Daniel Holloway

2009-08-24T01:19:00.000-07:00

Hey all. Here is a new VLOG, during the races its a bit easier to do some video stuff rather than type. Hope you enjoy it, I have more on the youtube channel.

2009-08-21T01:28:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

So last update was catching you up with what has gone on for a long while.

Now I am in Spain doing 2 stages races, the first one; Vuelta Zamora went well. Had a solid opening prologue to get 4th, the 4th again on day 2, the finish wasn't exactly what we all thought but that is how the dice rolls. The next 2 days of the race were a day for the boys that go up hill. I felt good on the first climbing day and was more or less with the front group. Our rocket climber had a mishap on the first big down hill and got some road rash, I road with a group of 8 just behind the lead group to wait for him to come from dead last on the road to my group at the top if the second climb. He had some awesome help from Austin and Cole to get him to the bottom of the 2nd climb and he flew up that to catch myself and Travis at the top. Once he was on I put the wood down to close a huge gap to the front group, a full team was on the front drilling it to make it as hard as possible. But they couldn't stop us! haha. Once we got there we had 5 guys, Me, Chris, Travis, Larry and Carson. My job was now to look after those guys and get them whatever they needed to stay fresh. I got popped on the next climb and road in with the middle group some 10min later. The next climbing day was rough, a windy ride into the bottom of the first Cat 1 climb, and then two Cat 2's to finish off the day. Road in with the groupetto to save as much as I could for the last day. The last day on paper looked to be all down hill, but we were fooled. A ton of rollers popped up and made the day harder than expected, but the boys road another great day and I got 2nd only because the finish was 100m sooner than the info we were told. USA had a great race overall, never outside the top 10 on the stages and Butler got the best young rider jersey, and 6th on GC. With everything that happened in Zamora I was fired up to do well in Palencia.

We had 3 days in between races to relax and see Zamora a little bit. Austin and I went on some cool easy rides to check out the city and got to see some cool views from the top of some big rollers.

Day 1 of Palencia went super. The team road great to make every big split in the cross winds to have 2 or more guys in it and then in the end killed it to bring back the break. On a long windy freeway climb another team put the hammer down towards the top and one of the teammates let open a gap to let his 4 teammates TTT away, since the team kept me fresh all day it was time for me to do my job. It was all instinct to jump across, but half I freaked a little and said to myself "WTF, your crazy! your trying to catch 4 guys doing an all out TTT!" "NO!! you have to make it, your team didn't do all that work for you to be a pussy" and like Jim Miller told me, "See stars! and you can rest when you get there". Once I was on the wheel it was pretty much a free ride, with one more small Cat3 all I had to do was play it smart. Over the top it went from 4 on 1, to 1 on 1, back to 2 on 1 for the last 5k. The 3 of us worked well for the first couple K and then one guy started to sit on, I wasn't keen on that so I opened the gap and then jumped him so he had to work. Now with both of them working to have to catch me inside 3k I road 80% into the block head wind. With 2k to go you could see the field right behind us and the left hand turn with 1k to go right up the road. I got us to the left hand turn and knew as soon as we got the cross tail one of the guys was going to jump me, luckily the weaker one jumped and didn't get so far. I took a sec to recover and take a deep breath, with 500 or so I hit out super hard and gapped his teammate and passed him at +or- 100m. I had plenty of time to enjoy the W, and point at USA across the line.

At the end of the day I took home 4 jerseys and Big Check. Yellow, Special Sprint, Combo Jersey, and Finish line points Jersey. I will do all I can to hang on to the Yellow the next couple days in the Hills, I know I can climb with the front 20 here; all I have to do is ride smart and most of all SUFFER!

I will try and do some video stuff as it is a bit quicker for me and maybe a little more funny. I think it gives some different insight on myself and the team. Hope you all will enjoy it. Now on to day 2.

2009-08-09T13:07:00.000-07:00

WOW!!! It has been forever since I gave the people who look here an update. I am alive, to those who may have thought otherwise. MAN!!! There has been a lot that has gone on the past 5 MONTHS!! The time has totally flown by, and I am having a blast.

March... I left you all in Mexico. On the queen stage there I didn't finish, and missed 3 days. I went home to get fresh air and solid training in before World Track Championships.

Track Worlds were next in Poland. I was totally amped and ready to go for a jersey there. All my training had been great, and a medal at my first World Cup gave me tons of confidence. My Dad and Grandpa came over to watch me race. It was awesome to have my Dad around to chat and BS with, was like having a big chunk of home with me. My first race was the Scratch race, as every world level scratch race it was a roll of dice. The dice didn't include me this time around. Next up was the Madison, before the race even started we knew we capable of a medal. We did everything right and by we I mean mostly Colby (my partner). He was on fire all trip, had one of his best points races and had amazing legs in the Madison. Me on the other hand was not so hot, I tried as best I could to keep up but at the most crucial point of the race I came apart. I think we ended up around 8th all said and done. I learned a lot from this trip and plan to bring a jersey or two home sooner than later.

April... After worlds I took a few days off to refresh my head from everything that happened at worlds, and was back to training for my trip to Europe on the road.

MAY....The first part of my trip was with the USA National team, and then would meet up with FELT-Holowesko for the 2nd half. My first race went well, 6th in a 1.2 Hoboken and then a 1.12 in France I had solid legs on a course that didn't suit me. The next race was another 1.2 in Holland, the day started okay legs felt good was following moves and what not. Not doing anything crazy just moving around the field like normal another guy and I bumped he flipped shit and did a reverse uppercut and nailed me right in the jaw. Surprisingly I didn't crash, but my jaw hurt like hell. I had no idea what to do about the situation, I floated back a little bit to figure out how bad I was hurt. Nothing seemed to be too wrong so I kept riding with a mouth that hurt like heck. Some 50-60k's later I found myself on the ground after getting break checked over a speed bump. I hit pretty hard and called it a day. Next race was Tour Haut Anjou in France. I road a really solid TT there, and had a great ride to get 2nd on the last day.

Next up was Olympias Tour in Holland with FELT, it is there World Championships which makes for a crazy race. I didn't have to hot of a race and got sick on the 3rd stage.

JUNE... It left me pretty rough to recover for U23 Paris Roubaix. At Pairs Roubaix I bridged to the early move to take pressure off our team leaders for the first half of the race. Once we got caught I had nothing left to hang on and ended up finishing on my own. It was a long long day, and I had to talk myself the whole way in. I wasn't not going to finish Pairs Roubaix.

After Roubaix I flew home to my much wanted bed to relax and get some chill time before I had to fly back out in 5 days to race Philly; Americas premiere one day race. I had no idea what to expect from the race and my body. All stories I've heard about Philly have been war stories, so I tried to not let it sike me out. From the gun on race day I took off, half out of joke, half out to get my legs started. Im not sure why I wanted to get my legs going, I had 156 miles to get them going. Soon enough I found my gap growing and the pack or anyone else uninterested in chasing. 1 guy tried to bridge to me but never really made it, my director told me to wait for him to get within 10 sec but that never happened. Once the gap started to stabilize, all I could do was laugh about the situation and keep riding. It got hot pretty quick and my butt started to cramp on the 4th lap. After taking a portion of the lap pretty relaxed my gap to the other solo chaser dropped and he caught me going into the 5th lap. I was only able to stay off one more lap before the field caught me, I gave it everything I had to try and stay with the group. I had locked up the KOM prize if I could finish the race, but I had payed for my adventure and was unable to finish. That was an epic journey I will never forget.

After Philly it was time to work on the track form to get ready for the AVC and a 6-day in Italy. I got a sweet care package from Oakley with the new Jawbones all in RX which is amazing. I re did my bathroom with my aunt who came to visit and help Pops with the tile downstairs. My bathroom is now amazing. Thank you Aunt Hjordis!!! Sold my Rambler. The AVC went well, I won the scratch race and got 2nd in the Miss and Out, Points Race and Madison. Mis-Calculated both the Miss and Out and Madison and left it a little late in the Points race. But I did put on a good show, and that was important to me. Had 2 badass Kiwis stay at the house. Jason Allen ( Jas ) and Hayden Godfrey ( Hash ). Both awesome dudes with a crazy experience and personality. Got a new bed!!!! Its amazing, the dog loves it too.

July.... Fironzola 6-day was the next adventure. Was a really cool race and perfect for what I wanted to do with training, could ride in the mornings then do a solid work load on the track. The racing wasn't crazy hard but it did have its moments. I was able to take home a Miss and Out win one night. Back home it was back to road training to get ready for another Road trip to Europe. I raced San Rafael Twilight and had a really good race ended up 3rd. Before I left to Europe a good friend passed while riding his bike. Chris "HippStar" Hipp will never be forgotten. I will miss you my friend!!!!

My first race of the trip was Ronde Van Valaams Brabandt, a 5 day stage race with a short TT on day 3. 1st day I was on the move of the day, seeing plenty of races that virtually end in the 1st 5k of a race I wanted to be there if it stayed away until the end. When it came back I didn't have my head on and the race went away. The rest of the week was to chase stage wins. I had another solid TT but had to go in the worst conditions of that day, that is bike racing. I was able to get 2 field sprints with the help of the team, but small groups were off the front. Our next race was Tour of Namur. A hard 5 days in the south of Belgium. Lots of BIG rollers and short steep climbs, I think we did over 5k of climbing per day, some days less some days more. The first days I road conservative as we were told in was a really hard race. Some of the days weren't has hard as we were told and also the guide book was off like no other, climbs were 10k to soon or late. They didn't have nearly enough flagmen to stand in front of road furniture at all. That caused some really bad crashes, one of the worst I've seen. After 4 days of not knowing much at all and nothing to lose, I did everything I could to be in the days big break. Knowing a lot of the guys in field were super tired from the previous racing; the break might have a chance to stay away. The break was off and I was in it. 25 or so guys total. A few guys were only 50seconds off the GC so they were going real strong to try and make it stick. I sat on and enjoyed the ride. 50k's or so to go some guys decided to have a nap in the middle of the group. I was able to dodge the carnage. The front half of the group wasnt sure to keep the gas on or wait up, and the back half was left chasing. The peleton was close behind, I wasn't going to sit up and say "the field is gonna catch the 5 guys ahead" I wanted to be the last guy caught to make sure i was in it to win it. I kept following wheels as the smaller group started to attack itself and it got smaller and smaller. It was finally down to 3 guys from the original move and a new guy with fresh legs. Feeling stellar I kept my head in the game to make sure I didn't make any mistakes. The last big obstacle for me was the last climb with 15 or so K to go. It was a lot shorter than I thought but long enough to drop one guy. Once we were over the top we got news that 2 guys were bridging up to us. The last 10k was pretty much all down hill, and with less than a min gap it was going to be close to keep it to the finish. Noel told me to sit and do little to no work and let the fresh legs do the work. I did just that, I knew with 2k to go we were gonna keep it tell the end. After the long week of misplaced signs and what not I was totally unsure if the 1k sign was right. I kept an eye on the 2 guys I thought were going to try a trick on the end and the other sprinter for the finish. The other sprinter got the jump on me with 250ish to go but I was able to run him down and take it at the line with a bike throw. My first W in Europe, what an amazing feeling.

August... For the past week we have been maxin' and relaxin' recovering from Namur and making sure we are 110% for the next to races in Spain. Vuelta Zomora and Vuelta Pallencia. Wish me luck as there is a lot of climbing ahead of me.

I will do my best to keep ya in the loop. Also check out twitter.com/The_Hollywood and Robo.to/DHOLLA for quick updates and silly short videos. Hopefully I will have a Flip soon and can do a couple videos for yal.

2009-03-11T17:58:00.000-07:00

In no particular order

The view from our hotel after day 2.

A super zoomed in shot of the active volcano we were riding around for 3 days.

The same mountains when we arrived that night. Isn't the brown sky awesome.

A sweet view from the apartment I stayed at in Girona. It was so much better in person, sorry for the crap photo.

A cool little town I ran in to while riding in Girona.

A solid race on sunday to get some confidence back under the belt.

Austin stoked about the police escort after day 3. We would have never made it to the hotel if it wasn't for the escort.

A nice waterfall in front of the hotel of day 4.

Some mansions on the hill.

2009-02-19T09:14:00.000-08:00

Hey-O

So I am back from my latest adventure over the water. The trip started off rough with destroyed luggage, arriving the afternoon of race day for the Six Day.

Things turned around in Spain, I got some good training in a totally relaxing place. The World Cup went good, I got 3rd in the Scratch Race and Colby and I got 5th in the Madison. With my 3rd place in the scratch I qualified for Worlds, so I am gearing up for that. I am doing a stage race in Mexico March 1-9 and then 80-20 Speed work/Endurance up until worlds. I hope to get over being sick soon and stay healthy threw out worlds and the rest of the year. I feel good things for this year.

Podium Pic

My new Hot Fire from the Specialized guys!

Some random shots from the Six.

2009-02-07T10:59:00.000-08:00

A view from the penthouse.

Having a nice little break on the last day.

My set up for the 6's. Thanks DZs Nuts for protecting my junk. Oakley for keeping me looking fresh. NormanTech for saving the legs, and Specialized for keeping the feet looking dope.

Surprise!

How my bag showed up to Copenhagen. WTF!

I miss her a lot!!!!!!!

2009-01-29T13:13:00.000-08:00

Hey all. I been doing some Twittering lately. check it out.

twitter.com/dholla

2009-01-28T08:56:00.000-08:00

I have been pretty busy since the last update.

I got some adjustments to my position from Curtis at Revolutions in Fitness

Training has been going well. I have been in Silver City, New Mexico for the past 10 days or so at team camp. Everything went well here, except some knee problems that I have been working threw.

I am off to Copenhagen, Denmark today for my final Six Day of the year, and a World Cup. I excited to go back to the Six Day, I have really fallen in love with the environment there. Also it is my first world cup so I am a little nervous for that.

After I get back from that trip I have 2 weeks at home before I leave for Vuelta Mexico. Should be a tough race, it is at altitude and has pretty long hard days in there. But if all goes well, there is a couple flatter days where I may do well.

2008-12-15T06:31:00.000-08:00

Howdy!

What an adventure this whole trip has been. Starting with spending 30+ min to find Colby when I first got to Amsterdam, to a 6 day in a small town, to another train ride with 2 minutes to run 500+ meters with luggage to the next train.

Staying in Mettmann Germany for 10 days was fun except the weather. Being at an actual apartment instead of a hotel was really nice, it gave Colby and I a chance to have some time to ourselves which everyone needs on such a long trip. ( Thanks Ina Tutenberg for the pad) With such crappy weather Colby and I only got out on 3 good rides outside, 2 of those were pretty cold. We got to do a local track race in Buttgen (pronounced boot-gen) which was nice to open up the system before we headed to Zurich. We rented a car for a few days to have some mobility and take the time to check out Dusseldorf a bit. With no euro card for the Garmin, we had to go back a few years and use maps to get around; that was a blast.

We drove down to Zurich with Andy Beikirch who is a veteran on the circuit. He has been super nice to Colby and I, helping us learn the circuit and the ins and outs of the secret circus. Once out of the ruckus of the citys Andy wanted to rest so I took over the driving. Autobahn here I come!! Unfortunately there was some light rain, bad drivers, and the van has winter tires on it so I wasn't able to take it over 200 kph. Cruising at 180 got us there in good time anyways. Gotta love the open road!

It was awesome for me to see all the snow covered trees and buildings, it was like some of the pictures. Coming from Cali I don't get to see such beautiful views. Arriving on the first night of racing, it was important to stretch the legs, get a massage and get some solid food in me before the racing began. The first few laps of the night were rough, but the legs came around and I felt pretty good considering all. The night went smooth, just relaxed, kept my head up and learned the jerseys and who is with who. Every six day has different sponsors and different jerseys, so it's a bit tricky the first night. But there is a bunch of the same riders from the first 2 sixes, so I have picked up some of the guys riding styles, bikes, hair styles and what not to help distinguish teams while Im cross eyed.

We (as in Colby and I, and most of the other teams) don't have control of what sponsor we ride for. It's all picked out before we get there. In our case this wee, we got "special" stars and bars jersey's to rock, and the Italians got the red white and green for them.

So far after four nights I have won 2 races, the Team Derny (which was a whole different story in itself) and the Ballastrad sprint. I have also been designated the new ballastrad leader. ( the guy who pumps the crowd up with different gestures and starting the wave) a big honor considering the last guy who did it had the job for 10 years. The guy who was doing it here had to leave because his wife went in to labour. It seems that people are okay with a few americans on the circuit so far, so I'll do my best not to screw it up.

Here are a few pics of racing and what not.

2008-12-01T12:05:00.000-08:00

So the Zuidlaren 6 is over and I am in Germany now between the races. On the 9th we are headed down to Zurich Switzerland. I'm pretty excited to see if Switzerland is how it is in the pictures.

So this 6 went pretty well. Colby and I have totally cleaned up our exchange and have become pretty efficient. I crashed myself pretty hard on the last day putting on a good show with Robert Slippens in the team Miss and Out final. At least I have some time to rest up and get my knee and my shoulder back to 100% or close to that, they say Zurich is pretty hard.

Here is a few pics of the week.

Taking a nap on night 6

Colby and I.

Andy Beikirch taking a snooze on day 3

Our bad ass staff. Gary and Joerg

Colby....well being Colby.

Derny drivers keeping busy

Overview of the track from the bridge.

2008-11-25T09:02:00.000-08:00

Hey hey.

I am in Zuidlaren, Holland ( Colby and I just call it Zoolander because it seems we can't pronounce it right) right now for another SIX. This one is way different than Dortmund, the track venue is a lot smaller and the budget is much smaller. The racing isn't quite as hard, a lot of the guys are really tired from racing super hard in Munich and Gent. Last night was our first night of racing, we did well coming top 5 in all our individual events and finished where we needed to be in the final madison.

I will look for more opportunitys to win a few more individual events this go around. I will get some pictures up soon.

2008-11-10T19:28:00.000-08:00

Hey Hey.

The winter has started off in a different fashion for me this year. Instead of sitting around eating donuts and ice cream, I am racing a few Six Days in Europe and eating pastries and ice cream. The first trip over was a load of fun and a great learning experience. Colby and I raced Dortmund for our first of 3 Sixes and we could possibly have 3 more which we would be cool. The special reason Dortmund was really cool, was it was one of Eric Zabel's last races.

The atmosphere at a Six is totally crazy, imagine a disco in and around a velodrome with 8 thousand people screaming and that is what you get. Something totally new for me was riding at the rail at almost full gas with nothing but a spot light on you. It was either almost dark or crazy color strobe lights going off. Another odd race was the "Ballastrad sprint" or rail sprint, for 20+ plus laps your at the rail in one big single line at medium pace while trying to get the crowd to do the Wave. All the riders would follow the leader who clapped and played to crowd and would start the wave and all the riders would follow his lead. A total bizzare race but the crowd loves that race.

It didn't take Colby and I long to get used to the racing and the way everything works from getting your chamois cream applied, to your equipment taken care of. (shoes, helmets, gloves, glasses all laid out ready for you to put on) You don't have to lift a single finger until you throw a leg over your bike. After every long race you have your jersey and undershirt shirt changed by a sougnier for a dry one, it is a bit chilly in the arena and you don't want to sit around in a wet jersey; that would be amateur.

So other mentionables are the sweet Lazer show, The Great Jean Peirre Goy ( he is a crazy motor bike stunt guy) He would ride wheelies the whole way around the track and other crazy stuff. The Robbie Williams tribute band, it was amazing how much these people loved this guy, and the Super Stayer racing. That isn't the real name of it, but it is derny racing behind pretty big motor bikes where the driver stand ups for a better draft. It used to be really popular but has died of, but the Germans just love it.

Now I am home for about 2 weeks before I head back over for 2 more Sixes. I might try and squeeze in the Revolution in Manchester between the two but I am not sure yet.

2008-10-08T19:16:00.000-07:00

HELLO HELLO!!

First off I wanna give a super THANK YOU!! to my parents. They made life so easy down there for me to do my thing. I wanna say Thank You and I love you to my Girl for keeping my relaxed and positive when I was feeling tired. I monster THANKS!!! to Dave K at FELT for hooking me up with the best frickin' bike I've ever put a leg over, makes riding hard that much easier. And Thank You for everyone who said good luck and good job, rooting for me and being a fan. If your not a fan, I still feed off your hate. :-)

So track nationals went super well. Garmin took all the Endurance events and the KILO. I personally had a wonderful week. I came home with 5 medals, 4 gold 1 bronze. I think that is more than anyone else at nationals.

The Team Pursuit went awesome considering all the little details that were left out. About 2 hours total of team practice, about 2 hours on a brand new bike and position for myself. Our 4th guy is no expert but stepped up HUGE!! Plus having a sponsor on the team made us all step up a touch. Plus we were only a second slower than lasts year winning time and they overall had a stronger motor and a lot more time invested.

The Kilo Mini Phinney Slaughtered everyone, there is to everyone who said he could only go 1:06.

The pursuit Phinney again did what he know how to do and easily set the track record and took home the gold.

The scratch race went beyond what I had hoped for and planned for. Colby and I had talked about how we were going to approach the final sprint and let me do my thing; but that never happened. I ended up taking 2 laps on the field, only one rider was able to gain a lap. Colby did an amazing job keeping everything under control while I was off the front. I personally couldn't believe how it all played out and how great I felt.

The points race was my turn to slay for Colby while he worked over the field to take a dominating win. Colby ended up taking two laps on the field with one other rider and I got 1 lap. In the end of it all I ended up 3rd and the 1st U23 rider.

The madison was yet again another fantastic race. I have not felt that good on a bike, let alone a brand new track bike in quite some time. I was a bit nervous going into the race with how long it was and it was the 4th hard day of racing. But right from the gun Colby and I put pressure on everyone and showed we were there to win. The most impressive ride was the 3rd place team both guys are under 18. They really shocked me.

Now it is time to relax for a couple weeks before I start to ramp up the miles and speed work before the 6days.

And for the most exciting news is Rose and I adopted a Doggie. She is a Beautiful miniature Bulldog, she has a perfect brindle coat and a sweetheart personality. I can't wait to spend the next couple of weeks with her and spoil her rotten with love.

2008-10-01T20:31:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

So I am in LA right now getting ready for track nats this week. It all starts tomorrow with the team pursuit and scratch heats. I am feeling good and ready to go. The pursuit should be a blast, gonna be pretty tough but should be good.

I got a new bad ass Felt. Holy crap this thing is crazy stable and stiff, ready to be road like a bat out of hell.

Found out I'm not doing Chihuahua due to travel times. I'm bummed but not devastated. I'm right on the edge of good and bad, so I don't want to push it before the sixes.

I will try and update as much as possible.

2008-09-18T15:23:00.000-07:00

I am back from Missouri now.

That was such a great experience for the future. I learned a lot and had tons of fun.

I am trying to recover from a upper chest infection. I may have been racing with it, but it is hard to say. I leave Sat for a race in D.C. which should be a blast. After that I get a week to get ready for track nats, and the Vuelta Chihuahua which goes from oct 6-12 in the middle of Mexico.

Right now its all about spending time with the lady and enjoying a moment of relaxing.

2008-09-10T20:29:00.000-07:00

Day 2 and 3

Day 2 was the longest the stage of the tour and I could for sure feel it. Even though there is no substantial climbing here, we did over 4000 feet of climbing. The circuit was really hard due to how sketchy and long the stage was. I tried to help Tyler as much as I could but missed out a bit in the final lap. I'd like to think I helped VDV out a bit by giving him a nice shove as he was coming back after leading it out from 1k to go, but I'm sure it didn't make much of a difference.

Day 3

OUCH!!! That hurt!

After getting time cut last year, I put down a fast half of the race and kept a hard tempo the second half to make for sure it did not happen again.

VDV absolutely killed it today and took the jersey. The rest of the is gonna be tough, but I'm ready to do work.

On the flip side. My roommate Blake crashed really really hard today around the fastest corner on the course. His tire blew out and he went off a steep embankment. All the details of how it all happened are still unknown, but I'm relieved to say he is awake and responding normal.He ended up with a concussion, a broken clavicle, cracked sternum, cracked iliac and lung contusions. Blake has been my roommate for the 2 races I have done with Garmin, for the rest of the week I'm going to be thinking of him and try to do some more work for him. Wish him a speedy recovery please.

Who knows if I will have enough energy the rest of the week after riding the front.

2008-09-08T20:08:00.000-07:00

MIssouri Day 1

Everything went better than I had hoped. I had the legs to help Tyler stay safe and as fresh as possible. He ended up 2nd which is awesome, but we know we can get that first spot. We are all super motivated, and ready to do all the work needed to succeed.

Tomorrow is the longest day of the tour and the weather is supposed to be good, so that makes everything a little bit better. The legs feel better than they did before so that gives me an easy mind to sleep with.

Time for bed.

2008-09-05T19:04:00.001-07:00

Tour of MIssouri

Holy CRAP!!! What an adventure! Last time I was here, it was a totally different. A different team, different teammates, different thought process, everything is nuts. Sometimes I catch myself a bit star struck from guys like Dave Z, The Pate, VDV. But they are just normal guys. Last year the team van smelt bad, and had trash all over it, but now I get to ride to the races in a tour bus the Stones would roll on. (okay maybe not that lavish but its still a huge tour bus) Something I am not all used too.

We did this awesome meet and greet at the Garmin headquarters today which was rad. That whole team of people is amazing and awesome to have behind us. The Q&A was awesome, bunch of laughs and great questions. Tomorrow we do a big group ride with 150+ employees, that should be a blast.

Two more days tell the action starts, I'm excited for it to all start.

Time for Space Legs!

2008-08-23T00:41:00.000-07:00

I found some time at 330 a.m. in PA to sneak in a short blog about what's going on with me.

In 20 min I hop in a shuttle to get to the airport to fly back home from another couple days away.

Downers went pretty well for me all things considered. First Downers pro crit, a little sickness, and missing a little fitness. It was great that VDV showed up to give the home town crowd something to cheer for. I was a bit surprised to see him after everything he's done this season, to put himself in a spot where crap could happen. He made the home crowd happy, and was able to walk away with his life. LOL. I ended up 11th which isn't anything to be upset with and gives me plenty of room to grow.

I was at home for 2 days before I had to head back out to the east coast for Madison Cup. Colby called me up and asked if I wanted to go it with him, how could I say no? The racing went really well, we got a lap early in the night and held on to it. I was really happy with legs since they havn't been on a track bike in a while.

Well time to get my things together to get to that shuttle.

HOME SWEET HOME!!!

2008-08-14T21:04:00.000-07:00

Hey all I'm back in Chi town for pro crit. U23 nationals went really well for our team. 2 stars and bars and a bronze from me. I fell short =( The team road a killer road race to destroy the field and sweep the top 3 spots. My race was lack luster as I missed the split that stayed away and my group got pulled for falling more than 3min behind.

Here at Downers I'm feeling pretty good, if anything I'm nervous. This is for sure a totally different race than the elite race. The field is going to be pretty deep with speedsters. Hopefully a little luck floats my way and I can crack a respectable result.

After this I head out to PA late next week for Madison Cup. I'm excited to finally get to race with Colby, and after that I either do Tour of MIssouri or head to Europe. As this season is amazingly almost over, I'm even more excited for next year as the I will be racing a whole lot more both here and in Europe. I'm also looking forward to how my body is going to change over the winter.

Time for sleep!

2008-08-06T21:49:00.000-07:00

Howdy!

So I am back from Chi town and in LA for U23 nats.

Elk Grove went pretty well, a great tune up for this week. Same heat same distance more motivation, should be AWESOME!

The TT at Elk Grove was not so hot, bad warm up means bad TT. The road race went much better, a totally odd race for that level. Chaos was name of the game, a fast technical circuit on neighborhood streets. Before I knew it the race was half over and the race was split on half, I was in the back with Horner and Zirbel. Starting to feel the lack of food and heat Horner cracks the whip and gets a spilt with a few guys. I knew that was my ticket it to the front group so I had to make it. After sitting on for a bit I decided to help with the chase. Not feeling great I still ticked on taking pull for pull with these two super strong guys. After it was all said and done we closed the 2min gap. Once we hit the circuit I was pretty cooked, I just hoped for the best. At the finish I ended up 7th after most of the top guys crashed out in the final corner. I barely made it home after the race. The crit was not super exciting, the course was an L shape and more neighborhood streets. An early break went early and took all the money and time bonus seconds. Wish I could have made it. The chase started early to keep the break in check so it didn't make it to teh finish. At first I was following wheels but there was so much jumping that it was getting annoying, so I decided to help with the chase a bit so I could go threw all the corners nice and smooth and then sit top 8 for a while. The plan worked and I got a nice ride tell 10 or so to go before the other teams started to fight to keep there train second in line. I went back and forth trying to fight and slot in where I fit in. The race kept getting more and more hectic so I stayed as safe as possible and still trying to give myself a good shot and getting some good money. I ended up 20th on the day and 15th overall which payed pretty well for the weekend.

Back here in Cali, the TT was today. Stetna toally killed it today to take home Stars and Bars. Calebke put in a steller for a small climber. He is my roommate for week so I totally ready for him to kill it after talking with him. My TT went okay considering a few factors, I ended up 22nd on a pretty TT/Climber specific course so I'm satisfied. The crit goes off tomorrow night and I havn't seen a team more excited and ready to roll. The course isn't the best one out there but it should do.

What's cool about being down in LA for nats is that Oakley is pretty close, so a few of us went over to get a tour by the ring leader. That place is so rad, I could spend all day there looking at everything they have there. They have glasses upon glasses in colors upon colors. Just all sorts of great stuff and super cool people, I would love to pick so many brains there about how these amazing pieces of eyewear come about. I got some pretty sick stuff too, pics tomorrow.

2008-08-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

Hello all.

The past two week have been pretty good to me. I have been able to get some good rest in, quality time with my lovely lady and family.

Last weekend I got my head kicked in pretty good at the Watsonville crit after not riding all week, but I got some redemption on sunday winning the SLO crit. My last race as an amateur and in the stars and stripes. I'm now a Stagaire on Garmin-Chipotle. I was so stoaked to receive the opportunity this year, I really thought that if it was going to happen it would be for next year. I'm just happy with myself for putting in the hard work to get this far and I am more motivated than ever to ride hard.

I just want to give a big thank you for everyone who has helped me get this far, and all the support.

Right now I'm hanging out in Elk Grove for a big money weekend, and to tune up a little bit for U23 nats in LA next week. As far as my schedule goes I'm not quite sure whats going on after that, possibly Tour of Britain or Tour of Missouri and after that who knows.

2008-07-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

I am back from the cascade classic now. I was having a pretty good week until saturday when I had a asthma attack on the first climb 15k or so in to the race. I havn't had an asthma attack in a while so it was scary moment. As I was getting passes by the caravan cars I told Chann what was going on and he just relax and keep going. Relax is what I did, I was able to recover enough to ride back to the caravan and hand sling my way back to a group that made it back to the peleton after a long decent. After riding in the group for a bit my body just turned off. I dug a big hole while I couldn't breath and my body was pissed. I did everything I could to make it to the feed zone so I could make it home.

Bend is a really beautiful place and it was awesome place to be for a bike race. I wasn't mad after so much traveling to be in a place like that, plus my girlfriend showed up for a few days which was rad. Now I am back home taking a few days off the bike to let my body recover. I have about 3 weeks tell I start rolling again and start the traveling. First is Elk Grove in Illinois then back to Cali for U23 nats, and back out to Downers Grove for Elite crit nats.

If anything interesting or crazy happens I will let you know.

2008-07-10T15:27:00.000-07:00

An update while I have a few min.

After Tour of PA I flew straight to Michigan for the UIV 3-Day. Being that MIchigan is not a very friendly bike community and the roads are not really conducive to ride on. I only road a few times that week and it was for a short time on the track. On friday my legs wern't so hot and the goal was to make the top 10 teams which was pretty easy to do. My legs felt better each day but my teammate had some bad luck and crashed twice and was not allowed to continue racing. I left Michigan feeling pretty good with my legs after a hard week before.

RIght now I'm in Oregon at the Cascade Classic getting it put to me in the Hills. So far the first two stages have gone by and Im still kicking enough to ride. Tomorrow is the TT and a Crit. The TT starts out with a up hill and then down hill to the finish, Im only nervous because Botero and Levi are flying and I hope the 25% time cut is enough.

Time for more R&R!

2008-06-30T05:59:00.000-07:00

A beautiful end to a hard race.

The team road so hard for me today in the rain. The whole race they were at the front pushing the pace and keeping me safe. A BIG Thank you to the team.

Now I am off to Michigan for a 3day track race next weekend, and then to Cascade to roll with the big boys. Lets see how my climbing really is.

2008-06-26T19:34:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

So I think some may know, but here at Tour of PA I took out the first crit, The biggest win to date which is rad. The team killed it for me and set me up perfect. It is awesome to have teammates that believe in you and trust you. With winning the crit I got to wear the sprinters jersey for a day.

The past two road stages have been fun, long but fun. The team has been riding amazing and having fun doing it. I love this atmosphere of work hard and have fun and everything will fall in to place.

The next 2 days are gonna be rough but are totally doable and should set up the team for success.

2008-06-24T08:57:00.000-07:00

Tour of PA and AVC

So I will start out with last weekend and the AVC. It was a good weekend, I walked away with my skin and some money. The racing was pretty solid and a lot of fun. Big shout out to Robin for putting together a killer race and getting an awesome crowd out to watch.

Tour of PA is off to a start, I heard that I cracked the top 10 in the TT but its not for sure. The course was a good one, real fast start in to a small hill and then in to the finish. The crit tonight is in the same area, its not really a cool crit, wide open road in a park. That means no spectators and sketchy riding. The team is real motivated to kill it for who ever is feeling good.

The staff here is doing a killer job, Keith Williams has stepped in as a everything man, as well as Zack who worked with us last year. DameO makes a bike feel like butter, so so smooth.

Time for Chipotle to fill the tank and some legs up.

2008-06-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

hey all.

The last 2 days from Tulsa were less eventful than the first one. Breaks went, I missed out tried to giv'er but no luck. There was a wicked storm than came threw the last day that cancelled most of the days racing, it flooded our host house's front yard and ripped trees out of the ground around the neighborhood.

The River going into the neighbors yard.

The next week I flew out to Omaha to meet and my buddy Alex and drive to St. Louis for the Tour of Winghaven. The two days I show up to ride my bike in Omaha the winds were howling. A 3 and half hour ride felt like 6 to legs, and I did the longest hour and half of my life. The wind had to be consistently blowing at 30 and then put some gusts on top of that. It ended up being the perfect training for Winghaven. The race went around a 3 mile circuit of a development for 25 lap, about 3000+ feet of climbing done. It was 95 degrees out, 70% humidity and WINDY! I planned on sitting in all race, but ended up creating the break that stayed away. 1 became 2, 2 became 4, 4 became 6; and that was all she wrote. A long day off the front, but it payed off by staying hydrated and conserving energy. John from our host house came out with two of his boys to feed Alex and I, that saved us. In the end one guy crashed himself into another guy breaking his wheel, and my buddy Alex and another guy didn't have quite enough on the last lap. It was me against one other and I had enough to come around. For me the normal Chipotle lunch worked, but not so hot for Alex.

A storm that came threw Omaha the night before I left.

A good gallery of the race
http://barrshots.smugmug.com/gallery/5130461_wbZnc#310199437_V9APK

Now I have been home doing my best to get ready for Tour of PA. There are some hard stages to be had, but hopefully all the right work has been done.

2008-05-31T13:14:00.000-07:00

Tulsa Tough day 1

So Alex and I headed out for a nice easy stroll along the nice Tulsa roads, we encountered one jack ass who decided to buzz us. The guy was in such a hurry to get to a red light, I made sure he had an ear full tell the light turned green. Sometimes some people just don't get that we too are humans, and that we have families just like them. Once at home we had a nice adventure finding the local Chipotle, and then plenty of time at home to relax. These late late start races are rough mentally, cause you sit around all day for a race doing nothing.

Come race time the legs were feeling okay, and I was starting to get amped listening to Dave Towle announce the other races. I got a nice front row start with settled some nerves, and bang we were off to the races. I led the whole first lap to stay out of the first lap jitters, sure enough there was a crash. I started to slowly float back to begin my wheel sucking, and wait for the finish. Ten or slow laps a nice break formed with the right numbers. I started to move back up to the front to jump across, but once I got there the break had been absorbed and it was the perfect place and time to launch the counter. Devon from strawberry went with me followed by two Toyota boys. A lap or so later it was just me and the two Toyota guys for a couple laps, the Jeff Hopkins bridged up with you guessed it, another Toyota rider. That makes the break three Toyotas, Me, and Jeff Hopkins. After another couple of laps Jeff started to sit on, so now I have to take pull for pull with 3 Toyota guys. NO FUN! After working nicely we lapped the field, I was screwed either way I tried to race. Do no work to lap and get attacked, or lap and have it eight on one.

Once we lapped we got to the front to stay safe, well that kind of worked. Some guys just have no respect, the Toyota guys set up the train and Jeff and I got on the back. Guys kept trying to bump us off the wheels and get in the way. A couple of time it got sketch but in the end all the players kept there skin. I ended up fourth in the race, the Toyota guys crushed the lead out and went 1-6 across the line. Talk about taking candy from a baby, these guys need to pick on someone there own speed.

Now for more recovery time and relaxing before todays race. A longer hill and faster finish today.

2008-05-29T07:55:00.000-07:00

Its been another long while, I'm still alive in one way or another.

I'm sitting in the airport yet again, it seems like yesterday I was here to get on another plane to another race somewhere. This time I am off to Tulsa, Ok for some big money crits that I have attended the past 2 years. The courses are great, the promotion is top notch and the racing gets better every year. It's all part of my prep for Tour of PA, hard fast speed work.

So to recap the past month of action. Last you read I was in Uruguay at the Pan American championships. I ended up with a silver medal in the points race, and then getting food poisoning and not doing much after that. Once I got home I took an easy week and rolled back in to the training and local scene. Last week was the big 21 for me. My girlfriend threw an awesome b-day bash on monday for me. It was great, a lot of good friends came over and we had an awesome time. What made it that much better is I was able to pull the W out at the local crit right down the street from my house.

I should have some time to update about how the racing is going in Tulsa, and maybe some other random hooplah.

2008-05-08T13:44:00.000-07:00

No Omnium for me today. I got a funky food poisoning last night from something. I had a wicked head ache, I keep going from freezing to burning up, and made multiple trips to the can. I hoping that this all goes by quickly and I can get my hydration and energy back for the road race come sunday.

Thanks for all support for my medal in the points race.

2008-05-07T17:38:00.000-07:00

The madison didn't go to well. Cody got crashed 35 laps in to it and hit his head pretty good. He's doing alright now, just really banged up. With his crash I now do the omnium, 5 races is a short period. 200m, 5k scratch, 3k pursuit, ?k points races, and end with a beautiful KILO! My legs are pretty tired due to the fact I haven't hit the track hard this year, just out there to mix it up. I am going to take it one event at a time and see how it goes. Hopefully I have a decent 3k, the track here is really bumpy and windy. The wind is always changing and at different strengths.

Time to head to bed.

2008-05-05T19:47:00.000-07:00

Ya post number 100!

So I ended up racing the scratch race last night. They let 2 per country race, but I was not ready. Not thinking I was racing meant I didn't do the proper day before prep in my training. But no big deal, just do everything I can for my teammate. My warm up went well, the legs started to come around.

With normal South American scheduling our race was started earlier than we thought. I had been sitting around doing some stretching before getting on the rollers for the last time. I was caught dead cold for the start, on the line I was shaking pretty good. The legs turned around pretty quick, and next thing I knew I was off the front with a real good gap. It was too early and I was sucked back in. All race I was attacking and trying to keep the YO-YO effect down for my teammate who rides a bigger gear. In the end we both lapped the field with 7 others. I led it out with about 500m to go and Cody ended up third after keeping it upright getting knocked from both sides.

The points race was today, and it went pretty well. I ended up 2nd after some heavy heavy racing. The first part of the race was a tough rolling a smaller gear than everyone else, but in the end it paid off having a little bit fresher legs than everyone else to take the final sprint and move into 2nd. From the gun I was off the front trying to find the right mix to get the lap. It happened pretty quick, and I started looking for the sprint point to move up. Soon enough I found myself in another break that lapped the field, only 3 of us 2 laps up (big points). After reevaluating my situation I changed up my tactics of following to attacking to see if I could make a 3rd lap. Got 2/3 of the way around but my break mates did have the juice to make it all the way around with the chase. With 20 or so to go I was getting word that I was 3 points behind 2nd place, time to get my gitty up on. No avail until the final sprint where I got a killer lead out from Cody who dropped me off perfect to claw my way to the sprint win and 2nd overall.

Tonight was really good for my own morale and the future. Im just happy that my injury is for the most part gone. I still have to tend to it to make sure it doesn't come back. But another one may have come up, but not for sure we shall see in a few days. Vigo is an amazing masseur and has helped tremendously with everything that has come up.

Time for some sleep to get as much rest for tomorrow's big day. The madison is going to be really hard, Zach Bell and Sven Tuft are just going right now. Plus there are some guys down here that are flying as well, and they don't give up.

2008-05-04T06:36:00.000-07:00

YO!

As you should know, I am in Uruguay right now. It took to hops and a skip to get here, 30 something hours later. We almost didn't make the flight to Montevideo, and that is a once a week flight or something. On my flight from DC to Buenos Aires I had the worst stomach cramps ever. For 3 hours I was keeled over pressing in my gut like a mad man. After my 5th or 6th trip to the bathroom and still nothing, a flight attendant saw my troubles and helped me out. At first I was sitting on floor drinking soda water, then the guy called the cockpit after he asked for a doctor on the plane to let them know everything was okay. Then a more experienced flight attendant of 33 years put me on oxygen and moved me to an empty row to relax. From what he said I was pretty pale before and with the oxygen I got a lot more color in me. After 15 min in my empty row I was able to fall asleep cramp free and sleep tell we hit the ground. Which was the only 4 hours of sleep I got the whole trip down.

Once we finally got out of the airport picking up all our luggage and going threw this checkpoint and that checkpoint some one was there to load our bike and bags into a truck and have us wait for a bus. 30 minutes later our bus showed up to take us to lunch. After talking with a South American veteran traveler Sven Tuft, he said that Uruguay was pretty safe and one of the better South American country's. Sure enough our drive to lunch a nice one, right along the river front and some nicer houses.

We are staying in downtown Montevideo, it is just like any other big city. Lots of people, lots of bums, lots of street venders, lots of smog. On our short drive threw the city dropping different teams off at different hotels we saw some really cool statues. I got some pics but I did forget my download cable.

Yesterday we had one heck of a day. The morning was normal like every other morning, but come lunch time everything went crazy. Our lunch bus never showed, but we had a rental car so I took Cody and the boys from the Barbados. We got to the car and it didn't start. A push start got everything rolling, our adventure began to find the big road along the coast. A few blocks away from the big road I stalled the car and the boys had to a quick push start again. We made it lunch okay, on the way back at a stop light a bum handed me a paper with the alphabet in sign language to me and went down the line of cars. I had no idea what to do with the paper, by the time the guy came back I handed him the paper and the light turned green. When I looked in the mirror the guy looked pretty mad. I didn't know the etiquette of what to do, so I hope karma doesn't get me to hard.

When we got back we told Vigo the problem and hoped that was the last of it. The car started just fine when we had to go to the track. But after we loaded it up in front of the hotel it didn't want to start, so Cody and I had to get it going in our cleats. On the way to track the died 2 more times and got started but the 3rd time was a charm, it gave up the ghost. Cody and I had to do another 50 meter push to an open parking spot to park the car. The staff had to catch a cab and load it up with all our stuff. Everything made it to the track finally and we got to rolling, on the bumpiest track ever. Its worse than San Diego, its the worse track a lot of us have been on.

I don't race tell Tuesday, I got selected to the Points and Madison RR and TT. I'm most excited for the RR, but it is a hot dog course up and down the coast. The roads are big and there is a wicked cross wind, that makes for a long long day. The points and madison should be fun, hopefully my legs will be ready to roar by then. It seems that my legs take a long time to get rolling again after long long travel. The TT should be interesting, I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with no TT bike or Aero bars. Hopefully I can talk my way out of it. :-D

As I finish this long post our car is back to life, hopefully it goes strong for the rest of the trip.

So far the food is decent that they are providing. A pasta dish, then mashed potato's and chicken and a fruit dessert. Last night we had a nice dinner a few blocks away.

2008-05-01T18:06:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

So everything is getting better on the home front. My hips are feeling better. (I crashed on my right one last weekend) With fantastic help from Dr. Block, I'm almost a hundred percent.

I am about to board a plan to south america to race the Continental Pan American games. The first of the racing is track, I'm nervous of how my legs will go, but I'm excited for the road race. I just hope I don't get some sort of stomach bug, but on the flip side I would loose a bunch of weight.

So time for a nice 10 or 12 hour flight or however long this thing is. I hope I don't get stuck next to someone who can't get settled or behind someone who loves to slam the seat back every ten minutes. Man traveling can suck. Can someone invent the time machine, or can I fall on my head and become a Jumper or something.

Wish me some good luck, I havn't had much lately.

2008-04-18T21:10:00.000-07:00

Hello people in cyber land.

So I am back home in sunny California after a rough trip in Europe. I found out my hip was out of place after my crash, causing more pain with every pedal stroke. After my trip to spain for a short stage race I made the decision to come home. While waiting for monday to come home I got an offer to race in Uruguay at the Continental Championships in May. That should be a great experience, some sketchy track racing even faster sketchy road racing.

Right now it feels good to be home with no real pressure and great weather to heal up and get ready for May. After I get back from Uruguay It's all focus on Tour of PA, and then Downers Grove. There will be a few races here and there in between but those are the goals.

I raced the Sea Otter RR today, everything about that race is awful expect the biking part. The venue is a big pain in the ass, the staff was real rude, they made something so simple in to something real complicated. Go here fill out this paper, jump on one leg, give us a ridiculous amount of money, walk over there to get treated like crap, fill out this paper, stand over in that line for something that should come with your race number. I don't know what I was thinking going down there for that race. I'm just glad my lady had a great time roaming around the venue while I was out racing, and that I felt pretty good on the bike considering everything. I'm just excited for when I get back to 100%. I'm going to have some fun fun time on the bike.

Big shout out to the Velo Promo races. They got there shit together. Makes bike racing that much more fun!!!!

2008-04-02T04:16:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

Sorry for the lack of updates. Since my crash my head and body has been in different place I'm not used to. Everything is going real slow, it seems my body what start up again and that has been really frustrating. The training is slowly getting better and I'm starting to feel okay on the bike again. It's not like it is one big problem, just a whole bunch of little ones in different places on my body. One foot in front of the other as I walk down the path of recovery.

I leave for Spain today for a 3 day stage race. The terrain is supposed to be up and down and windy. I hope my climbing legs havn't left me to much, cause it would be really nice to have a good ride. The weather is supposed to be a lot better there too so that should help thing too.

I'll take some pics and post them up when I remember.

2008-03-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

A short race report and Update.

Sunday was my first race in Belgium. What a race, at the start you couldn't if it was going to rain for sure or not. I went back and forth back and forth with what I wanted to start with and carry. Should have picked the warmer gloves. (don't go by what the locals are doing) The race starts off like a mad dash, everyone wanting the bumper of the neutral car. It was crazy to say the least. The legs felt really heavy from the travel still and I was a little nervous, so that didn't help. I made a total idiot move and it cost me even trying to finish the race, so my day was short.

Monday was a nice day almost 2 hours of alone time on the bike to think and observe the land. Tuesday we did Tour of Flanders training. It is pretty weird to be doing all the climbs you see in pics from cycling news or see from videos. I had a blast, and my legs finally were felling good. I had some tightness here and there but what are you going to do. My day was going great and I was having a blast on my bike until I got side swiped by a big truck and pulled to the ground. Easily the scariest time of my life. I was riding behind Guy (a teammate) as we were passing a parked car and a the truck was passing us. The front of the truck went by with no big problem, and all of a sudden I feel the bed brush my shoulder, again and again. I thought I was going to be able to ride away from it at first but then all I could think about was getting sucked up under the wheels. Before I knew it my jersey got caught on tie down hook I was bouncing off the ground hoping that I wasn't going to get run over by the following car. I grabbed my bike and pulled it to the side walk to have a seat. At first I thought possible broken hip, I was on and off thinking that once I got back on my bike and every down stroke hurt worse and worse.

Cutting out other small details I got to the hospital okay and ex-rays showed no chipped bones or anything, I just smacked my hip really really hard, It is real swollen right now and my whole left side is super tight.

I was able to ride the rollers for about 2 hours today on the track bike with out to much of a problem. It just sucks that right when I was feeling good it turned for the worst. But it could be a whole lot worse, I could have been sucked under and ran over. I had a great chat with my dad earlier this week about staying positive and things will turn around. So right now I'm trying to smile and laugh as much as I can.

The weather is supposed to be turning for the worse the next few days. Snow is in the forecast, but i've been trying to set up going to the track to train on friday so hopefully that will come through. If not it looks like I'm going to be getting really familiar with the rollers.

2008-03-17T13:40:00.001-07:00

http://view.break.com/470052 - Watch more free videos

WORD!!

2008-03-13T00:55:00.000-07:00

Europe,

Right away I smell cigarette smoke. Does no one care about themselves or people around them. I'm already feeling like crap from it. Anyways, the plane ride was a long one. I couldn't fall asleep for the life of me, and all that did was get me thinking that I'm going to fall asleep and screw up the sleep schedule. That would be no good. First race is sunday, looks like it's going to be cold and probably some sort of wet.

Right now I would love to hug my lady, and have a nice 10 hours of sleep.

Already miss home.

2008-03-02T20:16:00.000-08:00

The Weekend.

The weekend started off with a bang, I got a new skin suite to where in the crits. It's Dave Z's TT design. BADASS!!!

Had a nice spin on the rollers before the race, the legs turned over nice and easy. I totally missed the whole staging period for my race so I found myself near the back. I wasn't sure if they were going to do call ups, and if they did was I on the list. Sure I won a race last year, but that doesn't always guarantee anything. I got the call and pulled up next to Chris Horner, we had a small chat and it was time to race. I don't even know how many laps in to the race we were, and the announcer was calling out primes like crazy. I found myself on Horner's wheel and it was putting it down. He rolled a full laps and then finally pulled off on the home stretch and I kept the pace tell I cleared his wheel cause I was hurting. When my eyes uncrossed I took a look to see what the field was like but there was no field. Our group of 8 had a huge gap, we kept rolling nice and even. With 15 laps or so to go Horner, BJM and Barrajo went clear. I had my head up my butt and missed it. The rest of us started to roll through trying to stay away from the field. With 5 to go I hit and tried to go alone. Cam Evans was the only one who came across, we stayed away tell the final corner. Bummer. I ended up 23rd and had a hundred bucks in my pocket from a prime. Not to bad of a day, I'm glad I was able to ride up front without completely cracking.

The road race.
My goal for the race was to ride smart and just finish with the largest group. Being 120 miles long I wasn't sure how my body was going to react to the distance. The first lap of the race was real mellow, I think everyone wanted to warm up because it was really chilly at the start. Attacks started going and going and going and going and going. It was relentless for a lap and a half. I was following stuff here and there trying to follow the groups with all teams represented cause those had the most chances of staying away. After the feed zone the second time through I got in a good group but one team was missing. We were riding pretty hard hoping it would get away but the team that missed got to the front quick and was chasing. I stopped working so I could have some in the tank when the counter attacks came. Just as I thought when we were caught attacks stared to go. Shortly after it seemed that a big group just rolled away. I followed BJM up to the group as Nydam was laughing. He wasn't laughing for very long cause he knew that was the move to be in. Sure enough, the group started working and we were gone. The group worked pretty well for how big it was, but soon enough the attacks came. It was total cat and mouse between the bigger teams and the solo riders. I tried my best to be in the stronger splits that happened so I didn't get caught out. Some where in all of the attacks Eric Wohlberg went and got a good gap.

BJM gave so good advice earlier in the race with me getting ready for Europe. he said to just lay it out there, don't worry so much about the finish just work hard. I did just that, I took pull for pull with the bigger guys in the group, I closed gaps. I think I may have attacked once or twice. Going through the feed zone the last time my top cap started to rattle like crazy, I look down and it's almost off my stem. As I tightened it down with a tool from the Shimano neutral moto, a break of five guys went up the road. Every team was represented except the solo riders. I went back and forth in my head about trying to get to it, or let it be. Kevin LaCombe came back and we had a chat about getting to the break. I wanted to wait for a good time to attack but it seemed he didn't want to be so patient. He rounded up a couple of the other solo guys and started to pull the group. After seeing the guys at the front I decided to pitch in, but when I got up there it was just Kevin and I working. At first I wasn't even sure if we could bring the group back, but eventually we did. As soon as we started to close in all I could think was about all the huge counter attacks that were going to happen. Luckily it wasn't as hard as I thought, and surprisingly I recovered pretty quick. The attacks started again, and all the games and tactics kept going on. The second to last stretch of road started with bad roads and then in to some rollers that are rough after 100 miles of racing. At the top of each one I checked it off the list. Five more, okay okay breath, relax. Four more, so and so forth. On top of the last one I was at the front and looking over my shoulder because for sure there was going to be a attack. Sure enough BJM went with Barrajo in tow. I jumped on and was suffering. Shortly after David Clinger joined us, and then AJM. We didn't work so well cause everyone was watching everyone. I just tried to keep the group rolling to stay away from the others. At the top of the last small rise before the finish the group caught us. AJM did a great save from eating it, I was shocked he was able to stay up. Going into the sprint I was a little to far back and ended up fourth in the sprint and fifth on the day. Not to shabby for one of the longest races i've ever done.

I leave for Europe in a week and a half. I'm going pretty well on the bike and it makes be nervous because I'm not sure how my body is going to be in two and half weeks after the traveling for the opening race. I hope to get so good advice on how to take the next week or so, so I can be going strong when I get to Europe. This next week is going to be a busy one with getting everything ready and having dinners with close friends before I'm gone. I hope I can get everything in with out taking to much out of me. Plus I hope I don't forget something important I need to bring.

I want to give a HUGE thank you to my lovely girlfriend and father for giving some awesome feeds to keep me hydrated and feed!!

Daniel

2008-02-29T08:47:00.000-08:00

Finally an update,

Since being home from the Bahamas, things have gone pretty well. I have already won 5 races this year, 3 on the track and 2 on the road. That makes me a little more relaxed going in to Europe, cause I wouldn't have been able to do that with out fitness. The only bad thing so far is earlier this week I totally tweaked my back moving around the house. It is slowly getting better, but holy crap that was a scare. I just hope it doesn't bother me later down the road. So 13 more days tell I depart, and a few more good races to get ready. In my head I'm pretty sure I'm ready to suffer out the bad weather and hard racing, I just hope that I did enough work for my body. This weekend is the Merco Classic, (known to everyone as McClane) it starts off with a crit tomorrow and the road race sunday. Should be some fast racing with some of the guys recovered from Cali.

Daniel

2008-02-14T11:09:00.000-08:00

The view from the hotel room.

The sunset from our boat ride on Super Bowl Sunday.

Some guys Tree House.

Daytime shot of the hotel view without a distraction.

Riding along the beach.

NIghttime shot of the water.

Here are some pics from the Bahamas.

2008-02-08T21:51:00.001-08:00

It's been a while.

So I can't say that I've been too busy to post anything, it's more of lazieness this time of year. But things are starting to pick up and I'm going to traveling soon. Right now I have been trying to spend as much time with the family as possible before I start going away. I have already been out of the country twice this year, and we're just past week one of February. This year is going to be crazy, I think I'm at a whole new level for myself. More is on my plate this year, and it's definitely not the dessert.

Training camp went ok for myself, but good as far as meeting the staff and the big boys. The altitude just kicked my ass, first day there was awful and it never got better. After camp 8 of us headed to the Bahamas to kick of the season. Three of us U23 guys, five big guns. (Dave Z. Christian VdV, Tyler Farrar, Danny Pate, Tom Petterson.) Dave rocked the TT, and Tyler showed his ass to everyone else in the Road Races. I have never been on a team that worked so well together. From the director to the staff and the riders. In the two days of racing I learned so much, the pro guys are so easy to talk to and get answers from. It's awesome to be somewhere, where guys want to help you out, and teach you the ropes. I'm super happy to be a part of this team.

Up next on the schedule is all the local races, plus a few of the NRC's in the are before I head off to Europe on March 12th. I am excideley nervous to go over there. I excited for all the awesome racing and enviroment, but nervous for the bigger races on the schedule. I'm normally not an early season performer, so I'm not 100% sure what to expect from myself. Hopefully we have some "easier" races to warm up with before the big show.

Getting a new comp soon, so I should be able to put up more pics and things of the sort a bit easier.

How bout them Giants?!!!!!!!!!

2008-01-07T15:41:00.000-08:00

Burnaby Day 6.

The race is finally done. But I was ready to race a few more days. I'm glad we raced 88's all week, it defenitly helped. The racing wasn't as fast as other nights, I think a lot of the big guys were tired from rolling huge gears early. Iggy and I won the last madison of the night again by taking a lap. We had some help from friends in the field by not railing it while we were out front. It was a great way to end a long 6 days.

2008-01-05T14:55:00.000-08:00

Days 4 and 5

Day four went ok. We got our lap back and for the most part secured 5th place, as long as we don't have anymore bad luck. We started off the night following the fast wheels and conserving energy, and looking for opportunity's. Nothing showed up until the final race. A 200 lap madison, the longest race of the whole 6 days. Again our plan was to follow wheels and let the other team make mistakes. At 70 or so laps to go Iggy attacked and got the ball rolling. We got the half lap quickly and teams would chase and sit up, so it made it a long time out. We almost got pulled back at the sprint, but we kept rolling and the group sat up. I got thrown in to catch the rear of the field and that I did, but as soon as I got there I tried to go over the top and back to the front to be safe. That didn't happen, as I was going over people went up track and I had nowhere to go except in to the boards. I slid from top to bottom with another guy on top of me. Bruised the mess out of my left ankle plus other random other marks you get when you crash. We kept our lap and won the race, but did I take a beating doing it. Oh I also destroyed a Mavic IO. Day 5 went well, conserved energy to try and take some laps out of the team ahead of us. We were able to take one lap out them, but not much else.

Today is the lat day of racing and our plan is to race like madmen, go all out and see what happens.

2008-01-03T12:19:00.000-08:00

Days 2 and 3.

The past two days were pretty much the same. Race and race, stay out of trouble and follow good wheels. I had some really good legs at the end of night two, but we couldn't finish off getting a lap back. Day three started off slow, my legs were really tight and I broke my saddle at the end of night 2 and didn't notice. So it was moving all around and made things a little tricky. I got crappy saddle to get me threw the night, but my bum does hurt.

Today we hope to get our lap back on the 5th place team, and we will be well ahead on points.

Hope everyone's new year is going swell so far.

2008-01-01T00:25:00.000-08:00

My Grandpa came out to watch me race.

What a way to end the year.

So tonight was the first day of the Burnaby 6, it was crazy. Too many teams that shouldn't be in the race. Just cause your a good road rider doesn't mean your a good track rider, let alone race a madison on a 200 meter track. Iggy and I weren't sure what to expect from the race and our legs. The 200m TT went well, 5th and the team Miss and Out went well getting 5th. Compared to everyone else we're riding small gears and not training for world cups.

The first madison we were in great position and I got taken out by and Idiot passing underneath after I threw in Iggy. No rear road rash, but smacked my head pretty good and jacked up my ankle. After that we were playing catch up cause Iggy had to take a super long pull when the fast guys were killing it. I took care of my self after the race and tried as best as I could to get mentally ready for the next one, Iggy and I didn't have the legs to keep up when the big attacks went, but we did our best to limit losses. We should be in 5th or 6th, but I'm not sure cause all the points and laps are being taken by hand.

Hopefully I can sleep well and my body will do enough to get me through the next day. What makes this so much easier is that my girlfriend is here to watch a few days and got to hang out for new years.

Clay is doing an awesome job taking care of us and giving us a lot of useful info that we can't see out there on the bike.

Time to snuggle with my lady!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

2007-12-29T14:11:00.000-08:00

OH CANADA OH CANADA!!!!

So I'm hanging out in Vancouver B.C. for the Burnaby 6-Day coming up on Monday. The weather here is crap, cold and some snow. I'm glad the track is indoors and has a heater. We still are training in long sleeves and leg warmers but race day will be no problem. The track is a cool little 200m track with plywood at the top and nice wood on the bottom. With the tracks age and what not there is a lot of little dips and bumps that keep you on your toes.

We got the new Nike gear to race in, it looks sweet and hopefully fits even better. The legs are slowly coming around, it's not like I am fit this time of year but I'm thinking that I will get stronger everyday if I take care of myself. The spin in getting smoother and faster at the end of every work out which is nice.

As far as the racing goes I'm not quite sure what to expect. I have already seen one crash from a team that racing, plus really bad technique from other teams that are racing. Plus I've heard even more world cup legs are showing up. There will be a big deference in skill and speed here. Iggy and I have talked about looking toward the end of the races to look for opportunity. We will see how that all works out.

Our host house is super cool and the house is real nice. Vancouver is a really cool little, big city. Clay and I went walking around when we first arrived a couple days ago. Tomorrow is an off day so we will have a little more time to look around after we hit the rollers. I keep forgetting to take my camera to the track but its packed and ready to go for tonight, so I will put up pics the next update. There may be a youtube video or two in the future also.

Remember your New Year!

2007-12-17T12:42:00.000-08:00

Hey all, so the past month or so has been slow yet gone by very fast. I have been riding here and there but getting more consistent. I did a crazy epic ride with some buddys. I leave for the Burnaby 6 day the day after x-mas and come back in 08. I'm looking forward to the race and the experience but not looking forward to the suffering, cause i'm really in no shape to be a contender. I'm just planning on be safe pack fodder.

I'm looking forward to the new year and everything thats going to come with it. I've added a new training tool this winter and I can feel it working. But from what I understand it will work better even next year.

Tell next big news.

Have Happy Holidays!!!

2007-10-26T20:03:00.000-07:00

So right now I'm on my break. Feels pretty good to not worry about the bike for a little bit. So now its time to start doing some alternate sport to not get to fat.

As far as teams go for next year im riding for VMG-Felt. I'm super excited to be apart of this team and I hope for some good things next year.

Holloween is soon. Time to scare the little kids.

2007-10-08T18:24:00.000-07:00

So the season is over. Yippie skippy doo dah!

Track nationals went as expected. Got in to both finals and road well for what preperation I had, and what motivation i had left. Unfortunelty the madison didn't go as planned, but Dave and I do have all our skin so thats good. The racing this year was probably some of the fastest in recent history. Some really good guys still failed to make finals, and those who did had a hard time.

One last "race" is on the schedule this year. Rose and I are headed down to San Diego for there invitational 2day. This race is always a blast and not taken seriously at all which makes things that much better. Plans have changed for the winter, I'm going to be staying home for most of it: not leaving untill January for the 6day stuff. I need a break and Noel can see that, so he's going to be nice and let me rest. I'm kind of looking for a job to take up some time and to maybe fill the pocket a tiny bit. I'll probably start skating again, it will be a nice change of pace and for sure help gain some strength I didn't have this year. Hopefully I don't slack to much and still ride the bike to keep from gaining to much weight.

Final final details are being worked out for the 08 season. I'll let it out so I don't jinx myself.

Ahhhh. No worries.

2007-10-01T12:50:00.001-07:00

So the road season is done, time for the track bike. It feels good to be done with the road for 07. Now its time for a mind change for the track, different mentality, different environment.

Vegas was cool, haven't been there sense I was a child. Don't get that mixed up with me now, I sill act like a child but I'm grown. Vegas is full of all sorts of people, but it has no soul. You walk around the casino's or where ever you go and it feels lifeless if that makes sense. You can feel how fake everything is. Not a place i would spend more than a few days if I had to. The bike show was pretty cool, the place had some life. It was cool to see some 08 stuff from some companies and talk with some people to hopefully make some connections for the future.

The race was OK. Better than I thought for the parking lot crit it was, but still a bad course. I'd like to give a big thank you to the guys at INSIDE RIDE for letting me borrow the best set of rollers ever to warm up on. The plan was to get a front row spot, even though I might be called up for having a special jersey or something. Well I was just about opposite of front row after a few shuffles and no call up. But 4 time Florida crit champ got called up, I forgot is name already. I knew it was key to be at the front for the whole race on the super tight course and that there are always sketchy people. I got to the front in about 5 laps, and 10 or so later I found myself of the front solo. OUCH! But I did pick up a 250 dollar prime, I hope I see the money. It took a while for me to recover from the effort, and it didn't help that I was tasting some of my dinner. YUCK! I stayed to the front and out of trouble and was in decent position in the in final few laps. But one smart smart "pro" decided to dive the sketchy, crash filled first corner on the bell lap. I was the first victim of this act of stupidity. But I came out barley scraped up due to me riding the "pro" into the ground when he slid underneath me. I definitely wouldn't have won but I do think a top for was possible. It's all bike racing, what are you to do?

This weekend I headed out to the skate rink for a distraction from the bike and to see the second family. Ahhhh the nice cold air on the face, and the smell of the ice just makes you smile. I know why I love the sport. It was great to see people I haven't seen in a long while and catch up a little. Hopefully I get to go back once or twice before I head back to Europe this winter.

In other news I should know who I'm riding for next year some time real soon. I'm pretty excited to get all this finalized and focus on what I have to do to get results and grow as a rider next year.

When I know more, you know more!

2007-09-24T00:05:00.000-07:00

I'm a PUNK!

Say what you want, I had a blast today racing with Erek!

2007-09-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

Not much has been going on, just riding around trying to find some motivation. I have motivation just not the "holy shit I'm flying and my favorite race is this weekend" motivation. As far as my pops eyes go my track legs are really starting to come around. I don't always feel like they are but if my spin looks good I'm game. Dave and I are really starting to dial the swing, and it's awesome the way we comunicate and know how to change the smallest thing to make a huge difference.

Crit worlds is next Thursday, I'm pretty excited for it. I've been joking around about showing up with a cape and a shield to complete the Captain America theme. I just don't think I have the riding capability/history to back it up at this time. I don't know how the crit is going to play out. I can totally see it play out like stage 2 of Missouri, or it could be a field sprint. I don't think the whole field is going to be super motivated to race, just a part of the field. I hope I'm in the right place at the right time.

OMG TTYL BFFs

ROFLMAO to You Tube.

2007-09-13T14:13:00.000-07:00

Missery, oh Missouri.

So did pretty well I suppose yesterday, a big break got away in the first hour and that was the whole race. In the end the boys did awesome work in the circuits and I didn't have enough to come up with the field sprint, but I ended up with a top 20.

Today was shit! The course was ridiculous. So much for a flat race. Got time cut from what cycling news posted. Pretty bummed, but what are you going to do. Looks like i'm just going to be getting in the way the rest of the week.

Peace!

2007-09-11T16:16:00.000-07:00

Holy macaroni.

I think this was the tour's shortest stage today. It was pretty rough, first hour was attack after attack, the it was pretty mellow for 40 min or so and then Disco got to dancing to bring the break back. The men calling the shots wanted us to go for the sprinters jersey, so I was up there to do work early. I got 4th in it and then the typical counters went something fierce. I was at the back faster than I could say "ouch" and some nice size rollers were right after. I was suffering and wanting to go home, but boyed up and pushed threw it all. The local circuits were pretty tough and had an awesome crowd. The last time up the rise Hincapie let it loose, and have every one behind pooing themselves to get to him. At the top I think was still around top 20, but I was in zone blood red; at some liquid from the gut came up a few times. YAY! I recovered OK and started to look for wheels to follow. The finish was super hectic, it seemed like some Tecos riders were out for blood. Looking for anyone to rub elbows with. I was in OK position but still new to the whole big race sprint set up. Rolled in for I don't know what result it you want to call it that.

The next day is my longest race to date, hopefully it will be mellow for a bit and we won't actually race for the whole 120+ miles. Can't wait for the massage tonight and get some food, and then its legs up and TV time.

No real pics yet, so maybe something soon.

2007-09-11T06:47:00.001-07:00

Holy, what the... it's the morning of. Should I be nervous? I don't know what to feel. Past day or so has been pretty crazy inside the head. I'm pretty sure I'm wasteing random energy, which is something I would prefer not to do. Hopefully I'll calm down after the stage a) Cause I'll have no energy to waste b) I'll know my fate here. I hope I don't crash someone everyon likes. That would be bad, really bad. Ok well time to go calm myself with music and put the legs up.

I love you ROSE!!!!

Maybe look for a post race post tonight. possibly a pic or 2 also.

2007-09-10T12:40:00.000-07:00

Missouri.

Haven't been here to long but the weather is good and the forecast looks even better. Went for a ride today to open up and get some lovely fresh air. the roads look pretty exciting to race on. It's pretty exciting to see some of the big faces on and off the bike walking around. To be honest I'm super excited and also pretty nervous about this whole thing. More good news keeps rolling in about all the possibilities of next year.

The boys at Specialized are crazy amazing. I got the new SL2 to ride on, It's ridiculous. The thing is super stiff and handles like a dream. I was doing some motor pacing right after I got it and holy crap, even at 80+k's on a bumpy road and high cadence the thing shoots straight as an arrow. I can't wait to get some more time on it and hopefully let something loose either here (if everyone falls down) or in Vegas later this month. Specialized is an awesome group of guys from top to bottom, at this point I couldn't ask for a better sponsor. Thanks Guys!

Team presentation is tonight, kinda nervous about that. Never really been a part of such an ordeal. Wheewww, all this is pretty crazy for me, so I'm trying to stay chill and not waste random energy off the bike.

Tell next time.

2007-09-05T11:51:00.000-07:00

The past week was pretty laid back. I did quite a bit of track work and double days to get some hard work in. On Friday McCook and I were doing some madison exchanges and one went wrong some where along the line and Dave crashed. He rang his bell really good and ended up with a wicked concussion. He revovered fast and ended up 3rd an the Atlanta 100k.

I did a lot of driving this weekend. Friday night Rose and I drove up to a good friends to hang out Saturday for her house warming partay. Erek and I hit up the local morning ride on Sat. It was a totally different than any group ride down in the south bay. The roads were pretty beat up, guys don't really point holes or anything like that. On top of it half the ride was on the left side of the road, even though there is not to much traffic it was still scary to think about a head on collisions with a car. We made it out alive :). That afternoon we walked around old town Sac which was rad, they had a western show going on for the holiday weekend. Sunday morning Rose, myself and Earl the mechanic (Jim Ryan) drove down to LA for the Jonh Fitzpatrick/Dave Staub Memorial Far West Championships at the Encino Velodrome. The group down there is awesome and they always put on a good race. It was a bummer to see that crowd has fallen over the years but still a fun race. It was hotter than hot with a hot wind which made it HOT. By the time I got the bike all ready and dressed there wasn't much time to get the legs moving. So I wasn't sure how the Scratch race was going to go with no real warm up, and there being 8 Rock Racing guys in the race. Before I know I have a half lap on the field and gaining. I laped the field in the first 10 laps and had 2 Rock Racing guys hot on my heels to lapping also. The last 10 laps wern't as fast as I thought they would have been with the whole team leading out Rahsaan who lapped also. I ended up hooking one of the guys trying to sweep and staying calm enough to set up a run out of corner 2 with one and half to go. I got a good gap pretty fast but Rahsaan was coming hard but couldn't make up all the distance. In the madison I rode with Sterling Magnell, who hadn't done an exchange in a long time. But with my pop and his huge engine we lapped the field pretty quick and held on for the W. Got some nice BBQ on the fast food strip of Ventura ave and then headed home to get some sleep for the Giro di SF the next day.

Woke up for the Giro feeling pretty good, not to sore from all the driving and training/racing. Got to the race pretty early so I could ride some before to get some hours in to get ready for Missouri. Once I got on the bike I felt good which made me smile. Erek and I got together before the race to discuss race strategy. There were some big primes up for grabs and we decided if we were in posistion we would go for it and if not no worries. I spent the day moving from the front to back and going across to a few moves that looked pretty dangerious. It was super windy all day and that made it hard for things to stay away. In the last 5 laps or so the Strawberry boys stated to line it up and I was fighting for the back of it with a few guys. A prime in the last 5 laps messed up there train a bit but they got it back on track and things started to smooth out for the last 2 laps. Going in to the bottom 2 corners a small swarm came around and I was now 6 or so back which was ok with the slight up hill windy sprint. But going in to the last corner the front guys slowed slighty and I carried a lot of speed out of corner 5 and hit the gas. As soon as I jumped I said crap this is a long way to go, I hope I can hold on for something. In the end no one came around and I held on for the W.

Now it's time to put in some miles. After a day off yesterday to see the chiropractor, I'm off to the valley ride tonight. I'm going to ride for a few hours before and try not to get too cross eyed to make it home. Then Thursday ride for a few hours and then hit up the points race at the track. Friday and Saturday are long rides and then rest time and one last visit to get my back straight before the plane ride.

I'll let you know how the week goes.

2007-08-27T15:39:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhhh.

I would first like to say Thank You to everyone who has texted, called, emailed, and all other means to say congrats. It really means a lot to me.

What a beautiful week. Took a few days of the bike and just relaxed, it felt awesome. Spending time with the lady sleeping in, staying up late joking around, just what I needed. This weekend was nice too, got to see the best friends and some really good family friends who have always been there to help whether it be speed skating or cycling. Catching up with everyone has been cool, I've missed a few things while I was away.

The past week has let me soak in what happened a week ago pretty well. But what I love most is the best friends that keep me grounded. When I get out of line they are there to put me right back in my place.

I've road a few times sense being home and it's felt okay. After taking as long as I did off it usually takes a bit to get going again. The miles are going to start piling on here shortly and I hope I'm ready. My hip has been acting funky sense I got back home so I got checked out today and got fixed. Big thanks to Peter Block for that.

I'd like to give a big thank you to the VMG team for all there support and getting me ready to race. A big thank you to Noel, Ells, The Fox, all the mechanics in Europe to make sure I came back top notch. The whole Specialized family for taking care of all my little problems that have come up. There bikes are absolutely amazing. A huge thank you to Lombardi Sports who gave me the early opportunity's to get where I am. Thank you to Farid for being there since day one to make sure I was ready when I wanted to be ready mentally and physically. Thank you to all the guys who came out on Tuesday afternoons to train and make me work hard at the track. All the guys who made me suffer at the track while racing. A big thank you to everyone who supported me and a bigger thank you to everyone who didn't think I could do it, gave me that extra bit of motivation.

I have definitely been enjoying some good'ol junk food. Cake and cookies a few big burgers with cheese, all that yummy type stuff. That will always be my weakness. Time to kick the feet up, enjoy some more movies and snuggle time with the lady.

2007-08-20T06:17:00.000-07:00

Almost home. One plane ride from kissing my lady and hugging my bed.

The weekend ended up as well as it could have, on top. I don't exactly remember what all happened but I do know it felt amazing. Hopefully I will get a few pictures up soon. Man it was awesome to have my dad there to give a huge hug to. He's been there sense day one and it's killer to show him that he didn't waste his time and energy over the years. It was really awesome to see that look in his eyes right after the race. I'm actually surprised that he didn't smack me over the head before the hug after locking the keys in the car right before the start. Thanks to the local PD for helping him get the keys out of the car.

I've felt nothing like it.

Podium

Time for some rest, my body definitely needs it and my head could use a break too. A few days off the bike and visit some friends Then got to put some long days on the bike before Missouri.

Ahh another plane ride.

2007-08-18T10:11:00.001-07:00

Ahhhh...

It's good to be home. Well at least the USA, not quite back to Cali just yet. A short pit stop in Chi town and then to home. You know your back in the U.S. when you hear people talking about how to make moonshine, and obese people slurring there words talking about NASCAR. Man you gotta love this country.

My wounds are slowly healing, mostly just really annoying. My ego is still pretty bruised too.

Sense I've been back in the US I've spent to good quality time with pops talking about my trip and what I've missed back home. Plus talking about all the what ifs and home comes in the bike world.

I do miss my girlfriend a whole bunch and can't wait to see her.

I know my mom is going to be pretty stoaked to see me also.

Oh ya, I think I might be going to Missouri in Sept for some sort of big bike race. Tour of Missouri or something like that. It's not final or anything but I would be so happy to go, it's pretty flat and should be pretty hard. Hopefully I'll find out this weekend.

Time to nap it up before the Pro/Am crit tonight as warm up for tomorrows big day. Weather man says it might rain. : )

2007-08-14T05:24:00.000-07:00

So I'm wrecked. the last day here in Belgium before I leave home and I'm stuck in bed pretty sick. Hopefully it goes away soon.

UGH!

2007-08-13T10:01:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to us.

It's awesome to have someone thats beside you every step of the way.

I love you Rose.

2007-08-12T13:08:00.000-07:00

What a week. Two double days back to back, and then 2 longer stages at Ronde Van Antwerp.

The prologue went well for me, it was raining all day and the course had a few corners in it. The first one was a brick road type corner 200meters from the start, the second was a tricky right hander with sand in it; and the third one was cobbled. Luckily enough it was wide enough that you could ride straight threw it and the start your turn. I ended up top 40 which is solid for a guy who's never on a TT bike. All the times were super close, so I wasn't really that far off.

Being that it was a double day, I thought we were going to head back to the place we were staying to refresh and grab new cloths. NOPE. All I had was a wet long sleeve skin suit and a jersey. I felt like an idiot telling Noel that I had forgot a second kit. Luckily he was in a nice enough mood to get the mechanic to drive me to the Hostile where we staying. It wasn't close at all, and there was construction and a miscommunication on directions. Long story short, I made it to the start with less than a handful of minutes.

With all the nervous energy built up I road well and was able to stay at the front for the whole race. With it still raining and guys going completely bananas for the sprint, I bowed out to save my life.

The next day consisted of a short RR in the morning and the TTT in the afternoon. An early break went and the leaders team was at the front setting tempo to bring it back and some guys were up there getting in the way and pissing people off. After a while I was not to comfortable sitting behind it and wanted to get around it. So I started to move up and next thing I know BLAM! I'm on the ground. Once I gain a small sense of direction I start crawling to the edge of the road and BLAM! I get nailed by one of the bigger guys in the race. Now I'm really moving in to the grass and fall in to a ditch. I wait there a few second to wait for all the rift raff to stop and slowly drag myself out. Once I'm out I laid on my back and started taking deep breaths. I had no idea if something was broke or not, we were going pretty quick when I bit it, plus getting hit didn't help. I open my eyes and see the doctor standing over me. Close them back up and keep taking deep breaths. Next thing I know I hear Noel telling me to get up and put my helmet back on. I didn't want anything to do with the race, but Noel got me back on the bike and motor paced me back to the second group after another wheel change a K or so later. Still not all there I look at my body to asses the damage. Some blood, some major hip pain, and a rocking headache. I ended up top 30 in the stage.

After getting cleaned up and food in the gut it was time to switch gears and get ready for the TTT. Mentally I was done, but they guys around me were super ampted and ready to ride. Plus having Noel around made things that much easier. With only two short low speed practice sessions earlier in the week we set the new fastest time and ended up fourth. We were all jazzed about the ride and that really brought us together.

The night was a fun one with all the gifts from that mornings RR. Total damage was three nice chunks from my right knee, a small compression cut on my left knee, two more nice big bruises on my left hip and one big bruised ego. I woke up stiff as a board. Could barley get down from the top bunk of the bed. After talking with Chris our Soigneur <---that's spelled wrong and Noels wife, I jumped on the rollers to loosen up before we left for the race. I'm so glad I did that.

The 5th stage consisted of 4 big laps and 4 small laps. Not a whole bunch of wind but tons of tiny roads. Plan is to always stay at the front and watch for the splits. After only a few K I see a dutch guy fly over his handle bars and land on his head. That was way to close, especially the day after I go down. I move closer to the front and next thing I know we're on a small road barely enough room for five wide. Guys are attacking and coming back, coming and going, and I look to my left and see a guy flying up the left side and then there was no room. He bit the dust and on a small road like that it's either you were in front on the crash or your race was done. Luckily enough Myself and 3 others made it. The next 2 laps were full throttle to make sure this was the final split. Unfortunately for us Guy was knocked off his bike from behind when he slowed for one of the many crashed and separated his clavicle from in scapula. He's doing well, but wants to be on his bike. After the gap is nice and settled the tempo slows down. I was feeling bad all day and was lucky to be in the position I was.

While we were racing there was a horrific police motor cycle accident. A cop who was leading the race missed a turn and went to turn around and was hit by another cop. The worst thing I have ever seen. I'm the images will be in my head for a while. One of the guys had two compound fractures, one arm one leg. And the other was missing all of his teeth and some other broken bones. I give out my best wishes to these for risking everything just so I can race my bike. I hope they recover well and quickly.

There was another split in our group and three of us made that. Spencer, Chris and myself. Noel told us to lay low and not work so much, I had no choice my legs were toasty. Going into the last lap I started to feel a little bit better with all the adrenalin flowing threw me getting ready for the sprint. The guys had all the strength to give me a perfect lead out but I totally messed it up and ended up 20th.

On the way home my throat was feeling to good, it felt like something I had earlier this year. I didn't want any of it so I got some good syrup type stuff and gargled with salty salty water till I was about to puke. The next morning I woke up feeling better but not 100% mentally or physically. My body was achey and now my nose was all clogged up. Spencer told me I looked like hell, I told him I felt like it.

At the race I was getting ready as slow as a snail, not feeling any better. Today's stage was the longest of the week and probably one of the longest I've ever done. 190 k's. I didn't know what to expect with everything going on. I was mentally done and could barley left my legs over the saddle, but with kind words and smile on his face Noel pushed me on my way and it was time to race.

It looked like it was going to be cross wind all day but the wind never really picked up so separate the group. After 160 k's of racing we would come to three local laps with two cobble sections; on top of that it was raining with a little bit of hail. The racing was uneventful tell the circuits, and I started to feel better with some "easy" k's to warm up. I hit the cobble sections in perfect position. 1st. Once the section ended the attacks came hard and fast to the next section. This one caught me a little off guard being that I wasn't the first one to see the road. Next thing I know guys split and head for the dirt on the edge of the road. My first thought was "hey they can't do that". So I headed for the dirt path with them.

Guys were driving the pace after the second section to cause a split in the field. But no luck, so they kept the hammer down. The next time over the cobbles weren't so bad, as I knew what to expect. The chin was to the handle bars. The last time over the first set of cobbles I thought I was flying, but I looked over and guys started to fly by. WTF! I hear Sheldon yelling at me to fill the hole and close the gap. I was putting everything in to the pedals and slowly watching guys ride away. Lucky for me the cobbles were short and I closed the gap on the paved road. I was in full recovery mood and next thing we were on the second section of cobbles. I managed to keep my bike upright but missed the split. Twelve guys road of the front, Chris was in there so that took the pressure off. The last few K's were attack sit up, attack sit up as guys were attempting to get to the next group. By the finish line the group had over 20 seconds. I sprinted in for a top 30. Chris got 6th.

I was completely shocked on how I road. I was feeling good at the end of a long day, and a pretty rough week.

I ended up 11th in GC. With the strong TTT, and being at the right place at the right time for once all played into that.

I leave for Downers on Wed, Hopefully this nose thing will blow over quick, and I'll be feeling good come a week from now.

If you made it this far I congratulate you.

2007-08-08T06:27:00.001-07:00

The fantastic aero posistion. Won't go breaking any speed limits.

2007-08-07T12:06:00.000-07:00

Almost home!

2007-08-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

Dang o diddly there.

Did another kerMESS today, kept it upright compared to the last one. Speaking of that, in short a few of us headed out to another small town 30k or so away to do a U23 race. The field had a Davitamon development rider and a Quickstep devo rider, plus some Lithuanians that killed it a another big U23 stage race. The race was made up of 95% 3/4 lane farm roads, 5% cobble/brick roads, 5% city roads. What a mess, Spencer and I hit the deck in the first few K around an easy corner that happened to have oil drips all threw the middle of it. Bust the hip bones pretty good and a nice size bruise on the left side. I jumped back on the bike and chased on with Spencer, a few laps later I find myself in between the Field and 3 up the road. I made the winning move but crack, the legs wouldn't turn anymore. Bummer! Half way jazzed, half way bummed. Legs felt good, but then legs felt BAD.

Today's race was the nicest course yet. All city roads, 2 road-a-bouts, a bricked chicane a tight left hander with a split traffic island in the middle and a fast finish. With rain all morning it looked like it was gonna be a fun day. By the time the race started the rain was gone and the roads started to dry up. Race started off as usual, fast and tons of attacks. I was able to pick up a few primes and Spencer got a couple too. Spencer is still pretty tight after his crash so he made it past half way and pulled the plug. I chugged along to finish 12th. Averaged over 300 watts for a good 170min. That makes me happy for the upcoming stage race that is flat YIPPY!!! and then Downers when I get home. I'm still a little tight in some places but it's getting better.

The guys that are going to the upcoming race are going out for TTT practice. I'm not sure what my TT rig is gonna end up looking like, but I'll take a snap shot and show ya. The TTT should be good for us, we have a few good TT guys to help us none TT guys keep up. So we are all pretty excited for the race.

So off for more adventures.

2007-08-05T12:21:00.000-07:00

Since France I have started to feel better. I tried to ride the day after I crumbled and it didn't work so well, but took some decent pictures of the area. The second stage started at Strasbourg in front of this super cool cathedral. The best starting locatin I've ever seen.

Heres a short video clip of the start area.

A view that lasted for a few k's

A small town in the center of the circuits on stage 2.

So I had to take a train from Mulhouse to Izegem since I was done racing there and could race back in Izegem. The train ride was long to say the least, but s few cool sights to see but none came out on the camera.

How to pack a bke for a train.

Inside a train car. How exciting.

looking at

this for hours can cause you to crack.

2007-08-01T12:25:00.000-07:00

DFL.

Probably the worst day on the bike ever.

Finished dead last, well sense I didn't even cross the line I'll probably receive a DNF. Today was suppossed to be an "easy" day, end in a field sprint my "speciality". I'm starting to question what kind of rider I am. Plenty of lonely k's by yourself make you think.

I've never felt so bad in my life, the legs just wouldn't turn over. Even at the easist pace it felt like I was doing "big" watts.

Being under a microscope dosen't help either. Just adds more pressure than I'm putting on myself.

What doesn't kill me make me
!
!
V

2007-07-31T13:51:00.001-07:00

Road stage tomorrow should be a blast.

2007-07-31T09:04:00.000-07:00

Howdy!

So it's been just over two weeks here in Europe/Belgium (now in France for 5 days), and I like it here. The races are fun, the food is great, and there is no real excuse to ride bad. Almost everything you need is given to you so that all you have to do is ride your bike; that's awesome.

Tour de Alsace starts tonight with an opening 4k TTT. It's more of a show for the people than an all out affair. Team startegy hasn't yet been decided how to ride it. It's not for GC just the opening jerseys. It would be awesome to rock this thing and start off with a jersey, but there are some big boys out to play.

A couple pics of the riding around France.

Heres a pic of the view from our hotel window. That's the Gare train station.

Heres the group out training.

2007-07-29T13:27:00.000-07:00

This is a 15-16 here at the house sprinting for 3rd. There was some miscommunication as the 1st and 2nd place Americans were supposed to do a big celebrtion.

2007-07-27T13:30:00.001-07:00

TIRED!

2007-07-21T13:03:00.000-07:00

So here is a vid of my first race.

2007-07-20T11:37:00.001-07:00

Heres my first video blog. I'm not to good at the whole interview thing yet, but i'll get it down one day. I will be doing more of these once the raceing starts. First Kermeese is Sat and then the big show starts Wed.

2007-07-17T06:27:00.000-07:00

The House.

So I made it to the house. It seems pretty cool, but we will see how things go once I spend some more time here.

The flight went well, pretty empty flight so I got to stretch out along 3 seats.

Havn't gone on a ride yet, but the weather here looks pretty decent at the moment.

Later tonight I'll get the first of my video diaries up.

jet lag sucks!

2007-07-15T21:47:00.000-07:00

Nationals!

Long week to say the least. I had tons of fun with all the guys before we parted ways, for the last big race of the year.

The RR went ok, I did my early work as best I could and then got dropped. A break went with one of our guys in it. Slipstream called the bluff and the break stayed away for the most part. Peter road like a man and didn't quite have it in the very end. Chad came up and got a 7th and TJ came in for a top 20. The TT went well, TJ road for a solid 3rd and Zack came in for a nice 5th. With a day of rest, the guys and I were ready for the crit. Plan was to attack and make the race hard. All the guys did awesome awesome work and I sprinted for 4th.

Overall im happy with the result, and I think i'm ready to survive in Europe.

Sleepy time. I get to spend a lovely 10 hours in the New York airport tomorrow after waking up at 5am. YAY im so so exicted.

2007-07-11T13:06:00.000-07:00

PA!

Well arived late last night. Didn't get a ride in like I would have liked but oh well.

The resort place were staying at is pretty nice. We are staying in some condo's at the top of the hill. It's like apartments with full kitchen and those kind of things.

It is real cool to have all the guys here. Well Bookwalter isn't here, but we all miss him, and Sheldon is to old now. But the morale is pretty high, and the climbers are ready to rock. I'm going to help out as long as I can, and make sure no one messes with my boys.

The RR course is pretty wicked, your either in an aero tuck, pedaling the mess out of your 53X11 or climbing something wicked. We did one lap today in the rain, it was sweet. Warm weather plus warm rain equals OK! At one point we couldn't see 100ft or so in front of us for a few min. I'm hoping it rains for our race, it should slow it down a little bit early on.

So I got a video camera before this long long trip, should have some interviews up by the end of the week. The condo doesnt have wireless so I only get the net when we get lunch or dinner at the resteraunt.

Thats it for now.

2007-07-06T16:11:00.000-07:00

Long week

After the long travel day on Monday.
Rest day Tuesday.
Scorching hot 4th of July in Davis.
A lite day yesterday.
Track racing tonight.

The body is tired, the legs is tired, the mind is tired.

Im sure basketball in the pool didn't help the body and legs.

I'm not sure how the track is going to play out tonight, not sure how well the message got spread that there was track. Plus the legs feel terrible.

Hopefully tomorrow I can some easy bucks in the morning, and then actually race my bike in the twilight.

Then 3 absolutely beautiful rest days, well 2 and a half. Tuesday is a travel day, but I'm hopeing it's not so bad.

I'm off to nats, and then to europe to get my feet wet in the big boy racing.

That is what's making my mind tired.

2007-07-02T11:08:00.000-07:00

What a waste of a day.

I'm in an airport right now, been here sense 9am, had to leave the hotel around 8 so would have been pretty tough to get in a spin that early, with all that packing after. My flight doesn't leave tell 5 wont get home tell 8 so no way to ride after I get home. But what is completely cracking me is that i'm in an airport for 8 hours. this totally sucks.

So the final day of Fitchburg.

The crit.

I found out it is possible to have a 3 corner crit. One big U-turn, a small sweeper then to real tight left handers to a slight up hill drag.

First off the boys absolutely killed it today, road like seasoned pros and showed everyone there we have the strength and balls to ride. Through out the whole weekend we were the only team to really step up and ride as a team. Unfortunetly we didn't get a result besides Zacks flying TT. Back to the crit. An early break got away and got a good gap quickly; with no other teams wanting to step we massed at the front to bring it back. A few Rite-Aid guys were up there, but really ride that hard. At first the gap wasnt coming down, but the boys kept focused and road the hell out of there bikes and started to bring it back. By 10 to go the break really started to sit up and we caught them really quick. Then the counter attacks started to fly, and the pace really picked up. The boys were cooked from the steller work, and I had to start riding my bike. For the next 10 laps it was attack after attack, and the final few laps were pretty hectic in the bottom 2 corners. A last minute swarm killed what I thought was a good spot to be in, and then guys sprinting backwards nearly crashing eachother ruined anything I might have been able to make up.

So in the end I didn't come up with anything for the boys amazing work. At the end of the day I was really frustrated that I couldn't come up with anything.

Overall we got some great team riding in the 3 days of racing, and came together to race our bikes. This is a great thing going into nationals a week or so away.

For me its time to spend some time with my lovely flower Rose, and get my head on straight before a long 40 days of travel.

Ugh more airport time.

2007-07-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

Fitchburg Update.

The lack of updates are due to lack of wireless in our original hotel.

So the TT was garbage, I don't do enough of them especially on a TT bike. So the legs don't turn over well in that position.

The circuit race was a tough one. A stair step 600m climb at 10-12%. Then the rest of the circuit was super fast. On the second lap both our GC guys got caught up in a crash along with 3 others from our team, me included. Bjorn was the first up so Ben and I paced him back to the group along with Spencer and Chris who came back from the group. The next time up the climb Bjorn has a big shifting problem and has to get off the bike to fix it. I was still in the back of the group, so I radioed Spencer to fall back again to help pace him back. By the time we hit the climb I was cracked, lucky for me they were using crit rules so I could wait to get lapped and jump back in to help out. After 3 laps easy by myself I jumped back in and got to work. The first half of the race I felt pretty bad, but the legs started to come around when it was necessary. With 2 to go the team got to the front to help string it out and get Bjorn in to position for a good finish. Coming down the screaming fast downhill before the right hander in to the finish, I had Bjorn in perfect position. Sense Bjorn hasn't had much experience with the lead out he jumped way early and couldn't quite make it to the finish. The team road really solid all day and showed great teamwork. Unfortunately 2 of our strongest didn't finish due to injury.

The RR was super TOUGH! I was hearing different story's of how easy/hard this course was. So going in to it I wasn't sure what to expect. It was going to be a long 108miles. Just about 4 or so miles I find myself off the front with one guy who has no draft. So we do a few rotations, along the more up than down 11 mile circuit. As soon as I saw the climb each I lap, I knew it was going to be a brutal day. The climb was something like 200m at 10%ish then right up 6-8% percent threw the feed zone, then a small bit of false flat into a small down hill to the 1500m points hill that just drug on and on. After that came a screaming 95kph down hill back into the rollers before you do the climb again. I got caught by the group on the downhill just after the points. Back in the field the rollers were much easier but that dango climb was the death of me. I made it about 4 times tell I started to get shelled off the back. Luckily enough the car was there to pick me up every time. Power bottle after power bottle with a little bit of pacing got me back in to the field every time. With such a huge time cut I could have easily sat up and taken' a lap and still been OK. But with super motivation from the team car and a really good joke kept a smile on my face to finish. But what made my day was what a SRAM guy said on the last lap. "You have a messed up way of entertaining yourself" I almost fell off my bike when he said that, it was great. I made it up the final 2k climb eventually and got some water and all the after race stuff.

I'm whooped. I'm feeling muscles I've never felt before. Hopefully I can find some legs before tonight's crit.

Wish for me please!

2007-06-27T18:46:00.000-07:00

*phew*

After a long night of travel, I made it to the hotel; at 7 something am. We went straight to breakfast and then to the room to settle in a bit. I tried real hard to stay on my feet and moving around so I didn't fall asleep before the morning ride.

oh ya, it was 77 at 630am. wtf.

So the morning ride consisted of 2 flats, 6 plus wrong turns, and too many minutes wasted sitting in the heat. We scoped out the TT course finally, then hopped in the van to head back to the hotel.

Had some grub, got a rub to get blood moving threw the body again. Then a needed nap. I still feel really tired, so hopefully I can get to sleep quick and stay asleep.

Sunday recap.

The Burlingame crit.

Last year I made it out alive, and pinched on the inside of the last corner. I definetely wasn't going to win but it would have been nice to sprint. So this year I made sure I was out of all the last lap swarms and to sprint on the outside.

So to the story. The legs felt ok in the 20min roller spin before the race. My plan was to hang out in the top 30 or so to stay out of all the crashes on the fast bumpy course. That worked out for the most part, I had some friendly words with a few rider on the cornering techniques, esspecially so early in the race. I only heard a few crashes and didn't see any which was a good thing for me at least. It was pretty windy out so I ruled out on a break and figured a field sprint. I still followed a few things here and there just to make sure. With 10 to go the Strawberry boys lined it up for a fast Vigus. I was the first on the back of the train and held it for the most part tell the finish. A few times guys tried to swarm the back of the train and totally tried to get in the middle of it which was totally crazy. The berrys did a good job of fighting them off and picking the pace up. With the wind they burned a few guys early and Devon was left with Briggs for the last 5-600 meters, which made it interesting in the last bit of racing. Sense the finish straight had a tailwind I wanted to be the first in to it so I could have an early advantage. It worked, First in to the last corner on the outside worked out perfect, I was able to hold off Devon and charging Jameal Danesh to take the W. It gives me a bit of a morale boost going in to Fitchburg, which is always nice.

So we shall see how far it carries me threw this week.

Time for sleepy time.

2007-06-25T20:57:00.000-07:00

Yup, uh huh, oh yea, im a complte maroon!

Totally showed up a day early to the airport, talk about awkward.

I am such an idiot.

2007-06-23T18:30:00.000-07:00

The track racing went well last night. The legs came around towards the end of the night. It wasn't a super heavy field, but some of the new guys who are coming out are throwing down nicely. It is going to be a lot of good fun plus pain and suffering when all the boys show up to play.

Today was the big money local race; Strawberry's had there full squad there, Wholberg, Aron Olsen from T-Mobile decided to come out, plus more strong locals. I'm way to tired to list everyone. So plan was to go with anything that was super super dangerous, and just wait for the field sprint. Things changed with 10 to go when Olsen jumped and had a gap, The Grinch bridged and I was right there to follow. The move looked really solid. I was feeling OK Grinch is always a killer and I mean Olsen, why not follow when he goes with 10 to go?

We worked well for the first few laps, but Grinch had a bad day and blew, Olsen was killing it. I could only pull for the next few laps and then it was all I could do to sit on. I took a few pulls when I could, but we simply needed some more horse power so Olsen could rest a bit. We got caught with a lap and a half to go, I attempted to jump back in, but I was pretty rocked and it was SUPER sketchy. Even though money is great, I'd rather have my skin for some more important races coming up.

We have the always fun Burlingame tomorrow, and then a long over night travel day on Monday night. Hopefully I can recover well for the opening of F'burg.

2007-06-21T20:59:00.000-07:00

It has been way to long sense my last post.

My apologize to the 5 people who read this. That's if I'm lucky.

So last weekends race, went well, I mean as good as it could have felt for the week I had prior to the race. The stomach felt alright the day I arrived, I was able to eat and that good stuff. Did a local training crit, embarrassed myself, then a good ride with the Big Bad Billy Kurtz. Plus more recovery and stretching. Then on the morning ride Alex and I got lost in the small town we were staying at, made for a good adventure.

We arrive to the race, check the course and watch Jen harass the 3's. (they combined fields.) Alex and I get the numbers, get a cup of joe; his cold, mine HOT. I'm still an amateur at the whole coffee thing and what is available. So needless to say I was now officially warmed up.

We chamiosed up, rolled the BUMPY course for a bit tell stageing began. After all the call ups I got a nice second row start. The gun went off and the pace was a blazin'. It was nice to be upfront cause it was strung out the first ten laps, then the pace was on and then ON; no real big let ups. Alex and I found ourselves in a few early moves but then settled in to the field. A 3 man move went with a good part of the race, but definitely had a good gap in the closing laps. But the other teams wanted it back, so Alex and I got up in the top 10 and followed wheels. Alex did a great job making sure I had a safe place, and that no one was gonna fight me for Vogels wheel. Going in to the first corner on the last lap I clipped a pedal big time. I was so caught up in the race I didn't even think that I almost died, but Billy and Alex said it was a complete scramble behind me. EHHEHEHEHEHEHEHE. The last 3 corners were fast and fun, coming out of the last corner I gained on Vogels for like 2 pedal strokes and then he put it in 6th gear and was gone. I lost one place in the sprint to end up 6th. I am completely happy with it considering the week I had before and I haven't raced a crit like that all year. Got some confidence, and mentally ready for Fitchburg. Well at least I think I am.

This week I hit up the track for a nice training session. Something I haven't done all year due to track renovation. I can totally feel that I'm missing the track in my legs. So hopefully I will be able to hit it more before I head to Nationals.

Tomorrow is the first Friday night of the year. Glad to be around for it. Hopefully I won't work myself over to much so I have some legs for the big day on Sat. 10g's, I'm looking to get a good chunk of the pie. Burlingame is on Sun, that crit is always a blast.

Monday I'm headed out to PA for a nice little stage race. Hopefully I make the DS happy.

Will step my blogging back up. Sorry.

2007-06-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

So I'm bummed.

I totally missed the premier of MASH SF. This bike racing has me all over and I miss some great great things. I can't wait to some how get a hold of the DVD.

Its so awesome when some of these guys come out to the track and rock it on a Saturday. Plus, simply what they do is ART, these guys have better bike handling than 99% of any bike racer; road, mtb, cross, bmx, and track racers. Tons and Tons of respect flow there way.

The new shirts is a must get, they simply look amazing. PLUS the PHILxMASH colab Absolutely SICK, Starting today funds to get a set. Hopefully they ain't BANK!

2007-06-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

So I'm out in the Motherland.

Another money race, and this time its 50 deep. So if I finish, ill make 12bucks.

Some bigger teams are rumored to be sending a few guys each, should make for an interesting race.

I'm on phase 2 of I'm not sure how many phases of infection recovery, I'm starting to release the foods I'm putting in my body again. That always feels good. Now the key is to get myself hydrated, put some "good"carbs in me, and find some sort of legs. Not riding for 3 days with 2 and a half days of travel kills ya, plus sickness. KNOCKOUT!

Today is a mediocre double day, 2 hours each.

Then Tomorrow is a longer morning ride, and then Game time.

Weather is on and off here. Could rain, could be hot as balls.

Good thing I'm not prepared for either.

2007-06-12T09:50:00.000-07:00

Food poisoning sucks.

2007-06-11T19:52:00.000-07:00

The Race

Tour de Winghaven was nice. Everyone I talked with before said it was a flat circuit race and pretty basic, ended up being kind of a roller course with a nice 60k right hander on not so sweet pavement and two round-a-bouts. One was a slow one was 200 from an uphill finish. Some elite mid west teams showed up, Trek VW with Big Bad Brian Jensen fresh off a killer win at stage 3 of Tulsa, and crafty veteran Steve Tilford. Wheel and Sprocket had the one and only Andy Crater with 3 youngin's. Wisconsin RR state champ Cole House, Matt "fastest legs in Wisconsin" Brandt, and shy guy Shane Braley. Some real fast solo riders showed up, Dan Schmatz and Haden Godfrey.

The race started in a blaze of attacks but with a head wind down hill and tail wind up hill nothing would stick. Especially if the numbers weren't right. Alex and I played it cool most of the race, I went for 2 KOM's and succeeded; Alex followed the dangerous moves. It was awesome that our host John could come out and feed for us, definitely helped.

Going in to the last few laps it was key to be towards the front threw the round-a-bouts and fast downhill corner. Andy had his boys take charge and keep the pace high so it could be safe. Headed in to the downhill Alex kept me in great position right behind the train. Towards the bottom of the down hill the pack started to move, Alex kept me safe. An Abercrombie and Fitch rider flew threw the last corner followed by Haden, Steve, Alex and then me. Alex had me in perfect position right behind Haden after the Round-a-bout. Haden launched with a fast super and got a few bikes between us, Schmatz came by all of us like we were standing still to take the win easy, a random sneaked in 2nd then Haden then myself. I was slowly creeping on Haden, but his jump was wicked.

Unfortunately Alex's chain started to come apart the last few laps and didn't feel comfortable sprinting. I don't blame him for staying safe. For me it's the best I've felt all year, but still have a lot of room for improvement in the sprint.

Ended up with some cash, all out skin, and some fitness.

A nice drive back to Omaha, and another great home cooked meal makes me smile.

The travel day won't go fast enough, I can't wait to feel my love in my arms.

2007-06-10T10:19:00.000-07:00

Wowzers!

What luck the team has this year has with host housing. Another cribs worthy house, this actually puts away some of the houses on cribs. HUGE! The family is amazing, the dads rides a lot and used to race, the moms a swimmer and the 3 boys are real fun.

The drive from Omaha was a cool one, definitely better than going from the bay area to LA. The more I travel to this Midwest cities, the more I like it. At least for the summers.

Alex and I road easy this morning with John the host dad. He showed us around the city a little bit which was nice.

Now its time to focus, visualize the attack and prepare for battle tonight. It might rain so that changes attack routes and key strategies.

CHARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

2007-06-08T14:34:00.000-07:00

Another travel day in the book.

I'm at my teammate Alex's house. Real nice place, in not so wonderful Omaha. Were headed out tomorrow to St. Louis for a big cashola circuit race. Rumor has it that one Dan Schmatz, and Haden Godfrey will be in attendance. Will be pretty interesting to see how things play out.

time to attempt to freshen up the legs

2007-06-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

So went out for a stroll with the Specialized boys for there normal lunch ride. All was swell, Big Tim came out on his bike to moto the first bit. After the first stop sign we start to go again, BAM snap yet another chain. Crack my knee on the stem and twist the opposite ankle.

The group is stoked that I stay up right and don't take any of them out. Two of the guys stop to help me out. Luckily enough one of the guys has a quick link, and the other has the tools and ingenuity to knock of the broken link with a allen tool and rocks.

The fix definitely works and could possibly be race worthy but the link was a 9spd instead of 10spd. Went to the bike shop after I licked my wounds at home, to get a new chain.

Well it's a short week, looks like I'm headed out to St. Louis for an underground crit. Hopefully I come out alive.

Here's to rest and some chili dogs.

2007-06-04T15:40:00.001-07:00

Airports Suck

2007-06-04T09:55:00.001-07:00

Day 3 conclusion.

What a day. The final race definitely defined Tulsa TOUGH. A hard day. It was real warm and really humid which is never fun. Plus a tough course, and fast riders all combined make a hard day. Erek and Alex were the only finishers, Alex cracking the top 20 yet again. For me it was the worst I've felt all year. Time to go home, day of rest and start to get ready for Fitchburg.

Overall it was a great 3 days. The young team learned a lot, and bonded even more. It looks like we finally have a steady mechanic that's young enough to mesh with us youngins and had plenty of experience to get our machines perfect.

I can't say enough about our host house. The were absolutely perfect, a beautiful house with a beautiful kitchen (every cyclists dream) and a even better spirit about having us there. It takes a lot to open up your house, and they really took care of us. Thank you Julie and Phil; and the O'Sullivans for putting up with Erek. LOL.

From the whole team we can't thank you enough.

Hopefully the team will make it back next year and get lucky to have the same host families.

Time to fly.

2007-06-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

Day 2

Rough day.

Not the fastest race ever.

Way to many guys at the end.

Its a bummer I'm not insured cause I would have loved to get frisky.

But I am super happy that my girl showed up to suprise me.

Alex got a top 20 I believe.

Today should be a good one.

A Nevada City type course for all the NorCal locals.

Erek and Alex should race well.

Spencer and I should should have a good day too.

Host house is cooking us an amazing breakfast.

TIME TO GRUB!

2007-06-01T21:47:00.000-07:00

Day one.

After our easy spin on the river, came home to take a nice nap.

Woke up and ate too much pasta before the crit.

Spent some good chamois time before the crit.

Lightning stuck within a few hundred yards of where we were warming up.

Rain was on and off before our race.

Delayed race.

Race stared on a wicked slippery 8 corner course.

No crashes from what I heard tell the last few laps.

Battle for the Successful Living train.

Ended up 6th

Erek 10th

Alex 24th

We will have our things together tomorrow.

Time for carbs and sleep.

2007-06-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Oh YA!

So I arrived in Tulsa last night after a long day of travel. We got set up with another sweet host house. The family is really laid back, and fun to chat with.

Legs feel a lot better than yesterday, slept pretty solid.

Great news is that it looks like it's gonna do the rain dance all weekend. Should be entertaining to see slip and slide on bikes.

2007-05-31T15:02:00.000-07:00

IDIOT!!!

Totally missed my connection cause I had my head so far up my... well you know.

Can't believe it, I never imagined this happening. This totally sucks, I was so looking forward to spinning the legs fresh tonight and tomorrow for the first big showdown tomorrow night. Hopefully things turn around and a spin in the morning will work just fine for the legs.

Oh, while running to the gate I messed up the left calf area. Can't quite point out what happened but hopefully its nothing major; just a tight ass calf from running for the first time in who knows how long. Already on the prowl for someone to give me a dandy rub when I get in.

F@*k I'm an idiot.