For Sale.

Can't beat this deal!!!

http://boulder.craigslist.org/bik/252399692.html

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When I was in college my rowing coach asked me where I got my legs from. Where I got my “base” from. Everyone, Pro athletes especially, have a level of genetic ability that they are boprn with but even more important is what have they been doing since they were 5 years old. Or earlier.
I told her it was probably from hiking, climbing, “I played soccer in high school?” I really didn’t know. I didn’t grow up riding my road bike for hours and x-country skiing all day for fun like some of my freakishly strong friends. What I have done since I was 2 years old, however, is down hill ski. I have been doing it for so long that I forgot how hard it really is. Christmas day Lindsay and I went to Copper mt. and after a easy run together I started to hit it hard. I mean I thought I was Scott Schmitt for an hour or so. By the time 2pm rolled around I was paying for it. My legs burned, the 12,000 feet of altitude was making me more tired than normal and my back started to feel like Derek Jeter had batting practice on it!


Which brings me to THE key component to cross training. Going skiing one weekend is not cross training, country skiing once a month is not cross training. Random acts of physical activity that are hard on you, make you soar or think, “wow what a workout!, I hurt soooo much”, are not cross training. Cross training is an activity that trains aspects of your primary sport and aspects that are not directly used in your primary sport but still important. Most important is that one can participate in this activity frequently enough to become efficient at it and rep the true benefits from that activity. Other wise your just beating your head against the wall. Which can be fun and all but it won’t make you any faster.
Check out the race reports for a winter training article on how to make the most of your time. Also seen in the coming Jan. 07, PTS newsletter.

whens things go bad...

.

http://custom.photoshelter.com/c/jrice18/gallery-img-show?G_ID=G0000qnribTOEPJM&start=4&pagtotal=103

here is another pic of the first lap. before the mud.

No race report for the last boulder series race. sorry... no pictures yet either. internet picture security is getting better and better.
Today I can say proudly say that no cyclist beat me. Not one. I was chewed up and spit out by the course. The course and the course alone simply ruined me. You can just refer to the report form the USGP race It was pretty much like that except with mud. Lots of mud. Now I realize that mud IS cyclocross. And for some the more mud the better. Like that race horse in that Seinfeld episode. The one that “loves the slop”! This is not me.
When things go right in a cross race they go really really well. You find the line. Swing right around the tight 180 degree turn, your feet clip in first time on your re-mounts, you can drink Champaign and hit on all the pretty ladies watching the race looking fresh and in control and the competition falls away. Caught in the malay that is a cross race. And when things go bad, your simply in disbelief that riding a bike could go so wrong.

I started to harbor serious thoughts of pulling out the race. Right before the start I saw a few Toyoda United guys riding by. Looking fit already, clean and fast on their road bikes. About half way through the race this sight popped into my head. “that’s what I should be doing” “This is stupid any way!” “I’m not a cross rider.” Amazing how you can come up with theses things when its all going wrong. Last race I was talking smack to myself during the race convinced I was a cyclocross GOD! Yeah far from, I know.
With 20’ minutes to go more and more people passing me pulling out became very real but I thought of my dad just home from surgery on his hip and I thought ahhhh, no I am finishing. I have a thing about finishing races. bike racing in all forms has a prod humiliation attached to it. If you try. If you give it your all people know. You know. There can be much pride in finishing second. Or last. I have learned a lot from the cyclocross experience. many of thought s thoughts on training and life coming soon.

Time to start training gang.
Stay tuned.

Happy Holidays

After my T-day turkey trot 5K I thought the food was ready to go.
But... this is what I saw when I arived for the feast. A bit of an oven snafu...

Food Coma:

Fellow training partner feeling the effects of a hard swim/ turkey Brick...

I hope everyone’s thanksgiving was safe and filling. This time of year I get lots of questions regarding the future. "What’s next on your training plan EK? What goals do you have? What do you think my goals should be? I feel fat because I haven’t been training... not really a question but it happens.
I just did an article for the PTS newsletter on planning your next season. this is a great time of the year to do this.
Take some time to think about what you would like to accomplish next season, look back and remember what you did and did not accomplish last season. set some goals talk to your friends family and coach about what is doable for the coming season.

As always lots of good reading in here.

Pills

The older I get the more I have to take. 2 Ibuprofen before, 2 after. 4 sports legs, 1 gram of L-Carnosine, 1 gram of glutamine, 1 can of GO FAST (stuff rocks) and I still can't win!

It just shows you how much skill is involved in Cyclocross. i think the winner today do 4 hr. yesterday and rod 2 hr to the race...

I feel like a looser!
Any way not such a bad race to day. Check out the race report!

As you can see a bit off balence in the back here...

Off Season

I have had lots of people, friends clients and fellow coaches alike ask me about next season. "what should I do?" "how do I get better, faster?" "How do I figure out, for sure, what my weaknesses are?"
These are all good questions. I wrote an article for the PTS newsleter which covers just that.

You can check it out here.

and other PTS articles here.

and...
more cyclocross stories coming soon.
Train safe!

Motivation

11/8/2006

A huge win for Chuck Coyle's team McIntyre Dick & Partners at the Tour of the southland!

Fighting off crashes and brutal double stages teammate Greg H. bridged to the break and made it happen!

I road out to watch the UCI cross race in Longmont yesterday and it got me quite motivated. Then I also heard that they were paying out 1000 big ones to the top ten in the cat 3 race! So i am getting ready to race again today. the race is literaly accross the street.
keep an eye out for that race report.
Nathan Rice is staying here as well and racing in the pro ranks at 5300 feet. he's haning tough too! more on him to come.

lots More cross

Boulder series #3 in the bank and still improving.
read about the huge error made before the race even started
in the race reports soon.
hopfully some pics as well?

__________________________________________________________

Boulder cyclocross series # 2 in the tank. check out the race report!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos.php?id=photos/2006/news/oct06/oct23news/DV120081

the race wasn't this crazy but it was still a cross race.

Giving Props

Since my cyclo cross races are few, far between and not very exciting I figure its a good time to give some prop's to some others who are in the mix right now.
Patrick McCrann founder of PTS, and totally Bad As** Ironman tri guy, qualified for the big dance in Kona. Check out his race reports and other findings here.

and keep up with all the athletes here.

This weekend everyone!!

And, friend and new training partner Chuck Coyle is headed way down to Kiwi land for 6 days and 10 stages in the pain cage. Brutally windy courses, sharp finishing climbs and the weight of having a favorite on there team to win the over-all classification should make for an interesting week of road racing! Stay tuned for more on his trip coming soon!

Vacation

View from the cabin porch!!









It has been time for some relaxing this past week or so.
training has been low with fun and football being on the high side.
we have been taking advatage of fall caming into town. It's my favorit time of year.
we got way out of town that past weekend to a friends cabin well north west of Steamboat Springs. Serious cowboy country

Did some hiking, lots of eating, relaxing and one serious game of Monopoly that took us through a case of beer and saw us to around 3am.



Hike upto 10,000 feet on mt. Han.
an old mining area. lots of mine shafts and old sleeping huts.

First X

Technicly I have done a cross race before. on the mt bike when i was a cat four. So lets say that today was my first one. It went like... one would think it would go for someone who has weakness that define cyclocross.
One soar calf, banged up knee and a charlie horse later I finished.
check out the race report!

CROSS OVER: more training and coaching thoughts

With the road season all but over the rise of other forms of athletic touchier start up. Cyclecross being the most prominent, well, football too I guess. I have never really gotten into cross. Racing every weekend from March to Sept is tough enough. The fall (for me) is time to rest, drink beer and fight with my girl friend over what ever game happens to be on that Sunday.
I have always wanted to race in some cyclecross races as cross is the sum of all of my weakness wrapped up into 45+ embarrassing minutes.
For the last 3 years many different reasons have come up and kept me from the races but this year I think it really may happen! Now mind you I am not suggesting that after racing all summer on the road diving full steam into a cycle cross season that goes every weekend until mid December is a good idea, in fact I think it’s a horrible idea!! My approach is that cross will bring out, and there for improve my weaknesses. I am not training full bore for these races and will only do a few. I did go to the local Cross group ride in boulder the other day. pretty fun, and great practice. I didn’t embarrass myself too much. Although I think one girl did beat me? So this weekend we’ll see how things go… Thankfully there will be no girls, sorry, women in my race.
Also going on is the need for me to throw down in a half Ironman again. Right now I am working on some logistics for the SOMA ½. The competition looks a bit harder than Montauk ½ I did last year even for the time of year. But in AZ I guess winter is just a word??
So here I am in full beer drinking, hot wing eating, parting, football watching mode and I have two sports looming that couldn’t be more different. “Coach Eric how are you going to pull this off?!?!?” “simplicity, that’s how, just keeping things simple” This may not sound like a normal “off season” but it will have me more skilled and stronger in the long run. More to come, stay tuned for my progress…

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FOR SALE

I have some things for sale on line check them out!!
more things to come this fall, Equipment, gear, clothes and frame at some point...

thermal jacket
thermal jacket #2
and more...

put in your place

Felling like your the man! or Woman?
got some good race results, a new PR on the local TT or big hill climb?

this should put you in your place!!
http://www.endurance50.com/
this is sick! some may say just down right stupid. I say this guy has a some major elephant sized you-know-what to even attempt this!!

Surviving or Competing

trying to finiah the road race with some style...

In cycling, Triathlon and many other endurance and out door sports survival is half the battle. on Monday in the Burlington Crit on the last day of the Green MT stage race I did just that. survived. I survived well too. never really under pressure but also not really able to attack or ride on the front. however, in surviving I out lasted about 30% of the field and moved from about 40th on GC to 29th. I was pretty happy. The tough course and blistering pace on the last day of racing in VT will test the will power and fitness of any rider. I felt a huge sense of accomplishment in finishing. I know many riders who did not. I know some very good riders who did not.
check the race report for the turn by turn details. coming soon!!

Pure Pain.

check out the day 3 race report!!!
the GMSR road race is one of the hardest in the country!

DAY 1

Day one race report up!!

GMSR

The pain, chaos, and allout no holds bared racing that is the green mt. stage race is upon us!
more to come, stay tuned!
http://www.gmsr.info/stage_info.htm

Ok back to me.

I will be off to the mother land starting tomorrow. That’s right New England. And I would be lying if I said I am not thinking about my hematocrit levels, the training I have been doing and the people I have been rubbing handlebars with in local races and training rides. This past Tuesday I did the local hammer ride and it was quite interesting. Many, many pro’s Scott Moniger being only one of the countless piston legged monsters throwing down a 28 MPH avg on the ride. I felt good and was even up at the front a bit… I hope that my legs are good. real good. and I hope that will help some on my team to some great results. Whether its me or not I don’t care. I just want to ride like I never have before.
Race:
Today was the Longmont Crit. 6 turns and quite fast. 29 MPH. It was the speed of the Tour of CT crit if that helps. I’ll save you the race report because there isn’t much to report. That is until someone got bit loose in the rear and tock a digger in turn 3. looked nasty and I got a good up close view but I was lucky enough to power-slide past the wreckage and chase back on. The speed was pretty sick . 30+ on the finishing straight mage it really hard for me or any normal person to move up. My 12 sprocket wasn’t working that well either, not that I am a master at turning that gear anyway…
I finished with the pack and felt really good. the last 10-15’ started to hurt a bit. But I felt good. confident. I road to the race with a local friend Dan from the Wild oats team and back with Lindsay. Pretty nice day all around, good weather, cool some passing showers but we stayed dry, rubber side down and hey, its CO.

Ek's Client rips boulder long course tri

Ek and Lynn, 10 minutes before her scorching 1/2 ironman race Sunday Aug. 13th.

This past Sunday another one of my clients ripped apart her first 1/2 ironman triathlon. posting a 5:30 (about) official results aren’t in yet but my watch is good enough for me. Lynn has made big strides in transforming from a "strong" athlete to a “fast racer”. her work on the bike has enabled her to not only post a solid bike splits but have plenty of gas left for the grueling 1/2 marathon. all look grim when sickness kept her from training 2 weeks before here race but her perseverance was strong and she arrived on race day ready to rumble!!
Nice job Lynn!!

First Client Win!!

This past weekend in New Hampshire Darcy McGuire ripped away from the field after 38 grueling miles on the hilly course of the Bow Central NH road race. McGuire covered many attacks during the race feeling that the winning move could go at any time. As the final 500 meter uphill sprint drew near no move had escaped but the field was whittled down to less than 10 souls due to the brutal pace and hilly nature of the course.
"I had so much snap today, my legs felt like never before! it was unbelievable!" Darcy said after the race.
Eric and Darcy have been working closely since winter in what is her first year of racing. Darcy has had many other great results but the big win has eluded her. Not any more.
I want to congratulate her on a great ride. Lots of hard work and ultimately her spur of the moment decision making made win possible. NICE JOB DARCY!!

Floyd and the quote

So as we know another one of our great American cyclist has fallen victim to... well something.
I am not going to start a debate about it. For the record I believe him. I do not think he doped. it just doesn't make sense. and I would suggest that if anyone feels them self’s ready to place blame or judge, you should first take the time to educate your self on the matter. Completely.

My quote on the top of my opening page is from Floyd. I put it up there some time ago. When he was still with Postal I think? Recently, during the Tour I thought of changing it. Just because. to freshen things up a bit. Now I have had more than one of my friends confront me and say "maybe you should take that down? don't want to portray the wrong thing." and there right.
I don't. so...

I am leaving it. One, because it’s just a "Quote".
Two, I don't know Floyd, he might be the nicest guy in the world, he might be an ass? bottom line is I don't judge. Even if he did do it I would not and will not judge him or anyone else for it. and until I have a wife, kid, mortgage on a house land, and every sports fan of an entire nation baring down on me will I judge.

this is why I will leave the quote, I’ll put some others up on a daily page when I think of or hear some good ones.

All for now. big week of training. I have to go lay down.

Trying to catch a break.

i can't catch a break!!!
check out the denver crit race report to see how things unfolded...

Salida, RR, some strange turns of speed?

with the TT not going as well as i had hopped i was prepared for a long day alone in the RR . but i would give it everything i had. the pervious week i had logged a long hard week of training. i felt good and i was now hopping for a good showing. of some kind. even the smallest would do. that morning was early. the race started at 8am! uhg... but after chocking downing some muesli and a few cups of coffee i was coming around. i drove down the vally back into town with increasing confidence. they were putting out cones already on the course and as i came into Salida proper i found myself a bit lost. i got off the phone with the lady and got my barings straight. “ahh I am just to far north. a few blocks that way and i'm all set!” salida is not big. its very small in fact. as i looked around, through some yards and down some streets for my location i was feeling even better. the legs good, plenty of time till the star- BAMB!! OH my... what the Fuc'jodiiuklnHo poqwjejedo;f ppwspjfpi

the sound of tearing medal, screeching tires, that flash of adrenalin, pumped through my body quickly followed by that terror of "ohh my good i just killed someone?!” I don't even remember my car stopping i just remember jumping out off it and running back to, thank god, another car and not a cyclist. i was traveling through one of the hundreds of 4 way intersections with out any stop signs while a small, 2 seater, MG that was the exact green as all the grass and tress around had left its house precisely at the right time to meet me in that intersection in a perfect T-bone “how’s your morning going” automobile equivalent chest bash. My wheels didn't even get touched. Perfect T-bone. His matchbox car was worse off than Silver (my cars name. named for "silver" the horse of the lone ranger). The shock was pretty severe. After the cops, fire truck, and ambulance left I put myself together drove back to the hotel to check out and was on my way home. I missed my start to the RR. I am not sure if I would have started anyway, but it was a moot point now. After about 30 minutes of driving I wished that I had calmed down enough to park at my hotel and go for a ride. The scenery and terrain there is unreal! 14,000 foot peaks around and tree line so close you could touch it.
I was pretty reflective on the way home. By the time I got home I was over it. Pissed yeah, but in the grand scheme of things its all really minor. I drowned my sorrows in a chilly dog with Lindsay. Then, that night we had some people over for dinner and I drowned my sorrows in some more liquid items.

In my quite 3 hr drive home I got to thinking. about all the "great athletes or public icons" that we know. why are they great? is it because they had a perfect season, perfect training and a flawless race. maybe but not really. most of the time there greatness came from what they had to overcome to achieve what they did. I am not saying i want to be "great or a public figure". i remember hearing a while back (i can't remember from whom) they said, "you are defined by how you overcome adversity." sounds good to me, until your faced with something you didn't plan for. Didn’t even think of or consider! moving out here has been tough. real tough for many reasons. the only thing we really have control over in life is how we react to adverse situations, how we deal with them.
so remember that the next time you start to crack in your big race. you get lost driving somewhere, or someone is out of the blue rude to you or your friends. anyone can be cool and look good when everything goes there way. but what happens when it all falls apart? what then. That’s when you'll find out what there really made off...

the good stuff is coming, any minute now. It coming…

Salida Omnium: Salida, Co

Salida is nestled, in the Rocky Mountains. It sits at about 7000 ft. with many peaks all around that stretch up to 14000 ft. it is a truly magnificent area. The TT was on Friday evening. start time. 7:25.00. after getting there early, checking into my lofty hotel at 9000 feet. (that ought to be good for the recovery)
check out teh race report...

my results were less than i had hoped for. I finished out of the top 20, out of the top 50% in fact. Which was a bit disappointing. I have not had a chance to obsess over the results yet but I am pretty sure a rear disk wheel would have giving me 20-30 seconds. And I lost around 1 minute to the winner so… again I am the last one to make excesses and I haven’t really had the time to mull over the race and the results yet. But I will…

AHHHH Boulder...

Another stage race on the way this weekend. stay tuned!
http://southcentralracing.com/omnium/for-racers/

more pain

today was the Mike Horgan hill climb in Boulder. the climb heads out boulder canyon on gradual inclines for 4 miles or so to sugarloaf road where things get nasty quick. 12% plus for a while, it then eases back just long enough to make you think you will be ok and then right back in your face. 8% at the least and up to 12 with no rest. none!! i feel like i am coming around a bit finaly and while i am not upset with my proformance today i am not realy pleased either. nervous energy played havoc with me the whole race. In a worse case this would cause anyone to have to simply stop. i did beat my times from training but i should have. carbon wheels and riding in the pack for the first bit should have made up that time. so while i did nothing great today i also did nothing real horrible.
ok enough of that. check out the race report.
after the race Linds, a friend in town and myself had a sweet late breakfast over looking the rockies. can't realy beat that.
hopefully my confidence will come around soon. i think that now that is the only thing holding me back.
no results yet but i will put them up for a good laph and ridicule from people who have been up the climb. if not. do like your mother said. if you can't say something nice don't say anyting at all!
results should be here soon: http://www.boulderracing.com/Horgan.asp
or maybe here.
http://www.americancycling.org/results/2006/july/horgan.htm

Some coaching things

Still lots of clients and friends of clients asking for training plans for riding tours. multi day tours, one day mega rides, etc... more training plans have been made and more are on there way.
check out the "training plans" link.

big race this weekend as well. well big for me. lets hope I am breathing with both lungs! a mass start hill climb. 18 miles of pain. I have ridden the climb a few times. the middle section is 30' long or s. i ride it in the 39/27 and i am not going easy... at all. so yeah its steep, long and doesn't ever let up. some dirt roads at the end and a rolling 2 miles to the finish just to make you think about tactics. check back for that!

Few notes on Boulder

This means bikes take the whole road! can you believe it?!?!

town of Nederland. (far side of lake)
this is a cool little mountain town. rumor has it this is where Tyler lives. cool place but you would have to clmb 3000+ feet to get home from almost any where you road that day! the town is at 8500 feet or so... I stop here almost always on my mountain training rides.

The peak to peak highway. this runs north south in the mountains just weat of boulder. its altitude runs anywhere from 7500 to 9000+ feet. butifull road.

Riding with your mouth tapped shut.

Dead Dog day 2 race report is up!

to wrap up. Good training. I feel that I am coming out of the weekend stronger so that’s good. I also got to see some great places and meet some cool people.

Into Thin Air

When I was a cat 4 I went to a race with a teammate/ friend of mine that was a good 3+ hours away. We got up early, had coffee on the road, made sure we ate enough, did the whole thing. We had a good race and a good time. There is more than just racing. The friends, the adventure, teammates, etc. when we where leaving we were talking to a guy that raced in our race. He drove out there all by him self, raced, and was now driving home. I thought “that’s no fun? he’s crazy!“
This morning I packed up Silver (my car) with all my stuff and drove to Wyoming, alone. Not for just 1 race but for 3 races in 2 days. So am I crazy?... I know that racing in a pro-1-2 field after being here at elevation for only 9 days and racing over a mountain that stretches up to 10,500 feet might seem like I am in fact crazy! Well maybe, but when I saw this race the description, etc, I couldn’t pass it up.
I don’t think I am crazy. I have a friend. Good friend. His name is Tom. He is know in many circles as “Crazy Tom”. People always will ask, “why do you call him crazy tom” the answer is always the same. “because he really is fu#%* crazy” you have to know him for a bit before you see it but when you do its unmistakable. I’m not quit there. Actually if anyone has any EK really is crazy stories send them my way. I’ll check if there appropriate.
check out the race repot!
more coming soon!

First big ride

So I have done a few longer rides with plenty of climbing. But today a tock off early and headed out for the local classic. I headed north to left hand canyon. About 45’ for me.
the climb is long but not to steep. 3% maybe, 14 miles, kicks up in a few places but pretty chill. chill yeah but after an hour of going up it gets to yah.. around mile 8 or 9 I started to get real tired. My HR was climbing faster than I was and the legs were really feeling last nites group ride. That’s another story. Put it this way. Cross winds suck!

Anyway I pulled my self together and started to feel better. After 14 miles of climbing I got to “the climb”. the last 2 miles (for a total of 16 lung busting miles) get steep. 8% maybe? its hard to tell when your at 9000+ feet. Finial I got to the peak to peak highway. A sweet road that runs north/south on the ridge of the mountains from Estes Park to… not sure but south of Denver I think. There are a few mountain towns along the way. Interesting towns. I cruised along the P to P for 15 miles to Nederland and stopped for some drink and the biggest, juiciest, most ridiculous muffin I have ever seen or heard of! It could have feed Guam, or a hungry, un-acclimatized cyclist pretending to be pro. Actually I had to put half off it in my pocket and that half barely fit!
ok so now back down another canyon towards boulder, 17 miles. On the way I lost the magnet for my computer… not really important but I was pissed. Getting back near town I tock a detour off the decent to find some more climbing. I did about 15- 20 more minutes of hard up hill riding and called it good. Time to go home.
I need to get a camera cell phone because the riding and views here are out of this world! You just can’t even imagine.
I am still deciding as to whether I should go to this race in WY. The dead dog stage race the race seems made for me and I hate to pass up an opportunity to race a cool race but it could be ugly. Real ugly?
more to come.

Landed

yes i am here!! nice morning view, ehh!

so some job searching, following up, etc.
finally got out for a ride with some cooperate types, wanted to make sure i wouldn't push myself to hard. and my shifter broke! what! I soon realized that working at a bike shop, knowing where everything is, how to get there and knowing 90% of the people in Mass had its benefits. and those benefits are all gone.
so 3 bike shops later I found someone willing to warranty it for me in under a week. sweet! if I were home i could have done it all in 10 minutes. But I’m not there any more and these are times of change.
also i consider my self a pretty good mechanic. not great but i can handle most anything on a road bike. all well and good when you have a bike stand, all the tools one could ask for, parts up the wazoo and other mechanics to ask opinions or help if you need it. "Bamb! done better than new. actually I’m glad my shifter broke."
yeah, being a good shop mechanic and a bending over kneeling on cements floors, holding the bike with one hand, working 2 other tools with the other while trying to re-cable ones nine speed shifter onto there 10 speed race bike with old frayed cables a leatherman, and cracked shifter housing... very different. not such a "good" mechanic any more!
i did manage to finish the job and went out or a nice chill ride around town. tried to keep it on the flat because any uphill makes me cry for my mother and ride like a cat 6 girl! no offence ladies I love you all. The altitude is a bit more than i thought but really not to bad.
A few notes on boulder:
-I had heard that western folk are easier to make friends with but they don't ever become true friends. Like they'll never help you move. Not true. I have had 2 people ask me so far “you need help with that?” just passers by and a neighbor.
-every one is good looking. Even the people that aren’t good looking are still kinda good looking. Basically for you Boston people, Boulder puts the Harvard and BU campuses to shame! -people stop at yellow lights? This was confusing to me at first but I’ll get the hang of it.
-people in cars yield to cyclist? this is even more strange. I have had several people in the middle of rush hour stop at every inopportune places to let me and others pass? Again this isn't all computing yet but when I have it sorted out I’ll let you know.

Retrospect

The day after I graduated from college I packed up my truck and went to Wisconsin for the summer. I was there to row and a pre elite camp. A sort of feeder for the national team. After that summer I moved to Boston, home of 1 of the 3 rowing clubs in the country that housed an elite lightweight mens rowing team. I was to row with this team for a year, Maybe 2. By then making the nation team and compete at the Olympics and/or world championships where after I would retire from the sport move to CO and fill my days with climbing rocks, ice, mountains and working in my field of Environmental science. Sounds good huh!
My plan was very simple but later to make it happen was…. Not so simple. After 5 years of sweating off weight at 5am, eating rice cakes for dinner, rowing on the ergometer to the point where my blood lactate levels where so hi it would kill a small dog and my feet would go numb, the national team and my goal was still just out of reach.
The other day I was driving down by the Charles river the day before my departure from Boston and the east coast and I thought of how many times I have been back and forth down that damb thing? How much sweat did I pour into that river? Into Boston? As many of you know I moved on from rowing, with no regrets. And quickly begin cycling. And here we are. Some times when you think of how you got to where you are now it really amazes you.
It has amazed me.
I say I have no regrets form leaving rowing but at the same time there remained this… void that I couldn’t seem to fill? It felt like I had let people down, my friends, my parents, all the people that supported me and sacrificed so that I could do what ever I needed to do to reach my goals.
Over the last month as my departure became more of a reality and not just a date, I have had the feeling that I did accomplish my goals in Boston. I have the best friends in the world and I did in some way, in ways that I don’t even know, to people that I wouldn’t have thought of, made a difference in there life. And I think that is the best thing that any one can do on this planet is make a difference. I have had friends, family and more sacrifice so much for me and that is something I am so greatfull for. Aat the time, in the heat of the moment, I didn’t even realize it.
Thank You.
Point is stay true to your self and the people around you. Chances are you mean something so someone, whether you realize it or not.

Lake Aurburn race report up!

also, you know how i was talking about my "best friends in the world..."
http://boston.craigslist.org/act/169746311.html

very funny guys...

Updates:

Ok some road trip tips for yah here. First and update. I am changing my training log to my “Race Reports”. Just to make things a bit more stream lined on the page and my coach isn’t real excited about me having my training up for all to see. I don’t see it as a big deal and I leave out most key details but… still he says so, and I… really can’t keep up with it anyway. I think it will be easier to navigate so check that out.
I have had a lot of questions from my clients and friends. about training for the B2B ride in Boston, the MS 150, and other mega rides around the country… I have a new “training program” for just that. Check them out!

Road trip: drive to CO. stop over in the Midwest for a wedding, a little riding and lots o’ partying! A few tips on road tripping. And I am not giving these tips as the know it all driving guru, but more as I am learning from my mistakes/Discoveries and passing them on to you. *Ohio has very dangerous drivers. Red states??...
*You can’t flirt your way out of a speeding ticket no matter how attracted you think the female motorcycle cop is to you.
*If driving for long duration at once take naps. The implementation of rumble strips these days on the side of roads and before tolls or major turns makes this a very reasonable thing to do. and Pennsylvania is a huge state!!
*Most people on the interstate don’t know what a double pace line is and you will most likely get the finger, along with some crazy flailing hand motions and empty coke cans thrown at you. *If you mix the right amounts of coffee, Red Bull, Coke and a spicy chicken sandwich from Wendy’s , than hang you legs out the window of your car with the cruise control at 85MPH or higher it feels like your flying!
All for now I will relay some more info on the BIGGER states to come.

Suffering in Somerville

Last Days

I am here for my last few days on the east cost. I am back at the secret training local that I mentioned a while back. I figured that it will be a some time before I see the ocean again so I should get my fill. And I am. My buddy and I went to the local diner for lunch. Haddock burgers! The best in the world! While we were there a scruffy fisherman came in sat down at the “liars table”? Not sure what that’s all about… made some chit chat with the waitress, they know each other as everyone does in this town, and then he ordered his lunch.
“I’ll have a buuuga’r” in a deepest downeast Maine drawl you can imagine.
“What kinda buugar you want Harry?”
“ I don’t caaare , just a plan burga’r, a hamburger”
“how do you want it cooked?” she asked”
“ahhh… regular”
Again insert the deep Maine drawl. If you don’t know what this sounds like put 4 marbles in your month and talk that should give you a good reference. He had that look about him. Rough, tough man. Carved out of wood and shaped by the sea. He had that 1000 yard stare that pierced through the diner. What ever he was lookin at I couldn’t see it. I don’t think anyone could. Things are simple here. That’s why I love it. Only here can you ask a man how he met his wife and in 5 minutes your hearing about how the Danish water polo national team was in this bar in Prague and saved my but from a fight right before … it goes on. They like there stories here in Maine so if your ever way Downeast be careful what you inquire about. It might be a few bottles of scotch before the night is done.
Lets back up. Moving. Yes I am out. I have been talking about moving to CO ever since I moved to Boston. Now I finally have the chance to go and… it is scaring the fu&% out of me. I have been here for 8 yrs. Loved, lost, been found, been to heaven and hell and I am kind of attached. Things are also going very well. My job, the cycling team, where I live. I guess its kind of like that Seinfeld episode. “Quit while your ahead” where as soon as George said something funny or did something good he would leave. He didn’t want to blow it. Well… its not quite like that but I have a great opportunity my parents are retired and will be able to visit a lot. Opportunity doesn’t happen. It doesn’t hit you in the head you have to go get it.
I will be back for some big races throughout the summer, to see clients and meet with new ones but home base is defiantly changing. I am excited. Big time.

jers, day 3

Another crit?! why did we come down here?

We came here because the money is big the competition is bigger and the races are some of the longest running races on the east coast. Still this it’s a crit, myself and the team can only expect so much out of our self’s. Right in down town Somerville. Closed streets hundreds and hundreds of spectators and temperatures approaching the 90’s made for quite a day. The cat 2 team had high hopes but with 140 guys in the field many of them who had not raced the last 2 day and spent most of there training/ racing in central park banging handle bars made for difficult work for the kenda Raleigh boys. Still $100 in prims and having everyone avoid the 3 crashes was a success in my eyes. The pro race looked like tourcher. Not the speed so much but the field was bigger than ours and over twice and long! It was fun to watch but I’m not a spectator and while the beers were good it wasn’t long before I was yelling tactics and time gaps to my teammates racing. The weekend as a whole was great. Hangin with the team was fun and… interesting as always. On a personal note the legs felt good. I was recovering well in the races and between each day. I road hard and it felt good. my spring season is coming to aclose ad I was a bit retrospective on the way home. I am moving to CO. While this move is very exciting and a new, large chapter in my life and I can’t wait to read... it is scary. I am leaving the security of New England which I have had my entire life. I love my job and my team. I will be back and forth a bit this summer for races, etc… but still, home base is changing and that’s scary. But…. ONWARD! Even better adventures await! Next…

Day 2, NJ

We have a few Jason’s on the team. But one has really come to lite in my mind this weekend. Jay Harp. A young buck from VT. Talented rider and all round nice guy, funny guy. He always refers to everyone by the full name. “Joe Moody are you still hungry? Here have some of my burrito." “Eric kenney how many doughnuts did you eat before the race?” etc… he also will refer to himself in the third person. When he’s tired in particular. "Jay Harp is felling... not so good right now" This may seem not so funny but after riding a bicycle around in a circle for 1:45 covering over 40 miles with your heart rate over 180 the entire time… yah it was really funny.
the soccer team that's staying in the hotel here is also providing plenty of distraction from racing... and I'll leave that at that.

Onward.
the crit today was hard. More so because we are not a crit team. No sprinter to work for even if we could “work” for him we sat in for the first half (for the most part) waiting for some legs to get tired they did but 4 pairs still had some kick and got away with out one of us. They quickly got a gap that was to far to bridge to. After a few hard pulls from myself Eric Pearson made an aggressive move to the front where 10 guys were splitting away. Joe let us go causing a huge gap. But the group was to big and organization was not there. I felt good. I was recovery quickly and put in some long hard pulls to bring back the breakcouldn'tust couldn’t get “all” of us up there at once. A few guys from our Kenda/ Raleigh team got up there in the waning miles. But with the pressure they were applying I couldn’t move up. When they slipped back with 5 to go the pace slowed and I moved up for one last pull. We got the break close, but not enough. In the end Eric P got 17^th. Not bad. But we can do better.
More importantly everyone looked good. We all raced hard and smart. I felt good. Recovery from my efforts, but I just can’t produce that power on the flats for crits.
tomarow that cat 1 guys have the big crit and us cat 2's have a 20 mile barn-burner to deal with, and dispite not being a crit team we're strong and we'll be looking to make things play out our way.

Jers- Day one

A late arrival to our hotel in the land of the… ahh is NJ the land of anything… we’ll come back to that. But the hotel is nice, were all here and feelin ready. The race today was rather selective. There were 2 steep but not long climbs about half way through the 80 mile course. The first one did some damage and the second made the selection. I worked hard early for the team and made the group chasseing “the’ move that was just in front of us after we came off the decent. I was feeling good despite not being aware of the second climb at all. I was thinking I would try and bridge up if our group slowed on a rolling hill which were now coming fast and heavy. Our pace was frantic as the 20-30 rider group I was in realized that this was the split that would make the race. With a team member in there and another one up the road from early in the race things were playing out well.
Then things tock a rapid turn for the worse, for me anyway. I pushed into the red zone up the second climb trying to get to the front. Then just after a teammate and I settled into the group chasing the winning move we both missed a turn. Badly. Hop off the bike get back on grind through the gears back into the red zone and I was back on deep breath now I was feeling the days efforts. Ok ok relax, drink, it was 85 degrees now, I can recover. FEED ZONE!! We were moving over 30 mph, we had 5 guy who needed water, I grabbed the bag. Some one swerved into my handle bars… woowahhah. Ok I’m fine. Stand up on a roller now daggling off the back, opps not with a feed bag full of 5 bottles you don’t, backing the saddle. In the red zone again. “Damb it!” I sat up put the bottles in my cages in my pockets, through the bag and got back to work. The rollers were now in full force. And I was hurting. 10-20 meters behind. So close! after a felw more hills and 10’ I started to crack. They just weren’t letting up! Then a crash in the group stopped a car and a motorcycle in front of me. I had to hit the breaks, only just a bit but it put the nail in the coffin. I was mad. I still am mad. But I am happy. I worked hard chasseing breaks in the early miles kept Joe in front for the first climb. And made what was a top 15 group. But the second hill followed by the missed turn and feed zone mayhem was to much in to quick a secession for me to handle.
Joe made a select group with Jason Bear. They finished 3^rd and 5^th respectively! The first 2 amature placings. we were all very happy. Everyone road strong and smart, and every one finished safe. Tomorrow is a long crit. 40 miles I think. I am trying to bottle up my frustration in hopes to unleash the twin towers of doom tomorrow or Monday…. I hope.

On another note my teammate has pointed out a few things about NJ that I feel ring true. The traffic circles are very poorly designed, and the girls are very well… designed.
more tomorrow.

coming...

some big races in NJ coming up this weekend...
STAY TUNED!

Rock star wana be...

This is kinda what the last 15 miles felt like...

Some times you just don't have it. for what ever reason and I have been finding all of them, you just aren't the rock start you thought you could be.
This weekend I raced at the Bear Mt. road race. 98 miles of a heavy course. one long (2-3 miles) climb. small ring but not to steep. and some other rollers. small ring on one inparticular.
the race played out well for me too. or so i thought. after a normal nervous start where someone misjudged a turn, crashed on my inside and hit my bike. and another squirrely guy with some fierce kick back when he stood up. After that it was pretty steady until miles 56-70 where mr Kodak guy and Dave Frattini through down. dropping half the field. on the second mach 1 trip up the climb I was to far back coming around people getting dropped. by the top of the climb I was feeling the effort. trying to recover now the 6th time up the climb which was pretty chill I thought about trying my hand attacking again (i went a few times around mile 60). but figured I should play it cool the race was hard enough. at the top the big boys attacked again. 10 of us responded but only 2 made it. One of them being my team mate Eric P. yes that same one that caused all the pain in GA. he is for real!!
any way the rest of us started to go and after about 45 seconds in the red zone cracked bad! an even smaller group formed about 30 guys that would get even smaller in the last 20 miles.
It was tough seeing the move that I have trained for go up the road and not having "it" in the legs. I cracked really bad and there was no coming out of it. maybe being at the back having to closing gaps the lap before was the reason, maybe I ate something bad, or the restless night of sleep. maybe there was a full moon... uhhh.... somewhere? There was really nothing. Everything went well even the steady increasing pace of the race played out well for me.
I didn't do that bad I guess. my group was 15th- 27th and 5 guys had slipped away from us in the closing km. not bad with only 40 finishing all together out of 100. but still I work hard and I expect allot from my self. at least more than I had Sunday. Its important to remember, myself and everyone I guess, that this sport. All sports when competing at a high level are very, very demanding. And some times its just not your day. The other thing I have learned after many years of competing in many sports is that if you work hard, stay smart, stay motivated, your day will come. It might take awhile but it will come.
Next weekend I’m off to another one. I have done well there before so I’ll look to post a better, more exciting entry next week. one with so good pictures!

Racing Racing and more Racing...

what IS up with the wind this spring!! Everyday its blowing, every single day! I have kinda had it... of course as soon as the wind stops it will 98 degrees and I’ll be complaining about that even more. I guess I’ll take the wind for now.
lots of racing lately sorry it been a while since my last entry. I have been really busy. My training log is also a bit behind but I will get that updated soon. The double race weekends do wear on me. Everything, the travel, getting ready the mental strain and obviously the physical cost.
last weekend saw the team at the Turtle pond RR and Adelphia grand prix. Turtle pond went pretty well. We placed 2 men in the winning move which went from the gun and got 6th and 9th from the break and 10th 11th 12 and 13th from the field. Not bad. Adelphia was quite a small field. 40 or so. The rain that never came kept everyone home I think. you might think the small numbers would make for an easy race. Wrong. Nowhere to hide. I tried to "sit in" once I was off the back chasseing. and with 8 of the junior national Canadians there it was one of the harder efforts I have done this season. 55 miles of intervals. Ouch! So after about 42 miles of purgatory one the Canadians got a 1 minute gap. A few miles later 7 of us got away, 2 of which where fellow Canadian team mates and sitting of course. We ignored them and drove to the line. I was feeling the efforts of the weekend and decided that attacking before the line would put me in 8th place for sure so I tock it to the line. I timed it all pretty well as the break was starting to shatter but still got nipped on the line by the 2 Canadian guys in the break. I was a little disappointed that I didn't have enough for 2nd place but I realized that they had 9 guys, we had 3 and all despite that 4th place ain't bad.
So I was happy and so were everyone’s our wallets.
this past weekend had us all racing both days again. Sturbridge RR on Saturday and Palmer on Sunday. Sturbridge was… kinda silly. A fast course, easy to sit in and negative racing at best. The course made it hard to get away and with everyone waiting for Mark McCormick to attack and then franticly chasing him made for a rather boring race.
Sunday was still on the negative side and seemed easier than the last few year’s but none the less it played out very well for our team with Joe getting the big win. We did manage to make the race hard enough for a break of 10 or so to slip away in the last 10-15 miles. With Joe “the man” moody up there with Jay “never stops attacking” Bear we were very content. I’ll spare you the play by play but the whole team road real strong. I felt good. And everyone else looked great!
The double race weekends do wear on me. Everything, the travel, getting ready the mental strain and obviously the physical cost. Back at work today and it feels like I have been gone for a week. Looking forward to my bed again tonight.

when coffee is more important than changing out of your kit.

another shot of Jay Beerman from the GA training trip.

Battenkill-ME!

5am is early. Its rowing early, triathlon race early. Being the rodey that I have become I am used to slow mornings, eating breakfast for an hour, coffee, having teammates come over, more coffee, more eating. So you can imagine how I was relatively displeased I was with not only getting up at 5am but choking down a bowl of Grape-nuts and running out the door with a cup of coffee to pick up a teammate at 5:15am. ok I’m over it. The drive out was smooth we stopped for that inevitable call to nature that came at a normal morning time! We got there with a 1hr to go, signed in dressed up, 10 minute warm up and we were off. Mike Jones was there , Domestic pro, and by domestic I mean way better than any one else in the race. There were 3 climbs of note and some dirt roads in the first 10 miles. we hit them, well… Mike hit them, pretty hard and the pack was one third smaller. I was feeling horrible. Really horrible. Some attacks by others and the Kenda-Raleigh team kept things lively. As we cam into the middle part of the course marked by heavy rolling terrain and lots of dirt roads I followed one of Mikes attacks. After he let me catch him I tried o pull through and keep the pace going as I had 2 teammates with me but the pack was there and right into a climb we went. And right to the back of the pack EK went. I was hanging on but realized that I was going to have to follow wheels to the finish and save any effort to help our two protected rides when the time came. On a fast section of dirt road a guy in front of me blew his rear tire. “damb that sucks” I thou.. BAM! And that sucks even more. I ran straight into a good sized rock and blew my front tire. I got a change but it was all over. Even if I was feeling really good and got a supper fast change it would have been hard to get back on. I tried, but it was in vain. I settled in with some other guys that had got flats on that section. There were a lot who flatted there. After a few miles 4 of us grouped up and settled in. the race up ahead broke up not long after that section. Joe Moody was there for the team making the final move and coming in 5th. Meanwhile I was feeling like it was nice day. I had bad legs anyway so… this stuff happens and there is not use getting upset about it now. I was upset, more with my bad legs that the flat, but so it goes. Until, on the last climb 10 miles from the finish my chain broke. Ok now I’m mad. Luckily a nice man on a Mt bike came by with a chain tool and I was able to make good enough to get home. Thanks, I for got your name, sorry. I was surprised at the amount of cheering I received on my arrival. These people were really into this race! It was great to see. For cycling, not me, but it did cheer me up. J a long drive home with a bit of excitement when Joes bike came off my rack and was swinging from its rear wheel while I was driving 80MPH down the highway. That was pretty exhilarating, bike and car are fine. No scrapes or damage really at all. My guardian angle figured I had had enough for one day. Thank you again.

VT pics

not a bad place to crash for the weekend!

weekend in VT, part II

on day 2 we all awoke with some tight legs to say the least. being up till mid nite, doing 86 miles, going to see team sponsors and meeting up for a team dinner with one of our team advisors, who was in town from Atlanta make for a busy day!
we left a bit earlier Sunday and were welcomed with warmer air, bright blue skies and more hills. after 30' or so we hit a long undulating climb. nothing crazy but it warmed us up to say the least. another 30' we road up a long climb around Mt. Mansfield. It's still snow covered. really beautiful back drop! we kept the pace high riding shoulder to shoulder like the day before. that reminds me. at this weekend, being still early in the season and with the entire team there was quite a bit of "flexing" going on. guys know what i mean. remember in college when you were playing a pick up game of football, basketball or what ever. the girls walk by and you flex. not so much that its obvious but you did. you know it. suck in the gut. tighten the arms a bit, real subtle like. girls are even more guilty of this! they do it so much that its second nature to them. flip there hair, and give you "the eye". "what? i wasn't flittering". yeah what ever!

anyway we didn't have a pose down but when your riding shoulder to shoulder with teammates the last thing you will let happen is for your wheel to slip back even the slightest bit. and so it begins. everyone riding up the hills at 400 + watts holding a conversation trying to act like its nothing. trying to show everyone that your strong, with out realy "showing" it...

at the national rowing team training center in NJ. they often go out for long endurance rows. 90', 2 hr. maybe, at a low stroke rate. But what makes this different than any college or club row is that it's easy... as long as your boat is ahead of the others. and so begins the "flexing". In rowing this type of workout is called steady state. It is also taken on the nick name of "teti-state". in honor of the men’s national team coach Mike Teti whom only takes winners. its not long before your rowing as hard as you can gasping for air yet trying to look effortless.

If you ask my teammates they'll say, "what! thats not what happened?!" but it did and they all know it.

ok back to riding bikes. lots of hills today and the miles wore on. windy too. steamrolling along. we averaged about 19mph for the day, and for you wattage weenies out there we were pushing between 250-300 watts on the flats and 400+ on the hills, when on the frount. until the last 1:30 when that attacking started. after suffering for a bit i brought my self back to life with some caffeinated cliff shots and laid down some hard attacks. a bit of hard riding and again we laid down some fast pace line riding for a bit. i felt great today and really pushed hard on some of

the climbs. as we came in to the last 40' or so we settled down and enjoyed the view as we rode on the bike path next to lake Champlain.
a great weekend. its so nice in this area of VT i was really happy to get up there again with or without the cycling.
thaks for reading, pictures to come soon!

Team weekend in VT

first off I love Vt. I love New England. The seasons, the green, being able to get breakfast at a diner in Boston and go to bed next to the ocean somewhere in downeast Maine that seams so far away from everything that you would swear that your that only person on earth.
that being said, I was not really amped on the idea on driving 4 hr’s to the Burlington, VT area to train in colder weather than we already have this sping (it snowed on me Wednesday!) and rain. call me crazy. However we called mother nature’s bluff and it was beautiful! a bit chilly, we are like 90' from Motreal, but bright blue skies, good friends and great roads! SAT:after driving p late we arrived at the Shelburne farms estate. pics to come i can't do it justice with words. after sorting through yet more sponsorship stuff from the best sponsors in the world, I was in a daze. the last few days have been long for me. in the morning we had some Vermont maple syrup, with some pancakes on the side and set out for 85-95 miles. it was cold, 40's but sunny. and the sun makes everything nice. easy ride not to hilly, rolling and a brisk pace, riding shoulder to shoulder for 5' at a time or so. then pulling off. we averaged a bit over 20 with the tail wind on our way south. The head wind on the was back was tough but not so bad. we pushed a bit harder to keep honest. Eric Pearson was attacking/ working on his sprint in the beginning of the ride and now that we were coming pass 3:30 hr I decided it was my turn and started putting the pressure on. after a few attacks we turned up Mt. Fillo. not long, pretty short actually for this area, 10' or so. but steep. 22 percent in places. i gave it everything. our new member Eric Tremble (yes there are 3 of us now) leapt away from me about half way up and while I held the gap I couldn’t bring it back. a good effort by everyone. on the last 5-10 miles home I opened it up again. creating some gaps. Jay Bear and I had a nice gap but we were reeled in by our chasseing teammates. all together we drove hard into the head wind to the town line. solid day. More to come.

SAUL

Saul Raisin, a promising young american cyclist was involved in a crash the other day. he has taken a turn for the worse and is now in a coma. please keep him in your hearts and thoughts .
be safe everyone.

http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/9701.0.html

He is already doin better. nice job everyone.

Back Home

Back in town now, feeling rested from the big trip and have a few races in the legs. The first races this yr have felt... better than normal. Saying the first race of year is a shock to the systems would be a huge understatement. But this year despite a very tough field at wells ave last weekend the legs handled the stop and go chaos of a bike race rather well. I can only imagine that this is due to the changes I made in my training. The changes of... ohh, sorry, the secret training can’t be reviled in detail. There is always the factor that it’s another year. Another year of races, adaptation, more training, more endurance, being smarter, but still. 3 races so far and I feel I am ahead from last year. So I am pretty happy. Most of all I am happy with the fact that I am racing again after a long winter and still loving everything there is to the sport. I have seen many athletes fight there way to the top but during there battle they forgot what they were fighting for. I was one of them. You start saying things like, "I have to do those intervals this afternoon." with a sigh, a frown and monotone. Rather than," yo! are you training this after noon? what are you doin? Because I am doing that killer interval workout and need some company to remind me what my name is after I sweat off 3 lb's of water!" almost yelling, and hands flailing like an angry Italian mother. I guess I am saying is its important to remember why we do the sports and activities we do. We don't need to understand why we do them, or feel the way we do about them. But as long as we still fell "that way" after the intervals we'll be doing the sports we love for a long time. And that's what it takes. Longevity. Back to the races. Johncake training race. I started a move which looked real good. After 7 miles or so the "pack" came back (only 30 strong now from 60). which set up the break of the race to go. Joe moody shot out of the pack to connect with Robbie King formally kenda/raleigh teammate. And they were gone. Only 10 miles into the 63 mile race they continued to put time in on the chase for the rest of the race. Joe in the end settled for second but a great showing for the team and for 140! Marblehead was, as expected, a barnburner. Fast from the gun and it never really let up. Even if it did there is a false flat with a cross wind, a 180 degree turn to sprint out of and 30 mile per hour head wind section and a 8% 30 second hill to put the nail in your legs. Throw in a few strong teams, big Mark attacking and you've got 90 minutes of pure hell. I felt good trying to bridge to the break following one of Marks attacks and patrolling the front for much of the race. In the end it was to much as the last 8 miles came I was unable to move up and relegated my self to the back. It was now Eric's job (my teammate) to see what he could do at the finish. 7th! And we were all pretty happy. Improvements to be made, yes, but 7th was a good result for a team with no pure sprinter. Back to some training. thanks for checking in.

Last one

Day 7, Recovery another long recovery day. 3:45 and 65miles. Another nice day and I was feeling the weeks efforts. We road a steady pace on the climbs and I dropped back towards the top on all 3 of them. My Hr was very low and I thought that I had better take it easy rather than dig a whole for my self. I feel I am coming out of this week stronger than I have ever been and I can not wait to test it out in the races to came very soon.
This trip has been wonderful. The scenery, cows, goats, mountains, the descents that go forever and the climbs that go further. Our tan lines are in full form now and I hope they do there job, intimidation. Its funny when I first started racing my cycling mentor, Todd, was calming me down before an early season race. I was getting very intimidated by almost every one. He said, “No, No Eric, don’t worry about them. Your strong. The guys you need to worry about are the ones that show up in April with matching bikes and tan lines”. And now… that’s me. It makes me feel really honored to have come full circle like that. I’ll miss a lot about this trip. Our friendly dog that lives down the road from us, greeting us every day. His wrinkly face flapping in the wind, tong hanging out. I’ll miss the gas station lunches. The animals, the southern charm, the slow mornings and the hot tube that greeted us at the end of every ride. I miss the company of my teammates although I miss Lindsay very much. I’ll miss worrying about nothing else but trying to figure out how I will get my body up to the task of riding yet another brutal course for yet another day.

GA, 3-16-06 the queen stage.

Ok today was epic. By far the hardest ride I have ever done. I was lucky enough to be at the 04 tour and watch lance make the alp look like someone’s driveway. The day before we embarked on a ride of only 85 miles or so but climbed the col d’ galiber and then back to the top of L’ alp. That was awful. I felt horrible, I’m sure being wasted on wine at 7000 feet and eating pizza for dinner at midnight didn’t help. Either way it’s a hard climb. But I wasn’t “on” by any stretch. Today I felt good. Real good, and I needed it all. We did the 6 gap loop we did earlier this week. With the addition of Brass Town Ball (infamous finish at the tour D’ George). From the side we climbed it totaled 45 minutes or so. The last 3 miles in the park with sustained sections of 15 and 20 percent. More details in the training log.A quick play by play: 1 hr to hog pen gap, then up. 20 some minutes of very steep roads, 10+%. Felt pretty good. Next another gap but we tock some back country dirt roads. I was having visions of Deliverance. 90 minutes on the dirt and we see a bear. A baby cub “ how cute” I thought. He was so Cute!, and where was mom? If mom finds us we are all going to die. Well, at least one of us and I was the slowest descender. We tip toed down the road following the cub until he hoped up on the side of the road and we gunned it to the main road. Another classic decent. And we turned towards brass town. Brutal! 26 minutes on the upper section averaging a 189 heart rate. The first half was all right. But after a long section of 20% or so it was impossible to recover. The last km. I was stopping between every pedal stroke, zigzagging across the road. I lead the whole climb 50-100 meters ahead of my teammates and pulling away until the final 500m or so when… you guessed it. Eric Pearson came up to me. I attacked hard and pulled away fast but paid for the acceleration fully. Almost having to unclip and put my foot down. He passed me and we congratulated each other at the summit for our efforts. back down. A quick stop for some food, water, coffee, any thing we cold get. We were already 4:30 into the ride with 3 climbs still to go, over 8000 feet in the legs, and barley halfway through. up Nells gap. I attacked again towards the top and again paid for it fully. I pushed hard and despite being caught by Joe and Eric my sprint won the KOM, not that we were racing. Down, and another turn to start the long gradual climb up woods gap 45 minutes or so we stayed together and Jay Baer laid down the tempo. Steady and strong. I was now paying for my attacking as we approached the 5 hr mark. Towards the top. Eric Pearson came to the front and lifted the pace. Nothing dramatic but I was in full suffer mode. Concentrating as hard as possible. Every pedal stroke prying that the top was around the next corner. The caffeinated cliff shot I tock at the start of the climb did nothing. Or did it? If it did I was worse off than I realized. Upon reaching the top I was shaking. Taking some deep breaths I fired down a cliff bar. And a few mouthfuls of sports drink. Shock out the legs and tried to relax. Everyone was suffering as much as I was. We skipped the last stop with only 1 hr to go and one climb. Wolf pen gap. Not so bad from this side it rolled upwards, slowing gaining altitude with frequent down hills until the last 5-7 minutes. I drank my special gel flask mixture that I have been working on. It kicked in fast and I started to come around. Still feeling I had more to give and show that I was still strong after a 7 hr ride and 30hr’s this week. I went to the front to set the tempo for 15’ or so leading into the last climb. As it started to bight I dug deep feeling better now. Eric P. came around to set the pace up the climb. ¾ of the way up he accelerated fearing an attack from me, he later said. There was no attacking to be had from me any more. I was able to match him for a 1 minute or so then I started to fall back. I held my pace and maintained the small gap in between us. I kicked again at the top but could not catch him. We all regrouped and road hard and steady, single file for the last 30 minutes home.
The dirt road slowed us down a lot. Descending at 15 MPH does the avg. speed no good. All in all it was a ride for the books and one we will ever forget. Sorry no teammate spotlight today. There all great guys but I’m barley keeping up with the daily reports.

Day 5, rest day:

A bit more “rest” than the last one. A real relaxed breakfast and a movie. I forget the name. its on Gilberto Simoni’s Giro win on 2003. pretty exciting stuff. Being inside the team bus, and lots of behind the seen’s clips. Another recovery ride today. Nice and easy still 4 hr and 7000 feet of elevation gain. The weather is still great. Cool and sunny. Some real back country roads today. About an hr. of riding today on dirt roads.
Pics: here lare some pictures of the trip so far for your enjoyment.
getting ready to go.
us recoverying in the hot tube.
some mountains.
the normal terrain arount here.
Us Pirating wireless internet, etc...

I should take a second to mention our sponsors. Not because I have to but because I am really happy to have them all. They really do make a difference.
Kenda Tires: so nice I have only ridden the training tires so far but they handle so well and are rather light for being so durable. They are also supporting us financially which has made this trip possible and will hopefully make our success this yr possible.
Raleigh Bikes: so nice I think I mentioned this before. Full carbon, sweat ride, not much else to say.
Clif Bar: I was really happy to hear that we had cliff bar on board. Simply because there the best. Gel shots, drink mix, recovery drink, and bars, I would use this stuff even if we had a different sponsor.
Rudy project: I have to say that my old sun glasses I didn’t like. Well, upon donning my new shades I realized it was because they had endured 5 yrs and several crashes. One where I landed literally on them. Breaking me 2 front teeth, and was lucky not to break my jaw. It still hurts. These new shades rock! Light weight, very comfortable, polarized lenses, and most important. They look good!
Blackburn: you train more than you race and they make training that much better. Pumps, the nicest cyclometer I have ever used. The pumps have already come in handy ironically to the one wheel that didn’t have a Kenda tire on it? I think we were riding single file?
Louis Garneau: the best clothing and accessories there are its that simple… And all of our other sponsors, they really do keep us going, and they are all very important.

Day 4, more climbing

Another long hilly one today. 90 miles only 3 climbs but they were all pretty long. we totaled almost 8000 feet of elevation, and I was out to prove myself to my new teammates. I felt good and I figured that the legs would be better today. On the first climb, the back side of a climb we did the other day, Jay Baer put in a big acceleration and I followed. After a minute or so he let up, just opening up his legs I’m sure, and I kept the pace going I was feeling strong. It was early in the ride and I didn’t want to go over the edge to soon. But I was under control and seemingly putting some space between myself and my teammates. As I approached the top I tock a few deep breaths and tried to stretch out the 3 days of tightness that were already creeping into the legs. Joe and Eric Pearson were not far behind. Joe was “stretching” his legs a bit as well. A long beautiful decent and some more gorgeous roads, Have I mentioned the riding and scenery here is awesome!? The next climb was long. Not so steep a bit of a head wind, it was a very windy day today, and about 45’ of climbing we reached the top of the next gap. Joe, Eric P. and my self laid down some serious tempo on this climb for the entire duration, 10+ miles or so. We then meandered through some rolling terrain. And by the way the “rolling” roads out here ROLLING! Steep as the steepest Trapelo road hills (for those of you that know it) and 3 times as long or longer. Tough riding. So onto the last climb, Wolf Pen Gap. This is the one closest to our house. Not to long 3 miles 20 minute climb. From the back side its broken up into 2 section so its not so bad. I really laid it down on this, the last of our climbs, Jay Baer came with me and I gave it everything I had. finally he dropped back a bit only to sprint back up to me right at the top! And he said he’s not a climber. If that’s the case I have a lot of work to do! After the decent, I caught up to my team, waiting for me. Because as you remember I descend pretty poorly. I got there and the comments started. “what happened dude? You have a mechanical?” If you know me and my past you could understand how sometimes this would really get to me. But we won’t get into that. I was mad not at the ribbing but more at why I suck at going down hill. I just can’t keep up! So still feeling frisky I went t o the front in the now brutal head/cross wind and road as hard as I could. After 10-15 minutes the yelling started. I figured I made my point and we settled into a “more efficient” pace headed home directly into a 30 MPH head wind with gusts 35-40! A killer day, I was broken and so was everyone else. Teammate spotlight: Joe MoodyJoe is a… precise guy. An engineer. He’s also easy to get along with, a guy you can just talk to. That’s sometimes hard to find with really smart people. You know those people that are just to smart for there own good all they can talk about is how to divide a Neutron, or discuss there’re own theory’s on building the next longest suspension bridge. Were off the point here but he’s a good guy. he’s also the team director, has put together this whole trip and trains like a mad man. So yeah he’s also a good multi-tasker. Joe is training for later in the season so he has been keeping the intensity a bit lower. Today he gave us a taste of what he has “under the hood”. Its always frustrating when your riding up a steep climb, have blood coming out your ears, snot running down your face and he say something like. “wow look at that view” in a totally composed and calm voice? Ohh yeah and after our 4:20 death march. Joe did another 40 minutes just to make sure he got in 5hr! (I went with being sure not to be out done). This is someone who I am very happy to have on my team and race against anymore. Really happy. Now the team and I will have the job of being strong enough to help him out in the long grueling climbs of the road races that stretch over 4 hours and we all better be up to it. Joe doesn’t like failure, and he doesn’t sugar coat anything. He’ll be the first to tell you your wrong or you screwed up. Keep an eye out this name. It will surely be in the top part of the results pages.