Snow...I don't like it much

Well I have spent the last two weeks of my base training on the rollers...I'm pretty sure I forgot what it was like to ride outside. What are you going to do...I'm pretty done with the snow here though for sure. It just keeps coming down and won't stop!
Well with the exception of all the snow and riding my bike, I'm officially not coming back to Greeley next semester. School didn't go great this semester, and I'm not about to live in the pit that I call my house in Greeley anymore either. Not to mention practically sharing a house with my ex. So this made me make the decision to come back home to Littleton and go to Metro in downtown Denver next spring. Its gonna be tough leaving Greeley because I had a lot of great things there, but school needs to come first, so school comes first. Thanks for checking in

Base Training and Finals

Hey all time for an update. Well I started my base training and I have been going for just over 2 weeks now. Its pretty tough to do, and it takes its toll on your body. I think I am getting used to it at this point, so its getting better all of the time. Aside from the bike, I managed to pull of some not so good grades this semester. I don't really understand how I did how I did in some of the classes, but live and learn I guess. This obviously means that I need to study more because Im not doing it enough. Well Im off to work hope everyone has a good holiday...thanks for checking in

I should be reading

Well hello all, I should be reading the two books that I need to have read by next week, but I'm not so here I am. I raced what I think is my last cross race of the season on Sunday, and it couldn't have gone worse. The course was at Dakota Ridge High School in Littleton, there mostly raced on grass and washboard style trails. The first set of barriers wern't bad, but the second was at the bottom of a huge run up and was really tough. I had a pretty good position for the first lap of the race and felt ok, then I crashed once, it wasn't too bad but it definately shook me up quite a bit. I got back on my bike and tried to regain my position, then the kid in front attacked and all the kids in front of me were burying it just to try to stay with him, and it was a pace I couldn't keep up on. This led to my second crash, which wasn't bad at all I wasn't going very fast and I recovered quickly. With about 2 laps to go I was having a lot of trouble trying to get into my pedal after the barrier section, which slowed me down a lot and I continued to drop places. On the last lap I crashed really hard about 100 meters from the finish. I could have quit the race right there, and in the process one of the juniors passed me and another was coming up hard. I'm not sure what place I got and I don't really care, but it sucked getting beat by a 12 year old but not everyone has a great day on the bike.
I didn't really end my cross season on a good note, but I had a ton of fun with it all year, and it is something to work up to for next year. I want to thank corey for letting me use his bike all season and scotty for helping me out too. Well base for road season starts on monday...wish me luck!

Im tired

Well I raced in Golden this weekend and it was an interesting race for sure. Lately in all the races I've done, I have felt really bad right out of the gate, and a lot better about 20 minutes in. So I tried to have a longer and harder warm up today and it made all the difference. Right from the start it pretty much split into 2 groups, just about half and half. I got into the first group and felt really good for the first 30 minutes. Our group of 15 or so turned into about 9 then the guy in front attacked so the pace was made a lot faster. The course was very flat, lots of corners and very bumpy, I thought that keeping the most momentum and speed through the turns would be to my advantage. So I came into a corner a little to hot, bike came out from under me and I crashed hard, probably harder than I ever have in a cross race. I got up and regrouped only to find that my bars were bent one way, and I was pretty scratched up. I finished the race but did not put in any significant efforts to come back. I ended up taking second to last place I think.
I'm dissappointed with how my race went but part of racing is taking risks, and sometimes it comes out in negative consequences. Anywho, I know how to warm up for other races now and I feel that I can do much better next week! I had a lot of people cheering for me including Corey's mom, my dad, grandparents, Scotty, Ambrette, Corey and I even got a shout from our good friend Dave Towle. Scotty had similar luck in his race, broke his shifter cable and got to do his race in a 40-12, doesn't sound like fun to me. Corey's race was very fun to watch, we were all rooting for him and he pulled out 3rd place good job everybody, and thanks for checking in.

Jacob Haines

Well I have had a rough couple of days. I had to go to a funeral for a friend on tuesday afternoon. If you look at the picture the kid on the far right is Jake, he was just 18. Apparently, he tried to beat a train in his car on friday morning, and didn't make it. There was easily five or six hundred people at this funeral, it is amazing how many people he really did touch. I met him this August when school started because he is a friend of one of my roommates. I remember him as the kid who always made you laugh and had the biggest smile you will ever see. His parents and friends who talked at the funeral said the exact same thing about Jake. I could only imagine what his parents are going through right now, having to bury their son. I remember the last time we talked he asked what I was doing this weekend, I told him I was racing my bike in boulder. He told me, well you better win because you ride all the time! I didn't really think about what he said until today, and it really hit me hard. Jake like you always said, if you aren't living life on the edge you are just taking up space. Jake for the short time I knew you we had a blast, and I will never forget it. Someday if I ever win I bike race I am going to dedicate it to you. Rest in peace Jake

Cyclocross

Hello all, I recently have gotten into cyclocross thanks to my good friends Corey and Scott, and Mark Cooper, for letting me use his bike. The pictures I have here are from last weekend.

This is me at the top of the run up, it was really muddy as you can tell.

This is the bottom of the run-up, Corey got Dave Towle to say my name, it may have made me go faster but im not sure.

Scotty got this pretty sweet action shot of me carrying the bike.

Well as for the race I felt kinda crappy right off the bat, and I was extremely nervous. I stayed with a group for a little while within the first 2 laps or so. On the second lap, I hit a bump and my bars decided to do a little spin on me, and I nearly hit my face on the stem. I think that it held me back the rest of the race, but live and learn I guess.

As for this past weekend it was at the Boulder Reservoir, with a lot of sand on the run up, very tough course for sure. Corey rigged up his Surly for me to race on for awhile and it worked out great. I felt really good the whole race, attacked a couple people got nice and dirty and ended up in 58th out of 90. Afterwords we watched the UCI race and cheered Corey on. Thanks again to Scott and Corey for introducing me to another type of bike racing!

Golden Gate Buff MTB

Well I participated in my last collegiate mountain bike race this season. It was in Golden Gate Canyon about 15 miles from Golden. I have a grim memory from this course from the previous year. Here is a small flashback...The course consists of a very large uphill near the beginning, no switchbacks, just straight up. I got about three quarters of the way up, legs locked up on me, keeled over on my bike and puked my guts out. I laid there and collected my thoughts for a few minutes. Used a good old goo pack, finished my 1 lap and called it a day. Today I hoped to finish the race. My parents and my puppy chester came out to cheer me on and hand me a water bottle.

The start
On this particular course I had to do 3 short laps, at about 3.5 miles a piece. Right out of the gate it seperated pretty quickly, and I found myself around about 3 other people, one from CSU and another from Metro.

I was going so fast my mom couldn't keep up with the camera, she can only catch my dust

I got my game face on here, not to sure how my mom got the picture, I was going so fast I'm not sure how she got it!

Chester cheered me on of course

The Finish

I was pleased with my performance and I crossed the line in 9th place. I didn't get to race as much mountain bike that I wanted to, but my fitness has moved a ton since last year. I'm doing my first cross race this weekend wish me luck!

Its Cold

Well I woke up on sunday morning/afternoon after a heavy night of drinking. Only to find it was raining and cold out but that didn't stop Scotty and I from going on the ride of a lifetime.

In other parts of my life, I have a lot on my plate right now with school and all the drama going on in my life. It is pretty much like a real world episode in my house. I won't get into details, but I want out of my house pretty bad right now. Wish I never moved in with everybody. Maybe it will get better but I kinda doubt it. This kind of thing makes me want to leave Greeley sometimes. But I have made a lot of other great friends that I would hate to leave. Ill figure it out i guess

Century

It has been some time, but it was time to update the blog. A lot has happened since I last updated, I did my second century, accompanied by Dana and Corey. We decided to go to Estes Park and back which totals just over 100 miles. Here were some of the highlights of our day.
Corey picked up this large sunflower early in the ride he said he was going to add it to his kitchen, not sure it made it back.

I had a flat problem early in the day, and ended up changing 2 rear tubes.

During one of my tube changes, Dana felt the need to drink, a little...

Me going up the hill, probably really fast.

All in all the day ended with a total mileage of 104.62 miles, I had a blast and would love to do it again in the near future. Thanks to Dana and Corey for having a great day on the bike. Thanks for checking in.

School is back in session

Well I should probably be apologizing to my many faithful readers yet again for my lack of updates. I have had a busy couple of weeks as far as helping out my grandfather in Santa Fe after his knee replacement surgury. I have been able to get on the road bike a little in the past few weeks to finally get some hill practice in. I have never been very confident on hills at all, so I am trying to do them as much as possible. Havn't been on my mountain bike since my little tumble and need to get back out there, so hopefully I will get some MTBing in this week. I'm hoping to do a lot better mountain biking this year. I was in no kind of shape to ride last year, and with as much as I have been riding I see it turning out pretty well. The bike pics will be up soon I promise.
On a sadder note, our house seems to be the place that cops love to show up at. I recieved a ticket for an MIP and an unlawful noise charge. The court date is September 25th, 2006 so wish me luck. thanks for checking in. School starts on monday!



PS. It is my 20th birthday on friday, so if you have any cards to send...sent them to

B-day Boy
1851 11th Ave.
Greeley, Co 80631

sorry

For my many active readers (Brian) I apologize for the lack of updates. Not a whole lot been going on lately, just work and trying to stay on the bike. Mountain bike "training" is going pretty good I'm getting out quite a bit and feeling more comfortable all the time. I went out with Scott and Corey today and about 200 yards out we had a mechanical on Scott's bike. Only to find out that his hub was cracked...didn't know that was possible. So Scott rode back and Corey and I rode to the top of Coyote Ridge. When we got to the top Corey asked if I wanted to race to the car. I accepted and took my 30 second handicap that he gave me. About 30 feet down I dumped it harder than I have in a long time. It hurt for sure and was real shakey the rest of the way down. Afterwords we went to Feighny's and he gave us a glass of wine, and we all met the Feighny's new baby. We hit the Chipotle after that and indulged in some delicious food. Well I should be updating more soon, and I thought that I should do a bike review of my bikes...because it is an excuse to update...it will be coming soon

Update

Well I have not made an update since around the fourth so it looks like about that time. The past few weeks I have pretty much just been busy with work and trying to stay on the bike as much as I can. I rode my road bike for the first time in about a week or so last night on the Roubaix group ride. I got new Zero stainless speedplay pedals, and it was my first real ride with them. Pretty big jump from my old pedals and MTB shoes. After the ride we went over to Roubaix to watch him put together Dana's new Orbea Onix frame. I'm really jealous it is an awesome bike. I spent most of my night there drinking beers and hanging out.
thanks for checking in. Evan

PS: If you want to see a funny video go to this sight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2d_m2OVa_g

Stage 2

Well I havn't really been around a computer much lately so havn't had time to do an update. Seeing as the Tour is on right now I figured I should give my thoughts on the situation. When I found out about Jan, Basso and many other riders are not going to be in the Tour at first I was a little upset. When I talked to Scott about it he thought that it would help clean up the sport and get the people out who could be cheating. I think about it now and I couldn't agree more. I was pulling for Jan to win the Tour this year. But now it will be very interesting to see who is going to pull away.

I watched stage 2 today only to see Robbie McEwen pull off another sprint win. I like watching Robbie McEwen sprint, and you can always count on seeing him there. Thor was right on his wheel but came out of his pedal, tough break but in my opinion he is lucky to still be racing after he got cut on his arm. He is back in the yellow today and if you read the cycling news link he says that he would like to keep the yellow tomorrow too. Should be fun to watch.

Well I'm back in Littleton for a few days. Went to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Pearl Jam last night. Good show. Went mountain biking today with my dad and some people from his work up Mt. Falcon. Felt really good to be on the mountain bike, and couldn't be more happy to be MTBing again. Well I'm off too bed got an intense day of rafting tomorrow. Thanks for checking in

You havn't lived until you MTB in the pitch black

Well its been awhile since my last update and its time to give one. Well the past few weeks have pretty much consisted of me working a lot and biking in my spare time. Seeing that Corey is changing shops it has given me a lot of hours which is good and bad. I started paying for my new mountain bike this week which is going to make me very broke but the bike is pretty sweet. I will do a little bike report of the new bike pretty soon.
Well Tuesday night we had our second group mountain ride of the season. Started out very good, and I'm finally feeling a little more comfortable on the bike as far as my fitness level goes. So I'm going to try to build on it. Anywho, we set out with Corey, Feighny, Colin, Austin and Ray do try a different route that looped back to Feighny's house. It was going pretty good until the sun started to set and we weren't halfway to our destination. We decided to keep pressing on, and didn't get any brighter outside. At one point when we were waiting for people to catch up Feighny, Corey, Colin and I had a little break in our conversation only to hear coyotes howling and making all kinds of noise in all directions. It was a good little laugh. Once it got really dark Austin took a little dive over the handlebars and beat his bike down the hill, the bike almost landed on him. I wish I could have seen it but it was far to dark. We made it back to Jenn waiting for us in the short bus to pick us up.
All in all it was actually a great time and I had an absolute blast. I can't wait to do the trail again. Big thanks to Jenn and Mike for letting us have pizza at their house and Jenn for rescuing us in the middle of the night! Thanks for checking in

PS I would have pictures but I have no camera

New Belgium Crit and such

It has been awhile and it is time for an update. Weekend was pretty eventful worked all day saturday and went to the New Belgium Crit in Fort Collins. The course was really cool, very flat and only about 6 tenths of a mile long. I went into the race extremely nervous. I stayed with the main field for maybe 3 laps, then the motopace guy blew his whistle for me to drop out of the race. It was kind of an eye opener in how fast the Cat 4's can be, but I am still learning a lot.

This picture shows how hard I tried to stay on with the pack. It didn't work.


Today I went mountain biking at the Devils Backbone outside of Loveland with Corey, Colin, Dana, and Ray. Mark let me test out the Cannondale Rush that I am going to buy from him. The ride couldn't have gone better. I forgot how much I miss mountain biking and it felt great to go out and ride again. Corey broke his chain not far into the ride and Colin and I rode on by ourselves. Corey caught up with us pretty quickly and we had a real fun ride back. I need to start saving more money to buy Marks Rush. The bike was awesome loved the way that it felt when I climbed. I thought that a full suspension would not climb like my old hardtail but it felt great. Well I have work tomorrow. Thanks for checking in.

I had a productive day, imagine that

Well Im finally starting to recover from my horrible sunburn that I got last sunday. I finally am not in pain all the time and I actually had a good night of sleep last night, imagine that. Since I havn't been outside on the bike lately (because I was worried about the burn getting worse) I burrowed Dana Curlee's trainer. I was able to probably put a solid 4 hours or so in on it this week. Gotta say that I don't really like doing the trainer that much, and seeing as my house has no air conditioning you end up sweating a little.

I woke up this morning to a phone call from Corey asking if I would work for him today, seeing as it was my first day off in awhile I said no. Sorry Corey need some time off. I went and got a haircut at campus cuts. Then went and visited Steve at Roubaix for a little while. After that I went to Noodles with my roommate Jason, friend Pat, and Pat's co-worker Kellen. We went back to Pat's for a little while and played some Xbox 360. Pretty cool but definately not worth the 600 dollar price tag. Afterwards went for a little ride by myself out to Windsor and back. Felt really good to get out on the bike again. I also had to test out my newly aquired parts for my bike. Which includes a new Ultegra front derailleur, and a new FSA hollow forged energy aluminum double chain ring. I have been lusting after a double for some time and I finally got what Scott would call a big boy double. Anyway, back to my ride. It was the first ride that I have been on without an Ipod or a friend with me. I don't mind riding alone at all and the only reason I didn't have my Ipod was that I left it at I-bike. I really enjoyed the time alone and it definatly cleared my head which I really needed.

After a week like I have had this week I have realized a few things.

1. Where sunscreen even when you don't need it.
2. Second degree burns really hurt
3. I love my job at I-Bike and I am forever in-debted to Corey Carlson for getting me a job there.
4. The mackin hoes diet is a good way to go for a diet.
5. FSA cranks are very cool.
6. When you work at a bike shop you spend all your paychecks on parts.
7. Having a room to yourself and a queen bed is really nice.
8. A ride by yourself is actually really nice.
9. You can't tell girls that you ride a bike on the first date, its probably a turn off. ( According to Scott drop the bike bomb on them on date number 2 or 3.

For the millions of people that read my blog I thank you.
-Evan

Housewarming Party

Well our housewarming party couldn't have been better. We got ourselves a keg of coors light and hung out. I would like to thank everybody for coming. Obviously wouldn't have happened if you guys didn't show up! I think the highlight of the night was when Scott was trying to get this girl with me, only to find out she is married and 26 years old. Live and learn I guess. I believe the night was capped off by me eating shit in the kitchen and trying to get girls to make out with me.

The next day I went wakeboarding with Shawn, Justin, Amanda, Julia and Joe. Joe took his boat out as well that day so we had a lot of fun. The lake was packed with people so the water was extremely choppy. The day was a lot of fun. I came home extremely sunburned and finished the night with Jason watching American Flyers. Good flick, anybody who hasn't seen it should its pretty sweet. I woke up the next morning for work with my sunburn feeling terrible. I was in pain all day and felt like shit. When I got home to get in the shower I took off my shirt and noticed that I had these disgusting blisters on my shoulders. Not a good feeling but I'll get through it. Well I'm off to watch a movie, thanks for checking in.

The End of an Era

Well I got my new helmet last week and I thought that we should reflect on the times of the old one...

2000-2006
First I will give a short history, I asked my father to buy me a helmet. He told me I have a brand new one sitting in the garage. I said that it was purple and I didn't want a purple helmet, then he told me that I can pay for a new one. Seeing as how this one was free I took it. I chose not to wear it for awhile, I usually stole my brothers nicer helmet when I needed one. Then collegiate road racing started and decided it was time for a new one. Never got around to buying a new one until recently. It has been called many names: The Tub, The Beast, Barney (mostly comparing my chubby ass to a purple helmet...I may have resembled barney) Well my entire collegiate cycling season was spent on this helmet, and I took crap about it from beginning to end. Ive been dropped from races on this helmet, crashed on this helmet during mountain bike season, lost my first race on this helmet. ( I wish I could say that I won a race in this helmet, but lets just face it it didn't happen.) As much crap as I took about it, it probably saved me a few times so I thought that I would dedicate this blog to it. Here is the new one and maybe someday it will have memories like the tub gave me. Thanks for checking in.

Here is the new one

My new house, become a pit stop for people with court dates.

Well I had an eventful weekend of getting moved into my new house. Im real happy to finally have my own room now, and not a twin bed inside a dorm room. It feels real good, my weekend was pretty much devoted to moving with a little bit of drinking and biking here and there.

My friends Conor and Emily came up on monday night because they had court the next day because of MIP's that they recieved earlier in the year. We hung out and drank some beers that night and had a middle of the night pizza. The next morning we went to the Bread Board to get some coffee and pastries, 3 cups of coffee is a good cure for a hangover let me tell you.

The next day I had work over at I-bike all day followed by a group ride with the Roubaix Bicycle Company that evening. It was a lot of fun, actually got a very good workout in. I am going to start making that a regular thing. If anybody wants to come they are Wed. nights at 6.


I saw this picture on cycling news today. Cool picture of Marco Pantani. For those of you who don't know who he is, one of the best climbers in the world. Anywho I thought it was cool. Adios

Training Program

Well I had a conversation with Corey about a training program for cycling next year. I've decided that I am going to do it. It may be tough but I could use a challenge in my life. I started my program yesterday and I went on a ride with Brian and Dana. It was pretty fun, the flat fairy was not helping Dana on this ride he had a total of 3 flats on the day. So this ride that was pretty short ended up turning into a long one. It was still fun, great to finally get out on the bike again it had been to long. Only problem with this ride for me as I had eaten just about nothing but 2 Clif Bars all day. Don't do that it sucks.

Later that night I went and hung out at T-bone Ranch Apartments to hang out with my friends Shawn, Jason, and Pat. It was pretty fun there was a little party going on and good to hang out and meet new people.

I had good intentions of getting up and going on a ride this morning but when I did wake up my legs hurt pretty bad. I should have just gone anyway but I didn't. Well I'm actually going to get up tomorrow and go on a ride so if anybody wants to join me give me a call.

Living at Corey's

Well I have temporarily moved into Corey's place until the 20th of May. The weekend started out with work at I-Bike with my new job there. My job couldn't really be going better, the days seem to go fast and I love what I'm doing. On sunday I hung out with my friends Pat and Danielle and went to the Olive Garden for lunch. Man that beats the dining hall food. Monday morning Corey returned from the Tour of the Gila in New Mexico. We decided to make a pizza that morning and called Brian over to join us. We ended up indulging in some 40's and watching wedding crashers. On Tuesday I had the day off and a group interview at the Texas Roadhouse. It went pretty good because I got a call the next day for a second interview.

Unfortunataly, I have not been on the bike lately as much as I should. I think I made my decision on the bike that I am going to get. I am thinking the Cannondale Rush 800 full suspension bike might be my next mountain bike. We shall see, well I am off to work. If you have any road races you know about clue me in.

schools out for summer

well school is finally out. Thank the lord for that one. I have been burned out on school pretty much since the first week back from Christmas Break. So that is definately a relief. I had a lot more work at I-Bike this past week, it was a lot of fun, I am learning more and more every day. Getting moved out of my dorm turned into an ordeal that took a lot longer then it should have. But I piled all of my shit into my friend Shawn's car and brought it over to Corey's where I will be living for a little while. Thanks again Corey for letting me live with you for awhile!

Well I was thinking about taking out a credit card to pay for the mountain bike that I plan on buying soon. That way I can have the bike during this summer and I can start preparing for mountain season. I am still debating whether I should get the hardtail or the full-suspension. Well I am off to dive into a good book. Leave me some comments about my decision on the mountain bike

UW and Finals Week

Well the University of Wyoming race turned out to be quite the race. We woke up saturday morning with it pretty cold outside in Laramie. By the time we got up to where we were actually going to race we were sitting at a comfortable 25 degrees. Wasn't very pleasant to say the least. The course consisted of about 23 miles of downhill then you turn around and go back up. It took me about an hour to go downhill 23 miles. As soon as I turned around I was met with a headwind that didn't really stop until I made it back to the finish line. My ride time was 3 hours and 12 minutes and it was not that fun. Oh well those can happen.

We decided to ditch out on the TTT and just get some rest and save ourselves for the crit the next day. The crit was a lot more fun than the road race for sure. It was flat all the way around, only problem was is that it started at 7 am. We all started together and I ended up dropping out of the race about 3/4 of the way through because I was not feeling so hot. Anywho, Albert King ended up taking 5th overall in collegiate racing C's this year. Congrats to him. I was pretty pleased with how my season went, this year was a learning experience for me and with every race I felt better. My goal is to lose some weight this year and work on some climbing. Well good season.

Well this week was my favorite week of the year in college...FINALS!!! Ya they have been going pretty good I took 2 on monday, 2 on tuesday, have wednesday and thursday off, and then Bio on friday. I started at I-Bike yesterday afternoon and had a lot of fun, it will be different doing a job that I actually enjoy. I go in today again as well I have a feeling it is going to be a good summer of work.

I started moving some of my stuff over to Corey's today because I'm living with him until I can move into my house on the 20th. Thanks Corey!

4/20 and Grand Junction

Well I have not made a blog in awhile so it looks like it is time. Well last week after the Durango bike race I had a fun filled week of school followed by a little bit of training. One day I went out with Nick Lebejko and did a little attack crit practice, lots of fun I felt like I learned a lot. Later in the week I went out by myself for about 2 hours and did a little bit of tempo. That is going to be a big thing for me, helped me clear my mind of a lot of bullshit. Later that night I went to Corey's for a little cycling meeting, immediatly following Corey, Brian and I all decided to drink it up a little bit. Ended up being a really funny night and Corey got on videotape me thinking there might need to be more cowbell.

On Friday, I left Greeley with Corey, Dana and Mike to head to Grand Junction for the Mad Cow Classic bike race. We had a 6am wake up call on Saturday morning because Corey's road race started at 9am. We got up to go to the road race to a very nice morning perfect for bike racing. The Men's C group left at 9:45 to start their race which amounts to nearly 30 miles. I was told that there was a fairly large hill, so I psyched myself up for it a lot because that is my downfall when it comes to bike racing. I hit the hill feeling pretty good, and when I tried to shift down my chain came off and I had to fix it. In this process, I was passed by the entire group and it took me a few minutes to fix it. As soon as I was back on my bike I was pounding it as hard as I could to try to catch up to the main group. I finally caught some kid who was riding solo and I passed him up without much effort, he then tried to catch up with me and ride on my wheel. I don't mind when people ride on my wheel as long as it goes both ways and they work too. I told him that we should work together and try to catch up with the main group. He decided to give me the silent treatment and not say a damn thing. So I saved myself for a couple of minutes and then pounded it for a few minutes only to leave him back behind me. After my effort I had reached the point in the course where you pedal up a false flat for a very long ways. I ended up finishing the race thinking that I was nearly in last place but ended up placing 26th out of 34.

Later that day we had to start the team time trial in Fruita, which is just outside of Grand Junction. I came into the race with my legs not feeling great and hoping that I was able to stick with the guys for the Team Time Trial. We started out with Albert, Eric, Dana, Mike and myself on the team and had to do 2 laps of an 8 mile course. The first lap felt very good with all of us taking our turn and with lots of teamwork and communication. After the first lap Dana told us that he wasn't feeling great and told us that he would give us everything he had on the front for a minute or two. After he was dropped off, it was my turn in line to pull on the front. The plan for the day was that we would be going a lot harder on the second lap than the first. I pulled the guys up the big hill on the course and felt absolutely cashed, and told them to keep going. We felt pretty strong about how we performed and it was great to have communication and teamwork with the guys.

Later that night I got together with a couple of guys from high school and had dinner at Qdoba. We ran into the USA cycling representative later that night and he told us that we won the TTT by a very large margin. I was really surprised and it was the first victory of my collegiate career and it felt very good. Went to sleep that night feeling very accomplished, however did not want to get up in the morning.

I woke up the next morning with my legs feeling completely locked up and not feeling to great. I was a little worried about racing in a Crit later that morning. When we got to downtown Fruita and I got out on my bike and tried to spin and hope that my legs would open up before the race started. When the race started I felt pretty good and was staying with the main group nearly the whole time. Albert King made a move with 4 laps to go, and as soon as he left the peleton sped up and I was just finished. Everyone finished in the top 20 and I finished in 18th place. Corey ended up finishing 3rd with 4 guys from Durango, way to go man you did awesome.

On Monday night we went to a club sports meeting with Corey, Dana, and Brian. Pretty freaking boring but what are you gonna do. Afterwards we went to Corey's house to make some homemade pizza, very good time we all had some laughs drank some beer and ate some good pizza.

well those have been my past few weeks, so everybody wish me luck and hope that I get a job at I-Bike, Im really hoping for it. Good Night

The Ride Home

well the drive home ended up being just as eventful as the entire weekend. We pull into Del Norte Colorado to make a pit stop for everyone. We find out that the car will not go into park, so therefore we cannot turn it off. So finally we get the car to turn off, but the catch is can't turn it back on. We call two of our teammates who were ahead of us on the road and said that they were 45 minutes ahead and then hung up. What are you gonna do. AAA came and said that the car would be safe to ride home. About an hour up the road, Nick Lobejko says he has to pee, so we pull over and as we are going onto the shoulder, we hear what sounds like a tire exploding. Well we were right and we ended up having to fix a tire. We then kept driving and exchanged stories about random stuff, but mostly random funny stories about us and girls. Right when we were rolling up to Corey's place some cheesy song by Savage Garden came on, funny how all of us knew all the words. Well that was our trip, and I hope the trip to Grand Junction is better. Peace

Durango

what a weekend! Well on friday afternoon I left Greeley with the UNC cycling team to make our way down to durango for a fun filled week of racing. The drive was a lot of fun for sure, unfortunatly Dana got a little sick on the way there from some leftovers he had ate. I told everyone that I threw up a lot and then I added that I was hungry too. Corey sure got a kick out of it, and probably will be a joke for awhile. We kept driving with no problem the rest of the way into Durango. On the way into Durango Corey showed us what the road race course was like. When he was showing it to us I got so scared and nervous I wasn't sure what to do. Anyway we went to sleep that night to have a 6 am wake up call because we had a TTT at 8am. We started out with Me, Albert, Eric, and Matt doing the time trial for the Men's C team. About a quarter of the way into it, Albert was not feeling very good and told us to keep going. Me, Eric, and Matt kept a very good pace throughout and I felt that we would place well, but near the end we were all pretty cashed and it sort of fell apart. I thought that we worked very well as a team for the first time doing a TTT like that. I feel that it was something to build on for next year, I feel like time trials can be my new thing.


The ITT was next and I was a little intimidated because I am not a very strong hill climber, but I believe that it will help me in the long run to compete in these invents. I ended up posting a fairly good time, and again it is something that i can build on for next year.



Next was the road race, which I could have not been more nervous about, and it was the longest race that I have ever competed in. The race consisted of lots of very large hills which amounts to about 7 or 8 hundred feet of climbing within each lap. I felt ok and stayed with the main group for one lap, but when I hit that hill the second time, I could not stick with people on the hills and that was my downfall. Anywho it was a learning experience at best and a great workout as well...i will continue later for sure

Big Week Ahead

well the mines crit ended up very well for UNC, Albert King ended up taking second place. I think we worked a lot better as a team this time, I am feeling better after every race that I do and it makes me want to train that much harder. I ended up taking 22 with Dana Curlee not far behind me. On monday I had a rest day, followed by Mexican Beer night with my friend Shawn. We woke up the next morning with plans to go donate plasma, seeing as we are extremely broke. Probably the easiest 40 bucks i have ever made for sure. Afterwards I had a history class, boring as shit. Then I went out for a ride with Jason Karimy. We rode the Kersey loop and on the way there, we saw a dog that looked semi blind walking in circles in the road. We decided we should help the little guy out because there were some cars around. We called animal control, they said they would be there in 15 minutes, turned into about 45 minutes. We called Corey to come pick us up because it was getting very dark. Scott ended up picking us up and taking us back to Wiebking hall. THanks guys we both owe you one! Afterwards Jason and I went to Abos pizza to indulge in the half off calzones there. We met up with Shawn, Pat and Joe and had a beer there too. I ended the night reading my book about Vietnam and went to bed. Elections are coming up for the cycling team and I hope I have support from my teammates. The race in Durango is this weekend, i can't wait. im gonna go get on the bike and do some tempo, im out

Big Day on the Hill I'm waxed

Hey everyone, well the hill climb today end up being pretty good today. I rode the course in 33:02 which was good for me, when i practiced it last week i did it in about 44 minutes. I wouldn't consider myself a climber at all, but it was a good workout for sure, and i definatly learned a lot. The highlight of my day was being able to meet Tom Danielson. Me and Koch were sitting chilling out before our race, we see this guy roll up in full on discovery channel shit, and we are like who is this douche bag?! Then this guy told us it was Tom Danielson were extremely surprised. Anywho me, Dana, Nick Morgan, and Koch went and took a picture with him and watched him start the climb of lookout mountain. He did it in 16:02 shattering the old record of i believe which is 16:55. Pretty amazing to watch this guy climb hills and just be in his presence. Definatly made me want to go faster up the hill. Anyway i have a 5:30 wake up call this morning here is the picture of a few of us with Tom Danielson. Peace Out

The eve of The School of Mines Race

hey everyone, ive been pretty busy so i havn't updated lately, but i have had a big week on the bike for sure! Well this past weekend i went home back to Littleton to see my family and help out with the new puppy. On friday I went for a little spin with my friend Shawn and I noticed that my total ride distance for the week had been nearly 180 miles! Thats a new milestone for me and it definatly felt really good. That night my friend Amanda and her boyfriend Justin came by to see the new puppy we hung out for awhile and Justin and I enjoyed a couple of beers. On Saturday morning I woke up to go meet my fellow teammates for a little hill climb practice of lookout mountain, and then a crit practice afterwards on the mines course. It was really good to get out there as a team and practice, and i hope that it becomes a regular thing. Lookout mountain was probably one of the first real good climbs that I have done all year. I figured out that I am not a climber and I do not enjoy climbing that much, but it was a great workout. Matt, Dana and I all went over to a little sub shop in golden and ate lunch afterwords it was really good. On Sunday Shawn and I went up to Waterton Canyon in Littleton to do a little mountain biking. This was great beautiful day, and just the road in front of us. Felt great to get out on the mountain bike again, even better because i was on my dad's 4000 dollar Yeti, that made it even better. (For those of you who don't know my mountain bike got stolen last fall) We had a great ride that day and was a lot of fun. My brother drove me back up to Greeley later that day, and we indulged in a little bit of Big City Burrito. The next morning I had class and that was my rest day finally! I realized that I have not had a rest day in over a week in a half, and my legs were absolutely cashed. On Tuesday, Jason and I finally got out together to get in a ride, a little bit windy but we just went out and spun for a little while. That night I went to a Jazz concert for my music class in some restaurant, fairly entertaining for sure, ended up having a lot of fun. I ended the night with Conor, we watched Led Zeppelin and passed out. On Wednesday, I got a call from Steve at the Roubaix Bicycle Co. my new saddle came in and i needed to go out and test it. Nick Morgan, and Mike from the team went out with me to go test it. The weather was very windy and it smelled like rain, but we were lucky, no rain. Well seeing that it was wednesday it is the night of drinking in Greeley we had to live up to tradition. Jason realized he blew off a 5 page paper, so he was history. Conor informed me that he had a little liquor and there seemed to be no parties around, so we started drinking. Then we got a call from 2 ladies that live in our neighboring dorm, and they said that they would join us. We ended up having a great time, and having a great night. Luckily i don't have class until 12:30 on Thursday, because it was hard to get up then! I went to class that day ended up just spacing out for most of it. That night we had our cycling meeting at Corey's place to decide who was going to run for officers for the 06',07' season. I am running for VP so we will see how that goes. The night ended up being very entertaining, Corey was putting new bar tape on his bike for him, Matt recieves enough crap from the whole team about his LIVESTRONG bracelet around his seat post. So corey proceded to wrap parts of Matt's bike in yellow tape, very funny we all got a laugh. After the meeting Corey help me put on a UNC cycling sticker on my frame, and we had a little talk about our lives for awhile. Crazy how our lives are the same a lot. I went home and watched the Big Six, the highlights from Lance Armstrongs Tour De France wins. Very good, i would reccomend it. Well i have my Hill Climb tomorrow, and the crit on sunday wish me luck.

Its late and im bored

well hello everyone, this is my first blog on this new site here, thought it would be a good little hobby to get into. Well we will start out with how my weekend went. Well it was my first race this weekend with the UNC cycling team, right here at promontory park in greeley. It was a little bit of a wake up call being at a race pace for a long time, but it was a great experience and a learning one at that. I lost the pack pretty early and ended up finished 21st out of around 34 not to bad for my first race, and from what i hear everybody gets dropped in the first one. I spent the rest of my day watching my fellow teammates and then i rode in the men's 4, 5 race only to get dropped and then lapped, but you know it happens. Props to my fellow teammate Corey Carlson took 3rd in the mens 1, 2 corey your gonna get all the ladies. I had another 5:30 am wake up call the next day and drove to Ft. Collins to participate in the oval crit there. This race went a lot better than the others i had a better warm up, i was with the pack for the whole race. Then i sat on my fellow teammate matt koch's wheel up until the end and i sprinted only to pass about 6 guys to take 27th in the race. It was great feeling to pass a few people, even though i recieved a lot of shit from matt. Anyway today my good buddy jason and i went on his first ride on a road bike, he is gonna be real good once he trains but he had the problem of cigarettes this past year, biking will make him stop, well im gonna hit the sack leave a comment!