Pennsylvania Spring Classic?

Mingo is notorious for bad weather...but yesterday was BEAUTIFUL by this race's standards...as evidenced by 116 racers showing up for a go at the title!

Brian tells how our Cat 1/2/3 race went... so I will let this picture of Sam Morrison (tell the story) of how it went for everyone else!

Bottom line, (my) goal for the Team was for this race to be a (painful) reminder of an exciting new season bearing down upon us. It was :)

...a season where comradary, race animation and PR performances are considered far more important than (most all) mass-start results against a large cast of racing characters who have better genealogy, less demanding jobs and/or no family obligations!!!

"Race Hard, whenever Life doesn't get in the way, and be happy about it"!!!

Mingo Creek #1

It was a nice day and actually warmer than I expected. Ag3r/Indianacycling.com had a pretty good turn out. I think there were 6 of us but I may have miscounted. The race started off in a cluster of confusion like usual. The cat. 1,2,3,and masters were all lined up to race together and they said go. Seconds later someone else yells,"Only 1,2,3!" So all of the masters stop and in the process stop everyone behind them. So the 10 or so of us who got stuck in the back got started again and struggled to catch back on to a rampaging peloton. After the race Henry told me that they eventually just told the masters to go and they all had to try to catch up to the 1,2,3's even later than I did. Anyway, I did catch back up but not until the bottom of the hill on the course and at the pace they were going up I was in a bad spot. I got gapped at the first part of the hill and just about caught back on at the top but it was too late. The group was gone and I was dropped. I chased for 3 more laps and that is when I caught Mark N. and we threw in the towel. I can't comment on how anyone else did in their races because all of the fields were so fragmented that I didn't know which group was which. It was a good day for a race and it was a good race. It just wasn't a good race for me. But, it was fun. Then I had to drive 5 hours home through the mountains of WV and western VA. If anyone would like to go on an excursion to do some amazing climbs that last for miles and have many switchbacks I would recommend Rte. 33 between Harrisonburg, VA and Rte. 79 in WV. That's a stretch of about 90 miles or more and it would be deadly to do all at once but if you come to visit me we can do the section right outside Harrisonburg and that will probably be plenty.

a ride just to stretch the legs

I was out this morning on a short ride just to get my legs moving before Mingo Creek tomorrow. The ride was cut extra short because my mother told me that she was cooking a big lunch for the whole family and I needed to be back and cleaned up by 12:30. I did an easy hour of spinning with one 10 minute tempo interval and a few sprints thrown in just for fun.Once I was headed for home I met up with my dad who headed out the door after I did and came to meet me.

It was a beautiful day for a ride but still a bit cold. That was enough to make us extra happy standing around the fireplace after returning home.
Now it's time to rest up for the remainder of the day and prepare to be dropped tomorrow at Mingo Creek.

Posted by Brian D. Hopkins at 1:54 PM 0 comments

Today's ride

It's finally getting to the time of year that we can start riding outside again. Maybe not every day(yet) but soon enough. I got out for about 2 hours this morning. Temps were in the 60's and the sun was shinning. There was a 15mph wind from the south west that made the trip home a bit more challenging than normal.

IUP Cycling Club Maintenance Workshop

Thanks to Rich for helping us out with an awesome maintenance workshop. A great turnout on Friday led to a bombardment of questions for Rich as he showed everyone proper techniques in bike maintenance. Everyone who attended was sure to learn something and meet someone new with a common interest. IUP Cycling Club is very thankful to Indiana Cycling and Fitness for this event and is looking forward to a great first semester. Check us out on the web at www.people.iup.edu/tkcn.

Spring is here!

I was out today for my first ride of the year on the parkway. It was sunny with temps in the mid 60's in the valley for the start of the ride. Once I got onto the parkway it was still sunny but temperatures dropped into the mid 50's.
It was a nice ride and there were lots of people out on bikes. I think today was the first day the parkway was reopened for cars. I must have seen 25 cyclists (8-10 pros) and only 10 cars. All of the riders were going the opposite direction so I had no one to ride with. I guess maybe I need to switch my loop so I go the same way. If I did that and started riding with those guys they may reverse their loop to get away from me.
I started the ride doing intervals for the first hour and then did tempo for the rest. Overall I rode for just about 2 1/2 hours on a beautiful day.

Oh my...a long, windy, and uphill road it has been to obtain the ability to post to this Blog... but I think I am finally here?

The first races of the year have begun...but only for our token, grits eating Southern-Boy. For the rest of us...we patiently wait for the Mingo Road races to begin...so we can be reminded yet again, that indoor stationary training is meaningless :(

Until then, I leave you with this winter image of us printed in the Butler Eagle Newspaper.

2008 Dismal Dash 40k ITT

I was really looking forward to the race today because I love any excuse to use all of my TT "stuff" and a TT is the only race where I actually stand a chance. The day started off cold. 40* and cold. On my way to the race the temperature went up to about 48* but it started raining. Finally, the rain stopped about 20 miles from the race location and the wind that was in the forecast was almost nonexistent. I had to be at the race by 11:30(that's when packet pick-up ended) but my start time wasn't until 13:00 so I lots of time to waste. I ended up arriving even earlier thanks to Google maps giving incorrect travel time, maybe it's just how I drive. So needless to say I had lots of time to stand around in the cold. I warmed up for 30 minutes on the stationary trainer and stopped at 12:45 to get make all of my final preparations and get to the start line for my start. While I was on the trainer the wind had begun to pick up a bit and by the time I took the start it was just plain windy. The course was on back roads with little traffic but there were some rough sections of broken up pavement. We had a tail/cross wind on the way to the turnaround and a head/cross wind on the way back to the finish. With the tail wind on the way out, I did the first 12.5 miles in 27 minutes 10 seconds. I knew I was going good because I was holding back to save my energy for the head wind on the return trip and I was still 40 seconds faster than I was last year. It's a good thing I was saving something because the return trip didn't disappoint. The wind was tough and it was evident by all of the riders that I ended up passing that they had gone out too hard and were dieing in the headwind. I ended up finishing in 59 minutes 35 seconds at just over 25mph. Not bad for such a windy day and it was my first 40k in under an hour. That's right boys, I'm in the hour club! (but just barely) It was good enough for 5th place in the cat 1,2,3 race on this day. So I'm happy with the result. I improved on my time from last year by 3 minutes 35 seconds.

I'm back!

I finally figured out how to get back into here. I'll be posting more now.

Sonny Hutchins Memorial Criterium

Just got home from the Sonny Hutchins Memorial Criterium. I did the Cat. 1,2,3 race. Normally I wouldn't stand a chance but it was on a 1/3 mile stock car oval with banked turns. The race was 60 laps(20miles) long. I started the race in my usual position, at the back. It wasn't really on purpose, but when we were 15 laps into the race I just happened to look behind me to see how many people were back there and there was no one. I was just happy to be hanging on because I didn't use my inhaler today and my lungs were really feeling it. I knew after the initial rush my lungs would be fine and continue to improve the longer the race went on. I figured it didn't matter very much because this was all gonna come down to a sprint anyway. Eventually I moved up through the field and I must say, I did a fine job. Not once did I ever have to put my nose to the wind to move up. I just followed wheels and waited until the end. I guess I picked pretty good and followed a guy from Nature's Path and he pulled me up the outside of the pack. All seemed to be going well until the last turn when we were riding 3 wide and I was moving up. Then the guy to the inside of me couldn't hold his line and started drifting outwards into me and I was blocked on the outside and didn't really have anywhere to go. I ended up having to not pedal the final corner and slow down to prevent the crash but I then I was going much too slow for the sprint to the line that was only 3oo yards away. I started my sprint and ended up 9th place overall. I don't know where I finished in the Cat. 3's, I'll post that when I find out. Not bad for my first sprint of the year and I'm not just talking about sprinting in race conditions. I haven't sprinted all, maybe I should work on that;-)