Matt's cycling blog

Porte Oceane

2007-08-27T02:07:00.000-07:00

The sun is out in belgium so I am not gonna do a full write up just listing some results.

57th stage one I finished in a group a few minutes back
47th stage two I finished in the 2nd group 1 minutes behind

Stage 3 the tt I rode like a motorbike to get 29th place.

1 TACIAK Mateusz (Pol) (CC Etupes Le Doubs) les 15,6 km en 19'58"67"
2 OFFREDO Yoann (CC Nogent-sur-Oise) à 0"36
3 SOKOLOV Evgeny (Rus) (Vendée U Pays de la Loire) à 19"
4 CUMONT Gaylord (USSA Pavilly-Barentin) à 33"
5 DERANGERE Jérémie (SCO Dijon) à 34"
6 ACKERMANN Silvère (Sui) (SCO Dijon) mt
7 CHEDHOMME Morgan (CM Aubervilliers 93) à 38"
8 GRAMMAIRE Olivier (SCO Dijon) à 46"
9 VANGADEREN Tejay (USA) (USA National Team) à 49"
10 HUET Tony (CAC Blois 41) à 56"
11 SIMON Mathieu (UV Aube) à 59"
12 LUBACH Frédéric (VC Rouen 76) à 1'00"
13 SMOLEN Tomasz (Pol) (CC Etupes Le Doubs) mt
14 SERGENT Jesse (Nzl) (Equipe Nationale Nouvelle-Zélande) à 1'01"
15 JEANNESSON Arnold (CM Aubervilliers 93) à 1'07"
16 CHARRIER Franck (CC Nogent-sur-Oise) à 1'10"
17 DRUJON Benoit (UV Aube) à 1'12"
18 HUREL Tony (CA Mantes-la-Ville) à 1'14"
19 HANSEEUW Jelle (Bel) (Team Lombarden New Heebra) à 1'15"
20 LECROSNIER Frédéric (AC Octeville) mt
21 DELROT Bastien (ESEG Douai) à 1'17"
22 EDET Nicolas (VS Chartrain) à 1'20"
23 MARIE Yannick (Entente Sud-Gascogne) mt
24 OLEJNIK Tomasz (Pol) (USSA Pavilly-Barentin) à 1'22"
25 GUAY Julien (Vendée U Pays de la Loire) mt
26 MESNIL Julien (VC Evreux) à 1'28"
27 VERMEULEN Franck (VC Rouen 76) à 1'29"
28 VAN DER GINST Dries (Bel) (Team Lombarden New Heebra) mt
29 BRANDT Matthew (USA) (USA National Team) à 1'34"
30 GIRARD Arnaud (CA Mantes-la-Ville) à 1'35"

Stage 4 I stayed with the main front split when the peleton. I stayed with the front group over the first 2 of the cat 1 climbs. Then I got dropped with 40k and 4 cat 1 climbs remaining. I rode with a small group until 30k to go then I rode the rest of the way by myself. Not sure where I finished somewhere around 50th.

2007-08-23T04:51:00.000-07:00

I just thought i'd go a little more in depth about the last couple races.

We did 1 day races in Britannia, France. We were told going in these would be very aggressive and very fast races. The best finish last year was Nick Reistad in 30th last year. The first race of the 4 was pretty rolling 16 laps of 9k a break of 5 got off in the first lap then a group of 15 bridged to it. I got off in a chase group of 20 riders and we never really worked together we just attacked eachother trying to trim the group down. Finally with 4 laps to i got in a break of 3 and we rode so hard I was about to get popped so I handed them one of my cokes to get them to slow down for a second. I was able to stay with them but I couldn't make anything happen in the 3 up sprint. I ended up 27th a group of 24 stayed off the front.

Day 2

28 laps of 5k with a long cross wind section and 2 good uphill sections. It stayed together forever we were going hard but it never split up just 1 or 2 riders popping off now and then. with 8 laps to go. It split into 3 groups I made the seconds group and we eventually caught the front group and it all came back together, but the race was blown only 50 riders were left. It went hard again and it split I got kind of spit out and ended up in a small group racing for 30 something spot. One of the riders in our group kept riding at 550 watts up the hill every lap. So the groups split in half I ended up in a group of 3 and we suffered our way to the finish I ended up 44th.

I got sick the 3rd day was forced to dnf.

We have been on a week break right now. A week break doesn't mean completely off of racing. We went to a local kermess a circuit race 11 laps of 10.5k. Usually these are smaller local races but this ended up being a pretty big one with 121 starters. The entire Splendid team showed up, they've been dominating almost every race they've done. It was definatly going to be a fast one. We were going on our first loop and we turn a corner and we hit a 18% wall about half a kilometer long the we made a right turn along a false flat then it kicked up for about another k at 8-10%. By the end it was split up pretty good 9 riders in front with a few groups behind that I found myself in a group of 5 that got caught by the peleton 2k from the finish, what was left of it anyway the most it could of been was 25 riders. We ended up sprinting out of the group for 18th spot. It was a straight on 1k stretch slightly uphill and into the wind. I timed my sprint really well and came from 10th spot to came 2nd in the field sprint. Coming in 19th on the day. They are pretty cool about paying out here. The top 3 get big money and 4th place through 50th get 10 euro each and 3 euro entry fees so 1/3 of the field gets there money back and enough to grab some dinner.

Tommarow we start Port Ocean a Uci 2.12 stage race 4 stages 3 days. This will be my last big race here. So hopefully it will go well.

Pedaling

2007-08-19T08:01:00.000-07:00

2007-08-19T01:12:00.000-07:00

I got 27th and 44th in some big one day races in France.

I found some of the results online. I scored a 2nd in the field sprint to take 19th.

18/08/2007- LENNIK (VB)
1.12B - ind.reg.wedstr.(100-120 km) Elite z.c./U23
(114 km - 11 x 10.4 km)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.12B - ind.reg.wedstr.(100-120 km) Elite z.c./U23
Aantal deelnemers: 121
1. BAGDONAS Gediminas KLAIPEDA 02:49:00
2. PERSOON LUCAS
3. BEYER Chad USA U23 NATIONAL TEAM
4. DAELMANS Arne KLAIPEDA SPLENDID CYCLING TEAM
5. VERSCHRAEGEN Krijn AFDELING OOST-VLAANDEREN WBV
6. GUNS Jurgen WIMI-GAMES - ST MARTINUS CT - KERKSKEN
7. KONDROTAS SIMAS
8. VAN LANDEGHEM Kurt WSC VOORUIT - SINT-GILLIS-WAAS
9. KRUOPIS Aidis KLAIPEDA
10. DE DECKER Bjorn SCOTT USA CYCLING TEAM
11. KUKTA Marius
12. CRABBE Kevin DAVITAMON-WIN FOR LIFE-JONG VLAANDEREN
13. LELIVELD DENNIS UITHOORNSE WTC
14. MC MURDO HILTON NORTHERN
15. BURGER LEON UITHOORNSE WTC
16. BARTON CHRIS
17. MASSON Christophe CCI DIFFERDANGE
18. MOCKUS Algirdas KLAIPEDA-SPLENDID CYCLIN TEAM
19. BRANDT MATTHEW
20. VUYLSTEKE Pieter WC SOENENS-GERMOND INGELMUNSTER

Tour of Alsace

2007-08-02T13:37:00.000-07:00

Is by far the hardest race I've ever been in its mostly D-2 pro teams. Such as Rabbobank and Ag2r.

We took 13th in the team tt. Our lungs were burnt to a crisp after not warming up so didn't fare great but we notched a 13th place.

Stage 1 A pretty hilly course it was pretty drilled from the gun. We turned a corner and the road went straight up at 18. Our driver in the car said it was a small climb pshh guys were all over the place I got in a chase group with Bjorn and caught back on at the base of the next climb. I got in a rythem and stayed in the field till the finish. I tried to go for the field sprint but moving up into the wind left me gassed with 300 meters to go and I ended up 53.

Stage 2

30ks to a set of 7 circuits 18k per lap it was mostly uphill it was hard I got dropped with 3 laps to go. I finished in a 12 rider group 14 minutes off the back of the bunch. I made time cut its pretty touch and go if you get dropped the time cut is only 8% so if you lose more then 20 minutes which if you fall off by yourself that can be pretty easy in the last 40ks.

Belgium

2007-07-26T12:14:00.000-07:00

I started my first race here in Belgium with a 5 day 6 stage stage race around the province of liege. The first stage went very poorly I got dropped 90s into the 160k road race and rode the last 70ks in time trail mode to barely make time cut. The second stage I was determined to hang on to the front group, after literally feeling my calf muscle rip out of my leg. I made it to the line with the front bunch. Stage 3 a 7k time trail, I put in a decent effort not sure of my place. Stage 4 3 7-10k climbs over the first 40ks made this a tough one, but I managed to tag onto the front bunch again and got like 60th place. Stage 5 another 160k stage a 60 rider crash, and the officials put the entire race into time out for 45 minutes to sort things out. After we got going again the riders didn't want to race anymore, saying we cruise to the circuits that only lasted 20 till we hit the climbs then everything was game on. I can only remember throwing my bike side to side hanging on for dear life up the climbs then crossing the line last wheel of the front group completely exhausted. The final stage there was a climb every 10ks including a 2.3k climb reaching grades of 22 degrees. Ryan Baumann and I got dropped before 5ks before that climb and rode tempo together catching about a few riders here and there eventually forming a 20 rider group we made it to the circuits and got lapped by the leaders but we finished the race in 91st and 92nd overall there were 150 starters and 93 finishers. At least we finished.

We did a 180k circuit race today, and were pretty much told we were gonna get dropped. It was just a matter of how long we could hang on. With good reason though 15 out of the teams were Pro continental. The circuit ranged from to lane roads to roads as wide as bike paths that can only fit 2 riders at a time. Even in the netruel zone it was an all out fight for the top 20 spots like a cross race start I did well and stayed in the top 40 for the first 2 16k laps after that fatuage started to wear in from the all out sprint cross wind sections. I got dropped on lap 5 a good 80ks of all out riding.

Tuesday we start a stage race in France. I should be on good form for that and looking to take a crack at some decent results.

2007-07-10T22:54:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the lack of posts, it was mostly due to frustration, lack of form, and getting Namoania. The night before the last stage of Nature Valley. I was very disappointed in dropping from 30th on GC to 40th on the last stage.

The last few weeks has been a big struggle of recovery and trying to get back on form. Finally over the past couple days my form has gotten back to 90% and I hope to be fully back up to racing speed before I fly to Belgium the 14th to finish off my season racing with the u-23 national team.

Stages 4 and 5

2007-06-24T06:58:00.001-07:00

The Wall.

Stage 4 downtown criterium the streets were lined with people banging on the fences. that was super cool, nothing exciting happened I just sat in waiting for Saturday and Sunday's hard stages.

Stage 5 The winds were in my favor today, The crosswinds weren't strong enough to blow the race apart which left the race to be won or lost on the circuit with the wall on it. Lap 1 I'm in a top 40 spot riders start to get blown on the hill. I'm weaving in and out of them come over the in a top 30 spot. Lap 2 White jersey young rider is going backwards as his teammate tries to push him along up the hill. Lap 3 more riders popped the lead group is trimmed to less then 30. Lap 4 I got gapped off over the top of the climb, but I only ended up losing 28 seconds.

I will do my best to take over the young riders jersey or at least move into 2nd in the competition today.

2007-06-22T15:14:00.000-07:00

Rumor has it I will be heading to Europe after u-23 nationals to ride for the U-23 national team.

Stages 2 and 3

2007-06-22T11:53:00.000-07:00

Stage 2 was no doubtibly the longest 65 miles of my life i got dropped in the cross winds 2 times but chased back on. It was a hard day the twisty circuits and swerving around popped riders made the lead group thin out alot. I ended up finishing 34th in a finishing pack of 61.

Stage 3
I tried to stay smooth for the time trail, and ended up getting caught by Chris Baldwin right at the line. So I lost about a minute to the leaders on the 5 mile TT. Hopefully less then 30 seconds to the young rider leader.

Nature Valley stage 1

2007-06-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

Cole and I arrived to the line 20 minutes early only to see the start line jammed with riders already jostling for a good start position. We ended up saying fuck it and starting dead last instead of 10th to last. At least we got to pick our line around the first corner. For the first 30 minutes I slowly moved up 1 place here and there never getting very far. I finally got a break when the bunch hesitated for a second and I shot up the right side up 50 places. After that it was almost a walk in the park. Until the lead outs developed in the last couple laps, and everything got stretched out single file. I ended up 54th, Bjorn Sealander took the young riders jersey. I will go after it in todays stage and in the time trail Friday.

Wheel and Sprocket mahem

2007-06-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

Ahhh first off its good to be home. I got back tuesday the 5th from Oregon. Suited up right after I got home for some track racing. I never really felt comfortable on the track until a cold front moved in for the main track riders were in tights and jackets as the weather hit the 50 degree mark. I destroyed the race and took my first main event win ever with the help of teamate Cole House.

Saturday was the State rode race. I had the Orca fitted out with some Cosmic Carbons and I was looking good in the new wheel and sprocket kit. We the power to take the race by storm with myself, Cole House still fresh from europe, Andy Crater, and my madison partner Shane. About a mile in a group of 8 riders including myself cole, bjorn sealander riding for VMG and just back from europe, Ryan Baumann winner of the u-23 jersey at tour of virginia who is also heading over to europe to race in the next part of the season. Rob White, an Iscorp guy and a few people I don't know of the top of my head. With 11 6 mile circuits with 1 giant hill each lap. Me and cole rode tempo up the hill to make sure the break stayed together until the last couple laps. With 4 to go I layed it down up the hill Baumann was doing the chasing he kept the gap at 20 meters. I sat over up over the top only 6 guys left in the break. Next lap I attacked over the top this time theres only 4 of us. Next lap same thing but I get away and drive it by myself until Cole and Bjorn bridge. 3 man race Last lap I start attacking to soften Bjorn up a bit. Cole attacks 300 meter before the hill, I sit on Bjorn he tries to attack. I popped it down 2 gears and counter him. Cole wins me 2nd Crater 4th. 3 guys in the top 5.

$10k circuit race we set a 4 man leadout train for the one and only Andy Crater. We started our leadout train with 2 laps to go and 6 miles out from the finish we prolly started it a bit to early but it was super good practice, we got 6th and 17th. We still made alot of money so you can't complain.

Tuesday Track

Wheel and Sprocket domination

I made my first kerin final.

Main event points race we layed it down and attacked until we had 3 guys off the front in a 4 rider break. Everything came together really well and we rode perfectly together as a team. I won the last event of the night the pro 1,2 tempo race.

Not much else to write we "wheel and sprocket" had 2 good days of track riding tuesday and wensday morning. Working on team sprints and Team pursuiting.

2007-06-03T15:00:00.000-07:00

Mt Hood stage 1-2

2007-05-30T17:33:00.000-07:00

Stage one pro louge GAY I miss my tt bike. Shit that bike was fast as hell 8th in a world cup time trail. Maybe next year I should be a tt specialist considering climbing sucks.

Stage 2

112 miles of 90 degree fun. I passed out at taco del mar after I found out the slip and slide I was promised at the start hadn't arrvived. Nothing really happened early in the race break got 13 minutes. I tried to bridge in it's early stages but nothing doing. Kirk our sprinter who got 2nd on this stage last year went down going threw the feed. Jared our guest rider and I went back to pace him back on. We caught back onto the back of the caravan after a few miles of hard chasing. He got to hold onto the side of the car to get his hand taped up. I tried to tuck in behind the car but got motioned by the officials to get out of it's draft I made it up to the Toyota United car and sat in on a descent. Then went full gas up the next hill and just tagged on over the top. By this time Health Net was in full war cry, and I had lil gas after chasing. I got popped when the attacking started the next time around up the KOM hill. Kirk myself and Dan ended up together and we just rolled in who knows how many minutes down.

PIR

2007-05-23T09:30:00.000-07:00

It was Intense. 4 of the best pros in the area showed up. Chad Hartley BMC, Evan Elken Jittery Joes, Omar Kem Priority Health, Doug Ollershaw Health Net. They made the race 20 laps instead of the usual 15. I attacked right off the line to take the first points sprint. Got in a break of 4 guys out sprinted them for the 2nd points sprint. Then things got interisting I found myself in a break including Chad, Evan, Omar, Myself. We were flying rolling it in the upper 30 mph range. Evan and I duked out the points sprint and he nipped me at the line. We all sat up and went back to the bunch after that sprint. I got chopped by this guy "112 Oliphant David Therapeutic Associates" who was in the middle of the bunch and just swung left not even bothering to see if anyone was behind or if anyone was crossed over his wheel. We touched wheels pretty good but I managed to stay up. Then he did the same exact thing in the final stretch sending me back 10 riders putting me out of contention for the final sprint. Better yet he got 3rd in the overall and I got 4th only because he got 3rd in the final points sprint ending up with the same points as me in the end. He got 3rd because he beat me in the final sprint. He is now on the top of my shit list.

I'm feeling faster and stronger everyday. I will be back in k-town june 5th for a good run at the state road race.

stages 4 and 5

2007-05-22T07:47:00.000-07:00

stage 4 time trail with climbing wheels no aero bars I didnt stand much of a chance 78th or something on the stage.

stage 5 mt nebo. Hardest climb i've ever done 18% grade for 3 miles. We worked early in the stage to try and protect Aaron keep him up at the front and keep people from cutting him off a crash at the wrong time wouldnt be good for his GC. 10k away from the finishing climb there was a crash in the center of the bunch by going completely sideways shooving some guy who was falling into me the other way then going into a ditch bunny hopping back onto the road I managed to avoid the wreck. I had to chase back on for a few kilometers. I tried to move up to help aaron into the climb, but i'd get within a few riders of him and a giant swarm would sent me back 20 places. I rode tempo up the climb and finished 44th on the stage and 49th on GC. Aaron ended up 3rd on GC.

Stage 3

2007-05-19T11:21:00.001-07:00

Crits are gay. It’s like one of the mini cars where they put 12 clowns in at one time. It was just chaos. I started in the back and pretty much stayed there. The long straight where moving up in the bunch would have been optimal was made literally impossible by a strong headwind. Attacks were launched in the first 30 minutes of the race I think the biggest gap grew to 30 seconds, after the 30 minute mark of the race it went from being on the rivet to an all out single file sprint just to hold the wheel in front of you. Only problem with that is when the guy 20 riders in front of you sits up and opens up a 50 meter gap. It was going to happen sooner or later the race split in 2 I found myself in a 50 rider group 40 seconds off the back of the front runners. Tuckerman finished among the top 30 riders of the lead group. We are hoping he will have a good ride in the TT tonight. Then we will do our best to protect him and put him in front at the finishing climb tomorrow, and keep him high on GC maybe even the overall victory.

Tri-Peaks stage 2

2007-05-18T14:54:00.000-07:00

Today started out pretty lazy a break of 6 riders got off in the early miles. Which was good for us, myself kirk and richard went to the front and set tempo. We continued to do that for 30 miles or so until Healthnet offered some help sending 3 riders to the front. We ended up pulling off after being told over the radio to stop rolling through. Healthnet instantly complained, and said they'd attack us if we didn't continue to roll through. We ended up making a deal with them as long as we sent one rider to roll through they wouldn't attack us. I was that unlucky rider. After riding hard tempo for 30ks with the health net boys. I took a turn on a slight downhill grade we took a left turn straight into a hill and I popped and ended up finding myself as last wheel for next 10 miles. The last 20 miles was downhill which it was single file the whole way down going 80ks per hour. It was insane groups of 4 or 5 riders were getting popped off the back. I dived in and out of corners slowly moving up the long single file line. I look to the right hand sign of the road and see the 1k to go marker. The last 1k was a pretty good climb it was basicly a slow motion sprint riders were getting popped all over the place I sprinted as best I could. I got onto the back of a small front group right at the line. I think I was top 30 today.

Live strong ride/ Tri peaks stage 1

2007-05-17T13:29:00.000-07:00

We did a Live Strong ride yesterday over 200 people showed up so it was fricken awesome. We also stopped by the children's hospital and handed out wristbands and chatted with people it was a good time.

This morning was the first stage of Tri-Peaks a 60 mile road stage with a 10 mile climb with a 2500 foot elevation gain to finish it off. Myself, Richard, and Kirk. Followed all the moves in the first hour. Until a break of 10 riders with all the big GC hopes from Jelly Belly, Toyota United, and Health net in it. Our Gc rider Aaron Tuckerman got in on that. They we're pretty much gone right away. A small chase was organized by Rock Racing but we never saw the front group again. The last climb was a decent one so it made a selection out of the main bunch out of the 140 in the main bunch it was down to 40 or 50 by the finish. I just rolled in the middle of the bunch. I want to stay in the front bunch tommarow 100 miles and over 10k feet of elevation gain.

O yeah I forgot to mention Aaron took it to the house today and left Toyota United Jelly belly Health Net behind at the 5k to go sign and soloed in for the Win.

Uphill TT pic

2007-05-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

More pics

2007-05-16T07:10:00.001-07:00

Joe Martin

2007-05-13T20:34:00.000-07:00

Finished up in 53rd on GC at joe martin, I had a good ride in the crit, but it was a 85 minute race which is a pretty long crit. It was just about half uphill and half downhill out of the 125 starters 26 people finished on the leaders pace. I got popped at the 75 minute mark and ended up around 50th in the stage. I ended up 53rd on GC out of 150 that started. Hopeful I'll gain some more fitness from this for tri peaks.

Season update

2007-05-06T11:28:00.000-07:00

1 parkside #1 Cat 1/2 3/11/07

1 parkside #2 Cat 1/2 3/18/07

2 Icebreaker Criterium Cat 1/2 03/31/07

6 Piece of Cake rr Cat 1/2 04/01/07

11 PIR Pro Cat1/2/3 04/03/07

6 brad lewis crit Cat 1/2 4/8/07

18 1st u23 Sea otter pro nrc Cat 1/2 4/14/07

2 PIR Cat 1/2/3 04/17/07

5 Three Rivers Road Race Cat 1/2 04/22/07

11 PIR Cat 1/2/3 04/24/07

4 PIR - April Series Cat 1/2/3 04/24/07

15 vance creek road race Cat 1/2 04/29/07

7 PIR Cat 1/2/3 05/01/07

Ouch

2007-05-01T11:25:00.001-07:00

Bad day

2007-04-30T18:06:00.001-07:00

Vance Creek road race

2007-04-30T10:21:00.000-07:00

Tyler Farrar Cofidis, Ian Mikkisik BMC, Doug Ollershaw Health Net, Evan Elkhan Jittery Joes. All fast pros that can turn a nice 80 mile road race in the sun. In to a very long day.

The course was pretty fun it had a good section of climbing that was 3 miles, then it went downhill for a while then into one laned farm roads. There were alot of splits mostly on the hill. I was sitting about 40 riders back going through about a mile cross wind section. I wasn't hurting at all I looked up and see a split of 20 riders which all the big pros were in. I immiedatly got out of the saddle and powered around struggling riders. I tried to clear the 15-20 second gap, I got close, but when they turned the corner and went into the tail wind and they were gone. I settled in with the second group 4 of our riders made the split so team wise we were in a good position. I could do nothing, but sit in and wait. First it was 30 seconds then 50 seconds the a 1:20 then 1:50 then we brang it back to 1:30 then it went up to 3 minutes. Basicly it was a long day of watching the race go up the road. I easily took the sprint of our 2nd group the legs felt really good my back was super sore I guess thats to be expected with the first few of these 80 mile road races. Cross winds can really ruin your day, even if your feeling good it only takes one rider to open up a split, and rip the field in half.

Climbing stage 2

2007-04-27T13:30:00.000-07:00

Went up thomson a bit faster today.

2nd climb of the day, tried a new climb today it was a little bit steeper then thompson. Pretty fun climb nice and twisty.

Who needs a power tap?

2007-04-26T13:21:00.000-07:00

let the fun begin

2007-04-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

Luck has nothing to do with it.

80 mile RR

2007-04-22T19:45:00.000-07:00

Just an update on the road race I did today. It was a hilly 80 mile race with a good 4 mile climb each 16 mile lap. I got off in the early move, we got a max gap of 2 minutes. Chad Hartley from bmc and a few guys from First Rate Morgage bridged up. Game Over. It was all a matter of of deciding who finsihed where out of the break. With 30 miles to go I attacked the group and opened up a minute gap. Chad and Kenny bridged which is what I wanted put the 3 of us together and its over. I wanted to sit on for a few turns to catch my breath after being alone for 10 miles. Kenny didn't like that or thought I was dogging them and just sitting on. He let chad go and told me to chase. Since I was working with Chad I half rolled through, not really chasing. Kenny attacked me once and I hit him back. I almost got up to chad but hit the wall when I was 30 meters behind him. Kenny attacked me up the start/finish climb after being alone and in the break since mile 2. I was gassed and didn't have the legs to go with him. My back started aching which made going fast almost impossible I would stand for miles straight. I thought I had 3rd locked up, but 2 miles before the finish I saw a group of 5 guys coming fast behind. They caught me and I sat on. I could have taken them in the sprint, but my legs cramp with 200 meters to go. I sprinted through the cramp and got 3rd in our little group sprint. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth 5th is good but I should have easily been 3rd.

At least I had a good training day.

Sea Otter 2.2

2007-04-20T11:14:00.001-07:00

Sea Otter 2.1

2007-04-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

Sea Otter 2.0

2007-04-20T10:59:00.000-07:00

PIR

2007-04-17T23:42:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the the local ciruit race down at the ol race track. Oil + wet slick pavement= disaster! We didn't even make it around the first corner before the first rider slid out. He was attacking and just slid out and took out the guy who was going with him. I went on the attack with 4 other guys including Kirk. You put 2 fast sprinters in the break GAME OVER. We stayed away for a long time and Kirk and I went 1,2 in every points sprint. With 3 laps to go a group of 5 riders bridged up. Didn't make much differnce. Kirk followed the attack of one rider on the last and he beat him in the sprint so he had enough points to win. I followed suit, and won the sprint for 3rd and had enough points to hang on to 2nd overall race.

Mt. Larch

2007-04-16T23:10:00.000-07:00

I went out today with full intentions of just going on a recovery ride. My legs had other plans sometimes they have a mind of there own. I ended up riding along the river for a good 35 miles to the base of Mt. Larch a good 14 mile climb to the top the last 4 miles are still blocked off do to snow. I felt really good going up it really relaxed ticking over a quick cadence. 3 weeks ago I first rode this climb and was gasping for air in the 39-23. I was ticking over the 39-17 with no problems at all. Did I mention it was raining? Just another day in Oregon. I didn't bring gloves so the ride down the mountain at 45 mph was a brutal one I could barely grab the brakes by the bottem.

Tommarow is the cicuit race at the track maybe I'll have a shot to win it since Even and Doug are at Tour of Goergia. Doug got 2nd in todays stage. Mad Props to him.

Sea Otter

2007-04-16T07:33:00.000-07:00

WOW is the one word I can think of to describe it. With over 10,000 registered athletes road, mountain, downhill, bmx, anything on a bike and they had a event for it.

On to the race, we had a rough day to start off with pouring rain and gusty winds put a stop to the women's race. Then our start was delayed an hour. Then as were shivering on the start line in the pouring rain they decided to delay it another 30 minutes. BRRRRR! We raced back to the car and watched people ride around to warm up. The first 10 laps was rainy and must have been bad for peoples spirits, because half of the field was gone. The pace wasn't hard at all just the 300 feet of climbing for every 2 1/4 mile lap wore on some people, and any attack at the wrong time could really put you majorly in the hurt locker on the next lap. I raced really conservatively for the first 21 laps just watching and waiting making sure not to get caught out of any splits. The last 10 laps I got a huge boost of confidence I finally figured out "hey, wait a minute I can do this." I launched up from the main bunch to a chase group of Shaun Milne, Steve Tilford, Jonathan Baker, and 3 other guys. Kirk attacked and joined our group the next lap. So we had some cards to play. Baker seemed like the only one who wanted to work. I pulled through 5 or 6 times but ended up always pulling through the cross wind right before the climb so I just sat on up the climb. Baker attacked and he was gone with the rest of us looking at eachother. I had the power to chase him back but didn't want to waste the energy then see 5 guys fly by me and drop me so I just sat in. The last lap Finally came around and Milne pulled super hard up the hill I popped slightly along with Steve Tilford, I dug deep and sprinted over the top just barely catch back right before the corkscrew. Steve caught back on when we slowed up in the final kilometer. 500 meters to go Milne is on the front not much happening, He stuck to the left hand side of the road so if we wanted around him we had to go through the wind to do it. 250 meters to go Milne starts the sprint, Tilly is 2nd wheel with me 3rd. Everyone went left so I launched up the right popped it in the 53-11 went as hard as I could, and I took them to school. Taking the sprint for 18th place!! Kirk was right on my wheel for a 19th place. The 2 breakaways came together at the front and we ended up with Dan Harm in 10th and our ace climber Aaron Tuckerman with an impressive 5th place.

After the race I was surprised to find out I won the Young riders jersey which is for the rider under 23. So I ended up with a sweet Jersey and a kiss from the always cute podium girl.

With 140 starters the team cars were mostly full before the finish, only 32 riders finished the race. I'm really happy right now this is by far the biggest result of my career. I'm looking for pictures from the race so if yah find any send me the link.

Cheers

more pics from sunday

2007-04-10T18:39:00.000-07:00

hot or not?

2007-04-10T10:44:00.000-07:00

Pics

2007-04-09T19:39:00.000-07:00

Power sliding

Throwing it down.

Brad lewis crit

2007-04-08T22:32:00.000-07:00

With sunny skies on the drive to Seattle today it looked to be a promising day. With one of our riders Dan Harm living a few blocks from the race. We had a place to change and get ready for the race. We rolled out a good hour and a half before the race. Mistake #1 I didn't wear any leg warmers. As soon as we got to the course dark clouds rolled in, it started pouring 30 minutes before the start of the pro race. The course was pretty technical a 1k crit course with sharp corners. There were around 60 riders on the start line, I officially started in the very last spot. It started out very quickly and on such a short course moving up was difficult. I finally made it to the front only to see a group of 8 riders off the front, including 2 of my teamates. I sat 2nd wheel in the pack following Tom Peterson from team Slipstream who missed out on the break. I sat in the top 5 following the moves. Not much doing, we caught 3 of the break away riders who fell off of the break, our sprinter Kirk got 2nd out of the break and our other guy in the break Aaron crashed on the last lap. I got 2nd in the field sprint ended up 7th on the day. It was a hard day for many riders half the pack dropped out or got pulled.

Mid week update

2007-04-06T15:46:00.000-07:00

Went down to the big city tuesday, and jumped in a circuit race around the local indy car type track it had some hair pins s curves and a super long straight away to the finish. I didn't really know what was going on when they rang the bell with 12 laps to go of a 15 lap race. I found out they run it like a points race with sprints every 3 laps of the 1.8 mile circuit. I went on the attack trying to time it to win some sprints I won 1 and got caught right before one. The final sprint gave the most points 10, 9,8,7,6 and so forth giving points to 10 places. After a early jump by Evan Elkhan of Jittery joes with 500 meters to go 2 riders got on him, I was boxxed and ended up 4th almost beating Evan at the line, he went way to early into the wind, but it worked out for the guys on his wheel. They was a good 82 rider field and It is a weekly thing here so I'm hoping now that I know what is going on I can win next time.

Wensday I went out and did the noon ride at nike I got 2nd in the kom I was holding a good 360 watts all the way up the climb and tested the waters a few times hitting the high 400s but backed it down right away. Chad "the bmc pro" sat my wheel and attacked me right before the top, he gave me a smile and said see ya as he few by. To bad all the fast guys took the day off.

Thursday I went to the nike ride by myself Chad headed to richmond for a big pro race with his team. It was interisting I like the ride because they mix it up alot. Today we did a 4 on 4 team race. One of the finishes was at the top of a 4 mile climb. I took 2nd I didn't know where the finish was so I followed Steve Wrights wheel he sprinted and I hung on for dear life I couldn't have gone around him so it didn't matter anyway. It was the first time I was able to hold Steve's wheel all the way to the top of a climb so I was happy with just that. The next race was across the top of Skyline a pretty famous road out here. It ended up being a 4 up sprint. Steve attacked and I sat on him when the 3 of us caught back up to him he was forced to lead, but wasn't going all that hard. I spotted the finish line, and Steve wound it up. I gave it 110% and slowly inched up around his rear wheel and we went neck and neck across the line. I nicked him with a bike throw. I really enjoy riding with these guys. They're all mostly ex pros who have raced in europe, so I have also been learning alot just by talking to them.

Today was a 3 hour coffee ride, nothing super hard I kept the heart rate down and just spun after a hard 3 day block the legs were a little sore.

Tommarow I'll do some openers to loosen the legs up. Then Sunday we are doing a race in seattle with a 2000 dollar prize list. Hopefully with 7 strong guys we can take most of it. My orbea orica comes in monday.

So look for a race update and some bike porn

dueces

Pics

2007-04-02T09:02:00.000-07:00

Check out some pics from the race sunday

http://photos.oregonvelo.com

sweet pic of the field sprint

in the break

Blog to check out

2007-04-02T08:47:00.000-07:00

race oregon blog

I got mentioned in a blog comment on here!

That just happened

2007-04-01T19:01:00.000-07:00

Think about riding around a giant crit course and that was the course for today 17 mile crit course we were doing 4 laps 68 miles. The field was alot harder today about 70 riders, amoung the big names were Doug of health net preparing for the tour of goergia and Evan of Jittery Joes who had a really good sprint. The attacks never really stopped all race nothing got to far until laps 2 or 3 thats when I started throwing down some shit down. I was attacking or following attacks for a entire lap straight and at one point got in a break with doug and evan that was really an awesome feeling throwing it down with some high quality riders. We got caught though, I was really suprised it didn't stick. We were hauling. My teamate aaron got off in a break with another guy and Doug bridged the gap I wanted to sprint up to him, but I didn't want to drag the pack up to Aaron. The 3 of them stayed away, and Aaron ended up 3rd. As for me I was in a good position with 400 meters to go sitting 5th in the main field. Evan started the sprint around a corner with 300 meters to go, he got a small gap and someone locked up around the corner I was forced to touch the brakes, and Evan and another fast local sprinter got a 30 meter gap. I led out the sprint of the field, and one rider of our "rival" team out here CMG was the only one close to coming around me. He thought he nipped me so he stuck his tounge out and gave a stupid grin and said "Got ya!" I just smiled back and said wait for the results. The camera was on my side today, and I beat him in the race for 6th. It has given me something to chuckle about even though I wanted to be sprinting Evan.

Tommarows agenda,

Watch day time TV until I get bored

Then ride till dark.

2 weeks till sea otter

Ice breaker crit

2007-03-31T22:00:00.000-07:00

I was pretty nervous coming into the race today not knowing what to expect competition wise. We had 7 riders, one a track racer. Who if all else failed we were gonna set up for the field sprint. It started pouring during our warm up I got totally soaked. Our kits today were pretty sweet the Live Strong foundation hooked our team up with some snazzy jerseys.

The first lap I was sitting 2nd wheel, and covered a few of the early moves. Aaron our team captain made the first promising move, and opened a good 15 second gap. I countered someone's attack and flew up to Aaron so we had 2 rubicon riders off the front with a 20 second gap. We held the gap for 5 laps with a flurry of attacks behind we did our best to open up the gap. The attacks stopped when 1 rider got off, I looked back and Dan Harm one of the best track pursuiters in the nation was hot in pursuit of us. O yeah did I mention hes on Rubicon to. So we let up a little bit and he joined us to form a front break of 3 riders. Could it get any beter for us? We kept a constent 30 second gap for lap after lap. Small break kept going off the front of the pack but our teamates kept everything under control for us. Following every move. Kirk attacked a 3 rider chase group that got away from the main field, and radioed us that he was clear. Soon we had 4 rubicon riders off the front, with 10 laps to go in the race we lapped the main field. Right away we went to the front and controlled the race for our track sprinter to get a hopefull 5th place. No dice unlucky time to cramp left us down, but taking first through 4th is still pretty damn good.

Tommarow is a 78 mile road with a 1000 dollar pay out over 15 places should be sweet.

more tommarow

Parkside 1-2/Oregon

2007-03-29T23:45:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd wipe the dust off a little on this thing.

Parkside number 1

Straight from the start my teammate Sal and my plan was to show that we were the strongest riders in the pack we launched a good 10 attacks before myself and rob white broke away from the pack I knew I was feeling good and kept saying in my head "don't fuck this up stay smooth just roll it". We put in a minute gap, before I started thinking how can I win this. Rob wasn't pulling into the wind or up the hill so I thought I saw a sign of weakness and with 15 min left in the race I decided to test him, and he couldn't respond so I rode away to a I don't want to sound cocky so I'm not gonna say it was easy but it wasn't very hard either.

Parkside number 2

Straight from the start I knew this was gonna be a hard race it was total chaos the white brothers came out firing on all cyclenders attacks were flying. I saw 6 riders get 10 seconds and I knew straight away that it was dangerous so I launched up there straight away I wasn't fully warmed up so I struggled slightly to close the gap for a minute, but someone wouldn't pull in the break so I got lucky and caught on. I caught my breath, and went straight to work. Doing what Sal and I have been training all winter to do "Destroy". Riders who opened up the gas to early struggled to stay on and within a lap or two it whittled down to myself, Erik Loberg, and Ryan White. We sped away and with speedzone and pwc represented we rode away. Ryan wouldn't pull he said he was having stomach cramps, so with 25 min left in the race. I decided to try and take a stab at ending the race early. When we were all looking at eachother for who was gonna pull I launched it was with the tailwind so I wasn't able to open up the gap I needed and they pulled me back with 15 min left in the race. We messed around for 2 laps lulled them into a false sense of security until they would pull through again. I hit them into the wind this time and carried my speed into the tail wind. Then put it into 5th gear and pedaled the last 3 laps to win again.

I got my wisdom teeth pulled ouch.

I came out to Oregon Tuesday the 20th, teeth screaming I just chilled, took a nap, headed to bed early, met some new teammates, checked out the team bikes, got new gear
felt like Christmas.

Currently I'm staying with Chad Hartley "Bmc pro cyclist" I am very grateful that him and Emily opened up there apartment for me to stay at for the summer. I'm just gonna say it straight out coming out here I feel like a cat 4, part of it might of been the antibiotics holding my recovery back. Going up the climb in my first group ride I led up the first mile then watched everyone speed past leaving me gasping for air. Like you see with a cat 4 in jean shorts that attacks in the first lap. I am adjusting though Chad has been keeping me on the rivet every day.

Yestarday we did a group ride "made up of very fast mostly ex pros that work at nike" they were doing 100 miles. At my 65-90 of the group ride they started hauling we never dropped below 30 mph. I couldn only pull for 45 sec and I would get shot straight to the back and have to sprint to catch the back wheel. Some stats on the ride, we left at 11 am and got back at 7:30 pm, only 4 flat tires in the group. We ended up with 130 miles and total ride time of 6 hours and 30 min.

So far since I got here " 8 days" I've put 35 hours of saddle time in. I really like it a lot here hopefully the climbs here will help me prepare for some of the big NRC racing looming on the race schedule.

2006-12-17T10:25:00.000-08:00

Did a longer spin class saturday this one was closer to 2 hours, alot more intense then the other class I do. I liked it alot though average watts 285.

I felt pretty tired today so I took it easy and did an easy paced ride for 3 hours. Weight lifting is still going good, and I've been riding 6 days a week.

Pretty Crazy Day

2006-12-13T04:30:00.000-08:00

Got sick of riding rollers within 5 minutes yesterday, Threw on some booties and headed outside. Ended up rolling it for close to 5 hours SAWEET. Took a quick nap and headed to the gym for 2 hours of lifting. Time for some pizza rolls.

2006-12-08T04:06:00.000-08:00

Pretty solid week, lifted 3 times so far, probably go again today. Riding has been good I've put a good 12 hours in so far, and still have a few rides planned for the weekend.
Averaged 280 watts for spin class this week no idea if thats good or not.

2006-11-29T01:55:00.000-08:00

Went for my first ride in a good 3 weeks of not training. Felt all rite legs hurt a little bit, but thats normal. Did a solid 4 hour base ride.

2007

2006-11-25T18:38:00.000-08:00

After a very succseful road season, mediocre cross and mtb season. I've spent the last few weeks talking to teams for next year. I got a really good offer from Team Rubicon last week, and I've decided to join there u-23 devo team for the 2007 season. From what it sounds like I'll be moving to portland and staying/racing with the team there for most of the summer.

New Team

State cx

2006-11-22T21:57:00.001-08:00

wow that was fun after tripping over the barriars going from 5th to last in 5.6 seconds. I just rode tempo around for a while, put it in netruel and decided to wait till next year. I have some big stuff lined up for road next year that will even invovle me getting paid to ride my bike around.

Washington park cyclo cross

2006-10-30T04:32:00.000-08:00

This is the race I look forward to every year. A super fast course with bumps so it takes alot of power out of people. Another pretty stacked race Jesse, Marko, Brain, Mike p, Rayn b, James holmes and MG. I was going pretty good at the start sitting about 4th. Got on with kyle from beans n barley and we had a 10 seconds gap or so for the 2 laps. I was starting to pop so I had to settle down and drop back to the 2nd pack. I sat Jesses wheel until 2 to go then popped. Ended up duking it out with Ryan and Mike. I won the sprint for 6th.

2006-10-27T09:36:00.000-07:00

I have been completely out of it cycling wise lately. It's just been hard lately after a rough weekend of racing, then finding out I've been "accidentally" getting emails for the u-23 national team. That I thought I was on, but apparently it was a mistake. So it has been a very frustrating week.

Did some stairs and ran a good 4 or 5 miles with sal on tuesday. Wensday did a cyclo cross work out with Jack Hirt, got smoked most of the time. I started to feel myself getting some sort of form back towards the end of our workout though. Hopefully I'll fully find my legs again before sunday.

Frustration...

2006-10-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

Crappy Weekend

2006-10-23T05:27:00.000-07:00

I rode horrible in both races with a 6th and a dnf. My legs had no speed at all. It got to the point where I just gave up at the race sunday. Hopefully a few days off the bike is all I need to get some speed back.

Back to the Grind

2006-10-19T18:56:00.000-07:00

Monday morning was like waking up with a hangover, but I had Sal to train with this guy is amazing always eager to ride it helps keep me pumped up. It was drizzling slightly so we kept it close to shelter, with some hill runs out at petrified springs. We got done with that at 7:30 still a lil early to go get some breakfast. So Sal had a pretty sweet plan for us to throw on some running shoes and hit the indoor running track up for about 3 miles of running. Later that day I headed to the gym for some computrainer work it was just supposed to be an easy spin scan day, but it turned into a hard 25 mile practice tt.

I couldn't even walk Tuesday morning, I dragged myself to my bike for and hour ride. I got to work Tuesday night. For those of you who don't know I work 3rd shift at Kohls un loading trucks.

Wensday after work at 6 Sal and I hooked up for another ride. We flew down across the border to Illinois for a fast 40 mile ride averaging 25 mph.

I took a Day off the bike to recover for the weekend. I'm looking at racing the Whitewater cyclocross race, and Cam Rock. It looks like Cam rock has a pretty good payout so there should be some stiff competition.

G is for Gangsta

Laphem Peak cyclocross

2006-10-19T18:39:00.000-07:00

After winning a cross race in iowa, crashing 3 times and finishing a lap down at badger prairie cross, then getting 2nd overall in comp at sheybogan. I wasn't sure if I'd bring good legs or bad legs to lapham peak.

After riding 3 hours with Andy Crater on Saturday. I felt a lil sluggish sunday morning, so Cole and I went for a easy spin sunday morning in the 25 degree morning air. After that we left baraboo, and headed to the cross race. After scoping the course out

Some great pics! check it out!

I got to the start just in time to get the perfect position to take the hole shot. The competition was small but stiff, Mike phillips, Brain matter, Cole house, Ryan B. and Marko L. I got the hole shot and went to work right away keeping the pace high. I was working for Cole, as he could easily hop the barriars so we figured he had the best shot at beating Brain. Within a lap I had it narrowed down to Cole, Brain, and myself. Cole and I exchanged pulls for a few laps then with 3 to go Cole breaks a spoke around the hairpin. Brain starts hammering I couldn't stay with him when he hopped the barriars up the hill and soon he had 30 sec on me. Cole yanked his spoke out quick and got back in when i saw he was within 15 sec of me. I slowed down and waited for him. We pretty easily hung on to 2nd and 3rd. Props to Brain he rode very smart for being double teamed. I think I will be alot more of a challenge when the barriars are higher.