Monday, March 31, 2008

Michigan/Michigan State report

I had a dirt road race on Saturday up at Michigan State. It started off well for our team with 4 of our riders left in the pack half way through the race out of 20 people left in the pack. Then we missed a big break and had to use a ton of energy chasing it back down. After that we got Cody off in the next break that ended up winning it. He got 4th which is a great result! My roommate Will was taking some huge pulls to chase down other attacks and he placed 12th. I got 10th and Chris got 14th after flatting on the last lap but quickly getting a wheel change. It was a little bit disappointing as we were hoping to place 3 in the top ten but 4 in the top 15 is pretty good too.
Sunday we had a circuit race with a big hill in Michigan and that race went pretty well too. Chris attacked numerous times but no one would let him go. I went with a few moves but nothing stuck until a Eric from Milwauke attacked and we let him and
Alex from Marian get 30 seconds. That was it and the rest of us springted for 3rd. I ended up 5th and Chris 10th. Cody was still in the top 20 also. Then we had a 3.5 mile hilly TT in the afternoon that was pretty fun since the course was sweet. we haven't seen the results from that one yet but I will be stoked if we got 2 in the top 10 and 4 in the top 15 again.
This weekend I am organizing the race at Purdue on Sunday so I have been on the phone all day making the final arrangments and renting porta-johns. It is gonna be a fun race and hopefully I can win in front of the home crowd and bring myself up higher in the individual MWCCC points standings. More importantly hopefully the Purdue team has a good race and we get a lot of points towards going to natz!

Thursday, March 27, 2008

time to get it up!

http://www.mwccc.org/sp08/results/html/sp08_rank_team_afterpitt.html
That is the link to the team overall standings for the Mid West Collegiate Cycling Conference. My Purdue Boilermakers are ranked 3rd overall and 7th on the A team standings. I am really pleased with how we are doing overall which includes all categories and really shows the depth of our team. The work we have put in to growing the team over the past 3 seasons is really starting to pay off. But we are not guaranteed a team spot at nationals currently since only A points count for that. We have 2 more full weekends of races left and we are definitly gonna need to step it up if we really want to go to nationals. I know we can do it but the rankings are providing extra motivation. Oh yeah I finally got a camera too so I will probably post some picutres here sometime soon.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Pittsburgh

I got a flat tire with 4 laps to go in the downtown Pittsburgh criterium today!! I was feeling good and had taken the last 2 primes but then I felt it go soft and it was over. Frustrating but that is how it goes sometimes. It was a really fun weekend overall though. Let’s start at the beginning. Friday we left at 5:30 and finally went to bed at 2am!!!! That’s right it was a 7.5 hour drive. Then we got up at 6am to go race in the snow. Actually I didn’t race until 2 pm but I wanted to watch everyone else race. It snowed most of the day and the course was absolutely awesome. Chris got in the winning move again and got 4th and I got 10th after trying a one lap attack. Cody got in the top 20(that means in the points) meaning it was a pretty good day for the Purdue men’s A team. Saturday night we got Korean food and sushi in downtown Pittsburgh. It was the best Korean food I have had in the US. We had a really good time. The purdue team is a really great group of people and every weekend is fun regardless of results. The other cool thing about this weekend was that we raced against East coast schools like Dartmouth, U Vermont, Penn State, and Army. All of those are really strong teams especially Penn state and Army. Well I had better get back to studying since I have 2 tests this week. One Monday and one Tuesday! Next weekend is gonna be good! I can feel it.

Oh yeah and for people who keep complaining that the Purdue road race I am organizing is too short. Stop complaining because none of you even applied to host races this year. If you want a longer road race put one on yourself!!!!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Sweatin to the Oldies!!!

No I havent' been doing Richard Simons work outs but I have been doing my spin work outs on the rollers while listening to JEFF92 our local no commercials oldies station. It has been a few days since I posted an update but I have been catching up on work since spring break is over. I got a little bit sick yesterday but I feel better today. I am glad I was able to avoid getting actually sick. I am getting pretty stoked about this weekends races in Pittsburgh (www.steelcityshowdown.com). I wanna kick some East coast collegiate conference butt!!! It should also be cool to visit a new big city. Well I will probably post again about those races.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Spring break wrap up

I had a great break in Arkansas. Perfect weather and great riding. Tuesday we rode Mt. Magazine the highest mountain in Arkansas and there was snow at the top!!! It was about a 7 or 8 mile climb at 6 percent or so. Then Wednesday we did a 100 mile ride up to the University of Arkansas and checked out the campus. Thursday was a recovery day and Chris and I went to check out the mountain biking at Devil’s Den state park which was supposed to be the best in the state. We were pretty disappointed the trails were super bumpy and didn’t take advantage of the elevation in the area. It was like riding a trail from Indiana only it was bumpy and slow. Then we came back to the cabin and I went hiking with some people and we went swimming in a creek which was freezing cold but lots of fun. Friday we rode another century out to Oklahoma. We explored lots of cool roads and it was a blast. I love exploring new roads. Now it is back to Indiana to go back to school. Next weekend we are heading to Pittsburgh for the next set of collegiate races.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Mizzou and Arkansas

Well I guess you can't win em all. I was totally prepared for another weekend of domination at Mizzou but that ended early in the day after jon myers broke away early for a much deserved win in the road race. I was pretty well marked and it seemed like every time I attacked or jumped in a move it was doomed. Chris did well with a top 10 placing and i took the field sprint for 15th or something. The next day at Lindenwood I was out to do a little better and score some points. It was a really tough course with lots of turns and climbing and the field basically shattered. It ended with Kyle jacobsen form UW milwauke getting away and I sprinted for 5th place. I was pretty happy with that finish. Then we drove down here to Arkansas where we don't have internet to train for the week. Monday was an easy day we rode as a big group and I went mtbing a little. Also the local TV station came and interviewed me and put our club on TV. So everyone in this little town called Mountainburg knows who we are now. I will try and get a clip of that to put on the blog since it is pretty cool. Tuesday we rode mt. Magazine which is the highest point in Arkansas and then yesterday we did a 100 mile ride with some pretty good climbs. Today Chris and I are gonna hit up Devils den state park which is supposed to have the best mtb trails in the state and then Friday is our last full day and we are gonna try to do another 100 mile ride. The weather has been great and the riding has been even better so far. I will probably do another blog about the rest of the camp Saturday or Sunday.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Bonking, snow and why this weekend was important


So today I went skiing on the Purdue golf course and was planning to do 2 hours but bonked after 1. I guess that is what I get for skipping breakfast. so now I am just focusing on making sure I am fully recovered to try to win again in missouri and train hard in Arkansas next week. Oh yeah it was 70 on sunday and then tuesday it snowed 5 inches. So no biking here for a while again!!! Good thing I really like skiing too or I would have been pretty mad.
So this weeekend was a pretty big deal for me. I have been bike racing and training very seriously since I was 13 years and never once in that time have I won any sort of road race, crit, TT, Mtb race, CX race that had more than 20 people racing. I was beginning to think I would never win a race. So to get to wins with fields of nearly 50 riders each is huge for me especially considering the caliber of riders who race Men's A. So basically this weekend is my first real win in over 8 years of hard work. Bike racing is never something that is easy and for some it takes longer than others to acheive success but I feel like I am a pretty good example of how working hard over a long period of time and not giving up when you aren't always as successful as you would like to be can lead to becoming a really good racer. Basically don't give up ever if you really want something you can get it if you work hard and are realistic.
I think it might be the last time it snows for a while so get out and go sledding while you still can! Oh yeah and here are some sweet victory pictures. Thanks to My dad and James Polivka for the photos.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

2 wins!!!!!!

I had probably the most successful weekend of bike racing of my life this weekend.
Saturday was a 40 mile road race and I normally try to get in a break to win but with my asthma failing to improve I knew I that approach wouldnt work so I decided no matter what happened I would sit and wait for the field sprint. It worked there was a break that got reeled in with near the finish and I attacked with 300m to go and passed the last break away rider John Myers ( who rode and incredible race) and threw my hands in the air. I haven't ever won a non juniors road bike race in 8 years of serious training and racing so I was extremely excited. Then my coach boris who also happened to be the chief ref of the race came and told me that the race wouldn't count for series points because so many riders broke the yellow line rule causing crashes. I was mad at first but I know where he is coming from. The race still counts for Cat 1 upgrade points but it still hurt. So I declared I would repeat my win on Sunday.
Sunday
I showed up at the race and it was 70 degrees super windy and sunny. I was feeling good and ready to repeat my win and have it really count this time. Actually I talked a lot of smack and pretty much told everyone I talked to that I was gonna win. 4 laps into our 24 lap crit John and steve from wisconsin( who was the conference champion last year) were up the road so I bridged up and that was it. John pulled really hard which helped us grow the gap to 70 seconds. the break actually started with 7 guys eric from UW Milwauke, Isaac from Indiana U, and a german exchange student from U wisco. We dropped IU and milwauke and the 4 of us stayed together till the last lap. Being from Purdue I was happy to kick some IU butt (LOL)! I didn't pull hard so I wouldn't mess up my breathing and just waited until the sprint again. Going into the last corner I attacked which is what my french coach Boris told me to do and i just drilled it never looking back and won with a big gap again. This time it counted too!!! 2 wins in one weekend couldn't have come at a better time as I was getting pretty upset over the fact that my asthma is still really bad and doesn't seem to be getting better. I proved to myself that I can still do well even though I can't breath well. I guess next week in Missouri is my next goal. Maybe I can pick up another victory and help purdue qualify for natz as a team!!!!