Chris Kerr Road Race - Jordan turns his 4000th mile

Jordan stayed with the main field until he spun out his junior gears in the tailwind section. He finished with a small group just after the main pack, and won the younger juniors division. He turned 4000 miles for the year during the race.

A field of 77 riders enjoyed the Chris Kerr Memorial Road Race this year under sunny skies, with a brisk south wind. Matt Williams, riding for Grandstay Hotel Cycling team, was the race winner. Williams took a narrow victory, as the front of the main peloton caught a solo breakaway rider Jim Moore, of Brones Bike Shop, just before the finish line.

The race started out fast, but settled down on the turn into the wind. Mark Brone attacked early, and got a gap. He was joined soon after by Ken Statz. The field was content to let the pair dangle off the front, with a gap of around 30 seconds.

About 10 miles before the finish, Statz came back, and Jim Moore quickly bridged up to his teammate Brone. Shortly after, Matt Muyers joined them. This all happened on a stair stepping uphill grade. Moore ended up dropping Brone and Muyers, and was solo, similar to 2 weeks ago in Mauston.

Moore's gap was tenuous, but the field was tentative to close it down, even in the tailwind downhill section. Spring Street Sports was doing a lot of work on the front, and with 1K to go, Moore still had around 10 seconds.

Spring Street's Dan Borgenheimer amped up the pace from the final turn, but then backed off with about 500m to go. I was 5th in line, on Dave Metza's wheel. Metza hesitated, and I knew someone had to go now to catch Moore. I jumped and held it until about 50m from the line, and Williams was just able to get over the top of Moore. Congrats to Matt Williams on an excellent win, and huge tough guy points to Moore for almost pulling off another solo break.

Hudson Time-Trial

18.65 mi and not a flat spot on the course. The toughest section comes at the end, in and back out of 2 valleys. Timmer and Ghost were at it again, with Ghost taking this one by a scant 3 seconds. I was best of the rest with teammate Ludwigson 4th. I felt as good as I've felt in a while, and was happy to be less than 2.5 minutes back on a tough course.

1. Ghost - 40:59
2. Timmer - 41:02
3. Jimmer - 43:24
4. Ludwigson - 44:20

Both Jordan and Carla rode stock. Jordan took it relatively easy, saving himself for Chris Kerr. Carla did well in her second solo TT, earning herself a gold medal to boot. Her comment after the race was "I got passed more than a joint at a party." I sure am proud of her.

Black Dog Finale

The whole family rode the final black dog. Jordan rode stock. Carla did her first solo effort. I rode the tandem twice, first with Painman, then with Maren (her first race ever). Both Carla and Maren loved it and will come back for more next year. A huge thanks to Silver Cycling for a well run, family friendly series.

Painman and I rode 14:08. 28.8mph avg speed.

Maren and I rode a 16:08. 25.3mph avg speed.

Jordan rode stock in 17:36.
He captured the younger junior series title with and avg time of 16:31

I won the Masters 35+ with an avg time of 14:50.
High school classmate Jey Carlson was 3rd in the series after riding a PR of 14:52 in the finale.

Carla and I captured the Tandem series title with an avg time of 16:18

The Cullen family loves the Dog

For Ray and Painman

Bacon wrapped Top Sirloin Baby!

Tour of Minneapolis

Carla and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful Sunday afternoon, and ride the trails of Minneapolis. We had a great time, and thought of Ray and Debbie often. We bumped into Cheddawurst and Cam along the way.

Carla's first ride on the Greenway.

Enjoying lunch at the Global Market

Bumped into Cheddawurst at Midtown.

Cable Stay bridge of Hiawatha

NW corner of 29th and W River Pkwy. Wrote "Jimbo" in fresh concrete back in 1986.

Stone Arch Bridge with the new Guthrie in the Background

Yours truly with a couple Minneapolis classics in the background.

Jordan's 1st Race Back

Jordan raced the MN State RR today, exactly 4 weeks after he broke his wrist. He raced the younger juniors, who sported a field of 5.

Jordan rode aggressive, and attacked at the bottom of the 1st climb. He never looked back. I rode behind the group, and stayed behind the field until the top of the climb. It took me almost the whole lap to catch him (and I was hammering). From there I stayed with him until he dropped me on the climb to the finish for the win. Being from WI means no championship for him. He won the WI State Road Championship back in June.

I was spent at the end of the day. All tolled, I rode a hundy. First century since LSC training camp, and that's the truth.

Masters 35+ MN State Road Race

Decent field of 24 racers, plus I had teammates in the form of Painman and Red Lantern. Long story short, 4 laps, finish at the top of the hill. 16 guys hit the base of the final climb together. Bryan Joas crossed the line 1st for what looked like his 2nd straight MN State Roads title, but it turns out he was DQ'ed for crossing the center line. That gave the win to Grandstay's Ray Coyle. Painman was a surprise 2nd, with former teammate Woller 3rd. Congratulations guys.

The weather was rather brisk at the start, but warmed up quick. Rather breezy too. My goal for the day was to ride the front, and cover moves. Matt Muyers and I spent healthy amount of time on the front.

Halfway through the 2nd lap, I broke a spoke, and had to swap wheels. The wheel car was right there, and the group waited while I chased back on. By the time I rejoined, Hollywood had attacked solo. We continued to ride tempo, and keep him in range. He stayed away for about a lap, only to attack again with a GP rider. Most aggressive rider definitely goes to Hollywood.

Kudos to teammate Red Lantern, who rode the best race I've ever seen him ride. He rode up front with me, and even broke away solo towards he end of the last lap for a while.

Man he's getting tall.

Black Dog 2007
Black Dog 2008

In the past year, Jordan has passed his mom, his sister, and several of his teammates in height. He is almost 5'7" now versus sub 5 foot last year. I'm 6'3". Carla's 5'1". Where will he stop, no body knows.

Ride and Glide TT

Hadn't done the Ride and Glide TT in a couple years. It's as low key an event as they come, but Thatcher and his crew did a great job, including timely posting of results.

Legs are coming back around a bit, but still not firing on all cylinders yet. Timmer dominated, taking 1.25 minutes out of Abery and me. My goal was to break 30 minutes. Oh so close. Chris Edin provided an excellent chase as my 1 minute man, and Rick Christensen had no problem staying away from me as my 30 sec man.
Results posted

On the road again

Jordan did a little begging, and his mom let him venture back out on the road a week earlier than scheduled. We did the 50mi Prescott loop, and I checked with Jordan regularly if his wrist was bothering him. He says it never bothered him once. Shifting, braking, and standing were not a problem. Quick healer I guess.

Oddly, his lower back was bothering him badly by the end of the ride. I need to adjust his position a bit. He says it could easily be solved by him getting the $400 fizik Arione K1 saddle. Sorry dude. No way!

Mush in Mauston

Got dropped today at the WISPORT road race in Mauston, WI. I've got no legs right now. Jim Moore of Brone's Bike Shop won the hard way, soloing for 10 miles, just off the front of the main field, to finish just seconds ahead for a well earned victory.

Last year, it was rainy, cold, and calm. This year, it was Sunny and warm, with a West wind, and brought out some fasties. Jay Woller made the trek with me, and Jordan came to watch. Right away we could see a strong contingent from Brone's and Spring Street.

The course has 4 longer climbs and plenty of rollers. Last year, only 8 of us made the selection at the top of the 1st climb. This year, we went just as hard, but it didn't split up. There must have been over 30 guys headed into the second climb. My legs were very heavy in the flats, and I was struggling on the climbs. Luckily, I was able to pick my way through the dropped riders on each climb to maintain contact with the group.

Then it happened. I slowly slipped off the back in the flats just before the last climb. I wasn't winded, but had no power left. I joined 3 others who got spit out soon after, and ended up rolling in 17th. Sucks when you have a bad day. As a consolation, Woller ended up 4th.

1. Jim Moore
2. Mike Suntgen
3. Dave Metza
4. Jay Woller

Hell has frozen over

This is what 16:17 looks like.
This is what 14:44 looks like.

Yep. I got beat in a TT by Painman. Didn't see that one coming. Congrats to Painman. I suck at stock. I rode 16:17, Painman rode 16:15.

Casper unleashed an Olympic effort to break 15 minutes for a new stock record of 14:58. He definitely earned the HED Ardennes wheels. Timmer was 2nd in 15:18. Other road fasties showed up, but came up short against the top 2 black doggers.

Redemption was provided with my tandem ride with Linda Sone. We smoked a 14:44 for the new mixed tandem record, as well as the fastest time of the night (since almost everyone rode stock).

Jordan was feeling the itch, and will probably ride the final black dog, with his purple cast.

Back in the Saddle

Jordan asked me to set up his bike for his first ride since the crash. He got his new purple cast today. He gets it off in 4 weeks.

Glad to be Home

Back from Cali. Jordan and I ended up watching a little of all 3 events. He said he had the itch to race at the TT and RR, but the crit looked a little scary. It was hot each day. Congrats to all the locals for great rides.

4 days of Disneyland is enough for anybody. Jordan and I pooped out after 3 days, but the girls made it for all 4. We spent our final day in Hollywood, and even drove up the "Steepest Climb in LA", Fargo Street. It's only 2 blocks long, but over a 30% grade!

Took the Red Eye flight back to Mpls Saturday night. After a week off the bike, I rode the Prescott Loop for the first time in a couple months.

Wednesday, Sone and I are going to rock the Dog on the Tandem. Carla wanted a night off.

Anaheim, California

Flew into LAX on Monday AM. The girls checked out shopping on Robertson Drive, home of the expensive Kitson stores ($495 for a sweatshirt!). Went to the Santa Monica Pier and had lunch at the end of the pier at Mariasol. Strolled down Venice beach to check out all the weirdos.

Spent all day Tuesday at Disneyland. Had the best Monte Cristo sandwich yet at the Orleans Cafe.

The bike parade turned out to be a real bust. Turns out Disney wouldn't let the kids ride (or even bring) their bikes in the park, so all they could do is walk around in their kits. Plus, you had to have park tickets to do the parade. Only about a dozen or so kids showed up, mostly locals with season passes from the looks of it. What a let down.

The TT is Wednesday, Crit Thursday, and RR Friday. We plan to watch the crit, and do a little recon of the other courses, since they will probably be in Cali next year too.

Firehouse 50 Records Fall

Sunny, dry, and calm conditions led to a lot of broken records at the 2008 Firehouse 50. Timmer Mulrooney broke his 2005 Individual TT record of 1:53:02 by an astounding 1.5mins, posting an amazing 1:51:26. That is an average speed of almost 27mph! Lance Niles also impressively broke the old record, finished 2nd in 1:52:38. Dan Casper overcame a sinus infection to finish a fast 3rd, in a personal best 1:53:29.

After annihilating the 2-person Team TT record in 2007, Gear West triathletes David Thompson and Kevin O'Connor joined forces with Curt Wood and Brian Bich to break the 4-person Team TT record. They averaged almost 28mph, breaking the record by over 1.5mins, posting a 1:46:46. The old record of 1:48:26, also set in 2005, was held by the Spring Street Sports team of Gordy Paulson, Chris Halverson, Nick Robertson, and Joe Wawrzaszek.

Finally, Linda Sone and I broke the Mixed Tandem TT record by almost 4 minutes, posting a 1:56:13. We were hoping for some stiff competition from Tandem National Champions Gordy Paulson and Diane Ostenso, but they opted for the Mixed 2-person TT, in preparation for Masters World Championships coming up in a couple weeks in Austria. Good luck!

Results Posted

Sub 2-hour TT Times:

Name	Time
Team Gear West	1:46:46
Team Brones Bike Shop	1:49:08
Timmer Mulrooney	1:51:26
Lance Niles	1:52:38
Dan Casper	1:53:29
John Shishilla	1:55:49
Sone/Cullen Tandem	1:56:13

Gettin' Started
Post Race - That was fun
Mixed Tandem Winners - Linda Sone and Me
Individual TT Winner (5th year in a row) - Timmer Mulrooney
Mixed 2-person TT Winners - Gordy Paulson and Diane Ostenso
Male 2-Person TT Winners - Ron Raymond and Roger Parenteau