Been a long time

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.