Raced Memorial Day in Iowa this past weekend and am pretty happy with how things went. Excuse #1, Skipped Snake Alley: missed pre-registering and didn’t want to start what is basically a 300 meter race from the back. Really, I could have started 100th and busted my ass all day to get 17th and $35, but said no thanks. So…Sunday was Melon city crit and the saddest thing was (excuse #2) 87 degrees. Not that 87 is a bad thing, but I (and many others), just haven’t ridden in anything over 60 degrees this year and forgot what it feels like to be dehydrated and dizzy. Still ended up 10th, but basically because I did just about everything I could to screw up the sprint. Monday was a whole lot better. Quad cities, aka ‘the cage match’, was off to it’s usual hectic start. I won the sprint competition during the race and finished the day in second place. I smelled victory in the air, but was outwitted by team tactics in the end. Still pleased with how it all came out – yeah that.

K now haters….guys, why so much hate? What’s with all the drama between clubs and teams? Amateurs hate pros ’cause they’re worked over. They hate each other because of someone else on each others team. Blah, blah, blah. What happened to putting your head down and going hard? Take a pull, it just might work. The negative racing kills me. Seems like guys cover moves just to disrupt it, and in the end no-one goes hard and the race is lame. When did winning races become a bad thing? Why can’t I, or anyone else be proud of winning a race no matter how big or small. That’s the whole point, right? To find a winner and give it your all. As for the fellas who like to write anonymous comments on blogs….don’t forget, there’s this IP tracer thingy where we can see who you are. As it turns out, not so anonymous. Anyway, to answer you little digs – yes, the races I won the last few weeks were in fact local races – hence, not posting the the race name, field or any other info about it, but (most importantly) I won them in a manner I was proud of and was happy with my effort. My form is coming along nicely for Philly. Finally for the group ride mentioned, I wasn’t bragging about winning anything – just bragging about riding 160 miles in a day. Anyway you slice it, I don’t think many pros do that. For the record, it took 8 hours….2 hours slower than Philly. Again, really nothing to brag about, other than it was a loooooong day.

Hypocrisy aside (about being a hater), I agree with Mike Sayers. I’m not a fan of Joe Papp either. Matter of fact, my first post on missingsaddle was on the subject. It’s not a matter of him being a doper, just don’t really care for him. Used car salesman comes to mind. The doping thing just doesn’t help. But on the doping side of things, I think a person can make a bad decision and truly be regretful of that decision and not do it again. I consider Adam Bergman a friend, and sincerely think he’s sorry for what he did. Adam apologized, David Miller apologized, as far as I know Joe Papp hasn’t and is milking his misfortune for whatever it’s worth. The one thing I do want to say, is to the guys who say Joe is a thief – with few exceptions, Joe did most of his racing in third world countries. Technically, he stole from them – not us. Maybe that’s how it’s done there…remember the Tour of Guatemala a few years ago – 9 of the top 15 on GC were positive?!?!?! I wasn’t there, so none of them stole from me. But Joe actually owes Mike Friedman $800, so yes, Joe stole from Mike.

I respect Mike Sayer and have always looked up to him. And while we have had our disagreements, I will always look up to him. He’s as stand up as they come, and has qualities most people should aspire to.

After this, I will continue to try to make my post funny, stupid, quirky, etc. Just think it’s sad we have to always see the worst side of things. Bike racing is fun, let’s try to remember the things we love about riding.

Congratulations to anyone who has won a bike race this year, trained hard to make it happen and put it all on the line to have it work out. Congratulations to anyone who was in a break with someone better then them and went all in anyway. Anyone who has made a effort they didn’t think they could do or just one they are really proud of. High five to all those out there that love riding and racing their bike. See you out there! :)