ToKV DNF

Well the title pretty much states my Tour of Kensington Valley. I Did Not Finish.

Waking up around 4:30am to race is interesting. I didn't really want to get up, nor did I want to forget anything (i.e. water, bananas, bike.) Lukcily I remembered everything, including picking up Nick from his house to help volenteer at the race.

When I arrived at the park at 6:00am it was overcast and windy. A lot of the SLC guys where there already because they helped set up and brought other volenteers. Once I sent the 6 people I brought to help to the registration table and picked up my number, I started unloading. Luckily for me, the Cat 3 support car was right next to me, so I got my wheels in early and didn't have to think about it.

I got dressed and warmed up. I rode around with Colton for a but, which was nice seeing as he lives in Colorado and I dont talk to him much. While warming up, I discovered my freind Nick was at the parking lot entrance as a course marshall on the hill. This helped the team because it gave us someone to give bottles to. Now we had my Dad, Nick and random SLC riders on the side of the road to hand out bottles to us.

After we got the bottle situation figured out, we had our pre-race meeting. We decided to keep Darrell, Chris and Eric protected and keep Tony fresh as well. I was Chris's wingman. I told him to stay on my wheel and I would keep him out of harms way. I also told him to always stay in the peloton and let me know if he needed bottles or food.

By the time we started the sun was shining and the clouds were parting. It turned out to be a beautiful day. The race started slow. Everyone knew what was comming in the next several hours, and none of us were in a rush to be in pain. The first lap was just a nice tempo. Then people started making their moves. The first real successful move came from a Wolverine rider. He got a nice gap and was approaching the feild ahead of us. This was the point at which Darrell told us to chase it down. By now, we had lost John to the brutality of the hills. So Darrell, Eric, Chris, Tony and I all lined up at the front and hammered untill we caught him as Ace instructed.

That chase hurt me a lot. I knew I was not going to finish with the feild. But I continued as I had been. Taking on bottles in the feed zone, keeping Chris stocked with fluid, making sure I was protecting him from the wind when I wasn't recovering, and eating pleanty.

When we started lap 6 (of 9, with 3 nice hills per lap) I was fluid-less. I had given my bottle to Chris and ditched the empty ones. On the way up the first hill, I took a bottle from Nick hoping it was water...it was clear...but it was Heed. Then Alex had a bottle. I took it hoping it was water...it was Accelerade. Then Scott had a bottle. I took it hoping it was water...YES! I got the water I had been needing. Now I had 3 full bottles, two in the cages and one on my back. This would prove to be usefull in the comming miles.

We went up the second hill and I was hurting. Then on the flats after the decent the pace was high and I was having a hard time staying near the front. I told Darrell that I was not going to make it up the next hill with the peloton, he said he wouldn't either because he was cramping. So I made my decision. I went to the front of the peloton, and on my way back i exchanged bottles with Chris, Eric and DMO. I wanted them to be able to do the rest of the race and not worry about getting a bottle.

As I passed my final bottle to DMO, Darrell flatted. DMO and I both sat up to pace him back, but we thought he was getting into the SUV, so DMO took off and I tried to catch up, but as I got out of the saddle my quads siezed up and cramped. I went to strech them, but then my hamstrings cramped. I rode another lap by myself, picking up a bottle from my Dad and eventually getting passed by Ace.

I ended up at the finish line via a ride from Scott. I watched the feild finish. It was not a great day for SLC. Tony got dropped on lap 8. Darrell John and I all bandoned and Eric Chris and DMO ran into traffic trouble on one of the hills. Chris ended up 12th I believe. Best placed Cat 3 SLC rider. I hope Chris was pleased with my help, and I hope the team is happy the way we rode. No it didn't go as we would have liked, but there is always the next race.

Post-race talking to the team, I was just toast. My legs and brain were shot. This race was just hard. I have never seen so many abandons and such scattered feilds before. The extra distance deffinitly hurt everyone. I just wanted to say THANK YOU JOE AND SCOTT!!! I know a lot of other people helped out too. Joe I know did a LOT of organizing, and Scott did a great job with Volenteer organizing at the last minute. I would also like to thank my Mom, Dad, brother John, friends Nick, Ashley and Cat. All six of them woke up to come to a race to sit around and watch us suffer. Thats support right there.

Sidenote: I guess a few people were hooting and holaring at Cat as they rode by. I guess a lot of people thought she looked good. I know I do.

Endnote: This was a great race. I wish I would have done better, but I am happy with the work I did. Next up...Frankenmuth and Gaslight.

Disclaimer: No Photos. Sorry.

Decimayhem

De.ci.may.hem (Des-uh-mey-hem) -adj.
1. A compound between the words "decimation" and "mayhem" used to describe the brutality of the 2008 Tour of Kensington Valley bicycle road race.
2. Report to come later.

Team Kensington Ride

So yesterday morning I woke up, let the dogs out, fed them and packed the car. On the way out of town I picked up my freind Nick. He had to go to Ann Arbor, and this was the only time I was goig over there soon.

At Kensington I met up with Chris, Scott, Dominick and Eric. We kitted up and started riding. We did one lap of the race course lightly, then the hill repeats started. Between our warm up and our workout Doug showed up. While waiting for him we removed warmers and vests because of the sun and heat. We ended up heading out to do hill repeats without Doug because he wasn't ready.

We starter at the start line, rode to the traffic circle, turned around and continued the course. Our goal was to climb, so we opted to leave out the flat part of the course.

On the first lap, I was hurting on the climbs. It felt like I had no power. But after riding some more hills on my own I felt fine by the time I found the guys again. On one of the laps, Chris 'Mountain Goat' Aten took off up the hill but missed the right hand turn to the finish line. So we lost him for the next hour.

After a total time of an hour and a half, I was done riding at Kensington. I had to get Nick to Ann Arbor and I was going to ride with my freinds later anyways. On my way out, I found Chris 'Traitor' Aten training with the Wolverine team. He was wondering where we were and asked me to moto-pace him around untill we found the guys. I agreed.

On our way around the park, I got Chris up to 27mph uphill and 50+mph downhill (I am aware I was speeding.) After we got around the traffic circle I saw the guys up ahead and signaled Chris. I left the group and headed to Ann Arbor.

In Ann Arbor, I helped Nick move out of his appartment. After the moving, we stopped by the new REI to check it out. I was impressed with their cycling section. Lots of top brand equipment (obviously not their bikes.) From there it was on to Jackson. We unloaded Nick's stuff and headed to my house to ride.

Nick (left) Kurt (above in Rabobank) and I went and rode some of the hills around here. Nick who is not a cyclist was dead after about 35 minutes, but Kurt hit the wall as we were on our way home. It was a pretty good day.

Miller Wheel

Ok, I will post about my day later. I will also post about how happy I am that Vande Velde is in pink at the Giro. But for now....

I WANT A SET OF WHEELS LIKE THIS!!!

Umm....interesting

I found this on my brother's blog. I found it very uh... unique.

New Shoes

So I was contacted from the South Lyon Cycle store the other day. The message was that my new shoes were in. So this morning my Dad and I drove over to South Lyon to pick up the shoes. After that we went and had lunch at Mongolian BBQ (possibly the greatest eating establishment on the planet) then home.

Once I got home I installed my speedplay cleats and tried the shoes out on the trainer for a minute or two. These shoes are nice! They fit very tight and are very comfortable. Compared to my Sidis they are way stiffer and a lot brighter. But they dont seem to breathe as well as my Sidis.

Tomorrow I have VO2 Max intervals so I will be able to test them out on the road. They stand out don't they?

Trail Riding

So yesterday I was to complete a two hour endurance ride. Well by the time I got around to riding, about 5pm, it was extreamly windy. Due to the wind I decided to take my brothers Trek mountain bike out on the trails around here.

It was a very interesting ride. I am glad I went because it will increase my handling skills and reaction time.

This was the first time I had been on a mountain bike in 2-3 years. I survived haha. The bike hit the ground pretty hard on two occasions. I remained upright and on my feet, but I guess I shouldnt go that fast into switchback turns.

It was a fun ride. I intend to ride the mountain bike 1-2 days a week, my TT bike 1 day a week and my road bike 3-4 days a week. That way I can stay well rounded.

Update on Heather

I pulled this from the 'Maumee Valley Wheelmen'.

"If you didn't know, Heather Mitchell crashed at the Cone-Azalia race on Sunday and sustained some serious injuries. She was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in Ypsilanti for care. She sustained a laceration to the side of her face and to her elbow which have been taken care of. No neck or spine injuries were found and no broken bones.

There was concern about her mental status and a dilated pupil at the Hospital and she was temporarily placed on a ventilator. The ventilator has been removed and she is breathing on her own and is able to sit upright in bed and is more alert. Her CT scan showed a very small amount of bleeding in her brain which the neurosurgeons are following but at this time are not overly concerned with. She will be evaluated by an ophthalmologist in the morning but at this time the doctors are confident that her pupil issue could be an isolated one and does not necessarily indicate more serious damage. Of course things can change and further information will be available when she is evaluated in the morning.

Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers! Updates will be posted here as they become available."


Lets hope that her brain heals properly and can make a full recovery.

Cone-Azalia Report

Ouch! Wow, this one hurt. Pitty the weather sucked...haha just kidding!

Blue skies plenty of sun was in store for us cyclists today at one of the hardest races in the state. It is a 10 mile loop with 3 miles of gravel and dirt roads. I went prepped with 3 spare wheelsets only to discover my preparation was pointless because only the Cat I/II guys got neutral support. O well.

As we lined up there were 22ish riders in the Cat 3 feild. 3 of us from SLC, Scott, Joe and myself. Wolverines had 7 guys, Kroske included. AAVC/Priority had 2 guys with Greg and Roger. Other teams included were Sprout, Venom and FRCC. All Scott Joe and I knew was that we were going to have to have representation and watch the Wolverines.

On the first lap we flew along the gravel sections. There were several attacks and I stayed near the front and covered them all. Anytime a rider went up the road, I was on their wheel trying to get into a break. There were several times we got nice gaps, but we were reeled in everyime.

After the first lap, the Wolverines were down to two riders. The other five flatted. The race was pretty boring for a while. There were attacks, I covered them and helped pull them in. Made it through the gravel sections in the top 5 everytime. Stayed at the front setting the pace for a while. Joe rode up to me and told me to get off the front and rest, so I did.

But the race started on the 4th lap. Halfway down the gravel section we neutralized the race. We all pulled over and stopped on the side of the road for a minute. There was a bad crash in the Womens race. I guess she hit her head and was bleeding pretty bad. There was a police car, an ambulance and a fire truck that we waited for. I do not know who it was, but she was from Saturn. I hope she is alright and pulls through alright.

After we started the race again, Scott told me to not be surprsied if they stop the race early. That would have meant this was our last lap. On the south secton of pavement between gravel sections two guys took off. Scott was with me at the front and I told him to go. I sat up and held up the peloton. They looked like they were struggling as they took off the road, so the group let them go figuring we would pull them in later.

With Scott up the road it was my job along with Joe to slow the peloton down to help our teamate up the road. Joe did this by sitting on the back and just being extra weight to be pulled along the road. I was more active. I would get up in the paceline and slow down a little everytime I got to the front. A second here, a second there...pretty soon the breakway was out of sight. Once we hit pavement again a chase was formed by everyone not from SLC or Wolverines. One of the breakaway riders from FRCC was dropped and came back to the peloton to help chase.

With me constantly slowing down the peloton, Roger eventually told everyone to not let me up there. Thats when I went to the back to rest. Eventually the chase gave up all hope of catching the break and let it go. From then on it was just attack after attack. Everytime I would go with them and sit in their draft. They would ride hard and pull off expecting someone to pull through only to discover me riding there. This too slowed everyone down.

On our run into the finish, I was sitting second wheel. We made the final turn and I took off with a Maple Leaf rider. We got a gap on the feild and tried to stay away. I could not hold that pace and eventually got passed by the feild (of 8 riders) with 700 meters to go to finish 11th. Joe was 7th and Scott was 2nd.

It was a great day for South Lyon. The Wolverine guy that won ended up riding away from Scott with a mile left. Sitting here I am exausted but extreamly happy. I rode a lot better than I had expected and I was one of the strongest riders in the feild. The funny thing is...we didn't have Darrell, Tony, Eric, Chris, John, Dominick or DMO there today. If this is a preview of things to come...expect us to dominate the MIScene this year.

Thats all I have....I need to sit in the hottub, massage my legs and sleep

Sorry, I didnt have a freind with me today to take pictures.

Pre Cone Azalia

So the car is packed for the morrow. It is weird to pack it this time. Usualy I dont bring 3 SPARE wheelsets and the BIG medical kit. But this IS Cone-Azalia.

I know that Scott and Joe are racing tomorrow with me, Chris and Eric opted for the Indiana race with other team memebers. It is going to be rough tomorrow. I switched my tires and am leaving the carbon wheels at home. I hope we can get a breakaway formed, or get our team across the line first in a sprint.

Either way...tomorrow is going to be hard.