Paul and Yolanda Duva Welcome a New Daughter!

Violet Crown offers our heartfelt congratulations to former VC'er Paul Duva and his lovely wife Yolanda on the occasion of the birth of their new daugher Gabriella Sienna, who was born November 20th. We understand everyone is in great health (although possibly a little sleep deprived).

Training and Racing in Saxony

I hooked up with a couple local racers here in Dresden this past weekend - Dirk and Uwe. Saturday they dragged me up and down the Ore Mountains for 135 km. I had told them that I wasn't a climber but they said that's alright - they weren't in a hurry. Big mistake - never be the slowest guy on the team in a team time trial or on a training ride in the mountains. Not wanting to embarrass myself too badly I took the lead on an early climb. I guess they figured I could keep up w/ anything after that, which I did, more or less, but not without substantial gagging, bleeding from my eyeballs, etc.

So afterwards, when we got back into town and stopped in for a coffee and cake, they asked me if I wanted to go to a local training race the next day. "It's only a 50 km race, it's only 35 km away, and it's flat." OK, well I was hammered from the mountains, but what the hell - it would be flat. Well it turned out that they meant the ride to the race and return was flat. The race was in  Stadt Wehlen, which is basically built on the hillside between the Elbe River and the plateau above the river. The race was 7 laps up and down the damn hillside. About 3 km of 8% average grade (varying b/t 3% and 12%) on the way up. Turn around and race back down. Repeat until you've gone blind. There were about 100 starters - all categories starting together. Although it was technically only open to unlicensed riders, licensed riders could race, they just weren't elegible for prizes. I foolishly signed up for the open race, rather than the Senioren II (50+), who only did 4 laps. By the time we reached the top on the first lap there were only 20 of us together. I couldn't see anyone behind me. On the second lap, I was dropped from this group. On the third lap the first chase group caught me. On the 4th and succeeding lap, I was basically racing alone. LOL. My two racing buddies got 6th and 10th. I was glad just not to be going up the damn hill anymore.
Afterwards there were almost as many door prizes as racers. The Burgermeister was on stage calling the numbers of the winners; I couldn't understand a damn thing other than the numbers, and I knew I wasn't hearing mine. Then my buddy Dirk came up to me and told me they were announcing a prize for the person who came the furthest for the race (I'm pretty sure Dirk set this up). That would be me. I couldn't really understand what the Burgermeister was saying, but I gather that (a) there was some concern whether I was related to George Bush, and (b) the helmet that I won was particularly appropriate since everyone in Texas rides a horse.
After all the festivities were done we rode home, which meant going up the hill one last time before crossing the plateau back to Dresden.
Total for the day: 125 km., 4 post-race pieces of cake, 2 post-race coffees, 1 post-ride plate of potato wedges with quark, .128 sore bones and muscles.
When I finally got back to my room, I got to catch the end of the Cyclassics where Allessandro Ballaan made a brilliant, phenomenal last kilometer move to win the race.
Later,

zaz

Kurzawa Wins National Senior Olympics Road Race

Frank Kurzawa, Violet Crown stalwart, won the 50-54 division road race today in the National Senior Games being hosted in Louisville, Kentucky. On a hilly, technical loop, Frank attacked the remaining group of eleven riders on the last hill to the finish. He won by a wheel in a group sprint by throwing his bike across the line.

Frank placed fifth and twelfth in the two time trials. John Collins and is lovely wife Alice competed in their age groups and John Bartles accompanied his father who was competing in the 80-84 division.

Two Weekends in Arkansas

After two years of wanting to follow Frank to New Mexico for the Tour of the Gila, but having work obligations get in the way (yes, work must take precedence...sometimes!), I decided to try a different NRC race and chose the Joe Martin Stage Race in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I had heard of the legendary uphill TT and the rolling green hills of Fayetteville. Though nothing like the massive "cols" of Gila, Joe Martin offered enough of a challenge to at least make me curious.

Southern Elite president Jim Quinn and I drove the nine-plus hours and arrived late Friday afternoon. The Pro 1-2 racers soon finished their difficult 92-mile First Stage, even as we awaited packet pickup for the USCF racers. Our first race was to be a 44.5- mile road race on Saturday morning.

One thing I noticed about the difference between a NRC event and a TXBRA race, at least in the 45+ category...smaller fields. We had 33 starters, combined with 16 more 55+ racers in the same race. However, soon after starting and hitting the first section of rollers, something else became quite evident...everyone was a good racer! I guess if you decide to show up for one of these events, you had best be ready to rock!

Phil Sladek of GeriAtrix launched an early attack. I immediately grabbed his wheel since I only recognized him and the two other GeriAtrix racers, Tom Bain and George Heagerty. Sladek's wheel is a smart place to be, if you can hold it! The two of us put about twenty seconds on the field, and we were joined by a third rider who did not want to work, simply trying to keep us in check. The field soon joined us, and immediately the counter-attacks began. The first real climb split the field, and I was able to hold fifth place, still keying on the boys in pink. Four riders slipped away, and three of the rest of us began a solid chase on the long, gradual uphill section. When the GeriAtrix duo of Bain and Heagerty (Sladek had flatted and never made it back to our group) dragged about nine or ten riders with them to bridge our gap, five of us worked ceaselessly to close the still-widening gap of the four leaders. However, with only five working and four strong guys in the break, well...you do the math. We closed to within twenty seconds, but the leaders got away again and disappeared on the winding roads.

George was rightfully perturbed at those not working. He and Bain did some maniacal pulls of 30+ mph on the rollers. I pulled on the uphills, they took over on the downhill and flat sections. We only closed to within a minute of the four leaders and were destined to have a field sprint for fifth place. I spun out my 12-tooth and still finished butt-naked last in our pack sprint! However, I still received the same time as fifth- place rider Tom Bain. I was 15th on the stage. Sladek finished two minutes later, with another large pack a further minute or so behind.

Stage Two, four hours later, featured the infamous 2.5-mile uphill TT with an average gradient of 6.8 %. I was slightly over-geared on the early part (53-21) and wisely shifted down to the small ring, riding mostly a 39-19 or 39-21 up the climb, standing virtually the entire climb (my style!). The climb was steady at 6.8 % and although tough, not as tough as I would have thought. I finished 6th overall in the TT and had moved into 6th on GC, ahead of Heagerty and Sladek!

That was the good news. The bad news was that Stage Three presented a 1.3- mile Criterium course with 8 turns, a long downhill stretch, and a short, steep hill to finish each lap. Sladek and Heagerty (and Tom Bain) love Criteriums! This would be my second Crit ever.

I was gapped almost immediately when I was caught behind some "even- more- novice- than- I" riders going wide on turn two. I chased for the rest of the short (35-minute) race, but never caught the main field and fell from 6th to 11th on GC. Still, all in all a great weekend of racing.

That long weekend with 1,400 miles of driving and three tough races should have quenched my desire for competition for at least a month, right? Not for me! I seem to enjoy suffering. At the last minute (almost literally), I decided to race in the next NRC event, the Tr-Peaks Challenge in Russellville, Arkansas (near Little Rock). I left Houston after school on Friday afternoon and drove the 10 hours to Russellville. I arrived in Arkansas so late that rather than waking my weekend roommates (John McAllister, a Cat 3 for Michelob Ultra and his teammate Kevin), I decided to sleep in my 4Runner. After all, I had to arrive at the race site for late registration at 5:30 a.m. I noticed a familiar face after warming up for a while..George Heagerty! Great, I had a rider to mark, and a great one.

The Stage One 60-mile Road Race featured plenty of rollers, one tough climb, and a lot of beautiful scenery, if you weren't racing of course. The climb surprised me and I was caught near the back and had to chase back to the group. Once again, our 45+ field was small but super-tough, as were the 35+ and Cat 4 fields, so all three groups raced together. George and I made sure we marked all of the "400" series numbers (for 45+), yet at times even this plan proved difficult, so the best bet was to cover everything! Ultimately, our entire field sprinted for the win. I grabbed George's wheel and hung on for dear life. He pulled me to a 7th place finish, my best field sprint this season.

The 5.4- mile TT was mostly flat with a gradual rise in elevation (about 200 feet), but was entirely into a headwind and crosswind. I finally had a TT bike and rode well for me, finishing 10th in the TT. However, enough guys were faster that I was now only 10th on GC.

Stage Three presented a 35.5-mile Road Race with undoubtedly the toughest finish and the toughest climb I have ever done. Imagine 2.5 miles with an AVERAGE gradient of 18%...and that includes a 200-meter flat and slightly downhill section only 1km from the finish! This climb has several pitches of 22%- 25%, even steeper if you take the corners tightly as I foolishly attempted twice! Add about fifteen switchbacks and you have a real "suffer-fest!"

I marked a guy named Bob Cable of Tyson Cycling, who had won this stage and this event five out of six years. The field had some attacks and bridges during the 33 miles leading to the climb, but obviously everyone was thinking about the pain. We hit the climb and immediately a small split occurred...and I was in the second group! I reacted immediately and bridged up to the lead pack of about ten riders (mixed up with 35+, Cat 4, and Heagerty, plus one 45+ I missed!). I pulled away from Heagerty about one-third of the way up the climb and passed a few others on the brutal ascent. I stood virtually the entire climb. I had been advised by several riders to put a 27-tooth on the back, but I trusted my 12-25 setup and went with that. I'm glad I did, because a 27 for me would have been practically spinning in place.

I finally reached the "1km to go" sign and the brief respite of a 200-meter downhill and flat section, then the real fun began. The final 800 meters or so hurts like, well, I don't know what it hurts like because I have nothing more painful to compare. I was fueled by the thought that I was finally going to "win" a race. I crossed the line for what I thought was first place...but I soon found out that Bob Cable had finished ahead of me (and by 51 seconds!). I never saw him ahead of me at the start of the climb, but he was there. Crafty veteran! I'm sure he would have killed me anyway. This guy wouldn't dream of a 27-tooth. He has an 11-21 setup and did almost the entire climb in the saddle! I have some work to do for next year.

I did finish 2nd on the climb and moved up to 6th overall on GC, my best-ever finish in a stage race.

Guys, I know Arkansas is a long (really long!) drive, but trust me… BOTH of these events are well worth the trip. The organizational aspects, the volunteers, the communities are all supportive of the races and the racers. I'm thrilled I decided to race in both, and these two races are already on my calendar for next year.

Any takers? I'll drive.

Kim Wrinkle

Zaza's Pain Chronicle - Tour of the Gila Day Four

Crit Day is always kind of cool. Since I basically suck as a crit rider (oh yeah, I suck at the time trial and road stages as well), I don’t take the stage too seriously and use the day mostly for recovery purposes. Plus the actual racing is only an hour long and my hotel is right in turn four, so there’s plenty of time to just hang out and enjoy Silver City.

I always visit with Steve Ferris, who is in charge of the forty trillion spare wheels provided by the racers. They’re locked up in Steve’s “Biciclub” bike “shop” a block from my hotel. This place is an incredible collection of  assorted bikes and bike parts that stretch over at least 4 decades. Steve is also into MotoGuzzi’s – see the attached photo. Plus everyone who matters knows Steve. I can always count on running into Maynard Hershon at Steve’s. Maynard is now considering moving to Austin.

My crit was early in the day and it pretty much went according to plan – I started at the front, slowly slid to the back over many laps, and was eventually dropped, but not before a lot of other people were. I lost some time on the stage, but not that much; I recovered really quickly and am hopeful that I’ll be fresh enough tomorrow to not suffer a million slow deaths on the final stage.

Geriatrix never created a successful break, but Henry won every prime and then comfortably won the field sprint as well.

I’m currently sitting in the coffee house in turn four. I got to watch the cat 2’s (Adam Gaubert, Joel Grimmett), the Pro/1 women, and am now watching the Pro/1 men do their thirty thousandth lap. Turn four is really fast, coming at the bottom of a gradual descent, but I’ve never seen a crash here. Tonight we’ll be taking Bonnie Walker out to dinner.

No matter how much I suffer tomorrow I’ll be done at the end of the stage, then it’s straight into Sladek’s incredible camper thing for a fourteen hour drive back to San Marcos. I should get home about four am, just in time to not get any sleep before going in to work at 8 am Monday morning. What a restful vacation this is!

Zaza's Pain Chronicle - Tour of the Gila Day Three

Umm, I guess I’m now in tourist mode. It’s been a rough 24 hours. My digestive problems got way worse – I’ve been losing weight and am now taking immodium in hopes of keeping things in check.

Stage three has always been a really hard stage, but I’ve generally been able to come out of it with only limited losses even if it also trashes me. But today was worse than usual as I felt unrecovered being up half the night . The stage (http://www.tourofthegila.com/pics/mapftbardlg.gif) has some hard climbing in the first 20 miles, then a lot of flat and rolling and descending for the next 40 miles, then more hard climbing in the last 20 miles (total – 78 miles). The trick is to not be too far back after the first climbs and to be in a reasonable sized group over the flat-to-rolling midsection so that you don’t have too fight too much wind by yourself.

I suffered as much as I could but was still back in the third group through Pinos Altos at mile twelve, then slipped back further over the next 10 miles of additional climbing. Ultimately I found myself in the midsection with just two companions and with two thirds of the field just up the road. It was really heartbreaking to be within 15 seconds of a group of 20 just before they pulled away for good. Then we lost one of our threesome, leaving just two of us working the headwind for 20 miles to the final climbs. I conserved what I could and luckily my partner was stronger than I. When we finally hit the long climb we could actually see the other group about three minutes ahead of us. My partner cracked at that point and I lost another 5 minutes fighting my way up a 5% grade for the next gazillion miles.

I staggered in alone, 28 minutes after the leaders. The two leaders, by-the-way were the GC leader (Lindsey Blount) and Jonathon Boyer, who rode away from everyone on the first climbs and ultimately finished 10 minutes ahead of the next group of ten. I was thirty-seventh out of a field that is now down to forty-four, and I’m now down around thirty-fifth on GC. Oops.

Dinner was not as painful as the race. Geriatrix and I had a six o’clock reservation at Spaghetti Western – the best authentic Italian food in a five hundred mile radius. Henry Skowolniak recounted his defection from the Polish National team while they were racing in France in 1981. Not even his parents knew of his plan to do this and I’m sure it had to be about the most stressful time in his whole life. He was only twenty-two at the time. What a spell-binding story.

The digestive problems seem to be under better control now – I’ve got my fingers crossed. Hopefully I will be able to recover tomorrow during the crit and have something in the tank to get me up the four major climbs (including a cat two and two cat four’s) on Sunday's final seventy-two mile stage. Geriatrix is talking about lighting it up in the crit tomorrow - oh boy, I can hardly wait.

Zaza's Pain Chronicle - Tour of the Gila Day 2

It's Wednesday morning after the second stage seventy five mile road race up to the top of the Mogollon. Here is the stage profile: http://www.tourofthegila.com/pics/mapmogollon.gif. As you can see, the stage is dominated by the category 1 climb in the final 10 miles.

My strategy was simple: try to conserve energy while staying near the front. Cover what you have to and remain ever vigilant. Every year the pack dynamics are radically different. Last year several groups managed to get up the road: Tom Bain had ten minutes on the pack when he reached the turn-off to go up the Mogollon. This year the pack was having none of that: nothing got up the road and the pace remained uniformly high:this was somewhat demanding but still easier than responding to 65 miles of stop and go before the climb. Geriatrix won both ten-second bonus sprints: Henry Skowolniak (honorary Geriatrix member) took one, and Tom Bain took the other.

When we were ten miles from the base of the Mogollon the lead motorcycle official told us we were just one minute behind the Cat Threes that had started ten minutes before us. Shortly after that we found ourselves running straight into the butt-end of their follow caravan that was creeping up one of the long rollers on the big highway. After neutralizing for a little while, the motorcycle ref motioned the field out over the yellow line to pass the caravan. Here is where things started getting dicey. First we began to crest one of the hills so one of the motorhomes that was trapped in the caravan started gunning it as if to try to repass us on the downhill. Then while we were all on the left side of the yellow line, a pickup began approaching us head on. I searched for a spot in the caravan to dive into just in case I had to. Luckily the approaching pick-up dived off the right side of the road into the ditch. After all that back and forthing with the caravan we finally got in front of them and never did see the actual threes pack although we caught many of the stragglers on the final climb.

When we finally turned off the highway to go up to the Mogollon I was feeling fresher than any year than I've been out here. I was comfortably tucked out of the wind about tenth wheel. The road started up-hill and I continued holding my position. The pace picked up. I gave up a few places. Lindsay Blount (in the leader's jersey after winning yesterday's time trial) surged to the front and jacked it up a few notches. The group split in pieces. I considered my rapid approach to red line and stayed with the second group. We continued upward while I went over redline. I wanted desperately to stay with this group because we were just a half mile from the crosswind-covered mesa that is over a mile long before the second half and harder part of the climb begins. With only a few hundred meters to reach the mesa I was finally separated from the back of group, and I had dug too deep. Phil Sladek came up behind me but my wasted legs couldn't produce enough to allow me to follow him. I ended up working most of the windy mesa by myself before a group of four came up to me for some relief.

We hit the final four miles of climbing. The sign said three miles but it would turn out to be wrong. First I was able to hang with my group of four but I had burned too many matches. They gapped me. But I held them close. For the next two miles they were only fifty yards ahead of me. But the pain was increasing with each pedal stroke. I passed a sign that said one mile to go. I was watching my computer counting down. When I had gone a full mile I came to the one kilometer sign. How cruel can these guys be? To make matters worse I was starting to cramp. I had to keep changing position and relax some of the pedal pressure. My group of four were now slipping out of sight around the next bend and some other dude was overtaking me. I had been passing straggler cat three's but now I wasn't even doing that.

After all that I suppose my actual finish was anticlimactic. I learned that Lindsey Blount won the stage, finishing about seven minutes ahead of me. Jonathon Boyer was third on the stage about a minute back. I finished twenty-fifth.

Afterwards we zipped down the mountain trying not to kill ourselves on the switchbacks, and piled into Phil Sladek's massive, massive, massive camper/pickup. The damn thing is as large as a city block. Six of us fit comfortably in the cab. In the camper were four more bike racers (mostly Moritz) plus all of our bikes and other assorted crap.

One of the returnees was Bruce Hodgkins, owner of Excel Sports. He's a helluva a nice guy and even though he hasn't been racing many years he was fifth on the stage. He has his own airplane and flies to races like this (weather permitting).

My stomach is gurgling now. Golden Corral? Too much gatorade? Too many bowls of raisin bran? I don't know, but it's making me uncomfortable and I'm having trouble staying hydrated.

That's it for now. Lots more to talk about but I'm totally whipped.

P.S. Some people have really bad luck: Many of you know Adam Gaubert, who is doing the Cat 2's out here. He flatted four miles into the stage 1 time trial and was given the same time as the worst place finisher in his category: 51 minutes, 15 minutes out of 1st place. Despite riding well up the Mogollon he is still in 60th place out of a field of 80. Life is a bitch.

Zaza's Pain Chronicle - Tour of the Gila Day 1

[Apologies for the late posting of this report from Wednesday. I’ve been unusually busy with some logistical and (minor) medical issues – zaz]

Ah, it's six am in the morning after yesterday's first stage time trial. When I woke up a few minutes ago I was dreaming that I was at work and had just remembered that I was still in the middle of a stage race. Oops.

The time trial is a 16 mile out and back that starts with 4.4 miles uphill on a 3.5% grade, descends, then does two more rollers before the turn around. On the way back you have to climb back up to the summit of the long grade at 8%, then you descend the last 4.4 miles trying to do your best to spin out your eleven without being blown over by any crosswinds.

I'm hanging out with the Geriatrix crew here - Bain, Sladek, Heagerty, and their newest honorary member, Henry Skowolniak.

Henry had the best time of the

Texas

40+ crew - a 40:44. which was fifth best in the 40+ race that we're doing.

Before my own TT, I was warming up on my trainer when Eric Jordan happened by. He came out here with Joel Grimmett and is also doing the 40+ race. I hope he doesn’t suffer as much as I usually do out here. LOL

I worked the time trial pretty hard - I don't think I left much time on the course. Unfortunately my 30 second man was a no-show so I couldn’t use him as a carrot, but I caught my minute man at 3 miles and I caught a couple other riders as well. On the other hand the guy 30 seconds behind me caught me at 3 miles as well. I really went hard on the final descent managing for the most part to keep my speed in the low to mid 40’s, finally clawing back the last guy that I had a chance to catch. Trying to keep the gear spun while staying tucked was killing my back but I was willing because I thought maybe this was my year to actually start in the top half of the field after the first stage.

But it wasn't meant to be. I only did a 44:38, which was way down at thirty-first place out of a field of fifty-three. I am now over five minutes behind the leader on GC. How can I lose five minutes in just sixteen miles? I guess I must not have been trying. Actually I understand the fastest Pro/1 time was 34 minutes. How can someone go ten minutes faster than me in just sixteen miles?

My time was still two minutes faster than my time from last year but I guess the field has just gotten tougher. This year it's a 40+ race instead of 45+, and even though only ten of the racers are under 45, many of them are cat 1's and just about all of them are in the top half of the field.

Speaking of Cat 1's, we've got Jonathon Boyer in our race. This fifty-one year old raced the Tour de France five times in the mid-eighties, finishing as high as twelfth on GC. There was a controversy the year that Greg Lemond won the World Championship Road Race, because Greg chased down Jonathon - his teammate - to do it. Maybe next year Greg will do the race as well. LOL

In retrospect, I was probably lucky to do as well as I did on the stage. The night before, I went to the Golden Corral with Bain, Sladek, Skowolniak, and Heagerty. Bain swears by that place. I couldn’t convince them to go anywhere else. That place is toxic – I can’t believe how much really bad food that I ate there. But if it works for Tom…

Studying Central Texas Agricultural Practices

While I was on a recent weekend ride I stumbled on these Violet Crown riders who were in deep concentration, carefully studying Central Texas agricultural techniques.

zaz

Mangia Recognized as 2005 Independent of the Year

Our long-time sponsor, friend, and local pizza joint Mangia Chicago Stuffed Pizza was recognized by Pizza Magazine as the 2005 Independent of the Year. The company has been in business for 18 years, just opened its fourth store, and according to the article, has plans to add up to 17 more stores in and around Austin in the next 5 years. The industry award was recognized by the Austin Chronicle 's Food O File.  Pizza Today also wrote about Managia's contributions to keeping it weird in Austin in an August feature article about the pizzeria. Congratulations Mangia!

The Giant Yellow Banner on Northwood Rd.

September 12th, 2005 (from Edward Tasch)

After a run of many years, the giant yellow banner finally came down. And what a run it was.

During the month of July for the last seven consecutive years a giant yellow poster has traversed the porch of our small home in central Austin. Sharing our admiration and celebration for local champion Lance Armstrong, we displayed the giant poster each year for all to witness. Neighborhood residents including Capital Metro bus passengers became accustomed to the yellow poster adorning the house.

The audience also included passengers on Amtrack as the train made its’ way to the downtown station. The yellow banner was a display of passion and a real example of what makes Austin Texas so unique. Yes, Austin residents and regular Amtrack train passengers for the last seven years had grown quite accustom to the giant “Go USPS - Allez Lance” yellow banner.   

My wife and I first created the poster during the 1999 Tour de France. Only after the Pyrenees, did the yellow poster go up as to not “jinx” the race outcome. And only after the final lap on the Champ de’Elysse did we paint the streets in Austin. Main thoroughfares including Congress Avenue in front of the state capital and the University of Texas “drag” in front of the University Co-Op were painted with “Vive Lance – Le Tour.” This first Tour victory we were in a state of shock, awe and disbelief. In someway the giant yellow poster validated our joy. For the most part the city of Austin had no idea what was achieved following the first Tour victory. Not only did an American win the Tour, but a survivor of an illness that takes loved ones from all of us in a cruel fashion and at an alarming rate.

Not until the last several years has the public recognized the sport of cycling as legitimate. Sure there were the days at the turn of the twentieth century before everyone owned an SUV and exercised their rite to drive as fast and reckless as they like. And yes road cycling experienced high visibility when Greg LeMond won consecutive Tours – even coming back to win a Tour after near fatal hunting accident. However for a large part of the cycling community tolerance, acceptance and on some occasions embracement of our sport is a relatively recent phenomena. Almost every household in American now has some knowledge of cycling by way the Lance Armstrong story. And many drivers now recognize that we are not on the road in colorful fancy “outfits” intent on causing trouble. Rather we are on the road training for a sport we love dearly.    

The years following the first Tour victory, we continued to display the poster on our home’s front porch; each year curious if the incredible feat could be accomplished again. Some years we were out of town and friends helped mount the poster between the porch columns. And last year when were traveling in France to watch the ‘04 Tour, neighbors watched the poster for us. Amazingly, never once was the poster vandalized. Through the years we modified the poster to reflect changes in the team. Names were changed and faded ink was renewed. This year was different however. The change to the Discovery team made placement of the additional letters particularly challenging - USPS was always such a convenient abbreviation… Although what really made this year different was that I lost my father to cancer last Thanksgiving.

The early years we displayed the poster with anticipation. Dad was healthy and my own celebration was more focused on the incredible feat of winning a Tour. Could Lance win another? As the years progressed the poster became a pleasant yet awkward burden, an obligation to honor the enormous feat undertaken once more. Could Lance do it yet again?? Then my father was diagnosed with cancer – time at which the poster provided me an additional depth of meaning. Like countless others touched either directly or indirectly by cancer, I now had a much fuller and deeper appreciation of what Lance was accomplishing. Yes, this year was quite different; for not only had I lost my father to cancer, but my father in-law was now diagnosed with Lung cancer.

So in early July’05 we once again placed the large “Allez Lance – Go Discovery” banner between the porch columns of our small house. And as we resurrected the poster, many thoughts occupied our minds. Could a seventh consecutive Tour victory be achieved? How would my father in-law respond to treatment? How my own father admired Lance’s determination and tenacity. Also in the back of our minds we knew this would be the last year to display the gratuitous yellow banner which had been adorning our house for the previous 6 years.

Now the poster has come down for good. We waited to take the poster down because Lance frequently stays in the neighborhood and we wanted him to see it upon his return to Austin. Also, we just wanted to hold on the memory of the last 7 years, a period of our life indexed by the yearly ritual of an American dominating the world’s most demanding athletic event. Yes, there remains some amazing American talent racing in Europe and I do hope that Americans will continue to be well represented in the Tour. But just as Lance has made his contributions, we too have played our role albeit ever so miniscule. Unlike Lance however, we will not be recognized in history. Should my wife and I have children, I look forward to one day sharing with them stories of my father and what it was like when Lance was dominating the Tour de France. Thanks for the hope, inspiration and memories Lance. The survivor, the champion, the cyclist. It was one a hell of a run indeed.

Local Boy Makes Waves at Natz

By now you've probably heard that local racer Robbie Robinette won the Masters Nationals 40+ Road Race this last week. And he won it in style - solo! I've been a friend of Robbie's for years. More recently, we've both been going out to the Tour of the Gila, and one of the most enjoyable things for me is sharing brag stories and condolences with Robbie and his lovely wife Alex over dinner each evening. Many people in Austin know Robbie and Alex for the friendly, unassuming people that they are; not everyone knows how dedicated Robbie trains, how hard he works. There are very few racers with as much natural talent as Robbie; even fewer are willing to work as long and as hard as he does.
If you're not a long-time VC member, you may not recall that when Robbie first started road racing, he was a member of Violet Crown. I have fond memories of kicking his butt at the Expo Center Thursday Night Crit Series back in the day when he was starting out as a lowly Cat 5. Well those days were over a long time ago - he progressed quickly through the ranks to Cat 2 status, eventually becoming one of the core strong men in Austin's dominating Team Hotel San Jose. What follows is his entertaining, enlightening, and moving race report.

zaz

____________________________________

Writing about something like this is tricky, there's a flood of emotion which threatens to turn whatever you write into vainglorious drivel but it's those same feelings you want to capture and share.

I'm sitting here in a coffee shop in Park City waiting for the awards and still trying to make myself believe I did it. There have been so many almosts for me, so often I've come close but had to settle for "I rode really well" or "If I had done this or that" or "Just not a good day".

A week ago, I was in this same coffee shop after the NORBA National MTB race. I had raced semi-pro and was pretty optimistic at the start. I was feeling good but went too hard. I blew up. I mean really blew, arms on fire, vision difficulty, panic breathing, the whole deal. I tried to rest on the 10 minute downhill but when I got to the bottom and started back up I had nothing. zilch. zipppo. I was done for the day and there was nothing I could do to change that and pulled out. I would have plenty of time on the long drive home to sulk.

Monday was the Masters National Time Trial. I had hopes, maybe not to win but to do well, top 5. I'd been TT'ing well and thought I could do it. Not even close. I got passed by 5 guys. 5 guys! 5! And not just passed, I mean blown past. Smoked. It hurt on all levels. Worse, I had no excuse, it was as good as I could do.

To add insult to injury I had personally solved the bug problem at Antelope island. The TT site is an island that is infested by about 100 billion mosquito like bugs. As a public service I had collected all of them in my car. When I rolled the windows down they hid underneath the seat, with them up a few hundred thousand of them would collect on the windshield. I was worried I would be pulled over for erratic driving as I tried various forms of bug-murder at 80mph.

In every race that I've ever done well at I've almost quit. They all seem to have some section where you just want to give up and go home, sometimes I yield, sometimes I don't. When I had that moment today I smiled to myself and thought that maybe it was a good thing.

We were on the flat in a group of six. We'd gotten away at about mile 10 after the first climb. there'd been a flurry of attacks that had gone nowhere then they let hairy-legged-guy(*) roll off the front. I'm the guy who is normally sitting around after the race and thinking "if only". For some reason today I understood what to do and rolled up to him, four other guys joined us and we began to roll, sort of.

The problem was that a couple of the guys were fit but not as experienced and we were rotating like a gravel in a blender. Fortunately, one of the guy's in the group was Brian Lemke. Brian is a nice guy but also has those tell-tale stripes on his jersey that indicate he's a former national champion. Brian and I had gotten to know each other at Gila where we had both gotten dropped on a descent and were TT'ing 60 miles to the finish so we could make the time cut. Brian's best attribute is that he's not shy about telling people what to do.

I don't want to dis' anybody, everybody was working hard and brian was coachin': "stay tight", "follow that wheel", "easy". It was still ugly, we were working hard to go slow but it was getting better. We were getting time checks, 20 seconds, 22, 28, 22.

This is where I thought about throwing in the towel on the break. All week we'd discussed the road race and potential strategy based on what had happened on other races and what happened last year. The consensus was that the early break would not stick, you couldn't stay away and have the gas to make it up the finish sequence. It hadn't happened, wouldn't happen and you should let any early break go. Why was I here? It's doomed, right? Chris Walker was back there with his Labor Power buddies, they would certain bring us back pretty soon and were just dangling us off the front.

The break began to work better. I took a lot of missed pulls and kept the pace up through and after the corners. Brian was killing himself to help out and we began to make time. 1 minute, 1:22, 1:40, finally, at the beginning of the climbs towards the finish it was 2:12.

Not really enough but just maybe. I was beginning to think we had a small chance but was still worried about what the field could do. What I didn't know was how fast we'd been going. That turned out to be crucial.

We hit the first climb. Hairy-legs has been hurting on the flats but he's showing some stuff on the climb, I'm content to sit and let him lead. We lose two guys and make it over the first climb.

Halfway up the second climb we get another time check: 1:30 to a group of 3 chasers. No doubt it's Walker and his buddies. I'm in a tough spot, if I try to push the pace but keep the group together I'm going to end up towing everybody to the finish and probably still get caught by Walker.

That leaves attacking the group I'm with on a climb (at 195 lbs) and trying to solo TT to the finish up the last 8 miles of false flat. I'm contemplating a solo finish after getting passed by 5 guys in the TT and finishing 16th? Also, I've never won a race solo. I've won a lot of field sprints but out of 300+ road races I've won exactly zero races by soloing in. Never happened, not once. You'd think that in 300 races some army of dwarves would have waylaid the field at least once but it hasn't happend.

I hadn't made a conscious decision when I realized that I was 3 bike lengths away and going for it.

One guy (hairy legs) was on my wheel, I kept pushing until he came off. Then it was just me and 8 miles of false flat uphill.

After last weeks explosion I'd been very careful. There's an invisible red line for me and I'd been careful not to cross it. Fortunately, I'd had good legs and hadn't had to push hard yet. Now it was time to see what was there.

I pushed hard but tried to keep it sane. I felt good and seemed to be going fast but remembered the 5 guys who flew by me in the TT. I looked at the officials and thought about all the times I'd seen people winning a race like this and wondered what it felt like.

To me it felt like I was going to get caught. I kept the pace high and hoped.

Last year I died a thousand deaths on this climb and got dropped. I flew past places where I remembered suffering the year before.

Some days you seem to just have it. This was that kind of day, I was going fast, up a hill and I felt good. I later found out that I averaged 28mph for the race. that's why the field didn't catch us and why when Walker was trying to chase me down he wasn't quite so spunky.

As I got close and couldn't see chasers I started wondering what could go wrong. I couldn't possibly be winning this, something always happens. I was looking for anything that might cause a flat.

At 100 meters I remember thinking "Hell, I can walk from here".

Robbie Robinette

* Hairy-Legged-Guy's name is John Hancock, I a very nice guy that I got a chance to visit with after the race.

Italy in May

So much to describe, so little time . . . so here's a few highlights until I write some more....

Lots of riding - I had ~360-400 miles in eight days. Don't ask for a good number, my cyclocomputer sometimes reads zero even when I'm riding. Plus a couple of days I was captaining Ron around on his tandem so I didn't get a distance (other captains included Doug, Dr. John, and Val – am I missing someone?). The roads in the Fucino valley were flat and had marginal pavement due to being farm roads sitting on an old lake bed. Around the rim of the valley, the roads were better but with some traffic especially near Avezzano. The roads in the mountains were great and traffic sparse - wonderful riding.

The first ride was an easy 30km or so around the valley floor to blow out the cobwebs from the plane flight. Not many pictures taken except for some motley crew stuff  since we didn't do much touring. Mostly I was trying to get oriented. On Monday, we did a longer loop into Avezzano. The short group headed back from there while the long group went northwest out of Avezzano and around to the backside of the "hill" via Capelle and Cese. We rode back over the hill into Avezzano and back across the valley to the Hotel Fillipone for a total around 45 miles. The hill was a nice grade for a mere 200 meters or so of altitude gain. It must be a popular recreation spot for the locals as the Avezzano side was covered with riders and walkers.

Our longest day (on Tuesday) was much of the first part of stage 5 of the Giro. If you look at this map/profile, the hotel was in Gioia dei Marsi (km 29.5) and our route was identical until Anversa dei Abruzzi (km 120.4)  where the pros turned right and we went straight. We followed a road under the words "MONTE URANO" back through a mountain top tunnel, down to Pescina (km 13.5) and back to the hotel. That's about 80 miles with two category 2 climbs plus another that would probably be a cat 2 if it was in the race.

And for those that are thinking Tour de France Cat 2 climbs:  NO. The Giro only has three categories – no cat 4, no hor catagorie. There's also a special rate for summit finishes and individual scales for the two highest climbs: the "Cima Coppi", traditionally adjudged at the highest point on the route, this year the Stelvio, and the Colle della Finestre. Total prize list: €81,000

Wednesday was a ‘short’ day in the 45 mile range. We went back over Passo del Diablo and down to Pescasseroli.  BTW, Jill and Julian decided that Pescasseroli meant fish casserole. Today instead of following the previous day's route, we doubled back 5 km and took a road that "split" the previous days route. The road climbed for a short time then descended at a mostly gradual and non-technical pace through Bisegna and Ortoria dei Marsi to rejoin the old route just a few km above Pescina.

This proved to be a good day to try to visit the castle in Pescina. Unfortunately the castle was looked up to prevent visitors which was a good thing given the obviously unstable appearance of the structure. I don’t think that they’ve done a lot of restoration since the 1915 earth quake. We did get a couple of pictures though.

Wednesday night the T-Mobile and Domina Vicanze teams stayed in our hotel. We were able to get a few photos and a little collection of souvenirs. The oddest was probably the T-Mobile room assignment list that someone took off the lobby elevator door. And Ted would have been happen with the bike cleaning.

On Thursday we did the Giro watching thing. Some of us road up the pass to watch the tour go by. Some rode over to the start in Celano. I think that those of us who went to the start had the better deal as it was good site seeing also. After watching the Giro start, some of us wandered around the town.  There is an interesting castle on top of the hill about 100m from the stage start. I have pictures of the castle but not of the museum inside the old castle keep. We took lots of other pictures of the town, alleys, roof tops looking out over the valley, etc.

I don’t even remember which ride I did Friday but Saturday some of us went to the local Avezzano equivalent of the bakery/bagel ride. Unfortunately we arrived late so we were off the back of the main group. Fortunately, a couple of locals (conveniently they were both named Franco) rode with us Franco #1 is a 60 year old doctor that used to be a pro racer. Franco #2  is 62 and also used to be a pro race. They hung back since they knew Doug but you definitely got the sense that they were stronger than the rest of us.

In fact, late in the ride, Val and Ron took a flyer on the tandem. For a while it was only the two Franco, another Italian and myself staying up. But after a while longer it was only Franco #1 – and I think he could have stayed there all day.

Saturday was also the day that I witnessed the funniest part of the trip. We were driving around Trasacco looking for a store that was supposed to have good jackets, belts, etc. (which was the wrong place to be since the store was in Ortucchio). Jose stopped to ask directions from a local auto mechanic in his 50’s using pidgin Spanish-Italian. After getting directions we give the obligatory round of ‘Grazie’. Then Val pipes in with a boisterous ‘Ciao Bella!!!’. For those that don’t know the phrase, it means hello beautiful. Perhaps we should keep a shorter leash on Val?

On Sunday, Doug, Schreff, Dr. John, and Ron went to an Italian rally/race. Others of us did the short mountain loop again. We were supposed to do the long loop but after everyone else wimped out, Jill said “I’m not riding alone with Bill” and opted for the short route also. Being heartbroken by yet another rejection, I opted for the short loop too. Having tired legs and facing 80 miles alone in a country I don’t know had nothing to do with my staying with the group. Besides I think Jill really wanted to visit the dwarfs.

The food was overwhelming. The typical lunch/dinner was appetizer, pasta, main course #1, main course #2, dessert. Main courses typically came with 1-2 sides of veggies. And they just kept bottles of wine on the table so you could drink and drink all meal. There is definitely an art to pacing yourself through eating. And Jill really enjoyed the Gelato.

Another thought, on the long ride, there is a small ski station at Valico di Monte Godi (km 91) that has some rather good hot chocolate. It's almost a pudding texture made with a cappuccino machine. You’ll have to try it sometime.

Marco in action at Vouziers

For those that can't get enough cyclocross here's a photo (by Herv Dancerelle) of honorary VC member Marco Vermeij racing in Vouziers.

Longtime VC'ers will remember Marco from his winters in Austin, his prior participation in the Tour de France, and his stage win in the Tour du Pont.

Marcus Rolls On

Marcus Torres is moving on to race with the PURE / Hotel San  Jose mountain bike and road team. We wish him the best and certain he will do well. Here are a couple of photos from his racing days with Violet Crown. On the left is a photo finish of Marcus taking the cat 3/4 win at the Town Lake crit back in May. It was his 2nd for the day - he won the juniors' event earlier. The one on the right is Marcus finishing up his victory lap at the last of the Thursday night crit series at Town Lake this summer. Not only did he win that night's Junior race, he won the overall Junior series.

Design NO. 2

Here's what I will refer to as the Red White Purple design offered up by VC member Steve James. Click here to see more of this design and its variations.
Also, don't forget last year's design which is also an option (pictured at the right).

Robert & Trish at Alpe d'Huez at the 2004 Tour de France

Robert & Trish at the Top

My wife, Trisha, and I have been married for 16 years. We've taken a few short trips, nothing longer than a week at a time, and never really had a Honeymoon as I was on active duty in the Marines when we got married. We both got into cycling as a sport, as an off-shoot of triathlons, in 2000. I was already riding at work as part of APD's Bike Patrol on 6th St, but soon switched to road cycling for sport and then fun. Trisha hadn't ridden a bike since she was in Jr. High, but soon found that it was just as much fun now as it was then.

We decided to take a real trip, and chose to go to the Tour de France.

After much research we decided to go with Velo Echappe', a tour company based in the mid-west. Friends of ours had gone with them in 2003 and recommended them, and I was happy with the responses I received from the owner, Brian Rounds, while I was researching.

The company has two trips to the Tour and varies with the route. This year the first trip started in Lourdes and rode throught the Pyrenees. The second trip, the one we took, started in Les Deux Alpes, and rode through the Alps.

We arrived in France, and after several airline related nightmares, finally got to our hotel in Les Deux Alpes. We went out for a group dinner and met the staff and other riders in the group. It was dark by the time we finished dinner, so we weren't able to get a good look at the city and surrounding area. When the alarm went off the next morning we laid in bed for a few minutes cursing time zones. We heard a faint noise outside, and I got up and opened the blinds. Man, what a view! We had 2 alps (Les Deux Alpes) right outside our room! The sound we heard was a herd of cows wearing Swiss cowbells. They wandered around the hillsides eating grass and staying out of the way of tourists.

It was drizzling that morning, and I hate riding in the rain. I wasn't going to miss out on our first ride, which happened to be Alp d'Huez, so I psyched myself up and went to eat. We had quite a spread, and I was able to find my ususal yogurt and muesli breakfast. A warning on European yogurt; it's not flavored, and takes some taste adjustment. I missed my ususal bagel, but made up for it with chocolate croissants. It was terrible, but I struggled through with two or three...

As we went out and got on the bikes, we remembered how much climbing we had done to reach the hotel. The climb to our hotel was 11 miles long, with an average grade of 6.5%. That makes it a Cat. 1 climb (according to the VeloNews '04 Official Guide). One thing we did not train for was descending. Especially not a Cat 1 descent, on wet roads, with lots of switchbacks. The French drivers were very patient and accomodating of the tourists. We survived the descent, and I'm glad it was cool and raining, so my rims were able to cool from the braking. We rode toward Bourg d'Oisans and the base of Alp d'Huez.

Robert & Trish at the Bottom

Auto traffic into the area was heavy and already backing up. It seems that in France, if a bicycle or motorcycle can fit into a space in traffic, they can have that space. As traffic backed up we followed some local cyclists and wove through the traffic. The rain had stopped when we hit bottom on our descent, and the roads were dry and the sun was coming out. We stopped briefly at the base for a picture under the sign for Alp d'Huez, and then started climbing. For all you tech folks out there I was riding a 52/39 front with an 11-34 rear cassette. My wife had a 53/42/30 front, and an 11-34 cassette. Trisha has learned to shift into what she thinks she needs, before she needs it, and went for the 30 ring right away. The first couple of switchbacks are tough, and she told me to ride on at my pace, and she'd catch up. There was still some car and truck traffic on the road, and if there was a million people on the road for the TT, there was a half million the day before! It was great being cheered on in all the different languages. I can say "hello" in several languages, so I was able (sometimes, when I had breath) to respond to the cheers. The view was incredible, with waterfalls down the mountain and vistas over the French countryside. The water up there is glacial, and very pure. Many people were putting water bottles directly in the falls and drinking the water. I'm not that brave, and stopped at the van that our tour group had stationed at Turn 13 for water and a snack. Trisha caught up to me, spinning along at a nice cadence and enjoying the views. I started before her, and continued up the road. Each switchback has the name of a climb winner, and it was nice to get a history lesson as I rode. Many people along the road were painting the name of their favorites, so I had to keep focused and not run over anyone. Several riders were on mountain bikes and chatting on cell phones as they rode! I was wishing I had that much energy and breath to spare. It got interesting when an 18-wheeler from a news agency was coming up behind us and meeting traffic coming down. I leap-frogged the truck several times and finally lost it in traffic. I looked up to the next switchback and was dismayed as it looked very steep. I was surprised when I rounded the corner and realized that it wasn't so bad, and saw that it was switchback #1! I was almost at the top! I rolled into the town of Huez and stopped for a second to listen to a steel drum band sponsored by CSC. It was a nice break, until I realized I was at the 1K banner. Still a kilometer to the finish! I got back on the bike and found that the last K went back rather smoothly as it was relatively flat. I met up with some of our group at a cafe/pizza place in town. The pizza was hot and the Leffe (wonderful Belgian beer) was cold. Anything would have tasted great after Accelerade and Clif bars, and the meal was even more satisfying after summitting one of the most famous bike climbs in the world. Trisha joined me and we celebrated our accomplishment with photos and beer. The ride down was a little hairy with people all over the road and some light traffic (and sore hands and forearms from braking!), but relatively uneventful. We were tired and happy, and accepted a ride back to the hotel instead of climbing the Cat 1 ascent as it was starting to rain and there was lightning around us. Hey, I'll admit, I was worn out!

All told it was a wonderful experience, a truly once in a lifetime trip!

Parade Photos

Here are some photos from the Friday, August 13, 2004 Lance Parade. Please email any of your photos and I'll add them to the gallery. (Hint, a photo of Lance would make a great addition.)

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weberator

Stuart, we'll miss you!

Any one who has spent any time in the Austin racing scene during the last 15 years probably knows Stuart Green. He's been a tough competitor, a friendly training partner, and a great friend for many of us. Now he's starting a new chapter in his life as he and Amy move to Hawaii.
Before he leaves, be sure and take him out for a drink and a few stories, and read this story that he wrote almost exactly five years ago:
Stuart's Excellent Adventure (Part 1)
Stuart's Excellent Adventure (Part 2)
Stuart's Excellent Adventure (Part 3)
Stuart's Excellent Adventure (Part 4)

The Pain Chronicle: Zaza's Gila

Yo dudes,
I only get to use the computer here for a short time, but I'll try to post Gila news as I can...

Day 3 - 77 mile Inner Loop RR
Gotta keep this short. Abbreviated library hours, my crit is later this morning.

I had dinner w/ Robbie and Alex Robinette the last two evenings. At the Spaghetti Western. We're eating so much food: we eat about 8 pm and it represents my third post-race meal of the day. With huge breakfasts one to two hours b/f the race.

Robbie is ripping it up in the two's. He was off the front of the 2's pack for 13 miles b/f the Mogollon climb on Thursday. There was a group of six up the road from him. He was solo. He held on for 16th on the day.
Then yesterday, after the first 2 climbs of the day he forced a 6-up breakaway across the Mimbres River Valley. They were caught by a chase group of about 30 near the top of the final climb. He said he was totally blown but he recovered some in the last 12 miles of rollers and got 7th in the sprint.
You've never seen anyone eat as much or as fast as Robbie. He is like the Bermuda Triangle for food. Keep your fingers away from his mouth.
Alex had an incredible day yesterday. She's racing in the Pro/1/2/3 field. She managed to stay w/ the leaders over the first two climbs which she had to dig way deep to do. This was an incredibly select group of the Mari Holdens and Amber Neben's of this world. None of her close competitors had made the group. Across the Mimbres Valley, unfortunately, they were caught by the chase w/ all her close rivals. She still had a good finish and described it the hardest day of racing in her whole life. She did look a little frazzled (but contented) at dinner.

When I got to the start yesterday, Bonnie Walker told me that it was snowing up at Pinos Altos. Oh boy. Sounds like great fun. I threw on extra layers and the whole group looked a little subdued as we rolled out in a 50 degree light sprinkle. It took most of an hour to get up to P.A. and by then the sun was out, and the clouds were gone. The air was cold, but there were very few remaining traces of snow. It was difficult to take this in as we went into gag mode over the Continental Divide just before P.A. I made the selection of 25 or so and hung on until the second time were a number of us were shelled. Unfortunately, my Columbian nemesis appeared to manage to stay in. George Heagerty and I hooked up at the bottom of the snaky balls-out descent to the Sapillo Creek. Nat Cobb (Albuq., N.M.) caught us and we tempo'd the 35 miles across the valley trying not to lose too much time but saving something for the final climb.
The final climb had a massive cold wind blowing straight down it. We passed wonderful Nancy Smalley doing feeds on the way up. After cresting the top of the big climb there is a series of LARGE rollers for the next 8 - 10 miles. You go by the largest copper strip mine that you will ever see. It appears to stretch for miles. I don't know how many stories deep it is.
Through the rollers we picked off a couple riders. There was a yellow spot up ahead. It turned out to be my Columbian friend. He hooked on and we motored on until he dropped off on the next roller. By the time we finished we picked up a few more riders and just about caught the group that we had wanted to catch up to at the start of the Mimbres Valley.
Heagerty and I were completely spent, and we hardly impressed anyone as we lost perhaps 30 minutes to the leaders, but I learned last year that you can't burn too many matches on any one day.
Later today is my crit and all I want to do is the minimal amount of riding it takes to limit my losses. If I can get a pack finish that would be great, but I'll probably lose a lap or two.

This may be my last race report. Library will be closed after my crit. It's not open tomorrow, right after tomorrow's final stage, I'll be on the road back to Austin. I plan on camping at Balmorhea State Park near Ft. Davis tomorrow night. The spring-fed pool there is like two Barton Springs pools joined together in an L shape. Swimming in that pool last year was probably the sweetest post-race feeling that I've ever had. But they say that there are catfish as big as a man at the bottom of that pool. If you don't hear from me again, one of them probably ate me. Too bad he won't find any meat on my old bones. LOL

Later,
zaza
Day 2 - 72 mile Mogollon RR
The news this morning mentioned the four 18-wheelers that crashed when they were blown over on I-40 near Albuquerque last night. We had big wind advisories today as we headed out due west towards the Mogollon climb (http://www.tourofthegila.com/pics/mapmogollon.gif). With winds projected out of the WSW it promised to be a tough gutter fest (assuming you didn't get blown over). You really DON'T want to arrive at the foot of the Mogollon in ragged condition.

But the gods blessed us today. Our 8 am rollout was before the winds picked up. I'm not always smart about bike racing but I know how to start out this stage. I stayed at the back, avoiding taking any unneccessary pedal strokes. As long as the wind stayed calm, the pack would stay together. If anyone got up the road there is nothing I could do about it anyway.

After only 30 miles George Heagerty (our former Regional Rep and a great competitor) flatted. I knew that he would have a really long day. The pack moves so fast through the first 60 miles that his chances of getting back on were slim at best.

Luckily, no signs of tendonitis but my legs felt flaccid nonetheless.

True to form, by mile 40 or so, as we got into large rollers, the pace became more aggressive. I'm glad I didn't rely on a feed in the feed zone b/c I would have been split off the back for sure. As the pace picked up I suffered more and finally, about 5 miles b/f the Mogollon turn I began to have difficulty keeping contact with the back. All this time the crosswinds were picking up and sure enough we were guttering to the right. But it had a tailwind component so it was tolerable.

Finally we made the right turn onto the small Mogollon Road. The pavement was rough as cobbles. The wind was a brutal cross from the right that put us all over the yellow as whatever freak who was at the front raised the pace to something inhuman. Several of us were struggling at the rear. The road kept undulating upwards. Finally I was shelled with three others including the Columbian I was duking it out with yesterday.

Everyone was to the left so I got them to move to the right and into an echeloned rotation. But the Columbian had no clue. My spanish sucks, particularly when I have no oxygen. I told him derecho (right), so he looked to the right. I tried to tell him to pull through but didn't have the words. Then I remembered that when Peggy has a spanish speaking woman in labor and delivery, she tells them 'empuje' (sp?) which means 'to push'. He finally got it about the third time I said it, and we happily (not really) rotated as we kept the lead pack within about 20 seconds.

The pack splintered up ahead as it turned steeper. We were now at 8-15% grades and working switchbacks. The wind was no longer much of a factor as the mountain rose on our right and the grades steepened. Two of us in the four-up began to close on a few that were shelled up ahead of us but the real race was out of site.

The miles of climbing wore on. I was having difficulty getting as motivated as I was at this point last year b/c I knew I was very, very far out of the top ten. But I know the climb now. It was nice to know what was coming up as we rounded bends. Except for maybe the cat 3 racer who was walking up the climb in the middle of the road, with no chain on his bike. Harsh Toke. True to form, the last mile was as steep as any of the previous. Hell, even the last 500 meters was as steep as the previous. I tried to catch and pass a few guys as I found that list bit of energy, but then I guess I didn't try that hard. I didn't go into gag mode until after the finish. The results aren't posted yet, but I think I was approximately 25th. Probably several minutes behind the leaders. I don't even want to know how many.

Within minutes after finishing the cold front blew through us and the temp dropped 10 degrees. This is what the Pro/1's and the 2's would face out on the main road before they even hit the climb. Starting one to two hours after us, and running a longer course, they would face a lot more wind.

I rode back down the mountain, passing the women's race on the way up. There were just a small handful with a large gap in front of a large pack. Alex Robinette was in the pack. Buttloads of T-Mobile riders, mostly sticking together.

Then I passed George Heagerty. At least 20 minutes behind me probably more. And not looking happy. Flats really suck in this race. I passed a handful of other 45+'ers as well. Brutal.

Down at the main road, I found dear, sweet, wonderful, Nancy Smalley (masseuse from Austin nancy_smalley at yahoo.com, 925-9114). I had made arrangements the evening before for her to have a pb&j sandwich or three for me. It was so, so damn good. I ate two. I could have eaten four. Jelly. You gotta love it. Superfood. Nancy was doing a great job feeding several racers earlier and then handling them after the race. Ask her about the Nickel Creek Cafe in the Guadalupe Mountains the next time you see her.

They're going to kick me off this machine in a minute so I'm tying up the rest quickly.

Steven Wazmund's mom made the best spaghetti dinner last night at the KOA. There were several other texans there and we vegg'ed out on American Flyers. The best chocolate marble cheesecake I've ever tasted but I only had a sliver and most racers weren't touching it in the middle of a mountain stage race.

The pro/1's had a brutal time trial yesterday afternoon. It just kept getting windier all day and they were the last to go. Finally, when they were half done, the front blew through and those who had not gotten over the last hill (including Jason Sager) had a wall of wind to contend with that brought them to a standstill. At least one pro/1 was actually blown off his bike.

All for now. Gotta recover.

zaza

Day 1 - 16 mile ITT
I woke up today with my tendonitis worse than before. On top of that my quads and hams, were totally tight and sore and sensitive. This is really not a good way to start a stage race. I'm not sure why my legs are so messed up. Perhaps it was the 2 hour hike that I took in the Guadalupe Mountains. I climbed halfway up Guadalupe Peak, and the walk back down is hard on the muscles.

So today was the time trial. 16.1 miles, out-and-back, beginning w/ 4+ miles uphill at 2-3%, then some up and down, then a turnaround, then 2 miles up at 4-8%, then a fast 4 mile descent.

W/ the tendonitis I started out easy. It was bothering me even during the warm-up. But I felt great on the climb (we always do when we're not pegging it, right?). Near the top my 30 second and 1 minute men caught me so I got fired up and kept them close to the turnaround and back until the 2 mile climb. I began to suffer alot on the climb and they slipped away, but I did manage to pass the Columbian who started 1 minute before me. Listen, it is very intimidating to be registering right after 2 Columbians for a mountain stage race, so I was relieved to catch him and his partner as well (who started 30 seconds before me).

The TT is extremely windy, with an amazing crosswind. It's not constant either. It gusts, particularly as you go through the passes. Last year I used a disk wheel and, this year I'm glad that I didn't use it. I was being blown around enough without it.

I hit the final 4 mile descent and really appreciated that 11-tooth that I had. I just wish that I had a 56 on the front as well. I was turning it over as fast as I could at 40-45 mph, down on the aerobars. And that was with a slight headwind component. The gusting cross does make it pretty nerve-wracking though. LOL

I finished up w/ a 45:48 which was a full minute faster than my time from last year. That was 26th in a field with about 50 people registered. But a full 4 minutes out of 1st place. I probably gave up 15 minutes per mile for the first 4 miles, but I think that minute will matter very little in the next 5 days. And it was worth it not to aggravate the tendonitis.

The best news is ---- the tendonitis is gone! No sign of it after the time trial, and my muscles feel much better. Peggy is always kidding me about how I tout bike riding/racing as the cure for everything from headaches to acne, but this is the second year in a row where my legs felt better after the time trial.

Tonite Steven Waremund's (sp?) mom is feeding all the Texans a pasta dinner at the KOA campground. She does this every year. I had dinner at Jalisco's last night with Bonnie Walker. And today who should I see but Dot Abbott! You may remember her as an official in the Dallas area. She's living in Seattle now, and has a real jones for good Mexican food, which you can't get up there.

I saw Robbie and Alex Robinette today. Robbie's doing the 2's, Alex is in the Women's Pro,1,2. Also saw ALex Williamson who is doing the 2's for the first time. The winner of my 45+ race last year (Miro) is doing the 2's this year as well. He said it's b/c he doesn't want the pressure of trying to repeat two years in a row.

I'm amazed how many 45+ racers returned from last year. Lindsey Blount and his team are back to see if he can claim the 1st place that he narrowly missed (I will relate that story when I have more time). Paul Wolfe, who won the TT last year did not return, but there's a new guy who won the TT and they say he can climb.

I just had the greatest brown rice & chicken burrito at Messiah's. These guys kick @$$. They are the best race food. I think about food alot here. After trying to keep my weight down for the past several months I am now much more concerned about getting enough nutrition and so I'm eating about as much as I want of healthy food (plus a little unhealthy as well).

Tomorrow the real pain begins with the 71 mile race up to the top of the Mogollon. The first 60 miles were not demanding last year, but it's supposed to be a cross head tomorrow which will put us all in the gutter. The final 10 miles are the hardest climb of the week, so I don't want to be too shredded when I get to the base. We'll see. LOL

I'm almost out of time on this computer so I'll sign off.

zaza

The 2004 Rosedale Ride

Violet Crown was well represented at this year's Rosedale Ride. There were over 1,000 riders at the event. The charity ride started out fast and furious. After the first 8 miles a lead group formed consisting mostly of VC and REI riders. It eventually thinned out to 7 riders with Greg H., Frank, Schreffler, and Mike Haney from VC in the group. For those going for a workout it was a challenging ride. The pace was fast and the wind strong. Check back for more photos.
Send us your race story and we'll post it (or just add it yourself in the comments below). In the meantime, here's a retread of Dave Henderson's ride from 2001.

How to Promote a Bike Race

As all racers know, there are never enough races or at least enough races close to home. We all enjoy our racing and appreciate the people who put the races on and work them, but we don't think much about what is involved in promoting a race unless a promoter makes a mess of things.
In an attempt to promote promoting and to take some of the mystery out of it we have gathered information from people who have already promoted races successfully. By using the strategies outlined here anyone, with the help of some friends, can put on a bike race. All it takes is a little time and effort on the part of a few willing folks for an event to be a big success for all involved. There is even a checklist to make sure you don't forget anything. Good luck and see you at the races.
Unfortunately, the bulk of these articles predate important new developments like TxBra, and widespread use of the internet. If you have promoted races and would like to contribute to this gathering of information - particularly if you can expand on issues like working within the TxBra framework, please e-mail us at Webmaster@violetcrown.org and we will add what you have learned to this list.

Promote! by Dave Henderson
10 Tips to Make Your Race a Success by Pam Udall
Thursday Niters: Promoting a Week-night Series by Jeff Austin
Promoter's Checklist by Renee Orr and Mike Beck
Trofeo de Walburg Overview by Pam Udall
Designing a Race Flyer by Dave Henderson

Year of the Kart -revised

Kart Prepares for Day 2

Karthauser takes 3rd at Fayetteville! A 2nd place in the stage 1 road race along with a strong time trial put him on the podium for the 2nd consecutive race this year. Kart gained 41 seconds on the pack in stage 1 when he joined 2 riders (Matrix and NWCC) in a breakaway two-thirds of the way into the 2nd lap. The overall winner, Mark Crosno, was in the breakaway as well. Sunday's stage was uneventful with a pack finish. Kart moved up from 3rd place to 2nd prior to the start of Sunday's race when the overall 2nd place rider withdrew because of weather conditions. He lost his 2nd place spot to Sunday's stage winner, Willie Allen (NWCC). See results from day 1 and photo's.
(Oops! This post was revised after the official results were posted on TXBRA. I originally reported Kart taking 2nd.)

Posted by Violet Crown on March 21, 2004 at 02:28 PM in Features | Permalink | Comments (6)

03/14/2004

Mouse Potato Found Dead - Circumstances are Mysterious

Austin, TX. - World renowned promoter, Mouse Potato, was found dead early this morning beside a small road near his mountain retreat in Austin, Texas. His wrecked bicycle was beside him. There were no obvious signs of any reason for a crash, and therefore foul play is suspected.

Mr. Potato hated journalists

Mr. Potato, who had a reputation for arrogance and a venomous tongue was known to have many enemies. Many were hapless victims of his cruelty, either in the press, on the bike, or in business. When he still raced bikes he was ruthless with his opponents, at the same time giving no credit to his teammates. Later, as a promoter, he was equally ruthless and thought nothing of discarding those who were foolish enough to work with him and of bankrupting any who dared compete with him. It seems every competitor has a story of being humiliated by Potato. Given the large number of motives for killing Poaato, and the suspect nature of his death, police are therefore treating the episode as a homicide, but given his many run-ins with the law, and his commonplace snubbing of the police, his relatives are questioning whether the police will pursue an investigation with any vigor. On the other hand, Potato showed such disdain for his own relatives, that it seems unlikely that even they will be upset if his murderer is never found. In fact there are widespread rumours that one of his own flesh and blood may have been his killer. It's popular folklore that he robbed his own parents and left them penniless in order to start the MP World Cup (having squandered all of his prior winnings on gambling, drugs, and mice of the opposite gender). And it's well known that his own children reviled him for the cruel pranks that he would play on them when they were growing up. His oldest son has an ironically perfect alibi since he has been institutionalized ever since having a nervous breakdown in father's house. In the past he has told the story of how his father drowned his pet goldfish, and on another occasion buried his pet gopher alive.

Given the large number of enemies that Mr. Potato cultivated during his tumultuous life, and his total lack of any friends, it appears a certainty that he will be long remembered but never fondly.

Seriously though...

I've been doing the Mouse Potato World Cup Contest for enough years that I've lost count, and it has been great fun organizing it, collating the results, competing myself, and needling all of the good sports who have participated. But I'm afraid The MP WC has run it's course. I have too many demands on my time at the moment and will have to put the contest in its grave. Congratulations to all of our winners and podium occupants, thanks to everyone who thought it entertaining enough to participate, and apologies to anyone who I might have offended with my ribbing.

Later,

The Big Cheese

Posted by Violet Crown on March 14, 2004 at 12:11 PM in Features, News | Permalink | Comments (0)

03/06/2004

KART WINS LAGO VISTA!

The winning combo

James Karthauser held off the pack to win the 2004 Primavera 45+ race. After 5 1/2 laps of attacks being launched from the pack by Northwest Cycling and Violet Crown the pack was settling in on the final lap when Kart and Val Hargrove took off. The pack jumped but failed to catch the two. The two hung together for about a mile and then Kart timed-trialed it to the end solo with the pack finally closing on him on the final hill.

Lago Vista day 2 in the 45+...Perhaps Kart celebrated too much last night. He wasn't able to deliver two in a row today. He did, however, join the 10-man break on the 2nd or 3rd lap and finished 6th. Dana Chamness from Northwest Cycling took 1st. Greg Hall came in 5th, the top spot for VC. You can find the complete results here.

_______________________
Tom
weberator

Posted by Violet Crown on March 6, 2004 at 11:55 AM in Features | Permalink | Comments (5)

03/04/2004

July 2001 Meeting With The Past President Minutes

Our former Secretary, Ken Rice, made whoopee with our former President, Mike Beck, back in 2001. These are Ken's quasi-coherent remembrances of that visit, which he penned shortly afterwards.

As none of you may have noticed, I wasn't at the July meeting. Instead, I made a pilgrimage to Lakewood, Colorado to visit with the Past President, El Presidente. El is doing quite well in his new role as stay-at-home mom. (The breast-feeding thing is a little weird though. I guess that vacuum pump augmentation really works.)

We decided to go to the quaint little townlet of Golden to try out one of their famous malted beverages, and I ain't talkin Coors. At some point during our mass beverage consumption, it dawned on us that it was Monday. And 7:00 PM. Time for the meeting to commence.

7:00 El calls the meeting to order. The first item on the agenda was getting another pitcher of beer. The Secretary was tasked with this and accomplished it in a stellar manner.

7:05 El calls for new members to introduce themselves. Some petite chick El has been cycling with a lot lately was introduced as Fallon Beck. Shes very shy, as El had to speak for her. She also seemed to have trouble focusing on the meeting. The Secretary was starting to have trouble focusing also, attributable to excessive liquid in the malted beverage containers.

7:09 The Secretary motions for a vote on another pitcher of beer. The vote carries unanimously and Mrs. El decides its safer if she gets it. El and the Secretary concur.

7:12 El asks if theres any new business to discuss. A frenzied discussion ensues concerning who will get the remainder of the beer in the current pitcher. Mrs. El breaks the stalemate by returning to the table with a replacement.

7:16 The Seckertree doesn't want to take notes anymore. Somebody has to I guess. The chicks around here are gettin pretty cute. I wonder where they were earlier? HEY, YOU COME HERE OFTEN? CAN YOU TAKE DICTATION? What? It doesn't mean that? Huh,...oh yeah. The meeting. Where were we? Okay, I remember. El calls for a Treasurers report. The Seckerary checks and finds he has $20. A motion is made to invest the funds in a bladder growth fund. A pisher of beer mashikly appears.

7:22 A general consenuh, consensoo, uh, agreement is consensicated on to adjournicate. Mrs. El decides that WE AINT MEN ENOUGH TO DRIVE!! Oh yeah? Well, all Elron and the Seshetwee got to say is Thhhht. Did you hear that? Thhhht. Boy, that sounded funny!! Thhhht.

7:26 Its time for Fallon to start walkin on her own. The Secktie is takin a ride in the stroller. Elmo says the loud popping noise is normal when a macho, studley dude rides in the stroller. YEAH! I hope Mrs. Elmo didnt hear that. Shell make me walk to the car. WHEEE!

8:27 (AM) The Secretaries head hurts. El was feeding the child again. Wierd.

by Ken Rice

Posted by Violet Crown on March 4, 2004 at 07:45 PM in Features, Retro, VC Minutes | Permalink | Comments (0)

03/01/2004

Photo's from Walburg & Pace Bend

There are some photo's from Walburg and Pace Bend
I'm trying to work on the layout for the new site, so I didn't take the time to actually upload any of them here, or even actually look at most of the ones at Kreutz. Someone let me know if there's a good 'un of me.

Marcus at Walburg

Posted by Violet Crown on March 1, 2004 at 07:33 PM in Features, News | Permalink | Comments (6)

02/25/2004

Kristian

Originally published in August 2002 at the British Cycling Web site

INTERVIEW: KRISTIAN HOUSE (GREAT BRITAIN)
by Larry Hickmott

Last week, a Great Britain rider called Kristian House was the winner of the Surrey League five day sponsored by Evans Cycles.

Originally published in August 2002 at the British Cycling Web site

INTERVIEW: KRISTIAN HOUSE (GREAT BRITAIN)
by Larry Hickmott

Last week, a Great Britain rider called Kristian House was the winner of the Surrey League five day sponsored by Evans Cycles. The Surrey Five Day is a series of road races (called a stage race or Tour) over five days in the counties of Surrey and Sussex and the rider with the quickest time over the five days being the winner. Stage races like this are also a great "training" events for the riders in the Great Britain endurance team and with the World Championships coming up in October, this was just one of a number of stage races the team will be doing to help build and maintain their endurance levels.

Most stage races the team do are in Europe simply because that is where the stage races are. In the UK, most races are either one or two days long which I expect do not give the training effect the Endurance coach Simon Jones is looking for. Because of this, the GB team do come in for some criticism from some quarters because many people would like to see them race here more often. So what better event than the Surrey League Five Day, the countries longest stage race for them to put in an appearance.

And what a lineup of GB riders there was in Surrey. In the two GB teams were Commonwealth Games medal winners such as Chris Newton, Paul Manning, Bryan Steel, Tony Gibb and Bradley Wiggins (FDJ.com) who was a late replacement for Kieran Page. Phil West, Tim Buckle, Ben Clarke, Owyn Wallace, Steve Cummings and the silver medallist from the national road race championship, Tom Southam was also there. It was a formidable line-up and up against them were a number of regulars from the Premier Calendar Series along with many other hopefuls getting a chance to pit themselves against the GB riders.

SURREY FIVE DAY
The race story was a good one providing you rode for Great Britain but then being full time riders, arguably the best in the country, you would expect them to do well. Chris Newton, a dual medallist in the Commonwealth Games with silver (Team Pursuit) and Bronze (Points) started off by winning stage 1, and then stage 2 was won by one of GB teams younger riders, Kristian House who also took the yellow jersey denoting the leader of the race on time.

Stage 3 and Chris Newton was yet again the victor beating team mate Kristian House and the rest of the field. Stage 3b, and yet another Great Britain victory when double silver medallist from the Games (Team Pursuit, Pursuit), Bradley Wiggins showed his undoubted class to cross the line first.

The GB team continued their winning ways on stage 4 when another of the young talented riders in the GB team, Steve Cummings won alone and on stage 5, the final stage, a rider who impressed many with his great ride in the National Road Race (silver medallist), Tom Southam, was the winner of the hilly stage where Kristian sealed a great victory for himself and the team. In the end, the GB team had won every stage, overall, and the classifications for the Points and the Mountains (latter two for Tom Southam). It had been a very good week for the GB camp but there were questions being asked?

WHO IS KRISTIAN HOUSE?
Like, who was Kristian House for example? All I could tell anyone was that he was a former winner of an Under 23 event here in the UK when he made a rare trip to these shores from Belgium and that he was part of the Endurance squad for GB. Of course, I had to find out more and so on Monday, still unable to drive to races because of an accident I'd had a week before, I made the most of my time and got on the phone to Kristian to find out more.

Talk to Kristian and you could be forgiven for thinking, is he really from Great Britain? This is because it isn't a GB accent you'll hear -- his American accent is still very