Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
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.
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.
Monday, May 19, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
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.
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.
Monday, May 5, 2008
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.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
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