Happy, Happy, Happy

Happy Birthday Micah! But I can't believe you, Jason and I are not racing together this year...it didn't really hit me until I read this:


The team also welcomes newcomers Micah Moran, junior Jens Brabbit, as well as upgraded racers Andrew Kruse, Matt Muyres, and Jesse Rients to the team.

*Ian Stanford (Winona, MN) - Cat 1
*Matt Henry (Northfield, MN) - Cat 2
Doug Swanson (Plymouth, MN) - Cat 1
Andy Minier (Anoka, MN) - Cat 1
Aaron Johnson (Princeton, MN) - Cat 2
Dan Swanson (Plymouth, MN) - Cat 2
Scott Ralston (Farmington, MN) - Cat 2
Micah Moran (Minneapolis, MN) - Cat 2
Andrew Kruse (Minneapolis, MN) - Cat 2
Matt Muyres (Minneapolis, MN) - Cat 2
Jens Brabbit (Winona, MN) - Cat 2/junior
Jesse Rients (Minnetonka, MN) - Cat 2
Anne Grabowski (Minneapolis, MN) - Cat 2

* Denotes co-captains

Team website: www.flatcity.org

I guess we will always be together...in other news, I have been riding some bicycles lately. I did not make it to either of the nooners: one, I had to work. two, rest weeks are blissful.

I rode with T today, TJ on Sunday, by my lonesome every other day, for various times and intensities. I really just wanted to update this to wish my boy Micah a good one. Oh yeah, btw, I graduated today. Cool poop huh?

Low Temps=Tempo

I went about my morning in a most lackadaisical way. Most mornings, I am getty-up and go, however, today I was on a mission: to avoid the day as much as possible. It began much like every other morning, the lights went off at 6am, I took a leak, let Parker out to do the same, and while he was eating some breakfast, I made some espresso. Then, I turned the next corner of my day to the office, and began my internet surfing agenda. After I was finished with that, I walked about the house, aimlessly; up the stairs, down the stairs I went. Finally I had convinced myself that if I was going to do anything this morning, I had to get to it.

Sorry about the story, I rode the rollers for an hour today at tempo. I felt a bit rushed after my morning of laziness, so riding out doors was kind of out of the question. Yesterday was tough, with 8 hrs of work and 5hrs of school. I did manage to crank out yet another core workout though!

K is still on schedule to run 13.1 miles 11 weeks from Saturday. I am proud of her: Micah once said to me, "the only reason you would ever catch me running, is if I were running from something much more dangerous than myself"...while that my be paraphrased, it was a good tip. Micah has since taken up running. Speaking of runners (no, not in your panty hoes), Prozenberger is going to do the marathon with K and A...Don't you guys remember, running is bad for you.

I have tomorrow off, so riding and school will be on the mind. Oh yeah, and I will probably do another core workout too; 0

Recover from Tulsa Sooner

Yeah, the weekend has me bogged down a bit. It would be different if I didn't have to come back to work and school right away. That's ok, I was looking for a recovery week anyway.

Quick Summary:
Friday, traveled down to stay with Doug and Amber...thanks guys. You are wonderful hosts.
Start List: Myself, Doug, Chad Cagle, Steve Cate, Matt Ankney, Stefan Rothe, Java, and Brice Jones.
Saturday: Woke up early and rolled to Tulsa. Rode for 6 hrs, 110 miles, 3900 kj=ouch. Tulsa is much different than I thought it would be. Quite rolly and painful. The wind was certainly a factor that I had already thought about.
Saturday Night: The Cagels and Matt Ankney hosted the camp; Chad and his wife Jen had everyone over for dinner that evening. All of the wives were having their training camp too, and cooked a fabulous meal. After dinner, we all headed downtown to check out the Tulsa Night life. Everyone made it to the last stage, except Java and Ankney: Matt was sick, and Java is just a wuss.
Sunday: Start list was the same as above, minus Ankney, plus Fiddler, this Trek VW pro, and uncle pain. Similar route, this time a hair more rolly. Something was way different though. Rode for 5 hrs, 110 miles, and 3800kj (I sat in for the second half of the ride, for fear of exploding). There was little wind today, but the amped up pace sure made it a tough ride.

Amber was kind enough to drive back to SpringPatch, then we had dinner at the Mud House downtown and rolled back to BoCoMO.

Thank you to everyone who helped/hosted this weekend. Cagles, you guys are great. Greeks, you already know what I think about you, but thank you again. BTW, the cake was fabulous. It was great riding with everyone, and I look forward to the camp in Feb.

Out of town

K and I are heading out of town this evening to meet up with the guys down in Tulsa. The weather has been pretty consistent down there, so we should be in store for some beautiful days.

This week has been challenging with classes, and preparing to leave. I had to take a quiz yesterday (that would have been taken this evening), so all of my reading had to be done in advance. I will have a lot to do when I get back as well, but I am off on Monday.

So, in reverse order, Thursday I headed out to the Highlands and did some strength work, and Wednesday was reserved for one of my famous core workouts. Today will bring yet another chronicle of the Colonel's Core Workout. I am thinking about quitting cycling and just doing core work...

Guess who's back?

The Teej is back. T and I met up with Tyrone yesterday for a spin. TJ was in wuss mode, and only rode with us for an hour, while Thomas and I cold-forged for another hour .5. Somewhere in the middle, I managed to do some strength work (which I am still feeling as I sit and type this).

I got a chance to play a quick catch up with Micah and Java yesterday. It is crazy, I talked to a lot of my close friends that I have not seen in a while yesterday. Everyone is great, motivated, and ready for the season.

I am probably going to take the next few days easy and prep for our camp this weekend. This is supposed to be a rest week, so I should take my own advice. TJ, I will be soft peddling with you the rest of the week.

Beatin' the rooster

After I installed the timer on one of the lights in K and I's room, I have miraculously turned around my horrible morning routine of hitting the snooze button and waiting until the last minute to do everything. If you are having any trouble at all, I would highly recommend the timer, or a full blown dawn simulator, which is a bit less abrasive.

T and I did a lakey loop yesterday on the chill bus. We had a chilly, but otherwise beautiful start to an awesome day.

A few treadmill deliveries made my day at Walt's go by pretty quick, and soon I was back home.

K began training for a 1/2 marathon yesterday. I am really excited about her goal, and hope she has a bunch of fun in the process. I know Parker will. Alicia is her partner in crime, so having a buddy usually helps.

Last evening, I hit up my core, ate some really kickin' chicken and noodles (we bought an entire chicken the other, some really clean egg noodles, and K whipped up a fabulous dinner), did some studying and more work on my schedule. There seem to be a lot of races this season: I am getting really excited.

High Noon

My first nooner in nearly 8 months went well yesterday. I could be exaggerating on that number a bit, but for all practical purposes, it is probably accurate. We had a great day to work with, sunny and near 60. I saw a lot of skin on the ride, which is always a treat in Mid-January.

So, the group rolled pretty chill up through the Old # 7, in and out of Harrisburg: things began getting railed up going into Fayette. It was just fake however, as the pace backed off again and we came to a stop at the local Casey's.

Rolling out of Fayette, we had to deal with a pretty substantial headwind. Fish suggested an echelon on the way back. Though I was skeptical (because if you get involved in a paceline on a noon ride, ultimately it turns in to a hammerfest) but none the less began taking pulls. We soon had the pace drilled, and no one was responding to me trying to slow things down a bit. I tucked back into the pack, and chilled out. We came up to a stop to wait for some others, when a local tri-guy rolled up on our group. He was heading back to Columbia so our group invited him to endure the headwind with several, rather than by his lonesome. He was a chatty fella, but just a few minutes of us rolling off, he went around the pack, tucked into his aerobars, and attempted to leave our peleton behind...You just don't do that. Especially to a group of competitive cyclists. So, we sent Jimmy Mc and Tracey across. Call us immature, but hey, you don't poach rides, then attack the guys who gave you an invitation. So, while the two gradually picked up the tempo through the rollers, we got back on the front in our paceline, and slowly brought this d-bag back. After flying by him (and sticking him out of the slip stream) we cruised away at 25+ mph. The pace stayed nailed through some of the toughest climbs of the day.

Guppy attacked on the first big climb of three heading back into the intersection of Big Tree and Home. I countered, but sat up at the top of the hill. BTW, watch out for lil' Fish this season. I can not believe how much this kid has improved over last. He is super strong, and he can ride his bike in a straight line now. Then, we nailed the pace down the hill, and Fish attacked at the bottom...I really did not have much to respond with, so I crawled up the next climb, and did my classic TT chase back up to him. We totally chilled it out up the last climb to wait for the others, and see who would take the turn around the huge tree with us.

So, 82 miles later I was home. You really can't argue with 60 degree days in January; I have a feeling in the back of my head that we are going to pay for it in February and March. I guess time will tell.

Klutz

I made two costly mistakes yesterday: I nearly dropped a treadmill on myself, and I nailed my elbow with my knee while riding the trainer. Note to self; you shouldn't drop heavy objects on yourself, and you should never kick yourself. Let this be a lesson to all.

I endured another five hour session of physics, which was lovely. The cool thing is, I only have to do it now for 7 more weeks. Time flies when you are having fun.

One of my co-workers informed me of a race in KY the second weekend of February. I really enjoy racing in the green country, so I may follow suit. Teej, you ready? The only down fall is that travel will just be starting to pick up at that time, and I could just stay at home. The weekend before, I will be down in Ft. Smith for another team camp...I guess we will see.

Friday, I did a recovery "session" on the rollers (sorry, but we have a group of gravity guys who ride on the order of "sessions", so I figure I can too). While on that note, MU has sprouted several up and coming guys who like to go big and drop their bikes off things that it hurts my neck to look up at. I am excited to watch them develop as cyclists.

Saturday, I had to work, then I dropped the tread, then I came home to try and do my second baseline test (to test the accuracy of the first). I found that I will need to do another (partly because I kneed my elbow, and couldn't feel my arm for the majority of the test) because after being on my feet at work all day, I did not feel like suffering on the trainer. I am really not sure if I feel like suffering on the trainer at all...it really sucks. I am going to do some searching around to see about doing another test out on the road.

Today, I will hit my first nooner of the year. I am bummed, because I missed the sequal to A Cold Day in Hell starring Prozenberger and his second go at a come-back tour on the bike. I hope he may muster up the time to ride a bit with us today. We will see.

Dawn at 6:30...in January?

Of course not. But, I hooked up a Christmas tree light timer to one of the lights in our room, and it is kind of like a rude and abrubt dawn. The little system works pretty well. In fact, this morning I even woke up waiting for the light to turn on. Funny if you mix your routine up in the morning, how refreshing it can be.

So, with work from 10-5 and class from 5-10, it doesn't leave a whole lot of time and strength to get a ride in. Wednesday, I did get some solid core work in, but no ride. I think that may be how my Mondays and Wednesdays go for the next 7 weeks. Today, I am off, so I will be able to ride and attend class. Rock!

Yesterday, I went outside to do a strength workout. I am finding that I should probably just stick indoors to do those, where things are a bit more controlled. I think I say that every week, but it has been so nice, I don't want to miss a sunny day.

Like I said, I am off today, but it is already snowing. This may mean a ride on the CX bike. That may end up being a good thing, because my road bike is partially disassembled. We will see. I also need to take Parker out somewhere, he has been cooped up like, well, like something that has been cooped up for a while. If you read A's blog, you will understand that I am just not fully awake yet, thus, I make absolutely no sence.

Recap...nightcap

Just a quicky...if K finds out I am doing this in lieu of my homework, I am busted. So, Wednesday did nothing but get my core on (TJ, we are going to have an awesome abs contest when you get back...) Thursday I did a strength workout north of town, Friday was an easy spin, Saturday, Pedro and I did the Tour of the Ozarks ride, in reverse, with a killer headwind for the first 40/103 miles. Sunday, I rode down to Skank James and back.

In the mean time over the weekend, K and I had a wonderful visit with my 1/2 siblings and my two nieces. My bros played with Parker, and we did a lot of sitting around, and a lot of sport eating. Good times. On our way back to BoCoMO, K and I stopped at the Vichy tower and ran Little P around the fire roads.

Monday was scary. I enrolled in Physics in the morning, went to work, then went to class for 5hrs. Yup, I am back in class again. Hence, I did not get a good workout in. I have started to commute again, I will let you know how that goes. Today, K and I cleaned house all day, I rode the rollers because it was sh--y outside. Another strength workout (which on the rollers is tough, I had to carry a much higher rpm than normal). We went out to breakfast with Lesbo and T, had the Prozenbergers over for lunch, then visited the podium trio at their place for dinner.

So, things are going to be busy, but for those who know me, I wouldn't have it any other way. Things will be tough, but I will manage.

Square One

Yesterday I rolled down to Jeff City on my day off in pursuit of pancake flat roads. Hwy 94 is the venue for the state TT, also, a great place to do a baseline test. It was a bit chilly (~45) and a strong wind out of the south at 12-15 mph. Good news about time trials into the wind, there is a tailwind at the turn-around.

So, I about threw up on myself, but things went relatively well. As suspected, I am definitely on my way to some sort of form...however, that form is certainly at a distance. After my two efforts, I rolled back to the car, took down a recovery shake, then suited up with some warmer clothes and headed to Holt's Summit.

There is a problem with riding on that side of Jeff...you have to ride down 54 to get there. After reaching the exit, there is a long climb into town, then it levels off, much like a plateau. As I rolled through the small network of towns (Holts, Lake Makke, and New Bloomfield), I quickly realized that the highway seems to disappear (however, I was actually enveloped by 54 and 63. Most of the homes in the towns were quaint, but offered a lot of property. There was not much in the means of farming, but many horses, cows, and vineyards.

Some jackass had to ruin my view of this unique niche; driving a huge Toyota SUV, a group of younger guys swerved from the left lane into mine, giving me the bird, and honking like a bunch of tools. I rebuttled with my classic wave, head shake, and to put the icing on the cake, I gave them Thomas's favorite: the kiss goodbye.

I traversed nearly to Fulton, then turned around and headed back. I do believe I may have stumbled upon a road that would take me to Guthrie...now, I have to figure out how to make a loop out of all these new-found roads. Wouldn't you know it, the same db's past me in their ginormous SUV, this time limiting the antics to honking and waves. Who knows, maybe they thought they knew me. No, they were definitely idiots.

The evening brought a better mood; K and I had the Prozenberger Podium over to the house for some lasagna. Though K has made it before, this was the first time I had really made it from scratch (well, that I can remember). It turned out excellent (if I do say so myself), and everyone else seemed to think so too. Little D is getting so big. Parker finally outweighs him. They paralleled each other for a few months, but P took Dillon at the line.

Today was a quick recovery ride on the trainer, and I gave my core the old heizman. Tomorrow is another day.

Yeah for rain

As you may have guessed, it was raining today. Not bad, but a definite mist. However, it is kind of hard to be discouraged when you are on a new
rig. So, I shoved off. I was discriminatory about the wind however, and made sure I followed the path of least resistance. I had a chilled out ride, with a few sets of spin ups and called it good. I got home, showered and ate, and barely made it to work.

On New Years day, K and I slept in a bit (until 9), after our super late night (~12:03) and made biscuits and gravy from scratch...you know, there is really no reason to ever eat b&g any other way. Mom, you better be ready next time we come to town. So, I rolled up to the shop to help out with some fine-tuning of our inventory closeout (no, Walt's is not closing, we just have to count stuff every so often)and then met up with K and some of her co-workers for a bike ride. We cruised down the Katy trail to McBain, and then K and I took some gravel home while the others headed back on the MKT. Krista has not been out for a ride over 1.5 hours in a while, but she trudged on like a soldier. It is amazing, when you are a bike racer, you hardly think about the little important things that make a huge difference. Take eating on the bike for example, K had no problem determining when to eat...she would yell at me to stop, and then pound a luna bar. Oddly enough, her body told her to eat nearly every hour. Physiology is great isn't it?

So, New Years Eve, we had some really bitchin' Chinese at one of my buddy's restaurant. Ryan "Q" Quian moved to Rolla his freshman year of high school. He spoke very little English, so we made sure he knew the basics. After several confrontations with various teachers and school administration, Q quit taking our advice on word choice, and took up wrestling. Oddly enough, Q always had a plethora of Chinese appetizers in his travel bag when we were off to a meet. Egg rolls and crab rangoon quickly became the fuel of choice for the Rolla Wrestling Team (picture possibly on the way). So, to make a long story short, if you click on this you will get a good idea of what others think of this fabulous restaurant. After our dinner, we grabbed a drink with a few of K's friends, then came home to watch Meet the Fockers. We were both ready for bed, but we managed to stay up just long enough to hear the "First Night" festivities nearly catch the downtown on fire. I love fireworks, but I have decided that from now on, fireworks after 9:30 should be outlawed.