Hijinx From the Midwest

Well hello to you from the beautiful Midwest.  I am here with some friends to race bikes in Iowa City.  That's yours truly on the bike and our accommodations for the next few nights in the background.  just an awesome B&B with great innkeepers.  If your travel plans ever include Iowa City, I highly recommend staying at the Brown Street Inn.  Everything in  the house is perfect, the food is awesome, and the rooms are spacious and comfortable.

So I got here with my buddy Ducky on Thursday afternoon.  We got our bikes built up and then went for a cruise through town and along a river and through some really nice parks.  It was nice to spin the legs after the flights.

Me with Ducky post ride day 1.



Yesterday we didn't race until 4pm so it was kind of nerve wracking waiting around all day to hear the whistle.  But after a great breakfast, we kind of chilled out for a while reading and hanging out.  We hit the store to get a little lunch and to buy some stuff to eat post ride.  Any by "eat" I really mean "drink" if you know what I mean.  Cyclocross is more of a drinking game with some racing thrown in to keep you honest.

We got to the venue a little early to do some practice laps on the course and to warm up.  The last two years have been really really mucky.  This year it's been dry for weeks and the temps are in the low 90's.  So quite the change from what we've had in the past.  It certainly is less problematic when the conditions are dry, but the heat adds an element of insanity.  Really it's like racing in an oven.  But everyone is in the same oven, so let fly.  I had an incredible start and rocketed into the top five.  I kind of got blown out the back on a long steep run up they have here and probably went back to 10th or so.  But I was really feeling strong on the rest of the course and was able to slowly claw my way forward.  I'm bummed that I'm not running better as I've been doing running hill repeats in anticipation of this race.  But being able to get the power on with the other sections makes up for it, I suppose.  I was able to nab 5th place which I'm pretty stoked about.  Lots of fast guys here from all over the country so a top 10 is fairly respectable.  More racing this afternoon.  Should be just as hot and we have to go up that hill again.  Should be painful, but the beer post race will be cold and that you can be sure.

My Cousin Tommy with his son Mathew (first Cousin once removed?)


My cousin Tommy is a professor at Western Illinois University.  That's in Macomb and I finally got around to looking into how far that is from Iowa City.  Turns out it is pretty close.  So I reached out to see if I could come down there for breakfast on Sunday.  He said yes and then asked when I was racing.  As it turns out, he is taking his son to a soccer tournament in the Quad Cities which is an hour from here and if you squint, puts Iowa City kind of in the same direction from Macomb.  The both of them decided to come and watched the hilarity that is Cyclocross.  Mathew said he got tired watching it.  Which I didn't know if he meant that it was boring or if he meant it looked painful and by contact, he got tired too.  I'm thinking more bored but he seemed to be a good sport about being there.  He's a pretty talented athlete and is a great cross country runner and I  told him he has seen his future then.  The fastest racers have some running in their background.  Was great to have family standing there rooting for you.  Makes a big difference when you are in the lactic acid fog of hell and trying to find just a little more power and energy to catch that next rider just in front of you.  We stuck around to watch the pros race.  It was a beautiful evening and the racing was amazing.  And the innkeeper was super cool about them staying with me last night and fed them breakfast this morning before they had to get to the soccer games.



Cooling down with Tobin Ortenblad

 

That's me in the parking lot after the race "cooling down" with Tobin.  He was cooling down and I was more or less bugging him.  He is the nicest guy and it is great watching him get stronger and stronger against the best in the country and the world now.  Last night he was the second fastest American and was 11th overall.  Nine of the top 10 spots were taking by European's who are here for the World Cup race that is going off tomorrow.  Needless to say (but I'm going to say it anyway), it is a phenomenal result.  His parents are here and I saw them on the sidelines and told them that all of us from NorCal are pulling hard for him to have nothing but success.  When you are a pro, you get a following.  Unfortunately for Tobin, we're it.  Like gum on the bottom of your shoe I suppose.

Anyway, more to follow so stay tuned...and, you should be here.

Johnny GoFast