national champ

as you may know, james "the national champ" tainter is out in t-town for masters nationals on the track.

last year he found gold in the match sprints, and again in the team sprints.

well, for 2007 he has himself yet another stars and stripes jersey!
this time in the kilo.

congrats on the win james!

the champ threw down a 1:09.5 kilometer.
for reference, i rode a 1:15 last sunday.
that 6 seconds faster over only 1000 meters.

so he's got a least one more of these on the weekend.



sweet.

great job.

lgr has been raking in the medals lately too!
tuffy in the cat 3 rr.
joe in the 4/5 1k, and 4k.
dan-o in the team sprint.
and gwen in the 500m, and team sprint.

our team is awesome.

so awesome it should be called team awesome.

weekend update.

saturday was the big day.

all good things came together.

my lgr teammates woke up early as hell to go race at the state championship roadrace p/b loonstate.

...and i slept in as long as i could, and eventually rolled out of bed and over to the best show ever. it was the perfect warm-up for the state championship crap at the velodrome on sunday.




i arrived at the myth, which is the biggest and lamest club ever built in minnesota.
a plastic cup of water cost only $2!

a bargain!

shitty venue aside, the line-up was star-studded.

not only the full wu-tang clan,
...but nas was there.
talib kweli was there.
pharoe monche was there.
and one of my favorite hip-hop artists of all time, immortal technique, was there.

immortal technique never fails to rip the entire crowd a new one.
he also has the esteemed honor of penning the most disturbing song of all time.
ever. (read it here).

which he performed.

i think i will have a whole separate post about immortal technique.
it's that intense.

talib was pretty good too, and pharoe definitely brought it... nas, a little rusty. but good.

...but wu-tang brought the whole clan, and opened the show with wu-tang clan ain't nothin' to fuck with.
and they sported a live backing band, and ol' dirty bastard's son in lieu of dirt mcgirt.

it doesn't really get any better.



so, sunday for my pursuit, it was method man telling me;

"i got
myself a 40, i got
myself a shorty..."

it was not a bad time either.
and tuffy won a state championship for lgr.
so did gwen, joe, and dano.

thanks meth.

i hate lists.

things that suck lately:

• big matt and justine's dog lost a leg.
• good friends breaking up.
• juice on the bridge.
• track rainouts.
• dad hit a deer.
• having no cash.
• your blog.
  

things that are rad lately:

• renters rebate.
• philly girls in town.
• cx season is coming.
• los.
• juice finally out of hcmc, but still bed ridden.
  
• knowing how to spell fiancee. (or maybe he has a secret).
  

here is a short list of things i am looking for, do you have any?
can i have it?
can i buy it?

• campy 10 speed rear derailleur.
• front suspension fork. 1" 1/8. any working condition.
• nice shoes for cx. 44's.
• 100mm stem, oversized. 0, or slight rise.
• cheap cheap fixed gear wheelset.
  

i don't really hate lists.
lists are great, they are the only reason i get anything done.

i do apologize for this post being kinda lame, but i got bigger fish to fry right now.

until next time.

the sound of white noise.

last sunday i went down to hcmc.
i was headed to the knapp rehabilitation wing.

i really don't enjoy hospitals.
not many people do i guess.
something about the certainty of death that creeps into the back of your mind.

maybe it's the cold air in there, cold with a recycled feel to it.
not like outside. not like fresh air.

the quiet, and the maze-like layout do little to help the claustrophobic feel, and the machines attached to needles and tubes scattered throughout the endless hallways don't help ease you into it.

you really can't help but get a little lost making your way through the various buildings and units. or is it wards?

eventually i found my way to the correct room, in the correct unit, of the correct building.
but i had to stand there for just a minute before i could knock on the door.

i knew on the other side of that door was a good friend of mine.
and i knew she was alive.

as i hesitated, for that second or two, i was scared.
scared to see a friend injured.
it is something i have never wanted to see.

it wasn't hard to tap on the door, and it wasn't hard to be in that room.
it only took a moment of hesitation to know that this wasn't about me.

tap. tap. tap.

it was sad to see the splints, and casts, and bandages, and machines.

but it was worth a thousand petty fears to hear a familiar voice.
see a familiar face.
feel a familiar warmth.
it was even more important to realize that all of those things easing me at that moment, were also being reciprocated back, and helping ease a bit of the same worries in that room.

and without any effort on my part.
all i had to do was get to that door, and know what to do as i stood in front of it.

it's important to be reminded that at the end of the day all we have is friendships.
the rest is just white noise.

i wanted to make this post, because it's easy to forget that.
take the time to remind yourself anytime you get the chance.


thank you to everyone that has commented or sent emails regarding my friend julie.
it means alot. leave her a note too.

it's time to park the bus.

so everyone's all ga-ga about disco bagging it, but no one seems to give two shits about unibet
folding.

they have had quite the year.
after all the b.s. about the legality of their title sponsor and how it would be bad bad bad for the tdf sponsorships and interests if they were allowed to race... blah, blah.... they soldiered on. and their sponsor unibet.com did too, and they didn't have to.
i don't think it's a surprise they are pulling the plug, but it shows a touch of class that they waited until the seasons end.

to the aso, i say:
how'd that tour thing work out for you?
how's your corporate interests?
and lastly, how many unibet riders got popped for doping this year?
or even just asked to leave a race for anything other than that silly sponsorship issue?

unibet riders, i salute you.
you had alot of crap flung at you, and you still managed to win a few races.
i wish you the best in finding new teams for next season.
although you may find it tough with the disco dopers, and the astana blood squad also looking for teams.

skibby? mia?

or just in a better place?

you're kidding.

5o-some comments on some b.s. post that everyone should have shrugged off...
and not one comment on my gem about getting supper-rookie a chest waxing prime!?!

that was a good one.

you guys are too wound up.

dying to cry.

the response to the post below titled 'pro', has been over-whelming.

and i can see why.

everyone is clamoring for reasons why they sucked against the likes of bergman.

i started it off by venting just a little, but i really don't think i was railing on the pro.
i simply posed the question, "what was his point?".

was it training? experience? fun? (god forbid).

what happened next is really beyond me to explain.
several local riders got excessively angry, and were demanding to know what my point was, , how dare i bad mouth the pro, what did i do, blah blah.

as much as i repeatedly told them it was all in the post, and to read it, they continued to demand answers.

they were basically, frothing at the mouth at this point, bringing up all kinds of weird shit that didn't have anything to do with anything. tangents.

it was sad, and obvious, that they were dying to know why they sucked that night too, and they wanted answers from me.

so there it is boys, are you ready?

are you sitting down?

i don't have an answer.

i posed a question.

dumb asses.

trackies must have the adreniline pumping fulltime, because the only two people that made any sense in all those comments, were homme and jroy.

two non-trackies.

kudos you guys.

...

now that that is settled, i'm moving on.

sickboy has decided to open his mouth.

so now i have to shut it.

here's what he had to say, regarding a previous race against bergman:

What you did in that points race about a month back was not "racing Bergman." It was "taking advantage of a shitty rule and ensuring yourself third place." I'll give you credit for being opportunistic, and using it to your advantage to beat the rest of us schloobheimers, but using that as a backup to your claim that you "know how the fuck to race Bergman" is a complete crock, so don't lord it over us. At no point were you ever in contention with him, you merely used him twice for free rides around the track while your loudmouthed teammate ran interference. Good on you, bad on us for falling for it- I hope you enjoyed it because it's never happening again.

here's what happened.

- race begins.
- at some point bergman and dubay go otf, soon skibby and i go otb.
- skibby and i are working hard, getting nowhere.
- i swing up track, and recover for a bit. skibby continues.
- bergman and dubay come by, i hope on.
- rules state that i cannot take pulls to help them, so i don't.
- they tow me, past skibby, and back to the peloton.
- once in the group, bergman and dubay go out for another lap.
- i sit in and recover.
- after the next points sprint, i roll otf.
- bergman and dubay are 50-70 meters ahead of me the whole time.
- no one in the field, including my teammates, realize i am in no-mans-land.
- i kill myself to get all the way around and lap the field about 1 min after bergman and dubay get their 2nd lap.
- my teammates ask me to help lead them out to secure a 5th place.
- i tell them i just got a lap and am in 3rd.
- they look confused.
- sickboy thinks he got 3rd place, too.
- but he was too tactically dumb to notice a rider otf.
- now he is sad.
- still.
- he pathetically tries to blame everyone but himself.
- going as far as to try to blame a rider that finished a lap up on him.
- and blaming the uscf rulebook.

there you have it.

now, to be perfectly clear, i don't have an answer.

no answers.

but i am going to pose a question.

remember now kids: this kind of question is one that i want you to answer. not me.

here it is;

can sickboy be a bigger whining ass crybaby bitch? is it possible?
after all the railing on me that he did for blaming bergman for beating me, (which i never did), he blames me for beating him.

what say you readers?

square lake.

it was a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
a beautiful day for a bike race, too.

i don't have a lot to say about the race, except that i was happy to even finish in the heat.
the shocker is that it was, i believe, my best road race finish all year.

the team plan was to not worry about the little things, and to be a any big move that started to form.
and mainly just to finish in the group. we are a bunch of trackie sprinter types.

if a few guys got away, we weren't too concerned. we were looking to the sprint, even if it was for 4th or 5th.

turned out to be for 5th.

little guy was there but would finish 6th in the sprint, leaving him with 11th overall, after a crash delayed his path to the line. he avoided going down, but gave up all hopes for the line.

a good day for lgr no-the-less, with 3 top 15 finishes in the cat 3 race, and a top 5 courtesy of the proprietor in the 4/5 race.

stellar.

here is a photo essay of the race:



it was hot, but i managed to keep my cool at the front(ish) end of the race.



sr was not so lucky.
i am hoping the next race has a wax prime so we can get him to the line for it.



lalla was hampered by mechanicals all day, and was forced to drop out after no one could provide him with a 5mm hex.

better luck next time, mike!

oh, and bantle screwed the pooch, again.

fpa ran a smoove race, and life is good.

track crap next weekend, then avon.

then cx.

new anti-doping policy.

a.c. and the killer look a little concerned about the new "hardline" anti-doping punishments...



...death by firing squad.

pro.

as evidenced in this spy photo from ray, it really isn't about if you are pro...

...it's about if you look pro.



who gives a crap about your goofy skinsuit and it's logos.
we got a tent. and chairs.

that's what i say.

even smithers thought we were cool enough to hangout with. oh boy!
bermania could tell who the real pros were too.

ok, on to the track wrap-up.
i was all jonesed for the track racing thursday, we have some national qualifiers right around the corner and i was hoping to really test the form and even more-so the tactical prowess in the long race of the night.

i didn't really give a flying fuck about the other two races on the night.

they aren't really my cup of tea, plus i wanted to really get some good training in during that 60 lap scratch race.

then bergman showed up.
crap. this, of course, changes everything.

that guy is strong. real strong.

too strong.

it's a weird thing when he shows up. everybody knows he just going to ride off-the-front, and lap us in every race, regardless of length.
that's ok, i guess, but track racing isn't always about that.
it really throws the dynamic of the race way way off.

i don't see the need for bergman to lap us 3 times, when he had secured the win after 1.
let the rest of us try racing too.

instead we spend 60 laps +/-, on the rivet, chasing.
and getting nowhere.

and when he gets the lap, he just rolls right through on the way to another.
fine if you can do that, but what is the fucking point? tactically speaking.

so while the race was hard, and a good workout, i was totally unable to accomplish any of my pre-race goals or practice any real strategy.
it was just full gas the whole time.

i dropped out about halfway through.
i could have finished, but it was too frustrating.

i know i'm just bitching, and that "he won, and i lost".
and, "that's why he's a pro".
and, "oh, it's bergman (swoon)".

fact is, i don't really like paying 15 bucks for a LT training session.
i would rather pay 15 bucks for some exciting racing.

track racing is stupid anyway.
when does cx start?

what's cooler?

homme, now that the m4/5 case is closed i need an answer on this, asap.

which is more awesome;

riding a bike with your last name on it?



or, riding a bike with your first name on it?



i don't know if i'll be able to sleep tonight without an answer....

review. i need some comments.

so, the campus crit is done.
over.

as co-promoter it was a stressful day, that ended a stressful week, after a busy few months.
but everything worked out fine in the end.
(once we figured out how to try to corral the hundreds of gawkers on the backside of the course).

the weather was great, the atmosphere was great, and the racers were great.
we got some much much needed help from some very great bike scene locals that really stepped up to help keep the event safe.

we owe them big time.

mark stwert, ben and joe dubay, many of the junior racers, ped, and others came through for us without hesitation. thanks a million guys!

anyways, this was lgr's first time hosting an event as a team.
i think it went well.

i don't think any other race will ever be as much of a challenge as this one was, with all the added traffic.

normally this course requires 1 marshall on the backside (e. river road).

for your reference, yesterday we needed 7.

we tried some new ideas, and i think it went well.
we offered alot of race options for people, we offered alot of $$$ in primes, we tried to make the races a bit longer than usual, we tried to payout in almost every race, and we tried to throw one hellovarace.



i would like to hear your story.
please give us some feedback.

what was your take?
how was the registration? smooth? not?
did you pre-reg? how was that?
were the races run well?
too long? too short?
how the the primes work out? well? terrible?
did you, or your team change from the "standard crit plan" because of the primes?
should we do them again next year?
why weren't the 1/2/3 women in attendance?
was there a convention we didn't know about?
how was the organization, from an outside prospective?
is there another bridge in the area scheduled to fall down anytime next year?
let me know!

help us improve this race.

thanks again for coming out!

only 10-15 more racers and we'd have broke even!
woo-hoo!

it's time.

juice.

i have a friend, juice.

she is one of those people.

you know, always doing a million awesome things; working in her community, being a great artist, caring for her friends, working with troubled youth, inspiring everyone around her.

she's amazingly out-going, loud, friendly, caring, and really just a damn good person.

frankly, i don't know how she does it.

juice has been through a lot of shit in her life.
maybe that's why she makes the most of hers.

she has seen a lot of shit too.
she has seen some her many friends in; horrible car accidents, in jail, die of disease, and just plain give up on life... but juice ain't like that.
she never ever loses herself.

she is so outgoing, and always looking to the bright side.

she's getting married later this month.
it's gonna be a sweet party.

juice spends about 10 hours everyday pouring her soul into a community youth program in the phillips neighborhood of minneapolis. she really loves those fucking kids.

that's how she ended up on the bridge.
coming back from a field trip with the kids.

get well soon, juice.
we need you.

power rankings!

back by popular demand!

nsc velodrome power rankings!

back by popular demand, baby!
yes folks, the pr's have been the talk of the town lately, and it hasn't gone unnoticed!
neither has the lack of racing, due to weather... boo!

well, things have still taken shape in the last few weeks, to give us a clear view of the racings ups & downs.

2007 Track Power Rankings!	Name:	bib #:	team:	+/- from last week	comments:
	Power Rankings!	n/a	n/a		The demand is overwhelming! We certainly weren't expecting this, but i do happen to have a speech prepared...
	Mother Nature	n/a	n/a		4 Rainouts so far this season, but even that isn't as impressive as the Power Rankings!
	James Tainter	16	Hollywood		The form is coming around. Right in time for Masters Nationals too. Imagine that.
04	Chris Smith	22	Team Urkel 55+		He is hosting the RADIUS Racing on Saturday nights this year, and there is one this Saturday! Go Puma!
	Lionel Space	68	U/A		The Space Lion has the fields all figured out, and it shows.
6	Brian Crosby	3	U of M		Still holds the TROY Lead, but is losing ground. Plus he recently started a Blog, so he lost a few spots right there.
07	Chris Ferris	2	Sub 12		I think Chris has hit the ground more times than anyone this year. But he just gets right up, and keeps winning.
	Hanz	49 or 51	LSC		I can't remember which musclebound LSC rider is which, but they are both quick in the shorter races.
	Franz	49 or 51	LSC		see above. (this is the other one).
10	Bob Williams	n/a	NSC Velo		Bob is the reason racing happens here. Just giving a little back, Cheers Bob!
	Andy Kruse	40	Sliver		I have a feeling that The Kruser is out for blood, after some tough rounds of contract negotiations.
	Dan Currel	38	SPBRC		Rides strong, but still lacks experience. Half the time he is strong enough that it don't matter.
	Ben Dubay	7	LSC		And the hits just keep coming from the Doobie Bros.
	Matt "Little Guy" Allen	53	Grumpy's/LGR		Can one of you tell the Little Guy to shave his legs. Please. He won't listen to me.
15	Kevin Schaeffer	50	LSC		Cuz we won't hear the end of it if he's not on the list.

Others to watch in the Men fields:
Robert Danneker (Grumpy's): "Tuffy" likes to look good on the bike. It'd look better if he was winning.
Tim Hayes (Grumpy's): "Did you see me eliminate Bergman in the miss and out?"
Donimator Don Schmichael (LSC): Looking to not get relegated this season.

2007 Track Power Rankings!	name:	bib #	team:	+/- from last week	comments:
1	Dahlman	74 & 75	U/A		I put the Dahlman Sisters in a dead heat for the top slot! They are both riding really well, and it has nothing to do with not knowing which one is which.
1	Dahlman	74 & 75	U/A		see above.
3	Sara Brokaw	65	Gopherwheelmen		Tough to beat when she's around
04	Elena Dorr	1	U of M		Riding well, but after a few weeks off will the form still be there???
5	Gwen steel	2	Grumpy's/LGR		Set a blistering pace early in the season, but has been fading... She has managed to hold the TROY jersey all year so far, will the reign end this week?

Others to watch in the Womens field:

Amber Kolher (Alan): Tend to find herself in the right place at the right time. Now is it by chance, or by choice?

Linsey Hamilton (Bike Club): Very strong. Very. Once she get a grip on track tactics it'll be all over for the rest of the field.
Jessica Wittwer (Birchwood): Continues to race well, and hold her own, despite the lack of teammates. Kudos!