A trip to Iowa City to race and say goodbye.

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34127141.post-42818473842094056352008-04-29T08:37:00.002-05:002008-04-29T10:12:12.616-05:00A trip to Iowa City to race and say goodbye.Sunday was a road trip to one of my favorite road races. The Old Capital Criterium. This is kind of a special race because a) it's the first crit/road race I ever did, and b) it was the first crit I ever won (the day after I won the road race). A little side note from that winning weekends is that I had one team-mate each day in the Cat. 5's. In the road race Jim Robidoux and I put the smack down at the end and took first and third in a late race break of three riders. In the Crit Kurt Hantelmann was on the front on the last lap and the pace had slowed a bit as it was starting to rain lightly, so I jumped out of line half way between the two hills on the last lap and powered up the hill alone and held it to the line. A very cool thing about this year is that I ran into a guy I went to high school with and he had raced in the cat 5 race this year. Ironically, it was his first race ever and, he told me there was another guy that I went to high school with that raced too. Very cool. Both of these guys are older than me and I think it is so cool that they're getting into cycling. I believe they both live in the Iowa City area now. I snapped a few photo's from the pro/1/2 race. Welcome to Terrible Photography 101; <a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_2bFMJ4N5A18/SBcmbvNho7I/AAAAAAAAASU/PzIBRU74lAo/s1600-h/PIC-0270.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194662953166676914" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_2bFMJ4N5A18/SBcmbvNho7I/AAAAAAAAASU/PzIBRU74lAo/s400/PIC-0270.jpg" border="0" /></a> The first time down the hill. Things were still a bit unorganized as everyone jockeyed for position. I believe the first Trek Midwest rider is Peter Boyd. The other Trek rider (4th guy) is Adam Mills. <a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_2bFMJ4N5A18/SBcmcPNho8I/AAAAAAAAASc/AcagzY5ACCQ/s1600-h/PIC-0271.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194662961756611522" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_2bFMJ4N5A18/SBcmcPNho8I/AAAAAAAAASc/AcagzY5ACCQ/s400/PIC-0271.jpg" border="0" /></a> The next time around this guy thought the picture of me was the money shot I guess. I think the Trek Midwest rider was Bill Stolte. Lane Anderson is the all9yards rider in green. They 6th rider back in black on the outside is Lou Waugaman (Rassmusen Bike Shop). <a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_2bFMJ4N5A18/SBcmcfNho9I/AAAAAAAAASk/Y5pEFvnsGs8/s1600-h/PIC-0272.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194662966051578834" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_2bFMJ4N5A18/SBcmcfNho9I/AAAAAAAAASk/Y5pEFvnsGs8/s400/PIC-0272.jpg" border="0" /></a> The third time around everyone finally got out of my way. I think the first Trek Midwest rider is Shadd Smith. I couldn't make out the all9yards rider. I couldn't tell if it was Jared Osterloh or Dave Lippold. <a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_2bFMJ4N5A18/SBcmcvNho-I/AAAAAAAAASs/ltJ9mrrcA60/s1600-h/PIC-0273.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194662970346546146" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_2bFMJ4N5A18/SBcmcvNho-I/AAAAAAAAASs/ltJ9mrrcA60/s400/PIC-0273.jpg" border="0" /></a> One last shot. this one was taken on the hill. The first Trek Midwest rider is Shadd Smith. There were tow guys that had rolled off the front and Shadd nailed it here and bridged up to them. They sat up once he caught on. I think the second Trek rider is Bill Stolte. As for my race. I wasn't expecting too much. Last year I started training on January 1 and came into this race almost ready to peak. I was in the top 10 all day and a last lap mishap that saw a rider hit a hole and shoot out in front of me forcing me to brake with one corner left before the sprint took me out of what I thought would be around a 5th place finish. This year I got a good start and was in 6th of the 41 riders at the bottom of the hill. Thank goodness because there was a crash mid pack that caused a split. I rode comfortably in the front the first 5 or 6 laps and then I began my fade. I finally fell so far back and just couldn't do anything on the climb. I gave the crowd a show though. They were trying, with the help of Kim West, to get people to ride wheelies on the climb. Nobody but me gave them a show. I gave them a solid bunny hop one lap and the next I gave them the worst wheelie anyone has ever seen. They cheered me like I had won the race though. The next time through the finish I was pulled. I did 10 of the 20 laps and didn't feel that bad about getting pulled. I was cooked and scored in 20th place. My legs progressively got better but my lungs got worse. It was fun and I dodged all the crashes. There were 5 crashes in our race and I was right behind one of them. They included a collegiate category with our race and many of them were not to good technically speaking. In the end 15 riders remained as everyone else was pulled. And the print finish between the 8 guys off the front ended with a big crash at the finish line. Glad I got to watch that one! My Highlights from the day at Old Capital (in no particular order); 1. My team-mates that raced. Ryan Legg finished in the pack in the pro/1/2 and Chet Henry raced collegiate in the Cat. 3 race and finished solidly in the pack. Good job guys! 2. Bryan Moritz and his breakaway companion put a minute and 5 seconds on the pack. They were only 30 seconds from catching the group. Unfortunately Bryan lost in the tow up sprint but, he was very impressive. 3. Sidney Brown lapped all but two women in the Women's Pro/1/2/3 race. WOW! 4. Hanging out with the Pella crew. It was good to see Doug and everyone again. 5. Frankie Deirking trying an early break on lap 4 of the pro/1/2 race an then going later on in the winning group of three and killing them in the sprint. 6. Kim West on the hill in the early races. "Ride a wheelie" during the Cat. 4 race and for the women he had a "Queen of the Mountain prime" on the first lap. A one dollar prime in which some girl in the front part of the field snagged the bill and tucked it in her skinsuit without loosing any position. Nice! 7. Steve Robinson! No explanation needed! 8. Shrek's last lap tactic to shake the one rider off his wheel. he asked a tag along rider if he would let him take the spot or if he was going to race him for it. The guy responded by saying he was racing so, Shrek sat on his wheel for the first time in many laps and shot out wide around him with tow corners to go and took it to the curb. the other guy jumped out onto his wheel, hit the curb and crashed. Best tactics I've ever heard. Bruyneel aint got nothing on you Shrek. 9. Hanging out on the Hill with very cool people. 10. My bunny hopping abilities, during a race, on a hill, with many fans cheering, $30 well spent. Thanks for the encouragement folks!!! As for the saying goodbye part; I parted ways with my Ridley Supercross on Sunday. It's going to a good home though. Doug Klahsen will be riding her from here on out. That bike has a lot of history and memories. My first cx win at State championships when I destroyed the field. Several wins and series championships. Three National Championships. It's been to Rhode Island, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and all over Iowa. She's seen mud, rocks, snow, ice, sideways snow, wind, and all kinds of crazy courses.......sometime too close. She's a bit beat up but solid. I'll definitely miss that bike. I think she may have actually started the Ridley craze in Iowa. Always showing off! Random; Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. Proverbs 3:7-8Thaddeus Neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07568938709926473130noreply@blogger.com