US Pro Criterium Championships, 6th place/

@ 70 psi.

Getting back in the swing of things at the Tour de Toona

The new locale...


Kuota Kalibur TT

Powered by; Freedman

Starting to give it some stick again
I took my mid-season break after the five week stint that began with the RAS in Ireland and finished with the Beauce in Canada. It was nice to have some time to finally go up in the mountains have a few picnics with Sarah and enjoy our new locale here in Colorado, I even joined in at a few happy hours with her co-workers... cocktails... yep.

I quickly got into the routine again of training, and was sure nice to have warm weather here which made the long mountain training rides bit easier than battling with frost bite, as I endured earlier in the season. I spent quite a lot of time on the TT bike, getting used to riding the position and taking full advantage of having one at home. The Kuota Kalibur TT machine is quite the ride.

The Toona was soon on the horizon and I felt ambitious about the race and hoped to ride well in it for the GC. Things began well for us in the team time trial where we limited our losses to the big horse power teams and finished 5th. It's not often we race TTT, so even though it hurt it was rather fun. I managed to finish in the front group on the second stage where we were hit with a nasty rain storm with 20km to go, which in addition to the many climbs on in the short distance stage it added to splitting the field in a few groups. The next few day, I just was not able to follow in the key moments of the race and slowly began to drift away at any chance of a high GC finish. I think I attribute it to my time off of racing and simply loosing a bit of that aggression. I was disappointed of course but tugged along and continued on with the race. Once Walters got the Green Sprint jersey it gave us some specific work to help him in the sprints which got the fire started again under mi arse. On the 6th stage I went off in a breakaway early on to try to steal some sprint points to help out. On Sunday's last stage We kept aggressive trying to create breakaways but the pace set by Healthy Nuts said no to those ideas. I kept good position coming into the final and made a good sprint for 4th place on the last stage.

So... hopefully the Tour de Toona was getting my engine back on and will be back to full speed for the big crits in Chicago and the rest of the season. See you soon!

Passport Please and Tour de Beauce

Protecting Yellow Again
My first flat of the year, was no little thorn
Start of TT
Leading Walters
Sweet Goobers

The sometimes rush, rush of cycling added with and almost 6 hour race can make it easy for some short term memory issues or add forgetfulness with some international travel necessities, such as a passport.

The team trailer was heading up to Quebec directly after Sunday's Philly race, where our team duffel bags would go as well, to limit our flying hassles. Some last minute hotel changes and with the immediate rush I forgot to take my passport out of the duffel and put it in my carrion. This came to my attention at about 1am on Sunday night while in bed. I tried to reassure my self by stating that you don't need to a passport to enter Canada. But it was not really working, as I have kept up with the World news. I was off to the airport anyways as Sarah was headed back to Colorado. As I dropped her at the gate I said, "Maybe I'll be seeing you later..."

The attendant reassured my fear and said that there is no way to be flying into Canada without a passport. Stockton, my team manager was right on the case when he arrived at the airport, a bit ticked of course but still managedto get me a way up to Beauce. He found a flight to Burlington, Vermont. He called the mechanic re-routed his trip to come pick me up in Burlington and off I was for another stage race. I was so tired and physically wrecked I was not sure if I was happy I was going up there or not. I was eager for my break to come, but did have a week left in me.

Tour de Beauce went very well for us. Walters got things going from the get go on a long first stage, 5 hrs. or so, with a stage win. For the following stages it was tempo time for the rest of us, which works quite well when you're tired. It simplifies things, ride at the front for 140km. Done. Even though we lost the jersey on the Mont Megantic stage, we got back to the front in the crit to pull back a breakaway in perfect fashion, with one 1.5km lap to go, and lead it out for Dom, but small error led him to get 2nd. Still, it was good fun stringing out the field and bringing back the hopeful breakaway. After a week of great weather the last stage brought down some heavy rains and made it rather miserable. I was in two breakaways that each got about a minute up the road, but the legs pooched out on me towards the end and shut down the opportunity of a stage win that I was seeking.

I was very pleased to get through the tough week, as the roads were relentless, still had a cough and I kept counting the minutes to having some time off the bike. Walters made the race great for our team by grabbing the yellow jersey on the first stage and having the Kodak Team set tempo for the first 4 stages and getting to show our strength as a team.

I am in bed now, sleeping. I'll be doing this for a while.

Philly Cheese Steaks are Good

A Brit in Philly Sarah, My Guapa
Ready, Set, Go
Following Zee German

It was a week of downtime in downtown Philly after the RAS. The thought of it is quite nice after a hard stage race, but not having the chance to head home for this week took it's toll. Yes, I get home sick and miss Sarah. I wouldn't say home sick for Boulder, but homesick of the comfort of our new apt. there on Pearl St and spending a week off with my wife. I spent the week with Walters and Rollin in a great old house in the historic district of Philadelphia. We took our time getting the day started, enjoying our home made coffees and going out and about taking pics with our KODAK cameras of course. I struggled with the heat and humidity as it was a drastic change from Ireland's Spring Weather and the high allergic levels. CSC Invitational was the first race back, and it was a suffer fest. The heat took it's toll and made most of the field drop out. I hung in there until the finish but could not manage much help for out sprinter Rollin. The race took a lot out of me and made that following week miserable with a nagging cough and green snot! This made for early departures in the mid week races, Lancaster and Reading. I awoke highly motivated for the Big Philly race as my wife flew in and a few old friends. I did have a few nerves at the start, as the venue is quite a scene. It's no local Chicago crit. It was my job to keep Walters up in the first 15 riders heading into the Manayunk wall each lap, in which I succeeded in. Its a full on sprint each lap to the base of the steep 1.5km climb, but we managed to duel it out and head into the run in safely. It was my longest race ever, it being 156 miles. This year was done in record time of 5:45hrs. not bad aye... I was spent have the race and was struggling with the fact that I would be on a plane the next morning to start a 6 day stage race up in Quebec. The Tour de Beauce...

FDB Insurance RAS Stage 8, Dom Rollin's Turbo Diesel Power and the end of the RAS, very nice!

The threats of nasty weather for the last stage were diminished by the shy Irish sun that showed up to lighten our spirits. Our plan was to keep fairly mellow for the first half of the race and then try to attack the yellow jersey to snag it back. A small break or 3 including David McCann took off rather early and zee German’s began to set tempo.
They hired the zee otha’ German team to help them control things which made us rather fed up. So we began to attack over the third climb on the stage. We put quite a lot of stress on them to make them loose their organization. Dom Rollin turned on the turbo and was off and another poor old rider made the bad decision to get on his wheel. Dom kept a 15 sec. gap ahead of us for about 20km, in which zee Germans could not reel back. Once we hit more twisty roads Dom was out of sight and was on a solo effort to catch the breakaway a minute up the road. The gap grew slowly; I got on the radio and told Dom, “Zee Germans are loosing powa’!” Once he closed into the breakaway, McCann slowed things up to wait for him, to add the horsepower to the break. It worked. They gained up to a minute and forty seconds, virtually placing Dom in the yellow jersey. The German Suunto Team and Stevens teams continued to drive the pace, giving us a easy ride in the pack to keep us fresh for getting Jesse up the road on the finishing circuits, seeing that most of the German domestics would be blown by the time we’d arrive.
McCann began to attack the breakaway and dropped one of the Aussie riders, which did not work well in our plan as then they began to help the chase. Once hitting the second to last KOM the field dwindled rapidly but the yellow jersey managed to follow the wheels. Jesse gave it a go on the last lap, but zee German had yellow feva’ and it was too late for us.

The race went very well for us. It being Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada’s first International race we were all very pleased and hope we can continue jumping across the pond for competition. We’ll focus on recovery now in Philadelphia and we will be prepped for the Triple Crown.
See you then!

FDB Insurance RAS stage 7, Aggression, a lull and some more Aggression

With the stage profile mostly ascending for the first 40km, the pace was rather relentless. We took part in it; of course, as it shows we’ve showed up in good form. Dom would string out the field with his huge turbo diesel engine, and then one of us would launch an attack to keep pressure on the yellow jersey. We kept on like this for a while, but everybody was on board with fresh legs from yesterday’s short stage. On the first long descent there was a nasty mid field crash that took our teammate, Josh Thornton out of the race. Josh landed straight on his head, going about 70kph. Not a scratch on his body, all impact to the helmet. He was rather shaken up, but started feeling a bit better in the evening.
The field settled down during the middle kilometers of the race, a good thing for me as I was having some stomach issues and puked profusely every time I drank a sip from the bidon. I went back for some coke to try to settle the stomach; I was the last rider in the field for about 40k’s just hanging on. Good times. I started to come around for the last quarter of the race, and moved up steadily leading up to the last KOM. I went on the attack with a Glen Bak,(Murphy and Gunn) and David McCann,(Irish Nat. Team) I was hopeful it would stick, as we hit them at a good time, but my personal attempts of going for a stage were shut down by the chasing Australians. Once caught, I attacked again with 1km to the KOM, I was able to get over the top first and keep the pace up. The descent was too open and not technical enough for me to stay off. I was caught soon enough. The rain made things a bit stressful descending with the whole field but we stayed up front to keep Dom out of trouble and set him up for another stage. The “Dominator” took over early with about a kilometer to go and took his third stage victory, to the disappointment of the rest of the field. Did I mention I was getting tired, one more stage.

FDB Insurance RAS Stage 6, Getting Tired...

“Would you like some fries with your mashed potatoes?”

Yes, indeed. The routines of food at stage races can be rather hard mentally towards the end of the week. Chicken or beef, 3 differently cooked types of potatoes on the table and over cooked carrots and broccoli. Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3…the same is served. It does start to crack you a bit. We did add a drink to the menu tonight however, Champagne! Dom Rollin went off early on with the right breakaway and rode away from the group of 15 or so in the last few hundred meters and took his second stage victory. “Very nice…”

The pace was fairly steady for us in the pack, and to be honest I was rather happy to be taking somewhat of a break after yesterday’s massacre. My legs hurt, back, neck everything. I woke up in the middle of the night last night to use the bathroom and could hardly walk to the toilet. I was praying it was 2am or still early enough where I wouldn’t awake the day in that sort of state.

It’s 10pm right now and still rather light outside. The scenery up here in Northern Ireland has been spectacular, and with the nicer weather today it was actually a bit enjoyable. We head to New Castle tomorrow on a 160km+ stage, with bad weather expected in the days to come it will be no parade to the finish. Come on legs.

Our bikes and equipment have been holding up supremely under the stress and weather it has been handing over the past week. Randy, our new mechanic has meshed in well with the team and has set up our fleet of Kuota’s equipped with the latest from SRAM with precision. All needed to handle the rough and nasty conditions this race offers.