Now that's how you hydrate!!!

I Guess It's My Turn!

Well this past Sunday (August 23, 2009) I rode the Dog Days of Summer. Since everyone went to Cape to race and others did their own little ride, I rode by myself. This ride was pretty much the ride that we normally do through St. Paul. So it was nice knowing the route. I started the morning off at Wentzville Holt High School. Of course the first thing out of someones mouth was "Nice Bike" and jersey too (I was sporting the Schlafly Jersey) I know everyone just loves my pink bike! They just can't get enough of it! I also had a comment about it at one of the rest stops. I know all of you guys want to ride my pink bike, but I won't allow it! Anyways I started my ride hoping that I would find someone who was close to my pace, but everyone was just taking it easy! I ended up finding a couple people after the first rest stop who were about my pace. I rode with them for awhile. About half way through the ride I happened to glance at my Garmin. My average was 17.1 mph. I couldn't believe it considering I rode 3/4 of that by myself! I couldn't decide if I wanted to do the medium route or the long route. So when I got to the second rest stop I had to decide. I ended up doing the long route since it was only another 5 miles. I was again by myself for the last 10 miles so I was getting tired. Crazy how big of a difference it is to have some drafting friends! Well the last two-three miles I was starting to get wore out. I glanced down at at the Garmin and saw that my average went down to 16.9 mph. I was so bummed. So I picked up my pace and ended the 44.6 miles with an average of 17 mph. I was so proud of myself!

Next ride today! Heading to New Town! See ya!

Indian Camp Creek

This St. Charles County Park has everything a mountain biker wants. Fast flats combined with twists and turns, short steep uhills and groovy descents. Go here to find out more http://parks.sccmo.org/parks/index.php?option=com_content Trees just seem to be calling my name. At least I had a few Dry Hop APA's waiting for me at the car.

Oh yeah, one more thing....Oktoberfest has arrived.

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Cape MTB Race - I only sucked a little

Finally had fun at a MTB race. Cape race had perfect weather, awesome cheering section and somewhat different race crowd than the St Louis area races. 4 of us made the trek to Cape Girardeau- Mary (Wonder Woman) Piper headed down with us after winning her division at the LSL Triathlon the day before, Jay was determined to podium again, Nathan was ready to rock his first MTB race (and rock he did) and I was welcoming getting back on the MTB.

- what's Nathan looking at?


This Cape Race didn't kick my ass like some others. Here's the summary of my races so far:
1. Lost Valley - my 1st race ever. Felt great at the start. Felt like shit somewhere at the 10 minute mark, fell 3 times and in general sucked. Finished 9th out of 17.
2. Council Bluffs - rode 2 laps of Council Bluffs for fun a few weeks before this race. Hated the course on the first lap - hated it more on the 2nd lap. On that day it was hot as hell for a Saturday in early March and my quads cramped hard during the 2nd lap from not eating and dehydration. Classic quote left on my lovely wife's voice mail: "honey we'll be home in 2 hours. Don't call me because I'm to tired to talk." Less than two weeks later and because missouri weather is friggin great, the night before this race it snowed 4 inches (wtf Missour weather). This annual race is called the Rim Wrecker; aptly named because there are some monster rock gardens. Because of melting snow (it was all gone by noon - our race started at 11am) it was "epic conditions", as the Team Seagal guys call it, with rivers of water running under the wheels. Surprisingly, traction was excellent. Turns out the wet clay and silt are good for tire traction and good for wrecking brakes. The bike shops in St Louis ran out of pads because nearly everyone replaced their disk brake pads after the race. Most were using their feet to stop by the end of the race because brake pads had worn away. Summary: It was hard. Finished 6 out of 7. Was in 4th until the last 3 miles where I didn't have anything left and lost two places. I still can't believe I beat anybody. He must have flatted.
3. Rhett's Run in Columbia, MO - more epic conditions. Hard rain the morning of the race made the fast rocky course slick as snot. On the warm-up lap before the race I turned right after a summit to go down a double-track rocky road, front tire slipped out and I fell hard on my right hip on a nice hard as a rock rock (probably a fist sized diamond it was so hard). Hip was torture for the next 90 minutes of racing. Of course it got hot and humid after the rain quit. Summary - I sucked.

Missed St Joe Park race in Farmington because I didn't schedule my Sunday morning right. Was the hottest weekend of the year so maybe I was better off missing that race. One dude got heat stroke and was hauled to the hospital. Jay "Iron Man" Wright made the podium - sweet. I then missed the next 4 raced because of water ski tournaments. One advantage of water ski tournaments is beer gardens and bikinis.

5. Cape Race - this last weekend and my type of conditions. Some steep up hills so I can pass the crazy downhill dudes, no rocks, no mud, hell yeah. Started OK, avoided a potential pileup in the first mile where a dude behind me messed up in a valley and cruised into the woods. I didn't look back, just heard cussing and sticks breaking. Passed a few, got passed, passed some more and ended up 7th (I swear some money changed hands cause I counted 6th at the scorers table - must have been that dude in the yellow jersey (not lance)). Missed the next lap by 16 seconds and I honestly felt I could have picked up a place. I need to get older - would have won the 40 yr old class. 3 years then podium? We'll see. Need to get faster, learn to drink in better areas of the race and push hard 'till my heart pops straight out of chest. This is fun isn't it!

Nathan "Lightning McQueen" Lafferty finished 1st in his very first race in B 20-29, Jay got second to some dude he usually runs right over. It wasn't his favorite course conditions (no mile long rock gardens, no 98*F weather, no rivers of water and no mountains to climb) and he still got 2nd in B 30-39. Mary rocked as usual and finished 3rd in Women's Sport. Good day for the Schlafly crew.

Schlafly Jersey's a Big Hit

A few weeks ago Nathan, Lindsey and I did the Trailnet I Scream for Ice Cream ride in Edwardsville. 46 mile fun ride. We three were sportin' the Schlafly Jersey's (check them out throughout this blog). We got truck loads of compliments and people asking where they too could get a pimp jersey too. Post a note if you're interested.

By the way: cruising a road bike at 18mph on flat and no wind becomes easy. Pushing that to 23 then 25 then 27 average speed is hard. Need to keep working on that...

My first Mountain bike race!! (or race period)

I participated in my first ever bike race on Sunday in Cape. Brad, Jay, Mary, and myself all packed in Brads car with are bikes hanging on it everywhere and made the two hour journey south. I was about as nervous as one person could get, but with the help of all three of my teammates they calmed my nerves. Jay and I took a practice lap around the moderately easy 3 mile loop. It was defiantly my kinda mountain bike trail. There were very few "technical" parts and mostly nice wide dirt trails. I don't think that I could have choose a better place to start my career in mountain biking. I signed up as a beginner in the 20-29 year old class, and wouldn't you know that there was only three of us. I was a little bummed about that because I was hoping for a wide variety of riders. The race started pretty good. I got off into the woods in second place after I passed are WHOLE Field of 1 other biker and was on the first guys tail until we reached about a 1/2 mile in where there was a somewhat of a hill. My opponent stood up on his bike to take off, and went nowhere, so I stayed seated and pushed my way right past him to top the hill with him being 100 yards back or so, and never saw him again. I feel like I could have pushed myself harder throughout the race if there was someone hot on my trail, but it seemed to be very spread out and I wasn't threatned throughout the race . I placed first in my only race so far and am pretty excited about participating in a road bike race. I feel that I am a little stronger in that style bike and I hope that I can get enough nerve up to try one this year. Wish me luck. Congrats to Jay on a second place, Brad on a seventh place out of 12 riders and Mary on her third place. It was a great showing for Schlafly cycling team at the 2009 Race #10 Cyclewerx Crankfest in Cape Girardeau.

Cape Girardeau Race

THE RACE RIG

Another 2nd place finish for me.....Brad finished 6th....out of 12 in the 30-39 class

Nathan finished 1st out of 3 in the 20-29 class

Mary finished 3rd out of 4 in the womens sport class

Well Brad picked me up early Sunday morning, little did I know Nathan was going with us. Sweet we now will have 4 of us! We got to the course and decided to preride, since it was only 3.5 miles in length. I found out right off the start that this was not my course. Very tight and twisty, not a rock on the course and no hills to climb. What the hell was I doing there? I like the course to be full of technical rocks and hills to climb, that is where I can make up my time and pass people. This was a very fast course and the spectators actually made it fun to ride watching them slide down the hill on a slip-and-slide.

Well the first lap was weird. I lined up to a guy that was not dressed like a biker. He had a tshirt and baggy shorts on and tennis shoes. The funny thing is once the race begun he took off like a bat out of hell!!!! Shit now how can I explain to people how he beat me? Well only about a mile into the race he stopped very fast. I guess he gave it his all for about 5 minutes, but the race was over an hour long. Dumbass! Well I was in 3rd for most of the race and got stuck behind some slower traffic on the second lap. I finally caught up to take over 2nd place just about the middle of the 3rd lap. I passed the guy and we started talking, he told me that I was much faster than he was on the flats and uphills, but damn he could kill me on the downhills. We headed toward the so called big climb and I blew him away. he told me that he would see me back at the finish line. I saw him about 10 minutes later and he said, damn dude nice work up that hill. Now I had to try to catch the leader. I could see him through the woods but couldnt work up the stamina or drive to push any harder to catch him. This course was tough for me, not at all my style. While I was trying very hard to catch him, I was stung by a bee in my lip. That took all the drive out. I was worried for the rest of the 4th lap that I was going to get dizzy and throwup from the sting. I started to hurt like hell and I knew I still had a few miles to go. I put my head down, and started cranking but ended up still in second. Very dissapointing to lose out on first but 2nd is not that bad. Even tho 2nd place is the first loser! Maybe next time I can get some extra energy and drive to push through the pain.

I guess this is what I get for lifting weights for legs on tuesday, riding hard on wednesday, riding hard on thursday, easy riding on friday, working 9 hours on saturday and trying to put together a race on sunday. Nice job finding some relaxing time in there idiot. Now I understand that I really do need a rest day before racing!

Schlafly Pale Ale Keg!

Here is me getting my 2nd place medal

Congrats to Nathan for the 1st place, I wish it was stiffer competition for you and more people. Hopefully next time there will be a better showing! .

Nathan getting his 1st place medal

Great job Mary, another podium
Great job Brad, this course was right up your alley! Great finish for your first race back in a long time! Here is your new bike you bought, Dont tell Buffy how much it costs...........about $5000
Until next adventure....

Jay

Lost Valley Tuesday

Lindsey Nathan and I decided to take a spin at lost valley today. This was Lindsey's first visit to lost valley and from what she talked about, she had a good time. The pace was moderate, not race pace. We were all a little tired from last week and the Sunday race. About 5 or so miles in, I was cruising downhill and heard the dreaded flat tire sound. I pulled over and discovered my rear tire had a hole in it. We quickly changed the tire and with one CO2 cartridge left, it blew up. I only had about 12-15 psi in the tires. It was damn near flat, so I had to take it very easy the rest of the way. i felt every single rock bash up against the rim. I hope i didnt screw up the rim, they cost to much money to replace!!! I also found out that my front fork is bottoming out for some reason. I noticed it Sunday at the race but I thought it was low psi in the tires. I hope the fork isnt broken, that is expensive also!
More riding this week, preparing for the MS150 ride.
Jay

New personal best!

All week I had been trying to get myself pumped up for a longer ride. It has been a while since I had rode over 25 miles. I had been planning on doing the ride myself, because I thought that everyone else was going to Cape for a mountain bike race. So I was really surprised, and excited when I got a text message from fellow Schlafly Cycling Team member Jeff Buehrle. He was asking when & were I was planning on riding.

After exchanging a few text messages. We decided to meet at the Schnucks in Lake St. Louis. Jeff had been talking about a ride down towards New Melle that he had done. So at 7:00am we headed out. The route was going to be 28 miles round trip. It was a very scenic route. We even saw two coyotes, which freaked me out at first.

This was the earliest in the morning that I had ever ridden. So I was not too sure how my body would react. Plus it was pretty cool for the end of August. Well about 20 miles in I felt great! I started to think that I at least needed to do 30 miles. That would equal my personal best. When we got close to the end I decided that I needed to go pass my personal best. So we ended up going 31 miles. One mile past my old personal best. Its not much past but it made me feel better. Plus the difference after this ride was that I did not feel terrible.

Jeff was great to have along! He is by far in much better shape then myself, and could have pushed the pace much faster. He didn't, and choose to ride at my pace. Which I am sure he felt like he was crawling! The conversation and company were both great too. Thanks Jeff!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Don't be so hard on yourself

I think that Jay and Brad did just fine on Thurs. evening. We all pushed each other up and down the hills. That was my first time (Babler) and I really enjoyed it. Its a great place because it is not crowed, roads are great, and there was shade the whole time. I plan on riding sunday's Trailnet ride out of Wentzville. I think that doug wanted to do it early, so if the cape race is rained out, get a hold of Myself, Lindsey, or Doug for a early road ride Sunday.

Some days you have it, some days you dont!

Well Tuesday I decided to go back to the gym and get a leg workout in. Now I understand why bike racers do not lift weights during the season. On Wednesday Doug, Brad and I rode a nice 32 mile route South of Lake St. Louis. Some good hills and good flat sections. Almost no traffic! Yesterday I had it!!! I felt great on everything, flats and climbing. Brad thought he would give me a run for my money and tried racing me up hill. But I wasnt having it and sprinted to the top! Every hill felt great leaving the other two behind.
Well today was different. I was looking forward to ride the hills at Babler again for some time. Nathan, Brad and I made the trip over. We took off and my legs felt sluggish. Maybe it was just no warm up. The first big hill was not to bad, then off to the second lap. It got a little harder. The third lap was even harder yet. The fourth lap I almost walked. Are you freaking kidding me? Walking? My mind was in a different place. Usually I can push through the pain and hammer down, but today sucked ASS! It took everything I had to make it up the hill, watching Nathan fly up it and Brad pass right by me. I guess that is what I get for lifting and then trying to ride two days hard back to back to back!!! Idiot!

Now I need to rest for the Cape Girardeau race this Sunday! Come on 1st place!!!!!! Schlafly needs to bring home a winner!

Motivation!

This morning was a tough morning for me. As I was getting my 3 year old daughter Lauren ready for the day. She stopped me right in my tracks, with a question that hit me square in the Jaw. A question that I have often asked myself. But for some reason when she asked me it cut really deep. She said "daddy, why are you so fat?". I have been called everything under the sun, by just about everyone. But her innocent question was a tough pill to swallow.

So later that afternoon, before I left to go out of town. I decided that I was going to ride a little 9 mile ride that I do in Lake St. Louis. My goal is to finish this ride in 30 minutes. Until today the best time I had ever done is 31min 33sec.

However today I had a little extra motivation. Whenever I felt myself slowing down, I would hear Lauren ask me her question. I would then kick it up a notch. I pushed myself harder then I had ever pushed before. I was determined to get it done in 30min!

When I finally finished my ride I looked at my bike computer. I knew that I was close to my goal, but was not sure were I would end up. I was bummed to see that I had missed my mark by 13 seconds! But I was not too upset, because I took 1min 20sec off of my personal best.

I know Lauren didn't mean to hurt my feelings. She was just simple asking an innocent, and truthful question. It sure gave me that extra little kick in the ass that I needed! Tony Robbins better watch out!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Elizabeth and i took a trip to Utah for some mountain biking.

we road the world famous slickrock trail in extreme heat but it was worth it.

the views were great and the trail has one big feature, it has the best traction you have ever seen. you can stand up and crank like a road ride.

it takes some getting use to because the ride is all up and down and the ups are very steep.

The feel of the ride is very different due to the lack of trees.

i recommend riding this trail in the spring or fall not in the summer.

The next stop on our Utah trip was Park City. This place is a great snow ski resort with famous restaurants, the home of the Sundanese film festival and good beer. The park city area has a 300 mile trail network and most of it is lift served. We rented a condo on the mountain and road everyday right out of the condo. The room rates in the summer are 50% less than in the winter.

We road over 20 miles each day. The trails are excellent and its not a deal like Winter Park or the normal take a lift up and coast to the bottom. These trails rock, its hard pack single track.

I have never seen Trails in the Rockies that are smooth hard pack, no rocks.

They are very fast so fast that a few up hill riders from Utah were pissed as my buddy slid 50 feet and smashed into one as he flew down the mountain out of control, he literal hit the wheel of some guy...

over all Utah is a place to visit for your next mountain bike adventure.

August 23 - Points Series #10 - Cape Race, Cape Girardeau, MO

Come one come all! Let's see some support for Schlafly and get some of us idiots to the race! Should be a great race.

Event Highlights: The CYCLEWERX Crew is looking forward to bringing you another great race. We have changes this year as we have an entirely new and exciting venue.Klaus Park is the setting for this years race, and it is easy to find and easy to get to with close proximity to Interstate 55. The Course: It is a fast and flowy hardpacked singletrack trail with virtually no rocks and only a few exposed roots, and the race loop will be approximately 3 ½ miles long, virtually all singletrack. There are three (3) climbs, one of which is an old gravel road bed, while the others are sweet singletrack. The Park: We will have plenty of schwag and a fun atmosphere with music and much more. The park has several covered pavilions with BBQ grills as well, and it is a very shaded park with large old growth trees which provide a beautiful setting for a race. There are nice clean restroom facilities (not Porta-Potties) and the park provides excellent opportunities for spectators to view racers often. Concessions will be provided by Burrito-ville, one of our great sponsors. There aren't any convenience stores or restaurants at this exit so you might want to come prepared, but we will have Powerade, water, energy drinks, coffee and possibly some hot dogs for sale in addition to the concessions offered by Burrito-ville. Race Times: 11:00 am Beginners race for 1 hour $25 Marathon race for 3 hours $25 12:30 Sport race for 90 minutes $25 Expert / Pro for 90 minutes $30 SS for 90 minutes $25Directions to Klaus Park: The park is located next to I-55 at exit # 99 (Cape Girardeau/Jackson.) At the exit, head West (that would be a right for people coming in from the North off of I-55) onto Highway 61/34. Once you take the exit and begin heading west immediately get into the left lane as you need to take the first left onto Wedekind Rd. After crossing the highway, Wedekind Road comes to a "T" intersection 3 way stop. Take a left turn at the stop sign and go approximately a ½ mile to the Park entrance on the left. Additional parking will be available across from the entrance to the park.

St. Paul jersey show off ride!

Our largest outing since the new jerseys came in! Check out the pic, great looking group(at least from the left side to about the middle). The new jerseys have been a real hit! I am glad people like me and Brad's design. Thanks Schlafly for supporting us and letting us design the kick ass jerseys!

This pic was taken after one short 12 mile lap around St. Paul. We picked up another rider and got rid of a few and proceeded on to another 25 mile long loop around St. Paul. This was the first time we have ridden in thi big of a group in a while due to the ski season kicking it into high gear. Now that it is over I look forward to have more of these type of rides in the future.

Nathan and I decided that we should have some sprint sections in the ride to spice it up a little bit. Brad led us into the Guthrie hill thinking to himself that he would be able to beat us up it. Little did he know Nathan was on his wheel and I was on Nathans wheel just waiting for Brad to slip up. Once we hit the hill Nathan and I shot off and passed Brad at a very fast speed. Brad was pissed and said something to us that I cant write on here! He wanted to be the king of the hill but you cant lead two of the fastest guys into a hill and not expect us to fight it out. I think he learned his lesson not to pull us for that long, letting us save our energy.

For a while I hung out in the back, very back and just observed the group. It looks great to see everyone in the blue and yellow Schlafly Cycling jerseys! But you know me, I couldnt take being in the back long, I had to move to the front and work a little bit. I like pulling the group, I get to ride at my speed. If they cant hang with me, then they should work harder, just kidding, I will wait for them.

Enjoy the team pic!

Jay

Quail Ridge

Today I was asked by my 10 year old nephew Jacob if I wanted to go to Quail Ridge and ride some of the MTB trails. I said, " sure that would be fun!" So Jake, my brother-in-law Jim, and I headed over there. It had been a really long time since I had rode my bike there. That's were I first started riding bikes a few years back.

As I was riding today I remembered the first time that I rode there. It was at my heaviest weight ever 272lbs. I had just made the decision that I was going to change how I looked. So I went out and bought a Trek 4300 mountain bike, the same bike I rode today. That day I did one lap around, and I didn't even leave the concrete trails. It was only 2.56 miles, and I think it took me like 30 minutes! After I was done I had felt like I was going to die! But I also felt a great sense of accomlishment!

So I was excited today to see how much I had improved. Today the 3 of us did about 10 miles. We hit some of the trails and some of the concrete ones as well. After this trip I felt great! It is amazing how much improvement I have made. It also motivates me to keep working hard, because I have a ton of work still left to do! My Nephew Jacob did all 10 miles on a BMX bike. He is an animal!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Spanish Lake MTB race

The word on the street is that our very own Mary Piper won the womens sport division race!!!! I saw your time mary, very very nice!!! Wish I could have been there, but we were in Rockford, IL. Let us know how the race was and how it felt to win your first Sport race! I should have went, the guys that took first and second are always behind me so I missed out.
Jay

Virgin poster

For all of you who do not know me or of me, my name is Nathan Lafferty and I am part of the Schlafly cycling team. I am very computer illiterate, and I can’t spell, so if a word looks weird… just move on. I first want to say this is my first post and I want to thank everybody who had a hand in putting this together, the people that are keeping it together and Schlafly for sponsoring us. I have been riding for about 4 years with my “now” wife and we love it. She is also part of the team. My biggest achievements have been the MS 150 twice, completing my first double century on the second year. That ride is unbelievable, and if you have never done it, I would highly recommend it. I have logged about 1,000 miles every year, but since joining the team, I should easily top that with the help of Lindsey, Brad, and Jay. I have never raced, but I think that this may be my first year. Jay and Brad go quite frequently and have asked me every time, but I seem to make up some excuse. I get really nervous at even the though of competing, so I’m not sure how I would handle myself once that I got there. Maybe here in the future, they can drag me along and I can prove to them that they should have left me at home. That’s the short story about myself, now I will just talk about how my ride went this weekend. I started off Saturday morning about 7:00 heading for New town from where I live in Warrenton. Last time that I had tried to ride to O’fallon, I only made it about 15 miles till I was struck by a car that ended my ride pretty quick. On this occasion I went down the north service road, through St. Paul, and into New town. From new town I turned around and headed back to O’fallon, where Lindsey’s parents live. I arrived there around 12:30 or so right at 93 miles. I was a little disappointed because my original goal was 100. I retreated inside the cool house for a couple hours to eat and regain some energy before I finished the 7 more miles. All in all, I completed my century with a riding time of 5 hours and 21 minutes and an average of 18.8 mph. That is better then my most recent mph of 18.1 and that was with a few drafting partners. So I was satisfied when my average went up and I was by myself. Lindsey and I went on 45-mile ride through St. Charles on Sun. where we met some new friends. I rode with a guy named Dan that had been riding for quite some time. He will be at this years MS 150 riding for Wild Horse Creek Crusaders. They have a huge tent with lots of sponsors, including Schlafly, (and if any important people are reading) they get like 4 kegs of beer from them. I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of any thing more then a nice cold beer when I get done with the ride in September.

Thanks InBev!!!!

Thanks InBev, because of you we are going to have more Yummy Schlafly to drink!!!!!

http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2009/08/03/story5.html

Castlewood MTB Race

I wanted to put Rockbridge behind me at Castlewood and I was able to achieve that. Great course in awesome shape, tons of racers and close to home. My goal was 3 laps in about 2 hours and I finished 2nd in sport with a 2:04 time. I feel so much better about my mountain biking after Sunday's performance. Here's a pic of the sport ladies just chillin' before the race. Even my pre-race jitters seem to be going away :-)