Things I have learned

Perhaps a little elementary I know but I sat down today and wrote out a rough intro to bike racing as best I know how... I know there are numerous things I dont cover, how to drink from the bike, how to take a feed, how to descend, how to crash, how to take a free lap, what to do when you get a flat, when your chain falls off, how to pose at the finish line,..... okay so there really is a lot I dont mention... but anyway here is what I could come up with that I would say to someone who was just starting to race.... and because I am sooo good all of this stuff I mention you can basically live by, there really is no other way to do it other than my way so if you want to be superfast like me.... hahah okok whatever.

Racing tips and tricks

JoeTortorelli

Training to race: There are lots and lots of different workouts out there and as long as you find time to do 2-3 hard workouts a week and the rest of the time just ride easy totaling 5-10 hours of riding a week you will be more than ready to start of the racing season!

Race week: The week of the race not much tapering needs to be done, at least not early in the season. Do a hard ride on Wednesday or Thursday and spend Friday riding for an hour easy, and throw in 2-3 spin outs (high cadence for 30 sec) and/or a 4min hard effort. Make sure you are plenty hydrated all week as well. It can take a few days to become fully hydrated! Looking over the course route is also essential. Knowing if you will be tackling hills or technical turns or a long flat rout is important. Finding places that will be good for attacking and noting where you must be for the sprint can help you plan out your race and can be the difference between winning and turning the wrong way on the final turns!

Night before: If you are traveling to the race make sure you know the directions! Print out maps, making sure to know where you are going to park and where race registration and the bathrooms are! Printing out a copy of the race start list will also keep you from running late. Plan to arrive and be parked 1 hour before your scheduled race start time. A pasta dinner has never done me wrong, however trying to eat 1lb of pasta is probably not what we are trying to go for. Blah blah whole grains blah blah whatever… Make sure you pack everything you will need for your race day and have it ready to go in the morning.

· Include such items as:

o Bike, wheels, pedals, shoes, helmet, bottles, trainer

o gloves, shorts, jersey, leg/arm warmers, hat, rain coat, vest, coat,

o tools, pump, spare tubes, lube,

o Towel, water, race food, extra food, money/checks, license, pins, TP, sunblock,

o Maps, directions, gas,

Morning of: Depending on what time your race is determines what time you get up and eat and depart. I always overestimate the time it takes to get somewhere because being late/missing a race is really a drag! So breakfast… oatmeal blah, bagels, toast, nutella, Dan and I used to eat doughnuts and chocolate milk, and have a redbull 20min before kickoff… Find what you like and have at it… just plan accordingly, if you want to eat a heavier breakfast perhaps 2 hours is a good time before the race… if you eat 3-4 hours before… you might need some more fuel in your body before you start! Snacking on bagels in the car on the drive to the race is very common. So you eat and pack and takeoff to the race at your set time so you arrive at least 1 hour before you are supposed to be racing!

Arrive like a pro: You will know you are getting close when you see signs for the race (usually these are tiny signs staked in the ground similar to campaign signs) and people on bikes. Find some parking, preferably in the shade, you can always roll your window down and ask where registration is. Park, throw your bike together put on your helmet, grab your license and check and head over to register. Note: I almost always register day of, the 5$ you save by preregistering can hardly make up for that one or two times where you might get stormed out, or you forget something or get sick or yadda yadda yadda, and even when you preregister you still have to go wait in line and get your number… So you register, come back to the car pin your number on (see below) , check the time, either get dressed and warm up or hang out and watch some other races until you have about 45 min to your race.

· Number Pinning

o Note the side your number is supposed to be on, either at registration or by looking around.

o Grab lots of pins with your number, use at least 7-8 per number,

o You want the number to be tight against your body when you are in race position

o Ask for help your first few times

o Folding/crumpling your number so it fits better is not advised because the finish camera cannot see the number as well… but it does help keep your number tight!

o Try to use old pin holes to guide where your new numbers should go

Race start: With 2 laps to go in the race preceding yours you should already be warmed up and waiting to line up on the start/finish line. The more people that are at the race, the more important starting near the front becomes. (races 30 or less it usually doesn’t matter where you start but being on the front you avoid getting stuck behind start line crashes and other mishaps). The whistle blows and everyone rushes to clip in and go, make sure you take your time and avoid people that struggle to clip in. Starting by one of the sides usually avoids this… usually. Make sure you keep your eyes up the road and avoid getting slowed down by people that are not staying with the group. If you see a gap start to form, jump around him/her PRONTO! The more time you waste the harder it will be to make it up. Prime position is top 10-20 in most races. This avoids most all crashes and you also avoid the “accordion” effect. Or the dramatic slowing and accelerating out of the corners. The farther back you are the more pronounced this becomes. If you are near the front you actually save energy by avoiding these accelerations. If you didn’t fall and you didn’t get dropped then congratulations you started like a PRO!... well I am sure not as suave or collected but hey that’s a start!

Cornering: Soon after the start of the race you must turn! Turning solo is pretty straight forward, start as wide as possible and cut the ‘apex’ of the corner and finish wide. This allows you to maintain the most speed through all turns. People talk about your ‘line’ through the turn. Literally imagine a line which you are following, keep your eyes looking forward through the turn. You should be positioned as low as possible on the bike, with your inside foot up and outside foot positioned down. You will learn how much you can lean and still pedal, if you pedal too soon you may clip your foot, but if you don’t panic a minor clip can still be recovered before you hit pavement. Exiting your turn you should start to pedal again as soon as possible, making sure to keep your weight centered so you do not slip out. Cornering with a group around you makes it much more interesting. I touched a little on the “accordion” effect. If you are stuck in the rears there are a couple of attitudes to take. You can allow a slight space to form in front of you so you can keep your speed up and not have to slam on your breaks as you enter the turn. This will allow you to keep some of your momentum through the turn and avoid wasting energy accelerating out of every turn. However this can allow for some more aggressive rider to sneak in front of you and make you slam on your breaks again… alas such is racing. What you really want to do is move up. In larger races, if you are not constantly passing people , usually that means you are moving backwards ! Generally people move up along the sides and then get near the front and move back in the middle. Moving up along the straight sections can be the easiest if the group is moving slow… and it is not bunched up so much that you can find room. When the pack is moving fast, trying to move up could mean sprinting and wasting so much energy that when you get up to the front you just slow to the back again! So moving up smart is key. Take advantage of all small gaps and corners to slide up a few places. Make note of what corers you can pass on the inside and which leaves room on the outside. Position yourself accordingly to make these moves with as little extra effort as possible. Make sure to hold your spot aggressively. If someone comes next to you and starts to move in, keep your handle bars even with theirs and do not allow them to move in. (courtesy can be used sparingly haha) Out of every corner just expect to accelerate, make sure you are not in too big of a gear. Grinding away with a low cadence is more wasted energy; shift down if necessary to maintain a high efficient cadence.

Drafting: 25-45% that is HUGE! Use it to your advantage. Suck wheel, suck lots of wheel. It is a race not a courtesy ride. Race to race, do what you need to do to give yourself the best chance of a win. 3’’-12’’ is about the distance you need to be behind someone. In a cross wind make sure you know what side of the riders you need to be positioned on to maintain a good draft.

Attacking: You cannot win if you don’t attack. Attacking from the gun, late attack, attack after a prime (mid way sprint), attacking after another attack, these are some different strategies that are used when attacking. When you attack you want to be sneaky! You want to start your attack a few positions back, and try to avoid having people latch onto the back of your wheel. If you start back and accelerate you will pass the first riders at a faster pace making it harder for them to catch you! If you sense a little lull or slowing in the group that can be the time to go! Less hesitation and more guts is all you need!...ish

· From the gun: advantage is people might think it is too long to the finish and will not chase you, disadvantage is everyone has energy so escaping may prove to be difficult.

· Late attack: usually with 1-2 laps to go sometimes even farther : advantage, people are waiting for the sprint so they do not want to waste energy chasing you now, they think you will get caught by others…if everyone thinks that then you are golden! If you have a strong 5min power but a weaker sprint this might be your only viable opportunity for a win. Disadvantage, you might waste your energy if you are caught and then will have nothing left for the sprint. It is an all or nothing move.

· Attacking after a prime: A prime (pronounced Pr-ee-mm) is called out in a crit for the winner of the next lap, they will offer prizes or money or points to the first riders to cross the s/f line and then the race will continue. Some riders will sprint for these and then expect to get caught by the group again, this is an opportune time to attack as lots of riders may be tired from the sprint. You can also try for the prime and then continue on into a breakaway, sometimes the group will assume you will come back to rest and will not notice your breakaway. Disadvantage is you may be tired yourself during this time.

· Attacking after a breakaway has just come back: similar to attacking after a prime.

· Attacking up a hill can be one of the hardest but most successful ways to attack. Because of the incline your speed slows down, and so does the wind resistance. So drafting has less of an effect at lower speeds. If you attack up a hill everyone must put in an effort similar to or greater than your own to catch you, being behind you they do not benefit as much from the draft so your strength to weight ratio becomes much more prominent and you can separate yourself easier from those who are weaker than you!

Bridging/Chasing: If someone attacks and you did not go with. Knowing whether or not to chase a breakaway or bridge to it can be one of the most difficult decisions in a race. If you bridge up (attack from the group and chase the breakaway) and the break dies… then you have wasted more energy than the breakawayers and the chasers! If you help others chase the break down then you are still wasting some energy that others in the group are not. However if the breakaway is getting far up the road, if you don’t chase you will lose… and racing is not about saving your energy for 5^th place! “if you’re not first you are last” So if you decide that the break has some good riders in it, or your manager tells you to bridge then you bridge! Attack from the group avoiding too many chasers, if you can bring one or two along to help all the better, but do not bring everyone ! After you are clear you must settle into a pace that will allow you to catch the break without burning yourself out! Pace yourself, I know you can catch them by going all out but you must not go ‘into the red’ while trying to chase, or you will have nothing once you get there! Bridge up cool calm and collected and once you get there, sit on and recover a bit, then help out! If you cannot escape the group, try to convince others to help share the work of chasing the breakaway back.

The Break: Once you are in the breakaway pace yourself. NEVER do the most work in the group. This may seem counterproductive but if you pull 3 other people to the line they will beat you in the finish… if you are stronger than them, attack the break and make them chase you. If you cannot beat them that way then stay in the break and do an even amount of work. Establish a working paceline (riders rotating through the front and then having time to recover behind the other riders , like a reverse indian run) keep the speed up through the corners, avoid rapid accelerations and keep a constant pace. Remember to drink/eat depending on how long you are in the break. If you are solo in a break, congratulations! Crossing the line solo is very rewarding but getting there can be the most painful! Just think TimeTrial mode, get in your rhythm, take the corners as fast as you can and don’t look back! Sometimes even a gap of 5 seconds can prove enough if the group decides to let up and not bring you back!

Finish: I talked about some ways to get to the finish solo or with a reduced group, but if you are not alone you will have to sprint to win! 200-300meters is a sprint. 400-500 is almost an extended attack and anything longer you will not be sprinting. There is plenty of tactics here, fake attack, just shifting up then back down to see what your opponent will do. A heads up sprint can be fun but a wrong move can lose you the race even if your opponent may not be as strong as you! Starting in 2^nd position is usually the way to go. Attack from the rear and pass your opponent going as fast as you can, try to swing to the side to make him/her chase you farther and disallow them to enter your draft. If you get too close to the finish without starting the sprint the first place rider has the advantage because you will run out of room/time to come around them. If you are in the group the speed usually remains high.. usually. But again you do not want to be first… although 2^nd -4^th is about the perfect position. You must think ahead as to where you need to be for the last 5 laps, and more importantly the last lap and last corner. Some you must be first, and others you must not! It is tricky because if you are sitting pretty in 5^th place and then on the last lap everyone else wants to be where you are so they work really hard and come up the sides and move toward the middle, this can push you back in the group right before the finish! No good! So you must constantly be looking to the left and right and if you see riders starting to ‘swarm’ on one side or another you must move up and stay in the front. This is the only time I would suggest sticking your nose in the wind! Stay in the front 5 riders and do NOT let yourself get shuffled to the back. (Some really strong guys, and some lucky guys can start the last lap in 30^th or whatever and find ways to sneak up to the front just in time to sprint but if there is a crash or something you will not make it ) if you have the strength stay near the front even if that means working harder. It is the finish after all! By 200 meters you must be out of the saddle sprinting trying to come around your opponents. If you are first keep going and do not stop until you throw your bike across the line!

Recap

Total number of races for 2011...4...great.

Living in CA was great, had a lot of fun riding out there, the guys I worked with flight instructing were a blast. I will definitely end up somewhere out west shortly but as of right now I have found myself back in eastcentral IL...just in time for WINTER!!!! woot.

I arrived back in the C-U in August and was excited to get out on the bike some, but not even two weeks later I lost all motivation to be anywhere near the thing... I would walk by it in the garage and try not to look, I was embarrassed. I hated the thing so much... I knew I shouldnt but there was just no desire, want or need to ride. I felt the guilt building as I counted the weeks in the back of my head where I didnt ride at all. I know this year will be the last year for a while where I will have a decent enough schedule to train regularly enough to not get my ass handed to me in the summer. September was an entire month without any biking at all.. October had some rides and got my knees back into it but November has started off in the correct direction. Motivation is back, I love my bike again. I lift the weights up spin on the trainer sweat some... I think this is training? Well only 41/2 months of this to go before consistent riding outdoors can happen again, more than enough time to loose all hope again.

Looking forward I really am hoping to block out all of TOAD and race the whole thing. Put in a handful of races before to prep and really call it a season after that... I might get a job and work the rest of the summer.... so really this is it. last call before the real world finally catches up to this 25yr old soul and demands its pay. Responsibilities, bills, work and worst of all no time for riding... so depressing.... better make this a season to remember!

Hope your holidays go well and we all get nice and fat together haha CHEERS!

CenturyHouring....andNothing else

I made a new century hour.... its kickass . BUT that does gives me a great excuse for why I have not been riding the past two weeks....

I will not be able to make the TourDeChampaign BUT it will be kickass and you should attend if you can!

I AM currently in CHICAGO, the first time in over 6months. Damn it feels good to be back in 'merica.... Although I must say that Redding, CA is much more rednek than anything found here in the great state of Illinois....

If YOU are out on the town tonight, maybe ill see you at the hangee uppe, if you are superawesome that is.

There has been some recent developments in the breaking story of "ME, in search of a riding scene in Redding" So, I found a bike shop on the west side of town, not only did they have MOOTS and MERCKS in the window, but a whole line of other expensive bikes and parts neatly displayed in the shop. The sweet smell of SPEED here was almost overwhelming. Everyone in the shop looked so L337, so PRO, so ... I walked up to the guy behind the counter, careful not to gaze into the tempting line of Campagnolo SUPER RECORD being displayed under the glass countertop to ask him my question.

ME:"hey hows it going, I like your shop I am feeling faster already!"

PRO:"yeah, I was PRO, we sell SPEED here, for guys like me"

ME: "Thats so cool, you are soo cool, how can I be like you?"

PRO:"well first you much purchase SPEED, then you must do the WED WORLDS"

ME:" thats soo great! I have no money for speed, but how do I race WED WORLDS?"

PRO:" well they meet at a secret location, on a special day, but they will drop you, they drop everyone"

ME:"Oh, I see.... but could you tell me this magic time/place anyway?"

(at this moment another PRO appears at the door and PROly makes his way into the shop, the bike shop owner/teller who is also PRO knows all PRO's and immediately greets his friend and leaves me right in my moment of anticipation.)

I end up leaving the shop with a CLUE but nothing more...... more on this story when I finally track down these elusive speed bandits.

That is all....

neuMusikkkk CHeckitout

DjNojst has some new ♫ checkit. http://djnojst.wordpress.com/

Chico Stage Race and my long list of Firsts....

Chico Stage Race!

90mi RR, TT and Crit.... I experienced a lot of personal firsts this past weekend and I would like to share them with you all.

first pro1/2 RR, first RR over 60mi, first stage race in cali, first flat in a RR, first time waiting 10 min for a wheel change, first time riding 45mi solo to finish a race, first official TT, first crit in cali, and FIRST 'lanterne rouge'!

Yes the 45min I lost in the road race was just enough to put me into last place for the weekend. You had to finish the race to ride the next day... and they threw out the time cut, so after I rolled past the s/f line the judges told me I had to finish , I told them...'well I guess I'll see you in 2.5 hours!'

So the Road race was mostly flat 45mile loop with a 4 mile section of uphill very soft very rocky gravel near the end of the lap. A group had 1 min on the peleton until the first time we hit the gravel, the pace exploded and I was able to hang on as the group shattered across the gravel, there was only about .5miles left until I was out of the rocks when my rear wheel flatted. Luckily it happened right infront of the cameraDUDE... Naturally the wheel support was trailing helping out all of the other poor souls who flatted earlier... by the time I got helped the field was long gone...infact everyone was long gone.... I just had to tell myself that I didnt want to see a DNF on the results....45min after the finishers crossed the line I rolled in... brutally cramped, alone, and sunburned....at least it wasnt 38F and raining....

I have no TT bike, Time Trials hurt ... alot... and the winning time was surely not going to be mine... So I got to line up first the next morning, and got to enjoy some more solo riding.... although I had some company as guys were passing me within the first 5min or so.... I think the winning time was 20.54 for the 10mi tt....

The crit was fun. .6mile 6 turns. I was able to hang in there, the boys out here dont seem to get as much crit practice as us midwestern boys do back home... all those corners kept me in it. A break was away the whole 70min and ended up winning by about 7 seconds I think... I finished midpack.

It was fun. I had fun. Glad I finished, and perhaps this will be the last time getting last this year....

RaceSeason 2011

Copperopolis: The Copper Town Circut Race-

Drove 3 hours, spent the night at a friends place in Stockton, drove 30min to the race the next morning. Overcast 65F and light winds, a great way to start racing in anyones book! The course was excellent, a 6mile loop, basically almost 3mile out and then back on rolling smooth roads, closed course with the s/f line right before the course did a fun crit style section through the town, around a roundabout then back out to the country. About 40 starters in the Cat2 field, my goal was to simply finish. A break went on the first lap, came back at the start of the second, then another one went and that was that. The field brought the breakaways within 10seconds before we crossed the finish, and ... yea thats about it. Fun, fast and I would say that my fears of being grossly out of shape might be slightly over exaggerated.

The riding has been improving, mostly because I currently have been working about 2 hours a day... Sometimes the aviation business is slow... but that makes for faster bike racers I suppose.

This weekend is the Chico Stage Race. A 90 RR, crit and TT.... Based on time and you have to finish each stage before starting the next.... 60miles in these hills is hard ... 90.... well my goal again will not to be dropped 45miles from my car. hahaha

HardMarch

It.....has......rained......the... ENTIRE MONTH OF MARCH! Seriously, I can't take this.

When it rains

if the clouds are low

we cant fly

If we dont fly we dont get paid, so we sit at home....in the rain.... watching netflix. The bike is gathering dust. My legs feel like jelly, there is literally nothing to do here when the weather is crap. mer mer mer I am whyyyyniiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnning. I actually think I might just do my first race of the year this Sat down in Sac. A crit with the only intention to not get dropped. Its flat so I think I can? That is the only goal, to finish.

I was getting in some great riding before this monsoon season decided to come down from Oregon and sit over norcal for a month. ....

Nothing to report, just a case of cabin fever.

If you see the sun, tell him he is an ass for me.

The Climbs of Hella NORCAL

Been getting some good riding in the past 3 weeks! Got my tan rockin, and I am slowly learning how to get myself up and over some of these climbs. I have come across some pretty epic upslopes.... Here are some of the profiles!

Looks like racing will start mid February, in search of 2pts to earn the ever elusive upgrade....

Hope your training is on the up and up! ....and yes I will brag that it is 72 not 27 and snowy... I will brag all winter long! hahahaha

Dear January

I never knew you could be so nice. Seventy degrees and sunny? Every day? Why thank you!

Have been getting in some great riding the past 2 weeks due to the awesomepossom weather of tehnorcalz. Rode the "Sacramento River Trail" on Monday and made it to some real mountains today on my day off. I think I even got some color on the road. While racing is still a few months away, I surely must be in better shape now than last year. I guess I must sit and wait to see how these Westcoastenerzrz ride their bicycles.

aaaaaaaaaaand here are some picz

HellaNorCal Riding

Well, believe it or not its 'hella' rainy in Northern California in the winter. I am already sick of the trainer after one week of riding it and decided to take on the rain, well sure enough if the rain just up and stopped as soon as I got on the bike! This gave me a chance to go explore the flatness that is the 'valley'. To the North West and East is straight up mountains within 15miles, this will be great in a month or two when I am ready to forge up the mountains and become a speedy climber, but first one must not damage his knees by overreaching his current bodily limitations... and they are really hard to do and im out of shape. so yeah 1,500ft of climbing is boutas flat as yer can git round dees partz. I think it is a fair trade from the screaming winds of the midwest in the winter, the wind hardly ever blows here, and if its 15mph its a 'very windy' day....

Today is another rainy 40f day in paradise, hope yer ridin an trainin is going supermegagalttasticly.

OuttaShape

uff. I know riding the trainer is hard but for more than 20min seems impossible... haha well yeah just got my trainer shipped out here to sunny....ahem... SUNNY ....ok how about hellarainy norcal. This week is actually the first 2 days in a row without rain since before Christmas. I work before the sun comes up and it is dark when I come home... depressing. Yesterday my trainer arrived and all was good once again... but wait? Its missing the lever that holds the bike in place? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. That will not stop me... here are the pictures of what you need to replace a part like this... and yes it works wonderfully and I have now spent almost 1 whole hour on the trainer ... and that accounts for 100% of my 2011 training... I got to get to work... I hope all of yall are having more sucess in finding motivation to ride in January.

alwaysaparty

-Joe

anotherBlog

yo yo, well the bike is stuck on the wall as this work learnin people airplane skillz is dominating all my time. I made another blog just for my music playlistings. so if you like yourself some new fresh music ideas...and some excellent playlists go on and check it out http://djnojst.wordpress.com

Cheers all

2.0

There must be something in the air.... this is the first time I have thought about throwin down on the ole blogospherz and I notice that the "FASTGRRLZ" have just posted some sweet vids not more than a few hours ago! Motivation , yes motivation is drifting off the Pacific coast at this very moment.

If you did not know, I moved to sunny warm and wonderful Redding, CA. Today is day 5 on the bicycle after a wonderful and productive 2010 racing season followed by 2months of pure 100% lardassieness. No bike, lots of fastfood and bacon, and no bike... seriously ...none. It is quite hard to start up again slow when every day is 70, sunny and there are perfect 13mile climbs (IronMountain) at your disposal... the great thing about redding is that the mountians are all to the north, west and east... but south is just as flat as the 'paign. ... well... even the 'flat' route here would demolish any hills we had back home but all in all there is a perfect variety of terrain to ride on.

As for the picture... I just wanted you to get a good glimpse at the vastness of my legpubes that I let grow over the 2months of inactivity... and the pastyness that came along with it.... please do not fret, they are now as soft and smooth as ever... and if you could believe it... tan again! There have been few sightings of other 'riders' on the roads, and those I see have been bundled up with leg and arm warmers...these guys are wimps, who needs warmers when its 60 and sunny? Californians...ill tell you what.

Well I suppose I will call upon the blog once again to build my motivation as I start training for a new season of 10speedpeadlebicycleracing. Again I set my goals high...perhaps even higher than last season... in hopes of reaching somewhere safely below them. Lame training updates are sure ensue, followed close behind by the excuses for missing rides, avoiding my diet (I am trying to loose weight for these hillz) and overall wimpyness. zzzzzzzzzz so its sure to be a bitchin time, please stay tuned for more killer rad and hella awesome posts straight from the northvalley.

Cheers

REALLY!?

Alllrighty this is good...really really good. Sooooooo anybody out there have problems catting up? Ever send in the resume and it just wasnt enough? Even if you are a whole 10 pts over the minimum? Well I'm sure you have your own stories and here is mine.

(granted keeping track of racers starting I though was more of a fudged number as the usacycling.org lists used to list only the finishers and not DNFers....)

1st email I send in: yada yada yada race resluts yadda.

usacyclingcoachinchargeofupgrades emails back: berr berr berr you only have 2o pts not the required 25 and surely not the 3o you claim.

I email back: .... yesss see here 5+2+6+7+3+7=30

He emails back: ....noooo you counted too many riders in your races... they were not worth as many points as you have written down.... and ps you got 20th in a race that you said you got 5th in ... wtf? 5+0+3+5+2+4+1=20 points

My response:

Steve,

I can understand being picky for the number of starters as the race dynamic changes greatly between a race of 12 riders and 150 riders, however spitting hairs on two occasions in this resume over 1 rider seems... picky to say the least. There is little difference between a race with 46 people and 51 and 50 people and 51... but I guess the line must be drawn, however hard or soft I guess is determined by those who know best. I would like to note that some of your records are still incomplete/inaccurate. I finished 5th place in the Demarvelous Crit in St. Louis on 5/25/10... and it states in the usacycling rulebook that 4th place in a road race of 21-50 riders gives me 4pts not 3 as you had stated below for the ofallon Grand prix road race...

I will enjoy racing as a cat3 until my abilities prove to be the caliber of a category 2 rider.

-Joe

Im sure hes a way-cool guy and he knows what is best for the safety of a cat2 field and my abilities as a rider... and it would be ridiculous to allow leeway for a judgment call on things that are as serious as this... aaaand I am sorry to call this out but if saftey is the main concern then results should not be the only thing considered... If you DNF every other race you enter... and more than one person knows you as "crash or win".... yeah....yeah.... ANYWAY there is a rant for you.

ps... again I understand that there are rules and however strictly they are enforced is not up to me, but when someone tries to be a stickler for the rules and uses WRONG information... well then I get pissy

ToAD

Alright recap:


Mon- Road America: Awesome awesome course, I was super stoked to hear we would be racing on this course as I may have been an avid FORZA MOTORSPORT player at one time in my life and have driven that course many times in the game... and sure enough it was just like it in rl. Although in the videogame you dont realize the large climb to the start... So I just saved my energy, i think we had 11 laps or something...so lots of hills, with 4 to do I launched a big attack up the long gradual hill and it strung out the field and i guess people got split off the back but no breakaway as the rest of the course is a screaming downhill. I cant sprint and up steep hills is even worse. In the front of the pack to the base of the final steep section and then got 22. Still an awesome course

Tues-She-boy-gan: Excellent! Teammate John-the express-herrel got himself into a 2man break and I took the easy job of blocking for him and he rolled in 30seconds ahead of the field for a cool 2nd place! Soooo good

Wed-Waterloo: we came early trying to find a place to watch the USA match...no luck, we (john and I) go to the trek factory to see if there is a tv in the lobby...nope so we go on the tour, and there are TV's in the workout room. So we try and ask some more questions to stall and watch the worldcup. The course was nice 1.3 miles i think? another winding narrow uphill on the backstretch. I attacked up there 3 laps in a row but no breakaway luck... managed 4th just by staying up in front up the hill and not fading so much during the sprint...

Thurs-GreenBush: 40mile breakaway in a 50 mile race. I attacked up the long startfinish line on the start of the 2nd lap to catch a solo man who had been up front for the first lap. Draged one guy with me and us three were met by 7 others at the start of the 3rd lap. Everyone was driving it hard and by the start of the 4th lap there were 5 of us. We had at least 3min in the field at one point and thats when i stopped working... Sure ill take some flack for that but its bike racing and if 4 of the break-mates wanna kill it up the hills and back down the other side I will gladly let them. I still didnt have the legs to beat the 2 that outsprinted me, but they were truly some beasts. either way it was a great day.

more updates in a bit...

it's um eR A Playlist?

So if you want some bumpin' tunes for your summer night parties I made this list with a bunch of new songs and some good standbys. Turn on your Amp and try not to blow your speakers. Get out your black lights, strobe lights, solo cups, BUSCH LIGHT, cheap liquor, expensive liquor, and call the ladies and get your dance on... like I said, its hot.

99% of the songs are on Youtube, and there are certain video2mp3 sites that can take the music from the internets to your home! The greatest song on there "Call on thunder" #29( and YES the order of the playlist was hand picked as well) is nowhere to be found on the internets, If you really really want the best song on the playlist you will have to hit me up for it.

CHEERS!

goingtogetgoing

RaceReportz: Saturday the Ofallon Gran Prix Illinois State Road Race. 67 miles of amazing. The course was excellent, lots of turns, small rolling hills, trees, and the roads were wide enough in enough places that moving up in the pack was not a problem. So we (new cat3 and teammate John Hairball) start this adventure into 90F hot and humid weather at a nice slow pace and John and I sit all the way at the back conserving as much energy as possible. After the first lap (22.3 mi) I have a good understanding of the course and move up to the front of the race. I attempt to get something going just a few miles into the second lap and nobody decides to come with, I prolly sit out by myself for a good 5 min or so... I come back and sit and wait near the front. Then a group of two gets off the front and gains some ground and I decide to jump with Nick from WildCard. We get another and then there is a group of 7 up the road and we are putting time into the field! A paceline is formed and we already have slackers... The break hobbles along and we loose Nick and another rider, but we still have dead weight. With 15miles to go the motivation of the group was getting low. I attacked hard up one of the rollers and nobody came with. They just slowly crawled up to me and then let up... so with 5 to go we got caught...I was not letting myself get shuffled to the back after all that work I had done, so up the hill to the finish I cranked it to stay up near the front and ended up with a 4th place in the sprint.

As for Saturday night...just imagine RedRoofInn, 9000 KidCudi wannabe highschoolers, PBR, and cops on segways and paddywagons. Lets just say we did a lot of people watching at the bar along 'delmar ave' in St. Louis.... it was amusing.

SUNDAY: Ofallon Grand Prix Criterium. I also enjoyed this course, basically a 4 corner crit with one section that is very narrow followed by a sharp 90 turn. I told John that this race I would not attempt a break until half way into the race, to avoid the implosion that I endured 2 weeks ago at Champaign. Race starts fast, and I move to the front right away to avoid getting wHipped at the back through the narrow sections. A few breaks go but nothing is lasting long. We go by and I see 22 min on the board... I wait one more lap and see 25 and there is my friend John from Momentum Cycling just a few seconds up the road, I jump up to him tap on the back and say 'here we go'. We start cruising and he is doing an awesome job keeping pace and both him and I have teammates blocking for us! After 10 min we are joined by 3 more riders which give us more firepower and more teams blocking. Two of the guys were just hanging on the back but they were just there to hang on for 4th and 5th so it wasnt as if they were sandbagging it to the line... either way I was pretty nervous being caught every time I have been in a break this year. Well with 1 lap to go we had about 15 seconds and we were not going to get caught. Coming around turn 1 I was last wheel and I saw my breakmates spread across the road and let up. I felt like Ballan (1:35) and his attack at the world championships I knew I had to go and just dropped down and gave it everything I had to go past them. Nobody reacted and around turn 2 I had a pretty big gap and already knew I had it. I kept giving it all I had and around the final turn I looked back and had enough time to savor my first victory! The blocking was perfect, the break was perfect, the attack was .... perfect, oh it feels good!

Another HUGE thanks to VerizionWireless Teammate John for working hard to chase down the pack, awesome awesome awesome.

alright I might miss out on next weekends races and prepare for ToAD! We will see.

Cheers!

forur health

Wa Pello- Burllington : em it was actually a most enjoyable ride. There were quite a number of riders starting out and I got stuck starting in the rears. After about 4 miles I had made my way to the front of the race where I decided to stay. There was one move I joined with about 5 guys that looked to have a glimmer of hope... I believe we caught the pro race after 10 miles or so and we were neutralized until they turned off the main drag to go ride more miles... we continued cruising along and right behind me a large crashboombang erupted and it sounded pretty big. There was put a pretty hard dig thereafter by myself and rosenfield, and with 30mph+ going up the roller we just couldnt shake the field... bummer, as my sprint is nothing special I knew this finish would not see me on the front. Then the rider with the creaking, noisy zipp wheels unclipped right in front of me on the sprint and I saw my top 10 spot whizz out of site and finished 21...

I did spend the evening at the lovely "DRAKE" restaurant with the even lovelier Sammy mcCute right there on the river. They had a live band, busch light cold-as-a-mountain-stream-smooth-as-its-name bottles, and excellent food! I would recommend it to anyone.

Snake Alley: decided to take it off after DNFing the last 2 years...

Mellon City: a graduation party and disk golf a decent alternative to speed bumps and soul melting humidity...

Quad Cities! Tail gunnin the first 8 laps. Jumping around people getting shelled. Move up to teammate Mr. Sills. sit behind him for the race.... with one lap to go I get up to 2nd wheel as we cross the line, a large pileup is then heard right behind me, and with again rossenfield leading the charge and me sitting just 3 wheels behind I feel like a top 10 is at hand.... but alas we get caught again, I wanted to be 1st coming around turn 7 but was pretty gassed after moving all the way up before the last lap and lost some position. Ending 18th looser.

Yes another fun weekend, yes my stomach really hurts still and I dont know whats wrong... the doctor is going to be visited first thing tomorrow... and yes the state championship road race is 4 days away... something that should fit my skillz a little better than "cage matches"

for your health

Tour De C-U

Race Report: The smooth 4corner champaign crit on Saturday... Some attacks go early, and the first slowing of the pack I take off. I was out by myself for a lap and a half until some others came up to me. That break stayed away for a few laps before being reeled back in. The next big move was from my boy Dan Penner, he attacked and had a 10sec or so lead, I marked IsCorp and we made it a 5some up at the front of the race. We worked together for a couple of laps before we were almost caught, then IsCorp goes on the left side and I follow him. We then stay away for the next 12 laps or so. I was truly dead with 5 laps to go, but kept hanging on and unfourtunately got caught with about 2/3 of the last lap to go... Rosenfield-ISCorp kept powering on for the win... sososo close, although I had never been so far into the"red" as I was in that break.

Urbana Grand-Prix: 150F, humid, 180degree turn, a hard hard race. Over half the field DNF'd... I found myself off the front very early and there was no way I could hold another break for so long so I dropped back. Then Rosenfield goes again... uff, I go with him and he drags me and a few guys around for a couple of laps but like I said... I just didnt have it. Im sure he was frustrated in my 'negative' racing but I didnt want to let him go there and it seemed to me that nobody else would have stopped him... So that gets the break brought back... then freakin Ramirez-Burnham goes with some other fast guys, but no Verizionz... lame. They lap the field, I finish 12 of the 18 finishers...and 19DNFers....
-and to who ever said I was "chopping" you in every corner... "CHOPPING" from what I understand is cutting a corner in tight, the swing out at the last second and cutting in... or just cutting in on someone in a corner... I believe you were confusing that with you just being to close to my wheel around that 180 bub...

anyway I suppose if I wouldnt have initiated so many breaks on Saturday we could have stayed away.... so lame,

Next weekend is quadcities, and the burllington RR.

so... im late...

Thanks Peloton-pix.com

Hopefully no one has heard that dreaded phrase... but yes, my race report is rather late.

So MONSTERZ

em, wide roads, long straight aways... it was pretty easy to move up at will in the 3's so I decided to just chill for the first half of the race. There was one promising move of about 6 or so that I jumped up to, but with ZERO organization i found myself back in the pack. I figured I could slide up on the back stretch of the last lap, considering last year I got swarmed at that same spot... however, with a crash before turn 1, a crash on the STRAIGHT after turn 2 and a crash around turn 4 of the final lap it was not to be...

I had fun pretending to be fast in the 1/2/3 race shortly after. I had no legs to throw attacks with the u25 guys but I had fun jumping up to do what I could to shut down a chase, and I believe I found myself at the tail end of at least one separation... again fun was the word to describe that race, fast and fun.

TourDeChampaign!

yeah, with long lost racing buddy Senor Penner flying all the way back from Oregon just to race, it is going to be a grand time. Both courses look sweet and sexy and so do the podium girls from what I hear...