Trouble in turn two............in three and four and five

That's not what alot of people were thinking after this weekends crit in Gate City, Va.

Alex Dayton (in green kit, Kingsley behind) in his first Cat3 race, this kid is fast and he's only 15-16 ?????

photo credit: Marsha White

This is what the lower end of the .5 mile course looked like. Most terrible crit course ever!

Alas this is what most folks were commenting about................."this crit has more crashes than Nascar". The first junior race they hauled some kid out in an ambulance, I guess that set the tempo for the day as alot more crashes were to follow.

After church Austin wanted to head back to his mom's instead of sitting in the hot sun all day watching his ole dad race. So I took him home after church and headed to Gate City, Va. for the last part of the Tour de Possum Creek Omnium. I had not planned on doing this at all but the crit bug I have in me got out and I couldn't control it - I love crit racing! I arrived and took a look see at the course.....OMG! racing in a small parking lot??? That would be the case since the fine mayor of GC cancelled the crit downtown a week before the race. Now before I criticise this crit I want to make perfectly clear it's not Andy's or the other promoter's fault. They were handed lemons a week before and made lemonade with the crit, although it was a bitter lemonade. This was a very dangerous layout. They were using industrial blowers to clean and dry the turns when I got there, WOW!

I sat the ez-up up and got everything situated. After I got dressed I rolled out to ride the course to see how bad it really was going to be. Short and dangerous was a good way to describe it. I got warm pretty quick due to the heat and humidity. Rain was threatening all day but it never got us, we were very lucky. If it had rained I wouldn't have even got on the course to race, it was that sketchy! I returned to the ez-up and chatted with Jennifer (Alex's mom) and waited for my race to stage. I had alot of ladies under my tent, I only knew about 3 of them. I don't mind sharing it, don't get me wrong although when I get through with my race and I have no place to sit or no shade to sit in and there are strangers taking up my space....... I got a little miffed. I didn't say anything but I was upset.

After the masters race my class was next, Cat5. I should probably be racing Cat4's but I don't road race enough to cat up so I just stay in 5's. I took a couple of laps to get the legs going and rolled up to the line as my name was called. We got the spill and "GO". Dwayne Miller quickly set the pace. I knew he would probably take this as he's not a 5 for sure, he's much better! But one day license's put you in 5's. I let myself drift to the rear and hang out there like I normally do. After one lap I quickly had to make a game plan change. These dudes in the back don't know how to corner on a road bike!!!! New plan: get up front with Dwayne and Jimmie, so that's where I went. No one wanted to ride on the front except for Dwayne. He slowed WAY down to get someone to lead, it was ridiculous too so I went up and led. I doubled the pace on one lap, took it easy on another, did some "fakie attacks" on one and really did one lap all out. I slowed and Dwayne came back to the front and led it the rest of the way. I was comfortable with them around me in the turns so it made it alot easier. Two laps to go Dwayne broke and Jimmie tried to get him but Dwayne wouldn't let him get close. I was in 4th and I let a TCRC rider by me and just sat his wheel until the sprint, I figured I could get him the last hundred yards or so and I DID for a 4th overall. Someone said at the end of the day that the 5's were the only class not to have a crash. Go figure we are usually nicknamed "crash 5". Several of my friends have battle wounds from the race, alot of folks crashed. It wasn't a good day for some! Angie got back from the DZ early and joined me for the last two races....4's and pros.

Her cousin Andy crashed in 4's and busted up his bike. I got to it and noticed the problem and started fixing it when some dude jumped in and THOUGHT he knew what he was doing. He was pretty persistent but I kinda strong armed him outta the way and then ran to get a tool to fix it. It took 3 laps and I had his rear der cable back working. It sucked though, they only give ya two laps to get things fixed and get back in. If I would have had my 3-way tool in my pocket I would have had him back in by one lap. Oh well I tried! He was running 4th and ended up 12th. The last race of the day was the pros. Before the first lap was complete one guy crashed in turn 3. The next lap a guy went down so hard on his chest it ripped his gloves off his hands.....both of them! A few laps later another 3-4 riders crash near us! It was a mess! After that we took the EZ-UP down and met Angies parents at the Mexican restaurant downtown. It was pretty good too. Alas the day was over and time to drive back home. I was pleased with a 4th in the 5's considering I haven't been training at all in the last 2 months.......I will take it as a good day

*******no crash*******

LAter G............................

Jerseys are 'IN'

Brian went with a retro theme this year. He had told me that they were going to be a white back ground but I thought surely not. White would not be good for mountain biking with the mud and all. He even stated that at one point I think. Yesterday when I got to the shop there was this big ole box full of new kits. He had already sold a bunch of them too. I wished I had set mine aside because by the time I had washed up and rummaged through the box at the end of the day looking for my size, all the large bibs had been sold.......daaaaaaammmmm! People were hitting that place like ants to a picnic! Jerseys were running a little tight this year due to the Euro sizing. I tired on an XL in bibs but it wasn't as tight as I like so I will just skip bibs 'til the next order. There were plenty of shorts but I prefer the bibs. I like the 'mustard yellow' for sure, it looks good in my opinion. I like when companies and shops use different colors than the usual hue on the color wheel.

After work at the bike shop, I swung by got Austin and met Angie at my Dad's place for a fish fry. Since he retired, he fishes ALL the time and when his freezer gets full he throws down a southern fish fry. There was Crappie, Catfish and Trout. Ang' and I fixed some up and broiled them while the rest of my family opted for the fried version.....yuk. He even had homemade hush puppies, coleslaw and the works! He let us rape his garden too. He had more peppers than any one man should have! These little plants had worked so hard to sprout the fruit all over them. Really, one plant wasn't about 10" tall and it had about a dozen 8" banana peppers all over it...weird! We snagged some jalapenos and cucumbers for Austin! Greg gave me a canning recipe a while back and Ang wants to can these in the next few days. She loved his peppers that he gave us and she wants to make some also.

I guess about now the Tour de Possum Creek should be rolling down the highway in Yuma. Today and tomorrow is the 1st ever "bike race" up there. I miss the funfest version though. Next week we are going to revive it for sure!! The DEAD POSSUM ride July 18th @ 9:30 be there or be square YO! Mike, this link is for you brother.......

LAter G.............................

Short Trackin'

Wow, so far this week has flown by. Bike shop keeping me hopping some. Went on a new ride the other night after Brian closed the shop. I had ridden on those roads before but not in the direction that they have been doing it. Good little group too! I got dropped on a couple of the fast climbs but all was good.

Wednesday night brought another week of short track at the university. Most of the fast guys were a no show but a few new guys made for some new found fun. Mike and AKS showed up. Aks doesn't get to ride much anymore cuz he likes cuttin' too much. #3 baby is almost here! His time is spent mostly with family, as it should be. Mike brought a CX bike to the race last night and managed to get a nice jump on us from the start. We kept waiting on him to jump the bike over our obstacle but I never saw him do it. All in all it was just a really fun night on the bikes followed by some nice adult beverages @ Knight's.

This week the Tour de Possum Creek makes it's debut. Not too sure on how it's going to go though. The crit got moved out of town thanks to Mr. Mayor so now they have to have it near a ball field or something. Scratch me going now! I wanted to go but I'm not racing around a flat football field, sorry. There is a huge 100K MTB race in Damascus Sunday but I'm not an endurance racer, so I won't be attending that one. One that I should be able to make is the Bay's Mtn Bike Rally. It's on Monday @ 5 or something like that. I hope I can get it under an hour this year. Last year it was like an hour and 3 seconds, baaaaaaah!!! I haven't been riding with any intensity of late this year so we'll see how this goes. If i do it in an hour I will take it! That's still pretty lame though! Gotta go.......






LAter G.................................

The High Life

This dude rocks, he's hilarious!

He's going to get yo beer!

Not sure about the "high life" though....

This is a classic for sure, my Dad has drank this for ages.

As most serious cyclist do every July I am doing the same. Watching the Tour de France on VS. I eagerly await the arrival every year of the TDF. I wish that there was better coverage of mountain bike racing but I guess it's hard to get a camera under the canopy of trees for MTB racing. This year, just like last year, Miller beer has been running spots with this dude going into fancy smancy clubs and other snooty places and taking away their Miller beer privileges. It's aimed at the common man talking of common sense and what not. It's pretty funny and I want to promote Miller Beer here on my blog for sponsoring bicycle racing on VS. Now don't get me wrong, I don't like the beer at all but they sponsor my sport so I give them a thumbs up for sure. The racing has been top notch so far, I hope it continues to do so. It's been raining most of the day so I have been doing stuff inside. I have drank way too much brew today for sure. The empty Newcastles and 1554 bottles are filling up the recyclable box outside way too fast. I was wanting to get a hard ride in today but the rain prevented it. I NEED A HARD RIDE BAD! I think the allergies have retreated and I'm feeling alot better now. I WANNA RIDE! Next week's racing I'm going to be as about as competitive as a snail (if I race). I have, although, enjoyed the tour on VS. and motocross on Speed today.

This upcoming weekend hosts a flurry of funfest events and bike racing. The Tour de Possum Creek race is this weekend in Yuma, Va. Then Monday the small local 'mountain bike rally' held at Bays Mtn. Park takes place. I may race the crit on Sunday but won't be very competitive, heck the way I have been riding as of late I shouldn't be entering any races, just helping. Oh well, I should have fun anyways that's what its all about.

Last night Austin and I hung out at Mike's place (thanks Mike) and watched the fireworks at freedom hall. We had a good time & got to see "Dirty" I haven't seen him in awhile. AKS was supposed to show but I wasn't graced by his presence. Guess I will see him on Monday's ride, he should be healed from his sinus surgery. Anywho better get, hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday!!

LAter G.........................

Viva Le Tour !!!

It's came along way from what it used to be! The time has come for the creme de le creme to shine. I'm mostly a mountain biker with a roadie heart, that's why I get so excited in July!

I really don't think that Lance can do it again but I'm still pulling for him anyway. This year is going to be good looks like, so here we go.....................







LAter G..................................................

Living Life Better Through Chemical Enhancement

I rolled in to the Kroger parking lot with great anticipation. I knew inside in the pharmacy were all the chemicals I needed to make my symptoms subside. After getting all the details ironed out, and since I have never used that pharmacy before, I walked out with several Rx's filled! A new allergy medicine, the Zyrtec just isn't doing it for me any more so I had to move on to new and improved. So Allegra it is. So far so good. I also got some cough pills and a antibiotics Z-pack too.

I haven't ridden since Monday because of all this allergy stuff. As soon as I get hot I start coughing and sneezing. So I have been riding this out off the bike and mostly doing some bike repairs. I'm going to try to get a ride in Saturday morning and see how it goes. This morning I got to work at Hampton again. I really like working with Brian and Larry. A couple of tune ups and a TT build kept me occupied for the majority of the day. I then hurried home to get Austin. He finally got home from the beach with his Mom. I missed the little booger! Since my "dislocated worker" status this year, there's probably not going to be a vacation in the plans for us, oh well you win some and lose some. Hopefully 2010 will be a better and more prosperous year for us. Sorry for nothing much bike related this post, I will try to do better next time.

LAter G.........................

My head...........

This is the way my head has felt since Sunday after going to the marina Saturday night. DO NOT EAT THERE! It's probably not where I got it (sinus cold) but it's whom I'm blaming (insert smug smile here). I rode to the top of Buffalo Sunday evening by myself just to get out of the house. I rode very easy feeling poorly and took my camera. A humongous thunder storm snuck up on me so I had to pick up the pace somewhat to get back as it started raining on me before I got back to the Xploder. I can't believe that when I got back to the house just a couple of miles away there had been a nasty storm blow through. I was lucky it missed me on the mountain. You know when you slow down in life you get to see things you sometimes miss! Here are a couple of pics of stuff I usually take for granted when riding:

Monday I rode Everett's Beg/Recovery ride he hosts on Mondays from the wellness center @6. It's a nice easy paced ride that reminds me how the TNR began. I struggled the whole ride, any time I raised my heart rate slightly I wanted to start hacking. I toned it way down and just chatted with Ang the whole trip. That parking lot at the top of that one hill claimed another rider. That's two weeks in a row that someone has just fell over and hurt themselves. Well it's Tuesday and my head still feels like crap. I was reminded today that it could be worse so I will stop my whining now..........Hope ya feel better Mike!

There might be a little somethin' somethin' coming in the mail for me soon!

LAter G.........................