I got plans Thursday, you?

Film Streams 7:00PM

Memorial

Word filtered through the ranks Monday of a great loss to the cycling community. Greg Dunbar, owner of Deluxe Bicycles and currently Bike Pedalers passed away on Sunday. I spent the better part of today's 95 mile ride thinking about the effects Greg had on my life as a young impressionable thirteen year old.

My first run in with the Deluxe boys, Greg, Tom and Pat was back in 1984. My father had been cycling to work and wrenching on neighbors bikes. Alexi Grewal had just won the Olympics. I was young, impressionable and in love with two wheels. I bought my first bike from Deluxe, a Lotus road bike, when they were at their original location on 'O' street, next to the import auto place. I was fourteen. The shop was tiny, eventually they would acquire the space next door, they knocked out the wall and doubled the space. Junior racing and training buddy Pete Dahm and I would warm ourselves by the back heater on cold winter rides, gleaning what we could from the shop talk. We cut our teeth with tech info and wrenching technique from Greg, Tom and Pat on all things Mavic, Modolo, Campy and the like.

Years later Deluxe would move up the street to the old Rexal drug store,a much bigger space. By that time I was well into my road racing and was racing for the St. Louis Cyclones team. Deluxe was my shop for everything I couldn't do myself. Primarily, wheel building. There was no finer wheel builder than Greg Dunbar. I'd built a few by that time but my skill was no where near that of Greg's. It was from Greg that I found my passion for wheel building. As much an art as a skill.

The more I thought about Greg today the more I came to the conclusion that those days spent at the Deluxe Bicycles on 'O' street really shaped who I am as a mechanic today. Greg's skill will live on with every wheel I build, I learned from one of the best. The list of things that Greg and Deluxe gave to the lincoln cycling scene are too many to mention. I'm honored to have known Greg and to have learned from him, he'll be missed.

Loess hills wonderland

I think this was my longest road ride since 1996. I've found the flow again after a few off weeks. The 5-O and SSWC are on the distant horizon. 12 hours in 3 days. bingo.

Super Sunday

Got the call from MW that he was looking for some company for the ride to Omaha from Platte. So with wet trails Anne and I mounted up and headed out to Platte. It was a perfect morning with no wind and cool A.M. temps. Rolling into the park we found MW, Cornbread and DK already bellied up to the picnic tables at the buffet. Cornbread was getting the low down from Eileen on the MoPac connector trail. There's been some controversy over the county's emminent domain rights. The original plan would have cut Eileen's property in half. I'd be bummed to if it was my property. Plans are on hold now until next year. The route home took us over the ped bridge and up Fishery road to the P-flug. Conditions were unbelievable. Anne rocked out 56 miles on fat tires before turning off to her mother's place in Papillion. MW and I powered on with me finishing up with 67 SS miles on the day. Can't wait to do it again.

Stars, Bars and Bacon

Trails will be wet so we'll be riding out to Platte and hooking up with the LNK kids for some bacon buffet love. MW will be joining us for the ride home. Yu-N-To?

Meet at the new Aksarben Village Wohlner's at 6 AM. Cruise south through Seymour Smith park working our way out to Capehart then south through Richfield and Springfield where we'll hop on the MoPac.

The route home will most likely be over the Platte River Pedestrian bridge then along the north bank of the river up to Pflugg Road and back across to Springfield.

The Route

If it's Wednesday...

It's going to be painful. The July 1st edition of the Wednesday Worlds was especially ridiculous this week. Maybe it's because we're getting close to a full moon, I don't know, but most of us were left wondering what the hell was going on. Kev was locked into an ego battle with the Bike Way twins (sorry, don't know your names). Apparently, when it's your turn to pull through the new technique is to pin it as hard as you can until you blow. Regardless, thanks for the motor pace session. I can already hear the excuses, blah, blah, omaha cycling weekend, blah, blah, ride hard, blah, blah, high intensity, blah, blah, needed a hard ride, blah, blah. Maybe you'll learn in a couple of years that if you ride smart you can ride harder for a longer period of time which will make you stronger faster. Ah, young legs and minds. That's the trick with road racing. It's the smart guys that win. When you practice stupidity, you'll excel at it. When you practice smart, you race smart. It took me the better part of 6 years to really learn smart riding tactics. It's easy to go to the front and ride hard, but the trick is knowing when to go to the front and ride hard. It makes me laugh when 3 or 4 guys are pinning it at the front while the entire group is coasting on their wheel. Try an attack next time, I gaurantee it will be more rewarding.

Motovation Required

Can't seem to get back in the flow of things. Too tied up in work mode. Three plus laps at Platte with a side of bacon on Sunday. Couple laps at Swanson on Monday, blah. Hopefully a trip to LNK for the TNMWR will get me back on track.

New header, Saronni, killing it.

Back on it

Another brutal night at the Wednesday worlds. No doubt brought on by the fact that I hadn't ridden since the previous weeks ride. The roll along the trace continues to be a no holds barred melee, first blown apart by Kent and then followed by Lucas. The pace and tempo through the valley was significantly better which made for a good finish to the ride.

TNR is heading to Tranquility, I'll have to see how that fits into the day.

Purge

We've all had it happen, a thorn, a splinter, so deep all you can do is wait out the few days of discomfort before your body purges the foreign object from you. Or perhaps the car accident victim who years after the accident notices that there bleeding only to find that an old piece of glass has worked it's way out of body. For months now I've had this naggy pain in my foot. I first noticed it running at the gym back in February/March. At the time I figured I'd bruised my foot and that the pain would melt away. One week turned to two, then one month turned to two. I started working in my running shoes so my foot could maybe start to heal. It didn't feel like a fracture, when I pinched the foot the pain wasn't that bad. Yet, day after day the pain hung with me.

So the other night I felt a prick in my foot. What I found was small shard of glass poking me. Anne had recently broken a glass so I didn't think much about. The next day my foot felt surprisingly better, except for the cut that was on my foot. A week has past now and the cut has almost healed and my old pain has gone away. Somewhere along the home renovation project I picked up a chunk of glass in my foot and it's taken months for my body to purge it out. The body is a crazy thing, and my foot is for the better.

TH

Flat

W

No not the movie, or the man, but the ride. The Wednesday worlds ride, Omaha edition to be exact. Couple more hours piled onto the weekly total. The legs felt way better than expected. I got a sweet tow to the line by Lucas for the Ft.Calhoun sprint only to get pipped by Shim. The return home wasn't so kind as I got popped pretty early on the final climb. Swanson tonight, I hope...

M-T

Two good days on the bike dodging rain showers. Hit out Monday morning with Bryan and Lucas for what is quickly becoming a weekly staple. None of us are due in the shop until at least noon so we're left with a 3 hour AM window. With fitness lacky in regards to my practice partners the rides can only make me stronger.

Tuesday morning I hit out hard with a 70 miler that took me over the river and north to Missouri Valley. The route was void of much of the climbing I usually seek out. I did however place the biggest hills of the day after 45 miles in the saddle to keep it interesting.

Just before Missouri Valley I got completly freaked out when two birds came out of nowhere and slammed into the headtube of my bike. The birds tumbled around in between my legs and the frame before both falling lifeless to the ground as I rode away. After 25 years of riding and numerous close calls this was the first time I ever took out a animal on my bike. Madone 1-Birds 0.

The route had ton of riding along the valley floor, accentuated by the 12 mile stretch across the valley from Mo Valley to Blair. Straight and flat. As I hit the hills south of Blair I was overjoyed to come across a fresh tar section followed by more construction that forced me into a longer detour route. We had ridden the road the previous day, how quickly things change.

Day 3 tomorrow, Wednesday worlds from the Trek Store. Hopefully the rain stays away so I can take another pummeling.

Dirt Drop

Like the Kohler commercial, "I want you to build a bike around this", an original WTB dirt drop that is. And so the long search for parts and more importantly a frame has begun. I re-acquired my dirt drops from Nate after I foolishly sold them off to him years ago. This time around I traded him a set of Specialized cold forged crank arms. Unless I can talk him out of a pair of shifter mounts for my old XT top mount shifters I'll be using bar end shifters. The brake levers come courtesy of Sarah J, back in town from Grand Lake. She graciously gifted me a pair of near mint 2nd generation SunTour Superbe Pro levers. Not surprisingly, the hoods were rotted, but according to Steve and Charlie, if you need to ride on the hoods, your bars are too low. Speaking of Mr. Potts, he is probably in the lead when it comes to frame selection. Let the search continue.

The boys of the wednesday worlds ride redeemed themselves this weekend with a truely enjoyable yet brutally difficult ride. Tempo was near perfect as everyone made their rotation and kept their pull through speed in check. Lucas continues to play the fool as he pulled us in to the Ft. Calhoun sprint at Mach 9 while we all coasted on his wheel. On the return trip Gene launched a good attack as we approached the climb, I decided to join him and we had a good session off the front until the group came through a quarter way up the first pitch. As the group split I settled in with a few guys as we chased the front group. Our less than stellar progress got me thinking about this weeks road tip.

The problem was we only had 3 guys when we started the chase. The two I was with were thinking that we should be constantly rotating. But with this small of a group, if you rotate constantly you never get much time to recover. So in this situation, and I would say it holds true up to a group of 10 or so, your best bet is to take longer pulls at the front and then pull off, fall to the back and sit in for recovering. This would be considered a single pace line, as there is just a single line of riders with the front guy doing all the work. Once the group gets big enough, you can change up to a double paceline (echelon), that is a constantly rotating group, one group moving forward up the line, the other group moving backwards to the end of the line. The forward moving group should always be the group sheltered from the wind. 'Nuff said, looking forward to next week already.

Like riding the Ardenne

It felt like a spring classic, cool temps, good climbs, a touch of rain, but minus about 200k. Today's journey took me across the border and south for yet another ride in the loess hills. The rain stayed away until the 3 hour mark, then the heavens unleashed and sent me scrambling for the rain cape. Mileage and fitness is increasing, the fall classics are 3 months away.

Black Forest

A break in the Psycowpath calendar and a free Sunday opened up a day of racing in Iowa. After skipping out on L&C for Jesse & Frankies wedding, Nate I decided to check out the IORCA race at Moorehead Pioneer Park in Ida Grove. All eyes were on the weather, and after a dry night and a radar that showed the thundershowers splitting the park, I was optimistic with our chances.

We hit the road early and after the 2 hour drive rolled in with plenty of time to check out the course. It basically poured rain on us the entire drive, only clearing up about 30 miles out. Ida Grove is crazy. Somehow they've got the entire town to adopt a medieval theme. After you cruise by the medieval airport hanger, you pass the half scale replica of the HMS Bounty and the fun just keeps on coming. Even Pizza Hut has a moat. We pulled into the start finish area about 3 hours before start time and It wasn't looking too promising. Jesse and Kate, the race promoters were out checking the trail. When Kate pulled up her bike looked pretty clean, but was all that rain we drove through heading our way? As the sky stayed dry Nate and I kitted up to check out the trail for ourselves. The hills didn't seem too big so I traded out my 21 for 19. Mistake. After a pre-ride on the hillier north side of the course it was back to the 21. Woudln't you know it though 30 minutes to start time and the skies began to open up, but as we met for the riders meeting the rain stopped and we were ready to go.

Nine Cat.1's toed the line. I didn't like my chances for a good start as we had a good 100 yards of flat gravel leading into the singletrack. I made it 6th wheel into the trail as Squirrel and Nate shot off into the blackness created by the dense canopy. The course opened up often and by the time we reached the old train depot I had moved up into 3rd. Nate was checking out as I kept Squirrel in my sights for the next half lap. By the start of lap 2, Squirrel must have dropped it because he was gone. The legs were feeling pretty shabby so I backed it down a bit and settled in to a 5 lap pace. By the start of 3 the legs were coming around as was the trail. The greasy trail was drying out and I was finally able to start pushing pretty hard. As I entered one of the clearings all of a sudden squirrel was in sight. I was able to close in and move into second as we climbed by the depot with one and a half laps to go. The legs were feeling better and better and the last lap flew by. Nate 1st, me 2nd, Squirrel 3rd, an all 29er podium. Big wheels keep on rolling.

We headed into town with RF and Roxy and found some grub at the Family Table restaurant. By the looks of the photo we sat at the same table as Hillary. I had a rueben too (don't get the rueben). If you're looking to ride one of the best trails around, head up to Moorehead. Jesse and crew did an awesome job building what I would say is one of the premier trails along the Missouri valley. If you've ridden Sugarbottom outside Iowa City it's very similar to the north side trails. Good climbing, flowing descents and excellent soil. You can camp in the park and it's within riding distance of Ida Grove, check it out.

SS Race Kit

So far the weather seems to be holding. Reports from Ida Grove are promising. If the rain stays away over night Greasy Knuckles and I will be hitting the road in the AM. Don't forget your toe spikes, just in case.

Wednesday ~ Thursday

Wednesday Worlds left me wondering if anyone on the ride has ever heard or understands the words echelon or tempo. Seems the norm these days is to ego trip it and pull through gaping the group off by 2 bike lengths or pulling through and never letting up on the pedals. This style of riding only inhibits your own development as a rider as well as those around you. Kudos, you'll never win a race above Cat. 3.

Here's a tip, learn which way to rotate when riding in a echelon. If the wind is blowing on your left shoulder, rotate to the left (aka, counter-clockwise). If it's blowing on your right shoulder, rotate to the right (aka, clockwise). After you pull through, ease up slightly on the pedals so the next rider through doesn't have to increase their speed to pass. If you do this the entire group well benefit and everyones strength will increase because eveyone will ride faster and for a longer period of time.

As Flanders and I were cruising in I got to thinking about ride/race technique. The current standard is to pick up a Joel Freil book and learn how to get fast. Problem is, there's all these fast guys around that know nothing about technique. The book in my day was Eddy B's Bicycle Road Racing. Not only did it talk training, but it also talked tactics. The training info is dated, the tactics is not. Educate yourself.

Okay, enough me bitching, guess I wish we had a "Coach KB" in Omaha. Maybe it's me, I don't know. Back to dirt...

Thursday at Jewell was mega. All the usuall suspects, sans Shim. Tacky dirt, clean trail and not too hot. Post ride veggie fajitas at La Mesa with margs on the rocks. Couple days to recover before Ida Grove. I hope the rain stays away.