Joshua Tarrant

Been a long time

2008-05-19T12:25:00.002-04:00

Well, after a few requests from some fellow racers I've decided to update my blog. As far as racing goes, it has been a pretty lack luster year. I graduated from college in December, got a job as a design engineer, got engaged and moved into a house with my fiance in Mattawan. I trained a lot less this year than last with the intentions of having a stronger summer and holding back on my form a for a bit. However on a group ride about 3 weeks ago, I reached down to removed a stick that was stuck between my fork and spokes. I must have hit a nasty pothole because my hand was thrown into my wheel at 30mph and which severed my pinky finger off of my right hand and sent my crashing down the road. This was the freakiest accident I've ever had and feel like it was a 1 in a million chance of happening, but it did happen. The doctors could have re-attached it, but recomended I leave it off because it would have been purely asthetic and never worked. I got back on the bike after about 1.5 weeks and started training a little and did my first race back at Kensington, which didn't go very well. I don't have the form of the miles yet for this kind of a race, but am hopeful that i will build up slowly and salvage a good season of racing. Thanks for reading and for all the positive encouragement I heard in the race on saturday. Thanks Everybody. Cycling really is a tight nit group of friends even though we compete against each other every weekend, we are all in the same family.

BTR and HInes

2007-08-13T10:36:00.000-04:00

This weekend was rare occasion to race in my own backyard. The BTR criterium is less than a mile from my house and laps around the Engineering Building where i spend most of my time from Sept thru April. The course is fast and fun and usually windy. I went out a little too aggressive in the race. I spent the first half attacking and bridging to anything dangerous. I ended up missing the winning break but my team was well represented with Rob, Meurig and Jim all making the move. Rob won the race and Meurig was 3rd with Jim coming in for 5th. The next day was the Hines Park TT. I entered the Individual as well as the 2man event with Meurig. Last year I finished 3rd in the IT and Rob and I won the 2man and broke the record. I showed up late to the event and had a lousy warm up. I felt horrible and didn't feel opened up and couldn't get my heart rate up. I rode the race 2minutes slower than last year and finished a disappointing 7th. Meurig had a good day and finished 2nd by only 4 seconds. We started the 2man with winning and breaking the record in mind. We spent 25min beating each other up and lots of pain. We not only won, but beat all the 4 man teams as well as all the 2 man teams and broke the record. It was a great race and lots of fun after it was over. It felt good to get another win even if it wasn't exactly what i was hoping for. All in all it was a pretty decent weekend.

On the up and up

2007-08-04T22:10:00.000-04:00

Today was the classic Ada Criterium in Ada, Michigan. The course was set up a little bit different, but the race was great and exciting. Coming of a long break on the bike. I wasn't sure how I would feel. I shot my first bullet off bridging to a break that I knew was dangerous. It contained Priority Health rider Sven Howard, Derek Witte and WMCR Jason Switlowski. I knew I had a good chance to make the bridge but unfortunately Derek Graham from PH tagged my wheel and wouldn't lend a hand in the pursuit of the break. After 4 laps I blew up pretty hard. Derek jumped accross while I went back to the field. After the break lapped the field there was a chase group off the front containing my teammate Meurig and 4 others. Since the break lapped they were racing for 5th place. I attacked and bridged to the chase group bringing Sven Howard along who had just lapped the field and this put him up as the easy winner of the day if we stayed away. With PH having the numbers Meurig and I sat comfortable and chilled. As the race wore on I began to get a little tired and wasn't able to give as good of a kick as I would have liked. I ended up 9th on the day, with Meurig getting 6th. We placed all our guys in the top 20 which was a pretty decent showing. I am starting to feel better and hopefully a win is not too far away.

Nationals a Complete Bust

2007-07-18T07:17:00.000-04:00

I spent 4 days in Pennsylvania for US Road and Time Trial Nationals. I had high expectations for the Time Trial and was looking to ride strong in the Road Race. Unfortunately it ended up being a horrible weekend. I had crappy form and didn't do well at all. I felt horrible in the TT and rode an embarrassing time. I got popped of the field in the Road Race and called it a day early. The course was really hard but I could tell I was not firing on all cylinders. Hopefully better luck this weekend at the road race in Fenton, MI and then all next week at Superweek in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Next Up US National Championships

2007-07-10T11:42:00.000-04:00

This weekend I will down in 7springs Pennsylvania for the US National Championships. I will be doing the Time Trial on Friday and then the Road Race on Monday. The Time Trial suits me pretty well from what I've gathered about the course. It is 24K and fairly flat with some rollers in it. I'm going with expectations of a top 5 in the TT and maybe a chance of winning it. You never know who is gonna be there and there are so many guys who I've never raced against. I'm mostly hoping to give it an honest shot with good legs and see how i stack up. The road race is going to be a tough one. The course is 140k with a lot of really hard climbs and a field of 175 ambitions trigger happy CAT1 racers. I'm a little worried about the feed zones because this is always a problem in big races and you need good feeds in a race this long. Feed zones become a really mess with that many guys and a lot of crashes can happen in those situations. So wish me luck and good legs and maybe I'll surprise myself.

Superior Bike Fest

2007-06-28T08:08:00.000-04:00

So last weekend I ventured up to Marquette, MI for the Superior Bike Fest. The 3 race weekend proved to be a lot of fun. The first race was an awesome crit course downtown. The race got a late start and we weren't racing until 9:45. Unfortunately I got sick in the race ended up losing my dinner and not finishing. This was pretty upsetting to me because I was really enjoying the race. Meurig placed 6th despite 2 crashes. The next day was a 100mile road race. I followed a few wheels up the base of MT. Marquette and put in a little acceleration and ended up alone over the top of the climb. I kept the pace up and ended up with a nice little solo break for about 25miles. I got caught by a chase group with 2 Priority Health Riders, Rob White from PCW and WMCR as well as my teammate Alvin. Alvin wen to work for me and I was able to take it easy for the next 40miles or so. Eventually a chase group of about 8 caught us with few more PH riders in it. No one was really willing to work so the attacks kind of started going off. Mark Olsen rolled off and I bridged up to him. We started working but the group started to close down on us. As we hit the next climb and the group was about to catch, I punched it up the climb and got a gap. I was soon joined by Jeff Koch. Rob White later bridged up with Olsen on his wheel. Olsen was eventually dropped and it became 3. Rob was too strong in the sprint and I ended up taking 2nd. The last race was a cool circuit race at KI Sawyer Airforce Base. On the third lap on the 2mile circuit Alvin attacked up the climb and I countered is move and that was the break. With 3 PH riders in the break (Sven Howard, Jeff Koch, Derek Graham) plus Derek Prektl and Brian Matter. The PH guys had the responsibility of driving the break since Sven and Jeff were 2nd and 3rd overall and Rob White who was in 1st place missed the break. An agreement was reached that I would help drive the break in exchange for the stage win. This would put them 1,2 in the overall and the win would give me 3rd overall. This plan was fine until we lapped a group on the road containing 5PH riders. They immediately went to work for Sven and Jeff in the sprint for the stage win. I really wanted to attack and get away but with 8 guys in the that move I knew i could not hold off that many riders that long. So I planned a last minute late attack for the finish and try to spoil their leadout. I attacked with 700 meters to go. Sven came around me at the last minute. Two second places 2 days in a row and 4th place overall sits kinda bad in my stomach but it could have been a lot worse. I really liked the courses and the organizers.

Tour of Cedar Creek

2007-06-11T23:46:00.000-04:00

Sunday was the Michigan State Road Race Championships at Cedar Creek. I have to be honest, I appreciate West Michigan Coastal Riders for putting on the event and the hard work that goes into it, but the course just isn't good enough for the state road race to be at in my opinion. The race is too short and the course is not selective enough. It allows weaker riders to control the race a little too much and race too defensively. The race was a little too negative. I didn't have good legs and I knew this going into the race, but it was a game of chase the strong guys all day. Notably myself and Scott Riddle where targeted. It was a little frustrating, but that just goes with racing I guess. The team ended up pretty well with Meurig taking 2nd, Rob 5th and Brian 7th. We did our first lead out train and it went pretty successfully for the first try on the fly. Anyways, on to Allen Park before heading up north for Superior Bike Fest. I have about 5 weeks to ramp up for Nationals and get my form back. Hopefully it will work out as planned.

The Great Race proved to be GREAT!!

2007-05-28T10:31:00.000-04:00

So after traveling 14hrs in the car on Saturday, I decided I would go down to the Great Race in Elkhart, IN and do the crit down there. I needed some redemption for my bad luck at the Raleigh Crit in North Carolina. I spent 2 full days just brewing over the little things that cost me having a good showing there. So Houston and I went down and I watched him do the Master's 40+ and then we both did the CAT 1/2/3 race. The field was pretty small about 45 or so, and only 2 big teams were there, NUVO and Metlife. I really didn't now anybody there. About 30min in lit out and was joined by a few others. It ended up being a 12 up break. I attacked again to thin it out and six of us including Houston split and lapped the field. As soon as we caught the field I attacked again and brought 3 of the guys from the break with me. We were working hard and had a decent advantage. On the last lap I countered a jump by one of the guys with 3/4 or a lap to go and soloed in for the win. It felt good to get another victory and lift my spirits going into the Gaslight crit in Grand Rapids today.

Pictures from North Carolina

2007-05-27T08:01:00.000-04:00

While in North Carolina I got a chance to do some fishing with my dad on the Ocean. We took his boat out and did some Spanish Mackerel fishing. The excitement of the day came when we hooked a 2.5ft long sand shark. It put a pretty good fight and tried like hell to take a chunk out of my dad as he was trying get the hook out. I also caught a nice black snake while out on a ride. I don't know why, but I've always liked catching snakes since I was a kid. This one was pretty aggressive and proved to be a challenge.

Tri-Peaks (a brief synopsis)

2007-05-20T02:35:00.000-04:00

Thursday began Tri peaks with a tough little stage that ended with a 10mile climb up MT. Magazine. 15 miles into the race i hit a sharp object in the road and flatted my front tires. The caravan is small that by the time I got it changed the whole race was almost out of site and the Shimano neutral guys hopped in their car and zoomed off. I chased for 20miles nonstop before I finally made the junction to the back of the cars and then into the field. After catching my breath I moved to the front where I gave a few digs to get up the road. I followed good wheels such as Andy Bajahadi of Jelly Belly and Henk Vogels of Toyota United to try and get something going. I hit the base of the 10mile climb up Mt. magazine and was pretty torched from the days efforts. I made it about halfway up the climb with the field but cracked and came in off the back a little. The next days stage was one of the hardest racing days i've ever had. They called it the epic with 10,000 ft of climbing. There was only one really big climb, but it was up and down all day. I stayed at the front and waited til the end to give it a go. With 5K to go I was actually feeling really good and was trying to key up on a strong rider looking to make a move. I saw Toyota's Justin England moving up the right side of the field just before a steep little climb and I jumped on his wheel. We made a hard effort but health net shut it down pretty quick and spoiled the little coup. I finished in the field on a very tough day. The next day saw the coming of a tough little crit with about 8 turns in it. I didn't feel well and had some bad luck with a flat and then getting caught behind a crash and chasing on. That nigh was the 5.5 mile flat TT. I again didn't feel very spunky but put everything I had into it and came out with a solid 16th place. about 30sec off the win. I was satisfied with the result and know i can improve upon them next season. Next up is the Raleigh NRC Crit in downtown Raleigh, NC. I got to visit my dad and do some fishing in the ocean. I've got some cool pics that will follow. Thanks for reading.

Last day in Fayettville

2007-05-15T09:07:00.000-04:00

Today is my last day in Fayettville before heading down to Russelville, Arkansas for Tri-Peaks. I really love this town and have had a great time here. My host here has been amazing and has taken very good care of me. I would like to say thank you to Wanda Lanier who not only put me up in her home, but also runs the registration for the race and put more hours there during the race than than I did on the bike racing the event. She is a very kind person and I hope to stay in touch with her. She truly is a bike enthusiast and supports the sport whole heartedly. Thank you Wanda and i hope Toby and Corgan don't miss me too much.

Devil's Den State Park

2007-05-14T19:16:00.000-04:00

I had today off the bike and since I am still here in beautiful Fayetteville, Arkansas I decided I would head back over to Devil's Den to take some pictures and have a look around. It is a beautiful state park with a lot of hiking, mtn. biking and canoing areas. Here are some of the pictures I took.

Joe Martin Stage 4 (the killer Crit)

2007-05-13T16:41:00.000-04:00

Today was the final stage of the Joe Martin Stage Race. The Crit course is probably the hardest i have ever seen, The climb to the finish is relentless, and it is truly a survival type of course. I rolled out of bed this morning and felt like crap, but after a good breakfast and some stretching i had my self convinced that all would be well. The first mistake of the race happened before the gun even went off. I had a good start spot, but had to take a last minute pee break, and in that 45seconds I lost my spot and was at the back. This course is tough to move up in because you are either climbing (fans out wide and can't move up) or descending (single file into corners at 40mph) So I started at the back and began picking off guys 3 at a time per lap. Unfortunately in a field of 150 0r so, at this rate I would get to the front on the last lap, or guys would start to blow and I would have to close gaps and then i would blow up. Well, about 40min in guys started opening huge gaps on the climb and after 5 laps in a row of closing down gaps up the finishing climb, i was done. I blew up and rode by myself until the officials pulled me for being too slow. I have to say, I'm a little disappointed but at the same time, i realize I have never done this level of stage race before so all in all, I am satisfied and believe I can make big improvements in a short period of time. All in all i give myself an A for effort and a C- for performance. But I always have been my toughest critic. Time to get rested up for Tri-Peaks and take my next beating.

Joe Martin Stage #3 (getting rocked in the uphill TT

2007-05-13T00:44:00.000-04:00

So the second stage of the race was a 2.5mile uphill TT. I showed up and got a good warm up and rode the course to see what it was like. It's not a terribly tough climb, but just riding it and trying to ride it really fast are two very different things. I started out strong but about half way up I knew i was going way too slow to have an impact on the race. I knew the winning time would be around 8min and some change. I rolled in 9min 45sec. Well of pace and good enough for 95th place on the day. Not so hot, I think i'll keep my heavy ass to the flatter time trials. I was disappointed, but i knew this was not a TT i was going to win. So anyways, one stage left and i hear it's a killer, usually only about 30 to 40 finishers, so it's gonna be survival to the max. Thanks for reading and wish me luck tomorrow.

Joe Martin Stage #2

2007-05-12T13:45:00.000-04:00

Today bright and early (8am) we set our for the 95mile stage #2 of Joe Martin. This race had the field ride 12miles out do 3 tough circuits, then race back for a quick downhill sprint. The circuits were unbelievably hard and we raced flat out for the first hour before the break went clear. I gave it a go with about 10 others and we got a small gap but got reeled back in. I went back to the pack content to hang out and expend as little energy as possible for the day. The climbs were really steep today and relentless in number. The break was caught with about 30miles to which is never good because then the attacks are horrible until another one goes or the race finishes. In this case the race finished. On the decent to the finish I came over the hill about 40th or so and spun down the hill as fast as my 53/12 would let me. Not fast enough and too far back I cruised in safely and avoided any finishing shenanigans. The day was tough, we did 95miles in 3.5hrs. Pretty quick considering the terrain. Tonight is the uphill time trial, I figure I will either do pretty well or get my ass handed to me. We will have to see. Thanks for reading.

Joe Martin Stage #1 (the perfectly timed flat)

2007-05-12T07:11:00.000-04:00

Stage one was pretty uneventful, We cruised for the first 40 miles or so until the break of 3 got about 8min on the field and then Jelly Belly, Toyota and Health Net went to the front and started drilling it. There was one tough climb about 9miles long that was the hardest part of the day. I caught the back of the Toyota train bringing Dominguez up to the front and found myself sitting about 20th wheel with about 3miles to go. We passed over a bridge with about 1mile to leading into town. On the far side of the bridged I went over a little bump and felt my rim hit the pavement. Fuck!!!! a flat with 1mile to go in the race. Awesome. I got a quick change, but there is no such thing as a chasing back on to a 35mph leadout, at least not for me. I rode in and was pretty happy to see that i wasn't docked any time for it. They didn't penalize me for coming in a few seconds late. Today the stage starts at 8am so I am up at 5:30 forcing food down and getting ready for the 95miler today. The TT starts tonight and is a tough 2.1mile uphill run. I go off at 7:35:30. Wish me luck.

Missouri

2007-05-09T20:49:00.000-04:00

So, today I started my trip to Arkansas for Joe Martin and Tri Peaks. I traveled 8hrs to a town called Rolla, Missouri. I have to tell you, I am a fan of Missouri. I love the scenery and terrain. The hills are relentless. I love mountainous areas anyways, it makes me really want to get out of michigan. I like michigan and all, but it is just so limiting. I went for an hour and a half bike ride when i got to my hotel and i did more climbing in that short time than i could in Kalamazoo in 4hrs of riding. I am looking forward to the race. My cold is going away slowly, I am feeling better and clearer everyday. Hopefully by time the gun goes off for the first stage on friday i will be close to 100%. Here are some pictures I took on the way down and while on my ride. I am enjoying my new camera.

Stiff winds, Breezer and attack of the Sinus Monster

2007-05-07T12:55:00.000-04:00

So Cone Azalia is always one of my favorite races. I have wanted to win this thing for so long. The closest I've managed was 7th in 2005. The plan for the day was to send Meurig up the road with the first move and keep me protected for a few laps and then see what materialized. Well that of course is not how it played out. On the first lap though the gravel literally in the first mile of the race. Kirk Albers and Paul Martin started killing it and got a gap with an Priority Health rider. They had a small gap by the time we finished the first section of gravel with Greg Christians and Bennet both in between bridging across. Meuring tried a bridge but I don't think he quite had it at that moment. So at this point 5 of the strongest guys in the race are up the road. We hit the right turn on the paved road and as we made the right onto section 2 Brian took me up to the front he pulled the first section and deposited me into the sketchy left turn first wheel. I gave it a go and when i looked back the group was destroyed. There were a few riders bridging up but I figured I would see after we got off the gravel what the group consisted of. Jeff Kock, Jake Rytlweski, Todd Shouberg, and a Saturn rider (sorry don't know your name) all made the split with me. Our gap was pretty sizable right away. However with a WMCR and a Priority Health rider up the road 2 guys in the group were not overly willing to work at first. Jake and I did the majority of the work in the first lap we were away. The second time through the 1st gravel section Jake absolutely crushed us all into the gutter and pulled until the elastic snapped and rode away. We ended up catching him on the finishing stretch half a lap later but he was by far the strongest. We began to work together after this and started to close in the breakaway. On lap 5 Jake put the hammer down again on the 1st section of gravel made all of us suffer. The Saturn rider was gone and I was stuck 3rd wheel and Breezer showed us all why he gets paid to ride his bike. On section 2 of gravel, Jake punched it again and this time Todd and I got popped just before the chase group caught the break. We spent about half a lap chasing to no avail. We ended up getting caught by a chase group that had both my teammate Brian and Meurig in the group. With me being pretty much smashed at this point I did as much as i could before another sinus blowout and shear exhaustion took me out of the race. I think considering how severe my sinuses were i raced pretty well, i've never had that much snot leave my body at one time as what happened every time I put in a hard effort all day. Even if I had been feeling great I don't think i could have won today. Jake was way too strong and I think that Greg Christians is also going really well right now. It was a blast as usual and maybe next year will be the one. We'll see thanks for reading.

Preparing for Cone Azalia

2007-05-03T13:05:00.000-04:00

This week I have been preparing for Cone Azalia. This is the first race of the year that I really want to win. I have always liked this race and has always been a race I wanted to win. I spoke to Jake Rytlewski yesterday and he is also planning on coming up so the ante has been raised. With Jake as well as several other big riders making appearances it will be a tough one to win. With the team riding strong and our strong tactical sense it should still be our race to lose. I am hoping for a team victory more than anything. So keep your fingers crossed for me and the team. Thanks for reading

Pic From the Weekend Shinanegans

2007-05-01T12:54:00.000-04:00

Another Unbelievable Weekend

2007-04-30T22:28:00.000-04:00

This weekend the racing schedule included Willow Run Time Trial and the last AAVC crit of the spring series. I was quietly confident going into the TT. I knew my TT skills had increased a little bit from last year and was hoping it would be enough to beat Petzold, Clark and Card. The course is a 6 lap race totally 13miles. I felt good during warm-up and headed to the start line. I got there just in time which is a little scary, i had 20seconds to spare. I started up off fast but felt i could hold the pace. I suffered a little on lap 4 but was able to pick it back up for the last 2 laps. I ended up winning the race with my best TT average ever. My computer had an average of 29.4mph. I won by about 5seconds, by no means a whooping but enough to get the W. After heading back to Kalamazoo for Tara's graduation I headed back to Ann Arbor to race with the team. The field was huge for a spring race in April. Over 80 guys!!! I was really surprised. The race was really aggressive and I felt like i had a target on my back. The team did a great job and Rob and Tom got in a break with Priority Health rider Jeff Koch. They worked hard and hung out there the whole day. I attempted to bring once but the field gave chase immediately and i was afraid it would only reel my teammates back to the field. With 20laps to Tucker Olander bridged across to the break. On lap 15 my team mate Brian Adams also bridged. I sensed the field was fatiguing so I bridged a lap later. So with 14laps to go we had 4 Lathrup riders in a break of 6. We got the gap back up to 30 seconds. Brian and Tom told me it was up to me to make the winning move. I figured with 5 to go would be a good distance for me to make a good attack. Jeff was unhappy with all of there and began to attack. Rob fell victim to one of these, and paid for all his hard work during the day. He one hell of a fighter though, a true animal on the bike. With Jeff attacking so much i figured by lap 5 he would be a little tired and Tucker would be more apt to try and come with me. I waited for him to take a pull and as soon as he swung off I made my move with 5 to go. I got a big lap and held it to the finish for the win. Brian came in for second and Tom for 4th. It was a true team victory. The way the team raced it was almost easy. I love racing with these guys. I am pretty excited about Cone coming up this weekend. I think that we will be hard to beat with everyone going well.

New Kit and Race Photo's

2007-04-24T00:00:00.000-04:00

Another Tough Day at the Runway

2007-04-23T11:59:00.000-04:00

So, Sunday was pretty exciting. The team got their brand new kits, which look awesome. The whole team was their and raging early on. We have been talking about picking up a new rider from the UK. His name is Muerig, he's a super nice guy and a real tough guy on the bike. I guess rode pretty well in the chase group last weekend and this week ended up making the break with me.
So anyways on with the race day. We got our new kits and rode from Tom's house down to the race in Ann Arbor. The plan was to have Rob, Jim, Tom and Alvin cover some early moves and keep Brian and I protected. Brian is doing well in the Overall and we we're trying to get him the win. Well best laid plans as they say. I ended up attacking for a prime and opened up a huge gap on the field. I spend 2 laps by myself before being caught by a chase group of 3. We starting working together and opened up a small gap in 3 laps. Then for some reason or other we started loosing riders out of the break. First the Priority Health rider disappeared and then a lap later Tucker Olander was gone. So it ended up being Muerig and I for 45 laps by ourselves. We worked pretty well together. Muerig wasn't feeling well due to birthday celebrations the night before but he did enough work to give me a small rest every lap. The closest the field got again was about 12sec. In the last laps we were starting to tire out, but we had about 30seconds still on the field. Muerig led the sprint out and i jumped hard into the last corner and won the race. Another great race and i can't believe I have been able to win another one. I think I need a good pinch, but I don't want to wake up from this dream.

Pictures

2007-04-15T20:16:00.000-04:00

Some Local Races and I Pick Up Another One

2007-04-15T16:59:00.000-04:00

This weekend i opted out of Collegiate for some races with my teammates. Saturday is the tough Waterford Course with it's usual blistering wind. The race started off hard and i rode way too aggressive from the start. Brian, Jim and I were in everything serious for the first hour of the race but nothing would stick. It was a very difficult race to read. I went really really deep to no avail. We were all blown out by the end, Vince Roberge slipped away with Tony Bruley at a nice little hesitation and capitalized and rode in for the win with Vince coming out on top. Sunday is the Ann Arbor crit with another blistering windy day. I felt that it would break apart quickly with the course and the uphill into the wind. On the 4th lap I bridged across to a nice move with Todd Elenz, Ray Dabowski, Ian Lockery, and John Meyers. We began working well and established a good lead. with about 20 laps to go Todd attacked to thin it out and we lost Ian and John. Ray, Todd and I continued to work despite Todd many attacks. He was really strong but definatley did not want it to come to a sprint between the three of us. He attacked 3 times in the last 5 laps, but Ray and I were able to stay with him. Coming into the last lap i fought for 3rd wheel for the tactical advantage, I jumped for the sprint about a third of the way up the hill and came across a bike length ahead of Todd for the win. It was a really tough race with the wind and ended up being much harder than i expected for an early race. I was very happy how well I felt considering how deep I went yesterday. I think it is showing how well conditioned my coach has gotten me this year. I am looking forward to the NRC stage races in May. I should have some photo's to post later. Thanks for reading I appreciate comments.

Maybe some good Weather

2007-04-13T00:08:00.000-04:00

This weekend I will be traveling over to the east side with Alvin to do a 2 race weekend at the Waterford Raceway and then the Ann Arbor training series crit on Sunday. Most of the team will be there for the races so i am pretty excited to be back racing with them. Jeff will not be there due to his hip recovery and Rob is a maybe because of a cold. But I'm sure the other 5 of us will be more than enough to bring home some good results. I am excited to see Brian back in form and see Tom ramp up later on. With all the guys riding well, we will have so many cards to play. Hopefully there will be good things to report, mostly good weather would be appreciated.

Josh

WMU races

2007-04-01T22:37:00.000-04:00

Saturday
This weekend we hosted 2 races here in Kalamazoo and boy were they a couple of doozies. Saturday was tough from the go with some tough attacks and a nice wind. I intended to take it easy and save my efforts for the second half of the race. Well, you know what they said about the best laid plans. About 5miles in I tried setting Alvin up for a break, i guttered the field into the cross wind. When i swung off, a break started to go, but Alvin had slipped a little too far back after an earlier attack. With Bennet and Jon Swain and Greg in the move I knew it was a serious move, I ripped it off the front and crossed at the last minute to make it a break of 6. We went to work and started to put time on the field. Thing were going well until we got stopped by a crossing train. The field caught us and we decided that the field would wait 2 minutes after the train left while we got our gap back and then continue chasing us. Then the rain came. 45 degees and raining is about as bad of weather as you can have on a bike. It really felt like i was in Belgium again. We ended up dropping 2 of the guys in the break and it was down to Swain, Bennet, Greg and I. On the last lap the attacks started to come. Greg went first and i followed quickly. Swain then kept the pace high but Greg went again. I hesitated and jumped across, Swain chased us back and Bennet went. Greg jumped with him and i ended up pulling Swain down the road and trying to keep Greg and Bennet close. Swain jumped me and I ended up being the last man out. I chased to no end and ended up 4th. It was a very tough race with a 65mile breakaway.
Sunday
Sunday was a Westerns Circuit race though campus. The course is very hilly again with a tough wind. This race always starts fast and the selection is usually early on. On the second lap I made a strong attack but initiated it a little too early and paid for my bad timing. Just as i was starting to cook over the top, i was countered by a strong group and got left in the field. I was not happy to miss the break. It was very disappointing for me. I spent the rest of the race pulling the field around trying to keep the break close. I attacked with 4 laps to go and got gap with a UofM rider and a Northwestern rider. They gave me a little bit of help, but i was doing the majority of the work. I thought there was a chance i could catch part if not all of the break. Long story short it didn't happen. Oh well. I raced well and felt really good. The form is coming along well and should really be rolling by late April into May. Here are some pics from the weekend.

Pictures from the weekend

2007-03-25T22:50:00.000-04:00

Frustration and then a WIN !!!!

2007-03-25T18:26:00.000-04:00

So Saturday i traveled to I traveled to Michigan State Univ for their "roubaix" style road race. With a over a mile of dirt roads per lap in a 12lap race, i usually get pretty excited for races like this. I enjoy the gravel roads and they always turn out to be fun races. Unfortunately it was a typical collegiate road race on a very non selective course. The wind wasn't blowing hard enough to make it difficult and it ended up being 50guys chasing us around all day and then letting the unknown guys just roll off the front with not effort at all. I got really frustrated and was upset at the way they were racing. The next day i skipped the collegiate race in Ann Arbor to try and repeat a win at Fisk Knob TT. I ended up winning the race with a great time and a good average speed. I felt really good and road a smart TT. I ended up riding the hilly windy course in 38'43" an average of 27mpr. The last 5miles of that race are so hard into a tough headwind and hard rollers. The finish up Fisk Knob is tough as well, it kicks hard and made me sick to my stomach when i was finished. All in all a good day. I also heard that Bennet won the race in Ann Arbor in a fast sprint finish. He said he won by a few bike lengths, good for him. That kid is strong as an ox. I love racing with him.

Training in good old TC

2007-03-15T19:02:00.000-04:00

This weekend I'm heading up to good old Traverse City to get some training in the tough hills in Leelanau County. The weather isn't supposed to be great, but it isn't any better here in Kalamazoo. I also get to spend some time with my folks. Hopefully i can hook up with my old boss Bob Mclain or some of his buddies and have some company for the training rides. Hopefully, all will go well and I'll get some more form leading up to Joe Martin and Tri-Peaks.

2 races and 2 Wins !!!

2007-03-11T23:18:00.000-04:00

This weekend I traveled to Columbia Missouri to do a collegiate race weekend. The weather was the big draw for me to go. I as really looking forward to riding in some warm weather and getting some efforts in my legs. I didn't really feel like I had the fitness or form yet to pull off a win, much less 2. So, i was very happy for the early results. So here is how the races went down. Saturdays road race was a windy, hilly 5lap, 11.4mile course just north of Columbia. I had a feeling it was a good course for me but i wanted to play it conservative to let my legs into the season slowly. It didn't really quite work out that way. The first lap was one of the hardest first laps i've done since racing in Belgium. It was a nonstop attacking until finally we hit the decisive climb and eased up enough for one guy to slip off alone and roll it. In the second lap we got some organization to keep him on a short leash. The second time up the climb I gave it a dig and pulled 5guys with me. We chased down the solo Wisco rider near the middle of the third lap. We made an agreement to not attack until the last lap and work to increase our lead over the field. Everyone worked great and everyone did their share. On the last lap a few attacks went a little early but I felt they were way too early. I really knew the the place to go was on the hard climb, about 6miles from the finish. As we approached the climb on of the Wisco riders attacked and got about a 100meter gap as he approached the base of the climb. When we hit the base I used everything i had left in my cramping legs and launched up the climb. I overtook him about half way up and went straight over the top of him on the hard false flat afterward. After taking a right there was a nice downhill with some fast rollers. I decided to let up a little and let him join me so that his teammate in the chase group behind wouldn't chase too hard if he felt his teammate might be able to win. I was fairly confident i could lose him on the next climb or in the sprint. When we hit the next hard false flat into the wind I attacked again with about 4miles to go and dropped my companion. I soloed in for the win with a nice gap on the group behind and over 12min on the field. I was very happy with the win, mostly because i used my head and not just my power to win the race. The next day was a 9mile ITT with tough winds and some nice rollers. I wasn't feeling great because of a cramp in my chest i had gotten the day before. It was pretty painful but i pushed hard through it. I caught 3 riders on the way out and felt pretty good. After the turnaround it was a pretty tough cross headwind. I gutted it out with a good enough time to win the race. I was very happy to win, especially since i only felt about 80%. All in all, my first 2 races of the year and 2 wins, not bad at all. This looks to be a good season this year.

New bike photo's

2007-03-06T18:49:00.000-05:00

It's gotta be one of my favorite times of the year when I get my new bike. It's like Christmas. Here are some photos of the new and improved Giant TCR CO. They made some cool changes to the frame including stiffening up the bottom bracket and head tube. Making the seat tube more aero and shaving some weight. Not to mention the great new paint job.

The first one usually sucks

2007-02-27T20:51:00.000-05:00

So last weekend was the first race weekend of the season for me. A collegiate race in Columbus, Oh. The weather was supposed to be decent and 50 degrees. However it ended up being under 15 and windy. Alvin and i went out and rode for about 2 hrs before the race to get some extra miles in and get warmed up. It didn't work. It was so damn cold, i couldn't stay warm. The races started pretty quick, i got myself to the front in the first lap of the race. Alvin and Dave weren't as lucky. They got stuck behind a bunch of guys who had no business being in the A field and had to close a bunch of gaps and got gassed early on. There was only about 30 people left after 20min. I attacked a few times and crossed to some breaks but i really didn't have any snap at all. I thought i pulled my quad at one point and it scared me a little, i didn't want to push it on the first race so i sat up and pulled out of the race. It was so cold i was numb all the way down my legs. They canceled the next day due to ice storm. This weekend is supposed to be at Depauw in Indiana, but the forecast is for 30 and snow, so that will probably be a bust. It's ok, there is plenty of racing ahead.

Kinda figured it would happen

2007-02-21T23:09:00.000-05:00

So, I have 3days until my first race of the season. I've made it through below zero and single digit temps for a month and a half, and now just as the weather is getting nice and it's time to race, i have the flu. Tara got sick last weekend and sure enough i caught it from her. She is feeling better though so that makes me happy that she isn't suffering anymore. If i can get the body aches and fever to subside, i will probably still ride with a sore throat and cough, but we'll have to see. I've been watching the Tour of California religiously since it started on Sunday. The race coverage has been ok, with exception to the first day. Unfortunately I saw the results for stage 3 and a couple of guys i know didn't make the time cut. Brain Dziewa and Scott Stewart must have had a bad out on the tough course, but i have to say it is pretty darn early to be doing a race that hard with that many good riders for the first time, so big props to them. Also, i am happy to see local Priority Health team being so aggresive and putting themselves in the race everyday. With Ben Jaques-Maynes in 3rd overall, Sheedy with the KOM on the first day and then Omar Kem up the road on stage 2 they are doing a great job of proving they belong there. Well, hopefully i'll be feeling better in teh next couple of days and hopefully have a race report for you.

Great ride....Weathers looking up

2007-02-18T16:26:00.000-05:00

Today was practically a heat wave, we he 30 degrees!!!! I went out with Alvin and did 3hrs at a pretty good pace. We got hit by some good snowstorms, but the temp was great compared to what it has been. Alvin is continuing to impress me with his strong riding, he has really come a long way in the past few years. Our new team bikes should be in this week, so that will be awesome. Getting new bikes is like Christmas for me. In other news, my buddy Brian Dziewa is making his Jelly Belly Pro Cycling debut at the Amgen Tour of California. I'm wishing him the best and hope he has an awesome race. When i started racing in 2004 Brian raced Collegiately for Mizzou. Brian always helped me out and gave me some pointers and was very supportive. I was excited to see that he signed with Jelly Belly this year. So, help me root for him and his team.

Rollers, outside, rollers outside.......rollers rollers rollers

2007-02-14T13:43:00.000-05:00

The crappy barrage of harsh winter weather just keeps coming and coming. I have been splitting my rides up, doing an hour on the rollers inside, then suiting up with many layers and heading out for 2 or 3 in the single digit weather and then coming back and doing another hour on the rollers. Honestly i am sick of both. Freezing outside is just as bad as the mind numbing rides on the rollers. I just can't wait to see some 50 degree days. The first race of the year for me is in a week and a half in Columbus. Hopefully the weather will clear up enough for it to happen. If not Depauw will be the first week. Just help me pray for some warmer weather.

Team Meeting

2007-02-11T00:45:00.000-05:00

Today, Team Lathrup had thier first team meeting. Primarily set up to introduce Jeff Hamilton and Alvin Nordell to the rest of the guys. It was great to see the team-mates again. I miss racing with them and hangin out. Everyone is looking fit and motivated. I think it is going to be a hell of a season this year. Jeff and Alvin are going to fit in perfectly with the group. They are both strong and will fit into the team well.

2007-02-05T12:37:00.000-05:00

Brrrrrrrr........It's so cold out

2007-02-04T14:00:00.000-05:00

So, the weather hasn't gotten better it has gotten much much worse. Yesterday i tried drving homw to see my folks before the season starts and i made it to Grand Rapids and the HWY Patrol closed the road due to a 50 car pile-up. The roads were horrible and very slow going. So needless to say i didn't make it home. The temp today will hit a blistering 4degrees. And thats not including the 15mph wind. I have spent all week on the rollers and am gettng a little tired of sitting on my bike inside. I was finishing my ride today and happend to switch my computer to the trip setting and realized i have ridden 375miles on the rollers this week. That is horrible. I feel i am slowly going insane. The weather needs to lighten up a little bit so i can get outside and get some sprint and interval work done. Well, it looks like the weather is suposed to clear up near the end of the week.......Hopefully...

Bad Weather, Tough Training

2007-01-28T14:08:00.000-05:00

Today is yet another day of bad weather. Of course it always happens when I have some specific training and a long day on the bike. I spent 2hrs on the rollers and another hr outside freezing in the snow on the cross bike. I can't wait to live someplace a little warmer. The winters get really tough around here. Anyways, time to do some hw and relax a little. Till next time. Thanks for reading.

2007-01-25T21:16:00.000-05:00

Another Level

2007-01-22T21:46:00.000-05:00

After the rediculously hard training that i was put through in December I have come out of it feeling stronger than I ever have. I've been doing a lot of threshold work and the bike is feeling really really good. I am very motivated for the upcoming season. I feel like i've moved up another level and am ready to step up to the plate with the big boys. My first race is about 4weeks away so the season is rolling up fast.

Pictures from Florida

2007-01-18T19:21:00.000-05:00

Tara and I at
Gatorland

Tara on Mile 22 of the Disney Marathon, me helping her along

My beautiful girlfriend

Winter Training in the Sunny South

2007-01-18T19:15:00.000-05:00

I was able to spend most of the m0nth of December and part of January in North Carlolina training at my dads. The weather was awesome, and i got a ton of good work in. The training was really tough and a little lonely. Christmas was great at my dad's though and i had a good time. I hated to leave. After NC, i headed down to Florida to watch Tara run the Disney Marathon. She is a trooper, i am so proud of here. It was really warm and a tough couse but she toughed it out and did great. We got to do the whole tourist thing while were there including Gatorland, Magic Kingdom and Universal Studios. The weather was amazing and it was a real drag to come home to michigan's freezing weather. School is going well so far and my training is starting to pick up in intensity. I am looking forward to my best year yet. Hopefully this will be the year that i can turn some heads. Til next time, thanks for reading.

Been a while

2006-12-09T23:13:00.000-05:00

I kind of fell off the wagon on keeping up with my blog. My season finished up a little up and down, i felt really good over Labor Day but had a nasty crash in Canada that hurt me pretty bad. I recovered in time for Tour De Leelanau which was an awesome event. I really had a great time at that race. I raced really well, but got a little cramped near the finish and came in a little behind the lead group. Right now i am busy with school and getting ready to heat down to NC to do some training and visit with my dad. Wish me luck with my heavy training schedule.

Superweek race #1

2006-07-10T00:35:00.000-04:00

After taking a break from racing to rest up and rebuild my form, i have taken the short trip over to superweek in Wisconsin to get some good hard races under my belt. I need to get some more big race experience and this place is full of it for a few weeks in a row. i will be here for 9 days and will see how i match up against some of the best riders in the country and the world. My first crit was in Manitouoc on a flat .7 mile 4 corner course. With most of the US domestic pro teams have some representation and some euro teams including Team Milram, it looked to be a pretty tough race. I felt absolutly terrible for the first hour and even considered abandoning. After a while i worked my up to the front and followed some wheels and found myself in a break. I decided to work a little just to see how i would feel and to my suprise the harder i went the better i felt. We stayed out front for about 6 laps or so and got brought back. I settled in the front and finally got into a good rythym in the race. A few laps later, a break containing Ben Jaques Maynes, his teammate, Brice Jones of Jelly Belly and 2 Milram riders attacked up the left side. They got a small gap and i waited patiently for the right moment for the field to lull and I launched off the front and crossed solo to them in about a half lap. I was pretty excited about the move. My coach told me that one of my best weapons would be my ability to use my speed and a well timed move to bridge gaps. This has worked well for me this year in local races and collegiate but this was the first time i tried to do it in a national calliber race. i was pretty excited to make the move. Once in the break i work but fairly conservativley considering my company and i felt they could attack and drop me any moment. We built up a gap of almost 30 seconds. We came through the start finish and got a prime bell for $500.00. I felt i was having a pretty good sprinting day and decided i would go for it. I went straight to the back and refused to pull for the lap. I fought for last wheel until the last corner and gapped myself off the back and built up a head of steam and sling shot past them all, or so i though. One of the milram riders caught my wheel and just when i thought i was home free for the big payoff, he jumped around me almost effortlessly and took the prime. I was pretty bummed out. I felt i made a pretty good move, but he was definalty smarted and faster than me. But hey, is a pro tour rider so what do i expect. We got brought back with about 5 laps to go and i fought hard to stay near the front. I avoided crashes but didn't quite have enough to keep myself in the top end and finished somewhere in the 50's. Overall i was very satisfied, i felt competeative near the end and was active. There is still some good racing to come. Thanks for reading.

Dexter Crit

2006-06-16T15:06:00.000-04:00

This is one of the coolest crits in michigan, the course is extremely technical and a true tough mans course. The race started very fast thanks to Rob's clip in and attack method. I countered his lap 1 move and ended up away for about 6 laps by myslef just suffering, but i managed to win a prime ( a pair of rollers.....Sweet!!). I was brought back and spent about 4 laps in the field before i attacked again and that was the start of the winning break. Me Jeff Hamilton and Tucker Olander. We were later joined by my teammates Tom Archer and Brian Adams along with Danny Klein, and a West Michigan Coastal rider. The break was very unorganized and was pretty much a series of attacks and counter attacks but the course was hard enough that we stayed away. Brian had me sit on while him and Tom tried to control the group and keep my out of trouble. My stomache was a mess from eating lunch too close to the race start. I thought i was going to throw up a few time during the race. With 4 laps to go, Brian and Tom got dropped and I was left to try and win by myslef. Tucker and Danny Klein were both being aggressive and they were the ones i was expecting to make the move the last time up the hill. To my suprise Jeff did a very uncharacteristic move and initiated the attack. I think he waited until i was looking back to check on the other 2 when he jumped. Jeff is very fast and powerful and i knew that it would take a lot to catch him. As soon as I noticed he had jumped i followed, but his gap was pretty large, i was able to close most of it down, by the top of the hill. He still had about a 3 bike length lead on me and the decent through the chicane was such that it was impossible to make up any ground. When we hit the finishing stretch for the sprint ( about 80meters) I gave it all i had, but only closed down maybe a 1 and a half bike lengths and got second. Jeff pulled a great move and a well deserved victory. Congrats. After the hard finish my stomache couldn't take anymore and lost my lunch there on the side of the road. I think i almost made Tom lose his, because he had to leave. As a team we did pretty well, winning all the primes but 1 and finishing up 2nd, 6th, and 7th. Not too bad considering Tom and Brian are still not on great form yet. Look for some good placings at Allen Park this saturday.

2006-06-12T19:13:00.000-04:00

Michigan State Road Race Championships

2006-06-04T21:18:00.000-04:00

Today michigan had our State RR Championships at Cedar Creek in Muskegon. The course was a little unchallenging for a state champ race and a little short in my opinion also. The first excitement of the day for me was when i got a flat on the 2nd lap on a fast downhill, luckily i got a fast change and was able to chase back on, only to see the first big break of the day up the road. Rob was in the break, but i wanted to get better numbers for our team. I tried crossing to the break, but picked a bad section and wasn't able to get across. I stayed near the front and the attacks kept coming. After the break was caught, i countered with 2 WM Coastal riders and we got clear for a while and began to roll well. Soon a chase group caught us we formed a group of 9. The unfortunate part was Coastal had 3 riders and the rest were single riders. After a little while, we got organized and began rolling pretty well, everyone was contributing well. I knew Scott Riddle from Coastal was one of the strongest in the field and I knew they would send him up the road on a flyer. Just as i was thinking to get on his wheel with abou 5K to go, i swung off after pulling on the left and he attacked on the right. I immediately went to the front and picked the pace up a little and swung off thinking the other individual riders would help to real him in. i was wrong, they refused to help at all. They sat on me and refused to help at all. I was racing to win, a top ten is great, but anything other than the win was not what i wanted. The other riders had relinquished to racing for second and wouldn't contribute. I attacked them a few time and with about 500m to go i went all out to try and cross to scott, i just missed him and the rest came around me in the last 50m. I ended up 9th out of 9 in the break. I was very frustrated with myself and with the way the other riders were racing. But i guess that is bike racing. I will never make that mistake again of not being on a strong riders wheel in the closing kilometers. I guess this is another lesson learned.

Long Weekend in Iowa

2006-05-29T10:48:00.000-04:00

I have been in Iowa since thursday afternoon as a guest racer with Priority Health. I drove out with Sven Howard and we met up later with Scott Stewart. The race schedule is an 80mile RR on Friday, Snake Alley Crit on Saturday, Melon City Crit on Sunday and Quad Cities on Monday. The road race course was pretty simple and nothing too dificult except the wind and heat. It is been so hot and humid it has been dificult to adjust to it. In the road race all of us missed our feeds and were in trouble. I gave Sven my third bottle i caried with me but it just wasn't enough. I was out of water with about 30miles to go, and Sven and Scott were out with about 20miles to go. Chris Wherry and another Toyota rider drilled it over a steep little climb with a good cross wind. I was tagged right on the back of it when it went and thought Sven was a few riders in front of me. As i started to close the gap to the break i was finally able to see who was up the road and i realized Sven was not in the group. I looked behind me and Sven was just off the front of the group trying to close the gap to me. I sat up to wait for him to try and sling him accross to the field. Unfortunalty the field swollowed us up and the break was gone. Scott then started to be really active to try and get in a chase group, i stayed out of trouble with Sven to try and lead him out in the finish. As we came into the finish it was really hectic, i had scott and sven on my wheel but i was so dehydrated i was cramping everywhere, i finally was able to punch it through a gap and get Scott and Sven up to the front onto ABD's leadout train. I blew up and Sven and was off. Unfortunalty he was also dehydrated and didn't have much kick left in his legs. We ended up being shut out of the race. We raced well and were extremely attentive and took care of each other. More to come from Snake Alley...

2006-05-28T21:55:00.000-04:00

Kennsington Road Race

2006-05-27T11:37:00.000-04:00

Kennsington Road Race is a race that i have only done twice and both times have had poor performances there. This year i felt really strong and raced strong, but something about the way i race this race doesn't work out well for me. First of all, i learned a big leason about the way i race road races. I am way too active too early in the race. Looking back Brent Bookwalter was easily the strongest rider in the field, he is talented and very strong and a much better rider than i am. He was in the 3 strong moves durring the race. I raced too aggresively and was in 6 or 7 moves which is just way too much to have any type of gas left. i wanted to make a split and get away with a good break, but it just didn't happen for me. I was able to help get Rob in the chase group by bringing him and a few others accross to Brent Bookwalter. I have definalty learned a good leason and in long road races have to be more patient. Lesson hopefully learned. next week i will be in Iowa with Priority Health as a guest racer. I will be helping out and hopefully contriubte to a good victory. We have 4 hard days of racing in a row.

Collegiate Nats

2006-05-27T11:36:00.000-04:00

This past weekend i traveled to Lawerence Kansas with for Collegiate Cycling Nationals. The weekend consisted of an 88mile hilly and windy road race on saturday and a 70min crit in downtown lawrence on sunday. The road race started out fairly mild, I watched as Brandon Gavic and Mike Busa went off the front and stayed away for almost 1 of 3 laps. I kept myself at the front and attentive for the breaks to start to go away. I was watching a few key guys that i knew were strong pro riders. I was in a few strong breaks through out the day but ended up missing the key break. Now understand this is a huge field almost 170riders so staying in the top section of the field can be a tough thing to do, i really believe my time in Belgium came into great usefullness to help my large pack riding skills. After the winning break was gone and it was clear we would not be catcing them, i started to position myself for the finish up the climb. As we crossed the dam i started to move slowly on the right side of the road. I wanted to start the climb in the top ten and then follow some strong wheels to the top before setting up a sprint. With about a half mile before the beginning of the climb i was about 15riders from the front when a Penn State and Univ. of Illinois rider locked bars and went down in front of me at over 30mph. I hit them square on and fell hard on my right side. My race was over. I got back on my bike and road to the top with a fair amount of pain in my hand, ribs and shoulder. I started the crit the next day a little sore and stiff, but still ready to race. The race started off pretty fast with some hard attacks from the gun. I followed a move by Hans Arensen of IU and the 2 of us ended up off the front with Hans for over 25min. My mistake was making a move this hard this early in the race. I wasn't quite warmed up and it hurt pretty bad. The anouncer said we were averaging over 30mph laps. After we got caught i settled in near the back to try and recover. Unfortunatly a crash happened in turn 3 in front of me and i ended up chasing and chasing and chasing. With only a few minutes to go and still chasing off the back and feeling like crip i bagged the race. i was pretty disapointed to DNF my first race of the year but you can't always have great days. Next up is Kennsington RR here in michigan.

Cone Azaila, what a race

2006-05-08T19:52:00.000-04:00

WOW, All i can say, is that was damn hard. The gravel sections where so much worse than last year. The field was significantly stronger than last year and a lot larger than previous years as well. The big name missing from the race was Jake Rytlweski. I believe jake had graduation this weekend and couldn't make it. Anyways, back to the race. As usual the battle to be at the front into the gravel sections was on. I did a good job of being at the front and usuing as little energy as possible to make it onto the gravel in the top 5. The first lap onto the gravel was by far the craziest. Guys were puncturing left and right and it must have been caos. My teammate Rob was unfortunatly one of the victims. Luckily Rob is an animal and chased for 2 laps and caught back on. I spent the day waiting for attrition to take it's toll on the field, but the problem was the race was way too easy in between the hard gravel sections. It have riders too much time to recover and were still strong enough to stick to wheels when we attacked on the gravel roads. Graham, Sven and I were by far the most active all day, launching attacks and mixing things up. On the 4th lap, we laid down a strong attack and a breakaway group was formed. Unfortunatly it was too big and West Michigan Coastal was just shutting it down and not working. They had a guy up the road in the leading break, but they also had like 4 guys in our group of 9. In my mind, i'm thinking, if i had 5guys in a group of 12, then i would work my ass off because the chances of filling the top ten with my whole team is too damn good to just sit on and say, we have one guy up the road. I think tha was a big mistake on their part. So anyways, the break was too big and too many guys were sitting on, so the Howard boys and i started attacking the break. We eventually got caught and it came back together. I ended up missing the best move of the day with 2laps to go, i was sitting 4th wheel going accross the gravel when Graham attacked and Stan Andries followed, i was on Stan's teammates wheel and he did a good job of sitting up and blocking and not allowing me to get around him. By time i was able to squeeze by without crashing into the ditch or really getting physical with him, they had a pretty good gap and i couldn't close it without pulling the group up to them. So i sat back in and waited for a better oppurtunity to try and go accross. The opportunity never came and i found myself with rob in the field racing for 6th place. Rob was fairly fresh and asked if i would lead him out for the sprint. I went to the front with about 3k to go and kept late attackers from getting too much of a lead and punched it with about 1k to go. Rob wa able to follow some good wheels and managed 8th on the day. I raced as hard as i could, and i guess without a little more luck it was the best i could do for the day. The course was so rough, it wiggled loose my crank arm on the first lap but managed to stay on for the whole race. It didn't really affect my race, but it was definatley in my mind when i stood up though. I managed again to get no flats. I have made it 2 years in a row now with no flat tires. I think the secret is the Specialized All Condition Armadillos. Anyways, Thanks for reading. I leave for Collegiate Nationals Wed and will be there until Sunday.

Great wed night training ride

2006-05-04T00:05:00.000-04:00

I had a great ride today on the Kalamazoo Bike Club Wed night training ride. This ride always proves to be fast and aggressive. It has been pretty instrumental in my training over the past few years. This wed after we had reached the furthest point and began the trip back, i pushed the pace and a group of 3 of us found ourselves alone off the front. Jeff Hamilton, Jeremy Woolcock and I. We continued to push a steady fast pace until we realized we were a long ways off the front. Jeremy was very impressive, i have never seen him ride that well and he is really stepping up to another level. He was pretty trashed by the end, but he hung in there and I am proud of him. He still has a few more levels to go, but he is making the steps one at a time. The good news, i am not that tired or sore considering how hard we went. Tomorrow i have a 4hr easy training ride which will be nice. All this hard training will hopefully get me tuned up for nationals. But first, Cone Azalia :-}

A new observation

2006-05-03T16:07:00.000-04:00

Since i am fairly new to doing TT, i have made an interesting discovery about my position because i have seen the first pictures of my self in action. I believe that my hand position is a bit too high. The distance from my head to my hands is too much. When looking at me on the bike, my leg extension seems fine and feels great, i have a lot of power on the bike, but i definalty can be more aero. The hard part is because of my build and having very long legs and a short torso, it is hard to get low enough and keep my thighs from hitting my chest. The age old TT question now comes in, how low can i go and still maintain my power. We will have to see.

Kicking the Sick before Cone

2006-05-02T22:28:00.000-04:00

This week i've been fighting a nasty bug which has included losing my voice completely and coughing non stop for 3days. The weather has been nice and rainy, so training has been a blast. At least it's not really cold out. I am looking forward to this race and have a lot of motivation going into it with a strong team anda good group of guys to try and win this race with. i really would like to take this victory home. i really enjoy this race and nothing would make me happier than to win this race. It will be hard to win this race with the caliber of racers there and it will be dificult to beat Jake Rytlweski. I hope he is a little tired from his long week at Shenandoah. Only time will tell. Wish me luck for this sunday.

Ann Arbor Crit pictures

2006-05-01T00:05:00.000-04:00

Great racing with Ford

2006-04-30T16:46:00.000-04:00

This weekend marks my first real races with the Ford Team. Saturday we had the Willow Run Time Trial. The course really suited me well, with 13miles in 6laps on a flat course with a lot of wind. My strategy was to utilize my power in the head wind and use the short tailwind to recover. I think i road as good of race as i could have, i felt pretty good but not as good as i felt a few weeks ago at the Purdue TT. I ended up finishing 4th. I was a little disapointed but satisfied. I guess you can't ever really be upset with a top 5. Sunday was the finally of the Ann Arbor Training Series Crit. We had 60laps to do. This was my first non TT race with the guys. I have always like the way these guys race, so i was very excited to see how it was going to go. From the start i covered a move by Danny Klein. We were gone for a few laps, and as soon as we came back Rob was off with a few guys. This pattern continued. I have to say, it was absolutley awesome to see teammate racing aggressively and countering each other moves. I have never had that before, and it just goes to show why this team is so strong. They race really hard to win. Finally with about 45 laps to go Rob D. got off with Ray Debowski and one of his teammates. I bridged accross to them and formed a break of 4. The next lap Rob punched it up the climb and dropped Ray, which in hind sight we probably should have let him stay with us. Rob and i continued kill it and opened up a pretty good gap. The wholefoods guy with us didn't contriube either because he couldn't or chose not to. We stayed away for a little over 30laps and got caught with about 13laps to go. We continued to cover attacks but with 4laps to go, it was in our interest to keep it a field sprint with Brians quick finish. With 4 to go i kept all the late attacks a resonalbe distance and then with 2 to go i stung the field out single file as hard as i could go. I took Brian and Rob into the last corner in the top 5. Brian ended up 2nd and Rob 3rd along with 2 prime wins on the day. I have to say it was one of the coolest races i've done. I've never been on a team that works this fluidly together. Everyone does their job selflessly. Even though we didn't win, it was very awesome. I have never been this excited about not placing in a race before, because i helped to contriubte to a great team effort and good result. We are definatley going to win some races this year. Tune in next weekend for Cone Azalia report.

Regional Pictures

2006-04-24T20:33:00.000-04:00

Collegiate Regional Road Race

2006-04-24T20:20:00.000-04:00

On sunday we had the collegiate regional road race outside of Danville, Illinois. The course was a short circuit with 2 walls per lap. I really like this course, I think it is a great power climbers course. The race was unfortunalty very negative and not quite hard enough to seperate the weaker riders. Everyone was racing to save their aquired points and marking the stronger riders. I made some really hard attacks and was in a few moves i thought would make it, but they just never materialized. A few riders slipped away and made 2 groups up the road. On the last lap, we caught the chase group of 5, but it still left a group of 2 up the road, 3 guys slipped away in the last 3miles and we ended up sprinting up the finishing climb for 6th place. I hit the top of the climb first and drove it to the finish line about 300yards. Jake came around me right at the line for 6th and i finished 7th. Still a good result and enough to move me up to 3rd overall in the conference. I am looking forward to nationals and to racing with the my teammates on the Ford Team.

Collegiate Regional Crit

2006-04-22T19:26:00.000-04:00

Today in wonderful Rantoul, Illinois we had the regional crit. The course is set on an old Air Force Base on some of the roughest roads i've ever raced a crit on. I guess i can't complain considering some of the surfaces i've raced on in Belgium it wasn't that bad. The worst part of the race had to be the guy burning leaves in his yard, we all got smoked out every time through the start finish area. Anyways, getting down to the actual racing, it was regionals which means double pts for everything. First place primes were worth 10pts so i was up to trying to win as many as possible. I ended up winning 3 of them. Unfortunatley i just didn't have good legs today, i felt like i had a powerful sprint, but i just couldn't keep the hammer down. The 3rd prime i won was with 10min left of racing. I got a pretty large gap so thought i would give it a go and see if someone would come up to me. After a few laps by myself, i finally saw the field again and it was Jake Rytlewski on the front of the field pulling me back. It was too bad i didn't get some company, but I don't think anything was getting off the front without Jake's team Marion involved. Pretty much the race was set to be a field sprint so i started getting myself prepared and set up in the right position. On turn 2 on the last lap i was sitting 8th wheel just to my left i heard the inevitable crash and swore i saw the dark blue of Marion. Coming into the last turn of the race i was 4th wheel, with Brandon Gavic leading it out, Jake on his wheel and a Northwestern guy in front of me. In the last turn a few guys tried jamming the inside, lost their lines and slammed into me, which sent me bouncing off the curb, i was able to keep the bike up and finally threw a little elbow to get untangled and restarted my sprint. I was able to overtake a few guys, but could only manage 7th. Nothing really to get upset about, because it's bike racing as usual. Guys who don't hold position well will always jam the corners and try to punch their way to the front, I just have to be more aggressive in pushing back and holding my sprint despite getting jammed into. The worst part of the day was the flash of blue i saw crashing into the ground was Jon Swain and John Royal of Marion. After the race they were still laying on the ground and we thought for sure they had broken something. It turned out to be a lot of road rash and no broken bones. Tomorrow we have the tough road race at Kickapoo State Park. Hopefully i can pull down a win, but we'll have to see how the legs are treating me.

A Good Day :-)

2006-04-20T21:45:00.000-04:00

Today was good day. I got my new DMT shoes in and will kick my new Shimanos to the curb. Not to knock on Shimano, i believe they are a great shoe, they just don't do well with my feet. I've been riding with foot pain all year. The best part of today was meeting with someone who had an outside view of me and my racing. It was good to hear some constructive criticizm and to learn some changes that i need to make in my approach to the sport. The meeting went well and i learned a lot. I don't want to go into any details, but I have an opportunity to prove myself as a team player and worker. I spend almost all of my racing trying to win for myself, i look forward to racing as a team and working for others. I think given a specific set of directions and a goal i can do a good job. Anyways, more to come. Wish me luck this weekend and in up coming races. I'll keep you informed. Thanks for reading

Me and Tara after the Western Race

2006-04-18T23:23:00.000-04:00

Not too happy with getting dropped from the winning move today, i just couldn't hang in the hills with Jake attacking that hard up every climb.

Winding down the School year and Collegiate season

2006-04-18T23:06:00.000-04:00

The collegiate season is coming to a close, this weekend I have Regionals in Rantoul Illinois. I'm a little bummed because it is my Anniversary with Tara and we won't be able to be together. Last year she came down with me to Regionals and we had a good time. This year she's too busy with work and i think she is convinced that if she is at my races i don't do well. School is also almost over, with one week of regular class and finals on Mon and Wed of next week. It will be great to get on my summer schedule and get some good training in and some great racing. My work schedule will settle down and really allow for some great training and recovery time. I am very excited to start racing with the Ford Team. They are a great bunch of guys that i think my style will mix well with. It will be great to have a number or strong aggresive team mates around me. I hope to have good races this weekend at regionals to maintain or advance my 4th place overall in the conference. More to come from the weekend.

Michigan Challenge

2006-04-18T10:34:00.000-04:00

I heard recently about the new Michigan Team challenge. Basically what it is, is a team competition between the teams in michigan. A few select races are targetted and points assigned for the best 3 finishers in each team. I think it will be a good competition and a good way to showcase the depth of teams in Michigan. Included in this challenge is 2 individual time trials and one team time trial. This is good news for me since i have a lot of confidence in TT's and the TTT will be great with the depth on our team. Hopefully we will see Ford riding away with the win in this competition. Till next time.

Western Michigan Race Pictures

2006-04-18T10:25:00.000-04:00

Here are some good pics taken by local KBC member Zolton. The weekend sure was nice and good pictures are pouring in.

Racing at home

2006-04-10T22:59:00.000-04:00

This weekend Western Michigan hosted 2 races here in kalamazoo. First of all, it was awesome not to have to travel to race. I got to sleep in, see my family and race in front of a home crowd. The saturday race was a long 85mile road race just south of Kalamazoo in Schoolcraft. The course was a flat wind section set to the background of farms and golf courses. Unfortunalty the wind was not quite as stong as i was hoping so the race wasn't hard enough. Only about 4 of the strong guys from our conference showed up including Jake Rytlewski, Jon Swain, Brandon Gavic and myself. The rest of the field ended up racing the typical long collegiate road racing style which is race as negativley as possible, chase down all the strong guys and let the lesser riders ride away with ease. It was so frustrating that Jake and Jon actually quit the race about half way into it. finally with about 35miles to go i forced a break by digging really really deep. Fortunalty it worked, but the downside was that i went a little deeper than i really wanted to go. I ended up getting 7th in the race which i felt was a pretty poor result considering how strong i felt. On sunday we had a 13lap circuit around our college campus. We have great terrain on our school grounds with 2 nice steep hills per lap about 3miles total per lap. On the second lap of the race, I attacked with Jake, Jon and Brandon and we got a huge gap in a hurry. We were really going hard in that break. Jake and Jon were both really frest from not finishing the previous day, not to mention they are lighter by 30lbs and better climbers than i am. Brandon is all of 130lbs and goes up hill pretty well himself. Jake attacked pretty hard on the finishing climb with 6laps to go and i couldn't go with the move. I chased as hard as could for as long as i could, but ended up getting caught with a few laps to go. I was pretty toasted by this point and struggled to try and finish with the group. The best news of the day how well jeremy raced. He performed great and finished what i think would be his hardest race yet. He also finished well the day before in the long road race. I think he is starting to come around. I have next weekend off because of Easter and the following weekend is regionals in Illinois. Thanks for reading.

Another TT win

2006-04-04T10:39:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I had another collegiate race weekend at Purdue University. Saturdays race was a 10mile TT. With 5miles out and 5 miles back. At the end of the way out there was a 1mile climb that kicked pretty nice at the top. After you reached the top you flipped around for the fast tailwind section home. I ended up winning by over 30sec. over Todd Yesefski from the pro team Nerac Outdoorlights. I was very happy with the result. The next was suposed to be a crit, however it wouldn't stop raining and they kept delaying the race. I decided to bag it and head home to study for an Aero exam. I was content with my decision when i heard that there were crashes in the race so i think i made a good call. Until next time, thanks for reading.

Best and Worst Races of the season

2006-03-26T21:20:00.000-05:00

This past weekend i skipped out on collegiate racing to do my first Time Trial of the year. On saturday i went to Waterford to do the circuit race. Last season i had a good result there and hoped to better that this year. Unfortunatly i got a chest cold and the weather was the worst possible conditions to race a bike in with winds, rain and a temp of about 33degrees. I raced aggressivley but just didn't have much top end and had trouble breathing. I ended up finishing up in the pack with a less than impressive performance. The next day on Sunday, i went to the Fisk Knob TT to test out my new TT bike and new disk. I was a little hesitant since my chest was still hurting and i could feel the pressure. I decided to do the race anyways. The course is a rolling T shaped 17mile race. With high winds and 2 turn arounds it would prove to be a tough course. I got a good warm up and started strong. At the 10mile mark i looked down at my computer and i had been racing for 20minutes. I have never averaged 30mph in any TT for any decent length of distance. I was pretty stoked but a little worried about going too hard too early. I ended up winning the overall. I was very happy with the result and with the race. I am looking forward to the next TT with some more confidence.

Ohio University and Ohio State

2006-03-08T13:17:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we had our second weekend of Collegiate racing at Ohio Univ. and Ohio State. The Ohio University course was amazing, with a ton of climbing and some nice scenery. They have some serious climbs in southeast ohio, i was really impressed with how hard they were. We destroyed the field one lap into the 3lap race. Unfortunatly on lap 2 a Purdue rider made a dumb mistake and tried to attack through a gap that wasn't there at the front of the field on a decent. He took out the front of the field and we had some pretty nice carnage. Broken bikes, bars, wheels and forks were everywhere. About 15riders went down, about 6 of us got it the worst. I didn't end up hurting myslef too bad, but my bike was lauched about 20ft and i had a hard time even finding it in all the turmoil. By the time i got a new wheel it had been more than 10min and the race was long gone for use. The really shitty part is that he took down 5 of the best 8riders in the field that day, including Hans Arnesen from IU, Jaimie Kimberly from Illinois, Tim Swain from Ohio and myslef. After we got back to the starting area, and the concluded Hans threw the Pudue crash causer in the ditch and we all gathered around to let him know what an idiot he was for racing like he did. I'm pretty sure he won't do that again. The next day we had a crit in Columbus. This was an extremely fast 4corner cit. I spent the day in breakaways, trying to get off the front and getting prime points. I had a second crash of the weekend when an IU rider clipped a pedal in front of me in a corner. I went down, bent my wheel and tore off my bottle cage. After i got my chain back on and made it to the wheel pit, i got my spare and was back in the race with about 8min to go. I immediately went back to the front and began racing on pure addrenalin and rage. Nobody likes to go down, and i think it kind of fuels my racing energy when i do in a crit. The race came down to a field sprint and i managed a 4th place again. All in all, it could have been a better weekend but the crit was redemption for getting crashed out of the road race.

2006-03-03T20:49:00.000-05:00

Depauw Weekend

2006-03-01T23:15:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, WMU Cycling had their first weekend of racing for the season. Sat was a 45mile rolling road race outside of Indianapolis. I was under orders from my coach to take it easy and observe the race without attacking and make and easy start to my season. This was a little frustrating for me considering how i usually like to be very aggressive and get up the road. I ended up finishing in the field for 18th place. A little frustrated but not a bad first day of racing. Sunday's race was a 70min crit on a tight course. I raced this race very aggressively and ended up in a breakaway of 7. We ended up lapping the field in about 25min. It was a very hard breakaway especially for the second race of the year. I think we were all suffering like dogs and were relieved to catch the field. With some late attacks i ended up off the front again with 4 of the original breakaway riders. Jon Swain from Marion escaped and i made the mistake of leading out the sprint thinking in could hold off Jake Rytlewski from Marion and Hans Arnsen from IU came around me so i had to settle for 4th on the day, but still decent form for the first weekend of the year. More to come from next week at Ohio.

New Season, New Team

2006-02-17T22:30:00.000-05:00

Well, it's racing time again. With the first collegiate race around the corner at Depauw Indiana, i can't believe it is here already. We have a had a great winter here in michigan, so i really can't complain too much. I have signed to race with a new team this year. I will be racing with the Ford Team out of Ann Arbor. They are an experienced group of guys who race well together and win a lot of races. I think my aggressive nature of racing will mest well with their team mentality and hopefully bring some big results. I got my new ride a few weeks ago and am prety impressed with the Giant. I have never been on one before and i really like the way it rides. I also got a new TT bike this season with a disk wheel and an aero helmet. Looking to make my mark against the clock this year. Thanks for reading and look for more additions to my blog.

Travel Home

2005-09-02T14:03:00.000-04:00

Today is my last day in Europe for this season. I leave tomorrow and fly to Muncih, Germany and then14hrs to Chicago where my beautiful girlfriend will be there to pick me up. It will be great to be back in my own place with her near by. I have learned so much about the sport of cycling and about myself during my time here. This has been a very positive experience and i am confident i will return. I would like to thank all the friends and family who helped me to come over here. My dad for being so suportive and encouraging. Houston for your guidence in my training. Tara for standing by me and being such and amazing girlfriend. My mom for here good advice and thoughts. Thank you for reading my entries. Now it is back to school and a 2 races at home before the season is over. Thanks for reading. Bye bye

Almost done in Europe

2005-08-22T15:01:00.000-04:00

I have less than 2 weeks left in Belgium before i head back home to start schoo, work and most importantly see my girlfriend. I have a few more races here before i begin my 15hr journey back to the U.S. I also have 2 races that i plan to race when i get back, which are the michigan state road race championships and the Tour of Leelanau. I'm not sure how the legs or the jet lag will be but i plan to race then anyhow and have some fun. It has been a great experience over here in Europe racing with the worlds best and i'm sure i will be able to put my experiences to use in my future raceing adventures. Thanks for reading.

Pushing the limit

2005-08-06T17:07:00.000-04:00

I did a race in Oostkamp on thursday and it was possibly the hardest i have ever pushed myself before. I made the winning break with another teammate and about 15 other riders. I was asked to push the pace so the break would stay clear and i did. I pushed a little too hard and ended up getting dropped out of the break with a few laps to go but my teammate was in a good position to do well. After getting dropped i didn't want to be caught by the field so i began to chase as hard as i could. I kept my hr at about 195 for over 10min to try and stay as close as possible to the break. I pushed so hard that i actually puked from my bike all over my right leg. It was pretty gross but i was hurting so bad at that point it didn't really phase me that much. I ended up getting caught by the field with a lap to go but managed to finish around 30th. My tammate in the break placed 10th in the race which was a good result for the team. Well thats all for now. I have about 4 weeks left and hope to get some decent results before i head home. Thanks for reading.

Kwarmont

2005-08-02T11:55:00.000-04:00

Climbing the Kwarmont

Picture

2005-07-27T15:45:00.000-04:00

Last thoughts before the gun goes off.

Race picture

2005-07-27T15:40:00.000-04:00

Bridging across solo to the breakaway in Waardamme.

Famous Belgian Climbs and an Epic Ride

2005-07-23T17:08:00.000-04:00

Today Rus, Brian and I decided we were going to do an epic ride that went over some of the famous climbs of the Tour of Flanders. The route we took coverse 170K and goes over at least famous climbs that i know of. There were a few other climbs but i am not sure of their names. This was a tough ride to say the least. These cobbled climbs are extremely difficult. The Kwarmont is suprising long and i would say about 1k in length but of course cobbled and very steep. The steepest climb would have to go to the Patersburg. This climb is about 25% in grade, cobbled and probably the toughest climb i have done. There are cars that wouldn't make it up this climb. The ride went well and we had pretty decent weather. It ended up taking about 6.5hrs to do the loop and all i can say is i can't imagine racing on that terrain. I am pretty tired after that ride and we just rode the loop casually. Add another 80K or so and do it at race pace and you will find out what kind of a bike racer you are. It really is some tough man kind of stuff. Well, that is the end of that story, it definatly goes down as one of my top 5 rides ever. Thanks for reading, bye bye til next time.

About half way

2005-07-14T16:03:00.000-04:00

Well today marks about the half way point in my Belgium racing adventure. I have about a month and a half left here. I am excited because i can feel the form coming and i can feel i am only a few steps from some decent results especially in the Kermes. I have set a goal for myself to get into the top ten at a Kermis before i leave. This has proven to be a tough goal for just about everyone in the house as we only have about 3 top ten's in the house all year, but it is something that i am going to work hard to achieve. I have another Kermes tomorrow and again on tuesday. After looking at what i have learned here so far i can say that this is literally the college of European cycling. If you want to learn how to race your bike, you have to spend some time in a place like this. I really have been enjoying myself here and the experience is priceless. I am however looking forward to seeing my girlfriend and that is the only negative part about the trip is that i do miss her very much. There is more to come, so thanks for reading. Bye bye for now

3 races in 4 days

2005-07-12T04:41:00.000-04:00

Since my last post i have done 2 kermis' and 2 UCI races in France. I have had some mixed results, recently i have done 3 races in 4 days and in the middle of a big building stage in my fitness. The most recent UCI i did was a 1.2 in Dourges France. I spent the race working for Rudy and Jason. 3 of us covered a lot of early moves and tried to keep these guys out of the action for as long as possible. It proved to be a very tough, very hard race. There were 9 pro teams that we counted and only a few amateur teams. The cobble section wasn't too bad, but managed to nock my headset loose and no it is all busted up and i have to replace it. Aiden, Matt and I worked really hard all day and the 3 of us lasted about 100K leaving Jason and Corey to watch after Rudy. They ended up finishing in the pack and missing the main move, but it wasn't a bad day. I know i was truely spent and gave everything i had so i was ok with the race. I am far from satisfied, but still getting a little better. More to come later. Thanks for reading.

A little better with every race

2005-07-01T14:57:00.000-04:00

With each race i do i am getting a little better form and getting a little bit better results. This week i did a kermis in Oostrozebeke and Oostende finishing 25th and 37th respectively. They were both great races, especially the the race in Oostende. This was one of the better course i have done since i have been here. There was a really high quality field at this race with a decent turnout. Physically i am feeling better in the the races and am learning how to save my energy and keeping better position in the race, but getting the correct moves is proving to be a little frustrating. I don't know which teams are strong and which guys are strong so i try to use my best judgment and go with moves that look strong, but they seems to last a little while and come back. Oh well, i know that the more i do these the more i will figure them out. I sure am having a lot of fun though. Next up is a UCI 1.12 in France. More to come, thanks for reading

First UCI Race at Geluwe

2005-06-23T04:26:00.000-04:00

Tuesday was my first UCI race this season over here in Belgium. The weather has been extremely hot and unfortuanly has brought on some nasty allergies. I have been conjested for a few days, but decided to race anyways with the hope that it would clear out once my body temp began to rise. This proved to not work well, about an hour into the race my sinus started running really badly and i wasn't able to breath at all. This is pretty tough thing in pack of 230 some pro's racing over cobbles. It was a disapointing race but i am understanding enough of the situation to not get too down on myself. I still have a lot of racing to do over here and a lot to learn. More to come on my next races. Mean while i have been training hard and getting a lot of time in on the bike and relaxing a lot. I have also been hitting the steam room pretty heavy to try and clear up my sinus passages. Well, more to come later, thanks for reading.

Oudenburg Kermis

2005-06-17T14:42:00.000-04:00

My 3rd race here in Belgium was a Kermis in a town called Oudenburg. It was a very windy day with a large field of some of the best riders i have seen so far. It was a 8km course we had to do 18 laps on. The course was pretty crazy with some sketchy sections through the town with barriers and racers hitting the barriers at 60k and hour. The race went really well for me, i felt really comfortable in the field and had made my way to the front of the race with 5 laps to go. On one of the farm roads there was a sharp left turn with some buckled pavement that a lot of riders were having trouble with. A rider tried jamming through it on my inside and lost control and hit me and sent me to the pavement at 55k and hour, accross the road and into a briar patch. I lost some skin on my shin, knee and butt. The bike was ok except for some bar tape and the usual shifter scratching. I was pretty disapointed because at this pint in the race, there had already been a pretty tough selection made and i was feeling really well. Oh well, better luck next time. My next race is this saturday, so wish me luck and no more spills.

Josh

Lactic Power Test and Bike Fit

2005-06-15T13:37:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I went with my director Bernard and 3 other teammates to see Dr. Dag. Dr. Dag is the Discovery Channel team doctor who performs test for the team and is also Lance's personal Doctor while in Europe. We went to get our Lactic Acid Power Test done. Basically you bring your bike and hook it up to his machine and start at 100watts. Every 3 min the maching automatically adds 50watts. Dr. Dag is busy pricking your ear and taking blood sample for lactic acid and the machine is recording all you hr and other information. I was told the Cycling Center house record at the moment was set by Justin Morgan at 500watts and 2 min or so. I was able to hit 550watts and a few seconds for the new best. The only negative part of the test is that i start to produce lactic acid a little early in my power output, mostly due to how short i have been a cyclist. The rest of the guys all hit 500watts and was a succesful day for the new guys. Today, i went and Franze the old belgian bikefit master. He is responsible for the bikefit of such pro's and Eddie and Axel Merckx, Nico Mattan, Tom Boonan and some others. He is an older guy with a great garder and expersive cars in a town called Isagem. He doesn't speak a word of English, so Ann has to translate for you. First you go through a series of measurements which he does twice. He inspects your feet for arch, and adjusts your shoes. He then spends about an hour on the calculator setting up your ideal bike fit and then if you agree, goes to work making your bike perfect for you. In the end, he moved my seat up about 1.5 cm, and forward about 2 cm. He put a 10mm shorter stem on my bike and adjusted my hoods a little bit for a more ideal fit in the drops. All in all it was about a 4hr fit and only cost 40 Euro, plus the price of the new stem. I went for a short ride on it today, it definatley feels different, it will be an interesting race tomorrow on a newly fit bike. That is all for now, more to come on my next race. Thanks for reading

Tourhout Kermis

2005-06-11T07:18:00.000-04:00

Yesterday i did my second race since i've been here. It was a 30 lap Kermis on a 3.8K circuit. The race was full throttle from the gun and never really slowed down. 2 Lords of the Kermis attacked from the gun and i spent the whole first lap bridging accross to them. I got within about 15meters when one of them looked back and saw me and said something to his companion and they both jumped and rode away from me. This was pretty demoralizing considering it was only 5 min into the race and i was already afraid i would get dropped because of my all out effort. I got swept up by the field and went immediatly back to the front where i covered a lot of attackes and launched counter attacks. After about 1.5 hr i was starting to get a little tired so i moved to the more of the middle of the pack to relax a little bit. The hard part is there really is no such thing as sitting in in these races because the attack are constant. with about 6 laps to go I went with a pretty strong move and over commited to driving the break. There were already 6 guys up the road so this was a counter attack move. Unfortunalty it only lasted about 1 lap and we were quickly picked up by the pack. I was pretty thrashed at this point and was dropped. I clawed my way back on the group and with the momentum i had i follow some wheels and cut right through the pack and back off the front instantly into another move. At this point I was absolutely fried and digging as deep as i could go. I knew that if this one came back i would probably be dropped for good. Of course it did come back and i was dropped hard again. This time i couldn't get back i dangled just off the back and was pulled from the race with about 3 laps to go. I was pretty close to finishing but with all the work i did it was pretty difficult to be there at the end. Bernard said i did a good job, but i had things to work on in order to conserve energy. I am pretty sore today and am looking forward to my massage on monday. Til next time thanks for reading.

2005-06-07T13:17:00.000-04:00

Street with cafe in Brugge, Belgium

2005-06-07T13:15:00.000-04:00

street corner in Brugge, Belgium

2005-06-07T13:14:00.000-04:00

Center of Brugge, Belgium

First Race in Belgium

2005-06-05T15:39:00.000-04:00

Yesterday i did my first race here in belgium. I still have not gotten over the jet lag and am having a little stomache problems, but i decided to do the race anyways. The race was a Kermis in a town called Dudzele north of Bruges. The race was a 118k in 15 laps. There were about 120 racers on the line for the start. The race started just like a crit ans was immediatly down to business. I got to the front of the race right away and was in the top ten going into the first heavy crosswind section. The field split right away and i made the first move. Groups began moving up to us and i did enough work to keep myself in good position the front. You kind of have to make a decsion to work slightly and keep good postion near the front or, don't work and get stuck in the gutter. The group split again and i missed the next move by a few riders. I wasn't feeling very well so i didn't try to cross to it. My legs felt ok but my body was pretty sore and my stomache was hurting alot. I made it about 1.5 hrs before they pulled the group i was in. In the kermis they pull your group if you fall more than 3 min behind the leaders. In this particular race only 4 guys finished. I have been told this is pretty common in these races. One cool thing about these races is that they only cost 3 euro and they pay 50 riders deep for payout. Well thanks for reading and more to come later.

Josh

Riding From Belgium to Holland

2005-06-02T16:17:00.000-04:00

Today a few guys on the team took me on a 3 hr ride that took us to the town of Sluis in Holland. It is pretty weird to be riding along and come to a town and oh, your in Holland now. We followed this little canal for most of the ride. The bike lanes here are pretty interesting, most roads have a nice bike lane that takes you along most of the roads, and if there isn't a bike lane then the people on the roads are usually pretty nice. The only conflict is that the roads are about half the width of ours and they all think they are F1 race car drivers. The people around here just fly. Today Jason, Ron and I had to bail down into a ditch to not get hit by an oncoming garbage truck. The weather has been great so far, temps have been good with only a little rain. I haven't been rained on the bike yet. My first race is suposed to be this Saturday. I have been talking to alot of the guys here and many of them have trouble finishing the races. The Kermesas are very fast with many turns and aggressive riding. If you get more than 3min behind the leaders you get pulled from the race. Well more to come after my first race. Thanks for reading and wish me luck

Arrival in Belgium

2005-05-31T08:03:00.000-04:00

I arrived in Belgium yesterday after a long and sleepless travel from chicago to London to Brussel to Hertsbege. The trip went well with few problems other than a delay in London. I made my self stay up to about 11pm Belgium time to start getting my body accustomed to the 6hr time difference. I slept like a rock and woke up at 9am. I woke up and built my bike and Justin Hale took me on a short 1hr ride. I went over my first coblestone rode, it was pretty cool and bumpy as hell. Racing on this stuff is truely going to be difficult. I just got back from the grocery store and that would have been a pain in the ass if Ron and Evan hadn't taken me and shown me some of the stuff i needed to buy and more importanty what not to buy. There is a bakery and a butcher in the small town we are in only a few hundred meters away. I can have frest bread and meat whenever i want. Well that is all for now, stay tuned for more updates, i will have plenty of time to write with all the down time inbetween riding and racing so send me emails if you want to chat. Thanks for reading.

Josh

Last few days in the US

2005-05-24T22:43:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since i wrote on here. I have been buys finishing up school for the semester and finishing up the collegiate season. I qualified for Collegiate Cycling Nationls which was held in Lawrence Kansas. I drove out there with my girlfried and met my dad and stepmom there. It was a great weekend with some tough races. I had fun but had some bad racing luck. Hopefully the bad luck ends on the flight over to Belgium. It was good to see my dad and stepmom. Tara and I had a great time spending time with them. Well, stay tuned for my next entry. I leave this sunday for a long flight over the pond. Next stop Cycling Center.
Thanks for reading........

2005-03-27T23:42:00.000-05:00

Waterford training series

2005-03-21T08:27:00.000-05:00

John and I working hard

2005-03-21T08:24:00.000-05:00

Getting caught by 2 chasers

2005-03-21T08:23:00.000-05:00

2up break at Lindsey Wilson

Hilly in Kentucky

2005-03-20T09:41:00.000-05:00

This weekend the WMU team went down to Columbia, Kentucky for the Lindsey Wilson RR on sat and a Crit on sun. The road race course is alot of fun with alot of climbs and some fast decents. The race went ok for me, a little more climbing than i am used to but still a good race, i finished up 9th and earned some good pts. On sunday there was a 65min crit, on a 1mile course with 10 turns on it. Think about that, it was a lot of turning but still fairly fast course. About 30 min on a prime lap i attacked and got clear, i was flying solo for about 20 min before a marina rider (John Royal) and Lindsey Wilson rider (Keith Skiles) bridged accross. with about 6 laps to go in the race we dropped Keith and John and i continiued to work with each other. On the last lap John attacked hard into a corner and got a gap on me that i wasn't able to close. He won the race and i got a hard fought 2nd. I managed to get alot of prime pts so even with his win, i ended up only 1 pt less than him for the race. As the current standing are, I am first in the conferance overall. A good feeling as i have yet to be first at anything on a bike. Anyways more to come.