10/18/09 Carpentersville CX

How to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon:

Head to a park with friends.

Race bikes around said park.

Add $$$, cookies, beer, and cheese fries.

Scream until you’re hoarse.

Go home eat the pot roast you put in the slow-cooker before leaving! 

 

Bobbi & Helge get ready to heckle the 4b's

Why I love CX

I love the heckling!

Helge & Kevin heckling Josh

9/20/09 Jackson Park CX Double Header

After a large turnout, results have been posted from JacksonP Park. I raced a double header, opting for the 3’s and 1/2/3’s that day. Turns out I finished about 31st/60 something in the 3’s (right behind my teammate whom I’ve marked as my strongest competition) and 27th/36 in the 1/2/3’s (even though I was terribly slow).

The 1/2/3’s race had me blowing up about 20mins in, but luckily i only got lapped once, and none of the fast guys y yelled at me for getting in their way! That’s a positive thing.

Another double header awaits me in Dekalb this weekend. It’s my goal to finish on the lead lap of the 1/2/3 race while racing a double this year. I guess we’ll see what happens.

How not to prepare for a race and still do well

a Oversleep and wake up 30 mins before your ride is supposed to pick you up
b Dont eat breakfast, instead eat a banana and a power bar
c Stretch
d Dont warm up
e Work on a teammates bike
f Line up
g Sit in the mid-pack for 98% of the race
h Avoid the dead opposum
I Avoid the 2 crashes
j Sprint hard
k Cross finish line, body and bike intact.
l Have 2 Old Styles with the team.

Raced the Cat 4 40 mile Road Race Championships in Western Springs IL and finished 15/56.  Good times and great team Love.

Chicago Criterium Cat 4/5 Heat 2

I’ve been racing and training a lot lately, but haven’t been good about posting race reports.  I guess it’s a lack of time due to everything else that is going on in my life.

Last night I entered race #9 of the 10 I need to upgrade from Cat 5  to Cat 4 on the road.  One more to go,  which will be checked off the list this Saturday at the Tour of Elk Grove, as I race back to back in both Cat 5 races at 9am & 9:30am respectively. 

I had spectated and pre-rode the course on 7/1 earlier in the month to determine if it was safe.  I liked the course, some-what technical with good speed, which I felt would play well to my strengths.  Signed up for the B race with Mike Hemme and 48 other riders.  As always seems to happen, I line up in the third row to the far outside.  Whistle blows, and off we go.  The first few corners are dicey, as people are hitting the brakes where they shouldn’t be.  Lap 1 goes by with no incident, and people start settling in.  I move up into the top 6 on the road and am sitting in comfortably. In hind-sight, I should have just stayed here all race to contest the win, but Hemme was off the front and I wanted to try to bridge up to him.  So, like the idiot I am, I flew off the front for about a lap, bringing the field with me.  When I saw everyone still behind me, I wanted others to pull.  Being only 4 laps in, it was hard to convince people to take over the lead and the pace quickly fell.  I dropped into the pack to recover.  Unfortunately, I dropped too far back and would have had to make some big gambles to get back to the front. 

The laps just flew by as they tend to do when you’re red-lined. Every lap I’d hear Julie yell encouragement and tell me to move up.  I wanted to, but it was hard to go around more than 2 people a lap.  So, I was content to sit in and rotate around the people directly infront of me. Came up on 3 to go, and Hemme’s tire blows coming into the start/finish straight.  I figured there would be a hell of an accident.  Luckily everyone made it through just fine. The next 2 laps were pretty much all-out and I just focused on beating the guy in front of me (which coincidentally happend to be team-mate Danny).  I did beat him on the last lap and with no results up at this time, I figure I finished in the upper 20’s / lower 30’s out of 50.  Not glorious, but another great work-out done and one step closer to attaining my goal to upgrade.

Saturday will bring race 3 and 4 in one week’s time. Then it’s time for a break until Oakbrook or Cyclocross.  Look out dirt, the big blue Half Acre train is coming to tear you up, and I can’t wait!

Energy efficient improvements

Due to my tax background, and a push to go green, I’m sharing the 2009-2010 tax credit rules with you when making energy efficient improvements to your home, which can help you save up to $1,500 of federal taxes.

The credit is 30% of the total paid for certain qualifying energy efficient insulation, windows, doors, and roofs, as well as, certain heat pumps, hot water heaters or boilers, and advanced main air cirulating fans on your principal residence (ie. where you live during the year).

The maximum credit is capped at $1,500 for all expenditures over 2009-and 2010. So, you can use it all in 2009 or any variation over the two years. 

A good place to start your search for qualifying energy efficient products is http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_tax_credits. This site will provide you with a list of requirements for each product category.  Be sure to check the product package materials or website of the manufacturer to ensure the product satisfies the required energy saving requirements.  The IRS states you can rely on the manufacturers written certification statement included with the product packate materials or on the website.  Make sure to keep a copy of the certification for you tax records incase of an audit.

Customized

It’s no secret that I’d like a custom Rock Lobster cyclocross bike at some point.  All thanks to Mr. Ben Popper and his sexy Rock Lobster Team Tig AL CX Frames.  I even have an idea of what I’d like the paint scheme to look like. It just so happens someone had Rock Lobster build a road bike in a similar paint scheme to what I would do.  Granted, the rear stays would be blue.  Ahhh….to dream.

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On my mind

It’s official, I now have CX on my mind and the season won’t be starting until mid-to-end of September.  Just 3 more months until dirt, barriers, and cow-bells.

Long time coming

What can I say, it’s been too long since I’ve posted.  The year has gone by too quickly, as it’s almost July.  I plan on summing up more of the year in detail when I get a chance.

Here’s a little of what I am doing, and what you can expect from me in the next 2 months. I’m working on accomplishing one of my 2009 racing goals, and that’s upgrading from Cat 5 to Cat 4 on the road.  I currently have 4 races completed, and need roughly six more.  Today I registered for 7/12 Elgin road race; 7/19 Evanston crit; 7/26 Chicago Crit; 8/1 Elk Grove Village crit Heat 1 & 2.   This doesn’t count the track racing I plan on doing on Thursday nights and the Pursuit Challenge on 7/18.  Needless to say I’ll be a busy boy

I’m hoping to upgrade to Cat 4 road right after the Tour of Elk Grove.  Hopefully they’ll let 1 race slide since I did the ABR Monsters of the Midway race.   If not, I can always fall back on the Glencoe Grand Prix for #10 or try to get in on one of the Soldier Field Crits. 

It’d be an added bonus if I could upgrade to Cat 3 on the track, but I’m not going to get ahead of myself, and as far as cyclocross is considered, I’ll just be trying to have mid-pack finishes in the Cat 3’s.  2009 will mostly be  a building year leading into a more focused 2010.

3/26 Kevin’s Crits Day 4

First I wish to start by saying thank you.  Thank you to everyone on our team, XXX, Cuttin Crew, and the city of Chicago for allowing this Crit to take place. Without your hard work, this would not have been possible, nor would it have been as successful or so smoothly run.

I’ll first start by saying this is the first race for me of the 2009 racing season.  I viewed it simply as a tune-up to get the kinks and cob-webs sorted out, and to gauge how I was progressing in my training compared to everyone else. I was a little nervous, because I was spit out the back of both crits I raced last year due to poor training/planning, so my goal was to hold on to the pack for 45 minutes (that and not to crash).

I toed the line towards the far left, got a good jump at the start, and settled in for the first lap in the top 5-10 positions. After that, I just let people shuffle around me and tried to stay in the draft to conserve energy.  While in the peloton, I was learning it was best to be towards the outside of the corners so that you could carry more speed through them and not have to sprint out of every corner to stay with the group. I moved from the front to the back to the front of the peloton over the remaining 11 laps. 

To be honest, I settled into the groove, and my mind went blank, only concentrating on maintaining a consistant pace, and on the riders to my left, right, and front. Every now and then I would hear Audrey, Erica and Julie screaming, but it was almost inaudible amoungst all the noise.   Originally I had hoped that I would have had the stamina and power to mount an attack with the stronger guys on Half Acre, but as the laps wound down, I knew that I couldn’t sustain the required watts that it would take to make a break-away stick. 

As the bell lap sounded, the pace dramatically increased.  I was behind Danny and felt he and I could possibly work together to make up some spots to get near the top 10.  After coming out of the first turn and into the S-bend on the back stretch, someone failed to hold their line and almost caused a wreck.  Danny and I got seperated, and my momentum was shot.  From here to the Finish line, I focused on what Kevin Perez says at track clinics “Concentrate on passing the person in front of you”  So, I picked off 2 riders and almost a third before the finish line.  I’m not overly concerned with my finish, as it was somewhere mid-pack, but I am very happy with my overall performance, and knowing that my training is working. Now lets see how the rest of the season plays out.

I’d like to give a shout out to Stan on the team, who finished 5, in only his 4th Criterium ever.  Very impressive.

Watch out for the blue Half Acre train, I forsee some good things happening on the road this year from our squad.