Bikes and Family

It's been a busy couple weeks and I figured it was time to drop a few lines. No races the past couple weeks for myself, but our team had a great showing yesterday at Baldwin City.
I've been riding a lot, mostly commuting, but the miles have been feeling good. I didn't ride much Saturday or Sunday, but instead slept in and spent extra time with the family. We got a group together Friday and rode to the farmhouse in Lathrop. It was Kathy's second ride back since Levi, and she did great. We rolled in about 8:30, just beating one of the most amazing storms I've ever seen. We sat on the porch eating BBQ and enjoying the company of friends and family. Saturday I worked on the fence with my dad and Derek, and went down to Power Plant that evening to hang out with the team, and take some pictures. We had a lot of guys out of town so we didn't have the whole team, but those who came down are the ones that have been doing all of the racing. The team is really strong, and I think the next couple years will be exciting.
Tarah and Tristan got engaged last weekend, and they are planning a wedding for next June. The family is growing all the time!
I've got big plans for riding this weekend, and hope to get in a lot of miles. Next week I'm going to Park City Utah for the Cannondale show. 4 days of riding in the mountains on some sweet bikes...should be a good time.

Ironman Kansas 70.3

I'm glad this race is over.
It's been a busy few months with the new store and new baby, and my training has taken a major hit. I got in one swim prior to the race, and when I saw Kathy at the halfway mark of the run I realized that that was my longest run of the year. It's nice to know that I have the fitness to finish, but my speed is not even close to what it once was.
Tarah, Carter, and I spent the night at Bundy's house to get an extra hour of sleep, which was definitely nice, but 4:45 is still early.
The swim went exactly as planned...slow. 36:30-37:00, somewhere in there. I felt alright though and I took my sweet time at the first transition to make sure I was ready for a tough bike course. It only took about 15 miles to realize that I had not completely recovered from the Dirty Kanza and my legs were still pretty useless. The was a nasty section of headwind from about mile 34-42 and it made everyone suffer. It was blowing in a nasty storm that would affect the rest of the race. I came off the bike at 2:46.37 with a 20.2 average. Not too bad, but it was time to see if I had anything left to run 13 miles.
The first couple of miles felt surprisingly good. I was stopping and walking the aid stations, and drinking as much as I could. I didn't feel like eating anything solid, so I took in a bunch of Gatorade, water and a few power gels. The run course was great. Rolling terrain, that wound through Bloomington Park at Clinton Lake. A good mix of pavement, and gravel and great crowd support. Next year I will be camping out there for sure. There were markers every mile, but I didn't see the 8 mile mark. So when I got to mile 9 I was pleasantly surprised. I then only had 4 more miles and I tried to pick it up a bit. That only last a mile until my legs really started to hurt. I was afraid of cramping so I backed it off a bit. Mile 12-13 was pretty easy and it's always nice to see my family out there cheering me on!
Thanks to Kali, Derek, Beth, my Dad, Kathy and Levi for all of your support! And a huge congrats to Tarah, Larry, Carter, Todd and Diego for awesome races. It was nice to see all of my customers out there on their bikes!
Final time was 5:26.50-something. 34 minutes off my pr, but all things considered I was pretty pleased with my effort.
Now I can focus on my riding and whatever adventures await me!

Dirty Kanza

Well I've had a few days to recover and take in the whole experience, and finally have a few minutes to write about it...so here goes.
Friday, extremely busy day at work. I worked at the old store and was able to cut out at 4:30. Picked up Slater and Kristen, and rolled into Emporia at about 7:00. Picked up packets, met up with the others, and piled 5 of us, 5 bikes and enough perpetuem for a lifetime into one small hotel room.
Rider meeting was at 5:45 and the race started promptly at 6:00, despite a slight threat of tennis ball sized hail.
Rolled out in neutral start until the gravel and then it was on. Mr. Hughes was not messing around, and spent much of the first 10 miles or so about 25 meters off the front. Once the pace picked up it was decision time. Last year I went too hard the first 100 and was not able to finish. This year I decided to back off and pace myself a little better. Our team held together pretty well for the first 40 or so. Bundy had mechanicals, Waller flatted, so Slater and I rolled into Madison together. Kristen was not far behind, so when we pulled out of Madison, we slowed the pace to keep the team together. At about mile 60, after a couple deep water creek crossings, we go head to head with Texaco Hill. Some awesomely nasty hills filled with oil rigs, cows, and wind. By the end of the big hill it was Brandon, Waller and myself, and Brandon was still having major mechanicals. We had to stop and work on his bike for a while, and Kristen rolled past us.
We caught up to her at about 95 and the 4 of us rolled into Cottonwood Falls together.
Waller and Slater had enough at this point and opted to call it a day. I refueled, rehydrated and rolled out with Chris Berger from Lawrence. The next 10 miles or so were pretty tough. Not too hilly, but just mentally tough with a nice headwind. Berger and I flatted at mile 115, which was actually a much needed rest. We then rolled through a really pretty section in the trees with some nice clear creek crossings. We took a little splash bath to cool of and kept on moving. Met up with Lelan from Emporia who was having flat troubles, and him, Kristen and I rode the next 30 miles together at a nice "easy" pace.
The three of us took off at mile 154 together and I was feeling great. I cranked it on the first hill and had a 1/2 mile before I knew it. I decided just to push it to see if I could hold this pace over the next 40 miles. I felt great until about mile 190 when I made a right hand turn onto some dirt road that had been rutted out by 4x4 after the last rain fall. The next 8 miles were very slow moving, but I could see Emporia in the distance, so all was good.
I called Kathy with about 2 miles to go to let her know I had made it. I then really bonked. I actually had to eat a powerbar with less than 2 miles, I thought my legs were going to fall off.
I finished at 15:15.15. 201.82 miles. Very long day, and it's going to be a long year preparing for next year. And Trans-Iowa is only 11 months away...