As usual the race was a make-or-break at the first hill -- a steep, shortest hill -- about 6 miles into the course.

I dug and got it up it OK, but as I expected I ended up watching the lead pack (and a few breakaway riders) fade into the distance in front of me while a smaller pack of riders formed behind me, including teammates Julie, Andrea Potyondy-Smith and David Goetzinger.

Our group hung together for the next 21 miles over the rolling hills that make up the course. About half way through I dropped a chain while shifting the front derailleur about half way up a climb, got off to fix it, and spent about a mile or so riding solo back into the group.

Julie stayed in contention for the win with Andrea until the last descent where she fell off. I rode her back into the group on a similar descent earlier in the race, but figured by this we (read that to mean I) were not going to get back into the group if I went back to get her, so I left her (yeah, yeah, booo, hiss...LOL).

While Julie can get up hills OK, she doesn't get down them very well. this is the third or fourth race this season where she has lost a shot at the overall win on a descent. Something to work on for next season.

Anyway, Andrea was the women’s overall winner and Julie finished second. Overall I was 45th , but still faster than last year (by my records anyway, and those can be suspect sometimes).

All around a good day. We’ll be back in Madison next week for a shortened (10.5 miles) Kirke Vei TT. Julie has signed up to ride a stock bike (no aero enhancements) and I may do the same. It’s one of the few times where a stock class is offered and it might be fun to try something a little different.

Saw this on the front page of the paper today.

Thought maybe they were writing about Julie’s season, but it turned out to be about swimming and a dude named Mike.

For the past three years we’ve bumped down to the Belleville road race, a flat 20ish-mile course just south of Madison. It’s a fun, well run, event on nice roads and Saturday was no different.

This is a race where I’m able to hang with, or be at, the front with the leaders. I went to the front early on a few times and bridged over to a two-man break (this is a career first) at one point about eight miles into the race that was swiftly swallowed back up by the peloton.

Those are the kinds of things I don't get a lot of chances to do in other races, and I gotta admit it’s pretty darn fun. The leaders were a mix of guys from Mad City Velo, a few singles from other teams, and unattached guys (at least based on jerseys they were wearing). It seems like a pretty good group of riders and everyone stayed upright.

I picked up a few spots on the run into the finish, and was pretty close to piping the guy in front of me at the line but no dice. Sixth place, a race and career best finish (I was 22nd in this race in 2006 and 11th in 2007). I also took sixth earliest this year at the Willard Friendly Century, but we’ll call this one the “official” career best race.

The finish was good enough for first in my age group. So here’s a rarity captured on "film."

 A few other photos from the day can be found in the photo album on the upper right side of this page.

Julie didn't fare as well, flatting about 12 miles. She was helped by a passing cyclist (who wasn't racing) and got under power again after an undetermined amount of time. She was determined to finish the event and did so, finishing “DFL” -- Dead Freaking Last.

Tough break for her, but you gotta give her props for finishing.

She did much better in the 5K running race finsihing second overall for women, about 15 to 20 seconds behind the winner. This is the second year she's been second in the 5K run.

Off to Mauston next week, a hilly course that should suit Julie well and will probably leave me suffering. We’ll see just how fast we can get going on some of the descents.

 ----------------------------

Well, as you have surmised by now there’s no bike video this week.

Realx, kick back and enjoy a different type of racing -- American Le Mans Series action at Road America near Elkhart Lake, Wisc. The video was shot Thursday (test day) after I got done doing a full days work down there.

I didn't really realize it until I was trackside, but seeing these cars and drivers on TV really doesn't do them justice. They’re really pretty cool to see in person. As you can tell from the video, access for fans is pretty open too.

We opted to ride the two-person time trial -- 50 miles -- after hearing repeated horror stories of crashes in the main race. After all, the last turn is called Amen Corner. The fact there are two churches there undoubtedly plays a role in that, but so does the fact it’s a hard left after a fast section of Wisconsin 63.

Anyway, we rolled out in the time trial and set a nice pace in the low to middle 20 mph range and had a nice rhythm of changes going (each taking about 45 seconds on the front making a nice air hole for the other to draft of) for about the first 20 miles.

We then hit the road from hell around Cable, Lake Owen Drive. This is, without a doubt, the worst piece of road I have raced on. Rutted, uneven, cracked, potholed, you name it. It’s a 10+ miles of rollers under a shady canopy too, making it hard to see all the potential pitfalls in your way.

It was rough enough that as a matter of self-preservation I got off the aero bars on the descents for better control over the jostling terrain. We lost a lot of time on this section yo-yoing and were both glad when it was over and we were back on smooth pavement where we could set up a steady rhythm again.

We finished 7th of 11 in the mixed two-person TT in our age classification, a result I that was dissipointing since I felt like we rode a pretty decent race - other than the Lake Owen section. But as is the case in life, there’s always somebody faster, smarter, better looking...

We had fun on the race course, and will make a decision at some point in the off season if we’ll go back. If we do, it will be riding the 35-mile road race they offer as it avoids Lake Owen Drive. I wouldn’t pay to race that again.

Video from the event can be found here:

Results can be found here: http://www.itiming.com/html/raceresults.php?year=2008&EventId=423&eventype=0

For the second week in a row, one of our friends went down in an accident in the Firehouse. He suffered some serious shoulder injuries and he was taken to the hospital in Ashland and later airlifted UW Madison. Sounds like he has a long recovery in front of him, but will be mobile again. http://www.wisport.org/forum/index.php?topic=393.0

Next week we’re headed to Belleville, a small town near Madison, for a fast little 22-mile road race. This was the race where I spent time off the front for the first time in 2006 and finished 11th there last year.

Hopefully it will be the place were I finally get a RR result I’m happy with this year.

Julie will return to defend her best of both title (bike race and 5K run).

After putting in strong finish lat year (10th), I was hoping for the same in 2008.

Those hopes ended after about 20 minutes when I found myself off the back of the main group on the second climb. Hmmm. And only 40-or-so more miles to ride.

I got caught in no-man’s-land working with a pair of guys and took a look behind me to see a few team members a little ways back. Figuring it was Julie and Andrea, I decided I was better off doing work for teammates than people I didn't know and dropped back.

Another teammate, Gerry Hansen, was also in the group and we set about the task of finishing off the next 40 miles as quickly as possible while limiting the amount of work Julie and Andrea would have to do. That meant a lot of time on the front.

We eventually picked up Kyle Schmidt , so there were five Big Ring Flyers in the group which held together until the end.

Julie and Andrea sprinted for the overall women’s win with Andrea taking top honors. Bean Linzmeyer, another team members, finished third, so we had a nice sweep of the podium with Big Ring women.

It may not be a bad thing I missed the break early in the race. A late crash took out six or eight riders in the front pack (including one of our riders, Jim Frame), and sent most home with some combination of road rash, slings, or broken bones and broken bikes.

Even our group saw some carnage with a rider going down after he touched the wheel in front of him. He went home with a broken collar bone . That happened right in front of Julie and she calmly took evasive action, barely moving to avoid hitting the guy. 

I will post results when they are available.

Video from the event can found here:

Next week Julie and I are riding a 50-mile two-person-team time trial in Grandview, Wisc. at the Firehouse 50. This event is apparently one of the Meccas of road racing for Wisc./Minn. We’ll see what the hype is all about.

Based on stories from people who have done it in the past, we opted not to do the road race due to the amount of carnage this race allegedly produces each year. I’d rather not write off the rest of my season due to injury for one race -- but even in just about any event anything can happen and nothing’s guaranteed, even in a TT.

Terrain-wise, the Blue Mounds Classic may be the hardest road race I’ve done with about 2,775 feet of climbing over 24.5 miles -- but I had a blast.

(Course profile)

I was chucked off the back of the lead groups (plural) that formed on the first climb, but I was fine with that as my expectations on a super-hilly course like this didn’t including finishing anywhere near the leaders.

I spent part of the first lap riding by myself , picking off a few guys at the start of the second lap and shortly after that picking up a couple other guys in a small group (including teammate David Goetzinger) that I worked with during the second half of the race, doing a lot of tempo riding. 

I found the climbs challenging in spots, but they were surmountable and actually it was sort of fun to suffer on the long and steep sections. The longest climb of the day was to the finish and was about four miles long. The grade was pretty gradual so it was not at all like climbing Mounds Road at Alpe Bl’Buze (which is long and steep).

I finished with an average speed of about 18.3 mph (for comparison, at a flatter road race my average will hang between 23 and 25 mph) and noticed my descent speed topped out at 47.5 mph.

But the BIG news of the day was Julie winning her first race of the season. Blue Mounds features a women’s start and Julie and few others made the last-minuet switch from the men’s field to the women’s start.

While Julie got beat to the top of the first climb (and the $60 gift certificate that went with it), she was able to breakaway from the rest of the women’s field at the top of that climb and stayed away to win the race. Even at the end of the four mile climb to the finish line, she showed no signs of suffering.

I finished in 1:19:55 while Julie came home in 1:21:37. Hmm, that's getting too close for comfort in an RR.

PRELIMINARY results can be found here: http://www.wisport.org/BMC08Prelims.pdf 

Video can be found here. Thanks to Richard Alderman and Darryl Mataya who shot the race actrion, and Julie who did the montage at the end.

. 

The season rolls on next week to northwestern Wisconsin with the 47-mile road race at Mellen. This is probably my favorite event of the year and I’ve done pretty well there the last two years (tied for tenth in 2007), so I’m aiming for a repeat of that effort this year.

We’ll see what happens!

After my early departure from the main pack Saturday, I was looking for a good ride Sunday at the 16.4 mile Stanley Time Trial and pulled off one I was happy with.

Organizers opted for a rolling alternate (out-and-back) course die to construction on the normal course. That was all fine and good, a few more hills no big deal. But the real fun was provided my mother nature in the form of a 21 mph quartering crosswind with gusts of 32 mph.

The outbound leg had a slight tail wind and I made the turn with an average speed of about 24.3 mph. Needless to say that meant some sort of headwind coming back.

I lost a lot of speed coming back and finished with an average just a tick or two under 22 mph, finishing in a time of 44:55. That was good enough for 24th, and third in my age group (by 1.5 seconds).

I rode with a reverse rabbit knowing that one of my teammates, David Goetzinger, was coming from behind and I just wanted to hold him off… which I did by a few seconds. He still finished well in front of me in 11th place, but that was another small victory of the day.

As usual Julie suffered in the wind and finished 4th overall in women (49:14). She didn’t spend much time riding in the aero position due to control issues caused by the extreme crosswind (a few other riders also said they were out of the aero position quite a bit to keep the bike upright).

A photo slideshow of the event can be found here:

This weekend’s action takes back to the hills around Blue Mounds, Wisc. in what is described by many as a 27-mile sufferfest. We’ve missed this race the last two years, so this our first time riding it. Should be fun!

Advice given by David Vogt on the race at Blue Mounds:

Here's a good strategy:
Descend
Climb (OMG)
Descend
Climb (OMG)
Descend
Climb (OMFG)
Descend
Climb (This freakin' sucks)
Descend
Climb (I freakin' hate this sport)
Finish
That's about it in a nutshell...

I was hanging with the pack (but in a sharp quartering head/crosswind wind), and the next thing I know they’re gone and I’m off on my own. Wrong place at the wrong time, I guess.

The Greenwood race is one of those I really look forward to each year and managed to hold the main pack last year until the last turn. this year, however, I was chucked off the back after about 12 miles and surprised about it.

All I can figure is as I was letting up to get a better position out of the wind, the peleton put on a sustained surge and I was caught off guard. I can't tell if I was riding dumb or just in a bad spot.

Either way, I was off the back and spent the rest of the day working with smaller groups which was still pretty fun. I spent most of the day riding (in one form or another) with Brad Tennis, otherwise it was mainly people I didn't know.

I managed to finished 44th and have claimed this as my first sprint win, since I had to get out of the saddle for the position. Whoopee. A sprint victory for 44th (yes, I’m saying that tongue-in-cheek, but with a smile). Regardless of the result, I had fun.

Julie finished 4th overall in women after losing the main field somewhere around mile 10. She spent most of the day riding with Jamie Haag and David Vogt and is still talking about how much fun she had riding with those guys. Sounds like they attempted to coordinate a synchronized finish as a nod to efforts each made to finishing.

Video from the race can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIVGRuvewII

Twenty-four hours later we were again racing in Stanley, Wisc. Look for that blog in the next 24 hours.

It felt good to get back into a group for Saturday’s race and hearing the sounds of tires and riders around me and seeing the multitude of colors that make up the peleton.

(photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24340367@N08/)

The race 35-mile race in Omro got off to a brisk start and was punctuated throughout with attacks and riders going off the front that kept the tempo high and created a ton of surges (speeding up of the group). That, coupled with all the turns in the course, wore away at riders further back thanks to the “accordion effect” of riding in a big group.

The biggest surprise of the day was seeing Julie pull up next to me about 8 miles in and say “Oh, hi guy.” She managed to survive some pretty fast surges and the early tempo that was in the high 20s (mph) to low 30s range to hold on the to main pack. She was eventually spit out of the group and ended up working with other riders and finished third in the women’s race after being dropped on a descent (where she was dropped at the State RR as well).

She sure can climb, but going down hills is another matter. Maybe she needs to eat some red meat....

I continued to hang on to the lead group until about mile 26 or 27, when a sustained attack and crosswind finally popped me -- and a handful of other riders -- off the back. I ended up working with four other guys for the remainder of the race to finish 44th, about four minutes behind the winner. Sounds like most of the lead pack got pretty broken up over the last 10 miles or so.

Video of the race can be found here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPMvLf4H70U

All in all it was a fun day in the saddle and I was about five minutes faster than last year for total time. More importantly it’s the first road race in a month that is filled with them.

This weekend it’s three races in two days in central Wisconsin with a road race and an inaugural crit (think of Nascar on bikes) in Greenwood on Saturday and a time trial Sunday afternoon in Stanley. This is a weekend I always look forward too.

The season rolls on Saturday (7/5) with the road race in Omro, our “home event” and a welcomed return to road racing (for Nate).

Next weekend is my only weekend this summer off from racing, but I’ll be back June 28th doing a two-man time trial with Jeff Colbeth at Brice Prairie.

It was the last 50 yards of the climb where I got dropped — twice. But it was the competition that beat me, not the course.

The Wisconsin State RR in Spring Prairie features a nasty little climb that was steep, but not overly long. However that was more than enough to kick me out the back of the group for of miles of time trialing, before finding someone to work with for the last few laps of the storm-shortened 32.5-mile race.

I was able to hang with most of the riders going up the hill until the last 50 yards, where I either fell off pace or they accelerated and I wasn’t able to jump back on. This happened twice (I was given a gift of the race being neutralized on the second lap and re-joined the group, only to follow off at the same spot again).

All in all I really enjoyed the challenge of the course and the climb, while challenging, was pretty fun. On my sixth — and final trip — up it, I was really feeling it in my quads which were burning pretty good.

 I finished 22 of 28 and felt like I rode OK, I just couldn’t hang with the main group Sunday.

Julie had a heck of the race earlier in the day taking home the silver medal for the cat. 4 women. She fell out of overall race contention on the one big descent on the course (the exact opposite of where my race was decided).

Julie is a strong climber and does well on hilly courses and was with the lead riders until the last lap where she dropped off a little to finish around 6th of 7th overall in the women’s race (which combined several fields of women).

The day was interrupted by heavy thunderstorms that moved through the area, forcing us into the car for a while to avoid lightening and torrential downpours . The races that were out on the road at that time were also suspended.

Video of the event can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVUQdyrSBf8

Photos and official results will be posted as they become available. 

That was a pretty kick-butt course. Flat and fast, the Bong TT course near Kansasville, Wisc. played host to the 2008 Wisconsin State Championship TT Saturday.

This course is used for several events but it was the first time I’d ridden it and left pretty impressed with the circuit that outlines the Richard Bong State Recreational Area in the far southeastern part of the state.

In comparison to the other riders at the event, my time was nothing to write home about (1:05:20), but depending on what distance you use (24.25 or 24.5) I either set a new PR or just barely missed it (I'm not 100 percent sure of the distance of this course. Early official results showed me with an averge of 22.5 mph, but with the distance in question (my computer contued to record after crossing the line) I'm not sure just how fast I was.

While no where near the times of the top riders (really, we're talking like 14 min. off the overall winners in Pro/1/2), I still had fun and consider it a good day in the saddle. My standing PR, set May 3, in Willard was on a 16-mile course (an average of 22.32 mph).

I finished 13th in cat. 4/5, in the bottom half. Wasn't the fastest or the slowest..

I drove to the TT with Mike Buelter (a fellow Big Ring Flyer ho lives in Oshkosh, right on my drive to Kansasville), his goal was to top a 24 mph average. He pounded out a quick TT finishing in 1:00:39, for an average of 24.5. A good day for him and a pretty strong ride.

Video from the TT (USCF sanctioned) event can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1l66LfbJ5A

It’s back to the southeastern part of the state next weekend (June 8) for the State Road Race Championship. I’m registered and ready to go, but I’m still trying to talk Julie into racing as well. I have a feeling she may pass and come down to watch, but we’ll see.

Either way, it'll be nice to ride an RR again. It's been a string of nothing but TTs over the last five weeks.

At only 10 miles, the TT at L’Alpe Bl’Huez doesn't sound like much but factor in the fact it covers about 16,00 feet of climbing ( about 970 of those feet in the last 3.5 mile) and it’s a tough course -- for me anyway. It’s also one of those challenges you look forward and reap a nice payday of accomplishment at the end when you cross the finish line for another year.

The first seven miles are pretty quick, and include a fast downhill where speeds top out between 40 and 50 mph. Then the climbing starts and doesn't stop for about 3.5 miles. I contend the climb up Mounds Road was the hardest section of the TT. Several times when you expect the to be nearing the top of the climb, it just keeps going. All you can do is put your head down and keep spinning.

It was during one of these “it keep’s going” moments I caught up to Dave “Jens” Vogt who was riding the hill on a single-speed bike (like it sounds, one gear, like the bike you had as a kid). We had a nice chat about how the climb keeps going and the merits of having gears and his second-thoughts on doing it on a single-speed. I think that’s what we talked about, but that could all be a figment of my imagination for all I know.

The last half of the climb takes you through the Blue Mounds State Park entrance and that part of the course seemed a little easier than I remember though it was still a grind. By the time you saw spectators on the side of the road and chalk writing on the roadway you knew the end was near. A new more hard efforts and you're done -- easy to say now.

Video of event can be found here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozSIyBDSXe4

Anyway, I finished in 35:23 (78th), about 2:21 faster than my time in 2007. Julie had a heck of a day (she likes these hill courses and does well on them) finishing 12 seconds behind me around 35:35 (81st).

Next weekend it’s down to the Wisconsin State Time Trial which is on a nice -- in comparison -- flat course.

When it came down to spending $25 for a 5K or $70 (late registration) to run the half-marathon as part of the CellCom Green Bay Marathon, Julie finally decided to do the 5K based on cost alone. She registered late Saturday afternoon, within hours of registration closing.

It was apparently a good choice as she finished 8th overall in women and won her age group with a time of 20:25 over the 3.1 mile course. While she ran hard, she said she didn’t run "uncomfortably hard" and was also slowed down by some kids in the first mile or so.

After being handed a bright shiny medal for her efforts she said, “Maybe I should do more short distance running/racing.” I would encourage that, it goes a heck of a lot faster than following her around for four hours in the rain or other crappy weather — though that’s fun too.

I also ran the 5K, finishing in 22:54, about 30 seconds slower than last year but also about 40 seconds faster than I ran at the Walt Disney World 5K back in January (the last time I ran, LOL). I’m still chasing my elusive personal record of 22:15 set at Grandma’s in June 2006. I won’t break it this year as I missed registration for the Grandma’s 5K and will be watching it from the sidelines this year.

I finished in 1:11:41, about 50 seconds slower than my 2007 time. I’m still pretty happy with the effort given the fact the biggest challenge was the unrelenting wind (a common theme this spring). While this course is made up of almost constant up and down rolling hills, I felt OK on most of the hills -- a few long up hill drags, including the first climb -- got the heart rate way up and the speed down, but overall I felt pretty good.

Turning out of the wind was pretty sweet and led to some pretty fast stretches where it was pretty easy to push past 30 mph and hold it for a while, on the flatter parts anyway.

Julie finished 1:18:51 and took third in her age group. She apparently dropped her chain early in the TT, so that cost her some time. That’s also become a reoccurring issue, despite having the bike tweaked on a few times by pros (I won't touch drive train repairs) to resolve that issue.

Marilyn Rau shot some pretty sweet photos during the race, including the one below of me coming to the finish line. This is probably my favorite racing photo to date. I think I was pushing 36 mph when the photo was taken.

A short video from the event, featuring Marilyn’s photos, can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgpU8KSlhvU

Next week it’s the mother of all awful feelings on the bike: Alp Bl’Huez at Blue Mounds State Park near Madison. It’s a short 10-mile TT course has a pretty fast descent in the first seven miles, but that countered by a nasty three-mile climb with a pretty steep grade (pushing 20 percent at points, I think). I suffered last year, and I’m sure I’ll suffer this year, but it’s a damn good feeling when you finish.

I’m actually looking forward to it.

I rode a 2-person time trial in Illinois Saturday with Richard Alderman from the Madison Flying Bobcats. It was a pretty much pan-flat course (I’m convinced the area around Belvedere, Ill is the flattest place on the face of the Earth after doing two time trials down there so far this year) but there were some areas where I really busting my butt to keep our speeds in the low-20s.

Although the forecast called for virtually no wind, it still felt pretty breezy out of the east, which meant we were in a cross- or headwind most of the ride (hmm, winds were light, according to NWS at Rockford. SE at 9 when we started, seemed like more than that). But when we caught that tail wind it was pretty sweet. Pushing 30mph with little effort was pretty fun. It didn’t seem to last long enough.

Anyway, we both had and were both pleased with the results. We finished 7th in Cat. 4 division with a time of 1:01:21. I think we both felt we took an equal share of the ride’s work since were both worried we made the other work too hard.

A short video of some of the starters and finishers can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fHZe5Ue9E4

(photos from http://www.abdcycling.com/)

There were a few other WiSport members there as well, David Goetzinger; Mary Jaroz, Peter Underwood, Heidi Ploeg and Laura Laurenzi.

Next week the WiSport series returns with the painful (not sure that’s the right word, let's try “challenging”) TT course at Rib Falls. While there are no huge climbs on that course, there are no flats either. You're either going up or going down for the full 24-miles.

Forecast already looks crappy again for next weekend. Gee, let me guess, 57 and rain? Yep, that’s what it says so far....

No snow was a good thing, especially on May 3. It was in the forecast and apparently made an appearance early in the day in Willard, Wisc.

A bleak, rainiy, morning gave way to sunshine and wind by the time riders started rolling off for Dar’s Midwest Time Trial Championships, 16-mile time trial over a few sections of rolling hills in the Amish country of west central Wisconsin. Both Julie and I went off early at a 15-second interval. I caught her in the first mile and proceeded to forge ahead.

The toughest part was a westbound section over a number of rollers that were all into the wind (Out of the NW 21 gusting to 26 mph). After running around 30 mph for the first quarter of the course, turning into the  hills and wind made the 17 mph sections near the tops of the small climbs feel like you were standing still.

Soon enough that section was over and it was another long stretch with a crosswind that was more than manageable before catching a full-on tailwind up the longest climb of the course… which seemed pretty easy this year.

I finished in 43:01, shaving 1:14 off my time from last year and averaging a little more than 22 mph for the course, which is my fastest average time for a TT — to the best of my record-keeping knowledge. It’s always windy at Willard so I doubt that was much of a factor in year-over-year comparisons.

I had been shooting for a sub-40 min. ride. Maybe in 2009.

I finished 29th overall, sixth in my age group — a good 7 min behind winner Lance Niles.

Julie finished 49th overall, second in her age group with a time of 47:48.

All in all a good day. A few riders overcooked the last turn and ended up in the dirt and grass along the side of the road. One dude lost it on the turn, flew off the four-foot inline and sit an LP tank along the road. He was fine, despite a scary looking wreck near where I was filming (I had turned off the camera when it appeared he had gone by, but you can sort of hear the start of his problems as he hits the dirt off camera).

Video can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTnFNqH6VG0

Next week it's down to Garden Prairie, Ill. for a two-man time trial in the ABR series I'm riding with Richard Alderman of the Madison Bobcats. Should be fun.