Bit of training

Had a weekend off this past weekend and I went back to Canada with Tara for some family time. Was a good weekend hanging out and I actually got some really good training in. Home again and am off this week to Charlotte for another round of the crit series and a $100,000 race... Should be good fun! Oh yeah, after Boise I jumped up in the overall to 4th place. Pretty sweet.. I wanted to post this picture and see if anyone can guess who this is.. its an older picture....

Boise Twillight

This was one of the coolest race's we have done all year. Pancake flat 4 corner with about 20,000 spectators... oh yeah, and at night... just love these crazy twilight races.. nothing like flying around a barricaded course with 120 guys going 35 mph in the dark... awesome. Well, the race was absolutely blazing fast with I think the average over 30mph for 50 miles.. A handful of big teams were here including a full squad of Toyota United guys... Nothing really ever got to far up the road and in the end Toyota lined it up for a field sprint. Rich and I were looking after Hek as much as possible during the race and it was my job in the end to keep Hek at the front.... We did a good job sitting right behind the train but I couldn't get my legs going quick enough to launch him closer.. in the end Hek finished up 7th and I held on for 13th. Rich had a great race but flatted with 2 laps to go.. bummer.. We were pretty happy as there was only 3 of us and we were out numbered by the big teams... We finished up racing at about 10:30 and headed back to the hotel for a few cold beers that we had bought earlier in the day (see below)... got cleaned up and headed out. One of our sponsors Tom Coleman of Wobblenaught bike fits lives in Boise so he took us out and we tried to drink all the beer in Boise... good times and no one went to jail which is always a plus. Always a good time hanging out with my homeboys Hek and Richy Rich. I am sitting in the airport awaiting a long day of travel and don't get home until 5:30am.. ouch.. will put some good pics up when I get home.. here are a couple... Rich's is a classic... Didn't know it was possible to pass out and still stand...




Most teams hit up the servo for Gatorade and Powerbars before the race.... not us, having beer on ice waiting for us in our hotel room after the race was #1 priority.

Where am I???

I am currently in Boise, Idaho (see map) and apparently its way the hell out west. I never realized Idaho was so far out here. Anyway, nothing much new has been going on except been trying to get comfy on my new bike. Its been a struggle to get my position right for some reason but I think I finally got it. Back to why I'm in Boise. Race #6 of the US Crit Series. A huge twilight event with lots of cash up for grabs. Hek and Harp are joining me so it should be a blast.
We are looking to defend Heks lead and our lead in the team comp. Rich and I both are sitting in the top 15 overall so maybe we can move up a notch as well. Stayed tuned. oh yeah, and Boise, as crazy as it sounds.. is a kick ass city!!

I'm old.... and more US Crit fun and controversy

2nd place sucks...



on the attack..... (notice the huge crowds)


Well, I did my first master's race this past weekend.. yeah yeah can't wait for the comments on this one... anyway, the race was pretty negative and I couldn't seem to go anywhere.. No one would really attack except a few guys but they would chase like no ones business.. I put in a few huge efforts and couldn't believe I was brought back. Anyway, about halfway through I made it into a pretty nice move of 6 and thought it was the break... We got brought back somehow and the field just sat up.. and on the opposite side of the rode, one of the riders I knew to watch rolled off and the field just stopped. I was stuck and couldn't do anything... Karl Bordine rolled off and I thought, no way they will let him roll the way they were chasing me.... but that didn't happen.. when I finally got out of the field that just sat up... Karl was already 30 secs up.. amazing.. I chased and attacked but could never get closer... It was amazing to me that none of the teams organized a chase... I kept saying stuff to them and they would say.. we are getting it organized.. haha.. oh well, Karl had an unreal ride and rode away to win and my only hope was for 2nd.. It stayed together and coming out of the final corner which was only 200 meters from the line I was 4th.. kinda messed that up.. but I kicked it into high gear and sprinted past everyone to win the field sprint and the silver medal. Kinda bummed as I missed a national championship.

I'm doing this backwards with this one but the night before nationals we suited up for the 5th stop of the US Crit series in West Chester, PA. This turned out to be a real ball buster... 100 or so starters on a 4 corner crit with a pretty nice size hill on it... I had a pretty rough day as I couldn't recover from anything I did and was closing gaps all night. Mark once again rode like a champ and Brandon stepped his game up and rode great. I couldn't do anything but survive and keep fighting hoping I could get back to the front.. Well that never happened and in the end didn't help out at all. 2 guys stayed away and Mark was 6th and I rode in for 27th.. rough day with only 40 finishers... I hate not being able to help or do anything... and this was by far the hardest crit I have done in a loooong time... After the race we got a sudden shock as the race officials decided to relegate Mark for sprinting dirty.. Apparently he moved from the left side of the road to the right and from the officials view it looked like he chopped the whole field but he had jumped them and was a couple bike lengths in front of them. They would not hear us and relegated him from 6th to 30th. To add to the BS, not a single rider complained and when I told the other riders in the top 10 that included top Pro's, they were all super surprised and didn't even know what the officials were talking about.. real dangerous huh??? I'm sure Mark has some good things to say about it as well so check his blog out.

Would love to hear everyone's thoughts on how you can relogate a rider when not a single rider complained about a dirty sprint??

Oh yeah, to add to my bad race on Sat night I ended up breaking my Masi frame at the seat stay.. not good.. so the power wasn't really all going to full use... and I rode it like that on Sunday as well... was gonna ride a teammates bike but decided to ride my broken one anyway... I seem to be breaking alot of things lately... 3 seats, a bike, a couple pedals a carbon wheel... maybe I need to cut back on all the ice cream....