Brendan Benson's Cycling Life

New Blog

2011-03-19T13:54:00.000-04:00

For those who care, I've started a new blog unrelated to cycling. It's about other things that interest me - entrepreneurship, technology, ideation, and such.

I'll probably post something cycling-related here, too. It's been too long.

Veterans Park Cyclocross

2009-11-01T23:05:00.002-05:00

I continued my illustrious cyclocross career this weekend entering the "B" race at Veterans Park in Ann Arbor. Jason Boynton and I rode together for about half the race. He put some time into me on the barriers, and I wasn't able to bridge back up, so I ended up in second. I've determined I need to run the barriers, rather than jump them.

I corrected all my n00b mistakes from last weekend, though, and even managed to learn how to shoulder my bike by watching some cross vids on YouTube.

Here are some sick-gnar photos:

Shout outs to the following photographers for the sick pics:

I'm pretty sure I'm going to call it a season for cyclocross, but it is a ton of fun, so I may have to do another race. We'll see.

Regardless, I think I'll race cross in the "A" category next season, since I won't be racing the collegiate mountain season. However, all that is still up in the air, seeing as I only have my life planned up until May 2010 so far.

Now, time to taper for Iceman!

Maybury Cyclocross

2009-10-26T19:33:00.002-04:00

I entered my first ever cyclocross race, this weekend at Maybury State Park on my new cyclocross bike. Having never entered a cyclocross race, here are some important n00b lessons I learned:

Run your tires at 50 psi.
Shoulder your bike on the run-ups - especially if they're muddy.
Remove the watter bottle cage so that you actually can shoulder your bike on the run-ups.
Practice running barriers before racing.

Mad props to Andrea Tucker and f/go for the sick gnar photos!

Overall the race was a ton of fun. I placed 5th in the B's after spending most of the race in 4th with about 20 seconds to fifth place. With about 1.5 laps to go, I slid out on a corner and could not get going again. The 5th place guy caught me and we rode together for the last lap, but he put a good gap into me in the barriers.

Midwest Cycling Group put on an awesome race at a great venue. Plus they did it for a reasonable entry fee of $15. After helping to organize collegiate race weekends where each entry fee is capped at $13, it's hard for me to justify paying a promoter $30 for a cyclocross race. The low entry fee was a good move by MCG - it definitely tipped my decision. Props to Joe Lekovish for that.

After the race, I planned to ride 25 miles back to Ann Arbor (I rode to the race from AA before the start), but then decided to ride to Birmingham (home) instead. I got my directions mixed up about halfway there, and ended up taking 3 hours on what should have been a 1-1.5 hour trip, ending up with a whole bunch of riding hours for the day!

Colorado

2009-05-23T00:48:00.004-04:00

Since I've been in Boulder I've been doing a lot of quality riding and witnessing some breathtaking scenery. Unfortunately, when I got here I found my camera out of batteries and my charger back at home, so I don't have any pictures of my own. Instead, seeing how mountains tend to remain the same over hundreds of years, I've ripped photos from other people that were taken at the places I visited. Here they are:

1.) View from Brainard Lake at 10,300 feet. The mountain you're seeing here is Mt. Audobon (13,200 ft). When I saw it, the sun was setting behind the mountain. The view was absolutely beautiful, ignoring the fact that I still had to ride 30 miles home at dusk (thank goodness Boulder is bike friendly - it was no problem).
2.) Ward, Colorado. This is the town at the top of Lefthand Canyon - a very gradual yet mind-numbingly long 3,200 ft ascent.

3.) The flatirons - these are the mountains on the west side of Boulder. They represent the line where the great plains end and the Rockies begin. Any mountainous ride from Boulder ventures through them.
4.) The view from the top of Betasso Preserve - a short, fast mountain bike trail that has a super-steep ascent from Canyon Rd.

5.) View of Boulder from Flagstaff Rd. You can see the CU campus on the left.

6.) The steps at Walker Ranch - a mountain bike trail on the other side of Flagstaff. This part of the trail is definitely hike-a-bike.

7.) The Bustop gentleman's club - this is where the fast group ride in Boulder meets (yeah, kind of random).

8.) One of the loops on the Fruit Loops route - a flatter ride to Lyons and back. This is the route that the Bustop ride uses.

Overall, Boulder is exceedingly sweet. I still have a week left before I drive back to Michigan to race the first ever West Branch "Classic" (maybe) and the MBRA Talent Pool 2000M TT at the Velodrome at Bloomer Park. I'm excited to get back to Michigan but I don't want to leave Boulder behind. I'll be back next year, though.

Nationals Race Report

2009-05-15T00:51:00.004-04:00

Road Race:
The course started at the CSU stadium, and consisted of a flattish / rolling start for about 10 miles, followed by a series of painful ascents and steep descents, before completing four laps in a 10-mile loop around Masonville. The finishing stretch involved another series of painful climbs followed by a chaotic, painfully steep descent consisting of a couple 180 degree switchbacks.

Chris Aten and I lined up among the field of 130 or so riders ready for a day of pain. The race started chaotically as every collegiate rider collectively freaked out at the idea that they were racing nationals. Imagine the sketchiness of the Men's D race at Depauw - only at 30 mph and with 130 riders.

I got involved in a crash early on, but luckily I didn't go down. Unfortunately, I had to chase back to the pack, and given my minimal warm up (since nobody really warms up for a 70 mile road race), my legs were hurting pretty bad. I recovered near the back of the pack, while Chris rode like a champ at the front.

The back-of-the-pack positioning proved to be a bad idea because once we hit the first climb of torture I had to ride around a bunch of fatties. By the time we reached the first peak, I could already see the main field approaching the bottom of the descent. For some reason, I didn't think that when you have a pack of 130 riders, the time from the front to the back of the pack can be over a minute on an ascent. Even if you're a great climber, if you start in the back, you're going to get dropped. I drafted Owen from Lindenwood as he bombed down the descent.

As time went on, we caught some riders, and others caught us, to form a chase group of 10 people. The group worked well, with some crazy 35-40 mph, 53x11 at 120RPM rotating pacelines in the tailwind sections. We eventually closed the minute gap to Chris's group of 10 riders. I sat in near the back of the group, trying to recover from the hard chase effort while Chris Aten and Chris "Umberti" from Purdon't pushed the pace.

I survived with the group for about 10 miles until we reached the feed zone where a bunch of riders put in some attacks. The elastic of the group snapped and I found myself dangling off the back of a group of 3 or 4 riders, digging deep into the pain cave to try to get back on. My legs were so blown out from the earlier chase that every pedal stroke brought more and more pain and lactic acid. As the small group slowly pulled away from me, I yelled in agony (literally) and threw in the towel. In retrospect, I should have kept riding, especially given the fact that there were still 30 or so racers behind me, and since I could have caught onto a group behind me. However, in my oxygen-deprived state, such logic escaped me, and giving up seemed like the better option.

Chris was able to hang with that group until the end, but had little energy remaining to sprint. He rolled across the line for a very respectable 61st.
Criterium:
The criterium course was a pancake-flat, figure-eight-style course in downtown Fort Collins. Before our start, we saw one of Marian's fatties take the win in the D1 Women's race.

Cory Dubrish, Chis Aten, and I lined up in the giant field. The race started out really fast at first as everyone tried to gain position. Chris went to the front and followed some attacks. He briefly found himself in a breakaway, but the charging field wouldn't have it.

Unlike last year's criterium on the same course, which involved 10+ crashes and multiple trips to the hospital, this year's race saw zero crashes (except for one dude that rolled off the course - but that was his own fault). Last year, the finishing straight involved a giant gap between two concrete slabs running parallel to our line. That gap was responsible for most of the crashes last year, but this year the trusty road service patched it up for our safety!

As the race went on, Chris moved back a bit to recover. Before he knew it, there were only 10 minutes left and he couldn't move up in the aggressive pack. He ended up 32nd by the end. Cory also rode strong in the pack and ended up 58th. I was still pretty tired from the day before and didn't race smart (dangled in the back for a while) and ended up in 82nd.

Overall, nationals was a fun, yet humbling experience. The great part about competing in races like these is that you get to see exactly where you need to be fitness-wise to hang with the big guys.

After the criterium, a bunch of us Midwesterners banded together and rode up Rist Canyon, which ended up being a ridiculously long climb. I finished the day with 80 miles total.

Here's a picture of us at the top of Rist Canyon (ripped from Chris "Umberti"):

Since Sunday, Cory, Chris, and I have been hanging out in Boulder, CO. Cory and Chris leave for Michigan Wednesday morning, and I'll be hanging out in Boulder until the end of May.

Full results are at: http://usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2009-1300
Picture of Cory before the criterium start: http://velonews.com/photo/91829
Picture of Chris in the criterium: http://velonews.com/photo/91840

Time for some sanity...

2009-04-13T14:27:00.004-04:00

If you're reading this, you've probably already seen Zack Colman's article in the State News (Bicyclists need to stay on the sidewalk). Check it out if you haven't. It's causing a LOT of controversy in the cycling community and on Michigan State's campus. (Bike Snob NYC even wrote about it.)

This article really angered me, but it also made me wonder who this "Zack Colman" character really is, and why he would write such a hateful piece as this. After all, he goes to school only a short car ride away from Ann Arbor!

Well I actually contacted Zack through e-mail when someone tried to (prank) subscribe him to the Michigan Cycling e-mail list. Not expecting to hear any reply, I sent him this message:

Zack,

One quick question: it seems like there's some confusion between whether you were being sarcastic or genuine in your article. Could you clarify? Was the article really meant to threaten cyclists, or were you trying to create some sort of strawman for a viewpoint that you don't share?

Maybe we'll see you on a ride one of these days, either on your bike or in your Saturn!

Oh, and also, we have 7 friends in common on Facebook. Small world!

Happy riding,
Brendan Benson

He actually responded within a few minutes, and here's what he had to say:

Brendan,

The fact that anyone could have possibly thought that was open threat is beyond me. I have no idea how. Things can get sensationalized pretty easily, so when my column got sent to a bunch of cyclist forums with the description "HE IS THREATENING CYCLISTS," people undoubtedly read the column with the preconceived notion that it was a threat. All of the writing was sarcastic, and I can't even begin to count how much hate mail I have received — at least 300. How it got to be that this was a threat, I don't know. But it upsets me to no end, and it also puzzles me. I thought the sarcasm was obvious — who would actually advocate vehicular manslaughter? That's the one thing I don't understand.

Haha and you can ask [Facebook friend] about me. I think he would tell you I'm far from a murderer.

-Zack

He also wrote this in a following e-mail in our conversation:

I realize now the word choice in the column was harsh for those who wouldn't detect the sarcasm, and for the many people who have been injured or who know people who have been injured by motorists I am sure the sarcasm was impossible to detect. I was unaware it was such a big problem in the cycling community.

It's relieving to hear that Zack is not the angry person he seems to portray himself as. I'm glad to know he's normal and that if I ever encounter him on a ride, he's not going to run me off the road.

At the same time, I wish he had not published that article. After all, every law-abiding cyclist experiences dangerous drivers, which explains the crazy backlash from the cycling community. Many people on bicycles are injured or killed by reckless driving. In my opinion, sarcastically writing about hitting a cyclist is in poor taste.

Regardless, it's good to bring some sanity to this argument.

Back from Georgia

2009-03-03T14:26:00.003-05:00

Last week I went to Georgia for Spring Break with Michigan Cycling and got some high quality training in.We had 23 riders plus a few alums who made guest appearances. The rides included the Six-Gap Century, Brasstown Scenic Byway, and other various jaunts. Weather was decent - it was warmer than last year, but it mostly stayed in the 40s and 50s for the entire trip, making for some cold mountain descents.

I didn't bring my laptop on the trip, which was a nice way to disconnect from Ann Arbor life.

At the end of the week, we drove directly from Georgia to Kentucky for the first collegiate race of the season hosted by Murray State University. As luck would have it, they had the worst weather of the year over the weekend. Saturday was cold and rainy, and Sunday brought a layer of fresh snow.

Saturday's road race consisted of a 16-mile course, on which we raced four laps. I stayed near the front for most of the race in order to avoid crashes and hopefully get into a breakaway. A few other guys and I got off the front for a bit, but they either didn't want to - or couldn't - work hard, so we ended up back in the pack pretty shortly. I moved farther back near the end of the third lap in order to rest up a bit, but that decision turned out pretty bad. Going into the end of the third lap, a crash occurred in the middle of the pack. I started to slow and move over, but a Lindenwood guy ahead of me decided to hit the deck. I skidded into him, but only had to put a foot down. I remounted, but my chain had come off. By the time I was able to fix my chain, the pack was already out of sight up the road. With only one lap left, and a crit the next day, I decided to abandon and save myself for the next day.

Well, as it turns out, I should have kept racing - and I would have if I knew what the crit course would be like. The course consisted of about a dozen 90 to 180 degree turns in a tight, slippery parking lot (the shiny type of parking lot with a slippery coat to allow car tires to turn easily). Watching the D and C racers crash, I decided that racing would not be a good idea - I crashed way too much last season, and had a strong chance of crashing again if I raced. Instead, one of my teammates and I headed out for a windy ride in the countryside. There will always be more crits.

(To clarify, I'm not trying to bash Murray State here. I just felt the crit course was not suitable for a collegiate criterium course. Several other racers and teams also echoed my sentiment by not racing. I would love to race at Murray State next year on a different criterium course.)

This week will consist of some training and recovery in preparation for the race at Depauw this weekend. Temperatures in Greencastle, Indiana are supposed to be in the 50s and 60s, which will be a nice break (again) from the cold Michigan weather.

Off to Georgia

2009-02-20T10:37:00.002-05:00

Today is a day full of packing. We're (the Michigan Cycling Club) leaving for Georgia at 7:00PM tonight. We're going to drive through the night and arrive at our lodge tomorrow morning.

Here's the tentative riding schedule:
SAT: Unicoi (+ maybe Jack's)
SUN: Team Ride + BBQ @ Grahams
MON: 6-Gap: Hog Pen + Wolf Pen + Woody + Neel's + Jack's + Unicoi
TUE: Unicoi + Jack's (or 3-Gap: Neel's + Wolf Pen + Woody if we're feeling good)
WED: Hog Pen + Jack's + Brasstown + Unicoi
THU: Unicoi + Jack's
FRI: Unicoi efforts
SAT: Race @ Murray State in KY
SUN: Race @ Murray State in KY

I'm trying to convince myself not to bring my laptop on break for stress reduction purposes. We'll see...

Twitter!

2009-02-16T15:49:00.003-05:00

I'm on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/brendanbenson

If you don't have one, get one. And start following me. I'll return the favor.

I'll be posting lots of updates once I get to Helen, Georgia next week. I'm going down there for a University of Michigan Cycling training camp. We have 23 people on the team heading down for the week. We're going to do the six-gap century, three-gap, Hog Pen - Brasstown - Jack's - Unicoi, and other miscellaneous rides. It's going to be a great week - especially since I'll be able to ride and recover every day without worrying about school or business.

I'll also be doing the first races of the season at Murray State University in Kentucky on February 28th and March 1st. The road race is 64 miles, which should be sufficient enough to separate those who have and have not trained this winter. I still can't decide which camp I'm in. I guess I'll find out in Georgia!

Right now, I'm just trying to get some work and studying done before ditching the morbid state of Michigan. 50-degree weather and clean roads sound so nice right about now.

First Long Ride of the Year!

2009-02-07T18:35:00.006-05:00

Larry Warbasse, Chris Aten, and I met up at 10:30AM today to do an endurance ride in the nice weather. I had planned a 70 mile ride, but Larry was up for a century, and I'm not one to turn those down when the weather is warm. We headed out to Dexter, then Chelsea, Waterloo, and finally Leslie. Chris introduced us to a sweet bakery (pun intended) in Leslie where we refueled on pastries and hit the road back to AA. The ride back was especially nice because we got to bear the fruits of our hard work pushing a headwind on the out-leg.

It was a perfect day for a ride. The roads were kind of wet in town, hence the knee warmer line, but they dried up as soon as we hit the countryside. I'm really starting to like the roads to the west of Chelsea - especially those with virtually no traffic.

On a side note, the hairy legs are a temporary, winter-only thing. I got a bit of flack from Larry and Chris from the hair spilling out between my knee warmers and socks. The legs will be shorn in the next few days or so.

Woo hoo!

Winter Training

2009-01-12T12:30:00.003-05:00

Winter training has been going pretty well so far. I've been doing some road riding, MTB dirt road riding, and XC skiing.

This weekend was pretty crazy as far as training goes. I went out for a two hour jaunt with Chris Aten, Nick Boswell, Tom Elias, and Alan Antonuck in the snowstorm on Saturday. The unploughed dirt roads were a pretty big technical challenge. A few people went down on some icy / snowy patches, but we all survived.

After the MTB ride, I grilled up a steak and chilled on the couch before suiting up in my XC ski gear and heading out to the Arb for two hours of XC skiing with Nick. The conditions were really great for the Arb.

I came back to the CAF, grabbed some Chipotle, and partied the night away at the first cycling party of the semester.

On Sunday I went out for some more XC skiing in the Arb with Cory Dubrish. The trails had been packed down from all the walkers, so the long downhill path was really fun.

Today I'm pretty tired, (especially with 8:30AM class four days a week), but I'll probably do something easy outside or on the rollers.

The last few months...

2008-12-31T05:47:00.003-05:00

Well, I haven't updated this for a few months (busy semester), but a lot of things happened.

During the Fall, I become a mountain biker and competed in the Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference series. Since I couldn't train as hard or as often (stupid classes) I pretty much coasted on my fitness from the summer. It worked out well. At one point I was ranked #1 in the Midwest for D1. I couldn't attend regionals (double points) because of too much work, so I ended up fourth overall for D1, which I'm really happy with.

After the Midwest season, I headed to North Carolina for Collegiate MTB Nationals. I got a really good start in the XC race, sitting in the top 20 and picking off rider after rider. Having not trained hard since August, I faded really quickly after the first two laps, ending up about mid-pack or so. Unlike last year, the course this year was dry, which meant the race was a lot more riding and a lot less running.

By the time Collegiate Nationals came and went, I was pretty tired, so I took a few weeks off the bike. Recently, I've just been doing either no riding, or fun rides on a MTB on dirt roads. The dirt roads around Ann Arbor are really nice for training this time of year.

In other news, I recently acquired a new pair of XC skis which I'll be using for cross training this Winter, assuming we get enough snow.

As I write this, I'm in the process of resetting my sleep schedule. I got to the point where I would stay up until 4AM and sleep until 2PM. Tonight, to break this cycle, I went to sleep at 9PM and slept until 1AM (when I couldn't sleep any more). When I go to sleep again (which won't be until next year), I'll be back on a more reasonable sleep schedule. This is kind of an obsession of mine (resetting my sleep schedule, that is).

Erie Street Race in Windsor

2008-09-02T16:21:00.002-04:00

I raced at Erie Street in Windsor on Sunday. It was fun.

The race started off pretty slow. A few people attacked, which ramped up the pace a bit. I found myself right by Greg Christian (Turin) in the pack so I got on his wheel. He moved up through the pack for a few laps. When one of the small attacks came back, he made a strong jump and I glued myself to his wheel. He looked back to see me and two other guys (Paul Martin of Texas Roadhouse and Graham Howard (I think) of Bissell). For the next 15 or so laps, the four of us steadily gained time on the pack. At one point we had 45 seconds on the pack and the prospects of lapping the field were looking really good.

We kept the pace blistering (I couldn't pull through a lot of the time, so I caught wheels as the other three rotated back). About three or four laps later, the gap had shrunk to 15 seconds. We continued to work, but the pack ended up catching us. Another group of nine got off the front, but they were also brought back.

The finish came down to a bunch sprint. I gave it a good kick, but I was still pretty tired from the break. I ended up 21st which I'm happy with.

August

2008-08-27T11:25:00.008-04:00

I've been doing a lot of track and road racing this month, with a mountain bike race thrown in there as well.

The Ada State Criterium Championship was near the beginning of August. It was a pretty fast crit. I ended up 15th or so. Bleh.

The NAS-Track Championship was dubbed "the most strategic NAS-TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP EVER!" Unlike the regular season races, Dale let us pick our Madison partners (prom dates). I originally asked Luke to prom, but then he bailed on me because he was able to convince Rippin' Ronnie to come out of retirement. I bawled my eyes out for a few days and moped around the house, wondering why he bailed on me. Was it because I'm fat? Am I not beautiful enough for him?

Well, after a whole bunch of shuffling of prom dates, I eventually paired with Tom Elias. He looked so beautiful in his blue jersey on the special day. Our chemistry clicked and we did some awesome teamwork to defeat Rippin' and Luke and become the NAS-Track champions by a mere three points! (93 to 90)

Then I raced the BTR Park Criterium. The course was really boring (as usual) and the turnout was so small and the dropout rate so large that anyone who finished got money. Track racing is a lot more fun.

Next, I hopped into the first day of the NAS-Track Six Day. There weren't enough "A" riders so Dale paired us with the inferior "AA" riders. Bruce Carlson and I were paired together. He rode his balls off and we ended up in a respectable third place.

I didn't race the rest of the Six Day to prepare for the real race - the UCI Madison Cup in Trexlertown, PA. Luke and I drove out there Thursday for the Friday night races.

Trexlertown is a LOT different from Bloomer. It's a giant venue with grandstands on either side of the track. I counted (estimated) at least 1500 people there watching! Not only were both grandstands full, but the catered VIP area in the center was packed, and the rail was lined three-deep all the way around. The crowd really pumped Luke and I up.

The racing turned out to be really fast and chaotic. The program consisted of 60-lap, 30-lap, and 100-lap Madisons (equivalent in distance to 100, 50, and 166 laps at Bloomer). Considering the competition we were up against, Luke and I didn't really plan on getting many points. Instead, our strategy was to stay on the lead lap. It worked out well and we ended up in 9th place out of 12.

Garmin-Chipotle (Dan Holloway and Colby Pearce) took the win for the night.

(I'm wearing a Wolverine jersey in the Madison pictures because partners have to wear the same jersey. Don't get any ideas, Luke!)

On Sunday, I raced in the Elite category at Pontiac Lake. I rode hard and pulled off an 8th place (out of 11), proving that I still can ride a mountain bike! Yay!

This weekend, I'll be racing at Erie Street (probably) and Cross Creek (definitely). Then I'll race Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor the next week as a warm-up for Collegiate Track Nationals.

Bleh...

2008-07-27T14:44:00.002-04:00

Got my butt kicked at the Stony Creek TT today. We'll see how Pontiac goes. It's road and track racing for now, though.

July

2008-07-26T21:06:00.003-04:00

Since there weren't any real road races in July, I've focused mainly on track racing.

The NAS-Track UIV 3-day took place on July 4th - 6th. It was, without a doubt, the biggest race of my season. The competition included a whole bunch of riders from the USA U-23 National team, the Broadmark team, and some pretty fast Canadians.

Luke Cavender and I partnered for the weekend. We managed to avoid the crashes and came out in 4th place.

The 3-day really took a lot out of me. I turned myself inside-out trying to stay with the big guns. As a result, I felt really tired for the entire week following the 3-day.

Luckily, I had a family vacation in Canada planned for the week after that. I spent that week doing easier, longer rides past the hundreds of windmills on the Lake Huron shoreline. (Canada's really started to go all out with wind power. The air there is noticeably cleaner.)

I came back to Michigan to do a Sunday individual race at the velodrome and felt horrible. Long rides can be fun, but they really slow down your leg speed and high-intensity endurance. I won the sprints I contested, but I didn't contest many.

Last night, I raced in a NAS-Track Friday night race. Luke and Cruise Bogedin were paired together, so they had a pretty stacked team. I raced with Cody Brown. We missed an exchange after the sprint in the final Madison with 20 to go and a fresh Cruise attacked. Their team eventually took a lap on the field, but I launched off the front of the field right before they made contact. As a result, Cody and I remained on even mileage with Luke and Cruise, earning us an automatic 2nd place, even though points would have put us in 3rd.

Tomorrow I'll be racing in the mountain bike time trial at Stony Creek since there's pretty much nothing else going on around here. I'm looking forward to seeing how my fitness compares to some of the local MTB sceners.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading.

Tour de Brendan's Scrapes

2008-06-29T19:39:00.012-04:00

Here's a brief review of the scrapes I've had this wonderful month of June:

The EMT treats my scrapes earlier this month at the Minnesota Fixed Gear Classic. (There's a video of the crash in a previous post.)

The scrape on my leg from the crash at the Minnesota Fixed Gear Classic.

The scrape on my arm from the crash at the Minnesota Fixed Gear Classic.

The scrape on my left arm from the crash at Rockford.

The scrape on my right arm from the crash at Rockford.

A smaller scrape below my knee from the crash at Rockford. I covered it with a Tegaderm patch.

A bigger scrape above my knee from Rockford. I didn't feel like taking off the gauze, so you'll have to use your imagination.

A scrape on my shoulder from Rockford.

Smaller cuts on my left hand from Rockford.

Smaller cuts on my right hand from Rockford.

The materials I used this morning to change my bandages.

The progress of the scrape on my leg from the Fixed Gear Classic.

So yeah. Forgive my language, but I'm pretty fucking sick of crashing. I've crashed four times since May:

1.) During the road race at collegiate nationals another rider tangled his bars with mine in a left turn. We both went down and my race was pretty much screwed from then. I probably could have avoided the crash if I was a bit looser or if I had been riding closer to the front of the pack.

2.) The next day, at the criterium at collegiate nationals, there was a 6" gap in the the start / finish straight running parallel to our line. Each lap, everyone pretty much had to sideways-bunny-hop it to get around the corner. A rider several places behind me got his wheel caught in it and slid out, causing the guy ahead of him to slide out, causing the guy ahead of him to slide out, causing me to slide out. I seriously thought I had avoided the crash when I heard it happen, but then a rider came sliding into my rear wheel. The officials neutralized the race while one of the crashed riders was stretchered away.

3.) At the Minnesota Fixed Gear Classic, the rider on second wheel overlapped the first rider's wheel as he finished his pull. He slid down the track, taking out my rear wheel and causing Dave Byer to t-bone him.

4.) At Rockford, my front tire went flat in a fast downhill 90 degree left turn, causing me to hit the ground instantly and slide a few feet on the pavement. Eric Forrester happened to be the unlucky rider behind me and also went down.

I had the pleasure of taking the most painful shower of my life yesterday.

I'm hoping I'll be healed enough to ride the 3-day at the velodrome this weekend. It's going to be my biggest race of the season and I've been preparing for it since April.

In other news, Luke and I did well at this week's Nas-Track race. We timed our exchanges perfectly in the two Madisons and ended up winning every sprint as well as the overall. I have a snazzy new Nas-Track hat now.

Ciao. :)

Allen Park Criterium

2008-06-14T15:23:00.003-04:00

Well, Allen Park was kind of... meh. The legs weren't feeling strong and I started the race on an empty stomach so I couldn't put out any power. I tried to bridge to a few early breaks with no success. The winning break went off when I was chilling in the back and then the group split up. I ended up just getting in a little pacing workout in the back until I rolled off the front the lap before the promoter pulled us.

My teammate, Bruce, ended up 5th after ripping out a spoke from his rear wheel in the final sprint.

I'm looking forward to some track racing tomorrow and this week as well as the Rockford Criterium. Criteriums in flat office parks (e.g. Allen Park, BTR Park) aren't really my thing.

What I did in Minnesota

2008-06-13T22:32:00.002-04:00

I think this video pretty much sums it up:

I'm the second rider to go down (in the blue). The third guy to go down (Dave Byer) completely trashed his front 808.

Blaine for the Weekend

2008-06-04T12:52:00.002-04:00

This weekend I will have to forgo my shot at the glory and fame that comes with the Michigan U23 State Championship to venture to Blaine, MN for the Fixed Gear Classic. There are supposed to be some pretty fast riders there, including Roberto Chiappa.

Chiappa has competed against Theo Bos, which means that after racing against him, I will have indirectly competed against Theo Bos.

I feel like I'm famous already.

Memorial Weekend Recap

2008-05-26T22:31:00.004-04:00

I did three things this weekend:
- Raced at Frankenmuth
- Fed the Cascades Cycling Team at Leelanau
- Raced at Gaslight

It's been a fun weekend.

Frankenmuth Race Report

Frankenmuth went really well for me. Since the race started at 7:30AM, I had to wake up at 4:30AM and leave by 5:00AM. Standing on the start line, I felt more like taking a nap rather than racing my bike. Once the race got going, I felt better, though.

As usual, a bunch of people launched attacks right from the start. I followed a few attacks, staying on Danny Klein's wheel. A few of us got a gap but the pack brought it back right away. As we re-approached the pack, Kyle Jacobson of ISCorp / UW Milwaukee attacked and passed us. I knew from collegiate season that he had a big engine in him and that he could ride in the wind well, so I yelled at Danny to jump on his wheel. Danny seemed complacent with letting Kyle go (probably because he didn't know Kyle's strength) so I jumped around him and bridged up to Kyle's wheel.

Kyle and I worked together for a while, maintaining a few hundred meter gap on the field. At one point, it looked like the gap was coming down and I felt like sitting up. Kyle kept pulling strong, though, so I stuck with it. The pack must have decided to stop chasing because all of a sudden our gap started widening. After a while, they were out sight. Kyle and I worked together really well. He's a stronger rider in the wind, so I had to work hard to stay with him.

On the third lap, a group of three was getting pretty close to us so Kyle and I sat up to rest so they could catch us and give us more power. Once they caught us, we started riding even faster in a strong rotating paceline. The group consisted of two ISCorp riders, a rider from Raisin Rack, a Torelli rider and me.

On the next lap, Danny Klein and James Bruce bridged up to us (I don't know how - we were absolutely flying with the pack nowhere in sight). They were both pretty spent from their hard efforts.

We continued to work together well. On the last lap, in the final headwind section before the tailwind, an ISCorp guy really nailed the pace. Danny, Bruce, and I couldn't hold it so we ended up dropping. As the three of us turned into the tailwind section we looked to our right to see a small, menacing speck in the distance. We worked together through the tailwind section (catching Kyle), trying to keep that speck away from us, but those red, white, and blue Rite-Aid colors just kept getting closer. As we turned into the last leg, Jake Rytlewski of Rite-Aid was quickly gaining ground on us.

We all rode hard up the final uphill, with James Bruce pulling hard. As we turned the final corner, Kyle nailed the pace around James. I tried to follow but I couldn't close the bike-length between us. As I dug deep, that red, white and blue jersey creeped by me about 200 meters from the finish. He just barely got around Kyle to take fourth place. I ended up sixth for the day. Matthew Busche, of ISCorp, who nailed the pace in the headwind section, took the win.

Leelanau Race Report

Unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to ride in Leelanau this year, and I'm thinking that was probably for the better considering almost every strong rider from Michigan didn't finish. Instead, I fed the Cascades Womens' Cycling Team in the feed zones.

Helping out their team was a really fun and interesting experience. They're a great group and I enjoyed helping them, even though I couldn't understand what many of them were saying (they're all from Montreal and many of them only speak a little English). Julie Bellerose (who rode for U of M this season) took the top place on their team, coming in at 13th. Her teammate, Veronique was not far behind in 15th. Considering the strength of the field this year, they all did really well.

For me, the experience of being at a race but not racing was really unusual. It's a different kind of stress trying to help riders rather than racing. There's less pressure, but I still have an important task to do. Getting from the first to the second feed zone was especially stressful because there was very little time to do it. Luckily, I successfully navigated the back roads and made it to the second feed just in time for a parched Julie and Veronique to roll by.

Overall, I'm really grateful that Equipe Cascades gave me the opportunity to help them. Additionally, watching the mens' race has shown me what level I'll need to reach to be able to ride with the big guns if I have the opportunity to race next year.

Gaslight Race Report

Gaslight also provided a good bit of enjoyment this Memorial weekend. The race started with a quick pace, with a lot of small attacks right from the gun. I followed a bunch of them, but none seemed to stick. A few laps into the race, a strong group of around five riders had a good gap on the group. One of my teammates (I think) yelled for me to get up there, so I made my way to the front of the peloton and jumped. I opened a nice little gap and made it about three quarters of the way to the lead group before pulling off to let the rider following me take a turn. I was happy to see my teammate Bruce Rivera right there. He finished the bridge and we made it to the fast group. Both he and I needed to recover, so we sat in for a few seconds. I took an inventory of the group and it looked very similar to the lead group at Frankemuth.

Two ISCorp riders pulled through really hard and the Raisin Rack rider (from Frankenmuth let a gap open up). I was still spent from bridging that I couldn't jump across the gap. In retrospect, I should have at least tried to close the gap, because those riders ended up riding away for the win.

The rest of us just floated back to the pack. I sat in for a while as more attacks went. Another group with Bruce Rivera got up the road, so I went to the front of the peloton and did a little blocking and covering.

By the end of the race, all the money places were up the road, so people seemed less determined. On the last lap, I jumped on a move by John Sammut and Luke. Luke had asked John to get him away from the pack and up to a dangling lead group. John pulled hard but stalled out, leaving the chase up to Luke. Unfortunately, we just ended up dragging a bunch of Jet Fuel guys with us. Luke pulled off and I sat up when my teammate, Terry Palmer, jumped around us. I moved over and let the pack go by me to coast in. Bruce ended up sixth and Ken Vernier got 14th - in the money.

Overall, this has been a great Memorial weekend.

Tour of Kensington Valley Recap

2008-05-17T21:30:00.002-04:00

Well, today I raced in the Tour of Kensington Valley. It's probably the longest road race I'll do this year. The flier claimed it was 97 miles, but my teammate measured it at 102 miles.

Given the length of the race, and the fact that it started at 7:15AM, nobody really warmed up for it. This lack of warm-up really played into the race, because the first attack came at around 500 meters. We rolled off the line, and before I knew it, a Bissell guy jumped, followed by Greg Christian of Team Turin. I quickly latched on to them with a few more guys. The pack didn't really seem to think we were serious, considering we still had to ride 100 miles, so they just sat up. A few more guys came across and we started a rotating paceline. I looked around and all the major teams were represented, with the exception of Wolverines. Luckily, Danny Klein bridged up. Now that we had representation from every major team, we could ride away.

We settled into a nice, strong rotating paceline, getting a big gap on the pack. I took a pretty hard pull and decided to go to the back of the group to recover. Some Lathrup Industries guy was back there and he created a gap. He, a Bissell guy, and I looked at eachother, playing the "No, you pull" game. This was a stupid move on my part because we all got dropped from the group. I attacked the two other guys up a hill and got a gap on them. Though now that I look back at it, Bissell must have been using team radios because the Bissell guy was waiting for his teammate to bridge back up so he could leapfrog him into the pack. I jumped on their wheels and they dragged me back to the lead group. The Lathrup Industries guy just disappeared. When I got back to the lead group Danny was like "Dude, where'd you go?" and I said "I was back aways for a little bit." He replied "Don't ever do that again," which cracked me up.

We kept the pace strong, getting a five minute gap at one point, according to Joe Lekovish at the feed zone. A bunch of my teammates and a bunch of Wolverines were worried I didn't have any food, so every time I came through the feed zone I had two or three people offering me bottles and gels. A thanks goes out to all my teammates as well as Maia Orabi and the Dubrishes for offering me bottles.

Anyways, with about 4.5 laps to go, going up the feed zone climb, Danny and Greg nailed the pace and made everyone suffer. They got a good little gap on us. A Bissell guy jumped across the gap and then Greg rode off the front of them. The five of us that remained suffered for a while and then the other Bissell guy jumped across the gap on the next lap's feed zone climb. We now had Pete Schilling of Priority Health, a South Lyon guy, and a Giant guy. The four of us suffered for a while until a group with John Card got up to us.

Once they reached us, the pace slowed quite a bit. Zach McBride of Priority Health went to pull off the front and nobody followed, so he just rode off the front and got away.

Coming in to the final climb and sprint, I tried to stay on the USA National guy's wheel, but I got separated to the other side of the pack. That separation proved unfortunate because he attacked at just that moment. Peter Schilling also attacked going into the final straightaway and got a little gap. John Card sprinted hard to try to get around him which gave me a good lead out. He didn't get around Peter, but I was able to jump around him before the finish line.

I ended up 9th overall, which I'm really happy with given the strength of the field. Greg Christian won the race on his solo breakaway.

Tomorrow is the first day of the Omnium Points Series at the velodrome. It should be interesting, to say the least. I'm still pretty tired from today.

Oh, and also I should mention that the University of Michigan now has a national champion! Julie Bellerose masterfully won the womens' division 1 criterium in Fort Collins, Colorado at collegiate nationals! She's now back in Canada, but she's going to return to Michigan for Leelanau where I'll be providing feed zone support for her Cascades pro cycling team.

My Collegiate Road Nationals Experience (a.k.a. How you Shouldn't Race a Bike)

2008-05-10T19:58:00.004-04:00

Where's Brendan?

Well, I hope I don't sound like a crybaby too much. My last two posts have pretty much been me complaining about my road racing and this one's not much different. It's about today's Collegiate Road Nationals race in Fort Collins, Colorado.

The lollipop-style course consisted of a long, steep climb right from the gun, followed by hilly loops at the top, then back down for the finish. Conditions were OK, but not that great for me - temperatures in the 40s and 50s and high wind. As we stood on the starting line, the announcer told us they were going to shorten the course by ten miles because a snowstorm was coming.

The race started out pretty hard with the whole group nailing the pace right from the gun. I slowly drifted back in the pack as the strong winds baked me (any sort of wind pretty much destroys me - I guess that's why I'm not a time trialist). Once we reached the climb with a tailwind I started flying past suffering riders. A gap opened up and I found myself and a bunch of other riders off the back of a 30+ rider group. Not discouraged, I pressed on, passing more and more shelled riders. A group of around ten of us formed not too far behind the peloton and we settled into a chase.

We eventually caught the peloton after the first lap. It felt nice to be relieved from chasing and to sit in a big draft. After five minutes or so of riding with the peloton, we came around a corner and another rider tangled his bars with me. We both went down. Uninjured, I quickly got back up and jumped on my bike. Unfortunately, the peloton had just started an acceleration, so despite the fact that I was 30 seconds back, I just couldn't catch them.

Eventually, another chase group with two of my U of M teammates, Mattison and Kyle, caught me in a headwind section and I jumped in with them.

This second chase group finally caught the peloton in the feed zone after two more laps of chasing. I decided to chill in the back for a while, which turned out to be my biggest mistake of the day. As soon as we exited the loop section of the course, the road turned up and the group started climbing hard. A bunch of gaps opened up ahead of me and I found chase effort futile. I continued to ride hard to the finish, picking up a few riders here and there. I rolled into the finish in 72nd - about mid pack.

Despite all of this complaining, I'm still glad I did this race for several reasons:
1.) I now have experience in a national-caliber road race so I know what to expect in the future.
2.) I learned a good lesson about riding in a pack.
3.) I had fun.

I'll probably post another update after tomorrow's criterium.

(For the photo: I'm in the middle of the field of riders. My head's popping up and you can see my white-rimmed sunglasses)

Cone Azalia Race Report

2008-05-04T17:18:00.003-04:00

Well, Cone proved frustrating for yet another year. The start of the race seemed pretty normal - a few attacks here anld there with nothing really sticking. We got through the first dirt section without incident but I flatted on the second dirt section. Since a bunch of other riders had already flatted, I had to ride backward to the follow vehicle to get a wheel. Luckily I got the last available rear wheel in the follow car. Unfortunately by the time I had changed wheels, the pack was three minutes up the road and moving fast.

I started riding again to find my teammate Tim Saari had flatted his front tire. He had just finished switching wheels so I sat up while he re-mounted. We caught another rider and the three of us worked together. For some reason, the other rider either had a flat or got dropped because he was way far back all of a sudden.

Tim and I switched pulls for a while, trying to keep it steady, but still baking ourselves in the wind. After around 20 or 30 miles we sighted the pack about 1-2 minutes up the road (the landscape is wide open so we could see them after a turn). We were pretty happy to finally be getting close to the pack, but of course bad luck had to strike again. When we were about 500 feet from a railroad crossing, the lights started flashing and the gates went down. We had to wait for a long-ass train to go through before starting again. The race seemed hopeless.

Tim and I continued to work together for more miles, picking up and dropping riders along the way. With about two laps to go, we finally sighted a group of 1-2's not too far up the road. The group consisted of Ray Dybowski, John Card (I think), and a few other riders - around six in total. We finally caught them, but they weren't riding very fast. We sat in with them for two laps and listened to them complain. With about three miles to go I had enough so I pulled through hard to get the pace going a little. Nobody followed me and I soon found myself about 20 feet off the front. I figured I would just go with it since Tim and I were the only ones doing work in the group anyway. Tim would be able to sit up and let others pretend to do work, and I would be able to get up the road.

Well, it worked, and I successfully soloed away from the small group to roll in for 14th place. Unfortunately, luck once again failed to be on my side - since the number of total participants was 150, 25 fewer than the 175 needed to guarantee a purse, the promoter only paid out to the top 12 in the 1-2's.

Oh well. I guess bad luck is expected at Cone. Hopefully this spurt of bad luck means I'll have good luck at Collegiate Nationals in Fort Collins, CO.

Frustrated in Pittsburgh

2008-03-22T18:25:00.005-04:00

The great part about road racing is how a smart strategy mixed with strong legs can get you a decent finish in almost all circumstances. Well, today was the exception.

Today's race took place outside of Pittsburgh, PA on some hilly rural roads. The course suited me well - it played to my strong climbing abilities and quick power. In addition, the race mixed the Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference (MWCCC) with the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference (ECCC). For the first few laps, the group rode pretty consistently. A couple riders made it out of sight of the peloton, but we weren't to worried about the gap.

On the first climb of the third lap, a group of really strong riders from the ECCC broke off the front. Derek Laan of Purdue and I quickly latched on and buried ourselves to stay with them. We developed a large gap on the peloton pretty quickly. My group of five riders (an Army guy, a "Super ECCC" guy from Vermont, some green dude, Purdue, and I) descended strong and started our second climb of the "triple header" climbs. One of the guys (I think it was the Army guy) told us that if we rode hard up this climb, we would make it away from the peloton. Well, we certainly rode hard up the climb, but apparently not hard enough for the Army guy. At the top of the climb, Army proceeded to rip our legs off and slingshot himself off the front.

The rest of us worked together well to stay away from the peloton. A chase group of around five riders caught us, giving us more man power. I felt strong. The people around me seemed to be a lot more fatigued than I was. As we began the second climb of the final lap, I switched into my small chainring. Well, despite the hours I spent tuning my bike, the chain dropped to the inside. I couldn't ramp it up by shifting outwards, so I had to get off the bike and put it back on. I can't even describe the frustration I felt watching the group disappear up the road as I struggled to regain my momentum from a dead standstill up a steep climb.

I rode by myself for a while until another group caught me. At the end of the race, I didn't really feel like sprinting, since all the points had already been awarded, so I lead out my teammate, Greg.

I can confidently say that this race was the most frustrating race I've done. Watching the lead group of elite riders from the MWCCC and ECCC disappear up the road really took a toll on me mentally. However, a few positives did come from this experience:

1.) I'm now confident I'm strong enough to ride with the top riders in the MWCCC and ECCC.
2.) I can channel my frustration into tomorrow's criterium in Pittsburgh. I'm ready to rip some legs off.

We'll see how tomorrow goes.

First Real MTB Ride Since Last Year

2007-08-13T12:40:00.000-04:00

I rode at Pontiac Lake today. It was my first time riding an actual trail since last year. I've been sticking to the road and track all this year, so it was nice to change things up a bit.

I took it relatively easy for the first half of the first lap, letting John and Blaine ride behind me for a while. It took a few miles to get back into the rhythm of mountain biking, but it wasn't like I had forgotten how to ride or anything... I ramped up the pace a bit for the rest of the first lap and felt pretty good going into the second lap. I fell on the first left turn of the downhill after the first major climb, but got back up and dusted myself off, with no real injuries. Now that I think of it, that was probably the first time I've gone down all year.

The second and third laps went by pretty quickly, but I was feeling some pain in my right shoulder by the end of the last lap. I think my shoulder was still sore from the Madison races in the International 3-day. It was bad to a point where I had trouble turning the steering wheel on the drive back, and I could feel a tendon popping in and out of place. It got better, though when I let it rest for a few hours.

After I got back, I went over to Sam's house to film some of his movie, Devil's Night. It was pretty fun, but we didn't get done until 2AM after getting stopped by the cops once and Cranbrook security once for looking really suspicious while we were filming. However, we got all of Evan and Jesse's parts done, so it should be pretty easy to finish up the rest of the movie.

BTR Park Criterium in Kalamazoo

2007-08-12T01:37:00.000-04:00

Today was the BTR Park Criterium in good 'ol Kalamazoo. I picked up Luke at his house and we carpooled out to the race. I was surprisingly not very nervous as I thought I would be for my first "fast" race in the Pro-1-2-3 field. When we got there, I ate a bagel and did a quick 20-minute warm up before the start. I regretted eating that bagel soon into the race because I felt like it was going to come back up.

The first four laps of the race were pretty fast, which was a good change from the 3s which seem to have a more relaxed attitude until someone attacks. A few small breaks went, but none got farther than a few seconds up the road before the field reeled them back in. Then a three-man break got about 10 seconds on the field. I didn't think much of it, and I just tried to stay in the top 10 in the field. Rider by rider, however, the break began to grow as small groups and solo riders bridged the gap. The next thing I knew, the breakaway had 13 people in it and 30 seconds on the field. At that time I was pretty much screwed - all the fast people were up the road, and all the major teams were represented in the break. This meant that nobody in the field was willing to do any work. That got really frustrating because a fast race turned into a slow train ride.

I tried doing some work on the front of the pack to pick up the pace, but nothing would stick. We probably didn't have any chance at that point of catching the break, but I wasn't worried - I was just excited that Luke had made the break. He had a good chance of pulling off a win, given the size and dynamic of the break. Unfortunately as we neared the start / finish on one of our laps, Luke came drifting back down the road. Evidently, he wasn't feeling really good and didn't have the desire to ride in the break.

The break did end up making it away, with Rob Dascewaaglidhsajh taking the win, with Danny Klein in second and Tim Finkle in 8th (finally a decent Wolverine finish!).

Overall, it was a good experience to race with a faster group. I finally got a reply from Paul Alman, and unfortunately I'm still a 3 (really frustrating), so that means I'll have to do some more slow races. At least that means I'll be able to gun for a win at Downer's Grove in the 3s.

Off-day Before Kalamazoo

2007-08-11T00:09:00.000-04:00

I spent today off the bike since I'm going to be racing at Kalamazoo tomorrow. I kind of regret it now, because it was a really beautiful day and I could have done an easy ride out to Wabeek or something. Whatever.

The BTR Park Criterium in Kalamazoo tomorrow should be pretty sweet. It's not on the same circuit on which they held the Western Michigan Collegiate race, so I won't be familiar with the course. That could be a bit of a disadvantage since I'll be racing in the Pro 1-2-3 category (that's right, they combined the 3s with the 1s and 2s). I decided not to do the Category 3 race as well since it's before the pro race, and I want to have fresh legs for the pros. In all honesty, I should already have my upgrade to 2s by now since I submitted it about 2 weeks ago (right after the Make-a-Wish ride with Blair Dudley and Matt Scott). I knew I was ready to upgrade when I was giving Blair a hard time in the sprints while making Matt work on the climbs. Anyways, I'm really looking forward to racing in a fast category tomorrow. It's fun to race in the 3s, but I don't really feel like I'm pushing myself as much as I should be. A race doesn't really feel like a race in that category. I think I'll have a much harder time in the pro category, which is good - I'd much rather work hard to finish top 20 in the pros than pull off an easy top 10 in the 3s.

After an e-mail conversation with Dale Hughes, I've decided I'll be doing a track workout Sunday at noon. He tells me there is going to be a coach there who can help me work on my starts and get me ready for Collegiate Track Nationals. I'll probably bring my mountain bike as well so that I can ride the Bloomer trails afterward, perhaps with Luke.

So at the moment, my tentative schedule for the rest of the month is as follows:
Saturday: BTR Park Criterium
Sunday: Track workouts + easy MTB
Monday: MTB at Pontiac Lake (maybe with some U of M riders)
Tuesday: Six-Day at the Track
Wednesday: Six-Day at the Track
Thursday: Six-Day at the Track
Friday: Six-Day at the Track or rest for Downers Grove
Saturday: Six-Day at the Track or Downers Grove (depending on how some things go)
Sunday: Six-Day at the Track or nothing
Monday: MTB
Tuesday: Loose Spokes Ride from Birmingham
Wednesday: Points race at the track
Thursday: Easy MTB
Friday: Probably more MTB (I miss NAS-TRACK!!!)
Saturday: More MTB
Sunday: Leave for Mike's cottage
Monday - Thursday: U of M MTB pre-season camp up North
Friday: B-School Orientation + Ride in Ann Arbor
Saturday (Sept. 1st): Move in to 502 Catherine + Ride in Ann Arbor

Then school starts on the 4th (after Labor Day)! I'm really looking forward to the B-School and riding with U of M again, but I've got to stay in shape and stay focused on Track Nationals!

As fun as this summer has been, it's kind of nice that it's coming to a close.

First Ride on the New Giant Anthem

2007-08-09T17:43:00.000-04:00

Today was my first ride on my new 2008 Giant Anthem 0. I started out at home, rode to Cranbrook, and did some random trails there. It started sprinkling a bit as I was riding back, so I decided that eating some dinner and then driving up to Pontiac Lake wouldn't be a good idea.

The bike felt pretty good. It's nice to have lockout in both the front and the back, despite the fact that it's manual lockout as opposed to TerraLogic lockout from Fox. The frame felt really responsive on the trails, especially on the halfway ridge trail that goes along the lake. It made me really want to go to a real trail and do some mountain biking.

The only thing I really regret about buying a full suspension as opposed to a hardtail is that it didn't feel as quick or nimble on the climbs. I think I'm a lot stronger than I was at this time last year, so the added 3lbs of weight wasn't much of a factor, just the "bobbing" feeling I felt as I was climbing.

Overall, I'd say I'm really happy with the bike (well, the color could be better), and I'm really looking forward to trying it out on some real mountain trails like Pontiac Lake and Poto. I'm thinking I might drive out to Pontiac Lake tomorrow and do one or two easy loops to keep my legs loose for the BTR Criterium in Kalamazoo on Saturday. That should be a tough race since I hear that there are some significant climbs, and I'll be racing in the Pro 1-2-3 category.

Sick of Waiting... Ready to Ride

2007-08-08T21:14:00.000-04:00

Well, I got my wisdom teeth out first thing Monday morning and I haven't been able to ride since, so I decided to make a blog out of boredom.

Right now I feel pretty bad- I guess this is what cycling withdrawal feels like. My cheeks are swollen to a point where several people have told me I resemble a chipmunk, and my mouth doesn't feel really good. It's hard to eat a full meal as my jaw has not yet fully regained function, and I can't chew with my molars. Hopefully I'll be able to ride before the end of this week, especially since my new mountain bike just came in:

It's a 2008 Giant Anthem 0, size 20" and it just became available from Giant a few days ago. It's got a mix of X.0, XT, Avid and RaceFace components with Fox suspension and CrossMax wheels. I can't wait to finally hit the trail. I haven't had a mountain bike all season, so this will be a nice change to the road and track riding I've been doing. Without pedals it weighs 24 pounds even, and it will probably weigh a little bit less once I exchange the stock riser bars for the flat bars I ordered. They should arrive sometime Friday in the QBP order at KLM.

I spent this weekend plus Friday night racing in the International 3-day at the Velodrome at Bloomer Park. It was really fun to compete against some of the faster track guys in North America, but I didn't do to well. My partner who I was supposed to ride with ended up unable to come at the last moment so I had to ride with another partner. I feel like I would have had to do a lot less chasing if I had my original partner. After 2 days of pretty much constantly chasing the pack I started off day 3 pretty tired. I ended up crashing (well, sort of) when a rider tried to go underneath my exchange and knocked me off the track. Two of the nipples in my rear 404 broke, so I'm going to have to get those replaced. I ended up DNFing after the crash, but luckily Team White had withdrawn on the first day so I didn't end up in dead last. Overall, I still had a fun time, and I did pretty well in the Miss-and-Outs where I was able to use my pack riding skills to my advantage. Next year should be really good.

Tomorrow I'm going to call up Cannondale about my SuperSix which I ordered at the end of June, but which still has not arrived. Hopefully I'll be able to sort it all out before Elk Grove.

Which brings me to my next dilemma - I can either race all 6 days of the six-day race at the velodrome, which goes from August 14th - 19th, or I can skip the last days and do the Criterium National Championships at Elk Grove. I guess it depends on how I'm feeling. I'm expecting to get my upgrade to 2's pretty soon, so I think it would be pretty harsh to make the National Championships my first race as a 2. On the other hand, I'm feeling pretty fast this time of the season, so I might be able to make a splash. We'll see.

I also need to get Collegiate Track Nationals sorted out. At the moment I don't have anyone to go with, and I really don't feel like flying out to San Diego all by myself. I also need to find a place to stay when I'm out there. I've had a few people offer up their places, but I'm still unsure if I'm even going to get to San Diego in the first place.

Well, I guess this is pretty decent for my first blog entry. I've been meaning to start one of these for a while as I've heard they work surprisingly well as training tools. Regardless, I've finally done it, and I look forward to giving everyone updates