That's just tacky

Great ride by Luis Leon Sanchez today.  Very smart to not try and fight Sagan at the finish line.  Obnoxiously someone put tacks all over the road and caused over 40 flat tires including three for cadel Evans and one for Maillot jaune Bradley Wiggins.  That's total b.s. and could have caused someone to be killed (not being sarcastic).  Try descending the Pyrenees with a flat tire.  Much respect to Wiggins for slowing the race to wait for cadel.  Made me proud to be a part a sport that has so much respect for each other and only wants to win in a sporting manner

fine whine in france

In the sprint for yesterday's stage finish (stage 5) tyler farrar was caught up in ANOTHER crash. As my regular readers will know I am NOT Tyler's biggest fan. In fact I believe in previous blogs I've reffered to him as the pelotens biggest whiner. anyways, when a door closed on farrar he resorted to trying to shove himself into argos-shimanos line. After bumping shoulders with one of their racers he had a bit of a tumble, nearly taking out greipel and putting sagan on the ground. So how does whiner mc-whinerson confirm what a baby he is. he storms the argos-shimmano bus after the race! try's barging in to chew out the racer that HE bumped into! What a tool. There's two positives to take out of this. 1.) we can stop wondering if maybe we should like tyler just because he is the only american sprinter. It is now confirmed he is a mess. 2.) check out greipel's amazing handling skills as he unclips and plants his foot on farrars stomach, gets around, finds his team, and wins the stage.

The manager of Garmin-Sharp (tyler farrar's team) said that tyler would not be sprinting anymore this week and probably not next week either so that he can "cool down and recover". My guess.......he's in trouble

*ive gotta be honest i expected sagan to do a bunnyhop 360 over farrar's bike but i guess he forgot all his old bmx skills

I pick my team like I pick my nose. (i forgot to post this on the 30th....so here it is a lil late)

the prologue starts tommorow and i am anxiously awaitng (even though i wont be able to watch it till sunday) This will be an extremely short Individual time trial in Liege.(6.4 kilometers) Basically a battle between tony martin and fabian cancellara with (i assume --->) little effect on the overall lead. On a fantasy team side the stage winner will also pull on the yellow jersey racking up some serious early points if you have them on your team. so here's my "fantasy team" for the 2012 running of Le Tour De France.
1.Cadel Evans
2.Peter Sagan
3.Frank Shleck
4.Tejay Van Garderen
5.Mark Cavendish
6.David Zabriske
7.Marcus Burghardt
8.Peter Velits
9.Matty Goss

1.) My money is on evans or wiggins to be on the top of the podium come chams elysse so it was tough on choosing which to "sign". Both have shown they are strong and ready to rumble. But, I truly believe that in our generation of racing one man, no matter how great, can win the tour de france. It takes a dedicated, synchronized, experienced team. For that reason cadel evan's Team BMC tipped the scale for me. With riders like van garderen, gilbert, and most importantly hincapie, this team know how to win and knows how to protect their rider. we saw that last year when hincapie escorted cadel through some of the worst crashes in TDF history like he was secret service protecting his president.

2.) Sagan I believe is a gamble. Showing near impeccable form in california i have to assume he will make me some points in stage wins and green jersey pursuit.

3.) the number 3 category is for climbers. i went with frank shleck. That again was a really tough call for me and i hope he doesnt dissapoint. he's been talking about how he's not in good form after tour de suisse and how he doesnt want the team leaders position. but this guy has been in the top 10 in paris 5 times and even took up the bottom step of the podium last year. If he doesnt get me some stage wins or gc points ill be surprised and heart broken, especially since he doesn't have to watch after his brother this year.

4 and 7.) Tejay and Marcus are both strong riders and i would hope tejay goes for a mt. stage win but really they were in my "price range" and i hoped to get some "assist" points when their boss gets in yellow. It would be great if tejay plants himself in top ten gc while protecting kangaroo man.

5.) mark cavendish *sigh* this was my most stressed about decision.....a good sprinter can make you ALOT of points and mark has helped me to victory in both tdf and giro d'italia. HOWEVER! with him focused on the olympics, leaner then ever, not having his old lead out train, and being on a team commited to get wiggins in the maillot jaune you cant assume he will be swimming in the stage wins and points jersey like before :'( But, i had to go with my gut and sign him. he's just been to successful in the past and has SUCH a drive to win that i have to hope he will get me a few stages with bernie. But my real nervousness is that he cost ALOT and i could have used those points to purchase a better time trialist, another sprinter, or even have cadel and wiggins. Make me rich cavendish.

6.) with this year being heavy in time trials i had to ensure i had a time trialist on the team......sadly i could not afford fabian or tony martin. but, zabriske is a good time trialist who did some impressive work at the ToC. Fingers crossed.

7.)see #4

8.) gotta be honest i dont expect alot from velits. just he was what i could afford. he's was top 20 last year so i hope he can better that this year.

9.)matthew goss. was a key member in cav's htc leadout and is an impressive sprinter himself. with orica greenedge having little hope for gc I am hoping they will commit to chasing the green jersey. But, im nervous. matt too has his eyes set on the olympics and has hinted he wont even make it to paris. should i have gone with griepel? gilbert? farrar? ech even writing this makes me want to go back through and change my team.

Mad props to www.velogames.com

Is it July yet

Le Tour De France is just around the corner and i couldn't be any more excited. This is going to be an interesting year. Andy Shleck who was gonna compete for his 400th (<--exageration) consecutive 2nd place is out of the race due to an injury. Alberto Contador who has won twice, until having his most recent stripped due to doping, is still on suspension. Also Frank Shleck is saying he is still smoked after the tour de suisse and doesn't feel he will be able to perform for tdf. Horner, who won last years tour of california and went into tdf confident, crashed out in the early stages. He has battled other injuries this year so the road will decide if he has the legs to climb. Then there are the London Olympics that start one week after the peloten reaches champs elysee. Many of the riders focus is split and may not give it their all in the tour de france. One of those riders is mark cavendish, who said his fitness is more prepared for the track then the road and he will not be beating his previous records in stage wins. This has made a lot of people concernd, myself included, of whether the tdf will be "weak" or "boring". As I was sitting and contemplating who to choose for my "fantasy team" for velogames.com (yes im that lame) i finally threw those concerns aside. This is the Tour de france!!!! People don't take it easy and focus on conserving. No, people ride themselves sick. People peel their torn, bloody bodies out of barbed wire and ride another 60 miles. Men who are no-names put on a jersey and suddenly elevate themselves to the level of the "superteams". This is the tour de france and though these guys may be playing possum I am confident that when tires meet tarmac they won't be able to contain themselves and will tear into every gap they think they can gain. no I'm fully confident that this will be an exciting race.

as for my picks......well ill write that up today but probably wont post it up until sunday night when i get back from out of town......I dont want anyone changing their fantasy teams you know ;-)

s'cuse me officer......we're here for the bike race.

Its been a tough run of races these past 3 weeks........4 races in 16 days has worn me down a little more then i expected. Next time i attempt something like this I want to focus more on proper recovery and see how it makes a difference. It also has been tough because ive been skipping out of challenging weekday group rides in order to conserve energy for the weekends. A result of missing all the training is ive really fell off form. I need to find a race about a 6 weeks out and turn my focus towards that.
SATURDAY

started out really exciting. laura and i met the smith's and rios' at bagels and blenders for breakfast prior to our race in castaic. we all took one car up the grapevine. of course we got lost even though we had 3 smartphones on the task and one person who works in the area. we ended up getting there with plenty of time though so it was more fun then stressful. The race was clearly a well put together event and competition was going to be stiff. My legs had been sore all week but after a short warm-up they were feeling loose and ready. when the race before ours finished we took the field and were told by the referees to take one practice lap of the .75mi course. the courses had a bit of a hill on the back side and a long downhill straight coming into the finish line. The corners were aggressive and i knew they would be my biggest challenge. I have long known i am not good at cornering and though i feel ive improved i am still not up to par with my peers. i lose a lot of speed in the corners and as a result have to do sprints after each one to catch the group. When the referee blew the whistle and we started we flew off the line. i was blown away at the pace in those first few laps and it never seemed to let up. as i had expected....the corners were killing me, but, i could tell from the start that my body was not ready for this race. Maybe it was the races the prior to this weekend, maybe it was my lack of hard training on the weekdays, or maybe i was just mentally not focused. Either way i did not feel like myself. I found myself in the back of the pack slinky'ing back and forth as the group stretched out around the corners. the slinky effect was breaking me apart more...so on the downhill portion i made a hard effort to try and get to the front third of the field. i got their but only lasted maybe two laps (damn corners). once in the back this time i was blown to pieces from my previous effort. i would get strung out on the back then come back to the group whenever we passed the start/finish line. this lasted about three more laps until *POP* my race was done. i was off the back suckin wind. I still rode hard and pushed my pace as hard as i could in those final 4 laps. i attacked the hill then recovered on the downhill. After finishing i was pretty dissapointed but proud of my teammates who stayed in the pack and had strong finishes. I have finished in some pretty bad positions in races before (one time 47 out of 50) but i have always been happy at the end and felt i did my best or made the most of it. not the case last saturday. I felt someone else had been out there racing. I felt defeated. honestly i was confused...like "what the hell just happened". When i got back to the car i realized i had a flat tire. did it happen on the walk back to the car or during the race? is that why i felt dead? i doubt it..i'm pretty sure i ran over something on the way back to the car.

SUNDAY


Sunday was the time trial....it's been a long time since i felt i raced a time trial the right way. you can't go out and ride time trials as hard as you can and expect to do your best. you have to reach a different level. you have to shut off all thoughts and all emotions and just become two well shaven pistons firing away. This actually takes a ton of focus to shut yourself out of yourself per say. When you do it right at the end you feel emotionally exhausted and two heart beats away from a heart attack. I was determined this sunday to reach this. My legs were dead from saturday and i was in no mood to race which was a perfect reason to ignore my weakness and emotions and become a thoughtless machine. I really feel i achieved that this week. Thanks to my decreased fitness and unrecovered body my time was not as good as it has been...but...i feel i left 100% (ok 99.5% cuz i didnt pass out) out there on the road. So I'm excited about that.

I'm also excited about being done with racing for a few weeks. I need to get some good hard training hours in with no fear of being gassed for any upcoming events.

Back on the blog

WHOA! it's been awhile since i posted. What a crazy/awesome season it has been. My last time posting i had just done the first mash'n'thrash. I ended up going back there 2 more weeks and got destroyed in both of them. the last week though i stayed with the group a lot longer then usual and was genuinely happy with my performance and improvements. I am excited for this winter when those races start back up to see how i have improved in my first true race season. My first road race of the year (and my highest ranking so far) was the lost hills road race. this race was a true challenge. although the course was flat as a pancake with a slight up hill finish....there was horrible winds and a 2mile dirt road section that made a good portion of the field DNF (did not finish). the winds were so strong the entire peloten was leaning hard to the side just to stay upright, and, in all of the pictures you can see the skin of everyones faces being blown to the side. a break happened with about 6 of us and after some guys just popped and some got unlucky in the dirt section it ended up being 2 of us going into the last lap. The other rider out sprinted me at the finish and took the win. I learned a lot that day about finishing that has benefited me in just about every race since then. Probably the most exciting race so far was the Bakersfield downtown criterium where my teammate zane took the win and good friend and training partner ryan got third (i took 8th or 9th i forget). Again i learned something new in that race.....after a lead out for a teammate dont just drop off and cheer him on, but, instead get out of the way and keep sprinting you never know what you might find you have left and you can still try to get a higher position for upgrade points and shwag.

The last couple weeks have been intense. Two weekends ago i had district championship which is a very challenging course and pace. Last weekend was camarillo duathlon which i did as a team relay with the gieses. Then this weekend is the jailhouse criterium in castaic on saturday then the tgr time trial on sunday. I'm looking forward to having all these races behind me and getting back to training and enjoying group rides. I'm not sure what is left on my calendar for this year especially with harvest coming in about 2months.

been mashed and thrashed.

Last night I did a race called the Mash'n'thrash. This race takes place in the Six Flags Magic Mt. parking lot in valencia, ca. it is a grand prix style race and is held at night under the parking lot lights. My race started at 7:45 P.M.

My weekdays typically start at 3:45 A.M. with me putting my cell phone in a figure four chokehold trying to get the alarm to stop. I usually have my lunch made, dressed, and out the door by 4:15 A.M. on my way to work. The average work day for me is 13 hours of me lugging around my 500 LB (possible exageration) steel toed boots, but, yesterday i was able to go home in 11 hours in order to make it to the race in time. Definetly not ideal pre-race routine. I rushed home to pick up Laura and Ryan and load Ryan and my bikes on the car. The drive to Magic Mt seemed to take forever and we were all questioning what on earth we were thinking after realizing we wouldnt get home till just after 11 p.m. We arrived at 7 and were all ready to turn in for the night so we thought it might be smart to grab some caffeine and snacks. Once we finished registering ryan and i pulled out our(his) trainers to start warming up while laura headed off for her 5K running race. it was nice to have his extra trainer and truly be warmed up before rolling...i wish i had one for time trials.

Once on the line the regular small talk ensued between racers until the referee did his talk. Next thing we know the whistle is blown and we are off. There was quick acceleration from the pack as everyone took off. 2 tight 90 degree turns and one u-turn in the first 45 seconds made it very difficult to keep everything together. in the first 2 laps i was like a slinky off the back as i learned the turn heavy course. i believe it was about halfway through the third lap that the group truly split but it may have been sooner. I quickly found my self out of the lead group and into the chase. we started off with i think 7 riders that stayed together for the next 4 (or so) laps then finally our group of seven turned into a group of three with one floater. it was me and two other guys(who were there together). We had one other racer who would sprint up, get caught, get dropped, then sprint up again. At one point i felt we were going to catch the leaders (about 12 guys maybe) but in the final laps they made a SERIOUS gap between us. with 2 laps to go floater guy (whom i named tinker bell ) made a big move on a slight downhill and made a pretty serious gap on us. The three of us put in a lot of shared effort to catch him but i timed my effort in a bad way. When i came to the front about half way into the last lap i felt i could close the gap between tinkerbell and i. with a hard(too hard) sprint i surged up and got on his wheel basically launching the other two around him (boooooo me). tinkerbell then surged and got on their wheel. I didnt have it in me to do a double sprint and tried to slightly up my pace in order to gain ground on them. After one turn they took a little too slow i thought i would be able to close on them but i was out of gas. two turns later i watched from a hundred feet back as 2 of them sprinted it out (for like 15th place probably but thats not the point.)

At the end of the day i have to say, I am in love with this event. It is very challenging course due to the cornering. It is very challenging pace due to the skill level of the racers present and i feel it will be an event i can continue to improve at and have a distinct measure of that improvement. I look forward to that performance building and challenges.

nothin big just checkin in.

my bloggin is slippin' like slicks in the rain! pretty quiet race month. Qatar and Omman are over. Of course qatars been over for like a month and it is just airing on t.v. today! american television get your priorities straight. ive seen the same kardashian episode re-run advertised for the last 6 months yet i cant get two hours of a current professional race! whatever.

so all my race plans have been thwarted by work. boooo for making a living. only real ones that got changed were poor college kids road race and the mash series at six flags (which i hope to do in two days) again the only race i got in this month was the tgr time trial. i feel so lucky to have a venue like this in town so that i can at least be guaranteed one race a month. it went pretty well i suppose. i really need to make some improvements though. hopefully next month we will see some major changes. I am loving my aero jacket wheel covers. I am very impressed with the quality for the price. Well done wheelbuilder.com!

Yesterday i got to do the first leg of the Wall to Wall Cross Crountry Bicycle Ride with the Jeremy Staat foundation. Inspiring veterans not settling on their service and saying that was enough but instead finding more and more ways to serve. check them out at www.jeremystaatfoundation.org and www.walltowallbicyleride.com.

lastly i did a tubeless wheel conversion on my road bike wheels. hopefully the advantages are worth the cost. They promise nearly zero flats unless a glass cut and blah blah blah less rolling resistance. i just wish i could get it done on my aero wheels but apparently it is too hard to get a seal on the carbon fiber.

hopefully later this week i can give you a ride report on The Mash Series.

More news then this blogger can handle.

Oh me! oh my! So much news from the peloten where on earth do i begin!!!
DOPING I
I guess with doping so i can get it out of the way. I hate this topic and it pains me to even bring any attention to the subject. U.S. attorneys office has dropped all charges against lance armstrong claiming that he doped during his reign of the tour de france. why is the U.S attorneys office involved you ask? Because Lance's team was sponosred by the u.s. postal service he was technically paid by tax payers dollars. Therefore, IF he was doping he was using government money to do so. my guess is we will never know the truth about whether or not mellow johnny ever cheated or not. on one hand he is the worlds most tested, investigated, and watched athlete of all time with zero failed tests. On the other hand he was the best when all the rest of the best were doping. thats tough math. Either way i took this as good news and hope that the USADA's investigation shows the same results

DOPING II - two paragraphs about it!?!? :'(
ablerto contador (lovingly know as albeefo clenbutador) has been found guilty as charged for use of the performance enhancing drug clenbeutoral during his 2010 tour de france victory (the one where he beat lance armstrong). This has been a messy situation from the get go. i wont give the full history but to sum it up this investigation has been going on for a year and a half now. the original traces found were too small to warrant a guilty verdict, and, albeefo claimed that it must have been a steroid used on the cows which he later ate during the tour de france. the back and forth has ensued and the verdict was returned guilty punishable by a two year ban from proffessional cycling effective july of 2010 (but put into effect this month so really he is only losing 6 months off the bike) but, he has lost his tour de france 2010 victory and his 2011 Giro d'Italia victory as well as numerous other podium finshes. I dont like the guy but if he truly was innocent this must be heartbreaking. but also heartbreaking for andy shleck who is now the official winner in the 2010 tdf. he has publicaly said if he wins this year he will consider it his first win as he intends to win in a sporting manner. (tip of the helmet to you grimplette for your attitude) albeefo we will see you in august probably at the vueleta.

http://cyclismas.com/2012/02/farrar-blasts-garmin-barracuda-signings-and-team-tactics/

now this is a story (read the link above) i love.......something sick about me loves drama and tragedies such as this. now i already think that farrar is the peoltens biggest whiner and excuse maker. and ive really tried to like him especially since he is the only american sprinter. But c'mon girl! how can i deal with you after this. It will be interesting to see how team cuda' gets their act together if they do. But, in the meantime, im going to sit back and hope for more of these public displays of crumbling. oh ya and farrar,good luck in your next lead out i wont be surprised if your teammates give you a brake check 100 ft from the line. As J-Clar said last night farrars good but not good enough to back up these kind of statements. I will admit he is good, AND, hes never had a leadout out train the quality of Cav's, but plenty of guys weasel their way into superior teams trains and ride the highspeed rail to victory. But we shouldnt be surprised, right loyal readers. I did say in my 2012 team breakdown that garmin is too diverse and will have to figure out a way to work as a team in order to get anything done. However, i didnt echo farrar's concerns when i said they were a team of power names. We'll have to wait and see if he's right about who they signed come classics season.

In closing i truly believe that our sport has cleaned up it's act in huge leaps and bounds in the last 5 years. I look forward to a much cleaner and proud future for the pro ranks. It is nice to have these investigations finished and out of the way before going into classics season so we can focus on what matters............man and machine pouring it all out on the tarmac and cobbles just for the taste of victory.

I wish i had time to keep writing and include jan's "ceremonial" suspension cav gettting his first win in world championship jersey and news from qatar but as i said right now there's a TON of news from the peoloten

Headwinds and German Kicks

January 16th was a big day on the calendar for me. Not only was it my first race of 2012, but, it was the first day of the proffesional cycling season. For myself I kicked off 2012 with a time trial, put on by Team Go Ride, at the Bena rd TT course. The pros fan lined course was quite a bit different. They lined up for a criterium in adelaide, australia for a pre race of the Santos Tour Down Under.(well get to aus. in a little bit)

Alright so although work hasn't slowed down terribly much i still consider my excuse filled "off season" over and racing season underway. 2012 started out with the time trial and i went there expecting to be 3 miles into it and finding myself on the side of the road heaving. I was pleasently surprised. When i parked and registered i returned to my car to begin my gear prep and "traditions" that help calm me and prepare me for the 12.4 miles of suffering ahead. The gentleman parked next to me (who ended up taking second place 2:15 ahead of me) had just finished driving the course to check wind directions throughout and said it was 100% head wind going out and 100% tail wind coming back. He then proceeded to give me some much appreciated coaching. He said in time trials you have two places you can make time on your competitors, hills and headwinds. He said this will not be a 12.4 mile race but more a 6.2 mile race. The true race was to the turn around point because with the tail wind the time difference on the way back wouldnt be that extreme. He said go as hard as you can to the turn around point then allow the wind to aid you in recovery as you make your way home. During my warm up i realized just how bad the head wind was going to be.

i pulled into my spot on the line up and as usual i looked down and realized i was in a horrible gear to be starting in. I turned out of line and cruised back up the street got my gears changed and fell back in line. I was surronded by some of the funniest guys in bakersfield cycling (mainly rod nance) and so the 5 mins before the start was all fun and jokes which always helps calm me.
My mood does a complete 180 whenever it is my turn in the chute. usually at about 30 seconds to go i allow the bike holder to grab me as i clip in. The next 30 seconds are filled with emotion (the last emotion i allow until i cross the finish line)as i squeeze tightly on my brakes. nervousness, excitement, pride, and a humbleness and thankfullness that God has allowed me to have the ability and drive to be a competitive athlete. when the time keeper calls out ten seconds my eyes are closed and i bury all emotions that may allow me to recognize the pain im about to put myself through. At five seconds to go my fist unclenches releasing my front brake. My breathing is slow and deep as the time keeper announces 3 seconds to go. My legs tense up fully prepared to strike at a seconds notice and my right hand then too unclenches allowing my rear tire to be free. I am now fully in the hands of the bike holder waiting for his shove as my signal to crank. I'm not sure if i ever really here the timekeeper announce "go" or if i just feel the shove from the holder but the next 30+ mins are a dream. it consists of me looking ahead for the next rider (or carrot) to catch, analyzing my pedal stroke to ensure im staying fluid and efficient, foreseeing the next stretch of road and the required change in gear or tempo it may require, and finally analyzing my effort to see if there is more to give or if i need to back off to not burn out. There is two hills on the course...one at the turn around and one about a quarter mile before the finish. They are not long but they are nasty grades. i strangely felt great on both these climbs. I may have hit the last hill a little hard at the bottom and lost some time in the last third but ill remember that for the next time i race that course.
I came in 3rd place overall (it was not a huge turnout though) 3:31 behind first place and 2:14 behind second place. those are some enormous time gaps which i look forward to closing in the races to follow.

At this point Tour Down Under has been an interesting race. Coming into the pre-show-race on sunday there was definetly alot of excitement about seeing the newly re-formed teams hit the tarmac for the first time. But, had you asked me before i would have told you the two teams to watch were:
Team Sky- the new team of world champion Mark Cavendish. Although he is not starting his season until Tour of Qatar i wanted to see how they controled the peloten in the final km's of this sprinter dominated race. It is key that they not allow anyone in their leadout who doesnt belong and that their presence dominates the front of the pack. In the last laps they did form their leadout but it was embarassingly weak. other teams were cutting in and out and they eventually completely fell apart and were nowhere near the finish. Their coaches and directors have a lot of work to do before qatar.
Team Greenedge- This was a no brainer as THE team to watch in TDU. As the first aussie based squad and surronded by international hype the home crowd demanded they show off their skills in australia. But where were they? Not controlling the peloten thats where.
Look we get it sky and greenedge its the first week we'll give you a little break. now we have results of the pre-show and also the first three stages, but Pharma-lotto is not giving you a break. They seem to have the strong and well-tuned squad i expected to see out of you two. The man who won the pre-show, and whos team is dominating the leadouts, also won stage 1 and 3, Andre Greipel, of pharma-lotto (stage 2 was won by a courageous breakaway no namer) Now we have always known the german was fast but the speed in his kick to the line in this early season may be making a certain "manx missile" shake in his padded rainbow pants a little bit.
We have a great TDU to look ahead too and what i believe what will be a historic season overall. Photo from cyclingnews.com