Yesterday I got up pretty early for me, before 6  am, and headed over to Lawrence with Bill to do aschool visit at Woodlawn Elementary School with my TradeWind Energy Cycling Team.  We did the same thing last year and it seems it is going to be an annual happening.

TradeWind Energy teamed up with Sunflower Bike Shop to present the kids with new lights, front and rear, plus a Woodlawn Bicycle Club t-shirt.  The team did a little question/answer period and then the kids, that brought their bikes, did a few obstacle courses, got their new lights mounted up and had their bikes checked out by mechanics from Sunflower.

Overall, it was a good day.  We got our new team clothing, so everyone was suited up in new kits.  TradeWind is slowly morphing from a wind energy company to a solar energy company.  WInd energy is going to slow down a lot because of governmental policies.  TradeWind changed their colors, thus we had to also.  It is always nice getting new stuff.

The Tour of California today is going to be interesting.  I called Sagan winning the time trial yesterday.  It did seem a little weird, but  that is the way of professional cycling nowadays. Normally, a good sprinter isn’t a good time trial rider, but Sagan is also a good classic’s rider, so that was my consideration.  I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Sagan wins the Tour of California overall.  I think he hangs with the climbers today.  That is another reach, but nothing he does is really that surprising.  He has received a lot of criticism from Tinkoff, his team owner, so I think he has something to prove.

It is going to be rainy all day here in Kansas.  There was a one day race in St. Louis today, but that is a long way to drive for an hour race.  Plus, the prize list was $250 total for the Pro 1/2 race.  That is sort of  pitiful, even for a local race.  I’m  a little under the weather again, at least on my bike.  I think it is because of all the pollen here, but it might just be life.

Tomorrow, my team mate, Brian Jensen is going to do his last big ride before trying to defend his Dirty Kanza 200 title, in a couple weeks.  He is planning on riding 150 miles on gravel.  I hope to do some, or most of that, with him.  Since everyone thinks I train so scatter-brained, this fits right in.  What I really need is speed work.  We did a pretty hard ride yesterday evening.  There were just 5 of us and we had nearly a 22 mph average when we got back to town.  It was pretty windy, plus muggy.  I woke up pretty spent this morning.

I usually take Catherine’s mom out to breakfast on Saturday mornings, when I’m in town, but she never got back to me today, so she must be busy. Okay, think I’ll head down to the farmer’s market and get some fresh eggs.

Showing the kids the obstacle course.

Dan Hughes, owner of Sunflower Bike shop, mounting some lights on one of the kid’s bikes.

Bill trying to put a chain back on. These kid’s bikes are somewhat of a challenge. Lots from Walmart, etc.

Future field of racers. Pretty cute.

This was one of my favorites. She had a complete Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle thing going on.

Our new kits. We got a lot more clothing this year, which is always nice. Lots of different winter jackets and bibs.

I don’t really get cramping.  I’ve always cramped.  My friend Ed Bauman, who was partially responsible for getting me into cycling, used to call cramps Charlie horses.  Ed would cramp famously.

We were doing a road race down in Arkansas City and Ed was riding the long race.  He was probably a Cat 3 at the time.  I finished the young juniors race and Kris had done the “real” juniors race and we took the VW pickup out to try to feed Ed.  We found Ed and he was pretty done.

He said that he was cramping and it was super painful.  Next thing I know, both Ed’s legs are seized up and he coasts to a stop and falls over.  I jump out of the VW to run to Ed.  He is laying on the ground screaming.  But he isn’t screaming because of cramping, he’s screaming because it is 100 + degrees out and the pavement is scalding.  I didn’t have any shoes on and just when I get about to Ed, my feet are burning, so I have to run off the road and just watch.  Kris gets out, with shoes and gets Ed up off the pavement.  It was ugly.

Anyway, cramping is a very had thing to figure out.  Exercise physiologists have their ideas about why athletes cramp, but most are wrong.  Each athlete has their own observations too, which most are just out there.

Yesterday, I knew I was going to cramp.  It was going to be over 6 hours and one of the first hot rides I’ve done.  Plus, it was all on gravel, which meant a bunch of harder pedaling.

I didn’t cramp bad.  Actually, I really didn’t cramp at all while riding.  I felt like I was going to, but kind of kept them at bay.  I actually carried a baggy of electrolyte tables, which I ate religiously. That didn’t really help.  And I drank a ton, at least for me.  In 112 miles, I drank at least 8 big bottles, plus 2 28 ounce Gatorades and a cup of coffee.  That is about as much as I could have consumed, considering where we were riding and the availability of liquids.

Not cramping while riding is one thing, but after is another.  All evening, into the night, I was twitching.  I’m getting cramps in weird places, not normal places, this year.  Historically, I’ve had sartorius muscle, both legs.  Then sometime in my left hamstring.  This year I’ve been getting foot cramps, plus cramps in my calves and sometimes even in my hands.  Weird.  These cramps aren’t  nearly as debilitating as a hamstring cramp, but they are still ugly.

When I’m not riding good, I tend to cramp a lot more.  Yesterday, that was the case.  I’ve been in a funk the past couple weeks and cramping comes with funk.  Heat, funk and distance usually is the recipe for cramping for me.

We ended up with 112 miles yesterday.  I think Brian had over 130.  My brother went out on an early ride and then rode again after.  I’m not sure what he ended up with but he said he was trying to break his record day of 171.  I’m sure he did it.  I’d bet he ended up with close to 200.  I don’t really have a desire to ride that far.  Especially in training.  My butt would be too sore.

My legs still have those phantom cramps this morning.  They feel like they want to cramp, but aren’t.  Sometimes that lasts for days.  I hope not this time.

Changing the subject, how about calling Peter Sagan win in the overall in the Tour of California. I predicted it on Saturday, after he won the time trial.  He won by a tire width, getting the 3rd place bonus at the finish yesterday.  That was closer than I thought it was going to be.   I thought he would have had it wrapped up by the time bonus, but Cavendish and company did a very good job at protecting the led.  Just not enough.

The Giro is on its first rest day.  That race has been good to watch in the morning.  Aru is pretty aggressive, plus Astana is stupid strong.  Sometimes they have 6 guys left when Contador is pretty much on his own.  That might ultimately make the difference in this race, I don’t know. Crazy it is just the end of the first week.

Okay, I have to decide what I’m doing the next couple weeks.  I don’t feel like I have any form to race, but know I need to race to get form to race.   Strange how that is.  I’ll figure it out in the next couple days I guess.

It rained so much on Saturday night. The river is so full. Usually there are sandbars here.

The roads were sometimes nearly underwater yesterday. We had to deviate around some low water bridges.

We flatted a ton yesterday. Eric flatted 3 times, me too. I hate stopping for flats on a hot day.

We moved a couple turtles yesterday. This was the first snapping turtle I’ve encountered that wasn’t as mean as hell. The one earlier, bit through a 2 inch stick I was using to push it off the road.

Trudi took this photo after the Tour of California yesterday.