Live from Kansas City!!

Sitting in a Starbucks enjoying a dark cup of coffee and feeling the effects of waking up at 2:45am yesterday.  Feels good to relax although, we are gearing up for a 2hr ride in some serious heat.  Heat index reads at about 110....awesome!!

Anyway, so I've been in Kansas City since last Tuesday night helping my friend Bill Marshall put on 1 of his 3 annual triathlons.  I met Bill last year at Nature Valley Grand Prix as he was our acting director for the Nature Valley Grand Prix Pro Ride.  Bill's a great guy with loads of contacts in the cycling/triathlon industry.  He is the National Sales/Marketing Manager for Challenge Tires (http://www.challengetech.it/home.php).  The week consisted of early mornings, organizing all variables for the race, setting up/tearing down the venue and keeping things rolling as planned.  It's been a lot of work, but it's fun to see things behind the scenes.... definitely puts another perspective on the race scene.

It's been a good break from racing my bike and experiencing the life of another city as I'm fairly certain I will be relocating this fall.  Where???...the quick response would be Wisconsin, but I'm keeping my options open.  Kansas City has a good vibe....reminds me a lot of Omaha, NE and has a strong Midwest feel to it.  I also met a friend of Bill's, Adam Lang, who lives in Fort Collins, CO.  Hearing him talk about his place sends my heart back to Vail....oh the glory days of living at the Vail Mountain Lodge and Spa!!!...hmmm...I could live there again too.  Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting back on my bike today and tomorrow before I head back to Philly on Wednesday.  From there, its back to racing this Saturday (road race) and Sunday (crit).  I'll be back to Kansas City in August for 2 weeks to help with the next 2 events.

For now my coffee is gone and I'm out.  Time to get on my bike and ride in the sauna.

A little packet pickup action from Midwest Mayhem. 

   

Tour de Toona wrap up

Toona ended up Sunday afternoon with a fun 30mile crit in downtown Altoona.  It followed much of the prologue course, consisting of 6 turns and a s-shaped chicane.  As with all crits, things started out fast for 10 hard laps, settled into a bit of a rhythm, than fired back up for the last 10 laps being fast and intense.  As much as I don't necessarily love crits, I am starting to learn the hang of them.  Stay super aggressive, survive through the initial carnage, settle into the pain, fight for some serious position coming into the last 5-10 laps, than sprint for your life to the line.

We wanted to protect our best GC rider, Jacob Tremblay and keep him 10th overall, but he had a rough day as he had a hard time moving up to the front.  I ended up taking 11th place, just getting nipped at the line by Keck Baker of Harley.  Little frustrating as the rider in front of me got gaped off a wheel with 1/2 a lap to go and I had to chase as hard as I could to get back on the Bissell train, leaving me with nothing left for the sprint.  We did very well as a team.  Jake T ended 11th GC and our team came in a respectable 7th Team GC (don't get me started as I think we would have placed higher on team GC if they wouldn't have messed the Saturday road race up) All and all, it was a great race.

Afterwards we headed back to the Bosak household to stuff our faces one more time with home cooking, say good bye to the family and all the animals, grab a shower and start the 4+hr drive back to Philly.  Another big thank you to the Bosak family.  They were awesome and truly made the race even that much more enjoyable.  Host housing is always a gamble for both parties as you never know if the chemistry will work.  The Bosak's were great.  The many animals added to the environment.  The openness and humor that Rob and Susan provided was perfect for our group.  It's easy to get wrapped up in the race and forget about learning about the area, people and culture.  Rob and Susan lightened the racing load and provided great entertainment for us.  I think we provided an equal amount to them as well.  They seem to have a great family dynamic going on as all 3 daughters keep close to their parents.  I look forward to keeping in touch with "youns" (as Susan would say).

Fast forward a few hours down the road and Jake and I are growing tired and hungry on the long PA Turnpike.  We decide to take a random exit and grab a burger and beer at the "Farmers Hope Inn Tavern".  Honestly, the place appeared as it was about to fall down.  The picture below doesn't do justice to what it really looks like.  We ended up on their back porch sipping a beer, eating up, and listening to a random guy and gal entertain us with his guitar and her voice.  He asks us what "youns" are all about and we quietly request he plays "Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd.  He gives us the "we can do that" call and soon Jake and I are lost in the moment listening to this great song.  They played/sung it so well.  Safe to say, HER voice sounded very similar to Lynyrd's.  What connects this song to the whole Toona trip is the fact that we listened to that song on the drive out to Altoona and related it to cycling.  It's so easy to get wrapped up in race results, performance and personal goals.  The song has a funny way of reminding us to sit back, chill out and enjoy the ride of it all.  Simple Man likes simple things...even if that means racing your bike.  The guy at the Farmers Hope Inn likes playing his guitar.  I like racing my bike.  Keep it simple and enjoy what you do.  The simple goodness (chickens, family, coffee, country fresh air) of the Bosak family seems to fit right along with this scheme.  The trip was a full circle beginning and ending with Lynyrd Skynard's "Simple Man".  Go figure, hey!!

Now I'm back in Skippack for the night and will be flying to Kansas City tomorrow afternoon for 8 days to help my buddy, Bill Marshall, put on 1 of his 3 triathlons to be held this Sunday.  Should be a great little mental break from racing.  I'm looking forward to riding and working with Bill.  He's a bundle of knowledge in the cycling/triathlon industry as he is the National Sales Manager for Challenge tires.

The wonderful and random Farmers Hope Inn Tavern.

      To bed I go.  More TDF to watch tomorrow as well as a big travel day.

Toona Stage....Blue Knob part 2

Oh what a day.  Every now and then you have a frustrating day that is completely out of your hands.  It's easy to get wrapped up and get mad at certain things, but after all, it could be a lot worse.  Anyway, we just had a team dinner at Olive Garden with good company and great laughs.  All is good!!

Today was tough.  It was a 90 some mile road race that would go up the other side of Blue Knob.  We were looking to keep our 2 top GC guys, Jacob Tremblay and Kevin Gottlieb up near the front and better yet...in the break.  We were also looking to keep up with the Team GC as we were 5th going into the day.  After a crazy fast start with several unpredictable turns and even more wrecks, a break was established....Kevin included.  We were happy.  As we neared the painful Blue Knob climb, we settled in for the pain.  Jacob T inched away with a small lead group while Paul, Russ and I settled in with a chase group.  We rode our race and made it up the 8k climb where we joined together with some other riders to begin the chase.  We were 28 strong and would be considered the "field".  We went screaming down the fast decent and began working well as a unit.  We soon came up to a "T" and realized we had no support vehicles with us with no clue as to what direction we should be heading.  Fast forward and before you knew it we were lost....no marshals to be found.  We ended up finding Hwy 36N and headed back to Altoona for the start, cutting the course 12 miles shorter than it was intended to be.  Safe to say that we were all very frustrated and after looking at the results they slotted us at being 49minutes behind the leaders for the finish.  Not that it bothered me pertaining to my own GC standing, but as a whole it has destroyed our team GC hopes.  A bit frustrated as I'm fairly certain we would have caught on to the leaders and put ourselves in a position to contest for the stage win.  On top of that, it has moved our Team GC from 5th to 7th.  On top of all of this, I've now heard that they messed up the women's Pro race as well.  It's unfortunate because this is such a great race with some great roads to ride on.  Unfortunately, they will need to do some reorganizing with the course markings and volunteers to marshal it.  Ok....I'll stop with my rampage..... enough said.

On a brighter note.  Jacob T took 16th today on the stage and has now moved into 10th on GC.  With tomorrow being the last day as a crit, its more than likely that overall GC will stay the same.  We will work to keep him safe tomorrow.  On a personal note, I'm going for it tomorrow at the Crit.  I've got some fuel to add to the fire now with today being a personal mishap.  I rode the race exactly as I wanted.  Not being a natural climber, I had to pace myself up Blue Knob and work to stick with the main chase group.  I did just that, but than unfortunately our race day got cut short.

Tomorrow's a new day and Kenny is still here to hang out with me for the night.  Tomorrow is the final day and we look to keep moving forward.  After Toona, I take a break from racing and head to Kansas City to hang with a friend.

Toona Stage 2...Blue Knob part 1

Happy to be sitting here on the couch, legs up, belly full of food and relaxing on this rest day.  Rain is falling outside here in Hollidaysburg, PA.  We continue to hang out at our wonderful host house.  Kenny is boss!  He roams around this house and chases the chickens to keep his seniority known.  He's a funny dude.  I think I now want a dachshund someday.

Anyway, yesterday was stage 2.  It was a 73 mile road race with a solid 4+ mile mtn top finish.  The race started off super hard, but soon settled a bit.  Several attempts to create breaks and finally one snapped.  Teammate Jake Tremblay was both strong and smart enough to get himself in the move.  He and 5 others would stay away all day......until the final climb.  The rest of the field settled in for the remaining portion of the race.  Hot weather, followed by a dose of heavy rains moved in as we approached the final climb.  Soon the field would blow up...climbers accelerating forward, non climbers settling in for a long hike upward.  Long, drawn out climbs always give you a chance to settle in and allow the pain to move into your legs.  They seem to last long enough to give you the opportunity to evaluate your efforts, stick with certain riders, push yourself beyond your normal means and push for the end.  Bottom line....it hurts....a lot!!

Results:  Jake Tremblay 12th on the day, Kevin Gottlieb 19th on the day, Jacob Mueller 29th, Paul Ward 42nd, Russ Brown 68th.  Both Jake and Kevin are in the top 20 GC and our team is sitting 5th in the team GC.  Overall, we are racing well and are looking to keep our 2 riders in the top 20 GC as well as chase the Team GC.

Saturday brings another hard road race.  93 miles with another trip up to Blue Knob, this one coming up the other direction.  Today we rest with a recovery ride, trip to the coffee shop and chill time with the many Bosak animals.

King Kenny nuzzled in for the night. 

Toona Stage 1... Prologue

Sitting here and relaxing.  Legs feel like oak trees.  Amazing that I can be so tired after such a short 5-6minute effort.  So we kicked off the Tour de Toona stage race today.  It was a 3 mile prologue in downtown Altoona.  The course itself was very technical as some riders chose to ride their time trial bikes, while other's kept it simple and rode road bikes.  We had a split within our team.  Kevin Gottlieb went with his TT bike and finished 20th, Jacob Tremblay (TT bike, 27th), myself ( road bike, 34th), Paul Ward (road bike, 46th), Russ Brown (TT bike,  59th).  We all finished somewhere between 5 and 6 minutes.  The part that sticks out the most is the shooting pain in my throat the second I finished the race.  Burning lungs, heavy legs and some crazy knife like pain in my throat.  Finding my teammates back at the car I soon realized they had similar feelings.  Pain!!!!  I was happy to return back to our happy host family with a warm welcome from no other than......Kenny!  He's the man!  Chicken, pasta, veggies, fruit and lemon cake would find their way to my hungry belly.  Life is good!

Tomorrow brings a 73 mile road race.  Distance isn't all too bad, rather it's the fact that it ends on the top of Blue Knob Ski Mountain.  It's sure to cause a break and we are hoping to get our climbers... Russ and Kevin in them.  The key to my survival tomorrow will be steady effort.  I'm not a climber and have no means of staying with little guys constantly launching small attacks; rather I'm the slow steady train getting up the mountain.  As long as I keep steady effort, I can hang with them.  It's the punchy efforts that will take me out.  

I'm off to bed for now.  Going to hang with Kenny a bit, ice my back and off to dreamy land I go.

Altoona, PA

So, I'm sitting here in Hollidaysburg, PA (6 miles from Altoona) and gearing up for Tour de Toona.  I realize I haven't blogged in awhile and my sister called and yelled at me today about it.  So, here goes with a very brief blog.  We've had a good run of racing with Nationals and than the Coatesville Classic (teammate Blair took 1st place at the road race).  Now we are at Tour de Toona in Altoona, PA.  We have a great host house with the Bosak family.  A plentiful dinner of burgers, veggies and fruit gave us a warm welcome.  They have every kind of animal you can think of....dogs, cats, ducks, wild geese, chickens, rabbits, and birds.  My favorite is Kenny (small dachshund).  He seems to have his way around the house quite well and finds his means under every cover you can imagine.  As I type this, he is nuzzled under my blanket sound asleep.  This place is great and I'm looking forward to hanging out in their cabin like house.

Kenny....the king of the Bosak house!

Tomorrow is a 3 mile prologue.  Thursday brings a hard road race.  Friday is a rest day.  Saturday is another road race and Sunday ends up with a crit in downtown Altoona.  We've got a solid group of guys here including Russ Brown, Jake Tremblay, Kevin Gottlieb and guest rider Paul Ward.  I'll post day by day as we go on.