i invited some friends from upstate to come eat salads

So last weekend I raced concordia cross. I kind of had to considering how close it was to my house. It was cool to ride to a cross race. I realized on the first lap that I hadn't ridden my cross bike in over a month. I think i've ridden it 8 times this fall. Keaton and I were riding cross everyday last year and mostly in the rain. my tech skills were good. this year? not so much. my hands were about done 5 laps in from grabbing so much brake. I had decent fitness, being two weeks into our first block, but i was going so slow through all the corners and stuff. oh well, i'm done for the year. it was kind of satisfying to decide that i'm finally done, as i've been unsure for a long time.

in other news i got a tt bike. i got a 2010 focus izalco chrono. it's sick as. i basically stole it off this guy on ebay with the price he accepted. it's so sweet. i'll post pics when it's finished, as i'm selling all of the shimano that came on it, and i need to get a fit on it. if anyone has any force or red cranks they want to part with or any sram tt shifters or any speedplay zero pedals, let me know.

i went mountain biking today. i borrowed a 29er ss from justin. both things that i'm against, but i figured i'd give it a shot. i might be converted on one of them, and that's the 29er. it was pretty sick to descend on. i still feel like it's a bit too big for my body, especially when i get off the bike, but 26 inch wheels always felt small after riding road bikes for so long. i still don't understand the single speed. it wasn't any more fun than if i had had gears. i was forced to ride slower than i wanted to, which might have actually kept me safer, and could climb everything that i could even if i had gears. it doesn't make sense, and it's not nearly as satisfying to me. not being able to shift down and just hammer is a bummer. the bike was sweet nonetheless and really awesome to corner/descend on. i hit a lady in the first 5 minutes pence and i were riding. well. really she hit me. we were coming around a right hand corner going out the river on castlewood, where the trail is pretty wide, and i was right behind pence. she came flying around the inside of the corner next to 3 dudes and clipped the bar end on the meter wide bars that were on that bike. it was pretty stupid on her part. it made me remember that sketchy part about mountain biking. people going both ways. a good friend got pretty fucked up at castlewood because of that one time, resulting in facial reconstruction etc. i think it'd be sick if there was something like certain days trails are one direction and certain days they are other direction. i guess people could always disobey or be uninformed, which might make things worse when people assume there is no chance of anyone coming at them. it made me wonder if this happens during races. i dont think trails really close for races. i haven't done enough mtb racing to know. that'd suck though.

we should be hearing about the new house/moving soon. hopefully. we're due for some good luck in the house department.

i'll leave you with this gem that i found on a house/design blog.



i don't know why youtube videos cut off when they embed and i hate it. just click on it and watch it in it's natural habitat.

i picked

the right year to take a break from racing cross. this weather is a joke. 70 degrees on november 8? Im pretty sure it had rained at least thirty times since august this time last year. this yeat it hasn't rained in about 2 months. im enjoying watching the pictures and results pop up on sundays, and not having lungs full of dust. i actually felt kind of quick on the bike this weekend. maybe I'll come out for another race or two. to race. i'll probably be out watching the next few if i have time.

Hypertrophy

So,
I tried to race another cross race last weekend. I'd ridden an hour and a half since the sunday before. It didnt end well. It was the first time I'd ridden hard when it was cold and my chest and neck felt horrible. There's no point to keep doing this until I get in shape. I am tempted by queeny though. It's the only consistently good course in Bubba every year. Maybe I'll just go hangout and watch.
We just started a new phase of training. I'm pretty destroyed right now. Yeah, I didn't even think about it but I don't think I could do a cross race. I can hardly get up or sit down. I need to get my fixie going. I need to send the orca to calfee, but I also am trying to cast it for sculpture class. So I guess that will make me do it quicker. I also need to mountain bike on sundays. Trying to work a bike out for the next two or so months. Excited to be back on the bike.
I'm also looking for a tt bike if anyone has any leads. 53-55 cm.

bubba

so we had some cross races this weekend. the first bubba ones of the year. i think i rode my bike 2 times leading up to the races. And that was on thursday and friday of that week. The first time before that being sunday. my bike racing weeks are monday-sunday, not sunday-saturday. deal with it. Saturday night I arrived to find a dark course that was super buumpy and nearly invisible. i realized that because it's dark people probably follow eachothers lines a lot less and thus the course doesn't get worn in as much, and results in a bumpier course. Not that all the bumps would be gone, but at least somethin would be worn in. The course was relatively boring, with nothing really unique, but it can't really get too interesting in a night race without being a hazard to all. i'd have liked to see a bit more elevation change, but there didn't seem to be much available in the floodplane we were racing in.

I got a solid last row starting spot and was able to move up to the top 14 or so by the second lap. There were a bunch of people going down on every corner it seemed and it was pretty sketchy from the start. It seemed like futureman and shottler were leading the group but not really going anywhere for a few laps. It was fast but it wasn't ridiculously fast and nobody had particularly distanced themselves from the rest. There was a relatively big group containing pretty much everyone decently quick. On the 4th (?) lap I got ramjammed from behind and got my tire knocked off. it probably didn't have enough glue on it anyways, but it hadn't rolled yet and none of the corners were that bad, so I blame it on getting hit (by someone who later rolled his own tire and proceeded to throw his bike). I had to deflate the tire pretty much all the way to get it back on the rim ( I rolled it a lot). I knew I wasn't going to win. So I just walked back to the pit instead of running pretty much the whole course to get to it, as I was two turns past it (and, classic stl, it was only a 1 way pit). I waited for everyone to go by and then just hopped back in where I was, crit style. I wasn't about to ride around by myself for the next 6 laps.

I almost got smoked by Jay blindly coming out of the pit and that put me in a bad mood. We yelled back and forth and I just ended up not feeling like I even wanted to be out there. I pulled out on my 5th lap or something I guess. I looked at the death section of the course with a dusty fog hanging over it and decided I was done inhaling that stuff.

I could also tell I'm not in good shape. I wasn't able to throw it down on the road section like I usually could, and I know some people didn't get that much faster. I think I'm good enough to hang in about 10th right now just on skill and experience, but speed wise I have absolutely nothing. I probably rode 15 hours in the last month. Most at a suuuper easy pace. I've been doing a lot of manual labor lately and just considering that my training. I'm "supposed" to be doing some kind of activity 2-3 days a week just to not get fat, and it's a challenge to get down to that but I'm doing what I can. I think we're going to start training again in november. just base stuff I guess. I think I'll probably keep doing most of the bubba races. It'll be interesting to see how I'm going in december and late november after I start riding more.

I didn't race sunday. I wasn't really in the mood to go out and feel slow. But I did anyways. I rode with Keaton and Justin. Justin is training more serious than anyone I know right now. He put the hurt on us for 75 miles. He's lost a ton of weight, and will probably be flying in December, and maybe again in May after he burns out in February. He was going to go lift weights and then run after his 85 miles. WTF? oh well, it's his training plan and if it works how I think it will it's only good for me, so I guess I should shut up. I'll probably ride with him a lot this winter. he's fun to ride with and definitely pushes me. He also knows like every road.

It is really nice to not have to focus on cross so much. I have so much going on with school now, and I'm really trying to give that 100% (Something I've never really done). I'm enjoying spending time in the studio and enjoying the focus I can have on my work; and that's good because it's a lot more likely that I'm going to be doing that with my life than racing cross. I'm just more worried about how all of my studio classes are going to affect my road training. My dad always says the busier you are the more organized you have to be. I'm sure I can make it work. I'm thinking about commuting by bike, once I move down to Tower Grove. I figure it'd be an easy way to get in an hour or two a day when I dont have time to specifically go ride.

This past tuesday I worked with Ahmet Ogut. He's an artist from Turkey, living in Amsterdam and working pretty much everywhere. He had the Turkey pavilion in the Venice Biennale in 2009 which is a pretty big freaking deal. He has a show this Saturday at the gallery at Laumeier. I shot some guerilla work with him on Tuesday and have been in the lab printing for the last two days. It's pretty exciting to get to work with someone who has around 10 solo exhibitions a year, and has become really successful at a young age. It's cool to have an impact and be asked for input on his work. I'm really excited to see the rest of the work in the exhibition, and to see my photos up on the wall. So if you're free Saturday, and you like art and art openings, you should come to Laumeier. I think the opening is from 6-8. There's free wine and beer usually at these things.
Is this an okay thing to write about? I know my audience is primarily cycling based. Sorry to bore you. Maybe I should start an art blog.

I don't think I'm going to race this weekend. I was excited to, at the possibility of rain, but I haven't ridden once since Sunday. It doesn't look like I'm going to get to ride until this Sunday either. Fall break has turned into the week of being realllly busy. I'm working a ton of odd jobs, printing 16 36x24in photos, and trying to make some work and get my work together for Major Acceptance Review next Friday. That's what I really need to focus on, getting into the Art Department officially.

Cross Season

So, the road season ended. We did Hotter N Hell in Texas the weekend before Gateway Cup, and then did Gateway. It was fun and hard, and I've already talked enough about it in real life. Edwardsville was after Gateway, and was pretty cool with good money. Then the next weekend, and a little too soon in my opinion, cross began. Hermann cross was pretty much a disaster. A race that shouldn't have started followed by a shit night for all that stayed there. Bubba starts on the 15th or 16th of October I think. I'm taking a break from racing until then. Training somewhat too. Not really concerned about riding, nor really motivated to ride. I'm really just unmotivated for cross. I'm not sure why. I have a new cross bike. I should be excited. I want to be excited. I'm just not. I used to be a cross guy, someone who liked it, was good at it and was always excited about cross. I think I still like it, and I'm pretty sure I can still be good at it, but I just don't really care about it right now. It's not grabbing my attention or desire so to speak. I definitely don't have the desire to travel for bigger races. I think a bit of it is knowing that it's hindering my training for next road season, which is more important to me. Basically that I would be hurting my road training to race the same 10 guys all fall, when it's the road that matters to me and my team. I don't know. I'm going to do the first Bubba weekend and see how I feel. I may be selling a 54cm Ridley X Fire with Rival and carbon TRPs after that. Who knows. I'm really considering not gluing my eastons, in which case I have a brand new set of 34 Fangos, with two coats of glue and aquaseal on them, for sale. Just one more coat and they're ready to mount.

Jim wants us to train on fixed gears this winter, which should be fun. I'm thinking I'm gonna send my orca out for repair and use an eno rear wheel to make it a fixed gear. It should be pretty bad ass. I'm looking for a set of campy brakes, preferably newer than 2000, and a crank as well. And record carbon brake levers if anyone has some.

an update

So it's been a while since I've updated. I need to cover a few big weekends. I'm sure I'm missing something but I'll start with Iowa. I opted out of the Road Race as my first day of racing has typically been my best, and my second my worst this year, and I wanted a good result at the snake. I can blame the wheels I rode that chopped around the corners on the descent, but realistically I just didn't feel great and couldn't breathe. I also couldn't breathe the next day at melon city. Rock Island I was able to get things under control and finish what, at the time, was the hardest crit I'd done. Coming home, and after a trip to the doctor, I'm somewhat sure that I have athletic induced asthma. The solution, instead of waiting a long time for tests, was to just give me an albuterol inhaler, and see how it works. I had it for Tulsa and I could feel a noticeable difference. I could breathe, and my chest didnt feel tight 15 minutes in. Until the last day when we were off on our start time by like 45 minutes and rushed out of the hotel to the race. I forgot to use my inhaler, and only remembered 15 minutes into the race when I went from feeling great and having my best legs of the weekend to completely locking up in my chest. Neither weekend was a complete bust though. I had a great time at both races. Tulsa in particular. That race is so well organized and professional. The last day has such a crazy party on the hill which is awesome.

This reminds me that I didn't update about Joe Martin either. It, on the other hand was horribly run/organized. The results were off almost everyday, and the crit course was even more of a deathtrap than before. I had a good tt, in 23rd. Held 25th overall through the 2 road races and then dropped to like 36th or something after the crit.

As I write this I'm sitting in a hotel in Parker Colorado on my way back from Nationals in Bend Oregon. We went up after tulsa, with a brief one day layover in boulder to pick up Stein. It was a long ass drive. It wasn't fun, or good for anybody. I think this long drive was a factor in me getting sick. I think we got in to Bend on a thursday, and I started feeling pretty bad on Friday. I was coughing up crap, my head felt pressurized and I had a sore throat. I felt bad all week, sleeping more, taking vitamins and anything else I thought might help a common chest cold. Jim finally said that me, and grman who also started feeling bad on monday or so, go to the doctor. We went on thursday or friday of the next week and I figured out I had Strep Throat. So I got some antibiotics and started feeling better within the next two days.

I didn't do the tt because I didnt have a bike. When every guy starting the tt has a bike, disk and aero front wheel, there's obviously no point to race without a bike. The crit was the first race up for me. It was the fastest and hardest crit I've ever done. A few crashes on the first lap had me sitting last 10 guys. The course was pretty much a 4 corner rectangle crit, with one tight turn that was actually easy to move up on. I was jumping a lot and spending a lot of energy trying to move up, and just stay on the wheel infront of me. We started at 50 laps (i think) and I got popped around 16 to go? I came around the second corner behind a mountain khakis guy, and he swung off leaving a 40 foot gap that I just couldnt close. It was disappointing because my legs still felt good, it was just that one gap that was too big, and in the headwind. A little reassurance from Jim, was that in his peak of racing (which was good) he said he couldn't have done what I'd done. Sitting at the back and jumping out of every corner for 34 laps. It's reassuring but at the same time, I know I need to ride more attentively. He also said, that riding like that never really lets you know how you can do in a race, which actually means more. Because I know I'm fit, but the way I'm racing doesn't allow me to show and test that.

I got to the house in Bend weighing 132lbs, which was definitely up from the car rides and bad food on the road. I was down to a more normal weight of 129 within the next day or two. On the morning of the road race I weighed myself at 121.8lbs. I had no appetite the whole time I was sick, and really afterwards either. I think this really affected my road race. I started the race and felt good, until the first uphill. I just had absolutely no power when I had to stand up and pedal. I felt just empty, and weak. I got popped the first time up the hardest climb with about 15 other guys. We grouped up and worked our way back up, through the caravan and got on right before the second time through the feed zone. We hit the really hard climb the second time, and I just saw Trek-Livestrong on the front hammering it. The pack took off, and I couldn't follow. I rode to the feed zone, and was simply feeling completely drained. Totally weak. It was disappointing, but I think a lot of it has to do with missed training and lost weight both due to sickness.

So now we head back to stl and hangout for a bit. We're supposed to go up to superweek on the 14th, but I might campaign to go up the 19th. I wanted to do soulard, which is now babler, but I'd like to do that too. I also want to go up with keaton, and austin is even thinking of going too, but both after babler. We'll see. Then gateway, then some rest, then cross. Oregon got me excited for cross. We rode like 30 miles of singletrack that made it seem super appealing.

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.