TNW - Tuesday Night Worlds

Tuesday Night Worlds...





Based on conversations with riders from all over the nation and a couple from other parts of the world, Tuesday Nights hold a universal appeal for race-level intervals and good old fashioned competition. Tuesday's spot in the week allows for recovery from the previous weekend and is far enough from the next weekend to afford high intensity workouts with time to recover. Combine this with dozens of Testosterone charged riders, some with Red, White & Blue National Champion stripes on their jersey sleeves and you can see where fuel to the fire comes from.





Here in Louisville, we have a great community that invariably has new riders coming to this ride as they progress in ability and they really learn what suffering is all about. I was a runner before I was a cyclist basically from age 5 to 34 and the knees made the decision for me. Based on my Dr's suggestion, I began riding to do "something". Starting with a mountain bike around the neighborhood, I then moved to a road bike that was about 2 sizes too big, but it was cheap. Now 9yrs later, I compete with the best in the region from Louisville, to Indianapolis, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Nashville and more. Oh, and my bike is a Trek Madone, made from carbon fiber with just about the lightest of everything, literally half the weight of the bike I started with.





The TNW never gets easier, in fact it gets harder because once you're strong enough to "hang on", you begin to participate or get called out for not working. I voluntarily send my heartrate to a max of 194bpm and have everything hurt like never before, well at least since the last race. We in cycling joke about how stupid and optimistic we are, it's either stupid or dedicated - you choose, because we forget how bad the last race hurt and then line up again seemingly oblivious that we are doing it AGAIN!





However, I must say that my racing has improved so much more because having other racers to compete with means I push myself harder than I ever could on my own. Peer pressure does have some advantages! The only downside is that the traffic lights and constant regrouping of riders means that those who never stick their nose in the wind or really contribute to the workload can survive a pace or effort that they would never be able to sustain in a race where there is no hiding from the wind. Again, early on, I was naive enough to think I deserved to be there, just because I was there. I have to smile at that. A lot of thanks goes to the greats in our area, like Curtis Tolson, Robert Bobrow and many others who usually advised me politely, but also barked a few orders or reprimands. I make sure I pay my dues by offering advice and support to guys who are coming into their own and need to be told to test their wings by getting out of or to the front of the pack. Growth is painful, or you're not really growing! Unfortunately this is true of life as well I suppose.





While bike racing is an extreme passion of mine, I don't want to fail to mention that my family always come first! My wife Debbi and daughters Taylor 15 and Meghan 10 are why breathe. Both of my girls are talented and have so much more potential than I ever had. Taylor is an awesome photographer with an eye that constantly amazes me! She is very good at softball but is taking a year off because being a Freshman in HS is tough enough. Meghan is an athlete, playing basketball, track, cross-country and softball... on 3 teams! Here she is with the team trophy.













A really nice pic of Taylor, here - BEAUTIFUL!




















Thanks for reading and may God richly bless you and yours!

Darrin

Jude Clark Criterium - Win!!!

The first annual Jude Clark Memorial Criterium went off with a bang, a couple of wins and several podium finishes for Scheller's Fitness and Cycling Team!

The Crit is in honor of our late teammate Jude Clark, who passed away Friday January 28th, 2010. Jude bravely battled Systemic Amyloidosis, a condition that caused his heart walls to thicken. He received extensive chemo and stem cell transplant therapies at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. We and the entire Louisville, KY cycling community were stunned at the loss. Just the day before he died, he posted on CaringBridge that he was being release from Mayo, with a good prognosis. He was on his way home with his wife Shannon, when he lost consciousness and was unable to be resuscitated.

His teammates were pallbearers and the Louisville Cycling community was there by the thousands at his visitation. Jude was well known and respected as a Husband and Father, Lawyer, Cyclist and human being. We miss him.

We have and are taking all of the steps necessary to make this part of the Kentucky Derby Festival event calendar for years to come. They were very supportive and through assistance from Jude's Law Firm Frost, Brown and Todd, as well as Gregg Scheller and team, we made the inaugural event a real even to remember. Additionally, we were able to donate $2,000 to the Lance Armstrong Cancer Foundation!

So, the race, scheduled months in advance, was held on an iffy day, with tons of threatening weather including severe rain and potential for hail and lightning. We made the best of it, working Friday and Saturday morning to set up the course, sweeping the gravel and glass off of the road in Shawnee park. Getting there at 6:00am Saturday morning, we put the hay bales down and made the final touches before racing went off at 9:00am starting with the Cat 5 / Citizens. Despite wet roads early, the day improved and even dried out completely for most of the races. Nice! Unfortunately, the last race of the day, the Cat 1/2 race had to be cancelled at 3pm because of lightning. But all in all, we have a great event!

I race in the Master's 40+ races, which is the Race I would have shared with Jude. Knowing that this was in his honor made our team, consisting of Rich MacInnes, Keith Lucas and myself super motivated. I may have gotten a bit obnoxious as I kept telling teammates and other races, that nobody was getting away from us, without one of the Scheller's teammates in the breakaway. Rich, Keith and I busted it from the gun, closed at least 20 break attempts and went with everything that moved. Strange for me as more of a pure sprinter, I was at the front for most of the race, super attentive and highly motivated. Rich and Keith were all over everything. The Papa John's team had 4 or 5 riders in the race, with 2-time national TT champion Steve Spanbauer, pocket rocket Mike McShane, the good doc and hard working John Mandrola and super strong Dr. Scott Kuiper. Lots of super strong guys from McDonalds and individual racers made every effort to split the group, but ultimately, everything stayed together and the sprint finish came fast and tight.

Coming into the last couple of corners, I made the move to the front 7 or 8 riders, got gapped by a couple guys sitting up and had to bridge to the 5 guys gapping the field and making the last turn into the finish line. I was a bit worried that I used too much to get there, on Mike McShane's wheel, but about 150 meters to go, he came out of the draft to the left of the Nuvo and McDonald's riders and so I went right to get clear and went as hard as I could, winning by a couple of bike lengths. It was an awesome win, in honor of my friend and teammate.

This isn't my first win, but was without a doubt my favorite and most meaningful! Jude's wife Shannon and sons Cullen and Brennan got to share the day with his teammates and community. We had a moment of silence before the race that touched me very deeply.

So for those of you who are racers or love to watch racers go at it, look for an even bigger event next year at Shawnee Park. I'll post a date once we set it.

Thanks for reading!

Darrin