Squawker Classic.

This weekend was the annual Squawker classic in Durango, hosted by Fort Lewis College. This is always one of the best, hardest weekends of racing on the collegiate schedule, and typically, I get shelled. This weekend however was a little different. As I wrote earlier, the TTT and the uphill ITT were both alright. I felt fairly solid in the ITT and caught my one minute guy, so that felt good. Usually I'm the one getting passed in Time Trials, so it felt good to be on the other side of that.
A blurry start to our TTT.

My ITT start.



The road race is always intimidating to me because there is about 600-700 feet of climbing per lap, and those kids down there just go uphill fast. My freshman year I crashed out, Sophmore year I got smoked and pulled the plug, and last year I was the last rider to actually finish the race. This year with my new found form, I was actually able to stay with the main group through most of the race. A break went off the line, and continued to get bigger over that first lap, but I knew I couldn't ride with the kids that were in it, so I held back with hopes that it might not stick. It did stick, and about on lap 4 or 5 of 9 the group that I was in had been whittled down to 15 or so, and a good number of them made it across to the break. I guess that is when the leader attacked and stayed away. I however, stayed back with the group and finished toward the back of the 7 or 8 that were left. I came away with a 17th place, which is nothing to brag about by any means, but compared to the way I typically feel climbing, I'm pretty happy. I felt like I was a semi-factor in the race, and I managed to hurt at least a couple of people at different points in the race.

Trying to set tempo on the 3rd ascent of the front hill.

The finish of my race.


The trip there and back was by far the most interesting part of the whole weekend. The way down was great, for everyone except Dana, who had eaten some leftovers that he shouldn't have, and evidently got a little bug from them. Evan summed it up best with, "He puked a bunch."

The way home however was interesting to say the least. We made it over Wolf Creek pass without incident, and stopped in Del Norte (pronounced Dell Nort) to pee (3rd bathroom break in 1.5 hours). The van wouldn't shift into park at the gas station, so I reversed a couple times, took a lap of the lot, and it seemed to go into park. I turned it off, we peed, got some junk food, and when I went to start it up again, it wouldn't start. We quickly realized, it wasn't in park, and therefore wouldn't start. Supposedly cars start in neutral too, but it wouldn't. We tried rolling it to see if it would click into park, or something, we tried everything we could think of. Finally we pulled the sorority card and called AAA. They said a tow truck driver would be there in an hour. We also called our teamates in the other car to tell them we were stranded and see if they could take a couple kids back to Greeley who really needed to get back. They told us they were already 45 minutes past Del Norte and the kept on going. Cool! About 30 minutes into our wait, I decided to try starting it in drive, didn't work, 2nd gear, didn't work, 1st gear, didn't work, reverse, what do you know... it started right up. The weird part, was that the van wasn't in reverse. I soon found that it was in neutral, and every gear was one off from the gear indicator. We waited for the tow truck, and when he came we told him what was up. He told us we should be fine to drive home, but we should take the main road just in case. No problem, we were soon on our way.

An hour later, I hear someone needs a bottle because they have to pee. I said no one was peeing in any bottles, and that I'd pull over so I could go too. There was a huge shoulder, and a straight stretch of road, so I threw on the caution lights, slowed down and eased it onto the shoulder only to hear what sounded like a tire popping, but couldn't be a tire popping because our bad luck was over. Sure enough, I'd hit the one small jagged rock on the road and we had a flat. Great! I changed the flat, then drove the remaining 5 hours to Greeley. Our trip that started at 12:30pm, finally ended back in Greeley at just after 10pm.

I spent the rest of the night with Brian and Matt reminiscing about all the fun and trouble we'd had. Not until the next afternoon did I realize that my backpack had gone missing. I still can't find it, and I've searched everywhere I can think of for it, yet still have found nothing. Oh well, it's not that crucial of a time to lose all of your homework.

The flat tire.

Luckily my cheerleading section was just as enthusiastic about the tire change as they were about my race.

I'm Home.

More later.

morning update

I got 20th in the uphill tt yesterday. My time was 10.06 and the winning time was 9.28 or something. If I could have ridden 1 second faster I would have been like 15th because there were 5 people with 10.05's. That's all for now. Hopefully i'll be able to climb with the big boys today. Wish me luck.

durango

Ilm writing on my teammates crackberry so ilm not gonna write much. The races went ok today. The ttt was interesting but I rode alright in the uphill tt. I was hoping to feel. A little stronger than I did but I think I still posted a decent time. We'll see how the results come back tomorrow. Tonight I went out for sushi with JARED, a kid I know on the flc team. I think everyone had a good time and the food was awesome. His girlfriend came with and we got hooked up since she works there. Now it looks like we'll be watching the wedding singer with legs up trying to get some snap back for tomorrow. There is some elitism dividing the team right now which is causing some tension but I can honestly say I have nothing to do with it. Anyway hopefully we can all get along tomorrow and hopefully everyone has a good road race. That's all for now. I saw Tommy d tractoring the rmcf ttt this morning and it was insane. I'm pretty sure they were gonna post the fastest time and I doubt anyone else even pulled through. Wish me luck for tomorrow maybe I'll update when I get home tomorrow night. By the way I,m looking for a fifty five or fifty six tooth chainring for the Gila so if anyone knows where I can get my hands on one let me know. Thanks for reading and sorry for the poor writing I know it's unlike me.

Upgrade.

So, I just emailed both sanctioning bodies here in Colorado to see if I can get an upgrade in time to race the Gila as a 2. I'm a little frustrated though after learning this weekend that Boulder Roubaix, and none of the THF races for that matter, won't count towards upgrade points. I mean, it's not a huge deal, but the Stazio races, and Roubaix have been well known, popular races around here for some time, so I'll ride them either way, but why should my performances there not reflect the way I'm riding. I understand that the promoters kept them unsanctioned to keep entries down, but all this fighting between USCF, ACA, and now a third party here in Colorado ends up making it harder on us, the riders, when really it's just a political issue. Anyway, I'm not going to bitch and moan about it, I just hope I get my upgrade. Anyway, cross your fingers for me and maybe I'll get this ok to race the big guys.

Back to Roubaix.

Since yesterday is no story to write about, I thought I'd rewind a day or two and gloat in victory for a while. Here are a few pictures of the Boulder Roubaix.

This was from the start, some lady popped out of nowhere and started snapping pictures.

This is the finish.

I'm Dum.

I rode pretty dumb today. My legs felt like crap at the start, but I chased down one move early on, and they seemed to open up, and started feeling pretty good. There was a CSU kid up the road just a little bit, and I saw an FLC kid jump across. I knew that FLC had brought their "A" team this weekend, and I thought I recognized the kid that went across as one of their strongmen. I decided it must be "the" move, so I went across, bringing one more of their guys with. Turns out it wasn't the kid I thought it was, and we still had 44 minutes to go. I figured I should probably roll with it, since we had a decent gap, and about 20 minutes later 5 more guys came across. I finished last out of the break, because I was stupid. Oh well. Live and learn. That's all, Grey's Anatomy is on soon, so I'd better go.

Boulder Roubaix

I won the Cat. 3 Boulder Roubaix today. I think this might be my biggest win yet, and it felt pretty good. Tomorrow is a collegiate crit in Golden, then possibly a Cat. 3 crit in the afternoon. We'll just have to see how the legs are going by tomorrow afternoon, judging by the way they feel right now, I'll only be doing 1 race tomorrow. Maybe I'll stick around and climb Lookout Mountain. I hear Tommy D set a new record up it today. I guess I'm not at all surprised, I just wish I could have seen it.

That is the rock I won at Roubaix. It'll have to do until I win a cobble I guess (It'll probably have to do forever then).

Dehydrated anyone?

Motorpacing.

Thanks again Mike. I'll let you all know how things go tomorrow.

Waxed.

I didn't have class today since we are rotating through field trip groups for three wednesdays (last week, this week, and I get to go next week). So, instead of class, I managed to score about 2 hours of motorpacing with Mr. Mike Feighny at the wheel/handlebar and Scott and I riding in tow.

I thought racing was hard, but I guess that's just because I've never done a motorpaced workout before. I was so waxed after 2 hours that I was ready to lay down in the ditch, but we still had the brutal climb up to pinewood reservoir. This is typically a sub 20 minute climb, but I'd be blown away if I did it in under 30 or 35 today. The last couple miles were straight deathmarch, trying to get the pedals around, and searching for watts everywhere I could. I stood, sat, slid back on the saddle, slid forward, pulled hard on the bars, leaned over, sat straight up, and after all my searching, I realized all the watts I was looking for were pasted on the road about 30 kilometers behind me.

To add a happy ending to a long hard day, Mike met back up with us on his real motorcycle and bought a round of americano's for the three of us. I guess it's only a 7 and a half minute climb when you've got a hundred horsepower underneath you.

Now it's suppertime, I'll get some photos of the ride up later.

Koppenburg Pics

I stole a couple pictures from pelotonphotos.com They are a sponsor of Rocky Mounts-Izze, so I guess I'm just advertising for them. This shot must have come from fairly early in the race. I think I was in the break of 10 or so at this point.

This is the winning move. The four of us rode together from about 3 laps to go I think.
This is the final dirt stretch. My breakaway companions were about 10-15 seconds down the road at this point.

CU Crit

Results from the CU Crit are up on Cyclingnews. That 2nd place was a long ways from 1st, and even farther from the guys in the category listed above mine, but at least it's moving in the right direction. Luckily there are no pictures of me racing in those lucky shorts. Kennedy, consider yourself blessed to have seen in person, my lower back flapping in the wind all day.

Koppenburg!

Today's race went perfectly for me. I had a decent start, moved up well on the first dirt stretch, and was like 2nd over the "Koppenburg" wall the first lap. I was expecting the break to go then, but nothing happened. No one really wanted to ride because it was crazy windy. I sat in for another lap, and made the selection over the wall the next lap. I think there were 9 or 10 of us, and we rode in that group for a lap or two until someone hit the wall pretty hard and drew 5 of us out of that original selection. There was a 5280 kid, an U23 National Team kid, 1 Echelon rider, an Al's rider, and one CPT guy I think. I guess that is 6 of us, but the Al's kid and the 5280 rider both flatted on different laps, so there were 4 of us at the end.

I kept gapping the 3 of them when I'd pull through, so I had a good idea I was having a better day than them, so I just concentrated on playing everything conservatively. I have the problem of wasting a lot of energy when I'm feeling good, then it comes to a critical point and all of the sudden I'm not feeling it. Fortunately that didn't happen today. I attacked on a tailwind section with half a lap to go. I don't think anyone was expecting it, plus I was running an 11 tooth cassette and it didn't look like anyone else was, so I easily put a little time into them on the tailwind downhill section. I managed to hold my lead through the dirt section and up the Kopp, then across the line.

It was cool to feel so good in the first big ACA race of the year. Hopefully this form will stick around for a while because I'm really enjoying it so far. The Gila is still a month off, so a lot can happen between now and then, but luckily I've got some good advice and a pretty full schedule that should keep me from riding myself into the ground between now and then. I suppose I should get to bed, this time change is messing with me a little bit, and I have some homework to do in the morning. Thanks for stopping in, and be sure to check out all the Promontory and Oval pictures. Just follow the link below.

Just another Thursday.

Yesterday was an action filled day, so just to keep things level in the universe, today was pretty freeking boring.

Scott and I headed over to Loveland around noon yesterday to see just how it felt to climb on Time Trial bikes. This seems pretty stupid I'm sure and I felt really stupid, but I wanted to get a good climbing day in before the Gila time trial. I hate riding that bike only because I feel like a silly triathlete on it, but I guess things could be worse, I could actually be a triathlete! Anyway, I Scott and I took turns feeling like garbage while the other one miraculously felt great. This went on for a couple hours, and I feel like if nothing else, I at least figured out some gearing questions for a climbing time trial.

After the dork bikes, we stopped by Mr. Mike Feighny's house, ate some junk, drank a beer, then headed out to ride the Backbone with our old roomate Danny Boy, and Mike (who had surgery on his belly last week and isn't supposed to exert himself for at least 6 weeks. Oh well, what's the worst that could happen? Maybe we'll learn just how long intestines are?). The Backbone was great as usual, although I stacked it up hard on this big rocky downhill thing that I've ridden like the last 5 times I was there, but I sure didn't yesterday. I endoed about 2 vertical feet from the bottom, and landed face first on the trail below. I cut my leg up pretty well, but I did push my bike back up the hill, get back on and rode the rocky downhill. I pretty much rode like a sack of crap for the next half hour with the post-crash jitters.

After riding the second time, we all went back to Mike's for some chicken and pasta. The food was amazing as always, and we had a good time talking about old times (I'm getting old enough that I get to talk about old times occaisionally). All in all it was an awesome day. Any day I get to ride my MTB is awesome in my books, but riding with a bunch of friends is always great.

Today I had class, then had to work all day. After work was a cycling club meeting. I'll be running for president next year, and hopefully I'll finally get elected. I've been sitting in the Pres/VicePres seat for some time now, but I've always officially been treasurer. On one hand I think being President would be awesome, but on the other hand, I love letting labels go to my head, so maybe it would be bad thing? Either way we have a lot of young guys so hopefully the club will live on, even if I graduate from this place someday.

I've created an album of a bunch of pictures from this weekend. If anyone has anymore, you should send them my way.

Promontory/Oval Crits

Sunday's Oval Crit

This picture was courtesy of Scott's parents. Thanks for coming up and cheering and also dinner afterwards!

I need a break.

This weekend, although being a total success, took it out of me. I'm definitely dragging today. Our home race on Saturday turned out really well. I was hoping to have a little bigger turnout in the open categories, but I guess it'll take a few years to get the word around about what a great course we have, and I think our organization showed that we can handle whatever might be thrown our way.

Kari Mello rocked the registration table all day, sacrificing her face to some nasty sunburn in the process, but I can honestly say I think it was one of the best run registration tables I've ever been around.

Scott was there all day too and helped out with everything from registration, to running wierd errands, and dialing in all the little details that make the day a success.

We had a good turnout as far as the team is concerned. All but one rider was there I think, and he had been traveling all week, so I'll give him the day off for that.

Sue Bjorland from the Breadboard gave us way to much awesome Lavazza coffee, some great pizza, and lunch for the officials.

Mike Feighny was kind enough to offer his van to me to haul everything around in. I still have it and I'm not so sure I'm gonna give it back. I could really get used to driving that beast full time.



The Roubaix Bicycle Company helped us out with a bunch of gift certificates for the winners.

We had plenty of volunteers that did their jobs to perfection. I was a little nervous with the freshman conduct students that were sentenced to course marshall all morning, but I didn't have one problem or complaint against them or from them. I actually think one of the highlights of the day was rolling up to turn 2 just as these two kids squared off and simultaneously drop kicked a stack of lawn chairs and fell into the grass, only to see me and get up and try to pretend like they were really business like and professional. I laughed and told them the kick was awesome, then they relaxed a little and one of them even bragged that his friend had 360'ed a stack of 3 chairs just a minute before I rolled up. Luckily corner 2 doesn't have much traffic, and it was no mistake that those guys got picked to work there.

The folks from USA Cycling were very helpful and gratitious. I lent them my apartment Friday night because we didn't want to get a hotel for them, and I think they liked it better than they would have liked a room at the Greeley Inn. They ranted and raved all day about my place, the course, and Kari.

Dave Towle capped things off better than anything I could have asked for. When we were organizing this race we weren't sure what we should do for an announcer, but in retrospect, I would never even consider hosting a race without Dave if it was at all possible to get him there. He really MAKES the race. He spent the day calling the race, spouting off random made up facts about Promontory Park, giving shouts to the GPD and several of our sponsors. Without his entertainment, we would basically have all just been standing around in a windy field watching riders go past every 4 minutes.

The racing turned out to be great to watch too. The mornings races stuck together pretty well as it was rather calm, but as the afternoon went on, things got fiestier, and the wind picked up a little. I sat out of the collegiate race, but hopped in with the Pro 1,2,3 race in the afternoon. Somehow, just a couple laps into it, I found myself in a move that contained some real horsepower, most of which wasn't mine, but I worked as hard as I could to prove that I deserved to be there. With 5 laps to go I heard we still had well over a minute on the field and we never let up. With two to go, things started slowing down and Stu Gillespie of TIAA-CREF started attacking every 30 seconds. None of his attacks stuck very well, and I even helped bring him back a couple times. He hit it hard on the last lap with about 600m to go, but got reeled in and he sat up. I ended up finishing out the race in 3rd place which was an awesome way to end the day. I know 3rd is a long way from 1st, but I also know I rode that race as hard as I could, and I haven't second guessed a bit of it, because I know I gave it everything.

Sunday was a rather miserable day. I got a full 8 hours of sleep, but felt like I'd gotten 2. My legs didn't have much snap in them for the morning collegiate race, although I jumped across to the break at one point only to see that the rest of the field crashed behind me and got stuck back in with the break I'd gotten across to. I did the open Cat 3 race in the afternoon and my legs felt a little better than the morning. I put in one really hard effort to bring a break back that Scott and I had missed. I didn't have much for the sprint, and was disappointed in my positioning on the last lap. I was hoping to at least be there for the leadout, but I had nothing. Live and learn I guess.

Last night was supposed to be an all-nighter to get that research paper done that I'd put off all week due to this race promoting thing. Well, that didn't exactly happen. I made it until midnight then decided I needed a nap, that ended up lasting until I had to take the rest of the barricades back at 7am. On a brighter note, I did manage to crank out 8 solid pages on "From Free Diving to the Aqualung: The Birth and Evolution of SCUBA." Maybe I was just too tired when I wrote it, but I actually think it might have been some pretty quality writing? I guess we'll see in a week or so. Tomorrow is class, return the tables and folding chairs, turn in all the money and paperwork from our race, finish my poster project, more class, and then I think I get to just hang out for a night. I've been looking forward to doing that for some time.

I've got more pictures of the race on Saturday, I think I might just make a Kodak Gallery album so I don't have to upload them all onto here. There are some decent shots from Saturday's race, and I think I heard a rumor that there was a race photographer from Aurora at the Oval on Sunday. We'll just have to see I guess. Thanks for reading, this was a long one, guess I'm still in the writing spirit from this morning.

The End

Today.

If a picture could sum up an entire day. 5:30 wake up call.

It actually turned out to be an awesome day, and somehow I pulled off a 3rd in the Pro 1,2,3 race this afternoon on 3 hours of sleep and a full day of working the race.

So many people helped out so much that I'm actually a little blown away. I'll write more later, but just to start things off, I'll be forever indebted to Kari Mello, Scott Wenzel, Mike Feighny, Sue Bjorland @ the Breadboard, Steve and Randy from Roubaix, Dave Towle (voted best race announcer in the world for the past 10 years running), all the USCF folks, and Jason Halsey at UNC Club Sports. If you know any of these folks, make sure and tell them what great people they are. That's all for now, I can't keep my eyes open and there are still races tomorrow to think about.

Stressing big time over this race.

Man, I think I've actually accomplished more in the past two weeks than the whole semester. I think I'm totally one of those people that function at whatever level I have to. If I don't have much to do, I don't do much of anything, but when I have a full plate of stuff to get done, I kick into a whole different gear. It's kind've a good feeling, but I look forward to taking it easy next week. It looks like the race will go off without a hitch, we're just waiting on one piece of paper from the Five-0, and hoping that Mother Nature will cooperate.

Everything else has been falling into place. I'm still looking for 15-20 hay bales, so if anyone has any ideas, let me know. Other than that, I think we're set to fly. We've been really lucky thus far with donations and discounts. Our only real expenses have been USCF (the sanctioning body), a race announcer (money well spent), bib numbers (crazy expensive!), and of course the crappers (we got a discounted rate). We've gotten all the cones and barricades donated, a generator, tables, chairs, caution tape, countless volunteer hours, and a venue including a city park, free of charge.

On a personal level, I have a research paper due on Monday, and an Author Illustrator Presentation due Tuesday. The author illustrator thing is almost done, but there is a lot of work to be done on the paper. Oh well, I'll just keep plugging away at it. I've been practically fighting for trainer time lately. I HATE riding indoors, but with all this other crap going on, I've actually been looking forward to getting on it, just to get away from everything else. I shouldn't say I'm totally getting away though, I've been reading a lot on the trainer on my new Time Trial bike that was definitely the highlight of my birthday. My parents got me the frame and fork from my good friend Mike, and I managed to build it with spare parts, not spending more than 20 bucks on new stuff for it, although I haven't paid Scott for the saddle yet, that'll send the cost through the roof. I'm loving the bike thus far. I think I've almost got it dialed in. It's super comfortable right now (which makes me wonder if I should go a little lower?), but I can sit in the aero position as long as I want, and I feel powerful there, so maybe I'll leave it alone.
Anyway, check it out.

Here is my aero reading set-up. I hit 60mph today on the rollers!

The book holder.

I used mouse traps to hold down the pages, I figured I haven't killed a mouse in the 7 months I've lived here, at least they'll get some use this way.

I got 5 chapters of a Judy Blume book read doing some tempo tonight. Hopefully I'll be able to ride an hour or so before work tomorrow, if not there is always after work, after the meeting, before I go to the library. Thanks for checking in. See, even when my life is hectic, it's still boring.

It's official.

I'm 22. So far it feels the same as 21 only a little more bloated. That might be due to the fact my good friends Scott and Kari baked me a cake and I just ate most of it?

Here are a couple things to mark on your calendar for this weekend. If anyone would like either of these flyers in a PDF, leave your email address in my comments and I'll be sure and send them to you. Sorry they are negatives, you get the idea though.

Let the racing begin, and Kari Mello ROCKS!

Yeah, that's me and Tyler. Thanks for the picture Kari.

Today was the first race of my 2006 season, and it went 100 times better than I thought it would. I had bad memories of this course, since I got absolutely throttled there last year. I managed not to get lapped this year, and pulled off a 2nd place finish in the process. That's a new collegiate high for me, and I think UNC as far as the men's side of things. I chased down a couple breaks, put in a few good hard efforts, and managed to recover in time to put in one last hard effort with half a lap to go, and ended up riding off the front with about 250m to go. One CU kid got my wheel as I went by and I gave him a perfect leadout. I guess he pulled something funny before he got my wheel or something, and a bunch of people were mad at him? Oh well. My good buddy Pat Kennedy happened to be in Boulder and made it by to watch my race. I think he's my new good luck charm. Pat, I'll be mailing you a plane ticket to come back out every weekend until June. Hope that's OK?

The other exciting event of my day is the picture above. I stuck around to watch my friend/teamate/training partner/coach? Scott Wenzel do his thing in the Men's Pro 1,2,3 race. Tyler Hamilton happened to stop by halfway through the race, and when I saw someone else get a picture with him, I decided I would do it too. Tyler has been my favorite rider, probably since I first started riding. even throughout everything he's gone through in the past couple years, I still like him a lot. I finally got to meet him today, although I was so nervous that I really didn't get to say much to him. I think I got out, "Hey Tyler, I'm Corey, can I get a picture?" I stood there, and Kari snapped a quick photo. Bottom line, I met him, and maybe I'll see him again and won't be so nervous.

Overall it was a pretty sweet day! I hope every weekend starts off like this one did.

P.S. The scruff will be gone soon, VERY soon. Also if you look closely you can see my favorite person in cycling, Mr. Dave Towle himself in the very lower right corner of the picture. I'm not sure, but I think I may have heard him say my name today?

P.P.S. Thank you so much for taking the picture Kari. You're awesome!

Galvanizing.

So, this morning/afternoon was the UNC crit practice. Things started off with a bang in the softball practice field over on west campus with a circle of cyclists riding around our very own Scott Wenzel. Scott would push us to one side or the other as we rode by, just to get the feel of getting pushed around. He decided once as I rode by that he needed to hit me "from underneath, like a lineman." I felt my wheels come off the grass momentarily then the next thing I knew, I was somersaulting. It was pretty funny, and crashing in the grass didn't hurt at all, so we kept going. Next to take the dive was Dana Curlee, a first year member of the team. He seemed a little shook up, but got back on the bike and kept at it. Soon enough Scott wanted in on the action so we switched places. I started pushing people, but didn't feel like I was really hitting them hard enough. I looked over my shoulder to ask someone if I'd pushed hard enough as I pushed Brian Amstutz, and I accidentally leveled him. He got up a little shaken, only to find he'd broken some adapter plate for his cleat. I felt like I real jerk, but everyone says I'm alright? Anyway, we rode in pairs in the grass for a while, pushing each other around, then moved on to cornering on the asphalt. Everything went well, although I missed a corner once and almost took out Scott. The last thing on our plate was doing a little sprint practice. I always hate the first crit of the year because I tend to bounce both wheels off the ground at least a couple times. We had a cool little lap set up, then a straight-away for the sprint. I got throttled most of the time, but at least I've got a few sprints in my legs. Nick Lobejko on the other hand, dumped it hard coming through a tight right handed corner and managed to shred his prized brand new jersey. There aren't many "new" jerseys around here, and now there may be none.

I moved on to put some new tires on my bike, and then stopped in for some pizza and one last free cup of coffee when I ran into my good friend Mike who went under the knife today. He was looking good, showed me his belly that looked great, and the way he was chugging espresso, he must have been feeling alright. I stayed and talked a while, then took off to ride home with my cup of coffee in hand. As I pulled out of the lot, I heard my phone ringing, but couldn't find it in my jersey. I thought I must have lost it because it wasn't where I usually ride with it and I got worried, then realized I could hear it ringing so I must still have it. I found it and answered it and it was my buddy Jeff that I hadn't heard from in a while. He was skiing and just seeing what I was up to. As I was riding along, cup of coffee and handlebar in my right hand, phone in my left, two police cars passed me with lights flashing, then one e-braked, and slid sideways, the passenger jumps out and runs behind a house. The other blows through a red light and meets up with at least 3 other cars, and I just hung up and got out of the way. I stood on the sidewalk while I watched some shady looking fellow run through yards, weaving from front to back, jumping over fences, and getting slower and slower. When I saw an unmarked Yukon slide into a driveway and Officer Perkins bailed out and I saw 3 other officers running into the backyard yelling, with guns drawn, I decided I'd better leave. It was interesting to say the least, and I called Jeff back to fill him in on what had just gone down in front of me.

For those of you who weren't aware, my birthday is upon us. Cards can be mailed to:

BIRTHDAY BOY
1312 9th Ave. #5
Greeley, CO 80631

Although it's too late to get here on time, I won't mind. It's the thought that counts, and the fact that you thought enough to send me a card or check means a lot to me. Thank you in advance. I got a letter from Joseph Gertsema and Roger Smith today, but I don't think it had to do with my birthday. I registered with the YHS Alumni Website, even though I didn't exactly graduate from there? Oh well. If you haven't registered yet, you should.

That's all for now, tomorrow night we may have a race report!

Entry Word: galvanizing
Pronunciation: 'gal-va-"nIz
Function: adjective
Text: 1 causing great emotional or mental stimulation "a galvanizing, come-from-behind victory for the underdogs in the last game of the World Series"

Word of the day.

This way even if I have nothing exciting to write about, you still get a new vocab word. I don't want carry on about wind or traffic, or even old ladies who honk and wave their arms at you for stopping at a red light, so I won't. Here is your new word.

"gauche"
Pronunciation: 'gOsh
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): sometimes gauch·er sometimes gauch·est
Etymology: French, literally, left
1 a : lacking social experience or grace; also : not tactful : CRUDE (it would be gauche to mention the subject)

I'm going to bed.

I'm exhausted. These first days after base always seem to drain me the most. I'm not used to working hard on the bike, and evidently I'm not estimating my caloric loss correctly, as I totally ran out of gas about an hour from home, and once again found myself at the BreadBoard raiding the day olds. I lucked out though, and got there just after they put all of todays stuff in the day olds, so I basically got new stuff, for yesterdays price. Anyway. I managed 3.5 hours on my rode bike today, with about 2 hours of cadence work and an hour or so of what I think is tempo. I really need to figure out this HRM situation so I'm not just guessing anymore. On top of that I did a lap of the Backbone with Mike. He was kind enough to lend me his Karate Monkey which was a blast. I like riding that thing a lot, enough that now I want one really bad, but I don't think I'd ever race it, so it kinda seems like a waste to get too used to riding one. Anyway, I dumped it a couple times, once pretty hard. I hate crashing because it usually throws my head out of the game, but I managed to ride fairly well post-dump. I came to a very grave realization as I rode from Loveland to Windsor, and never really reached the edge of a town. Not only are all these new housing development displacing native species, destroying the beauty of the land, and adding to the traffic problem of the Front Range, the worst thing they've done is taking away all of the cycling communities bathrooms. I reached what I thought was the edge of Loveland and realized I needed to "use the facilities." The facilities typically consist of the ditch of a less traveled road when you are on your bike. Well I rode and rode without seeing a viable "bathroom," and when I could see I-25 in the distance, I knew things were only going to get worse. I got to a new development, one of those POSH (Port Out Starboard Back) "lakeside" developments that appeared to have only one house built, so I took my chances. As I began to use their facilities, located next to a brand new light pole, I thought to myself, what are the chances that the people from that one house will leave while I'm out here, plus I'd have at least a few minutes of them getting into the car, starting it, etc. It was while I was thinking about this that I noticed the line of cars come over the hill, from where the rest of the development must be located, and one by one they drove by, each slowing to see what I was doing. I panicked, but didn't know what to do, anyone who has seen Dumb and Dumber knows you can't stop once you've started, it stings. So I decided to just roll with the punches. I looked over my shoulder and smiled and nodded as each car drove by. When I got home I finished the first of my new books. "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg. It's a pretty good story of a few unlikely friends that are in a trivia contest. Not the best book I read, but I can see why it got the Newberry.

I'm going to try and post a new vocab word that "defines" my day each time I update. I think today's word will be "adventure."

Main Entry: ad·ven·ture
Pronunciation: ad-'ven-chur
Function: noun
2 : an exciting or remarkable experience

Not that today was too exciting or remarkable, but I've decided to try and make every day an adventure of some sorts. I'm getting pretty tired of riding through Kersey, Milliken, Johnstown, etc... so I think I'm going to try my hardest to rack up some uncharted roads this coming week. If not uncharted, at least less traveled. I'd really like to do some climbing tomorrow. We'll see what the day brings.

P.S. How adventurous can dining get, even if it is "exotic"?

Mudbath.

I rode the Backbone and part of Coyote's ridge this afternoon. The Devil's Backbone was actually in pretty good shape. I was having some chain-suck issues, so I had to ride everything in my middle ring, which isn't a huge deal, because I typically ride everything in my 44x11 (sometimes I think I should put a road crank on my MTB, maybe a triathalon one, like a 42-54?), but I was in a little ring mood today. The back loop was a little too snowy to ride up a lot of the rocky sections, but going down them was alright, just a little less control than usual. I stopped by Feighny's and borrowed a file to see if I could fix the chainsuck problem. I think I did a little good, but after the mud bath at Coyote's even the middle ring kept wrapping the chain around my crank. Oh well. I think a little powerwashing is in order for this afternoon, as well as a little laundry. I've got some muddy stuff to wash.

There was a lot of snow at Coyote's on the long climb, and then the descent was like peanut butter. About 100 meters down the descent I realized I wouldn't be able to ride back out, so I stopped and looked at the rest of the trail across the meadow and it all looked pretty sloppy. I turned around and sure enough, my tire just spun and I didn't move. I started pushing my bike up the muddy trail, and soon the tires wouldn't turn. I pounded some of the mud off, then shouldered the bike and trudged my way back to the top. On a lighter note, I did ride the stairs coming down off the top for the first time! I think I hit my chainring on every landing as I rolled down it, but I made it without diving over the bars.

By the way, I've got 5 new books to read! I ordered a few books for class off of Amazon.com, and they weren't supposed to get here until the 18th, but I was treated to a surprise when I got home from my ride! I think I'll take a shower, powerwash, then ice my groin and read. I wonder if there is something wrong with me, my very inner thigh on the right side hurts pretty bad whenever I start pushing hard sitting in the saddle? I thought maybe a rest week would clear it up, but I guess it didn't? We'll see if a little more ice will do the trick? If there are any doctors or physical trainer types reading this, please let me know what you think. It's basically the tendon that you use to close your legs. Luckily I'm not a lady and I don't have to worry about using it while I'm sitting. Should I stretch it if it hurts? Should I ice it or heat it? Should I get it massaged? Is there anyone out there that really wants to massage my inner thigh for me?

Alright. Baseball. Cold Showers. I'm gonna go, thanks for reading this garbage. Hey, I hope you realize that I just stole another 5 minutes from your life. Don't be mad at me, you've probably donated more time to watching Vin Diesel or Harrison Ford movies than you'll ever spend reading this gobbledygook. I just used a Thesaurus to find that word, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did/am, ha. Thanks for reading. I just made plans for a road/mountain bike ride with a certain Mr. Mike Feighney tomorrow. I'll try and remember my camera so you have something interesting to look at.

When Hell Freeze's Over.

I rode the Devil's Backbone today.

It was pretty snowy.

Most of the trail was clear, but some of it was white.

There were Zebras everywhere, can you see them? Even a few deer in the center of the frame.

By the end of the ride I had this much travel.

Strange.

I just got home from the library. Sorry I should have made sure you were all sitting down before I threw that out there, but considering you're all on computers, chances are you're sitting. Yeah, I think this was the first or second time I've actually gone to the library to study this year. I didn't actually go there to study though you see, I needed to get some info for a project I'm doing, and I figured I'd just stay and get a little caught up. Good thinking eh? Well now I'm home, and I think I might try to keep the productivity streak alive. I've got dishes piling up, and my riding clothes aren't going to last to my next rest day so I better get some in the washing machine.

I got a couple decent rides in this weekend. Saturday was supposed to be to Estes, but my head wasn't really in it, and there was a little confusion and frustration coupled with a crappy headwind, so I flipped it a few miles past Drake, and Scott and I enjoyed a tailwind back to Greeley. Today I didn't want to get out of bed, actually off the couch as that is where I found myself this morning. I forced myself into getting onto the bike, but just for a few hours. Well, I went and got myself a little lost and started feeling better about things in general once I was riding, so a few hours turned into 4 and a half. Still not what I had previously wanted to accomplish this weekend, but I'll take what I get and roll with it. I've extended my base training by two days because of a little hiccup in it toward the end of last week. I didn't hit 30 hrs this week, it was actually only about 20, but two more days and I'll have done 30 hours from Monday through Tuesday. I think I'll call that good, take it easy a few days, then it's off to Moab for some mountain biking and tempo riding. I can't wait to get out of this town for a few days.

On a more exciting note, it looks like my good buddy Bob is coming to visit Tuesday night. Not sure what we'll do, but I'm sure we'll find something to keep busy. Wednesday is my rest day and I don't have class until 2:30 so I've got a free pass to do whatever my heart desires.

Thanks for reading, sorry for the lack of pictures, here, this will make everything better. Name this person, I guarantee at least 90% of you would recognize her name, see if you recognize her. I'll send out a pair of 30x32 American Eagle jeans with the ass torn out to the first person who gets it right.

I got dumped.

And it feels like shit.

Tired.

The long hours the past week have finally caught up to me. Yesterday I was supposed to do 5 hours, but called it after 4 because I was having trouble keeping the pedals turning over. I've also been having some issues with my saddle lately. I've always loved my SLR, but man, lately it's been tearing me up. If things don't start to turn around for the better soon I'm gonna have to hop on the bandwagon and go fi-z-ik like EVERYONE else seems to be doing. It wouldn't be all bad though, I hear I can get a red one? Anyway, I woke up at 8 this morning so I could be on the bike by 9, but I've since decided to cut things short today, so I won't be leaving until 10:30 or so. Now I just need to find something to keep me busy until then. I wish I hadn't done all my homework early.

For those of you who weren't aware, today is March 1st. That might not hold much significance to most of you, but to me it means we have now entered my birthday month. The past couple years I've begun to make a bigger and bigger deal about my birthday, so I think it's safe to honor my birthday as a month, rather than a day. Aimee didn't think that was such a great idea because she had a March birthday herself, so we made some sort of deal about "I get these days, you get those, etc." We made the deal a while ago, so I'm just banking on her forgetting and I'll take the whole month, I mean I had a March birthday almost an entire year before she did?

Well, this whole sitting around in the morning thing is nice. I'm looking forward to next week when I get to do this more often. The only problem is that I'm on my 3rd cup of coffee and I still have an hour until I ride. Maybe I should switch to water after this cup? One or two more couldn't hurt that bad, right?

Let's see, what else. In case you haven't noticed, this has turned into me just jabbering on about nothing, trying to kill some time. Maybe I'll go ride a little early? Yeah, that probably won't happen.

Oh, here is something important. I'm riding to Estes again on Saturday I think. I'd love to have someone ride along with me, or part way. It'll be about a 6 hour round trip, but if you wanted to meet me on the other side of Loveland and just get in on the exciting part of it, I'd still love the company. Last weekend Mike was going to do that for me, but he made other plans with a toilet instead. I hope you're feeling better Mike. You want to ride on Saturday? I should make it mandatory for the UNC team to ride at least part of it with me. It's not that I have a problem riding alone, but after 23 hours alone in the past 5 days, I just ready for a little company. I can't say I haven't had any company. Lately Scott and I have been getting together for about 30 minutes a day. Not sure why, but our rides aren't coinciding too well. I'm planning on doing 3 hours with him today, so that will be nice. For those of you who don't know, Scott "Why is my LT 160bpm? Maybe it was the 12 hours of tempo on my rest week?" Wenzel is in a little bit of trouble with his coach, so he has to ride with me today so I can keep an eye on him. If anyone can babysit tomorrow, I have class and work, but we need someone to keep an eye on him all day yesterday. I don't believe he can kill an entire day on that love sac. My bet is he'll be riding tempo by noon if we don't keep tabs on him. I threatened to take all of his pedals home with me, but after this past week, even my arms are tired and I'm not sure I could get 6 pedals off by myself, maybe I'll just take all his left pedals?

Alright, I'm done with this, I can't believe you actually read all that crap, what a waste of time! Oh well, your loss, not mine. If you want to kill more time, check out my link to Dave Towle under people I met once, but probably don't remember me. He's the announcer that does all the local Boulder races as well as a bunch of NRC stuff. He just did the EPO Tour of California. I like reading his blog because it's refreshing to hear from someone who seems to enjoy life and their job so much. It's a nice contrast to other people that just bitch and moan all the time about how tough their life is. Anyway, I hope you're all having productive days, mine can only get more productive as the day goes on.

Boring Update #3 in a row.

Our ride today turned into my ride as soon as I woke up. Last night Scott told me he needed a little rest and this morning Mike was throwing up and for some reason didn't feel like riding? I didn't let it get my spirits down though, and departed Greeley at approximately 9:45am heading due west. I stayed right on HWY 34 all the way up to Estes Park where I headed straight to the Mountain Home Cafe for a cup of coffee and a plate of banana pancakes. The pancakes were every bit as good as last time, and they kept refilling my coffee cup until I finally had to tell the lady to stop. A couple of the waitresses (older strange mountain folk) hung around my booth and talked to me about everything from riding bikes, to one of their "different" daughters that makes all her own clothes but looks like a bum, and rides a bike everywhere with a huge duffel bag over her shoulder, to teaching school, and we even touched a lot on what it's like living in a mountain town. I think I could dig living in one of those wierd little nooks of the world someday. The people are definitely different, and sometimes borderline creepy, but I like it. I headed home through Glen Haven, which my waitress had given me the complete road reports for, down to which corners are sandy, where it might be wet, and where the ice had just melted. The descent was great, I always love bombing down that road. The sand made it a little hair raising at times, even forcing me to unclip a foot once, but I still managed to nail a 90kph straightaway. I made it home 40 minutes faster than it took me to get there, not surprising considering I descended 3000' rather than climbing it, but there was a headwind going down the Big Thompson Canyon. I think there ALWAYS is though?

The past few days have started to take it out of me, but it feels great to be getting some serious miles in. I think I've decided the Tour of the Gila is going to be my first goal for the season so that's what has been motivating the long hours. If nothing else, 5 hard days of racing should catapult me into the summer with some descent form? I'm off the warm up my couch for a while before Grey's Anatomy and then an early bedtime.

I just realized this is the 125th boring update in a row, not 3rd.

Is it wierd that I feel like I'm taking a break only riding 4 hours tomorrow? Nick knows what I'm talking about.

G-FL-K-G-LS-M-J-W-SL-G

Today I completed the Northern Colorado semi-classic known as the Greeley-Feed Lots-Kersey-Greeley-La Salle-Milliken-Johnstown-Windsor-Seeley Lake-Greeley. It was a nice ride, but I decided not to eat the last 50 miles which resulted in me beating on the door of the Breadboard until they let me in to raid the kitchen. Luckily my good friend Mike was ready and waiting with 275 blackened chicken breasts. I made it home, and enjoyed a day old cinnamon roll or two, ok, it was two. Now it's nap time, which just may turn into bed time. Thanks for reading. Tomorrow is another long day, I'll try to get some pictures up after our ride tomorrow.

Blah.

All day has just felt like BLAGGHHHH! I managed to get a solid 4 hours on my bike this morning, but then class and my Earth Sciences seminar was a daze, and I helped my good friend Mike move a dresser tonight and after a beer or two, I feel like I'm moving in slow slow motion. I got all my riding clothes clean, so I should be ready for the weekend. If I could only get that kit back from Nick. I'm gonna get to bed so I can get up and do something productive in the morning. You guessed it, I'll be riding my bike once again. Damn I'm exciting.

Tour of California.

We have cycling coverage on mainstream cable! Pretty freekin cool if you ask me. Now, for my prediction. I think Tommy D is gonna pull it off, although after today, George would be a safe bet too. I'm just going with Tommy D, cause I always have to root for him. Here is a quick run down of why I'm not sure if I want to be a Tommy D fan anymore. Don't get me wrong, I'll probably always cheer for him, but this is all a little disapointing to me...


First I should show why I liked him to begin with...






But then this happened.






I guess I just hoped to get a little more out of him. If it's not Tom winning California, I hope it's George or Bobby J, but I'll still be cheering for Tom, even after all that has happened.

It Snowed Again.

This is getting old already. My training this week has gone down the toilet because I'm too big of a baby to ride in the snow and can stomach the idea of riding my trainer. I guess I should be grateful for the weekend we just had and Tuesday's 60 degree temps, but right now I'm looking at the glass half empty. I think I'm going to attempt some NES powered trainer time. I just need to decide if I should go with Super Mario Bros. or Contra. I think I'll start with the first and see how it goes.

(Continued)

Well I managed to squeeze an hour out of my trainer. If I get another in tonight I won't be doing too bad, right? The Nintendo lasted a half hour before I gave up. I either have to rest my hands on the side of my wrists and try to hold the remote between them, or go full aero, lay on my elbows and hold the remote out in front of me. Maybe it'll work better if I put my TT stuff on my bike? The other problem is that whenever I get to a point in the game that takes any concentration, my cadence drops to about 50. Maybe I'll practice more tonight and see if I can figure it out a little better. P.S. I went with Super Mario Bros. Not a bad choice, but maybe a different game would work better? Also I almost forgot to congratulate my wonderful Aunt B for 8 months without a job jump. You sure are growing up right in front of our eyes!

I love/hate Colorado.

Yesterday it was over 60 degrees and I got in 3 hours wearing shorts and arm warmers. I was hot the whole time and loving it. I don't think there are many people who can say they got a tan on Valentines Day. I felt great though after taking a little rest day on Monday after way too big of a day on Sunday. I had great expectations for the week, but it was spitting snow by the end of the evening. Today was freezing, and flurrying all day and now we have at least an inch of snow so we'll see how the week of training ends up. Maybe it's time to blow the dust off my trainer and log in some quality time with it.

I've been so in to the Olympis lately. I just watched the men's mogul competition, I was really hoping Jeremy Bloom could've pulled off a medal, but oh well. Short track speed skating is up so I'd better go tune in. I hear there is going to be a Yankton reunion here in Greeley this weekend so if anyone feels like joining, you're more than welcome. That's all for now.

Yesterday's Ride.

So. Yesterday I set a new personal record with Scott. 200 kilometers, 4,000+ feet of climbing in 7:18 minutes. The day started out awesome with some breaking news in my personal life, followed by a delicious breakfast.

I knew that to last the distance, I was going to need more than this, so just an hour into our ride we swung through a gas station for a cheese muffin. I developed a love for gas station cheese muffins on a ride last year, and have yet to lose the desire to eat one every time I see one. Sunday was no different.

After this short stop it was off to Estes Park. We climbed up HWY 34, past Drake and on to Estes.

50 miles into our ride, we stopped for what was supposed to be a cup of coffee and a pastry, but turned into the most amazing Banana Pancakes I've ever experienced.

They truly were an experience, and they were so dense I couldn't put down any more food for the next 50 miles. We made our way up HWY 36 then down into Lyons and back home on HWY 66 to CR 17, up the Russian, and in on 10th St. Fueled only on sugar water and a goo pack, the last 75 miles of our journey turned into an endorphin fueled carnival which included, but was not limited to, a runaway bike ramp through a ditch, the fake striking of several boxes of matches, several giggle-fests, two uphill sprints, plenty of singing, and even a little Wayne's World "camera one, camera two."

I turned over 200k a half block from my apartment, took a tubbie/shower, then watched a little olympic action before finishing a plate of Fajitas from the Rio. We then moved the party to Kari's waterbed and watched more Olympics and Grey's Anatomy with her, Scott, and my new lady-friend Aimee.

Today I was exhausted, but I made it to class. I even rode my bike there so I could take it to the power wash afterwards. I got it all cleaned and lubed for tomorrow, and I think I'm going to sit around for the rest of the night and watch more olympics. The girls are snowboarding right now, that would be cool if they could pull of as good of results as the guys did last night.

BIG DAY on the bike, and I have a girlfriend!

First UNC group ride of the year.

Saturday morning marked the first group ride of the year for the UNC Cycling team. I think this will become a regular thing. We meet at the Roubaix Bicycle company at 10am, then head out for an easy hour to hour and a half spin before coffee at my apartment. We had 9 riders in attendance this Saturday and hopefully that number continues to grow as the season approaches. We had a great ride, a little cold, but fun for everyone I think? I think I got to ride with everyone and talk to everyone, then coffee and doughnuts, how could it be a bad day? To make things even better I managed to get in another 2 and a half hours in the afternoon. I rode a little dirt down by Lasalle that I hadn't visited for at least a year, which I've already returned to since Saturday.

Sunday was supposed to be THE man-up ride of the year, but I turned into a wuss with the wind blowing and myself feeling a little blown from the day before. For those of you interested, I think it may go off next Sunday and the route goes as follows. Greeley to Estes Park via HWY 34 (not Glen Haven), Estes to Longmont, Longmont to Greeley. It should measure out to around 200k with somewhere between 3000' and 4000' of climbing. I think we'll be departing early from Scott's house, if you're interested, let me know.

Today was another gorgous day. I got to ride in knee warmers which hasn't happened since probably October. I got in a solid 2.5 hours today, with Scott. Some of it was a little beyond base pace, but we were trying to get me to class on time. I think tomorrow is going to be more of the same, except my ride will be sandwiched between classes starting at 9:30am and not ending till 8:30pm. Oh well, those days are unavoidable I guess, and it'll be even harder once those hours start to increase. I also got the second layer of glue on Scott's rims and tires for him this afternoon. I'm happy to glue them for him, but I think the fumes are starting to get to me. I'll be happy when they are done tomorrow and he can take them back to his place.

Here are a few things I've learned in the past months.

#1 It's amazing how many people actually read this crap.

#2 Secrets make people feel important.

#3 "Wedding Crashers" hasn't gotten old after watching it 10 times in a couple weeks.

#4 "Grey's Anatomy" is awesome.

#5 Skate skiing is fun, but you feel like you got kicked in the ass the next day, on both sides.

#6 Maps don't excite most people the way they excite me.

#7 I'm glad my parents don't run for office so I'm still allowed to waste my (and your) time writing crap on here.

#8 Sometimes you have to hit the bottom before you can start working your way back up.

#9 Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride. (John F. Kennedy helped me with that one)

#10 There are daily earthquakes in the midwest.

#11 Ice Skating rocks my socks!

#12 The new "Mr. GWHS" is nowhere near as good as last year's.

#13 I haven't yet grown to love football.

#14 Class is way easier, and less nerve-wracking, when you go consistently.

#15 Hip-Hop? There's so many things you could say about hip-hop.

Thanks for reading, hope to see you at the ride Saturday.