Minor Detour.

Last post I left off with the intention of a strong three weeks of preparation before Utah.  Seemingly the best laid plans can sometimes be derailed and here I am sitting with a rapidly declining box of tissues beside me.  It's been a long time since I last got sick, even perhaps 2 years ago after landing in Italy is really the last major time I can recall feeling like a sack of potatoes in the sun.  Nonetheless, such is life, and we shall perservere.

In a positive note check out this press release.  This will be big.  Really big.  And I can't wait to stick this on my list of goals for 2011.  Obviously being a UCI stage race I will most likely need to be on a pro team next year to enter, but don't worry folks I'm working on that one too.  Stepping stones.

Cascade Wrap Up.

I gotta say I'm still pretty bleary eyed.  The trip home kicked me in the ass and I spent the majority of the time doing my best zombie impression.  We left Bend for Boise soon after the final stage finished in which we rolled in at 2am.  4hrs sleep later it was up at 6am for breakfast then hitting the road once more for the last leg to Denver.  I eventually got in the door at 8.30pm making for a long day indeed. Let me just say Wyoming hasn't changed a bit.

So picking up where I left off last post, we still had the criterium and the circuit race to finish off.  The crit was great for me.  Great in the sense that it was a flat, four corner race and with no GC place to worry about I surfed the whole time trying to save as much energy as possible.  I joked with the guys afterward that I was playing Bob Marley in my head the whole time that's how relaxed I was.  There were a few crashes and general sketchy-ness that comes with the gig, but other than that it was an uneventful race for us, knowing that the circuit race the following day would provide us a better chance to shine.

Hmmmmm don't know why I have a grimace going on?

The circuit race stage on paper was pretty darn perfect for us, but by this point we were only down to five riders left - Holt, Gray, Bingham, Collier and myself.  Five 16mile loops with some lumps in there for good measure, the boy's had been gee'ing me up all week that this was my stage.  I sure hoped so, looking to salvage a good result in an otherwise uneventful week.  Race day it was hot...damn hot.  And from the gun I really didn't have great legs at all and sometimes that's just the way it rolls.  Luckily Collier made the break that went on lap three, and by that point I was happy to be bottle boy to look after the two Ian's who were still left in the race.

 This was the first climb up to the feed zone.  I've come to realize this year that it doesn't matter how steep or shallow the road is....you can suffer on anything.

On the last lap the break had been caught and still somehow I was in the mix for the final climbs before the finish.  I made it over the first set despite UHC trying to destroy as many of us as possible but the second climb was not so good, getting tailed off the front group of 20 odd.  Disappointed for sure not to make that group I know I am capable of, but that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.  Standing on a podium at Nature Valley last month has sure now set that internal bar high!  So needless to say I was pretty pissed with myself after the stage not being able to snare another strong ride that will be oh so important for next year.  So right now we are three weeks out from the Tour of Utah, our last big objective for this season.  Knowing fore well this will be pretty much my final chance to strengthen the resume and catch the attention of pro team directors, I plan to focus hard in training over these few weeks and arrive as best prepared as I can be.

You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things – to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals.
Edmund Hillary

United did a great job of controlling the race for Rory to take yellow. Worth mentioning that Fly V took out 2nd, 3rd GC, KOM and Sprint Competition.......nice work Aussies!

See what I mean about Bend....stunning!

Well About Time I Say.

Look who is back in the studio.  Finally.  Awesome!

Cascade report to come....

Carnage At Cascade Lakes Road Race.

I'm sure most of you who follow the North American cycling scene has read the reports of what happened at the end of stage three here at Cascade.  If not, you can read about it here and get some other perspectives other than my own about how it was.  To be honest, overall it was an awesome stage in some stunning scenery.......but tarnished by some poor planning in the final 200 meters. 

The stage began outta Bend and we climbed pretty much straight from the gun. Much like the first road race nothing was going up the road with just the old attack and chase routine happening for what seemed like forever.  All the Rio boys made it over that first climb in one piece and we descended over the back into a nice long valley and a good time to put some fuel back in the tank.  Even there nothing was being let go which was frustrating for the smaller squads like us who had no GC threat.  I was feeling quite good through the flat sections and was looking forward to the final 10km climb to the summit of Mt Bachelor.  Brad did an awesome job of bringing us to the front at the base of the climb and from then on it was full gas.  I suffered hard at many points but was able to claw my way into the lead group of 20 odd as we crested the climb into the last km.  This is where things turned sour.  Instead of coming up the road and straight into a finish line, we were funneled into this make-shift cone marked circuit around a very large and crappy parking lot.  It was really bizarre, unnecessary and dangerous.  With 1.5ft orange cones to follow it made it very difficult to know exactly where to go, and with a small bunch going balls out for the win it was sketch-city.  Combine this with a crappy road surface littered with gravel and pot holes and it was a recipe for disaster.  Sure enough guys went down, and I was very lucky not to also taste the road.  Turning the sweeping 180deg corner a rider behind slipped and fell onto my back wheel forcing me off the road into the deep gravel.  Luckily I held it up right and was able to get back on the road fairly quickly, amongst hearing the screams and cries of others who were strewn all over the road.  It was horrible, with Tito from Garmin going down hard having to be air lifted out.  I limped to the finish with a rubbing brake on the rim being out sprinted by hero's for 30th odd place.

So my thoughts....yeah it was majorly stupid.  At that part of the race there was no point whatsoever to loop around the back of a dodgy car park. I was very, very lucky not to be picking gravel out of my skin or worse. This being an NRC race I also though that the use of orange cones was completely B-Grade.  I definitely feel for Tito, Talansky and the others that went down and lost a lot of skin, and hope we don't see a return of such an unsafe finish in 2011.

Cascade Classic.

I've been trying not to use the "H" word this year, but lets just say this race has been difficult so far.  Perhaps being the first big race back after a mid-season break, the first few stages here have been a shock to the system.  The prologue went pretty crappy for me, we'll maybe just highlighted the fact I'm not a prologue specialist!  It was short at only 2miles and was pretty much over before you knew it.  Still it was a nice way to open up the legs.  Stage one was a real kick in the pants with some major climbing to be done.  My role was to look for the early breaks and I pretty much spent an hour going back and forth trying to do so.  This brought us right up until the first berg of the day, being a solid 30km ascent over McKenzie Pass.  Right at the bottom a group did finally slip away, but at that point had didn't have much left to hit it again.  Nonetheless it didn't last too long so it worked out pretty well. 

 The McKenzie Pass climb was solid, and even though I was able to stay in the front 30 odd i was suffering pretty badly at some points as we crested over the top through the lava fields.  Decent was super fun and then soon enough we were headed along the valley before the final 10km to the finish up Three Creeks.  At this point I watched a small group slip away with Collier in it which was perfect for us being our main GC guy.  At the base of the climb Holowesko Partners and United drilled it and soon enough I was in difficulty and got popped with 5km to go.  Definitely tough to be there at both ends of the race after chasing breaks all morning.  So my day was done and I ended up just rolling it home in hope for a better day ahead.

Today we raced the 16mile Skyliner TT and still awaiting results.  To be honest I'd be stoked with a top 50 result after a tough season of TT'ing so we'll see how we go.

Bend Is Awesome And That's A Fact.

 Rio van hanging out with the big rigs on the way to Bend.

Places like Boulder and the (whole state of Colorado really) no doubt registered on my list of places to base myself for cycling, but there was one other name on the list that I had heard a great deal about.  That place was Bend, Oregon and here I am for the first time and so far this place hasn't disappointed.  Surrounded by forests with tons of great riding both on the dirt and road, it reminds me a great deal of Boulder, but perhaps without the altitude benefits.  And a Chipotle.  Home to guys like AC, Trebon and Chris Horner I can see why it works for skinny guys in lycra and am pumped to be racing in this part of the world.

 Gray and Collier pin up before Boise....

Cascade Classic begins tonight with a short 2 mile prologue.  The team for the trip has been expanded out to 8, with four guest riders alongside the standard crew.  I think perhaps this race we have the most balanced squad so far this year, with Dan Harm filling TT duties (2nd at Elite TT Nationals recently) alongside the rest of us as breakaway/GC guys so hopefully we can give the results page a shake.  I know I'm looking to build on the success of Nature Valley and aiming for some stage wins here.  Certainly NV was able to perhaps put myself on the map a little, so hopefully I can keep working hard for the upper end of the results page here.  We will see. So far we've ridden the circuit race, the TT and the prologue course and they all are going to be tough ones, especially with stacked squads from Fly V, United, Kelly and Bissell throwing down.  Just the way we like it!

 

With Krugoff finishing his road season after Nature Valley for goals of a strong CX season, Brad has become my new room mate.  Always up for a laugh and handy to reach things in high places...

Collier wen back to the pro ranks this year with Bahati Foundation.  With things a little shaky there at the moment he's back in the Rio red and black for Cascade......our secret weapon right here folks.

.

En Route.

The 11hrs in the van yesterday went perhaps the smoothest and quickest this season I think.  Here we are in Boise Idaho and it's hot as hell, reminding me of scorching January day in Bendigo.  The select guys that are racing the Twilight Criterium tonight are pretty gee'd, but for me I'll be it from watching  from the sidelines.  Next Tuesday we start the 6 day Cascade Classic which will suit my abilities a little better than a flat 90min crit and I'd hate to have anything jeopardize my start there.

So yep, it's been kinda a slow day here waiting for an 8:30pm race so enjoy the videos!

Wheels Keep On Turning.

The weeks just keep rolling along and it's only a couple more days before I pack the bag again and head off for another adventure.  Had a chance to do some local racing last weekend with two of Colorado's more prestigious criteriums, being the famous North Boulder Park and the State Championships at Longmont.  To be honest crits aren't the most major thing on my radar this year so I was happy just to use them both for a little speed work to spice up the training.  NBP went off with out a hitch and we had Allen in the major break taking out 8th place.  Longmont was a testing day after a few mid race rain storms that left us all looking like we'd been riding the dirt bikes instead of the tarmac ones.  I was happy as a clam to work the front to bring back the main break of the day in hopes of Allen having a good sprint at the end.  Things got a little dicey after a couple of guys thought that doing a mid race madison style hand-sling in the wet would be a good idea.  Turned out it wasn't and I was lucky enough to avoid the carnage that followed.  In the end Allen took 10th and afterwards I thought it would be fun to ride home via Boulder.  Almost 3hrs later and close to 9pm I made it mostly in one piece and at least got a solid training day in with our next racing block coming up.  As I mentioned we leave Friday for Boise, ID to tackle the Boise Twilight Criterium then continue the journey to Bend for the 6 day Cascade Classic.  A new one for me so I'm pretty amped to see what it's all about.  Looks like we're going to have a stacked squad of 8 to animate the race so we'll see how things go.

Local photographer Mark Woolcott was able to finish up his latest blog piece that we did together the other morning......check it out here.

Patience And The Reboot.

Last post the intention was to get back to work and start pedaling with purpose again.  We'll a week went by and it's funny how things can change.  Quite simply the mind was ready, but the body wasn't.  Despite the weather turning it on here in Colorado I still felt like I was dragging a sack of potatoes around so it was back to fluffing it around and getting to know a few more coffee shops for the rest of the week.  Actually the little more time off the saddle worked out well, being able to help finish a massive landscape project on the front yard and generally doing all those house work chores that become second to the racing and training roller coaster.

 Legs last week.

Fast forward to today and we are back on deck no problem.  Spent 4.5hrs out in the rain with the Duck and Meatball Friedman and had a grand old time out there.  It sure is a nice feeling to be able to hit training targets again and feel back in the groove.

Legs this week.

This week I also had an early start for a photo shoot with Mark Woolcott.  I first met Mark midway through the Hugo RR where his car became my savior after a mid race mechanical and he asked me to be the next feature on his blog website.  So we spent a sunrise at Bear Creek Park and took a few happy snaps.  Actually, the ones I have seen look brilliant, and Mark clearly has a talent for what he does.  So stay tuned and hopefully I can put up a link here soon.  Speaking of press, I'll soon be speaking to Podium Insight for a story there too, so watch for that one also.