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