Saturday's Grandview criterium went well for teamroll:. Me...not so much. Slow to warm up, I didn't find my cycling legs until about halfway through the race after the main field was down the road. Picked up a few other stragglers and finished off of the pace.
Congrats to roll:er John Price for his top 5 finish in a fast race with a very strong field. Our teammate Jaybone has a really nice write up in his blog.
Matt Herring wins big!
Photo courtesy of Eric George - The Newark Advocate
This has been a pretty awesome weekend for team roll:. After winning in Worthington on Friday night the 4-5 squad was back in action today in the Granville Grand Prix. Our team included John Price, Matt Herring, Dave Chambers, Marco Corroto and George Conti. This year's Granville course was changed a bit from last year and included a pretty serious climb up the bricks to the Dennison campus and then a fast descent down into town. The 4-5's stayed together most of the race and at the end it was a podium sweep for roll: with Matt Herring taking the win followed by John Price and Dave Chambers in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Marco and George were right there finishing in the top 10. Great job guys!
Josh Morrow and I were in the 3-4 race. It was big ring "go-like-hell" right from the start and I lost contact with the lead group after the 2nd time up the climb. I tried to have a good warm-up beforehand but it obviously wasn't enough. As the race progressed I felt better and was able catch some other riders to make up 3 or 4 positions. Most of my race was a solo effort and I ended up in 5th place. Josh Morrow was on his "A" game tonight and rode a terrific race finishing in 3rd place and in the money! Way to go Josh! A strong young rider from Team-COBC/Raisin Rack won the 3-4 race. Unfortunately I didn't get his name.
Josh riding strong.
Photo courtesy of Eric George - The Newark Advocate
This was an extremely challenging course and despite my pain and suffering I had a really fun time. Today's race was tied in to the last stage of the Tour of Ohio so the crowds were great and the organization was top notch. Team Columbus did a great job presenting another safe & challenging racing weekend.
Don Moxley deserves a huge atta-boy for making the call of the day. The 3-4 race was scheduled to begin at 5:00 and Don herded everyone together early so we could start at 4:45 due to the forecast for bad weather. During the last few laps of our race the rain began to fall and as we finished the skies opened up. Rain came down, thunder clapped and lightning lit up the sky as I rode to my car to put away my bike. When I reached the car it began to hail! If the race began 5 minutes later we would have been riding in a real mess.I figured the day's excitement was over after the race when it was time to go home. But driving through Reynoldsburg back to Columbus I was rear ended at a red light. Fortunately I got the guy's drivers license info. and license plate number because he took off while we were waiting for the police. He didn't have insurance which is probably why he bolted (sounds like a topic for another blog?). This is one more thing I'll have to deal with next week. The Columbus Police Officers who helped me out were great and I can't say enough about the service they provide to our city every day. The next time I see mayor Coleman I'll recommend they all receive a raise!
Last night teamroll: was well represented and rode strong in the Worthington Classic which was the appetizer race before the Tour of Ohio boys took to the course. Chairman Fred and I were corner marshalls and it was a beautiful night to be outside and enjoy some great racing.
Our race had a nice sized field that included roll: racers Dave Chambers, George Conti, Marco Corroto and John Price. Other teams in the field included Echelon, Raisin Rack/COBC & A Gear Higher. Roll: did a nice job of controlling things from the start and we had someone up front from start to finish. Two thirds of the way through the race a break of about 7 riders was able to get away and it included Dave Chambers and John Price. The team worked well together and at the end John Price was able to do teamroll: proud by coming away with the win. Great job John!
It looks like the Tour of Ohio is a big success this year. There were over 100 riders in their field with teams coming from all over the Midwest. Inferno appears to be controlling the race and has possession of the overall leader's jersey. Haydon Godfrey added to Inferno's success by winning last night's race. The Tour of Ohio finishes up today in Granville. Roll: will be there for the 3-4 & 4-5 races.
A few weeks ago my good friend Marco asked if I had any cycling heroes. Most people when asked this question would likely name off any number of cycling superstars who currently ply their trade at the top of our sport. There was a time not so long ago when I would have responded the same way.
My adoration of big time cyclists came to an end during what for me was a watershed moment in the 2007 Tour de France. Only days before the race’s conclusion in Paris Michael Rasmussen, who was leading the race and was the almost certain winner, was pulled by the organizers for missed drug tests and an alleged breach in his travel and training routine. It was painful for me to watch Michael implode during the final time trial of the 2006 Tour de France so his success in 2007 was exciting to me and I was cheering him on each day as the race moved toward the Champs Elysees. When Michael was pulled from the race and the winner’s yellow jersey was awarded to the 2nd place rider I was just short of devastated. Then to pour salt in the wound Alexander Vinokourov, one of my favorite riders because of his aggressive and tenacious riding style, was ejected for doping. These events came on the heels of scandals involving Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis; two other cyclists I once greatly admired. For me, this marked the end of big time cycling heroes.
So I was less than shocked when I read this week that Tom Boonen is under investigation for possession of cocaine. I admire Tom’s talent and strength and even posted a congratulatory entry after he won Paris Roubaix this past Spring. But unfortunately Tom is one more example of how much more is needed to clean up our sport. I know cocaine is not a performance-enhancing drug but that matters little in this case. We see professional cyclists on TV or the Internet each week during race season but we don’t know much about them at all. Who dopes? Who is clean? I have no idea. These are definitely not the stuff of heroes. It now looks like Boonen is out of this year’s Tour and I wonder who will win the green jersey? I’m afraid I don’t care as much this year.
I still watch races on Versus because I love the sport itself. Even as a racer of limited talent and ability I know enough about cycling to appreciate the strategy, teamwork and suffering involved in our beautiful sport. But something is now missing in my feelings toward the racers themselves. Call it a self defense mechanism, but I have grown weary of being disappointed by someone I hold in high regard.
Has pro cycling made an effort to clean itself up? Definitely. Do they still have a long, long way to go? Absolutely. Until the pro riders prove to me they are clean and respectable I will reserve my admiration for a group more deserving.
A few months ago I began driving an ’08 Civic EX and wanted to install my existing XM Satellite radio receiver. I have a Delphi Roadie XT receiver that comes standard with a cassette adapter. However, Honda now includes a CD player as standard equipment and the old cassette player is no longer available. Fortunately Honda also includes an MP3 jack on all Civics (except the entry level DX). Having the MP3 jack makes installation of XM Radio a breeze.
Before I get too far, I’ll mention that XM also includes an FM modulator on most of their current radio receivers. For this to work you stick a small adhesive-backed contact over the radio antennae inside the rear window. You then select an FM channel in your XM receiver and link the wire from the adhesive contact to the antennae wire. To listen to XM you tune your radio to the frequency programmed into the XM receiver. If you drive a vehicle without an MP3 jack or a cassette player this is one of your only options for listening to XM. Unfortunately the sound quality is pretty bad and I’m sure anyone using this connection method would be disappointed. Another problem with this method aside from the poor sound quality is that you need to re-program the frequency in your XM receiver if you ever travel into an area that broadcasts an FM signal on the frequency that was originally programmed into the receiver.
Since Honda includes the MP3 jack on the Civic (except for the DX) the FM modulator problem is a non-issue. As mentioned above, installation is really easy with the MP3 jack and it took me approximately 30 minutes to be up and running. The only additional accessory I needed to buy was the MP3 cable which I picked up from Best Buy for about $20.00. Since the power outlet and the MP3 outlet are right next to each other below the dashboard, the installation looks pretty clean. XM includes a spiral looking tube to join together the wires and cables and this really improves the look of the installation.
Here are the basic steps for installation:
1. Mount the receiver cradle (I mounted my unit to the air vent using 2 clips included with the receiver) and place the receiver into the cradle.2. Connect the MP3 cable to the receiver and plug it into the jack.
3. Connect the power cable to the receiver and then plug it into the power outlet.
4. Connect the antennae wire to the receiver and then run wire to the outside of the car. Place the magnetic antennae “puck” on the roof of the car.
5. Tidy up the cables coming from the receiver and hide the antennae wire so it is not visible.
6. Turn on the radio and enjoy XM.
No tools are required. Nothing to cut, tape or rig together.
Most of the time spent on installation is with the antennae wire. The antennae wire runs from the receiver along the inside of the center console up toward the firewall. From there the wire runs straight back under the carpet into the back seat area. The wire then runs under the rear floor mats and up between the left rear seat and door into the trunk (Since the rear seats fold down to expand the trunk area there are seams on the edges of the seats. It is very easy to run the antennae wire through these seams and into the trunk). The wire then comes up from the trunk lid to the rear window and along the edge of the glass to the roof. There is a recess along the edge of the glass to easily and securely hide the wire and there is no rubber seal to fight with like on some other vehicles. The antennae wire is very thin and is easily hidden under the floor mats and under seams where the carpet meets plastic panels. There is only about 4 inches of wire visible on the roof to where the puck is located.
Something nice about the Roadie XT - the receiver can easily be removed from the cradle and placed somewhere safe when not in use:
The power and MP3 cables mount near each other to help make a pretty clean install:
The antennae wire is virtually hidden where it snakes up between the rear seat and rear door:
From the rear seat the antennae wire comes across the top of the trunk back to the rear window. It is up and out of the way so it does not catch on items being placed in the trunk:
You can only see the antennae wire coming from the trunk to the rear window when the trunk is open
Only 4" of wire are visible where the antennae puck is placed on the roof:
The unit sounds very good and I’ve been pleased with quality. I used a cassette adapter in a previous vehicle and feel the sound through the MP3 connection is comparable.
The total cost of the setup is less than $100.00 ($60.00 for the receiver and $20.00 for the cable). I’m not sure if Honda offers dealer-installed XM for the Civic. If they do I’m sure the cost would be several times what I have in mine. I have read complaints from people in the past about all the wires that are visible with an owner-installed XM unit. However, I think my install is pretty clean and the only visible wires inside the car are those coming off the receiver which are neatly organized with the spiral tube mentioned earlier.
No this entry isn't about a dog fight over enemy skies - a group of us met at the Bogey Inn Saturday morning for a 2 hour ride out to the Plain City area and back. It was already hot and humid when I unloaded my bike shortly after 7:30 and the skies looked like rain could fall anytime. Fortunately the rain held off and we had a pleasant ride.
It looks like Dave Chambers got cut out of this shot - Sorry! (Darn camera phones)
Nothing eventful today. We had a nice group of about 10 riders and the pace was brisk but steady. With no racing this weekend I enjoyed the break.
This terrible cycling tragedy occurred during an organized bike tour in Mexico. One cyclist was killed and several more were seriously injured.
Drunk and stupid are a really bad combination especially if you are moron enough to get behind the wheel of a car.
Keep the victims of this accident in your thoughts!
2 races in 2 days with 1 set of old legs can make for a difficult combination. Today the team roll: "Masters Caravan" headed south to Nelsonville for the Star Brick Criterium. Our masters included "Chairman" Fred Parks, "Marco" Corroto, "Cadillac" George Conti and me. We had a pretty good sized masters field which included the Mighty Scott Young who has been my racing comrade through most of the Torelli Spring Series.
The finishing stretch was all brick and it was showing its age during the race. We all spent the first several laps working to find the smoothest line with the least amount of bouncing on our bikes.
The Masters started one minute behind a pretty large 3-4 field and we kept them in our sights for several laps. At one point I thought we might even bridge up to them until they finally dropped the hammer and moved on down the road. Our race was pretty uneventful with your typical criterium jumps and attacks until about halfway through the race when George made a strong attack off the front. Fred jumped and bridged up to George and we had the makings of a nice breakaway. Marco and I worked to control the field and several laps later Fred drifted back to us.
George stayed off the front for a long time and it looked like his break might stick until the 3-4's came through our group and ended up pulling our field up to George. Some cat and mouse took place until we were down to about 3 laps to go. At this point Scott made a big jump off the front and it took everything I had to pull him back. I burned some of my few remaining matches to get back on Scott's wheel and coming into the homestretch a rider in an OU jersey attacked the sprint and I didn't have enough in the legs to come around him. I ended up in 2nd with Marco and George and right on my wheel. I was a bit disappointed and felt like I let the team down but gave it everything I had.
With the Spring series finished I have a week or so to recharge my batteries and prepare for the rest of the season.
