High Altitude and Durango Crit

Ivan "The Tool" Uncovsky dominating the B Crit, B????
Sean Peck leads the A race on the first lap.
Mike Carrol turns the screw up the climb on the leaders.
Mike Carrol still leading and in the gutter.

I took it really easy today after yesterdays ride in the passes. My legs have just felt flat the last week so I decided to rest up a bit. I went down to Rivergate to check out the last of the local crit series put on by the Durango Wheel club. The B race was exciting with a good field. The A race was hurting a bit with most of the local fast guys out of town at races. I did a couple of laps on the course and it is a brutal one. No time for resting because it is so short. There is one super sketchy downhill corner to the finish as well across some concrete cobbles. DANGER!

Yesterday I hit up the passes with my teammates Andy Guptil and Josh Bezecny. Phil Zajicek from Navigators is in town as well for the Iron Horse and some altitude training before heading up to Mount Hood. We were planning on riding into Silverton and back from Durango but the weather wasn't great. It was raining a bit and some riders even got snowed on. We opted for plan B. A capital B for Bail out now or get stuck in a blizzard at 10,000 feet. We mad it back to Durango sunshine avoiding blizzards and the extreme possibility of coming down with the Valley Fever. Whew! After the ride we all met up at Tequilas for some greasy gut bomb Mexican food. I haven't eaten there in a long time and after my morning coffee and visit to the bathroom, it was very clear why I hadn't been there in a while. Destroyed! After dinner I topped of my 10,000 calorie meal with some Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Pecan Bear. I know what you are thinking. It is o.k. as long as you drip it in, right? Take a bite, wait five minutes, take a bite, wait five minutes. It is 4:1 ratio of Fat-Fat! Whatever, then I cracked again and topped it all off with some ice cream. No wonder I am dragging on the climbs and raging the descents. It's good for the CNS though.

This coming Friday I leave to head back east to race with the rest of the team in some big events. I am super excited to do some new racing. I hope the legs feel better than they did this week out east. I have been pretty tired because I am working a bit again trying to get a little bit of cash flow before heading out. You have to have the skills to pay the bills and right now I don't have the skills. I have been sweeping chimneys with Ashes Away. It is tough and dirty work but it flexible and pays well. I am bummed that we are leaving before the Iron Horse. I wish we could stay one more day and hit up the best local race around. The ride to Silverton is sweet! Good luck to all of the locals hitting it up this weekend. All I can say is follow Overend, he knows how to win it!

Not in Kansas Anymore

The drive back from Kansas went much faster than on the way out. We made it back to Durango at around 7:00 last night and we left at 4:30 in the morning. It was a brutal drive across Kansas, but it was worth the trip. I even had time to catch a Burger down at the Palace for burger night. I hadn't had any red meat in awhile and it was delicious.

If you are looking for some quick vulgar entertainment, check out Dicky Dub's website. It is pretty funny. I like the photo of Robo Cop officiating the crit on Sunday. Also, there is a good picture of the Nascar style hats that we got from Coca-Cola to wear on the podium. NASCAR!!! I am still a little bummed about my road race result. I keep thinking about things we could have done differently in the road race. Whatever? We tried and we lost, maybe next time. I am just tired of coming in second place when I know we have what it takes for a win. Whatever.

Tonight is the Tuesday worlds ride. I am heading out to get crushed by all the fast guys. These rides are often harder than races. Everyone attacks, everyone covers, and everyone is willing to leave it all out there on Tuesday. I guess that is why they call it a "Worlds ride", because it is a simulation of the world championships.

That's all for now. Danielson is tearing it up in the Giro! Keep it up Deez. I wish they would let him race his own race instead of working for Salvodeli. I think he could be right there with Basso. Basso is looking tough and will probably just get faster. It is a good race so far.

FLC finishes second in Division One!

Some crit action earlier today!
The future of FLC Cycling, Mike Schmidt (Schmidty) getting his freakout on before the start.
Super Sprinter Mike Stevens getting ready to attack it.

We were tied with UC Davis for first place after the team time trial. The girls had some horrific crashes during their race knocking out one of our best girls. She finished the race but way back. We were sitting in a close second after the girls road race to UC Davis and CU Boulder was right there.

After they cleared all of the bodies off the course from the division 2 women's road race we finally started. I guess there were three helicopter rides to the hospital for the women's race. Our race started right off with some carnage in the first 10 minutes. I barely missed it and Johnny Hayes was drinking off his bottle and weaved through the crash with on hand on the bars while drinking. Lucky! We stayed at the front most of the day trying to blow it apart in the wind. It didn't really work but then Johnny Hayes pulled the slow ride away attack. Just kind of eased off the front and poof, 30 second gap in no time. We sat back and watched the gap grow. Toward the end our goal was to stay out of the crashes and at the front. It was a good move because there were 3 bad pile ups in the last 2k of racing. I ended up like 19th because I led out the sprint, dumb! I didn't want to crash and it was to late to drop back a little.

After the road race we were trailing CU Boulder by 1 point. It was tight and they had to go to three tie breakers to decide who would be second in the team omnium. I think the third tie breaker was who had the most UCI fines for the weekend. We took that prize for sure. We got fined for ditching bottles, not having numbers on bikes in the TTT, bad number placement, and one of our girls, I won't name names (Danley) flipped a U-turn right after she finished and rode through the start finish area. I think we owe like $300 Euros total. Whatever? New record I guess.

It is good to be done for a while. Back to Durango for a couple of weeks and getting ready for the Iron Horse Road race. There is no mountain bike race this year. I will probably go do some good Mountain bike rides though. Happy Mothers Day!

FLC Repeats as National TTT champs in Kansas!

The Swanee! Thanks Elke for the rub downs
The three amigos prepared a victory dance!
Warming up for the Team Time Trial.

We made it to Kansas after 16 hours in the car. It was a long drive and a weird one. I got lit up like a Christmas tree by the Colorado State Patrol. You know those signs that say " Highway patrolled by aircraft". They weren't kidding. I got clocked by an airplane. The officer was cool and let me off the hook. When we finally got into Kansas there was a road block and there were about 20 Kansas troopers doing random checks. He asked us if we had any crack, cocaine, meth, or large amounts of money. It was about 12:00 in the morning and they were searching everyone.

The Team Time Trial was today and we crushed it. I felt like I had power again and the rest of the guys were killing it. We went last because we are the defending National Champions. The course was a little longer this year to and I think that helped our efforts. We worked together like a well built machine. In the first mile we were already in our biggest gears (56-11) and spun out. After the turn around it was straight back into the wind. We hit it hard and rotated smoothly. Johny Hayes was taking insanely long pulls. Chris Kuhl was barking orders like it was his job, and Troy Wells was just mashing the gears all day. I think Lees McRea, a Division 2 school, may have put up a better time, not sure. Anyway, it felt good to come across that finish line and see everyone cheering for us. There was a good crowd at the finish.Our girls team kicked ass in the race as well. They ended up finishing 3rd in the team time trial. That it their best race ever. We are tied with UC Davis right now for first place in the omnium and I think that CU might be in second. Tomorrow is very important. I hope it goes well.

Tomorrow is the road race and it should be much more selective this year. The wind is blowing allot harder everyday which means it will probably blow apart pretty early in the race. Hopefully we can get one of our guys up in to the break if there is one. I really like the course and think it is a good on for all of us. The team is looking strong. Wish us luck!

I survived the Gila!

I made it home last night from the Gila. I have to say it was one of the hardest races I have done in a long time. The form wasn't good and I was hanging on from day one if you didn't notice in the results. Yesterday I wanted to make the first group over the first hard climb. I didn't make it and ended up in the second group. I knew that if I was in that second group I would lose tons more time than I would staying in the lead group a little longer. I hit it hard on the descent and bridged up to the main group. I can honestly say that I was going way to fast and pushing my limits. I made it though and it was a good move. I would have finished about 20 minutes further behind than I did. Whew! It was also much easier than being out there in the wind solo. Once I bridged back up I made sure Anthony, Andy, and Josh were all fueled up for the big climbs ahead and feeling good. I popped off as soon as it headed upward again.

I rode at my own pace and kept catching groups all day. I actually think that I did better by saving a little than totally detonating trying to hang on to the leaders. My teammates rode amazingly well and finished two guys in the top five taking 2nd and 5th place. Andy Guptil's ride was impressive and it was his best finish at an NRC to date. Good job Guptil. Colby ended up finishing 4th in the G.C. Not a bad week of racing for the Target Training team.

I am resting up now for a few days before heading out to collegiate nationals in Lawrence, Kansas. The time trial is on Friday this year instead of Sunday. We should do well and the team is looking stronger than ever. We have a good girls team and a good guys team heading out there. I look forward to a few days of doing very little riding after the gila. I have made the mistake of not resting enough after that race before, it isn't pretty.

Dr. Frank, SRA, working on the real Joey Thompson, gave us a surprise visit this week!
The Narrows on the way to the Gila.
Living large in the Motel 6,
Check out the pool, Who needs it anyway?

Finally some internet service. We had to come down to Dr. Franks room at the Econo Lodge. They actually have internet and even fresh towels! So far my Gila has been crap. I don't know what happened in the time trial, I have been feeling really good, but for some reason I decided to raise my seat a tad. Not a good idea! I felt horrible and got crushed in the TT. Stage two was pretty fast all the way out. I did allot of work on the way out there trying to help out the other teammates. Guptil flatted and I dropped way back to help bring him back up. I wasn't feeling it. We got to the bottom of the climb and I helped keep Anthony out of the wind and brought him up to the front at the bottom of the climb and then cracked. I lost more time and have never climbed the Mogillon climb that slow.

Stage 3 was better. Toyota United Pro kept a solid pace at the front keeping everything close. I actually felt o.k. on the climbs and decided to stay up front at the end. I felt like I could have given it a go in the sprint but I wasn't far enough up and got popped in the last 200 meters just before the sprint. There were a ton of crashes at the end and we Ryan Blickem in a horrific crash. Ryan hit a piece of wood on the road in the last mile of the race. His hands came off the bars and he went over a guard rail. Ryan ended up breaking his right femur. No one saw it happen and he laid there helpless yelling for help. Scary! He is doing better today and his spirits are good. Shattered his femur and it was a compound fracture. It sounds like he will have a quick recovery.

Today is the criterium downtown. Usually nothing gets away or if it does they bring it back at the end. I might try to go with a break if I feel better. Anyway, sorry for the lame update, but it had been a rough go. I don't know why, but it should get better. Thanks to Dr. Frank I am feeling much better already. The SRA really helps!

School K.O.ed, Northern Arizona, Gila!

Flag Staff, near Snow Bowl
Pure Singletrack! Schultz Pass in Flag
Servingit up at the camp kitchen
Sedona, Arizona

This las week was a whilwind. I knocked out school on Thursday with my last final in Motor Learining (Neurophysiology), it was brutal. I ended up getting some sweet grades though. A's and B's this time around. Note to self: Not working helps your school a ton. Good to be done with that.

After my last final I hit the road for a little Vacation in Arizona before I head to Tour of the Gila today. I went to Prescott, Sedona, and Flagstaff. Sedona was a mob scene so Flagstaff became the second part of the trip. Prescott was a nice area but not the kind of woods I am into. It was more of an older retirement area and there are not allot of active people there. I tried to find a place to go ride and went into this hiking shop on Montezuma Street. The hiking shop was called "Hike Shack". The owner, named Dave, was a total tool. When I asked for directions on where to hike or ride, he looked at me like get out your wallet kid. So if you are in Prescott, avoid the Hike Shack, you will get nothing but dirty looks and waste 15 minutes of your life in Dave's stupid store.

Flagstaff had some sweet forest and the riding looked great. I think the mountain biking was better than the road, but there is definitely riding to be done. The Schultz Pass area has tons of buffed out singeltrack that you can rip. The town isn't to bad either, although there is one side of it that is totally ghetto. Overall, a town worthwhile of exploring if you are into the outdoors. The bad, not enough water in town or in the woods, Arizona is a desert, DUH!

Off to the Gila today. I am feeling good, allergies are bad, but so are everyone's this year. I heard it was the worst allergy season in a long time. Explains why everyone is sniffling and itching their eyes. I have to hit the TT bike before getting into the car. Andy Guptil is now on Target Training. Welcome aboard, the new rookie. I like my coffee with cream and make sure my bottles and laundry are done before each race Andy. I will probably be doing all the work for him. Stay tuned for Gila updates.