Spring Fling Numero Quatro.

I did Spring Fling #4 this past weekend.  It was a little different than the others. It snowed on us almost the whole time.  It never got very wet on the ground though. There were only about 14 people.  I got 3rd, I'm good with that.

Right off of the go there was an attack.  I wasn't going to chase it, but no one else was going and I didn't want a break getting away with out me in it.  So this happened a total of 3 times before the first sprint.  I chased all of them.  No one else wanted to help.  I was tired for the first prime, but was still able to take it.

Right after the prime some guys wanted to go for a break.  I was maxed out but tried anyway.  We had strong guy jump way out in front of us and say lets go.  It was more like an attack instead of trying to help us.  We had about five guys, and nobody was organized at all.  They were a mess.  The group was right on our wheel so I sat up thinking these guys aren't going anywhere.  I should have stayed on because they did.  There was a Velotek guy in the break so ones in the main group sat up.  So basically Kenny and I did all the work.

By the time the 2nd Prime came around there were only three left in the break, so there was one point left.  I was going for it, but didn't realize that Grant from Velotek was right on my wheel.  He go around me and got.  Not sure if it would've helped me or not since 1st and 2nd place guys were in the Break.

Bobby from VeloTek got second and is second for the series.  Some guy from Tulsa Tough got first.  I got 3rd for the race and I am sitting in 1st for the series.  I hope I have more teammates show up next week.  It felt kinda lonely out there.  

Cat4 14 Starters
Place Bib Name, Cat, Age, Team, City, State
1 151 Jordan Haffener,5,21,Tulsa Tough Racing / 1 151 Tulsa Wheelmen Man
2 121 Robert Brigman,4,27,GP VeloTek Lawrence,KS
3 143 Ty Trammell,4,35,Team Colavita/Parisi Coffee Kansas City,mo
4 105 Richard Weis,5,41,Localcycling.com Olathe,KS
5 103 Grant Harrison,4,27,GP VeloTek Lawrence,KS
6 137 Robert Englert,5,17,Colavita/ Parisi Kansas City Shawnee,KS
7 109 Matthew Kassawara,4,31,GP VeloTek Lawrence,KS
8 106 Hector Soto,3,36,Renaissance Cycling Kansas City,MO
998 102 David Romisch,4,46,GP VeloTek Overland Park,KS
998 107 Myron Michael,4,51,GP VeloTek Overland Park,KS
998 117 Michael Rost,4,48,GP VeloTek Lincoln,NE
998 138 Kenneth Englert,4,14,SKC Racing Shawnee,KS
998 145 Ryan Kelley,4,29,GP VeloTek Overland Park,ks
998 150 Aaron Stull,4,18,Epic Cycling Team Parkville,MO

Spring Begins with a two race weekend.

I did two races this weekend. Saturday was the third installment of Spring Fling and Sunday was the final round of the Perry Road Race series. I raced both days, and felt pretty good. The weather was drastically different for the two days.


Spring fling was rainy and they foretasted rain, but I felt obligated to go. I wanted to go after it again. I was fortunate and able to get 1st place again. I took the first prime. Then there was a little break and someone got off of the front of that break. me and one other guy chased them for a lap or so we tried to get a kid from Velotech to help but he has spent himself sprinting for what he thought was the prime (turned out to be nothing). When we got done around to the finish line they called out for the prime. So I had a lap to recover and try to get it. Well the guy off of the front got it, but I second. Once it started pouring on us they called out last lap. The young kid from Velotech took off for the finish at turn 3. I didn't figure he would make so I let him go. I followed John Williams (CowTown) around turn 4 and put the hammer down. I got third accross the line. The Velotech kid was too far up to catch and the guy off the front was a quarter lap ahead or so. I was still happy I got enough points to get first.

Perry
I got 7th at Perry. I really wish I would have tried for the KOM. I just figured I wouldn't be able to get it. Then a break formed with 6 people that did think they could get it. Kenny from our team went. He is a junior. I was in the pack behind them. there weren't very many people in our group that wanted to work. I found I could beat them to the top of the climb. After make almost a full pull across the dam and part of another one on the last lap, I was read to dump some dead weight. There were two of up front, a guy from santefe cycling. I said once we get around the corner to go down be hind the dam lets hammer it and drop these guys. I think a couple will come with us. We got 5 guys together and took off rotating pulls. So we had at least the top 11 there. When we got to the final corner up the hill I hammered ahead of the guys. Two came up with me. On the false flat I recovered got in my small ring. Once we started up the steep part, I felt really good so I nailed it dropped those two guys and got 7th.
I felt pretty good at the end and wish I would have gone for the KOM. Oh well. It was still a good race.

Spring Fling #2

Well I did Spring Fling Crit race this past weekend. This was the 2nd one of the series and the 1st one I've ever done.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/72931859

I did the Men Cat 4 and the Men Cat 3/4.

I was pretty excited I got 1st place in the Cat 4. This is my first top three finish. The race consist of 2 primes and the finish. You get points towards win by how you do in the primes. 1st through 4th get points in the primes. 1st through 8th get points at the finish towards placing. I like it because it makes the race more exciting. You have to go for the primes to to get a good place.
I got 4th in the first prime and 1st in the 2nd prime. On the first prime as we were going around the corner to head to the finish I was getting the finish line in my sites when I noticed someone coming right into me. They didn't make contact, because I went off in the grass to avoid collision. As soon as I went off and realized I was good, I decided I'm still going for it. So I bunny hopped back up to the road. It was about a 2 inch lip back to the road surface. Then I started grabbing gears, put my head down, and hammered it. I barely caught a guy to get 4th. I payed for it too. My heart rate went up to 198. The highest I've seen all year is 192. It took a couple of laps to recover.
Then on the next prime I was about 5 or 6 back and I got on my teammate Charles's wheel. He was a guy named Travis's (from Ethos) wheel. About half way there I hammered around Charlie and kept at till I just barely got around Travis a little before the line.
So now I've got two primes and I'm feeling good. Need a little recovery before the finish. Towards the finish. I was back a little too far and started making a move a long the back stretch before the last corner. Then once we got around corner just started hammering down to the line. I finished between 3rd and 6th not sure really where I was. There was a pretty good bunch at the finish. All I know is it was enough for 1st. Which I didn't know until the results were up.

I did have a strategy. It was try to take all the primes and the finish. I guess I didn't quite do it, but it worked.

Then I did the 3/4's an hour later and held on pretty good. They have three primes instead of two. I decided to go off the front by my self after the 3rd prime. I made it about 1/2 to 3/4 of a lap before they caught me. I was pretty toasted by then. I stayed with the group till the end and finished around 15 or something.

These new pedals I think helped along with these wheels.

I rested and planted broccoli and cabbage on Sunday. Before I knew about the snow coming. I got them covered. I did about an hour of recovery spinning on the rollers later that evening.

All aboard!

Weird ride tonight. I was intended to go out for about 1.5 to 2 hrs and try these new Ritchey Wheels out. They pretty cool. Well I got a flat in about 15 minutes into the ride. I hardly ever get flats, but it hapens hit something big and went right through the tire. I'm not sure what it was but it left a big gash in the tire. Any way... I was heading down to the airport to do some intervals. There was a train just stopped across the tracks where I had to get through. At this point I'm already running out of time. So I just went underneath it and kept riding. I wouldn't recommend this, but I wanted to ride those wheels. I like them too. I'm leaning towards them. I just can't decide very well.

I've got a follower and I'm getting Wheels

Hey Congrats and thanks James for being my first follower. I'm sure you are the first person to read mine as well. I hope to put some clear thoughts down.

Wheels.
Well Britton has been helping me buy look at wheels. I think I've tried about four pairs now and it's starting to be like testing cologne. Really it's been great though.
First tried the Velocity A23's. I really liked these wheels. They are super light and strong. They have a wider rim 23mm so the tire makes more contact with the rode.
Next I tried some Shimano RS Eighty's. These were really cool, with a 16/20 spoke count. They are also carbon with aluminum break surfaces. I was nervous about them at first because I'm 185lbs. They were stiff and rode pretty nice. I think they look pretty cool as well.
Then I rode the Velocity Victory 30's. These were fine. Looked pretty. I raced them on Sunday's Dam race.
Now I'm trying the Ritchey WCS Zeta wheels. These are pretty cool and right now I'm leaning towards these. They have the sapim spokes with 16 front 20 back. I haven't had a chance to ride them outside yet, but plan on it tomorrow.
For the most part I really liked all of these wheels, and will have trouble deciding what to go with. I looking at weight, bombproofness (that's a word), and cost. So it's still a hard choice.

First race of the Season

Perry Road race series.
This was my first race of the season. It was also my first Cat4 race. It was about 25 miles, 5 laps with a good hill.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/71705500

The first lap we were pretty much all together. The second lap I think a break started. I didn't really realize it until we got down on the dam and Charlie said something to me. Michael Ellis and I were not really worried about it. Then Charlie said something about an In-a-Tub guy was in the break and that one of his teammates was sitting on the front of the group just sitting up. By the time we got around the corner heading down low Charlie came rushing by and I jumped on his wheel. I thought, "Yeah we're gone". It didn't last long and the whole group was on our wheel. So I fell back and sat in. There were a few more attacks here and there. I jumped on some. One time two of us were of the front, some guy from South Dakota, but that didn't last long either. Then the next thing I know Three of us, the South Dakota guy and an older guy from Molle (Blue Springs). Were off and clear. I didn't even realize it for a few minutes. Then we started hammering to catch the other group. We didn't catch them till the end of the 4th lap right as we started up the hills again. Once we got on they started putting the hammer down again. I was good util we got the hill climbs. When we went around the corner for the last leg of the climb, I didn't have much left and lost them before the top of the climb. Six guys in front of me. I chased them down as hard as I could for the next lap but couldn't get to them. I still ended in 7th place. I was happy with that. Overall it was a blast, with lots of Colavita Loven' out to cheer us on.