Dahlonega Races

Did some road racing in Dahlonega, Ga this past weekend. Saturday morning was the "Time Trial," which was actually a 7 mile point to point mass-start stupidest-ass race i've ever done with about a 1.5 mile climb at the end. The first 15 minutes were easy, until we hit the climb and everyone started blasting. I saw 1k to go, and thinking it would be over quickly, tryed to attack, but ended up blowing up after barely opening a gap and getting dropped by the front group. Ended up 9th still.

Then the circuit race was a few hours later. 2 laps of a 10 mile course of rolling hills with an uphill finish. Good course for me. The race stayed together with only a couple of attacks (people seemed to race much smarter than in florida). Came down to a sprint finish, which i was not in the ideal position for, but ended up pulling off a 2nd place finish to the same guy who won the "Time Trial."

Sunday was the road race. One 43 mile lap with a couple short, steep climbs and a nice 3 mile climb up to the finish. The thing stayed together until the climb when the race shattered. I lasted until about halfway up the climb, ending up somewhere around 10th place.

This was my first and very possibly my last Georgia Cup race. It was the most terribly run cycling race I've ever participated in, save for a few collegiate races, but that's expected. I paid a ton of entry fees for what I expected to be a stage race with some sort of payout. What I got was an omnium (didn't find out until after the circuit race) and no payout. There were multiple commitments made on the flyer that were not kept by the promoters. I thought Florida races were bad, but this was just total rubish.

Looks like everything is falling in to place for our Team Florida mtb race we're hosting down at Santos this weekend. Hopefully people show up so we don't end up losing a bunch of money. You should come out and watch/race/volunteer/whatever you want to do.

SeeYa

mind games

I started doing yoga over the summer. It really exercises your whole body as well as mind. Try it. Anyway, the past couple times I've been trying to count my breaths without actually saying the numbers to myself in thought. Unsuccessful so far. I have hope though, and will persevere until I accomplish this feat. I know it's going to be completely bliss when I finally can do this.

I'm also considering deleting my facebook. That'd free up so much time to waste on other things.

Racing this weekend in Dahlonega, Ga. A lot of climbing. Should be fun. I'll try an' post one up next week.

How bad ass is this?

Got it.

Finally won a damned race. Here's how the jax weekend went.

Saturday was the road race in nocatee, a huge pre-planned future community that currently consists of nothing but roads. It was a 7 mile course flat as a pancake with a nice headwind coming up towards the last turn into the finish. Starting at 2.50 pm, the heat didn't really affect me as much as I thought it would. I felt fantastic the whole race, never really going into the red zone. Most of it was barely tempo for me. After the 4th of 6 laps, I learned that two guys had slipped off the front 2 laps ago. There were continuous piddly little attacks, but no chase really organized. Shame on you citrus cycling for having one of the biggest teams and not chasing down a breakaway with two guys from the two other biggest teams. Anyway, it came down to a sprint for third place. I ended up opening up my sprint way too early and ran out of gas about 100m from the finish. My teammate Kyle ended up 2nd in the spring for 5th overall and I got 9th overall. I was pretty frustrated.

Next day was the "crit" in the same area as the road race. Turned out to actually be a circuit race when we got there. ~4 mile lap straight down the road and back with two 180 degree turns. Since it was still named a crit, people raced it like a crit, constant attacks. Kyle and I made sure to cover all the moves with the major teams represented, and eventually a group of about 13 broke off the front with about 1.5 laps to go out of 6. Both Kyle and I were in this. Everyone in the break proceeded to yell at each other for the next 1.25 laps to work and not let the main group catch, but nobody actually doing any work. I took a few half hearted pulls, but Kyle really did a lot of work to drive us home. Came down to a sprint out of this group, which I was able to hold great position and shoot through a tiny hole at the perfect time to bag the win. I think it was the hardest I had ever tried in a sprint finish. The next guy was .009 seconds behind me. It's great to see the transponders work like that.

Congrats to Thomas Tran for also winning his CAT 5 race the same day.

Still need a couple more points to upgrade to 3's and begin the cycle all over again. Should be fun. What I'm really looking forward to is the collegiate road season next spring. We're going to be loaded. Our heavy hitters will have a few domestiques to help out and LMC (aka LMD or LMG) is going down for realz.

Gotta break out the mtb soon and get ready for that season which starts in a little under two weeks at FSU/who/poo/goo/etc, whatever you prefer.

Life's about to get pretty crazy with school starting and things. Should be fun.

I'm doing some major "preperation" for this race.

It really bothers me that people can't spell simple words and on top of that apparently don't even use spell check. Especially when they get paid for it, like in almost every cyclingnews.com article. The longer I'm in the world of cycling, the less and less respect I have for its aficionados' intellect.

I had better do well in this jaxonville race the coming weekend. I'd like to get enough points to upgrade to Cat 3 so I can return to getting my ass kicked and being discouraged after each race. To quote Bike Snob NYC "Winning is for dopers and sand baggers."

I want a hedgehog for a pet. Or a fishtank.

Happy Birthday Beatrix Potter

I always loved those books.

Ize wantz deez

Couldn't resist

On my ride today, I saw Tim Tebow riding a bicycle down the Hawthorne trail. Then I saw Hanaan from Krishna lunch (the guy that takes your money) walking down the sidewalk with a small brown bag encasing a bottle.

Probably neither was reality, but it is funny to think it's true.

Also I'm really really really excited about the research I might get to do starting this fall. Might be working to develop wind turbines with composite materials that change the shape of the turbine as wind speed changes, increasing efficiency. I really hope it happens.

Ripped Off Once Again

Every time I race in Florida, I leave with a bad taste in my mouth. This time it was the State Championship Road Race where my teammate got a hard earned 3rd place finish after a good team effort. Go look at the results tonight, he's nowhere to be found. Sure, transponders are precise, but are they accurate? Seems as if they're only as accurate as the bozo running the system. I'm not impressed. $45 to race and not even have you're result counted?

Race after race, we continue to be ripped off by Floridacycling's monopoly over this addicting activity. What can we do? It seems like a grave future for us...

This is really neato.



I promise the next one won't be so nerdy.

You know what's a bitch about this blogging thing? You can't say what you really want to say because you never know who's going to read it. Things like this can ruin opportunities. I feel there's no longer a point to blogging about the superficial aspects of life. Maybe I'll just start posting interesting videos, links, and photos. That should be entertaining. It'll probably be a while, if ever, before my next real post.

The Phoenix Has Landed

Pretty awesome. I'm glad it didn't crash like it very well might have. The fact that it got there and is working is what I like. I really am not interested in the work it's doing. I'm more interested in the work that was done to get it to mars and function. The digging tool is my favorite. It reminds me of one of those play ground backhoe type apparatuses that you sit on and dig with. I'm surprised it's apparatuses and not apparati.

Check out the NYT photo gallery.

Check out the NYT Article.

damn my legs hurt.

sucks when you want to ride more but your body won't let you. all started after i sucked in the crit last sunday. got all pissed and went out on monday and rode road for an hour followed by 3 hours on the mtb. pretty much set me up for a hell of a week. did the hipp ride tuesday, made some really bad moves, and got dropped at the farthest possible point, followed by a flat. wednesday was supposta do 3 hrs w/ 5 sprints. did 1.5 hrs w/ 1 sprint because eric and mitchell were on the ride and suggested cutting it short and i was hurtin' so i agreed. took thursday off. friday did 1.5 with 1x4 min max effort. coulda felt better. did my own little cemetery tt today. totally disastrous. i guess i'll have to take a little rest. 4 hour nap was a good start.

these classes are boring. i need something to do besides ride and study. if anyone in gainesville is bored also, gimme a call. chances are i'm sitting on my ass at my computer.

i've been using way too many dishes lately.

just found a magic gear on single speed campus bike which is totally sweeet.

Dznuts

Almost here!

After a few weeks of rest, I was reminded of how hard bike racing is. Drove down ta lakeland for the state championship crit, got f'd in the a with gas prices, got f'd in the a with entry fees, then got f'd in the a by the race. I need to train harder. I'm realizing what I thought was my hardest effort on a training ride is not my hardest effort. Just a little mental thing I'll have to work on.

Anybody with a motorcycle want to motor pace me?

OMG I can't believe these idiots! Of course it is going to take the same amount of energy to "climb" on this treadmill apparatus as it does to walk. It will take more energy to actually climb up something that it will to climb on this apparatus. When actually climbing, potential energy is being increased, requiring work to be done. When on this apparatus, there is no potential energy gain, therefore no work being done. The only work being done is in the movement of the animal's body parts, just the same as walking. I can't believe these idiots call themselves scientists.

Am I missing something?

Summer Beginnings

The summer atmosphere is nice and chill here in gainesville. By that I mean the number of idiots is significantly less than fall and spring. I'd say the percentage is still the same, just the number is less, which is grreat. When I say the atmosphere is chill I most certainly don't mean the temperature outside. Way too hot and it's not even summer yet.

I had a dream the other night that I toasted a bagel, put cream cheese on it, and then put it back in the toaster for a little while. I can’t remember how it turned out unfortunately.

I'm taking Bio 1 this summer. Buncha pre-med hopefuls about to have their dreams dashed. This class is gonna be a real p in the a. On top of that I just realized my book isn't coming in for another 4-14 days.

These two other online classes I'm taking are weirding me out. I have not a clue whether I'm being too lazy or the work load is really just that little right now. I guess I'll figure it out.

I'll probably do the state championship crit this weekend in Lakeland even though I'm getting f'ed in the a with entry fees. 50 bucks for a race with a $200 payout is pretty outlandish if you ask me. The course has an uphill finish which will probably suit me well. We'll see. Hopefully I'll make at least some of the money back

Dial Up

Hopefully this gets uploaded in less than a week. I'm in the middle of the woods at my parents house in Will-kill-ya (Wakulla) county about 45 minutes south of Tallatrashy. Sitting in the living room, looking out the window into the black abyss of the swamp at night. The occasional firefly bangs into the window and lights up for a second or gets caught in a spider web and creates a dazzling show of hopelessness. The crickets and frogs aren't very vocal these days. I guess we haven't had much rain lately. I just heard my black lab, Bear, take a deep breath trying to sleep in the kitchen. My psychotic cat, Snickers, will probably be scratching at the door in a second. God damn this is peaceful. Not a single noise or light that isn't coming from this house or the woods. I can see all the stars. I can feel the cool night breeze as I step out onto the porch. It's getting a little too hot outside for the hot tub, but the pool is exquisitely refreshing. I love absorbing the sun's energy. Maybe I'll go for a hike tomorrow morning. I'm taking a few days off the bike to really get rid of this smoker's cough I've had going on for a week or so. I like having spiders in my room so I don't have to deal with moths flying in my face at night. Others disagree. The mosquito's are bad here. I can't walk outside for more than 5 minutes without having the blood sucked out of me by multiple vermin. Reminds me of something else, but I can't quite put my finger on it. I think I'm getting carpel tunnel from all this shite TV. I've got a few fun pseudo-plans for this week including some springs adventures and kayaking. Check back for a summary if you're really as bored as I am right now.

Let's See Here...

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

woops. fell asleep on the h key it looks like.

GNC brand chocolate flavor protein powder makes me gag

I've been quite non-productive these past few days. Unless you count riding. And planting trees at San Felasco. Maybe what I mean is I havn't done shite in the way of school work. Just can't seem to get motivated. I'm pretty burned out on things lately. Maybe I should sail to Mexico or hike the Appalachian trail. But then I'd lose my cycling legs. Friggin' A. I want to do something difernt, but that would mean letting go of a few things. I'm not sure if I want to do that. I know it'd probly be good for me mentally, but I just can't seem to let go of this "blast-forward and try to get ahead and take things seriously in everything I do" mentality (except for driving).

In the way of my cycling obsession, It feels good to be back on the bike after a week of being sick. Road the road bike on Friday and made the awful decision to sprint kyle, subsequently getting dropped by a group going 15mph. Rode the mountain bike Saturday, felt kinda sluggish and that rigid fork is really beating me up. Rode 4 and a half with Beck today, felt like shite the second half of the ride. Pretty much tempo heart rate for the last 2.5 hrs. At least I didn't completely bonk and now I know where Ocala Jai Alai is in case I ever decide to go with Adam. 3 hr naps are nice.

Oh yeah, after my mtb ride Saturday I helped plant trees with Beck and Roots and Shoots. Kind of a pleasant, fulfilling little activity. I like working outside. The big field area in front of the picnic pavilion at San Felasco should be quite shady in about 10 years. Just about when I finish undergrad probably.

I'm still trying to decide whether or not to do sugarloaf this weekend. Typical Florida hill: everyone sprint the shit out of it. I think it'd be a good course for me. We'll see how I feel. Woops. I just remembered what I had planned for Friday night. Prolly won't race.

Wjat else can i babble on about? Ha, wjat a great typo! I love it! I should probly go study some shit. peace.

Oh yeah. Congrats Jackie (4th) and Gutt (8th) at Athens. And sorry Big Phil.

SECCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC Championships

So we had the last conference road cycling race of the year this past weekend hosted by Lees McRae College in Banner Elk, NC. It started off with a two hour trailer loading process at a team member's apartment complex. Then we all piled into the van (that said team member's mom rented for us) for the 10+ hour drive. It was 4pm. Yada Yada Yada sleep...eat snacks...try to work on homework...sleep...annoy people that are trying to sleep...and so on for 10 hours. We arrive at hotel at 2:30am and promptly go to bed. The men A's had a team time trial at 9am. I'm glad I'm a B (I think I'm going to try and keep it that way) and could sleep until 11.


Next was the crit from hell. A .5 mile course of which about 1/3 was a steep climb, the other 2/3 of which was muddy downhill with a constant right hand bend. The only good thing was that there weren't any corners. Not to mention it started raining right before my race. The race totally broke up after 2 or 3 laps, and I found myself in a chase group of 5 behind a breakaway of 3 Lees McRae riders. After a little while in this group, I attacked on the uphill and bridged to the front group of 3, only to be dropped on the downhill because I'm a pussy. I road the rest of the race by myself and ended up 9th overall behind 7 Lees McRae riders and an Auburn rider. I'll refrain from saying what I'm feeling at this point.

Sunday was the road race. The course was a 10 mile loop with 1 mile (800 ft.) and 3.5 (1500 ft.) climbs. The first mile or so was pretty flat, followed by the 1 mile climb. The first time up, people totally drilled it, and I dropped about halfway up, thinking I'd save some energy and catch a few riders who would blow up. Well that didn't work. Learned my lesson. I spent the next 45 minutes trying to catch a group of about 7. I finally caught them, sat there for about 10 minutes, when the group all of a sudden broke apart, leaving me and a dude from Clemson alone to chat for the next 1.5 laps. Within the last mile, we agreed to battle it out for the finish, so I attacked him right before the last corner and gloriously road away to 17th place.

The latter 2/3 of the van ride home was pretty much hell for me as well. I began to develop a sore throat around the Charlotte area and by the time we were halfway home I had a fever as well. Trying to study in a van after 6 hours, sick, at 10pm is definitely not fun.

After all the bitching I just did, I will say that all in all, it was a decent race weekend. Team Florida finished 2nd place in the SECCC and is most likely headed to nationals.

This blogging thing is really busting up my grammar confidence.

El Presidante

Elections for Team Florida Cycling were held last night; I grabbed the top spot for this coming academic year. I'm still trying to decide whether it's a good thing or bad. Everyone thinks I wanted it, but the truth is I pretty much felt obligated to do it, not just by my peers, but by myself to fulfill a responsibility to contribute to the sport. So here I am, putting in my hours dealing with bureaucracy at it's finest so we can all enjoy the sport we love so much.

Not to take away from the other officers who contribute equal (and many times, greater) time and effort.

Team Florida Officers 2008-2009

* President - David Reich
* Vice President - Kristin Donahue
* Secretary - Ian Knabe
* Treasurer - Kyle McElhaney
* Road Coordinator - Amanda Tosh/Jackie Crowell
* Mountain Bike Coordinator - Ian Knabe
* Volunteer Coordinator - Kim O'Brien /Alicia Provenzano
* Sponsorship Coordinator - Joel Hackman

Here I Am

Wasting my life away at the computer. I figured facebook and cyclingnews wern't enough, so I got this.