I’m not around Topeka all that often. When I’m riding better, I tend to be somewhere to race that is in line with my form. When I’m not riding so well, then it is best to be home and hang. It is a nice situation to be in.
We have 3 evening rides that leave from our house. Monday, Wednesday & Friday. Tuesdays have turned into a rest day, sort of. They meet at PT’s Coffeeshop and ride 20 miles on the bike path, then head back for $3 pints of beer.
A couple weeks ago, a small group decided to meet at the Governor’s Mansion and ride trails. It is a hard time to do that, since it is in the heat of summer and off-road riding is a ton hotter than riding on the road. It is supposed to be super hot here until the weekend. There is a heat warning until Saturday night, which means that the heat index is supposed to be close to 110 everyday.
I rode over and did the MTB ride last night. There were 7 of us, if you count Trudi riding over there and messing around some. They have been working on the trails, they built a state park there and it is changing a lot, so I am sort of lost all the time.
It was hot, but not insanely hot. It was only super uncomfortable when we stopped to regroup, etc. That is when the sweat started pouring out. I’m not a big sweater, but when it is so humid and hot, everyone drips.
I really enjoyed the ride. I haven’t really just went and ride with a bunch of guys, in line, not going hard. It was super fun honing my rusty singletrack skills, getting to learn my dual suspension bike some. I was, sort of , dreading the ride, before and then it turned out exactly the opposite. Nicely surprising.
My AWD van is over in Lawrence. I’m going to ride over there to get it in a little bit, after the Tour finishes. A friend, Marcos, whose day job is fixing cars, looked at it. I have to replace the AC clutch again. I replaced it last December, so the clutch is under warranty. But, there isn’t one here in Topeka, so that is a problem.
I’m not a bad auto mechanic, well that isn’t true. I have a hard time diagnosing non-obvious problems, which is 90% of being a good mechanic. I don’t have any problems doing the work when I know the problem.
I’m not big on Ilnur Zakarin winning the stage today. It all is in relationship to doping. He has already served a 2 year suspension for doping. Plus the whole Russian doping deal, that is going to be decided this week. I don’t really have any desire watching him ride the Olympics either. The race of the GC guys was interesting though. At least they looking like they were hurting. I did have to agree with Greg Lemond about his views about modern day racing and improvements. “Miracles don’t exist.”
Chuck Magerl, the owner of FreeState Brewery, in Lawrence, sent me this photo. It is from 1983, I believe, at Kansas State Championships. My brother Kris is behind me.
Bill and Eric riding through the open fields at the Governor’s Mansion. Most of the ride is on great singletrack, on the river bluff.
Tucker is doing a good job staying in the shade.
When I saw earlier today it was going to be a mountain top finish I thought I would spend a couple of hours watching it. But I was waiting for the attacks to happen and they just didn’t. Maybe, as you say, they were hurting and couldn’t. But if you are 46 years old like me and brought up on Hinault, then todays stage was a huge let down. I am not sure I am going to tune in much more.
Sunflower State Games held the mountain bike races at Governor’s Mansion for several years. It was a great place to ride and race. The games are using Perry Lake this year and I was wondering the other day what had become of Governor’s. Glad to hear it’s still open and still a great place to ride.
Is it me, or do Steve’s wheel look HUGE in that old pic?
Because those Dura Ace AX brake calipers were so tiny.
I have to object to this post. Where is the Tucker picture at the bottom?
Alexi Grewal won the Olympic road race with performance enhancement. Russians are not the only nation that assists its own athletes in cheating.
That old photo looks like something right out of Breaking Away. Classic. Big ringin’ it, and no helmets. Classic. Hey Steve, throw some more really old vintage pics up once in awhile. They bring a smile to my face. Even though I’ve only been a mtber, it still is cool to see them.
I do want to clarify, those are “kind of” helmets…I stand corrected.
Thanks for adding T-Dog!
Can you please compare and contrast the “performance enhancement” differences between what Grewal had access to… and the stuff the Russians have access to today? Even with Grewal’s confessions about stimulant use (nominal performance improvement… at best) you’d probably have a very hard time convincing Steve Bauer that he was actually beaten by a doper. He led the whole thing out and was out-sprinted by a guy who chose a better gear for the situation.
You sure that’s ’83 and not ’82?
I shot some pics of you and Roy at nationals in San Diego that summer, and you guys were in your SRC “tiger stripes” by then.
Sure. Let’s see, pseudo-ephedrine versus Actovegin, micro-EPO, meldonium, nandrolone and heparin…
Let’s call it a wash.
I have huge respect for Wout Pouwels. But come on! Day after day grinding on in the peleton? He’s THAT good?
Please. It will likely come out in a few years that those dudes are juiced as hell.
Doesn’t remind me of Postal at all. Nope. Not at all. No name climbers sitting on the front grinding off the best in the world. Doesn’t at all sound like Heras, Hamilton, Livingston, Beltran, Zubeldia, Landis, Vandevelde, Popyvich, Rubiera, etc,etc.
http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/07/tour-de-france/how-skys-brutal-climbing-tactics-work_415421