Midwest Racing

They're already talking about mid-September! This was a teleconference I did about the Tour of Missouri the other day. Some of the dialogue was muddled a little in the transcript (maybe b/c I mumble at times?) but it turned out okay. I certainly didn't throw out that many "ums" and "well you know"s did I???

Weekend Getaway

This isn't exactly cycling related but there was some cross training(?) involved and it served as a good reset button for me. Rebecca and I hit the Great Sand Dune National Park before checking out Taos and Santa Fe for a 4 day holiday. The sand dunes are pretty amazing really. There are these 600ft high sand dunes abutting the Sangre de Cristo mountains on one side and desert plains on the other. Pretty cool phenomenon.
This is the view from High Dune. It took a solid 45 min. of exhausting hiking to get up there. Ever tried to hike uphill in sand?
We camped about 10 miles away from the dunes at a little tent site. You can see a bit of the dune field at the base of the mountains.


I really like this picture taken by Dean Hanson of the last corner at the Stillwater crit in NVGP. This is only the tail end of the Bissell train as there were 5 guys in front of me.
Next up for me is the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic out east. Special thank you to the riders from the Bike & Sport team in Santa Fe for taking me out on a ride...and letting me win the city limit sprint! :)
Thanks for reading.

Wow.

What an exciting end to the Nature Valley Grand Prix! That's what bike racing is all about: 5 days of racing comes down to the last 2 laps at Stillwater. There were 1000s of people lining that incredible venue screaming their lungs out for their favorites. It's taken me 2 days to put a positive spin on it being as we were on the short end of the stick, but I think I'll take a lot of good things away from that race. I am so proud of the way the team rode that Stillwater course. I've replayed the last 2 laps in my head somewhere in the vicinity of 100 times (which isn't healthy) but I know the things I did wrong and I just have to make sure I ride differently if ever in a similar situation. One cool thing about this sport is the strongest person doesn't always win. There are a lot of a tactics and technical aspects to this sport that I need to improve on and this race may be the impetus for me to take the next step in my progression.
Plus, being as NVGP is fairly close to my old stomping grounds of Clear Lake, IA - I had a pretty kick ass fan club: Mom, dad, brother, 4 aunts/uncles, 3 cousins, 8 family friends, 3 HS friends (w/ personalized Bissell/Zirbel Tees on of course) and the biggest surprise was that my sister flew out from New Hampshire to see the race! I was loving it. What a cool experience for me. As much as it sucks to lose a leader's jersey on the last day of a stage race by 3 seconds, sometimes you have to just take a step back and say "Wow" and remember to enjoy the ride.
Thanks for all the support!!! Oh, and I lost my phone Wed. night June 10, so if you called or texted since then I didn't get it. I'm not ignoring you. :) Hopefully I'll have it replaced sometime today.

1/2 way

3 down, 3 to go here at the Nature Valley Grand Prix. The team is riding most excellent and is helping me every step (pedal stroke?) of the way. We have a hella hard circuit coming up in Mankato tomorrow and I'm excited to see how I respond to the pressure and attacks that are headed my way. But first, we have to get thru the Minneapolis crit tonight! 75 min. of nail-biting, white-knuckled fun! I can't think of anything else I'd rather do...
Thanks for the support thus far!

Honor Thy Mother

Last Sunday was Mother's Day and because I was racing and couldn't spend the day with my mother, I thought what better way to celebrate my mom than to eat a half-priced cake in her honor? Afterall, the end of the Joe Martin crit on Sun. marked the beginning of my mid-season break.


I'm still bumming a bit about not winning Joe Martin but we definitely raced our hearts out on Sat. trying to regain the lead. OUCH did an impressive job of defending the jersey. Thanks to my Dad, Uncle Don and Margie for cheering us on every stage of the JMSR! Sorry we couldn't win it for you guys. :(
Next race for me is Philly and I'm giddy b/c it'll be my first go at that U.S. classic. Watch out Manayunk - my fat @$$ is coming!!

sloppy day

We're here in Fayetteville, Arkansas - home of the U of Arkansas Razorbacks and Walmart! It was pouring rain quite heavily this morning and is still coming down a bit right now (3 hours till start) but is supposed to clear up this afternoon. Makes me grateful that we have afternoon starts at the Joe Martin stage race rather than the 8-9 am starts at Gila last week.
There is a buzz of excitement and nervous expectation rippling through the team this morning because BJM smashed the TT yesterday and is leading the race! We stacked 4 guys in the top 10 and so gave ourselves some options for the remaining racing. It's a strong and motivated field here so it should make for some dynamic races these next 3 days.


The 3rd place finisher in yesterday's TT has a relaxing morning while the weather gets the rain out of it's system. If you look closely, you can see that JV has his recovery Skins under his tracksuit like a good lil' racer.
If you have a sec, send some good luck thoughts our way!

I'm back from the Tour of Battenkill in upstate NY and it was actually a pretty cool trip. I was able to get on the podium on Saturday's race which wasn't really the plan - I was kinda supposed to save things for Sunday but sometimes things don't work out the way you plan them. I wrote about the race on the team site. Sunday went not so well for me cuz I flatted on the first lap and didn't get any neutral service - I think they were out of wheels from so many flats! However, the other 4 Bissell dudes showed some grit by finishing the 200k classic style race.
Every once in awhile people ask me what I do with all my free time on the road. Well, when I'm staying at a camp resort in a room by myself with no T.V., no computer, no cell phone reception and no crosswords handy....
I finish a 489 piece jigsaw puzzle over the weekend (11 pieces were missing - which btw makes things more difficult not less b/c you end up spending all sorts of time looking for pieces that aren't there).


Actually this was my roommate for the first day or so, but he was sick (too much coffee?) and I had to put him out of his misery when I saw him stumbling around on the floor the next day. :(


So, that area of New York is pretty cool. The race was in Cambridge/Greenwich area and is surrounded by hills and trees and rivers and all sort of pretty scenery. I was impressed. And all of the locals seemed to really get behind the race which always makes it more rewarding for us. I think the race will keep getting bigger and better as well.
As for Boulder, our weather has done a 360 and today was georgeous. I thoroughly enjoyed my recovery ride today.

This is a picture from the Stone Cup coffee shop in Lyons during my pit stop today. I really like Lyons and would think about living there if it wasn't so far from the airport. But I took the picture to poke fun at the coffee shop b/c they have an American flag w the peace sign in place of the stars and a flag of the earth. Can you be more Hippie than that??

Up next for me is the Tour of the Gila followed closely by Joe Martin Stage Race. I'm looking forward to both - should be some goooood racin!!!
Thanks for reading!

"Uncle!" you win Weather

This fella recently had a B-Day. I also post this pic to remind me of better days. Rain, sleet, hail mix today in Boulder. 100% chance of snow this weekend. It's mid-April, folks. Enough already.
If my flight actually gets off the ground tomorrow morning, I am headed to the Tour of Battenkill in NY with Omer, Frank, Sheldon, and Graham. No snow in the forecast so that's promising.

Redlands Success?

So finally after over a month off from racing after our biggest race of the year, the NRC season officially kicked off this past week. We finished 2nd and 5th on GC and had a 3rd and two 4th place finishes on stages. It's a solid start to the season but as we were sitting around, guzzling Ultragen after the Sunset Road Race, I could tell that none of us were overly content with the week. We've upped the expectations and 2nd place on GC is no longer going to be a 'success' for this team. Louder and BMC rode a great race and deserved the win, that much is clear. So we are going to have step it up another notch if we want that top step on the podium. I, for one, did not race aggressive enough to pull out the win on the last day. The fear of losing our podium spot on GC caused me to race defensively for the majority of the race. Hopefully I'll learn from this experience and react differently next time I'm in that situation. That being said, this was my highest finish ever on GC for an NRC event. And a high quality field at that. Everyone on the team helped me out at one point or other during the 4 day event. Be it helping me with positioning, fetching bottles for me, helping me with positioning, gobbling up time bonuses, getting in the break or helping me with positioning, the boys had their hands full the last 3 days! And of course our staff made it so we just had to pedal our bikes and recover. Such a huge help. But my favorite part of Redlands (besides that wonderful, 90 min., zig-zaggy, 160 man field, white knuckled crit that I and many other poor souls crashed in) is staying with my Aunt Margaret and Uncle Jim during the race and spending time with their/our family. I'm so lucky to be able to get that family TLC on the road while racing. Thanks fam!
Okay, maybe I'll start updating this blog more often now that the racing has begun again. Maybe I'll start posting pictures again to spice things up. And maybe I'll put a little effort into writing interesting content instead of generic race reports or self-evaluations. Maybe.

now what?

phew! I'm glad that race is done. Now we can just sit back and relax for the remainder of the 2009 season, right? Maybe not. That's the trouble with the schedule for the domestic pro teams. The biggest race of the year for us is in Feb.! And then probably the 2nd and 3rd biggest races are at the end of the year. Don't get me wrong, it's nice having a month at home after the AToC but it just seems like a big waste not being able to directly utilize this fitness gained from suffering through that friggin hard race. I am thankful that Bissell was invited to the ToC again this year because it's an incredible experience and it's an honor to race in it, but it's just difficult to be going well in Feb., Sept., and a few times in between. Now that I have the whining out of my system, let me say that my friends/family support throughout the ToC was 2nd to none! It was a lot of fun having the support of so many loved ones (not to mention some complete strangers) at the race this year. It's that very support that helps keep us going when we're racing in miserable cold rain for 3 days straight...for instance.
So, I took it nice and easy on the bike this week and all my little road rash areas and bruising are healing up nicely. I'm hoping that Scotty, Teddy, Omer, and PZ are healing up fast as well. AJM seems to have recovered okay as proven by his podium finish this past week in Merced. No team races for me until Redlands at the end of this month, but I may jump in a local race or 2 in the meantime.
Thanks to all who supported and cheered the Bissell team during this year's edition of the Amgen Tour!
Take care.

Picture time

In typical blogging fashion for me, I have some photos and updates from weeks ago...
after our Argentina campaign, we flew straight to training camp in Santa Rosa. With quite a few new additions to the team, it was good to finally meet each other and try out the new gear and equipment (which some of us had already done in Argentina and Wellington). Have I ever mentioned that we have about the best equipment sponsorship on the planet? We also got to spend quite a bit of time chatting and riding with most of our sponsors. A lot of times training camp is the only opportunity to meet many of the sponsors or at least get to spend some time with them, so it's nice to be able to get to know some of the personalities behind the forces that allow our team to exist. Besides a few of us getting sick at camp as well, everything went according to plan and it looks as though we are going to have a fun year of working together and winning races.
The Tour of California is coming up quick so that's been preoccupying most of my thoughts of late. It sounds like I'll have quite the friends and family contingent cheering there for parts of the race so that'll be a bonus. I've been feeling pretty good and gaining confidence coming into this year's edition, but if you haven't noticed, there is a pretty impressive start list for the race so I'm not sure what my fitness and confidence will translate to when head-to-head against the best in the world. All I know is that Bissell is going to race hard and make opportunities for ourselves. Let the circus begin!

San Luis was beautiful most of the time we were there but about once a week they'd have this crazy deluge for about 30min. that would cause massive flooding in the streets.

This San Luis store sounds like my kind of place!

This was some sort of roadside altar near San Luis that I thought was interesting.

A team ride doing the Geyser's Loop near Santa Rosa. I love my Boulder roads, but Santa Rosa is no slouch either...

Giampaolo and I mug for the camera at his restaurant Riviera. He and his family fed the Bissell team (no small feat!) 3 of the 7 nights of our camp w incredible italian food. Thank you Pesce family!

This one is for my dad: it's a picture of new bossman Wohlberg's '64 Buick Le Sabre wagon with roof rack. Bench seats, 8 track player, 401cc engine, etc. It pretty much demands respect. I think the night time picture adds to the mystique.

Take care.

don't cry for me...

Hola,
a little update here from San Luis. I'm alive. I wasn't able to start st. 5 of the Tour due to a bout with what was probably food poisoning. I was disappointed for sure but mostly because I missed out on some more great training and prep for ToC. I'm feeling better now but I was pretty worthless there for about 30 hrs. The team is doing great without me with BJM in the top 10 on GC and 2nd in sprint points.
Argentina is a cool country and I am enjoying my time here now that I have time to look around a bit. The people are very chill and generally happy. They love their siestas here as nearly everything closes down between 1p - 5p! Also, they don't start dinner until 9p or so. And the best part?!? They love their helado (ice cream) here!!! There are ice cream shops everywhere and they're always packed. That is the real reason I like these people so much! I can get a giant waffle cone w/ 2 scoops for 3 pesos ($1)! And oddly enough, that was one the only food that didn't cause me to get nauseous (sp?) the day after getting sick. :)
I've been taking a few pics but I'll have to post them later.
Thanks for the supporting emails and blog posts!
Also, www.pezcyclingnews.com posted that interview of me done by Nathan Rand back in November recently. Make sure you check out how boring of an interviewee I am...after checking out the "daily distractions" of course...
Hasta luego amigos!

Dias Contentos!

Hello,
quick update here. I'm heading to Argentina today for the Tour de San Luis which runs Mon-Sun. I'm mucho excited both to see a new country and start racing! The form seems to be coming around so I'm cautiously optimistic about the TT on St. 3. It's a pretty big race with a couple of Pro Tour teams and a bunch of pro conti teams from overseas so you should have no problem following results with cyclingnews.com, velonews.com, or pezcyclingnews.com. Some Basso character is planning to show up which is apparently a big deal but I think the J-M bros being reunited is a much bigger deal. That's just me.
Oh, and if there happens to be a freak blizzard during the race (forecast is for mid-90s), my prediction is that T-Bird and I will dominate due to much practice in riding in those conditions the past 2 months. :)
Take care.

A Clean Start to the New Year

Happy New Year!
In an attempt to start 2009 on the right foot, I broke out my new Bissell ProHeat 2X CleanShot that was given to me from Bissell for Christmas and cleaned every square inch of the carpet in my apartment (approx. 900 sq. ft!). That thing is bad @$$! I picked up so much dirt, hair, and crud even after vacuuming with my stellar Bissell Healthy Home Vacuum first. I need to post some graphic pics to demonstrate its dirt-fighting prowess.
The ProHeat in action. Can you tell which side I've already cleaned???


This is some of the hair that the ProHeat picked up from the carpet. The best part is that it was primarily black dog hair from the PREVIOUS TENANT!! (note: The mini candy cane is for scale only and was not picked up by the Bissell)



So, a lot has happened since my last post. I went to Santa Rosa in mid Dec. for an 8 day training block with buddy Scott and to spend some time with boss man Glen as well. Congrats to Glen and Tonia for the birth of their first child, daughter Kira Christine Mitchell born on Dec. 26th!!! But don't think you can skimp on Birthday presents just b/c Christmas is the day before!
I also went home for Christmas for a few days which was nice but the weather was a little obnoxious. The one time I ventured out in the cold for a ride while I was back, I crashed 1 block later on a sheet of ice and flipped it. I also got to see Baltimore and D.C. for the first time. I got about a day's worth of each.


That bulge in Tonia's belly is now breathing, eating, crying, sleeping, and pooping in our world.


Here's the Capitol Building in D.C. After seeing how big it is, I think they should rename it the Capital Building. Also, it doesn't really lean, it's just a bad angle by the cameraman.


Okay, I gotta get out and RIDE! Here's to a great 2009!

December already?!?

Hello,
I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Instead of having the traditional Thanksgiving meal with friends and family this year, Rebecca and I tried out our version of the Saxo Bank Boot Camp. Though I'm not sure how much faster this trip made me, I'm sure that it better prepared me for conditions such as was experienced during the St. 4 death march at the 2008 Tour of California. Our adventures included camping in the cold rain in Canyonlands NP in the desert? of Utah, hiking over slippery rocks/cliffs from said rain, camping in the freezing cold of western CO, riding in freezing rain turning to snow as I ascended, and driving through a snow storm which caused us to take backroads and culminated in traveling a 20mph curvy canyon gravel road where we saw only 1 other car in the 45 min it took to drive the 20 miles. Though we had a great time, we concluded that these near-death experiences (we're so dramatic) were signs that we should be spending Thanksgiving eating massive amounts of turkey and pumpkin pie with family. Lesson learned.
So, this training business is going okay so far tho I hit a speedbump when I caught a cold recently (totally unrelated to camping in freezing weather, I'm sure). I'm still feeling kind of crap but it's a snow day anyway here in Boulder so I don't feel too guilty.
Here is a recent interview I did with Amy Bush who freelances for U.S. Cycling Report. Amy is the woman whom I met at the Tour of Missouri and has provided this blog with pictures in the past. In the picture accompanying the interview, I'm looking pretty psyched about my 2nd place effort at TT nats. :)
Some boot camp pics:
the midway point of our 'treacherous' Canyonlands NP hikes. Also, one of my favorite places on Earth.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. I had never been here before last week and the dramatic sheer cliffs absolutely floored me.

Okay, that's all I got. Hopefully my next update will be about how hard I've been training and how fast I'm getting...

Dear Lee,

how have you been? Sorry it's been so long since I've last written. I hope you're doing well and are having fun with your land. Any Mtn bike trails yet??
So, I've been having a good time here in Boulder. Offseason was great (my first in 3 years), and I was able to recharge mind and body over the past couple months. I got in some epic hikes and a little cross racing too. I may have to give the latter up though because I seem to find the ground with my face every stinkin time I ride that bike! It's been fun though. In my first race, I think I beat 4 or 5 finishers which was a moral victory. And in my 2nd race, I was beating a few guys as well before I crashed out (and took Logan with me, haha). Friend Rob Nagler took some pics of the first race and there are a few of me. You can just FEEL my speed emanating through your screen. However, now it's time to get down to business. I've been training for 2 weeks now and am starting to remember what it's like to ride a bike everyday again. I love this time of year because you get to dream big and imagine how good you're going to be in the coming season.
In other momentous news, I moved to south Boulder. I hate moving but this was a step up for me. I'm officially moved out of the closet! Happy days! Though in reality, I probably won't sleep as well in a room with windows.

We had our first snow last week. And I am trying to brag when I say that this pic was taken 200 ft. from my new front door.

This was taken a full block away from my place. Oh and did I mention it's 65 and sunny today? Word.
Take care, General CB!

Cheater!!!

Do you want to know how you get up Brasstown Bald when you weigh nearly 200lbs and you're completely cracked and seeing stars?? You get not 1, not 2, but 3 grown men to help push you up the steepest section. This photo cracks me up because I remember that cycling ethics was the last thing on my mind at that point. I just wanted to be able to start the next day by any means possible. This photo was taken by Amy whom I met at Tour of Missouri this year.
So, I'm definitely in offseason as confirmed by my recent resurgence of a nightlife, the liklihood that I be spotted at the local IHOP or ice cream aisle of a 24hr grocery store after 10p.m., and the unliklihood that I've been seen outside of Boulder on a bike in the past 2 weeks (exactly once). However, my hiking form is coming around. I'm feeling pretty fast on the dirt paths of the foothills. :-) And I built up a cross bike and so have been hitting the gravel a little and practicing mounting/dismounting a ton (make that 10min. worth where I racked myself a good one and called it a day). I think I'm ready for some cross racing! I may start jumping into some local races as early as this weekend, so if you want a good hearty laugh come out to the races and see me get throttled handily. Sounds like fun to me!
I hope you're enjoying your autumn!

Ouch

Yesterday hurt...a lot. So much so that I've been claiming that it was one of the hardest days I've had on a bike. The 90mi course was finished with a 46.8kph (29mph) average. This was on a very challenging, hilly course with no flat road anywhere. It was a good thing that we had total participation on the team trying to get in the break, because there were probably a dozen or so serious breakaway attempts that were absolute leg breakers for those in the moves. The decisive break didn't go until 100k into the race. I was a tad smashed by the end but still tried a late move (1500m to go) that was weak and extremely futile.
After the stage, BJM and I were asked to sign some autographs at the Michelob Ultra tent (race sponsor). Our appearance fee consisted of one cold Michelob each. Mmmmm..recovery.

After falling victim to a viral infection and dropping out after St. 1, Jeremy has taken a new career path? as a t.v. commentator for the race. Have we found the next Paul Sherwen?

Okay, 3 stages to go. Gotta stay attentive and keep out of trouble.

Missouri update

Those of you giving me a hard time about lack of updates - this will have to do. Now get off my back!!! (Matt, Don, et al) :)
The TT yesterday didn't go so well for me. I felt flat about the whole day and really haven't been feeling all that great for weeks now. I'm not sick or anything, I just think the long season is starting to wear on me a bit. We have 4 days of racing left in the season though, so it's a good time to let it all hang out, take some chances, and have fun racing.
My Dad and uncle Don came to Stages 2 & 3, which was cool. At this time of year, I'll take any form of extra motivation I can get. Rumor has it I could get a Mom appearance this weekend too. Lucky me!
So, if you'd like better race updates and pictures, etc. - I suggest you visit www.podiuminsight.blogspot.com. Lyne is at all the races (it seems) and does an awesome job of covering the races, taking pics, and providing unique insights. Plus, if you scroll down through her ToMissouri posts, you'll find my latest fashion choice with regards to haircut and facial hair and an opportunity for you to vote 'yay' or 'nay'. Good for cheap entertainment. Thanks for reading. And the countdown continues....4 to go.

Pick out the good in any situation

The Highlight of my Saturday. The rest I can do without. photo courtesy of Su'zi:k.