Poor Blog, I've neglected you so...

Ha Ha whoops, 8 months since the last update. Slacker. We'll the road season came and went without much to report. Injury in the pre-season left me even more underpowered and out gunned than normal. I decided to build up a cross bike to try my had at the sufferfest know as cyclocross but the results were similar. Poor form and no bike handling skill equals a whole lotta frustration on my part.Don't get me wrong, cross is fantastic. The suffering is magnificent, the riding sketchy and on the edge and I love it! The racing on the other hand is uber is the frustrating part. Lining up againt guys you know couldn't even hold your wheel on the road and watching them just ride away then the bitter resentment when you see them again as they lap you while you are giving it 100% and not accomplishing squat. Arg. Glad the cross season is so short and I got that out of my system which brings me to the revival of the blog. 2011 road season is just around the corner.

I am staying with Clif Bar for another season(mainly cause no one else wants me :) ) and we have expanded the roster slightly while loosing a couple of great riders. Crazy tape Joe moved on and Nate Freed joined the newly formed Tahoe super squad which I don't think had a name yet. They are going to be Yahoo? esque in horepower and will hopefully do big things this year. As for us we are a crit team and look to remain that way this year.

New sponsors:
Cannondale (wohoo good bikes finally)
Easton (Wheels, bars, stem, post)
Bell (helmets)
Sram (group)
Capoforma (nicest damn kits out there)

enough for now, don't want to peak to soon. I'll try to actually update this thing more often now.

More recaps.

UNR crit:
Cold and a small field meant the only logical thing to do was attack from the gun to get a good warm up. I did and my teammates covered. Texas Kurt came with and we settled into a nice 50 minute TTT and easily stayed away for the duration. Awesome to have a breakaway companion that you know and won't screw you over so you can settle in and just do work. I took the win and 4 upgrade points. joe finished it off with 3rd and Nate 5th. Clif stomp.


Apple Pie crit:
Was set to do the e2 and p/1/2/3 but after a rainy 2 race I went home. The race was dry for the first half but about 20 minute to go it started pouring. Riders were senselessly aggressive cornering sharp on the inside and over the paint in the wet, stupid. I spent a ton of energy staying 4 wheel for the last couple laps but couldn't get my legs to work in the sprint and suffered in for 6th with JOe just in front of me for 5th.
(funny, it looks dry in the pic)

Slow and steady progress

So with another weekend of racing in the books it is time for a blog entry. This weekend was the Sac golden wheelmen's races Bariani and Land Park.

Bariani 30+123

This was my first master's race and I did not enjoy it, no aggression. I know a lack of aggression sounds like a good thing but in this instance it isn't. The course is mostly flat with a couple rollers but nothing large enough to break up the very large 100 rider field. Typically at this race there is rippin winds that turn it into a gutter-fest and break the group into a couple small packs. Zero wind this day though. We had 5 guys in the race and all took turns trying to get off the front but each time several guys would make the effort to get to you/go with you but that was all. They would just look around slightly out of place wondering what was going on. No aggression to make something work. The race was single lane most of the way and in the pack people were twitchy and sketchy. It came down to a sprint and a couple crashes, no bueno.

Land park crit
30+
same as always, take turns attacking till a break goes then cover. JD got in the break that stuck and the rest kept it take way. He didn't get much help and got worked over in the end.

p/1/2
repeat after an hour break. This is more like it. Flyers galore, strung out and pushing it. Again, keep attacking till someone gets off the front, this time it was Joe along with Rand from Webcor(Other large team there) so the make up was good and time to cover. Sad news was Gerlach going down in a crash and taken to the hospital with a punctured lung(from his FB page). Joe ended up taking second in the sprint.

I spent most of the day with this look on my face, surprised my legs kept moving:

One more weekend in scenic Merced

Merco Race weekend.

Merco TTT:
Got it handed to us

2 of us were sick and our 4th rider didn't start. The course was a rolling 20 miles which had a fair sized hill in the middle of it. Bissell pro cycling scorched the couse with an average speed over 31mph. We rode as well as we could have but the other teams were just stronger. Oh well.


Merco Gp:
same

Big field of 126 guys on a fairly tech course with lots of money on the line. How could this go wrong. Super fast from the gun and caught behind a couple crashes I was out from the gun. Something about this race gets me every time. I missed all the crashes and the only thing beat up was my pride. I really need more than a couple weeks back training before a beating like that.

Merco RR:
smart enough not to show up and make a trifecta.

From what I hear, BJM and a small groupo got off the front with 80 miles to go and BJM won. Some jack asses sprinting for 50th crashed in the last k. Dumbass.

Rule#1 Dont get dropped from the break (Merced crit)

Well, Don't get dropped from the break is actually the only rule that matters. I broke it.

Made a nice little 8 hour round trip drive to do the Merced crit last weekend. We had 5 guys in the race, Yahoo had 10. There was the usual mix of super strong singles and doubles out there as well like, Loader, Gerlach and Colin. For the first half of the race we covered/went with breaks and rode well. I flushed all that down the drain. I counter attacked when JD came back just to keep the pace high. Soon I was joined by 8 guys which comprised most all the horse power in teh field. I was so gassed from teh attack I couldn't pull through, an action Klein and his 3 yahoos didn't like. They gapped me off the back and it was only a matter of time before I was in limbo between the groups. Never break rule #1. knowing I was smoked I should have pulled the plug and headed back to the group to help the chase(covered by the other 6 yahoos). Oh well, live and learn. I lived and learned my fitness is crap right now. Sorry to my teammates.

Suffering in the break shortly, sporting up the ultra cool perscription radars though.

Major neglect

Ok so there haven't been any update in a while due to a knee injury that has been horribly frustrating and resulted in almost 2 months off the bike. The season is underway and I am back racing(in a diminished capacity and with 0 base). Yahoo cycling shows up in force and rides a great numbers race, all the local power houses are starting to ooze out of their winter hinding spots and smash the Nor-Cal once again. Clif opened up the season with a couple podiums and a win so we are off to a good start.

More to come.

Counting it down. It's almost here!!!

The new race season that is. It's been super cold in Reno for a long damn time now and the stupid snow just won't melt. I spent last weekend riding with the team down in the bay area. I was great to get some non freezing temp days in and the team is solid for next year. 11 guys in NOr-cal should give us some good tools to use to take on the juggernauts that are Yahoo, Webcor and Cal Giant.

We added two local guys to the team, Nate Freed from truckee and Michael Jacques from Reno. Both super strong guys and eager to do some damage in Nor-Cal. 3 weeks to go...