Monthly Archive for July, 2011

Toon’d up!

Published on July 8, 2011 in Biking and Life. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Haha, I actually think that was kind of clever… I think I’ve been excited for the Tour de Toona ever since I saw it on our JAM Fund calendar. Even when the race got shortened from 6 days to 4, I was still excited. I wanted to work hard and build some good fitness, like Fidea riding the Tour of Qinghai Lake…

Maybe I was getting a little ahead of myself. I seem to have to keep reminding myself that I’m really still building my base fitness while many of my peers are in need of their mid-season breaks… Kind of weird…

Altoona, Pennsylvania doesn’t seem to be the most interesting place in the world, but I’m not one to complain so much as to see how other parts of the world operate and think about why and how they live. I was super excited when we rode the ITT and Crit course. It was just a cool-looking race. I also like coming to events like this where cyclists almost take over the city. It’s not really nice the way we often do it, but I do think it’s cool for the community and I hope kids see us and want to ride bikes and try out racing when they see us. I remember pre-riding the nationals course in Edmonton last year with Sarah and meeting up with Spidertech and KBS and pretty much just taking over roads with 15 people that would be sketchy with just one rider normally. This was kind of like that. I’ve experienced similar situations in Mt. Hood, Abitibi and other races as well. For a day or a weekend, I think it’s cool. I hope the communities recognize it and appreciate it and that we can turn at least one person on to cycling, if not racing!

I was also having a blast in the managers meeting, listening to the promoter and thinking about what I want to do and how I want to do things to be in cycling, to improve people’s lives and help people find cycling and have life experiences through it all. I could be a team manager, I could drive the car, I could race with my athletes, I could organize races and events, I could pass on everything I’ve learned and bring cycling to more people! That sounds spectacular!!

But back to the race. As per usual, I was over-thinking this short ITT that I wouldn’t have won or even finished in the money in, not matter how much I thought about it… So I rode a little conservatively in the tough first half, and couldn’t pedal hard enough in the technical second half. I could tell, just seconds after crossing the line, that I didn’t go hard enough and didn’t leave it all out there. I also may not have warmed up enough or hard enough, but either way, I did not leave it all out there!! 

The disappointment continued into the road race to Blue Knob. I had started to feel better and wanted to work hard and help out my team and put everything out there. I wanted to go with the early move, which proved to be a bad idea and to which Adam responded, “sometimes you don’t think”… true enough… so I go from thinking too much to not thinking at all?? Yup!!

Unfortunately, my short-lived early break got brought back on an early little climb and I just kept going backwards… oh boy! this is not good!! So of course, you chase for a while, but you don’t make any ground… now what? Turn around and pick up the car? I’m not sure where the keys are… Try and find a short cut back to Blue Knob? I guess nobody in Altoona knows what roads go where or how to get to Blue Knob… Finish the stage? I guess that’s the only way to get home…

So I finished the 117 kilometers and I uploaded my power file. Turns out I really shouldn’t have tried to go with that early move, new 5′ power in the first 20′ of “the first stage of the hardest stage race [I've] probably ever done” and the 5″, 10″, 30″, 1′, 2′, 5′, 10′, and 20′ peak powers for my day all came in those first 20′… I need somebody to call me an idiot and tell me I know better!! Because I certainly do know better!! I just sometimes think I’m better than I am or at least wish I was better than I am… I did continue to feel better and better as the day went on and actually made pretty good numbers for the day! If only I had not been dumb and just sat in the group, I probably would have been good.

I guess you just get up the next morning, put your pants on one leg at a time, learn from your mistakes and be better today! Right?

So what next?? Sitting in Starbucks with Evan, wondering what is next. Maybe Iron Hill tomorrow? Maybe New Britain on Sunday? Maybe home to Amherst? Maybe training with the JAM Fund boys? No matter what, I will learn from my mistakes, take each experience as it comes, and enjoy as much life as I can with a smile on my face as much as I can!!

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On a whim

Published on July 8, 2011 in Biking and Life. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Oh man! So hot right now!

With the Fitchburg Crit being canceled this year I wasn’t sure what I was going to do on this holiday weekend leading into the Tour de Toona. Luckily, Mr. Burkhart et al. from the bikereg.com team decided to race the Coatesville Classic Omnium. I was able to get a ride with him and stay at the home of newly crowned US Elite National Champion, Max Korus! That would also cut off a bunch of drive time on our way to Altoona, PA. And I sure do love my bike racing…

I was feeling pretty good, but up until I really started getting kitted up I had almost forgotten why I was here. I was having fun and experiencing the world and life and enjoying it, but I didn’t really feel like going to a bike race. It turned out to be quite alright, although when we got here, it was HOT!! I thought I had acclimatized myself to the heat and humidity here, but I guess not…

The crit on Sunday night started off alright. On the start line, just listening to the guys around me I got a little scared. Not because they sounded fast, but because they sounded sketchy… perhaps not unlike me at my first big crit in BC Superweek or Mt. Hood, but I knew that meant I needed to get to and stay near front early on and avoid any unnecessary braking and/or crashing.

That worked… At least until some guy crashed just going straight down the road… what’s up with that?!? I avoided it, but was off the back and didn’t think to go into the pit until after I had already gone by it… oops. So I chased and chased and chased and stayed close to the group, but was working really hard and not really making any progress. The heat was really getting to me and I figured even if I did get back up to the group, I wasn’t going to be able to do much there. So I pulled out and decided to save it for Monday’s road race. I was disappointed, especially as the race looked like it was turning out to be fun and the course was really cool.

I was feeling decent again for Monday’s road race, but I was wishing I had a few teammates. I couldn’t really figure out how the race was going to happen or how I was going to get myself a result. I decided to wait and follow Mr. Soladay of KBS and bikereg.com and Boston Bicycle School. That worked, until the break that everybody liked and the field pretty much sat up. It reminded me of nationals last year and I didn’t want to have that again, so I just went out and started working hard. Tom asked me if I was attacking or chasing, I said I didn’t really know. So we just kept turning on the front with a few other guys. Unfortunately a few more attacks came and I had already blown my whole wad. So I rolled in and called it a day.

After the race, I introduced myself to Tom and talked to him about racing, tactics, training, etc. Super nice guy!!

We got back to the Max’s house, cleaned up, and decided to head out for dinner. Evan and I had an adventure driving through Philly, getting a little lost, a little scared… but we did find some decent pizza at The Couch Tomato in Manayunk. There was no beer there though, so we walked around for a bit trying to find something. We tried to find the Manayunk Wall, but didn’t know what road it was for sure. Either way, it’s a pretty cool area. I asked Adam where the good beer was and he said we weren’t far from The Belgian Cafe, but my phone was telling me it was 20 minutes the other way. We decided to drive back and stop at a grocery store or something to pick something up. No luck at all. Dang! We did have some more adventures getting lost and scared in the city. Shoulda just gone to the Belgian Cafe…

This is a little late, but we started driving to Altoona and at the Blue Knob Ski Resort, we have no wifi… The posts will keep coming, just maybe not in such a timely manner for the next little while…

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Happy Canada Day!!

Published on July 3, 2011 in Biking and Life. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Ok, ok, I’m a little late… but what else is new?!?

Or maybe I am becoming more American and it is Independance Day tomorrow??

But it was nice to talk to my parents and hear about the Canada Day Crit that I have missed for a few years now and that was one of my first road races back in 2002!

I did get to race on Thursday night in Exeter, another new race for me and the JAM Fund boys in New England. I was excited to race and learn and have fun. Steve was kind of enough to drive me and the Evans to Bikereg-mobile. It was a cool course, with some nice tight corners, some potholes, and a little descent and climb. There were about a 100 guys and I was just excited to race. I felt good and I think we raced well as a team. There was a crash in the last corner and our lead-out didn’t quite work perfectly, but got Evan in 4th and Al in 8th. With a few primes between us too, it wasn’t a bad day.

I got to see Adam and talk to him. I realized how much I miss hanging out with him since the fall…

Sorry, maybe I’m kind of tired or maybe I forgot everything interesting about the day, but the goal is to write on here more regularly and keep everyone up to date on what’s going on in my world. So I guess that’s it for now. See you again soon.

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