Art O’Connor

As I mentioned yesterday today had a bit of climbing.  Today there was a lot more attacking going on today.  For the first hour and a half there was one after another.  Dudes were getting dropped faster than G Dub’s approval ratings.  Finally about 90 minutes in a move of 7 stuck.  With 30 miles to go (and the bulk of the climbing) they had 4:30.  That is when the real fun started.  I am not a real climber.  I can’t go with all the surges and attacks.  I have to grind along like a diesel, hard but steady.  Sure enough about half way up the final climb I am passing Pantani wannabees who went too hard and moving up in GC.  Drew Miller won the stage and I finished 28th.  Not bad for the oldest guy in the field.

I came here thinking that if I finish in the top half I would be happy.  In the end I was 29th.  On Friday there were 86 starters so mission accomplished. I know Discover won’t be calling any time soon, but I feel pretty good about my ride.  All any of us can do is our best and I feel I gave it my best effort so if my best is a win or last place then I have to be happy.

I have been to a lot of places for bike races and for the most part I can tell you nothing about them.  When you travel to a race (particularly stage races) the routine is usually something like this:  arrive at race, sit in hotel wait for race, race, leave.  Today I attempted to remedy that.  To get back to Tucson you drive through Tombstone.  I took the opportunity to stop and take in a little history.  I walk through The OK Corral and saw where Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers squared of with the Clanton’s.  Whenever I tour one of these old historical places I am always struck with the thought. It must have sucked big time to live back then.  No A/C, running water or toilet paper.  Think about it.

I have a bunch of pictures to post, maybe tomorrow when I am not so worked.

Ride Safe
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The race played out pretty much the way Snake said it would, 4 guys (who attacked the feed zone) did stay away.  At one point they had over 3 minutes but in the end they only had 20 seconds.  I was at the front at the start of the finishing climb feeling great but ended up dropping back a bit when things started to get hairy.  It is amazing how everyone who thinks they are a sprinter will throw common sense and self preservation out the door to sprint for 5th place.  After getting my front wheel chopped for the second time I eased up knowing that we would all get pack time.  The race was actually fairly boring and somewhat easy I thought.  I was sure that the entire field finished together but after checking the results there were like 30 guys who got shelled.  Go figure.  My HR did hit 195 at the finish and our average speed was 26.9 mph so I guess it was a good pace.

The afternoon TT was an out and back that was pretty nasty.  Downhill and a tailwind going out, cursing the wind and hoping your heart does not explode on the way back.  I caught my 30 second guy before the turn around and was feeling like a bad ass until I hit the turn around and saw the guy who started behind me had made up at least 15 seconds on me.  Yin and Yan I guess.  After yesterdays mediocre prologue I was in 42nd.  I finished 38th today and that is where I am in GC.  Phil Zaijeck won is leading with Jeremy Powers (remember him) 2nd and Drew Miller 3rd.  Tomorrow is the big day, another 87 mile RR, but this time it is not flat.  A total of 6300 feet of climbing, most of it is in the last 30 miles.  I am feeling good so who knows.

Ride Safe
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If you ever wondered where old white guys with dread locks go when they get old, it is Bisbee.  The place is crawling with them.  The town itself is pretty cool.  It kind of reminds me of a less commercial Key West minus the ocean.  Lots of funky little shops run by old hippies.  There is a huge old open pit copper mine practically in the middle of town.  The town itself is in this steep narrow canyon with little narrow streets placed randomly like a lot of old boom towns.

The prologue started in the middle of town and went right up Main Street, finishing 2.8 miles and 837 vertical feet later on Mule Pass.  I rode the course twice in warm up and felt pretty good.  Not great but good.  After a 90 minute warm up I was ready to go.  I have never liked or done well at time trials.  Every once in a while I will pull off a good result but for the most part they are a weak point for me.  Looking at the start list I see that Jelly Belly pro and Euro‘cross honch Jeremy Powers is starting 30 seconds behind me.  Great.  My new goal is to see how long I can hold him off.  I started pretty conservatively hoping to have some legs for the last mile where it is the steepest.  Did I mention the wind?  Yeah, there was a nice 15-20 mph headwind.  In no time I am at my max and starting to bog down.  Amazingly by the halfway point I have caught the guy who started 1:00 in front of me (my :30 guy did not start).  Just before I reach the steep stuff Powers comes flying by.  Shit I wish I was 24 again.  I passed one guy and got passed by one guy so all I can tell you is I know I am not last or first.  

Tomorrow is a mostly flat 87 mile road race followed by an 8.6 rolling TT in the afternoon.  The road race will be my first in since last June.  My morale is great and I think I have good legs so who knows.  Whatever happens I will give it my all and be happy with it.  

Ride Safe

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My buddy Lars has decided to celebrate his new freedom by coming along and doing race support for me this week.  What a guy, lets me mooch at his place in Vegas for the week and now he agrees to sit in the sun on the side of the road and hand me bottles.  We are staying at his friend (and now my newest friend) Patricia’s house in Tucson.  We went for a killer ride in Tucson Mountain Park http://www.pima.gov/pksrec/natres/tucmts/tumtpk.html and had a tasty home cooked meal waiting for us when we got back.  Yes life is good. 

The legs feel great, especially considering I was near death on Monday.  I think I can put in a good ride this weekend.  What is a good ride?  Good question.  For the most part I have been riding solo this season so I am not really sure how I am going.  I feel good so I guess that is all that matters.  I really don’t have any expectations for Bisbee I just want to open the legs up and set myself up for a good ride at Gila.

Looks like the Sly Fox aka, The God Father, Beavis, BikeHusla now is spreading his twisted message on the WWW.  www.bikehusla.blogspot.com  A lot of people claim to march to the tune of a different drummer, this guy has a whole orchestra.  He has been threatening a comeback for a while now, but since he has now posted it for all the world to see I guess this time it is for real.  Now if Slohran would get of the motorcycles it would be just like back in the day.

Ride Safe

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Not much to tell so far.  Work continues to go well, did a small job for another customer on Monday that should turn into a fairly large account.  It is amazing how much construction there is in Vegas.  Everywhere you look there are orange barrels and bulldozers.  Almost every job is a round the clock operation.  Crazy.

Monday night I came down with a wicked case of food poisoning.  It totally kicked my ass.  I have spent most of the last 36 hours in the bathroom.  There is no way I could ever be a bulimic.  Today I am back to normal but I am totally dehydrated and have lost probably 7-8lbs of water weight.  Hopefully it has not taken too much out of me and I will be good to go for Bisbee.  We will see.

The other big news is that we saw Paris Hilton at the Hard Rock (where I got the food poisoning).  All I can say about that is it is amazing what lighting and make up can do.  A certain two wheeled temptress I know looks better even after a 3 hour ride in the rain.  Also I still have yet to set foot in any club on this trip. 

Ride Safe
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On Christmas day I got to sit on the side of the road in Little Cottonwood Canyon waiting for a tow truck.  On Tuesday I got a repeat performance.  About 20 miles south of Scipio I hear something blow and I go from 70mph to 35mph instantly, 0 turbo pressure. Damn!  A few phone calls to Ford Roadside Assistance and I am told a tow truck is on the way.  After waiting for 2 hours for the tow,  3 hours at the dealership I was back on the road.  The culprit, a $3 hose clamp.  Ford,  Fix Or Repair Daily.

Work stuff is boring and my page is boring enough.  Lets just say things are going well.  We met with the suits this morning and they really liked what they saw.  So far this has been the most unVegas trip to Vegas ever.  Worked my ass of yesterday, went for a quick ride and was asleep by 9:30.

Damn that Amish kid can ride.  Last summer I schooled Snake on Lookout Mountain so I know how hard that course must have been.  I don’t think there is more than a few meters of flat road in that part of the country.  Z had a good ride today, hopefully he has a few more tricks up his sleeve.
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Sorry for the site problems.  The server was down again, since The Wolf
is charging me a nice round number for hosting services I really can’t
complain. 

Tomorrow I leave for Vegas and our first job for our new big customer. 
I will be there for a while then go to  La Vuelta de Bisbee  http://www.lavueltadebisbee.us/ and then to the Tour of the Gila  http://www.tourofthegila.com  
The racing will be hard and fast I am sure.  I am really excited about
the job. It has been a lot of work to get this far and it certanly was
not done alone.  Thanks to my parents for not raising me to be a
quitter, my friend and business partner Todd for making this happen in
the first place, Steve for designing our kick ass site http://www.tbronline.com, Julie for helping me land our first account in Utah, and all my friends for constantly inspiring me and believeing in me. 

I should have some good stories about my travels over the next 3 weeks so stay tuned.

Ride Safe
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You know how on some days your legs feel like cement but after a few efforts they open up and you are flying?  Today was not one of those days.  Our weekly World Cup had the distinction of having Yellow Jersey wearer Dave Zabriskie show up tonight.  Along with T-Bird and Louder it actually looked like a World Cup.  Pretty cool to have those guys there if you ask me.  Anyway I guess my efforts over the last week have taken their toll.  I finally slept last night, 16 hours!  I have been dragging low all day and almost bailed on riding completely.  I figured worst case I could at least ride out and see how I feel.  Felt OK on the ride out but did not put out any efforts, so I decided to race.  It was windy so I knew it would be hard from the start.  I lasted a few laps and maybe could have hung till the end, but man were my legs hurting.  I pulled the plug about 15 minutes in.  I hate droping out of any race, even training races but I have to be carefull not to over do it and be fresh for Gila.  Live to fight another day so to speak.

Ride safe.

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I am so tired my teeth hurt.  Yesterday I rode with Todd Hageman, T-Bird, and Louder.  The previous day I did Little Cottonwood twice and Big Cottonwood once.  Here are the stats from the weekend:

Miles Ridden 184
Hours Ridden 10 (I really need a girlfriend)
Avg. Hr 145
Beers 4
Beto’s Chili Verde Burrito’s 3
Number of times I watched Repo Man 2
Times I made T-Bird and Louder hurt 0
Pool Games Won 0
Hours of Sleep 0 (I wish I were kidding)

It feels good to be riding this much again.  I am so lucky to have the time and good health to take advantage of.  I am really hoping to be fit enough to get a result at Gila.  If not I know I will be fit after Gila and should be able to inflict some pain some where.  I am just not sure where I will be in the near future.  Texas, California, Minnesota?

George, Roubaix, I don’t even know where to begin.  I think Van Petegem said it best "In Belgium for sure they would try and stop the train" http://velonews.com/race/int/articles/9720.0.html

Ride Safe
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This weekend the so called “Queen of the Classics” (I think Flanders is
a much better race but what do I know) will give George another chance
to hopefully prove me and all the other arm chair quarterbacks wrong
and finally win his favorite race.  I give George a lot of crap but it
is only because I know he can win but he just never does when it
counts. In his favor he has probably his strongest team ever this
season, he hired a mental coach (to convince himself he could
win?)http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/apr06/apr07news2,
he has finished in every position but first, and he seems to be flying
at the moment.  Not in his favor, Tom Boonen.  Jesus can anything other
than a positive doping control stop this guy?  He rode like a man among
boys last weekend and wisely stayed in the 2nd group at Wevelgem saving
his legs for Roubaix.  BTW nice ride Thor, I guess a Viking hammer can
smash an AleJet.

Also this week is the 4th anniversary of Layne Staley’s death.  So put
on "Dirt" turn the HiFi up to 11 and remember we are only here for a
short time make the most of it.

Ride Safe
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