DATE	RACE	CAT	PLACE	TIME
3/7/2009	Frostbite Time Trial	SM 35+_3	1	26.19
4/8/2009	Karen Hornbostel Mem'l TT @ Cherry	SM 35+_3	2	23:18.2
4/15/2009	Karen Hornbostel Mem'l TT @ Cherry	SM 35+_3	4	24:02.1
4/22/2009	Karen Hornbostel Mem'l TT @ Cherry	SM 35+_3	3	23:31.6
4/25/2009	Deer Trail Road Race	SM 35+_3	19	2:12:42
4/26/2009	Haystack Mountain Team Time Trial	SM 35+_3	1	36:32.6
4/26/2009	Haystack Mountain Individual Time	SM 35+_3	1	36:13.6
4/29/2009	Karen Hornbostel Mem'l TT @ Cherry	SM 35+_3	2	23:42.0
5/3/2009	Rabbit Mountain Team Time Trial	SM 35+_3	2	17:43.5
5/3/2009	Rabbit Mountain Individual Time Tri	SM 35+_3	6	18:21.5
5/6/2009	Karen Hornbostel Mem'l TT @ Cherry	SM 35+_3	7	24:21.4
5/13/2009	Karen Hornbostel Mem'l TT @ Cherry	SM 35+_3	3	23:23.9
5/20/2009	Karen Hornbostel Mem'l TT @ Cherry	SM 35+_3	3	22:55.4
5/23/2009	Louisville Criterium	SM 35+_3	1	44:13:00

Support bill 148! My letter to Cheri Gerou

Back Ground and comment: I have sent two letters to my House Rep. Cheri Gerou about a bicycle safety measure here in Colorado. Republicans are voting against this safety measure even when statistics show more children ride bikes than adults. Are we hearing this correctly? Republicans are not concerned with child safety and are more aligned with transportation? Sadly the Rush Limbaugh self proclaimed all knowing ElRushbo and drug addict is the voice of the Republican Party. What a sad state of affairs for us Republicans. There is no middle ground here. Either you are far left of far right. What about us who are in the middle. Email to Cheri Gerou: On March 13th I sent you an email regarding Senate Bill 148 for Bicycle Safety. As an avid cyclist and someone who has been hit by a car I ask you to support this bill, especially the 3 foot to pass section. This is simply a safety measure. As you drive down the highway please look at the car next to you. The space between cars passing on the highway is around 6 feet. Imagine if a car raced passed you within 3 feet. I would think everyone who has driven on the highway at one time or another has been passed by a semi truck. Have you noticed some times when the truck passes it will make turbulence that pushes your car around? Imagine these things with a 20 pound bicycle. Imagine your child riding home from school and having cars buzz by them. Colorado is a Mecca for the cyclist. Many top level professional athletes come here to train. These riders bring in money that supports our local bike shops, restaurants and hotels. This bill will add some comfort to professional athletes knowing they will be safer on the road. If Colorado could loosen up the expense it takes to promote road races we could have a premier race here. Look at the Tour of California in 2008. It had 1.3 million spectators and generated $100 million in revenue for the state. This year they added twice the television coverage and I am sure they will have higher state revenue this year. I am a registered Republican that likes to vote my party line. As a father I support family values and child safety. I was upset to find out that fellow republicans are voting against this measure. It was also disheartening to find out that my friends who emailed Democrats such as Debbie Benefield got responses to their emails. To date I have grown tired of where my party affiliation is going. It seems for the first time since I voted for President Reagan; my political views are more with Democrats than Republicans. Especially when people are saying that Rush Limbaugh is the voice of republicans. I voted for you and want my faith restored with Republicans. Thank you for taking time to read this.

Time Trial Season!

As I typically do; on January 1st every year I grow my silly mustache and goatee to indicate Time Trail season is around the corner and my training is focused on completing negative splits and increasing my power over long periods. Since this winter has been really mild my bike miles have never dropped under 200 miles a week and have several times completed centuries on Saturday and Sundays. This makes the long steady states much more tolerable. Thankfully here in Colorado I have no shortages of hills to climb and no shortage of routes that make me suffer and build strength. I just can’t wait until the Haystack Time Trial. After that I can shave this silly face hair and get back to normal. Superstition at its best! This weekend I raced in my first two Time Trial of the year. I have a new born baby at home that is just over a week old. I was up with her from 3am to around 5am before my season opening TT. Thank goodness my start time was later in the morning. I got to sleep about 4 hours before I had to make the hour drive north. The weather was unseasonably warm for this time of the year. Last year it was cold and had really bad swirling winds. This race usually lives up to its name Frost bite Time Trial! My new TT bike setup with its custom art turned a lot of heads. Basically it’s my old TT frame but all new components and bars. SRAM red works perfect on my TT bike. The shifts are quick and overall it is very good. I like it much more than my old dura-ace setup. I will never switch my road bike from campy but for time trial, SRAM is awesome. Saturday: The race start temp was around 45 degrees and had a 10mph cross wind or so. At the start I headed out and felt tired from the workouts over the last few weeks. As the TT went on my power splits increased. As I was approaching the turn around I was about 10 seconds behind my minute man. I powered on and passed him a few miles from the finish. I added steady power through out the race but finished with plenty in the tank. I will work on that as some of the other TT’s approach. At the end of the day I won the 35+ cat 3 TT and was 13th overall. Sunday: What an awesome day. Temps in the 60’s! I rode the race in just my TT suit and nothing else. I had a descent warm up but then my start time was pushed back nearly 2 hours. I kept warm and finally got to start. I held back way too much on the start but caught my 30 second man about 3 minutes into the race. This one had some pretty good rollers so I just stayed steady. I was really taking it to easy. After the longest climb of the TT’s turn around I noticed my 30 man was cutting into my time. I had to stop fooling around and lay it down on the way back. I put out more effort and took the time back off of my 30 second guy. At the end of the race I wasn’t even spent. This race was poorly ridden by me. As I rode home I told myself over and over better to die at the end than to leave it in the tank. The results are not in but my time on my garmin was right up with the college men A times. If they ever post them I will update the document. Pedal Hard!! Rob