Keep on keepin' on

Today the cycling community lost another great member. Mike Pohlman passed on after a training ride accident. Mike was a sponsor and member of the St. Louis Cycling Club. As a former teammate, I only knew Mike from the all to few rides we were on together. But, in our community, once you have put it into the wind together you have a certain bond with that person.

My friend Louis Branz said some beautiful words about his lost friend after todays race. Showing his true class Louis made it clear that Mike Pulhman will not soon be forgot. I tip my helmet to the members of the St. Louis Cycling Club for putting on a class show today when the had every reason to not.

I have no idea what helps people push through the bad times like this. It has always been best for me to grab a hold of the things that are most important and drive home the point of life which for me is simply living. So tommorow I will put on my cycling shoes, through a leg over my Lemond, drop the clutch and give it every inch of my life.

Chapeau, Clubbers. Chapeau, Mike.

End of an ending

After a couple of hours out in the wind, we came to a screaching hautly with about a kilo to go. My first thought was thats not good for anybody. There were two groups of two within a few seconds of us. Would they have gotten caught? It is an impossible answer, but the more important matter at hand was the guy laying in the middle of the road bleeding out. It truely is hard to keep yourself in the game at that point. The riders off the front deserved their shot, but the situation could have been handled much better. Again.

I had done my best all day to cover and counter, and made most of the dangerous moves. Including a 15 man group that seemed to just roll off the front. Not knowing I was in a move for the first 5 minutes I just watched as they rolled through. After awhile I took a look back to see the wheel truck. Could we have a gap? Had it already gone out to a minute? I guess I just wasn't paying attention. With 4 strong Mesa riders in the move and two Big Shark I figured I would join in for awhile and see what happened. But, as there were so many people and some conflicting personalities it was doomed from the start. When I saw a mass of blue on the front of the chase I softpedaled through for while, but the chase looked to be stretched to the limit.

What a day. I felt great, we worked hard. And, I feel completely deflated because the fun was sapped right out of me in the end. In this case, the end of the race was a Kilo from the finish.

And the rain came

Saturdays Carondelet Park race left me demoralized and quit empty of the spite I am usually full of. Along with other things of course. We just got it handed to us. No question about it.
On sunday I was excited to be on a course that suits me when the pace is high. So I was as eager an instigator as Woody Woodpecker after a seond bowl of Captain Crunch. Chomping on the bit to get going after another run in with an official at this race I quickly got in some early moves. Finally with the run combination I managed to break loose. As I struggled to get comfortable we established a solid gap for this course, we never managed to get a comfortable lead out of sight. And then the rain came. With a little caution we tested the wrong corners, the concrete ones. I was sure at this point the gap would go striaght out giving us an opportunity to sprint for the win. But we were loosing a ton of time in and after the corners. We just couldn't get on the same page after the rain dampened the spirit of the move.

Here is the catch.
Somebody please pat me on the back. I am given' everything I got. It seems that my only consolation is that I left everything on the road.