Monday, May 28, 2007

Quad City Crit

So...after this race, I was so sick of it, and upgraded to 4's!!! YAY!!!

Started off pulling, trying to destroy the field...and the OK rider attacked, and I went with him, we had a small gap for a lap or so, then the field came back, I settled in and he attacked again taking a rider from Peoria with him. They stayed away the whole rest of the race because of the "so called Teams" in our field. DICE had 5-6 guys and MAC had 3 or so, and none of them would ever pull. For about the 10th time this year, the whole work was done by myself, Jimmy Carrico, Cutters, and a couple Iowa Ortho guys. And a MAC guy who is a very sketchy rider in the first place, always shoving people out of position, would sit 2nd-3rd wheel and refuse to pull through, as if he had a team mate up the road, but he didn't. I mean how stupid can you be, if you wanna sit in, go back 8 guys or so, he wasn't even there on the sprint, so it must not have payed off.

I got boxed out by some "sand baggers" who never pulled and werent seen at the front the whole race, and ended up in 7th. As soon as the race was over, Jimmy and I ran right into Rick Paulos and upgraded, finally we will be with a group of people who know what their doing!

So that ended the weekend, I was actually quite happy with my performances, even if the Category itself was awful. I am really looking forward to racing with the 4's in upcoming events!

Melon City

Another course for some climbers.

Again, I started in the top line, and pushed the first lap pretty hard trying to drop some riders. With the pack together again, I knew I would have to be on the outside for a good ride up the hill, a DICE guy would always hit the front with his weight and pull the whole "non contender" part of the field with him to the hill, the only bad thing was he stopped as soon as he hit the hill because of his weight. I could see this along with some other guys, and we hit the outside line.

One of the laps however, he hit the wall, and all of the dumb riders tried to push over to get around, right into us!!! I was hit by about the weight of 5 riders and couldn't keep my line, pushing a nice strong/ smart/ contender rider into the curb. He was one of the guys I would rather have in it at the end then these stupid riders who dont know whose wheels to take.

Anyway, pushed it hard up the last lap, but couldnt get to 1st wheel for the turn, and had to settle for 4th place, 2nd in the 18-34, behind the Cat 4, maybe Cat 3 ability 5 rider from OK. It was another good showing I thought, for my weight.

Snake Alley

Then came the race for light guys....not me!

I started off in the front row, and got to the corner around 6th....up the hill I was fine the first laps and soon was in a group of 6 guys. The downhill was def. my friend, as my weight can push better.

Some guy from OK, went off the front and soloed to win, he was an expert Mtn. biker turned roadie, and couldnt upgrade the whole weekend and won all 4 races. Kinda demoralizing, but he couldn't help it, he wanted to upgrade. Anywho, Jimmy Carrico got 4th and I ended up touching the guy out for 5th, so I was pretty dang happy with 5th.

Wapello Burlington Road Race

This was the first time I had done 4 races in one weekend. And it was def. the races I wanted the most. Some ups and downs the weekend...The downs started in the RR however.

A very bad race....no one was comfortable it seemed, there were at least 60!!!! 10mph acceleration/deaccelerations over the course of the race. I was getting so mad, we couldn't keep a nice pace going.

Coming up to the last hill, 3 DICE guys pushed the left side of the road, and I jumped on Hausslers wheel, they sent him off...but his 2 lead out men jumped in front of me and I almost crashed, they almost stopped in order to block, by the time I got around and tried to get on Hausslers wheel, I couldnt get it and brought the whole field with me...getting passed by everyone I just sat up and coasted in. Not a great start, but I knew it was not the 1st race that counted!

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Summer Time!!

School is done with! Yes! I just hope my finals went ok, to much of my bike on the mind during the last week. uh oh

I think I am ready for this weekend of 4 days. I went on 40 or so ride today, and legs felt kinda tired after...but I am feeling good as of late.

I dont think it has ever been this windy this time of year before, I mean wow!

good luck to everyone next weekend! Ill be cheering for everyone I know!

Thursday, May 10, 2007

AGGGGHHHH FINALS!

Yep, here go the finals, just one weekend left to study....hopefully they go ok. My mind is so focused on building for Memorial Day right now however, I just need to settle down and focus on school :)

Rode 45 miles yesterday, felt pretty good....hope its a good sign of some form coming on to tackle the RR and then Snake the next day! Lets just see how it goes.

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Iowa City Crit

Here are the pictures of me getting touched out!