gimme swelter a pictorial tour

depending on when youre reading this, Im either riding gravel and mtn roads in western NC or riding waves in Charleston. if you didnt brave the ridiculous heat this past Wednesday, here's what you missed, and it was a lot.

We opened with a Le Mans style start. Bikes on the ground 75 yds away, riders running(some fast.....some) mounting and taking off. We had a fast flowy course that DepotJoe and I pulled into existence in no time with the help of Dr Sager and Mr Seiler(of Leavin London fame).

The heat was a factor all day long, to the extent that family members took to dumping water on their loved-riders to great satisfaction.(granted mrs mcshane shot 27% from the field but was appreciated nonetheless)

As always, Tallgirl too amazing photos, so heres what it all looked like in a far better description than I can give.

Dino Series French Lick XC Race Report

Despite, or because of, the incredibly suggestive name, the French Lick XC race was a great experience. With 4(!) Rouges in the races that day, we were well represented by both Haliori, Kirk Grynwald and myself, plus pseudo-rogue Joe Czerwonka.
Lots of black and white to go with the black and blue that was coming.

I spent the night before preloading w Gin and Tonic @ the track to help get ready for the heat.

Temps were in the 90's and pairing that with a muddy course made for a large output of wattage as my body tried to cool itself by pouring sweat while I slogged up muddy hill after muddy hill. That's the bad part, and all of the bad part. I'd like to get that out of the way first, because the Dino Series is really well put together. Everything was organized, on-time and laid out perfectly. In other words, even schlubs like me got to race on a course that was really PRO.

We were sent off in waves w me, Kirk and Chris Halioris representing in the "old and slow" cat. This was my first XC race and I learned that you really have to get to the woods at the front or pay the penalty. I went off slowly and paid it in terms of having to pass a number of people just to maintain pace. The extra output from having to pass, the mud and the heat had me fairly blown up by mid race. Another lesson learned about pacing, right? I dismounted and walked it up a hill section and got enough water and air to feel recovered just in time to hit a fire road section that was fast and flowy. I finally got to put it into the big ring and make some time up.

I ended up finishing in the middle overall and 10th in the Cat3 40-49(old n slow) and was pretty happy with that. Kirk was 5th in our cat(nice!) And much further up in the overall.

A good start and proper pacing(and less than triple digit temps??) And I think I can definitely improve on this.

In the end, it was a beautiful course, a fun race and a great day to be on the bike. Not a bad intro to the XC side of mtn bike racing.

gimme shelter- Short Track #4

With only 2 races left in the series, we're going to be trying to keep everyone in the woods a little more this week and avoid exploding people in the heat.

Hence- "gimme shelter"....plus, Hauber wanted some Stones this week.

Racing starts @ 530 w the kids, and trophies for the top 3 kiddos.

3 Words
Short.
Track.
Racing.

New UCI Rules Mean Big Changes Next Season

New UCI Rules Mean Big Changes Next Season

the whole damned village

racing+kymba+Olmstead+bikelouisville=.....?
WARNING!! This Blog Contains Hyperbole...And Those TV commercials seem awfully biased.

Last nights Short Track was another fun night of racing. We had some big wins from Mitchell(cat1), Seiler(ss) and Will Bobrow(jrs). So, the racing was fun but what we also had was a great demonstration of something truly counter to the norm for the Louisville Cycling scene. Partnership.
You've heard the jokes
"Louisville Cycling-feel the hate", etc regarding the intolerance we often have for other cycling disciplines(I blame the trackies, cause I don't have a track bike).

Last night, we had a joint effort to have fun racing and had folks  from kymba, bike louisville and Olmstead representing. You know the Olmstead folks, right? They're the ones that maintain the trails we all ride. Yeah. Them.

I met Mark Sinclair @ a trail day that kid A and I worked in Cherokee park. We invited him to come out and join us @ the Short Track event. The idea was to work together instead of against each other. Radical, I know.

We promoted the trail days put on by kymba and Olmstead, and made everyone aware of the maps and swag from Bike Louisville. It gave us some cool vendor booths, provided education to the crowd and gave the cycling community a chance to learn what each side was all about.

Why bother? Next time we want to race or do something that impacts the trail system we can get guidance and advice instead of the roadblocks we usually create for ourselves.

Its a crazy experiment, but what if it worked? We reached out to Joan from the USGP because I don't know jack about putting on a race and she knows all of it. Guess what? We got a ton of advice, a checklist for race day and all the help we could ask for from someone that puts on world-class events.

So short track supports cross, and vice versa? Why wouldn't it? This is an odd chapter for us and I don't want to make too much of a few booths and conversations, and I know that we aren't the first ones to do this, but its an interesting start.

come hell or high water, there'll be short track

We've worked the details and have some good alternate plans if mother nature continues to rain on the parade. In order to spare any trail damage, we may have to alter tomorrows Short Track course. Don't worry, it'll be fast, it'll be hard and it'll be fun.

That wasn't even a double entendre, even tho 71% of you thought it was.

Come on out. You know you need some dirty fun.

3 Words
Short.
Track.
Racing.

Bring it, 'cause its on like.....oh, you know.

A Little Something To Keep You Until Next Weeks Race

A Little Video to Tide You Over

This is a video from The Henry Clay People, check out their website www.henryclaypeople.com

Think mid-period Replacements w a killer slide player....or watch it and figure it out for yourself. rock and roll from LA, who'd a thought, right?

btw- you ever realize that The Los Angeles Angels translates to The The Angels Angels? Jay Mohr said it, so it must be true.

Anywho, enjoy the music and we'll be interesting again next week....probably

short track #3 postponed due to weather

The mystery of the "Rust Never Sleeps" course will stay mysterious for another week.

Due to the heavy rains, and our responsibility to maintain the trails, we're going to take a "snow day" on this weeks race.

We'll put this race on the week after our current last race.

Apologies to all, but we want to preserve the trails we race on. We'll get plenty of chances to race in crappy weather come cross season.

The Secrets of Aerodynamics and How to Clear Your Mind

As most of you know, we here in the LTP circle(or rhombus more precisely), have been working our collective anus off putting on the Short Track Series(week 3 race tomorrow night), and with the usual craziness of life we needed an escape. The expected flurry of emails ..ummmm...flurried and we had ourselves a plan. Pack 2 cars full of dudes and bikes and go ride some sweet singletrack in the Hoosier Nat'l Forrest, also known reverently as Brown County. Specifically we were going to hit Nebo Ridge for some fast, swoopy trails to clear the mind and purify the chamois.

As always, we hit snag one early, when a member of the group, and Joe we will not mention your name, bailed due to acute vaginitis. He's recovering comfortably, dont worry. We then had to find a way to sqeeze 4 guys and 4 bikes into/onto 1 camry. Much debate and numerous feats of engineering mastery ensued. The results are demonstrated thusly-

Im assuming every law of aerodynamics and physics was at least mildly tested here.

You see before you a vast array of mountain bike technology. 26"hardtail, 26" f/s, 29" SS, and a 29" geared bike just for grins. Of course these machines demanded fuel, so we cast our nets for vittles. People, I ask you....do we not understand that signs like this are wrong? Seriously? Coonies? I was just glad that it wasnt in Ky. Big Bone Lick State Park is funny enough.

After the photo op, we were accosted by the town drunk wanting to make sure we werent in league with "them Martin boys". How do you answer that? Or, more importantly what answer will get him and his undershirt to take enough steps back that we could exit?

After wandering thru the forrest(as my people tend to do in deserts) we got too the park and it was game on. Chasing Fatty and Dr Sager on their 29ers was tough. The papist and I gamely went after them for a 30 something mile effort that had us all working up good excuses for the upcoming Fools Gold race. Lots of hills both muddy and horse trodden, fast fast sweepers and descents. The ride went something like this.

We learned that horses, although beautiful are scared of almost everything....especially mountain bikes when they see one for the first and apparently second time. The return loop was tough because all of those amazingly fast descent were now climbs and I knew there were quite a few.

The thing that got me thru the last few climbs was the knowledge that Fatty had stcoked the cooler w New Belgium Sour and Shiner Smoked Ale. All the motivation we needed. Beer hasnt tasted that good in a while, and thats how I judge my training regimen. If I've worked hard enough, its always better.

On the way home we had a chance to take turns playing dj, and nothing was better than this.

Red Fang......I almost felt like superfan was in the car with us. You have to love the "pythonesque" quality of the video paired w a bevis like sensibility, no? Sometimes it just has to be a metal moment. I really dont know why.

Im sure this man would approve

Oh, and just a reminder....

3 Words

Short.

Track.

Racing.

Racing starts @ 5:30 Wednesday night. I'll be back on the mic so Seiler can race. You'll want to be present for both of those things.

A Winner in the Family & Kids Cross Coming Tomorrow!!!

Okay, so you've guessed it wasnt me. Kid A rode his first ever mtb race...hell, his first bike race of any kind and won it. It was the kids race and he won going away. You couldnt have found a prouder dad. He even won some swag from the Mtb Depot!! tres cool shit.

Then he decided to double up and do the Jrs race. He was the youngest or close to it and found the competition tougher, but still had a blast!! These are the kids he'll ride and race with, so he's going to be working hard. As long as it stays fun, Im good with it.

I'm excited just to have him getting into something we can do together. Kids Cross is next so he's going to be busy!!!!!

Next, Doug and I did the Cat 3 race, and I was admittedly nervous, having not raced something this intense since....oh, lets say December!!!

Of course Doug beat me to the first corner, as always, but I was able to get past him on the singletrack(not sure how, dumb luck?) and finished either 5th or 6th. I was happy with it although I know I can do better. Suffer a little harder, push a bigger gear. something. It was great getting heckled by mc seiler as I came around the course, that stuff always keeps me going. Granted, when the domestic goddess/race mom is there, I always push a little harder. Gotta look good for m'lady, right?

The rest of the night was spent hanging with good friends, drinking Doug's Ommegang, heckling Pope and trying to get Mike Kennedy to take a beer handup. It was only fair, he fed me on every lap of the Clause Cross.

Depot Joe and Dr Sager were hustling their butts off(which wouldnt take long) with scoring and details, details, details. Crazyness abounded. Race #2 was even bigger than #1. I hate that Im going to miss the next one. stupid job. You think I could get the domestic goddess/co-conspirator to remarry for money and cut me in for some? Im willing to retire.

Oh, and I spent several minutes lecturing some RedZone kids to get out of the chaois and put real clothes on. Clearly stated in the "you gotta be kidding me" rule book that the germ factory should be shed soon after the event. See, Imma role model and all. I want them all to look PRO as they pass me on the course, and just as PRO having a juice box later.

We have a prize for the team mate that wears it longest. Its not a very nice prize. I won't name names, but you arent sitting on my car seats while youre baking bread. Nasty

this is the face we make when we see that

And they're offf. See he gets me to the corner each time!!

As you can see, Tallgirl took amazing pictures(as always) even letting me showcase the new Special Edition RRP kit. Swanky stuff, my friends. Kind of a Saxo Bank thing with the White jersey and black shorts. Im digging it.

Who says 13 is unlucky?

Now its time for kids cross to start. This Friday we get to dust off the cross bikes and run the kids thru the drills. Father Cross(bobrow) even asked me to help coach. Im sticking with the little kids. Most of them arent faster than me. If you've never taken your kids out to kids cross, its a blast. Low key, super easy going but strong skills work. It stays fun, but the kids really push themselves. Check it out. Fridays @ 6p @ Seneca on the short track course. Oh, you didnt see the ulterior motive coming? sorry.

Other than that, Im trying to squeeze in either a 12 hr race or a XC race this month. With work travel, dropping kid A at camp and such it wont be easy. When is it ever? Im enjoying my vacation from road racing (at which I really suck). This whole endurance racing/race p[romotion thing is keeping me occupied for summer...at least until cross build up starts.