Alan Butler Crit & The Freak

Drove up to lovely downtown Idaho Falls last Saturday solo. It seemed crazy but it was worth it in the end. It was a great course, great crowd, and fun crit. Thanks to Rob Van Kirk for putting this on. Six corner course over about a 1k but it was smooth on the turns. Few bumps in the straights but a fun course. My first Pro/1/2/3 race as a Category 2. I feel like I belong since I was able to nab a podium finish.

I knew on the drive up that the Park City Jeep-Global Knee Clinic Team would be there in force and laying it down hard for their teammate. I figured a podium was the best I could do and that was the goal.

I looked at the start line and saw about 20 riders with 8 from one team. The attacks started early as Turbo and Sam Krieg took off from the gun. Needless to say 10 seconds into the race I'm at 29 and 15 seconds in i'm at 32mph. There were only two other small teams to chase and me it seemed like. We caught them after a few laps then of course Global Knee sent two more guys up the road. In the 1/2s guys are smart. Their teammates didn't chase and waited for someone else to. It was like a poker game as we are riding at 20mph and the break is going up the road. Finally I rode tempo for a few laps to keep things going. Then more attack of course. I felt like I was doing the DMV course and there was no hill. It was hard.

Kris Lunning from Fitzgerald's was super strong. I heard that he pulled the break back then when they caught two more Global guys took off. That was to be expected. Sam Krieg and Ryan Barrett were off after the 2nd break was caught and they were at 35 seconds for a while eventually they lapped the field at about 40-45 minutes. Global kept sending guys up the road in 2s trying to get 3rd and 4th.

I remember seeing 13 to go. At that point I was hanging on by a thread. One turn Kris Lunning had a problem with his tire i heard and stopped in the turn. Sam, me and David Bergart were gapped. Sam "The Freak" Krieg immediately bridged up. I struggled as I lost his wheel. I pulled for two laps not knowing Dave was behind me. I caught Sandy Perrins coming up to 2 to go. He heard me breathing like a blowfish. I was crosseyed.

There were 2 or 3 up the road when i got dropped and i couldn't tell what was going on. It slowed a bit for a lap. I caught my breath. Coming to the bell lap I was thinking I need to move up then a crash happened to my left or an issue not sure but they slowed. I picked it up to 32 and moved to about 5th on Turbo's wheel. Sandy was riding tempo at the front keeping it fast. We came to the 2nd to last turn. I was right on Turbo's wheel when he jumped. He led me thru the last two turns and I finish behind him as he celebrated. I knew I was lapped so I didn't want to get in the way. I looked back to make sure I got the field sprint for what I thought was 5th. I felt like an uninvited guest to the team's celebration as last year I think they got places 1-6. I figured i got 5th or 6th. After slowing down Bob Walker excitedly said to me that I got 3rd. I was pumped. Wow.

The story of the day though was Sam. I told my skating coach Mike Kooreman what Sam did and he said "that's Freakish". Sam "The Freak" Krieg raced Chalk Creek in the morning. Not sure if he drove up in the morning but bet he did. I remember rolling out of bed at 10:30 thinking they are 30 minutes into the RR at Chalk Creek. He placed fifth in a strong field. He drove back to Pocatello maybe rested for an hour then drove to the crit in Idaho Falls. Took off from the gun and lapped the field. Wow he should be racing the Tour of Utah he is killing it right now. He rides a bike with which I'm unfamiliar with.

I talked to him after the race and he said he was going to either lap the field or blow up. I love his attitude. He said he couldn't do accelerations which we did in the pack. Makes sense but he could ride hard tempo. We avg'd 26.9 so he had to TT with Turbo at 27+ for a bit. They did get 20 or 30 seconds easy as everyone looked at everyone else to chase. We didn't really work together. It was a 11 or 12 man non cooperative Team Time Trial with 6 Global guys either sitting on or attacking. I expected that and that's the way to race as a team. That is how I spend my Saturday nights and that's what I call a stress relieving night???? It was fun and I got to see Idaho Falls. Missed seeing the new Mormon temple though.

Overall this was one of the most friendly crits I have done. There wasn't the usual bitching a moaning although there was some grumbling about the Global team. What did you expect a team with 30% of the field. Sandy was cool as he told me I was riding strong. I remember seeing him in 2004 just killing it when i couldn't even pull thru in the B group. The cool thing is that I probably lapped myself from 2 or 3 years ago. In the end is the race with yourself.

Lazing on a Sunday afternoon

How to handle a telemarketer. From one of my fav morning shows on KBER locally (101.1) The Bob and Tom Show.



Here's an American hope in Beijing in a couple of weeks. This was his coming out winning the JR Worlds last August. I saw this video last year and it's as good as the first time I've seen it. It almost gets me pumped to go out and do a TT. That's pretty hard to do for me under any circumstances.



No Risk No Fun? (i get my thrill on ST but that's nothing compared to this shit)


Finally the podium jerseys from the Tour De France.

Dylan Casey on How to Ride The TDF

Very refreshing and entertaining talk from Google bike to work day?. Marketing guy for Google now. Retired from pro cycling in 2002. Very long but kept my attention for an hour.



What goes thru my mind is did this guy dope? I guess it's a question that you would ask of every professional cyclist. Was he talented and didn't win because he didn't dope? I don't know much about his career but he doesn't seem like someone who would have doped......but who knows.

Masochistic Cat II

That's what Ryan Parnes's mom said to me after my third bike race of the weekend in Boise, Idaho. I now have enough points to upgrade to Category II which will be more masochism for sure.

Masochism
1 : a sexual perversion characterized by pleasure in being subjected to pain or humiliation especially by a love object — compare sadism
2 : pleasure in being abused or dominated : a taste for suffering

Hmmm I guess I take having a taste for suffering but not sure about the other definitions. This was after the Idaho State Criterium Championships on Sunday. It was 100 degrees and I just had finished the 2nd 50 minute race. I placed 2nd in the Cat 3 race and suffered in the Master Race.

I finished DFL but finished. I caught back on the pack after getting dropped which is not easy in a criterium.

results of Idaho State Crit are here:
http://www.lostrivercycling.org/docs/2008_sct_results.pdf

The Boise Twilight Criterium was the main event on Sat night in Downtown Boise. It's the place to see and be seen as at least 10,000 people show up for it.

Here's a video of what the pro race looked like.



Toyota United put on a clinic on how to race. I got there for the last 1/2 of the race and they were in the top 8 most of the time. Kristen Armstrong showed why she's in good form for the Beijing Olympics in a few weeks. She hammered a 1:12 1st lap then a few 1:06s (30mph) and cut the field in half right away then lapped the field solo.

I found some great pictures here. Good pics of Cameron Hoffman and KK (Kirsten Kotval). It was fun cheering on the Utah riders.

Cameron Hoffman went off the front a couple of times in the 2nd half of the race. I missed the 1st half. There was a $500 cash preem at about 6 laps to go. The last few laps heated up and Hilton Clarke won easily surrounded by teammates after lapping the field with a teammate and Dan Ramsey from Time Cycling. He was quite a ways back in the 3 man sprint.

My race (Cat 3/Master 40+) was fast from the gun. I was trying to just sit in and settle into the race. I started moving up when it slowed after 6 laps. Some idiot looked back and I saw him swerve and lean into another guy and all hell broke loose. A few guys went down and I swerved around and thru them. Another couple got tangled up, A guy from George's went down. He was laying accross the street sideways. I tried to slow down and my front tire went right into his ribs at about 19 mph (that's what my computer said b4 it went to zero). I went airborne over the bars. I should have bunny hopped him but didn't think off that because I was slowing. I checked myself and ran to the pits and jumped back in. I was happy to finish the race. Results are here.

Just found a video of our race. I think i'm in the middle somewhere. That looked pretty fast there.....



It was a great weekend for the wife and I. I really like Boise and thank to Anthony Barthell for the room.

Ice is Back

Here's an article on the Olympic Oval yesterday. I've been watching the ice making process at the rink for the past few weeks.

Here's a little audio slideshow of how the ice is made. I didn't even know the oval had a marketing director? I know they have been thru a few of them.


I won't get into the contract negotiations and the politics of the oval. Suffice to say that the foundation was to keep these venues going and for the kids of Utah. I can count on one hand the number of local kids speedskating. It's really sad. Heck we had more skaters in Baystate in Boston without an oval. It looks like Eva R has posted a comment on this article.

Here's a link of some shots of the national team short trackers who I see skate after The New Edge Group most mornings at 8:45 on my way to work. They are training really hard from what I see and hear.

We have a huge group of Short Trackers in Mike Kooreman's group and it's been fun skating short track. I can't believe I'm going to say this but I'm not really looking forward to skating Long Track?? I'm really enjoying going around in little circles.

In Memory of my Dad

This Saturday I'm doing the Big Cottonwood Hillclimb for the American Cancer Society in memory of my father (Carl Boudreau). I donated $70 for this already and am looking for any matching donations for any amount ($1 per mile or anything you wish/how about $1 per foot of vertical). I haven't updated here in a while and there so much to catch up on.



This is a 12.8 mile race/fundraiser which climbs 3800 feet. It's for a great cause and a beautiful ride. I have been doing this ride the most times ever this year and it should be better than last year. I did a hill climb two weeks ago at Don Mealing's Skater Party. Hillclimb races are "not my bag baby" (in my best Austin Powers voice) but somehow among the skaters I placed 2nd. I don't think i've ever made it to the top of a hill 2nd even in a training ride. I'm the lightest I've ever been tipping the scales at 190 so hopefully i'll get a PB this weekend.












To donate to the American Cancer society for the hillclimb this weekend go here. Thanks for your help in fighting cancer.