wanabepro

2007-01-31T06:00:00.000+01:00

Sometimes life just catches up with you, and the past 7 days or so have been that way for me. Between school and work I haven't gotten much in the way of quality training and for the first time in a month my training stress balance is in the positive ranges. That means my short term training load is less than my long term.... ie I'm losing fitness. As dumb as it sounds I feel overweight (still at 70kg and 8% fat) and I get really antsy when I don't train hard.

Anyway, I'm off to Ouray Colorado to ice climb for six days. It will be a welcome break, I guess sometimes you really do need to come up for air! After that I'm back to training seriously and I'm eagerly anticipating the start of the racing season in March.

Cheers!
Justin

2007-01-26T16:11:00.000+01:00

Its that time a year again folks! Time for.. a day in the life of your's truely!
Actually, I've had a really hard time writing blog posts recently. Maybe it is because I'm really busy with the combined school, work, training or because by the time my day is done is 10 or 11 pm and I just want to eat and go to bed. Alas, I will post soon about Europe this year (which I don't think is going to happen), my plans for next year , and the geekdom that is my training plan.

For those of you (ok, my Grandma is probably the only one but humor me) who are curious, here's a day in my life:

7:30ish- Wake up on futon, remember that air matress died and wish that I could get my sweet, sweet mattress that is in Missouri

8:30 (hahaha, more like 9)- Out the door, drive to work/school. Every day I wish it was warm enough to ride my bike because the traffic on 1300 E SUCKS. I blame such traffic for making me a very, very angry person.

9:10 to 10:30- Class time. I have Exploring Movement Science on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Psychology on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. More about Exploring Movement Science later.... oh do I have the greatest teacher in the world.

11:00am to 6:00pm- Work. Meh, I still like working in a bike shop most days. Check us out at www.cyclesmithslc.com. Hell, buy something! We just finished a renovation and need the money damnit.

7:00pm- On the trainer, avg. is about 90min a night and all of it is quality work. I've been doing two Hour of Power (HOP) sessions a week and filling in the rest with microbursts and some easy rides.

9:00pm- Eat, sleep, repeat

2007-01-05T17:19:00.000+01:00

My lawyers have advised me to issue the following statement for my own personal safety:

In past posts I have used terms such as "I'll clean it up soon" in reference to my apartment what I really mean is "my girlfriend will clean it up soon as she inevitably get sick of the mess". From now on whenever such activites like cleaning or housekeeping are mentioned with "we" assume the credit goes to my girlfriend. Thank you, that is all.

2006-12-17T20:48:00.000+01:00

Another day, another workout (see above), and my CTL and ATL creep a little bit higher. However, it isn't all about CTL, ATL, TSTWKT, Performance Manager, etc.... To me, its all just a means to an end. One part of that "end" is my power at threshold; the other, and the most important, part of that end is winning races. Winning is the overall goal, the power numbers are just a way to get there. Luckily, I believe there is a direct correlation between the numbers on my pretty little SRM screen and how well I'm doing in races. The performance manager has helped me to quantify that, and I really, really, really like numbers being the geek that I am.

Check out the workout above. I've been doing a lot of isopower workouts on the trainer where I'll hold a constant power for anywhere from 10-20minutes at 90-105% of my threshold power. Isopower workouts are great, but they do get a little bit boring. Plus, I think there is merit to what I call "bridge" workouts that span the difference between threshold and VO2 max (for me about 120% of my threshold). If the overall goal is to raise my threshold number then I have to spend some time above threshold (or above "ouch"; what ever have you). Today I did two ramp workouts where I raised my watts from 230-300 over about 20min. 230 watts being just below the low end of my threshold range and 300 being the begining of my VO2 max range.

Not to drag this wholey uncreative post on forever... but I've also been doing some work on my TT position. I think I've arrived at a place where I'm happy. Its a little bit lower (but my bars are still higher than they were in the begining of 2005) and a little bit more stretched out. Picture below... please note:

-The winter training beard, Zabriske is my hero- plus, I'm guessing its worth at least 30 seconds in the Valley TT when I shave it off)

-The cluter that is my apartment... ouch. I promise I'll clean it up soon mom! The kitchen is clean... for reals.

-No, dad, those are not your socks.... you wish! But, if you really want them back you can have them. Don't even start to think I'm going to wash them before they go in the mail though.

-My sweet, sweet John Deere hat, I bet ya'll wish you were sponsored by John Deere. Can anyone say motorpacing behind a tractor? Hmmmm, can ya?

2006-12-12T06:10:00.000+01:00

My fellow comrades, it is I- your benevolent dictator. It has been long since we have talked but never fear! All is well in our small but powerful country. I long debated my next blog post as Greg has my blog linked through http://wattagetraining.com now. Should I become more professional? Should I, the great, merely document my training and coaching philosophies without dramatic interludes from interesting, if a little insane, characters like my foot or my benevolent dictator alter ego? Then I thought.... nah! Mi Tifosi*, they love me for who I am!

I hope that from now on my blogging can be as consistent as my training. I realize that I could have ridden my bike once in the last three months and that would be the case but fear not; for I have been training well. The only thing I've been struggling with since my return from Europe (other than getting Bernard to answer my emails... I hope he's reading this...) has been balancing the old school European training methods (lots of lllloooonnnngggg slow base miles, think 5-7 hours on the bike just spinning) with the current exercise physiology train of thought (super efficient rides with lots of time spent at or near threshold). Now, I realize that is a super over simplification of things so nobody get on my case.

The new Cycling Peaks WKO+ has really helped my training, mainly the performance manager chart (PMC) or as it has come to be known... TSTWKT (The "Stuff" That Will Kill Them). Basically, it tracks my daily TSS (training stress score) and averages it over two set periods of time. One is my long term training load and the other my short term training load. The magic is in the decay rate of those values (or so I'm told, I'm learning more every day). My goal is to steadily raise my long term training load (or CTL, chronic training load) to 100 TSS/d by Valley of the Sun- my first big stage race of the season. I can do this by making sure my short term training load (or ATL, acute training load) is always 5-15 TSS/day higher than my CTL.

I say 5-15 TSS/day because anything more is too much too soon and anything less won't get me to where I need to be in time. This is the true art of the PMC.... figuring out how much is just enough. I found that I could sustain 20-30 TSS/D of ATL over my CTL (which would give me a training stress balance of negative 20-30) for a few weeks at the most. Useful for overloading I'm sure, but not useful for this time a year when I need to consistently ride every week to build my aerobic "base"- more on that later.

Here's my ride from today, one of my favorite trainer rides:

Cheers, and thanks for reading!
Justin

*Tifosi are the rabid, italian cycling fans. They be C R A Z Y.

2006-08-14T15:40:00.000+02:00

TSS and my life

Aren't those some pretty colored lines up above? Sure, pretty to you maybe, but they represent my life! My life man! Ok, that's a little* over the top but my SRM did arrive at the begining of this month (August for those of you who live in a basement on a computrainer and never see the light of day). This combined with a lovely bit of software called
Cycling Peaks (no, people, they are not paying me to say all this, I swear) has really helped me focus my training back to where it should be. Well, my SRM, CyclingPeaks, and the flipping hot weather.

I'm kind of a wuss and don't like to ride outside when its 100 degrees. Especially after the beautiful hole I dug for myself at the IL state TT. Hence, I've been doing a lot of work on the trainer. A few observations:

1. I get bored on the trainer
2. I need a bigger fan
3. If I'm riding so hard I can't see straight... the trainer is less boring

I'll never just get on the trainer and ride, that'll kill me. I will however do specific work... hell, I actually enjoy it. My typical workouts for the week:

1. Some sort of Neuro Muscular sprint workout, usually micro intervals (15 sec on/off). I decided my NM skills needed some work after Andy Coggan outsprinted me, Andy is strong as a flippin Ox, just not for 10sec.

2. Threshold work... Ah, the base of every cyclist's training plan (at least us endurance boys and girls, I can't speak for the match sprinters on the track). I've been doing at least one threshold day a week, sometimes 2. My favorite thus far has been a quasi hour of power workout. 10min at 100% of my threshold wattage followed by 30sec-1min of easy spinning just so I don't go insane (or my ass doesn't burn off, stupid saddle sores), repeated 4-6 times. The classic 2-3X20min workout is another favorite.

3. Criss Cross intervals. I love these, been doing them since I was a we lad of 16 and racing mountain bikes. 1min at 100% of threshold wattage, 1min at 120% of threshold wattage, repeated for 10min. I've been doing 3 blocks with 5min inbetween each, but I'm going to try and push it to four this week. This is a great bridge between VO2 max workouts and LT work.

4. VO2 Max work. These are fun, I love them (probably because my VO2 max wattage has always been porportionally higher than my LT wattage). The two versions of these I really like are 5 X 5min at 120% of my threshold wattage with 3-5min of recovery and 6 X 3min at 120-125% of threshold wattage with 3min of recovery, then 4X2min with 4min of recovery at 120% of threshold wattage. That last one is straight out of "Racing and Training With a Power Meter". I actually did these yesterday...tasty!

5. Long ride... Gotta get in a long ride every week. If nothing else, for my sanity. I still LOVE just going for a long bike ride.

6. Recovery day. I've actually been motorpacing behind the subaru on my recovery days. 60min of little chainring spinning.

Sorry, just geek talk today. More funny anecdotes to come...

2006-07-23T18:27:00.000+02:00

"Never Stop Believing" -Floyd Landis

Once again, France weeps tonight. The Star Spangled Banner was played in Paris as another American stood on the top step of the final podium of the Tour de France. Most of the people reading this already knew this, but did anyone notice the changes in Landis' demeanor as the tour progressed? In the begining, on the podium, he looked cocky and confident. At the end, he appeared humble. And, dare I say, more deserving?

It annoys me when the race leaders in the Tour break out the yellow bike and the yellow shoes, helmet, socks, gloves, glasses, etc, etc, etc. I don't think that doing so is very respectfull towards what is the greatest cycling race in the world. Maybe because of this I didn't like Floyd at first. But, his courage (and dare I say panache? damnit, I sound french) changed my mind. I am very glad that Landis was forced to go on that long breakaway and forced to punch out a phenomincal time trial. He earned this tour victory more so than if he had not blown up on that mountain stage. Congradulations Landis, if it matters you have earned the respect of one more hack cat 3 wanabe.

I respect Lance for his perfection and preperation, and I respect Floyd for his courage and determination. I've had my doubts about my own cycling ability, yesterday's race was one of them, but I've never really stopped believing. Before I left Belgium I was told that my two greatest attributes were my dedication and determination. If that's what I have to work with then I'll get on the bike more than the other guy, work harder than the other guy, and be more willing to kill everyone around me in each race I do. Whatever it takes....

Thanks for reading,
justin

2006-07-18T03:42:00.000+02:00

Nothing but a quick update for everyone....

I'm back in Washington Missouri. I have to say that its quite enjoyable to be able to understand everything and everybody around me once again. That being said, its hotter than hell here in Missouri and humid to boot. Everyone said that I wouldn't be as jet lagged as when I flew to Belgium... but I've still felt pretty lousy for the past week. I've gotten in an hour and a half of riding each day. Mostly, its just easy spinning on the TT bike to get ready for a 40K TT last Saturday and then the Missouri state championship time trial this Sunday.

I've changed all of my bikes over to the new fit that Frans gave me- including the mountain bike and time trial bike. I even got the new monkey-ape hanger wide road bars on (46cm outside to outside!) as well as the new saddles- Fizik Aliante on the road bike and a Fizik Arione on the time trial bike. I really, really, really like the chnages in my position. My saddle is a little higher and more forward and the bars are a little higher in addition to being wider. Even though I like it I'm not quite used to it yet and lacking a little when I really have to throw down.

Speaking of throwing down, the time trial on Saturday was nothing but a crash course in heat acclimation. 40 kilometers (25 miles) of slightly rolling and slightly windy roads. It was also One Hundread and Two degrees, stop.... wait.... let that sink in....

1 0 2 deg.

Yeah, that's kinda hot. I diligently drank a lot of water and gatorade duing my warm-up and drained a little more than one liter over the hour. During the time trial itself I drank from the hydrapack I tucked under my skinsuit every 3min and drained another liter and 3 GUs. I have NEVER drank that much in a time trial.

Yet, on the second lap everything still started to shut down. First, I stopped sweating... ok, bad but not to bad. Then I noticed a cool breeze. Cool breeze? It was still over 100 deg... there was absolutely nothing cool in the air except in my own convection oven of a brain. That was a little more than bad but I had no choice other than riding it in because I was in the middle of nowhere (actually, Marine Illinois is farther than nowhere). I figured the faster I rode the faster I'd be out of the heat. Obviously I wasn't thinking right... and by that point I was feeling sick as well. Luckily, the water stayed down- which is more than I can say for my finishing time.

One hour seven minutes... That is seriously slow, even if the fastest time on the day was only 58min (way slow for a 40K TT). I was beyond delerious after I crossed the line. I couldn't find my car (thanks to my super hot and supportive girl friend I managed though), then even after a liter and a half of gatorade and a half hour there was no sweating to be had. In fact, I wasn't able to prespire until about two and a half hours after I was done. To put it lightly, I was MESSED UP. Regardless, it was a good effort and at least I'll be a little bit more comforatable for the state championships next weekend.

In the Start Tent:

Until Next time!

Justin

2006-07-08T18:54:00.000+02:00

One last ride in Belgium, 2 hours became 3, just pictures:

2006-07-07T22:43:00.000+02:00

In the spirit of other cycling center alumnus who I hold in high regards such as Eric Fostvedt and Paul Kronser this blog is simple and to the point. Its a list of everything I'm going to miss in Belgium. I'm pretty sure everyone knows what I'm NOT going to miss so I'm just leaving that out. Here goes...

I'm going to miss shopping runs to the GB and the Delhaise, almost dieing in the fun bus on those trips, early morning sober rides through the fog, omlettes in the morning, pre-race day pasta fests, cleaning my bike with the guys, just looking at all of the bikes in the garage and thinking about how beautiful they are, the cycling center "internet cafe" (Eric's words, not mine), the Senseo maching coffee after rides, beautiful paradise evenings before it rains, getting lost, the cycling center pancake world championships, waking up to emails from home, rocking the stars and stripes, angry kitchen, going from town to town until you find one you recognize then finally being able to ride home, 2 hour rides becoming 4 hour rides, solo on the canal roads thinking about life, sandwhiches from the butcher, being dubbed the waffle monster by Alvin, talking with my homeboy Aaron Pool about life, the beer, day trips into Brugge, evening spins into Oostcamp to have a good sit with Aaron, the 55 white H, making Wilson go on scavenger hunts for his shoes, getting lost on my first solo ride only to run into a teammate I hadn't meet yet, Nate pulling me back to the field, riding by castles, seeing more bike routes painted on the roads than I'll ever be able to follow, Tea Time with the best teammates a guy could ask for, the Senseo Machine Coffee in the morning, the night, and everywhere inbetween.

But, most of all, I'm going to miss all of my teammates. Aaron for being a friend for 5 years, getting lost and breaking spokes with Alvin, Whit's wisdom, Ron for being a cool mofo, Kiel for some bad ass talks that helped me get a hold of life, Dominique and Brett Stewart for sharing the same dreams as me after cycling but still holding onto pedaling for a little longer, Bret Glemboki and his great opinions, and Nate Fields for keeping me in line when I needed it and helping me skirt outside of it when I needed it even more.

Most of all, I too am going to miss the teammates who have become more than just teammates over the past 45 days. Remember that cycling is fighting? At the risk of sounding stupidly romantic (aw, what the hell, I already do) I'd fight with these guys any day. Thanks to everyone who has made the past two months a life changing experience for me. My parents for getting me here, Doug at the shop for keeping me in line and MAKING me eat that burger every once in a while, Katie for putting up with me seeing more of my bike that her and being crabby at races, Greg for his guidance and reality checks, Dale Brigham for being such a great coach that I will always remember him, and Brian Reilly for all of those long miserable training rides where we dreamed about kicking some euro ass.

This is my last post from Belgium. Thanks for reading, keep the rubber side down, and remember:

If you're not afraid of what you're about to try, then you're not challenging yourself enough.

No excuses; train like a champion,
Justin

2006-07-02T21:39:00.000+02:00

Entitled? I Think Not

Let's get something out of the way quickly. The race did not go well today, for me it was over on the first lap. My legs had nothing in them at all. We did the first half of our warm-up by motorpacing the team car (ok, I'll admit, that felt SO PRO) then just spun around until the start. The whole time my legs felt like they were on the verge of cramping- weird. After a parade lap through town it was on like Donkey Kong. 2min in I was in my 11tooth (that's the biggest gear on the bike for all you non-cyclists). Yep, it hurt and I blew up, then about got killed trying to motorpace the caravan of team cars behind the race. End of story. On the plus side Alvin and I rode easy for a few hours after the race through some cool french towns. The French coutryside is gourgeous. I'm still pissed, way angry, which leades me to:

My Angry Rant

How did I get so angry? Listening to Iron Maiden on the way to the last race might have had something to do with it. Fighting for wheels against indignant Euro Trash bike racers also, probably, maybe, possibly, has something to do with it too. For those readers who aren't very familiar with cycling there is a lot of fighting that goes on. Fighting for a start position. Fighting with your bike through corners at 20, 30, 40 mph. Fighting to turn over a big enough gear just to stay with the guy in front of you. Fighting to get off the front, to make the winning move, fighting just to finish one race.

There's fighting in the group for the "good wheels". Those are the people that stay near the front of the race, stay out of trouble, don't do anything stupid, and go with the good moves off the front. There aren't many of these wheels in any peleton so being able to draft them is a precious comodity. Anything goes when you're trying to get on one- or stay on one. That's just the thing- some euro trash punk thinks that just because he's grown up racing his bike he deserves to follow one of those people more than I do. Just because he can yell at me and I have no clue what he's saying or because he's grown up on teams with free bikes, masseuses, and cars. Well you know what I finally realized- SCREW THEM. The wheel I'm following is MY wheel. I choose to be there, I fought to get there. Guess what? That punk trying to chop me out of the draft by leaning into me and throwing an elbow gets to go home to his Mom and his Girlfriend, gets to sleep in his own bed and hang out with his friends the next day. Know where I'll be? Slaving my way forward on my bike, or weighing my food, or staying off my feet and thinking about everything back home. From now on, its my wheel because I don't understand the language or like the food, or have anyone to go home to but twenty other guys in the same situation all living the same dream. Belgium, France, Missouri, or Utah... its my wheel.

People always ask me what I've learned racing in Europe so here goes.

I've learned that bike racing is fighting.

I've learned that you better be willing to kill the guy racing next to you because he's sure as hell ready to kill you.

I've learned that doing anything to win is what you actually have to do to win. No favors, no gifts, screw them all.

If you haven't guessed my Belgian Odessey (as I've taken to calling my stay here) is over for all intents and purposes. No more races, no more training plans, all I have is a bike fit and a train/plane ride then I'm back home.

Thanks for reading, sorry for the anger, happier posts ahead,

Justin

2006-07-02T10:31:00.000+02:00

Grand Prix Preux-AU-Bois

On this, my last day as a teenager, I'm off to race in France. It will be the fourth country I've raced in over the past 3 years (the US, Canada, and Belgium being the other three) and my second to last race here in Europe this year. Its "short" for European standards- about 120 kilometers. To be honest, I'm done 'just trying to finish' these races. I want to actually race and I got a taste of it last time. So, rather than sitting in the pack and trying to conserve energy I'm going to focus on sitting in the top 20-30 and go with attacks. Screw the French!

We have another rather large team heading out:
Nate Fields
Nick Hight-Huff
Alvin Nordell
Scott Tietzel
Chris Wilson
Jason Woods
and of course myself

Two guys are out with injuries, Matt Bright and Paul Kronser, and we'll miss them. Right now I'm listening to the elaborate plans my teammates are laying for the race... and knowing that everything will go to hell as soon as we start. Here's to pedaling hard! Of course, I'll try to post a race report when we get home.

Thanks for reading,
Justin

2006-06-30T13:36:00.000+02:00

Cycling Center/ Bio Racer Cycling Team To Race Tour de France

This just in:

Press Release: June 30, 2006 In light of the recenent developments with Operation Puerto and the subsequent suspension of Jan "Thunder Thighs" Ulrich and Ivan "Italian Fur Back" Basso, as well as twenty other cyclists, the Cycling Center/ Bio Racer team based out of Hertsberge, Belgium has been invited to race in the 2006 Tour de France. The 93rd Tour de France promises to be an exciting afair and will involve 20 stages covering some 3,600 kilometres including nine flat stages, five mountain stages, four medium mountain stages and two individual time trials. When asked why he choose the Cycling Center/Bio Racer team over other teams throughout the European continent, especially considering their amateur staus, Christian Prudhomme, the head of the Tour, said, "We chose them because they're clean. I mean seriously, have you seen their results? Have they even won a Kermis?" Prudhimme quickly did an about-face and commented on the future of the sport. "The Americans currently have an unheard of win to rider ratio in the Tour. I mean, recently they've had 10 wins with only about 10 riders total racing (ed. note: versus the 0 to 1000 win to rider ratio of French cycling) this is something we clearly cannot bear to live with. By inviting the Cycling Center/ Bio Racer team we will for sure change this ungodly ratio back to where it once was." Prudhomme then added that he missed his mother, his poodle, and that he cries himself to sleep every night at the thought of another English speaking winner.

2006-06-28T12:47:00.000+02:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you

OMELET

It is a fine day for developing cyclist's everywhere. I have proven that it is possible for a 19 year old who kind of knows how to live on his own can indeed make a tasty egg treat. I would like to thank Nate Fields (because I stole his pan), Katie (because she taught me long ago how), and all of my other sponsors and supporters. I could not have done it with out you.

Cheers,
Justin

2006-06-28T11:22:00.000+02:00

If you're not sick then you're not training hard enough
-Bob Roll

Thanks Bobke, great advice (not that I followed it), I have a nice cruise to Siberia I would like to send you on. Yeah, you probably guessed it, I'm sick. Nothing to bad, it feels like a cold. The inklings of it were there on Monday so I took it easy with the hopes that I could still race on Tuesday. That, however, was not happeneing.

When I woke up yesterday a semi-truck had lodged itself into my nasal cavity and its green diesel fuel was leaking out of my nose and down my throat (how's that for a mental image... my appologies). The only racing that I was doing was to the bathroom to blow my nose. Of course I'm dissapointed; but I am also trying to play it smart for once and not ride until I'm completely better. If that takes a few days then so be it. I really hope that I feel better by this weekend because I'm supposed to race on Sunday and plus my Brithday is Monday (and from then on I will be able to make fun of teenagers with impunity). Who wants to be sick on their Birthday?

Luckily, I didn't miss much in the race. It was canceled an hour and a half in because there was to much traffic on the course. Head on car traffic that is. The Belgian drivers are crazy enough- I would hate to be staring down the grill of a Citrogen while I was stuck on the wrong side of some six foot six Belgian racer who could care less about some dumb American.

In case you're wondering, it is possible to spend 12 hours online and not get a single productive thing done. I should know, I accomplished that very feat yesterday. I didn't even get a blog entry up. I did, however, try to isolate myself from my fellow compatriots as much as possible by hudling in the corner of the commons with my laptop, a vat of green tea, and a Nalgene bottle. If any of you are reading this, I swear I wasn't trying to be an ass- I just didn't want to get anyone else sick.

I'd like to make a buisness proposition to every one reading this (that's what, 6 people including my parents and my girlfriend... I really need better marketing). Do you have a Belgian team or individual racer you don't like? Someone who's euro mullet is just that little bit to long and stringy or racing style is to cold and robotic? Well, that's where I come in handy. I can guarantee without a reasonable doubt that I can give them this fine virus that is propogating within me right now. All I need is:

-Their address
-A picture, preferably not in team kit
-$ 500 euro
-A Cervelo Soloist Aluminum with full record, Lightweight wheels, and an SRM professional

Use me, I'm yours.

Next race is Sunday... I may go crazy if I can't do it.

Thanks for reading,
Justin

P.S. The pic is from my very first race in Belgium about a month ago. That's Paul giving Wesely the sweet loving in the fun bus- the oldest of the team vans.

2006-06-26T19:59:00.000+02:00

Just FYI, I totally smoked Alvin and got my blog up wayyyy faster than he did. Its ok Alvin, you just need more base.

Justin

2006-06-26T18:04:00.000+02:00

Glimmers of Hope

Ladies and Gentlemen, its time for another (albei brief) race report. EIGHT of us raced on Saturday in a town called Oostrozenbeke (I think I spelled that right but I'm never sure). Now, eight people is a huge team to bring to a Kermis and is way more people than any of the other Belgian teams show up with. I'm not sure if it really matters but I swear the few times we've shown up with huge teams like that all of us are more likely to get "The Belgian Treatment" from the other guys racing. Of course, having a cycling kit that is practically made out of the American Flag doesn't help either... talk about a walking target. The good thing is that if we can sruvive these races with everyone gunning for us then we're set when really racing.

Back to the race. The course was flat, with some corners, a really fast chicane, and some traffic furniture. Basically, a course that suited me very well. Bizare enough, the changing rooms were in some guy's garage... that was pretty cool. I almost missed my start again (it happened at the U23 race too, we were in the wrong town and had to big ring it to the start) but this time it worked out perfectly. I slid right in next to nate on the second row and we held our ground- which entaield slowly walking our bikes forward with one foot clipped in so that no one lining up in front of us stayed there for long.

The attacks began as soon as the start (still no whistle, guys just went!) and I ended up in the middle of the peleton pretty quickly. We exited a corner on the first lap to find a tractor trailer filled with hay sitting in the middle of the road. Remember, Belgian roads are not big to begin with. I clocked the hay filled offender with my shoulder and just about got gapped off right then and there but Nate gave me a good wheel to get back on with.

After that, things got better and better. I was able to fight my way near the front and find some good wheels. Wheel which I fought tooth and nail for to keep. At one point I had my shoulder up under a guy's armpit... that was interesting. About 45min in I did something I haven't done in a race in quite sometime. I looked around. I realized how freaking cool it was to be screaming through this town and fighting for wheels shoulder to shoulder at 50 kph. I also began to see the ebb and the flow of the peleton and it was gorgeous.

I lasted about an hour in the Kermis. That's my best yet by far but still not stellar. I WILL finish a Kermis before I leave. Only 3 more races, including one in France, and then I'm back home. I'm trying really hard not to count down the days till I leave. So, I wouldn't know that there's only 11 days left in my Belgian Odessey Part 1.

Yes, Part 1. I talked with Bernard today and it seems pretty optimistic that I'll get to come back next year. That is, considering I work really, really hard over the fall and winter. I need to be down 4 kilos, and up 50 watts... and I can make it happen.

Finally, I'm hopefully racing again tomorrow but we'll see. I woke up pretty congested this morning and Berard had me just ride for a little while on the trainer rather than outside. If I'm not perfect I'm not supposed to race... updates to come.

Thanks for reading!
Justin

P.S. Check out the new quote at the top of the page

P.P.S. The photo below is our team camp from the U23 provencial championships last weekend. Pretty nice if I do say so myself.

2006-06-24T10:21:00.000+02:00

An Ode to Wesley...

Wesley is a swell Oak (Oak is the South African version of Bloak which is like the American Dude). He's slept in the bunk under me now for a month. It's amazing how good of friends we've become in only a month. I guess when you live with someone, race with someone, and are just put into stressfull situations with someone you either learn to hate them or like them. Wesley leaves tomorrow and in honor of his passing I am trying to adopt as many South African phrases as possible. Without further ado, this is Wesley:

At the produce stand...

Staring hopelessly at:

This is the bike box room. Its not very big but we've been able to cram about 18 or so bike boxes into it. Wesley's is in the far, bottom, right hand corner. We have aptly named the act of getting one's bike box out the Tetris Game From Hell. Have fun with that one buddy!

Life in the Cycling Center without Wesley's sense of humor won't quite be the same. Of course, he farts in his sleep and then giggles. That I probably won't miss, but it did provide conversation material at the breakfast table the next day. So, Wesley, I'll miss you man! And, I get your bunk- thanks!

As always, thanks for reading!

Cheers,
Justin

2006-06-23T21:17:00.000+02:00

Hey all, I've been really bad at updating this during the last few days. Sorry about that; I've been training really hard for the last few days. Sprints on Tuesday, Hill repeats on Wednesday, Intervals on Thursday, and a nice chill pre-race day today. It feels great to be training hard again and I think it'll help with the block of racing I'm looking at. Here's what the next few days look like:

Tomorrow (Saturday): Race
Sunday: OFF
Monday: Pre-race day
Tuesday: Race
Wednesday, Thursday: Sprints
Friday: Pre-Race day
Saturday: Race
Sunday: Intervals
Monday: 90min easy (and more importantly my BDay!)
Tuesday: OFF, 4th of July
Wednesday: Sprints
Thursday: Pre-Race day
Friday: Race

After that the fat lady sings and I'm on a plane back to the states. I've started to miss home a little, especially the girl friend. Paul and I agreed that if we didn't have the only 4-man room in the house (rather than 2) it would make life a lot easier. Regardless, I'm pumped for this last block of racing. Time to give these Belgian's hell.

You train like you live and you race like you train!

Cheers,
Justin

P.S. Pictures and an ode to my soon to be former roomate Wessley tomorrow- he flies back to South Africa on Sunday.

2006-06-20T11:47:00.000+02:00

The Beach, Blood, and of course- Bikes

If you want to see chaos you should take 20 young men, thousands of miles from home, living in the same house, with lots of free time, and NO INTERNET. Well, I shouldn't say no internet. There were two cables that worked which made things all the worse. The cutthroat tactics we've all been learning by racing here in Belgium were applied to gain access to the precious, precious internet cable. Elbows were thrown, wheels were chopped, and jerseys tugged. Luckily, everything works as of this morning so we are all back to being friendly teammates again.

In other news, I was finally given the results from my lactate test I did about 2 weeks ago. It turns out that I have a killer "base" (lots of low end power for long amounts of time) but absolutely no high end. Drat, that means lots and lots of intervals. It also explains why I've been having trouble in races. I'm happy that I know what's going on now and can work to fix it. I'd rather have a big base than a good high end because it takes a long time to get a good base but the high end can be improved in a relatively short period. Enough bike geek mumbo-jumbo, I'm sure most of the non-geek cyclists have already moved onto the next paragraph....

Alvin, Brett Stewart, and I rode to the beach yesterday. While we managed to take a slightly roundabout way to get there (Alvin, the coast is NORTH not SOUTH), the three of us didn't get too lost and got in a good 4.5 hours on the bike. The tailwind coming home was killer, and the head/cross winds on the way out were equally so.

The city we ended up in is called Oostende and its the most modern European city I've seen so far (which isn't saying much). We wandered the streets for a while then found the beach. The Belgian coast looked, well, cold and windy. Leave the suntan lotion at home. Most of the city looked pretty new and I was wondering if most of it got leveled in one of the world wars. After we had our fair share of the city we took the canal roads back to Brugge and then home. Life is great ya?

I'll be racing this Saturday and next Tuesday, then two more the next week. Its hard to believe I only have 18 days left in Belgium!

Cheers,
Justin

2006-06-15T17:00:00.000+02:00

Mmmmm, Waffles. I Like Waffles

I like Waffles
and my Craft gloves
and my Craft hat
and my Craft show covers
hey Craft, want to sponsor me?

The picture is from the 75K white H loop that Dominique and I did today. It rained for the first half of the ride and my bike that was cleaned an polished last night (yeah, polished, I got way agro) is now dirtier than my mountain bike after most races. It was still a good 3 hour ride.

What's up with the waffles, you may ask. Well, we're supposed to eat every 30min on a ride. So, on that ride I at 6 times. I try to supplement my diet of delicious and nutritious Pro Bars with something else. When eating that much, though, stuff gets old pretty fast. My current favorite are these 18 pack of mini waffles I can get for .50 a box. Two of those with a little jam or peanut butter between them are quite tasty. I love them so, I love them so much that I need to find a good place to keep them so I won't be tempted to eat them between rides. Speaking of that, I'm down to 72 kilos (I was at 73 when I got here)- 1/2 a kilo (1.1 lbs) a week will keep me quite happy if I can keep it up.

Not much else is new. I'm doing an U21 (under 21 years old) Kermis with five other guys from the team on Saturday and pretty pumped about that. Pumped because it sounds like a cool race and because I'll get to race with Aaron "wattage cottage" Pool. Aaron and I go way back and have raced together since we were wee lads. We even had the same coach for a pretty good spell- who I might add was the best coach a junior could ever ask for (Thanks Dale!) . Aaron was supposed to go home right after I got here but ended up staying for the whole season because he's such a stud. It'll be great to stick it to the Belgian's together!

Pre-race day tomorrow which means lots of food a short ride and then cleaning the bike. I'm sure everyone will get to hear about the race Saturday night.

Cheers,
Justin

2006-06-14T10:51:00.000+02:00

So, above is my sad attempt at my version of the 50 cent Movie Poster I'll steal someone's computer with photoshop and then it'll get better, I promise, its a work in progress.

Speaking of things getting better... We raced yesterday in a small town called Wakken. The course was fun, pleanty of traffic furniture in the first 2 kilometers. For those non-cyclists, Traffic Furnture is anything in the middle of the road like a traffic circle, sign, speed bump, etc. When we're hauling butt down the road in a pack they're not the easiest things to see until one guy in front of you goes right, the other goes left and you're staring at a rapidly approaching sign. It looks kind of like THIS .

What is an American cyclist to do in such a situation? I was educated by the all great and powerful Nate Fields in the art of the backwards roll in at the starting line. It was actually quite simple. Rather than lining up 15min early we kep riding, rode towards the start line (backwards, so we're facing the people already lined up), got off our bikes to turn them around and squezed our lycra clad butts right into the front row. Score one for the good guys!

The race started like usual with some Belgian going off the front from the line and his teammates blocking for him. Oddly, that's a tactic that can actually work in the states. Here, we just swarmed his team and wouldn't let them back through to the front of the pack. This was by far the most technical Kermis I've done so far. Once we turned off the main road through town it was narrow and twisting with seven or eight corners in about five kilometers. That made it all the more important that I stay near the front... so what does some Belgian kid do on the second 7 kilomter lap? He loses the wheel in front of him and a huge gap starts to open.

Now, in a Kermis, it feels like you're closing a gap out of every corner and I was in no mood to close this one because Belgian homeboy #1 didn't want to dig deep. So, I grabbed his shoulder and slung myself across. Did he cuss at me? Yeah. Did the guys behind me do the same thing? Yeah. Is all fair in love, war, and Belgium bike racing? Yeah, although the last two are pretty similar.

The funny thing about Kermis's (and I'm assuming all bike races over here) is that by the end of the first lap you're so engrosed in the race that:

A. It feels like you've been there forever

and

B. As far as you know there is nothing else going on in the world

Scary, I think, but oh so fun. To make a long story short, the familiar cycle of BRAKE, CORNER, ACCELERATE, BRAKE, CORNER, ACCELERATE eventually got to me and I lost the pack then did another lap or two with a local guy and got pulled. I lasted longer than I have yet! I seem to have a few more of those accelerations in my legs each time so there is hope. All in all, it was a long, successfull day on the bike. It took us an hour to ride there, half and hour of riding the course before the race, and hour of racing, an hour of z2 after the race, an hour back to the house and then Nate, Alvin, and I went out for another hour when we got home. I think all of us were a little angry because we had a rotation going at almost 40 kph within the first 10min, we stopped that crap real quick but I still did some tempo to vent.

5.5 hours on the bike
1 hour above threshold according to my HR monitor
4 pro bars
5 sandwhiches
2 Gus
1 coke
6 bottles of water
2 bottles of Maximize Sugar stuff
1 broken bike (Matt crashed again...)
1 Dinner at 10pm (didn't stop riding till 9)
10 hours of glorious sleep

Cheers,
Justin

2006-06-13T12:52:00.000+02:00

We're going to battle
Pray for good legs
...good wheels to follow
...and a mind that's in the game
Time to rip off some legs and live the dream
110 kilometers of opportunity

Cheers,
J

2006-06-11T10:45:00.001+02:00

The Famed Hertsberge City Limit Sprint

I'm on the left leaning on my roommate Wesley "The Cage Fighting Weasel"

This was last Tuesday, we had a good ride. 2.5 hours up to the canal roads and back. Yes, I won the sprint, that is all.

J

2006-06-11T10:45:00.000+02:00

A Great Week for Rookie Mistakes

Now is as good a time as any to put an update up here- mainly because I’m not racing today like I planned and I was thinking about the past week, trying to learn from my mistakes. What better way to do such a thing than to put them up on my blog for everyone to see hence forth, if I make them again I shall be beaten with a pedal wrench

I finished up last week with back to back races on Saturday and Sunday. Both were normal Kermises (I’m not sure what the plural of Kermis is… Kermisi, Kermess…?). Six to seven kilometer circuits, one wide road, some narrow roads, a few corners, and a section though town on some baby cobbles. The fields were of average size, probably 80+ people and there was even a decent crowd and on supposedly some sweet, sweet beer schwag on Saturday (two bottles and a glass) for the racers. Geert, the assistant director sportif, offered to grab ours for us so we’ll see if we ever see it again.

My race on Saturday was over before it ever really began. We rode out there and I felt good, nervous but good. It was beautiful weather and we didn’t even have to wear arm warmers. All of us assumed our typical starting positions near the front in the Race Before The Race. There’s always lots of sneaky behavior before the start- guys trying to back their way into the front starting row, pushing their way through from the back to the front, moving barriers to get in, and hiding in an alley just down the road. Then, there’s the Americans- we do all of the above (so does everybody) except maybe hiding in the alleys. Luckily, we have the added benefit of not knowing how to speak Dutch so when they yell at us for doing something wrong we can just stare at our front wheel and, well, act like we can’t understand because we can’t (ignorance has its benefits). Eventually, they just give up and let us sit there.

Somehow the race began (I didn’t hear anything that sounded like go… maybe it was telepathic?) and we bunched up down the first wide straightaway with a headwind. I should have kept my eyes open more because most of the field was moving up on the left and I promptly lost my killer position at the front. To be honest, I was so intent on staying out of the wind that I lost the race right then and there.

From there we dove into a right hand corner and the road narrowed by about 400%. I was far enough back to have to accelerate out of the corner but still had hope to move up and starting picking off guys 2 at a time like Aaron showed me. By the time I was through the next corner I was with two of my teammates- Paul and Derek. Promptly through the corner and I hear STUPID AMERICAN and one of the new guys, Matt, is standing beside the road collecting the stuff like water bottles and the such that happens to come off your bike when you go down and the OTHER Matt on our team is bouncing through the peleton but keeping it upright. Perhaps that was an omen; on the next corner I was sitting inside of Derek and he didn’t know I was there. Before I knew it I was pinched off the road and off the back- Race over and it was totally my fault for not telling him I was there.

And Now, Sunday

Blah, same deal… 16 or 17 laps, same basic course layout, same people showing up…

There was actually a glimmer of hope in this race (and I will hold onto that glimmer for as long as is needed). I got a front row starting position and actually spent some time off the front…. In the firs 200m but hey, I’ll take what I can get. Through the first corners I was in the top 20-30 and the difference was like night and day. There were no stupid accelerations through out of them and I felt good, good enough I had to keep reminding myself that it was only the first lap. I moved up little by little- mostly through the corners. Feeling good in a race over here was an amazing experience- the sights and the sounds were just surreal.

Yeah, then I ended up in the dirt. About ½ through the 2nd or 3rd lap (I’m not sure because I lost track of time) I took the outside line through a corner and tried to move around a guy. He saw me coming before I had even thought about such a move and steered left just a little enough to put me off the road. I kept it up, made it back onto the asphalt but it took me 30-40 places to get back into the line. NO ONE would let me in so I eventually just picked the smallest guy out there and chopped him- sorry buddy, rubbing’s racing!

I was at the back again and it only took another lap before I just couldn’t close the gaps out of the corners. Race over- part 2. Lesson learned, kill to stay at the front, look around and learn from the other people, and for the love of god- don’t try to pass people in the corners.

Until next time…
J

2006-06-04T09:06:00.000+02:00

I dunno why, I found this hilarious.

2006-06-04T08:43:00.000+02:00

The race yesterday did not go as planned. I ended up off the road on the first lap and then chasing back on to no avail. I pulled the plug and rode for 2.5 hours afterwards and then was much more happy. Racing again today in T minus five hours!

Cheers,
Justin

2006-06-01T12:45:00.000+02:00

Two blogs in one day? Madness, just Madness.

Our group ride just got cancelled because it is pouring and freezing so I have a bit of spare time. Just enough to post my first race report, horray!

First off, everything you here about Belgian racing is true.

Its fast… very fast. Except that its not the 30mph for one little crit lap, its consistently over 27mph

The corners go way slow… and then it’s a dead sprint out of them back up to speed. Do that about 100 times and tell me how it goes

Unless you’re of fine flanderian descent the wind will beat you to a lactic acid induced plulp. If you are of flanderian descent then you just put the Americans in the wind, and laugh

Three words- in the gutter

Finally, each local race in Belgium is bigger and more exciting than all but the biggest race in the US. People asked for my autograph, my bottles, my picture, they announced my name (as a foreigner, maybe it was a warning to the other riders), and kids cheered for me by name. All I can say it cool, very very cool

The seven of us drove out as a team to the race start and got there about two hours before the start, plenty of time. We changed in a community center behind a bar. The inside had chairs lined up in four rows, each pair facing each other with a table separating them. By itself, this would have made my day at any race in the US of A. Just imagine, no more chamoising up in the front seat of a car or bare-assing it in the parking lot.

Registration was a very interesting beast. Held in a smoke filled bar (the classic way) it only cost 3 euro to race. It did, however, take the Belgian man at the computer a full 20min to put in my information. Let’s see… find the J, then the U, then the S, the T, the I, the N, The G, R, now look for the other I…

We tried, and failed, to find the route for about a half hour then retreated to the car. I proceeded to put more and more warming oil on my legs (just as good as a warm-up, I swear) and we went out once more. This time we actually found the course and did a few laps then lined up.

I was warned many, many times before the race that the race is won (and more often lost) at the start. If you’re not in the first few rows and you’re not Boonen, then you’re not going to go anywhere but backwards. Most of us actually got a pretty good position in my opinion although I wasn’t looking around to much in my attempt to not think about anything, at all, for the next few hours.

They said go (or I assume they did, everyone went), our neutral lap went out the window (neutral lap? What neutral lap?) and we went along our merry way and hammered out of town. The race, kindly enough, began on cobbles, went smooth, then went to cobbles again. By the time we hit the second cobbles we were easily doing 28 mph or so and I was already shooting gaps trying to get to the front.

From then on it was a furious fight to get to the front… We hit the first right hand corner (still on light cobbles) and half the peleton went onto the sidewalk and down the bike path. Then, it was slightly a curving downhill (and definitely into the wind) through town. We took another right (at a cat 4 women’s pace) and I resisted the urge to divebomb the entire peleton on the inside.

the fun really began on the next flat section and I learned where I should have been in the peleton. I learned, because I wasn’t there. The next thing I knew I was fighting in the wind as the more learned cyclists were tucked nicely out and to the right. Eh, what the hell, I thought and accelerated up the side. I figured I should at least move up if I was out there- mistake numero uno and a whopping two kilometers into the race.

The next turn was a right hander through a traffic circle. Half the peleton went onto the sidewalk again, we slowed to stupid slow, and then JUMPED out of it and were back up to race speed. A quick left brought us onto a false flat uphill and I passed a string of guys up the gutter. A right brought us into a little bit more of a climb and by this point we were booking it.

The climb stiffened and we weaved through a few houses then it kicked up hard and everyone got out of the saddle. We made it over the top with no problems (well, it hurt, but that’s not a problem) and started a beautiful headwind descent back through town. By this point it was single file and should have been sheltered a little more (mistake two…)

At the bottom of the descent we took a slow, slow left followed by the requisite jump and we were back on the finishing “cobbles”. Whew, one 7 kilometer lap down, seventeen to go!

I tried to move up again and didn’t last very long because I spent to much time in the wind. I was done after about 35min. But, and this is the important part, I learned more in that 35min than I have in any two seasons of racing in the US. Its not about going hard, its about riding smart- and then you go hard when it counts. Yeah, I was knackered but on the hour and a half that we spun afterwards I couldn’t stop smiling. I’m racing again this weekend and I plan on learning a little bit more.

Cheers! Thanks for reading.

2006-06-01T08:45:00.000+02:00

Ahhh, my first European race is now officially over and now I can settle down a little (hahaha) and update this sucker. Everyone has heard about my train adventures but the adventures within the house are second to none. To begin, let us look at the most important aspect of the house.

Every mother out there must shudder when they hear the statistics of the house. 19 guys- age eighteen to twenty eight with the median age being about twenty-one or twenty two- all living in the same house… cooking for themselves… cleaning for themselves… picking up after themselves. That’s not possible! You exclaim, but alas it is- especially when under the watchful eyes of Bernard and Ann.

The “old guys” (some are younger than me believe it or not) keep a watchful eye on the new guys as well and stuff just gets done. Once a week we all clean the entire house in the morning (hey mom- I mopped and vacuumed! Hehe) and everyone just gets stuff done. Bedrooms are vacuumed once a week, dishes are done right after they’re dirtied (if you value your life!) and your bike is ALWAYS ALWAYS clean.

I’m sure mothers reading this across the nation are wondering how they too can get their children to perform in such a manner. Here’s the first part of the secret- none of us want to be “that guy”. Perfect is a phrase thrown around here a lot. Each race should be perfect, your bike should be perfect, your health should be perfect, etc. If you’re the guy who is never getting your shit done, or not doing it according to the plan, the other guys in the house notice and either:

A. Start to give you crap about it (and never forget)

B. Just think you’re a screw-up and act like you’re not there

The second part of the secret is not to, uh, secretus (new word, I lay claim to it). Everyone here is afraid of getting sick. We have sick quarantine rooms, a doctor on staff, and at the slightest hint of a cough or sniffle we run from the offender like a cockroach facing light. Basically, dirty=sick. No one wants to be sick, for obvious reasons, so everything stays clean.

2006-05-30T19:53:00.000+02:00

The Week in Review… and what a week it was

It's official, I'm settled in Hertsberge, Belgium and on the first leg of my cycling odyssey (being such a hopeless romantic I really like the sound of that). I'd like ot bring you through the past few days in my life; but before that I'll impart a few of the things I've learned since last Thursday:

1. I do not know how to race

2. No race I have ever done was hard

3. Americans talk to loud

4. Americans talk WAY to loud

5. There are no attractive women in Belgium (actually, I saw one, she ended up being American, and she talked to loud)

And now, a day by day… courtesy of the somewhat fuzzy memory of yours truly

Thursday

The day it all began! I got into Brussels at about 8am and that was just the beginning. The retrieval of my far, far to big bag and bike box went smooth enough and I bought a one-way ticket to Brugge.

Have you ever seen one of these European trains? There's quite a large few stairs up into the train… this combined with my bike box was challenge numero uno. Luckily there were some helpful Belgians and I had soon assumed my rightful position in between the cars, sitting upon my bike box.

2+3=5, I should have gotten off on the third stop, I got off on the 5th, hence forth- I cannot do math. And to top it off I ended up in BFE, Belgium, that is- alone, on a random train platform, waiting for a train heading back to Brussels. Here's some more math… to get from platform 5 to platform 4 you must descend, traverse, and ascend the most hellaciously Belgian stairs known to man. This time, there was no nice Belgian man to help me and such a math problem was a difficult proposition but I managed without to much of a panic attack.

blah, blah, blah, made the train, made my connection and made it to Brugge. Once there, I planned to joyously hop into a team car that would sweep me away to the sweetest of American teams in Belgium. This, was not to be… because no one was there. It seems that the guys in the house had missed the memo from Bernard about picking me up… OOPS.

What's a guy to do? Well, for starters con a cell phone and laptop from the ugliest Belgian chick I could find to:

A. Look up Bernard's mobile number online

B. Call said mobile number

C. Guarantee a ride home

It was said, it was done, and an hour later (after Bernard, in a race caravan, called his sister and had her stop by the house who then rallied a group of guys who hopped in the “fun bus” and came and got me) Oh, the adventures Europe holds.

More about Friday and Saturday tomorrow.

2005-12-14T05:40:00.000+01:00

Today we have a guest writer. My right foot will be writing the blog today instead of my self. Blogs are best for complaining and my right foot likes to complain a lot, especially when its cold. So, without further ado, right foot- take it away!

Hello, I'm Justin's right foot. There are very few things I actually like. I don't complain much when sleeping, or when in a hot tub, or getting foot massages. The rest of the time I bitch like a 13 year old girl. Man, today when riding I would not shut up.

"Its too cold!" I would proclaim.

"Shut up", Justin would yell at me. "I'm trying to get in a team time trial workout. You don't hear Brian's feet complaining do you?"

"That's because they're stupid, and dumb to boot. Even if they had a nail through them they wouldn't say a word."

"Maybe you could learn someting from them, huh?

"Meanie!"

And that was the end of that. He silenced me like Stalin silenced, well, everybody. I got my revenge though. It had to wait because after an hour of riding I was cold enough to be a block of wood. But in the shower after his ride I screamed like a baby. Hehehe, he got what was coming to him.

2005-12-11T18:50:00.000+01:00

Its finals week (and a half) and hence the lack of updates. This semester has been hell and I'm glad to have it over. The plus side is that I've found a new major that is right up my alley- sports management. The downside is that I probably failed Anatomy despite studying 3 hours a day or so. Stupid pre-med classes! I'm sorry, but there is something wrong with a class when _ of the students in it fail a midterm and there is still NO FREAKING CURVE.

Yesterday was quite the training day. It went something like this:

-Cross Training: This involved chasing the stupid, stupid, way-too-hyper shop dog around the entire freaking neighborhood. Picture this: 4 guys (well, ok, one girl and three guys) in full team kits and cycling shoes chasing a freaking golden retriever ALL OVER the place. Eventually I grabbed my bike and took him down WWE style. It was the sweetest flying tackle known to the biking world. That dog got owned.

-Group Ride: Nice and easy, meet at the shop and went to the Marina. The snow on the bike path by the airport was a good time, I really had a lot of fun. I don't think Jason was to happy, but that's his fault for riding the bling bling sex machine. I think I scared the HS kid too. Did a 10min LT effort to open up my legs, almost puked. Then, 5min of criss cross with Brian, almost puked again.

-Weight Training: Ouch, after a 3 hour ride me legs were hurting. Luckily Brian was there so I couldn't wuss out. See my previous posts about our competitiveness. We laughed at the muscle heads that don't actually lift, they just walk in circles. Silly muscle heads.

Yeah, boring post, ay? Got to run and kick much ass on the group ride today!

Things to hopefully look forward to in the future, part II:
-Exerpts from my Ecology professor's “here is why humans are causing a massive extinction event” lecture. Face it people, we're screwed and its all our fault.
-More training anecdotes, of course
-I'm GOING HOME, yay!!!!

2005-11-29T15:33:00.000+01:00

Oh, look, I have a blog, wouldn't ya know? I've been a horrible person and it has been so long since I've been on here. That's right up there with kicking babies and shaking dogs…

I have an excuse though (I ALWAYS have an excuse); quite simply there hasn't been any thing going on that warranted an update. My life is pretty bland, so bland in fact that I will now describe the entirety of my daily schedule:

8am: I arise, and wonder where the hell I am, why its so cold and why there is a bike poised below my bed ready to eat me.

8:01: Remember that I can't get out of bed without running into my bike because I'm supposed to ride. Then, I amaze myself with my premonition when I notice I've even laid out my water bottles and my kit (jersey and shorts) and my Ipod-already set to a predetermined play-list.

8:02: softly cry when I realize that I have no excuse for not riding and put on my shorts, jersey, long sleeve jersey (hey, its really cold in my room in the AM), my ipod, and my shoes. I attempt once more to think of a reason I should go back to bed, but my groggy brain comes up blank as it oh so often does and I resign to my fate.

8:03: Begin to pedal, smile when I realize how much my roommates must love the fact that I'm up at 8am and riding my rollers and my trainer- neither of which are quiet. Oh well, they're assholes- damn their eyes!

8:05: The world is gone, I'm stuck in the land of 80s rock and sweat.

9:03: (approx) I stop pedaling and go to take a shower. Stop. Then walk back to my room and take off my Ipod before I walk into the shower with it.

9:20: Step out of shower, wonder how the hell I'm going to make it to my 9:30 class. Grab a jar of peanut butter and some fruit and eat as I walk- much to the amusement of everyone I see I'm sure. Its not everyday you see someone eating out of a jar of peanut butter and half running to class!

9:30: meh, class (if it's a Tuesday or Thursday this means an hour of yoga then an hour of pilates, yay class!)

12:50: yay! Done with class (just kidding mom, I actually enjoy _ of my classes… sheesh)

1:00: FOOD LOTS AND LOTS OF FOOD

2:00: (about when I stop eating) Either Nordic skiing for a few hours or I'm on the bike for a few hours. If the weather is nice I'd much rather be on the bike but the weather has been crappy lately and I've been hoping on the skis. Total time- 2hours or so.

5:00: MORE FOOD, LOTS AND LOTS MORE FOOD

6:00: Waste time on line, contemplate what homework I must get done and whether or not it can wait till later. Unless its a Tuesday or a Thursday, then I'm usually scrambling to get crap done.

7:30: Begin homework, pray that I won't be up till 1am, kick myself for procrastinating and promise it will never happen again (ha!). If its a T day (hehe, T day, kinda like D day) then I'm hunting for gym clothes in my room)

8:00:(T day only! hehe, T-day) Lifting weights up at the field house and feeling quite tiny. Damn cyclist arms.

10:00: Go to bed thanks to super human powers of homework distribution comprehension (and BS statements like that one)

Um, exciting isn't it? Notice anything missing? Like a social life? Oh well, I can always ride my bike for kicks, wait…..

2005-11-17T06:30:00.000+01:00

Torturefest- Day #3

No massive bleeding today, yay! In fact, no massive soreness either I believe the freezing temperatures of my room chased away the soreness fairies. You see, they’re wimps when it comes to cold, unlike hard-core cyclists such as myself. I can’t really ever feel my feet between November and March. I don’t really need them though, I wonder if I could get a carbon fiber replacement… I mean that’s what they feel like anyway. I did the same thing as yesterday then went to class and went home.

Guess what I did when I got home? Surprise! I didn’t ride (Wed. are off days) instead I slept and called more sponsors than Paris Hilton has lovers.

I’d like to explore another reason that cyclists (ok, athletes in general… fine) are different from “most” people. Maybe this is a guy thing to, but let’s look at a case study.

Characters: Myself (Justin) and my ever faith full, ever Irish, teammate Brian (yes, the very same Brian that slept through the ride a few weeks ago because of his penchant for fermented beverages)

It all begins in the gym of the Fieldhouse on campus. Brian and I went to do a little friendly rowing. Just to foreshadow a little- if you’re wondering what happened I now have blisters on my hands… It started off easy enough; we matched cadences and settled in for a 20min row. Of course “matched cadences” means that we weren’t going to let the other person get an inch ahead of us.

It wasn’t to bad until about 3min to go. Then the shit hit the fan. I went faster, he went faster. By 2min to go people in the gym were looking at us and we were pumping out 45 strokes per minute. With 1min to go the rowing machines were inching across the ground and we were both exploding against off the foot platforms and against the chains. I’ll have you know that I beat him by 10 meters. Bu ya!

Athletes are competitive, especially in an athletic situation, big deal right? Well, look at my next example…

After the gym we went to buy some food. All was calm and tranquil until we were rolling our respective carts out to the car. He hopped on the back of his and I mine. He pushed off, I pushed off harder, he returned. It was a good old fashioned slug fest. He turned sharply into the cart bay in the middle of the parking lot but I was determined to beat him. Brian had the inside line, I took him to the curb in a vicious crit like move. He countered with surprising force by putting his shoulder and cart into mine. I could only watch as his hands sprung into the air like Boonen winning worlds (ok, he didn’t do that, but it adds to the story, so shut up!) and I cried with defeat.

That’s not normal, that’s why we’re different, and I’m going to bed.

Night all!

2005-11-16T05:50:00.000+01:00

Day #2 of Torturefest 2005

That is what I’ve deemed this research that I am being such a willing guinea pig for. I know it sounds like an Ozzy concert series but (in case anyone from the UofU is listening) I promise that we only play popular rock in the lab. Nothing more hardcore than 3 doors down…

Today was much shorter than the hour and a half marathon that took place yesterday. It started with a blood draw that saw me bleeding like a sacrificed goat when John poked though the backside of my vein and then pulled out, with the tourniquet still in place. Sweet mother of squirting blood! After donating blood to the exercise sports science gods I did the standard warm-up, 5min of two legged pedaling, then a squat to test pain rating, and 90 seconds of single leg pedaling at 160 watts. I should note that 160 watts sounds like very little, in fact normally that would be a poke around endurance pace for me, but remember- I’M ONLY USING ONE LEG. So, that’s like 320 watts or so- a number I’m happy to avg. for a TT.

Next began the sprints. I don’t like sprinting- go go slow twitch muscles! But in the name of science I’ll sacrifice my little brother. I gott’r done and then cooled down, yay!

The rest of my day revolved around the three r’s- riding, reading and resting:

-Riding- I did a nice 2 hour spin, still on the cross bike (I want my new bike, WAAAAAAA). It was great, super easy to the coffee shop with a little stop at a girl’s house to top of the water bottles. I got one of the finest espressos of my life at the Coffee Garden (I think it was, I couldn’t feel much of any flesh that was exposed by that point) and then I spun home. And all to the glorious tunes of Santana (you would be proud dad) and Marty Robbins. My legs still felt pretty good, I have a feeling the soreness fairy will visit me tonight though. I’m not leaving anything under my pillow.

Reading- Well, other than the usually hell of anatomy, which has begun to become a lost cause (mental dialogue-“let’s see, if I get a 100% on the next exam, and a 110% on the final I might just pass”) I read some for my Ecology and Wildlife conservation class. It’s a good thing I do that before I go to bed at night because I then proceed to get very angry with Bush and his screwed up “I wana be king” crap of an administration. We’re living on the principle, not the interest. If you don’t understand that, think about it and get back to me. To cool off I read some appropriate mental training books- an aspect of my riding I’ve neglected in the past but will give me an edge this season. I would highly recommend the “Tau of Sport” and “Mental Training for Triathletes”. That is, unless I’m racing against you. Then I would recommend the Jan Ulrich school of weight loss and the David Millar school of how to be a crybaby and dope and its still everyone else’s fault.

Resting- Uh, sleep, duh. Sheesh, what else would I do?

-Meal of the day- Whole grain pasta with a little olive oil, salt (I love salt, I crave it like a fat kid craves cake), pine nuts (expensive little buggers, but worth it), mushrooms, and fresh shredded mozzarella.

Until tomorrow, toodles.

2005-11-14T05:19:00.000+01:00

Guess what? I rode my bike today? Big surprise right? Ok, so not really but I was pretty happy to finish up my first week of Base training strongly. Sadly, I had to ride inside on the rollers and the trainer. Why?

1. Because I like to procrastinate

2. I didn’t get up till 11, that is 13 hours of sleep. I guess I needed it or something. You have to listen to your body, or something like that. If I’m tired, I sleep. Commitments be damned.

3. I like to do nothing on Sundays, nothing at all.

4. It’s getting dark real early now and getting caught in the dark while its raining doesn’t seem like a good idea.

5. It’s raining, I’m a wuss

6. Just for the looks my housemates give me. Silly alcoholics….

All in all it wasn’t to bad, and I was able to put in a great focused workout. I spun on the rollers for 30min. Just enough time to warm up and then do 5 max cadence efforts. Mike Sherman, who also coaches for www.wattagetraining.com, lent me his old rollers last year. I call them the roubaix rollers because the front one shakes so bad! Hell, I figure if I can ride smooth at 130 on those bad boys them I’m set.

After riding the cobbles for a little while I hoped on the trainer and watched PRO for about an hour and a half. PRO pumps me up every time. It is an in-depth look at the USPRO road racing national championship which is the largest one day race in North America, and also determines who gets to wear the stars and bars national championship jersey for the next year. Like all around Bad Ass Chris Horner says in the beginning- If that race doesn’t get you excited then its time to find a new sport, or maybe you should’ve never started. Yeah Chris! Tell it like it is.

I rode at my upper end of level 2 for about 50min (200 watts) and spent the rest of the time spinning at 125 or so. I still get goose bumps watching Chris Horner attack from the bottom of “The Wall”, an infamously steep section of road that hits 18% or so in some places, all the way to the top in his BIG RING. He blows by Ivan Domingez (sp?) so fast he makes him look like a cat 4 trying to climb little cottonwood in his 23. Impressive doesn’t describe it.

Weekly totals:
Ride time: 14.5 hours, right on the money per my plan
Weight room time: 4 hours
Total: 18.5 hours

That’s all folks! I get tortured by Jim Martin and crew in the neuromuscular laboratory for an hour and a half or so, complete with blood draws and 10 maximal sprints (8 of which are with only one leg), induced muscle soreness and one legged pedaling at threshold for 5min or so. Fun, fun, fun!

2005-11-13T06:07:00.000+01:00

Mmmmmm, long rides be tasty. Actually, it's kind of sad when my "long ride" is only 3.5 hours. Ug, what is this world (or my legs) coming too? I swear, they’ll come around. That reminds me, Johnny Cash rocks my world. I’ve been listening to a lot of his music while riding, in fact I’m listening to him right now! Why did that remind me of the great, late Johnny Cash?

“That old wheel, is gona roll around once more….”

That song has become a mantra for me while I’m riding, especially while I’m suffering. Especially a few lines:

“There’ll be times, hard to control, and you’ll find you hurt down in your soul. There’ll be those who’ll be glad to see you down. But don’t give in, that old wheel will roll around again.”

If that doesn’t describe cycling to a t I don’t know what does. Never mind the obvious “wheel” but suffering, and others trying to kick the crap out of you and believing in yourself, all that jazz.

Also:

“I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel…I focus on the pain, the only thing that’s real… the old familiar sting…”

Now, ignore the obvious drug references and the death, this is a great song. One of the best I believe ever written, and yes I know it was written by someone else. When I’m riding I get into a very “me against the world” mentality and I love it. This song embodies much of what I think about. Part of the reason the rest of life pales when compared to cycling is that nothing else really hurts. Sure, you can be miserable, but it doesn’t HURT. It doesn’t burn, and ache, and scream or sap your strength like a sponge. And if it doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t seem worth it. At least not now.

Enough of my rambling… even though most of this blog is rambling. Let’s look at the ride for today:

3.5 hours of level 2 and some hard climbing tempo. I rode with Stan for a while then cut off and did the first few miles on Mill Creek canyon and Emmigration canyon. I felt really good on the short steep sections, I guess the weight training is paying off.

Music: Flogging Molly and The Scorpions, they too rock my world!

Bike: Still riding the cyclocross bike for now, the Blue should be here soon, I hope!

Dinner:Left over date pizza (Gouda, Mozzarella, and Cheddar cheese with sautéed onions, dates, and nuts)- it was excellent, thanks for the recipe mom! I also had some pasta and a ton of fruit.

Until later, keep the shinny side up, unless you’re name is Brian Reilly then I still haven’t forgiven you for sleeping in while Stan and I rode in 35 deg rain. Bum.

2005-11-09T05:04:00.000+01:00

Well, my fine feathered friends; Base 1 begins in earnest for me today! Excited isn't the word to use, ecstatic might work or overjoyed. Regardless, I’m really looking forward to training hard again!

I did 2 X 15min of z4a today and it felt good, I guess. I came to a revelation last season (I can say last season, because it is officially now THIS season) that hard efforts like intervals and threshold work are just that- HARD. They hurt, and therefore they’re not fun while you’re doing them. Anyone who says differently isn’t going hard enough or is a liar. I never said they weren’t fun afterwards; I love the feeling of completing a hard workout. I think most athletes do and it’s part of the reason they love to compete. I won’t lie- I feel superior to everyone else when I am riding home after busting my ass for 2 hours on the TT bike, again- I think this is a natural part of competitive sports. Hence COMPETITIVE.

Enough of my philosophical rambling, ay? Let’s talk about some bike racing or coaching, after all that’s what this is supposed to be about…. I was trying to think of catchy titles for this blog:

“The chronicles of a boy who just wants to ride his bike”

or

Well, I really don’t have anything else so I guess that’ll be it. Tune in later for updates on me:

1. Riding really, really slow
2. Wanting to not ride slow
3. Feeling really tinny around all the giants in the weight room
4. Listening to music that I will recommend for your pleasure, or distain if you’re the same age as my parents and you actually read this thing.

I guess I really didn't talk about bike racing, or coaching, but I will, soon, I swear, I pinky swear.

2005-11-02T07:48:00.000+01:00

Puke Fest, take 1

This will be a regular instalment I'm sure. I tend to puke when faced with any indoor test of my cycling worth. That's what these tests really measure isn't it? My worth as a cyclist is being determined by a stupid machine, I hope they all die, but it makes me want to win some races!

Where is this all going? I had a VO2 max test done at the lovely PEAK academy. These guys are great! I love them all, call Traci at 801-585-7325 and they'll hook you up, but only if you talk to me first. And you better be nice to her!

Back to my test. I suck at testing... especially these "go to you hit your max". Well, I'm sorry- but my "max" is spitting blood, get the defibulator out, push the code button, and call the mortuary. And, no matter how much I want the test to look good I'm not going there. Hell, I didn't get anywhere near my max. Next time, I need a finish line- there comes a point where I don't care!

It ended up alright, I'm going to break 70 next time though. And plus, how cool is it that I got to look and sound like Darth Vader for a half hour!

2005-10-30T06:07:00.000+01:00

Mmmmmm, I love them cold wet rides!

Flashback!

Cold
+
Wet
+
Road rash

I thought I was back at L'abitibi!

But, really, it was a pretty good ride today. I meet up with Brady and David at the Library and we rode south to meet up with Stan, The Chicken, Smith (AKA Rasmusen, dead spitting image- I swear). Except I crashed on the way to meet them. What you say? ME, the greatest bike handler in all the land crashing? Yes, my faithful fans (crickets, crickets...) I crashed. Why? Simple, I didn't respect the rail road tracks. My whole life I have respected them and they have given me the respect that I deserve back (which is more than I can say for some USCF officials). Sadly I neglected them today and today they showed me who was boss. I ate sh*t and I ate it hard. To add insult to injury I toasted a rim, tore a shoe cover (they are needed to look like sopro jones), and ripped the hell out of my favorite leg warmers. The tracks are the boss, and they made me their bitch.

On with the rest of the ride! We had planned to spin down to Thanksgiving Point and watch the Allen Butlet Memorial crit. In preperation of the trash talk that would be directed my way because I would not race I had prepared a list of excuses:

1. I'm riding a cyclocross bike

2. It's October for the love of god, I haven't riden my bike in a month

3. I am a college student and broke, I am eating road kill to fuel my rides. Do you want to smell road kill farts in a crit? How about a crit in October where everyone is fat and hasn't seen heart rate's this high in two months? No, my friend, that would kill you.

4. I'm in Base training, I don't want to ruin it by going over my lactate threshold (which is total BS, that actually helps you if you do it sparingly during base, but only coaching gods such as myself know that)

5. I just rode 40 miles to get here. Do you want to give me a ride home? I'll bleed all over your car! Are you stupid? Who knows what diseases I have, I'm a gruby college student!

6. Look at my fresh road rash! Look at it! Do you want blood splattered on you when you're on my wheel? Does it look like I remember how to ride my bike?

7. IT'S OCTOBER!!! No, really, it's actually November, there is a 3 day grace period.

What makes me sad is I didn't get to use them, you'll see why in a sec. It probably made Stan even sadder because he had to listen to me practice them the whole way down, at least until we turned around.

TURNED AROUND???!!!!

Yeah, we wussed out... 35 degree rain will do that to you. I'm surprised Stan didn't die. I mean, the kid has all the body fat of a ant. An anorexic ant. He dropped me like a mob informant with cement blocks for shoes taking a swim in the Hudson going up the last climb to my house. I bet he didn't know that he was climbing the Wasatch fault though, then he would have been scared and I could've pushed him into a parked car or something- it's the only was I can beat the anorexic ant up a hill.

There is one final note I would like to point out. The person who organized this ride, who shall remain nameless, never showed up. Where was this filthy hobo? Passed out, dreaming the dreams of the DRUNK!!!!! Here me now Brian- I will find a way into your house next time and I will make it my mission in life to drive the pace till you puke and then ridicule you for the rest of the ride.

Puke Face!

Puke Face!

Puke Face!

Puke Face!

Puke Face!

Puke Face!

Puke Face!

Puke Face!

Puke Face!

2005-10-28T00:43:00.000+02:00

I raced cross last weekend. I crashed, and picked up every thorn in Wheeler Farm. I'll let the pictures talk

The Start

Me bridging to the lead group after getting caught in
traffic the first lap

Running my bike for almost a full lap after my first
flat (and subsequent crash)

Trying to make up time, get the hell out of my way

Still tryinng to make up time, these barriers are so
low I should have jumped them (if there weren't 3)

I don't know this guy, but me thinks he needs to
practice a little

After my THIRD flat, cruising into the finish

2005-10-25T11:24:00.000+02:00

Captains log, 25th October, 2005
Lost in the depths of the Pelvis and Perineum we search desperatly for answers. What exactly is the Iliococcygeus part? We may never know. Our Red Bull supplies, originally well stocked at 1000mL are running out faster than expected. With the Genital anatomy, Musculature of the back, and nerve and digestive system traces still left to conquer I'm afraid we may run out. If so, only the horrors of an All-nighter fueled by esspresso remain.

I continue on, not for myself, but for my crew. I do not wish to fail them. Their innocent blue eyes look to me for perserverance. Honestly, I know not if we will be able to continue on, the sea is wrought with perils. This they must not know.

The wild savages attempt to bloody us with talk in their native tounge. Medisastiums and Perineums, Collateral Circuits and Sympathetic Neurons. If only I could inderstand their language and read their maps I may be able to survive.

Yet, alas, it is back into the salt mines I go. For the life of a captain is not easy, nor the choosen path of many. Down, down, I say, down into the depths unknown by man. Our discoveries are our own, but so are our perils. The later far outweighing the former.

Midterms are Ass, Anatomy is Ass, College is Ass

2005-10-21T17:50:00.000+02:00

The End of the Season

Yep, it's here and gone. Talk about mixed emotions. At the end of the season this year I was sick, injured, and broke. I also love racing and wanted to keep going until my form came back around but better reason prevailed and I hung the bike up. Traditionally, I hang my bike up at the end of the season and don't touch it for a couple weeks. When I do get back on i'm so pumped to be training again that it's great. Plus, it lets me get ride of all of the inuries that have stacked up this season. I'd like to move my shoulder again, as well as my left foot, and breathing through my nose is alwaya nice.

That being said, I'm so pumped about next season. So pumped. Here's the plan:
-New bike. My trusty Orbea finally bit the dust. With an average of 300mi over the past 2 years it finally died. On the way is a new bluewith full 10 speed DuraAce, Ritchey WCS cockpit, and Mavic SSC brakes

-New Training plan. I've got using the SRM down to a science now and it's time to rock out. Goal for next year- get the Threshold over 360 watts, I hit 340 this season, for about a week before everything went to hell.

-New focus. I tried to get good at everything this year. I became an ok climber and I lost a lot of my TTing and crit racing skills. This year, it's all about the TT and the crit. I'm going to do what I do best. That means putting back on some muscle

-New Team. Well, sort of. I'll actually have teammates to support me in collegiate races (and I'll work for them when the going gets hilly)

That's about it. It's on like Donkey Kong when I get to start riding next week!

2005-10-21T05:39:00.000+02:00

Running Sucks, that's about all there is to it. Being the ever contious, heatly (ha, not in the off season) cyclist's that Brian and I are we decided to go for a run because we couldn't ride our bikes. Couldn't ride our bikes? Yes, despite this beautiful fall weather both of us are in a forced layover and must stay off our bikes until November. Oh, how I want to ride. So, we ran

Now, I should mention that Brian has been running for a couple weeks now and I have not. In fact, I don't beleive I've ran since high school. Laps around sugarhouse and then some hill sprints and uphill lunges thrown in for good measure. That was the easy part. Now, however, I'm suffering.

Delayed
Onset
Muscle
Soreness

DOMS is a bitch that comes crashing down upon poor soles like myself 24 hours or so after such an excursion. I can't walk. Anyone have some pro-bono massage work they'd like to give me?

Alas, I bitch enough.... it was fun and next season's going to rock. There will actually be a men's A team, led by myself in the crits and whoever can climb faster than my lard-ass can in the road races. Good day!

Justin

2005-10-15T22:28:00.000+02:00

Justin’s Girl Friend Application, Fall, 2005:

1.) How many watts do you put out at threshold?
2.) What Category racer are you?
a. Road?
b. Mountain?
3.) Would you be willing to motor pace me on 4 hour rides?
4.) Are you willing to give post ride rubdowns?
6.) What is your favorite bike and why?
7.) How well can you cook pasta?
8.) Can you overhaul a fork or freehub?
9.) Does helping me go pro sound like fun?
10.) Do you plan on going pro?

Please State, in 500 words or less, why you should be my girlfriend. Also, please att. A race resume to this sheet and mail to:
xcmntgeek at yahoo dot com

2005-10-10T00:39:00.000+02:00

Ye HA! First cross race of the year. I guess it wasn't very "Ye HA" worthy. You'll see.
Alex called me at about 10:30. The convo went something like this:

Alex: Hey b*tch, what are you doing?
Me: Uh, I'm over at Katie's, what are you doing?
Alex: Banging your mom
Me: That's nice
Alex: Come race tomorrow
Me: Nah, I don't have any money
Alex: Vagina
Me: No, really dude, I have about $8 to get me through the next couple days.
Alex: Oh, whatever, I'll pay for your race
Me: Really?
Alex: yeah, but you're gona be my slave, we're leaving at 8.
Me: Uhhhhh, that sucks

And so it went. Now, when Alex says they're leaving at 8 you better be there by 7:30 or he'll bitch. So usually I show up at 8 just to hear him bitch. He gets all cute and read-headed. I hauled my sorry butt out of bed and made it there, we left, it was good and I even talked brian into coming to watch his first cross race. It was a tight fit in Alex's Subaru with five of us, but we're all real close anyway.

After I got alex to hand me a blank check (hahaha, big mistake- new bikedom here I come!) I watched the C race, goofed off, rode the course in tennis shoes and eventually got all my crap together and started warming up. Now, I'm not sure whatI did before I got my ipod but that thing is indespensable for the pre-race warm-up. It's all about the Top Gun sound track.

I lined up with the rest of the B racing hacks and promptly got cold. This is why I need a songier people! I hate warming up then sitting on the line for 15min. After freezing away my warm-up everything seemed prety insignificant when we started talking about Alan Bulter. After that, I realized that racing a bike was just racing a bike and damnit I was going to do something I haven't done in a race for a while- have fun.

This post is getting long, and the race isn't that important. I flatted, Brian gave me an awesome wheel change and I had a great time. After we got back to Alex's house he made me ride home, I cried and limped home. Then I ate a lot. What a fine day.

Pictures soon!

2005-10-08T18:55:00.000+02:00

Ha! My first post. Why am I doing this? I have no idea. It's ok, because I'm pretty sure no one is reading this anyway. Why? you ask. Well, because no one knows about it. Yet....... Here are the characters in my life:

Me: Cyclist. I put that first, because that is what comes first in my life. Sadly, not school (much to the dismay of my family) or a job (much to the dismay of my bank- but I havne't overdrawn this week!) or quite anything else. I want to race as a cat 1, I want to race in Europe, I want to win.

My Girl: Katie. She's the sweetest girl I've ever meet. Not to mention she's a skinny blonde with blue eyes and a hell of a cyclist. She used to be a runner but I'll forigive her for that.

My roommates: Hunter, I like hunter. He's down to earth, likes to ski and doesn't make a big deal out of anything.
Kyle, I don't like kyle. From this point forward he shall be known as the angry asian. That's final.

My team: Well, my collegiate team at least. I race for the University of Utah THE BEST TEAM IN ALL THE LAND. Yes, it's "my" team. I started it, I run it and I love it.

My bike(s):
1. Road Bike (soon to be): Blue. Sexy! Full DA 10speed, Mavic Brakes, Ritchey WCS ALUMINUM bar, stem, seatpost, and a sella Italia SLK- THE best seat in the world.
2. Time Trial: Cervelo P2K, full DA, vision tech bars, easton fork, Zipp 404s and a HED disk. It goes fast, when I can.
3. Mountain: Moots hartail. XT/XTR. Crossmax SL. FSA bar/stem. SID World Cup Carbon fork. FOR SALE!!!
4. Cyclocross: Giant TCX. 10speed DA, DA.Open Pro wheels, Ritchey stem, Deda bar, Tecktro brakes, and a Race Face seatpost
5. Fixie: A beautiful 1972 gitane given to me by my former coach and mentor. Oh so sweet.
6. Townie: Repainted KHS built into a single speed. It was purple, now it's gold!

That's about it, tune in later on and I'm sure I'll actually have something to say. Ya'll should just be impressed that I actually used html....

1990-06-24T10:08:00.000+02:00