Barbecue Ride!

This happens today!

Tour of KC

Fridays race was postponed due to a wedding on the course so they shortened the p/1/2 race in order to be done before dark, the race ended up being 45 minutes and was finished just in time. At the start Shadd S and Bill S were off the front and Mercy/Tradewind were there to keep the field in check. I was able to get in a few moves but again and again Tradewind shut it down. With 5 to go I stayed towards the front and off to the side and was able to keep speed when the attacks started to go. With 1 to go I wasn't doing what I had planned and was boxed in and ended up at the back for the entire last lap.


Saturdays race was very hot. 18 laps was too many for me. I was feeling too good between laps 9 and 14, attacking too much and riding in the wind. With 3 to go I was pretty tired, very tired and hot. I was cramped up and barely stayed with the group until the finish.

Links!

I love this video!

TOUROFKC Event Times

Lots of THESE in stock.


I'm not sure what to think of this. If conditions are that bad to ride disc brakes, why make us ride thinner tires as well? The only reason I like the idea is I can now run the super light stan's 29er crest wheels and don't have to worry about wearing through the rim with brake pads. Too bad teh extra weight of rotors/calipers makes it even.

I might have to ride the bike below with bulldogs, its 20lbs with those 800 gram tires, so figure 18 or so in october.



Finally, this is a good way to get your feet wet with cold brew. I've been using both a french press andToddy for a long time. If you don't want to pay the $40 to try brewing cold yourself, why not follow the directions parisi gives you. Fill your press with water, put the coarse grounds in it, wait 12-24 hours with the press covered, then press/filter it, that's it. Cold brew is a little environmentally friendly since you don't have to heat your water to brew, plus the coffee itself stays fresh for at least a week so just put it in your frig and mix with ice.

Gyrokinesis

Very fun class. Way harder than I thought. The work really loosens your body up and made you feel ready to ride fast again. Hopefully we'll keep doing it.

Gyrokinesis

Date:
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Time:
6:00pm - 7:30pm
Location:
Volker Bikes
Street:
130 W 18th St. (at Wyandotte, next to YJ's)
City/Town:
Kansas City, MO
View Map
Description
CYCLISTS..
Does your neck hurt?
How about between your shoulders?
Hamstrings tight?
How are your knees?

This is a movement conditioning class that incorporates aspects of Tai chi, martial arts, swimming, yoga, and dance. It will help you to unlock the tight places in your body and teach you how to move with efficiency.

GYROKINESIS is designed around the human body's organic movement patterns and function. The movements are designed to increase circulation, remove tension, stretch, and strengthen all parts of the body including the back, core, arms, and legs.

The class will leave you feeling more open and able to access a greater range of movement and strength.

No matter how tight you are, you can take this class!

Please bring with you something to sit on, like a 5 gallon bucket or stool, a small cushion or pillow, and a yoga mat or towel.

The class is open to anyone of any age and is by DONATION.

Instructor Jane Gotch, is a professional dancer and contemporary choreographer here in Kansas City. She has been studying practicing, and teaching GYROTONIC and GYROKINESIS since 2001. She has taught in New York, California, Israel, India, and has a private training practice at Plaza Wellspring. This year she just purchased a new road bike and has enjoyed the speed, fun, and freedom of her new bike!

For more information contact Volker Bikes or Jane Gotch on Facebook.

Tour De Grove NRC.

Race started about 45 minutes late and it was very hot. I was very disappointed to see the course, it was very flat and slow. There was one small hill towards the start of the 3 mile circuit and that's it. I got to the front after a lap and started to get moving, nothing was sticking with so many teams so I drifted back to the middle while a group of 11 road away. During the entire race I was under the impression there were only 6 of them. I eventually started attacking again with a few others but there were too many teams protecting their riders off the front. The last 5 laps were really fast which helped me, I stayed in the front and with 1 to go some aerocat dudes went pretty hard but we all stayed together. The last corner is kind of a 150 degree turn with 300 meters to sprint, I was 5th going into the corner and 2 guys went down in front of me, I stayed up but the guy in front of me sprinting had a chain problem and was dead in the water, so was I. I ended up 20th overall, 9th in that sprint.


Best part about the race was that the entire stretch of the finish line was filled with gaybars. Throughout the rest of the course were small little chipped houses and cars parked on the street with orange gates in front of them. I didn't think you could have gotten any worse than the saturday course but it happened. It was funny seeing so many families and cyclists in the bars eating lunch and having beer while couples would be on dates and such. It was a crazy large elephant in the room of each place, no one would say a word about all the rainbow and what not. People were just happy to get out of the 100d heat and eat something.

Melissa, Benny, and I ate at the "atomic cowboy." We had some sort of chimichanga and chips/sals. Plus $5 for draft beer.


We stayed for the pro race which was a blast to watch if you are not a jb fan. Jelly Belly was racing really defensively and after a few laps there were 2 kelly benefits and 1 orbea guy with 30 seconds. Jelly belly had 4 guys at the front for the next 10 laps and eventually got tired while the kb dudes dropped the orbea guy and kept their lead. It started raining hard and the field was now down to only 14 riders or so, kind of pitiful for it being an nrc race. One by one the jelly belly guys were getting dropped after putting in hard pulls and they still weren't getting any time back. It started raining really hard with 9 to go and with 7 to go the judge made the decision to say 1 to go. The KB guys got 1st and 2nd while only 1 jb guy was left to sprint. Watching this race reminded me of the highschool rock bands where the only people who show up were the other bands and their girlfriends except at this race only half the other bands stayed around to watch.

St. Louis

Came out here for the nrc race tomorrow and race the 2/3 rectangle crit today. It was 98d at the start, very hot and sunny. I didn't warm up as much as I should considering the 4 hour drive but after a few laps I began making attacks. Nothing stuck with the course being so flat and the very wide corners didn't help either. With 8 to go I made some strong moves but wasn't going anywhere. I began feeling very bad, my body turned cold and my back was seizing, I moved all the to the back of the field(50+riders) and with 3 to go I moved back up to the front. Matt M. brought the 3 rider break back with before we got to 1 to go and we were both in the top 10 for the last lap. After the final corner there is a 900meter sprint. I blew up with 200 meters to go and sat up. Matt M got 14th, after all the work in the front and then battling at the end he did good, plus it paid.

Overall the race was very slow until the last 500 meters, definitely time to start working on the sprinting intervals.


The Pro/1/2 was fun to watch, at the start it began downpouring and the rain only let up a little. Two Jelly belly dudes were off the front with an orbea dude the whole time, they were caught with 4 to go and the last four laps was all jelly belly. Brad H. won while the orbea dude who was in the break all day got 2nd. Joe S. from mercy got 5th or 6th after laying down some hard attacks.

The rain caused a lot of flats, probably more than 20 wheel changes in the p/1/2 race, there were a ton of wrecks too, I did not see 1 wreck in the 2/3 but with the rain/debrees, the pro/1/2 had more to negotiate.



The Hellkat hustle race was postponed today due to the bad weather in kc, it is on for this saturday.

Race!

I'm heading to st. louis for the weekend of racing, if you are in town saturday and want some fun, do this! 2 kegs for the after party.

Gyrokinesis

Click here for more info. on the class.

Tulsa Tough

Drove down saturday afternoon to race around 7pm. I deliberately missed the friday race for a variety of reasons including first fridays at the new store on 18th/wyandotte. I didn't ride much at all this week so I was a little worried about getting my legs blown off.

Saturday was really hot, the course is pretty fun with pretty wide turns except for 1 and the crowds were awesome. I started at the back and stayed there for the first few laps. Didn't even try to move up. I counted 5 crashes throughout the race. To move up in this race took some serious negotiating. Lots of yelling, bowthrowing, etc and with the pace never letting up, it was nearly impossible. With 4 to go I put in a good dig and got to midpack only to skid to a stop behind a wreck, with 3 to go the same thing happened. With 2 to go my spoke rear wheels spoke broke and couldn't keep up with my rim rubbing my brake.'


Sunday I tried getting a neutral zipp wheel about an hour before the race but the man said the only way to get a wheel is to have a mechanical during a race. Last year I sat there listening to a cat 3 explain how he glued his tire up last night and thought he didn't do a good enough job so the man gave him a zipp wheel on the spot before the race. Phillip let me borrow his reynolds solitude wheel for the race and it worked the whole time.

I almost wish there was a rule that all racers are required to use open corsa cx tires with no more than 100psi at all the races. I swear those dudes wouldn't notice a difference in speed between 130psi and 95 in those crits, and cornering would be much more safer. I raced with 88 back and 86 front and it felt really good. I was using 23mm open corsa cx tires with challenge latex tubes.

The race starts fast, I was already in the back so I started and clipped in when right as the announcer began counting down at 3 (3,2,1, go) and passed about 20 guys before hitting the crybaby hill. The pace never let up the whole race. With 15 do go I began trying to move up quickly but I would only get by 10 or so before riding up the back of a wall of riders. The descent into the final corner was not good most of the time. Lots of guys trying to pass on the inside only to not make the turn at the bottom. The pace through that corner was very slow and the slingy effect hurt bad the whole race. With about 5 to go I noticed the field had gone from over 100 down to around 50. The only place I had power to move up was during the climb but since I was still in the back, there were 5 riders wide at the top of the climb and lots of guys blowing up at the top. Keeping your head up and watching for heads not moving was beneficial, I saw a few minor crashes from dudes riding straight into the back of someone who refused to keep pedaling.

I ended up 33rd for the day. Wish I had broke top 20 but I didn't. The 1/2 races in tulsa were definitely the fastest I've ever been in. The pace never slows down like in 3 races and recovery is non-existent. It was definitely a wake up call to start riding more, eating less, and eating healthy things. I am 170lbs right now, last year at this time I was 157.