tRoPpMaNn-On A wIrE

I went to the season ender for Thursday’s at the Major Taylor Velodrome and had a blast. Lara tagged along and Matt from Turin was there. It was a good time racing after three weeks off. Felt good and would be doing the two day event this weekend had I planned ahead better. And the final count is, racing with the CAT4s as a CAT3:

Race 58, 25.03 flying lap.
Race 59 no place, scratch race, bars came loose at the beginning had a rough start.
Race 60, 3rd place, points race.
Race 61, 6th, Miss n’ Out
Race 62, 6th place, points race.

And for my 2009 track season, fin.

I am seriously flattered. Mr. Engwis and Beth Engwis have been awesome friendly at the Kenosha track this year, as well as at the the Major Taylor Velodrome in Indianapolis. Beth is awesome to watch when she is racing and I watch her to learn how to approach races. I am definitely a fan and wish them both well in the seasons to come.

The last night of racing for Kenosha was Tuesday and it was a blast. My cold had started to fade. My injuries seem to be getting better. I do need to get this should x-rayed at some point though. I sat in a tried to hold my own but the fields were larger than normal and the competition was tough. There was a nice Half Acre team showing as well. I really appreciated that. At any rate, more extra credit races:

race 56 no place
race 57 6th place
race 58 no place and the season at Kenosha is now over.

I will be finishing Major Taylor on September 19th but will be racing the 28th of Ausgust with Tim. It should be a good time. I will be meeting my brother and his wife there, along with my niece, whom I haven’t met yet.

Late season injury has me slower than i want to be at the moment:

Race 48, 12th out of 29 in the BFF Alleycat
Race 49, no place, unknown distance
Race 50, 5th place, unknown distance
Race 51, no place, miss n out
Race 52, 10thish, 20 lap scratch

Tim and I at Indy on Friday…Kenosha next week for the season ender and Indy on the 28th. Been a great season and now I need to figure out how to get better for next year.

race 44 danish 6th place
race 45 danish 5th place
race 46 tempo race no place
race 47 points race no place

all as CAT4

wasnt feeling it after last sundays bail…

5 out of 7th in a 15 lap scratch at Major Taylor….it was VERY painful…not a nationals qualifier…

1K M TT at Major Taylor with the CATS 1-2s, completely fucked up the start and came in DFL at 1:30.01 which was four seconds off the next best time.

Live and learn I guess…

would appreciate a some closure one way or another please.

no racing this week, the knee needs to be mellow for a while.

next week kenosha and indy again…basic training this week and we will be all good.

tired, working hard kind of. stilted is sounding fucking great. we just need a singer, kind of like this one:

anyway, back to web page stuff.

knees were really soar this week. decided to go with the weather and race again starting saturday….good times

“Donald C. Vanderbrook, 50, of Yorkville, who suffered a serious head injury Tuesday while racing at the Washington Park velodrome, has died, a spokeswoman at Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa said.

Vanderbrook was racing in close quarters with other cyclists when the crash occurred.”

Photo by Tim Strege.

My best wishes to his family.

It was a good night. rusty riders and people not looking created dangerous fun.

Tim Strege from Half Acre Cycling has shots of the evac from the track last night.

Rubbed wheels with someone not looking at what they were doing and this is what happened:

Which took me out of the following race. That race ended up with a helicopter taking a rider out of there. I do hope he is ok.

I got a 7th out 19 on the first scratch race.

Why i am trying to actually race a season. I am coming off a knee injury. I am not NEARLY as fast as I was last year (injury, brain tumor stuff, yada yada), but I am working on it. I think I am hoping to prove something to myself. I am caught between wanting to have done this 25 years ago and maybe trying to live that experience now.

Who knows but i am reminded of what Tim Krabbe’ wrote in his book “The Rider”:

“He doesn’t mind when I insult him. He takes a lot from me, because we are friends.
‘Stani, you never really push things. I think you are a pansy. What kind of rider are you?’ He looks at me and says that I could very well be right.
‘I’m absolutely right.’
‘Yes, absolutely.’ As from today, he’s going to change the way he races.
‘I don’t believe it for a minute.’….He lives to ride.”

Hmmm, maybe that is it. Like when I used to take my grandfathers old school Le Tour out at 6 a.m. in Port St.Lucie, FL and ride 10-15 before going to work at a Turnpike Plaza. What motivates that?

one more week of cat 5 races, what really sucks is that next week is the last night for cat 4 & 5 racing at the Northbrook Velodrome, which is absolute horseshit…the friday night racing should be available for the same length as thursday night racing….so basically because i couldnt get to all the races and am stuck at cat 5 i have four weeks of season left and no where to race…llama

saw this out there though…