Qualified for Nationals!

Mike and I qualified for the nationals road race which is next Friday in Wisconsin. I guess Mike isn't going to make it due to shrinking lungs but I have decided to make the trek instead of walking on graduation. It's a sweet excuse to miss graduation.

Who's pumped for the meeting tomorrow night! and the bike rodeo Friday... SHIP

I remember the results!

I remember the results from the last twilight crit!

Winner: ME (JON M)

I still have the yellow jersey which Dr. Goates needs since he is the current leader. Unless he has a new one because I have it framed in my room with my other leader jerseys. Well it could be in the living room or kitchen, I just have so many framed I can't remember where they all are. It might even be in the bathroom or basement or...

starlight circle race #1 (apr 21)

Shippensburg nighttime racing is back and oh how fun it is. Moonlight. Cool air. Freaky shadows. So much fun.

A few laps in a Mike Maret that had hitherto been uncharacteristically grumpy (even for Mike) rolled up beside me and said something about loving to race at night. I agree.

...

Six riders came out for the inaugural race in the 2010 Starlight Circle Race Series, Kelly and Dillon riding the loop for the first time.

We kept it tight for the first several laps, warming up, working on our paceline skillz, until 2M got antsy and shot off the front with an over-the-shoulder look that just dared us to try to keep up.

Things quickly exploded after that. Mike and I traded punches at the front (mostly me attacking every other lap or so and Mike easily keeping on my wheel). Conroy and Dillon worked well together just behind. Jimmy kindly rode clean up (sacrificing himself to clear any stray water bottles or power bars that might have been dislodged in the heat of battle). Meanwhile, Kelly dominated the women's field.

With about five laps to go, Mike caught me napping and got a little gap. I let him keep it, for a lap or so, then charged around him with what I hoped was enough speed that he wouldn't be able to hold my wheel. It worked. I was lucky. (I'm sure he won't let me do it again.) And despite Mike recruiting the help of a lapped Conroy, I held on through the last three laps for the W.

Don't let this old man run away with the thing. That isn't the story you want to tell your kids.

Combined Gender Standings After Round #1:

(1) dr goatesauce, 25 pts
(2) 2m, 20 pts
(3) conroy, 16 pts
(4) d grace, 13 pts
(5) jimmy, 11 pts
(6) kelly flantastic, 10 pts

Women's Standings After Round #1

(1) kelly flantastic, 25 pts

...

Note the new scoring scheme. Rather than the Fibonacci sequence deal we used in September, I've elected to use a more traditional points scale which awards points to the top 15 riders (it seems unlikely we'll ever have more than 15 riders) like this: 25, 20, 16, 13, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1.

...

By my count there are five riders who wanted to be there who weren't for some reason. If we can get a few non-students there, we could easily be running fields of 12-15.

...

I was looking at the standings from the 2009 September Starlight Criterium Series (same course, four rounds) and I'm not sure who came out on top. After three rounds the points looked like this:

(1) Mike Maret, 16.5 pts
(2) goatesauce, 16 pts
(3) Jon Marshall, 13.5 pts
(4) Matt C. (Chop), 11 pts
(5) Matt Conroy, 3 pts
(6) Cody Wertz, 3 pts
(7) Alex Krayo, 1 pt
(8) Kevin Melnick, 1 pt

Does anyone remember how it ended?

...

Round #2 of the Starlight Circle Race Series is scheduled for Wednesday, May 5, 9:30 pm. Cinco de Mayo, baby.

That said, if there's interest--especially from the folks who will be leaving us over the summer--to throw in one more round next week, Wednesday, April 28, I'm game.

New TT Shoes...

So we budgeted for these next year... right?

Dr. Goates invades South Park

Referring back to Jon's post:
http://shipcycling.blogspot.com/2009/12/dr-goates-twin-or-acting-career.html

I think I have spotted Dr. Goates in the latest South Park episode, what do you think?

Let's examine the picture:

• Dr. Goates' body type
• Chest hair (hard to see in the photo)
• 5 o'clock shadow
• Definitely the same hair!
• Eyebrows...

Despite being a little too tan... I think we can successfully say Dr. Goates has been in a Gamefly commercial and has worked his way into a South Park episode. This is a fun game... "Find the Goates!"

too quiet

Things seem to have quieted down on the blog just a little too much. Everyone's racing, there's drama all around with crashes and ovalized bottom brackets and a result here and there...where's the chatter?

In an effort to spice things up a bit, I'll give y'all a snapshot view of the trophy I took home this weekend:


This picture was taken after I got all cleaned up, obviously. Immediately after the injury it was much more exciting. My eye socket was completely filled with blood, I had sweet blood streaks down my cheek, and I've still dark red splatter spots sprinkled on my top and down tubes. My DNA is everywhere.

The story: Went to play on Saturday in Zach's Michaux Mash--a four-hour mountain bike race on a nine-mile loop of Michaux's worst (that's not true--there is much, much worse). For those that don't know, endurance mountain bike events are often timed. Riders try to run as many laps as possible within the time limit. The rider with the most laps wins. Or the rider that finishes the most laps in the least amount of time wins.

My accident occurred after I went over the bars in a particularly rough section of trail just 30 minutes in. Scraped up helmet, broken sun glasses, slightly dented top tube, and a cut on the forehead. I immediately began bleeding everywhere. I had to take a few minutes to stop the bleeding and assess how bad I was hurt. After five or six minutes the cut stopped bleeding, I felt ok--if maybe a little deflated--so I figured I'd soldier on. I rode another 3 1/2 hours and finished (I think) 10th in the under 40.

The gash above my eye was cool and all, but through the course of the ride I also rubbed the tip off my left nipple. (Sorry, no photo.) Frankly, that hurt a lot more. Couldn't hardly shower afterward, the pain of water spraying on my chest just a little more than I could bear.

I love bike racing.

Princeton/Stevens pictures

Heres a link to Greg W's photo album from the Princeton Crit on Saturday