Climbing races/ tour of flanders training ride

2 races in the Ardiennes = 2 dnf's I learned a lot about climbing though. The first race we did wasn't so hard I just wasn't mentally prepared for it. We hit some 5 k climbs and I was out the back and in the van at the feed zone after 70ks.

The 2nd race we did most of the roads were exactly the same as the race we did earlier in the week. I was in a good position after 50ks. I was riding a bout 40th place when we made a left turn into a 5 long climb. One of my teammates 2 riders in front of me got wobbly then crashed, he said some big guy took him out. bummer. Myself and another teammate ended up with the bad end of the deal, I had 3 guys on top of me and he got a broken bike. The first 30 guys put the hammer down, and with it being a 6 foot wide road the people behind the crash couldn't get through, and we didn't get up for a good 2 minutes. The race was over for us.

I did a 6 and a half hour training ride with a few guys on the Tour of Flanders loop. It was a really good ride with lots of attacking, cobble sections, steep climbs, and even a bakery.

I did a 146k circuit race the other day here with 200 starters. It was pretty sweet, it was on a lot of the roads I train on. Our director told us to watch out for one 180 degree corner. When we came to it on the first lap. I thought, O sweet I've bombed around this before. I rode in the front the entire day. I would be sitting top 10 look back and see a 200 rider single file line. Man, That was cool. Fast forward to the end. I got crashed in a corner while sitting top 10 with less then 2 k's to go. 2 guys sandwiched me and we hooked bars and I ended up being dragged to the ground. It was a bummer I was putting out very little effort to put myself in a great spot for the field sprint.

Belsele

Yesterday's race was a tough one 120 riders. It had a few cobble sections and a lot of turns. The pace was high the whole first 3/4 of the race. Every time I'd look down we'd be going over 50 kph, going all out, out of every turn. We did 12 laps of 12.5k I made a few attacks but mostly tried to keep a good position to keep the yo yo effect to a minimum and conserve energy. With 3 laps to go I got in a 8 man break and we got a good gap. The only problem we were going so hard every time anyone would pull they'd get dropped or be on the rivet to hang out. Meanwhile behind the peleton split and the front 40 riders bridged up to us. Half a lap later over the cobbles. I got in another attack 2 teams had 3 riders in the break and I saw a few national stripes on the arms of riders jerseys. All I could think was "O shit this is gonna be really hard". A lap later still going super fast. Starting to wonder why are we still going this hard. I saw one of the riders pointed in the distance to a group of 8 riders in front of us. Not having radios sucks, I had no idea there was a group in front of us. We caught up to them as we got the 2 to go. Then everyone started looking at each other to pull. And attacks started flying. I avoided splits most of the time, but I got caught at the wrong end over the cobbles. Spending the next 5ks with 3 other guys chasing full on moch one speed. We caught on as we got the one to go. I rode in the top 5 of the group after that. 1 rider got off in the last few miles. The 14 of us left in the group were left sprinting for 2nd. I went on an attack hoping for a little luck with 2k to go. Crap everyone flew by me, with 1.5k to. I latched on near the back 1k to go I got on the wheel of a guy moving up. 400 meters to go the sprint opens up, still in 8th or 9th. 100 meters to go hit the finish cobbles bunny hop a pot hole. click down 1 more gear fly inbetween 2 guys 20 meters before the finish. 7th or 8th place. Not sure on the exact results, still searching online for them. I was somewhere in the top 10 though!!!!!

We hopped back in the van and got dropped off about 40ks from home. I ended up with 117 miles.
I averaged 261 watts for the whole race.
with normalized at 298. Tough day.

Back to it.

I have had bronchitus, and haven't raced in a while. Yesterday was my first day back and it was a tough one 115 miles. There were a lot of short but steep climbs in the first 30 miles. I stayed near the front all day just sitting in. Once we got to the finishing circuits, 5 laps of 10 miles with a hard 2 mile cobble section. There was a foot wide bike path on the left hand side, so everyone sat single file on that. The only problem was you couldn't see if there was anyone opening gaps in front of you. A few times I got caught out and ended up in a chase group. We always caught back on though. It was a good race though, I felt good in the end and got about 10th in the field sprint. I found the results on cycling news today. Lotta guys were off the front of the peleton. I finished 42nd, still respectable spot with 200 starters.

Robbie's in town.

Went and watched a pro kermess today. The sprinting god himself was there.

Paris Roubaix Training

Paris Roubaix

I dropped out of Issard the first stage it was a major disappointment, but I've moved on and refocused since then.

I am currently training for the u-23 Paris Roubiax the race is on Sunday. Tommarow we are going to train on the last 140ks of the course so we will get to ride all the cobble sections.

Stage 1

150ks. 10 3-5k climbs lay ahead of us. It turned out to be a decent day none of the climbs were to steep. I made it over all of them with the front group. 50 guys got dropped along the way. Narrowing the field down from 185 to about 135.

Stage 2

135ks another 9 climbs. I was at the front for the first 75ks going with moves feeling really good. The last few climbs were way to steep for my taste, and I got shelled from the front group with 40ks to go. I finished somewhere in between the front peleton and the back peleton around 70th. Losing 9 minutes.

Stage 3

The one I was waiting for a 12k tt. The first 3ks were uphill around 8%. I prerode the course and felt pretty confident. I was only worried that I would have the guts to ride the last 3ks full out. It started with a 90+kph descent into a gradual switchback which could be ridden in the areo bars. Then at the bottom a right turn into a round about followed by a sharp right turn on to cobbles. Left onto a straight on flat super smooth road where you could get up to 60 kph after a kilometer on that it was a right hand turn into the finish.

I started out up the hill in the little ring. I tried to shift it up into the big ring as the climb flattened out a little, It wouldn't get up there. I had to reach down to do some manual shifting. I stayed in the big ring the rest of the climb if anything it made me go a little harder. I found out after in 3k of uphill I was already 25 seconds behind the fastest split on our team. It was go time, I didn't even need to standing over the rollers I carried so much speed. I was just cruising in the 53-11 over everything. I was picking up 5 seconds a kilometer over the team time splits. I just kept going faster and faster. I wish I had another 5k of flat. I finished 26th. 5 seconds out of a top 20 spot.

Stage 4

The final stage we knew would be a tough one. The picture posted below was from one of the climbs on the circuit. The first 3 climbs came in the first 20k of the 110k race. We were told they were the easy one. I got dropped at the 18k mark with about 20 other people, I caught back onto the group. The next climb I hung on again. We passed under the finish for the first time and headed out on the local laps. It was a race to the first 3k climb which stayed at 12-15% I raced up to a top 30 spot at the bottom. I was lucky to, I lost maybe 20 spots up the climb. I looked back over the top and I was the last person to make it over in the front group. It split up over the top in the cross wind, I found myself at the wrong end. We chased back on and caught on right before the bottom of lara-doute. I got dropped when it kicked up over 20%. I found myself in a group of 4. Soon the broom wagon was behind us. I wanted to throw in the towel but with only 25ks to go the 4 of us just rode steady. I finished the stage content with just finished. Less the 45 people finished out of the 185 starters.

TRIPTIQUE ARDENNAIS

Tour of Haut Anjou

Stage 1

180ks It blew apart with 70ks to go there was a lead group of 12 another group of 12 a group of 6 then a group of 5 which I was in then the peleton of 40 or 50 behind. My group caught the group of 6 then we caught the group of 12 in the finishing circuits. I got popped on a climb 2ks from the finish I lost 1:25 to the front group. Better then 10 minutes back in the field though.

Stage 2

We had a 15k TT in the morning and a 100k road stage in the after noon. I just put it in a big gear and powered over the rolling windy course. My time 19 minutes and 22 seconds 1 minute 17 seconds behind the leader good enough for 31st on the day.

Stage 3

Was pretty easy for me a group of 5 got off the front and Rabobank rode tempo on the front all day. Everything came back together in the circuits. I finished 40th in the bunch, saving everything for the final stage.

Stage 4

The hardest day by far. I got food poisoning the night before and was throwing up all night, by far the most miserable night of my life. I've never been that sick before. Finally after 36 hours I was able to keep some food down. I feel 100% better then I did, but I'm not fully back to normal. Maybe in another day or two.

BEAUCHAMPS 1.12IC

I was a little worried when we got to the course today. They said the climb was 600 meters at 10% but it was about 1.5k at 8-10%. I haven't ridden any climbs this year at all. We started the first lap in the middle of the climb and no neutral start. I was hanging on gasping for air the first. Lap 2nd lap I was a little more composed. 3rd lap little smoother starter moving up in the crosswind. 4th lap saw the front in the cross wind but everything got bunched up and I lost my position before the climb. 5th I was mid pack up the climb. 6th started feeling good up the climb, I was up in the top 40 over it. 7th I was in the last 10 up the climb wondering if i'd ever see the front again. 8th lap I started feeling good and just said screw it I don't care if I blow up and just started going with attacks. Lap 9 Went to the front and split the field in the cross wind. I tried to bridge to the 10 man group 30 seconds in front of us. I got within 5 seconds at the bottom of the climb, but the group attacked each other on the climb. I blew up and got caught by what was left of the peleton. I attacked again with one other guy in the cross wind. We started to bridge to the group in front of us. On the descent a group of 7 bridged up to us and we started holding close to 35 mph flying up to the group in front of us. We got the 1 lap to go and caught the group of 15 in front of us over the top of the climb. We had a 25 rider group so people were attacking pretty hard. My teamate Ben Bradshaw got in a 3 man group and no one was chasing. I felt good and wanted to catch it., but chasing teammates is a no no. So I waited for the next attack and got in a 4 rider group. We bridged up 3ks from the finish, no one behind was chasing. We just soft pedaled until we hit the last 500 meters at 10%. Then it was game on. 3 guys went way to early and blew up. I tried to stand up but half cramped finishing 3 or 4th in our group sprint. Some where around 20th on the day.

Cobbles/a uci 1.12 in France

Todays race was looking to be really fast with a mostly flat course of 14 laps of 11ks. 150 riders on the start list. We had a 9 man squad. I followed some early moves, but I pretty much just sat in for the first 100ks. With 5 and a half laps to go. I followed a move and got in a 7 man chase group. We chased the 15 leaders for over 40ks we kept them in sight. We even had the gap down to less then 15 at one point, but we never caught on. With 1 lap to go a huge Belgium guy attacked and I caught his back wheel. I looked back and Austin Carrol was with us. So we had 2 USA with one Belgium. We rolled it super hard the last lap. We didn't catch the group in front of us, but we also didn't get caught by the peleton. There were 15-17 guys in the lead group so I slotted in around 18th.

After the race we were 10ks from the arenburg forest. So 4 of us rode there after the race and road the 2.5k section of cobbles it was amazingly cool. I have a new respect for anyone that finishes Paris Roubaix.

Euro Race #1

What was supposed to be a 30 minute drive to the race today. Turned into a 2 hour traffic jam. We made it to the race with 30 minutes before the start. We did 17 6.8k laps. We got underway, with some non stop attacking. I had some good attacks, but I missed the move of 12 guys who pretty much just rode away and got a big lead. We never saw them again. Another move of 8 guys got up the road a few laps later. I saw my shot at a good result starting to ride up the road. I went with everything and got in a 10 rider break we started to catch the 8 rider group. When we were within 10 seconds of them, 2 riders from the same team attacked splitting the group in half. I made the front part of the group, and we flew across the gap. forming a 13 rider group. Only 6 or 7 of us were pulling so after a few laps people got frustrated and started attacking I was hanging on them okay until about the 3 lap to go mark. I got dropped and was giving the red flag and told to get off the road. I ended up 21st.

My best finish last year in a race was 19th. So I hope within a week after I get used to the bike and get rid of this jet lag. I'll be able to get a top 10.

Today is my first Euro race. I'm pretty nervous, still jet lagged, but ready to throw down.

Does a GC win count as a win to add to the win column?

Tour of St Louis

I got to do an awesome stage race this weekend in St Louis. It had 2 super fast crits in parks no 4 corner boring stuff in sight.

Day 1

We had a crit a 1:45. Doing races in a area you don't know can be just as good as it can be bad. The people don't know you, but you also don't know them. For all you know you could be letting the best time trailer in the area up the road in a break. So you really have to be careful. I got in a super dangerous move with 10 other guys all the major teams were represented, including super sprinter Brad Huff of Jelly Belly. No one seemed content with the large break. So we ended up attacking each other for a while. I got away with a pretty good tt-er from big shark, and we opened up a 10 second gap. Brad tried to bridge but the gap was a little to big. He brang it back just enough so 2 more guys countered up to our break. So we now had 4 guys in the front with 6 in between the us and the peleton. They eventually got swallowed up, but our gap slowly opened. For over 50 minutes of the 75 minute race we stayed about the same gap with the pack. We ended up lapping the field at the 60 minute mark. Everything went pretty chaotic riders bouncing like pinballs off one another. With one to go I found myself swarmed and out of position. I tried to fly up on the outside with 2 turns to go, I pretty much ate curb and had to jam out on the brakes. I lost 20 spots right there in 2 seconds. I went way wide on the last turn and opened up my sprint 400 meters to early but I didn't have much of a choice. I closed in on the top 5 of the bunch as they spread across the road. I had the speed to come around, but no where to go. I was 3rd to come across from the riders that lapped the field. I won a 50 dollar prime some where in there to.


I was pretty nervous if I should ride hard for the 9 mile flat tt or not. Until Russ Let me borrow his super sweet specialized tt bike. I knew I had to just put it all on the line. The course was flat with a bit of cross wind and super smooth pavement. I rolled 50-52 kph on the way out with the wind. Into the wind on the way back I was able to stay at 46-47 kph. I wasn't sure if I had a good time or not till the next day when I woke up to find out. I slaughtered it, my time was a 18:26 with an average speed of 29.5 mph. It was good enough to win by 25 seconds.


So going into the last day I was leading the GC points by a bit I had 18 points and my closest competition had 13. So with the points going 10 for first 9 for 2nd and so on down to 10th place with 1 point. I knew I just had to stay close to the to my Gc competition and it'd be an easy win.
Sometimes the best defense is a great offense. After a broken spoke I went on the attack and a break of 4 was formed off the front with just 20 minutes and 5 laps remaining we opened up 10 seconds, With 10 minutes left we had 6 seconds then it went back to 15 then to 8. Then Team Mercy's Sprinter lepted across the gap. This left Big Shark out of the Break and as my only GC threat. Making the break work was my best option. I was doing minute pulls at over 450 watts. It wasn't until the last lap that we finally knew it would stick. Mercy setup a lead out and we all looked at each other coming around the final turn. No one wanted to go with 400 meters from the last turn to the finish. I made a gamble and jumped with 350 meters to go and got a gap. I couldn't spin my 12 over any faster with 100 meters to go. I went over the line with a 10 meter gap. Winning the race and the overall.

I want to give a big thanks to my teammates for getting me back to the front right away when I broke a spoke, and keeping all the danger breaks under control which wasn't an easy task.

Menomonee falls and GDVC 2

I thought I was getting lost on the way to the race on Saturday. I figured I could go watch a few races, then go grab some lunch. The race seemed to be in the middle of no where. Luckily Kaitie got me a Qdoba Burrito. The was 1.7 mile laps flat and fast. The first 30 minutes was just constant attacking and no one going anywhere fast. Finally I was able to counter one of Chad Hartley of Jittery Joe's attacks. We got a break of 5 going, and flew up the road. Ryan White, James Stemper, Jason Landrii, Erik Meier, and myself. Ryan was barely pulling and slowed us down more then helping, but I decided it'd be better to take my chances in a break of 5 then back in the field. We opened up over a minute on the field, and with one lap to go it was sure the winner would come out of the break. Going into the Final turn it was full throttle 3 wide, seeing who would hit there brakes first. James braked first, and I found myself in a perfect 2nd place spot with 300 meters to go on Ryan Whites wheel. I shot ahead of Ryan with 150 meters to go. Taking my 2nd Pro race of the year by a few bike lengths.



Gdvc #2

I was hoping this race would be a little easier after a hard race the day before. This wasn't the case when I found myself in a 11 man break, with 4 Iscorp riders and both white brothers. No one seemed content with the large break and attacks went one after the other. I found myself caught out with a small break up the road of 3 riders with One white brother, an Iscorp and James Stemper of Trocadaro. I pulled for a lap and a half at 450 watts, and the gap was down to 20 meters. Luckily Jordan Rossiegn of Iscorp thought it would be a good time to try and drop me from the break so he attacked, I caught on to the back of the break, and he finished the job of bringing everything together again. We lapped the field for the 2nd week in a row, same as last week Great Dane took control of the front of the field for the last 10 laps of the race. I was to far back on the last lap, I tried to compensate by going up the gutter passing 5 guys ending up 5th wheel going into the last corner. To far back, I couldn't make up the ground for the win. I ended up with a 3rd place.



I leave for the Tour of St Louis on Friday, I don't know much about it, but with good form I'm hoping for some good results. Then Monday I fly to Europe for 2 and a half months of hard racing.

Great Dane #1

It was a pretty chilly day in the low 40s. The race started with some typical attacking. I got in a break of 10ish people. I launched an attack from that group and brought 4 other riders with me. We quickly build a 30 second lead. With 2 Iscorp 1 Great Dane and a Trocadaro rider. All the teams with multiple riders were in the move. We quickly lapped the field at the 35 minute mark. Great Dane and Iscorp set up there lead out trains. Last lap I setup on the back of the Iscorp train. The Trocadaro rider in the break launched 150 meters before the final turn. He got a 40 meter gap. Leaving the Iscorp lead out in shambles. I launched my sprint right before the final corner with perfect timing for the field sprint. I flew up on the trocadaro rider, but a little to late I finished at his back wheel.

I'm not to worried about not winning. I got a good hard ride in on Saturday which left me a pretty flat for the race. I'm looking to get a 120 mile ride in Tuesday, and some good intervals later in the week. I'm going to take some recovery days before the double header this weekend. and give it my all for another win.

more pics.

1 to go.














Victory.

Black Hawk Farms Circuit race

Props to the race coordinator, this was one of the coolest races I've done in a long time. A 1.7 mile long Race car track with 7 turns. The field was pretty big with 55 riders. I didn't know to many people except for Both Ryan and Rob White. 20-30 mph winds were shattering most of the fields for the races I saw. With a big field and a 75 minute race. The White brothers and I teamed up in the cross winds and set tempo at the front to weaken some of the other riders legs. Ryan White broke one of his cleats and went down in the finishing straight. Luckily only he went down. I attacked with a few small groups. With everyone looking pretty winded I launched a full on attack in the cross wind. The gap opened up to 30 seconds as I came around to take the 10 laps 17 miles to go mark. I could see the pack behind single file in certain sections. I kept my head down for the next 5 laps as the gap held at 30 seconds. After that the gap grew it 50 seconds and I started to think I could make it. Scott Pearson of the Higher Gear team got away from the pack with 4 to go and I could see him slowly closing. I dropped it down 2 gears and slid a little farther back over the saddle and powered the gear over a little harder. Finally the bell rang and I got the one lap to go. The last lap went by almost to quickly, and before I knew it I was riding alone under the finish line fists raised in celebration. My first Pro win of the year and hopefully not the last.

Next weekend is the WCA opener in Madison. With this week being a recovery session I will be on my top game gunning for another win.

Hillsboro Roubaix

88 miles 4 22 mile laps with most of the last 2 miles over brick streets. The first 2 laps were pretty easy with a break of 3 building over 5 minutes. Lap 3 over the cobbles I attacked and brought 6 riders of the front including Steve Tilford, and Brain Jenson. To early to many people still had fresh legs and brought it back once we got off the bricks. Texas Road house set tempo for the rest of the lap. Once we hit the bricks for the last time everything went to pieces 40 riders got shot out the back, and attack after went and got brought back. Then Tilford attacked and brought 6 riders with him. I missed the move and watched the race ride away. I tried a few counter moves, but couldn't close it. I sat in the main field which was down to 15 riders. I attacked and Ryan White came with me up the feed hill. We rode in together, I finished 12th.

Kenosha Training Crit

After riding for 2 and a half hours with Mountain Goat and a few of the local celebrities, I rolled up a good 15 minutes before the start warmed up and ready to go. Abd had a solid team there with 5 or 6 riders in the small field of less then 20 riders. A few attacks launched and Eric Loberg was the first to get away and build a good 20 second gap. I went to the front and flexed a little bit setting tempo at slightly over 400 watts for the next 2 laps to bring that back. Abd countered as soon as Eric was back in the fold. A few laps later I got in a move that looked promising with A clif bar rider, One of the white brothers and myself. A lap later I saw the tables start to swing as 2 Abd riders started to bridge the gap. I knew this would pretty much seal my fate if they caught on. So I tried to pick our groups pace up. They caught us soon after that. I attacked as much as I could, and got away with one of the white brothers in the last lap. He sat on me the entire lap, I was just trying to hold on for 2nd. He attacked me right before the last turn. I didn't have the legs to follow. Abd still led the chase behind for the other white brother behind and he closed quickly in the home stretch and passed me a few meters before the finish. 3rd with both White brothers in front of me. I finished the day disappointed with myself. I rode 2 hours after to get some extra training in.