PRC September 2011

Fellow Kansas Cyclist, Cameron Chambers! Such a great guy.Other than Ned Overend,
Cameron is the fastest guy I have ever riden with. He will totally kick your butt, but will never
act pretencious about it. Check out this video featuring him.

TANK

This is one of the bands I used to follow when I was in a band wayback when. LSD is the name and this is one of the most popular songs they had, It's a good pre-race song!

Project Mayhem

If I could talk about Mayhem I would tell you that I finished 2nd overall of 17 experts and that I had the second fastest lap of all 100 racers; but since the first rule of Mayhem is not to talk about Mayhem, well I can't tell you!

SAC River Race MWFTS

Go to the Ethos Blog for my full race Report---You can find it in my blog list to the right on this page. I finished 2nd in the 35+ Expert group

Crocodile Rock, Kansas State Championships

OK, now that I have had a little time to reconcile with myself over my disappointing race result at the Kansas State Championships, I must say I'm seeing some positives from it. I had set out to win this race. I can only think of a few races that I have wanted to win as much as I did with this one, and I have batted .500 so far. I used every trick I know to arrive at the start line in the best fitness possible, but evidently I missed something.
I lined up with 19 of the best racers Kansas has to offer, I have only been back in the racing scene for two years now, and at the ripe old age of 39 (racing age 40) I have had my doubts on what I could realistically accomplish, yet I lined up on Sunday with the desire to outrace any and everybody on that line. I didn't care if you were 19 or 59, I was going to race you with everything I had to offer!
So we line up, and I didn't get the position at the start I wanted, but it was OK. I knew in the end, it wasn't going to be a big deal. Back in the old days I would put a guy in the trees in the first bottleneck if that is what it took to get the hole shot, but I'm a little more civil these days, so when I hit the trail head in 5th I didn't sweat it too much. I followed teammates C. Hoppe and J Douglas into the trail, and knowing how strong they are, I knew I was in good shape. I tried not to panic too much not having the lead position, but traditionally that is my style...take the front and go till I blow, crash, or win! I think I would have panicked had I not been cramping a little in my belly from my pre-race nutrition, I knew the belly cramps would subside pretty quickly, so I just took it a little easy knowing that I was saving my matches for the ladder part of the race.
I saw Hoppe get away but JDoug was setting a pace that was just about perfect for me, he obviously didn't want me sitting on his wheel and eventually picked it up enough that I thought I better let him go and hope that I could keep up a strong consistent pace.
Lyle had predicted 28 minute laps for the experts, so when I came through the first lap in 25:03, and just starting to feel good, I was pretty confident! On the second lap my stomach felt better so I started moving up, I surprisingly caught Hoppe and shortly after that I reeled in JDoug. Jason had a little bobble on some of the treacherous slick rocks, and I managed to luck out with a clean pass to get around him. I know how fierce of a contender he is, so I plugged my big ring and went with the classic pedal mashing style that I have used in the past to get every bit of speed I could. Outta sight, outta mind! I'm now sitting in second place and only 31 seconds behind Damian. After getting around my secret nemesis, JDoug, I'm now feeling like superman! I keep mashing the big ring, because I had been catching a glimpse of Damian, from time to time. But..... then it happens! Towards the end of the third lap my left thigh starts cramping! Shit, I'm thinking! I quickly start soft pedaling with my left, using my right to push and pull through the strokes. Then, my right begins to cramp! Now I know it is probably due to the heat and that I'm suffering from lack of hydration. For the next 3-5 minutes I had to slow to a crawl, this was the longest few minutes of my life! I start to think I may not even finish the race! I manage to get to the end of the lap and grab some drinks, I keep digging it out and the cramps subside a little. I now have a little hope that I can hang on till the finish, but I'm realizing that the win is not gonna happen. With about a mile or two till the finish, I'm passed by Brenden Jenks. He was looking strong, but I stayed with him as long as I could, a few times I thought I could pass him but he slowly pulled away. I finish 3rd in my group and 4th overall. I lost the win by 2 minutes and second by 27 seconds! In the podium pick that I stole from Chris, I'm not very happy. But, now that I have had a little time to think, I know that I'm lucky to be finishing 3rd with such a strong group of racers; after all, less than a year ago I was racing as a cat. 2. When I upgraded to Cat 1, I thought my days of seeing the podium were done. Just a few months ago I was getting beat by double digits, and now I'm only getting beat by a couple of minutes. So, with that in mind, I'm gonna take a recovering week and enjoy my favorite holiday of the year. Then it's go time!

2011 Tulsa Tough Crits Day 3 - Cry Baby Hill

Tulsa Tough's Cry Baby Hill

Click on this link to watch a quick news video of Tulsa Tough's Cry Baby Hill . Ok, I know what is a mountain biker like my self doing at a National Race Calender road crit? Well, I dunno! I was supposed to go race at Blue Springs in the Missouri state Championship, but since it looked like they were gonna get rained on, I decided to go to Arkansas to race at Hobbs in the Battle for Townsend Ridge. Well, I get up at 5 AM to thunder, and after looking at the weather maps it looked as though Both Mountain bike races were either getting rain, or likely to get rain. So last option was Tulsa Tough! Being in Pittsburg Kansas isn't so bad, I always have to travel to the races, but never more than a couple hours from Tulsa, Fayetteville, KC, or Springfield. So Tulsa it was, I'm not a great roadie, but I do enjoy the competition of it. This race was huge! I'm just a Cat. 4 Roadie and we had 77 signed up for my class alone, I have only raced one other crit this year.
The crowd on Cry Baby Hill was great! They were loud, lewd and armed with super soakers, once I was dropped the harassment began! Every time we (the dropped) came up the hill we were greeted with gracious encouragement such as "Get your A$$ back up to the pack!" Followed by a nice bath! LOL, it was a blast. I have never enjoyed being dropped more than I did on Sunday. After checking the results, I was surprised to see that I finished 39th. Not a very good finish, but atleast I wasn't 77th! I must say I think I will return for the entire race weekend of Tulsa Tough in 2012. Don't worry you Mountain Bike peeps, I will Never Convert over. But, I will find myself within a peleton from time to time. After all, its still bike riding.

My prayers go out to Joplin

The devastation is unbearable, here is the hospital that surgically repaired my hand after a bike wreck years ago. I have many friends and some family in the area, I hope they are ok!

Stan's wins this time

Ok, so my little experiment had no controls. It probably had a hundred extraneous variables, and likely experimenter bias, but here is MY conclusion.
First, lets discuss why I even tried out the Caffe Latex. My friends at Scwalbe sent me a pair of the tubeless ready (430gram) Rocket Rons, these weren't the heavier UST version. The tubeless ready needs a sealant to hold air. No big deal, I would have used a sealant anyways. The 2.25 that I mounted on the front went on, and sealed with Stans without any issues, but the 2.1 that I mounted on the rear gave me a multitude of trouble. I had a heck of a time getting it to seat. I finally thought it seated ok only to wake up the next day with it bleeding stan's all over the floor. I then filled it with air again and it seated easily the second time around, so I thought. I rode it on a warmup ride the night before Bone Bender and all seemed well. So I get to Bone Bender and ride around a bit before I place my bike in the staging area, but when I start my first lap the tire is flat! I ride a friends bike for the first lap and he blast my tire with CO2 which takes hold and the tire does fine for the rest of the race.
I return home and a friend talked me into trying Caffe Latex, which foams up to force the coagulant throughout the inner surface of the tire, therefore making the initial seating process more efficient. Additionally, It's supposed to heal sidewall tears better.
I must say the tire mounted and sealed pretty easily, I rode it for a weak until I tore the paper thin sidewall on a prelap at Neosho. The tear was not very big , maybe 6 mm? Anyway, the Caffe Latex bled out without slowing the airloss at all. So I boot the tire and the Latex just reacts with my glue and the boot comes out with sealant blood everywhere. I then reboot again and use Stan's this time. The tire seals ok and the Stan's holds. To make this story shorter, the boot doesn't hold and pops in the middle, but the Stan's fills the gap enough that I limp home. So I go home and double boot the tear with a Park Patch kit, and a park emergency boot with shoe goo around the edges, and Stan's. It is holding air fine now.
What I noticed between the two sealants was that Stans has small gritty particles in it, to help plug the hole as it coagulates, whereas the Latex doesn't. The latex felt stickier than the Stan's to the touch, but it felt thin. When I cleaned the tires between sealant changes, the Stan's seemed to have bonded to the tire better than the Latex. The Latex peeled off of the tire much easier than the Stan's. Also the Stan's didn't react to my patch glue, whereas the Caffe Latex reacts to everything, including Stan's residue.
The idea of the Caffe Latex foaming is appealing, but with its lack of plugging such a small sidewall tear turned me off of it pretty quickly.

If anyone has any success, or horror stories from either of these sealants, please feel free to comment. I have my settings so that you don't need an account, nor do you need to be logged in, to comment on my blog.
When I'm not feeling so lazy I may do a full on experiment with these two sealants, I will be more stringent with my scientific method. But, for now I'm sticking with the Stan's.

Stan's VS. Caffe Latex...and the Big winner is....

The data has been compiled...Final conclusion to follow this evening... hint, foreshadowing involved in picture.

Victory Lap!

Well Today is the day! I didn't finish DFL but it sure took a long time.

A few years ago when I was supervising a team of hard nosed foundry workers, I would have popped you in the nose if you had told me I was going to go on to college to become a Psychologist! After the plant shut down, where I was responsible for casting aluminum wheels for GM, Ford, Mazda, etc., for many years. I found myself in great despair!

After a few months of depression, Jeff called me and said that a bike team was forming and they wanted me to be a part of it. I'm thinking to myself, what the heck, I'm about 30lbs overweight, but I have this severance check to blow, so why not? I bought my road bike and began training the very next day! It was while putting miles in on the road that it occurred to me that I should take this opportunity to finish my college studies. I knew I didn't want to go back as an engineering student so I changed my major to Psychology with an Emphasis on Human Resource Development, mostly because HRD(training specialist) was the job I enjoyed the most while working at the foundry. Within the first year back in school, I decided I wanted to do something that can help at risk kids, that is when the seed was planted to become a School Psychologist. So today... I do my victory lap, which actually is my warm up lap for grad school. If I hadn't of went on that bike ride sometime back in February of 2009, who knows where I would be now?

Cycling truly is a sport for body, mind, and soul!

Robidoux Roundup report

Well Saturday was one heck of a show down at the Robidoux Roundup! This was my 4th and hardest Expert(Cat1) XC race. The St. Joe crew once again did a killer job putting on a top notch local race. Thanks guys, I know its a lot of work putting on a race, and believe me, It was appreciated! For those of you that weren't there, see the bottom caption, and you missed an epic race. This course has more climbing than the XC national race I competed at in 2010 at Granby Colorado. Read more below.

In the above pick I look like a man who is possessed, but actually I'm trying to fake myself out into thinking that the climbs were my bitch! Notice the big clod of dirt in my helmet? Yes, I took a little dirt nap! LOL, well I saw some stars anyway, and knocked the ear piece off of my Oaks! I have a raspberry on my forehead and a slight blackened eye, but I don't think I was concussed. This race is definitely my nemesis, I had a difficult time last year also. I only felt OK at the start of the race, but I had a decent start. With a combined Cat 1 start, it was the biggest field start as a cat 1 that I have been in so far. Going into the trail head was pretty surreal, we had a little mound that we all hit at speed just a few feet before the singletrack. We were all catching air, which isn't unusual except we were all in close quarters. I had guys in front of me in air, guys next to me in air, myself in air, and guys behind me getting set for air. It wasn't like we were sailing that high, but it was definitely interesting none-the-less. Anyway, I hit the trailhead fourth overall and 2nd in my age group, shortly after, I let my teammate Travis go by me cuz he is much faster than I, and I wasn't about to block him! Unfortunately, when I gave him room to slip by, so did another guy in my class. This wasn't a big deal, I just got on his wheel and gave her hell, but within a few miles I took my digger on an off camber corner that was pretty loose. I came into the corner way too fast and immediately realized the danger, I tried to shave some speed with my brake, but grabbed a little too much. Over the bar I go! Not sure how long I was off the bike, but I think it was just a few seconds. After I climbed out of the bushes and pulled my bike out of the way, approximately 7 guys passed me while I was checking myself over. Once I found the pieces to my Oakleys I shoved them in my pocket and continued onward. A few minutes later JP Shores pulls up to me and gives me a call out, but I was dazed and didn't realize it was him until I nearly made a wrong turn off the trail. He then whipped by me like a man with a plan! I was a bit surprised that he had caught and passed me so soon, he has been training really hard, and man it showed on Saturday! When I made the wrong turn I had seen the ribbon blocking the way, but my brain processed it incorrectly and hell I don't know, maybe I was concussed afterall? Anyway, I chased JP for the rest of his race and kept him in sight until the last mile or so when he attacked the climb out of the lap. I tried hard to catch him but It wasn't happening today, he was just too strong. I pulled it together somewhat for my last lap and reeled in a couple of guys from my group, including Todd Fridley, to finish 5th. Todd had raced me at Neosho on Sunday, I was ahead of him by 30+ seconds when he flatted to finish his day at Neosho. So, in a way, the Roundup was our little rematch. He gave me the closest XC finish ever, I wanted to chat with him afterwards, but I couldn't breath and I was at a loss for words. The results say I got him by 1 second, but I know it was closer than that, because I felt him brush my rear wheel as we crossed the finish line. That guy is one heck of a climb sprinter!
The pick below is of JP Shores, he is one of my best friends and a fierce competitor. Look at the determination in his eyes! This pick was taken shortly after he passed me, so I know he was trying to bury me alive! With friends like that, who needs enemies? Right?? LOL. No he truly is a great friend, I would have been pissed if he would have raced it any differently. Great Job Bro!

The picture below is JP and I at Nationals last summer in Colorado, If it wasn't for him I probably wouldn't have been able to go! Someday I'm gonna pay him back for everything, but he just tells me to pay it forward. What a guy! OK, enough of the sappy shit, JP I'm gonna train harder then ever! YOUR goin' down! LOL.

Speaking of Nationals, I received my official qualification notice to race as a cat1 at Sun Valley Idaho this year for my 3rd place finish at Slaughter pen Hollow back in November. I don't think I'm gonna go this year, because I start grad school this summer. I think I will just concentrate on training this season and in the off season for an attempt at nationals in 2012. Realistically I'm probably a year of training away from contending anyways.

This guy was at the Robidoux Roundup and he is pissed at you guys that didn't show!!!

Hace Sol!

Hoy fue un bueno dia, hace sol y cielo azul para millas de gran bicicleta que cabalga! Ahora es tiempo para mi estudiar para un examen espanol.

Hasta luego mis amigos!!!!

Once again I have found myself too busy to blog, but since I finally won a race this year I thought I better brag a little! LOL. Really this win is nothing compared to my teams winnings this same weekend at Mellow Johnnnys Classic. Both Garet and Travis won their respective age groups in the Cat. 1 XC races and Karen Brockett placed 2nd in her group of cat. 1 ladies. I initially had intended on going with them, but since this would've been a training race for me anyway, it made financial sense to go to a local race. The best part is when you actually win some money for a training day! ; ) My race wasn't very stacked so I was able to jump 'em and get the hole shot, I led the whole race and in retrospect wished I had raced the open expert class. They had a bigger field and a minute or two head start, but that didn't stop me from catching them all and passing them. I felt really good on the day and after I caught the open class I hammered a little longer and then put it into cruise control for the last two laps. I didn't want to blow my training for the week by pushing too hard. I have found in my advancing age that it takes me longer to recover after a race. It rained the whole race and was cold, but this course holds up pretty good. In the second lap several sections became pretty sloppy, at the end of the race you couldn't even make out my jersey!

This picture is after I cleaned my jersey!

Looks like I will be over hauling my bike this week!


One of the Crossings at Tour de Tick, It's hard to make out in this picture but the crossing is going over an old rock cabin, probably dating back to the Civil war. Gary Lowden was the race promoter, and he did a great job.


I have been trying a lot of new products, at least new to me, at the top is my Shimano 315's. They are heat molded and vacuum formed to your feet. These shoes are very comfy, I have always used Sidi in the past. I love Sidi, but the 315's are sweet!!!!!!! I have raced with the 315 twice now and I think I will get a pair of them for my road shoe. Below is a picture of a different sealant I'm using in my tubeless tires, unlike the Stan's I have been using, this stuff foams up when it is aggitated. This forces the coagulant against the entire inner surface of the tire. I recently switched to the Schwalbe Rocket Ron race tire and had a terrible time with the Stan's, it took me nearly 3 days to finally get a good seal. Now I'm trying the Cafe Latex, and it sealed in 10 minutes!


This picture is of me at Bone Bender a couple weeks ago, JP Shores and I teamed up for the 6hour Duo. It's kind of funny because If you sort through the event pictures, you will find me racing on two different bikes! JP started the race and when we went to make the exchange My rear was flat! So I stole JP's bike for my first lap.
Last year we finished 4th and we were hoping to get on the podium this year. We had a strong race, but only finished 5th. We both were riding stronger than we did last year, but the field was super stacked. Our team mates Travis and Garet won, they were killing it!
JP also had a good weekend, he went to a road race in Leavenworth Kansas. He finished 15th in the Elite mens Cat 1,2,3 event. Thats super impressive!!!! I'm very proud to be on this Ethos Team! These guys and gals are super strong! In one weekend Ethos kicked butt in four states, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, and Texas. Kay Lehman placed 2nd at Slobber Knocker on saturday, and then raced Neosho in the marathon class! Thats insane because Slobber Knocker is like 60 miles! I said super a lot!

"Now your messin' with a son of a %#$##^"

Eddie, meet Big Ben!! Ben was pretty happy to see me today. Lucky for me he isn't a sprinter like Eddie. He is more of a down hill gravity lover and likes to get big air whenever possible. I'm thank full, because If he ever catches me I might be his lunch!
All apologies to the 2 people who actually read my blog, me and my alt. personality. With my last semester of school, training, trying to prepare for the job market, family, and the bike shop, I haven't had the energy to blog. Training is going well, I almost went to a road race this weekend, but decided to save my money and go to a Mt. bike race in Norman Ok. next weekend, when it's warmer. The following weekend I will be at a conference and training with Smikahl, I think I'm gonna race the Perry road race that Sunday since I will be in Topeka. The week after that I will be off to the Bartlesville Ok mt. bike race. Shoot, I guess I better tune up my top fuel. It's funny, I work on everybody Else's bikes but my own! I think that's typical for bike mechanics who do it for a living, who wants to work after work?

Big Ben

I'm a sucker for anything with a bike on it! Pretty tasty coffee, plus it's organic.

Ice Road Biking

This section of road was interesting on my road bike! about a mile down the road I came to a truck that had slid off the road and took out an electric pole, I should have taken a picture, but my fingers were hurting pretty bad. The looks I got from the spectators was priceless, I had to pop off my mouth by saying something like "some people don't know how to drive on the ice" LOL I have been riding on the slick stuff for many years, you just have to stay balanced on the bike, stay relaxed and make no sudden movements. It gives a whole new perspective to "hold your line"

And here comes more snow! Boy I will be glad when spring and summer arrive.

My parts for my trainer came in today, now I just need a window of opportunity so that I can attempt to do my trainer century for the second time, hopefully It doesn't break on me again. It's looking like the next week is gonna be good enough for me to hit the roads outside. But as soon as the mercury drops into the teens for the daily high, I will attempt it again. I'm almost obsessed with completing it, and I absolutely hate riding on trainers. I think I have lost my mind!

Meet Eddie, the master sprinter

Probably my favorite part of American Flyer's is the introduction of sprint training partner Eddie, he is a real "Son of a Bitch"! I think I have met a few of his kin around my training circuits. The whole family are Sons a Bitches! LOL

Anyway, I got 71 miles into my trainer/century when my trainer malfunctioned. The load bolt stripped out, shouldn't be a big deal except I wasn't able to finish the full 100! I was not putting in a very fast effort anyways. 4 and a half hours and still had 29 miles to go! So now I must try it again, after I get the trainer repaired. I'm gonna try to up the pace next time.

It's the weirdest thing how our mind works, when I do 2 hour training rides on the trainer they seem very long but when I knew I was gonna be on for 6 hours, the first two didn't seem that bad? Hmm, maybe some research design is in order for this one? Anyway I guess I will try it another time, but I will probably wait till the weather sucks again. It looks like it's gonna be warm enough for me for the next few days to ride outside, and with classes starting back up next week I'm not sure when I can try it again. As long as I have 20+degrees F. I refuse to ride indoors, unless something dictates me to do so.

Cya all on the trails soon! GMoney

100 miles on the trainer

I finally found a good use for my textbooks! When I want to simulate some climbing I will add English 101 and U.S. Politics. The text book industry sure has a racket going on, your looking at 200+ dollars in books under my wheel, unfortunately I couldn't sell them back because the school was changing text books for the following semester : (

Well I'm gonna try to ride a century tomorrow on my trainer, I have never ridden more than 4 hours on a trainer before so lets see If I can do it. My trainer does a good job of simulating the feel of the road so I suspect It will take me around 6 hours, I'm only riding base so I shouldn't push the pace too hard. I have three movies to watch while attempting to test my sanity; American Flyers, Breaking Away, and Race across the Sky. If that isn't enough then I can put in my favorite, Star Trek (2009). Well, I better get some sleep, tomorrow is gonna be a long one. Remember, your better than you think you are. You can do more than you think you can!

Snow rides!

I'm ready for summer, but gotta be careful wishing for it to be here, don't want to wish away life. Yesterday I opted to mtb. in the snow, It was just about perfect. Enough snow to make it fun but but not so much to make the hills impossible.

It looks like I'm gonna have to unbury the trainer for the next couple days, I hate riding inside. I have only needed to use it once this cold season, I can take the weather pretty well, but with the single digits in the forcast I'm gonna do whatever it takes to get my training in. Hmmm, maybe a trainer century? I have yet to try that, I'm thinking I would go insane. Please weatherman, give us atleast 20 degree lows!

113 miles today

Well it was a tough day in the wind, we had 30 mph head and cross winds for the first 50+ miles. It was miserable but once we had it at our back we flew home. I wanted to get more pix today but it's too hard to take pictures when the wind is trying to blow you off the road. Jon Mayfield is blocking the cross wind for me, at this point we were trying to get the clouds behind us before the possible rain.

10th annual New Years Day Century hosted by Tailwind Cyclists

13 is my lucky number and the total cyclist that started the new years day ride at 9 AM January 1st. Some of the riders opted to choose shorter routes but the main event was the 100 miler. The start was a little frosty at 20 degrees F. with 10-15 mph winds.

30 miles in and only 9 of us left, we are a little disorganized at this point Jim Simone needed to take a phone call, so we are just chillin while waiting for him. I decided to make it a photo op.

We stopped at Casey's for coffee and I wanted some motrin to relieve the killer head ache I had. I stayed up too late on New Years Eve!

And then there was five!

All in all, it was a pretty mellow ride. We never really pushed the pace very much, we had some newbies to the ride. Our goal was to get as many to the finish line as possible. Dan McNally, Jon Mayfield, and myself did 90% of the domestique work. The pace wasn't very hard so I was happy to take the front.