Art O’Connor

I only took a few pictures at Gila.  Check em out, I am off to The Republican.

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I am sorry I called the Logan race promoter a crook.  Lets just call him a bad communicator.  It seems there is some problem with the manufacturer of the rings and they should be done in a month or so.  I am not sure why he never passed that information on until now but again I am sorry I called him a crook.

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I made it back to SLC safe and sound.  The drive from Vegas sucked ass, major headwind and less than 10mpg in the big stupid truck (BST).  Diesel in St. George was $3.39, Nephi $3.15, and Salt Lake $3.19.  It is a good thing the G Dub in investigating “possible” price gouging.  What a douche.  Anyway I managed to get sick.  I woke up with a scratchy throat on the last day at Gila.  I did not think too much of it, but by Monday morning I was full on sick.  Green snot, smokers hack, the whole enchilada.  Other than some busy work for the business I have not been too productive, lots of sleeping and 2 easy rides.

I was really hoping to be able to cash in on the fitness I gained from Gila at some local races before I hit the road for work.  I probably won’t do the State TT since I am still sick.  Bear Lake will be fun, 100 miles of flat will seem like a crit after last week.  After that is the Thanksgiving Point Stage race.  Well it is not really a stage race it is a crappy omnium.  Whose stupid idea was this?  Oh, and it has two crits.  The only way to make a crit worse is to do two of them.  What suck about omniums (especially one with 2 crits) is that it encourages really negative racing.  There is no reason to go on the attack because every sprinter will be on you like the Bush crime family on an oil rich country with a weak military.  Also there is no real reason to really try to get in a break because even if you win by 15 minutes it means nothing.  Omniums are just plain dumb, there is no good reason to have one. 

I am pretty excited for this weekend as one of my favorite bands Ministry is coming to town.  The new album is really kick ass and these guys really put on a great show.  There are some good show coming up.  Wolfmother on the 23rd, Lamb of God w/ Mastadon one the 8th.  Get out and support some good music.  I have also been listening to The Black Keys a lot lately.  Good to know there are still musicians putting out some good greasy blues.  Remember if they play it on the radio, it probably sucks.

Ride Safe
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I hurt myself today.  I got in an early break and was feeling good.  About halfway up the first climb my break away companions were running out of steam.  It was too far and too windy to go out alone so I eased up as well.  We got caught at the top and I settled in.  At the top of the second climb we turned around and began the hairball decent.  This road was nuts, lots of turns, no guardrail and the road is still open.  It was insane, the entire pack was crossing the yellow line in blind corners.  I have been hit by a car and I have been dropped before.  I will take getting dropped any day. So I did.  The lower part of the decent was pretty wide open so I was able power the 53×11 and get back on, but it was a huge effort that would cost me later.  For the first 2.5 hours of the race I was either in the break or chasing.  As a result I had eaten and drank very little so when I got back on I ate and drank everything I had.  At this point we were still another hour from the feed zone.  The key to not bonking is to not bonk.  By this I meant you have to eat a little at regular intervals.  Once you start to feel hungry or thirsty it is too late.  It was too late for me.  By the time we got to the feed zone I was in big trouble.  I was still in the lead group but I was hurting bad.  If the field slowed down for a bit to eat I would be OK.  Yeah right.  I got my bag from Lars and the field is now single file.  Oh man this is bad.  I hung on for a few more miles but finally came off in a big way.  So I sat up and ate all the food from my feed bag and drank a bottle of Gatorade.  After about 15 minutes I felt fine but it was way too late.  I was still 25 miles from the finish and had 20 miles of climbing waiting for me.  In the end I lost 24 minutes on the day and dropped to 47th on GC.  Not what I was hoping for.  Pete Kunnemann, Mark Santerbane, and Sam Kreig all continued their impressive riding and finished in the top 20 this week.  Way to go guys.

Although I am disappointed with my final results I would say this trip has been a huge success on many levels.  I have raced my bike for 8 of the last 10 days, seen some beautiful country, and met a lot of great people.  I also had a lot of support on this trip.  Thanks to Lars and Patricia for letting me crash at your pads and for being such a kick ass support crew.  Valerie and Rick for opening your home to a bunch of unruly, toilet clogging bike racers.  Mike and Patria, it was so awesome getting to hang with you two this week.  I hope we can do it again.  Chan and Ohran for the sweet product hook ups (Cannondale, Enervit, Sock Guy, Vredestein, the best stuff out there).  The Wolf for keeping the site up and running. (big changes coimng soon) Thanks to all my friends who read this site and sent me inspiring message and phone calls, I really appreciate it.  I realize how lucky I am to have such great people in my life and I love you all.

Ride Safe
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It is weird the way your body reacts to stage racing.  After racing 7 of the last 9 days there are definite changes happening.  My skin is paper thin, my veins have veins, I pretty much look like Iggy Pop.  After yesterday I was wrecked.  My legs were so sore I could hardly walk.  This morning I had serious doubts about racing today everything hurt, until I got on the bike.  For the first 10 minutes of my warm up the legs were a little heavy but then after a few efforts they magically opened up and the pain was gone.  Suddenly I was Superman.  My metabolism is in overdrive, all I do is eat.  After the crit I ate a chicken burrito, 2 Sun Cakes, a large gelato, 2 32oz PowerAdes, 2 big bowls of pasta, a bowl of cereal, half a bag of beef jerky…. You get the idea.

The race was pretty uneventful.  I was comfortable the entire race, I even took a flyer with a lap to go but it was not to be.  Patria, Mike’s teammate went down in her race.  She lost a bit of skin but is in good spirits.  All we have left tomorrow is a104 miles and 9000+ feet of climbing, yeah.  Maybe I will go Sly style and attack from the gun.  Bear Lake is going to seem like a crit after this week.  Apparently not everyone is having as much fun as me here. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7239659006
That is the second funniest thing I have seen today.  The funniest was watching Gord Fraser put his hands up thinking he won the pro crit only to have Rashaan Bahati pass him on the line.  Stupid Canadians.

Ride Safe
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To do well in a stage race you can’t have a bad day.  Today I had a bad day.  The climbing starts pretty early on this stage so you need to have a good warm up.  It became clear pretty quick that I was not ready.  As soon as we started climbing I was hurting, bad.  My legs had nothing, I was going backward in a hurry.  I was pissed.  Twenty minutes in and all my hard work yesterday was for nothing.  I got in a small group on the descent and the chase was on.  Sort of.  By the time we got to the bottom our group had grown to about 20 guys.  In theory we should have had no problem getting back in the race.  Not this crew.  There were about 5 of us willing to work.  The other 15 candy asses seemed content to let the race go down the road.  This one jack ass kept getting in the rotation and stopping.  I asked him what the f@#* he was doing and he says.  “I will work when it suits me.”  I am dumb founded.  I say “the race is down the f’ing road, either start working or go to the back with all the other girls.”  Everyone starting laughing and he started working.   After about 50 miles of driving it we had the front group down to 30 seconds.  They were right there and everyone stops working. WTF?  I bet these guys all have half finished houses and unsatisfied girl friends.  I ended up 32nd on the day and have dropped to 34th on GC.

Tomorrow is the crit.  Hopefully everyone will be saving themselves for Sunday.  I am really disappointed about today.  I have no explanation for my poor performance.  After the first climb I was feeling great, but it was too late.  My hopes of a top 20 finish are about as slim as finding a good girlfriend.  I still have high hopes for Sunday.  It is the type of stage where you can gain or lose huge chunks of time.  Maybe I will come out on the long end of that stick.

Ride Safe
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Well my top 20 estimate for the TT was way off, I finished 35th.  I felt good but was maybe a little under geared.  Oh well I guess I have some work to do.

Today was the first road stage.  96 miles with a pray for death, why am I doing this climb to the finish.  It was mostly a parade until the final climb.  I went in a few moves but nothing that stuck while I was in it.  I was in the break that eventually stayed away.  I was at the back and the pack was like 10 yards behind us.  The guy in front of me looks back and figures we are caught so he sits up.  The other 4 guys in front never looked back ended up putting 6 minutes on us.  Woulda coulda shoulda didn’t.  We hit the final climb and it is every man for himself.  Like Bisbee guys are going berserk launching attacks only to be reeled in by the Train later.  Diesel power baby.  About halfway up there is a long flat section with a wicked crosswind, echelon city.  There was this guy in our echelon who rode for Amgen (you know, the makers of EPO).  Every time dope boy would get to the front he would move to the gutter.  Way to go jack ass.  After a few of these moves I had enough and bridged up to the next group.  We start climbing again and I settle to the diesel death march pace (DDMP).  They had a mile to go sign that I swear was 2 miles from the finish, it felt like it took 15 minutes.  In the end I finished 21st, I am now 31st overall.  Tomorrow the climbs are not as steep which should suit me a little better.  If I really want to finish in the top 20 I need to be more aggressive and try to get into some breaks.  I am going to bed now.

Ride Safe
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Forward my mail I may not be coming home.  The host housing has come through big time.  Rick and Valerie (sorry don’t remember the last name) have us in their guest house.  You should see this place, hot tub, steam room a shower that is bigger than my bedroom back home.  Rick just came in and invited us to join him on the porch to watch the deer and sip margaritas.  I am lobbying hard to be their Kato Kaylin.

Oh yeah I raced the TT today.  Felt pretty good, it was windy and far from flat.  The last 4 miles are downhill and take about 5 minutes.  I was spinning out a 53×11, I could have used a 56.  I missed my goal of going under 40 minutes by about 40 seconds.  If I had to guess I am somewhere around 15th or so.  Tomorrow is when the shit hit the fan.  98 miles and the last 10 are uphill with an average grade of 8% with sections that are 14%.  Fun.

Ride Safe
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I made it to Silver City today.  Not a bad drive from Tucson.  I stopped at this road side attraction in the middle of nowhere today.  There were signs for like 100 miles before it to see “The Thing”.  I was in no hurry so I figure why not.  I paid my $1 and took the tour.  It was a weird combo of old west and medieval torture displays.  The Thing was some kind of mummy in a glass coffin (check the pics).  Definitely worth a buck.  

There were tons of racers out riding the TT course.  I saw a whole pack of Velo Bellas riding together looking hot, V definitely picked the right team.  At the moment the host housing situation is FUBAR.  The lady who owns the house is in the reserves and won’t be back until tomorrow so hopefully it will be sorted out tomorrow.  So for now I am sharing a hotel room with Mike from Denver.  He has a friend coming down on Thursday and was going to camp until then.  We were talking at Bisbee and I offered to let him stay at my host housing until his friends arrived.  So anyway that is that.

My legs are feeling good again.  I was a little worried so I called Snake.  He lined me out on how to maximize the recovery and be ready to start cashing the whoop ass coupons.  The TT does not start until 3:15 so I will go out in the morning and ride the course.  One bad thing about starting so late is that the wind is usually whipping in the afternoon around here.  I talked to Zan and some of the Utah crew today and they said they were getting pushed around pretty good on their disc wheels.  At least I don’t have to worry about that.

Ride Safe
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I am feeling it in my legs today.  I went out for about an hour and a half with Lars today and yup I am tired.  No hills at all, heart rate below 130 and it was harder than yesterday.  If I wasn’t racing on Wednesday I probably would have taken the day off.  Other than all the broken glass the riding down here is pretty cool.  After the ride I was really hungry for some fish taco’s, but since all the Mexican’s are not working today I was out of luck.

Sounds like Sly is making progress in his come back.  Today he asked me if I could get him Team Old Fucker.  Sure, I need someone to carry my bottles.

Ride Safe

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