Last race of the year (?), Turkey Trot & Post-Turkey Day Ride

The Copperas Cove Classic on January 19 was my first race of the year 2008. Finally, the season/year came to an end for me (at least on U.S. soil) on November 23 when I headed to Ft. Worth for two cyclocross races.
Saturday's Broken Films CX in Trinity Park was very technical, lots of loose turns and a nice run-up. I had a few almost crashes and someone else's blood on my shin (!?) after the race. It was definitively challenging for a "roadie" like me. I still managed to get 6th but was well-off from the Top3 which was taken by the "regulars" Fawley, Dahlheim and Comardo.
Sunday's Moritz Cowtown CX was already much better in terms of "roadie-type" friendly courses. We still had to jump over barriers, run up dirt, and overcome a huge log but there were plenty of "hammer" sections where us "roadies" could make up some ground vs the true CX/MTB guys. Fawley and Dahlheim were once again out of my league but I was able to hold off the rest and finished third on the day. It was a nice finish to the year.

Today we did the traditional "Cowtown" Turkey Trot in the early morning before getting stuffed with Turkey Lunch and sweets ;-) I haven't been running lots but it went pretty smooth actually and I came in 2nd in my AG and 19th Overall with a 18:23. Average HR was 185 (!) and now my calves are very sore...

Also, if you're in the Ft. Worth area over Thanksgiving make sure to come out to the Annual Post-Turkey Day Ride on November 28, at 9am on Brushy Rd/FM 51 intersection, just south of Granbury, TX.

Click the Racin' Turkey for the Flyer or click here.

Hooters Cross

Spent the weekend in DFW and decided to try out the SCOTT CX bike at the Dallas cyclocross races. The "TacoEater1000" pb Hooter's went well and I won the Open race. Ft. Worth rider Justin Wallace didn't make it easy for me and finished 2nd, ahead of Mat Davis (Metro). Ex-Mercy rider and Dallas-transplant Zach Lytle put on a really good race on an awesome course just across from White Rock Lake.

Photo copyright Lee McDaniel
(http://www.leemcdanielphotography.com)

Sunday's race had a few more "shikanes" and true MTB guys could definitively show off their skills. I still ended up 3rd behind a CX guy from Orgeon and Dahlheim (Metro). As a reward for the consistency over the two days of racing they gave me 2 tickets for the last Cowboys game in the Texas Stadium vs. the Ravens December 20th, courtesy of Hooters!

Elections, Cyclocross and riding out West

On Tuesday Sheri and I headed Downtown to enjoy some election parties. But not before having some free Chik-fil-A and a free cup of coffee from 5-bucks as part of their "I voted" deal. We ended up at Momo's on 6th & Rio Grande and later also went over to the Driskill Hotel on 6th & Brazos which was the Democratic headquarter for the evening. It was pretty amazing and super crowded over there. Check out this video, taken while the results from California came in:

Saturday was another CX race for me, this time the last race of the Lone Star Cross Series. The course out in Del Valle was super fast and not too technical (only 2 barriers and a better-get-of-your-bike jump over a high curb). Of course, I could only aim for 2nd place as Mr. Fawley showed up...After a 45min solo "time trial" I finished 2nd and maybe 4th (?) in the Overall Series. Anyways, the payout was pretty good and thanks to Stackhouse and his sponsors EVERYONE left with a bunch of cycling swag and other goodies. Once we got our stuff Robert and I headed out for another 2hrs on our road bikes. That hurt! T. Perry's burger was the choice of post-race carbo-loading before we headed over to Mellow Johnny's to check out the Bike Swap Meet. Lots of cool but EXPENSIVE stuff for sale.

Yesterday was either going to be another CX race up in Webberville or logging in some miles on the road bike. Ended up chosing number 2 and rode at 9am from Austin Bikes out west over Fitzhugh Rd and Dripping Springs. Was good fun and somewhat easy 70miles. Need to ramp it up next weekend, though.

getting the TT bike back out for Tour de Gruene

The TOKEN Momenta was already put to sleep for the rest of the year but I decided to jump on it one more time for the Tour de Gruene TT. I've never done the race before but knew the area around the Guadalupe River and it's a need place to ride or race a bike.

We headed down Saturday early afternoon for the 4pm-ish start and it was already a big cycling mad-house by the time we got there. Amazing how one individual can inspire so many people to come out, cheer, and wave US and even big yellow flamish flags! The course was not easy by any means. It was hard to find a rhythm since you had a lot of little rises and twists in the road along with River Crossing 1 through 3 and back home again over a total of 16miles.
After a 30min warm-up in the parking lot I went off, 1minute ahead of reigning State TT champ, newly dad, and wonderman Erick Benz. He had even more pressure on his shoulders as LA rolled off just 2 minutes behind him. I think both his (EB) and my goal was "limit the damage" and not get caught. Getting caught in a TT - no matter who is passing you - give's you a huge psychological blow. Well, it worked out okay as I got to pass my 2-minute man, got very close to my one-minute guy and held off a charging EB and LA. It was one of the toughest TT's I've done for a while - there were no moments of coasting or chilling and traffic on the road made things "interesting" to say the least. That's something to think about for next year. I walked away with a win in the Under 35 category, 3rd Overall to Lance and Benz, and some pretty sore legs :-) Thanks to Will Roetzler for the invitation to ride down there and the GIANT 1 Gallon Wine Bottle! Making sure I keep on hitting my target miles/week I didn't race again in Sunday's TTT and rode 70miles easy instead on Sunday morning.

Fellow MSU student Colt Trant tried his hands in journalism and you can read his report on the weekend in Velonews here.

photo courtesy of Daniel Norton

CX and LiveStrong Weekend

My new off-season training includes doing some Cyclocross races thanks to the guys at Austin Bikes and SCOTT who helped me out with some gear.

After last weekends race in Manor I headed out east this Saturday to Richard Moya Park for the 4th race of the LoneStarCX Series. Fawley and Will Ross were busy racing out-of-state but I still got taught a few lessons from Scott Henry who took the win. Actually, I followed him off-course twice while being glued to his wheel! That didn't impact my finish, though and I got third just behind Keiran Sikdar and ahead of Joel Trinity from UT. There's one more LoneStar CX series race November 8 in Del Valle where I hope to a) stay upright again and b) follow Fawley & Co. as long as possible :-)

Check out another homemade video about the race made by Stackhouse:



Then yesterday, after having raised +$300, I did the L.A.F. Challenge out in Dripping Springs which was a good 90mile ride and fitted well into my training schedule. I never done the Ride for the Roses or L.A.F. before so it was pretty interesting and next to seeing some roads I've never ridden on it was good to chat with some folks in the cycling community. It was more like a social group-ride but at times you could sense the "competitive nature" found in most of us participants in the front group :-) Lance and Phinney Jr. didn't mess around and surged w/ 20miles to go, and Nick Reistad and I rotated along with them until our legs said "no more". Good times.

Here's a slide show with a few pics, courtesy of the Statesman:

http://www.austin360.com/recreation/mediahub/media/slideshow/index.jsp?tId=126357

Manor CX Race

Did my first CX race yesterday at the Manor "Mayhem". What a blast. Bryan Fawley is the "Godfather" when it comes to CX in Texas. I got 5th. Check out Stack's handmade video review...

Separated at Birth ???

Schumacher and Kohl's confirmed positive on CERA led to series of happenings in pro cycling over the last 3 days:

• German Public TV stations ARD and ZDF won't cover the 2009 Tour de France
  
• the Pro Tour Race "Tour of Germany" is canceled for 2009
• Pro Tour team sponsor MILRAM is thinking about "reassessing" it's sponsorship engagements after 2009
• Bert Grabsch, reigning TT world champion, thinks about retirement because of the most recent doping cases
• more and more German politicians are calling for a stop of funding the German Cycling Federation (BDR)
  

LIVESTRONG Challenge - Fundraising Goal met!

The flow of donations already exceeded all my expectations and + $250 were raised in less than a week! Thanks Everyone!

What a week !

An exciting week lays behind: On Wednesday I resigned from my current job and - after a brief moment of relief - I got going on my new, own business: ROTHE Training. If you are interested in affordable but at the same time professional coaching (road, track, CX) feel free to check out my new site at www.rothetraining.com.

After that, the focus shifted toward the State RR in Chappell Hill. It's beginning of October and not many people were too fired up for a 85mile road race so late in the year but I was looking forward to it. I like the challenge and - oh boy - a challenge it was. Without teammates, races like that get very political, tactical and oftentimes you gotta throw in a lot of effort to get a minimal result. That's what I did today. Thanks to my two secret red & white shadows who would never put their nose in the wind and sucked my wheel all day I got a great workout in and finished 8th. Ahh, racing can be so much fun sometimes. Congrats to Wheeler and Korioth who took the race by the horns and stayed away until the end.

I'm excited about the upcoming Fall - I'm looking foward to switch it up a bit this off-season. Stay tuned.

LIVESTRONG Challenge

I signed up for the 2008 Livestrong Challenge today - formerly known as "Ride for the Roses". It's going to be a 90mile ride on October 26 through the Hill Country just West of Austin. If you have a friend or family member who has to deal with that disease, or are interested in the initiatives to fight cancer I'd appreciate if you check out my fundraising page here.

My goal is to have raised $250 by October 18th, 2008 - one year after my mom passed away because of cancer.