2008 iowa cup

It’s a new year and the road racing season in Iowa begins in earnest in less than 60 days. CyclingUpdate.com is excited to announce the re-vamped CyclingUpdate.com Iowa Cup for 2008. The rules have changed, the races have changed, and the competition will be more exciting than ever. So, listen up!

First and foremost, the races for 2008:
Altoona Road Race (April 5)
Big Creek Road Race (April 6)

Iowa City Road Race (April 26)
Old Capitol Criterium (April 27)

Snake Alley Criterium (May 24)
Melon City Criterium (May 25)

Mason City Criterium (July 12)
Clear Lake Road Race (July 13)

--The first thing you’ll notice; there are fewer races. That’s true. However, the spread of races on the calendar still provide a season-long test of rider’s fitness and stamina. The races themselves focus our attention on some of the biggest weekends of racing here in Iowa. These weekends are always well attended and hotly contested, and the Iowa Cup just turns up the volume on some already intense weekends. The State Championship races have been removed from the Iowa Cup, not because they’re not great races, but because their importance is intrinsic. They stand for themselves.
--Also, the point structure has been changed slightly to remove the bonus for finishing first overall in an individual race. Winning is everyone’s goal, but this contest is about Iowans racing Iowans. Plus, we’re cyclists not mathematicians. This means that the point breakdown for each race will be:
1st Iowan - 10 points
2nd - 7 points
3rd - 5 points
4th - 4 points
5th - 3 points
--A new addition this year will be a Women’s-Category 4 competition. This will category will supplement the Women’s Open competition that has always been a part of the Iowa Cup. Womens’ cycling is growing here in Iowa, and it is the hope that this new category in the Iowa Cup will help those new to the sport enjoy the thrill of a season-long struggle to come out on top. The other categories for the Iowa Cup will remain the same as the previous two seasons, and so all categories will be:
Category 1/2
Women’s Open
Category 3
Category 4/5
Women’s Category 4
Masters 40+
Masters 50+
--The leader of the Category 1/2 competition will be awarded a ceremonial green jersey following the completion of each Iowa Cup race. It promises to be even more chic than the photo above.
--Good luck, everyone! [from cyclingupdate.com]

the gentleman's gentleman

bobby, has it really been over 36 years since we both had our big-10 debut? you made my evenings and weekends in the fieldhouse fun. obstructed view? whatever. it was a great time to be a big-10 fans: bobby knight, johnny orr, bo schembechler, woody hayes, hayden fry, dan gable. good shit, bobby. thanks for the plaid.

back in the saddle again

the presenting problem:

this graph shows better than words can explain the crisis i was facing at the orphanage: a steady and rapid decline in the available supply of life-sustaining hydrocodone. i was beginning to see the bottom of my pill bottle, and THAT constitutes an amber alert in any language.

the solution:

staring an approaching blizzard of unknown proportions square in the face, the words of charles davis, my junior high shop teacher, seemed sage indeed: "west, if you don't stop clowning around, you'll NEVER finish that stupid candy dish." so i wasn't going to clown around when it came to choosing which bike to ride. preparing to battle oppressive weather, the choice was clear: i went straight for my 1960 schwinn tornado, women's model. an upright bicycle, with no-nonsense handlebars, a reflector, fenders and chainguard.

the obstacle: this diagram clearly shows the frozen heat mother nature was pitching sunday. "g" is me, muttering "gosh" as i pedalled my forty-pound blue beauty; "h" represents the headwind into which i was riding, all the way from the orphanage to the douglas avenue walgreen's, countless blocks away; while "v" is the vicodin, sure to raise my morale while reducing my ability to operate heavy equipment.

bicycling is more than just pedaling--it's SCIENCE: oh, yeah, there's a lot of science involved, the way i pedal a bike. LOTS of science. just look at those lines, they was they go up and down. the red line indicates my first wind; the blue, my second wind. most importantly, look at the black line, my fourth wind. FOURTH wind. hell, lots of guys have a hard time getting their second wind. you've seen that puffy-faced dick enrico, from the second wind store, haven't you? he gets all excited about second winds--but i'm talking about FOURTH wind. i'm telling you, that's a LOT of power. and that was into a blizzard. did i mention that? and remember, this was my first time on a bike in three weeks. THREE WEEKS! i'm sick here, remember? and look at that science i'm putting out.

the fitness experts at the orphanage: after a gruelling workout like the one i described above, one that produces that much science, that much raw data, well, it's just not good to leave THAT kind of science laying around. kids could get hurt. that's why the orphanage has on staff a full contingent of highly-trained experts, waiting to make sense of all that data. as far as i'm concerned, they just point out the obvious: i'm one hell of an athlete. even with a broken body, and with three weeks away from my highly-structured and physically- and mentally-demanding several-times-a-day workout schedule, i can still knock them out of the park.

the result:

this final graph shows what i already knew: that if i could just keep that red line going up, that black line would eventually go down. and it did. i LOVE science. what's NOT to love about it?

what's it mean? i'm back, baby, i'm back!!

the slaughter continues...

whether in the states, australia, or now scotland, bicyclists continue to get mowed down:

"Jason MacIntyre, one of the United Kingdom’s top time trialists, was killed on a training ride near Fort William yesterday." [read more]

and the same, feeble "excuses" continue to be offered as legal defenses.

when will a prosecutor with a functioning spine take a stand in support of these dead bikemen?

WARNING: your computer is already infected

i suspect my anonymous poster/troll from late last night [see the comments section from the previous post about my recovery process] is responsible for a mildly annoying little virus that has already infected your computer screen. the benign little bug seems to superficially affect your computer [it "smudges" your screen] simply by viewing this blog. not to worry: i've spent a few minutes to isolate and identify the bug, and have discovered the sure-fire cure to this little "infection" [a term which makes it seem much worse than it really is].

all you have to do is click here, and let the program work for about 30 to 60 seconds. that's all it will take to clean your screen. it really wasn't a very sophisticated virus, and this link will have it licked in no time.

that troll really is a silly little nuisance.

bad boy!

when the one speaks, the others listen

the capitol city's own nostradamus says: "fittingly, randy's life will one day be summed up by the inscription on his tombstone: f#ckin' fields!"

.....

works for me!

recovery update

don't get me wrong--i'm not complaining or any of that shit, so don't get the wrong impression as a result of this post. but folks have been asking--and i want to thank all of you who have called or stopped by the orphanage--and in as much as i haven't been seen out on the bike for the last three weeks, i thought i'd let folks know how it's going since i broke my left clavicle january 11th.

remember when i crashed at the cross race in october, 2006? you know, another broken clavicle, half-dozen broken ribs, collapsed lung, week in the hospital?

well, i felt better then . . . seriously.

i really don't know what the hell is going on this time around.

but anyway, i really AM going to ride a bike tomorrow, so we'll see how that affects my personal prognosis. it's gonna be an interesting springtime, i'll tell you that.