What's Your Record?

Yesterday I embarked upon the 80 miler from Rasmussen's out to Winterset and back with a small group from the Death Squad and PRC.

After returning home from church I geared up and headed towards Rassy's. I went through the condo's to the east of my house to get to Grand Ave. Going left on Grand I cut a guy off that was 200 yards back coming up the road. He was an older guy that decided to lay on the horn from 100 yards away till he passed me. I shook him off and waved him on, give me a break old man, I was completely in control of the maneuver. Although it made me mad I conceded that I was probably to one to blame this time and accepted my own criticism.

Now on Railroad Ave I decided to take a left on 4th street through Valley Junction to cut over to the shop. 4th Street is a "one-way" street with lots of shops and parking spots. I was doing less then the speed limit when a car came through the intersection to my left. I quickly swerved to the right to miss it thinking he was going to turn left onto the one way. It was just then he turned right???? What the???? I grabbed a handful of brakes pushing the bike into a power slide while maintaining a 4" barrier from this guys brand new Audi. (I have respect for Audi's otherwise I would've probably not tried as hard to miss it). Now he and I were parked in the same spot so I politely knocked on the window. The passenger was startled to see me, (after all neither of them had looked right before entering the one way). She rolled the window down and in the calmest voice I could muster up I said, "you may want to look in the direction of the traffic flow before blowing through a stop sign, you almost killed me". The lady started to tell me that I should...as I immediately interrupted her..."Lady, I was going straight on a one way and you blew the stop sign, I'm clearly in the right here and you are in the wrong".

What made me the most angry, was they didn't even apologize for almost killing me. Being as though the message at church was still running through my mind I decided to leave well enough alone and continue my travels to the shop.

Made to the shop and started the ride to Winterset. Lou, Tony, Jason, (Jane Riessen's new squeeze), and I broke off the front and made it to Hwy 169 first. We decided to double back and ride to Jane, Kelli, Jason, Rich and the others. As we met up with them we did a 180 and started back to Winterset. I was the last to do a U-turn, I looked up the street and saw a small SUV coming but was far enough away that making the turn would be no problem. As I made the turn I heard this guys horn on full push!! As I looked back he was heading right for me, so I decided to kind of move to the middle of the lane to antagonize him more. As he came around me I stopped and yelled, "We have just as much right on this road as you". He stopped and rolled down his passenger window and started yelling, "you can't just turn around when traffic is coming, that was stupid, I ride bikes too and you can't do that" The passenger started to yell using a bunch of F-Bombs which immediately tips me off that he lacks intelligence and uses these words to vocally mask his lower IQ. We exchanged heated words when I finally decided that I had enough and said, "thank you for your concern, I'll consider that next time I turn in the road, now move on" I think the passenger was ready to get out till he looked up the road and saw 6 bikers coming at him. Lou then rode up the car and offered an apology and told the guy to move on cause he was now blocking traffic.

How many times in one ride have you been yelled at like this? I just set my new record at 3 times in one ride. I'm not sure if the long winter has caused most people to become pent up with anger, but I've never experienced a spring like this one before. Lots of very angry people out there. I can only hope that people calm down a bit and realize that bike riders have rights to the roads too.

What The Dem's Were Saying Before...

.... the War on Iraq? This is what the Dem's and Liberals saying? You'll never see this on Kim's blog! http://www.bercasio.com/movies/dems-wmd-before-iraq.wmv

No races this weekend and temps are still cold, when is winter going to leave us and summer bring hot weather. I'm ready for a SoPro tan!

Liagra

Click to enlarge...

2008 Iowa City Road Race

There may not be a lot of hills in Iowa but don't try to tell us our riding isn't hard. Today's race was spent riding 50% of the time into a 30mph wind. It was amazing to have the wind at your back doing 40+ mph then turn straight into it slowing your speed to about 12mph.

Brent, Kris Kunze, Lou Waugaman and I packed up Lou's VW TourRig, (correctly spelled Toureg), and headed to IA City. After just about laughing ourselves into exhaustion, (thanks to our own little funny man none other than the Pig himself), we finally arrived and suited up. It was a little chilly out at just above 50 degrees. Kris, Brent and I took a quick warm up ride then headed to the starting line. We watched the Pro 1/2's take off like they were chasing the postman to get their Govt Stimulus package checks, these guys were gone! I was thinking in my head that I hadn't even warmed up and was hoping the 3's didn't have the same plan. Thank goodness they didn't. The first lap was pretty uneventful until the very end when we rounded the starting line. Everyone stood up and slammed it into another gear. We strung it out down the backside then up the hill. Everyone seemed to regroup going up the first hill. As we came around for lap three the same thing happened, everyone stood up and hammered.

I was consistently staying in the front of the group hoping for a break, unfortunately I was just a few spots too far back when the break rolled off the front on the ensuing uphill. As the peloton began to string out, Chad Bishop, (Harper's), laid out an attack, somewhere in the acceleration one or two of the riders couldn't latch on to the acceleration and formed a gap. When I saw this happening I came around 5 guys and tried to stick it. No such luck the break was rolling, so I didn't give up...they weren't too far out of reach. I went to the front not knowing who was in the break only knowing I wasn't in it. As we turned west to have the wind at our backs I throttled it down and gave it a ton of gas. for at least 6 miles I was out front trying to reel this break in. Kris Kunze was helping me a little until we hit the cross wind going north. It was at that moment that I saw my own teammate get kicked out of the break..."what the..." It was Brent, I didn't even know he was up there. Uh, oh, this wasn't good. I yelled at Kris to come up front with me, we pushed Pig back into the chase group and began what felt like the longest lap. Because everyone else had someone in the break, the three of us Death Squad members knew it was up to us. We worked hard into the wind and back to the start/finish line. As we turned the pace picked up and the three of us were spent. We had all worked for more than 7 miles on our own. My back was really starting to tighten up and I thought about pulling out of the race for brief moment. It was only then that I realized that I had just put in a full lap at the front and wasn't willing to let that all my/Kris & Brent's work go to waste. So I jumped back in the peloton only to see that other riders were inadvertently guttering the others. Although this is perfectly smart racing, it angered me to know that I just sacrificed myself for 13 miles and need some recovery but others weren't willing to return the favor. I marched straight to the front of the peloton only to see one of my favorite young racers, (Andrew Fargesten from B2U), leading the charge. This dude is a work-horse and is always working hard up front. I asked him to move to the center line so I could tuck in. We were far enough back from the lead group that chasing them wasn't plan. Andrew obliged and I finally got a chance to recover. As we went west into the wind we dropped a few more guys, two of which were my teammates. Kris and Brent were both exhausted from the hard work they put in and couldn't hold the pace.

The rest of lap 4 was spent playing cat and mouse games. I was trying to see what strategy Phinn and Andrew were going to play from B2U. Everyone else had no teammate and was trying to survive the last lap in tact. I kept looking back to make sure there weren't going to be any surprise attacks from the group behind us. As we made our way to the final downhill followed by the uphill sprint Andew led the charge. It appeared as though he was testing my legs to see what was left. I think the plan was to get me to cover Andrew's attacks while Phinn rested for the sprint? Not sure. Anyway, 3/4's of the way down the last hill I decided to attack for what was going to be a long 300 yard uphill into the wind sprint. I figured a little momentum from the downhill would help to carry me up the uphill sprint. The wind was hitting me hard but my adrenaline was pumping. I let the clutch out and gave it everything I had. The SRAM shifters have a very cool sprinters mechanism that lets you pull the shifter into the bar for a solid grip while sprinting. My peripheral vision was on alert for any intruders trying to overtake my sprint. That fueled my effort even more. The closer I got to the finish the more power I was laying down in order to not get passed at the last second. I could see the finish line up ahead but it wasn't coming quick enough so I pushed even harder...my legs were screaming at me and beginning to fatigue but I was able to find one more gear. That gear got me across in time as I let out a loud cry of anguish coming across the line. It was over and I had won the field sprint! Mission accomplished.

Pig and Kris came through the finish line a few minutes later looking exhausted but content. Overall the results weren't what we'd hoped for but this was a breakout race for the Death Squad. We worked our tails off and built some confidence for the next few races. We are only getting stronger. Brent's sprint is already in form and now mine is coming back finally.

Will Greenwood went on to win the race with some smart riding. Great job to the guys from B2U, they are really racing great this year. It's fun to watch and even more fun to compete with them. They are making all of us better riders!

In the Pro 1/2 field we had some local studs show for this race. Cam Kirkpatrick, Tony Nichols, Lou Waugaman, (all from Rassy's), plus JJ Bailey, (Team JJ) came out to play. Tony and Cam rode very strong according to Lou, but Tony got tangled up in a small crash on the last lap. Lou was positioned perfectly for the sprint behind two Trek boys until they pulled up and slammed on the brakes causing Lou to pull in a full handful of brakes and put his foot down. Lou ended up finishing 15th or so.

Thanks to everyone cheering along the sidelines, especially the PRC Ladies. We could hear you and appreciated the screams. Great job to you guys this weekend. So glad to see Kelli Mente out cheering. Looks like things are healing up nicely for her.

Next up is Gilbert Road Race, see you there.

Wishing Kelli a Speedy Recovery

Tonight marked one of the largest TNWCS rides that I've been a part of. I'm guessing there had to have been 50+ riders to take part in the beautiful 70 degree weather.

Unfortunately, as we headed north out of Ankeny the group began to string out. As the surges were caught riders begin to slow causing a ripple effect which leads to some yo-yo'ing in the peloton. That is never a good sign cuz it usually means someone is going down. Well our local
PRC star up and comer, Kelli Mente, took the fall tonight. She went down hard, most of the fall was cushioned by her cheek and mouth. She handled it like the tough champ that she is but even Kelli has a threshold. Eventually Kelli was taken to the hospital. Please keep her in your prayers. She will be ok but will endure some pain first.

We're all thinking about you Kelli and hope you get better quick.

Who's America's Next Great Cycling Hope?

I found this moving and inspirational article on SI.com website about Taylor Phinney and his family. It is a great read and very motivational. If you have a few minutes check it out...

Life Cycles - by Austin Murphy

The son of two of America's most decorated riders, 17-year-old Taylor Phinney has emerged as the next great U.S. prospect -- and a source of inspiration to his father, who is battling Parkinson's.
Go ahead, stare. He's used to it. Davis Phinney has mistimed his meds, and now the poor guy is vibrating as if he were a figurine in an old school electric football game. One of the greatest cyclists in American history is slowly being hollowed out by an adversary he has dubbed the Body Snatcher. This once ferocious sprinter, this charismatic and handsome raconteur now suffers from early-onset Parkinson's disease.

The fates are cruel.

Phinney, 48, is pacing and fretting inside the banked oval track at a velodrome in Carson, Calif. It is Jan. 18. A crowd of several hundred has gathered at this International Cycling Union (UCI) World Cup track event to see the sport's Next Big Thing, who also goes by the nicknames The Future and Mini-Phinney (even though, at 6' 4" and 170 pounds, he has half a foot on his old man). Taylor Phinney, 17, is the most promising young talent to come onto the U.S. cycling scene in more than a decade.

To continue reading. click here

2008 Finchford Race Recap

This report taken from Pig's Blog

Death Squad Represenatives:

Nathan Bartels, Brent Mitchell, Lou Waugaman, and Pete Basso .
At the start of the race, it was sunshine and 38 degrees with 20 mph winds.

Bikes 2 You was represented by Bryan Moritz and Will Greenwood. Melon City had three guys, including Chad Bishop, who recently upgraded, making this his first race as a Cat 3. The Rasmussen Death Squad was represented by Pete Basso and myself. Representing A9Y’s was The Robinson Bros and Matt Gumm. They were delayed to the race a little when Gumm’s bike became detached from his roof rack, flipped over and shattered the back window of Scott’s car. I am sure they thought it was the Rasmussen Death Squad shooting at them. Gumm ended up riding Steve’s wife’s bike for the race. He raced one of his better races this week, so maybe Gummi will bring Steve’s wife’s bike the Tuesday Night World Championships??

On lap one of the ten lap, (50 mile race), Will Greenwood (Bikes2you) took a daring attempt (into the high winds) and goes on a solo break. It stuck for over a lap but was eventually reeled back in.

After Will came back to the group, there were a couple more attempts to roll off the front. Scott Robinson takes a solo break as well, however they all proved to be futile. Each one came back Scott was riding very strong today and held the break for over a lap and a half before coming back to the group.

After controlling the front of the peloton most of the race, Basso faded off the back only to spend a half lap chasing back on. With two laps to go cramps had set in pretty hard causing him fall off the peloton for a final time. Matt Gumm (A9Y) and Chad Bishop (Melon City) went off the front. With those two off the front, and Basso off the back, there was little cooperation from the others to chase this break down since there were only two of us (Dominic and myself) that did not have a teammate in the break. So Chad and Matt, were able to put some distance on the field. Gummi began to show signs of fatigue and faded back to the peloton, Chad stayed strong off the front remaining solo in the break.

With Chad off the front, we were not going to be able to catch him. So it was clearly coming down to a field sprint for 2nd place. On the last 1/3 of the last lap there was some cat and mouse going on to get positioned for the sprint. Nobody wanted to stick their nose out in the wind for the sprint too early. In the last ½ mile, Scott Robinson went to the front. With a little less than 200 yards to go, Dominic comes around Scott for the sprint followed by Steve Robinson, and myself. Steve came around Dominic and with about 50 yards to go, and I was able to come around Steve and clip him at the line by about a foot to take the field sprint for 2nd place.

Hats off to Chad Bishop for being able to stay off the front, and also to Scott Robinson for riding a very strong race. Great racing with Steve Robinson and Matt Gumm.

For Results Click Here:

Also congrats to:

1) Lou Waugaman for a clear win in the field sprint in the Pro 1!2 to take 4th Place.
2) In other Rassy Team news, Reed Rinderknect and Loren Storts were participating in the Iron Man in Tempe on Sunday. With top ten finishes these two could qualify for a spot in the Kona Ironman this fall.
3) PRC Girls - Kellie Mente and Jane Riessen ventured over to Lincoln to participate in their racing this weekend. The woman’s racing was fierce with a couple of Cat 1 racers showing up from out of state. They were strong enough to break to the deadly combination of the PRC team. Jane Reissen out lasted the peloton for a 1st place finish with Kelli Mente driving home a 3rd place finish. Great job ladies, keep up the incredible work.