Goodbye everyone. I'm off to Idaho in a couple of hours, taking the old grayhound. It's been fun, some fun racing and some good times, especially at a certain burger joint in Hilltop. I hope some crazy stuff happens in Idaho to report on, I may have internet access every once in a while, I'm not sure. I'll be back for a day or two in July around the 20th, so until then good luck racing.

teammates

Track last night was fun. Mikey won two races and got second in the 50 lap scratch. I have to say congradulations to the Urthel guys. Chris Smith did a terrific leadout helping Pederson win. And it made me regret I was not there for Mikey as I should have been. its nice to see another team there duking it out with us of the U of M, especially since they know what they are doing. anyway, I missed every single winning break in all the 3s races last night and even got nipped at the line for fourth place by my dad in the win and out. ouch. i'm not going to hear the end of it soon. the funny part was he appologized as we were leaving, saying he felt bad about doing that, I responded by making it clear it would make my day if i could do a similar thing to him (see May 17th post below, #3 on things I'm excited about). I guess it was just as well cause i really only cared about the madison, which went well. My dad and I teamed up as usual. we work great together, zero missed exchanges and some very well timed hard throws on sprint laps helped us take third out of eight teams. We couldn't stay with Crosby/Winger or Ferris/Register, who were on a different level. Sweet overall though.

After the racing the real action began. Saw Brain's parents house and his room. I'm beginning to understand why brain has his shit together so well. Thus, things finally have begun to fall into place on the "Having your shit together scale" as it seems to be called, or the togetherness rating. Mikey, skreech, brain and i discussed this at great length, and rankings were given to many people, though there is some disagreement on a number of individuals. I myself have been categorized as a four (a middle of the pack four mind you). I used to be a cat. 5 but my improved togetherness this spring, such as 2 new bikes, getting the kids safely to Tucson and Kansas, Rudy project order, etc.) was enough for the upgrade. The listing and explanations are below:

Ben Richter - Europro - Wow, nobody is as efficient or as commanding a presence. everything he does is pro quality, though he still isn't a Tom Boonen or anything. He is closest to Erik Zabel. there, that is the perfect match. zabel has his shit together very well.
Brain (Brian Crosby) Cat. 1 - Only a freshmen and has his stuff together so much more than me, bikes, computers, nerd stuff/physics, he is almost a pro and is only like 19.
Mikey - Mid-pack Cat. 3 - Kind of unorganized and is usually late for everything, but he gets it done.
Skreech - Cat. 3 who should be a cat. 2 but wants to be a cat. 4 - Nobody wants to downgrade in togetherness more than skreech, but he is way too organized to compete with me.
Sideburnz - sideburnz seems to be drifting towards uncategorization, sort of citizen class. difficult to determine, because sideburnz has cat. 2 potential but doesn't seem to want to go there. weather channel, couches, coffee, bathrobes, and early bedtimes seem to keep sideburnz happy so he doesn't need to purchase a liscense and try to turn pro and all in togetherness.
Fucking Steve - similar to sideburnz, high potential but doesn't seem to want to compete in the big togetherness race. for example, he never blogs anymore, i never see him anymore, doesn't race bikes anymore, heck for all i know steve doesn't even drink anymore.
Ann Hansgate - cat. 1 - yeah, she has her shit together. she was the person who essentially organized our race weekend even though i was the official promoter. she was super organized, very nearly pro.
Maria - cat. 1 - same as ann, and was the real power behind getting the kids to kansas safely, though most people think it was me and I usually take full credit for it.

anyway, just want to say welcome back douchbag (skreech) good to see you again.

ed

it's been busy. capitol crit went well with mikey winning and brain taking third. i tried to help some, guess i did the pre-leadout.

went on a morning ride with mikey today, wow i felt slow. i don't know why, i guess it's time i take a break. then i went to the track this evening, and didn't ride much, just hung out.

the big news now is the packet i got from the IRS the other day, apparently my 2004 taxes were not done correctly, and now i owe money. i don't know how i could owe money being well under the minimum yearly income, but whatever. i'm going to go see dave hogan tomorrow. he does my parents taxes, and he's the old Minnesota Cycling Federation rep. Does this mean i've been audited? wow, i always thought it would be fun to be audited but this is a real pain in the neck.

what else? heard some stories about the early days at the track. the name crystal came up. she was the track director eons ago, before the Tom Lee days (who was before Bob). Crystal ran the track when i was young, so i don't remember it well, just that she wasn't a cyclist, but worked for the NSC. she wouldn't allow families in the infield either. it was wierd. then tom lee came, those were the crazy days, but fun. tom lee was a super sprinter, one of the best in the country. he was like lindstrom fast. the races never started on time, people would trickle in at about 7 and racing would start 30 to 45 minutes later. at some point my dad raced a points race on a track tandem with keith penrod. they were required to stay in the sprinters lane for safety. it must have been fun in those days, but also not very pro. oh, and in keirins the motorcycle would just accellerate away from the riders rather than pull off into the infield (which is how it is supposed to be done). so with two and a half laps to go the pack of riders could be going 40 miles per hour down the backstretch. everyone of course would go for the motorcycles wheel. man that was sweet. it totally changes the tactics of a keirin. that's all i've got.

ed

hmmm, a lot of racing lately. the old man and i did a fairly unimpressive 16:03 at black dog on wednesday. the bike friday tandem, which is about half steel and half titanium, was really flexing alot. it turns out we were both nervous about the bike flying apart but only mentioned it to each other after the race.

last night was the track. i won the 15 lap scratch race and the omnium, so it was a good night. i was second to chris smith in both the miss and out and the points race. We lapped the field together in the points race, so that was cool, but he beat me in the last points sprint to take the win 29 points to 27. then bob let the top finishers in the cat. 3 points race race with the 1/2s for their last event, a 60 lap scratch race. That was a really fun race. the first 15 laps were a fast paceline then the attacks started right and left. brain was in all of them, i'm not kidding, probably about 15 of them. one time i attacked and was like, "man i need to give brain a rest and make the other guys chase," but then i look behind and brain is on my wheel. the pack soon caught us. with about 2 and 1/2 laps to go i was on the front of the field with brain on my wheel, so i gave it all i had for the leadout. it went ok, but it needed to be a little faster. luke jumped first at the bell and ended up winning it.

of note, ben richter dropped out, satoshi raced, and track racing is way more fun than road racing.

ed