OASIS--North American Tour

YESSSSS!

I got some great seats in a pre-sale today for the up coming Oasis gig in Chicago. They are actually putting on ten shows, but as usual, Chicago is the closest they will come to St. Louie. This will make my 4th time seeing them and couldn't be more stoked. The show is not until December so knowing the Gallagher Bros, things could change. I had tickets in 2005 for the Indy show an then just before we left I happened to see on the internet that the boys were in a car crash and the show was cancelled.

The new album comes out next Tuesday, so I am really excited. This is the first album in over three years. The first single came out today, but I doubt if anyone in town has it. I am going over to The Loop tomorrow for Tatum's dance, so I will stop by Vintage to see if they have a copy.

D'Know What I Mean?

Le Tour de Sainte Genevieve

This past Saturday was the second, hopefully annual Le Tour de Sainte Genevieve. Cycling buddy and teammate Todd Parker was putting it on again after good start last year. We used the same course this year and had about the same turnout. Many of friends helped out and seemed to be a big success. I got down there Friday evening and started working on things right away. Cousin Scott and I marked the course and had a good time. We swept some corners, picked up some road kill and kept well hydrated. We even painted a few words of encouragement on the last devastating climb. Todd and I then got up at 5am Saturday morning and drove the course putting out cones and signs. The day started out looking a little rainy, but then turned into a stellar day for a road race. The temps reached 72 degrees with not much wind at all. All the races went off without a hitch and all the racers had positive things to say. Perhaps it will go on again next year. I didn't get to race because of my crash at the Gateway Cup. I was lucky enough to drive the pace car for the Cat 3 race. Mom went along with me and kept me company. The photos are of the Cat 4 race I should have been in. DTown friend Cody Nees was in the race and his buddy Ben took all the pictures.

I am getting back on the bike Monday. I got the mtn bike out today and got it in good working order. I hope to do the Burnin at the Bluff in mid October. We shall see. Not being on the bike in three weeks is likely taking its toll.

I spent the afternoon working on the yard as we might be moving in the near future. I will give more details as the process unfolds. I may be moving to the country! Yee haw.

Buddy Hovis stopped by this evening and had supper with us. Condolences to him and his family as Mrs. Hovis' mother passed away this past Thursday.

Chow

I met the Manxta!

Cavendish getting a laugh about signing the Isle of Man license plate.



Cavendish

Hincapie
Eisel

The Manxta's bike

Stage 7 sprint finish.
Reese Rock Racing- Scary face!

I didn't plan on meeting the man from Man, but I woke up this morning and thought I would head down to the Tour of Mo in STL, watch the race and perhaps meet Mark Cavendish in the process. I took along my Isle of Man license plate thinking that would grab his attention if he were signing autographs.

Todd Parker, myself and my trusty sidekick daughter Reese went down to the race around 12:30. We parked right by the Savvis Center which happened to be next to all the team buses and cars. I ran into fellow Shark rider Darin Marlow and his son and then mosied on over to the team buses. We looked at all the cool bikes and saw almost all the riders just hanging out getting ready for the last day of the race. I took some pictures of Cavendish's bike and then headed over to the Columbia team bus and just waited until they came out. Michael Barry came out along with Hincapie, Eisel, Pinnotti and then Cavendish and started signing autographs. I hadn't gotten an autograph since I was a kid, but soon Cavendish made it over to me and I asked him to sign the Manx plate. He got a good chuckle as you can see in the photo. He was surprised by it and seemed real cool while signing it. He even posed for a photo with Darin's son. He then hopped on his bike and rode off.

The race started out with some rain, but soon cleared up making for a great day and good sprint. We were sitting right before the finish with friends Alice and Joe and got a good shot of Cavendish starting his sprint. He started a bit too early and was nipped at the line by Liquigas sprinter Chicchi. I thought he jumped off Eisels wheel too early and I was correct as Cavendish said so in an interview after the race. Winning three out of seven races aint to shabby though. Hopefully we can get Boonen over here next summer!!

What do you think the signed Isle of Man plate with Cavendish's autograph on it is worth?

What a great day!

TOUR OF MISSOURI 2008 and Kenny Chesney

Yes, that's right, Kenny Chesney. Kirsten and I along with friends Aaron and Donna went and caught the Kenny Chesney concert this past Thursday evening and morning. Kenny is the only country music I listen to and he puts on one hell of a show. We saw him last year and for sure didn't dissapoint this year. He came on at 9pm and played until 12:15am Friday morning. He was in rare form playing around 15 covers along with his assortment of hits. By the end of the night, he had everyone from his crew on stage singing. He got so drunk that by the time he sang his song(the song that made him popular), She thinks my tractor is sexy, he forgot some of the words. Everyone had a great time. He played covers with Uncle Cracker and Miranda Lambert. Too bad we all had to work in the morning. We got in around 1:30 and had to be up by 6:15. I was tired until around noon, but then perked up after lunch. If you get a chance, check out Kenny Chesney live in concert!

TOUR OF MISSOURI IS HERE!!!!

The Tour of Missouri has been going on all week and has not dissapointed. My 2nd favourite bike racer in the world, Mark Cavendish has been whooping up on everyone. (Tom Boonen is #1)He just won his third stage today. The Manxta is in the house!! American Christian Vande Velde is in the lead and should win the race barring any wrecks in downton STL on Sunday.

Just like last year, a ton of people went out to Schluersberg Hill in rural St. Charles County to catch the KOM. The climb was packed again. Todd, Cousin Scott and myself made it out there around 11:30 and staked out a prime spot. We qued up some brats, sausages, Nathan's hotdogs and put down some cold beverages. Talked with tons of folks and had a great time. As you can tell, Todd was at it again running with the peloton. How can you miss his Spongebob outfit and his German pigtails!

We hope to catch the final stage in downtown STL on Sunday if Hurricane Ike stays away.

The leg is getting better and the elbow seems to be in working order now.

Tour of Ste. Gen is next weekend. I am not riding in it, but hope to get back on the bike this week.

Luckily Mom came up and took Reese to her first soccer game. She seems to be really fast, so perhaps this will be something she will excel at.

Cheers!

It still HURTS really bad!!!

Yes, I am finally doing some more whining about my wounds from my bike wreck in last weekend's race. I got sewn up and things seemed to be going well on Monday. Then on Monday night my wounds just didn't seem right, so I went and saw my Doc on Tuesday after school. She then tells me I have a staff infection and need more high powered antibiotics. Fine, I just hope it works. She also prescribes some save to put on the wounds that will also kill the staff. Fine, I do it. Then the pain really came. My leg started to swell up and the wounds started to open up, blister and bleed. I call my brother and read the info what came witht suff and realize I am having an allergic reaction. So, this not only caused more unnessary pain, but put off my comeback even further. My elbow is now doing much better, but he wound on my lower leg is very painful to walk on. I guess a flesh wound of that size really pulls on the other skin tissue. It is constantly tingling and swelling some. The Doc yesterday assured me it was healing just fine. The pain was so bad and I was lacking sleep, that I finally gave in and called a sub at 9:30 in the morning on Thursday. I came home and went to sleep. I for sure felt better this morning, but the leg started to really hurt after lunch. I couldn't wait to get home on the sofa and prop that daddy up.

Due to many accidents of other sorts not related to biking and to not so good genes(not blue jeans) I have consider myself pretty tuff and tolerant to high amounts of pain. Pain for short periods is much different than pain 24hrs a day while trying to work with the youth of America.

I can't wait for this thing to get better.

While my cycling buddy Todd Parker was over the other night seeing how I was doing, we took a closer look at my bike. I knew it had some blood on it, but not that much! I don't know if picture like that is good for business or not? What would Big Shark say?

I sure am glad the weekend is here.

Gateway Cup Weekend--Good and Bad

This is why cyclist shave their arms and legs! It is not for wind resistance. Can you imagine trying to clean these wounds with monkey like hair?

Henk Vogels was here this weekend. He will be riding in the ToM in a couple of weeks. He has won a stage in the Giro and raced in the TdF as well
The picture speaks for itself.

Do you think that hurts?

The first two races of this weekend's Gateway Cup started out very good for me. I had tons of friends come to watch Friday night at Lafayette Square and I didn't want to let them down. The race was good and for the most part, wreck free. I came around the last turn saving some for the sprint and ended up 9th out of 95. I got paid for 9th and it felt good to do well in front of a big crowd. The disapointing thing is that I should have started my sprint sooner and I would have placed in the top five. The race was 22.6 miles long and averaged a really fast 26.3 miles an hour.

Saturday was another good day as a I felt great throughout the race. I kept well hydrated unlike others in the race and it showed on the final few laps. I came out of the final turn in a great 6th position only to have two guys go down in front of me causing me to go wide around the carnage, basically killing my sprint. I did get going again and still finished 12th getting paid again. It was disapointing as I was in the exact spot I wanted to be in. In the photo you can see me stretching trying to get a higher place. All those guys were behind me at the last turn, missing the crash keeping their momentum and I still almost caught them. Frustrating, but a good race for me.

The next day at the Hill was not so good. I was caught in a crash about 5 laps in. I didn't go down but had to chase the group down after unclipping. I was then spent. Then about 20 minutes into the race, still with the main group I decided to get a drink on the flat stretch between the first and second turns. I had a bottle in one hand and then all the sudden, the bikes in front of me slowed down. I couldn't react in time with one hand and hit the guy in front of my and then hit the pavement going around 23 miles an hour. It hurt like hell. My elbow was in severe pain, just gushing blood. A guy from Hub went over his bars over me fracturing his wrist. I'm sorry dude. I ran back to the ambulance with my bike were the EMT immediately said I had to get that sewn up at the ER. My brother Todd drove me to the ER while my Mom took the girls home. Todd pulled some strings and got me into Barnes Jewish really quickly. They took pictures called the bone doctors and assessed that the arm and elbow were not broken. The joint was not damaged either. That would have required surgery! Todd sat with me the next 6 hours until we got out around 10pm. Luckily we had the fast treatment! Some people were outside waiting that were there when we got there. The docs were cool and treated me well. Now I am a world of pain with 16 stitches in my elbow and two huge road rashes on my right side. Take a look at the photos and imagine the pain. I took a picture with my cell phone before it was sewn up that I hope to post someday. It was really nasty. If you play, sometime you will pay. When crit racing, it is not if, but when!

Mom, the girls and I went up to Ucity to watch the last day of races and show my support for my teammates. They did well yesterday and today, with Dave G. taking first yesteray and Trent taking first today and 2nd yesterday. Jordan and Daring got paid as well. Good job guys. I am lucky to have good teammates as they were all concerned about my wreck. Thanks again for helping me out Mom and Todd. It is good to have family around.

I am now off the bike for a week or two. Luckily the bike is still rideable. Luckily I wasn't running my new Mavic Sls.

Ouch!

Wyman