GDVC #2

Where did everybody go? Small but strong field for the M123, including Halverson and the rest of the Madison guys. Fortunately, we had Tony, Pat Loney and John Voigt. Couple of early flyers were doomed by the sandblasting wind. Just for the hell of it, I dive inside into the wind and punch hard to test the legs. Predictably, Halverson was on my wheel, but JV was on his. Seeing that we had a gap Chris pulled through hard and I let off the gas. When the pack caught me, the 2 had a gap that just kept growing. 12 minutes in and these 2 were gone. With the brutal wind, I decided to sit in, but the flyers persevered. At this point, I am looking for JV to lap and sure enough, here they come. And there they go. Big V does not need any help today and goes on for the win. Awesome job by everyone.

Brown Deer

I thought I would do the 45+ race to warm up for the M123. Take it easy...start slow...maybe help out the homeys...then really unleash for the big race. Wrong. Make no mistake, these guys really mean it. LAPT lines up with Ricky O, JW and yours truly. Competition looks strong with Fleck, McGeen, LeRoie (sp?), Godkin and Emery is no slouch. Beans and Barley have good contingent including Jeff Thompson recently back from neck surgery for gods sake. Welcome back, dude. Fleck pulls the "let's see how well you warmed up" move and gets a big gap. Well, I didn't warm up, so this kinda hurts. Takes me a couple of laps to bring him back and then of course the pack jumps me. Suddenly I feel the hand of the cycling gods in the form of Godkin giving me a giant yank to stay mid-pack. Lots more cat and mouse. It's clear nothing is getting away. McGeen made a good kilo move. I ramped up with about half a K to go at Philly's prodding. He squeaks by me at the end. Fun race.

Big field for the M123. JV x 2, Tonio and Tumski present. Big J is just itchin' to rock it. Speed, wind and course combine to stretch the field single file. There was way too much braking in the turn in back so I endeavored to stay at the front. Tumbleson makes a key counter move and looks way strong. He was in the best break of the day that was eventually brought back by solo chases from Clif, Beans and Mack. I understand that some guy nearly took me out, but as I have said, I have some kind of amnesia after races. I recall going to the brakes pretty hard, but that's it. With the wind really kicking up, we went into the bell lap. Tony marked a late move and we jammed into the hairpin. I went after Scott for the lead out for Voigt, but some Wheaton who I hadn't seen all race came screaming, figuratively and literally, from the back. Nipped Big V in the sprint. Everyone says what an easy race that was while I go back to the rig for some O2.
Key moves from Tony and Jeff. Nice job Big V.

GDVC #1

I see no one has been lying onthe couch since the last race. Damn its hard to get on that trainer after being outside. But here we are lining up for the GDVC #1. Still amazes me how amped up we can get for a race that has only merch for prizes. Nevertheless, it was JW, JV, JV and TP toeing the line.
The pace was pretty animated right from the start. We all thought we were hallucinating when Voigt went on a solo flyer early on. Had a hell of a gap but no one could make it up to join him. The wind and the pace took its toll on countless breaks and flyers. I was hopeful when Tony got away in a group of 4 but I think Wheaton yanked it back. A well represented group of 5 had a good gap with about 12 minutes remaining. Well represented except for LAPT. Tony rolled up to me and started jabbering Senegalese to me. There must be something wrong with my hearing beacause if you talk to me during a race...fuggetta. I punched into the 2nd turn and predictably Halvy was on me, but so was Voigt. Thats good because I could chase the break and he could sit in. We latched on with with a few laps to go and the pack was closing. Time to close the deal. I jammed hard to keep us away but the home court advantage was Halvy's. Kudos to Voigt and unknown strong guy who came in third. Tony was key in balancing our team and rode like like a bona fide M123. Can't wait to see how he develops.

Nature Smiled

Nature smiled (or was that a leer) on Tuesday morning for the first "Tuesday Ride" meant for honing the speed skills. That is,she smiled right before she kicks us in the nuts. With a decent forecast and several "doh!" e-mails in the in-box it was just me and JW riding the steadily increasing wind from the southeast toward Jefferson County. Damn...the Doc ride again. Seems like I ride this road all the time.
Once we were on ZC we stopped the chat and got down to taking bona fide pulls. I let JW tempo for a while before I swing ahead. He lets me pull about half as long as he did, but I figure he will fade. After he does this about half a dozen times, I figure out that this is going to be a long ride. For those who don't know JW, he is 12 years my senior, which I hate to admit, makes me 48. After 57 miles of this he says "thanks for the workout Johnny". I manage some kind of whimper and concede that he did most of the pulling. 8 more miles to the refridgerator.
Hold tight everyone. The radar looks a bit nasty.

Tailwinds

Woke up to snow, 22 degrees and gusty winds. What a great day to start a blog. There was the normal chatter last night about the Doc ride...would it happen...how cold...inside trainer instead. Even thought about setting up the trainers inside the Doc's store. A supersale there dashed that "great idea". The giant black bear that I call a pet was looking at me for his morning exercise. This normally consists of blasting up and down the path in the field next to my house about 5 times. He had something different in mind this morning. From the moment we went out the door with Seamus, his more reasonable and cultured household counterpart, it was clear that we were headed for the wooded drumlin nearby. We spent about an hour going up and down the trails from every angle until none of the ten legs would turn over anymore. Dog butts were sniffed, bushes peed upon, our job here was done.
Nature and circumstances forced some variety of training on us today and the legs liked that. What is about a new route, method or even handle bar tape that makes it a ride to look forward to?