Monday, October 20, 2014

Pre 2015 preparation

Well, It's been a long while since I've updated this blog, so here's what's going on now. Normally after the Tulsa Tough I'll take a little break and then start the cyclocross season preparation. My typical CX plan is to re-establish some base fitness in July, then ramp it up in August, then full on CX stuff from then on. This year though I wasn't really super motivated to do the whole cross plan. I decided to keep doing the weekly wheeler crits until September, then maybe do a couple of CX races just for fun.

That didn't really go as planned. the closer the CX stuff got the more I wanted to focus on some other things. I've been basically doing the back to back road and CX seasons for the last 6 years, so I decided to skip it completely this fall and just get super recovered and fresh to start the 2015 road season right this go around. The plan was to do a FTP test on the 19th and actually start my preparation phase today. As luck would have it, I came down with a pretty wicked cold on Sunday, so the baseline testing didn't happen. Not a big deal. I'll try again soon. I'm pretty excited to get some miles in though. nothing like watching races you're not a part of to make you hungry to race again!

I got my welding table finished up and have a few projects going right now.
My custom home built welding table
I've been making lots of youtube videos also. I guess I've been doing that and working on welding projects with my small amount of free time instead of this blog, but I'll try to keep this updated more if possible. Time is super tight right now with Coatney going to school full time, but it's all working out. It's all about time management. Gotta use that time wisely if you want to get stuff done!

Anyhow, here's a couple of videos I've done in the last month or so that have been  doing well...




Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Pro-Am and Tulsa Tough recap

So I guess I'm in full on recovery mode for a while. I'm still riding some, but not racing for a few months or any structured training. The Pro-Am and the Tulsa Tough went ok. The results were so-so. I was hoping for a little better, but anytime you can do a huge criterium race block and not lose any skin is good thing.

This is the video I took from the Pro-Am. My co-worker Evan won. I ended up 17th. I felt pretty good the first hour, but struggled the last 15 minutes. I've slacked off on the training hours to go really well for 75 minutes.


The friday night race at the Tulsa Tough was my first ever Pro 1 race. This is a video someone posted on youtube. It's a pretty good representation of what the race felt like.


Saturday and Sunday
 I did the masters 40+ races. I got 6th and 15th. The following weekend was the Oklahoma state criterium championships. The 1/2 race on Saturday went pretty bad. Overheated and got dropped got 12th. Sunday went better. With the help of my team, I got the win in the masters race, plus won a bunch of primes.

I used my prize money from the past 2 weekends for supplies to build a welding table. It should be pretty cool once it's done.  Here's a quick video I made of part 1 of the project:



Sunday, June 1, 2014

Major race block underway

I guess we're pretty much smack dab in the middle of the crit season. So far it's gone ok for me. The team in general is having our best season ever. This weekend is the OKC Pro-Am. I had originally planned on doubling up on Sat. and Sun, but that didn't/is not happening. 2 days down with 1 to go. I've been doing the pro 1/2 races and so far I got 21st on Friday and 19th yesterday. Not really what I was hoping for, but that's how it goes.
I'm planning on having my camera on board today, so that should be fun.

I made a little video with the windows movie maker thing. I plan on doing a few more. Mostly tutorial stuff. Anyway, this is it:

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Local Racing

I remember way back in the day when I was into BMX there were several different types of races or events. In many ways it parallels what we have going on in the cycling scene now. Basically back then we didn't really "train", well, at least not in the real early days. We would just ride our bikes around for fun and go jump at the trails. On Wednesday nights there would be organized practice nights at the race tracks. They were generally free, but you had to be a member of the sanctioning body. The practice sessions were mainly just drag races from the starting gate to the first turn then coasting back to the starting gate to do it over and over. As far as the races went, the next thing in line was the single pointer race. These were your local guys from the area. You paid a small fee and could win a small trophy

. The next type race was the double pointer. These were a little more regional. Maybe some guys from Tulsa would show up or maybe even Texas. Normally you paid double the money, but you got double the points plus an even bigger trophy. Next in line were triple pointers or Gold Cup races. Almost a national type race, but not quite. Guys from several states, bigger rider counts and reaaly big trophies. You usually had to actually travel to these races. Nationals were the next step and the year end Grand Nationals were like the Tour de France. Guys from every state and some other countries would be there and the trophies were ginormous monsters!

It seems like times are changing as far as the road scene is going. There used to be free "practice crits" at the local industrial park on Wednesdays. Then they became a monthly series where you paid a small fee but you would get scored  and could win a little money. Gradually they got to the point where they are now, which in my opinion feels just like the old single point BMX races. It's mostly just the local guys. It's a small fee, but you can win some nice small prizes. I think the way all the social media is these days, they seem even bigger. Your double pointer would be like the regional races like the NWA road race in Arkansas this weekend. Double the entry fee, but double the prizes. Something like the Matrix in Dallas or the Pro Am here in OKC would be like a triple pointer, and the Tulsa Tough or the Joe Martin stage race are like national events.

I guess the point of this post is about the local race scene. It seems to be going well. Lots of strong riders seem to be emerging from the central Oklahoma area. The local Wheeler crit races have been really hard. In some ways they still have a practice feel to them where you can experiment and try things you wouldn't typically do in a bigger race, only to discover that sometimes you should. They're usually harder than a lot of bigger races for this reason. It's also a good chance to work on team tactics.

My buddies Biff, Andy, and the DNA guys made a short video of the race last Tuesday. It gives a pretty good feel of the evening action;

Wheeler Criterium Video

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Rolling into the 2014 race season

 So far this season has been going pretty good. I guess as far as our race team is going, it's going very good. We've got a couple guys that moved up to category 2's (Micah and Dylan) and a cat 1 from Kansas (Bob aka "the motorcycle") on the team now and the results so far have gone very well. Lot's of wins and podiums already.

There's a new Tuesday night race series that's officially going on now through September at the old Downtown Air-park. I got second the first race after getting into a 3 man break early in the race. Here's a few pictures that Kyle Bybee took:






Jason Waddel 1st, me 2nd, and Evan Bybee 3rd

Time has been pretty tight lately, so I haven't had much time to keep this updated, but I've actually have a few random posts I've been working on. I'm also officially a cat 1 now. My team mate Rob and I requested our upgrades last week and we both got approved!


Saturday, February 8, 2014

Yellow Bike Project

I pieced an old Diamond Back mountain bike together about a year ago. My wife needed a reliable yet inexpensive bike to use for commuting at school. She rode the bike for several months, but we had a few minor issues. One of the plastic fenders broke off from the bike being driven on the hitch rack down to Norman. Another issue was the ancient shimano derailleurs just weren't cutting it anymore. A couple of dropped chains/chain suck issues at inopportune times was getting old, so I started looking for something else.

We had a couple of bikes that Coatney's grandparents gave us a couple years ago. They had literally been sitting in a barn for 30+ years. At first I thought one of the bikes could work, then I thought it was too small. I originally thought it was a 24" wheel bike. I looked at it a little closer when I was looking for another school bike project and realized the wheels were 26 x 1 3/8", so I figured it would work.

The yellow bike pre- rebuild
I basically stripped the bike down to the bare frame, tore the wheels apart, and gave everything I would be reusing a good clean up. I wanted to do away with the 5-speed derailleur system and install a shimano nexus internally geared rear hub. I've had one stashed away for several years with the shifter/brake lever/and roller brake combo. Plus it was the correct spoke hole count to match the existing 36 hole rim.

There was a pretty big wasp nest under the saddle
I've saved up a ton of old stainless steel spokes from torn down road wheels, so I found enough that were long enough to cut and thread to the correct length to rebuild the wheels.


Rebuilt wheels looking like new!

Rear wheel installed with rear hub and brake set up.


Old school high flange shimano hub with wing nuts that I've had forever.


Crank pulled out of the trash that had a bent spider arm and an old BMX chainring and sedis chain from my BMX junk pile. Original chaingaurd and pedals.

The original seat post was way too short. The seat post, tires, tubes and rim strips were the only parts that I actually had to buy. The saddle is off my second road bike. 

The original aluminium fenders cleaned up real nice. The  chain guard looks good from a distance, but it's pretty pitted out from rust. 

I made a quill stem adapter from a chunk of aluminum 1 1/8" steerer tube and an old aluminum quill stem with the stem cut off. I was then able to use an old easton stem from one of my old mountain bikes that was the correct length and worked with the original handle bars. I stuck the head set spacers in there because I thought they looked kinda cool.

Slick original rear reflector still in tact.
The bike has been working great for several months now with no issues. I got rid of a few parts that have been lying around forever so - Double bonus!