Amen, Bub

Read Bub's post before reading this.

I loved the words of Bub especially verse 8 of chapter one. The mp3 is a must even if the official race rules say no. After reading the words of Bub, I received some additional revelations that I felt needed to be added to the Words of Bub. Call them foot notes.
In verse 1 -Mt. Dew is great anytime after 90 miles.
Verse 2- No matter how great one might feel we are only as strong as who ever is in the pain cave.
Verse 3- PB and J or honey. You can't go wrong with that.
Verse 4- a 130 toupe is great if your first name is ADAM.
Verse 5- Or until all major climbs are completed. (strawberry pass)
Verse 6- a snow suit might not be a bad idea either.
Verse 7- Eat normal food and oatmeal is great starter food. I've eaten oatmeal before ever LotoJa and it's great.
Verse 8- Amen. sing-it my brother.
Words of ADAM
Verse 1- Pray for a south wind and no rain, snow, or hail.
Amen

8 Days Left!

Here are some flashbacks to previous LOTOJA's to try and motivate you all. Daren, I am thinking of doing some cross races and have never done one, so I will need some pointers on getting started.

8 Days left! It is coming quick. I know you all have been discussing the race without me, but I decided to write out some of my own personal strategies & suggestions for each of the 8 days left to prepare.

1. Don't drink Mountain Dew to early in the race. Last year I drank it to quick and felt a high, then low before the race was over. So I will repeat in my head over and over, "Drink good fluids!"

2. Don't push hard to catch a group after we have been dropped. At the start of the race we got gapped and I went very hard to catch them, big mistake. I think it killed my dad and sent him into his, as Daren would say "pain cave" for the rest of the race. No matter who we pull, including an 80 person train, we should go our own pace.

3. Don't load up on Tootsie Rolls, no matter how good they taste. I overloaded on Tootsie Rolls last year and didn't want to eat anything else. It is hard to go back to the Specialized Allez when you have been riding the Tarmac. But the joyous Tootsie Rolls lowered my energy level.

4. Go for the Toupe Gel, not the 130 mm Toupe. This year I don't think my butt can take the little Toupe, and I will be bring the Toupe Gel.

5. Anyone over 40 is NOT allowed to pull for at least the first half of the race. I know my dad was trying for all his might to do his share last year, but it about killed him. Let the "young-ins" pull longer, there is nothing wrong with getting a little ride, and it will save you in the end.

6. Bring a rain coat just in case. You never know what will happen on race, even if they say it will be partly cloudy.

7. Don't eat greasy fettuccine noodles the night before the race. I couldn't sleep all night because my stomach was a little queasy.

8. An mp3 player is a must! I don't know what I would do without it - Enough said!

Hope your final week to prepare goes well. I know mine will be.

Bubba

10 Days Left!

It is hard to believe we only have 10 days to Lotoja! Sutt you didn't like Pete in the pic? Hope this one will do until we get the next group pic. I wish there was a way to get everyone in it. The weirdest thing happened on my way to work today, I almost hit a peacock on the bike path. I came around the corner and almost blasted it, but swirved inches from it.

Last week in the Tues. crit I paid it forward to some teammates. I spent a lot of time off the front and catching down breaks. I pulled the last lap and didn't have much left in the sprint, but I managed to hang on to 7th place.

Yesterday was a very windy race. The wind was blowing from all different directions and hard. After the first prime a group of six opened up a gap and managed to open up a half a lap lead and hold it for the rest of the race. One guy and myself worked really hard by pulling the group. No one else would pull with the wind and sat back to recover. One team had three riders in the small group and sat on our tails the whole time. Going into the final turn a teammate of mine was pulling out for me, but when I went to shift into a higher gear my chain skipped and I lost all my momentum. I ended up finishing second (but I probably wouldn't have caught the first place winner anyway, because he was pretty fresh after sitting on our butts for 15 km).

I don't know how you look forward to 11 hours on a bike, but I am looking forward to seeing everyone.

Bubba

Heat Cross

Today was a pre-season Cross race at the Wasatch County Fair Grounds in Heber. It was strange to do a cross race in 85 degree heat. However, it was a good course and lots of painful fun. Tanner won the Junior 15 - 18. It was a small field, but he road a really solid race and lapped 2nd place. They raced the same time as the Men B group that has some really fast guys. He hung with some of the adults and I'm impressed with his progress. Not many 15 year-olds will give a max effort for 50 minutes.

I had a really good race. I've been working on my cyclocross fitness, confidence and bike handling for more than a year. It's nice to see the work beginning to pay off. A couple of seasons ago, I was at the back of the 35+ group. However, today I was a solid 2nd, my best result yet. I stayed within 10 seconds or so of the leader for the 1st half of the race, but then faded. However, I had a big gap on 3rd. My seat broke off on the last lap, so it was good I had the gap. For the 1st time ever, I was not lapped by Bart. With a short lap, I'm really pleased about staying within 3 or 4 minutes of Bart. My average HR for the race of just below my max and above my threshold. I could tell because I was completely worked after the race and non-functional for an hour or so. The heat made it really hard. I can't wait for the real season to begin in a month.

Congrats to Eric R. on his E50 win. Good job on a really difficult race.

Here's some pics for today. First T-man and then me.

Here's a few from last week's MTB ride in the rain.

Doug, Tanner and Adam. I'm learning to take pictures while riding - Fox Style.

New Photo

Bub, We need to put up a new photo of the team. I say we take a new one the weekend of Lotoja. For Daren and tanner and others we should take it friday night. Just an idea, I feel it needs to include others and exclude non-GC Connection riders. Peace out. Only 15 days to Lotoja

Mud and crit

I left my camera at work today, so no pictures to post. However, I'll get some up this week. Our Saturday MTB ride didn't go as planned. It was raining and fairly cold on top. Doug was still feeling the effects of his crash, so we shortened the planned ride and did a couple of hours. Even with the bad weather and health issues, the ride in Upper Millcreek is spectacular. It is one of my favorite places on earth. It was very green and cool and a very nice change from the hot and brown we've had in the valley. We hope to make it up there again before the snow flys. Probably after LotoJa. MTB riding is just plain fun. I was not feeling too good on the climbs and Tanner was hurting me. It was kind of cool to see him throw down and make the old man suffer. I'm sure there will be more of that in the coming years.

I raced the RMR crit tonight. Kind of the strange day for me. I've not slept well for about 2 weeks and I've been really fatigued. I was not going to race, but the weather was so good tonight with light winds and temps in the upper 80's I decided to give it a go. Once the race got going, I felt really good on the bike. I was sitting in easily and got aggressive in the race. I tried to go with every move and attacked myself a few times. Nothing stayed away, but it was fun. I know I'm not going to win the group sprint, so I decided to attack with one lap to go. I got a gap, but was pulled back shortly. That pretty much burnt all my matches so I finished in the middle of the pack. However, it was much more fun than just sitting in or hanging on.

The first Cross race of the season is Saturday in Heber. T-man and I practiced barriers last night. I'm looking forward to it and it should be fun. Hopefully, I'll feel like I did tonight and not like I did Saturday. You LotoJa boys should come should do a ride in the Heber Valley and check out the races. T-man goes at 11:45 and I'm at 1:15.

Daren

TT'ing

Well, I did my second time trial of the year tonight and my 4th overall. It went pretty well. I'm still very slow compared to the fast guys, but I took nearly a minute off my April time. I actually passed a couple of people ahead of me and managed to keep Steve Wilcox from catching me. Steve started 30 seconds behind me and I barely held him off at the line. It was actually fun. The TT is about 6.5 miles on the wind-swept frontage road near Salt Aire. I did it in 15:38 which is an average speed of about 26 mph. Too bad the fast guys in my group go close to 30. Stormin' Norman kicked butt in the A's with a time well below 14 minutes. That is one aero dude. Maybe if I keep do a few more I'll figure out how to go faster.

Looking forward to Saturday's ride. I'll post pictures. Hopefully, Doug's high speed dismount yesterday didn't cause lasting damage.

The close calls

Sounds like all is well in Utah! Things are going along nicely in Oregon. I have three more days left of roofing, but who is counting. I was able to do a couple of races these past weeks. Two Saturdays ago I did the Harrisburg Crit. I felt great throughout the race and was working with one of my teammates to push the pace. Coming into the second to last turn at about 32 mph and in fourth position (right behind the guy who won the race) I hit my pedal on the ground causing my bike to jump a little bit. With the bump I landed on my sidewall and my tire popped. I was a little disappointed, but glad I didn't go down. We had created a 15 yard gap, so no one was behind me.

I didn't race last Tues. because it was Avery's birthday. Today I told my team I wanted to win one and they worked very hard to help me. Coming into the last turn I got a great lead out from one of the guys and I came around flying. I was sprinting against another guy who had a good lead out and I came up a little short, literally, he beat me by about 6 inches. I watched it on the tape and he barely got me. I was so close! I have two more crits before Lotoja, maybe I will finally get one.

It is sad to hear that all the Tdf riders, including Lance, were dopers. I have always been a little skeptical. I hope that it clears up in the future. I think Discovery was smart to pull the plug - I wouldn't want to deal with all that.

Good luck to all!
Bubba

Little C

I'm not sure Doug can declare a winner of the TdeF contest yet. I think we have to wait another 3 months to see how many more riders test positive and get DQ'd. At the Outdoor Retail show last week, I had lunch with some former Specialized guys, the CEO of Velonews and two former Bicycling Magazine editors. The general concensus was that Contador was involved in Puerto and Discovery pulled the plug just in time. No one around that lunch table believed Armstong and the Discovery/Postal crew were clean. They all felt everyone was doping from the mid '90's to a couple of years ago. They did feel that the peleton is much cleaner now and will get better if the teams can survive a couple more years.

On to better topics. Rather than ride around in circles in 100 degrees at RMR tonight, Tanner and I climbed Little Cottonwood to Snowbird. From our house, nearly 4,000 verticle in 14 miles. I haven't done the climb for a few years and forgot how hard it is. It will get your attention. However, it was a beautiful evening and I really enjoyed the ride. T-man rode it really well and was only 15 minutes behind me. It's pretty cool that a regular 15 year old will get on his bike and put in such a strong effort. I'm impressed.

Here's some pictures from the ride.



Tanner looking smooth.

As always, the canyon is spectacular.

Tanner near the top.

Me suffering at Tanner's Flat. It was impressive I could take the picture without crashing at this point.

Looking forward to Saturday's venture in the dirt. I've got a 4 - 5 hour 5,000 verticle route all ready to go.

TdF Winner

In the annual Tour De France contest I gave up interest and real concern for a winner with all the drug busts. I looked at our picks today and found there was a true winner. It was based on one point for any person picked in the top 5 and the highest finisher in the sprint or KOM. Brady was the over all winner with 4 points. He picked 3 of the top 5 gc's and was the only one to pick a non-drugger in the sprint or KOM. Brady picked Sastre, Levi, Evans and Frank Schleck. Schleck finished 40th in the KOM but that was the high finisher. Doug had 3 points, Daren and Adam had 2 points. Brady gets a dinner out, of course I need to be there. Thanks for participating. If things keeping going the way they are now there will be no one to race next year.

We are going to go on a mtb ride sat, me daren tanner and sut, need a break from the road. Peterson's are off to San Diego with the family so it sounds like great trip. Russ and Kim are taking bikes as LOTOJA in only 25 days away, can hardly wait. We have some great bulldogs for sale, hopefully we can be out of the dog business soon. Ride Safe. Doug

Thurs crit

Thanks to the help of Daren I was able to win another prime, but I didn't position myself very well for the final sprint and got stuck in the middle of the pack. The ending of the race was a mess, we hear the call for three laps to go and then a switch to this is it. I guess I should have been watching my watch better to know time was almost up.
The Ogden crit is fun and low key with the opportunity to win, while the RMR is just a hard workout. I need to do more on the RMR, but its hard to get down there. Hey Doug, after you and Daren left I over heard they are going to try to hold one more crit before the harvest moon crit. I put my name on an contact e-mail list and I'll let you know.

120

Well it was great to read about D & T , mtb race saturday. We took to easy way out and rode 120 miles in the heat. Kim, Russ, Adam and I left at 6:30 AM heading west and then turned north through beautiful Honeyville and Deweyville and then over the hill into Cache Valley. We turned north towards Cache JCT and went by Bension Lake Marina and back into Logan. We rode some of the LOTOJA road so it was getting us ready. We then headed south and up and over Sardine. By the time we got there is was hot and I felt like I was going to melt. Kim and I made it up and Adam and Russ had to wait for us. We then flew down to Brigham and south to Ogden. We were riding fast all day but the heat and rollers, and wind were hurting some of us. Adam was a stud and pulled about 15 miles at 22-25 mph. It was great training but I was feeling heat whipped. I hope it will be cooler for lotoja, hard to predict that weather.

Adam and I rode the Ogden Crit thursday and both took 5th or so as they don't score anything but the winner. The C averaged 25.6 and I tried to win a preem but got beat at the line. I was in the sprint so I felt good. Adam was in the sprint hard and got the drafters passing him at the line. It is a low key crit, but has been my first fun racing experience. Not only pain but fun to participate in. This week is the last, so Daren in coming to race, as he says below, so it will be fun to have someone willing to work with Adam. It is a great race course and well organized.

It was fun to be with sibling and spouses last night at Daren's. Hope you are all well and safe riding. 32 days left on the count down.
Doug

ICUP Champ

The final Intermountain Cup race was good and bad. The bad first. Tanner was off to a very good start, but broke his chain on a steep little climb. He got some help to repair the chain, but lost a bunch of time. He went deep into the pain cave to catch back up, but was too far behind.

I had a good day but not great. At altitude, you can't afford to blow up, so I kept it at or below threshold and rode steady laps. I let a few guys go early but brought all but one back later. Rob Westerman was on great form and chrushed me by 8 minutes. However, I hung on for 2nd and scored enough points to win the overall series title in the expert 40+ category. It has been a really good season and I enjoyed racing with Tanner. I learned to actually enjoy the rides this year and not stress too much about results. I was faster this year than last and it was nice to see my hard work pay off. Given my abilities, age and time to train, I think this is about as fast as I get.

I'm looking forward to racing with Adam this Thursday. I plan to be his domestic and work to get him the win. It would be really cool if we could get off the front together and stay away for the win. At the very least, we'll give it a good try. I was really impressed with Adam's split in the Spud Man so he's going good. Should be fun.

Later,

Daren

Eugene Update

T-man was right-they are all dopers! It was really hard to get into the tour as of years past because of all the scandals. I was glad for Contador. He will continue to do well. Sutt that is pretty cool that you won the prime lap. Daren good luck on finishing the season.

In Eugene last week I was dead tired. I had no legs and felt terrible, because we spent a couple of days boating in McCall, Id. with Brooke's family. I hung on to finish 6th. This week I was feeling better and tried to pick the pace up early. I felt good and with a couple of guys tried to get a breakaway, but was unsuccessful. The pace slowed down in the final laps, with no one wanting to pull. With two to go I was sitting in third position and the guy in the lead takes off. With 1 lap to go (1 km) the next guy goes and pulls hard to get a 15 yd break, but cracks. So here I am with almost 1 km to go and I am all alone with a lead. I decided to try and keep the gap and hold them off. I was going as hard as I could. I looked down at my heart rate monitor and it showed I was close to 200. Everything was going well and I even thought I might win, until the final 15-20 yards when I heard the footsteps coming up behind me. The train was moving in. I didn't have much left for a final kick so ended up finishing 4th. I was so close! I am racing another crit on Saturday and will let you know how it goes. I did finish 1st place overall in the points for the 4/5's for the Eugene crit series in July.

One month to Lotoja - it is hard to believe it is that time all ready!

Bubba

MY AWSOME NEW MOVIE THAT I MADE WITH MY FRIEND KEVIN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEFvtNn4En0 use this link to experience a mindblowing experince of lego-mation based on the legend of Wan Hu.

Last weeks results

Two races -Ogden crit and the spudman tri

Ogden crit- I rode in the B flight and just hung out in the back until the second preen at 20 min (40 min crit about 18 miles). A fourth of the way into the preen lap I take off I ride one lap at 30 mph, but nobody comes with me. I win the preen and try to stay away, but I can't. I get caught and blow-up and ride in about 1/2 lap behind the lead group. The funny part is I smashed the group apart. In past few weeks the B flight has for the most part stayed together the whole time (from what I heard after the race). But not last week, guys were all over the place and I was not well liked. I'm wondering what will happen on thur. I might sit in and try to attack right before the final two turns.

Spudman- I finished as Chris Mann in 2 hours and 16 min. Mindy did it just under 3 hours at 2:59. Better than we thought we could do in our first tri. Plus, it was an Olympic distance. The swim (1.5K) took me just over 20 min and Mindy did it in 21. I struggled to get into my rhythm for about 400 meters in the swim, but then the people around me started to drop away or take off ahead and I felt great from there. I did the ride in just over 1 hour averaging 24.8 mph, and felt like I could have gone faster, but I didn't want to die on the run. The thing that made me mad on the ride was I looked back to see myself pulling about 30-35 riders around the course. I yelled at them to stop drafting, but one guy told me he wasn't drafting he just couldn't go any faster. I keep trying to drop them, but the group was to big and they would jump back on to my wheel. The run wasn't that bad considering I didn't train for it. I averaged 8 min miles (10K) for a time of around 49 min. I didn't die, but my knee and foot hurt all weekend. It was a great tri and I might even do it again next year. If I do I will aim for a time around 2 hours. I wasn't that great in the transition areas.

Tour de France results- I'm guessing do to drug results and that all of us had at least one or two riders kicked out that were going to call it a wash. Darren I liked the article. thanks