Pain, Pain and more Pain

WOW, this weekend sucked. There was races Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I decided to skip the race Saturday and hang with the family. Wise choice. It was silly fast and only 33 guys finished.

As soon as I got to the start line Sunday I knew it was going to be a bad day. There was 43 of us and there was a good hand full of pros there. So the attacks started early. I got in a break with Tommy and Kirk and we lapped the field. Then all hell broke loose, with counter attacks. By the end of the day Tommy got 3rd in the sprint, i got 4th and Kirk got 6th. We ended up 5th, 6th, and 8th, since 3 guys had lapped the field a 2nd time. Holy Poop.

Monday was back to normal. 100+ guys and all the big teams were there. Again the break went early and I was the only schmuck from my team that made the break. We lapped the field. It was a huge break of about 20 guys. The counters started almost immediately. It stayed together until the end, and I ended up 13th. Pathetic.

I did put together a couple of really good rides after my week off the bike, so I can't complain that much, but I do wish I could have beat some of those guys yesterday, and gone top 5. This weekend is another big crit, so we will need to be firing on all cyclinders.

Things are getting ugly in Italy and Germany. The German's launched an investigation into the Telekom (now T-Mobile) Team, and found out there was systematic doping of the racers during the early day (circa '94-99). Zabel, Aldag, and a few others came clean saying they did it, and then the big BOMB went off. Bjarne Riis came forward and said he doped during his 1996 TdF win. HOLY UNDERPANTS. What makes it even more interesting is the fact that Bjarne says he now has the most comprehensive drug testing program in the sport, doing more out of competition testing than anyone else, and all paid for my the his team. He says his racers are the cleanest in the sport. So the questions that need to be asked are:

1. Is Bjarne full of crap and lying? With his background does he know how to get around the tests and still dope?

or

2. Does he know what to look for and can spot the dopers and really is trying to clean up the sport? I think this is highly unlikely, as he says he was surprised that Ivan was going to dope for the TdF. Ivan's performance at the Giro was unbelievable, and there is no way he rode like that (very Pantanni like) without doping there. And you can bet Bjarne knew he was doping.

What will the outcome of this year Giro mean for July? And who will win the Mellow Johnny?

As for me, I get to race Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Should be a fun couple of days. I am hoping to get in a break on Sunday and get a result. I only have one good ride in my legs right now so I will have to race smart if I want a result.

A week off

Mid season is here, and that means one thing, time for a rest. Every season at this time, I have a work thing I have to go to in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. It's fantastic. A week of surf and sun (with a little work), and a bunch of cute women. The surf was good this year, so I got in the water a lot. The best part is my form was starting to drop off, so this was/is the perfect time to take a week off and recover. I got on the stationary at the hotel a few times, but nothing remotely hard. Just spun the legs out.
The second half of the season has started, and I will try and build up for another peak around mid-July. I would like to be flying again in August, and hopefully get a win this season. That is my personal goal this year. Get a WIN.

On a sadder note, Floyd Landis' trial has finally gotten under way. I for one do not think he doped. There are very few guys I would say that about. But I think Floyd did it the right way. Not to mention there is very little real evidence to support the charges of testosterone use. The worst part of the trial is, Greg LeMond decided to stick his big fat obnoxious nose into things. He has no business being the vioce of concern for USA cycling and cyclists. Shut up you big fat old man. He called Floyd to tell him to come clean. He had no knowledge of what the circumstances were, but told Floyd he should admit to something he didn't do. Well that pissed of a friend of mine who happens to be Floyd's business manager (Will). Will decided to make a call to LeMond the night before he was to testify and make some comments over the phone. That cost Will his job. A stupid thing on Will's part no doubt about it, but it should never have been a possibility. LeMond should make his bikes and let the USADA do their own thing. Just because you won the Tour doesn't give you the right to talk shit about everyone else. If he wants to clean up cycling, go to work for the USADA or USA Cycling, or WADA or the UCI, but until you do, SHUT UP. Ass.

That's all for now. Time to start hammering again, and see if we can get some big results this season.

Stupid Bike Racer

I am a stupid bike racer. I suck.

Tuesday night El Dorado Park Crit Series, and the heat was on last night. The temps during the day almost hit 100. I like racing in the heat, so last night I was feeling pretty good. I got in a nice long warm up and the legs felt pretty good, suprisingly. So it was time to ride hard. Pops and Drama needed the field strung out as we got into the closing 700 meters for preem one, so I went to the front and strung it out. I went a little too hard and opened up big gaps to my wheel with guys who couldn't hold 34mph for that long of a time. Pops got 2nd on the preem, and was looking strong. Since I had good legs I started launching attacks. Nothing was able to stick, unitl the very last laps. With 2 to go one guy popped off the front and had 10 seconds. Me and Gritters took off too. The 3 of us did 1/2 a lap then 4 guys bridged and the infighting began. One guy attacked really hard and looked strong. Brandon and I tried to get to him, but Brandon gapped me, and it all fell apart. Our sprinters did their job and got 3rd and 5th. We took over the points overall as well. So from now on we will be watching out for Pops and making sure he stays on the top.
I was a little bummed I didn't have enough gas to make it to the end with the small gap we had, but I have to remember I am not on peak form right now.
All in all the team rode pretty strong last night. It is good to see everyone talking and riding strong. I am surprised my form is as good as it is right now. I should be complete poo poo, so hopefully when I hit my second peak of the season I will be flying.
It's time for a team meeting as well, so everyone knows what everyone else is up to, and to remind everyone of their rolls and their teammates rolls. Sometimes we loose track of that throughout the season, and it's good to have a meeting to refresh everyone.

I am off to Mexico for a week for a vacation. I need it. When I get back it will be full gas until the end of August. By mid-July I should be back on good form and getting results. I hope to get at least 1 win this season. That is my personal goal.

The heat is ON

Spring has come and gone in Southern California. It lasted about 5 hours. Hopefully some of you go to enjoy it. We are now into summer here. The heat was on this weekend for the races. Yes, races. More than one. The first (on Cinco de Mayo) was in San Diego in a really bad nieghborhood. The race is called Barrio Logan Grand Prix, and it is the State Crit Champs. The course is really tight, with lots of turns (8) and it is only .8 miles. I will give you a minute to crunch those numbers......done? Good, moving on then. On top of the technical course the road surface is not very good. Thankfully, most of the bad pavement is confined to the corners, so that's nice. Our sprinter had good form, but crashed on Thursday and pulled out of the very fast race. I was not aware he had called it quits. I went to the front to chase the very dangerous break, and helped to get them within 10 seconds, a very closable gap. As we had them in site I moved back to find our sprinter and bring him to the front (remember I didn't know he wasn't there). By now we had about 7 laps to go, and the pack had been cut in half by the fast pace. The break still dangled. I hit one of the bad corners and had a catastrophic equipment failure. The cleat sheered off the bottom of my shoe. No way to clip in, no way to keep racing. Without any help chasing the break's gap opened back up and they ended up holding it and taking the win. No worries I thought tomorrow is a 81 mile road race, on a course that is supposed to suit me according to my teammates.

Sunday, woke up to 20 mph winds and 80 degree temps, it warmed to 90 for the race. Attacks started really early and the climbs were longer and tougher than I had been told. The break went up the road and was gaining time, so me and another moron tried to bridge. Two laps of hammering up the hills and into the wind, only to be caught by the pack, which was chasing flat out, just as we caught the break. That was one of the dumbest things I have done on a bike in a long time. I know better than to try that type of thing. I should have just sat in. My effort cost me and I pulled out at the feedzone half way through lap 5 of 7. My legs gave out on me, and my legs decided I would not be finishing. Apparently I was not the only one in this position. The start list was about 65-70 guys. The race ended with less than 35. That will tell you how tough and fast that race was.

It is now mid season, and I can tell me early season peak has gone and I am now in my mid-season low form. The legs had some snap, but not nearly enough this weekend. This was to be expected, and after a break next week (vacation in Mexico) I will come back, do some training and be ready for the 2nd half of the season, and my second peak around July.

The Stupidity Continues

Tuesday nights is Eldo night. One hour of crit racing. Good times, right? Usually. Because we only have a certain amount of space and time there are 3 different races on course at the same time, like I have mentioned before. Because of this Velosport always has good numbers in the 1/2/3 race. This week was no different. The cat.3 kids have been trying really hard to get a result out there with no luck. They finally snapped Tuesday. As the bell rang for preem one, a small group had a gap on us and was rolling. Kirk was in there, and would have taken the preem. No doubt about it. Before he could get a chance two of our cat.3 guys went to the front and damn near blew themselves up to bring them back. They were both spent and had no chance of getting the preem regardless. All they did was chase a teammate down (a HUGE No No). Now we had to set it up for one of our sprinters. He jumped with the current and always point leader toward the line. The points leader tends to drift over on you if he feels you may get around him. He did that to our guy, and paid the price. As he drifted over and started bumping with our sprinter he lost control and went down.....hard. Broken clavical and concusion. He's out for half the season. All of this in 3/4 of a lap of racing. Stuff happens fast out there.

The 3's never did get their poop together that night. One of them managed to sneak in for 10th place, but that gets him nothing but 1 point. After the race I was none too happy, and told them never to chase a teammate again. They didn't want to hear that. They got pissed and I figured, let them cool down. I will do the same, and everything will be good tomorrow.

Wednesday, I send and email to the racers saying, please remember to check before you chase to make sure you are not chasing a teammate. That started a flurry of emails, and shit talking the likes of which i have never seen. I tried to keep things quiet and respond to each person privately, but they decided to respond back and cc all kinds of other people. They left me no choice. They want to race, then they will get to. Now the elite team and the club guys will race AGAINST each other out at Eldo. Due to categories we never race against them or with them i should say at any other race. So Tuesday nights is a little strange for them. The 3's have no chance of catching us if we decide to go in a break. They can chase all they want, but they aren't going to catch us. They also don't have the sprint speed and the knowledge to get position to contest the sprints. It will be a good leraning experince for them. They are good racers, and I hope this will force them to become better racers. I know they are frustrated and want to go hard, and if we have someone up the road (we almost always do) they can't ride hard. It finally got to them Tuesday. No hard feelings though. They are just going to have to step it up now.

This weekend is State Crit Champs. One of your sprinters has good form right now, so I will be watching out for him Saturday. Sunday is a 81 mile road race. Not very long, but it will be touhg. The nice thing is they are scoring the 2's seperate from the pro's so as long as I am the first 2 across the line I get to claim it as a win. Sweet. That's 10 points I really need. If I can get out of this weekend, and hit mid-season with 15-16 points I will be looking good for the cat.1 upgrade at the end of the season.

Until Monday.......

Crashing and Dumb Bike racing

There are days when I get this wierd feeling, like something bad is going to happen on the bike. Last night I had that feeling. There was a pretty large field at the race, and lots of guys chomping at the bit to get a result. The race started pretty slow, then some guys attacked and one of ours was in there. As they rang the bell for Preem one, two of our guys from the back came up flying and started chasing flat out. They brought back the break, and our guy, and now it was time for a group sprint for preem one. One of our guys got on the right wheel and was moving. As the sprint opened up the guy in the lead tried drifting over and cutting off our sprinter. That was a mistake. As soon and they touched, the other guy went down...HARD. It was a single person crash, and it was not pretty. Crashing at 40 mph never is. A broken shoulder and slight concusion is what he gets for his mistake. The bad news was, that guy was the strongest out there, and with out him there was a very slim chance of a break getting away. That didn't stop me though. I attacked a lot and should have been smarter. No breaks stayed away and I burned too many matches, so I had nothing left to do lead out. Way to go dumbass. More stupid bike racing. It all worked out as one of our guys won, and another took 5th. All in all a pretty good night, even if there were way too many stupid bike racers out there.

The good news is this weekend is Barrio Loagan GP. Eight corners in 1.1 miles. I am sure it will be perfectly safe, but just to make sure, I will stay away. No need to get bent just before a trip to Cabo. That's right ladies and gents, I am off to Cabo in less than 2 weeks. While all you poor bastards are stuck at work I am going to be catching waves in sunny, warm Cabo.