Saturday, December 29, 2007

For Real ?

Two Swedish Olympic track and field champions, Carolina Klüft, heptathlon, and Stefan Holm, high jump, have come out in support of the idea of having athletes implanted with GPS chips to more easily track their whereabouts for antidoping controls.

"I have suggested earlier that you could operate a data chip under the skin on athletes on a certain level. Or maybe use a chain ring with a GPS transmitter on the training bag. Then everyone would know where to find us for tests. I wouldn't complain. I think we are obligated to accept most things to stop doping," said Klüft who won the women's pentathlon gold in Athens 2004. "You are so supervised anyway so it wouldn't make much of a difference. "That would be the easiest way even though it sounds science fiction and absurd," said high jump champion Stefan Holm.

More on cyclingnews.com

Thursday, December 20, 2007

seen at the Mavs vs. Suns game

Ready to Rumble...

...w/ Dirk on the ball...


...and another try...they still won - 108:105!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Francis is THE man!


u23 CX-Nats, 12/5/07, Kansas City, 21° F
(hijacked from cyclingnews.com)

Friday, November 30, 2007

Monday, November 26, 2007

For Sale...


Dom Perignon Champagne, Vintage 1992 (750ml bottle).
That kind of "juice" retails for $300-$350 but you can't sell alcohol on eBay ;-) Would be a good buy for a Wine Expert or also a great gift for the upcoming holidays. Make me an offer.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Thanksgiving = Go Shop and Ride!

Thanksgiving started yesterday with a BOOM: It snowed in DFW...and the Cowboys keep winning games!
So today was not only After-Thanksgiving Day but also a good opportunity to save some $$$ when shopping for stuff you need (or at least think you need). Together with Sheri and Thomas, we went to Circuit City @ 4:30am hoping to get a $229 Desktop PC. Well, we did expect some other shoppers but not the 500 (!) standing in line at that time already (see picture left). By the time we got in, the guys at CC told us that they had given out vouchers for the early-birds on special deals, including our "target", the Desktop PC. Well, I did another run at 10am and was more lucky this time when going for a print-fax-copy-scan machine for $50 and a Magellan 3100 Nav. system.
After that, it was time to get the legs rolling on my off-season bike (thanks to Chang of CSK and David Sommerville). I went through the southern part of Ft. Worth, discovering new routes and the Thanks"giving" was not over yet...I found a old Nokia phone and a pair of trashed Oakley's on the road. Crazy what kind of stuff people throw out of the their car-windows these days...
Tomorrow it's time for another solid ride and Sunday we'll head towards A-town in order to scope out a few more things in the housing market.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Offroad - [awf-rohd, of-]

This past weekend we used the time being "home" to participate in the local "Faster'n Hell" mountain bike race here at the "Wee-Chi-Tah Trail". First off, I do some mountain bike riding in the off-season (Oct-Feb) once a week but haven't done so since last December. As a roadie I did a MTB race either. So it was going to be fun, especially after 3.5 hours the day before in the saddle and the Hash Run...
Both Sheri and me rode some borrowed Giant Warp DS3 bikes which are right at 33lbs a piece...That's twice my road bike!!! Some people say to stay away from that CCM (Cheap China Metal) but hey, they were for free and I couldn't take the road bike ;-) After all, the legs are the important part in bike racing...
I decided to do the sport category, along with Brian, Francis, Adam (single-speed category), and Sheri, who was the lonely girl out there that day. After a slow start and clip-in issues I couldn't believe how FAST people would go off in a 90min race. My HR was locked at 190 for the first 5minutes and I slowly managed to pass some people. I rolled up to Brian and we raced for probably an hour "together" (if you can say on a single-trail). It got too technically for me though and I had to let skinny Brian go and race my own race. I was in third. Francis crashed out prior to that. Towards the end I could use more my road skills and use the flats to catch up on Brian just before the finish to make it a 2-3 for the "roadies", while a guy from Wisconsin (a 'real' biker) took the win.






Photos hijacked from www.elementimage.com


Tour of Arkansas...What?

A few day's ago the inaugural Tour of Arkansas was announced and my team is putting it on! The event will run right after Joe Martin Stage Race from May 14-18 and will combine the former Tri-Peaks Challenge and the Celebrity Classic. It's not on the new 2008 NRC calendar yet, but they are working on it for next year.

Make sure to check out the Tour's web site at www.tour-of-arkansas.com

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

"Real World", here I come...

Since a couple of weeks I'm now officially working in the coaching biz and joined the team of Source Endurance based in Austin, TX. There are a lot of new and exciting things happening here in the future and I'm hoping to become a real "Austinite" by December. For any cycling/coaching-related questions or if you simply wanna go for a ride feel free to shoot me an email to srothe@source-e.net

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Jimmy!


After more than 4 years of ownership, my favorite "Jimmy" is gone for good, sold! I hope the kid who plans to take him to Wyoming for college and 4-wheeling won't beat him up too much. He lasted already 18 years and 192K miles...Any bids how long he'll make it???

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Mercy Celebrity Classic - last race of the year?

Okay, one week after the Mercy Classic I found finally some time to give a little re-recap about the last "real" race of the year. The weeks/days leading up to it haven't been perfect in terms of being recovered since all the traveling (Germany, Vegas etc.). But, after some good night's sleep Sheri and me drove up Saturday morning to the 3pm start and went pretty well. I think the 75minute Parking Lot Criterium World Champs two nights before added to that...There was a group of 7 up the road and after covering some moves from the field, Carlos, myself and 2 others bridged up to the front. With 6 laps to go, I tried my luck with a bold move and 1 1/2 lap later Vargas and Jensen were with me. Well, I didn't see any chances in the sprint against Vargas so I tried again but that was my last piece of energy I had that day and I had to settle for third place. We had 4 guys in the Top 10 that day so overall it was a good day. Vargas is riding really well right now.
Thanks to Hector, the Mercy Club Team and some generous sponsors from the Ft. Smith area we all got to enjoy a nice Cookout at the Pepper Source Lake House with some good food and also "liquid nutrition".
Sunday's race was almost a copy of the day before except that this time Jensen showed everyone why he already won 20+ races this year and soloed to the win. I was "on duty" in the field, while 4 of my teammates were in a break of 10 riders. After the field got smaller and smaller I went with a group including Jewell, Vargas, Tilford and some others. The race was decided by then but it gave us all a little extra "workout" before calling it a season. I ended up leaving them and finished 11th. That was average, but I can't be every day in the break and my teammates did a good job up there and we put again 5 guys in the Top11 which gave all of us a nice extra "end-of-season budget"...

You can find pictures here: http://www.photoshelter.com/usr-show/U0000IP8REaQyQPM

And, check out this cool video being filmed at Day 1 of the "Classic".

Friday, September 28, 2007

2 1/2 days of Vegas

I'm back In TX for half a day and found a minute to post some pics from Interbike and the crit. After walking our feet sore at the trade show my buddy Pat from Arizona and me line up for the USA Crit Series World Championship/USA final race. It was simply nuts: 120+ guys on 1K course going for the Parking Lot World Championship title... It was basically a race course setup with metal barriers left and right and crashes were programmed. But it was tons of fun and a big party. I survived and finished the race on my bright yellow MAVIC spare bike with the yellow SRAM hoods after my own ride didn't make it to Vegas. After that, it was time to party and we headed to the Rum Jungle at the Mandala Bay Hotel. After a few hours, $50 poorer, some dancing, and still thirsty we headed back to our hotel (Circus Circus) in style by taking the Scott CR1 instead of the bus on the "Strip".

You can watch the race on-demand for free at WCSN.com

Greg and me having some margaritas

G-Dog getting coffee

former teammate "Huffy"

a 308g (!) front wheel is not bad at all

a MAVIC a.k.a. Cannondal CAAD 9 was my bike for the night

Cipo cool as always...

Ernesto Colnago always ready for a pic

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

From Denton to Vegas

After a 3 week break from racing I pinned on a number again for the two Denton crits just north of DFW.
Arriving Friday afternoon from a 15hour plane trip was not ideal for a 75min crit but I can't complain: it was fun and I got in the right move with the THSJ boys Vargas and Jewell. To show you deep I had to dig just to get 3rd place here's are some numbers: HR avg. 191 bpm, time 1:15h, avg. Speed 25.9mph.
After 24hours of rest Sunday's downtown crit went way smoother. I got in the right early move again, this time with 8 riders, and we lapped the field with 7 to go.
THSJ had 3 guys up there so I knew repeating my win from last year would be very tough, although I had my buddy veggieburger with me in the break :-)
Going into the last corner I was 5th wheel but couldn't close it to Vargas and Fawley and settled for 3rd, again. Thanks to Christian + GS Tenzing for putting on a cool end-of-season event and letting me DJ my first crit - the women race that was ;-)
Now its time for Interbike and some more crit action Thursday night...you can follow it live on wcsn.com

Out!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

kaltes Deutschland (cold Germany)

Unfortunately, due to a family emergency I had to fly to Germany really quick last Friday. Well, things are going a bit better now but still it's a bit depressing right now. In order to keep myself busy with other things, I ride my bike, or run 1-2 hrs/day! It's getting colder and colder here, though. Today I rode on my dad's trekking-bike (28mm tires) 2 1/2 hours in the high 50's F. That was definitively a good workout. I might be back on the "real" bike this weekend in Denton but there are more important things going on right now that this might change really quick again.
Out,
Stefan

Thursday, September 13, 2007

getting some quality miles in

It's amazing how less than 3 weeks of structured training can get you back to fitness. After I hurt a lot in the HHH Crit (was only able to go for some primes), and quit the RR 25miles out, my legs are finally back to "endurance mode". Gateway-Cup was already a good indicator as I finished 5th on the last day, but in the last 10 days I got to spent some quality hours (yes, including a rally...) on the SCOTT in order to be competitive for the remainder of the season. Long, steady rides coupled with some TCC Tuesday nighter's and today's famous "Les Akins lunch ride" will hopefully turn into results...

Will keep you up-to-date how it goes....make sure to check out the Tour of Missouri Live Coverage in the upper-left hand corner of the blog.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Kicking it in St. Lou

Team "SuperBad"...
Bam-Bam, me, the Greek, McLovin, Cagle, Fid, Ank the Tank before the start of Stage 2 of Gateway-Cup on Washington Ave in "St. Lou". Did a lot of "work" over the last 4 days, collected some primes, finishing in the bunch except Monday University "Loop" in Stage 4 where I made the Top 5.

Worth going to the movies for: SUPERBAD
http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/superbad/

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Special TBI Wednesday Nighter

Last night Lalla and me made the drive down to Ft. Worth for the last Wed Nighter of the year and another reason: Ivan Muksa, the TBI rider who's life ended way too early last Friday night here in Wichita Falls (see Story).
Surfer, Crozzy, Dave O, Nathan, Matt, Colt, Parker, a few more horsepower and myself raced together in TBI jerseys, the team Ivan was racing on while leading the Junior Open category in the Texas-Cup. It was a whole lot of fun and they had primes EVERY lap. That was sure the most $$$-stacked Training Crit I've ever done (but all winnings went right back to the promoter for Ivan). Nathan and me were in a 4-man move for probably 6 laps or so and I would pull and he would win the primes ;-) Later, Crozzy and myself were in a break of three and I sent him off the front solo (I think he hated me for that...). Finally, it came to a sprint of maybe 15 guys and Dave O saved it for our little mixed/all-star/tribute-giving squad by edging out Wed Night King and soon-to-be married Justin Wallace.

The race and several donations that day came up with a total of $3,000...not bad at all! Andy Hollinger and friends are setting up an Ivan Mukasa Memorial Scholarship Fund and if you wanna help email Andy at andy@aghollinger.org

HHH and the "Alex Show"

Okay, I'm back in the country since Wednesday evening. And, finally, got to ride my bike Thursday the first time since 8 days. Not the perfect preparation for a 75min Crit and 100mile RR, or?
Fortunately, I have teammates who show up 20minutes before race time and win solo style, like Alex Welch did Friday evening. After I had to ride towards Interstate 44 so they would know where to turn to the race course (...) we got Fid's and Alex' number pinned on and off we were. It was fast and furious, but comfortable sitting in the big pack. I knew I didn't had the fitness like 2 weeks ago when winning Day 3 at Tour of KC but the legs were good enough to go with some moves and light it up a few times.
The HHH director mentioned prior to the Crit that the last thing he wants is a Mercy rider to win the race - oh Boy, that motivated us even more ;-) Alex made the crucial move with about 10 other guys at 30min to go after crashing (!) just 10 minutes before. You can read the entire story here in the local paper. He soloed away with a lap to go and the SL and Toyota guys never saw him again. Thanks to Alex's efforts, I could chill in the pack, take a Festina prime, and roll in w/ what was left from the main bunch.
After an early wake-up call we started off at 6:50am to take on the 100mile RR. Well, you can hide the lack of fitness in a Crit but not in a 100mile race in the win, heat, and chip-'n seal road of North Texas. The plan was obviously to try to keep Alex out of trouble but we didn't really had the numbers and horsepower to pull it off. We sent our African, Speerchucker, in the early break hoping that he would make us some $$$. I did what I could for the first 45 miles and then, out of nowhere, Alex sneaked away from the field, w/ out a whole lot of people recognizing it. Some Successful Living guys and couple of others came up to me on the way to Burkburnett asking where Alex is ;-) That was funny. He made it up to the break like he did last year and everything looked to be set. Fiddler jumped across later, too and I was again the domestique sitting in what was left of the pack. By mile 70, my legs said "no more" and I decided for my own good, after doing what I had to do, to call it a day and I rode home w/ Thacker Reeves of RBM who was pretty exhausted, too. We stopped at Friberg Church, found a water hose, and enjoyed gallons off water in an attempt to hydrate our bodies. It was fun. Alex ended up 14th on the day and 4th Overall. Not bad at all considering we didn't really had our A-squad here this year and I was well-off my form after honeymoonin' it in Germany. Time will come and I'm back!

Monday, August 13, 2007

5-3-1 - go! Tour of KC

After missing out on last year's edition I went back to the Tour of Kansas City this time around. And it was going to be a weekend to remember.

Friday: I got up way to tired as the night before was a busy one working a new part-time job for the local newspaper. I even slept through my appointment with the Physical Therapist...after a caffeinated 3 1/2 hour drive to Tulsa I met up with Alex and Jane and with the help (?) of "Maggie" we got to KC at 8pm; 30minutes before the start. My eyes were about to close after being up so long. The heat and humidity in scary empty downtown KC, KS, was brutal. But we gotta do it and I went with plan B - tail gunning it for 30minutes. I felt better and better later on and was off the front for a couple of laps but the batteries were only halfway charged so I was swallowed up by the field not too much later. Trek/VW and Jensen rode - again - an aggressive race and my teammates did a good job being in the moves, too. Mat managed to get 5th, Nick 7th and I buried myself the last 1 1/2 lap to set up Chad for the field sprint - with me ending up OTB in 39th place ;-(

Saturday: Did I mention it was HOT (102F) in KC? For all of you who don't know what the Cliff Drive circuit race is - it's like an Miss'N out race on the road with some nice little, steep climbs in KC, MO. Survival is probably the most appropriate word to describe the goal for most racers when doing 18 3mile laps on this challenging course. Along with the theory "Attack is the best defense" I jumped with Steve Tilford, Bill Stolte, a Bagel guy, and a Mesa Cycles rider after two laps and we quickly built a nice lead. After a couple of more laps a group with the contenders came up to us including Jensen, Dziewa, Dickey and my teammate Alex. I wanted to keep on going but Alex, "Mr. Calm" himself, told me to wait and we told our "feed zone chicks" to give Mat and Chad the order to bridge up to us. And they did. So we were 4 Mercy guys in the front move now. Skinny Alex looked the best and he went with Tilford one more time and was later joined by Jensen, Dickey and two BIG sharks. Alex got third, Chad 6th and I let Mat pass me just before the line because until that day he was our Omnium guy (your welcome!). The last tim eup the hill I tried to go as fast as possible but halfway through the engine overcooked ;-)

Sunday: The local weather center issued an "Extreme Heat Warning" for the KC area and, yes - it was not too much pleasure to even think about riding a bike that day. I was dripping' sweat by just standing in the shade looking at my bike. "Oh well, gotta get ready for HH100", I thought and put my clothes on, soaked myself in ice-cold water, and waited in the shade on the sidewalk until 10 seconds before the start (I don't like standing 5minutes on the start line). I followed plan B again. And it was good. I could relax at HR 150 tail gunning it and waiting to pounce. Chad was our Omnium man now but we had plenty of cards to play. 30 minutes into it I set for another suicide-move (as some people called it) and got quickly 10, 15 seconds on the field). I knew that Jensen had the Overall locked up pretty good and my guys would just wait and chill 'til I come back. Well, they did wait but I didn't come back. I held it steady around 20 sec. for many laps and when I read 66 minutes into the 75+5laps I had almost 40 seconds. My teammates did a great job jumping with stuff, and messing up any kind of organized chase. As soon as I would see guys getting closing in on me I just went over my threshold and full out on the little rises and chilled on the flats. The last 5 laps were like in trance, just cruising around the corners, hoping not to crash and waiting for that final stretch of road.
Thanks to Amber, Helen, Becca, and Mr. Bick in the feed zone - I must have taken 15 bottles and at least 20 full-on-face-cold-water-splashes ;-)

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

40K time trials

Sheri and me drove down to Houston for a quick 40K time trial last Friday and Saturday at 11am we were already on our way back to WF. I LOVE those 7hrs days on the road ;-) As far as results go, I thought I did what I was capable of with a 53:58min. Wenger & Seagrave SMOKED the course and set a new course record. I passed 6 guys and thought I was on track but maybe faded a bit towards the end? Got me 5th place and that was it for the weekend.
Next up is tonight's Wednesday Nighter and Tour of Kansas City from Friday - Sunday. Should be fun.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

1-2-1 and first Triathlon Win!

Friday: After a couple of days off the bike I jumped on my FUJI Friday night at the Superdrome to go out and "play" a bit. I screwed it up in the Scratch with a 5th place but was able to pull off the "V" in the Miss'N Out, the Points Race and the Omnium. Unfortunately, the last race saw a nasty crash with a couple of guys going down and Daniel Walker getting the worst. But he's hopefully back on the bike quick.

Saturday: After a very short night we drove out to Aubrey to do the monthly Horse Country Time Trial organized by Kevin Hill aka DallasBikr. The 20K TT with some serious rolling hills was a good test for next week's state TT for many participants including me. I just rode right at my threshold the entire time and fell short 15 seconds to Comp. Depot's "young gun" Shane D. I definitively could feel the legs from Thursday's training where I rode a 40K at threshold pace.


Sunday: I skipped the "Festival of Speed" at the Superdrome (too many sprinters and crashes...) the night before and tried my hand on something else: a triathlon. They had a Sprint Tri in Flower Mound and with a 350m swim, 16mile bike, and a 5K run I was aiming to get Top 3. It worked out even better as I jumped in my Speedos at 6am (yes, I was the only one in those...), swam a 6:15, spent too much time in transition, past many people on the bike and suffered through the run: I won!

One thing I learned from the whole triathlon experience this morning: We all can be very lucky and thankful to promoters about the payouts amateur cycling has to offer. Because in a Triathlon, unless you are a pro, you gotta pay $80 entry fee and get a medal for your win. And yeah, it's an even more expensive sport, too. To give you an idea what a average triathlete spends on her/his "hobby" vs. me, the new guy on the block, I came up with that list:


  • Swim (Tri-guy): Goggles ($25), Swim Latex Cap ($5), Swim/Run/Bike Suit ($120), Timex watch ($60)

  • Swim (me): Speedos ($15, couple of years ago)

  • Bike (tri-guy): Scott Plasmas, Orbea Ordus, Trek TTXs, etc., ect. ($6K), saddle bottle-cages w/ extra CO2's ($30)

  • Bike (me): '05 Specialized S-Works Road Frame, Ultegra group, Made in China Front wheel, very used clincher disc, self-made aerobars (maybe $1500 if I sell it on eBay...)

  • Run (Tri-guy): Race Belt ($20), IronMan Hat ($20, unless you actually went to Hawaii), newest pair of Oakley's ($120), shiny NEW shoes ($100), same Swim/Run/Bike Suit like mentioned earlier

  • Run (me): Mercy Cycling Shorts + Socks ($20, since their '06 model and worn), 4-year old Nike's ($10), T-Shirt (free)

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Tour de Who ?

Wow, what a crazy Tour. Just days after "Vino" got kicked out, the next bomb hit the cycling world when Rabobank pulled out Rasmussen from what was once the biggest, most exciting bike race in the world.

So who's gonna win the Tour now? Any bids? Leave a comment of your Final Top Three Podium. But be aware, some guys might be involuntarily pulled from "Le Tour" before Sunday's showdown on the Champs d'Elysee in Paris.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Got a chain?

After making THE break of the day (with 1 Jittery Joes, 1 Health-Net, 1 Symmetrics) and being 2min up the road my chain decided to break in half :-( Bad Luck, I guess.

Out,
Stefan

Saturday, July 21, 2007

more...

Thurday, Giro di Burnaby: nice, sweet fast course with wide & open turns, and - most importantly - no rain! Thought I take it easy the first 10minutes and right from the gun a break of 11 riders rides away. So the race was decided & we tried to go for some primes. Finished something like 40ish place. Avg. speed: 45.5kph.

Friday, Tour de Delta Hill Climb: Another day of racing in the rain. This time only 700 meters uphill. Got the pleasure to race vs. local semi-retired Gord Fraser up the steep road. Like others, we spun our wheels because of the slippery road but I managed to get 12th; 8 seconds down on race winner Zach Bell (Team Symmetrics, of course).

Side note: At 3 of the past 6 races I recall the smell of freshly smoked "pot". It's very legal here in Vancouver...

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Monday, July 16, 2007

Beach in Canada?

Did the crit Sat. night and finished in the pack. Legs were good for getting into some moves but missed the 8-man break which made it to the line 20sec. before the field. 60 laps = 60times going downhill and 60 times going up a 400m ascent...it was HARD. Yesterday's road race didn't go so well for me as it was an Miss'n Out race with a total of 8000 ft. climbing...But I was in good company as 65 other guys didn't see the finish line incl. all but one Navigators guy.
Later the day I got to see more of Vancouver, this time the "Folk Fest", basically a party/EXPO with and for a bunch of "alternative" people from Vanc. We also walked on the beach and got some really good greek food. Okay, gotta go and spin out the legs for Wednesday's Tour de Gastown, the 2nd race in BC Superweek.


Saturday, July 14, 2007

Superweek - Canadian Style

I'm up here in Vancouver visting my friends Bjoern and Stephanie and doing the canadian version of Superweek, the British Columbia Superweek. It consists of a total of 8 days of racing and last night was the first one; a 700m hill climb which didn't start 'til at 8pm. For you Texans, something like King of Jester in Austin. At first, I found myself in last (!) place as the officials screwed up and gave me 2:52min instead of 1:52. After some talking with them they rewrote all the the results and so I got 14th instead of 64th ;-). I can be happy with that after getting up the same day at 4:30am, flew DFW - Denver - Vancouver and got to the house at 4pm. That was a loooong day. But luckily, they have things like double espresso up here, too ;-)

A few pictures from a ride we did earlier today to spin out the legs before tonight's crit in White Rock.