Hermann.

So this past weekend was the Tour of Hermann, the first of many stage.....i mean omnium and stage race weekends. The first day was the time trial and criterium. In the time trial, I really did as well as I could have without a full TT setup. I think I was towards the top out of the people without TT bikes, but that doesn't really mean anything when the first 20 guys have TT bikes. So I was nowhere in the overall but Pence put in a pretty good time and was sitting in 5th overall going into the Crit. What kind of sucked, was that our time trials were all over by 10:30 or so, and our crit didnt start until 4:50. That's a long time. That's a long time to sit and watch races. It was a long time of waiting, and was made longer because of a crash that postponed a few races, and I think we started around 5:10 or something. This crit is kind of scary. It has a descent that is nothing short of treacherous and bumpy as hell. Every lap I felt like I was on the verge of my fork snapping clear off. The turn at the bottom of the descent is also weird for some reason, kind of off camber and awkward leading into it. There is also a good climb to the finish, which I actually do like. Anyways, the race started out fast and started breaking up quick. I tried to get to the front and do some damage on the 3rd lap up the hill, but we were already going really fast. I think on the 4th or 5th lap I hit one of the bumps on the down hill and it knocked my front derailleur loose, and had it basically riding/grinding along my big chainring. I rode to the pit and thankfully got a free lap, and got my bike fixed right in time to hop back in. By now Austin, Zach Reed and Nick Coil were clear of the main group that I had been in and many people had fallen off of the group as well. I hopped back in and tried to survive. The group got down to about ten of us. With 4 or 5 laps to go there was a 150$ prime for the field, and Henderson and a dude from Iowa jumped for it. They stuck it and stayed away for the rest of the race. So we were racing for sixth. In our group was Bill Stolte, Ethan Froese, Luke Lininger, the guy who won the RR last year, and a few other dudes. I was trying to hang on, and hurting pretty bad. Every lap, Lonnie said "Sit on and attack on the last lap". So that's what I did. Going up the hill to the finish, I attacked/sprinted, almost got taken to the curb twice, and ended up 6th, almost getting the Iowa guy who was with Henderson on the line. It was a pretty solid result and a satisfying race. The first good result of the year for me personally. The next day was the road race. 90 miles, which is the longest RR I have ever done. Pence and I were sitting in 8th and 9th overall respectively. The race was pretty relaxed heading out of town, and then halfway up the climb last years winner attacked. He had a decent gap by the top and a couple miles later a few other dudes attacked and went up to him. There were no real GC guys up there, last years winner was sitting in 7th and then Stolte who was in 12th or something. I wasn't really convinced it was going to stay off with those two as the only real horsepower in it and Dogfish wasn't exactly well represented up there, although I kind of thought that the guy who won last year had gotten up there relatively unknown and would probably just attack the breakaway eventually. So I wasn't convinced that was the move, and also right when I was thinking about maybe bridging, Pence flatted and I assumed Grman had dropped back to help pace him back up to the pack. I didn't want to risk them not getting back on, and put our whole teams cards in one move, that wasn't really going along with our race plan, and then get dropped out of the break or something. I guess taking the risk would have been wise. About ten miles from the end of the first lap, Austin turned to me and said "this is the 2nd hardest hill on this course". I had a feeling that meant something, and then a little bit later he attacked and I was right on his wheel. It was when he motioned for me to pull through that I could tell I didn't have great legs. He was also going super strong. We got caught by the pack and then I decided I needed to sit in the group and try and conserve anything I could. The break had gotten up to 2 or 3 minutes, not surprisingly as the field was going 17mph for a good part of the first lap. I don't really think anyone cared that the break was up the road. Austin attacked again and went solo. Pence eventually caught back on right before lap 2. Up the wall out of town I got dropped by at least a minute and chased back on. Grman flatted a few miles later and got a horrible wheel change, and was out of the group for good. About 7 miles away from the finish of lap two, Henderson hammered and I got popped off the group. A few more little breaks of ones and twos had already gone off of the main group. I rode and Grman eventually caught me near the KOM climb. My legs were pretty destroyed. We got some fresh bottles in town and headed out to finish out our third lap. It was kind of relaxed, really just a training lap, but we still kept a good pace. I started to feel a bit better, I think part of it was just wanting to get home. We rolled in in somewhere around 20th. A bunch of guys had abandoned, even people who had been ahead of us. As much as I didn't want to ride that third lap, I was really happy I did afterwards, and it also kept me in contention for the overall where I got 10th. Pence also ended up 9th overall, so it wasn't too bad. I was pretty happy to be top 10 overall, although I would have liked a bit better than 10th.

Orca

If anyone is interested I am considering selling my 09 Orbea Orca 54cm frame. It has one crack in the frame, and a crack in the fork. It can be repaired by Calfee and other carbon repair places. I loved this frame, and I would repair it except that I wouldn't want to race it again and risk cracking it after repairing it, and it seems like too nice of a bike to have as a back up. It retailed for 3500 frame and fork. I would also probably trade for a decent TT frame. I'm not 100% sure on a price yet, but just contact me and we can talk. Forward this to anyone interested.

Dis weekend

So this weekend is the first of many upcoming full racing weekends. First was the Hillsboro Roubaix and second the Tilles Park Criterium. I have never really liked either race, but at the same time I still wanted to race. I just made the registration for Hillsboro, which I kind of regret. It sounds like I could have had a better training ride had I just stayed here. The 1/2 race at Hillsboro was honestly the most dangerous road race that I have ever been in, more so than any cat 3 or 4 race I remember. Major accelerations followed by dead stops. In the first 3 miles or so a big crash happened behind me and knocked my wheel out of alignment or something, so I was hammering for the next 15 minutes and going nowhere but backwards until I opened my brake. I was having a pretty easy time sitting on, but I was definitely feeling the effects of being in the red for the first 15 minutes. All was good until we hit that climb into town after the feedzone climb. I dropped my chain, when I guess I didn't really even need the little ring. It was weird cause I had been in the little ring in the feedzone climb, and all winter I never dropped it. Oh well. The field rode away as I tried to fix it and eventually had to get off and fix it. I got to the top of the stupid descent and saw the field turning the corner. 1 minute back. I chased through town and didn't gain, but I wasn't about to head off for 60 miles alone in the wind. I pulled off in the feedzone and found Matt Brandt who had done the same. I really don't think I will go back to Hillsboro. It completely felt like a waste of 45$. The race needs to be a rolling enclosure first, and second, I don't really think it's the course at all that makes it hard. The cobbled section is nice compared to some of the bs roads that are out in the other part of the course. I really dont think the course is hard enough. The rough roads aren't enough to make a separation like they are in europe, and there is no climb that separates the pack or anything. It's really just the size of the race, and the size of the roads that makes things hard, and a lot of bad luck that seems to happen there.
Tilles was surprisingly fun. Matt Brandt got off with 6(?) other guys, pretty early in the race. I followed a few attacks and was ready to take a free ride up to the break if anyone wanted to go, but nobody had the legs. About 40 minutes in, we came ripping around the final corner, and were forced to slam on our brakes because an ambulance was there to get onto the course. I almost crashed in the process and was forced to ride the grass (the second time in the race). Honestly, an ambulance on the course isn't something to be upset about, it just sucks having to stop a race, and also so abruptly. They could have let us roll through and just said the field was neutralized or something. So the race started with 20 min and 5 laps to go. The break probably got a bigger head start than they had, but whatever Matt was up there. At like 5 to go the break was getting close to lapping us, and a mercy guy had attacked the break and tried to bridge up to the pack. We quickly went to the front and DROVE the race for the next 3 laps. He apparently popped and fell back to the break, allowing Matt to attack and get caught, and then Justin to attack and hangon for the win. Matt handily cleaned up the sprint in the break. We rode really strong and it payed off. Excited for more crits...and Hermann. I guess I need to register.

fresh

out the STL. I know you all loved Tipsy.

that's dope

Yeah, so it's been a while. I'm going to try and get back into that good groove i was in. I forget now if I posted about froze toes, I dont really care. Forest Park kinda blew. It was rainy, and small, I missed the break and I dry heaved on GU and got popped. I wont be eating that shit anymore. Bloks do just as much good, and cheerpacks are 100% better. The last two tuesdays have been awesome. I tailgunned the lindenwood leadout train last week and got 2nd behind tim in the field sprint and 6th overall, with brandt off the front. Tonight brandt, me and 8 other dudes got off. He and justin attacked and rode away, our group of 8 stayed between them and the pack for the finish. I pulled off a 7th overall. Legs feel awesome. Here comes hillsboro.

Also, why are humans still in mines? I get that it's peoples jobs and they make a living, but honestly have we not found technology for this yet? I guess I'm even more amazed that this is still going on in America. Every time something happens with a mine, when people get trapped or whatever, I always think the same thing.

wrap up

So froze toes came and went. I'm not really in top shape yet, havent done any top end training at all, so when I got spit out it sucked, but wasn't too unexpected. It's February, I want to be fast in June. I really like my fridays. I have no class and just have to go to a lecture at noon. Unless I skip the lecture and ride early, I can usually sleep in and have a nice relaxing morning, then head out in the early afternoon. This weather is so nice. I'm really ready for spring and even more so the 90 degree days of summer. I have spring break this week and am looking forward to putting in good time on the bike, maybe even working a few days, and having fun.

check out this song. website is a bit weird, for me the player shows up at the bottom of the screen.

http://hypem.com/track/887245/Tonstartssbandht+-+5FT7

watch

words from the master

Austin (TX not Allison)

Last weekend the team headed down to Austin Texas to do a little testing at Pedal Hard in the dungeon of Mellow Johnny's with Kevin Livingston. We had a great time and, I at least, learned a ton. I have always been skeptical about training with wattage or heart rate, mainly because I've never taken the time to learn anything about it. We did a Lactic Threshold test. The test itself is pretty simple, you warm up for 15 mins, then the real test begins and you start out at 120 watts and ride for 3 minutes, then it jumps up 20 watts every 3 mins following that. It was pretty interesting that the test went just like Kevin said it would. Basically you don't feel bad at all, and then it hits you like a truck. I was pretty nervous because my training had started a little later than most of my teammates and I had missed a few days due to a weird sickness and another few to some big projects. I was feeling pretty disappointed comparing my numbers to everyone elses, but then I realized that they were pretty much non comparable. We're all different sized etc. The only thing that is really worth looking at from a strictly statistical standpoint is the watt/kilogram number which I was pretty satisfied with. Needless to say, this weekend convinced me in improving my training methods so much that I went out and bought a Garmin with heartrate and cadence. Time to get serious. I haven't had a computer on my bike since I crashed at Webster last summer, and I had that one on for about a month. I considered getting some kind of power meter, but I'll give it a year, anyways the Garmin works with any ANT+ power meter so it should be an easy upgrade. I am also really happy to say that our Director, Jim Schneider, will be writing my training plans for the year. I'm excited to combine these with the Garmin.
Thanks so much to Kevin, Chris and Jim for everything this past weekend. I had a blast and learned more than I anticipated. My schedule has also changed quite a bit since the last one I posted, so that's not super accurate anymore. Like anyone reading this cares.

bump this track.

man

do i miss Paolo Bettini. He is one of my all time favorite riders. I wish I had paid more attention in 2004.




He was intense, exciting, and had impeccable on the bike style. Being the Italian, World and Olympic champion at once. Pretty incredible, and produced some pretty incredible equipment with the tricolore, world championship stripes and splashes of gold for the olympics.



this video is awesome, and totally worth watching. He destroys the climb. If you're going to watch anything, watch the last minute, the announcers commentary on Bettini is golden.



here's his first worlds victory. again then end is perfect. there's something unique about how they celebrate a victory in europe. the passion isn't the same over here.



here's his second. again...the announcer. I would also normall stop after the finish, but the podium/national anthem scene is awesome!



this is a sentimental victory, he won the world championships like two weeks prior to this, and inbetween the two races his brother passed away. pretty beautiful victory, really shows how someone can ride inspired. and his descending is insane.



that's how you race on the road.
props Bettini.

real post

So life is moving along steadily. Training is trying to get going. I have a tough wednesday and thursday with a night class each night, and a lot of homework due both days. This friday we are headed to Texas for some testing at Mellow Johnnys. It should be a good time, hopefully I'll surprise myself in a good way. It's really strange. I don't feel like I have the long miles in my legs as much as I did last year, but I still feel pretty fit. I think it's really the long cross season carrying over. I never felt out of shape during my 3ish weeks off. Keaton and I had a good ride with Robert on Sunday, it was nice to get out with someone new and Robert is always entertaining.

The race schedule is looking like this.

Froze Toes Feb 28th
Tuesday Nights Start March 16th (!(the best race of the year that happens every week)) I think this past year has given me a real appreciation for Tuesday Nights. They're the perfect training on a Tuesday, and, generally, fun.
Dogwood March 21st
Forest Park Criterium March 28th
Hillsboro April 10th
Tilles Crit April 11th
Hermann April 17th-18th
Tour of STL April 24th-25th
Tour of the Gila (Maybe) April 28th-May 2nd
Joe Martin Stage Race May 6th-9th
Ofallon Crit (Maybe) May 22
State RR May 21
Iowa May 28th-31st
Tulsa Tough June 4th-6th
Tour de Grove June 13th
With tuesday nights continuing throughout.
Then Nationals sometime after that. I think we might be missing Tour de Grove to go out to nats early. I'd really like to race it, but we'll see. I think Keaton and I want to go back up to Superweek, which is after nationals so that should be okay. We'll probably race Soulard, I think on the 18th of July, then drive up that evening, rest a day, then race 4 days ending with Downers. I think we've convinced Robert to come with us. Maybe Grman too. The races will be longer and faster up there this summer, so it will have us flying for the State Crit, ideally.

I've pretty much decided that Cross starts too early around here, and that I want to wait around a bit more before I start racing this year. I guess I'll do the night Hermann race, because it's a night race and there's not many of those. But I think I'll skip the day race the next day. I was definitely having the Cross blues this year around November. When the season feels long, and that early excitement is gone.

I'm really ready for some Crits. I've been watching a lot of footage and looking at a lot of pictures, and I'm just craving it. I really feel like I have a totally new attitude going into races this year. That I want to make the race happen for me. I don't want to sit in any race. I want to make the race happen for me.

I'm excited to be racing with the 1/2s this year, in the big show. I'm confident of my ability being there, and I've worked for 5 years to race at this level. It'll probably be a learning year, but that'll only make next year, and even this cross season better.




this should be a common sight this year. Grman and I riding together, except he'll have different colors on. It looks like I'm keeping the Cannondale to race. Not a total bummer, it's a fantastic bike for the crits. I'm a little worried about racing Hillsboro, and the 110 mile road races at Joe Martin on it, but I should survive. It'll put a little hair on my chest.

crazy

this looks strangely similar to bike racing, but more scary. pardon the bad music and skip in like a minute.

wow

this is insane. in a good way.

another good movie

I just saw this documentary last night, and it was really fantastic. It's called "How to Draw a Bunny" and it's about the life of Pop artist Ray Johnson. Apparently it's hard to find. Here's an excerpt.

watch this movie

This is a seriously good movie. One of the best soundtracks also, done by the RZA.

Dan

My cousin Dan has a lot going on in medically his life. Most of you know him, and you should really read what's going on on his blog. I am not medically inclined whatsoever other than watching house, so it's hard for me to understand let alone paraphrase on here. Please just keep him in your thoughts. Positive Vibrations.

Checking In

So. It's 2010, and time to start training. I took an extra week off, trying to get a bit more rest. I don't feel like I ever did that seriously last year, as I kept on with the long weekend rides. I think it's really important physically and mentally to take a break though. I finally feel rested. Problem is, it's been 20 and below for the last two ish weeks. It was fine for the week that I was off. But now it sucks. And it just dumped 4 inches of snow yesterday, which isn't going away anytime soon considering the temp is holding at 9 degrees right now. It warmed up to 25ish on Wednesday so Keaton and I headed out for a short spin. It felt good to be back on the bike, first time since team camp. I didn't feel slow at all, which is good. Keaton and I have been trying to get some exercise in the last week, and have been consistent. We've swam pretty much every day this week, minus the wednesday ride, and have hit the weights 3 times also. The swimming is nice, and it feels good to be doing something other than riding a bike and running. I think swimming is my new preferred form of cross training, no more running, running sucks.

As far as other things go, I came to the conclusion on my break that I was really happy cross season was over. This is the first year I can say that, but I think my cross and road seasons were both longer this year. I started cross with Bearcat Cross in early September, which was a mistake, and then raced pretty much at least once a weekend from then till nationals in early December. I think I also had some bad luck in the last few races before nationals, and wasn't super psyched. I also have to admit, that had I waited till mid cross season to Order tickets to bend, I don't think I would have gone. My registering for Nationals was spurred on by the early season excitement, that faded throughout the season. The cross season was preceded by a solid road season that was from March-August. I think I added up something like 60-70 racing days this year, including tuesday nights. That's a lot. I have a really hard time letting a race go that I could be at. I think for cross next year, I'll be starting later, maybe with the Hermann night race, and then wait till Bubba. I'm planning on doing the UCI races at Louisville and probably Jingle Cross, and then probably heading to Nationals in Bend again.

this should help for those UCI races, and having my Crosswind in the pits.


Exactly opposite to that, I am very excited about the road season. I have been keeping up with the Aussie scene, and It's making me crave crits. It looks like we're going to hit quite a few big races this year, with a focus on road Nationals in June. I think we might do GIla, Joe Martin and Tulsa as the handful of earlier big races. I'm really looking forward to our first race together. Still trying to get a bike squared away for the season, but I should have something new come racing time.

I'm also trying to think about studying abroad. An original plan was to go in the fall, to our campus in the Netherlands and try and race some cross. But this is my last U23 year for cross, so I think I want to stay here. Vienna is another option, more likely for the spring. Wherever I go I'm not sure how much racing or training I could get in, which is causing some hesitation. An option where I could race and train would be heading down under where there are races going on in our winter. I'll have to think about everything more. It's supposed to get above thirty on Monday, maybe I can go ride. Too bad it'll be a slushfest.

my anthem

yeain't fresh azimiz

slow

i'm sitting at shaw's coffee on the hill right now. this is my girlfriend mary 20 minutes deep into her latte.



i can't believe it either.

what i learned in 2009

this is a work in progress over the next few days.

-Superweek is dwindling but was still the most fun bike related thing I did all year.
-CX Nationals would have been more fun if the Hostage had been freed (Hostage take note for next year)
-I can finally feel the difference in tires; griffos are far inferior to fangos, but everyone else rides dugast.
-Single Speeds are an excuse, except of course in BMX where they are standard.
-Pit bikes are necessary at anything bigger than a bubba race.
-A wise man once told me that traveling was half the fun of bike racing, somewhat agreed, but more of racing out of town is half the fun of bike racing.
-Road or Cross is the best season all year; whenever it is that season. Mountain is still no fun.
-Everything is going to be bigger and faster this year.
-The Portland scene is a lot different than I had heard rumored. More stoopid less fast. More like this.
-Socks reminiscent of soccer socks for bike racing are stupid.