Arkansas

With Walla Walla now a successful memory, Alan and I headed to Park City to drop off the van before flying to Arkansas for the Joe Martin Stage Race. En route we stopped for some lunch/coffee in Boise.

Big City coffee. Ironically in a small city.

We drove on to Park City.

The view from Jon's host house on the hill above Main Street. We should all be so lucky.

Alan and I were so lucky as to get a ride to the airport. As it turned out we were flying with a lot of luggage between 5 sets of wheels, bottles, spare parts, tools, and clothes. Just about as much as the two of us could drag through the airport.

Not sure what to say about this sign in the Little Rock airport. I'll let you be the judge of exactly what type of magic happens in this area.

Time to kill before picking more people up = time for some refreshment. Best meal $4 can buy.

Since we flew out to Arkansas we didn't have the luxury of our usual team vehicles. But we made due with some very nice rentals.

First things first: take all the bikes out of their Pika packs and make them whole bikes again. Glad to have a day to prepare before racing started.

Birds eye view of our Ford Focus. Things were beginning to come together at this point.

Oh, and if you didn't think that your tax dollars were getting put to good use: think again. TSA opened and inspected each and every one of the 9 Pika packs that came on this trip. They also stole my glue. Bastards.

Ready for racing in the sun.

Slightly more cramped than usual.

The first stage of Joe Martin is an uphill time trial at Devils Den state park. Bikes happened, lots of teams were there, but most importantly the park rangers had ATVs.

Since we felt that sharing a title sponsor and a bike sponsor was not enough, we elected to also share a parking lot with our friends from the Jamis Hagens-Berman pro team.

However I can see how the trailer is a good idea. Our hotel rooms was a bit on the full side.

Getting up before the first road race was very reminiscent of Seattle. Oh rain, I've missed you so.

Thankfully I was able to find a dry place to work.

I wasn't the only one making adjustments for the rain. David modified his rain jacket for the combination of slightly warmer temperatures and moisture. The rumor is that the Castelli rain shirt will be out sometime this fall. Obviously models have already been selected.

The stage 2 start was also in the Wal Mart parking lot. This is how things get done in the midwest.

Guys staying warm in the van before stage 2.

This was supposed to be a picture showcasing the beauty of Arkansas. Hopefully that came across. It was green. They have rivers. Not just Wal Marts.

Peloton! We went to feed Danny in a 4 man break, which meant we were next to the road when the peloton rode by.

After a hard day of bike racing burritos are a pretty good dinner option. Flying Burrito was the mexican food choice for this trip.

Crit day featured Danny and I wearing matching T shirts at lunch.

Just to make sure people knew we were together, we also wore our matching sunglasses.

(Programing note: there were pictures of the crit. But they were bad. In general most crits look the same. Espacially at the big races, the same teams/mechanics can be seen in the pit. Just to fill the space, here is a picture of the Redlands crit.)

If you ignore the plam trees its the same.

And with that comes the end of the Joe Martin Stage race. So all of the bikes headed back into the bags to fly to Silver City.

We even had time to check out the local customs. Staz and Danny shopped for suspenders at Wal Mart.

Steve gave the motorized shopping cart a try.

And we ended with a night out on the town. For bike racers that meant froyo and home by 10.

On to the Airport and Silver City for The Sram Tour of the Gila!

 

 

 

A lot has happened: Part 2

The crit happened. That was very enjoyable. Ian won after the guys did a great job pulling back a solo break with less than a lap to go. Very strong bike racing. So of course we had to celebrate with Thai food. In Walla Walla, the Thai place also has strange Thai karaoke.

This was just one of the many options, all featuring the same singer. Not my jam.

Bikes ready for the final road stage. The tape on the top tube has numbers of guys to watch for the day. Ian was sitting second in GC only a few seconds out of the lead. Everyone had to stay vigilant.

Ian's power animal for the day was this giant bee. The rubberized version provided by HB Alum and former Pro Sam Johnson. It rode with us on the dash through the end of the stage.

 

If you're curious about the bike racing that happened in more detail, check out the race reports at hagensbermancycling.com. There are more pictures and better descriptions ofd what actually went down on the road.

 

A lot has happened

One of the downsides of not having time to update the blog on a regular basis (2 weeks maybe..?) is that a lot of stuff has happened. I'll do my best to cover it all. So: Boulder happened.

You may recall the snow. Since I was there to relax and socialize it wasn't too much of an issue for me. More of an issue for Steve and Stuart who wanted to ride their road bikes. I think they got some good indoor altitude training in.

I also did some indoor training. Mine however was at Oscar Blues Brewing Company. Their tasting room is called the "Tasty Weasel". I'm pro.

Beer ready to distribute.

They were the first craft brewery to can their beer. (Notice the poster on the right hand side.) These cans were all empty when I was there, probably very full now.

I also got a chance to visit my friend Taylor in Colorado Springs. She showed me around the campus at Colorado College, I gave her bike a try on the team car. Maybe next year for the pink bikes.

After a few days in Colorado it was back to Seattle and since I didn't have any work on Monday I got to help an old coworker move a couch. How does one get a couch onto that balcony?

Putting it on top of the sprinter van really helps.

The Tour of Walla Walla marked my one year anniversary with Hagens. In recognition of that milestone Chris Wingfield bought me a frog cookie from Blackbird Bakery on Bainbridge Island. The frog didn't last long.

More fun rest area signage. I didn't realize the gallon jug of urine issue had become such an epidemic. Apparently I'm not up on the latest stats.

A lot of our hosts have dogs. In Walla Walla both houses included a dog. I only managed to get a picture of the guys playing with one of them.

Also from Blackbird: really good fresh bread. In Walla Walla we do toast right.

It was raining before the first stage Friday afternoon so the morning spin was moved inside. If you were curious earlier what Steve and Stuart's Boulder training plan looked like, probably very similar.

Youngapeti. Our official food spot for the Tour of Walla Walla. I think I ate there 4 times in 3 days last year, and possibly more this year. It's good. Get the Walla Walla burrito with Chicken.

I think thats what all these guys were ordering.

Traveling with a coffee maker is maybe a little weird but totally necessary since coffee quality and availabitly is often in question. The hand held burr grinder that fits inside the aeropress might be a little overkill. I still may have to buy one.

After coffee there was bike racing. Saturday morning was TT time. This pile of discs is ready to go fast.

(P.S.: They did. We had three guys in the top 20 including Ian in 2nd)

We also learned that if your tire rubs on your frame on a trainer you can make a pile of tire dust.

Start order for the TT. This is the sheet you live and die by. Missing a start time is not a good thing at all.

But we were able to get everyone off in time.

Everyone has good days and bad days. Riders, staff, and sometimes equipment. This tri spoke lost its life to a flat that had to be ridden out. RIP tri spoke.

Not to be troubled by a bit of bad luck, we head off to the crit Saturday evening.

The officials generally get some type of bulk food (pizza, lasagna, etc) but apparently if you're gluten free, like out pit official, you get a hummus plate. I wasn't even hungry and I was still a bit jealous.

 

 

 

 

 

Technical difficulties have arrisen. More to come once that gets sorted.