Friday, June 30, 2006

Elkhorn and TdF

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!!

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Men in Diapers

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! : -)

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Mt Hood Epic Stage Race

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

Monday, May 22, 2006

Recap

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

Monday, May 08, 2006

Masters State RR

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

Saturday, May 06, 2006

State RR

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.

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Plonker of the week award

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

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Try Again

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!