Photos from QUEEN CITY ARE UP

Queen City Results

Overall weekend was pretty good...right up until I went down today in the crit. First though, I had a strong ride and finish on the crit Saturday. The course had 8 turns and a nice long stretch up to the finish. The field was 50 deep with 4's and 5's. Pretty much after the first lap alot guys were getting spit off the back. Not really knowing any of the riders there, I sat around 10th place the majority of the race until we got down into the last 3 laps. With 3 to go the lead group was only about 10 bikes with a chance to win it. With that said I didn't have enough in me to overtake anyone on the sprint to the finish and finished in 5th place. Now to today, the course was perfect. Only 4 turns and smooth pavement. The pace of this race was really slower than any training ride I go on. In the middle of the race on a STRAIGHT AWAY of all places there was crash and I didn't have anywhere to go except down into the crash. Bike was ok and I knew my right side took all the impact. More on that later. I got back in the race and settled back in with no problem but still felt like the pace should be faster. After several guys sprinted for a Prem I shot off the front with the hopes of several joining. One Mesa junior joined me but he couldnt hang for more than a 1/2 a lap off the front. With that said I sat out front maybe 50 yards in front of the group right up until the 2nd to last turn and then dropped into the front but I didnt have anything left for the sprint finish. I just rolled in with the group. I could have easily sat in with the group and finished alot better but I just a move needed to be made and who knows if I went a 1/2 a lap later I would have won the race. Have to keep pushing the limits and taking chances cause one day the move will stick. Back to the crash, my body is extremely sore. Thinking about getting some xrays tomorrow just to be sure nothings broken. Next race will be State Crit, a week from today. Pictures from today will be posted soon.

Pre Race info Queen City Criterium

heading down to Springfield today for the Queen City Criteriums. I will race the 4/5 and the 3/4 Saturday and only the 4/5 on Sunday. Weather is supposed to be nice. Not looking like there will be other Hub racers in the 4's field with me this weekend. Results and pictures to come on Sunday.

CHecking IN folks

I have been back in St. Louis now for almost a month. I have made it to all but one of the weekly rides I used to do when I was here fulltime back in 2006. The legs have felt pretty good the past few weeks. I have been alot more aggressive on the rides I have been doing. I feel like sitting in won't get me to the next level of fitness. I haven't been shy about taking an aggressive pull or punching it up any hills we are on. Actually took my body to a level it hasn't been at EVER on our Hub ride this past Saturday. I did alot work in random places all through out the ride and we had broken the group up to a lead group of 5 guys. We were approaching the final sprint on the ride and a teammate says grap my wheel so he could lead me out. I grabbed his wheel and he ramped the speed and I shot off from behind him giving it ALL I had only to still get beat by our resident pain deliverer Ryan Heine. After the sprint I didn't feel so good. The heart rate was going to many beats per minute and I was just really hot. The end result was me pulling over and hopping off the bike and purging all I had in my stomach. After the stomach was empty I felt better and the teammates brought me several bottles of water to dump over my head to cool me down. I can definitely say I found my redline point. The goal now is to know how to ride hard right up to that point but not cross when I'm sprinting at the end of rides or races. With that said I did the Tuesday night Criterium series today. I felt pretty good all race but on the last few laps several Big Shark guys really ramped up the pace and I was sitting in 8th place and thought it would be easier to swing around after the last uphill but I couldn't close the gap up to the sprint thus finishing in 8th place. My riding schedule is pretty much set to, I ride Mon,Tues,Wed, and Saturdays. There a few races next weekend I'll be making it out to. With all that said, I'm glad to be back home.