watts up?

first id like to just take a moment to appreciate the awesomeness of this title, it took about one whole week to think up, and i thoroughly enjoy it. also as a bit of a psa everybody should try to use the word "watts" as often as possible in every day conversation outside of biking, for example, when talking about my chemistry final i might say: "i was really putting out some watts during that test last night".

now onto some boring stuff, not everything can be as awesome as talking about watts...i finished up the semester yesterday, done with finals! feels good to be done, im not gonna lie, it was tough semester for me what with missing two weeks to race in guatemala and whatnot. its ok im taking refuge for the time being in tucson trying to shake off the stress of the semester and one day in i think its already working! should be a good training block here as im going to be here for awhile, from now until at least january 9th. i might end up staying a little bit longer.

i am not taking classes semester...i got the opportunity to go race in europe with the national team for a big block in the spring and i wanted to take it. hopefully it will go well and justify taking the semester off from school...of course thats why im in tucson making watts right now. im very excited for it...even more excited for racing stateside with cal giant, the program looks great and looking forward to doing some of the races i havent done yet like mt. hood and tour de nez. of course the most exciting race all year is gonna have to be u23 nationals, going to be awesome going 1-2 with the one and only dangeruss brown....shizzle. as for tucson, weather is looking good, and most importantly im getting lean for the shootout, the only real day of bike riding tha tmatters! i also just got some valuable intel that some ballers are in town, so the shootout is going to be awesome! in case anyone had any doubt...I LIVE FOR THE SHOOTOUT!

now go out and make some watts!

updates

well its been a little while...i guess i was waiting for enough interesting stuff to happen to have something to write about. since i last wrote ive gone through the pursuit of a couple different sports. i ended my very non-lucrative career as a mtb'er, mainly due to a surplus of suckage. after that i thought i was a triathlete for a little bit. not wanting to end my season in mid september i decided to do a triathlon in mid october. so i trained for that for a bit, only to find out i was a road bike racer once again, that ended my career as a triathlete before it even started...too bad, it could've been great. like i said i had been kind of transitioning into the offseason when i got the opportunity to go race a 12 day stage race in guatemala, tour of guatemala, with the us national team. at the time my form was definitely not quite grand tour winning, and my daily ice cream consumption was bordering on dangerous...however i couldnt afford to pass the opportunity up. i got my train on pretty hard for two weeks then i headed south on an airplane. the race was hard. it was a lot of fun. doing a 12 day stage race at the end of october was definitely an experience. there was a lot of climbing, i had some good days some bad days, i was pretty sick most of the time down there with a cold but it wasn't bothering me too much. my teammate robbie was going pretty well and got a real solid 12th overall. the colombian teams were super good, the guy that one the overall is riding for geox pro tour team next year i think. now im back in boulder at school, im pretty behind in school but im trying to get back on terms with the work and taking a little break at the same time. im getting antsy though, i feel so lazy not riding. yesterday i did like a 6mile walk and that made me feel a little better about my lack of exertion, plus it's better than studying! im eager to get training again as it feels like most guys out here are starting to ramp it up and are getting underway getting fast for next year.

with regards for next year i'll be riding for a new team. i'll be riding for cal-giant cycling, calgiantcycling.com the two years with kelly has been awesome, but part of the transition i want to make is to living more out in boulder and getting more support to do bigger stage races. that is something cal giant provides. theres a lot of great guys onthe team and im really looking forward to learning from them. ill be leaving out in boulder through the summer, i'll be home for sure to do some east coast races and go to u23 nationals in augusta. also there seems to be some confusion on the internet, im not sure how me riding for cal giant got on gamjams as i really hadnt told many people...but to clear up any confusion they are an amateur team. they have a lot of support, and it is the most professionally run program i have been a part of, but they are not a uci team. hopefully though between them and hopefully racing with the national team in europe i can get to a lot of hard races, and maybe even be fast at one of them!

pro mountain biker

actually pretty far from pro mountain biker, more like maximum amateur hour mountain biker. but i did a couple mtb races recently, they were pretty fun, my technical skills were way worse than i figured they would be who would've guessed?! it was pretty easy to get into the mtb races, i stole my friend jesse's bike and my roomate sam who is a big timer mountain biker hooked me up with all the sweet mtber lingo. here is a picture of me getting dominated at a collegiate race.

my mtbing career has been pretty shortlived thus far, i found out pretty quick that im not the next julien absalon when i got girled pretty hard...the last mtb race we did, after the race i jumped on the road bike...which i caught major flack for from all these hard core downhillers who only cross train by gunning pbr's...and road to crested butte, which is pretty awesome. sam deidre and i (a.k.a team gold run minus anna) camped there for the night. here is a pretty sweet picture sam and i took at the campsite, to show how sweet crested butte is.
as for road biking, not much to report there...im contemplating a serious switch to the mtb for next year, thoughts? i think im done with road biking...not done with ice cream though, that i have just started.

rough patches and smooth patches

feels like its been mostly rough patches this year but i dont thinks thats really true, i guess i just mean to say it feels like that from where im looking right now as i write this...pretty melodramatic i suppose.

the season has been rolling along and its not that far from being over as i head back to school on august seventeenth. it feels like the season has gone by very fast, i guess it always does. since nationals ive done several races...fitchburg, hagerstown, capital crit, cascade, and most recently the tour of the catskills. nothings been great...i feel like ive used that term--wasn't great--a lot to describe my races this year, what does it take for me to describe a race as bad? can a bike race be bad?...knock on wood.

cascade was maybe the worst...purely in terms of frustration...worst because i think my form was the best...however perhaps all the cosmos were not aligned...but to all the spirits listening out there know that i accept it! when i showed up in oregon my bike was broken, with a pretty serious crack on the seatstay...not a great way to start the trip. i rode the whole race on my old trek which my mom overnighted out, it worked but wasnt great. the first real day of racing was perhaps the worst luck of the trip when my seat clamp broke a few miles in and i was in the cars trying to get it fixed pretty much from mile 0. later on in the stage after a big selection had been made i broke a spoke 5km from the base of the final climb. by the time i got back on i had no legs left to do a good ride. i lost a bunch of time that day and ended all hopes of doing well in the gc at all. the rest of the race was fine, nothing brilliant, some decent results and took some big gambles, especially on the last day coming up a bit short. however the results sheets dont have asterisks explaining what happened between the start and the finish...i gues thats what people have blogs for.

this past weekend i went up to ny for tour of the catskills it was pretty cool race with a biggish field. pretty hard climbing on the two road race days. some french guy won that i guess rode the tour de france in 08, but he only did the first five stages i think...so really hes no big deal. i felt decent, it was really nice being up in that part of ny, ive never been there and it was gorgeous also the weather was super refreshing not so hot as it has been down here this summer. couple good races on the calendar, ill be back in colorado soon but back soon after for univest i hope.

after writing this actually it doesnt seem so rough after all, perhaps bike racing will go on for myself, but who realy knows.

nationals

nationals is a very special event...there is really no other event i do all year where nearly everyone there is trying to be on their best form of the year. nationals also seems very odd...it seems very odd that you work so hard toward one day for nearly a whole year and that it is over so fast. two weeks ago the anticipation for nationals was high and expectations were huge, now it is all over so fast and everyone has to wait another twelve months for another crack at the champions jersey. some people leave happy some dissappointed and some indifferent, the way one day of racing seems to hold so much power is very special i think. with that said heres a quick rundown of how it went for me.

nothing really to say about the time trial, 21st, not good not bad i guess, i was 4th placed first year u23 i guess you could say thats decent...but i wouldnt. time trialing is a weird even, it puzzles me sometimes how someone i can outclimb can beat me in time trials...i feel like it should be the same thing...but i guess it is not, still a lot of area to improve. the guys who really rock the time trials always impress me, theyre so dialed in on the details.

crit...um yeah, its kind of a boring crit course, all flat four corners gave it a couple goes to get away but didnt want to burn too much gas with the road race the next day, had a decent go with 3 to go and made it about halfway across to bk but the a-train brought me back after a little more than a lap and bk went onto victory

the road race was ok. i felt pretty good but it didnt exactly play out how i had hoped. it was very tense the whole time as most people seemed nervous about a big early move going like it had the previous year. however that said the big teams never took control and the race did not get as hard as i wish it had as there was never a major selection taking place. early on i bridged to a 6 man move on the second lap thinking it might get established as the early move which the final selection would ride up to, however with the field still antsy we got brought back after about half a lap. after that time the race started heating up, i made sure to mark all the favorites over the top of the most selective climb every lap, a few times i thought we had the break established. the most promising was when i got away with summerhill and howes (both garmin), bk and kyer (both trek), and talansky...however i guess it was maybe just too many strong guys up the road because co operation was weak and it came back together quickly. shortly after that in the beginning of the fourth lap kevin started one of the best moves of the day. him and three others quickly got two minutes up the road, however with neither of majore teams represented it was back after a lap. shortly after it was brought back i started following a flurry of attacks until all of a sudden the field shut down and i was off with bk, a bissell guy, and jerome. we opened up a minute fairly quick, soon jerome was gone, then a while after the feedzone it was down to just me and bk as the bissell guy cracked. i guess this is where i lost the race...i hate to be the guy that sits on even if it means im going to get dropped...so i got dropped, pure stupidity, i insisted on forcing my body to working as much as bk and ended up getting dropped...that was the race i got brought back shortly after and rolled it in with the 35 or so guys left, getting popped with 5k to go. i was so close if i had been more willing to ride in a more conservative manner i surely could have gotten 2nd, but i guess thats what i get for pretending im better than i am. so all in all nationals was decent, but not exactly the results i was hoping for.

next up is onto fitchburg, i like this race and am hoping for a good ride, we'll see...i need to start getting some results if im going to consider this a successful season.

post #92

all packed up getting ready to head out to oregon this afternoon for the u23 nationals, kevin is the only teammate coming with but thats okay you only need two guys for a wrecking crew anyway!

tour of washington county was this weekend and it was a blast, i thought the prologue was real cool, once again nice job joe jefferson. i cant think of anything good to write so ill do a quick summary of the weekend....

prologue was solid, it was short just a bit over 10 minutes, all the teims were pretty close so didnt seem to have a huge role on gc, i did a decent ride so i was pretty pleased with that as i was looking at this weekend as a final check up on the form pre nationals. the road race and the next days tt i guess were the main gc deciders. the road race was pretty ballin, it was super hot which wasnt that ballin but it was what it was. pretty earlly there were a bunch of moves and eventually as one was kinda coming back and another going a group of 9 shuffled off the front and started to get a gap. in it was me, nortonian war machine, todd, and russ for kelly, then langley, joe d, barrie, and andy...ok turns out thats 8. with 4 of us in teh move none of the other guys wanted to do much which was fair. thankfully todd held back some to stay fresh from the tt, and russ helped out when he could but for most of the day it was me and rick just full gas on the front...i was suffering hard but it was worth it in the end...plus you can't give up so easily to getting beat up by an old man. eventually andy came out of the break and i think langley flatted out, so it was down to just us, joe d, and barrie. towards the end joe started coming thorugh some more and russ, and todd...todd got away on the last lap and joe dragged rick across while me and russ sat on barrie, barrie was kinda gassed so i jumped him and rode hte last lap alone. up front joe took the win, and rick and todd went 2, 3. i was 4th, russ 5th, then i think tim rugg, and barrie, then evan, jamie and kevin...not a bad day for us, except for getting nearly every place except 1st! tt was the next morning, thankfully todd did a great ride and moved into 1st also blair did an awesome ride for 3rd on the day, i was okay, nothing spectacular did i mention time trials shouldn't count as bike racing.... the crit was kind stressful since joe d was only 4sec back from todd but todd was riding pro tour and was never in trouble a biggish break got up the road with rick and kevin in it for us, rick and russ lapped up russ won the day, but important for us todd won the gc! also we had a bunch of guys top 10 and top 20 in the final gc!

it was a blast this weekend, the team rode great and it was a real fun to be apart of, but more importantly the level of racing all around was really good, it was really hard racing and not easy for any one to win any of the days, the level around here is really good which makes it a lot better for everyone!

post #91

this is my 91st post...i guess i havent written anything since tour of gila, so a quick little update

after gila i was back in boulder for a couple days before i went to wisconsin for collegiate nationals, the first day was the road race, then the crit, then the ttt. i was hoping for some nice weather but that didnt happen...in fact the road race had pretty nasty conditions, at least for a soft man like me! it was 40 and rainy, it was a good course though and i wanted to give it a go. i felt good for 75% of the race...but not the 25% that mattered. oh well, maybe i got too cold and didnt eat enough, or maybe i just was still hurting from crashing at gila and still being on anti-biotics, i was pretty dissapointed at the time but im past it now. the crit was a lot of fun, i was very aggressive but nothing stayed away, i guess i shouldve gone harder...the bittersweet part is i used up most of my energy trying to get away that i didnt have much left to set up our sprinter and i think he could've podiumed for sure if i had saved a little more gas, i felt pretty guilty about that, as he is one of my best friends. the ttt was okay, everyone gave it their best shot, but unfortunately the guys' legs were pretty empty and the best just wasnt good enough.

onto the next thing, came back home to arlington! and was finally feeling recoverd from gila, did poolesville...flatted...did bear mountain and had a good ride, in a good move for 25 miles or so but unfortunately the big axa team missed the move and brought it back on the last lap, jacob saved the day with 8th, and earned himself a trip to nature valley on the composite team!

since that weekend its been crits crits crits...did wilm and bike jam, they were ok, nothing noteworthy...except jamie getting 9th at wilmington, ballin pretty hard...did ricola twilight on that wednesday, aside from getting to the race 30' before the start and no warm up it was fun, started really fast and i was jumping gaps for awhile but then it cooled down...i pretty much tail gunned it the whole time which was embarassing, but unfortunately there wasn't much i could do about it, i was pretty on the rivet

didnt race at all memorial day weekend, had a really nice training block...next weekend was church creek, that sunday did a good ride in PA with blair, todd, jacob, kevin, and russ...it was nice lots of nice climbs...then this weekend did clarendon and crystal city, we did the 123 at clarendon, it was nothing special for me but evan won so that was sweet, also jamie got 3rd! at crystal city we did the big race, it was pretty good nothing too special, i was way in the front with 3 to go but was way too much of a pushover and gave up all the spots when people started fighting...eh, at least now "crit season" is over for a little while, doing washington county this weekend, should be fun...joe puts on such great races, we're lucky to have him, then right after that heading to oregon for u23

the form is good so im hoping all goes well, season has been a bit frustrating so far in terms of results, but im hoping from hear on out things will start looking up

cant think of a title for this post...i dont have much to say...theres nothing really to say

gila definitely did not go as well as i was hoping for...put it in the books and start thinking about the next thing. quick summary i guess...first day i blew hard very hard day in the cross winds and i had no legs, throw that one out...second day again very windy this time i was ready to go for it, first climb bissell puts the whole field in the gutter after jumping 20 guys blowing up in front of me i made the front group, only 40 guys at the top of the climb and less than 10 amateurs all i could think was thank god i was on a good day, the next climb we went a lot easier and a lot of guys got back on, halfway through the stage i hit the ground took a few minutes to get up, once i got going i still had good legs and got back on after ten minutes on the rivet behind the sram car, i stayed in the front group until i came off with 5k to go when the whole bunch started to split apart, glad for the good legs but pissed that i threw it away with a shitty crash, ended up having to go to the hospital get 15 stitches in the elbow and get on a serious course of antibiotics...rest of the race was pretty much crap, not a great tt lot of pain from the elbow, got through the crit wihtout too much trouble, blair rode like a champ, last day no legs pulled out in the first feed. spent a lot of time complaining to myself, i dont think anyone else would want to hear it, over now. well thats the wrap pretty much. a lot more racing to come, i think the form is their i just need to utilize it.

new jersey on friday...thats cryptic

some vids ive been watching to get pumped for gila

First off...gotta kick it off with some party in the usa, cant say no to that...

Next...a classic to get nice and focused in the zone...

then...this is relatively throwback, but what can i say it gets me in the zone and real serious feeling...

finally to ensure complete domination gotta get a song with some nice feel to it and get a nice tempo going

last and probably least i like to watch this versus commercial...its so cheesy and cliched but i dunno it still makes me feel ready to race the big stuff...the whole underdog sentiment

motivated

Its been a few years in the making but one thing has never changed, those fresh black socks, i had that one figured out from the beginning.

everything has been going well, im feeling good and motivated now and it is really starting to feel like the season is underway even though i havent race yet...i guess it is because the fitness is starting to come around a little. its only 18 days till gila and i really feel like i can target this one...i am really looking forward to it, its a good opportunity...well just have to see what happens. but the training has been going well i think, ive ramped up the volume to just under 35hrs per week so im feeling good about that...hopefully pays big dividends. this next month is going to be very stressful though, two more weeks of class where i need to buckle down and not screw up, then i go to gila come back and do finals then go to college nationals and then finally go home, its been awhile! since december 26th! looking forward to seeing everybody.

“You must keep your head clear and know how to suffer like a man.”

-Ernest Hemingway

I read this quite on a buddy's blog...i like it. its simple and makes sense, seems like a good thing to keep in mind in cycling. the next few weeks of training are hopefully going to be a big push into the next big race at gila...im hoping to be riding for a lot more than survival at gila, we'll see...just try to keep this quote in mind and it should help

redlands in the books

monday morning i flew back from redlands back to a sunny boulder which was a nice welcome. redlands was good....kind of...its always to pop a result but that didnt happen this trip, but overall i was pleased with how it went. i got through it and didnt feel like i was in over my head which was a big change from the only other nrc stage race ive done at cascade last summer. the prologue was ok, i felt very good, but the resutl was nothing notable, i think i definitely should've brought my tt bike, instead of just riding the road bike with training wheels...but i guess i just wasnt sure where the form was going to be and didnt want to pay for two bikes. the next day was the first road stage...a 106mi circuit type race with 6 hard climbs. i felt awesome all day and was thrilled with how it was going, cresting the koms top 30 and feeling like i was barely pedaling, then with 20 miles left, the 2nd to last time up the kom i just completely shut down, i just went from feeling great to having nothing...got dropped from a groupetto with a bunch of fat sprinters...that was the lowpoint of the day, i finished alone and lsot 16 minutes on the day, deifnitely not thrilled with that...but i guess i took what i could from it, first road race of the year, tough being an nrc, i just didnt eat enough which totally screwed me...don't want to sound like a jerk but at home i can get away with these mistakes when its just a 3hr race, but when its a 4.5 hr nrc race one slip up and next thing you know you lose sixteen minutes, i'd rather learn that lesson in march and not at nationals.

this photo is from the first kom on the day, its hard to see but maybe if you click it, the photo will enlarge, im in the center of the frame, white helmet, wearing blue and white bikereg.com clothes.

the next afternoon was the crit, it was a lot of fun...it was a mile with 9 corners but they all had good flow to them and it was just really fun. my legs felt good and it didnt seem that hard...i got one flat but free lapped back in, there were a lot crashes a lot of them seemed due to tire blowouts, i was surfing the top 15 for a few laps and when the gas came off i almost jumped but i guess i was just nervous, not feeling quite confident enough to attack in these nrc's yet...maybe soon. the last 10 laps were pretty tough, the results in cycling news are messed up, i finished in the bunch...but it wsa good.

the last day was the infamous sunset loop. that hardest part of the day i think was the two crit laps we did downtown to start the race, i was hoping they would be parade laps but it was just as hard as the last two laps from the night before. after the crit laps we rolled up a 4mile climb out of town, then got onto the sunset loop. you do 12 laps of the sunset loop then come back to town for 5 laps of a finishing circuit. historically a very small group completes all the loops without getting a pro rated time and is allowed onto the finishing circuits. fly v had it pinned going up to the loop, luckily with about a mile to go a hole opened up and i made a late surge, entering the loop top 15 which was my best move of the day. the first part of the loop is some crazy descending on dark narrow roads, then you start a very tough kom that lasts for only ~5 minutes, but it false flats after the kom line for seemingly ever. the first time up the kom lap was insane, i had to stand for nearly 2k just to stay in the wheels but crested top 20, almost half the field got shelled just the first time up the kom. after that, i got a little too content and didn't fight for the wheels enough, i felt good all day but it just wears on you, on the 9th lap i got popped from the lead group, rolling in for 85th on the day...they give you a pro-rated time. it may not sound like much but for this time of the year i was definitely happy with it, and i hope getting through this when i got to gila in may i can pull out a real result.

for now im back in boulder for the last month of the semester, ill being doing some collegiate racing in between now and gila, and hopefully training hard, looking forward to see what the rest of the season will bring...it's weird to just be starting the season and already have such a hard race in the legs...hopefully it is only beneficial.

it always shows up

a wise man once told me that it is always hard to that the form will come when it is missing...but then somehow it always shows up

3 weeks i wasnt too excited about redlands, well i was but i was super nervous i had a very rough february training wise and was not feeling ready for a super hard race three weeks out, but somehow hefler worked her magic once again and i came out on the other side of these three weeks in a way better spot...im not sure ive ever said it enough but sue is an incredible coach, ive been with her since 2005 and do not think i could ever work with anyone else...im not sure anyone else could put up with my shit anyway...also equally as important as the coaching is the family avery mom dad all of them helped me keep my head straight as i had some rough patches this winter...i know i need the help i have an easy time getting my head all wrapped into a pretzel.

well the good news is in 3 weeks im feeling much better than when i last thought seriously about redlands, ive been slowly feeling better every week and this week had an awesome training week. i dont want to get too excited since the race hasnt even started yet but i will just go ahead and say i am looking forward a lot to this race, when i first found out i was going the instant plan was survival but now i think i can shoot for a little different

san dimas starts tomorrow, i wish i had been able to get into that. the first day is a 3.8mi hill climb prologue that is supposed to be a pretty tough climb, i think that wouldve been a lot of fun, hopefully i will do it next year. tomorrow is my last day of classes which is very exciting...im very lucky that redlands is over my spring break so i will only be missing one day of school...monday travelling back. also, i think this time last year i did jeff cup predictions, even though i will not be there here are my 2010 jeff cup winner predictions by category:

Cat. 4: Avery Wilson

Cat. 5: Eduardo S. Maeyama

Cat. 5 35+: Fritz Mehler

Wm. 4: Rebecca Wilson

Cat. 1/2/3: Mike Stearns

45+: Rick Tucker

55+: Pete Swan

Jr. 15-18: Samuel James

Wm. 12: Christine Fuentes

Wm. 3: Katherine Klausing

35+ 1/2: Ramon Benitez

35+ 3/4: Andreas Gutzeit

Thats all for now i suppose, the weather here in boulder is supposed to take a hard turn for the snow starting tomorrow, hopefully it melts up quick

first weekend of racing

THIS PAST WEEKEND WAS THE FIRST WEEKEND OF RACING. SATURDAY WAS A CRIT IN DENVER IT WAS IN CITY PARK...THAT IS THE NAME OF THE PARK IT IS NOT JUST SOME RANDOM CITY PARK, IT IS ON THE EAST SIDE OF DENVER RIGHT BY EAST HIGH SCHOOL NEAR THE DENVER ZOO. IM NOT GONNA LIE I WAS NOT A BIG FAN OF THE COURSE AT ALL. IT WAS .8 MILES BUT DIDNT REALLY HAVE ANY REAL TURNS IT JUST HAD 3 ROUNDABOUTS. I USUALLY LIKE TECHNICAL CRITS BUT THIS COURSE WASNT VERY FUN YOU HAD TO COAST LIKE TWO THIRDS OF THE WAY AROUND EACH ROUNDABOUT AND THEY SUCKED A LOT OF SPEED I DIDNT THINK IT WASNT THAT MUCH FUN...BUT IT WAS EXCITING TO BE OUT RACING. THE FIRST RACE OF THE DAY WAS THE COLLEGIATE RACE RACING FOR MY COLLEGE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO...THE CU BUFFS. I DIDNT HAVE A TEAM JERSEY BUT THANKFULLY NORA OLSON HAD ONE I COULD USE, THANKS NORA! THEY ARE REALLY STRICT ABOUT NOT WEARING SHORTS FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN YOUR COLLEGE SO I JUST HAD TO ROCK BLACK SHORTS, IT WAS OK. SO THE COLLEGIATE RACE WAS PRETTY FUN IT HAD A PRETTY BIG FIELD 40+ PEOPLE SO IT WAS GOOD. IT WASNT TOO FAST BUT KINDA CRAZY WITH ALL THE ROUNADABOUTS SO I JUST STAYED TOWARDS THE FRONT AND WENT WITH ALL THE ATTACKS CUZ THAT IS REEL FUN BIKERACIN! EVENTUALLY ALISTER ON FORT LEWIS ATTACKED IT TOOK ME A MINUTE TO GET THROUGH A HOLE BUT THEN I TRIED TO BRIDGE BUT HE WAS MOTORING, ZACK WAS ON MY WHEEL WE COULDNT MAKE IT UP TO AISTER AND HE LAPPED UP BUT I STAYED ON THE GAS AND ZACK AND I STAYED AWAY BUILDING UP A DECENT GAP ON THE FIELD I TRIED TO DROP HIM BUT TO NO AVAIL AND GOT WHIPPED IN THE SPRINT BUT I FELT LIKE I ATLEAST GAVE HIM A CHALLENGE FOR IT. GOOD NEWS IS LEGS FELT REALLY GOOD AND SPENT 45' OFF THE FRONT SO GOOD WORKOUT. IT WAS WILD IN MY FIRST COLLEGE RACE OUT IN CO I GOT IN A BREAK WITH SOMEONE FROM BACK HOME ESPECIALLY SPECIAL WITH ZACK AS WE PRETTY MUCH CAME UP RACING TOGETHER AND HAVE A LOT OF HISTORY IT WAS COOL...BUT NOW THAT HE GOES TO CSU AND I GO TO CU WE ARE NEMESES! LATER IN THE DAY I LINED UP FOR P12 CRIT...IT WAS JUST A LOCAL CRIT BUT THE LOCAL FIELDS OUT HERE ARE FREAKING STAR STUDDED...DISCLAIMER...THIS IS WHERE THE EXCUSES BEGIN. YEA SO THE FIELDS HERE ARE PRETTY KILLER IT WAS ONLY 40 GUYS OR SO BUT SOMETIMES THAT MAKES IT HARDER ESPECIALLY WHEN 15' IN IT IS ONLY DOWN TO 20 GUYS, NOWHERE TO HIDE. BUT YEA IT STARTED I WAS FEELING DECENT STARTED THROWING DOWN SOME ATTACKS RIDING AS PER USUAL...SOON GUYS STARTED GETTING SHELLED AND IT WAS GETTING WINDY, ABOUT 30' IN MIKE FRIEDMAN...YES THE OLYMPIAN...THO THATS NO EXCUSE AND I DONT PLAN ON USING IT ANY RACES THIS YEAR SINCE HE IS JUST ANOTHER GUY TO BEAT...BUT IM GUESS IM USING IT RIGHT NOW...WELL HE WENT TO THE FRONT FOR 4-5 LAPS AND WAS JUST GOING CRAZY IT SPLIT THE FIELD AND I WAS IN THE FRONT BUT I BUSTED MY ASS TO GET THERE AND THEN JUST BLEW SKY HIGH AFTER TRYING TO PULL IT BACK TOGETHER FOR ANOTHER 10' OR SO IT WASNT COMING BACK TOGETHER AND I DROPPED OUT DISGUSTED WITH MYSELF...BUT CEST LA VIE, ONLY MARCH, GOOD FIRST DAY OF RACING. OKAY SUNDAY...SUNDAY WAS A GOOD DAY THERE WAS A 9 MI TT IN MORRISON, CO. TRYING TO GET THE LEGS READY FOR REDLANDS...ITS ABOUT 30 MILES AWAY SO I GOT SOMEONE TO DRIVE MY TT BIKE AND I RODE THERE, DID THE THE TT AND RODE BACK. GOOD NEWS IS I FELT REALLY GOOD ON THE TT BIKE, FELT PRETTY STRONG STILL NEED TO GAIN SOME MORE POWER TO GET READY FOR THE BIG STUFF BUT IM CONFIDENT ILL BE THERE IN GIVEN TIME, BUT FELT GOOD ON THE TT, TOOK 2ND IN THE COLLEGE RACE SO I WAS PRETY PLEASED WITH THAT, TIME 19:52, LOST TO ALISTER THOUGH, HE SMOKED IT 19:21. BUT I WAS DECENTLY HAPPY, NOT AS BIG FIELD IN THE TT AS THE CRIT ONLY 30. RODE BACK THERE WAS A TAILWIND WHICH WAS SWEET SLAMMED IT HOME AT 400 WATTS. TODAY IM SICK BUT JUST A LITTLE THING TOOK OFF THE BIKE TO TRY AND GET BACK ON NORMAL SCHEDULE BY TOMORROW, TODAY IS THE 9TH SO REDLANDS STARTS IN 16 DAYS...DAMN THATS CLOSE! PLAYING A TRICKY GAME BALANCING GETTING READY AND NOT SHOWING SICK OR HURT.

the big ring on the triple was too big....

i had to get a mountain bike crankset. its been gorgeous in boulder this week, absolutely loving it...feeling lucky that the weather gods have blessed us. training has been going pretty well, nyothing new really just going out and smashing it at 500 watts...had a good weekend of riding last weekend, really nice day on saturday for the gateway which is the big groupride out here, its about a 3hr ride, pretty fun mostly flat, one 5' climb that has some bite to it. usually its pretty fast which is fun, this was the last weekend before racing starts so guys were revving pretty hard. then had a good ride on sunday for the most part until it snowed the last hour but it was a wet snow more like rain so wasnt too much of a problem. this week has been good...i had gotten all registered for jeff cup to come home and do it over my spring break with the team, then monday night i got some great news...we got into redlands! i will be guest riding on the bikereg-cannondale team, so bad news is im out 38 bucks for registering for jeff cup but i will be doing redlands classic instead so its pretty exciting. im lucky to have the chance from the bikereg guys to get to do this race. its supposed to be really hard ive heard nothing but horror stories about the last day on the sunset loop, but im training hard to be ready so it should be good. the most important about doing redlands is that it marks a good transition out of the junior ranks and into full time senior where theres going to be a lot of nrc races on the plate. im excited to get a good nrc stage race into the legs early in the season so that i can go to tour of gila this year ready to go and rip some legs off hopefully...we'll see, that would be nice. other exciting news is that racing starts for me this weekend...i feel like all across the country people have already been racing a good bit, even at home where they've been pounded by snow, but im excited to get my season started. on saturday im doing a crit in denver, i will do the collegiate race which should be a blast, getting to race against a lot of good buddies from d20 that we're all just happening to be going to school out here. then ill do the 1/2 race later in the day, even out here in colorado ill have a kelly teammate, with russ brown. then sunday is a 8 mile tt, its only like 25mi from boulder so im planning to ride there race and ride back, trying to get in some good hours. redlands is a thursday-sunday race. thursday is a short 10' or so prologue, its a mostly hill climb prologue whihch is exciting, but it looks like most people still use the tt bike and since im flying im gonna save some dime by just using the road bike so not sure how that will play out. friday is a 106 mile road race with some pretty hard climbing in it and apparently last year got shattered by some brutal cross winds. saturday is a 90' crit that doesnt start till 6:15...ughhh not a fan of the whole night crits, i knwo some guys are but im a wuss. sunday is the brutal sunset circuit road race, 95 miles that apparently just blows to bits, this is the day that im most excited for and should be a really good test...or a really good heartbreaker, we will just have to wait and find out........

yea im pretty excited i guess you can tell by how much i just typed...though i doubt many are still reading far enough to read this sentence...except for you dad and mom, thanks guys

colorado weather can be weird

my training has really gotten back on track since being sick, its been good and very reassuring as i was starting to get worried. i had a good weekend of training, this past saturday i rode up to estes park which is a pretty long climb out of lyons, and is about 2000 feet higher than boulder. the weather was super nice, it was close to 50 down in boulder...im sorry for the shitty weather back home...when i got up to estes park it was nice and sunny and pretty warm...for 8000feet. i rolled into the gas station convenience store to fuel up on 1000 calories or so of little debbie and hostess treats in order to lay down some mega watts on the way back to boulder. well much to my surprise when i came out of the store the sky had turned gray and it was snowing. i slammed down my twinkies and danishes, threw on my jacket and jumped on my bike and got the hell out of estes park. its a climb out of estes then you start descending back towards boulder. i slammed it out of estes and within 5 minutes of climbing the snow was behind and me and it was warm and sunny again...so weird. otherwise nothing notable to share, the volume has been coming back up and ive been getting some good efforts back in my legs so starting to feel better about this whole bike racing sport once again. i wish i had something funny to write, i feel like this blog was way funnier when i started it and now its taken more of a serious turn...thats unfortunate somewhat, or not. still dont know if we're into redlands or not, im pretty excited to come back and do jeff cup and race withthe guys if i dont get in, so either option would be sweet...id actually kinda rather do jeff cup...but then again id rather do redlands...just one will make me bleed through my eyeballs way more than the other.

looking for something

stuff has been going pretty well, after tucson i had about one week of going pretty easy then it was straight back into the training grind, and for 3-4 weeks training was going awesome. i had some really good rides. i had an awesome ride in the mountains with matt cooke, that really helped my confidence going into this season. i was doing more volume then ive ever done and having some really good workouts. then about two weeks ago my roommate was pretty sick and a few other friends in the dorms were sick, it was only a matter of time guess, i got pretty sick. i was pretty shitty feeling for awhile and it took a while to get over it. ive been back on the bike for about a week now but have seriously been struggling to get through a single ride without wanting to throw my bike and many other things against a wall. its been rough ive been pretty bummed about where my riding is right now. today i finally had a decent ride for the first time in a bit. nothing special just 2hrs but i did one good effort and actually felt some semblance of myself on the bike so it was very reassuring, as i was beginning to think i might never be able to break 300 watts again. so it feels like training is heading back up and hopefully in another week or so ill be feeling some confidence again because serious racing is just around the corner. collegiate races start in a few weeks on march 6, and i will do some of those for sure. also, i will hopefully be racing at redlands and san dimas. i have the chance to race redlands on bikereg-cannondale, as its team entry only. right now i am just waiting if the team gets in or not, if we do i will be doing san dimas for kelly which is a cool so cal 3 day stage race and redlands for bikereg which is a 4 day nrc stage race. if not i will be home for jeff cup with the team, either option would be fine with me, it'd be nice to be home and race with the team but to race redlands would be good prep heading into the season to get ready for gila and onward. otherwise everything is going well in boulder, we had some snow, im not sure i can even call it that though compared to what yall have been getting in dc, crazy stuff. the garmin u23 team is having their training camp in boulder this week which is kinda cool, they seem to be the premier u23 team in the country right now, i guess along with trek-livestrong i'd throw down some serious watts to be on either one of those teams at least thats the plan...come june hopefully. ive been thinking about it lately and to win at u23 nationals and pull a big upset over those two teams would be the ultimate, that was sort of the situation i was in at fitchburg with no teammates and going against 7 of the best guys in the country on hottubes, but its a whole different level in the u23. we have a strong little squad of us on kelly though, three of us first years, me, kevin gottlieb, and steven black. then one more u23 in russ brown. it should be exciting to go to u23 nationals, i think we can ride for a jersey in the road race at least thats my plan, it should be good. well thats what on my mind recently, if i cant feel fast at least i can think about it right? well hopefully in another week i will be back on my game. school has been going very well, im taking only 12 credit hours which is minimum full time student, but id rather do this and be able to do my best in training and school rather than mediocre in both and take a tougher load. im taking calc whihc is going well, ive had two tests calc, and bio its going well which is very good. i guess this is a pretty long blog post, its been a while so i guess it is kidna fitting, i just had some stuff i wanted to write down i guess. to everyone back home i guess keep training even though it sucks, this kind of weather can let you get way ahead of a lot of people that wont train inside, or at least wont train seriously. one of my best friends is living in dc, and doing 4+ hour rides on the trainer, and serious work, if people wanna hang with him you better put your nose to the grind stone.

playing for keeps

im not sure what that means exactly, maybe it can mean different things, whatever it means im doing it in 2010...5hrs with lots of climbing today, good ride with a damn good rider, hoping for big things...playing for keeps

ive got some big goals in mind for this year, but i dont want to say them out loud quite yet, feels like i might jinx them, or maybe i just dont have full confidence in myself to get there yet but i think its coming, either way in 2010 we're playing for keeps

wrapping up tucson, going to boulder

where did i leave off, lets see i want to cover the rest of tucson till now, today im leaving heading back to boulder...actually im sitting in the tucson airport right now...they have free wifi pretty sweet...denver has free wifi but it doesnt work very well...im going to take a writing pause to look back at my last post and see where i left off............................

ok so inspection shows i last wrote about last weekends riding...quick summary:

monday did a 2.5hr recovery day (i know long for a recovery day, but good to get some xtra volume in the sun before heading backk to cold)....we rode out to the saguaro national park which has this really fun 8 mile loop, one way traffic only, its really cool all up and down and twisty

tuesday...well i didnt have that good a day on tuesday...did some work on mt lemmon but didnt go that well...onto wednesday

wednesday was a sweet ride, 6hrs with kevin, steven, russ, and COACH SUE! We rode all the way out to a tiny town sonoita which is not far from the mexico border...sue rode tough and made it all the way with us, close to 120miles total...if she ever decides she wants to race masters natinoals those ladies better watch out

thursday, rode on mt lemmon again, lots of work done on mt lemmon this trip, very convenient and very good place to train

friday, rest day 1.5hrs rode with some cool people

saturday, was my last day riding, did the shootout which is a lot of fun. again 6hrs including madera canyon, lotta fast peple, more than last week, legs felt really good, i had an awesome climb going up madera canyon, except i got beat by a fat kid...i wish i was staying in tucson just to do this ride...a lot different from most group rides in that you can ride 6hrs with some of th best guys in the country learn a lot, and ive gotten some good contacts and attention just from doign this ride twice this break

well thats my finish to tucson, today im flying back...its been great, had an awesome block of training, close to 60hrs for the 15 days i was here...including not riding today. i wish i was staying down in tucson to march, like a lot of the guys down there...just livin the dream...but for now i need to focus on school, maybe next sppring will be something a little different

the weather forecast actually looks pretty good for boulder right now, highs over 40 every day...for the next 10 days at least...and two days over 50, so prob taking a pretty ez training week, but then keeping it going and get steam rolling for this season

still looking for a team for redlands...if not ill be home for jeff cup

good weekend

had a good weekend of training here in the tucson sun. everything is going pretty well, im in my 2nd week of hte lbock here heading back to boulder on sunday. this past saturday me, kevin, and steven did the infamous shootout. its a fun group ride that starts from the university, usually prety fast and a lot of people, this week was no different. i was on a good day and had a great ride, it was one of my best days here, 6hrs total, with some good people, me and kevin took a longer route to add in a sweet climb...madera canyon. gord fraser was on the ride, he may be retired and "only" a director, but he is a beast, he won the sprint at the end and was dusting everyone the whole ride. ive always wanted to meet him and when i was riding next to him at one point i had to confess to him that pro which hes in is my favorite movie for cycling ever. it was pretty sweet moment for me. sunday we rode on mt lemmon. im having a blast out here its great. tomorrow doing quite a hard day...going to be doing a bit of a test of sorts, should be interesting well see how it goes.