Cali

The team and I are now in California for U23 Nationals. We've been here since Saturday, raced the time trial yesterday, and race the criterium tonight. I got 36th in the TT and Oscar got 23rd, hopefully we'll be able to do a bit better tonight. It was nice arriving at our beach house days before the first race because that gave us plenty of time to pre-ride the courses and even spend a little time in the waves (though we have had to be super careful not to wear ourselves out).

(I haven't felt very motivated to write recently, so that's why I haven't been. I figure there's no reason to sit down and make myself write when I don't feel like it because if I'm not motivated, the writing will probably be boring anyway. Hopefully I'll come up with some good stories to tell soon...)

Das alotta drivin'

Already packed up from the night before we woke up bright and early (4:30) Tuesday morning to head back to Pennsylvania. We thought leaving by 5 would at least get us through Chicago before the morning rush hour hit, but we had no such luck. Before we knew it we were rolling slow in traffic at like 6 am! The hold up wasn't too bad however, and as we made our way across the states we probably spent close to $30 on tolls on our 14 hour trek. Arriving in Kutztown that evening, it was nice to be back in that familiar house that we had called home for the first half of the summer.

The next morning, while Oscar and Thomas slept in longer than I had ever seen them, I ran out and got coffee and prepared pancakes for the 3 of us. Soon after they woke up we got straight to work planning and packing the Volvo. It ended up that we had to ship 2 boxes of random stuff home (in addition to the TT bikes we sent to CA) so that we would have enough room in the car for everything, but it was still and incredibly tight squeeze. If it weren't for Thomas working his master packing skills like he always does, there's no way everything would have fit. The car was absolutely stuffed to the brim (remember that we brought 2 cars up here in the first place, and the only difference now was that Jafer had already headed home with his bags).

Thursday morning, again we woke up bright and early (5:30 this time) to start on the home stretch back to Atlanta. This leg of the trip lasted around 13 hours including all the bathroom and gas stops we made. Weighed down as it was, the car was not getting near as good of gas mileage as it normally did....but i was kinda ok with that because it meant we got to stop more which I always enjoyed. Having half of the back seat and sitting with all our pillows and sheets, Thomas made a nest and passed out for most of the ride after putting in his first couple hours at the wheel. We arrived home at a pretty decent time (around 7:30 pm) which gave me plenty of time to go out and catch up with friends. We've driven a total of 27 hours in the last 3 days....it was good to be home.

Holy Hill Road Race (Monday) & more...

This was our last day of racing, and, honestly, we probably could have done without it. Oscar and I started the race which was shortened to 68 miles instead of 90 after the start got delayed. Oscar dropped out about half way through after putting in a couple good attacks, and I didn't have much of an impressive finish either. There were a couple big rollers on the course and I just never really felt good going over them.... or anywhere else on the course for that matter. It actually kind of felt like my brakes were rubbing the whole race (they weren't actually, but that's how sluggish I felt). At the finish I didn't really have room to sprint anywhere either because it just got so swarmed and crowded. I came across the line around 35th or 40th.

A good thing that happened Monday was that my cousin, Logan Biggs, who is going to school in Milwaukee came to watch the race. He drove his motorcycle out to the course and then followed us home to hang out for a while. We ended up going over to his girlfriend's loft to play some video games, eat, and just hang out for the night. It was really good to get to see him.

Tuesday morning we woke up at 4:30 am and started our 13 hour drive back to Kutztown. Now today, Wednesday, we have spent much of the day packing up and planning how we're going to fit everything in the car for tomorrow's drive home. We packed up 2 TT bikes in a box, 5 wheels in another box, and some other random stuff in another box to ship home because we won't have room in the car to carry everything (we had 2 cars to bring it all up here). We plan to leave early tomorrow morning and arrive in Atlanta in the evening. It's going to be good to get home for a while, but I can't get too settled in because we leave to go to California for nationals on August 2nd.

Evanston (Sunday)

For Sunday's criterium we headed back down to the Chicago area to the suburb of Evanston, IL. There was a huge showing for Sunday's race in both fans and riders. I'd say this was one of the biggest fields we had raced against in Superweek, and that, in combination with a couple tight turns and a nearly a dozen poorly situated man-hole covers made for a pretty sketchy race. The race was stopped twice because of bad crashes (situations where the rider(s) does not get up right away and then nobody wants him to move until the ambulance gets there...so he just lays in the street); we were first stopped for 15 or 20 min with 16 laps to go which was actually fine with me because I had just gotten caught from going off the front trying (unsuccessfully) to get a prime, so it allowed me time to recover. When that crash happened, with 17 to go, Oscar was on my wheel and I was on the wheel of the guy who wrecked.....basically, I think he took the corner too wide and might have been blinded by the bright setting sun and ended up running into the outside curb/barrier which sent his bike flying up and back out onto the road right in front of me! I kind of ducked and swerved to avoid the back half of his bike which was right at eye level in front of me, and Oscar and I both escaped alive.

The second stoppage of the race occurred after a wreck with 5 or 6 laps to go. After a long 20 min intermission we were back on the road and they had bumped the lap counter up to 10 laps to go so they would have time to finish handing out primes. I was feeling really good in the closing laps and was able to fight for and maintain position close to the front. I passed a few people in the sprint but not as many as I would have liked to or could have had it been more wide open. The next day however, when we looked at results, I was not listed..... I think it may have been because I finished on the opposite side of the road than the camera was on so I may have been blocked by other riders. By then, most of the checks had already been handed out and there wasn't much I could do about the wrong results.

Thomas was feeling pretty worn out from all the racing and didn't finish Evanston, and Oscar was in good form towards the end but just never really made it up to the front to contest the sprint or attack.

Lake Michigan (Saturday)

We all took another rest day today which turned out to be a good choice cause it was a nasty, wet day anyway. Instead of racing we took the opportunity to go check out Lake Michigan which is pretty close by. Down by the lake it was super foggy and made for a really cool, peaceful setting as we skipped rocks, played on the shore, and climbed out on some barrier boulders. I brought my towel cause my mind was set on swimming but as soon as I touched the water I decided otherwise. It was as cold as an ice bath, and almost the second I submerged my foot it went numb....I'll pass on the swimming.

While we were out we also stopped at this awesome bakery and picked up two homemade loaves of bread which we've been devouring ever since.

I've also come to realize how lucky we've been with host housing. We've stayed at 3 host houses in a row and every time we've been treated to our own living area in the basement of the host's house. In Chicago, the Joslyns could not have been a single bit more helpful or enjoyable to be around then they were; and this time we even have our own mini fridge and big flat screen T.V. in the basement! Everyone is so nice to host and put up with cyclists like us.

Not quite the ideal race situation....

With a big pancake/waffle lunch sitting heavy in our stomachs, we piled into the car a little after 3 pm and headed to the town of Ripon, WI for Friday's race. We knew we had 80-something miles ahead of us to get to the race and had planned to leave at 2:30, but the lunch I had prepared ran a little longer than expected...but no biggie, we'd still arrive like an hour and a half before our 6 pm start time (we thought). So around 3:45, while we were on the road, Oscar picks up this piece of paper in the back seat, looks at it for a minute, looks up at us and goes, "You know the race starts at 4:45 right?" In the front seat, all Thomas and I could say was "uuuuuuuuuuuhhhhh." We looked at our directions and an atlas and figured we still had around 50 miles to go....and about an hour before the race starts, "Well, we're almost half way there, lets just try to make it." Instead of driving 60 mph and stopping to get coffee as I had requested, we started pushing the speed limit a bit and the only stop we made was when we pulled over for 30 seconds because Oscar swore he was about to pee all over the back seat.

We got to Ripon at exactly 4:45 expecting hear the starters gun unload as soon as we pulled up, but luckily the women's race was still in progress. I don't think I've ever been happier to see a race running late. Oscar had decided to take the day off, so he ran over to registration to check in and pick up wrist bands for Thomas and me as the two of us whipped our clothes on, pumped tires, and mixed drinks and made it to the start line in about 15 min. The course had hills on 3 of the 4 straightaways so it was terribly hard to start the race with no warm up. Actually, it was worse than terrible; I immediately started doing Oscars famously funny "pain cave dance," but this time it was no joke. The first 45 min was the most I've ever struggled in the early going of a race. First of all, I started at the back of the group which meant there was a huge acceleration out of each corner and up the hills. My stomach cramped almost immediately simply because we'd just finished stuffing our faces with waffles just 2 hours prior to the start, and in addition, my legs felt pretty stiff and not "opened up" from taking that rest day the day before. Totally out of breath and suffering, I started taking the corners really sloppily, and that only added to the pain inflicted by having to sprint out of the corners even harder. Other riders that I had been so much better than in previous stages were coming flying by me on the hills and I was doing all I could just to hold on to the back, sitting almost last wheel. Only 2 laps into the race I was ready to slam on the brakes, drop out, and head home. A thousand things started swarming through my head "I'll probably feel better tomorrow, I don't have to finish today," "why am I doing this to myself?" "what's wrong with me!?!" I knew I couldn't finish the race, so now it was just a question of how long I wanted to torture myself.

It usually takes me while into a race to warm up, but I never thought I'd pull out of this one. Then, between like 70 and 65 laps to go (it was a 100 lap race) I just started feeling better and better with every lap and my attitude changed. It came as somewhat of a surprise and relief to myself when I finally got the feeling that I was gonna be able to make it. Instead of dancing with pain, I started dancing with ease up the hills each lap. Then, with 20 laps to go, it started raining..... 3of 4 corners on the course were downhill and fast. The race had already blown apart with only like 30 riders remaining, but as soon as it started raining, riders started dropping like flies; not "getting dropped" but sliding out and falling almost every lap. Most of these guys got back in however, and by the finish it seemed like about half the field now had bloody, skinned up hips. I'm pleased to say that I went yet another day retaining all my skin.

While making sure to take the corners carefully was a good thing in the closing, rainy laps of the race, it hurt me a little bit on the very last lap (by then the roads were nearly dry again). I was feeling decent and if I hadn't been a little too cautious around a couple of the last turns, I would have been able to jump past a few people on the hills, but I didn't. I pretty much just held my position on the last lap and was able to keep anyone from passing me in the sprint. I'd say I ended up placing around 15th in the bunch.

Shorewood = rest day for me

Thursday morning Oscar, Thomas and I loaded up the Volvo and headed North to Milwaukee where the second week of Super "Week" was to take place. Jafer departed the night before to spend a couple days in downtown Chicago with his cousin and then a couple more on a farm with his grandparents and uncles. We won't see him again until we get back to Atlanta (we're gonna be back sometime in the last few days of July), so he got to skip out on the 25 hours of driving we have to get from here to Kutztown and then back to Atlanta......lucky!

After settling in a bit at our new host house, about 2 hours from Chicago, we headed down the road to Shorewood for the kiddies to race (I was taking the day off). I almost got swept up and convinced to race by just being around all the race hub bub, but I thought better of it and decided to stick to the plan and take a rest day. Instead, I took off for a nice easy spin along the coast of Lake Michigan, mouth agape at how incredibly huge some of the lake front mansions were. I'm not sure how people can afford such huge houses on such pricey land, but it must nice to live on the water like that.

After riding I returned to the course just as the boys' race was starting and, after occupying a Starbucks bathroom for too long to fill up bottles and a jug, I headed around to the backside of the course to feed Oscar and Thomas. There was a huge field, and they were absolutely flying and super strung out each time they came through. After being helped to the front by the OC with about 3 laps to go, Thomas was sitting in a really good spot with 1 lap to go but said some really sketchy stuff happened on the last lap. Both boys rolled across the line outside of the top 30. With Kelly Benefits on the front chasing a break down for the entire race, it looked like a pretty unrelentingly fast race.

Two days of Bensenville (Tuesday & Wednesday)

Tuesday and Wednesday the crits were held on the same course, and both days the field was whittled down to a mere 40 riders by the finish. Breaks had been successful the past couple days, so both Tuesday we went in with the objective of getting in one ourselves. Tuesday saw a group of around 8 go off the front really early on (like 5 or 10 laps into the 80 lap race), and none of us were prepared or in a position where we could follow it so unfortunately they escaped without us and lapped the field. Later that day, starting with about 20 laps to go, Oscar and I moved up to hang around the front, looking for another move to go. A group of 4 or 5 got away without us, but as soon as the next person jumped, attempting to bridge, I went with him. The two of us gained a little time on the group we were chasing (which never got out of sight), but after only a couple laps we were swallowed back up again. With expert timing, as soon as Oscar saw me surrender to the charging field, he jumped off the front, and within the next lap or two he joined the group already off the front. Nearing the end, another group of around 7 caught up to Oscar's group and they all rode it out to the finish. Because there had already been a group of 8 to lap the field, Oscar's group was battling it out for 9th place through 20 something. Oscar managed to get around 10th in the sprint, securing him 19th in the race.

The next day not much happened. After making the mistake of not coming to the front until the break had already escaped the first day, I made sure to stay up in the front for maybe the first 15 or 20 laps until it was clear that Rock Racing didn't care to get in a break that day. Unlike previous days or any other teams, Rock had 7 riders on Wednesday and were just sitting on and chasing attacks. As the field got whittled down to around 30 or 40 riders again, I waited until the closing 20 laps before I came back to the front. Attacks had started once again, and I was only jumping on the sruff that had Rock guys in it. Nothing stuck except for a really awesome solo effort by a member of the Columbian National Track team who will be going to the Olympics very soon. He escaped by himself and put 45 seconds on the rest of us by the finish. I didn't set up for the sprint very well and got a little held up by a couple guys in front of me that weren't contesting. I think I ended up placing about 30th.

Richton Park Crit (Monday)

Arriving in Richton park we looked at results from the previous day and found out that Thomas had placed 16th and I 19th. We also picked up our payout from the first 2 stages and have a combined total of $230 so far...hopefully we can keep adding to the pot!

I don't know if maybe none of us were just having the best day on the bike, or if the pace was really just that much faster.....but Monday's race was hard. There were a lot of fast guys there including a few riders from teams like Kelly Benefits, Rock Racing, Team Type 1, Texas Roadhouse (who won the stage), and Bissell. We did the full 100 km distance, and it seemed to crawl by as floated back and forth in through the field, not really wanting to expend too much energy before the finish. Pretty early on, a break of 8 got up the road and ended up lapping the field just before the finish despite the efforts of many riders who tried to up the pace with about 30 laps to go. When we finally did reach 10 to go I started moving up and jumping on some last minute attacks made by other riders, but I guess having already made the mistake of letting one break slip away today, no one in the bunch wanted to let it happen again. With about 3 to go, Thomas and I were just trying to hang tough towards the front, but I was really hurting at this point; we couldn't make it up far enough to be in contention for the sprint. As Thomas whizzed by me at the finish, I had no acceleration left and we both settled for around a top 30 or 40. Fast race.

Olympia Park Crit (Sunday's race)

First off, we found out results from the previous day. In the Blue Island crit, I crossed the line in 18th, Thomas in 25th, Oscar around 45th, and Jafer in 50th.

Sunday's Olympia Park crit was a pretty interesting race. As we arrived, parked, and jumped out to go sign in and survey the course, we found ourselves more or less in the middle of a construction site. The course, which they had shortened to a crazy .45 mi, was a 4 corner circuit through one of those ugly new neighborhoods where the developer just clear cuts hundreds of acres and then builds the same house about a hundred times....the only difference was that all the houses hadn't even been built yet. This meant that in parts of the course, on either side of the street there mud pits and construction supplies stacked up very close to the edge of the road.

About 30 min before our scheduled start time, the officials called all racers up to the line to get our opinion on something. Apparently they were in a debate with one another on whether or not we should even race; on the backside of the course there was little downhill that, when paired with the tailwind on that side, made for an extremely fast 3rd corner; other than that, there was a small but potentially deadly lip running the length of the course, on both sides of the road sticking out about a foot or so from the curbs. That, on top of the short distance of the lap had the officials worried that our race may develop into a chaotic free-for-all with numerous riders lapping the field numerous times in the midst of horrific crashes in the 3rd corner. Well, I can tell you that none of that happened, and it turned into a very sane race for the amount of deliberation and worry that went on before hand. Long story short, the officials didn't actually want our input, and we kinda just sat there for about 30 minutes watching them deliberate between running 2 separate heats, splitting up the pro/1 riders from us cat 2's (which we were all for, because that would have put us in good position for the stage win), shortening the race, or canceling it all together. In the end they decided to simply shorten it to 80 laps.

Once underway, Jafer and I both got flat tires (Jafer's almost causing him to wipe out in a corner) but were back in business pretty quick after visiting the Sram neutral support pit where they suited us up with some nice Zipp 404's that they used for spares. Thomas also ended up breaking a shifting cable in the midst of the action and was graciously allowed back in after a number of free laps.

There were a few crashes along the way, most, if not all happening in that 3rd corner. Jafer came closest to hitting the deck when he started sliding out in the 3rd corner but was caught and bounced back up by the guy riding on his inside through the turn. In one especially bad episode, an Australian rider went down in the 3rd turn and didn't get up. No one wanted to move him before the ambulance arrived so the race was stopped with only 16 laps (less than 8 miles) to go! We sat there at the start line for 15 or 20 min waiting for the rider to be carted from the road, and by the time we got under way again the pain of having cooled down after a hard effort had set in as I tried to get back up to speed.

The rest of the race played out fine. When we were stopped with 16 to go there was a 4 man break up the road with a strong Bissell rider in it; those guys survived the remainder without getting caught, and as Rock Racing lead out the field in the closing laps, Thomas held on for around a 10th place finish in the field (14th in the race). I wasn't too far behind, and while we don't have any results yet, I'm pretty sure I made it into the top 25 (that's how deep prize dolla bills go).

Superweek begins

Last night we competed in our first crit of the Superweek series. We will be racing here in Illinois through the 16th before we head up to Milwaukee for the remainder (the series goes through the 28th (i think), but we have yet to determine how many more races we will do once in Wisconsin before heading back home).

Yesterday was a simple, pan-flat crit course with 4 corners and wide city roads so with the exception of some indented man-hole covers and sizable cracks on the backside of the course, there was not much at all to slow the speed of the race. I think all 8 of our legs felt pretty good, but there was some fast (and sketchy) competition. In the closing laps we were packed into the peloton pretty tight, and Thomas and I managed to pass a few people in the long finishing stretch to both place inside the top 25.

The fans at this race were pretty incredible. The front (finishing) straight of the course was on the main street in Blue Island, and the back stretch tore through what looked like an old, rather historic neighborhood; both sides were lined with spectators, the front with the normal cheering crowd (including our host parents who had made a big green Kudzu.com sign to cheer us on), and the back was scattered with picnicking partiers. It seemed like every house the race passed had a canopy, chairs, and blankets scattering the front yard, with all the residents enjoying a dinner picnic as they screamed at us every lap. Not only this, but as soon as we pulled up and parked at the race, an older woman and two little boys (the woman and boys came separately) hurried over asking for our autographs! Not that our signatures would mean anything to them because they weren't exactly legible and I'm sure they've never heard of us before even if they could read the names we scribbled.....but it still felt really cool and motivating.

How dat boy pedal so fast?

Fitchburg wasn't all piss and games; after Oscar finished 14th in both the time trial and the road race's mountaintop finish, the boys dominated the last two sprinters' races, Thomas winning both of those. Winning 2 stages out of 4 is really quite impressive, and the dedication, determination, and skill with which Jafer and Oscar rode to get Thomas the wins was pretty amazing in itself.

I, on the other hand, went out to put in a couple good days of training by myself. Saturday, as the other three competed in the circuit race, I went out and did some repeats of this 20 min climb nearby, and then rode to the race in time to see the closing laps of the cat 2 race and our victory. Sunday, I arrived at the crit course just a minute or two after the finish of our race, so I just missed our second win. They did real good.

Piss party

My warm, clear stream steadily impacted and trickled down the bark of a pine tree across the street from the time trial start line at stage 1 of the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic. While I was fully aware of what I was pissing ON, what (or who) i was pissing OFF was another story. Apparently, as I pissed on the tree approximately 90 seconds before the start of my TT, I was being watched by a race official who, with was becoming increasingly pissed off with each additional drop of piss I added to the tree. With no knowledge of anyone's level of pissedness, I started the TT blissfully unaware of the fact that no matter how hard I pushed on the pedals, my result in the race would remain the same: DSQ. That stands for disqualified. Looking online through the results later that night, we discovered the DSQ, and Jeremy immediately called the head official to get an explanation. The official had witnessed me taking a piss, become pissed cause that was against the rules, and after arguing with him for a good long while, Jeremy became pissed at the official's stubborn manner. I, in turn, got pretty pissed at myself for pissing where the pissed official could see me. I was out of the race for the remaining 3 stages.

I'm back!!!

(Sorry for the long absence! I had a little problem at Fitchburg and didn't feel like writing, and then I was doing some hectic traveling so didn't get a chance to post, but I'll try to get everyone updated pretty soon.)

(This is something I actually posted after the Brownstown race but before Fitchburg, but I took it down to avoid Oscar the embarrassment....but sorry Oscar, I wanted to put it back up):


Shoulda been a BMXer

Our easy ride turned a bit hazardous today as Oscar and Thomas hit a sweet jump off this grass hill next to a barn on the side of the road. Sprinting off the side of the road and up over the top of this hill, Thomas was the first one to catch big air, and Oscar followed. Mike, Jackie, and I stayed safe and sound on the road to watch the two bozos in action. Right after Thomas rolled away from the jump clean, Oscar vaulted over the jump right behind him and looked to land clean himself....but not for long. The backside of the tabletop hill was really steep and Oscar landed half on it. Immediately after the landing there was a gravel driveway, and doing practically a nose-wheelie, Oscar plowed right into it and washed out, going down hard on his side. Unluckily for him the owners had decided to fill their driveway not only with gravel, but with broken bits of clam shell as well. They sliced into his skin real nice. That's his hand.

Brownstown Road Race

Saturday we drove the 45 min necessary to get to Brownstown, PA where we were registered to do a 50 mile circuit race. Nearing our destination not much looked different from the roads around here other than the fact that there were tons more horse drawn buggies on the road. I had seen them before out on rides around Kutztown, but before this I had maybe seen 2 or 3 in the last 3 weeks of riding. In Brownstown, they were all over the place. As we were getting ready by the car on the side of the road, a buggy would trot past us every couple minutes with the little Amish children sitting in the back seat staring at us (half naked and wearing bright-colored spandex) and all of us staring back at them (fully clothed, complete with suspenders and top hats). I think it was a real culturally eye-opening experience for both parties of starers. This was Amish country apparently.

Not long after we had registered, suited up, and pinned numbers, the clouds opened up to give us a nice soaking before the start of the race. Not long after, the rain stopped and we lined up to start the race......all 17 of us......that's right, there were only 17 people there to race in the Pro/1/2/3 category. As the race unfolded, we ended up making a mistake or two and two guys ended up off the front without us. No big deal right, it's only 2 guys versus the 4 of us, and one of the guys we knew was not very fast anyway....well that's what we thought. As Oscar and I went to the front and started chasing, these guys were still gaining time on us. The two of us were accompanied at the front by a couple other guys that were not only content to let us do the chasing, but they wanted to get in our way to slow the chase. So, one time, after a good hard pull, Oscar pulled off and slotted in line right behind me as I pulled through, first wheel now. He let a big gap open up in front of him and behind me as I pulled away from the bunch. Doing this, I was not actually supposed to go anywhere serious, it was just an effort to make all the guys sitting in behind Oscar a little scared and have to sprint around him in an effort to hold my wheel....but I guess everyone was content with going slow cause no one came around him. I ended up riding off the front by myself and was now in an effort to chase the leaders alone. Oscar eventually bridged up to help me but this was a pretty bad position to be in. Through the strong winds and intense rain, we just didn't have enough gas to close down the growing gap to the two leaders. I ended up with 3rd in the race and Oscar 4th. It still kinda blows my mind how those two guys gained such a big gap (around 2 min at the finish) on the rest of us, and honestly, it's kind of embarrassing.

Race update

So we are not leaving tomorrow after all. Instead of going up to Massachusetts for a couple crits this weekend, we are not going up there until Tuesday to prepare for Fitchburg. Instead, we found a circuit race that's happening tomorrow and is a lot is closer. We are going there to race tomorrow afternoon and then not race Sunday or Monday as we had planned.

A couple good days of riding.

Heading out yesterday for a ride, we kind of did a dirt road tour, hitting 3 or 4 different dirt roads in about 2 hours. Any dirt road is a good road, and when you race down them it just makes it all the better. Not everything went so smooth on this ride, as it hardly ever does when you're riding dirt. One scary encounter was on the second dirt road we took. This road actually turned to somewhat of a paved road halfway through but was still no wider than one lane. While bombing down a hill after just racing to the hilltop, Thomas, Jafer, and I all leaned into this blind left-hand bend at 30+ mph. Just through the apex of the corner, I looked up to find myself staring directly into the front grill of a huge farm tractor hauling a gigantic trailer of hay bails.....taking up the entire road. In the split second before we smashed into the front of it, all we had time to do was throw our butts back behind our seats, lock up the brakes, and swerve off into the grassy ditch on the side of the road. No worries though, no one fell, and we all escaped with a laugh.....though I'm sure the tractor driver was pretty terrified.

Last night was junior night at the track so Mike Niemi (the boyo from Florida that is staying with us) went to do some racing. We made it there to watch him, and that's what the pictures are from. He was the junior 15-16 national time trial champion last year so he pretty much won all the races of the night. Its fun to support someone you know is gonna win.

Then, today, looking for a nice recovery ride, we rode out to Trexlertown to this bagel shop and had some of the best bagel sandwiches I've ever had.

Picnic

Tonight, after a day of playing Scrabble and chipping golf balls around the back yard (I took the day off from riding), we prepared some food and then drove to the local Gun and Rod club to cook out. When I say "we prepared some food" what I really mean is "Thomas Prepared" almost everything including turkey burgers, asparagus, baked beans, potato salad, and banana bread. I made fruit salad and made the grocery store run to get all the goods. We also brought the small grill from the house that we have to cook everything on.

We ended up with an incredible feast alongside the stream and could barely waddle back to the car once we were done gorging ourselves. And I caught a couple more fish :)

BAM!!!

That's the sound the tubular on my disc wheel made as it went from 130 psi to 0 in about half a second. I was warming up on rollers 10 minutes before the start of our first of 4 races when my tubular tire pretty much fell apart and flatted. We hadn't brought any extra track wheels from home in Georgia...much less to the track last night; nor had we brought any tools other than the one hex-wrench we used to put our wheels on. No worries though, as soon as it happened, the guy in the stall across from us in the infield offered up a spare wheel of his....and his tools. And then he actually ended up switching the gear and wheel for me because I guess I was doing it too unbearably slow for him to watch.

While I no longer had the advantage of racing with my aero disc wheel, I got back in business pretty quickly and off to a good night of racing. I finished 6th in the Win n' Out after getting in a break; Thomas rode a smart Miss n' Out and finished 6th out of 35 rider field; and Oscar, with the best performance of the night rode to a 5th place in the Points Race to be the best placed cat 2. For being the best placed cat 2 rider, he got a $44 prize that someone in the crowd had offered up, along with $10 for 5th place.

It was a full track of 35 riders again and once again filled with some good talent. The Australian national track team (either juniors or U23) were there along with Rite Aid's Bobby Lea who just qualified to go to the Olympics with the US track team.

I felt a lot more comfortable on the track last night even though I didn't place any better than last week. I felt good riding a fast, steady pace but could never really spin up my legs fast enough to contest any sprints. That was to be expected after my 4 hour ride the day before, and after the past weekend's racing. With some rest the next few days I think I'll gain a lot of speed back.....hopefully enough to do well at Fitchburg!

A ride on a Monday???

Today was the first Monday in probably my entire life that I did a real training ride. Monday's have historically been a day to rest and recover from the weekend, with just an easy hour ride at most. Well today I broke tradition and rode 4 hours with Oscar and Jackie. While I usually wouldn't have wanted such a long ride after a weekend of racing, these next couple days are the only ones I am going to have before I need to start cutting back my volume of training to get ready for Fitchburg.

This week is one of my last in this house. Either Friday or Saturday we are heading up into the New England area to race a few crits up there. Then, Fitchburg starts on next Thursday, so since we'll be in the area, I think the plan is or just get a hotel up there until the race starts. Fitchburg is a stage race that goes from Thursday to Sunday. Then, the day that ends (July 6th) I fly out of Boston to come home and drive to Pfeiffer for orientation. Aaaaaand then I get to go see Jordan at camp Celo! After a couple days there I fly into Chicago on Friday for the start of a race series called Superweek, our last set of races to tune up before nationals. Finally, after Superweek, we'll be back at the house for a couple days before coming home and flying out to California....

Giro Di Jersey done

In both today's and yesterday's stages of the race there were some strong, organized teams along with the Rite Aid pro team. We are a little bit unaccustomed to as much organization in races because not many teams are so strong or organized in the Georgia cup races. While it often does make the racing faster and harder, it also makes it more predictable. The last two days of racing were both circuit races with hills playing in as a major factor; each day Jafer got in the the main breakaway of the day, and each day I worked to lead out the sprint in the final miles. Though he did make the important moves, as he always seems to do, Jafer found little cooperation in his off the front efforts, and they did not stick. Our best placing of the weekend was made by Oscar on today's long, uphill sprint finish; after the first 10 riders finished in a break, Oscar placed 5th in the field sprint....ending up 15th for the day. Oscar and I both recieved a little bit of pay out at the end of the weekend for our positions in the overall general classification, placing 24th and 20th respectively.

Last night we decided to get a cheap room at the Extended Stay Hotel in Somersey, NJ which turned out to be a really good call. Booking the room saved us almost 4 hours of driving (back home and then to the race again today), and gave us plenty of time to lounge around, shower, wash out our clothes, get our bikes ready for the next day, and eat.........a lot. After cheching into the room, we immediately headed back out to fill our starvin bellies with some grub (we had just finished racing 74 miles so we was huuuuuuuungry). After a short bit of wandering in the volvo, we came upon a business district in a city called Bound Brook. If I had been knocked out and woke up to find myself in Bound Brook, I would have sworn I was somewhere in Mexico. There were probably at least 20 Mexican restaurants and various other stores (all with signs in spanish) lining a few blocks. Luckily, the thought of mexican food sounded great so we sat down at one of the smallest, hole-in-the-wall restaurants there was. After eating our authentic and very spicey tacos one of the guys sitting in there started talking to us and when he heard where we were from he told us he used to work in Carrolton and in Lawrenceville, so that was cool.

Just a few hours later, when we headed out for dinner, we went a different direction and found ourselves on the streets of New Brunswick right by Rutgers University. We enjoyed dinner at a little pizza/pasta/hooka bar place in the college town.

After all the driving and down time we've had between races, I have become a sudoku master.

Time trial come and gone

Jafer wrote this for the team blog so i just copied and pasted cause he pretty much said all there was to say:

It was another early morning as we headed off to New Jersey for the Giro time trial. It didn't take long for the mercury to rise as we warmed up on the 15K course. Today's course was mostly rolling with only one serious hill towards the finish. The first part of the course was super fast as it was mostly downhill with only minor rollers. After the turn around, the real race started as we gave it everything we had, to have a faster split time. We faced a large field as there were 80 riders in the pro/1/2 race. The course suited Jafer as he posted the fastest time on the team taking 20th place, followed by Joey with 25th and Oscar in 28th and Thomas saved himself for tomorrows race.

Now this is me writing:

Once home, after putsin around on the computer and taking a power nap, I got dressed again and went out for an easy spin with Jafer. An hour and a few sprints later we returned, got dressed and headed out for sushi.....just me and Jafer.....it was our little date. Returning home with bellies full of fish protien, it was time for a real, pre-race meal so we made some pasta to get ready for tomorrow's 70 mile road race.

Upcoming Races

Tomorrow we are starting a local race in New Jersey called the Giro di Jersey. Tomorrow's (Friday's) race is a 15 km time trial. Then, on Saturday we go back for a long road race and then again Sunday for a circuit race. Stay tuned for race reports.

Got dirty at a car race

Last night when I returned from my ride I heard the same noise we had all heard the Wednesday before. It was the blaring sound of either car or motorcycle engines somewhere close by. After listening to it all through dinner, we just couldn't take it anymore and set out to find the cars. It turns out that in the Kutztown fairgrounds, a 5 min drive away, there is a little, flat, dirt racetrack, and they host Wednesday night racing. We got there towards the end of the night, but stayed for the remainder of the races. It was actually quite a sight. These amateur drivers were driving what looked like really fast go-carts with cages and flimsy metal built around them. When they started each race, the track would explode in a giant dust cloud, and the wind would blow it directly onto the stands. Each time they tore around the corners at each end, they would go into a sideways skid and each time I was almost certain they weren't going to recover, but they usually did. Well, sort of.....there was a crash almost every other lap.

Tuesday night track racin

For the first time since we've been here, we got to race at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome. We showed up with plenty of time to spare and registered for the Pro/1/2 races that we'd be competing in. The following is the race report on the points race that I wrote for the team blog. The races prior to this one went well for Thomas, but not really for anyone else. Oscar rode very aggressively, attacking off the front many times, but being so short, the Win n' Out and Scratch race really suited Thomas' strengths the best. He placed 4th in both of those races. The points race played out as follows:

Being the very last event of the night, it was nearly eleven o'clock as we set up along the track getting ready to start the points race. We had been at the track since 6 pm that evening and had already competed in three events. I had no idea how my legs would hold up for this final 30 laps around the track. It seemed like there were many things going against me going into the start: every race we had already completed had been one of the fastest track events I've experienced, the last meal we had eaten was lunch, and it already the time of night when we usually go to sleep. We started in high spirits nonetheless.

The first sprint came and went very quickly as the 36-man field thinned down due to the fast pace. As soon as the speed had slowed a bit, right after the sprint, a couple of us had the same idea to attack. We yo-yoed off the front for a minute as others chased off and on, but eventually, after a couple hard accelerations two other riders and I broke clear of the front end of the peloton and quickly built a substantial gap. One of the guys I was in the break with was a familiar face, his name is Nik Reinert. I last saw him a year ago at junior track nationals where he won our the men's 17-18 points race, 3k pursuit, and madison. While I was off the front, Thomas and Oscar did an excellent job of sitting on the front of the peloton keeping the pace low and jumping on any attacks that people attempted, thus discouraging further attacks. My two break away companions and I rolled through the next couple sprints with me taking the second place points, but I was really starting to hurt. Then, after leading out the whole lap of the second to last sprint, I got made a minor error in judgement when I pulled up track to let the other two come through to pull, and I got gaped off their wheels. Just then, the two I had been with lapped the field, each gaining 20 points automatically. For the remainder of the race I was so close to lap the group, but just didn't have enough gas left in the tank. I ended up with third place at the end of the race which was considerable better than any of my other placings that night, so that made me happy.

After swinging by the gas station to grab a snack and a "big gulp" (64 oz of whatever your heart desires) with our $10 in race winnings, we returned home at nearly 12:00!!! By the time we had showered and eaten dinner, it was well passed our bed time, and all we could do was stumble up the stairs and pass out on our bouncy, plastic beds.

For more pictures and stuff, keep checking the team blog!

Haircut

Thats my new cut. After an easy hour ride this morning, I went and got a haircut and did laundry. It was a pretty productive day. Now we're off to race at the track for the first time.

Turkey Boogers

Thomas made these really awesome turkey burgers for us for dinner last night. Thats a picture of them.

and then it rained.

and then oscar got a haircut from thomas. it was really sad 'cause oscar's afro was awesome.

and then before all this we whatched the finale of the us open golf championship and rocco almost came through but tiger never folds under pressure

then we ate bannana bread with chocolate chips in it, from the bannana's that we got for 1 dollar a box, 'cause they was rotted.

then we went to bed

I have a confession to make.

I watched golf today and liked it. After 3 days of being forced to watch the US Open golf championships, today, even though Oscar and Thomas weren't here to turn it on.....I turned it on by myself to watch Tiger tie with Rocco forcing a playoff round between the two tomorrow.

I'm all alone.

I was the only one to wake up to ride at 7:30 this morning.....everyone else wanted a rest day. Then, after my 3 1/2 hour ride, I returned to an empty house.....they had all gone to Harlem to watch a crit Jason was doing. They didn't get back until like 9:30 pm. I sat and layed around all day. Pretty uneventful.

Every road is a good road in PA

It's is really hard to find roads here that you don't want to ride on (except for the highways). Both today and yesterday we covered some new ground on our rides, and nearly every road we took was a great road to ride on. On our rides, we wind between farms and through big pastures, but within a matter of minutes we can also be in the middle of forested mountains where the pitch of the road changes with ever turn.

I don't, however, want to give you the wrong impression about our rides; when we go hard, it still hurts, and today hurt a lot. We started our three and a half hour death march at 9:30 this morning, and from the gun, Jason was tearing our legs off. Having come to stay at this house and ride these roads for many summers past, he knew a good route and was leading the ride: i.e., we were at his mercy. The only times in the whole ride he was not at the front was on some of the long, steep hills we climbed.....and those hurt because they were hills. After a much needed gas station stop, we did eventually make it back to town, and just for the record, I'd like everyone to know that I edged out some tough competition including the likes of Oscar Clarke and Thomas Brown to win the sprint to the Kutztown city limit sign on the way home.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-check it out

I just added a link to our team blog in the upper left corner of this page. Jafer created it and has been bringing viewers up to speed on what has been going on so far this season. Stay tuned, we will soon get the team blog up to date and then it will be a good place to access our race calendar and current results.

In other news, this morning we went down the road to a really big farmer's market that is only open Fridays and Saturdays and picked up some much needed groceries. All the vegges, friut, meat, eggs, and bread we bought were farmed/raised/made locally.

I ain't got no kinda coordination.....

After being inspired by watching some big golf tournament on tv while eating the corn pancakes I cooked up, we went out to hit (and miss, in my case) some balls of our own. First was the driving range where I discovered that I'm about as coordinated as a drunk German at a soccer game. While Oscar and Thomas railed balls way out to the 175 meter mark, I struggled to get mine to leave the mat. After a quick pause to eat some italian ice, we turned to the putt-putt course to test our skills there. Jafer and Thomas excelled in this discipline of the stupid sport, but at least I didn't get last....that spot was reserved for Oscar.

Again, we headed to the velodrome, and again we didn't really know what to expect other than the fact that there was gonna be some kind of group ride. Today we got the crit we had been hoping for yesterday. It wasn't just a group ride though, this was a well-organized practice race with numbers, $5 entry fee, and waivers. We hadn't brought our licenses but Oscar sweet talked the guy into letting us race be saying "Aww, c'mon, we's jus a coupla stoopid jawr-juh boooys." Haha, no the guy was really nice and didn't need the sweet talk....but Oscar did say that.

This was a fast race. We did 30 laps around this 1 mile loop in the park, with sprints for points every 3 laps. We all took some turns off the front, and Thomas did what he does best and placed in most of the sprints. After that, plus the ride home, we were all pretty pooped; its been a hard but really fun couple of days of riding. Some really good training I think.

Yesterday

I was pretty tired and stayed up talking to Jordan on Skype so I ain't post noffin yestaday. It was actually a pretty eventful day though which is just what I needed/wanted after sitting on my butt for two days straight. The first thing that made it so nice was that the intense storm from the night before, had brought in some cooler temperatures. It was the first time in about 3 or 4 days that I had been able to wear a shirt for more than 5 minutes.

We didn't plan to ride until about 4 pm so after breakfast we headed out to make something of the day. First we got in the car and retraced our steps (or pedal strokes) to get to a pick-your-own strawberry patch we had noticed on a ride a few days before. Though the woman on the farm warned us that we might not find much because the hail had destroyed a lot of the crop, we went a-pickin anyway and soon filled the two quart baskets that she had given us. On the way home we stopped at one of the dozen road side produce stands where I picked up a zucchini, two green peppers, a bag of field greens, an apple, and two pears all for only four dollars! Once at home again, and determined not to get bored, Oscar and I headed out to go fishin, but despite driving around to numerous creeks out of determination, we came up empty handed.

Around 4 pm we then suited up and rode to the velodrome (about 10 miles away I'd guess) to meet up with a group ride. We didn't really know much about it but were pretty sure it was gonna be a practice crit through this wide bike path across the street from the drome. Turns out plans had been changed that day so the ride headed out of town for a little 33 mile loop. First disappointed by the slow pace, we welcomed the attacks and quickened pace that ensued about half way through at a designated point. That's really bout it.....it turned out to be a really good workout with some nice, long rolling hills.

lookit

Something I forgot to mention before: We got out team shirts in the mail today! Jeremy had them made and then shipped them up to us. They're pretty cool, I'm wearing one in the picture.

Hail Yeeeah

If you think I did nothing yesterday, you shoulda seen me today. I took another rest off the bike with the possibility of racing at the track this evening, but that didn't happen. Right around 6 pm, as weather.com had predicted, dark clouds rolled in and a big thunderstorm started. We all rushed outside (still shirtless) hoping the rain would bring cooler temperatures and were nearly frozen dead in our tracks by the chilling gusts of wind blowing through the street. Then the hail started. It came in a few separate showers and the little ice pellets eventually grew to be at least the size of quarters, if not bigger. They hurt pretty bad if you stepped out from under our overhang.

As for the earlier part of the day, I got some laundry done at the laundromat and figured out Skype. Throughout the day I chatted with both Micah and Jordan face to face (we all have webcams) on skype. That was nice, and a bit more personal than just a regular phone call. That's bout all I got for you.

I've decided I've had enough resting....its getting VERY boring. Can't wait to get out of the house and ride tomorrow.

Butt-day

I call it that because I never really got off my butt all day. I didn't even step foot outside until around 5 pm. I enjoyed a rest day sitting inside, shirtless, in front of a fan and the TV, munching away at whatever I could find in the kitchen. My legs were feelin a little tired after the hard effort yesterday, and unless the rain holds off and we get a chance to race at the track, tomorrow will be much the same. I didn't, however, remain a completely braindead, motionless blob for the entire day; after a while when I started feeling really useless I actually got up and cleaned the kitchen and was then eventually persuaded to go ride on the track.

Tonight there was open track at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome so we got down there around 7:30 pm to roll around for a little while and get Jafer some track experience. It was only his second time ever on a velodrome, but he road fine. Riding this track feels so nice and smooth compared to Dick Lane, but the shallower banking makes the corners feel a little different.

Heading home we stopped at a gas station and Oscar and Thomas each came out with a "Big Gulp" (64 oz) filled with gatorade. After a challenge from Thomas, Oscar proceeded to drink two "Big Gulps" (he refilled it), and start in on his third, in less than 30 min. Thomas trailed behind finishing a measly one "Big Gulp" in about the next hour and a half.

Good News

- Jeremy found Curly.
- My elbow ain't so swole no mo.
- Our air conditioner started working again.

River Pictures

Racin in New Joysey

Today was sooooooooooooo hot. I haven't stopped sweating since I woke up, it was really almost 100 degrees here (and in New Jersey). Our upstairs AC unit is working overtime but we're all still sitting here shirtless with beads of sweat continuing to stream from our brow.



After a big pancake breakfast courtesy of Thomas, we headed out around 10:30 am to Highbridge, New Jersey to race. This was the hottest race I think we've all done in a long time, and the heat definitely took a toll on us....as did the incredibly steep uphill and the torn up roads in the 3 mile loop. Sections of the skinny back roads were almost comparable to cobbles. The field was pretty talented as well. A few former U23 National team riders showed up to race as well as a couple other strong teams. A huge group of about 17 riders eventually formed off the front as people started slipping up the road in small groups, and at the end of the day only Jafer and I finished. Out of 70 starters, only around 25 made it to the finish line at the end of our 11 lap race. Believe me, that was the longest 33 miles I've ever ridden, and if it weren't for a much needed water feed from Oscar towards the end of the race, I don't know what would have happened. Jafer and I finished in the only group remaining behind the group of 17. Stumbling to the car as soon as we finished, I think we both were severely dehydrated and overheated. That, however, was nothing a good dip in the river couldn't fix.



After laying in the river, stopping at a gas station/burgerking, and finishing the hour drive back to the place we now call home, we enjoyed some juicy burgers on the grill and then rushed upstairs to "chill" in the only room with AC.

More Landscape