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!