Superdrome class report by Andy Wilks

I drove up to Frisco this past weekend for the Superdrome development course
which they require before you can race there. I had previously raced
only at Alkek in Houston.

It was a really cold 40F, but the weather looked like it would stay dry
and 13 people showed up. I think about 5 or 6 of us had our own bikes,
the rest grabbed some rental bikes from the bunker and then got them set
up with pedals and seat height adjustments.

Barry put on a great 4 hour class which allowed those new and with
previous experience to maintain interest. We worked our way slowly onto
the track and then higher and higher over a couple of group runs. After
that we did some free riding and then a few simulated pack races.

Only one tense moment during the start of the miss and out where one of
the newbies hit a pedal and fell down in turn 1. He took down 2 others
so there was pretty big pile starting to form. I ended up riding in the
grass after riding over somebody's back wheel! Nobody hurt though since
we were all bundled in winter clothes. I went off the front in lap 5 and
another rider got on my wheel. We traded pulls on every lap and I
survived to the end to get 2nd place! If I had thought to stand up to
sprint, I probably would have taken first...

This track is a blast compared to Alkek. It just feels faster since it's
the walls are higher and it's 83m shorter. Superdrome is 250m and 44
degrees in the turns compared to 333m and 33 degrees in Houston. I felt
the steeper bank made it easier to ride tight on the pole line through
the turns.

The facilities are really nice and well maintained and the track surface
is great. It's 1 1/2" marine plywood with a textured paint surface.
decent grip in the turns but not too slow.

I'm sure I'll never become a super track racer since I'll probably only
make it up for a few training sessions and a few races, but it's a lot
of fun!

Andy Wilkes
1/28/08

Copperas Cove Race Report by Greg LaKomski

The first race of the season is always challenging and yesterdays Copperas Cove Road Race was no exception.  With temperatures hovering around 40 degrees and a moderate north wind, every piece of riding gear you had bought with was barely adequate. Thank god for the sun. Teams from every corner of Texas and several other states were there.  I assume that for someone from Kansas it felt balmy. VC put in a strong presence with Greg Hall, Rick Hall, Seymour, Lynn Cornet, Scott Yates, Mike Haney, Doug Ballew and Donna LaKomski.  Aaron Foreman – a Cat 2 who is the owner of Orthopedic and Prosthetic Technologies and my sponsor was also in attendance.

The combined 35 plus Men's / Women’s open field was 100 strong and 100 nervous and hyped up. As we rolled out and I started to check out who was there, I began to get that bad feeling that a whole lot of Cat 1-2 s decided to sign up for the 35+ instead of going extra long. Given the wide variety of skills in the pack and the constant bumping and slashing the ride was somewhat terrifying in the early going.  It was a confusion of overlapping wheels, thrashing up hills only to slow suddenly after the crest, and snot flying everywhere due to the wind and cold temperature. It was so dicey that it was hard to even get a drink.  Given the number of 1 / 2 s in the field I had expected better but squirreldom knows no bounds.  At the same time I will freely admit that I was a squirrel just like everyone else.  Hypocrisy is a terrible thing.

At least two riders noodled off the front within he first ten miles and the pack let them go.   They would stay off for 40 miles and have as much as a kilometer lead.  Greg Hall tried the same move and was swarmed.  He waited a while and tried again, was swarmed again.  I tried to jump off with another guy thinking maybe they would let a poor one legged guy go but this also caused a violent reaction.  I guess they confused me with the other Greg  At that point I decided that  sitting in and waiting for the big guys to deal with the break was the only thing to do.  Oh well.  Greg Hall is too well known and too good to be let go.  I think that I just confused them. 

I tried to just stay in the front third of the field and remind myself that I actually enjoyed road racing. As the pack sorted itself out it I was able to relax a little bit and enjoy the racing.  It truly was just wait and be patient.  Even got to do just a bit of occasional sightseeing.

As we approached the 30 mile point I was pondering why there had not been a reaction yet to the break which we could no longer see in front of us.  I studied the old mental race map and realized that we were about to turn right on a straight rode with the potential for a serious crosswind.  I said a quick Oh Shit! and made a move through the pack for the right shoulder. Around me a lot of very hard core riders suddenly  began moving forward through very small gaps doing the same thing I was doing trying to get to the front.  It seemed that it wasn’t more thana couple of minutes later that we hit the corner.  All hell broke loose as we surged onto a narrow, sandy, potholed road.  All I could do was get on the pedals, hammer, and keep shifting.  Grab wheel, jump hole, change wheel, miss wheel, hammer, hammer, hammer was all you could do. I glanced down and saw 30 something and decided it was better not to know.  I was having a blast.

As we came screaming out of the first tree lined section of road and into the cross wind, I was finally able to see the little dot in the distance that was our target.  Everyone still with us, maybe 30 riders (I don’t know how to look back at that speed) were all players.  Suffering in front seemed preferable to suffering in the back so that’s where I stayed.  The pace backed off a bit and one team tried to put someone up the road for some unknown, obviously flawed reason but no one was going to put up with this. We just went around him and put it overdrive again.  I seem to remember one of my team mates trying to go up the road and my blocking for a bit with a San Jose rider. That didn’t work either.  Double overdrive now.  After some wild antics, three of us set up across the narrow road with the rest of the lead group stretched out behind us and pounded. I could only hope that Greg Hall was back there cause it was not clear that with this level of effort that Stumpy was going to be a strong finisher.  The wind was not as bad as it could of been and we clearly wanted the break before we turned onto the down wind stretch back to town.  I was hooked up for the duration. All I could do was keep going and pray that all the stuff I was hitting wouldn’t cause a problem. 

We caught those poor guys just as we hit the feed zone at 40 miles. It became very clear at that moment that their luck, my luck, and my rear tire pressure had simultaneously run out.  As I came to a stop and stripped off my rear wheel I realized two things.   First, we were down to 20 guys and the next chase group was at least 30 sec back, which was a good thing.  The second thing was that the follow car was nowhere in sight, which was a very bad thing.  After several minutes of waiting and spastically trying to get my brain switched to tube changing mode,  some folks in the feedzone pulled a pump out of their car and crossing the road to help.  We had a great time chatting and changing the tube.  Heck we had all the time in the world.  It took 15 minutes before the official car pulled up.  Thankfully, I didn’t have to say anything and he was harassed by the feeders for not being there for me.  He had some lame excuse about stopping for a crash with severely bleeding riders and coordinating the ambulance.  Ok, I’ll cut him a break. :)

My day was essentially over but the truth is that I wouldn’t have been long for that Cat 1-2 world anyway. Lets say that I rode the final 13 miles at a comfortable pace with what was left of my quads. 

Donna and I drug our tired bodies to IHOP to gorge ourselves on the largest platter they had.  We had done the best we could do.

I had a great race and a great time despite the cold.  Next week is a power training week and the Tour of New Braunfels is in two weeks so it is time to stop whinin and start poundin.

Greg LaKomski

Tandem Madness at the Lance Ride

Tom and Ron on the tandem.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....The Lance Ride on the new course this year was great. But hard. Not as hard as the knotty cramp in my leg during the Waco ride, but hard nonetheless. On with the tale.

After following the line of ants-with-bike-racks driving out 290, we arrived in Dripping Springs, were efficiently told where to go, and unloaded at the middle school. The weather was perfect for a bike ride. Overcast for most of the morning, nice temperatures, mild winds. The roads would turn out to be clean, rest stops ample, volunteers friendly, and plenty of cheerful law enforcement support from Hays and Blanco county. We warmed up with a 6 mile ride to our start, chatted with friends, and waited for the festivities to begin.

The ride started at a brisk pace. Riding in the frontest group was a challenge - the Livestrong Challenge I guess. With a police moto lead vehicle, a sag wagon handing up energy bars, and a support/rear guard vehicle, our Lance-pack was probably 40 riders to start. The early pace though was certainly not a gentle “Let's ride with the celebrities” pace, as people were steadily stripped off, down to about 20 bikes. This group included the man himself, Mari Holden(Olympic Silver Medallist, World Champion, Six Time National Champion, Ride for the Roses veteran rider), Kevin Livingston(6 time Tour de France Rider, US National Champion), about 4 of the Team Six riders including Karl Haussmann, and Will Ross(in San Jose kit). Some of the other friendly folks in this pack included John(competing in the world duathlon bike/run championships next week), Peter (sporting his 2007 California state champion full kit), Jessica (apparently an Austin pharmaceutical rep who buried most of the other riders), Steve(full Discovery kit), and others I did not recognize including at least one other pro-racer looking type Lance was chatting with. And oh yes... Ron and Tom sharing a bike. No other tandems. And where was the VC crew Tom P. promised to pop out from around a corner?

I'll begin with the obvious. It is hilly between Dripping Springs and Blanco. Not grind-it-out-for-half-an-hour hilly, but rather up-down-up-down-chase-the-little-single-bikes-up-the-rollers hilly. Again, this was not a polite “ride with the stars” pack, but rather a hold on and don't get dropped in the sprints out of the corners. When the pace became reasonable, I think it was Lance yelling to the 2 front guys pulling, “Girls, can you pick up the pace?”

The cattle guards were a little intimidating. Not that cattle guards usually bother me. But dealing with 25 or 30 cattle guards at a brisk pace, in a pack, introduces an element of concern. On the tandem, jumping the guards is typically not a viable option. Luckily, no one in our lead pack went down on the cattle guards. The only casualties were some water bottle launchings.

Not the same can be said for the sole wet low water crossing on the 90 mile route. We hit it as a pack, and chaos ensued. Slip sliding and wham three people were in the drink lickety split. No one was hurt. We were mainly surfing the back of the pack for these first 15 miles, so I took the hint to stop when the dominoes started falling, and Ron and I waded swiftly though the riverlet. You would have thought the pack would have stopped to regroup for the fallen riders, or taken it easy on the climb out from the low water crossing; however, if you thought this too long you also would have been left behind by everyone remounting, worrying about being left behind, and racing on from the turmoil.

Lance drifted back to the security vehicle after this, probably to have them to place a flagger at the water crossing. When he jammed back to the front while we were climbing a pretty pitch, Ron asked if Lance was breathing hard. Ha ha ha Ron, afraid not. Similarly, Mari Holden took a casual monster pull on the front for 15 minutes, chatting away the whole time.

My fear in the pack was overlapping wheels with Lance, taking him down, and running him over with 350 pounds of tandemness. Ron's fear should have been Lance noticing the Kurzawa-esque biking shorts while Lance was riding his wheel, but luckily Ron didn't know about the shorts until a friendly and quite attractive woman pointed it out at mile 78 or so while we were climbing a hill.

Things let up a bit around the 30 mile mark. The hills had toasted us nicely, but the pace seemed to back off a click, and we could relax slightly. I think we averaged 20.1 hilly mph over the first 30 miles. We had gotten into somewhat of a rhythm, working towards the front of the pack on the flats or downhills and drifting backwards on the climbs. I tried to avoid blasting ahead on the descents with the tandem, but on some of the steeper straighter ones I could not help myself. We coasted past the pack with a line of riders in tow but we honestly didn't pedal off the front of the Lance pack. (The tandem is a powerful force, a force that can be used for good or used for evil....) Actually in the first ten miles of the ride we did some ferrying of dropped riders back up to the pack, but I doubt they stuck if they were being shed that early.

Suddenly, at mile 35, the wind came out of our sails. Cruising along, the celebrities all turned right and headed for home on the 60 mile course. The remaining riders (us and 5 singlebikes) felt abandoned on the 90 mile route. The group of 5 put their heads down and went to work. Ron and I were depleted, and watched as they rode away leaving us to soldier on alone. We did have a nice personal police escort watching our back for several miles after that on FM 32, and a support vehicle that came by a couple times. Thanks!

We had a lonely ride from mile 35 to mile 69. We suffered at times, out of gas. On the bright side we took a couple natural breaks. There were 5 riders in front of us, and in this whole segment we only saw four riders pass us; we couldn't latch on. Down the road we caught two of these riders and left them behind. At another rest stop, we passed a couple more refugees of the lead group.

The routes merged at mile 69, and things got interesting. We were picking up our pace a bit, and whammo. Suddenly Squadra Cassi came blasting by, looking sharp, with about 12 jammin riders flying in formation, with 2 hanger-ons. This is a team from Mexico; it helps speaking Spanish in the peloton. Ron and I grabbed on, feeling energized. This was a relatively flat but twisty section of the course so we used our tandemhood to its advantage. For 5 or so miles our group snaked its way along. However, the trouble as usual for the ride in was catching the short-route traffic. Around one tight corner we were boxed out, gapped, and couldn't catch back up to speed again. Rats.

And then promptly bump... sis...sis...sis...sis. How do you get a pinch flat on a little rock with the front tire at 115 PSI, after banging uneventfully over cattle guards all morning? We pulled over, changed the tube, and dispiritedly got back on the bike. Where is the neutral support vehicle with the spare tandem wheel when you need it? We muddled and moped our way back in the remaining miles. We got into camp, chatted with our new acquaintances from the peloton, scarfed some food, headed home, and napped.

We averaged about 19 mph. All in all it was an exciting day. We had fun, rode hard, met some people. See you at the Outlaw Trail 100.

-Tom McMinn

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

VC Manda Time Trial Series - 6th Race Results

The rains came, the riders rode. The sixth and final  VC Manda TT Series race was completed on Wednesday, July 25th. The race winners included: Justin Wolfe, Men's Open;   Rachel Gunn, Women's Open; Ian Murray, Men's Beginner; Jorge Alvarado; Men's Masters; Ron Burzese & Adam Gaubert, Tandem; Austin Day, Juniors; John Collins & John Bartle, TTT.  Thanks to everyone who participated and special thanks to all the VC volunteers who made this happen. Sixth race results below.

VC Manda TT Results	07/25/07
Rider	Race 6
Men's Open
Justin Wolfe	20:01
Jeff Stuecheli	22:57
Women's Open	Race 6
Rachel Gunn	22:23
Milissa Day	23:46
Christina Wolfe	29:43:00
Men's Beginner	Race 6
Ian Murray	21:07
Chris Chepil	23:34
Chris Bartz	23:44:00
Kevin Pasternak	27:16:00
Domingo Gonzalez	23:37:00
Men's Masters	Race 6
Jorge Alvardo	22:20:00
Paul Forderhase	23:24:00
Jay Bond	23:59:00
David Wolfe	24:07:00
Juniors	Race 6
Austin Day	37:15:00
Tandem	Race 6
Ron Burzese &	20:06:00
Adam Gaubert	20:06:00
Team	Race 6
Lynn Wyatt &	25:08:00
Laura Zotter	25:08:00
John Collins &	23:30:00
John Bartle	23:30:00
	7/25/2007

Violet Crown Time Trial Series Results To Date

FYI. Here are the Violet Crown Manda TT results for all the entrants and all the races current to date. Only two more races left on July 18th and July 25th. In order to be considered for a series win you must have at least three races completed. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Please pass this on to any participants. Results are posted below.

NOTE: I need the license numbers of Paul Forderhase, Brian Olson, Allen Zolondek, and Kevin Pasternak.

Thanks again to all  the participants.

VC Manda Series Results				06/06/07	06/13/07	06/20/07	07/11/07
Rider	License	Category	#	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4
Mens Open
Chris Collins	244656	Mens Open	802	24:26:00
Carmi Schulman	200292	Mens Open	803	21:19:00
Travis Troxtell	225121	Mens Open	804
Travis Burandt	189171	Mens Open	806	19:33:00
Justin Wolfe	246080	Mens Open	808	19:37:00	19:18:00	15:46:00
Jeromie Payne	173567	Mens Open	812	21:11:00
James Ezell	177269	Mens Open	256			17:57:00
Ryan Albert	56369	Mens Open	817	24:17:00
Phil Wikoff	117896	Mens Open	841				20:12:00
Craig Virr	36726	Mens Open	834				20:33:00
Mens Masters				Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4
Stefan Hardie	113482	M Masters	801	21:41:00	21:54:00	16:56:00
Jorge Alvardo	186672	M Masters	805	22:40:00	22:34:00	17:37:00	23:09:00
Jay Bond	138636	M Masters	815	24:07:00	23:48:00	18:21:00	23:09:00
Bill Blagdan	176291	M Masters	819		22:01:00
Paul Forderhase	????	M Masters	832				23:15:00
Brian Olson	????	M Masters	835				23:35:00
Brett Spencer	One Day	M Masters	838				23:52:00
Allen Zolondek	????	M Masters	839				23:53:00
John Collins	60926	M Masters	840				23:32:00
Bill Morgan	One Day	M Masters	829				22:52:00
Womens Open				Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4
Eileen Schaubert	220628	W Open	807	26:36:00
Nancy Adams	213423	W Open	814	29:06:00
Christina Wolfe	246086	W Open	822		23:04:00	17:31:00
Rachel Gunn	231642	W Open	818		23:14:00	17:13:00
Milissa Day	237403	W Open	842				24:02:00
Allyson Brandt	204577	W Open	504			16:32:00
Beth Gross	One Day	W Open	826			24:40:00
Jill Gainer	One Day	W Open	827			24:14:00
Single Speed				Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4
Greg Hall	48194	S Speed	809	25:31:00	24:14:00	18:34:00
Ryan Albert	56369	S Speed	817		23:01:00
John Bartle	138637	S Speed	821		24:06:00		24:07:00
David Wolfe	38782	S Speed	820		27:42:00	19:33:00	25:31:00
Men's Beginner				Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4
Chris Bartz	One Day/2	M Bgnr	813	25:15:00	23:40:00
Ian Murray	254035	M Bgnr	810	21:40:00	21:20:00		21:12:00
Jeff Hunter	265415	M Bgnr	811	27:32:00	26:14:00	19:47:00	26:02:00
James Ezell	177269	M Bgnr	816	24:04:00	23:29:00		23:37:00
Kevin Pasternak	????	M Bgnr	825			18:03:00	23:28:00
Brock Molter	One Day