Iron Horse Bicycle Classic.

The Iron Horse is over, and it went better than I could have ever expected.

The road race on Saturday went alright, but I am not climbing as well as I was only a few weeks ago. I think it's time to shed a few pounds before I expect to hang with anyone important. The race started really slow with a break going away right from the gun. By the bottom of the first real pass, they had 6 minutes on the field, but I started moving in the opposite direction once the road kicked up. I managed to hold what I felt was a decent pace, and picked off a few people on the decent, lost a spot or two on the next climb, then caught about 5 guys on the last decent and 2 on the finish through town. I felt powerful the whole time, just a little slow.

The crit on Sunday was an absolutely perfect course for me, and I thought the early break would be the place to be. Every other race that I watched throughout the day ended with the winner coming out of an early break, so I thought I'd get into it in our race. A break went away with a couple Rocky Mountain Chocolate riders, Eric Ransom (Tamarack), Troy Wells (TIAA-CREF) and Jonathan Baker (Vitamin Cottage). I figured it was the move to go with, so I jumped in front of Steamworks Brewery and made it to the break in 1 lap. I had just enough time to settle in and recover a bit before the break got caught. I started feeling not so fresh, and the way it looked, there was a little too much momentum in the peloton to let anything get too far away, so I hung out in back for a few laps. In the meantime, Travis Brown and a couple RMCF riders attacked and stayed away until about 2 to go. I managed to move up well in the last few laps, and found myself 3rd wheel as we crossed the line with 1 to go. The 2 guys ahead of me sprinted for the line, and sat up talking but we still had a lap left. I passed them on the climb and yelled "1 to go," but by the top of the climb I was alone with a little gap, so I put my head down and hammered out the last lap and held the gap across the line. I guess there was a little confusion with the lap counter and what they heard over the PA. I know I got a super lucky break, but winning is winning and I was still super pumped about it. I had been watching the lap counter the whole race, and I guess it paid off.

The final straight was insane with people about 5 deep down both sidewalks yelling and screaming and Dave Towle yelling on the microphone. It was by far the coolest racing experience I've ever had, and definitely a moment I will never forget. To top things off, my mom was standing just beyond the finish line, so I got to celebrate my first Pro 1,2, win with her there. I won a belt buckle and a Tissot stainless steel watch that sells for over $400, so that was pretty cool too. Dave Towle always makes racing more fun, and it was awesome that he was there as well as Rick Crawford. Rick was one of the first people to congratulate me which meant a ton since there are very few people in the cycling world that I look up to more than him.

My mom and I drove back to Greeley today which is a long trip, but we made the most of it, stopping whenever we could to take pictures or eat, and now we're just relaxing tonight. Maybe I'll get some pictures up tomorrow. Thanks for checking in.

Negativity.

Well I just registered for the Iron Horse. OUCH. I know it's an awesome race, and I'm excited to do it, but who do they think they are? 60 bucks for a 47 mile road race, and 40 more for the crit. That's right, a grand total of 100 bucks for 2 days of racing. The Gila was 120 for 5 days? Anyway, what really just sets me off is late registration fees. I did that crit this weekend, and of course the entry alone is 25 bucks, then there is a $5 late fee for registering that day. It seems to me that the race is going to happen either way, so they might as well welcome late registers not penalize them. What pisses me off, is that when we did our race in Greeley, there were no late fees, the second race was discounted, and juniors raced for half price. I'll continue to do this, because I think it is the RIGHT way to run a race, but everyone else seems to be a little money hungry. Cripes, CSU charged more for the second race. How does that make sense?

Anyway, this is the real problem. The Iron Horse has a 10 dollar late fee, so I thought I'd pre-register and avoid it for once. Well, Active.com tacks on an extra 7.50 in processing fees, so really you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

I think I'm done griping and groaning now, I just got a little fired up there for a minute.

I just took my car in, so the next time you see it, there just may not be any duct tape on it. It'll take some getting used to, but I think I'm ready to drive a duct tape-free car. I have to work in a little bit, so I should probably shower up, and be on my merry way. Thanks for checking in.

Coal Miner's Classic / Scott Kornfield Memorial

I did my first race as a 2 today. I'm not sure how many starters, but it was pretty big, only 40 or so finished and I was 20th out of them. The crit was 90 minutes long, which is far and away the longest crit I've done. I came soooo close to pulling the plug with 30 minutes to go, and just as I was starting to get gapped, things slowed down for a lap, then I felt decent on the next lap, and better every lap afterwards. I didn't think I had any chance in the sprint, so I worked way too hard with 2 laps to go, just to see if I could pull this little break back. I got it within 5 seconds or so, but no one would pull through, so I jumped across. This motivated everyone to come across too, but I felt powerful for a half lap or so there. Maybe I'll be able to ride my next race a little smarter, and be in a position where I can sprint for some sort of place, rather than 20th. Overall it was a great day and I'm super glad I raced. Tonight it's calzone time again I think. That's all for now. I'm tired.

Happy Mother's Day!

I rode up to Estes today and stopped by the see Matt "Ahh Hey Boo Boo" Koch at the Jellystone RV park on my way up. He was on his break so I got to chill with he and Allez for a while.

Not having Allez around Greeley makes me want to get my own dog so bad.

It turns out Allez isn't the biggest animal in the area. I love watching the golfers "play through" the elk herd in Estes.

I rode down through Glen Haven to avoid as much of HWY 34 as possible and saw this dude on the way. Overall I'd say I felt like crap on the day, but I ate an awesome Quiznos Sub on my way home. Typically I'm a Subway guy, but it was all that was there, and it was awesome. That's all for now. Nice to see you Matt and Allez.

A few reasons I like the ACA.

So,

After trying to figure out upgrade stuff for the better part of a month, I finally decided to go through the ACA. Yvonne gave me the upgrade, and instantly emailed me a temporary license and today I got my hard copy in the mail. I emailed my buddy at the USCF the same time I emailed Yvonne, and still haven't heard back from him about the upgrade. Furthermore, I bought a USCF annual license on March 25th this spring, and still haven't gotten my hard copy in the mail. Oh well, I guess I can race wherever I want with what I have now, it's just gonna be a pain to show 3 different licenses at the Iron Horse to show that I'm a USCF member, I'm waiting on a new license, and I'm a 2 ACA. Enough about that.

I went to Subway here in Greeley, only to be blown off my feet after getting used to the Silver City Subway. First off, no profanities were said behind the counter. My sandwich was done, to perfection, in record time, and the prices were totally switched up compared to the Silver City store. No longer is a veggie sub more expensive than a cold cut combo. Furthermore, they have a pizza sub, and a "little taste of Italy" sub here in Greeley. Talk about turning my world upside down. Oh well, I'll survive, I think.

I've been working a lot lately, and not riding. It's time to get off my rear, and start riding again, but I'm still trying to plan out the rest of my season, and I need to decide where my focus will lie. What do you all think, road or mountain? I'm always torn because I absolutely love mountain biking, but once I get into road season, I usually have trouble going back to the MTB. We'll see how things work out. My school situation is pretty up in the air right now, so that will play a little part in it as well.

Last night John Gunderson came up from Denver and we went to Coyotes, then the Canyon. I hate that place, and swear to never go back everytime I'm there, but I must admit, we managed to have a lot of fun last night. Work came early this morning, but wasn't bad at all. I actually enjoyed my day there. I think I might try to go ride this evening. That's all for now. I'm out.

It's Official!

I'm now officially a Cat. 2! Oh crap!

Evan celebrated for my top ten.

The last couple days at the Gila went well. I ended up in a break in the crit and took second out of it. I missed the solo move with 5 laps to go, but I won the kick for 2nd. I attacked on the last climb, but a Colavita kid stuck my wheel so we just coasted and marked each other the whole second climb and the decent and just when he made me go to the front for the last corner, I jumped before it, and held my gap out of the corner and across the line.

The next day was a long climbing day again and I felt like crap starting out, but my legs opened up through the valley after the first climb, and I managed to catch the leaders on the first climb, stuck with them down the other side, and got 7th out of the bunch up the last little hill to the finish. I managed to move myself up into 10th overall which is cool, but now I'm wishing I would have had a better first couple of days so I could have been a little higher on G.C. Oh well, I should have the points to upgrade now, and that was the goal, so I did it.

That's all for now. Thanks to Evan (my temporary roomate) for celebrating for me.

Stage 4.

2nd in crit. 15th G.C. and our race leader won't be racing tomorrow because Sunday is a religious/family day. He's from Utah, connect the dots.

Stage 3.

Today was the inner loop road race. Damn. It was hard. From the gun we were climbing some rollers then a long sustained climb into a little town called Pinos Altos. The climb was pretty tough with cold legs, but then they DRILLED the descent, and the next thing you know we were climbing again. Right away there was a selection made, and I rode with 25 guys or so all day. A group of 3 went away and hovered at right around 2 minutes. I figured it would come back once we hit the headwind rollers leading to the finish, but no one was too motivated to chase, except Walker Savidge who attacked on every roller on the way in. The last 15 miles were miserable. BIG rolling hills, with a hellacious (sp?) headwind, and constant surging. We never caught the break, and I got smoked in the bunch kick, but I ended up holding onto 12th. I moved up 1 spot in the G.C. so someone must have been sleeping early on and missed the selection. Tomorrow is the crit which should be fun. My legs were pretty off and on today. I think this continual racing is taking it's toll on them. I definitely need to do more stage racing.

My aunt Brenda and uncle Dave got into town today so it will be awesome to have someone watching and hopefully yelling tomorrow. In other news, the kid at Subway asked me "do you want your shit warmed or toasted?" I think I've been there a little too much and they are getting too comfortable with me. Oh well. Thanks for checking in. I'd write more, but I need to crash.

P.S. Results. G.C.

SHOGUNBIKE FER SALE!

A guy in the trailer across the way has a Shogunbike fer sale.

It's just been deteriatin' needs tires and tubes.... cables.... supposed da been a pretty good bike, pretty high dollar to start with.

Pretty funny watching Scott talk to him.

Stage 2.

Welp, not a lot to report on the day. The stage was ultra cool, nice and mellow for the first 65 miles. Then we turned onto the climb. The fun mellow part ended immediately. Walker Savidge got to the front and started setting tempo so I went up and traded pulls with him. We got a little gap right away, but everything came back together after the first steep part because it leveled out and got windy. I sat in, and decided to "save it" for the climb, but as soon as the road kicked up again, I went straight backwards. I yo-yoed off the back of the lead climbers for the first mile or so, but once I cracked, I CRACKED. People kept slipping by me one after another. Every time I got passed, I'd say, alright, no one else is going to pass me, but there was always someone else there that was more than happy to pass. I ended up holding onto 19th place, and now I'm 18th in the GC. I guess there is still a lot of racing left. Hopefully I can move up a little over these next few days.

In other news... I'm in Silver City and there isn't anything going on, that's the news. The newest crowd to roll into our camp area has a "know-it-all" mechanic on board that evidently likes to talk about how much he knows about bikes. In case you were all wondering, a 14sp rear derailleur makes the most sense because you can run an 11-25 without missing a gear. Also don't EVER clean your drivetrain the night before a race or it won't shift right in the race. There is a lot more, but I don't think I'm willing to share this wealth of knowledge.

I think that's all I've got, but thanks for reading.

P.S. Results. G.C.

I've cracked the B.M.T. mystery!

So today at Subway, I asked the lady what the B.M.T. stands for on an Italian B.M.T. sandwich. I'd been doing a little investigating while eating my sandwich the night before, and noticed that BMT was written below a bunch of the subway stations on the wallpaper. This sparked my curiousity, but no one seemed to know. The lady today told me it was probably Italian for something, I don't think so lady. So, I googled it.

BMT
The Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit (BMT, formerly the Brooklyn Rapid Transit, BRT) was the rapid transit company which built, bought, or assumed control of the Brooklyn Els. The BMT is today's N, R, L, F, B, D, Q, S, J, M, Z.

I was right, it had something to do with the subway system. Unfortunately a link came up from Subway's website as well that said something about, Biggest, Meatiest, Tastiest. I guess I wasn't 100% right, but at least the mystery is solved. Next up, we're going to tackle the mystery of why a Veggie sub is $3.09 for a six inch, yet a Cold Cut Combo is $2.79. I'll let you know what I find out.

P.S. Results.

Stage 1.

The TT done, and I don't have to do another one until June at least. I couldn't be happier about that. The TT went OK I guess. I was the 8th rider off, and I caught my 30 second guy right away, and saw what I thought was my minute man not too far ahead of him. It turns out it was my 1:30 guy, and I caught him just at the top of the climb. I had an awesome rythym through that first part, but then lost it on the rollers that came next. I suffered through them, but my 30 second guy caught me at the turn around. We kind've yo-yo'ed the whole way back. I caught him and passed him on the climb, but he got it back on the final decent. He finished just a few seconds ahead of me, so I was feeling pretty crappy about my result.

Scott finished a while later and we drove out on the course to yell at Nicky. She looked good, but I guess her bike crapped out on her, one clip-on was dangling by the finish and she had to get off to put her chain back on.

After that we checked results. I ended up 18th, 2:3? back on the leader. Scott was right there in 19th 6 seconds behind me. It wasn't the result I was looking for, and I think I could have ridden the course a little faster, but I didn't. Having both of us within striking distance will make for some good racing for the rest of the week.

Ian Burnett, a kid from the FLC team won the TT in style. I think he has like 30 seconds on 2nd. Congrats to him, he's a really nice kid, and his dad actually gave me a ride to my car after I crashed on Stage 1 in 2004 when i was a Cat. 4. Anyway, it'll be cool for him to wear the pink tomorrow, but hopefully I can make the rest of his and 16 other people's lives miserable from here on out.

Now it's shower time. Sorry to hear your bad news Brian. Tell me it isn't so. I'll be back to comfort you on Monday. We can buy cookie dough and watch Friends all day and bitch about our "ex's."

Thanks to everyone for checking in and all the comments. Keep 'em rolling in.

Wish me luck.

I'm just killing a few minutes before I take off for the TT. What I've been blaming on allergies has now progressed into a full blown head cold, so hopefully I won't need to breathe hard in the TT this afternoon. Anyway, that's all for now.

Bloggin' Like a Banshee.

Wow,

I'm updating on Scott's computer, and I typed a "B" in the subject line, and the autoform filled in "Bloggin' Like a Banshee." That's pretty funny.

Since my last update what has happened? Well, lets see. I ate a delicious Italian B.M.T. sub from Subway, and in the process I think I've come one step closer to cracking the mystery of what "B.M.T." actually stands for. Anyway, I saw a guy at Subway that used to work with a coach I used to work with. We talked to him for a little bit, tried to mooch a ride home from the Mogollon stage, and then went out separate ways. I don't think he cares for me much and didn't have a ride for us, so it'll be that much more fun to race against him. We stopped by Corporate America for some duct tape and people watching. I found some portable speakers for my iPod, but I didn't buy them. I also found a few movies, some fruit slices, and a cell phone charger, but I only bought the fruit snacks.

*Sidenote - The guy in the tent next to me is on his laptop right now and has a reading light hooked on it. I wonder if it helps him see whats on the screen? Do you suppose he uses a flashlight to watch TV? I bet people hate him at movie theaters when he shows up with his flashlight or even a spotlight. Also, do you suppose he turns his headlights on at the drive-in? All good questions to ponder.*

Back to this evening. We got back from Wal-Mart, and finished cleaning up TT bikes. I got the last of the chocolate milk off of mine, and took a link out of the chain. I had left it a little long, and it turns out it was just too long. I also put some cork pads on Scott's bike for him, so I think we're ready to rock tomorrow. Nicky stopped by for a minute tonight because her team was grocery shopping just across the street. She's looking good, and we might have figured out rides home from the Mogollon stage with her. We'll see. Worst case scenario I'll just have a 71 mile cool down after a 71 mile race.

So far only 4 groups have shown up to camp, but I suppose there could be a lot more that come in tomorrow, since the race doesn't start until later. It's really nice here tonight, I'm sitting outside in a t-shirt and shorts and the temp is just right, no bugs, and it's actually pretty quiet. As of right now at the campground, we've got: G squared (Googly Glasses) in his RV, he's a Cat 2 that has been traveling around racing since Valley of the Sun in February, Texan Chainsaw Massacre that might murder the whole town in our sleep tonight, Old Man Night Bright, and a couple from Crested Butte that have yet to be named, although he's a Cat. 3 but must be WAY better at riding a bike than me cause he's so good he doesn't even need to wear a helmet. That's the whole tent camp section, but there are endless RVers that I've met so far, including but not limited to, One Eyed Pete, White Haired Harley guy, and Shirtless Joe Jackson. TCM just got some stuff out of his car and is heading to his tent.

On a final note, my allergies have been ruining me since we've been here. I think it's just being outside all the time, but I'm plugged, burning, hacking, and my throat feels like I sanded the back of it. I'm counting on it just going away during the night tonight, but we'll see. I think I might see if I can borrow one of Scott's word find books. That'll keep me occupied until lights out. Thanks for checking in, and I can't believe it if you read all of this. Ha ha, sucks to be you.

P.S. Sorry for the lack of photos. Scott remembered his camera, but no cord to upload the pictures. I guess you'll all just have to wait.

Silver City RV Park

So... we left Alkaburkie yesterday morning and made it to Silver City early in the early afternoon We grabbed some Subway and found our RV park that is offering free tent spots to racers. I was expecting some KOA dump, but it turns out that it's more like a small oasis/park in the middle of Silver City. It's a fenced in area, filled with trees and long term campers/retirees that are here full time. In the middle is a small grassy oval that I get to set my tent up in. There is an electrical hook-up right next to my tent, free showers, cheap laundry, and you guessed it, free wireless internet. It's a little ridiculous, but I barely feel like we're camping. There is plenty of shade to sit in, I have a sleeping pad, sleeping bag, body pillow, and two bed pillows, so my tent is every bit as comfortable as my bed at home, and the weather couldn't have been better thus far. It's probably 70 degrees right now, and it got nice and cool to sleep last night. Hopefully this holds out through the weekend. The locals of the park are also super friendly, and all to eager to meet new people. One old guy stopped by as we were drinking coffee this morning, and talked for a while. He didn't have much to say, but apparently enjoyed standing around. Soon the owner of the park was there too, talking with us about the race, and not a half hour later the maintenence guy (who lives here and works with his wife) was diving into his story of the cafe he once ran. Needless to say, everyone is very friendly.

Yesterday after setting up camp, we rode out to the TT course to get a look at it. It's a lot harder than I was expecting, but that's a good thing. The way home however presented some interesting challenges. I decided to stop at a gas station for some chocolate milks, and was pleasantly surprised to find that they offered Peanut Butter Chocolate Milkshake flavored milk! I bought two. I decided I'd drink mine on the ride from the convience store to our RV park, only to realize they were sealed with foil. I wrestled the foil off with my teeth, then being the good citizen I am, held the bottle in my teeth while I put the foil in my pocket as not to litter. It was about this time, when I hit a rough section of pavement, one handed, with a milk bottle in my teeth. I bit down (a little too hard) and the bottle popped out of my mouth, covering me in the best tasting milk on earth. We rode the course again this morning and I feel like I have a pretty good handle on how to race it, plus I took the milk back to our campsite before opening it today. Tomorrow will tell me if I actually do know how to ride the course, or if I'm just kidding myself. I think we're headed off to packet pick-up in a few minutes here, then tonight we may ride drive the Mogollon climb. Other than that life is pretty low-key here, and I must say, I'm loving it. It's so nice to be out of class and not have to worry about that anymore. Here I can focus 100% on riding and recovering. I've already finished a book (The Alchemist) and I'm gonna start another when we get back. (Thanks Matt). I'm not sure what I'm going to read next, but I brought plenty of options.

Since there isn't too much to do here, I may try to update again this afternoon. This is all for now though.

*UPDATE*

Picked up my race packet after a little tour of Silver City (I got lost), but I managed to wreck my TT bike right in front of the bike shop with no less than 3 people staring at me the whole time. Pretty Cool! I hit some little ledge and must have been standing up, because the bike went straight backwards. Needless to say, I felt like an idiot, and best of all, I broke the lever off of my right hand shifter. I can still shift with the stub, but if any of you reading this are in Silver City, and have an extra 9sp bar-end shifter, hook a brother up. I think another Scrubway stop is in order right now. Thanks for reading.

Albuquerque

We made it halfway today. We decided to crash in Albuquerque tonight. Since my last update, I started a race in W-Yoming, but ended it early due to the snow, 25 degree temps, and hellish winds. I crashed in my car while the "C" guys finished, then headed back to Greeley to finish packing and get to bed early. I accomplished both as well as a last minute pizza with Brian. I finally kicked him out around 11 because he wouldn't stop whining about his feelings. I feel this, I feel that, he's just an emotional rollercoaster. I ended up getting to bed fairly early, and getting up in time to go spend some time with my newly aquired friend Jami. We got a cup of coffee and hung out for a few hours before Scott and I loaded up and headed out. Now it's time for bed. Tomorrow we're finishing the drive and riding the TT course. Hopefully I can find a way to update in Silver City.