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...