This past weekend we had a couple nice criterium's in Dayton Ohio. Its nice to have some nice races close to home and get to sleep in my own bed every night.
Saturday was the Troy Classic in Dayton, Ohio. Super cool course that was flat with a bunch of turns and a cool round-about to the finish. Kenda was 5 strong: myself, Chad B., Ben Renkema, Tim Swain, and Jim B. Roadhouse had a good team present and Panther had about 10 guys. We tried to ride super aggressive and put 2-3 guys in every move. Eventually Jim and Ben made the decisive move and we were good to go.. at least we thought. As we were patrolling the front we saw both our boys coming back to us... PANIC! Chad and I chased our tails off and got it close but could not bring it back. 3 guys stayed off in the end and I gave it a go but didn't have much legs left after chasing. Was 6th in the end.
Sunday was another cool crit with a bunch of turns and a brick section. We had a bit of a change up in our line-up: myself, Chad B., Tim Swain, Ben, Jake, and Braum were here to mix it up. We came up with a new game plan as things just weren't working with our current way of racing. So we said what the hell. Our plan worked great and in the end we lined it up for a field sprint. We wanted to get Chad, myself, and Ben into the 2nd to last corner on the front.. we thought there is no way we can lose if we do this correct. We lined it up great with 5 laps to go and stuck together great. Jake hit out on the last lap and had Chad, myself, and Ben in tow. The last 2 turns were more like 1 big turn then like 400 meters to the line. Chad hit out going into the 2nd to last turn with myself then Ben. I am licking my lips as I feel great and have the perfect lead out and then.... man down! Chad leads us into the corner and must of hit something in the road as his bike just went out from under him. I slid around him and managed to stay upright but was up on the sidewalk and Ben went down with Chad. Game over. Frustrated day as I believe we woulda been 1-2 but that's racing. The good news is that we rode great as a team and our lead out finally got together. This is great news with some big races coming up.
I am in the homestretch now with big events every weekend and Nationals 4 weeks away. This weekend we are in Chicago for a big show. Chicago Criterium and $25,000 prize list. Lets get some!!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Tour of the Valley
Last weekend was a pretty cool 3 day event in Youngstown, OH. It had a TT, crit, rr, and another crit. I of course skipped the TT mostly because it started super early in the morning and I woulda had to spend another day on the road to do it. Plus I didn't see anywhere that you had to start every stage to be in contention for the overall - more on that later.
The 1st crit was tough with 6 Jittery guys and a ton of Panther guys.. like 8 I think. And I was the lone Kenda rider. I was feeling good and just tried to cover and go across to as many breaks as I could. It was tough b/c every break seemed to have 2 Jittery and 2 Panther in it. I made the decisive move but with 5 laps to go a Panther and Jittery guy got away from me. The rest of us looked at each other and ended up getting caught. A couple more got away and I held on for 7th.
The road race the was absolutely brutal.. at least for me. Over 4000 feet of climbing in 65 miles with a 2 mile climb along the way. I was hoping I could get away early to make the hill easier but I tried and it failed. I was in a group that got caught right at the bottom of the 1st climb but I managed to suffer over that one... The next one I was not so lucky. I lost contact about a kilometer from the top and as I got over the top I almost turned around.. but I thought, ah I'll give it a dig and see if I can catch on. My legs were going good over the rollers and I caught on and suffered through a really hilly section. As it flattened out I attacked again up to a little group and soon we were 7. We started working pretty well and all the sudden we had a minute. I was actually just hoping to get back to the town but we had 2 minutes coming through town.. but with 33 miles to go. We kept working well and ended up staying away the whole race. With about 5 miles to go we split as the official was talking to us.. All the sudden 3 guys were up the road. My legs were on the verge of cramping as we had no feeds but I tried to close it. In the end we worked hard to stay away and I was 5th on the day. Nice ride boys! You know who you are! Needless to say I was pretty wrecked after that one.
The last day was pretty much of the same. I went with moves but missed the winning break and was 10th on the day.
All in all I ended up 8th overall.. even after a "certain rider" protested to get me out of the GC. But the race was done on points and said nothing in the bible about having to start each day. So I protested and proved my point correctly. So in the end I was back in the overall at 8th. Not that I really cared to much about 8th but it was more to prove I was right and YOU were wrong! haha...
This was a super cool race especially for the 1st year.. will be a big one and looking forward to it already next year... check it out at Tour of the Valley.
A couple nice regional races this weekend with good fields. My fitness is right on track for the big races coming up so I'm super stoked about that. Looking forward to riding with the team this weekend and doing some damage.
Here are some pics from the weekend:
Hard to shake the Panther boys...
The 1st crit was tough with 6 Jittery guys and a ton of Panther guys.. like 8 I think. And I was the lone Kenda rider. I was feeling good and just tried to cover and go across to as many breaks as I could. It was tough b/c every break seemed to have 2 Jittery and 2 Panther in it. I made the decisive move but with 5 laps to go a Panther and Jittery guy got away from me. The rest of us looked at each other and ended up getting caught. A couple more got away and I held on for 7th.
The road race the was absolutely brutal.. at least for me. Over 4000 feet of climbing in 65 miles with a 2 mile climb along the way. I was hoping I could get away early to make the hill easier but I tried and it failed. I was in a group that got caught right at the bottom of the 1st climb but I managed to suffer over that one... The next one I was not so lucky. I lost contact about a kilometer from the top and as I got over the top I almost turned around.. but I thought, ah I'll give it a dig and see if I can catch on. My legs were going good over the rollers and I caught on and suffered through a really hilly section. As it flattened out I attacked again up to a little group and soon we were 7. We started working pretty well and all the sudden we had a minute. I was actually just hoping to get back to the town but we had 2 minutes coming through town.. but with 33 miles to go. We kept working well and ended up staying away the whole race. With about 5 miles to go we split as the official was talking to us.. All the sudden 3 guys were up the road. My legs were on the verge of cramping as we had no feeds but I tried to close it. In the end we worked hard to stay away and I was 5th on the day. Nice ride boys! You know who you are! Needless to say I was pretty wrecked after that one.
The last day was pretty much of the same. I went with moves but missed the winning break and was 10th on the day.
All in all I ended up 8th overall.. even after a "certain rider" protested to get me out of the GC. But the race was done on points and said nothing in the bible about having to start each day. So I protested and proved my point correctly. So in the end I was back in the overall at 8th. Not that I really cared to much about 8th but it was more to prove I was right and YOU were wrong! haha...
This was a super cool race especially for the 1st year.. will be a big one and looking forward to it already next year... check it out at Tour of the Valley.
A couple nice regional races this weekend with good fields. My fitness is right on track for the big races coming up so I'm super stoked about that. Looking forward to riding with the team this weekend and doing some damage.
Here are some pics from the weekend:
Hard to shake the Panther boys...
Thursday, July 9, 2009
2nd place!! again...
Last weekend I traveled down to Louisville to compete in the Master 30-34 National Criterium Championship. Tara joined me and we made a nice little weekend out of it. I also got to catch up with a ton of old friends which is always nice.
This was a bit of a last second thing for me so I needed to get down there and register the night before. USA Cycling decided it was so hard to do race day registration that they doubled the entry fee. Not to mention that it is ridiculous to begin with that the entry was $65 and no prize money.. Yep, they charged me $130 to register... If anyone can come up with a good reason for doubling an already ridiculous entry fee I would love to hear it.
Anyway, onto the race... It was 66 laps of fun on a quick little course at Churchill Downs. Same course as last year so I was looking forward to it. The weather turned crap the morning of and by the time I raced it was pouring down rain. The interesting part was I was riding some prototype Kenda's and I had never ridden them in the rain. Of course I had complete faith in them but I needed some piece of mind so I found a nice neighborhood and bombed some corners to get a feel for them.. figured it was better to crash before the race then in it.. But of course the tires were better then I thought and I was basically glued to the road.
So the race started super fast as a handful of us were drilling it at the front trying to get rid of the dead weight. A few breaks went here and there and I was having to do a lot more work than I was hoping but no big deal. Pretty hard race and everyone road super aggressive but in the end it came down to about 10 of us. I sat 2nd wheel for most of the last 10 laps and reacted to every attack. With 1 to go I was still 2nd wheel and on the backstretch a guy jumped from behind. Was straight onto him and exactly where I wanted to be. Through turn 3 and into the last turn the guy decides to pussy foot around the corner and in my head I'm thinking if someone has a run on us I'm in trouble. Sure enough the masters world TT champ who had been ripping my legs off all night got a run on us. He went right and I went left and with only 150 meters to go I closed the gap to him but didn't get around him. They gave us the same exact time and went to the film and he had won it by inches. Never did get to see the tape but def would like to see how close it was.
All in all it was a good race and the fitness is on the rise for the rest of the season. That's 3 silver medals at National Championships now... What do I need to take it up a notch?? Back to the drawing board, coach and I will find it... I"m sure of that.
Good little stage race this weekend that I am using for training so that should be a fun one. 2 crits and a road race. I will keep you updated.
And thanks for all the notes on my 2nd. Its a tough one but you guys all make it a bit easier with your kind words....
much love
m@
This was a bit of a last second thing for me so I needed to get down there and register the night before. USA Cycling decided it was so hard to do race day registration that they doubled the entry fee. Not to mention that it is ridiculous to begin with that the entry was $65 and no prize money.. Yep, they charged me $130 to register... If anyone can come up with a good reason for doubling an already ridiculous entry fee I would love to hear it.
Anyway, onto the race... It was 66 laps of fun on a quick little course at Churchill Downs. Same course as last year so I was looking forward to it. The weather turned crap the morning of and by the time I raced it was pouring down rain. The interesting part was I was riding some prototype Kenda's and I had never ridden them in the rain. Of course I had complete faith in them but I needed some piece of mind so I found a nice neighborhood and bombed some corners to get a feel for them.. figured it was better to crash before the race then in it.. But of course the tires were better then I thought and I was basically glued to the road.
So the race started super fast as a handful of us were drilling it at the front trying to get rid of the dead weight. A few breaks went here and there and I was having to do a lot more work than I was hoping but no big deal. Pretty hard race and everyone road super aggressive but in the end it came down to about 10 of us. I sat 2nd wheel for most of the last 10 laps and reacted to every attack. With 1 to go I was still 2nd wheel and on the backstretch a guy jumped from behind. Was straight onto him and exactly where I wanted to be. Through turn 3 and into the last turn the guy decides to pussy foot around the corner and in my head I'm thinking if someone has a run on us I'm in trouble. Sure enough the masters world TT champ who had been ripping my legs off all night got a run on us. He went right and I went left and with only 150 meters to go I closed the gap to him but didn't get around him. They gave us the same exact time and went to the film and he had won it by inches. Never did get to see the tape but def would like to see how close it was.
All in all it was a good race and the fitness is on the rise for the rest of the season. That's 3 silver medals at National Championships now... What do I need to take it up a notch?? Back to the drawing board, coach and I will find it... I"m sure of that.
Good little stage race this weekend that I am using for training so that should be a fun one. 2 crits and a road race. I will keep you updated.
And thanks for all the notes on my 2nd. Its a tough one but you guys all make it a bit easier with your kind words....
much love
m@
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