I'm a slacker

I know I just stopped writing on the rest day but it was for good reason. First, my energy reserves started to diminish quite rapidly as the days went on. Second, I also had to do finals for 2 online classes I was taking and one of them included a good size paper, so after all that writing I did not want to look at a keyboard.

Recap of the Week

I will have to say looking back at the week it was by far the coolest experiance I have ever had on a bike. The crowds are bigger than anthing I have seen at a bike race and being the one on the other side of the fenses was a cool feeling. At the end of the week I noticed some of the Pro squads coming around and being a little more friendly, guess they just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to crash them out first. It is also a cool feeling to have not racers at the events, they are very interested and will stop to ask questions about everything. I just wish the sport could be like that all the time.

It was also a huge learning experiance. I am sure I got faster from the 4,000 plus 30 second intervals I did out of every corner. But the real gains are going to be from the skill of how to ride a crit. I learn a lot from teamates and some friendly pros like Adam Myerson. I have heard a mix of coments about Adam but he is cool in my book. I found myself fighting to get around him several times only to end up right back behind him. That was before he said something like " Hey jackass! Just follow me and you will save a lot of energy.". Then after the race he commented about how he was not trying to be a dick but to just give me some pointers.

When racing for pure survival you learn to break down every section of the race and figure the most efficient path possible. I learned taking some risks at the right time can move you up 30 spots and don't waiste your energy fighting over one wheel. Granted some of the skill will not apply to MABRA crits, I still think I will be a better crit racer after that week.

If you have never done a race of that level you can not understand the speed. Even last year when I just upgraded and did my first 1/2/3 race I could get to the front if I wanted to. I only got to the front of the race once in the entire week and it lasted about 5 seconds. My best finish was on the last day at 34th and I was very prowd of it.

Rest Day

Today was a rest day, pretty relaxing. The host housing we have is extremely nice, not only the house but the family. Only 2 people per room, everyone has their own bed and they cooked us an amazing dinner.

We just hung out most of the day, did some laundry and went for a quick spin. My legs are the most sore they have been since I can remember so thats good, I'll be getting faster right?

I'm working on getting an interview of Chris uploaded so hopefully he can better explain Athens.

Oh yeah, a big thanks to the people a Mix 1. They make a nice protein shake, I recommend giving them a try.


Chris' Interview

Roswell update.

Monday morning, just had some breakfast at the Holiday Inn in Macon GA. My legs are a bit sore from yesterday at Roswell. I finish my first real race of my life and was supper stoked about it. I don't really care too much about where I finish but when I find out I will post it.

For me the race yesterday was just a series of small goals. I would see a Haymarket kit and try to get up to it. I could never quite make it to Jared or Chris but got very close a couple of times. Mostly it was just Steven and I playing leap frog. The entire team finish yesterday which was very cool considering half of them had raced earlier in the day.

The thing that impressed me the most was on the start finish area they had I radar station and it was usually showing low to mid 30's every lap. When we watched the cat 2's race I remember seeing the sign read 33mph, in our race I spotted 36 several times on random laps. The race was pretty much to sprints every lap. First up the hill on the back side of the course then out of the last corner into the long start finish straight.

If I get nothing out of this week except my pack confidence I will still be very happy. With my goal of just finishing these races I have found my self much more aggressive in defending my spot. I got into as much of a yelling match as you could at 35 with a Fly V racer after he tried to muscle me out of my spot then got pissed when I would not give it up. I realized he has much more to lose from going down than I do so F him, my spot.

Well I have to get going to for the next leg of the drive..

Athens' Twilight

Its 5pm, I'm sitting in my hotel room and what I'm about to do just hit home. My hotel room is right across the hall from Ivan Dominguez and last night I had Mike Creed in my qualifying heat. Its like the movie Pro's reunion. The Red and Black new paper estimates the crowd to be at 40,000; the Nationals had 9,000 people the other night. To put that in personal perspective, the next biggest race I have done is probably the 3/4 Reston Gran Prix at about 1,000 people.

Everywhere you go people are talking about the race and asking if you are going to watch. Maybe for some of these guys that have done this thing 10 times it isn't even noticed but saying that I'll be racing not watching gives me a mix of pride and the overwhelming feeling that I am in way over my head. Next you can throw in the fact that it is raining like crazy and unlike other events people seem more excited to watch because it means more crashes.

I'll end this post with a clip from the qualifier finals last night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzoLQ6-ADPE

Pretending to be Pro

This is just a quick post to let anyone who cares know that I will be blogging as much as possible next week. I will be down doing the speed week series and should have plenty of good stories from the back of the pack. My plan is to finish as many of the races as possible and see what it feels like to race like a pro (or as much as one) for a week.

Nice to be on a team.

So, I had a good time at Vint Hill. Got to watch Joe do a warm up ride and solo the 3/4 race with Andrew taking 2nd. Chip won the masters race, in a solo break?????? I guess he forgot he is a sprinter.

After paying my $5 to race ,thanks MABRA, I lined up with the team. The plan was to go from the gun and try to set up a break. Then some of our guys would bridge. Check. After we got an good gap from the field with two HH cycling guys, Joe somehow bridges across, it must have been a hard effort. After that I kept letting gaps open with Steve and Joe in 3 or 4 rider groups but it kept coming back together. After several laps of that, Steve attacked and stayed off the front for around a lap or so. Then Evan countered as soon as we made contact with Steve. It was my turn so I jumped onto Evans wheel and let him pull me for the last 3rd of the race. I knew I had two strong as hell guys behind me and was hoping one of them would bridge up or at least Evan would get tired. Well, Evan never got tired and attacked on the little hill before the finish, taking the win. Steve ended up trying to bridge and rolled through in 3rd, Jared 5th, Joe 8th. I won a prime of 2 pairs of Gam Jam socks. One pair is XL and the other womans small.



I now know who Evan is and will not ask him if he was a cat 3 last year again.. Its not my fault I don't know anyone in the 1/2/3 field. Hell this time last year I was still doing 4/5 races. I know the names of these people just not their faces, yet.

Raw Talent Ranch

Thanks to Jay for housing us at the Raw Talent Ranch. If you have not had the pleasure of making out the the barn I highly recommend. The riding is amazing and you do not have to worry about knowing the roads, the place comes with a tour guide.

Friday was a great ride and the final climb up to the barn on the dirt road was a killer. Not only was it extremely steep it was muddy, every time I would hit a soft spot I noticed my tire tripling in size and the bike doubling in weight.

Saturday was not that long as far a miles go but the climbing destroyed me. The last climb of the day I found myself hanging onto the team car for about a minute after I just could not turn the pedal over anymore. Then I finish the climb out with some other fat friends ( you know who your are).

The descent was my favorite part about the trip. There was a bit of gravel on the corner but other than that very fast.


More photos of the team at camp.
http://www.hhcycling.com/multimedia/photo-album.asp?id=42535