for 2 1/2 hrs. Needless to say the hotel was full, and when I went to breakfast this morning there were people sleeping on the floor, under stairs and in the lounge area.

And we're supposed to get another dose on weds night thurs morning!!!

Oh yeah, my boss reimbursed my hotel room charge ; -)

Slainte

Thanksgiving Day Ride Seattle

2006-11-22T13:49:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is the big ride for Northwest Harvest
We'll meet at Leschi at 8.45 to depart at 9 for an leisurely paced ride around the south end of lake washington. I'm suggesting a donation of $5 for this ride.

Looks the weather might be best in the morning too, so come on out and work up an appetite for that turkey feast we're lucky enough to have this day.

Mick

Nasty!

2006-11-19T13:49:00.000-08:00

Well, I did 3 hours in ugly rainy slop with KW today.
I'm going to call out The Virgin as he wimped out "I'll wait until later" he said. Suck it up and ride your bike.....

another long break!

2006-11-18T20:09:00.000-08:00

Wow it's been forever since I bolgged!

I first decided I'd had enough of getting dropped on the start line in cross, and comments like "you're not on the road now" and "Nice dismount" maybe I should try racing Bs, but that's against the rules, I guess.

Then I went to visit Family in Ireland, for a week, well I took a week of work, but spent 2 1/2 days getting to and from, using my United Miles I was obliged to fly through Chicago AND London both ways. I did upgrade to Business Class, so that helped.
While there I got to go to the opening of a new clubhouse for one of the first Cycling Clubs I rode for, It was great all those familiar faces from 25? years ago, I am old as dirt!!
I then went and joined the rest of my siblings, 5 brothers and 2 sisters and their significant others, as they are now called ; -). I spent the night talking and eventually got to bed at 6.30am, though, luckily I think, I didn't drink all night.

I got back home at 11pm after 25hrs of travelling and was up for work next morning, luckily it was thrusday, so I worked two days and had two days to recover.
I can't believe how slow I feel/am since I got back, so now it's time to get ready for training season ; -) Hopefully the weather will co-operate.

mjw

Dissin the Dog

2006-10-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

Well, after a hard weeks work, I had no clue what ride I wanted to do today. I woke up at 8am not anting to ride to Zoka for coffee, or jump staright into a ride with Kenny and the Virgin. So, I had more coffee and waffles (frozen, no less,Stoked rides in the dark on sat morning!) and waited to do the classic "Erickson Ride" which I realised I first did 11 years ago!!

Well, while at logboom before we left, the Axley ride came by, and Pru Dog yelled some profanity, I think he also said I suck at Cyclo Cross.....well I already know that and it doesn't offend me at all. I almost bailed on the ride and went after the "Axies", but I didn't.

Well, after last weeks debacle of a Cyclo Cross race I said I was done, but no I'm going back out there again, I don't know why? Maybe I'll suddenly figure it out and be up there duking it out with Kenny et al......LOL!! That's not going to happen, this year anyway.....did I just say that?

This will be my last 'cross race, again ; -)

I'm going to visit my mother and 7 siblings on thursday, spending 4 1/2 days in Dublin. I will bring our Camera and take some bad photos!

That's all I have for now,

M

Cyclo Cross Dud

2006-10-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

I don't know how or why, but I decided I needed to do a cyclo cross race, and with support from Kenny Williams and Dean Sabol and the www.pedaldynamics.com crew, I saddled up on Deans fancy Moots Ti Cyclo Croos bike for the Masters A race at Kelley Creek.
It had been pouring rain all morning, but had eased off by the time our race started. The 1/2s went a minute in front of us. When Phil Miller said GO, we took off, well everyone else did, I was off the back when we passed the finish trailer after 100 yds!! I tried to up my pace and keep up with the tail enders, but they kept pulling away from me. I knew I was not going fast enough around the corners, but couldn't do it, the straight aways were ok, but I was very entertaining for everyone watching at the barriers!! I felt like my legs were not attached to my body.

I had to walk a couple of times when my right foot came out of my pedal at innapropriate times, but did manage to pass my 2007 teammate Brad Reed, oh yes he was stopped getting his saddle fixed ; -)
The 1/2 leader passed me after about 1 1/2 laps, then it seems like everyone else in the race passed me.
All in all it was a humbling experience, but I suppose I have to do a few more races to see if I can improve, don't think I can get worse, but you never know!

I was very impressed by the support of fellow racers and friends who insisted I come out again next week, despite my poor showing, either they are being very supportive or just like to see me
humiliated. I'd like to think it is genuine support, but I'm sure Pru Dog will tell me like it is and say I should quit because I suck!! So because of that and my competitive drive to at least be involved in the race........I'll be back

Another world out there??

2006-09-24T19:43:00.000-07:00

I like this from Velo News Photo of Bettini on the poduim at World's

Unlike The Star Spangled Banner, the Italian national anthem does not end with the words 'play ball.'

Also, Awsome the US got their butts kicked at The Ryder Cup (that's golf, for those of you who think there's only 3 sports in the World ) and it was in Ireland too!!

Peace Out, as a current National CycloCross Champ would say.

Tugboat!!

2006-09-21T21:13:00.000-07:00

Holy Tugboat, Tyler Hamilton is free to race from tomorrow!! Though the UCI are still after him.

Dedication?

2006-09-15T07:34:00.000-07:00

Well, we went to the Gym on weds night, Stoked and I. 2007 begins now baby!!!! 3 days after my last race? Is that dedication, or a total lack of anything better to do??
I must say we didn't very much working out al all, just checking out all the new expansion at our gym, but we did resist temptation to go to Starbucks on the way home!!

It does really look like fall is here with all that rain on weds night thurs morning, we were thinking of riding up Hyw 20 on Sunday, we'll see!

Fall is here ; -)

2006-09-13T09:51:00.000-07:00

Looks like there was great racing at the Veulta today! Vino attacking o the descent and getting the jersey from Velvarde, hope he gets it back tomorrow.

I'm back!!!!

2006-08-25T15:11:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I spend so much time reading everyone else's blog that I don't update my own!

Well, It's been a great summer, though I'm not ready for the season to be over and not spend 12 hours of the weekend in a Car! One more trip to Eugene next weekend, though.
First we have the Crystal Mtn Hill Climb, the last WSBA state championship, and the final BARR points available. I am top Ten in 1/2s so maybe I will get some points and hold that place, we'll see. I am after all OLD AS DIRT, so it's tough to keep up with thise young guys.
We also lead the team BAR, so it would be sweet to win that!
I am sorry to be missing the final Oregon Cup race down in Bend, as I'm sure I will drop from my current 3rd spot, hopefully only 2 guys will pass me and I can stay top 5.

Seward is on sunday, actually both races this weekend will have a BBQ after, so we can get a head start on stacking on the winter weight!! Though I must try to wait until after the Mt Baker hill climb on Sept 10th to really let go!! I will try not to top the 166 lbs I got to last year, with not riding for 6 weeks because of that darn Mono.

Maybe I'll post again in less than 6 weeks! If work is slow ;-)

JULY???

2006-07-25T15:51:00.000-07:00

Well, July is almost over and I haven't posted since the 4th!! I'm getting as bad as Jamie. A lot has happened, Mt Tabor, Redmond Derby, Ravensdale FSA/Vision RR, Cascade, and State TT/Rosalia last weekend.
Not to mention Martha's exploits at nats and Co-Motion Stage Race.

Oh, yes It's been a busy month. With a lot of ups and downs, but that's bike racing. Also, I'm pretty tired, so what am I doing on Thurs?? Ramrod.....154 miles.....on a Tandem with Martha??
Anyway I better get back to work now or I'll be fired, oh maybe then I'd be able to do all the races I want and get rest too. Only problem would be I'd have no money to do them!!!

Pleasant Surprise

2006-07-04T22:38:00.000-07:00

Well, It's late and I should be getting some sleep, but this is the 4th of July and everyone is celebrating their freedom by blowing up as many fireworks as they can. It's like Belfast in 1975!!! Oh yes, did I mention fireworks are banned in Seattle??? What a great country, sometimes you're allowed to break the law. Unless of course, you're a cyclist, then you get assaulted by undercover cops!!

We had a great weekend in Oregon, once we got there. Traffic was bad on the way down on friday night. Sat morning Dave Zimbelman came by (we stayed with the Hobsons...again!! Thanks Nate and Claire) and Dave, Nate and I wwent in his truck. Martha would take Rachelle and Eloise down later, as they didn't race until 2, our race was at 10.

The race was 9 laps of the same course near Eugene (Elmira) where the rehersal race was a few weeks ago. The field was well stacked, about 45 riders in the Senior Mens Race (my oregon teammate Carl was doing masters today) with Aaron Olson home from the Giro looking tanned and fast, also David Robinson from Kodakgallery/sierra nevada. Also there were Omer Kem, a few Broadmark guys and both Hutch's Eugene and Bend teams were well represented.
There were lots of early attacks, but nothing was sticking, until I slipped away and Dave came up to me, on lap 3, I think. We managed to get a 3 minute gap before they started chasing, we stayed out for 3 laps, and i thought that was it for me, a sure DNF today. Dave took off again about 2 mles after we were caught, and Mike Rosenberg went after him, then Aaron Olson went with John Leonard in tow, that should have set off alarm bells, but no I was done. Omer Kem bridged solo on the finish hill, very impressive, and that was it The bunch was down to about 14 guys, so nat a lot of chasing was really done. I got away with Todd Duncan and Taylor Keneuven with a little less than 2 to go. Of the 7 up front David Robinson came back, and Dave Zimbelman stopped with cramps. Did I mention it was really hot, I think close to 90 deg.
I got dropped by Todd and Taylor on the finish hill with a lap to go, and limped home for 8th place, later moved to 7th when Aaron Olson was dq'd for removing his helmet during the race? That gave Omer the State RR Champion tiltle, well deserved after the rough start to his season.

I'll write up on Mt Tabor later, gotta go now.
Mick

Elkhorn and TdF

2006-06-30T16:27:00.000-07:00

Well Elkhorn was a blast, as usual. I did manage to blow up on the finishing climb on Sunday??? After winning the crit, what's up with that?
This race is so cool, It's races like this that keep me bike racing, good athmosphere, great organiser and super courses. That and the older guys who keep beating up on me!!

I could write a 10 page race report, but don't have the time. Let's just say I was on the attack, I ended up 6th overall in the masters 40+.

Well, I guess it was a long time coming, but what about all those guys getting suspended for the Tour?? Crazy, Hope cycling can recover from this. "Big Pat" as we called him (we had less kind nicknames for him, but I won't put them here!!) has his work cut out for him now, but there's no better man to do the job.

Well, we're off to Oregon for the State RR and Mt Tabor on Sunday. Too many stinkin' crits up here!!

Men in Diapers

2006-06-18T08:34:00.000-07:00

We did the marymoor little 100 last night, it's a fancy dress race around the track, riding Van Dessel single speed backpedal brake cruisers.

We had Kenny, Jiri,Paul Clement and me, we won. There were only 2 other cat 1/2/3/ teams out there, though. What do we have to do to get more teams interested in this Race? I came last year to watch Martha race and was talked into racing with some guys from the Byrne Specialty Gases Team, we had a blast. The women had 5 or 6 teams? come on guys, lets go out and do this "race" it's actually fun.

The costume of the day was the Rubicon boys wearing Diapers.....and nothing else....brave souls, the diapers even lasted the whole race!!

Before the Track event, Martha and I went to Ellensberg to ride a clmb that Lez Korcala has been telling us about. It was really windy, but we didn't notice once we started climbing. The climb is about 7 miles and goes from 2.000 to 5,600ft, good road and about 7-10% grade, awesome. We both wished we could have done it more than once.

Oh, Yeah last week we did the Oregon Rehearsal RR in Eugene on Sat. Martha raced Tandem with Martin, they finished 3rd. I was 7th in the 1/2s, was bummed because Carl didn't make the break. I was just there to help him get more Oregon Cup points.

So it's Seward today, then off to Elkhorn on Thursday! : -)

Mt Hood Epic Stage Race

2006-06-06T07:25:00.000-07:00

Day 1, Everyone looking at each other, Clint Gaver(Team Spine) goes up the road after the first climb, one guy tries to go up, a couple of people try to get to him and fail, then I throw caution to the wind and attack across to the chaser,John Hancock(Sierra Nevada/Specialized) before the main road. I don't want to kill myself and get dropped so we dangle out there, until when we are almost caught, Zan T bridges up and the gap opens, then at the Start/Finish (top of the main climb) Robert Pasco (Safeway) bridges and we catch the guy in front, so 5 of us with about 30 secs and 1 lap to go, behind they are again looking at each other and nobody wants to chase hard. I watch the others descend and catch back up when it straightens out.
We hit the highway again and Pasco is taking monster pulls, we drop two guys and Zan can't pull at all, by now we're almost catching the Pro field, we hit the cooper spur road and we have 1 1/2 mins!! Pasco again is hammering and now I can't pull anymore, so we decide he wins I'm 2nd and Zan is 3rd, we almost have to push him over the line to take the win. We ended up 1.45 up on Carl who took 4th, and 1.50 up on the main "players"....Sweeeeet.

I think I must have fried myself for the TT, 'cause I was not going too well, I did manage to catch Zan just before the finish and beat Pasco by 1.30 or so to rake the jersey :-)

The Crit was a non event for the GC guys, with the Morgan Stanley guys taking 1/2 Dan Smith won with Chris D'Alusio 2nd, oh I guess he's a GC guy too!! They also won the $100 prime with 2 to go. I must say the new (to me) course was nice, taking away the sharp right hander uphill to the finishing straight.
I was probably chatting to some 1/2 guys when I missed the Jersey Presentation...oops bad faux pas....sorry Chad.

The Queen Stage, well to put it Blountly, I got spanked. I must first say I threw up my breakfast before the start, nerves?? I don't think so, as I have done that before, when not in the Yellow Jersey, and I had a killer headache to boot. So, from the get go it was a case of survival and limiting my losses, hoping I would feel better later in the race.
I suffered on the small risers before the first climb, couldn't breathe, so I decide to ride my own pace on the first climb and not try to stay with the Big Guns! Well, I was about 45 secs back at the top, but Carl Roberts was up there trying to slow them down, and I got back on after the top, just in time to get dropped on the descent ;-) I had company though, as Kerry Farrell (Wheelsport)and Bruce Hodgkins (Excel) were hating life as much as me going down there, the we hit climb #2, and Kerry and I got back to the group, I felt a lot better once I got on, but Dave, Lindsay, Chris D'Alusio and Robert Pasco were off the front by 1 minute or so. Carl, Mike Rosenberg, and John Hancock chased on and off the rest of the way with me.Pasco was dropped by Zimbleman and D'Aliusio and we caught him near the top of KOM #2, thanks to trojan work by Carl.

I did much better down the 2nd descent, where Carl pulled all the way, then when we got to the bottom he flatted, he caught back and went to pull again, but he didn't have much left and we dropped him soon after. I was left with Brian McGuire on my wheel and very little help for the next, maybe 5 miles leading into the final climb. I never went all the way back, but I think there were about 8 or 9 in the group at this stage. Finally a time check, 5 mins to Lindsay and 1.20 up to Chris and Dave, I had 2.20 on Chris starting the day, so MAYBE I could hold onto 3rd?? My dilema was if I gave it my all chasing, then Brian would attack me and I would be left in 5th!! I kept pulling anyway, I would later find out Brian didn;t have a lot in the tank.
On the last climb, John Hancock took some good pulls, and then attacked just before the cooper spur resort, nobody responded, so when he got a gap I jumped across ( I didn't want to loose the only guy that was giving me a "dig") of course everyone followed me! After Cooper Spur I pulled all the way with no help at all, I think I was going good, then when we saw the last 200m Rosenberg attacked, then Kerry Ferrell (Hadn't seen him an a long time!!) but nobody else passed me, turns out I must have shattered the group.
Alas, I did not go hard enough as D'Alusio left Dave and took 2nd on the day and 3rd overall, by 29secs!!!

I was sorry not to hold on, but if you told me before the race I would have the jersey for 2 stages and finish 4th overall, I would have been pretty happy.

Results are here http://www.mthoodcyclingclassic.com/2006results/default.htm

Roll on Elkhorn!!

Mick

Recap

2006-05-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

Ok, I've been slacking too. Well, we've done the Wenatchee Omnium and I even got BARR points in the mens 1/2. That's a sure sign of my sights being lowered, It's a major acheivement to even get BARR points in the 1/2s! I was 13th overall and 3 guys were not WSBA members, in the back door too.
I was rather upset though that I could not get up to Kenny on the climb in the RR to try to help him defend his lead, he's climbing well, but not well enough to keep the overall, he ended up 3rd, not too shabby.

I decided to do masters in Enumclaw, but was sorry to see only 20 riders in the combined A/B field. Once again Matt Hill smoked me in the TT, he's riding really well right now (I hope!) . The crit was something else, with 4 laps to go Matt flatted (no free laps after 5 to go) sorry Matt, let's not go crazy and give him a chance to catch back. I see him being put back in the pack next time around??? What's going on? He is now a lap down, so I'll have a good lead tomorrow, three to go, I can just take it easy and stay safe no prizes for the finish, disaster....I flat race over, both Matt and I are 2 mins down almost, maybe we can make it up in the RR??

Matt and I plan to just race hard, but nobody else is interested in racing, except Arnie Laiti and he rolls off after the climb, and some attacking from Dave Hecht,Matt and I. Nobody chases al the way down the highway, dang were not even pedalling!!!! Arnie later said he wasn't planning on making a big effort there, but when nobody went after him he decided to give it a go. He gave it a good go as we never caught him and he won overall, fair play. Behind everyone was content to watch Matt and Mick attack, counter attack and chase whomever went up the road. Matt finally gave up and hammered the whole last lap ( nobody even tried to help him!) on the front, I was not going to bring Arnie back for someone else to reap the win, Arnie deserved it for being willing to ride hard. Matt just pulled off at the bottom of the hill and I rode a good tempo until I saw it ws just Dave Hecht behind me, so I went for it. Dave let me get 2nd on the day, and he won the Masters B, way to go Dave, you're strong like Bull.

I ended up 6th overall, dissapointing, but I live to go to work this week without any hospital bills, and anticipate a really tough Mt Hood stage race in two weeks. Next Sunday is Ski to Sea in Bellingham for me, that's always fun. I've got a new team and we're, to quote my spouse, "Stoked"(different meaing, of course) about the race!

Slan, Mick

Masters State RR

2006-05-08T20:39:00.000-07:00

Well, back to back State Champs!! And another one next week!

This time it was Masters RR, I think our field was small because it was so wet in the morning, which didn't stop Martha from winning her race. In a sprint, no less!!

Back to our race,We did 5 laps of the 10.5 mile loop. Surprisingly to me, all of the Excel guys that could, rode the B race, so that took an aggressive factor from our field, but not to worry Doug Davis was there to animate the race as he always does.
I was suffering really badly early on and felt like I couldn't get enough air on the climbs, then on lap two, guys started to roll off the front. Luckily Carl Roberts had it covered for us, then when the gap got big enough Kenny launched and soloed across the 45 second? gap. That decimated the field, though I did manage to claw on to the second group, and was just thankful I had two teammates in the break, of 6.

The next two laps I was able to sit on the back of the group while Kenny rode away from the break and three more came back to us, then with about a lap to go we caught Carl and Alan Wiley, so it was just Kenny up the road.

I covered a few attacks and made a couple of my own, as I was starting to feel better, but I was not feeling so super and was maybe a little bit guilty about sitting on all that time, so we came to the finish, a group of seven sprinting for second. Well I'm no Martha when it come to sprinting these days ;-) so I ended up 6th.

I must say I was impressed with the riding of the Axley USA Team, they worked their butts off all day, and were totally committed to Helping Mark K get 2nd, which he did with seemingly easy. Michael Emde and Mike Pruitt gave their all, despite Michael being defending champion, he gave up his chances for Mark on the last lap, making sure nothing got away, way to go guys, If only all teams rode like that.

Now it's on to Wenatchee for that killer hill!!

Oh, yes I think Ben got to go home from hospital today after his crash on saturday :-) and I also hear Steve Holland punctured a lung on top of all his other injuries, so he's got another couple of days in Hospital. Our best wishes go out to both of them.

Mick

State RR

2006-05-06T20:30:00.000-07:00

Just a short note on the Wa State Senior Mens RR.
It was a very well gaurded pack that hit the finish together, nothing got more than 15 seconds up the road??? Wierd!!
The sad notes on this race are two seperate crashes, one was Steve Holland breaking a collarbone and some ribs according to reports. Then Ben Kaplan crashed on the first right hand bend on the farm road, broke his leg, It was ugly, my head was not in it after that, as we were stopped there on the last lap, with about 7? miles to go.

Oh, Yeah Kenny Won, from a galant Rob Campbell. It was close I hear!!

Masters State RR tomorrow ; - ) Lets try to keep everyone upright.....please.

Plonker of the week award

2006-04-30T19:34:00.000-07:00

Well this weekend was a stay at home weekend, despite Sage Races in Maupin, OR (Where??) and Winthrop Wa. We had a family wedding to attend in Oak Harbor on Sat, late afternoon. God knows we do very little family stuff, it's the least we could do, besides we had races we could both days anyway : -)

The Pedal Dynamics (www.pedaldynamics.com ) Green River TT was an 11.5 mile event on Sat. And as Martha was doing it twice, well why couldn't I? Well, here's why......I FORGOT my Shoes!!!!!! So, at 7.50am, instead of pre riding the course, I sped home to get my shoes to try to make it back in time for my Cat 1/2 start at 10.11am, and we live by Northgate Mall!! But I made it back about the same time as Martha was finishing her first TT.

My start was 1 min in front of Martha and Martin on the tandem, so I knew I would have to be fast to hold them off. Going out I felt pretty good, riding 29-30mph most of the time, but they gained, by Martin's calculations 20 secs on me. Coming back I was struggling to keep my speed above 25mph, but I managed to hold them off despite my feeling like I was dying. When the results were calculated I ended up 3rd in the 1/2s, with a time of 25.07, six seconds slower than last year, oh well. I was 4th overall, as Matt Hill, who won the masters crushed me by 30secs, awesome ride Matt, I'll have to get closer to him at Enumclaw, or I will have problems :))))

The wedding went well, but we didn't get home until 10.30pm, and I slept most of theway home in the car (Martha did the driving.....thanks sweetie!!) and hardly woke up when we got home!

Sunday's races at seward are on the usual 1.2 or so mile loop, going clockwise this time. The masters race in the morning was stacked with Byrne and Excel guys, we had Me, Ron, Dave Douglas and Tim Slotta, a total field of about 25. Well I ended up in a break that really looked like succeeding, as all the teams were present, Byrne and Excel had two each, and I was the Only FRM guy there, problem was nobody was willing to lay it down, so we got caught on the last lap.... that was frustrating, and I ended up at the back. Ron did get 3rd, so that was a plus.

The 1/2 field was about the same size, because of all the other races going on, and was dominated by Todd Herriot, who lapped the field, I felt ok, but had to stop, as my crank was coming loose....for the 3rd time this week!!! Time to call the warranty dept at FSA!!

Next weekend should be good racing, as we have both the Senior and Masters state RR Champs.

Hasta la Pasta
Mick

Try Again

2006-04-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

Well, I seem to have lost my password for my old blog site, so I have started a new one. Now I'm back writing all sorts of trash to waste everyone's time, just like you waste mine!!
I'll just say I felt like I was stuck to the road last weekend at the Willamette Valley Classic race. At least there was nice weather for this great new race. I suggest you put it on your calendar for 2007, hopefully it won't be on the same weekend as Walla Walla.

Ok, that's the short post to get back up and running again!