2011 season

The Soupcanners (Scream, JLo, Cappy, Magnus & Soup) are anticipating a fun year! We already have been doin hot laps at the Soupcan Glenn and at Vultures Knob. We are all racin Open Vet and masters on the road. Scream might have some man girth to work off. But any ways were gonna be out there on a combination of bikes. Gears/singlespeeds you name it. We're all signed up for the Mohican 100k too! Heres looking foward to a great year!

Snow-Hican

Me and Angry vantured down to Mohican State Park to do a loop today and after climbimg up to mile 1 we knew we were in for a long day in the saddle. We met up with Joel and a couple other guys from Stark Velo. It was fun playing cat & mouse and what usually takes us around 40 mins on a good day to reach mile 8 ended up taking an hour and a half. We cut off the trail to the covered bridge and the ascent up Mt. Doom by riding the road. Possibly the coldest ever downhill we have done. major body pain after that one. But looks like we all plan on racing vet open this year. Should be fun as Fawk! I hate blog posts without pictures but I didn't take a camera today so I just threw in a random pic from the net. Enjoy!

Mud-hican 100k

Driving down to the race we saw flooded fields and creeks that looked like rivers. It had been raining and the forecast called for more rain. So when we got there it rained and it rain when we passed out and then rained all night. We woke up and it rained and held off for like an hour untill it rained when we were racing. Like all god damned day. My oversized ass likes to sink in the mud but luckily my teammates are really good st riding bikes and did really good in the race.

Jason and John went 1-2 in the singlespeed 100k race and wes wasn't far behind. Me and Scream were chasin each other all day and ended up gettin caught in the mother of all downpours in the last six miles. I have never seen trails turn into rivers but seein is belivin' and i was riding ankle deep in flowin water and going against the current to find my way to the finish. I also spent about 20 minutes helping Pat Miranda converting his bike into a singlespeed when his derailer was ripped off his bike.
I'm not a very good sleeping buddy as informed by Wes and Jason. I guess I snored, farted, and tried to cuddle all night long. We slept "696" style which meant that the guy in the middle had to sleep opposite the other two. The firts night I almost made Jason puke from the smell of me feet and the next night I refused to sleep man to feet which resulted in a homosexual hate crime assult by Wes.

2010 Wilds OMBC race

Congratulations to John's wife Kristin who ran as many miles as we biked at the Cleveland Marathon! John was throwing his support at his Lady so couldn't race this one. He rode his single speed cross bike around Cleveland watching the Marathon from different angles. I know more than once during the race I was thinking how much more fun that would have been than being tormented by single track. Anyway, the weather was great and it was my first time on the course. We prerode the first part. Thankfully, I was blissfully unaware of the ass beating I was going to take on the second part. Wes and Ryan went down with me and we really had a good time. I raced in the singlespeed class this time. It was a huge class. The more South you go, it seems, the more singlespeeds. I pondered my choice when I toed the line with a SpeedGoat guy that was half my age and several other whippersnappers on unbelievably tricked out bikes. I did OK though. A third place finish. My riding has improved a lot this year thanks to the guys I ride with. Wes and John have raised me like a little foal (momma didn't raise no foal) trying to suckle at the teets of their rear wheel as they teach me independence by rolling away (that barely made any sense). Ryan has taught me to drink more beer. Ok, back to the race report...Wes is starting to feel better after an minor health setback and is clawing his way back to the top. He ended up 4th open vet. Ryan "towpath Larry" is always steady and strong even in the face of having a kid this year which takes most people off their bike entirely. I think he ended up 6th or so Sport Class. He gets his entry fee money back through beer consumption. Vultures Knob next weekend and at this point I have ZERO interest in bicycles as I am battered and bruised.

Mohican Wilderness OMBC race #1

This is a very painful course on a singlespeed but sets up for some fast climbing if you can hang in there. Problem is, all the ground you made up on the climbs you loose to the geared guys through the meadows! Looks like there is enough racers now for a single speed class. Thats the good news. So here goes...My bottle flew off my bike immediately turning into the single track. I only carry one at a time so I was parched, to say the least, until I could get back around and pick up a new bottle on lap 2(no thanks to Wes for running it over and exploding it...team work my ass). Although, he was kind enough to yell to me "You're bottleless!" Thanks Wes, tell that to my kidneys. I pee'd bright red after the race and freaked out for a few minutes until my wife reminded me that I had eaten pickled beets (Beets are new to me. I've been trying to figure out John Lorson's secrets of badassness and for some reason settled on the fact that he eats a lot of beets. All-the-while I can almost hear John laughing at me). Well, anyway, there is a lot of new talent out there this year and its getting tougher. Scream double flatted, ran out of tubes, and hung it up. John got 4th, I got 6th, and Wes got asthma. But as they say, "you can't keep a good man down". Wes nearly kicked my ass with 25% lung capacity. Get well soon Wes!

2010 has started

The first race is in the books for this year with number two here already.Vultures number one was good to some and rough on others.Mags pulled the win in sport with scream in the mix of the top five.Suppan grabbed third in 35 plus expert.lorson had his first of multiple flats thirty seconds into the race.I flatted a few times after soup had already flown the coop.All was not lost on my race however after everyone but me had finished the race i found the highly sought special egg.With that came a concoction from hell that if done in one chug awarded me with a lovely Easter trophy from the depths of the knob.Series awards were also handed out with lorson taking top honors for the vet expert i took third and mags took second in sport. Congrats to wang for rolling across the line with the V.This year is shaping up to be epic. endeavor to persevere wes

IceMan Cometh Challenge

OK. Lets start this one off right. I'll give you 4 categories and you match them to the members of the team involved. First, the members of the team are: Wes Jones, Jason Suppan, Ryan Knopf, John Lorson, and Shawn Jones. Here are the 4 categories: "I pooped on a newspaper", caveman style wrestling match, looking to party but no ones awake, and slippery beer tickets. The answer to these and many more interesting events can only be known and truly found at the IceMan. What happens at the IceMan stays at the IceMan. 2 of the 4 events can be attributed to Brett Davis from Solon and his influential friend Jim Beam. Hey Brett, Jim Beam is not a good recovery drink no matter what you say. I'll never believe you again. Jim Beam makes you compare cell phone pictures of your wife and agree that they may have married you for reasons other than dashing good looks. So Shawn had reserved a room at the Great Wolf lodge for him and his family which included child fantasy accomodations...I digress...sounds as if I may be arrested....child imagination accomodations sounds better. Anyway, it was a room with a tree house in the corner with bunk beds. Wes and John, being the smaller of us four got to sleep there. They were delighted. Well, race day came and went. We basically got our asses handed to us by the guys who ride this kind of stuff all the time but respectable finishes none the less. In the 40 and up single speed John got 9th and I got 12th. 39 and under single speed found Wes 25th, Shawn 30th, and Ryan 45th. Wes actually had the ride of the day. He got his rear wheel taco'ed by a clydesdale at mile 6 and still rode incredibly well. He was known as "wobbly wheel guy" by everyone at iceman. Well the season is officially over; not a bad first year for TEAM SOUPCAN!

Mohican State Park race and Mohican Wilderness race

Hey, what can I say, we are a little behind on the posts. Starting with the State Park race...My story is quick...Coming off an injury I was going to try the race but Ryan forgot his shoes so he used mine (size 13 in a size 10.5). It was more important for him to race because he was doing well in the points for the OMBC. Turns out he DNF'd because he broke my pedal. His big toenail still isn't the same. I don't know how he'll ever go on. I got in a good trail run that left me nearly unable to walk for 2 weeks. Cycling does not translate to running. period. Lorson got 3rd in the open vet race with Wes at 7th down only by 2 minutes. Shawn Jones got 10th in the sport division. Next, the Mohican Wilderness...ouch...my first race back. The hardest first 2 miles in the world I think. I couldn't believe I found myself roll up on our two main guys (John and Wes) turned inside out and sick on the last climb before you finally get to go down hill a bit. I carried the SoupCan flag briefly until my rear skewer loosened in the rock garden and they both got their legs underneath them and proceeded to drill it the rest of the race. (thats what good racers do, overcome, right?). So three laps there is like being tortured with torture. John ended up 3rd and Wes 4th, me 6th. Shawn and Ryan 8th and 6th in Sport repectively. Overall the OMBC found John 3rd, Wes 4th in the open vet and Ryan 4th (would have one but he hosed himself with a dnf) and Shawn 5th.

twisting and turning through reagan park

Team soupcan headed to reagan park to finish up the neo power series. Lorson did what he had to do and took home gold for the series and won 38 thousand calories worth of burritos. Mags ended up second in the sport class while i took my usual spot as the expert book end to lorson he wins and i fill the last money or podium spot which this time was a 5th for the overall points.The time trial its self was pretty good lorson was 5th i ended up 6th in the old guy expert . Mags finished 4th. The organisation put on a fantastic event no complaints of any kind.Then in true team soupcan fashion rounded the day off with a trip to the local chicken wing and beer establishment with some team solon hooligans (aka rodgers and davis).Cant think our sponsors enough soupcaninsoles which has made all this happen, ride on bike shop in wooster, desperate enterprise and cannondale who stepped up and put us on great bikes. Not to be left out is the team boss soup himself who was busy making future mountain bikers happy by giving up shwag to little dudes who like his logo.

endeavor to persevere my friends

vultures knob write-up by Ryan

Thats the last time I ask Ryan to update the blog...

The Knob Finalie/Power Series

Alas we come upon the final Knob race and the 2nd stop for the NEO Power series. Dr. Soup had to set this one out with a slight case of tennis elbow. Need I say more about that. The big news was John gettin 1st in expert 35 plus catagory which I'm pretty sure sealed up the seriers win and put him in a good position to take the NEO series finalie at Regan Park. Dr. Soup provided good fan support even though he came down with a bad case of gonorrhea and couldn't race. Wes and I pretty much decided that we sucked at this race. Even though Wes got 4th in a though class and I slugged along in the Sport class and managed to muster up 6th place. I think I would've done better if Dr.Soup didn't catch that bad case of chlamydia. But all is well that ends well with a few beers and the best MTB parties of all at the knob with some cheap beer from Dr. Soup and the traditional Knob bonfires that can be seen from the next state. Let's hope Dr. Soups mammogram results come back negative so he can be cleard to ride again!

The Manatoc Experience

Lorson wins!...by minutes!...WOW! Man am I glad he is on my team. The rain made things questionable and when Wes and I prerode the course the day before it was horrible. It dried up OK and turned out great. Good job to the organizers and promoters! Wes took 6th or 7th and I took 10th. The sport category was huge. Ryan had trouble with his chain tension and had to soft pedal aroung the course and put his chain back on about 20 times. But gotta give him credit, most would have DNF'd. Shawn Jones had a little bike trouble too but did great anyway. He must have been ashamed of himself for not winning and left before we took the picture! We all got new bikes and are getting used to things. Up until this point we were all rigid. We now use a lefty fork and let me tell you what...descending is a lot faster and more stable and it really locks out rigidly for fast climbing. It just took the right fork to convince us.

Our sponsor list is growing for next year! Thanks to Bob Grimm at Rainbow Inks for coming on! Ryan tells me we can always count on Desperate Enterprises. The Cleveland Clinic sports health will be providing training and tuning up our motors. Of course Suppan Foot and Ankle Clinic and SoupCanInsoles.com will be there. And let us not forget our shop sponsor Ride On in Wooster. The owner, Bill Buchwalter really pulled through and helped us get Cannondale on board! We still have about 6 races left in the year and its still just as fun as when we started.

Team SoupCan test monkeys

Team SoupCan was at the Cleveland Clinic with our coach, Frank Ianotti, doing some midseason fitness testing and bike evaluation. Hooked up to a concotion of machines and computers we were put through the ringer with warm ups, 5 minute time trials, 40 minute lactic acid threshold testing, then a huge sprint at the end. Data was gathered to weigh where we are midseason and look for strengths and weaknesses and to create an off season training plan to get us ready for next season. It was really cool. I think we all felt like Lance Armstrong while others looked on. Its amazing how it exposes you for what you are. Ryans testing just said "pussy" on the computer screen. Mine said "badass mofo". Ok, that was pure fantasy. Ryan actually is the big power guy. John is the "model" as Frank liked to call him. Wes is even and great at everything but over-trains (frankly, he just loves to be on a bike...can you blame him?). Although it must feel good for Wes to know that he can be better simply by training less...sounds like a dream plan.

I would recommend to anyone who is serious about getting better on a bicycle that they check into a cycling coach. I would go even farther by recommending Frank Ianotti. His main office is in Bedford Heights at the brand new Cleveland Clinic Sports Health and Performance Center. He really knows what he's talking about and is an avid cyclist himself. Everyone spends all kinds of money buying parts to improve their bike but no one ever spends money on improving the motor. Doesn't make any sense, does it?

Uptight, white and outta sight.

Lake Hope OMBC Race

I had a great race. Left my favorite shades in Soups truck. Bastard.

Lake Hope OMBC race

The crew was in Nelsonville this past weekend. We went down Saturday and pre-rode some of the course. Its an awesome mtb trail great for singlespeeders (unless your racing). Lots of rolling terrain and no ridiculous steep climbs. The openess of the course and the long road start made it hard to stay in front of the geared guys. Lorson managed to get into the main pack and get sucked along into the woods. Wes and I shot out out the back and were last into the woods. We managed to stay together with Wes leading the charge and pushing people out of the way so I could pass also. We saw Lorson just ahead of us but couldn't catch up. I blew up and road the last 10 miles like I was out for a Sunday drive not caring who or when people passed me. I totally underestimated the toughness of the course. As usual, Wes pushed on and did great finishing just out of the money. John finished 4th I think. The last climb out of the woods and up the road to the finish found everyone "paper-boying" according to Scream. Ryan did great in the sport category finishing 3rd of 4th I think with Scream just behind him. Scream (Shawn Jones) has been racing with Team SoupCan and has been a great asset (or is that "asshole"-kidding) to the team. One thing is for sure. We always have a ton of fun wherever we go. We went into Athens the night before to eat Mexican food, drink beer, and people watch. The horse trailer was our lodging again. I gotta tell ya, that thing is perfect for what we do. Lots of inside space for bikes, no concern for mud or dirt in it, and we don't have a camp to set up or tear down. Thanks to Joe Merry going down with us we had new blood and new stories to tell and hear. Fun, Fun, Fun. If you ever see the SoupCan horse trailer at an event, stop by and have a beer on us!

The Pain Ultra

I tackled this beast Sunday with Wes and Shawn"Scream"Jones. I don't know what was more painful, the race, or riding in a car with Shawn doing 30 in a 55, 40 in a 65, 20 in a 45. But oh well he drove so I can't complain that much. Wes and I had other plans go bad so as of Friday night I got the ok from the boss to do the race. I figured I handled the Mohican 100k pretty well so what is the harm in a 45 mile bike race? Just ride your own race right? I was neither physically or mentally prepared for the ass kickin I was about to receive. After a painfully slow neutral 3 mile start we let it rip. I ran a 32x20 on my single speed and well into the 2nd climb of the day was wishin I had a 21 on the rear and after riding all the singletrack we had done the the other way I was whishin' for a 25 in the rear. This course had 5 or 6 climbs that dwarfed anything on the Mohican course and found myself off the bike pushing and wishing for gears on so many hills. The Shenandoah 100 had the longest hike-a-bike I have ever done, but we were confronted with a straight up quarter mile hike-a-bike-soul-crusher that topped of a brutal race. Would I do this again? Hell yeah. I'd be better prepared next time, plus it would be better to come down and camp to enjoy the atmosphere along the Ohio River and hang with some cool people. As hard as the course was this was beautiful backcoutry Ohio riding.

Team Soupcan Pics

I had a few people ask me where they can look online for some of the pics I was taking so heres the link.

http://s583.photobucket.com/albums/ss273/TeamSoupcan/

I hope this works for everybody. If it dosen't just go to photobucket and search for user name Teamsoupcan.

Vultures Knob Race #3

Crash and burn, that's all I got to say. Made it about 100 yards into the prolouge up the gravel road. A guy went down in front of me, I saw it thought I had plenty of time to go around, I braked and went down. Got up started to pedal and cause of my shitty bike maintenance busted my chain in half. Can't say I never done anything like this before. Guess it was kinda cool. Got to walk the coure with Dr. Soupcan and pound some Old Mlwaukee or as wes calls it "Old Skwak"

Jealousy

I had dreams of winning this. But was reduced to spectator after breakin my chain on my SS. But this is what Bob Rogers proudly gets to display in the family room for the next year. Whos house next year?