JOURNAL 24 Hour Racing, National Championships, school, and more! So it is already half way through September and a ton of new stuff has happened! First of all, I finished the trip back East with a great performance at West Virginia (my best short track and second best XC ever!), and my worst finishes ever at Mt. Snow, VT (mechanicals in both races that set me wwwwaaayyyy back!). But I did get to do the Super D there (basically a mass start downhill with pedaling sections, which gives the XC guys a chance as well) and it was awesome! My start was not the best, but once the uphills came, I was flying by downhillers, and ended up in 8th place for Pro Men. I suggest that everybody try one of these if the opportunity arises. Back in Durango, I started up with school again. I am now in my Junior year heading towards a Major in marketing after getting a Minor in biology last semester. We are starting to really dive into some cool stuff this semester So for recent racing, I decided to do the 24 Global Championships in Granby with a 4-man team composed of Cody Peterson, Josh Bezecny, and Georgia Gould. At first, it seemed a bit crazy, especially one week before the National Champs in Mammoth, but $4,000 was up for grabs and it sounded like a ton of fun. Our team worked great together, and each of us definitely put our fair share of effort into the race. Through the night, the lead changed multiple times between Trek/VW and us. It was such a close race. Coming into the final hour on Sunday, we were only about 6 minutes up on them, and it basically came down to the last lap where we barely edged them out. It was amazing. Trek/VW was so tough, and being able to earn this win was great for all of usÖespecially since 2 of our teammates had never done a 24 hour race, and the four of us basically formed the team a week in advance thinking it would be a fun challenge. We had no idea how hard we would have to fight though. So, now in Mammoth, the season is changing directions again! I just finished up with the U23 cross country, and am now looking forward to some collegiate racing this fall. The race went really well out here, and was a great way to wrap up the main season. Coming into this event, I really wanted to put a good ride in, especially after coming so close to the podium last year, but losing it because of mechanicals. At the start, the field was small, but contained a very talented group of athletes. Many were just back from the World Championships in Italy, including Nick Ranno, Andy Schultz, Sam Schultz, Sam Durekovic, and Nick Waite. Also on the line were a dozen other fast guys including Durango riders, Alex Hagman and Adam Snyder. Right off the start, a group of 5 including Hagman, Waite, Schultz bros, and Ranno got a 30 second gap up the first steep climb. This was a similar start to the Durango National last year, heading up a loose fire road climb before heading into singletrack. I found myself in between this lead group and another group led by Durekovic. My goal was to just keep my pace steady and keep the leaders in sight. We dove into the singletrack that still climbed, but at a more gradual rate until it crested the top of the course and plunged down a trail called Seven Bridges basically named after the seven wooden bridges that criss-crossed this rocky wash. It was a great downhill with enough technical sections to keep you on your toes, but was very fast and fun, with the exception of up to 6 inches of dust sitting on some of those corners. After the second time up the steep climb though, the lead group had 2 minutes on me and were out of site. To make things worse, Durekovics group was almost on my wheel. At this point, I knew to at least maintain my current position, I had to speed up. Fortunately, the top half of the course was not as steep and really suited my riding style. Slowly but surely, my cushion on 6th place became more secure. With one lap to go, I thought, ìwhat the heck, I may as well go for 5th. The climb was really taking its toll, but I tried to just push through it and get to the singletrack climbing section as fast as possible. From here, I would be able to look ahead and see somebody to catch, or just shut it down and cruise to the finish. Just at the top of the climb, after a huge effort, Nick Waite came into sight! I pushed past him, and just laid everything out on the downhill. Then, just as the finish was coming closer, fans were yelling that another rider was just ahead with a flat tire. After emerging from the downhill, I saw the finish with the 4th placed rider limping in on the flat. Unfortunately though, it was my good friend and fellow Durango rider, Alex Hagman. Despite Alexs bad luck, he still ended up 4th in the nation with myself rounding out the 5th place podium spot. It was a solid finish for us, and now we are looking forward to a great season of collegiate racing and representing Fort Lewis College and Durango at the Collegiate National Champs later on in October. Also, up next will be a trip to Vegas! It should be a good time August 23rd, 2004 - Back East at the NORBA's So it has been awhile since the last update, and a bunch of racing has passed by already. The trip back to the states wasn't too bad. I was really lucky though, because that plane crash in Toronto from Paris was only a day after I flew...and I came from Europe also! After getting back, we headed straight out to the NORBA at Brian Head, UT for some good mountain bike lessons again. The trails were amazing, up at 11,000 feet, with lightning and heavy rains throughout the weekend. Luckily, it held out for the pro XC though and our times ended up being blazing fast! I managed a top 30 after riding a really conservative race...not to blow up or crash from my great roady skills. The short track went even better just rounding out the top 20. After this, I went home for a few days, then prepared to go out to the East coast for the two last NORBAs. I was a little concerned that after going so hard in Europe this year, that my form would be starting to slow up a bit. Plus everybody was saying things about how fast I would be coming back...so the pressure was kinda on me to do well despite putting out such an effort this summer. So I snuck out to do the Tuesday night worlds ride and just went as hard as I could. After about half the race, I ended up with Shriver and Sager in a breakaway, but before going up the climb, Shriver pulled off saying he was done. Then, up the climb, I cruised away from Sager to try and get over the top before the chase group caught me...and ended up timing it perfectly, but Shriver came blowing by me again with Ned Overend on his wheel! So I was stoked, another good break to go with, but Shriver was huffing and puffing saying he was done again! It was kinda funny, and he probably could have won it if he kept going. I mean, he was going fast! Way faster than Sager and I...Oh well, ended up getting caught but managed to nip Guptil on the line down by Elmores Corner for the win. After that, we headed out to Serious Texas BBQ for some raw-dog greasy food. Next day I flew out to Boston and met up with my old roommate, Ed Case. For all of you that know him, he is a crazy kid and the next few weeks were definitely going to be good. We have been all over New England, and just got back from West Virginia. We managed to rack up over 500 dollars in speeding tickets trying to get everywhere, but did get to see a lot. Just to name a few, we went out to Star Island, 5 miles off the coast of Maine; went to Hershey, PA and felt like I was in Willey Wonkas chocolate factory; met some really interesting people in WV including a guy that sounded just like the guys on King of the Hill, a real nice lady that gave us 4 nights at her hotel for 20 bucks each, another really old guy that accused us of smoking too much marijuana when he wanted to charge us way to much for a hotel room; etc. Good times. The trails were riding great though in WV and I was actually motivated to do the East coast racing. But come race day, the mud turned to gum that just stuck to your tires. We ended up have to drag our bikes downhill because the wheels were binding up, even with disk brakes. It pretty much sucked. After a completely bent derailleur, taking a link out of my chain, and dealing with a completely shot front cross max (after one of my numerous crashes), I managed to get 25 in basically a survival race to not DNF. Almost half of the field didn't finish so I was just glad to be one of the guys that made it at the end. The short track on Sunday went really well also and I had my best ride ever to finish 16th. I borrowed my teammates hard tail because the Intense was still out of commission from the previous day, but the bike did well and I cruised through guys after a first lap crash through the triple. The results are wrong everywhere online, but if you can't tell, guys like Sager and the U23 national guys were behind me on the results, but they beat me...and all the guys ahead of me were guys I actually beat...so I think they got there pulled rider list backwards...but ohwell, that is NORBA for ya. Now back in Mass, I am just taking a few days of rest and will be headed up to Vermont later this afternoon for the NORBA finals. It should be an exciting race, then it is back to reality in Durango with school in full swing. After this, I am going to focus on Collegiate MTB, headed to Mammoth, and Interbike as well, so I hope to see a bunch of people there. Returning from Italy This last week, I wrapped up the racing with a week of racing in the UK then heading straight back to the states for the Brianhead NORBA National. The main objective in the UK was to get Duncan (my teammate that has helped me in the Fondos down in Italy) a win in the National Premier Road Race Series along with helping another friend, Ian Holte, gain back the National Criterium Series lead. The week started out perfectly with the road race for Duncan. I was not too useful after spending a week following the tour in the Alps...and here is some advice, do not try and take a 10 kilo backpack with you and try and ride the same stages as the pros...like the day I had to do the Col de Madalaine, Col de Telegraph, and Col de Galibier totaling over 4,000 meters of climbing in 150 k (with the pack on) just killed me. But anyway, as the winning break went up the road, I was able to pull Duncan as close as possible, allowing him to jump across to the group. I was bummed not to make the group myself, but Duncan had no problem handling himself. He attacked with about 10 k to go, then dropped his final companion to take a solo win! I had long since dropped off, and awaited him at the finish line. This goal was so important for him, with all of the training over the last 2 weeks that we did in Italy solely focused on winning this race, which it really was a victory for both of us. Then came the crits later on in the week. They are not as hard as US National caliber crits, but way sketchier with less road to move around than normal. I had some trouble with the first, but came back in the second crit to bury myself for Ian pulling moves back. No results came personally out of these races, but the team was successfully and Ian still sits in the lead for the overall calendar. This was also a real highlight to achieve for the team. Then on Sunday, an 80 mile road race was the last race for me in Europe. We were going to have Rob possibly set up for the win with the help of Duncan, Andrew, and myself...but on race day, only Andrew and I were headed out to the race. It turned out to be terrible weather and the whole race was like being in a washing machine! From the gun, I was really eager to stay at the front, staying clean and working a little harder to get warm. The plan was to hopefully get Andrew and I both in a move together. Unfortunately though, Andrew wasn't having the best day, and after a lap, 10 of us were in a breakaway. The field was fairly strong with some guys in their mid thirties that had raced in Belgium in the past, and were the strongest southeast UK riders around. The rain was not helping me at all, and my legs hurt under ever acceleration that these guys were putting down. Coming around the first of five laps, a prime was up for grabs and I found myself 3rd wheel afterwards with the remaining group about 30 yards behind. I rolled through super easy on these guys just to keep the pace going, but they all sat up, and I had a gap! Essentially, they were just going for the prime, and waiting for everybody else to start going again, but it was the perfect time to go, even though there was still over 100 kilometers left in the race. My gap quickly opened up to 30 seconds and they were out of sight. At first, I was suffering pretty bad to keep the pace going, and I knew if they really wanted to pull me back, they probably could have. But I kept it going and at least wasn't drinking the water shot up by the riders wheels. After exactly a lap, they had closed the gap almost and were only 100 yards back with the next prime right at the top of the climb. I put the gas on and went to get the prime for all the work I had already down. By the top, they had stopped chasing and my gap was back up to a minute, with the prime in my hands. Another lap went by, and I got the next prime. With two laps to go, I started to get tired. I took the coke that was for the last 30 minutes, even though I had another hour and a half. Keeping it steady was the goal, and I knew if I stayed at threshold, my legs wouldn't completely blow. One lap to go, and the group was nowhere in site. I started thinking that the win might be possible, but I knew these guys would be chasing hard the last lap to catch me. Every small climb was hard, but keeping it steady and regaining my speed right at the top was really important to keep the gap open. With about 10 k to go, I just buried it, going above threshold and giving it all I had. For some reason at this race, they did not give me a single time gap on the road, so I didn't know if they were just out of site, or minutes behind. This really got to me the last lap, but I just stayed focusing on crossing the line. And I succeeded and got the solo win. The group came in about 1:30 down. So what a week! We got Duncan the win, Ian first in the series, and the best/longest (with the worst conditions) solo breakaway win I have ever had. Andrew and the team here were great to race with, and they made sure I had a good time in London so big thanks to them. Now it is back to Italy, then straight back to the US to prepare for three NORBAs, then a shot at the U23 mountain bike championships, followed by collegiate racing. The July 10th GrandFondo (My last race in Italy this season) The GranFondo on the 10th of July is the last one I will be doing over here before returning to the US for the remaining Norba Nationals, including the Nat. Champs, 2 months of collegiate mountain bike racing, including the National Champs, and finally a few months of Collegiate Cyclecross races with Nationals at the end of December...so it is this race, then a rest, then a huge schedule back home. So the race this past weekend was the big local race to win and show that we were alright. Everything was well prepared from pre-riding the course to having a support vehicle. The course was just over 150 km with the usual 2,000 meters of climbing. The climbs were steep though, averaging 10% or greater for most of it. After arriving, the team that worked me over two weeks ago was there, with even more riders than before. The entire field was just under 500, but the top riders were all very strong. Many of them had taken top 3's in the big races against Rumsas, etc. From the gun, Duncan (an English teammate) and I started attacking before the first climb. It had worked well to get one of us off the front the previous weekend (so the other would get a free ride up), but now we were marked and the orange team (outfitted with Cinelli everything) brought us back every time. It was making them work hard to pull us back, so we kept it up and got in some good moves. One in particular (with both of us) almost got away, but the first climb came and the charging field shattered behind us. The front group was down to only 20, with myself just barely hanging on when the 3rd wheel eased up allowing the first two Cinelli guys to just ride away. All it took was that slight hesitation and they were gone. It was too bad because it was the first move that didn't include Duncan or myself, yet we had created 80% of the attacks up to that point. So we chased, and chased, over 3 more hard climbs, while 4 of the Cinelli teammates sat on. We were trying to mark them all, but with just 2 of us, and 6 of them, it was impossible. On the biggest and last climb of the day, a guy skinnier than Alex Hagman put an attack in that took the group down to 4. We crested the top, but no one would pull through from the effort...and I was hurting bad, plus Duncan's group was slowly making there way back to us so we slowed down almost to a stop. Just when Duncan latched on the back, the only Cinelli guy that made the 1st selection attacked with me and one other guy chasing. Since Duncan was right behind me, he sat up and we were gone with no one else able to bridge up. We descended back into the main valley with 25 kilometers to go. Then the other guy stood up during a surge from the Cinelli guy and snapped his cranks off...so it was just down to two of us. The Cinelli guy and I took pulls fairly evenly for awhile, but then he started attacking me just after I had put a big pull in. I stayed on every time, but after a half dozen times, I was getting frustrated. I motioned to pull through, but he said, "me 3rd, you 4th!" I couldn't believe he would just call it out like that! By then, he realized he wasn't going to drop me, but thought he could still make me pull and out sprint me. I figured I couldn't drop him and would just hope for a two-up sprint. I went super slow through the corners to keep him pulling through, and luckily, as we were coming close to the finish, we rounded a corner with only 300 meters to go. He wound up his sprint like he could ride away, but I tried to just get his slip stream enough to nip him at the line. With only about 50 meters to go, I launched just barely ahead of him as he was swerving into the barriers to cut me off. We both almost went down as I leaned back into him, but we made it through and I won the sprint! The race organizers were clearly not happy with how he acted at the finish line because the swerving to crash me out or make me slam on my brakes was clearly apparent. But I ended up 3rd overall, won my age category again, and took 2nd in the pro/elite! It's a bummer we didn't have more riders to work with to prevent those two from escaping, but we did great under the circumstances and were still, by far, the most aggressive riders in the race! July 3rd GranFondo This GranFondo profile was nothing extraordinary, but still a solid race. There was just over 2,000 meters of climbing in 140 kilometers, which made it a little shorter than normal. At the start, about 500 people showed up, but my teammate from the UK (Duncan) and I got on the front row to start the race. After about 5 k of relatively flat roads, an attack went up the road and I jumped on it. It quickly got brought back and Duncan followed the counter. When this was chased down, the field slowed and another attack came from a rider that I jumped on again. This guy was giving it everything, only about 10 k into the race, and our gap grew very fast. After a few miles, four more riders bridged up. Once the first climb came, these guys were suffering pretty badly and the group behind was catching us fast. The field closed it down to about 100 meters, and I attacked the group to hopefully escape without them knowing. It worked very well and after getting over the climb, another joined me from the former lead group and we descended towards the next ascent. Unfortunately though, this guy wouldn't work at all, but was just covering the move for his teammate behind. The next climb was a big one, but I just rode at upper threshold to get a bigger gap over the field. By the top, we had just over 2:30! On the next descent though, I had a really close call just after getting my confidence in downhilling from last weekend! Prior to the start, we arrived so late that we had about 5 minutes to change our clothes, pump up the tires, and roll to the start before we missed it. We pumped up the tires and couldnít get the gage to work, and we must have put about 140 psi in my wheels on accident. Then, after a bunch of cornering and braking, along with 100 degree temperatures, the tires must have expanded even more. It got to the point where they were so hard, I could barely keep them under me around the corners. Around one switchback, I accidentally locked up both wheels coming into it, and instead of turning, I just kind of went straight, flying off the road. Luckily, there werenít any guardrails or cliffs but just some grassy runoff areas. I scrubbed enough speed skidding towards the dirt that the mountain bike skills kept me upright. In fact, after going over some huge ruts with my weight way off the back of the saddle, I didnít even clip out of my pedals before making it slowly back on the road! After making sure everything was alright, I chased back to the other guy. We did yet another steep climb, made the descent, and started right up another. By the top, the guy I was with started to drift back, while two guys made the bridge from the main pack up to us, one being Duncan. By the top, it was two of us on the same team, and two Italians. I was fairly tired from pulling for about 110 k so far, and Duncan wasnít having the best day, but we had the numbers to do alright. We had 30 k to the finish with one more climb, and a chasing field about 1 minute back. We did the majority of the work and by the last climb, we had begun to drop the original guy I was with just as the other attacked. I started to cover the more, but the guy just kept going. His attack never stopped! After about 200 meters of 100% effort to catch him, my legs couldnít take it and he just kept motoring away like it was nothing. I was alone with Duncan about 100 yards back so I sat up to wait for him and we then rode tempo the rest of the way to the top of the climb. We pushed on for the last 15 k or so and made it to the finish with us finishing 2nd and 3rd overall. The top guy was clearly on a different level, like Rumsas (which wasn't apparently arrested again in the last few weeks for another drug charge), but we were still really happy with the performance! Our gap over the dropped guy went up to 2 minutes, and the gap to the field increased from a few minutes up to almost 5 minutes. So on the podium, Duncan and I rounded it out. I won my 19-27 age category, and took second in the Elite/Pro category behind the overall winner. We got huge glass trophies, a bunch of meat and wine, and some other stuff. Next weekend will hopefully be the weekend right? Last week was 3rd overall, this week was 2nd, maybe next week will be first??? After the race, we traveled south to some huge mountains and got a few days of serious climbing in. Now it is Wednesday, and I'm tapped but ready to recover and give it everything this next Sunday. June 26th GranFondo: So close to the Win So this weeks GranFondo was a good one to be doing. It was still a Category 1 race, but a more famous race was going on in Northern Italy on the same day. Not ALL the fast guys went north, but most of the recreational guys that chase these things around every weekend made the trip. So only 300 people were expected to enter the one we did, which was a nice break from one to four thousand like all of the previous. Peter said I could easily get a top 10, and with Rumsas and his crew gone, I was stoked! The course had 7 climbs on it gaining 2,675 meters (about 8,000 feet) in 155 kilometers (or almost right at 100 miles). When we pulled up to the start, we found there was still some good competition. One guy that took 2nd last weekend in a HUGE Fondo was there, along with a full elite team that was fast as well. The start was neutralized for the first 10 k and that helped get the legs going, but as soon as the flag was waved, a huge attack came right around a corner that started up a climb. I was luckily in the top 15 so getting onto this move was fairly easy. All of a sudden, it was just 6 of us, with more attempting to bridge up to us these guys definitely werenít sitting at the front when the attack came. The pressure stayed on though, and by the top of the climb, there were about 10 of us out of sight. It was perfect. The downhill was over quickly though and headed straight into another climb. This was by far the steepest of the race. I found myself hanging on with everything I had. If the climb had been another kilometer long, I might have been dropped! After catching my breath, there were just 5 of us 3 guys on the same team (red jerseys), the guy that took 2nd last weekend (black jersey), and me. We were cruising fairly good and all rotating through. I was pulling very easy though, because with 5 climbs left, I knew the red guys were going to have some fun with us. The next climb came and half way up, one red guy attacked. We kept him in our sights, because there was still over 100k left in the race. Unfortunately though, some rancher decided to move his cattle across the road right before we came. The group came to a dead stop. One guy rode right into them, but they were huge their backs were as high as our heads, and they all had big horns that did not make me want to just burst through them. And they were nervous too since their feet were slipping on the asphalt as the team cars and race motos were honking at them. So I wasnít going to rush it at all but finally we got by, but the solo guy was out of sight. After this, the two other red guys would not work. It was up to the black jersey guy and I to pull the rest of the race. After doing another long descent, we came out on a huge river with big rolling mountains surrounding us. We crossed a bridge, and the road forked two ways: one kept going down, and one started switchbacking up to this town way up on the mountainside! I was really hoping that it wouldnít go up, but sure enough as soon as it did the black jersey guy attacked super hard. We barely hung on when he accelerated again. One of the red guys and me were covering them ok, and the other red team guy was slowly coming back. Fortunately though, it was only a 5 k or so, and we were descending again. The next climb was 10 k long though, and everything was about to explode. The black guy and I formed an alliance to get rid of at least the weaker red guy, and we began attacking. I would go, then he would counter, then I would counter, and so on. This happened over, and over, and over again. It especially hurt when they caught me, then the black dude would go, and I would have to hang on for dear life while the red guys tried to bridge up to him. We all made it over the top though, still not dropped! At this point, I figured we were getting pretty close to the end. It was almost 100 degrees outside, and I saw signs for the finish town getting closer. But right when we were about to enter the town, the race route turned and went up another climb. The black dude attacked and caught everyone off guard. One red guy followed, but the other and I had nothing. We were watching up the road as the red guy came up and countered the move and dropped the first guy and then we caught back up with him. The only bummer was now 2 guys, on the same team, were up the road. After another downhill, there was 10 k of false flat and I was sure we were going into the finish. The black team guy was working on the front with me super hard. I was giving it everything. Yet again, we came to another climb. I couldnít believe it! We always count the number of summits on the race profile here if you canít pre-ride or drive the course (which is never) so you know where you are at, but I must have had it all mixed up. They knew I was hurting and both of them pretty much just rode away from me. After 140 kilometers though, they were flying, and I was hurting! It makes you wonder what they were drinking in their bottlesÖ By the top, I could barely see them and decided to take a time split. They had 30 seconds on me so I decided to keep it going fairly fast over the rollers and down to the finish just to see how close to 30 seconds at the finish they would have on me and to make sure I didn't get caught by any groups behind me. I figured our lead was good, but with all the attacking and easy pulls when the red guys were sitting on, you can never be sure if there was a charging group behind you. I was in my 11, actually going pretty fast and blew by the 10 k to go sign. The relief was huge and I was still in 5th place and stoked! Now back home, everybody pretty much knew me as the most non-technical rider ever until about a year ago. Especially in mountain biking, descents were not my thing. But after training for Collegiate Nats (on the east coast) last fall on the hardest, rockiest trails I could find in Durango, along with all of the training over here so far, my skills have amazingly gotten better! When this downhill came, it was super technical. There were sections with loose gravel, about 15 switchbacks, and all in a road a little wider than a car's width. By the bottom, with 5 k to go, I saw the black team's car! And then on the next straight, the 2 riders. They must have only been 10 seconds ahead so I put my head down and buried it to catch them. With only a few k left, I was on the back of them. Immediately they started attacking though so I marked the black team rider and just stayed on him. He was mad that I wouldn't pull through, but after covering a few of their attacks AFTER getting dropped on the last climb, I wasnít about to just pull them to the finish. He ended up leading out the spring looking back the whole way. The red team guy jumped first, trying to make it a top 3 sweep, but it was too early. I swung into his draft, and waited just until about 50 meters to go then pulled ahead by a wheel length. I couldn't believe it especially after being that far back on the last climb. I came in 3rd overall, which placed me 2nd in the pro/elite category, and 1st in my age group (19-27). It was nice to win the age group, but to get the overall at one of these races in the future would be huge. June 5th GranFondo and 13th GrandFondo The June 5th GranFondo was the biggest race yet over in Italy. The Fondo, sponsored by Barilla pasta, had over 4,000 racers. So many people started at once that one of the guys I was with took 10 minutes just to get through the start line after the race had started. For most of us, we were in the 2nd group staged with press, VIP, and other established racers in front of us. Rumsas was once again here along with the one and only Gilberto Simoni. Other famous riders from the past were present to lead the race out of town. There was also a ton of press and photographers covering the race by starting in the front row. This led to a very dangerous start with the stars setting the pace, photographers and overweight past racers getting dropped and the amateurs/pros in the back (like us) had to dart our way through them! In the first 100 meters, there was already one crash. Within a few kilometers of the town, I was on the front row, right next to Simoni! We were going fairly fast to keep the group from clogging up, but the town riders all wanted to ride and talk to Simoni so they were attacking from the left and right trying to get ahead of the field, then drift back to us. It turned out to be extremely dangerous and tons of crashes were happening. After 15 kilometers, the climb started and went up 1200 meters. My legs were heavy and guys were headed up the road. I hung onto the back of a group around 50th place out of 4,000 and made it over the top. At each switchback, hundreds of people sat cheering us on. Many of them were in cycling clothes just hanging out. They were all yelling at us to go faster, but I donít think they imagined how hard it was. My legs slowly came back to me, and after getting a gap on a descent, pulled away from the 30 person group I was in. For the next 50 kilometers, two of us switched pulls up another 4 climbs and downhills catching another 30 or so guys. Once with the group, we rested and finished the remaining 2 climbs before the end. Overall, there were 7 climbs with a total of 3,000 meters of climbing (9,000 feet). Coming into the finish, we had a 10 kilometer flat section that led into the heart of this small town. The last 1000 meters were gated off with thousands of people surrounding the finish. My heavy weight helped me out in the sprint taking the field sprint and finally coming in 22nd overall. For the elite/pro classification, I came in 15th behind Rumsas and Simoni and for the age category, I was 2nd again for under 27 years old so not too bad. Hopefully the weight will keep coming off, and my climbing will get better. On the 13th, another GranFondo was close to Florence. First of all, they classify the Fondos as Hors category (the hardest), cat 1, cat 2, cat 3 depending on distance, climbing, anticipated competition, etc. So far, we had only done Hors category and cat 1 races. This was a slightly smaller Fondo than the Barilla, and I was hoping to do well here without the top guys to compete againstÖbut I was wrong. It was still a cat 1 with 125 kilometers and almost 2,000 meters of climbing, but should have been slightly easier because a Fondo tracing the Milan-San Remo route was going on the same day. At first, I wanted to do this one, mainly because it was as flat as a pancake. But once I realized it was 300 kilometers long, I opted for the one in Florence. Looking at the start list, big names were still here. With 750 racers, this one wasnít going to be any easier. At the start, Rumsas appeared with his usual team. The first 20 k were fast as usual. Everybody trying to get to the front before the first climb makes the speeds super high and the race becomes very dangerous. I had two close calls barely escaping from crashes. As the climb came up all of a sudden, I found myself back around 100th place though. Attacks were going up the road, and so I redlined it for a few minutes and found myself up in the top 10 or so. Amazing! After catching my breath, I looked back to find nobody. Nobody on my wheel, no chase group, nothing. It was just 10 of us with a huge gap. All of the leaders were there so pace stayed fast. Unfortunately, on the descent, some groups behind of have been taking some huge risks, because by the bottom, our group was almost 50 people. My hopes of staying in a lead group were gone. The next 20 kilometers were rolling up and down before another steep climbed, followed by a false flat. The pace stayed fast and constant up and over the climb. It was single file, and I was in about 8th position. All of a sudden, a fast downhill came up, and the guy in front of me opened up a gap. I came around him to join back up with the front guys, which contained Rumsas. Once on the back, the road immediately turned upwards for another steep climb through this village. After looking back, everybody realized that the gap that guy opened up had stuck, and we were alone (off of a descent!). The pace immediately quickened and Rumsas had two teammates with him that started attacking back and forth. The other guys covered these fairly well, but after 4 or 5 of these, we were at the limits. I chased one of these down and looked back after closing the gap to see faces that looked terrible. Everybody was hurting BAD including myself. But a split second later, another attack came from Rumsas. He danced away on the pedals like it was nothing. A minute later, he was out of site! Then his teammate attacked, attempting to bridge up to Rumsas. Nobody was going to let this happen, and we were once again going at mach 10. In all my years of racing, I have never suffered so badly to stay on a break. My legs were on fire to the point of seizing up almost. Unfortunately, every attack was brought back slower and slower until the group just shattered. I found myself with two guys that were luckily on the same team, but we were basically dropped. After looking back though, we must have had a minute on the next group on the road, which just had about 15 guys. The two teammates worked furiously on the next descent to bring back any stragglers, but unfortunately, the group behind us had too much horsepower and ended up catching us. The group slowed, and we crawled up the next (so far 4th) big climb of the day. The descent was absolutely dangerous on a main highway that apparently never got closed off to cars. After the race, I learned that one cyclist came around a corner and overshot it coming head on to a car that was parked off the road. He hit the front, piled into the glass and slid off the back of the car. Luckily, he was in stable condition after the race, but it still makes everybody nervous. After a slight flat section (amazing for Italy), we had two more climbs that were 12% for about 6-10 kilometers each. The two teammates that I was originally dropped from Rumsas with were frustrated with the groupís pace and attacked at the bottom of the climb. Luckily, I was on their wheel and got a free ride away from the group. We maintained a hard tempo and soon the group behind were out of site again. Unfortunately, it was too much for me after the previous effort, and I needed to ease up. At the top of the climb, the two were only 30 yards ahead, but the group behind was only 100 yards from catching me again. I thought the downhill would be an easy place to catch these two ahead, but it turned out there was a false flat at the top of the climb before the actual descent, and these two powered away. It started to rain and the downhill became very sketchy. Almost immediately the final climb started. I decided to push it anyway and attempt to make it as far up it as possible before getting caught. The group behind was splitting though, and only 3 guys were coming up to me about 50 yards back. By the top though, miraculously, they had not caught me! In fact, they were out of site again! From there, it was just 15 k downhill to the finish. I put my head down, my chain in the 11 and hammered with everything left. Luckily a motorcycle cop was there to lead me to the finish. Without it, a lot of time would have been spent going slower around blind corners and into intersections without his honking. The kilometers slowly went down and the finish appeared. By staying away, I finished 9th overall, while Rumsas took 2nd to his teammate out of the 750 person field. In my age category, (19-27), I took 2nd place earning a huge metal trophy. For the pro/elite classification, I came in 3rd, behind Rumsas. Every week is feeling better and better. One of the hardest parts, similar to the NORBA's, is the field size and staying at the front. That has taken a lot of energy and errors to get used to, but I am slowly getting a hang of it. My form is also starting to come back very well, and I think it is just the start to a great season here and back home! Race 3 in Italy - June 2, 2005 Amazingly, the 3rd race over here went great. We got there on time (only 30 minutes before the start), but I was on the start line when the gun went off! The race was 160 kilometers long, with 2,390 meters of climbing (over 7,000 feet) along 3 big mountains and lots of rolling hills. There were NO flats to recover in this race. Rumsas was there again, along with a current pro Lampre rider, and many other ex-pros. The total mass start field was over 2,000 racers. Thanks to the short track mountain bike starts, I made my way through the 200 racers that were still ahead of me in about 5 kilometers before the first climb. By the top, the field was down to about 250 riders. Starting the second climb, I stayed glued to the Lampre rider to wait for the move to go. I stayed 4th wheel for almost the entire climb (amazing huh) and then we hit a descent where they were handing out water bottles. I took two and was emptying them into my bottles while drifting back in the field a bit, until I noticed another climb that was about 15% in the distance. I tried to work my way up to the front again, but by the time I got to about 30th wheel, a split had formed of 10 guys and they were gone. The second group on the road was about 20 of us and we drove it to catch them, but they were just too fast, and nobody would stay coordinated in our group. One strange thing about these races is that there is a short course and long course. You decide for yourself, in the middle of the race, which one to take. So this junction comes up, and if you are in a group, such as myself, half of a chase group will wimp out and take the shorter course (because they become the short course leaders!), and a few decide to stay in it and do the long. Well it was just as confusing as it sounds, and when I hit this junction, I was boxed in and had to go on the short, but slammed on my brakes, flipped it around and started chasing after the whole 3 other guys out of 20 that decided to do the long course. We worked a great pace line for about 30k, but when the last climb came, it was brutal. It went up at a 15% grade, then flat for 100 meters, then up (10%), then down (15%), then straight up again at 15%. This went on and on for about 10 kilometers. One of the guys we were with attacked, I couldn't hold on, but managed to stay with the second fastest guy, while the third dropped hard! We made it barely over the climb, and started the final descent into the finish. The downhills were breathtaking as always. We hit many swithbacks where people just couldn't hold on and flew right off the side of the mountain. My closest call came on the last downhill when I was completely faded. A car we were catching decided to accelerate to get out of the way right when we were about to overtake it. This sent him ahead of us into a switchback where it braked super hard to avoid flipping, but meanwhile, we were in the turn as well. I was swinging out near the end of the turn right into the car, but couldn't slow down because I was leaning over way too much. The car's rear bumper and wheel came within inches of my whole bike, but I made it out alive! After the race, the results showed that I place 11th out of 2,000 people. In the correct age category, I placed 2nd out of 100's, and some how Peter obtained an elite license for me (same level as Rumsas and the Lampre guy), so I ended up 6th out of all the elite riders! So finally, after 6 weeks of absolutely nothing, my form is on its way back. The knee is feeling better for pressure standing on it (up to a week ago, I couldn't put all of my body weight on my right leg), but it is still quite painful on the bumpy descents that bump it with pressure. The next race is this Sunday near Florence again. Race 2 in Italy - May 29, 2005 This next week's race was just as stressful as the first, but I started to feel ok on the bike. We left the house at 5:00 a.m. to get to the race close to Florence. Everything was going ok until we ended up in a traffic jam at 6:30 created by a 10 car pileup. It took more than an hour to get through, and it left us with just 30 minutes to get to the race, sign up, and get to the start line. We called the organizer and asked if they could delay it just a bit for us, and he said ok. Well when we get there, the helicopters were flying already and the race was off. We missed it. Peter jumped out of the car, got my bike off and told me to get dressed while he prepared my bike (this was on the freeway next to the start). Five minutes later, I was chasing the caravan hoping to catch on before the first climb. About 10 km into the race at 190 bpm, I was on, but it was the tail end with the ambulance, sweeper cars, and a group of 20 overweight, old club riders. The rest of the 2,000 person group was gone. I throttled it up the first climb, caught about 50 people, but no pack. Descended down the backside and into this small town where arrows went everywhere. The riders I had passed were way behind me, and the police were pointing me straight for the GranFondo, even though the arrows kind of went left, but I couldn't tell and went straight. Five kilometers down the road, and I knew I wasn't going the right direction. I didn't know how to get back to the start because I had left so fast and didn't pay attention to all the turns made following the traffic behind the follow cars. I flipped it and went back to that corner, studied it, and then one of the riders I passed on the climbs told me it was straight as well and wanted me to follow him. He took me through the town, and onto this small road that led to a climb. He told me to go up and said bye. I wasn't sure what to think but climbed anyway because there was no way to find the pack now. I climbed and climbed and climbed, 15 kilometers up with sections around 15%. On the top of the mountain, there were no signs of the race, nothing. I was freaking out, completely lost, not knowing where the team was, or the car, or the race! I descended down the backside, seeing tons of cyclists, but no racers. There was a small town at the other side, and amazingly, a rider with a number came by, but asked me where to go! I looked around and saw a bunch of empty Aquafinas on the side of the road, and knew it had to have gone through here. I started up the next climb and started catching the tail end of the race again. I was speeding along at 170 bpm and these old guys started to draft off of me for 30 seconds, then peel off. At the top, this one guy with a helmet from 30 years ago and bug-eye glasses pulled through on me. He was huffing and puffing so fast that I thought he would have a heart attack. Down the backside, he kept saying sesanta cinque. Later, I asked Peter what he said and it was that he was 65 years old. Crazy. At first, it was a confidence boost to be catching people, but after realizing they were all over 50, it was a little discouraging and on the fourth climb, fifth, and sixth climbs of the day, people were really starting to appear. As I cruised by them, they were saying stuff to me, but I couldn't understand it at all, but kept hearing Tamarack in weird dialects followed by more Italian. I think they wanted me to pull them and were mad that I wasn't waiting for them, but I tried to just keep a steady tempo the entire time, and with 35 kilometers to go, accelerated to upper threshold. There was one more climb, then a descent, and 15 kilometers flat into the finish where I hammered in the 53-11 until the end. The training ended up great, and the pasta feed at the end was amazing again with fresh cheese, salami, pasta, fresh squeezed juices and free massages! It ended up being a 180 kilometer day, with no draft, holding temp to upper threshold levels for 5 hours with 7 climbs that added up to around 3,000 meters. I didn't have much knee pain at all, still just on the descents that had unexpected bumps. The race was also won by Rumsas's teammate, followed by the man himself. They had a 10 minute gap on the rest of the field. Settling in to Italian life - May 27, 2005 I've started to settle into the Italian lifestyle a bit more over the weekend and did my first race for Tamarack. We traveled up to the western coastline to a small town called Lucca, which is near Pisa. The race there was called a Gran Fondo, and they are pretty much the biggest non-pro races in Italy. They have up to 10,000 people starting in a mass start, numerous category 1 and 2 climbs, and about 100 Ned Overends that can tear anybody's legs off and the ones over here definitely like to use drugs to stay up there though. So our race in Lucca only had 2,000 starters all at once. If you think a 150 person Pro, 1,2 race in the states is crazy, try this! The start went through small towns in a rolling enclosure with only one lane in some areas surrounded by rock and stone buildings. The pace was driven by these crazy locals that literally dream of being on the front for as long as they can to ride with the fast guys. They would give it everything they had, then drop off while the next one took over. The pace stayed the same until the first climb where everything exploded. I was in the top 50 at the start of the climb which rose up only 1,000 feet. It was one switchback after another and when I got to the top, all I could see was riders all the way to the bottom. It was amazing. We were going all out and everybody was suffering. The downhill was crazy with numerous switchbacks as well, and some very dangerous other corners. You could at least see the switchbacks coming, but some of the blind sweeping corners took you by surprise! Combined with speeds around 50 mph made it very sketchy! We came out next in this valley with a huge river looked over by mountains rising 4,000 feet above us. The course called for 4 more category 1 climbs with a cat 3 in the middle. Our leading group of about 100 formed and it was fast but easy as we slowly went down hill along the river. We entered a small town strung out single file then made a U turn straight towards the first big climb. For everybody in Durango, it was similar to the switchbacks on Purgatory, but for 20k averaging 8% on one lane! It was amazing! Unfortunately, I ended up breaking my chain right near the top, and had nothing that I could do. I descended down to the bottom and coasted as far as I could, sat on the road for half an hour trying to flag down every car I saw, and finally got an older man to stop. The pasta feed after the race was great. We had the best pasta ever, with fresh cheeses, pastries, bottled water, and wine and all for free. There were racers guzzling down a whole bottle and I couldn't even believe it. We stayed in a small bed and breakfast the night before and after. We actually didn't even eat breakfast the day of the race. The people I am staying with are so easy going and late everywhere they go that we had no time before the start and so I had 5 gels! I also just got back today from a climb up Mt. Nerone, which had 30 switchbacks on it averaging about 10% the whole way on a single lane that could barely fit an American sized car. I'm not sure how long it was, but the record is around 44 minutes. So I will be getting skinny.. That's it for now. Internet access is still hard to find but I like hearing from everybody, and I'm still working on emailing everybody individually. Just arrived in Italy - May 20, 2005 Well I finally made it to Italy in one piece. I think it is Friday afternoon now, and this week has been crazy. I started off leaving Durango on Monday night to have a layover in Denver until 9:00 a.m. when I took off for Philly. After that, flew to Frankfort, Germany where I was cooped up for 4 hours in the smoke filled airport. Then came a short plane ride to Roma, which by then was Wednesday morning. The fun didn't stop there though and I took a train towards Perusia with all of my luggage and when Greg and I loaded it up in Durango, it took us 3 trips with two people and now I was on my own and dragging it all in one trip to avoid anything from getting stolen. I was so tired that I passed out immediately after boarding the train. I tried to stay awake to not miss my stop, but couldn't. About an hour later, somebody that spoke absolutely no English shook me and said I needed to get off this train and board the one next to us. Luckily he had seen my ticket and new I was headed towards Perusia and needed to change trains. Finally, at 7:30 p.m., 48 hours after leaving Durango, I was headed towards Peter's house. After sleeping 14 straight hours yesterday, today was the first day to ride! We are in the heart of Italy and it is just like any classic Italian picture or Giro stage. Peter's house is located about 500 ft. above the valley road which only has a dirt road to the house. The views from the house are spectacular! There are big rolling hills that are bright green and have castles, restored farm houses, meadows, and 1000's of switchback roads. They usually drive down the dirt road, and start on the paved road, but I decided to check it out on my bike seeing as we ride them in Durango all the time. I made it, but it's a little bit steep (grinded a 25 up it on the way back) to safely make it both ways (would say it is 10 front hills for everyone in Durango to compare). The ride included a 14 kilometer climb with numerous switchbacks, then a downhill that was one lane, 180 degree corners, super steep (easily going 50 miles an hour), with green trees that hung over you. My knee is feeling lot better on the smoother pavement, but is still hurting a lot on rough roads. I did about a minute of all out effort, and didn't get any pain from that which is good, but I realized that I have been babying it and probably using my left leg 80% and my right only at 20%. The views were amazing with castles and huge ancient towns that are supposedly 2000 years old sitting on hillsides that don't even make sense. I'm definitely going to get a lot of pictures here e My first race is this Sunday for Tamarack up near the Eastern coast of Italy. I'm doing the shorter distance to make sure my knee is healing better, and because I am still very tired! I don't really have any expectations except to mentally get back into racing, and to try out the leg. Also, everybody else here is going, so to sit at the house would suck. That is it for now, I will try and email everybody individually soon, but the internet is hard to come by right now. Hopefully I will be able to set something up. The best way to get a hold of me is through email. Will be posting race reports on my website: www.eric-ransom.com. I miss everyone, international travel is sure is different and it sucks to not have anybody to talk to, but it is a great experience, and the English guys I am staying with are awesome. Tamarack Racer Eric Ransom to go to Italy - May 15, 2005 I am extremely happy that I was chosen to ride with a UK team in Italy for the next few months. Tamarack has been very gracious, as a main sponsor, in allowing me to follow this opportunity. I will be reporting on the season from Italy as things progress. Arizona NOVA NORBA National - March 20, 2005 So this weekend was the 2nd stop on the 2005 NORBA circuit. My goals for this race were simply to continue my progression into the season and get some good riding weather. The Time Trial was on Friday afternoon, and after preriding the course, I was stoked to test out the legs again! The trail was 8 miles long and exactly the same conditions that I grew up on in Boise, Idaho. It was super fast, sandy and hardpacked, loose corners, and a few rock gardens. I focused more on riding smooth, maintaining solid heart rate levels throughout the entire time, and finishing in the top 50. I had a great ride, and fell just out of the top 50, but with seconds separating each person, I knew that there would be many opportunities to move up. The next day, the short track was broken down into two separate heats. They put me at the top of the 2nd, and this allowed me to stay in the whole time, and gain a lot of time on the guys ahead of me in the TT that would be pulled immediately in the first heat. I had a great race again, finishing just outside of the top 10, with 6th place only being 20 feet ahead of me. This bumped me up to the low 40’s in the GC. The final day was a sweet 6 mile XC course that was so fast. My teammate Rick was turning 22 minute laps that morning so I knew the pro race would be fast since we were only doing 5 laps. The hole shot into the single track went so well. I was probably in the top 30 right behind Cody Peterson and Matt Shriver. Things were so intense with 100 of us in a single file line going 20+ mph on singletrack through the cacti! Two miles in though, a guy attempted to pass me even though I was sticking to the wheel in front of me. I fought it and he kept pushing and ended up crossing our handlebars together. We only stayed up for half a second before we hit the ground hard. I got up immediately after losing 20 positions and got back into it. I tried to keep going for awhile, but the pain in my right elbow was too much to stick onto the wheels in front of me, so I pulled the plug and went to the medical station to get checked out. The swelling was fairly bad, and they thought I might have fractured my elbow, but as of today, the swelling has gone down and I should be able to get X-rays tomorrow to see if there is any damage besides skin and muscle problems. Somewhat of a bummer, especially since it was my 21st birthday, but it is still only March and there is a ton of racing to still do! I'll let everybody know the diagnosis, and hopefully you will see me at Redlands in a few weeks. NORBA National #1 - March 5, 2005 So it is Saturday afternoon and we just finished the short track. It is raining like crazy right now so I figured I would go ahead and write a journal update for everyone. First off, the TT was yesterday. It was an extremely fast race with cow trails, rocky downhills, muddy turns and steep climbs. A little of everything, all in 3 miles. I went off the start, and my heart rate immediately spiked. Meanwhile, my teammate Rick Wetherald is cheering me on up the big climb while Iâm going as hard as I can·and he is just riding along next to me yelling at me. I donât know how the heck he was doing this, but it told me to go faster. I blazed through the rest of the course, but had to ease off a bit from the current lack of fitness. I also had a few unfortunate dabbles of the trail that cost me some time, but all in all, it was a good performance for this time of year. My time put me in the low 40âs in Pro, and I would have won the Semi-pro field. I was stoked, but if I only shaved off another 20 seconds, I would have broken the 20âs. Today was the short track with a monster climb·bigger than Aspen last year! Then it flattened and kicked up again! The downhill had a lot of turns and was very slippery. My start was great and I went from 5th row to the top 20 within a lap. I was feeling great, but after awhile, I just couldnât hold it. There was also a big crash involving Ryan Trebon and a few other people, and I just thought, ãwell, Iâm not going to brake and hopefully I will make it through it! I rubbed shoulders, slid sideways, but I made it out alive! After about 6 laps or so, I started to fade, and ended up getting pulled. I can definitely feel my high end form coming on a little bit, but with this only being my 3rd effort over a 140 heart rate, I can only last so long at 190. Then when Todd Wells got pulled, I didnât feel so bad either! Tomorrow is the cross country, and it is supposed to rain a half inch before then. The course is super sketchy with off cambered rock that you can barely even walk on, let alone, ride a bike on. It should be extremely hard and dangerous! I think the race should go well for me though, because it will prevent people from racing at the higher heart rate levels, and turn it into a race of attrition and skill. We will see, and Iâll put a race summary up tomorrow night! San Antonio, Texas - March 2, 2005 So after 14 hours of driving, we are in San Antonio, Texas! This is the first stop on the NORBA National circuit this year. I'm stoked, especially that we are here. So first of all, last weekend, we did the University of New Mexico TTT and Criterium. I was just out of a 30 hour week going into these races and had not been above 140 beats per minute (heart rate) in over 3 months. After this long of a base, my legs were hurting! The TTT was just done at tempo, but the crit was very hard. We battled CU, UNM, Airforce, CSU, and CC for the ENTIRE hour. We got our current top rider that is coming onto form off the front with a few other guys, and then we just regulated the pack. People attacked every lap, but we were able to hold it together until the end. With one lap to go, I was sitting 3rd wheel and thought it would be fun to go for the field sprint. Some dude from CSU was trying to take my wheel, but I held him off, and came around the last corner in 2nd place to stroll to a field sprint win. I was feeling good for just coming out of base. We rushed back to Durango to cram a few tests in and get our mountain bikes together, and head back south a day later. The drive down was very interesting with some border patrol checks·all they asked was if we were US citizens. I donât get it because if you werenât·then why in the heck would you say no? We also saw a sweet drug bust where these dudes were going through boxes of some sort of drugs in plastic bags. Check back for updates on the races. We do the time trial on Friday, Short Track on Saturday, and Cross Country on Sunday. Should be fun! Big Base Weeks after being in Boise - February 13, 2005 Well a bunch of new stuff has been going on in the past few weeks. Over my rest week, I made a last minute trip up to Boise to finalize some sponsorship deals, see the family, and do some training. The trip quickly turned into a 4 day crazy schedule with no time to train, and I barely made it back after skipping a few days of school! The drive there and back was fine without any snow along the way. I had a bunch of help from Vern at Bobâs Bicycles in getting me some new equipment for the season. Also, Tom Coleman at Wobblenaught helped set me up on my bikes for the year. He showed me some really interesting stuff· He explained the importance of keeping your ankle at a 90 degree angle (from your foot to your leg). He illustrated in a very good way that if your angle on the upstroke of each pedal is over 90 degrees, your muscles will fatigue much faster. If your angle is less than 90, you are also killing yourself, not only in increased fatigue, but less power output overall. Good stuff, and Iâve been thinking about this every pedal stroke for countless hours. I can already tell a huge difference! So back in Durango·the hours are big and the racing is starting soon! I have two weeks of 30+ hours before heading to Albuquerque for a collegiate race that will somewhat get me ready for a NORBA National the next weekend just outside of San Antonio, Texas. So race results will be coming soon! See you on the roads· Rest Week - February 1, 2005 Well after 3 solid weeks of training, I'm taking a rest week of 12 hours. I've been looking forward to this! After just finishing up a 24 hour week, I'm hitting the slopes at Purgatory. The powder was fairly good after getting some new snow. The weather in Durango has been off and on for snow, and staying off the bike for this sketchy weather has been awesome. Snow shoeing is also in full swing right now. My buddies Alex, Noah, and Ben went up to Missionary Ridge a few days ago to check out this new road we found out about a year ago, but it has been closed from the fires in 02. We hiked for about 3 hours through some great terrain with tons of crazy looking trees that were burnt and completely deformed! The snowpack was also sketchy and while sliding down some hills, we triggered a few really small avalanches! They were so small that it didn't matter, but you could really feel the force of the snow. Dicky Dub and I are headed to Texas soon for the first NORBA National! Four weeks and counting! Keep getting your base miles on... Start of the season - January 20, 2005 Well this is the first update in quite awhile, and there has been a lot of recent news to put on the site! First of all, I have began training for the upcoming season. I started after an awesome 3 weeks off of school and riding to go skiing at Telluride. Starting on the 10th was not only school, but a full base program under the guidance of Rick Crawford. This year we are focusing on some very big hour weeks after successfully completing two previous seasons of base. Now three weeks into my program, I am on 24 hours this week and feeling great! The weather has been incredible in Durango after getting a record snowfall in December. We have hit the high 50's a few times and it has been sunny for two straight weeks without a cloud in the sky. So far, the hours have been racking up! Just yesterday, we went to Mesa Verde and back which took over 6 hours. I thought Mesa Verde would be up on "mesas," without much climbing, but the Polar Heartrate monitor said we climbed over 7000 vertical. I couldn't believe how many hills are out there! But the ride was absolutely amazing. We probably saw 10 cars in the 40+ miles we did in the park. We got back right around 5:00 pm when the sun was setting for another 6 hour ride in the bank. Everything else has been great including school, durango, the new car that I finally got after my roommate totaled the previous one (without permission to drive it), and the part time jobs aren't too demanding yet... As for sponsors, I should have the page updated with a complete list of 05 sponsors in the next few weeks, so stay tuned. And if you are interested in becoming a part of the team, whether you are a sponsor or rider, please email me with any questions! Turkey Day Wrap Up - December 2, 2004 Now that Iâm back in Durango, Iâm focusing on school, Cross Nats, and sponsorship for next year. I had a successful weekend of racing over break taking 2nd to Richard Feldman in Boise (which he is flying now), and came back to race with Ned Overend, Frank Maple, among others. I was able to hang with these guys for a bit, but turned in early because a 12 hour drive the day before didnât make my legs feel too good. I made great time going over 90 mph through most of Utah·but it was still a long one! We had this caravan of 6 cars just flooring it all the way from Price to Monticello (near Moab) so the cops werenât going to touch me! So now Iâm rested, and on track for Nationals. We are going to be sending a great team that should take the individual titles, and I donât see any reason we wonât win the omnium·but Iâll wait just in case. On another subject, school is killing me, but two more weeks and Iâll be able to hit the slopes and take a break from homework, cycling, and work. Relaxation·itâs going to be great! We have huge reports in almost every class from Marketing 340 to Zoology. As for sponsors, Iâve had a lot of very positive progress, and 2005 should be a very good and well organized year. I canât wait to get started on it! News of sponsors should be coming in any day now·and look out for Fort Lewis at Nationals. Thanksgiving Break back in Boise, then to Cyclecross Nationals - November 16, 2004 Well next week is our break at school, and Iâve decided to head home to see the family and continue racing cross each weekend before heading to Cyclecross Nationals in December. We have a few local races back home to help keep the form on, and then it is back to Durango for a few weeks of school, then Nationals. I was able to make the Fort Lewis National Team for cyclecross, and we will be going for our 2nd stars and bars jersey this year. Our team is very fast, and our races in Durango have been excellent preparation. No where else in the country can you get to race cross with Ned Overend, Todd Wells, Frank Maple, and Matt Shriver. They definitely whipped me into shape fast! We have also had some great weather including rain, snow, mud, and temperatures in the mid 40âs. I donât think our team can prepare any more than it already has for Nats·so watch out! Looking Ahead - November 05, 2004 So now that mountain bike season is over, what is next? Well the form is still there in my legs so I got myself a cross bike and I'm going for it! I've never done cross before, but I'm motivated to try it out and hopefully make the national team for FLC in December. If cycle cross isn't what I expected, I'll recharge the battery and prepare for next year. Next year is still fairly blurry as to whether to focus on road or mountain, which team to ride for, and what races to attend! Things are shaping up fast though, and I'm hoping to keep racing for Tamarack Resort on the dirt. Road racing and individual sponsors are still in the works, but I'm hoping to have all this set in stone by the first of January. See you at the cross races! PA Collegiate National Championships - October 31, 2004 I just got back from one of the best weekends of racing this year. My collegiate team (Fort Lewis College) took 14 riders and 5 coached to Seven Springs, PA to compete for the National Mountain Bike Championships. We flew out last Wednesday arriving in Pittsburgh, PA where we drove for a few hours to the resort at a whopping 2,000 feet in elevation. The air and humidity were so think, we were practically chocking on it! We got a good nights sleep after the exhausting plane ride in huge chalets that could sleep 10 people (each in their own bed for once!). The next morning Matt Shriver, Johnny Hayes and myself pre-road the XC course. It was surprisingly easy with only a few miles of true "east coast" terrain. The rest of the trails were just plain old roads and climbs! This meant I was way stoked. Only if the weather would hold out and stay dry though...But we did our openers, got charged for the short track the next day. So the short track was at 8:00 am eastern time...which meant I needed to eat three hours before in order to keep my stomach from puking everything up. So 5:00 wasn't too bad, but coming from Durango in the mountain time zone...made it really feel like 3:00 am. In college, I don't get to bed until this time quite frequently! This made it really rough. We were on our bikes by 7:00 am, and were pleasantly surprised by a downpour of rain. This made the short track very good for us, and we used it to our advantage. The course was a road at the top of the resort where the fog was very dense, and the roads were so slippery! Our field had over 100 riders in it, and the four man team was hoping to stack everybody up in the top 20. We planned on racing it just like a road race and having our strongest man, Matt Shriver attack after the pace settled down and try to solo the victory. This would require the other teams to chase while the rest of the FLC guys got a free ride on the back of the pack. Everything went perfectly to plan as Shriver and I shredded the field down to only the two of us and Josh Bezechny from CU for a lap, but this came back together to form a group of about 10. Immediately after the pace slowed, Matt attack and was gone. Bezechny looked back and saw me, and knew it was up to him to close the gap. After a few people crashing and a few mechanicals from all the mud, our group withered down to just Alex Hagman (FLC), Josh (CU), and myself. We came into the finish in this order behind Shriver. Our guys ended up sweeping the podium taking 1,2,4, and 8. No other team was even close to this! To make the podium was my goal, and we got 3 of us in there! Amazing... The XC was the next day and the course had transformed over the last day into this very technical, rocky, rooty, and muddy 7 mile lap which we had to race four times. In normal conditions, this would have been fairly fast and easy, but with the mud, our times were going to be slow. Races like Tamarack and Big Bear were definitely going to help me with the endurance side of things. We started out fast, and everybody was taking risks, passing in terrible places, and being really angry. I chilled out on the first section racing around the mid 20's. I was cleaning the technical section fairly well, passing people, when I heard my tire burp (conventional tires on tubeless rims [w/o tube] don't always stay seated perfectly and air can escape) a few times! I thought it was alright, but when I realized I had about 10 psi in my tires, I couldn't tell whether I had a leak sill or not. I went ahead and filled the tire with air and just kept riding. After this whole fiasco, along with my shoe velcro not staying down, losing my sauce bottle, losing my middle chainring to the mud sucking action, and crashing once, I was mentally zapped. I kept rallying though and got stronger and stronger every lap as the luck turned to my side. By the last lap, I broke through to the top 10 and kept going. By the end I finished in 6th place with Shriver a few minutes ahead in 3rd, Alex in 15th, and Johnny Hayes in the mid 30's. I was so stoked. Saturday night was the big night of the banquet, podium awards, and naked crits. Out team was in great spirits practically securing the overall Division 1 title before the downhill even started. We had a great night with food fight almost erupting and having all the teams coming together for a great night out at Seven Springs. Sunday morning and our domination continued with our downhillers taking 1st and 2nd in the men's and 1st, 2nd, and 5th in the women's races. We totally secured our National Championship and were eager to put on the stars and bars. We owe so much thanks to all of the support staff out here this weekend: Rick, Elke, Dave, Jerry, and Dicky Dub were awesome and took so much stress off of our backs. Also our team was great. Our girls were just incredible. The downhill team seemed to be the best we have had, and the discipline on Saturday night for their race the next day...wow! To top it off, Shriver got 2nd in the individual omnium adding to his collection of medals and I pulled off a 4th place some how as well (usually you have to do all 4 events to get in the top 5 individual omnium, but our XC/STXC guys were so consistent in both events that they swept the podium)! So now that the race is over, I came out with 3 podium appearances, a National Championship jersey that I'm wearing right now on the plane ride home, and a great weekend to remember. Once again, thanks to everyone, coaches and team, it was a lot of fun! The Off Season - October 30, 2004 This is the critical time of year...for both rest and rebuilding after a hard season and to ensure that not too much fitness is lost. My goal, like most riders is to lay a great base by training long and low while having a life that allows T-Day to be as it was intended! Sponsor Talk - October 25, 2004 Plans for 2005 are well underway and so far three sponsors are secured (soon to be announced). Discussions with about ten more are moving forward and look promising.