Mount Magazine Podium

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We made it onto CyclingNews.com on stage 3 of the Tour of Arkansas. Check it out.

CyclingNews.com: Tour of Arkansas, Stage 3

No Internet, no News...

First of all, sorry for not keeping you all updated on what is happening but we were on the road the last two weeks straight and, can you believe it, had no internet connection throughout the trip... Well, now we’re back in Dallas, getting some rest and getting ready for Memorial Weekend; and we finally have internet again! So here’s what happened over the last two weeks.

Joe Martin Stage Race

Two weeks ago the team went out to Fayetteville, AK for the Joe Martin Stage Race, a four day stage race. We started off on Thursday with a short 3 mile uphill time trail. It went really well for me: I beat my time from last year by 30 seconds to finish third, tied for second, only 3 seconds back. So, off to a good start.

On Friday we got to spend a lot of time on the bike because we had to ride a 110-mile-stage. Everyone kept on talking about the big climb of the day, Mount Gaylor… turns out it was more like a bunch of rollers than a really sustained climb and most of the pack stayed together. Unfortunately, we had a break off the front and no one wanted to chase. The plan for the day had been to ride conservative and conserve the GC but after the guy up the road got a four minute lead and still no one was doing any work I had to help out and get some kind of chase organized. We ended up pulling it back down to 40 seconds but had to spend a lot of energy to do it. It cost me a spot in the GC but everything was still rather close together.

Stage three was a 23 mile loop which we had to do three times. There was a pretty steep climb in the first part of the loop but it wasn’t very long. As with the race on Friday it all stayed pretty much together over the climbs but Carlos Vargas took off with about 30 miles to go. I figured that it was way too far and we had some teams that seemed to be willing to pull it back, so I didn’t go with it… and that was a mistake. We chased hard but couldn’t pull him back. So there went another spot in the GC, down to fifth.

With all the positions lost over the last two days, it was up to us to ride an aggressive crit to make up for lost time on Sunday. Unfortunately they guys from Texas Tough had the same plan and really drilled it from the gun which killed most of our team. After the first couple of laps we were down to only about 20-30 guys. With about five laps in I attacked hard over the steep section of the course and managed to decimate the group further, down to about 10 guys. More importantly, we shelled the overall leader and fourth place, so now it was up to us in the break to open up enough of a gap to move up in GC. We worked together well until halfway through the last lap when the attacks started. We let two guys go because they were no threat in GC but sprinted it out for third. I came in fourth of the day which moved me back to third overall. So a hard day’s work paid off at the end.

It was a good race, the team worked well together and we managed to pull off a good result. With this in mind we packed our stuff and headed down the road to the next stop, the Tour of Arkansas in Russellville, AK.

Tour of Arkansas

The Tour of Arkansas was our first big Pro 1/2 Stage race. We got to race the likes of Jelly Belly, Health Net and Type Time 1 among others. It was a really hard race too, with 4 stages combining to 350 miles and 23,000 feet of climbing. The second stage finished on Mount Nebo, a brutal 3 mile climb with an average gradient of 18%; the third stage finished with a 10 mile climb up Mount Magazine, so we got to do some serious climbing for a change.

The first stage on Thursday was a 100 mile stage with a lot of “little” climbs; didn’t sound too bad but there were no real flat sections at all. The pro teams set a real hard tempo over the first 40 miles to get the pack as small as possible and it turned out that only about 25 guys made it in with the first group. The second group (about 60) came in about 10 minutes later… I managed to make it over with the first group, even though I had to dig really deep to stay in. It was probably one of hardest races to date but I still managed to come in top 10 in the sprint. I was really happy with the race but the others from the team just made the time cut, so that was close.

Friday’s stage ended on Mount Nebo after 97 miles, with two smaller climbs along the way. The plan was to sit in until the end and then just survive. Unfortunately, I got a flat only about 20 miles in just 5 miles before the first climb. Peter gave me his wheel and with the help of Corey, Peter and Will I made it back into the pack safely before we hit the foot of the climb. We all made it over the first climb but Peter got more mechanical problems and had to stop to fix it, which cost him dearly. He couldn’t catch on to the group after that and had to ride the rest of the stage pretty much by himself. The other two guys made it safely thought the stage with me and led me into the final climb. It was a hard fight for position and I didn’t get in as far to the front as I would have liked but still within the top 15 to 20. It was a little too far back to hang with the lead guys but I settled into a good rhythm and thanks to Philips awesome costume and support managed to drag myself over the line in seventh. So, suddenly, I was sitting in seventh overall…

On Saturday we started and finished on top of Mount Magazine. Again, the plan was to sit and be conservative. It was a rather boring stage until, guess what, I got another flat… So, poor Peter had to sacrifice his wheel again and drag me back into the pack. The team did an outstanding job at pulling me back in. After that we just sat and waited for the final climb. Towards the end of the stage we started to fight for position a bit too early and wasted some energy doing so. I tried to get the guys to take it easy but my radio decided to quit on me. I didn’t notice it at first and just sat there and wondered why no one was reacting to what I said… In the end, I could still hear them and Nathan but they couldn’t hear me. Anyways, all this fighting for position prevented us from riding to the foot of Magazine in the position we wanted. This wasn’t too big of a problem, though, as the pack didn’t go too hard in the first part of the climb. The tempo picked up a little later though and a couple of attacks got our lead group down to about 10 guys. Nathan was constantly giving me updates on gaps but I couldn’t answer him though the radio so we had to rely on hand signals; that must have looked pretty funny for the guys around me, me starting to wave my hand for apparently no reason…

Anyways, the attacks started flying within the last km and when Pipp went, I knew I had to follow but I was boxed in. So I had to wait a little and followed the next best wheel. He didn’t get away far but managed to stay off by a few seconds. I still managed to come in third of the day in the sprint. It was really nice to be on the podium after a stage like this, especially beating guys like Lang and Chadwick. Also, it was a great birthday present!

Needless to say, moral in the team was great after stage three, with a podium and seventh in GC. So for Sunday we only had to sit in and finish with the pack in the crit. At least that was the plan. Unfortunately, this didn’t work out too well. It was pretty fast from the gun after a break went off the front. The four guys nearly lapped the pack and that would have cost us out GC position. We fought hard just to make it to the front of the pack but lost Corey in the process. Will had to abandon a little later due to mechanicals and Peter got taken out and went down hard. I managed to fight my way to the front only to get told by the Team Type 1 guys that they didn’t want any help and wouldn’t let me work with them. So all the work for nothing?! Well, Team Type 1 managed to keep the break in check and they didn’t lap the field. After expanding so much energy to make my way to the front, Nathan told me just to sit and recover. That was hard enough because we were more or less single file and people tried to move up regardless so I had to fight a lot for wheels. I was really looking forward for the race to end but as I should find out the hard way the day wasn’t over yet. The pit closed with seven laps to go (i.e. no more free laps) and things weren’t looking too bad with four to go: The break was only 20 seconds off the front, they were riding an acceptable tempo and I was sitting safely in the middle of the pack. And then it happened: FLAT! Can you believe that? Third flat in as many days and of cause it had to happen when the pit was already closed! Well, I stopped regardless and got a new wheel (but no free lap) and got back out there to chase like mad to not completely loose my position in GC. The fact that the officials tried to pull me didn’t help at all but Nathan got to them before they could pull me off the bike. I ended up chasing like mad for the reminder of the race and pulling myself inside out to not let all the hard work from the last couple of days go to waste. It wasn’t enough to keep my spot in GC but I somehow managed to salvage tenth.

All in all, it was a great experience even though the weekend ended on a somewhat bitter note. Regardless, it was interesting racing with all those pros and getting to do some real climbs for a change. Also, Corey, Will and Peter did an awesome job throughout the week to look after me. Nathan and Lee made sure we didn’t have to worry about anything except; big thanks to all of them at this point.

Now, hopefully, we will come out of those two weeks of racing with good legs for Memorial Weekend; but everyone is very motivated and ready to go. So it should fun finally racing back in Texas!

A Third Place Did The Trick!

I just got the approval from USA Cycling for my upgrade request to a Cat 1. Thanks to Speedweek I finally got enough points (even though I needed to put the training races in there to get the required 30 points) for the upgrade. So now I’m officially a Cat 1. What that basically means is that Nathan doesn’t need to pull any more strings to get me into the bigger races (like Speedweek). Apart form that I’m afraid not much will change: races are still going to be fast and it will just hurt as much as with a Cat 2 license. But then again, maybe not…

Speedweek is over...

and I finally got to sleep in after we got back to Dallas today morning at around 9 am. I had a great time out there on the east coast but I’m happy that I do not have to race tonight for a change. All the traveling and racing gets really taxing after a while and I think everyone is happy that they get a little break now.

Between all the traveling and racing and staying at funky hotels without internet access, I didn’t really get a chance to update my blog recently, so there’s a lot to be covered. For those of you who don’t have the time or nerves to read through all my ramblings, here’s the latter half of Speedweek in a nutshell:

After Beaufort we traveled to Walterboro, SC. The course was fun but pretty rough. Result: 30^th.

Next day: Uptown Greenwood, SC. Wide open and fast. The pack stayed together and a big field approached the line for the sprint: Result: 35^th.

Friday: Spartanburg, SC. Crash fest. Made it through all of them alive but got stuck in the last crash in the last turn of the last lap. Still managed to come in 13^th.

Saturday: Dilworth, NC. Nice course with a sharp turn onto start/finish and a decent rise to the line. Result: 7^th or 8^th.

Last one: Sandy Springs, GA. Really cool course, decent rise to the line and a swooping, fast downhill on the back stretch. I attacked early on and we established a six-man break that stayed away to the end. I was a bit too nervous in the break, working just a tad bit too much but still came in 3^rd. What a way to end the week! I pretty much accomplished everything I set out to do and more. I finished (nearly) all of the races, got a call-up at the start for the last two races, was in a break, made it onto the podium and finished in the top 10 overall. WOW.

Now I just need to recover and conserve my form for Joe Martin, Tour of Arkansas and Memorial Weekend.

So much for now. More detailed race recaps from Speedweek will follow soon.