Hey, I can still run, but at what cost

I did my first running race since college today. Grandpa's Run for the Walleye 5K in Crosslake, MN. Actually, our whole family did it, including Carla, Jordan, Maren, and my brother's family too. Mike Waataja was up at his lake place, and joined us too. Carla and Maren have been training the past few weeks leading up to the race. I ran once, 3mi on Father's Day, with Maren and Jordan, and I couldn't keep up with them. My expectations were very low.

A huge highlight was watching my 2 nieces, ages 2 and 5, run the kids fun race. They had a blast.

I figured Maren and Jordan would wax my butt, but when I pin on a number, I just gotta go. I ran way too hard, and knew I was going to pay for it big time afterwards. Nonetheless, I ended up 1st in the Masters, and 9th overall in 20:48. Waataja kicked my butt, as expected, and finished 5th in 19 minutes and change. Nice job. Jordan finished in 22:28, and Maren in 25:20. My bro did it in 30:28, Carla in 37:25, and my sister-in-law finished in around 47 minutes. What a fun day. Carla's average HR was 171, with a max 184. Wow! I'm proud of how hard she, and everyone else pushed themselves.

For 1st place, I won 2 rounds of 18 holes at the local golf course. We also scored some shwag in the raffle afterwards. After everything was done and we headed back to the cabin, it was still only 10:30AM.

Jordan, Waataja, and I are headed out for a ride after lunch. We're definitely loving life up at the lake.

French Final Exam

Left to Right - Rusty, Stamm, Baker, JimmerC, Painman. Not Pictured - Treb (busy scoring bonus miles on us all)



For the first time, all 6 of us headed to France got together for a ride. I call it the final exam because I don't plan to do any more long rides until we head to France.

We hit the hills very hard, thanks to Painman and Baker. Treb continues to impress us with his ability to ride hard, on much less training than the rest of us. It looks like the 6 of us are going to match up well. We hit every hill we could find, similar to last thursday. We scored 4400ft in 70 miles.



This is a shot of Painman showing us all the proper bike mounting technique.

Black Dog Recap

Results Posted



The juniors 14&under boys.

Perfect night for the Dog. Dr. P showed up and rode stock. Timmer is still flying, with Casper a close second. I managed a 15:00, which I am happy with, given my current state of training (I expect to be a little tired). Dr. P put up a 15:55 stock. Very nice.

Overall:
Timmer - 14:16
Casper - 14:21
Joe Johnson - 14:44
Brian Abery - 14:51
Alec Kloss - 14:59
Jim Cullen - 15:00
John Shishilla - 15:02
Matt Stein - 15:12
Brent Binkowski - 15:15

In the ballyhooed rivalry between Kristy Kreme, Lunatic Biker, and Jordan:
Jordan - 18:14 (33 second improvement over 2 weeks ago)
Ray - 19:07 (Huge improvement, Hollywood set his bike up nicely)
Kristy Kreme - 19:12 (1 second improvement 1 day after her birthday ride around Lake Pepin)

On Hollywood's recommendation, I lowered Jordan's bars over an inch about 15 minutes before the start of the TT. Apparently, it made a difference.

Youthful Enthusiasm

Jordan has been bugging me for weeks to ride to afton alps, and go up and down the ski hill climb as many times as he can. I finally decided tonight was the night. Each member of the family made bets on how many times he'd do it:

Maren - 3
Jim - 4
Carla - 5
Jordan - 20

I even challenged him, saying I'll do one more than him. I also said if he clips out on the climb, it's game over.

We made our way down to the climb, and started our reps. I asked Jordan to take it easy on the early ones, to save energy for later reps. The climb itself is 230ft of vertical over 0.4miles. That's an average gradient of 10.9%. The base of the climb is the steepest at around 17%. The middle is around 9-10% with a final kick around 14%.



Jordan did the first climb in 3:50. He rattled off a couple more without any trouble. I rode the 4th one pretty hard, and he climbed at his own pace. By the 5th rep, I was getting concerned about him bonking, and started to try to convince him that was enough. After the 6th, I told him the 7th would be the last, and he was pretty disappointed. I told him if he could do the 7th in under 5 minutes, he could do 10. He attacked the hill as if it was his first rep. He paid for his effort at the top, but still did it in 3:45! Dang, now I had to do 3 more.

Each of the final 3 reps sucked. I kept reminding Jordan about the fact that we still had to ride home, plus we were doing Black Dog on Wednesday. He didn't care. He was doing 10 no matter what. I stayed behind Jordan on the 10 rep, and he kept me at bay, then sprinted at the top. He ended up doing the last rep in 4:10. Unbelievable. Exhausted at that point, I didn't remind Jordan I'd do one more than him.



Afterwards, I had to stop at the Afton Bean for dinner. Baker had a Turkey Panini yesterday, that I was dying to try. It was great. Jordan was poking fun at me for being tired. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Looks like Dr. P Stole his Bike

Dr. P is so friggin tall, he makes it look like he's riding Jordan's bike.

Treb, you've really let yourself go.

I finally got Treb back on the bike, albeit, a little late. Treb, Baker, Rusty and I hit the hills of Diamond Bluff big time. I started out the ride hard, as usual. Baker quipped to Treb that I was trying to get him back in shape in just 1 day.

We stopped in Trembelle for water, only to end up invading a Harley Rally. Talk about fish out of water. What are we going to do, die of thirst, or at the hands of the Hells Angels. One dude offers us water, goes and grabs it from his cooler, and it's in a Vodka bottle. At that point, we were desperate, and didn't dare refuse his hospitality. Besides, water is water, right? He had 3 bottles of bloody mary mix on his table, which Treb and Rusty thought looked pretty good at that point in the ride, but intelligently refrained.

Next, we headed south on one of our favorite roads in the area, County O. It runs along the Trembelle River Valley, is quiet, and just plain beautiful. Then we hit a sequence of 5 climbs that I linked together between the Trembelle Valley, County OO Valley, and St. Croix River Valley. We ended up hitting those 5, plus 2 more on Hwy 35 back to Prescott, for a total of 7 tough climbs in about 20 miles.

On the first climb, Treb impressed us by climbing on the front. We're all thinking, this is rediculus. How does he do it. Then he attacked and took the Diamond Bluff prime. WTF? Well, his dominance was short lived. On the second climb, Baker heard Treb wheezing, and dropped the hammer. Baker's leading on a climb. It's like an episode from Twilight Zone. Baker was on fire on each of the rest of the climbs. Treb was able to keep pace just behind Rusty on climbs 2-4, but finally folded over backwards on the 5th.

I nursed Treb a bit on the 2 Hwy 35 climbs headed back to Prescott, and he recovered enough to ride tempo into the Prescott Prime, which Baker took handily. From Prescott, Treb and Rusty had to head home, while we headed for some lunch at the Afton Bean.

Then Jordan met us in Lakeland, and we rode up to Stillwater to watch the Pros race. We saw a ton of Loons including Dr P. and the Red Lantern. Red Lantern managed to crash into the haybails in t-minus 3 days till he leaves for France. Luckily, he just scraped up his hand and arm.

The Stillwater is an awesome race to watch, between high speed corners on the downhill, to the crank bending climb. After the race, Stamm joined Jordan, Baker, and I for a climb up Chillicoot, and then home to Hudson. What a great day.

Jordan's Longest Ride

Perfect weather for a ride Saturday. Jordan and I headed for my brother's birthday party in Maple Grove. Jordan's longest ride up to this point, was a ride from my brother's to Hudson. I knew we could simply meander a bit, and improve on the old mark of 63 miles.

Right off the bat, I get a complete front tire blowout, right in downtown Hudson. The bead must not have been seated correctly, because one side slipped out, causing the tire to blow like a gunshot. I fixed it quickly, and we were on our way.

I decided to head for Newport to get our extra mileage. I stumbled upon the bike trail along the east side of 61. I didn't even know about it. It made for a nice safe comfortable route up to Werner/Shepard Road. On to East River Road all the way to the UofMN. A quick stop downtown to refuel, and then to the Cedar Lake Commuter Trail. Construction near the new Twins Stadium Site resulted in a clumsy detour, but we made it. We saw Mean Dawg headed the opposite direction.

Through St. Louis Park, Minnetonka, Wayzata, Plymouth, and finally Maple Grove. On West Fish Lake Road, someone in a Jeep Cherokee honked and waved like they knew us, but I didn't know who it was. Maybe they thought we were someone else. 66 miles in the end. Point to Point rides are always a treat.

French Homework

Baker joined me for a ride Thursday evening, and we hit every hill we could find in the area (I counted at least 14). Afton, Prescott, and River Falls. 3 of the climbs simply looped around at the top, and we came right back down. We're definitely developing our climbing muscles, at least as best we can, without any mountains nearby.

We bumped into Charlie and Sherry during the ride. They were working the hills also. Baker and I were talking about how amazing the roads and terrain are, considering how close we are to the cities. I love living in the St. Croix river valley.

Nature Valley Grand Prix - Stage One

Jordan and I rode from Hudson to St. Paul to watch Stage 1 of the Nature Valley Grand Prix. Carla and Maren met us there. Jordan and I just missed seeing Teresa Moriarty take 3rd place in the women's race. Nice job Teresa!

We ran into tons of cyclists, including all the LSC guys on the Stone Arch ride. The race was fun to watch with several locals representing MN well. It looked really hard, and I couldn't believe how fast they were completing each lap. There were over 150 guys which stretched through 2 turns on the fast course. I can't imagine what the whip effect felt like in the back. All the top domestic pro teams were there in force. What was amazing was seeing the field roll around at well over 30mph, with guys still able to get small gaps off the front.

In the end, Toyota United set it up for Ivan Stevic, and he delivered. A few of the local boys made it to the end. Anyone who survived for 30 of the 60 minutes gets to continue racing tomorrow, which most of the local boys met. Nice job guys.

Jordan's First, Timmer Dials It In, Tour Winner Present

The conditions for last night's TNT were tough for some, fast for others. Relatively stiff headwind on the way out, with a good push on the way back. The temperature was mild also.

The highlight of the night was seeing Greg Lemond. He was there watching his son race. I stopped briefly, shook his hand, introduced Jordan, and spoke with him. His reputation as an approachable guy is spot on. What a nice guy.

Jordan tried out his first TNT. He rolled to a 31:23, averaging just over 21mph on the rolling 11 mile course. The only other junior there, Kody McKracken, rode 45 seconds faster than Jordan. However, Kody rode 2:20 faster over 20K at the State TT. Jordan appears to be gaining.

Timmer finally got the ride he was capable of at TNT, scorching a 23:18. It was good enough for a 2 second beat of Casper (redemption for Wrenshall?). He has been rocking the TT's, as of late. Cheers to you Timmer. My teammate, Paul Rennert lowered his time another 30 seconds, to ride a fast 24:29. Excellent improvement. Painman made an appearance, but without aerobars.

I myself rode to a respectable 24:16, about the same as 2 weeks ago. I'm content with it, having rode 144 miles 3 days ago, and 137 a week ago. I don't expect anything special out of my legs during this buildup to our France trip.

Results Posted

Happy Birthday Jordan

It's not for a few more weeks, but I scored this sweet, lightly used, cyclocross bike off ebay for Jordan's 12th Birthday (Yep, he already knows). Detailed Specs

Horribly Hilly 200K Recap

4 of the 6 of us headed to France this July, braved Horribly Hilly 200K: Painman, Baker, Rusty, and myself. After doing the longest ride of our lives last Sunday, we furthered the mark just one week later.

It started out with running into Loecken and Olson at breakfast. They suggested riding to the start, rather than driving. I talked our group into it, so we rode the 4 miles to the start. I'd regret it later in the day.

A very diverse crowd of cyclists with lots of triathletes and aerobars. We tried to find the Ritz brothers, with no luck (they slept in). I took one last look around, only to miss the 7AM start. I had to work my way through all the riders to get back up to my group. It didn't take long, and once I caught them, I just kept going. I wanted to get in front of as many riders as possible so going up the first climb wasn't crowded. This worked out perfect, and our first climb was unhampered.

The first leg had some tough climbs, before the first rest stop at about 30 miles. The climbs were very similar to pitch and length of last weekend. We all learned our lesson last week about eating and hydrating as much as possible. We didn't make that mistake today. If anything, we overdid it.

The second leg had a tough climb at the start, and then mostly rollers. Then we returned to the same rest stop for a second time after about 50 miles, and it was slim pickings. We continued onto the third section, knowing it was relatively easy compared to the 4th and 5th sections. We rode it pretty hard and arrived at the 3rd rest stop in Black Earth at about 75 miles. This rest stop had tons of good stuff to eat, and we took advantage.

The 4th leg was tough as expected, with more long steep climbs. Painman and I hit 56.5mph on one of the downhills. We started hitting the intermediate water stops to keep hydrated. By the time we got to the last rest stop, we were at 110 miles. We knew that construction forced a course change, which added 6 miles, making the total course distance approx 130 miles. We figured the final 20 miles would be tough, but no problem.

Well, it was more like 28 miles, with a couple killer climbs, and the gruelling final 910ft climb to the finish. Painman and I did the final climb together, and a 27-tooth cog was not even close to enough gear. We battled our bikes all the way to the top. Rusty and Baker followed close behind.

The food at the finish was great. A very well run event. However, this is where I would come to regret the decision to ride from the hotel. The guys were desperate for a clean change of clothes. Fortunately, the ride back to the hotel served as an excellent cool down, to loosen our legs up for the long drive home.

Sunday is Father's Day, and I am looking forward to spending it with my family. Happy Dad's day to you all.

Those aerobars really do make a difference.

Results Posted

Black Dog Photos Link - Full resolution pics e-mailed for $1.99 each.

I decided to mount Jordan up with Aerobars for tonight's Black Dog. I was a little nervous, since he'd never ridden them, but I figured he's got to learn somehow. Turns out, he was just as stable in the aerobars as he is in the drops. No worries.

Jordan was ready to accept the challenge from Kristy Kreme and Ray. Jordan threw down a 18:47. That is a 38 second improvement on his previous best. Kristy Kreme improved to 19:13 and Ray improved to 20:15. Congratulations to all 3 in this productive rivalry.

Jordan's progression at Black Dog:
6/29/06 - 23:20
6/12/06 - 22:48
8/09/06 - 21:56
8/23/06 - 20:39

5/02/07 - 19:44
5/16/07 - 19:25
5/30/07 - 19:32
6/13/07 - 18:47


I myself rode a slowish 15:04, on a night were everyone else seemed to ride faster. Timmer had to remind me about the 137 miles I rode on Sunday, as a simple explanation. I've been focused so much on racing lately, I forget that my number 1 objective this season is to prepare for our France Trip.

Doug Swanson returned to the Dog, and simply lit it up. He rode 13:50 (actually 13:49.9 by Doug's watch). So close to the course record 13:49, set by Nick Robertson in 2004. Timmer improved to 14:24. Casper recovered exceptionally well from his 164 mile odyssey on Sunday to ride a 14:30. Abery rode his fastest time in a couple years, a 14:58. Doig scored a 15:05, and Waataja improved his PR to 15:10. Nice rides all.

"6/13/07 Unofficial Overall Black Dog Results"
1. Doug Swanson - 13:50
2. Timmer Mulrooney - 14:24
3. Casper the Ghost - 14:30
4. Brian Abery - 14:58
5. JimmerC - 15:04
6. Chris Doig - 15:05
7. Mike Waataja - 15:10

Jordan, the Gaines brothers, and I went for a nice cool down after our race. Then Hollywood ordered pizza again, and we had a great post-dog evening, sharing stories and shooting the bull. What a great event, and fun people.

He's Earned the Aerobars

From the front page of skinnyski.com. It's a shot of Jordan towards the end of the Frederick TT this past weekend. He's been bugging me about aerobars, and I actually have a pair for him. I wanted him to get lots of experience before adding them. Black Dog tonight may be his last TT without them.

Prep Ride for Horribly Hilly Hundreds & France

With all the racing the past 2 months, I haven't been able to get in any long rides. I should have been out on the boat with my family (can you say, dog house?), but instead, I opted for the longest ride of my life (137 miles), with Painman, Horrigan, and Baker (It was the longest ride for all of them too). Not to be outdone, Casper joined us en route from Northfield, and trumped us with 164 miles.

Of course, longest ride alone wasn't enough. Jordan and I went reconnoitering down near Maiden Rock in search of the nastiest hills I could find. I was not disappointed. I put together a 50 mile loop starting in Hagar City that had no less than 7 nasty steep, long climbs. The gradients on most of them averaged over 10%, with ramps up to 17%. Our cumulative vertical for the ride was over 8300ft. Good prep work for the Horribly Hilly 200K next weekend, as well as our France Trip.



Luckily, we got all our problems out of the way at the start of the ride. We were supposed to start at about 9AM, and we actually left right around that time. We were to meet Casper in Prescott. Right away, I had a tire rubbing on my frame, and I went home to fix it, while the guys waited in downtown Hudson. Once I rejoined, a big group of GP riders with John Redmond and Casebeer rolled through. They stopped downtown, while we kept going with Redmond.

On the other side of the I94 bridge, Painman had to stop to fix a chain problem. It was skipping on the lower derailleur pulley. After messing with it for 15 minutes, we decided to go back to my house and try a new chain. New chain, same problem. Finally, we figure out the lower pulley had a split in one of the teeth, causing the chain to ride up and skip. Luckily, I had a spare pulley. After the fix, Painman said his bike had never run so smooth. We finally got going again at about 10AM.

As we headed out again, I stated we probably won't be back until around 6PM. The others were like, "Whatever". They knew I had morphed the day's ride route into a tough one. Little did they know.

We saw Pmax and a couple others in Afton. We also bumped into Tony Carter. Lots of guys out riding. We finally caught up with Casper right in front of Afton Alps on St. Croix Trail. He already had nearly 40 miles in. We took it pretty easy on the climbs in MN, knowing it was going to be a long day. However, we did tempo it a bit in the flats down to Prescott.

After a quick stop in Prescott, the plan was to ride straight down 35 to Hagar City. There are 2 good climbs on 35, and the guys just couldn't contain themselves. Casper decided to push it, and Painman and Dr. P couldn't resist. Baker and I hung back and conserved. We had 50 miles in by Hagar City. We refueled, and headed out for the tough 50 mile loop.

The first climb was particularly brutal, and the same 3 pushed it, with Baker and I continuing to conserve. The descents were twisty and awesome. We stopped in Maiden Rock about 15 miles into the loop. I warned them the next 35 miles were going to be even more brutal.

I suffered on every climb. The gradients were just too steep for me. Thankfully, I had a 27-tooth cog, which I still struggled in at times. We all battled our mental demons from miles 80-100, with the exception of Casper. Everyone, except Baker ran out of fluids. Man was it hot out. Finally, we made it back to Hagar City, knowing we still had nearly 40 miles to ride home.

We were all pretty wrecked, except Casper. He was simply a machine, pushing every climb, roller, and flat section. Our stomach's were all completely messed up, that eating, and even drinking, was difficult. We just sat on the step of the Gas Station and stared at our food, wishing we could simply absorb it, rather than eat it.

After what seemed an eternity, we reluctantly headed for home, while Casper headed back to Northfield, via Red Wing, on the Cannon Valley Trail. Every mile was a mental challenge. Not much talking, except to say things like "Can we back off a little?". We limped into my driveway just before 7PM. 137 miles in 7:40. Definitely the toughest ride I've ever done.

So I took 4 days off this week, did 2 time trials, and my longest ride ever. Does that count as rest?

3 Days Rest, and Another Sub-Par TT Performance

Results Posted

After 3 days rest, another race. Jordan and I did the Frederick TT. The course was tough, with a few sustained climbs and wind to boot. I tried starting easy for once, and it didn't pay off. I ramped my HR up slowly, only to hit the big climb, and go anaerobic. After that, in the cross-tail wind, and downhill, I just couldn't push the bike. My HR dropped down 10 beats, and my legs seemed soft. I'm clearly still fatigued.

I rode just under 1:07 for the 27.63mi course, with 1400feet of climbing. Ave HR was low @ 166, and ave speed was 24.8mph. Timmer had an absolutely unbelievably fast ride in 1:00:52. Casper rode 1:03 and change, and Brian Abery bested me by 30 seconds too.

I was 4 seconds behind Timmer this past Tuesday, and over 6 minutes behind him today. Ouch! As Timmer flew past one guy, the guy yelled "You better be fast". Apparently the dude had never been passed by someone going that fast before.

Jordan rode a 1:31:59, and was the only 13&under that raced the challenging course. He loves TT's. Afterwards we grabbed a bite in Frederick with Dan and Linda. Always a pleasure.

TNT Recap

Just a quick recap this time. Started :30 behind Waataja. Perfect rabbit. Caught him on the way back. He repassed me once, and motivated me to bury myself. Finished in about 24:14, which was good enough for 4th place (1. Wood, 2. Casper, 3. Mulrooney). Slower than 2 weeks ago, but on par compared to others. It felt a bit slow, maybe because the wind died, making it feel like a headwind on the way out, but no tailwind on the way back. Ave HR 172, Max 183. Results Posted

This was my 7th race day in the past 11 days. I'm taking 3 days rest. I'll be shaking and sweating by Thursday from the withdrawal.

Oh yeah, I won these, sort of ...

I stumbled onto the silent auction today at the State Crit, and saw these babies. I had absolutely no need, whatsoever for more wheels, but I just couldn't resist bidding $160 for such a nice set. Sure enough, I won them. They are listed as 1520grams/set. Jordan is drooling over them, as if his Zipps aren't good enough.

State Crit Recap

Results Posted
Patrick Horrigan scored a win in the Cat 3's by a huge margin. He started his sprint from the front headed into the finish hill, and simply pulled away from the rest. The picture shows just how far ahead he was, as he starts his victory salute. Way to go Patrick. Bro Loecken scored a bronze in the M4/5's. Nice job Bryan.

I registered for the Cat 1/2's, but opted to skip it in favor of saving what legs I still had for the Masters 35+ later in the day. It was a good decision. The field was pretty stacked, and they were just flying around the course. There were breakaways here and there, but it kept coming back together. Then, the field was coming through the start/finish area, chasing a group of 3, and we heard that dreaded sound. It turns out the balloons on the barriers (see photo above), blew into one of the bikes, which pulled the barriers into the road, and several folks in the back of the group went down hard. Tone Coughlin ended up breaking his shoulder, and they stopped the race for a few minutes, while the ambulance tended to the wounded. They restarted, and another group of 4 got a gap, and it looked pretty good. With a couple laps to go, the group of 4 grew to 10, and we saw Aric and Timmer bridge the small gap. They were all strung out, but essentially back together as they got the bell. Timmer took a massive pull during the last lap to lead Aric out for the win. Dan Swanson was 2nd, with tenacious Scott Flanders 3rd. What a great race to watch. I felt pretty bad about Tone's bad luck after all the great work he did last weekend. I hope everyone heals fast.

Finally, after sitting around for 8 hours, the Masters 35+ race was on. It was a fairly stacked field, and racing started right from the gun. I rode in the front for the first 5 laps or so, but my legs were still pretty messed up. I ended up getting pushed to the back during the middle of the race, as groups went up the road with no LSC representation. Macy and Golblirsh were forced to chase without my help. With about 6 laps to go, I started to feel better, so I moved to the front. With 4 to go, I decided to string it out and hold it as long as I could. With Painman on my wheel, I rode the front for 3 laps, until I finally cracked at the bell. Painman tried, but couldn't hang on for the finish (In fairness, he's been sick for several weeks). Brian Koeneman ended up taking the win. I was fine with the results, because I knew my legs had no snap for the sprint anyway. I think it is time for a rest. Good timing too, since there aren't any weekend races till July.

Double State Champion

Jordan scored not one, but two gold medals this state championship weekend. After yesterday's MN State TT win, today he won the MN State Criterium. Today's race was a nail biter for Carla and I, as Jordan had a one-on-one battle with Kody McCracken, a 13 year old who beat him by over 2 minutes in the 20K TT yesterday. Jordan rode aggressively on the front most of the time, and out sprinted Kody to win the Juniors under 15. Michael and Brian Gaines, from the Gaines quadruplets, sprinted it out for 3rd and 4th, with Michael just edging out Brian.

State TT - Humble Pie

Results Posted

I've been so happy with my results so far this season, I guess I was due for a bad day. Today was it. I felt good, my HR was where I wanted it, but my performance just didn't match up with my results from Wrenshall or Bike Club. It must just be simple fatigue from all the racing this past week.

I didn't stick around for the results, but I ended up with a 52:52 for the 23.14mi course (shortened due to construction). My average speed was 26.3mph with an Ave HR of 169. That put me 28th overall, 2nd in the Age 40-44 class to John Redmond (51:11). John Shishilla also smoked me in 50:35). Ian Stanford had the fastest time again this year (48:43). Dale Sedgewick was 2nd (49:56), Gordy Paulson was 2nd (50:02), and Timmer was a close 4th (50:04).

On a positive note, Jordan did great. He won the 20K juniors 10-12 class in 38:17. There was another under 15 junior named Kody McKracken (who also does the TNT TT) that beat Jordan, but he was in the 13-14 class.

The funny thing is I have a history of sub-par performances at the State TT. My first State TT ever was in 1997, back when it was in Santiago. I rode a 57:29 as a Cat 4. You would think that was fast enough to win the Cat 4's, but another Cat 4, by the name of Chris Flood, bested me with a 56:31. I had a bad day in 1998 and ended up 4th in the cat 3's. In 1999, I had a good day, but still ended up 2nd in the Cat 1/2's to Kyle Butkiewicz. In 2000, the race organizers neglected to get to the turn around before I got there, resulting in a DNF. In 2001, I had another bad day. I did my first St. Peter State TT in 2003, and got beat by 10 seconds by Dave Mercer in the Masters 35+.

State TT Results Summary:
1997 - Santiago - 57:29 - 2nd Cat 4
1998 - Santiago - 58:32 - 4th Cat 3
1999 - Santiago - 55:27 - 2nd Cat 1/2
2000 - Santiago - DNF
2001 - Santiago - 57:34 - 7th Cat 1/2
2003 - St. Peter - 56:13 - 2nd Masters 35+

I rode the tandem with Jordan in 2005 and 2006, and took 1st both years (no other tandems in 2006). So I do have 2 state championship time-trial gold medals, thanks to Jordan.