2 Days and Counting!!!!

2 Days til the State Road Race. I have had 2 days off this week to think about the race and what I am going to have to do in order to prosper. The longest ride I have ever done in my life was 85 miles. So being 20 miles longer, who knows whats going to happen. 

I will have at least 2 team mates to work for/with in order to stay in the front, and a numerous amount of other teammates taking part in the other races and to help with feeding. The amount of liquids and food I will have engulf to stay above bonking line will be like a 3 course meal!!!

Im really excited though, it will be a tour de france stage length road race. So Im thinking it will be slow to start and will blaze by the end. 

Payout is 1200/10 places, overall so that is always a goal, but also Cat. 3 is separated out for State Champion Medals separately then 1/2's. I have quite a few guys to watch who will be on form and I think ready to kick some ass.

B2U

Chad Bishop

Jimmy and Adam Price

Basso and Death Squad

Norbert, Dom and Jacobsen

I know many others......

Its gonna be a great race within itself. Hopefully I don't get left behind to early on!

Two Bee "Thanks Jason RR"

Yay for Conn Day Races!! I was finally able to get to one this year, after pleading with the guys at the shop to allow me to come in a little late for work.

Chris Reed and I rode down, and saw Ian Robinson, Mack Sheldrup, Keith Snoop and Jason Amoriell all ready to race for the day. We ended up having 5 of the 15 starters or so. We were saying that if we couldn't win on this day, wow...we are horrible. 

Race started off pretty mellow, with a few attacks. After about 6 miles or so. A big attack got off with Ian, Jason, Chris, a 2 Bee guy, both Nick and Tim Campbell. I knew this was serious, but just sat back and waited to pounce on the guys who missed out. After a while, I was bored and I know Gary McNabb and I wanted to make the race a little more interesting. We punched the pace and tried to bridge up to the leaders. In this process we dropped all but one guy. 

Once we got up to the break. Jason put in an attack and was off for a while. 10 miles or so to go, we caught him and hung in the pack. With about 7 miles to do, Chris put in an attack and had a slight gap, once he got reeled in. I punched the gas and took off. I looked back once and had a small gap, I decided to try and stick it.  I kept opening up a gap as my teammates did good blocking and didn't allow one of the Campbells or Two Bee guys to jump across. 

I crossed the line about 45sec to 1 minute ahead of the field. Chris Reed and Ian Robinson took 2nd and 3rd on the day. Junior Mack Sheldrup got back into the "peloton" and ended up with the 5th spot!

This was the first race, where I have ever really done team tactics and it finally worked. We were able to work over Tim Campbell, who was probably the strongest in the race (Cat 2), and come away with some Cookies, Brownies and such.

This was a great race, it was some good low key hard racing!

Next up is a week of training for the big one! 108 Mile State Road Race.

Looks like there will be 3 of us Cat 3's and hopefully Eastburn will do it :)

Tues. Group Ride

Did the Cedar Rapids Group Ride tonight. Lots of people showed up which is always good. We went north to Alburnett, Central City, Waubeek, Springville and back in. Ended up doing 55 miles in just under 3 hours total time. 

Avg. Watts: 255

MPH: 21

A couple of the guys were on fire, and def. putting the hurt on us. *WINK* Easburn, Norbert, Chris *Wink*        

MAC Hope your doing good, I think it was my fault, that a way to take it like a champ.

How Long can it last!

My legs feel awesome right now. Went out for 55miles yesterday with Chris Reed and Chris Eastburn and felt good. Yea sweet, 53 miles still to go to finish the State Road Race ha. Oh well, Im excited for a ride that long! Im hoping to maintain this form until the end of my season. Coach Paul thinks because I am so young, I may be able to keep it for another month or so. That would be awesome. 

Will have maybe 2 weeks off of racing for training and work. Every weekend in August should bring some great hard racing.

State Road Race

Downers Grove National Crit Championships

State Crit

Gateway Cup

Aug 8-11, I am going to Door County with Bethany and a couple that we swim with at Luther for a few days at a cabin. Will be a lot of fun.

Dopers Suck!!!

Seriously....I thought maybe we had gotten a clean tour. But now the all stupid Beltran and now Riccardo Ricco!!! What a dumb ass, I hope he quits cycling. It obviously shows from Vandevelde that you can race clean and win the Tour!!!(Potentially).  I am almost ashamed to be involved with cycling now. Cyclists get so much crap, everyone is always like.....oh yea, the sport with all the dopers!!

Oh well, they get what they deserve.

Check out our new team blog...... our team is continuing to grow and gain some support around Cedar Rapids!

http://hba-racing-team.blogspot.com/

State Road Race looks tremendous for a Cat 3 race, 108 Miles!! WOW should be awesome

Day 5.....Do it or Lose It

Last day of SuperWeek for now. Had to come back so that I can work and have money for Door County and College in general. 56 Starters and 32 Finished. IT was about 95 degrees at the start of the race, I had drank 3 bottles before the race and 2 during the race. 

Same course as yesterday. Did 40 laps today instead of 35. After a couple laps, a crash happened behind me and took about 10 guys down. This make the chance of placing well go up. I put in 1 attack today and didn't drag anyone with me, of course of course. I tried to bridge to another break and didn't get to it, before it was swallowed up. Did quite a bit of work at the front, as some of the teams didn't want to chase the serious break near the end of the race. Luckily it came back 1/2 way through the last lap.

Didn't get passed by anyone in the sprint but, didn't pass anyone else. Ended up in 15th today, so I finally broke the 20 spot and got some money. I had a blast the last 5 days riding with Cat 3's from across the nation and some foreign guys as well. IT is a lot different riding with these guys then with most of the Midwest dudes. I think a lot of these guys could be Cat 2's, but want to wait and poach some money before upgrading. Whose to blame them, as who knows when they will get money again!!!! 

It was an awesome time, and I know I am getting some good form from Ohio, and hope it will last for a while longer!!!

Day 4.....

Day 4 a 35 mile Crit in Bensenville, Illinois. The course was pretty sketchy, starts in a park and leaves through a rough exit onto a neighborhood then re-enters the park on a very off camber turn back onto blacktop. It was ok though, we all took the corner fine. Alittle off camber S Curve to the finish. The races started out fast with it being strung out. A break of 4 went up the road as usual, but this time it stuck for some reason. They got a gap of up to 1:15 over the field, that means we were really slow and not chasing hard, or they were just kicking our butt. I think it was more the first, but also some of the 2nd. The laps ticked down and I stayed toward the front. Andrew F. from Bikes 2 You had a busy day, no one wanted to pull so he pulled probably a total of 10 laps or so?? Including the last 2 and still placed 6th in the sprint. He was a real motor today.

Came in 21st. Wow, I can't be so close to the money (20th) and never get there. 21st, 23rd, 21st the last 3 days!

 

1 More day to move into the money for now! Hopefully I will be able to leave it all out there and make a break or sprint for a good placing!