Sunday, March 25, 2007

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!

Monday, March 12, 2007

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.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

ZIPPS!

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

Monday, March 05, 2007

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...