MattShriver.Com

Parkside Terrace Dumpster Fire-Durango, CO

2007-07-31T12:56:00.001-07:00

The Dumpster Arsonist strikes again! This time I filmed it.

Yellowstone Bike Tour

2007-07-30T17:20:00.000-07:00

The Bike tour route 337 miles in about 5 days with Bob trailers is doable?

I have been thinking about doing a bike tour for many years now. With school and racing and work it has been a non-realistic idea. Now that school is done with I have the opportunity to do a bike tour and I want to go back to Yellowstone. I lived in Yellowstone with my father and brother when I was a youngster during the summers. My father worked for the park service and we left after the fires of 88' and I haven't been back since. Even living in Jackson only a short trip away, I was just busy racing and riding around that area. Well I am ready to get back to my roots and see the place I once new pretty well.

The plan is to start from my fathers house in Victor, Idaho and travel up to West Yellowstone back to Mammoth Hot Springs were we lived. Cruise down to Gardiner, Montana, hit the boiling river, an incredible hot spring that we always went to, and then continue on through Yellowstone down through Grand Teton National park and to Jackson were I was born. From there we will finish with a climb up over Teton Pass much slower than the record pace that I set a few years ago (Bragging!) and finish at the house. Pretty freaking sweet!

We are going to do this a week or so after US Pro road nats in September unless my schedule and commitments change with the team. Still waiting on Tour of Missouri and don't know if we are doing that race or not. I am going to be riding with my brother and so far it is just the two of us and will probably stay that way to make good time and make it easy to travel. I will probably use a bob trailer, but panier's are not out of the question and a mountain bike with slicks.

It should be a blast. I have never done this before so any tips you have for me, throw them my way. I felt a little tired today after the past weekend. I took a little rest and am ready to get back to it. There is a Mountain Bike race here this weekend, an old classic that has been brought back and the course goes up the Hermosa Creek trail. I think I will give it a try and see how it goes. Will be good training for the crits coming up as it will be hard from the start. Off to pint night, $2 pints.. just a couple as the season is still underway.

Velo De Animas Century

2007-07-29T14:09:00.000-07:00

Corey "Big time" Collier at the helm in the Westy!
The Sangre De Cristo Moutain range
The collegiate peaks from our campsite outside Salida @ 6 a.m.
We were looking for coffee and found this Synchro Westy, so sweet!
Pre race, Westy was a mess, slept awesome and she got us there and back

Mike Carrol and my bro Zach cruising. we lost Mike to a flat. 50 miles back solo, ouch!

My bro was so worked after the ride that he just left his skiddy on!

Not much to report about Salida race. The course was awesome, the field was stacked, and the legs actually felt o.k. for not doing any hard efforts since the Tour de Delta. I just didn't have the mental focus to suffer and wasn't really into the race. It was pretty negative all around, a break went, I attacked a bunch, RMCF covered every attack with a few guys, I blew myself up along with most of the fudge guys, then threw in the towel and rode back to town. I liked the course, and Salida was a cool town and nice area, just when you race all the time, it is tough to pin the numbers on anymore this late in the season.

The Camping in the Westfalia van was awesome. I slept like a baby and felt nice and refreshed. I could have done without the race and just did a sweet camp and fishing trip up there as the Arkansas river is supposed to be some really good fishing.

After not dong so well yesterday and getting the legs opened back up I decided to do another good day of training. My brother really wanted to do the Durango Century ride from Durango to Farmington. It started about 300 yards from my house so I rolled out of bed late, grabbed a quick bit and some coffee and just made it at 6:55 to registration. There was just enough time to have my bro pin on my number and we were off at 7:00.

I had a blast riding with all those people and they were stoked that I came out to attend. The entry goes to a good cause and it is a great training ride. Some people took it pretty serious and it was definitely a bit sketchy at times. There was more chopping going on before the dirt road than at a Ginsu Knife convention. Some guy with a sweet rat tail mullet chopped my brother and almost crashed him out! Karma got him as he soon flatted and was forced to abandon the ride but not without using every cussword known to man. Relax dude, it is a fun tour!

I had no plans of riding this tour as a race and considered it would be pretty lame for a pro to crush the weekend warriors. Well some people had other plans and as I just followed wheels soon it was a group of three and then my bro and I. We rode for about 30 miles swapping off to the finish. I waited for him at the end because I didn't want to be the first guy in. We ended up finishing within about 45 seconds of the record time from last year of 3:51:oo or something like that. Whatever, it was fun and awesome to be out with my brother.

Best part was after the ride my brother was so worked and starving he looked for the post ride feed put on by the tour. Well he went to the first picnic tables that he saw with food. It turned out not to be the actual tour feed, but a church party on Sunday afternoon. He jumped in the food line and filled his plate and stuffed his face. He said "people kept looking at me all funny, and I finally noticed that there were no other riders there". He finished his meal and came over to the real post race feed, ate some more. Awesome! Nice work Zach, it was good to ride with you.

Rest day tomorrow! Sweet, Contador won the Tour de France, whatever?

Westy Trip to Salida

2007-07-27T08:47:00.000-07:00

I am heading over to Salida, Colorado today to do the Colorado State Championship road race tomorrow. I decided to go at the last minute because I am not motivated enough to go out and make myself suffer on my own. It is supposed to be a tough race with a three mile climb per lap.

I am traveling over there with Corey Collier from Durango and we are taking his Westfalia van. It is always a gamble going over mountain passes in a Westy. Who knows if we will make it to the race? At least we can just pull over and camp where ever if the thing dies on us. I have faith in the westy. Check out www.gowesty.com for some cool Westy's.

Wish me luck and be on the lookout for a new Matt Shriver.com soon!

Le Tour de Dope!

2007-07-25T14:45:00.000-07:00

A cool old tree with Ute Mountain in the Background
Mesa Verde: Balcony House
The Clif Palace Panorama, Mesa Verde National Park

What can I say about the state of cycling? It is awesome to see the dopers getting caught. I can't say I was a bit surprised about Alexander Vinokourof. He always seemed a bit shady. As for Rasmusen being let go from Rabobank for missing tests and lying saying he was in Mexico, well, that is pretty shady. I think there is a deeper issue that isn't being talked about and I think it will come out sooner or later that he failed a test. Although it is killing our sport now, it will be much better for the future of cycling. Cleaning house of the big names that are on the gear is a good start. It is just a shame that cycling gets only the bad press when other sports like football and baseball have much worse doping problems that get overlooked. Things have to be bad before they can get better i guess.

I returned from Canada on Monday back to Durango. The flights were very bumpy because of the storms and monsoon season. I left Seattle at 12:00 and got home at 10:00. It could be worse, I made it home!

My mother has come down to Durango for a bit of a visit. We went over to Mesa Verde National Park, just a short 35 miles from Durango. I have lived here for seven years and never been there. It is incredible and was well worth the trip over. The ruins were super cool. It is also an awesome ride from Durango, over a hundred miles with good climbing. Anyway, I need to take a nap. I am still in recovery mode from BC. More later........

Tour de Delta Warped up: 3rd in Road Race!

2007-07-22T13:39:00.001-07:00

The break with the peleton 3 minutes behind us.
Rotating ont the flats for ever!
It was close but I was out gunned in the sprint and tired from working, that is me in the back.
A funny looking podium!

Photos :Greg Descantes

Quick update before I have to hit the road. I had an awesome ride today. Got in a break at 5k into the 140K race and it stuck! Four of us rotated and I ended up getting 3rd. It was so hard at the end and staying away for 135k was insane! Anyway, I am super stoked and so are the rest of the guys. It was close. At one point we had 4 minutes, then by the last lap it was down to under one minute. With all the cat and mouseing at the end you could see the mainfield bearing down on us, it made me nervous and I hit out a bit to early and got gunned by Andrew Pinfold and Doug Olerenshal from Healthnet. The field crossed the line about 10 seconds behind us. It was awesome! Back to Durango tomorrow. More later.

Coming back around: Delta hillclimb

2007-07-21T10:04:00.000-07:00

Matched up with Kyle Wamsley from Navigators, The last 10% pitch of the climb hurt, badly!

Photos: Greg Descantes www.descantes.com

My teammate Austin and I got held up at the start of Gastown by this hack!

The racing has been flying by here in B.C. I have two races and after tomorrow I head out to Durango on Monday morning. I have raced three times since my last update and I am no longer in the city thankfully. I couldn't do it for much longer. It reminded me of being in New York City were you are constantly dodging people on the sidewalk.

The Giro de Burnaby went much better for me. My legs felt a bit better. David has been keeping the team together with some good finishes. He ended up getting into the early break that ended up being the winning move. We were a bit surprised to see it go so early and could have used one more guy in there. He came in fourth which is awesome after being out numbered.

The hill climb last night marked the beginning of the Tour de Delta. The weather is pretty much the same each day, cold and rainy. I am getting a bit tired of it. The climb last night was short and not really steep enough to be called a hill climb. I gave it all I had but started out a bit slow and by the finish I was coming apart. I think I may have snuck in the top 10 but they still don't have the results posted. I hope that one of us got in the points last night. The hill climbs are fun, but it is allot of build up for a 69 second drag race effort.

My teammate Austin King and I are in a nice host house with a fully finished basement apartment all to ourselves. The couple we are staying with have two kids, aged 5 and 15 months. The kids are a blast and I have already played Legos, NHL hockey, and Battleship a few times. If I win at any of the games there is hell to pay and somehow the actual rules to the games get lost and the 5 year old makes up the rules as he goes so that he always wins. Hmmmm! That sounds fair. It actually reminds me of when I was a kid, bending the rules. He even whines like I used to and procrastinates doing his chores all day. It is pretty funny.

Not much else to write about. It has started raining again and we have a crit later tonight for the second stage of the Tour de Delta. We are going for stage wins now and primes, not so much the overall. I look foreword to heading back home soon to the dry mountains in Colorado.

Tour de Gastown: NOt good folks!

2007-07-18T21:16:00.000-07:00

Cycling is a mystery. One day you are flying, super confident, killing it, tearing the legs off everyone. The next day, your legs are being torn off, hanging on by a thread in the back of the group.

I don't know what just happened out there. I got all pumped up to race in the rain, was totally fine with the ice skating around corners. Most of the riders were going through safely. I just didn't have the legs tonight, that is my excuse. No excuse really just didn't have it. It sucked.

Poor start with an amateur missing his pedal. I was slow to get going toward the front and just couldn't go hard. Kinger moved up in front of me on the 3rd lap, I followed about 3 bikes behind him and then some idiot dumped it right in front of me. Race over! I should have gone to the pit and taken a free lap. It was so early in the race I thought I could get back on. Got back on and started to feel a bit better. Then another amateur dumped it in the corner in front of me. I went sideways, that was it. Race over.

I am actually a bit pissed off with myself. I have good form and I didn't capitalize. This would have been a good opportunity and I blew it. Tomorrow I will be in the mix for sure. I have to catch some grub with the teammates.

The good news is I won the Saeco Espresso machine in the raffle. Sweet! It isn't the top of the line one, but it is nice and I am sure I can put it to good use. Yeah!

Check out the Jittery Joe's website for the race report from White Rock, it is a long one. www.thebeanteam.com

Pouring rain now-2.5 hours to start

2007-07-18T16:59:00.000-07:00

Only 2.5 hours to the start of Tour de Gastown. It has been pouring rain all day and there is no sign of it letting up. I am having some difficulty getting pumped up to go race a Big money crit in the rain. I know I am not the only one out there cursing this weather. I knew I would do at least one race up here in the wet nasty rain.

Just checked again, still raining...............

White Rock to Vancouver

2007-07-18T09:14:00.000-07:00

White Rock was about the best climate and most beautiful area you could as for!
Some totem poles down by the beach in White Rock
We went from White Rock, to this only 50K from white rock Vancouver, B.C.
I took this photo on the way in. We ended up going to the top of that Space Needle thing.
On Monday we went for a bit of a rest and played nine holes, Hoppy ripping into a drive.
Look at that form. All those golf games with my Grandma, I still have it and even Pared a few holes.

True Canadian Geese in Canada!

I can't say enough about the city of White Rock. I really enjoyed my stay there and the racing. The ocean is so different for me having grown up in Potato land of Idaho and the Tetons in Wyoming. You get a bit of both here, with mountains and the ocean, nice temperatures and some good mountains.

We went from White Rock, a city of probably 20,000 people or so to Vancouver, B.C. which I am estimating about 3 million people and the cities are only 50 k (32 Miles) apart. The accommodations with a nice quite town and ocean views with no traffic has been replaced with a high rise hotel room with beds facing each other. My ocean view has been replaced with a view of air conditioners on rooftops and a 7-Eleven convenience store. Although Vancouver is a beautiful city I must say, if I had the choice I would call the Martin family back up in White Rock and continue my stay there.

Next up for the team is the Tour de Gastown tonight. A twilight style criterium in the Gastown area of Vancouver. Hoppy has done well here before and hopefully he and Evan can give it a go in the end tonight. The forecast is calling for rain which is always a huge factor in how the race will play out. I am feeling rested and ready to give it another go, although the legs feel a bit strange. We did a ride sweet ride from our hotel down to the ocean along the beach through Stanley Park. It was an amazingly scenic ride along the ocean. There is allot going on here and the mountains that tower above the city are pretty nice. Still, I don't think I could live in a place like this because of the amount of people and rain. It rained on us the entire ride. I don't mind riding in the rain, but every day would be a bit demoralizing. Props to the people that can handle it all the time. Maybe I just need to harden up a bit?

Well, I have to head over to the 7-Eleven on he corner for something to drink. I will try to post some results a bit later on the site tonight. Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't rain. It will be a mess if it does. I also wanted to say thanks to everyone for all of the support. I have received a ton of emails, comments and phone calls from friends after the White Rock races. Thanks to everyone. I wouldn't be here without all of you in my corner and helping me throughout my career as a cyclist and just life in general. Alright, enough of that, thanks everyone for the support. More later, hopefully good news.

Tour De White Rock Overall Win!: 9th in road race.

2007-07-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

Power was out, so we had to sit down to a nice romantic team dinner. Hoppy was elated! Hoppy enjoying a stage celebration brew

Out for a ride before the crit The flat land tricksters were out. Sweet tricks, not so sweet pants!
Evan enjoys himself and a few brews ( I had none!) on the wagon.
I wouldn't eat any food smiling back at me, David ordered the burger.
Moby Dick's Fish' n Chips: The best fish and chips ever!

I cracked like an egg today under the pressure of the Symetrics Army. I felt pretty good on the climbs but when you are wearing the leaders jersey everyone attacks you. I think I even got attacked during my warm up today. Anyway, he race was a tough fast circuit. About 80+ miles with 12,000 feet of climbing. I felt good, but the attacks from Cam Evens the Canadian National Champ were unbelievable.

The team race awesome. Austin was in moves, covering moves, and riding tempo on the front toward the end to keep people from attacking me. David is a monster and was on the front as well. He even attacked me one toward the end. I don't know what he was doing, but whatever, I didn't have a radio to yell at him to sit up. On the 3 small circuits at the end I came unglued when I tried to cover an attack from one of the threats to my lead. I covered it only to be attacked by the two guys I was most worried about. That was the dagger. Then the rest of the 4 remaining riders continued to attack me and I came in 9th in the road race. I was shooting for a top 10 again and the overall win. It worked out pretty well.

I am off to grab some lunch at Moby Dick's Seafood Shop. Some of the stores in the town of White Rock have adopted riders. The owner Ralph has adopted me and is gong to hook us up with the best fish and chips. Anyway, more later and some photos.

Hanging on to the lead in Tour de WhiteRock

2007-07-14T21:49:00.000-07:00

Threw down pretty good tonight in the criterium. The course was a good one for me with a nice good 400 meter climb at about 6%. I followed the Symetrics guys all day that were a threat to the overall. Cam Evans attacked a bunch and I just tried to follow him and Andrew Pinfold. Both strong dudes. I felt pretty good and was running on pure suffer, motivation and just excited. I attacked a bunch and eventually ended up in the lead break. Stoked! I ended up in there with 3 Symetrics guys, two Navigators (Kyle Wamsley, and Chistian Powers i think?) and one Harley Davidson guy, Ken Johnson. Anyway, I felt pretty good and with two laps to go it was just about to come back together. I hit out to early at the bottom of the climb and the guys just jumped on. Rookie move,Shit! So I ended up cracking myself before the sprint and ended up coming in 4th place. I am super happy with that and was just shooting for a top 10 to maintain the overall leaders jersey. I have a pretty good lead in the overall but have to run a top 10 tomorrow to win it. Omnium is difficult. I think I would have a pretty good lead if it were by time.

So tomorrow I will have to just watch the Symetrics Army again. There are only 8 guys, but it seems like there are a hundred in the race. Every time there is a move, there are at least two Symetrics guys in it. It is impressive and they are all very good riders. It will be tough to hang on to it again. But the course suits me with some good climbing and the legs are strong right now. I am tired sure, but so is everyone else. Except maybe Swain Tuft.

It feels good to be riding well finally. Hope tomorrow I can just keep it together and not crack. The teammates rode awesome today. David covered a thousand moves as well as Kinger. Evan cleaned up the field sprint for double omnium points. Nice work guys! One more tough day to wrap it up. Wish us luck. 8 am start tomorrow. Good night.

Stage Win and Leaders Jersey!

2007-07-13T22:35:00.000-07:00

I look a little comfortable in this photo, don't be fooled, I was ripping into it and hurting

David giving it a dig on the climb for 9th place.

Podium! (photos: Greg Descartes-www.descartes.com)

I am off to a good start here in British Colombia. Actually a surprisingly good start. I won the stage and am in the leaders jersey tomorrow. It wasn't an easy stage to win. Obviously I felt pretty good. My typical race routine, "I don't think my legs feel good", turned into lighting it up. The course was a steep climb with 18% grades in spots and seven hundred meters. The format was a two up drag race for the first heat up the climb but it was timed. You could definitely go to hard to soon and blow up before you reached the top. I tried to take it easy for the first 100 meters and not go to hard, then hit it for the rest. The riders that post the 5 fastest times of the day up the climb have to do it again in a 5 up sprint. The firs time up my arms were numb, legs numb and loaded with lactate, and totally cross eyed out of breath. My time was good enough for the 3rd fastest time.

In the finale it ended up being Canada vs. Shriver. I went up against 4 other Canadians, 3 of them being strong Symetrics riders. Recently crowned National Champion Cam Evans and Andrew Pinfold were the two guys I was most worried about. I started out the climb and was at the front most of the way up sticking to the right side of the road. The finale wasn't as hard until the end and was much more tactical. I had to watch each guy and try to keep in good position. In the last pitch with about 300 meters to go Cam Evans took off. I jumped on his wheel and looked back, it was just the two of us. The crowd was awesome and as we went over the climb the road split into two, I went right and Cam went left. With about 100 meters to go we were both totally cracking ( I was for sure anyway!) and sprinting in the hoods. I went for the drops, weaving and gasping for air. After hitting the drops it was much easier to give a good dig for the win.

It was exciting. The Symetrics guys are tough and will be out for blood all week. It will be tough to hang on to the jersey because this is an omnium and means I have to be in the top 10 of each stage. Who knows what will happen? The legs feel good, I am positive, and happy! I think that will be enough to do well this weekend. Tomorrow is the crit. There should be some good photos soon. Thanks for stopping by!

Comments Open!

2007-07-13T14:57:00.001-07:00

I opened the comments section for everyone. You no longer have to be a subscribed blogger to place a comment. Feel free to leave a comment, just be aware that it is still moderated. Thanks for stopping in!

The rest of the story from Seattle

2007-07-13T11:42:00.000-07:00

And now....the rest of the story. Johny Sundt grew up in the Seattle area and took us by Kurt Cobain's house on the ride. If you don't know who Cobain is, then I don't know what to tell you. He was the lead singer of Nirvana and the creator of Alternative grunge rock music is the way I remember it. Anyway, this is the house were he and Courtney Love lived when he committed suicide in this house.

So of course we decided to stop and take a picture real quick on the way back toward the end of the ride. It was funny because Johny said, "oh the gate is open, it is never open, quick take the picture before it closes". I busted out the camera and took a couple shots, and as I did the owner I am assuming in the silver Tacoma came out the driveway. Well the owner flipped out! This is the conversation as I remember it and maybe Austin can add in any commentary if he remembers it differently.

Owner: "Did you just take my picture?"
Me: "No I just took one of the house."
Owner: "Yeah, but I am in it!"
Me: "Sorry man".
Owner: "Why are you taking pictures of us You just took a picture of me and my niece, why?"
Me: " I was taking pictures of the house, it's a nice house." Not the real reason, but it was a nice house.
At this point the guy in the truck was very unnerved and I couldn't tell if you was scared of me in my orange cycling spandex or if he was angry. His voice was kind of shaky and there was a large amount of tension. The conversation continued.
Owner: "You need to erase those photos!"
Me: "Sure sorry, no problem, I was just taking a picture of the house. Is it o.k. if I take a picture?"
Owner: Very agitated and shaken said "No, it's not really o.k."

Austin looks at me and says under his breath, "dude, don't erase it. Lets go" . I said sorry and we started to ride away. As we were riding away the owner of the house threw it in reverse and quickly went back up the driveway to the house. I don't know if he was going back to get a gun, call the police, or just forgot something. Either way, were didn't stick around to find out.

I am sure he knows that the house he is living in is a part of music history and is probably bombarded with people taking photos all time. I felt kind of bad and can understand if he doesn't want to be in the photo. But seriously, I was on a public sidewalk and obviously I am not the Paparazzi. It was a bit strange and the guy kind of freaked me out. Putting myself in his shoes, I would definitely be over people taking pictures of the house all the time, but dude, get used to it. YOU ARE LIVING IN A DEAD MUSIC LEGENDS HOUSE!

That's the rest of the story!

Another quick note. Checked out the Time trial hill climb course today. It is steep, and about 1Kilometer long. We race two at a time up the thing. I felt o.k. on the ride today. Hopefully the Shriver Surge is there today. We will see. Hope the weather holds as it is looking like rain. More tonight after the TT.

White Rock, British Columbia

2007-07-13T09:29:00.000-07:00

Kurt Cobain's House: The guy in the truck completely lost it for taking this picture.
A westy in great shape, just like my brother's. I think I might try to get a Westy someday.
The Seattle Skyline cruising on the ride.
Jeff Hopkins eying the cupcakes.
The mates and a former Jittery rider Johny Sundt
Sundt laid an attack! The climbs in Seattle were steep like San Fransisco
A panoramic view from the place we are staying in White Rock looking over the ocean.

Kickin me while I am down

2007-07-12T11:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday got worse before it got better. I pulled a major amateur move at the airport. I showed up an hour early ready to go and upon check in noticed that I had left my ID in the copy machine at the bike shop. I had to make a bunch of copies of it for my Birth Certificate and left it there. After my mental breakdown at the counter from having a hell of a day that just kept getting worse and worse, I called MBS and Mike drove all the way out to the airport to give me my ID. I ran back into the airport with 10 minutes to spare. Apparently though when you forget your ID you automatically are considered part of the Axis of Evil. The TSA people pulled my bags of the plane to research them again. They rifled through all of my stuff, and I got the "Hands on" blue latex glove search. All my bags were torn open with less than 5 minutes till take off. They opened everything, my laptop (yep just a laptop) and even opened my books to make sure that nothing was hidden in the pages. What could you store between the pages of a book?

I am all about the security and don't really mind. It is for our safety right? It almost seems like it is a bit of a power trip or a control thing?? Whatever, I made it onto the plane and it was the Jet from Durango to Denver so the flight was only 35 minutes instead of 60.

The day started to turn around when the lady at the counter didn't charge me the $80 for my bike (saved some coin for the team), and then on the plane the movie was "Blades of Glory" with Will Ferrel. It was awesome even on a 4 inch screen.

We made it into Seattle late last night, everyone got in including the Quebexican De ja Vu (David). All his bags are missing still though. Johny Sundt took us on a sweet down by the water on Lake Washington Blvd. Nice ride and it is very nice here when it isn't raining which apparently is only July -September.

My birth certificate showed up from UPS. Those Wyoming cowboys are on it up there so now I won't have to wait in customs all day to get to the races. I thought I was going to have to hike through the weeds and meet the teammates on the other side. Nope, I am all good now. More later, weird experience on the ride and I need the photos to tell the story. I am not on my computer so I can't download. More from Canada...

The Canada Predicament

2007-07-11T15:02:00.000-07:00

I am off to Canada today for BC Superweek. I am leaving Durango in a couple of hours, taking the late night flight into Seattle, meeting the rest of the teammates and driving into Canada tomorrow.

I have been to Canada before when I was 18. Back then you didn't need a passport, just your drivers license or state issued ID. Well it's different now that old G.W. considers everyone in the world part of the axis of evil. I applied along time ago for the passport and still have not recieved it becasue it is all backed up due to everyone getting passports. No biggie, just print out the nifty little proof of application, present your ID at the border and you are golden right? Nope! I recieved a letter saying that they got my application, but I tried to print out the proof of application and there is no record. Sweet! I call the passport people and explain my situation. Thier answer is that you just need to provide a birth certificate along with your ID and you can get in and out of the country. O.K., something that should have been brought to my attention much earlier. I sent my birth certificate in with my passport application as it is required. Thanks people! I wouldn't have even paid the $250 to get the damned passport if I knew I could just use my birth certificate! Now I have neither.

So hopefully I can get into Canada tomorrow. What a junk show this has been today? I called the US Embassy in Canada hoping to get some help, forget it. Finally I got an emergency brith certificate overnighted to Seattle which won't show up before I leave for Canada so I am screwed. I might just be heading to Seattle for a bit the way things are looking. Shit.

Enough wining! Did the worlds ride last night. It was like the old days, Danielson, Wells, Ned and other guns. Tried not to go to hard, but it was fun to be out there throwing it down with the guns. They were all flying. I felt o.k. myself. Anyway, more from Canada hopefully and some photos as well.

Good times in 'Merica

2007-07-07T11:28:00.000-07:00

George W. has changed the way we say America with his Texas accent. It is no longer America, just "Merica". From now on , Merica, land of the free!An hour into the ride and my bro looks angry in this photo, only 4 hours left to go, cheer up!

A look ahead: only another hour of climbing from here and we are at the top of Kenebec pass.
A quick refill of the camelbacks at the campground becasue it was roasting out even in the high country.
It was a mob scene at the top of the pass. All these people paid $50 for a 2 hour jeep ride to the top. We rode from town for free and made it to the top only a few minutes behind them. Suckers!
A quick look out over the Needles in the San Juans. Hard to beat that view!

Roosting the single track at 11,000 feet in the wild flowers.
The flowers were going off. I don't care who you are, you have to appreciate the flowers in the mountains!
After 5 hours of riding, 2 flat tires, 150 ounces of water, 53 miles and 7,500 feet of climbing, I had to finish the Annual Kenebec Pass ride with a BBQ at my place with friends and family. I made some killer homemade chicken kabobs. A good barbie that even the Aussies couldn't rival.

Neighbor Randy digs into the great food that everyone provided. It as kind of a pot luck style BBQ. All who came threw down on some wholesome goodness, Margs and brews, tater salad, cake, ice cream, fresh berries, salad, Portabella burgers, amazing mozzerella with fresh basil and tomatoes, and did I mention the Margaritas!
Corey couldn't get enough of the whipped cream. Whip it, whip it good! How pro is that whip cream dispenser? Co2 cartridge is not included.
The copper showed up to break up the party, instead he just helped himself to the cake and ice cream, a chicken kabob, told us to keep it down, and went on his way next door to bust the 6 year olds making to much noise with the Snap and Pop poppers. Sean is just a hard ass when it comes to breaking the law, he will not hesitate to lock you up!
Mary and Corey! These two provided the necessary skills for making a mean Margarita! Ouch the next morning.
And of course, the Fireworks were going off downtown. It was a great 4th, definitely one of my better ones that I have enjoyed with friends and my bro. Until next time.

Fuego en el Dumpster!

2007-07-02T19:44:00.001-07:00

The dumpster from my window
Durango Fire & Rescue get ready to blast the garbage fire, exciting!
No Mas Fuego!

I know that my Spanish is no good. Someone keeps lighting the dumpster on fire outside our townhome. It stinks and is dangerous with cars parked next to it. This has happened about four times now.

I am off to enjoy a brew with my brother and the best NRC amateur rider Corey Collier. More tomorrow! Matt Shriver reports again!

Sticking around!

2007-07-02T06:53:00.000-07:00

I decided to stick around Durango and not go to Breckenridge. I get enough racing and traveling that it just doesn't make any sense to go. Plus I couldn't find anyone to ride with and after paying entry fee and gas, it would just be to much cash to go get schooled on the mtb.

Yesterday's ride was awesome. I wish I had done more mountain biking early on in the season, i can feel it really helping my climbing legs. The dirt gets you strong quickly. My descending skills are not as stellar as they used to be that is for sure. Coming off the high point I caught a stick in the front wheel and the stick exploded but I thought for sure I was goign down. Did a little damage to the front wheel which sucks, they are expensive, that's part of riding though.

I tried to play bike polo after the ride last night and I was having a hell of a time. First, I kept getting knocked over. Then I was sprinting and my handlebar snapped off right at the stem. I quickly cruised back to my place and swapped bars Nascar pit crew fast. The bike just didn't feel the same though. I crashed a bunch more and the Polo mallet I always use broke as well.

Rest day today, with some easy mtb action this morning. I am off!

Colorado Trail: High point adventure

2007-07-01T17:34:00.000-07:00

A quick regroup on top of Gudy's Rest
Not to the top yet, Silver Peak, La Platas
Dave Hagen, gettin er done Old School
Chad Cheeny, Spooked!
Me, Rich, Chad, Robin G, Dave, Mitch
A 180 view from High Point

What a ride? More later

Breathing through a straw!

2007-06-30T16:55:00.000-07:00

I raced the train on the way out of town along the bike path.
I beat it, thankfully, as it goes about 10 mph a top speed
A view over the Animas River Valley from the top of the cliffs.
The La Platas towering above Durango

After I scarfed down a muffin at Bread this morning I decided to hit up the hills in the Durango area and do some sprints. For my first workout back from the dead it went pretty well. I rode up the newest climb "The Cliffs" to start things off. Being back at altitude is tough and I don't think my body is used to it yet after sea level for a month. I was breathing through a straw and almost yacked at the top after giving it a solid effort on the climb. The Cliffs is an average of 13% grade for over 3 miles with 2,000 feet of climbing up to 9,000 something feet. It hurts. It is also probably going to be off limits to riders soon as the billionaires continue to by out the millionaires. There are new signs on the road saying it is Private and you can't go up there without a Realtor. I hope we can get away with sneaking by the gate for another year or two. So far so good.

It is still hot here in Durango, but not unbearable like the East with the humidity. I have actually enjoyed the training in the heat. Mountain biking is another story though, it just gets to hot out there on the trails.

Not much else going on. B.C. Superweek is not far off, hope I can do something there. I am still not sure about Firecracker 50. The altitude today was allot for me, and racing on the 4th would only give me 9 days back at altitude and Breckenridge is higher. The race goes up to 11,500 feet! Talk about breathing through a straw, maybe not even breathing at all. I am still toying with the idea of the mountain bike comeback for one race to get my ass kicked.

Tomorrow, epic mountain bike ride up the Colorado Trail again but further this time. Hopefully I won't run into any deer looking to trample me on the way up there.

Ever been charged by a deer?

2007-06-29T10:16:00.001-07:00

The View from the top of Gudy's Rest looking toward Durango

Colorado Trail: Runs from Durango to Denver
Zach and I on the Bridge before the ascent to Gudy's Rest
The steed for 07 MTB Adventures

I kicked the virus for the most part after anothe long day of couch time. I felt pretty normal today. Most of my energy is back, but still taking it easy. Very easy! No more sore throat or aches and pains.

This morning I got up early and met Zach Valdez and his friend Trisha for a chill ride up to Gudy's on the Colorado Trail. This was just what I needed. Some mountain biking, easy and fun. On the last switchback just before the top I heard something coming through the woods down a super steep slope just above me. At first I thought for sure this was going to be a mountain lion or a bear. I couldn't see what it was but it was coming right at me and very fast crashing through the woods. The noise got louder and I could see brown flashes and branches and leaves flying everywhere. Finally I saw my attacker, a huge Buck with new antlers only half grown and in velvet. I don't think he was actually charging me but something above him had spooked him. The buck was coming right for me and I could see the fear in its eyes. I don't even know if he saw me until about 10 feet away when he turned so quick and bolted down and across the hillside. At this point I had stopped breathing and my heart rate had reached 190. I have had allot of encounters with animals, Grizzly Bears, elk, Bison, deer. This was by far one the most bazaar. So watch out for the rabid deer attacks on the Colorado Trail.

Zach just started mountain biking and this was his second ride. He is either a natural or completely out of control. I think it is a bit of both. Riding behind him was cracking me up. He would go flying into switchback, completely blow them and end up out in the weeds. For the most part though, he was doing really well for a new rider.

It was great to be out on the mountain bike. Tomorrow I think I will be able to get back to the training 100% and give it some good effort. I am still not sure about the Fire Cracker 50. I guess I better decide soon, I think it fills up quick. Either way, I will be doing an epic ride to celebrate my independence.

The Viral Funk Attacks

2007-06-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

Say Aaaaaaaaahhhh!

After Philly week the entire team came down with some viral funk. We all haad the same symptoms and were all laid up for a few days. Luckily we were all resting anyway. However, we were not the only team to get sick. Most riders who did the Triple Crown in the Philly area were sick. This brings up the question of what is up with Pennsylvania? Is that place just a giant infected area or what? The second theory I have is that someone new we were all going really well and sabotaged our bottles infecting them with a virus, and that is why we didn't win the races. Hhhhhmmm.

I have gotten sick again! I just got back from the Doc and it appears I have a Virus. Possibly a relapse of the "Philly Funk" that never totally went away and has returned for one last attack. My plans for fun recovery rides and ripping Mountain bike trails have been postponed. Right now it is all about getting healthy. I am not to far behind in the training and rest is always best when you are battling the virus.

The last 24 hours have been misery. Sitting on the couch all day when it is so beautiful outside. The night sweats are the worst and I woke up completely soaked last night. I weighed myself and I was 150lbs in the morning. I lost about 3lbs of water overnight. I don't think I even lose that during hard races. The good thing is that I am feeling better already. Not as achey today and the fatigue level is better. One more day of couch time in the blanky and the Philly Funk should be gone.

Maybe tomorrow I will have an update about a sweet mtb ride, an easy one of course coming off of being sick. I just want to have fun while I am here in Durango and maintain the form. Alright, I hope everyone stays healthier than I am! More later!

Durango: Home sweet home!

2007-06-26T12:57:00.000-07:00

Of course I went to Bread the bakery this morning before my spin in the Valley.
All the organic goodness!
I even managed to catch the Baker himself, Rob, for a coffee and chat.
Then I cruised solo out to Bakers Bridge and back.

I made it back to Durango yesterday. It is so nice to be back and able to sleep in my own bed. Durango has been pretty hot the past week or two and it is definitely starting to look a bit dry. I rode in 90 degrees today and it felt great after being in 90 with humidity is so much nicer.

The plan to head up North to Idaho and Wyoming to see the family has changed. There just isn't enough time and I don't want to be on the road for another week after just getting home. I am toying with the idea of racing the Fire Cracker 50 on the 4th in Breckenridge. It is the US Marathon Mountain bike national championships, but even doing a two day trip sounds like to much. We will see. Right now I am just glad to be home and enjoying my rest. I feel a bit tired but the legs felt good today on my spin.

The Animas river looks like it is flowing pretty well and it isn't murky. I checked out the fishing holes that I hit up and I think it's time to break out the fly rod and do some casting. It is a nice way to mellow out after good training days, it's good for the legs and such a rush when you land a nice trout. There are some big fish in the Animas River.

I am really looking foreword to going to British Colombia in a couple of weeks. The legs finally feel like they are strong. A little tuning up and resting here at home, I should be flying in BC.

Cath ya's

"My skirt got caught in my chain"

2007-06-24T15:56:00.000-07:00

My skirt go caught in my chain today pretty much sums it up. Hoppy made this comment about people who explain what went wrong with their race. You either have it or you don't. The sob story that follows is just an excuse. This is where the saying about your skirt comes from.

I rode a great race until 5 laps to go in the crit today. Probably one of the better days and I totally blew the opportunity. Not because of bad legs, just bad positioning and day dreaming. I was so caught up in saving energy and using just enough to get over the climbs so that in the end I had enough to go that I lost track on how many laps were left. When Jesse came on the radio and said your at 5 laps to go, I looked back to see how many guys were behind me, none! I thought I was sitting mid pack, but I was dangling. I started to move up and David was coming off the group, still battling for the Best Young Riders jersey. I brought him back to the group along with Neil. I saw the move starting to go I just watched thinking it would come back together. It didn't and I got taken off the back of the race on the next climb by one of the Colombians. Chased back on only to come around the final corner before the last climb to the finish to with a Jelly Belly rider sliding on the pavement into the curb with and Chris Baldwin next in line to stack it on top of him. Nailed the brakes, sideways skid, just missed it by the skin of my teeth. That was it thought for me. A wasted opportunity in my mind. I had great legs, just didn't ride smart and didn't capitalize. My Skirt........got caught......in my chain!

That is a wrap on the Nature Valley GP. Back to Durango tomorrow. Wow! I am looking foreword to that. It has been far to long since I have been home. Can't wait to ride the mountain bike and just enjoy my training at home. Then it is of to Canada to race in British Colombia. Thanks to everyone for cheering out there today. It was awesome going up the climb. Lots of fans.

Nature Valley Time Trial: Dissapointment!

2007-06-22T14:28:00.000-07:00

The Nature Valley T.T. was a disapointment. Only 5 miles, I started a bit to slow of course, but felt like I gave it a good all out effort. I actually felt like I was lacing into it pretty well for most of the race. I even thought I managed to sneak a top 10.

My ego was crushed with disapointment as I actually failed to even do a sub 10 minute tt. I don't know what I was smoking, but my best effort only brought me in a 44th place. Sucky! I guess not riding the old TT rig since Tour de Georgia has a bit to do with it, but not much. Whatever?
David continues his dominance in carrying the team. This kid is 19 and smoked so all of us in the time trail, and is wearing the best young riders jersey. Awesome!

One more race today at 7:45. The downtown criterium. Another sleepless night to come after racing so late. Sorry for the negative post, just a bit bitter today. Good luck to my bro who is making his NORBA comeback tomorrow at the Wild Flower Rush Mountain Bike race in Crested Butte.

Nature Valley Stage 2: MY RACE OVER!

2007-06-22T05:29:00.000-07:00

The second stage of the Nature Valley GP was a complete junk show yesterday. It was really hard fighting for position in the cross winds all day. Constantly fighting for wheels with people. It was a tough day.

I knew it was going to be hard when the "Neutral Start" was going 27 mph and it was super sketchy. Within 5 miles there was about a 40 man pile up taking out 5 of the 7 riders we had in the race. Luckily myself and David the Quebexican managed to stay out of it. It eventually came back together.

With about 1 mile left till we hit the circuits I moved into perfect position with three of my teammates all up front for the dirt section. We hit the at the front of the group and within 200 yards on the gravel section I blew my tire. RACE OVER! The dirt section is only about 500 yards long and I flatted on it. I hit the radio to request a rear wheel from the team car, but before the car got there here comes Hoppy my teammate. Jeff swapped wheels so fast with me all I saw was a flash of orange and some wisps of the flowing red mullet. He got a wheel just and quickly and we chased back onto the circuits. Our day was over though and we would lose 15 minutes. Aaah! David pulled on the best young rider jersey and Big Evan continues his pursuit of a podium as he came closer with a 5th place.

So here I am in the same position as last year at this race. Completely out of any GC positoin. From here all that I can do it be opportunistic for a stage win and help my teammates anyway I can. This race holds some kind of grudge against me.

This morning we have a time trial and then later we do the infamous downtown criterium. Another one that is fast as hell with 6 turns in a 1.2K circuit. Surely, it will hurt again. Hope the weather holds up this year and there isn't any rain. Wish us luck!

Nature Valley GP Stage one

2007-06-21T05:55:00.000-07:00

Good old Minnesota eh. Wrapped up the first stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix. A super fast downtown criterium in the evening. We didn't start until 7:00 pm, but with Summer solstice just a few days ago and being almost in Canada it doesn't get to dark here until about 10:00. The team looked pretty good. I think some of us were a bit sluggish at first after doing Philly week and not racing since then. It took me a good 40 minutes to feel normal. The course was a bit dicey and lots of corners. Only a 1K course with six turns and a small hill. Lots of coasting on the fast back section and then everyone pins it on the little roller.

Evan ended up getting 6th and Ceasar came in 7th right behind Evan. I hung on and tried not to lose time, but somehow I managed to lose a bit of time. The legs feel good though and I am looking foreword to tonight's stage, a short road race with lots of cross wind and a dirt road section. Last year I flatted on the dirt road, RACE OVER!

Anyway, this update is a little weak and not very entertaining. Just woke up from a night off tossing and turning. I am looking foreword to getting home for a bit. More later......

Olympic Mountain Biking

2007-06-18T04:15:00.001-07:00

I have been laying low in Athens, GA for the last week since Philly. Athens is a pretty happening town. I would even go as far as that I could live here. The town is pretty cool, the people seem friendly, and there is allot to do for fun. The road riding is great with endless roads in all directions. The bad thing is the humidity. It gets pretty hot and humid. If you aren't used to it like me, it can definitely get to you at first.

Yesterday my teammate Cody Stephenson and I went over to Conyers, GA to ride the 1996 Olympic Mountain Bike course. We rounded up some sweet mountain bikes from @ the Hub, the local shop in Athens, and headed down there with big John Erwin. John is our mechanic and works at the shop. John organized a Father's Day ride and Cody and I seemed to be a main attraction. I guess people will take any opportunity they can get to come out and put the wood to the roadies on the dirt. I rode a sweet 29er for the first time and Cody roosted a new Fuel. It was a blast and felt great to be out in the woods on mountain bikes.

The Olympic course was actually much more challenging than I thought it would be. I remember watching it on t.v. and seeing the Granite Slick Rock sections, which by the way, pummeled my hands. Cody and I had no trouble cruising through the trees with our road kits on and even riding in road shoes and our Speedplay road pedals. As for the 29er. I think I am still sold on a short travel full suspension with 26 inch wheels. The 29er just doesn't accelerate as well. You can definitely get away with rolling over big things and laying it into corners with a bigger wheel. It just felt a bit sluggish and harsh on the pot holed rock section.

I ended up catching a bit of a cold after Philly. After racing in the rain in Lancaster and all the crap on the roads in PA, in general, it is no surprise. It seems that many people have become sick. I am not the only one with a head cold. Whatever, I feel strong on the bike so hopefully I can translate that into something next week in Nature Valley.

Today I head out to Minnesota for the Nature Valley Grand Prix. Lots of racing in 5 days. Even a double day stage with a criterium and a time trial. Last year I ended up crashing out of the race, so I hope to at least finish and would like to score a result there for the team if not for myself.

Well, I am off and running to the Atlanta Airport today. Bigger news is that I am not doing Tour de Toona this year. Instead I have been assigned to do the British Colombia Superweek. I am very excited. New races are always a good time and new country. Until next time.

Philly, fastest race ever!

2007-06-10T13:24:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a race. 160 miles, attacks all day, crashes, and the fastes finish time ever for that course. It was an incredible day with good weather and the usual 60,000 fans lining the streets and Manyunk Wall. Everytime up The Wall it was insane. The fans are probably just a couple beers short of needing to be carted off to detox, they are smoking cigaretts, dope, and who knows what else, screaming for all the riders as you put yourself into difficulty again and again. It was awesome!

I felt pretty good today up to about mile 120, then the legs just shut down. CRACKED! I would have died, had it not been for Cody Stevenson, my teammate. He got us bottles all day, endless amounts of bottles. Every time the team was in need of food or drink, Cody pulled through. All of the guys killed it today. Neil Shirley won the KOM Jersey. I tried to go for the KOM on the first lap. Didn't work!

Annyway, made it through 3 crashes. I don't know how, but I rode right through a crash. One guy was on the ground skidding next to me while another was in the air on the other side of me. Huge pile up. I weaved through it. Unreal. It was one of those moments where you are just in the zone.

Off to Athen's tomorrow. Thanks for stopping in. Thanks to everyone cheering for us and the team. See you on the road.

Don't Tune in!....Documentary Cancelled!

2007-06-10T04:00:00.000-07:00

Well, as of yesterday we found out that the Bean Team Documentary on Versus has been cancelled. Something to do with, not the right fonts for the subtitles. I am sorry to get every one's hopes up. We actually got to view it last night as a team, it was a pretty good piece of work.

I am getting ready to depart the hotel and head out for some serious racing. 6 hours of suffering today. Lots of fast guys and 10 laps up the WALL as they call it in Philly. Should be a good one.

Report later!

Triple crown day 2- in

2007-06-07T19:01:00.001-07:00

Triple crown day 2- in the books. Actually felt like myself today, Went up the climbs fast, covered lots of moves. Off to Phily tomorrow!

Don't forget...this Sunday

2007-06-06T10:09:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks! Just wanted to remind everyone to tune into the Jittery Joe's Documentary film that will air this weekend, Sunday! I won't be able to watch it right away because we will be racing in Phillidelphia. I am curious to see how it turned out.

Tomorrow is the second stage of the Triple Crown series. I compeleted the race last year, it was a fun race and a tough circuit. I am feeling pretty strong after a few days of rest. I must be the fittest I have ever been, at least according to the heart rate as it was 35 this morning after a cup of coffee. Lowest I have ever seen it. Alright, that is enough of the training squawk. Hoping to perform well tomorrow. Just have to get my suffer face on.

The riding here is awesome in the Amish country. I did a great ride yesterday with the Teammate Tommy Nankervis and the youngster we are staying with Zac. Zac took us on a great ride and we saw the Amish farm from the movie "Witness" with Harrison Ford.

I get back to Durango on the 25th of June, then I think I am going to head back up to the North to vist the parents for a week if the funds are there. Even eyeing the WYDAHO Mountain bike race at Targhee. I have to find some races that will be fun to keep the fitness while on the road.

Anyway, I am going to get a little nap in. Rough life huh, yeah, we have it pretty easy sometimes, until you have to race with sketchballs on narrow tires in the rain. More later!

Results @ CSC and Langcaster

2007-06-04T11:54:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday was the first day of Philly week in Langcaster, PA. I pretty much picked up where I left off last season, sucked! My legs felt pretty shitty after the CSC 100k criterium. However, I can't complain because CSC was the first race in a while where I felt like I was a bike racer. I was able to hang in there the whole race which was very hard and helped get big Evan up to the front to have a go in the sprint. I am not in the results for that race though, I popped anyway after helping Evan out.

Here in Langcaster, I cracked on the 8th lap. It was pouring rain from start to finish. I turned into a complete softie (imagine that!) Covered a few moves on the first couple laps and then sat in the back, which is the worst place to be. I finally pulled the pin. I am a little bummed, but didn't expect much since after racing CSC in 92 degrees and humidity. I pulled out of the race but the results say I finished in 22nd. Sweet! Put that one on the resume.

Anyway, I hope that I feel a bit better in the next stage on Thursday in Reading, PA. Lots of uphill which should be alright if the legs agree. I will update more later from Amish country, just kind of over the site at the moment. Thanks.........

A day in Arlington/D.C....Never will I live here!

2007-05-31T04:51:00.000-07:00

I went out for an early morning ride in Arlington/D.C. yesterday with my teammate Cody Stephenson. We left from our host house after I had finished my finger painting for the day (see previous post). After scouting out a loop on the bike route map of the area, we went with a ride that was supposed to be "less traffic and bike friendly". I think we went through 200 stop lights, got the middle finger about as many times, and dodged cars all day swerving around trying to kill us. It ended up being an all right ride once we got out into the old, extremely rich neighborhoods.

Upon our return Cody and I watched the movie "Pro" about the race we will be doing next week in Philadelphia area. It used to be the one day US Pro Championships and is now the Triple Crown. Pro was a descent movie with some good race footage.

At 6:30 we decided to hit up a training race in Maryland on the other side of D.C. We drove up through the gridlocked traffic, which I guess wasn't really to bad, to a state park where the race was held on a one mile circuit. I think we did 23 laps. Big Evan Elken went from the gun. It was a tough little course with no resting and was actually allot of fun. I talked with the locals a bit and that is the one hard ride each week they do. All other training is in another park, just doing laps. These people are tougher than I am that is for sure!

Now it is just resting up, in final preparation for Philly week and the CSC invitational that begins this coming Sunday in Lancaster, PA. More later......

Arlington, VG!

2007-05-30T06:12:00.000-07:00

We made it to Arlington after a 3.5 hour drive down through Dirty Jersey. The drive was relatively flawless and I pretty much lounged in the van all the way and read a book. No near misses on the way. Cody and Kinger did however miss a turn in the mini and ended up doing a few extra miles, tolls, and tunnels to get to Arlington. The hardest part was getting through the D.C. traffic! One more reason why living in the middle of nowhere Durango is appealing.

We are staying in some host housing and it is comfortable. My room for the next few days is one of the kids rooms. It is like a time warp to childhood. Legos, art supplies and colored pencils. The walls are covered with drawings from elementary school and posters of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. I might even bust out the little guy's water colors and do a little painting myself. Paint a picture and have it hung up in the trailer for our mechanics!

Cody and I are about to head out on the streets of Arlington. Wish us luck, there isn't a safe road around here. It is so congested and everyone is in a hurry. It will be good crit practice dodging cars, trucks, and pedestrians!

Oh yeah, I have been getting asked what happened in Somerville (DNF in the results), don't worry, I finished! They just can't write down all 198 riders numbers fast enough and screwed it up. I am fine, no crashes, tried to get in the train to help lead out the teammates but got chopped and swarmed. I even threw a little jab at some dude that was coming in on us. Usually, I neve get that agressive, but it is necessary when there are 100 guys that want the wheel you are on and think they can win the race. More later!

On the road to Virginia!

2007-05-29T09:34:00.001-07:00

On the road to Virginia! Somerville went good. There were 198 starters. I stayed out of trouble, followed and covered moves. Felt good to race!

Tour of Somerville, New Jersey

2007-05-28T07:29:00.000-07:00

I made it out to New Jersey on my Birthday. Woke up at 4:30 a.m. Caught a flight to Salt Lake, then to Pheonix, then Pheonix to Newark. It was an epic day of traveling. Over 7 hours of flying alone plus more driving get from Durango to the East. The price I pay for living in a small mountain town.

It is good to be back with the teammates. I am rooming with Tim Henry (two first names). Tim has been going pretty well and finished 2nd in the Raleigh crit a few nights ago. The hotel we are staying is awesome in downtown New Brunswik, New Jersey.

I don't know what it is about the East, but they love Dunkin Doughnuts. Every single time I ask where a good coffee shop is the answer is always " There is a Dunkin Doughnuts right there". O.K. The key word there people was "good" coffee. Dunkin Doughnuts is horrible. Never fails, every time, Dunkin Doughnuts. Drives me crazy!

Today we are just hanging out in the hotel until we race in Somerville at 2:30. I did this crit last year and it was 99 degrees, and 100% humidity. Pretty much the worst possible climate imaginable. However, I am looking foreword to getting the race legs back and racing with the teammates. Also, whenever I race back East, I get to see allot of former teammates that I haven't seen in a long time. It will be good to catch up with some of the fellers.

Well, wish me luck, I will try to throw up a few photos tonight if I can snag some. Somerville is always a big crowd and lots of guns. I just want to hang tough, finish and try to get into some moves.

Versus to air Jittery Joe's Pro Cycling Team Documentary

2007-05-21T06:38:00.000-07:00

I think I may have mentioned the documentary about Jittery Joe's earlier this season. All of the information is below. Make sure you tune in and watch the drama as it unfolds in the world of professional racing in the U.S. Spread the word!

Versus to air Jittery Joe’s Pro Cycling Team Documentary
Athens, GA—One Of A Kind Films has inked a deal with Versus Television (formally Outdoor Life Network) to air a one-hour TV documentary following the Jittery Joe’s Professional Cycling Team from their training camp in San Diego through the Tour of Georgia and the Athens Twilight Criterium. The documentary will focus on the ups and downs of a small professional cycling team traveling on the North American race circuit and is hosted by race announcer Dave Towle.
“When I started this project I had no idea how amazing it would be”, said Myles Berman from One Of A Kind Productions, “These guys love their job and it really shows.”
“This is a huge deal for our team and for our riders,” said Micah Rice, General Manager of the Jittery Joe’s Team, “we are very excited to be a part of such an exciting and professionally done project like this.”
The TV program is scheduled to air on Versus Television (formally Outdoor Life Network) on Sunday, June 10th at 3:30pm EST. Please check your local listings for times.Jittery Joe’s Coffee Roasting Company is based in Athens, Georgia and has been selling superior quality small batch roasted coffee for over twelve years. Jittery Joe’s is now opening up new franchise coffee shops around the nation. Jittery Joe’s Morning Ride Cycling Coffee is an organic, shade grown Colombian coffee and all proceeds go straight to the Jittery Joe’s Cycling Team. The coffee is sold in over 700 bike shops nationwide. For more information, please check out our website at www.thebeanteam.com.

Angry Sleeper!

2007-05-20T05:53:00.000-07:00

I don't know what is going on with me when I am sleeping. The last few nights I have slept horribly. Two mornings ago I woke up and found one of my soft pillow cases clear across the room. My only explanation for this is at some point in the night I got angry and tore the pillow case off and threw it across the room. I must have had some serious night rage or night terror. It was definitely strange! I have been tossing and turning ever since.

I rode into the passes yesterday with Todd Wells and Ned Overend and others. They are both riding really well. Todd was climbing faster than I have ever seen him climb. Ned drove up and skipped one of the climbs and Todd was still out climbing him. As for me, I felt strong, but the top end just isn't there. I think from the lack of racing. So I am on taper mode now. Short hard rides to get the leg speed up and the top end here before next week. I hope my plan is going to work. I have been training hard and it will likely be one of the last blocks of training for a long time.

The mountain bike has been so sweet. I am actually digging the cross country full suspension. The trails in Durango are ripping right now. We have been getting some good rain and the trails are so tacky.

Not much else going on. I am working on my plans for the fall. Trying to figure out what will happen with Cylcocross. I would like to do a full season and possibly relocate to the East coast for a month or two during the season. I am thinking, couch surfing, racing UCI Cross every weekend and possibly even go for a try at the World Championships this year. I have had the opportunity to go the past couple of years, but school was always a problem. Not anymore, so I might give it a go.

Next up on the race schedule: Tour of Sommerville, CSC, and Philly Week. Watch out!

FLC Cycling takes two National Titles in TTT

2007-05-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

A picture from the first of the FLC TTT wins! Bowman, Shriver, Troy and Kuhl

Congratulations to the Fort Lewis Cycling team in continuing their dominance. The Men's team won the third straight team time trial today in Lawrence, Kansas. Collegiate Nationals have been there for the past 3 years. The FLC women also won their first ever Division one team time trial title. Congrats! Tomorrow is the road race and I look for a few good results from our home team. Go Skyhawks and congrats on the wins and great start to the overall omnium title. As Joey Thompson said it yesterday "the cream rises to the top!" Nice work!

Working on the climbing legs!

2007-05-09T17:33:00.000-07:00

First, sorry for the lack of updates. I don't have any photos right now either. I know, lame updates, but I just can't carry my old tank camera around all the time. It is huge!
I have been hitting the passes allot lately and trying to get the climbing legs back. Last week I made it up into the passes a couple of times. I went up to just under 11,000 feet on Molass Pass. The legs are feeling better, but still, not good enough to hang with Danielson.
Saturday I rode with Danielson and Ned Overend. It was so cold and snowed on us. After about 45 minutes of riding we were cruising through ice water and slush. After flipping it, we hit the Cliffs climb and tried to climb with frozen legs. It hurt badly! We had a better ride the next day and I was able to hang with the old man Overend on the climbs. That guy is going good as usual. I think he could win the Iron Horse this year at 53. Unreal!
How about all the crack down on the Operacion Puerto guys! Finally something is coming of it and not just pointing the finger. Before it was just a bunch of talk and now it looks as though some guys are going to be out of racing for good.
My new mountain bike will be here in a couple of days. I am looking foreword to hitting the dirt and roosting the trails around Durango. They are so good right now. I might even do a mountain bike race for some training if there is one on an off week.
It looks like I won't be doing the Iron Horse this year. Thought I might be around for it this year, but I got a phone call and I am off to race the Tour of Sommerville in New Jersey. Then the schedule is a little in the air, I may do CSC and a couple days of Philly Week, or CSC and all the days of Philly Week. . Anyway, lots of racing soon. I am looking foreword to it. You can only train so much. Long update I know, more later.......

Training again...Finally!

2007-04-29T21:06:00.000-07:00

Cruise control!
The pain face in the sprint, Riping into it!

I have finally gotten back to training normally. Last week I was so cracked still from Tour de Georgia but I also ran ran into finals week. I didn't get to do many rides, even short recovery rides. Studying and working in front to the computer all day, then going out for a ride, just wasn't happening. I am starting to come around again though and am feeling pretty strong.

On Friday I was out spinning a valley loop, ran in to Danielson. He asked if I wanted to ride the passes on Saturday. After graduation we met up at Bread. The plan was to go to Molass Pass and back in the passes and hit it about a medium pace. I hung with Tom all of about 4 minutes on Shalona. Shalona is the first climb. Pretty much blew my doors off right from the start. I felt better though as the ride went on and it was a perfect day in the passes. I haven't been up to 11,000 feet in a little while. It was a good ride and I am looking foreword to getting up there soon.

Today was the last Durango Wheel Club criterium out at the new hospital. I decided to give it a go and the field was small, really small. Former teammate Anthony Colby showed up. With some big $$$$ on the line, the guns always come out of the woodwork. Anyway, I attacked on the 2nd lap. We rode together the whole race. Then we gave it a go in the sprint. The face says it all! It was close, even had to do the wheel throw. I scored the victory and got a good workout in when I wasn't motivated. Thanks to the DWC folks and Mercy Medical Center for putting on a great race series.

No school tomorrow. Some good chamois time tomorrow for sure. The weather has been perfect.

Live update from FLC Graduation.

2007-04-28T06:59:00.001-07:00

Wells and I getting ready to graduate. Nice day in the mountains, headed into the passes after this. After school, what is next besides paying ack student loans? Hopefully good things to come..

Georgia is over!

2007-04-25T11:07:00.000-07:00

Stolen photo from the DWC website. Thanks Mr. Wallace.

I am in full on recovery and school mode. Trying to get the last bits of finals done today and tomorrow. It is almost over. Hit up taco night and drank a few Tecate's. I am back on the bike tomorrow. No Gila because it is totally full and closed. Working on getting the mountain bike on the way. Love the white kits huh?

Nashville's Bread

2007-04-23T19:14:00.001-07:00

On the way back to Durango. Stopped in at Nashville's version of Bread the bakery. It wasn't bad and had similar breads. Not the same though of course. Tour de Georgia went good. I was a little dissapointed with the form, but it will surely come now after those efforts. It was so hard. Totally different racing and much safer. Super fast and long stages. I was happy to just finish and do some good work for the team. I am back to school tomorrow, missed a final today on accident, oops! Rest now and maybe go do the Gila. We will see.

Put a fork in me!

2007-04-21T04:57:00.001-07:00

Quick mobile update this morning. This photo doesn't do it justice. That is our team bus, which is bigger than Discoveries, our van and trailer, and two mini coopers. Brass Town was crazy. I was in the box all day. It was so fast from start to finish. We were on the front all day chasing. I didn't last long, but it was important to keep the break close. I am super impressed with my teammates. They are all so strong and professional. All of them poured their hearts into it. Good work. More later after 117 miles in stage 6.

New Kits

2007-04-20T06:34:00.001-07:00

Brass town today. Huge stage. I feel much better today and hopefully have the legs on the climbs. More later....

Brass Town Bald awaits me!

2007-04-19T17:36:00.000-07:00

Well I have made it this far and it has been a very tough race.. Tomorrow is the Brass Town Bald stage. I had no idea that the mountains in Georgia would be this tough. They are much different than the Colorado style mountains. Long and steep climbs here. They aren't endless, but steep.

I have to keep this short because I need to go to bed. Tomorrow is very important. I am still trying to recover from a time trial that even though I tried to save it a little, was still freaking insanely hard. The climb in the time trial was super steep. For those of you that are from Durango know the cliffs climb. Well the climb in the time trial was steeper or as steep for about 1/3 rd of a mile. Tons of people cheering.

Thanks to everyone for all of the support. By the way, be on the lookout for some new team duds tomorrow during the race. The entire team will be rocking a new kit. It is pretty sweet. Wish me luck on Brass Town, I hope I survive.

"Poor Matt Shriver still in no man's land!"

2007-04-16T15:27:00.000-07:00

Those words pretty much sum up my day. I was sitting a little to far back. Saw the move go. Then we set up to try to get into it. My teammates and I attacked until one of us got away. First it was Austin who went. Got a gap and came back. Right after that Big Evan launched it, got brought back. Then Neil Shirley went, got brought back. So it was my turn I went and no one came with me. A huge tailwind 53x11, 56kph, almost spinning out. I thought I might catch, got very close, within about 10 seconds and then the gap started to open back up. In this situation a grizzled veteran would sit up and go back to the group. What did I do, kept my head down like the still developing roadie that I am and tried to close it. I help the gap for a long time. No radio contact so I couldn't hear all of my teammates and director yelling into the radio for me to sit up. I knew that I should have sat up, but the tailwind made me feel like superman. I felt good, no advice except from the Mavic guys on the motor bike who must have wanted to see me burn "You are right there, only one minute down and holding" they kept saying. I chased for way to long. Burned a few matches and didn't have anything to show for it at the end. Finally the team car showed up and Jesse"Was like, what are you doing?" The first time it officially crossed my mind that I was being an idiot. I sat up, group caught me. Missed the crash in the finishing circuits, went right out the back on the climb, lost some time. Shit! Rookie maneuvers. Lesson I learned today: "When the break is gone, you aren't going to catch by yourself, sit up!".

Congratulations to Tommy Nankervis, my teammate, who is wearing the best young riders jersey. Nice work! Cesar looked good as well and was right up there in the end. I wish I could have got in the move, I might have been able to do something, I was feeling strong today. There are still 6 days left. Better get some rest. 136 miles tomorrow. Oooh Snap!

Georgia throw down tomorrow!

2007-04-15T18:52:00.000-07:00

Bunch of Clowns!
Cody "The Roadie" Stevenson
Athens, Ga. Five points location....mmmm!

Stage one tomorrow. SEND IT! Some stacked teams here. Lots of Tour de France Stage winners, Danielson, Leipheimer, Hincapie, and other guns. Gilberto Simoni Giro winner. The only person that knows about the Shriver Surge is Danielson. Just wait people, Brass Town Bald will have the surge. Somewhere during this Tour, it is bound to show up.

It is going to be a hard race tomorrow. Flat and possibly windy. From what I hear it will be a totally different style of racing with all the Euros here. Look for one of us to be in the break. I hope I can do something. I am very exicted to be here.

Ceasar's Palace

2007-04-13T19:15:00.000-07:00

Neil and Willo are both a little overly excited about Tommy's Postcard
Some of the guys have their bios on the Coffee sleeves at the Jittery Joe's Stores
Coffee heaven!

I am staying at Ceasar's (Say-zar), not Ceaser like the salad. He hates that. Anyway, it has been comfortable and Athens is a nice happening town. I am definitely looking foreword to hanging out here a bit this summer. Pretty much getting back in the groove of just riding and resting. I am enjoying the calm before the storm. Still hasn't hit me yet that I will be racing as hard as I can for over 700 miles next week. You think I am cracked now people, you just wait.

Georgia is definitely different. There are dogs all over the roads. We got chased a few time today on our ride and I guess there are usually more dogs. The spray them with the water bottle trick doesn't really work either. They just show more teeth! I saw about three Confederate Flags on the ride. It is interesting to be in the South. You can see where the stereo types come from. There is a fried chicken restaurant on every corner, frat houses, and lots of equestrian centers out of town. That is big around here I guess. It is a totally different culture, but I am digging it here for sure.

I saw Alex Hagman in the parking lot at the grocery store near the Jittery Joe's location were the publicity session was. I knew Shaggy was in Athens, just funny to run into he and his brother. Good blokes, as the Aussies would say.

I have some more pictures from today's ride. We stopped to take a pisso break on the side of the road and within seconds Tommy was getting carried away and eaten by Fire Ants. I have some pictures of him with his shoes off in the middle of the road trying to get rid of the ants. It was great! I only got a few bites, but the little buggers will get you good if you're not paying attention.

Off to Peach tree tomorrow. I am listening to some of Ceasar's music right now. He has some incredible stories about Colombia. It doesn't sound safe. Guns, knifes, broken beer bottles to peoples necks, corrupt police, drug cartels, crazy stuff. Here we are oblivious to it all.

Ceasar to race Georgia!

2007-04-12T06:04:00.000-07:00

I am just about to head down to Athens, Georgia in a few minutes for my first visit to the team headquarters. Finally I will be able to see where the amazing coffee is roasted and meet the people behind the scenes roasting beans. I stayed in Nashville, Tennessee last night at the Director sportif's house, Jesse and Jenny. Nashie is actually a very cool town. Lots of music here and Jack Daniels whiskey of course. There is a young crowd having Vanderbuilt University, I think. Very trendy people, lots of fashion going on, even more than I have seen in New York City. Nashville is very green, and from above it looked like one giant golf course.

I was worked yesterday after the travel and just a releif to be out of Durango with school behind me for a little while. I still have to finish a couple finals the day I get back, but for the most part I am finished. My health feels good, and the fitness is there. I think I will get better as the Tour de Georgia goes on.

Ceasar is scheduled to start the race. He seperated his shoulder and broke his scaphoid in his wrist about 4 weeks ago in Redlands. I am surprised to hear that he will be racing. What a tough guy. That means we will be working our butts off to help Ceasar stay out of trouble and keep him near the front for Brasstown Bald. A stage that he has continuosly crushed it on, including Lance Armstrong. That says allot right there.

Anyway, I forgot to mention that I went to the B+ ride two nights ago to just keep it chill. As we were leaving I looked up and saw one of the riders get hit by a car. I heard screeching tires and saw the guy roll off the hood. He was o.k., bike wasn't though and it looked bad. It was hard to get motivated to ride after that and dodge cars up Hesperus Hill going 65 mph. The risks we take to ride.

On way to Georgia!

2007-04-11T08:59:00.001-07:00

Mobile update from Salt Lake. i have been off the back with updates. Finished school for the most part yesterday. It has been epic getting two weeks worth of homework assignments done so I can race in Tour de Georia. My health is almost back to normal. Antibiotics are working well and i should be golden in a couple more days. The legs feel good. More later....

Back on the horse

2007-03-31T17:52:00.000-07:00

The weather has cleared up a bit and it was gorgeous today. No moisture and sunshine, temps back in the 50's. Not to bad. Still had to bundle it up a bit, but it is much better than waking up to snow like yesterday. I went for a solid 3 hours today with three long tempo intervals in there. My illness is subsiding and I felt o.k. today at the begining and fine toward the end and I am a bit sore now. I guess not doing anything intense will do that to the old legs.

I saw Blades of Glory last night, the new Will Ferrel movie. It is genius of course. I wanted to laugh more but the coughing from the laughing hurt to much. I am definitely going to have to get that one on DVD.

School is winding down and I knocked out two huge projects this last week. I have a few more and it is all over. I am counting the days, 32 by the way. Anyway, not much to talk about. Go see Blades of Glory if you are looking for that kind of humor.

Durango Crit Series

2007-03-29T17:51:00.000-07:00

The local Durango Crit series starts this weekend on Saturday out at Mercy Medcal Center. It should be a great course. Brand new pavement in the parking lot. The new hospital is a perfect venue. If you lay it down you can crawl into the E.R. I think they do give free emergency service up to $100 as primes. I will take it. You never know when you are going to need a couple of stitches.

I have been laying low for the last 5 days. I caught the Redlands funk and have been sick as a dog. Actually, I am doing better than ususal with this illness. I feel like I should be able to get back to hard training by Saturday and Sunday. I was planning on taking some good rest after Redlands anyway, but this has added a couple more days of intense resting.

There were horror stories going around about all the people that got sick after Redlands last year from the pollution. I guess it gets so bad it just builds up some funk in your respiratory system that turns into a chronic illness. I started to feel sick the last stage when I woke up with a sore throat. I thought it was just allergies. The net day after having a couple beers the night after getting my ass kicked in the race, full on ill.

I got the new training bike last week. It's as awesome as the race bike. I even go my wireless powertap back from warranty. Had some issues and now it works perfectly. It is a good tool to have and nice to know that at threshold I am putting out 420 Watts. I wish!

Good luck to all the Durango-tangs headed down to Nova for the first Norba National of the year. If I had aMTB bike and wasn't sick, then I would probably have done it. My prediction, Todd is going to win the XC. Troy will crack his first top 10 and Sager is going to show up and race under an alias named "Juan Antonio Perez de la Vargas". Those Spanish names are always long and flowing. Inconspicuous, good luck Juan.

Last Stage of Redlands: Sunset loop

2007-03-25T07:06:00.000-07:00

Well this week of racing has flown by. Today is the last stage or the Redlands Classic. The infamous sunset loop. It is a very hard circuit. Extremely fast with lots of tight corners at high speeds and climbs that are twisty and drawn out. I have heard that it is tough to finish this one with the lead group.

Our team plan changed dramatically after Stage 1: Oak Glen. We were aggressive early on that day hoping to have Cesar get to the top of the mountain first. Unfortunately, he was taken out in a bad crash breaking the scaphoid bone in his wrist and separating his shoulder. Our plan changed quickly as we were on the road during that race.

I was pretty tired as were the rest of us from attacking early on trying to get into moves that could produce a good result. Nothing went and by the time we hit the bigger climbs, I had burned a few matches. The icing on the cake was when I pulled a rookie move and tried to shift my bike into the small ring at the bottom of the 5 mile climb for the second KOM. Dropped the chain, and had to get off the bike and put it on. That was all she wrote! Evan Elkin my teammate dropped back to help me get on and we did get onto the back of the group, but guys sat up and the main field rolled away. I lost 18:00 minutes that day. DONE!

Yesterday was the crit. I actually felt really good in the criterium. I threw a few attacks myself and covered some moves. Tommy Nankervis got away in the break and ended up 4th in the sprint. Not a bad result.

Tomorrow it is back to the real world again of school. I am very burned out on the whole school thing and can't wait to be done. I enjoy school very much, but don't enjoy trying to juggle a full on racing and training schedule around it. Well we will see how the race goes today. Wish us luck, we will be going for the stage win today of course.

Correction. Scott Moninger from BMC

2007-03-23T14:13:00.001-07:00

Correction. Scott Moninger from BMC won. He won this race win I was 5, back in 1985. I think he had a mullet then and some stonewashed jeans.

Oak Glen is over. I

2007-03-23T14:08:00.001-07:00

Oak Glen is over. I heard Chris Baldwin fron Toyota United won. I had no legs, lots of early attacking. Ceasr crashed out. More later.

I put myself in the hurt box!

2007-03-22T21:38:00.000-07:00

Today's time trial was very hard. I haven't put myself in the hurt locker like that in awhile. I felt pretty good. A little low on power, but overall, the legs were turning over. It was so short that I didn't even have time to think about not blowing up. By the time I was thinking about it, it was happening in the last 150 meters. It felt good to suffer and I actually hit a heart rate of 199! That is allot of bike squawk I know, but I haven't seen that in sometime. After crossing the line I could barely see straight. Some guy had gone so hard he hit the wall, literaly. He blacked out at the top and crashed into the barricade. He was done! I ended up a respectabel 33rd out of 190 today. Not to shabby! I gave'er all I had, there is more for tomorrow though.

My teammate Cesar (The Mexican) Grejales is sitting in 3rd. I think he has a good shot at pulling of the Win tomorrow. That means it will be Jittery Joe's on the front all day in the crit. OUCH! Whatever, I am happy to sit out there out of the crashes. Things are going good, the racing looks to be tough tomorrow for the infamous Oak Glen stage. They have shortened the race this year, but added much more climbing and there is a bad crosswind section.

Anyway, I have to hit the sheets, more from the race tomorrow. I love bike racing and it is good to be back on the road with the team....

Redlands time trial today!

2007-03-22T06:42:00.000-07:00

My First go at Redlands

2007-03-20T18:44:00.000-07:00

I am off to Redlands tomorrow to give it a go. I have not raced there before and have hopes of doing descent and helping the team out for a good G.C. position. I am looking foreword to the time trial. I know it is a short one and super hard with a good climb at the end. I hope that suits me, but I am actually looking foreword to suffering and putting everything I have out there. Overall, the race looks really difficult. Oak Glen is on Friday and I have heard some seriously brutal stories of that stage. Sunday's stage sounds epic as well. I feel ready though, the legs have come around a bit more since Fresno, so hopefully I can give it a good shot.

This past weekend was pretty good for training. I hit it really hard on Sunday. I went out with the group at 10 o" clock from bread and tried to do tempo and hit the climbs hard. I did allot of sitting on the front and drilling the climbs. We finished up the 3 hours going up the cliffs. That is hard after doing allot of tempo and some hard sustained efforts. After the ride, Hagman motor paced me for an hour on the scooter in the valley. I was worked! After all the resting the power was a bit low, but after the Cliffs climb motor pacing seemed easy. Well, not that easy. Alex kept putting the hurt on me.

Well, I will update from Redlands. I don't know where I am staying, hopefully we have Internet. If not, I will post some mobile updates from the phone. Until tomorrow....

Chill ride with Shagman.

2007-03-16T10:39:00.000-07:00

The Aerospace Secret weapon, Alex Hagman.

Photo isn't so good eh? Just did a sweet 3 hour super chill ride with Shaggy. It was a very nice day again and I am looking foreword to the weekend of training in the Durango sunshine. Then it is off to Redlands California next Wednesday for the Redlands Classic. It should go better than Fresno. More later

Just another morning on campus

2007-03-16T06:54:00.001-07:00

Another sunshine day.

Vegemite

2007-03-15T19:49:00.000-07:00

There are multiple recipies for Vegemite.
Standard Aussie Army Issue Vegemite.

After spending a week with four Australian's spreading some funk on their bagels in the morning, I had to do a little research. It is a Yeast based spread and apparently it is full of B vitamins. This is a major source of nutrients in the Aussie diet. They eat this nasty paste on everything. I didn't get a chance to try it, but eating a yeast spread can't be better than a smear of cream cheese can it? Maybe it isn't that bad. It is so popular there is even a cook book and the military eats this stuff out of tubes.

I am on a little rest block for the next couple of days. I am trying not to get fat, but my roomates keep putting a cake in front of me with strawberries and chocolate frosting. How am I supposed to avoid that. It is a wicked thing to do to a cyclist trying to maintain race weight, or at least chissle down a few kilos. The rice cake with peanut butter as a crutch is just barely keeping me from grabbing a handful of chocolate cake stuffing it in my face and chasing it with a half gallon of milk.

The weather is incredible right now and definitely out of season. We are having weather now that we usually have in May. I am not complaining, I enjoy the warmth and it is going to snow some more, don't worry to much people. Until next time!

First Dead Squirrel Time Trial...New Record?

2007-03-14T19:23:00.000-07:00

I am a little blown away right now after my practice time trial tonight. The wind was perfect for breaking records. After motor pacing in the morning for an hour and then riding another 1 and a half after that, I didn't think I had anything in the tank, at least to not put up a new best. I wasn't expecting anything spectacular after my time trial performance in Fresno. Once I started to give it on the t.t. bike I felt alright, worked into the headwind a bit and got into the groove. Usually there is a tailwind on the way out and a headwind on the way back. I didn't think I was going to do it towards the end, but I was able to suffer on the t.t. bike, always an issue for me. When I saw the time I was stoked. Cody-bob Peterson had the old record and the only Person to go sub 20 at 19:58. With the wind I was able to shave off 39 seconds and post a new time of 19:19. I know it is just practice, but these are good indicators of fitness and technique. It is crazy, to never go under 20:00, and then crush it. I am stoked with my new position on the TT bike, thanks to our sprinter Jeff "Hoppy" Hopkins. I made a few more changes, brought myself more upright, not the most aero, but I am getting much more power.

School is kicking my ass like no other right now. This weekend on the list are three article reviews, couple pages each, Research paper at 8 pages, I have to draw a map, study for two exams next week, do a 4 page Master plan outline, and read about 300 pages. Not joking! Will I get it all done, maybe? I have to train on top of that. It is going to be an epic one. Whatever, I have done it all before.

I have been feeling the altitude here a bit. Tonight, I had the blood taste in my mouth the whole time. I think a couple other guys went sub 20 minutes tonight. It is awesome to see Fort Lewis dudes, Joey Thompson and Chris Kuhl, crushing it in local events. Nice work, just need to apply that to the collegiate races. Well, that is enough updating for tonight, have to start the homework due tomorrow. Good night!

On the mend

2007-03-13T20:29:00.000-07:00

It was great to crash out in my own bed last night. I am still on the mend from the training camp and Fresno race. My bag is only partially unpacked as I am making space in my closet. Out with the old and in with the new. My bedroom looks like it did when I was 6 years old. Clothes everywhere, stuff hanging out of the drawers, duffelbags blown open, and the dirty laundry overflowing. It needs some serious work, but at this point I am thinking of putting everything in a pile and setting it on fire. Burn it out and start over.

I have a ton of schoolwork this week so it looks like I won't be going to Boulder to do a collegiate race. I had contemplated hitting it up for some more racing before Redlands, but it is just to short of a race to drive all the way up there and with to much school. I will stay here and do a Time Trial in the morning one day and head up to do some climbing later in the passes. Motor pacing a little behind the scooter which is always my favorite. Troy Wells is motorpacing me tomorrow morning at Bread. Should be a good session.

Well, I have to hit the pillow top mattress with the extra memory foam on top. Yeah, it is pretty plush. You have to recover as hard as you train, might as well go big for your sleep. Until next time.

Central Valley is in the bag.

2007-03-12T14:47:00.000-07:00

I just got back to Durango today, about 3 hours ago. Got off the airplane at 1:00 and went straight to my 2:00 class. Actually one of my professors was on the flight back from the Caribean. He looked like he had a better time than his students, maybe hitting the cans a little to hard there in the sunshine. I am going to take the old GT stead out for one last recovery ride to get the toxins out of me.

The last stage of Central Valley was uneventful. I don't know what it is about that course, but I couldn't do a damn thing on it yesterday. I kept hearing on the radio about my teammates up the road attacking covering moves, and I could barely keep the legs going. I was trying hard to get up there to the front, but being a bit rusty and not having the crit legs, I was a little weak to do anything. Towards the end of the crit I actually started to feel better and was moving up during the last three laps, but still, nothing for the teammates. I felt like an idiot. I like to do my job, and yesteday, I may as well have been out of the office for the day. All I did was ride around in circles. I didn't ever think about pulling the plug. I kept trying to get up there to help. It just wasn't happening.

My teammates where disapointed in me to say the least. I felt like I let them down, and I left them with a bad first impression at the first race of the season with them. That is not something I wanted to do at all. I just don't have any speed right now, the power at Threshold sucks, and my race tactics were not good. I am disapointed. Willo was pissed, rightfully so, for he and Shirley were doing a lot of the early work. So, it was rough to leave Fresno on a bad note.

I am hitting the TT bike the next two days. It is important that I find a good position where I can actually put out some power on the bike. I should have my training bike here soon, hopefully. Well, I have to go out for a spin to get the flight legs out of me. It is nice in Durango now, almost 70 degrees, just windy. Spring!

Wasted!

2007-03-10T13:02:00.001-08:00

This wino tried to give Willo a beer in this photo. They were messing with the guy. He thought the Aussies were cops because of the Aussie accent. Then he started talking like a pirate. Arrg matie! We was a wierd guy and sat down on the bench next to us talking to himself. Willo asked him "what time did you start hitting the cans today, and did you put it in your cereal?" The poor old tymer kept getting all crazy about Kangaroos in Australia. He said "Oh Australia, you have Kangaroos there huh?" Willo said "Yes, and we have tooth brushes to mate", because the old guy had no teeth. Every person that walked out of the store by the bench, the old guy kept saying, Aaarg Matie!

So I crept pretty slow in the TT today. It took me 5k to figure out where to sit on my tt bike. I have to ride that thing somemore. I am looking foreword to the crit tomorrow believe it or not. I am not a huge crit fan, but I am enjoying being back in the racing groove and it is going to be tough to head back to school on Monday. I fly into Durango and go straight to class. Then hit the homework pretty hard for a couple weeks and back out to Cali for Redlands. I should be going pretty descent by Redlands, then hopefully off to Tour de Georgia. Just have to make the cut. It is a tough cut to make.

I was talking to the mechanic tonight about yesteday when I had the mechanical. I was motor pacing back onto the group at 54mph. No wonder I was cracked when we hit the climb again. Just don't have that engine yet.

Mobile update, Post time trial.

2007-03-10T12:17:00.001-08:00

Mobile update, Post time trial. I rode like shit today. No excuses, just need some serious tt work. First 5k was epic, after that i went o.k.

Fresno Day 1: I blew up!

2007-03-09T20:58:00.000-08:00

Today was the first race of the season. I could definitely tell. It was a rolling course with some good climbing in it and a couple long fast descents. The team rode very well and we were in every move. The one move that would have gone with Trent Wilson, or the man they call Willow, we brought back as a team pretty quickly. We had to bring it back because once Trent had to go back to the car for bike trouble, we had no one in the break. I actually felt really strong for the first race of the season, but the power and race legs just weren't there today.

On the second lap after we pulled the move back I launched an attack at the bottom of a climb. I looked back and no one was there, then Colovita's Davide Fratini had bridged. I thought it would get brought back right away and I was suffering like a dog. Tim Johnson from Health net bridged across next. Tim is the best rider in the country right now so I thought it might actually stick. Soon there were about 15 guys in the lead break. Here I was launching an attack thinking it might help send one of my teammates once it got brought back. With less than one lap to go we go caught at the base of the long climb. Just before the catch some strong guys, Tim Johnson and Chris Baldwin attacked. I went with them but that was the dagger. We soon got caught by the field and I went right out the back door. It was all I could do to drag myself the last 20 miles to the finish line. The teammates did well though, Cesar is in 7th, Trent is in there and Tommy Nankervis (Nanny) is in the top group as well.

The race is still up for grabs tomorrow as the Time Trial is up next. I guesse that Cesar can throw down a good time trial. Hope to have a descent day myself, you never know with early season form though. More tomorrow.

Off toFresno........ The Central Valley

2007-03-08T11:04:00.001-08:00

Off toFresno........
The Central Valley Classic starts tomorrow with the Road race. I guess there is a 5 mile climb per lap, rip into it!

Landis

2007-03-06T08:37:00.001-08:00

I sent this photo during the ride the other day, but for some reason it didn't post. Floyd is a nice guy, not cocky, Hip is doing good he said.

San Dego Camp!

2007-03-05T21:36:00.000-08:00

How ya going mate!

2007-03-05T12:34:00.000-08:00

Jeff Hopkins putting out the Aussie vibe on the coast today. Hoppy is a former Worl Champion in the Kilo on the track. He tried to take me in the kom sprint. I let him have it. Rest days tomorrow, the Aussies are a rowdy bunch.

California Sunset.

2007-03-03T18:02:00.001-08:00

I am loving the mobile uptades. Look for mor on the training ride tomorrow. I forot to mention. OLN, now Versus is here and they have been filming all week for a documentury to air during the
Tour de France on Jittery Joe's . Pretty cool. Thanks for stopping in.

Mobile update!

2007-03-03T15:13:00.000-08:00

Checking to see if the mobile update is working. Today we rode down on the 101 along the coast. Unreal gorgeous! The ocean is incredibly beautiful and the beachesare nice. It was a bit windy today, so according to the Aussies on the team, the surfing wasn't looking so good. It is so nice here. Another note, I will be racing in Fresno next weekend at the Central Valley Classic. Am I ready, not quite but there is only one way to get ready I guesse. Go Kart racing at a serious track tonight. These things are for real. I am just livin the dream.

Another day at camp.

2007-03-03T09:01:00.000-08:00

Beautiful weather again in San Diego. 125 miles yesterday. Riding with Floy Landis tomorrow. Will be good to base an impression of meeting Floyd and talking to him ather than all the media, negative press. More later.

I am trying to get

2007-03-02T07:36:00.001-08:00

I am trying to get my mobile blogging going, should have some photos and updates live during camp. Be patient. Thanks.

Empty Message

2007-03-02T07:26:00.001-08:00

Empty Message

2007-03-02T07:12:00.001-08:00

Burning Chad

2007-02-27T09:47:00.000-08:00

I won't be able to make it because of training camp, but it looks like a blast! Chad Cheeny is getting hitched. Burning Chad is his bachelor party down in Sedona. Should be a great time for all. Chad's last stand as a free man.

Moab always delivers

2007-02-25T19:33:00.000-08:00

Rise and shine campers, don't forget your booties because it's cold out there!
Drop it like it's hot! Why is my tongue out?
Turned out to be a little more snow than expected on Porcupine Rim

Moab always delivers some kind of adventure. Last year I didn't get to ride my mountain bike that much. Going to Moab was definitely a test of the skills that I once had on the mountain bike. It was great to get back to my roots for the weekend and ride some epic classic mountain bike rides in Moab.

When we left on Friday it was dumping snow in Durango. About 12 miles out of Moab we ended up hitting some serious white out conditions. We couldn't see 10 feet in front of us and the roads were covered with snow. My brother and I thought for sure we would be turning right around and heading back. We woke up to snow.

We decided to roll into town from out camp at Behind the Rocks and get a cup of coffee. The sun came out blazing and there was no snow on the North end of town. We hit up a new ride on the way out to Sovereign trail and also some new trail to get out there called Bar M loop. It turned out to be a great ride and the sun was shining the whole time.

After the best sleep I have had in months in the Westy V-W, we hit it early today to get back to Durango at a good time. Zach and I decided to go for Porcupine Rim which we knew would be a little snowy and epic near the top in the shade of the North faces. Our approach was different as we took a new trail out on Sand Flats called Fin's N things. It turned out to be an awesome jeep trail that puts you right into the Porcupine Rim trail. The descent was a little hairy. Not only is Moab famous for very technical riding, dropping steep ledges with ice and snow was a bit more trying. My skills were a little off at first. When I came up to my first ledge, all of about 6 inches, I totally puckered and hit the brakes. Finally I got myself to get up the courage to drop the little ledge. It felt like I was base jumping or something, serious pucker factor!

I have two days of training in Durango and then I am off to San Diego for camp and to meet the team. I have been looking foreword to this coming week since I signed with Jittery Joe's. My future awaits me and I get a taste week of what is to come. Hopefully I also get a taste of some dang good coffee from Jittery.

Going for some Dirt!

2007-02-23T08:26:00.000-08:00

I did a ride yesterday that I haven't done in years with Troy Wells and Adam Snyder. Picked a couple of goof balls to ride with for the day and it was great. 55 degrees yesterday and today it is supposed to rain and snow. We did the Cherry Springs ride out on Red Mesa, a good dirt road ride that was pretty much dry for the most part.

The weather is supposed to be back to normal wintery conditions today with rain and snow. Tomorrow it is going to snow some more and Sunday it will be descent weather. I am going to bail out of town and head for Moab. Now is a good time to hit the dirt since it helps build good power, will be different than riding the same rides in Durango and the weather is always better in Moab this time of year. I will be going with just my brother so I won' have any dead weight to haul around this year like my roommate Raley in years past. Should have some pictures from the weekend.

Alright, gotta get out there before the wintery mix starts up. It is already clouding up and supposed to get crappy, I am outta here!

Wintery Mix

2007-02-21T16:14:00.000-08:00

First of I have to say something about the controversial stage one finish at the Tour of California. Something shady is going on??I can't believe they neutralized the race because of a crash so far from the finish. Crashes like that happen all the time. That is racing road racing when it gets hectic near the finish. Crashes in bigger races have happened just outside of 3K in huge races and were not neutralized. It seems a little shady. The fact that Levi was not in the yellow in his home state and the fact that a non pro tour team would be leading the race. I don't know if that is what it was, but it seems shady and I don't understand? Am I missing something? I feel bad for Ben Jaques Maines, a strong racer who should be in the jersey in my opinion. Levi is strong enough and his team is excellent a riding at the front and would have no problem getting the lead back. Strange decision I think?

The other day on my ride I got a taste of everything. Before I headed out I checked the weather and it said "Wintry Mix". I was wondering what a Wintery Mix was as I was riding in pure sunshine and 40 degrees. It didn't take long to find out that it was a taste of everything mother nature can throw at you. One minute the sun is shining and the next there was snow. Shortly after that it was pouring rain and 38 degrees. The wind picked up and the rain switched to sleet and then groppel. As I decided to cut the ride short and avoid Hypothermia and head back to the house the sun came back out. Toward the end of the ride there was lightning and thunder in town. Crazy weather.

I am starting to get bored with the training in Durango. I have been putting in allot of miles this year and hitting allot of the same roads. It has been pretty wet and the dirt roads have been kind of off limits because of the mud, unless you are Troy Wells the Thrasher who will ride anything on any bike even if it ruins it. Anyway, I have been having a hard time mixing it up lately and I am ready to get to some new riding in Southern California for a little change. Then I will be refreshed on the Durango training. Allot of it has to do with loggin miles in the cold. It is finally getting to me and I thought I would never be over the rides. When the dirt roads are bad, it is kind of hard to mix it up. They should be good tomorrow though, heading south and it is supposed to be 53. Finally!

As for the training, I have been hitting some transition this week an did a few short Threshold efforts today. I don't want to be to far of the back at team camp next week and it is time to start hitting it to get ready for Redlands which will be a stepping stone for Georgia. I do feel strong this year. Whish is great.

I killed my Midterm today. Now I am going to make a great dinner and finish up some work, maybe head to Moab for some MTB action if the weather is bad here. Will be fun to hit the dirt. More later!

Throwdown Session!

2007-02-18T18:34:00.000-08:00

Today was the first little test of the season as I hit up the annual Sunday ,Durango showdown throwdown. I am starting to dabble into the suffering a little. I am always dragging a tad coming out of base and today hurt. It was a beautiful day and the warmer temps are starting to show.

The group left from Bread and kept it neutral over the top of Edgemont. The usual route to Vallecito and back. Two sprints, one at Vallecito and the other at Edgemont on the way in. Dan Bowman came out to turn the srews on all of us and to make sure we had our share of punisment by the end of the ride. In the end, Dan killed me up to the dam as I got gapped out before the sprint. I got him on Edgemont though, HA ha! So we are even so far. I am very pleased with the way my form is coming along and I felt very strong for not doing much intensity yet. Signs of good things to come.

Yesterday we got pulled over by a State Trooper. The guy was a total idiot. He was so unprofessional and didn't say why we were being pulled over. He yelled at me "you go, get out of here" . I looked into his beady little rat eyes, totally confused. What the hell is he talking about? "Go now" he said. I left and he let Bowman, Lee Rosenthol, and an FLC kid named Allister. Anyway, the rest of the group including the Chocolate Factory boys, Wilk and Grant Berry all received tickets for being over the white line and riding double. I can see riding double, but over the white line? Also, the law says you can ride double under certain circumstances. I am a little confused about the law. I better check into it before the State Trooper from Bayfield, who looks like Hitler, yes he looked like Hitler, gets hold of me.

Dan Bowman's quote of the day regarding Assof and Yordan from Israel. They are attending the Fort and racing for the team. He asked me " So where are all these Israeli kids coming from? Uhhhh?? "Israel Dan!

Given'er!

2007-02-16T06:27:00.000-08:00

I have been way to busy to update the site lately. I am also a little burned out on updating this thing and until I get my camera fixed, it is boring without pictures. I have been given'er with the training. I just finished base adn took 3 days off the bike. That actually worked me over. I tried to do some transition the first day I was back and it was not happening. THe legs just weren't there. I have been doing Yoga to help me structurally and to give me more core strength. It is funny how old ladies in the class are doing head stands and I can't even stay upright while using the wall.
I am getting excited to go to San Diego for spring trainign camp and to meet the rest of the team. They will be racing in Fresno. The race in not my style so I opted out and will be doing Redlands instead to prepare for Georgia. Nothing like getting thrown into the fire at Redlands. I should be going o.k. by then with a month of harder training under me.
With Jittery Joe's we didn't get a addle sponsor this season. I am officially sponsored by Specialized Saddles as of today. They are very nice and comfy, and super light, so I am excited. Thanks to Overend for making it happen. www.specialized.com. I will put up a link to just the saddles later. That is all for now. More excitement later.

Wild Cats!

2007-01-30T19:51:00.000-08:00

I have been off the back in the updating of the website. I have to be honest, after having this site for over 5 years it is getting a little old. My camera is still out of commission and I don't want to have to bit the bullet to purchase a new one. They are expensive! You will have to be satistfied with the brilliant writing skills.

Here it is to sum up what has been happening lately: On my ride last week I saw a Lynx or a Bobcat, one of the two. This cat had a wierd tale and the ears were also strange. THe cat was no bigger than a small dog, I would say about 45-50 pounds, okay a middle sized dog. It was feasting on an elk on the side of the road. It took off when it saw my brother and I taking notice of it and scampered quickly up the hill. It blended in perfectly to the surroundings. It was pretty cool. I have not seen a cat in the wild.

The training has been going very well. I am much more fit than I was last year at this time. I am not peaking or anything, thanfully,but my overall base fitness is finally there. I haven't put in a good base in years. I am ready to be done, but happy to be logging some miles on the bike.

It is official, I will be doing the Tour de Georgia in April. I am super excited and motivated. I hope to have a good ride there and help my team out as much as I can. My tune up before Georgia will be Redlands. TO get ready I will probably have to do some local races as well in New Mexico and other surrounding local series races.

Snowdown is this weekend, I am going to keep it chill. The theme this year is Pirate. It is alright, but everyone is going to be wearing and eypatch, a sword, a bandana and a puffy shirt. I might dress up as a parot and have my roommate carry me around on his shoulders. Raley is in town as well, so watch out people!

That's really about it. I will try to update this more often with some pictures.

Enjoying my Rest week!

2007-01-19T15:22:00.000-08:00

The question I have for you is how many people can you fit into a Ford Expedition? Well apparantly at least 14 people. My roommate, who is a police officer, made a routine traffic stop the other night on the highway through town. As he aproached the vehicle he noticed the car was sagging. He opened the door and low and behold, 14 illegal imigrants crammed in there. Not one of them spoke a word of english. They were peeing in a gas can so they didn't have to get out and be seen. Crazy story and they are now on thier way back to Mexico. I guess they were heading to Kansas for work.

I have been enjoying my rest week. It was much needed after the large Tuscon training block and the week after it. I have been skate skiing and riding a little all week. I have also been hitting up the local pint nights. I don't know what it is about beer, as you get older, you really start to enjoy beer. I used to hate it! I think I have a new disorder. I call it Althetic Induced Seasonal Alcoholism, or for short you can call it AISA. I am working on a pill that you can take to curb your seasonal drinking since there is a pill for everything else these days.

Congratulations to Troy Wells for breaking his wrap eating record. 6 wraps in like 27 minutes or something like that. I could probably do 4, but not six. He just came over after eating them all and said "I feel drunk". I guess that is what six wraps will do to you.

Well, I have to get my cowboy boots out. Cowboy up for cowboy night. No I am not a cowboy, but it is damn fun going to the cowboy bars all dressed up like an idiot cowboy. Some bright colored shirt and some super tight wrangelr polyester pants. Big old water'n hole hat, and the belt buckle as big as a trash can lid. Last day of the rest week, got to do it up right, bag on the wagon soon! Giddy up!

Back in Durango!

2007-01-13T10:32:00.000-08:00

I am back in Durango and back to shool. It is going well so far and one week is down. The training has been going great up until today when we received about 6 inches of new snow. I am thinking about throwing the cross tires on, but instead I will probably head up to Vaellcito lake to do some Skate Skiing. I even went out and got schnoquered last night at the local watering hole Joel's. The beer flows like wine down there and it ended up being a long night. Good times though and when you know it is going to be snowing all day and riding is limited, might as well throw down some booze and get the central nervous system firing again. I even managed to embarrass myself on the dance floor at the Lost Dog. I was out there carving moves on the dance floor with the white man overbite, pumping fists and shaking it all night long. Hung Over! Whatever, it was good training of the liver and you have to do it sometimes. I snuck out of the Lost Dog without getting in a fight or stabbed. It pays to have a cop for a roommate and I was rolling with him and some of his police buddies.

I went and saw the movie " Blood Diamond". It was o.k. except Leo's fake accent and it was a little predictable and cleiche. The name of the movie sounds lame too. Blood Diamond. It sounds like the movie Death Blow that Jerry films and bootlegs in that classic Sienfeld episode.

Well I am off to go crush myself out in the snow on the Nordic skiis. Should be a good time and I am sure all of Durango will be up there. I almost raced at the Nordic center at Purg, just to hung to make it out the door. Later!

Soaking up the sunshine in Tucson

2007-01-03T16:27:00.000-08:00

I am down in Tuscon with some of the Durango crew. I haven't been down here for about 4 years and the last time I was here it was with Kristen and Tom Danielson. That year we stayed at the Studio 6 and I guess it is kind of shady. Methlabs get busted their every night because all the rooms have kitchens so people get a room and make fried chicken and Meth. I came down with Alex Hagman and poached some floor space at the TargeTraining base camp with Crawford and Dicy Dub.

We had some lodging lined up, but it kind of fell through. Luckily some of the University of Arizona cycling team members hooked us up with some beds and we have a nice crib to hang out in for the rest of the week and aren't blowing a bunch of cash on a lame hotel room. We also have daily ride guides to show us the good riding. It is working out well so far.

I went to a local shop today and ran into Phil Zijacek. I can't spell his name. Anyway, he is already motor pacing and getting ready for the Tour of California. He wants to crack into the top 10. I heard he moved to Boulder as well. Another Boulder millionair. Dawg.

My camera is still broken so I have no photos. The weather is perfect here in Tucson and I can see why people move down here for the winter months. It is about 65 degrees during the days when we ride. In the summer though it is pure misery reaching 120 degrees!

I will throw out another update later that isn't so lame. The training is going well though now. Finally got my shit together and am on track. School starts next week. Get er donE!

Base Miles....Skiing!

2006-12-31T07:03:00.000-08:00

I have the Holiday Blues right now where all I want to do is relax, eat, and not do much at all. I go through this every year about this time when Base starts. I get burned on the fact that I have to log all those long slow hours in the snow and cold. I get bored with base so quickly every year. I am already thinking about only doing one month of solid base before I start hitting it hard. It is to early.

We have been getting so much snow lately in Durango that is has been hard to ride. I have been doing allot of Nordic Skiing and even thought about going back to racing. I haven't done a skate ski race in about 8 years. There are a ton of really good skiers and I would get crushed, but it would be fun to give it a go.

I went up to see my family in Idaho for Christmas. I think the sun was out for one day out of the six days that I was home. They don't plow the roads in Idaho so you are on your own when it comes to driving around town or getting out for a ride on the raods. I forget how backwoods it is in Idaho. Crazy up there in polygamy country.

I am ready to get back in the groove of school and try to get' er done this next semester. I have some photos to post, but hte camera is not functioning properly. It is a Canon so imagine that. I am trying to get a mountain bike together so that I can do some training on the dirt this witner and spring as well and am thinking about doing the first NORBA National if it doesn't conflict with any big road races that Jittery Joe's might want me to do. Anyway, lame updates, I am kind of over the site. I will get some pics up soon and some more entertainment.

No Cross Nats for me

2006-12-14T14:16:00.000-08:00

Bike Polo pretty much explains all of the bike related activities I have been doing. I have been playing Bike Polo at least once a week and look foreword to it every weekend. I have only played 4 times in my life and already I feel like I am getting pretty good. Although yesterday's game I was having issues. At one point I went to hit the ball and my mallet went into my spokes flipping me over the bars. Brenden Vahey ( above Left) went over the bars twice trying to use his front brake instead of his rear.

So the cat is out of the bag now. I won't be in Providence at Cyclocross Nationals. The reason: I want to have enough time to rest up and be ready for a good road season. I am bummed that I won't be attending nationals, and for the first time in three years it looks as though it is going to be good weather wich is always a good advantage for me. I have never raced a nationals in good weather. I think I am making the right decision in my preparations for the best racing year of my life. I have big goals this upcoming season, and skipping nationals to start my base training a month earlier is going to set me up well.

I got my "Free Sager" wrist bands last night from the Real Joey Thompson. I will be rocking those during every event until Sager's stupid sentancing is upheld. I finished finals today and will be hitting base next week. More later

Blue Steel, Le Tigra...Magnum! Backcountry Glamour

2006-12-03T08:41:00.000-08:00

Stelicom USGP #5 Tacoma, WA 9th place
Start of Stelicom in, and off the back already!

I have taken some time off the bike lately in preparation for the 07 season on the road. I will be starting base a little earlier than my norm and taking a good break. All this in hopes of tearing off legs in Georgia. I am still trying to figure out how I am going to pull of Georgia since it lands on my last week of school. My professors are all awesome, so I am sure it is something I can manage.

This past week I have been practicing my male modeling on top of Molass Pass in sub zero temperatures. My roommate, Jay "crash" Rush, and I did a winter camping photo shoot for the Sierra Designs website. They sent the photographer a bunch os super nice winter gear. Everything from hats, gloves, to long undies and tents sleeping bags. Good thing they sent huge down parkas and warm ski pants. The gear was super nice.

The first time we went up it was definitely a winter camping scene. I felt like I was trying to camp out on the summit of Everest. It was so freaking cold already at a few degrees below zero, and then add the wind chill and it was unpleasantly cold. The gear was warm though but I had to change a couple times and act like it wasn't that cold out. There were some shot's were the snow was blowing so hard that we weren't even in the photo because it was a white out about 10 feet from the camera. Epic! So they got their winter camping scene.

We had to go back up on Friday and redo the camping scene all over. This time it was all sunshine and a heat wave at 15 degrees. It was great though with the sun out and was much warmer and a ton of fun. The pictures turned out good and my modeling skills were ten times better. I did crack once at the end of the shoot when it was dark and I was sitting around the camp kitchen. Jay and I were doing a fake study of the map with our headlamps on. The photographer, Chris Giles, told me to look at Jay. I looked over at him and just started laughing. I couldn't stop laughing for the next 10 shots because the scene was so Broke Back Mountain. I was cracked. Finally, I regained my composure to finish the shots.

Got some good gear coming out of the photo shoot. It was well earned after risking my life at near death freezing temperatures. Only two weeks of school left in the semester. I am looking foreword to a break and possibly heading south to some warm training weather. Today I have to get ready for a mean game of Bike Polo. If you haven't played, you should check it out. It is a blast. Until next time!

As if there were any doubts..Clean!

2006-11-26T10:01:00.000-08:00

Police Brutality-Officer J Dangle from Reno 911 and co worker!
Working on the Biomechanical Leg: It jumped 20" and landed!
Clean as a whistle!

I got my USADA letter the other day with the results from Gloucester. Negative! Bart Gillespie is going to get a suspension for not showing up at the Drug Testing at this event. It is lame because no one grabbed him at the finish of the race to tell him he had the random. The other lame thing is he actuall asked the USADA person if he had been selected. They said no, so he took off, then they posted his number up on the board. It is a bunch of shit. I would have missed my test had someone not been there at the finish with a lasso to rope me over. Sager is currently battling with USADA for a suspension given to him for the same reason. He missed a test at a race he dropped out of. They say it is your responsibility which is legit I guess but it should be a combined effort by the USADA people and not just your responsibility. The even lamer thing is when you are on a suspension they will still show up at your house and test you. Half the guys that are suspended don't even want to race after all that bullshit. But USADA still wastes money to go and test guys that are retired. Seems a little counter productive. Just my thoughts. Sager, Jimi Mortenson, Cale Redpath, and Bart Gillespie have all taut me a valuable lessons. Don't count on USADA having thier shit together!

My Turkey Day was great! I have been on break for the last week and today is my last day before going back to the books daily. I have been working on the Biomechanical Leg project with Rick Wetherald. It has to jump and land. Can't weigh over 5 lbs-6lbs and has to land in a 12" corridor. It is crazy how difficult is to make a leg.

I put the Shriver Cross race on yesterday at the college. Overend took it! I am on a little break becasue I have been sick as a dog. I am over it now though. Caught a nasty cold after the Seattle races. None of the guns showed up to race, just to watch.

The weather here in Durango has been unreal. 50 degrees and pure sunshine. It is November and the mountian biking is the best that it has been all year. I only wish I had a mtb bike to get out there and giver on the trails.

So that is pretty much it for me. I am getting excited about next year already. Jittery Joe's stuff will be on the way soon. If you see a guy out there in Orange and Black, that is me. Tour de Georgia is going to be my biggest goal of the season I think and hopefully I can keep it all rolling from there. I am looking foreword to racing the road again already. Thanks for stopping in!

Knapp Time- USGP 5 & 6

2006-11-18T19:54:00.000-08:00

Wow! Lame on the updates, the site was down. How are all the race fans supposed to know what the Hero, me, is up to! Well I will tell you. After paying $90, (cha-ching) to get the site back up and running people better start hitting this thing more. Sorry for the lack of photos, I have been to lazy this week to haul the 8 pound digital camera I have that is only like 3 mega pixels around.

I am in Seattle right now racing the USGP's of cross. Luckily Kona riders are everywhere and I am staying with the Knapp's. Dale and Ann Knapp live right on the Puget Sound in Des Moines, Washington. The water is so close that I could toss a quarter in it. It is pretty awesome. Dale killed it in his race and was sprinting for the win, it was Knapp time all day!

Anyway, Last weekend was the Colorado State Championships in Durango at FLC. I helped organize and put on the race with Dave Hagen. It was a ton of work to get the ball rolling and everything organized. The course was awesome, the racer turnout not so awesome. The fans were great though and we had a huge turnout because the soccre team was having a tournament and all the Hooligans came over to the beer tent to continue punishing their livers while we punished or entire bodies on the course.

I ended up staying away from the Wells brothers because Todd decided to do a crank-grind on the concrete stairs run up in the ampatheater of the course. Note to self-"Don't smash $500 cranks on the edge of concrete stairs" end note to self. I stayed away mad some sweet moola with uncle rico and had a good time at the party at Steamworks. I was to cracked to head out to the Dawg and dance the night away. Todd's wife meg was buying Tequila Shot's that was my cue to get on outta there ASAP. I'll do one! I'll do one turned into a couple.

I just got back from the 5th round of the USGP Cross races here in Seattle/Tacoma. Thank god it wasn't raining. I am already cracked, rain will just crack me some more. I don't know what is going on with the UCI points this year. I have been doing pretty well and still I am in the 3rd row. Even Horner got called up before me, WHAT???? So Horner totally botched the start today and I ended up losing like 30 spots right from the get go and had to work my way back up through the field again. Made it up to a group of 10 on the 2nd lap that was the chase group. The run up today was 80 meters long and was the UCI limit. We did it 9 times and it was so steep and loose. The last lap I was chasing McCormack and trying to catch him on the run up. For the first time in my life I was going so hard that at the top of the run up I couldn't feel my arms and my vision was going. The walls were closing in on me. I couldn't catch McCormack. Adam Craig caught me again in the corners. That guy is so freaking fast in the turns. Luckily I saved some of the Shriver Surge for the end and Adam wasn't ready for it. I gave it to him for 9th. I don't think he even cared.

Tomorrow is the last round of the USGP of Cyclocrss series in Portland. It is supposed to rain so it should be nice and sloppy. Sweet for packing the bikes for the 6 am flight out in the morning. Wish me luck! As Dave Towle would say, "there is a 90% chance of rain and a 100% chance of pain".

USGP #4, South Boulder-8th

2006-11-06T14:37:00.000-08:00

More Photos of day 3 at the USGP#3
The barriers hurt!

Coming through the pits!

Well I had another good ride yesterday and it was a surprise. I started 3rd row this time around for some reason. I lined up behind the Danish thinking he would have a great start since he is a National champion. Well the gun went off and his chain snapped right as he tried to go, that left me at a stand still and I had to hesitate and move around him. Immediately I lost some serious spots. I was running about top 25 on the first lap with 24 fast guys in front of me. I was sluggish to get going and wasn't feeling the duffer at all. I didn't really lose many spots, but I wasn't going anywhere fast. I was just trying to hang on with what I had. Halfway through the race I was shaking my head thinking it was a crap day. About this same time I started to pass guys. Soon I found myself in the top 15. Riders were going backwards and I was getting faster with each lap. At least I was maintaining my speed. I caught and passed Chris Horner, Ben Jaques Maynes, Troy Wells, Joey Thompson, John Baker, Doug Swanson, and Anthony Colby. The course was difficult and took its toll on the racers. The sandpit was were I was actually making time. I would ride the first half and jog the second half. It was about the same speed as riding it, just less energy. Instead of being totally gassed out of the sand I could get back on the bike and hit the gas out of the next corner. I would make big time in this section. On the last lap I was sitting in 10th, Baker and Swanson were still there. I hit it hard up the climb and gapped out Baker just a little. Then I hit it again on the flat section before the sand and again out of the sand pit. I was trying to get rid of those guys and going so hard that I almost caught the next two riders in one lap. Carl Decker (Giant) and Jeremy Powers (Jelly Bellly). I think the strategy of not starting to hard paid off. I just wish I could have had another 30 seconds, I may have been able to get up there with Powers and give it a go.

I have only 3 cross races yet. I am planning on skipping Nationals this year. I need to be ready for the road season. Although all this good racing makes me want to go to nationals. We will see how Portland and Tacoma go in a couple of weeks. Once again the offer is on the table to go to Europe and race with the US team in the cross world cups and then worlds. I wish I could go and I really want to do it someday, but it just doesn't work with the road scene. It would be fund to do Worlds this year because they are in the Netherlands which means they would be bigger and crazier than the Super Bowl.

This weekend I am helping put on the Colorado State Cyclocross Championships. We had the course all dialed in but have to move it now because there is going to be a Soccer tournament. I actually think it will help us make a new sweet course that has never been raced before. I have some good ideas, I just hope everyone else likes them. Lots of racing in the quad near the clocktower. Bring your A-game!

This weekend

USGP #3 Boulder Top 10

2006-11-04T16:54:00.000-08:00

The log carry, this hurt!
The Cref boys hitting the barrier section!

Another epic day of cross racing in Boulder. The conditions were awesome considering I love the fair weather racing. It was about 55 degrees and cloudy, nice! The course was great and very challenging. The fans were awesome and it was a good change to race out in the west instead of the east. People were all over the course screaming for me. Thanks for all the support, it definitely made me force myself into the hurt locker a bit further.

Down to the race action. I started second row and it was a fast and sketchy start on the pavement and shot into a off camber technical dirt sidehill. I sat in about 15th for awhile and moved up throughout the race. All day I found myself with Erik Tonkin, the caveman, again! Andy Jaques Maines came out of the front group and was battling with Tonkin and myself. I think the highest I made it in the field was 8th and it hurt. Coming down to the end I hit it hard on a little climb. Tonkin came off and it was Jaques Maniac and myself. I was in the front though and new he would gun me in the sprint. I kept slowing down trying to get me to come around, but his is a grizzled veteran and knew to well what I was doing. I had to lead out the sprint and it wasn't much of one as he crushed me. I ened up 10th on the day! I am pretty happy with that.

Huge props out the the rest of the D-town crowd. Todd Wells needs to work on his sprint as he got pimped at the line by jeremy powers for 3rd. Anthony Colby had a slow start and came on stong and finished 15th. Troy Wells has been training his brains out but hung in there until the last lap and slid to 25th. The biggest new was the real Joey Thompson finishing 13th and starting in the 6th row. Moving through people like they were out on a Sunday ride sniffing the flowers.

It was a good day, time to rest up for tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for screaming for me. I better see you all out there again tomorrow. Until next time.