Died Trying

Well what a weekend. This weekend was the Mesa collegiate racing. This was my first weekend racing feeling better. I was not sick but I just didn't have the best of legs this weekend.
Saturday was a 73 mile RR with some good climbing and I was just not feeling it. Right off the bat CSU and FLC went off the front and we just didn't think it was going to stick so we let them go. then the gap just kept on growing so I went the the front just a little bit before the down hill section and started drilling it. Then Conor came up to help me and we just were flying. No other D2 schools wanted to help so we just sat up. While we were up front pro (Nate) was sitting on the back. I got dropped on the climb every lap but chased every lap and got back on. Then on the last lap just couldn't chase back and came in a a little bit after the field. About 24th place.
Then today was the Crit in downtown Frutia. I was looking forward to this race and ready to drill it. It started off fast and I got a bad start and started in the back so had to use a lot of energy to get up front. Then I was there some guys attacked and I went with. Then they just sat up so I kept going. Used a lot of energy and got caught. Rested for a little and back up front for another attack but once again got pulled back in. Then with about 4 laps to go i got pulled. I tried early but just didn't happen. You have to die trying and that's what I did.

Conor just killed it today. Always up front and following moves also. He was the only mesa guy in the field with the last few laps to go because Pro just got tired sitting in all day and doing no work. But Conor sat on the CSU train on the last two laps. They blew apart the field but he held on. The sprint was awesome. Coming out of the last corner was 2 CSU guys and Conor. The last guy to pull on the CSU train pulled off. Phil the CSU guy thought he won it, so he put his hands up for victory but he forgot to look right and see Conor passing him for the win. You really had to be there to know how exciting it was. Beating the Crit national champion and the whole CSU train. Nice work Conor. First win for Mesa!

Next weekend is school of Mines races. Saturday it a ITT up lookout mountain. My climbing skills suck so we will see how that goes. Then Sunday is a crit. Different then last year which I am happy for. I will just have to play it smarter in that crit and hope my legs are back to get a good result.
O by the way, we had to get up this morning at 4:10 am to go to Fruita to go set up all the barriers for the crit. But at 4:15 the fire alarm went off in the dorms so I am kinda glad I was already up. I was just making my coffee and then it went off. I walked back into the room and Conor is like "did you set that off?". I just thought it was a very funny question. How the heck would I do that lol. I think my ears started bleeding it was so loud. I guess some kid just pulled it or something.

Almost there

Well since last week I took off the bike nothing really exciting has happened. I didn't race this weekend however I did go down to watch the races.
Conor kicked butt both days and surprised a lot of people. Once again he was the only Mesa rider racing because I was sick. But you wouldn't know by the way he raced. On Saturday there was a breakaway with 3 guys in it and Conor was not in it. But he did manage to win the bunch sprint for 4th. Beating some guys who had some trains going for the sprint. Then on Sunday was another fast crit but he managed to get the breakaway of 4. They went off like ten min into the race and were out front the majority of the race. He managed to stay in the break but didn't have enough left for the sprint. He was right there but not enough for the win. Another 4th place.

Today started me riding again and it was very nice out. I probably spent 2 hours today on little park. A pretty good climb. Then I just road around for a little longer. Road for 3 and half hours and I felt a lot better then I thought I would. Today was the first day I had to put sunscreen on and I missed a few spots. LOL I have a huge red line on my right arm that looks really funny that I missed with the sunscreen. Tomorrow I plan on riding a lot to try to get my legs back for this weekend race here in Grand Junction.
On Saturday morning we start at 9 am for a 72 mile road race. The hardest RR of the collegiate season I think. Then at 4pm we have a 11 mile TTT if we do it. Then on Sunday have have a crit. I am really looking forward to get some more racing in. I just hope I didn't loose too much ground on everyone from taking that time off the bike. It is suppose to be some good weather here this weekend, so I can't wait for some good racing in GJ. Mad Cow Classic

Getting better!

I am finally feeling better. Not 100% totally but almost there. I am going to stick to my plan and take today and tomorrow off also. The more rest I get the better I will feel. So I am hoping to be back and running my next week and feeling good.
This weekend is two crits. One in Greeley hosted by UNC and one in Boulder hosted by CU. They are both great courses and I have done pretty good at them before. But I am not going to race this weekend since I have not ridden for the past few days. So i am just planing on going down there with the team( if you want to call it that) and just go riding. Nothing hard just go ride as much as I can while I am down there.
Next week I will have to step it up and try to get back to good form and feeling better so I can do good for our home race next weekend. The Mad Cow Classic. We have a TTT, Crit, and a RR and it is open to all categories collegiate and USA. So come on out and get some good racing in.

Watch this video! Pretty crazy.


http://view.break.com/470052 - Watch more free videos

Time to rest.

I have been sick for a very long time and now it really is time to rest and take some time off the bike. I really really don't want to take time off especially since it is starting to get nice out but I got to do what I got to do to get better.
This past weekend was some racing in Durango. Saturday morning started out with a very cold TTT. If you want to call it that. It was an 11 mile course with a mile climb to the finish. It was Conor,I and Trevor B who rode the course. The whole time it was Conor and I waiting for Trevor. We weren't even going full throttle and we had to sit up plenty of times to wait for him since we needed him to stop the clock. So on the climb to the finish Conor and I just rode up the hill, not raced but rode up and still dropped Trevor. WTF? So we got last and I don't think I am going to do another collegiate TTT again this year, just a waist of my time. Then later in the day around 4 we had our Crit. I was feeling tired and was still feeling sick. I only lasted half the race before I got pulled, But Conor got 8th which is really good. I felt bad that I couldn't help him at all but I just need to get healthy.
Then yesterday was about a 60 mile road race. I was not planing on racing it Saturday night because I felt sick and it prob would be a bad idea. But I woke up Sunday just feeling a little bit better but not great and decided to race just for the training and since I already paid. I was not planing on hanging on the whole race but ended up about 15 sec or so off the pack so I was pretty surprised. Conor was up front all day trying to pull things back by himself and felt bad I couldn't do anything to help but I was doing everything I could just to hang onto the pack. Conor up front



Now I am just going to take it easy this week and prob not even race this weekend. Our race here in GJ is next weekend so I am hoping to race that but we will have to wait and see.

Happy St. Paricks Day

Fighting the Battle

Well on Wednesday Conor and I were up in Fort Collins to ride the Collegiate National road race course with Corey. The day started with an overcast skies and very windy. We started riding the course. Right off the bat it a huge climb up the dam. when we got to the top it was so windy it blew me into the middle of the road in front of a car but luckily the car stopped. I unclipped and walked to the side and the wind picked up my bike. It was crazy. The rest of the day was like that, very windy and lot of climbing. The course this year will favor the climbers for sure. I need to start climbing now.

Dust storm up ahead

Huge town. How do you get a 1/2?


I went to the doctors again today and they said I am starting to get Bronchitis. So i got some more drugs and am feeling just a little bit better. not much but hopefully good enough to race this weekend in Durango.
Tomorrow we are off to Durango. They have a TTT and crit on Saturday. Then a 60 mile RR on Sunday. I am not expecting anything great out of me this weekend because I am still sick and only road twice this week trying to recover from my sickness. Spring Break flew by, and I already don't want to go back to school.
O ya I also got by bikes fit. Raised the seats just a little. Brought by tt bars out just a little. Flattened my seat on my road bike. We will see ow it works.

Sitting on the sidelines

Well yesterday was the Du Crit at city park and I love that course. But I woke up in the morning not feeling to good and I knew I shouldn't race and make it worse whatever I have. So I had to just sit there and watch everyone race I really really wanted to race but knew I couldn't.
I stayed all day to watch the pros and the were some big names that showed up. 4 Toyota United riders, Tyler Hamlition, and some Thf reality guys that won. but it was really cool to watch them race. About 60 guys stared and only about 15 finished. The breakaway lapped the whole filed. Reminded me of our race last weekend.



So for today and tomorrow I am just going to take it easy and hope I get better soon. I have a bike fit tomorrow at 11 and then I am heading up to Fort Collins to ride the Collegiate Nationals course on Wednesday. It is going to be a long season and I don't want to push my body to hard right now, I just want to be healthy.
off to Durango on Friday for the first collegiate road race, I hope it's not snowed out.

Sick and still riding

Well today was the Meto TT 8 or 9 mile course with some climbs in it. I woke up this morning feeling like crap. My nose was running like a foist. We got to the race a little early to get a good warm up in. I still felt like crap warming up my nose was still running and my legs were tight. I decided to change my rear wheel with Garrisons fake disk. It was rubbing so I had to fix that and I thought I was ready to go. I started and felt ok, then the shifting started to suck. It was not a good idea changing wheels and it started to rub a little. Last year i got a 22:10 and this year got a 21:06 so still an improvement.
I still feel like crap and tomorrow is the DU crit at city park and I love this course. But if I am feeling really bad might just skip out on it and just relax and let my body get healthy. Going to try to race A's at 11:30 and 3's at 2:20.

Still not feeling 100%

Well I have been on antibiotics for ten days and I still am not feeling my self. Today is my last day on them and I was hoping to feel better by now. But nope its been about 3 weeks now and just feeling a little better.
This weekend is Metro/Du race. Saturday is a 9 mile tt and Sunday is a crit. I am going to do collegiate and then about 2 hours later race uscf crit.It's our spring break next week so I am looking forward to get away from school and the whole school that is sick and hope I get better when I am home.
Planing on getting my bikes fit next week. Then Conor and I are going up to Fort Collins to ride the Nationals course so we know what we have to do to prepare and know what we have to do in the race. Then we head back up to GJ on Thursday and leave Friday for Durango and there collegiate race.

Hope I get better soon.

Let the LONG season begin!

Well since the first collegiate race is already over, i will be racing from now until December in full force. It will be a long season but I am looking forward to it.
This past weekend was in New Mexico. I was looking forward to the race for the warm weather and compare myself to last year. Saturday was the TT a 15k Out and back with some good climbs. My time was a 23 something. And I looked and last year I got a 28 min time on the same course so that is HUGE improvement. Then yesterday was the crit. It was pretty cold and very windy. The winds were suppose to get up to 40 mph. I was shivering at the start. Then we were off and two CU guys went for it. tried to pull them back but no one wanted to help. The smaller schools were up front trying to pull them back but it didn't happen. people were getting pulled left and right because the breakaway was lapping them. Not too much longer the group of six that i was with was the last group to get pulled. They gave us one more lap for us to dual it out and I won the sprint. Got 12th overall and 2nd in D2.
Next weekend is Du and SPRING BREAK. I am still feeling sick so I am hopping to get better this week.