Beaufort Memorial Cycling Classic

Not much to talk about. I had a shitty day, getting to ride for a whole of three (3) out of the 75 laps. In the second lap my saddle came loose so I had to stop at the pits to get it tightened down; unfortunately, a loose saddle doesn’t qualify as a mechanical problem that would get you a free lap, so they send me back out there to chase the field. Yeah, right! Coming through the next lap I got pulled. Thanks for even sending me back out there. So I rode back to the trailer, switched back to my training wheels and rode for some 40 minutes, trying to get at least a little workout today. As you can imagine, I wasn’t too happy. The fact that the others had a hard time didn’t help either. By the time I got back from my ride, they were already loading up the trailer while the race was still in full swing. So, not a good day for the team.

Hopefully, we’ll have more luck tomorrow.

Athens Twilight?

What light? It was pretty darn dark! Plus, for a good portion of the race I was going so hard I couldn’t see straight anyhow ;-) But let’s start at the beginning. On Thursday, we made our way from Blue Ridge down to Athens, Georgia. Friday got a bit stressful because we had the “Grid Qualifiers” in the afternoon and a PR/ promotion-thing at 1:30 pm. We went to an elementary school and talked to a bunch of first to third graders about bikes, bike racing and bike safety. It was really cool because the kids were really interested in what we said and asked a ton of questions. To top it all off, we let them walk through the trailer… fun, fun, fun.

After this we hastened over to the race venue to do our qualifiers. Athens Twilight is a pretty crazy race and because it is the first race of the US Crit series the hold the qualifiers to determine the staging position. This position is pretty important, as the race is so fast that it is hard to move up; also, it is easier to stay out of trouble. So, what they did was to put eight guys on compu-trainers and make them race six laps of the course as a time trail. It was pretty hard but I managed to come in second of my heat and 15^th overall. I didn’t make the finals but got a spot in the second row for the race! Sweet! Peter did really well too, finishing 18^th overall.

Saturday was race day. We started at 9 pm, in the dark. The atmosphere was awesome. The spectators were standing some 5 deep and it was just crazy. I love college towns ;-) Anyways, the race was fast (some 31 mph average) for 1 hour and 40 minutes. I managed to hold my ground and stayed out of trouble. I avoided a couple of crashes but got caught in the last and all important crash of the day. With three laps to go I was sitting somewhere in the top 25 and some guys about 5 spots in front of me decided to take a soil-sample in turn one: bikes flying left and right, the smell of burned rubber in the air and the college kids at the side going crazy. I managed to stay upright somehow but still had to get off my bike and jump over heaps of bikes and bodies to get back on my bike. I ended up chasing for the rest of the race because I just didn’t want to get lapped so close to the end. I haven’t seen any results yet but I should have come in somewhere in the top 50. That’s cool because that’ll mean some points for the overall and better staging position for next race, tomorrow in Beaufort, SC.

So that was my first Athens Twilight. It was hard but a great experience. Next up is Beaufort. Looking forward to that. Hopefully, we’ll have internet access for the rest of the week, so I’ll try to keep you updated.

Brasstown Bald...

...is a rather steep climb, I found out today. Not very long, but steep! We did it at the end of a three hour training ride and I must confess it hurt. It was all worth it once I got to the top, though: great view, bragging rights and a killer decent! The riding here is superb anyways. The landscape reminds me of a mixture of the Black Forest and the Alps back home in Europe but it definitely beats the weather over there ;-) The only drawback around here riding wise is the fact that there are no flat roads around here and the guys that built the roads never heard about the brand-new invention of “switch backs”, so the roads usually go straight up the hills… just how steep they can get may be deducted from this picture, showing Shannon cresting one of the aforementioned not-so-flat-roads.

After the race last weekend, Nathan, Shannon, Carli and I drove up to Blue Ridge, Georgia. We are staying in a gorgeous log cabin, with a three mile dirt road climb as only way to get to it. It is just awesome up here. Unfortunately, we’ll have to leave tomorrow to drive to Athens to get ready for the crit series. But until then, I will enjoy the scenery and quiet of this great place.

Mississippi Grand Prix

After a rainy Friday, which resulted in the cancellation of the first stage, we got our racing-fix on Saturday with a double-stage: an 80 mile road race in the morning, followed by a 4 mile time trail in the afternoon. For the road race we had to do three laps on pretty narrow roads, which promptly resulted in a lot of yellow-line violations. Some of our guys also got send to the back but I still got pretty frustrated trying to move up fairly just to get passed by 5 guys on the left on the other side of the road. Anyway, we controlled to race for the first lap until things started to pick up and attacks started flying left and right but all of them got shut down until we were about halfway through the second lap. At this point three guys managed to open up a gap at the front… and we had Peter in there! That was great, as this was our plan for the day and we were shooting for the team overalls. The three stayed away all the way to the finish; unfortunately, Peter got dropped with 6 kilometers to go and just barely managed to stay ahead of the field. Joe and Nathan lead me out for the field-sprint but I lost Nathan’s wheel going into the last 300 meters, so I had to fight for myself. Still managed to come in 5^th of the pack, so 8^th overall. Two guys in the Top 10, not bad. But not good enough, as two other teams did even better.

In the afternoon we had a chance to make up for lost time in the time trail. We got to ride to the race to loosen our legs a little before starting the warm up for real. I felt decent during the warm up but as soon as I got out of the gate and accelerated to tt-speed, my legs made it very clear that they wouldn’t do what my brain told them to do, i.e. GO FAST. I ended up mashing a huge gear (spinning didn’t work at all). It helped that Leo had started right in front of me and I was determined not to let him get away. I ended up 5^th, about 13 seconds down. I was pretty happy with that. Nathan did well too but Peter was pretty blown form his effort earlier in the day and lost some time. So overall, I was sitting in 6^th, Nathan in 9^th and we were still third in the team-gc.

Well, we had one more chance to advance in the overalls with a circuit race on Sunday. It was a rather short course, so it played out more like a Crit than a circuit race. The plan was to get Nathan and Leo in a break to get some time but that didn’t work. Nothing stayed away longer than a couple of laps. Will and Peter did a great job in pulling back stuff all through the first half of the race. I made sure we were represented in the breaks in the second half and actually found myself in a four-man break with 3 laps to go. But again, we got sucked back in and with one lap to go it was one big pack again. Nathan, Leo and Joe came by me with half a lap to go and I jumped on their wheel. Nathan didn’t get the lead out he would have liked to but found a fast wheel for the sprint and came flying by everyone else to take a solid victory! First one for Metro Volkswagen! Of cause, we were all stoked that it finally worked out. I managed to come in 6^th of the day; Leo came in 9^th, so you could say that it was a successful day. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to move up in the team-gc but that was ok. Nathan also got a time bonus for the win and actually bumped me back one place in the overalls. Turns out, after doing the math, that I’m missing one point for my upgrade to a cat 1 after this weekend… Now guess how many points I lost by loosing this one spot in the overall. Grrrrrrrr, thanks Nathan ;-)

This next weekend we will start the US Crit Series… that’s going to be painful! But a lot of fun at the same time.

More Cancelations...

I finally made it to Mississippi on Friday, in time for the first stage of the Mississippi Grand Prix... which got cancelled due to rain (the course supposedly gets really sketchy when wet). So it turns out I stressed out for nothing.

Anyways, while hastening to my terminal I couldn’t help but notice the sign blow and had to stop to take a picture. Now, I ask you, go left or right? What kind of choice is this in the first place?

„Thank You For Choosing American Airlines BUT...“

“…we regret to inform you that your flight has been canceled…” Yep, that’s the phone call I got this morning, just as I was getting ready to head out of the door and drive to the airport. As it turns out, I’ll have another day here in Phoenix… Next try: tomorrow morning at 6-something am. That should be enough time to get to Mississippi (I should get there by one pm or so). Well, the Mississippi GP stage one only starts at 7, so I guess I’m lucky.

Anyways, the bright side to it is that I get to spend another day with my parents. Yes, it just so happens that they are here for vacation, over from Luxembourg. They decided to trade the rain and 30ish degree temperatures for some desert sun; can’t say that I blame them ;-) . It’s nice to get some extra time with them and as all the bags are packed, I really have some time to enjoy it as I’m not continually stressing out about the upcoming trip. My folks will stay here in Phoenix for another couple of days before they hit the road and travel around a bit themselves (Las Vegas, Death Valley, Grand Canyon to name just a small portion of their program).

I’d like to take this opportunity to officially thank both mum and dad for their phenomenal support. All this experience in the USA would not have been possible without them and I really appreciate their patience with me (“when do you get a real job?”…). So here’s us three on South Mountain, enjoying the view (and the weather).

Day Off

For those of you who wonder what I do on my off-days... usually nothing ;-) but once in a while I like to take my good old heavy duty mountain bike out for a spin on South Mountain. That’s exactly what I did today (it will probably be a long time until I get the chance to ride South Mountain again). We have an awesome trail there, called National Trail. Actually, it got voted as one of America’s Top 10 Trails in some magazine and I totally agree that it is great. Anyways, here’s me getting my adrenaline-fix on a tricky part of the descend. Oh, how I’ll miss that!

Fast Crits and not so fast (because steep) Climbs

I finished up my last week of preparation with two races this weekend before taking a week off and rejoining the team later this week for the Mississippi Grand Prix. I’m happy that I finally get a break from the hard training and I am really looking forward to getting to travel with the guys and girls again.

Anyways, yesterday we had the Arizona State Crit Championships here in Phoenix. I rode my bike out to the event, as it was only some 15 miles from my place. The crit was right downtown Phoenix, on super smooth pavement and wide roads; unfortunately, that meant that the race was pretty fast, as you didn’t really have to hit the breaks at all and had to pedal through the turns… There were two strong teams that kept the whole affair under control and made it really hard for guys like myself who were in it for themselves. I nevertheless got my 5 minutes of fame when I was off the front (in the process of which I also got a prime, yeah!) but there was no way to stay away with all the horse power in the pack. At the end I messed up a little, as I was way too far back with 5 laps to go and everybody was suddenly riding like crazy (I got shoved around pretty good and ended up jumping curbs twice…) with at least one crash. So I ended up 14^th, which was ok, but not great. After a little chat with the guys I packed my stuff and rode back to my apartment where the traditional chocolate milk awaited.

Today, Sunday, I drove out to Superior, which is a small “town” in the middle of nowhere, some 60 miles east of Phoenix. The race featured a pretty hilly course with two extended (and that is NOT Texas-extended, i.e. longer than 2 miles) climbs. There was again a strong team that dictated the pace and gave us a hard time in the crosswind sections (try to get some people to open up a second echelon when the whole lane is taken up by a bunch of green jerseys…) and they finally managed to launch one their guys off the front. The whole thing fell apart with 15 miles to go, as we approached the final long climb(s). I managed to get in the chase group of five and after setting a hard tempo up the climbs, got the group down to three. Unfortunately, I was dragging a team mate of the guy in front around with me and the third guy was hanging on for dear life, so I ended up pulling most of the way in. That was ok, as I could drop the others and we also had a tail wind, so it didn’t hurt too much. I pretty much just made sure we didn’t get caught from anyone behind. As it turned out, I was the freshest anyhow and won the sprint of our group, finishing second of the day. Finally! I was really happy with the race and the way I felt. It was a relief to see the hard work finally pays off after all the mishaps earlier this season.

Now, it only remains to hope that it all caries over into the “real” racing period with the team; but I’m pretty optimistic. Not just did everybody work really hard over the break, Cory should also be back from his collarbone injury. It’ll be nice to have him back for the upcoming races!

Cookies and Ironmen

So here I sit and am barely able to keep my eyes open. I just got back from my training ride for the day and it was a pretty long session in the saddle; so I am pretty toasted right now. The whole week has been pretty taxing, as it is my final week of preparation, so intensity and duration of my training is high right now.

Yesterday evening I did our “Wednesday-Nighter” here in Phoenix: a 45 minute crit in a parking lot. It was really fun, even though the course was very simple (4 cones = 4 corners) but I definitely got my training in. It was racing right from the gun and I kept attacking until we were down to eight guys; in the process of which I also won a prime: The COCKIE-PRIME! I couldn’t have picked a better one (who needs a $5 gift certificate from a bike shop?). I ended up 3^rd in the final sprint, which was good too.

This weekend we will host the Arizona Ironman here in Phoenix; as it happens, I rode the bike course as part of my ride today and those people-made-of-metal will have their work cut out for them: it’s a rather flat course but, man, it was windy today and will probably be windy on Sunday. Good luck with that one. Anyways, I ended up playing guide for a bunch of lost triathletes who couldn’t find their way through Tempe to the transition area… Well, I guess even at with events of this magnitude some problems are just the same as with every event, course marking being one of them. I’ll be racing on Sunday but hopefully I’ll be able to catch at least the swim part of the Ironman… No wait, they start at 7 am… Hmm, maybe I’ll rather watch the transition from the swim to the bike…

More Flats?!

Something’s not right here: I got another two flats today while training... And the crazy thing is that one flat happened while I sat on the trainer this morning… Well, I hope this will do it for this year with flats. Let’s hope for the best.

NMBS Results

So results are finally posted... I came in 45th yesterday after my two flats. Looking at the results, I was running somewhere between 20^th and 25^th when I got my first flat… That puts me in 27^th overall. Not too bad, after all.

For more results go to http://bluewolfevents.com/results

Good Times, Bad Times... NMBS Style

Good news first: my form seems to be getting better and I am starting to feel stronger on the bike; Pivot Mach 4 is an awesome bike: climbs great, handles super snappy, is nice and stiff and the rear suspension works! Weather was fine too; support from all the guys at Pivot (especially Jason) was tremendous . Thanks again for that.

Result: not so good. I don’t want to whine too much, so I’ll try and keep it short: it started all wrong before the race even began. I was sitting 23^rd overall, and, according to the promoter, this should also have been my starting position for the CC race today… was not! I lined up somewhere in the second to last line (i.e. somewhere around 70^th place). As the course doesn’t offer too much passing opportunities, that was great of cause. But we didn’t even make it into the single track, as a bunch of guys locked handlebars and went down about 100m into the race. Fortunately, I didn’t go down but got stuck behind the carnage, so that wasn’t too good either. Anyways, after that I started to get in a groove and was working my way through the field (in the process of which I inevitably hit a cactus; I still got some in my little finger on the left hand…) until, halfway through the second lap my rear tire blew out. I know, in an earlier post I complained that the course was too fast and groomed… so that is what I got for that remark. I fixed it but by the time I got going again I had dropped back some 15-10 positions (I had worked my way up into the top 30 before disaster struck). I got back on the bike and started to pick up some of the guys that had just past me when, about a lap later, I found myself standing at the side of the course again, fixing, again, my rear tire… Needless to say, this pretty much ended all my hopes for the day of a good finish. I caught some of the stragglers on my way into the finish but I guess I was pretty far of the back at the end. I couldn’t find any results posted before I left (which was pretty much after everyone else, including the promoter, had left) so I don’t know where I finally came in and how that screwed up my overall ranking at the end of the day…

So there you have it. I just hope that next weekend will be better. To end on a positive note: I didn’t crash and I didn’t get selected for the doping test yesterday, so no harm done there; and, I still had a lot of fun.

There only remains one more thing to say:

METROVOLKSWAGENFIGHTNEVERDIES, so I’ll keep trying!

NMBS Short Track

PAIN! That’s all I felt for the better part of 20 minutes this afternoon during the NMBS Short Track race here in Phoenix; and it still wasn’t enough to not get pulled. Well, I made it to the two-to-go-part of the race, so I was pretty close to finishing the race. I think I finished somewhere just inside the top 30 or so, so that was ok. Especially after having to run up the only steep hill every lap due to a) traffic, b) deep sand thanks to all the other categories that ran up it before us, and c) lack of power on my part when I had a clear shot at it. Anyways, it was still fun (even though painful) but, man, even the so-called pros need to work on their breaking techniques: going into the downhill on the first lap, it was so dusty thanks to everyone in front locking up their breaks that I could see absolutely NOTHING! I really don’t know why you had to hit the breaks in the first place but I find myself contemplating this pretty much every race I’m in. Anyways, I bombed down it flying blind… and made it though no problem thanks to the Pivot. So, all in all, a successful day. Except, I forgot to check the USADA board afterwards… hopefully I wasn’t picked but I guess I’ll find out tomorrow…

NMBS SuperD

Did the first stage of this weekend’s Nova NMBS race here in Phoenix today, which was the SuperD. It was a really long course (winning time just under 16 min) and not a lot of elevation loss, i.e. a lot of pedaling. It actually felt more like a Short Track race intensity wise. I came in 22^nd out of a 70 plus field. I’m pretty happy with that, as I was within a good minute of the leader and, given the length, that was really good. It also gives me some hope for tomorrow’s Short Track event; the goal is to stay in the race and not get pulled and, with today’s time, this could just be possible. Then again, I will have to start from ways back and might get stuck in traffic. We will see tomorrow.

NMBS is Back in Town

Just got back pre-riding the course for the NMBS in Phoenix this weekend and what can I say? It hasn’t changed since last time… unfortunately! Still the same fast, groomed course with Texas-style climbing i.e. nothing. Well, it’s just for fun anyhow, right?

The NMBS in Phoenix this year will be in the form of a stage race, so we’ll kick it off tomorrow with the SuperD. I’m still not sure if I should take it easy and play it safe or go balls out but I guess as soon as I’m on the line tomorrow this question will solve itself. It should be a lot of fun anyhow, even though there is a lot of pedaling and no technical stuff but my Pivot will get me trough it! I really love the bike and it is perfect for this kind of racing: stiff, turns well and also climbs great (even though I wont need that this weekend).

We’ll continue on Saturday with the Short Track and have the Cross Country race on Sunday. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes…