Bahati Racing

change of address

2006-10-14T10:47:00.000-07:00

hello all, please visit www.bahatiracing.com/rbgroup
this will be my new blog spot. so go there now for an update.

cheers

Conclusion from Track Nationals

2006-10-08T15:04:00.000-07:00

After the Scratch race and my crash, the next day followed the point’s race. In the morning session I failed to qualify for the points race final that night by 1 point. I was really disappointed in myself and I had no excuse for not making the final.

The final day of nationals I had the Madison whom I was paired with Chad Hartley. The 160-lap race started off really fast and things got heated quickly. Mike Freedman and Brad off attacked hard in the middle of the race and quickly gained a lap. Later in the race Chad and myself attacked and gained a lap but also help Mike gain yet another lap.
At this point Cref team 1 is up two laps and us Cref team 2 are up 1 lap. I tried later to gain another lap but we were unsuccessful. I cramped really bad in both legs and I suffered big time for the last 30 laps of the race. I really hurt myself from the crash days before and it only showed up 2 days later. Cref team 1 won the Madison and we were 2nd.

So I got on the podium with a silver medal and didn’t walk away empty-handed.

I have some important news ill release later this week. Please stay tuned.

Scrach Race Final 2006

2006-10-04T23:52:00.000-07:00

Scratch race final.

The Final of the scratch on paper looked to be very exciting. I had 4 other teammates who could win from a break or they could give me the lead out from hell.

The first 20 laps of the 60-lap race were pretty moderate until guys started to attack. Tiaa-Cref was doing most of the damage until Danny Pate, Mike Creed (cref) and Jamie Carney (team fuji) had a gap that look to be promising. A few laps later, an horrific crash happen with 18 to go and I just getting caught in the mess. I went down on my ass and it hurts sitting here typing this. Carney’s teammate got the worse of the crash by hitting his head and loosing lots of blood. After the race came to a stop, we had a 30-35 minute break from racing while they attended to the riders and also fixing up the track.

Once the race got started, they gave the three leaders their lead back and the group had to chase. With 3 to go, I was sitting 5th wheel on Mike Creed’s wheel and he just sat up taking to the apron. And what I think happen is that we let our emotions get caught up in trying to beat and or fuck Carney that we fucked ourselves. 5 guys from Cref no one in the top 10.

One door closes, another one will open

2 days till track natz

2006-10-02T13:39:00.000-07:00

Just two days away from the Elite Track Championships and I don’t feel so bad. I know for sure I can go fast for 10 laps but the test will come when I have to go fast for 2 laps, recover and go fast for 3 more laps and recover and so on and so on. I think my fitness is a little low but my speed is there.

The whole team got here to Los Angeles last Friday and the majority of the guys have been working on team pursuit and individual pursuit. Basically, we are the supporting cast and the pursuit guys are what we are here for.

Wednesday is the day for me. I want to win the scratch race and that’s on Wednesday morning being the qualifier and Wednesday night being the final.

Talk to you later.

Pic of the week

Me racing at the Encino Velodrome in Encino, California

Weekend of Track Racing (socal) state championships

2006-09-19T07:35:00.000-07:00

California Track State Championships

After Saturday’s racing, I knew things had to get better for me because if they got worse, I would be in deep trouble.

In the 120-lap points race it was just hard for me to breath and my chest hurt like hell.
I finished 5th after two guys lap the field late in the race.

Sunday, I decided I would do the sprints and the Madison. I haven’t done a 200m TT in about 3-4 years but Sunday I thought I would give it a go. The Fastest Time of the day was set and it was a 10.89. I did an 11.40. For those of you who don’t know what’s fast is, elite track sprinters do 10.2-10.3 at the ADT track. So for a guy like me with nothing but road miles and a Madison bike with road bars to do a 11.4 was pretty good and some what embarrassing for the two guys ahead of me that beat me by 100th of a second.

The first round of sprints I was paired up against the guy who went 100th of a second faster than me….he spank me!
So now my sprints are over.

I gear up for the Madison, which I am doing with an up, and comer rider Cody O'Reilly and we had a pretty good race. The pace wasn’t as fast as I thought it was going to be, but maybe I felt good. I won the first three sprints by flying by each rider in the last 100m.

So we won the Madison and ended the weekend on a good note. Only 2 1/2 weeks until track nationals and I hope to get closer to 100% by then.

Cali State Track Championships

2006-09-15T19:36:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow (Sat) the ADT center will host the California Track State Championships and ill be racing the scratch race, points race and Madison. The Points and Madison is on Sunday while the Scratch race is Saturday.

Wish me luck and I think I may be a broadbandracer video blog for this.

Thursday night, Chad Miliken and I drove down to San Diego to motor pace on the track and last night was a really good night for me. I did flying 10 lappers first 5 at 36/38 and the last four at 45 and the last lap at 48 tapping out the motor.

The Tiaa-Cref track team will be here next week and we will have a mini camp before track natz.

okay got to go, babie(S) crying

photo of the day...

Sept. 10th 2006

2006-09-10T21:14:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. It’s been some time and most are wondering what happen to me.
All I can say is that I did my first weekend of riding sense the accident and I’m making a speedy recovery.

I went out to a “Food Park” group ride near Laguna Beach, Ca and it’s so nice out there. The ride starts in Irvin and makes it’s way to Laguna and back. The ride is “masters haven”. It’s so many fit, insane, strong masters out there its funny how well they ride. Well maybe not funny but crazy.

I did most of the ride with the “Labor Power” team, Roger Worthington, Jason Bauch, Evin Taskie and some other cool guys.

This Monday I will start the track and hopefully it goes well. Its about 3 1/2 weeks till the track nationals and ill be ready!

Check back as I start to give you a journal of my training up to Track Nationals.

And the picture of the week…..
I was later fired for allowing a two drink minimal.

Crit Natz

2006-08-21T09:16:00.001-07:00

National Championship
Sunday was a picture perfect day for crit racing. Blue skies with some scattered clouds and the temperature was in the low 70’s.
The strategy was for everyone to help Brad Huff win. My job was to play low key for the first 50k then start to be active for the remainder of the race.

Late in the race a group of 15 got off the front and there were no Cref guys in the group. I wish we could record and publish what some team managers say to motivate their team because Voughters was giving us an ear full.
When the break got closer, Brian Smith was on the front bringing down the gap and I said in the radio, “Brian sit up in 5 seconds” right as he set up, I went across to the break very easily, however that created a huge reaction from the field and a half a lap later the group was all back together.

With 5 to go I’m there, visualizing what I have to do each lap. I’m feeling really good and fresh. With 4 to go, no difficulty what so ever and feeling really confident. 3 to go, I flatted.

Game over. Really disappointed. I had to win that race.

Pro-Am, Downers Grove

2006-08-21T09:16:00.000-07:00

Pro-Am Bike Race
Downers Groove, il

The Pro-Am race is usually just a warm up for the big day on Sunday. This year I didn’t fly in the day before so my legs and body felt normal.
In the race I didn’t do much but stay out of trouble and at the end I just tested my legs and balls for tomorrow National Championship.

Indiana Bike Riding

2006-08-16T12:13:00.000-07:00

I'm still here in Indiana and it has turned out to be a great decision to come down here. The weather is great, the riding is good and there are very minimal detractions.

Today is my easy day, just 2hrs and tomorrow ill motor pace again and leave Friday to pick up my Wife from OHD then down to Downers.

If something exciting happens ill let you know, but stay logged on because I'm doing a Video blog for the TBBR.

New Team

2006-08-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

Okay for the record, I did not sign anything with any team. Not sure who started this, but the emails have been rolling in none stop about me signing for Discovery. There is no truth in that what so ever.

This pic was found all over the Internet and new papers last Friday. Its not me, its Tarrel Owens (pro football) player making fun of Lance and cycling. I know I have huge arms like this guy, but my money is not large like his.

His out with an injury and he rides the bike everyday while at practice. He called it the "tour de oxnard" because there training camp is located in Oxnard, Ca.

Okay enough schooling...

BofA Crit 2006

2006-08-06T18:35:00.000-07:00

BofA Crit

Saturday night in down town Charlotte, Bank of America Innovational Criterium was underway just after 7pm. The 100k crit started quick because the race had lots of primes to give away.

I got an opportunity to start in the front because I got a call up and surprisingly; I had some people cheering for me. I didn’t bother to warm up so in the beginning I wanted to take some pulls and maybe go with some attacks so my legs can open up quickly.

About 30min in, I found myself in a group of 6-7 riders. I thought it was a group that should roll it but no one was working. In the group was Gord Frasher (HealthNet) Kayle Gritters( HealthNet) Shawn Milne(Navigators) Jackson Stewart (Kodak Sierra Nevada) and a few more and I cant remember. After looking back and seeing a gap, I tried verbally motivating the group to roll it but there was no luck, so I attack the group riding 1 full lap solo until Jackson Stewart( Sierra Nevada) Came across later followed by Shawn Milne (Navigators)

As time went by, the gap grew and at one point we had over a minute. Out of the three I was for sure the winner, however Jackson and Milne were really strong and I didn’t want to try and match their pulls.

Later in the race, it started to rain and this is when I started to ride very nervously. Earlier in the race, I broke a spoke and needed a spare wheel and what ever rear tire I had was not good in the rain and I was sliding all over the place, making my ride just a bit harder for me because I was 3-4 bikes lengths off the wheels going into every turn for my own safety.

With 5 laps to go it was pretty evident that we would stay clear and I was thinking about how great this would be for my season and the team. Going into turn one with 2 laps to go, Shawn hit the rain gutter, slid a little bit and that caused me to alter my line and I hit the barricades headfirst.

Race over. Lying there on the ground had to be the most embarrassing moments in my life and also frustrating moments. I gave all that effort and I had nothing to show for it at the end.

I won the most aggressive rider award however when people look at the results they will only care about the top three.

Well, I’m back home now with neck and back pains and very little road rash. I am blessed that I didn’t have a season ending injury.

What happen?

2006-08-04T00:07:00.000-07:00

Something happen to me and I'm trying to figure out what it is. My legs have been really bad over the last few weeks and I didn't change my training. Allan Lim told me what to do and I stuck to it. But over the last 3 days...wow, I'm really going fast. Tonight at a training race, I did a one lap pull at 30mph and still opened up a sprint and did it at 39mph. It was a feeling I cant even explain.

Tomorrow I leave for the Bank of America Crit in North Carolina and I sure hope I feel the speed there because its over 100k in prize money.

ill also be doing another Video blog for thebroadbandracer.com, so stay tuned and see what happen.

chow.

Buy my sprint manual...its good, you will be happy. Go to my website. www.bahatiracing.com and order one.

Long Beach Criterium july 23rd 2006

2006-07-24T08:20:00.000-07:00

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Long Beach Criterium

In Los Angeles temperatures throughout the weekend were really high. Valleys saw triple digits, with inland city’s and coastal areas feeling temperatures in the high 90’s. This made for a very hot crit out in the Long Beach area presented by Los Angeles Wings bicycle club.

This has always been one of my favorite courses to race on. My very first criterium happen at this very course when I was only 13 years old.
I arrived at the race just 30 minutes before the start and that was actually perfect timing because it was so hot, I really didn’t need to warm up.

At the start it was pretty funny, No one was at the start line. Every one was hiding in the shade trying to save as much energy as possible. And were off…Adam Livingston (successful living) attacks and hurts everyone for the first lap. Well, at least I was hurt.

Attacks would go and come back, lap after lap. 30 minutes in, Kyle Gritters (Health Net) road the front for two laps bringing back a break and when he sat up, I went across to a break that looked really promising. I was super motivated to make it work even though guys who had teammates in the break outnumbered me. We opened up a good gap, but soon after, only a few guys wanted to work and we went back to the field.

After that effort, my legs felt really bad and they never came around. I really got into the “hurt box” when I went to drink my second bottle of water and it taste like sh*$. I guess I didn’t clean it well and the water was so bad I couldn’t drink it, so I just used that bottle to cool my body off by dumping it on my head.

With 10 minutes to go the field split because of an attack by Neil Shirley (Jittery Joe’s) and Gordon McCauley (successful living) who road pretty strong throughout the day including riders like Josh Webster, Kayle Leogrande and a few others.
With 5 to go, that group had another split that took 5 guys up the road. I refused to chase and everyone is just looking at one another until Kayle Gritters took a lap pull with one to go to bring the group back just before the last turn.

I came out of turn four 8th wheel and started to sprint down the long 500m straightaway. Two guys from the break had a bit of a gap on me but I was closing very fast. I see the SDBC rider to my far left and I’m closing really fast but I ran out of room and Aaron Quesnell. (SDBC) won the race and me taking second.

I was happy with my sprint because I had the speed. When I cross the line, my power tap said 39.7 mph so that’s pretty fast to have bad legs.

This weeks training will be hard until about next Thursday then ill relax and get ready for Charlotte BofA crit.

Hat Trick?? Super week day 5

2006-07-17T16:38:00.000-07:00

. I cant believe they let Mike Freidman go up the road again. Yes it happen again. Friedman hit hard in one of the turns and boom, they had a gap. I so wanted to chase it down but I just thought if I did I would kill the break and Mike is riding to well to kill the break.

Yesterdays race was so weird, the city allowed us to race but only gave us like 2 city blocks. So it was a figure eight course that went through a parking lot, up a driveway, down a drive way, and one really sharp off camber right hand turn into the start finish which were 100m from the turn. Oh yeah, there were no primes because the finish line was in the corner.

After Mike’s group got away (6 riders) Brad and I once again controlled the front and just toyed with everyone else. I mean we shut everything down. Curtis Gunn (successful living) attacked and took 2 guys with him and I see this so Brad and I come flying up on the right hand side yelling “you cant let the gun slinger go, you cant let the gun slinger go”. Everyone is looking around wondering who the hell is the “gun slinger” and before I knew it I had a gap on the field, so I drilled it and found myself in a nice group that would stay away. The group I was in had a Milan guy, Curtis and a local guy. I didn’t feel comfortable taking the Milran guy with me to lapping the field because once there, he would have 5 other strong euros that would try and set him up for the win. Verses our 3, so I had the luxury of sitting on.

After a while the Milran guy became annoyed with me and started to play games. He also told me that I could not sprint if I sat on. I told him “ if you don’t want me to sprint, drop me”. He tried and was not able to. I even made him look stupid by rolling next to him while his trying to drop me and saying “ your good, but not that good and you cant drop me on my worst day”. I know this my sound a little cocky but trust me, those guys think they are the best thing that has happen to super week sense slice bread.

On the last lap, going into the last 2 corners, I pull next to the Milran guy and I say “ ready set go” and we drag race the 250m stretch to see final turn. I left him like he was standing still. I was going straight to the finish line and he was just getting in the corner

So now I’m looking for Mike to repeat his day before performance and he gets second.
He wasn’t the first guy to the corner and that’s the only reason why he lost. There was no room to sprint after you come out of that last corner.

Between Brad, Mike and I we were really excited in what we accomplished through the five races. After looking back, we truly felt that we could have won all 5 races we entered. Now that our confidence and faith in each other have grown, we are looking forward to killing it in these next few races in the Midwest.

Two for Two at Super Week 2006

2006-07-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

After yesterdays race, I wasn’t sure if I was going to race today because my legs felt really bad.
Again, I couldn’t fall right to sleep and finally closing my eyes at around 2am. I did my usual 1-2hr ride in the morning and my legs felt a hole lot better so I decided to race.

Good thing I did because we had the best teamwork thus far between the 3 of us. Mike goes into an early break and as there lead grew, it was evident that they would lap the field.

With 20 laps to go, Sierra Nevada got on the front and just started to drill it and I was pretty confused why. We (tiaa-cref) don’t have race radios like most teams here so we have to do a lot of communicating by yelling or just guessing.

They were chasing because there teammate had already lap the field and Mike (tiaa-cref) was just about 10 seconds of the back of the field trying to also gain a lap.
So… Sierra Nevada is on the front while Brad and I wait for Mike to get on.

He makes it and immediately after Brad and myself got on the front with 10 to go and set tempo because 4 other guys were still trying to lap. Ha-ha, we held them off. With one to go, I drilled it and I got a gap on the field with 4 turns to go. I hear Mike yelling, go go go Rahsaan so I just put my head down and came across the line for 7th place while looking back to see Mike out sprint everyone for the win.

3 NRC wins for the team and this is the first time at super week, one team has won back to back.

Now its my turn. I win tomorrow and its a hat trick.

Super Week day 3

2006-07-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

Tables Turn…Well sort off!!!

Today’s race is known to be one of the toughest races at super week. Mike, Brad and myself road to the race and we all suffered really badly, but Brad got into a 6-man group that lapped the field.

With 20 laps to go, the same team that took my front wheel out in yesterday’s crit, did the same thing today but it was the back wheel. Now I have no race wheels.

10 to go, I’m looking for Brad and he is no where to be found. 5 to go, still no Brad. 2 to go, brad pops up and I just tell him to hold on to me and ill get him up the hill.
It worked out; I hit it hard up the hill, over taking Sierra Nevada’s train and dropped Brad off with just over a half a lap to go in 5th position.

As we turned the last corner, I set up to see the sprint and it was clear…Brad wins by a whole lot.

So, we get a win. 2nd NRC win for Cref this year.

First National Championship

2006-07-14T11:09:00.000-07:00

Just thought you all should know this...

In the finals of the junior men’s 17-18 keirin, Justin Williams (Los Angeles, Calif./Major Motion) claimed a national title in the six-up sprint ahead of runner-up David Engwis and third-place finisher Matthew Fox (Highland Park, Ill./Hays on Track).

Winning Legs

2006-07-14T07:08:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we race our second race here at Super Week and it was a fun one. The race was held just about 2 miles from out host house family so really were all excited and wanted to show them "we are the real deal".

After completing the first 3 laps, I knew I would have a good day. My legs felt really fresh and I had the acceleration that I was missing the race before. However I still had back problems. Lap after lap, they gave out primes and people where going crazy for the. So many guys are taking mad risk to get to the front. After Mike Friedman got into a 3 man break, Brad and myself controlled the field. Yes just the three of us pretty much ran the race. We collected together about 7 primes. On one lap, I beat all the fast guys for a $100 prime and one lap later I was going for a $75 prime and as I started to sprint, this Canadian guy came over the top of me and took my wheel out. I thought for sure I was crashing but I held up. I destroyed the wheel and had to get in the wheel pit for a front wheel.

After getting back in, the guy whom did it ask if I was okay and he said sorry.

Coming down to the end, the plain was to have Mike, Brad and I just sprint down the back side that getting all three of us into the last turn in the front.

With 8 laps to go, Brad Huff told me he didn’t feel well and that I should follow Mike. No problem! So I hook up with mike and I’m sitting well just waiting for the last lap. With 2 to go, Huff gets back to the front and now all three of us are in the right spot. With one to go, I’m on the wheel and I’m telling them what to do, I’m yelling GO, GO but no go. We had perfect position to hit it on the back side when Kodak was doing there lead out because they really wasn’t going that fast.

I got to the last corner maybe 10 and finished 7 and Brad Huff was 5th. I feel that I need to trust myself more and take more risk for myself.

The main reason for us three coming to super week is to train and get comfortable racing together so we can learn how to do lead outs for the last 4 major crits coming up, Downers Grove being one of them.

Today it’s a hard race with a big stupid hill in it. When I was 17 I came here alone and won 2k in primes. Lets hope I could have that same day.

Winning Legs

2006-07-14T07:08:00.000-07:00

Whitnall Park Road Race

2006-07-13T06:39:00.000-07:00

Super Week Whitnall Park Road Race

In the past, I have had good legs at this race and have always placed myself in the top ten at the finish.
This year I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, been fresh off from traveling and not riding because of my lost luggage I knew my legs would be really bad. Brad and Mike were a little better off than me because they have already ridden their bikes twice.

Brad started the race really aggressive, he attacked and attacked until he got away with 3 other riders and we never saw them again. I was happy he got away and no one was going to chase because my legs felt really bad and my back started to bother me at about 45 minutes in. This course had a bit of a hill in it and two rollers that just slow your momentum down.

With 7 laps to go, I went from the front, after bringing back Karl Menzies (HealthNet) straight to the back. I road dead last for 5 laps, (it was really easy back there) and with two to go, I was moving up to sprint for the finish and mike told me they only pay 5 deep and not to risk going for that because it’s a crazy finish. So I road in the front but not really contesting the sprint, I just road near the front to stay out of trouble. I rolled in 13th and come to find out, they paid 35 deep. Haha, so if I had really tried I could have made some decent money.

O yeah Brad finished 3rd place.

Tomorrow is a crit in Shorewood, which if 1 mile from our host house so we must win.

Whats the Deal?

2006-07-12T06:02:00.000-07:00

What is Going On?

Yesterday I left my home in Los Angeles at 4:30am to get a 6am flight out of LAX. I checked in my bike and duffle bag at 5:15am

When I arrived at my final destination in Milwaukee, Wisconsin my bike came but not my bag. To make a long story short, they have NO idea where my bag is and all they can tell me is that “my tag was deleted”. Not sure what that means, but I have no race clothes, shoes, helmet, or anything. No toothbrush, clean clothes, nothing.

I usually travel with my helmet and shoes in my backpack, but this time, I decided to just put them in my luggage.

Today I am schedule to race and I haven’t road my bike now going on two days.

July 9th 2006

2006-07-10T07:06:00.000-07:00

After all the bad luck I had down at Fitchburg, I got home and started to just heal myself. Now that I feel healthy, I'm starting to have back problems again. I did a local race yesterday and I was in a group of 5 and after about 1hr f racing, my back went out and I had to stop. It hurts so bad.

Well, not sure what to do about it but I have to leave tomorrow for super week and those races for sure will make your back hurt.

If you haven't checked out "the broadband racer" yet, check it out. There is a new episode up right now.

www.thebroadbandracer.com

look for rahsaan bahati video blog

Broad Band Racer

2006-07-03T13:41:00.000-07:00

Okay so there is come cool stuff going on at www.thebroadbandracer.com
GO THERE RIGHT NOW AND CHECK OUT MY VIDEO BLOG.
It's really cool and there will be more from CSC and Philly Week.

Go!!!

www.thebroadbandracer.com

Stage 2 Fitchburg

2006-07-01T07:03:00.000-07:00

I have to say that I was not motivated to race yesterday. With being under the weather and having my phone stolen was just a downer for me.
It really made me frustrated because the hotel has surveillance and he wouldn’t let me look at it.

Anyways, we arrived to the race 45 minutes before the start of the 86-mile race, however the women started 30 minutes behind so we had tons of time to kill.

From the start some weirdo attacked and hurt the whole field in the first 2 miles of the race. After making the first lap up the hill, I didn’t think I would ride well because I was in serious difficulty.

After a few laps went by, my legs started to come around and I felt great. Not 100% but good enough to go with attacks on and over the climb, which I did almost every lap.
I even got into a few break that look good for me in the middle of the race but all to come back by Priority Health who’s partaking the race lead. With 4 to go a huge attack went over the climb and I followed, we were going really hard and I started to cramp a little bit but that went away when I told myself its only 3 more times up the hill. We were caught going up the hill on the next lap.

So now for sure it’s going to be a field sprint and I just did my thing to ride safe and get to the final lap with some legs. Going into the last lap things got really hairy as Navigators started their lead-out. Will (my teammate) was riding right behind them but I didn’t hold his wheel because I thought I would sit two guys back just to avoid the swarm. A mental era by me because Will is very experienced and knows how to give a lead out. With 2k to go, the swarm happens but not just from one side, it came from both and I got lost in the shuffle. I went into the last corner maybe 20th and finished 13th. That hill hurts a lot more when your going 100%.

I’m not to disappointed giving the circumstances. Now for the road race, ill just ride it and make it to the crit and when that on Sunday.
The road race is pretty rolling with some rough climbs, finishing on top of a ski resort. The last time I did this race, when I made it to the top, the official’s stand was being broken down…let’s hope that’s not the case this year.

NO PHONE

2006-06-30T20:11:00.000-07:00

MY PHONE WAS STOLEN FROM THE HOTEL HERE IN FITCHBURG BY SOMEONE WHO WORKS HERE. SO AS OF NOW I HAVE NO PHONE UNTIL SOMETIME NEXT WEEK WHEN THE INSURANCE COMPANY SENDS IT OUT. ALSO A GUY FROM SIERRA NEVADA TEAM GOT 400 BUCKS TAKING FROM HIS ROOM. SHADY PEOPLE DOWN HERE.

IF YOU NEED TO TALK TO ME AND I FEEL YOUR IMPORTANT, EMAIL ME AND ILL GIVE YOU THE HOTEL NUMBER AND A SELECT FEW WILL GET MY HOUSE NUMBER. A, I DONT MAKE THE RULES, I JUST PLAY BY THEM!!!

PEACE

all man....

2006-06-30T08:19:00.000-07:00

I'm a LOT under the weather. My teammate Taylor was sick when he came to Mass and he’s my roommate and now I'm sick. I have throat, running nose, headache and possibly a hernia.

Not good. So I road the TT yesterday in the rain and I felt horrible.
Lets see what happens today in the circuit race. If I feel really bad ill pull out because this race is not that important to dig myself into a hole before all the crits I want to kill next month. Wish me luck.

Whats the Deal?

2006-06-28T15:40:00.000-07:00

Racing with a select ‘hit squad’ of Siro Camponogara, Hilton Clarke, Vassili Davidenko, and Shawn Milne, the Navigators Insurance Cycling Team continued its showing of good form by winning the Saturn Rochester Twilight Criterium tonight. Perhaps the biggest pro cycling event in New York State, and now a featured stop on the National Race Calendar (NRC), the 2006 Rochester criterium featured its deepest field to date. With their corporate headquarters just down the road, the Kodak-Sierra Nevada team pulled to the line with no less than 9 riders, and big squads from the Toyota-United, TIAA-CREF, and Colavita teams insured a fast race would be on order.

The blistering pace kept the field single file throughout the night, as rider after rider was dropped from the main bunch. The small Navigators Insurance squad kept its presence in breakaway after breakaway, until it became obvious that the small remaining field would be racing towards a sprint finish.

With Camponogara heading the train, the Navigators team launched Hilton Clarke at 200 meters, and the Aussie sprinter popped ahead to take the victory in front of Kodak’s Dan Schmatz and Colavita’s Sebastian Alexandre. Davidenko and Milne rounded out the top 5 with Camponogara also finishing in the top ten for the men in blue.

Results:
1. Hilton Clarke (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
2. Dan Schmatz (Kodak Gallery/ Sierra Nevada)
3. Sebastian Alexandre (Colavita Sutter Home)
4. Vassili Davidenko (Navigators Insurance)
5. Shawn Milne (Navigators Insurance)

Okay this is pretty funny, I know they want their sponsors to think that they are extremely good but how do you mess up the results? I thought I was 5th and they didn’t even mention Marty Norstien, the "Olympic champion" saying he crashed so he could get free laps.

Keep it real!!!

Under the Night Lights

2006-06-25T14:35:00.000-07:00

I have limited internet right now so ill have to make this quick. As a team we are getting much better and I hope that we are learning from our inexperience mistakes. After a long hard aggressive race which all of my teammates really kicked ass and showed everyone there that we mean business, the large field came all together at the end for a field sprint at the 4th annual Rotchester, Twilight Crit. With 8 to go the team got onto the front and stated to ride tempo for me which was okay but I think way to early when you have other teams with more horse power waiting to jump or bone. With 2 to go, it happen sierra Nevada and the Navigators team went flying around up and now I'm left alone to fight for myself. With one to go, I found Brad Huff and yelled at him to go....Well I lost great position with half a lap to go and came out of the second to last corner about 15 back and just started my sprint there. As I came out of the last corner I see the lead guys sprinting and I'm closing good ground but not enough to get a win, I finished 5th.

All in all I feel really good, powerful, fast, confident and very hungry for a race win.

Ready for Crit season

2006-06-21T18:49:00.000-07:00

Now that Philly is over and almost all the stage races that ill be doing this year are done, it's time to get ready for all the crazy crits ill do for the rest of the year.
But first I have Fitchburg Stage race coming up next week.

I leave for NY Friday to race in Rochester, NY for a NRC crit Saturday night.
From there ill do the stage race then back home.

Today I did my last long ride of the season. I did close to 5hrs and from now its all intensity on some 3-4 hr rides.

My daughter brought tears to my eyes on Fathers Day. My wife took me to breakfast with the girls and after we ate, we got in the car and Ayahna gave me something she made at her day care and it had special words on it just for me. It was a really a nice moment. She also gave me a picture of herself in a frame she made from different things she found at school. That moment really made my day and made me feel very proud to be a family man.

Okay so tomorrow I just train light. I go to the gym and do 3hrs with 1 hr of intensity.

YO TINY IF YOU SEE THIS, SEND ME MY PICTURES MAN AND TELL YOUR HOMIE TO GIVE ME ONE OF HIS 21 BIKES.

Tour of Beauce stage 1

2006-06-13T19:26:00.000-07:00

Tour of Beauce

Today was the first stage of TOB and its really hard here. There are no flat roads what so ever, so today was a 160k-day, don’t sound long but when you’re out there racing on the hills, it’s a long day.

My legs felt really bad all day. After doing Philly, then all the traveling to get here, I just had bad legs and I hope I got all the bad stuff out for tomorrow’s stage.

From the start TIAA-Cref was pretty aggressive covering moves and trying to make moves. Plan A was to get me to the finish because the final 2k was all for me. However after a few attacks a group of four got away and after we tried to bring them back, they put more time on us. The last 10k were so brutal. I mean we had these huge rollers that never ended and never evened out. You think you’re at the top and its false flat up hill.

So at the end, there were groups all over the course and I was some where in the first main group breathing very hard.

Tomorrow is longer and tougher so we will see what happens. I just hope to make it to the last 2 days so I can win the last two stages.

See ya later.

Check out cyclingnews for pics.

Philly Pics

2006-06-13T13:24:00.000-07:00

Philly 6hr 26min

2006-06-11T15:45:00.000-07:00

Today I raced the long 156 miles 6hr Philly road race and it was a rough one.
My job today was to get Danny Pate to the corner leading into the Manayunk hill, which is 19% for the most part. So not only do I have to ride hard into the false flat head wind to get my guys to the right position, I have to make it over the hill with the group, lap after lap. Well race fans. I did it! Lap after lap. After 200k the group split because of the chase from CSC and now I find myself in a possible winning move. I’m in a group of about 30 and CSC is just driving it to bring back the 4 guys off the front.

We were caught the next lap by the chasers at the top of Manayunk. “I survived another lap” is what I’m thinking and I only have to do it 1 more time before we do the small laps.

Leading into the last lap going into Manayunk, Danny ask me to do it one more time, and I dug so deep going up the false flat (some what of a roller) hill with my team lined behind me. I knew I was going fast but didn’t know I was going 33mhp after 6hrs of racing until I looked at my powertap meter. I looked back and I put a split in the field and I pull off to let my other teammate finish the push. I’m thinking my day is over…I was the last guy to turn the corner about 10 bike links off the pack, however as the hill started to get steep, I can see guys and the crowd on Manayunk were “next level” they were yelling, screaming, shouting, pushing and giving every bit of encouragement to the riders. I even had my own little fan club in the middle of the climb. I owe it to them for me getting attached with a small group that formed at the top of the climb.

So now I’m in a small group that would just ride to the finish. I was happy that I did what I was supposed to do for the team 110% hands down. And I finished.

Mike Freeman was out best-placed rider at around 6 or 7th.
Not bad for a bunch of youngsters.

Also check out http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2006/jun06/commercebank06/?id=live/commercebank064

and see what some of the weak reports had to say during the race. They gave me a couple of shout outs.

photos to come.

Pics From Philly

2006-06-09T14:29:00.000-07:00

Some Pics from my Trip

2006-06-09T14:23:00.000-07:00

Redding June, 2006

2006-06-09T09:17:00.000-07:00

June 8th
Round 2 of the Triple Crown

This year’s second stop skipped Trenton, NJ and stayed in Pennsylvania. We raced in nearby Redding, PA, which is 1hr outside of Philly.
We got a chance to see the climb that we would tackle each lap and after seeing it, I felt that it would be a good race for me.

Sense Danny Pate is in the running for the Triple Crown after getting 6th in the first day, our weekend is strictly to race for him. (If he wins, we would get 10k plus a SUV hybrid valued at 45k)

So from the start, Chad, Ian and myself our job was to get in the breaks and keep things looking good for Danny. Well…I think I did a pretty good job at it. I was in maybe about 5-6 breaks and some of which I went across on my own. My legs were feeling really good.

With 2 laps to go, teams started to chase 2 break away riders who had been away for 2 laps. Now CSC, Health Net, United Pro and Tiaa-Cref are chasing and we bring back the break on the last lap on the final climb.

Danny Pate made it over the climb in a group of 4 and was caught at the line by a group of 10 but he still managed to sprint for 3rd place. I rolled in after a long day of work for the team. It feels good to give back and show the team that I can return the favor and sacrifice my race for the team.

Danny’s 3rd place puts us closer to winning the Triple Crown.

June 6, 2006

2006-06-06T17:33:00.000-07:00

So today was just full of sixes. Five of us had to do a six-hour ride, on the 6th of 2006. It was a long ride. The first 3 hrs really suck, it seem like it would take forever to finish the ride.

At 4hrs in we started in we started to motor pace and that’s when my ride got fun. I let the other guys ride on the car and I stayed on the back for the most part and I told Danny Pate and the other guys that they can have the draft "so they can work on there leg speed".

So now, I'm at the hotel after going to this Italian restaurant with no windows. The food was okay, but not that great for the 20min drive.

I’m sleepy. And tomorrow is an easy 4 hrs so we should be ready for the race on Friday.

Lancaster 2006

2006-06-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

June 4th 2006
Lancaster, Pa

We had a very late start to the Lancaster race so that gave me plenty of time to just relax and think about what I had to do to be successful.
We left the hotel around 2pm for a 3pm start. It was about a 20min bike ride into town and the legs felt really good after the big effort from the day before at CSC.

The announcer gave me some love and called me “one of cyclist finest persons” that was really cool and made me smile and also helped humble me even more.
The race started fast because we have this long 3k down hill drag to the first climb and it’s like racing the last lap of a crit every lap. I remember from last year how to get to the front easy for the hill, so I just did the same thing. (It’s a secret)

Every lap I put myself in a position to start the climbs in the front and “sag climb the rest” and it worked every single lap. The legs are good, my mind is good, and everything is working out.

With 5 to go, my back started to hurt really bad and there where times when I could stretch it out and for a minute or two it would feel fine. With 3 to go, the pace got higher and I used more efforts to get over the hills. There was one particular hill we where going over and I was right on the front, as I saw a Navigator rider attack, I went to follow his wheel and it felt like I pulled something in my back and it hurt really bad. I suffered through that whole lap and when I got to the feed zone climb again, I couldn’t stretch my bike and I was really stuck. I pulled over to Laura Pate and she helped me off the bike. I knew that it hurt but as she unzipped my jersey and lifted up my under shit, there was a 3-4in hump in my lower back and she said “ oh my God” that really scared me. I put my hand back there to feel it and it hurt so bad I couldn’t even stand up straight.

People in the feed zone were really helpful by assisting me with getting ice, helping get off the bike and also giving there knowledge about what I need to do to fix the problem.

Danny Pate finished 5th and Taylor Tolleson finishing somewhere in the lead group also.

CSC 2006

2006-06-03T19:22:00.000-07:00

CSC

I was praying so hard today that it didn’t rain on us. We had some dark clouds hanging around the skies and that made me a bit nervous.

I got a call up to the line so that gave me a chance to start in the very front.
The race started off very fast with my teammate Bard Huff taking a flyer and staying away for 10 laps alone before another rider joined him. Those two stayed away for another 10 laps before Hinton Clark (navigators) joined the two. As the gap grew pass 25 seconds all teams came to the front and started to chase. They chased for about 30-45 minutes and the gap didn’t come down. Not until late in the race when the now 2 riders are getting tired after the third guy crashed himself out, the gap started to come down. With 10 laps to go the field is down to 24 riders and I have 4 teammates in the group. Perfect right? Well within the last 10 laps 3 of my teammates tried solo attacks and went for primes and that killed my chances for a killer lead out from my team. With two to go I’m sitting pretty and Mike Freedman takes a flyer for a???? So now it’s just Brad Huff who spent the whole race out front and myself. I yelled, “I’m on your wheel” Brad gave me the nod with one to go, so I thought we had the race won. Well Brad mental said yes, but his legs said no and I didn’t get a chance to win the race. I finished 7th. It was very disappointing to have it so close. Beside my guys going for solo attacks, there were a few other factors that added fuel to the fire and gave me a less chances of winning. I’m really upset in myself for not putting myself in a better position to win. (I mean because if I were there alone with no teammates, I would have been in the right position). We also didn’t use race radios, so there was limited communication between the riders and Voughters during the race. With radios, the situation would have been totally different because the team would have been aware of what exactly was going on.

It was a good strong race for the team and it clear that we can race our bikes against the best guys. Now we just have to build out blocks the right way.

CapTech Classic

2006-06-02T07:21:00.000-07:00

CapTech June 1st 2006

All I have to say is Danny Pate, Danny Pate, Danny Pate, Danny Pate, Danny Pate, Danny Pate, Danny Pate, Danny Pate, Danny Pate, Danny Pate, Danny Pate. Okay that’s enough Danny Pate’s. This guy single handedly dropped at least 25-30 guys by taking 4 lap pulls to bring back the break. Bow down!!

There were times when I thought I would get dropped if he continued at this pass, but I had a lot of determination. Last year I didn’t even make it pass 10 laps, this year I made the final selection of 30 riders.

The Captech classic has to be one of the toughest races in the United States. With the hill’s, turns and decent, it makes it really difficult and demanding and also makes you focus.

I kelp good position pretty much throughout the whole race while the team spent time attacking and covering moves. After only ten laps of the 42 lap race, I felt really bad and almost had some bad thoughts run into my head by I quickly pushed those out and just suffered for laps to come until I felt normal again and that came around the half way mark at 25 laps, but that is still an 1hr of racing and going up the hill.

Well at the end, after Danny Pate dogged the whole feel, I was the last TIAA-CREF man standing and the break was 50seconds up the road. With no one in the group willing to chase, we were racing for 6th place.

Going into the last 10 laps, single attacks were going and it put just enough tension on the field to loose a few more riders. This went on all the way to the end.

Well…I finished the race I think at 19th (un official). Very big improvement from last year this time and I hope CSC Saturday will be the winning race for the team and I. (there are no hills) haha and I always do well there anyways. So, of we go driving to Arlington, VA.

See you guys.

June 1st Richmond, VA

2006-06-01T09:12:00.000-07:00

Richmond, VA
June 1st 2006

After flying half the day yesterday, I finally arrived to Richmond International Airport around 10:50pm. As I got off the plane, I was walking next to this lady and she heard me talking on the phone and when she looked over at me, she grabbed her purse as if I could take it and run all the way through the airport without getting caught. It kills me!! I also saw this billboard in the airport with Juan Hiado and Gordon Mcaully. (ill leave a pic of it) Anyway, all my bags arrived and now I’m on my way to the hotel in a taxi. I guess I went to sleep around 1pm and got up about 8:00 for breakfast.

We are staying at the crown plaza hotel just two blocks off the racecourse. And the streets are full with team cars, vans, trucks, trailers and busses.
The ride today was HOT. Its so hot and humid here its crazy. We did an easy 1 1/2 ride and the first 30min was riding through a housing project in the inner city and it was so funny, all my teammates at the same said “Rahsaan you go in the front”. But I’m sure they were surprised to hear the welcome the people in the community gave them/us. They were excited to see cyclist ride down their streets, yelling, screaming, whistling and just having a good time.

Back at the hotel now and just going to relax before the start at 7:30pm.

Ill sign back on and let you know what happens.

Also, you guys should check out www.thebroadbandracer.com
I’m doing a video blog for the site and if you check it out now you will see the likes of Christian Vandervelt, Fred Rodriguez and more. So go check it out. Its really cool and unique, there is nothing like it.

Hat Trick

2006-05-29T23:17:00.000-07:00

LA Wings Memorial Day Crit

California had blessed us with another sunny day and blue skies with a little gust of wind.
Lets get right to business. The race started off moderate with a few attacks and they just kelp coming until about 25 minutes in Gordon Mcully attacked and stayed away for 7-10 laps because a few teams sent a couple of guys up to bring him back. Once he was back in the field, I attacked and tried to get away solo, but only to put tension on the 100+ field. My tragedy worked and I group of 6 got away, however before I knew it, 6 turn to 8, 8 turn to 14, 14 turn to 16. Way to many guys.

I did some work at this point, but with this many people in the split its bound not to stick. A couple of laps later Tony Cruz (United Pro) attacked and split the group, when Tony set up, I attacked, once again to keep people on the edge and maybe get rid of some guys in the break. Perfection! After a while, we were 20 seconds from lapping the field. As we got closer guys got more motivated to lap and we did with about 15 minutes to go. What I didn’t know was that all the guys we dropped from the break stuck it out and were also in a position to lap the field shortly after my group lapped.

Now I see 5 to go and I looking good. Staying out of trouble and following the right wheels I hear that the second group has just lapped and now we see 3 to go. With one to go I was caught in the wind after being pinched off the wheel ahead of me. Coming out the last turn I was 3rd wheel right behind Tony Cruz and with 200 meter to go I launched the rockets and with 100 to go I hit the after burners taking my 3rd consecutive win in a row.

pic courtesy of:Kenny Lam "sony pictures"

Barry Wolfe Crit

2006-05-29T22:50:00.000-07:00

Barry Wolfe Crit

Well you all know about the track race (read above) and Saturday was the same. The second race of the Memorial Day weekend was also a race in dedication to Barry Wolfe. Saturday race was a new course from the past years. Usually it’s a wide-open 4-corner race with very good roads. This year it was 4 corners with bad roads and narrow streets. This race was all about who can make it to the last corner first for the short 150-meter sprint.

This race was a whole lot better for me than I expected given that I just don’t feel 100% at this time. After a few break went and came back, with about 40 minutes to go, I small group got away and it had 1-2 guys from every team including new Successful Living member Gordon Mcully. I made my move got across to the break and got right to work. I wanted this break to stick because I was the fastest guy in the move. After the break got about 30 seconds I started to pull less and watch for Gordon attacks, which worked out for me because I was able to bring back every single attack that look dangerous.

With 2 laps to go, Gordon attacked and opened a decent gap however Kale from LaGrange had his teammate Marco Rios bring him back giving me the perfect lead out. With two corners to go, I came out 4th wheel knowing it was a race to the next corner. A SDBC rider started the dash to the corner, I quickly jump along with Kyle and now it’s a 3 up side my side dash to the corner. I’m thinking “ crash or win” who ever breaks last and don’t crash will win…first guys to give up was the sdbc rider, so now its Kyle and I and I beat him to the corner going about 38mph. As I make the corner, I notice that I’m going to fast and I run into the center divider rubbing the side of my tires with it. For a hot second I thought I would crash, but remember, I got mad skills and I made it to take the win.

You guys wont believe this. I won two cash primes and when it was time to collect, they said John Wordin went home with the cash box....haha

Track Race

2006-05-27T21:13:00.000-07:00

I race the track today out in Encino in memory of Barry Wolfe.
WHO WAS BARRY WOLFE? It was almost impossible to be a part of the Southern California cycling community and not know Barry Wolfe. "Barry" was a top
masters competitor for many years, both on road and track, winning a National Track Championship jersey in 1987. Barry founded the popular local "Simi Ride". A
partial list of pros who were regular participants includes Thurlow Rogers, Roy Knickman, John Wordin, Pam Schuster, John Tomac, Steve Bauer, Chris Horner,
Levi Leipheimer, Harm Jensen, Henk Vogels, Gord Fraser, Jonathan Vaughters, Floyd Landis and Baden Cooke, just to name a few. Wolfe, who passed away in July
2003, was the grand "Patron" of Southern California Cycling. In addition to the Simi Ride, he led a weekday ride, known simply as "The Barry Ride," which is also a
mainstay training ride for local elite amateurs and pros. Anyone from Olympic and Tour de France riders to actors like James Cromwell, musicians like Mike Ward,
Matt Fenders and John Rubano and just people who loved to go for a ride showed up for the rides. Wolfe was also one of the founding members of the famous North
Hollywood Wheelman club that fostered numerous legendary names in US Cycling such as Ron Skarin, Wayne Stetina, Rogers and Knickman. Barry was also
instrumental in the establishment of the Encino Velodrome, bringing the Track Nationals to Southern California and the Warner Center Grand Prix. Therefore it is
fitting that that the Encino Memorial Day Weekend Race should carry his name and be a memorial to his good works for cycling and cyclists.

I had NO legs. I don’t feel good and it’s making really nervous. I should be on top form right now getting ready for Philly Week. Well it’s really nothing special to talk about but I do have one pic to share with you.

photo courtesy of : Stefan

Have a good healthy and safe Memorial Day weekend.

This weekend

2006-05-25T18:14:00.000-07:00

So I have three races this weekend. Starting Saturday night, ill race the track at Encino then sunday and monday ill race these crits. Should be fun and I just pray to be safe and the rest will fall in place.

ill keep you guys posted on whats going on.

peace

Back on the Bike and Racing

2006-05-22T22:19:00.000-07:00

So I finally felt strong enough to get out of bed and go train Saturday morning. So I head out to Pasadena to do a slow group ride and at about 30miles in I get a flat, I fix it and I get another flat. I ride to my friends house Josh that lived near by in San Demas and I got another tube and cl2. We get about 10minutes into the ride and I puncture again. My day is over. His wife Carla came and took me to my car.

I felt really bad and didn’t know about racing the next day, but I had a gut feeling that my legs would be okay.
So, I wake up Sunday morning bright and early and go for a ride and once again my legs felt sluggish and flat. So my ride is over and I get home and start to get ready to drive up to the race.

It’s a Simi hard circuit because it’s pretty hilly. It has a long 700mm hill and a bunch of false flat before going back up hill to the finish.

The race started off really fast because they gave as a prime a set of $340.00 wheels to the leader of the first lap. With 100mm to go to the last turn, I hear a puncture. I jump up and down to see if its me and its feels fine so I take the last corner at regular speed with the pack…. my tire was flat and I almost crashed. However I’m sitting like 5-6 wheels and no one is sprinting for the wheels yet, so as we get to about 200mm from the start finish line, I start to sprint. Can you believe I beat those guys on a flat tire? So, now the two guys I beat for the wheels are laughing at me because my race is over right? Wrong. I find a guy that I knew in the race and offered him some money to give me his wheel and he agreed. We did a wheels exchange and after a lap of chasing I got back on and game was on. I know I made people nervous when they saw me again.

My legs never really came around but I did put some people in a whole by riding aggressive. I made a lot of the breaks but not the right one. With about 1minutes to go a break went and I didn’t cover and they stayed away. The picture is of the break and the main field on the last lap going up the final climb. We where so close.

Well, it was a good race for me even though I didn’t win. I recovered well, but didn’t have the good legs and that’s only because I didn’t train for the last 10 days.

So…I feel ready to hit it hard this week and prepare for Philly week along with Captech, CSC and some race in Canada.

Being home

2006-05-16T13:46:00.000-07:00

I got home and I came down with some type of virus. We thought it was just normal cold, but it seems to be much more. I feel like throwing up every thirty minutes and it doesn't feel good.

I did a good 4-hour ride yesterday and about 15minutes from my house, I got this nasty cramp in my stomach to the point where I couldn't pedal.
ill give it one more day and if I feel the same, ill take myself to the doctor.

peace,

Tiaa-Cref First North America Win

2006-05-06T17:55:00.000-07:00

Tiaa-Cref First North America Win

It felt good to sleep in past 8:00 today. The crit didn’t start till 3:15 so we had all day to guff around and go for an easy spin before the evening crit. On the ride this morning, my legs felt pretty decent and I was really shocked, I mean this is my first stage race all year.

After getting back to the hotel, I took a shower and had a sandwich before taking a 2hr. On the ride over to the race, my legs felt horrible and I started to think…what happen?
So, I figured when the race start, ill chill for a minute and see what happens, but they felt worse and worse so I went to option 2, do a couple of sprints to open up the legs. Well that worked and I won two money primes in the process, a $50 and $100. The $50 prime came really easy. The second one…wow, I came from like 300m back to nip Curtis Gunn at the line.

Danny Pate and all the boys road really well but also really smart. We didn’t use too much energy because tomorrow will be a very hard day. Mike Lang and Danny Pate were in a break that was about 50seconds at one point during the race, however Health Net and other teams brought it back just in time for a field sprint.

We had the numbers to do a killer lead-out, but I felt confident that if I just followed Gord’s wheel I could take him. Chad Hartley had to do the dirty work by keeping everyone off my wheel going into the final laps…and he did a great job putting his ass on the line for me.

Going into the last two corner Chris Wherry (united pro) once again gave Gord a lead out only this time I was able to hold the wheel and contest the sprint. I gave Gord a gap entering the last corner so I could take a run at him and maybe I gave him a bit too much. As we started to sprint, I made another mistake by taking the inside line where the street was really rough and as I torque on the bike, my bike wheel was going no where but left and right. I moved left with about 50m to go and I took off like a rocket. At this time Gord has his hands up, not knowing I was going about 4-5mph faster than him and I took the win.

Thanks Gord!

Stage 3 Tour of Gila

2006-05-05T14:22:00.000-07:00

Opportunity Missed

Today was a bit nervous for the Cref boys and me. Not because we didn’t have a good enough team or we were scared to race, but the concern was, will I be able to get over the 2 major climbs and the hard rollers coming into town for the flat finish.

From the start we had 4-5 big rollers before hitting the first main climb. Attacks started right away and a small group eased away to get a 1-2minute gap on the field at the base of the climb. Team United Pro set a high tempo early in the climb but riders where so excited they attacked and made the pace even higher. I started the climb about 20 back and when the temp slowed, I quickly moved to the front and made it over the climb in the top 10. Sigh of relief.

From there its pretty much down hill with some rollers and one last climb through the feed zone and then you get this crazy decent, which half of the field wanted to be the leader down the hill. I did the decent about 6 riders back and I felt super safe.

In the middle of the race, we where going pretty slow and my body started to shut down and I needed something to get going again. So I went all the way to the back of the field and slowly worked my way to the front just in time for the race to the final bog climb into Silver city. At this point in the race the two leaders are about 5min up the road and the boys (TIAA-CREF) started to help United Pro chase. They did an outstanding job bringing the gap down and it wasn’t easy. I had the whole team rallying around me and they gave me 100% so I can have a chance at the stage win.

With about 3k to go, the leaders are only 30 seconds ahead and that’s when Danny Pate took this killer pull and split the field from 70 to about 20 guys. I was sitting perfect on Gord Frasher will going into the last corner with 1k to go, Danny pulled off and I took a huge breath because he really hurt me (but he had to do it, to bring back the two guys). At this point, I’m thinking, just hold on and you can win. Well I held on as long as possible. I was sitting 5th wheel and it was a nasty cross wind and I was out of the draft. Chris Wherry (united pro) was giving Gord (health net) a lead out and when he punched it, I had nothing.

I rolled in somewhere in the top 15 maybe (have not seen official results yet). The team was content. The DS was happy that I made it over all the climbs in good shape and I was really upset. Its not fun putting you team on the line and you don’t close the deal. It truly sucks.

Tour of Gila Stage 1-2

2006-05-04T15:57:00.000-07:00

Stage one: Tour of Gila

After I saw in the schedule that I was doing tour of Gila, I was actually pretty happy. I mean I spent about 4 weeks here in late January and we covered pretty much all the roads the race covers, so the confidence was pretty high.

The TT yesterday was just a ride for me to open my legs up for today’s stage. The TT was 16 miles out and back and pretty much all up hill.

Today’s stage was a 96-mile road race with a mountain top finish. The goal for today was just to ride for a break and see what happens at the end. Well we did get that. Mike Lang and Chad Hartley made the early break at 10miles in and we never saw them until the final 5mile climb. Our best result was Lucas at 6th place.

Overall I felt pretty good and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s stage. It’s a bit tough in the beginning and the end, but it’s a finish that I can do well in.

Tour of Gila

2006-04-27T11:25:00.000-07:00

Starting last Monday I did my own little tour of gila race. I did a TT on Monday had about a 2hr ride. Tues I did a long road ride, 5hr 20min. Wends I did 4hr 50min and today Thurs I did 2hr on the beach. So tomorrow I must ride at least 5hrs and that would simulate the last day of Gila going over the "Gila Monster".

I feel okay, my legs hurt from doing my gym workout after my ride, but going over some of the hills back home today, my legs started to open up.

This weekend ill do a hilly road race and a crit sat, sun.

Talk to you all soon

April 24th 2006

2006-04-24T21:14:00.000-07:00

I know its been a while sense I have posed anything on the blog, but now that Tour of Georgia is over, the next race for me is Tour of Gila in Silver City, NM. (http://www.tourofthegila.com) Tour of Gila is a 4day race with tons of climbing. I feel good about going here because remember back in January, a few of my teammates and I had a training camp for just about a month in Silver City and all of our riders covered the very roads that TOG will cover. The last stage of Gila has about 5500ft of climbing.

After TOG, I go home and I get every other weekend on the road before Philly week (procyclingtour.com) and Canada for Tour De Beauce (www.tourdebeauce.com)

Everything else is pretty good, I feel healthy and ready to race again. Today was 32 1/2 hrs easy on the beach and 40min on the rollers while I watch the Los Angeles Clippers beat down the Denver Nuggets.

april 24th 2006

2006-04-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

I know its been a while sense I have posed anything on the blog, but now that Tour of Georgia is over, the next race for me is Tour of Gila in Silver City, NM. (http://www.tourofthegila.com) Tour of Gila is a 4day race with tons of climbing. I feel good about going here because remember back in January, a few of my teammates and I had a training camp for just about a month in Silver City and all of our riders covered the very roads that TOG will cover. The last stage of Gila has about 5500ft of climbing.

After TOG, I go home and get to spend some time home before going to Philly week and Canada for BC Super Week.

Everything else is pretty good, I feel healthy and ready to race again.

April 24th 2006

2006-04-24T09:32:00.000-07:00

I know its been a while sense I have posed anything on the blog, but now that Tour of Georgia is over, the next race for me is Tour of Gila in Silver City, NM. (http://www.tourofthegila.com) Tour of Gila is a 4day race with tons of climbing. I feel good about going here because remember back in January, a few of my teammates and I had a training camp for just about a month in Silver City and all of our riders covered the very roads that TOG will cover. The last stage of Gila has about 5500ft of climbing.

After TOG, I go home and get to spend some time home before going to Philly week and Canada for BC Super Week.

Everything else is pretty good, I feel healthy and ready to race again.

Who has the REAL DIOR? And Who Saved $380 Bucks?

2006-04-10T08:13:00.000-07:00

Pics from 20th Route Adélie - 1.1

2006-04-01T02:42:00.000-08:00

These are some pics from the start of the race. The boys in the camper getting ready, the crazy crowed looking for the autographs and the start finish line. It was pretty cool. You see those three random guys? They just stared at me so I took a picture of them.

20th Route Adélie - 1.1 France

2006-04-01T02:36:00.000-08:00

20th Route Adélie - 1.1
Vitré, France, March 31, 2006

Coming into yesterdays race I was super focused and really had a chip on my shoulder ready to prove something. Well…I did prove something but I didn’t execute that chip 100%.
We started the race 30min late because of the student protestors who are rallying about a law that was passed in France about being fired from a job without having done any wrong doing. (Check out the French news it’s a huge deal, they have blocked railways, bus lines and even the interstates).

Anyways, I always make it a point to start in the very front. Today it paid off, from the gun the went flying up the hill and I was there sitting 3rd wheel for about 4-5k. After going over the first hill, my legs blew up. It felt as if someone pumped air into them and they also had a num tingling feeling. My legs are saying, “You suck” and my brain is saying, “you will be okay”. Mind over matter for sure. My brain was right. In the team meeting Johnny wanted myself and Taylor to go for the early break, well Taylor made the early break and they immediately gained 5min on the field. The whole day I had great position on the hills, cross wind sections, dead sections and I pretty much stayed in the top 30 the whole race. Trust me that’s not easy. At times Acqua & Sapone and Ag2R would light it up in the cross wind and bring the break back to seconds and then they would stop. So after a few of those and my legs felt great, I just new I was going to finish this race strong.

With about 1hr to go, I had bad positioning through the crosswind section and I ran into the muddy ditch. I looked back and I didn’t see anyone and thought I was the last rider. I was wrong, there were still 20-30 guys behind me and by the time I got back up to speed, I was just bout last guy until a Japanese rider closed the door on me and put me right back in the ditch. I chased and at the top of the hill, I caught back on and thought I would be fine through the downhill and back up hill through the finish.

At the top of the feed zone hill, I’m on the verge of popping and I suffer to the top because there is a downhill. However this time, we were going so fast you had to peddle your bike down the hill, so no rest for me. Now we are back on another hill and I see the top and I slowly start to through the pack like a rocket. (Backwards that is). When I crest the hill, the field was about 100meters in front of me and I had 4 guys who got dropped with me. We chased for 1 lap (short loop now) and stayed close but once we hit another big hill. Game over!

Even thought I didn’t finish and I had no doubt that I would because I felt fantastic, it was a huge confidence booster. I mean within 3 laps the field was down to about 70 guys and I was still in there riding well.

One more thing. I don’t want to pull the “race card” but I get some strange things happening to me during the race. Brad Huff saw one guy just hit me in my leg for NO REASON! Then a Francaise Des Jeux rider came on the side of me gave me the thumbs up then turned it down and rolled away. I caught him and did the same thing but I used the middle finger and turned it up!! (Mike Creed saw that) then a Jean Floc rider tried pushing me off the road. That’s just an example of the big things that happen during the race. There is other small thing that happens all the time. I mean all the time.
Also my whole team dropped out the race. No t good news for the team.

Sunday will be great for us. We have a great chance to win.

Fridays race

2006-03-29T07:14:00.000-08:00

Wednesday March 29, 2006

It’s cold today in Girona and very cloudy. In the past 10 days it’s been sunny highs in the 70-80s. Couldn’t do much of a ride today because the van is leaving for France with all the bikes and bags and we (riders) fly out early tomorrow morning to Paris.

Thus far, it’s been a really good experience. Yeah I know I haven’t lived up to my high expectations and even the expectations of the team, however to get my feet wet again in the International racing field has showed me that there is a way that I can make a living here.

With all the training I did, I thought I would actually be a rider who would be in contention with every sprint that was suited for me. I never ever counted myself out. But racing here is a whole other level and takes more concentration, discipline, heart, courage and somewhat of an attitude to succeed.

Fridays race is a 180k race. We do 5 loops of a 28k loop and 8 loops of a 5k loop. It look pretty rolling and I feel the legs should be ready to go. After talking to Jonathan Voughters about what he feels I should do after I didn’t ride well in the first races. He told me that Sundays race is a race that suites me and I should have perfect legs for that. I know I will. I know because I just felt really good in my training, legs felt fresh and I’m over due to prove I belong here.

So ill keep you posted.

Peace.

I have found a new dish

2006-03-29T06:49:00.000-08:00

this is what i eat now. Everyday now for 4 days
You can figure out what's in it

Random Pics

2006-03-26T06:46:00.000-08:00

I know we all like pics to view so I took some of my cool ride to the beach. I didn't take many because it was more of "training" than a ride to the beach. So, I didn't stop to many times, even though some of the views were breath taken.

lil something to read

2006-03-23T10:02:00.000-08:00

Being in Girona is not as bad as being in Belgium or France. Germany is not so bad because more people than you think speak the English language. Belgium and France, no one speaks English. Well I guess I shouldn’t go as far as saying “no” one, but the percentage of English speaking people is very low.

Girona, they speak Spanish of course and it’s much easer to bridge the language barrier than other foreign countries.
My time here has been somewhat boring because after I train, it’s really nothing to do. I have pretty much seen all of Girona, however I still like looking at the cobblestone walk ways and steep narrow stairways. You think they build American homes in tight quarters? These apartments are less than 5yards across from one another.

It’s a lot of culture here and tons of free self-expressions. Half of the Spanish women have mullets with some crazy (Will Smith, Fresh Prince of BelAir) designs in them and rock Hammer pants….yes you read right, hammer pants. Then you have the high boot thing. What they do is, they find the tallest pair of boots they can find, either stuff the jeans with them, or cut the jeans at the top of the boot. The 60 year olds are even doing it. And the last thing I’ve seen is the young boys 16 and under, rocking the corner store “bling bling”. Full on too. I mean earrings, watches two chains and some fat shell toe addidas. I guess, don’t hate the player, hate the game!

That’s it for now; I’m typing this look at George Hincapie’s homes. It’s laid. Looking really nice. He got the whole top floor…as he should.

Peace

2006-03-21T12:45:00.000-08:00

pics

2006-03-21T12:27:00.000-08:00

just in

2006-03-21T09:04:00.000-08:00

Brad Hoff won todays stage of TON. They say he won by a whole lot. really cool for the team.

Random Pics

2006-03-21T05:38:00.000-08:00

Stay tuned for pics. Im at the internet cafe and its not uplaoding my pictures. also this morning my charger for my computer blew and i cant charge my laptop. so now thats two things i have lost. My JBL ipod speakers blew and now my laptop charger...sucks

Back in Spain

2006-03-20T15:21:00.000-08:00

We made it back to spain and the weather is really nice. Its about 1am here and about 60 outside. Might walk around and see the town and take some more pics. I like Girona.

Jonny will send me a program to follow before the next races. I thank all who post on here and keep me pumping. Big "verg" thank you. Mike from "la" you too. Nad Boy...you do the same, your also with the big boys.

When i get to the internet cafe tomorrow, ill be sure to post some pics. I dont have many pics from the race (because I'm racing) but I do have something to share. If anyone wants to follow me and take pics (free of charge) your more than welcome to.

well...i guess thats it for now. I swear, I should come home and kick major you know what after all these races, what do you think? Philly week...i know i can win one of those races.

I know i can be what I wanna be. if i work hard at it, ill be where i wanna be. (NAS)

two races down

2006-03-20T06:50:00.000-08:00

I have done 2 races so far and they both went bad for me. The first race, I felt really good, road the front, stayed out of the back. always near the front during the cross wind sections but 3:40min I just ran out of gas with 1 hr to go in the race.
These guys take lots of risk and its really no time, not to pay attention. I thought about it and I think I had a small bonk. I had no time to eat. I road with a small group of guys to the finish line where i got in the camper...race over.

The second race was a much bigger race. a 1.1 in France with big Euro teams. Unibet.com, CSC, Cofidis to name a few. From the start I didnt feel that good, but it was a feeling that sometime you have when you know your legs will come around. well mine never came around and when they tuned on the heat, I went right out the back door. I couldn't hold the wheels on the big rollers coming into the feed zone. My day was over after almost 4 hrs of racing.

It can be really depressing racing over here. These Euro guys make it look so so easy on TV and even in person. It's not even close to being easy. Well, I'm disappointed because I road hard, I did my days on the bike, I did what was ask of me for training and I get here and Im getting dropped. I hope it gets better.

I leave back for Spain tonight and ill hook up with Hincapie and do some good riding before the next week of racing.

see ya

if i get more pic ill post them...cool?

March 16th

2006-03-20T06:28:00.000-08:00

March 16, 2006

We left Girona early this morning at 5:15 am to catch a commuter jet to France. They had warned us that this flight is like no other. It cost 8euros and its first come first serve like South West airline when it comes to seating. The Girona airport reminded me of a greyhound station and not an airport. After you check in you get this paper ticket that my little two-year-old daughter can make and you precede through security.

The plane was a decent 737 airbus but it had not seat pockets and the seats also did not recline…that sucked. However you could buy “American” style hotdogs, liquor in a pack and other odd items. The whole flight was like something from a movie. Two seats in front of me this couple was making out and Danny Pate would yell “gets a room” and the kids on the flight would play with the seat belt making the “click” sound and Brad Hoff yelling to them “okay enough, knock it off”. It was really funny.

We arrive in France and one team car and the motor home is out front. It’s about 25 degree’s and I’m freezing. We take off for a 6 hr drive to the town of the race tomorrow.
We finally make it to the hotel and get dressed for a quick ride.

The pics are of us riding through town and also pics of the super medium room. It’s so small. Look at the beds; I have to share that with my teammate….and the TV…haha so small.

Los Angeles to Spain

2006-03-15T05:40:00.000-08:00

Lax to London, London to Barcelona, Spain.

It was a almost crazy day, but I made sure to make the most of it and not get carried away and running around town like a “chicken with my head cut off”. In the morning I said my good by’s to my wife and child and as they went about their day I finished packing my bags and cleaning the house. I’m not a “neat freak” however I hate clutter. So I cleaned the house from top to bottom and it took me about 2 hrs to complete.

I went out to the valley with my friend Todd to handle some things then we ate Chipotla for lunch. By this time, its about 4 hrs before my flight to London so I’m home and I don’t have cable TV so the only thing on were the soap’s to I fell to sleep and the only reason I woke up is because my dad called and ask if I needed a ride to the airport.

I get to the airport and the rest of the guys in the odd size line with 15 bike boxes and 20 bags. United said that each rider could only take one bike bag a piece and two bags. Allen Lim paid 120 dollars a piece for 10 extra bike bags. I hope the team pays him back.

So I'm on the plane and ready to take off to London. The flight time was just around 10 hrs so I popped a few melatonin pills and fell out. I don’t even remember taking off. I slept through both meals, dinner and breakfast so I woke up very hungry with 2hrs to go in the flight. So for breakfast I had trail mix.

The lady next to me started to talk and I saw this Las Vegas party bracelet on her arm and I ask her if she did some partying in Vegas. Wrong move. She talked, talked and talked my ear off and she also started to pass gas and it wasn’t pleasant.

After arriving in London we had to get a bus to the other terminal for our connection to Spain. We got so lost and didn’t know which gate to wait at for our connection because; there was no gate yet. So after we figured that at, we sat down in the mall looking area and paid 20 bucks a sandwich. The pound is really strong compared to the US Dollar.

Mike Creed and Danny Pate are so funny together; they did some funny things to piss off some Italian couple that was late for the connection. Creed raced them off the shuttle the he raced the guy up the escalator…he got to the top and celebrated, hand up and everything. It was so funny.

We finally get to Spain and the weather is warm but the sun is starting to go down at around 6pm. We get all of the bike and notice we have one extra bike, we look inside and it’s a United Pro team Bike and not sure why its in Spain. We think it was Sterling “grease” Magnail. Anyway we get all the stuff through customs and the staff is there to welcome us and take us to Girona. It was a long 1 1/2 drive but we made it. The apartment is right down town Girona on the tiny little street. The inside of the place…not so cool. I have some pics and you can see where I’m laying my head.

Today (Wednesday) we went for an easy 1 1/2 ride because the team van leaves with all bikes today at noon for France. We fly out tomorrow morning. My first race is Friday. It’s a one-day race called (Classic Loire Atlantique). Saturday we have off then race Sunday (Cholet-Pays De Loire). Then Tour de Normandie starts right after that.

Ill try and keep you up to date. The house doesn’t have a phone, Internet, TV or anything; it’s just a place to rest. It’s a cool apartment but it needs some money thrown into it so you can live comfortably in it.

race win #4

2006-03-13T15:27:00.000-08:00

(i rused this blog, sorry for any typos. I wanted to post this before i board the aircraft)

CBR Crit

With scattered dark clouds hovering above and three other races going on in southern and northern California 90 riders set out to race a 100k crit at the Dominguez hill race course.
I was so excited, I had 5 teammates. Pate, Creed, Huff, Lucas and Taylor where all in town training on the track preparing for track worlds next month in France.

So we set out to race and to give the local guys a bit of a heart attack (jokingly) if we could. Also attending the race was the Polish National team. So after seeing those guy we new that the race would be between “us” and “them”. After the quick race instruction the gun went off and the race is on. Someone attacked and I followed. Before we even got to the 3rd corner, we had a nice little gap. What made this move even sweeter was that I had 3 teammates in the group. I had the guys go to the front and just to try and keep the pass up so no one else would come across to the group.

A whole lot of things happen and it would take me 3 pages to explain how I road on to victory.

Skipping to the halfway point in the race, my group of 12 slowly grew to 20, then 25, the 30. Now my whole team is in the lead group and they decided to keep tempo and keep guys from attacking. Well I thought we would be better off if we started to attack the group split it and make it more of a selective group. First attack went…. and came back. Second attack went…and came back. Third attack went and I followed and the next thing I knew, I was off the front solo and the group set up. I put my head down and I went for it. After 2 laps of a solo effort, the “young” Thurlow Rogers bridged and we lapped the main field, which in turn, got that group of 40 guys kicked out the race. 3 laps later, local rider Carl Bodine from Helens bridged and I immediately stop working. Between Thurlow and Carl, they are stronger and can go TT mode on me. I said to myself, “this is a local race, but I still want to win, so ill take a pull every other pull”. Carl didn’t like that so he would take me off the back and attack me. He did it about 4 times and on the last time I told him “ if we get caught by the group, you wont get top 3 and ill make sure of that”. If you work you will get second. So I guess I talked some sense into him and we eventually lapped the chase group. With 3 to go Carl had Jason Bauch start the lead out while my two guys followed with me behind and Carl behind me. One to go, my guys took over and got me to the last turn in second (Carl attacked before the corner) him doing that was like giving me the race win before the line.

I passed him with ease with 100m to go. Capping my 4th win of the season.
I leave in a few minutes to Spain and ill keep you all posted on what’s going on.
Feel free to leave some encouraging comments on the blog, I could use them.

Cheers

Dream Weaver

2006-03-08T12:21:00.000-08:00

If anyone has a connection on Dream Weaver for a MAC please let me know. I need it so I can update my website.

Thanks

McClain Crit

2006-03-04T22:42:00.000-08:00

McClain Pacific Crit

It seems just a few months ago I raced this very race but it has been 365 days. I had been pretty focused and anticipating this first NRC race of the year. I woke up early Saturday morning around 6:20am because my roommates are old men and can’t sleep past 7am. They headed out to eat breakfast while I got some more sleep and woke up later to my hot plate and made a huge bowl oatmeal. Around 9am the weather was still chilly and we headed out for an easy spin for about 1 1/2.

After relaxing at the hotel for a few hours, I got dressed and went down to the race.
The race started off pretty slow, usually this race is blistering fast and everybody is going “a wall” to stay in the front and or to win primes. In the middle on the race a group of about 9 guys rolled away and stayed away for the remainder of the race. Every team was represented besides Eric Saunders team “Successful living” so they where forced to chase. I had been following Greg Henderson and he just went “buff down” after hitting a street reflector and took Alex from Jelly Belly with him. At the moment I saw him going down, I was right in the middle of the crap and to avoid the crash, I did this crazy move with my body and bike and in turn I felt something pull in my back, I immediately went to the back and tried stretching it. I spent about 10 laps at the back and moved back to the front with 15 laps to go.

At 15 laps to go things started to heat up and people where going crazy for position and it got really hairy. I would have good position on one lap then the next lap I would lose 10 spots. This happen to me lap after lap. So what I tried to do is find a team that would be leading out there sprinter, so I found…. no one. I was on my own and I could not pull it off. I was happy I didn’t crash and I always thank God for protecting me.

Tomorrow is 120mile road race and I think ill do well. I feel pretty good. Coach Lim wants me to put out some good efforts so ill be racing for a break.

Pics From My Ride Today

2006-03-01T16:07:00.000-08:00

I did a 5 1/2 hr ride and got to 4000 KJ's for the day. I feel pretty good. Nothing exciting happen on the ride.

Good Team Car

2006-02-28T11:06:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you but ill buy one of these. I mean, yeah it is a poor mans Bentley, but still.
Check out these pics.

Ontario GP #1

2006-02-26T21:00:00.000-08:00

Ontario GP #1

Today marked the second win of the season under my baby blue and white Tiaa-Cref uniform.
In junction with the final stage of Tour of California, non-stage race guys and local pro’s had a chance for there own glory in smoggy Ontario, California. With scattered clouds looming over the 7-corner 1.2-mile circuit and high winds, 140 guys started the 90-minute race. Represented well in the field was Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada pro cycling team, Successful living pro team and numerous local teams. The race started very quickly with the KB Homes Mexican National team taking a flyer on the first lap.
That break was willed in shortly and the attacks were pretty consistent all day long.

With a stiff head wind in on the backside of the course, it would be a great challenge to stay away. One dangerous move went away with 20 minutes to go that held 9 riders. While seating back waiting to see what’s going to happen, I started to lose patience and wanted to take a crazy pull and bring the gap down.

Well, my patience paid off and the break was caught with 3 laps to go. This by far was one of the craziest sprint finishes I have done in such a long time. Guys where yelling, hitting, pushing, slamming on brakes, chopping and everything else you could think about…its happen for 3 laps. After fighting for the wheels for one complete lap and being a nice guy, I had to turn that switch off and turn into the bad guy because I would lose 6-10 spots for being nice. So as I got evil, I stayed in the top 10 with 1 1/2 laps to go. Eric Saunders and his squad had numbers and set up the train with Sierra Nevada tailing right behind and me fighting everyone every one else off Dan Schmatz wheel.

From the last sweeping turn, I was 5 guys back (perfect position) because the sprint was a good 350m. Dan hit with about 200mm to go and gapped me pretty bad, I tried going to a bigger gear to take a run at him and my gear would not change (now I’m doing 1400 watts in a 53x14) so I just put my head down and put the skinny legs to work. It came down to a bike throw, which I won.

It feels good getting a win against some fast guys. So…that’s win number two and many more to come. I can’t wait to do a race with the team and get a killer lead out.

Results
1.Rahsaan Bahati- Tiaa-Cref
2.Dan Schmatz- Kodakgallery.com/Seirra Nevada
3. Jeremiah Wiscovitch - Succsesful Living Pro Cycling Team
4.Justin Williams- Major Motion

Up beat

2006-02-23T08:45:00.000-08:00

Just to let you all know. I have been on my bike. Still training and doing what I need to do. Thanks for all the post. They help me get over it really fast. You guys are great.

On the "up beat" Neil over at Road Magazine did a cool story on me. Floyd Landis is on the cover and I'm in there some where. Check it out at your local bike shops or Barnes and Noble.

See ya...

OUT!!!

2006-02-16T21:35:00.000-08:00

I WAS NOT PICKED FOR THE TOUR OF CA

OUT.

Individual TT

2006-02-16T16:30:00.000-08:00

TT Course

The Individual TT is a good one. Its hard enough, but not crazy hard. I think someone like Mike Creed will do great. You leave the IBM laboratory parking lot and head 1k into a hill that i’s about 2k long. When you get to the top it shoots down hill into a left hand turn and you continue down hill for about 4k. Then you hit a slow false flat section that sucks. After you crest that, you continue on with some false flat down hill into a left-hander that's super fast. You stay on that road for about 8k and you start to go up hill very genteelly and then it shoots up for about 200m. This is where the fun begins. You go flying down this twisting down hill with a few sharp turns and back on the last drag to the finish. The final straight to the finish is about 6-7k long and all flat road. If it's windy during the TT, this will be a vedifficultult part of the course.

Still no word if IÂ’m racing yet.

sorry dont have pics, just don't have time to snap pics. Beth from (3cats photos) also works for the team will hook me up with some pics to add...

Stage Two Preview

2006-02-15T19:28:00.000-08:00

Stage Two Previews.

Once again we start the race and about 10min in we have a 3mile climb. The stage today is really nice. It has nice European type roads, lots of climbing and not so many down hills. Sucks!! This stage has about six 4mile climbs and the last climb into San Jose is the back breaker. 18% for about 3miles, then you come flying into town and do laps in down town San Jose.

I don’t have much to say, I’m so tired, it took us 6hrs to do the stage and I’m so so tired.

Ill get back.

Stage one Preview of TOC

2006-02-15T19:12:00.000-08:00

Tuesday February 14, 2006
Leaving the Bay area this morning was a bit chilly but not to bad. Before leaving the parking lot though, Vaughters said, “As you guys can see we have 9 guys here and we can only race 8, so…” I want to be optimistic about this race and knowing that every stage I can help my team and maybe I can pull something off. It also sucks knowing that I’m the fastest guy here and this race is not for fast guys, it’s for climbers. What will he do?

I really feel that I put in my time and I deserve to race.
Enough of that jazz, the ride today was pretty cool. Long, windy and hilly. Stage one will be pretty tough the first 45min. There are two climbs in the first 20min that are about 10min long each. Then you get a nice little kicker again about 20min later. From there it rolls for a while kind of up and down. We hit some big rollers near Point Rayes then it settles down again. The last 15miles are really fast, long down hill and long straight road into Santa Rosa. There we do 3 closing circuits of a 3mile loop. I feel pretty good about stage one. Tomorrow we will ride stage 2 but the plan is to ride a bit harder and I guess from there JV will have pick the team.

Time for a massage….

6 days B4 TOC

2006-02-13T20:34:00.000-08:00

Monday February 13th (its my solar return)

Today was such a beautiful day. The weather is awesome and city seem very calm and especially the airport.
It’s nice having a late afternoon flight, because I usually fly out very early in the morning because I'm flying into another time zone but today I’m going up north to San Francisco and I had a 2:45pm flight.

When I got to check in, there were like 4 people in line, so I skipped the line and went to e-check in because I only had a duffle bad. So I slide my card in to get my ticket and pushed the button that said 1 bag and usually someone comes over and check your ID and tag your bag, well about 3 positions over, there was two people working and they were both helping people so I just waited, thinking someone would come over and assist me. I waited about ten minutes and no one came, no one even acknowledged that I was there. I walk over to get her attention and this angry lady says “this position is closed, NO ONE IS STANDING IN LINE SO THAT MEANS ITS CLOSED” I want you guys to know that the ticker above the check in said 1K PREMEIR CHECK IN ONLY, well that’s me and nothing gave any indication that area was closed. She unwillingly helped me and as she’s walking away says, “You don’t go where there is no people inline”. If I had more time I would have ask to speak to a manager because…just because. Chinga guey.

Keep God First.

Feb 7th

2006-02-07T18:53:00.000-08:00

I knew coming into this week which rides ill be doing and what type of efforts ill be ask to do. Today leaving the hotel I felt dame good. I pulled pretty much 45min with Mike Creed up the hill to Pinos Altos. Brad Hoff is under the weather so he turned back and Mike Creed had a double day so after 2 hours he turned back. So that left Mike Freedman and myself for a nasty hilly day. I have to say, they weather was perfect, 65, no wind and clear blue skies. The next climb would take about 30min. I did it in 28min. The goal for me was to keep my adv watts at 300-320. I did not accomplish that, I finished at 298 adv watts. I felt stronger and a whole lot smoother. Freedman saw the 1/4 mile sign to the top and picked up the pace. I knew i had to fight so I dug so deep into something I have never dug into (on a hill) and i caught him. My body felt numb and my hand were shaking out of control.

We pulled over where Allen Lim had some food for us and cold drinks. We turned around to head home and the plan for riding back was to have short efforts on the climbs. I took a beating on the first climb and came back strong on the second climb. Mike attacked me and then it was on. We attacked each other all the way to the top of the final climb. It hurt, but it was fun and it gave me more confidence to ride harder going up hill.

Allen pulled us over to see our max watts on the efforts. Mike was 1300 and I was 1200. So now we are about 1hr 1/2 away from home and it home moderate climb home before the long boring down hill. So we just cruised it in eating and drinking thinking about tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, we are doing the same ride but, we will add another climb.

User Pass RR

2006-02-05T20:24:00.000-08:00

User Pass Road Race.

I don’t ever, ever, ever, ever, want to do a pro 1-2 race at 7:30 in the morning. It’s just ridiculous. For those of you, who don’t think it’s a big deal. Ill walk you through a short “time table”

(The day before)
7pm eat dinner
8:30 relax in the hotel
9:00 I find out the breakfast in the hotel doesn’t start on Sundays until 7am
9:15 I get out of bed and roll to target (bought oatmeal, oj and a bowl)
9:45 I’m back at the hotel

Day of race
5:00am alarm from the hotel (I told them 5:15 not 5:00)
5:20am I finally get up
5:30 I cook some oatmeal in the microwave w/ banana con cranberries
5:55 all packed and out the door going to the race
6:05 leave the parking lot…still sleep
7:00 arrive at race and its still DARK!!
7:15 still DARK!!
7:30 dust
7:35 race start

Within the first 5miles of the simi hilly/rolling race Chad Hartley and Mike Creed getaway with about 5 other guys and we never saw them again For a bit, the pack did chase but for the most part we road temp the whole race.
Chad didn’t feel as good as he needed toward the end of the race so Creed finished 3rd Chris Baldwin 2nd and a local guy won.

My group finished about 8minutes behind with Brad Huff, Nathan and myself.
Legs…they were okay, felt a little sluggish and not responsive but the only thing I could think about the whole race was “Tour of California” so every opportunity I had to ride hard I did.

Next, 7 more days at altitude in Silver City. The plan is to get another 3-4 day block of 1000ft of climbing and 5-6hrs of riding.

Final Day Of Block

2006-02-02T16:38:00.000-08:00

Today was the last day of the block and the plan was to get in a good 4-5hr ride at endurance pace. The first 30min of the ride was like race pace. I mean Creed was just drilling it and I mean I was questioning if I would make the whole ride. After about an hour, my legs started to come around and even got excited that I didn’t feel like complete crap. Around 2hrs in, we decided to take 30min pulls and that made the ride go by a lot faster. For those of you who have done (tour of gila) we basically did the second stage and finished on that 9mile climb at about 17% at some points. The pic of the big head kid on the ground. Thats Mike Creed, he's tired...YES!!! How's it feel Mike...hahaha, dont feel good huh? About time your tired The pic of the long road...yeah, it sucked the road was 40miles. No turns. Its so far, you cant even see the mountain we had to climb.

We will leave in the morning to Tucson for the “shoot out” (a training ride) then to Phoenix for a road race Sunday Morning.

Pics from today’s ride.

8000ft of climbing.

2006-02-02T16:20:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was yet another crazy day of ridding. Very hilly, windy and most of all, cold! Everyday before I go out, I look at the weather channel and it says high today 65, but it never fills like 65, more like 45. Its so up and down here, you get hot when you go up and cold when you head down.
I didn’t feel so well late into the ride. It sucks when you have to climb all day long. I try to be optimistic about it and know that it will help me kill people in the races that suite me…but some on!!

Here are a few pics of the highest points of the climb yesterday. Not sure the name of it, maybe (Blackwood’s?)

OOOOOOO BOY!!

2006-01-31T18:39:00.000-08:00

this helps your lungs...some how. "this is what they tell me'
OCHE!!

Five hours with 10,000ft of climbing at an average altitude of 7000ft.
Everything in my body hurts. The goal today was to put out 20min of Vo2max efforts to simulate a stage of Tour of California/Tour of Georgia.
Max watts where 1222, adv watts 285 and I put out 3,637 kj’s(energy)

I have one pic of the highest point of the ride and I was beat.

Well, I ate dinner 3 times already sense we have been back…and I think I’m going to eat again. Then off to bed

We have 2 more days of this training then over to Arizona to race over the weekend. Then back on it for one more week

Silver City...wack

2006-01-31T08:51:00.000-08:00

Out in the middle of No Where.

Creed working on his position. Near the Silver City Mine

Just ridding, thinking about Tour of California

Silver City Mine(they Mine Silver) for you slow people.

3hrs in.

Today (Tuesday) will be a very hard ride. We will do 20min at Vo2max in a 4-5hr ride. The plan is to do about 10 efforts. Its hard to recover at altitude, so we will keep the efforts short. Lets see how it goes, ill let you know

What I deal with all the fu*&^% time

2006-01-30T17:28:00.000-08:00

Look Ma, I'm a Righter!
Thanks, DMX
By Melanie Sims | Indiana Daily Student | Monday, January 30, 2006
email this writer @ mjsims@indiana.edu

I'm not sure if I should be mad at DMX for saying it, or mad at the white guy who repeated it in my presence. But when I heard "my n*ggas" shouted from behind me as I waited in line outside a Walnut Street bar Saturday night, my first reaction was: "I know a white dude did not just drop the N-bomb."

Needless to say, I ended up in a brief argument with a big-mouthed guy who, even before I could match his voice to his face in the crowd, had repeated "my n*ggas" several times. After identifying and then notifying him of his "madd ignorance," he told me, "Oh come on. It's not even like that. I was listening to DMX earlier today and just thought it was funny."

In more words or less, I told homeboy he should have left that foolishness up to DMX. For the next couple minutes we went back and forth. And as if the scene wasn't close enough to a script from some after-school special, he told me, "I didn't say it racially, I'm repeating a song -- you act like you've never said anything racial."

I don't remember what the drink specials were that night; don't remember who sat at my table or even how long I waited in line before I stepped in the place. But I do, however, remember every second of the conversation I had with the blonde-haired guy in the pink Lacoste shirt.

Since then, I've come to terms with the incident.

The truth is that if white folks read Source, watch BET and keep Kanye on their iPods, then I shouldn't be surprised that they're singing the hook to "Gold Digger," N-bombs and all.

I don't think it's right, but it's real. And after much reflection, I am reconsidering my stance as it concerns black folks' use of the word, whether it's on the mic or even around campus.

My boyfriend's always said that even between black folks, the word reflects hate -- self-hate, in particular. He doesn't buy into the theory that changing the "--er" into an "--a" revolutionizes the terminology.

I agreed with his theory but argued that because the word couldn't possibly be eradicated from the social vocabulary, then attempting to re-define the term seemed more practical.

But after hearing Joey What's-His-Face try to justify his blatant ignorance in line that night, I can no longer accept rationales that include a "do as I say, not as I do" clause.

The truth is, if white folks hear black folks use the N-word, then some number of them will feel justified in using it as well. I don't blame DMX for what I heard outside the club Saturday night, but I do recognize his contribution to perpetuating the word's use.

Despite the fact that the guy outside the club had subtracted the "--er" and added an "--a," the sum of his words amounted to blatant disrespect. And while it's easy to pinpoint his ignorance, I've come to recognize my responsibility, as a black woman, to transform the equation entirely.

silver city

2006-01-27T14:48:00.000-08:00

Silver City, New Mexico is a great place. It’s a very inconvenient place for nothing.
For some strange reason, Mike Creed loves this place and would probably become a member of the SCFD when he retires from cycling.

After embarrassing myself at the UCI World cup on the track. I went out the next day with a chip on my shoulder and “raced” the Simi Valley ride. Antonio Cruz, Ivan Dominguez and a hand full of his teammates came out to try and run the ride. Well, little did they know, this kid who “can’t climb” had a chip on his shoulder and felt like he had something to prove.
I can talk forever about how the ride unfolded and what moves I created and how they had to chase Cruz and me for 25min, or how I made the split over Mulholland rd. But I wont. Ill just say, I road well, but at the end of the day, I knew I had some work to put in, before Tour of California.

Sunday I road from my house to Oxnard ‘the rock”. It was a beautiful day until the wind picked up and gave me a head wind all the way home.
I made a stop at “Napp Tunes Nest” to grab some water and a mountain due. (This store is full with biker guys. (Harley Davidson guys) so I wanted get my stuff and roll out before I get rolled up, rolling around there in tights. But it’s almost the same, they wear leather and that’s tight right??

Anyways, I get into Malibu and I hook up with Nate Loyal and John Slover. Thank God. Slover pulled all the way into Santa Monica and that was the ride of my life. Once I got to Santa Monica, I was home free; it’s just about 1hr 15min to my front door.

Monday, I left home for Silver City and ill be here for 3 weeks. I get home on my birthday and just in time for my one-year wedding anniversary.

Here is my training from Last Saturday
Saturday 21st 5hr
Sunday 22nd 5hr 45min
Monday23rd travel
Tuesday 24th 4hr 30min
Wednesday 25th gym and 2hr on trainer (rain/snow)
Thursday 26th 5hr
Friday 3hr 45min

Tomorrow Creed and I will do some intervals. It will be interesting to see how strong he feels after his 5hr day today. He’s a really good rider and this year is looking to really make some people hurt. You guys better watch out, he’s super motivated.

Ill leave you a few pics of my kitchen and me riding the rollers in the hotel.

peace

Please read this!!!!!!!

2006-01-13T14:19:00.000-08:00

The other shoe drops...

From Today's IDS

http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.php?id=33229&adid=news

The IU Student Foundation announced it will ban the director of Team Major Taylor, IU's first all-black cycling team, from all Little 500 activities.

The ban comes after a two-year investigation of Courtney Bishop about reported recruiting violations, in which time IUSF claims Bishop promised riders scholarships in exchange for participation on the team.

IUSF took no action against members of the team, but TMT representatives would not confirm if it still plans to participate in this year's race.

Dante Pryor and Julio German, TMT riders in 2002, told University officials they were offered full scholarships to cover tuition and room and board to ride in Little 500, but Bishop never fulfilled his promise. Both riders said they amassed substantial debt after not receiving the scholarships and Pryor was forced to transfer to New York University.

Offering scholarships contingent on participation in the race is a clear violation of IUSF rules, said Rob Rhamy, IUSF director and former race coordinator, when the controversy started.

A University investigation, led by Dean of Students Richard McKaig and IU Vice Chancellor Eduardo Rhodes at the request of Interim IU-Bloomington Chancellor Ken Gros Louis and Vice President for Institutional Development and Student Affairs Charlie Nelms, concluded last semester that IUSF would be more capable of making a decision

regarding TMT's status and deciding on a punishment.

Rhamy said he, along with current race coordinator Lucas Calhoun, made the decision to ban Bishop from all aspects of the race for life, but not to punish the rest of the team, because he said they were not responsible for Bishop's actions.

"Courtney Bishop's actions were directly affecting the experience of the riders in a negative way," Rhamy said. "We felt it was unfair to punish the entire team because the University report basically identifies Courtney Bishop as sole decision maker for the team."

IUSF did not hold a formal hearing or hear any comments from Bishop. It notified Bishop, German, Pryor and the current riders of the decision through letters sent Dec. 22, 2005, and subsequent follow-up e-mails. IUSF has not heard any response from the team and hasn't had any conversations with them over the phone.

Bishop told the Indiana Daily Student he disagrees with IUSF's decision, which he felt was "based on lies."

"I am devastated that they decided to do this," Bishop said. "It has ruined my life."

Bishop said he was particularly distraught because he feels that TMT, along with Team Marshall, IU's all-black women's team, and Team Mezcla, a Hispanic team, all enhance the race experience for IU and that his ban could jeopardize that.

"I have been involved in diversity outreach for years," he said. "For 55 years, there weren't any black or diverse teams in Little 500 and we were able to add these diverse teams in just three years."

Bishop said he could not say if he planned to appeal the decision or even if the team would continue to compete in his absence. It is possible Bishop could stay involved with the team in an unofficial capacity without IUSF knowing, but Bishop would not say if he planned to sever ties with the team or try to still be involved.

Members of the team were surprised when questioned about Bishop's removal, even though Rhamy said they have all been notified of the decision.

"That's news to me," said rider Joshua Weir.

"I don't know why they would get rid of Courtney Bishop because he has done a lot for Team Major Taylor," said rider Steven Ballinger.

Nelms, who has been very supportive of TMT in the past, said he thought the decision was fair and is looking forward to continued diversity representation in the race. He did voice his respect for Bishop for starting the team as well.

"I'm impressed that the students in Team Major Taylor were not punished and that they can continue to compete in the race," he said.

Pryor, currently taking part in the Colavita Cycling team in New York, said he felt relieved when he heard of the decision.

"I'm just glad they finally did something," he said. "I'm just glad Courtney isn't part of the race anymore and he won't exploit future riders."

TMT has been marked by both success and controversy ever since the team entered its first race in 2002. In its first year, Weir, then a freshman, was declared ineligible for the race because he had competed in a Category I race, which includes a class of professional riders. After an arbitration hearing, IUSF reversed its decision only to find other teams protest the ruling.

TMT has also seen success, finishing ninth its first year, second in 2003, fourth in 2004 and 16th in 2005. Rhamy said he hopes to see this tradition of excellence continue -- even though Bishop won't be involved.

"Team Major Taylor has done a tremendous amount of good," Rhamy said. "The effect they have had on making the race more diverse cannot be overstated."

Just stuff

2006-01-08T19:38:00.000-08:00

Its been a minute and I wanted to give you an update on what's going on.
Tour of Qatar is a no go for the team. Most of the team will leave for Spain after the silver city camp this month on the 23rd and the other guys will do Tour of California. I leave in March as far as I know. Right now the track boys are here in Los Angeles, getting ready for the World Cup held Jan. 20-22. Myself, ill race the Scratch and maybe the Madison. For sure the scratch race.

After the world cup, we leave the next day and will go to Silver City to train until Feb 13th. From there we head up North to San Fran to preview some stages of the tour and prepare to race.

At the track today we had 2x20min efforts and 3x12laps (flying 3k) which we must do this Friday for USA Cycling. The time standard is 32.5(first 500) and finish in 3:32.5 (18second adv. per lap). My first one today sucked and my second one was much better.

I have to go, Im sleepy.

Dec. 26th

2005-12-26T16:23:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays to everyone. I wish you nothing but the best.

Its nothing really new going on. Just here in Los Angeles looking out my window at rain. Its been pretty chilly down on the west side, but nothing like Colorado.

So when something exciting happens ill be sure to let you all know. Oh I do have something. I'm 20 pounds away from completing the whole sit-up rack. Got Abs??

Camp ending...

2005-12-20T20:04:00.000-08:00

This is the mountain (flag staff) we had to climb)

Well… camp is just about over and overall it was good times the in freezing cold. We have a great group of guys. Almost to great. Brad Huff and Mike Freedman loves to touch people, which I really don’t get and Brad just does it to be Brad. Below are Allan Lim and Jonathan Vaughters

Today we had a 5hr day. The goal was to get 3000kg’s and hit flag staff climb at the end which is simulating a grand tour climb. Allan Lim (coach) theory is that, if you can ride 4-5hrs and burn 3000kg’s you can almost do any race. So today was a big test not only for me, but the whole team.
The day started out cold and I thought it would be a long day. One hour into the ride, it really warmed up and I felt great. I did notice that we stared the ride out really fast, which was cool, but we still had like 4hr 30min to go.

Heading back to town we started a rotating pace line that was going pretty quick. I laughed the whole time because all the “climbers” didn’t look so well on the flats and over the fast rollers. So I mad a point to make it hard for them on my pulls. Going up the hill...i got lucky, my chain broke and I had to freeze my ass off all the way down to the hotel. I also got lost and the people in boulder were not help full at all. I end up walking for about 20min back to the hotel.

Its so funny how climbers cant ride the flats at all. But a sprinter can get better and better at climbing. So what does that tell you? Sprinters are more cool!! I felt a little weird also from the LT test i did the day before. Allan was content with my results, I really had a hard time breathing being at altitude.
I fly home tomorrow afternoon and its right back to training because I have the world track cup coming up in January.

I have some pics to leave with you guys, just some random stuff, but its pretty cool.

Boulder Mini Camp

2005-12-18T22:07:00.000-08:00

I came to Colorado knowing that the weather would be freezing cold. I knew that i should take a few jackets to stay warm. But when I got here, its a different type of cold. I walked outside from the hotel and my eyes hurt. So I ask Vaughters, do the cold make your eyes hurt and everyone bust out laughing.

We had a quick team meeting just to meet everyone, riders/staff and we headed over to go bowling. I have some pics to share with you. We had fun and I wish we could do it again tomorrow because it will be freezing again and the ride starts at 10am for 3 hrs.

Look What We Did

2005-12-17T06:33:00.000-08:00

No track for me today, just gym and a 3hr road ride. Allan Lim’s brother is a pilot for the US Coast Guard and he invited us down to see his chopper and to give us a tour of the facility.

Here are some pics of what we saw…it was pretty awesome.

Must C "TV"

2005-12-16T12:04:00.000-08:00

Go to the link below and see how things should be done. Tell me what you think.

http://www.lgf.be/client_popup.cfm?fileURL=clients/prox/tv/prox26.flv

Thursday Track riding and more...

2005-12-15T21:51:00.000-08:00

Today was by far the toughest. We had a morning section at 9am. We did, AGAIN, 5x5 with 2minutes rest. Danny Pate being the big pro that he is, went out on a road ride shortly after with a few of the guys.

I stayed back at the hotel because I’m having a serious problem with my left calf. To be specific, it’s my soleus. It hurts so badly when I’m doing an effort that I pretty much want to quit. Ill describes what it feels like. (Someone has a sharp knife and there digging into my calf).
I’ve been having some work done to it, but it seems the more she works on it, the worse it gets.

So for the PM I went out 45min before the team to do some motor work with Mark Whitehead. I did 25min at around 64k and a flying 10 lapper at around 67k. My legs, heart and mind feel really good, however this soleus is giving me tons of problems.

During the workout, the pursuit guys had 12 flying 1k’s and on the 3rd one, hell broke loose. The women’s elite track team was also on the track with us and they have no clue of what’s going on, on the track. The guys are coming around turn 3 and buff down Kristin Armstrong (t-mobile) and Sima Trapp (subway) slides down the track right in front of the boys…it happen so fast, the ladies disappeared and Mike Creed was now near me in turn 4 on the ground. Everyone was okay, however Mike Creed was pissed that no one came over to apologized. Personally, I don’t put the women at fault for the whole thing; a lot of it falls on their coaches (usacycling) because they did not teach these ladies the basics. They took them to the pool and said swim.

This is pretty funny. Anna Webb is at the rail getting ready to do a sprint and the women national team is going about 5mph slower, also at the rail (those of you who know track will think this is funny) and Anna yells…rail…rail…RAIL. They finally moved and Lara Kroepsch yelled back, “we were here first”. That cracked me so hard, I almost fell out laughing. For those of you who don’t know track, if someone yells rail, its because they are going faster than you and need to pass so you get out of the way, no questions ask.

Tomorrow I do an easy 4hr road ride and meet up with the team to head over to LAX to check out the Coast Guard Helicopter, which is piloted by Allan Lims Brother. So looking forward to tomorrow and not forward to leaving Sunday arrive in 20+ degree weather in Boulder Colorado.

PM, day two

2005-12-13T18:27:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry, but I'm really tired and dont feel like writing much. I also have to had home because my little girl is sick and to see my wife. Really quick...

We had 12 sets of standing 1laps. After 4, we knew we would not get to 12, so we did six. The goal was to see max output. We also did a test to masure your areo dynamic position.

My max watts were 1600 and my adv for the 6 sets were about 1550. Not bad I hear.

The next cool thing about track camp, are the rubs

tomorrow is a long ride up the coast.

chow.

Day Two Track Camp

2005-12-13T14:19:00.000-08:00

Day Two Track AM session

Like I mentioned yesterday, today’s workout consistent of two 20min efforts. The big surprise today was, the endurance guys, Chad, Taylor and myself had to do our own 20min efforts away from the pursuit guys. Rumor was that Danny Pate is too sketchy with his exchanges and didn’t want us in the way.

The first 20min was going really well. The US women’s national team was also on the track and they were all in out way, so were going like 40+k an hour and had to go blue line to pass and that took a lot out of me. Alan yelled 6 minutes to go and I cracked mentally. I was feeling great and for some reason I had a mental break down. I got dropped stayed out 1 lap and got right back in.
Roder Young and danny are trying to figure out why I was going so fast!!!

The second interval was much better. I felt strong and ready to hammer the 20min. We also had to keep our watts at around 400. My first set max watts were 501 second set 559.
We have a PM section and I think he’s going to have us do some power testing and follow it up with a 4hr road ride tomorrow.

Track Camp Day 1

2005-12-12T20:51:00.000-08:00

Tiaa-Cref Track Endurance camp.

Danny Pate, Mike Creed, Brad Huff, Mike Freedman, Chad Hartley, Taylor Tolsen and me are at the ADT center in Carson for week long endurance track camp. Alam Lim “the cycling guru” also came down to crack the whip and make sure we are going fast. The best thing so far is the new power tap track wheel. It has that old plastic cover to simulate a disk wheel. It’s pretty cool.

It took a little over an hour to set up all the bikes and get ready for the workout so in the mean time, I just looked at all the road guys mess up trying to fix track stuff. It’s really comical.

Today’s work out was 5x4 with 5min rest. The pursuit guys, Pate, Creed, Freedman and Hoff did a lap pulls, and Chad, Taylor and me did 2 laps pulls, however we are riding behind the pursuit guys.

After the first effort, I thought it was going be a very ling morning. We did 5min at 55-57k for the whole 5min. Ad we got closer to the last one’s I felt better and better and by the last set, I felt great and the power tap showed. Allan Lim downloaded every body’s power tap to see the numbers of power out put during the 5min efforts.

Mine showed that I adv. 307watts 1st set. 2nd set was 308, 3rd set 317 and 4th set 297. 297 watts in an 87in gear is pretty good.
When we got to the hotel we got rubs and a small bite to eat before heading out to Palos Verde’s for a short hard ride.

Tomorrow we have same intensity at 20min on and 10min off. Two sets. O yeah we also have a PM section…ouch!!