NEW SITE!!!!

Hey everyone. Good news bad news....

Good news is I am moving to a new site so from here on out check into it and let me know what you think. I decided to move over to wordpress since that's what I am now using for Cyclocross Magazine, so it keeps things all tied in together.

Bad news is, with the new site comes a new name. Roadrage Dave is moving into retirement. I know. So sad. I guess sacrifices must be made.

It's under construction as I speak so yeah, check it out and keep in touch. Updates will start rolling in soon with some fun racing going on this weekend!!

Check it out HERE


-D-

Im Important!

So I figured out you dont have to be fast to get on velonews, you just have to know how to do it.

My parents would be proud of THIS

Double post

So I don't normally have time to double post given my extremely over-complicated life (???) but tonight I seem to have the availability to do so. So I am. I am laying here in my DELUXE KING room at the ritsy Red Roof Inn, eating pretzels while cagefighting with my conscious on whether I should start my paper due Monday afternoon or not. Not it is. Instead I lay here, watching t.v. in my boxers eating pretzels following my healthy salad, and bagel dinner that I chased with a 3 Musketeers bar. I find it amazing that regardless of what time of year it is, I fail at racing at the weight I would like to. Durring the road season my excuse normally is along the lines of "ahhh, It's february, it'll come off by nationals" then around nationals it's something like "ahhh, Im cracked! I need to get healthy for cross season". Then when cross hits my excuse stoops to new lows of "it's cross season, you need the fat to stay warm". Next thing you know you've sandbagged your weight an entire season. Depressing. Anyway, Im getting more and more excited about tomorrow's chick'n- cross in Raleigh. With a nice steady COLD rain blessing this lovely little suburban antfarm of shopping strips known Cary, surely it will be muddy. Hopefully I can find my way to the highway. It seems every road here is a one way street going the direction I don't want to go in. It's actually fun after a while.

Anywho, I will have likely have an update tomorrow post race, but as promised, I wanted to throw up some pictures from the UCI's. Enjoy!

the lame field we lined up

Riding with some swiss guy that sounded cool when he talked.

Tricky off camber roots


Waiting to get lapped

Form isn't bad for the second race of the year.

At least I kind of look like I know what I'm doing. If you didn't know any better you would think im fast!

Ohio is too much

After a week of hell via class work, I am finally getting to spill some information on the past weekend's excursion to Ohio for three days of UCI cyclocross racing. Looking at this weekend it is funny to say I am tripling the UCI races compared to last year. My only hope this season is to get ONE SMALLLLL UCI point so I don't have to start way in the back at UCI and National races, and also so I can place my name on the same list as the cyclocross beasts in Europe.

Kym, and Mark joined me (despite it being their anniversary) as did Jordan Humble (who ended up taking three wins in the Cat 4 races this weekend) for a hoot of a good time in Ohio.

Friday afternoon's course was tough last season. Considering the race now had three nifty letters of importance in front of it (UCI) I was convinced it would be even more difficult. Was I ever right. The course was the bumpiest thing I had ever seen. It's not too often you get to see bike steerer tubes breaking and tubulars popping off tires like zits on a junior high wrestlers face. But such was today. The race started in typical UCI fashion. Fast and hard, until turn one when some dude from the trek factory team chopped in from off the course, causing a chain reaction crash I was stuck behind. Dismounting and running I soon found myself DFL for the first half lap. The first chance I had to pass I opened it up and settled into a painful tempo. Eventually I caught and passed about 9 guys and started riding with some Swiss guy, and another guy from Alan-USA. Soon, although I am not sure how, our little group imploded and I was soon riding by myself. Luckily the race leader Jpow brightened my day by not only lapping me and making my race one lap shorter, but bunny hopping the barriers in front of me as I was forced to jump nimbly (or not) over them. Jpow 1- Dee zero.

Saturday afternoon's race was my "best case scenario. With more guys registered for the weekend's race I had a mid pack start. That meant I had more places I could drop back when I blew up and still have someone to ride with. In the warm up the course suited me. It had good flow, some great power sections, enough technical for me to take advantage of, and a nice paved climnb on the back side. When the gun shot for the start I hit my pedal perfect and put in a few huge pedal strokes. Next thing I know I am lying on a pile of people with bikes, people, and who knows what other interesting things raining down on top of me. As it would turn out, some guy thought it would be a stellar idea to hook bars in the start and end up on the ground. Thanks bud! Again I found myself picking up the pieces, hopping on the bike and starting my chase. By the mid way point I had passed a ton of guys and finally caught onto a group including Ben Popper from Rock Lobster (who's column is well worth a read) and some other guy who's uniform was a very sexy purple and yellow collaboration. As expected Jpow again zoomed by without even a wink. Although I do think he snickered the word "mortals" as he sipped effortlessly away. Here's my ego Jpow, go ahead and throw it in the blender! I wont mind. Really! In the end I rolled in a disappointed 34th. It's frustrating knowing your day was at hand, yet circumstances dictated your success. Oh well, that's bike racing.

Sunday was the final day of racing at the famous Harbin Park. This place holds a special corner in my heart as it is where I began cross racing just one year ago. The field was stacked with the normals Jpow, Wicks, Parbo, Wells, Baker, and Bishop. As if that weren't enough Summerhill and Selander came down from the great white northeast to try and get some CAT I UCI points. For the first time all weekend the start went off without a wreck and I found myself taking some chances moving up in the first few twisty grass turns. Thinking I had to move up, and being overly impatient, I took a low line on a tricky off camber and ended up losing a ton of spots. Sadly, just following this mistake everything started coming apart the rider who's wheel I was on went on to finish top 20. Well done Dave. Well done. After about a half hour of racing I was comfortable in a group of pretty good riders (including Chance Noble of Cal Giant) when something happened. I am not sure how many of you have been lucky enough to hear this sound, but if you have it is a wonderful sound similar to forest nymphs playing piccolos in the trees. Carbon, cracking and popping beneath you as it falls apart ply by ply under my 10 lb overweight rear. After clean pit my legs sut down and we were pulled with a lap to go.

In the end, I was bummed to have no achieved a goal of mine, but happy with what I had learned. I know that I took more away from this one weekend of racing than I did all last season,and I am looking to build on these things for the remainder of the year to get that UCI point.

For now, I must run. I know this post is lengthy, and a bit all over the place but I have written it three times, and for some reason my computer keeps deleting it so I am just fighting to complete it once and for all. I will get some pictures from the weekend up tonight for whoever may want to see them.

Off to Raleigh for two days of NC cross. Wish me luck.

Livin' the dream,
-Dee-

bad luck and bad times

Nothing like THIS happening within the first 500 Meters of two UCI races. If you look closely, you can see me untangling my bike from the jumble of bodies and what not. Oh and the guy in the assos shorts beside me is the Swiss National Champ that I plowed over in the crash!

Anywho. Im off to grab some coffee. Check back for updates and pictures where I actually look fast later.

OUCH

Poor Mr. Pendry

You know is cyclocross season when.....

video courtesy of cross beast Chance Noble.

If this doesn't get you fired up for cyclocross season nothing will. One week from tomorrow! CANNOT wait.

Off to black bear rampage. Hope I don't die! Wish me luck!

Dee

The big hurt

SO in case you haven't noticed, the weather is finally venturing in the direction of fall. Yay, that means cool weather, mudd and knobby tires. To keep this post short given the abnormally HUGE amounts of homework I still have to catch up on from the hurricane stranding I endured while visiting Ohio for what I thought was the weekend. Simply put this weekend was a blast. Nothing but eating crap, riding bikes up and down mountains (on trails aka mountain biking), visiting the local Piggly Wiggly, and every so often picking myself slowly from the dirt. What a blast!

Until I have time to fully post a decent blog post worthy of your time and my effort Ill leave you with some fun pictures of my soon to be cross-mates on our "bonding" trip to the Ocoee! Black Bear Rampage next weekend then off to start my cross season in Tennessee! UH OH!

Mike and I... enjoying ourselves at the Ducktown Piggly Wiggly




My crash site. From what I am told, I am alright at the whole mountain biking thing. If you look closely you can see the resemblence of a smiley face within the bruising. It was mor noticable this morning but it slowly became less obvious as blood started accumulating to the surface. Oh well. In case you were wondering, I have a similarly interesting bruise on my back where the bike landed on me. OH WELL!

Tough Days on the trails...

First things first. Pro champs weekend went off without a hitch. Not only did I get a chance to meet some great sponsors in Andy Woolard of Barkley, spend some time with my awesome teammates and my new family here in Greenville, everyone at Hincapie Sportswear, but I got a chance to chat with George for the first time since he got back from Europe. It was a tough day in the saddle for him, and in the end the Garmin onslaught got the best of him. I guess that is the power of numbers.

This weekend on the other hand was a more "painful" enjoyment when it came to bike racing. I got a chance saturday to head up to Chattanooga to train with my coach Kym, who rides with Vantaggio/Specialized Womens Mountain Bike team, and her husband Mark. After a day of entertaining them with "developing" mountain bike skills, we headed to Nashville for the Loc 4 Challege mountain bike race. For those of you skeptics saying, ahhh mountain biking, how fun. It can't be that hard. Right? I snarl at you for you being a complete and utter fool. It was the most difficult thing I have ever done. I never thought 14-16 miles could hurt so much. In the end I went from heading into the first single track in third place to being last by the end of the last lap. How fun. Sure come right by. It's all good. I'm not demoralized or anything. In the end, my fitness kicked in and I was able to work my way back into the top half and finish a respectable 7th place. Not a bad day for only having ridden a mountain bike three or four times this year in my opinion. Not to mention I got to crash once and I witnessed what happens when someone snaps a steerer tube in a mountain bike race. Lets just say, it's so much worse than just getting some road rash.

On a semi-bike related note, if you get a chance check my updated links here on the blog. I got some time tonight to get up a link to Kym's team blog for the Vantaggio/Specialized Professional Womens Mountain Bike team, as well as a link to one of the nicest and most personable sponsor relations people I have ever met, Andy Woolard who works for our co-title sponsor Barkley. Finally I thought I would show Scotty and the guys at Hincapie/Coca Cola the respect the deserve. So check it out and if you get a chance take a look at their pages. If it weren't for these people, I wouldn't be where I am as a racer, and wouldn't be going in the amazing direction I am going today. To all of you, thanks for a great season!

Time to start looking at more off road fun. I just spent the past half hour registering for a endurance mountain bike rage (Black Bear Rampage), three UCI cyclocross races (Ohio UCI Cyclocross Festival in October) as well as this weekends cross race in the motherland of Ohio. I think that's enough run on sentances for one day! Look for some more updates this week.

Until Later
-Dee-

A seasons end is a new ones bloom....

So I DID IT! What did I do you might ask? Well I can tell you what I didn't do. I surely did not win Espoir Nationals. If you thought that possible I scoff at you. In fact only 17 guys finished the race if that tells you anything on the experience out west. I also undoubtedly did NOT win Espoir or Elite Crit Champs. As a matter of fact I got caught behind, but nimbly (and stylishly I might add) complete annihilation of body, mind, and expensive carbon parts by attempting to bunny hop some large man in blue. Sadly I didn't make it completely over him and proceeded to run over him. I am pretty sure my train of thought went as follows "Dave Scared! Dave smash smurf dude! Dave needs to clean chamois! Dave chases up to teammate Talbot only to be outsprinted to the line by the tiny guy!" To make it better I arrived at the airport only to realize my flight wasn't scheduled until the following day. Sweet. Hey Mr. Delta Airlines, break me some more. I appreciate it. I hope you die... Yeah. California is dead to me now. I truly HOPE that place falls off the continent and goes to chill with Hawaii.

Crit champs was crit champs. My legs were ABSOLUTELY FRIED, but I managed to ride comfortably near the front attempting to work for the Hincapie- Coke guys as I was the sole rider of my team there. Yay for racing alone. So much for motivation....

In the end some stupidity happened and my season went up in utter oblivion 10 laps early. Some guy from somewhere won the race.... I wouldnt know who, I was already eating a burger and having a ginormous chocolate muffin, and putting on as much weight as possible before cross starts in two weeks time. Yeah. It was wonderful! Oh and for shear enjoyment, I had one of these on the way home!

Thankfully my parents came with me to watch me DNF my last race of the season. Even better was the fact that it was the only race they saw me race all season. Awesome....
If pictures for races one DNF's are acceptable, here are some my dad took with his new snazzy camera!

This one is sweet because Steve Tilford (aka the crosser who found the fountain of youth/most likely to take over the world) and the other guy are gritting their teeth like they are towing a large bus or fire truck by they seatpost!

See... I was at the front!

Field was pretty big. MAbout double the pro race....?

So I am sure you are asking me what next. Well what I can tell you is that for now I am getting fat and waiting...... thats right..... waiting for the most anticipated season since I started riding my bike!

Need I say more?

Hurrah nationals

Nothing like cresting the mountains of lovely california looking into the smog ridden...I mean pleasantly hazy valley of Los Angeles after a 4 hour flight next to a girl who doesn't speak a lick of english and having been up since 3 am eastern time chock full of a couple pounds of chocolate cake from the night prior. I guess its time for nationals. That means no more cake. :(

Until later, keep your eyes on some updates from sunny california.

Time to find me bike at LAX. Not fun. Good luck to the teammates not flying and not taking the bus because the transmissions toast. Should be a helluva drive.

DEE
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

R, R and R

Rest, Relaxation, and Racing. After a much needed and awaited break from the bike I was back in action this weekend. The 4th of July went extremely well and was a blast. Nothing like a day at the pool with beautiful ladies, cool people, and vito (who applies to none of the above) to take your mind off the business and stress that is life. It was quite the evening viewing every fireworks display between Atlanta and greenville from vito's condo balcony. Good times.

This past weekend marked my return to Atlanta (which seems to be turning into my second home) and more importantly my return to racing in preparation for nationals. Friday gave way too a heck of a good time at Red Light Cafe where Erica, the ever talented and lovely roommate of Kelly's showed how amazingly talented she is at the whole music thing. Check her out, she wont disappoint!

Saturday provided quite possibly the closest thing to hell-Esq weather possible. Thank god we had a nice unshaded highway road race to do! Yeah. Cool. TO make things better I ended up making the chase group of just three that spent the entire race dangling just 30 seconds off the winning break. 30 seconds... no big deal right? Hahaha. Yeah, big deal. After cursing myself for even making the split, let alone contributing stupidly to our futile death march to the finish, I crossed a good yet disappointing 6th place. Ill let the picture express how happy I was rolling across the finish.

The feeling I had the following morning for the crit was much much less than enthusiastic. After stumbling through Kelly's scrounging what I needed for whatever concoction of oatmeal I could create for the days meal, the two of us loaded up the pimp wagon saturn and headed for the race. 10 minutes into the sunny sunday morning drive I recieve what would be my most motivating and overjoying message imaginable:
"It's on like donkey kong...It's pouring rain at the course, hope your ready...kisses---Vito" ok, maybe I added the kisses. But it rained none the less.

After an hour and fifteen minute delay racing began. Plan was for me to try and force a move up the road, and if nothing was rolling then just set vito up for the sprint. Attempt after lazy assisted attempt three laps to go hit. I set up shop with vito just off the back of the Latino sprint train. On the final lap we were set perfectly for the win (mistake #1) , vito came along and told me to hop on his wheel, which I did. In turn two Latino pudgy sprinter overshot it and somehow kept it up, but dropped me right into the leadout train of Kanckle legged guys (mistake #2). Coming into the final turn vito came along side me and I knew it was on. I let a small gap open for him and next thing I know I am getting kamikazied by some Latino crackhead and heading for the curb. Rather than playing my normal yelling, elbow throwing self I check up (mistake #3 and biggest of all) from there it was 400 meters to the line. The sprint started, I missed it, and rolled in 7th. Bummer. Vito salvaged fourth on the day and end the end it turned out the way we thought it would. Could haves suck but I feel if I hadn't been dive bombed and if there had been money up on the finish I would have been on the podium or even better. Whatever. Finally I had to post the most imspiring explanation of crashing in bike racing I have ever heard courtesy of Jon Vaughters of slipstream...
"Next time your driving in your car at 50 mph, strip down to your underwear, open the door and jump out, thats what crashing in professional bike racing is like" Thanks John! Well said!






Photos courtesy of Kelly and truespeedphoto.com

Well for now this will have to do. Sorry for the long winded post, I am bored and waiting for my brunch to digest so I can go do my VO2 workout! Wahoo. Check back, more racing, boredom, and less than interesting babbling to come!

NO BRAKES!!

Thats right... John Kelly has twisted my arm long enough. Im hitting the banks and giving track racing a go!
The rig is near ready. All I need is a track rear wheel and crank and I am GOOD to ROLL!

Catching up

As if i were worried that those of you who actually poke in and read the useless ramblings I thought I would preface this with an "I'm Sorry". So I'm sorry.

The past few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind of craziness and business. Two weeks ago I got the opportunity to coach at the Midsouth Regional Development camp with Mark and Kym. It was a great group of guys, hot weather, and just a outright good time. In the end I was drained as the nunery (or whatever the heck you call it) was void of air conditioning. Eventually I gave in, mentally broke down, and resorted to eating desert with every meal including breakfast.... Don't ask. For those of you who have never witnessed the camps I am speaking of, here is a look at the bike room! Yeah, there is more money here than most pro tour teams hold throughout an entire season. Oh yeah, and most all the riders are JUNIORS!! Don't ask me how they have SRM's and full carbon rigs blinging from the butthole with Campy! My first bike wasn't even ten speed!



Post camp I opted to forgo the trip to fitchburg, partake in a bit of relaxation with friends, and start gearing up for nationals in a month. Spending no more than three days at the apartment at a time has been a bit of a commonality, but considering the time is being spent with great people and great times, the lack of time home is well replaced. Evenings with kelly, bike rides with Spencer (aka the superbad race car driver with GT-2 Porche team Pumpelly Racing)

exceptional nightlife, the occasional AMAZING pub, and enough music to make a deaf kid consider suicide have been more than common. Considering the hella hard training and racing I have coming up it's a good thing I have them to keep me sane!

This week marks the last week of no racing. After that is Georgia Games, possibly some superweek races, french broad classic in Asheville, Gwinnet Bike Fest and Crossroads cycling classic, then it's a redeye flight to LA with Butler for Nationals! The end is near. Wait... no it's not I race until january! CRAP!

off for some pedaling! Until later.

D

Life, bikes, and just great people.

That is what my life has been the past week, and nothing could be better. Not only did I wonder north to GA to ride six gap with pimp nasty teammate AJ. I followed it up by heading to NC with Kym, Mike and Mark to ride the tail of the dragon/skyway out of Robbinsville. Let me tell you, 30,000+ ft. of elevation in less than a week will in fact tire you out.

On another note I am back in Ohio until the River Gorge RR/Worlds Qualifier visiting family and getting life back on track. Thanks to everyone for the support lately whether it be in life, riding, or just being great friends. Sometimes life throws you cucumbers and you have to make some pickles out of them. I'm not exactly sure what I meant by that but it sounded insightful.

To finish this entry in proper fashion, I must expose two comical look into the world of cycling. The first in the one and only Marky poo-Hekman hitting Lemon hill. Nothing like seeing the lanky ginger headed beast racing the biggest of big races. Tough day Mark but wow... congrats on making it where so many of us want to be!

The second is an article regarding quite possibly my most respected and highly regarded riders in European racing... Tom Boonen. Just read. Theres not much to say about it: Article
"Belgian super star sprinter, Tom Boonen has allegedly been caught in an out of competition test for cocaine, according to Belgian newspaper HLN.be. The out of competition test allegedly occurred three days before start of the Tour of Belgium, where Boonen won the final stage."

yep! You heard it. cocaine... Sprinter... Suprise... Come on now. They're sprinters. What else is there to do. Hmmm. When you see this picture there is a little bit more to understand...

Hopefully soon I can get some pictures from this past weeks adventures and riding. It was possibly the most beautiful riding I have ever seen so hopefully I can.

Until later,
Dee

Tour of Atlanta weekend

A few pics from Tour of Atlanta. I dont have time to write some comical, entertaining or even somewhat worthwhile explanation of the weekend. I have a fresh fillet of salmon ready to go in the oven, and a well earned glass of vino to toast to myself with. Yeah. Everyone is gone from school, and the life of the lone, single, bike riding guy with compression socks on watching soccer nightly and begging the few people he knows in town to do something has begun. Wahoo. How fun... can you sense the sarcasm seeping from that? If not, you should be able to, pungently.

Simply put the weekend consisted of getting dropped 20 minutes into a 8 corner <1mile "circuit", getting dropped from the TTT because chris had a 55 tooth chainring... and hes chris and vito got hit by a guy who we passed and screwed everything up, crashing in the road race less than a mile in, Chasing four 7 miles, watching vito do the turtle kick dance while flopping around on railroadtracks durring the road race, finding out Rich got off his bike on the same tracks and walked over them, riding tempo for an hour with pros, telling pros to go to hell when they ask you to come back up and work to pull back the lone guy off the front because they couldnt, and lining up against a bunch of NRC pro's for crits that I have already DNF'd this season and still managing to get a teammate in the top 5. Yeah. It was eventful in case that discription didn't clearify the point I was hoping it to.
Aside from riding 5 races in four days, were the boring events of the evening which I will leave unexplained. Instead venturing only to say a few simple ideas I associate with evenings of fun downtown. Aston Martin, good food, good drinks, Randy and his... preferences, butt electrochip implants (long story...), "ass-offs" (pardon), wonderful ladies, Cheesecake factory, patio music and one of the best weekends I have had in a while. I guess I have another reason to look forward to this coming weekend and going back to Atlanta and chilling with vito! Enjoy the pics, and hopefully this was enough to keep the few of you who actually care the slight bit enough to read this entertained for maybe a few seconds. If not. Oh well. Im hungry and the oven just beeped. Yum.

Vito showing what happens when the turtle kick dance is done in an unsupervised manor

Kelly and Leanna came out to support us, and look adorable. For those of you that dont know, put girls in the mix, and you race better. Last time I DNF'd this crit, and this race, I was attacking all day. Coincidence... I think not.

Dont I look happy on the last days crit?

thats because we had to go up this stupid hill every lap!

until later.
-Dee-

With or Without You - Sungha Jung

a stray from talking about my butt, pedaling a bike, and a focus on something far more interesting, impressive and worthwile. Ill let it speak for its self!

This is what happens when school is over...

I get bored...
I look at cycling pictures...
I buy stuff I dont need...
And I buy 20 powerbars from the school market to waste the hundred some dollars I wont get back from the school...
wahoo.. im a rebel

At least this is on it's way!

yep.. Going old school and taking care of my bum with class.

One more thing! Does anyone notice something weird in this picture besides the 6' plus 130 pounder....?

..............................
Nothing? How bout this one???

Still nothing... ok, you suck! In case you didn't have the cat like eye for something strange take a look at the SOON TO BE production carbon DA shifters. Cables under the bars, and carbon baby! Pimp.

Now that I have proved my true level of bike nerd-ness, im off to ride, and probobly buy some more stuff at the markey afterwards again!

Until later!

I heart Athens!

We came... we rode... we showed that Hincapie Barkley is for real! Nothing Like second at Athens baby! The team rode to perfection and did what we needed to do! Bed time for now, but I will post a TON of pictures tomorrow! I think this picture sums up our excitement after the race!
David going away early

Me and vito working back after a mishap on lap two with some retards and a barrier

Working with Ty after we went down

setting tempo with David back...

because Nick is in the winning move!

Winding it up for the sprint for third!

"HEEEEEEEEEELLLLL YEAAAAAAAAAH!" This is what I look like when I say that when we podium at Athens.

Great teamwork this weekend boys. More to come for sure! For now, I have to run and watch HOUSE and eat a fudgecicle. sorry for the brief unentertaining post, but I had people asking for photos so here they are!

-Toodles-

I'm and Uncle...Again.

Just throwing up some pictures of my real life away from the bike. Family, friends, and my new baby nephew Nick!

My beautiful niece Emma.

My first time hanging out with the new pup Nick!

Catching up with my brother Donnie in chilly Ohio.


Chilling with Baby Nick pre ride in the usual crazy weather of Ohio. One day it's 70 something degrees and the next barely 50. Wahoo.


As for the whole bike riding thing, I have saddle sores the size of quarters and Athens is less than a week away!

Ciao!

It can only get better

I HAD to put this picture up. Not only is the foot in the air stricking me as comical, but Boonen's face is absolutely priceless. Gotta love slick cleats!

Oopsy daisey

One reason you never finish a bunch sprint with a double arm salute before you cross the line, Cav pips Boonen with his arms raised. Ruh Roh! How should I feel about one of my favorite riders being beat by one of my favorite riders? hmm.

Äußerst Raffiniert-Wirklich harten tag

Thats right... I am sophisticated. Or just looking for a good enough way to present the fact that I now have a blackberry! No good can come from this.

With the random picture so too must a description of this weekends eventful races. I got my first introduction to exactly how some race directors feel when trying to ensure their team is prepared for a race. After making our way (via big pimp hincapie bus) to chattanooga for round 4 of the Georgia cup Baker and I were up bright and early (sometime around 5:45) in order to get to the race in time to set up the tents, trainers, unload bikes, run my TT, get passed by Frank Travieso for the third week in a row, get back, cool down, load back up the bus go eat a sandwich at Carpenters, go downtown, unload the bus, set up the tent AGAIN...break down the tent two minutes after setting it up(it was a tid bit windy), get sunburnt, watch Gabardi win the cat III crit, start my crit, miss a wreck, no two wrecks, no wait NINE wrecks (actually I missed 8 and got stuck behind one) eat dinner, shower and finally get to bed at the early hour of 12:15. Fun. What made it even more fun was getting up again at 5:45AM to go do the same thing again the next day. yeah. It's really easy to perform at your best under those circumstances isn't it.

I was happy with the weekend though. It was a good time getting to ride with the guys. Sundays road race was hard, and given my soreness from my several crashes this season as well as the lack of sleep I was simply wanting to finish the 90 mile road race in the 20+ mph winds and 20 some NRC and Euro-pro's preparing for tour of Georgia in two weeks. It turns out wrecking can kind of keep you not feeling 100% for quite a while if your not careful. Simply wanting to finish wasn't enough so I ended up getting two teammates back into the race in the cross/headwind section when everything hit the fan on the final lap, and given that I had one BIG bullet to use in the race, I wasn't able to stay with the field (or what was left of it) over the climb on the last lap. But being able to say I was rocking at 40 mph on a flat windy section of rode with 10 or so riders in town gave me some positive re-enforcement of my riding right now. Regardless, teamwork was great and I was able to justify crying myself to sleep last night.

Finally what would the trip from Chatt-town to Greenville be without something eventful happening? Turns out the alternated belt on the bus just didn't want to do any more work and decided to blow up like Jan Ullrich chasing Lance in all seven tours. After a detour to several parts stores Baker and I proved once again that the Hincapie Barkley team is a force of in-surpassable power not only fixing the bus but doing so in the dark of the autozone parking lot. Yeah. It was a good time.

So i suppose now is a good time to relax and recover from a terrible, rather hectic yet comically fun weekend. Farewell to all. Until later. Ciao!

Fun time again

Nothing like having Tim Henry as my thirty second guy and Frank Travieso as the thirty second follower and only having 10 hours of sleep in me for the past two days. Fun will be had in chattvegas today!

Toodles

Musings

When you think you have had a bad day on the bike... you could be worse off and be this poor soul!

Chute Tour des Flandres
Uploaded by Petit_Brun

One more thing! This qoute is from a 24 year old sweedish cyclist racing as an amature racer in the U.S. Maybe he has something to teach everyone about idolizing other riders. Or maybe he is just reccomending we find other riders who are real people to follow after their footsteps!

"I look up to Levi, but I don't have cycling idols," he said. "It's great to be racing with such good riders, but my idols are just normal people."
--Martin Erlandsson--

toodles

Best of the worst!

Going to keep it brief... The weekend included brakepads falling off the TT bike, a pack of puppies being run over in the road race, hitting the deck again in a race, and DNF'ng a crit that I attempted to race with one leg. It was not fun.

On a better note Big George rode great in de Ronde van Vlaanderen finishing 5th it what could simply be summed up as epic. Kind of like what we rode through only more than double the length!


Look for Hincapie Barkley rolling deep at Chattanooga this coming weekend! We wont be hard to miss!


Off for a week of hard training to get myself back on track from a terrible weekend.

-Dee-

Its coming!

Less than three days.... Belgium, God bless you and your crazy crazy racing!




Who will conquer and find their way into the history books of hardmen who somehow push through the agony of the belgian "burgs" to win this magical piece of cycling majestry. Or who just strait up punk slaps the piss out of everyone to show them they have a bigger set than everyone! Only time will tell!

One more thing.... Found this pic of George online. Cracked me up. Gotta love the big G Leg! Good luck George, show the world what Greenville already knows!