First Win

So I got my first win in a crit a few weeks back. Pretty exciting to finally cross the line first. Definitely had been dreaming of winning for years and have to it have finally happen was awesome. Furthermore it happened at a cool venue!! Here is a video with a few seconds of me crossing the line. I'm at the 1:54 mark in the video. Gave a little fist pump as I cross the line!

2011

Its here, hopefully the winter gym sessions have paid off. Feel good, body feels good, weight is good. Saddle up and lets go!! New travel kit for this year. Pretty exciting to actually have that idea come together. One of my projects is on the jersey, it won't be ready until 4th QTR this year but the jersey was here now, so wth. My wingman never lets me down!! Call us Shake N Bake, Salt n Pepper, Maverick N Goose, or whatever have you we will be racing in a city near you!! First up is Tour of the Gila.

I'm spinning to those Sufferfest videos. Pretty cool stuff. Order one if you haven't already.

See you on the road.

peace

Greetings From Japan!!!

Went to a baseball game this afternoon. The local team is the Nagoya Dragons. The game was pretty crazy. VERY LOUD to be exact. Check out the video. Later

2010 Road Season Wrap Up

Greetings race fans. It has been a very long time since I posted on here. I have enjoyed reading others blogs and race recaps. I can't believe the 2010 Road/Crit season is over. For most of the readers here if any, you probably already know of any success or failures that I may have had this season. The single most thing I will take away from this year is I LOVE THE TRACK!! Big thanks to Robert for really putting the word out there about the track. If it weren't for his enthusiasm I may not have ever even tried it out. For those that don't know I did pretty well on the track, so much that I bought a premo bike. Another thanks goes out to Devin for letting me borrow his brand new bike to ride on the track for pretty much 5 weeks straight. I'm also greatful for the new faces I met out on the track to name a few Joe, PJ, Ruben, Devlin, and so many more that I look forward to seeing next year. What did I learn out on the track? Well I can sprint and sprint I did!! I really enjoy how quickly we get to the sprint unlike in criterium racing. I can see now I really like crits with lots of turns to keep my mind busy versus just the 4 corner crits that I am now bored with. My focus next year will be on the track and criteriums. Initially I was thinking I would try to vastly improve my road racing palmeres but that won't be an A priorty now. So back to this season though, I'm pretty pleased with the way this season has gone for me. In pretty much all the crits I lined up for I was competitive in. My goals coming into the season were Tulsa Tough, Webster Crit, and Gateway Cup. Webster is the only crit I wasn't pleased with at all because I flatted in the last few laps. Other than that I went to Tulsa and placed top 15 two of three days there and Gateway Cup I placed in the money 3 of 4 days. I do feel for Gateway I could have been top 10 every race but that is racing for you. The biggest issue to me at the Cat 3 level is you have a larger percentage of guys that can go out and win so tactics and luck on your side are a bigger part of the equation. I didn't have good luck the first 3 days of GWC but at the Benton Park Crit things worked out well for me. What else from this year...........well Mid Town Alley Crit I was able to give Devin a leadout which is alot easier said than done. He finished 2nd in that race, it is a great feeling to help a teammate to a good finish. Racing with Devin is such an honor, not sure I have ever met I more humble champion than himself. This blogging is pretty hard to stay focused at! I have just taken several phone calls and seemed to have forgotten my thoughts for this posting. In the coming months I plan to pick up the blog more often. For now its about a month lay off from any cycling due to my travels for work. I'm going to Korea for a week and then to Japan for 3 weeks. I leave this Saturday and return October 7. Next up is also the rebirth of my cyclocross career. This year I feel hungrier, in past seasons I have been burnt out heading into the off season for the road bike. I still won't enjoy riding in the cold but I'm really hoping to turn a good result on the cyclocross bike. I picked up a TCX frame/fork off the message board for a pretty good deal. I would like to make a short film next year as well using a macbook I plan on purchasing when I get from my trip. The film will be about the local cycling scene. I figure it will give me something to do with the new laptop and iphone i have!

VOS team car HHR and team bikes Scott

Personal training Camp

Start of my personal cycling training camp. 7 days of activity. Started with 1.5 hour on the trainer yesterday and today got in 3 hours outside. It was a beautiful day in Seattle, 55 degrees.

cross training 1/15/2010

Night Skiing 1/15/2010 4 hours of craziness

2010 is here so........

Well 2010 is here and another road season just around the corner. After a two week hiatus for the holidays I can now begin training. I'm just getting over the flu so I will start very slowy so I will not zap all my energy. I have been doing some riding and crossing training by hitting the slopes and skiing. I'm really enjoying skiing this year in Washington but looking forward to warm weather miles on the bike. Should be back in St. Louis very soon, although with all the snow you all are getting I don't want to comeback just yet! Thats all for now!!


Photo from Mt Baker Dec 19, my last time on the slopes before I had a 2 week break from work and training.

X-training

Crystal Mountain 5 Hours on the slopes today.

Rocked Out folks

Rock Racing apparel sale

They are currently having a 70% of sale in Culver City....that is in L.A folks!! Although I couldn't make it myself luckily someone could for me. Sneaky Peaky of what was purchased! Also there is buy one item get one item half off now on there website. In other Rock Racing news or not news they haven't released any new info for the 2010 team. There will be a team I'm told but it could just be all the Spaniards.

Hibernatoin

Gateway has come and gone. How was it? My family and friends came out in full force this year so I had some added motivation. Besides holding strong mid pack I was not able to do anything spectacular or break the top 40 with any of my finishes. I can honestly say after the last race Monday morning I was happy to be done for the year. The year got started early with the Valley of Sun Stage Race taking place in February. I traveled a lot this year for work which derailed any true training plan. As a result maintaining a competitive fitness for the Cat 3 ranks was definitely a challenge. Some of the highlights were being able to race in Phoenix,Tulsa,Chicago, and Washington DC. This year was the rise of Devin Clark. He started in February with me in Phoenix and has been on the podium or near it in just about every race through Gateway. Always nice to have a teammate doing well. As for the team this was the first year we had big numbers in the 3's. With Devin and Heine moving onto the Cat 2 ranks next year they leave big shoes to fill but with the guys we have in the 3's someone stepping up shouldn't be a problem. I'm already looking forward to next year and training with a purpose to achieve certain goals.

I'm currently taking time off the bike before slowly turning the cranks towards the first race of the 2010 season.

It's cross season, part of me wants to race but then again I'm enjoying not suffering. Who knows though, I may show up for one or two races. For now though I'm relaxing.

final Gateway Prep

the ride.......GIANT TCR ADVANCED, the music.......KINGS OF LEON, the scenery.......SUPER HORNETS, all make for one solid bike ride.

Arriving back in St. Louis Thursday morning. Have to go pick up my bike and then I'll probably head out for a 60 minute ride. Message me if anyone is up for riding.

GATEWAY CUP 2009

BE THERE

Bike Shop rip off or reality?

I needed a few smaller items that I couldn't just run into The Hub to get because I'm about 700 miles away from Webster Groves! Anyhow I forgot to ship an air pump out here so I purchased a $20 one from this local shop. I also purchased several GU's and power bars. Today, I was looking for a small part and this shop did have what I needed and the shop worker asked if I wanted them to install it. I was still in my work clothes and had my bike in the trunk of rental and thought well sure this will save me sometime so I don't have to do it when I get to hotel. Only one problem, they wanted $10 to do it. I intentionally didn't say what the part was, so I could reveal that now. I bought a Cateye computer. So after spending $60 on this, you want $10 more to install it, I don't think so. It's already marked up for profit and you still want more!??!!? Do shops really charge that type of fee to install a wireless computer? Needless to say I was pretty turned off by that.

Soulard

Not much to say about the race except I didn't finish and got it handed to me. No excuses, just didn't have what it took to compete on that day.

Race was fast and strung out from the go. I really thought it would slow up but not soon enough for me as I was at my limit from the go. Devin placed 5th I believe.


The Hub guys in the 4/5 race looked awesome and strong all day. I saw Bill, Lendal, Robert, and Joe representing the jersey well. They pretty much controlled the race and had the announcer giving the Hub a lot of airtime. The results from that race put 3 Hub guys in 2/3/4 place. Good job guys!

Also, this was my buddy Ahmeds first race. He was also in the 4/5 race. I sold him my Scott CR1 Team. So it was fun seeing him get through his first race. The crowd and announcer willed him to the finish. He should start to be out more and more and hopefully improving week by week.

Back in Maryland. Will be back for the State Crit in August.

Dawg Days of Summer Circuit Race in Bowie, MD

After tens days off the bike I returned to racing today. The course was very smooth and the back side a slight riser but with the tailwind that was the fastest part of the course. For the 3's race I was of course islated without any teammates so I should have just been sitting in letting all the other teams pull back breaks. The race was paying 8 deep and 2 guys had got away. The field remained intact until we had 12 laps to go, a group of 6 guys were off the front and holding steady but no one was chasing because all teams were represented. Again the race was only paying 8 deep so I didn't want to miss out so I deviated from the plan of just sitting in and chased hard and I made contact with that chase group but when I got to them I was so tired I couldnt hang on and tried to fall back into the field. Only when I did that they had ramped things up I got spit off the back there. End of day for me in the 3's race. Tactically I screwed myself. I should have stayed glued in the field.

Next up was the 1/2/3 race. I knew in the race I would definitely just ride with the field. This race was 27 laps (55 miles). I stayed glued on the back of the pack the entire race up until 2 laps to go. I group of 6 were off the front and we were racing for 2 places initially but on the last lap the field did catch 4 of those guys. Through out the race there were attacks and counters but I didn't do any extra work and it was very easy just sitting on. The race was fast but I would say no faster than the A race on Tuesday nights. I tried sprinting in but my legs locked up and I sat up to roll in at 29th place. We had 60 starters so I was pleased. This was my first race on the Rabobank and it rides very smooth and responsive. I would say Giant has the edge over Scott now for me personally.

Soulard is next on the agenda and the return of my Addict. Flying back to StL Friday morning. See ya there!

The Giant is in Maryland

So my Rabobank Giant arrived in Maryland today. I had been waiting anxiously on it. Assembly was very quick thanks to whoever packed it at The Hub. I must say it rides so much smoother than my Addict. I almost wish I had two of these.



I also picked up a pair of Oakley Jawbones on Friday. Probably the best pair of glasses I have ridden to date. They really fit like a glove and are ultra light.



I'm racing tomorrow up in Bowie, Maryland. There is a 2.1 mile circuit race. Butterflies are going crazy in my stomach as I get ready to face some completely new competition and have the all eyes on me feeling. Check out the course video, the pavement looks really smooth. Should be a fun one.

Maryland Recon......

Arrived in Maryland last Thursday with no bike. I still have no bike at the moment but hoping it gets shipped out tomorrow. I went by southern Marylands version of Tues Worlds to check out the riders that were showing up. I remembered a few faces from my stay here a few years ago. I stopped by and chatted with one guy who is super strong. He rides a single speed at all times and keeps up with anyone. Side note his team got new kits and they pretty sweet, they remind of the new Cervelo team kit. There Tues Night training series consist of 3 races, an A,B, and C. The A being the strongest, but they arent associated with CAtegories. The A group does 4 laps around the ten mile Navy base. They have sprint point on the course. It gets pretty on the backside when the course is running along side the bay. I'm looking forward to getting in the mix on this ride. They also do a Thursday night ride that is 30 miles and has a few rollers in it. I really liked that ride when I was here because it was fast and very scenic.

Ready to ride, just need a bike!!!!!!!!

Webster Crit and Good Bye StL

So the Webster Crit is one of my favorite races and with The Hub sponsoring there is alittle more incentive to show up in a big way. Fast forward to one lap to go in the 3/4 race, my legs felt great and because our guy for the race got crashed out I was ready to go for the glory. Unfortunately my day ended with a crash just after the first corner of the course. By the time I got off the grass and looked around bodies and bikes were laying all around. Some guys got hurt pretty bad and one required an ambulance. Fortunately I only have scrapes on my arms and knees. Until the today they were not bothering my but now they itch like crazy. At the time of the crash I had just called to Devin I was right behind him and then seconds later I was face planted in the grass. My frame was cracked as a result of the crash so that was pretty frustrating and my carbon wheels damaged. Scott has a really good frame replacement program so I will have a replacement at a good price. I have not said much about race but thats really it. I felt great but got crashed out period. Since my frame was cracked on the seat tube I got the nod to race on it once more. Pretty frustrated I wanted to finish the P/1/2/3 race. Only a field of about 45 lined up for it. I felt fine the entire the race only that one of my bottle cages was broken in the crash thus leaving me with only one bottle. This was factor at the end of the race because I was all out of water and hurting for fluids. Devin was riding pretty far up in the field so it took quite some time to muster up the energy to get to him to ask for some fluids. He hook me up but on the last lap my legs locked up going up the slight riser and I couldnt contest the field sprint. I rolled in for 20th place. Happy that I finished that race but still very disappointed at my tactics in the 3/4 race. I should have been more aggressive on last lap because the field bunched up at time of crash. Mental note to not hold back just for sprint and take a chance getting there.

So now that my Addict is cracked I needed a bike to take with me to Maryland. I recently sold an older CR1 I had and I'm using that money to purchase a Giant Rabobank Team Advanced frame/fork. All my SRAM Force is going on it and I'll have that shipped to me in Maryland. As for the Scott once my replacement frame is here I will have that built back up with a Force/Rival mix. Both bikes should look pretty wicked!

Leaving for Maryland Thursday. I found a race there next weekend I will do, so I'm pretty excited about that and its back to Stl for the weekend to do the Soulard crit.

Later