Toona in to this Update

Or Teeuwen in to it, depending on where you took your poison this weekend:

• The Haymarket boys came to play in Altoona, and nabbed 3rd and 4th in the Cat 3 GC. On Cycling has the deets. Go Termites!
• Il Nessie was in the mix there also after Friday's first stage. Nessie, you owe us updates on the rest of the weekend.
• Indy had at it also, but a light pole had right back at him. Ouch. And more ouch. Indy calls his unscheduled convalescence "a nice break before cross season." How silver-lining is that?
• Full 'Toona results are here. I like to go through them and read the Communiques to see what constitutes a fine, or even a DSQ. For example, I saw that a violation of Rule 1o10, "improper gluing of tire causing crash and injuries to other riders" netted Pedrag Prokic a $75 fine, a DSQ, and a recommendation that he be suspended for 10 days. That's heavy. (If you look through the rest of the same Communique, you may recognize the name of erstwhile local hero Matt Cooke, now a Navigators Pro. Looks like Matt's bad day got worse.)
• K-Blogg has some pics from The Peter Teeuwen Memorial Omnium 23 Mile Time Trial #2 & the age-graded Virginia State Championships (heretofore referred to as PLT TT #2 - sheesh!). There's only a few pics, but if they tell a story, it's this: Ping pong ball helmets are aero; naked is more aero; K-Blogg won a beer.
• T Karnes and D-Bo share author duties on PLT TT #2 over at  Live2Ride Ride2Live. PB for TK at PLT. Good job that.
• After missing out on the Giro di Coppi due to user error, VeloFish learned his lesson and prepared the bejeezus out of himself for PLT TT #2. His 14 thoughts during the TT are definitely worth looking at, and comparing with your own.
• My favorite PLT TT #2 story is contending for the coveted Best Race Report of the Year, and comes to me via email from Peter Swan. Peter doesn't have a blog so I'm going to post it all here, complete with picture:

"Don't throw in the towel -- sit on it!"

In over 30 years in the pack, last Sunday's outing was one of my strangest races.  I was about 3 miles into the VA Age-Graded TT, rolling good, no atrial fibulation for a change, and catching my minute man.  Then I heard a little pop and the nose of saddle dropped a bit.  Damn!  A few seconds later, a second pop, and the nose of the saddle turned down sharply and started to flop around.  When I stood up to assess the damage, the saddle (Performance T1 Tri model) and the front part of the rails dropped to the
street with a metallic clatter.

I tried to sit down on what was left of the rails, but it quickly ripped through my skinsuit and cut into my privates (good thing my skinsuit bottom is red).  Now what, this is the state championship for Pete's sake?  Still recovering from a broken rib at Master's Natz, the thought of riding the remaining 20 miles standing up seemed out of the question.

Just then I remembered something.  At the start I noticed my minute man oddly had a small towel stuffed in his back pocket.  Looking up, yes, there it was, so I sprinted up to him, plucked the towel (thanked him later), quickly wadded it up and placed it on the post and what was left of the rails. 

This prevented further injury to the crown jewels, but I was sitting two inches lower than normal and couldn't go down on the extensions as I had to ride upright on the brake hoods to hold myself back on the towel.  This was going to hurt! 

I kept forging on and to my amazement, one by one, passed several other 60+ riders, except for the BAR leader who flashed by with a quizzical look at my funny position on the bike.

But, sometimes there is a silver lining in that storm cloud.  When the results were posted, even with a slow time, I was still good enough for 2nd.

Lesson re-learned from my Special Forces training -- complete the mission, whatever it takes !! 

Cheers,

Pete Swan
NCVC Lifer

(If that story isn't good enough already, it's made still better when I saw that in the email Peter cc'ed just about every address at PerformanceBike.com he could come up with.)