San Dimas Rain

Today California brought heaps of rain and cold for our road race. After having an okay time in the tt yesterday I was looking to ride aggressive as was the rest of the team. The race started in pouring rain and temps of 50. Not sunny and pleasant CA especially when it was over 70 back in CO. But the race was hard and fast and the field exploded. And then on the 4th lap it actually exploded and I was left sliding along the ground. Ouch. But I got up with former teammate Chris Winn and we soldiered on. By the time I got a neutral bike sorted out (I broke my deraileur hanger) we had lost 6 or 7 minutes. With a short lap and lots of attacks we made it until three to go before the field lapped us. A miserable day as the temps continued to drop and the road rash stung. No crit for me tomorrow, so it's time to look forward to redlands starting on Thursday!

San Dimas Kickoff

Check us out starting off the San Dimas Stage Race with a 6k uphill time trial, it's going to be streaming online:

http://www.uride.tv/live-stream/03/16/2012/San+Dimas+Stage+Race/

Showing Off The New Look

Posting a few pictures from last weekends crit. Thanks to my Mom for taking them!

 And, of course a nice non-racing picture of me and my lovely fiancee!

CO Criting

Yesterday was the first crit of the season for me and my first race back on the road in Colorado after having been put on lock-down last year due to being a professional cyclist. Let's just say, I'm glad I can race again. A new course for me, but just a short jaunt from the house, which is always appreciated. The sun turned out a bit later than expected, but it was still quite nice for early March! A hour of fast crit racing awaited us on a very straightforward course: four easy corners and one little rise every lap.

We had a huge field, because they racing the category 3's with us so I made sure to stick to the front and tried to be aggressive throughout. Unfortunately the course wasn't quite hard enough to split he field and it seemed destined to come down to a bunch kick. Here is a quick video through the start/finish, I can be hard to spot but I am around the tenth guy to pass in all the white kit.

The final lap was full gas and I managed to stay right inside the top ten to unleash my epic sprint! Not much of one, but it was enough to stay in the top ten and avoid any crashes. Nice to get in an early season crit and feel good especially before we head to California for our first two big weekends of racing - San Dimas this weekend and Redlands the next.

Tuscon Wrap-up

Today was the final day of the TBC, and it was short and fast. 80 kilometers in under 2 hours with a fair bit of climbing. Lots of attacks and riding tempo on the front kept the speed up and it all came down to a bunch sprint that Cole won to move up to 4th overall, and put all 6 of us in the top 11 overall. Some great early season racing and beautiful weather. Now a couple more days of training down here before heading back to chilly Colorado.

Day 2

Another nice weather day down here in Arizona. A bit brisk at the 9am start but it was quick to warm up, especially with some fast racing. It was a lot of stop and go attacking today until the break finally established itself on lap 2 after a brief chase we had to bring our race leader, Ian back to the group after an untimely flat. It was Chad and David in the break with only one other rider, so it was up to everyone else to give chase while we sat back. On the final lap the race came back together and then blew up with a small group of a dozen forming with Mancebo and one other rider off the front. And those two were not to be seen again. There was a desperate chase once again from other racers but no chance. Those two finished about a minute ahead of the field, where Ian managed to get off the front and take third before Cole won the bunch kick for 4th in a group that had swelled back in numbers in the last 10k. Mancebo takes the leader's jersey with Ian in 3rd, but elsewise unchanged. Tomorrow is a up and down circuit that we do nine times, with a windy uphill finish.