"The Guate"

For the majority of you that read this, you may already know that in 3 days I'll be in a plane on my way to compete in my first international race. Starting October 23rd I will be competing in the 52nd edition of the Vuelta a Guatemala. I will be racing with the U23 National team who set the expectations pretty high considering their performance during last years appearance at the race. My goals for this race is simple. Experience. Of course I want to do well, but getting the experience of the race in general is more important.

When I got the phone call and was told that I was going to go race my bike in Guatemala, I was a little shocked. I honestly knew nothing about Guatemala, other than the fact that it is located in Central America and that the majority of the people speak Spanish. Lucky for me I happen to have taken 3 years of Spanish in high school. I'll be honest and tell you I don't know every single word in the Spanish language, but I can usually pick up words/ phrases. With that being said I'm going to try and finish this entire blog post in Spanish. Voy a montar mi bicicleta este viernes y.......forget it. I've already forgotten too much.  I could potentially try to go through with it and look ridiculous while possibly losing some of my viewers or just go on with the post normally in English.  I'll go with plan B.

If you told me at the beginning of the year that I would be racing in the Vuelta a Guatemala for the US U23 National team, I would not believe you. After literally only two years in this sport lifestyle, I am essentially going to be racing with some of the best riders in the nation for my age group. I consider the selection alone to be an accomplishment. I have so much to learn these next couple of weeks and that is exactly what I plan on doing. Learning. Learning for the future. Learning for what lies ahead of me. Learning for my career.  It only gets better from here.

And of course, I am obligated to bring a camera so in my post after the race when I get home, I will give you all some of the visual during the 10 day stage race.

Something else I would like to mention before I go about my day, is the fact that finding a team for 2012 is over.  I can't release which team, but I assure you all that next year will be nothing like this year. Even though it may mean relocating, I can already tell 2012 is going to be a great year full good times with good people.  That's it for this post. Thanks for reading and look for another post sometime in the first week of November.

Course Record

Today I raced the Fremont Peak Hill Climb in San Juan Baptista. It was a 10 mile climb. The first four miles were uphill with some rolling terrain. The last six miles had grades averaging from 6-8%. The second to last mile was the hardest. In the last mile there was a slight downhill and with a slight uphill in the finishing straight.


I got to the race two hours in advance mainly to preview the course to see what was in store for me today. Towards the top of the climb some of the views were incredible.  It was exposed so you could see the green valleys down below. 


At the start line there were a few names there in my category that I recognized. But my main concern was Nate English from Yahoo! who brought a teammate with him today.  It was no secret that he was the strongest rider there. The race started with Nate's teammate setting a moderate tempo on the flat section right before the climb. He carried it through the first section of climb. There were a few minor attacks at this point, but nothing serious. With ten kilometers to go it started to get serious. Nate set a hard tempo on a steeper part of the course which began to show who came here for the win. I looked back and we were already down to three. With 5k to go it started to get really steep. I was only able to put in a little bit of tempo without cracking. If I had cracked with Nate English on my wheel, it would have been all over. So I was being really smart about my output. He was not too happy with my tactics so he decided to basically come to a complete stop to let me pull through. I did, but didn't put in my full effort. I pealed off and he immediately attacked which was the first of many.  For the last kilometer it was simply a game of tactics.  The last rider we dropped caught us and went straight on by to solo in. I jumped straight on his wheel and Nate jumped on mine. Because we were on a slight downhill we were hitting speeds over 40mph. It was a fast finish. With 100 meters to go Nate jumped around me going for the win but went a little to early.  With 20 meters to go I was able to come around him for the win. It was such a good feeling.  I really wanted to get a win before the season ended and I did. To add to the excitement when I got back to the bottom I found out that I had broke the course record set by Jesse Moore of Cal Giant/ Specialized by 13 seconds. It was a good experience and a good end of the year result. Thanks for reading.

San Ardo

Summer is almost at its end as we approach the home stretch of the 2012 season. It's the time when everyone has peaked or is in the process of peaking their fitness. Even my tan lines are approaching their peak contrasts. For everyone that has seen me in person lately, you have probably noticed I have now developed a helmet strap tan line. It's made the recent trips out in the public, awkward. I haven't had anyone comment on them yet, but I can see the eager question marks on their faces as I walk on by. A few weeks ago as I was getting out of the shower, I got a glance of my back in the mirror and noticed that even there, I developed a tan line. What tan line can I possibly have on my back? Because the jersey that I wear is so thin the rays from the sun persist through it. Thus creating the most awkwardly looking tan line yet, the bib tan line.

Anyways, last weekend I competed in the San Ardo Road Race. I entered it mainly for experience. It was a course that featured rolling terrain with a few flat sections along the way. The first half of the race I spent my time attacking and chasing almost every move in a desperate attempt to get myself into a break. I was able to get into a break of seven for a little awhile. Our advantage wasn't even able to get over a minute.  We were brought back pretty quickly. As we got reeled in, I positioned myself back into middle of the pack. I glanced down to notice that I had a front flat. So I went to the back and waited for the pit car.  I went to the back of the wheel car, grabbed my front wheel and threw it on my bike. I was looking at about a 40 second gap to chase down. I chased as hard as could and ten miles later I was back on. Then I sat on the back of the pack recovering from the recent effort. Not even a kilometer later I hear a massive blow out from someones tire. I looked down, and guess what I saw. You guessed it, I managed to get myself yet another flat. This time it was a rear.  So I got off my bike yet again to change the rear wheel.  For whatever reason the peleton's pace ramped up right as I was flatting. Which for a even more "fun" chase. This chase really took it out of me. I chased for a solid half hour and caught back on just as I thought I wasn't going to make it. For the remainder of the race I sat in the pack trying to stay safe. It came down to a sprint and I had nothing left after my chases so I finished with the pack. Although a disappointing race, it was really fun. From the bumpy terrain to the all out chases, I had fun. Thanks for reading.

Today is the day

I've been waiting for since I started cycling. Today I officially received  my category 1 upgrade. It was one of my main goals for this season, and a long term goal for my career. Completing a goal, especially one's with high magnitude, is always such a great feeling of relief. It's one for the books and yet another mile stone in pursuing my lifetime goal as becoming a professional cyclist.

During the past month I obtained the remainder of points required for my upgrade racing in the Cascade Cycling Classic.  I had high ambitions for the general classification for this race. My goal was to win. That's right, win. But sometimes life doesn't play out like you want it to.

I had the luxury of host housing thanks to the one and only Veronika Lenzi. I stayed with the Baily's for the time I was up there. They were one of the most generous families I've met. It was a stress free environment, which was really helpful mentally. Eileen was even generous enough to drive me to start of stage one, which was a huge help, considering it would have been a solid hour and a half ride to get there from where I was staying. The first stage was a 114 kilometer road race to the top of Mt. Bachelor.  There were attacks here and there for the first 25k until a break finally went.  Their advantage didn't go over two minutes due to the fact that there were some many GC contenders in the race.  The last 10k was a category 2 climb to the top of Mt.Bachelor leveling out for the last kilometer. Once we hit the base, the peleton was already consuming remnants of the break away. A rider set a very hard pace for the first kilometer of the climb. He blew up and no one else wanted to set tempo so we took a moderate pace up the majority of the climb. Another rider attacked about half way through the climb but was brought back quickly. At this point in the race my legs were feeling great, but I noticed my heart rate was a good ten to twelve beats higher than it should have been. At first I thought it was just the elevation, but that unfortunately was not the case.  It ended up being a sinus infection which pretty much ruined any ambitions of getting a stage win. Once we got to the top of the climb I took a glance behind me to see that we still had a group of thirty riders. That meant a sprint finish, great. With a kilometer to go Billy Crane from Webcor attacked. I got right on his wheel, hoping that we could hold it the finish to go 1 and 2. He sat up so I tried to go again, but by the time I looked back I was already leading out the peleton for the sprint.  I ended up getting 20th, which was very disappointing.

The next day was a double header with a time trial in the morning and cirterium in the afternoon. The time trial was a 19 kilometer out and back.  The way out was a slight uphill and the way back was slight downhill. I was really tired at the start which kind of made me nervous. Even after my warm up I just felt like I was in a daze the entire time. Out of the start gate, I was feeling ok. Got up to speed, got in the aerobars, everything was good. I looked down, and see my heart rate yet again 10 beats over my LT.  I tried to stay positive and just ride the course as fast as possible. I ended up catching my 30 second guy at the top of the climb which was a good confidence booster. But then he quickly caught me again on the decent. I tried keeping his pace without blowing up, but it wasn't possible for me. He ended up catching his 30 second guy and putting in over a minute to me in the last 9k. This guy was strong. He ended up winning the time trial by 37 seconds. I was able to hold on to 6th 44 seconds back.  Not exactly what I had in mind. I'll be honest, I was pissed. I don't train through the winter months just to say 'Oh I had bad luck.' It was my first time trial actually using a TT bike, so in time as I prefect my position I will have better luck in this event.

After a disappointing time trial it was time for the criterium. It was an average four corner crit, with a slight uphill on the backside and a slight downhill on the finishing straight. My goal was to simply stay safe. I ended up basically starting towards the back due to lack of coordination by the race organizers.  The moment I got called up to the line everyone else acted like their name was Wes Holloway and moved up to the start line the same time I did. I was not happy.  The moment the race started I was already bumping elbows getting the position I wanted.  I finally got to tenth wheel and stayed there for the remainder of the race. There were a couple of solo crashes that I managed to avoid but I was always pretty safe.  With three to a go a rider attacked and held about 15 second gap.  With two go it went down to 8.  Then we hit the last lap and we were flying. The solo rider managed to stay away for the win. I ended up 12th in a successful attempt to stay safe.

The next and final day was the Circuit race. It was a 27 kilometer circuit with two decent climbs towards the end. My goal for this race was to make it as hard as possible and basically control it.  The first lap the peleton set tempo. There were a few little attacks, but nothing stayed until we hit the harder of the two climbs, Archie Briggs. In my attempt to monitor the race, I decided to join the break. It was two other riders and myself. I didnt recognize either of them, so I was not sure of their strength. So I decided to use the second lap as a test lap to ultimately decide if they were strong enough to withstand  the peleton.  Turns out they were not, so I did my pulls but with hardly any effort.  Going into the final lap we were caught, which was fine by me. My legs were still feeling good. We hit the last climb and the attacks started. On the last part of the climb, a group of 5 riders got away, and stayed away all the way to the finish. I did my best to get position and hold it to the sprint. I ended up coming in 12th for the second day in a row.

My final GC result at the end of the day was 6th. Success in life is a matter of perspective. I didn't achieve my goal, obviously, but it was a decent result. All I can do now is look forward to the rest of the season and further races to come.  Thanks for reading.

I'm back

Yesterday was my first race back since April. I decided to do some low key races (Central Coast Circuit Race) just to get started again. When I got to the start line, it wasn't exactly low key. There was a lot of talent from all around northern California.  I was in the P/1/2/3 race which was 90 minutes around a 4.3 mile course that had a little bit of everything. There was a flat section, some rollers, one decent little climb, and of course wind. The race started with the ~20 man field setting a moderate tempo through the first flat section. Once we hit the little climb, a few riders attacked to get things going. I followed wheels until I thought there was a strong enough break to go with. On a little roller into a crosswind, Billy Crane from Webcor made a solid attack. Cal Giant rider Brandon Trafton was on his wheel. I decided that this was a strong group of guys to go with so I tried my luck. A rider from McGuire's was able to bridge up to us just before the descent, and by then we already had about twenty seconds on the field. I noticed the McGuire's rider started skipping pulls so I decided to set a hard tempo on the little climb to get rid of him. It was down to just the three of us. Well for a little awhile at least. Steve Reaney from Cal Giant decided to bridge up to us to make it four. The gap was at about a minute now. The moment he bridged he attacked us and went right on by. It was a full on Cancellara attack. I must admit, it was a pretty spectacular attack. Billy didn't look he was able to chase so I made the move to jump onto his wheel. Brandon and Billy were able to make it back on so the four of us rotated for about a quarter of a lap until Steve decided to attack again. I followed his wheel, and it was down to two, and there were four laps left. We each took our pulls evenly until about 2 laps to go when my legs started burning.... a lot. Steve was driving it pretty hard on the slight uphill to the finish every time we went by. And due to the tail wind he was able to hurt me quite a bit. I had the advantage on the little climb, but my legs  were just not having a good day at this point in the race. On the final lap he attacked on the little climb where I should have had the advantage, but my legs were not able to get the job done and follow his wheel. He got about a 10 second gap and it stayed there for the remainder of the lap all the way to the finish. I would have been happy to lose to Steve if it came down to a sprint, but he was able to do it the harder way and come in for a solo win.  Second place isn't too bad considering who I lost to, and the fact that it was my first race back in two months. After the race Steve came up to me and told me that he had to use every trick in the bag today to get rid of me. It doesn't matter who that's coming from it always nice to hear. It also shows a lot of respect when someone tells you that. All in all I had a lot of fun and met some really generous people. It was a good way to start of the 4th of July weekend. Next race will be tomorrow afternoon for the 4th of July Davis Criterium. It's going to be a hot one. The harder it is the better it is for us. Thanks for reading.

Its Summer! And....

It's very very hot! Summer is the only time where I actually look forward to the training in the winter months. Yet when winter training starts all I will be thinking about is training in the Summer. Ironic, I know For the past two weeks I've literally been averaging about 8 bottles of water per ride. The heat makes for good training though. The harder the better. The hottest day last week I decided to go and climb up Mt.Diablo. After I finished the climb I just thought to myself, "wow I just taught myself a lesson." I was dying the whole way up. Thank god they sell coca cola at the top cause I was feeling a little delirious.  Its become my favorite climb in the bay area. It's long, fairly steep at times, and you get rewarded at the top with the 2nd most panoramic view in the world. Not much more you can ask for. And the descent is quite technical, so it's also a good training ground to work on your descending.

When I'm off the bike, I'm usually watching a re run of a race some where around the world.  If no races are on I end up watching the Cervelo BTP (Beyond the Peleton) series. It's  the most influential and educational video on what life really is like a professional cyclist in the pro tour. Recently, I've came across trek's Driven episodes. Here's the most recent one  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vaoBztRrUE . If the UCI lets Contador race this year, there will some major fireworks on the climbs of the tour this year. Looking forward to watching it this year.  After watching Levi during the Tour de Suisse, it looks promising that he might get himself a podium position this year.  Good luck Levi!

Sacrifice

I woke up this morning with extremely sore legs.  The kind of legs that would make you think you were in the Tour de France. Yet it didn't stop me from partaking on yet another four and a half hour ride through the beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains to complete a full week of training on the bike. I must say, some of the views I encountered today were postcard worthy. There's an incredible view on one of my routes on top of Skyline Blvd where you can see all the dark green mountains leading themselves towards Santa Cruz as well as an entire view of Monterrey Bay.

I wanted to discuss something that has been on my mind. Recently, someone told me that ever since I started cycling "I've lost my personality." This upset me when I first heard this. Something to know for all you non cyclists out there,  in one year cyclists sacrifice more than the average person would in their entire lives. Case and point, I skipped my prom last year so I could go race the Junior State Road Race Championships. I ended up getting sick a few nights before so I ended up not doing either of those. Of course I was upset, but it was a choice that I made.  The last thing I want to sacrifice is my personality. Behind every cyclist there is a person. Behind names like Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong, or Andy Schleck there are people. So it really wouldn't make since to sacrifice that. But I do understand how people might see that my personality has changed. I wouldn't say I have lost it, but rather changed it. I've changed it to fit the kind of lifestyle I'm choosing to live.

I would say it's safe to say that my knee has healed 100%. I'm back to the normal training with twice as much stretching. I'm very excited for some of the races coming up. I look forward to completing my season with some more results. Thanks for reading.

Closure

I've been back on the bike for two weeks now, and couldn't be any happier. Even though my riding has been temporarily reduced to 1-2 hours a day, it's still riding. The four weeks that I was off the bike there wasnt a day that went by where the thought or just riding my bike raced across my mind. There are times where your dragging yourself up a 30 + minute climb and suffering in 40 degree weather and you think to yourself " Man, I would kill to get off my bike right now." But when your riding privileges are taken away from you all you can think of is suffering up that climb in 40 degree weather. That's the most enjoyable part of the sport(to me that is.)

Although I was off the bike for four weeks, I haven't raced my bike for two months! Its come to the point where I honestly don't care what race I do, I just want to get out there and race my bike. Rain, snow, wind whatever. But, I've learned to be patient and give my body the proper amount of time it needs to recover and heal. Sure I can make goals and time lines of when I want to be back on the bike, but in all honesty its not up to me. It's up to my body. Lets say your at Disneyland and you want to go one of the more popular rides there and you get there and the wait is like two hours. Then there's the other line right next to it called the fast track and the wait is like two minutes? Well that's exactly how I feel right now. My mind just wants to go go go. But by body has other plans.


I'm about to ramp up the training once again for the rest of the season a.k.a the second half. Overall it was a good rest period for me mentally and physically. For the rest of the season I will be getting results to secure a spot on a team that I'm looking to join for the 2012 season. Some of those races are Cascade and Tour de Nez. I'm very confident for Cascade. I know the courses well since they are the same courses that they used for Nationals last year. I'll give an update later down the road to let you guys know how the training is going. Thanks for reading.

Healing

Sorry that I haven't updated this thing in awhile. The truth is, there hasn't really been a whole lot to talk about. My knee has taken a little longer to heal than expected. But it has definitely started to get better. I know in my previous post I said that it was Bursitis. Well turns out that was the wrong diagnosis. I actually have Patella Femoral (PF.) So basically my outer quad muscle, my IT band, was so tight that it was pulling my knee into an irregular position. Stretching daily has really helped. My next race I'm hopefully going to be able to do is the Pescadero Road Race. If I'm not ready by then, I'll be going back up to Oregon for the Cascade Cycling Classic.

Lesson Learned

As I promised, this is the current update on the condition of my knee. Well, after last weekend it started to feel better. So this Tuesday, I decided to go out for a little hour and a half spin just to see how I felt. Bad idea. The doctor recommended two to three weeks completely off the bike. Given my ego I thought I was capable of cutting the minimum amount of recovery in half. Lesson learned. If the doctor recommends two weeks off the bike, you take two weeks off the bike. Sure it means I'll be missing some races that suit my strengths, but in the end its not worth injuring my knee even more and possibly jeopardizing my entire season. Which also brings me to my next point.

In a few months my family and I are going to try and haul my bikes and myself to the hot and humid Augusta, Georgia for Nationals. To be honest, I much rather prefer blistering hot temperatures over the finger and feet numbing cold temperatures.  Although if freezing cold temperatures meant that I could race my bike, then it wouldn't be a problem. I feel I excel in extreme weather conditions on both side of the spectrum.

As for the training I continue for yet another week into my brief hiatus. Really hoping the pain levels will start dropping the next couple of days. Someone asked me how the Bursitis all the sudden happened. Well, it didn't. A few weeks ago I encountered on a 33 hour week on the bike. It was right up there with some of the stupidest things I've ever done considering its April. At least I enjoyed doing it. That's about it for now. Thanks for reading.

33 Hours Later...

Last week, I endured the longest week on the bike. It was fun. Everyday was very eventful. Whether it meant exploring new roads, occasionally managing to get myself lost, or even partaking in the Spectrum ride it was a fun week on the bike. Unfortunately towards the end of my week, I began to develop a rather annoying pain in my right knee. By the end of my ride on Sunday, the pain really decided to make the last twenty kilometers miserable.  I got it checked out this afternoon, and was diagnosed with Bursitis. So a solid week off the bike. Which also means no Sea Otter. Before I got injured I was able to convince my mind to go and race it, but I guess my body was on the other side of the spectrum. I'm not really too disappointed I wont be racing this weekend  because I finally have a reasonable excuse to take time off the bike and actual do this thing called recovery( which I haven't had much of.) In this brief hiatus from training, I have been spending my free time watching just about every tour ever filmed. So like I said, I'm not really too disappointed. I'm just looking at this minor speed bump in the road as a chance to recover. I'll give a brief update later on next week about the knee. Thanks for reading.

The 21st Annual Bissell Pro Cycling Classic

Today's ride consisted of wind. Lots and lots of wind. I wouldn't even call it a ride but rather a five hour battle with one of mother nature's most forceful weapons. Part of my morning routine is giving my attention to one of biggest liars on the planet, the weatherman. And today the weatherman's forecast was light to no wind in the morning, but a little breeze in the afternoon. On parts of my ride today I found myself using all my strength attempting to stay upright.  I think it was safe to say that the winds today were nothing short of violent. Normally when I am told that the winds will be higher than normal I will try to avoid going to the coast. More specifically Half Moon Bay. I've encountered some pretty strong winds before, especially back on my old training grounds in Sonoma County, but none are comparable to winds near Half Moon Bay.

Anyways, I think that's enough complaining/ rambling for one day. This past weekend I participated in the Apple Pie Criterium up in Santa Rosa. There was a lot of talent in the p/1/2/3 field. I got to the start  to see that I would be racing with both our current national criterium champions. The first couple of laps were pretty comfortable. It wasn't till about mid way through the 90 min crit were I just went downhill. I was coughing up phlegm every other lap. I even started to get lower back pains, which hasn't happened to me since nationals. Anyways, I just sat in the pack waiting for the finish. I ended up finishing in the pack for 17th. Nothing spectacular, but then again I really wasn't feeling spectacular.

Ever since Apple Pie I haven't really been feeling like myself and has left me in debate on whether or not I should attend Sea Otter Classic. After analyzing the registration list it seems that the race will yet again be another race dominated by Bissell. For those of you who don't know, Bissell managed to win every event last year along with getting at least three of their guys on every single podium. Its a big race that I really wanted to do well in this year. But whats the point of racing if your not feeling well along with your competition being one of the best Continental teams in America? I'll see how I'm feeling the next couple of days, but as of right now its up in the air.

Ups and Downs

Waking up this morning I rolled over onto my side and was reminded by my road rash that I raced my bike this weekend. Looking at my skin stuck to the bed sheets it was quite difficult to manage myself out of bed this morning. But in the end it was all worth it. Cause in the end I got a 4th place on GC at San Dimas Stage Race, in my very first Category 2 race. It was an exciting weekend with lots of ups and downs to say the least.

The three day stage started off with the up hill time trial on Friday.  It was 3.8 miles from the bottom to the top on a gradual ascent. I had a reasonable warm up before my start. I was very tired for some reason I couldn't tell you at that time. Fifteen minutes before my start I consumed a caffeine enhanced shot took off some clothing and went to the start. Whenever I hear the countdown, every little detail around me gets zoned out. I have a hard time remembering conversations and what not. Anyways, I rolled out of the start house getting up to speed and I was feeling comfortable. Too comfortable. So ramped it up to get my heart up a little more. This was mistake number one. I put myself into one of the worst positions possible. I was cracked within the first half mile of the course and I hadn't even begun to climb. I spent the next half a mile just recovering. The only upside was that I past both my 30 second and minute man before the first switch back. Passing your opponents  in a TT is always a good feeder for your confidence level. The last half of the course I cracked again going into a head wind section. So once again forced into recovery. Finally I saw the 1k to go banner and proceeded to completely turning myself inside out. I crossed the line at 14:19. It was three seconds faster then last years winning time set by Cal Giant/Specialized's John Bennet. I was quite confident that I may have won until I saw the results. Someone managed to best my time by five seconds. Even though I was second it may have been the most poorly performed TT to date. My pacing was awful. It upset me that I was able to wear the yellow for the next stage, but I was able to pick up the white jersey for best young rider. My teammates Alex Brookhouse and Jason King finished 5th and 14th.

The next stage was the road race. I woke up with an excess amount of phlegm in my nasal cavities, so I knew it wasn't going to be a good day for me  It was a very short road race for a Category 2 field rounding out to 56 miles. It was a 7 mile course, and we were doing 8 laps around it. By no means was I complaining about the distance at the end. I got to the start of the road race in my white jersey and I was really tired. I managed to get a total of 5 hours of sleep. I've always had a hard time sleeping before race day, mainly cause I have a bad habit of processing every scenario that can possibly occur. Although for this race,  that was not true. What happened in the road race was unpredictable. A break of two riders got away second lap and got a gap up to over a minute. On the five lap, our field was neutralized for the pro/1 field to pass us. The race coordinators couldn't have picked a worse place to neutralize us. It was on the skinniest part of the course. Squeezing  200 plus riders onto this narrow strip of road, there was bound to be miss communication somewhere. Towards the back of the field some pro/1 riders crashed into the back of our field. I was near the front so I wasn't able to see or hear anything. The race got back underway and I feeling terrible. I had a hard time getting my heart rate up. My legs were burnt up. The last 2 laps of the race I felt like I hit the wall and I was just hanging on by luck. The break was never caught and finished about two minutes ahead of the field. I managed to finish with the pack so I got the same time as everyone, except for the people in  the break. However, when the mixed pro/1 and 2 riders were managing themselves back onto their bikes during the neutral, me along with some others believe that there were 3 category 2 riders that left the field and hitched a ride onto the back of the pro/1 field. Unfortunately, it was never really proven because race officials said they really didn't have the time to investigate. Because the break survived I ended up dropping down to 4th on GC, and I lost the young riders jersey. The rider who took it from me is believed to be one of the riders who hitched onto the back of the pro/1 field while we were neutralized. In my book, that's an automatic DQ. But whats done is done, so my main concern was to just recover for the next days stage.

The third and final day was the criterium. It was a six corner crit with a slight uphill and a slight downhill. My goal was to hold on to my 4th place on GC so I could stand on the podium for my first category 2 stage race. I was fortunate to get a little better recovery then the previous night. Although the phlegm was still there, I was feeling more confident today. Still very tired, I took lots of caffeine enhanced drinks and foods to get my body going. The crit started out fast as crits usually are. The first couple of laps was a good test to see how my legs were doing and they were performing much better than yesterday. I was able to move up through the field  very easily. I didn't have the legs to contest in any hot spot sprints so I just tried to stay in the front. Once I saw the lap cards say 5 to go, I started the fight for position. Going into the last lap I was 3rd wheel. Not ideal, but safe. I didn't have contentions on winning. I just wanted my 4th on GC so I could step on the podium. Going into the final turn into the finish I was sitting 8th wheel. This was it. All I had to do was go through the turn and sprint to the line. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. A rider in front of me took out his front wheel by attempting to swerve around a bot dot. I'm not hear to tell people how to ride their bikes, but after getting front row seats to this spectacular crash, riders like this need a little bit more experience with the bike before doing one of  the biggest stage races on the west coast. I ended up, from what others observed, doing a complete front flip over the bars and into the barriers head first and then sliding on the pavement on my right side. I got up within a second got on my bike and crossed the finish. Lucky for me the crash was within the last 5 laps so I got the same time as everyone else and kept my GC. Although I was in contentions for a top ten, I'm still happy with my efforts. Sorry I didn't elaborate as much as I wanted to, I've been really tired.

Stepping onto the podium yesterday was quite the experience. Even though I wasn't at the top of it, I believe I could get there easily. Getting 2nd in the time trial alone is a huge result. As of this weekend I'm now half way to my category 1. There truly were a lot of ups and downs this weekend, but in general I'm happy with my progression. All in all, things are moving fast. Thanks for reading,

2

As winter comes to a closure, I look back on what might have been the most healthy winter I've had or will ever have. There was only one week during this winter where I really felt under the weather. Unfortunately, it was right before a race that I was feeling really confident about. But hey, there's always next year. It wasn't like I did terrible, I got 7th out 30 some odd riders. Anyways, this winter in comparison to last's has almost been a freak of nature. Last winter, from the first time I fell under the weather, I never really felt like myself until late April. I don't want to jinx myself in my own blog, so I'll save this subject for another time. All in all, reflecting on this past winter, I've been generally happy with myself just being able to stay healthy.

Looking forward into the future, I just recently obtained enough points to upgrade to a Category 2 on the road. I'm very excited about the competition I'll be racing against. The P/1/2 field in the NCNCA district has some of the strongest riders in the nation, in all disciplines. Sure it will probably take some time until I really start placing well, but cycling in general requires patience. If you really want something in this sport you have to have patience. That is something I learned the hard way last year.  We'll see what happens in the next couple months, but in general I'm pretty confident I will do well.

WIN

Madera Stage Race was my first stage of the season. My main purpose of this race was to see where my fitness was in preparation for San Dimas, and also to gain stage race experience in general. The first stage was the ITT. It was basically a 10 mile flat loop.  I unfortunately did not have a TT bike, but I was thankful enough to get clip on bars, and barrow an 808 and helmet from my teammate. For the first half of the TT, I kept my cadence high and went at a comfortable pass. When I got to the 3rd stretch with 5 miles to go, I went beyond limits especially into the final kilo. I ended up 2nd 2.8 seconds the leader.

That afternoon was the criterium. It was a typical 4 corner flat crit. Before the start I went over to the All Sport- Team Swift van to basically beg for their help to protect my GC position/ possibly take a time bonus for the overall.  Lucky for me, being some of the most generous people in the peleton, they offered to do whatever they could to help me. During the crit, Tyler Williams did an awesome lead out for me for the first prime(5 second time bonus.) Due to the fact that I havent made sprinting my strength yet, a rider was able to come around our lead out to take the prime. But it was ok cause he didn't have GC contentions. For the second prime Tyler wasnt able to lead me out, but Joey Nygaard got me into position behind a team that had intentions of getting the second prime.  Once again I was out sprinted to take 2nd.  After that I drifted to the back to recover for the final sprint. The top 3 would get time bonuses(20,10,5.) The last 5 laps were chaos as crits usually are in the end. I found that position was a little harder to get in this crit then others. Going into the final turn I new I wasn't going to be able to get a time bonus, but I didnt see anyone in the top 5 on GC going for the sprint so nothing had changed on GC for the top 7 riders.

The third and final stage was the road race. It was also my last opportunity to take the overall. It was a mainly flat 18 mile loop. The 3's were doing 4 laps, so 68 miles. When I got to the start rumors were being bounced around that the GC leader dropped out of the race. I drifted my eyes around the peleton and confirmed the rumor. That meant I was first overall. So it meant if a break was going to go former teammates Tyler Williams and Joey Nygaard would be helping me bring back a break. The first lap was filled with little attacks that didn't go anywhere. It wasn't until the second lap that a break was able to form and create a reasonable gap of a little over a minute. Joey was able to do a ton of work to help bring the break back before flatting out. It was down to me and Tyler to chase. We both were putting in massive efforts to bring it back and we did just that. The break was caught towards the beginning of the final lap. There were a few minor attacks on the last lap but no one wanted another break to go, so it was going down the sprint. My goal for the day was to at least get 3rd place to take a time bonus to confirm my lead. Going into the sprint I was positioned behind the rider who was 2 seconds behind me. He opened up the sprint way too early and blew himself up in the wind. I had no problem coming around him to take 3rd to get my 5 second time bonus and win the Madera Stage Race Cat 3's. Tyler and Joey were amazing, and couldn't have kept my GC without them. Going into the race I thought I would be alone, but I ended up getting everything I could have  asked for from All Sport- Team Swift. Thanks for reading.

Snelling

This past weekend I raced Snelling Road Race. It was one of if not the most prestigious event held by Velo Promo. I was racing the 3's which registered 100 people, so it was a full field. When I got to the start, I walked outside to register, and lost feeling in my finger tips. It was 34 degrees out,  some of the coldest temperatures I've rode in.

The race started off with a solid 2 mile neutral to "warm up." By no means did I warm up. I was literally shaking uncontrollably. Once we hit the start line, attacks were going left and right. My goal was to stay top 20 in the pack the entire race, I didn't want  to find my nose in the wind at  any time in the race until the end.

For the majority of the race the pack stayed together. On the second to last lap a rider from DBC, and former teammate Joey Nygaard got away for a good amount of time. Their gap got up to about a minute before the peleton really started to up the pace. They ended up being caught right after the start of the final lap.

The last lap made this the most stressful road race I've done. The pack decided to slow to a blistering pace of 15 mph. No one wanted to pull. Finally we got to the feed zone and there  was a solid attack that didnt really get any where but at least we were up to speed. We got on to the last stretch of the race, and there was a major head wind. This caused the pack to spread across the entire road. Getting position was nothing short of impossible without any teammates to help you. I finally found a wheel up the middle, and before you know I was second wheel going into the final turn. But the "swarm" came and yet again I was boxed in from the left and right.  In the last 300 meters a rider sprinted into another riders wheel which caused a three man pile up. Lucky for me I was able to get around to the right. Unfortunately I ended up sprinting in the wind with no protection at all. I ended up 5th. If you ask me how I managed to get a top 5, I couldn't tell you. The last part of the last lap was absolutely chaotic. All in all, I'm just happy I managed to stay upright. Thanks for reading.

Madera

This weekend is the Madera Stage Race in central California. I was supposed to do it last year, but I got sick and my coach told me to take a rest week so I don't dig myself into a hole. It didn't matter cause three weeks later I got sick again. Anyways, my main goal for this weekend was to maintain at least top five on GC. Doing this without a TT bike and disc it isn't going to be as easy as it sounds. The first and second stage is on Saturday, starting off with the TT in the morning and the crit in the afternoon. Then Sunday is the road race, stage three. It will also give me some idea of where my form is at too so I can find out how much I need to prepare for San Dimas, which is is two weeks later. I'm kind of upset I'm not doing this in the p12's yet because of the hill tt that they do on Friday. Which kind of favors my ability for GC, but there's always next year.

Why I do what I do

Being this is my first post, I would like to share the reasoning behind the creation of "My adventure to the top." It was created to share my day to day life as a cyclist with dreams and expectations of taking it to the top level of my sport.

So I will start off by telling the story of how cycling found me.  Even though I have only been cycling for a little over a year, it has been something that interested me for years. I remember the first time my dad took me to the Tour of California to the finish of stage 2 in downtown Santa Rosa. Listening to Dave Towle motivate the crowd as we all waited in anticipation for the peleton to fly into the streets of Downtown Santa Rosa, is and always will be one of the most memorable experience of my life. It was the first time I witnessed a professional bike race. Watching the pack of riders storm through the finishing straight I thought to myself "How can these guys go so fast?" From my prospective, as a thirteen year old, they looked like gods. Tan, skinny, and ridiculously fast gods. And that is exactly what I wanted to be.

From that day forward, my biggest concern was getting a road bike. Every Christmas and birthday I would ask for a road bike. Unfortunately, my family got hit by the recession really hard. So getting a bike wasn't as easy as it sounded. Lucky for me, my dad was a cyclist. At the time he wasn't riding as frequently, so he let me ride his road bike for the time being. Even though it was 2 sizes to big for me, it didn't matter. It was perfect in my eyes. Every weekend I went out and road into the back roads of Sonoma county. Eventually, I met up with this group called the Petaluma Wheelmen. They taught me so much on  just the basics of cycling. So when I told them that I wanted to start racing, it seemed like they knew exactly what to do with me. They handed me over to this team based out Santa Rosa for juniors called Team Swift. This is where the fun really began.

My first race was the local Tuesday Night Twilights at the Santa Rosa fairgrounds. I raced in the juniors race with about ten other juniors, the majority of them on Team Swift. It was a huge eye opener for me. I was pushed to me limits the entire race. I ended up getting 5th, but I felt accomplished. It was my first race and I finished it.

Ever since that race, cycling became my life, my lifestyle, who I am, and what I do. And there is nothing that has made me think otherwise.