Mountain Bike Monday with the ladies!

Last night was the first installment of mountain biking on girls ride night. It seemed like everyone had a great time. There were at least 10-12 women that came out to Sugar. We did it in anticipation of the Chamois Time race schedule for tomorrow. Due to the pissing rain we had all day today, the race likely won't happen. There was agreement though that we should have ladies mountain bike nights more often.

I love this thing!

Apparently I can even update my blog from this phone. How cool is that? I am officially hooked :)

State Road Race Champion

Well after ignoring this thing for months I suppose I should finally write something. Saturday was the state road race championship. I have a strong love-hate relationship with this race. This is only the 3rd time I have raced it, but the previous 2 years did not go as well as I had hoped. Last year, my chain got sucked up into my frame on the second lap and it took me at least 20 minutes to get my bike functioning again. I had to ride the last 40 miles by myself. The other downside to this race is the lack of participation. There were only 6 of us this year which was still an improvement from the 4 that did it last year, but not really a the turnout you want to see for an 80 mile race. I really love this race because it is one of the longest road races in the midwest, 81 miles to be exact.

With only 6 of us, Sandy, Amy, and I from Mercy, Katie from PRC, Lacey from DMOS, and Rebecca from Colorbiotics. We started out relatively slowly, no attacks through the first 15-20 miles. At first, everyone seemed content to have Sandy and I sit up front, but after a while there was some turn taking. When we crossed the Cedar River the second time, which is probably 12 miles from the start/finish area Rebecca accelerated splitting the group into 2 with Sandy and me in the front and Amy, Katie, and Lacey behind. We decided to work together. I personally thought dropping the group that early was not necessarily to our advantage with 65+ miles to go in the race, but what was done was done.

The second lap stayed pretty tame as well. We echeloned the entire time, each of us taking between 2-3 minutes at the front each time. The start of the third lap is when things got a bit more interesting. Up to this point the 3 of us had stayed neutral through the feed zones and through town, but suddenly Rebecca was pushing her way through West Branch. She almost passed our lead car. Then we got out on the road and you could tell she no longer wanted to work with us, but she made to serious attacks. About 10 miles into the last lap, I attacked up a hill. I was hoping to put some distance between me and Rebecca, but all I ended up doing us gapping off Sandy. I sat up and made Rebecca come around if she wanted to keep the pace up.

She and I rode together the rest of the race. We took turns trying to gutter the other person, but the wind was not enough of a factor to hinder either of us. When I pulled through I slowed way down to the pace that I was comfortable with. I think it was probably driving her crazy, but the worst thing that could happen is that Sandy would have caught up and I would have had a teammate to work with again. After we crossed the Cedar River the last time, Rebecca hung me out front. I did as I had all day and just rode my pace. Finally, with 50-100 yards to go before the last turn, Rebecca takes off. I had been dicking round enough that it caught me a little off guard, but I was on her wheel after 20 seconds or so. After rounding the turn though we still had at least 5 miles until the finish. I just sat there and let her do the work. Surprisingly, she kept the pace up even though I was just sitting back there on her wheel.

As we approached the finish, she started to accelerate one more time. I just took off around her hoping she would not be able to sit on my wheel and recover. After 50 feet or so I looked back and she was just sitting there pedaling. I finally won the Iowa state road race!

Sandy rolled in 3rd, Amy in 6th. In the women's 4 race, Cara was 2nd and Darcy was 3rd. It was a great day for Mercy women.

Kent Park Race Report

I'm not going to get all worked up about race reports this year. Last year I tried to include every little detail and it just made me not write my races up. So, in short, there was a great women's turnout, 23 total I believe. My legs felt kinda rough on the warmup laps, but I was hoping it was just nerves. As we made our way around the first lap, I got antsy and decided to attack on the second to last hill. I spent the rest of the race time trialing off the front. With a lap and a half to go, the men's 1,2 caught me and I hung with them for a half lap just to get a break from the wind.

It was a wonderful race. Michael did an excellent job promoting the race and Atlas did a great job with the prizes.

I was so impressed with the ICCC ladies. For many of them, it was their first race ever and they rode their hearts out. Great job ladies! I can't wait to do it again!

1st Ride at Sugar for the year

Kyle and I headed out after work yesterday to turn out a loop at Sugarbottom. The trails are in amazing condition. We were able to ride the entire south side minus Hell Trail and Troll Bridge (since they are both closed). We also rode the last green on the north that takes you to Cyclocross. Funny enough, as we crested the hill headed back to the south end, we ran into Burvee and Jody. We ended up riding with them around the south loop again.

Fun was had by all. I can only hope that time allows me to enjoy the trails again soon!

Kent park race report to come...

cycling Photos on CyclingDirt

T. Wells riding a Syntace Vector carbon bar at Fontana 12 degrees of goodness there! Syntace stuff is simply the best. It's always a great testament to a brand when Pros are running gear they actually choose themselves, rather than what they are simply given.

Kent Park Pics!

Kent Park was this past weekend. Robin raced and did very well! I'm sure she will post up a race report with some more details soon. But, she put in an attack about 3/4 through the first lap and ended up riding the rest of the race off the front of the women's field to take the win.

Here are some pics from the day:


Robin coming up the hill:







Oh yea.... Duethman was an animal! Don't mess with him.... he will eat your children.

Kent Park is this Sunday!

So, like many of you, this is my favorite early season race. When I first started racing in 2006, it was my second race ever. I was very disappointed that it was canceled last year. Aside from being excited because it is Kent Park, I have a new sense of pride this year for this race. There are more than 20 women signed up AND 8 of us are racing for ICCC. This will be the start of a great racing season!

Ride 3.14.10

Robin and I went on a road ride this morning with Kevin and Brit. We had thought about heading out on some gravel with the Hopson crew, but with my knee is limbo and Robin having raced yesterday.... we thought a road ride would be the smart choice!

Anyhow, we rolled out a bit after 10am, under cloudy skies, into a NASTY NNE headwind. Battled that all the way into Cedar Bluff. But after turning around it was SO worth it! On the way back home the sun even came out.... simply beautiful. It's amazing to be out on dry roads, with the sun shining.

I got Kevin at a stop ahead sign, by boxing him in behind the girls (hey! whatever it takes!), and jumping real early. he got me on the next one though.

Great ride and good times. Hopefully in another week my knee will be back to 100%.


Here are a couple videos of the wonderful conditions.

1st Race of the Season

Today was the 2nd installment of Bart's Spring Classic Series. Kyle and I had both intended to race it, but a nagging knee injury kept Kyle sidelined. Instead he served as corner marshal and coached me as I raced. Conditions were great for an early season race. Rain, low 40s and a stiff wind. There ended up being 5 women that did the race, 3 cat 1,2,3 and 2 cat 4. Bart sent us off with the cat 4,5 men. We were to do 4 laps. Lisa for PRC and I rode the 1st lap together, right behind the men. As the 2nd lap started, I missed grabbing the tail end of an attack and found myself in the chase group with 4 guys. Lisa managed to hang on with the lead 3 guys. That was pretty much how it stayed for the rest of the race. Kyle would give us a time break as we came around the back side of the course and it pretty much stayed at 30 seconds. So, I was kinda bummed that I missed out the move that separated us, but it was a good race all the same. I don't mind taking 2nd place.

All in all it was a great race. I appreciate Bart taking the time to have this series so that some of us who haven't been on the bike in awhile (like not since Jingle Cross last year :) can ease back into racing again.

3/6/10 Ride

We went out for a ride today.... planned on just a little gravel. Started out quite nice. Sun was out, temps were up, roads were dry.

Then we decided to see how far we could get on Swan lake, since the the water was down. Well, the road was a little damp at first, but not terrible. It lured us in. Quickly it turned to a mix of snow, ice, and mud... We pushed onward.

Soon it was a slog, but it was more fun to just keep going and see how far we could get. Then we started seeing snowmobiles! Then a few token rednecks in their trucks. The trucks turned back, we pushed on. As the sun went behind the clouds and the wind picked up, we though it best to turn back at the second significant water crossing. It was fairly frozen over, so we could have gone on. But, with the weather closing in and the fact we were soaked, we made the right choice.

The ride back back was actually better. Although it was soft and soggy, we were so wet that we weren't trying to pick drier lines. Got back into N. Liberty and stopped at Casey's. Thank God for that place! The looks we got from the other customers were priceless, as we ate some type of friend potato goodness and drank a cup of coffee.

All in all, great ride. 5 hours on the bike. Who knows how far. Sweet.

Tried ou the video thing today. Need to get a little better at it. Note the gentleman in the second clip, on the side of the road just shooting a handgun at nothing in particular. At least he wasn't shooting it at us!

New Bike Hotness

So, we got my new MTB pretty much put together and ready to roll. Had to take it down to the shop tonight to get the brake hoses cut and let the guys drool over it a bit.

Of course we had to throw it up on the scale to see how it came in. Here are the results: 18.98lbs! That is with pedals and a bottle cage, so no cheating! Crazy light considering it has an XT cassette and not the lightest pedals out there.

Pretty sweet for an aluminum hard tail that is build up pretty solid. Can't wait to get it out on the trail.

Gotta thank Kyle for putting together this sweet package and the guys at Geoff's for working to get me the Yeti frame. After being on the ASR last year I knew I wanted another Yeti. The fit is spot on and I know the hard tail is going to be a rocket. Many thanks also to Magura and Syntace for their great components again this year.

Now... if that pesky snow would just melt! At least Kyle and I have been getting a lot of XC Skiing in. (Got skate skis for Valentine's day!)

Syntace and Magura are on board for another year of hooking Robin up with their sweet parts. Expect her to be sporting Magura Marta SL brakes, a Durin SL fork, as well as Syntace cockpit components.

Back in the saddle...sort of

So after who knows how many weeks off, I got back on the bike this weekend...on the trainer of course. I rode for almost 2 hours on Saturday while watching the 3rd Pirate's of the Caribbean movie and then for an hour Sunday while watching the Colts game. Now if the weather outside would just cooperate and get warm, I would be one happy camper!

2010 saddle experiment and other tidbits

Trying out a new saddle on Robin's bike this season. Light, sexy, and reportedly very comfortable.

If she doesn't like like it... I can always steal it!

Hopefully we will be able to get some more specifics up soon on the bike(s) Robin will be rockin' on the MTB front this year.

Looks like I've been brought on as a contributor! Something else to help me waste time while I'm supposed to be writing my Thesis :)

Who thinks we should get custom jerseys made up? Oh yea...

DFL

SO, last night was the 1st Ashton cross country ski TT. I managed an astounding DFL. Brian Eppen, who was also classicing, managed to pass me as he was finishing his second lap before I had even finished one lap. He did start a couple minutes ahead of me...but damn. The classic tracks did feel slow, but that is really no excuse. It was a lot of fun. My girl Cara even won for the women on skate skis! Go Hamann!

Maybe spin class tonight...maybe CC skiing out at Hick Hill. Last week was a blast, I think I may have to hit that up again. Although my body needs a good thrashing on a bike. Either should be fun.

Back to clinic.

Bonus post...

I solved Kyle's Rubix cube yesterday. Probably not worth blogging about, but I have been working at it since he got it for Christmas. I figured I would share my excitement.

2010...week 2

I can't remember if I put in my last post the fact that I wanted to try to keep my blog updated weekly. Whether I did or didn't that is my intention and I can now say that I have been successful for 2 weeks.

Nothing ground breaking to report. I started a new semester of clinical rotations. Over the next 12 weeks I will do 3 rotations, 4 weeks each, which are collectively known as my ambulatory block. The first of the 3, which I started yesterday, is outpatient internal medicine and I am doing it here in Iowa City. Then, in February, I will go to Davenport for a month for Community Based Medicine. Finally, in March I will do Family Medicine in Hiawatha.

Enough about ridiculus school stuff. Brian and Cara took Kyle and I out to try skate skiing today. It was a blast. It is very different from classicing. I fell down a lot and was pretty slow, but I could feel when I was doing it right and when I was doing it wrong...so now all I need to more practice. Brian is a great teacher...He doesn't give himself nearly enough credit. We really appreciated his help today!

In cycling news, there was a WOW meeting at Hopson's house on Monday. It went great and the idea of more Iowa City women racing seems like more of a reality and less of a dream. In other cycling new, I'm still not riding my bike. :(

Thanks for checking in!

Happy New Year!

We rang in the new year with lots of good friends. Happy Birthday again to Jean! We had a wonderful time celebrating your birthday as well as the new year! We had to take a rain check on the ski race today because like many others we have chosen to celebrate national hangover day on the couch :)

My next clerkship starts on Monday, so only a few more days of freedom. I am looking forward to starting a new semester and a new cycling season. I plan to make a conscience effort to update on here at least once a week.

Thanks for reading! Have a safe and happy New Year!