Not ending on a good note

Well my cross season ended this past sunday while I laid in my bed.  It had been a goal the whole season to have a top 10 at the state championship.  It really sucked having to be at home while everyone else raced in the freezing cold, I wanted to be there so bad, but it couldn't happen.  There is good news from the weekend though.  My little brother Eric, took 3rd at states and won the overall for BCR (Best Cyclocross Rider) in ages 15-16.  I couldn't be more proud of the kid.  He worked really hard and did well in races when they counted.  Not to bad for somebody's first cross season!  

        It sucks that I had to end my season like I did, but it just makes me want to work harder in preparation for next year.  I'll try to make it up on the road this year.  That reminds me, I will be riding for Rocky Mounts this year.  Thanks for reading

Vegas, Snow, Sickness...

Well my small vacation to Vegas went off without a hitch. I think 2 nights is pretty much enough for sure. Our first night ended up being the most eventful my Uncle and Aunt met me and my buddies and we got to go a members only bar on the top of the Mandalay Bay. Lets just say we had fun.
Aside from that I came back feeling ready to go back to work and prepare for cyclocross state championships tomorrow. Only problem is I woke up this morning with a fever, cough, and overall not feeling so well. Right now our current weather in Littleton is 18 degrees and dumping snow. Tomorrow is probably gonna be a mudfest, and hopefully I will be able to race. I'm gonna rest up tonight, hopefully I feel better by morning.
P.S. I cut all my hair off on Thursday, and some new songs for you to listen to as well.

Wearing down

Well all the racing is starting to wear on me and its starting to show a little. Which is why I havn't been updating, not a ton to write about. I had races in Co Springs, and one in Highlands Ranch as well. Those didn't go great, so I won't even talk about it. This weekend of Thanksgiving I did a race nice and close to home by Dakota Ridge High School. I took it pretty easy as far as riding during that week, and I definitely feel like that was just what I needed. Out of the gate I was sitting top 3 and feeling really good. We had been snowed on here in town and it had just started to melt. Needless to say it was pretty muddy out. I drifted out of that group and into some chase groups as well. The wind was blowing really hard going into the finish line. I was in my smallest gear the whole time up that stretch. Still managed to lose a lot of time and places. By the time I rolled into the finish I was somewhere in the top 15 I think. Overall not so bad, I felt super strong on parts of the course. On other parts I felt like crap, but thats all part of the game. Well thanks for reading, Ill try to get some pics up from my upcoming vacation to Vegas. I leave on Sunday, boy do I need a vacation.
PS. New songs for your listening pleasure too.

Bad Luck

Well sorry for the hiatus on the updates, I have had a busy couple of weeks. The weekend right before Halloween we had a day off of racing due to the Velo-Swap on Saturday, and the annual Boulder Reservoir race on Sunday. I attended the Velo-Swap with my little brother and one of my buddies from the bike shop. I really wanted to score some new shoes while I was there, but couldn't really find any. My dad bought an old TIAA-CREF Javelin team frame from last year, and it had Troy Wells name plate on it too, but the price was right and I think he will be building it up soon.
Sunday was the Boulder Reservoir race in North Boulder. I had very high expectations of myself for this race, because it was one of my best all of last year. We had a field of about 80 or so and we were off. I was sitting about 5 rows back which wasn't great but I figured I could make up for it in the barriers and the run up. Out of the gun there was a crash right in front of me, and I had to come to almost a complete stop to avoid the crash. I got around it, and got on my pedals to try and catch the main group. It didn't take long to make it up to people, and I started trying to move up through the field. I hit the sand run up, and I knew that is where I could do the most damage. This same thing continued every lap, and I cruised in for about 34th. Not to bad considering how bad my start position was.
This past weekend was a UCI event, put on by the DBC events. I had worked 40+ hours early in the week, and despite Corey's advice to pre-register I never got around to it. I get to the Reservoir for the Redline cup. Cat 4's closed, at first I'm thinking, this sucks I can't race. Then the registration lady says, "Cat 3's are still open." I said, "Okay." I didn't want to miss out on racing, so what the hell. Anyway, I got staged almost in the back row, and I told myself that I was going to race my race and not let it get to me. I actually felt pretty good through the first few laps, Colin Don and I were staying together, moving up slowly. Then it happens, I pinched my rear wheel, luckily I wasn't to far from the pit. But by the time I had made it to the pit, my front had flatted as well. So I cruise into the pit, get my two pit wheels, and continue. I got passed by the leader, which means I had one to go. I finished my one lap, but not to sure where I was as far as places. Getting lapped with one to go wasn't that bad considering a double flat.
Sunday was the Boulder Cup down near Fairview High School in Boulder as well. Same venue as last years Grand Prix that came through town. Since Cat 4's were full that day as well, it was going to be another day of suffering with the 3's. I got just as bad as a starting position as the day before, and we were off, I tried to stay with a group of guys that looked strong, and successfully did, for about 3 laps. When I was going around a corner I had a guy come up on my left to try and take the same line as I was. In the process my tire rolled off of the rim, and my challenge blew up Greg Keller style. I was very close to the pit, and was able to make a quick change of my front wheel. I didn't make it back to the group I wanted too, but I did make it back up to the kid who caused me to crash. I passed him, and was trying bridge up to the next group. When he passed me he did so a little to close, and got something caught up in my front wheel. Luckily nothing broke, and when I was going through the finish I got pulled. Nothing like a little bad luck for the weekend, but at least the Elite men's races were fun to watch. Thanks for reading.
PS I got a new link check it out. Some new songs as well. I try to indent all of my paragraphs but it doesn't seem to be working.

A rough weekend on the bike

Well I have had a weekend to remember this weekend. Saturday was the race at Interlocken, which was where I had my very first cross race last year. I really wanted to do well, because last year it was pretty rough to say the least. There was a very large field this year, probably about 100 or so. I made my way up with Colin and my little bro. The course was almost exactly the same as last year, with a little change. They added a small creek crossing going into a very steep, slippery grassy hill. Lets just say the river was full of disgusting mud, that resembled the smell of dead fish. In addition to that it was just a very difficult course. I felt pretty crappy out of the gate, but still found myself moving up pretty well. I was riding the sand pit almost every lap, and everytime I did so, I ended up passing somebody each time. I felt like crap the whole time, but it was better than last year so all is good. They havn't posted results yet, so I'm not sure how I ended up finishing.
Sunday was a different story, the forecast said a high of 35 with a 90% chance of snow. That was pretty much how it was. The course was up in Evergreen at a elementary school, the course would have been very difficult in nice conditions, but it was snowing, windy, and a bitter 30 degrees. I felt like I got a pretty good warm-up, and actually wasn't feeling that cold considering the conditions. The course today also had a creek crossing that was extremely muddy and deep. During warm-ups I told my teammates that I was gonna hit it right down the middle and hope for the best. That is just what I did, and it didn't end well. As soon as I hit it, I knew I was going down, and I flew over the bars into a nice pad of mud. I got up and recovered quickly and surprisingly kept my position in the group. After that my next three laps went very well. Then all of the sudden I started getting very cold, and felt like I had lost all of my power all at once. I couldn't move up anymore, I just stayed where I was. Kinda frustrating to say the least. What I did get out of today was a good workout, and experience. At least I know that I can hold my own in a race that is in really bad conditions. Big thanks to Corey, Corey's Parents and Jami for cheering me on at the races this weekend. It always helps a bunch. Thanks for reading.

Gunnison CX

Well I finally got some time to update the blog, sorry for the hiatus. Good news from the weekend, I kept the bike upright, no mechanicals and I got a pretty sweet new skin suit as well. The course was on the Western State College Campus, with a lot of grass for a change, lots of turns and 3 barrier run up. Suited a power rider like myself for sure. I stayed with the main group for pretty much the entire race, I got gapped a little with 2 to go and rolled in for 10th place. Its the best result for me in a cross race, and I finally felt like I could put some power down and hold it in a race.

The Run Up
The Finish

I made the trek up there with my little brother,(who is sitting 2nd in BCR points for Juniors now) and the chester dog of course. He was bushed after all of the races on saturday, and so was Eric.

In the hotel
Chester which side of the bed do you want?

So after getting a solid night sleep we all woke up to much colder temperatures, rain and wind. Eric took second in his race after battling with a kid for 30 minutes in the horrible conditions, and finished for a super strong weekend.
My race started a few hours later, same course as the day before, only backwards with the barriers in a different place. Warm-ups were even worse conditions than earlier that morning, but as soon as my race started, the sun came out a little and it was much better. I didn't feel as good as the previous day, but still felt super strong. The course was very muddy from all of the rain, and extremely slick in every corner, which made for pretty slow going. I got gapped about half way through the race and got in a chase group with a kid from the bike source. We kept attacking each other in certain spots, and in the last lap I put on an attack that he couldn't follow and I rolled in for 11th place. Here are some of the pics from Sunday

So, all in all an awesome weekend of racing. I can't wait for Interlocken this weekend, it was my first one last year, and I plan on turning heads this weekend. Thanks for reading.
PS Check out the new songs.

A weekend in Frisco

Well finally I have some good news to report in this cyclocross season. I kept it upright all weekend, and didn't lose my chain once. I know its hard to believe but it did actually happen. As most everybody knows I had probably the worst crash of my career at the Boulder Research Park. I didn't get a solid week of training due to the injury. But I was able to get out a couple of times during the week, so not a total loss. Eric Moore and I made the trek up to Frisco on saturday morning, with my race time starting at 12:25. Coach Corey came up with a new strategy during the race, using my power near the end, and not run out of gas too early. It went OK during saturday's race, but nothing very spectacular happened that day.

Here is one of the shots during the race.
Here is another, I got the game face on for this one.

So anyway, I wasn't too aggressive during the race on saturday, just tried to keep my overall position and not lose any places, It seemed to work out well, and I felt pretty strong the entire race. I finished somewhere in the bottom half, which has pretty much been the story for me all year.
Sunday's race went much better, I felt strong all around, and moved up the entire race. They changed up the course from the day before and it suited me quite a bit better than the day before. A little bit more flat, with a few of the same sections from the previous days course. With a sandy run-up that some people were riding and others were running, but if you hit it right you could ride it. Another part was super technical and kinda slow, but made it very challenging. Last but not least the 2 sets of 4 barriers right past the start/finish line. I started somewhere in the middle, didn't go for the whole shot, and went to try to pick people off and move up throughout the field. I moved up every lap, picking off people as best I could, while not exerting myself a ton. With two laps to go, I decided to start opening myself up a little. With Dave Towle's help I tried to make my move for better placing. I attacked the small group of people I was with, and only one guy followed. We took turns at the front keeping the pace high for that lap. Then about half way through our last lap, he opened it up and set a pace I couldn't match. Tried to bridge up, but settled for 23rd.
I felt awesome with how I raced today, and it is my best cyclocross finish since I started last fall. I know that my fitness isn't quite there yet, but I feel better every time that I race, and have high hopes for the next couple of weeks. Thanks for all who came out and cheered me on, it makes the racing that much more fun and makes me attempt to go that much faster! Thanks for reading.

P.S. My Boulder Cycle Sport clothing finally came in this week, I'm pumped to finally race in it. I put some new songs on my "Whats on the Pod" section, check them out.

In other news...

My chain didn't fall off once, even after the big crash, got that problem solved.

Boulder Research Park

Well it has been a solid day for sure, went into today's race in Boulder with a real solid week of training under my belt, and high hopes to do well. Had a fair sized field today and the course was way fun, with lots of turns, very technical, lots of fun stuff. My first lap went really well in the main group for the most part. Then when I'm making a turn onto the dirt part of the course from the asphalt and I stack it up in the dirt, pretty hard to I might add. I look down and see my left leg is mess. I almost got back on the bike and kept going but it just wasn't happening today. I found the medical tent and they patched me up as best they could. The first aid guy said I needed to go to the hospital and get stitches for the top of my leg. So I drove home to Littleton, and spent the rest of the afternoon in the ER. I don't have any pics from the accident, but I do have what I looked like when I got home from the hospital.

13 stitches later I'm good as new

It looked a lot cooler when it had all of my flesh showing, Scotty Boy can vouch for it.

The shin actually looks worse than the other cut, but its not.

Anyway its been a crappy day and I'm gonna get some sleep. I wish I could race tomorrow but I don't want to end up like this guy, who rode his bike with stitches, thanks for reading.

Foothills Cross

Well I didn't get that much out of this weekend other than 2 really hard workouts. Had a bunch of mechanicals yesterday, and was playing chase the whole race. Good news is that Eric Moore took 2nd, and my good friend from Latvia, took third! Good job both of you. Next week I will have better news I hope. Thanks for reading.

Pikes Peak Supercross

Made my way up to the springs today with Eric Moore for Pikes Peak Supercross. I had intentions of doing very well, had a solid week of training, and a decent race last week. Well today didn't go as planned, felt like crap and couldn't ever get any kind of rhythm going at all. I felt like my first lap was pretty good, had good position on the start, and through the first barrier I ran through the weeds and dodged some people. After that I had a hard time making any type of large effort to stay with anyone. I got lapped by the leader with 1 to go. Really disappointing day for sure, and I am hoping I have a better day tomorrow. Eric on the other hand did really well and had an awesome first race, 4th place!
As for the race tomorrow I'm ready to rip the legs off of my adversaries. Last year this race was my last of the year, and it was my worst too. I'm super pumped, and got high hopes for tomorrow. Thanks for checking in, I'm gonna get some sleep.

Brecktobercross

Sorry for such a late update, I have been crazy busy! Sunday was the much anticipated first cross race of the year. Good and bad all around, had some mechanical issues during the race, but overall had a lot of fun! Corey and I left Denver and made our way up to Breckenridge. Couldn't have asked for better weather, and a better place for a really fun cross course. I went into the race really excited for the first one, but not knowing how my first real race of the year would be, and where I was physically. I felt surprisingly well in the race, but my mechanicals started early and put a damper on my overall result. We determined later that my third eye chain watcher was sitting lower than in normally would in which case it wouldn't do its job correctly. This made for probably a dozen chain drops, which was also a result of how bumpy the course was. Overall it was a good first race, and with cross mechanicals are just part of the game. I bought a double chain ring set up the other night, and that should mean no more chain drops for sure. I know my fitness isn't quite where it should be yet, but I know I will feel better every race. Last year, I was getting lapped pretty quickly, I know that the only reason I was lapped on sunday was because of mechanicals, so nothing but good things ahead hopefully. I'm off to bed, training tomorrow and a long day of work. Thanks for reading,

P.S. I never thought it would happen, but Corey managed to find a rap album that I enjoy. Kanye West's Graduation. Check out my Ipod section as well, its been updated.

Autumn is here, couldn't have come sooner.

Nice crisp morning today, and had one of the better rides that I have had in awhile. Ive found my cross course that I will do my race workouts on near my old middle school not more than a few blocks from my house. I do need to build some porto-barriers to complete it, might be my saturday project.
Above are the new wheels that I finally got the other day...only problem is I can't use them! They are Dura-Ace 7800 hubs, wrapped in a black Mavic Open Pro, with wheelsmith black spokes. Turns out the Dura-Ace hubs only work with 10 speed, and 1o speed only. You can only switch out the free-hub body for one identical to it, because apparently they run an oversize axle shell which only allows that certain free-hub body. I'm trying to decide if I should send these babies back, and start from scratch? Or strip down the rear wheel and get a different hub? Sell them on Craig's List? Its a tough call and I'm not sure what to do, I would love to hear what you all think.

Above is a shot of the hub, and below is a shot of the rim.
If anyone is interested in taking these off of my hands, let me know and we can maybe work something out. Also does anybody have a similar wheelset (32 spokes) that they want to get rid of? Anywho I hope I get some feedback, thanks for reading.

P.S. I was reading Greg's site today and he found an article about the course for Sunday, looks like fun.

Weekend in Ft. Collins

Well I had a weekend out of the ordinary in Ft. Collins. I drove up on Friday night to spend the night at my brothers house in Ft. Collins, so I could have a short drive to my races at Beaver Meadows this weekend. I had a awesome week of training, and was feeling in very top form. My hard workout on Wednesday on the MTB went better than ever and I felt very confident. Somewhere in between Ft. Collins and Beaver Meadows, my father's truck took a nose dive on me and I was stranded with no phone service, and a broken down vehicle. Luckily about 5 minutes after the incident a old man pulled over and helped me out. While we were figuring out what to do, a tow truck driver who was in the same vicinity stopped as well. He said that he was on his way to pick up somebody else and that he would pick me up on the way back. After waiting about an hour, he picked me up and we made our way back to Ft. Collins. I thought that AAA was going to take care of the charges but I was wrong. Apparently I am not a "plus" member of AAA so they don't take care of towing charges after 4 miles. I payed a whopping 93 bucks to get the truck pulled back, how wonderful.
Once I got back to my brothers house, I took a nap for a couple hours and then tried to figure out if I could find a way to the race the next day, or find a way back home. Since my brother was in Grand Lake I couldn't steal his car, so I tried to enlist the help of Dana. He decided to spend time with the wife and kids, instead of go to a bike race. So I basically sat on the couch and didn't do anything the whole weekend. On a brighter note I have my first cross race this weekend in Breckenridge. I'm super pumped for it, and I can't wait. I just got done with a run this morning, and I remember why I like riding my bike a lot more. It sucked and I only ran for like 20 minutes! Anyways, I took the day off of work today to get some stuff taken care of, and try to fight off this cold that I seem to be catching. Hopefully it doesn't get worse. Thanks for reading.

Labor Day Weekend

Hey all, well I made the trek up to the high country this weekend for the final Mountain States Cup race. I stayed up in Edwards with Koch, Jeremy and Allez. I drove up on Friday because I had an early morning on saturday. I got up around 6ish, drove all the way to keystone only to find out that short track regestration was closed and I couldn't get in. I used the time to register for Sunday's XC race, and prerode the XC course for the next day. I found out later I rode the XC course incorrectly during warm up. Anyway later on Saturday we went to Oktoberfest at Beaver Creek drank a couple of beers and hung out. Later that night a few of Matt and Jeremy's friends came up from Nebraska, and also Dana. We went on a little pub crawl on saturday night, ended up coming back pretty late considering I had a race the next morning. I woke up about 6 or so and Dana and I made the Trek down to Keystone from Edwards. We got to the race feeling a little hung over, and morale was low for the race, but I opted to race anyways. The course was nothing short of very difficult. Lots of climbing on fire roads, single track, and very technical descents. The majority of the race was climbing and we actually end up climbing the entire ski mountain. I stayed with the main group for the first climb, and first descent. When we hit the second climb, I blew up and rode solo for the last part of the race. After the second climb, you descend down to the finish, very quickly. I finished, not sure where I did but I was pumped just to finish. After the race I drove home and me and the family went the Yonder Mountain String Band last night. Fun times for sure, check them out. Looks like I will be heading up to Ft. Collins this weekend for the Beaver Meadows MTB race. Then after that its Cross time. Thanks for checking in.

Happy B-day to me

I turned 21 today, it feels good to finally drink legally...I am having my get together tonight at the Old Chicago on Broadway and Mineral tonight at 7ish, would be great if everybody came!

CX Team

Well its official everybody, I am now a member of the Boulder Cycle Sport Cyclocross team. I'm pretty pumped for the season, and can't wait for it to start! Since I am taking a little time off of school, I can work save up some money, and hopefully rip the legs off of my oppenents this season. Anyway big soccer game tonight, thanks for reading, more later.
PS New songs on the the "whats on the pod" section

Looking for a team for cross this season...

Well everyone, cross is almost here and I can't wait. I'm hopefully gonna be building up the steed for this coming season soon and getting some solid training in. I plan on doing a couple of the mountain states cup races in next couple of weeks one in Nederland and one in Keystone. Anyway wondering if any of my faithful readers know of a team that is looking for some riders to add to their squads. I've talked with Rocky Mounts a little bit and its kinda looking bleak. I talked with the Boulder Cycle Sport team about the team that they are putting together for cross and I havn't heard back yet. Anyway if anybody has some advice, or someone to contact, let me know. Thanks for reading

A little break

Sorry for the lack of updates but I'm back for good! I got back from Santa Fe on Monday afternoon for a much needed little vacation. I got to ride quite a bit while I was there, and even had a solid day in the mountains of New Mexico. I rode from my Grandparents house to Santa Fe Ski Area and back which is a grand total of about 50 miles, give or take.

This was my way up the mountain, not that steep but it sure was long, about 14 miles up.

This is when I stopped at a campground to fill up my waterbottles

The Cockpit

Anyway my ride up the mountain got cut short by some bad weather and lightning that rolled in. I was only about a mile from the top, but bad weather made me turn around. When I rolled back through town, I was cruising through the plaza in Santa Fe, when I stopped to watch a guitarist play. It didn't take me long to realize it but it was none other than Esteban, the guy who sells guitars on infomercials. I hung out and watched for awhile and it was awesome!

Saturday night was spent at the Santa Fe opera outside of town. They did a performance of "Platee" which is a story of Greek Mythology but sung in French. It was really interesting for sure and a really nice setting.

Aside from my little vacation not much has been going on, just work, ride, sleep, repeat. My last road race of the season will be Sunday, at the Bannock St. Criterium. I would ask you to come watch but it starts at 7am. Just sleep in I'll tell you about it.

Longmont Criterium and such

Well been a busy guy the past few weeks. After the Firecracker 50 I took a much needed couple of days off, went for a recovery ride 2 days later and still felt horrible. Ive never had such a hard time recovering after a race, I can only imagine what those endurance MTBikers go through. Anywho I have been still riding the mountain bike a lot, and the only time I have been riding my road bike is to work and back and stuff. Ive found the MTB training I have been doing has definately helped my endurance in races, and really giving me more solid base. I went out with a guy from work who is a semi-pro and did about 4.5 hours race pace style training in the foothills near my house. It was hard, really hard, but a good thing for sure.
I raced in the Longmont Crit on Sunday. It didn't go to well, I had a pretty bad position from the start and moving up in that field was a harder task than expected. There were lots of 90 degree turns and not much time to move up if you wanted to. There was a crash about 35 minutes in, that a lot of people were involved in. I had to unclip to avoid it, and decided to use my free lap. I did so, and the pace seemed to be even faster than before the crash. So I finished in a chase group, and that was it. I was pretty dissappointed in myself, but we have good and bad days I suppose.
I hope everybody has been watching the tour, it has been pretty exciting thus far. Its so hard to say who might pull away in this one. I thought Vino had a chance, but its gonna be hard on him for the next few weeks. My wildcard right now is Iban Mayo, he looked super strong yesterday, and he could do it! But who knows, its wide open at this point. Anywho, I'm off to get some sleep, tuesday night crit tomorrow! There are some new songs for all you folk to check out as well, take a look!

Firecracker 50

I knew it was gonna hurt, and it did, really bad. With the combination of lots of climbing technical climbing and really steep elevation, it was a hard race. I had to do 2 laps of a 25 mile course. The first part of the race went really well, and I was feeling better than I ever have in a mountain bike race for sure. Then about 20 miles in I crashed, it wasn't too bad, bike came out from under me a little bit, and I just jumped back on and tried to chase back to the group I was with. I made it back to them then I managed to crash again, this time a little worse. I chased back to the group again, and I could see the lap marker up ahead, in which case we had roughly another 25 to go. Then thats when I crashed really hard, and it wasn't one that I could just get up and keep going. While I was descending on a jeep trail I took a really bad line and ended up over the bars and onto some rocks and gravel. Lets just say I had to sit there and collect myself for a few minutes then I got back on my bike went through the finish line and decided that one lap was enough. I HATE not finishing races, but I knew I needed to throw in the towel. I watched Jay Henry of Tokyo Joe's smoke everybody and finish at least 5 minutes ahead of the second place guy which was Ryan Trebon. Overall it was a fun race and I would totally do it again in a heartbeat. A much longer race probably doesn't suit a rider like myself but, it would be a good workout, and something to work towards. Thanks for checking in...check out the new songs on my pod

This is gonna hurt...

I'm doing the Firecracker 50 today...its gonna hurt

Hitting the dirt

Went mountain biking again this morning, it was my 4th time this week! Been hitting up the local mountain bike trails a lot and giving the mountain bike some love. Been doing really early morning rides before work with my manager John and my fellow co-worker Frye. Anywho, thought I should do the write up on my mountain bike so here she is.

The bike is a 2006 Cannondale Rush 1000 with the Siemens Mountain bike team paint job. I bought the bike barely used from Mark Cooper the current manager at the International Bike in Greeley. I hardly did any research on the bike before I bought it, and I have had no regrets whatsoever.

The wheels are Mavic Crossland UST that came stock on the bike, I currently have Maxxis Crossmark Tubless tires on it. The wheels have been awesome, completely bomb proof, everytime I tune up the bike and put the wheels in the truing stand I don't have to touch it! The tires are what came on the bike as well and have been fantastic. Just recently I have put a lot of holes in the tires so I'm not running them tubeless right now. I might be getting new tires soon, any suggestions?

This next picture is of my rear derailleur and cassette. The shifters are SRAM X-7 Shifters with a SRAM X-9 rear derailleur. The front derailleur is a shimano LX. The SRAM shifters are really nice, and all the shifting is done with your thumb.

This next shot is of my cranks and pedals. I have the FSA afterburner crank, and crank bros candies for pedals, as you can see my shoe has rubbed all of the powdercoat off of the crank (thank you answer mountain bike shoes) but I guess it makes me look hardcore...not really. The pedals I picked up on closeout nice and cheap. I was running eggbeaters for a long time, but I like the candies much better.

This next picture shows my Avid Juicy Seven Hydraulic brakes, which are awesome and I highly recommend. In the backround you can see the SRAM shifter, the pedros lock on grips.

This next shot is of my FSA K-force handlebars. These aren't the stock bars that came on the bike, this was one of the little upgrades that mark had done before he sold it to me. Carbon bars are a nice bonus.

This next shot is of my seat and seatpost. The saddle is a Fizik Aliante Sport saddle, basically a cheaper version no carbon pieces and such. If you want a LAZ Boy style saddle Aliante is the way to go. The saddle sits on none other than a Thomson Elite seatpost.

The rear shock is a Fox RP3 with Pro Pedal. The Pro Pedal really helps with climbing and gives you more options than just a lockout. Flip it to the plus side when you climbing and down to the minus with descending, it makes a difference for sure.

This last shot is of the Cannondale Lefty Fork. It looks a little goofy but, it does perform, and has taken everything that I have thrown at it. It has a lockout and a rebound knob right next to the stem, for easy access.

Whew, I hope I didn't bore everybody to tears but thats it. Anyone who is considering getting a Cannondale Rush, don't look any further because it is awesome.

One more thing, this is for Colin Don and Corey.
MILKSHAKE!!!

I was reading Matt Shrivers blog and I could hardly believe it! He is even on a BMC it makes my night.

Pictures from Ft. Collins Criterium

Before the start


One of the first few laps

Accelerating on a flat stretch

Chasing the break


Chasing the field after the crash in front of me



Well after a lot of talking about putting up pictures some are finally here, thanks for checking in

So its been ahwhile...

Well Hello all of my faithful readers, I finally have a picture up! I actually do have a camera now, but since I am at work I can't upload them to this computer. But the photographer was able to snap this photo at my race in Ft. Collins last weekend. I will get the other ones up soon. This race ended up going pretty well, I was in the group the whole time, sat in, worked a little bit, dodged a couple of crashes to stay in it. Then with four laps to go a 10 man pile up occurred in front of me which gapped me out of the main group and out of contention. I chased real hard for 4 laps, and finished about 20 seconds off of the main group. If you look back to last year, I stayed with the group for roughly 2 laps and needless to say I could have done better. Its good to know I can stay in the group in a Cat 4 race.
Then I did the Tuesday night crit again up at Table Mountain in Golden. Seeing as there were a lot of Thunderstorms and rain going on that day there wasn't a huge turnout. But some of my teammates from Metro State showed up and we all made the race interesting. We started with a 14 man field, and it split up right out of the gate. Some guy from Al's Barber Shop/Wild Oats attacked from the beginning. I followed along with a guy from Green Mountain Sports, and my teammate Yuki following close behind. It was obvious that we had some horsepower in the break, and had a really good chance of staying away all day. I held on for roughly 7 laps, and eventually the kid from Al's Barber Shop/Wild Oats took the win. I finished 4th overall, and 1st in the chase group sprint. Overall a pretty good day for the weather being so bad.
Aside from racing I have just been working, and riding a lot. Lots of fun, thanks for checking in...more pictures soon

City Park Crit, and Tuesday night Crit

Well this past sunday I participated in the City Park Crit in downtown Denver. The race was pretty flat for the most part with a couple of round-a-bout style turns in it. I started the race with Brian and we both ended up getting gapped out and chasing the rest of the race. We were joined a couple of times by people, but after the wicked chase pace that Brian and I put on, it would have been hard for anyone to stay on. Anyway on the last lap I attacked right before the last turn, and nipped Brian in the sprint. About the wicked pace, it wasn't wicked at all, I'm sure Brian will elaborate in his blog.
The tuesday night crit was much better with me actually hanging onto the pack for the entire race. The course was up on table mountain in Golden with a false flat uphill finish. It was a 12 lap race with sprints on every other lap. I sat in for the first 20 minutes or so until one of the sprint laps. Usually somebody had attacked for one of the sprints but on this lap nobody had yet. I had good legs so I went for it and tried to mix it up a little bit. Burned quite a few matches with that effort, but was able to get back into the group and rest a little bit, and wait for the end to happen. I wasn't really sure how many laps we had left, and when we finished, I wasn't quite sure that we were done yet. But I think I finished somewhere in the top 20 or something like that. Anyway the race went good in my mind and I'm really looking forward to this weekend for the crit in Ft. Collins. Anyway I'm off to bed, big day at work tomorrow.

Coal Miners Classic

Well after my few week hiatus from racing I decided that I needed to get back out there and try my luck at a few open races. The race was held out in Louisville, the course is just over a mile long, with a long uphill finish. We had a really large field with probably about 70 guys. It quickly split up and I managed to stay in the main group. It only lasted about 5 or 6 laps before I started to feel that hill more and more on each lap. Anyway, I lasted about 20 to 25 minutes in the main group which is probably the best I have ever done in an open race. If you look at my old posts the first ACA race that I was in I managed to get spit out of the back in about 5 minutes. At least I got my money's worth today I suppose. I hope to do some more open races this summer, and hopefully be able to finish in the pack eventually. Now that I am finally on a regular schedule at work, I can work in time for training. Hopefully I'll be able to scrape some pics off of the internet from the race, until then...

Summer

Well I made it to the end of my sophmore year today, and it couldn't have come at a better time. I was getting pretty burned out on school and its nice that it is finally over. Got to hit the grind of work again tomorrow. Anywho, more later I'm gonna eat some dinner.

Dopers Suck

Well as most of you probably know, Ivan Basso finally came clean today, and I thought that I should shed light on the subject. Gotta hand it to the guy for finally coming clean, for having a guilty concience I guess. I would probably be guilty to if I had won the Giro by cheating, but thats just me I guess. In my opinion I think that the majority of guys on the pro circuit are clean, but i know that there are some who cheat. I think that it really sucks that they have to bring down the sport of cycling like this. It gives it all a bad name, when cycling is such a great thing, and something like this only brings it down. I hope that this little incident will bring all others to just confess to what they did instead of beating around the bush. I read an article recently about a former Quick Step classics rider who recently came out and said that he doped in the final years of his career, but thats all he said and he wouldn't elaborate. People who are involved need to just do what Ivan did and just face the music. Lets make the sport fair again, I don't like Ivan for cheating, but I like Ivan for having the guts to come out and say it. Well I'm not writing my paper, thanks for checking in.

Big ride in the rain

Well yesterday I got invited to go riding with a guy from work for a couple of hours. A couple of hours turned into about 4 in half hours. We went up Deer Creek Canyon, then got on the High Grade road where all of the switchbacks are. Needless to say there was a lot of climbing but can't really be anything but good for me. When we got into conifer there was a bunch of snow and rain, and it stayed that way on the descent back into Littleton. Anywho, it was a good ride and I hope to do it again soon, Well time for me to go to work hung over, thanks for checking in.

Durango Road Race and Mad Cow Classic

Well I will start off with the road race in Durango. This was one race that is definately intimidating but yet one that I felt like I needed some redemption from last year. I had been trying to psych myself up for it all week, with trying to work real hard on my climbing skills and I think it actually helped that day. We had roughly a 28 mile course, over the course of 4 laps with roughly 900 feet of climbing on each lap. As you can see from previous posts, climbing isn't exactly my forte. As soon as we hit the first hill the field exploded which was to be expected. I hung with the main group part way up the climb and later got gapped a little, and couldn't quite hang on. I finished by myself but was relieved to find out that I had made the top 10 which was more than I could ask for. I actually felt like I could hang onto a strong pace climbing which has never happened before, so hopefully I can make more happen there next year.

Onto the Mad Cow Classic in Grand Junction where this years conference championships were being held. I left Denver very motivated for the weekend, and eager to try and do well. The road race was the same course as last year with a lot of small climbs, large downhills and a sprint finish. I got spit out the back on the first climb, and ended up chasing the majority of the race with a few teammates and a guy from Utah. About 3/4 of the way through the race, I saw people pulled over everywhere, I found out later that apparently a local decided to sabatoge the course. It sucks when that stuff happens, but luckily I wasn't one of those guys and I finished in the chase group for 13th place I think.

Last but not least was the Fruita Loops Criterium in downtown Fruita. This was a race that I had been looking forward to all year, with that being my best race last year. The course was flat with a few 90 degree turns and a long straitaway with a roundabout on the opposite end. As far as a course for a rider like me goes it couldn't have been better. The race started pretty fast with the CSU guys setting pace on the front and taking turns attacking. I was sitting in just trying to stay in a good position and hopefully get a leadout from my teammates. My team was doing perfectly chasing attacks, counterattacking and just making it hard for everybody else. Then with 6 laps to go a kid from Wyoming touched wheels with another rider, and ran into me trying to catch himself. My wheel was bent and my brake was engaged due to a dust cap in my shifter breaking loose, and getting caught in the wrong place. I pitted and Corey changed my front wheel and pulled the dust cap out of my shifter. The referee came up to us and said that we couldn't get anymore free laps. I think about it now and I get really mad, but it was one of those things that happens sometimes and all you can do is forget about it. It is what it is. It was a shitty way to end my collegiate season, but overall I felt I had a strong season and was at a point where I could change the outcome of some races and that was my ultimate goal. I raced later in the Cat 4's to try and redeem myself, only got lapped once and didn't get pulled, better than any open race I have been in, so overall not so bad. I hope to get involved in some open races over the summer and try to gain some more experience. Getting on another team would be really awesome as well... thanks for checking in and I will try to get ahold of some pictures from people who have cameras.

Durango TTT and Crit

Quick update, took second in the TTT today with the metro team, I think if we work on it a little we could win next week in Grand Junction. Big improvement from last year yet again.
The crit went alright, 13th, riding for the teammates a more today, and didn't feel like a I had a good enough recovery between the TTT and the crit. But I'm off to bed, big Durango road race tomorrow and I need the all the rest I can get. Until tomorrow thanks for checking in.

CC and Air Force

To all of my faithful readers, sorry for the hiatus, for it has been a busy couple of weeks. I spent this past weekend racing in Colorado Springs mostly hanging out with all the good people from DU. Good and Bad all around. The hill climb was cancelled due to ice on the course, so it was just a Crit and Road Race this weekend. The Crit went right through CC campus, with a 180 degree turn right near the gate, and a small hill and a small switchback power climb on the other side. Pretty fun course for sure and my result ended up turning out pretty well. Right out of the gate a break started with CSU starting and CU following with me trying to jump on as well. I was able to get onto the break, held on for about 3 laps and sort of hit a wall. I waited for a few chasers to jump on my wheel and was able to rest for a bit and recharge the batteries. One guy from CSU jumped on my wheel and we managed to make up some time on the break in front of us, but then on the climb he decided to attack?! Not sure why but he did, and I didn't chase. I waited again for more chasers, and I was joined by a kid from CC and David Leanord from UNC. We worked much better together, and ended up catching the kid from CSU who attacked me. We stayed together until the final 2 laps, then CC attacked on the climb, with CSU following. I didn't have much gas left, and cruised in for 5th place. I was pleased with my performance, ideally I would have stayed with the first break, but it didn't happen. Corey told me my tactics were very good, so more to improve on for next week.
Next day was the Road Race at Air Force. I came into it very mixed about how well I was going to do. First lap went pretty well with the pace real fast right out of the gate. A few attacks tried to go right away with no success from anyone who tried. On the first climb I got gapped out and it went downhill from there. I was joined with a kid from Wyoming who seemed to be in just as much pain as I was, so it wasn't all bad. We stayed together for most of the second lap, we both burned plenty of matches trying to catch the group. Then I blew up and had nothing left at all. So I dropped out with 1 lap to go. I hate to drop out, but I did and we all have at some point I guess. I just need to work on my endurance racing a little more. I feel I have been real strong in the majority of our crits this year so the road racing part is the one I need to work on. Especially with real tough races in Durango and Grand Junction coming up. I hope to have a good week of training trying to get ready for the big races this weekend in Durango. Until then thanks for reading...

Oredigger Classic

Well funny to think that about a year ago I weighed in at about 225 and I struggled to keep my bike going up a hill. (look back at March of 2006) and rode lookout mountain somewhere near 36 minutes. This weekend I weighed about 193 pounds I rode up lookout in under 28 minutes. So it is safe to say that I have improved a lot. Lookout went real well, wind was blowing pretty hard, but i suppose it could have been worse.
The next day I had the circuit race on the School of Mines campus in Golden. Not really my style of race with a real hard climb up one side and up to the finish. I hung with the group for a couple of laps but it was all that I had and ended getting dropped off the back. I cruised in for 16th according to one of my teammates. Not to bad, but either way I got a good workout in. Got this next weekend off for racing, I think a century ride might be in order for the coming weekend...

CU/CSU

CU

Sorry its been awhile for my updates, but I'm pretty busy! Well to start out, CU was last week, and had a pretty strong races all weekend. Saturday morning was the TT which was a disappointment to say the lease. It was about an 8 mile course, only problem was you had to park your car at the finish and ride 8 miles to the start, not so fun. We just won't talk about the time trial, I don't think it will hurt all my faithful readers feelings.
Later that evening there was the crit at the CU research park. The course was super flat and only about 1K in length. For once the C race didn't start at the ass crack of dawn, so it was actually warm outside. I got there early enough to watch Corey try his luck in a break with Karl Menzies, Jason Donald, Tim Johnson, and John Tarkington. That was fun to watch for sure, I was surprised how many big names showed up out in boulder. The A race was eventful, and fat ass lost in a sprint this week, that usually doesn't happen but fun to watch for sure.
Anyways, my race started after all the big races, we even had some more experienced guys give us a little criterium tutorial. On my part it was stuff I already knew, but very good for guys who never raced before. The race got underway after that, only for a crash within the first 200 feet of the race. Apparently some people neglected everything that the more experienced guys said and did stupid things in a race anyway. Luckily the crash was right behind me and I was not involved and able to keep rolling. Obviously the CU guys had a lot of racers there, and they were setting pace on the front the entire time. The course had lots of potholes and their were plently of places that were really dangerous. Some kid from FLC who was sitting on the front was all over the place the whole race and managed to take my teammate Corey Nale out of the race. In the process he wripped a Record Deraillieur off of a non replaceable deraillieur hanger on a Scott CR1 frame, ouch. Later in the race a few breaks tried to go but didn't stick and I knew that it was going to come down to a field sprint. Right before the 1 lap to go mark, dipshit from FLC dumped it and took out at least 7 guys with him. In the process I got gapped from the top 10 and had to try to play catch up to the field. It didn't quite work, and I ended up settling for 12th. Overall not a bad race, had I been closer to the front I wouldn't have been involved in that crash, but live and learn I suppose. My teammate Corey Davis took 4th place, which means that didn't have a bad day.
Next day was the road race out near Louisville. At first the race was very chill and we wern't hammering to hard out of the gate. By the middle of the first lap CU had made a strong move and I was struggling to stay with the group. I stayed with the group until the middle of lap 2 and then was dropped into a smaller chase group chasing the peloton. We had 3 guys, and were making a real good effort to get back into the main group. Then our 3rd guy flatted with half a lap to go, and it was me and a Utah kid. He set pace for a good portion of the way back. We both had it out in a sprint at the end, and I ended up beating him and rolling in for 12th place. Race could have gone better, but that was the first time that I have felt good climbing on my bike...ever. So I look at the brighter side of it. Quick note, the kid from Utah had a sticker on his bike that said, "I love mormon pussy" wasn't quite sure what to think of it.

CSU
The CSU weekend consisted of a TTT, Road Race, Criterium. I drove up to Greeley the night before, to stay with Corey and cut my driving time down a little bit. When I got there Corey helped me get ready for my weekend of racing and hooked me up with the big Dura-Ace 11-23 cassette, I felt faster already. We woke up to it raining outside, and started our drive towards Masonville where the TTT and Road Race were being held. I started the TTT with two of my new teammates from metro where we did the first TTT we have done together. All of our levels of fitness were different so it was hard to work together. But we pulled through and managed getting a 2nd place finish, which we were all very pleased with.
Later that day I did the RR with rain coming down even harder and sitting at about 40 degrees. Much fun on the bike for sure, the first lap was very low key, no big moves, just almost like a group ride. Lap 2 was a little faster, a couple moves tried to go but with no success. It was very hard to see much of anything because of all the rain and mud so that made it even more interesting. One part of the course there was a 90 degree turn at the bottom of a big downhill. One of my teammates got his wheel clipped, and dumped it pretty good. He jumped back up quick, but had a mechanical after that. At that point a break had gone away, and we were chasing to try to get on. I blew up pretty fast and started losing places. On that back stretch there was a long downhill that you could make up some time on. When I got to the top my teammate who crashed was right back with me, and said that he had legs and could lead me out. He smoked it on the front for the better part of 4 miles, caught the chase group and I burst ahead and won the field sprint to roll in for 7th place. Felt real good to have a teammate with me to help out, but that is what a team is for I suppose. My former teammate Mike Warren won the Road race, congrats to him!
Sunday morning we went to the Oval Crit in Ft. Collins. Very fun course for sure, and I wasn't sure what to expect. The weather couldn't have been better, even at 8am! The race started off pretty fast with the CSU guys setting pace up front, I got in a good position, and stayed in it for the majority of the race. Both of my teammates said that they were not feeling good from the day before, and said they were out there to race for me today. So I was the guy and I had to be smart. I felt like I did well tactically for sure. Then the bell rang with 3 laps to go and it was "on like donkey kong" as Dave Towle would say. My teammate Corey Davis jumped on the front and set a wicked pace at the end. We came out on the oval for the last lap and he had led me out the best he could. All of the sudden, I was swarmed by a bunch of CSU kids, and I couldn't get position for my sprint. Finally there was an opening and I got out, and sprinted in for 6th place. Today was probably the best I have felt all year, and I think it showed today. I wasn't where I should have been at the end, after a perfect leadout from my teammates. But felt like I had a strong sprint for the finish.

Whew maybe I should spend more time on my homework, and I hope I didn't bore anybody too much. I will try to update a little more often and make it a little more interesting. Until next time, thanks for checking in!

Metro State TT/ DU Crit

Hey all, what a large weekend of racing for me. My new team was hosting their first race this weekend out at Bear Creek Lake Park here in the Littleton area. We had a real solid turnout for all of the collegiate categories as well as all the open categories. It was a real nice day out, not to cold and not to hot. I raced the collegiate race and did the course in 25:40 which I was pretty impressed with. I found out that I placed 12th, so thats a jump from the week before which I took 17th. Later I did the open category and shaved nearly 40 seconds off of my time. Seeing how I new the course now, I was able to have a good plan going into it. I stuck around all day and watched Scotty Boy and Corey do their TT's.

The next day was the DU criterium at Invesco Field at Mile High. The new time change made the sun not come up until nearly race time. The night before it rained a lot, so the course was a little damp and frozen in some spots. By the time we started racing there was fog everywhere and you couldn't see that far in front of you. I had a good warm up going into it and I was confident at the start. Right off the bat the pace was real fast with the CU guys going real hard in front. I never had great position, and I was sitting in the back of the pack most of the time which is not a fantastic place to be. Then one of the CU kids attacked and the pace quickened even more than the start. So I spent the majority of my race just trying to hang on to the back. The CU kid ended up soloing for the win and winning by nearly a minute. I finished with the chase group and took 12th. I was the only kid on my team that ended up finishing out of the 7 who started. This definately showed that I am the strongest out of all of the C riders that we have, so maybe we can have more of a plan going into next week.

Later that day I went into the Cat 4 race. Last time I did a Cat 4 race I lasted a lap or two tops and got pulled out of the race. They blew the whistle, I jumped on my pedals and off comes my chain. I kept trying to pedal and it finally came back on. I caught up with the pack after a real big effort, and stayed with it for about 20 minutes or so. But that beats how long I lasted in the other Cat 4 race I did. Afterwords I looked at my HR monitor and realized that I averaged 192 for 20 minutes. Seeing as that 182 is my threshold, I knew I gave it my all, better luck next time I guess.

All in all it was a pretty solid weekend, 4 races in 2 days, and im exhausted. This weekend tactically I raced really stupid, but I have high hopes for next week at CU. I hope that the kid who won the crit will move up to B's because he obviously is strong enough to be a B if he is beating everybody else by a minute. Well as of right now my legs feel like Jello, and I'm looking forward to a day off the bike, and to rest a little. As some of you know I got a job at a bike shop down here in Littleton, so I am back to working on bikes again. Well I am off to study for my Spanish Mid-term later today. Thanks to all who supported me this weekend, Ali, Holly, Shawn, Alli, my dad, and Corey for helping me out yet again. Thanks for checking in.

ZIPPS!

So you might see Evan and his faithful giant riding on Zipp 404s this weekend...pictures later

Lobo Classic

Wow! What a whirlwind weekend. Well the weekend went really well, I didn't really know what to expect going into it. The ITT went well for my first one, at least I didn't get last. The course was rolling hills and a larger climb to a turnaround. The hill was bigger than I expected, and I know I lost some time there for sure. Something to work on for next week for Metro's ITT. I ended up flatting about 200 meters from the finish of the ITT, luckily not in the middle of it. I ended up taking 17th which I am happy with, considering I didn't know what to expect.

Next up was the crit. The course was a real flat square basically in the middle of a soccer field. The road was a little narrow, and all the turns were 90 degrees, so there were plenty of crashes for sure. There was a kid from UNM riding like a retard, but I guess that is to be expected. There were probably about 4 crashes, everyone of them a direct result of the kid being an idiot. Anyway, I felt good the whole time worked a little, chased back a few breaks and felt strong the whole time. The last lap I wasn't feeling very good, but our good friend from UNM crashed on the final corner. Making a lot of the kids around him slow down. When I saw this I shifted down and started my sprint, I caught one kid in it, and lost 4th place by a wheel length or so, and rolled in for 5th. This is the best result in any race for me, I hope it is a sign of better things to come. If I had a camera to take pictures I would. Maybe Scotty Boy will take some for me next week...

Not long until my first race!

Hey everybody, sorry for the hiatus on my blog for the past couple of weeks. I had a long weekend in Seattle with the family for my grandmothers 70th birthday. My aunt and uncle did a suprise party that they had been planning since before Christmas. We had a lot of cousins that I had not seen since I was probably 8 or so, so it was a lot of fun for sure. We spent a day in downtown Seattle ate some really good seafood, and went to a music museum called the EMP. It is a tribute to a lot of the music that has some out of Seattle, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Jimi Hendrix. But it was a pretty cool to see a lot of the memorbilia that they had there. They had the guitar that Jimi Hendrix played at woodstock in 1969, handwritten lyrics from Kurt Cobain, pretty cool stuff for sure.
Aside from my trip to Seattle, I made it back into Colorado late monday night. Had my first day back on the bike on Tuesday. Next week I'm finally going to get to do some real hard efforts before my first race at UNM on the 3rd of March. I'm real excited to see how I do in my first race. I've been working really hard and I'm hoping that it pays off. But we shall see after my first race. I have been glued to the TV every night since the Tour of California started, and I can't help but think that the call that the referee made the other day was a bad one. Ben Jaques-Maines should have been wearing the yellow I think, and Levi is really lucky that he was able to keep his spot. I hope that mistakes like this will just make the referees better in the future. The next stage showed that Levi was in really good form looked way more comfortable on those climbs than just about anybody. Jens Voigt was really fun to watch, went on the attack and stayed away all day for the win, and won with room to spare. Anyways, I got 10 hours of base to do this week so I better get out and start it up, thanks for checking in, more updates soon.

Not letting a little snow get me down

Well I woke up to a small dusting of snow this morning, but I refuse to spend today on the trainer. The forecast calls for it to have flurries all day today, and we are looking at a high of 23 degrees. I had a solid weekend of training, and it started out on friday with a light ride with Corey and Brian for just over an hour. On Saturday I went on about a 2 hour ride or so in Greeley, and then made my way back to Denver for a concert that night. Me and my brothers went to Bela Fleck and the Flecktones at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Denver. It was a really good show and Bela Fleck is one of the best banjo players I have ever seen, it was very impressive for sure. On Sunday, I got out on the mountain bike for the first time since September or so. Rode on some dirt trails around the Littleton area it was kinda muddy but it was a lot of fun. Yesterday I did a light ride due to swimming about a mile in a half in swimming class. Well I have a big week on the bike ahead of me due to my small vacation to Seattle for a long weekend. Thanks for checking in.

Transition Week 1

Well I started my Transition for my training this week and it has been going really well. Finally got out of base and get to hurt a little bit on the bike. Monday was a beautiful 60 degrees outside, with dry roads pretty much all around. Couldn't have asked for a better day and beats the hell out of my bedroom and riding inside. I rode around the chatfield resevoir and on some of the local trails here in the metro denver area. Tuesday was my work day, and I went on a similar route but went a little longer this time, and spent some time near Roxbouroh park near littleton. My highlight of the day was seeing a pack of 3 coyotes chasing down a deer. The passed over the road not 20 meters from me, so there was a little excitement there. I'm heading to Greeley on Friday, and I will be there most of Saturday, if anybody wants to ride give me a shout!

I might just get out of my lease!

Well hello all, I recieved a very good phonecall the other day with somebody who was interested in my room! Didn't quite think it was possible at this point but I think I might get lucky. Anywho, I got a lot of good feedback from my review of my road bike the other day. To answer everybody's question about the orange tape, time for a change maybe it will come out when road season starts. I'm coming to greeley tomorrow to fix the shock on my mountain bike and have this kid come look at my house. But for right now its time for another episode of the office. As soon as the mountain bike is fixed there will be a review on it. Thanks for checking in.

PS Planning a trip to Moab on March 19th, anybody interested?

Road Bike Review

So finally doing a bike review that I have been talking about for so long, so here is bike review #1.
This is my Giant OCR 1 road bike, I have had it now for just over a year and I love it.


I'll start with wheels and tires, The wheels are 700c Xero Lite XSR-3 wheels. They were the wheels that came on the bike and I have yet to replace them. So far they have worked pretty well, they are very light, but the issue that I have had with them is duribility. I plan on getting some Mavic Askiums here before the race season starts. Right now I am running Vittoria Zaffiro tires that Mark Cooper gave me for all of my training. They have been really good with the flat protection, and they are very tough, the only problem I have had is that they are a wire beaded tire so they are not easy to get on and off.

Next is my 9 Speed Ultegra Rear Derallieur(probably can't see it), this is the one that came on the bike. It is actually a long cage derallieur but it hasn't given me any problems.

My cassette is a 12-26 SRAM and my chain is a 9 speed SRAM with a quick link.

This is my Fizik Aliante Saddle that is on top of a Giant Carbon seatpost. I'm actually the second owner of the saddle, I got it from Scott for nice and cheap. I ran an Aliante on my mountain bike and for cross season, my previous saddle was my Serfas Stinger, and after a full season of mountain and cross, my ass no longer liked the stinger.

This next shot is of my Easton EA30 stem which came on the bike, along with the giant integrated headset that came stock on the bike.

This next shot shows my Ultegra 9 speed shifters, and my front brake. Not sure what kind of brake it is, but it looks identical to Tektro road brakes, so I'm going to say that they are Tektros. The handlebar is a name that I have not heard of but I like them so far and no problems with them. It says Ergo Anatomic on them? Those are wrapped up in White Cinelli cork bar tape.

Next are my Speedplay Zero Stainless pedals. These are one of the first really big upgrades I put on my bike and I can't say enough about them. I would highly reccomend them to anybody who wants a great pedal.

This last shot is of my crank that I picked up this summer. It is a FSA Energy 53-39 with a FSA bottom bracket. The glare is pretty bad but you can sort of see my Ultegra Front Derallieur in the picture.
Well I plan on doing a lot more upgrades on this bike, but this will have to do for now. I hope to have a really good race season this year and this is the rig that I am going to do it on. Hopefully I will have the motor to make it go fast.
Thanks for checking in.