All or Nothing

You win some and you lose some in cycling. In the crit I tried to get a break away with 8 laps to go. I ended up working to hard and burned a lot of energy, only to be caught with 3 laps to go.

I tried to quickly recover while staying up in the front as close as possible. With one and a half laps to go my buddy went to try and give me a lead out. We got a small gap, but unfortunately it was a little early. At 3/4 of a lap I came around his wheel, but saw some people closing in. With the finish line in sight I got caught by 4 riders on the same team. They came around and I didn't have much left to compete with them. But that is the life of cycling!

This is me getting caught and passed right before the finish line.

GC plans for the 10th

I talked to Dave up camping sat about riding down south (suncrest loop) on the 3rd, but I didn't know at that time that Mindy's family was coming up for a visit. So, I was thinking the 10th might be a better option. Daren and Tanner, what is your MTB schedule look like? Would the 10 work for you two? Dave hows the 10th look for you? If the 10th works let me know cause Doug will be up at Bub's by then. Which leads me back to the 3rd. I was hoping to get a GC ride in, but I'm not sure when, where, or what time will work for everyone on a holiday weekend. I would love to go early (6am), but I know that doesn't work for everybody else. I just know the day will be crazy with family plans so I was thinking the earlier the better.

So close

I had a goal this past week of completing 300 miles, but I came up a few miles short (8). The hot head wind on sat killed my desire to go the distance, but I don't think I could have gone another 10 miles (tired legs) anyway. I'm amazed at how the top rides can ride so hard day after day. Well, after the ride we headed up to Pineview to soak the legs and have an early fathers days with my pops. The water felt great and all in all it was a great day.

Where is this Global Warming?

Mindy, Adam and I went on an early morning ride today at 6 am. I was frozen in the first mile and am not sure I've been colder on a ride. When the sun came up as we rode north, the new snow from last night was pretty impressive--for November. It's the middle of June and we have had 15 out of 17 days this month with rain. Our foot hills look like Brady's in Oregan. Please I want some heat to complain about! Betty and I have been doing alittle hiking. This was up Indian Trail the other morning. Very beautiful and alot of fun.

I some how got an infected middle finger, probably smashed it on a bike. It was killing me for three days. The throbbing made it impossible to hold the handlebar in any position. I was going through Plain City a couple of days ago and rode through an intersection with a car waiting for me. All of a sudden the guy flips me off real irritated like and says same to you. I turned to go after him, then realize my only comfortable hand position may have been taken incorrectly.

I did poke around the nail and got a pint of puss out, and it is feeling much better. Ride Safe

Cold

Is it not summer? June 17th (Ryan's 36th B-Day) and at 6 am it was 42 outside. I thought it would warm up, so I only had a jacket and summer gloves (mistake). Mindy and Doug had on a few more layer than me (legs), but we all turned into Otter-pops. You know it is cold when the cows still had frost on their backside. So after thirty miles it warmed up to a blistering 56, but by then I was so cold it didn't matter. Nothing better than riding when you can't feel your hands or feet. Oh wait, I love the cold pains that shoot up your arms and legs after each bump too. June riding weather in Utah-If you ride after 9 am this week you battle the 30+mph headwind, and if you ride early you freeze. I'm not sure which I'd rather ride in so I've been doing both (go 2-a-days). At least I get most of next week off to help at girls camp (Oh boy).

Oh Yeah!

Ethan loves to take his tricycle to the crits and ride them up and down the sidewalk. He races in the kiddie kilo after my race.

Jeremy let me borrow his Carbones for the last two crits. I love the hum they make.

I have some big news - Utah and Colorado will be joining the Pac-10. OK, so it isn't Texax, but it will be nice to see Utah red once in a while. But some cycling big news is that I won my first Twilight Crit!

It wasn't as big of a group - maybe 35 this week. The race went out very fast. We dropped a lot of riders in the first 4 laps. I was working a lot off the front and felt pretty good. With 6 laps to go my friend, who was right in front of me, took off. I got on his wheel, along with another guy. The guy was from the biggest team in the field. Fortunately he wasn't their strongest rider. One other guy bridged the gap after one lap, so there were four of us. Having the one guy from Lifecycle in the group allowed us to get a substantial lead. His team wouldn't work with the main group, so we got about half a lap on the field. We were working pretty hard in the four man rotation. With 3/4 of a lap to go I broke off, knowing I couldn't out sprint two of the guys in a final sprint. The gamble paid off and I held them off for the win. I finished about 10-15 yards ahead of the next rider. I won a free pizza for my efforts! It was a good day at the races.

2-a-day Report

Bub, the new tape is very white and very clean. And I must admit that I did at one time think of adding white tape to complete the white look on my bike. However, I couldn't do it because it doesn't stay white. So I went with black tape, but did you notice the new RED TIRES. They look fast!!!!


By the end of last week my legs were very tired. So when the weather was bad on Sat I took the day off and watched the world cup (US was lucky to tie). I only got 229 miles last week (short of my goal by 71), but I didn't ride on Sat and I didn't do a 2-a-day on Tues. New week and I think I can make it to 300 this week. I had two good rides today already and I'll see what the rest of the week brings.

Holding up the blog

Sutt has definitely been holding up the blog. My blogging has been at a bare minimal. There is so much to talk about in the world of cycling: the Landis accussations, to Contador not riding well, and team Radio Shack. But I think I will stick to something I am more comfortable with - Me!

The new white wraps came out and the bike is ready to go. A few weeks ago I rode the Eugene Roubaix. It is a 55 mile course with a 2 mile section on a gravel road. I felt fine throughout the race. There were about 65 people in my category, making it a tight fit. I ended up a little behind going into the gravel, but made up some ground and finished 9th.

The crits started last week, but I got really sick and wasn't able to go. I felt a lot better this week and got out there to try. There were 53 people out for the local crit! Crazy! There was a good head wind on the back side and it was raining. Sounds like a great time, huh? It actually was pretty fun to be out and riding in a bike group. We averaged 26 miles per hour. I got in a bad spot in the final corner but passed a few people for a 5th place finish.

I just can't wait for the rain to stop. It has been a long rainy spring! Sutt and Doug, I am going to have to start pounding the pavement to catch up to your miles.

Two-a-days

Remember those good old days of Football and struggling to finish two or three practices a days (I guess it made us better athletes). Well, I now have an old man bike riding version of two-a-days. It starts with a 30 mile ride on the Tandem with Mindy (before she heads to work) and then around noon another 30 with Russ (Doug joins in on which ever group ride he wants). My hope is this will get me back on track, because Doug was hurting me about a month ago. It was all I could do to stay on his wheel after about 15 miles, but with my new riding plan I hope to drop a few pounds and increase my power. I'll tell you what the tandem definitely gives my muscles a deeper workout. I guess we'll see how long I last on this crazy two-a-day riding plan.

Cold, but fun

Can't breathThe water was glass

My finger tips and toes turned white.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to try out the new ski. The water was COLD, but I loved the new ski. It is very responsive and took me a few hard falls to get the hang of it, but then it was AWESOME. Daren, you can come ski on it anytime. We need to do a group ride and then take the boat out. Now, that would be a great day!!