It's getting cold

Ok so "cold" may not be the best word to describe the conditions in Southern California, and I am admittedly a giant wimp when it comes to riding in the cold, so i don't want to hear any crap from you guys in CO or MN about riding in the cold. You chose to live there.

I guess it's not as bad as I make it out to be. It's been a bit cool in the mornings, but still this last Sunday as I finished a local group ride and headed off for the second half of my ride I kept the arm warmers on the entire time, and I didn't feel like a sissy for doing so either.

The winter training has been going pretty well. It's almost time to start picking up the intensity, and judging from the teams finalized schedule next season, the sooner i get in shape the better. At first I thought with the demise of a number of pro teams, and large percentage of guys NOT getting new contracts, that the p1 races may actually slow down (just a little) compared to last years craziness. Upon second thought though, I think it will be even faster. The talent, which had been more spread out, will no be more focused on less teams. Now more of the really fast guys will be working TOGETHER instead of against each other, which spells doom for me.

It looks like USADA has really stepped up their game as well. They are now able to convict and hand down suspensions to guys who NEVER tested positive. Kayle LG was popped for 2 years this week, without ever having a positive test. That seems outrageous to me. The USADA actually said in a release that the circumstantial evidence was overwhelming enough to warrant to suspension. Circumstantial is not proof. I am all for getting rid of dopers, and I had heard plenty of rumors about Kayle, but at the end of the day he never had a positive test result. And if he was doping shouldn't dope control at races picked up on that? Seems to me they are able to find other racers, why not this guy? Hell they gave Monniger a 6 month suspension for taking a supplement that contained a chemical that wasn't listed on, and wasn't supposed to be in the supplement. How could he have possibly ever known that the pills he bought at a GNC (or some health store) had been contaminated at the production process level? Even the manufacturer said the pills were tainted with a chemical that wasn't supposed to be in there. Yet USADA handed down the suspension. They have NEVER lost a case. Ever. The implications of handing down a suspension to a racer with no concrete proof, just circumstantial evidence is very scary.

A preview of next season?

This weekend was the end of the year banquet for the old team. Same people, same bad food, and now I am done with that. It feels nice to know I moving on to a team where I can race some big events. The local stuff is all fine and good, but I can't survive on IP crits. I need something more, and I am going to get it next season. Hopefully I am ready for it.

Sunday was Como. I had a recovery week so on Sunday I was clear to hit the gas, just a little. The front group has been moving pretty good for the last two weeks, and I have been hanging back just a bit, not wanting to push it right now. Well yesterday was a day to let loose a little. The pace wasn't fast, just steady which was good. We got over the Cooks and on the way down into Santiago Canyon, some guy comes flying past motorpacing behind a BMW motorcycle. We all got on. "He" was Floyd Landis. Floyd is out at local rides often, but he was training yesterday. Flyod recently signed with a new team, OUCH Medical. It is mostly the former HealthNet boys, plus Flyod. Anyway, we got on the flats, and were strung out at 42mph. Finally someone gave up on his wheel and he pulled away from us. We went back to riding our paceline through the canyon. I hit the gas a few times on the Dump climb, but there was someone on me each time, so I dropped 4 or 5 spots back and sat in over the top. MJ and some other guy were just 10 seconds up on us, but I didn't want to be the guy who dragged the entire group up to them, so we let them dangle. I got refueld at the meeting point and tore out of there for the second half of my ride. Put in 75 miles in 3.5 hours. Not bad, I was going to do about 75 miles, but I figured it would take me around 4 hours. Guess not.

So Floyd was looking really smooth and good. I am stoked to see him back out training, and can't wait to see him race this next season. The bad news for the big teams in the country is that, if they hope to win any stage races this year they better sign some better racers. I can tell you right now Floyd is going to destroy people next year domestically. I would pick him to win just about any stage race in the country. Time to really start training.

It's on for next season

Now that the team has been decided on, it's time to get to work on the fitness. So what team is it you ask? Liquid Cycling. Yes I will race with the water boys next season. The team is really shaping up nicely for next season, and even if we only hit half of the big races we are looking at I will be a happy Travis. That reminds me, I need to renew my license, and give them my new team's name. I would hate to see all those valuable point (of which there are none), go to teh wrong club.

Speaking of the old club, the year end banquet is this coming weekend. One more apperance to make, and then I will be done with the ShoAir kids for while. I know I won't be racing pro1 forever, so I will keep those contacts strong, as some day (prob sooner rather than later) I will be out there battling it out as an old man. I know I have at least 2 more season of pro1 in me, but after that I will be ready to race shorter distances and not go AS fast. That is not to say that the old men aren't really fast, but they are fast over a shorter distance, which is nice some times. At the end of the day all of those guys are good people and I would be stoked to race with them again in the future. Having said that I fully plan on drilling it a little bit harder every time I see them in a p12 event.

What else is happening? Not too much. Halloween has come and gone without too much to derail my winter time efforts, but Halloween is just the start. Next is a bday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and then the my personal hell of winter time, the trade shows. The shows themselves aren't bad, it's the timing. I am right in the middle of pushing my winter training to get ready for the start of the season, and BAM there is a two week cluster F of travel and work and time off the bike. The goal this season is to hit a peak a little later, so I won't stress on that time too much, and be ready for the built in break from the bike.

The Off Season has been busy

So far the off season has been chalk full of cycling related stuff. I was hoping to be as relaxed as the guy in the picture at this point in the year. Working, and sleeping in between easy rides and some core work stuff, but instead I am busy trying to get my slow ass on a new team. The good news is I have narrowed it down to a couple of new scenarios. One will have me doing a lot more traveling and racing in the USA Crit Series events as well as NRC stage races, one will have me doing west coast NRC stage races and maybe some superweek, and one will have me babysitting newbies and doing local stuff. Let's all hope one of the first two teams comes through with a spot. If I have to race nothing but local stuff next year I may swerve into on coming traffic and take myself out. Alright maybe not that gnarly, but I won't be dodging any car doors opening in front of me. I will take the pain and the insurance check and call it a season.

On a happier note the French Federation is now going back and doing supplemental tests on the riders from this years Tour. They are going back and retesting samples and looking for CERA. They are finding it too. This is good. At least the riders know they can't use CERA now. Time to move on to the next wonder drug and hope WADA doesn't have a test for that yet. Thanks for trying to ruin the sport, dopers. I hope the next wonder drug these guy's find had a side effect of making their junk shrivel up and fall off.

Since it is Rocktober I have started winter training. It's not going well. This time of year is muscle building. On and off the bike. It's amazing how much muscle you loose over the course of a season when you stop doing certain excersises. It's getting better and the wattage is going up, but I still feel like a complete whimp on the bike right now.

Hopefully by the next time I write on here I will know what team I am going to be on. If not, I guess it will be a plain black kit and a solo mission next season.

Are you kidding me?!?!?!

I got an email last week from the President of my former club (yes FORMER), asking me and the other two members of the executive board if we could meet on Monday night. Sure, no problem. I was expecting to hear that my budget was going to be cut, but instead they cut the elite team entirely. They bowed to the preasure of a sponsor, and decided to put all their eggs in a master's team basket. I have no problem with that, even though I think you get very little if anything out of a master's team.

No, the only thing that really pissed me off was the timing. IT'S OCTOBER!!!! Do they have any idea how difficult it is to find a team in October, especially a good team? I am screwed. I made a few calls and got the guys who could race masters' on the new masters squad. The rest of us are screwed right now though. So now it's time to get the resume together, and try and find that magic fit on another team. A number of people called and talked to me about forming a new team, and that is possible, but I would prefer to join a team that already exists.

I am sure there will be more on this later in the off-season. Last thing: When you go to SoCalcycling.com on Monday morning after San Dimas (or any race for that matter) who do you see on the home page? The winner of the men's pro race, not the winner of the master's 35+. Good thinking guys.

It's Training Time

Today marks the day when training starts for next season. WTF!?!?!?! Really? Already? Yes.

Mid-August until yesterday was a lot of fun. Lots of surfing a little mountian biking (more on that in a moment) and very little road biking. So now it's time to start training for next season. That may sound really gnarly, but it's not. It just means starting to ride the bike again with some regularity. Rocktober will consist of pushing a HUGE gear all month, in an effort to build muscle and lay a base for next season. The entire month will be nothing but a really long base workout, which won't be too difficult. At least that's what I think. I think that every Rocktober, and then I get out there and realize, I am a whimpy little sissy, who can't turn a big gear any more. This last weekends race might have helped kick-start me though. That's right RACE.

I did it, I went to the dark side, I raced my first mountain bike race. I had a small clue of what to expect, but just a small clue. Friends and clubmates had given me some ideas of how it would go down. One things for sure, I am not in any form to be racing right now. Having said that you throw a cat.1 roadie out with the sport class mtn bikers and there won't be too much competition. Before the race one of my closest friends was there with a friend of his. Sean was racing Expert, and his buddy (Ryan) was racing in my group (sport 35-39). Having never done a mtn bike race before, the highest level I was allowed to race was sport (= cat.4 I guess). So we start off by going 100m and then a sharp left and then straight up. I was 4th going into the first descent (not my strong point). Out onto the paved climb and now I am 2nd in my group, which contained 3 different age classes. So I was in first place for my class, and sitting second in our group. The group thing doesn't matter, but none the less I like to know I am beating everyone. Lap 2 and Ryan is still there. I back it off a hair to leave a little for the end. I put Ryan in front of me to pace for a while. Once through the s/f I take over the lead and slam it on every climb. By the time I got to the finishing climb (4.5 miles into the 5 mile long course) I was up by a minute. I cruised to the finish having won my race, and beaten everyone who was in the group I started with. Ryan was next in, then third was 6 minutes back. I guess that's a lot as they made a big fuss about it at the poduim. All in all a fun race, but it confirms what I already thought, I like the road better. I will leave the dirt to the other guys.

So now its time to get to work on the road. The goal for next season will be to help a few of our guys get their cat.1 status early on, and for me to try and get some GC results at stage races. Not an easy thing to do, but it's something to strive for. I have a meeting with the team big wigs tonight, and after that we will get bikes, and clothes and all that good stuff ordered up. Looking forward to next season. It was good to get that mtn bike race in though. I was already feeling that itch to race. That will hold me over until Roger's Cup. By Feb. I will be frothing to get out and race for real.

Rest time is almost over

The work travel is done for a while, and that's a good thing. If I had to do one more trade show, I would have to go to detox before returning to my office. Having said that, I got a disturbing email this morning. I sat down at my computer, and there it was, looking back at me, with a menacing snarl. The invite to the Vegas Crit. Not sure how I pulled this one off, but it happened. The first thought to go through my head was, HELL NO!!! And as I type this, I am on the phone seeing if I can get my sponsor to pay for hotel. What is wrong with me? Time to call the wife and see if she wants to do a weekend in Vegas.

Ok, It's really over now

Now it's over. I prematurely called the road season done a week or so ago, but there was one more Eldo to go. I showed up for this last "race" hopeing to stay upright and collect my free Mexican dinner afterward courtesy of CBR. The race was its usual boring event, same as all the rest this season. There are just enough guys out there to chase, but those same guys are not strong enough to get in a break. Defensive racing sucks. So I stayed true to my word and didn't let the competitive juices over-power my brain, and I sat on the back in the safety zone. Also true to my word, which was to be on the back or off the front all night, I went to the front and tried my hand at a few attacks. Got some daylight on one of them, but the two Fred's with me were cooked from sitting on my wheel and couldn't pull threw. Thanks guys.

Once back in the group I found my way to the lantern rouge position, and readied myself for a nice easy spin to the finish. Tommy was in the running for 2nd place overall so he pulls up next to me and asks me if I have anything left. Do I have anything left? Let's see I have launched two boring attacks that went no where, and the rest of the time I was tacked on to the very back of the group, yeah I think there is some gas in the tank still, what do you need? Time for a lead-out. I moved my way up to about the 15th or so position and settled in for the last 2 laps. The front guys didn't understand how a last lap is supposed to work and started to slow and bunch. Some yelling from me got them sorted out and we were rolling again. I talked the front 4 or 5 through the last half lap, then with about 600m to go I took over. At that point we were at about 30mph...way to slow. I came through and picked it up. Not to quick to gap guys though. I gave a look and we were back to single file at about 32. Then I picked it up some more, then some more, then I hit the final turn at 35 and holding. Out of the turn, and out of the saddle for one last kick and then I pulled off. No one came through. They were in their drops and sprinting and still not coming around. Pathetic. Turns out the lead-out was a little to fast for some and guys opened huge gaps. Oh well. My boys were not in position (nice work a-holes), so they only managed to crack the top5 by sheer determination.

The season was over. Done. Time to relax, have a beer, and a burriot. Only thing is CBR "forgot their checkbook" and there would be no free food. That was the only reason I came up for the last one. Damn it. I had dinner with Drama, Bones and Pops anyway. Time to start thinking about next year. Lots of guys calling to get on the team, but not too many that I want. At this point there are only a few guys I would take on, and the rest I would pass on and ride with 6 next season.

I am looking forward to NOT riding my road bike for a while too. I have been out on the mountain bike a lot the last 2 weeks, and that has been fun. I am going to do a mountain bike race at the end of September in Santa Barbara, which should be a blast. I have never done one of these races before, so it should be interesting.

So what does winter hold in store for me, not a lot. Training, some Como St. rides, some travel, and maybe some time on the snow (Mammoth). I'll keep you posted.

I don't want to CRASH!!!

The season is over....except for a few mid-week crits. There is money for the overall points leaders, of which I am not one, but a few teammates are. The races are competative and can be pretty fast. There are always about 70 or so, and it is a 1-3 race. This time of year is when we get the 4's who have just upgraded and sometimes they get in a bit over their heads especially near the front, so I made sure they knew their place early on. Plus, as I stated earlier, I am not in the points race, as I use this race as a training tool, not a "real" race.
Most Tuesday's out there I do intervals basically by attacking over and over. This week was no different. I attacked and attacked. I used to think it was the older "masters" out there that caused the race to be so defensive, and they are certainly part of that racing strategy. They race so they can win, and for them that means a group sprint and defensive racing. But it's not JUST them as I used to think. It's the 3's. They don't have the engine to go in a break and hold it, but 6 of them can chase for a period of time and not let the break get away. Throw one or two of those 3s in the break of 6 and you have a recipe for a bunch sprint.
On my second attack I had two good cat.2 riders on my wheel. Yet when I pulled off at 33mph, they couldn't comne through. THEN WHY DID YOU GO IN THE FIRST PLACE!?!?!?!? DAMN IT!!! Same old story as the rest of the year out there, attack, get brought back, attack again.....field sprint.
So we get down to 1 to go, and for some reason things got really aggressive. Guys were slamming into each other like it was a NASCAR race. I saw one guy stuff himself into a tiny little hole 20 guys back. Why? It didn't help him at all, all he did was make a dangerous move. I crashed on Aug. 29, 2006 out there, really hard. We were at about 30mph and some idiot in front of me overlapped and went down, taking 20 or so others with him. I suffered a broken hand and some really gnarly road rash (but the bike was fine). It really put a dent in my winter training and I started the season way out of optimal shape. As we hit 1/2 a lap to go this week I was getting banged around something fierce, which wouldn't faze me usually, but then I remembered, there was no money and no points for me on the line, so I sat up and went to the back. If that was a weekend race for money, I am hitting right back and holding my spot, but out there on a Tuesday....No thanks. I have one more of these races to go, and then I am truley done racing road until Boulevard in Feb. 09.

I did get on the dirt yesterday for a mountain bike ride. That was a blast. Haven't ridden dirt in a long time (8 months or so). Climbing wise I was good, but coming down was not so good. I was all over the trails, and my cornering sucked something fierce. I will ride some more dirt over the next month or so, and the cornering will come back.

So, one more mid-week to go and lots of surfing and mountain bike riding over the next 6 weeks. Should be a fun break before winter training begins. Not looking forward to those training blocks of intervals at all.

The Fat Lady Has Sung

It's over. My season has finally ended, and not a race too soon. My right leg is screwed up, not to mention I am just plain tired. The season started with Boulevard on Feb. 3 and has not stopped. All told more than 50 race days in the legs, and for a guy with a job, that is a lot. Riding my bike is not my job, just fun, so to get that many race days in the legs is really good. Some good results this season too. I got on 4 podiums and won a great road race in NorCal. To win a road race was a major goal of mine this season. I can check that one off. I did lay a giant terd at SDSR, and that annoys me, but you can't be good at every race.

There are still a few El Dorado crits left I will do, but that is a pretty brainless activity. I don't plan on getting hurt at this point in the season because some Fred who is new to our ranks decides he is the biggest and baddest, and crashes half of the field out at 30+mph. It happened to me a few years ago, and it isn't going to happen again.

Yesterday was Nationals. I am no expert, but I am pretty sure I should have trained for that. The last time I did a 100 mile race was the beginning of June. So the legs were not quite prepared for a race that fast and that long (120 miles). The Strawberries brought about 37 guys to the race including about 4 of the top 5 picks to win it all. We went really fast and I got popped at the half way mark. Not too surprising really. I hung out in the feed and watched some racing. It was really fun to actually watch racing again. The break went but it was too big, and the attacks from that group started on lap 4. Two Strawberries and Thurlow finally got away, and the berries played Thurlow pretty well and took first and second. Well done to them. They had a great day and rode the race perfectly. Congratulations to them, now go back to NorCal and leave us to our Industrial Park Crits.

So here are some random things that happened this season that made it really interesting:

- Saw a guy crash in a feedzone, by himself, no one around him for a 10m diameter. Tried to put a bottle away and hit a bottle on the ground and crashed. Lift your head up in the feedzone pal.

- Missed the winning break at SDSR. Thought I had a man in the break. I suck.

- Got dropped badly at Redlands. That was a bad day.

- Saw a guy slide out next to me in the last turn at Manhattan, almost in slow motion, but I stayed up and got 6th.

- Upgraded to a cat.1 (nice)

- Finished Boulevard and I wasn't dead last.

- There are WAY TOO MANY pros living in SoCal now. They all need to move back to Boulder.

- There are a lot of really gorgeous female bike racers now. Both pro and amateur. It's a good thing.

- Speaking of women, saw a woman crash in a sprint, by herself, by simply throwing her bike side to side too hard.

It's time to get in the ocean and surf a little more, and hit the mountain bike a little more too.

It's almost over, yet....

(Tommy on the ground with me riding up to him as Nick runs to help)

The season is almost over, only one BIG race left for me, and many other racers, yet we still find a ways to crash. For the most part this season has been pretty safe, and I think that is due to some really fast racing. The faster we go the safer it is, usually. At some point you just can't go any faster through conrners and be safe (ask Fast Freddy about Elk Grove and the Kelly Benefites team). So this past Sunday we lined up for the last CBR Bar Series event. CBR really took it on the chin this season, so no money for the day's placings was not a big deal, and they only gave out money for the CBR BAR Series finale. Chris and Vera are great and I was really happy to hear they will be back for another year in 2009.

We started off with about 60 guys (and a few ladies) and I am sure only 30 or less finished. We shed people from the start, until finally, with about 5 or 6 laps to go, the split happened. About 14 or 15 guys scampered off the front and esentially it made for two groups of about 15 or so on the road. Tommy was in the lead group trying to protect his 2nd place overall. All he had to do was finish in the top 18, which meant just cruise across the line in the group he was in. But sprinters will be sprinters. Meanwhile back in my group, I was having a talk with some friends about the season and this coming weekend. I came out of tunr 4 (the last turn) and noticed one guy laying the gutter from another team. Then I noticed another guy in the middle of the road about 150m from the finish. Upon closer inspection it was Tommy. That's right, for those of you who are a little slow on the math, let me help you crunch these numbers. There were two crashes in the last 400m in one of the last races of the season, and there were only 15 guys in the group. Even less by the time Tommy cased it.
So the smart thing to do would be to sit up and keep yourself safe (no one was going to beat that Italian Olympic track sprinter anyway (yes there were two Italian National Track guys out there preparing for the Olympics)) and maintain your 2nd, and he couldn't jump over the current 1st place rider. Nope he decides to sprint. Details of what happened are sketchy but it appears he may have tangled wheels with an SDBC rider in front of him. As much as it pains me to say it, it is most likely his fault (Tommy's) that he fell. It is the responsabililty of the rider to watch the guy in front of him. If the SDBC guy came off his line that is a different story, but from the series of pictures it doesn't look like he did. Just one of those sprinting screw-ups that happen some times. Not unlike that of our good friend Eric Barlevev's crash AFTER the line in Harlem.

Tommy was OK, just lost a lot of skin. I encouraged him to end his season right then and there, but he insists of racing this Satruday. I won't be racing with him. Instead I will be going on a warm-up ride and getting ready for Sunday. Sunday will be the 189K National Elite RR Championships. As luck would have it the race is about 10 miles from my house this year, so I will be racing. Not sure if I will be finishing, but I will line up. It may not be the most ideal course for Nationals, but I can tell you right now, it will not be easy. The climb up Jamboree is going to be rough, and the race will blow apart on Portola in the wind. It's going to be a tough one for sure. That will most likely be the end of my season....on the road. I plan on racing a few mountain bike races for shits and giggles. The Club is close with another team in the points title, so if I can jump in a race or two and get them some points I will.

Hopefully the next time I write something on here I am the new National RR Champ, or at least I can say I finished.

What Happened????? (part deux)

I like to use pictures as metaphors. Let's take this picture above/to the left and break it down as it relates to the HORRID weekend I had on the bike.

Take a look at the picture. Study it. What is the first thing you notice? The size of the wave? That represents the field at the San Marcos curcuit race. It was a big field for that race. Usually it is a pretty small field and usually it is 175 degrees out there. It wasn't hot this year, but the wind was blowing pretty good. That wind in San Marcos is represented by the wind blowing this wave face up and holding it open. If you haven't surfed before wind blowing up the face of a wave makes the wave stand up taller and when it does finally break it makes the wave hollower and break with more power. This wave is going to absolutely detonate soon as you can see. We will get to that in a minute. Just remember to keep that thought in the back of your mind as you read on. Like I said the field started with about 70 or so racers, and there were some top names out there including Kyle Gritters, Rory Sutherland, and Neil Shirley to name a few. To make matters worse, they all had teammates with them. Right from the start this was not looking to be another typical race at San Marcos. We started fast (as did the surfer in the picture) and we never slowed down until the end or when we hit the metaphorical wall. In my case it was the end of the race, for some teammates it was the wall. The race started early with attacks. The greatest part was I felt like complete poop for the first 30 minutes or so. Then I felt a little better, but by then the break was gone, the peleton was shrinking every time we hit the climb and the wind seemed to be blowing harder every lap. I was not having fun.
Back to the picture. Even if you don't surf you can clearly see this guy is about to have a really bad day. He has buried the entire nose of his board at the bottom of the wave as he was attempting to drop in. Some of you who do surf know without a doubt know which this wave is. If you don't I will tell you. It is the imfamous Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu. Most everyone knows of or has heard of Pipe and let me tell you the wave is scary and mean and, there is only about 4 feet of water under that guy. Like I said he is about to have a very bad day. His eminate trip onto the reef is mirrored by me on the bike when the break got up the road and then we started to chase only to have the entire race fall apart and never come back together. I ended up suffering like a dog for a while longer until I finally started to feel better near the end, and that was only because we had slowed down in what they were calling the "peleton". What they should have called it was the gruppeto. We were slow and sad.
In the end I tried a Hell Mary on the last lap only to get caught at the base of the short climb. I sat up and cruised on home, safe and without much to celebrate, much like our surfer in the picture above. Our hero on the surfboard, I am happy to report, was also OK. He got lucky and didn't hit the reef (or the pavement in my case), and came away with a better understanding of Pipeline (or racing with the big boys for me).

Only a few weeks left in my season. Some guys tried talking me into racing in San Fransisco to quailfy for Vegas, but I am going to be on the East Coast that same weekend, which was a relief to me. I am cooked right now and it is taking all my motivation to suit up for these last 3 weeks of racing.
Until next week.

So Much Stuff

Too much stuff has been going on since my last post. We'll go through this chronologically for everyone.

July 12- Aliso Viejo GP of Cycling;
Got there to set up and as luck would have it our police escort for road closures was late. BY 30 MINUTES!!! The day was starting off badly. We got the roads closed, but they would not give the OK to start the 5's. We were 10 minutes late getting started. Not the end of the world, but once we were underway it was game on. We got the bugs worked out by the second race, and by the time the men's pro started it had already been a great day, and the Sheriff and Mayor were already talking about how to make the 2nd Annual even better. They will have to do that without me. No way I am going through all that again. Can't do it. The race was good though, and everyone seemed to really enjoy the course. We may have to sell the event to someone for them to run.

July 13- Long Beach crit:
I got guilted into racing this stupid crit. After being on my feet for 14 hours on Saturday putting on a race, there was no way I was going to be good at this race. Too many hammerheads showed up as well. Still they said go and I did. Three damn laps into and I am in a break with about 13 other guys. Too many, and I knew it. The wind was blowing really hard, so the pros put us in the gutter with no where to hide and hit it at about 30mph. Thanks guys. The big group slowly shrunk until I was the last to get popped. Once back in the peleton the break was not pulling away. My solution? Ride fast tempo and bring them back. Other teams decided they could bridge a guy over. Jackasses. Finally the break was gone and I got in the second break of the day. About 6 of us, and we were working well together. The break lapped what was left of the field and soon caught us. No problem, right? I'll just sit in the last few laps and wait for the sprint. Nope. Back in the gutter, back to 30+mph now. Guys were gapping like mad, and one too many times I had to close it up. I pulled out about two laps AFTER my legs decided it was time to pull out. I was cooked. Only 19 or so guys finished a perfectly flat crit. Amazing.

Eldo- Same old story, only slower this time. We cruised. I think everyone was tired from the weekend. Either way it was boring as hell. I launched a few attacks, but they were brought back. I did some lead out on the last lap, then sat up and took it easy thru the line. The lead out was good though, and we put Charon in first and Tommy in second. Good night.

July 20th- SLO:
This is a great course. All on the streets of downtown San Luis Obispo. From the s/f we take two quick turns as we start a slight rise up to the Mission. We pass on a brick walk way in front of/thru the mission and back onto the city streets. It's a bit tight and sketchy but fun. A few more quick turns and a long slightly downhill finishing stretch. Some big boys were there for this race. Tony Cruz, Neil Shirley, a gaggle of Strawberry's, Successfulliving.com, Dan Halloway....you get the idea, it was fast. I felt good, and let the early attacks run their course. Once I felt the field was getting tired I attacked. One strawberry went with. No doing. It was apparent a bunch sprint was in my immediate future. Considering the pedigree of the field I was not a favorite in anyone's book. Still I had OK position until an ass hat from Swami's over cooked turns 1 and 2 and crashed. I slammed brakes got through and had to chase back on. Out of position and contention my day was over. I did win $50 in a prime, so at least I got dinner paid for. Either way it was a lot of fun. The racing was a side bar any way. I was up there to relax with the family and have some fun. Mission accomplished.

The season is winding down fast. Only a handfull of races left. Have to get one more win this season and all my goals will be complete.

There are some dumb people out there

There are a lot of really stupid people out there. A racer in a master's race this past weekend is one of them. Not in contention for the win this crusty old racer fell off the back of the group on the last lap. Whether it was to answer his cell phone or whether he was able to answer because he got dropped on the last lap is unclear. The one thing that is clear is that he finished the last lap, crossed the line, hence finishing the race all while talking on his CELL PHONE!!!! Are you kidding me? Most of the racers I see have a hard enough time talking to orther racers two feet away from them during a race, much less a cell phone conversation.
It is a sad day in US racing when a race official has to remind the following races they are not allowed to talk on their phone during a race.

Either way the racing over the weekend and on Tuesday were crap for me, and not that great for the team either. This weekend is my teams race and it is going to be AWESOME!!! We are going to have a special cell phone race, where the racers have to talk on their cell phones the entire time.

One of these things is not like the others.....

This weekend was fast, and fun. Not crazy fast, but pretty quick. My form is good again, and after a leisurely ride on Monday I felt good as I headed off to Eldo for the Tuesday night showdown. One thing to remember, Sunday was a major NRC event. Every pro team had their A-Team there and apparently some of them decided to stick around for a few days and get some training in around sunny SoCal. Back to Tuesday evening.

I roll in very early and get an hour+ worth of laps in. As I entered the parking lot one thing made itself very apparent to me...this was not going to be a typical Eldo night. Let's do a quick run down of some of the suspects perusing the parking lot. Strickler (mulitple National Championships and all around hammer head), Ryan Barrett (former NetZero Hero, current UT resident, and all around hammer head), Rahsaan Bahati (Rock Racing powerhouse sprinter, winner of MBGP), John Cantwell (Jittery Joe fast man), and some guy name Tony Cruz (not sure what his deal is). Add in the usual fast guys and you can see where this is headed. Lap 1, turn 1, off goes Barrett. Tommy was in the 7 man group so I was sitting in. I knew it wasn't going anywhere, as it only had Barrett in there of all the really strong boys.

It came back (told you), and then it was attack, go fast, attack, go faster, attack, go fast. Notice the absence of the term "caught and slowed down"? That's because we didn't do that. We caught and kept on trucking which meant the guys who were firing off bullets weren't getting very far when they did, and were back in the group rather quickly. I found this Tony fellow moving up and decided he looked like a good wheel to sit on. WRONG!!! We proceeded to the front where he decided the pace was a bit too slow for his liking and upped the speed to about 33. Arm flick, and it was my turn to pull through. I did, and when I looked back it was near detonation. So both Tony and I slipped back a ways, recouped and as luck would have it (I can boast I new it was coming) Tony did it again. Hoping for a complete denoation this time I pulled through again and sure enough, KA-BOOM!!!! Guys were popping and gapping all over the place. We kept rolling much to my shagrin. A quick look around and we had about 7. Me, all the above mentioned fast men, plus Nate, and a few others. Soon the few others were gone, and to my surprise Nate went bye-bye as well. At this point I would invite you to re-read the title of this post. I'll give you a minute......done? Good. Now please look at the picture below.



Which one of these is not like the others? I will give you a hint.....IT'S ME!!! After 3 laps with these maniacs, I was very surprised to see a group of 15 or so catch us. The peleton was now completely over it and about a half hour behind us. The good news was I had Tommy and Kirk in the group now. My legs were toast, and I told Tommy we should make sure the pace stayed high to ward off any future attacks. No doing. He said they pacelined like crazy men (the entire group) just to catch us. Then asked what the hell we were doing up there, and how were we going that fast? Beats me, I was cross eyed almost the entire time.

It came down to a sprint and I got stuck on the front with 1k to go. The group surged I tried to get a good spot, but my legs were done, so I left it to the others, and as luck would have it Tommy got 2nd.

Interesting facts from Eldo:
1. Average speed was 28.9 mph
1. We put 3 guys in the top 15 out of the break
1. No one carshed (huge plus when we are that tired)
1. Bahati tried for a solo victory only to come up a 1/2 lap short

4th of July festivities this weekend. Don't blow any of your fingers off with fire crackers.

MBGP

What a weekend. First let's get the Green Trolley out of the way. The course is a 3 corner and a sweeper, with a short steep hill before the long drag to the s/f. Good course, and we (cat.2's) had our own race. So about 50 of us lined up and off we went. Bones and I were the only two down there, and we were agressive. That was great, up until the point where the only move that stuck was one we were in. DAMN IT!!!! NOT AGAIN!!! I got in the first chase group, and ended up 7th across the line having never caught the 5 man break. Opportunity...lost.

That was Saturday, but Sunday was the big prize. The Manhattan Beach Grand Prix. It is a 1.3 mile "hotdog" shaped course. There are 4 turns, but in reality it is 2. You do a 180 at the top and a wider, fast 180 at the bottom. The bottom turn is a fast scary turn, and the last lap is always very stressfull heading into it, but I am getting ahead of myself.

We started with a 5 man team and we were looking good. We scooped up 6 of the ten primes during the race. I got two of them, including a $180 LAS helmet, which can now be found on a very popular website called ebay. Thanks MBGP. About the half way mark some terd from a team in LA who will remain nameless (it ryhms with melons and is also a woman's name) did his best impression of a cat.5 and tacoed himself into the inside curb for no reason at all. This guy has done a total of about 15 pro12 races and never the MBGP as a 2, so he thought he was the poop out there. Throwing elbows, moving around the front like a f&*king patron, until he decided to tangle wheels with another racers and send himself flailing into the curb. Ever seen a grown man's spine bend 90 degrees the wrong way before? It's not pretty. He was carted out in the meat wagon. See you next year, bud. The fun times didn't end there. On the last lap, in the top corner, I was hopelessly boxed in, and yelling at a teammate to get us out. Just then fate smiled down upon us, and crashed four more overzealous racers. That opened a hole and out we shot. Just then, fate smiled once more, and gave me another teammate. Joy of all joy's a free ride to the front. As we started down (yes the approach to the last HAIRPIN TURN is downhill) I bumped my way into 6th wheel, a good spot, but not great. Lady luck is a fickle bitch and all the good luck I had at the top ran out in the final corner. Another slightly overzealous racer decided the fastest way through the final turn was at warp speed on the outside. As a knowledgable cyclist I knew that was not the best of options unless your ultimate goal was to find yourself sprawled out across the pavement leaving bike parts and body parts strewn about as you slide to a stop on the other side of the corner. That is what this moron did. The bad news was, he swerved just as he was about to experience what it feels like to aquire road rash. He swirve was directed under my bike. A quick tap of the breaks and slight adjustment on my part assured me that I was not going to topple over, however, in an effort to keep myself physically well I opened a gap of about 10m to the leaders. Two other guys got past on the inside. Not to worry I passed them and one more for 6th place. All in all a fairly productive MBGP, but not thre result I was dreaming of. It would have been nice to get the win for the boys, but alas it was not meant to be. Drama managed to get my wheel as we headed into the final turn, and he was the unlicky recipient of a trip into the barriers on the far side of the turn thanks to our friend on the ground. No skin lost, just a broken bike. I would prefer to loose some skin rather than break the bike, but that is just me.
That may be it for me and my dreams of being on the podium any more at MBGP (I podiumed there as a 4 and a 3). I am a mere 7 points from being a 1, and there is no chance in hell I am podium material in the pro-1 race. Therefor I bid a fond farwell to my podium days at MBGP, I will miss you. That is until I hang up the fast wheels for some old timer wheels and race with the masters. They won't know what hit them.

Bad Luck?

Bike racing is tough. Not just pysichally, but mentally. It down right sucks some times. Saturday was 100+ degrees in the shade, and 80 minutes of hammering up and down a tough 2 mile course. Lap one, turn one.....ATTACK. Who cares, right? There are always early attacks, but they always get nailed back after a lap at most. Except this one. Seven strong biys got up the road. I thought for sure the race was over, as they got out of sight. Then one by one they started to come off. First was a BearClaw guy. No surprise there. Then a Swami's guy, again no surprise. Then we had the group in our sights again, and slowly clawed them back. Now with 15 minutes left, we were together for the first time since the first lap. Then, as we hit mid way up the hill, BAM!!! My chain dropped. A flurry of explatives left my face, and as I struggled to get my bike back in some semblance of working order, I watched as they throttled it over the top and out of sight. Day over.
I wasn't planning on racing on Sunday, but with the Satruday catastrophe still fresh in my mind, I decided a revenge/redemption race was called for.
Sunday was cooler, only 91 at the start. Lap 1, turn 1, I attacked. Three laps solo, and nothing to show for it. That will teach me. If I had got 3-5 guys to go with we could have gotten somewhere. Instead Rock wouldn't work with 5 Star and vice versa, so it was a bunch sprint. Great. My favorite. I was in the wrong spot headed into the last turn which is a downhill 30+ mph hairpin. Perfect for a State Crit Champ course. I wasn't going to be able to get position for a sprint, and I didn't want to crash and die where I was currently sitting so I sat up and let a few people past. Good thing I did, as about 15-18 guys hit the deck out of the last turn. Even though I was not in the crash, and had time to get to the side, I still almost got taken out by a dazed and confused you lad, who HAD hit the ground, gotten back up and thought he still had a shot. Good thinking rookie.

MBGP!!! Sweet. Love this race. It is a great course for me. Hopefully the team handles the race well, and we get the win. If not I am going to seriously have to consider a team switch next season.

It's Comig Back

Tuesday nights is Eldo nights. A mid-week crit series. It's a "training" race, but it goes fast and there is money on the line, so it is more like a real race than most think. "Training" race or not, it's good times and good competition. Without Eldo I would have about 35-40 race days in my legs each season, with Eldo that number jumps to 60-65. Kick ass.

This week was a good race. It started with a first lap dig. I had a few dreamers with me and after only a few laps I realized we were doomed. They didn't even know which side to peel off to. A guy would do a pull and then come off and put me in the wind. Well done dreamer. Back in the group and I was a little bored. I was standing up looking around, and for some reason making fart noises with my mouth. There are a few women who jump in with us each week, and hold on for dear life. It's great, because what doesn't kill them makes them stronger. One was next to me during my little tiraid and gave me a dirty look. That made me laugh, and then want to put the hurt on her. So I got a dude from Rock I know and we went to the front and put everyone in single file mode for a little while. That will teach her to give me dirty looks. Later I was feeling a bit frisky so I went back up and poked around near the front. We were hitting it pretty good at about 28 or so. Then a few guys ramped it up to the 30 mark. I thought this was a good time to see who would crack first so I took my pull and slowly took us to 34. When I peeled off half a lap later there was only 4 guys with me. Sweet. Rest, recover, and slam it again. Now we are down to just two of us. We got the two to go sign next and drove it home. We didn't have a big gap so I let myself be the sacrafcial lamb and did the final lead out. I came home second and felt pretty good with that effort. There were a few strong boys in the group who choose not to chase because it was me up the road. To those guys I say thanks, and SUCKERS. You guys are good people so don't believe the other stuff you hear about yourselves.

SUMMER IS HERE. It is in teh 90s today and expected to be around 100 on Saturday in La Mirada. Nice. I can race in the heat, just not very well. You know what they say....fake it until you make it. That's what I will be doing. Pray for legs.

That Sucked

We had a collective team BONK this weekend. Holy poop we sucked. I am not sure what is wrong with us, and maybe I am jsut over thinking it, but it has been weeks since we (especially me) have had a good race. Time to get back to basics, and start attacking like mad.

It's now mid-June and normally I would be getting pretty pumped for the TdF, but I am not feeling it this year. Two of the top 3 from last year aren't going to be there, which means whoever wins this year will not have to race against the best stage racing team in the world, Astana. Fair or not, it surely casts an ominous shadow over this years, trek around France (no bike pun intended).

Other cool news, the SoCal kids keep racing well in the domestic front. Young Eric Barlevev, now of Time Pro Team, got his sprint up and going in Harlem yesterday to out-kick Rahsaan and Freddy (amoung others) for the win, only to crash after the line in dramatic fashion. There was a "bike messenger" race as well, so teh question is, did the NYC Bike Snob show up and race or just show up to make fun of the racers? Either way, I am sure it will make for interesting reading on his blog.

Summer is almost here (officially only a few days away), therefore it is time to embrace the higher temps at races and be ready to suffer just that little bit extra.

Coming Back

Last night was a good night. Raced Eldo and had a lot of fun. It wasn't too fast, but I only launched one attack all night, instead of my usual 5 or 6. No, last night I say on Drama and yelled at him to chase and attack all night. I was trying to get him to start racing like a real racer and not pack foder. It worked. He was toast by the end of the night, but I was yelling at him to sprint so he did. He got 4th. I started my sprint from about 25th and got up into about 10th or so. With about 50 more meters I would have been top 5 for sure. For the first time this season I was over 40mph in a sprint. That is pretty damn good, especially out at Eldo.

I think it's about time for me to start racing hard again, and get some more wins. The form is coming back, the legs feel good, and the weather is turning in my favor (hot).
Tons of good races coming up. La Mirada, Manhattan Beach, San Marcos, Aliso Viejo, SLO, Downers. I am not sure about Downers yet. I will have to talk to the guys and see who is heading back and then make up my mind.

Some good things that happened last night:

- I sprinted well
- Drama rode on the front (HOLY SHIT!!!!)
- No crashes
- Drama rode hard enough that he threw up after the race. That is the sign of a good ride.