Livin Large in Clovis

Hello,

We are in week 2 of our 3 week stint with our host family in Clovis, CA. It's pretty nice living with our giant screen t.v. and endless supply of cereal among other amenities. Everyone is still recuperating from one ailment or another. Teddy suffered his 2nd and 3rd crash of the season this past weekend but seems to be recovering well. Omer took a nasty fall in training last week but gutted out the racing and is improving everyday. And most everyone still has some kind of congestion that they are trying to clear up. Sat.'s crit was a bit disappointing with 2 of us flatting (Teddy and I) with less than 15 laps to go in the race so we didn't have as much horsepower up front as we would have liked. As a result, we ran out of leadouts and Emile was in great position with 2 laps to go but lost some places in the final 2 laps. In the road race, we had Garrett in the break with one other dude for 60 miles! They were caught with less than 10k to go and so we tried to set up Ben and Emile as best we could for the finish. Emile ended getting caught behind a crash but Ben showed his excellent form with a 4th place finish with some help from Scotty down the stretch. I was a little disappointed that I wasn't able to help in the last 5k but was happy with my contributions in the last 20k or so. My fitness seems to be fairly good at the moment as I've felt rather spry at the end of these long road races. My top end is lacking but I'll be fine tuning that in the upcoming weeks. This week is the Central Valley Classic with a hilly rr on fri., a long, flat(!) tt on sat., and a crit on sun. It should suit us so hopefully we can produce some results. Oh, and my latest trend-setting, king of style endeavor is the stash. I remember a family portrait when I was maybe 4? where my dad was sporting a killer mustachio and he says he hit a homerun in his softball game that day so I figure it must be performance enhancing in some way (much like the mullet). I've been growing it since the end of the ToC and I don't know if it will ever fill in past the "14 yr old stage" but I'll give it a shot and try to give picture updates periodically.

Progress report: Week 1.

Equipped with "the beater". Hey, it may not be impressive yet, but you have to start somewhere.

A butt shot from the car during the ToC TT. This was during the wicked fast descent. courtesy of Bob Hughes!

Getting a little extra training in on Noah's bike. You should see my sprint! photo courtesy of teddy.

This is a pic of me acing a serve vs. Benno in tennis on the Nintendo Wii. As Teddy will attest, these things are exhausting! Maybe it's the method of the future to curbing overweight youths.

It's not even March yet????

Okay, so the last month has been a bit of a blur. A lot happening and not a lot of time or energy to sit back and absorb it. I am very happy with the results our team achieved at the ToC and am really proud of the 3 guys who gutted it out to the finish despite the prevalent virus/bacteria that was rampant in our team. I was pretty bummed about not finishing st. 6, but to keep perspective - it is only Feb! There will be plenty of opportunities for me to redeem myself. Riding in the tour was a great experience for me and I've taken a lot from it. Everyone on the team is riding exceptionally well and it should be exciting to see how we use this momentum for the March racing. I'm feeling a little better each day and hope to be full strength by the racing this weekend in Merced. At this point, it doesn't look like I will be going to Spain for the Track World Championships but will be doing Redlands instead - which is kind of a bummer but should prove to be better prep for the Tour of Georgia if we are fortunate enough to be invited. 5 of us have just arrived at a host house in Clovis, CA with a family who will be kind (and patient) enough to house us for a few weeks! I've posted pics of their specimens of endless energy they call Garrett (12) and Noah (8). Could be the future of U.S. cycling right here! They love their bikes and can already geek it up better than me when talking about euro pros, tech talk, or anything bike related really. Sorry about the focussing issues. I also posted one of Ben and Garrett relaxing in the romantic Madonna Inn in San Louis Obisbo after St. 4 where our rooms came stocked with pink robes. It's probably a good thing that pic isn't in focus. Then there are some pre tour pics: one of Ben living the life at the Los Olivos Estate (I think I was in that hot tub every night for 2 weeks straight) and one of a team ride with sponsor Mark Bissell in the hills of central California. Speaking of which, it was pretty amazing to see all of the fans and sponsors supporting us during the tour. That combined with our fantastic support crew of Glen, Mark, Jo, Kasey, Ben, and Richie was no small part of our success. It was a pretty taxing tour for everyone involved but hopefully everyone agrees that is was well worth it. :) Okay, that's all for now, but hopefully I'll be getting on a more regular updating schedule. It's possible, eh? Thanks again for all of the support.

3, 2, 1, BEEEEEEEP!

Okay - here we go! The Tour starts tomorrow in downtown San Fran and all I can say is let's get this thing going already! I've never had so much prep, planning, and hype before a race. Everyone on the team is just ready to hit that start line. We had a great camp and everyone seems to be hauling right now. So I'm excited to see how we fair against the big boys. And speaking of which - being as this is my first BIG race, I'm allowed a certain amount of gawking and awestruck-ness at the event, eh? So here we go. I'm just going to do this once and be done with it. In the last 2 days, I've had breakfast or dinner in the same room as Basso, Bettini, Rasmussen, Jens, Eki and of course all the U.S. stars. I'd have to say that Bettini has the biggest "aura" as the current Olympic and World Champ. And last night our team was introduced at the big gala by Paul Sherwin and Bob Roll. I'm not going to lie - it's been a little surreal. But now I have put all that junk out of my mind and just race my bike hard. I will say that this race is stacked with talent! If everyone is going well at the moment, it should be quite the epic battle. As far as our team, I've been amazed at the level of equipment, staff, and organization for this event. We're on arguably the best equipment at the tour (no kidding) and we'll have 2 soigneurs, 2 mechanics, along with Mark and Glen. So, that's all I got for now. If you can't make it out to Cali to watch, you can catch the action each night on VS. (formerly OLN) and some of the guys will be keeping daily blogs found at the team website. Thanks for following our progress and all the good luck wishes. I'll try to update when I can...

Title

whew - that was a long hiatus, eh? That's what happens sometimes when you don't own your own computer - the internet time gets cut down to just enough to check your 20 email messages every 4-5 days. Plus, I've been pretty busy heading back and forth between LA with the track stuff and Los Olivos, CA where our team has rented a sweet ranch/house/estate for a month. As of 10:30A this morning, I am a full-on roadie again! I finished my last track race for at least 2 months. I was pleased with the LA World Cup results where I finished 8th with a surprising time (for me anyway) of 4:34.2. That 8th place was good for some UCI points and a possible qualification for the World Track Championships in Spain in late March. But we won't know for sure until the end of Feb. Now my focus is 100% on the Tour of California!!!! THE biggest race on U.S. soil. We're coming in as probably the biggest underdogs of the race so we'll have to prove to everyone that they made a good choice in selecting us to compete. I'm feeling very fortunate to have the opportunity to line up with the best this sport has to offer but also a fair amount of pressure to compete against these dudes that I watch doing the Tour on OLN. At least I could beat most of them in a no-holds-barred UFC match...and that's really what matters at the end of the day. So anyway, if you want to reach me in the next couple of days - it might prove difficult because I'm going to be taking the "Cliff Notes Guide" to base fitness in attempts to get ready for ToC. Here are some various pics from the last month:

My new ride! (the bike not the Vibe) picture different seatpost/saddle, carbon bottle cages, no pump/saddlebag, and aero Easton race wheels for a sexy racing machine.
Here's Brad Huff lining up for the scratch race final at the world cup. he finished 9th - which basically means that I'm better than he is (remember I finished a stellar 8th in my event)
A view from the top of a climb near our house in Los Olivos. Not bad, eh?
A look out at the ocean from the top of a different climb.
I passed this on a solo ride in the area and thought the sign was disrespectful to the cows.
Meatball Friedman, always the crowd pleaser, showing his track stand skills on a bike that is probably only a 1-2cm smaller than he regularly rides.
the only thing the LA smog is good for: consistently impressive sunsets.

It's good for something.

It may not be real conducive to riding outdoors for extended periods of time, but the snow sure makes for some beautiful scenery in these parts. The roads were melted enough for me to get out for a bit yesterday and do some hill intervals. I took these pics up there (after my last interval of course!).

The flatirons from the south.
a view of snow-laden Boulder
mas montanas


I leave for LA on Wed. the 3rd and will quite possibly be in Cali for 3 months straight! Sheesh. Next race is Jan. 19th at the LA World Cup III where I'll be doing the individual pursuit again.
Happy '07 to everyone!!!

more Moscow pics

Jet lag is a perennial problem as Kori displays here by coming to breakfast with her shirt inside-out.
Colby gives some post-race instruction after the Women's points race.
Red square - the Kremlin outer wall w/ tower on the left and a museum(?) in the center right.
These Russian security forces were EVERYWHERE at Red Square. The first day we went to Red Square, it was closed due to protests. We saw this horse brigade a few minutes later. Those poor protesters....
Sima, Kori, Gina (a Canuck), and Colby pose in front of St. Basil's Cathedral (or CandyLand as Colby calls it)
Ya know that Colorado blizzard you've been hearing about? A photo of my poor Corolla on Thurs. Would Teddy and his TUSB training method ride in this??? What about the TUSB indoor trainer riding? I have to change my chamois every 60-90 min. because it's like sitting in a saturated diaper. Pleasant, eh?

Holidaze

I'm back safe and sound from Moskva - no radiation poisoning, no fatal run-ins with the mafia, and no malnourishment from lack of food. They had plenty of food in the country, however most of it was not to we Yanks' liking. That's never been a problem for me though...The only obvious downside of the trip at this moment is the fact that I'm posting this entry at 4:00a due to sleeping woes.
Overall, I had a very good trip. I was happy with my race, I got a good dose of culture while there, and I definitely enjoyed watching the high-level of racing and sightseeing.
I was psyched about my 13+s p.r. in the race but I also realize that I had a lot going for me this time around. I had about 6 weeks of specific training in prep, I had a PERFECT bike setup (I wouldn't change a thing), and I was on one of the fastest tracks in the world. It might prove difficult to improve on this time in the near future but the desire to beat teammate Rich England's 4:28 best is a good motivator! :)
Next up for me is the LA World Cup on Jan. 19-21. I will be doing just the IP again and then again the week after in the US selection trials for the track World Championships. Then it's on to road season! That didn't take long did it? If I were to win the WC trials and we qualified a spot for the pursuit, the Track World Championships are at the end of March in Spain this year.
I'm sorry I've been intentionally mum about the upcoming road season. There are a lot of exciting news and additions with the team that I will share soon. For now, here are pics of the hotel we stayed in. I'll post more pics later when this server isn't being a pain in my b-side:
the Hotel Ukraine where we stayed for the week - beautiful architecture.







the Hotel Ukraine at night. You can't see it well but it has a big red soviet star at the top of the tower.

Red Dawn approaching

Just got back from LA and being all trackified. We got a good week of work in and I'm feeling more prepared to take on Moscow. For those of you who may be wondering - the bike is stellar on the oval. I leave for Moscow in a few days so any words of wisdom about the culture or traveling to that part of the world would be appreciated! I know many of you are experiencing full on winter doldrums right now but we experienced a few beauteous days in LA (minus the smog and traffic of course).
Here is a view from Palos Verdes - there are some decent hills in these parts.
I took a spin along Redondo Beach and got passed by one person all day - this dude! This is the same bike that won the 4-man team comp. at RAAM a few years back. Kinda cool.
This is what some people do in December (play volleyball or watch women in bikinis play volleyball - either one is fun).

purty bike

Anyone want to see a beautiful piece of engineering and craftsmanship? Putting this work of art on 2 dimensions doesn't do it justice but it's the best I can do unless you set up an appointment for me to bring it to your living room.
Do you have any idea what this means? It means that no matter how fast (or slow) I go in Moscow, there will be one certainty: I'm gonna look gooooooood. And as slippery as this thing looks to the wind, I'm guessing that it will help nudge me a little further to the "fast" side.
I owe a great deal of thanks to Mark and Glen for making this frame go from Italy to my doorstep in less than 3 weeks. Plus, if all goes well, I will be riding prototype 180 SRAM track cranks and the lastest Easton has in aerobar technology. Oh yeah, and a wicked fast Bell aero helmet. Sheesh. No excuses, eh? That's the way I like it. These guys came through HUGE for me. I feel a little uncomfortable about all this hustle bustle on my account, but I don't think they'll fire me if I don't podium....will they??? If so, I guess I've always got pizza delivery to fall back on. That's comforting.
I head to LA on Tuesday for a week of much needed time of going in circles. I think I will be spending a little less time in the donut shops this time around. I'm actually looking forward to hanging out with some of the cyclists whom I met at the first track camp. I'm finding out that pro cyclists aren't all bad. We're just a little "disconnected" from reality for the most part. As long as I don't start spending my free time sitting in coffee shops browsing cycling forums with my laptop while polishing off my 4th "specialty coffee" - there's still hope for me.
Thanks for reading.

"STUDMUFN"

So, now that I'm delivering pies again, I tend to spend a lot of time staring at the bumper in front of me. And being Boulder, there is no shortage of opinionated bumper stickers. Democrats and bumper stickers go hand in hand don't they? Anyway, I want to know what the funniest bumper sticker or vanity license plate that you've ever seen is. Thinking back, my favorite vanity plate has to be "msanthrp" which I took to mean "I really don't like you people". I was laughing to myself the rest of the night trying to deliver pizzas when I saw that one a couple of years ago. Recently, I just saw a hispanic driver in a big truck with the license plate "miburro". I thought that one was pretty good too. One bumper sticker that I get a kick out of is "visualize whirled peas". Another one, though political was still witty, was "Bush/Cheney for 1984" during the 2004 election campaign. Sooooo, I'd like to hear some more good ones if you can think of any.

Cycling news: not much new with me. Just training and working for the most part. Though I am going through one of those streaks where I have some sort of mechanical every other time I ride. Kind of annoying but can be fun to play the "what will it be this time?" game. From the rumor mill: This week the U.S. National team sent out a few riders to Japan to represent the U.S. for the Tour de Okinawa - a one-day 200k race. USAC footed the bill for all the expenses (travelling, food, etc.) aaannnndddd the men missed their start for the race. Big whoops.

isn't Halloween over?

I had a blast watching the cyclocross races this past weekend. As Joe pointed out during one of the races, "it sure is fun being a spectator and not a racer". I don't want to get tooo used to it though. Cyclocross is a great mix of skills, fitness, and toughness. I'm determined to try it next year if I actually get a bike - but I've been using that line for 2 years now. Here are some of my "costumes" from the past week:
supporting Ben and Andy Jacques-Maynes at the races. Ben was 7th and Andy 9th in Saturday's race vs. the best in the country. photo courtesy of D-Mac.
I'll be dressing up like this quite a bit in the next few weeks. A glimpse into the glamorous lifestyle of a pro cyclist. Eat it Dave Towle! (no pun intended)








some race photos:
Megan (in the middle) battling up the hill during Sunday's race. Nice backdrop, eh?











Ben doing his thang ahead of Geoff Kabush in Saturday's race.







Colby MF Pearce mounting his steed







the "who's who" startline from left: Todd Wells (defending National Champ), Chris Horner (in red), Ryan Trebon (series leader, also he's 6'6"), Andy J-M, Tim Johnson, and Ben J-M.

Scary Spectacles

Took part in a less traditional form of Halloween celebration last night. Had a nice run through the Pearl Street Mall donning nothing but a pumpkin while there were hundreds of people still out and about. I'm trying to incorporate more cross training in my program this year. You may not realize this, but pumpkins really tire your neck out when trying to run with one on your head. I just can't shake the WXC from my blood.
This is a momentus weekend in the Denver/Boulder area. First off, the Nuggets have their home opener on Fri. night against the Timberwolves. I'm going to see them start their glorious championship year first hand. Also, Longmont and Boulder are hosting the Crank Bros Cyclocross Series this Sat. and Sun. Ben Jacques Maynes (2007 teammate) and all the other cyclocross stars will be coming to town this weekend for some top level racing. Bring your cowbells and drinks of choice for a festive and exciting afternoon!
Local updates: Betts' Boulder High cross country teams finished 13th and 16th at the state meet this past weekend while Kenny and Sara's Salida team finished 22nd in their first appearance (ever?). Both have young teams and are getting better every year. Also, Logan finished 10th and 11th at the Collegiate DII Mtn Bike Nationals in short track and cross country while Scott Stewart finished 4th at the DI Nationals for cross country. Very cool.
Logan at Collegiate Nationals equiped with pink cast
















Here, Knife (pronounced cuh-niff) sports his getup for the festivities.

3 tomatoes are walking...

a momma tomato, a daddy tomato and a little child tomato. The child tomato keeps lagging behind...
What's the punchline of this joke and what movie is this from??? Today's trivia of good movies that you should know every line from.

I've been having trouble posting pics on this site and that is the reason for delay, but I'm tired of messing with it so let's get up to speed: I did a little vacationing on my way back from LA and was going to post some photos to prove it but that has been a futile attempt thus far. After finding a 2nd and 3rd wind on my drive from LA (4 large afternoon/evening coffees will tend to do that) I got about an hour from the CO border before retiring for the night at 4a in Utah. Before I go on, I have to say that driving through Vegas at night is quite spectacular. I'm not much of a Vegas fan - in fact, one might say that I despise the filthy place - but driving through the city at night after 3+ plus hours of desert driving is something everyone should experience. You'll get sensory overload after being deprived of anything stimulating for hours beforehand. I was like a little kid doing double takes and doing lots of ooohhs and aaahhs while driving (possibly a little swerving, too).
So, after finding a place to throw my sleeping bag in Utah, I slept in till 7:30a because as you can guess, it's rather hard to sleep in the desert after the sun comes up when you have absolutely no shade. Then it was on to Gunnison, CO to visit former SG milita teammate Logan. After a brief 3 hour coffee stop in Grand Junction talking with an amusing compulsive liar and waiting for Logan to call me back, I busted it to Gunni and was reunited with Logan. Logan is currently attending Western State (ala Old School) and is competing on the collegiate mtn. bike team. More about Logan shortly. Next, I visited Kenny, Sara, and Eli in beautifully quaint Salida, CO. They're coaching the hs and middle school xc teams there and are doing a great job of building those programs. I came to practice one day and attempted to give a motivational speech but may have been more effective when later I pulled the line "if you run this interval hard, I'll show you all my freakish sternum". I think they ran hard cause who doesn't like a good freak show now and then? Highlights of that visit included some very intense and dramatic ping pong games on the new table at the church that Kenny is a pastor of. Here is the one sad lonely pic I was able to post.
Sunset from Logan's place - also the highest point in Gunni. And, if you'd like to see one spectacular and highly effective way to break a bone in your hand, you should check out this blog, scroll down to the Oct. 7th entry and click on the first video. Logan is the last racer. Disclaimer: I don't know this blogger so watch out for inappropriate material when searching for this video. It's worth the risk though. He was sporting a pink cast at the mtn bike race that Carri and I cheered at the next weekend in Golden. A broken hand isn't going to slow down Logan!

So, since this is supposed to be a cycling blog - I should update everyone on my latest cycling news (as Uncle Don strongly urged in the comments). Because I was able to hit the talent pool time standard in the mass start test at Track Nationals, I will be going to the World Cup track race in Moscow in mid Dec. to race a pursuit. For those of you that don't know - a pursuit is a 4k time trial on the velodrome that should take me about 4:40. So yes, I will be traveling halfway across the globe to race less than 5 minutes. That works out to roughly 19.6 miles travelled for every second that I race. It should be a fun trip, but I'm a little apprehensive about how much faster World Cup track gurus are than me. It's very possible that I will get caught during the race and forever humiliated (1/2 lap takes about 8 seconds). But, I just found out that teammate Richard England will be in Moscow too so that'll be really cool. I'll be able to use him for advice, tips, or a shoulder to cry on. Anyway, that's why I'm going to be doing intervals today (in October!) on the indoor trainer because it is snowing outside right now. It was a nice offseason while it lasted.
Time to get fast again! or to start the long, painful process of not being slow. thanks for reading, ya'll!

is it a sign?

this was the view from our deck yesterday. Yesterday was to be my much anticipated return to the bike after 10 days off. I leave it to you fatalists to decide.

I know many of you are worried about me being un-mulleted and not having a proper haircut for the 2007 season. Worry not, I have a committee researching feverishly on what style will maximize performance while still making the ladies faint where they stand. While the results are nowhere near conclusive just yet, initial reports indicate that one of these may be in order.

end-o-year trip, pt. 1

Here is the first half account of the 3 week trip that the Corolla and I soloed:
Day 1 - drove to Fischer Towers area NE of Moab and found a place to "camp" (consisted of throwing sleeping bag down and sleeping) just before dusk. Highlights: crystal clear night, stared at the stars and enjoyed the meteors and bats flying in front of my face.
Day 2 - drove to Vegas and met Mark and Glen at about 7p. Highlights: Sinclair party which included half-naked caged dancers, yummy hors deveurves, a sweet view from the roof of the Rio Casino, and The Cippolini (he's hot).
Day 3-4 - Interbike. Highlights: free coffee, cool bike gear, free coffee.
Day 5 - Drove to Aunt Margaret and Uncle Jim's. Highlights: saying goodbye to Mark and Glen (I have my limits).
Day 6-7 - Hangin w/ the fam. Highlights: home cooked meals and generally being spoiled
Day 8-15 - Track Nats in LA. Highlights: donut shops and not crashing like these poor chaps
Drive-by shooting in Utah. Have I mentioned that I love Utah?
LA is all about the donut shops. This was Zwiza's favorite. It had coffee, donuts, gambling, and a little buddha shrine in one corner complete with food offerings.
Oh yeah, there was racing too. This is Scott off the front of the scratch race.
The vast Pacific - Redondo Beach. The only day I ventured outside the route from the hotel to the velodrome all week. The water was nice. I had fun fighting a few waves but they won out in the end.

This concludes pt. 1 of the trip.

it was time

updates on the latest trip soon to follow.

not just yet...

The season is drawing to a close but it's not yet time to hang up the chamois (I feel like I've been saying this for the past 2 months). We finished off the road season well with Teddy getting the "W" out in New Hampshire in front of the home crowd; Eddy, Tommy, and Jake going 1-2-4 at the Tour de Lelanua; and Omer and I scoring another NRC victory and almost landing a podium GC finish at Parker. A nice end to a fun and exciting season. But, instead of shoving my bike in the closet for 3 weeks, eating junk at an alarming rate and enjoying a season-in-review reflection - I've decided to prolong this season by competing in Track Nationals out in L.A. at the indoor velodrome. Not so much because I'm fast on the track, but because I had a lot of fun this past week at the OTC in Colo Springs and I would like to give the track some time and effort for improvement. I'm sure it'll be fun. I mean, doesn't riding around curves at 55km/hr at a 45 degree angle sound fun to you? On my way out to L.A., the Corolla and I will be stopping at Interbike to see what all this bike-nerd-orgy-fest-hoopla is about. I also plan to do a little car camping in Utah out in the middle of nowhere at some point and visit some of my friends living deep in the mountains of CO on my way back. My goal: to return home with a memory card full of stimulating and awe-inspiring pics that I will somehow figure out how to post on this site. Or at least get one of little Eli Wilcox climbing a tree. You gotta have goals if you want to succeed in this world. Take care, ya'll. Here are some pics of the Parker crit courtesy of our awesome Parker host, Becky:
scootin around in circles with Blake and Scotty
One on a curve with Brad Huff, newly crowned crit national champ, in the foreground. See those scrapes on his leg? Yeah, I more or less caused him to crash earlier in the race because as he says, I used my "estrogen bars" (brakes). funny dude.

George who?

Well, I guess they're ProTour riders for a reason. Even without their teams the big boyz were able to walk away from the Championship weekend with 2 jerseys and 4 top 3 finishes. I wasn't too pleased with the results of either race for us as a team but I was happy with the effort that we gave. My 7th place in the TT was a personal disappointment but as my good buddy Betts pointed out, "you probably would have finished 5th if you didn't have that mullet flapping in the wind". He, of course, didn't factor in the pcychological advantages that are inherent with a haircut of this caliber. In the road race our leader for the day, iamtedking, flatted in an especially difficult part of the race and ended up using his big effort just catching back to main field. That meant that halfway into the race, I was suddenly annointed as team leader, despite having chased down breaks and sitting on the front for a good chunk of the first 2 hours of the race. I didn't exactly set myself up for a good finish after not drinking or eating near enough early. But, you have to roll with the punches and I had a chance at cracking the top 15 but wasn't able to slip away from the bunch when the attacks were flying. I think I finished 11th of 15 in the bunch sprint and subsequently my phone has been ringing off the hook with ProTour teams looking to replace their aging sprinters. Sorry fellas, I'd like to keep racing in the U.S. Here is a pic taken during the RR. My camera is having some problems so that's why the pics have been in short supply of late. The pic has been rated PG-13 due to the inordinate amount of sternum showing. My apologies to the parents of young children.
Last weekend was the Univest Grand Prix in PA. Another cool, hard race that ended up being a death march. Teddy bounced back from his bad luck the week before to rip a 6th place finish and win the Best Young Rider jersey. Fantastico! The crit the next day was a little more low key but hard nonetheless. Synapsis: we missed the break, we chased like mad, they stayed away, we did well in the bunch kick. After the race, we had a our last meal together as a team at none other than Micky D's. It was quite emotional. I'd like to share my post race meal with you:
double cheeseburger - 460 Cal - 55% sat. fat - 47% sodium
McChicken - 370 Cal - 17% sat. fat - 34% sodium
sm. fries - 250 Cal - 13% sat. fat - 6% sodium
large choc. shake - 1160 Cal - 82% sat. fat - 21% sodium HOLY COW!!!
3 cookies - 480 Cal - 33% sat. fat - 12% sodium
Totals: 2720 Cal - 200% sat. fat - 120% sodium
all for under $8 I might add. Impressed? For reference, I probably burned about 1800 Calories in the race earlier that day. I'll bet Hincapie can't eat like that. Okay, enough bragging/confession. I have the Parker Omnium this weekend, which is the only NRC event in Colorado. It'll be interesting to see who out there still feels like racing. After that is a week long national track camp in Colo Springs where I will be trying my hand at the velodrome. It'll be a fun time (until I try to freewheel or brake and go crashing into the concrete). Ciao.

Rockin Rockford

The Rockford crit went well for us with placings 1-5, 7, and 10. For the 2nd year in a row, we beat up on (the other) local pro Kirk O'Bee and took turns attacking him until he dropped out. We're ruthless. Sheedy won in a crowd-pleasing fashion by crashing on the final straight about 3/4 through the race and then coming back to win solo. He's all about putting on a good show even at the expense of some skin. Today, Bob had me break a record in this Monday night TT Series that they hold in Ada May-August every year. Bob wanted it broken bad because a dude from a rival club team set it a few years ago and there were rumors that he turned around early on the out-and-back course. Again, we're ruthless. So now we head to S. Carolina tomorrow and spend a couple of days checking out the courses before going to work Fri. and Sun. And yes, I'm still excited. Very, very excited.

Rockford podium. We'd be happy with filling just 1 of the podium spots in the next 2 races. See? We're not greedy.

Tommy and I sportin the fresh mohowks for the final round of racing. Pulling out ALL the stops!!!

Bring it on!

Here we go with the last month of racing and I can't speak for my teammates but I'm excited! Excited that many of us are riding well right now, excited that "my" event is finally here, excited that we have the opportunity to put an exclamation point on this season, and also excited that some R&R is on the horizon. I leave shortly to get on a plane to make a race for the last time this year. Okay, send us good juju if you get a chance.

Discrimination is dispiccable. This was at a Utah burrito joint and in case you can't read it, this kid's shirt reads "Friends don't let friends have mullets". A brawl nearly broke out shortly after this pic was taken. Photo courtesy of the multi-talented Belgian Tim. Okay, gotta go catch a bus. Laters.

The Final Push

We're getting into that last part of the season now when I can't stop thinking about how glorious the off-season will be, but I still have the biggest races of the season coming up in the USPROs. Talk about conflict. Just have to stay focussed for a few more weeks...but MAN, 8 months of straight racing can take a toll on a guy. Okay, enough whining. At least I wasn't racing ProTour riders in Feb. Hehehe.
Utah didn't go quite as planned. I wasn't climbing very well and the other guys really struggled with the altitude. I had fun spending time with the guys though, so it wasn't all bad. Next, we have the Rockford, MI crit - which is 1 of 2 races that Priority Health, Advantage Benefits, and Bissell sponsor each year (which basically means that we have to win!). That race is on Aug. 26th and then we travel down to S. Carolina for the USPRO TT on Fri. Sep. 1 and the RR on Sun. This is the first year that it is US only so we won't be able to utilize the skills of Richie, Tommy, and Glen for those. But, Eddie is rumored to be making his comeback there so it will be great to have him in the road race and hang out with him again. Talk about morale boost! After USPROs, I have the Atlanta 100k, Univest, and then the Parker Omnium to finish things off. My life is pretty hectic right now, so don't expect any frequent or creative posts. I'm surprised that there are any readers left - as boring as these posts have been of late! Anyway, I hope to be back to my old self soon and I appreciate everyone who continues to keep up-to-date on our happenings.

Attention all masochists: for a good time, try O2 intervals! This is Frank and I prepping for TT Nats. I'm officially a spoiled athlete.

me gustan burritos!

Tonight's agenda: repeat "I'm a climber" over and over until I believe it. We're in the midst of racing the Tour of Utah and I'm reminded why this is my favorite state in the union. It is so beautiful here and this isn't even my favorite part of the state. The views are magnificent and the upcoming climbs are stellar (and scary hard). Jake, Brian, Glen, and I are joined by Omer and Dan Timmerman and supported by Benno and Tim, who is helping as an invaluable soignier. We've had some quality time together in the close quarters of the team van (around 25 hours from Michigan) and no fist fights worth mentioning to this point. The racing has been very difficult due to a combination of a hella-strong field, massive crosswinds, 95-105 degree weather, and altitude to top it off. My favorite kind of racing usually, but poor positioning has cost me valuable energy in both road races thus far. Monday's road race was highlighted by hurricane force winds for about 20 mins. while a front passed through the area. It made for some interesting racing: I was kept busy dodging tree branches and other debris blowing across the road while being equally attentive to the 130lb "climber types" who were also blowing all over the place. Kinda funny and scary at the same time. Late in the race, 2 dudes tangled right in front of me and I had no where to go but straight over the top of them, somersaulting over my bars and rolling on the pavement (Mary Lou Retton would have been proud, I'm sure). To my amazement, I was fine and tried to get straight back on my bike but my bike had taken the brunt of the impact. After a few futile attempts to get my bike operational again, I pretty much blew my top and had what is best described as a "tantrum". Pretty funny stuff, really - I don't really remember much of it but I think it involved a lot of cursing and even jumping up and down! I wish someone would have gotten that on tape. I'll have to work on that...Ben was able to get me on the spare bike after a bit and Glen and Dan helped me pace back onto the field at the expense of their own races. Overall bummer but could have been worse. Day 2 involved more insane crosswinds and poor positioning caused me to miss some initial splits and I (and Brian and Glen) had to use way too much energy for me to catch back on. Do I learn? Don't answer that - it was rhetorical. On the bright side, Omer must have set some kind of record by going back to get something like 50 bottles from the caravan during the race. He needs to be in the domestique Olympics or something. Unfortunately, Dan had to pull the plug after getting some food poisoning and thus having little energy and Glen was having problems controlling his bodily functions during the race on Mon. (he's getting old - this is to be expected). The time trial today went a little better for us as we finished 3rd on the day in team gc and are now 4th overall. I had a pretty decent run, though not too exciting. My uncle David and cousin Amanda came to watch which was really cool and the only bummer was that I had the fastest time for about 20 min. and we had to sit there and wait as guys kept slipping by me and ended up ousting me from the podium.
Okay, that's enough babbling. Big hilltop finish tomorrow = gc shakeup. Be sure to check it out...ya know, if you care.