The long and windy road

ASU - 7th, 1st, 20thish
The last two weekends the racing turned up, literally. Last weekend, we raced at App State Univ in Boone, NC. Sat was a 54 mile RR with a 3 mi climb each lap. We did 6 laps. The first lap B-King lit it up and shattered the field. I was able to hold wheels and crest with a group of 3 other guys just behind the lead group. I wasn't feeling spectalcular considering the 5 min warmup and the climb hitting us within 5 min of the race. We rolled it pretty good, dropping a rider, then picking up Scott Jackson from LMC/DLP about 1 lap later. We ended up almost getting caught the last lap so I pulled with Scott up the hill really hard. We came into the finish 7 and 8. Props to Scott for letting get some conference points, as he was out of conference from the SEC...Always a class act! Ben racked in the win and B-Mac took 4th. Schwing.

At 4pm the TTT was set for 1 lap on the RR course. My team and I put in the fastest time by 40 seconds. Booyakashawigwam.

The next day was the crit in a mall parking lot. It was hard. It was fast. I did some work and got Bryan into the break. He did well and finished 1st after 25 laps off the front. I might have gotten 20 something. Shattered? Yes. No good legs? Maybe. Able to drive hard? Always.

JMU - 3rd
Yesterday was the uphill TT at Reddish Knob outside Harrisonburg, VA; the road was 6 miles flattish/rolling, 6 miles straight up a mountain. I put in a good effort and got 3rd. My man Ryan McFeely, from Navy, scorched it and put 2 min. into me...in season for him? Yes. 2nd place was 15 sec faster than me (I think I was 49:08). I had a sweet skid into my start time and barely made it by 5 sec. Unfortunately I was in the 53x11 after warming up and it took some time to realize this before shifting and getting up to speed. The course didn't seem impossible, and I think I may have given the only woman on our team a push! Foul? Yes and extremely not allowed while sporting. Nonetheless a pleasing result.

Today...err UVA - 2nd
60 mi course during Jeff Cup race: We started at 9am in the snow...basically. I was really warm, I had some super hot flaming sports balm on...everything?I put some on my legs and arms and down where I should'nt have (on accident!). I was hurting and wanting to get into the weather and race. Luckily I had a rain jacket b/c the roll-out soaked everyone. I ended up ditching my rain slick 3 laps in right before my man Reid was getting towed in after a stupendous breakaway effort with a NAVY compadre. We rode hard and I "attacked" on the first hill of the 5th lap. It shattered guys then the attacks began to fly. I ended up rolling off the front with a UNC rider and a UMD rider. We rolled it pretty good. I was bonking by the middle of the last lap and got dropped with 800m to go. Bummer? Yes. 2nd place was nice though because my parents were able to see me race today and fun was had by all. (Back to back podiums? Fun also.)

Because the sky is blue

::I feel that ice is slowly melting::

OFF and ON

Yesterday was an OFF day so I went and saw the New York Yankees beat up on our baseball team. I'm not going to mention the score but it was quite the butt-whooping. I think we might have gotten 2 hits off their pitcher during the 7 innings. The scoreboard changed immediately back to the default setting after the game, awhoops. And when I got home, I was greeted with a 20 lb box full of Nature's Path Organic Food!


Today however was an ON day. Back to training; I rode in the rain. I got really wet, really fast. I rode up Harding Ave (2.5 mi climb, avg 6%) in 10:32 after the 2 1/2 hrs. This is pretty solid considering my PR is 9:45 (near the end of April 2 years ago during a race ride.) I felt really good. I wish I could've measured the watts because they would've been up the wazoo, only while I was installing the mounting kit on the bike today, I accidentally cut the wire! I guess I could've gotten to this sooner; I would have liked to measure my TSS during the first 10 days in January. Did I really put in 46 hours on the bike then? It also rained tonight...really hard.

Good Sensations

Most of the time when I say that I am feeling good before a race, I am feeling 'just okay'. On Friday after being asked how I felt about the weekend, I responded by saying that I had 'good sensations' in the legs. My friend laughed and that was that. It wasn't until my pre-race warmup that I unlocked the secret to going fast again. In Belgium, we use a pre-sports bronzing oil called Quoleum. I applied some before my warmup and then I made sure to apply a little extra after the leg warmers came off. I'm not sure what is in this stuff, but all the amateur Belgian riders love it.Typically, riders will show up to the start line with their legs dripping with this stuff. I'm certainly intimidated whenever I come across these kinds of Top Sporters because they can drive it really hard.

This past weekend I did in fact have good legs. We travelled to College Park, MD to race the University of Maryland Criterium (1hr + 2 laps). The race started at 12:10pm and we were off. The race was pretty controlled from the gun. My teammate Owen Nielsen laid down the hammer for 2 laps before drifting back only for my other teammate Reid Beloni to take over and pull full-bore for another 2 laps. We decided that since we only had 4 guys in the race, we would need at least 2 in every break away. Words are words and sometimes the pre-race plan rarely comes to fruition during the race, so what happened next was really incredible.

I was sitting 4th wheel when an ASU rider attacked. My teammate John Zaccone got onto his wheel and I followed with Matt Howe from NC State. The ASU rider blew up (I think?) and John was left out front with myself and Matt trailing by 20 m. I looked behind and saw the gap was growing. I immediately got in front of Matt and laid down the throttle; 53x12 in the tail wind. Whooosh! We blazed past John and dove into the corner. John got on our wheels and VT had 2 guys in the break. I was super happy. The field shut down for a couple laps thereafter and we rolled it pretty hard.
The gap grew to over a minute, I thought we were going to lap the field. I was doing the pulls up the hill and down the back stretch, pulling for about 3/5 per lap. The break was working well together and Reid and Owen were doing a superb job covering attacks behind us. With 8 to go I attacked just as Matt was finishing his pull. It was a good attack up the hill and I got 30 m immediately. I was pulled in two laps later and sort of got dropped from the break after Matt accelerated past me. Luckily John was sitting on not working until I was able to get back on. With 4 laps to go, John did the same exact attack and stayed away the rest of the race. Kudos to John. Here is a video of the finish:


The jokers on the right are getting lapped while you can see Matt and I sprinting for 2nd. Virginia Tech ended up 1, 3, 4, and 12? Owen took the field sprint. All in all a very strong race for the team.

Sometimes it works out that the first attack doesn't always stick and the second will. It is just a matter of chance. The scenario that played out in the race was practically picture perfect, textbook tactics. This was the first race this season where I had been given the opportunity to really show how well I can go. I hope to have many more opportunities like this for the season. Thanks for reading.

Out,

-E

Here comes the sun

Hello loyal readers! My apologies for the lack of updates in the last few weeks. School, training, and racing have been keeping me busy. Here is a brief update on everything that has happened since I last posted (in reader friendly list form):


USNA
- VT riders get into the break to finish 1st and 3rd. (Steven and Owen Nielsen)
- JZ and I get into the chase break and finish 6th and 9th, respectively. The familia is present and have a good time.
- Day 2 is the TT (17 miles on a rolling course). My time is 29:35 (9th place, again. Coincidence?)


Spring Break '08 in Chapel Hill, NC at my man Eoin's casa
- Complete 13 hrs of solid riding in the first 3 days
- Complete 4 games of PIG in the last day
- Team has smashing good time downtown. Did I get a helicopter ride?


ECC/ACC joint conference weekend in Philadelphia, PA
- Soaking wet criterium where Bryan finishes 8th. Grouppo explodo in the Virginia Tech camp.
- TTT the next day, 8 miles. Due to the lack of draft I give off, I am not selected for the main TTT team (4 riders). I end up having a "better warmup" and pull my team (3 riders) around before dropping them, unwillingly. Individual time is 21:30, but clock stops at the last rider so 26:36... The TT practice was fun (despite it starting at 8:30 AM in 20 degrees F). The other TTT team finishes 4th overall (without any aero wheels and only 1 TT bike), booya!
- Circuit race of 30 miles in the afternoon: Esteban gets into the break, B Mac and Cheese leads out the field sprint. After looking back during the final 300m I lose his wheel and get passed on the line by 5 guys. Steven gets 6th, Bryan 11th, and myself 17th? - Virginia Tech finishes the weekend omnium as the best ACC school (Fist Pump!)


Community Service


- Owen and I ride with the youth of Blacksburg in an effort to educate, inspire, and give back to the community.
- 39x25 at 130 RPMS for last 30 minutes
- Owen gets dropped later in the ride by an 8th grade girl.