Promised Pictures

Here are some pictures that I have previously promised to post. At some point in the future I'll create a photo album where you can browse through all my posted photos. Unfortunately, this function is not available at this time.

This is Bob getting his waterbottle for third place up the Snowbird Hill Climb (see related story http://roberttaunyalofgran.blogspot.com/2006/08/weekend-race-report.html )

This is Bob on the Snowbird podium with L- Norm Bryner,2nd and M- Nate Page, 1st. Note the weenie water bottle in hand. Yes, I'm still a little bitter.

Bob, with Bill & Celia Underwood, two of his most supportive fans.

But here is Bob's #1 fan! The traditional good luck kiss, I can't let Bob race without it. This is one of my favorite pictures ever and it is actually from the front page Deseret News article Bob was featured in which ran October 2005. Sorry, no link available.

Tour de Gap- Parowan, UT

Ah, good 'ol Parowan. Where else can you stay in comfort at a localized national hotel chain with small town America spread out around you?
Alright, so you can do that just about anywhere between Salt Lake and St. George. But Parowan has something distinctive, and unique; the annual Tour de Gap bike race. Allow me to regale you with the adventures or our weekend:

After waffling back and forth about whether or not he was going to race (possible school conflicts didn't help the waffling any) Friday evening we were packed and on our way to Parowan. Due to lovely Happy Valley traffic and a potty stop for the dogs, then a pit stop for us we didn't arrive until 9:50 PM, 10 minutes before packet pick-up closed. We checked into the lovely Days Inn and immediately crashed trying not to think of the looming 6am wake up call.

Saturday started bright and early for room 120. Blanche and Zeke (our dogs. Remind me to post a picture) knew something was up as Bob and I criss-crossed the room gathering the days essentials: water bottles, race bible, butt cream, etc. I don't know why, but they seem to like to go to the bike races. Which is beyond me because they spend a good majority of the day sitting quietly (yes quietly, I have wonderful dogs) in the back of the scion.
The race was 48 miles and mostly flat. Bob said the pro/1/2 field had a max speed of 45mph! I sped to the feed zone; only to find out I didn't know where it was, found myself on the race course as the lead rider started coming though. He was only a single rider and not a threat for the GC or the stage win. I only had a short while till the group was to come through and I still didn't know where the feed zone was. So I sped ahead and followed the cardboard arrows the racers follow until I came across a section of road with a large shoulder which contained several SUV's and women with water bottles. This was the place.
After last weeks feeding fiasco (http://roberttaunyalofgran.blogspot.com/2006/08/weekend-race-report.html) I had to make sure I got this right. By the time the racers came through the single rider had been caught by the pack and there was a new group of five off the front. I didn't know any of the riders, and had full confidence that they would be reeled in by the time the race finished in 20 miles, which they were. Here comes the pack, with Bob on the front (yes, he was pulling in the break with little to no help by any of the teams there. No, none of the teams had a man in the break so they should have helped pull. This important scenario will be a factor in the coming stages) The feed zone was flat and fast. I had to jog a little to lessen the impact of Bob ripping the bottle out of my hand. I thought he was going to knock me right over. Impressive speed, no? By the time we wait for the next field of racers that my friends husband was racing in (c'mon a Sunday ride in the park could rival their speed through the feed zone); sped off to try to pass both fields, and have a potty break we managed to miss the sprint finish by a matter of seconds. All that really matters is everyone got the same time. Which is a good way to go heading into the afternoons criterium.
Between the road race and crit there was very little action. A shower, leg rub, pb&j, and excessive amounts of vegging.
Not much happened in the crit. Not unless you count a breakaway of Swindlehurst (Burke, a pro rider who lives in UT) Flynn, and _____ (I never did find out who the third guy was) lapping the field and taking the time bonuses, and another break of two only seconds from lapping the field and a crash of two teammates in the final lap. Bob worked hard to bridge up to the gaps twice. Each time he got painfully close then they noticed him and rode harder so that he couldn't jump on, dang it. These efforts combined with pulling in a couple early breaks and the work in the road race would eventually lead to his demise.
Oh! and some kind of bug stung me or bit me or something and left something in my neck GROSS!
We did get some great Mexican that night though.

Sunday's road race went from Cedar Breaks lodge by Brian head and back. Very rolling, and high elevations. Flats are but a dream on this day. After the first climb Swindlehurst was away (big surprise) and the pack containing Bob was only a minute or so behind. As per Bob between there and the feed zone an attack got away and no one was bringing it in. Bob wants to race for first, not fifth. He worked with Harward to bring them in and after a couple surges by the pack Bob was done. At the feed zone he was by himself a few minutes off the pack. He tried chasing for a while and when he realized he wouldn't be able to catch back on he called it a day and just rode in at a steady tempo.
The same steady tempo was applied at the time trial which was good enough to get Bob a finishing time. No one likes a DNF next to their name.
Taunya sniffed and sneezed all the way home, excited to be away from whatever hellacious allergen that was plaguing her all weekend.

Ah, nothing like Monday morning after 4 races in 2 days and 1000 miles on the road.

Weekend Race Report

My apologies, I was going to post pictures with this but I'll have to add them in later as I haven't downloaded them yet. I also was going to have Bob write this since he knows better what happened during the race then I do. But alas, you're stuck with my simple, picture-less race analysis/recap.

Snowbird Hill Climb- 3rd place
(Disclaimer: Taunya didn't do the race and is merely trying to sum up what she thinks Bob told her happened, actual events may vary. But the result and finish times are accurate)
Saturday we got up bright and early- 6:30am, not easy for a weekend- and headed to 9400S. and 2000E. for the start. It’s always fun to go to the start and see all your friends. Do a little schmoozing and trash talking, whatever the occasion may call for.
This is one of the races that I have to leave before Bob or else I'll get stuck behind the racers and the cars and an aged man on a mountain bike will beat me up the canyon (not kidding, this happened once). So I gave him his good luck kiss, and an encouraging butt slap and he took off.
It was a beautiful drive up the canyon with my windows rolled down and some Capital Inicial (Portuguese punk band) on the radio; it was very Zen or something. Bob started up at 8am with Stormin' Norman driving the pace the first few miles. A small group of four got up the road a ways but the peleton kept them near enough to bring them in when the time was right. Norm decided the time was right and attacked with Bob jumping on his wheel (you think riding the canyon is hard, try attacking up it) they started to gain on the lead group up the road and were able to pass them as Nate Page started powering away from the peleton. Nate just kept ramping it up until he passed the chase group and the now lead group of Bob and Norm. Not to be beaten so easily Norm attacked again after Nate and Bob pursued. And there is your top three. Nate broke the 48 minute mark, Norm came in about 20 second after and Bob finished 3rd with a time of 48:23.
So then we waited around for 2 hours for awards. Not too bad because we got to enjoy a nice brunch with JR (coach) Jill (his wife) and two of Bob's biggest fans, Bill and Celia (sp?). Awards finally rolled around and Bob received.... (Oh, the anticipation)... a water bottle. What! I know you're in shock, we were too. Surely a race that brings in over $15,000 can do better than that for a podium finish? Nope, apparently not. We didn't even get our entry fee back, we were not happy. Maybe they just gave extra to 1st and 2nd you ask? Nope again; 2nd got sunglasses in addition to the water bottle (which all prizes given away are always just donated schwag, they don't cost the organizers a red cent) First place did get a sweet northface tent, but he wanted cash too. So we were bummed, but compensation was on its way.

Before I continue- Note to race organizers: Cat 4/5's love schwag they are usually the rich lawyers/doctors/accountants on the nicest bikes. Cat 1/2's are poor twenty-something’s usually supported by doting parents or an incredibly awesome wife. We're poor, show us the money!


Wolfcreek Road Race- 4th place
(see Disclaimer above)
Up and at 'em 7:00am. On the road to Francis at 8:00am. Neither of us are feeling so hot. Bob is worn out from yesterday (I forgot to mention that after his noble race efforts he still mowed the lawn for me. Yeah! My husband rules!) and Taunya is dizzy or light-headed or something. But, we've already paid for the race so off we go. Or at least off Bob goes, Taunya sort of lolly-gags about and eventually makes her way to the feed zone 20 miles up the road to 9,507 feet elevation.
Bob comes through the feedzone only a minute or so behind the lead rider, no big deal since there is still 60 miles to race and the lead rider is on his own, and we don't know who he is which is usually a sign that he's going to blow up. Of course, he could be that new young talent that blows everyone else away; he wasn't. So back to the feedzone; Bob comes whizzing by and $*!@# (yes, sorry, I really did swear. I'm pretty sure Bob did too) I missed him! He now has to ride 40 more miles up and down canyon roads on the single water bottle left on his bike. I now spend the next 2 hours worrying about whether or not he's going to bonk as I wait for them to hit the turnaround and come back to the feedzone 20 miles before the finish. Norm comes through one minute ahead of a small group which (yeah!) has Bob driving the pace on the front trying to bring Norm back. So I'm ready this time, I've got his water bottle I hold it out, Bob is reaching for it... snatch! The guy in front of him takes it from me. Not only that but he dropped it! Here is where I'd like to give a special "thanks" to the girl up the road who successfully hands Bob a water bottle so that he can go on to claim 4th.

So it was a great weekend. We were wiped out by the end, but we had fun. Thanks for checking in and feel free to leave any congratulatory remarks for Bob.

P.S. Where was the compensation you ask? Bob won $85 for 4th. Not bad, at least we broke even for the weekend.

Back into the swing of things

Well, thanks for checking in. Sorry its a been a while since I last updated anything, we've been pretty busy.
I'm back at Taylor's Bike Shop at least until school starts. And I'm working on getting my Elite Coaching license. In the meantime I've been racing every weekend since we've been back. We've also been back to AZ to pick up all our stuff. Here's a quick recap of all our goings-on since Bear Lake.

May 25-29 Thanksgiving Point Omnium
A fast Cat 2 crit in downtown Provo. I was feeling awesome, unbeatable. I knew I was going to win. I was having trouble with my gears slipping though and to avoid a possible mishap in the thick of the sprint I went with one lap to go. I downshifted and stood up slightly to launch my attack. Right then my gear slips, and down I went. For a skinny cyclist I can sure clean up those road barriers. My bike was more or less totaled, I was able to salvage some parts is all. Luckily I went almost completely unscathed. A few very small bits of road rash was all. But it was enough to pretty much bury my chances at the overall in the stage race. I continued on to help a friend pull off 5th overall and I took 13th. After three days in rainy and windy weather I was glad to be done with it.

Monday 29- Right after the Suncrest uphill TT and awards Taunya and I immediately packed some lunch and did a marathon move. In 48 hours we drove down to AZ, loaded our stuff, cleaned our old place, drove back, unloaded our stuff into storage. Considering its about a 12 hour drive each way, we made some good time, but it knocked us out for a couple days afterward.

June 3- I came back in time for a day or so of rest before I took on the 100 mile State RR Championship. It was over 90 that day and the heat just killed me. I cramped up and came in with a small group off the back of the pack. The heat has been killing me here.

June 10-11 Sugarhouse Crit, Downtown Sate Crit Championship
I was feeling pretty good for Sugarhouse. It was only about 85 that day and I was riding very well. I was patient, on the right wheels and just riding smart. It came down to the final sprint up the hill and I was on Burke Swindlehurst's wheel, someone else shoved me out and that was that. For the downtown crit I had a teammate in the lead break so I was trying to help out in the pack as much as possible. It was a 90 minute crit and I got off the back of the pack about an hour in and got pulled a couple laps later. Luckily the work paid off, my teammate Cameron Hoffman won. It was great to see him not only lap the field, but win the sprint as well.

That brings us up to date. I have High Uintas this weekend and since I haven't climbed consistenly for a very long time we'll see what happens.
Adios!

Sorry, no pictures this time. They are on another computer.
So, we're back in Utah now! It has been a tiring journey to get here though, let me tell you. Taunya and I left Belgium Monday morning, arrived in Phoenix Monday night, but still had to drive three hours to home. We woke up Tuesday around 4am, we were too used to Belgium time. So we decided to just pack up and head out. We got to Moab and camped that night then woke up at 4am again to finish driving to Salt Lake.
We'll be staying with our coach, JR smith (see www.jrsmithcoaching.com ) until we can get work and a place to live. What a guy- took in me, my wife, and our two dogs!

Here's the race report. Went to Bear Lake Classic Saturday, got a killer sunburn, and some serious cramps. I drank about four huge water bottles during the 100 mile race but it just wasn't enough for the heat. I cramped up bad with about 10 miles to go and had to actually unclip my left leg and go 0ne-legged for a while. It wasn't the strong come back I had in mind. The heat just wiped me out, I got to accustomed to the wind and cold of Belgium I guess.
Next up is the Thanksgiving Point Stage Race. I'll update later with some pics and a report.
Thanks for checking in.

Race report from kremis

The team had a good race this last Friday. The Belgians were up front and ready for whatever they could hit us with. Since our kit is the stars and stripes we all have a big target on our backs every time we show up to a race.
The race was going pretty smooth for the first couple of laps then a good break formed up the road about two and a half laps in. Since my title sponsor Taunya was at the race I was really trying to ride my smartest race. While the break was establishing up the road I found myself on the wheel of a couple guys taking off to bridge to the break. It was a harder effort than what all three of us were planning on though. I was the only one who actually made it on to the tail of the break. I got on and tryed to recover but the Belgians soon noticed an American flag was with them and they ramped it up some more. I hung with them for about a lap. We had a fairly large break and I don't think the big guys liked that. Quite a few guys started getting spit out the back and after that one lap of being with them I was one of those to get spit out. I was surprised at how long it took the main field to come up. Once back in the field I sat in and recovered as best I could but the peloton was finally in chase mode and I was thinking I was going to get worked over again. Luckily I got in a sweet pocket out of the wind and I was fine. The rest of the race for us was a lot of surging and small groups of guys trying to make it up to the break. I went with a couple of them feeling that the pack was slowing too much. If nothing else I figured I could help up the pace enough that the peloton could stay within close range of the break. All in all I guess it worked out. I didn't get anything special as far as placing goes but I sure worked hard for what I got. I got 38th. Heck I was even still in the money. I won a whopping 10 euro. Still beats the pay out back home though. A kremis only costs 8 euro and you even get 5 of that back when you turn your number in after the race. Much better deal than the $30 on up for a crit back home. Have to really hand it to the Belgians on the organization of their races.
I would like to thank my coach JR Smith for all of his help to make all this happen. JR is one heck of a guy and an even better coach. Thanks!
Robert Lofgran

Giro photo gallery #5

Henk Vogels, a real hard man. From what I hear this guy has been racing all over the place the last few weeks. Last week I heard he was hitting some local races in Colorado.
To bad Vino didn't come to the Giro.
Savoldelli getting ready to rock the TT.
Cunego was one who seemed a little stressed. He almost litterally ran to his team bus avoiding all contact with the fans.
Michael Rasmussen. There were guys like Robbie Mcewen who rode pretty standard road bikes with clip on aero bars but Rasmussen rode a standard road bike with no aero bars.

giro photo gallery #4

Taunya and me hanging out at the riders village.
Allessandro Petachi, Mr. Italian style
Ann, who owns the CC with her husband. Then You've got Wesly who's from South Africa. Then good old Derek Timmeraman from Michigan I believe. That's me on the end I guess.
Ivan Basso getting the engine reved up before he heads to the starting house. Focused on being number one. We also saw Bobby J. and Jens Voight put in their TT's.
Illes Balleares. Now these guys had some sick TT bikes.

Giro photo gallery #3

Heres a guy that you could tell was all bussiness. I was pretty surprised he came over to sign this gentlemens jersey next to me. Before this he was walking around the bus taking care of things looking very focused. Just from seeing his demeanor this once I would title him the Ice man. Smooth, calculated, focused and no nonsense.
This is as close as we could manage to get to the starting house. It took us twenty minutes just to get this close. Earlier in the day they let some pretty serious and pumped looking kids race the TT course.
The Keiser! I can honestly say that Jan doesn't seem nearly as a big a guy in person. Jan was actually one of the cooler big names at the race that took time out to sign autographs.
I think this Euskatel rider is Mayo but who nows? All the Basque country boys at their tent looked alike.
Unusually hot and sunny day for Belgium. Just a couple hours earlier the rain came down pretty good but luckily for the fans and riders it passed quickly. There was quite the variety of fans.

Giro photo gallery #2

Giro photo gallery #1

Some of the riders were more willing than others to sign autographs.


Sean Yates chillin before the Disco guys start going off. Nothing but high tech, high priced gear. Normally you have to have a v.i.p. pass to get into the riders village but not this time. What other sport can you get this close to the athletes and their entourage? You have to love this sport.
Mr. Axel Merckx was very fan freindly. He was one of the few to just hang out and talk with the fans. This guys really has class. Axel was one of the most professional acting guys we saw.

Flanders Photos #3

That's the last of my Flanders pictures that turned out. It has been pretty cool to be able to watch these races live on tv. This coming up weekend we're going to go watch the Giro prologue in Seraing. My wife gets here on Thursday so that should make it a bit funner too. I'm going to miss not being able to see this stuff live right on the living room tv. Even ran across pro races out on training rides. That sure as heck doesn't happen back home.

Aqueles sao as ultimas de minhas fotos de Flanders. Tem sido muito legal assistir estas corridas vivo na televisao. Este final de semana nos vamos a cidade de Seraing para ver o prologue do Giro de Italia. Minha esposa chega na Quinta entao vai ser legal ver a corrida com ela. Vou sentir falta de poder assistir as corridas grandes na minha propria casa ao vivo. Ate deu para passar algumas corridas professionais enquanto treinando aqui. Aquile certamente nao acontece nos E.U.A.

Flanders Photos #2

Flanders Photos #1

Here are some pictures from the starting of Flanders in Brugge.
The city square was packed and we could barely move but within fifteen minutes it was empty and everything was being dismantled. Talk about orginization.

Estas sao algumas das fotos que tirei na largada da corrida Flanders em Brugge. A quadra inteira do centro da cidade estava cheia mas depois da largada so levou quinze minutos vasar e tudo estava sendo dis feito e limpado. Que oraganizacao!

Anzegam UCI 1.12 April, 30, 06 - 30 de Abril 06

Yesterday was another cold and windy day in Belgium. I've been sick with a pretty tough head cold for the last week but with me only having a couple more weeks here Bernard (our director) and I figured I at least should give it a go. My legs felt lousy all week and I just felt exhausted but with the adrenaline from the race the legs were actually feeling like they were coming around. The race was just like any other here I guess. It was a loop of about 17km with 11 laps. About 14 corners and nothing I would consider a climb back home but quite a few good length rollers that at the speed we were taking them at sure felt like climbs. I did alright staying up towards the front during the early part of the race whitch was good because being sick I just wasn't feeling like I could recover from the hard efforts. Ther were alot of retarded crashes going on all the time it seemed like. I guess thats just how it goes when you'r all going that hard with that kind of wind. People would be echeloned out across the road and strung out and in the gutter and sure enough up ahead of you, you would see someone take it into the gutter just a little to far and take a nose dive into the ditch. We had one pretty good descent on the course and one guy went off into the ditch so hard I thought for sure he was going to be hurt bad. He got right back up though. I guess the fresh manure in the farmers feild padded his fall pretty well but he sure didn't look to pretty afterwords. Luckily I never got close enough to see if he smelled as crappy as he looked. There were a good handfull of other crashes too besides the gutter spills. One good sized pile up in the middle of the pack and then I don't know what happened but the guy right in front of me bumped someone hard and came unclipped and I ran right over his foot. He stayed right side up though and luckily so did I. I hope I didn't hurt his foot. Lap after lap I could feel that my recovery time was taking longer and longer. Then we got word that the break of about fifteen that had gone on the first lap was back to only about a minute up the road. That of got some teams motivated to get organized on the front and the pace picked up even more. On the rollers I was slowly getting shuffled back and I was having a tough time. Like always guys started getting spit out the back. Unfortunatly I was now close enough to see this. I was really starting to go into my red zone by now. Then out of the blue I'm sitting probably in the last 15 or so of the peloton strung out in the gutter. We came to a section where there were some metal posts on the course that would normally split the road from a bike path but of course we were using the road and the bike path. The race organizers had some cones leading up to these posts but with how hard we where going and being strung out the way we were I guess the guys in front of me didn't see them coming in time. The guy right in front of me hit the large cone hard and went swinging out across the road in front of me. I had to swing way wide to get around him. The guy right behind me wasn't quite as quick to respond and he continued straight and hit the posts and went down taking a couple others with him. Having had been so close to the back though I was gapped off from the peloton pretty good after that and the team cars started passing me. I bounced back and forth through the caravan moving up then back then up again for a whole lap. A couple of times I was discustingly close to getting back in the pack. Then of course a turn would come and I'd get gapped in there by team cars. When I finally couldn't handle the surges of the cars anymore and they all passed me I just time trialed it for another lap. I picked up one of my teammates who was sitting up and had him just sit on me while I time trialed it. I was pretty irritated at how close we were staying to the back of the caravan and not being able to get on. Of course I soon ran out of gas and that was it. In the end out of well over a hundred starters there was only a group of about 35 still in the race. The wind and crashes had taken there toll. And now a day later I'm back to fighting this cold. Luckily today is a rest day. Thanks for reading!
Robert Lofgran

Ontem foi mais um dia de vento forte e frio. Tenho sido gripado a semana inteira mas nosso diretor Bernard queria que eu corresse ainda assim sendo que eu so tenho mais duas semanas aqui. Entao decidi ir e ver como iria. Minhas pernas sentiram pesados e nao bem a semana intiera mas quando a corrida comecou aquela energia da corrida ajudou elas sentir um pouco melhor. A corrida era como qualquer outro aqui. Tinha 11 voltas de 17km. Cada volta tinha 14 esquinas. Nao tinha o que eu realments chamaria subidas de verdade na corrida mas tinha bastante morros entao o caminho estava sempre rollando. Ainda assim estando gripado eu fiz bem ficando pela frente. So tinha problemas recuperando dos constante pulas de velocidade. Cada volta deu para sentir que estava ficando mais e mais dificil recuperar dos esforsos. Tinha muitas caidas na corrida tambem. Caidas estupidos tambem. Com a velocidade e o vento todo mundo estava tendo que fazer esfrosos no seus limites. Sendo que todo mundo estava ficand linhado e quase nao mais tinha um groupo tinha muitos que ficaram tao perto do lado da rua que derepente ficariam perto de mais e o pneu da frente tocaria na grama e eles iam caindo ao lado da rua e caindo nas trevas que linham as. Tinha muitas caidas assim. Tambem tinha uma grande caida de muitos corredores no meio do groupo por razao nenhuma. Depois de um tempao ouvimos no radio que o groupo de quinze que fugirem na primeira volta estava ficando perto de novo. Entao alguns euipes se orginizarem na frente e a velocidade da corrida pulou ainda mais. Eu ja nao estava sentindo bem. Devagamente eu comecei a descer no groupo ate que nao estava mais perto da frente. Eu nao fiquei muito preoccupado sabendo que logo teria um chance para subir ao frente de novo. Mas logo entremos numa secao da corrida com vento vindo do lado forte. Estavamos linhado atras do groupo. Tinha neste secao algumas barras que estavam na rua que normalmente bloceavam a rua normal de uma pista de bicicleta ao lado da rua. Os organizadores da corrida tinham coisas nu rua antes destas barras para avertir nos. Entremos la e o cara bem em frente de mim bateu numa dessas coisas. Eu virei para minha esquerda e de algum jeito nao bati nele. Mas o cara atras de mim bateu nestas barras tambem e levou various outros com ele. Infelizmente estendo perto do final do groupo eu ja estave atras do groupo. Eu andei na caravana por uma volta lutando a chegar no groupo de novo. Eu fiquei tao perto algumas vezes que aindo nao acreditou que nao consigui. Depois de uma volta fazendo isso eu finalmente fui passado pelo ultimo carro na caravana. Eu contiunuei andando fazendo meu propria corrida de contra relogio e logo pegei um membro de meu equipe que tinha saido do groupo. Ele nao parecia bem e ficou atras na minha roda e e continuei indo com forca. estavamos aindo tao perto ao final da caravana mas nao estavamos consigindo pegal-la. Finalmente eu nao tinha mais nada e ja era. Entao aquilo e a corrida.
Obrigado por lendo amigos. Espero que gostarem. Espero que vao gostar de meu novo site. Vou fazer meu melhor ter muitos novidades sempre aqui por voces de minhas corridas e vida em geral.
Se cuida Brasil!
Robert Lofgran