Race time

Collegiate season is under way, we have only made it to one weekend of racing though but we made our presence known. The first weekend of races we had out team fundraiser so we were unable to make it. Then The CU/UNC crits was our first races together as a team and we kicked ass. We worked really well as a team and were really strong. CU have 15 riders in the race and we had 5. We were in every move both days of racing. Saturday came down to a bunch sprint and we set up Richard and he came out with the W for the team. Sunday was another crit and it was a bit colder and smaller fields. We knew everyone know knows we are a strong team so they will be looking out for us. There were many attempts for breaks but nothing stuck until Conor attacked and a little bit later a CSU rider attached to bridge to Conor and Patrick sat on and made it to Conor, then a CU guy attacked and Rich sat on his wheel. Soon enough we had 3 out of the 4 riders in the race in the break. I just sat in and followed some wheels and watched my 3 teammates Team Time Trial in the break. Rich again came out with the W, Pat 2nd, Conor 4th and I got 10th. Not bad at all for our first weekend together. This past weekend we were unable to race. Lovely Colorado weather decided to dump some snow on the front range. So the Saturdays race was cancelled but yesterdays race was on but we decided a 6 hour drive was not worth it for an hour of racing.
Right now I am sick and on antibiotics, today is my fifth day off the bike and its killing me but I know I need to rest to get healthy. This weekend is our Home race here in Grand Junction. Going to be some hard two days of racing. Saturday starts off with a Individual hill climb up the Frutia side monument. Then Saturday night is a Twilight crit at the go cart track off I70. Then Sunday is a tough Road race. If you want to come watch any of the races I would recommend the Crit Saturday night, you can watch the whole race. Hope I am healthy by this weekend!

Race flyer


http://org.mesastate.edu/cycling/files/RoadRace2010.pdf

Some people are CRAZY

It's finally warming up in Grand Junction, about time. It is suppose to be 55 today and I can't wait to get out there. Right now I am working hard at the student rec center typing this blog and getting paid. I am starting to get some more hours in the legs and it feels really nice. Just got over a cold or just about too that took me off the bike for 5 days to get better again. This weekend is the first collegiate race of the year with Metro hosting a TT and DU having a crit. They are both great races but we will not be attending this year. We are having a team Fundraiser instead on Saturday Night. We will be showing Race across the Sky with Lance Armstrong. It is about the Leadville 100 MTB race. I hear it is a great movie so you should come check it out. Here is a link to the trailer. http://www.livetrainrace.com/wp/?p=308

 

 

So yesterday when we were almost done with our ride like 10 min from home we had a jackass skim us while riding. There was four of us rider two a breast with on in the bike lane with gravel and glass and everything else that ends up in the bike lane and another one riding right on the white line. Every other car that passed us had no problem driving right around us. But this one driver decided to get as close as he could and I have no idea how we didn't get hit. We all threw up our hands and he slammed on his brakes and skidded to the right. We just decided to keep riding and go around this jackass but once we were passing him he grabbed Richard and tried throwing him off his bike. Good thing he has good handling skills otherwise he would of hit the deck and we would have had more problems. That is considered an assault, he crossed the line when he tried grabbing one of us to throw us off our bike going about 15mph. We asked him what was his problem was while riding away in a different tone and text and he said that the city pays a lot of money for these bike lanes. Well they should pay to clean them up to. We kept on riding while he got back in his car and came next to us at the red light. It turned green and he decided to start to drift in the lane. Some people just amaze me sometimes with how angry they can get. Heaven forbid you might have to tap the break and go around us. So sorry for the inconvenience. The great thing was we got his license plate number and he was driving his company's car with Davidson homes all over it. So I recommend you never do business with these guys they might get angry and try to rip you off. We reported him to the state troopers and now he will be getting a telephone call. Some people just don't realize that there car is a deadly weapon. If they hit is with their car it could kill us.

Off to a better note, spring break is next week for us. I am stoked just to relax and get some good miles in. It kind of sucks though because it is still considered winter. O well it will be nice to get a little bit of a break from school.

Valley of the Sun

Well it was nice to get out of the cold weather for a little while and hang in Arizona for a few days. The two Germans, Brent, Keeny, Conor and I drove down to Arizona Wednesday afternoon. It was a long day for me having to wake up at 4am for work in the morning and not going to bed till after 1 am once we got to Arizona. But before we settled in our place we hit up the first In N Out we saw, it was delicious. We sleep in on Thursday and woke up to warm weather. It was great we got out for a little bit to open up the legs again for Fridays TT.

The TT went as well as it could, got a bike fit from German # 1 a couple of days before we left. Raised the seat height by 3 cm at least and I actually looked aero for once. I felt good and shaved a few seconds off from the previous year. Then Saturday was a 90 mile road race with 400 ft or so of climbing per lap. I was going to take it chill the whole race and sit in and see if I could do something on the last lap. But it was really hard to get away and stay away. A lot of people tried thorough out the race but nothing stuck, so it came down to a bunch sprint at the top of the climb. I was feeling really good and felt like I was going to get a good result. However once we hit 2k to go everyone goes crazy and forgets how to ride and just rides dumb. So once we got past the craziness I was feeling good until 500 m to go I just shut down and had nothing left. Finished somewhere in the mid 20's, not too bad considering I was just going there for warmth, In N Out and some good training. The crit was Sunday afternoon and it was nice and warm. I wanted to get in a break or grab some primes and hope maybe conor could just sit in and get a good result. Right from the gun Conor went with an attack but got reeled back soon. Opened up his legs and sat in the rest of the time. I went with attacks and made attacks and but nothing stuck. I road very aggressive and felt really good for the first crit but with 3 laps to go I knew I was not getting away and sat in. Conor had good position up front and ended up 3^rd in the sprint which was great.

Now I am back in Junction depressed from going to very nice warm weather to crappy snowy weather. It sucks but I got to keep on training through it. Collegiate season is starting in a few weeks and we will have a STRONG team this year. I can't wait to race with a team for once. Then the summer will be great to. I just got some good racing coming up very soon. Until next time…

Training

Haven't posted on here in a long time. I am just going to school and riding my bike as much as possible. It's going to be a good year. The weather here in Junction has really sucked lately, it hasn't even hit the 40's since we started school, or at least that is what it feels like. Yesterday was the nicest day, it was perfect out, prob still in the 30's but it was nice and today it is snowing. I HATE the snow, I just want it to warm up.
Next Wednesday 6 of us are heading down to Arizona for Valley Of the Sun Stage Race. Looking forward to warm weather and wearing shorts and getting some good miles in. Just going down there for fun and training, not looking for a good result, but if it presents it's self that would be great. Looking forward to some In N Out, Yumm.
Pretty stocked just got a Garmin 705, it's pretty sweet. I don't know how to use all the things on it yet but it's got a lot. Look out for Mesa this year, we are going to KILL it. Cant wait, about a month till the first collegiate race. I need to get a camera so i can post pics on here but I lost my camera a while ago. i hate when that happens. Until next time.

New Year

It's a new year and I am looking forward to it. I am heading back to Junction in a few days. I have been off the bike since nats and it has been nice. Getting back to it in a couple of days. My "off season" went really fast this year. I am ready to get back to junction to get some good miles in and hit the gym. I am really looking forward to the racing season ahead. Mesas road team is going to be killer and my summer team as well. got my one upgrade in cross so in 2010 my goal is to get my one upgrade in road. hoping 2010 is more successful. Wish everyone a safe and healthy new year.

Crunch Time

Everything is all coming together at once right now. Trying to get everything done before I can take a break. This week is the last week of classes and next week is Finals. Once I am done with Finials it is off to CX Nats. Trying to study and being able to ride good at nats is a fun task. This cross season it could be summed up with Bad Luck. This season nothing seems to be going my way. Every race this year I have had some type of mechanical or flats etc. I am starting to feel really good racing now so that is a plus. I only need one race to go perfect and that is nats so if it goes good there I will be happy. Looks like Conor and I will actually have a really good team this summer to race for. Really looking forward to racing with a high notch team. Ready to learn a lot and have fun.

That's Cross Racing

This past weekend was some racing is Castle Rock on Saturday and Boulder on Sunday. We arrived to the race pretty early on Saturday to make sure our bikes were running good because this was the first race on our new cross bikes. We rode the course a couple of times and it was really muddy. It was about a 2 mile course which is pretty long for a cross course. I was ready to race and was able to line up second row which was huge; usually I am in the back row. With about 30 sec to the start I noticed I had a flat rear tire. I was going to try to ride it a lap to the pit which was at the end of the lap but once I hit the cement I knew w I was done. Luckily Jeff was standing there with his small MTB so I grabbed that and started racing. His bike was too small for me and he had different pedals then mine so I couldn’t clip in so it was a hard lap. I finally made it to the pit to switch bikes. At this point I was at least 2 min back from the last guy in the race, and who knows how much to the leaders. So I started passing guys one by one. Then just about when I started rolling I went through this swap area and went flying over the bars. I hit a rock or something at the bottom of the mud pit and just went swimming in the swamp. I got up very slowly loosing even more time. I bent my hood pretty good and my brakes were rubbing. So once I got to the pit I switched bikes again. At this time I really just wanted to pull the plug, but I didn’t give up and keep on passing people. I ended up 12th witch was not too bad considering all the mishaps I had. I just really wished I could have had a better race. Then we woke up Sunday to some flurries coming down. We drove out the Boulder Reservoir to race, Conor decided before we got there that he was not going to race because he crashed hard the day before and was getting a cold. So we watched some of the earlier races and I noticed that everyone was running A LOT. So I went and pre rode the course which was mostly sand and a lot of it you had to run. I wanted to ride my bike not run it. The weather was getting bad and the passes sounded like they were going to get pounded on. So I decided not to race so we could get home before the passes got worse.



on the first lap riding the small MTB







This weekend is the Boulder cup races. I can’t wait it should be some sweet racing. I am just hoping not to get lapped, that would be cool. The weather right now looks cold this weekend in Boulder so I hope the mountains don’t get too much snow so we can make it over on Friday. It is snowing here now in Junction so I really hope the passes clear up by Friday.