End of 2nd Semester and Quad Cities Weekend

Long time no blog. Since my last post, I finished up my first year of grad school and accepted an internship at a local health care organization. With extra time on my hands, racing the old sled has returned to my list of priorities. Earlier this month I notched the second race of my season (Eagle Creek Traditional Crit) and the first in the NUVO kit since last year. A week later, the team had a good showing down in Louisville for the Norton Commons Crit. Hamilton and Young Stud hopped into a 11-man strong break a little before the halfway point of the race. With a sizable gap and plenty of horsepower to boot, the break easily stayed away from the slowing pack. On the last lap, Young Stud took a nasty spill that put him out of contention, but fortunately, Hamilton followed the right attack, narrowly missed out on the dubya, and ended up with 2nd for the day. Not too shabby. He's been coming awfully close this season, so it's only a matter of time before he performs the rock-the-baby salute to honor all of his illegitimate children out there.

Over the past Memorial Day weekend, Hamilton and I ventured out to the Mississippi River border towns of Iowa for some historic races. Leaving Friday morning, we arrived in Burlington for an 85 mile road race that started later that afternoon. With a 90 rider field, race officials and police escorts led us out of town for a chillaxed neutral start. Even after exiting the neutral start area, the pace didn't pick up much until after 10-15 miles. Everyone was casually chatting it up and I was able to get a few non-virtual status updates for some people I hadn't seen in a while. Being the aggressive guy that he is, Hamilton quickly found himself in a short-lived break with some strong riders. After this first group was reeled back, Hamilton counter-attacked his own attack and ended up in a fresh, reshuffled break. At 20 miles into the race, I don't think anyone thought that this group, albeit comprised of strong riders, would last long. Boy were we wrong. The six-man break built up a 2:30 minute advantage which didn't begin to dwindle until the ABD riders decided enough was enough. Despite hard pulls from riders without teammates in the break, we didn't come within sight of the break until about 5 miles to go. Even then, the riders dangled out in front with a 10 second lead until 1.5 miles to go. During this time, I waited anxiously to go with the attacks that would likely ensue after the final remnants of the break were absorbed by the pack. Unfortunately, the break was brought back so late that the race quickly morphed into a sprinters' affair. Roadhouse lined up on the front and drove the pace for the last jaunt into town. Chad Hartley (Geargrinders) took the win while Puffer (Roadhouse) ended up in second. Hamilton and I drifted in moments later as pack fodder. Bravo to Hamilton for one hell of an effort. Again, another close one for the Tatooed One.

The following day, a group of us returned to Burlington from our Muscatine hotel to watch the Snake Alley Criterium. Having not preregistered early enough, Hamilton and I decided to sit this one out and just play spectators for the day. Braver than us, one of our hotel-mates decided to line up with the Pro-1-2-3 women's field. On the first lap of her race, Tina (Dogfish Racing) experienced the wrath of the Snake first hand as a rider toppled over in front of her which forced her to unclip on the steep bricks of the climb. Unfortunately for her, that incident hurt her dearly as the leaders continued on at a ridiculous pace while she was still trying to get herself going again...but I guess that's the nature of Snake Alley! During the men's race, it was an all Adam Bergman (Roadhouse) affair. After the first five laps, he built up a sizable gap and even crashed at one point and was still able to hold on for the "V". Behind him, local Indiana riders put in valiant efforts, but race officials pulled all but about 35-40 riders after seven or eight laps. My hat is off to those that lined-up for the start despite the onslaught of rain which made an already difficult race that much more difficult.

Sunday found us in Muscatine at the Melon City Criterium. The one mile oval course rolls through a local park overlooking the Mississippi. Each lap consists of a 1/3 mile flat section, 1/3 mile downhill with a speed-bump at the bottom, and a 1/3 mile uphill to the finish. Let me tell you, the precariously placed speed bump gets to be quite annoying after 40 laps of racing. Depending upon where I hit it, I either rolled over it like a BMX rhythm section or felt my bike go slightly airborne; at 70+ kph, losing contact with the pavement can be quite unnerving. Starting with close to 140 registered riders, it became a chore to move up through the swollen field. It seemed as though every time I moved up a few positions, riders would touch wheels or their tubies would explode over the speed bump directly in front of me (true story). Anyway, it ended up being one of the longer crits I have ever completed and I felt satisfied just finishing the damn thing. Normally, it greatly bothers me when I'm a non-factor in a race, but given the depth of the field and the quality of the teams, it felt like a small accomplishment just to cross the finish line with the pack. Considering that not more than a month ago I was sick as a dog, it's reassuring to me that my fitness is starting to come around. Baby steps.

As for the final day of racing in Rock Island, Illinois, I decided to sit this one out due to the drizzle and the fact that I just didn't really feel like racing. Plus, I wrecked hard there a few years back and I didn't want to deal with the discomfort of road rash on the long drive home. So I sat around and watched Clayton dominate the 3's race for the second day in a row and second year in a row. After his race, I hit the road before the Pro-1-2 race. All in all, a good weekend.

With the focus of this entry being centered almost entirely around the bike races themselves, I'd like to list some of the highlights of this weekend's off-the-bike happenings.

1) In typical bike racer fashion, we assembled a motley crew of five riders into our hotel room. Besides the NUVO contingency consisting of me and Hamilton, our room also included Cutters rider Clayton, FIJI rider Vinicky, and DG rider Tina.

2) Fortunately (or unfortunately) for us, a "Jon and Kate Plus Eight" marathon ran through the entirety of the weekend. After learning of Jon's recent affair, it's hard to ignore his disdain for Kate that is all-too-apparent in some of the older episodes. Interestingly, after watching episode after episode, two members of our crew arrived at very different conclusions regarding children. Tina declared that she never wants kids while Clayton proclaimed his mission to spread his seed across the land.

3) Who knew that hotel waffle makers could be so much fun. Lucky for us, each hotel had at least one waffle maker. Personally, a hotel could have dead hookers in the lobby and roaches under the sheets, but if it has a free continental breakfast with a make-it-yourself waffle maker, it's fine by me. One morning, a few of us woke up early to perform dueling waffles; unfortunately, one waffle maker had a timer set at 2 minutes while the other timer was set at 2:30 minutes---plan failed. Clayton did provide some great waffle-related humor though. When the waffles were done cooking a tone would sound signifying that a perfect waffle was ready to be eaten. The tone went: beep, beep, beep, beep, beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Clayton quickly noticed that it sounded as though the waffle was flat-lining, so each time, without fail, he would shout "we lost another one!" Surprising, his quips greatly amused the elderly patrons nearby. Oh Clayton.

4) South Park never ceases to amaze me. Trey Parker and Matt Stone seem to cross every line imaginable...which is always hilarious. I especially enjoy when they incorporate Martha Stewart into episodes. Glitter and moon-shaped cutouts...'nuff said.

5) Television taught us how to make edible play-doh. Apparently, all you need is peanut-butter, honey, and evaporated milk---sounds tasty. However, our dream of establishing edible play-doh as a bonafide ride food never came to fruition. Clayton couldn't discern the difference between condensed milk and evaporated milk and, as a result, our plans failed. It was probably for the best though because eating warm play-doh during a race would probably end up like the old SNL Cookie Dough Sport commercial parody.

6) Hamilton and I listened to Lil Wayne's The Carter II and The Carter III the entire drive to Iowa. I'm pretty sure we were both hallucinating by the time we rolled into Burlington. On the trip back to Indy, I put The Carter III on repeat once again and let Weazy's soothing voice guide me home. A million here, a million there.

7) The Gambit gentleman's club sure looked like a fine establishment. It sat just off the highway in a cornfield outside of Muscatine...that's how you know it must be good. Too bad they have a $10 cover charge. Oh well, we'll save up for next year.

Time for a rest week and then the Indiana State Road Race Championships on June 6th. Get excited!