Summit County Cross.

This weekend's races went well. I finished both somewhere towards the middle of the field, which is better than I can say about the past couple weeks. I felt strong through the finish, and even attacked a couple times to lose the guys I was with, so that was good.

Saturday's race was at the Breckinridge Nordic Center, right at the base of the mountain. It rain/snowed for a couple hours before my race, but cleared up a little bit while we rode. There was enough moisture to make a lot of the course a wet, slippery, mess, but I managed to keep the bike upright. I had a decent start, but flatted toward the end of the first lap. After a less than sweet wheel change, I was back on course, and I think I ended up getting back to about where I was. It was frustrating, but such is life, right?

Saturday's run-up.

Muddy.

After the finish with Ambretto.


Saturday night we crashed at Matt Koch's place in Edwards. Thanks Matt. We ate a a cool little brew pub and laid around his condo exhausted while Ambrette divided her time between styling Scott's hair and taking water shots with Matt.

The Ace Ventura.

This picture is actually a real girl, but she looks a lot like Scott, yeah?

Sunday morning came all too soon, and I really wasn't feeling the racing bug on the start line. There was a hellish run-up on Sunday's course which didn't help matters at all. After the first lap I decided I really liked the course, and ended up feeling better than I have all year. I went back and forth with one Einstein's Bagels rider, and ended up losing him in the last few laps, but I did manage to pick off a Harshman's/Primus Mootry rider in the chase which felt awesome.

Sunday's run-up. It sucked.

This little double barrier was right before the pit, about halfway through the lap.

Running through those barriers.

This single barrier was right at the bottom of a little run-up, and directly after a 90 degree left hand corner. I never quite got the line figured out, but I did pass a couple people through the run-up.
Today I'm off to work-class-work. I hope all is well with you, and thanks for checking in.

eBay.

I put some stuff on eBay just now. Check it out and buy it. Pay a lot of money for it too.

I already did this once, and lost it all.

So,

Friday night, my lovely lady friend and I went to First Friday in Denver (a bunch of art openings), and in the process of finding a parking spot near the Sante Fe district, I managed to pull off the greatest parking job of all times. Ever.

Here is the rear bumper.

The front.

The curbside.

And me. I'm pumped, are you pumped? I'm pumped. (Keep in mind I never touched another vehicle or the curb in this process.)

That night we stayed at my friend Zach's house in Denver. That's right, I had a friend in high school, not many, but at least one.

Saturday morning we cruised up to Gunnison for the cross races.

This is me and my new bike. Thanks to Scott for lending me the rear wheel, and Greg Harris for lending me the front. (Long story.)

Here is Saturday's run-up.

And the top of the run-up.

So, the only thing more embarassing than lining up on a start line next to 4 other guys is standing on a podium with 4 spectators.

Sunday's race was a little colder. I think at this point I was trying not to lose my spicy sausage from the night before, oh wait, that was the whole race.

This was a cool, but really hard down-up-down-up-down section from Sunday's course.

Here I am attacking through that section on the last lap. Don't worry, I slid out through the corner to lose my lead, then sprinted like an absolute moron so I ended 4th that day.

Thanks for checking in. I think I have some coookies to eat.

I'm still around.

Hey, I'm still alive and kicking here in Greeley. I've started up my cross season but the fireworks have yet to go off. If all goes to plan it will only continue to get better as the season goes on. I've got some pictures from this weekend in Gunnison, and I plan to have them up shortly. Hope everyone out there is doing well, but I refuse to apologize for my lack of updates, I've been busy.

This weekend, Brecktober Cross on Saturday and then a race in Dillion on Sunday. Wish me luck or get out there, get rowdy and ring your cowbells. I've never watched myself race cross, but judging by all the pictures I've seen, I would say it's got to be pretty fun to watch my the token puke face roll by lap after lap. I'll check back soon with the pictures.

I raced my bike again!

Sunday I did the Bannock Street Criterium in Denver. The course was pretty cool, wide open and fast with 8 corners and one small rise. I felt like I rode pretty well almost the entire race and only found myself too far back twice and had to waste a ton of energy to get back up to where I wanted/needed to be. I put in one small half lap effort to try and get across to a decent sized break, but somehow I couldn't shake Greg Henderson (Health Net/Maxxis) from my wheel, and the rest of the peloton decided to come with. With 2 to go, I was moving up really well, and just about where I wanted to be coming into the sprint for 5th, since Hendy and a few others had gotten a move to stick and were at least 45 seconds if not more up the road. Then coming into a left hand turn, the group moved left, pushed the guy next to me into the curb, he came back and touched me, apparently freaked out, and laid down on top of me. I tumbled a little, and luckily no one else went down, but by the time I was up and riding, I just coasted in for last place.

I'm very happy with how I felt during the race, and that gives me a load of confidence for the next time I pin on a number, but it's always disappointing to suffer for 70 minutes only to get last place. Oh well, there is always another race. I'm not sure what I'll do next, but hopefully I can find a few more crits to start the buildup for cross.

I saw a horrible car accident happen directly beside me on my way home from the race and I got pretty shook up so I drove back roads the rest of the way home. I hope you all take care, drive carefully, and be safe. Thanks for checking in, sorry once again for the rather dull update.

Boring.

So,

I haven't been doing much aside from working and a little riding. The riding has been pretty low key lately, but I've been having a lot of fun on the bike. I think it's about time to get serious with it again, but we'll see how the week unfolds. I got my mountain bike up and running, and thus far I love the SRAM stuff.

Other than that, I don't have much to report, last night was Rich Murphy's 50th birthday party. I showed up late with a few other guys and evidently the party had been raging earlier, because everyone was in fine spirits by the time we got there. I didn't stay long, but I think I laughed more in the time I was there, than I would normally in a day.

That's all for now I guess. I'm going to go ride in the mountains this afternoon, but I'm waiting on a little laundry before I go. On top of that, I think I should probably check up on what my girlfriend's ex-boyfriends are doing. Insecurity is sexy right? Hope you're all doing well, thanks for checking in.

Hey, I'm still alive.

So, sorry about the lack up updating. I've had a busy couple of weeks. Last week my friend Robbie from YKT came down, we painted Greeley red a few times, then drove to SoDak the next day. I had a great 10 days at home with my friends and family, even came away from the week with 7 stitches, but now I'm back in lovely Greeley. I had an awesome mountain bike ride today, I did the Backbone-Blue Sky-Coyote loop twice, once alone and one with Feighny and Travis. It was a good time, and now I'm beat. I'll write more later, I was just getting sick of the "why don't you update" comments. You people should focus your energy on Wenzel, he needs more help than I do. Thanks for checking in.

Making Bad Decisions.

Sure we made a couple BAD decisions, but I know that I for one, had a boatload of fun. So we decided to ride this new "Blue Sky" trail that loops together the Devil's Backbone and Coyote Ridge, but we didn't take into account how long it would take our group to ride it.

The ride started out great. Some of us had to walk some climbs, myself included because I rode my single speed cross bike. This here is Colin, you'll see him later.

Austion and Ray walked a little too.

All the climbing made Evan hot.

I think it's safe to say Colin didn't like the climbs.

Of course Feighny flew up it all.

We all hung out at the first summit, but Colin didn't talk, he was PISSED.

Ray rode like a champ.

Evan blew some people away with his new fitness too.

The sunset was beautiful, but it should have been a warning sign. Feighny is barely visible in the bottom of this shot.

Here is Mike on one of the new sections of trail, cool view.

Colin's mood lightened once we started going downhill.

Then it started to get dark, real quick.

We stood here waiting for the group and all we could hear was coyotes, howling from every direction.

Soon it was real dark.

By the time we made it to the car, we had ridden at least an hour in the pitch black. Evan was beat.

I was happy to be alive, Jenn met us at the trailhead so we wouldn't all have to ride on the highway in the dark.

Austin showed off his battle wounds. I guess he found the fastest way down a 15 meter steep drop. He even beat his bike down, but not by much.

Mike thanked Jenn in advance for following us back to their house in the van with caution lights and headlights.


I definitely need to ride this trail again. I liked it a lot, and we had a ton of fun. At one point I was riding next to Colin on a gravel road stretch when he just skyrocketed into the air. I guess he hit something, but it's still hard to say what it was. Mike was sure to mention how nice his pair of Light and Motion's would have been, but they were on his workbench. Evan is an Eagle Scout, but sure didn't come prepared, I'm a little disappointed in him. I think he made up for it when he snapped at Ray on the highway riding in to Mike's house. Whew, what a ride. Thanks for checking in.

I'm back.

Most of you probably didn't even realize I was gone, but I headed home to YKT for the weekend and had a very nice, relaxing couple of days. My parents were the socialites of the century and had 3 different groups of company through my house in 4 days, but I still managed to spend some good time with them, and see some old friends. I had grand ideas of riding everyday, but only managed one ride in the 3 days I was there. Oh well. It was a very nice ride in the rain, which I don't have the chance to do often. My iPod died about 30 minutes into it, but it was fun to just ride and listen to the rain. I was surprised at how much fun I had exploring new roads through Nebraska and even getting downright lost for a while. I wish I would have had a camera because even though it was Nebraska, it felt like a foreign country with green rolling hills. I'm back now, ready to switch jobs and get back into a little more disciplined training groove. We'll see what the week brings. The picture is Simon (my brother from another mother) and I on Saturday night. We had a good time BBQing and sitting on a boat for a while. That's all for now. Stop by the IBizzle tomorrow and say hey if you're bored. Thanks for checking in.

Morning Update.

Check out Brian at the CSU Oval. Click on the picture to make it bigger.

I had a good ride in the mountains yesterday, ended up being around 4.5 hours. I didn't go too hard, just a lot of fun. I ended up running into Matt Koch up by the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, and rode with him for an hour or so. I didn't get home until late, but still managed to swing by Evan and Jason's for an officers meeting. I work today at noon which reminds me, I turned in my two weeks yesterday. Soon I'll be a Roubaix employee again. That's about all that's going on in my world.

I thought of a million things to write about on my ride yesterday, but I think I've forgotten them all. Oh yeah, the people up in the mountains are so nice. I filled my bottles up at 3 different places, and each time the people asked if they could put ice in my bottles. I stood around and drank a coke and talked to the owner of the Glen Haven General Store for a while. He was a super nice guy and was all fired up that I asked if he cared if I wore my speedplay cleats in his store. He said no one had ever asked before, in fact, some guy pulled his bike in the store that morning and when he told the guy he didn't need his bike in the store, the cyclist got all kinds of pissed and told the guy he didn't need anything from his store. It's people like him that make all of us cyclists look like jerks, so I apologized on behalf of the cycling community for the "bad apple."

Speaking of the Glen Haven General Store, many of you know about my little gas station cream cheese muffin fetish, well I stepped it up yesterday and now I'll have trouble going back. They had fresh, homemade, peaches and cream cheese muffins by the register, and it just might have been the best muffin I've tasted in my life. It tasted like a gas station muffin, only better, (same moisture content though) but in the middle was some peach pie filling and cream cheese. You could actually taste the creamy deliciousness of the cream cheese mixed into the pie filling. Ok, I need to stop. I kinda want to ride up and get one tomorrow. Maybe I will.

I also had a cup of coffee at the Estes Perk which is located just a half mile from the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. The coffee was great, and the view from their deck was even better. Actually, it was while I was sitting there that I saw Matt ride by.

Moral of the story, I enjoyed my ride a lot yesterday and I look forward to getting into the mountains a lot more in the near future. The best part is that you can actually ride in the afternoon up there because it isn't 1,000 degrees. I need to shower and get my MTB prepped for a ride tonight. Thanks for checking in.

New Belgium Crit.

Today was another bust. I felt pretty good until I flatted 35 minutes into the 90 minute race. Unfortunately I broke a spoke on my pit wheel yesterday, and since there were no neutral wheels at the race, I was just out of luck. I liked the course a lot though, and was riding alright. Who knows what would have happened in the last hour of the race.

Makin' the big money.

So yesterday after my miserable showing in the State TT, I decided to head to Roma's and have a beer with Evan and Dana. I was riding by my mail box, and happened to look inside, only to find a check from the Iron Horse for 125 bucks. We figured out that between Rocky Mounts and UNC paying for entry fees, I've started 24 races this year, and I'm up 95 bucks from prize money! After today it'll only be 65, and next weekend should wipe it out, but it feels kinda cool to know that technically, I've raced for free all year. Anyway, I'm done floating my own boat. Time to go get worked over again in FTC. Rumor has it, 90 minutes on a 1km lap! Fun fun!

State Time Trial.

State TT is over. I sucked. I mean I really sucked.

RM - I Crit Pictures

If a picture could sum up a day, I'm pretty sure the look on my face in any of these shots could show you how I felt that entire race.



Thanks to the guys at Peloton Photo for letting me steal these. They can be purchased at www.pelotonphoto.com. I'm sure their sales will triple after this update.

Thanks for checking in.

Can't Sleep.

So,

There will be no point to this update, I promise. You should probably save yourself the time and stop reading right now. Today pretty much sucked. I got woken up at 8:30 to the guy at Greeley Auto Tech calling and telling me it'll be 375 bucks to get my car running. That's right, it crapped out again. I think it's gonna be a yearly thing now. So, after that I sat around waiting to go into work, only to get to work and have an awful day. It was 93? degrees outside today, and we decided we didn't need A/C at the shop until late afternoon. Colin (a co-worker of mine) got a new Surly today, so I helped him build it up, but in the meantime all hell broke loose, and the rest of the day was miserable. I've just been in a crappy mood all day, and now I'm ready to go to bed, but I can't sleep.

Tomorrow looks to be a better day. I have a massage in the morning, then some TT efforts in preparation for the state TT's this weekend. I'm not a fan of time trials, so I guess it's a good thing I'm doing this race. I need to do more of them so I can get a better feel for them. The problem is, the only feeling I ever get from TT's is intense pain, everywhere. Oh well, that's good prep for cross racing I guess, which hopefully will go well this year. I already can't wait for it to start. I'm starting to look at new cross frames. Right now it's a toss up between a Kona or Cannondale. I think the Kona is a way cooler frame, but the Cannondale comes with a carbon fork? Decisions decisions. Oh well, I have time.

Let's see, that's all I guess. I hope no one read this far. Ha ha. if you did. Thanks for checking in.

Rocky Mounts - Izze Crit.

I just got home from Louisville where I received the beating of my life. I guess it wasn't that bad, I just rode like an idiot. Hopefully I'll be a little smarter next time I pin on a number which may or may not be tomorrow. The break went today off the line and just kept getting fed by riders bridging across. I rode like a dork, and managed to work just hard enough that everytime I would look over my shoulder to see who was going to pull through, someone would attack, and I couldn't hold their wheel. I finished in the group, but the lead break lapped us with 15 or 20 minutes to go. There was one more group up the road I guess, however, I had no idea of the race situation until it was all over. It was a bit of a mess for a while. I attacked on the climb with 2.5 laps to go, and got swarmed with 200m to go. If I could have held it I guess I would have been top 20 or so, but I don't even know my placing right now.

On a brighter note, I was treated to a little shout out on Dave Towle's website. Check it out if you'd like. It's awesome that he gets to do so many big races this summer, but it's a little bittersweet since that means we don't get to see him around the front range so much. Oh well, hopefully he'll be back in town by cross season?

That's it for now, thanks for checking in. There might be some pictures from today's race on Peloton Photos.com, check it out.

IHBC Crit Photos.

Here are a few choice photos from the Iron Horse Crit thanks to my mom.

The finish.

Yeah, I got a little carried away. If you look closely you can see I'm freaking out, screaming and stuff.

The podium.

Me and my mom. She looks good in the RM kit yeah?

Dave Towle and I.

Rick Crawford and myself.

Thanks a lot to everyone for their words of congratulations and support. I appreciate it a lot.

Here is what the rest of the month looks like so far.

6.3.06 Rocky Mounts Crit - Boulder
6.4.06 City Park Crit - Denver
6.10.06 State TT - DIA
6.11.06 New Belgium Crit - Fort Collins
6.17.06 Hugo Road Race - Hugo
6.24-25.06 Dead Dog Classic - Laramie, WY

Hopefully I'll see some of you at one or all of these. Thanks for checking in.

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.

School's Out For The Summer.

I'm done with school for another year. I think my grades should be good, and now I can focus 100% on riding with some work on the side. I've got piles of laundry to do tonight, and a ton of stuff to pack so I'm ready to leave for the Gila. I'm still kicking around the idea of racing tomorrow, but it's looking pretty slim right now. I've got the problem of teamates that don't return phone calls, so it makes things difficult. Oh well. We'll figure it all out in the end I suppose. I'm gonna get started on the laundry and see if I can figure racing stuff out. I should be able to update from the road, but no guarantees. Wish me luck, and thanks to everyone whose made these last two weeks of school a couple of the funnest I've been through.

Brian Amstutz Rules.

He writes papers all night long. Good work Brian.

BLAH!

School is getting old. I'm really glad I only have this week left. I don't know that I could do more. It's a simple problem of motivation, but I think I'll be able to finish it off nicely. I have a final tonight at 5:30, then a presentation tomorrow afternoon. I'm also working tomorrow morning, so I need to nail that project tonight.

It's hard to believe the semester is almost over. I just stumbled across a picture of my first bike ride of the new year, and I was surprised by how recently it seems like it was. The semester has flown by, but that's a good thing. I dreaded coming back to school after Christmas Break more this year than ever, but it's actually turned out to be one of the better semesters I've spent here at UNC. Looking back a lot has happened since January, some good, some bad, but I've come a long ways, and hopefully things continue on this track.

I never expected myself to be in the place I'm in right now, but it's strange how things tend to work out. It'll be exciting (or depressing) to see where I am a year from now. I know where I want to be, but a year ago, I was planning on changing majors and opening a bike shop. It sure seems like a while ago, and I'm glad I grew out of that idea, but I guess it's helped me figure out just what I want to do. Anyway, I need to do some serious work this summer if I plan on continuing towards my ultimate goals, but at least I'll have something to keep me busy?

Right now I need to shower and get ready for my final tonight. Here is a parting shot for you all. It's the picture from that first ride of the year. As Scott or Sheryl or someone says, "Everyday is a winding road."

Mad Cow Classic

I just got home from another weekend of collegiate racing Grand Junction. It's actually my last weekend of collegiates for the year as I will be leaving next weekend for the Gila. I normally ride like crap in Grand Junction for some reason, and Saturday was no exception. I felt as flat as I have all year, and was feeling pretty down after the road race, but today's crit made up for it and then some.

The road race was a 3 hour and 20 minute suffer-fest around and over the top of some of the mesa's that surround Grand Junction. I stuck with the main group the whole time, but felt like I just couldn't push the pedals. I'm usually pretty motivated to suffer, but when you're suffering just to stay with a group that are riding slow, it's a whole different world. I ended up finishing 14th, which is the best Collegiate Road Race finish I've had, but I feel like I could have been in the mix had I felt like I have in the last few races I've done. I think I felt so blocked, because of my riding or lack-thereof last week, but live and learn I guess. Hopefully the rest will do me some good in the long run and I'll be flying next week.

The crit today was on an awesome course. A true criterium course that is pancake flat with a couple of fast straight's, 4 90 degree corners, and one 360 degree traffic circle. It was a short course and I was hoping everyone would be a little relaxed the first half, and maybe I could get into a move that would go somewhere early, but it turned out to be the exact opposite. It was probably the fiestiest crit I've been a part of, and after the first 30 minutes, I thought I was going to get shot out the back. I worked too hard the first part trying to get away, covering every move, and then I realized nothing was going to stick, so I sat back. A break went away for 5 or 6 laps, so I waited for the counter, thinking the chase might have worn a few people down, but my counter lasted a lap and a half, so once again I sat back. A few more attacks went and came back, until 2 FLC kids went and got a good gap. A couple kids started to bridge, but I saw them split up, so I attacked through the 4 corner part of the course, and got a little gap with another FLC kid. He pulled through and helped me reach the 2 who were originally in the break, and we picked up 1 more FLC kid on our way. So, with 5 laps to go, I was in a group with me, and 4 Fort Lewis kids. I tried to work as hard as I could so they wouldn't start attacking me early, and they ended up staying together until the final 4 corners before the finishing straight. I surged a little on the backside with 2 corners to go, then waited and made one of their kids come by. We came out of the last corner going pretty slow, but I heard all kinds of gears shifting behind me, so I jumped hoping I could catch the wheel when it came by. I managed to catch the second guy who came by, and held that position to the line.

I'm happy with my finish, but I hate how after a race, all you can think about is, "what if I would have done this?" or "could I have done that?" Oh well. I got 3rd, and I'm content with that. I finished this collegiate season much more successfully than I did last year, so that's a good thing. I didn't manage to pick up any collegiate wins, but at least I have something to shoot for next year. Now I just need to focus on finishing up school, then tearing apart the Gila. Thanks for checking in, I'm sure this update put most of you to sleep.

Barney

Evan thought we needed more cowbell

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