Tuesday, June 29, 2010

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.

Monday, June 21, 2010

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!

Monday, June 14, 2010

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