DClog

Pavement Ends

Dan and Marshall

Marshall and I met Theron, Doug and Matt for a trip around the 60-mile "Walton County Loop". We hadn't seen Matt on a bike in quite a while so that was a pleasant surprise. There were a couple of sprints and friendly competition but mostly just steady pedaling and conversation.

I brought along my camera and caught a couple of seconds of cycling action which I put together into a little movie featuring a Star Wars theme. You should right-click on the link below and select "Save Target As...", then play the Windows Media Video from your computer.

Walton County Loop/Star Wars Movie

Words to Ride By

"If you never confront climbs, you’re missing the essence of the sport. With ascents comes adversity. Without adversity there’s no challenge. Without challenge, no improvement, no sense of accomplishment, no deep-down joy.”

- Betsy King, U.S. road racer and cycling coach; 5-time women’s Tour de France rider (winner of 2 stages and climber’s jerseys); multi-time national champion and World Cup winner.

Smell of Summer

Last week the fragrance of the flowering honeysuckle and privet was like a heavy perfume in the air. This week the aroma of early summer is nearly gone.

This afternoon while walking the dogs past the daisy pond, I photographed some of the Waxleaf privet (Ligustrum lucidum) and Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) flowers - wish I could document the scent of their ivory and yellow bouquet.

Honeysuckle and Privet

Daisy Pond

A couple more photos in the gallery

GTC Championship

The 59-mile Yargo-High Shoals route was the battleground that would decide the 2005 GTC club champion. Being the club president, webmaster, race team director and one of the oldest members, I felt obligated to be competitive at this inaugural event.

I had previewed and memorized the course in the weeks previous to the race. My brother Doug volunteered to drive the support car, which gave me more confidence.

Following our race director, Mike Owens, motivational pre-race speech, I decided to attack from the beginning and try my luck with a breakaway. I didn't know that everyone would leave me out there to fry by myself the entire way.

After a brutal 2:38:57 of pedaling at my threshold, I crossed the finish line. The chasing peloton arrived about five minutes later, lead by David Alley with Carey McDurmon on his wheel.

After it was all done I had averaged 22.3 MPH solo for 59 miles, and that officially makes me one very tired bike rider!

Dan's HRM data

Bob's HRM data

Men's Jewelry - Watches

It is hard for me to deal with the concept of multi-thousand dollar watches, probably because I've never owned a watch that was worth more than a few dollars, with the exception of my Polar 720i. A watch is probably the only piece of jewelry I will ever wear (besides my earring), so I have to consider the aesthetics as well as the functionality.

Gold and other flashy materials don't fit my persona. Rachel came shopping with me and helped me find a watch that combines comfort, quality, reasonable price with a clean and elegant design. This one comes from Skagen Designs in Denmark.

Ride w/James

James and I met 8 or 9 months ago when Rachel, moved into a dorm room at UGA with James' sister. James is going to Western Kentucky on a swimming scholarship, but his current athletic interest is in being a triathlete. I hooked him up with this road bike and he's doing some bike races for GTC this season. I'm betting that he will make a good criterium rider.

 

James on road bike 1MB Windows Media Video

Union City Criterium photos

Union City Criterium photos

GTC - Union City Omnium 45+

INTRO

Maybe GTC shouldn't have lapped the Smith Barney boys at last week's race, because they brought in North Carolina powerhouses, David Grice and Kent Williams to get revenge this week.

How good is Grice? At Masters Nats '03 Grice nearly had the fastest time of the day beating Bostick and nearly EVERYONE, he was only beaten by a couple seconds by Thurlow Rodgers.

TIME TRIAL - 8 miles

Fortunately Grice went back home after driving down from NC to destroy the 45+ field in the TT. Long breakaway and time trial specialist, Kent Williams, was on great form and took the second spot in the TT. Athens's own Smith Barney rider, Doc Moye took third, and GTC rider Dan Coy had to settle for a fourth place finish. Marshall Millard finished with a top-ten result.

CRITERIUM - 30 minutes + 3 laps

RBM/Velo Voodoo showed up in force and ran this race with textbook precision while Kent Williams (Smith Barney) and Dan Coy (GTC) neutralized each other repeatedly. Despite RBM's excellent teamwork a couple of fast finishing opportunist from out of town took top places. Coy finished in 7th place and Millard further down the results

ROAD RACE - 58 miles

The Smith Barney and RBM teams blocked the entire race while the 3-man break rode away. After 40 miles of soft-pedaling and with the break nearly two minutes up the road, Dan Coy (GTC) launched a flurry of attacks, but the peloton, especially the Smith Barney riders chased everytime with a vengence. Marshall Millard (GTC) took a couple of shots at escapes but was reeled in and eventually went off the back. Meanwhile the break had come back to within a minute.

The breakaway made a fatal mistake as the finish neared and the peloton closed in, they dropped the one RBM rider. The entire RBM team, lead by "the Godfather", Phil Bonfiglio, finally clocked-in and shut down the break in the final miles. It was a field sprint finish.

Smith Barney had their sights on winning the overall Omnium so the GC contenders were marked. RBM had no GC contenders but with their superior numbers (and help from GTC) they took the road race victory. Dan Coy finished in seventh place and Marshall came in later.

OMNIUM

Dan Coy finished fourth place overall and I believe Marshall Millard took eleventh place.

*Other GTC 45+ Masters: Gerard Remery is in Europe with family and Steve Simpson was not available to race this weekend. They were surely missed.

[Photos and stuff coming soon.]

The Evil Jedi Master, Cuisinart

Cuisinart uses the "Dark side of The Force" to rule and conquer the coffee maker universe. This coffee maker makes coffee strong enough to destroy entire planets. However Lord Cuisinart says, "The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of The Force." The caffeine addicts reply with "Don't try to frighten us with your sorcererous ways, lord Cuisinart... Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you to conquer Starbucks..." Lord Cuisinart then uses The Force to choke the caffeine addicts and says "I find your lack of faith disturbing."

May 9th AT Hike

Sunrise

More AT hike photos

Took the canine contingent and backpacked along the Appalachian Trail. We hiked over a mountain or two and headed West from Unicoi Gap traveling about 4 miles or so to the campsite. Then back across the same trail, East back to the parked car. Took some nice photos and made a little movie too.

AT hike Movie
[this is a 28.7MB Window Media Video file. You should RIGHT-CLICK on the link and select "Save Target As..." then save it to your hard drive and play it from there.]

Photos from Senoia

Solo off the front

Ripping away from the chasing pack!

More photos of this race are in the Photo Gallery.

Senoia Speedway Criterium

Senoia Speedway Criterium, it's not a velodrome, but this day it was similar with bicycles racing around a 3/8ths mile banked oval asphalt track.

In the Masters 45+ event, Dan Coy (GTC) lapped the field solo within the first 20 minutes of racing along with the tactful blocking and chase-disrupting of Marshall Millard (GTC). In the end Dan tried to assist Marshall who rode to an impressive 4th place behind two SmithBarney riders, netting a 1st and 4th place for GTC in this event.

Prior to the 45+ event we witnessed Theron Colucci (Cycor, LLC/Contes) in the the Masters 35+ event, ending a six-year hiatus from bike racing (and cycling). While the powerful and well-rehearsed SmithBarney squad took the top spots on the podium, Theron scored a very hard-earned 4th place followed by Rick Rheingans (Aarons/L5Flyers) in 5th.

Later, in the Cat 4 event, Rick Rhiengans attacked solo and was eventually joined by two other riders. Rick was clearly the motor in the breakaway, and his teamed blocked. While the other two in the break eventually came around Rhiengans in the sprint for the line, everyone watching knew this was a great ride by the Aarons/L5Flyers riders and they deserved the recognition.

** Theron Colucci is a former pro cyclist, long-time cycling friend and neighbor. Rick Rhiengans is also a friend and one of my more successful coaching clients. Marshall Millard is a longtime cycling partner, teammate and coaching client.

(photos coming soon)

Working and Playing

Doug and I went to the mountains to do the Classic 3 Gap ride. I did my interval workout and rode easy the rest of the way. I took some photos and movies of Doug riding out on the loop.

I didn't actually fall off a cliff like the altimeter indicates on the graph, I stopped my computer while photographing Doug on the descent, then forgot to turn it back on until I got to the bottom - D'oh!

As soon as I returned from cycling in the mountains I changed into my tuxedo and went to play for a corporate event at the Capital City Club in Brookhaven. The trio sounded good and the people at the party really enjoyed it.

More images in the Photo Gallery

Here's the Movie of Doug cycling in the mountains
[this is a large 10.6MB Windows Media Video file. You should RIGHT-CLICK on the link and select "Save Target As..." then save it to your hard drive and play it from there.]

Roswell Criterium

Photo by Trish Albert southeasterncycling.com

This is a very well-attended Criterium event and I entered the combined field of Masters 30+/40+ (nothing for us 50+ riders). At the starting line was the field limit of 80 racers. Scheduled was forty-five minutes of head-to-head racing with the best Masters in a fairly competitive Southeastern region.

Thinking there was going to be a warm-up lap resulted in me staging near the back. I was able to move forward when the race began and maintained a position near the front.

Some well-represented teams like SmithBarney, The Forum, RBM, and others kept things lively. I had Marshall Millard as a GTC teammate but we simply cued off of the big team's attacks, chases and counter-attacks.

There was "last corner carnage", which I thankfully missed, but it did force me to hit the brakes when the hammer went down. This race was suppose to be a training day for me and I finished 18th out of about 40 finishers, so I was not too disappointed.

20.7 miles in 46 minutes = 27 MPH avg speed