Season update, best pic ever

It's a little past half way through the season now, so here's a brief summary of what's happened so far:
The race season started in the middle of February with the Valley of the Sun Stage Race in Phoenix. I might have won the road race, but the race was neutralized with 1 km to go due to a crash in another field at the finish line. I had to settle for 5th.
I moved to LA for three months to tackle some of the early season big races. In LA, I did my first pro mountain bike race (finsihed 17th). My team--Ten Speed Drive/BH Bikes--came out for the San Dimas Stage Race (things didn't go so hot at that one) and Redlands (pretty much the top race in the country that amateurs can get into). I then jumped in the team van and went to Texas for a stage race where I finished 6th.
Mid April saw me traveling north to Laguna Seca Raceway and the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, CA. The three races here were about as stacked as I will see all year, and included big time pro riders such as Levi Leipheimer, and Cristoph Sauser (current mountain bike cross country world champion). During the road circuit race, while passing one of the said pros (Levi), I saw a photgrapher's flash go off, and I knew there was going to be an awesome picture of me out there somewhere. Oh, and I finished in the top third of the field, which is not too shabby. The mountain bike race took place in brutal 90 degree weather, and was the largest pro field I've seen. Being a neo pro, I had to start at the back of the 140 rider field. Anyone who's ridden singletrack knows that being behind that many people is a death sentence, but I made the best of it and made my way up to 73rd place by the finish. Sauser won the race by 4 minutes over 2nd.
At the Tour of the Gila in May, a guy named Lance decided that he needed a good domestic stage race to get into shape before going to a race in Italy known as the Giro. He brought his teammates Chris and Levi. I didn't get to race Lance due to categorization restrictions, but my teammates did. Turns out that people like to watch Lance race (and eat and walk out of his bus, etc, etc), so there were a lot more people at this race than normal. I even signed two autographs that week...I like to think that was because I am a hot up and comer, not because Lance Armstrong was there. After four days, I was in 10th place on GC, but due to the main group letting a break get 11 minutes on us in the last stage, I fell to 17th. Bummer.
By this time (early May), pollution in LA was just getting out of control, so I bailed and went back to New Mexico. Next stop was the Teva mountain games in Vail, CO. Lance was in nearby Aspen for the birth of his 4th child, so the rider registered for the hill climb time trial simply as "MJ" presumably was him ("Mellow Johnny" for the name of his bike shop). Guess his 3 day old was more important, though, because he didn't show. I raced well and only got passed by Phil Zajicek (a top domestic pro). I felt good about that until I saw that he started 2:30 min behind me.
Right now, I've been sticking to local races and am gearing up for big races in Oregon, Illinois, and Virginia (with a stop-off in Omaha to hang with my friends Jonathan and Kara. Woot!)

Geoff Kubush must think I'm stalking him

I saw Geoff Kabush (the World Cup and Olympic mountain biker) again today. He wasn't on his bike this time, but was running with his dog on the trails that I went for a mountain bike ride on. He has to be living really close to me, because I see him more than I see people that I actually know. I've got to stop and talk to him sometime. Training with him certainly wouldn't make me any slower. And Kabush, in the event you Google your name and come across this post, post a comment if I haven't creeped you out yet.

On another note, my friend Catherine has come to a couple of cyclocross races, and has taken some pics of me. Awesome.

I finished off my road racing season with a trip out to Chicago, just like last year. The Tour of Elk Grove, and the US Criterium Championships went well, as I avoided the inevitable crashes, stayed active at the front of the race, and finished respectably in the main group. These races laid bare, however, the need for teammates. Other teams were able to send sacrificial riders on the attack to draw out riders like me and tire them out, leaving their team leader to rest and wait for the finish. I couldn't wait for the finishing sprint, as I have trouble out-sprinting 50 of the top sprinters in the country. Give me a good long, hard climb--that's what I'm good at. The races were definitely fun, were good training, and good learning experiences.
Also like last year, I was able to visit my friend Betsy in Chicago--as well as an old acquaintance that I hadn't seen in many years, Catherine--and ate some sick Korean BBQ over in the Korean neighborhood. I also had the opportunity to visit my friend Jonathan and his wife Kara, and spent a few days in Omaha. Truthfully, I never had the best opinion of Omaha before, but was pleasantly surprised once I had the chance to actually get out and see the city a bit. Jon and I went for a few bike rides, and especially along the river, it is very hilly with lush forests--not quite what I picture when thinking of the "Great Plains".
I've had some time off the bike since that trip, but am back training now, doing short, intense rides in preparation for the upcoming cyclocross season.

Cascade Cycling Classic

I got back from Bend, Oregon two weeks ago after competing in the Cascade Cycling Classic. For the unfamiliar, this race is one of the longest running and prestigious stage races in the country, with past winners such as Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer. This was the first time I've done the race. Rolling into Bend, my first impression was that the city was very green with lots of trees--and this being the dry (Eastern) side of the Cascade mountain range. By the end of my stay there, I gained an appreciation for Bend, for its beauty, laid back nature, moderate size, bike friendliness, and proximity to a beautiful mountain range.
Before I say anything more, I want to give a big shout out to Anne, my host "mom", who took good care of me during my stay in Bend, and gave me many words of encouragement regarding my racing. People like her make my trips memorable, and allow aspiring amateur racers like myself to attend big races like Cascade.
Unfortunately, my racing didn't start out as I'd hoped. There was a big mixup at the start of the time trial, and seemingly a small mistake by myself was compounded by the officials at the start, leading to me starting my time trial many minutes late. This put me way out of contention for the overall.
The second stage of the race was a criterium in the evening of the day of the time trial. Because of a bad crash in an earlier race, our race got shortened from 40 to 30 minutes. Races this short are a joke when you have 100 plus riders, because you basically finish in the position you started. Also, they tend to give everyone the same time, even though the first guy and last guy in the group could be separated by as much as 30 seconds. Stupid. Anyway, I avoided crashing, and finished around 30th.
The third stage road race went much better. After a pretty moderate first 3/4 of the race, the pace picked up on the final climb and broke the 100+ rider field apart a bit. I made one of the front groups, and with only five or six guys a little up the road, and with my ability to hold off most of twenty or so guys in my group to the finish, I ended up 12th on the stage.
The last stage of the race was another road race. Very uneventful and not hard enough. What's the deal with giving the Cat 2's a shorter course than the pro's? We race with them for most of the season, so we should be able to ride as far as them. Anyway, our race ended in a 60 man bunch sprint. I finished 30th.
This race has a lot of potential, but needs a bit of work--a funny thing to say about a race that's been around so long. This might have been the first year they've done the Cat 2's separate from the Pro/1's, though, so maybe that's the excuse. There's definitely demand for a Cat 2 only field (115 starters--biggest Cat 2 field I've raced this year), so hopefully that'll give them incentive to put together a better race next year.
Out at Cascade, I got to hang out with one of my friends, Brett from Fort Collins, as well as the Rio Grande race team who is also from Colorado. Brett has only been a Cat 2 for part of this season, and is already posting some good results, and in fact has beat me a few times. As I usually travel to these bigger races alone and race alone, it makes things that much better when I see familiar friendly faces in these far off places (hehe, a little rhyme for ya).

5th Place at US Mtb Nats!

On the Fourth of July I went to Breckenridge, CO with my bro and friends to do the 4th of July Firecracker 50, which for the second year, was the US National Mountian Bike Marathon Championships. The day was warmer than usual, which made this 50 mile race tougher than usual, so much so that with so many people struggling and dropping out, that the guy who won the Pro Men's race didn't initially know he had won. I struggled the whole first 25 mile lap, and was seriously considering pulling out when I came through the start/finish to begin the second lap. I started to feel better, and didn't want to let my brother and friends down, so I decided to keep going. I began to catch other guys in my category who were struggling, and also began to see many guys with flat tires and other bike problems. I gave it a good push and finished strong, but had no idea what my ranking was. I went and ate lunch after the race, and decided to go check results before we left. I never made it to the results because they had just started the awards, and called my name for 5th place. Surprise! I knew I had finished 25 minutes slower than last year (blame it on the heat) when I had finished 6th, so the last thing I expected was to finish with a medal.

I've been away from the national racing scene for a while. It started out as a mid-season break--after 18 races by the beginning of May, I was getting a little tired--then extended somewhat when I went "home" for a HS reunion, and continued when I had some pretty severe IT band issues in one of my legs. After doing several local races to get back into racing shape (local Colorado guys are fast!!), I'm gearing back up for the national scene. I'll be leaving shortly for Oregon and the Cascade Cycling Classic, then a few after that I'll be out to Chicago for a few. It's going to be crazy for a while, so I'd better get this thing updated.

BIG RACE STORY #1 involves the Sea Otter Classic, Monterey, CA in the middle of April. This is pretty much THE event of the year in the US for amateur racers. I've done this thing 8 years running now. This year I convinced my parents to come along. My dad and I drove out, and my mom flew. The first of three races I did at Sea Otter was the Cat 2 circuit race. This was the race that I had my picture taken in (see 5/15 post) for the local paper. In addition on having that pic on the front page banner, they also plastered me (in larger form) across the front page of the sports page. Anyway, I digress. The race started with me being unsure of myself and hanging out in the middle of the group, to me realizing that I was one of the faster guys and pushing the pace. As other guys tired, I spent more time at the front of the race. After putting in a good effort in the last minutes of the race to try to shed the remainder of the riders not already dropped from the lead group, I was outsprinted in the final 200 meters, and had to settle for 17th. Guess I played my cards too soon, and at that point, should have just saved myself for the sprint.
Day two was the Pro road race. This was one of my few opportunities to race against the big budget pro teams. Last year I didn't even finish the race, so finishing was the primary focus this year. Things shifted though, when I figured out that I could do better than just finish. I followed some blistering attacks, though nothing really stuck. I was with the main group until the last several miles, and held on to finish 32nd out of approx 90 starters--one of the top amateurs. Now to explain the shredded tire pic in a couple of posts below (see April 29 post). I was behind a crash in the first lap, slammed on the brakes to avoid it, and apparently skidded. I rode the whole race with the tire looking as in did the pic without knowing it, and only found out about it after the race. Pretty impressive I was able to ride something like 60 miles with the tire like that.
Day three was the mountain bike cross country (XC). Things went well aside from a small crash mid race, and though I finished 20th, my time was a little over 5 minutes faster than last year. As usual, I passed a bunch of guys on the final climb, but didn't have the greatest start--I'm going to have to figure out how to pull together both of those to be in it to win.
On the way back from California, we went by the Hurst Castle (took a tour), through Vegas (I've never been) and the Hoover Dam.
Very soon after Sea Otter was:
BIG RACE STORY #2--Tour of the Gila. Stage 1 was a road race instead of the traditional first stage time trial. This format made for livelier racing, and there was a lot of people trying attacks, and the group chasing down escapees. I was at the front of the group coming into the last feed zone, and took a water bottle in the chest while my hand was off the handlebars, which caused me to crash. With my hand shredded pretty good and my handlebars slightly crooked, I chased the group, and was able to catch up to the back end when they blew apart on the final climb. I finished 33rd, but unfortunately was 12 minutes down from the stage winner.
Before stage 2, I was unsure if I could even ride. My knee was the size of a grapefruit due to my crash the day before. We had to go buy a new helmet, and barely made the start. Pedaling for the first few miles was quite difficult, but as the adrenaline kicked in, things got better. Having an easy day was not in the cards, however. The pace was the fastest I'd ever seen during this stage, and I was lucky just to be able to hang on to the back of the group. In the course of the stage, I had to avoid two crashes within the group--I was not going to allow myself to go down again. Hanging out at the back did me some good, because with the high pace being set up front, a lot of guys were tiring themselves out. We caught a 11-man breakaway that had been off the front for the entire day right at the finish, and I was able to out sprint most of my group for 14th place and only lost 20 seconds to the winner.
Day 3 and 4 were the time trial and crit. These days were fairly uneventful. In the time trial, I lost several minutes to the winner and finished 33rd, but fared well against the guys I had a realistic chance of beating. The crit basically stayed together the whole race, and finished in a bunch sprint, meaning there was no real change in the overall.
Day 5 was the hardest and longest stage of the race. I had a shot at making it into the top 20 of the overall, and the final climb of this 100+ mile stage was a good place to gain time. The race pretty much stayed together as expected, though the group inexplicably allowed 3 riders to ride off the front of the group on a downhill. Two of these riders ended up finishing 4 minutes ahead of us. As usual, the group shattered on the final climb, and though I didn't initially make the small lead group, I worked with a Colavita New Mexico guy and was able to catch the leaders about 10 miles from the finish. At about 3 miles to go, I attacked the group with one other guy and was briefly thinking of a top 10 finish. However, I ran out of gas, was caught with a mile to go, and had to settle for 17th place. Due to my efforts, I put time on the guys I needed to, and moved into 19th place in the overall. Despite my crash and injuries, I had finished better than last year, so there was definitely something to celebrate.

I, know, I know. I'm slacking on my postings. I promise that I'll get caught up soon. In the meantime, I'm just going to post some pictures from my trip to Hawaii for my 10 year class reunion. Fun was had by all, and it was definitely nice to see everyone, especially those who I've not been in contact with and haven't seen in 10 years!



































This is what happens when you start taking pictures of yourself with my camera when I'm in the bathroom. Photo courtesy of Norman. ;)