We just got back from Switzerland, and now I have to pack up all my bags for a flight to London, where I will be staying for the next week. The race started out really well with the team finishing second in the team time trial. It was awesome standing on the podium. The second day went downhill very quickly. I was sick from food poisoning and lost a lot of time on the climbs. I just felt horrible the entire day. The third day was a little better, except instead of being sick, I had horrible luck. My pedal fell off and I had to chase back on. Then our highest placed GC rider crashed, so I had to bring him back up. Then I teamed up with a couple of Spainards to chase a break away down, only to have the course marshals lead us off course. So I finished off the back of the pack again. We had a TT later that day, and it went ok. My legs were pretty smashed after the previous day's effort to just stay in the race. On the final day, I finally had good luck and good health on my side. I was able to help out the "team leader" (since I wasn't in contention for the win, I helped out Taylor Phiney as much as I could). I patrolled the front the entire day: covering breaks, and making sure nothing got away without Taylor in it. Unfortunately, taylor wasn't having a very good day, so it became even more important to keep the field together. After three climbs, the front group was reduced to about 45 riders from the 115 that started the day. It came down to a sprint, and after making sure Taylor got to the front, I crossed the line in 19th. The over all race should have gone a lot better. It is dissapointing to start in such a good spot after the prologue, and then lose it all on the next day.
I will try and write a more detailed summary of our trip in Switzerland if I can find some internet in London, but now i have to get back to packing...
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Monday, June 4, 2007
Dialed...
This weekend we competed in a race called Tour de Condroz. The race was located on the border of Belgium and Luxembourg. Cobbled streets were switched out for rolling hills, a nice change for the Americans. The weather was actually hot, and pretty humid, making the air nice and thick in the wooded sections of the race. The course consisted of one big 92k loop, and then five 5k finishing circuits. This is one of the first races that we went into with a solid plan, the rest of the races were planned out as the race went on. The plan for this race was: I had the job of covering attacks/ going with attacks for the first 60k of the race. It was my job to cover the “major players” and make sure that no brakes with five or more people got away (unless I was in it). After the first 60K, this job fell into the hands of Danny Summerhill. Danny and I were supposed to protect Taylor Phiney and David Talbott. These two riders were determined to have the most suited abilities for this race. Nick Bax had free roam since this was his first European race.
The race started out as planned. I went to the front and began covering moves, making sure that nothing of importance went off the front. This worked out for about 10k, and then the “plan” basically went out the window. It started with a downhill where I lost a couple of positions and was positioned in about fifteenth by the bottom. We then hit a hard left hand turn onto an uphill. The kid in front of me stood up to sprint on the uphill and accidentally unclipped from his pedal. I had to brake, and guys immediately rushed past me. A hard attack went off the front, putting about fifteen guys up the road. I wasn’t in a position to counter this attack or help bring it back. I looked up though, and saw David Talbott in the break. I became relieved that I hadn’t let the “winning” break go without American representation. I made my way up to the front, only to look up at the break and see David popped off the back of it with a couple other riders. I didn’t quit understand why he would drop back to the field, nonetheless I continued up to the front to talk to Danny and to see how he wanted to go about brining this break back. Surprisingly, he told me that Taylor was also in the break. This was good news. The responsibility of bringing the break back was no longer ours. I quickly went from trying to get into a break, to making sure that no breaks got away. I basically had a free ride to the finish line now, all I had to do was follow the wheels, preventing a solid chase effort from forming. About 15k later, David came up to me and told me that he thought he had pulled a muscle. He was going to be needed in the upcoming Switzerland race, so he didn’t want to risk hurting his leg even more. He pulled out soon after talking to me. The next 65k was pretty uneventful. Danny and I patrolled the front, making sure no breaks got away, and tried to control the tempo as much as possible. The terrain was really cool during this section of the course. Thick forests covered both sides of the roads and, occasionally, a wall of trees formed above us. Then, suddenly the trees would end and we would enter a section of patchwork farms or low grass, before plunging back into the forests. Attacks were constant on the hills, but I didn’t mind. The hills were a welcomed change from the narrow cobbled roads. Once the race hit the finishing circuits, all hell broke loose. We were warned that the finishing circuits were going to be hard and fast, but I almost enjoyed them, and I think Danny did too. The circuits were within a small town, with the finish on the crest of a hill. We entered the circuits at the finish line, and then stormed the downhill into a tight left hand turn. We then looped back up and started climbing again traveling to the opposite side of town as the finish line. We took a hard left and followed a false flat to a “combo left-right” turn that took us back to the finish line. I hovered around the 20th position in the field on the first two laps watching Danny, who was attempting to go off the front. He managed to get into a small break and open up a good enough lead so that he was “a corner” in front of the field. On the third lap I easily moved in to the top five by taking the right lines on the corner (something the Euros just can’t seem to do). I took the descent (on the fourth lap) pretty fast and made my move on the climb. I opened up a good size lead with two riders bridging up to me. We rotated through and managed to put the field “out of sight.” I caught the team cars (covering the initial break that went away 10k’s into the race), and quickly caught sight of Danny’s group. The last lap came around and I could see Danny. I pushed up the climb, and hit the corners as hard and as fast as I could. Ask any cyclist that races and they will tell you that the last 20 meters are the hardest meters to close when bridging up to break. You are so close to accomplishing your goal, but the guys in front of you try as hard as they can to prevent you from closing those last few meters. I came up to the last left hand turn, laid the bike over and sprinted out of the corner and finally caught the wheel of the last guy in their break. I looked up and saw two national team jerseys. I quickly realized that this was probably the lead group on the road. At this point I had two options: with one right hand corner and then the finish line I could sit in the group and sprint it out or I could go to the front and lead Danny out. I opted to help the team (since I am not that great of a sprinter), and went straight to the front and lead Danny into the final corner. Somehow this worked out perfectly: I took the corner a little tighter than Danny, swinging him in front of me. I then cut back into outside of the corner, taking the rest of the group into the curb. This gave Danny plenty of time to start sprinting and finish first from our group. Taylor came around me as well, along with a bunch of other guys. My legs were pretty spent, and I just pedaled my away across the finish.
I was later told there were riders that finished in front of us, so Danny ended up finishing 9th, Taylor finished 11th, and I finished 17th. Three riders in the top twenty isn’t bad, good enough for third in the team competition. Plus Taylor won a couple of the KOM sprints while in the break. So overall it wasn’t a bad day.
We leave for Switzerland on Wednesday, for what will be my last race in Europe. The race is a four day stage race with five stages. The opening prologue is on Thursday with a team time trial. Friday we have a road race. Saturday morning there is a road race, and then an individual TT in the afternoon. Sunday finishes up with another road race. If everyone is healthy we should do very well. I am told that we are staying in army barracks and that there will be no internet. I will bring my computer and try to “steal” some internet to keep everyone back home posted, but I can’t make any promises. The internet at the team house has been extremely slow, making it virtual impossible to check email or update the blog.
The race started out as planned. I went to the front and began covering moves, making sure that nothing of importance went off the front. This worked out for about 10k, and then the “plan” basically went out the window. It started with a downhill where I lost a couple of positions and was positioned in about fifteenth by the bottom. We then hit a hard left hand turn onto an uphill. The kid in front of me stood up to sprint on the uphill and accidentally unclipped from his pedal. I had to brake, and guys immediately rushed past me. A hard attack went off the front, putting about fifteen guys up the road. I wasn’t in a position to counter this attack or help bring it back. I looked up though, and saw David Talbott in the break. I became relieved that I hadn’t let the “winning” break go without American representation. I made my way up to the front, only to look up at the break and see David popped off the back of it with a couple other riders. I didn’t quit understand why he would drop back to the field, nonetheless I continued up to the front to talk to Danny and to see how he wanted to go about brining this break back. Surprisingly, he told me that Taylor was also in the break. This was good news. The responsibility of bringing the break back was no longer ours. I quickly went from trying to get into a break, to making sure that no breaks got away. I basically had a free ride to the finish line now, all I had to do was follow the wheels, preventing a solid chase effort from forming. About 15k later, David came up to me and told me that he thought he had pulled a muscle. He was going to be needed in the upcoming Switzerland race, so he didn’t want to risk hurting his leg even more. He pulled out soon after talking to me. The next 65k was pretty uneventful. Danny and I patrolled the front, making sure no breaks got away, and tried to control the tempo as much as possible. The terrain was really cool during this section of the course. Thick forests covered both sides of the roads and, occasionally, a wall of trees formed above us. Then, suddenly the trees would end and we would enter a section of patchwork farms or low grass, before plunging back into the forests. Attacks were constant on the hills, but I didn’t mind. The hills were a welcomed change from the narrow cobbled roads. Once the race hit the finishing circuits, all hell broke loose. We were warned that the finishing circuits were going to be hard and fast, but I almost enjoyed them, and I think Danny did too. The circuits were within a small town, with the finish on the crest of a hill. We entered the circuits at the finish line, and then stormed the downhill into a tight left hand turn. We then looped back up and started climbing again traveling to the opposite side of town as the finish line. We took a hard left and followed a false flat to a “combo left-right” turn that took us back to the finish line. I hovered around the 20th position in the field on the first two laps watching Danny, who was attempting to go off the front. He managed to get into a small break and open up a good enough lead so that he was “a corner” in front of the field. On the third lap I easily moved in to the top five by taking the right lines on the corner (something the Euros just can’t seem to do). I took the descent (on the fourth lap) pretty fast and made my move on the climb. I opened up a good size lead with two riders bridging up to me. We rotated through and managed to put the field “out of sight.” I caught the team cars (covering the initial break that went away 10k’s into the race), and quickly caught sight of Danny’s group. The last lap came around and I could see Danny. I pushed up the climb, and hit the corners as hard and as fast as I could. Ask any cyclist that races and they will tell you that the last 20 meters are the hardest meters to close when bridging up to break. You are so close to accomplishing your goal, but the guys in front of you try as hard as they can to prevent you from closing those last few meters. I came up to the last left hand turn, laid the bike over and sprinted out of the corner and finally caught the wheel of the last guy in their break. I looked up and saw two national team jerseys. I quickly realized that this was probably the lead group on the road. At this point I had two options: with one right hand corner and then the finish line I could sit in the group and sprint it out or I could go to the front and lead Danny out. I opted to help the team (since I am not that great of a sprinter), and went straight to the front and lead Danny into the final corner. Somehow this worked out perfectly: I took the corner a little tighter than Danny, swinging him in front of me. I then cut back into outside of the corner, taking the rest of the group into the curb. This gave Danny plenty of time to start sprinting and finish first from our group. Taylor came around me as well, along with a bunch of other guys. My legs were pretty spent, and I just pedaled my away across the finish.
I was later told there were riders that finished in front of us, so Danny ended up finishing 9th, Taylor finished 11th, and I finished 17th. Three riders in the top twenty isn’t bad, good enough for third in the team competition. Plus Taylor won a couple of the KOM sprints while in the break. So overall it wasn’t a bad day.
We leave for Switzerland on Wednesday, for what will be my last race in Europe. The race is a four day stage race with five stages. The opening prologue is on Thursday with a team time trial. Friday we have a road race. Saturday morning there is a road race, and then an individual TT in the afternoon. Sunday finishes up with another road race. If everyone is healthy we should do very well. I am told that we are staying in army barracks and that there will be no internet. I will bring my computer and try to “steal” some internet to keep everyone back home posted, but I can’t make any promises. The internet at the team house has been extremely slow, making it virtual impossible to check email or update the blog.
Dialed...
This weekend we competed in a race called Tour de Condroz. The race was located on the border of Belgium and Luxembourg. Cobbled streets were switched out for rolling hills, a nice change for the Americans. The weather was actually hot, and pretty humid, making the air nice and thick in the wooded sections of the race. The course consisted of one big 92k loop, and then five 5k finishing circuits. This is one of the first races that we went into with a solid plan, the rest of the races were planned out as the race went on. The plan for this race was: I had the job of covering attacks/ going with attacks for the first 60k of the race. It was my job to cover the “major players” and make sure that no brakes with five or more people got away (unless I was in it). After the first 60K, this job fell into the hands of Danny Summerhill. Danny and I were supposed to protect Taylor Phiney and David Talbott. These two riders were determined to have the most suited abilities for this race. Nick Bax had free roam since this was his first European race.
The race started out as planned. I went to the front and began covering moves, making sure that nothing of importance went off the front. This worked out for about 10k, and then the “plan” basically went out the window. It started with a downhill where I lost a couple of positions and was positioned in about fifteenth by the bottom. We then hit a hard left hand turn onto an uphill. The kid in front of me stood up to sprint on the uphill and accidentally unclipped from his pedal. I had to brake, and guys immediately rushed past me. A hard attack went off the front, putting about fifteen guys up the road. I wasn’t in a position to counter this attack or help bring it back. I looked up though, and saw David Talbott in the break. I became relieved that I hadn’t let the “winning” break go without American representation. I made my way up to the front, only to look up at the break and see David popped off the back of it with a couple other riders. I didn’t quit understand why he would drop back to the field, nonetheless I continued up to the front to talk to Danny and to see how he wanted to go about brining this break back. Surprisingly, he told me that Taylor was also in the break. This was good news. The responsibility of bringing the break back was no longer ours. I quickly went from trying to get into a break, to making sure that no breaks got away. I basically had a free ride to the finish line now, all I had to do was follow the wheels, preventing a solid chase effort from forming. About 15k later, David came up to me and told me that he thought he had pulled a muscle. He was going to be needed in the upcoming Switzerland race, so he didn’t want to risk hurting his leg even more. He pulled out soon after talking to me. The next 65k was pretty uneventful. Danny and I patrolled the front, making sure no breaks got away, and tried to control the tempo as much as possible. The terrain was really cool during this section of the course. Thick forests covered both sides of the roads and, occasionally, a wall of trees formed above us. Then, suddenly the trees would end and we would enter a section of patchwork farms or low grass, before plunging back into the forests. Attacks were constant on the hills, but I didn’t mind. The hills were a welcomed change from the narrow cobbled roads. Once the race hit the finishing circuits, all hell broke loose. We were warned that the finishing circuits were going to be hard and fast, but I almost enjoyed them, and I think Danny did too. The circuits were within a small town, with the finish on the crest of a hill. We entered the circuits at the finish line, and then stormed the downhill into a tight left hand turn. We then looped back up and started climbing again traveling to the opposite side of town as the finish line. We took a hard left and followed a false flat to a “combo left-right” turn that took us back to the finish line. I hovered around the 20th position in the field on the first two laps watching Danny, who was attempting to go off the front. He managed to get into a small break and open up a good enough lead so that he was “a corner” in front of the field. On the third lap I easily moved in to the top five by taking the right lines on the corner (something the Euros just can’t seem to do). I took the descent (on the fourth lap) pretty fast and made my move on the climb. I opened up a good size lead with two riders bridging up to me. We rotated through and managed to put the field “out of sight.” I caught the team cars (covering the initial break that went away 10k’s into the race), and quickly caught sight of Danny’s group. The last lap came around and I could see Danny. I pushed up the climb, and hit the corners as hard and as fast as I could. Ask any cyclist that races and they will tell you that the last 20 meters are the hardest meters to close when bridging up to break. You are so close to accomplishing your goal, but the guys in front of you try as hard as they can to prevent you from closing those last few meters. I came up to the last left hand turn, laid the bike over and sprinted out of the corner and finally caught the wheel of the last guy in their break. I looked up and saw two national team jerseys. I quickly realized that this was probably the lead group on the road. At this point I had two options: with one right hand corner and then the finish line I could sit in the group and sprint it out or I could go to the front and lead Danny out. I opted to help the team (since I am not that great of a sprinter), and went straight to the front and lead Danny into the final corner. Somehow this worked out perfectly: I took the corner a little tighter than Danny, swinging him in front of me. I then cut back into outside of the corner, taking the rest of the group into the curb. This gave Danny plenty of time to start sprinting and finish first from our group. Taylor came around me as well, along with a bunch of other guys. My legs were pretty spent, and I just pedaled my away across the finish.
I was later told there were riders that finished in front of us, so Danny ended up finishing 9th, Taylor finished 11th, and I finished 17th. Three riders in the top twenty isn’t bad, good enough for third in the team competition. Plus Taylor won a couple of the KOM sprints while in the break. So overall it wasn’t a bad day.
We leave for Switzerland on Wednesday, for what will be my last race in Europe. The race is a four day stage race with five stages. The opening prologue is on Thursday with a team time trial. Friday we have a road race. Saturday morning there is a road race, and then an individual TT in the afternoon. Sunday finishes up with another road race. If everyone is healthy we should do very well. I am told that we are staying in army barracks and that there will be no internet. I will bring my computer and try to “steal” some internet to keep everyone back home posted, but I can’t make any promises. The internet at the team house has been extremely slow, making it virtual impossible to check email or update the blog.
The race started out as planned. I went to the front and began covering moves, making sure that nothing of importance went off the front. This worked out for about 10k, and then the “plan” basically went out the window. It started with a downhill where I lost a couple of positions and was positioned in about fifteenth by the bottom. We then hit a hard left hand turn onto an uphill. The kid in front of me stood up to sprint on the uphill and accidentally unclipped from his pedal. I had to brake, and guys immediately rushed past me. A hard attack went off the front, putting about fifteen guys up the road. I wasn’t in a position to counter this attack or help bring it back. I looked up though, and saw David Talbott in the break. I became relieved that I hadn’t let the “winning” break go without American representation. I made my way up to the front, only to look up at the break and see David popped off the back of it with a couple other riders. I didn’t quit understand why he would drop back to the field, nonetheless I continued up to the front to talk to Danny and to see how he wanted to go about brining this break back. Surprisingly, he told me that Taylor was also in the break. This was good news. The responsibility of bringing the break back was no longer ours. I quickly went from trying to get into a break, to making sure that no breaks got away. I basically had a free ride to the finish line now, all I had to do was follow the wheels, preventing a solid chase effort from forming. About 15k later, David came up to me and told me that he thought he had pulled a muscle. He was going to be needed in the upcoming Switzerland race, so he didn’t want to risk hurting his leg even more. He pulled out soon after talking to me. The next 65k was pretty uneventful. Danny and I patrolled the front, making sure no breaks got away, and tried to control the tempo as much as possible. The terrain was really cool during this section of the course. Thick forests covered both sides of the roads and, occasionally, a wall of trees formed above us. Then, suddenly the trees would end and we would enter a section of patchwork farms or low grass, before plunging back into the forests. Attacks were constant on the hills, but I didn’t mind. The hills were a welcomed change from the narrow cobbled roads. Once the race hit the finishing circuits, all hell broke loose. We were warned that the finishing circuits were going to be hard and fast, but I almost enjoyed them, and I think Danny did too. The circuits were within a small town, with the finish on the crest of a hill. We entered the circuits at the finish line, and then stormed the downhill into a tight left hand turn. We then looped back up and started climbing again traveling to the opposite side of town as the finish line. We took a hard left and followed a false flat to a “combo left-right” turn that took us back to the finish line. I hovered around the 20th position in the field on the first two laps watching Danny, who was attempting to go off the front. He managed to get into a small break and open up a good enough lead so that he was “a corner” in front of the field. On the third lap I easily moved in to the top five by taking the right lines on the corner (something the Euros just can’t seem to do). I took the descent (on the fourth lap) pretty fast and made my move on the climb. I opened up a good size lead with two riders bridging up to me. We rotated through and managed to put the field “out of sight.” I caught the team cars (covering the initial break that went away 10k’s into the race), and quickly caught sight of Danny’s group. The last lap came around and I could see Danny. I pushed up the climb, and hit the corners as hard and as fast as I could. Ask any cyclist that races and they will tell you that the last 20 meters are the hardest meters to close when bridging up to break. You are so close to accomplishing your goal, but the guys in front of you try as hard as they can to prevent you from closing those last few meters. I came up to the last left hand turn, laid the bike over and sprinted out of the corner and finally caught the wheel of the last guy in their break. I looked up and saw two national team jerseys. I quickly realized that this was probably the lead group on the road. At this point I had two options: with one right hand corner and then the finish line I could sit in the group and sprint it out or I could go to the front and lead Danny out. I opted to help the team (since I am not that great of a sprinter), and went straight to the front and lead Danny into the final corner. Somehow this worked out perfectly: I took the corner a little tighter than Danny, swinging him in front of me. I then cut back into outside of the corner, taking the rest of the group into the curb. This gave Danny plenty of time to start sprinting and finish first from our group. Taylor came around me as well, along with a bunch of other guys. My legs were pretty spent, and I just pedaled my away across the finish.
I was later told there were riders that finished in front of us, so Danny ended up finishing 9th, Taylor finished 11th, and I finished 17th. Three riders in the top twenty isn’t bad, good enough for third in the team competition. Plus Taylor won a couple of the KOM sprints while in the break. So overall it wasn’t a bad day.
We leave for Switzerland on Wednesday, for what will be my last race in Europe. The race is a four day stage race with five stages. The opening prologue is on Thursday with a team time trial. Friday we have a road race. Saturday morning there is a road race, and then an individual TT in the afternoon. Sunday finishes up with another road race. If everyone is healthy we should do very well. I am told that we are staying in army barracks and that there will be no internet. I will bring my computer and try to “steal” some internet to keep everyone back home posted, but I can’t make any promises. The internet at the team house has been extremely slow, making it virtual impossible to check email or update the blog.
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