The chicken, life, and learning how to fall

Les attaques de poulet!
As many people, even those who dont give a flying whi cares about cycling know that there is some big bike race going on right now in France. Apparently it's a big tour, and apparently it's kind of a big deal. For me this has been one of the most entertaining cycling spectacles I've ever seen (unless you count the naked bike races @mountain bike nationals). Not only is the race so wide open that a freight trail could billow through it, but the leader of the tour is a 130 pound 5'9" dane who's nickname is the chicken... Need I say more.


Learning to get up
Sunday's racing landed at one of the more interesting, tough, yet fun courses in the local vacinitiy. Tour d'Burg is a comprised of no less than 7 turns, with a poopy brick section, 90 degress turn with a sewer grate in it and 3 brick walkways to work your way through when turning. Fun I know. After a rather agressive start, I could tell Justin was feeling good, and decided to get him a result he so desperately needed. So after getting away twice in the first 15-20 minutes (with roadhouse riders on wheel again) Justin was able to go with a counter and make the first real group. It was up to me to shut the field down seeing that no other team really "wanted" to. So, after 20 minutes of fun chasing, attacking, and tempoing on the front, Kirk of course went. HARD. Thinking twice I hesitated and missed probobly my best chance at a good result for the rest of the year. Oh well. Coming into on of the backside turns on the course, "ahhhh". Yeah, on the deck I went. Hip busted, elbow bleeding everywhere, I made my way back, bike unscathed to the pit for a restart. Luckily there were only about 7 laps to go so I sat on, waited for the sprint, and gave it what I could given my condition. In the end just got 10th or something, and I, have no idea where I finished. Who cares. It's Ohio.



Moving on
Finally, it looks like I have a new home coming soon. Keep me in your thoughts (prayers if thats your thing), as I am making a big step in chance, and hoping it pays off well in the end.

Troy Classic Recap

First I have to say there is nothing like living the professional amature cyclist life. Riding, working every once in a while. Traveling. Eating. Sweeeeeet. Yesterday marked my return to Troy classic and although the result did not come as well as I thought it would I can say I'm very happy with my fitness It doesnt help when you roll into a race with 12 guys from Texas Roadhouse and no a combined 1,2,3 and U23 field. You have to love Ohio. Paul Martin was there in his stars and bars jersey so that was a cool thing to be riding with. Even better was the fact that he was my mark for the day. Wahooo. The race was negative as is every race around here with roadhouse putting three in a move with Grimm from Team Godspeed. It was up to me and a guy from team sweet to play the agressive idiots and try and pull back the 30 second gap. Needless to say, no one helped. With 10 laps to go I moved to the front to string it out and try and limit the attacks for alex. He got in a conflict with a roundabout but made his way back and was riding agressively. With 5 to go I again moved up and was drilling it just to see he had been dropped.... Yeah. Awsome. I swung off and had a bit of a conversation with some people in a raised voice and the field came in for a sprint. Big suprise. I started the sprint too far back and didn't feel like sprinting for 20th place so I just coasted in for 30th or something. again, not a result I like, and not one that shows my fitness. Oh well, thats bike racing! Got some good pictures, so enjoy!
Assessing the damage!?

Stringing it out AGAIN. Looking relaxed eh? I guess im fit or something

Sitting in again. The calm before the storm of 10 to go!

sitting comfortable in 5th wheel

Call it a day...

Gett'r DONE!

So im sitting here watching one of the most entertaining tours in years, being stuffed to the gills with Chicken and garlic sauce from Phan Shin uptown and I thought it would be a good idea to take care of a few things. Firstly, I guess I needed to register for toona since It has been one of the focus races of my season. Secondly, i finally sat down and figured out my total schedule, and WOW, is it busy.

So here it is:
7.21- TROY CLASSIC CRITERIUM
7.22- TOUR DE BURG
7.27/29- INTERNATIONAL TOUR DE TOONA
8.1/5- CROSSROADS CYCLING CLASSIC/HANES PARK CRITERIUM ***NRC***
8.11/12- Tour of Elk Grove
VACATION to GREENVILLE
8.25- Rockford Criterium
8.26- Chagrin Falls G.P.
8.31-9.3- Gateway Cup

So yeah, for those of you wondering where ill be, ta-duh! Thats where ill be. As for now, im going to bed. yes it's 9:30. I really dont care!

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

Im back in ohio from nationals and needless to say, I have had better experiences... Points to highlight:
1. Driving to 7 Springs BLOWS from ohio.
2. Meeting two cocky Kodak Gallery Riders at Ruby Tuesdays is entertaining
3. Getting wrong directions from the host hotel and missing your national RR start SUCKS!
4. TT's on INTERSTATES with headwinds DONT suit me!
5. 30 mph average crits ROCK
6. Making a drive from PA to OHIO starting at 8:30 p.m. is nearly impossible.

Theres a lot to explain so im going to avoid a lot. Firstly, YES we DID miss the start of the RR, NO its NOT my fault, and YES I was REALLY pissed off. The TT the fallowing day in no way suited me, and I hope they find a different way to handle it next year, and yes, I will be in better shape thats for sure. As for the TT here is a picture of my buddy BEN GABARDI winning the 14 year old age group TT... this kid can fly. Tell me when you last saw a 14 year old guy look like this!


As for the crit, I have to say, this course was very nice, yet very hard at the same time. Simply put, 3 corners + 90 some riders x No one getting away means that this course was FAST. And considering I found my way off the front once at 30+ with 3 others and got pulled back in less than one lap is a perfect example. I was in great position for a top 25 finish coming into the final corner until a rock and republic rider found a way to force the field into chaos, allowing oh about half the field behind to move into a better position than myself with less that 500 meters to go... thanks bud! To make it even better. The guy whos wheel I was fallowing for the last 5 laps (Cody O'Reily) found his way onto the podium avoiding the insanity behind. AWSOME...

Overall, it was a learning experience and I look forward to next year, know how things work and being in much better form. Maybe some top 25's or even better.... after all i have only been on a bike for less than 2 years!

as for now, im running solely on coffee and pop-tarts from last night and this morning and am now off to the shop for an 8 hour day of dealing with bikes I really dont care about. We'll see how this plays out.

until later
-dee-

p.s. two fun local races coming this weekend. Everyone should come out and support!

"Looking for a slap and tickle": A few long weeks!

So it seems it has been quite a while since posting so figured I would keep he few people who read this entertained for as long as...well... Someone with as oddball a life can keep anyone entertained. Last weekends races were as hit and miss as the bars can be here in Oxford in the summer (Ill explain later).

Hyde Park treated me alright. I pulled out a 7th place regardless of coach KIM giving me a workout to do durring it. That course is fun, but sometimes, I dont know, after a CRAZY hard week on the bike, you just can't go as hard as you wish. So after making some money, I headed up to columbus to be BLOWN out of the water in Grandview. I havent been dropped from a crit in 15 minutes since... well... now that I think about it, I NEVER have. Gammers rode like a raging angry little man as always and beat up on the pros and ex-national champs for second place. Hes a stud!
Here are some pics from saturday:
Trying to bring em back!
STILL off the front
SUPRISE... OFF the front

This weekend i came off a rip rearing hard week on the bike again trying to get ready for nationals so i decided to only do one race. Considering state road race champs were going on, why not. Lucky me my body reacted better to stress this week and I pulled out a podium getting second. I completely dehydrated myself and my feed wasnt at the right place on the course so i did nearly have the race on "E" In the end I was pretty happy but hurting REALLY bad. Which leads me to the section of the post called LIFE.

I have decided to move back to Oxford for the remainder of the summer considering the travels will be frequent why not. Since back here on tuesday my days have ended at bars... lots of bars.... and the encounters have been downright unexplainably funny! in a few short quotes I think I can lay out how things have been...
"PONG!"..."There not coming i guess"---Getting ditched
"6 in an hour!?"---reaction to getting ditched
"YOU LAUGH at me?--From an angry cagefighting boyfriend we have tagged as crazys**t
"NOOOOOOO!" ---two girls reaction to my requesting of drink at 45 east
"It was my idea to take them home"---why cage fighter wanted to kill me
"I guess I enhaled some chemicals at work and I feel terrible, I guess I have to stay up late so I see if i die or not!"
"What do you do after you leave bars... in Austria bars do not close till 5 or 6 o'clock...."
the always favorite...."where'd my pants go??"
then the QOUTE OF THE WEEK"Did you know theres a possum outside the door of your apartment....?

I love Oxford! Thanks Gamm and Tyler for a hellafun week. Thanks to two funny funny girls with BIG boyfriends. Thanks to Austrians. And thanks to fun girls with 21st birthdays. Thank God im not staying here much longer the next few weeks. I might die! 4 days until NATIONALS in 7 springs PA... WAHOOOOO

Time to get going!

So im back to racing tomorrow after a 3 week relief from is and I can honestly say im looking forward to getting my feet wet again. Tomorrow is Hyde Park, a local, yet fun as hell crit in a classy little town in Cincinnati. It has a history of being very fun, and with a split with Grandview Heights all weekend the fields could either be great, or not so good. Either way its a fun time.

Sunday I head to Columbus for Grandview Heights Classic and some really REALLY tough racing for local stuff. The bigs will be there and of course there is money up. Good money, so it should hurt pretty well!

I got a kick out of THIS looking through pez. Seems the girl on the start ramp at Eindhoven Tim Trial maybe didnt do her job as well as she should have. Haha... poor Andriy Grivko.

As for now, hope everyone is enjoying the lovely rain here in Ohio. I sure have while I've been rippin it up training this week. No complaints, it makes you stronger!

-Dee-

Home AGAIN!

So im back in Ohio from my journey south to Georgia. I came back with very mixed feelings and both good and bad experiences revolving around the trip. Good experiences include, once again, the girls in chattanooga, riding beautiful Georgia and Tennessee Mountains for 5 days, meeting some awsome guys and two girls who have no problem romping on me in the mountains, and coming up with what seems to be a possible Tour de Toona winning composite team.

On the other hand I learned a few things about my fitness and how things have been handled this year. It kind of sucks, but sometimes the best way to progress is to see whats holding you back and remove it in hopes of finding something that will better you as a rider.

With that being said, I have some more good news. I am currently bringing on a new coach. Kimberly Fasczewski of Vantaggio Fitness and member of Vantaggio Specialized Pro Womens Cycling team has brought me on for the remainder of the season and needless to say it couldnt come at a better time. With nationals 24 days away, toona after that, and finally Gateway Cup and crossroads classic looming in the near future, I can't wait to see what I can develop with her help. Thanks Kim for all the help and the butt smashing climb of the Tour of Georgia TT with the lovely leg opening 23% gradient.

As for pictures, as you know, I'm normally one to post a ton after a trip but it turns out I left my camera in GA when on one of our little starbucks "journeys" off campus so when I get it back from DAVID BISHOP I will post some.

--CONGRATS TO A&F PRO DEVELOPMENT TEAM on taking the Leaders, Sprinters, and Climbers jersey at TOH. Wish I could have been there. NOT to get slaughtered by all of you but to see how well you rode! CONGRATS MARK!---

Off to mail out a TON of paperwork that I was forced to fill out last night, then im off to work, and riding!
Heres some videos from TOH and all the A&F guys dominating and wrecking!
CRASH in Hillsboro
Crit Domination