Tantilizing Tan-Lines

Off Season < Cross Season

2012-01-24T13:26:00.002-06:00

So, with the rap up of a season full of "almosts and would have's" cross season was finally here...in October. Road season was all in all full of fun, great build ups and depressing let downs. There is just something about sliding across the pavement at 30+ miles per hour in material thinner than your underwear that really puts a rider down in the dumps. Especially if these spills come at crucial times/big races...oh well. Wiley Mosley brought me on to his cross team to share the wealth of Austin Beer Works, Specialized bicycles, and unicorn love. Yes, you read that correctly, my cross season was full of unicorns. Learn more about the team here and/or "Like" us on Facebook here.

The first time one dawns a baby blue skin suit with rainbow plaid sleeves/shorts and a unicorn with green hair on the chest, one thinks twice of his dignity flying out the window the heckling that will ensue on and off the race course. All in all, I'm pretty damn glad I wore that unicorn skinsuit, even though I may have even judged myself...if that's even possible.

My cross season was broken up in to three parts:

1: Learning how to ride a cross bike. This involved traveling to the midwest to train a bit with the likes of Joe Schmalz and Adam Mills and refine my skillz at the USGP of Cyclocross in Louiville Kentucky.
2: Off Season. A break from everything including my real, if you want to call it real, life to visit my beautiful fiance in Brazil.
3: Coming back to the ATX to whoop some cat 2 ass in the final few races of the year.

Part 1 was fun, I placed 2nd in Boulevard Beer Cross in Kansas and 5th at the USGP of Cyclocross (cat 2-3) in Louisville after starting on the back row in a field of 130 riders.

Part 2, absolutely amazing. Kelly and I met each other in Lima, Peru to go on a hike from around Cusco to Machu Picchu. I need a photo blog in order to show the beauty of it. From there we went to Sao Paulo, Brazil (where she was living for 3 months) to eat amazing food and see an amazing city. We rounded out the trip with a hiatus weekend to Rio de Janeiro to hang out with the big Jesus, hang glide, and drink a few caipirinhas. It was a great time to take a break before hitting training pretty intensely to gear up for the 2012 season.

Part 3 in one word, fun. Setting up hang out spots with the TSA at races and winning the cat 2 state cross championship were a great wrap up to 2011 racing. It's not everyday you become the "Best, good, mediocre cyclocross racer in all of Texas"...I'm going to upgrade for next season.

For now I am putting in a some base miles and just starting to do some intervals to gear up for the new season. I will be riding with Mercy Cycling once again and can't wait to start a new after a not-so-bueno 2011 season. I learned a few things in 2011 which include doing what your heart desires. It may not be the most financially fulfilling lifestyle to "give it a go" at cycling, but it makes me happy and I've met a lot of great people doing it. Another thing I learned was to not get down on yourself when things aren't quite going your way. Yeah, I crashed a few times at key moments, yes, it was embarrassing, but no, it's not the end of the world. I judge my cross season a success, which is added motivation alongside the determination gained from close calls last year. The last thing I learned was to have fun, not stress so much about the little things, and always tell your fiance when you're heading out on a ride...they don't seem to like it very much when you don't answer your phone for no apparent reason.

Tour of Lawrence

2011-07-03T16:17:00.008-05:00

The rest of Nature Valley was exciting. To sum up the rest of the race, my butt hurt and we rode bicycles fast. My teammate, Brad Cole, ended up sixth amateur in GC, which is pretty awesome. Afterwards I stayed with Rob and Becca Legler (old friends of Kelly and her family) for a few days before flying back to Texas. It was pretty ~~awesome~~ embarrassing having to ask Becca to redress my bum-wound only an hour after I met her...They were extremely nice and comforting. Becca cooks so well that I managed to gain five pounds despite having raced 9 out of the last 11 days!

Rob and I

Rob and I did a few rides and he hooked me up with Hollywood Cycles to box my bike and get it ready for the flight back home. I have to admit, his shop is pretty sweet.

Former master's world champ cross racer H-wood

The team is now having a pretty decent Tour of Lawrence. I placed 2nd in the street sprints! Had no idea I could sprint before that. Congrats to Andrew Dalheim for taking the win. The circuit race didn't go too bad either, Austin Vinton (teammate) took 6th and I came in right behind in 8th. Pretty good considering my rear derailleur decided to stop working in the last lap....sad face. Adam Mills, my coach and owner of Source Endurance, says this course is one of the hardest circuits in the nation, which is quite believable considering how my legs feel like jelly right now.

I gotta give a big thanks to PJ Rabice and Road ID for the product as well! Kelly and I both got Road ID's and wear them whenever we are on the bike.You can check out their products here.

So tonight we have a crit that is supposed to be super fast and stocked full of primes. Here is a link to my race profile last night and I will leave you with a small glimpse into my life...here you go, have fun looking at that guys sexy tan lines. Ring that cowbell!

Tulsa Tough and Nature Valley

2011-06-18T10:19:00.001-05:00

This may be kind of long and may or may not contain a few curse words, but here it goes.

So Tulsa Tough was...tough. Like every other NRC race this year (with the exception of Joe Martin) it rained. It's weird how it rains in the rest of the nation. I might actually have to by a rain cape when I get back, gasp. Friday night was scary as hell. Saturday night was fast as hell, and Sunday was just plain ol' hard. I love Sunday's course and was in position until 3 crashes happened in the last 1.5 laps...bummer. I had the Go Pro camera mounted to my bars and will upload the video when I get to a computer. Right now I am sitting in a car driving from Minneapolis to Menomonie (trying to learn how to say the name of the place).

Nature valley is going ok. The time trial didn't go well (it rained) so I am just here to help our GC leader (the fabulous Brad Cole) out for the remainder of the race. Wednesday's crit was hard/technical. My legs felt good heading into the finishing circuits of the blazing fast, 66 mile road race on Thursday. Our average that day was 28.5 mph...

Unfortunately my legs did not feel very good after I ate asphalt cooking it around the final turn going exactly 35.8 mph. A Kelly Benefits guy overcooked the turn, went into the grass, and proceeded to come straight back into the pack and my front wheel. I was sandwiched between a Bissel guy and the KBS guy and had nothing to do except shred my front wheel in someone skewer. It's funny how time slows down when your skin is being burned off and your watching your brand new Oakleys bounce along behind you about to be annihilated by the charging field. I thought I was going to safely get a top 10/15 but apparently even the front of a bike race isn't safe. DON'T WORRY, the bike is ok. Despite the bars being bent and my front Reynolds wheel exploding...After getting a neutral bike and rolling across the proceeded to the med-tent. Unfortunately, none of the pretty ladies there were that interested in doctoring my little bum-bum :(

I would post road rash pics but really, you dont want to look at my butt. Let's just say my jersey is ruined and there is a gaping hole the size of my head in the left cheek of my bibs...laterally. I will, however, post one of one of the medics bandaging my butt up before last night's crit!

Oh yeah, that guys is touching my bare a**!

Friday's crit was fun. My ass didn't hurt too bad and we managed to find some new handlebars and get my Trek running again. The team had good position in the top 20 guys going into 6 laps to go when a crash happened...is there a recurring theme here? Jeez.

Now we are headed to Wisconsin for a 100 mile road race...in the rain. I am currently researching how to grow gills in order to process oxygen from all of the water that will be slapping me in the face today.

Tomorrow's stage is supposed to be a doozie. Im looking forward to it.

Well, we're here so I'm going to end this boring update and put very carefully stretch my bibs over my torn up butt.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Mercy me (For the lack of a better title)

2011-06-06T14:23:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since the last post. Well a little longer. Ok maybe it's been 422 days to be exact. But that doesn't mean I haven't been updating my Facebook! A lot has happened since the last time I logged into this blog. If you want to read all of the lovey dovey details then feel free to read the next few paragraphs. If you want a four word summary of the past year, here it is (in chronological order).

Full time job
New team
Two Part Time Jobs
Engaged

Who knows if all of those were the key events but they are the easiest to write about ad flow quite nicely together. So, as for the details, here it goes. This may not be in exact chronological order but you will get the gist of it by the end...hopefully.

Full time job-

Following my graduation from St. Edward's University and being in a committed relationship I decided to put my big boy pants on and head out into the real world. This brought me to an internship and eventual full time job with a little company making a big stir in the Austin tech industry, Bazaarvoice. I would explain it but that is what the website is for so I will go ahead, let you click on the blue word and wait here (hopefully you'll come back....ok, you done? My job role is "Financial Analyst," that at least sounds important right?

New Team-

Shortly after signing all of the paper work and going through benefits training (I'm still confused as to which insurance premium I should have chosen) I was in talks with Mercy Cycling to bring me on board as one of their elite riders. Needless to say, the talks went well and I signed with the team in February. It is a wonderful organization with a great mission and an awesome group of elite riders that I don't mind being crammed into a van for countless hours with.

Two Part Time Jobs-

Having a full time job and being on a cycling team that travels all over the country...that sounds like a great idea but isn't exactly feasibly possible. After trying my hand at both for a while, and becoming exhausted to the point that I made myself sick, I decided that I could be a really good financial analyst or a really good bike racer, just not both at the same time. So, after the little, mature, financial analyst man in my head waged war with the incredibly good looking cyclist man in my head, I decided to take off the big boy pants and pursue cycling for a few more years. It may have not been the smartest move in the books but if I didn't do it I fear I would regret it later in life.

As of now, I work part time at Pedal Hard Training Center and part time at Bazzarvoice.

Engaged-

Yes, the "single" towel was thrown in. It's funny what women do to men. I swear I can't think straight when I am around this one. There were no existing plans of being married or even getting relatively serious with a member of the opposite sex for quite some time...until I met this one.
-Enter Miss Kelly Hobson-
She's a nice girl from a small town in South Africa. She likes being fit and hanging out outdoors, long walks, and (like me) bubble baths. She works at Facebook here in Austin as an account manager/all around bad-ass and yes, she rides bikes...Unfortunately, she has competed in a number of triathlons, but we don't talk about that...

So, now that everyone is up to speed, time to lather up the sun-screen and head out on the trusty steed.

Article featured in the Stateman

2010-03-27T16:17:00.000-05:00

Christmas in March and University Oaks Crit

2010-03-16T19:16:00.009-05:00

So, the Alchemy frames are in. along with Rol Wheels a Sram Red Grouppo and Deda Zero 100 Components. The bike was built up last week and looks ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Also in the mail came a LAS Victory helmet, and brand, spanking new Toyota GCCA kits.

Our first race in the new kits was the University Oaks Criterium in San Antonio, Tx. The plan was to work for drew to try and get him some upgrade points. Discussing the race before hand, and looking at the pre-registered riders, we decided the optimal situation would be to try and get Drew and myself in a break with Eric Benz (AT&T) and Colt Trant (Matrix).

Not having really put the new frame to the test, I was a bit nervous as to how it would handle the demands of a crit. Nerves went straight out the window as soon as the officials said go and i decided to attack from the gun again. Actually getting a break to stick from lap zero wasn't entirely my plan, but it ended up working. Benz bridged up, shortly followed by Trant, Drew, and a few others.

Drew's job was to rest as much as possible, and let me do the work, and wait for the last bit of the race to try anything. The break eventually lapped the field, making scoring obscenely difficult. With a little over one to go Joseph got to the front of the group to start the lead out train for Drew. Unfortunately for the team, a car somehow got onto the course and was headed straight towards the field of riders. This caused absolute mayhem but, through some sort of miracle, everyone stayed up right. Joseph stayed on the front, followed by me and Drew. He pulled off with about 3/4 of a kilometer to go and I drilled it up until about 400 meters to the line when Colt Trant attacked. Followed by Benz and two riders from Canada. Absolutely gassed, I gave it one more dig, but couldn't catch the small group. Drew launched and bridged, but couldn't come around them by the finish. He would end up fifth. I limped across the line in 9th.

Big thanks to Dave from DCM photography for the shots of the bike and Lafico for being a great leader/engine of the GCCA leadout train.

Day 2 at the Primavera

2010-03-03T12:04:00.002-06:00

Sunday at Lago Vista ensured tired legs and no idea what I was going to do with the race. I wasn’t sure how my body would react after a tough race the day before and 3 weeks of very tough training, compliments of Source Endurance. Discussing tactics with my roommate (Jordan Nguyen of Team Hotel San Jose) just before the start, he jokingly said I should attack from the gun, just to see what happens. Well, I tried it, just to see what happened. After about a bout 2 laps with various breakaway partners the pack reeled me in. I tend to be a fan of high heart rates and copious amounts of lactic acid though. So after one laps rest and a sketchy encounter on the downhill, I decided to attack once again when the terrain tilted skyward. After dangling off the front for about a mile or 2, 8 people decided to make the bridge, including Erick Benz (my partner from the day before), some mutinously strong juniors including Will Rader and Michael Pincus from Metro and Danny Parks (GS Tenzing) Others in the break included riders from bike heaven, DNA racing, Velossimo and Wooly Mammoth. After some solid cranking for the next 2 laps we had a sustainable gap, but the break was too big and inexperienced to work well together. Too many guys wanted a free ride. Thankfully, Metro VW and Wooly riders controlled the pack enough to let the gap slowly grow to five minutes. During which time Mario Arroyave somehow jumped the pelaton and bridged the gap before it grew to large. He would later attack with about 10 miles left in the race and grab the win for Velossimo. His teammate, Arteaga, blocked in the break, but eventually let Bens off the front, followed later by Skohan and Pincus, who would take 2nd 3rd and 4th respectively. The remainder of the break would sprint for 5th. I would end up 7th.

The Primavera at Lago Vista

2010-03-02T13:53:00.003-06:00

The Primavera at Lago Vista is heaven for some…hell for others. The course features a stair stepping 3 mile climb followed by a brutally fast 3 mile descent. Going into the race, I knew the course favored my strengths, pain, pain, speed, and a little more pain, but not being able to shift out of the big ring is a different story. Just after the race started I realized my bike wouldn’t shift under load. You know it’s going to be a long day when you’re stuck in the 53’ with over 4000 ft of climbing in front of you…So I decided to make the most of it and force everyone else to hurt just as bad as me. After 1.5 laps (10 miles) sitting in the pack of nearly 100 riders, I decided to attack at the false flat about half way up the climb. After gaining a small margin, Erick Benz (AT&T) and Patrick Newell bridged up and we started to really motor. Topping out at 50+ miles per hour on the decent we gained about 25 seconds on the field. In the third lap Mario Arroyave (Velossimo) and another rider bridged to the break. A few moments later we were nearly brought back to the field by team San Jose, but after some vicious pulls by Erick and Mario we managed to sneak away again, losing Patrick and the other rider to the mercilessness of the field. For the rest of the race (~50 miles) the three of us managed to maintain a stressful margin of about 40 seconds on the field. We were never able to relax, as a group of three is much less efficient on a fast downhill than the peloton. We would lose nearly 20 seconds at the bottom of the course every lap, and gain it back on the climb. The entire race I was uncomfortable with chasing peloton nipping at our heels, painfully turning over the cranks with my breakaway companions, barely able to fuel, barely able to breath. Going into the last lap we had a margin of only 35 seconds over the group. No cat-and-mouse tactics could be played, everyone had to give it their all to stay away. At the top of the climb I put in a dig to try and stretch the gap a little before the descent. Unfortunately Mario fell off the break and it was up to Erick Benz and myself to motor to the finish ahead of the malicious peloton. I attacked Erick with about 2 km to go but he was able to cover, spitefully pinning me in front of him as punishment. Coming into the finish I tried to keep the pace high and pin him in the gutter, unable to overtake me. The tactics paid off and Toyota GCCA got their first win of 2010! Erick Benz came in hot on my heels and Mario was able to barley hold off the peloton by less than 1 second for 3rd.

Pace Bend

2010-03-02T13:43:00.003-06:00

Pace Bend, a race notorious for not suiting a break-away, and ending in a dangerous bunch sprint. This wasn’t the case last weekend though. The lactic acid from the prior days tough race was tingling in my legs, along with the anxious hope in my chest at the thought of a podium finish in one of the state’s most well known races. After a fairly ordinary start, with a few moves unsuccessfully trying to get up the road, a group of ~10 guys rolled off the front. Having a ten second advantage on the filed, I decided to bridge to it, in the hopes of staying away. After a few reshuffles, dangling off the front of the peloton, Brant Speed (Team Hotel San Jose), Thacker Reeves (Garmin Transitions), and myself decided to “pull a fast one” on the chasers and put in a few strong digs. Around mile 15 of the 80 mile race and working hard together with our partners for the day (including representatives from Bike Barn, AT&T, Austin Bikes, Metro VW, Velossimo, and ALS-C3) the break got some momentum and eventually put in 5 minutes time to the chasing peloton. Around mile 60, only 7 of the original 12 men were left. With 12 miles left in the race Ryan McFeely (Team ALS-C3) attacked with Brant Speed following. Thacker, David Arteaga (Velossimo), and I stared at each other a little too long trying to make the others bridge the gap. The move worked, leaving the race for third between the three of us and Andrew Gonzales (Metro VW). I attacked through the feed zone with ~4 miles to go and shed Andrew, leaving only Thacker and David to contest against. After slew of attacks, counters, and cat and mouse tactics, Thacker jumped 2km from the finish. He was brought back by David and I countered. Eventually getting brought back and pinned in front of my two break away companions, forced to lead out the sprint. Thacker ended up taking 3^rd and David 4^th, leaving me with 5^th place the 2010 addition of Pace Bend. My data file can be found at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/25483636

Changes

2010-03-02T13:05:00.005-06:00

It's a new year. For me that means some big changes; a new team, new sponsors, and the start of my last semester at St. Edward's. In may I'll will have a BBA in international Business! After facing some burnout at the end of last season, and taking quite a long break I started training again in mid-December. In January, Joseph Lafico approached me about racing for the Toyota/GCCA cycling team. I went with it. Adam Mills of Source Endurance is now coaching me (aka torturing my legs) and Alchemy Bikes is building up some super stiff frames for the team to race on. The season started off well, with my first top-ten result of the year coming at the Driveway Classic in February (came in 4th). More details on the 2010 season will come shortly!

2009-08-26T08:00:00.003-05:00

It's been a busy past few weeks. From the time I got back from Oregon until the 21st of August I was homeless and car-less. Thankfully, Karl needed someone to look after his dogs while he was on vacation in Colorado. So I got to stay at his bad ass condo and look after Boomer and Copper. I turned 22 on August 17th, ouch. Jordan and I moved in to our new apartment on the 21st, and still haven't gotten everything moved in. School, and what is now my senior year of college, started on the 24th. I forgot how tiring it was. I have been plum worn out all week. And that has been my August thus far. :)

2009-08-14T15:05:00.004-05:00

On August 8th I competed in the Texas State Individual Time Trial. Sitting in a car for four days prior to the race did not help me that much, but through much pain and suffering I put in a time of 55:12 over the 40 kilometer race (Averaging a little over 27 mph) This put me in 9th place, not too shabby but I think I could do better.

Last night, Aug. 13th was another night of racing the Driveway Crits. The course didn't suit a break away, but I decided to go for the most aggressive rider's jersey. I did manage to get it, but just finished with the pack (it ended in a pack sprint). I'll put another update up soon with pictures from the race and what not.

Pics from the trip!

2009-08-13T14:14:00.010-05:00

these are all from my phone. More may come from a better camera.

Small update

2009-08-07T20:49:00.001-05:00

Sorry for not updating in a while. I've been on th road since Monday, and am on it again right now. Updating from my phone (it feels different being a passenger after more than 30 hrs of sitting in the driver's seat). The always wonderful, gorgeous Ann Marie and I are driving down to Kevin's outside of San Antonio. Tomorrow is the Texas State TT, aka 40km of pain, agony, and suffering; maybe even a bit a puke if I'm lucky, it's how I know I'm going fast ;)
Hopefully the legs will feel ok tomorrow. I hear 4 days in a car isn't the best thing to do before a bicycle race. After tomorrow I may take a few days off, then look at the remaining races for the rest of the season and plan something.

As for the last race of U23 nats, the crit went...ok. I think my body was fed up with not having any real rest in over 1.5 months, the last 2 of which was straight racing. I just didn't have any snap. Wrecks don't help out either. About 30 min into the 60km crit I was third wheel. Unfortunately the guy in front slid out around one o the corners (going over 30 mph). The guy behind him slid out as well and I slammed on the breaks. I ended up hitting one of the guys on the ground in the back, flew over my bars, and with miraculous cat-like skills landed on my feet (grabbing my bike as quickly as possible and trying not to get mowed down by the 80 plus guys left in the feild). The rest of the race was just a lot of pain with no groove I was able to get in. With bike races a lot of people tend to get in a certain rythem, and stay with It for most of the race. In crits, when you ride in a circle 60+ times you tend to do the same thing on a lot of the laps, all while looking for the right move to catch people by suprise and work some magic.

I'll try to write more about it when I have a computer. We're almost to our destination and I need to tell my lady friend where to go.

-- Post From My iPhone

At least I look fast in my TT gear.

2009-08-02T11:49:00.002-05:00

So Peter Stetina can TT, but at least I can look fast. I passed up three people and still only managed to finished in the top 1/3 of competitors, which numbered almost 100 registered riders. My time was 50:49 on 35km course that started with a 10.5km climb. Reaching speeds upward of 47mph and spinning out a 55-11 is pretty fun to say the least. What I don't get is Stetina putting out a 45:34...geez. He put a hurtin' on every other person. Also, there is a lot of chalk on the road up here, but I never seem to read it. The only thing I read while out on the TT coure was "keep going," ...awesome motivation. I was really thinking about stopping until I read that ;) Anywho, the last race (60km crit) is in about 2 hours. Tactics include marking Alex Howes and letting the Garmin and Trek boys duke it out while trying to steal some glory.

U23 nats, aka a lot of pain and endless suffering

2009-07-31T13:54:00.002-05:00

So the race went ok. Except for the part about little to no neutral water, and a lot of climbing.
Over 130 riders started and only 44 finished. I ended up 19th. Teams represented included Trek Livestrong, Garmin, Rock Racing, Rabobank, Waste Management, and others. Garmin and Trek pretty much controlled the race from the start and made it impossible for anyone without a team to try anything at all. A break composed mainly of Trek and Garmin guys, with a few WM went off the front about 10 miles in. Their teammates blocked and nothing could be done about it. The rest of the race was hanging on for dear life over the climbs in 100+ degree heat (glad i'm form Texas). I made all of the other splits and ended up finishing in the second group with about 10 other riders. Looking at the results and seeing the names Garmin, Trek and WM over and over again in front of my name lessened the blow. Most of those guys already get paid to ride their bike. So I'll take my 19th place and be rather proud of it.

Today is the individual TT, which can also be interpreted of about 40 min of wanting to puke in my mouth, cough up a lung, and feeling my heart-beat in my eyeballs...can't wait :)
Wish me luck!

2009-07-28T22:52:00.004-05:00

Okey Dokey, two rest days down with some light recovery spinning. And a lot of carb loading.
I figured I have ingested about 3500 calories so far today. I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little full. Tomorrow is going to hurt like nobody's business. 120 miles on the same circuit course as the last day of the Cascade Classic...Sweet Baby Jesus
Also, BIG THANKS TO CHAD SPRINGER AND RUSSELL METOYER for their donations.

Breakfast:
Two packets of oatmeal-330
Cup of coffee with cream and sugar 75
Raisin Bran cereal-189
Hard Boiled Egg-12

Ride (1.5 hr recovery spin):
Banana-62
Clif Bar-240
OS drink-330
Accelerade (2 scoops)- 240
Endurox recovery-270

Lunch:
Turkey sandwhich on rye (Spinach, swiss cheese, tomatoes, other stuff) 374
16 oz Vanilla Latte-250
Chipotle Tomato Soup-100

Snack:
OS drink-330
Pedialyte-100
Ice Cream-110
Powerbar recovery bar-260

Dinner:
Tuna Salad-350
Ice Cream-110
Physique Recovery-350
1 Beer~150

Snack:
Powerbar recovery bar-260
OS-330

=3344 calories

2009-07-26T20:08:00.003-05:00

Last nights crit and today's stage went fairly well. A break got away a little less than halfway through the crit. Thacker launched a solo attack to try and bridge. I launched and caught him with a metro VW guy and we chased for a few laps, (without much help at all from metro). We got close to the break (about ten seconds) but eventually got brought back by the field (who decided to stop chasing after they caught us). Thacker and I sat in for the sprint and ended up 13th and 19th.

Today was a tough circuit race, which previewed the U23 nationals course set for Wednesday. Although it was only 67 miles, more than half of the 100+ man field dropped out. I had good position with about 1km to go, but a wreck nearly happened in one of the round-a-bouts and I lost a few places and ended up 13th, not to shabby. I moved up about 10 places in GC yesterday, and another 10 spots today, ending up 39th. The first stage totally screwed me over, but oh well, that's bike racing.

TT

2009-07-25T14:33:00.014-05:00

Time Trial is done. I don't know the exact time, but it's somewhere around 23 min. It was a 10 mile TT, not a 14 like I said earlier. Average speed was about 25.5 mph, avg heart rate was 184. A little drama involving an older lady in a excursion, the yellow line rule, and Thacker went down, but we looked in the rule book and nothing was violated on his part. Also, I did not know my aerobars had the ability to move freely up and down; which is a little scary reaching speeds of 45mph. I did take advantage of this by switching between the Floyd "Praying Mantis" Landis and Fabian Cancellara positions. Tightening a few bolts after the finish fixed the problem. Legs are up for now, and getting ready for the crit tonight around 5, see you guys after that.

Thrown in the hurt locker

2009-07-24T19:57:00.003-05:00

Just finished the most painful last 20k I have ever done. I guess Texas boys aren't meant for 20 mile climbs when they aren't used to them. I got dropped from the lead group about 5km from the finish. :( Those are not words I'm used to saying. About to check out results and the damage done and will let you guys know as soon as I know. 14 mile TT and a lesson on how to race a crit from a southerner tomorrow. For now the legs are up and I'm sucking down food and drink. The layout of today's stage is on the left.

gametime

2009-07-24T10:09:00.002-05:00

Alright, the race is finally here. Did some openers yesterday on an uneasy stomach, by I think today will go well. If anything, I'm here to compete in something I love doing, and most of all have fun. I'll write more after the race, for now I have to get ready. Wish Thacker and me luck.

2009-07-22T23:02:00.004-05:00

Whew, another long day on the road. We finally arrived in Bend, OR this evening, had dinner, and now I'm going to spin the ole' legs out on the trainer for an hour. I may get to ride in the team car with Chann tomorrow for the Pro time Trial, following some riders from the Felt Holowesko U23 team. Hopefully it comes through. as for now I better get to spinning, I'm really ready to go to sleep. I'll leave you with a few pictures from today, along with an awesome rest stop quote.

On the road

2009-07-21T21:07:00.000-05:00

Long three days so far. Two of them with little to no Internet...bleh. As of now we have driven through Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and half of Utah. I finally gave in and downloaded the blog app for the iPhone in order to keep you guys updated. We have one more day on the road and then I get to relax in beautiful Bend, Oregon for a day before all of the racing starts. Of course, I just sneezed and blew a little snot on the screen, disjusting. Also, the lovely Ann Marie McCourt may be flying up in order to watch some of the racing, as well as saughnier and listen to me whine for a few days. That's about it thus far. I'll try and figure out how to upload pics from my phone.

2009-07-17T19:49:00.004-05:00

Had a fairly good race at the Driveway last night. There was a break of 3 (Steven Wheeler, John Korioth, and I think Even Lambert) that went up the road about 25 min in. After the gap got a little to big for comfort, a chase group including Stefan Rothe, David Wenger, Phil Wikoff, Eric Benz, Matt Gordon, and yours truly decided to chase. We caught them and the group stayed together for the most part. With a few laps to go "some cat and mouse" tactics were involved and the break lost valuable time. We were caught shortly into the last lap which spelled a group sprint for the finish. Stefan was able to win it followed by Phil and Jed Rogers. I ended up fifth and Thacker 8th. A little unlucky, but oh well, I am peaking for nationals, not a weekly crit. There was also awesome announcing done by Patrick, Tyler and Chad.

Today was an easy 1:15 recovery ride followed by painting and moving stuff all day. A HUGE thanks to Mark Henry, Kevin McRee, along with Office Systems Center for the donations!

Other than that, my knee and collar bone are feeling better, no pain killers needed today. 2 more days until departure to Oregon.

Toasty

2009-07-15T18:50:00.006-05:00

Today's ride was supposed to be 5 hours at endurance pace. Jordan and Matt came along with Matt and I out to Johnson City and back. We went a little over by accident, but it wasn't such a bad time. I felt a little sore and had quite a bit of pain from the wreck yesterday, but managed to get by, thanks to some pain killers. Despite the lack of fluids, incredible heat, and Matt breaking his chain at mile 80, I had a good time.

A few details about the ride can be found here. Thacker and I should be racing the Driveway Crit tomorrow. Until then, we will relax, watch the tour, and eat. All in all, today was a pretty good day.

2009-07-14T18:02:00.003-05:00

Exciting news!!!! I think my car is totaled. I didn't say it was good news. I guess that's what happens when a Dodge Ram, towing a trailer, decides to swerve into your lane going about 40mph. I didn't even have time to hit the brakes. The good news is I'm ok and I think Juan will be too (the other driver). I'm more than a little sore in my knee and collarbone, but should be able to ride tomorrow. Nothing like facing off with a full size truck.

5 hour ride in the morning, followed by a lot of b*@#hing, moaning, and relaxing.

2009-07-14T11:47:00.002-05:00

So, one 15 minute interval, seven low cadence hill repeats, and about 50 km of motorpacing and I finally get to relax. The motorpacing was on a fairly flat course and averaged about 34 mph. It wasn't too hard until the last ~K. Whenever Chann (who happens to be an ex-protour rider and national road champion) pulls up next to you in a car and says "ok, hang on for dear life." You know the next few minutes will be full of pain and torment.

Also, a huge thanks to Zac (Ballzac) Dashner, Rafael (Trigeek) and Gracie, along with Kevin (K-Pain) McRee for their donations! It helps me out a lot and I really do appreciate everything. All of the money raised is going straight to travel expenses.

2009-07-13T09:26:00.003-05:00

It's been really busy the last few days. Saturday was another 5 hr ride. Sunday, some members of Velossimo, my family, and myself volunteered at the Couples Triathlon presented by Jack and Adam's and High Five Events. Thanks so much for everyone who came out!

Today is a much needed 1 hr recovery ride. WOO! Later this evening Thacker is coming into town to round off the last week of training for Oregon (he is heading up there as well). As for right now, I'm polishing off a bowl of Reese's Puffs and about to head to the shop to install a new bottom bracket. I needed to buy a more durable one, my last one didn't like me putting in so many miles on the bike.

Tomorrow is more hill repeats with Thacker, and then some motorpacing with Chann!

2009-07-10T13:05:00.005-05:00

2.5 hour ride on the TT bike out of the way. I also borrowed a 55 tooth chain ring for it, and gave my road bike a much needed bath. You can view ride details here.

Most of my things are packed and ready for the move, which is kind of a crazy situation. My current lease ends July 31. I am leaving for Oregon on the 20th, and my next lease starts August 21st. So, whenever I get back (~august 5th) I'm am going to be staying with Karl for about 2 weeks and keeping a lot of my things at my wonderful girlfriend's (Ann Marie's) apartment. Fun to say the least.

Tomorrow I have another 5 hrs on the trusty steed. I'll try and take some pictures and post them on here. Other than that, all is well in the Jarisch household.

2009-07-09T15:10:00.002-05:00

Recovery spin out of the way. There's not a whole lot going on today. I may go to Barton Springs with Jordan in a little bit, or head out and watch the Driveway Crits later. I wish I was racing them, but it's not in my training this month. Other than that, I'm taking the TT bike out for my workout tomorrow.

2009-07-08T16:39:00.003-05:00

Hah! Just saw Chann on a tour de france interview! He is one of the Directors for Garmin Slipstream (one of the teams that is riding in this years Tour de France.
The ride went well today. I realized about 20 min into it that my ipod wasn't charged. So I had to conserve the battery and ride in silence until the hill circuits (which hurt a lot less than the first go 'round). I also got news that I'll be training with Thacker Reeves the last few weeks before the trip. He is a very talented cyclist who rides for Matrix, a team out of dallas. I'm looking forward to have someone to train with on weekdays. If you havn't watched it yet, the tour stage today was awesome. I'm not going to spoil it though.

Also, if anyone wants to help volunteer at the Couples Triathlon this weekend you are more than welcome to. Jack and Adam's, the main sponsor of my team, is putting it on. Jack has kindly agreed to pitch in some cash for my trip if I can get at least 10 volunteers.

I don't know if this will work, but I'll try it. Here is my ride from today, Garmin style.
If it does work, you should be able to see my route, power data, elevation, and a lot more goodies.

2009-07-08T06:56:00.000-05:00

Whew, trying to get on the bike by 7AM, ugh. It's going to be just me and ol' Pandora Radio for the ride today. Caffiene, check, oatmeal, check, sun screen, check.
Shout out to Scott Kinsel and Mel "Karen" Brown; thank you so much for the donations guys!
Training:
5 hours Workout Description:
BT: Hill anaerobic-endurance intervals. On a 6-8% hill do 8 x 3 minutes @ 325 watts.
Coach's Comments:
Most of the ride is in Z2 / then do two hill circuits the last 1.5 hrs of ride.

Be back a little after high noon.

Post ride recovery shake bliss

2009-07-07T11:31:00.000-05:00

So...done with that. My legs don't really like spinning a high cadence after 45 rpm hill repeats. Other than what sounded like a possessed midget wookie stuck in my rear hub everything went smoothly. (The bushing in Mavic Kysrium rear free hubs need to be cleaned every once in a while) Until I do that, every time I coast going over 30 mph I will joined by a high pitched WANAHNAHNAHNAH!

Now it's onto doing a little packing (I have to be out of the apartment by July 19th), eating, and le tour.

2009-07-07T07:32:00.000-05:00

For some reason I find a huge difference between how motivated I feel while watching the tour, and when I wake up at 7 AM, and the forecast calling for rain. The good thing is my new pocket pump gets to tag along. Hopefully I don't have to use it. At least it won't be 100+ degrees :)

The training plan calls for

Warm up 30 min/ do 1 x 15 min. z3 @ 95-105 rpm. Ride 8 x 4 minute climb of 8% grade at 250-275 watts. Cadence is 35-40 rpm rpm. Seated. 2 min. rec./ After last effort go directly into 15 min. Z3 at 95-105 rpm.

Sounds fun, I know. Once I start thinking about my goals and get a little caffeine in my system I feel better. Time to finish my Reese's Puff'sand banana, lather up with sunscreen, pack up and head out.

Training

2009-07-06T16:59:00.001-05:00

So my build up to nationals started July 1st. You can view my training if you would like.
Today, (7/6) is my first rest day in two weeks. For the past three days I have been listening to my legs say "What the hell are you doing to me?! After a hard 5 hour ride on the 4th, and a 3:30 ride at tempo yesterday, they don't exactly feel fresh.

Saturday's ride started with the ATC bunch, added on the Lime creek loop, and ended with two hill circuits including Courtyard, City Park, and Jester. That was the first time in a long time I wanted to get off my bike and cry while riding up Jester. I was on my bike from 8:15 AM - 2:30 PM .

Yesterday's ride was fairly eventful, with the triathletes wanting to prove something, and my legs screaming at me to stop. I started with the Jack and Adam's Sunday group ride, and eventually cut off with Chad, Kevin, my fellow wolf pack members, and Mel, the cougar. Thanks to Kevin I learned that cherry shlushies go great in water bottles the last hour of a ride :)

With a lot of time spent on the couch and a few recovery drinks today I think I'll feel good for my hill repeats tomorrow. Most of today will be spent watching le Tour de France on tv and chillaxen.

Genesis

2009-07-06T16:28:00.000-05:00

To tell you a bit about myself, I am 21 years old, a student at St. Edward's University, and a competitive cyclist. I ride for Velossimo Racing based out of Austin, Texas. I'm here to document my preparation for U23 nationals at the end of July. If I like rambling enough, my experiences will continue to be blogged in order to torture you with the tales. My weaknesses include chocolate milkshakes, thin mints, and back-rubs. That's about it from me, student, bike racer, hopeless romantic; I'll see you around.