SuckWeek

Superweek didn't really go great for me or the team. The 3 races we did were OK but we didnt' get any top 20 results. I got 22nd in Racine which got me excited for the rest of the races but I was pretty tired still and basically did nothing for the rest of the week. Down town Chicago was a pretty sweet location for a crit though and racing at Downer Avenue was really great. I had a few cold refreshing beverages on my cool down lap from some nice fans. I definitely want to do that race again. I learned a valuable lesson too. Racing just for the sake of racing is dumb for me. I need to focus on a few races and doing more than 2 per week usually doesn't result in me doing well so next time I do super week I plan to only do the weekend ones so that I can avoid getting tired and sucking it up again. Hopefully this weekend in Elk grove goes better.

The Ville and Super Week

It's been a really long time since i have posted on here probably due to travelling a lot and having a very short attention span and a lack of awesome results. But actually my results really haven't been too bad with a few pretty good ones in there too. After coming back from Fitchburg and taking a few more days off the bike I finally started to feel better and managed not to get dropped from the first day of Super Week in Chicago. Then the next day my Turin team drove down to Louisville for some NRC crit action in the hottest weather of the year so far. I got 9th place which netted almost $500!!!! And now I can say that i have finished top 10 in an NRC race which I think sounds pretty cool. After a kind of mediocre next day where our team got 3 in the top 15 but no one in the top 10 we headed back up to Chicago for more super week action. I placed 20th at Richton park and 22nd in Evanston (sort of I think they put me ahead of where i really was but I am not complaining) but had a few lackluster days and crashed at Ripon. Ripon was an exciting one since it started raining with 20 laps to go and people started crashing left and right. I managed to keep it up in the rain but I blew up with 2 laps to go and finished 30th. Now I have been resting at Purdue for a few days and I am gonna do Racine, Kenosha, Downer Ave and the Chicago Downtown Criterium. Should be an exciting 4 days of racing.

fitchburg/ oh crap!

We drove to Fitchburg Massachusetts on Tuesday and went for a ride on Wednesday. I felt pretty slow and crappy but I figured I had better give the race a shot anyway. I felt really crappy in the TT on Thursday and nearly finished in last place. Then Friday I got dropped really early and called it a day. I am overtrained/overraced and I need to take a few days off. I really shouldn't have come to this race but didn't realize this until wednesday when I was riding. Oh well it happens, but it is really hard to stay motivated when something like this happens. hopefully I will feel better by wednesday and can still perform well in Super Week and Louisville.

tour de grandview

This was one of the coolest crit courses I have ever done. It finished with a .25 mile long climb that was about 6% and had a few sweet downhill corners that you could take at full speed. The race was tough with big squads for inferno, texas rd house and DLP racing. There were a bunch of breakaway attempts that got reeled back and about half way through the 45 mile race I went in a break with an inferno rider and texas road house. Then 6 more riders including Chris bridged up and the announcer said “ This could be the winning break”. That was it as we got away and worked well together until 5 laps to go. People started attacking and I and Chris traded off marking moves. I got 7th and Chris got 4th. It was a good race for our team.
We came home Sunday late I worked on my research Monday and now we are driving to Fitchburg Massachusetts for a 4 day NRC stage race. This is my first NRC race of the year and my goal is to make it to the finish with the lead group everyday which should get me a pretty good overall finish hopefully.

Finish of Tour Ohio

The last 2 stages didn't go great for me. Stage 4 I was in a break for a pretty long time in the crit working pretty hard trying to catch the lead group but our group didn't work well together and eventually got caught. Then it got really fast and with 3 laps to go I skipped a pedal in the last corner and jumped my rear wheel. I knocked the tire off the rim a bit and flatted. Oh well a nice family on the course let us join in their BBQ which was fun. Stage 5 was a flat road race with 4 super hard 1 mile finishing circuits. I got in the break after 1 lap on the course which had about a 30 second gap on the field. It started thunder storming like crazy when we were racing and it was raining when we hit the circuits. We got caught by the field on the second lap and after that I didn't want to take any risks if I wasn't gonna get a top 10 finish. I rolled in for 37th and like 45th overall. Not great but on stage 4 Ben got 5th and Chris took 4th on Stage 5 so our team still got some decent results. Overall not a bad race for our team but we could still do better and we are gonna prove it this weekend at the Tour de Grandview.

Tour of Ohio (OK, Bad, Good)

Tour of Ohio started off this week with a sweet crit that had a brick straight in it. It was tight and twisty and had a gradual uphill in it. I got t the front early and tried not to fall too far back. I went with a break but struggled with my breathing as it seemed my asthma was back in force. The break came back and then a group of 4 got away and won but it was OK since Ben won the field sprint and I was 14th. Not too bad considering I am still on antibiotics and have a huge hole in my butt.
Wednesday’s stages just plain sucked for me. I started off feeling OK and thinking I would finish with the leaders but on the 4th climb or so I started suffering bad and just couldn’t do a hard effort on the climb. I got dropped hard core on the next climb and promptly got passed by 50 people. I rolled in with current world track omnium champion Hayden Godfrey though which was pretty cool. I lost 10 minutes but at least I didn’t quit or something.
Thursday was good for me but not for my team. It started off great with Chris and Greg getting in the day’s main break and looking good. I thought they were gonna stay away on the super hard hilly course but they got reeled in with 15 miles to go and it was set up for a field sprint up a 1 km steep climb. Going into the climb I was in good position and there was a huge crash next to me which took out Chris. I attacked first up the climb and thought I might win but 4 people came around me before the finish. I definitely went too early and probably could have been top 3 if I would have waited but I am still happy considering Wednesday was so bad. There are 2 stages left in the Tour of Ohio and we are planning on picking up at least one stage win!

OUCH!!!!!(Don't read if you get grossed out easily)

these 2 words describe the past couple days for me SADDLE SORE. It was actually way worse than a normal saddle sore. I tried to deal with it myself but it just kept getting worse so I finally went to see the doctor here at the purdue university student health center. the doctor who also happens to be the dad of a guy we bike race with was like "wow we need to cut that open with a scalpel it is full of pus. And it was. That was pretty painful to say the least and it was like an inch deep too. So now I have a square cut out of my butt that is deep and I have gauze on it to absorb all the blood and pus. Now Tour of Ohio starts on Tuesday so I have 3 more days to get into shape where I can hopefully ride without screaming in pain. I think I will be fine since it hurts about 50 times less this morning than it did yesterday. Also thanks to my roommates for driving me around yesterday to get the medicine and stuff and to Greg for helping change the bandage. you guys are really troopers.
Also on Tuesday I did a crit in minnesota and got 5th and won some beer in a prime and was in a break with Adam Bergman and Eric Marcotte. It was a good time but I am pretty sure it made the saddle sore a ton worse which led up to the surgery. Wish me luck in getting better soon.