Finally Pulled One Out

After a long dry spell, I was finally able to dig deep and pull one out. A victory that is. Lots of fun last night at the Stockyard Crits. I got the W in the 35+ 3/4/5 race thanks to the help of my teammates Red Lantern, Shaner, and the Cobra.

I turned around to do the 35+ 1/2/3 race despite being a little blown from my long sprint and did surprizingly well. It was a nice smooth race for the most part too.

The 3/4/5 was the scariest race I've ever done. It was very confusing toward the end with the rider down on the course and corner workers yelling "neutralized". Don't know what the official rules are on that but I feel like we should have stopped the race and resumed thing once they finished tending to the guy. Instead it was a matter of "should I ease up, no race, what's going on, they're still racing, go, slow down, go ..."

I lined up for the 1/2/3 race but I was gassed, dehydrated, and a little crampy so I was just going to tailgun it for a bit as a "cool down". When a dude almost took me and Cullen out in turn 2 I got a little gapped and decided to just bag it early.

It's good to have illness and inury behind me and start to feel good on the bike again. Things are coming along.

Scratched, but the Itch Remains

Almost a totally awesome video. They screwed up the end though. Thanks NSC Veldrome production crew nonetheless.

Click To Play

MAidan Voyage

I passed on Northfield yesterday to spend time with the family, good call.  Northfield is my favorite course and I've done well there but am still looking for a win but I've been racing a lot lately and my heart wasn't in it.  

My son has been eager to lose the training wheels lately.  We worked down to one and yesterday (a day before he turned 4 & 1/2) was the time to ditch the other.  He took off without any help and didn't even crash like his dad!  I couldn't be more proud of his persistence and effort.  Beats the hell out of any pretend bike race!

My Agent is Hard At Work

My agent is performing some preliminary analysis for the 2010 season on which team's are on the short list.

Flanders is too 2009
Synergy is too niche
HWood is too Spastic
GrandStay is too elite
GP is too dooshie
HUP is too "not really a team"
SpeedDick is too Andy-Kruze
LGR too hipster-want-to-be
Gopher Wheelmen is too dorkish
Flat City is too Trek
Cat6 is too too-cool
Birchwood is too hippie though or too vegan

GSCA or AUC it is. Both need to step up the kit designs for 2010 to be legitimate considerations though.

I Have Lost My Hammer

And now I am just the nail.

I think last Thursday night at the track was the worst I have felt on the bike all year. I actually felt like I had a really good night earlier in the week at structured training. Can't figure myself out other than I know I have not spent enough time on the bike in the last 3 weeks or so.

TNL:
Stunk in the Snowball race. Didn't want to blow up early so held back, missed the split, fought for 5th - literally.

Kierin, finished second in my Kierin heat behind Crosby and in front of Ferris. Yeah, a little. Knew I was in for it in the final - Crosby, Tainter, Ferris, Haggerty, Franz, and me. I was pursuaded to perform the famed "Hanna Move" of jumping the field as the motor pulls off (700m is a long way). Might have worked better if Tainter wasn't on the motor. It was a lot of fun to hang in the back and watch all the bumping and banging during the race. Crosby is one ornery bastard during a race. Well I went but James saw me coming and I was effed. Surprisingly I was able to slide in behind him though and was second wheel with one to go. He put the hammer down and I was struggling to hold it. Got passed by everyone coming out of the final turn.

Cat 1/2/3 Points race - Not recovered from the Kierin final, sucked balls.

State Crit Championship:
35+ - The race was fast and hard and a cluster. No coordination in the field. It felt like a Dakota Tech race instead of the State Championship. Hats off to teammate Goblirsh who did more than his fair share on the front trying to get the break back. The front stretch hurt me bad! With 1 1/2 to go someone blew up in front of me and I had to close a gap then someone hosed the final turn before we took the bell and I had to gun it down the finish stretch to get back to the lead pack. Didn't quite get to the wheel in front of me and the wind pounded me into submission after turn one. Blew sky high and got passed by about 10 riders in the last half lap.

Kids Race - Aidan had fun, Adysen cried the last half and stopped about an inch from the finish line. After some pursuasion she performed a bikethrow and finished. She's a chip off the old block (the crying part).

Cat 3/4 - Crazy fast from the gun, after about 4 laps I pulled alongside Jared Roy who also did the 35+ race and asked him if he was hurting as bad as me. I think I heard "Yeah". I pulled off after 6 laps after having closed gap after gap after gap. Toast! I was riding on the sidewalk when I heard, "Hey Frye, get back in there!" It was Jared sitting on the tailgate of his truck. You first. Wish I would have just done the 3/4, would have been more fun.

I hope something starts to click cuz I'm not enjoying myself. The bronchitis is gone but my back, head, and neck still aren't right from my Madison crash. I'm close to hanging it up to get right for the Cross Season I was planning to barely race in. The Red Lantern will call me a pussy and I'll snap out of it and be fine though.

TNL Photos from 6/18

Didn't take many pics, had my back-up camera cuz the good went went "99".

Still Sucking After All These Years

I had way more time off the bike than I would like but hey, that's why there's a master's category. Family stuff, work trips, recovering from my crash, and getting through my bronchitis left me with one whole day of training in the last two weeks. I was in need of a rest week but not like this.

My body isn't recovering well from my crash at the track with Skibby. Headaches, neck pain, and a crooked pelvis have me in need of The Fix and my chiropractor. Good news is the bronchitis is gone!

I raced in the rain soaked Massacre 3/4 field. It seemed really fast to me but I had some dead legs. I thought with the size of our field and the conditions that it would be won in a break so I was very aggressive about trying to join a break and covered lots of moves, nearly every one of them contained a GP rider. They are riding really well together. My activity let Donimator hang out except for one attack by him and Hamlin.

I was working to get a solo break back by Seth Iverson and we had him in our sights heading into the last lap. I was totally gassed and got gapped by Mario's attack on the backstretch. I gave it one good dig to get back and closed a huge gap coming through the second to last turn and got on the back of the lead 5. I had nothing in the sprint and Don ripped away for the LSC win! 4th for me, one spot away from some more chicken.

I have really been struggling on the track this season. My tactics and execution have sucked ass. I know what I'm doing wrong, I just need to stop it and improve my own luck. I think I have the fitness to be more competitive, I've just beat myself. We'll see.

Missing the NVGP

I'm in Nashville and a management meeting and I'm hating the fact that I missed the Uptown Crit. Had a great time at the St. Paul Crit with my best butt-buddy Emily! Hope to be at Stillwater.

NVGP Pics and Controversy

Find NVGP photos and the latest NVGP controversy at bikethrow.com

I found this in the Port-O-Potties near the finsih of the TT. Vials of urine secured with lovely Yellow Jersey yellow tape. Funny joke by someone, guessing it was a commentary on Flandis.

Gorey Massacre Pictures

I think Timmer won the 1/2 race. Will M. won the 3/4 race again. I had a better night, I won chicken! Fun race. Thanks again Cat6