Yesterday I raced my bike...

...IN MY OWN BACKYARD. It was cool. It was fast. And it was a crit. Crowds were decent. The roster for the day was Brian, Stefano, Devan, Justin, and yours truly. The race started off just like any other crit, fast. We took a right turn, then another right turn, and another right turn. Then guess what we did? If you guessed we took another right turn, then you get a gold star.  Anyways, the race played out perfectly for us. Devan got into the break and WON. And Justin/J-WOW/Kanye took home 3rd to win the field sprint. It was just domination. Pure domination. Even if Chuck Norris entered the race these guys still would of killed it.  As for me, the race was ok. Not good not bad.  Sure as hell felt better than most crits this season though. Hopefully a good sign.

I've been home for just about two weeks now and I couldn't be happier.  I've missed it all. The climbs, all my favorite training routes, my family etc.  Maybe I was a little home sick.  I guess I'm trying to say I'm happy to be home.

Did a solid ride today in the Berkeley hills area. A lot of up and down. Actually it was all up and down. Needless to say, my climbing legs need some work. Hopefully, that part will come easy. And I forgot to put sunscreen on today. I'm 100% positive I'll regret that tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

Wes

P.S. Thank you Jakroo for getting me a call up last night. That was pretty awesome.

My Trip

I realize that this is the first blog I have posted in 8 months. I apologize for my lazy/inconsistent posting pattern. I'm going to briefly discuss what has happened in the past 8 months.  That knee injury I mentioned back in January lasted 4 months. Let me say that again. 4 months. It royally ruined my season.  It wasn't till April where I was able to ride my bike again.  Racing resumed almost immediately which in the long run probably wasn't the best idea.  The team went on the road in June to race Tulsa Tough, Nature Valley, and Elite National Championships. For me, it was a rough trip. The struggle to find any sort of form made it very difficult. Despite my lack of form, the team had success with podiums in each of those races. Justin got a second on the first day of Tulsa. Devan took best young rider/best amateur on the first day of Nature Valley.  And we had podiums at both the crit and road race at nationals. Straight up ballers.

  After that trip, we headed back to SoCal for a few weeks before it was time for yet another trip. This time it was for the Boise Twilight and the Cascade Cycling Classic. The crit in Boise was pretty gnarly. I wasn't able to race it, but it looked fun. Michael took home a 3rd on a wet, dangerous, and generally chaotic day. Cascade was hard. Devan took an 8th on the first day, but other than that the race was uneventful. 

Here are some photos from the trip.

View from the host house in Tulsa.

Pre riding the TT course at Nature Valley. It went along a road parallel to the Mississippi.

 

This was a lake I rode by in Augusta, GA. I had to talk myself out of jumping into it. Temps were in the high 90's.

 

Jackson, MS

State Capitol in Jackson

Back in SoCal! Laguna Beach to be exact.

Sin City. Looks depressing really.

Snake river in Idaho. There was some gnarly base jumping taking place.

Dowtown Boise. One my favorite cities we went to.

Top of a 16 mile climb near Boise. Elevation ~6200'.

Another view of Snake river.

View from the host house in Bend, OR. The coolest host house we stayed at all year.

2012

It's finally 2012! For what seemed like an eternity, the off season is finally over and a new year of racing has begun. It's always nice to start fresh both physically and mentally. With the new year, brings a new team. I would like to officially announce to all my followers that I will be racing for CashCall Mortgage Cycling Team for 2012. http://cashcallcycling.com/2012/01/03/2012-team-announcement/. This year will the most exciting year of my life. I will be racing in various races around the country, along with a majority of racing in southern California (where the team is located). Couldn't be more excited.

On January 23rd I will be flying down for team camp. I went down in mid November for a couple of days mainly to get acquainted with my new teammates. I did a couple of 4-5 hour rides with them in Tustin. Other than the stoplights, I wouldn't mind living in the area. I enjoyed getting to know my teammates. Each and everyone of them have incredible strength. But most importantly, they race as a team. I'm over the moon just to be apart of this program.

On the training aspect of my life, it has been good. I've been doing a lot of "exploration miles" all over the bay area. There's this.route. that I've been doing lately that has sent me through different parts of the bay area. Although, I have recently developed a slight case of petallafemoral  in my left knee which has kept me from my normal training regime. On the brighter side, I have dealt with this condition before. So knowing how to mend it gives me peace at mind. Whenever I overcome these small bumps in road, I treat them as victories rather than dilemmas. The road to becoming a professional cyclist is not your everyday smooth and flawless road you train countless miles on(excluding Sonoma Co.). Realistically, it resembles a sector of cobblestones in Paris- Roubaix. It is a series of bumps and ruts and jolts and rattles. I expect this is 2012. Whether it's sickness or injuries, there will be bumps and ruts along the way. Truth is folks, that's bike racing.

Hope everyone had a good new years. Get out there and achieve your new years resolution. Thanks for reading!

You have one life.

Make it count.

"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.