I woke up early, 4 am. to watch the Junior World Championships in cyclocross. I was interested to see how well the young kids negotiate the sand. Also, I wanted to watch to see if Adrie Van der Poel’s son, Mathieu, could win as the all out favorite. Plus, my friend, Thomas Frischknecht has a son, Andri, who was racing too.
After watching the race, I’m not sure it is such a great course for a World Championship. I know that it has been used for decades for cyclo-x and is famous, but there is just too much sand too early in the race. Too much sand in general if you ask me. If I was anyone lining up more than 3 or 4 rows back, I wouldn’t even bother starting. The race is going to be over for them less than a minute into the event. It was chaos for the junior men and there weren’t that many of them.
Mathieu Van der Poel rode an excellent race. I don’t think he had his A game on and still won. Or maybe he just isn’t as good in the sand as the Belgium riders. The Belgian, Wout van Aert, rode excellent too. He led early got caught, regrouped and separated himself from the group to finish 2nd alone, less than 10 seconds back. I think on a different day with a different mindset, he could have won that race. He seemed pretty happy to finish 2nd, making me think that he had already given 1st to Van de Poel.
Since I’m up, I’m going to watch the U23 race at 8 am CST. I’m watching it on Belgium TV here. I’m hoping Zach McDonald has a good race and finishes in the top 10. He has been having a stellar season and deserves to finish it off on a high note.
I spent 15 hours or so on the roof Thursday and am pretty much finished with it. I’m getting some drip edge bent and after I put that on, it’s done. Everything went pretty seamless. No problems, even though the wind was gusting over 30 mph when we were laying the rubber. I think I have the process down well enough that I can do it in about any wind, but you never know. I think I’ve went up and down the ladder at least 300 times the last few days. Usually carrying something heavy either up or down. My calves are toast. Someone left this kind of pointed message on my facebook page – “Just think if u have to work all year long like the rest of us. Would u still race?” I wrote back, yes I would, but that I don’t think think there are any professional cyclists that are also professional, full time, roofers anywhere on this planet. I might be wrong in this, but I’m pretty sure no one could juggle both jobs.
The weather here in Kansas is supposed to be stellar the next few days. In the 50’s over the weekend and then in the lower 60’s most of next week. I’m hopefully going to get in some big, slow miles.
Mathieu van der Poel winning today in Belgium. He was pretty emotional crossing the line.
Trudi and Bill putting on the last of the flashing.
It turned out pretty good, no wrinkles.
Mike Yozell worked construction for years while racing as a pro. Lucky for him he now has a gig with Bicycling Magazine, but still . ..
That roofing job looks stellar! The pros may have done it quicker, but I bet that roof will last for years because you guys have a vested interest in making sure it doesn’t leak. I think it’s always a great idea to do your own home/car maintenance if you think you can handle the job. BTW, that work comment is just stupid. No one knows the circumstances and details of another person’s life. You have made other sacrifices that none of us know about. Also, I enjoy following your career. Your success took a tremendous amount of work. Life choices…keep it up.
I know Mike. There is a huge difference between carpentry/construction and roofing. There is nothing light and no easy work or comfortable positions on nearly any roofing project.
Hey Steve FYI you might want to post some links for your cyclingdirt.org interviews. As a reader of your blog I thought they were excellent, especially your “good blood” one.
“the pros may have done it quicker” … LOL… Steve is a pro, he should take this up if he ever decides to quit bike racing. There are two kinds of builders – the kind who do quality work like Steve, and the “pros” who cut corners, screw their customers on materials, and do a substandard job with the cheapest labor they can find. There’s a guy in Lawrence who does quality work like Steve does, that’s Mark van Vliet, and he’s busy year round, even when the housing market has all but collapsed. Another person like that is Keith Middlemas, who did the stonework to restore the Douglas County Courthouse to its 1890s appearance. It was easy selecting him for the job, he has no peer in the Midwest – even though he’s far too modest to admit that…
Very nice job on the roof. And I agree, it looks way better than most of the “pro” jobs I’ve seen. Two years ago I loaded roofing shingles full time, and it’s no picnic. I loaded 3-4 roofs a day, each averaging 3-4 tons. We used a boom, but the bundles had to be stacked on the peak, so there was a lot of walking involved. I put on about 20 lbs. of muscle, which really didn’t help me on the bike either. Tired as hell at the end of every damn day and not much left for training. Yeah, there’s no way in hell a roofer can be anywhere close to being a pro cyclist, or even a halfway-decent amateur one.
Steve why are you bending your own drip edge? Roofing supply house will sell sticks of it. Also No shame in having the roof stocked. You would have saved yourself time and a lot of wear and tear on your body.
The difference between being a good carpenter and a broke carpenter is simple. Look ahead and think what is going to be the consequence for an action. Will cutting a corner here cost me in the long run.
Next project shoot me a message and me and the boys at work can lend some advice that will help in the long run
BTW the pictures look like you did a real nice job
With the elite Men’s race coming up chances are we won’t have somebody in the top ten.
Is there a way to get information on the riders NOT in the top 10 during the live broadcasts?
With all the video out there having a single camera on a fixed slow spot on course would be a great low-tech enhancer to the coverage. It could be in an optional split screen.
Thomas-Yeah, all valid points. I’m not bending the drip edge. I’m having a roofing company bend it. It needs to be custom to cover the insulation . It’s only $1.60 per lineal foot. I only need 80 feet.
Stocking the roof wasn’t an option. It wasn’t accessable for a crane or belt. Plus, we only needed to get the rubber up there. I didn’t buy the rubber, it was supplied. And it came in a very small box folded a million times, not in a roll. I had to take it to my building and lay it out in the sun for a couple days and then roll it and re roll it the opposite direction to get the creases out.
I don’t cut many corners. At least corners I know. I figure it is supposed to last for longer than me, so I might as well do it correctly the first time.
what a pain.Looks good though. Come to stl next week and pack concrete forms with us. We are building a 3000sq ft house on the side of a hill. Should do great things for my riding
stuck keys should say 3000