Schlafly Cycling Team

Blowing out the Pipes

2011-06-24T04:52:00.001-07:00

The Thursday Night Momentum road ride to St. Paul is a great ride to sit in on and 'blow out the pipes'. Wind was a factor and the pace was near the top off the bat. I was popped off the back as we rolled past the church in St. Paul on the way out to Flatwoods. I can usually hold on until Flatwoods, but not tonight. By the time we took the right heading to Highway Y I was a quarter mile back and decided to slow up and work with a couple of guys in the wind. We took turns pulling and mashed out the rest of the course back and re-grouped in St. Paul. The pace of the ride keeps you on the rivet. I can't sustain that level of HR on a mountain bike ride. HR levels were close or the same as a 3 hr MTB race. And going fast is so much fun. Thanks to the roadies for letting a couple of MTBers sit in.

Terry Road

2011-06-22T06:10:00.000-07:00

For anyone out there looking for a good cross ride I would like to suggest Terry Road. I forgot how long of a climb it was. Last night was the first time that I have ridden Terry since it was paved. You can take Terry to Duke, left on Duke and drop down Schlursberg (spelling?), and do some fun hill repeats. Then take Duke to F up the old Calloway Fork to D over to Bromm Park and then take the Busch Wildlife cut-thru back towards the mound. Your legs will feel the burn. Until next time....Cheers.

2010 MS 150 a success!

2010-09-14T17:04:00.000-07:00

Well the weekend is over and what a great one at that! We had a lot of fun sporting the new official yellow Schlafly MS150 jerseys. There were comments to us that we were the best looking team there, what a compliment. Stay tuned for more details and GPS data from the weekend!

Please click on our link at the top right hand side of the main page and see how great Lindsey did on creating a website designed specifically for our Schlafly Cycling Team. Picutres are already up and a calendar of events will shortly be added with future team rides, and charity rides.

The Schlafly Cycling Team is on its way to Columbia, MO for the MS150!

2010-09-10T09:59:00.001-07:00

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Carbing up after a new personal best!

2010-08-08T11:36:00.001-07:00

This morning Jay and I set out for what we planned to be a 65 mile ride. That alone was going to be a new personal best for me.

We left my parents house in Lake St. Louis at 6:00am and rode up through St. Paul and then continued on to the Mueller Park area in St. Charles. We stopped at the Motomart and got some more drinks. Than we went back pretty much the way we came.

When we got back to Lakes St. Louis we decided to go and get the 70 mile mark. We only had 4 more miles, so we pushed on.

Jay and I talked about our first ride together about a year and a half ago. Because I was not in the greatest shape, we went 5 miles and turned around and went back for a whooping total of 10 miles.

Its amazing to me how far I have come in such a short period of time. Thanks Jay for your motivation and help over the past year! And thanks for pulling me today! Out of the 70 miles I think I pulled for about 1 mile, and I'm not joking either!

Aaron

Training

2010-08-06T19:02:00.000-07:00

It has been a great few weeks for me on the bike. I finally placed 3rd at the MO State Crit Championship with 1st place just out of my reach by a few feet. It was a tough sprint at the end but I managed to pull off a 3rd place finish. I went on a breakaway for about 4 laps and blew up. If I would have had the energy to sprint I would have won, no doubt.

I put in a request to move up to cat 4. I was approved and now I will be racing with a faster much more talented field. Nothing against cat 5, its a great learning experience and pretty fast also. My last race was at 23.5mph with some hills. So I cannot wait to get my ass ready for cat 4.

I have been doing a lot of Thursday Momentum team rides. Yesterday was my fastest time yet. 23.1 mph for 30 miles with a ton of rolling hills. My previous best was 22.4 so a big improvement. I also rode the monday mueller ride and kept up with the fast guys and even contended for the final sprint, coming in around 7-10th place. It was a big accomplishment for me, considering the last few times earlier in the season I was usually dropped about mile 10-12. I am happy

I am putting in some good quality miles, I hope you all are doing the same.

Shooting for 50 tomorrow through the hills of St. Paul. And Sunday morning I am going to help my good old buddy Aaron complete his first ever metric century. If I can talk him into it, we may do 75, but he doesnt know that yet!

Happy Friday!

2010-08-06T14:58:00.001-07:00

Hot, Hilly, Windy, & Lonely

2010-07-26T18:55:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday I decided that I was going to go out and spend sometime in the saddle. Since we only have 7 weeks to the MS150, I planned a route from my house in Wentzville, to my Mom & Dads house in Lake St. Louis. The route came out to be 50 miles, and had 935 ft of climbing. Which is just a few hundred feet short of the amount of climbing that we will do over 100 miles when we ride the MS150.

So I got up early because it was going to be one of the hottest days of the year. I had a quick bite to eat, and off I went. The ride was pretty uneventful. I was glad to see how many people were out riding even though it was insanely hot! The only down point was that it seemed like every time I was climbing a hill, the wind was blowing straight in my face. That made for a long day!! All that wind blowing in my face finally caught up to me at mile 40. Both of my legs started cramping, in the same exact spot. So I got off the bike and did some stretching and kind of just relaxed for a few minutes under a big shade tree. Once I got back on I was ok, and I finished up my ride at a pretty easy pace. It took me about 3 hrs and 20 min. I had fun, but riding is definitely better when there is a group to help drag you home!

Peach Pedal ride in Marine, IL, gravel and water...

2010-07-26T07:28:00.000-07:00

I decided to do the Peach Pedal Trailnet ride in Marine, IL on Sunday. It was a good way to get in 53 miles and the day did not look to be too hot. Unfortunately for some people, the heavy rains on Saturday night put a bit of a challenge into the ride. There was gravel on a lot of the turns, that had people a bit upset. I figure if you slow down and are aware of the situation there is nothing to worry about. No issues here! The bigger obstacle was water across the road in two spots. The first was a low water bridge crossing that looked to rarely get wet. The water was 6" to 8" deep and moving fast. Plus there was mud on the road on both sides of the bridge. Most people turned back to look for an alternate route, we picked up the bikes and walked across. It was a good way to cool off. We came to the second one at about 40 miles. The water was across the road between two corn fields, again about 6" deep. I did not get off the bike for this one, just pedal across, like I was a kid again riding after a good rain. I got just as wet as walking since me feet would go into the water at each downstroke of the pedal.

53 miles in just under 4 hours of riding, we had a 13.5 average. I felt good, but could not imagine that being the halfway point of a century. I better log some serious miles before the MS!!!

Hot weather

2010-07-18T15:12:00.001-07:00

The past few weeks have been tough to get out. Since Makenzie is here I have to maximize my ride time. I have been hitting the Thursday Momentum group ride almost every week. The past few days I have gotten in some good ride time. Thursday momentum, Friday Babler hill training, Saturday Schlafly group ride, Sunday MTB ride with Aaron.

The Saturday Schlafly group ride was good. It consisted of Jeff, Aaron, Doug, RJ, and myself. The goal was to take and EASY 30 mile ride. Well Doug wanted to push the pace so of course I had to. We ended up backing down a bit and enjoying a beautiful morning in St. Paul. 30 miles at 17mph was a decent day, sort of relaxing for me since most of my rides lately are 30 miles and at least 22-23 mph.

Friday i went out to Babler park by myself to put in some torture. The hills out there are sweet! I only rode two laps, had a long tough day at work and was walking up and down hills all day. HUH what a great time to ride hills after a hard day at work! Ended up hitting 49.8 mph down hill. I still want to hit 50 there!

Sunday, this morning, Aaron and I went out to Indian Camp Creek for what was supposed to be a good MTB ride followed by a good easy road ride. the roads out there are very nice and very little traffic. Well about 10 minutes left in the mtb ride the thunder and lightening started rolling in. The rain started coming pretty good but we were in the tree packed trail. Once in the open field I turned on the afterburners and sprinted to the car trying to get out of the nasty weather. That was the fastest myself and Aaron put our bikes on the rack and we said "see ya later" and got the hell out of there. Usually we sit and bullshit for a long time after a ride, but today it was a matter of seconds.

keep riding!

Jay

2010-06-30T18:37:00.001-07:00

Well Makenzie is here! She was born Tuesday June 15 at 5:53am. She has taken up quite a bit of my time and I wouldnt change it for the world! I have managed to get in some quality bike rides. I have raced 3 times since and had a few good Momentum training rides.

I tried to race the Missouri State MTB championship race. I was at the start line and felt great. The horn blew and up the steep ass hill we went right off the start. My Heart Rate went throught the roof very quickly. This was my first cat 2 race on the mtb and I was pumped. I was trying to mash it up the first hill and tried to recover on the flats just by the start line. We headed up Grotepeter and i turned the corner to head up the steep technical climb. I shifted down to and easier gear and started cranking on the pedals. About 5 turns of the cranks and BAM there goes my chain. Damn thing snapped and my race was over. 1.4 freakin miles into it and I was done. I had nothing to fix it with so I rode back down the hill and watched the rest of my Momentum team try and finish the race.

Next race was my first ever road bike race. It was the Tour de Grove. A 3 mile circuit race. I was nervous as hell not knowing what I was getting into. the horn went off and there we went. The pace was very very slow off the start. I told myself to let some other idiot do all the work and lead the pack. Well I didnt follow my plan. I ended up out front for a good portion of the race, doing a lot of the work and spendning all my energy. Ryan, Dogfish Racing and member of Schlafly, went out on a break at just the right time and passed me while I was trying to rest. I tried catching him but my legs were not there. I ended up finishing 8th out of 16.

My next good ride was the Thursday momentum group ride. I was up front the whole ride with the crazy fast cat 3/4 guys. My average speed was 23.4mph for 30 miles.

This past sunday I raced in the Webster Groves Crit race. The field was bigger and pretty fast. I was seriously sore from the past few days and I could not get my legs to feel good or loosen up. About half way through Brad rode up next to me and asked how I was feeling. I told him I feel like SHIT!!!! Then we passed the start finish line and they said 3 laps to go. All of a sudden I felt good again! I went out on a solo break and got caught very quickly! I just used up a ton of energy for nothing. With 2 laps to go, 3 of us Momentum guys went out together on a break and the same damn thing happened. We were spent. With about a 1/3 lap to go I passed a lot of people on the backstretch and ended up in 8th place out of 30. Not a bad result considering my legs were fried at the start line! By the way they still hurt now. I think it has to do with very poor nutrition before and after my hard rides. I used to eat and drink a lot right after the ride and everything would be fine the next day, but the past 3 rides I didnt eat or drink anything and I am paying for it.

Keep riding and updating!

Jay

Update

2010-06-06T14:47:00.000-07:00

Well the baby has not arrived yet so I have been trying to get in as much riding as possible. My training level stepped up quite a bit lately. I have been able to push harder and hold that for longer distances. I reached my max mph average last thursday at 22.6 mph for 30+ miles!!!!! Hopefully I can continue some sort of training when I can, i wont have the unlimited amout of time anymore.

I hope everyone is riding or doing something to better their fitness, not much time left before the MS 150. 100 miles two days in a row!

My goal for the ms150 is to ride the first day hard, maybe not stop unless i need to fill up water and get a quick snack. Goal is to finish day one in 5-5.5 hours. Hopefully hold a 20+mph the entire time.

Day two will be a complete group ride. I will stay with whoever wants to ride together, no time limit or goals, just to help anyone finish!

Goals may change, just tentative plans!

Rest day

2010-06-02T16:48:00.000-07:00

Today was a rest day for me. I had been riding pretty hard for the past 10 days. I rode 7 out of 9 days, and yesterday was a recovery ride for 30 minutes on the rollers trying to get some fresh blood into the leg muscles without getting tired. Ever since I bought the new bike, I have been riding the hell out of it! We finished a 66 mile ride on monday with just shy of 19mph average. Not to bad this early in the season, with some big hills also! Not to sure of my riding schedule for the next few weeks, any day we will be welcoming in our daughter to this world. We cant wait!

Monday Mueller Ride

2010-05-24T18:26:00.001-07:00

Today was my 3rd monday mueller ride. My goal is to one day keep up with the very fast race pack, the cat 1-3's. Once you hit about 5 miles it is hammer down. I made it today till mile 8.5 and slowly fell off. It was hot as hell and I had been working out in the sun all day. Not an excuse, but I was tired. I tried talking myself out of riding today but figured dont be a pussy and get my ass off the couch and go ride. I feel much better now.

It started off absolutely no wind at the start. It continued with very little wind until about the half way point. Then the wind kicked up to about 15-20 mph, either head wind or nasty crosswind. I had a terrible time, by myself, trying to get to 16 mph into the wind. The few stretches the wind was at my back i was cruising at 25-28mph. wow what a difference. Ended up today with a 20.2 average. My worst out of the 3 times but it was definitely the hottest and windiest conditions yet. So I will take it.

Brad racing at the O'fallon Gold Cup!

2010-05-22T07:59:00.001-07:00

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Putting in the effort

2010-03-26T14:30:00.000-07:00

Well its that time of the year that we get all excited to get out and ride our bikes in the nice semi warm weather, except for Nathan and Lindsey. Everyone else on the team has been on a ride with me sometime this year I believe. I have been trying to put in as many miles as possible. Especially since the MTB race season has already begun and the next race is two days away, hence the reason I am sitting at my computer resting and not out riding.

So far we have taken advantage of the good weather. I have been hitting the mtb trails pretty hard lately and even some gravel road rides to get some good long hill training in. The only problem is that I tend to overdue it. Riding about 12 out of 14 days was a bad choice. I needed rest and didnt give my body any, as a result my body shut down and became sick. So I took a much needed 6 days off and picked up right were I left. We have gotten in some really good road rides also. Not to many long distance ones yet but a lot in the 20-30 mile range. It is hard when the sun goes down so early.

Good news to report, Brad picked up a sweet new Giant road bike. Great decision for him, the old Lemond was a bit ugly in my mind, but he liked it and that is all that matters. Aaron is coming on strong as well. He believes that he is in better shape already this year then at the end of last. He has put in countless hours on the trainer while there was snow on the ground and to cold to ride outside. Whatch out for Aaron! Mary picked up a new Salsa Mamacita 29er!! I am glad to see another 29er out there, get rid of the small wheels! I hope she likes it. Doug finally got fitted for his road bike, which was way out of whack from what i understand. He should be ready to roll now. Plus with that awesome new headset and carbon handlebars on the Superfly carbon 29er, he should be ready!

No excuses for not having time to ride! Doug and I rode last saturday at 5:45am with the lights on. That was awesome. I bought a new set of lights and was itching to try them out. I am very happy with the set that I bought. Everyone should try a night or early morning ride!

Enough for now

Jay

New MS150 team!

2010-03-26T14:28:00.000-07:00

We have setup an official "Schlafly Cycling" MS150 team this year. Please follow the link and sign up. We are hoping for 20 plus members this year. Lets do all we can to reach our goal!

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/MOSBikeEvents?team_id=203835&pg=team&fr_id=12981

Jay

Training Update

2010-03-12T18:01:00.000-08:00

Well the weather is getting warmer and it has been great to get outside and ride! I am pretty tired of riding the training rollers in the basement, getting up early every Saturday morning to run and go to spin class, and to spend countless hours in the gym on the treadmill, stair climber, or bike.

The past few weeks have been great! Got a few good rides in with Aaron, one was after a 1 hour spin class followed by a 4 mile run, then a 20 mile bike with A. Brad and I have had a few good quality rides on the road, Jeff went with us once I believe. I had a great ride with Chris Stitz, a bit faster than the others but what else would I expect from an Expert class rider. The only problem with this time if year is that I get to excited to ride outside and cannot turn down the opportunity to ride.

I tried to ride Lost Valley last weekend but some spots were very sloppy. Needs some more time to dry out! It is the start of themountain bike race season this weekend,the UFD series now. I raced St Joe last year in the beginner division and took third with Jason Pryor takins second and KeithWeinkein taking first. This year I have to race sport or marathon with the faster crowd which will be good for me!!! It will only make me faster! With all the rain I am a little up in the air if I wil make the 1.5 hour drive to ride a mudfest.

I have been riding a lot lately and working hard in the gym so I hope it pays off! I am feeling a little sinus infection or cold coming on, it usually only happens to me when I train to much and don't give my body enough rest, typical me.

Finally a nice day!

2010-02-20T14:22:00.000-08:00

Today Jay and I decided to take advantage of a rare nice day so far this year. With temps in the 50's we would have been stupid to pass it up. Jay was tired from the last couple of days of spinning class and other workouts. So I figured it would be a good opportunity to be able to ride with him instead of far behind him. I had been riding on my indoor trainer for the past month, and was getting very tired of looking at my basement walls while I peddled to nowhere.

We did 20 miles around Lake St. Louis, it was a nice up and down ride. The temperature was never an issue, and it was actually kind of nice. The training that I have been doing has helped out somewhat, and it was good to be able to stay with him on the flats. The hills are another ball game. Until I drop some serious weight I have a feeling that I will always struggle on the hills.

But, I am just happy to finally get out on the road and enjoy riding!

New Years Day ride

2010-01-01T18:52:00.000-08:00

Happy new years to everyone!! Brad and I rode Lost Valley today. We begun the ride at 2pm with a temp of 18 and a wind chill at about 5-8. It was very chilly but once you get past the first few minutes and start climbing a hill the body heat quickly warms you up. This is the 2nd year that Brad and I broke the new year in with a ride. Only one lap today at a steady pace, both of our feet started to get cold with about 2 miles to go. The trail was frozen solid and Brad started off the ride by sliding on a sheet of ice and falling directly on his knee. Not bad for 100 yards into the ride. I hit a rough spot about half way through. Started getting very hot and cold, with tunnel visio, and started shaking. I had to stop to grab a powerbar. I didn't eat lunch and wasn't feeling well at all. Once the food kicked in I felt a little better, but was still struggling to keep up. We finished the doubletrack section with a sudden burst of snow shooting right into our faces. Pretty cool to ride in snow. We may ride tomorrow but not sure.
Until next time
JW

Thoughts during Berryman Trail Epic 2009

2009-10-28T18:14:00.000-07:00

This blog will be the thoughts and musings while riding 56 miles on a mountain bike for the BT Epic. Musings is a funny word. Jay Wright picked me up at my house in is Jeep Cherokee and with his his sweet mtb and my retro mtb on his new sweet Yakima roof racks looking pro, we rolled on down past Steeleville, MO to Bass River Resort. This place is like an oasis in the middle of the Ozark National Forest. New and nice cabins, great people. This race is extremely well organized. Food on the grill and beer on tap when we got there. With thoughts of camping in a tent or Jay sleeping in the back of his Jeep, we ended up sharing a cabin with Brian Busken, Doug Busken, Jason Pryor, Keith Weinkein, Jay and myself. 6 beds for 6 dudes. Keith and Jason made a huge pot of pasta and meat sauce - delicious. Now it was lights out before 11pm and then 6 guys snoring, waking up in the night, nervous thoughts running through our heads so none of us slept for crap. Next event it's Tylenol PM so it's lights out for good (great idea Doug).

All right - the above was the boring setup to the real adventure. Here are the thoughts racing through my skull during the 10 hours from waking to finishing:

6:30am - "Hell this is early. I'm not hungry but I'm eating everything in sight."
8:20am - "People from southern Missouri talk funny. Guess they're from Missoura. It's freezing I hope I'm gonna warm up when riding soon."

8:30am, mile 0 - "Let's rip. I'm feeling good. Go at my own pace but race."
Mile 1 - "This is a Mike Schneider setup - a trailer parked across the deep creek crossing so we can all walk across. Is it cool that those two girls are going to cut in line in front of 75 guys? You bet your ass it's ok; there are less than 10 girls total here and 145 guys. This Schlafly jersey is pimp."

Mile 5 - "Feeling good on this hill climb, passing some suckers, nice... Still on gravel but have been climbing forever and I'm definitely warm now. Is there really an Ozark Mountain? Well we must be nearing the top. Jason, Jay, Keith are sissy's for wearing so much clothing. It's not that cold. The backside downhill is gonna be so fun."
Mile 11 - "Good call skipping past that 1st water stop. I've only drank 16 oz and have 24 more to last until the next stop at mile 20.5. "
Mile 13 - "Shit that hurt, no blood, bike is OK except my chain is off and my brake lever is flopping around. This jump-stop chain anti-derailleur is a POS. Stay focused and no more falls. Let's catch that 16 year old kid who just passed me."

Mile 15 - "Damn chain fell of again."
Mile 18 - "Where's my other water bottle. Uh, oh must have fallen off in the crash. My legs are cramping a little. Spin up the hills and don't cramp the quads."
Mile 19 - "Damn chain fell of again. This sucks."
Mile 20 - "I hear Jim ringing the bell - gotta be close to the 1st stop. I see people: time to fix the chain thingy, eat and drink up." 40 oz of water at this stop, loaded up with 40 more oz, ate one PB&J sandwich and a Clif Bar. Got stung by a wasp, fixed the chain anti-derailleur thing; now let's rip." I heard that the next 17 miles until I got back here at mile 37 were road, gravel and some single track. They don't know...
Mile 25 - "Just did 2 lap distance at Lost Valley. 2 1/2 more and I'm finished - cramps are gone keep going. FN chain off again. I'm getting so good at fixing it I'm the Nascar pit crew of chain fixing."
Mile 28 - "It's really muddy and now I'm riding uphill on a trail that is a river of water coming down at me. Looks like I'm going 15 mph because the water is rushing down at 7 mph and I'm going up at 8 mph. Kinda cool except the trees around me are barely moving. Kinda weird too."
Mile 32 - "I haven't seen another person forever. It's really quiet in the woods and I haven't seen a single sign of wildlife - no squirrels, no deer, no birds, where am I The bright yellow maple leaves that fall on the forest floor are really shiny. Maybe I'm loosing my mind."
Mile 34 - "FN chain off again. My bike hates me."
Mile 35 - "FN chain again. I'm selling my MTB and road bike on craigslist - I hate bikes."
Mile 36 - "Sweet Jesus that's an awesome downhill. I love cycling! Even passed 4-5 people."
Mile 37 - "Slide into this last stop and start drinking. Think I stopped to long, half the people I passed are back out already. Can't believe I have 19 miles to go. Goal is to finish."
Mile 40 - "Passed a few - cool. That one dude was sitting down on the side of the trail. Hope he finishes. FN chain again. Got passed back by a few."
Mile 45 - "Taking turns pulling with a nice guy named Chris who works at Mesa Cycles is good. At least I have someone to talk to. Only bad thing is my 1x9 doesn't go up hills slow enough. Lot's of people spinning really slow at this point and I have to pass with my taller gears. Well start passing without bonking."
Mile 50 - "I'm out of water. It's raining like crazy. I'm freezing - Jason, Keith and Jay are smart for wearing warm gear. It's official, I'm selling the bikes: I hate cycling."
Mile 51 - "Another sweet downhill single track. I love mtb'ing again. Sure was nice of Mary Piper to send a good luck email on Friday. Lindsey sent a good luck note on Facebook. Does anyone write anymore - I can barely spell anymore. This downhill is to long now, my arms are tired of steering and braking: please go back to a flat section. It's flat now and mud is deep...again.

Mile 52 - "Passed a girl who was kinda hot and some dude. I can't let this girl beat me. FN chain again. Got passed (again). This time by That Girl. FN chain again. Yes again. She's not that hot."
Mile 53 - "Will I admit that I was 1x9 granny gear on this gravel road? Admit it or not I am in granny and I'm tired, thirsty and running on fumes. You're not gonna catch That Girl so time to eat the second sandwich. That was the best PB&J sandwich I've ever eaten. Thanks Buffy. You make the best sandwiches with the bread aligned correctly and are way hotter than That Girl."
Mile 55.5 - "I can see the end. I don't feel that bad but I look like shit. Cruising through the last river crossing at shin deep at least washed a bunch of nasty off my legs and bike."
Mile 56 - "Success is sweet."

After a quick shower, terrible double vegi burger that I tried to spice up by inserting a hot dog inside between two pieces of wonder bread, Jay and I headed home. My legs are still sore as I'm writing this 3 days later. I finished near the back at 8 hours, 6 minutes and 53 seconds. That's a long time to be sitting on a small piece of bike seat. Next year my goal is under 7 hours. Off to find a better way of keeping my chain on. I stopped counting chain jumps after 13. I got so good at fixing the chain I could stop, flip the bike, fix the chain, spin the crank and get back on in less than 90 seconds assuming it didn't get wedged in badly.

Now the goal is to try and maintain plus tweek my current level of fitness through Halloween, Turkey Day, Christmas and Winter and come out in the Spring at a higher level. Mixing more miles, the gym and higher intensity sessions will all help.

Burnin at the Bluffs

2009-10-17T19:05:00.000-07:00

This has been a goal of mine for a very long time. A 12 hour race with teams consisting of 3 members. I was to ride with two other guys from Momentum Racing. We had high hopes of finishing the race in good standings, but as time would determine, it wasnt the case. I was unable to get down to Council Bluffs on friday so I left at 4am on Saturday. I arrived just as team Natural Mystics were waking up, Jason Pryor, Keith Weinkein both members of Schlafly. They cooked a small pancake breakfast and we decided our running order. I was scheduled to go third, Chris was second and Caleb, the fastest, was to start it off. Well my first lap was beginning to look like a good one. I was attacking all the tough hills and the very deep creek crossings. 4 inches of rain two days pryor and more rain the day before made for some wet sections and deep cold water crossings. Well I was on about mile 8and began the nasty rock garden section. I almost made it through the entire thing but at the last minute I heard air gushing out of my rear tire. Damn it!!! I had a small hole squirting out sealant. I tried to let the sealant do its job sitting there with my finger on it. It sealed it up and i shot some co2 in and it blew it out. I decided to take my wheel off and throw a tube in. I was back on my bike in about 10 minutes total. My attitude sort of sucked by this time, bummed out about the flat. I had to pass about 10 people that passed me while changing my tire. Then about mile 13-14 was the finish line. Lap one in 1:33. Not what i was hoping for seeing that the other two came in at 1:23 and 1:27. The second lap went better, no mechanicals or flats, just tired legs. There are two very long climbs on the course and I couldnt bring it to myself to push hard. I spun easily and made it to the top. I rode this lap a lot better but could have pushed a lot harder. My back was cramping up quite a bit and it was hard to push through. I ended up with a second lap of 1:26. much better. I came to the finish line and didnt see Caleb getting ready to leave or Chris waiting either. Finally they came up to me in street clothes and asked if I wanted to continue. I knew Caleb was worn out, Chris wiped out twice and hurt his wrist pretty good, and my back was messed up. I said it was up to them and they said it was time to start drinking. That was sort of the answer I was looking for. We were in 5th out of 12 at the time and was beating natural mystics. We had a fast team, just beat up.

This was by far the best mountain bike race I have been a part of yet. A ton of people and a great atmosphere! Everyone was having a blast. I hope to be a part of it next year again.

Now I am in training for the Berryman Epic 55 mile endurance race on Oct 25. I will post a blog after the race. Last race of the year!

Jay

Greensfelder Race

2009-10-17T18:56:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a while since the race. My computer is down and using Nikki's laptop.

This was an interesting race. There were only 5 people lined up at the starting line in my age group and the usuals were not there. So I had no idea what to expect from any of the other racers. One guy seemed to be very nervous and anxious. Nathan and his group took off and it was now our turn. The race started and one guy took off very fast out of the gate. I couldnt see him anymore about a mile into the race. I figured he was either in the wrong category, or he would burn out like I have seen many others in the past. Well I was right....About 2 miles into the race I started to see him. There was a gradual hill climb and I saw him struggling. I knew he was nothin to worry about now. I passed him at a very high rate of speed. Now i realized I was in first place and had no one in sight. This was only mile 3 or 4 when i pulled ahead this far. I came through the start finish line in less than 18 minutes and knew this was going to be my race. I put it in cruise control for the entire race, never having to push myself. I did see nathan in the woods and told him i was coming to get him knowing he had at least a minute head start. But he was pushing hard battling with another guy in his class, and I was just cruising trying to finish the race without a flat or mechanical issue. I cruised through the finish line in first place!!! My first victory this year. But I wish I could have beaten all the regulars, and not had such an easy race.
Jay

2009-10-05T09:34:00.000-07:00

Greensfelder race

2009-10-03T19:57:00.000-07:00

Well I raced in my second mountain bike race last week and was just as nervous as the first one. To make matters worse Jay and I got there about 3 hours to early so I had plenty of time to think about the race. We warmed up by completing a lap about 9:30 or so and felt pretty good. I just purchased new pedals for my mountain bike and opted on using my road shoes instead of spending more money for mountain bike shoes. Well I know now that they are worth the money.We had prerode the course that sat before and I felt like I had a pretty good feel on how I would do. There was a nice climb about 2/3 of they through the course and I though that is were I was going to make up time. It ended up being my nemesis. There was four riders in my group, 3 of were of age and some 40 year old that snuck into are group. He of course had the lead for a lap in a half until I finally caught him and passed by with a little effort. All day long I had been having problems with my new pedals and finding the cleat on my shoe, on top of my bike being a little out of tune. So needles to say that I was a little frustrated with both problems, but in a little better mood when I took first. It lasted 2 laps and I put it on cruise control thinking that nobody could catch me until I slipped up trying to pass someone and 2nd place passed me. I gathered my composure and caught him quick on the hill 2/3 of the way through and passed him leading into the final lap. I put some distance on him and decided that I needed a drink before the big climb and that was my fatal blow. I took a quick swig and forgot about the little creek crossing and before I knew it I was jumping the creek with one hand on my bars and the other holding Jay's water bottle that I though I could not drop. Well I don't know if you have ever tried it before, but don't.... it doesn't work. I crashed hard bending my handlebars and twisting my seat around.... and dropping Jay's water bottle. It took about twenty seconds to collect my thoughts, gather my things and set my bike straight. Just enough time for 2nd place to pass me. I followed him up the hill and regained the lead with a quarter of a mile to go. We came to a small single track about 600 yards long and I ran into slower traffic.... reference picture below, which gave my opponent time to dissolve my lead. We hit the last pavement stretch with about 70 feet remaining and he pulled along side of me and crossed .01 seconds in front of me. I lost the race. It was an awesome finish and I had never pushed myself so hard. I crossed the finish line, saw Mary standing there getting ready for her race and I laid my bike over next to her and collapsed. I was completely gassed, bleeding... check picture below!!....., and disappointed I had given the race away. Thanks to my teammate, as she cleaned me up.... that would have been Mary.... and told me it was a great finish. I learned alot from that race.... mostly, drop the water bottle, no matter who's it is, and never give up in a race. You never know whats going to happen!!

The Newest Schlafly Team Member!

2009-09-28T21:42:00.000-07:00

She will have to wait 20 years 364 days until she can enjoy the sweet, yummy Schlafly goodness! Legally...
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

MS 150

2009-09-17T15:59:00.000-07:00

This years MS 150 was a blast. Schlafly had 4 members attending the event and we had a good time. All four of us traveled to Columbia on Fri. evening, set up camp, and went out to eat. It was a little dead Fri night and we needed to rest so we called it an early night and climbed into are tents. There is normally plenty of room in my tent for plenty of people, but for some reason brad decided to put all of are bikes inside the tent and cramp are living quarters. It worked out great though because Lindsey and I were on one side and Jay and Brad shared a twin mattress on the other side of the bikes. Lindsey and I never heard any commotion through are "bike" wall, but you could feel the love in the air..... if I may say. Anyway we all awoke in the morning and started with a pancake breakfast and off we went. All 4 of us had decided that day before to tackle the 100 mile route and so we did. It was a beautiful day for it and the first century for 3 of are riders. I think that a couple of us could have gone further because they decided to SPRINT the last mile. O.K. it was like 300 yards but the intentions were there. We hung out in the company tent area for awhile as we refueled with some schlafly beer that was donated to the whole foods group. They are all a bunch of tree huggin, stick eatin, hippies..... but they are cool. My cousin just had to be one of them. We packed up are tent and headed to are hotel for a good nights rest and a hot shower around dark and you could tell that we were all about dead. The morning came to fast and before you knew it we were back at the fairgrounds unloading are bikes for day 2. Jay had a very important " YOU BETTER NOT BE LATE OR I WILL KILL YOU" appointment to make, so he only did the 40 mile route. Lindsey choose the 75 mile route and took it easy as Brad and myself brought on the pain with another 100 mile day. Brad did awesome all day long, for the day before was his first ever century, not to mention that his longest ride prior was 75 miles or so. So to be able to go back to back centuries was a great accomplishment. I had eaten something at lunch around are 70 mile marker and somehow got a boost of energy, so without warning, I climbed a hill and forgot to wait for Brad. Alright I didn't forget, but I really wanted to go and see what I could do the last 30 miles. If it was anyone else, I don't think that I could have gotten away with it, but he is such a nice guy, that I knew he wouldn't yell at me!! I cranked them out as fast as I could push and ended up averaging 19.4 mph at the end of day 2. That was my personal best compared to my previous 18.9 from the day before and a prior century this year and 1.5 mph gain from the last years Ms 150. So needless to say I was very happy with the outcome and can't wait to do it next year. I guess that we have to clear it with Schlafly first, but next year we are going to reserve a spot for a corporate tent and Its going to be awesome. It is a year away but you can never start planning to early. We need a good showing of volunteers and riders to man are tent and show are pride for are sponsor so any ideas will be accepted. For are first year there in 2010 we need to be the best! Jay, Brad, Lindsey, and myself saw what other tents have to offer and we know that the Schlafly tent will be the place to be!!

ICCC Castlewood MTB Race

2009-09-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

Finally, my kind of race! After what seems like a lot of racing on non-technical single track this summer, I had the opportunity to repeat a good showing of 2nd place at last month's Castlewood Challenge with another race in the style I prefer. That means climbing, rocks & roots, and some flowy singletrack for rest thrown in for good measure. My concern with racing the Blue Ribbon trail is that I rarely trek back there on my occasional Castlewood visits because you technically have to "trespass" through some highly eroded trail owned by the railroad to access it these days. Because of that, the race was staged from a trail about 10 minutes or so away from the park. Parking was a bit of an issue, but I shared a ride & Rich & the gang even had trucks to haul your stuff to the staging area from the remote parking that was available. After registering, Tom and I explored the flats for a bit to see what that was like. Interesting terrain - not really all that flat, but fast & flowy with some berms, short, steep hills & turns to keep you honest. I knew what awaited after the tunnel from my pre-ride a few weeks back - some nice hill climbing and more technical than the previous few races have been for sure. My pre-ride had not been very clean, so I was a little concerned. After I headed back to the start, I saw my youthful competitors, Ashley & Gabrielle, along with Celeste, a rider who is thankfully older than me, so chatted with them for a bit. Gabrielle had hurt herself on one of the downhill drops last week, so she was concerned as well. Ashley is with the KC gang, and as we were chatting, the KC guys road up to tell Ashley that after the tunnels, things were dicey. I assured her it wasn't that bad, but I could see the doubt. Ashley is the points leader in women's sport & has the top spot locked up for the points series, but she likes to win and is a super nice, but tenacious, competitor. When race line-up was called, I felt unusually calm considering the level of difficulty for this race. My thought was just to go out hard & ride my best & show the the out of town girls, Ashley & Celeste, what home-field advantage is all about. And much to my surprise, I was quickly out in front & stayed there. Gabrielle was right behind me through the start, but when we reached the hills, I expanded my lead. But...on the "flats" Gabrielle was able to get right on my tail again. I had one mechanical on the first lap that slowed me a bit - lost my chain once, but didn't let that affect me mentally & just fixed it & forgot it. First lap down, I was in the lead by a slim 3 seconds. Now, I figured out something. I race so much better in the lead than trying to play catch up! This was my kind of race, but dang-it, I was pretty sure I could not sustain the pace for 3 laps, and I knew that there were way too many flats that Gabrielle could catch me on, so I had to push myself. Second lap was the same story as the first - could pull away on the tough stuff, but Gabrielle was right on me on the flats. Had one issue on the 2nd lap - big stick got caught in my spokes & rode the first big hill hearing the sound of that stick rattling my spokes the whole way. I wanted to wait until the mandatory dismount on a sketchy section that was required by the park, so was glad to make it all the way there without that stupid stick giving me too much trouble. Crossed the line with a 4 second lead on lap 2. Now. Get this. I'm breathing hard for over an hour & those hills were long & I had worked a double shift on Friday and teaching a ding-dang group strength class in the mix, so the 3rd lap was worrying me with my sore legs and fatigue from work on Friday. Gabrielle and I jockeyed back & forth briefly, but when we hit the hills, she had to dismount & I made it up to the top. However, I know I had slowed down on this lap a bit more because I was noticing things I had not on the first two laps, like a bridge that we had to cross. I could not remember crossing a bridge & thought briefly I was lost, but kept on going and just figured I was too much in the zone on the other laps to notice. I lost my chain again on the third lap, and that was what allowed Gabrielle to catch me. She was right on my tail again & finally passed my on the flats before the finish. She was just ahead of me when we crossed the finish line. I definitely made Gabrielle suffer for that win - she put it all out there on the line. I could not push the sprint through the last grassy section and I lost by 8 seconds. My plan worked in that the home girls took it to the out of towners. We smoked them, but I lost the best race of my life. No mechanicals would have made the difference, but my attitude was excellent and I beat the mental demons of letting little things like chains and sticks bother you during a race. It was awesome!

MS150 day - Century day for all!

2009-09-12T18:53:00.000-07:00

100 miles in the book for 4 of the Schlafly members at the MS150!!!!!!! Ouur jerseys were a huge success, probably could have sold at least 15 or so. More details and pics to follow, to damn tired to write tonight. Sleep then more riding in the morning.

Leadville Colorado

2009-09-11T11:28:00.000-07:00

Nathan and I left for Leadville Colorado on Tuesday September 1st and arrived Wednesday morning around 6:15 am St. Louis time. We ended up taking a nice little nap and decided to start our trip by taking a nice ride on the Mineral Belt Trail. We took our road bikes for a nice 12.71-mile ride. Nathan seemed to do very well with the elevation, but me on the other hand not so much. I was dying! The view was awesome. We saw quite a few old mines and some mines that are still in use today. On September 3rd, we took our Mountain Bikes to Twin Lakes. Remember this is my third time actually mountain biking. We started the ride on the wrong route. The directions that they have aren’t the greatest. So we head down this “faint single track trail” that we were looking for and well lets just say it was not a single-track trail. It was a loose gravel road and that’s where Nathan had his first “fall”. So after riding a little further we decided that we didn’t think this was the right trail we were looking for. So we turned around and headed back to the road. We found another single-track trail hoping this was the one that they meant. In the end it wasn’t but managed to meet up with the one we needed and were able to start following the directions that we received. We followed the non-wooded single-track trail halfway around the lake. It was nice for me to try and get used to. We finally hit some wooded trails and I actually enjoyed mountain biking!! There were a few big hills that did me in, but I never had to get off my bike! The view was unbelievable! We came to this old village called Inter-Laken. They are trying to redo this little village so people can use it for Weddings or actually stay overnight in this house they are fixing up. While we were taking alittle rest at this village we could see some storm clouds filling in! So we decided to get going. There were a few creeks for us to go through. One or two of them were a little deeper than we thought! Once we went through these creeks we hit the more “technical” part of the ride. We weren’t sure what they meant by “technical” but boy oh boy did they mean TECHNICAL! I of course had lots of trouble. I think I ended up walking my back the last 4 of the 5 miles that we had left. I did end up hitting a rock making my front tire basically stop, which then caused me to go over my handlebars. Since I wasn’t clipped in I didn’t really fall on my face. I was able to catch myself. I did get a little bruise on my thigh and the pedal did jab my knee giving myself a little scrap. My bike on the other hand tumbled down the hill. When I got to my bike, I started to get on it and realized that my brakes were facing towards me. I walked my bike over to Nathan telling him that we had a HUGE issue! I was thinking that I was going to have to walk the whole way back (which in the end I did because it was so difficult.) He looked at me and took my bike and was like what happened. Then he took my bike and turned my handlebars 180 degrees. Yea I looked like an idiot! Sure gave us something to laugh about especially since Nathan wasn’t having such a great time with his bike either. He ended up with a lot more scrapes and bruises than I did. Let’s just say he was not a happy camper! In the end we had no more pictures of this ride. I am sure Nathan will tell you all about it!

On Friday we decided to climb Mount Elbert. Mount Elbert has an elevation of 14,433 feet. We started our hike around 7:15 AM. It took us 4 hours to make it to the summit. We met quite a few people on our way up and met some wildlife that followed us to the tree lines. I will post some pictures of our bird friends. We stayed up on the summit for about 30 minutes. About 200 yards from the summit we started seeing some storm clouds start to delvelop. They say that when you see clouds forming turn around and head back down the mountain. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! We are 200 yards from the top. So Nathan and I finished the hike up there. Boy I was beat when we finally got up there. But it was beautiful. I don't think our pictures gives it justice. Just so beautiful. Those storm clouds ended up giving us some lovely snow at the top of the mountain. CRAZY! Considering we started off in jeans and a long sleeved shirt. We didn't really pack accordingly for snow so I was freezing! Then on our way back down from the summit we heard some thunder!!! YIKES! Good thing we were on our way down. At about the time we got to the tree line it started raining on us. It ended up taking us half the time to get down the mountain then it did to get up. So we ended up being gone for about 6.5 hours and walked 9.5 miles! What a huge accomplishment HIKING UP MOUNT ELBERT!!!!

Then on Saturday we rode about 15 miles in Salida on our mountain bikes. Let's just say Lindsey's legs could not function. So that bike ride pretty much sucked for me. Overall we had a wonderful trip to Leadville. Maybe next year some of the Schlafley team members will come with us!

NEXT STOP COLUMBIA!!!! MS15O HERE WE COME!!!!

40 Down!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-09-09T20:58:00.000-07:00

The last time that I posted on the blog, I had just set a new personal best of 31 miles. Well since that time I have broken that personal best 3 times. I took it from 31 miles to 32.5 miles, then to 33.5 miles. Well I was growing tired of just jumping up by a mile at a time. So I decided that I was going to do 40 miles even if it killed me! So I set out from my parents house in Lake St. Louis, and planned on riding down towards New Melle. I had ridden there one other time with Jeff, and I really liked the route. It was probably the warmest day that we had in the last 2 weeks. I thought that I had enough water on board, but I would find out 32 miles in that I was one bottle short. At that point I was 8 miles from home, when my legs started to cramp! I had two choices at that time. I could have called my wife and had her come pick me up. Or I could try to stretch it out and keep going. I picked option two, I was not going to give up!! So I stretched my legs for about 5min, and got back on my bike and started heading for home. I went about another 2 miles, and my leg started to cramp again. So I got off and stretch some more, and hopped on and continued on my way. Most of the rest of the trip was downhill, except for a few minor hills. About 1.5 miles away from home there was the first of two small hills that I had to climb to make it back to my parents. When I got about 3/4 of the way up that little hill, my left leg cramped up so bad that it would not move. I was at least able to make it up the hill to a parking lot were I got off and rested for about 10 minutes. I was not going to give up, so I stretched like crazy, and was able to get it worked out. I only had 1.5 miles left so I jumped on and was determined to make it home even if I had to stop 20 more times. The only other stop I had to make was a red light. I had made it home! The rest of the day I spent drinking water and stretching my legs. I must admit though that night I had several celebratory Summer Lagers! There is nothing better then a nice cold Schlafly after you accomplish a goal!!

Tour of Missouri pics. and Ms 150 weekend

2009-09-08T14:38:00.001-07:00

Team ASTANA

It is almost here now. The MS 150 in columbia MO. Great ride and I hope that the weather will stay nice. This will be Brad and Jay's first century, possibley back to back centuries. I think that Lindsey is also going to try one of the days, so lets cheer her on. Its a great time and hopefully the weather stays nice for us. I went down to the Tour of Missouri on Mon for the circui race. Very cool. Everyone should try to make it to a stage to show your support, or they may not come back. There was a large crowd downtown and it seemed like every turn of the course was packed with people. Well wish myself, Lindsey, Jay, and Brad good luck and weather this weekend. Also good luck to Mary in her MTB race!

Tour of Missouri!!!

2009-09-08T14:09:00.000-07:00

Big George Hincapie in the Red, White, & Blue kit. Mark Cavendish is right behind him in the Yellow Jersey!

Team Columbia chasing down the break. The break was 4min ahead at this time. Columbia rider Mark Cavendish won the stage! Columbia chased down the break and ate them for dinner!!

The Peloton going through the King of The Mountain! The sign would look better with Schlafly instead of Michelob Ultra!

Levi Leipheimer climbing a hill. He would look great in Schlafly blue.

Sure was alot of fun to watch!!!!

Now that's how you hydrate!!!

2009-08-29T15:00:00.001-07:00

I Guess It's My Turn!

2009-08-27T10:41:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

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.

Cape MTB Race - I only sucked a little

2009-08-25T19:17:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-25T19:10:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-08-25T18:04:00.001-07:00

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

2009-08-25T17:59:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-25T17:51:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-23T18:35:00.001-07:00

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

2009-08-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-20T18:56:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-19T19:25:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-17T19:24:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-17T18:25:00.001-07:00

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 Â½ 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 Â½ 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!

2009-08-17T18:10:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-16T15:48:00.001-07:00

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

2009-08-11T16:53:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-11T16:29:00.000-07:00

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!!!!

2009-08-06T16:37:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-03T08:14:00.000-07:00

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 :-)

Show-me Games

2009-07-29T19:43:00.001-07:00

Columbia Rockbridge MTB Race - Part Deux

2009-07-29T08:15:00.000-07:00

The Show-Me State Games Rockbridge MTB race would be my first Midwest Fat Tire Series race since Lost Valley in March, so I wasn't sure how things would go since I have been focusing more on road racing over the spring and summer months. I did get a chance to pre-ride part of the course after I raced the Show-Me State Games Road Race last Saturday, so I wasn't as apprehensive as I might have been. The course was a good mix of terrain and not too technical, so I was good to go, although I did not pre-ride the starting loop of the race course. My first lap did not go well. I missed the huge, red right hand turn arrow on a tree at the bottom of the first long downhill and went with the flow of the trail left. I went about a mile or so off course before running into a dead end & a good samaritan non-racer who took me back to the missed turn. I was pretty discouraged at this point. I decided to ride conservatively & aim for a safe finish. With only 3 in Women's Sport, I could do no worse than 3rd & would never catch up after being so far off course. However, if I ended up injured or with a major mechanical, I could DNF & not get any points for the race. The first & only major climb, I did not gear down in time & lost my chain. After fixing that, I road slow & steady, but really enjoyed just riding for fun. I stopped and chatted at the water stop, checked my time, and figured I would not have to go out on a second lap. The only other issue I had after that was a bee in my helmet that I had to stop for. The last 2 or 3 miles went very fast, and when I pulled up to the line, I still had about 15 minutes to kill. I sat for a few more minutes. I wasn't tired & my legs felt good because I never reached race effort. Finally, I decided to go on back out & ride the loop again. I really enjoyed the flow of the trail this time without as many errors. I still made a tactical mistake on the longer uphill section and did not downshift in time, but other than that, road the loop much cleaner & faster. I was still careful, as I wanted to make sure I finished. I hope that my confidence will improve over the next few months as I mountain bike race again, but no matter what, it is always a joy just to be ridin' in the woods!

Great job to Jay & Jason for fighting hard to overcome their mechanicals and finish so well. Brian just wasn't having a good day and that can be hard to overcome. Keith stepped up and did well in his first Sport race. He would have been assured a top spot in Beginner based on his time, but he's already prepping for next year. I could learn a thing or two watching my fellow team members. Physically I could have done much more in this race as I felt very good, but I played it conservatively & don't feel I gave it my best effort once things began to unravel. Lesson learned. Clean slate for Castlewood.

Columbia Rockbridge MTB race

2009-07-28T18:28:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday was the Columbia Rockbridge mtb race. I was pumped up for this race thinking we had about 5 team members going. Well one by one, everyone backed out except for myself and Jason Pryor. Brad was unsure if he was going until 7:30 Sunday morning he sent me a text telling me to go without him. So I headed off to Columbia, by myself.
I pulled into the parking lot to see Jason and Keith Weinkein. Went to the registration table and decided to get a little warm up in. Keith and I rode about 3 miles or so and turned back around because we had a prerace meeting. I timed it really well, only having 20 minutes to get a drink and start the race, so I had no time to sit around and get tired.
We lined up at the start, Jason and I in the middle. I asked him what his strategy was and he said that he really didnt know. So the horn went off and we took off. Jason immediately sprinted out of the gate, shit now i have to play catch up. I was in the middle of the pack around the first turn when we hit a little rough spot and my chain locked up. I couldnt move my peddles at all! I had to jump off of the bike and figure out what the hell went wrong. I fixed it in a minute or two but now I am in last place, dead freaking last!!! I now had to weasle my way through some very slow traffic, and some guys wouldnt let me pass so I had to take the hard way. About 5 miles into it I started seeing the guys in front. I was probably in 8th or so place when there came a long grass uphill section. Obviously the people in this pack were starting to fade quickly. I pulled up on their rear wheel. There were about 7 guys in a straight line. Some from other age brackets. I decided this was my time and my legs had been feeling awesome all day. I pulled to the side and passed every freakin one of them, with authority. I blew right by them and never saw them again. Now I felt really good! I got some extra energy by blowing past them, so I opened up a GU energy gell and swallowed it whole. I knew in about 10-15 minutes I would get the extra kick i was looking for. There was then another stretch of grass and I passed a few more people. I was holding my spot for a long time when we came to a pretty technical climb. I saw 4 guys walking up the hill breathing very heavily. Since I had been feeling so good all day, I decided to hammer through. I passed them with ease and slammed up the hill and never looked back.
The start of the second lap I was in 3rd place. I had given everything trying to catch up to Pryor. I turned the corner and saw him with a flat tire. Well shit, now I am in second but I didnt want to pass him that way! I pushed on by myself for a while longer and saw another busken and another girl on the same long grass section that I passed so many on the first lap. I passed them two and asked Brian if he was ok, he said it was one of those days! I rode the rest of the lap by myself trying to catch up to the first place guy. Never caught him.
I ended up in 2nd, best finish yet for me! Took home another medal and now I have to get ready for Castlewood this coming Sunday.
Jay

2009-07-26T18:13:00.000-07:00

Thursday Night Dirt Crit

2009-07-24T13:02:00.001-07:00

I finally made it out to Castlewood last night to see what the Thursday Night Dirt Crits were all about. You can choose to race A, B or C level or race multiples if so inclined. The loop is non-technical, but fast & furious. Lots of cowbell ringing, cheering and beer hand-ups for racers made it not only fun to race, but great to watch as well! A-racers were muddy head to toe as they raced right after the downpour. It was so slick, that a few of my friends doing B race advised me not to take the chance. However, as I watched the B-racers, they didn't have nearly as much mud on them as A, so I decided to go for it. Great job to Brian Busken who finished well in a loaded B race! The dirt crit was good training for me - you push hard from the start & never let up. Sprinting is not my forte, so I definitely could use more of this type of racing to make me faster. The C race was stacked with some strong female riders, so I was happy to finish 4th out of the women. Next week is the last week for the dirt crits. I hope some of us can make it!

Schlafly Cycling Team in New Jersey!

2009-07-24T06:46:00.000-07:00

This past month my wife and I decided that we were going to go back to New Jersey, for a little vacation. I am originally from there, and my brother Damon, Mom, & Dad still live there. So we packed up the van with the necessities. Our daughter, dog, clothes, bike, & and of course some great Schlafly beer. After 15 hours of driving we arrived at my parents house in Sparta, NJ. That area of New Jersey is really beautiful, with lots of rolling hills and pretty scenery. It is nothing like what most people see when they fly into Newark International Airport.

I was very excited to get to New Jersey! I was also kind of nervous about the hills. Being the most out of shape and heaviest (fattest) member of the Schlafly Cycling Team, I was wondering if I could climb the hills upto my parents house.

We arrived in NJ on Sunday afternoon. We promptly filled up a cooler with some Schlafly and went out on the boat. We ran into some friends out there, so I passed out some of the Summer Lager. It was a hugh hit!

Monday was a day of relaxing from the long drive, and the night before. The Summer Lager went down very easy, and I was feeling a bit hungover.

Tuesday I was feeling much better so my brother Damon and I put on our Schlafly gear and set out on an 11 mile ride around the lake. I was trying to think when the last time was that I rode a bike around the lake. I think I was 11 years old, and I did it on a bmx bike. Which might be the reason why that was the last time I did it. When we set out I was wondering if I would be able to climb the hills. I don't know what I was thinking, but they were never a problem. I don't know what it is, but the hills look a lot worse when you drive them in a car...

Wednesday I wanted to climb Snake Mountain. It sounds really mean and looks that way. It is only 1/4 of a mile long, but it is straight up hill with a grade of 25% so it is really steep. It also has a few switchbacks in it. When I was riding up to it, I felt like I was going to run into a wall. I figured if I could climb this, then there was nothing that was going to stop me. I flew up the hill I wanted to get up it as fast as possible. I averaged 10 mph up it, which I thought was good. I was thinking the rest of the Schlafly team would have probably done 20 mph up it. But I thought it was a great accomplishment and was proud of it.

So after that my brother and I hit the rode again. This time we were going to go a different route with a lenght of about 15 miles. He told me that it was going to be flat. I think his idea of flat and mine are a bit different. It was pretty flat for most of the ride, but the last 3 miles were very hilly. I was feeling really good, about the ride until we made a right onto Current Drive. There was a very steep hill, that caught me of guard. So I put my bike in the lowest gear possible and just started peddaling. I sure was not going to break any land speed records up that hill, but we made it to the top. Just when I thought we were done there was another steep climb. This one was short, and we knocked it out. We were not done though, we had a little flat area before we had to begin the 1.25 mile climb up to my parents house. My brother set a nice tempo that I could keep up with and we went at it. My brother was in the lead the whole way, when we got near the top I said I was going to run him down and pass him. Being twins he must of read my mind because he stepped it up as well. I never caught him!

Friday we decided that we were going to do a longer ride. The longest ride that I have ever done was 25 miles. I wanted to do at least 30 miles, and the goal was to do 40 miles. We picked out a pretty flat route. So we set out on our way, each taking turns breaking the wind. At about 17 miles I was starting to feel crappy. So I had a bar and a drink. I started to feel better, but never really felt 100% after that. When we got to 25 miles I could feel my legs starting to cramp. So we made the decision to lower it to 30 miles. We did it, and I had reached a personal best! That was our last ride of the trip, because it was time to head back to Missouri the next day.

I learned a few things from this trip:

1. That I should never second guess my ability. I am not the fastest Schlafly team member, but I can get it done. "Whatever YOUR 100% is, GIVE IT" As long as you give your all you can be happy.

2. Riding with my brother was awesome! I can't wait until the next time!

Aaron

STL Traditions

2009-07-08T20:03:00.000-07:00

Schlafly and Maull's!

Trifecta

2009-07-05T00:06:00.000-07:00

Rode the Trifecta on Friday. Well, that was the plan. Started MTB at the mound and headed down the Hamburg. Rode Lost Valley and double flatted on the rocky downhill before the double track. Messed things up completely. Turned a 3 course meal into a salad and a appetizer. So I thought. I rode back to the car for more supplies while Keith and Christian Stitz finished the second lap at Lost Valley. We met up on the Katy Trail and headed for Klondike Park. This was the first time I ever rode Hogsback, wow, what a trail. All uphill. It put me in the red for the rest of Klondike. After finishing the trails and fueling up our bottles we hit the Katy back to Lost Valley. We skipped Matson Hill and turned our Trifecta into a Double and then team time trialed home to the Hamburg and the Lost Valley upper lot to enjoy a Helles Summer Lager and the coolest 3rd of July I can remember.

St. Joe MTB race pics

2009-07-01T06:05:00.001-07:00

Tour de Winghaven

2009-06-30T20:02:00.000-07:00

After dabbling a few years in mountain bike racing, I decided I wanted to try a few road races this summer. My goal was to do a crit, circuit and road race and see what I think. In May, I placed 3rd in Cat 4 Women's at the O'Fallon Gold Cup Criterium. It was a tough decision not to do St. Joe's mountain bike race, but the opportunity to race almost in my backyard on June 21st at the Tour de Winghaven was too good to pass up. This was to be a 27 mile circuit race with a Women's Open field. That means that all categories would be racing together, so I would not have the luxury of racing women only in the cat 4 field, but pro, cat 1, 2 and 3 racers as well. I looked at this as an opportunity to see how I stacked up against women who race on the national and local circuit, as Tour de Winghaven is the only race in Missouri that is on the USA Cycling National Racing Calendar. The NRC consists of 30 races across the country that qualify for national points. Going to the line that day was a far cry from the Gold Cup race. The race official explained that the 27 miles race would be reduced to 24 miles due to time constraints and that if a racer is lapped on the course or could impede the final sprint, they may be pulled from the race. With over 30-35 racers in the field, it was a bit larger than the 7 or so in the Gold Cup Cat 4. Luckily, my customary pre-race jitters that start the night before subsided before the gun went off. The race began and the first lap went well - the cornering and round-abouts that I was warned could give me trouble weren't bad at all. Holding your line in a larger group is easier than it looks. You race tighter because you must. On the second lap, the field began to spread out. I saw several cat 4 racers, including one that placed second ahead of me in the Gold Cup race, start to drop off the pack. The pack would surge and sprint at times, and I began to struggle to stay with the pack. After the second lap, I fell off the back with another girl. We took turns pulling for several laps until we caught up to another girl who had fallen off the pack. I asked to pull the uphills while I let them take turns pulling the downhills and flatter sections. We maintained a steady pace, with the lead pack too far ahead to catch and the rest of the pack way too far behind to catch us. As we crossed the line to begin our final lap, the race official pulled us from the race, citing time constraints. They had been behind all morning and wanted to play catch-up. I was disappointed, in that we were never lapped and were not impeding the pack at all. After taking a cool-down spin around the block, I road back to see the women's pack cross the line - 24 miles in an hour, while I completed 21 miles in about 57 minutes for a 22.1 mph pace. I was happy with my performance and didn't feel so bad about the "forced" dnf when I discovered that the field behind us had been pulled long before. Only 19 racers finished in the lead pack and were scored. I think I was 20th...I have mixed feelings about the day. I do know how I stack up, and considering my lack of training and age compared to the other racers, I was thrilled with my result. I just wish I wasn't listed as a dnf. On a day when racers were dropping out due to the heat & being pulled because they were lapped, I personally know what my performance level was. And sometimes that just has to be good enough.

Lost Valley 6-29

2009-06-30T18:57:00.000-07:00

I decided to ride Lost Valley today right after work. I was feeling a little tired but pushed through. Great weather! I was a little nervous about the conditions from the other day. I started from the mound, typical race start. I decided to time my laps to see if I had improved since the race. With no warm up I decided to take it easy on the first gravel section and not bonk in a hurry. I headed down Bocko hill at an amazingly fast speed and cruised up the dreaded gravel climb. I couldnt believe how good I was feeling at this point not having stretched out or warmed up. Cranked it into a harder gear and decided to push harder. I thought that I was pushing pretty hard but never wanted to over do it to fast. I turned into the new section of singletrack and couldnt see shit! I had my sunglasses on and it was very hard to see due to the shadows. This may have been good though, I didnt have time to prepare for anything and just let my bike do the work. I was putting on a pretty good pace by now. So now I am heading into Brads least favorite section with the sharp uphill turn with the rocky technical section coming up. I decided to take the wide turn and washed my rear tire out, sliding off my bike. no bid deal, get up and move on. I decided to try to push it in spots i usually dont or cant, and take it easy on spots where I usually tear it up. Came to the finish line and checked my watch, 46 minutes exactly. Shit! I was hoping for around 40, so I turned the corner and headed back up the gravel climb, knowing I had some time to make up if I wanted to make it in under 1:30. I was about 1/3 up the hill and shifted down, then down, then down. Now I am in my middle ring and easiest gear in the rear. I never climb this hill like that! I was about to quit when something told me to quit being a pussy and push. I hit the top of the hill and started grinding on the pedals. The only bad part of the second lap was a minor toe dab on the new section, rear tire slipped out on a rock. This lap was better, and I felt great, never getting out of breath and really never had sore legs. I pulled up to the finish line and checked the watch, 1:30 exactly. I was a little bummed that it wasnt in the 1:20's but it still was my fasted 2 laps ever. I figured that I would push myself harder if it were a race or if I had more people to ride with, but overall it was a great training day for me. Tore it up the last monster hill in a higher gear than I was used to and headed back to the truck. Only 2 minor toe dabs the whole time, not to bad. Now I have to train for 3 laps, at 10+ miles a lap.

The trail was in the best shape that I have ever seen it in!

Jay

Indian Camp Creek 6-29

2009-06-30T18:55:00.000-07:00

Brad and I went out for short ride at Indian Camp Creek. The trail was in great shape except for handfull of muddy sections which we were able to ride around. We only had time to ride once due to ski practice and came up to about 7 miles. Good quick ride!

Lost Valley Schlafly ride - 6-28

2009-06-30T18:50:00.000-07:00

We had 4 members of the Schlafly Cycling team. myself, Doug, Elizabeth, and Aaron, and one newcommer to the mtb scene hit Lost Valley on Sunday. Jr wanted to brave the mtb crew so we let him borrow Doug's bike. Doug just bought the new Gary Fisher Superfly, one bad ass bike! He was itching to try it out. I woke up and headed over to Aarons house to pick him up. We were heading to the trail to meet Jr hopeing for dry conditions from the rain the night before. Well we were in for a slick ride. Unfortunately for us it was slick and muddy in spots, making it very hard to stay on the trail and on the bike. It was a very slow pace but steady ride. Great to see everyone out! We were all muddy and bikes were a little dirty. There will be better days! Good thing is no one was hurt and everyone had fun!
Jay

St. Joes MTB race

2009-06-30T18:30:00.000-07:00

Well it has been over a week since the race and I think that I finally caught up on fluids. We were in Indiana for a ski expedition on Saturday and Nikki and I drove home that night leaving the team behind to perform without me on Sunday. But it seams that they did better without me anyway.

Sunday morning I woke up bright and early and decided to head down to the Farmington area for the race hoping to get a little pre-ride in before the race, since I had never seen the race course before. I met Keith, Jason, and Scott in the parking lot and decided to get warmed up. Jason took off and I waited for Keith. We rode about 2 miles of the trail and headed back to the truck to get fueled up. It was only about 100 degrees with absolutely no wind, so it wasnt to bad!

About 30 minutes until the race we decided to head back towards the start line and ride another 2 miles to keep warmed up, as if it wasnt hot enough. The race director went through the pre race meeting and it was our time to go. Keith, Jason and myself had a little strategy going into the race, us three ride together, work as a team and help push each other at a good steady pace. Well one guy in our class decided to go out of the gate like a bat out of hell. So immediately our plan was screwed up. I ended up being in second to last place heading into the woods, not were i wanted to be. But immediately caught up to the lead pack. The guy in front burnt out so fast it was amazing, i guess it was the fast pace and the heat that got to him. So us three took off. Keith ended up taking the wrong route leaving Jason and myself in front all alone. We both decided to take it easy and let keith catch up. Well for those that know Keith, it didnt take long. We started riding at a good pace and came to a little rough technical climb. For some stupid reason I was in the wrong gear spinning out like crazy. Once I made it up the hill I was breathing very hard and sweating like no other. I pushed on and tried to stay with Jason. I ended up letting Keith pass me and told him that I thought I was going to overheat, so I slowed down to let me heartrate slow and my breathing to catch up. After about 5-10 minutes I was fine. But know I was all alone and it is hard to push yourself in the woods when there is no one around. It was so damn hot and the sweat was rolling off of my body. I pulled up to the finish line and the director said great job, keep it up, which meant I had to fight through another lap. 8 miles down and 8 more to go in the heat. Thankfully Jason's fiance was in the transition area with a new cold water bottle for me to trade. Mine was empty and I needed water bad. So I headed into the trail trying to make up the gap. About 2 miles into it I came up on a short rough downhill and heard someone behind me. I turned around to look and see if it was someone in my category, and ended up locking my front wheel up and up and over the handle bars I went. No big deal, nothing hurt except a little pride. Got back on the bike and started up again. I was riding all by myself when a singlespeed guy passed me, so I tried to stay on his wheel for a while, knowing he was faster than me so I watched to see what he was doing. He ended up crashing into the woods and I never saw him again.

Feeling pretty good and refueled I cruised through the second lap all alone. I could see the finish line and started pushing very hard. I put my head down and cranked on the pedals, only to look up and see two trees directly in front of me. I swerved out of the way and slid out, just about 100 yards away, totaly feeling like a dumbass. I was drained from the heat, and completely out of it. I finished in third place and another podium finish for me.

It was a very good race, although I went into it tired as hell from skiing and driving and working in the heat all weak before. Should have prepared a little better but oh well, lesson learned. So I then grabbed a Schlafly Pale Ale out of the cooler and relaxed for a bit.

Next race is a while away, time to train!

Jay

St. Joes Mountain Bike Race

2009-06-19T15:15:00.000-07:00

This Sunday is the next race. I know that myself, Jason Pryor and Keith Weinkein are going. Wish us luck. I will have a write up early next week. Hopefully we can get some good pics also!
Jay

st paul flat tire ride

2009-06-18T17:45:00.000-07:00

well it is Thursday night st Paul group ride.
i showed up early to tend to a flat from a ride on Sunday.

it was over 90 degrees so the tire changing was hot.
i finished fixing the flat and we were ready to leave, nope i had another tube failed or i caused a pinch.
brad mac came to the rescue and we did another change in the parking lot.
off we go and i was in the back from the start, it was hot and i could tell the pace was to fast for me today. i hung out in the back for awhile talked to Marys Friend ( sorry) the heat caused me to forget your name. she felt bad for me for awhile then tore off to leave me fighting myself solo.

i made the call to take the escape route home because it would have some shade.
this decision would also take me off of the group route and ridding alone, if they were to turn around to look for me i would never be found.

i was cruising about 12 mph just trying to get home and i felt another flat tire. i was over ten mile from home, no phone, no socks, some water and a rice crispy treat. i waved down a few cars and truck but no one would have anything to do with a guy in tights walking in funny shoes.

i walked until my knees were hurting from the shoes. then came a nice dude named Jeff and picked me up with his truck.

he took me to my truck and bid me good well, thanks Jeff you rally helped out today.

and that dis for my 12 mile ride ...moral take a phone or a tube with some air or you too could be flagging down the boys with pick up trucks who think you are very stupid to be out here on that bike with funny shoes and tights..

2009-06-17T16:32:00.000-07:00

AMEX and Schlafly can take you a very long way..

2009-06-17T12:05:00.000-07:00

the video is a schlafly thursday night group ride

we had 9 riders make the trip out to the hills of st charles county

it was a nice peddle that included a few stops to get the group back together

2009-06-15T17:50:00.000-07:00

2009-06-15T17:48:00.000-07:00

77mile Illinois ride

2009-06-14T19:01:00.000-07:00

Brad, Nathan and myself decided to ride the trailnet ride in Edwardsville, Il on Saturday. I woke up tired from a rough week of work, skiing, and riding hard on my bike. We had ski practice at 7:30 and planned on leaving at 9 for the ride. After practice I was a little worn out but ready to ride. We made the hour drive and pulled into the parking lot. I know one thing, I should have eaten much more before this ride. We took off onto the flat terrain of illinois. I think they picked out every good rode and decided for us to not stay on them. The trailnet guys picked some rough ass rodes for us to ride. We started cruising about 21-24 miles an hour and it seemed like an easy pace to hold on the flats. We each took our turn leading the pack trying to conserve our energy and work together. About mile 25 or so, I started having a little trouble. We started a decent climb and my legs started to give out. It was like I hit a wall or something, just couldnt pedal through it. I slowed way down and watched Nathan and Brad pull WAY ahead of me. It took a while for them to realize that I was way back there and they slowed down for me waiting to catch up. I was hurting. It lasted for about 10-15 miles. We stopped at a rest area and I ate a banana, energy bar, gatorade, and water and stretched out for a minute. Then we realized we were going the wrong way taking the short route. We had to backtrack about 4 miles and get on the long course track. Now I was feeling much better!!!! I almost called it quits but you now me, I cant quit anything and pain is just weakness leaving my body. So I changed my bike computer to read my cadence and tried to keep it around 80-90. That started to work very well. We kept our average speed up the whole time around 19mph, which is pretty quick counting the hills. I looked down at my computer and it read 51 miles, a new personal best for me, so I was a little more pumped up at this time. and the best part is that we only had around 20 miles to go. So with a little more life in me, we pushed on. This was about the time that Nathan started having some issues. I will let him tell you if he wants to. He pushed through it and his problems seemed to go away just like mine did. Brad looked to be getting tired but never showed to many signs of sore dead legs or other issues. We pushed on and finally hit the city again and home sweet home there was the truck. 77 total miles in 4 hours. Pretty good ride for being 27 miles longer than my previous best.
I was going to do a light spin today to get the blood flowing the legs but decided to just get up and walk around at the swivel tournament at the lake. To my surprise I am not tired, nor sore today! Maybe one or two good rides this week, then off to Evansville Indiana friday and saturday for ski shows, then drive home Saturday night, then off to Farmington for the race on Sunday morning!

Jay

Rhetts Run Mountain Bike Race

2009-06-14T18:44:00.000-07:00

Three members of the Schlafly team went to Columbia, Mo this past weekend to race in Rhetts Run, the Missouri State Championships. The morning started out great being picked up by Brad around 7:40 with the sun shining and clear skies. This had to be a great day. Columbia is less than 100 miles so it wasnt that bad. We began to get closer to the trail and clouds moved in. We pulled over to the gas station and it began to rain. We then headed over to the race and the rain let up. We met up with Jason Pryor our newest member of the Schlafly group. Us three decided to pre ride the 4.5 mile course, taking it easy due to wet conditions. Once we were finished we decided to get something to eat and stretch out for the race. Then the rain came, hard! Then it was time to race. Pryor and myself lined up in the front row and Brad right behind us. My goal was to get out in front, and stay out there. I was a little nervous about the conditions getting worse from the rain, and I was right.
The race begun and I was in 2nd place heading around the first turn. The guy in front of me was going like a bat out of hell and took the first turn way to fast for the wet grass. He locked both wheels up and couldnt stop and flew into the woods. It was actually hard not to laugh, he was ok though. So here I am in first place, like i wanted to be. I was cruising along and pulled out ahead a little and then hit a serious slick rock and crashed into the rock trail. I got up and saw a line of people behind me so I let them pass and I jumped back on the bike. Now my seat was all wacked out and was like this the rest of the race. I adjusted it at least 15 times total, it is hard to ride fast when the seat is up your ass. Well now I was in 6th or so place and was on Pryors tire for a while. We then headed up a steep tricky technical rock section and I took the right line and passed everyone. Now back in the lead. Well that didnt last that long. I was again cruising in first and looked down at the front tire, it was moving back and forth very bad. I saw the tire latch had come off and the front wheel was ready to fall off any second. I had to stop and fix it and let the guys pass. Then we hit some slower traffic from the previous group and had to walk certain sections due to the mud and rain. My shoes were so gummed up with mud, that I couldnt clip in my pedals, that is very tough to ride on! I saw pryor just before the end of the first lap and he told me to "keep pushing" and I replied that I couldnt get into my pedals. The second lap was much different. No crashes and really no one to follow. I was riding alone. I passed a few of the younger croud and even a few marathon guys but couldnt seem to put it together to catch Pryor or the other guys in front of me. I came to the finish line hoping to go another lap but just missed the time cut.
Congrats to Jason Pryor for winning 1st place! I ended up in 4th, and Brad said he just didnt have it that day, bringing up the rear. There will be better days Brad! For his sake, it wasnt his course, tight and twisty. Get an open course and he will tear it up and I will struggle.
One more week until the St. Joes race in Farmington, MO. Details to follow
Jay

If you can't laugh at yourself... - Stlbiking Message Board

2009-06-03T19:47:00.000-07:00

If you can't laugh at yourself... - Stlbiking Message Board

Chesterfield and St. Paul

2009-06-02T12:49:00.000-07:00

5-31 Rode a nice route starting in chesterfield and rode around St. Albans with Jeff and Brad. Doug backed out at the last minute, but probably made the right decision! The ride started out on a nice flat 4 mile stretch. Then we had a decision to make, either more flats or a huge uphill climb. Well after feeling a little warmed up, we decided to take on the climb. It wasn't terrible just long and gradual. About half way up, Brad told me it gets better soon. Well it wasn't soon but it did get better. Then we were on top of the hill with amazing views of nice country. We around St. Albans and headed back. We started a monster downhill, very fast and realized that we missed out turn, so we had to climb that big ass hill but it was a hell of a workout. I just kept listening to Brad and Jeff breathing so hard that I thought I would have to stop and call 911. But we managed to make it. Then off to another killer downhill. I tried to max my bike out but was in the wrong gear and I was a little nervous going down it for the first time. I reached 45.8mph and turned the corner to find out there was a one lane bridge ahead so I slammed on the brakes. So then we headed back to the car but we had not had enough yet. Decided to climb Eatherton road hill. That damn hill is steep!! I was behind brad at the start and Jeff was behind me. We started to hold up traffic because we were only pushing a few miles an hour. About 3/4 the way up, my legs almost cramped up but somehow I pushed to the top to meet brad in a driveway and both of us were out of breath. Jeff was so focused he didn't realize that pulled over, but we yelled at him and he stopped. Then we took another 6 or so miles and headed home for a nice bbq at Jeffs house.

6-01 rode St. Paul route with Aaron. He wanted to get some advise on how to get motivated and shift properly. After a down ride for him, he was ready for this one! He seemed very nervous to take on the hills of St. Paul, but those who have been there know they are not as bad as they look. We went down the first hill and up the first big climb. By then I was way ahead and decided to stop and gave Aaron some good advice. Attack the hills, don't let them attack you. We talked for a while about gear selection and cadence and off we went. Whatever I told him must have clicked, because he was tearing it up for quite a while. We stopped back at the truck and talked for a while. The first time I rode with him we did 10 miles of nice easy flat roads. This time it was 14 or so with mostly hills, a lot harder. He did a great job and said he thought he could go forever, and wasn't even tired! He must have found the sweet spot. Next time I will push him farther and see how much he can take. Want to try race pace Aaron???

Jay

Cadence & Gearing

2009-05-31T11:34:00.000-07:00

Hello, Schlafly crew! I'm providing a link to a great article on cycling efficiency. I hope it gives everyone something to think about when you ride.

http://www.active.com/cycling/Articles/Why_fast_pedaling_makes_cyclists_more_efficient.htm

Snapfish:Photo:Shared

2009-05-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

Snapfish:Photo:Shared

Decatur Road ride

2009-05-26T18:35:00.000-07:00

Brad, Jeff, and I went to Decatur Illinois this past weekend to visit Brad's parents, do a little skiing, ride our bikes, and drink some beer. We decided to bring our road bikes along so when the girls were skiing we could take a ride and explore wonderful Decatur.

On Saturday we were bored and decided to hit the road. We tried to map out a ride at the house and headed out the door. Very quickly we found out that are plans were not that great. We found out that some roads were gravel and not paved, or they had little gravel patches in them. Not good for road tires!! But we continued and found some good country roads with a little bit of hill climbs. A good ride getting us three to learn how to work together drafting. Man it makes a big difference when 3 people work together versus a one man team. You are able to go much faster with much less effort. The first ride was about 20 miles, good day to get the legs moving since I didn't ski like the others did earlier in the day.

On Sunday we were planning on a group ride put on by the local bike shop in Decatur. We pulled up to the parking lot and quickly found out that no one had showed up. We met up with a local cyclist that was just passing by and he gave us a pretty good route. He said he had been on the road for 50+ miles, but I didnt believe him. He loved to talk so Brad was in heaven while Jeff and I hung out in the back with Brad's college roomate, Jason. We proceeded on and blew Jason out of the water, he was not used to riding that fast nor that far. Brad stayed back with him most of the time and myself and Jeff got some good interval training in. I even hit 33 on flat ground trying to push myself towards the end. This ride was very flat, and windy. One way was easy, the other way was tough. We rode through one of the connecting towns and stopped in at the gas station for a water fill up and a little rest and we also had to find our way back to the car. The ride ended up being about 27 miles for Jeff and I. Great weather and some good country scenery. We will have to do that again. We finished the night with some good Mexican food and margaritas, followed by some good ole putt putt.

Monday we all woke up to rain hitting the windows. The girls went out skiing early and they guys waited until later. Not feeling well, I stayed home and waited for a while longer. Decided to pack up the car and head home through some nasty rain, they said it was about 8 inches in a couple hours and we drove right through it.

Now back in STL and plan to ride and prepare for the Rhetts Run mountain bike race in a week and a half in Columbia. Gotta keep training and getting faster!

Jay

Stl Blvd helmet cam

2009-05-18T18:47:00.000-07:00

2009-05-13T14:46:00.000-07:00

Hey guys and gals,

Here is the link to an article on Bicycling.com that I thought was interesting, and hopefully helpful. Especially for people like me that want to, or need to drop some pounds. It might also help us fuel our bodies properly for upcoming races and group rides. It doesn't say anything about Schlafly beers, but I am positive that it is ok to consume.

Aaron

http://www.bicycling.com/article/0,6610,s1-4-21-17124-1-P,00.html

Tsali Trail head cam

2009-05-13T13:53:00.000-07:00

Two Members of Team Schlafly Cycling took a road trip to The Tsali Recreation Area in NC. The Tsali is ranked as one of the top ten MTB trails in the nation. We stayed in a custom log home 3 miles from the trail head overlooking lake fontana. The wine and gourmet meals were had day and night as we watched the storms roll in from the mountain side vista. We road, we ate, and we sipped the Patron filled margaritas. It rained everyday but the trail conditions remained ride able. The trails are non technical and the climbs are forgiving. This is a place to consider for your next trip. http://www.mtbikewnc.com/trailheads/tsalitrails.html http://www.watershedcabins.com/

Indian Camp Creek ride

2009-05-10T18:37:00.000-07:00

Just finished riding the hills at Indian camp creek, well little hills are there. The flat section was muddy so I just skipped it and got some hill training in. Surprisingly rthe conditions were really good, excet for a few muddy spots. We only have 3 weeks until the next mtb race at Rhetts Run in Columbia. My goal is to finish in the top 3 or to hopefully win it! The next two weeks will be in training mode. If anyone wants to ride let me know!!!!

Last night Aaron and I enjoyed a few six pack of the fine Schlafly Pale Ale. Great training fluid, kept us hydrated at least last night. I wish the local stores sold the other Schlafly products!

Lost Valley

2009-05-08T07:34:00.000-07:00

This pic was taken after Aaron's first lap at lost valley. Trail was a little muddy in spots, look at Aaron's legs. This is a good pic of the trail behind us coming up on the dreaded climb! Nice pics Brad. It was good to get another person riding with us, and hopefully you continue to come out. We ruined Bocko on that same hill where Brad is taking the pic from, but Aaron cruised right down it. Brad's gps said max speed was around 32mph, and I passed him so it is a fast hill and very loose rock. It was good to see the little 7 year old in the middle of the trail, little kid was doing great! Now it is raining so this trail will be a little wet for a few days. Off to the road bike!

First MTB Ride!

2009-05-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

I had one of my first mountain bike experiences today. Brad, Jay, and I went to Lost Valley. It was a blast! I had a bunch of wipeouts, one was pretty bad. I biffed right in front of a 7yr old boy and his dad. It was funny, when I got up the kid says "boy your tuff!". I told him the fat broke my fall.

I did fair better then El Bocko... I at least made it 2 miles into the ride before I hit the dirt. I do have a pretty nice bruise on my elbow. I am pretty positive that it won't be the last one.

It was a very good learning experience. The most important thing I learned, is my conditioning sucks! My legs were fine, but my wind was not. That is one heck of a good workout! I think that I am going to sleep really good tonight.

It was fun, and I can't wait to get out again soon!

Aaron

2009-05-04T09:35:00.000-07:00

2009 Lost Valley Luau race, place 6th out of 17. First ever mountain bike race. The famous creek crossing!

Welcome!

2009-05-04T09:33:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the schlafly cycling team's blogspot page. Please post about any ride we have done, race you have been involved in, or just anything in general. We would love to hear your thoughts about each ride.