Team Time Trial report

Last saturday was a TTT in Hwaseong city (about 1 hour west of where I live). The course was a really boring flat 5km oval but it was good for a TTT because it made it easy to draft and set up echeleons. We started with 7 guys and we needed to finish with 4. The race was 8 laps for 40km and after the first lap we ended up dropping 3 guys all at once! That meant that we couldn't afford to lose another rider. My teammate Hwangeol brought a TT bike and was taking nice long pulls while the rest of use were basically just pulling through for 10 seconds to give him a small break. I was behind Hwangeol and it was not very fun to draft someone riding a TT bike! We placed 3rd over all(last money spot) and we beat 4th by only 4 seconds and 5th by only 10 seconds! Our time was about 57 minutes. It was a pretty good race overall and I was really please with the way my team rode despite dropping the 3 guys right at the beginning. There won't be another race until the end of June for me it looks like. There are a bunch of mountain bike races and hill climbs but nothing really well suited to me so I guess I will just ride for fun and try to do some epic hikes with out an racing for a little bit.

Biking and a friends wedding!

Last weekend a friend of mine who I met at the summer camp 4 years ago got married. He is an identical twin and his brother was engaged too so they decided to have the wedding together! It was pretty cute seeing identical twins get married on the same day in the same place! He was a really nice guy who I did some back packing trips with when i was here 4 years ago. The wedding was good and it was fun because I got to see a lot of my old friends from the summer camp!! Not to much else exciting happened I hung out with my friends friday and met Yujin on Sunday. I had a really great mountain bike ride yesterday too and I am feeling pretty good for the TTT this weekend. I hope my teammates are also feeling good. It would be fun to take a nice team victory. Its really nice that its almost summer. The weather is great for riding and it doesn't get dark till almost 8pm so I can get in a long ride after school. The only problem is I wish there were more road races here! In june there seems to be only hill climbs and mountain bike races(which Im usually ok at if they are flattish but they tend have huge climbs in them here). Im excitied to race this weekend anyway!

Great weather for riding!

This past week was really busy and fun. After the bike race I went to Sokcho with Yujin which is on the east coast of Korea. It was really beatiful. We went to the beach, at some famous foods, and went to a hotsprings place. Overall it was really tiring but really fun! This week the weather was pretty cruddy for a few days with lots of rain but from Friday on it was great! Sunny and about 70 degrees. Saturday i went for a road ride with my friend Aaron who is a high school teacher at an airforce base here. We had great weather and a good ride. sunday i went riding with the Suwon Alpha club that I'm a member of. We did a road ride on our mtbs. That was fun too but I got super hungry at the end of it and nearly bonked. After that I met yujin in seoul and we went bikign on the han river(not hardcore biking just like 5km or so). Overall it was a really good weekend. Now I am back at school for a full week.

Children's Day Criterium report

Yesterday was Children's Day in Korea. Its a national holiday so everyone gets the day off. The race was in Gwangmyeong which is west of seoul and a little over an hour drive from my house. I raced it last year and liked the course so i was looking forward to it this year. I did the men 40 and under group on mountain bikes and my group included the winner of the tour de korea as well as another biclo (the dominant team at tour de korea) and my teammate Yeon deok were probably the fastest riders i could think of in the group. The biclo guys attacked a bunch at the beginning but there attacks were quickly neutralized basically it was a field sprint. There were 2 tough corners in the last 600m and yeon deok attacked going into that section. he gapped the biclo guy who i was sitting on by about 5 meters and held the gap through the next corner. I sprinted the biclo guy for second and he got me by about 5 inches! But they didnt' have a camera for the race finish they only used chip timing and our time was exactly the same according to the system so we both got 2nd place (they split the money of 2nd and 3rd place between us). Overall a great race for our team. Yeon Dok didnt' have the best tour de korea so it was good to see him win this one! The next race is in 3 weeks its a 30km road race in the morning and a TTT in the afternoon. The picture is me and Yeon deok mid race.

Close

Recovering and getting ready for the criterium

Well the tour of korea is over so its time to recover a bit. But this Thursday is a criterium with a pretty good purse so i had to ride a little bit this week. Im racing the mountain bike category with slick tires so i got my bike all set up and rode a little bit over the weekend. I reallly miss mountian bike riding and once the race is over i hope to put some knobbies on and get some good riding in here. This weekend was pretty fun. Saturday i met one of my best friends girlfriends for the first time since she is visiting Korea me and him and yujin and his girlfriend all went shopping together in the pouring rain in Myeong dong(one of the most popular shopping areas in Seoul). Sunday the weather was a lot better thankfully. I went for a 2 hour ride in teh morning then Yujin came and we had a picnic near my house by a creek in the woods. Now that tour of Korea is over the next thing i have to do is figure out exactly which MBA programs i want to apply too! Exciting stuff!

Tour de korea stage 7 8 9

After our rest day in Pyeong Chang (which is bidding to host the 2018 winter olympics) we woke up to 40 degrees and rain! Anyway the stage got shortened and ended up finishing on top of a climb. I was really cold and Im not usually much for long hill climb finishes so I tried hard at first but once i was out of the top 10 i just kept a steady pace and rolled in with some guys for 3rd. My team mates Yeon deok and Hyun gil did well. Hyun Gil dominated teh KOM at the tour de korea.
The next stage on paper didn't look to good for me but my teammate hyun gil told me that the hill was actually only 3km instead of the 5 that it looked like. So I became more confident. The race was under much better weather and I was feeling pretty good. The climb started and I just stayed with the biclo riders and followed wheels. I made it over the top with a group of about 10 and by the bottom there were 20 of us and we had caught the leaders. The situation was similar to stage 3 where most of the riders had been dropped on the climb but a group of 20 or so regrouped after the climb so I thought it would be another good day for an attack. I followed a few that didn't go anywhere and then when 2 biclo riders got a 50m gap i knew it was the winning break so i bridged across to them. We held a pretty good gap and rode the last 15km together. They were way stronger than i was and pretty much worked me over in the sprint but i was still happy with 3rd place and another trip to the podium.
The final stage was a flat 47km race through seoul with a narrow twisty final 3km into the olympic park. It was my last chance to win a stage and I thought it would end in a field sprint. I sat in the pack in the middle and moved into the top 10 with 5km to go. I rode the final 3km well and maintained my position but i couldn't move up in the sprint because i was gassed from biclo's lead out through the final. I ended up 5th which is still pretty good. My overall place was 19th but i wasn't really going for the overall after losing so much time on the first stage. The race was overall pretty good and im still satisfied even though i didnt' get my goal of a stage win. I placed 8th 5th 4th 3rd and 2nd and i really enjoyed the race which went through a lot of beatiful places.
Time to take a few days off my bike and then get ready for the criterium next week!

stage 5 and 6

Stage 5 went ok but it could have gone better. The race was on a pretty nice course with 2 long gradual climbs and a 1km section of dirt road. As soon as the race started one of the biclo riders (the team made up of a former of olympian and 5 guys who are training to be pro bike racers that has been dominating the race) attacked. He managed to stay about 400m in front of the pack the whole race. I attempted to bridge to him 3 times once I got pretty close after attacking on the dirt road but unfortunatlely I didn't quite make it. He ended up winning the race by 3 seconds! The rest of us sprinted on a long straight up hill drag for the last 2km. It was a pretty tough sprint for me and I only ended up taking 8th. The top 10 get money each day so it was an ok result. I promised some of my co workers as well as the principal and vice principal that I would take them out to dinner for letting me have vacation for the race so I need to win a little bit of prize money! My teammates didn't fare as well getting caught behind a crash near the end and coming in near the back of the field.
Today was a big mountain stage with a 10km climb. I was feeling pretty good in the first parts of the race and when I saw a biclo rider attack i thought I would bridge up. I did and it turned out to be on the opening slopes of the climb. After bridging I kind of blew up and we were caught by the pack pretty soon after anyway resulting in me getting blown out the back of the group of about 40 riders or so. I caught my breath and managed to catch about 5 guys at the top. The descent was really fun and beatiful as the mountain pass went through Seobaeksan national park. Anyway I finished 35th but I wasn't really expecting to be a GC rider at this race anyway since i seem to completely blow up on any climb over 5km. Tomorrow is a rest day and then we have 2 more mountain days(with climbs that are basically exactly 5km) The final day is flat in Seoul and has a really twisty finish. Im gonna try my best to get the stage win there and make it over the mountains with the lead group the next few days.