Cape Girardeau Race

THE RACE RIG

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

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

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

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

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

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

Schlafly Pale Ale Keg!

Here is me getting my 2nd place medal

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

Nathan getting his 1st place medal

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

Jay

Lost Valley Tuesday

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

New personal best!

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

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

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

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

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

Some days you have it, some days you dont!

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

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

Motivation!

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

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

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

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

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

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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.