Pic

Here is a pic of me and my homies at a local crit back home. Ivan D. & Tony Cruz

Back to Los Angeles

I thought I would feel better in a few days and get back on the bike to race, however I think what ever I have (had) is more major than we all thought.
I changed my ticket and now Im back home with my own bathroom. (nothing like your own bath room). Its been a week now that I came down with the virus and its crazy what being sick can do to your training and prep for other races.

ill chat with my coach Mark Whitehead and see whats best for me because I still have 4 more big races coming up. BofA crit, track natz, MBeach GP and Downers. (crit championships)

ill keep you all posted.

Don't Eat the Eggs

I got Food Poisoning from eating eggs. It’s not fun!!
I haven’t touched my bike for 3 days now because I’m spending most of my day in the rest room...not a good thing. If things down turn around, ill be heading home.

Internet

I want to let you all know that I just got some internet back...its dial-up but it will work for now.

My body feels beat up so today Im going to the lake to hang out on a boat with some friends..I may stay off the bike for two days and try and come back with some fresh legs.
I talked to Jonas Carney last night for a while and he gave me some great advice...so Im going to give it a try and listen to a true champion.

see you in a couple of days.

also feel free to reply, I would love to hear what you have to say.

peace

SuperWeek Day Eight

I suck...10meters off the back of the lead group and could not close the gap with 3 guys.

SuperWeek Day Seven

Opportunity Missed

The Shorewood Crit was an almost perfect day for me to do some damaged. But we failed.
The course was changed a bit from last year. They added two more blocks and very long straightaway and that made it really easy for people move up and ride like idiots.

I started the race in the front and my legs felt great. The first hour of the race went by swiftly and I felt really confident for the finish. Once again Eric, Jason and I got together and we did some good riding toward the end. With one lap to go I lost Jason’s wheel and that took me from top 10 to about top 20. I tried very hard on the backside to move up but the pace was just to fast and didn’t have enough horsepower to get back in the mix.

I ended up in the top 20 and that’s something I’m not proud of. The races are going by very fast and I may have to change my strategy and just prime hunt because the finishes are not going to well for the McGuire boys. I’m just about do for a win, I know I’m one of the fastest guys in the peloton and must guys know that. I just need to win.

Till nest time…ride it till the wheels fall off

SuperWeek Day Six

Super week stage 6

Another road race, another…field sprint.

This was the first time in a while a super week stage ended in a field sprint. It was fantastic.

To make a long animated race short. The race was really fast and scary. The back side of the course on the decent, the road were horrible, really bumpy and twisty. I started the race in the back because I was running a little late and didn’t have time for a little warm up. So my plan was to start at the back and each lap move up on the hill. It worked very well.

By the time I got to the front it was about 4 laps to go and the speed was very high because Endouver were chasing doing John Lyswein and two other guys dangling off the front, so that made it easier to keep position. Coming with one lap to go, I hooked up with Jason Allan, I jammed it along side the left and found Eric about 2k from the finish. I yelled at Eric to go and we got to the front just meters before the last turn to go up hill to the finish. We turned the corner 3-4-5 and that was the end of our show. Jason just didn’t have it today and the effort from Eric left him without the legs for a sprint.

I told Eric…WE HAVE TO GET IT TOGETHER. I know for sure we can do some damage out here. I guess the one good thing we have going for us is that there is still 9 more days of racing left.


Till next time…ride it till the wheels fall off

SuperWeek Day Five

My first Road Race.

It was 5 years ago that I came to super week for the first time with a composed team named Detrol LA. I think that’s a pharmaceutical company and they took really good care of me. Nice Hotel down town Milwaukee, I had a car to get around and that was also the year the LA Times did a little piece on me and the reporter came from Los Angeles to interview me.

The day of the race, only Eric and I wanted to race. Yeah, it’s a hard race, yeah it was raining, yeah it was 100 miles and yeah in the first lap I wanted to quite because the rain was hitting my face so hard it hurt.

However it’s a really good race and I felt confident that if we had a full team, we could had represented the sponsors well.
Instead I did it all alone. Unfortunately Eric popped his derailleur cable in the first 45minutes of the race, so that left me all alone.

I felt really good half way through the race and I caught myself doing a little bit of work, which was okay because I felt great, but I knew I still had over 50 miles to go so I decided to chill out… and I missed the big split.

I small group that eventually became 25-30 guys got away and stayed away. In the main field, we where about 10 minutes back and guy where still attacking each other…it was killing me because there were no places left and for sure no money left in our group. I wanted to dropout and save my legs for the next day, however I figured it would be good training to get 4 hours of training in for Elite track nationals.

Well no result but it was very productive.

Till next time…ride it till the wheels fall off

SuperWeek Day Four (rest day)

Today was a easy 2 hour ride near the lake. No race for me...

SuperWeek Day Three

Better and Better

Stage 3 of super week was a typical stage. An early break as usual goes and most of us think this break will eventually come back. Not today. The good thing about the break was tmy dog Eric Saunders was in it and I was totally comfortable with that.

My legs today felt like a million bucks, I knew I would have a good day.
Eric rolled off the front early and stayed away the whole day. Jason Allan and I covered every move in the main field to make sure nothing else rolled away also collecting a few primes here and there. With 20 laps to go Eric group eventually lapped us and that meant game on for the McGuire boys to make sure we took care of Eric to get him to the line first.

With about 5 laps to go, Devon, Jason followed myself then Eric we were in good position to win the race. Crossing the line with 2 to go, Devon took a very manly one-lap pull at about 50+kph and dropped Jason off with one lap to go. As we came out the last corner to hear the bell, Jason drilled it harder than Devon and gapped me a bit because I wasn’t expecting the hard acceleration. Jason took me half way around the course and at this point I heard Eric yelling go…so I went and maybe a bit to hard. I accelerated to fast and that allowed Josh Goodwin from Team Monex to hop on my wheel. I got to the last corner first, looked back and saw Eric in about 5th position.

Danny Pate took the field sprint, winning the race with Eric taking 4th in the field sprint finishing second in the stage.
It was a good effort by the boys; it’s just too bad the Richmond native don’t have a sprint. I guess he has something to train for now because he is already extremely strong.

Till next time, ride it till the wheels fall off

SuperWeek Day Two

Day Two landed in Menasha, WI

After a bad show in the opening day, I had to represent and ride well for the team and myself. So today I made it a point to start in the front unlike I did the first day. The race started off very fast with lots of attacks. I wanted to ride in the front to win some cash primes and maybe set up for the red jersey. It’s so easy to loose position in these races because everyone likes to dive the inside no matter where you are in the pack. During the race Alex Candelario and I talked about how it’s so funny when a guy dives the inside on you when you are riding in the last 60 guys. It’s dangerous and uncalled for. After the first sprint point I was out of position to contest the sprint, however Eric Saunders and Devon didn’t realize I wasn’t on the wheel and drilled it for one full lap, leading out another team. The second sprint, I made sure I didn’t let the team down and followed the wheels.

We had Colin on the front followed by Eric and I with 4 laps to go till the points sprint. Eric is going crazy yelling to pull harder but Colin was tapped out. I remember Eric saying…Put it in an F*/$ing big gear and go. I laughed because we were going really slowly. Colin then pulled off and let Eric come through with 3 laps to go from the sprint jersey sprint and surprisingly he got back on Eric’s wheel but only to pull off after Eric took a whole lap pull. I couldn’t believe that Colin pulled out of the lead-out right in front of me also right in front of the start finish line with 2 laps to go for the sprint. Eric then drilled it and I stayed in position to win some points. Coming around the last sweeping corner about 400m from the finish I opened up a killer sprint. I had one more guy to pass for the first place points…Andy the Volcano Carder and as I was sprinting up his left side, he saw me coming and made a left hand turn. To protect myself from crashing I shoved him out the way and yelled at him at the same time. Andy was relegated to second because he made an illegal move. Andy apologized and said he thought I was one of the Endeavour guys. Besides Eric, I’m the only black soul out there, so I knew he was full of it.

After the sprint I blacked out for a second and had a hard time breathing. There was a point where I almost bagged it and called it quits, but I knew I was better than that. So I suffered at the back of the pack for about 15 laps, slowly moving my way to the front for the finish.

The finish if 17 laps away and there is a group of 15 guys off the front. I was proud of Eric and Devon, they got on the front for about 5 laps and got the break back with about 3 laps to go. If we had one more guy to close the deal, we would have set up for a stage win. Two guys from the group of 15 stayed away to take the first two spots and I was punked and head butted by Dave McCook on the back side and I lost my position to win the field sprint but stilled muscled it out to get tope 10. No more being mister nice guy anymore, I must get dirty just like they are to me.

Till next time…ride it till the wheels fall off

TOP TEN

Place-Name Team Hometown

1.Karl Menzies Advantage Benefits/Endeavour Australia

2.Dennis Haueissen Team RSHGera, Germany

3.Jose Serpa Colombian National Team Colombia

4.David McCook Jelly Belly/PoolGel San Jose, CA

5.Alexander Candelario Jelly Belly/PoolGel Boulder, CO

6.Richard England Advantage Benefits/Endeavour Australia

7.Rahsaan Bahati McGuire/Langdale Pro CT Los Angeles, CA

8.Hilton Clarke Navigators Insurance Australia,

9.Carlos Vargas TeamMonex Colombia

11.Emile Abraham Team Monex Trinidad & Tobago

Super Week Day One

Super Week Day One
Yesterday as I expected was a ruff day for me. I had no legs but road most of the race just to try and open up and get the bad stuff out my legs for tomorrow flat race. A group of 9 got away very early and late in the race that group lap the field. Knowing that we will not bring the lead group back, Jason Allan and Eric Saunders went prime hunting and won tons of money and put McGuire Langdale name over the speaker, so that was good for the team.

Im banking that tomorrows crit...day two will be good for me and ill be going after the red jersey which is the sprinters jersey and the race win.

till next time...ride it till the wheels fall off

Bahati Beats Two of the best

Bahati Beats Two of The Best

In Carson, California 100 rides lined up for a 75-minute race including Discovery Channels Antonio Cruz and Health Nets Ivan Dominguez.
The SoCal local teams where out strong in numbers and this made for a fast and exciting race.

Numerous attacks went early, but only one dangerous break was a treat that included Jason Bauch from team Sea Silver and a local rider. They gained a gap of almost 33 seconds. Tony Cruz said that was enough and put the hammer down to bring the gap back to about 15 seconds and the break was killed shortly after.

All other attacks where closely watched by Harm Jensen’s squad Helens and SoCal cycling team. After 45 minutes of racing, I decided to take a rest in the back of the field because I knew there would be a field sprint.

With 5 to go, I was in perfect position and followed good wheels all the way to the finish. About 8 guys wanted Ivan Dominguez wheel…and so did I. It was so dangerous trying to follow him; I gave up and did my own thing.
200meters from the last turn Tony and I had the same Idea…attack before the turn. The only difference was I made it to the turn first going about 5mph faster then the whole field.
I came out the turn with so much speed I went off the race course to save myself from not crashing.

Spectators told me that I had 5-6 bikes on the second and third place guys.
This makes number 7 win for me this season.

Until next time…