Looking for "subjects"....

As some of you know I'm currently working on my thesis towards a M.S. in Exercise Physiology. A couple of days ago my "subject" for my research work broke his wrist and so I'm looking for a replacement ASAP.
Requirements: be 18 years or older, Cat. 3, race Superweek (min. 10 races), have a PowerTap (I can provide you one, too).
What you get: VO2max/PowerThreshold Test w/ lactate profile, access to all research data
If you are interested or know someone who might, shoot me an email to: info@stefanrothe.com

Nick Chenowth

Help Nick Chenowth!
"Nick Chenowth, long time cyclist, world champion and spin instructor for Cooper Fitness Center, has been diagnosed with cancer. Nick is now in a race for his life, with this potentially terminal illness."
Go to http://www.nickfund.org/ to find out how you can help.

NVGP 5 & 6

So the crush-fest is finally over. For a change, the race winner's time in yesterday's sixth and last stage was for one below 28mph. This was mainly due to the fact that the Stillwater Criterium features a 21% steep climb where me and the other 110 remaining guys had to fight gravity.

But first, a little playback: After Friday night's Crit in downtown Minneapolis I rolled really quick back to the parking garage, put some "Friday Night" clothes on and together with Mike, Leslie, Eric + their British friend we went to the Brit's Pub in downtown. Just 30 minutes ago a screaming crowd cheered on some guys in spandex flying by at 30mph. I had a Portobello Mushroom Sandwich and one (!) local beer.

After some good sleep that night we headed out to Mankato for some road racing in Stage 5. I was a bit more excited since that Crit racing is just a "Must-do" for me and I don't enjoy it like racing on the road. We thought they might let some amateurs battle it out at the beginning but Steve Tilford, my track-friend Adrian and myself found out the opposite once our trio was chased down after just 3 miles in the early break. From there on, the racing was so negative and no break would stick and EVERY move would be counter-attacked until the the first feed-zone. It was not much fun at all. I just sat in after realizing there's "no-go" for me today.

On the way to the finishing circuits I flatted my second tubular in between a month time....But it was no big deal and until the finishing circuits we just chilled in the field. After doing somewhat OK here last year I thought I can repeat at least a Top 25 but my legs said "No" and so I ended up somewhere in between in 70ish position.
Everybody who has done the race at Stillwater knows what I'm talking about so don't read the next sentences. Basically, you go up one side really steep (21%) and pretty damn fast down at 46mph on the other side. Recovery is a vocabulary not appearing in this this race-profile. Once you're on top of the toughest part you go single-file to the very top and then it's all downhill with some 90 degree turns back to the start. Out of the 110 guys starting today only maybe 30 riders finished in the same lap and didn't get pulled. I came in 47th. Not too bad but less than what I was hoping for. I guess I have to go back to Tanglewood (Wichita Falls) and work on hill repeats? On a side note, I finished the 251.5miles of total racing distance in 8h and 50minutes which equals 28.5mph for the entire tour. That includes two road races of 65 and 85miles!

Mike Olheiser was again our best guy today, being off the front solo for a while and getting some TV time for VERSUS coverage airing on the screen in august. That guy has an engine! Here are some pics from the last couple of days of racing and enjoying MSP. David, Doug, Mike, JP, Paul, Tim - I had a great time!

(me, JP, and David)

(me and Mike, the diesel)

NVGP 2,3,4

Here's the latest recap from the Twin Cities:

Stage 2 - 65 miles of sketchy riding on windy roads at 28mph. A ugly early crash ended any chances for Mike and Jonathan. Once to the finishing circuits my legs suddenly said "No more" and I rode in with some guys OTB ;-( Bummer! 70ish

Stage 3 - a prologue-like TT (4miles) as stage 3? Weird! I like it longer, though. Did okay, no TT equipment except Paul's HED wheels (Thanks!). 51st. Props to teammate Doug Swanson for taking 12th and being best amateur!

Stage 4- one of the fastest crits I ever did at 29.5mph. For me: just sit in and finish and not go down. It was a lot of adrenalin-induced fun; especially for all the spectators watching with their beer glasses leaning over the metal fences...finished the hour of pain w/ the big field...80ish

Follow the results here: http://www.minnbikefestival.com/teams/men/index.html

Two to go,
Stefan

Team Nature Valley takes 3rd @ Nature Valley GP

Looks like I will have a lot of work to do in the next few days: My teammate Jonathan Page (right) inished 3rd in today's fast downtown St. Paul Crit (averaging 28.5mph). Mike and me finished in the field. Tomorrow's goal: Defend the 3rd GC place and the two (!) jerseys he's got for the Best Amateur and Most Aggressive rider. A great start for the team. Okay, gotta go snack on a NATURE VALLEY bar and go to bed.

Out,
Stefan

Nature Valley

So here I am up in the Twin Cities after arriving yesterday for this year's NVGP in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. I got some sweet host housing with my good friend Mike Lalla who also picked me up from the airport yesterday. I'm actually lucky that my bike got here because first the lady at the NWA desk told me the plane might be too small for my bike-box! That was a new one for me, but they figured it out and I was on board and on time on a CRJ900; pretty bumpy flight once we got to MSP since it's windy up here, but I'm used to that from the GREAT riding in Wichita Falls ;-) Mike, his girlfriend Leslie and me headed out to the local Tuesday Night crit last night and I did my second 45minute crit on a race track in 2 days after racing in Austin last Sunday. The local racers up here are using a Truck Driving School course as their weekly crit course. A lot of fun and HUGE turnouts for the races. I did the 1/2/3 race and in lap 2 out of 18 they guttered it in the headwind and I jumped in there and for 40minutes I rode with 4 other guys at HR 180 a team time trial. Exactly what I was looking for before tonight's 1st Stage of the NVGP. I tested my legs with one to go and pushed hard into the headwind and one local guy stayed on my wheel and I let it go with 400meters to go since I'm not up here to win Tuesday Night crits but to get a good workout in before the 'big game' this coming days. Actually, most of my friends up here were happy that he won because he's been racing and winning 3's races for a while and has like 60 (!) upgrade points. After that, we went and got some Coldstone Ice Cream and had some Frozen Pizza. Oh well, gotta do some 'loading' before I'll burn it off in the next 5 days ;-)
I'm racing for the local Nature Valley Team up here and that's our line-up for the next 6 stages:

Mike Olheiser - '06 Masters World TT Champ
Jonathan Page - '06 Vice Cyclocross World Champion
David Pierce - Sprinter from California who has a PhD from Stanford
Doug Swanson - local strongman from MSP
me - you know

Thanks to the locals Paul Komp, Aaron Johnson, Tim Ramos, Andrew Dahl, David LaPorte, and Hector Mendoza for getting me here.

Tonight is the 1st stage, a 60minute crit with 140 guys on a 1km course through downtown St. Paul. That will be exciting as the course is supposed to be pretty narrow and if you're on the front of the field you'll almost be able to see the tail of the peloton.

AT&T Crit...and more

70 minutes, 81deg. F, 28mph avg., 194 (!) HR avg., 32miles, early break, primes, avoiding crashes, pulling back late break-away for Chad, he finishes 5th, I roll in at 24th, pizza & shinerbock at "La Taverna". Thanks Barry Lee of THSJ for such a great event. You're the man!

from cyclingnews.com:
"Kristian House (Navigators) and Stefan Rothe (Mercy Cycling) kept their faces at the front to make their presence known early in the race."
>>> looks like I'm known now for being in early breaks which don't stick???

Results Saturday:
1. Frank Trevieso
2. Frank Pipp
3. Ivan Stevic
4. Henk Vogels
5. Chad Cagle

This morning I came out to the "Driveway Crit" in East Austin and had 45 minutes of fun on the "track". It was a small, but quality field and I got a good workout it before heading to Nature Valley on Tuesday. My new favourites for rainy crits are the Michelin Pro Race tires. Didn't slip once in today's race.

Results Sunday:
1. Ivan Stevic
2. Carlos Vargas
3. Henk Vogels
4. Stefan Rothe
5. Kristian House
6. Barry Lee

USA Regional Junior Training Camp

The past 6 days I was in Lubbock to help coaching about 30 junior/U23 riders at the USA Cycling Regional Camp. It was a great time, and I even got to ride my bike, too.
Jarred and me drove down there on Sunday morning and spent the rest of the day getting people registered. Over the next couple of days the kids got to ride a lot, did some power-based testing on Computrainers, raced 20K time trials and 3K hill repeats. All of us coaches (Tim Redus, James Karthauser, Mike Keitz, Richard Wharton, David Mayer-Oakes, + mechanic Ricky) stayed like the riders at the dorms of Texas Tech University.
First, I wasn't too excited having a training camp in the middle of hot, windy West Texas but it's actually not too bad. They have the Ransom Canyon there, which is like a oasis in the middle of plain, flat West Texas Farm land. You ride on some small farm road with no tree left and right and suddenly you go down a steep descent and green trees, bushes, and hills appear out of nowhere. That's something we need in Wichita Falls! Right next to it is Buffalo Springs Lake, located on the outside of the Canyon and a very nice place to own property in the Lubbock.
Next to riding our bikes a lot, we also got to listen to some good presentations by my friend Juergen and his wife Julie (USAC Officials), USADA, and I also talked a bit about training with a Powermeter.

You can watch a video from one of our skills sessions as aired on the local TV station here.

Gotta Love Lubbock...

Training Texas Style

The last couple of days I got to ride a lot and spent some hours on lonely Texas roads in 90+F heat. The best thing: lemon-berry Slushes @ at the end of my 3-4 hour rides! I was at 4 different Sonic locations in 4 days. And on top of that, B1, KC, Sheri and I went to FREE Root Beer Floats on Thursday night. Gotta love Texas in the summer time!

My next Tubular is a Hutchinson...

from cyclingnews.com:

Meticulous preparation or just plain good luck? The Saunier Duval-Prodir team had a combination of both on their side at this year's Giro d'Italia, not suffering a single puncture throughout the entire 3442 kilometre route. In fact, team mechanics didn't even get out of the car once during the race. The team itself took four stage wins thanks to its climbing trio of Gilberto Simoni, Ricardo Ricco and Leonardo Piepoli.

Not so tough at Tulsa Tough

This weekend was Tulsa Tough, a big $$$ event for a 2nd year in a row now. It was fast as always and with some more pro's even harder than last year. That's how I felt at least. Coming to Tulsa, I didn't expect too much in terms of performance since I've been racing the last 6 weekends w/ out taking a break (if you consider a rally not a race...). Especially my coughing is still bothering me - Chad Cagle called it "SARS" and others told me to stop smoking...Well, I don't know what it is.
Anyways, Friday Night's Blue Dome Crit was a wet 80minute crit and it was more a question of who can go fast through slippery turns w/ out falling. I didn't fall but my head was just not in the right place that night and on top of it I flatted. I got a Zipp 404 from Jose of SRAM but that slick Michelin at 120psi didn't help at all so I called it a day. Chad placed 18th and was the best place rider that night for us.
Saturday's race was way more fun and relaxed comparing to the night before in downtown. I felt better but still not great. We rode more aggressive that night and I was able to help Chad at least once to get a prime. With 11 laps to go I tried bridging from the field to the winning move of 3 guys (2 Successful Living) - unfortunately, I fell short about 10 yards as it took me a lap to get close to them and finally losing them right in front of me. I just don't have it right now; my HR avg. was at 180 that night. Way to high, and my legs can go only one lap out.
Sunday's race was my best finish last year (15th) and it looked pretty good at the beginning, too. Chad was out front solo for a lap and I got to counter attack and was later joined by "great Dane" Brian Jensen, Brad White (Einstein's) and some SL guy. We rode well together and the move stuck. But I messed up again, as my chain flew off right when we hit the base of the grueling climb up to backside of the course. It was horrible. I couldn't get it back on w/ out stopping and seeing Jensen & Co. riding away. Well, I was back in the field after a push from some stranger (THANKS) and that was pretty much it. I tried to help some more but the race was over for me as soon as I was out of the break. They ended up lapping (!) the field...and Jensen won.
Now I'm taking a little break from racing and shift my focus on other important things like write my thesis, plan a wedding and applying for that magic card, the Green Card that is ;-)