Life in the fast lane

The Anti-Dairy Challenge

2012-01-17T20:19:00.002-05:00

If you follow me on FB or Twitter, you've probably seen that I've decided to purse a diet free of dairy products. Why? After much research and talking with others, its really not that needed in the modern diet. You might argue that I'll be missing out on vital calcium and vitamin D, but I can get that from other sources such as Spinach, Kale, etc and supplements if needed.

For the most part I decided to give up the cow for a few reasons:
-health: most dairy is pretty fattening, its not really needed in your diet, and others have told me they feel more energetic without it.
-Eventual veganism: by this point and time I've given up all meat except for fish and I still stick with that because I don't have a lot of time to cook tofu and other dishes properly. I plan on giving that up as well once I graduate grad school and have more time to devote to cooking good meals again.

So currently, I'm two weeks into this adventure and things seem to be going well. No cravings for cheese or milk or yogurt. A soy-substitute for yogurt has been tough to find in W.L., but that will make breakfast more enjoyable once I find it. Almond milk has proven to be a delicious replacement for milk- love it! I also need to experiment with making cheese substitutes for mac and cheese...it was one of my staple 'quick dinners' on nights when I only had 30 minutes for a meal.

Do I feel any more energetic or 'healthier'? I think it might be too early in the adventure to tell, honestly. Onward!

Indiana Spring Racing

2012-01-05T22:30:00.002-05:00

One of the pitfalls of racing in Indiana has been the general lack of communication between promoters, series organizers, and the event promotion specialists. We lack a central figure head, even though we have a local association- INKY- it is basically useless.

Time and time again some people, for what ever reason, become privy to early season planning for both road and cx, while others are left in the dark until the calendar is released. Then we see weekends overlapping within the state and with major events in other states. Suddenly we have 4 races going on in 3 states on one weekend. Doesn't bode well for good field sizes.

The real problem is when those who promote races on an annual basis- for both road and cross, are left out of the communication loop. Suddenly dates they've used before become unavailable because 'we promised them to someone else who really wants to do a race in our series' even though they've put on a race on that date for several years in a row. Take for instance our Purdue CX race that, for 3 years, took place on Halloween weekend. However, in steps the Indiana Cyclocross Cup in 2010, and suddenly our date is promised to a race in Ft. Wayne. With our race displaced, we were up a creek without a paddle and ended up not even having one. All of this because of shit poor communication- no one told us what was happening and BOOM, deal with it.

I'm venturing out into the non-collegiate road promotion scene this year and already the same lack of communication is taking place. Apparently there is some secret group planning next year's calendar of which I had no idea existed. Until a few tweets pop up hinting at this elusive calendar and that they 'can't say until it is public.' Oh? nice of you to share with a fellow race promoter and manager of a team.

This lack of communication and secrecy is really great for building a cohesive cycling community. Why aren't people invited to these things? Every registered club in the state should be invited- regardless of if they promote an event or not. Our neighboring states- IL, MI, OH- have pretty awesome state associations in place, perhaps we should take a lesson from them and follow in the their footsteps.

Oh and someone better not be stepping on my Aug. 26th date. I've expressed this to several 'central figures' and I'll be more then pissed if someone else has that date.

This video sums things up nicely

2011-12-11T17:52:00.003-05:00

After some more reflection on past events this weekend, I realized this song sums things up quite nicely. Wish I would have found it sooner:

Carry on now.

Sharp Dressed

2011-11-14T07:00:00.002-05:00

Friday evening was the Tri-club's Tri-Formal- a spiffy event that required dressing up, which is always a good time. I was even lucky enough to have a date! (say whaaa?!) The lovely Ellie Bruns asked me to go with here, and of course I gladly accepted.

However, I was lacking in the dressy clothes department- my suit, which I hadn't worn since high school was packed away at my mom's house and chances are it wouldn't have fit anyway. The quest was on for some classy attire and any time clothes shopping and me are involved it's like digging for gold. Why? Because 28x36 jeans are hard to find, dress pants in that size? Yeah right.

TJ-Max- nope. Gordman's- pfft, 'big and tall' there meant fat and sorta tall (38x34...not quite). So I fired a shot in the dark and checked out Men's Warehouse and much to my surprise they had one pair in black. What. the. fuck. A Christmas miracle had come early. One classy white shirt and a nice 2-button jacket later and we were set! (I also borrowed a tie and vest from Naveen because he always keeps it classy). I didn't need to go that far out for the event, but there was a prize for best dressed and cutest couple and I hate losing- good thing Ellie and I color coordinated because we looked killer. (Pictures when I find them!)

Friday rolled around and after shooting some candid photos at the Tri-house we, about 18 of us, drive over to La Scala- a classy Italian restaurant in downtown Lafayette. The food- absolutely fantastic and of course the company and conversation was equally fantastic. After dinner we went back to the Tri-house from some wine, champagne, jazz music, and a few slow dances. All in all a fantastic time and it turns out them Tri-kids are a pretty classy and fun bunch to hangout with (who would have thought?) I'm super happy that Ellie asked me to go with her and can't wait to get together again!

Oh and it was a tie for best dressed- Greg Sheppard also wore a 3-piece suit. He had a pocket square and I had leather gloves, so it was a dead tie. Well fought sir.

Photoshoot!

2011-10-31T09:15:00.005-04:00

So what do a bunch of hungover cyclists do on a nice Saturday? Dress up in their full team kits, go for a spin on the bike path (sans helmet), and then chill at the cafe. Of course, a photographer happens to stumble upon the scene and euro-antics ensue:

Leopard-Trek doesn't have anything on us!

A classic team pic.

Nooooogie!

Ala- Quickstep

Matty Hohn- the most stylish guy on the ride

Cafe Royale- you should probably sponsor us now.

And there are plenty more where that came from:

Photoshoot!

Tucson, Part 3

2011-10-14T22:26:00.003-04:00

Of my 3 trips out here, this was the shortest- only 8 days (all of Fall break week, plus the previous weekend). With that, I've spend almost 4.5 months down here- pretty sweet and I've loved every minute of it. This time the trip had a meaning: find my mom a house. Apparently my raving about the place convinced her to move here. She sold her house and moved into a short term apartment in Lafayette until she finds a place here. After several days of searching we came down to two: one out near Starr Pass and one off of Mountain Ave. She's placed a big on the house off of Mountain, so hopefully we get it! It's a nice 4 bed room, 2 bath house, ~1700 sqft. It needs a little yard work, but I'm planning on building her a straw-bale stucco wall when I come down in December.

Sadly, the Aero Kitty was not able to make the trip due to a seized seat post (which is now un-seized/broken thanks to the heroic efforts of Eric Bales- thanks for getting that bugger out!). With that, I had to rent a bike, not ideal but it worked. I got a new Trek 1.2 Aluminum bike with Shimano 105. I'm extremely thankful for the help that Fairwheel gave me in getting the bike, that being said...it confirmed my dislike of Trek and Shimano:
-it had a weird geometry. Probably should have got the 58. I had to flip the seat post to get it right...
-Shimano shifters gave me blisters, I don't know how, but they did.
-It had a compact, and while that did allow me to do stupid things like big ring Mt. Lemmon...I really hate compacts.

On the plus side:
-It was stooopid stiff.
-Never got a flat (seriously thinking about rocking conti's down here next time)
-Handled awesome (and descended really well)

All in all, not a bad bike, but I'd never buy it.

It makes me sad to have to leave again, but I'll hopefully be back by Dec. 9...which is only 50 some days away. I can do that. Shame they don't have a HK department or Sports Psych. department here... I'd transfer in a second.

Purdue MTB Races

2011-10-03T22:00:00.004-04:00

With the fall semester in swing it means one thing: MTB season! We hosted our annual mountain bike races this weekend. After some serious promotional snafus, Hogan and I ended up in charge of the race weekend. What was planned for Brown County ended being at McCormick Woods (Sat) and Pickett Park (Sunday). A rather large difference in terms of quality, but a race is what you make it and we made 'em fun!

Saturday:
Cross Country race. Didn't race it since the course is has a few bumpy sections, which normally isn't to concerning, but with an extremely small crack in my fork I didn't want it exploding in the middle of the woods. Plus, Hogan and I had plenty to take care of from the promotion side and in general just making sure everything ran smoothly. No major problems, almost ran out of waivers- which is a good thing! Had 45 riders which was about twice what I expected and 10 more then last year. Plus, we had ample volunteers so course set up and tear down was a breeze! Got out in plenty of time to hit up some tailgating, sell parking for the game, and hang out for the evening!

Sunday:
Short-track cross country. This was much more cyclocross bike friendly, although friendly doesn't mean I had an advantage by any means. Hogan and I ended up designing a super hard course, although it was lacking in technical sections. We took 1-3 in the C's! And 1st in the B's Hogan was first, Matt second, and myself 3rd in the c's and Garrett was 1st in the B's. Not bad considering I haven't ridden that bike in a year!

One of the many times up the finishing hill

Once again we had ample awesome volunteers (including our guests from UW-Madison), so set up and tear down took all of 30 minutes. All in all it was a great weekend of racing!

VO2 Max Test

2011-10-02T18:33:00.004-04:00

This post is a bit late, but better late then never right?

Last weekend, Naveen and I journeyed over to C-bus, OH to take part in a study that is being run by the OSU cycling president. The study involved doing a VO2Max test and on a nonconsecutive day do a 10 mile TT on the computrainer. We decided to cut down on the driving to Columbus and do the VO2 test on Friday, ride easy-ish Saturday, and do the TT on Sunday. Since OSU is a fairly big party school that also meant a good opportunity to sample another college bar scene.

The VO2 test was absolutely brutal...for two reason:
a.) you have to ride stoopid hard
b.) you breathe through a hose (this isn't me):

The mouth piece sucks, you can't swallow well, so you end up drooling all over and the hose fills up with a fair bit of spit too. Nasty.

The test starts off rather easy. Warm up for 10 minutes, then strap on the mask, and the test begins. Pedal at 100 watts, then increase it by 25 watts every minute. 100-275 isn't bad, 300-350 sucks a little, 350-400 ow, 400-425...dead. 425 was the highest I got and held it for about 20 seconds. After a little bit of math and such I learned that the genetic dice were pretty nice to me: 74 ml.kg.min not bad! What was bad, however, is the fact that I'm only using 75% of it when I ride hard. Clearly need to work on that.

The time trial...ugh. Riding hard for ten miles is never fun, its especially not fun inside with the trainer set to '100% drag', nor is it fun slightly hung over. But it is was it is, I rode as hard as I felt like doing given the situation and did it in 24 minutes and ~30 seconds. Apparently that was the 2nd fastest time of the study so far...go figure.

All in all it was a great weekend and I learned a bit about myself. After spending the week tracking down other cyclists who has a 74 VO2, it looks like the potential is there, I'm just not training smart (or racing smart). Things to work on for sure.

Thesis Project

2011-09-06T15:37:00.003-04:00

After much debating, research, and discussion with my adviser...a thesis was finally selected. Nice and early on so that gives me plenty of time to develop ideas and do a nice, quality job on it. So, this post might be a bit disjointed but it'll make sense:

The goal is to do qualitative advocacy research on bicyclists and pedestrians perceptions of each other and how that changes as their roles change (ie from ped to cyclists and vise versa) on Purdue's campus with the advocacy outcome being based on upon the results of the research. My hunch is that there is some degree of tension between cyclists and pedestrians in and around campus; more over, with our campus being so compact I'm also thinking more pedestrians would cycle to class if there was a cheap and safe way to do so.

Obviously, there are multiple ways this can play out:
1.) Hypothesis unsupported- there are no tensions between cyclists and pedestrians, and for the most part, pedestrians don't want to ride to class even if there was a free/cheap option available. Outcome: status quo, perhaps advocate for better maintenance of the current paths/trails in order to ensure no tensions arise.

2.) Confirmed: there are tensions, but pedestrians wouldn't ride to class if there was an option available. Outcome: advocate more safe, effective and logical bike trails around campus. This fits in with Purdue's long range goal of becoming a more pedestrian and cycling friendly campus and helps keep people who do ride safe. Obviously this includes educating current and incoming students on proper usage, rules, etc.

3.) Confirmed, 2: there are tensions and more pedestrians would ride if there was an option. Outcome: Same as above, but in addition advocate for a community bike share system- something similar to UW-Madison's Red Bike Program or Northern Arizona's Yellow Bike. This to would fit into the University's long term plan as well as fulfill the deserve to create 'living labs' on campus. Not only does it get students riding, but further research can be constructed using the program once it is in place. Plus, if the study results show that more people would ride if it was an option, it gives a stronger call to update and revise the bike paths on campus as there would be a shift in the riding population.

Why is this important to the great community? First off, it can serve as a model example at other Universities. Secondly, it gives insight into how people interact within shared space (or in a stretch, 3rd spaces). Third, it could prove useful in planning and development in urban settings.

So. That is where we stand on that. Now I have to take some course work on designing this kind of study and get to work!

Wait, School, Class, WHAT?!

2011-08-22T08:22:00.002-04:00

Yep its back to school for this guy- 2 more years, 2 more years, 2 more...er, wait this isn't a political rally... So yeah, grad school starts today! 3 classes: qualitative research, sports psychology, and an independent study focusing on cycling and trail usage. Am I excited? You bet your sweet ass I am!

I'm also balancing 3 jobs:
-my previous social media jobs I got while in Tucson
-Athletic Tutoring
-IT@P

What does that mean? Well, with 16 hrs at IT@P that means helping teachers use computers, opening computer laps, plus more blog posts, lots of reading, and research. It also means waking up at 5:30 a few times a week...but it is worth it.

Now...back to work checking printers!

The Hunt for Funding

2011-08-09T17:28:00.002-04:00

Not much to report on the cycling front- a crit here and crit there, money here, money there. Oh and one road race, but that was, like last year, kind of a stupid race.

No, for the most part this past month has been spent on the hunt for grad school funding. TA positions were filled in my dept. back in May and other departments soon after that. Didn't qualify to be a Math TA (not a broad enough background) and same with Foreign Language. I did get an interview for a position within the Purdue Student Union, but they decided to go with another candidate. Library? The one position I heard about was filled. Still waiting to here on others... I've also applied (Friday) to an opening in the Ethics and Compliance office and waiting to hear back.

So, if you know of any grad positions, pass them along! I would greatly appreciate it!

3..2...1...

2011-07-10T18:43:00.002-04:00

Another 3 days of racing this weekend, and very quality racing too I might add!

Friday:
Superweek, Beverly Hills. In standard fashion, I got drunk Thursday night and decided to race Beverly. It was fun last year (plus I won money!), so I figured why not. My mom went with me to watch since we hadn't seen me race in a while so I wanted to put on a good performance for her. The field was a little bigger then last year, about 50, with 8 guys from the Hong Kong national team, 6 from Taiwan, and 2 from Switzerland (who sounded exactly how I imagine Fabian would sound like if you talked to him). I didn't want to attack earlier than 30 laps in, I figured I'd let everyone else wear each other down and then go. Turns out I missed the 9 man break, damn....and sitting at the back wasn't a good idea since the guys from Asia can't go through a corner faster than 25 (and yes, the pot is calling the kettle black). Once I got back the squealing wall of carbon fiber brakes, it was smooth sailing. I put in a few good attacks, the last one I got a good gap but the break also lapped the field at that point and drug me back. With 10 to go the lights went out...100 KM is a long ass crit and 3 bottles wasn't enough....so I road as best I could and got 28th. Not great, but a nice confidence boost.

Saturday: Eagle Creek Fast Race
Surprisingly, a lot of people showed up for this tiny local race! A lot of fast people... And since the course is a circle...it's hard to get away on, but that didn't mean I wouldn't try. However, Leibovitz got away and thankfully a teammate was with him. The rest of the race we just soft pedaled, so it wasn't too exciting, and I finished 20th

Sunday: Eagle Creek Traditional
I felt surprisingly good at the start and figured the race would play out much like a month a go with a break going and lapping the field. A lot more quality riders showed up and I was going to make damn sure I got in that break and didn't get dropped (like last time). I threw caution and common sense out the window and attacked right after the 2nd corner...got a gap and drilled it. 2 laps later, Scott, my teammate Chris, and Brett joined me. Our gap fluctuated from 20 seconds to nearly a minute, but we kept it steady and shared the work nicely. Things started to slow down with 5 to go but I wanted to make sure we didn't get caught so I kept pouring it. Going into the final lap I wanted until Chris finished his pull and I attacked on the small riser near the finish. I got a small gap and kept it until the finish! First Pro-1-2 win! In a crit no less!

More pics as I find them!

M.A.R.?

2011-07-06T19:07:00.006-04:00

Similar to M*A*S*H but not as funny.

Most people are perfectly content to drink beer, eat hog dogs, and watch 4 fireworks on 4th of July weekend. I love all 3 of those...but in addition I like to race my bike. Previously I've trekked out to Lawrence, KS; however, with a timed stage race in Grand Rapids, I figured that'd be a hell of a lot less driving and possibly more fun.

Less driving: check
Fun: if you like the pain cave, free steaks, and lots of yogurt, then check.

First, let me explain our host housing situation. It was awesome! Doug, our host, let us take over the bottom half of his condo, gave us free reign in his kitchen (and food!), and in general was just an awesome host. He cooked us tons of brown race, made steaks on Saturday, and literally 5 pounds of yogurt to make smoothies and such with. His house was also really close to every stage, which made driving nice and easy.

Naveen, Doug (from ND), and myself got there Friday evening, went for a quick spin, grabbed dinner, and hit the sack for our early morning TT.

Saturday: 8.5 mile ITT
We got there with about 45 minutes for Naveen and Doug to warm up and about 1.5 hrs for me. When ever I have too much time on my hands I tend to slack off and not actually do the warm up I need to do...something about being a little under pressure gets things going much faster. Plus, I thought we could leave the parking lot to ride around since the finish line was right outside it. Turns out you could have. Doh!

I tool around the parking lot for about 45 minutes, feel decent, and head to the start line. There, Speedy Sheedy and Chris Fisher (my minute and 30 second men, respectively) are discussing which Pro teams they used to ride for, yes indeed, this was going to be a fast one. And there was no hope of catching anyone today.

I guess, in hind sight, I didn't really go hard enough at all. I made the turn around in 8.5 minutes, and then, on what should have been a fast return, I couldn't find a rhythm. I also forgot to stand up and just power over the small risers. In essence, I rode like an idiot, and posted a stoopid slow time of 18:14. Sheedy did a 16:14. I couldn't have been close to that, but I should have been around 17 minutes and instead I was just stupid. Plain and simple.

Sunday: 60 minute crit.
Talk about a boring course: mostly a circle with one 'corner' which was really not a corner at all and never broke up the rhythm. Not a course for breakaways at all, but dammit! I was pissed and going for broke! However, I went about this intelligently (ie: not going from the gun). Instead, I waited for the GC guys to attack and chase each other, which happened within the first 5 minutes. A dangerous split happened, but it all came back together after some really hard chasing done by the Leadout team. It slowed down to a crawl when it came back together, but I just kept going, as did an East Hills guy and a Priority rider:

Here we are with a 50 some second lead, and close to lapping

When the field heard we were close to lapping, Jake Rytlewski brought us back in a few laps and our 30 minute break was over. And then I went again when it slowed up:

This break lasted for about 10 minutes before being caught. And then I went again, for a 120 prime (didn't get it), before trying one more time with 1.5 laps to go.

No time bonuses, no cash, but I did win a few primes: a 12 pack of Gatorade Pro-3 Recovery shake ($60), 2 rolls of kinsio-tape ($16), and 2 bottle cages.

Monday: 91 mile RR:
After bidding farewell to Doug, we made the 20 minute drive to the RR course in Lowell, MI. The legs felt good and I had no desire to be a part of the stereotypical Michigan Racing: sit on wheels and not do any work. Fuck that shit.

After the neutral roll out Liam from XXX attacked and took a Priority rider with him, I bridged up with a Bissell rider, and then a random dude joined us later.
Breakaway from mile 4: check.

We were working really well, but it was not meant to be: I broke a rear spoke at mile 19 thanks to Token making a shitty ass wheel and Michigan for having shitty ass roads. And since it was a small race the wheel truck was behind the field. Awesome. The field came screaming past me a few minutes later, lead by the GC riders (Sheedy, Fisher, and Jake). The wheel change took a really long time, as the driver couldn't open up the back end, but I won't fault the volunteer since he was driving an SUV he wasn't familiar with. Plus, he paced me back up, because there was no way in hell I would have closed down a 5 minute gap on that field- it took us 10 minutes at 40 mph. I got back on right when we caught the break.

And then we went slow through town. Someone lifted the pace for a bit, but then stopped...then I attacked again. I was solo for a few miles until a Leadout rider joined me:

It was just the two of us for the next lap and half. At one point we had a 2 min, 30 sec lead which put me in the virtual black and white leader's jersey. And when the field heard about that, the big guns said, "No Mas" and our gap came down to a minute really quick. And then they let us dangle for the next few miles before sealing the deal with 10 miles to go.
Off the front for 80 miles of a 91 mile road race: check.

The last ten miles played out in typical MI racing fashion: someone attacked, a few will try to chase but no one helps. Gap gets bigger, *panic* go really hard and catch him. Then Liam attacked, and we dicked around, coming really close but then no one else would work to close it off and his gap would go back up. Turns out we left it too late and he won thanks to the on-off chasing. I was waiting until under 1KM to go one last time but I couldn't muster the power to go again. Shame. Ended up 17th on the stage and 11th in the GC....which was good for $10. 10th place got $50, which I missed by 4 seconds.

However, I can walk away saying I was the most aggressive rider (as told to me but several spectators, racers, and officials). Too bad there wasn't an award for that. But, I now know I'm capable of being super aggressive in a crit and road race for long distances...I just have to be a little more intelligent about it, which is coming.

Le Tour de Mont Pleasant

2011-06-16T13:11:00.004-04:00

Last weekend was one of my favorite races, way up in Mt. Pleasant, MI. Where you ask?

Way the fuck up there

This year they expanded the race to include a sweet 4.3 mile ITT on Friday night, the criterium was the same from years previous, and the road race got an additional 20 miles added to it to make it a whopping 128 miles! Epic! Thankfully, Drew Otte's girlfriend made the trip up with us to work the feedzone- she was a lifesaver passing up bottles via musette bags!

Friday TT:
I really wish I could have pre-rode the course. It wasn't nearly as technical as they made it sound and having a little bit of insight going into it would have gone a long, long way. I think there were 8-9 corners, so if you lost 2 seconds on each corner...there went the race. I didn't do a great time since I'm not really good at prologues, somewhere in the 9:50's, I didn't look closely since David Williams busted out an 8:53 for the win. Talk about making me feel slow!

Saturday Crit:
The course is in downtown Mt. Pleasant, with a lot of cheering fans, smooth pavement, and wide lanes. The clouds started to clear up in the middle of the race and it turned out to be a great day. A little chilly (low 60's) but not bad. I was having a pretty good race until I got a flat at the half way point. I'm not a fan of the current tubulars I have on my race wheels, so I was using my clinchers. I wasn't too happy having to swap out my super grippy pro race 3 for a slippery specialized mondo. The missed laps really through me off my rhythm too and I just couldn't get back into it.

Post-flat awesomeness

Sunday Road Race:
This was what I was looking forward to the whole time- 128 miles of road race action! I knew the race could play out in three ways: field sprint, late break, or long/early breakaway. Ideally a late break would have been nice, but I was feeling super fresh so I knew I could go for the day-long move as well. I swear, I must have some French in me due to my predisposition to go for the often doomed day long move.

Early on a Wolverine ride just rode off the front of the race, no one wanted to do anything at the front, so we just sat there. Then a Bissell rider just rode off the front- again no one wanted to ride fast at all. So, I joined him, we upped the pace and quickly caught the Wolverine rider, soon after that we were joined by a Louis Garneau guy and that was the break. Formed at mile 5...of 128. The Garneau rider, Kevin, was the strongest, while Dan, Tom, and I were about equal. We kept the pace high and our pulls to about 45 seconds to a minute. Over the next 20 miles we got a big gap- almost 8 minutes and Kevin won the first sprint on the road, as well as both KOM's (I got 4th and 2nd, giving me 3rd in that competition). We dropped Tom (wolverine) before the first feedzone and that left the 3 of us to march on for another 70 miles. Soon, Dan got tired- and we couldn't drop him since he had 9 teammates in the field- so it just left Kevin and I to pull.

At mile 60 we learned we had 8 minutes...at mile 65 we had 4. Turns out Panther wanted to bring us back. We upped the pace and held on for a long time at about 1.5-2 minutes. Finally at about mile 85 we got caught. And then all hell broke loose with counter attacks from Bissell flying left and right. We spent the next 5 miles or so speeding along at nearly 30 mph. I made it until about 105 miles in before I couldn't handle all of the hard accelerations anymore. Thankfully, it was all heading South, with a big tailwind, at that point, so I was able to go reasonably fast without much effort. I came in 47th, the last finisher about 15 minutes down. But! I finished a stoopid long race, got 50 bucks for the KOM, and was in an 80 mile break. Not bad. I wish we could have had 1-2 more riders with us in the break or that Panther let us dangle until 10 KM to go, but not much you can do.

All in all, it was an awesome weekend of races and I look forward to next year! And my legs are still sore from that damn break...

Group Riding in Style in West Lafayette

2011-05-25T09:35:00.002-04:00

The group rides here...are a bit lacking in style. Don't get me wrong, the WRCC and Purdue Cycling Club (during the school year) have some great group rides...but they lack flair and originality. One meets in a soccer field parking lot and the other across from a building being renovated. Not exactly the most captivating locations. Plus, there is nothing that makes people want to stick around and chat. There is no epicenter of cycling like the Star Bucks on University, and I'm trying to change that.

I've tried to recreate my favorite group ride of all time here in WL. We meet at the coffee shop at 7 am, go hammer out ~35 miles with some climbs, and then post ride relax at the shop. By far the best way to start a day! It's only been a small group the past few weeks, but I'm confident it will grow in size and awesomeness.

SO if you are in the WL area and looking to get a fast ride in on Tuesday morning and then enjoy one of cycling's pleasures- an espresso and a pastry- then join us at 7 am every Tuesday at Cafe Royal. You won't be disappointed!

West Lafayette Group Ride Schedule:
Monday: 9 am, Cafe Royal, ~15 mile spin
Tuesday: 7 am, Cafe Royal, ~35 miles
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday: (Starting this fall) 8 am, Cafe Royal, ~65 miles
Sunday:

Other groups rides will come up as the school year gets closer!

Reflections on Tucson

2011-05-11T10:00:00.000-04:00

Now that I'm back in West Lafayette, and with over 30 hours in a car driving the South Carolina and back to Indiana, I've had time to reflect on the trip.

It was the best trip I've ever done and I'm so glad I did it. This will sound corny, but it was a life changing experience. It was 5 months devoted to riding, racing, and just living life and it was awesome. I made a few new friends, rubbed elbows with some pros and some big names in cycling, trained hard, and came back a stronger (in multiple senses) person.

The riding there is truly amazing, in no other place I've been to are there group rides that top out at 190 riders or have 2 huge mountains, plus multiple medium climbs, and even more if you are willing to drive a bit. The weather is sunny and warm 95% of the year (hell, you never have to look at weather.com...its always sunny). I know, I know, I was there during the winter and spring so of course it was nice. But I've been there for the summer and monsoon season as well and, while a bit hotter and slightly wet, it was just as nice.

I really enjoyed to atmosphere of the town as well. Its easy living at its best there- large city without the large city feel or sense of urgency and rush. Get up, go ride or hike in the morning, go to work, run some errands, and then then kick back on the front porch. Or hit up the art scene, campus, etc. Plus, the cost of living is pretty low. I think I spent like 50 bucks on 3 weeks of groceries and rent wasn't bad either.

Of course, there are low points. The racing kind of suck out there, mostly due to poor courses. I expected more than office park crits and a lot more road races. Hopefully the Old Pueblo race set a precedent and other promoters will try to match it. I'd like to give race promotion a go out there in the future...

Overall, I've found the place I want to live when I'm done here in West Lafayette. We went through a lot of states during the trip (both driving down, back, and for races) and none were as nice as Tucson- although Greenville, SC is a very close second. For now, I have 2 more years of Indiana while I work on my masters degree. But after that...I see a lot of desert and sun in the future.

Tour of the Gila

2011-05-04T15:49:00.003-04:00

The Tour of the Gila was by far the hardest, yet most awesome, race I have ever done. I've been searching for pictures the past few days, but haven't found any. Perhaps if I ever do the Pro/1 race it'll be a little easier to find a few pics.

Anyway, since its been 2 weeks since the race, I'll just give the synopsis of each stage:

Stage 1: Mogollon RR- 90 some odd miles.
In the weeks running up to the race I asked some other riders in Tucson what to expect from this race. The consensus was, "The suicide break on the first stage has made it the last 2 years and it determines the GC a lot." Alright, I can do that.

We rolled through town on our neutral portion and as soon as we hit mile 0 a Big Ring Cycles kid attacked. We were just ambling a long so I put in a little dig on a rise and bridged up to him. We hit it pretty hard for the next 10 miles and got a gap of about 2 minutes. The refs told us a group of 5 was chasing and the field wasn't doing too much. It was good news since 2 guys couldn't make it to the end for sure. They caught us a few miles later and it was exactly who I thought would be in it. We got a good paceline going and built up a 4-5 minute gap by the feedzone at mile 40. After that was a long, false flat with a solid cross wind for about 30 miles. I cracked at mile 60 or so and drifted back to the field. And a little while later 2 others from the break came back too. At this point the gap was down to a minute but the others were hung on until just before the finishing climb. A group of 5 broke away and bridged up by the start of the final climb, all but one guy from the original break stayed with them...and he won by 2 minutes. I was pretty bummed about getting dropped from that break, but not much I could do about it.

Stage 2: Inner Loop RR- 75 miles.
This race started off like a freaking crit! Guys who did poor the first day were super pissed and the first couple of miles were just endless attacks. Finally on the first sustained climb the race leader set a super fierce tempo and hand the field single file. I hung on for dear life but got popped. A group blew past me a little while later but I couldn't hang with them and I was really regretting the decision to attack from the gun the day before. I rode solo until about mile 30 when 2 other guys caught up with me. We kept up a good pace and started to catch other dropped guys and soon we had 7 with us. We kept the pace high and joked around with a meaningless sprint for 40th about 17 minutes back.

Stage 3: ITT- 16 miles
Scariest thing I've ever done on a bike. The wind was awful- sustained 25-30 mph, gusts up to 50-60. And it was a cross wind for the most part. The first 4 miles were up hill, so it wasn't bad, the rest was pretty fast descents. However, with the wind I was getting almost getting blown off the road and into on coming traffic. The return was just as bad until the final mile where it was a tail wind and you could spin out. A few guys got blown into the barriers at the finish. I still can't understand how guys used a disc wheel in those conditions.

Stage 4: Downtown Crit- 30 laps
A nice, 4 corner crit, with a hill on the backside and a quick descent on the the 3rd straight away. It was a super safe and fun course. I'm still getting over my fear of crashing since I broke my thumb last fall and wasn't enjoying it as much as I should have. Nonetheless it was nice to not have to do something with 8,000+ ft of climbing or with a killer cross wind.

Stage 5: Gila Monsters RR- 105 miles.
Epic in every sense of the term. The course has nearly 9,000 ft of climbing, including riding up to the summit of Emory Pass at 8,500 ft (and then flipping it and railing the descent). The race started off pretty tame, we'd go hard on the rollers and short climbs but it wasn't unbearable and I stayed close to the front. However things got ugly at the base of Emory and I got dropped part of the way up. I rode steady and stayed calm and only lost about a minute by the summit. I was solo for the next 30 miles and eventually got discouraged by the cross/head wind on along the river valley. 2 guys caught me, one who had crashed badly before Emory on a descent, and we started working together. Turns out the guy who was bloody was 8th on the GC. We set a pretty hard pace up the river valley and up the steep penultimate climb, but we still lost a lot of time by the end of the day.

In the end, only 39 of the 57 starters finished...and I was 38th. Not what I was hoping for, but at least not last. Having done this race once taught me a lot and I hope I can do it again in the future.

Old Pueblo Grand Prix

2011-04-21T01:12:00.006-04:00

That race was AMAZING! By far, the best race I've done out here! As pointed out in a short lived post by Chris, a race has 3 parts:
-Course (which includes spectators)
-Riders
-Money

Let's see:
Course:

Check! A sweet, technical, slightly sketchy, course through downtown Tucson that was LINED with people. Most importantly, it wasn't in an office park.

Look! A Corner! And people watching!

Riders:
100 strong in the Pro 1/2, including one Jeremy Hunt of Team Sky fame (even though he technically shouldn't have been there.)

Pfft Paris Roubiax...OPGP is waaay cooler.

Crit-tastic!

Money:
Gobs of it! Nearly TEN GRAND for the P/1/2, plus several other thousands for the other categories! 2 G's for winning!
Fuck yeah!

But there is more! There was an after party (free drinks!), an expo, music, announcers, and a grand stand at the finish line for spectators!
A+

All of this gives the race a 4th quality: Character. It had heart, a vibe, a personality. Something that takes some races years to develop, this one got it right on the first try!

Is there room for improvement? Of course! The course could be a little longer, the city could repave the sketchy back street, etc. But in terms of the logistics and how it was pulled off, the race was par none. A major tip o' the hat to the promoters for putting this together. It truly restored my faith in AZ cycling and I hope that other promoters take notice and step their game up next year! Clearly every race doesn't have to be in an office park or deserted subdivision, it can be a community event. Make it something the town can be proud of and support! I look forward to next years Old Pueblo Grand Prix, if I live here I'll do it for sure. Hell, even if I don't I fly in for it!

You Boys Like Mexico?!

2011-04-11T19:38:00.002-04:00

We were going to go race in Salt Lake City this weekend, but when the weather took a nose dive for the worse (40's and snow) I bailed and Chris followed suit. Had I stayed in the shitty midwest winter I'd be all down for it, but...I'm kind of spoiled by 90's and sun. Instead, we decided to take a little break from racing and head down south of the border for some fun in the sun with a beach!

Puerto Penasco or if you like the horribly translated version- Rocky point- is the closest beach town to Tucson, about 210 miles. We didn't really plan the trip out all too well, just hopped in the car with the bikes and drove. We sorted the hotel room out first- 50 bucks for a decent room in the bar/restaurant/night club part of town. We grabbed some beer and headed over to the beach and it was pretty empty...minus the 20 vendors walking around trying to sell you anything and the few homeless guys asking for cash or food. Anyway, it got chilly after the sunset so we went back, grabbed the jackets, and went and got dinner.

Again, the restaurant was empty, but we had stellar service and the food- fish fajita anyone?- was delicious and dirt cheap. We debated about which bars to go to first and made up an game plan. And much like the restaurant and beach the bars were deserted, save for the few locals watching the boxing match. We finally found one that had some awesome live music, or maybe by that point I was drunk enough to think it was awesome, and stayed there for a while.

The next morning we rode the new coastal highway, which really wasn't that coastal, for about 20 miles, flipped it came back into town. Surprisingly, their roads were in MUCH better condition than the ones around Tucson. Maybe its because they're lightly traveled or they actually take care of them, who knows. I was just glad to not be beaten to shit by rough roads for once.

We scoped out the rest of the town, including the eerily empty 'town' of La Choya. It was on the furthest point out in the sea covered with gorgeous houses and about 95% of them were empty. It fit in with the half finished condos and sea side hotels that lined the coast to the West. You can really tell this area is hurting from the lack of tourist dollars as most of the still uncompleted buildings were under construction the last time I was down there in '05.

Besides the extremely pushy street vendors, drug sellers, taxi drivers, prostitutes, and strip club doormen- all of which really didn't take a simple no for an answer and you had to be very forceful (or give them a dollar so they wouldn't follow you and beat your ass later)- it was a good trip and nice break from bike racing.

Colossal Caves Stage Race

2011-04-03T23:55:00.003-04:00

Possibly one of the smallest, in terms of field size- 10 riders, 3 part stage races I've ever done. However, as far as races in AZ go, it was put on really well.

Stage 1a (its soooo much more euro to do it that way) was a 6-ish mile ITT at 8 in the morning on the SE side of town. Again, the lack of a tt bike proved to be a rather large factor. Not a particularly challenging course- small rollers, a little windy, I think my time was round 14:30 or so. Not terrible, but it could have been much better. After that Chris and I drove back home and killed time until the 2nd part of the day in the afternoon.

Stage 1b was a 35 minute crit on a go kart track. It's about as awesome as it sounds- which is not very- but it wasn't dangerous by any stretch. 13 corners in just under a KM with a few "long" straightaways and a shit ton of wind, which made a few of the corners a little tricky. Chris simply out cornered everyone and won solo by a healthy minute or so margin. I got 9th, so I beat one person- score!

Stage 2 was an 81 mile rode race that included a trip up Pistol Hill every lap and a few other rolling hills, plus an super strong wind out of the west. This lead to a head wind up the hill and down, cross tail on one road, and straight cross on the others. Plus, with only 10 riders it was like being on a 81 mile break away. Chris was 1 pt out of the lead and with my consistent 9th place finishes I was sitting 9th. So we became impromptu team mates and I was supposed to chase things down or if he told me to get in a break, in turn I'd get a free dinner. Works for me, I like food, and a win for him is a win for me.

As you can imagine with 9 laps and 10 people, it wasn't very interesting the first few laps. A few non-threatening attacks that were brought back, I tried to lead Chris out for the GC points prime, and then a whole bunch of JRA. The cross winds and I weren't getting a long (we rarely do) and when things really started getting guttered I found myself gaped off the back. I'd chase back on, get gaped slightly on Pistol hill, catch back on, and repeat for the next few laps until the legs said 'nope.' So it was cruise mode for the next few laps. The 'field' ended up shattering with Chris and 2 others getting away and Chris took the win and the GC. I got...9th and ended, you guessed it, 9th in the GC. Consistency right there.

On an aggravating note the officiating down here is kind of frustrating. Don't get me wrong, they're all nice guys and gals...but they don't do their job all that well when it comes to keeping riders informed. A re-occurring theme at road races is: "Riders, you keep track of the number of laps you have completed." If me and 200 other people pay 95 bucks to do a stage race and 4 officials get paid roughly ~175 each...I think we deserve to be told how many laps we have left in our race! From my experience officiating we've always done that and I've seen only 2 officials at some collegiate races keep 3 fields of 60 riders informed on the number of laps they have to go. So, I know it can be done and it needs to be done because when you've been racing hard for a few hours in 90 degree heat you tend to forgot just how many times you've gone up the damn hill...

That's some damn fine dancing

2011-03-24T21:11:00.003-04:00

Not that I haven't seen that before, but the more I watch it the more I appreciate and notice the moves. Seriously, thats some damn fine dancing. And it makes me miss the Cactus.

Oh, TBC...you're probably wondering how that went- not spectacular. What I wouldn't do to have my tt bike down here both for the psychological boost and the actual physical benefits. It would have been money for that course even though it was only 3 miles.

Oh TT bike, where art thou? Oh yeah...in my basement in WL

Road race I made an ass out of myself by getting a little off balance with my spare wheels in hand and clipping a car door at like 5 mph. Nice road rash on the elbow and knee, thankfully the kit came out just fine. I put in a few good digs- even got in a break for a lap- but it ended in a sprint.

Circuit race...pretty hard actually. A lot of grinding climbs that just wore you down, well wore me down at least. Finished off the pack so that really kicked the GC time in the nutz.

Overall, it was a well done race (the wheel check in process for neutral wheels was a bit much since they lost one of Chris's wheels for a bit), but it was fun.

Las Cruces Omnium

2011-03-14T01:25:00.003-04:00

This weekend I checked out a low key omnium near Las Cruces, NM with the U of A cycling crew. It was your typical 3 stage omni: tt, crit, road race and since I was with collegiate riders, it was the usual road trip fare (leave late, arrive later, get up early to race, stay all day to watch everyone finish). Saturday's courses left much to be desired- a slightly rolling time trial with a bitch of a head wind going out, which left you under geared coming back. I really wish I had my tt bike down here, but I made do with some sweet ghetto low profile (and low weight) clip-ons. I've certainly done better time trials as I under gauged my effort going out since coming back was a breeze. Really should have just fucking smashed it going out, but hind-sight is 20/20.

The crit was unmemorable at best- flat, 4 corner, around a small factory, with flawless pavement and wide corners. Oh and 2 strange pieces of road furniture on 2 of the straightaways. Still it was one of the safest courses I've ever done. The wind was still howling and the pack started splitting up quickly as the cross winds took their toll. My inability to race a crit continued and I ended up in a chase group that wasn't working super well together, but we wee keeping the field in sight, so that was a plus.

However, somehow someone crashed in the last corner and the medics were slow to react and he was in the road for quite a while. Strangely, the officials never stopped the race...even though you could clearly see a something was going on in the middle of the last corner. No, instead with 7 laps to go- and they guy had been in the middle of the corner for at least 15 minutes- they ring a bell for a prime and the lead group stops and goes, "Seriously?" The officials claimed they didn't know he was still there, how they couldn't see that was beyond me. Anyway, they neutralize us for 15 minutes and then just cancel they stage, which in that case was the right thing to do since a 6 lap crit just isn't a good idea. The whole scenario should have been averted as from the start of the crash the race should have been stopped.

Sunday, was a gorgeous and fairly tough little road race on the fringe of the Gila Wilderness. A break of 3 got established pretty early and after soft pedaling in the group, someone told me to be aggressive so I found my juevos and went for broke on a solo bridge attempt. I got close...really, really, really close, but fell sort by about 15 seconds. It felt super good to be out there though, so even though the field was chasing, I kept at it hoping that they might ease up and someone would come join me. They caught me fight before the turn around and then stopped chasing. The break was still less than a minute up the road, but apparently I was more interesting to catch. Another NM guy attacked and soon David Glick bridged to him and at that point the final had train left the station. We soft pedaled for a good majority of the way back until I got tired of sitting there and started attacking, along with some others, but one guy made sure to bring everything back...every time. Why he didn't counter is beyond me, he was stronger enough to put in a good move. Eventually I gave up and decided to at least get a good work out in and pegged it a little above threshold for up the next few miles. There was no money at the finish anyway, so might as well do something exciting for a bit was my thought. The final 6 miles were on the base of this super sweet climb. Sadly, the race finished right at the point the climb got sweet- it would have been sick had it finished 6 miles more up the road near the summit. I rolled in at the back in of the field, not super pleased with the result, but I had a good time riding hard.

On a last note, the U of A peeps were giving me shit about my bike "Whats an aerocat?", "Is a cat aero?" etc, were common questions. Well, this my friends, is an aero cat:

Why I Love AZ

2011-03-05T18:29:00.003-05:00

Fuck yes.

A-oooohhhhhh...

2011-03-04T23:34:00.002-05:00

I know what'll be stuck in my head tomorrow during the shoot out and Sunday at Tumacacori...

You shouldn't just hang out with other cyclists.

2011-02-24T00:28:00.005-05:00

Why? Because a lot of them are incredibly boring:

other stories:
"Omg I gotta count calories to lose .75 kg for the next race."
"*gasp* my watts/kg went up .5 today! I'm soooooo fast up hill now!"
"Yeah, so I gotta do 3x15.758 minutes at 457 watts, then ride up Mt. Lemmon at 300 watts with standing sprints, and then I'm going to sprint down it for leg speed, followed by...."

Jesus, we get it, you're really concerned about racing and training. Good for you. Don't worry, I am concerned about racing and training too- it's why I'm out here (like you)- but I also believe in something called life balance. Whats that? It means that all work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy. Its good to get out, have a beer, dance, socialize, and get the fuck away from your bike every so often. Having a cold one (or 3) isn't going to make you fat, but it might make you fun. At least until it wears off and you freak out about the amount of sugar you had the night before. Seriously, the bike isn't the end all/be all of life.

Arizona Drivers

2011-02-21T01:04:00.006-05:00

In Indiana, I thought drivers were pretty dumb. It seems like the vast majority aren't familiar with how to operate a turn signal, so you never really know what to expect. However, here in AZ, its a whole new level of stupidity. Sure, they use their turn signals, but they commit a far worse sin.

Allow me to illustrate with my fine MS Paint skills (click for larger, full glory versions):

Here we are, in Chris's fine blue car, sitting behind a guy who just passed another car. No biggie, right?

Several miles later, the guy hasn't moved out of the pass lane. Nope, just sitting there.

And we're still stuck. What an asshat.

This occurs at least 1,000 times on I-10 going and coming from Phoenix. Eventually, they get far enough ahead that you can pass on the right...which is super sketchy, but there isn't another way around the asshats. All things considered, its not surprising to hear that there are a ton of accidents on the interstates here. Hmm, it couldn't be from people being forced to pass on the right due to objects in the left lane? Nah.

And its not just your stereotypical "old person who sucks at driving" doing it. No. It's young, old, rich, poor, everyone. It's absurd, almost to the point as if the concept of "stay out of the passing lane, except when passing" is never covered in AZ driving school.

However, I have a solution to this problem. I noticed an a job ad local Driver's Ed school. Of all the driving wisdom I can give to the young padawans, I will impart the most crucial:
Get the fuck out of the passing lane on the interstate or a big scary monster will eat you.

Monetized the Blog

2011-02-17T16:00:00.003-05:00

Indeed, I have sold out to 'the Man' (ie: google) in an effort to make some amount of pocket change. No, there won't be any pop ups, flashing/annoying animated ads, etc. Its pretty unobtrusive actually, so we'll see how much it can actually net me, not expecting much- maybe enough to buy a beer now and then.

The job search, beyond the inconsistent essay scoring job with ETS, has been a fruitless endeavor. Slightly depressing when you can't even find a meager part time job at Jimmy Johns. Nevertheless, got to keep a positive attitude- I am, after all, living in an area that has sunny days 98% of the year, riding my bike for 5 hours a day, and racing in early February. All things considered, not bad, but it would be nice to fill all of that down time with something else besides sitting here.

I did have a near death experience at the start of the descent of Mt. Lemmon this past weekend. Near death might be over-reaching, but this could have ended quite badly. Ben and I reached the ski resort after he drug my ass up it in about 2 hours, chatted with some Canadians, ate some a granola bar, and then started the trek down. About 5 feet into the descent my rear tire blows out, leaving a pretty gnarly slash in the tire- big enough my pinkie could go through. Thats when I thanked my lucky stars that I decided to ride the extra mile or so to the resort rather than just flipping it at Summerhaven...things would have been much uglier had it blow out in a corner at 35 mph.

That being said, there wasn't much chance of me riding down the mountain. So I hitched a ride down in the back of a minivan. The 4 people- a wife and husband plus her 2 sisters- were from Minnesota and were some of the nicest people I've had the pleasure talking to. Plus the offered me a cookie and some pizza from the Cookie Cabin! Seriously, who could turn that down?? We made a few stops at the vistas on the way down and then they dropped me off near campus in Tucson. From there Waylon came and picked me up. Still managed to get 3 hours in, 2 of which were climbing, so that worked fine for the day, especially considering all of my skin and bones were in one piece (always a plus).

Seems like I made the right call in skipping Valley of the Sun stage race, especially after hearing the tales of neutralized fields, boring courses, and a less than friendly promoter. The latter I had personal experience with when I asked about the 20 dollar "online late fee", which makes ZERO sense to me considering online reg does all the work for you in terms of waivers, start lists, etc. Plus, there was no day of registration- so EVERYTHING was done online. So upping the fee the week before the race, and ending full refunds that same day, was really nothing more than a way to profiteer off of riders given that the majority of race sign up occurs in the last 36 hrs. Which was confirmed in their response that included, "I see you promote small CX races" (a polite 'fuck you, you don't know what it takes to do a big race' which couldn't be farther from the truth) and then his answer of, "the fee lets us better focus our efforts else where." I asked what the hell that meant and never got a response. Not a way to exactly endear yourself to people, so he didn't get my 120 bucks and the field wasn't even close to filling up (which he claimed it would).

Anyway, its back to racing this weekend at ASU. Oh collegiate racing...I've missed you.

Trajaba?

2011-02-08T21:59:00.003-05:00

In my never ending quest for work- which has been mostly fruitless besides the 27 days of scoring exit exams for ETS. I briefly considered selling plasma at Zlb Plasma, but couldn't bring myself to do it.

I've lost count of the jobs I've applied to and haven't heard back yet.... I even set up a tutoring profile but haven't heard anything so, if you need a tutor (or know of someone), send them my way:

I'm now available to tutor in the following subjects: Algebra, Trigonometry, English, GRE, Computer Skills, Geography, History, Organization, Psychology, Social Studies, Study Skills, Writing, Computer Skills, Geometry, Earth Science, Economics, and Philosophy! To see my availability, rates, experience, and student reviews please take a second to check out my tutor profile.

Help me not sell my plasma...

Lemmon-ade

2011-01-26T22:49:00.005-05:00

We rode to the summit of Mt. Lemmon today. That might be an overstatement, we rode to the town of Mt. Lemmon today, which is close to the summit, the true summit is the ski lodge and that'll be for another adventure. To sum this climb up in a few words:
long, gradual, breathtakingly beautiful.

Long: its 27 miles to the summit. Depending on how fast you want to go it can take about 2 hrs to 1.5 hrs.
Gradual: there are a few steep parts, but for the most part it stays under 5%
beautiful:

The view from Windy Point, about 14 miles or so up

Hello down there!

Over the duration of the climb you go from Mexico to Canada in terms of vegetation: cacti, scrub, ash and oak, firs, and then aspen pines. The Santa Catalina mountains (which has Mt. Lemmon) is part of the 'Sky Islands' the group of mountain ranges that surround Tucson, reach similar heights, and have similar flora and fauna even though they separated by large expanses of desert. How did they get that name?

Yeah, that is pretty damn sweet

Roughly 2 hours of climbing later, we reached the town of Mt. Lemmon, where is was around 50 degrees (it was 70 in Tucson), there was about 5 inches of snow, and surprisingly not too many tourists- although it we did climb it on a Wednesday. The only thing open was the Cookie Cabin, which sounded awesome to us after climbing 5000+ feet. $5 bucks got us one oatmeal raisin cookie that was the size of a dinner plate. It was AWESOME! Perfectly baked: light crispy bottom, warm and chewy center, and excellent spices...I easily could have had 2 or 3 more.

After eating the calories we just burned off climbing, we bundled up and started the trek down. Which is misleading as you have to climb up before you start to go down. You actually go over 8000 feet twice, and then around mile post 21 start the descent in earnest. Its not a challenging descent in the least bit- wide road, gently sweeping corners, so you never have to scrub speed; however, it does level off at times which means you have to pedal for a bit. And in a hour you're back at the bottom. Yeah, an hour of going downhill at 30+

All in all, a solid 5 hour day in the saddle (it takes about an hour to get there from our house). Definitely will be making several return trips to the cookie cabin by bike and car.

Racing...

2011-01-24T00:04:00.000-05:00

in January?!

Indeed, I decided to hit up a crit in Avondale, a suburb of Phoenix. A pretty safe course, shaped like a D and 2 lanes wide the whole way around- a great way to get back into racing, for me anyway, since it wasn't technical at all. I wasn't really sure what to expect with it being January- probably something a long the lines of a Midwest crit in March: ride around sort of fast for a while and then sprint...that couldn't have been farther from the truth. The first race (an hour long cat 2/3) was strung out single file from the gun and stayed that way. I got in a few moves with another Midwesterner Chris Mosora (at least I'm assuming its him, he was in a Verizon Master's kit and similar riding style), but nothing stayed away until the winds picked up about 20 minutes in and a 9 man group got away in the cross winds. From that point the race was done entirely in the gutter with little shelter. Bicycle Haus and Bicycle Ranch were doing a great job covering moves and eventually just rode a high enough tempo to discourage any attacks the rest of the race. Nothing too glorious for the finish, somewhere in the middle. It was a bit surprising to see just how hard these guys where going...in January.

The second race was the Pro/1/2, which I initially wasn't going to do but figured you only live once so why not. The winds had picked up to about 20, with gusts to 30 by that point, which meant more time in the gutter. The first lap was pretty chill, the second lap a little faster, and by the start of the 3rd a 7 man group- most importantly containing Eric Marcotte who had early lapped the 30+ Master's field...twice...solo. Like earlier, he drove the break, lapped the field (and lapped me out), and then took 4 of the breakaway guys with him again. No surprise on who won that one by a good 4 bike lengths. I can only imagine what he'll be like in May at Quad Cities if he's riding like this now. I made it about 20 minutes in that one before my legs said no mas.

All around it was an interesting day of racing and gave me a good taste of what to expect in 2 weeks when we go hit up the McDowell circuit race and Bike Haus crit (both in Phoenix) on the 5th and 6th. The latter having its online registration run by Boris Decourt (everyone remembers Boris, right?)

Hello from Tucson!

2011-01-20T11:41:00.003-05:00

If you read my compatriot's blog, you'll know that we arrived safe and sound in Tucson on Sunday night, promptly found a KICK ASS apartment on campus Monday, and then went to the Tuesday morning race (really, it was an unofficial race pretty much). All in all, a pretty solid way to start the adventure off. The weather has been absolutely amazing too: high 70's, cloudless days, and a little breeze. Far better than the dumping of snow W. Lafayette is currently receiving.

The number of people who ride here is mindboggling, just walking to Starbucks this morning I saw over 30 people riding to class... I think that is more then at Purdue during August. Group rides here regularly have 40-50 people show up which is impressive to say the least. We've also had a run in with the legendary Gray Wolf- including his famous howl as he attacks the group, he did this as we rode back into town on Tuesday morning. In fact, as I speak, he is walking out of Starbucks right now, bibs over his jersey, sans helmet, and tons of wolf logos. He is someone you have to see in person to truly believe he exists.

Racing starts here this weekend with a D shaped crit on the south side of Phoenix. I'm still on the fence for going, but I'd like to get the first one under my belt and get back into the swing of regularly endangering myself. Plus, I like the prospect of prize money...it'll fill the growing financial gap in my bank account until I find some kind of employment.

Speaking of not having a job, training here is kind of expensive...and as many of my follow bloggers have done, I'm reaching out to you, dear reader for a little helping hand. Now rather than just post a PayPal donation button, I'm actually giving you a list of practical things you can do to help. See, this is akin to seeing a panhandler with a sign reading, "Hungry, please donate $" and you give him a cheeseburger instead of a quarter. This adds security and peace of mind for you as you will know exactly what your donation is going towards, as with an ambiguous PayPal button I could just blow it on strippers and cheap booze. So if you want to help out, just follow this link:
Training donation list

Tucson, AZ

2011-01-09T16:02:00.008-05:00

Frickin sweet! Just got back from an epic 25 hr car drive from Tucson. The trip was amazing and I had a blast riding in warm weather with Chris, Naveen, and Todd. We did just about every major ride possible:
Kitt Peak, Lemmon, Madera Canyon, the Shootout (which had 7 pros show up), Gate's Pass, etc. So amazing.

However, at the end of the trip I was greeted with unpleasant news from the University regarding my appeal for financial aid. I was told there was a slim chance in the beginning, but I held out for hope. After several reviews, changes, and such I was greeted late last week with a message along the lines of:

We are, indeed, not going to give you money for the spring. Yes you qualify financially, but you won't start work on your degree until the Fall. If you become degree seeking in the Spring you might qualify for some aid at that time.

No grants, scholarships, or loans. Zip, nada. I don't know about you...but I don't have 4.5 (or hell even half that) grand just laying around. No spring semester for me means no campus job. No campus job means no monies (and I'm not going back to Folletts). I don't want get another lousy job that I hate going to everyday and have no training time. But I also can't stay unemployed.

So rather than be sad and depressed up here, I'm going to do what any rational person would do: move. Indeed, nothing to lose now so might as well have an enjoyable spring semester riding and working in the Tucson sun. Its new, its different, its short noticed, hastily planned, and utterly terrifying.
When am I leaving? Friday, Saturday, or Sunday
Where am I staying? Good question. I'll know tomorrow...or Tuesday.
Where am I working? I'll sort that out too.
This kind of trip is almost everything I try to avoid but I'm excited as all hell.
New town, new rides, new friends, new experiences. Bring it!

Cycle-mas!

2010-12-25T21:48:00.002-05:00

Christmas this year was very much a cycle-mas:

-3 pairs of sweet new wool tall boys
-new cassette
-new chain
-Sugio firewall winter gloves (finally! now my hands won't get numb while I'm out riding in the frozen wasteland of Hoth).

Overall an awesome and relaxing Christmas with my mom- played some card games, chess, watched Inception, and in general just kicked back.

I am searching for one thing and as simple as it is...its rather hard to find:
a new 19 tooth cog for a daytona/centaur cassette. I broke a tooth of that cog back in July in a race other than that the cassette is fine so I'd like to save it. However, all the replacements I find have the 19 riveted to the 21 cog- the one I have every cog is independent. So if anyone has an idea...let me know.

Things are also squared away for 2011. Spring semester is finally settled and I secured a spot on a team for next year! I'll be riding for the Racing for Riley/Alderfer Bergen squad. Super excited to have a spot on a strong team that will help me grow and develop as a rider. 2011 is a going to be a killer year!

Next post from: Muuuuuuuleshoe Texas!

GRE

2010-12-14T08:38:00.002-05:00

One and done, baby!

Took it on Monday starting a little after high noon and walked out around 4. Feels amazing to have that done and over with- never has it felt so good to close out 2 tabs on my Firefox that I had open for studying this past month.

And with that, my application for grad school this coming Fall is complete and my Spring non-degree app is approved so I just need to sign up for courses later this week. Things are falling into place nicely.

Two week until Tucson as well. Weather there: 70's, weather here: 20. Bring it on!

Disgusting

2010-12-01T22:55:00.003-05:00

Generally, I try to not get too political on here, but this is just absurd:

"Senate GOP pledges to block all bills until tax dispute resolved."

This includes the extended unemployment benefits which several hundred thousand Americans depend on to get by. Yes, in the interest of protecting the wealthiest out there with permanent Bush-era tax cut extensions...we're just going to forget about those in less fortunate situations.

Don't touch my money!

Ah! But don't worry, Mitch McConnell has your back!
"Last month, the American people issued their verdict on the Democrat's priorities," Yes...we saw that in how the house switched dramatically..., "We need to show the American people that we care more about them and their ability to pay their bills than we do about the special interests' legislative Christmas-list."

Excuse me? Really? REALLY? Oh yeah, if they make over 250,000 a year you care a lot. Less than that, eh, not so much.

Pathetic.

Look, I understand where they are coming from- they want the extensions to be fully funded rather than continuing down our dangerous path of over-spending. I'm cool with that, actually, I think its great. However, permanently extending a $700 billion tax (which, hypocritically, isn't funded), just doesn't make fiscal sense. Let's see...knix 56.4 billion in other programs to pay for the unemployment benefits and then give a out a $700 billion in a tax cut...to the rich? Because, cutting their taxes will give them more money to create new jobs! Right?! Right?!
No.
It didn't work in the early 2000's and it won't work now.

I'm not sure what the 'correct' answer is, but I can confidently say its not this.

Say wha?

2010-11-26T23:00:00.002-05:00

In my attempt to procrastinate studying for the GRE (which I must say is going fairly well), I was stumbling through a few blogs and came across this picture:

I've seen him race road before and I can wrap my mind around that...'cross, however, leaves a few questions. Questions that pertain to skills that require weight on two hands, such as:
-Dismounts
-Remounts
-Run ups

I suppose the run up is easy to answer, just push the bike. But, clearly, you can't dismount on the left- all your weight would be on that side and you'd fall over. So, this calls for a right side dismount. Remount, I still can't figure out.

Regardless, mad props all 'round!

Winter Break

2010-11-17T23:37:00.004-05:00

Something new in the works for this winter break, instead of being a couch potato watching Law and Order marathons I'll be hitting up the mountains of Tucson with Naveen, Chris, and hopefully two others. I haven't ridden down there since the summer before my freshman year (nearly 5 years), so I'm really looking forward to it. New bike, plus years of riding means that climbing Kitts Peak and Mt. Lemmon will be enjoyable.

Kitts Peak in the summer of '06

Finding that picture took some time and it also brought back some memories, like this one:

Finish of my first race- Ceraland
I got my shit rocked at that race but for whatever reason was dumb enough to come back for more.

Tucson is gonna be sweet, no doubt about it, great people and great riding, what more could you want?!

Ya Wanna Know What I Think?

2010-11-03T22:57:00.003-04:00

That's what I think about Tuesday's elections and this club sport non-sense in the cycling club.

/end

Pending CX Doom

2010-10-26T09:08:00.002-04:00

I'm sensing a great deal of pain coming this Saturday... and not the good kind. More a long the lines of: "Shit, I haven't been training/practicing this."

Things to work on:
-eliminate double hop remount
-general handling skillz
-bunny hopping
-actually riding the damn bike

Not that I'm overly concerned. I just don't want to embarrass myself that much, so I'll hope for better than DFL and if I get lucky maybe a top 5. More importantly is the night of debauchery that will follow the race. Mmmm, who doesn't love debauchery?

Web Comic

2010-10-24T09:34:00.004-04:00

So here is something sweet:
http://adventuresofdopeydave.blogspot.com/

I have a role in a web comic. A really well drawn web comic.

Like seriously:

Pretty sexy, eh?

Besides being super famous, other sweet things have (or are about to) happen:
-A got a gold cup from the cactus (Supa rare and I didn't pay for it)

-I've talked to one team about riding for them next season and I'm waiting to here from another. (I'll make an official announcement once it is all finalized). Either way, I was pretty stoked to have someone say, "Yeah, we'd love to have you ride for us."

-Grad school application is done. Just have to take the GRE now and I'll be good to go.

-Decided to take some classes in the spring. During my meeting with the HK department head we discussed that option and it became clear that I should probably take 2-3 classes to be a little more prepared. So at that point, might as well tack on a 4 class and be full time. Plus, honestly, (and no offense to Follett's), I'm not sure I could do another semester of work there like I've done this time:
Stock text books for 3 weeks
Un-stock text books, box them up, and ship them back to the publisher for 10 weeks.
Clean shelves.
Repeat in the spring.
Thanks...but no thanks.

-Cast was finally removed on Friday. Finally! After 7 weeks in a cast, my wrist is free and feels great! Minus the stiffness but that'll go away. So nice to ride my bike now and the motivation to train is well on its way to coming back.

So that about wraps it up, time to ride ye old bici for a while!

The Fall Fling...

2010-10-04T18:24:00.005-04:00

...and how Chad Hartley made me cry during the crit.

Friday:
We arrived at our host's, the Kulas, house, and just like last year we were warmly greeted and fed the most amazing food. I love staying with them for races- their amazing hosts and the food is to die for. Seriously...home made spaghetti and meat balls, with a garden fresh salad, and molten brownies for dessert! Everything made from scratch with fresh ingredients. What more could you want?! If riding in the city didn't suck I'd consider moving into their basement.

I'll glaze over Saturday: nippy, cloudy, and brutally windy. The course was a big oval with a few sweeping bends- so not technical at all. I made it about half way until my lack of fitness caught up and said, "no mas." And no mas it was. Hogan stuck it out in the winning break (that he started) and got 4th. Hot embrocation was also a bad choice as my legs radiated heat for the next several hours.

Sunday:
Similar temps, less wind, and a shorter more sheltered course. Sarah was the first to race in a combined race with the Master's 60+. There were 4 women total, but 3 categories: 4's (2 riders), 5's (1), and Masters (1). Sarah won her category (4's) and was second behind the Master's woman. So that was a good start for Purdue Cycling.

A few hours later and it was time for Hogan and I to throw down with about 30 or so others in the combined 1/2/3 and Master's 30+. As I stood on the line, I kept thinking (albeit cliche) about how this was the last road race of the year, no tomorrow to save for, so lay it all out. The first couple of laps where pretty fast, I started in the front and then slid to the back and sat in. Eventually Hogan and 2 others got away and a few laps later I followed an attack by Rob Kelly. Soon we had a nice little chase group going and we caught the other chaser- Chad Hartley- and kept the pace up. Hogan and Ryan dropped their other breakaway companion and we caught him quickly. By that point (and the 30 minutes to go point) our group had solidified into 9: Chad, Rob, dogfish, WDT, Wheelfast, Verizon Master, Project 5, Village Sport, Pony Shop, and myself. Chad and the Verizon rider were turning up the screws every time they pulled through (and generally both of their pulls came one after the other). I was hurting pretty bad just sitting on and it didn't help that every couple of laps someones would die in front of me and leave a gap to close. As the race worn on, Chad kept pulling harder, more people died and soon it was just him, rob, me, verizon, dog fish, and wdt. It stayed that way for a few more laps, except I couldn't physically pull through and just staying on the group on the tailwind section (where we regularly touched the high 30's) had tears streaming down my checks. Eventually I got gaped slightly in the headwind, Chad looked back and told the group to drill it to take me out. And it worked, as well as eliminating the wdt rider and the dogfish guy. We grouped together and stayed away for the finish, where I got 2nd in our group sprint. Good enough for 7th and a pretty decent way to wrap up the road season. Hogan and his teammate Ryan went 1-2, another near sweep for the Verizon guys who have been on fire almost all year. In the end, this was definitely one of the harder races I've done.

Now, on to cross!

Big and Tall

2010-09-22T23:29:00.003-04:00

Every so often an urge to buy a new pair of pants comes about, ya know, to spice the wardrobe up a bit. For most people, this isn't a huge deal- hit up your favorite clothing store and you're done.

That works fine...if your 5'5-6' without lanky limbs. At 6'3 and 145 I don't fit into the "fashion average" profile. So stores like Kohls, Old Navy, AE, etc never stock my size (28x36...and why would they? Not too many people my size). The one saving grace, I thought, would be the Big and Tall section.

But that needs a disclaimer. Big and Tall does not infer Big, Tall clothing... nay, it means Big AND Tall. Think 40x35 jeans...yeah, big boy. In fact the staff smirked when I asked about my size. Thanks.

SO it was off to the internet...the giant closet of just about anything you would want to wear. Except for 28x36 jeans. Don't get me wrong, they exist, but they look like shit.

There has to be other tall skinny dudes in the same boat as me- they want clothes that actually fit AND look good (and don't break the bank). If a store like this exists, please point me to it. Or someone needs to make it.

Casted

2010-09-11T13:36:00.002-04:00

So, if you remember the ABR nationals crit,I crashed and messed up my wheels and my hand. Initially, I thought it was just a bad sprain, but after a week I decided it would be a good idea to get it checked out. Turns out I fractured my scaphoid...and have to have it in a cast for a few weeks. It's been a little over a week so far and its driving me absolutely crazy to not be able to ride. However! This hasn't stopped me fully!

Dave and I drove up to Detroit to hang out with Chris and do some sweet Canadian crits. Well, attempt to- racing with a cast is a challenge to say the least. The race on Saturday was on an old Ford test track (so an oval), but it was insanely windy and after a break of 7 got away the officials pulled everyone else. Kind of sucked, but it felt awesome to race again. I skipped out on Erie street due to the $70 entry fee- thats a tough pill to swallow healthy.

On Wednesday, the Fall Time Trial series kicked off. Its a low key series of TT's that help new riders gauge their fitness. Luckily, aerobars fit perfectly with my cast, so I decided to give it a go. I didn't expect much, especially since I hadn't been riding much. Turns out the rest was a good thing (go figure) and I almost broke the course record (set by Greg 2 yrs ago). So pretty stoked about that!

This coming Thursday I have another doc. visit...hopefully I'll walk out without the cast and just a brace instead...

ABD Winfield Crits

2010-08-23T18:08:00.003-04:00

First off, these are 2 of my favorite races of the year. Both courses are wickedly hard (the hills on both courses just grind on you), but the best part are the fans. Saturday's has a family on top of the hill that throws a MASSIVE party- complete with primes ranging from a grill, couple of hundred bucks, lotto tickets (which yours truly won), and bottles of wine. Plus, if you win a prime they do an interview with you on their mini stage- its awesome.

Saturday-
Small field, about 20ish lined up. Mike Schere did a little attack from the start and I brought it back- the game plan was to keep things together unless Bryan got into a promising break. A promising break, of course, meant at least 1 (if not more) Verizon riders, one of us, Erik, and a Bicycle Heaven rider. Ryan Fruend had an amazing solo attack that hovered at 30 seconds for the longest time until a series of counter attacks brought it back. Since it was such a small field there was no place to hide from attacks, so it made sense to stay near the front and just follow everything possible. We caught Ryan and nothing series materialized after that, so with just a few laps to go it felt like a field sprint was coming (I get a feeling about it...can't explain it...), I was pretty gassed and couldn't stay up at the front after that, but hung on for 15th and a bit o'cash. Bryan got 4th, which was awesome.

Sunday-
I told ABD I'd volunteer both days, and today I was corner marshaling for 4 hrs. Not too bad- had a chair, a little shade, and tons of food and water. Plus, it was fun to watch the races in a primo location on corner one. The course is super safe too- 4 corners, wide, and smooth pavement. Personally, I thought it there was going to be a crash it'd be in corner 4. It's slightly off camber, and if you swung out too far you'd hit a lip between the new pavement and curb, but that would have been pretty rare. Instead, the lone crash in our race happened on the climb...after corner 3 when we are going like 10 mph. A ten man break- the race since it had EVERYONE in it- had just gotten off the front and I was on the front covering things and hoping to get a tow up there to my teammate. However...as we round corner 3, someone comes in my instead and side swipes the shit out of me....I keep it up, he falls down, skids and stops in front of me. No place to go but over, so up and over I go and then go superman over my handle bars. Banged up knee, really banged up hand (its still swollen...hopefully not broken), and 2 broken carbon wheels. Awesome.
I pull out of the race and watch from the EMT tent. Crazy awesome race to watch- Mike bridged solo from the break to the field, then Ryan joined him, they ended up bringing the break back with like 2 laps to go. Purely insane to have to score that so I don't envy the refs at all on that. Verizon went 1,2,3,4- not the biggest race but doing that at any race is amazing- props to them.

Anyway, off to go lick the wounds and draw up a battle plan for the end of the season... that and go work at Follet's stockin' text books.

Looking for:

2010-08-06T23:01:00.002-04:00

One recent college graduate seeking some form of employment.
-Degree in organizational management
-Quick learner
-Organized
-Timely
-Works well with others
-Enjoys outdoors
-"Action/detailed-oriented"
-Several years supervising experience

Not too particular, willing to push a broom and scrub floors or help lead your company to the next level. Weekends and afternoons off would be nice.

Sudden Break

2010-07-23T10:16:00.002-04:00

I decided to take an impromptu break from cycling this week. Physically, my riding is super strong, but the mental aspect is completely lacking. It was there...but suddenly went away.... It started off with the state time trial this past Sunday. I had a melt down of epic proportions- think Michael Rasmussen in the '05 tour. Things looked good at the turn around, I hit that in 26 minutes and some change, so it looked as if an excellent time was shaping up. About 2 miles later it was as if the lights just went off and I had no desire to keep pushing that pace. Physically- yes...mentally...nope. I'd go on to bleed out 4 minutes and cross in 56 minutes instead of the 52-ish that was setting up. I have no clue what clicked off in my mind but it set the tone for Superweek as well.

Those road races that I went up to do should have been super challenging but also a good place to strike up a result. Not so much. Instead I found myself at the back of the field both days with the the strength to move up- it was insanely easy sitting at the back- but no desire to do it. Eventually, once the race got slightly hard I'd just end up riding off the back and not even trying to close the gap. Clearly it was time for a little mini break or something.

Wednesday I worked the feedzone for Chris and Drew during the 150 KM road race. It was actually pretty refreshing to just lounge around on top of the hill in the shade and watch a race. Sometimes its more fun to spectate than it is to race and this was one of those times. Thursday was another lazy day- packed up, watched le Tour, went and watched a movie, and then drove back home in time to hit up the Cactus. I may ride today...not sure yet, I think a long passion ride is in the books for sure....

Sooo-eeee piggy piggy!

2010-07-06T12:43:00.008-04:00

We made the bad life decision of making a dinner stop at one on the way back from the Tour of Lawrence. Hey, it'd been like 4 years, so why not give it another go?

Here's why: Golden Corral is ruining America...one fat kid at a time. There were 5 years who were easily twice my weight....reaching around and grabbing food and putting it back. Nasty.
Now, I'm used to being the skinniest person in most places, but here I felt wickedly out of place. Like, I'm surprised there wasn't a weight minimum to get in. At first glance I remembered why I stopped going to Golden Corral- it's like a feeding trough for humans. Complete with a Pavlovian dinner bell that summons the masses to fresh buttery dinner rolls and pie.

ARRRRGH Fresh rolls!
I tried to find a picture of a real fat person running, but then remembered that if they ran...they wouldn't be fat.

Here is a staged photo of what their buffet could look like:

Not bad, actually.

But in reality, it looks more like this:

Careful, you might lose a finger in there...

I made my way through the obese masses to the buffet to find everything that contain anything remotely green/healthy to be gone (and not coming back) and everything deep fried, greasy, fatty, and sure to take a year (or 2) off your life to be in never ending quantities. I was, however, at the wrong time when the fresh rolls appeared and nearly had my hand taken off. I've never seen 24 rolls disappear so fast. Apparently fat people can move quickly...

So the next time you hear a dinner bell and feel the ground rumble, its not a stampede of hungry cyclists...its probably just one really excited fat person:

The bell! Quick! To the Corral! ROLLS!

Cobb Park

2010-06-21T08:31:00.003-04:00

Not gonna lie, I went into that race with the full intention of getting a confidence boost. It was a toss up: getting my ass handed to me at Dairyland or go do some ass handing myself at a local race. Obviously, I went with the last, ya know, because sometimes its nice not to get your ass handed to you.

So yeah, I was a bit cocky after seeing only 18 people had pre-registered...and then saw 40 (ish) people on the line with me including a lot of fire power. Damn. So much for being BMOC. The goal was the still the same- get a damn fine work out of this race.

I think that was achieved fairly well. I led the first 2 laps to get good and warmed up and then started attacking and following counter attacks. There was a brief period during the middle of the race where I drifted to the middle of the field but I worked myself back up to the front in a few laps. By that point it was getting down to the closing laps (15 to go) and 4 guys were off the front. I attacked with Team Type 1 rider and we went to bridge with eventually 5 other people joining us. The field, from what I was told, gave up. Strangely enough 7 of us only got the gap down to 6 seconds and it stayed there a few laps until Brett laid the law down and towed us across. By then it was 3 laps to go and we started dicking around. There weren't any serious attacks until Brett once again started dropping the hammer. I played the finale all wrong and ended up chasing him down on the last lap and then being to gassed to do anything else. Should have either: a.) attacked hard myself or b.) just sat in and let others do the work. Que sera sera...
We rounded the final corner, I was sitting 10th and needed to get at least 7th to get some cash-money...but got 9th instead. So no money, but I did get a damn fine work out and it was really nice to be super aggressive for once.

Natalie and Dave also came with. Dave super-fanned it all day and Natalie did both women's races (3/4 and open). Not the largest fields ever, but she rode aggressively in the 3/4's and got 2nd (by like a tire width!) after leading the entire last lap and leading out the sprint. A few hours later she was at it again in the Women's Open where she played a more covert role and got took home 3rd. So a nice pair of results for her!

Gov't Awesomeness

2010-06-17T09:03:00.005-04:00

In case you live under a rock and haven't heard, I work for the US Gov't this summer. Doing what? 2010 Census baby!

Needless to say, the job is quite easy, the pay is insanely high (and you get mileage!) So far I've been just about everywhere in Lafayette/West Lafayette (from campus, to normal houses, to those apartments...) And now that we're done with that, I'm being sent out into the country side. The problem is all of these addresses are WAY out in the sticks- like 30-40 miles. So I spent 7 hrs yesterday driving out in the country side on gravel roads to get 5 interviews completed. 2 of them didn't have neighbors, which means you're working on a hope and a prayer that the people are actually home. See, if the house has neighbors you can just ask them about the house in question. Thus why apartment complexes are the easiest, neighborhoods the 2nd, and finally the country homes are the hardest. I also feel that my chances of being greeted with a rifle are substantially higher out in the boonies.

So far I've:
-Met super nice people that let me come in from the heat and give me a coke and then I'll go next door and get yelled at.
-Been chased by a dog
-Interrupted fights
-Interrupted people having sex
-Been called a gov't nark (goes well with my aforementioned nick name...)
-been told the real reason for the Census: killing people (yeah...far from it)

I really wish I could go into detail about some of those instances, but it'd cost me my job, so I have to keep it as vague as possible. Ya know, gotta protect privacy and all that jazz.

For the most part people are pretty friendly and you leave with a positive thought about humanity...but there are always a few that ruin it. So I'll probably be sent out to where Jesus lost his sandals today- hunting down those elusive houses.

Red River Gorge

2010-06-10T09:12:00.002-04:00

After hearing Naveen hype this race weekend up, I was pretty stoked about doing it. After all, what could be better than a ITT, and 2 bitchin' road races? Not much.

The time trial proved to be an example of everything that could possibly go wrong before an ITT:
-The biggest thing was that the officials wouldn't let us ride the course. Normally this isn't an issue, but with the parking lot only having one access road (the course) we had a bit of a situation with guys just doing laps around the church. A few got out early but most us looked like pacing caged animals. At least that put us all on the same page.
-And then the disc went flat. In a dramatic fashion with sealant shooting out like a geyser. Better in the parking lot than on the course. Luckily Spencer had just finished and offered up his.
-No TT helmet. I brought 2 (mine, and Chris') and got to use neither. Drew used mine and Cody was borrowing the other but broke his chain half way into the course.
So I didn't exactly put down my best performance in a tt, which was pretty disappointing.

Road Race 1:
The first road race was a 50 or so mile loop to the South of Stanton with some rollers but nothing to freak about. A break rolled off the front on the back side of the course when it got super twisty. It nearly got caught thanks to some furious chasing by Panther, but it hung on by a few seconds. Following that, Chris and I rode back to the cabin (it was only 11 miles) and then climbed the beast up to it. It avg. 10% but as sections of 30-31%. Ouch.

Road Race 2:
Much more epic than on Saturday. It was going to rain (at some point) and the course was absolutely AMAZING. Several long (mile or more) climbs in the park and just awesome tree lined roads the whole time. Unintentionally I rode off the front about a mile in to the race. I thought about sitting up but decided, what the fuck lets go for it. At one point while climbing into the tunnel (yeah, there was sweet rock tunnel in the course!) I had a minute 30 on the field and thats about as big as it got over the hour and half I was out there getting TV time. Alan joined me briefly but was much more motivated to actually make the break stick than I was and dropped me on the 2nd climb. Not too long after that I was caught by the GC group which was soon caught by the field. We ambled along and Alan had well over 2 minutes on us at one point (should have stuck with him....) After a long descent we reached the 2nd feedzone in a little town, I missed the neutral feed and by that point was really regretting my TV breakaway.

I got popped shortly after that on the next climb and at the top saw Chris sitting on the side of the road holding his left arm. Initially I thought 'broken collarbone' but it turned out to be a dislocated shoulder (still bad, but not as bad as it could have been). I stopped to make sure he was alright and then trudged on in a group of 6 until about mile 70. Conveniently I had just ran out of water and, low and behold, there was a van and an EMT. The EMT patched up the guys that had crashed in our group and then this super nice family (whose son was racing, but crashed out) gave us a ride back to the start. We got back right after the finish. It all went down on the final climb with the selection being made and then Greg dropping the hammer 4 miles out and coming in solo. Epic.

This weekend the trend of long road races continue with a 100+ miler up in Mt. Pleasant.

Sometimes you tame the snake...

2010-06-01T23:42:00.003-04:00

...and some times the snake tames you.

For this Memorial day weekend I made the long hike out to Iowa for a flat 80 mile road race, and 3 intense crits. In the past I've either- gone up to Elkhart for the Great Race (no longer with us...) or last year I went to Ohio for some crit action over there. But, I was determined to do these races and since I don't know where I'll be next summer, this seemed like as good as time as any.

The 300+ mile car ride over there, was, uneventful to say the least. I pulled my standard move and slept the majority of the way. Waking up just in time to see the Mighty Mississippuh river. It was just as muddy and big as the last time I'd seen it.

The road race started off at 4, under 100% sunny conditions, 80 some odd degrees, and a slight wind, which equals: fast. I think we did the course in around 3 hrs and change, which is pretty damn smokin'. I really wanted to get into a break (even though historically it never survives to the finish) but attacked with the wrong people and never got anywhere. My poor race nutrition (who would have thought 3 bottles wasn't enough...) lead to me feeling like shit by mile 60. Thankfully, Bryan's mom was in the 'feedzone' with a bottle. Actually the area wasn't a feedzone at, so I got penalized three spots for my illegal feed. Wouldn't have finished the race without it so, no regrets. Plus, its not like I was in the running for money anyway. The end of the race was super nervous, I think we started bumping and grinding to move up like 10 miles out- it felt like an extended crit finish. I missed a nice little pile up about 1 km from the finish and rolled in 63rd (or something like that). The great thing about the race, well two, were: we had the FULL road (awesome!) and each of the towns we went through had a lot of people cheering us on (also awesome!). So a very nice experience.

Saturday. Da' Snake.
I originally planned on not racing this. However, my teammates told me that one of our guys decided not to come so there was a sweet free 3rd row start spot with my name on it. Score!
We got there bright and early and had a full day of spectating- which I sometimes enjoy more than racing itself. The most entertaining to watch by far was the women's cat 4 where this one rider, I think her last name was Miller, just DESTROYED the field. (She actually did that all 3 days). It was super impressive to watch, not sure where she goes to college at, but she should transfer to Purdue and add to our awesome women's team for next year (I think we'll have like 5 A riders, but I digress). The other races played out in similar fashion: explosion on the first lap. That set a pretty good precedent for our race.

Anyway, since I've never done this race, I didn't really know what to expect (besides what I had watched all day). I've heard things ranging from "its like a cross race." to "its the most painful thing you'll ever do." Needless to say with my pretty good start spot I was nervous as all fuck about nailing my clip in- something I normally don't even think twice about.
Low and behold. I botched it. And then got caught in the clusterfcuk that occurs at the base of the climb. I made it about 5 laps before I decided I'd had enough. Plus, it was much more fun to spectate the damn thing.

Sunday: Melon City Crit
Lady Luck was once again on my side when it came to start positions. The nice folks at registration accidentally gave me a cat. 3 number earlier in the morning. I didn't pick up on this until about 20 minutes before race time when everyone else had a blue number...yet mine was pink. Hmm. A quick trip over the reg. and they fixed it and gave me the lowest number the had: 3. So a front and center start. Very nice!

Sadly, I didn't have the legs to back it up. I put in a little attack on the down hill and got a gap. Ben Damhoff (aka Spider Monkey) bridged up, then dropped me...something wasn't right with that picture. The field quickly swallowed me up and for what ever reason it just wasn't in the cards to finish that day. So I went and explored a local bike path next to the Mississippi and came back just in time to catch the finish. Turns out a pretty powerhouse break got away and the previous winner of the last like 9 editions of the race won.

Monday: Cage Fight.
The Quad Cities crit is a flat, 8 corner (figure 8), course. It was raining in the morning so I held off on registration until I knew it would be clear. I expected it to be fast and super hard to move up in, especially with me starting in the very last row. And the race delivered. We covered the 50 lap race (just shy of a mile) in an hour and change, so 28-30 mph. I rode the whip (dead last) the majority of the race. I think that made things a bit easier because I could take whatever line I wanted in the corners without fear of messing someone else up. There were 4-5 times when everything bunched up but instead of using those times to move up I decided it be wiser to drink. Its a 50/50 toss up on those, but I really just wanted to get some fast miles in. A lot of people popped off in the race and so I probably rolled in in the 70s, I didn't bother to check since its not a big deal.

----
All things considered, a pretty nice weekend. I didn't have high expectations after not training last week (no bike plus the arm was a bit sore). But, the weekend whipped some speed into my legs so its time to kick off the next training block and see what happens!

I'll find pictures later.

Tour de Champaign

2010-05-24T18:07:00.002-04:00

Last weekend was the first real hot weekend for racing (and the first sunny one in ages). Finally- time to throw down in the sun!

Well, kinda.

You see, after about 40 minutes of intense crit action, I got tired of how the pavement in corner 3 was looking at me and calling me names. So, I decided to take it down and show it who was boss. I gave it a pile driver with my right shoulder and elbow and taught it a lesson. Or, so I thought. Instead, the pavement won the battle...along with a good portion of the skin on my right hip, shoulder and leg, and chunk of my elbow. It also decided to crack my frame and break the sweet Ambrosio wheel I was borrowing. What a bastard....

In all seriousness, I'm not 100% certain what or who (I have an idea...) caused the crash. I remember seeing a pile in the exit of the corner, people braking, some screaming, me fish tailing, and then someone plowing into my rear wheel. After that it was a lot of skidding, swearing, and attention from the medic.

I didn't race Sunday, even though Dan from Aerocat was awesome and replaced my rear derail. hanger, got my bike working, and even re-taped my bars. I talked it over with them today and they're shipping out a crash replacement tomorrow and it should be here with plenty o' time for Memorial weekend.... provided my elbow isn't fractured/broken we'll know that tomorrow.

Eagle Creek Circuit Race

2010-05-19T22:54:00.008-04:00

Phil: Good afternoon and welcome to the final showdown toady here at Eagle Park. The roads of today's course lay across the forest like discarded string...
Paul: This is, indeed, a very interest course the promoter has selected. Not a hill in sight, but a slightly technical course with a hair pin 300 meters before the finish.
Phil: That hair pin will serve to frustrate a lot of riders when the action picks up late in the race. It's a 75 minute race today on these curvy roads...
Paul: A bit too long for my liking, since I never really was a fan of these high speed events. It takes real gusto to wing yourself around these corners at the break neck speed these riders will be going.
Phil: Right. And the riders all receiving their final instructions....and they're off!

Looks like Joey Iuliano is the quickest to clip in
Paul: It's his signature move: clip in quick and start hammering.
Phil: Right, but his back is against the wall in the race. He's flying solo here again what looks like an army of Nuvo riders.
Paul: And you can't count out Chris Uberti. No matter the situation, he is always a dangerous, dangerous rider. He's soaked in talent.
Phil: Well, we've seen quite a few attacks put down in the first couple of laps but nothing been able to gain any ground. Oh! I spoke too soon, Paul, we've got quite the group that just formed here on the back side!
Paul: That's a solid group of man that's established themselves off the front. All the major players are there: Nuvo, Texas Road House even have a few riders...

Phil: Now, don't look back. You know what's going on back there because you just left. This is a pedigree group of men, they are holding on by the skin of their shorts, because the field is riding like scalded cats, desperate to catch the mouse with only 30 minutes left in this race!
Paul: I would never have seen the front this late in the race, but I can tell you these riders are riding flat out and going no where.
Phil: It looks like the peloton is taking no chances today and its all back together. But OH WHATS THIS?!

It's Iuliano- with his legs ON! He's lit the blue touchpaper!
Paul: He's all over his machine. Here is a rider who is running on pure emotion after some events that transpired over the weekend. There is still a good 20 minutes left in the race, so this is a gusty move. But when you suffer, you get results.
Phil: But he doesn't seem to be getting much more than a hand full of seconds. It's rather like holding back the flood with a little finger... it just wasn't in the cards for today.
Paul: It seems like the sprinters might have their day after all...
Phil: We're heading into the final laps and the riders are starting to get a bit twitchy now!
Paul: Everyone knows its time to get to near the front if they want a chance at glory. Nuvo has taken over the pace making, so this looks to be a sprinters day for sure.
Phil: Texas Roadhouse has put a few riders up there for Puffer. The big question is, where is Chris Uberti, Paul? I haven't seen him in quite a while.
Paul: He is a sneaky rider and knows how to hide in the field until the last possible moment.
Phil: Nuvo has this race by the reigns and are trying to set up their sprinter Weston. Oh! Now there is someone I didn't expect to see near the front. It appears Joey has made his way back up there and wants to give it a go!
Pual: He's not known for his sprinting at all, but I reckon he could squeeze out a result. We're getting close to that final hairpin in the final 300 meters...
Phil: The peloton gets through it with no problem. Oh! The Nuvo boys have absolutely blown it! Puffer opens up the sprint early and its caused a bit of mayhem!

OH MY! Uberti has ripped off his cloak of invisibility and is going toe to toe with Puffer! He is cleaning the road on this sprint!

Puffer has no answer and Uberti shows him a clean pair of wheels at the line!
Paul: A job well done there. It seems like our breakaway artist Joey got swarmed a bit before the line and faded to 13th.

Clearly not the result he was looking for.
Phil: Well, you can't win them all, Paul, but he'll live to fight another day, thats for sure. Next weekend, the riders will put on quite the show for the people of Champaign. We'll see you then.

-----
It's grand tour time, so figured it was time for another one of these posts...

So, Natz!

2010-05-14T21:34:00.006-04:00

Collegiate Nationals were freakin' EPIC!

The weather. You couldn't get more stereotypical midwest random spring weather. 80 degrees the day before, then 40 and rain the day of the road race, ice pellets the morning of the crit, however, it cleared up for the actual race.

Road Race
We stayed the night in a very strange hotel in Mt. Horeb. Rumor had it each room had a giant mural of mystical troll scene. However, that was not the case, and we we're all slightly disappointed. We woke up to cloudy and cool temps, but by the time we got to the start/finish line it was pouring rain and the temp was dropping.

I made the decision to run my carbon wheels the day before...mostly because I was too lazy to adjust my derailleur to work on my alum. wheels. It wasn't a wise decision after the fact- it would have been nice to have confidence in my breaking on the descents, but que sera sera.

Things were going pretty well, it definitely wasn't as fast as natz last year, but then again the pack was riding pretty chill until the last lap. Granted, we did ride the finishing climb pretty hard (I'd get popped right by the top), but I'd work with those with me and we'd catch back on pretty quickly.

As the race progressed, things got colder...and wetter...and eventually I lost feeling in my left had, to the point that going between big/little ring was super tough. At one point I was using my left had to pull the lever over because I couldn't push it. On the last lap it became super hard to chase back on on the finishing climb and I was stuck alone. Not exactly how it should have played out, but I did some stupid things with my spring training and it was biting me in the ass. I still was in the top 30's which was FAR better than last year, so I just chugged along. And then my front tubbie went flat 4 miles out and sadly put an end to my race. Shimano was out of wheels. And the corner marshal I was with couldn't take me back because a.) she was alone and b.)her car was dead and she had no cell coverage. So it was a looong wait until the next car came by. Hogan got 35th, which is pretty good for his first natz.

After that, we (Drew, Hogan, Andy, and I) watched Natalie race in similarly epic conditions. I think it was the first time we had a girl at Natz in at least 5 years, which is sweet! She toughed it out and finished 55th. I couldn't find a pic of me running next to her on the climb, but that was probably one of my fav. moments of the weekend.

----
Saturday
We got a room in the host hotel- a very nice high end place like a block from the crit. And we woke up to check out the farmers market around the capital and then the nearest bike shop: The Yellow Jersey. A tiny, but super packed shop that had everything you could ever want from the 50's to today.

We burned some more time getting lunch, napping, and snagging deals at the farmers market at close. And we still had time left since the first race started at like 4. The D2 women went first and then the D1. Natalie raced again and finished in the 30's, which is another solid result (especially considering how she only raced like 3 times this semester).

We got suited up, warmed up, and then watched the end of the D2 race. We had quite the wait before our start (20 minutes) which further confirms my belief that warm ups are pretty useless. The course, was the exact same course we've raced on before the past 3 years. However, they moved the S/F back a block to the straight away after the rise. It's a basic 4 corner, 1 km crit and there was 125 of us. I had a hard time moving up in the field (we were pulling minute and change lap times) so I ended up tail gunning for most of the race- which was rather easy. Just getting out of the draft wasn't a good idea.

Rockin out in the crit

None of us did super well, Drew was our best finisher in the...60's? Maybe 50's, I don't remember. Greg made the late race attack and I got super excited when I heard the announcer say that with like 5 to go and was really pulling for him to take it. But it wasn't to be.

---
Saturday Night

After we grabbed some dinner, we went back to the hotel to headed up the the Uni. Vermont party room: a medium sized conference room converted to group quarters. They were a pretty intense bunch, especially the self proclaimed Justin Bieber look alike who took 14 shots, and the Mark Cavendish look alike who was all about crashing the wedding down stairs. Just as things were getting good (there are videos...but those aren't safe for the net), we ran out of beer.
Time to hit up the bars!

So out we went, to dance, drink, and be merry to the wee hours of the morning. All in all, it was a pretty good time!

-----

So yeah, collegiate natz were pretty sweet, too bad it was my last one...

Natz!

2010-05-10T20:16:00.001-04:00

I'm lacking the creativity to do this race weekend justice...

...and I'm waiting for some sweet photos to pop up so I can use those. Trust me, it'll be worth it.

Winona Lake

2010-05-02T09:07:00.003-04:00

For the past 4 years we (a couple people from Purdue) have always headed up to Warsaw, IN to start the summer racing season. The races are pretty good and are generally a good warm up for either:
a.) Collegiate Natz
or
b.) what ever the next big race is near by. In the past it was TriPeaks but now its Joe Martin.

The quality of the fields have improved significantly over the years. I think there were nearly 100 starters in the 4/5s and the 1/2's had around 70 with the major players being Bissell, Texas Road House, Nuvo, Panther, and Chad from Kenda. There was a little attack from the start but it all came back together quickly and the first couple of laps were pretty tame. I was poking around the middle of the field following any of the 3 Panther riders (Chris, Greg, and Ryan) around- 90% of the time they have multiple riders in the top 10...so its a pretty safe bet to follow them.

Lap 3 and 4 things got a little heated as Texas Roadhouse missed a break and set up a train to chase it down. Not gonna lie, I was impressed by their organization. Nothing serious happened until with 5 to go Greg and 4 others stomped on it and got a gap. For some reason this felt like the one, so it was time to bridge. And in the process I took Chris and two others with me. I towed them to about a bike length and stupidly didn't seal the deal myself, but rather flicked my elbow and expected the person- who won't be named- behind me to do it. Well, they didn't and instead sat up. We had a good 5-10 seconds on the field and after a short mental cursing session, I tried to bridge again. This time the move up the road had got their shit together and was going significantly harder than before...and I was awkwardly stuck in no mans land. I went with the next few counter attacks that came up but the field was in hot pursuit and caught us quickly but Greg's move got away.
Lesson learned: seal the deal yourself

I was all sorts of pissed off- I missed the winning move: twice, it was drizzling, and I really didn't want to play anymore. Probably should have though considering how it played out in the end.
Which leads to the next lesson: Don't think the race is over even when the winning break has a 1:30 on the field (it eventually came back to like 10 seconds).

It appears the school of hard knocks has welcomed me back with open arms...
Time to go put in a nice ride and kick out the remainder of this cold before Natz.

Regionals!

2010-04-29T08:02:00.008-04:00

This past weekend was our home race and it also doubled up as the MWCCC Championships as well. The last time we hosted regionals had to be at least 5 or 6 years ago, so I wanted to make sure the weekend was flawless and really show the conference that we know how to put on a great weekend of racing. Things went pretty smoothly, except for the weather, but can't control that.

Saturday:
TTT
What was supposed to be a 10 or so mile course had to be changed on the fly due to some road construction that popped up sometime between when we last rode the courses and Saturday morning. Not a big deal, plenty of options out there to make a loop.
We started last and for once, we were completely decked out in full aero gear- helmets, disc wheels, bars, the whole shebang.

Fast and Sexy
Felt pretty confident going into it and sure enough we pulled out a 3rd place, just 4 seconds shy of 2nd and 50 shy of first. Not too shabby considering we didn't warm up for more than 5 minutes and only practiced once.

RR:
Not as challenging as our old course, which is a shame, but still a very pretty venue with a few rolling hills. We really needed to be well represented in this race and we planned on being really aggressive and getting at least 2 people into the winning break (if there was one). We got one but sat on our laurels a bit too much and never got anything else. To say the race was slow and uneventful would be an understatement- most of the time was spent dorking around in the cross wind and then coasting with a tail. So, should have been more aggressive but I couldn't find a good time to attack since we were always going slow- no sense in towing the field around since you won't get away when everyone is soft pedaling. On the last lap I followed Chris up to the front and debated whether or not I should try my hand at another field sprint or go for the solo flier. I went with option B when the perfect opportunity presented itself about 1.5 km out. I'd practiced the move before, so I punched it, looked back and...low and behold, I had a gap. Not a big one, but didn't need much. Greg flew past me like I was sitting still but I still manage to hang on for 15th. Not the best result, but still a few more points towards nationals. Chris was right behind me for 16th, Will was 13th(?) and Hogan got 7th in the break.

Sprint! Will from NU almost got his 2nd RR title...

Sun:
Crit
Finally, after 4 years of trying, we got to do our course around Ross-Ade Stadium! Derek envisioned this way back my freshman year and I was very proud to finally make it happen. Shame I couldn't do it while he was still State-side though. Regardless, things went super smooth Sunday morning: everyone showed up on time, we only had to tow four cars, and the first race started right on schedule. And! It was sunny to boot! It looked like it might be a nice day but by the end of the C's race rain clouds had moved in and the skies had opened up. It wouldn't be fitting for our last collegiate race to be under nice conditions. Surprisingly we only had a few crashes, 4, I think. 2 people had to go off to the hospital, but it was for precautionary measures and one wasn't related to a crash. This was one of the first times that a collegiate crit was stopped for an ambulance...at least that I can remember. Regardless, everyone walked away fine, which is good. A rainy technical crit is not one of my specialties so I was kicking myself for actually doing this course as my last race.

You can read more about how the crit played out on Chris' blog, but basically:
-He was a boss and lapped the field solo (thanks to his awesome handling skills)
-I ended up riding with a few other people for the last 20 minutes or so of the race. We were going for 18th, not the most prestigious finish, but when you only need a few points to qualify you take what you get.

Cruising by the south end of the stadium

Most importantly, our sweet sledgehammer trophy stayed right where it should:

Our sweet home made podium and trophy. Chris in 1st, Greg in 3rd....apparently 2nd is waaaay to cool for collegiate cycling

Anyway, that wraps up things in the MWCCC for me. I really enjoyed my time racing collegiate and I'll miss getting up at 5 am to cheer on new riders in the dead of winter. I've been crying myself to sleep the last few nights about it... or is that my allergies? Either way tears have been shed and I'll miss it for sure.

Git Tough: MSU and UM

2010-04-19T21:15:00.003-04:00

This weekend marked the 4th annual MSU Git Tough Road Race and U of M circuit race. Sadly, U of M had to change their awesome campus course to a crit due to the outrageous price of police for the event. No worries though, the crit was still pretty awesome!

Mother Nature threw a curve ball into the training, with abundant warm weather the trees and flowers with crazy with pollen and in turn I felt like an obese kid climbing a flight of stairs when ever it came time to do an effort. Not exactly the best way to wrap up a training block, but not much you can do about it.

Saturday: MSU Road Race
After a quick drive up I-69 and the obligatory stop at the Pizza Hut Bistro in Ft. Wayne, we settled in at host house for the night and thanks to the lat start times got an awesome amount of sleep. We got to the elementary school about an hour before the first race, helped the Men's C and Women's B riders get ready. Also, thanks to our late start time, we were able to watch a few laps of the race as well. Sarah did an awesome job getting into a two person chase group. Sadly they couldn't close the gap to the eventual winner, but she finished 3rd is an awesome result. Wil also tore it up in the Men's B getting 4th, so we had some nice results in the early races!

The Men's A race played out exactly how it normally does- fast and brutal. Even though the course is pretty flat the winds and speed always shred the field. An LWC rider went from the gun and I considered going with him but thought it was too early for that stick (hindsight is 20/20 on this one...). 2nd lap, GC went on the offensive and took Clayton from LWC with him. This was very serious so I went after 'em. GC, if you don't know him, is probably the strongest rider I've ridden with and will tow you (and anyone else who can hold the wheel) to any break and then proceed to drop you. I got within a bike length of Clayton's wheel before the allergies acted up and the lungs went out to door. Frustrating to say the least since that ended up being the winning move! From that I learned for this race my efforts were limited to about 2 minutes for things went to hell... so I planned on just sitting in until the sprint or going with another attack. But a flat foiled that plan, so I took the hint and decided to call it day. Went back to the support role and cheered on our remaining A rider, Otte, as he rode a very nice race to a top 10.

That night we took over the Uberti compound and, as always, we had a feast and accommodations fit for a king.

Sunday: U of M crit
This race had a very Fall Fling feel to it...maybe it was the cold weather or the fact it was a non-technical crit in an office park. Either way, the sun was out, so it was going to be a good day.
We had a few top tens in the earlier races, another 3rd by Sarah in the B's, and another 4th in the B's by Wil (who rode solo the last 2 laps and held off the field!) The non-technicality of the crit meant it would be brutally fast in the A's, thankfully the cold weather had put a slight damper on the pollen so the breathing was a little better. The attacks were flying from the start and eventually I ended up in a somewhat large move with GC, Lindenwood, LWC, NU, and some other schools. It was painful to say the least and the lungs still weren't backing up the legs as well as I had hoped. Eventually we got caught largely in part to Marian chasing it down and the counter ended up being the winning move. Chris made it so that sealed the deal for us. Things slowed up a tad and going into corner 3 there was a massive pile up. Someone went down, Otte rammed into them (breaking his bike into several pieces- he is ok thankfully!), and a UW Platteville rider went flying several feet into the air. Skirted around that somehow, the pack reformed, and we carried on.

whoops...something isn't right here

Anyway, yhings got a little sketchy in the closing laps and nothing too exciting happened. Chris got 4th out of the break, so some nice points and result there.

All in all, it was a great weekend for the team, we got some nice results and everything is coming together nicely for our weekend!

OSU and the Varsity Show Down

2010-04-14T08:38:00.002-04:00

Last weekend had an incredibly small turn out for non-varsity schools...Marian and LWC made up well over 70% of the field both days. And not surprising, they damn near took all of the points between them. I was the 2nd non-varsity school finisher both days (13th in the rr and 18th in the crit)...

Road Race:
Nothing too memorable, just a four corner course with a few minor rolling bumps. We started off pretty slow but things picked up with Rob Bush decided to start having fun. Eventually a group of 6 (3 LWC and 3 Marian) escaped. Surprise surprise, no one wanted to chase...which lead to us dicking around for a lap or two before more attacks. Eventually I got away with Alex Wiesler and we bridged (more like he towed me) up to the chase group which to my sadness consisted of 3 other Marian riders, 3 LWC, and a Xavier dude. This was good and bad
Good: no one was bringing this move back and we might catch the break
Bad: I was badly out numbered and out gunned.
Time to get crafty. I took super short pulls, skipped them now and then, and in general just tried to sit on and save myself for the ensuing last lap insanity. This consisted of Bush and Williams and a LWC rider trying to shred the group multiple times. So there was a lot of chasing to be done on my part since no one else was going to do it. Eventually Rob got away with a mile or so to go and the group slowed up... a lot. I tagged on to the back and waited a little to long to go for the surprise jump. Xavier beat me to it but I was still able to edge out Williams and an LWC rider for 14th. Otte came across soon after that for 16th.

Crit:
Same idea just different venue, except this time it stayed together...for the most part. I tried to go with Jonesy from the gun but the 15 LWC riders weren't having any of it. The rest of the crit consisted of multiple little break aways that would last for a lap or two and then get brought back by Marian or LWC getting greedy. Eventually a group of 12 got away, but OSU damn near brought them back (very nice work there) by the last lap. I was sitting in by that point near the front thinking about when to go for the flier...then Will came flying by on the left side of the field. Change of plan: its field sprint time. I hoped on his wheel and went to the front with him, held my ground through the last 2 corners, and hit the gas. My sprint is probably akin to a Vespa trying to accelerate, but it's what I got. I rolled across 18th, again the 2nd non varsity finisher. Otte was 19th right beside me.

So not the most impressive weekend...need to dominate MSU and our weekend. It'll be down to the wire for sure.

Marian

2010-04-04T22:51:00.003-04:00

As always the weather was shitty for the Marian collegiate race. Out of the 4 years I've done this race it's been nice once...and the best part about that edition was BVDG posting up early and losing. And post collegiate it was sunny...go figure.

This was also a new course as well and much better than the previous one in the rain (and in the dry as it was in the 1/2/3 race). The loop was around the velodrome, with a sweet little chicane on the down hill and a nice climb to the finish. The wind was pretty brutal and strung the field out on the back side.

We had some good results in the lower categories with a 2nd and 4th in the D's and a top ten in the Women's A (and it was Natalie's first race in the A's so a solid job!)

Somehow, I managed to lead a good portion of the first lap. I thought my crit clipping in skills were rusty, so that was pleasant. Stupidly, I attacked the hill a few too many times and got gassed and couldn't sit on the back....got gaped by someone dying and that was all she wrote. Chris got in the winning move with Dave from Marian and took the V and Hogan rounded out the top 10.

Mean while, I dicked around in the parking lot to stay warm- since I put in about 10 minutes of solo chasing and another 5 or so with Alder. Probably should have done that prior to the A's crit...guess I learned that lesson the hard way. Most of my 'staying warm' effort consisted of chatting to Axie and then a few other people before watching Chris win. So I felt well prepared for the 1/2/3's...not.

So the 1/2/3 field proved to be interesting with 70 some odd people and several legit pro's. Somehow I lead again (gotta stop doing that...) and then a break got formed early. I watched Chris bridge to it from the back of the field and thought, "Fuck...I suck. He was in a 2 man break for a majority of the A's and there he goes again." And then I continued to tail gun...which was some how it was much easier to sit on this time around. I put in a few efforts and then saved myself for the 'Fabian Flyer' attempt which made it until about half a lap to go. Almost...gotta get more power into that. Still was able to grab a wheel near the front but I pretty much gave up in the sprint when my legs said, 'no mas' going into the final corner.

So another barren weekend for me but great results for some of the other team members! Gotta step it up these last 3 weekends so we can qualify for natz!

SIU: Triple T and other Fun!

2010-03-29T22:30:00.002-04:00

This weekend was marked by a lot of "whoops", "damn its", and "this sucks" but it also had some pretty sweet highlights.

Damn it number 1:
Bought the "Feast" at Subway... rip off. 12 bucks and its really not that big just a ton of meat. Two foot longs would have cheaper.

This sucks number 1:
About an hour later the Feast was getting feisty in my stomach. So we made a pit stop at a gas station but praying to the porcelain goddess in a public bathroom gave my constitution a boost and the Feast stayed down.

Well fuck it:
The TTT was looking promising, we had 4 strong riders and had a pretty good shot at 2nd or at least 3rd. The sweet sound of the disc wheel gave me even more motivation- nothing beats the "whoom, whoom, whoom" as you motor at 30 mph. We warmed up and then started shortly after... we settled in to a good rhythm given the fierce headwind. We lost Chris Langenskamp at mile 4 or so and pressed on- he did an awesome job filling in! On the way back we were flying and making up some insane ground on Lindenwood and was on track to catch them in the closing miles until... pssttttt. Flat. On the disc. Well fuck it. There went 3rd place, but it didn't matter too much as we still got 4th. Things are looking really, really awesome for regionals though...

Awesomeness:
The road race started slow... like old lady slow. We let Nick from Lindenwood ride off at the start and get upwards of 5 minutes (and 30 miles of slow riding) before we decided to race. At that point the gloves were off! I attacked, got caught; Rob Bush attacked, caught; Lebo...caught, me...caught...Naveen...caught... Spider Monkey...caught, etc. After about 10 miles of this I attacked into the head wind and got a gap. I was soon joined by my teammate Andrew Otte, Owen Belton, and an LWC rider. Otte and I drove the pace since the others wouldn't pull and caught Joe from Marian. We kept motoring and was joined by Spider Monkey, Rob Bush, Kip, and a few others. We caught those who went after Nick and in the closing miles we caught Nick and which made 12 to fight it out. Eventually a gap formed after Spider Monkey attacked which Otte made and ended up getting 5th. I was gassed from the break and the ttt and rolled across in 12th. A few minutes later Hogan slayed the field sprint and got 15th. A solid day in the A's!

Well fuck number 2:
Between the TTT and the road race one of our hotel room's had its toilet get plugged and flood the room with poo water. Thankfully they didn't charge us a fee and eventually washed Wil's clothing but his book was lost to the brown flood.

Not so Awesome:
The crit...was not so good. A little to twisty, wet, and debris covered for my liking. But, I toed the line anyway but but rode myself out of it pretty quickly. Spider Monkey went from the gun and no one could go with him. Eventually he lapped the field...solo for like the 5th time this season. A chase group of 9 went after him but made zero ground- thankfully Hogan made that group and got 4th after another nice sprint. Otte was also in the top 20.

In the C's race we had multiple flats- 3 by AJ Shaw and 3 by the other riders...it was a flash back to the Madison crit a few years ago.

Overall, a good weekend for the team and a lot of my teammates are definitely starting to get into some great form. We are going to destroy the last few race weekends!

Yeeee--haaaw!

2010-03-22T19:10:00.003-04:00

Howdy Ya'll! Just made it back from Arkansas...so it's probably a good idea to hide my southern accent again.

Sunday: Hell's Kitchen Road Race.... this time with 1 more lap and faster dudes!
Well actually a lot of the guys from the cat. 3 field last year were now cat. 2s so a lot of faces looked familiar including the Wal-Mart guy who rolled off the front from the gun (who was the hoss in our break last year...)

Another highlight: we took a piss break...never done that before in a race.

Heading into the 2nd lap I got tired of riding slow and put in a weak dig into the head wind. Basically I just pedaled and got a gap..and then...the highlight of my season thus far... Steve Tilford joined me. I just about wet myself when that happened. Then everyone else decided it would be a good idea to come along and that ended that. So we dicked around some more until the cat. 3 field caught us near the climb, which was going cause mass confusion... and it did when the attacks started. I just barely missed the winning move thanks to my finicky front derailleur not going into the big ring, but let's be honest, I probably wouldn't have made it anyway.

I ended up in the chase group and we got close...really really close...yet I lacked the brains to go with a Tradewind guy when he bridged. The train left the station and I didn't have a ticket. So we rode around some more and the last time up the climb I ditched the others and, much like the year before, rode solo the final 7 miles...but for 8th place instead of 1st. All-in-all a solid result and I paid for my entry fee which is always good.

The rest of the trip consisted of a shit ton of riding and climbing, including Greg's Apocalyptic ride, but we made it even better with a creek crossing:

And, I know, I promised I wouldn't do it but this is too awesome, we did 110 miles in 6 hrs, 8000+ feet of climbing at 265 watts. Yeah, I was toast.

Then we hit up that bitch of a climb Nebo the next day...3.5 miles at 18%...in 16 minutes a 2 minute improvement over last year! Clearly this power meter training has paid off.

And then I got a head cold that hung around through the weekend, so that combined with the shitty ass weather I decided it would be smart to skip. Chris took home the V (woo!) and Naveen hossed it up in the crit the next day. We also had some awesome results in the other categories included 2 3rd places in the D's by James and 2 3rd places by Natalie in the women B field. A good spread of results all around, I'd say.

So now its time to rest up and own SIU....

TTT here we come!

LWC Rehash.

2010-03-08T11:39:00.003-05:00

Talk about an epic road race! 75 miles with 4 ball busting climbs (like 16-20 percent in some sections) and wicked fast descents. A break of 3 went from the gun with James Pradun (UW-Madison), Tim (Lindenwood), and an LWC rider. The field gave them a lease and nothing too exciting happened until the long grinding climb on the back side when Kip (LWC) attacked and took Owen (Lindenwood) with him. They got a nice little gap and I went after them taking Clayton (LWC) with him. We caught Kip and Owen and proceeded to make up group on the initial 3. About 10 minutes later we had a group of 7 and we really started to motor then. Clayton, Tim, and Owen were killing it and during the second lap we lost James and the one LWC rider who I can't think of. This put me in a tough spot: 2 LWC, 2 Lindenwood, and me...not good odds.

No worries though, we lost Clayton at the end of the 2nd lap and then lost Tim on the first climb of the 3rd lap... now everything was equal...just had to make it another 20 miles. That was easier said than done. Kip spied a chase group hot on our heels on the long grinding climb, so we upped the effort and I paid for it on the penultimate climb getting gaped by a few seconds that grew into about 45 seconds.

I settled in and started riding tempo and hoped to stay away from the chase group for the next 10 miles. Not so much...I got caught with a little over 5 km to go. The chase group consisted of Rob Bush (Marian), Chris, Cruise (LWC), and some UW-Platteville guy. Cruise cramped up and lost contact as we approached the final climb. Rob lit it up and shattered the group but Kip held on for the win. I got gaped again but managed to pass Chris on the climb and grab 5th. Chris got 6th, Hogan and Drew ended in the top 15, and Will got 20th. So a damn fine day for Purdue!

Sunday's crit was a 1 km rectangle with a little climb through corners 3-4, making it more like a u-turn than 2 corners. I went from the gun but it didn't go anywhere and I tried 2 more times in the middle of the race but both of them missed the moves that followed. The UW-Platteville guy lapped the field solo and then a group of 5 did so shortly after that. After enough time chilling at the back I went for glory one last time with 2 k to go but got caught with 1 lap left. Chris managed 6th and Hogan 8th, and Drew got 20th, so again another nice day for the team!

This was our best weekend so far and hopefully many more will follow!

Murrah Kentuckah

2010-03-01T18:10:00.004-05:00

Since you've asked for it, I'll oblige and give a race report.

Saturday:
A balmy 48 degrees and sunny. Very windy.
The A's field had about 50 or so, maybe 60 at the start. There were numerous attacks at the start but nothing serious or dangerous until lap 2 when a small group went up the road... but it was lacking some Marian firepower so I thought it would come back like the rest. However, a big fucking red flag should have went off in my head when I saw a 2nd Northwestern rider go to bridge... perhaps I should have burnt that big match to get up there instead of chilling in no-mans land for a bit. I admit- that was my dumb moment in the race. Marian tried to get a chase organized but it fell flat and we slowed to a crawl. Curiously enough nothing else got away from the crawling field until the final lap when a small group went up the road with maybe 6 miles to go. Thankfully Will was in it so we had some representation in the move. Andrew and I set tempo at the front and my grand plan was to lead Hogan out, who got a flat in the final few miles... probably should have got off the front at the point but I wasn't aware of that. Oh well- live and learn.

Apparently there was some juicy drama going on up the road involving someone making handgun gestures and yelling obscene things at a coach... now I'm really kicking myself for missing that break.

Sunday:
Sunny...50, less wind then Saturday.
The crit course was changed 3 times and finally ended up in an empty subdivision outside of town. Perfect pavement, sweeping corners, and a slight rise to the finish- this course was much, much better than the bumpy downtown one originally planned and it was no comparison to the parking lot snafu of 1 yr ago. Same number of starters...mid 50's and it was fast from the start. Speaking of which- Hogan and I cut it close and arrived just before Mike started giving the final instructions. Which meant a back row start- generally a bad omen for me in a crit.
Anyway, we avg. about 27-ish and for some reason I was lacking the brains to keep pushing on the pedals past the S/F and move up once the pace slowed slightly. I got one good attack in and that was about it, the rest of the time was spent tail gunning it, which was fairly easy.... until the infamous bottle chuck. It wasn't a huge hazard, just scared the bejeezes out of me.
Here's how it went down:
a Marian rider moved slightly to the right to move up, causing a Lindenwood rider to shift his line. This infuriated said Lindenwood rider and resulted in something similar to this:

but in a field of 50 in a corner going 25+ mph. The bottle sputtered across the road and ended up in front of me so took a little evasive action but everything ended up fine. Still not cool. Not like this is natz or the world championships, its a crit...in February...in a subdivision. So someone bumped you off your line, get over it. Ended up in the pack, so nothing special, Hogan got 20th so got a point.
Post race discussion highlight: "Well the bottle made it cleanly through the field so it wasn't a hazard." That's a pretty weak defense. So it's cool if I start winging off objects at riders that piss me off just as long as they don't endanger other people... riiiight.

Sooo much drama in the A's field.

Bike Racin'

2010-03-01T09:56:00.002-05:00

Rather than bore everyone to death with a reiteration of the dramatic weekend that included a Mario Cipollini-esque water bottle chuck during the crit, I'll instead entertain you with something I wrote for my English class. Keep in mind I used some creative license with this....

Rusty Green Town Sign Sprints

500…perhaps 450 meters
just up the road, the finish line is in sight
that bullet riddled rusty green town sign.
Honor and pride await the victor at this line.

Just two of us on this long ride
tension fills the air and silence falls
as the pedals are turned in anger.
The tawny leaves rustle in our wake,
as we roar like rockets down the road.

20…25…30 miles per hour.
Faster and faster we fly
our chains gliding down the gears.

1200…1300…1400 watts.
Harder and harder we crank
our road bikes swaying to the beat
of a metronome on crack.

Closer and closer it comes
150…perhaps 100 meters.
Legs searing in pain,
drowning in burning lactic acid.
Every body part screaming for an end,
begging for the pain to stop.

Shut up body!
Do what I tell you!

35…40…45 miles per hour.
Side by side, we fight
our shoulders bumping,
trying to disrupt the other.

Mere feet left now,
the final turn of the cranks
and we lunge our bikes for the sign.

There is no money for this victory,
no podium girls, press, or flowers.
Just hard earned honor and pride,
fighting a friend and battling our bodies.

Time and time again this war will be waged,
pushing each other to our physical limits
until our bodies collapse—void of energy
yet full of pride and honor.

We had to write poems for my English class, so I wrote one about bike riding. Turned out pretty good I think...

So, Joey, what did you do with your last free weekend?

2010-02-21T23:27:00.001-05:00

Rest? No. Sleep? No. Ride? Yeah... but more.

I built shit.

Our microwave died on Friday...so we got a new one. Sadly, it wouldn't fit using the same method as the old one. With a bit of resourcefulness, (ie: used the cyclocross stakes) I built a case for it:

Not too shabby.

At this point, the handyman feeling was pretty strong.... this meant using a for more stakes a building a sweet rickety podium for our race weekend:

mmm, its wooden and brings a whole new meaning to rickety (its actually quite solid).

Only 5 days until racing...fucking pumped!

Illinois or Bust

2010-02-13T20:39:00.005-05:00

Temp: mid 20's, sunny
Wind: 10-15 mph from the West
Workout: Tempo for 2-3 hrs

That meant one thing...ride to Illinois on 26...And why not ride tempo there and back just to make things interesting. I've never done it before and there was an another motive: write my name in the snow at the state line, preferably underneath the "Welcome to Illinois" sign.

Yep, you read correctly I was determined to take a piss off my bike in IL.

Now, IN-26 isn't the most exciting road to ride on- once you leave Tippecanoe County, the plains open up before you. You can watch your dog run away for miles (yeah, that flat). And the road curves maybe 4 times. The rest is straight, flat, mind-numbing awesomeness. Of course, there are most interesting ways to ride to IL, but right now they all look like this:

Not my cup of tea. So I knew that a state-highway would be fairly clear. See, I don't mind snow...just as long as it's off to the side of the road:

So, off I went in to wild blue yonder, doing tempo at about 15 mph thanks to the head wind. And thats how it was for the next 2 hrs and 15 mins. A car here and there, but for the most part it was me, the road, and the wind. Kinda nice, really, if it wasn't for the frozen face.

*whir whir whir* god damn it...where is this state line sign! *whir, whir whir* AH! There it is.... waaaay out there. *whir whir whir whir* fuck....

It was the longest 5 mile stretch of road and at that point I had to piss like a race horse- which was good given the mission of the ride. So I did the deed (sorry no pictures of the final art work) and headed home. And it was fucking amazing. The speed went from 15 mph to 30 and my face warmed up, which was probably the nicest thing.

All in all it ended up being a 70 mile ride in 3.5 hours @ 261 watts. And this, conveniently, is right around the same effort as the Murray State RR last year. So it looks like things are shaping up quite nicely for the start of this season...

2 hr Urban Ride

2010-02-07T20:05:00.003-05:00

Given that we recently had 4-6 inches of snow the other day, its a safe bet that the county roads are snow packed...and thus not an enjoyable experience. What to do...ride in side? No. Urban riding! Just pick a few streets that are busy enough to warrant being treated (but not too busy), has a hill or two on it, and rock that shit!

Here's how it went:

Repeat 6 times, preferably 10, but traffic was becoming a hassle on 443. Which is a bitch of a climb. Following that I did a smaller loop that involved doing the hill on Salisbury 4 times, but again traffic going to Superbowl parties was becoming pretty heavy so I decided to call it a day. I wanted to do more but it was getting risky so I'll take 10 hills on a day that I would have normally ridden inside.

But: This is about as close to riding in a "city" as I ever want to be. No Chicago riding for me!

Hold that Thought

2010-01-30T00:21:00.012-05:00

(This is a continuation of the previous post after more thought.)

Sometimes, though, the person(s) I'm talking with don't like my previous response to the question: "what they fuck are you doing?" You remember, the whole, "I'd rather try and fail...blah, blah, blah." And they drop the next logic bomb: "Get the fuck over yourself." They seem, for whatever reason, to have this cookie-cutter idea of what is "right" for me to do. As if there is some predetermined pattern that I have to follow in order to make them, myself, and everyone else around me proud/happy/successful: get a degree, find a job with that degree, buy a house, get married, 2.5 kids, dog, debt up to your eyeballs, etc...

I don't like that definition of success. Primarily because it evolves around money. Too many people have been infected with the idea that having a lot of it will bring happiness. To quote Bob Dylan, "What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do."

Of course they retort, "But, you can't do what you want to do without money! So you have to have a job that pays well to do what you want to do!"

Yes, of course you need money- you can't live like a hermit. Well you can, but that's a subject for another time. Whenever I'm told this it seems like there is an inherent split between 'the job' and 'doing what you want to do'- as if those two concepts are two incompatible substances. As if 'work' and 'pleasure' are like oil and water, they don't mix.

This is where I disagree. Waking up in the morning and doing what you want to do doesn't mean being a lazy bum and watching tv. It means finding career that truly makes you happy. It is at this point working ceases to be a mean to an end and becomes an end within itself: it becomes a source of joy rather than providing for it.

"...well, just how do you go about doing that?"
Simple (well, the action isn't, but the concept is): follow your dreams and passions. I know, it sounds incredibly cheezy; however, stop and think about it for a second. What truly makes you happy? Performing tasks you're truly passionate about. Therefore, should you not pursue those passions as a career? Of course! The path you travel along the way will be riddled with opportunities- each related to the core passion in some form or fashion. Many of these can be an end within itself due to its relationship with your passion. Again, it becomes a source of joy rather than providing for it.

And if you never pursued those passions because it was deemed "to lofty", "to stupid or naive" the opportunities missed are a sad, sad outcome. It are these opportunities that lay along the path that provide the means for being happy. How sad it would be to look back on life later and think, "I wish I would have tried to do X...." Which brings me back to the previous answer: I'd rather try to reach my dreams and fail epically then never try at all, for it is in my success and potential failure that the doors of opportunity will open.

What the fuck are you doing?

2010-01-29T09:47:00.004-05:00

I get this question asked to me a lot... about school, at parties, work, and most recently about what's happening post-May. We had another 2 hour conversation after the Cactus last night that was rather interesting.

When ever asked that, I've always responded with either:
"I'm going to see how far cycling can take me."
or
"I'm going to try to go pro."

Generally speaking, both are met with this look of fanned-happiness- sort of the same look you give a cute puppy, "Aww, its soo cute and naive. Trying to follow silly dreams." A few times I've been told to pull my head out of ass, get a real job, and make my parents proud. I'd act like I'd ignore it, but it would eventually get to me and I'd think, "Maybe they're right, I should drop it- I'm no where near good enough. I should just do a normal thing, settle down somewhere, try to be happy, and try to make my parents proud."
But, I didn't like that thought too much. Mostly because my parents will be happy with me as long as I do what ever makes me happy and because I have no idea what "be normal" really means. Plus- is it really all about making your parents happy? It's my life, not theirs.

I was once told that it takes a special person to believe wholeheartedly that your idea is going to work without fail, yet to also think- and prepare for- that you probably got it all wrong and will fail catastrophically. This internal dichotomy makes a lot of people really, really uncomfortable. Yet, for some reason, I'm ok with it. I have no idea if I'll be successful in my endeavors or not, but I know that (and firmly believe) I would much rather try and fail epically at something then never try at all.

I have other things I want to do besides ride a bike- I want to teach, I want to run a business, maybe run for political office. I want to do something that- while it might not change the world- it'll make a dent. I'm still not sure what it is, but I am sure that a long the way I'm going to fail- a lot- but like I said, I'd much rather have attempted then to not.

Charlie the Unicorn

2010-01-25T12:12:00.007-05:00

I know its from like 2008...maybe even 2006, but this is classic! I love it, no matter how many times I watch it I still laugh:

There is a 3rd one and a few sub-minute ones that are awesome!

Ride Slaying

2010-01-18T00:46:00.002-05:00

When ever I get drunk on random nights...I think its a good idea to update this thing. So hang on, this might get interesting.

So I got a twitter. I know...I said I'd never get one. I said I thought they were stupid. Fucking technology, making me update you on my minute by minute ideas. But I succumbed to the peer pressure and I supposedly needed one for class...whether that's true or whether the bitch made me break my stance will be seen. Not quite sure what to do with it, besides post random useless facts about my life on it. But I suppose that's all you really can do on it. So yeah, @Joey_Iuliano for all your vital updates about what I'm doing.

Brian and I went for a ride today with the Hulk. He's fucking strong- as his nickname suggests. We slayed 5 laps of the old road course (Brian wimped out and did 4). I was basically sprinting up the hill and he rode up it seated...and then proceeded to drop my ass on laps 4 and 5. I was like fuck, I'm seein' almost 800 watts and getting shelled. Apparently he's in the same spot in training as I am, which is fucking sweet: polished off 8 weeks of tempo and sweet spots and now its time for some LT shit. So yeah, Purdue will be dropping the hammer this spring, I'm fucking psyched.

Classes are fucking gay this semester. I have like, 6 of them one of them is a Math-lite class. It's like interesting and basic accounting/finance stuff, so pretty easy. However, a lot of people in were complaining about the math being fucking hard or some shit. I don't see it....how is figuring out the amount of interest you'll get on a $100 at 10% (compounded once) hard? It's 10 fucking dollars for christ-sake! The others are OLS (easy/boring), an English class- complete with a few liberal-arts chicks wearing those super huge knitted hat things that are twice the size of their head- and a 3 hour entrepreneurship class, which is brutal to sit through.

The house is interesting this semester, I feel like its a lot more individualistic this time than in the past. Like, everyone goes upstairs, closes their door and does their own thing (which generally entails hanging out with their girlfriend)- so not a lot of hanging out. I find myself sitting downstairs watching tv and drinking beer by myself a lot- which makes me feel sort of alcoholic. Tonight was like the first night we all were downstairs watching tv (an over the top zombie movie called Dead Alive) and went to the bars together afterward. It was a nice change of pace from sitting down here zoned out by myself.

Thats about all I feel like rambling on for now...perhaps I'll do a better drunken update in the future...

Joey went down to Georgia

2010-01-10T10:59:00.004-05:00

Lookin' for some mountains to ride.
He was doin' fine 'cos he was outside, but he was willin' to...

That's how the song goes right?

If you haven't picked up on it, I went down to GA this past week to ride some sweet as mountains and get away from the arctic tundra that is W. Lafayette. We originally had 3 but Mr. President bailed on us, so that just left 2 of us to beat the shit out of each other on the gaps.

We had a pretty sweet hotel room in the most Euro town in the south: Helen, GA. Everything is themed like a small Bavarian ski town...but since this is the off season everything is closed and the whole town is empty which is really quite creepy. And we had the staple breakfast of Super 8: mini-muffins and mini-sausage biscuits, what could be better?!

Well, the riding for one.
If you've never ridden in the 6 gap area before you are missing out, even in freezing temps it is breathtaking (literally). The first day we did Hog Pen, Jacks, and Unicoi. Descending down the northface of Hog Pen was quite possibly the most brutal thing I've ever done on a bike: it was maybe 28 degrees with a strong north wind. I lost feeling in my hands and face, so thank god it was a straight decent with no turns....probably would have died other wise.

Day 2 we went up Brasstown...even though the road was closed and there was icy spots here and there. Probably not the most intelligent thing to do, but you can't go to GA and not ride this mountain. This climb is brutal...way harder than Mt. Nebo, the 24% wall in the middle is awful, but the view is amazing and worth the suffering.

Post descending...and fucking freezing
From there we went over to Neel's Gap- another awesome climb and ties with Unicoi as my favorite.

Day 3 we went east from Helen around Barton Lake, hoping for an "easier" ride since we were both fried from all of the climbing. No major climbs on this loop, just tons of rollers and we still got over 3,000 feet of climbing. So much for easy. The locals were freaking out this day since a massive snow and ice storm was heading towards the area. So after the ride we sat in our hotel room and wanted for it to come. And waited...and waited. And then! a lite dusting, maybe 1/4 of an inch... pfft, they call that a winter storm?

Day 4, we went hiking since the roads were covered in shitty mixture of slush, salt, and dirt. We went over to Neels gap and hiked up the Appalachian Trail for about 2 miles or so in an attempt to reach the summit of Blood Mountain. Not sure how close we got to the top, but we turned around after about 45 minutes. Word to the wise: don't hike in Puma tennis shoes. Its not pretty.
------

Now I'm back in good ol' Indiana with 5 or so inches of snow. The roads are fucked- as usual- for the next few days, so it's back to the rollers....

is it race season yet?

Damn You All Day Marathons

2010-01-01T19:09:00.003-05:00

All-day marathons of Law and Order SVU and How It's Made has lead to a very unproductive day. The chilly temps didn't help either. Thankfully only had to do an our ride...unfortunately it was just a spin day, so things got cold. Fast.

Anyway, I suppose having lazy days every now and then is nice...and the current Mythbusters episode is on hangovers and which is worse: beer or liquor. Awesome.

Good Quote

2009-12-27T21:12:00.006-05:00

So I saw this on Velonews in an article by Ted King:

"...It’s the disciplined cyclist who finds the motivation when the weather is miserable, when the legs sear with pain, when the drive simply is not there… and when there’s a piece of pie across the room with a death gaze on you."

Yeah the brownsugar pumpkin bread by mom baked is awfully delicious... then there is the sweet all-day marathons of 'How It's Made', 'Deadliest Catch', etc, and finally the weather- 4+" of snow- hasn't helped the motivation either.

But being comfortable on the bike (finally!) is pretty fucking awesome. I used to dread doing 3 hr rides because my back would start hurting, I never felt comfortable or 'right' on the saddle, and I knew that after the ride my right leg would be super stiff and standing up would cause a brief shooting pain down my leg. Yeah, not cool.
So, I finally got a bike and cleat fit on Saturday that fixed the problems. Apparently my right foot tilts out quite a bit and need a shim in the shoe to equalize everything- so now the right feels like the left and my pedal stroke is smoother because of it. That was the most dramatic change, the rest was minor changes- raise the seat a bit, put it off-center a degree (for some reason I sit off center and this corrects that), and suggest a longer stem based on the new bars I just ordered. So when I rode that night it was the most comfortable I've been on the bike in a long time. Comfortable enough I rode the rollers for 2 hours and didn't even think about it. That is pretty sweet!

Speaking of those rollers... the TruTrainer rollers are amazing, pricey, but amazing-couple them with Cactus-esque music and its a pretty powerful riding mix. Toss that outside on the front porch and I ride away for hours, much to the strange looks from my neighbors. I love it, I'm pretty sure they think I'm crazy.

So fuck you pumpkin bread! I gotta give the neighbors something to gossip about!

Have a Holly Jolly Chrismtas...

2009-12-25T14:20:00.002-05:00

...its the best time of the year. Well, minus this cold rainy weather we have.

But seriously, who doesn't like giving/getting presents and hanging out with family?

As with last year, wool socks were the staple of the presents I got.
-2x pair wool socks
-chain
-set of Michelin Pro3
-chain lube
-mnt bike inner tubes (whoops, got the wrong ones there...)
-cheese and summer sausage from my dad... little weird, but tasty nonetheless.

So all good stuff that I need or will need in the coming months.

Oh! And I'm getting a sweet bike fit tomorrow! Hopefully the nagging sciatic nerve pain in my right leg will get figured out... that'd be really sweet.

Census Work

2009-12-24T17:25:00.002-05:00

So I was watching the History Channel, like I always do, and at some point they mentioned the upcoming census.

"Hmm...I wonder how they're going to do it they time..."

I poke my way on to their website and notice a big link for "2010 Jobs"

"Interesting..."

I scope it out, pay: 13.50 for the door-to-door person, more for office clerical work. And all you have to do is pass a ridiculously easy 28 question standardized test. You have 30 minutes and the practice test online took me 15.

Given that I won't be able to work at my super cushy ITaP job after I graduate...I need some sort of income, even if its temporary. And this is pretty easy work- work in the evenings and just ask people some simple questions. Plenty of time to ride during the day and travel to race. Win-win.

I get there today at 11 am to take the test and fill out the application and notice that there are like 5 people working there. Well, filling out cross-word puzzles, but they were getting paid nonetheless.

"How the fuck do I get one of these jobs..."

So, I ask the guy after the test how he got his job, "Well, there is a 1 hour test for supervisors that you can take if you pass this one and then you can get promoted from there."

Well sign me up! I got a fuckin' degree in this shit! Looks like this thing might payoff after all...

Sponsorship...Sponsorship...

2009-12-23T11:37:00.001-05:00

...where are you?

I started trolling the streets of down town Lafayette for sponsorship yesterday. Nothing big- a lot of, "you need to speak to the owner." Who, of course, wasn't there, but they'd pass the letter and brochure on to them.

I did receive one out-right no: I walked in the door and before I could finish saying "Hi, my name is..." was told, "We're not interested." Fair enough.

All in all, I've been in contact with 8 companies so far and have plenty more the hit up. We're not looking for a ton of money, just enough to cover some of the expenses.

So, time for a shameless plug:
Do you want to sponsor a bike race? It'll be reallly sweet.

Ice Polishers

2009-12-21T13:24:00.002-05:00

I've said it once and I'll say it again:

Those damn snow brushes on campus are useless.

Why?

It leaves a very thin layer of ice everywhere it goes. I'm assuming its due to the brush rotating at several hundred rpms rapidly cooling a tiny film of water. Maybe, maybe not, but this mornings trek across campus was accomplished via skating the entire way on supposedly clear sidewalks.

I feel sorry from grandma walking out there.

All Done!

2009-12-17T11:08:00.004-05:00

Finished up all of my finals yesterday. Only had 2:
MGMT 200 on Tuesday
and
OLS 450, which was online...
Should get all A's, maybe a B in MGMT 200, we'll see by next Tuesday.

So, today marks the first day of break for me! And I'm spending it downstairs in the Math building making those big bucks.

Whats in store this break you ask? Good question!
-Sleep
-Work
-Riding
-Investigate picking up teaching license (scholarships, time, etc)
-Mini training camp?
-Rounding up some cash sponsorship for our spring race weekend
-Planning out stuff (banners, podium, podium girls, music, announcer, trophies) for our kick ass race weekend

The last one is going to be sweet! I've already contacted the Purdue Beat Society- hopefully they'll come out on Sunday to lay down some tracks for the race. Head over to Home Depot and get some wood for a podium...talk to a local print shop about banners...hit up every local business I can think of... you get the idea!

The best is the potential trophy:

A gold plated sledge hammer (with engraving)! HELL YES!

I'm so excited for this race, it'll be sweeter than natz!

The red light is flashing

2009-12-08T10:34:00.004-05:00

"Sir...We've reached DEFCON 1"
How eminent is the attack?
"Very, sir."
Brace your self for impact.
--------
*background* 'Fuck you bitch!'

Oh boy...

"IN COMING!!!"

Oh fuck...

"Boy...you better apologize...or I'm gonna fuck you up."

'Apologize for what!?!"

"You called her a bitch, so best be apologizing."

This might get ugly...

'No.'

"You are going to apologize" *shoves*

\Woah, woah, WOAH! Let's back up here\

*more yelling, shoving, pushing*

'Fine, fine, I'll go out there'

*send out the troops*

'...*blah, blah,"

"I said apologize!"

`Let him fucking talk!`

'blah...blah..sorry!'

::why the fuck are you apologizing?::

'because you're friend is going to kick my ass'

::oh...::

Let's just go inside...

\Dude! That was epic!\

Fuck...that was close.

--------------------------
This blog post left intentionally vague for a good reason.

Power Test

2009-11-29T20:55:00.003-05:00

This may come to a surprise to you.... but I hate power tests.

I know what you're thinking, "But you love to ride hard for long periods of time!"
True- in races. I detest it on my own, not sure why, though.

I knew this day was coming all break, since base 1 starts tomorrow, I knew I had to redefine my zones and see just how much fitness I lost over this long/sickly off-season.

A lot of help was required to pull this off: I grew the best euro-stubble I could:

Slapped on my sweetest looking kit with white booties, gloves, and helmet...

Hey- if I was going to torture myself, I was going to look good doing it.

So I reached to the proving ground: our new TTT course and embarked on my test. Had a nice stiff tail wind going out (not to mention I started too hard) so I clocked a blazing 31 mph and around 360. I was pretty pleased.
Then I turned around and the world crumbled. I literally fell to pieces and turned out sad, sad numbers. It was a long ride home after that to say the least.

I downloaded the data and expected some horrible news, but it wasn't as bad as I expected: only a 20 watt decrease after being sick and not riding for almost a month. Not too shabby, I'll get that back rather quickly and build on from there.

3 more weeks of school left...

An Honest Review of Pearl Izumi's Winter Gear

2009-11-27T18:58:00.002-05:00

So today marked the first true cold day of the year. A balmy 38, which meant I got to test out my new Pearl Izumi leg warmers, booties, and socks. Sweeet!
I was actually looking forward to the coldness!

So here's the break down:
Head- Purdue Cycling cap + Pearl Izumi headband (and helmet of course!)
Body- longsleeve undershirt from Walmart, Purdue longsleeve jersey and windvest
Legs- Purdue bib shorts and Pearl Izumi leg warmers
Feet- Pearl Izumi wool socks, shoes, and Pearl Izumi barrier lite booties.
Hands- Defeet wool gloves

My initial reaction to the booties was of disbelief- no way this thin material is going to keep my feet from freezing... and then it lead to anger as I tried to get the damn things on. Why? No zipper!
The first few attempts flew off like an ill-fated attempt at putting on a condom. After a couple minutes I got 'em on...pretty tight, then my mom saw them and said they looked like S&M leather. Not sure if that's the look I'm going for, but if they keep my feet warm I don't care.

So off I went into the wild blue yonder for a hour and half spin on our new road race course. Initially, things went well:
Leg warmers stayed in place
Head was warm
Hands were warm
and most importantly, my feet were warm!
Sweet!
See, I get cold easily during winter rides and I'm very picky about my winter gear. I hate bulky booties, tights, and such- I want nice, thin, yet effective gear. To this day, I have yet to find anything that beats the wind blocking and warming power of a WalMart plastic bag...

So, 2 laps of the course later and my hands were numb. Time for the heavy duty gloves which I luckily stashed in my back pockets. Then my knees got cold, followed quickly by my toes getting a little tingly- but not cold. It was time to head back anyway, so I picked up the pace to make more heat and things felt better all-around.

The low down:
So things worked out pretty well! I wasn't riding tempo or anything, so I didn't expect the things to keep me super warm for the entire ride. As soon as I picked up the pace things were toasty again. Most impressively were the booties- while they didn't keep my feet completely cozy, they did pretty well for only being 2mm thick material. Toss in a plastic bag over the wool socks and these things will be good in the teens, I'm sure. The cold knees, well, that was a bit unexpected given that the leg warmers are fleece lined, but that is easily fixed by tossing on knee warmers under 'um.

All in all, a pretty successful ride!

Hot Off the Press

2009-11-24T00:38:00.005-05:00

First off, I will apologize for any typos in this post.... I've had more than a few beers at the campus bars and probably shouldn't be updating this right now. However, my roommate/drinking cohort/best friend left met at the bars at like 11:30 and now its like 1...so this might get interesting since I have no one to talk to.

Team for Next Year:
Well, not going to lie, I applied for a few pro-development teams for next year, but didn't get on any of them. RGF was the most promising- made it to the "elite 8" (using basketball terms since I just watched a game) for the last spot but lost out. No worries- the guy who got it is a great guy and totally deserves it.

So, I'll make the official announcement: for 2010, I'll be riding for ReCycling- a sweet new team out of Chi-town that will be totally kick ass. So put that on cyclingnews.com....right on the front page, 'cuz its totally worth it. Trust me.

Collegiate Racing:
I'm fucking looking forward to the last weekend in Feb. It means I get to race again...most likely in Murray, Kentuckhuh (Kentucky for everyone who has never heard a local Kentucky native speak(. I love that road race that they have- its amazing. I probably only thinkthat because I pulled a 5th place out of my ass at the race, but still...I like it. Their crit...not so much, so hopefully they have a new course.

I'm fairly confident we're hosting regionals this spring since no one else applied for it. It'll be sweet: our road race is brand new and has 2 kick ass climbs in it and after 8 laps will totally shred the A's field. Not going to lie, I want to win that race hard core.

Our crit will be awesome too since its around the Stadium on campus. It's taking a ton of work and beggging to get this race approved but it will be totally worth it in the end. I don't care if I win this one, I just want to see it go off with out a hitch.

Nationals:
Collegiate Nationals (Natz) are in Madison, WI (I think I already said this in an earlier post). I'm fucking pumped for that since it's my senior year and most likely my last shot. I really want to do well at that road race, like win it well. Not holding back, so I'll just say it: I want to win natz road race.
Bam! I justed put one of my dreams on the interwebs for the world to see. Now I have to back it up. So this may or may not be a good thing, guess we'll see in May, eh?

Post college:
No clue. I'm scared to be honest. 100% scared shitless. I have no idea what to do, and I'm afraid I'll end up alone living in a van down by the river. Even though I know I want to do teaching, I have no idea where. I want to stay close to my friends that I've made in college (because I'm really bad at making new friends and I don't think I can ever replace the ones I have now...and I don't want to). I really want to see where cycling will take me. I have no clue where it might led, but I'm sure it'll be awesome. Maybe a pro team...maybe not. If anything, I want to get on the same pro team as Chris because I don't want to loose contact with him after college- I value his friendship a lot and he's just an all-around kick ass guy.

What else.... not sure what else to cover, talked about a lot and said quite a few things that I've kept to myself for awhile. So...I probably should cut this short and not put more on the interwebs for all to see.

Until I drink again blogo-sphere!
Have a good Turkey day!

Off-Season

2009-11-18T15:19:00.004-05:00

I hate the off season.

Yes, hate it. Don't get me wrong, that first week off the is nice, but then it sucks. This has been an especially taxing period this year because I've been sick with bronchitis since the beginning of October and it just went away about a week ago. Which made me realize...I wasn't healthy for a single cyclocross race...that is sad.

Anyway, so to fill the time in this 'mandatory' time off to recharge the batteries (more like make you want to ride like a caged animal, so I suppose it serves its purpose) I do a lot of nothing.

Lot of wall staring, napping, and being a bum, which makes me feel pretty useless. Sure, I have the whole race thing to organize, but that is essentially done since it just requires a few more signatures. Occasionally I have homework, then again, it only takes a few minutes (20-ish) and I do it at work. There are those aggravating group meetings, which could be completely conducted over e-mail... They become especially frustrating when one member of the group just keeps repeated the same things I've said in e-mails for us to do like they came up with it.

So that still leaves 8 hours or so of the day to, well, clean the house. However, there's only so much cleaning I can do before I reach a point where I get mad that I'm the only person doing it, since no one acts like they appreciates it, and stop. Or give up when I came back from class to see the area that I just cleaned trashed. Yeah- that pisser-offer right there...that and being called the maid.

"hey did ya hear that Naveen's place has a cleaning lady come in once a week?"
"aw, no shit? You guys should get that for the house."
"Nah, we already have one, his name is Joey"

Oh yeah? Fuck you too.

Seriously, how hard is it to put the dishes in the dishwasher? Or sweep the floor, wipe off the counters and stove, take the trash out, and keep the shower from getting moldy?
Not hard, really, its not.

Not to knock the guys too hard, they'll do it...eventually. Like maybe 2 days later. Which is the cause of the frustration for me- I was raised 'clean up after your done', so thats what I'm used to. I know not everyone is like that, so instead of jumping on everyone's case, I just do it.
Why?
Because it gets done, no one gets upset, and it stays relatively nice looking.

So really, a little appreciation and not trashing the area after I clean it would be nice...it will make me pretty happy actually. Or at least not calling me the fucking maid.

Collegiate Natz!

2009-11-09T15:19:00.003-05:00

So they finally announced the location for collegiate nationals in 2010....and drum-roll please....

Madison, WI!

Woot! We don't have to do a 17 hr epic drive to natz this year! This also explains why they never placed a bid to host a spring road race... I'm hoping they use the Blue Mounds Road Race from Dairy land and the capital crit...provided the pavement is repaired. No moon craters at natz please.

Work is proceeding nicely on our race approval. Saturday is pretty much a done deal as soon as TSC approves us using East Tipp Middle School. Sunday...that's more difficult given that it is on campus and around the Stadium. So that requires approval from 7 different people: dean of students, business office, police, grounds, athletics, risk management, and residency halls. The last one is proving to be rather difficult since we need a road closed behind a dorm that has student parking on it. They don't want to move their cars regardless of what the police and grounds say...which is strange given that they control/own the traffic/roads.

No worries, we'll get 'er done.

Oh yeah, shake it

2009-10-28T20:04:00.001-04:00

Yeah...

But, how do you know when your done?

What to do come May

2009-10-26T09:02:00.008-04:00

Graduation is quickly approaching and, surprise, surprise, I haven't given it too much thought until recently. Mostly this was spurred on by a lot of people asking me:
"Hey, what are doing in May?"
-I dunno. Something.
"Shouldn't you kinda figure that out?"
-Yeah. Probably.

Then I would go on and do something else. With no races or anything to do this weekend, I finally gave it some thought. Just what the hell can I do with an OLS degree...

-Marketing
-Human Resources
-Middle Management/Supervisor
-Start a business

Sound good? No, not really. Let's examine those in detail:
-Marketing: this is just the devil, pure and simple.

-Starting a business: Maybe, but not right now.

-Human Resources:

A career in a sea of cubicals awaits. A droll, boring, and in my mind, an utterly useless existence... Next.

-Middle Management/Supervisor:
After going to the OLS career fair a few weeks ago, it became clear that a choice in this field would give rise to a career at either:
a.) Wal Mart as an assistance manager (no)
b.) Line supervisor at Red Gold Tomatoes... better dust of that Spanish.

Si senor, los tomates son muy delicioso.
I'm fairly confident I didn't go to college for that. At all. Ever.

So, with all of those options ruled out, I came to the conclusion that I have, indeed, selected the wrong major. None of these careers are appealing to me, most of them require working on weekends, and long days...so cycling would become a thing of the past.
Fuck, I don't think so. If I'm going to be depressed in a career, I damn well better be able to bike.

Time for plan B:
Education.
Say, wha? Yes, education. I was there before, but left, because I was told by a professor that I couldn't do it- I should be a professor, like him, instead. I shouldn't have listened and got my degree in that. Let's think about it:
A.) I like teaching things to people
B.) I'm pretty good with kids
C.) Every teacher I've worked with have told me I have a natural talent for this.
D.) I love History and Science, and can explain most things in that pretty well
E.) Weekends and all summer off.

I think we have a winner. But, before I commit to this 100%, we'll give it a trial run as a substitute. Apparently subs, along with regular teachers, are in high demand (I know several people who sub. 40 hrs a week). So, try it as a substitute, see if I like it, and then go get my license, which thankfully isn't very hard to do since I have like half the credits already.

Now I have something to tell everyone when they ask what I'm going to do come May:
Substitute teach, then get my license, and race all summer long.

Where to start

2009-10-19T14:00:00.003-04:00

Wow...I'm sorry blog...it's been awhile.

No, I haven't been cheating with you on another blog. I've just been...busy, you know?

-----
Anyway, I can say that not much has happened since the last post 2 weeks ago. I've been hastily trying to slap together a weekend of cross races after we got our date back on the 1st. Big thanks to Hodson's Bay, Moe's, and Marco's Pizza for stepping up so quickly!
I've also successfully beaten a chest cold into submission and made it cry uncle. Boo yah!

On the riding front...well, I haven't been. I was sick and it was the off season, so I stared at the wall/tv a lot and slept. It was nice, however, I'd much rather be riding. I've done 2 cross races so far this year...which is double what I normally do and if I keep on this track I'll probably quadruple that by the end of the season.

UCI Cincinnati Race
You thought for a second I did the UCI race didn't ya? It's ok, you can admit it.

Nah, I'm not that awesome yet, I'm lucky if I can stay upright much less stay above 2nd to last in any given race. Our trusty collegiate official Andrew Frey was at the race and told me I looked like a roadie: anytime the course was a.) straight or b.) on pavement I looked great. Toss in a off-camber section or my arch-nemesis sand and I was fucked.
The races down in Ohio were wicked. There were a ton of fans, great competition, and the courses were amazing.
Check it:

Here's Alan Alderfer showing a sand pit who's boss. He whipped that sand pit into shape like it was a bad investment.

Chris has more awesome pictures that he hasn't shared with me yet. So I'll let him brag about how dirty he got and how he kicked some serious ass. On a side note, it was entertaining to watch him dismount/remount after the barriers and nearly eat it.
I'm probably just as comical, but I like to think I'm not.

Sadly, in the Pro/1 race, arguably the 2 best crossers in Indiana took nasty spills and broke their collarbones. Mike Scherer did it at the barriers and Ryan Knapp did it just a few meters shy of the finish after someone swiped him in the sprint. Hopefully they recover quickly!

Then this weekend was Bloomin' Cross down in, you guessed it, Bloomington. Chris and I offered to help Ryan officiate if we got free entry. We spent most of the day at the finish line writing down numbers as riders came past, tracking lapped people, and listening to stories about cycling in the good ol' days. I also walked away with probably 250 race numbers for our Halloween race, so I'd say it was worth it.

The course was brutal: it was slick, muddy, and pretty damn technical. Plus, it had a sweet paved climb in it for the finish. Given that most grandma's have more technical skills than me, I ended up fighting for the coveted 3rd from last position. I'd make up huge ground on the climb and then lose it slowly through the lap by making mistakes. Eventually my lack of rhythm cost me and I got tired. A fan offered a beer near the end of the last lap so that made for a nice consolation prize. Chris didn't do well either- for a different reason- he was still sick and couldn't breath.

--------
So, I think that catches us up nicely. I'll have more later.

Oh: my litespeed, well, its replacement, it on eBay. Buy it:
Super Sweet Litespeed!

Fall Failing

2009-10-05T14:58:00.004-04:00

Not quite the end I wanted to the road season: chest cold.

Probably shouldn't have raced on Saturday, but I thought if I took it easy, I'd be alright. Wrong.
Not only was it a lack-luster performance on my part (come on, 18:16? That's just sad...) it only served to cause the cold to set in further.

So, Saturday afternoon, evening, and night was spent in bed under several blankets at our awesome hosts house. I felt like a fat person was crushing my airways...so not a pleasant feeling. Racing Sunday was out of the question.

Sunday I watched Sarah and Becky race in the women's 4 and watched Sarah throw down in a field sprint and lock up 3rd overall. I glanced at the overall standings and there was a chance- a small chance- I could still get a top 10, even without racing. So, I slept on the way home and hoped that it work out in my favor.

Turns out, it did. Almost. I ended up tied for 10th, but got 11th since I only did 3 events and he did 4. Oh well, now to focus on getting over this damn cold and look towards the 'cross season.

In other news:
Purdue is hosting a weekend of collegiate cross races, with Saturday featuring USA Cycling races as well:
registration

flyer

So you should come race or at least watch.

Fall Flinging

2009-09-28T14:36:00.005-04:00

Fall is finally here...leaves are flying around, so that means its time for la classica delle foglie morte

No, it's not the Giro di Lombardia (although that is coming), its the Fall Fling. That all so-important season closer here in the area. You know, the one that everyone trains specifically for and drives for hours to attend?

Ok, well, maybe its not that important, but for the last 2 years it's marked the end of the road season for me, so its kinda important on a personal level to end on a high note at like I have in the past. This year ABD found some new courses that didn't require driving to Rockford and ran a pretty solid event.

Crit:
New course just north of Fermi Lab. Nothing to get excited about, just a rounded square with 1 corner, ie: smash it. The same guys who were at the IL road race were here: Hartley, White, Meyers, and Freund. That means the goal was the same: follow them.
Inadvertently, I pedaled a bit too hard at the start and got a gap, so I gave it ago. Didn't get to far and soon Hartley, Freund, and Co. had strung out the field. Soon after that a break off three, with, you guessed it, Hartley, Freund, and a WDT rider, broke away and that was it. A few more attacks here and there yet nothing materialized. I ate too much wind going into the field sprint and came in a disappointing 30th. Some how that got me 15th in the GC...not gonna ask.

Road:
Another new course in Crete- nothing special again, flat, 4 corner, little traffic. However, mother nature decided to make the race hard and toss in a southern wind at 20+ mph. The field soft pedaled the headwind, so any amount of effort generally got you a gap. Some how, the field split (I suspect a rider couldn't hold the pace...) and I missed it.
No worries, I bridged up with Freund and White and we were greeted with a soft pedaling group of 15. An IS Corp rider and Drew Otte rode away from the group (remember, just pedaling would get you a gap) and they were joined by 3 others to make the break. Our group kept dicking around, so I 'attacked' into the first corner and tried to bridge.
A lap later I was joined by Will Nowak, John Meyers, Hartley, Freund, and a Bicycle Heaven guy. Needless to say we weren't working together well and just attacked the shit out of each other until finally Will got away. Next lap- Hartley nailed, John went, and that was it. I was dropped, Freund was dropped later, and the BH guy was the last to get popped. Us 3 regrouped and slowly continued on but was joined by Luke from XXX with 2 to go. He gave our group some fresh legs and got us working again.
The cat and mouse games for 9th started about 2 miles out, with at the time some painful attacks but in reality were quite sad. I covered a few and with about a mile was sitting 3rd. 300 meters to go, I stood up and, with perhaps the slowest sprint ever, took 9th.

So a top 10 is always nice, but I'd like to get a little higher up...so next weekend is the final go.

Epic Tan lines

2009-09-23T10:38:00.005-04:00

How epic?

This epic:

That's a seasons worth of training and racing with everything at the same line. Every time.

Awesome.

IL State Road Race...

2009-09-14T18:51:00.004-04:00

...or the slowest road race. Ever. The course was pretty nice, a bit flat, but overall very nice, and very well run.

Although, I suppose I really shouldn't complain since I wasn't exactly the most aggressive person. But still, it was pretty slow given that 90% of the time the field just cruised around after someone attacked.

The race was, at least in my mind, what racing a masters race would be like: angry, yet no one wants to do anything for more than a few seconds. We had a near-miss-idiotic crash thanks to a rider who attacked and then swung wildly to the left and right in an effort to do god only knows what. This caused one of the almost victims to yell at him and the guy who almost caused the crash decided to prove his testicular fortitude by pulling "hard" for the next few miles and then never returning to the front again.

He sure showed us.

Anyway, I had a pretty good idea of who to follow when they did go though:
Dewey, Ryan, John, anyone from Gear Grinder, and Chris. Of course this was the same idea that almost everyone had so those guys had a hard time getting away. However if anyone else (such as myself) attacked we got a gap...until joined by one of them. Eventually a break got away without Chris or I in it and then the race went even slower. Until finally on the last lap, Chris attacked and I followed into the 2nd corner...somehow gaining a huge gap in relativity little time. I felt like crap and was starting too cramp so my pulls were weak at best- which I felt really bad about since the one thing I'm generally good at is going hard in a straight line.

We caught up with a Missouri rider who wouldn't, or perhaps couldn't, pull through. We hit the climb, I was toast and told Chris to just go and not wait. The sad part was, the two only got a few hundred meters up the road from me...just close enough to taunt me and remind me how stupid I was for not eating in quite possibly the easiest road race ever. So while I got 11th, I should have got 10th and that long grind up the hill the last time gave me plenty of time to reflect on that.

Mad props to Seth for taking 3rd and the state jersey!

On the bright side, I'm the proud owner of an Aerocat (aka Aero-Meow). Litespeed can suck it. More on that later.

C eh? N eh? D eh?

2009-09-08T09:17:00.003-04:00

It was Labor Day weekend...which means one thing: throwin' down in Canada at Erie Street, along with the Michigan "Hill Climb" road race, and the Auburn Hills crit.

Michigan Hill Climb:
It was a pretty small field- maybe 17 guys, with the clear favorites being either Chris or Ben. There were a few attacks here and there, but nothing got anywhere. I felt like shit so I just sat there like a lump on a long. Chris made a move on a downhill and I thought, "Nah...theres still like 20+ miles to go...and he attacked down hill...no way this will stick."

A Bissle rider went after him so the rest of their team become giant cock-blocks and we never organized a solid chase nor could we get more than a few meters off the front. Chris did a 40-km ITT and won by 2:30 minutes. Yeah...thats fucked up, but not surprising given that we just sat in the field with our thumbs up our asses.

Tour di Via Italia:
By far one of my favorite crit courses for mutliple reasons:
-the Italian atmosphere: everyone speaking Italian, old men yelling at you in Italian, comically large lap cards, amazing food, the course is a big flat sqaure, and its in Canada.

I had a sweet spot on the line but then had the most rookie start ever. I missed clipping in, not once, but twice. Doh!

No big deal though, we started off really slow, so I was able to get near the front by the 2nd corner. A few laps later and things were starting to heat up with the attacks. I stayed attentive and went with things that had a Jet Fuel and Panther since those were the big teams. I got in one move with Paul Martin, a Jet Fuel,a Texas Roadhouse and 2 others and though, "Dear God, this has to be the one! Score!" But it wasn't ment to be.

A few laps later Moskel got into a move and then Chris bridged with a few others. I missed that train and then missed the last train to leave the station- Paul's wheel.

Game. Set. Match. The race was up the road.

So we rode around much like the day before- with our thumbs up our asses- for awhile. Then Darco Fico, which is by far the coolest sound name I've heard in a while, slammed it into his 54x11 and started to single handly drag the break back. Of course no one could pull that hard (Well, Greg could, but he had 3 'mates up the road) so the break never got closer than 20 seconds. Which has the potential to be bridgeable...but not with Kirk Alber and Paul are drilling it.

With that in mind I decided that I might try my hand a field sprint for once and found myself on Jon Card's wheel, who was convinenatly on Ben Renkema's wheel. Well, this is pretty sweet, now I just have to stay here for 5 laps.

That's easier said than done. I kept it for 2 laps, but then got bumped off...so I sat in the middle, found Greg and followed him on an attack that didn't go anywhere. By then I was really starting to feel that 100 KM of crit racing and was pretty damn happy to just finish- 42nd, which isn't great.

But! Paul told me he was impressed with how I rode. So thats pretty bad ass!

And even more bad ass is Chris won! 2 in a row!

Auburn Hills Crit:
Not much to be said about this crit. 2 180's and a dog leg, so: go fast, brake, sprint. Over and over for 90 minutes. I was feeling pretty good, even after sitting on the line for a 20 minute delay, and went with a few things, but nothing stuck. I took a bad line in one of the 180's and got sent to the back. So the rest of the race, which was now full on, was spent trying to move up. The winning move went late in the race and I was no-where near the front. Then it started raining and everyone slowed down...a lot. But I just couldn't get around people to attack, so it was just another pack fodder finsh.

However, the nice thing to note is that I raced this one a lot better than last year- which was my first 1/2/3 race. Last year I could barely hang on, and this year I was putting some moves down. So, good improvement, let's just hope that keeps going.

Throwin' Down in Perfect Town

2009-08-25T08:06:00.004-04:00

No bullshit for this post, sort of crunched for time:

Marion:
By far the most depressing town I have ever driven through...the cloudiness and lack of fans at the race didn't do much to change the gloomy atmosphere either. The course, well, that left much to be desired in terms of design. The pavement was spot on but 10 turns in .8 miles is a bit much, especially when no straight away is longer than 1 block.

That being said, I rode near the front for most of the race, threw down a few attacks, chased Naveen:

Then I touched brakes going into the first corner with 1 to go, lost a few spots, and just couldn't gain them back. Ended up 14th and scored some cash, so not bad.

The Pro/1 race was badass to watch- no major crashes at the corner I watched from (the bar) and sometimes I think its more fun to watch those guys race then it is to race with them.

Following that we hit up the best Mexican place in town and made the trek to Derek's place in Zionsville.

West Clay- A little slice of Perfect Town:
West Clay is one of those pre-planned "villages" in Carmel...where everyone's house is immaculate, with a perfect yard, perfect streets, etc. It's a little creepy, but those people there are really nice and came out in droves for the race. Probably twice as many as there were at Marion and this was just a local race- nothing big.

The course is smooth and has a nice flow to it- have to feather the brakes a few times, but for the most part you can rail every corner. It started off fast from the gun and stayed that way. A break of 4 got up the road and shortly after that Greg, David Williams, and Adam L. attacked (at slightly separate times) to bridge and I gave it a go a few seconds later. Didn't quite make it, but that was ok, it got me a sweet spot at the front that I held on to very well.

Derek and Chris laid down some hard moves that I tried to go with but everything kept coming back together until Chris slipped away with another rider near the end. Going into the last lap a Texas Roadhouse rider attacked into the last corner and I went just after we exited- got a gap, but was brought back by the first corner. Great...stuck at the front with half a lap to go...now what?

Then I hear, from Derek, "Joey! PUNCH IT!" So I oblidged and gave it a go up until the 2nd to last corner, swung off, and rolled in on the back of the field.

Not a great result, but I feel that I raced really well, so I was happy with that... I might have made it to the TR guy if I had attacked through the corner like he did, but always next time.

Rock Out

2009-08-21T08:23:00.002-04:00

The long awaited return of "Cactus-ing it up" has triumphantly occurred. Much hasn't changed...except the beer is 50 cents for a liter... and This time we have an Aussie in the fold- who told me the Cactus is every American stereo-type he's seen in the movies jam packed into a single space.

Also, what better way to break in a brand- spankin' new pair of shoes than to dance until your legs are wobbly and your ears ring from the loud music.

Perfect.

Once we made it out to the dance floor, it was time to bust some moves: the ball change, the rocky balboa, oh my god its a worm!, back it up, pickin' apples, the chernobyl child, and my all time favorite: the arabic aunt- which can cause strange weather anomalies and whole villages to disappear if done incorrectly. It should only be done by trained professionals (its near the end):

West Lafayette was still standing when we left, so must have done something right.

The Tiny Time Trial That Tried

2009-08-16T19:05:00.003-04:00

Let's not talk about Mass Ave.

And instead, we'll talk about the FIAC "National" Individual Time Trial. I put national in "" because...well, it's essentially an ABR race and we all know their "nationals" attract riders from across the US (if you haven't picked up on the sarcasm...they don't attract riders from anywhere but the local area). This means I was competing against riders from: Ohio and Indiana for a stars and strips jersey.

Seems a little hollow to me to say your a national champ when you only beat guys from Ohio. But, what ever, I wanted that jersey, just for the sheer irony. And all the fast Ohio people would be at Downers...plus it was only 20 km to boot- piece of cake!

Wrong.

All the fast people went to Downers- save one Matt Weeks (who came in 2nd to Paul Martin at their state tt by 3 seconds). No worries, I thought, I can take him. I did my usual hard warm up and pre-race rituals so everything was looking solid. They had a sweet start ramp and I hit the course full throttle and didn't look back.

I had a mission and I wasn't fucking around- it was only 20 KM so I red lined it the entire time: 190-195 bpm. It sucked, but TT's aren't about chasing kitties in a field and having a good time. They're about pain and hating your life.

Going out was hard (wind, rolling hills), but back was wicked fast (tail wind!) and the man gear was used for the first time in...well, a long time. 13 miles (they lied on the distance) in 29:30. And then I tossed my cookies (seriously) so I knew I couldn't have gone any harder than that. It didn't sound good though, but when I heard Francis saying he did a 28:30, I didn't feel too bad and, generally, there aren't many people under 30 who beat him.

After about an hour they got to the podium ceremonies. And the 19-29 age group (not sure why they didn't do categories...) was up first.... drum roll please....

1st place- Matt Weeks: 28 minutes flat.
2nd place- Me, buck 30 behind.
Holy fuck! I got schooled!

To add insult to injury he also did the men's tandem following his first race and they won that, by a lot, too. Apparently Matt is a very fast man.

That should have gone better...

2009-08-10T10:34:00.002-04:00

Another lack luster weekend has come and gone...it seems some habits die hard:

Warsaw:
Hot. Humid. Windy. And fast.

I really like the course, super wide, smooth, and not technical in the least bit. Sadly, it always seems that there are some other big races going on and turn out is generally small. This was no different this year with Greyslake in Chicago, Meijer Classic in Michigan, and Dan Daly's Indy Stage race in, well, Indy. About 30 guys showed up for the 1/2/3- 12 of them from Alderfer-Bergen. Clearly odds were in their favor and they lit it up from the gun. Nuvo was also well represented and they were extremely active. I had a bad start, but chopped a few corners to quickly get to the front. For some reason though, the snap wasn't there to go with moves like I had hoped (like I only did 1 or 2). I decided to sit in- which was a bad call as there weren't too many people to sit on at that point, toss in a few bad lines by following the wrong guys (I told you old habits seem to die hard for me), and I found myself getting gaped into the head wind. And then off the back...and then dead.

Mad props to Will who man-handled to cat 3 race and won solo. Very impressive to watch- hopefully that form will be back for the collegiate season.

Glencoe GP:
Another favorite race of mine and I was feeling slightly better than the day before. However, nature decided to let the skies open and it dumped buckets for a good 10-15 minutes...conveniently right before the 1/2 race during the Women's. I really did want to play anymore, but I had already made my 40 dollar donation to the GEF and I need to get some wet crit racing experience. So I told myself to go warm up, but instead just tooled around in the parking lot. Tail gunning this race turning out to be quite easy...well, when I was following Eric Loberg is was anyway. He moved up a few spots and I didn't...and some how in the next few laps became stupid and forgot those oh-so-nice lines I was taking just a few minutes earlier.

Same story as Saturday...after 45 minutes I started getting gaped...then off the back and then called it quits.

2 DNF's...this has to stop...

It's not that I'm not strong enough- it's I can't seem to handle my damn bike. Not that riding the cross bike is helping since it does handle a bit differently, but irregardless, these skills are holding me back and I don't know how to fix it. It's not as simple as saying- oh, I suck climbing, so I'll go do hills. It's- oh, I suck at cornering, so I need to go do corners... except I can't make myself do them at the same speed as in a race or I just keep reinforcing bad habits because I'm doing them alone and not with a skilled rider.

This is so, so frustrating.

I'm Afraid It's Dead

2009-08-02T19:57:00.004-04:00

Chicago Crit killed my Litespeed.

The same manhole with a 1" drop that killed Chris' fancy Zipp tubular cracked my down tube near the head tube. At first I didn't notice it, I'd hear a slight creak when I got out of the saddle, but it wasn't anything horrible. But through the week it got louder and then started creaking when I was in the saddle. So I flipped it over and low and behold there it was. A trip to the original bike shop in Indy and the frame is on its way to Litespeed in Chattanooga. Thank Jeagle for lifetime warranties...if everything goes as it should I may have a new frame in a few weeks. Hopefully before the Labor Day races.

For now, I'll be riding the cross bike in a road set up. Not comfortable, but it'll do.

And no, there are no pictures, it's too gruesome.

Check it out

2009-07-31T12:21:00.001-04:00

This made my day: