Every group ride turns into a race at some point or another. If its the city limit, or county sign, top of the hill, who can pull the most etc. Well why not have a group ride that has a structured race in it? Awesome. Just ride along and talk to your friends about everything going on with them now that the race season has been over for 3 months or whatever. Every once in awhile you kill yourself to get up a hill. Awesome.
10 Minutes into the ride, at least half of the people there had the cold weather raspy voice cough that you get turning yourself inside out in 28 degrees. Not fun. The dude at the CTR gave me "room for cream" in my Americano, not cool. Mike Stubna crushed it up the first 2 hills and worried me until experience reigned supreme! Peter whiner Cully had "family stuff" to do so he couldnt crush everybody with a 2 month old femur (and try to redeem himself to john minturn to whom he lost a hill the previous week, forcing him to create a myspace profile!!!). Joe Valise (sorry spelling) was just a monster, stronger this year than last for sure.
THe after party had 0 pizzas and 0 break offs. There was a headstand contest, there was flip cup. Danny Chew talked about the breakaway he was in at UsPro with: Chris Charmichael, Andy Hampsten, Davis Phinney, Ron Kiefel and a few other no names.It was the second group coming into the finish. Totally nuts.
Mark Nicoll was totally on fire. He is down in weight, hasnt ridden in 2 months and big ringed 2 hills. He got 3rd on logan which is totally NOT a sprinters hill.
Johnturn totally won 2 hills, Sycamor and Flowers, I really wanted sycamore, but its cool he got it. That is all I remember for now
Monday, November 28, 2005
Sunday, November 20, 2005
PA State Championship.
So Saturday Morning I decided to call Johnturn and head to the middle of nowhere for the State Cyclocross Championship. I decided to race the A's for some reason. We got there at a decent time, the course was good, Mike Hebe gave me my helmet that I lost at the last race. Things were looking good. There was free Redbull, I had my free Gu, which was vanilla bean flavor and it tasted like vanilla pudding. Sweet.
I figured that a top 10 finish wasnt an unreasonable goal with only 14 starters. I had a good start, up the hill and into the grass. I was rubbing elbows with the fast guys, I was behind the picked favorite to win, who did win. I felt good. At some point during the first lap something bad happened and I tried quitting, but didnt have the energy to lift up the yellow tape. After the race John laughed at me and said "Dude you were going backwards so fast!" Awesome. So I rode around the rest of the race getting sympathy cheers from the dudes I usually race in the B's...
John finally got some new music on the Ipod. We rocked Dino JR Fossils, Mettallica Justice for All, The Clash The Clash, Ramones Ramones, Pittsburgh's Greatest finally hooked it up.
We packed up faster than ever and were at Waffle house before the podium presentation even started.
We ran into Jeff Guy at the Starbucks on the turnpike and he asked if I crashed. awesome.
Mad Props to RUGGS for scoring the masters GOLD!
I figured that a top 10 finish wasnt an unreasonable goal with only 14 starters. I had a good start, up the hill and into the grass. I was rubbing elbows with the fast guys, I was behind the picked favorite to win, who did win. I felt good. At some point during the first lap something bad happened and I tried quitting, but didnt have the energy to lift up the yellow tape. After the race John laughed at me and said "Dude you were going backwards so fast!" Awesome. So I rode around the rest of the race getting sympathy cheers from the dudes I usually race in the B's...
John finally got some new music on the Ipod. We rocked Dino JR Fossils, Mettallica Justice for All, The Clash The Clash, Ramones Ramones, Pittsburgh's Greatest finally hooked it up.
We packed up faster than ever and were at Waffle house before the podium presentation even started.
We ran into Jeff Guy at the Starbucks on the turnpike and he asked if I crashed. awesome.
Mad Props to RUGGS for scoring the masters GOLD!
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
500 miles is a real long drive in a car
Leaving Saturday morning for the race was sweet. This was the Western most MAC race and it was only 3.5 hours away! Mapquest must have a new feature that adds in bathroom breaks cause it said 3.5 hours and that is what it took. Sweet.
Lots of dudes from Pittsburgh at the race, maybe cause it was the GPOA sponsored race. Either way, mad props to big Brian W and Jeff Guy for racing the masters then lining up for the B's 12 minutes after the finish. Totally nuts on a 75 degree day.
I felt like total crapola and thought I folded my wheel when it kicked out and made some crazy noises.
The pro dudes went super crazy fast and a few were bunnyhopping the barriers. Totally nuts.
We left the race with Ruggs following the Kraynicks team car in his truck. John was on Navigation, and his performance was lackluster. I got us there without getting lost once. We made TWO! wrong turns in the first 4 miles leaving the race. Totally cute girls smiled and waved at us on the Skukill express way. That ruled. We hung out late talking about bike racing with Ruggs. Late being 10:30pm.
Sunday AM we had a Jr track world champion cook us oatmeal. That was sweet. John put enough sugar his oatmeal that it covered the whole top of the bowl. Oh wait, he thought it was sugar, but it was SALT. Come on dude. Ruggs bailed before us cause he had to dominate the Masters race, which started earlier than ours.
On the way to the race, I felt sluggish and bought my first redbull. 2 dollars dude. We get to the race... free redbull everywhere. After the race, I win a case of redbull. man. Where is my helmet? Oh wait.. its at the race yesterday on the ground where I left it! Team helmet!!!!!
We watched Ruggs get 4th in a totally hard masters race. Awesome. John suffered from another bike problem, while I just suffered to finish.
The dudes from www.harriscycleryracing.com gave me a sweet Tshirt. Those guys have the second coolest team going.
6.5 hour drive home. I went with the Cafe au Lait. John had his first americano. We also had pancakes from the Key City Diner. The girl brough us an odd amount of syrups and John didnt hesitate to show his greed when he used 3 and left me two. Selfish. Apparently it was a long drive home, I dont know cause I slept for awhile. We tried listening to all 3710 songs on his IPOD on shuffle, but only made it to like 50 before I put the 8 mile sound track on to amp us up.
Nature provided some sweet lightning on the way home. It was all around us, which was cool until we were in the middle of a hail storm. I couldnt see the lines on the road or anything for about 5 minutes. It was seriously crazy. John couldnt handle the Americano and started sweating and getting edgy towards the end of the ride. Awesome weekend.
Lots of dudes from Pittsburgh at the race, maybe cause it was the GPOA sponsored race. Either way, mad props to big Brian W and Jeff Guy for racing the masters then lining up for the B's 12 minutes after the finish. Totally nuts on a 75 degree day.
I felt like total crapola and thought I folded my wheel when it kicked out and made some crazy noises.
The pro dudes went super crazy fast and a few were bunnyhopping the barriers. Totally nuts.
We left the race with Ruggs following the Kraynicks team car in his truck. John was on Navigation, and his performance was lackluster. I got us there without getting lost once. We made TWO! wrong turns in the first 4 miles leaving the race. Totally cute girls smiled and waved at us on the Skukill express way. That ruled. We hung out late talking about bike racing with Ruggs. Late being 10:30pm.
Sunday AM we had a Jr track world champion cook us oatmeal. That was sweet. John put enough sugar his oatmeal that it covered the whole top of the bowl. Oh wait, he thought it was sugar, but it was SALT. Come on dude. Ruggs bailed before us cause he had to dominate the Masters race, which started earlier than ours.
On the way to the race, I felt sluggish and bought my first redbull. 2 dollars dude. We get to the race... free redbull everywhere. After the race, I win a case of redbull. man. Where is my helmet? Oh wait.. its at the race yesterday on the ground where I left it! Team helmet!!!!!
We watched Ruggs get 4th in a totally hard masters race. Awesome. John suffered from another bike problem, while I just suffered to finish.
The dudes from www.harriscycleryracing.com gave me a sweet Tshirt. Those guys have the second coolest team going.
6.5 hour drive home. I went with the Cafe au Lait. John had his first americano. We also had pancakes from the Key City Diner. The girl brough us an odd amount of syrups and John didnt hesitate to show his greed when he used 3 and left me two. Selfish. Apparently it was a long drive home, I dont know cause I slept for awhile. We tried listening to all 3710 songs on his IPOD on shuffle, but only made it to like 50 before I put the 8 mile sound track on to amp us up.
Nature provided some sweet lightning on the way home. It was all around us, which was cool until we were in the middle of a hail storm. I couldnt see the lines on the road or anything for about 5 minutes. It was seriously crazy. John couldnt handle the Americano and started sweating and getting edgy towards the end of the ride. Awesome weekend.
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Master Cross race
We crammed 4 bodies into a toyota trecel. One was like 6'3 or something. Mayhew said it was a clown car. 3 bikes on the rack and one scraped when we were leaving so we had to take the front wheel off and put it on Pete and Patti's laps! The all dayer was totally full (all dayer= a 10 cup thermos), and amy was in charge of distribution. We experienced the fall leaves on the way down, which eventually gave way to the beauty of the nuclear power plant along the river. God I love scenic drives.
Johnturn wasnt there this weekend. He was going to do a race in Cincinatti if he could show up on time, we'll have to check out his blog to see (http://johnturn.blogspot.com)...
The worst part of the race was the attendance. It is sad that somebody goes to so much trouble to put on a local race and it has such low turnout. It is even sadder when said person is really nice.
No Im wrong, the worst part of the race was deciding the night before that riding bikes home from it would be a good idea. God was that a long ride, like 47 miles in 3:30 or something. I was really tired, Patty fell over, but toughed it out and the whiner got dropped on all the hills! Pete will make his comeback though, I just need to give him time.
I tried to buy Kiva Han Venetian blend of coffee for the day of, but they didnt have it at the craig street store and the other one was closed so I was forced to brew my own Charbucks. It was free though, so that was sweet. Also did 2 snickers marathon bars over the course of the day, that was also sweeeet.
Welcome back Garbarska
Johnturn wasnt there this weekend. He was going to do a race in Cincinatti if he could show up on time, we'll have to check out his blog to see (http://johnturn.blogspot.com)...
The worst part of the race was the attendance. It is sad that somebody goes to so much trouble to put on a local race and it has such low turnout. It is even sadder when said person is really nice.
No Im wrong, the worst part of the race was deciding the night before that riding bikes home from it would be a good idea. God was that a long ride, like 47 miles in 3:30 or something. I was really tired, Patty fell over, but toughed it out and the whiner got dropped on all the hills! Pete will make his comeback though, I just need to give him time.
I tried to buy Kiva Han Venetian blend of coffee for the day of, but they didnt have it at the craig street store and the other one was closed so I was forced to brew my own Charbucks. It was free though, so that was sweet. Also did 2 snickers marathon bars over the course of the day, that was also sweeeet.
Welcome back Garbarska
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