Last Ride of 2007

Was with the "East Siders" today. Gary picked me up in his new ride and we were off to meet Chris, Pete, David, Jim and some of the gang. Ray was there riding his fixie....nice.
I love going on these, 'cause I have no worries....just ride and have fun.

After the main ride was done, David wanted to know if anyone wanted to go another 1/2 hour....sure. Some debate ensued...it seems like David is not the best with estimated time/distance and we would have been on another Bataan Death March if we would have done his route. A compromise was made and we hit the extra 30 minutes right as we approached Gary's car.
1:44:25 ride time, 29.3 miles, 17 avg mph, 1480 feet of climbing & 38'F avg temp.

Total ride time for '07 - 176 hrs (excluding the time I did on the Edge 305*)
Total miles for '07 - 3147 (excluding the miles I did on the Edge 305*)

It was a great ride to end 2007.

Here's to everyone having a great 2008.

Cheers.
Rick

Das Year in Review

2007...another one bites the dust.
I'll keep this mostly on biking...I guess it started when I didn't join the Spin Race team (which are a bunch of great guys) when Greg contacted me during the 2006 'Cross Nationals in Providence, RI. I wanted to see what positive things I could help do if I was to be the SnakeBite Racing team President. The jury is still out on that I'm sure.

Gary & I trained together and entered the season in pretty good shape. It was great having him as a friend and training partner. The trip to Tampa and the riding we did was great, Miller Chill beer....hmmmmmmm.

I switched out my Specialized Allez Pro race bike to a Titus Modena; I didn't have the $ to get what I really wanted, but the Titus worked out great as a bike I could train on comfortability and still have great performance for racing on.

RATL will always have great memories of SBR CAT 4s working together as a team to help control the race. John and Gary both won a race, Ray was fantastic, but what stood out was that it was a team effort.

Westlake's late start (May vs April?) was big news and we didn't know for sure if Chris was even going to put it on for sure. The series did happen and it was a fun and very well put on event. Thanks for everything and doing the Zipp demo day!

I live in Brecksville and every year I look forward to racing in the Chip Race and every year weird stuff happens; this year I was sick as a dog and did 2 laps b/f DNF'ing. Someday.

Another disappointment was the Chagrin Falls Grand Prix. I bailed due to the course being wet/slick. It didn't stop Gary from having a great race & avoiding a near wipe out that I got on film. It must have been my front tire that I loaned him. :-)

The Troy Classic Crit Race is in my home town and Gary, Jason & I (Jim N too) went down to see how we could do. What I thought was going to be my worst race of the season was almost my best. However it was Gary's worst and he took a terrible fall that shook me up and by the time the race started back up we only had two laps to go and I messed up a great opportunity to finish where I wanted. Unknown to me, Gary had been hauled away in "the meat wagon"; my mom had ridden with him (she's an RN). So right after the race I hurried to the hospital. Gary was OK....pretty banged up though.

The MS150 ride was something....the trip out was great. Thank gawd we had a ride back home the next day in those terrible conditions.

The Valley City Race we put on was another success. Thanks to Linda for doing a great job running it and for the rain holding off until the final race was done. How cool was it watching Paul Martin wearing his red-white-n-blue National Champs jersey?

Somewhere in there was a trip to the West Coast and a visit at the ADT Velodrome; that was a gas riding in the 'drome!

Shortly after that (it seemed) was a trip to InterBike in Vegas. It was a working trip for the Velodrome and for SBR, but Anna & I did get to see the 'Cross race and the Crit race. That and meeting Tom Ritchey, Bob Roll and some great people that work in the business. Dick Brink has done much to help out Fast Track Cycling & SBR. Thanks!

I'll take the claim for it even if it's not true for setting up Gary & Sadie (Satan). I may have lost a training partner but it's fantastic to see them doing so well together.

Hey, it was almost cyclocross season by now & I felt like I had a chance to end the season on a positive note. Other than some strange sights, the season started out very well and kept looking good for me. Bottom line is that I need to be just a little focused on training and not peaking too soon during the season. My earlier blogs tell the story....congrats to Gary for a great season.

It seems that this year I was more pre-occupied with my responsibilities of being president of SBR than just "riding my bike". I'd like to thank my best buddy Donny for all his help with SBR (there were others too); I had no idea how much "fun" it was and what he had to go through when he was president of Windchill.

Add to that being on/off/on/off/on with the Velodrome (and Anna).....too much on my mind and not enough miles on my legs. The progress on the Velodrome is going great and there be REAL track racing in Cleveland soon.

Thanks to David S, Dr. John, Gary, Jim N, Eric and many members on the SBR team for helping out this year. Thanks to Brett, Brent, Ray, Bill M, Bill B., John B,. Tom F., Dick B., Greg (spin), Sherman....many others that helped make this a great year.

Special thanks for my son (he's not into riding) for putting up with me taking him to watch many of the races. (he does love to swim though)
Thank you Anna.....

So, no regrets for 2007, but what I'd like to see for 2008?
- SBR operating smoother and more people involved/communicating
- SBR U23 program "making a difference"
- Having me in better shape for the start of the season and working out smarter; maybe even getting some kind of coaching?
- peaking 3 times during the road/cross season; 'cross season will be a focus and maybe 'cross NATS or at least doing more of the UCI races.
- keeping my knees healthy....

It was a great year and I'm looking forward to an even better 2008.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Thanks for Reading,
Rick

An early ride

I was to meet up with Brett this morning at 8am in Brecksville to do a ride with him and some buddies of his.....seems his alarm forgot to do the job and he got a bit of a late start.....nbd. It did get me out of bed this morning. We ended up meeting at Rockside and Canal rode up to see that all of his buds were on MTB bikes and were going to do some urban riding....my Ti 'cross baby wasn't rigged up for it so I rode back to the meeting spot for the Sunday morning Spin Group ride where I had seen my roadie buds; John B, Tom F, and the usual suspects from Spin that I have ridden with a bunch.
We rode through my "turf" of the metro parks in the Brecksville area and at about the 1.5 hour mark for the day I turned off and headed home. A good (cold) morning of riding. Thanks for getting me out, Brett!

Got home after a couple of hours and 30 miles later, I'm back at the house and going out with Anna & my son to give Cookie a good walk/run. Oh, to be that happy! Oh, wait a minute, I am!
:-)

Thanks for reading,
Rick

A new toy

Camera that is....a NIKON D40X with a 18-55mm and a VR 70-300mm lens. I've been taking some photos with it and will post some soon, or just go to my flickr.

I love it.

A Year End review soon.....really.

Thanks for Reading,
Rick

on the road again

we had some "warm" weather today & what was going to be an early afternoon ride turned into a evening/night ride. I had wanted to get fenders for the Ritchey Ti 'cross bike and use it for days like today....high 40's and wet roads. I went to Bike Authority where Mike & Sean hooked me up with some fenders. Home I go and realize that the fenders will not fit my Ritchey (or any other bike I have) due to no eyelets or provisions on the fork for the included mounting hardware. Damn. I'm thinking of taking the whole bike back with me to make sure I get the right set of fenders and while I'm at it see if they can swap out the 46 salsa big ring for the Ritchey 50 tooth since 'cross season is over. Back to Bike Authority I go and Rudy says "no problem" he has the same fork as I do and will rig up the fenders to fit and take care of the ring in about an hour so I should be able to get my ride on. Needless to say, Rudy did a great job on the fenders, changed out the ring and I'm off. GREAT JOB GUYS!
I finally get my stuff together and leave the house at 4:52 PM with lights on 'cause it will be dark soon. It was a great ride; tunes on the ipod, no traffic and a full moon to boot. Got 21 miles in and am happy with the fenders. I should be able to have my act together for a ride tomorrow....then get ready for Christmas!

Happy Holidays All....my end of year review will be out soon.

Thanks for reading,
Rick

SBR for 2008

The picture is from our new member team meeting at the Bike Authority on the 3rd.

The budget is done, membership dues figured out, sponsors all(most) finished and just the kit order and final design to be completed.

Whew.

Thanks for reading,
Rick

Copley CX Race #2

The last race of the season for me....or should I say "the final insult". It was true cyclocross weather with another great layout and put on perfectly by Team Lake Effect.

Stick a fork in me....I'm done. I came in second overall for the series and third that day. Thank you Donny for the great trophy and to Lake Effect for a real nice awards ceremony and plaque (made from one of the barriers - cool). Seems that the first place winner had such a commanding lead on me and the others that once he found out he didn't have to race that day, he didn't.
:-)

Tip of the hat to Richard O'Meara and Todd Palmer....we battled it out and at the end Richard gapped both Todd and I and in the sprint on the road to gap Todd hung on my wheel and then sprinted by me for the 2nd place.

I regret that while Gary peaked at the end, my last two races had me going the other way. It would have been a blast if Gary & I could have worked together during the races.

I'm happy with the progress that I made from last year to this year and with a somewhat structured training program for next year I should make more improvements. We will see. :-)

Thanks for all of the cyclocrossers that came out that day for a great end of the season race. For those going on to race at the Nationals in KC this week, good luck and I'll be thinking of you. No nats for me this year.

Pictures that Donny took of the B/C race and that I took of the A's on up now on my Flickr account.

I'll do an End of The Year Review soon with fave photos.

Thanks for reading,
Rick

BA 'cross at Copley #1

"Forgive me father for I have sinned, for I had not ridden my bike or trained for over a week".....let's just say that I paid in spades for committing those sins at the race. Gary gives a great description of the mud feast so I'll cut right to the chase on this.

I knew this was going to hurt and hurt bad, but I figured that I was going to take my medicine like a man and grunt this one out. Gary & I started close to each other and I actually got a pretty good start and when Gary came up to me and said we need to get on the lead group, I was like "no duh, dude, I'm trying"....actually he rode a fantastic race and I wish I could have hung right with him. We would have had a good time practicing some "team tactics" but my whole mind set was going to be get in a decent position and hang on for dear life. This is not a good course layout for me, it really showcases a "power type of rider" and after a week off I didn't have any zip in the legs. Maybe I shouldn't have gone on that 1hr plus ride on Saturday with Gary & Satan? Nah, I don't think that helped/hurt me.
So I maintain position and keep Gary in sight but can't close up to him and didn't realize that he was on Eddie and trying to help me out. Damn. So I'm going through a slow death and Julie comes up and I figure that this could be a good thing so she and I go back-n-forth for awhile trading positions, trying to put the hurt on each other, and at the little section of single track heading back up to the start finish before going on the muddy windy section she opens up a gap that I have no answer for. So the rest of the race becomes a time trial and trying to keep the number 3 & 4 place masters guys off of me so that at least I can keep my 2nd overall. The good news is I didn't fall, have any mechanicals and was able to fight off Mikes to keep things status quo.
Not what I wanted, but was glad I only lost two "overall B group" positions where I normally finish. Big congrats to Gary & Julie for a great race and hopefully I can be in the thick of it this weekend.

Big, Big thanks for Donny coming out, shooting photos, doing more cow bell, horn and yelling for me and the team....thanks Brent Evans for yelling "go surfer boy" at every lap....SBR team really supports each other during these 'cross races and it's really cool and helps.

No stats on this one.....too demoralizing to read.

Thanks for reading,
Rick

wtf?

I was worried about catching a wave earlier this week, now I'm worried about catching a cold from this weather! Rode today with Gary & Sadie....'cross tomorrow will be a real joy; it's snowing now! Woot!

:-)

Thanks for reading,
Rick