Sunday Jingle

Actually raced today. The ground was starting to dry but still plenty of mud to make things difficult. Started at the back of what seemed to be a 100 rider field. By the first lap I had made my way up to 15th or 20th but slowly started to hit my wall. After a few crashes I threw in the towel. Didn't end up getting lapped which is good. The vittoria xg 320tpi tubulars worked great. I pre road the course with my bulldogs and they were really sticky. Much tread has been worn this year and they are starting to get bald...but the xg's worked great at 30psi in the mud.


The race was another great battle with Andrew C. (skc) winning it and Alex E.(KCCX) taking 3rd.

Saturday Jingle

I didn't race today for a 100 different reasons. David placed 4th in the college race while Adam got 7th on friday and 15th today.

The 2/3 race was epic, Alex(kccx) won it while Andrew(skc) came from behind to take 2nd. Tom P. won the 45+ again.

This course remains me more of snake alley than anything else. Its a crazy hard course that is also fun(if you're insane). Seems to go straight up, around, straight down, around, repeat. I wouldn't bet on many more pros showing up to this event, like Snake Alley, it is simply too hard.

friday jingle

Tom Price(45+) and Andrew Coe(2/3) absolutely destroyed there competition winning Friday. I broke my skewer after being t-boned on the 3rd turn. A perfect way to end my day. I started at the very back, made it to mid field and at a 180 some guy couldn't stop and stuck it to me. After waking up at 5, driving 3 hours to KC, making it to Iowa on time without shoes, and my zipper breaking at the start line.


The course was surprisingly muddy for the 1/8" of rain they have had all week. Most of the hilly sections were unrideable for us.

None of the above.

Ended up staying in KC. Cross didn't sound fun and I didn't have a partner to make the trek to Lindsburg.

Did 3 laps at Swope on Saturday(little slipper and injured my tailbone).

Did 4 laps Sunday, much better, the GEAX tires were killing it.


Then did Cranksgiving, Steve and I rocked it on our Fixed Gears, 2.5 hours of riding at race pace on those things hurt my legs in a good way. We won, but since the aldi on Roe had a power outage(the whole town was out of power it seems) we didn't have all 10 receipts...still got cool stuff and drank good beer.



Going to do a ride on Mondays now, start at 6(right at 6, on time) from Volker Bicycles. All bikes welcome, probably do 1 hour of riding then end at McCoy's if there is interest.


Here is a pic of Joe's new Grass Track bike in the process of being built. Made in KC by velowerx.

Choices

Lots of choices to race this weekend, problem is no matter what you choose, you're stuck in a car forever!


Nebraska Cross in LIncoln, Sat/Sun

Bubba Cross in ST. Louis Sun

Lindsburg 4 hour mtn. bike race. Sun


I'm thinking just racing on Sun sounds good, that way I can get to swope Saturday and do work all day.

I guess it depends on how I feel on the bike saturday morning, we'll see.

Reviews

The first item I will review is Chain-L No. 5. (Say Chain-EL Number Five)

This stuff is unbelievable. I've been loving Phil's tenacious oil for the longest time but this gets it done.

Cleaned my chain and put a thin layer (as directed) on the chain. Worked it in then wiped off excess. I road it for 5 days and then came the ultimate test, a muddy cx race. It worked magically, shifting was spot on and the chain was smooth. As you can see from the pics below, it was 35, raining, with tons of mud, not good conditions for chains. When I got home from the race I took my hose to my bike making it spotless, including my chain. This is where it gets interesting...I have ridden it at least another 60 miles since Sundays race and it is still smooth as silk. The bottle says 1000 per use and I believe it!



2nd review is my tubeless setup. I've been racing my stan's 29er 355 rims to bulldog tires and so has Joe and both of us haven't experienced any burping or loss of air. There is no way you can roll the tire with this wide of rim and burping is non-existent. Usually I run 30 psi and I have had excellent luck, sunday I raced on 25psi and they were flawless.

State Champs!

Very good conditions by 1:00. Super muddy, some spots there were 6 inches of mud. Some spots you could fly through, others made you feel stuck. I had a bunch of numbers from this series and pinned the wrong one, when I started taking off the layers (it was 35 degrees and raining) I realized I had the wrong number when the guy next to me was wearing it. I rode hard back to the van to get another number and got it pinned, but the race had already started. I road down to the judges and they told me to go. I was afraid they were going to dq me if I didn't check in which is why I didn't just hop into the back of the race, so I lost about 100 seconds. I caught a bunch of ss racers by the first lap and 2 open racers, from there I was in cruise control just enjoying the weather. I was able to ride a few unrideable sections which felt good.

I ended the De Stad series 6th place over all. I also heard that I won a fluid trainer but since I wasn't there they gave it to the next ticket holder, guess I'll keep riding my rollers.



The best part of the day was watching the 3 race. Dan killed it and won the KS State Championships while friend Chris won the 3 race in killer fashion.

I will also mention Andy, he won the 4 race with 3 fast guys on his tail, it wasn't even close but still fun to watch. Good job Andy.

Topeka/Leavenworth

I talked Topeka up a lot this past week. Everyone who asked about it I told them it was the best race ever and they had to be there. Luckily, it was a dry, warm day with little wind. The course was a lot like last year (without the 30mph tailwind) and super fun!


I started good about 8 back and was there for two laps. It was fun flying on dirt at 30mph! Then coming around the track I had another one of my episodes where I feel like I have the hiccups (but don't) and need to rest for 30 seconds or so before I could get going again. Beer was gone by the time I finished, too bad, maybe next time.


Leavenworth was a lot like last years state champs and a few weeks ago. Start was at the bottom of the cobbles and it got pretty hairy as we got to the holeshot. There was a little mixup going through the barriers where a sweet ibis tried jumping them and didn't make it. I was right behind it but luckily I was off my bike and running.

From there the course goes up down, up down, up down, repeat. By the time I got to the start there was a group of us together with a few more in the back trying to catch up, I think maybe 6 people were off in front of us. I started to notice my chain popping consistently and eventually had to get off my bike and work the bad link out, which I couldn't do, so I was left with soft pedaling the course for the remainder of the race. Still a fun day, perfect weather, and good people.