The Pirate Ship

This past weekend marked the beginning of the 2014 racing season for me and the 30th anniversary for when I began cycling in Fayetteville, AR after a treasure chest of injuries from running the St Louis marathon, untrained.  It was also our OKC Velo team's training camp weekend which was graciously organized by our crusty and wily veteran, Hunter East. We had roughly 14 OKC Velo masters riders in Little Rock Friday afternoon for a short ride to get the legs warmed up for Saturday's Cross Wind Classic road race located just east of Little Rock.  To say it was a treat to ride with 13 other men in the same kit in my hometown would be an understatement.

The racing this past weekend was a huge success, although the real takeaway from our team camp had nothing to do with results.  However, for sake of posterity, I'll provide a detail or two on how we did perform.  Because we had such a large group of masters racers here this weekend, we decided to split the team and race both the Masters and Pro, 1, 2 events.  At the end of the day, we placed 1st and 2nd in the Masters race and 2nd and 3rd in the P,1,2 event.  The 2nd place in the elite race was the ride of note for our team this weekend.  Our brazen leader, whom we affectionately refer to as "Dark Lord," aka Peter Erdoes, broke away solo from our field around mile 4 of the 65 mile event.  Peter was quickly caught by another young rider from Memphis and the two were off.  Because of the efforts of our team (almost all over 50 years old) and the Memphis Marx and Bensdorf team, Peter and his breakaway companion managed to stay away for the entire race.  It was a beautiful effort and as I told Peter after the race, "I wasn't sure if I was happy or sad for you that you were managing to stay away for the entire race," because I know it had to have been a very painful 2 1/2 hours of racing for him.

Trent Hickey - Winner, Masters Category

Dark Lord in the break (red helmet) - 2nd, Pro, 1,2 Category

A special Thank You to Candis Massingill for the fantastic photos.

But again, the real story here is not the results we gained, it was the feeling of being a part of a team that truly loves racing and sacrificing for each other.  After everyone had hurriedly left for home Sunday morning to try and beat the pending ice storm, Hunter posted an email to our group with some very poignant words. Hunter's email was followed up by a few other teammates at which point it struck me how special this team really is. I'd like to apologize in advance to my teammates for violating our confidentiality agreement, but this stuff is blog worthy, so I'm posting some of the emails anyway.  However, I'm removing the author's names so they are protected from potential ridicule for being overly sappy or soft, which I can assure you, they are certainly not.

Our Training Camp is in the bag and I just wanted to make a few observations. First, we are all fortunate to have found ourselves on this team, however each of us may have arrived here. This is truly a great group of guys, diverse as we may be. Second, our results speak for themselves, and are largely due to the fact that we actually ride as a team. It sounds simple and cliche, but in reality it is rare in the amateur ranks. The fact that we can dominate many of the races in which we enter is a testament not to our individual abilities, but rather to our collective willingness to ride with a common objective. Just seeing how genuinely happy our entire team was to see the Dark Lord ride to such an awesome, and well earned 2nd Place in the Pro 1,2 race, was for me further confirmation that we are all experiencing something very rare in our chosen sport. It also sounds like the Masters race played out very similarly with some stellar team tactics and acts of selflessness. I am confident that someday when we are no longer able to throw our legs over our steeds, and clip in for a day in the saddle, we will look back and know that we were part of something special. I was very happy to help host our camp this weekend and was glad I had an opportunity to "give back", if even just a little compared to those of you that sponsor the team. Lastly, I feel fortunate to ply the seas with all you Pirates and I'm already looking forward to the next skirmish! 

----------

Thanks for your hospitality Hunter and the use of the rock star bus! That was a real treat! And thanks to JD for housing me! What a great result and time together with everyone!  Wish I could have stayed longer, the weather is pretty crappy here in _____! From your email I can tell you've experienced the same thing that has glued me to this band of pirates for nearly 10 years now.  The key, I've discovered, is that the tone is set in a special and unique way by the Dark Lord himself. While he can "bring it" most any day, he will also lay it down for his mates and rejoice in their success as much as his own.  Like all of us, the willingness to be a domestique one day as well as stand on a podium the next, not only sets a good example, but makes this team very unpredictable and therefore hard to control by others.  Both races this weekend were collective efforts and THAT is worth bleeding out your ears for and that is what racing like a pirate means. 

----------

First of all I would like to extend my thanks for everyone in Little Rock for being such gracious hosts.  Thanks to Rene & Sonya, JD,  Donnie and Tonya Van Patter, and of course Dustin & yourself.  I am not one for many soft felt words, more of a tough love kind of guy, but I have to say that this group of guys is one in a million.  I truly enjoy hanging out and racing with everyone on this team.  We have more personalities than colors in a rainbow, but we care for each other and are truly a cohesive unit.  This makes us stand apart from the vast majority of other teams that we race against.  This is truly awesome!

As Hunter stated this weekend said everything about this team and the group of individuals we have representing the Pirate Ship. We are a united front that will conquer anything thrown at us regardless of age or degree of difficulty of the battle at hand.

Looking forward to what our 2014 season and beyond brings to this great group.  It looks like we will be having many special moments.  Let’s continue to kick some arse!

I'd like to make a special shout out to Rene and Sonya LaVergne for everything they do for central Arkansas junior cycling and also for housing some of our Pirates and making an incredible breakfast for us Sunday morning. Also to Little Rock cycling veteran and local hero Donnie Van Patter and his wonderful wife Tonya for giving up their home this past weekend to our teammates.

I'm looking forward to another fun race season with my fellow Pirates, and also for summer, summer time is good.  Next on tap is Rouge Roubaix, March 9th outside of Baton Rouge, LA, which always proves to be the kind of suffer fest that makes all other races we do during the season a veritable walk in the park.

-JD

Productivity

Some days my motivation comes from deep within me, others I need to search outside of myself to find inspiration.  Life is hard, cycling is hard, and I love both, but sometimes I need help and this video is one of ways I slap myself in the face to get my mind right.  Hopefully one day I'll be able to live up to it's message.

Change of Seasons

Like most, I'm a creature of habit.  My life tends to follow a well worn path of passions from the warmth of spring and summer cycling to the comfort of cool fall days sitting in a tree stand with my bow in hand. I love the holiday season and think back to so many great days with my family here in Arkansas.  My mother was especially fond of Christmas, and, no matter how much money we had, she always found a way to make that day, and season, magical.  I still get butterflies on Christmas morning.

Top secret tree stand location.

Once Christmas is over, and it will be sooner than I'm ready for, I hit the doldrums of my year, winter.  I'm not a fan of cold weather and I don't like training when the temps get below 70.  I get cold easily and have a tough time warming up when the mercury drops below 50 deg.  And while I've learned how to dress and prepared for winter riding, it still takes a toll on my motivation.  Before the weather starts warming up in March, I have a limited supply of "get up and go" to draw from to get me through the coldest months of the year.  I rode yesterday in a light rain and about 55 deg., and while it wasn't a bad day to ride, it got me thinking about the amount of mental energy it requires to stay fit during the cooler months.  My emotional bank account is filling up right now while I take it easy on the bike and do a little hunting and also spend some time in the gym getting strong and healthy again.  By December I'll start getting serious for our first big race of the year, Rouge Roubaix. It's a very delicate balance for me to stay fit right now while also replenishing my emotional batteries.  Ultimately, I'll tire of the easy days of fall and that little part of  my brain that likes to suffer and punish, will begin to wake up again and start having it's way with me in the cold, dark and wet days of January and February.

Overlook Hill, 55 and drizzly

But for now, it's my Strength and Conditioning season and I've set some lofty goals to be achieved by the end of the year.  My strategy in the gym evolves a little every year, this season is no different. I've noticed over the past few years that ex body builder types tend to be very fast on a bike, at least once they've lost a lot of their muscle mass above the chest.  I always wondered why this was until my coach sent me a study that linked absolute strength as a key factor of performance in endurance sports. The article simply suggests there is an economy of movement the stronger one is as well as a lactic acid benefit for longer duration efforts.  They both sound good to me!  With that I set out to be the strongest skinny person in our gym this fall, at least in the leg area.  Not sure how I'll prove it one way or the other, but I have an idea that if I can leg press over 1000 lbs 6 times, I should be pretty close.  I'm not too far away now but those last 200 lbs are a real bitch.  I'll keep the blog updated on my progress and maybe throw in a pic or video as proof.

Catching Up

I've had a few requests lately to start to writing in my blog again.  I guess it has been a while since I posted something.  Thinking back to last year and my last post, a lot has happened... mostly good stuff, but as life can be, it's the typical roller coaster scenario. However, as the title of my blog says, I'm a very lucky man to be living the life I do, so no complaints from me.

To summarize what's happened since last summer... had a great fall of archery hunting with my good friend Hunter and his family and friends.  Worked hard in the gym all fall and early winter and set some new personal strength records.  Trained very hard in the cold and rain all winter.  Raced poorly all spring.  Finally started coming back to life in May, and have been racing two to three crits a week for the past 6 weeks.

Now that all the details are out in the open, I'll start writing more regularly with hopefully something interesting to say every now and then.  In the spirit of keeping this article short, I'm going to sign off and leave you with a bitchin' picture of me by one of our local photographer/cyclist, Addie Teo.  I've never liked seeing myself in photos much but this one actually makes me look half good,  a true testament to Addie's skills.  Thanks Addie!

JD McCay & Peter Beland (in blue)

Wed night Ronde Van Burns Crit June 12, 2013. Peter Beland and I on a flyer for the first half of the race.  Photo courtesy of Addie Teo

Long time no...

I was gently reminded the other day it's been a while since my last update.  It appears my last entry was on May 22nd, which seems like yesterday.  A lot has happened since then, both on and off the bike which has kept me very occupied.  My position at work was eliminated at the end of May leaving me unemployed.  I was leading a pioneering campaign to build a segment of the company's wholesale business, and, while we were gaining traction in this difficult economic climate, it turned out to be more investment than the President was willing to make given how is other businesses were needing cash.   I'm very grateful I had the job and the friendships I forged as a result.  I think a lot of people would have been very upset at losing their job, and rightly so, but I'm not.  Businesses are complex and fragile entities and it's tough work to keep one moving in the right direction.  So, if they needed to eliminate my position in order to keep the larger machine running in the right direction, then I completely understand.  We parted on good terms and now I have a great opportunity to start something new and exciting.  More on this later.

As far as racing goes, we're in the middle of Crit (criterium) season right now.  My crit season started mostly during our local Wed night races held in Burns Park towards the end of May.  They weren't going so well for me from the beginning.  I was feeling unusually tired about halfway through each one and completely spent by the end.  I'd had a productive cough since before the Joe Martin Stage Race and the cough was getting worse, not better, 6 weeks later.  After some encouragement from Shelley, I decided to go see Dr. McGowan.  Dr Bob ordered a thorough exam which included chest films and lung function tests and it was concluded I have asthma, and at the time operating on roughly 80% lung function.  Well, that could explain why I'd been feeling so poorly in some of my races, especially the crits where there is only a block or two between hard efforts which leaves very little time to recover.  The good news is this has happened to me before when I lived in Colorado and the culprit was allergies, which appears to be the same problem now and relatively easy to fix.  I normally don't have allergy issues here in Arkansas but this year is different.  Maybe the long, warm and winter and spring has caused some pollen types to be worse than normal, and coming out earlier than usual too.  So, after a little rest and some good meds, I was losing my cough and starting to feel good again on my rides.

The time had come for the Tulsa Tough races, which our team has high on it's priority list and one I had committed to racing way back in September.  I promised my doc I wouldn't race for two weeks after the asthma diagnosis but I've known him for over 30 years and watched him disobey his own docs orders and run injured and sick.  I figured he wouldn't really respect me if I didn't race in Tulsa.  So off to the races I go... docs orders be damned.

Hunter and I set off for Tulsa and had a great weekend racing with our teammates.  We have such a good group of men (and their families) on our team and I thoroughly enjoy everyone's company.  They're all incredibly strong and humble to boot.  The races in Tulsa had large fields and very deep competition.  Our Masters "A" field was made up mostly of Cat 1 and 2s from around the country which always makes for a fun race.  Not only is the competition good, but you never really know all of the guys and who to watch.  Not knowing who to watch means almost everyone gets chased down until the field is so tired they can't chase anymore.  With my new found lung capacity, I felt fairly good on Saturday and managed 28th place after not contesting the sprint.  Frankly, I was a little worried about Sunday's race which has a difficult hill known as Cry Baby Hill located just past the finish line.  Good lungs or bad, this course challenges one and all.  With so many talented Cat 1s in our field, including ex World and multi-National Champ (as well as ex pro) Jame Carney and other ex pros, it was definitely going to be a tough race.  I had decided on a race plan and was happy to have my legs, and lungs, working well, finally.  As the race progressed, our field of 70+ quickly became about 25.  I managed to stay in the front group until a break went up the road including Hunter.  Hunter ultimately won the race out of the break and was admittedly overwhelmed with his result.  The men he beat were truly awesome competitors and it was on a super tough course in very hot, humid conditions... oh, and not to mention the wind was blowing at a consistent 20 mph throughout our race.  I was  happy to have managed to stay in the dwindling main group and ultimately ended up 23rd.  Fun weekend and great results for the OKC Velo Pirates all around.

One more thought regarding the Tulsa Tough races... these are very well run and promoted events and the weekend is super fun  from both the racer's and spectator's point of view.  Every race is a party, and especially so with regards to the final day and Cry Baby Hill.  Cry Baby Hill is essentially a huge block party and reminded me of something we see on TV during the big mountain stages of the Tour de France.  People are out in the street having a great time and being generally drunk and obnoxious.  I've often wondered how the Pros handle this distraction while racing at their limit, and while our little race was nothing in comparison to the Tour, it did give me a little perspective on what they deal with, and it was FUN!  Cry Baby Hill is a very steep and tough little climb and we did it over 20 times at race speeds.  Having those people there really helped keep the juices flowing and while I was focused on what I was doing and couldn't see most of what was going on at the party, I could certainly feel it.  If only more races were like this more people would get involved in this awesome sport.

Me - #450.  Cool shot from above at the beginning of Cry Baby Hill.  Photo Courtesy of Cindy Porter.  Thanks Cindy!

Second half of Cry Baby Hill with Jay Hawkins (teammate and awesome Viola player, so I'm told :)

Cool video from racer's perspective of Cry Baby Hill

Another well edited video of Cry Baby Hill

After Tulsa, I had the Arkansas State Time Trial Championships to look forward to.  It's a 40k (~25 mile) flat, out and back race that would prove to be a major suffer fest.  I knew I was riding better and better by the day with my allergies/asthma coming under control, but I was nervous about riding so long on my new TT bike.  The position I ride in is so aggressive I really needed a few more weeks to adapt to it, but because I've been racing so much, there's been little time to do specific training on this bike. Sunday morning, Father's day, and riders start leaving the start line at 7 a.m. at 30 second intervals.  My start time was around 7:15 which meant I had to wake up much earlier than I would really care to.  I ate a light breakfast of oatmeal and coffee at some awful early time and Shelley and I hopped in the car and drove outside of Little Rock to Galloway, AR for the race start.  Got in a decent warm up and lined up for what would be roughly an hour of pain.  I'm sent off the start line with a few friends yelling encouragement and in only a few seconds, I'm buried in a silent world of focus.  Like most races, I feel good at the start and usually stay this way for quite a while until some of the harder efforts begin building up in the legs.  But in a time trial, this good feeling doesn't last long and in only 4 or 5 miles I'm already hurting.  It's amazing how quickly the pain begins but even more so how long I can endure it when my head is in the right place.  I ride towards the turnaround passing people along the way.  My speed is very slowly dropping as I move closer to the 12.5 mile 180 degree turn.  I can see it up the road but like the oasis in the desert, it doesn't seem to get any closer.  Finally, I make the turn around and I'm on course for a sub 58 or 59 minute 40k time.  I take my time drinking water and getting some nutrition before getting back on the pedals and back up to speed... as soon as I'm riding at my limit again, I notice my speed is higher than before the turn around.  I wasn't sure how long this was going to last, but I'm happy to take it for as long as it does.  I manage to keep my speed up fairly well in spite of the pain.  I finish the last 5 miles strong and end up with a time of 58:55.  There was only one other guy in my category so I ended up as State Masters Time Trial Champion (45-49).  Ha!  Next year should be a little more difficult to get a Gold medal result.  The 50+ age category maybe the most competitive of all here in Arkansas so I'll need to buckle down and work on this discipline over the next 12 months.

The day after the TT, I'm reading an email from my coach and he's telling me that after the turn around, I lost a minute.  I guess I spent too much time drinking and eating before I got back up to speed.  It's possible I could have broken 58 minutes if I'd been a little smarter.  Oh well, it was a good day and again, I got to share it with good friends.

Well, the heat is here much like last summer when we set a lot of new records for high temperatures and the most consecutive days above 100 F.  It's getting tougher every year to acclimate to the 100+ temps and high humidity, but to be honest, I really do prefer these hot days to the cold ones of winter.  Our state Criterium Championships are this Sunday and the temps are again forecasted to be in the low 100s.  Right now I'm planning to do our Master's race and then the Cat 1,2 race.  Not sure if this is smart given the conditions, but for now, this is the plan.  If you're local, come out for the race, it's held in North Little Rock along the River just down the street from Argenta.  We had big crowds last year and everyone seem to have a good time.  Here is the link to the flyer (below) with directions to the course.  Parking is good and easy but make sure you bring some chairs and a tent to keep out of the sun.  

http://cstashuk.aristotle.net/carve/flyers/Dr_Feelgood_Star-Spangled_Classic_AR-Crit_2012.pdf

Closing the Deal

This past weekend was the Racing Rapides Stage Race in Alexandria, Louisiana.  This would be my first time in Alexandria with the exception of two times I've briefly driven through it to get to and from Lafayette.  This was also my first weekend back racing since the Joe Martin Stage Race in Fayetteville.  And now that I type this, it's occurred to me this is my first blog in a while and I never posted one regarding Joe Martin... so a little about Joe Martin before I get started on Racing Rapides.

The Joe Martin Stage Race, or JMSR, as it's affectionately know, was a tough race.  I went in very fit and felt great the first day against a stacked Masters A field.  The hill climb time trial went ok and the road race not too bad after making the final cut among the strong men on a very challenging course and finishing 14th in our group of 16 in the final sprint with some bad cramping.  The criterium was a disaster for me though and one I would like to forget ever happened.  Normally I recover well for the second day of racing but not this day.  The JMSR criterium course is one of the toughest in the country and it will weed out the weak, and I was definitely weak this day.  I managed to hang in the top echelon of riders until 5 laps to go when my legs finally had had enough on the tough finishing hill.  I popped like a plastic cork on a cheap bottle of champaigne and it was not pretty.  Everyone was on hand to witness it and so it was time to swallow some pride and ride as hard as I could to keep from getting lapped, which could easily happen if I wasn't careful. I managed to find a good rhythm and kept my speed up after a recovery lap and never came too close to getting lapped, but my pride was showing some road rash and I needed to deal with it quickly so it didn't ruin what really was an awesome weekend of racing and spending time with a good friend.  So I worked some psychotherapy magic on myself and found my happy place for the rest of the day and enjoyed my time sitting in the sun.

The OKC Velo Pirates after the final JSMR stage

L to R:  Jay Hawkins, Frank Jakofcich, Hunter East, Me, Johnny LaSorsa, Bruce Tanner

After the JMSR I took a couple of weekends off racing and also managed an entire weekend without riding before the Racing Rapides Stage Race.  The weekend without riding, as I shall call it, was the most relaxing two days I've had in years, and it was good.  Actually, it was AWESOME, and no doubt helped me gain a little more enthusiasm for upcoming races.  

So with a fresh attitude and somewhat fresh legs, the usual suspects loaded up on the Rockstar bus (Hunter, Evan, me and Kris) and headed down to Alexandria on Friday.  After having dinner at the House of Butter and Salt, I mean, the Outback Steak House, we drove 45 minutes outside of town into a national forest to setup and get some rest before an early race start Saturday morning.  Hunter had decided to race the 1,2,3 race as his son Evan had just upgraded to Cat 3 after an awesome 2nd place overall at JMSR in the Cat 4 field.  Hunter not only wanted to look out after Evan in his debut cat 3 event but it was also a good chance for them to race together before Evan starts what is assuredly an early professional career in another year or two :)  I was left to fly the Jolly Roger for the OKC Velo Pirates in the Masters field by myself.  

My awesome parking job in Alexandria at packet pick-up.

Our 65 mile rolling hill race started at 8:30 Saturday morning and promised to be a very warm and humid day, just like I like it.  The course was much hillier than I thought it would be.  I'm always surprised when I come across hills in Louisiana, but they do have some and this area was no different.  In fact, while none of them were very severe, there were a few that were long and steep enough that some of the guys were going to suffer, so I took it upon myself to set a difficult'ish tempo on each one so as not to burn any of my matches, but make sure some of the weaker guys were softening up a little.  Donald Davis, reigning LAMBRA (Louisiana Mississippi Bicycle Racing Association) masters champion was racing with us and as always, very fit and strong.  Donald won the Rouge Roubaix race the past two years along with almost every stage race I've entered in the past 12 months.  He is very fast and can time trial with the best of them.  But Donald was riding without any teammates like I was and we both had to be vigilant in order to keep any threatening groups from riding away from us.  One small group managed to get a 45 second gap on us about 25 miles into the race and Donald and I were the only ones willing and able to make a chase.  So we started working to bring these guys back and it was about 5 miles of hard pulling, just him and I before he attacked me when I was in the middle of a long pull.  I had no more speed in my legs, hell, I was riding as hard as I could, and he knew this was a good time to get rid of me and bridge up to the break alone.  It was a smart move on his part and it definitely put me under some pressure.  No one in the group would help me so I kept chasing, heart rate pegged and hoping my legs could withstand the pressure for a few more miles, which was what it was going to take to bring these guys back.  But I got lucky and guys started trying to jump across to the break, when this happened, I was able to start grabbing wheels and getting short rests before going back to the front and pulling again.  We finally caught the front group and now I could begin licking my wounds and recovering.  After some time sitting on wheels, another strong attack went up the road with Donald and I was easily able to bridge up to them and the best part of it was knowing that I was recovering from hard efforts really well.

The race was moving on and the temps were rising.  We were about 15 miles away from the finish and again, never having seen this course before, had decided to ride every hard hill at the front to control to tempo and put some guys under pressure.  At 10 miles to go, a hill rose up in front of us and as usual, I went to the head of the group, after a few minutes of hard riding we came around a corner and the road continued up as far as we could see.  Donald noticed everyone was hurting and he came around me with a hard attack.  This was it, do or die.  I went with Donald and we quickly starting sharing the pace.  I looked back and all I could see were the three guys we had drug along with us.  Everyone else had dissappeared and now the work began.  Donald and I continued to trade pulls but the other men refused to work.  About five miles to go and we convinced Glenn Richard of Acadiana Bicycle Company Racing to help us.  His pulls were short, which didn't give Donald and I much time to recover, but they were better than nothing and we weren't going to refuse any help.  We continued to work hard in hopes of putting as much time on the guys behind us as we could.  I was also hoping to drop some of our breakaway companions knowing they were all in various stages of dehydration and cramps but they all managed to stay on much to my displeasure.  The finish was looming and now we were all starting to think about the final 600 meter long hill to the line.

As we rode closer to the finish, the cat and mouse games started and I found myself at the front when I really didn't want to be.  Hell, I had been working my butt off for the last 10 miles and I had no intention of letting these guys jump me at the finish line.  We're almost to the bottom of the hill and no one was pulling through, and to make it worse, our speed was dropping considerably.  This wasn't good for me.  I knew if we were going slow enough, Donald would be able to jump hard and put a gap on me that would be difficult to make-up on the finishing hill. So I decided to take control of the finish and went as hard as I could once we hit the bottom of the hill.  I sprinted from the front of our group and managed to surprised them I think.  I established a small gap and went as hard as I could knowing this was my only chance to get the Win.  I was able to hold them off until the false flat for the final two hundred meters when I looked back and saw them  gaining on me. I had been sprinting the hill for over 400 meters and there wasn't much left in the tank.  The legs were screaming and starting to shut down, but no one had pulled up next to me yet and as I inched closer to the line I was starting to realize I had a chance to win this thing.  I managed one last acceleration to the line with about 50 meters to go and rolled over in first place.  Holly cow!!! I couldn't believe I won, AND I beat Donald Davis in the process!  I was in so much pain crossing the line I couldn't manage a victory salute, but rather dropped my head and coasted down the backside of the hill.  I turned around once I stopped seeing stars only to see Hunter and Evan chasing after me.  I think they were happier for me than I was at the time.  It was a great day but it wasn't over yet so no time for victory celebrations.

The TT was to be a short and painful 3 miler that was mostly uphill.  I'm not a good time trial rider. But I'm not bad either, so the strategy was simple, go to my max and stay there from the gun.  It hurt and my time was OK, which put me in 3rd place on the stage and 2nd place behind Donald Davis on GC.  Hunter, Evan and Kris all rode strong time trials and afterwards, we pack up the bus and headed back to downtown Alexandria to find an urban camping spot for the evening.  After a short oil pressure warning light scare, we successfully made our way to the spot where Kris and Evan had located for us on a recon run earlier that evening in the tow car.  We were parked right on the crit course in a vacant parking lot with a live oak and a small patch of grass for our front yard.  It was just like home!  

Sunday morning I woke up early feeling good after a good night's sleep.  It was nice being able to take my time with some morning coffee and breakfast as well as race prep.  The early starts make for hectic mornings so the added time helped me keep my calm before the inevitable storm that was about to happen for the GC battle.

My race was the first to go off at 10:20, Hunter et al wouldn't start until 12:20 that afternoon which meant they were all still in relaxation mode as I was getting my gear sorted for my warm-up routine.  I managed to get a long warm up knowing it would be critical for a solid race performance after all the work I did the day before.  The legs were feeling good during the warm up but this was only my second criterium of the season so I was a little nervous about making sure I was going to be smooth and fast in the 8 corner .8 mile course.

Our race was planned for 50 minutes complete with a hot spot time bonus sprint thrown in somewhere in the middle of the race to keep things exciting.  Glenn Richard was sitting in third place overall, just 3 seconds behind me, and Donald was 10 seconds ahead of me leading into Sunday's race.  Donald would be riding to protect his lead and Glenn was gunning for me.  It was going to be a fun race.  The race started without too much incident and the pace was moderately fast most of the day.  I was never under pressure and after only a few laps of the course at speed, I was getting the feel for this type of racing again.  The Hot Spot sprint was announced and I positioned myself to gain a few seconds over my rivals, the only problem was, there wasn't a long steep hill to sprint up and these guys were a little faster than me in a straight, flat finish.  Glenn and Donald both pipped me at the line and I was dangerously close to losing my second place, never mind getting closer to Donald.  But I was still in 2nd place overall with half the race left to go.  The only thing to do now was make sure Glenn didn't take anymore time away from me with the time bonuses available at the finish.  I also wanted to take time out of Donald but to be honest, wasn't feeling too confident as he had been marking Glenn and I all race and he is plenty strong enough to bridge up to us in the event we managed to get away.  So, rightly or wrongly, I had decided to try and defend my 2nd place overall.

The race came down to the final lap.  We had one rider off the front, Todd Lafleur, who had been in the break with us in the road race the day before.  I thought we had caught Todd two laps from the finish as I was riding his wheel in the last lap.  It turns out we had lapped a rider I thought was Todd and so, as it turns out, I wasn't riding Todd's wheel, I was riding Todd's teammate's wheel.  Ugh, I hate it when I make that kind of mistake.  Todd was off the front by about 15 seconds as we were starting our final lap, but because there were so many turns on this tight course, he was out of sight and I wasn't aware he was still away.  So I thought we would be sprinting for the win and was planning to attack before the final corner and get a good gap for the final 300 meter headwind sprint to the finish line.  However, Glenn had other ideas and his teammate Kevin Landry (the dude with the biggest quads in Louisiana) went to the front and rode such a hard tempo there was no way I was going to be able to jump him and maintain a lead for the last 300+ meters.  I Sprinted in with the main group for a disappointing 6th place.  Glenn won the field sprint which gave him a 6 second time bonus and moved him to 2nd place overall and me down to third or possibly 4th, depending on Todd's time gap ahead of us.  It turns out I salvaged the 3rd podium spot for the GC which made the long drive home that evening slightly more tolerable.

Start Line of the Crit

Hot Spot Sprint - 4th place, no time bonus for me

Good picture of my butt sitting on Bennie's wheel

Top three GC Left to Right:  Donald Davis, Glenn Richard, Me

A special thanks to Bennie Flores' wife for taking these photos.

Hunter ended up winning the 1,2,3 race out of a break of about 6 riders with an impressive sprint that actually gave him a time gap from his breakaway companions.  Hunter's win moved him into 3rd overall but unfortunately, with Kris missing the break, he moved down to 6th overall.  Evan clipped a pedal coming out of a corner and fell heavily which resulted in another rider riding/crashing over him.  I noticed Evan not coming around with the group but the other rider who ran into Evan had come in for his free lap.  I ran up to the guy (John Dias) and asked him if Evan was ok, he thought he was and said that Evan was with a Police officer who was controlling traffic but John couldn't really tell me where Evan was.  After what seemed like an eternity, Evan finally came walking up with his jersey off and bibs ripped up, showing road rash all over his body.  I felt so bad for him but the adrenaline was obviously still pumping because he was smiling and didn't appear to have any serious injuries.  Of course, anyone who has had a hard bicycle crash knows the worst part is usually the shower after, not the crash itself.  So we got Evan to the bus and I proceeded with the clean-up routine and it wasn't pretty.  I think Evan wanted to punch me for the pain I was causing him, but it was necessary to prevent infections and he manned up and took it.  After a tortuous shower and lots of primal noises coming from the shower stall, I bandaged him up and helped Hunter and Kris get the bus packed up.  Evan endured a time honored right of passage for cyclists this Sunday.  It was his first serious crash and road rash clean up process.  And while it was probably one of the most painful experiences of his short life, he earned his Man Card this day.  A good day indeed.

We Came, We Saw, Hunter Dominated

Just now getting to a point where I can write about last weekend's Mississippi Grand prix.  I've been traveling all week in the Northeastern US where it's been unusually warm and dry, just like here in the south.  They're just now starting to see green and the dogwoods are in bloom, so it was a bonus for me to get to see them twice in one spring.

The trip started out a little rough, with a storage bay door coming open as we were leaving town and dumping some of our race wheels out onto Cantrell Rd.  We didn't discover what had happened until we were about two miles away and after an exhaustive search we never found them.  One set of wheels belonged to Wes, a pair of Zipp 404s estimated at over $3k with tires, cassette and padded case.  The other was a $1k wheel belonging to Hunter and Evan.  Kris French decided to post on FB that we had lost the wheels in hopes someone had found them and would turn them into a local bike shop.  10 minutes after the FB post, we received a call from Community Cyclist that a guy found them and noticed they looked expensive so drove into the closest bike shop and turned them in.  We managed to pick them up with enough time to get underway and have time for Kris and Wes to start their race that evening.  A huge thank you goes out to the Community Cyclist crew and the guy that was nice enough to turn them in... we owe you all a beer.

No sooner had we begun rolling than we realized there wasn't any water in the storage tank and we hadn't picked up the clean sheets for the beds.  So Hunter's wife Dustin met us out on Dixon Rd with the clean sheets as we filled up with water at the local gas station.  So now it's time to leave, again, and we get the bus pinned in by some other cars and it takes us another 20 minutes to back the bus out of the tight parking lot.  Ugh... we discover that it's actually Friday the 13th and everything begins to make sense.

We make it to Fridays race with just enough time to get Kris and Wes signed up and roll up to the line just a few minutes before the gun goes off.   That was a stressful way to begin the weekend so we're really hoping for better things on Saturday and Sunday.

Hunter and I raced the masters race (3 stages) as the only two OKC Velo guys.  The 55 mile rolling road race started off well as I made an early attack just to get things going and warm up a little.  I was quickly reeled back in and then went with another attack and we managed to establish a small gap and hold it for a few miles before being caught on the one steep'ish hill on the course.  About 3/4 away around the course, which we were doing two laps of, Hunter rolls up the road with two guys.  It wasn't an attack per se, but the three of them had a 10 second gap before anyone realized what had happened and once Hunter saw this, he put the power down and they quickly established a nice lead on the field.  The three teams now represented in this break all went to the front to insure any chase efforts would be controlled and discouraged.  Hunters group managed to stay away after some aggressive chasing and Hunter ended up winning the stage by 3 minutes after he attacked his breakaway companions in the closing few miles of the race. The field was whittled down from 35 to 8 of us after all the hard chasing and I ended up 5th in the sprint and 8th overall on the stage.   Hunter is now in the GC lead with a margin that gives him some cushion leading into the afternoon's Time Trial.

We all prepped for our 3 mile TT that wouldn't start until about 6:30 for most of us on the bus.  Hunter rode strongly and ended up 3rd on the stage and I ended up 16th after riding my road bike, Eddy Merckx style.  I dropped two places in the GC after losing some time to all the guys on their TT bikes. I really wasn't too worried about my placing at this point, I knew there was no way I was going to get a top TT placing on my road bike, but I did manage to limit my GC losses and most of the guys ahead of me only beat me by a few seconds, which gave me some confidence heading into the final stage on Sunday.

Sunday's circuit race was a short one of about 30 miles with a strong wind blowing.  The finish was on top of the only significant hill which was good for me since I am starting to feel strong again.  Hunter and I had some work to do knowing we he was going to be attacked all race long by the two teams representing 2nd and 3rd overall.  There wasn't a lot of strategy involved, we didn't have to attack, but we did have to cover every little move that went off the front.  The race went 4 laps on this course and after two, there was a hot spot sprint at the finish line for small time bonuses.  Hunter went hard leading out the bonus sprint and I followed along with Donald Davis and Ed Novak.  After we crossed the line, we had a decent gap on the field and decided to keep the effort going.  Our gap was slowly growing but since the team of the second place rider wasn't represented in the break, they chased hard to pull us back, which they did a couple of miles later.  It's now groupo compacto for the remainder of the race.  Everyone realized they weren't getting up the road without Hunter and I so the attacks eased up a little as everyone was beginning to consider the finish.

Hunter took the final sprint without any real trouble and I managed 4th on the day.  Hunter won the overall by a large margin and I was back up to 9th on GC.  It was a good weekend and was fun having only two of us do so much damage to the bigger teams in our race.  Kris and Wes both rode well and finished in the top 20 of the P,1,2 event and Evan also had a great race finishing 4th overall after an incredible Time Trial which saw him only a couple of seconds slower than his dad on Saturday.  Look for Evan to dominate the Joe Martin Cat 4 race, he is gaining strength and confidence... a deadly combination for anyone in the East clan.