Can you see the heart beating?

Friday June 29 is an exciting day for me! As I'm sure any parent will attest, the nervous excitement of the first ultrasound can be overwhelming at times. This will be my first ultrasound since that fateful day when we found that big bundle of joy in my body. It's been 14 weeks and I can't wait to see the progress. One would hope that my little intruder has gotten smaller rather than bigger...but there are some similarities, no? If the news is good, I'll be sure to post picks of the utltrasound so everyone can put them on their fridges. This impending date w/ the doc will determine if I can race in mid July. If I don't get the green light, I'll get it checked out again in August and just take it month by month. BUT, if I do get the okay - I will be racing at the Bicycle, Blues, and BBQ festival road race in Clear Lake, IA on July 8 as my big return to the sport. It's a 71 mi point to point race with a closed finish and it is run by cyclists who know what racers like. So, you think you're fit??? Come and bring the hurt to a pro cyclist who hasn't felt the pain of a race since March. Doesn't that sound like fun? Besides, Clear Lake is a cool place to be around the 4th of July and it'll be a fun weekend.
Soooo, I guess it's summertime, huh? It's been pretty stinkin hot on the Colorado front range lately. You'd think that climbing up 4000ft would cool things off significantly but that doesn't always seem to be the case. With that in mind, I have a pop quiz for ya'll:
1) The other day, I went for a long ride in the mountains where the temperature varied between 80-90 degrees, depending on the elevation I was at. So, the question is - how many ounces of water did I lose during the ride? Details: I was out about 6 hrs, rode about 110 mi at an average elevation of about 7000ft. hints: remember I'm a big dude so everything gets scaled up. Here's a pic of the post-ride salt stains on my arm and jersey.
The calculation I used was (weight lost during ride) + (total ounces drank during ride) - (2 lbs for calorie expenditure) - (1 lb for my one "nature break" during ride).


Over the past few months I've been forced to observe races from the other side of the barriers, and don't get me wrong, somedays I miss racing so much that I feel sick but there is definitely something to be said for spectating this cool sport. I mean what is there not to love? It's free, you can get so close you can touch the riders (right Teddy?), you can just sit there and let the riders come to you, and you get to see all sorts nuances of the race that aren't always apparent in the pack. It's certainly a nice way to spend an afternoon...

Not an atypical sight at a lap race. This was from April at Koppenburg. Lounge around and chat/drink for 20 min., cheer like mad for 30s, sit down and repeat.
A Denver crit from last week with Logan in tow. They went by probably 50 times and this was the best picture I could manage. weak.

Take care and remember to get out and ride (if applicable).

Summer Time!

Since Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer, I thought I'd post some summery pics for the occasion.
This is a scenic overlook of Ole Miss with my buddy the General. I have to say I was quite impressed with the caliber of riding in NE Iowa! Just so you know, Lee is a cat. 1 racer but he's no slave to fashion.

This is the midpoint of my favorite area ride - Estes Park. That white building is the Stanley Hotel, I believe. (Think "The Shining")
Matt and I on a country road heading to Ft. Collins to meet up with Joel who was riding down from Laramie, WY.
Matt and I lounging in easy chairs drinking coffee as Joel slays himself into a massive headwind trying to meet us in Ft. Collins.

Following our rendevous and subsequent ride back to Boulder, we had time and just enough energy to bbq, swim, hottub it, and do a little posing as well. This accentuates my attractive tan lines. Take your eyes of my impressive guns for a second and notice my bib tan line on my back. Somehow I'm tanning through my jersey as well! As a result, I'm accepting applications from women who could apply sunscreen to my back daily before my rides.

Logan utilizing his uncanny ability to take group photos at arm's length. Lev, Carri, Matt, Joel, and Logan.
Memorial Day in Boulder also means Bolder Boulder 10k time, which just happens to start 40m from our deck. 50,000+ people racing, walking, jogging, or roaming aimlessly past our place this morning. This photo inadvertantly caught the kid in the grey shirt hopping the fence to run bandit. I've already alerted the proper authorities.
Have a good summer everyone!

"patience young grasshopper"

that's my theme these days. I just had to post something cuz that "Life as a Gimp" post was up there way too long and was kind of a Debbie Downer. Nothing too crazy and exciting in my world right now. I love to ride my bike...that's cool I guess. I'm the zone 2 master these days. Nothing intense. I told Huff that and he texted back "zone 2 = zone gay. you need zone huff." What a dork. I guess when you win a World Championship medal you can get away with comments like that though...
I'm having a hard time following the Gila race going on right now. I didn't realize how much I wanted to be there until it started and I'm sitting here at home moping. The team seems to be fired up to race though. BJM somehow pulled off a 2nd place in the TT at altitude - I don't know how he does it. And the guys did very well at Georgia too. All these cool races I'm missing....must repeat mantra.
So I took a temp job working evenings M-F 5:30-10:30. Just something to keep me occupied because I can't stand being stuck at home while not being able to train full force. Basically, the job is grading written responses from 4-5 graders. It's actually not as tedious as it sounds. Those little squirts get pretty creative at times and it's fairly entertaining as a result. That lasts one more week, then it's back to the Homeland at some point to visit fam and friends. After that it will be time to start thinking about whipping myself (somewhat) into racing shape! Training camp, anyone? Boise, CO Springs, Boulder??? Anyone interested in a block of eatin, sleepin, and trainin (focussing on the latter two) sometime between late May through early July should contact me with a well written proposal.
Oh, and Meatball Friedman makes his return from the woes of clottiness to the racing circuit this week at Dunkirk. Yay for comebacks!
Take care, ya'll.

Life as a Gimp

Well, nothing much new from my corner of the world. I get lots of blood drawn and am now well known by all the nurses and secretaries in the clinic that I go to. I'm starting to pedal around a bit and plan to ease in to some of that training business starting this week. I'm kinda sorta planning to be racing again in July but that'll depend on how the treatment goes from now till then. When I'm not sitting in a healthcare facility, I've been spending most of my time hanging out with my Colorado pals who I haven't seen for months. That's been great and has helped keep me afloat. I still have people in the state who I can't wait to see again (Jen, Kenny, Sara, Eli, Sarah, et al.) which should keep me busy traveling around and focussing on something other than all the cool races that I'm missing and how much I could be helping my team right now.
I probably won't update this thing too often as I doubt I'll have anything worthwhile to say. Just know that I'm doing fine and I'm right on track with my treatment. I don't think I'm quite ready to call it a year and so I kinda think I should win a few races in the last few months of the season. Thanks for all the phone calls, emails, and blog comments concerning my excessive blood coagulation. Oh, this is kind of funny: for the first 10 days of my treatment, I was giving myself injections of an anticoagulant. And so everyday I would come home, this wave of guilt and embarrassment would come over me when I'd see syringes lying on the table in plain sight of anyone who came in - like I was doing something shady. It was amusing. It would quickly pass, but that initial feeling was uncontrollable. I thought about staging a photo of me giving myself an injection while wearing my chamois, but decided it might be in poor taste given the ultra-sensitive state we've been forced into.
Alright, thanks for reading and all of your support.

A slight change of plans...

Well, you won't see my name in the results for a bit. I went and got myself one them blood clots in my left leg. You know the things that your 85 year old grandmother has to worry about? Yup, same thing. Or as I like to call it: Mike Friedman Disease. I'm not really sure what caused it but I think it had something to do with the trauma of the Tour of Cali followed directly by 3 days of relative inactivity due to a bronchial infection combined with a genetic predisposition to such things. Shortly after the tour is when I first felt it and I just got it checked out 2 days ago (that thing was setting up camp for about 3 weeks undiagnosed). As you may or may not know, Friedman got a clot in his leg last fall, it went undiagnosed, and a month later it manifested itself as a pulmonary embolism and he nearly died. He was the sole reason I got my leg checked out and caught it before it got nasty. For that reason, I'm calling Meatball a hero who deserves all sorts of medals, town keys, and beautiful groupies and maybe a cape too. He has been an invaluable source for me of both advice and empathy. He's quite the caring fella.
I think I will be out of the racing scene for at least 3 months because of the blood thinners that I have to take. Hopefully, I will be able to train again in 2 weeks but I will know more in the next week or so.
And just to address the elephant in the room for those reading this that don't know me: I got my blood results back yesterday and my hematocrit level came back a stellar 41 (or "slightly anemic" as the medical folk like to say). That's probably the extent of the time and energy that I will spend addressing any accusations.
Redlands update: Ben pulled off a 2nd place in the prologue which may be the ideal position at this point. The remaining 7 dudes are raring to go and will be racing for the GC win. I'm just sorry I won't be there to contribute and left them 1 man short. I'm sure they'll step it up in my absence.
Okay, there's my news. Health updates will be forthcoming when I get them.

March can be a long month

I'm in the final week of my nearly 3 month stint in this fine state of California and I have to say that it's been fun, the weather has been phenomenal, and we've done some good hard racin', but MAN I can't wait to get back to Boulder! We've got a crit this afternoon, then we head down to Redlands where Aunt Margaret and Uncle Jim will host some of the team again and we do our best to help Ben keep on his winning ways. That should prove to be quite the challenge. Then Garrett, Benno, and I will high-tail it to Boulder by van.

Ben had another stellar ride yesterday by crushing the field in a challenging 30k TT. Unfortunately, I was not feeling my oats and had a very sub-par ride on a course that suited me very well. It's disappointing because I know these opportunities are few and far between but at least we scored another NRC victory! (I use the term "we" loosely) Ben is in another league right now and I think the rest of the dudes in the peloton are a little scared of him at the moment. Tonight we try to set up Emile to a sprint victory which will be difficult with Toyota and others in full force.

I can't wait to see some fam in a couple of days and all my boulder buds soon after. To all my family and friends: give me a call, email, or blog comment if we haven't spoken recently. I'd like to reconnect following this California hiatus. Take care.

We're getting used to this sight. This is Ben after wrapping up the overall at Central Valley.

Progress report: Week 3.

Omer has joined me in the quest to look trashy (or a gentlemanly sophistication?) note: this pic has not been altered or enhanced in any way.

This is a common scene at the host family house. Hours have been spent playing the old school Gameboy Tetris in the official gaming chair. As Teddy lamented recently, "I can't sleep because I'm visualizing Tetris moves when I close my eyes" small price to pay for the glory of a high score.

1st of Many!

This just in:
BenJM notched our 1st NRC victory of the 2007 season by attacking a break of 7 riders and bringing it home solo in the Central Valley RR!!!!
It was a brutally hard RR and what was left of the pack (70 or so) finished about 30 s back from Ben. Ben picked up a 15s time bonus with the win for a little breathing room in tomorrow's TT. There were some strong TTers in the break with Ben so it should be quite the battle for GC control. I can't wait! Wish us luck - not that Ben needs any the way he's riding right now...

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.