Thursday, July 06, 2006

Momentum

So, when Tour de Nez was all said and done, 3 top 5 finishes including a stage win, top 10s in every race, and 3 in the top 20 overall. A good outing for Priority Health, I'd say. Letting the country know that we're just getting started (dramatics), the boys at Fitchburg got our 2nd NRC stage win of the year, held the leader's jersey for a day, again placed top 10 in every stage, and had a 5th and 6th in the overall. Great job, fellas! Next, Brent will vie for 2 U23 National Championships in the road race (with help from Frodo, Birdman, and Stewie) and the TT on Mon. and Wed. of next week. Kick some espoir tail, Brent!

Well, after having my first weekend off of racing since mid-April you would think I would be feeling as fresh as daisies, but that just hasn't been the case. Between recovering from that Tour de Nez crash, having a bout of food poisoning, traveling to a family reunion, and attempting to fix my bikes - it seems like I've been missing out on the recharge aspect of being home. Ah well, I'm starting to get my bearings (and my apetite) again just in time to fly back to the homeland of Clear Lake, IA for a hometown bike race. The promoter of the race Tim Putnam raised enough money for me to fly back for the weekend to race and help promote the sport in the area. It should turn out to be a fun trip with many activities packed into a short amount of time. The festival can be found here. A big thanks to Tim for making it possible for me to take part in the festivities. And Kira will be coming with me to meet some more family and friends - yippee! After the Sun. race, it's quick fly back to Boulder, so I can jump in a car with Scott and head to Oregon for Cascade starting on Wed. I'll be racing with Glen, along with 3 guys from Team Axley whom we met at Tour de Nez. It'll be a fun, hard race. And it's the only NRC race that I did last year - so that'll give me an upper hand, right?
For those of you who think Sheeds is a nice guy, look at this picture. This is the face of someone who will rip your legs off at every opportunity and put you into the curb at a moment's notice. (pic pirated from cyclingnews.com)


Allstar sponsor Lance of Sinclair Imports (far left) who provide us with our beautiful steeds, treating us like ProTour riders at Nez. Yeah, that's a stretch limo. Reno in the background.

This was the extent of my training last weekend at the family reunion. Pretty intense stuff. I should be prepared for the next round of racing.

5 comments:

Huck said...

According to Bob, can you please stop referring to yourself as Thor, it is the Mullet Missile

Anonymous said...

You did such a good job promoting the sport, the team, and inspiring young and old at Clear Lake this last weekend. And you are such a diplomat...

Kira is an awesome young lady. And I get the impression she thinks you are ok - even with the mullet.

Keep up the good work - we are proud of you!!

Doreen

Brent Bookwalter said...

DUDE!!! Congrats on the "W" at cascade! that is a huass ride. keep it up and smoke em in the TT.

Scott said...

I think you should only race NRCs. You seem to be winning all of them so maybe that could be your niche in US cycling. You could be like that regional fast guy that wins all the local races but only you would be winning NRCs. Could be cool, think about it.

Anonymous said...

Thor/Mullet Missle!

What great results at Cascade and now your headlining the VeloNews!

Your ICON status since Clear Lake is only growing!

Was great to have you back in CL and we are already planning for you to defend you BBBQ title in 07!

Tim