Carl Buchanan - Mountain Bike Racer

• Tagged eh?

  So I was "tagged" by my buddy G-Ted a few days ago and I have been mulling over the idea of participating so......I decided what the heck and here goes. What was I doing ten years ago? Lets' see. 1998. Not much really. Working, jet-skiing, and riding motorcycles. I was riding a Trek Y-3 full suspension MTB at the time too. Wow. Snacks I enjoy? 3 Musketeers Things I would do if I were a billionaire. Tour the world and really see how other cultures do things. Places I have lived: Germany, Texas, Iowa - In that order Jobs I have had: Paperboy, dish washer, cook, ice skating guard, hockey coach, bike shop employee (wish I could go back to that one actually), various jobs with a printing company Tagging others. If they want to pony up nad participate great, if not....well that's there choice. Here's who I would like to hear from. Rory Mike J. A. Lo. & Bottke Posted Aug 27 2008, 12:12 PM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• Race Report - Iowa State Crit Championships

  Saturday, 23 August 2008 Pella, Iowa It was a beautiful day of sunshine and cycling on Saturday. I was feeling great and was really looking forward to the Cat. 4 race at 3:00pm. We arrived at Caldwell Park at around 12:20 and were able to watch the final 25 laps of the Pro/1/2 race which was 50 laps totaling 30 miles. The show that Lou put on was quite inspiring and although I was not going to be able to lap the field, it did give me a little more motivation to stay on front in preparation for a break in the Cat. 4 race. The course is rectangular in shape, 2 blocks/1 block/2 blocks/1 block, with turn one being a double apex, turn two is flat, turn 3 leads into a two-tier uphill, and turn four returns back downhill. There is also a slight rise from halfway down the front straight and a slight downhill section on the back straight. The course is very inviting to high speeds and tight cornering situations. 30 riders took the start line for the Cat. 4 race at 3:00pm and we were on our way shortly there after. With a scheduled 35 laps for us, I used the first few laps to get a feel for the rest of the group and then made my way toward my now familiar spot in the front of the field helping to control the pace. I quickly found myself watching the lap board to count down the laps for some reason...33,32,31...and made a mental note to quit doing that. It helped me to get my head in the task at hand and stay towards the front. In the first 10 laps or so I took my fair share of pulls with quite a few other racers and none of the attacks that were attempted were able to stick. I was actually very impressed with how well everyone was working in the first few laps but, that soon came to an end as fewer and fewer people came up front as some of them went off the back and some of them sat in. I made one attempt to get off the front with Evan Peterson (North Iowa Spin) but we lasted less than one lap before beig sucked back in so I went back to doing my work. Unfortunately, I found myself pulling for way more laps than I wanted to as no one wanted to come around and help when there were 10 laps to go. Since I was by myself after my two teammates were used up, I tried to conserve a little bit of energy for the end. With about five laps left to go, three riders from Iowa Orthopaedic came to the front to take over the pace making. Not wanting to be left out of the fun, I jumped into the middle of them and we set a pretty high pace, railing through the corners at near 30mph at times. I began to get myself situated for the end with a couple of laps to go and stayed in the first four spots. Coming into Turn 3 for the final time I was preparing to dive into the turn from the outside when two guys came flying inside of the pack at blazing speed. One of those riders had the rear tire start bouncing around a little bit and then went sliding into the curb destroying his rear wheel right in front of me. That forced me to go scrub off almost all of my speed and go around him next to the curb and watch as I went from the front three spots to 12th in the blink of an eye. I stayed with the group but it was way to much ground to make up so that's where I finished. I was a little upset about the whole thing but, as numerous other riders came up after the finish and commended my efforts for the race I was actually feeling pretty good about my performance when all was said and done. 12th place may be where I finished the race but, it does not show how I was really doing. That's racing though and it happens to everyone at some point in time. Congratulations to all of the racers who placed this past weekend. It was a good race. 2008 Iowa State Criterium Championship Results That signifies the end of the 2008 road racing season in Iowa. Hopefully next year will be a little better for me. Cyclocross season is now on the horizon for 2008 so I'll see you out there. :) Posted Aug 25 2008, 08:27 AM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• Commuting notes and pictures

  Some visual stimulus from my commute to and from work ove rthe last couple of weeks. I did drive the VW in today since it is going to rain , I'm a wuss. Turning over that massive 46T ring on the CX bike. ;) I do have the joy of riding about 800 meters of dirt/pea gravel each when I ride the CX bike. This is the view on the way home each day. When I do ride the dirt trail, it goes across this old trolley bridge that was built back in 1916. Hey look, horses right here in town. Slight view of the river through the trees on the way home Tuesday afternoon. Sherwood park is now the widest bike trail in town. All of the houses down here were affected by the floods this summer. It does look as though a couple of them may still be occupied. Here is a view of the trolley bridge from the road that goes underneath of it. Cool bridge but, you have to miss out on the off-road to actually see it. :( Here's Rhea showing off her honorary PRC position. She's a ham for the camera. In other news, I have been in search of a new set of golf clubs for a couple of weeks now. We made it out to one of the local retailers earlier this week and foundd some that interested me but, they were so busy that getting help would have taken longer than desired so we ended up leaving. Then, on Tuesday night after the group ride Amy surprised me with an early Anniversary present by getting me those same clubs, graphite shafts and all. Too cool. I did of course spend about 30 minutes in the back yard last night hitting wiffle balls back and forth. So far the clubs are good, they hit nice and straight. We'll see how they do with real golf balls sometime in the next few days. Posted Aug 21 2008, 07:05 AM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• Pedal 'til you.....

  Had a late start getting my warmup going prior to the group ride last night but I have actually been feeling really good lately so I had no worries about it. We rolled out of Bike Tech at 6pm for a pretty good workout to the South through Dike and Hudson. Although, it all started to get good at around mile 2 when Chad attacked off the front and sent the group of six chasing him down. I waited for about a minute or so and then I attacked as well and was chased down pretty quick. Then Doug attacked and no one else went after him. He was out a few hundred feet when I decided to chase him down and get away from the group myself. After catching up with Doug, we were able to hold off the group for the next four miles or so before getting to the first turn and sitting up. My brother Adam was off the back so as the group continued on to the South, I waited for him and then began my chase. He stated that I did not have to wait but, I was actually looking forward to the next section of the ride since I had just given the other five riders around a seven minute headstart. Getting the motor going to 27 mph and sticking it there for the vast majority of the ride back to Waterloo was the order of business as we headed South to Dike and then continued on to Hudson. I had the group in my sights just after getting through Dike and was about 2.5 minutes behind them with plenty of energy still in the tank. Adam was actually holding on pretty well through Dike but, he began to really feel the burn as we hit the final couple of hills before arriving at the Zanetta blacktop. I sat up for him on the uphills, gave him some encouraging words, and then started to get the pistons going again. I really only had to sit up for two or three times so he was actually doing pretty good. However, as we made the final turn to head East to Hudson he began to really show his fatigue. I did what I could to keep him out of the wind and as relaxed as can be expected but, speeds dipped down around 23mph and the group started to distance itself once again with about five miles to go. No big deal, I just kept going as hard as I could without losing Adam and I made it to Hudson still riding strong with Adam still on my wheel. Well, most of him was still with me anyway. The ride actually reminded me of just a few seasons ago when Kerkove would pull me around the countryside with no problem and I struggled to stay on his wheel. I guess you could say that i am passing the torch in a way. Adam still said that I didn't need to wait but, I think that it was an opportunity for a great workout. Chasing down a group is no easy task, it will definitely make you work hard. Pacing is a huge key in making it successful and even though I did not catch them I was very much satisifed with bringing them back as close as I did while not losing Adam. He said that he was pretty tired when we finished up last night but, I think that he will quickly realize the benefits of pushing his own limits once in a while. If he stays on top of the training through the off-season he could be right up in the mix of things first thing in the spring. As far as the title for today's post goes, I actually um.......how does one say this in a non-disgusting way? I regurgitated just little bit about three times during the long stretches of near-30mph pulls. I know that it sounds pretty gross, and it is, but I was actualy still feeling really good so slowing down really was not an option. Sorry. :) Legs were a bit heavy this morning but, the nice easy spin into work helped to get rid of most of that and I am sure that the second spin of the day on the way back home will take care of the rest. Commuting is going well so far, can you tell? Posted Aug 20 2008, 01:46 PM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• What did I forget now?

  Spent the weekend around the house with Amy and Rhea rather than going to Boone for the Iowa Games Road Race. Rhea was not feeling the greatest and I felt guilty leaving by myself; there will be other races. We did make it out to one of the local golf shops, I'm looking for new clubs, but we found nothing that I was willing to part with money for. Patience is key. It's just like shopping for the right bike, only Cannondale doesn't make golf clubs so it's a little harder to find something that I like and will work for my style. ;) The VW was finished up last week and I picked it up from the body shop on Friday, good as new. I then drove it home, swapped the roof rack back over from Amy's Honda Pilot, and then parked it in the garage for the weekend. I am enjoying the bicycle commute way too much so I will stick with it for now. Speaking of the commute, yesterday was a great one. The ride to work was uneventful but the ride home was a dandy one. After changing into my riding clothes, I put my sandles back at my desk figuring that it was one less thing that I had to carry back and forth everyday. I then hoped onto my SystemSix and proceeded to make for home and realized about a mile down the road that I did not have my camera in my pocket. I had brought my camera to work to document my ride in and to show some pictures to a coworker, which I never did either. I pulled over to the curb and went through my bag, twice, but could not locate my camera. I assumed that I left it on my desk and just continued home. Once I arrived at Rhea's daycare, I took my shoes off and opened my bag only to remember that I had left my sandles at work. Brilliant!! Rhea and I usually walk home from daycare everyday, weather permitting of course. It's a good time to unwind and hang out while checking out the heighborhood. Since road shoes/cleats are not "walking friendly" I decided that the best option was to walk the final 1/2 mile home in my socks. That pretty much sucked. Rhea decided that she didn't want to walk and wanted to ride on my shoulders instead. So, messenger bag over one shoulder, diaper bag over the other, pushing bike with left hand and holding onto Rhea's leg with the right. That had to be a sight for anyone who saw us walking home. of course, now my heels are a little sore, I must be a little soft in that area. After arriving at home, I opened my bag to get my regular clothes back out and what did I find? My camera...in plain sight...duh. Grrrrrr. Suffice it to say, I think that I will be cruising the CX bike to work from now on, or at least until the Bianchi is ready to go, since it is sporting mountian bike pedals and hence the corresponding mountainbike shoes which are much more "walking friendly". This morning, I was running a little on the late side at the start and I ended up setting a new record for my arrival to work. 16 minutes. Normally it is a 20-22 minute spin to keep the sweat at a minimum so today I spent about five minutes standing in front of the air conditioner to get cooled back off. I did make it to work on time by the way too. Blue seems to be stuck in Florida for the time being. He went down last week for some business and now it looks like he may experience his first hurricane. I'll pass on that one. Hopefully he will be back before this weekend, otherwise I may be driving to Pella for the State Crit Chamiponships all alone. That should be a fun drive. Posted Aug 19 2008, 08:20 AM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• Intervals

  The time of year has arrived for me to fully engage CX training which means that intervals become a bit more of a staple in my weely workouts. Usually a couple days a week will be dedicated strictly to this and then at least one more day of working on barriers, run-ups, etc. I know that there are some folks out there who will say that they hate interval work but, it definitely works and I recommend to anyone looking to add speed, climbing power, or whatever your intervals are doing for you. Last night's group ride could go down in the books as interval training for me. I was able to counter every attack during the ride, as well as get off a few of my own, including sprints, breakaways, and even climbs. I must say that I even impressed myself last night. I have to admit that the highlight was the last seven miles though. Bullerman, "Fabian" Fry, Kisch and I were able to get away from the group and haul butt all the way back to Waterloo. The four of us were working awesome together and keeping the speeds in the high 20s/low 30s even over the hills until Bullerman popped and left me out there with Kisch and Fabian...who decided to play team tactics against me and the attacks started. I countered everything and stuck with them all the way to the end even though my legs were saying no more. It was totally interval work and I was actually quite greatful to the two of them for laying down the hammer, nice work guys. We seem to be getting back to town earlier and earlier every week and it's actually getting late in the road season...sweet. I rode in to work again today, feels great. Left home a little bit earlier and REALLY enjoyed a nice, relaxing ride through the trees watching the sunrise. Couldn't be better. Posted Aug 13 2008, 11:28 AM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• Commute

  Well, my VW Passat made it into the body shop yesterday morning to get the driver's door fixed from the damage given to it by some mystery person while it was parked on a side street near my house. Never did find the culprit by the way. The body shop owner told me that it should only be a couple of days of work so I may actually get it back this afternoon already. The body shop is only a block away from my job so I brought my SystemSix to work yesterday and just rode home the whopping 5 miles. I know, it's pretty sad that I don't just ride to work. My ride home yesterday did get me thinking about that though. Rhea's daycare is only a couple of blocks from home so picking her up by foot or trailer would not be a problem and that really is the only excuse that I truly have, even though it is pretty weak. Today I decided to ride the Ridley in and see how it works out as a commuter bike, pretty well actually which was to be expected. So, I may try to start doing it a little more regularly I just need to get my old Bianchi back out and get it ready for commuting duty. I really could ride any of my bikes but, the Bianchi just seems like the more practical choice for most days. I still like to hop on the SystemSix, Six13, or X-Fire once in a while too. Lots of options, just the way I like it. We had some cloud cover during the sunrise this morning and that meant that the sky was full of some pretty cool colors. Rhea walked into the kitchen, saw all of the colors on the clouds through the window, and made it pretty clear that it was all pretty cool. She was definitely in a good mood after she saw it. Iowa Games Road Race is this coming Sunday in Boone. I may go participate in that one just for the enjoyment of having my butt handed to me. It's a non-sanctioned event so Categories are thrown out of the window on favor of age groups instead. My buddy Mike Johnson will be there as well as the Rassy's crew so odds are in favor of me going but, no promises just yet. Posted Aug 12 2008, 09:48 AM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• G3

  A few years ago I was given the opportunity to ride a Campagnolo equipped bicycle owned by my boss at the shop I was working at. I had always been drawn to Campy equipment due to, in my opinion, it's superior aesthetics at the time. I took a quick spin on that bike and was instantly sold on the crisp shifting and superior ergonomics of the shifters and consequently vowed that my next bike would be Campagnolo equipped. When the e-mail arrived last fall that a SystemSix with Campagnolo Record was available from the Smackdown (truly a magnificent person), I had to have it. So the arsenal of bicycles in my basement was shifted around a bit, some room was made, and my first Campy bike arrived...it was actually hand delivered, way too cool. It's been a beautiful partnership ever since. I love it so much that when I bagan to build up a cyclocross bike last winter it too was equipped with Campagnolo although, I did opt for Centaur and Veloce parts since it would be seeing lots of rough off-road riding and parts will be less expensive come repair time. Wheels were another story though. The SystemSix that I am riding came equipped with Fulcrum Racing 1s, which I really like, and I use a set of Chorus hubs laced to Mavic Open Pro wheels as training wheels, which I also really like. Well you see, Blue has two sets of Campagnolo Scirocco wheels that he uses on his Colnago C50, also Campagnolo Record, and really talks them up so I decided to snag a set and give them a try. The set that he uses everyday is the 2008 model in silver with the G3 lacing on the rear wheel and a radial laced front wheel. His second set is, I believe, a 2006 model with G3 lacing front and rear. Since the 2008 version was mounted on his C50, I took borrowed the 2006 model and mounted them on the SystemSix for the group ride last night. First impressions are that I was very impressed with this wheelset. Very stiff lateraly for great stability in the corners as well as during sprints and they roll up under power quite nicely for great acceleration. The G3 lacing provides these characteristics and for the back wheel I was quite pleased with it. The front wheel however, seemed I touch on the rough side while cruising down some of the not-so-perfect roads. It wasn't bad but it was noticable. I would not avoid these wheels based on just that although I do suspect that Campagnolo switched to a radial laced front to smooth that out a little better. I would definitely NOT be opposed to keeping these wheels getting a set of these wheels for myself, they are very nice. Wonder if they would work for cross......might have to give that a try next. I'll try to get a picture up a little later too. Not only do these wheels do a great job during the ride but, they look sweet doing it as well. Posted Aug 08 2008, 10:26 AM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• Fore!!!

  Tuesday night's group ride was pretty awesome with most of the local fast guys that are in town showing up. I needed to blow off some steam so I picked up the pace at mile zero to get things going and after the group caught back on a couple of miles later, I did it again. The pace stayed pretty high after that and I actually fell off the back on the way up Three-Tier Hill coming East out of Finchford. I latched back on coming down the other side though and then we continued on for a few sprints, took one, and then a high pace all the way back to Waterloo which saw the group get strung out and a few pop off the back. I was able to stay with the leaders and tried to kick it up just a bit during each pull. Pretty happy at the end when my legs felt like they had actually done something. Wednesday was away from the bike as Amy and I opted to participate in a not-too-serious golf tournament for her employer. The tournament was held at the golf course in Hudson, which is a 6-hole course, and we were only allowed to use one club per person. I opted for a 5 Iron and a bit of self-control during my chip shots which seemed to work out well. Putting was handled by a special "putter" at each hole. Hole 1 was a croquet mallet, Hole 2 was a tennis racket, Hole 3 was a water noodle, Hole 4 was a softball bat, Hole 5 was a table tennis paddle, and Hole 6 was a goalie's hockey stick. It started off slow but quickly got a little better with some nice solid drives. The hardest part was chipping with my 5 Iron. I had a sweet drive on the 5th tee followed by an equally sweet 35 foot chip shot to get me a mere 15" from the cup. A slight tap with the table tennis paddle gave me par on that hole. That is my first par of the year by the way which actually had me smiling all night. I have only played twice this year, less then 10 times my whole life, so I was pretty stoked. Hopefully I can get it with a putter next time. Amy seemed to have a good time too and was hitting the ball pretty well by the end. She even mentioned playing "for real" sometime to see if she really likes it. Sweet. In other news, Rhea is 22 months old today and has been having a blast the last few months. We were walking home a couple of weeks ago at around 9:30pm and she noticed that she had "something" following her. You and I may know that "something" as her shadow but, she had no idea and it scared her. She let out a very loud scream and wanted to be picked up and taken to safety right away. I could barely contain myself from the scene as we calmed her down to explain it and by the time we arrived at home I think that she was okay with it. I'm still not convinced that she understands it fully but, she's doing a good job of living with it for now. Not quite sure what my next race will be although there are a couple of options left. The Iowa Games road race is on August 16th in Boone, IA and it is a not a santioned race so I would have the opportunity to measure myself against any Cat. 1,2,3 riders that make an appearance to gauge my progress. After that, the Iowa State Crit Championships are in Pella, IA on the 23rd of August and I am planning on making my way there. Might do both of them though, we shall see. After that, cyclocross season starts in these parts and I am getting pretty antsy about that. Time to make my way over to Kat's place to get some barrier jumping practice in. Probably should work on some run-ups a bit too just to be safe. Posted Aug 07 2008, 12:48 PM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• Race Report - Iowa Road Race State Championships

  Last weeks group rides were the perfect buildup for this past weekends Iowa Road Race State Championships hosted in West Branch, Iowa by ICCC. Tuesday and Thursday were both fairly intense with high speeds, breakaways, and all out sprints which really helped me get ready for the race on Saturday. Dinner Friday was perfect, breakfast on Saturday was perfect, Cannondale SystemSix was perfect, and I was feeling great. BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!!!! The Cat. 4 race was a 2 lap race and was scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. with a field of 48 riders I believe. Laps were 27 miles long made up mostly of rollers with a couple of steeper climbs to really test the legs. It was mostly sunny with temps in the low 80s and predicted to climb into the low 90s. No big deal. The first few miles were a neutral rollout to get us all through town safely and then we were let loose. I spent the first five miles or so around the middle of field to get a feel for how everyone was doing and to see who was going to attempt to control the race. It looked like the DICE team had 7 or 8 riders in the field and they quickly went to the front to test the field a bit. Quick accelerations followed by some decelerations are pretty much the norm to stretch the group out on the hills although it didn't look to be doing much damage so we went into temp mode after about five miles or so. I moved my way to the front of the group to see what I could do and was quickly welcomed by an attack which I promptly chased down. Shortly after that, two more guys tried to get away but I was not having that either and reeled them back in. There were about 6 or 7 of us on front, some doing some hard pulls, some chasing down attempted breaks, and others started playing team tactics rather early. DICE was actually doing a really good job of controlling the speeds of the group and getting their own guys off the front but, everyone else was also working well to drag them back. They had a solo rider stay off the front for a couple of miles but, the pacing of Gary McNabb from TwoBee brought him back very nicely. After that I moved back to the front and did some pacing for a couple of miles with one of the DICE guys and everything started to calm back down. Rounding a right hander brought us to a river valley that saw us get speeds into the mid-40s, cross the bridge, and then climb back out of the valley with speeds in the mid to upper-teens. Nice climb. That was about the 17 mile mark on the first lap and at about the halfway point of the climb I heard one of the worst things a racer wants to hear.....air leakage....and yes it was my tire. Front tire to be exact and at the worst possible point on the course. I moved off the front of the group to get to the follow vehicle and my spare wheel. A quick change was good as was the push from the driver but, the 20 miles of chasing pretty much sucked. I kept the group in sight all the way to the end of the first lap, where DQ yelled at me to relax, but I lost them as I took the turns through town and got back to the county highway. I could tell that their pace had gone up due to all of the stragglers that I could see as I crested each of the hills. I continues on chase mode for the first ten miles of the second lap picking up rider after rider hoping that one of them would jump on to help me out with the pacing. Unfortunately, each of the guys that I was catching were the same guys that I was working with to set the pace early on and they all said that they were cooked. So I just kept chasing down the next "carrot" until I arrived at the top of the hill from where my flat tire had happened and then I was ready to just roll back to the finish. This is however where I looked back and saw a couple of guys chasing behind me but, I could not tell who they were or which category they were racing so I continued on although it was now more of a survival mode to stay ahead of these two rather than chase down anyone else, didn't see anyone else ahead anyways. With ten miles to go to the finish I gave it all that I could to make an attempt at salvaging anything from this race and stayed away until I hit about four miles to go and heard them get behind me and sit on my wheel. No problem, I'll jump on back and at least get to ride to the finish with someone. I asked a simple question..."Are you guys 4s?" (meaning Cat. 4s) and stuck out four fingers on my left hand for a visual aid. After a brief pause the response from one of them was "Three". I figured that I would just let them go by, since we are not supposed to work with other categories, and continue on. As they came around I looked at their bib numbers and noticed that not only were they on the same team but, both numbers were in the 200s which meant that they were Cat. 4s.....WTF?!?!?!? Why lie about something like that when all three of us are probably towards the back of the finishing order? Fine, I thought. Two of you and one of me with five miles to go so I'll just sit back here and we'll have some fun at the line since I had so much help getting my sprint ready this week I figured that I might as well get to use it. They were not about to let me sit there and do nothing so they began to try to drop me off the back. It started out pretty good with a single attack, which I reeled right back in, followed by another and then another. Of course, each time I reeled the attacker in, his teammate let me pull him back too and then attacked himself. Good strategy. Finally one of them attacked on a hill and I did my own little attack to drop the teammate off my wheel, which worked. The attacker had a 300 meter gap on me and I crept up on him in stealth mode by keeping the cranks spinning, and sat on his wheel for about 1200 meters until we came to the last little rise towards the finish and the sign stating that there was 1km to go. At about 500 meters to go, his speed dropped off a couple of mph and I quickly jumped to the left side of the road and went to the finish solo for 30th place. 30th place!!!!!!!!!! I had to fight off team tactics for 30th place after a 32 mile solo ride!!!!! Pretty good stuff in hindsight but, I still hate being lied to. It was good to know that I still had the energy at the end too after my solo ride. Quite honestly I'm still bummed about the results but, there is nothing that could have been done differently. Everything was perfect all week leading up to the race, I was feeling as good as I ever have, and the race itself was going exactly the way I wanted it to up to the point of my flat tire. What can you do? Live to fight another day I guess. Posted Aug 03 2008, 08:27 PM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• Getting Ready for State

  Last Wednesday (16 July) I was feeling a little ill starting around noon or so and it lasted until around noon on Thursday (17 July). Consequently I skipped the group ride last Thursday night in order to regain my health a little bit. I then stayed off the bike until Sunday when I went out for a little interval session at George Wyth State Park to see how the legs were doing. It was okay but I could still feel a little bit of the sluggishness creeping around so I kept the ride at just over 60 minutes and returned home. Monday was off the bike and last night's plan was to participate in the group ride. The weather looked as though it was not going to cooperate and I was actually planning on staying home until I received a phone call at around 5:20pm (ride starts at 6:00pm) from J. Fry asking if I was going to go. It was one of those calls that made me think about why I was not going. Potential for rain? Poor excuse. Everyone benefits from the group ride and the more the merrier so I decided to go. Now, I had about 30 minutes to get the legs going and I could tell right away that they were not going to cooperate without a little push. Group ride saw six riders there (where the heck is everyone?!?!?!?) with one of those being a rider from the "B" group which was nowhere to be found. We ended up waiting an additional 15 minutes while Houlihan had a rear tire fixed and then made our way through Cedar Falls enroute to Union Rd. where we headed North towards Finchford. This route would guarantee that we stayed away from any chance of rain which made everyone smile. It only took a few miles before I was fighting with my legs to get going and I found myself off the back by around 30 meters or so. J. Fry was kind enough to drop back and bridge me back to the small group early on. I did everything I could on the way to Finchford to stay with them and was doing fine until we began up Three-Tier Hill when I went off the back again. Thankfully, everyone was slowed down at the bridge on the other side of the hill and I was able to get back on. We pretty much stayed together for a few miles as we made our approach to Janesville and just like a switch turning on, I could feel the energy surge back to my legs. Finally!!!! Only took 90 minutes to get 'em warmed up to operating temperature. Sheessh. As we left Janesville to the East, the pace slowly made it's way up until we were cruising along in the high 20s with the nest sprint sign about 3 miles away. I told myself not to worry about it but, the devil inside me said to take it. Not just go for it but, TAKE it. So I sat on Houlihan's wheel until about the 300 meter mark when Chad came by on the left side and started to sprint ahead. I never came out of the saddle, I just put as much power to the ground as I could which allowed me to catch, pass, and drop him. After cruising past the sprint sign I decided to pull a "J. Fry" and continued around the corner and up the next hill where I took a glance back to see where the other four were at. J. Fry realized what I was doing and quickly bridged back to me while the next three were about 400 meters back. I wasn't sure if I could keep it going so I kind of let off just a touch but, as soon as J. Fry caught up I decided to see how long we could stay away. We were working really well together and I took a couple of glances back in the first few miles to see how we were doing. The other three were staying right there at around 400 meters still. The next sprint went uncontested between J. Fry and myself as we continued to focus on getting away. One last real hill and it was nothing but decreasing rollers for the last five miles to Waterloo from there. J. Fry pulled me over that hill and then we really started to lay the hammer down after that. Speeds were staying in the 27ish moh range most of the way back which, upon checking our progress with about two miles to go, had given us 800+ meters ahead of the second group. Needless to say I was feeling A LOT better by then. As we closed in on the final sprint, J. Fry surprised the heck out of me by telling me that he was going to lead me out for a little sprint practice. Say what? Okay. He picked up and held the pace at around 30mph or so and then I came around at around 200 meters to go and maxed out on my cassette (53-13). It was good thing to do to get any remaining sludge in my legs back out. Man that felt great. I was definitely glad that I didn't stay home due to potential rain and greatful to J. Fry for the work that he did to keep me in the ride last night. Thanks buddy!!!! The Iowa State Road Race Chamionships are this coming Saturday in West Branch and last night's ride was just what I needed to get the motivation set. Short, easy spin today and probably some interval work during the group ride on Thursday to make sure all is ticking over just right. I'm feeling pretty good and I really hope that my results will show it this weekend. Cyclocross season is on the horizon and I am eagerly awaiting it's arrival. I have this new CX bike that is itching to get on course but, I have one small problem which I hope does not come back to bite me. I am putting the frameset up for sale in anticipation of something with a slightly longer toptube. All that I have done with the X-Fire is build it up, rode it for a few break-in road rides that have totalled 130 miles and parked it. No racing. No crashes. No hard rides. See it here and let me know if you are interested. Posted Jul 30 2008, 12:08 PM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• 2008 Tour de France - Viewpoint

  In my opinion, 2008 has been one of the most enjoyable Tours de France to watch in quite some time. Granted there were a few bad apples again this year but, overall I feel that it was pretty good to watch and no one rider completely "controlled" everything. Granted, CSC-Saxo Bank did a great job in the final week of getting the job done by using some great tactics but, the race still remained competitive all the way to Paris. Let's see now....21 stages and 16 different stage winners representing 10 of the teams in attendance. Pretty good stuff. Multi-stage winners included sprinter Mark Cavendish for Team Columbia with four hard fought mass sprints where at least one of them saw him pinned in between other sprinters until the last possible second. Alejandro Valverde taking stage 1 in a quick uphill sprint over Kim Kirchen (sweet win by the way) and credit for stage 6 after the ban of Ricco. Third was Stefan Schumacher surprising everyone by taking both time trial stages. Not too bad at all. I find Grand Tours to be very entertaining to watch when there are a lot of guys that get to share the glory for the duration of the event ratehr than every waking moment focusing on one or two riders. Most people that watch the Grand Tours will more than likely explain how they love the mountain stages, myself included, for various reasons. I like to watch the suffering, the techniques, and the tactics of the teams and riders myself. I believe that for the most part, most fans would agree that the Grand Tours are won and lost during the mountain stages and that is true. Unfortunately, I also know a few people who find the flatter stages to be boring to watch except for the final 5 minutes, kind of like a basketball game. Well this year I think that there were a lot of riders that did what they could to change that stereotype with some breakaways of a small group of riders actually getting away from the peleton all the way to the finish and having to fight it out as if they were racing in the velodrome such was the finish of Stage 18 where Marcus Burghardt (Columbia) and Carlos Barredo (Quick-Step) worked very well together until the final 5 km or so when the attacks and counter-attacks came and went with the final sprint being a fantastic spectacle to see when Burghardt layed down some serious power to take the stage victory. Fantastic!!! Like I stated earlier, I enjoy the mountain stages as much as the next guy but, Stage 18 had to be one of my favorites. As for the mountain stages, I tend to get pretty giddy watching the descents just as well as the ascents. High speed downhills with no guardrails equates to some serious edge-of-your-seat racing for the viewer and I can only imagine what goes through some of the racers' minds. Lots of riders will take some serious risks to try to make up time at 50-70mph, throwing everything to the wayside to catch back up or gain a bit more of a lead. The tactics and team strengths tend to surface in the mountains as well. Staying in or getting away from the lead group on one day may not be too hard for some riders but, doing it day in and day out over some of the toughest climbs in Europe is only possible for a small number of riders. Some of them ride well in the mountains even with almost no help from their team while others just tend to fade away as the days go by. The riders that have a couple of teammates that can share the workload definitely benefit from the added rest. Cycling tactics at their very best. I can't help but also pay credit to all of those domestiques that drive themselves into the ground in support of their team leader. Jens Voigt and Stuart O'Grady, both of CSC-Saxo Bank, were seen on the front of the peleton so often, that it was as if they never left that spot. Truly amazing to see riders do that over and over and over again. Domestiques are truly a group of riders that make it happen for their leaders, bravo. Seven differnt riders wore the Race Leader's yellow jersey. Four different riders wore the Points Leaders's green jersey. Five different riders wore the Mountain Leader's polka-dot jersey. Four different riders wore the Best Young Rider's white jersey. Lots of great riders getting to share the spotlight of stage wins as well as numerous leaders of the different categories. Some of these jerseys bounced back and forth between a couple of riders until one of them finally layed permanent claim to it. Kirchen, Hushovd and Friere had a nice little battle going early on and Friere took control for the final time on Stage 10. Andy Schleck had the white jersey, lost it for a while and then took it back as well. Races within the big race make for a great Tour. Posted Jul 28 2008, 07:34 AM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• SuperSix - Pippo style

  2008 Tour de France...best one that I have seen in over a decade...so far. Lots of fantastic racing, awesome stages, a true competition among great athletes. Yes there have been a few "problems" but, they are being dealt with so the rest of us move on and return to the edge of the chair to continue watching the great climbs, white-knuckle descents, lightening sprints, and the agonizing crashes. One of my favorite things about the Grand Tours are the writeups of the pro riders bikes where we get to so their crazy positions, fancy paint jobs, and unobtanium parts that they use. It's usually a good time to see companies showing off some of their newest-latest-greatest parts and equipment. On Tuesday, Cyclingnews posted a writeup of Pippo Pozzato's SuperSix which is pretty trick so be sure to read up on it. Custom dark green metallic paint...sweet wheels too. Photo ©: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com Liquigas LOOK Keo pedals? Hmmmmm, I believe that I may need to search for a pair of these for my SystemSix since I have the grey Sprints now........ Photo ©: Ben Atkins/Cyclingnews.com Posted Jul 22 2008, 11:29 PM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• New wheels

  We had to stop into Bike Tech on Sunday to talk with Clay and Rhea was quick to hop onto a wee-bike that is her size and attempt riding. Blue decided that she must have it and quickly snatched it up for her. Granted that she does not quite have the pedaling down but, it will not take long at all. CX season is right around the corner so she'll probably have a go at it in the backyard during training sessions. I did have to make a slight modification to her bike's aesthetic properties so I "installed" a carbon fiber downtube for her. Oversized downtube with a BB30 bottom bracket of course. Posted Jul 21 2008, 07:15 PM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan

• Race Report - Clear Lake Road Race

  After the crit race on Saturday was out of the way, I was much more at ease for the road race on Sunday. North Iowa Spin set up the course the same as last year for a 42 mile point-to-point that includes a few nice rollers, lots of sunshine, and lots of wind. Some of the same faces were at the line that had also raced the crit but, there were also a few new ones there as well. I had a couple of Rasmussen's teammates there, Loran Starts and Pete Jensen, so we had a brief talk and I put myself in the mindset for the day. Pete said that he felt pretty good and Loran had raced the crit on Saturday to finish 12th so I figured I would do what I could to get some higher results on the road race. Heading West from Clear Lake through Ventura, the pace stayed very mellow at around 18mph or so. Almost like a casual Sunday ride. As soon as we made the left turn to head South, the pace quickened just a little bit and the draft all but disappeared as the lead riders all hugged the center line. It strung the group out for a while but eventually the guys from North Iowa Spin took control of the front and slowed things back down. Together with a few riders from Iowa Ortho the pace stayed right around 20ish mph for a few miles. A couple more uneventful turns and we made our way to the East with a massive tailwind which put us into the 28-33mph range through some nice rollers and the group stayed together outside of J. Fry (ICCC) taking off on a flyer which lasted about five miles or so. The group decided to reel him in right after we made the turn to the North with a crosswind. Uneventful for a couple of miles before the left turn to the West into the wind and a few riders tried to pull off the front and string the group out. I gave it a go and took one of the riders from Iowa Ortho with me. We actually pulled a pretty decent gap but the wind was not going to allow me to hang on and the group swallowed us back up after only a couple minutes. The group settled back in then and we made our turn to the North as Jerome Rewerts of All 9 Yards and Evan Peterson of North Iowa Spin launched off the front. I grabbed Evan's wheel to tag along but the group was right back on us. We had abround five miles left to the finish line and I was trying to get an idea of what to do. Attack? Wait? Lead out my Rassy's teammates? One final turn to the East and we now had a ncie tailwind to get the pace back into the 30s. Loran was right behind me as I took the point and told me to attempt the flyer so away I went trying to chase down the motorcycle which was our lead vehicle. I was actually almost able to catch it when the rider realized that I was getting close and motored ahead. Unable to maintain the 35mph pace, I sat up just as the group being lead by Iowa Ortho came by on my left. I jumped back in towards the front to catch my breath and got on Jerome's wheel with Pete and Loran in tow. As we passed the 300 meter mark Jerome went to the left and I stayed on his wheel for just a second before pulling through and launching Loran Starts forward with my buddy Mike Johnson of Bike Tech as I saw Pete Jensen, Richard Wince of DMOS and Evan Peterson going up the right side of the road for first and second places. Mike Johnson finished in 3rd and Jerome held on for 6th place. It felt like a pretty good sprint and I was able to keep myself in 7th overall with Pete taking 4th and Loran taking 5th for the Rassy's squad. Full Results here. I was definitely happy with the results of the road race and honestly the weekend as a whole. Two top 10 finishes to start off my season are definitely good for the confidence. Posted Jul 14 2008, 11:20 AM by Official Website of Carl Buchanan