Muscatine Roller Race

Well, as the snow began to fall Saturday morning, I realized the turnout at the Rollerhead Killer 2 Mile Race would be affected. None-the-less, it is always nice to be able to attend a cycling event that occurs right within your hometown.

Sure enough, the attendance was extremely poor. Thankfully, Chris Reed of the Hawkeye Bike Racing Team (Cedar Rapids) showed up, or I would have gotten first and last place in the Cat 1,2,3 division. Below Vern and Chris warmed the rollers up by racing first...

Of course, the Iowa Roller Racing Championships are composed of a series of results. So, basically we are all competing over the course of 7 events, with the top 3 being averaged to yield our actual State Time submission. With that in mind, it was still important to put out a solid effort. And, though the payout is modest, it still is fun to get paid to race...

Greg Harper celebrated his 50 year B-day, by providing cake for all in attendance. Below he is pictured partaking in a peice of cake while coaching team mate Bill Ford...

These races are great training for the upcoming outdoor Road Racing season in Iowa/Illinois. Bascially, they serve as weekly fitness assessments, that help guide my pre-season preparations. Additionally, they give me something (sort of) to post on this blog. Unfortunately, it is still winter in Iowa, so forgive me for the lack of exciting/interesting entries over the next couple of months.

I guess the comment sections of this blog are sort of interesting. I believe this is one of the few midwest cycling blogs that allows anonymous comments. I can see why bloggers would opt not to allow anonymous comments, as they can tend to be a bit obscene, sort of insulting, a tad ridiculous, etc. However, I get a kick out of reading some of the entries and have even found myself chuckling from time to time, even though some of the comments really make little sense and have nothing to do with what I posted.

I write this blog to stay motivated within the sport and lifestyle of competitive amateur cycling. I appreciate the readership over this blog's first 12 months (about 10,000 hits) and can say 2009 is going to be an even bigger and better season for me, so stay tuned.