Ft. Worth Crit

Very cool race with a closed circuit of 1.8 miles a little rolling elevation and lots of primes. I won a sprint for $25 was very close on two others and let the train out for the finish. (not on purpose)I just realized this is the wrong pic but whatever, it's a pic. Averaged 24mph for the crit with my top speed sprint of 34.3 mph for the prime and some odd events. On the second lap I throw the chain and did the ol' small ring to big ring zing and got the chain back on track. The group left me and gained about 5 seconds as this happened. I jumped the gap and was back up for the prime lap. After leading a teammate out for a prime sprint which we lost, i was grabbing my water bottle and as I was tight on his wheel didn't see when you moved over as he passed a lapped rider. I bailed into the grass and passed the guy in the grass but got back on with no event. I got blocked on the inside but quickly passed the guy literally in the gutter which scared him and he made room for me as I came by. As I think of it, I took a lot of chances in his race and felt pretty strong the whole race. Well, other than when I attacked and got a 7 second gap that was eaten up through a headwind in about 500m. It's amazing how fast the pack can close a gap in the wind. The results: th on the day, 1 prime and barely missed out on two others. met a lot of the guys I see at the weekly crit and had tons of fun. Hopefully, the weather will hold out since my Tuesday nighter has been rained out for the last two weeks.

Tuesday Nighter and I met Floyd Landis

So last Tuesday I had a great race and JDP went off the front to bridge to a twosome that had about 5 seconds on the group. I hesitated and had to bridge later. Well me and one of the guys that races for Hooters are bridging nicely with 3 to go and PSSSSSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTT, I flat on a high speed corner. Pissed. Well, JDP won and I guess I was happy to see that. On my way to the race last night, I stopped by RBM to get some Gu's and a tube before my race. I had tons of energy so I went over to the shop early to help burn off some nervous energy and see if we were going to race since it had been lightly raining all day. As I walk in I see the parking lot is packed and there's all kinds of suits, kids and extra staff walking around. Well, I'm at the check out and I look up to see Floyd on the stand. I scooted over to one of the guys I know and ask them if I could get in to say hi and for a small donation to Floyd's Fairness Fund I got a chance to say hi, get a picture taken and tell him that he's still the champ to us and to keep fighting. I'm not one to go out of my way to meet people (other than Gretzky and Messier) but it was kind of cool to meet the guy and hear what he had to say. As you can see, he's not a very big guy but he seemed to interact with the people and the crowd much better than he does on TV. He said that the conflict between he and Lance was just two strong personalities and that Floyd wanted to be more than just a domestique. For all of you wattage guys/gals Floyd also said that he averaged about 435w/kg on a time trial when he was "in shape" oh and that is for an hour. Pretty impressive no matter what. Floyd fielded a lot of questions and an interesting one to me was about the diet of the tour riders. He said they get sick of eating the sponsor bars all the time so they mix in pb&j's, trade bars and have their own favorites in their feed bags. The average breakfast was usually an omelet with rice or pasta and by the middle of the tour they don't have an appetite but only force themselves to eat for the mechanics of it. Oh, the crit was a rain out.

Spring has sprung yet it may snow this weekend

If anyone can tell me why my blog is pancaked to the left side please tell me how to get it centered again. Ah, the heat of the southwest is upon us again, not!!! It's freakin' April and it may snow in Dallas over the weekend. Feels more like I'm back in Montana or NY than in Texas. Either way, hopefully some guys will opt out of their normal training this weekend and I can get some miles in. Nothing serious tomorrow just the local LBS ride of 34 or 46 at a decent clip and then a long Sunday ride of 55 or so with some hills and intervals mixed in. I love the Sunday loop, it provides a ton of opportunity for some repeats, sprints and interval work. Not to mention ending at the lake so I can grab a run after the ride. First Tuesday nighter and I had a great race. Plenty of power to stay up front and cover anything that was attempted. I admittedly screwed up and stayed up front too long and lost the race but stayed in the front sprint group to finish about 7th. There were a couple of very sketchy dudes in the the corner and one guy that was jerking his bike in all directions on the bell lap. I jumped around him as well did a few other guys. I'll try not to cover so much in the front next week and sit in a little more so I can be part of the final move next week. My legs were fresh for the entire race and I had plenty in the tank just bad strategy since I was afraid of losing someone off the front. Better luck next week. Here are a couple of pics. I'm sitting in 3rd (white kit) on one pic and sitting in the group on the corner. I'll update with next weeks points. Happy trails.