My ride home last night was unusual for a couple of reasons. I left work and headed over to barrington to hook up with a ride there. Because of the weather, very windy and looking like the skys were going to open up any second, only a couple of people showed up. They decided to go catch the northbranch ride which means going the opposite direction that i want to go to go home. I went with them for a while but eventually turned around when we hadn't met the northbranch guys yet.
The first weird thing was while on cuba road, i heard what basically sounded like a dog being mauled to death. It was pretty nasty. I couldn't see anything because they were on the other side of a fence but I definately heard the rustling and the yelps coming from the dog.
The second, more interesting thing was on Spring Creek road in barrington hills. As i came up to meadow hill road there was a police officer holding up traffic. Once i passed him and crested the hill there, it looked like a huge party was happening at this newly built house. The first thing that clued me to what was going on was i saw that there was distro feeder cables laying by the road and a huge production truck. The driveway had a sign on it that said "The Return." After crossing Braeburn rd i had to zig zag between 2 huge lifts with lights on them. In the field on the right there were a bunch of production trucks and about 100 cars parked there.
Once home i looked up "The Return" and found that it is a Tim Robbins movie about 3 iraq veterans returning home. Due out in 08. Should be interesting.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
Monsters of the Midway 30+
Yesterday was the Monsters of the Midway Criterium held on the campus of The University of Chicago. It's actually on the Midway Plaisance a few blocks west of the Museum of Science & Industry. It's a flat 1.1 mile, long rectangle loop. For the most part nice smooth pavement and wide turns.
I entered the Masters 30+ race since it was early and I could get back home and still have some sort of mothers day celebration at home. After having 80 degree days this week yesterday at race time the temps seemed to still be in the 50's and overcast.
The race itself was good. Lot's of attacks which kept it interesting. It was also very smooth like a 30+ should be. Nobody paniking, just good clean racing. I went in with the goal of riding smart, staying in the field and waiting for a move at the end or the final sprint. For the most part I accomplised all these goals. As much as I could I stayed nicely tucked in the field and tried not to jump on attacks like i tend to do.
About 3/4 of the way thru the race there was an attack that drew at least 8 or 9 guys out. Since I was towards the front and saw everybody jumping I went as well. I made the group and we had a little gap but it died out and we were all back together. Now I was just sitting in for the sprint.
3 riders got away with 2 or 3 laps to go and it looked like they might hold us off but they were caught on the last half of the last lap. I tried to get into good position for the sprint but ended up back further than I wanted to. I ended up finishing 25th.
The one thing that i noticed thruout the whole race is i don't have the initial power burst yet. After every turn when you're toward the back of the field you have to jump to get back on. Almost every time I would lose the wheel infront of me and have to work to get it back. I can't say that i'm not that surprised by this because I haven't done any work on that yet with my training. The good thing about the race was fitness wise i felt really good. I had no problems finishing the race and felt pretty good afterwards.
Bottom line I'm really happy with how it went. I feel like my form is right on track for where I am in my training this year. Hopefully I can get some of that kick back in the next couple of weeks for Winfield.
I entered the Masters 30+ race since it was early and I could get back home and still have some sort of mothers day celebration at home. After having 80 degree days this week yesterday at race time the temps seemed to still be in the 50's and overcast.
The race itself was good. Lot's of attacks which kept it interesting. It was also very smooth like a 30+ should be. Nobody paniking, just good clean racing. I went in with the goal of riding smart, staying in the field and waiting for a move at the end or the final sprint. For the most part I accomplised all these goals. As much as I could I stayed nicely tucked in the field and tried not to jump on attacks like i tend to do.
About 3/4 of the way thru the race there was an attack that drew at least 8 or 9 guys out. Since I was towards the front and saw everybody jumping I went as well. I made the group and we had a little gap but it died out and we were all back together. Now I was just sitting in for the sprint.
3 riders got away with 2 or 3 laps to go and it looked like they might hold us off but they were caught on the last half of the last lap. I tried to get into good position for the sprint but ended up back further than I wanted to. I ended up finishing 25th.
The one thing that i noticed thruout the whole race is i don't have the initial power burst yet. After every turn when you're toward the back of the field you have to jump to get back on. Almost every time I would lose the wheel infront of me and have to work to get it back. I can't say that i'm not that surprised by this because I haven't done any work on that yet with my training. The good thing about the race was fitness wise i felt really good. I had no problems finishing the race and felt pretty good afterwards.
Bottom line I'm really happy with how it went. I feel like my form is right on track for where I am in my training this year. Hopefully I can get some of that kick back in the next couple of weeks for Winfield.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Fun Harper Ride/Another trail reason
Saturday i had what was for me one of the more fun harper rides that i've had in a long time. My buddy Tim Henry from Project 5 and I left my house at 6am to ride out to harper. Once we joined the harper ride we eventually ended up in a break together with Robert Krone of Team Mack. The three of us worked together pretty well and by the time we got to River Rd in algonquin, we had a lead of 2:15. Tim and i peeled off at that point to go home and left Robert to battle on his own. Now i read that at the end of the ride there was a crash that took out a couple of guys. The harper ride has seemed to be getting a little chippier since it has started to get so big. Maybe more on that later. In any case the ride has me feeling pretty good about racing next week.
Last week i had another reminder why I don't like riding on bike paths. Near the end of a ride I was on the trail and coming up on a section that has an s curve in it. As I approched the curve I could see thru the trees that someone was coming from the other direction. I slowed down to make sure i could negotiate the turn while staying on my side of the trail. Once thru the turn my worst fears were confirmed. About 30 feet in front of me was a guy on a department store mountain bike, wearing 80's era walkman headphones and thick glasses, staring up and to his left at the tress, and IN MY LANE! I yelled a warning to him which scared him so much I don't know how he kept his bike up. Insane.
I go to sleep now.
Last week i had another reminder why I don't like riding on bike paths. Near the end of a ride I was on the trail and coming up on a section that has an s curve in it. As I approched the curve I could see thru the trees that someone was coming from the other direction. I slowed down to make sure i could negotiate the turn while staying on my side of the trail. Once thru the turn my worst fears were confirmed. About 30 feet in front of me was a guy on a department store mountain bike, wearing 80's era walkman headphones and thick glasses, staring up and to his left at the tress, and IN MY LANE! I yelled a warning to him which scared him so much I don't know how he kept his bike up. Insane.
I go to sleep now.
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