Gopher Cycling Blog

So this was the last collegiate race weekend for the Gopher's road season - very sad, I know. Here is my recap, for all those unfortunate enough not to attend.

Saturday: Iowa City RR
Too windy. Way too windy. The course was alright, with some small rollers, and awesome Mennonite buggies serving as obstacles (not really, but they were all over the place).

Men's A/B:
Jameson finished ahead of me (I believe around 10th?), I got gapped off by making a mistake on the third lap, finished in 13th. Devon rode well, but unfortunately got caught on his own in the wind on the last lap - way better than my first A race.

Women's A/B:
Steph and Kari raced with the 1/2/3 Women. Steph had a sweet QOM jersey. She and Kari spent a while chasing some crazy good lady who went off the front. They did really well though, and both finished in the money!

Men's C/D:
They combined these this week. What I know about this race: Some idiot crashed out Paul, Burban and Caleb got some alone time, Jorgen finished in 4th place.

Women's C/D:
Megan and Diedre rode well again, and finished 2nd and 3rd for Division-I (read: both got medals - cool).

Sunday: Old Capital Crit
This was a pretty cool course - a nice downhill, uphill, and some decent corners. A really well-organized event and fun to race as well.

Men's 4/Collegiate C:
Could have gone better, really. Some dude crashed in the first like 10 seconds, the first time on the downhill. I took a nice crash after like 5 laps when someone took out my front wheel. I was slightly bummed and couldn't finish. Burban had a decent race, Jorgen finished well in the chase group, and Jameson finished 3rd (barely, should've been second). And oh yeah, the guy who finished second was nice enough to crash out Jameson just as they crossed the line. As a result, Jameson now has a pretty nice crack in his top-tube. This was also a major bummer. Consolation: he won some tires and some money.

Women's 4/Collegiate C/D:
Megan and Diedre had a comparatively quiet race, both finishing upright (that makes them default winners).

Women's 1/2/3/Collegiate A/B:
Crazy powerful lady lapped the field, and it was fairly broken up. Kari got in a good group and finished well, in the money (6th)! Steph didn't get in the group and finished slightly back.

Men's Cat 5/Collegiate D:
Good race - Dumpcan won some tires in a prime and also finished pretty well (5th?) with Caleb right behind him. The rest of our team members in this year had a good race, and were also default winners (didn't crash).

Men's Category Lame:
Devon went for a lame run instead of riding his bike in the awesome bike race.

End Result:
We won the NCCCC Division I Road Omnium Team title for the sixth year in a row! Good job everyone. I am proud that we were the biggest team and that a lot of people got to contribute points this year. I am also glad that we are so weird that people occasionally look at us and tell us we have a "really close" team.

Steph and Kari both qualified individually for Collegiate Road Nationals in Fort Collins, CO two weeks from now!

What to look forward to now:
End-of-year party/picnic/possible camping/thing to be announced sooner or later.


Footnotes:

• My shoulder still hurts and it took me a while to type this.
• Panchero is worse than Chipotle, if you ever have to make the choice in the future
• Camping is fun, but a good rule is to always bring a sleeping bag (Butters...)
• I don't want to hear that Kanye West song for like 6 months at least now
  

This weekend we hosted our own RR and ITT (Saturday) and went to contend the conference championship criterium in Mankato (Sunday).

The officers went down to Plainview on Friday night in the rain and spent a sweet night in the Plainview Hotel (complete with "colonial furniture") decorating cookies, making signs, and eventually cuddling up in our Mickey Mouse sheets. Verdict = Best Hotel Ever, in the "Character" category.

Saturday morning saw some damp, foggy weather. The RR went well, and I think for the most part was enjoyed by everyone. Here are a recap of the results I remember:

Men's A/B:
Jameson - 4th
Wiggles - 10th

Women's A/B:
Kari - 1st
Steph - 2nd

Men's C:
Jorgen - Somewhere near the top (right?)

Men's D:
Caleb - 4th
Scurvy - 5th
Mitch - 6th

Women's C/D:
I think Diedre and Megan both finished well.

After the road race, the individual time trial commenced. This was the first individual time trial I've seen in my 3 years on the team, and yeah, it was hard. Steph, using what I believe to be an insane mental drive for destroying other people, turned in an amazing performance, again beating a lot of dudes. Caleb did really well (sorry, I forgot his placing) and Jameson won the B category competition.

Once the racing was done, we cleaned up, handed out prizes, and it was time for dinner. After eating we went to Mankato and retired in the Microtel.

Sunday was also damp and slightly chilly. The crit went well - again, here are the results I remember:

Women's C/D:
Diedre - 2nd(?) - The important thing was she was gonna win, but then unfortunately crashed

Men's D:
Caleb - 2nd
Mitch - 4th(?)

Men's C:
Jorgen was up there - but the real story was Kari - she had a great performance and stayed with the men's field for the entire 40 min race, finishing in the pack.

Men's A/B:
Wiggles - 8thish
Jameson - right behind Wiggles

In addition to these results, we also had a great turnout this weekend. We had a lot of newer team members who were doing one of their first races - Jenna, Henry, Josh, etc. I am really glad they could make it - there is definitely no substitute for experience in these races, and I like to think that collegiate racing is really about developing riders - Ex: I was horrible when I started - now I am less horrible. Point is, thanks for coming guys - I hope you can keep racing with us.

Thank you as well to all of the Officers who have helped in various ways over the last 6 months in putting our race on - it was a lot of work, and now one less thing to worry about - I appreciate your efforts. And not to be left off the list - thank you Billy - you were a great help as well, and it was awesome having you there this weekend.

And of course - thank you Peace coffee and One on One for the prizes!

Also, I'd like to thank my Parents, my Producers John, Steve, and Frank, my agent Miguel, and everyone else - you know who you are. Oh wait.

Okay, that's it. I need to go pretend to do homework.

Footnotes:

• Megan's dog is gigantic/awesome
• Too many worms
• After cleaning my bike, I'm found what I'm like 70% sure is a crack in the carbon frame. I will make sure, but if so - damn it

So the Gophers just returned from their second weekend of racing, again in Kansas. This time, we were at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. People seem to be finding their correct categories, and the racing went better, in my opinion. Here is a quick recap of the results, as best as I can recall (again, forgive my lack of specificity here and there):

Men A/B: This week we had two riders (Myself and Jameson) upgraded into the A/B races. The Crit went alright - My highlight was taking 3rd place prime points in the first prime, but in the end I finished slightly off the back of the pack. Jameson was in the mix the whole time and I believe finished in the top 5.

The time trial was Jameson, Jorgen, Myself, and Burban. Slightly longer this week at 12 miles, we did not perform as well as last week. We still managed a decent performance however, and most likely got 1st place B team points (I think every team that beat us was an A team).

The RR went well - seven five-mile laps totaling 35 miles. There were some small attacks, but it mostly stayed together for an uphill finish, with Jameson slotting in 6th and Myself right behind in 7th.

Not too bad a performance overall, considering we were a category above where we were racing last week.

Men C: In the Crit, Burban experienced some mechanicals, and as a result did not finish as well as he could have. Stovetop represented well in his first race this year, staying with the pack throughout the event. Our best finisher in the Men's C Crit was actually (drumroll...) Steph!! Good job - I am happy she gets a chance to embarass some men nowadays.

The TTT team (Stovetop, Todd, Sherve, Caleb) seemed confident in their performance, but I never found out the results. We'll see when the results get sent out...

For the RR - Burban continued to be burdened with bad luck and was caught up in a crash. Not to much worse for the wear, he still managed to finish in 5th place. Steph was 6th (again, remember that I'm giving you her place relative to the Men, she technically won all of her events). Stovetop unfortunately had to abandon.

Men D: The Crit saw some good performances - Jorgen placed 3rd (Very Nice!!!), and I believe that Caleb was in the top ten, maybe even top five.

In the RR, we saw a strong showing in the top ten, with Jorgen 3rd, Caleb 4th, and Mitch 5th. Good job guys - this bodes well for the future.

Women C/D: Okay, so we are far and away the best in this category. In the Crit, Megan and Diedre rode off the front and in the process secured 1st and 2nd place (respectively I believe), taking the max number of prime points possible along the way.

The Women's TTT team (Steph, Megan, Diedre) won again.

In the RR, Megan and Diedre were started with the Men's D field and subsequently claimed 1st and 2nd places again.

Sidenote: Good job Women's team - I am positive that our tradition of dominance in Women's racing (Maria, Ann, Steph, Kari - and now Megan and Diedre) has played no small part in our consecutive run on the conference trophy.

Footnotes:

• Steph won two pairs of shoes
• Diedre's cookies were awesome
• Jorgen bought some classy sunglasses
• I am really tired of driving to Kansas and don't plan to go back soon
• I forgot to use the line "We're not in Kansas anymore" upon leaving Kansas

See you all next weekend, if not sooner.

This weekend the team was in Manhattan, Kansas for our first race weekend. I should note that 3 races were run for the men: an A/B race (field of like 10-15), a C race (field of 11), and a D race (field of like 40). This goes for the RR and the Crit, and the format actually worked out pretty well. That being said, here is how all the results shook out:

Men's C RR:
1st - Jameson
2nd - Devon
4th - Pat

Women's RR:
1st - Diedre
3rd - Megan

Men's C Crit:
4th - Jameson
6th - Devon
7th - Pat
8th - Burban

Women's Crit:
2nd - Diedre
3rd - Megan

You may have noticed a conspicuous lack of the names "Steph" and "Kari" from the results. Well, that is because they have become so good that they are now racing with the Men's fields. I am proud to say that they did the RR with the Men's A/B group and the Crit with the Men's C group. They were the only two Women A racers, and so basically finished 1st and 2nd in everything (we were used to that even when they had competition).

Also, you'll have to forgive my lack of specificity with the Men's D results. I know several people finished well in the RR (Caleb, Scurvy, etc.) and the Crit. We had quite a large team and had a lot of people new to racing who did great in their first weekend (Caleb, Matt, Andrew S, Paul, etc.). Hell, Caleb didn't even know what they kept ringing the bell for in the Crit, and he still kicked ass.

TTT summary: Well, the #1 Minnesota team (Jameson, Devon, Pat, Bryan) managed to take second overall, despite not having any A/B riders on the squad (hmm..., maybe some of them should be...). And trust me, we would have won if Jameson and Devon hadn't had to wait for my slow ass the last 6 miles.

Also, I believe our #3 team (Paul, Matt, Todd, Mitch) beat our #2 team (Caleb, Sherve, Duncan, Andrew S). Good job by everyone though - it was good practice.

Women's team? I am like 99.5% certain they won. Surprising, I know...

Take-home point: We had the biggest team, it was fun, and everyone did well.

Kansas part II is next weekend. Go out and train.

We will be holding practice starting Wednesday again. I'm not sure how long these indoor practices will last, so keep your eye on the message board. Yeah, the weather is still a little cold, but I highly recommend everyone get outside and ride whenever they can now. It is great to get some training on the road, and we don't want to lose any momentum from this training trip...

That said, feel free to post if you'll be riding, in order that others may come along if they so desire.

Next weekend is the trip to our home race course. There are a few things on the agenda for the officers, but everyone is welcome, and encouraged, to make the trip. It will just be a one-day outing (Saturday). And, as you may or may not realize, any time you can check out a race course before you race it, you should. The ride should help us decide what to do, and if people are free that night, I am gonna suggest we have a team socializing/strategizing session - both for our benefit in that race and the other ones in Kansas beforehand.

Be sure to sign up for the KSU race on the message board by this Thursday, March 27th if you haven't already.

ALSO - if you know anybody who wouldn't mind volunteering their afternoon for our race, we'd appreciate it - see the message board.

Yesterday we went for a long ride, and finished the trip with an outing to Lou Lou's Fish Shack.

It was a lot of fun, but it's over. It may seem depressing to realize that, especially upon returning to the snow and chilly weather here. However, take solace in the fact that we still have five straight weekends of van travel/racing ahead of us.

It's really only just begun...

We went for a hard ride yesterday - approximately 55 miles and full of climbing and descents. Everybody had fun, and it was great training. I trashed my wheel, and Scurvy wiped out right behind me.

Today we did an easy 35 miles, and the mtbikers did their thing. I think Duncan might even have a date tonight.

The first van back home leaves tomorrow - bon voyage - we'll be thinking about you when we hit up the catfish buffet (we tried tonight, but couldn't get in).

Everyone else is gonna do 80+ miles and enjoy this weather while we still can. More later.

Yesterday the rain came. We waited... and waited... and waited... for it to stop. But it didn't. So instead of riding we had a nice day of sitting around the hotel. It seemed like a very long day.

So today we made up for it.

Billy picked a route out of Fayetteville totaling around 70 miles. We split into two groups and headed out into the country. Although we had to fight the urban expanse for awhile, we finally hit some good rollers out in the country. At the end of the ride we were justly rewarded with a tour through the Lake Weddington State Park - probably one of our favorite areas to cruise through. The landscape, dominated by rolling hills and trees covered in dried up vines always makes for a fast and interesting ride.

Jorgen and Devon headed out on a 100+ mile ride north of Fayetteville. The map of the route looked forboding. It snaked around a lake, hit up a couple mountains and then stumbled into Fayetteville via county road. Although I haven't heard much about it yet, I'm happy they came back alive...

Tomorrow - hill workout!

-Steph

So nobody really got naked, but I figured it'd be an interesting title for a blog post, along with being a sweet song.

It did rain though. Pretty much all last night and all this morning. This is slightly frustrating to all of us who just want to ride our bikes, but perhaps it will just be a good opportunity to get a forced rest day in. And hey, we're people too - we do more than ride bikes. Today'll probably just be mostly homework - some of us might hit a movie or just go shopping or something.

Tomorrow should be fun. We're driving an hour out of town to get some good climbing in.

And yeah, this is late, but happy St. Patrick's Day. Last night we unwound and began our new strategy of team-building through massage, and I'd have to say it went fairly well. Too bad nobody got any pictures. Those of you who weren't there are just gonna have to borrow the video from Kari.

It was fun to wind down, take a break from cycling, and get back in touch with the real world - even if it was only for 10 minutes or so.

Well, in our second year down here in Fayetteville, we had an even stronger showing in the Hell's Kitchen Road Race, which this year opened our week of training.

In the Cat 4 race, Burban and Steve each took turns putting in some valiant attacks early in the race, and I'm sure got warmed up pretty fast. Unfortunately, Stovetop got held up by a crash early and ended up working to bridge up for too long. The group of 81 was trimmed down significantly on the first lap, and we had 3 riders in the front group after that. On the second lap, Devon peeled off the front and rode ahead for the victory, successfully defending Andy Cook's title from last year. Jameson had some bad luck and dropped his chain, while I turned out to be too strong for my own legs, and blew out my knee on the second go-round of the climb.

I can't offer as detailed a recap for the other races, but in Cat 5, our very own Tinkerbell placed 4th, with Jorgen finishing just behind (in his first USCF race nonetheless). We also had BaDunca, Mitch, and Caleb in the 5's.

Brad rode a strong race in the Pro/1/2 Category, and we also had a great performance by the women's team. Bunny Thompson finished 5th I believe, with Kari right behind and unfortunately just out of the money, again. Megan and Amanda also rode well.

And oh yes, we of course had a great feed zone contingent, what with Paul, Scurvy, Todd Part 2, and Samuel.

Highlight of the day: We had a good showing and no one seriously injured themselves or their bike

Lowlight of the day: All the ice cream shops were closed when we got back.

Recovery ride today, rain tomorrow, and hills on wednesday.

Normally when you know something makes you hurt or causes you pain you avoid it. However, there exists a select class of human beings whose brains aren't wired correctly. Instead of shying away from these specific situations, they seek them out. These people are known as cyclists, and this particular painful event is called Hell's Kitchen.

Today twenty-one U of M cyclists departed at eight-fifteen for the race course. The trailers were jam-packed with bikes and the vans stuffed to the brim with extra race food, clothing and racers with a little bit (a lot) of nervous tension. We arrived at the race course to a fully-packed venue. Needless to say we had a hard time finding a parking spot for the 15-passenger van and trailer (the equivalent of a whale finding a spot to sun bathe on a florida beach flooded with spring break goers...). Somehow, we wedged ourselves in a spot in between two farm driveways. We weren't sure if we were parked illegally - but as Jameson said, "It's not like they're going to tow us..."

Bikes were quickly unloaded and set up. Race packets were picked up along with free schwag bags for participants. We looked like a force to be reckoned with in our sharp team kits of maroon and gold.

Staging for the race started at 10am. Soon, the women were off. We were fortunate enough to be able to ride the race with the Men's 50+ field for several reasons. First, we had 10 women racers, but the Men's 50+ put our numbers up over a field size of 30. Second, men are bigger, and a lot nicer to draft off of. And finally, we got to race with Billy!

The race was pretty mild mannered until we approached Hell's Kitchen Climb. Somehow, Kari and I found ourselves off the front of the pack on climb segment one. I got excited, and probably took it a little bit harder than I should have. Kari (the smart one) told me to slow down. Predictably, we were quickly caught by some charging master's riders and then by the rest of the women's field. Kari and I struggled to stick to their wheels. My legs were hurting, as I'm sure Kari's were too. The devil always makes things burn in Hell's Kitchen.

By the time we got to the top, the other women were up and over the summit of the climb. Then Coach Billy came to the rescue. It took us a good seven miles, but Billy pulled Kari and I up to the rest of the women's field. We sat pretty until the climb. This time (after two Gu's) I felt much better - but I still couldn't stick it on the hill. Coming over the top I was desperate to catch the four women who got away - so I paired up with a master's rider. For the remaining six downhill miles I became very familiar with this guy's behind. He, (his enormous draft) and his carbon wheels meant a screaming fast decent. We were slowly gaining on the women's field but the finish came too soon. I watched the women's field finish from the bottom of the hill...

I was cheered in by a great U of M crowd. Billy and Kari came in soon after I finished. As Pat has already described, the rest of the U of M racers also had successful races.

And to think that forty+ miles of pain wasn't enough, a group of us decided to do a warm down with another lap on the race course, and a ride home to the hotel. All said and done Billy, Meg, Kari, myself and others clocked over 83 miles for the first day.

We love pain, don't you?