A Sunday

For us, when coach says do an endurance ride today, we probably take it a little too far.

Seth, Joey, and I headed out at 7am for a trek to Vail, starting just a few miles outside of Denver.
First on the table was getting up High Drive, just a short but very steep ride into the Evergreen area. Then halfway up Evans to Squaw Pass and down into Idaho Spring.

On the way up Squaw.

Seth on the trek up Squaw.

Almost to the top, of just the first of many.

After a refill of the water bottles in Idaho Springs we headed toward the next challenge, Loveland Pass.

Top of Loveland Pass.

After peaking out at Loveland the drop down the other side puts you into Keystone and Dillon. This is where we took on more liquids plus a little lunch. This was Seth's fuel.

After getting some sugar back in us we headed over Swan Mountain to Copper Mtn. where the clouds began to taunt us.

They weren't bluffing. Hail and rain poured down for about 15 minutes making it rather cold.

From here we could smell the finish of our ride. From Copper we took off over Vail pass and down to the finish line of Vail.

A big thanks to the girls for coming to pick us up. They had to drive 2 hours out to get us and 3hrs (thanks to traffic) to take us back.

So to sum up today. 120 miles, 7hrs, 5 sustained climbs, 3 summit passes, Denver to Vail. Can't wait to do it again.

Links

Check this link out.

Then check this link out.

Not much planned today. Short ride, then the dentist again. Its a long story, that you don't want to hear.

Tomorrow is a long haul from Joey's house to Vail, aprox 7hrs. Should be a fun one.

Gold Hill

Today was a fun/hard ride up to Gold Hill. Let me narate my day with pictures.

First its up Four Mile
All the way to the dirt. This is where today I had my first pet peeve. A guy driving down drinking a red bull threw out the empty can after he passed me. I heard it hit the pavement or I wouldn't have known, but how much of an ass do you have to be to throw out an empty can in such a beautiful back road.

Follow the dirt way back into the woods.

And you find a small town hidden away on top of the mountain.

Its what makes riding extra enjoyable.

Bad Weekend

Well this weekend didn't end up the way I had hoped for. I woke up to the alarm yesterday to head to the Springs for a RR, but a killer headache kept me in bed. That should have been the end of it but by noon it was a migraine and become completely unbearable by late afternoon that I was at the ER. I got pumped full of fluids and a bunch of drugs. An hour and a half later the pain subsided enough I could go home where I fell asleep at 7 and slept for 13hrs. Today was better, still a slight headache and the orders of taking it easy again sidelines me from a crit. I guess my season is in the books for this year.

Not sure what is going to happen, the next month should reveal some big changes for me, both in cycling and in life.

Friday

This week has been uneventful. Sending out some resumes for next year seeing if any teams will give me a shot. Just have to wait to see, I hate waiting.

There is a short RR in the Springs this weekend but I am not sure if I am going to head down and do that or stay up here and do an even shorter circuit race. Then there is Bannock on Sunday, probably won't do this unless they have fixed the road. Not fun to have a block of potted road and a manhole cover sunk six inches in the pavement right on a corner.

Quick Update

Sorry for the lack of updating. I headed to TX last Wednesday and spent some time with my parents at the ranch. Did a little riding and some stuff around the ranch for my dad. Then went to Austin to see Sheila. Saturday helped with an adventure race and rode around and went to the movies on Sunday. Now I'm back home and getting ready to get back on the training schedule to finish of the season here in August.

Looks like cycling is heading down the tube faster than anyone can imagine with Mayo testing positive too now.

Well check back later for a better update, just a quick post. Hope everyone is doing well.

A Sad Day

Vino, say it ain't so.

The Day After Evans

Some one asked in the comments on My thought of the Day, "So if your english speaking and the person you want to interview is not how do you have a conversation?"

Simple, a translator. I doubt its that hard to find someone who speaks both English and Spanish to do the translating.

I did a little 3hr ride around Boulder this morning to rest the legs from Evans but the heat is just taking it right out of me. I've got the AC cranked all the way down, but I think it might be a pool day.

Thought for the Day

Phil made an interesting comment this morning on Contador after his stage win (hope you all knew the ending today, if not oops). He said "He (Contador) is really a nice guy to talk to, and once he learns to speak English fluently we will have a great conversation with him." Uh, yeah. English isn't the only language spoke in the Tour, some don't know English and one of them is Contador; so what. That doesn't mean you can't interview him and talk to him. He won the freakin stage today and moved into second overall. How bad has it gotten if we won't even talk to someone who has done something unbelievable unless they speak English.

Mt. Evans Hillclimb

You know when you are driving around and you check your gas level and its at 1/4 tank so you keep on trucking, then all of the sudden the car stops just a short while later and you are stranded in the middle of no where. Well that was kind of what it was like today.

The Mt. Evans hill climb is 28 miles of climbing 7,oooft ending at 14,500 at the top of Mt. Evans (The highest paved road in America). Why do they do this race? In my opinion after today, its to see who can race the hardest climbing in a no oxygen environment.

It started out with the line up and five minutes to the start and the one and only Tom Danielson rolls to the front of the pack, yeah. Oh $%&#* ran through my mind too. The gun went off and the pack was drilled already shattering riders before we reached the 2 mile mark. I lost contact with Tarkington and a few others and set a good tempo and it split some more. All this while Tommy D. and Moninger are going off the front. I was moving pretty good till the tank all of the sudden went empty with 10k to go. Lets say I lost some time in the last 10k. I went from the big chain ring in a tail wind section to the small chain ring to the granny gear (23 cassette, not so granny). At about 12 - 13,000ft I began to feel light headed with a screaming headache. I finished it as strong as I could, 10-20th place, not sure exactly. After that, the descent was not short enough and I drove home and fell on the floor where I stayed for a while. I still have a huge headache, and feel a little disappointed. I mean, I am a climber but not today so much.

Near the top.
Summit Lake still about 10miles from the top.

I think I can see Texas from here.

Well, I feel like an old man tonight. Yeah its only 7:30pm but I'm tired, and I'm still not recovered even from Cascade yet.

The Zirbeast

I just got some news about Tom Zirbel, Boulder racer on Priority Health. He is having some problems with a clot found back in March that moved to towards his lungs two nights ago landing him in the hospital. Everybody please keep him in your thoughts.

Back Home

Well I've already got settled back in again here at home and started the ramp up for Mt. Evans HC. Sould be fun..........right. I hope to atleast be able to hang on with the true climbers like Tommy D.

I have to say that we all have been in races where something goes wrong and the emotion takes over and comes spilling out in words or actions. I got an email from Chris Baldwin today about what happened at Cascade. I have to say it takes a real man to say sorry. I replyed to say that I am sorry too, for a move that may have been taken as abrupt when I tried to miss another racer cutting in front of me sharply. But we all played a part in what happened, and it is all in the past. Time to move on the the next race. Thanks Chris, I am sorry too for my actions.

After Evans next week since I didn't get into Toona I plan on heading back home to TX and spend a few days with the parents and then head to A-Town to see Sheila for a few days. It should be good to have some fun and just ride before coming back to finish the year off.

PDX

First off you have got to check out the story on Blake's page about getting his stolen bikes back.

Just sitting in the Portland airport heading back to CO when this bike cop came riding by. In the airport, really. Come on now you don't need to be riding a bike around here to catch someone.
Just a update on my injuires. They are getting a little better, but as they loosen up the more I find new pains, like my lower back. All in all I think I will some out physically okay.

Portland, OR

Well since my Cascade Classic ended yesterday I just woke up and headed out to strech my still sore hip. I found some sweet dirt roads up towards Mt. Bachelor in Bend.
After finishing packing I headed into Portland and toured around some. Then I headed across the river to Washington to check another state off my list of places been. After that it took a couple of hours to try and find a non-fast food placed to eat and a gas station. Did I mention that in OR you can't pump your own gas, they have pump jockies that do it for you, what a pain in the a$$.

Tomorrow its back to home sweet home and recover and rest the hip some more before Mt. Evans hillclimb next weekend. Rumor is that Tommy D. is going to show up.

Plus I just checked the Cascade final overall results and only 50 people finished out of the 130 starters on Wednesday, I would have to say that puts this stage race as the hardest I have ever seen.

Cascade Classic Stages 3, 4, and 5

Well yesterday started off with the TT. 7.5 miles up hill, then 7.5 miles downhill. I followed the coach's orders of going only 80% and lost a few minutes but not too bad for a 15 mile TT. After that everyone was mentioning how it was harder than the Gila TT, and I would have to agree.

The crit was last night at 7. It was a curvy .7 mile loop and again I followed the marching orders of surfing and the back and conserving. It worked great until crashfest began. There had to be a total of 10 crashes and one on almost every corner. So the odds were against me when I came flying around the corner and was met by a pile of bikes in the corner in which I went into. I came out relatively un-marked but very sore. Then again later in the race I slid into a group but managed only to put a foot down. The officials decided to put me one lap down for some reason so that didn't make me too happy, when I actually finished with everyone on the same lap.

Today I woke up sore from the crash, especially in my hip, which isn't a good sign for the hardest day. On the start of the race and the first climb a rider cut in front of me making me stop pedaling and Baldwin was behind me not paying attention. He rammed his shifter into my thigh causing him to swerve and take out a few people behind him. That pissed him off and he took it out on me by flipping out on me. Cussing at me and hitting me in the ribs on the right side that was sore already from the crash in the crit. Some of the riders told him to back off since it really was his fault but he felt differently. He continued to cuss me out for quite a while. Once the pace picked up again my hip decided it was going to make my life miserable and unable to put the power to the pedals and I slipped off the back. So unfortunately, I am not able to finish the Cascade Classic, and I am not happy about it since I started out so well.

Tomorrow I will cruise a bit to try and loosen my hip up then head to Portland to catch my flight on Monday.

Cascade Classic Stage 2

Another fast hard day done, another cold ice bath.
Today was very, very fast covering 80 miles in 3hrs. The lead into the final climb was on the rivet and I moved up in anticipation for the separation of the field. I held onto the front group of around 15 guys till the 4k to go mark and slipped off the back. The 23 tooth cassette was a little too much for me, especially since everyone else was pushing a 25 or 27. I may have lost a little time, but moved up in GC. Tomorrow is a 15 mile TT and an hour and a half crit in the evening. I plan on doing a little recovering in prep for the last two hard stages.

Till tomorrow

Cascade Classic Stage 1

The gift bag. Normally contains $50,000 worth of merchandise for people to sit in a seat for a couple of hours and walking a red carpet. We get gift bags too. But ours probably tops out at about $7.
Some golf tees, just in case I decide to switch sports, enough sunscreen for one day, car air freshener, and some mini bite size lara bars. I guess its better than nothing.

I saw this leaving the grocery store today. I wonder how far they got before they started to loose stuff.

Well the race today was super tough for a first stage. I made the front group up the first climb and about half of the pack regrouped. The pace never really let up and got strung out a lot. I made it with the front group up the last climb to the finish and should be somewhere around 20-30th. Tomorrow is another hard day with a long climb to the finish (below). Time for rest, catch up tomorrow.

Bend, OR

Today was a good day, so far. Slept in a little, got a nice easy ride in. Saw everyone out from T-Mobile to BMC.It is really nice around here, getting hot out, but still a great place. Outside Mag just published Bend as being the best place to live in the US, and one person moves here every 2 hrs. I'd live here.

Apparently I own a car dealership here in town, I should stop in see if they have my cut of the revenues.

Stage one starts tomorrow, with a 90 mile road race. Remembering last year it should all go down after the climb at mile 60 with some wicked crosswinds. I'll let you know tomorrow how it all goes.

Oregon

Another travel day and another day where I thought things couldn't get any worse.

First off sitting in the airport I checked out a passenger's luggage, just a couple of mini cars heading to Munich.
My flight was an hour late, but that was okay cause the security check at DIA was the longest I have ever seen it. Made it to Portland late and just wanted to get on the road for Bend, but I guess with a certain company to be un-named doesn't understand what a reservation means. I try to pick up my car but they don't have any, and I mean any. There is a line of people waiting for cars to be returned then turned around and sent right back out. I sat in front of this un-named company for an hour and a half before finally getting a vehicle, but it was a little bigger than the one I originally reserved. So my under 25 years old extra charge per day was more, like $40 a day more. So I argued with them but they said I could wait for what I originally wanted, could be hours or not today at all, so I took it. They should be expecting a letter from me when I get back.

Once that was all done I started the 3 hr drive to Bend. It is an awesome drive right past Mt. Hood.

So I am finally in Bend, OR and the bikes are unpacked. I am exhausted and ready for some rest before it all starts to go down Wednesday. More tomorrow, sleep time now.

Happy 4th

The bad thing is I woke up this morning watched some news and headed out on my ride and totally forgot it was the 4th until I turned right into a parade.
But no day off today for me. It was a repeat day up Flagstaff and on the last time up I just wanted to get off the bike and lay down, but I guess thats the pain of repeats. No pain, no gain, I hope this is true.

Nothing really happening on my end for celebrating today. Just resting up from today before I have another day of intensity tomorrow.

Check out Blake's page and be on the look out around Boulder, Ebay, or wherever for his bikes, someone stole them right out of his house. Some people just suck who do crap like this.

Update

Time flies when you're having fun. I didn't even realize how long it had been since I last updated.

Well last week was just training as usual, well except for having to deal with the high 90's and some triple digit days. This last weekend Sheila came up from the great state of TX for a visit.

We hit up Rocky Mountain National park.

I've been there about four times this year and finally got a year pass this time. Its $20 each entry and only $35 for a year pass, I guess I'm not the smartest sometimes.

Next was Pearl St. for some dinner and the local street performers. This guy is down there all the time and we tried to sneak away for our dinner reservations but he hounded us all the way down the block for leaving. They get pushy when you don't watch them, but more importantly when you don't pay them.

The visit was way too short but it was great.

Now I am just back to the training all the way up to Cascade. Its been hard the last two days have been 4+ hours of climbing and the heat hasn't made it very pleasurable, but what can you do.

Just another day

Its a good thing that today was just a two hour ride of choice, because due to the weather, my ride of choice was only an hour.
It never actually rained this morning, just looked like it was going to at any minute, but thats okay since I had to drive my car to Denver to the dealership and leave it to be worked on. The engine light came on and it was time for a scheduled check up anyway. I cleaned the apt the rest of the afternoon and now its beginning to rain. Hope tomorrow is okay for the TT.

Dead Dog

My first time to Dead Dog went okay, not spectacular but okay. My biggest mistake was not knowing the course and attacking thinking that the corner was the top, but that was far from it.

The road race was on Saturday and consisted of 90 miles of going up and over, then turning around and coming back up and over. You know you are climbing high when you look around and say "Hey, where did all the trees go, why is there snow everywhere?".
Sunday consisted of a hour crit in which I went all out in every attempt to be in the break. I planted myself in multiple early breaks that all got caught then in typical fashion I missed the move that stuck. I attempted a couple of times to bridge but the 30 second gap was too much for me to close on my own. Then round two on Sunday was a 10 mile TT which was very uneventful as I still search for that perfect TT position but I still turned in a very respectable time.

One way to look at it is that I walked away with some cash, enough to pay for gas, in my car, that's a lot.

Today I took it easy getting ready for another week and a half of intense training before heading off to Cascade.

Laramie, WY

Well today I made the drive up to Laramie, Wy for the Dead Dog race. Its a very boring drive, but once you cross the CO/WY line you hit the fireworks mega store. I am going to have to make a stop there on the way back to pick up some supplies.
This storm had me marked all the way from Boulder, and finally caught me in between Cheyenne and Laramie. It rained so hard pools of water collected on the interstate and all the cars had to resort to driving under 20 to keep from fishtailing.

Now I'm just hanging out in the hotel room till packet pick up then grab some dinner. The hotel isn't bad, they upgraded me to a king suite for no extra charge, which they should since they kill you on the price to begin with.

Just A Little Bored Tonight

I figured I would make the most I could out of my time and just whipped out my first batch of homemade protein bars. Notice the missing one, I have tried them, and so far I am still alive. Really they are pretty good.

Climin

Why do I love the Boulder area so much? Cause where else can you do a 5hr death march and only be an hour away from home. I started out with a ride up to the top of Super Flag, followed by 4 mile, Poorman, and finished with Sunshine to Gold Hill. It's fun going up the steep stuff when you feel great and the pavement just rolles by underneath you.


Super Flag
Sunshine
Tomorrow is an easy day then its time to see if I can one up my TT time from last week in the Boulder TT series.

Dirt

Well last night I did the weekly Boulder TT, I knew it wasn't going to be my best performance by far, but it when coming off a long rest period, you have to start somewhere.

Today was a great day, a couple of hours of easy recovery after yesterdays torture. There is nothing to me like a dirt road and being by yourself, its the best riding you can ever find.
The training has definitely picked back up and up on the block next is Dead Dog up in WY next weekend then back to the NRC.

Finally, A Few Pics

Well now that my parents are gone its back to normal, I do miss my dad's antics thought. Here he is trying on the modern thick clear framed reading glasses, he actually doesn't look bad in them.

Thankfully today was a testing day down at Carter's so I didn't have to ride into the mountains and into the black storms of death that were hovering just less than a thousand feet off the ground.
My results so that I am finally rested and am ready to hit the ground running again. Training is picking back up and so is the racing, well not this weekend, but the next I'm sure of it. I've gotta run to Boulder and Excel Sports this afternoon for my monthly replacement of lost tools that some how grow legs and walk away. I think I am on my 5th valve extender for a disc wheel this year.

Just curious who out there might have a mountain bike for sale and might be interested in selling it to a starving, struggling cyclist (I guess which is every cyclist) who is trying to make a comeback on the mtb scene. Post it in the comments.

For Blake

Well since it is "tomorrow" now and Blake has started to complain about nothing new to read, I guess I will post something.

My parents headed back down to Texas today and while it was good to see them again, a week of 24/7 time with them was about all I could handle. Tomorrow I head down to Carter's to see how the old power is holding up since I haven't raced in a couple of weeks now. I plan on taking this weekend off of racing again but picking it back up for Dead Dog, then Cascade and Toona.

These last few weeks I've really started to miss mountain bike racing. I always kind of missed it, but right now I really wish I hadn't sold the Scalpel. So I guess I am kind of throwing my name back out there right now to see whats there, I am going to talk to Carter more about it tomorrow but I think I might start submitting some resumes to see what might happen. I guess this has all come up since the road racing hasn't treated me so well this last month. Its not skill or power, its just bad luck thats been keeping me from getting anywhere. And with this year being my last year in trying to make it somewhere, I might as well see if my first true love is really where I should be.

Time for dinner and a nice quiet night of just me, the couch, and the TV.

Hi

I'm back. Just sitting here multitasking watching the basketball finals game and updating. The excuse for me not keeping up with the updates is that my parents have been in town for a week now but are heading out tomorrow. So to catch everyone up, I've been staying up on the training but have a knee thing going on that is hurting me pretty bad, I am going to have Carter take a look at me on Tuesday and see what is going on.

Other than that just very tired from running my parents around to see and do all of the Colorado tourist stuff. So this isn't a very good blog post since I am pretty distracted so I'll try and do a better job tomorrow.

My Thoughts

It feels only right that the weather outside is rather gloomy and rainy most of the days. Life has been tossing me wild pitches over the last month, both in my personal and professional life. I've already completely struck out in one and feels like I am on my way in the other.

People are who they are, you can't ask them to change just as much they shouldn't ask you to change. Why they think its not a two way street when it comes to things like this, I don't know.

Some time it feels that it doesn't matter what you want in life, there are too many outside factors that will keep you from them. Whether its someone else, the big guy upstairs, or the cosmos just has aliened against you, you can try all you want. That is what makes most people feel satisfied, they feel that at least they tried in life and say that fate has taken them where they were meant to be. I say, F that. Its your life. You only get one, so you better fight like hell against whatever it is cause its only going to happen and be yours if you want it bad enough and fight for it hard enough. I guess its time to just sit back, down another one, and from time to time, pour one out for your homies who do think they have no control over their lives and just say "if it was meant to be, it will be".

Rain

Today I figured I would start getting back into the training mode. The day started out looking great, but then the blackest clouds I've seen in a while popped up over the mountains. Having no rain gear with me I high tailed it back to the apt just in time and the sky opened up and poured.
And its been like that the rest of the day. I guess I just have to wait another day to start picking the intensity back up.

No Hood for Me

My health has been yo-yoing a lot this last week, but I think I am finally on the mend. Unfortunately I had to cancel going to Mt. Hood. It was just going to be too much. Bisbee, Gila, Tri-Peaks have all taken a toll on me and being sick two weeks out of May puts me in the position where I just need to get myself back to square one and get going again fully rested and in good health.

My parents are in town next week, so it looks like I won't be getting any races done in the next few weeks, but I can finally get some nice weather training here in Colorado. Plus it feels good to just be home and finally sleep in my own bed again.

Sick

I hate being sick.



Thats all I really have to say.

Phone Problems

It seems that my phone decided to stop working last night, so for those of you trying to get ahold of me, just message me here. T-Mobile is sending me a new one but it won't be here till Thursday. It sucks not having a phone.

Little Rock Airport

I hate sitting and waiting at the airport. I only got here slightly early (1 hr till boarding) and I tried to just read, but I always seem to get sucked into paying 8 bucks for the internet to look at the same sites I just looked at this morning. I guess I'll go get a cookie at Starbucks.

Tri-Peaks Stage 5

Last night our local Italian place was pretty busy so we had to wait around outside for a table. Blake demonstrates how tired we are by finding a prime piece of real estate to sit. All we need to do now is give him a sign and we can start making some money. After getting back to the hotel after the stages we normally took ice baths to try and keep the legs going. I had a book with me to read and keep my mind off the pain of the ice, but Blake had to use the reading material provided by the hotel.
Today's stage was fast, yet again. 72 miles, a few intermediate climbs then the final killer up Nebo of 3.5 miles of 18%. I seemed to finally get my legs back and was feeling good again and thought I would toss myself into the contention for the stage, but that didn't happen. With about 10 miles before the final climb a bad crash took about half the field down. Some idiot didn't keep it on the road and when he tried to save it he began to take down everyone around him and everyone else got caught behind the carnage. I joined a small group and was able to chase back on after a few miles, but it took the last bit of energy I was saving for the climb. I still finished around 15th or so, but not as well as I felt I could have before the crash. Unfortunately Blake actually went down in the carnage and came out of it with some war wounds and lost some time off the back.

I am just about all packed, going to try and get a spin in the morning, then finish packing and catch my flight back home at 2. It is definitely time to get out of here.

Tri-Peaks Stage 3 & 4

To start the day off there was an hour crit, with nine 90 degree corners per lap. There was about 120 riders starting and the pace was ripping around 30mph and started shattering people right off the bat. Blake and I both lasted right up to the end. The legs were a bit on the toasty side, and with five hours till the TT we just layed around the hotel room on the verge of passing out.

We made it to the TT and the legs are just carrying a little too much debt with them from the first days ordeals and I may have put out one of the worst TTs I've done in a long time. It was still respectable for about mid feild, but about a minute off of first. The course was 5.5 miles and I turned in a 11:40.

Tomorrow is a 70 mile RR with a few intermediate climbs and one final 3.5 mile 18% killer to the finish. I can't wait till this is over and in the bag, I just want to put this one behind me and start recovering and getting ready for a much better next stage race.

Tri-Peaks Stage 2

A pic from yesterday at the top of Mt. Magazine.
A look into the future, at least when I see this on Sunday afternoon I will have just completed that final climb to the finish.

Today was long and fast. It was a 105 mile RR with constant climbing (close to 11,000 ft) and fast descents. The final decent was just 5 miles from the finish and was wicked steep and technical, and low and behold, I had another bike problem; i.e. little to no brakes. So I sat it up and dropped off the back so I could get down safely, but thankfully didn't loose anytime.

Right now I am mostly just focusing on the TT tomorrow afternoon after the crit. Then will start taking it easy to hopefully change my luck to turn around before Mt. Hood.

Tomorrow

Well, I get to start tomorrow.

Tri-Peaks Stage 1

Well I think I have run out of good karma/luck. I was looking forward to a good race today, until mile one where my front tire decided to flat. Not good since the first 10 miles were steep downhill where the pack drilled it. I tried to chase on after the decent but I again had another problem. When I replaced my rear derailleur and chain yesterday they didn't like the old cassette, so there decided not to work together and I couldn't get more than three pedal strokes out before it began to ghost shift. So that took two more pit stops and more time lost off the back of the group. I got together with another unlucky racer off the back and tried to work and get back on but I left him after a few miles when I kept dropping him. So today was a solo road race, not fun, and not good since I officially didn't make the time cut on the first day. I am going to talk to the officials in the morning and see if I can start tomorrow, but as it stands today, I am out of the race. Insert expletives here.

AR

This last weekend was pretty crazy going to graduation parties, birthday parties, Mother's Day stuff, and catching up with Justin from high school who was in town.

The parties were pretty fun, especially when you have a dog running around drinking beer from anyone who sets their cup down for a second. I think he downed about 4 cup in about an hour or so. Poor dog is going to have a hang over in the morning.
Today was a travel day for me. Made it from Denver to Russellville, AR via Little Rock. The drive from Little Rock to Russellville was crazy. There was a bad storm where the rain made it hard to see just a few feet in front of you, but it has finally stopped raining so thats good.

When I got here I began the unpacking to find that my road bike got damaged in the transit. The rear derailleur is trashed and no one here in Russellville has a spare so tomorrow I have to drive back to Little Rock in search of one, then make it back to ride and prep for Tri-Peaks to start on Thursday. The airlines have been making me pretty mad lately. They tore up the bike carrier that I am just borrowing, then go and break my bike. Tell me again, what am I paying the extra money for when I take a bike? Apparently not for them to be careful with it.

Summer Is Here

It was still winter two weeks ago when I left. Today, its full on summer.

Home

I feels good to be home.

All I've been doing this last week is short easy rides and preping everything for the next trip. The weather has been awesome here, hitting the 80's and everything is finally green again and the ground isn't white.

Not much else to report.

Tour of the Gila Stage 5

Well yesterday was another disappointment. I went with a break about mile 10 and used a lot of matches to get away and try and stay way on some big rollers. It was a 105 mile RR with 10,000 ft of climbing. I was feeling the past two days of bridging and the early attempt to break that when we hit the final 15 mile climb to the finish I just didn't have it. I dropped a few more GC spots but that okay. I got some good moves in and got stronger. Now I just need to recover, mostly health and finish kicking this cold, and get ready for Tri Peaks. So I am going to lay around for a bit more, I'm pretty exhausted since I didn't get home til 2am, but I got to be in my own bed, thats all that matters.

Tour of the Gila Stage 4

The last few days I really haven't been playing it very conservative by sitting in and trying to maintain my GC, but rather racing trying to find a stage W.

Today was a 30 lap crit (about 35 miles), and once again a small group got off the front. I waited till around 13 laps to go and launched on the climb putting a huge gap between me and the feild very quickly. After three laps chasing solo I got within 5 seconds of the break which had been 50 seconds up on the pack. But once again the wind was not a racers friend today (metal barriers were getting blown into the course), and the break looked back, saw me, and railed it into the headwind leaving me out on my own. So I got caught by the pack, sat in till the end cause I had nothing left after my attept to go for it.

Tomorrow is the epic day. Start at 8 am, race 105 miles with close to 10,000 ft of climbing. Then after the race, jump in the car and drive to Tucson to catch a 7:30 flight back Home. I'll be back home tomorrow night!!

Tour of the Gila Stage 3

Today was a 80 mile, three category 3 cimb loop, and once again 5 guys rolled off the front at mile 7. The pace was drilled up the first two back to back climbs the first 20 miles. At the base of the back side downhill the group off the front had 6 minutes, and deciding I didn't have much to loose I attacked and brought one guy with me. Over the next 30 miles up and over the divide we drilled it and just made contact with the break when we turned into the last 15 miles of the race and into a very big head wind, which put us right off the back of the break. The legs were totally fried getting up to the break that once there we couldn't stay. So with 6 minutes up on the chase I put my head down and tried to solo it in to the finish. That idea didn't hold up since the head wind did me in and I was caught with 3 miles to go. I was able to grab the group as it came by and I sat in to the finish.

I tried, but it didn't work. Oh well, never know unless you try. I'm still feeling sick, but I get to sleep in a little in the morning and hope that that will get me over this crap.

Tour of the Gila Stage 1 & 2

Well things aren't going as planned.

First off, I feel like crap. I'm not talking about my form, but I've got some sinus and cough stuff going on. Not good.

I got 17th in the TT on Stage 1. The wind was horrible for us in the afternoon so not my best time and the result shows it.

Today was a 100 mile RR and I finished in the top 20 but with a steep hard climb to the finish not feeling good puts a big anchor on the bike and I lost some time but moved up to 15th overall.

The crappy thing is I know if I felt well the story would be a little different. However, there is nothing you can do about it.

So, not being able to take medicine with the threat of testing I am going to OD on vitamins and hit the sack. Not sure how much longer I will last, but I am going to give it my all everday till I can't.

Silver City, NM

The last few days have taken me from one dry hot state to another.

So long from Bisbee, AZ
Driving along the Mexico border, didn't see anyone needing a lift.

Hello Silver City, NM. Damn not this place again.

I did a little spin this morning, but not feeling that great. The legs are a little tired but still have some time to recover before tomorrow afternoon's TT. The hotel I am staying in hasn't been helping my health. I got put in a smoking room since thats all they had left (even though I booked a non smoking), and the people next door have been smoking non stop making the entire place hazy. So needless to say that my throat isn't feeling very good right now. Hopefully it will clear up before tomorrow. It seems once I get into longer stage races my health sometimes hits the bottom of the barrel.

So now I sit in the only place to hang out in this town, the local coffee shop.