Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Busy Week.

Monday I worked in the a.m. at the Rio, took a hand washing class in the afternoon, then finally got to sleep a little.

Tuesday I worked all day at the bike shop, then headed down to Denver for a Campagnolo Technical Seminar. I was thinking there would be cool stuff to play with, but I was wrong, it was a PowerPoint presentation with a room full of bike geeks, myself included.

Today/Wednesday I get to ride my bike! Then I have a CPR/First Aid course in Ft. Collins from 6-10:30

Thursday I'll ride in the a.m. then work in the afternoon at the Rio

Friday I work 8-10 a.m. at the Rio, ride in the afternoon, and get ready for the weekend.

Saturday I go to the Lookout Mountain Time Trial all morning, blast over to Boulder/Superior for the famed Koppenburg circuit race.

Sunday brings a crit in Golden, then skills clinic at Campus Cycles in Denver.

A break on Monday would be nice, but I'll be working a double at the Rio!

I'm not complaining, I like having stuff going on, it makes my life feel worthwhile, but sometimes I just want to lay on the couch for a day. Oh well, I guess keeping active is a good thing if I want to be a bike racer, right? Well, I'm going to go pedal my bike around a little. I'm glad this week is a rest week. Hope you're all doing well, yeah Mom, I know you're doing well, you can stop rubbing it in anytime. (My parents are just finishing up their second week of Hawaiian vacation. Can't wait until I turn 50 and get to sit on the beach in paradise for a few weeks.) Thanks for checking in.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Weekend Update with Corey Carlson.

5th at the Oval Crit today after "racing" in a 5 man field for 29 miles through rain and 40 degree temps yesterday. Today the legs felt good, really good for the first time this year. Unfortunately I turned my head off at the start line, rode like an idiot the first 15 minutes, burning matches like it was no big deal. The latter part of the race I rode better, but ended up using ALOT of energy helping HART pull back a pretty dangerous break. Overall, I'm content with the race, happy with my legs, I'll take the result, but I know I could have done more. Oh well, that's racing. Thanks for checking in, more later hopefully.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Picture of CU Crit.


This was taken a lap or two before I got blown off the back of this group.

This week so far has been great. As many of you know, it was my birthday on Tuesday. I had a spectacular ride on a spectacular day, then finished the night off celebrating with a few people I work with both at the bike shop, then at the Rio. I spent the whole day Wednesday working and wishing I hadn't celebrated quite so much. I was supposed to serve a wedding rehearsal dinner at 7:00 at the Rio, so I hung out from 5-7, got everything ready, then they didn't show up, so finally at 8 I took everything down, and hoped for a least a few tables to make my night worthwhile, but ended up getting sent home. Oh well, I watched the Avs game for 3 bucks an hour, and they got their wedding cursed with karma like that.

Yesterday I got in a solid 3 hours or more with my friend Brian. We did a lot of tempo and cadence work. It felt good to stress the legs a little, although by the end, Brian was a little upset with the loose gravel and I don't think he'll be riding with my again any time soon. I think I'm going to do openers on the mountain bike today. I've been severely neglecting that bike lately. I don't know why I don't ride it more. I have a blast every time that I get on it, and the trails should be in good shape with all the nice weather we've had lately.

I got one of my best birthday presents this year off of Jon Tarkington's blog this morning. Jon (third wheel in the photo above) is a rider that I respect as much as anyone in Colorado, so it's huge compliment to hear him say nice things about myself.

Well, it's time for me to go ride, I've been putting this off too long. Thanks for checking in.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Sunday, March 18, 2007

CU Race Weekend.

I rode like an idiot yesterday, and according to my power file, apparently couldn't push my pedals that hard on top of turning my brain off.

I felt like I made up for it a little bit today with an 8th place in the road race. The break went and I didn't go with it for a change. I did however get into a good chase with Jon Baker (Vitamin Cottage) and Stefano Barberi (Toyota - United Pro). We chased hard for a lap and a half, then just kept it steady absorbing Jon Tarkington (Vitamin Cottage) and later Blake Caldwell (Slipstream) as the came out of the break. In the finish Baker attacked a few kilometers from the line, and the acceleration popped Caldwell. I tried to jump up to Baker on the climb through the feed zone, but only managed to give Tarkington a good leadout up the hill. It turned out alright I suppose, and I picked up a few more upgrade points which is good.

I'm exhausted and there is some parody show on the Discovery Channel hosted by Mike Rowe. I think I'll go watch it and fall asleep. Thanks for checking in.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Invesco Crit.





I feel like I need a break.

I feel like I've been going non-stop for a week now, and I guess I sort of have been.

Wednesday Scott and I did our now annual pilgrimage to the mountains up through Estes, down through Lyons, and home through the Johnstown-Milliken connection. It's a great day on the bike, but it definitely took a little bit out of me.

Thursday and Friday were spent riding and getting some bike stuff ready for Scott to assure he's riding the finest equipment when he gets to Belgium later this week. Good luck Scotty Boy, and let me know how those wheels hold up. I'm not sure that any Carlson built wheels have been raced on real cobbles before.

I headed up to Winter Park on Friday night to hang out with a bunch of South Dakota boys. Justin, Bob, Scott, Craig, and Katelyn and I all enjoyed some Herdnando's pizza, and got a flavor of the Winter Park night life.

Saturday morning I awoke bright and early to head down to Denver for the Metro State Individual Time Trial. The DU team all rode well, and I felt as good as I ever have in a TT. The time the officials gave me and the time I clocked myself at were a minute apart, but regardless, I felt good about my ride and I'm actually looking forward to another TT this coming weekend. I finally got my position dialed on my borrowed TT bike, and it's FAST!

Sunday was the DU hosted Criterium at Invesco Field. I was supposed to get there at 7, which meant leaving Greeley at 6, factor in the time change, carry the one, I basically had to get up at what felt like 4:30, stand around all day, then race my bike at 3:20. The races went off without a hitch. Great course, great fields, and a decent crowd.

After working my tail off last weekend, and also after watching the races all day Sunday, I decided not to go with the early move this week, as nothing was staying away. The field wasn't huge, maybe 25-30 riders, but at least 7 of them were from Team Einsteins. After sitting in the first 10 minutes or so, I noticed that Einsteins was working the textbook plan of just sending one rider at a time. The field was pulling everything back, and I had no intention of going with anything until at least the halfway point. With about 48 minutes to go in the hour long crit, I noticed two Einsteins guys off the front about 5-10 seconds. It struck me that these two would work together well, being teamates and all, and that a 5th of the field that remained behind would be working to shut it down. I didn't have time to think much more about it because I was at the perfect part of the course to try and get across, so I went. I opened up a good gap from the field, increased it through the section of the course with a few "90 degree"-ish corners, and then caught the two just at the start finish line that was located at the end of a long uphill sprint.

I pulled through and we started rotating and never really quit until Whitey DeBroux attacked at the bottom of the hill with 3 to go. I didn't think I'd have anything left to even put on a real chase, plus his teammate Jack Seehofer was still sitting right on my wheel. I just tried to ride my own steady tempo and see if I could hold on to at least sprint for second. I noticed that Whitey's gap had stabilized, and was even coming down a little bit. I brought him within 5 seconds or so, but then quit chasing as I knew there would be the impending counter attack from Jack. Instead of waiting for the counter, I attacked coming into the hill with one to go, passed Whitey, and kept my head down and hammered over the top, but couldn't shake Jack from me wheel. I coasted the downhill, and the cat and mouse crap began. Whitey was chasing back hard, so I went again just before the "technical" section of the course. Jack covered that one too no problem, but it was enough to secure a good gap between us and Whitey. We came into the climb, and Jack attacked just where I knew he would. I tried to catch his wheel as he came around me, but he kept inching away, 1 bike length opened up, 2 bike lengths, and then it was over.

I was very happy to take second, but of course I've been stewing it over all day today. I feel like I did the right things tactically, but I just keep wondering, what if I would have done this, or what if I would have done that. The only real alternative I can think of would have been to wait and save everything I had for the sprint. I could have kept Whitey dangling another lap, and maybe Jack wouldn't have been able to come around me had I initiated the sprint. Oh well, live and learn, but it's still frustrating.

Brian the birthday boy managed a couple of solid races and still had it in him to get some pictures and even a video of my race for your viewing pleasure. Right now I'm going to bed, but check back for pictures tomorrow. Thanks for checking in.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

New Link.

Check this out.

I even got my own profile page. Boo Ya.

Monday, March 05, 2007

The season has begun.

Last friday I headed down to Alkaburgie, N.M. with my new DU team. It was the first race weekend for the team this year, and I also planned on doing my first race of the year while we were down there.

The team rode awesome on Saturday with some top 10's in the Time Trial and Team Time Trial, and I think everyone rode good races in Sunday's crits with a lot of the team doubling up for two races on the day. I hopped into the last race of the day, with no expectation other than a hard workout. Since I wanted to get some good training in, I didn't hesitate when I had the chance to go with the early break. I worked way too hard in the break, but managed to pull off a 4th place finish even after working constantly for the final 43 minutes of a 45 minute race.

The trip home was a blast. I really like the team and we had a lot of fun. I even scored some pictures from one of the kids cameras.





After reviewing the pictures I've decided that I do like the new RM~Izze kits. I was skeptical at first, but I think it looks pretty good after all. Today was an hour of easy spinning, a great breakfast with Scott, and a lazy afternoon. I work tonight at 4:30 so I might try and nap before I head in. That's all I've got for now, thanks for checking in.