RAGBRAI

Check out this video. It give a good snapshot of what RAGBRAI is like. Iowa is great and the people who do RAGBRAI are super friendly.

Yes, that was Lance in the video. The last guy is the iconic Mr. Pork Chop.

Hillsboro

Last spring I raced the Hillsboro Roubaix in Hillboro, Illinois. This picture shows us pulling out to start the race. We all waited for a while before it started so when this picture was taken everyone was cold. I raced in the cat 4 group. The pace was okay at first, especially when we headed into the wind. Later, it was really hard to pass and get set up for the hills, so when they came I got yo-yo'd off the back.

I found a few guys to work with, so we kept it up. About 5 miles into the second lap I flatted and remembered that I didn't have any CO2 cartridge to inflate my tube. Mike S gave a cartridge, but it didn't fit my adapter and I only got about 30 pounds of pressure into the tire. I just rode on the mushy tire anyway. I could go fast on the staight parts, but the turns messed me up bad. The tire would have rolled off the rim. I kept passing one of women racers, then she would go by me when I slowed down to turn. I kept asking the course marshalls if they had a pump. It would have been surprising if they had one, so no luck there. Finally Bill M from ICCC caught up to me in a support truck and we got my tire pumped up. I rode on and finished just passing the woman racer I had been doing the cat and mouse with earlier.

Hillsboro is always a hard race. I can't wait for next year.

A Night in the Studio

Our band decided we needed a decent demo tape. Instead of recording it ourselves we decided to pay a studio to record us. We wound up using Smith Lee Productions in Maplewood. We came up with a song list and made a simple versions of the songs for practicing. The big night came on a Monday.

It was pretty cool getting all set up and doing the headphones thing. Our recording engineer was pretty young, but seemed to know what he was doing. Once we got going we managed to record everything live in the studio without any overdubs. We normally have backup vocals, but we ran out of tracks. Here is a medley of what we recorded. It is a pretty big MP3 files so it might take a while to start playing. You could also try the right-click, save as... to get it done faster. We did three songs that I wrote -- Daddys Cookin, Persistent Memories, and So Long, See You Later.

The recording was quick and dirty, but I like it. If we could take our time we could really make a good blues record.

Dirt Church

Sundays are mountain bike days now. We meet up at the Hub at 7:30, then head to the trail. We've got 3 rides in so far. Yesterday was the Chubb.

We started on the West Tyson end and it got real technical real fast. I'm still getting it together and I had to stop quite a few times. We regrouped after the killer climb/walk. It was a perfect day with beautiful fall colors, a clear sky, and temperatures in the 50s.

We rode on up to the picnic table and I ditched my coat. We made it on down to the steps, walked that part and rode the rest of the way down the hill. We got off into the flatter part and it was perfect except for a few muddy spots. We made it through the rock garden and decided to ride the Castlewood loop.

It was pretty wet and hard to pick a good line. We stopped on the river bank for a post card quality view. Ryan hammered out of there and I chased him all the way back to the railroad tracks. At the end, a dog chased me. I got a laugh out of that. We headed back to West Tyson.

There was a little group dread as we approached the climb. I stalled on the rock wall at the start, but held it together all the way to the steps and then to the loose switchback on the picnic table hill. We went out on Flint Quarry. Ryan blasted off on the decent and I finished a few seconds back.

We regrouped and climbed up to the jeep and headed home. I dropped off Andy, headed home. A few hours later I was at the Cardinals parade for the World Series.

Blue Ribbon

When you get to the tunnel, you don't need to slow down. Just go straight in with your head down. It's dark in there, but just keep looking towards the end. When you pop out on the other side go to the left.

The first section is narrow and uphill. It winds around a bit. When you get to the ditch ride through it, make a left and start heading down the steep hill with a sharp right at the bottom.

Get into an easier gear as you head back up and get ready for the log. Hit it straight on and go over it, no need to stop. You'll come out in a field and head back to the left up a steep dirt section. Stay to the right and spin up. Climb a few more feet and bomb back down and climb up to the wooden bridge.

After the wooden bridge you climb some more. Save some energy for the steep rooty section and hit it going as fast as possible. You're back on to gravelly single track now. After a few rollers you climb a steep gravelly section up to a sharp right. It's steep here so try now to spin out.

From here you keep climbing at a reasonable grade. After the left turn be ready for a rooty section that is steep. Hit it with a little bit of speed and you will make it. Grind on up the hill. Stop at the bench and have some water if you want.

Now it's downhill time. No brakes for the first section until you hit the sharp right turn. Get your butt back and head down the loose stuff and look for a good line. Hit the brakes at the bottom and make the left staying over to the right. There's quick section and then you go back to the right and do the same type of hill again. Watch out for the tree. Stay to the right along the washed out dirt part.

Now you're on a very fast section. When it heads to the left you are headed for a steep drop off. Go over hit the brakes, get into an easy gear , make the left and climb back out. You can make it over the roots if you have some speed.

Keep climbing and looking for good lines. Pop up a couple of steep parts and give it all you've got to make the last super steep left. Now you are on the old road and you have to climb out.

At the top start flying down again. It help to bunny hop some of the rough stuff. At the end it gets sort of technical, with the last bit being kind of dangerous due to a big drop off that you have to hit with some speed. To avoid make a sharp right and come off the hill.

Head back into the tunnel. At the end just go straight out.

Son, you just did Blue Ribbon in Castlewood State Park while sitting at your computer.

Getting Back on the Mountain Bike

I had the mountain bike upside down in the garage all summer. There was nothing bad wrong, just a bad tire. I finally got it fixed and headed off to Castlewood.

My brain went into overdrive trying to get it back together. The shaking, tree whizzing by, floating through the loose stuff, getting into the right climbing gear. My legs felt good and I took it easy. After a few trips I felt a little like my old self again. I'm looking forward to the fall and winter on the mountain bike.

Soulard Crit

The Soulard Crit is a very cool event. I had never done it before as a racer, so I decided to give it a go in the Masters division. I didn't feel 100% at the starting line and got gapped right away. We had a small chase group going for pretty much the rest of the race. It seems like we were coming up on crashes all the time and I almost ran over a spectator, but I managed to stay upright. Thankfully, there was small enough of a field that the official left lapped riders in the race, so I got to finish. It was a very hard effort being out in the wind over 50% of the time. When it ended I hung around for the 4/5 race. A lot of my Hub teamates got pulled. I would have probably been one of them, so I'm glad I did the Masters race and got a longer workout.

We cheered Ryan Heine on to a front pack finish in the 3s race. He was totally gassed when the race was over.

Then something strange happened. The St. Louis Cycling Club guys said they needed an announcer. Being the ham that I am, I volunteed and announced the women's race. It was a lot of fun. I wasn't very good at it, but I did my best. I think with practice I could do a lot better. It started to look like I would announce the pro race and my replacement finally showed up. The pace car driver gave me $20 for my trouble, so I got to race for free. Is this a great country or what!

Burn Out

It all started on the fourth of July. The 60 mile "fun ride" turned into an epic hammerfest a lot of the time. Lots of breaks, but still lots of hard riding. Mark nipped me in the city limit sprint going into Waterloo. I felt pretty strong all day. Well until I got home and I was so tired I took a two hour nap.

Wednesday night the Hub ride rolled out and I felt pretty good. I worked my way up from a long way back in the Litzsinger sprint and charged up to Manchester on the front. I hung out for a short while with my homies.

Thursday's Dogfish ride wasn't that fast, but I used up lots of energy. I was first up to Dougherty Ferry, but I got smoked on the Kirkwood Park hill. I reeled in lots of guys at the end okay.

Friday AM Marshall loop was not good. All hills and all the pop out of my legs. I wimped out on the apartments hill and soloed home. Saturday I skipped the Hub and did a 31 mile slowish ride on the FoPo loop.

Time to recover for a few days and do it all over again! Ragbrai is right around the corner.

Dogfish Ride

Last Thursday's Dogfish ride was fast. I caught up to it coming down Lockwood just past Mary Queen of Peace. There were lots of Dogfish jerseys in the crowd, which was good to see. Mr. Merli himself was cranking up the hill pretty good. We chatted about the crit and it sounded like he had a good time.

I hung on the back all the way down Geyer and started going around people when we hit the hill. I didn't catch the front group and wound up pulling a bunch almost back to the lead pack by the time we hit Clayton. It was pretty reasonable heading out to Ballas. After Ballas I got back on the front and stayed there for a while. A curly headed Dogfish guy took a nice long flyer and I chased for quite a while.

I did lots of time on the front in the first part of the ride and that usually means the second half will be rough. It was. We couldn't close down the gap on Conway and chased like crazy all the way up the hill to Mason. I took another flyer and pulled up to the Principia hill.

We came back through Kirkwood park. I was the sacrificial lamb and I blew up coming up the hill. I kept grinding and caught the front guys at the very top after they quit pedaling hard. I looked down and we had averaged 20.8 for the ride.

I broke off and road home. I made some nice barbecue and hit the hay early. I love the summer.

Eating Downtown

There a lots of places to eat lunch in downtown St. Louis. Here are some thought on a few of them.

The best place, by far, is B.B.s Jazz Blues and Soups. I've never had a bad meal there. It's about $11 for lunch, so it's a bit pricey. The atmosphere is excellent, there is alway good music on the sound system and it sounds great. It's not crowded. I think it's just a little bit to far some fat people to walk. The specials are always good. The soups are out of this world. Try it, you'll like it.

And in no particular order...

Wehbe's Cafe: Always good for wraps. The tabouli can be a bit watery. Lot's of hotties eat there, which is nice.

St. Louis Bread: Okay. Sometimes it's too crowded. Good cookies.

Famous, 6th floor: Fried chicken Thursday is good. Nice big salad bar. Why bowls and no plates? I don't get it.

Dooleys: Great burgers, heart attack on a plate. Can be smokey, that can ruin any meal.

ZuZu: I love Mexican. It was horrible when it first opened. Now it's good. The green salsa is the bomb. They charge extra for iced tea. What?

Red Door Chinese: no-smoking back room when I get there. no wata seven fify when I leave. In between, completely stuff myself. I alway go down the south side of the buffet.

Kitchen K: Pricey and loud. Don't, I repeat, don't order the jamaican reuben.

Not worth mentioning: Lion's Choice, Wendy's, TGI Friday's, Swifty's, New York Deli, Quiznos, there I just mentioned them.

Sharkys

Images from a band job:

A beautiful sunset looking from Missouri into Illinois, while Mississippi flows by from south to north.

A girl doing a pole dance in a satin top while ten other women talked about her.

A pushy 70 year old lady singing The Rose while the crownd waits painfully.

Six boaters sitting smoking six cigarettes.

Song after song with no dancers, a small crowd.

A long ride out through the corn fields, stuck behind a MoDot truck

Webster Crit

I felt pretty good when I lined up for the 4/5 race. I wasn't completely warmed up, so I knew the first few laps were going to hurt.

I started out pretty much toward the back. I keep screwing up by not moving up toward the front at the start. The first turn was a traffic jam and I had to get up and sprint afterward. The pace felt pretty fast, but I wasn't having any trouble hanging on. About five laps in I was getting pretty warmed up and I started passing and drifting up to the front of the race. My hope was to meet up with my Hub teammates and settle in until the last few laps.

Just past the finish line it happened. Guys were flying all over the place. Crashing everywhere. I grabbed the brakes and got lucky. I came to a complete stop and missed everybody. The problem was I lost complete contact with the front group and I was going to have to chase to get back on. It was pretty hopeless, but I gave it a good effort for a couple of laps. I was flying solo and using up a ton of energy. I saw guy on my wheel and tried to wave him through, but he wouldn't do it. Finally, Adam showed up and I got a little break. We couldn't see the main field, but we finally had a little chase group going.

Next time around Buddy pulled us. I figured we must have been about to get lapped. I cut through a parking lot and headed back to the spectator area. Nobody know about the crash. Later the group went by and some of the crashers were still out there.

I saw Adam back at the wheel pit and he was ticked off about getting pulled. It turns out we were only about 20 seconds behind. A lap was taking about 2:20, so we were in no danger of getting lapped, even by the end of the race. $30 down the drain. Later, Paul told me he was way behind us, and he didn't get pulled until the last lap.

Oh well. It was great to see Ryan there. He was heading off to Columbia. It was a busy weekend. Two band jobs and a bike race.

Marinas

This weekend Daddy's Cookin' is playing the St. Charles marinas. We've got Capt. Jacks tonight. The setting is perfect. We play on a deck overlooking the Mississippi. Last time was a blast and they really wanted us back. I've been working a Santana tune and it's going to probably be our first song. We actually worked up Free Bird for late. It's a maybe right now.

We've finally been actually practicing. We have some rocked up versions of oldies that should sound good. Lately we been taking a Rolling Stones style guitar and doing our own versions of stuff.

Tomorrow is Sharky's. It's going to be a long, fun weekend. The Dogfish race is Sunday. If I'm not too exhausted, I'll be there.

Hub Ride

Last night's Hub ride started on the wrong foot for me. I went out into my garage, where is had to be about 110 degrees, to get my bike. The tires felt a little soft. I was pumping up the back tire and the stem broke off. I changed out the tube and headed down toward the ride.

Just my luck, I see the group on the other side of a grass median and I missed them. I had to sprint like heck to get back on. Looking around, there were a lot of the regulars. I reset my trip computer as we crossed Manchester.

I got gapped on the Geyer hill and had to go for it all the way to Clayton. We let up for a while and regrouped at Ballas. Just past Principia we caught up with a triathlon chick. She was hanging on for a half mile or so and then she disappeared. There were a few attacks on Mason Woods and we got back together on Mason. There was a girl waiting sideways in the lane as we rode around her.

On the hill heading to Mason I wound up in front. I stayed on the front all the way up the hill on Conway and most of the way down Babler. When we hit Ladue, Dan Bruns bolted off the front and we all chased him up to the red light.

On the grind up Conway I got caught behind a couple of guys and had the chase out in the wind for a bit. I grabbed Ryan's wheel for a good bit of it. We rocked pretty good from there until Litzsinger. The sprint was a blast. Ron went out first, I slowly pulled through and then the rush came through the turns. I wound up fourth at the turn on to McNight. I pushed up the hill to Manchester and was first to the light. Ryan took off like usual and I followed him the rest of the way. Dan Bruns came out of nowhere and passed me at the railroad tracks. It seemed like we were about a minute or so in front of everybody. It was so hot my head felt like it was going to explode. Our average speed, including a the stopping and a slow roll on Litzsinger was 20.8 mph.

I hung around the bike shop for a short meeting with a few beers and noodle on home. Cheryl and Brett were watching America's Top Model. After a hamburger, fries, and some undercooked brownies I was done. Sleepy time. Good night.

Chasing George

Yesterday George asked if I wanted to do the Marshall loop. It sounded like there would be a few guys going. I wasn't sure if I would do it, so I told him not to wait for me.

This morning I woke up at 4:30. I went to bed early last night because I felt bad. I decided to go on the ride and I felt pretty good when I got started. It turned out that George was the only one to show up. We headed down past Kirkwood park. I cruised ahead and hit Lindeman a few seconds ahead. I got up out of the saddle all the way up the hill. I kept waiting for George, but I made it up ahead of him.

We headed down Dougherty Ferry to Barrett Station. I decided to try and pace George up the long hill by the Museum of Transport. It was pretty tough, but I made it to the top with him. After decending and heading toward Valley Park I started having trouble clipping in. We finally stopped and I found that a screw had fallen out of my cleat. We kept on going and it didn't bother me too much.

I drafted off of George all the way to the climb. It was reasonably easy up the bridge. About halfway from there it started to hurt. Usually George drops me on the that section but today I hung on. I looked down and we were going 11.5 to 12.5 most of the way. George thought it was one of his fastest ever times up the hill. I guess that means I broke the 3 minute barrier that has been dogging me the past few years.

We headed back to the park and chatted at the house for a few minutes and then it was off to work.

State Championship

This was my third try at racing in the Masters division. The race was in Columbia, Missouri on a course that I had raced last year as a cat 4. I'm done racing as a cat 4, too many crashes and not of them my fault.

The field had about 35 riders or so. It was my first ride in a Hub jersey. There was one other Hub rider there, a nice guy I alway ride with on Wednesday night. We joked about our chances and the race started.

The first thing I remember was Shawn O'Neal breaking off of the front. Nobody chased him down and after a while we were all back together. Kent and Todd were patroling around in front of me. I was happy to sit in about 10th. Once in a while I would drop further back. About 4 miles from the end there were two sharp climbs. On the first lap I looked down and my heart rate had jumped to 194. I wondered how many times I would be able to hang on that section of the course.

Surprisingly enough, I was able to hang on through the third of four laps. After the finish line section I had to sprint really hard to get back on the group. The pace finally let up a little bit and it was looking good for finishing with the leaders.

Finally we came to the final steep hill section and everone went all out climbing. They got a gap on me and Todd and headed up to the next climb. Todd got out of the saddle and chase back on and I did my best to not let them get any further ahead. At that point I knew there was just about 5 minutes left in the race. I though back to my interval sessions with Paul Mueller and go down on the drops and went for it. It seemed like I was catching up to the group slightly, but it wasn't going to happen. On the finish line climb I could see the pack up ahead and I though I could pass a few stragglers. I almost caught one of the guys.

I cruised up the road and Todd was laying in the grass. He said he gave it his all, but he was around 10th. I went back and the official said I was the 22nd rider to cross after our winner, but there was racers from another field in the group so there was no way to know for sure how I finished. We averaged about 24mph on a rolling hills course. It felt pretty fast to me.

I felt real good about my effort. I don't train all that much, I really just ride for fun so hanging with the big dogs is an accoplishment.

Tuesday Night Crit

Yesterday I got lots of riding in. I rode into work pretty fast. I averaged 19mph+ until I got downtown. It was kind of hot, but I like it that way.

After work I rode down to Carondolet Park. I tried to ride through the city neighborhoods. I took it real easy. At one point a chubby little kid rode up and said I had a nice bike. I wished him a good ride.

The A race was just getting started when I got there. There were lots of guys taking flyers off the front. It looked like Johnny Merli and Mark Nagy were taking lots of turns.

The B race was pretty big. I'm guessing 50 riders or so. The crowded field made it hard to move up. It seemed like I was in 25th position most of the race. The pack was really tight most of the time, but everone was concentrating so there weren't any crashes. I found that the best draft was to stay inside onlong the top stretch. As usual, I didn't feel that motivated to get out to the front so for lots of laps I just sat in.

With about 3 to go I jumped up toward the front and basically stayed there the rest of the race. I tried to make an inside move at one point but I got blocked. On the final lap I sprinted pretty hard but still had to brake due to traffic. I went for it at the end and almost caught Chuck Pass. I don't know where I finished, but it wasn't in the top ten. On the cool down lap I check the average speed and it was only 25mph. Pretty slow for a B race.

After the race Lauren gave me a ride home. I appreciated the lift, not wanted to ride the 8 miles back to Kirkwood. Tonight is the Hub ride, tomorrow Dogfish, then I have to decide if I'm going to enter the State Champ race in Columbia on Saturday.

Missouri Mountains

Memorial Day weekend was all about playing guitars and hanging out by the Black River. The Annual had all the usual folks. Jim Murphy and Brian and I hung out together. Since I'm always up a bit earlier than most, I decided Sunday would be my bike ride day.

I loaded up the bike on the back of the Jeep and drove out to Lenny's quicky mart. After ten minutes or so I was heading north on highway 21 toward the top of Taum Sauk Mountain.

The riding was pretty easy at first and I didn't push the pace. I rode by lots of turtles sunning themselves on the road. Their wasn't much traffic and everyone gave me room. The first mountain was Sheppard. The climb was sort of long. I bombed down off that and made a left to head on to Taum Sauk. It was a pretty gradual climb. The last bit was pretty steep. I stopped to turn around at the Tip Top roadside park. There was a shrine to some Japanese poet I'd never heard of, which seemed odd.

It was fun coasting back down off of the mountain. I knew there were two more hills, then I was home. Going back up Sheppard was the hardest part for sure. Then, down a bit over a bridge to a pretty steep climb where I was home free.

When I finally got back to the Jeep it was still only about 10:30. I noticed there was a car parked behind my Jeep. It wasn't really blocking me in. As I loaded my bike up a mouse ran along the parking lot toward the store. Then some older guy walked up to me and commented that I had locked the doors and rolled up the window on the Jeep. I though we was joking. I mean, you can't lock up a Wrangler anyway.

I turns out it was Lenny and he was ticked off because I parked in his parking lot. He said park somewhere else next time. I didn't say anything, I just pulled out and left. Weird guy. He sell beer and cigarettes to floaters and he's worried about a Jeep in his parking lot.

It was a good ride. I headed back to the river and we jammed all day long.

Hub Ride

Yesterday I commuted to work and back. The way home was nasty as there was huge headwind. I was also out of tubes, so if I flatted I was sunk. I got to the Hub shop around 10 till 6, picked up a tube and headed home to get my other bike. I headed over to Geyer and Essex and the guys came by after a couple minutes.

Right away I knew it was going to be fast. We were doing 20+ heading up to Manchester and wound up sprinting through the light. I worked hard to get back to the lead group, pulling over 30 most of the time. At the bottom of the hill cruised to the front and hit the hill first. I was putting out way too much effort for that early in the ride, so I wasn't surprised when everyone went by me. At the top I couldn't close the gap and had to push all the way to Clayton where I got back on.

The pace seemed really high going in to the wind on Clayton. This wasn't going to let up today. I cruised along near the front for awhile. At the bottom of the hill on Mason I led a pretty decent climb into the wind all the way to Babler. The hoped for let up didn't happen.

At Ladue I got stuck waiting for a car and had to go all out to get back to the front. By then, I was in going in and out of the red zone so much I had to back off. By the time we got to Conway I got gapped and it was all over. I saw the group cross Ballas and wound up hitting a red light.

Ron, Chris and another guy and I gave it a good effort after that. We knew we were dropped, but motored on. I thought I had dropped everybody on Rock Hill. Coming up to the light, whoosh there goes Ron. Same deal on Gore, then whoosh there goes "other guy". I hammered back up to him and actually finished just ahead, but he had me.

Yesterday was a good day, over 50 miles of riding more of it going pretty hard.

For real mountain biking in Mazatlan

While I was at Senor Kellys bike shop I ran into an American guy. I forget his name so I'll call him Joe. Joe was an expert mountain biker from Austin who had move down to Mexico to live cheap. He said he had some bad injuries and had to quit racing at the elite level. Now he was hanging out in Mexico and helping out with the bike shop. While I was in renting the bike he said he would show me the mountain biking trails outside of town for free. He wanted a workout and I could go with him.

I met him the next day about a half a mile from the hotel. He was good to go. The first thing we did was jump a barbed wire fence. I trusted him, so off we went.

It was dusty and desert landscape. At the beginning we had to dodge a big iguana who was in the dirt road. After jumping another fence we hit the trail that he and Senor Kelly had helped build. It was winding singletrack. After bit of climbing Joe was stopped up ahead. There were two horses was down the trail the other way. They didn't have saddles on so I didn't know what to think. Joe said something to them in Spanish. After a couple seconds they ran off.

Joe had names for all the technical sections of the trail. I was out of practice and couldn't ride a lot of them. One was called Diablo something or other and was impossibly steep. Joe said he had seen a few guys ride it. I was impressed.

The singletrack went on for a while. I wasn't clipped in to my pedals, so it felt weird to ride that way. I hung on for a while. I got off and walked more than normal. There was no way I wanted to get hurt in Mexico.

We finished on trail and rode to the next. I remember going by an agave field.

After several hours I was getting tired. We headed back to the shop and Joe was dropping he on all the hills. After we go back to the shop we said adios and I rode back to the hotel.

I'll never forget how nice Joe was to show me around. It was a very cool day of riding, one to remember.