Mark's Blog

I get there and b.s. with a bunch of people as usual and then go for the usual warm-up for the race, ride up and down the road. Then it was time to go and line up, all I was thinking about was that I wanted to finish the race unlike last year I only got about 25 seconds of the race in. Well as soon as the usual “GOOOOOO!” was said it was off, I tried to stay in the front group. That goal was accomplished, I looked back after a little bit and I noticed that there weren’t that many people there anymore.

After that there wasn’t that much going on with me and then I cross the start/finish line and the first women catches me. I decide to burry myself and try to stay with her, she then pulls me up to Steele. Then he starts to go harder since he sees that I am there. I stay right on his wheel for part of the first lap and then going up a hill I shifted to an easier gear and then the dreadful “snap” of the chain. Lets just say that I was pissed that that happened at that time. So it was time for me to do the walk-in/coast downhill to the finish line. It was a long way back, even with skipping most of the single track.

I get back and see Holcomb and I stop to talk to him and then I go and I wanted to see where Steele finished and that made me even more disappointed. He finished 3rd with Paul just a few seconds back, so I could have been there close to the podium. Nothing like having bad luck for the first two races.

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After my experience today with the second grade at Gillett I want to say that some parents shouldn’t be parents.  This is the first time in my life that I have been told off by a 7 year old.  This class was the class from hell, as soon as the day got going I swear I seen horns pop up.  I don’t know what the deal with kids these days are but something has got to change.  These kids have a lot to learn when they start to get older.

On another note, I hope that I am ready for Iola.  I am now getting excited for the first race of the year.  I want to see if all of this riding is going to make a difference.

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Today I took someone on a first ride of the year. I was thinkng to myself, “I remember that is was only a couple of weeks ago that I wanted to die while out on the bike while going only 13 mph.” It was actually nice to take a slow ride with him. After I road with him I went out for a ride on my own in the mist of the afternoon.

This week is going to be somewhat of an easy one leading to the suffering that is going to be had at Iola. Nothing like the first race of the year to test the fitness, I hope that everything comes together and I do better than last year. I plan on bringing my camera along and attempt to take some pictures that I can post here.

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After tonight I found out that I still don’t like going up hills.  I went out with Roadie, Q and Larson to attack some hills south of GB.  I got my ass kicked going up them each time only to win the sprints that would come later.  The goal is to be able to keep up to Roadie on climbs, hopefully sooner than late season.

I got to weigh myself today and I am now the lightest I have been in 3 years.  I need to drop about 3 more pounds before Iola so I can be in the magic range that I wanted to start the race season in.  All I can say is that I am now ready for Iola to begin.  The climbing legs will come around soon, I hope.

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My back has been giving me problems lately.  I hope that it gets better by Iola.  Well I have been demoing the Roubaix again, that bike is SMOOTH and I had no problem keeping up on the InComp ride tonight.  Tomorrow I will be attacking some hills with a couple of people, everyone knows how much I LOVE going up a hill.

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Tonight’s ride at the Hub was fun and painful.  Like usual it took me the first 30 minutes and a hill climb to get warmed up.  After that I was ready to rock.  I tried to go with Roadie and Andy but only to get popped off about half way through the tougher sections.  After the usual wait points it was time to go down HWY. 96 and that was brutal.  About 1/4 mile out of Greenleaf Roadie and Andy formed a gap and the dude in front of me pulled off and it was time to sprint to those two.  Come to find out I was the only one that closed the gap to the two of them.  After I caught them I could only stay there for about 1 mile and I had enough so I backed off and then Tyson and Quentin joined in the effort to catch the two speed demons.  The way up Lost Dauphin was fun and fast.  I got popped and Quentin had to pull me back to the group, nothing like trying to just hang on for the ride.  Max HR for the ride was 194 with an average of 170.  Not bad for an early season ride.

Sad to say that I won’t be there next week because I have to shoot a Baseball game for the paper.

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It started off with a MTB ride on Friday with Rob, Eric and Scott. It was Eric’s inaugural run through the woods. He managed not to ever fall before this ride and then 3 times in one ride. He managed to walk away from the day with no injuries and wants to go and ride again, which is a great thing.

Saturday, I decided to go over to Luxemburg and do the L-B-L ride that Russell and Montee put together. The morning before the ride Steve D. called me and said that he wasn’t going to do the ride and I called him a wimp to try and motivate him, no such luck. So I managed to get my sorry butt over to the starting point and get ready. Then all of a sudden I hear that Steve decided to make the trip over for the ride.

I will decide to skip all the boring stuff and write about the interesting aspects of the ride. About 20 miles in we are going down a road and there was cow shit all over the place. So it was time to ride through the shit for about 2 miles in the rain. That was when Steve was pulling me around because I felt like I wanted to die. I put on my rain jacket and I try and stay warm. We get to Brussels and stop at a grocery store to get something to eat and drink and then it is off again. Steve, Quentin and I decide to go on the “short” route. So we take off and ride for a little while before we turn to go to the south and west. All of a sudden the wind was a major factor in the ride. This was when the suffering was most evident. At times I wish I had a gear smaller than a 39×25 for the hills with a head wind.

The short route we took was 6 more than the long route the others took, so Steve said we ended with 68 miles and 4.5 hours on the bike yesterday. I was glad to be done.

Today I got to go and ride my mountain bike and had some fun with Steve, Larsen and Scott.

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I have a love/hate relationship with my mountain bike for the first couple of rides. I love to get out and ride it in the woods but hate the amount of energy it takes compared to what I have been used to with my road bike. Every time I would come to a hill I wanted to die. I do miss having the granny gear this time of the year, it would be nice to spin up some of the hills instead of mashing it.

This weekend is going to be full of rides. On Friday I am planning on riding with Lanser and friends and on Saturday I also plan on hanging on to Russell’s L-B-L ride. I will have to see what the legs are like after this weekend, they were feeling it after last weekend.

Later