Tulsa & Ft. Worth Cyclocross Weekend

I went up to DFW last Friday for another fun weekend of CX racing. First, up on I-35 to OKC to pick up former MSU-teammate Greg and then we headed to Broken Arrow, OK for the Ruts 'N Guts Cross race. It's just South of Tulsa and held on a very cool course around a park/church. For the 60minutes we climbed nearly 1000ft - quite a bit for a CX race. It was good seeing some of my Tulsa Tough teammates and catch up. The prize $$$ for this race was big, all of the 20 guys who raced walked away with some change. Joe Schmalz rode away from everyone to claim the $1K first place prize. The never-tired-of-racing Steve Tilford ran 3rd and I was happy to crack the Top10 in 8th place. On-the-road teammate Mat Ankney had to ride really fast so I don't catch him :-)

Nice little video by the promoters of the Tulsa CX Race:

After a long day of racing and driving I made it for the 2nd day of racing in Ft. Worth at Trinity Park. The course was for sure not a "true" cyclocross-specific course but still we had to race our bikes pretty hard to finish where we finished...Paul Bonds was yet again on another level and after riding with him for 30minutes at the front he simply dropped me and I rode the last 3 or 4 laps alone to come in 2nd place. Ouch, that hurt! It's amazing to see guys like Bonds or Tilford kick some major butt and drop guys who are 10-20 years younger like flies.

The only real challenging part of Sunday's CX course in Ft. Worth:

Tour de Gruene TT's

The last 2 years I missed out on Tour de Gruene because of trips to New Zealand for Tour of Southland and last year to India. So going back to New Braunfels this year was really good. A new ITT with an uphill finish on Canyon Lake Dam was very interesting, and made for a challenging TT. Ian Stanford from HED came down again and after a 3rd place last year he got his win this year with a 19second advantage over my ride for the 16mile TT. The traffic on the course, an awards-ceremony which took way too long (think 2hrs) and a lack of a (previously guaranteed) shuttle service back to the start left a few people unhappy that day - understandably. Luckily I had a ride with some friends but I felt bad for the folks who didn't had friends or family out there and had to ride 16miles back to S/F on their race wheels, when it was nearly dark and getting cold.

Sunday was the 2-person TT - something my athlete Wes Jerman and I have been focusing on. He's a good time trialist, won the Cat 3 State TT and final stage of Tulsa Tough this year. Our "combo" was definitely able to win but in a time trial everything must go right so you can come in first. Warm-up, nutrition, equipment, course, etc..But it all well and according to plan and we were on the right track the whole race. The only challenging part was the wind and slight rain on the back in coming towards Gruene and with the 1080/Super9 - combo I felt the crosswind a bit but we could still go full throttle down HW 306.

Out time just around 58:50 was not record-setting but still a good 2 1/2minutes ahead of second place (Pincus/ Bentley). Fun weekend down in New Braunfels. And I didn't even use the Wurstfest tickets I got from the race and found a week later in my bag. I wonder if they're valid next year?

photo: John Buntz

it was worth waiting close to 2hrs for awards...

Local Austin Crit Series Driveway on Vimeo

LiveStrong Ride

85miles through the Hill Country last weekend at the LiveStrong Challenge Ride here in Austin. Great time of the year to ride out to Wimberley, towards Blanco and back up to Drippin' Springs. Not much "racing" going on this year since only ~20 of us did the long route and LA & friends took the "short-cut" for 65miles. Last long ride of the season in the books.

Texas State RR

Last road race of the year, finally 2 weeks earlier than last year when we still raced 100mile RR in mid-October! Well, as usual, a small P/1 field of maybe 25-30guys (?) made for a tough 4+hrs on the bike in Ft. Hood. Racing solo here in Texas, I jumped with the moves which had the right guys & numbers and that was the case quite a few times. After some re-shuffling it came down to a group of 8 or 9 guys and instead of waiting 'til the very end I decided to go with ~15miles to go. Long way out, but I thought at least I don't have to deal w/ all the sure-to-be-happening attacks/counter-attack's etc. After "the wall" I had a minute gap and things looked fine. But I knew that would be very, very odd if nobody comes up. Sure enough, Brant Speed, G. Skinner and Logan Hutchings came up a few miles later and with maybe 3-4miles to go it was a group of 4.

Logan killed it yet again, and added another 1st place to his Texas results list for 2011. He got me in the sprint and I rolled in second ahead of Brant. With the rules of USA Cycling, Logan got the first place cash but wasn't eligible for the jersey and I got that jersey this year. I would have like to win the race outright but Logan was - again - the strongest in the final dash to the line.

photo: Lee McDaniel

Cotton Patch Omnium

I haven't been here since in 2009 so with a RR, TT and Crit I was looking forward to some good late-season racing as prep for State RR just a week later. My "wing-man" Jay Blankenship came down from Kansas so we had two Tulsa Tough guys in the mix. The Road Race worked out as usual, after 10 miles an early break goes and makes it to the end. Contrary to 2 years back, I wasn't able to out-sprint my break-away buddies Carlos & Crozzy (who won) but a 3rd was good going into the TT.

The time trial was on a new route, along Highway 69 north of Greenville. A bit too much traffic in my opinion for a safe TT but it was a hard TT with plenty off headwind. I never felt really fast because of the wind and a new saddle I was trying out but still I was able to score the best time of the day and take the lead in Omnium. So I had to make a phone call North to Oklahoma and call-in another wingman for the Crit: Jason Waddell.

A guy who won PLENTY of Crits on his own and raced pro ~10 years ago as a helper for a Criterium? Why not. That's what teamwork is all about. Two weeks ago I was getting him to the front at Gateway-Cup and gave him a good last lap lead-out...now he's riding at the front shutting things down so we make sure we can take home the Omnium win. Classy teammates. I ended up in a break with Carlos & two local PACC guys and third on the day. Plenty enough to win again and between Jay & Jayson we had a nice pay-day/weekend.

(photo: Lee McDaniel Photography)

Déjà Vu in Wichita Falls

Going back to Wichita Falls was great. I lived there for 5 years and it was awesome to see so many friends from the past and present. The race, Hotter'n Hell 100, went good, too although you always strive for the top spot.

Update: Three different days, three different races, three different podium "scenes"...

Friday Night Crit (photo: Dan Apgar, www.danapgar.com/)

Saturday's Road Race (photo credit: Richard Cleaver, www.pbase.com/rphoto/)

Sheri victorious at Sunday's Crit (photo credit: Scot Montague)

Tricks on two wheels

Pretty amazing stuff (again) from Scotland by Danny Macaskill!

From the woodshop...

I was always amazed how much money you can spend on toys for your pets. Especially a cat tree. Petsmart has one for $279...and that's with free shipping! Ouch. So on a Saturday I thought about it and Sunday afternoon I started building one from scratch after a visit to one or two hardware stores.

It went like this, starting at 4pm with some carpet, 2x4's, 90deg angles, screws and carpet/wood glue:

 

5pm :

 

6:30pm :

somewhere in between:

 

around 9pm:

 

done at 11pm!

A happy cat...

That's MY tree!

having friends over...

 

Ok, I think I fit in here...

Next to putting things together so it withholds a 10+lb pet (who loves to jump & move!) I had to think a few times how to put the most creative building together so it's a) functional and b) still "exciting" from a cats perspective. From the first looks the cat "accepted" it as a new hangout.

Europe

We got back from Europe about two weeks ago and I finally found some time to go through some pictures. It was good going "home" to the "Old World". Traveling is so easy these days, and we flew via Atlanta directly into Venice, Italy. With only a backback on your back you can roam around pretty easily in any country. A 5min walk from the airport Exit doors gets you to the ferries or water taxis waiting for passengers to go from mainland Italy to the island Venice. It takes 20min and - Boom -, you're there. We had a nice little place/hotel 5min from San Marcos square and spend a day and a half wandering around the city. I was there in the Spring of 1991 the last time so it was good to be back. Seemed more crowded now, though.

taxi in Venice...

firefighters Venice-style...

Next stop was Florence, just 2hrs South-West by Eurstar, the Italian version of France's TGV or Germany's ICE. Great town and not as crowded as Venice. You have to see Michelangelo's "David", the Uffizi Gallery of Art, and the Ponte Vecchio. If you're into traditional Italian cooking, then go to "Vini e Vecchi Sapori"- a TripAdvisor top-rated, but small, family-owned restaurant in the center of the city. I had "Trippa alla Romana" which translates to cow's stomach". A local delicacy.

Ponte Vecchio

David by Michelangelo

View from the Piazza Michelangelo onto Florence

AirBerlin took us then to Dresden via Duesseldorf. Unfortunately, there's no direct flight between Florence, Italy and the "Florence of Saxony" as what Dresden is called sometimes because of the similarity in architecture and buildings. After a late-night stop at the local Kebab place it was time for some rest.

What Germans love about Turkey....their Kebabs!

The rest of the weekend we mainly visited with my family and also went to my HighSchool reunion which took place conveniently that weekend. It was a small crowd since it was thrown together kind of late but still a lot of fun and it was good catching up with friends I have not seen for years.