Category Archives: Racing

Cross Nationals-Stage 3, California Giant Strawberries Cup, Sunday Revenge Race

This entry was posted in Racing on by .

Last year I experienced it, but this year confirms it. Cyclo-X stage racing is hard. It’s the third race in 3 days, with a bunch of standing around before and after the races. It’s hard not watching the races when you’re a bike racing fan. Anyway, they lined up anyone with a National Champion jersey on the front row. I started just OK and was 6th or so the first lap. But, I was completely out of juice. Almost like I bonked. The second time on the road section I got passed by 5 or 6 guys and was on the back of a 7-man train. I was getting spit out the back through the slinky-effect and after another half a lap, I completely sat up. I thought about quitting, but so many people were yelling I kept riding around. Eventually, I got into a group in the late teens that were riding about the speed I could go. I sat on the back of 3 guys pretty much the last 5 laps. The race was the full race distance of the day before, 8 laps. I couldn’t believe it. A few guys ahead started blowing gaskets and a few more flatted. Trebon flatted on the second lap and looked like he was quitting, but 2 or 3 laps later, he came by again. It was nice to see that he was riding mildly hard the day after winning “the race”. Anyway, through attrition, etc. my group ended up sprinting for the top 10. I was 9th on the day, which was way better than I deserved. Tim Johnson schooled everyone. His time was only 20 seconds or so slower than Ryan’s the day before. That was pretty impressive. I wasn’t that far off timewise either. I don’t really understand it, I was pretty much blown the whole race and only kept riding because it was the Nationals weekend and the last race of the season. That, plus, I don’t quit races unless I’m hurt or sick. Anyway, I was glad to be done. Next year’s Nationals are in Kansas City and I’m going to make it a major goal of the season.

Results

1 Tim Johnson (Cannondale/cyclocrossworld.com
2 Mark Mccormack (Clif Bar)
3 Jonathan Baker (Harshman Wealth Management / Primus Mootry)
4 Ben Jacques-Maynes (cyclocrossworld.com/SRAM)
5 Ryan Trebon (Kona)
6 Adam Myerson (Nerac-OutdoorLights.com Pro Cycling)
7 Erik Tonkin (Kona)
8 Tristan Schouten (Trek/VW/Michelin)
9 Steve Tilford (Verge/Shimano)
10 Taylor Carrington (Turin – Powerbar)

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New Year Ramblings

This entry was posted in Racing, Totally Irrelevant on by .

Happy New Year. I thought I’d better add some content to this even though nothing much has gone on since Cross Nationals. I added a web counter that monitors web hits etc. and I’m starting to feel guilty about everyone checking back here with nothing new posted. Anyway, I went up to Northern Wisconsin (Cable) the day after Christmas for a couple weeks of cross country skiing. No snow. Drove up to ABR in Michigan a few times, but that got alittle old. There is still virtually no snow there. The global warming critics have to be out of their minds. When I first went up there in the early 90’s, there was over a meter of snow before Christmas and it never stopped snowing until spring.

I’ve had some muscle imbalance (self diagnoised) issues and decided to do some weight/core stuff this winter other than skiing and construction. I went to Julia (personal trainer in Topeka) yesterday and did alot of “different” balance/weight things. I can’t believe how pitiful I was at most everything. It was 66 degrees in Kansas today. A record high for the critics. I rode 70 miles to Lawrence and back, stopping at Starbucks. Now I can barely walk I’m so sore from weights/whatever. It’s weird that when I’m sore from a different activity, it gets exacerbated from riding.

Applied for a new racing license a couple days ago. I wanted to be prepared just in case one of those warm early season trips came around just when the weather sucks here in Kansas. Anyway, when I was on “my USAC” section, I clicked on the ranking and I’m ranked #1 again under National Elite Criterium Rankings and fifth or something in the Road Race category. Someone emailed a link to this years ago when I was first in both categories and I could never figure out how or why or what they used for information/results to formulate/calculate these rankings. Last year at the end of the season, I was something like 20th. It is 11 days into 2007. No criteriums so far. But, I’ve moved up to #1. If anyone out there has figured this out, let me know. I guess they think including Tony Cruz, Brad Huff, etc. makes the “amateurs” look better. Anyway, I’ll paste the rankings below to make it look good for sponsors/potential sponsors/people that think they actually mean anything. Here’s a couple photos. A happy Steve/mediocre ski shot from Michigan with teammate Adam Mills (he’ll just hurt himself with poles.) You’ll have to take my word on it that we are standing on skis. And, a New Year’s Night, way past midnight, walk in the North Woods fun. Anyway, I’ll get back to you when something more eventful happens.

2007 Elite Road Mens Cat 1 Criterium Rankings

Rank Points Name License Hometown
1 57 Stephen Tilford 35598 Topeka, KS
2 59 Antonio Cruz 79555 Long Beach, CA
3 86 Patrick Dunaway 90607 Oakland, CA
4 87 Charles (Brad) Huff 132539 Colorado Springs, CO
5 94 Matt Shriver 110703 Durango, CO
6 96 Karl Bordine 163315 Oceanside, CA
7 101 James Carney 45167 Macungie, PA
8 102 Jason Snow 33370 Tallahassee, FL
9 110 Jonathan Page 27066 Northfield, NH
10 118 Phil Wikoff 117896 Austin, TX
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