Post – G

What a loaded title. At first I felt a little pride in the cunning of the words and there meaning but today it doesn’t seem to feel as smart. I also thought this would be a long post but I think its getting shorter by the minute. But I will get to the point since a lot has happened since my last entry (a full two weeks ago).

Gateway Cup

This was supposed to be a success I was to go and finish all the races and take the next step to racing at this level. It’s amazing that the steps that you think will be impossible you can achieve and the steps that you think achievable the impossible. At.Gateway there was 4 days of racing and I’ll give the overview of each for me and the team:

Friday, August 29, 2008 - Lafayette Square
This race I was a little nervous for. It is a night time crit and a straight up 4 corner crit 0.9 miles and 140 rider (maxed out) field. Well I got to the line up front (maybe in the 3rd row which was up front). We started out and a crash in front of me not 15 feet into the race. I got back into the field and about 5-6 laps in another crash in the center of the road going into the start finish. Well we were going all out the 5-6 laps prior to the crash and then having to go another all out effort to catch back on after being held up by the crash – I didn’t have it. I chased for a while and then was chased for a while. After being caught and passed I sat on the back for the most of the rest of the race. BTW there was another crash on the last lap that I got caught behind. Chad was pulling out the stops on the race and got 6th in the sprint.

Saturday, August 30, 2008 – Downtown Criterium
This race was hard with what seemed like 3/4th’s of the course going uphill. Unfortunately it was just too hard for me. I had bad positioning from the beginning and could never move up really well. Again Chad pulled it out with 4th on the day.

Sunday, August 31, 2008 – The Hill
This was one of the coolest races that I have done this year. The crowds were great and I managed to get good positioning in the beginning and keep it. I could see all of my teammates were I was sitting in the field. The temps were real high and we were all cooking. I went to unzip my jersey and ran over a hard cut in the road which knocked my remaining hand off of the handlebars and down I went at 30 mph. I got up and got back into the race but didn’t last but another 20 minutes as my hip was really bothering me and in pain. Chad and the team finished out the race and again Chad pulled in another 4th.

Monday, September 1, 2008 – U-City
After yesterday’s crash I needed to get back on the horse so to speak and trust me that’s not always easy. I didn’t feel great, to begin with my hip still hurt. Once racing I was too tense and with every jolt I just remembered the prior day. I tried to get over this but even with mental fortitude my hip and glut had pain every time we went up the hill. I hung on through the pain as long as I could and was done. Shortly after I came off so did Bill and Kolt. Chad was still fighting though and pulled out a weekend best 2nd on the day clinching 3rd for the weekend.

The weekend for the Team was good but for me not so well. I hope that next year I’ll be there with Matt, Bill, and Kolt; if I’m lucky in a few years maybe up there with Chad.

Gustuv

Almost 3 years to the day after Katrina, Gustuv ripped through Louisiana. New Orleans seemed to be spared for the most part but maybe only because of a mandatory evacuation that had close to 2 million people leave in preparations for the storm. We have widespread power outages that is quite possibly the worst ever encountered in LA. I would love to see a satellite photo or aerial shot of the week before Gustuv and the day afterwards. From New Orleans to Alexandria power was out for a majority of people. Fortunately I didn’t per say evacuate sine I was going to be out of town anyway but I was forced to leave nonetheless. Even more importantly I was left in St. Louis with no immediate home to return to and really no place to go. I met up with Jessica P. when she evacuated up to St. Louis (Jessica went to the University of Washington in St. Louis for her masters and thus had friends there). I met up with Jessica at my race on Sunday and she was watching when I crashed. Monday after racing we met up and she took me to Ted Drew‘s which I was told was going to be the highpoint of my trip. As instructed I got the Great Pumpkin Custard and it was good. The next day we met up and went to the zoo and accompanying museums that were all free. I met a poor (intellectually poor) guy at Chipotle that thought we were still evacuated from Katrina. Tuesday night I stayed with Jessica’s friends Jill and Wayne who were great hosts. We decided Tuesday afternoon to make the trip back to New Orleans. The reports were that the city would open up to people at 12:01 am on Thurs. morning. I was hoping to get there around 11:00 pm and hope that they would le us in being so close to the re-entry. We were trying to avoid the traffic of 2 million evacuees.

We ended up getting back to New Orleans at 12:10 am Thursday morning. They actually started letting people re-enter earlier in the day although it didn’t seem like it. The streets were that of ghost towns; the only life on the streets were camouflaged figures carrying M-16’s. My power was out so I once again met up with Jessica and we again found ourselves staying together.

Grandma

On Thursday morning after a couple hours cleaning debris off of the road in front of my condo I got 8-9 missed phone calls and messages from my mom the one of which caught me the most was 911! I thought Mr. Wayne may be hurt or having trouble without electricity. I called her back and in tears she told me that grandma had fell sometime during the night and my uncle found her early Thursday morning, she was unconscious, not responding but said she had a strong HR. I tried to calm my mom down telling her that we would have to wait and see what the doctors said and that it was early to get all upset about it yet; we would have to wait and see. The next time I spoke to my mom about 2 hours later she told me that after running some tests that grandma was considered brain dead and that they were going to pull the breathing machine off of her; she told e they didn’t know whether it would be hours or days that she had left. I told her that we would leave soon to try to see grandma. I left my condo shortly after that and was driving back to Jessica’s when I got another phone call not 15 minutes after the first call. Grandma had passed.

I’m now sitting in the funeral home while the wake is just getting underway. I’m supposed to be typing up obituary that my mom has been slaving over the past few days, but I just can’t bring myself to write it just now. I loved my grandma, she was a friend, a protector and a mother to me in addition to being a grandma. Last night we were going through some stuff to get things together for today such as pictures and such. With every box that I opened there was a picture of me as a boy or something I had given her. When we moved to Louisiana and experienced Mardi Gras we brought her some beads to show her what a small part of Mardi Gras was like. After that, she would ask us for new pretty beads when we came to visit. In her closet she must have had every bead we had ever given her; I found toys of mine from when I lived with my grandparents; just like I left them. I loved my grandmother. This is the wake for my Grandma; tomorrow will be the services and the burial. Grandma always did have good timing; tomorrow is her and my Grandpa’s wedding anniversary; Nearly 10 years after he passed she’ll be re-joining him. This is the grandmother I will remember – a picture taken only 3 months ago.

MotorPacing

8/21/08

Today I wasn’t able to scratch the third check mark off of my list but we were close! And considering that my driver (who is awesome) was pacing me for the first time we did a good job and it was a good workout. My coach was satisfied and so was I. Thanks again to my driver for being fabulous!!!

Check TWO - The 5 min test

I’ve done a lot of racing this year. Out of all the racing and training I was more nervous about 5 minutes this morning than any race this year. 5 minutes as fast as you can go – sounds simple, yeah right! Go too hard at the beginning you die at the end, too easy you don’t leave everything out there. What made this one even harder was the implications. Nail the 5 minutes with avg. of 5.25 watts/kg and I go to Gateway; fail and I stay home training! I focused so much on it the night before I mapped out the entire 5 min sec by sec in Excel. 450 for 30 sec, 330 for 120 sec, 320 for 10 sec, 330 for 30 sec 340 for 30 sec. 350 for 30 sec, 360 for 30 sec, and finally 450 for 20 sec = ~ avg of 360.

So with my plan in mind I started off after a 30 minute warm up. Executing is always harder than the plan. When it was all said and done I avg’d 352; 5.6 watts/kg. Check two!!!


_X_ Finish Bayou Circuit Crit
_X_ 5 min @ 5.25 w/kg
___ motorpace avg 27mph
___ Finish National Level races
___ Top Ten in Bayou Circuit Race

Check

_X_ Finish Bayou Circuit Crit
___ 5 min @ 5.25 w/kg
___ motorpace avg 27mph
___ Finish National Level races
___ Top Ten in Bayou Circuit Race

Last weekend was the Merridian / Cuba Omnium. I always like this race as the Crit is fairly technical on the first half and with a down hill sweeping turn at FG on the second half this course doesn’t leave room for too many errors. I changed my warm up for this race and actually think I liked it better. I rode for 45 min in the morning before driving to the race then only spun around before the race for about 20 min with a could 30 sec. FG efforts. The warm up wasn’t too taxing but was enough. I may try to do warm ups like this in the future. The Crit was fast from the Gun with attacks one after another through the 30 minute mark. This was a 60 min Crit so I guess that people started looking more toward the finish after the halfway point as the attacks were still present just not as frequent. With 4 to go the pace was staying steady and I stood up and what was seemingly easy rode up to position myself in the top 10 (keep in mind this effort took about 350 – 400 watts to do it just felt easier than the watts indicated). For the remaining 4 laps I rode in between 5th and 10th place and felt good about my position going into the last lap. During that last lap on the 2 turn of the course some morons decided they would try to move up on the most technical section of the course. This cause some people to touch wheels and the peloton to shift left pushing me out of my position heading into the next turn. On that next turn I had to take the turn sharp on the inside and lost about 10 position (this left turn heads right into a short uphill section and you need momentum to maintain position; by being out of position I lost my momentum and thus the positions). I ended up finishing the Crit in 17th position.

The Road Race was 3 laps on what I view as the second hardest course on the LAMBRA series (second to Rouge Roubaix). In the spring they run this course as a solo road race and we do 4 laps at 88 miles, however, with the August heat and the Crit the night before the organizers reduce the road race in the fall to 3 laps. In the spring I crashed on the first lap and spent a lap chasing before abandoning (this is the crash in which it broke my front wheel and hurt my shoulder). I was exited to get back on the course to see what I could do and in a way get over what happened in the spring. Evidently while I like this race it doesn’t like me. About 5 miles into the race a few guys touched wheels again and went down. I got tangled up in the after math and fell (softly) to the ground. The damage was still done. I twisted my seat post, bent my rear derailleur hanger, and bent my rear wheel just enough to rub my brakes. So I got a wheel change and tried to get everything back in order to mount a chaise. I chased and chased. The wheel truck was great and came up one me and got me back to the group but all in all it was about 20 minutes that I was out there either solo or behind the truck. I finally got back in the group and thought I wouldn’t make it to the finish after the effort I just put in. My shifting was all over the place making the climbs twice as hard and my speed magnet shifted so I was no longer reading speed and had sketchy readings from my SRM. We finished the first lap and I got my hand up of an ice sock and two bottles as planned. The second lap was filled with attacks as the break was within sight and everyone was trying to bridge. I was just playing the game moving to the front when it slowed down and drifting back during the attacks and hills. The third lap was steady as everyone was looking for a couple of people to make the move that never came. We came into the last 5k pretty slow and it only picked up at the 1k to go mark. I once again had good position (in the top ten) and was sprinting toward the finish. At 100m to go my race virtually ended. My chain flew off of my bike in mid sprint. I managed to keep it up but had to ride my top tube to do so. I ended up walking across the line last .

This weekend was successful though. The goal was to finish with the group on both races and that I had done. It does suck that I think I could have done better but I don’t feel disappointed. Wednesday I have a 5 min field test that will determine if I go to Gateway Cup or not so it’s recovery from now until then.

4 x 1:00m (in)

This afternoon while I was sitting next to my co worker slugging away I looked out the window and said “I hope this rain stops” It was coming down in sheets. I really wasn’t looking forward to doing tonight’s workout anyway but to do 3 sets of 4x1 min intervals Full Gas in rain seemed worse. I started the workout in the rain and it eventually cleared but not before I got all wet and got a flat to go with it.

Last night I saw maybe the most spectacular race I can remember! The USA beat the French in the 4x100m team relay. Amazing you really needed to see it to believe it.

This weekend I have the Meridian/Cuba Omnium. Hopefully I will be going well for it. I felt fine tonight but now the legs are cooked with motor pacing in the morning!

Well I guess there is only one direction to go J

ToKC

Well, maybe not. I messed the dates up on my calendar and while I thought ToKC was next week, it's actually this weekend. After looking at things at work and talking to the coach and my directors I decided to nix this off of the race list. It's hard because I love racing and it's been too long since racing with the team. I'm going to refocus my calendar and instead do the Merridian/Cuba Omnium next weekend and then the Gateway Cup. My coach has set up a super hard training block to get me to Gateway prepared and all I can do is give it my all and hope that the body responds.

Goals for the next month:

1. Race Smart at the Merridian/Cuba Race and at the very least finish both the Crit and the RR with the main field
2. Avg. Speed of 47k in my Motorpacing Sessions
3. Avg. 5.25 watts/kg in my 5 minute efforts

Then to Gateway Cup

CHI – OLINA

It’s been a week and tomorrow I’ll be back to the same old routine. Over the past week I’ve learned how to be a super accountant, how to live like a bike racer, and how to lose like an amateur.

I left New Orleans with a rocky start arriving a t the airport late and with a bike box that was too heavy (80lbs). I took some stuff out and re-weighed it and the lady said it was too late to check it in! WTF. So I settle on leaving with 2 carry-on’s and o straight to the plane. Between New Orleans and Chi Town (Chicago) my mom and I worked out a plan to have the bike shipped to Chicago and that afternoon the bike was on its way.

At the O’Hare airport I met up with Alle (Alli), Vinnie, and Lisa from Rochester, NY. They got there a bit early so I didn’t have to wait that long. Unfortunately their bags didn’t come with them so they were not happy campers on the train ride into D-town Chicago. Once downtown we met up with Alli (from NOLA) at the hotel and we all went to meet the others at Giordano’s Pizza.

As usual we ordered too much pizza (same thing happened last year) and after dinner we walked around Chicago and gave our leftover pizza to homeless people. Unlike NOLA homeless people who would have thrown it away or insisted on money, the homeless in Chicago are actually thankful and eat it. The rest of the afternoon we did the standard for us which was the guys getting dragged to multiple shopping venues. We were able to get a na in before going to Navy Pier and partaking in the evenings festivities.

So we ate dinner at Navy pier and had some “golden libations” (i.e. Beer). During dinner fireworks started to go off and I enjoyed the long and colorful display while most of my counterparts were not interested at all. They did liven up when we left the Navy Pier to go to a local bar; RockBottom! Allison, Matt, and I decided to get the sampler as this was a micro brewery and we could get 4 ounces of each of the 7 different kinds of beer for 7.50. Somehow this turned into a contest between Matt and Alli and they were taking the beer sampler like shots! They quickly finished and decided to get a pitcher, each. They then continued to see how fast they could finish the pitcher. It was around the time that Alli gave it to Matt like a Bi-atch by finishing off the pitcher first that Natalie and I decided it would be a good time to make our exit. We walked back to the hotel and were in bed by 1 am. The others got in around 5.

The next day was rough for the rest of the crew. I was able to get some personal things done before everyone woke up and after we all ate breakfast in what was the most part silence we split up to our own ways. Alli was meeting friends and ended up at the zoo; Natalie, Matt, Juli, and Emily were headed to the conference hotel to take a nap and I was off to see the inaugural Chicago Criterium around Millennium Park. At te race I was a litte surprised to see Stefan and Chad from my team as they were just as surprised to see me. Stefan rode like a pro getting off of the front 2-3 times before finally bridging up to the final break. He ended up getting 17th which was a good result. I had to leave the race early to make my way out to the conference and to build Tiki Huts.
This year AGN designed a whole bunch of group activities for us and us being from NOLA we took all of these to the extreme:

SUNDAY NIGHT
Build Tiki Huts and Make sangria
Followed by beach volleyball with lots of beer
Then to Vinnie’s room for drinking games with a handle of Vodka and a Handle of Bacardi Mojito
Bed Time ~3 am (very drunk – I passed out and am not quite sure how I made it on my bed the last thing I remember was going to the restroom in my room!)

MONDAY NIGHT
Dinner at an Italian Restaurant
Pick up beer at Liquor Store
More Drunken Beach Volley Ball
Bed Time ~12:30 for me and ~1:30 for everyone else.

TUESDAY NIGHT
Dinner at a BAD ASS Mongolia restaurant
Drinks at a nearby bar
Back to Vinnie’s Room for more drinking games.
Bed Time ~ 11 for me everyone else between 11 and 3.

Wednesday, we finished out training and were off to the airport. I was heading to Charlotte, NC for the remaining Cross Road Classics (a series of 9 Crits over 10 days). I got into my hotel room near the airport ~ 12 am and turned in. The next day I hooked up with Reed. Reed rides for the Hincapie Barkley Elite team and was kind enough o pick me up from the hotel and let me hang with him until the race that night.

The races the following three days were blistering fast. I need to be around this type of racing more often as doing it 5-6 times a year just isn’t cutting it. Below is a short recap of the races

Thursday – Salisbury
Figure Eight Course; hard from the gun with a lot of Pro team’s warming up for the BOA Crit on Saturday Evening. I lasted about 10 min in the field.

Friday – Statesville
An L – shaped course; again hard from the gun but not like the night before. Rock Racing showed up and Rashad Bahatti made it look easy lapping the field and then taking the sprint like he was doing an average day of training. Time in field ~ 15 minutes. Although I rode out a little longer and sat a little on the back of the field in subsequent laps.

Saturday – Harrisburg
This was the most technical of the courses and had 5 corners of which were a little tighter than the previous days. I was hoping for an easier day as most of the pro’s would be racing that evening and saving their legs. I was wrong. Most of the pro’s were saving their legs but the pro’s who were left off of the start list of one of the richest prize crits in America were pissed and racing against pissed off pro’s isn’t too fun. Time in field ~10 minutes. This was the easiest day but unfortunately I was pretty burnt and didn’t have much left.

Tonight I am staying with my cousin that I haven’t spoke to or seen in years. She’s a sweetheart and its good to see her and her family. Tomorrow she is going to be kind enough to wake up at 4 am to take me to the airport in Charlotte.

UPDATE:
I’m back in New Orleans now and back to the standard day to day. Yesterday was Kate’s B-day so I got to see her a bit and relax by Jessica’s pool with some burgers and beer. I fell asleep rather early at 7:00 and didn’t budge until 8 am this morning. Today I have another day off of the bike before hitting it again hard tomorrow!

Only 2 weeks until Tour of Kansas City!!!

TOP 5 - Revisited

Yea this has nothing to do with my first post on the top 5 but I cleverly have decided to use the same name....lol. This one will be short and sweet as I have already written about for my next post.

LA/MS State Crit Champs:

1. Scott Kuppersmith - Herring Gas Cycling Team
2. Chris Alexander - Herring Gas Cycling Team
3. Timothy Regan - Herring Gas Cycling Team
4. Bain Foote - Herring Gas Cycling Team
5. Frank Moak - Herring Gas Cycling Team

Other Facts: Total 1/2's 11 riders; Total Herring Riders 7; Chance of pulling home the win 1% (I did the math and there was a chance that a crash would happen in the lead group that would cut down the total Herring Riders to 2 or 3....lol)

Meanwhile It looks like my teammates in AR are up to much of the same action:

AR State Road Race:

1. Lance Hughey - Mercy Cycling Team
2. Scott Barnes - Mercy Cycling Team
3. Carl Sundquist - Mercy Cycling Team
4. Zach Martin - Mercy Cycling Team

Next Up: Crossroads Classic after some good times in Chi Town

Today's Top 5

So many things have changed in the last 24 hours that’s amazing me. Here is the countdown of the top 5

5. Last night there were two crashes at a little informal training for the crit this weekend. This resulted in 1 kit pretty cut up; 1 broken collarbone. (Chase go faster in that turn you have it; Jenn we wish you the best and a speedy recovery)

4. A guy I used to coach will be doing the Crit this weekend. He’s a good MTBiker but refused to try road racing when I was coaching him (I was encouraging him to use it as prep/filler for MTB races). Good Luck!

3. There is a chance that our Dept. Director will be participating in his first road race (well really a crit but still a road discipline). I’m not sure if he’ll go through with it but if he does best of wishes. I think he’ll have a whole new understanding for what we do out there after trying it.

2. A good friend of mine is hurt after her and her b/f (not best friend) decided to split. She’s a strong girl so she’ll be fine but I still wish her the best and have a shoulder if she need’s it.

1. The Cobra test positive. Riccardo Ricco (known as The Cobra) tested positive today for a new form of EPO. It is quite disappointing. He is only 24 years old and has quite a temper (he threw his $5,000 bike in the air after being crashed out in a race earlier this year). What’s even more revealing is that he always wanted to be like his Idol – Marco Pantani (the Pirate). So far to date he’s doing a good job, bot being amazing rider’s; both climbers from Italy, and both being caught doping. I’m reading a book on Pantani now and hope that Ricco can come back clean and win.

On a bit of an exciting note I will be going to see The Dark Knight tonight at Midnight (the first showing) Since I have a day off tomorrow (training) I’m pretty excited I can do it. Then prep time for Sunday!!!

New Training

This is my first week working with my new coach. To say the least it’s been a tough week and I haven’t trained this hard in some time. The week before this I had an informal week with a few goals including 15 hours and some wattage/kJ goals. This week has been much more intense culminating with 18 hours for the week by the end of the day tomorrow. Not only have they been long hours but they’ve been hard hours. Today in the group ride I had close to 1,600 kJ by the 2 hour mark (which is pretty high for me). I’m pretty excited about the new coach and new direction; with the training this hard I have to get better!

The State Crit Champ’s are next weekend. I’m really looking forward to racing again and especially in a Crit. I’m sure it will be a hard day since a lot of riders will be gunning for it with at least three full teams that will be represented. Last year a break went early and stayed off. I doubt we’ll have the same situation this year. But as Frank say’s “Brains off, Balls Out” or something like that.

Above The Clouds

This past weekend (June 26th through 29th) I spent some time in Boulder, CO. We flew up on Thursday morning and got there around noon. The weekend was great and taught me a lot about myself and my abilities.

Thursday:

The Flight
We were up before the break of dawn “K” was having a driver pick Chad and I up at Chad’s house as “K” needed to be at the airport around the same time as we did for his trip to NY, NY. I got up as planned at something ridiculous like 3:30 and threw my bags into the car. It is amazing how hungry you can be at 3:30 am. So on my way to Chad’s house I made an attempt to go to Mc Donald’s. I pull up at the drive through and was promptly informed that they were closed. They didn’t seem too humored when I asked how a 24 hour Mc Donald’s could be close; after all they’re supposed to be open 24 hours a day. So the alternative was to stop at a gas station and get a few bottles of juice and some Little Debbie’s (I know a healthy breakfast before what is going to be a long weekend).

We get at the Airport and ended up just chilling in the lobby with “K.” When it was time to go we were ushered through the front of the line at security, and seated on the plane right away – FIRST CLASS BABY – thanks Chad! I’d never been in first class before and know I understand why people work there asses off before flying. They fed me food, good food, and lots of it! There were movies, and enough space that even if you were sitting next to Big Bertha you would still feel like you had your own hotel room. So needless to say the flight up was awesome.

Arriving at the Denver airport we had some time to kill before Mark arrived on a later flight so we chilled got our baggage etc. While getting our baggage I saw about 150 Boy Scouts all in uniform getting bags etc. I talked to one of them to find out that they were on their way to Camp Philmont. We spent a few minutes talking about there trip and I reminisced about my short stint at Philmont in 2001.

I bet you we could make a killing importing Air up here

I knew I was in trouble when I was carrying my bags at the airport and breathing like I was running a marathon. From there it was a constant reminder that we were so far from home. Every task, from walking up stairs at our Hotel for Thursday night (the Boulderado) to riding our bikes, was a battle for oxygen consumption. I asked Chad at some point during the day if he thought we could get some oxygen brought up to the room for us (after all we were staying in a 5 star hotel, and they call that service right?).

So once in Boulder after a short transfer we met with Frank Overton, our guide and my soon to be coach. We had lunch then we went to put our bikes together. That afternoon the plan was for Chad to go get fit by Pruitt’s protégé (I forget his name) while Mark and I would go for a ride.

On the ride we went to Canyon Rd. and basically started climbing. Mark and I were only going to do a 2 hour ride; taking it easy knowing that the next day would be harder. Mark definitely out rode me on Thursday easily setting tempo and riding away from me at ease. If I felt this bad on my first day I was not looking forward to the rest of the trip. (On the way up to Boulder, Mark and Chad told me that I would feel the worst of day 2 or 3 of the 4 day trip.) The descent back down the mountain was pretty satisfying and we flew all the way back to Boulder. That evening we all just chatted and prepped for the next day (a 4 hour ride in the mountains with Frank Overton, coach/guide; Eric, one of Frank’s athletes from Dallas; and Frank Pipp, road race professional on the Health Net / Maxis Team).

Friday:

How do you work this thing!

Before we left New Orleans, Chad had one of his SRM’s installed on my bike to collect data from the trip and training. I had been using power for training for some time but this new system was going to take some getting used too. So riding to Frank’s house to begin our morning ride I had Chad show me how to do some stuff while I was riding. So I was riding along playing with the SRM and WHACK! I hit a temporary road sign in the middle of the road and go down. Granted I was only going about 5 or 10 mph but regardless it was fast enough to rip my derailleur hanger off of the bike. Frank was kind enough to let me borrow the Motor Scooter to go around town and try to find a Derailleur hanger for my bike. I ended up at a shop where Lucious was kind enough to help me out and find one for me. After fixing my bike I was back at the hotel room and it was 10:30 am (the ride started at 9:30). So not wanting to sit around waiting for them to get back I remembered that Frank told me that they would be coming back the way we rode out on Thursday. I got on my bike and figured I would meet up with them on their way back.

FBI Sanctuary

I got dressed again for a ride and rode out solo to the climb. It was a 10 mile climb and I seemed to be having an ok time with it. I finally got to the last 2 miles that reminded me of something I would see in Arkansas; straight up and just downright steep. I actually caught an older man on the climb right at the base of this section and he ended up just riding away from me (I think he was using a 27 tooth cassette or at least that’s the story I’m telling everyone). At the end of this 2 miles you come into this little town that the clerk at the general store at the top informed me has a population of 150 people. Along the rode sides you see burnt out and abandoned cars some dating back to the 40’s and 50’s. I got an ice cream bar and as I was getting ready to go back to Boulder Frank, Chad, Marc and Eric showed up (Pipp turned around easy because it was his easy day). So the ride was a success, I met up with the group. On the descent Frank told me that the town was a place to go if you wanted to avoid the FBI and related it to Colorado’s version of Deliverance.

The Little Kicker

Frank told us we were going to take a different way back that was a little shorter but had about a 2 mile kicker on it. We were soon to find out that a Kicker in CO means a short very steep climb! We reach the base of the climb and I take off. Mark soon bridges up to me and we played Cat and Mouse for a while. When it leveled off he would pour in the power and ride away, then it would get steeper and I ride back to him as he would stand still going upward. Fortunately for me the finishing part was pretty steep and I came around to take the sprint to the stop sign at the top. I then sat down and caught my breath while Mark continued to tell me that he could have beat me in the sprint. The rest of the ride home was good with some nice descending.

Happy Hour.

At the top of that “Little Kicker” we met a lady who was quite possibly macking on Mark. Anyway, she invited us all to happy hour at the St. Julian. It just so happened that the St. Julian was where we would be staying that night so we agreed to meet them there. Happy hour started around 5pm and we went for a while. Now I have to say that I’m not too familiar with Boulder but this was definitely the place to stay. Not only was the St. Julian just and awesome super modern 5 start hotel but the happy hour was definitely my scene (as my co-workers might describe it back home – POSH). There were tons of beautiful girls all dressed to the nines for drinks on a Friday afternoon; while the guys were content in flip flops shorts and shirts. I didn’t drink anything but enjoyed good company and met some new friends.

Saturday:

Breakfast Sandwich and Coffee to go please.

So while all of our other rides left at 9:00 am or later Saturday was described as what was going to be an Epic ride and we would be meeting at Frank’s house at 6:00 am. So Chad didn’t sleep so well. All night we could here the remnants from happy hour stumbling around the hotel; both inside and out. Chad went down to get a bagel and I got ready for the ride. I went downstairs to get some breakfast and ended up getting a breakfast sandwich and a cup of coffee. I was in the middle of eating the sandwich when Chad and Mark came down. So I stuffed the sandwich in my stuff and rode to Frank’s house coffee in hand. I ended up giving Mark half of the sandwich as I couldn’t eat all of it and he hadn’t been able to get breakfast.

Big Tom Zirbel

We had about a 45 min drive to the place where we would be starting the ride. A few other guys would be joining us there to make the trip. On the drive there we passed one of our ride companions riding his bike over to the start – Big Tom Zirbel! Zirbel is a pro riding for Team Bissel and is an impressive rider. We all ended up meeting at a little organic coffee shop and had some coffee before leaving. Chad decided that he wasn’t going to attempt this ride with us and was going to do his own thing (I tried to convince him otherwise but with no success).

Up we go!

As soon as we started riding we started climbing. At one point I guess I was pushing the pace and got a slight scolding from Frank who said I needed to mindful of everyone in the group. He said “Your stronger than you think take it easy” I thought. Yea right, I’m from -10 sea level; I’m just trying to get this done! After the first climb we had a good descent in which Zirbel showed us how to do it easily picking the pace up to 40+ mph. Before heading to Rocky Mountain National Park we stopped at a Donut Shop for a break and some refueling.

Winter Wonder Land

Leaving the Donut shop we rode to Rocky Mountain National Park where we had to pay $10 just to enter. We started climbing and I asked is this it? Frank quickly said no. So for the next 5-10 miles I would keep asking if we were on the climb yet and each time he would say no and tell me to just enjoy the ride.

Finally we did reach the climb and when we did I didn’t need to ask, you could tell. It was a 20 mile trip to the top of the range and the Visitors center. At the beginning I started climbing at my own pace which was faster than most. A few minutes later Zirbel rode up to me and we started chatting and taking turns pulling. We were riding along and he got into his zone and started picking up the pace. He ended up riding away from me easily. I just kept going at my own pace and before long I was above the tree line with snow all around me. I ended up arriving at the visitor’s center about 15 minutes before the last people in our group. Zirbel actually rode up then turned around and rode back down for the others and rode back up with them. The Visitors Center was very cool and after hanging out, looking around and getting a hot dog at the concession area we started the decent back down.

Racing Legs

After the majority of the descent and leaving the national park we cam back into the little town where we stopped to have donuts earlier. This time we stopped at a little coffee shop. Leaving the coffee shop we had another “little kicker” before descending back to where we started. We got on the climb and I punched it. Zirbel came with me and we took turns pulling up the climb. About 1k from the top we were going into a headwind and I was sitting on Zirbel’s wheel putting out over 350 watts (a huge amount for me). I couldn’t hold on but only finished about 150-200 meters behind him at the top of the climb. I waited for the rest of the group while Zirbel went on (he was going to meet his g/f. Back with the rest of the group we started rotating going downhill. I think we average 33mph back to the start. When the Start was within sight we went up a slight kick. At the top I put in a little effort and only one guy was able to come with me. He came through with a little attack and I sprinted pass him at the city limit sign. After over 6 hours of riding I was still about to take a sprint against another Cat 2 rider.

BBQ

That night we all went to Frank’s house for a BBQ which was awesome. Mark was pretty upset that we had to ride our bikes overt there as he was definitely over riding for the day. The burger’s and beer were great. After 2 beers I could feel the “altitude” and decided that 2 was enough. We rode back to the hotel and because there wasn’t enough rooms for the 3 of us and since they couldn’t put a rollout bed in the room (fire code) I made a pallet on the ground made of pillows and down comforters.

Sunday:

Relentless

I got up a little stiff from the prior days ride and from the floor but was ready to go nonetheless. Chad and Mark on the other hand were done for the weekend. I set off on a ride by myself and came across Boulder Falls. I spent some time here enjoying the view and walking on the little trail to get back to the main falls (kinda difficult with cycling cleats on). They also had people rock climbing, taking pictures, and just enjoying the area; it was all pretty cool. I got back to the hotel and finished packing and we went to Frank’s to pack our bikes for shipment back to NOLA.

Delays

On the way back my seats were coach. I was spoiled by riding first class up and was pretty restless on the way back. We flew from Denver to Houston. In Houston we found the standard delays. It seems like every time I fly through Houston we are delayed. This time our delay was like 2 hours and we ended up not getting back to NOLA until after midnight and Chad and I were both exhausted.

The trip was over but I had a great time, realized that I really do love riding my bike, and that I’m not such a bad climber after all. Back now on pancake flats I’ll have to go back to the same old thing but with a revised attitude and vision!

For another write up on the Saturday ride visit this website:
http://gunznrosenthal.blogspot.com/2008/06/trail-ridge-road-report-photo-dump.html

3 and out

This weekend we had the Tour de Louisiane Stage Race in Covington, LA just north of where I live by about an hour. I hadn’t been training super much recently. I’ve been riding but nothing structured other than some group rides in the morning on the levee. So TDL is composed of a short 3 mile TT, an 80 mile road race and a 60 minute criterium. I was just going to do my best and see where it turned out.

So here are the results and some quick highlights:

TT
6:48 good enough for ~ 23rd

Road Race
12th pack time
I tried attacking a bunch on the first lap to try and get off and have a chance at the hot spot.
It stormed so hard during the race which made it super hard and really a good “real” road race.
On the 3rd lap I had a flat and had to chase back on
By finishing with the pack I moved from 23rd to 18th

Criterium
7 seconds separated 10th and 18th place.
Once again I attacked early and often to try to get a chance at the hot spot.
I timed the crit to attack at 23 min in assuming that the hot spot would be rang around the 26 min mark. I was off for a lap but got caught as the officials rang the hot spot lap.
I still managed to be the 4th person across the line for the hot spot. No time bonus but a decent result.
I had another flat after the hot spot.
In the final laps I was sitting in good position in the front and ended up attacking on the last lap with about 1k to go. I got caught with about 200meters to go to the line.
I ended up finishing 17th overall. I took Diego’s spot when he DNF’d

Again I had fun racing, I tried some stuff it didn’t work but at least I was noticed and felt somewhat accomplished. Oh and to finish off my 3 and out I rode my TT bike on Tuesday after TDL and had another flat.

3 flats, 3 races, and 3 and out!

Learning to Race

I’ve been racing for four seasons now (this one being my forth) on the road bike. I know that along the way I’ve learned a lot about training, riding, traveling and a lot about suffering. But somewhere along the line it seems like I’ve forgotten how to do something that inherently when I started four years ago was so simple. How to race.

My first season I raced a lot, and in the course of one year jumped from a 5 to a 3. Looking back some of my best memories were of that first year. I didn’t win, I’m still working on that one but I raced, raced a lot, and had fun doing it. Over the course of the following years things became more cloudy and complicated. Training got more structured; scientific. Racing became a game of calculation, don’t go too early the chances are too low, don’t go too late, you’ll get caught, who is willing to go, who is going to chase, how strong the chase will be…. In every race it was a matter of calculations. When I got a coach it seemed that it became more about number’s, sustained watts, max watts, time pedaling, etc. In the mix of this I lost what I had in my first year, racing.

This year has been rough! I’ve worked so hard and it feels like all I’m doing in some of these races is racing to hang on. Enough! For the Month of June I’ve decided to just race and have fun. I’m not doing any structured training (I’ll still be riding), and I’m not going to use a damn power meter!



With this in mind Saturday before the State Road Race Championships I went to the shop and took off the ERGOMO. It had been giving me some problems anyway and I needed to send it back to get checked out so I figured that this is a good time to get all of this done. Additionally, Marc at Bicycle World wanted me to try out some new chain lube. It’s called No. 5 and is supposed to last for 1,000 miles without needing to be re-oiled. So after cleaning my bike, removing the Ergomo, and doing all the other crap at the bike shop I was finally ready to go get some rest for Sunday.

I picked up Shave Dave at 4:00 AM so that we could drive up to Natchez which is about 3 hours away. Our race started at 9:00 (a 15 lap circuit race). Kate was kind enough to come drive so that we could sleep and she was also going to hand us bottles in the feed zone. It was going to be a hot day so we loaded up on water and I have to tell you the race started off really boring. Dan Bennett took off a little quick from the gun but didn’t make it 10 feet without someone being on his wheel. On the first lap I was told that a predominant team would work with me if I got off the front with anyone except this one rider who had beaten a teammate of theirs in the master’s race Saturday. So toward the end o the first lap I see a teammate of the guy I’m not supposed to get off with come to the front. I was guessing he was up there to cover attacks, etc. There was also a good mix of other riders at the front. So I attacked and thought that I might draw some people with me off of the front with me. Before I knew it the motor Ref came up and informed me I had 30 seconds. I was thinking “Well, I’ll hang out here for a bit and hope that someone bridges up.” The motor ref then tells me I have a minute then 2 minutes. My lead ballooned up to a maximum of 3 min. 30 sec. I ended up getting caught with 6 laps to go. I rode another two laps the first one trying to hang on and the second trying to catch back on. Then I pulled of and sat down. I usually don’t quit races but I couldn’t bear thinking of riding another 4 laps by myself.

I didn’t win the State Championship’s, I didn’t even finish, but I learned to race again and had a great time!

Hangin Tough

I know that I may not be the next ultra-pro. I also see young guys that are starting earlier than I did and some of who have much more talent than I. However, the one thing I do like about this sport is that if you’re dedicated and smart it will take you a long ways. Over the course of the years I have developed something that I see many of the younger guys missing – toughness. I’m not just talking about the ability to push hard when it hurts in a race; I’m talking the toughness you have o have off of the bike. One of our Cat 3’s here in NOLA is amazing on paper. He’s had a rough time this year coming off of a stellar season last year and being herald as the next youth rider to watch. Adjusting to Cat 3 riding here is hard. Most races are 123 and everyone is pushing just as hard as you are. My first year as a 3 I think I finish only maybe 2-3 races with the group and rest of the time was off the back. Not quitting and not loosing your mental strength is important. Even to this day when I enter a race – I believe I have a chance of winning or doing well. Sometimes well might be defined as finishing and making a time cut. I however have been fortunate to never enter a race with the expectations of failure.

This past weekend I needed the mental toughness as I traveled to Tulsa to complete the Tulsa Tough Criteriums. Needing a riding companion for the long trip up there and not being able to get anyone from here to go I found Murphy who went the entire trip with me and shared his insight of philosophy, and laws of life.

Trip to Tulsa

Tuesday
Check Engine Light comes on in the car – I make an appointment to take the car in to get an oil change and get the car checked out (it’s probably just a filter)

Wednesday
5:00PM - Go to Wednesday at the square to see some long lost friends (lost since racing season beganJ
6:00PM - Go to Loews to get some LocTite for Darrel to put my spoke in my wheel and true it (this is the wheel that I broke the spoke on in Arkansas)
9:00PM - Go to Wal-Mart to get some pipe cleaners and acetone (also to fix the wheel)

Thursday
6:00AM - Get up early to swap cars with the parents & take mine into the shop
8:00AM - Go to the shop to drop off the supplies to Darrel then go to NAPA to get some different type of LockTite
9:00AM - At work – the one that pays
4:00PM - Get a call from the auto place … news … cracked transmission, and a half ass job on the repair from when it was in the shop a month ago and a blown fuse
4:30PM - Call Insurance
5:00PM - Pick up car at auto place
6:00PM - Drop car off at dealership that performs faulty work!!! (not my idea)
6:30PM - Pick up Wheel that Katie picked up from the shop for me earlier in the day!
7:00PM - Drop off mom and go pack her car
9:00PM - Glue Tubular
11:00PM - Go to bed

Friday
7:00AM - Get up Drive to Westbank
8:00AM - Get at Enterprise to rent a car for the trip
8:45AM - Leave for Tulsa in rental car
7:30PM - Arrive in Tulsa and get ready to race
8:30PM - RACE
8:15PM - Get caught behind crash and dropped
10:30PM - Eat Dinner with team
12:30PM - Get to Chad’s house and crash soon after

Saturday
9:00AM - Wake up and Eat
3:00PM - Begin Warm-up
4:00PM - Ride to Course
5:05PM - RACE – finish with main group (First finish of the year with this quality of field)
9:00PM - Eat Dinner with Team and go out to awesome cycling bar “SOUND PONY”

Sunday
1:00AM - Get back to the host house – SLEEP
10:00 AM - Wake up and Eat! – Homemade French Toast
12:30PM - Warm Up
2:15PM - RACE
2:35PM - Get Dropped on Killer hill and pulled from race
2:40PM - Make it around to the top of the hill again and get a complementary beer from the Sound Pony Race Party!!!
3:30PM - Leave to go home

Monday
2:30AM - Get back to NOLA
8:00AM - Return Rental Car
9:00AM - Back at Work

Tuesday Night World Champion

LAST NIGHT I WON THE TUESDAY NIGHT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS. I DIDN'T FEEL GREAT COMING OFF OF A LONG WEEKEND BUT WITH A GREAT LEAD OUT FROM THE PRIOR TUESDAY NIGHT WORLD CHAMPION DAN BENNET I EASILY CAME AROUND MARK TO TAKE THE SPRINT OUT OF THE DAYS BREAKAWAY OF 5. THANKS DAN!

Host Housing

The first two days at the Tour of Arkansas we stayed with the Parker's who were so nice, and pleasant. Even better is they had an awesome little boy named Brooks!!! I bet he grows up to be a bike racer. Below are some pictures of there gorgeous house at the top of the mountain in town!

The Back Yard Was HUGE. I wish we would have had time to go swimming :)

The view off of the front porch .... true southern style.

I wasn't even halfway out in there front yard when I took this picture; its all just expansive.

I actually got to stay in Brooks' room. With the excepting of one of his electronic games coming on in the middle of the night on the first night it was way cool. It even had my name above the bed ... well sort of! Evidently he decided to rearrange things. SO from now on I'm considering going by "RBOOS"
AND yes, they had a basketball goal in their driveway and in tribute to our very own HORNETS who are in the second round of the playoffs I figured I would go slam it for the home team!!!

90 miles of pain

Today, I decided to train. To ride my bike even though I didn't want to and the only thing I could still think about was being time cut yesterday. I met Zach at the foot of Mount Magazine the 9 mile climb that the race would go up later. We were riding it for training. He had been resting all week and wanted to make a hard go of the climb; I just wanted to get it done. He dropped me in the first 2 miles which were the steepest. As I was climbing the Cat 3 race caught me. I was expecting to see D'go in the front group. D'go is a small guy who is coming up through the ranks in NOLA fast! While living under sea level he is about the closets thing that New Orleans will ever have of a climber. Well he wasn't in the first group or the second. Finally I saw him coming up to me. I figured that I didn't want to be shown up by a 17 year old Cat 3 so I decided to pick it up. When the gradient would lessen I would shift to my big ring and take off shifting back down when it got steep. I was sure he was going to catch me. For a while I would scoot away on the less steep stuff only to see him coming back on the steeper stuff. With about 10k to go I was able to shift into my big ring and stay there for the most part of the remaining ascent. At the top I saw Zach who said he hadn't finished that long ago :), and Andres the director of our Developmental Team. After a quick chat the "Old Man" rolled up to us after winning the masters race. Zach, the "Old Man" and I all started to descend. It was good practice to be riding with these two as they both are experienced in descending. Once at the bottom Zach turned to climb the mountain again. The Old Man and I continued back to the feed zone to feed the elite guys. We were keeping a good pace because we had 40 minutes before the peleton was expected to come through he feed zone and we were about 10 miles away with about a 20 mph head wind!!! I was trying to pull as long as possible to save the Old Man's legs for the Crit the next day. When he did pull he almost dropped me on some of the hills --- STRONG Old Man was more like it! We made it to the feed zone in time and saw the break coming - a Mercy guy was in it! It was Alex. I would learn later that he was in the break for about 90 miles with Karl Menzies and some other pro. At dinner he said it was 90 miles of pain. Regardless, he did an awesome job. They ended up getting caught on the climb but Menzies still managed to get a top 20. The day was done. I went back to my host house and got ready for the 10 hour drive back to NOLA.

ToA - I thought the hard part was done

Going into the Tour of Arkansas it was really hard to convince myself that I would be making it past the first day. Well, I did. That really only meant that I made it over to the next day to suffer - I was actually really happy. The next day had about half as much climbing at a little over 5,000 feet and was a mountain top finish up the dreaded NEBO! My goal, to make it over the first 3 mile climb up Petit Jean with the group and recover on the flat sections ahead. We would cross Petit Jean again but it would be only 30 miles from the finish the second time. We start and after a short neutral roll out the attack started coming. I was feeling fine. We were rolling between 30 and 35 on the way to the first climb and I was not on the rivet at all. We hit the climb and I started close to the front maybe in the top 20 (Brice Jones, our Director for the weekend, told me to start in the top 5 but have you ever tried to get up to the top 5 in a pro race....yeah). I made it up the first little pitch but then they just started going faster!!! I fell off of the back along with a couple other guys. After the descent we ended up with a group of about 8 of us that were fighting to make the time cut. We all made it to the second time up Petit Jean together and started climbing. Spear Chucker fell off slightly before the climb and the BMC guy I was with yesterday fell off at the very bottom. I lost contact with the group about halfway up and continued to climb as fast and steady as a rock can. The group of 5 summited about 600 meters in front of me. I came across maybe 60 to 90 seconds back. I was kinda expecting to see them at the top of the ridge but they were no where in sight. I started chasing to try and get back in but to no avail. I ended up TTing the next 30 miles solo to the final climb. As I met the foot of the climb spray painted on the ground there were the words "WELCOME TO KNEE BLOW!" Yeah this climb is the most difficult climb I have ever done (it was a bit easier than the time I did it back in 2006). The gradient reach upward to 25% with most of it being around 18% for a little over 2 miles straight up. I missed the time cut by 10 minutes. I was hurt, not just physically mentally and emotionally. To pour everything into 30 miles to be time cut by 10 min. The group of 5 in front of me made the time cut. I don't know their margin but they had about 8 minutes on me at the feed zone about 15 miles from NEBO so who knows. Tomorrow, I would get to feed the race, and watch a race that I should be in.

When to give up!

Today hurt. I'm too tired to do much or write much but here's the short of it. I got dropped at 1:15 in today and that was after a 15 mile neutral roll out. When the road goes up I seem to go back. I continued on and could not catch back on. I tried. I kept going with one other guy from the BMC team in which you could tell was more of a sprinter (I was out climbing him). So after a lot of motor pacing and holding onto the sag wagon, we reached the 1st feed zone. I wanted to give up, quit, call it a day, and pretty much go home. It hurt (did I mention that). Rob from our team (our support this weekend) convinced me that it was mostly downhill from there (he lied) but I kept going. I ended up catching Justin first, then Bill, finally Scott from our team. We ended up finishing with a group of about 15 or so. I think we made the time cut! So I'm not sure I know when to give up and today I was glad because of it. I may be stupid for keep going but I think I made the time cut. That all that matters now.

Moving on to ToA

Not everyone can win. I've realized this a long time ago. However, you never really get used to loosing. The important part is to move on. I've somehow learned to do this quite well. There is always tomorrow if today doesn't work out. I hope this resilience keeps up. Forgetting your failures and embracing hope and success has to be the way to go. SO in 3 days I start the Tour of Arkansas. Its going to be a new race, a new result.

JMSR - FEEDZONE

So today was the first time that I worked a feed zone. I got yelled at for feeding from the left hand side of the rode and I think I got fined. It sucked being in the feed zone instead of in the race. The team did ok though so we'll see what happens tomorrow.

Joe Martin Stage Race

I want to write about this but am so tired I can't so here are the basics

89th of 95 in 2.5 mile uphill TT (Time 11:27)
Dropped in road race.
Rode solo in road race (~90 miles)
Broke rear spoke with 15 to go (rode in with wheel rubbing)
Missed time cut (by about 20 min)

I'm Still waiting for the priceless moment but I'll keep you up to date

Taking it laying down

Today there were two many crashes on the group ride. Randy and Richard went down when a dog ran into the group. We think Randy broke/dislocated his shoulder while Richard was bleeding from his head profusely. They both were alert though and the group went on after Howard came back with his car to take them to the hospital. Before the main group hit the turnaround another crash happened. This time the guy was by himself and it appeared that he pulled his cleat out of his pedal which caused him to go down. He was knocked unconscious for about a minute. Thankfully we have a doctor that rides with us who quickly responded. The ambulance came to attend to our fallen comrade and we headed on back. What a weekend!!!

Wednesday I leave for Joe Martin so my next updates will be on the race. Until next time.

Belgium Training

Maybe a month ago I posted a description of Belgium, Italian, and French Riders. Today I was a Belgium Rider. With only about 8 of us showing to the Giro we took off. While on Haynes I suggested that we turn around at Hwy 11 because of the dark clouds. Brett said “We’re committed now – we’re going to get wet. We might as well do it all.” Soon after this I attacked (really just picked up the pace. I was off the front by myself and was having good numbers so I kept going. When I turned onto the service road I looked back and saw that they were about a minute back and were chasing so I figured I would try to outlast the small group ride. I rode the entire route and on the way back, about halfway down Hwy. 11 (Chef Hwy), the rain moved in with a blink of the eye. I saw a garbage can on the side of the rode and figured that I would hide out behind there and call for back up to pick me up at the Chevron at the end of Chef. SO I made some calls but no answers!!! I ended up hanging out on the side of this garbage can for about 10 minutes while the rain pounded down at 45 degree angles. I noticed the water coming up on my right and knew that soon I would be sitting in a puddle instead of on rocks and attempted to move the full garbage can up the gravel driveway to higher ground. This is when the gentleman living in the house behind me, notice me and his wife rushed out to let me in the gate. Ironically, through the rain he thought I was a girl. These people were so nice and gave me a towel to dry off with and gave me a ride back to my place in New Orleans (after no contact could be made to arrange a ride). I own a big debt to Mary and Charlie Dake. Thanks so much!!!

One last note: the Dake’s lost everything in Katrina and since have built their home back slowly, but most impressively by themselves. And as some may say – “This aint no sissay house!” We are talking I-beam construction and a complete steel structure. Their house isn’t done yet but when it is, it will be fit for a king. With the hearts of gold that the Dake’s they deserve such a palace.

Tuesday Night World Champion!!!

So it’s the Tuesday after the MSGP. My coach said that I wouldn’t have the legs to go to the training race tonight but said I could try anyway. After two of the 6 lap race I got dropped from the lead group. (This never happens!!!) In the chase group (with the rest of us that raced the prior weekend) I helped organize a pretty hard chase. The lead group ended up putting time into us but not much. With one lap to go on the slight hill about 300m from the finish I attacked. I knew the guys in the chase with me were tired so I thought I would try and see if they would give up. While doing this there was a crash up the road and the Lead group fell apart and stopped. I flew past them and was now in the lead. With about 1k to go Diego bridged up, and attacked. I got on his wheel and followed his several accelerations until about 100m to go and sprinted past him with ease. In the end it was like a Match Sprint. So by default I was crowned World Champion for the next week. Next time I would like to take it rightfully! But I’ll take it regardless.

Mississippi Grand Prix (MSGP)

The Mississippi Grand Prix was supposed to be a good test for me matched with a decent result. It’s amazing that no matter what you think may happen and how things have been in the past you are always one day away from a completely new experience. This is exactly how I felt this past weekend.


MSGP – The Friday Night Blizzard!

The Friday Night Criterium for the Mississippi Grand Prix (MSGP) always marks the departure of the race. It is usually a fast and super technical race. Everyone is a little nervous and fresh, willing to test their legs ahead of a long weekend. This crit would have been no different than other years if it had been held. Friday afternoon a strong storm system moved through the area bringing tornado warnings, strong thunderstorms accompanied by tons of rain. I was already feeling nervous about the race knowing how technical the course would be combined with the rain. I have to take a moment here to really thank my teammate who came down for this race Scott Barnes. Scott kept psyching me up for the crit and together we hatched a great plan to get ready for the crit.

After we registered Friday evening we went back to the hotel room and jumped on the trainers in the hotel room. I knew that trying to get a warm up out in the weather (even if the rain stopped temporarily) would demoralize me and would make it difficult to get in a good warm up. This worked wonderfully. After about 30 minutes on the rollers (watching TV to boot) we were ready to head out into the weather to ride to the Crit. This would give us a chance to get out in the elements and let the initial shock of the weather get out of us before the race. As I was putting my helmet on to walk out of the hotel room door my cell phone rang. It was Rob Konrad – the race had been cancelled due to the rain. Scott initially thought that Rob might be messing with us since we had been debating all afternoon over whether the weather would cause the Crit to be cancelled. I knew that Rob wouldn’t screw with us so close to the race, but since we were all warmed up and ready to go we decided to go ride down to the course anyways. Getting down there, we got a chance to chat with the other riders and I showed Scott the course that we would have done. I think he was glad it was cancelled after all. We decided to go for about an hour ride and not knowing the area I asked Kenny B. from the Herring Gas Team for a route to take. This is their home race and they hold their training camps up here so I suspected that he would know where to send us. On the way back from the route he gave us we passed a little ghetto section of town. Scott jokes that he thought Kenny might be trying to get rid of the competition by sending us through this section of town. I do have to admit that I was pretty impressed by the number of rims we saw in that 2 block radius.

Getting back to the hotel from our ride I met up with Kate and my mom. I was bummed that they wouldn’t get a chance to see us race in the crit. They were still excited about the road race the next day but I knew that the race would be a lot of waiting for them and in general the Road Races aren’t as exciting for spectators. I showered and they got settled into their rooms before we went across the street to Mitchell’s Steak & Seafood Restaurant. Sitting in the main part of the room was the entire Inferno Racing Squad – I swear they must have brought 8 people to this race! We had a good dinner of which the best part for me was the rolls with the sweet butter. Afterward, we went to the local Dairy Queen for desert before turning to bed. The morning was going to be fast with fresh legs and anxious riders.

MSGP – Nerves of Steel

Saturday morning came early. I actually woke up before the wake up call or alarm and got some time in on the net while in bed. Usually I would have just kicked on the TV but Scott was still sleeping and after his long drive the day before I figure he wanted all the sleep he could get. My mom did call fairly early before I even got up to ask me a question. I love how she was wide awake at something like 5:30 AM! After breakfast with Kate, my mom, Scott, and I, we loaded up the Bicycle World Van and took off for the race. My mom and Kate were going to finish packing up and meet us there.

The race started out at the top of a hill with a pretty fast descent starting the race. Before we started I rode the finishing hill a couple of times to stretch the legs. I figured that since the Friday Night Crit was canceled the race would be on from the gun. I was right! The descent was fast and as soon as we came to the first hill attacks were flying. The race wasn’t quite as aggressive as the Texas races but it was still pretty fast. The hard part was that the first part of the course was pretty technical for a road course. This is because of what seemed like a lot of turns, combined with the narrow roads and a section of road that reminded me of the Rouge Roubaix. During the rough section of road, which was also pretty narrow, the peloton was spread across the entire road. On the descents on this section people’s water bottles were popping out as we were flying down the hills at close to 30 mph. This along with people swerving, braking etc. made this section even more nervous. A little after this section we entered a little town which had several turns at full gas. It was in this town on the second lap that an entire group of riders got dropped from the field. The rest of the course was rolling and actually really pretty.

From that first slew of attacks on the first lap a few riders broke away. I’m not sure who was in the break but I’m pretty positive the Metro/Volkswagen did not have a rider in it because in an impressive show of teamwork and strength they sat 4 riders on the from setting tempo to slowly bring back the break. This first lap was very nervous for me especially on the descents as at times all I could think about was the crash that I had several weeks ago. Having Metro at the front made this better because the speeds were pretty steady. Soon these thoughts faded but the race was steel very nervous! Once Metro caught the break, attacks began to go again, but this time they weren’t going anywhere. Someone would attack, the sit up and the entire field would slam into the rear of the leaders – usually at the bottom of the hills. This meant, the usual swerving, hard braking, tires skidding etc. Now for the first lap I managed to stay up in the front 20 or so the ironic thing is that I dropped back to talk to Scott and Rob who were at the back. Staying at in the front 20 in this race was a complete, and constant, battle. Once at the back I realized that it was a much easier ride at the back. Scott and I decided to stay at the back during the second lap to conserve energy. Usually the winning breaks go at the end of the third lap and with this being a stage race with the large 80 rider field we didn’t think that much would go very far. We were wrong and consequently missed the winning break which I believe went toward the end of the second lap. Strangely enough it was only two rider’s but evidently the right two – Carlos Vargas and David Wenger. During the third lap we saw Herring at the front chasing, Eric Murphy, last years winner, along with several others all of which were unsuccessful. With about 10k to go I started moving up being careful to follow the center line rule. I had been warned once about it while not actually creating a violation and didn’t want to be relegated to the back of the peloton while trying to move up (a little unproductive). So I was moving up nicely until the moto ref moved up to the front of the race for something and about 20 riders zoomed past me on the left hand side – ACROSS THE YELLOW LINE!!! This put me pretty far back in the pack again and I was disgusted. With 5k to go and not much room to move around on the road I know that I would not be able to make it to the front. I resided to just ride it in and make sure that no time gaps were created on the final climb to the finish. The finish was pretty hard and I ran out of gas about 50 meters from the finish (the climb was about 1k long). I came though at the back on Josh Rosby’s wheel getting pack time. Scott finished with a top 20 and I was happy to conserve energy to try and do something in the TT in the evening. It was interesting that the two riders in the winning break ended up putting about 2 minutes on the field.

After the road race we hurried back to the hotel, cleaned up got some lunch and bid farewell to my mom, Kate and I guess I should mention my mom’s baby here Demi (her new puppy who is actually pretty cute). After they were on their way we took a nap and then headed off to the evening TT.

MSGP – 20 seconds / 299 WATTS

Since Dan Bennett, who is in from New Mexico doing this race to prep for the Gila, was doing the Masters race and would start the TT a good 45 minutes before we would we needed to be out there in time for him to get his warm up in. This actually turned out to be a good thing as Rob K, Darren S. and myself had enough time to ride the TT course before the start to get a feel for the course. The course didn’t change from prior years but I managed to pay attention to the rises and landscape to make a game plan of where to push it and where to back it off a little. The TT was a little under 4 miles but with two pretty good hills coming before the halfway point it was real easy to blow up before the finish. So we rode the course, sat back down relaxed and then got about an hour warm up in – I felt great. So everything was going as planned. Until, I roll up to the start and see that Rob is lined up, I’m to go off right and front of him and there are only like 2 riders to start before I go. I realize that I still have my jersey on (meaning that my skin suit is not pulled up), and that I need to put on my aero helmet and ear plugs. I managed to get everything on with Ali’s help – thanks Ali – and get to the line 20 seconds before I was to start. Actually that’s plenty of time but I think the rush of adrenaline of almost missing my start time was a little much and I wasn’t really focused going into the TT. I did stick to the plan but didn’t feel like I could punch it when I needed too. I ended up finishing up with a time of 8 minutes 38 seconds. When I saw Rob come across the line I said to him “you put 20 seconds into me” I was right he came through with an official time of 8:18. I didn’t feel great in the TT and only put out 299 watts but coming in 20 seconds behind Rob was good. It’s about where I was in late June last year so this year is definitely going better. Last year Rob’s 8:18 was good for 5th, this year it was good for 24th, my time put me at 42nd. Still a ways to go.

MSGP – Attacking With A Lap To Go???
For a weekend that was supposed to increase my confidence and produce good results I have only proved that I can finish with the pack. With Sunday’s “Cir-terium” there was one last chance to try to get a result. (Cir-terium = to long to be a true Criterium but too technical for follow vehicles so a wheel pit needs to b used) I got a long warm up in, as usual, on the rollers and was ready to go. Before the race I was telling Scott and Dan that if I had the legs I was going to make my move with a lap to go. Dan has plenty of experience with crits through racing with the Cuban Rocket, Dan Larsen, and several other pro’s. He said that with today’s field and open course there was no way that I would make it to the finish like that. He said he that the field could swallow me at will and that there was no way that I could hold off a field coming into a sprint by myself. He said that I should try to position my self in the top ten coming into the sprint and go like hell to hold position in the sprint. The ironic thing about all of this is we are discussing the finish even before talking about getting to the finish. The latter of which I did not accomplish. I got popped from the field right around 40 minutes into the 80 minute Cirterium. Disappointing. I should have forced my way up in the field as I’m sure I was too far back. The hardest part of the course was the right turn right after the finish which had a slight headwind then a left turn with a slight rise. I had to sprint in this section every lap and had no power. Looking back at the power file I had over 16 sprints in this section over 300 watts. Well that closed out the weekend. The next racing I’ll be doing is in a few weeks at Joe Martin. Actually Joe Martin Might be slightly easier then this past weekend – but I doubt it :)

CANCELLED!!!

The day before professionals would race in what has become to be known as the hardest one day race in the world (the Paris-Roubaix). Here in New Orleans we cancelled a race. Not because of weather conditions (while raining and windy in the morning, the day actually turned out to be pretty nice), but because the weather the night before had covered our Lakeshore Drive with mud and debris from the lake.

I called my coach to get a work out to replace the race; and soon realized I would have rather done the race. The TT would have been 8.5 miles. Instead I now needed to do 2 x 5 mile intervals. My numbers from the power meter were OK but not anything to brag about. I’m pretty happy considering that it’s still kind of early for me and I am still not feeling right from the crash last week. I do think that I would have done better in a real TT because of the pressure, the environment, warm-up, and focus that are naturally a part of a race.

Sunday I did The Giro group ride. It was pretty hard. I wanted to sit in and see how my sprint was going but the group started to break apart at the front and I tried to go up front to help bring it back together. I didn’t attack just rode to the front and started to gradually increase the pace. I was only going ~45k when I looked back and only one guy was on my wheel. A couple others bridged up and I pulled the group most of the way up to a few guys in front of us. From then on out we were doomed. We couldn’t catch the 4 guys in front of us and we were managing to stay ahead of the main group. It stayed like this the entire way out! Kenny B. is riding pretty well and put in a pull that shelled the 4 other guys that were with us. We eased up a little to allow them a chance to get back on but I was more intent on catching the group in front. In the sprint at the turn around Kenny once again put on the hammer. I held on the longest but let him go about 400m from the finish to ride in at my sustainable speed. A few seconds later he looked back and eased up letting me get back on for a nice lead out.

On the way back, we stayed together on Chef Hwy. I attacked with about 1k to go before the sprint line and only 2 came with me. They easily passed me in the last 200 meters but I was surprised that nobody else was there. We had a sizable gap on the group at the finish. After that a group rolled off the front and we once again were chasing. (BTW: I decided that I don’t like chasing) After we came back together we were rolling with a stiff wind when I heard scraping metal on the ground. CRASH!!! If it were a race I’m sure the pace would have picked up but being the friendly bunch of guys we are everyone stopped to help in the scraping of the carnage off of the pavement. It was nothing serious just some guys that touched wheels. Thankfully I wasn’t in it. From there on out nobody was motivated. I rode at the front of our group which turned out to be the first group pretty much all the way back to the lakefront. I was surprised that no one tried to sprint past me on the bridge. I didn’t pick it up too much but just stayed seated and set a nice tempo. After the ride I went up on the levee to fight the winds by myself to end up with a total of 4 hours riding on the day. I felt good and could have probably done more but I was also a little motivated to get home.

Next week is the MS Grand Prix. I am hoping that I will be going well for the race. Ideally all road rash, bruising, and stiffness will be gone.

The Price of Priceless

Gas to go to Cuba Race $20
Hotel Room $45
Race Entry Fee $35
Food $25

Crashing less than 25 miles into the 83 mile road race
Cracked Atmos Helmet $150.00
Shattered Orion Tubular Front Wheel ~$200

Priceless Part:
Thinking your shoulder is not broken :)
Chasing to try and get back into the race :(
Pulling out of the race after a 20 mile chase :(
Being so sore that you wish you had road rash instead :(
Getting a picture of you and your wheel :)
Knowing you crashed at approx. 27 mph and can walk away (while limping) :)
Trying to figure out how to replace the equipment you've destroyed :(



Total cost = in excess of $475



Best Part - Not Getting the Chance to finish the race and see where your fitness is. :o(

The Cross Over

Starting out in the sport was a progression of several steps: first Boy Scouts and Backpacking, then Adventure racing (which I viewed as backpacking a backpacking race with other stuff thrown in for good measure), and then Mountain Biking. I stop here because this is the critical point. In my mind I started off thinking it was good for Adventure Racing to improve my skill’s etc. Then I started to develop and decided that I liked the effort and that this was something that I wanted to do. I became a Mountain Biker. Now repeat the last three/four sentences and replace “Mountain Biker” with “Road Racer” and “Adventure Racing” with “Mountain Biking.” Now I am truly a road racer. But once, maybe twice, a year I like to think that I am a Mountain Biker so I go to the local MTB races and show them what we brought back in the day. Usually I do pretty well at these and most of the time podium. This time I didn’t.

Last weekend I did the “Battle of Baton Rouge” MTB race. Well, I might have done better then the last place I finished if I had actually showed up more than 10 minutes before the start. Nonetheless I managed to get ready and get to the line with a few minutes to spare in which I spent riding up and down in front of the start line. Into the woods we went; last position. Cool, I need to warm up and will turn on the gas on lap two, right? Turning on “The Gas” evidently meant going 10 seconds faster on the 2nd lap than the first; I only found this out by looking at the results afterwards. Yeah so things were hard and I was riding as fast as I could. Fitness was great and skills really sucked; especially in the mud and wet conditions. So, on the 4th of 5 laps I manage to crash. Not a big deal – it’s an MTB race. Except this is how I know I am now officially a roadie. I find the only piece of concrete in the entire woods to fall on! Pretty lucky I know. SO, I’m all mad that I crashed and end up crashing again. This time not on concrete (I couldn’t be that lucky) but still going down in the mud. So instead of my lap times getting faster as the race course dries out they got 3 and 2 minutes slower respectively compared to the first 3 laps. In my defense, the last lap I was already out of it mentally and settled on riding it in instead of quitting (I really wanted to quit though). So in my final lap a guy caught up to me and I rode behind him until the very last stretch (where I decided to go fast again) and basically talked to him the entire time. He didn’t talk back (after all he was racing) but it kept me entertained.

So this might have been my last MTB race, I am pretty determined to sell my MTB. I will get another one eventually, but intend to ride for fun from now on.

Coming up this weekend is the CUBA Road Race. Its one of the three “real” road races we have around here. (The three being Rouge Roubaix, CUBA, and MS Grand Prix.) I am hoping to have a good result but twisted my knee last night running and it’s a little tender. We’ll hope for the best.