2011!

I can't believe it is already 2011. I am excited and uncertain of the season to come. I am looking at some bigger races and hopefully some good results in 2011. I took about 3 weeks total off exercising after cross nationals and a long season of road, mountain and cross races. It felt really good to refuel the engine. Now I am running, yes running a little bit. I would love to be riding but I left all my cycling gear back in Junction so I wouldn't be tempted to ride earlier then I was suppose too.
So the new plan now is I will be going back to school. Never thought I would say that but I am going to continue to be a college student and pursue my MBA. I am excited to continue to be living in Grand Junction and racing the collegiate scene again.
One problem right now is I don't have a place to live when I go back to Junction because I was not planning on going back to school and so we are looking for a new place. I am fortunate to have a place to live for 3 weeks when school starts but then I need to find a new place to crash. A couple of options are in the works and I hope they work out.

Forgot about this

With my last semester of college rapidly approaching I am getting a lot of questions through my head. My plan as of now is move back to Denver for a little then find a part time job between Broomfield and Boulder and race my bike. I currently don't know who I will be racing for yet in 2011 , long story ugggg. So i am not sure what i am going to do.
Tomorrow I leave for Bend, OR for my last collegiate race EVER! WOW. I am hoping to do really good in the collegiate, I would love to have another jersey. Then after the collegiate race I have a 3hr break before the elite race where I just plan on holding on for dear life. Then right after that we hop in the car and drive back to GJ for Finals on Monday, that is going to SUCK!!

Stars and Bars!

Collegiate Nationals was this past weekend in Madison Wisconsin, with a Road race, Crit, and a Team Time Trial. We arrived in Madison Wednesday afternoon with sunshine and wind. We just settled in and relaxed the rest of the day. Thursday we drove the TTT course to check it out and see what we were up against. Rolling hills and narrow roads, an out and back about 19 miles long. Then we drove to the RR course to pre ride it, We got a little lost riding it but got most of the course down. Friday morning was an early day for us, we started at 8:40 am and it was about a 45 min drive from where we were staying. It was raining and about 40 degrees out so it was pretty cold. We started with a one mile neutral roll out on a downhill, pretty sketchy. The course was short steep climbs with the last climb long and gradual and was a real leg burner. To make it short Pat made a move with a couple of other guys that stuck right of the bat. Rich bridged up to the group and Pat was spent and extremely cold so had to drop out. Richard ended up 3rd and I got 21st, I had nothing left on the last climb, kind of disappointed with that. Conor had to drop early on due to a broken shifter.
Saturday afternoon was the crit downtown around the capitol. It was a pretty straight forward crit, a big square. We knew we had to be in every move of the day and try to set rich up for the sprint in the end. Throughout the whole race we did not miss a move and were riding really well together. With about 10 laps to go there was a guy dangling off the front of the group, so with about eight laps to go all four of us moved to the front. Conor, Patrick and I were rotating through on the front to pull this guy back as rich sat fourth wheel to stay fresh for the sprint. With about five laps to go we caught the guy off the front and then picked up the speed just a little bit. No one dared come around us or try to attack, we were controlling the race! With one lap to go I gave it everything and pulled off for the guys to finish it off. Conor pulled to about half a lap to go then Pat took Rich to the last corner then Richard gave it everything and won the race by three bike lengths. It was a great feeling knowing I did everything I could during the race to help him win the race and now he is the National Champion. It was textbook racing.

After the crit

The next morning was the TTT, we all had all the aero equipment we could get our hands on. We had a really good warm up on the trainers and all were feeling pretty good going into the start. Right of the start you took a sharp right turn straight into an uphill. We got our speed up quick and kept it that way throughout the race. We were communicating and rotating very smoothly. It was a really hard 19 mile TTT. We ended up taking the Win by over 20 sec. I am so excited we are team time trial national champions! We road great together all year and it paid off getting the stars and bars I have been missing for the last couple of years.

Start




Pre made national jerseys(pretty sick)

Now it is finals week and I have three more to go, then it is off to St George Utah with Kenny to go watch his triathlon and eat some In N out of course. Then we will head back to Denver for a few days then it is off to Boise Idaho for the summer racing for Team Exergy. Can’t wait for the things to come.

Collegiate Nationals

Collegiate Nationals is less then a week away. We are flying of of Junction next Wednesday to Denver then Denver to Madison Wisconsin. I am really looking forward to it. We have a really strong team going this year and I really hope we can deliver the goods. I am feeling good and well rested and healthy I just cant wait to be there.



Once we get back it is Finals week for school ugg. So right now I am making up all my work I am going to miss over the next week. Then it is back home for a little and go to my lil sis Graduation, CRAZY! Then it is off to live in Boise Idaho for the summer and race for Team Exergy. Conor and I cant wait to race for a real team this summer. It is going to be a whole lot of new things and I can't wait for the experience.

Rolling

Well Collegiate racing is in full swing right now and I am feeling good. Just getting over being sick for over a week and it feels nice to be back to normal. It is trying to warm up in GJ but not fast enough.
Recap of the last two weekends of racing. Our home race was not easy. Saturday morning was the hill climb up the Frutia side monument. My legs felt great but my lungs didn't. Finished about mid pack. Then that night was our twilight crit, fast and technical course. Right off the bat a breakaway form with Richard, Caley and two other guys. They managed to stay away the whole time. Rich 2nd, Conor 5th, Pat 6th and me 10th. Sunday was the Road race. A couple minutes in a break went up the road with Pat in it for Mesa. A few miles later Conor bridged up to the breakaway so we had two guys in the break. Things were really looking good for us. About halfway through the race Conor flatted his tubular and with no wheel support was out of the race, and not too shortly after I flatted and waited on the side of the road for 40 min until a random car came and picked me up. Then Pat had some bad luck and cramped out of the break. So we only had rich left in the race and 2 miles to go he cramped bad to say the least Mesa didn't have a good day, a lot of bad luck. This past weekend was the Mines races another hill climb and crit. The HC went as good as it goes for me. The crit was fast and really hard to get a break to stick, they all got brought back. With 5 laps to go the guys set up a train for me. Fort Lewis was trying to jump in the middle of our train and mess us up but we didn't let them in and elbowed them out and made it clear don't try to mess us up. I screwed up the sprint and got 3rd, felt pretty bad should of had the win. Then after the race Fort Lewis was crying because they said we rode too aggressive. WTF you were the guys trying to screw us up, all we did was hold our position. You wouldn't believe how much they are complaining there coach calling nate and complaining and even talking to RMCCC saying we were too aggressive. If they don't want to get bumped and shoved then stay away from our train. This weekend we will have to make sure to stay at least 5 feet away from all 15 FLC riders to make sure they have enough room and don't feel like we are too aggressive.
Local crit series put on by Livetrainrace.com has been going on for two weeks. They really know how to put on a race. The Mesa guys worked hard for me the last two weeks and got me the wins. I got my cat 1 upgrade on my B-Day thanks to them. This weekend races is Colorado college in the springs. A crit and another HC. UGGG


OUCH!!

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.