Category Archives: Comments about Cycling

Earth Day. Not in Kansas today. Burning field rant. Again.

This entry was posted in Comments about Cycling, Racing, Uncategorized on by .

This is going to be toned down from last year. It is Bullshit how many people burn their grass in the country. It must be nearly the only place in the civilized world that allows this. I read yesterday that the county is issuing burning permits to the end of May. That is way past the point where it is beneficial for the grass for cattle. So, it is for lazy ditch burners. Good way to get rid of the plastic pop bottle rubbish. Anyway, it has been pretty bad the last couple days. Along with all the trees, flower, and grass allergies, it is nearly impossible to breath. At least breathe properly. Some photos (via iPhone) of the evening ride tonight.

Burning the ditches.

Burning the ditches.


Finished product.

Finished product.


Descending into the abyss.

Descending into the abyss.


My cute dog keeping me company between races in Oklahoma last weekend. He's a great sleeper.

My cute dog keeping me company between races in Oklahoma last weekend. He's a great sleeper.

Old Capitol Criterium – Iowa City, IA

This entry was posted in Comments about Cycling, Racing on by .

Driving to Charlottesville, Virginia and stopped at a Panera for dinner. Anyway, a short update. Here’s a link to the Iowa City newspaper for more.

We raced the 2nd day in Iowa City. Old Capitol Criterium. Great criterium course. 6 corners. Steep downhill into technical right hand corner. Pretty hard big ring climb. Good course. It was warm and muggy. Never rained as predicted. Windy though. 40 laps of an .8 mile loop.

This was obviously going to be a much harder race than yesterday. We started racing aggressively right from the gun. Eventually 9 of us got away from the field. TradeWind Energy, us, had 3. Both Brian and I were feeling good. With about 16 laps to go, they announced a prime. I went for it and when I got caught on the next lap I could see everyone was pretty much done. I told Brian to go and he put his head down for a lap and it was over. By the time I took my first pull I couldn’t see the remainder of the break. We got into the field in just a few more laps. Bill and Shad were there and then it became a TTT. Brian took another crazy hard pull with 2 to go and we just about caught the remainder of the break with one to go, but missed them. The field sprinted into them, but they went around for another lap. Nick was 4th on the day. It was pretty picture perfect tactics. But, it’s easy to have good tactics when the course suits your abilities.

I’ve raced this race 3 times and have won twice and finished 2nd once (to Brian). Brian has raced it twice and has won once and finished 2nd, to me, once. I’ve raced in Iowa City, on the road, 6 times and have won 3 times and team mates have won the other 3. Wish they had more races there.

I’m driving to Charlottesville, Virginia to do some testing on my legs. Long story, but it should clear up to questions I have. Joe Martin NRC in 10 days.

Victory shot from the newspaper.

Victory shot from the newspaper.

Podium shot.

Podium shot.


Great venue. Old Capitol in the background.

Great venue. Old Capitol in the background.