Almost Cross Time!

The "Ronald McDonald" look at 04 Cross Nationals
Givin'er all I had for the Collegiate Title in 04

I threw up some pictures out of the archives to get pumped for cross. Thanks God I finally cut that stupid white afro just after that race. It was so freaking huge! It is going to be a killer cross season. I am going to go ahead and fully let the cat out of the bag on the cross race here in Durango. I have been trying to get a bigger race started here in Durango for a while now and it is finally going to happen. Not a UCI race, but (drumroll!), The USCF Colorado State Championships will be held on the FLC campus. That's right, Shriver Cross is going big with an upgrade. The course is going to be sweet, most likely a beer tent, and maybe Dave Toule announcing for us. It should be a blast! Thanks to Dave Hagen and Kendra Holmes who are really the ones making it happen. It is going to be a big event for the cycling community here in Durango and there is already huge support. We are still trying to find the prize money, but it is looking like we are going to be throwing out huge purse. Hopefully we can get some big riders here as well.

I have been feeling a little under the weather since Downer's Grove. I am definitely a little sick, but not to bad. I thought it was allergies at first but now I have a full on hack and my eyes and nose are itching and it sucks! I just want to train hard enough to maintain form for US Pro Road Nationals next weekend. It is hard to train at altitude anyway coming from sea level. Definitely feeling it.

School is starting up the day after tomorrow. Summer just ripped by in a flash. Soon I will be spending 5 hours a day in class with a bunch of hung-over college kids who smell like beer and cigarettes from a long night of partying. I even got my first set of drunk dial calls already from friends living it up downtown. I am not feeling the beer bug yet, I am sure after a few weeks of school I will be saying "Beer Here" as I look for the beer man.

Mountain Time Zone

I made it back to Durango yesterday after two long days of travel. I hade to fly from Milwaukee to New York City, stay the night and then head back to Farminton yesterday and drive the rest of the way to Durang. EPIC! The flights yesterday were good on United but the day before on Air Tran was a little sketch. I didn manage to get my bike on the plane for free. If you tell them it is just a frame and not a complete bike then you won't get charged. My bike weighed in at 34 pounds and he was thinking about charging me. I was clever enough to drop the "it's just a frame" line and snuck it on board.

On Monday night I cruised New York City with my old roomate from the Columbine house Mark Hrastar. We took the train downtown and got some good eats at a Tai place, then hit up some ice cream, and I even had to have a good old NYC hot dog from one of the stands. It's a little risky, but it is all part of the experience. It was a good time and that city always blows me away.

Crit season is finally over and I only have one road race left in a couple of weeks. I head out to Greenville, South Carolina for the US Pro National Championships. It is a great course that will suite my riding well. Hopeflly I can adapt to the altitude and fresh air quick enough to do some hard rides and get some good training in before heading out there. Speaking of the crits, US Pro Crit last weekend in Downers grove went well for the team. Frank was 9th, but we were all over the race. I attacked 3 times and went nowhere. One attacke I thought they were going to let me have a go for a few laps by myself, nope! The group brought me back after one hard lap by myself. MacBurnie was in the mix in the sprints, Alejandro won a prime and we all stayed off the pavement. That is a great day of racing!

I start school on Monday again and it is going to be a tough semester of classes. Mix that in with some serious cross races and it is going to be busy. I am looking foreward to the cross season and have some lofty goals. I am already looking at next season as well. If things work out right it could be the best season ever. Anyway, I was having trouble loading pictures today but I will get some up soon. Thanks for stopping in!

US Pro Crit Nationals, Downers Grove

After two weeks in the Milwaukee area the team is heading to Downers Grove today for the US Pro Crit Natoinals. Downers Grove is right near the Chicago Airport. We race tonight at 6:00 and then tomorrow at 3:00 for the National Crit title. It was originally supposed to be Americans only because it is our national championship, but after much complaining from some of the larger teams, it is open to all nationalities. Most likely the first american will not be the winner of the race. If it was only Americans then Health Net, Toyota United, and Navigators would be not favored to wind since all those teams have very few americans and even less American sprinters on thier teams. Maybe they should sign some more Americans????

The past couple of weeks I have been sharing a room with teammate Dustin MacBurnie. We have seperate beds in a small room. MacBurnie snores louder than my grandpa. Last night I had earplugs in and a pillow over my head and it still sounded like a Harley Davidson motorcycle was driving through the room. I yell at him to "wake up!", but there is no movement. I gave him a little nudge, nothing. Finally I woke him up and told him he was snoring super loud. He looked at me and said "o.k." Two minutes later he was snoring even louder. My next method was to fill a squirt gun with water. Anytime MacBurnie started snoring I would spray him down with water. It actually worked the first few nights. Last night he just slept through it as I hosed hime down with the Super Soaker 8000 high pressure model. I gave up and moved out onto the couch and eventually the floor because I kept sticking to the leather. I wonder if Dustin thought he wet the bed because he was soaked from being sprayed at night. All I know is he better figure it out before he goes home or his chick is going to have to purchase a Super Soaker 8000 and a cattle prod to stop the snoring.

I will be in Durango in just about 3 days. I am so pumped and can't wait to get back. All I can think of is Mountain Biking. I still have to get a bike together for the fall training. Kona is working on that for me thanks to G. Becker. Anyway, I will try to give an update as to how the races go tonight and tomorrow. I will be coming back out for the US Pro Road Race in Greenville, South Carolina in a couple weeks.

Miller Time: where the beer flows like wine??

Cruising along Lake Michigan in Milwaukee
Wes Hartman says "It's Miller Time!"
Alejandro Acton, Frank Pipp, Myself, and Dustin MacBurnie at Allterra Coffee
Ale` with the thumbs up!
More Miller time

We have been residing in Wawatosa, Wisconsin just outside of Millwakee while we race crits for the next two weeks. I have not been motivated to update the site because really not to much has been happening. We are in full on beer country here in Milwaukee. It is crazy, every where you go it is all about the "Champagne of beers", Miller High Life. I hate that beer but drank allot of it last week before we went to the Brewers vs. Cubs game. I had never been to a MLB Baseball game and it was a good experience. We shotgunned beers, ate sausages cooked in beer, then paid $7 per beer at the game, watched the sausage race, and the brewers lost. After the game we went to some bar for some extra innings of drinking. It was a good time.

This past weekend was Elk Grove in Chicago. The team did pretty well and Alejandro killed it in both taking 5th the first day and 3rd the next day. I skipped the first one and felt pretty good the next day. We race in Chicago again at the crit National Championships for Pros only next weekend, Downers Grove.

I am ready to get back to Durango. I miss that place and my girlfriend and everyone else. It has been a long season of racing on the road. I look foreword to riding the mountain bike, maybe hitting a mountain bike race, and killing it in the cross this fall.

I have to get going, sorry for the lame updates, internet has been bad this past week, but we found some downtown finally. I will post a better update tomorrow. Everyday has been the same ride here so far. Not to much riding to be had. Thanks for stopping in!

Bank of America

After the Tour de Toona we headed back up to Westport for a few days of rest and recovery. We took it easy for a few days and I wish that I would have not even looked at my bike. It was good to be in Westport were there was some familiarity with the area so rides were easy to find and good food was close by.

We made the 14 hour drive down to Charlotte, North Carolina and split it into two days. On Friday night we did a crit that I sucked really bad in and dropped out 30 minutes into the 1 hour crit. The legs were screaming bloody murder so I pulled the plug. After doing Toona the motivation has been low. I decided to save it for the Bank of America Crit.

Last night was the Bank of America crit and it was epic and insanely fast. I had a good start and wanted to try to cover and early move. On the second lap I moved up to the front because it was right there. I thought someone would attack any time and wanted to be up there. No one attacked! So I decided I would be that one guy, the one who attacks so early in the race and it goes nowhere. Yep! I attacked and everyone followed my wheel for a whole lap. Dave Toule, the announcer, threw out some good props my way for being brave enough to throw the early move. It wasn't my finest moment and I burned a few matches with the attack. After that is was hanging on for dear life as 120 guys took the corners as fast as possible. THe average speed was close to 30 mph on a rolling course, not dead flat. There was a good crowd and the race was fun, but the legs were not good. I made it 46 minutes before getting gapped off when it was single file.

I can't believe how much cheating there is in road racing. Floyd gets busted for doping in the tour. It is a bummer, but I am glad that cheaters are getting caught. Doping is just one thing. In these crits guys are always pulling out and going into the pit when they get snapped of the back. They just pull their shorts up, rub some grease on their leg, pull into the pits and their mechanic takes over giving them a new wheel or making it look like they had a mechanical. Then they jump back in a lap later in a much better position. Sometimes they get caught, other times they go on to win the freaking race. Is is lame!!!

Today we head towards Chicago. We get to drive for two days in the van! Yea! That is great for recovery, sit in the van with a bunch of dudes all day. I am whining again, but the van time is definitely cracking me, big time! Well I will update with some more interesting news when I get the chance.