MY GOD have you seen the CROSS races coming up?? Wisc/Illinois If you live out here and race cyclo cross this year you could be looking at well over 20+ races to play at.
ANd if you drive to other events it just gets better and better. .....its really getting popular.
This is incredible!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Elgin race.
I raced Elgin. (yay a hill finally)
But I started to hear the stories about the Elk Grove race. I didn't race that race. A local gal won, Kirsten Meshburg. She rocks!
Personally, I want the Omnium. I would love that. Okokok. I didn't race because I took a nap, laid out on the deck and was just lazy lazy lazy. Ok? But it felt good to nap and be lazy. I needed that. Still....To have an omnium like the men have would be WONderful. So close to home. A weekend of NRC points.that would be so sweet. I guess when I heard some gals were not going to be there I lost a bit of momentum to go. Maybe women are more apt to do things when we hear other women are going. It might be the case. Or maybe its just that its august and there are things that need to be taken care of non-bike related. Like laying out on the deck and being lazy. We are so mysterious. :)~
I did Elgin and only 10 women showed up but they offered the same purse as advertised. It paid out 10 deep. :) It was fun. A HILL! yay. More fun than I had in a looong time at a race. I enjoyed it immensely and to think I almost didn't go! I am so glad I went. It made me like racing again.
The only thing scary was a tight corner at the bottom of a fast descent. Then a faster still downhill chicane with an acute angle going up the hill. Like an S. It was mapped out to look just like Shorewood in design but the chicane was much tighter and the profile was a fast down then UP then turn right and UP some more. It was a good 'crit' hill, not too steep and if you keep your momentum it was just an 'out of the saddle' good hard pump for a bit. Powerful stuff. If you tapped your brakes at all you were going to suffer. NO brakes. Hank and Andy K. said do NOT hit your brakes and keep smooth. I told Hank I would brake. I do it without knowing I do it. So dont waste breath telling me not to brake because I would anyway and it was pointless to tell me not to brake because I do.
....so.....
The race started and I tapped my brakes. I HAD NO BRAKES!!! GAH!!!!! Hank secretly lightened up my brake levers before the race without telling me. !! that freaked me out. I went to use my brakes and there were no brakes!!! I wanted to kill him. :) haha. But it was cool, it was cool , I got used to it (and just squeezed harder.) :P
Debbie Dust was there and chose to do the men's 40+ which turned out to be THE most dicey and challenging event of the day. (fast) I came up to register and she was done racing. She was grinning ear to ear and had hay sticking all over herself and her bike. That girl is craaaazy!. She told me how fun it was but she got herself pushed into the hay bales a couple times. She was safe and sound and... wow that sounded like fun! What with the speeds they were doing. Hay bales were QUITE abundant at this race at every bad corner and stacked nearly eight feet high at some corners. Makes you feel comfy to see that. They care!
Nice clean hay. SOmething about a stack of hay that makes you just want to JUMP right into it. I did have an impulsive thought a few times to just RIDE AIM and LEAP into the hay. Weeeeeeee. That would be fun.
Some of the guys actually did the Elk Grove race earlier in the day. They came out to do this race also either to get series points or just to have fun. They just love to race. I saw one of the crashes in the pro 1,2 event and those guys went head over heels over the hay bales but fortunately no one got hurt. (That is where the word bail out came from btw .....ok maybe not.) Every lap in the 1/2 race there was this racer in the pack braking loudly. We thought he was doing it on purpose to mess people up on the climb. Later we found out someone was not handling their bike well. Hmmmm.
We think that caused the crash because one guy looked like he was going to punch him out ..but he didn't. (whew) Good constraint there. Hank said he would have probably punched the guy out. :) grrrrrrrr.
But they were all ok and got up and got back into the race with their free lap.
I learned while cruising the course that the best line in the chicane was just to apex the second corner and lean your bike. It aimed you directly into the center of the road. THe men in the 1-2 race were totally flying. It was exciting to watch and see how the pro 1/2 guys would take the chicane at full speed in the pack. They do it the right way. The best by far of the day was Mack rider Priebe. WOW. He is smooth. He was off the front with another racer and they were flying. Priebe would pass the first corner of the chicane as it descended and he would just lean over into the corner. But the way he leaned was just a fast shift-lean onto the sides of his tires like he was going to slide into home base. He snapped the lean so fast that it raised some admiration from the crowd, especially the non-cyclists that came out to watch. Many were commenting on it. Of course other guys would do that same style of lean. But his style was snappier like a machine and he was just with one other rider so you really noticed it more. cool.
Elgin is a great venue! Bring your trainer if you go next year. I had a tough time finding a place to warm up and am glad I warmed up at the track earlier in Northbrook. I didn't really want to race. I was not really motivated but when I saw the line up of names that were there I got brighter and happier to do it. I knew it would be a good field. Devon attacked right away and I felt rather 'non- warmed- up'ish. There was a counter then she attacked again. But I started to feel better after a few laps and I attacked while Devon was on the front. I gapped a bit but got caught so I attacked again almost immediately at an unexpected spot when we were riding slow , drinking water. I was actually ON the front which is a no-no. But I jumped hard into the corner into the headwind. I think it surprised some people a bit and I got a gap on the field. (That is not supposed to work by the way) I knew I could go up that hill faster than blazes so I aimed up it and got my gap. 30 feet. I put the head down and went hard into the tailwind before the downhill and thought I was going to get away. GOod to go in a cross wind but a tail wind is ok too. I felt a rider on my wheel and I looked and saw two riders. I just needed someone to come around and help just a little bit and we probably could have stuck that. No one was coming around or ready to. I eased up a bit but the rest of the pack caught us then and there. It was a bit of a downhill. Man it was tough to get away! haha. Well. I sat up, thought I"d wait and try again. None of us were getting dropped. It seemed that we were all so evenly matched today and equally determined to win.
We all tried twice or three times to attack. It was fast and lots of change ups. Primes and prime attacks. Really amazing with just a small pack. But a good bunch of fun. There were only 7 of us left at the end and no one was letting up. Hank said it was good to watch and the crowd was getting into it pretty well. I tell you for the race we put on , it was entertaining. We attacked each other nearly the entire race up until the last two laps where we realized none of us was going to get away. I guess that would have been THE time to attack . Grrr. I blew it. I am sure I wasn't the only one thinking about it. and thinking about it. thinking too much about it. Don't think...just GO!
It came down to Anne Meyers making the final move, she jumped and Devon got on her wheel instantly . We followed and the headwind and Devon's fast thinking and great kick determined her the win. We all ended in a fanned out bunch wheel overlapping wheel. I felt really good. Good race and good training. It was like a ladies nite out or something. :) Thanks ABR.
My lesson today was to ANTICIPATE better my reaction to an action and jump when the jump happens. DOn't hesitate. And also to perhaps BE the first to go, don't wait for someone else to do it. That is the difference right there and especially in this situation.
Now THESE hay bales would be perfect for the Super week races........Super hay bales.
photo from an adventurish blog about a ride for hunger: lovely and creative photography on it. I liked the giant hay bales. This site and their adventure really made me smile.
bikeandbuildvanderpool.blogspot.com/
But I started to hear the stories about the Elk Grove race. I didn't race that race. A local gal won, Kirsten Meshburg. She rocks!
Personally, I want the Omnium. I would love that. Okokok. I didn't race because I took a nap, laid out on the deck and was just lazy lazy lazy. Ok? But it felt good to nap and be lazy. I needed that. Still....To have an omnium like the men have would be WONderful. So close to home. A weekend of NRC points.
I did Elgin and only 10 women showed up but they offered the same purse as advertised. It paid out 10 deep. :) It was fun. A HILL! yay. More fun than I had in a looong time at a race. I enjoyed it immensely and to think I almost didn't go! I am so glad I went. It made me like racing again.
The only thing scary was a tight corner at the bottom of a fast descent. Then a faster still downhill chicane with an acute angle going up the hill. Like an S. It was mapped out to look just like Shorewood in design but the chicane was much tighter and the profile was a fast down then UP then turn right and UP some more. It was a good 'crit' hill, not too steep and if you keep your momentum it was just an 'out of the saddle' good hard pump for a bit. Powerful stuff. If you tapped your brakes at all you were going to suffer. NO brakes. Hank and Andy K. said do NOT hit your brakes and keep smooth. I told Hank I would brake. I do it without knowing I do it. So dont waste breath telling me not to brake because I would anyway and it was pointless to tell me not to brake because I do.
....so.....
The race started and I tapped my brakes. I HAD NO BRAKES!!! GAH!!!!! Hank secretly lightened up my brake levers before the race without telling me. !! that freaked me out. I went to use my brakes and there were no brakes!!! I wanted to kill him. :) haha. But it was cool, it was cool , I got used to it (and just squeezed harder.) :P
Debbie Dust was there and chose to do the men's 40+ which turned out to be THE most dicey and challenging event of the day. (fast) I came up to register and she was done racing. She was grinning ear to ear and had hay sticking all over herself and her bike. That girl is craaaazy!. She told me how fun it was but she got herself pushed into the hay bales a couple times. She was safe and sound and... wow that sounded like fun! What with the speeds they were doing. Hay bales were QUITE abundant at this race at every bad corner and stacked nearly eight feet high at some corners. Makes you feel comfy to see that. They care!
Nice clean hay. SOmething about a stack of hay that makes you just want to JUMP right into it. I did have an impulsive thought a few times to just RIDE AIM and LEAP into the hay. Weeeeeeee. That would be fun.
Some of the guys actually did the Elk Grove race earlier in the day. They came out to do this race also either to get series points or just to have fun. They just love to race. I saw one of the crashes in the pro 1,2 event and those guys went head over heels over the hay bales but fortunately no one got hurt. (That is where the word bail out came from btw .....ok maybe not.) Every lap in the 1/2 race there was this racer in the pack braking loudly. We thought he was doing it on purpose to mess people up on the climb. Later we found out someone was not handling their bike well. Hmmmm.
We think that caused the crash because one guy looked like he was going to punch him out ..but he didn't. (whew) Good constraint there. Hank said he would have probably punched the guy out. :) grrrrrrrr.
But they were all ok and got up and got back into the race with their free lap.
I learned while cruising the course that the best line in the chicane was just to apex the second corner and lean your bike. It aimed you directly into the center of the road. THe men in the 1-2 race were totally flying. It was exciting to watch and see how the pro 1/2 guys would take the chicane at full speed in the pack. They do it the right way. The best by far of the day was Mack rider Priebe. WOW. He is smooth. He was off the front with another racer and they were flying. Priebe would pass the first corner of the chicane as it descended and he would just lean over into the corner. But the way he leaned was just a fast shift-lean onto the sides of his tires like he was going to slide into home base. He snapped the lean so fast that it raised some admiration from the crowd, especially the non-cyclists that came out to watch. Many were commenting on it. Of course other guys would do that same style of lean. But his style was snappier like a machine and he was just with one other rider so you really noticed it more. cool.
Elgin is a great venue! Bring your trainer if you go next year. I had a tough time finding a place to warm up and am glad I warmed up at the track earlier in Northbrook. I didn't really want to race. I was not really motivated but when I saw the line up of names that were there I got brighter and happier to do it. I knew it would be a good field. Devon attacked right away and I felt rather 'non- warmed- up'ish. There was a counter then she attacked again. But I started to feel better after a few laps and I attacked while Devon was on the front. I gapped a bit but got caught so I attacked again almost immediately at an unexpected spot when we were riding slow , drinking water. I was actually ON the front which is a no-no. But I jumped hard into the corner into the headwind. I think it surprised some people a bit and I got a gap on the field. (That is not supposed to work by the way) I knew I could go up that hill faster than blazes so I aimed up it and got my gap. 30 feet. I put the head down and went hard into the tailwind before the downhill and thought I was going to get away. GOod to go in a cross wind but a tail wind is ok too. I felt a rider on my wheel and I looked and saw two riders. I just needed someone to come around and help just a little bit and we probably could have stuck that. No one was coming around or ready to. I eased up a bit but the rest of the pack caught us then and there. It was a bit of a downhill. Man it was tough to get away! haha. Well. I sat up, thought I"d wait and try again. None of us were getting dropped. It seemed that we were all so evenly matched today and equally determined to win.
We all tried twice or three times to attack. It was fast and lots of change ups. Primes and prime attacks. Really amazing with just a small pack. But a good bunch of fun. There were only 7 of us left at the end and no one was letting up. Hank said it was good to watch and the crowd was getting into it pretty well. I tell you for the race we put on , it was entertaining. We attacked each other nearly the entire race up until the last two laps where we realized none of us was going to get away. I guess that would have been THE time to attack . Grrr. I blew it. I am sure I wasn't the only one thinking about it. and thinking about it. thinking too much about it. Don't think...just GO!
It came down to Anne Meyers making the final move, she jumped and Devon got on her wheel instantly . We followed and the headwind and Devon's fast thinking and great kick determined her the win. We all ended in a fanned out bunch wheel overlapping wheel. I felt really good. Good race and good training. It was like a ladies nite out or something. :) Thanks ABR.
My lesson today was to ANTICIPATE better my reaction to an action and jump when the jump happens. DOn't hesitate. And also to perhaps BE the first to go, don't wait for someone else to do it. That is the difference right there and especially in this situation.
Now THESE hay bales would be perfect for the Super week races........Super hay bales.
photo from an adventurish blog about a ride for hunger: lovely and creative photography on it. I liked the giant hay bales. This site and their adventure really made me smile.
bikeandbuildvanderpool.blogspot.com/
Monday, July 21, 2008
Super Weak
This is really truly bloggy today. If you want to short of it. I did 3 super week races and didn't finish well. So. Warning... This is one big brain dump but it helps me later to go back and remember what happened. I don't know how many more years I can do this!!!! :)
Well. whew. An actual race. I took off 12 months. TWELVE months away from crits and road and all the roadie races. I just trained. Got my head on straight.(hmmmm kinda)
I really wasn't going to do Super Week at all because , mostly there were no road races and the profiles for all the races were flat. I told Hank I wasn't going.
But then Sydney said "girl...If I lived there and had all those races I'd be doing all of them and even some men's". Ok she didn't say the men's races too but I know she woulda done some men's races, she can't help herself. Her words convicted me and I decided to do some races. I felt guilty a bit. But sheese the races were messed up a little this year. I think it kept others away. Oh and Super Week races are known to be notorious for crashes. .... AND really really fun. So I signed up for two during the week and hoped for good weather for the weekend. No, I didn't do them all this year and I don't have that 'epic' feeling you get from racing all the races of Super week. But I am pretty tired now. Plus, it does mark the nearing of the end of summer so there is also a sadness to its passing.
and relief. HA!
Superweek is a series of about 23 races and the crits (criteriums) were all they had to offer the women this year. The Women only do 7 days of racing usually. Unless you are a cat 3 then you can do a ton more. Heck I raced so lousy I probably could cat down to 3 and race some more. HA! Thinking about it. Hmmm. I understand the stink of why they couldn't do the road races but it was a true bummer. ANd I was kinda hoping for Whitnal I love that crit.
Anyway. Crits are kinda like playing a video game. Training and Gaming is the way its done. Its July and a lot of the gals been racing all since March.
And GAME. Games like WarCraft come to mind. OKOK stay with me here. You are playing a role playing game that you roll the dice and get some attributes. Then you take those attributes and work with them. You pick your character. Each character has certain types of 'super powers'. The super powers might work well on one course and not so well on another. A person with well rounded and good super powers will be a good crit racer. The more experience points you have the more races you can set yourself up to win. Experience points are hard won and getting them is hard work. Experience points enhance your super powers. IF you dont race you dont get experience points. See? Just like that game online. Simple enough. Someone who lacks in one super power can work with what they got to win a race. I dont know what all super powers I have but Flat races are tougher for me. :)
Oh and you have to pick a disposition. Good, Neutral or Chaotic Evil.
Last year I did a lot more aggressiveness. You know, chase people, grab attacks as they went, get caught. Try a few more times. I had a rythm. Work work work. Hank calls it flailing. I'd get some lousy place maybe in the money maybe not. I had a TON of fun especially at Carl Zach. This year I said I'll try to sit in more. But you can't really sit in on these races. It doesnt work for me at least.
But crits take a lot more than just sprinting and fitness. There is experience. You can either be a fox, being chased. Or you can be one of the hounds and win that way too. Smart hounds usually win and the fox usually gets eaten. If you jump into one of these , You got to be willing to fight. To play the game. I love it when the fox wins. HA!
There are tactics, errors, crashes, mishaps. You got to pedal pedal pedal and stay alert the entire race. Just a simple thing like not lining up front can cost you the race. ..... and that is exactly what happened to me and..... in probably one of the few races that I could have done well at. Bensenville. I had NOT intended to but got lined up in the back. I didn't know the course , I didn't race the day before so I was unaware. PLus I was nervous and not so sure of myself. Not a good choice for a 'first race'. I took a practice lap when they opened up the course and it was my downfall. When I came around the other side, the girls were all lined up ready to go. I had to get lined in the back. Game over. unnnnnnnnh (buzzer noise)
That cost me 5 laps and it cost me the race. I was tossed back in the corners and had to come out of my saddle to get back on every time. We all did. It was like getting stretched on the end of a big rubber band. How many times can you pull a fat rubber band out...back ..out..back ...out- back...out-back..... before your arms get tired of that? see? After 4 laps ...I was not thinking of moving up anymore. After 4 more laps I was trying to survive.
It was 100 degrees out! The few gals in the front were dictating the race and the ones that had the will to jump were doing so. But the pace was high and no breaks got away. Yesterday, same race, the break got away. So today, no one let anyone go.
I kept pedalling and pedalling. Ride hard on the long stretch slow on the corner, corner, ride...come to a stop at the next corner. Out of saddle. Go go go. MOve a little up while everyone rested... THen start over. Lap after lap. Track stand, stop, Jump to get on. Track stand. Stop. Jump to get on. doh. doh. doh. ugh. After 4 more laps...a few gals started to fade...a gap in front of me. Got around the gap...worked to get back on. Another 2 laps. More gapped riders....I was off the back...Worked to get on with my head down, big chain ring full RPM..FSA.... caught them before the corner..barely got back on. Hung on a bit longer. 10 laps to go. THen I cracked. DONE. Had enough. Just got tired of the tug of war. Training ride over.
I took the bike path and went home. Better ones than me had sat up, too. I look back and realize I raced totally awful. Ugh. But I'll post this anyway so folks don't feel so stupid cause I know others did the same thing. I should have just WENT hard to get up front in the first two laps. That would have saved me to finish. At the very least finish. I held back early on when I should have done all I could to get up there. I think my brain was trying to figure out that I was actually racing. I was there. It was happening. And I really wasn't ready to do all the sprint stopping stuff. Pretty much everyone's super powers were fading fast in the heat and with the stop and go of the race. Women were cross eyed. ONe gal rode in the grass for no reason. Just started to ride in the grass. She got back on fast and for all I know we were only going 20 mph. It just felt like 30 at that point. I had lost the will to fight. I think the race ended with more than 1/3 missing.
The next day I paced the floors at home thinking thinking thinking. I was not sure. But....desire won over logic and I decided to go race. There is just something too fun about Shorewood to not go. Wide open roads, wind, lots of fast paced Prime fun. Dang its a dangerous sport though. We really do roll the dice every time we start up one of these things.
Speaking of start. The race didn't start on time and they shortened it down to 20 laps. Right then it was a different race. Different race for me. I get a minor advantage in longer events because .....HA! ...... My 'super power' takes longer to warm itself up to reveal itself. Sometimes they just never reveal at all! ha! I like longer events as a rule and I do come out a bit more shining when the races are longer..... and less technical.
But here we are. The race started and I managed to move up on lap 5 and I was holding a good spot in the dead center of the field. Holding it. Hank said to pass at least 2 riders every lap so I was passing passing passing. The corners were easy so it made holding my position good. Six laps into the race, a crossed wheel and a crash happened on the back strait-away. They soon stopped the race. But before the race was halted, We had a big split in the pack.
I was around the crash even as it was happening and saw the girl go clean over her handlebars Ouch! But the front group was racing so I took off to get them. I caught on and kept up. But the whole time I was just thinking "whywhywhy are you guys all sprinting ...?" It is common knowledge that, in the midwest at least, we let ALL the riders behind the crash back into the race. ...whether they were in the crash or not. If you get caught behind the crash, You don't have to put yourselves out to get back on or worry about getting split off. I have never checked to see if it is a rule or not. I was told by one rider that this is highly irregular and not acceptable. This rider was from California and she said it would never ever be allowed in the races held in her state. But it IS allowed in our state. As frustrating as it is if you are one of the lucky ones that rides around the crash it is very upsetting to put yourself on the rivet only to come around the corner and see half the field back on again. You just dropped them and now here they are, rested and ready. Doesn't seem fair. But I have also been on the other side of the coin. I did it because if I didn't, I"d be a chump. Or out of the race. It is what it is ... They allow it. Take the lap. Seriously. ANd yes I did very well that day I took the free lap and probably because of that.
Search your heart. What do you think is fair?
I saw Robbie McEwen on tv chase to get back on after a crash in a pro race. He was in a crash. Fell off the back. He FOUGHT...used his team mate, used cars, got back thru to the back pack...rode thru that to the next pack.. finally he got to the front group and then moved up to the front... Made it in time to sprint and then he even won the race. He never skipped a beat.
See? Sometimes it helps to be chased by the devil.
anyway. THey had to stop the race to let on the emergency vehicles.
So we were stopped for about 20 minutes or so. We lined up yet again. I think we lined up totally 3-4 times for this race since it started. I love that team of spunky orange, spirit driven Hub racers and one of them had been off the front when they had halted the race. So before we started, they told her to 'roll out' behind the pace car. We were in line waiting for her to get some distance. But she was having fun and took off hammerin' full steam ahead. Someone said that this particular Hub rider (Dale?) was not capable of doing a 'roll out'. We all had a good laugh about that.
I decided to do SOMETHING and when , at three laps to go, After one of the last primes, I saw a break in the distance. I had pretty much some 'fresh as a daisy' legs now. I have not done anything and was sitting nicely in the pack. I think everyone else was pretty good, too, seeing as how the race was shorter and with all the resting we had.
So. I bridged up to a break. I swear this one was GOING. THey kept going after a prime and the teams were blocking. Our peleton was not moving and the gals in the break were representing different teams. Hank said if I saw something like that I should kill to get to it. He said there is no woman racing here that I can't bridge to. (he's so sweet when he talks to me like that.)
SO I did. I saw another gal jump to go so I went. ...about 5 of us went. The break now had 10 riders. I made the connection, a little bit winded, and hoped for a pace line right away. We all waited. We were on the straightaway now. Suddenly the break just slowed way down. I think the folks with me just bridged all they had so they wanted to rest. We were expecting to do some work but.....None of us reacted. I think we were all waiting for someone else to do it. I would like to tell you that I made a counter. Lord knows I could have. THe voice in my head said GO~ It said to just do it. But I held back. I was waiting for someone else to do it. Let me tell you. IF that was Brian or Hank or Ron or Tim or anyone else I train with, I'd have not hesitated. I would have gone. I love to do that. Its fun.
SO. THAT is the crux of it all. I had it in my legs to do it. I could have just GONE. I held back. I hesitated. GAME OVER . We were all Sooo slow it was tough to get on the pack as it screamed past us. I got on but now my position was bad. stupid stupid girl.
You snoooooooze you lose. I am going to tape that to my stem.
I have a feeling it is a story that 70% of the peleton has after the race was done: "man I shoulda done this..." . YOu get those opportunities once and sometimes only once. If you don't take them then its a lifetime you may never get that chance again.
I am certain I am not alone in my regrets and that is where the game is.
Here is something I learned from this:
I talked to Sydney about it after. What is wrong with me when I have NO problem attacking the guys that I train with, (all for fun) Why am I not afraid of THEM but I am scared of .....women? Hmm. But these are not ordinary women. They are all extraordinary cyclists, chisled athletes. Amazons. Women from New Zealand and Australia and even that far away country California where they grow them fiercer than anywhere else. So maybe a bit of intimidation was in me. Dang it.
I know I am not alone. I know there are other women (and men) that just sit in and miss opportunities. What is in us that makes us hesitate and just NOT go? Demons. Fear.
Syd said. Basically you lose if you do'nt try. LOSE.
Hank said I was afraid of losing. I think he is right. Its FEAR. Fear froze me up.
YOu got to have NO fear. No fear of losing. CONFIDENCE , Be willing to lose honorably and gloriously. If you GO...you do'nt lose. You can't. If you get passed up and can't do it. You at least tried your best.
I worked at my job on friday but got a good pep talking from Sydney. She texted me while I drove to work and told me that very thing. A quote from her father:
''If you don't even try, you lose. If you try as hard as you can, give it your all and you get BEAT by someone better. There is no shame in that.''
I told her she really should stop pulling the field around, stop with the primes. Wait and then GO. She was riding super well and I felt she could win. She had it all in her pocket to do it.
THEN.
She texted me later in the day.
SHE WON. Sydney won Ripon.
:)
I"m a believer.
Some pep talk huh??????? WHOOHOO. That was REALLY cool. She mirrored all the talking back onto herself and it gave her the mental attitude to WIN. She listened to that instinct that said JUMP and she answered it full force and didn't hold back. That is what its all about.
Awesome.
I decided Carl Zach was too dangerous in the rain and it seemed to be a dicey day. Its dangerous on a dry day. I think I had a bad feeling and decided to just be lazy. Sure enough there was a bad crash. At least one. It was just an accident but it took out a brilliant racer. Bri K. from Team Revolution. Sydney's team. I hope Bri from Team Revolution gets better and comes back stronger than ever. She should check out Kirsten Armstrong. She had to have surgery for her knee and she took 9months off to recover. She took the recoery time to change her biking position. She got herself more aerodynamic. That did it for her to get even faster and to win world level races. Now look at her. Olympic bound Armstrong!
Bri you can do it! Stay positive and if you get down just call up Sydney or other gals with good attitudes. Just know that even folks you never met but are following your career, we are all praying and hoping for a fast recovery for you.
I was really on the fence about Evanston but I decided to show up. I almost asked for my money back to go home but I saw Sydney go by and then other riders were all saying hello to me. Debby was there. She just went thru the ringers last week with her personal life so I was happy to see her out. She hopefully could win today representing for Chicago. BTW..she got 5th! That is awesome. Great job Debby! I read her blog and she got herself stuck leading out the entire pack but she held onto her speed, didn't choke and managed to still get a podium finish.
I had my own fantasy's of winning mostly the nite before when I was imagining the race. But now that I was there, lined up, I started to get barfy. ''the fears'' again. I pushed them aside. I realized that all that pep talk...I wasn't going to just quit. I had to try. Still, when the air horn finally went off, I was so nervous that I didn't even clip in!
NO!!! At the start. I couldnt get my clip in. DOH. I recovered from that pretty fast though but I lost my starting position rapidly. I dont think it really mattered much in that first lap.
Why was I so freaking nervous? I was so nervous all day I didn't hardly even EAT. I was racing hungry. Sheese. Its a training ride, right? Hank said its good to be nervous, it means you still care, its when you don't get nervous anymore that you should hang up your bike.
I worked hard. I fought. I held my position for 3 laps with 5 to go. I worked worked worked. Two more laps. I mostly got passed in the corners. I realize that I am rusty at that so I can work on it and improve. I was braking like a girl. doh.
I got passed more than I passed. NOT good. Hank was watching and he said I would stop pedalling when someone in front of me stopped. THAT is wrong. That is the trick to crits, you got to always be pedalling and if the person in front of you stops, you move around them. Go Grab a wheel! grab it. Whew I get tired just thinking about this!!!!!
Then the Mushroom happened. The evil mushroom. THAT is where the real queens of crits come out. The girls that wait for that are ready and they WENT to the front zooooom. Its not like its wide open but we dont flood the roads like the men do. There are spaces galore available. I just don't see them. That ability to see and grab and grab and pedal and go. Last year I was flowing with the front, this year... I went left and the way to go was right. I go right and get to a wall of wheels and blockage and people coasting........everyone that was on the left is moving up. I am not aggressive enough. There was room. PLENTY of room. I simply stopped pedalling my bike. Somewhere. GOSH darn. Its like playing one of those video games.
I tried to keep moving up but the pack got to that fourth corner and POW they took off. It was all I could do to hold where I was. I had used up too much of my meager super powers and now I needed all the rest of what I had to just hold my position. With one lap to go I got a bit nervous in the dreaded Burger King corner. I can't remember but I am sure I braked. Let myself lose more positions. It did not look too good and when I came out..I saw that I was so far back that its silly to keep pushing it. Just ride in. Keep it safe. Dang ~I was out of juice. If I can't get a top 20 I certainly am NOT risking life and limb for 30th.
Some of the spent and tired 'lead out girls' were pedalling around me so I just came in with them. Those are the hero's sacrificing themselves to get a win for the team. They did their job in the last 2 laps and now were waiting to see if their team mate won. Whenever I see someone that won I ALWAYS scroll down to look for the team mates to figure out who did the lead outs. Molly did a great job for Sam who won. Molly is a super woman amazon that hurt her back a couple years ago. I see she is back and as strong as ever. She did an awesome awesome job protecting Sam's position and setting her up for the win. I am happy to see her out there stronger than ever.
Well. I can work and train. I have the ability but need to focus more. I just got to get the nerve and the timing. I know I can do this.
I am not going to label myself as 'not able to race a flat crit' . I am NOT.
If life is like a Disney movie then this is the sad scene where the hero is dejected and going home a huge Loser. ''HhhOUIOGE' as they say in Chicagoland. So now I have to train, work, fix my attitude and come out and try to do better next time. Maybe to win Huoighe!.
game NOT over yet. Just paused.
well. thanks for reading. :)
Hi AMY!!!
Well. whew. An actual race. I took off 12 months. TWELVE months away from crits and road and all the roadie races. I just trained. Got my head on straight.(hmmmm kinda)
I really wasn't going to do Super Week at all because , mostly there were no road races and the profiles for all the races were flat. I told Hank I wasn't going.
But then Sydney said "girl...If I lived there and had all those races I'd be doing all of them and even some men's". Ok she didn't say the men's races too but I know she woulda done some men's races, she can't help herself. Her words convicted me and I decided to do some races. I felt guilty a bit. But sheese the races were messed up a little this year. I think it kept others away. Oh and Super Week races are known to be notorious for crashes. .... AND really really fun. So I signed up for two during the week and hoped for good weather for the weekend. No, I didn't do them all this year and I don't have that 'epic' feeling you get from racing all the races of Super week. But I am pretty tired now. Plus, it does mark the nearing of the end of summer so there is also a sadness to its passing.
and relief. HA!
Superweek is a series of about 23 races and the crits (criteriums) were all they had to offer the women this year. The Women only do 7 days of racing usually. Unless you are a cat 3 then you can do a ton more. Heck I raced so lousy I probably could cat down to 3 and race some more. HA! Thinking about it. Hmmm. I understand the stink of why they couldn't do the road races but it was a true bummer. ANd I was kinda hoping for Whitnal I love that crit.
Anyway. Crits are kinda like playing a video game. Training and Gaming is the way its done. Its July and a lot of the gals been racing all since March.
And GAME. Games like WarCraft come to mind. OKOK stay with me here. You are playing a role playing game that you roll the dice and get some attributes. Then you take those attributes and work with them. You pick your character. Each character has certain types of 'super powers'. The super powers might work well on one course and not so well on another. A person with well rounded and good super powers will be a good crit racer. The more experience points you have the more races you can set yourself up to win. Experience points are hard won and getting them is hard work. Experience points enhance your super powers. IF you dont race you dont get experience points. See? Just like that game online. Simple enough. Someone who lacks in one super power can work with what they got to win a race. I dont know what all super powers I have but Flat races are tougher for me. :)
Oh and you have to pick a disposition. Good, Neutral or Chaotic Evil.
Last year I did a lot more aggressiveness. You know, chase people, grab attacks as they went, get caught. Try a few more times. I had a rythm. Work work work. Hank calls it flailing. I'd get some lousy place maybe in the money maybe not. I had a TON of fun especially at Carl Zach. This year I said I'll try to sit in more. But you can't really sit in on these races. It doesnt work for me at least.
But crits take a lot more than just sprinting and fitness. There is experience. You can either be a fox, being chased. Or you can be one of the hounds and win that way too. Smart hounds usually win and the fox usually gets eaten. If you jump into one of these , You got to be willing to fight. To play the game. I love it when the fox wins. HA!
There are tactics, errors, crashes, mishaps. You got to pedal pedal pedal and stay alert the entire race. Just a simple thing like not lining up front can cost you the race. ..... and that is exactly what happened to me and..... in probably one of the few races that I could have done well at. Bensenville. I had NOT intended to but got lined up in the back. I didn't know the course , I didn't race the day before so I was unaware. PLus I was nervous and not so sure of myself. Not a good choice for a 'first race'. I took a practice lap when they opened up the course and it was my downfall. When I came around the other side, the girls were all lined up ready to go. I had to get lined in the back. Game over. unnnnnnnnh (buzzer noise)
That cost me 5 laps and it cost me the race. I was tossed back in the corners and had to come out of my saddle to get back on every time. We all did. It was like getting stretched on the end of a big rubber band. How many times can you pull a fat rubber band out...back ..out..back ...out- back...out-back..... before your arms get tired of that? see? After 4 laps ...I was not thinking of moving up anymore. After 4 more laps I was trying to survive.
It was 100 degrees out! The few gals in the front were dictating the race and the ones that had the will to jump were doing so. But the pace was high and no breaks got away. Yesterday, same race, the break got away. So today, no one let anyone go.
I kept pedalling and pedalling. Ride hard on the long stretch slow on the corner, corner, ride...come to a stop at the next corner. Out of saddle. Go go go. MOve a little up while everyone rested... THen start over. Lap after lap. Track stand, stop, Jump to get on. Track stand. Stop. Jump to get on. doh. doh. doh. ugh. After 4 more laps...a few gals started to fade...a gap in front of me. Got around the gap...worked to get back on. Another 2 laps. More gapped riders....I was off the back...Worked to get on with my head down, big chain ring full RPM..FSA.... caught them before the corner..barely got back on. Hung on a bit longer. 10 laps to go. THen I cracked. DONE. Had enough. Just got tired of the tug of war. Training ride over.
I took the bike path and went home. Better ones than me had sat up, too. I look back and realize I raced totally awful. Ugh. But I'll post this anyway so folks don't feel so stupid cause I know others did the same thing. I should have just WENT hard to get up front in the first two laps. That would have saved me to finish. At the very least finish. I held back early on when I should have done all I could to get up there. I think my brain was trying to figure out that I was actually racing. I was there. It was happening. And I really wasn't ready to do all the sprint stopping stuff. Pretty much everyone's super powers were fading fast in the heat and with the stop and go of the race. Women were cross eyed. ONe gal rode in the grass for no reason. Just started to ride in the grass. She got back on fast and for all I know we were only going 20 mph. It just felt like 30 at that point. I had lost the will to fight. I think the race ended with more than 1/3 missing.
The next day I paced the floors at home thinking thinking thinking. I was not sure. But....desire won over logic and I decided to go race. There is just something too fun about Shorewood to not go. Wide open roads, wind, lots of fast paced Prime fun. Dang its a dangerous sport though. We really do roll the dice every time we start up one of these things.
Speaking of start. The race didn't start on time and they shortened it down to 20 laps. Right then it was a different race. Different race for me. I get a minor advantage in longer events because .....HA! ...... My 'super power' takes longer to warm itself up to reveal itself. Sometimes they just never reveal at all! ha! I like longer events as a rule and I do come out a bit more shining when the races are longer..... and less technical.
But here we are. The race started and I managed to move up on lap 5 and I was holding a good spot in the dead center of the field. Holding it. Hank said to pass at least 2 riders every lap so I was passing passing passing. The corners were easy so it made holding my position good. Six laps into the race, a crossed wheel and a crash happened on the back strait-away. They soon stopped the race. But before the race was halted, We had a big split in the pack.
I was around the crash even as it was happening and saw the girl go clean over her handlebars Ouch! But the front group was racing so I took off to get them. I caught on and kept up. But the whole time I was just thinking "whywhywhy are you guys all sprinting ...?" It is common knowledge that, in the midwest at least, we let ALL the riders behind the crash back into the race. ...whether they were in the crash or not. If you get caught behind the crash, You don't have to put yourselves out to get back on or worry about getting split off. I have never checked to see if it is a rule or not. I was told by one rider that this is highly irregular and not acceptable. This rider was from California and she said it would never ever be allowed in the races held in her state. But it IS allowed in our state. As frustrating as it is if you are one of the lucky ones that rides around the crash it is very upsetting to put yourself on the rivet only to come around the corner and see half the field back on again. You just dropped them and now here they are, rested and ready. Doesn't seem fair. But I have also been on the other side of the coin. I did it because if I didn't, I"d be a chump. Or out of the race. It is what it is ... They allow it. Take the lap. Seriously. ANd yes I did very well that day I took the free lap and probably because of that.
Search your heart. What do you think is fair?
I saw Robbie McEwen on tv chase to get back on after a crash in a pro race. He was in a crash. Fell off the back. He FOUGHT...used his team mate, used cars, got back thru to the back pack...rode thru that to the next pack.. finally he got to the front group and then moved up to the front... Made it in time to sprint and then he even won the race. He never skipped a beat.
See? Sometimes it helps to be chased by the devil.
anyway. THey had to stop the race to let on the emergency vehicles.
So we were stopped for about 20 minutes or so. We lined up yet again. I think we lined up totally 3-4 times for this race since it started. I love that team of spunky orange, spirit driven Hub racers and one of them had been off the front when they had halted the race. So before we started, they told her to 'roll out' behind the pace car. We were in line waiting for her to get some distance. But she was having fun and took off hammerin' full steam ahead. Someone said that this particular Hub rider (Dale?) was not capable of doing a 'roll out'. We all had a good laugh about that.
I decided to do SOMETHING and when , at three laps to go, After one of the last primes, I saw a break in the distance. I had pretty much some 'fresh as a daisy' legs now. I have not done anything and was sitting nicely in the pack. I think everyone else was pretty good, too, seeing as how the race was shorter and with all the resting we had.
So. I bridged up to a break. I swear this one was GOING. THey kept going after a prime and the teams were blocking. Our peleton was not moving and the gals in the break were representing different teams. Hank said if I saw something like that I should kill to get to it. He said there is no woman racing here that I can't bridge to. (he's so sweet when he talks to me like that.)
SO I did. I saw another gal jump to go so I went. ...about 5 of us went. The break now had 10 riders. I made the connection, a little bit winded, and hoped for a pace line right away. We all waited. We were on the straightaway now. Suddenly the break just slowed way down. I think the folks with me just bridged all they had so they wanted to rest. We were expecting to do some work but.....None of us reacted. I think we were all waiting for someone else to do it. I would like to tell you that I made a counter. Lord knows I could have. THe voice in my head said GO~ It said to just do it. But I held back. I was waiting for someone else to do it. Let me tell you. IF that was Brian or Hank or Ron or Tim or anyone else I train with, I'd have not hesitated. I would have gone. I love to do that. Its fun.
SO. THAT is the crux of it all. I had it in my legs to do it. I could have just GONE. I held back. I hesitated. GAME OVER . We were all Sooo slow it was tough to get on the pack as it screamed past us. I got on but now my position was bad. stupid stupid girl.
You snoooooooze you lose. I am going to tape that to my stem.
I have a feeling it is a story that 70% of the peleton has after the race was done: "man I shoulda done this..." . YOu get those opportunities once and sometimes only once. If you don't take them then its a lifetime you may never get that chance again.
I am certain I am not alone in my regrets and that is where the game is.
Here is something I learned from this:
I talked to Sydney about it after. What is wrong with me when I have NO problem attacking the guys that I train with, (all for fun) Why am I not afraid of THEM but I am scared of .....women? Hmm. But these are not ordinary women. They are all extraordinary cyclists, chisled athletes. Amazons. Women from New Zealand and Australia and even that far away country California where they grow them fiercer than anywhere else. So maybe a bit of intimidation was in me. Dang it.
I know I am not alone. I know there are other women (and men) that just sit in and miss opportunities. What is in us that makes us hesitate and just NOT go? Demons. Fear.
Syd said. Basically you lose if you do'nt try. LOSE.
Hank said I was afraid of losing. I think he is right. Its FEAR. Fear froze me up.
YOu got to have NO fear. No fear of losing. CONFIDENCE , Be willing to lose honorably and gloriously. If you GO...you do'nt lose. You can't. If you get passed up and can't do it. You at least tried your best.
I worked at my job on friday but got a good pep talking from Sydney. She texted me while I drove to work and told me that very thing. A quote from her father:
''If you don't even try, you lose. If you try as hard as you can, give it your all and you get BEAT by someone better. There is no shame in that.''
I told her she really should stop pulling the field around, stop with the primes. Wait and then GO. She was riding super well and I felt she could win. She had it all in her pocket to do it.
THEN.
She texted me later in the day.
SHE WON. Sydney won Ripon.
:)
I"m a believer.
Some pep talk huh??????? WHOOHOO. That was REALLY cool. She mirrored all the talking back onto herself and it gave her the mental attitude to WIN. She listened to that instinct that said JUMP and she answered it full force and didn't hold back. That is what its all about.
Awesome.
I decided Carl Zach was too dangerous in the rain and it seemed to be a dicey day. Its dangerous on a dry day. I think I had a bad feeling and decided to just be lazy. Sure enough there was a bad crash. At least one. It was just an accident but it took out a brilliant racer. Bri K. from Team Revolution. Sydney's team. I hope Bri from Team Revolution gets better and comes back stronger than ever. She should check out Kirsten Armstrong. She had to have surgery for her knee and she took 9months off to recover. She took the recoery time to change her biking position. She got herself more aerodynamic. That did it for her to get even faster and to win world level races. Now look at her. Olympic bound Armstrong!
Bri you can do it! Stay positive and if you get down just call up Sydney or other gals with good attitudes. Just know that even folks you never met but are following your career, we are all praying and hoping for a fast recovery for you.
I was really on the fence about Evanston but I decided to show up. I almost asked for my money back to go home but I saw Sydney go by and then other riders were all saying hello to me. Debby was there. She just went thru the ringers last week with her personal life so I was happy to see her out. She hopefully could win today representing for Chicago. BTW..she got 5th! That is awesome. Great job Debby! I read her blog and she got herself stuck leading out the entire pack but she held onto her speed, didn't choke and managed to still get a podium finish.
I had my own fantasy's of winning mostly the nite before when I was imagining the race. But now that I was there, lined up, I started to get barfy. ''the fears'' again. I pushed them aside. I realized that all that pep talk...I wasn't going to just quit. I had to try. Still, when the air horn finally went off, I was so nervous that I didn't even clip in!
NO!!! At the start. I couldnt get my clip in. DOH. I recovered from that pretty fast though but I lost my starting position rapidly. I dont think it really mattered much in that first lap.
Why was I so freaking nervous? I was so nervous all day I didn't hardly even EAT. I was racing hungry. Sheese. Its a training ride, right? Hank said its good to be nervous, it means you still care, its when you don't get nervous anymore that you should hang up your bike.
I worked hard. I fought. I held my position for 3 laps with 5 to go. I worked worked worked. Two more laps. I mostly got passed in the corners. I realize that I am rusty at that so I can work on it and improve. I was braking like a girl. doh.
I got passed more than I passed. NOT good. Hank was watching and he said I would stop pedalling when someone in front of me stopped. THAT is wrong. That is the trick to crits, you got to always be pedalling and if the person in front of you stops, you move around them. Go Grab a wheel! grab it. Whew I get tired just thinking about this!!!!!
Then the Mushroom happened. The evil mushroom. THAT is where the real queens of crits come out. The girls that wait for that are ready and they WENT to the front zooooom. Its not like its wide open but we dont flood the roads like the men do. There are spaces galore available. I just don't see them. That ability to see and grab and grab and pedal and go. Last year I was flowing with the front, this year... I went left and the way to go was right. I go right and get to a wall of wheels and blockage and people coasting........everyone that was on the left is moving up. I am not aggressive enough. There was room. PLENTY of room. I simply stopped pedalling my bike. Somewhere. GOSH darn. Its like playing one of those video games.
I tried to keep moving up but the pack got to that fourth corner and POW they took off. It was all I could do to hold where I was. I had used up too much of my meager super powers and now I needed all the rest of what I had to just hold my position. With one lap to go I got a bit nervous in the dreaded Burger King corner. I can't remember but I am sure I braked. Let myself lose more positions. It did not look too good and when I came out..I saw that I was so far back that its silly to keep pushing it. Just ride in. Keep it safe. Dang ~I was out of juice. If I can't get a top 20 I certainly am NOT risking life and limb for 30th.
Some of the spent and tired 'lead out girls' were pedalling around me so I just came in with them. Those are the hero's sacrificing themselves to get a win for the team. They did their job in the last 2 laps and now were waiting to see if their team mate won. Whenever I see someone that won I ALWAYS scroll down to look for the team mates to figure out who did the lead outs. Molly did a great job for Sam who won. Molly is a super woman amazon that hurt her back a couple years ago. I see she is back and as strong as ever. She did an awesome awesome job protecting Sam's position and setting her up for the win. I am happy to see her out there stronger than ever.
Well. I can work and train. I have the ability but need to focus more. I just got to get the nerve and the timing. I know I can do this.
I am not going to label myself as 'not able to race a flat crit' . I am NOT.
If life is like a Disney movie then this is the sad scene where the hero is dejected and going home a huge Loser. ''HhhOUIOGE' as they say in Chicagoland. So now I have to train, work, fix my attitude and come out and try to do better next time. Maybe to win Huoighe!.
game NOT over yet. Just paused.
well. thanks for reading. :)
Hi AMY!!!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
amazing story
I know I know. ....road rage again. But this story amazes me. The cyclist is very brave. This motorist CHASED Him down and HUNTED for him. It reads like a movie script.
The motorist...very depraved and going to jail. A total stranger. This driver wanted to actually murder a total stranger . oh of course the driver was under the influence of something. What about SSRI's?? was he on those too?
ANway...the article is great. I was totally on the edge of my seat reading this. wow. My favorite part is at the end when the journalist says the cyclist was rather traumatized so ...he had to blow off steam later that day by going downhill racig on a mini bike. HA!
http://www.oregonlive.com/prepfootball/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1216094102198390.xml&coll=7&thispage=3
Traffic run-in leaves Portland cyclist clinging to car hood
Motorist arraigned on charges; uninjured rider recalls ordeal
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
MAXINE BERNSTEIN
The Oregonian Staff
A week after a bicyclist attacked a motorist who chided him for running a light in Southeast Portland, police say the tables were turned when a 21-year-old motorist chased down a cyclist who yelled at him for going too fast.
A nearby resident caught part of the Sunday night confrontation on a cell phone video, a harrowing image of the cyclist hanging onto the hood of the car as it sped north on Southeast 58th Avenue.
The bicyclist, Jason S. Rehnberg, 37, said he jumped onto the car's hood as it accelerated toward him. He first clutched the windshield wipers, then dug his fingers into the narrow crack between the hood and windshield.
"I just held on for dear life," Rehnberg said Monday night. "All I could think was, 'This dude's crazy, and I've got to get off this car.' "
The cyclist ultimately rolled off about five blocks later, and the motorist was arrested at his home.
The video is now evidence in State of Oregon v. James F. Millican II. here is the video.
http://videos.oregonlive.com/oregonian/2008/07/cyclist_on_car_hood.html
Millican, the 21-year-old driver of a Ford Escort, was arraigned in Multnomah County Circuit Court on charges of second-degree kidnapping, driving under the influence of intoxicants, reckless driving and second-degree criminal mischief.
Millican initially faced an attempted second-degree assault charge, but it was replaced with the kidnapping charge because the bicyclist wasn't injured, prosecutor Greg Moawad said.
Rehnberg, a handyman and carpenter, was headed to a job on his customized blue vintage Schwinn about 7 p.m. Sunday. He was riding south on Southeast 58th Avenue, just past Washington Street, and was heading uphill. He had to maneuver around a parked car when a motorist heading north sped by.
"He buzzed by me, and I shouted, 'Slow down, you gashole!' " Rehnberg recalled.
Rehnberg said the motorist slammed on his brakes, leaving skid marks at least 65 feet long. Rehnberg circled back north on Southeast 58th Avenue toward the car. "I wanted to have an interaction with this guy and get him to understand that 'hey, you're going too fast on a residential street.' "
By now, the man had stepped from his car, was yelling at Rehnberg, threatening to hurt him and running after him, police and Rehnberg said.
Rehnberg stayed on his bike and cut down several side streets to try to lose the driver. Thinking he had lost him, Rehnberg turned back south on Southeast 58th Avenue to continue toward his carpentry job.
Rehnberg said he was stopped in the middle of the road to check if he was in the clear when he spotted the car pointed in the opposite direction. The Escort suddenly backed up toward him.
"He hits it in reverse, pretty much in full speed," Rehnberg said.
He jumped off his bike, and Millican ran over the front end, bending the wheel, said Rehnberg, witnesses and an affidavit filed in court.
At least four or five residents in the area noticed the confrontation. The driver stepped out of the car again, Rehnberg said. Somebody shouted to get the car's license plate. Rehnberg and two witnesses stood in front of the car to try to get the plate when the driver got back into the car and accelerated toward them.
The two witnesses jumped out of the way.
"I can't go right or left because there's people in my way," Rehnberg said.
So, he jumped onto the hood of the car. Luckily, he said, he had bike gloves on, so his fingers weren't ripped raw as he grabbed onto the windshield wipers.
" I realized they weren't going to hold me, so I grabbed onto the backside of the hood," he said.
Based on statements from Rehnberg and a witness, the man drove for three blocks at speeds up to 30 mph with Rehnberg on the hood. A resident filming the action with a cell phone captured about a half-block of that ride. The video caught the Escort's tires screeching and the motorist's sudden slamming on the brakes at Stark Street in an apparent attempt to dump Rehnberg off the hood, according to the affidavit.
It didn't work. The car turned right onto Stark Street and drove two more blocks before it slowed and Rehnberg said he was able to slide off before pushing himself out of the way.Police arrested Millican at 7:31 p.m. at his home in the 200 block of Northeast 68th Avenue. Police said he appeared intoxicated. A further inquiry showed he had a 0.11 percent blood-alcohol reading and admitted to having three drinks earlier in the day, court records show.
Millican had his license suspended from Feb. 27 through May 22 this year after receiving at least four traffic-related tickets in two years, including failing to drive within a traffic lane, failing to use seat belts and failing to obey a traffic signal.
Portland Detective Kevin Warren said Millican gave him false information about Sunday's confrontation until he was told a neighbor caught it on videotape, according to the affidavit.
At Millican's arraignment Monday, he appeared surprised that he'd have to spend more nights behind bars. "So I have to stay in jail now? For a whole week? " he asked the judge. At least until his next hearing, July 22, the judge said. Bail was set at $257,500.
Rehnberg, a North Carolina native who came to Portland several years ago because he liked the Northwest, said he was traumatized by the confrontation but not injured. Later Sunday night, Rehnberg said, he needed to blow off some steam, so he went "zoobombing," racing downhill from Washington Park with a group of bikers on a minibike with headlights and a helmet.
Rehnberg said he was unaware that a week earlier that Portland had another high-profile road rage incident. That time, a driver who also was a longtime cycling advocate chided a cyclist for blowing through a stop sign in Southeast Portland. The cyclist responded by throwing his bike at the motorist's car and then allegedly striking the driver with the bike.
Monday night, Rehnberg was with a friend at a local bike shop to repair his Schwinn, one of five bikes he owns, his sole mode of transportation. He estimated damage at a couple of hundred dollars.
Known to friends as "Flow," Rehnberg enjoys kayaking and stilt dancing in addition to biking. He said he won't change his bike routine now, other than being more aware of "psychos on the road."
He wouldn't have done anything differently, he said. "This guy was going way, way, way too fast, and I'm not going to back down from that."
Maxine Bernstein; 503-221-8212; maxinebernstein@news.oregonian.com
The motorist...very depraved and going to jail. A total stranger. This driver wanted to actually murder a total stranger . oh of course the driver was under the influence of something. What about SSRI's?? was he on those too?
ANway...the article is great. I was totally on the edge of my seat reading this. wow. My favorite part is at the end when the journalist says the cyclist was rather traumatized so ...he had to blow off steam later that day by going downhill racig on a mini bike. HA!
http://www.oregonlive.com/prepfootball/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1216094102198390.xml&coll=7&thispage=3
Traffic run-in leaves Portland cyclist clinging to car hood
Motorist arraigned on charges; uninjured rider recalls ordeal
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
MAXINE BERNSTEIN
The Oregonian Staff
A week after a bicyclist attacked a motorist who chided him for running a light in Southeast Portland, police say the tables were turned when a 21-year-old motorist chased down a cyclist who yelled at him for going too fast.
A nearby resident caught part of the Sunday night confrontation on a cell phone video, a harrowing image of the cyclist hanging onto the hood of the car as it sped north on Southeast 58th Avenue.
The bicyclist, Jason S. Rehnberg, 37, said he jumped onto the car's hood as it accelerated toward him. He first clutched the windshield wipers, then dug his fingers into the narrow crack between the hood and windshield.
"I just held on for dear life," Rehnberg said Monday night. "All I could think was, 'This dude's crazy, and I've got to get off this car.' "
The cyclist ultimately rolled off about five blocks later, and the motorist was arrested at his home.
The video is now evidence in State of Oregon v. James F. Millican II. here is the video.
http://videos.oregonlive.com/oregonian/2008/07/cyclist_on_car_hood.html
Millican, the 21-year-old driver of a Ford Escort, was arraigned in Multnomah County Circuit Court on charges of second-degree kidnapping, driving under the influence of intoxicants, reckless driving and second-degree criminal mischief.
Millican initially faced an attempted second-degree assault charge, but it was replaced with the kidnapping charge because the bicyclist wasn't injured, prosecutor Greg Moawad said.
Rehnberg, a handyman and carpenter, was headed to a job on his customized blue vintage Schwinn about 7 p.m. Sunday. He was riding south on Southeast 58th Avenue, just past Washington Street, and was heading uphill. He had to maneuver around a parked car when a motorist heading north sped by.
"He buzzed by me, and I shouted, 'Slow down, you gashole!' " Rehnberg recalled.
Rehnberg said the motorist slammed on his brakes, leaving skid marks at least 65 feet long. Rehnberg circled back north on Southeast 58th Avenue toward the car. "I wanted to have an interaction with this guy and get him to understand that 'hey, you're going too fast on a residential street.' "
By now, the man had stepped from his car, was yelling at Rehnberg, threatening to hurt him and running after him, police and Rehnberg said.
Rehnberg stayed on his bike and cut down several side streets to try to lose the driver. Thinking he had lost him, Rehnberg turned back south on Southeast 58th Avenue to continue toward his carpentry job.
Rehnberg said he was stopped in the middle of the road to check if he was in the clear when he spotted the car pointed in the opposite direction. The Escort suddenly backed up toward him.
"He hits it in reverse, pretty much in full speed," Rehnberg said.
He jumped off his bike, and Millican ran over the front end, bending the wheel, said Rehnberg, witnesses and an affidavit filed in court.
At least four or five residents in the area noticed the confrontation. The driver stepped out of the car again, Rehnberg said. Somebody shouted to get the car's license plate. Rehnberg and two witnesses stood in front of the car to try to get the plate when the driver got back into the car and accelerated toward them.
The two witnesses jumped out of the way.
"I can't go right or left because there's people in my way," Rehnberg said.
So, he jumped onto the hood of the car. Luckily, he said, he had bike gloves on, so his fingers weren't ripped raw as he grabbed onto the windshield wipers.
" I realized they weren't going to hold me, so I grabbed onto the backside of the hood," he said.
Based on statements from Rehnberg and a witness, the man drove for three blocks at speeds up to 30 mph with Rehnberg on the hood. A resident filming the action with a cell phone captured about a half-block of that ride. The video caught the Escort's tires screeching and the motorist's sudden slamming on the brakes at Stark Street in an apparent attempt to dump Rehnberg off the hood, according to the affidavit.
It didn't work. The car turned right onto Stark Street and drove two more blocks before it slowed and Rehnberg said he was able to slide off before pushing himself out of the way.Police arrested Millican at 7:31 p.m. at his home in the 200 block of Northeast 68th Avenue. Police said he appeared intoxicated. A further inquiry showed he had a 0.11 percent blood-alcohol reading and admitted to having three drinks earlier in the day, court records show.
Millican had his license suspended from Feb. 27 through May 22 this year after receiving at least four traffic-related tickets in two years, including failing to drive within a traffic lane, failing to use seat belts and failing to obey a traffic signal.
Portland Detective Kevin Warren said Millican gave him false information about Sunday's confrontation until he was told a neighbor caught it on videotape, according to the affidavit.
At Millican's arraignment Monday, he appeared surprised that he'd have to spend more nights behind bars. "So I have to stay in jail now? For a whole week? " he asked the judge. At least until his next hearing, July 22, the judge said. Bail was set at $257,500.
Rehnberg, a North Carolina native who came to Portland several years ago because he liked the Northwest, said he was traumatized by the confrontation but not injured. Later Sunday night, Rehnberg said, he needed to blow off some steam, so he went "zoobombing," racing downhill from Washington Park with a group of bikers on a minibike with headlights and a helmet.
Rehnberg said he was unaware that a week earlier that Portland had another high-profile road rage incident. That time, a driver who also was a longtime cycling advocate chided a cyclist for blowing through a stop sign in Southeast Portland. The cyclist responded by throwing his bike at the motorist's car and then allegedly striking the driver with the bike.
Monday night, Rehnberg was with a friend at a local bike shop to repair his Schwinn, one of five bikes he owns, his sole mode of transportation. He estimated damage at a couple of hundred dollars.
Known to friends as "Flow," Rehnberg enjoys kayaking and stilt dancing in addition to biking. He said he won't change his bike routine now, other than being more aware of "psychos on the road."
He wouldn't have done anything differently, he said. "This guy was going way, way, way too fast, and I'm not going to back down from that."
Maxine Bernstein; 503-221-8212; maxinebernstein@news.oregonian.com
Thursday, July 10, 2008
release of the stench
Fun pic from this guy's photography blog. http://jaernie12freak.multiply.com/journal/item/29/9_ABSOLUTELY_INSANE_WEAPONS_OF_WAR
If it were me I'd call this pic "livingwithHANK'' . :)
Ooooohhhhhhhhh
Nothing like summer to make my car smell like a gym locker.
I had a mystery smell coming from my back storage bin. It was ...how can I say it. Like dirty feet. But maybe more like dirty cheesey feet. But since they are MY dirty feet its not going to bug me that much. Its not like its someone else's dirty feet. Anyway. I can't really smell it.
Which kind of frightens me.
Its something I briefly notice when I get in my car. At first it wasn't so strong. AT FIRST it was just a little smell. I think it gradually got worse and worse.
Somehow over the summer I just got USED TO IT. Oblivious to the horror behind me.....
<>
I have a secure back storage bin that you lift up to stow things under the main compartment. It folds down over the bin and you can just put things in it. I started putting the helmets , shoes and gloves in there to AVOID the smelly car thing. But then it started to creep out. I park it in the hot sun all day. So by the time Hank comes to get his bike out of the back of my car in the late afternoon....IT REEKS. sheeeese.
I am reminded of some Seinfeld episode of an odor that was like an entity. Some usher with really bad B.O. moved Seinfeld's car. Somehow the man's body odor stayed in the car. A stench. Soon it attached itself to the owner. The owner, Jerry, then had the stench and it was impossible to get rid of it. They called the smell...... The Entity!
Its summer and my car is basically a ''catch -al''l for all things bicycle. You can see the potential for some odorishness possiblities. It is NOT my upbringing to be a slob. My dad was strict about cleanliness. He TRIED to get me to be a proper young lady and stay all cleaned up. But its useless. I left and as soon as I was on my own I became this slobarina. Its just that cleaning my car is a rather low priority for me. Its the last thing on my list of things to do. I get some free time after work and driving and training and eating and sleeping and all those basic things. That leaves me time for Pets, plants, laundry,turning on the dishwasher, food, craft projects and the house.... OH yes, house cleaning definitely is a priority over car cleaning . Yes. yes yes. Picking up before the maid comes is very important. (haha) :)
Domestique I can do pretty well..... But Domestic? Me??
!!!!
The only time I even think about cleaning my car are in the seconds that happen just before Hank climbs in. As soon as he opens the door, I go "doh..." shoulda cleaned the car''. ONly cause I have to HEAR about it....relentlessly. Someone selling antifumigants for cars should sponsor a bike team. THAT would be good. :)
THE ODOR.
But last week, with the warmer weather. It became apparent even to me that the back of my car really smells bad. Its one of those smells that you can tolerate and get used to and it grows and grows unbeknownst to the slob who is tolerating it every day. So it wasn't until Hank came near the back of my car tuesday nite to get his bike that he made the comment rather loudly,
"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT SMELL!!!!!????" he growled. (he growls a lot).
Oh. Wow. Yes, I do smell it, I tell him as I hurry around him to get the wheels. It seems kind of strong so I add "Why honey, its just those old gloves under the bin. I"ll clean it" I ignore his rant and start getting ready for our group ride. But he is amazed. He won't stop commenting.
"OH MY GOD!!!!!!! IT SMELLS LIKE ROTTEN FEET!!! OH MY GOD~ WHAT IS IT?? WHERE
IS IT COMING FROM?!!!"" He lifts the bin and we are struck back by the powerful overwhelming fuming stench which hits us so hard we are forced to stagger back."JUNE YOU CAN"T PUT YOUR OLD GLOVES UNDER THE BIN!!!"" he picks up my shoes....."" YOU cant put your SHOES under here like that!!!""" He picks up my helmet "" YOU CAN"T PUT YOUR HELMET BACK under here unless its DRY! What is this , a dirty SOCK???"" and on and on.
I try to answer him . "Oh I don't wear those gloves honey, they smell bad. "" He doesnt laugh.
"" oooh..They've been under there awhile. wow. THey never really smelled this bad before. " I laugh apologetically.
He just looked at me.
I was leaning over to get my helmet and he tried to 'playfully' grab my head to make me smell the dirty gloves.... but I dodged him . HA!
It just so reminded me of when my brother used to shove his dirty feet into my face and make me smell them.
"" MOM!!!!! ERIC is making me smell his stinky FEET!!!!!!!!!!"
I mean. sheese
Shoulda punched him.
But instead, OUT comes that key female word we love to use to let the male know that the converstaion is now over. :: "WHATEVER!!!' ( this is polite woman speek for the F word by the way. )
SO Hank just can't help his european upbringing and he has to fix everything. He fixes it for me. Somehow magically the car smells great. For a little while at least. Helmets are hung on the bikes now to dry and the gloves are dismissed when dirty and kept in ziplock bags when clean. Everything is nice. ....and cleaned.
(hum)
((see? SEE?? take notes. this is how you get someone else to clean your car. Just make it stink SOOoooooo bad that they can't stand it and then they will clean it up for you.)) .... haha... Oh the art of being artful. :)
Somehow, still a mystery to me, Hank defumigated my car. Now it smells nice. I have to learn to do that. Maybe I can just put some Baking powder stuff back there. . Ohhh Pet Carpet cleaner might be good.
I wonder what other people do to avoid THE STENCH.
:) thanks hank!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
YAY
Our hard working team mate, Wayne from Verdigris won his event's Masters National Road Championship Title! Congratulations Wayne! Now we won't feel so bad when you lap us at our Tuesday nite Ride.
share the road plate
http://www.bicycleretailer.com/news/newsDetail/1529.html
Cool Colorado license plate. Great idea.
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