The Alaska mountain biking state championships are in full swing with the finale kicking off in 2 hours. The turnout this year is ridiculously low with only 6 expert men and something like 10 total riders. But Carey and I have still been duking it out in each stage. On the stage 1 hill climb I got him by 2 seconds, and in the super D he claimed those 2 seconds back. In short track i nipped him at the line but with no time gap we remain tied up heading into the cross country race today. I think the advantage goes to Carey because he knows the course and it has some technical single track that I will probably struggle with, but I'm hoping that the endurance I have built up this season will pay off during the 2nd half of the race. The sun is out and it is 52 degrees so it should be perfect conditions for a battle!
Post race update: I couldn't fake my mountain biking skills on this course and Carey ran away with the title. The course was awesome and Carey's smooth skills on the technical single track earned him his 2nd AK state mtb title. Nice work!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
TTOA wrap-up
The TOA ended with the kincaid loop road race yesterday. Early in the race I was disappointed that most riders just wanted to do a group ride at a conversational pace while I was hoping for a real race. The mass start races in the TOA will never be meaningful unless they shorten or get rid of the TT's, or add prize money that will provoke aggressive racing in the road stages. Even though the RR was easy I still enjoyed the stage race a lot more than in years past. I finished up 5th on GC while Daniel took 3rd and Carey got the stage win, making this the team's most successful TOA in its 3 years of existence. Nice job guys!
Andy Pohl took this photo during the hill climb and I gotta say I really like it, especially since I will probably never win another hill climb race in my career
Jordan won his 4th straight TOA, and I'm thinking he should go for 20 in a row.
Andy Pohl took this photo during the hill climb and I gotta say I really like it, especially since I will probably never win another hill climb race in my career
Jordan won his 4th straight TOA, and I'm thinking he should go for 20 in a row.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
TTOA
I guess I wasn't thrilled with the conditionsThe TOA has been pretty good this year. I got my first stage win and I believe my first win ever in a road bike race of any kind in the Clarks Road hill climb. I attacked with 2km remaining and got a gap that I barely held to the line. I buried myself during those 5 minutes but it felt good to get a win.
The crit was nasty with the car thermometer reading 48 degrees and a steady rain coming down. Turn 3 had a crosswalk that was like an ice rink and several people crashed while everyone else had some near crashes. It was great because it was a very dangerous technical turn and the penalty for over cooking it or slipping out was to go into a lane of moving traffic! Most of the field was scared and got lapped quickly, taking a small time penalty and saving their legs for the TT.
I gave it several digs and with 2 to go I got away but got caught in the 2nd to last turn and had to settle for 3rd.
overshot it... againWhile I was happy that they shortened the TT from 20 miles to 10, I also had a bad stomach all day after the crit and I wasn't able to eat enough between races. I had no energy at the TT and was racing through a pretty decent bonk. I cured that quickly on the way home with a DQP with cheese combo from McDondalds. I was 50 seconds behind my PR for the course and lost 2 places on GC, but Speedway still has a rider on the podium and 2 in the top 5. Today is the road race and I will be looking to move into 4th.
Thanks to Andy Pohl and Andy Romang for the sweet photos!
Thanks to Andy Pohl and Andy Romang for the sweet photos!
Friday, August 08, 2008
2 down 1 to go
I don't know if I have ever seen a better Pterodactyl impression than Sandy's last night at the TT.
2 of the 3 time trials in my season are over. I got 4th last night 32 seconds down. 4 seconds faster than last year with a few less watts and bad pacing. I must have a better position on this bike.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Hiding out
A view from the mid-mountain trailCascade came at the end of a few stressful weeks with a lot of travel and not much riding. So I used Cascade and the two weeks following to try and regain the form I had when I left Belgium. I spent two weeks in Utah with the family doing some mountain biking, road riding and a local road race. I had a great time and Park City is a great place to train… especially when the casa sits atop a 5 mile, 2,000 foot climb at 8500’ above sea level.
At the Chalk Creek Classic road race on my last weekend in PC I started to feel some good fitness again. I was getting some decent numbers on the SRM at altitude which was encouraging. I went back to Nashville and hit up the NC.com training crit before heading over to North Carolina for the Presbyterian Invitational and Hanes Park Classic.
Presbyterian was hard, and I only did the first 25 minutes of the 2 hour race. It is amazing how much harder a race can be when there is big money on the line. So many riders say they don’t do it for the money but they sure don’t go any slower with a big check up for grabs! I started in the back and was suffering hard trying to move up. At about 15 minutes in there was a wreck about 20 wheels in front of me… I got through it fine and thought I could get back on but in retrospect I should have taken a lap. I chased hard for 3 laps but the relentless primes – anywhere from $250 to $1000 – kept the pace in the pack high and spelled the end of my race. I was kicking myself all night for not taking that lap and for starting in the back…luckily that wasn’t the only race of the weekend.
Sunday was Hanes Park and it is an awesome race. The course is really cool… turns and rollers but nothing too technical so it is a bit easier to cruise regardless of your position in the peloton and it is easier to move around the bunch. I followed a first lap flyer by Jon Hamblen and pinned it for the first 5 minutes before looking back and seeing everyone on my wheel. I slid back to the back to recover and hung out until 45 minutes into the race when the feed zone opened up. I took two fresh bottles and started moving up slowly. With 10 to go I decided it was time to go all the way up front and see what was going down. I weaseled my way into the top 30 with 3 to go and the pace was starting to feel pretty hard. A Toshiba guy dropped his chain in front of me and I slammed the brakes on an uphill, thus losing my position and any real shot at a good result. I hung on for dear life and tried to pick my way through all of the pro’s that had done their job and were sitting up… eventually rolling in somewhere in the top half of the 130 starters. I feel like I could have done a lot more with the day but was a bit too comfortable just cruising. Next year Hanes Park will be a target for me for sure.
If anyone has any input on the TT position leave it in the comments.
Cross season is approaching and pre-reg is already opening for some races... CrossVegas was the first to take my money.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Like a walnut
cracked and shelled. The pace of the circuit race today was brutal. I got shelled on the first lap and realized that I never even had a chance. I think over half the field may have DNF'd today.
Now it is time for some hot wings.
Now it is time for some hot wings.
Cascade stages 3, 4, 5
Crit photo by Casey D. HillIt seems that I am barely hanging on here at Cascade. The TT was not supposed to have a time cut, but apparently the pro team managers decided that they wanted to thin out the field for the criterium. So nobody told us amateurs, but there was a 25% cut put in place. I happened to see JJ Tower and Josh Yeaton from Anchorage in the parking lot and asked if I could borrow a TT bike, mostly because I wanted to try and beat Sean and Casey (which I didn't).
So I hopped on Josh's bike complete with a Zipp disc and 808 and strapped on JJ's LG TT helmet. Josh is a bit shorter than me so the position was super aggressive. The climb out to the turnaround was really painful on my lower back / butt and I know I did not go fast. A few guys passed me. The after the turn around I did my best to lay down the watts. I felt like I was flying and only Horner came past me on the return, he was smoking. I was going so fast my eyes were watering and I couldn't see. Turns out I made the cut by 15 seconds. If it hadn't been for the generosity of the Alaska crew I would have not made the cut.
I'm not sure what to make of the implementation of a time cut for the TT. Not only did they not tell those without team managers about it, but they also did not eliminate a significant number of riders. So the crit had essentially the same size field, but a few unlucky guys like Sam Silvey and Jon Baker got screwed. I have no idea what that accomplished.
So on to the crit. I had never done an NRC crit before last night. It was cool. Downtown Bend was packed with thousands of spectators. The course was pretty fun with only a few sketchy sections. I was feeling good early and trying to move up 2 riders per lap. I saw a Slipstream rider crash early on in a corner but avoided him and kept rolling.
25 minutes in a Cal Giant Strawberry guy went down ahead of me. I hit his bike and flipped, banging my knee pretty good and flatting my front wheel. I rolled to the neutral service and got a change and was pushed back in about 20 places further forward than I had been. Not bad, but my knee was killing me. I kept rolling through the 30 minute mark which was the time cut so I was safe the start for Saturday.
At about 45 minutes in there was a big pile up near the front that I weaved through and for a while I was in a group of about 50 until they pushed everyone else back in and I was in the back again. It got pretty hard as Toyota started to move forward and with 35 minutes to go I let myself drop to the back and slide off the back to get pulled. My knee was killing me. It was fun to watch the rest of the race and I even saw Botero go sliding through a corner on his butt... I hope those Rock Racing kits have a thick chamois!
Saturday was the toughest stage thus far. It began with a 15 mile climb that was mostly a shallow grade but kicked up a few times. It was hard. I lasted 20 minutes before sliding into the caravan. On the descent I joined a group of 5 and we rotated hard for 2 solid hours, nobody saying a word to each other. With 20km of climbing left we fell apart and went to the finish alone. I suffered back up to Bachelor, making the cut by about 20 seconds.
Today is the final stage, a tough circuit race right here by Sean's house.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Cascade stage 1 and 2
The first 2 stages of Cascade are in the books. This is a really cool race and I am enjoying my first NRC experience. I have always enjoyed following domestic racing more than European racing and so it is a bit surreal to be in the field with a lot of the domestic heavy hitters on the NRC circuit. I will say that they know how to go fast. On the first stage the winner's average speed was darn near 30mph, by far the fastest road race I have done. I was about 15 minutes down after being dropped at the KOM around mile 50.
Today's stage felt easier but the power meter said it was just a bit harder. The finish climb of 10km was tough but I limited my losses to 9 minutes and change and even moved up a few spots on GC.
Big thanks to the Passage family... they are great hosts. Here are a few photos from stage 1
Today's stage felt easier but the power meter said it was just a bit harder. The finish climb of 10km was tough but I limited my losses to 9 minutes and change and even moved up a few spots on GC.
Big thanks to the Passage family... they are great hosts. Here are a few photos from stage 1
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Deported
Here I am back in Nashy. I left here Monday and spent 50 something hours between 3 airports. It sucked.
So the best part was when I got back to Philadelphia, I was supposed to have 3 hours to make my Southwest flight to Nashville. I asked the flight attendant when I could have my passport back and he told me that when I deplaned in Philly the gate agent would give it to me. Ok.
So we were an hour late leaving Brussels. 2 hours to make the flight to BNA.
So I get off the plane in Philly and ask some US Airways guy where my passport is. He tells me the agent took it to the checkpoint and I should go there to get it. I go there. I ask a border patrol office where it might be. He says they should have already given it to me. greeeeeat.
He makes some calls, looks around, asks a bunch of people questions. After 30 minutes he has me processed as a lost passport case and I go in the office to wait. Wonderful, maybe they will send me back to Belgium.
As I am waiting I hear the woman behind the desk talking on the phone. She is confused. When the conversation ends she turns to the agent next to her and says "Hey, do you know what the TSA is?" She got a blank stare in return. "He was telling me to call the TSA and ask them?"
"I have no idea" came the response. They were both stumped.
I wanted to cry. The border patrol agents do not know what the TSA is. I am now sure that I will miss my flight to Nashville that boards in less than an hour. I still need to get my bag and bike box, clear customs, change terminals and check in at Southwest, then get through security again. And these people don't even know what the TSA is.
The woman calls my name. I go up to the counter and she says "So, where is your passport?"
"That's what I want to know," I respond, a bit irritated. This raised her eyebrows and her colleague turned to me.
"Come on man, that is not a response," he says. Apparently they have only been told that I have lost my passport, not that US Airways lost it for me.
"I'm serious. Ok, here's what happened. I was turned away in Belgium..."
"Why do I always get a story?" the woman interrupts, turning to her colleague and rolling her eyes.
"US Airways lost his passport," a third officer chimes in from behind me, "seriously." The woman rolls her eyes again and mumbles something about US Airways.
Her colleague concurs. "That's US Airways for ya."
She begins processing me without a passport, asking my social security number and my parents names and birthdays. Another officer walks up to the opposite end of the counter with some papers and a passport. I know it is mine by the stickers on the back.
"Is that mine?" I ask.
"Mr. Hyde?"
"Yes." He hands it over to the woman behind the desk.
"They put it in with the cargo papers," the officer says, chuckling. This provoked more comments about US Airways. She stamped my passport and I ran out of there to get my bags. I threw them on a cart and cleared customs in a flash, guaranteeing that I did not buy a bike in Europe. Luckily the guy believed me.
I made it to Southwest check in about 20 minutes before our scheduled departure. Luckily, just like last week, the evening flight to Nashville was delayed. Good old Southwest. I relaxed, checked in and found some fresh cut pineapple at one of the magazine stands. Made it back to Nashy in time for a sashimi dinner at PM with Sandy and some friends.
So the best part was when I got back to Philadelphia, I was supposed to have 3 hours to make my Southwest flight to Nashville. I asked the flight attendant when I could have my passport back and he told me that when I deplaned in Philly the gate agent would give it to me. Ok.
So we were an hour late leaving Brussels. 2 hours to make the flight to BNA.
So I get off the plane in Philly and ask some US Airways guy where my passport is. He tells me the agent took it to the checkpoint and I should go there to get it. I go there. I ask a border patrol office where it might be. He says they should have already given it to me. greeeeeat.
He makes some calls, looks around, asks a bunch of people questions. After 30 minutes he has me processed as a lost passport case and I go in the office to wait. Wonderful, maybe they will send me back to Belgium.
As I am waiting I hear the woman behind the desk talking on the phone. She is confused. When the conversation ends she turns to the agent next to her and says "Hey, do you know what the TSA is?" She got a blank stare in return. "He was telling me to call the TSA and ask them?"
"I have no idea" came the response. They were both stumped.
I wanted to cry. The border patrol agents do not know what the TSA is. I am now sure that I will miss my flight to Nashville that boards in less than an hour. I still need to get my bag and bike box, clear customs, change terminals and check in at Southwest, then get through security again. And these people don't even know what the TSA is.
The woman calls my name. I go up to the counter and she says "So, where is your passport?"
"That's what I want to know," I respond, a bit irritated. This raised her eyebrows and her colleague turned to me.
"Come on man, that is not a response," he says. Apparently they have only been told that I have lost my passport, not that US Airways lost it for me.
"I'm serious. Ok, here's what happened. I was turned away in Belgium..."
"Why do I always get a story?" the woman interrupts, turning to her colleague and rolling her eyes.
"US Airways lost his passport," a third officer chimes in from behind me, "seriously." The woman rolls her eyes again and mumbles something about US Airways.
Her colleague concurs. "That's US Airways for ya."
She begins processing me without a passport, asking my social security number and my parents names and birthdays. Another officer walks up to the opposite end of the counter with some papers and a passport. I know it is mine by the stickers on the back.
"Is that mine?" I ask.
"Mr. Hyde?"
"Yes." He hands it over to the woman behind the desk.
"They put it in with the cargo papers," the officer says, chuckling. This provoked more comments about US Airways. She stamped my passport and I ran out of there to get my bags. I threw them on a cart and cleared customs in a flash, guaranteeing that I did not buy a bike in Europe. Luckily the guy believed me.
I made it to Southwest check in about 20 minutes before our scheduled departure. Luckily, just like last week, the evening flight to Nashville was delayed. Good old Southwest. I relaxed, checked in and found some fresh cut pineapple at one of the magazine stands. Made it back to Nashy in time for a sashimi dinner at PM with Sandy and some friends.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Not so fast...
Wow. I find myself in an interesting and stupid situation. I am currently detained in the Brussels Airport in what I would call a hostel except that I am not allowed to leave. Apparently I needed a Visa to stay in Belgium for over 90 days, and since I was here from March through mid-June I was in violation. Bernard has been hosting riders for almost 20 years and never had a visa problem, and one of my team mates had been in Belgium for nearly the exact same dates this spring and walked right through security. I guess Belgian customs and immigration is kind of hit or miss, but when they hit it sucks. So today when I tried to walk through the passport checkpoint I was instead escorted to a disgusting waiting room in the customs office. In there with me was a guy from Senegal, a guy from Turkey, and a Syrian.
I waited and waited to see if the Belgian minster of whatever was going to let me slide or if I would have to go home. 4 hours after landing I was told that I would in fact not be allowed to enter Belgium and that I was not to return to Belgium for "some time." There are no flights available today so I have to stay here until noon tomorrow when US Airways will take me back to Philadelphia free of charge. While I was waiting they brought out a plate for me with a stack of white bread, a slice of cheese, a juice box of milk, and some jelly. I left it for the other detainees.
This place does have Internet access (obviously) that costs an arm and a leg and a nice view of the runway, and the guards/chaperones/whatever you want to call them are chain smoking in the main room.
Well that sure does throw a wrench into my season plans! I guess I'm racing in good old Amurrica for the rest of the summer.
I waited and waited to see if the Belgian minster of whatever was going to let me slide or if I would have to go home. 4 hours after landing I was told that I would in fact not be allowed to enter Belgium and that I was not to return to Belgium for "some time." There are no flights available today so I have to stay here until noon tomorrow when US Airways will take me back to Philadelphia free of charge. While I was waiting they brought out a plate for me with a stack of white bread, a slice of cheese, a juice box of milk, and some jelly. I left it for the other detainees.
This place does have Internet access (obviously) that costs an arm and a leg and a nice view of the runway, and the guards/chaperones/whatever you want to call them are chain smoking in the main room.
Well that sure does throw a wrench into my season plans! I guess I'm racing in good old Amurrica for the rest of the summer.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Nashy
My break in Nashy is going well. I got sick from the travel but I am almost better now.
Mr. Matt Googe sent me a quote from the movie In Bruges. I saw it when it first came out and I don't remember this specific quote, but I now find it hilarious.
"If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn't, so it doesn't."
I can't wait for the DVD.
And the JBCA team is killing it at Tour of PA. The climbing stages are tomorrow and Friday and I will be shocked if they don't continue to dominate.
Mr. Matt Googe sent me a quote from the movie In Bruges. I saw it when it first came out and I don't remember this specific quote, but I now find it hilarious.
"If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn't, so it doesn't."
I can't wait for the DVD.
And the JBCA team is killing it at Tour of PA. The climbing stages are tomorrow and Friday and I will be shocked if they don't continue to dominate.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Geluwe Kermesse / Time for a break
Last night at 6 I lined up with a few guys from the CC for a kermesse in Geluwe. I had not done a kermesse in several weeks and when I left off I was just getting consistent with my finishes. I was anxious to see how my legs felt after doing some longer races and some climbing.
I tried to slide onto the front line just before the start but the officials made me go to the back. Oh well, I thought I would just burn a match getting to the front on the first lap. Well by the time I got up there a large group of 20 had already rolled. I tried hard to bridge both alone and with others. The group up the road was working well together and we made no progress. I was feeling strong and I know that with the right positioning I would have been in that selection.
So I raced aggressively trying several times to leave the peloton. Several small groups would go and most would come back. Unfortunately I never made it into one that stuck. I gave it a go solo for a few km's with 35k to go and got about 15 seconds on the field but was brought back. I feel like the American flag kit is like a big fat carrot being dangled in front of some of the Belgians and they rarely let one of us roll.
With 2 to go I rested up for the finish and on the final highway overpass I got away from the remainder of the peloton with a group of about 10 and finished 3rd in that group for 49th out of 98 starters. Just squeaked into the top half! I had the best power data of my life averaging 300 watts for the 2.5 hour race and 343 normalized.
I learned a nice tactic from one of the riders of Beveren 2000 which is basically the Quick Step farm team. Those guys own the amateur races around here and they almost always find a way to win. So in this case a Beveren rider missed the large move and was in my group. He wanted to get away from the group and try to bridge with a few guys so this is what he did: first he went to the front and took a 2 minute monster pull, stringing out the peloton. As gaps began to open he encouraged the front 5 or 6 riders to continue the high pace with a rotation in order to force a split. So we did. We were killing it. After a few hard rotations, I realized that Beveren was not participating. The pace was high and the guys rotating at the front were starting to crack. All of a sudden, mr. Beveren flies up the left side with 3 guys on his wheel. They get 20 seconds up the road in the blink of an eye. All of the guys that had been rotating were too tired at that moment to respond and the rest of the peloton was tired from trying to hold on. We never saw them again.
So now it is time for a mid season break. Our team heads to Tour of Pennsylvania tomorrow and I did not make the selection. So while they are tearing up PA I will be in Nashville hanging with Sandy and the dogs and not riding my bike (much) for a week. I am looking forward to it!
I tried to slide onto the front line just before the start but the officials made me go to the back. Oh well, I thought I would just burn a match getting to the front on the first lap. Well by the time I got up there a large group of 20 had already rolled. I tried hard to bridge both alone and with others. The group up the road was working well together and we made no progress. I was feeling strong and I know that with the right positioning I would have been in that selection.
So I raced aggressively trying several times to leave the peloton. Several small groups would go and most would come back. Unfortunately I never made it into one that stuck. I gave it a go solo for a few km's with 35k to go and got about 15 seconds on the field but was brought back. I feel like the American flag kit is like a big fat carrot being dangled in front of some of the Belgians and they rarely let one of us roll.
With 2 to go I rested up for the finish and on the final highway overpass I got away from the remainder of the peloton with a group of about 10 and finished 3rd in that group for 49th out of 98 starters. Just squeaked into the top half! I had the best power data of my life averaging 300 watts for the 2.5 hour race and 343 normalized.
I learned a nice tactic from one of the riders of Beveren 2000 which is basically the Quick Step farm team. Those guys own the amateur races around here and they almost always find a way to win. So in this case a Beveren rider missed the large move and was in my group. He wanted to get away from the group and try to bridge with a few guys so this is what he did: first he went to the front and took a 2 minute monster pull, stringing out the peloton. As gaps began to open he encouraged the front 5 or 6 riders to continue the high pace with a rotation in order to force a split. So we did. We were killing it. After a few hard rotations, I realized that Beveren was not participating. The pace was high and the guys rotating at the front were starting to crack. All of a sudden, mr. Beveren flies up the left side with 3 guys on his wheel. They get 20 seconds up the road in the blink of an eye. All of the guys that had been rotating were too tired at that moment to respond and the rest of the peloton was tired from trying to hold on. We never saw them again.
So now it is time for a mid season break. Our team heads to Tour of Pennsylvania tomorrow and I did not make the selection. So while they are tearing up PA I will be in Nashville hanging with Sandy and the dogs and not riding my bike (much) for a week. I am looking forward to it!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
GP Gabriel Dubois
FEED MEIt was a wild and crazy race in Ferriere la Grande France yesterday. The course was not what I expected. It was only 5km long and it had a 1km climb followed by about 1.5 km of false flat and then 2.5km downhill back to the finish. There were no hard turns and the climb wasn't long enough to be a climbers climb, but we were doing 29 laps so it definitely took a bite out of the legs.
I couldn't figure out why we had to arrive at the race 4 hours early. Turns out that nobody told me but the pre-race meal was provided. We funneled into an elementary school cafeteria for some salad, bread, pasta and chicken. It wasn't a Spanish 4 star hotel restaurant but it wasn't bad either. Tex and Casey enjoyed it
On lap 1 everything was together and I was caught off guard by the course. I was expecting a 12km course. Not really an excuse for drifting to the back but I did. On the 2nd time up the climb a group of about 20 split off the front. It was a solid looking group and I made a big attempt to cross to it on the downhill. I didn't get there, and went into the climb redlining. I got popped on the 2nd lap!! I was depressed. I rode hard with a few other guys but mostly solo for an hour because I was so pissed at myself.
After an hour I decided that was enough and started soft pedaling. The lead group came past and I got on the back. After a few minutes the official in the car waved me away. Ok, got in a later group that had some team mates in it. I guess in France they don't pull you when you are lapped so with 100km to go I was in a group with 3 team mates and a lap down and willing to ride hard to help them out. I was feeling strong and was bummed that my race was ruined but I had a great time helping those guys out. Casey eventually left the group with about 4 to go and probably ended up with a top 30 in his last race in Europe for the season.
So by the end of the day I was 4 laps down on the leaders and everyone else in my group was 3 laps down. We were the 4th group on the road but they were still doing Primes for use every few laps. Wow those French officials really know how to run a race!! I wonder what the results will look like. If they kept it straight I will be amazed. But it's not like I will ever hunt those down on the tangled web of French cycling websites.
thanks to Haug Dawg for the feed zone pic!
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Race report: Moorsele
The 1.12 in Moorsele today was a glorified kermesse with tiny roads, a ton of turns, and a 12 km circuit to be completed 12 times. The aggressive style of racing was a painful reminded that we are not in Spain anymore. I had a nice start and it was easy to cruise along near the front for the first 20 minutes. But then I started to drift back. Moving forward is so much harder than moving backwards... go figure. After about an hour I was pretty much at the tail end of the bunch. I ate a power bar just when it got hard for 20 minutes and it just sat there in my stomach rolling around and feeling bad. My rear hub started acting up and my legs were starting to cramp up a bit and when someone gapped me off the end of the snake just before the 2 hour mark I threw in the towel. It was a disappointing effort because I can race much better.
For some reason breaks were having trouble gaining ground on the peloton. With 35km to go there was a group of 10 with about 30 seconds, but 3 guys attacked from there and the rest came back to the peloton. On the last lap the group of 3 had 15 seconds, and at the finish it looked like a bunch sprint with the 3 just staying clear and the peloton coming in at the same time. We had 3 riders in the bunch finish. It took 3 hours 15 minutes to do the 145km race.
Tomorrow is another 1.12 in France...
For some reason breaks were having trouble gaining ground on the peloton. With 35km to go there was a group of 10 with about 30 seconds, but 3 guys attacked from there and the rest came back to the peloton. On the last lap the group of 3 had 15 seconds, and at the finish it looked like a bunch sprint with the 3 just staying clear and the peloton coming in at the same time. We had 3 riders in the bunch finish. It took 3 hours 15 minutes to do the 145km race.
Tomorrow is another 1.12 in France...
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Custom cycling caps by Casey D Hill
Cycling Center's resident seamster has been hard at work for weeks on this jewel. He is taking orders but I think the wait list is longer than for a Richard Sachs road bike.
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Galicia Photos
After returning from Galicia I spent 2 days in Brugge at a hostel with my brother Iden and his friend from Rotary. They are both staying in Bremen, Germany for the year. It was a different perspective to stay in the hostel with people who are traveling around Europe with just some clothes and a backpack. We met some people from the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary and Sweden.
So tomorrow it is back to training and then a race on Saturday and then again on Monday or Tuesday. Here are some photos that I took in Galicia
On the way to the feed zone during stage 4 we had a bit of a hold up with the local Policia - it was the tour bus drivers fault not ours!
Steven defending the KOM jersey in stage 4
Ian suffering after an 80km break on stage 4
Vince doing the same
Vince must have felt like he was in Belgium as his group funneled onto the sidewalk to avoid the cobbles
Jimmy passes through a seaside feed zone
Post-race discussion
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So tomorrow it is back to training and then a race on Saturday and then again on Monday or Tuesday. Here are some photos that I took in Galicia
On the way to the feed zone during stage 4 we had a bit of a hold up with the local Policia - it was the tour bus drivers fault not ours!
Steven defending the KOM jersey in stage 4
Ian suffering after an 80km break on stage 4
Vince doing the same
Vince must have felt like he was in Belgium as his group funneled onto the sidewalk to avoid the cobbles
Jimmy passes through a seaside feed zone
Post-race discussion
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Friday, June 06, 2008
Galicia Stage 2 and 3
Stage 2 -I was feeling horrible early on and got popped a few times on climbs before chasing back on the descents. The long climb of the day was 25km long and started 70km into the stage. I was off the back immediately and rode in with a small group 17 minutes behind. Aaron took the young rider's jersey and Steven kept the climbers jersey.
Stage 3 - I felt better at the start and even felt good for the first 10km of the 25km climb that came 25km into the stage. When attacks started going though I could not keep up the pace and 40km into the stage I was already behind with a group of 15. These were a lot of the same guys from yesterday and I could tell we were all tired from chasing the day before. Two painful climbs near the end of the stage blew us apart. Most of us did about half of the climb holding onto a police motorcycle or the window of the ambulance. It didn't matter, we all got time cut. I missed it by 4 or 5 minutes. BUT... Jim nearly won the stage and took 2nd, passing the best young rider's jersey from Aaron to himself. Steven built an even bigger lead in the KOM points and it looks like it is all but wrapped up. Jim is 4th on GC and with another very hard stage tomorrow including an uphill finish and a cruiser stage Sunday.
Stage 3 - I felt better at the start and even felt good for the first 10km of the 25km climb that came 25km into the stage. When attacks started going though I could not keep up the pace and 40km into the stage I was already behind with a group of 15. These were a lot of the same guys from yesterday and I could tell we were all tired from chasing the day before. Two painful climbs near the end of the stage blew us apart. Most of us did about half of the climb holding onto a police motorcycle or the window of the ambulance. It didn't matter, we all got time cut. I missed it by 4 or 5 minutes. BUT... Jim nearly won the stage and took 2nd, passing the best young rider's jersey from Aaron to himself. Steven built an even bigger lead in the KOM points and it looks like it is all but wrapped up. Jim is 4th on GC and with another very hard stage tomorrow including an uphill finish and a cruiser stage Sunday.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Volta A Galicia stage 1
Myself and 6 other riders caught a Ryanair flight to Spain yesterday for the Volta A Galicia stage race. Our wonderful team staff made the 2 day drive from Belgium with the bikes and cars to meet us at the airport and take us to the race. Galicia is the region north of Portugal and it is nothing but mountains making this a very tough race.
Stage 1 was supposed to be a 148km ride through the mountain but it turned out to be 10km longer. After a 2km neutral start in Viveiro the road kicked up and we were climbing for 26km. Steven got up the road from km 0 and David joined him and just like that we had 2 out the day's 12 man break. They were brought back about 5 or 10km from the finish but not before tag teaming the break and putting Steven in the jersey of best climber. Think about that.... A Belgian on an American team comes to the mountains of Spain and takes the climbing jersey from a bunch of toothpick legged spanish climbers... not too bad!! Aaron took 7th in the field sprint and 3 others finished in the main bunch so our GC hopes are also alive and well.
Now for my race... I was feeling good on the first climb not suffering too bad until near the top. On a brief flat section I flatted with about 4km left to climb. After a wheel change I began to chase and I could see the group about 30 seconds ahead. Once the descent began they quickly got out of sight and I was left to chase with a group of about 15 others. Unfortunately the guys I was with were not there due to mechanical but because they were dropped in the first 25km so they were not terribly strong. And they were descending like little girls. I tried to crack the whip on them a few times and get them moving and after an hour of hard pulls we rejoined the peloton.
The pace in the peloton was civil and positioning is not nearly as hard as in Belgium. Everyone is friendlier and if you want a wheel you can pretty much have it. So myself and 4 other CC riders were in the peloton sitting in with our 2 leaders up the road.
We then began climbing again up the day's final KOM. I was trying to start each climb in the front because I was fading fast. My legs were screaming from the chase efforts. I began yo-yo-ing pretty bad and with 1km to go for the last KOM I was popped. I kept the group in sight over the top but then they were gone and I was chasing alone for a while. I finally joined a group of 6 and we rode the last 40km to limit our losses which totaled 9 minutes. Ouch. At least it was well withing the time cut! I was 83rd of 99 finishers and 109 starters.
The race organization is nice and so far the 2 hotels have been great along with great food. The Spanish way of doing things is different than in Belgium or France, however. Dinner last night was not until 10pm and breakfast is not available until 10:30 this morning. I am not complaining about getting 10 hours of sleep!
Stage 1 was supposed to be a 148km ride through the mountain but it turned out to be 10km longer. After a 2km neutral start in Viveiro the road kicked up and we were climbing for 26km. Steven got up the road from km 0 and David joined him and just like that we had 2 out the day's 12 man break. They were brought back about 5 or 10km from the finish but not before tag teaming the break and putting Steven in the jersey of best climber. Think about that.... A Belgian on an American team comes to the mountains of Spain and takes the climbing jersey from a bunch of toothpick legged spanish climbers... not too bad!! Aaron took 7th in the field sprint and 3 others finished in the main bunch so our GC hopes are also alive and well.
Now for my race... I was feeling good on the first climb not suffering too bad until near the top. On a brief flat section I flatted with about 4km left to climb. After a wheel change I began to chase and I could see the group about 30 seconds ahead. Once the descent began they quickly got out of sight and I was left to chase with a group of about 15 others. Unfortunately the guys I was with were not there due to mechanical but because they were dropped in the first 25km so they were not terribly strong. And they were descending like little girls. I tried to crack the whip on them a few times and get them moving and after an hour of hard pulls we rejoined the peloton.
The pace in the peloton was civil and positioning is not nearly as hard as in Belgium. Everyone is friendlier and if you want a wheel you can pretty much have it. So myself and 4 other CC riders were in the peloton sitting in with our 2 leaders up the road.
We then began climbing again up the day's final KOM. I was trying to start each climb in the front because I was fading fast. My legs were screaming from the chase efforts. I began yo-yo-ing pretty bad and with 1km to go for the last KOM I was popped. I kept the group in sight over the top but then they were gone and I was chasing alone for a while. I finally joined a group of 6 and we rode the last 40km to limit our losses which totaled 9 minutes. Ouch. At least it was well withing the time cut! I was 83rd of 99 finishers and 109 starters.
The race organization is nice and so far the 2 hotels have been great along with great food. The Spanish way of doing things is different than in Belgium or France, however. Dinner last night was not until 10pm and breakfast is not available until 10:30 this morning. I am not complaining about getting 10 hours of sleep!
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Race Report: Deux Acren
Today's squad consisted of myself, David Nelson, Scott Wenzel, Yoni Bastiens, Santiago Rosell and Jim Camut. The race was just a few km's into Wallonia about an hour south of here. The course consisted of 6 22km laps and 4 10km laps for a total of 172 km. There were several short climbs and one cobbled climb on the big lap as well as a bunch of narrow roads with horrible pavement and gravel. The goal was to race aggressively and to have as many guys as possible ahead of the inevitable split.
The cyclocross riders are coming out of hibernation to start building fitness for the fall and Sunweb Projob, Fidea, and Palmans Cras all had teams at the race. Apparently those cross guys like to go hard from the gun and make the race difficult early.
So I moved up a bit on the climb that came in the first km of the race and was in the middle of the peloton. We crested the hill and then started on the downhill and the road changed from 2 lanes to 1. The bunch had to slow down a lot to funnel in and a lot of brakes were squealing. I could not avoid the guys in front of me and went down. Great, not 3 minutes into the race and I am in a pile of bodies and bikes. I got up quickly and got my bike. It was fine except for the chain. I was struggling with it and Wouter our mechanic appeared from the team car to fix it. He told me to relax which actually helped a lot because I think I was stressing. He gave me a nice push but one of the brakes was rubbing so I opened them both up. I had really weak brakes the rest of the day because of it and I was a bit nervous about it. Bernard paced me back to the peloton without too much effort. I was back in the race but with half of my butt hanging out of a gaping hole in my shorts. Here is a picture of the damage. Notice the sunburn around the wound.
Not sure how those marks came about but I think it had something to do with landing on chain rings. So i was a little timid after that and raced in the back for 2 hours. A few of our guys were at the front going with moves and Jim made the day's selection. After about 3 hours I moved up to the front of my group and went with a move for half of the last big lap. I was feeling pretty good from all the sitting in so when that move came back I got in 3 or 4 others. Eventually I was in a group of about 20 with Yoni on the last local lap. He went up the road and nobody reacted so he rode in solo. I sprinted with my group and ended up near the front but have no idea what place we were racing for. The total race time was a bit over 4 hours and I was happy to finish it. Now that I know I have the endurance to ride that long I can take more risks to try and be more of a factor in the longer races.
My mom was here visiting this week and we did some fun stuff including an afternoon in Gent. These pictures are from the bell tower.
The cyclocross riders are coming out of hibernation to start building fitness for the fall and Sunweb Projob, Fidea, and Palmans Cras all had teams at the race. Apparently those cross guys like to go hard from the gun and make the race difficult early.
So I moved up a bit on the climb that came in the first km of the race and was in the middle of the peloton. We crested the hill and then started on the downhill and the road changed from 2 lanes to 1. The bunch had to slow down a lot to funnel in and a lot of brakes were squealing. I could not avoid the guys in front of me and went down. Great, not 3 minutes into the race and I am in a pile of bodies and bikes. I got up quickly and got my bike. It was fine except for the chain. I was struggling with it and Wouter our mechanic appeared from the team car to fix it. He told me to relax which actually helped a lot because I think I was stressing. He gave me a nice push but one of the brakes was rubbing so I opened them both up. I had really weak brakes the rest of the day because of it and I was a bit nervous about it. Bernard paced me back to the peloton without too much effort. I was back in the race but with half of my butt hanging out of a gaping hole in my shorts. Here is a picture of the damage. Notice the sunburn around the wound.
Not sure how those marks came about but I think it had something to do with landing on chain rings. So i was a little timid after that and raced in the back for 2 hours. A few of our guys were at the front going with moves and Jim made the day's selection. After about 3 hours I moved up to the front of my group and went with a move for half of the last big lap. I was feeling pretty good from all the sitting in so when that move came back I got in 3 or 4 others. Eventually I was in a group of about 20 with Yoni on the last local lap. He went up the road and nobody reacted so he rode in solo. I sprinted with my group and ended up near the front but have no idea what place we were racing for. The total race time was a bit over 4 hours and I was happy to finish it. Now that I know I have the endurance to ride that long I can take more risks to try and be more of a factor in the longer races.
My mom was here visiting this week and we did some fun stuff including an afternoon in Gent. These pictures are from the bell tower.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Race Reports: Assebroek and Oedelem
While the stage race squad was away at Tryptique Ardennais this weekend I saddled up for two kermesse races. Saturday it was raining all morning and for the first hour of the race and so it was a smaller field of only 52 starters. According to training peaks I was supposed to have good form so I was excited for the race. I did not feel that great during the race but later found out it was because I was riding really hard. I got a new peak hour normalized power that I was happy with. Unfortunately about 2/3 of the way into the race I took a hard pull at the front and waited for the end of the snake, got on, then was gapped off in the next corner. I chased but it is amazing how fast that snake leaves you behind. I still placed 36th which was good for 5 euro in prize money.
Today I was not to have quite the same legs because of yesterday's effort but still not bad. The weather was sunny but really windy. I knew that being up front early was important but it took a little longer than I expected for the real splits to happen. I picked a few breaks but missed the winner... then I missed the next one because my legs were getting toasted. I was near the front and I saw it go and I knew it was good but I did not have the juice. I was in the 3rd group for much of the day with a team mate and a SunWeb Projob guy plus a bunch of kermesse regulars. The start/finish was a slight uphill with some cobbles that was less than comfortable. I managed 31st for another 5 euros.
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