JRose

8 weeks done!

2008-10-02T10:15:00.002-08:00

the midterm results are in, and i haven't been kicked out of medical school! Well, I don't think anyone has, but I'm passing everything, so that's a good step in the path to avoiding summer classes.

It's immunology week. I've ruled out being an immunologist.

test-free week!

2008-09-30T17:15:00.002-08:00

finally! yesterday was my last mid-term and a little quiz. that means the rest of this week is just normal school, with a half day on friday. i think i'm getting the hang of this school business, but i'll use the next anatomy test to verify that. i actually spent last weekend like a normal person. candace's parents were in town so we went on some dog walks, ate some dinners, and i made some breakfasts. it was pretty nice to not study all weekend! i do confess that i studied a little while they were here, and a lot just after they left. a mostly normal weekend, anyway!

i'm scared to ride my bike lately because i currently have another flat, and i'm out of tubes and don't have a pump. hopefully that'll be taken care of soon and i'll get back to playing.

that's about all i've got for now. i'm off to study for that test in 2 weeks. (yes, i've learned that the earlier you start studying for a test, the better).

oh, and happy rosh hashanah, or however it's spelt. it got me the day off of school today, so... woo!

whoa.

2008-09-17T18:46:00.002-08:00

yeah, whoa. this school business got busy. and it'll be like that at least for 2 weeks, but probably more like for the rest of the semester.
our huge anatomy test was last week. the class average was failing. oops. he'll curve it in december, until then, study harder. i squeaked by with a passing grade, but it's nothing to write home (or blog) about. monday we had 2 quizzes. today we had a test on a standardized patient. tomorrow is 2 more quizzes. i shadow a doctor friday. Monday is a final in our basic sciences class. the following friday is a midterm and the following monday is another midterm. whoa.
i'm managing to stay caught up in everything and pass everything so far, and i even have some non-school fun occasionally. it's not outrageous or unbareable... just kinda busy.
the good news is that we're learning about stuff i care about now, instead of biochemistry. sure, it's the foundation of medicine, but that doesn't make it stimulating for me. sorry biochem lovers. did someone say collapsed lung? now we're talking!

oh, and i've been on one real bike ride since california. that would have been the case any year though. the off season is important! sadly i have to send the road bike back to boise soon. fortunately, i'll still have a TT bike to ride around!

the thorax is staring me in the eye. i'm going to go check it out. yeah med school!

disappeared?

2008-09-08T08:18:00.002-08:00

nope, i'm still here. but there is a huge test tomorrow. what makes a huge test? well 1st, it's 3 hours ish. we have to pass it. it's over every vessel, nerve, and muscle in the upper limb, lower limb, and back. it includes a lot of things that can go wrong. it includes radiology of all that. and it includes 8 lectures of embryology. they call this 'structural medicine.' so i'll be getting back to studying for a little while. i think i'm on track to get sleep tonight though!

3 down...

2008-08-22T13:28:00.003-08:00

weeks that is. med school's not so bad. today reminded me a lot of elementary school actually... it was only a half day. heck, not quite even half. however, unlike elementary school, they're throwing a midterm at us on monday. first med school mid-term ever... think i'm going to ride my bike to it? we'll see. they're pretty strict about these things.... 10 minutes late = tough luck. need to go to the bathroom? here's your escort. and what can you bring? pencils. backpack? no way. and it's 90 seconds per question x 75.
fortunately i don't care about any of those. it should be just fine, as long as i know 70% of the answers. it's just a test.
more importantly, we get to learn cool stuff next week. instead of this basic science stuff, it'll be more directly related to disease. and we'll start learning how to take histories too.
as for this weekend... i'll be going to the rockies game tonight. then sunday candace FINALLY comes back from alaska!! that'll be the highlight of the weekend no doubt!

rolling the dice

2008-08-19T08:58:00.002-08:00

had another quiz yesterday. determined to not let the bike win, i rode it to class. made it to class early and with no flats (although i took a completely different route).

then i tried it again this morning, but taking the troublesome route from last time. again, made it in record time with no flats! butter me up, i'm on a rollllll.

last lecture of the day (#4) for some cell morphology/tissue injury. taught be an MD! one of only 2 or so that actually lecture here. sweet!

quiz or utah?

2008-08-14T19:30:00.002-08:00

today was reason #52 my school wouldn't let me race utah... our second anatomy quiz. covering 50 pages of material, it was 10 questions in 10 minutes. everything you ever wanted to know about the back. and no, i didn't ride my bike to class this time. i'm scared of the triple flat still.

looks like the boys are doing pretty decent at utah! too bad the results aren't fast or accurate! look for them to be BALLERS in the crit tomorrow though!

as for me... i think i'll go hang out in the anatomy lab after a few hours of lecture.

tofu

2008-08-13T05:14:00.001-08:00

tour of utah starts today!! good luck to the dudes who are racing it!!!! wish i could be there too! instead, i'm off to school. it's ethics and brachial plexus day!

nats

2008-08-10T20:35:00.002-08:00

wow, a hard race. i expected a hard one, and i got it. cal-giant had 12 guys in the race, and they weren't afraid to use them, from the gun. Calvin, Matt, and I were covering moves like crazy, and doing a good job, but the dumb rule of the day was "the enclosure can only be 3 min long." so if a break got 3 minutes on the peloton, the peloton would be pulled. AKA, a break was gonna be hard to get to stick. But eventually, i got in it, with 20 other guys, so i didn't work. then it was about 30 big, and it had 4 cal-giant guys, and they started attacking. now i was getting tired-er. the race was 6 laps. we got off at lap 2, my leg cramps started at 3.5, and the attacks started at 4. the 5th time up a climb, the cramps were in my hips, groin, and everything below, including my stomach. i got dropped. so i faded 1:10 back to the peloton and drove it for about 10 more minutes. then we hit another climb and i was out, leaving just rowe and campbell. they rode like champs. then campbell got about 30th and that was it.

such a hard, hot, long race. i'm glad i emptied the tank and did everything i could though. it was a good end of the season, even if we got no results. i've gotta get up in 5 hours to get on a plane though. i should only miss 2 hours of lecture... so i'll be wide awake for the last 6. ugh. might be a long day.

the day

2008-08-10T10:20:00.002-08:00

welllll, i believe i've been training since november... which was 9 months ago, and today is my last race of the year. what better way to end the season than with national championships? we're pumped up over here. we've got some strong dudes who are itching to win a bike race today.

the course is 6 laps. about 16-20 miles per lap (100-120 total... not exactly sure). there are two 3k climbs per lap. it might get tough, but i'm not worried about it. the hardest part of the race will be surviving 4-5 hours in the 95 degree humid heat. wouldn't want it to be easy for this big of a race!

talk to ya after the race, go bob's!

Two firsts!!!

2008-08-07T16:33:00.003-08:00

two firsts of my life occurred within 15 minutes of each other! wow, how exciting!!

The first-first involves a bike. I was riding my bike to school for my first ever medical school quiz! Woo! Let's go show them what I learned this week. I was halfway there when I feel the rim... yep, a flat tire. No worries though, it was fixed within minutes. So I hop back on and.... uh oh, the front was flat too. Goat head attack. Unfortunate, but I can still ride it out. About 1 minute later: POP!! Umm.... my back tire is flat again. That's right, 3 flat tires within minutes on my way to go take a quiz that started 15 minutes after the third flat. Then I went into runner mode. Fortunately I was only a 10 minute run away and made it on time (a little sweaty).

I passed the quiz by the way.

FDOS

2008-08-04T19:16:00.004-08:00

chalk up one more 'first day of school' for me. i don't know how many i've had, but this was the easily the most extensive, at 8 hours. good news is that i learned a lot today, already! and as i sit here reading, i'm learning even more. tomorrow we begin labs for anatomy and manipulative medicine.

i'm hoping to learn something that will make me ride a bike faster in 6 days. i just read about erythropoitin... i'll keep reading.

hope the country is ready for a fight, because i'm ready to throw down at nats!!! think i came to denver for school? no way. i came here to live at 6000 feet for a few weeks so 300 feet feels like a walk in the park. ok, and a little because of school.

different critters

2008-08-03T18:39:00.003-08:00

i'm pretty used to a type of racer i see in stage races. but when i go do a crit, like today, the racers are a different breed. they bump, they yell, they cut-off, and they go real fast through corners. and today was the second time this year where i've started to get a little critter in me. the race was only kinda hard instead of insanely hard, which made it much easier to move up. with 3 to go i found myself at 3rd wheel (with a break of 4 of the road). i hung on to that spot until 1 to go when i got swarmed. by the time i got mean and took a spot, i was 25 back. not good. money goes 25 deep. i picked up a few spots on a straight, then started my "sprint" a straightaway early to get 23rd on the day. it was a fun race! about 10 pros came to play which makes for a sweet race. thanks to coach jonathan for getting me out there and racing today!

next up, read for my first day of school tomorrow! Then fly to california friday and throw down at nats.

back to school!

2008-08-01T10:25:00.002-08:00

dang, i've slacked again. but i wasn't really slacking... just a little tied up. now that i have a decent internet connection and some spare time (it's been tough to get those two things together), i'll give you the quick and dirty.

candace and i moved out here to parker, CO (about 20 min south of denver, and 3.9 miles from my school) almost 2 weeks ago. we rallied and unpacked and put our apartment together in about 2 days. and 4 days ago i started my week-long orientation to med school. it was super exciting to realize that i'm finally getting started! i've working to get here for about 6 years now. real class starts monday... and this first semester i'll have about 28 credits. they describe this as 'intensive.' i agree. nonetheless, i'm stoked.

but i'm still a bike racer for a little while. i get winded after 2 flights of stairs (we live at 6000 ft). but i've still been riding hard and the power isn't bad. i've did practice races tues and thurs this week and felt good. i tested my uphill sprint tuesday and got 3rd (my sprint was about 2 seconds too short) and i tested my last lap attack last night and won. i love having those races available! they're wayyyy better than a normal workout!

i'm going to do a real crit in downtown denver sunday, then i'll chill out and learn for the week and finally head out to nationals.

speaking of big races, here's where i stand now:

Tour of Utah: I'm out. They simply won't let me miss 3 days of 'intensive' school (school is 8-5 daily with an hour for lunch by the way). I would have LOVED to have done that race... but it just won't work. I'm sure the guys will ride well there though, and I can't wait to see results!

Nats: I almost didn't get to go. The race starts late on a sunday, and I couldn't get a flight back that night... so I asked a professor if I could miss a couple classes Monday morning while I fly back. She actually told me to go race... so I'm in for nats as my last race of the year. Phew!

Not sure if I'll have anything cool to write about after nats, but if I do, I'll jot it down. I'm actually gonna go start some homework now!

twi-lit

2008-07-19T23:08:00.002-08:00

as in: we got lit up by the toyota united team. 2 of their guys and one other lapped us about halfway though the race. crap.

i think we all spent a little time off the front, but the results won't have much to show for it. i think stu was our top guy around 20th... then i was about 25th... then calvin and slacker.

it was a super fun and fast race though! i enjoyed it about as much as I can enjoy a crit! i liked the old course more, but this was still plenty fun!

time for bed so we can throw down in the state champs crit tomorrow afternoon!

stage cinco resultos

2008-07-12T19:55:00.002-08:00

we just ate at an awesome mexican restaurant. delicious. result time!

36 - rowe
49 - slack
50 - me
94 - calvin
106 - stu

mayfield and rob caller er quits today. bummer, but they had a great race.

ally got 10th for the ladies. super awesome!

makin the press again!

2008-07-12T16:55:00.002-08:00

it's just the communique, but i'll take it! (the communique is a note from the officials after each stage)

http://www.mbsef.org/_files/File/2008CCCResults/CCC%20Communique5.pdf

and i just had a cookie, and it was delicious. our housing host, kimmie, is awesome!!!!!

lets go climbing

2008-07-12T13:28:00.002-08:00

first climb was tough, duh. main group was about 50... including rowe and slack. i got gapped a smidge and was in the chase of 20. we caught on after 20 minutes or so. then we just cruised for a while... until the last 6 mile climb.

levi attacked, and obviously everyone responded who could, which was nobody. but they sure did speed up. rowe was in the second group and slack and i were in the 3rd group. then at 2k to go, a dude went down right in front of me... and i can't bunny hop an entire bike, so i supermanned over it. (yes, my palms hurt). then my bike landed on top of me, which wasn't quite as uncomfortable as you'd think. i couldn't get the chain unkinked and on until one of our guys helped me out. then it was making weird sounds, but it got me to the line.

i believe i got same time as my group though, so we should be lookin alright on the team GC. i'm gonna go lick some wounds.

if anyone has any advice on bruised/broken scaphoids, let me know, because i have two that hurt.

one more race tomorrow! about 75 mile circuit race... and it has climbs that are steep and hard.

yeah crit!

2008-07-12T06:33:00.003-08:00

our top three guys all made same time as the leaders in the crit, which helped us out a lot! we are now 10th overall as a team, and kevin is 29th overall (from 35th before the crit). we'll be looking to move up even more today! which starts in 2.5 hours. that's rough! so i'm gonna go work on that now...

today is 80 miles... it starts with a 15 mile climb, then down, then up 4, then flat for a while, then finishes on 10 miles up. yee haw.

crashing crit

2008-07-11T20:47:00.002-08:00

the crit was a lot easier than last year. after 30 minutes, it was still easy, so i decided to keep on keepin on. there were a few big crashes, so i spent a lap in the pit with about 20 other guys. then in the last 15 minutes there were a ton of crashes, of which i wanted no part of, so i called it quits. Rowe, Calvin, and Stu were in the front group of about 50 guys, so that was perfect. I think Stu got a little gapped off at the end from another crash, but no biggie.

all in all, another good day. none of our guys hit the ground, so that's always a good thing. now it's time for some recovery and sleep.

oh, and rollin of toyota united won. gritters second, escuela third.

official tt results

2008-07-11T16:30:00.002-08:00

1- levi, 28:07
2- louder, 29:22
20- rowe, 30:35
36- mayfield, 31:14
59- rose, 31:55
87- calvin, 32:42
96- stu, 33:03
107- slack, 33:33
128- rob, 34:53
time cut was 35:26 and gobbled up 6 guys

we were 7th out of 15 for the team.... and still 12th overall, but moving up.

that puts levi up in the GC by 1:58. dannnnnng.

and the ladies rode well too... kristin won... beating me by .6 seconds. dang her.
13 - allison beall
20 - sarah barber
41 - ally stacher

32 minutes now, 32 later.

2008-07-11T14:03:00.003-08:00

just got done with the 14 mile out (uphill) and back (downhill) TT. There was a little tail wind going out, and the opposite coming back. I felt pretty decent out there. I think I rolled around a 32:00 ish. Sounds like Mayfield was a little under that... Stu and Slack were around 34:00... and Rowe was around 30:30. All very rough estimates. Oh, and that Levi guy was around 28:00. And Botero came in way way later... like 35:00. Not sure what happened though.

I'm contemplating whether or not I should get out of my riding clothes, because the crit starts in 4 hours.... gross. i'll get out of them.

the crit is 90 minutes. we have to hang on for 30 minutes to make the time cut. 32 minutes felt good in the TT, will it happen again tonight?

sleep rocks

2008-07-11T07:28:00.007-08:00

the TT starts at 1:02 and 30 seconds for me today. which means i didn't set an alarm. i love waking up without alarms. slack is still sleeping. he's only snoring a little bit.

here are some pictures that ginger k found from day 1:

How the break began. I actually flew by this guy, but he caught on later.

although burke doesn't appear to be breathing hard, i think this is near where i popped out of the break.

This looks like an early part of the break... just cruising along.

Gettin it

This is me getting dropped, and Botero bridging. Nice of me to give him my spot, huh?

And last but not least, rob demonstrates how to climb like a pro, with Tad's assistance.

day 2 results

2008-07-10T21:15:00.000-08:00

http://www.mbsef.org/CascadeCyclingClassic/

just you wait, i'm coming, top 100!

up and up

2008-07-10T15:11:00.002-08:00

...not necessarily for me, but rowe, slack, and calvin all threw down a nice ride today... all finishing in about the top 50 ish. Mayfield wasn't far behind... then i was a little behind him, then stu, then climbin rob campbell. buster unfortunately was gapped someone who sounded to be a spastic rider. while i'm on the topic of this rider and his team, i saw his team litter bottles twice. SUPER LAME guys. I'll let them know if happen to see it again... and if i'm in a state to speak. which brings me to today's race. i think i felt decent at the beginning, but hanging out at the back of the group hurt. crosswinds were killin me. i didn't know if i was even going to make it to the final 10 mile climb. as it turned out, i did make it. and it didn't take long to figure out that my legs were committed to climbing, at which point i took up 'make the time cut' tempo.

it was good to see our guys steppin it up out there! i'm stoked about how everyone is riding. hopefully i'll get to help them out saturday and sunday!

tomorrow morning we'll kick things off with the 14 mile TT and finish the evening up with a 90 minute crit in downtown bend. yow!

yessssss

2008-07-10T06:48:00.002-08:00

thanks to kai for showing me the velonews.com article!

http://velonews.com/article/79692/rock-racing-s-santiago-botero-wins-the-first-stage-of-the

no picture, but i got mentioned! and it turns out 2 other guys got dropped from the break too.

what's on today's agenda? i think a bob's rider or two will try to play again, while some others try to rock the climb.

and for the record, i make really good french toast. yum.

so close!!!

2008-07-09T20:48:00.002-08:00

i want my picture on a website. i got pretty darn close today...... this is copyright by cyclingnews.com, by the way... and if you want verification that it was at least kinda hard, ask those 3 dudes dangling on the back! good night!

flyin fast day 1

2008-07-09T14:14:00.003-08:00

whoa. 28 mph average for just under 3 hours or so (for the leaders, not me!). The race started hot from the gun, and i'm not sure if it ever slowed down for more than a couple minutes at a time. i was lookin to play with the big boys today, but it wasn't happening. too fast.

but about 10 miles before the kom climb, i saw a chance, so i attacked. next thing i know there's 3 of us with a gap. then all of a sudden 3 bissell guys and a few other pros bridged (very quickly). so there was a 9 pros, a U23 national kid, a cal-giant, and me. I was feeling good, pulling through every other time or so. Then we hit the climb... the first few miles was fine. Then my body went into shut down mode. heavy breathing, high HR, and slowwwing down. then i was dropped. then botero came flying by. then a couple slipstreams and levi came flyin by. then a lot of guys came flyin by. then more. then more. eventually i got on and i got in the main group on the flats with most of our guys there too. but off the front, still, was my break! crap. turns out they made it to the finish.

i'm pretty sure i could have hung on a normal day, but i just wasn't feelin it today, which sucked. but what can ya do. i stopped racing at about 10k to go because i was cramping and pretty much dying. but hopefully i'll be snappin back and making a better mark sometime in the next 4 days.

78 miles tomorrow. 45 downhill, then the next 33 are up. should be tough.

here it comes!

2008-07-04T14:51:00.003-08:00

yeah, talk about being a slacker. but i'm back to writing on this thing now. the poky race went sour, so i'm just going to put up a picture of a good moment, and we'll call it good.

i'm in the middle of a 4 day working streak. no fun, but after monday, i'll have just 1 day left!! the biggest downside is that i work 5 am til 1:30 pm tomorrow... and i have to ride. that means i'll be riding in about 95 degrees, which sucks, big time. maybe i'll be tough afterward.

the big cascade starts wednesday. 6 stages in 5 days... it will be the hardest week of the year, no doubt. i'm super stoked because i'm feeling pretty darn good on the bike right now! good thing, because it's going to be an insanely fast field this year (levi, horner, danielson, in addition to all the best US pros). i'm ready to attack and get autographs.

and in moving news: it's only 18 days away! whoa! i'm super excited though! tomorrow is bed and sofa shopping day. never thought i'd be looking forward to something like that!

heck, i even started reading my anatomy book last night. crazy.

i'll be updating daily from cascade!

grind time

2008-06-27T18:55:00.002-08:00

and bob's is in town. racing schedule here in poky:

saturday morning, 9 am: 87 mile RR starting at marsh valley hs.
saturday evening, 7 pm: 6 mile TT starting at Rainbow Dr. by the airport

and if there is one race to come watch and see some good action, it's sunday at the holt arena for a 75 minute crit. our race goes off at 3:00 pm, and it's gonna be good. it looks like a great turnout! see you out there! and bring a coat, it should be cold. like 95.

rockin at elkhorn

2008-06-22T19:45:00.003-08:00

First, I'm going to point out I haven't had internet in 2 days, and I don't think I liked it. That aside, the team had a great weekend at Elkhorn in Baker City, OR. We started off with 5 guys in the lead group of 15 on the first road race, with the stage going to our very own Kevin Rowe. Whoop whoop! Brandon was the man of the day, going off the front solo and then riding for a couple hours with 2 other guys. He set up the entire weekend. Who says he's just a gimp? Oh, and he got taken out again. Maybe he is just a gimp... except he went off the front again after that, so he's just nails.

The TT was next.... I actually didn't look hard at the stage results, but the GC results afterward had 5 of us in the top 10 (2,3,6,8,10). I was 10th.

The crit was interesting. After a bad crash in the women's race, they called that race. When the official started the 3's, he said if it rained the race was over. About 10 minutes into their race a drizzle came and the race was done. The drizzle continued and at our start time they called ours too, lucky for everyone there. I was gonna smoke that wet crit, like I always do... Or at least finish...er....

Then the finale stage was the 105 mile RR with an 8 mile finishing climb. With 5 guys in the top 10, we had a couple cards to play. It started with calvin (6th) and Bradon (again) going in a small break. Somehow, a short time later, about 15 guys rolled off the front, which included Stu and Mayfield (3rd). Sweet! They hammered, etc etc... but will routley, a pro from symmetrics, flexed his muscles and beat everyone to the top after bridging (just barely, rowe was right there).

Bottom line, we rode really well, and it's only going to get better. I'm plenty happy with how it turned out, with rowe and mayfield 2,3 overall. yeahhhh.

wow, this is long.

see you in pocatello this weekend for some grind action!

photo recap of eagle... first 42 minutes

2008-06-18T07:32:00.006-08:00

Me and another guy off the front for a while.

Sometimes ya just want to be alone. So I attacked.

Next thing I know, 3 teammates bridged to me!!?

They brought a non-teammate with them too, so I attacked again.

Then I got caught by the blurry field.

that just happened

2008-06-15T16:17:00.002-08:00

idaho state road race championships: we got beat. yep, no W for bob's today. mayfield and stu were in the move with brandon akers from Bode, and they had a good 8:00 lead. when i came to the car, i got the news though. matt and i would have ended up 4th and 5th, but we took a wrong turn and went off course. hopefully there was some learning done today.

as for the workout side of things, it was great. the guys in the pack were riding well and it was fun with all the attacking. i'm a dork and rode with the powertap so i could see some data. and 3500 calories later we were done. should be a good prep for elkhorn in 5 days. it's going down in baker city!

crits and crashes!

2008-06-14T09:58:00.002-08:00

back to bike racing! after taking last weekend off, i was itching to be a bike racer again last night. it was only 45 minutes, but it was in downtown eagle with lots of fans on a fast twilight course. from the gun i was ready to go. my goal for the night, other than help the team win, was to get a workout. um, mission accomplished. i spent 35 of the 45 minutes off the front... sometimes with guys, sometimes solo. it was a blast. when the field brought me back, it was calvin's turn, so he took off and got the win.

unfortunately there was a big crash with about 3 laps to go and slack hit the deck hard. we neutralized the race since he was laying in corner 1... i figured it was be best if he didn't get run over again. kind of an anti-climatic finish, but it was fun til then! i think there were 2 other crashes also... because by the end, slack, stu, brandon, and matt had crashed. YOW! that's why i like riding off the front!! stu has a little fracture in a finger, slack has a concussion, matt looked fine, and brandon busted a carbon wheel and landed on his newly healed collarbone, which fortunately held up. carnage!

Cody was out there taking pictures again, so stay tuned to see more of his great work!

hopefully the state champs road race will be raced upright tomorrow!

back to the mountain

2008-06-05T19:42:00.004-08:00

it's been a while since i showed bogus some love. so today was the day. it's not too good at loving back, but it wasn't too nasty today. it was chilly up at the 6000 elevation mark, thats for sure. then i took off and rode on a dirt road up there for a few miles... kind of got me in the mtn biking mood!

this weekend is a work weekend. i can't wait to be done working! it's so hard to get up at 4:30 am, work, then find energy to ride much. but with all the big races coming up, we can't have work getting in the way too much, so i'll rally for another couple weeks then go down to once a week!

speaking of work, i have to be there in 7 hours, so it's bed time.

here's some enumclaw shots. thanks again to amara for the shots!

getting things rolling in the TT. did i mention i got a flat on my disc right before the race? gah.

a little off the front time in the crit

pain cave on the hill in the RR

a non wet crit

2008-05-31T19:49:00.000-08:00

this course is way more fun dry! but i didn't do anything more than go off the front a couple times for not more than a couple laps.

i think rowe came in 10th to get a point.

72 miles of road racing tomorrow!

enumclaw stage uno

2008-05-31T14:05:00.002-08:00

6.5 mile TT in a little drizzle... 52 guys in our field.

1- Ian McKissick
2- Kevin Rowe
3- Dan Harm
4- Chris Teufel
5- Matt Weyen
13 - me
20 - Rob Cambell
30ish - Brandon Archibald

It's nice to see two of our guys in the top 5! We'll see if we can build on that in the crit in 4 hours... which will likely be wet. My favorite. I'm feeling good about this wet one though, it's going to be my breakthrough wet crit.

weekend wrap up

2008-05-26T05:41:00.009-08:00

The treasure valley stage race was a 94 mile RR on sat followed by a 10 mile TT, then a sunday crit. Usually, I would say I felt bad for our team dominating the weekend... but since we got dominated the week before at hood, it was time to get our self-esteems back to normal. besides, i don't remember any of the pros taking it easy on me. The big goal of the weekend was to get chang and slack some upgrade points, and we did a decent job at that. Let's go to the race by race:

Road Race-

Calvin went off the front with 85 miles to go and never came back. Actually, he came back once, but just attacked again and stayed away.

There was some chasing.

Marsing, Idaho really doesn't look too bad, does it? Awesome photos by Cody.

TT- Matt rode like a madman and won by around 55 seconds. Mayfield flew and came in 2nd. I rounded out the top 3. No pictures. But just imagine us riding fast for 22 minutes. zoooooom.

Crit-

Mike Sohm from SLC made it HARD from the gun. This is me going to get him about .152 seconds after the gun went off.

By the time we came back, the field was half gone. Not sure what happened, but I know it was hard.

This was the last dudes standing. They put up a great fight considering they were super outnumbered.

This coming weekend we boogie over to Enumclaw, WA (about an hour away from Olympia). Historically Symmetrics brings a full team, so that'll make things hard. But the real drag of the week is that I work every stinkin day!!! WHOA!

Big thanks to Verno inferno for letting us use his lawn mower...and to Stu for putting it to use!! We are no longer the embarassments of the block!

oh snap

2008-05-19T10:04:00.002-08:00

that was the sound my chain made at the crit yesterday, which was strange because i've never had that happen before. i just heard some clicking, then my chain was gone. fortunately the redline guys in the pit were able to fix me up and get me back in the race. shortly after that, was that sound again. but this time it was me. i was cooked and just couldn't hold on any more. crap. i hate not finishing races, but i didn't have much of a choice... no juice in the tank!

but i'm glad hood's over and glad i finished it this time. it's good to get a preview of tour of utah-like racing. hopefully i'll get to race this weekend and it will feel like i can do something other than packfill! but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

ff about gel

2008-05-17T19:00:00.002-08:00

(ff = fun fact)

there i was, tired and hot today, when i decided it was time to have some gel. i got a sizable gulp, and as i was swallowing it, i breathed funny (like i had been riding a bike hard for a few hours) and i felt a weird sensation in my nose. shortly thereafter, i had a runny nose. it wasn't runny with snot, oh no, it was the gel making an escape. kind of a lot of gel actually, out of both nostrils. i dabbed my tongue up there to check, and sure enough, banana taste. of course it was all messed up in my facial hair, where it remained for quite some time. after i washed up at the finish, as we were driving back, i happened to squeeze my nose and my nostrils stuck together. yep, i missed a spot while cleaning... like the entire inside of my nose. kleenex in the car? of course not. but i'm glad to say that my schnoz is now clean. be warned about escaping gel.

day of ouch

2008-05-17T15:19:00.003-08:00

100 miles in the sun (80-95 degrees). uphill nearly all the way. healthnet at the front going hard for most the way. it was a shattery.

we were short on water, so we were beginning to get dehydrated. rowe had a mechanical, and couldn't get back with the hot pace. so matt and i were trying to bum water, and it actually went pretty well. he just kept coming up with bottles from who-knows-where, and i happily took them. matt also just happened to have a bottle of electrolyte pills, so we each had about 10 of those. matt saved my life! hero #2 of the day was Ivan Stevic of Toyota United (world champ). he randomly gave me a full bottle with about 30K to go, and i love him for it.

anyway, once we hit the final large climb to the ski resort, it was mega shattery. i ended up 35th... pretty good ride for me considering how fast everyone else was! results are on www.cyclingnews.com

i'm tired.

tt results

2008-05-16T16:44:00.002-08:00

2oth - Rowe

71st - Matt

74th - Rose

99th - Stu

and we're no longer last in the team GC! movin on up. hopefully it'll get even better after tomorrow's monster stage.

told ya rowe smoked it!

2 fo 2

2008-05-16T10:55:00.002-08:00

after today's 18.5 mile TT, i have officially done the longest and the shortest cycling TT's of my life! can't say that i was a fan of either of them, but they're finito now. oh, and i dropped my chain today too. it only probably cost me 15 seconds or so, but it sucked to get my hands dirty! at least there was a moto official to give me a little push once i showed off my mechanic skills.

we don't have results yet, but it sounds like Rowe smoked the course! now we get to chill out until 10 am tomorrow for the 101 mile RR that goes up and up and up.

thanks to tad and rumps for being my follow car and talkin to me via radio for most of the race. (by the way they had to pull out right before i dropped the chain. you know the timing!)

round 3

2008-05-15T17:47:00.002-08:00

comparing to last year's DNF after getting dropped on the first lap, this year was way better. but compared to what I was hoping for, today was a drag. it really wasn't too tough most of the day just sitting in, but at 8 k or so to go, there was a big acceleration and i was not in the position to go with. AKA i was about half way back in the peloton. it really wasn't that hard of a move, seeing as 50 other guys made it... just a position thing. that's bike racing.

the team rode very well though. Stu was kicking some butt... Rowe kicked some more butt after flatting and chasing back on... and Matt was a fighter and finished er up.

agenda for the evening: shower/eat/utilize some phlebotomy skills perhaps/don't budge until the 18 mile TT that starts early at 10 am!

ps- yes, i'm tired, and yes today was difficult.

prologue shots

2008-05-15T07:55:00.004-08:00

rowe, myself, and some hydrate2o

1 second down, 176 to go.

lined up with some fast guys

Thanks for taking the pictures ACE my girl!

hood day 2

2008-05-14T20:52:00.003-08:00

this stage was called a circuit race, but looked more like a crit, but wasn't really either. or maybe it was both. it was uphill and downhill with no technical sections... except a hairpin at the top of the uphill at which almost everybody came to a complete stop while waiting for the front guys to go though the turn... EVERY LAP. i didn't mind it though.

anyway, it looked like we all rode well and felt good. i believe myself, stu, and rowe got same time, and matt got gapped on the last lap, but was still up there. tad called it quits, so he's going to encourage and support us through the race now, which is money. it helps a ton to not have to worry about little things like bottles and taking care of bikes, etc.

i felt super today and can't wait to let her loose tomorrow. i have to redeem myself from last year's race on this course which was a big fat DNF.

oh, and my bike was shifting terribly before the race, but the Shimano guys were amazing. as good as the riders are here, i'd say the mechanics are better at fixing bikes. it was nice to be able to shift into any gear any time!!!

full results

every hundreth of a second

2008-05-14T08:38:00.002-08:00

every second counts in a 1.7 mile race! there were 13 people who came in at the same time as me! and coming in 12 seconds behind the winner was a measly 64th place! ouch! here's to better results on the way this week!

3 minutes

2008-05-13T20:34:00.003-08:00

i don't know if anyone else has ever done a 3:00 all out effort at the highest-ranked NRC event of the year, but i haven't. and that sucker was hard. i don't know times or results, but i know that our lungs and legs were hurting afterward. results should be at www.mthoodcyclingclassic.com later tonight or tomorrow.

tt stage race = borrow rumps' wheel-a-thon

2008-05-12T09:56:00.004-08:00

starting stage 3... thanks to e-rumps for the wheel lending!

starting stage 2... thanks again to e-rumps for the tri-spoke!

And have 5 of his wheels sitting on the hotel bed right now... what a guy!

But according to the UPS tracking number, my Reynolds are going to be in the shop today, so I should be able to ride them for the second half of Hood. YEAH!

traveling time

2008-05-11T11:05:00.002-08:00

the last stage of the TT stage race was another wind-fest. i think it took about 4 minutes to go out, and about 8 minutes to come back the same distance. my legs felt mighty fine again, but still 16 seconds slower than that real fast feldman guy. either way, we all rode well and finished with the podium spots... which wasn't hard since there were 7 of us and 2 others... a little out numbered! full results.

and now it's time for the first huge race of the year at mt hood. i'm driving over to portland today to hang out with candace for a couple days before racing starts... so if you have any suggestions of what to do in portland, let me know! then we race tuesday and wednesday in portland, and thursday-sunday in hood river. long week ahead!!! 150 pro and cat 1 racers are going to be suffering the whole week. see ya out there-

2 tt's down, 1 to go

2008-05-10T12:42:00.003-08:00

i finally decided on the TT bike for the bogus TT, pretty much just because the predictor excel sheet made it look like the right choice. 6 minutes and 41 seconds later, it turned out to be an alright idea! they don't have the correct results online yet, but i won the first stage. and mayfield, who also rode a TT bike was second. sure, it could be coincidence, but i'm not doing it again to find out!

the 15 mile aero TT was this morning on a windy course. world champion richard feldman was :50 faster than the next guys, who were calvin and myself. calvin won the 1-2 field by .2 seconds over me, and matt was just 3 seconds behind us. amazing it was that close after 27 minutes!!

by the way, the head wind was strong enough in the last few miles that i was riding in my small chain ring. it might be because i'm a wimp, but i think it's because the wind was strong!

and the cool story of the day: stu and i put lunch meat in the magic bullet... pictures to follow!

TT central

2008-05-08T14:34:00.002-08:00

That's Boise this weekend. Ever heard of a TT stage race? AKA, 3 time trials in 2 days? Neither have I, but I can't wait to do it! Beside the fact that I haven't raced in 2 weeks, it just sounds fun in a painful, lung-burning kind of way.

The dilemma of the weekend is whether to use the TT bike or the road bike for tomorrow's 1.7 mile sprint up a little of Bogus. It is 25 hours before the race, and I'm still undecided.

I might just be thinking outloud, so feel free to just skip this paragraph. when i took my bikes onto the bathroom scale (which was actually in the kitchen... irregardless but a fun image), the TT bike was only about 1.5 pounds difference. so is that important? ehh... not really ish. the TT bike is obviously a better aero position. but it's uphill... but i think the avg speed should be around 14 mph. that is important. there are no gearing differences between the bikes. mayfield estimates a power loss due to the position of the TT bike. not sure about that one... i've never really done too much research on that. but he also sent us an excel sheet that can predict times based on EVERY factor, and if i can put out similar wattages on the two bikes, the TT bike wins... notice the IF though. it's only 2 letters but they're a tought 2 letters. hmm hmm hmm.... decisions.

i'm going to take the TT bike up the race today and see if i have an epiphany. i'm pretty sure the bottom line is that the training of the past 4 months will be the biggest factor, but i'll play the game too.

as for wheels........ i'm crossing fingers and toes that my new ones come in before hood!

wow, that was incredibly unexciting. hope i get a good story in the next week!

dirty dirtay

2008-04-28T13:57:00.003-08:00

Reasons my bike is dirty right now:

1. We rode our bikes at the new bike park... which is for mountain bikes right now. But who says you can't ride down a mountain 4-cross trail on a road bike? It was a blast by the way.

2. Emmett Roubaix. It was way sweeter this year with 3 runs through the gravel. That's good because I love riding through that stuff. It's bad because when 4 of us came out alone on lap 1 (4 bobs guys), I was the one with a rear flat. Crap. But we finished top 5 on the day and top 3 in the GC, so i'm ok with that... big time.

no bike racing for 12 days! what am i going to do!? work and ride and enjoy some real spring sun! and if you're around my neighborhood with a lawn mower, let me know. we haven't mowed the lawn since we've lived here (8 months)...

amara is an awesome photographer

2008-04-24T13:03:00.005-08:00

I'm probably not smiling because I know what is going to happen in 3.5 hours.

3.5 hours later. This is my "i can't pedal anymore" look.

Look Ma, I can crit. But I'm not very good at getting the right amount of tape on my ear piece.

This has been a chillin week. Just recovering up for the next few weeks of hard riding. We were going to hit up the East Canyon RR in Salt Lake this weekend, but they wouldn't let us sign up a couple days late. Oh well. I'll still get some good training in, then hit up the Emmett Roubaix Sunday here. The next big race will be Hood. That will be hard, but it'll be a good prep for Tour of Utah, which we got an invite to. (If you work at Rocky Vista University School of Osteopathic Medicine, I'm going to need a few days off of school to race Utah... I'll start sending chocolates and flowers now).

There was also a little local TT last night put on by a local club (FCA). Results are here. They did a great job putting it on! I happen to have great legs and put down a decent time from what I hear. It was good enough for a win, so I was pumped about it!

walla walla stages 2-3

2008-04-20T07:47:00.004-08:00

stage 2 was just a TT... 6.8 miles of flying. i felt great and ended up 2nd which is undoubtedly my best TT results ever. it was sweet to see teammates get 4th and 5th also!!

however, stage 3 was HARD. the plan was to beat up on the red truck team (who had a guy in first place by 2.5 minutes. so if nothing else we could just wear them out, right? dude. no. they're strong. like pro team strong. not to mention their team leader is super duper strong. i can't even recap all the attacks and such, but with about 20 miles to go, the leader took off with 4 others (i'm still not exactly sure how they got away, but they got away fast). we had 6 HB guys and 4 bob's guys on the front going hard and guess what? nothing. eventually sam (the HB leader) ran out of teammates and took off by ourselves (with a trek dude sucking wheel, obviously). after finally making the bridge of our lives, we were tired and still 8 miles from the finish. i could barely pull through, literally. 4 miles to go, three guys attacked, crap. sam and i to the front again. did i mention that the 95 mile race ended up a 2 mile climb yet? i didn't even know if i could make it there, so getting up the dang thing was insanity. i was toasted like bread in a cafe. i ended up 10th on the day, somehow holding onto 7th GC, but dang that race was hard.

the crit is in a few hours, and it looks like rain. hopefully it's just a fast, safe crit and we can go home with 3 in the top 20 and a 3rd place team GC. it's amazing how much harder this race is than last year!

results through 3 stages

walla walla stage 1

2008-04-19T05:37:00.004-08:00

was windy. and odd.

mishaps:

1- calvin flats.
2- calvin flats again. but unable to get back in the race this time.
3- brandon gets a flat in the support car.
4- rob's rear derailleur cable breaks.
5- one of the 2 guys in the break never comes back and puts 2:48 into the field.

the good news is that we have three guys in the lead group (29 guys total, with matt, kevin, and myself). the bad news is that stinkin guy who is almost 3 minutes ahead.

we're off to tackle the TT here in a little bit, followed by the 2nd road race a couple hours later.

the wind is gone for now, but there are some gray cloud looming nearby.... and the forecast says PM rain. sweet! bring on the bad weather.

This is a common site of us on the front. not to hate or anything, but never mind the dummie in red who thought attacking was going to help anything. but he wasn't alone, there were a couple other guys who are still learning the game.

ready or not!

2008-04-17T18:25:00.002-08:00

the title defense of the tour of walla walla starts tomorrow for the team! i'm super super stoked. this is the team's first big race of the year. the field size is 50% bigger than last year... crazy! 122 guys will be lining up to throw down the pain. and check out what the national weather service thinks about our little race:

...UNUSUALLY COLD WEATHER EXPECTED THIS WEEKEND...

i don't even know what else to say! this is the most prepared i've been for a race yet... 2 clean bikes, all the food planned out... and now that i think about it my clothes aren't clean. shoot. well, i'm pretty much ready to roll.

rainy crit (take 3)

2008-04-14T19:03:00.002-08:00

My history with rainy crits:

1- 2007 enumclaw - DNF
2- 2007 crit nats - DNF

any predictions how yesterday's boat street crit in seattle went?
JOKE'S ON YOU! I FINISHED!
but just barely. i didn't do a thing the entire race. when the pics are up, you'll see that i was on the back the whole time. i passed a couple guys here and there, but they just quit. but let's focus on the plus side here: i'm getting better. and next time it rains in a crit, look out for me. i'm ready to do this thing.
another excuse: my power tap mount came off with 10 minutes to go. oops. but it twisted it out of the way. 303 watts for an hour at the back, by the way.
now i'm spending a few days in boise then back to walla walla for a real throw down on friday-sunday!

big thanks to jamie s. for letting matt and i crash at his place last night... and for being an awesome chef!!! go stop by his house for some good eats!

heat wave

2008-04-12T18:31:00.003-08:00

i got sun burned today. it was my first ride in over 6 months that i did not wear (or even think about wearing) leg or arm warmers. it was awesome! 75 degrees and no clouds in portland in april, what are the odds?!

we're back in olympia for the night now. the race wasn't too bad. matt was in the early move with 3 other guys, and he ended up 3rd on the day. i came in on a late attack and got 6th while rob cleaned up the field sprint as usual and secured 9th. i felt great all day (but then again, it's not that hard to sit in).

showerin and dinnerin are on the agenda now! we'll throw the race details up later-

full results

2008-04-12T05:28:00.002-08:00

top of the morning!!!

it's 6:30 here in portland and matt, rob, kevin and myself are headed up to the king's valley RR about an hour away. we feel like kickin some butt today. that is all.

slimed

2008-04-08T16:42:00.002-08:00

i put some slime tubes in my tires for the salt lake race. i figured it would help prevent any flats from thorns or pinches or whatever. and it worked. actually, i've used slime tubes there 2 out of the 3 times i've been, and the only time i flatted was when i didn't bring them... ANYWAY, i still had the slime tubes in when i rode today, so i felt indestructable. you know, like i could ride anywhere i wanted without having to worry about a flat. but i learned my lesson from last time and made sure i had spare stuff anyway. on my way home i was riding on some dirt roads just for kicks (if i can handle the bike in dirt, i can handle it anywhere). well, i flatted. i didn't even know slime tubes could flat. crap. oh well, i'll just change it and be on my way. noooo sir. that would be too easy. my CO2 cartridge didn't fit my pump (aka i couldn't inflate my tire). well my bike ride turned into a bike walk. fortunately other bikers are nice. one guy stopped, but his pump was only for schrader valves. so i kept walking. finally my saviors came! thanks for letting me use your pump, lee!!

someday i'll learn. off to bob's tomorrow to buy either a frame pump or the right CO2's.

day 2, birds of prey

2008-04-07T14:52:00.003-08:00

slack and stu coming around feldman for 2nd and 3rd. i'm back a ways cheering!

back in boise saturday night, 9 hours of sleep, then back in the race gear for race #3 of the boise spring series... a 70 mile RR. i was almost frightened at how well i recovered from the previous day. good thing to be frightened about, i thought. the race report will be up on the team site soon, so i'll spare ya all the details, but there were 2 insane moments that i must re-live.

1st: the crosswind. a freak storm came and hastled us for about 20 minutes of our race, and it just so happened to be a slamming crosswind. so what do we do? well go to the front and throw the rest of the field in the gutter and out of the draft. after 10 or so minutes of that insanity, there were 5 bob's guys and feldman left. WOW!!!! i've never had that happen before. unfortunately stu flatted so we sat up.

2nd: the finale. remember that feldman guy? well he decided to go to the front for a 10-15 MINUTE pull in a cross/head wind for the last 12 k or so of the race. i was right on his wheel and getting some draft, but not much. after he had reeled in stu and matt and kept going, i was wondering if i could even hold on! eventually he looked back and asked if i was gonna pull through. when i saw there was only 4 bob's guys and him left i said 'yep!'

not sure if i have a moral to the story, but it was a great weekend and wind is important. the team looks amazing. can't wait to play again next weekend!

i'll toss up a couple pictures when my internet connection doesn't suck so bad. but mayfield posted the good stuff on the site here.

hell of the north (for teams not in blue)

2008-04-06T07:03:00.009-08:00

in hopes of trying to get a bid to the tour of utah in august, we sent four guys down to the first utah race of the year in salt lake, the hell of the north.

it started out pretty tough for the first 2 laps (of 10 total)... but after 2, it seemed like most legs were pretty tired, so I took off in the gravel. (there was 1.5 miles of gravel road per loop). good ole sam krieg joined me and we spent a couple laps together until we were caught. then there were some more attacks and i took off again, by myself. and for the next 4 or so laps, i did what i did last year, except i was off the front instead of off the back. when the second group (of 5 guys) came in, calvin and matt sprinted on both sides of a logan race guy (barrett) and took 2nd and 3rd.

there was a good utah team out of town, but i figure we countered that by only bringing four guys. Anyway, we swept the podium... pretty good way to try and get the tour of utah's attention, eh?

thanks to my padre for coming out and taking some pictures too!

the weather was good for a change, no rain/snow, just wind.

that's a bob's dominant 'sprint' (both in the saddle) haha!

the cobble trophy and some hungry dudes

hospital humor

2008-04-01T12:54:00.002-08:00

april fools day in the hospital. it was funny enough for me to stop and take a picture!

slammer time trial... i mean road race

2008-03-30T16:14:00.005-08:00

1-2 punch... or wave, or ballet dance, or YMCA, or whatever.

yep, i'm giving the thumbs up. that means we feel good.

today was the first road race of the boise spring series... a nice little 60 mile road race with about 30 starters. matt and i were supposed to attack early. he went as soon as the race began (literally). about 1 mile down the road i bridged to him and a bode guy (who didn't pull through once). matt and i just cruised for the first half of the race, building a 6:00 lead at one point (not sure how that happened). at that point, instead of towing the third guy around, i attacked. matt joined me a couple minutes later, then it was just he and i until the end. he gave me the W on the day as we rolled in 4 minutes ahead of the next finishers... who, by the way were stu and calvin (yeah, bob's went top 4). sounds like slack put in some awesome work to make that happen too. i think we raced very well today, even though it was just a small race. we'll bring that momentum with us to salt lake next weekend hopefully.

i've mentioned it a few times, but it's worth saying again, that this team is great! most of our guys could have won today, and it's nice to know that! also, thanks to brandon for letting me use his carbon wheels... they're faaaast! i can't wait to get mine!

and candace is getting a road bike tomorrow, so now i'll really have to get fast so she doesn't leave me behind.

i'd say biking season is here!

snow and oxygen

2008-03-28T07:49:00.004-08:00

these two things are cool if they're in the right portions. as i was riding up bogus basin yesterday, i found that neither of them were right. as i went up there was more and more snow and less and less oxygen. and it was cold. if anybody sees spring, send it to boise.

the forecast for the race sunday appears to be cold and maybe raining, which is actually ok with me. i complain, but i love the springy weather! should be an interesting race sunday... bobs vs. bode vs. feldman... or so...and a few utah guys. it'll be fun to have them up here too. maybe they'll bring the sun?

and the tour of walla walla is full for the pro/1/2 field! wow! i can't wait for that race again, it was awesome last year (once we took care of the break that formed while matt was getting a new wheel).

man talk

2008-03-19T10:27:00.003-08:00

this is for the guys. if you're a girl, i guess you can read on, but it may not be quite as appreciated.

usually my biking achievements come in the form of more power output or a good race result. yesterday was different. yesterday i went 3 for 3 with a skill that i have lacked since i began biking. in fact until yesterday, i had only been able to take a pee from the bike successfully once in probably 10 tries. that one time was at the collegiate nationals road race in 2006, and it took 3 tries to get flowing.

if you don't know what i'm talking about, go drink 4 or so bottles of water and don't visit the bathroom for 3-5 hours (aka a bike ride). it's uncomfortable and it's extra weight to carry up a hill. the alternative to peeing from the bike is stopping to pee. go ahead, do it in a race and see if they wait for you (INSERT SLACK'S COMMENT FROM MASON LAKE HERE....tsk tsk). i did it last year at cascade... turns out they didn't wait for me, so i had to chase back which is kind of a waste of energy.

i've tried not to stare at guys while i was figuring out how they made it work, but when i decided to try yesterday, it just worked. anyway, that's that. the moral of the story is.... practice makes perfect, i suppose. or whatever. happy peeing.

tt'ing blows (because it's windy)

2008-03-17T12:54:00.002-08:00

yeah, 5 miles out was easy (33.7 mph)... but once I went around that cone and started coming back, the next 5 miles was rough (20.4 mph). was i blown for the 2nd half? nope. only 1 watt difference between the halves.

i don't think i felt the cross winds as much as other people, because I just had regular wheels on, but even still, I was being pushed around on the way back.

it was fun to get out and race though! the team looks awesome, real awesome. I'm glad the guys in the blue jerseys are on my team because they're el speedy-o's. Here's the results. Next weekend we're taking off to find easter eggs, but after that the season kicks into full swing! can't wait!

hero of the day!

2008-03-16T06:24:00.002-08:00

Friday was awful weather. It rained/snowed most of the day, so I was not too motivated to go ride a bike. But there was a break in the weather so I jumped on it and took off. I got the first bit of my workout done and was hot! Sweet! So as I was headed over to the dump hill to finish up, a goat head jumped out of the bushes and got me (AKA i got a flat tire). Naturally, I didn't have a spare on me. About that time, I looked up and saw that an ENORMOUS storm was creeping in. I jumped on the phone and hoped someone would be able to save me. I began walking toward a house that was for sale and I sat under the car port there because the snow was slamming me... we're talking horizontal blowing, blizzard style. Brrr. Then there he was! The guy who rode me into the ground a few weeks prior pulled up in his little truck and drove me home. Thanks Sam J! Also thanks to Jonathan D for offering to scoop me up too!

By the way, I bought a few tubes yesterday.

Oh yeah, and there's a TT today. Race #1 of the George's spring series. The way we've figured it, we will race no earlier than 11:30 am, but we have to be there by 9:30. lame. that's why I'm awake. Considering this race pays $00000.00, it's amazing the competition. 2 world champion TT'ers will be there. that's pretty impressive. So I'm going to go eat my wheaties and see if I can't throw down today. AND I got a new TT helmet, so I have no excuses (except I won't be riding aero wheels...doh). time to go watch Dave Zabriskie and Lance video clips.

bad news!!

2008-03-13T15:06:00.006-08:00

ben and jerry's released 5 new ice creams recently, and when i went to albertson's yesterday they were all there. i immediately had them all in my basket when i threw the brakes on. generally i eat pretty well (gotta stay lean!)... but sweets are a weakness of mine. but as long as they aren't in the house, i'm cool. anyway, i was being tested at the store. so what did i do? i put down 2 of them and bought 3 (don't worry, 1 was low-fat). the good news is that i didn't polish them yesterday. the bad news is there's three containers of ice cream constantly screaming at me...literally. bad news part two... there's three more containers at my girlfriend's house. i'm surrounded.

i'm making it a competition. the goal is to get them to last until april. can it be done? i already had a few bites today, but i'm cutting myself off. best of luck to me and the rest of the sweet-toothed weight watchers out there. if you have any secrets let me know... but the 2 that are unacceptable are 1) don't put it in the house (because it's too late for that), and 2) throw it away (because that just isn't right).

oh, and dessa put together a cool little video clip of the mason race here!

what a weekend!

2008-03-10T13:41:00.009-08:00

a double race weekend to kick off the season was tiring...especially with the traveling and the time change! but we ended up with a 1st and 2nd, so I'd say we did pretty darn good.

all by my lonesome

holding onto a hagens wheel!...and grabbing some lunch goo.

the first race was mason lake. this was my big day. i'm going to explain this one through numbers, but first, the breakdown. keep in mind my max heart rate is 177ish... and 160 and above is uncomfortable. breakdown: attacks galor, as usual... then there was a 6 person move that looked good (with calvin in it). a chase group tried to bridge, i sat in, then countered them on a roller and bridged the group (40 sec at 560 watts and 170 bpm...174 bpm max... 1098 watt max). we were out there for a few laps, then we got countered, attacks galore again, and i end up going off alone. 4:00 (370w) later dan harm from hagens bridged to me and we were alone for a couple laps... he was working harder than me, which was fine because i'd already been in a break for a while... but i still went 4.3 watts/kilo for an hour... then on the last lap he just mega-bonked and i was a minute in front of the group with 10 miles to go. i pushed out some 24 minutes at 307 watts/159 bpm/ 24.2 mph and got caught 1 stinkin kilometer from the finish. sooo close to a solo win. but fortunately my team was able to sit in and rob campbell took the win in a field sprint. YEAH!!!!

Rob's a finisher!

race #2 was the banana belt race near portland... 66 miles. this felt a lot harder than the previous day with all of the rollers in it... and the 4 pros who showed up. i didn't have near as good of numbers, but i was able to go off the front a few times. eventually it ended as a field sprint, and rob came through again to grab second place. what a sprinter! he did awesome to get over those hills too!!

the banana belt field

rob's second place finish at banana belt

the worst thing about banana belt was the officiating. as i was covering an attack the official yelled at me to pull over... he said there was a complaint that i was jumping the yellow line (i wasn't, by the way)... and he also said i had to take out my ear piece to the team radio. THEN... i was in a break with one other guy... we had about 15 seconds on the field and the official brought us to neutral because we caught another race about to finish. he said he'd give us our gap back when racing started back up... did he? no way. a big thumbs down to that OBRA official sunday. fortunately i don't think any of this affected the outcome... it was just frustrating. (he was wrong about us not being able to use radios, by the way).

anyway, the weekend rocked. the team rocks. i can't wait to play again! and i can't wait to get 1k better in shape!

thanks to amara (and her dad!) for the killer photos!

race #1!

2008-03-08T20:45:00.003-09:00

mason lake was today, it was hard. i'm about to hit the hay, but the quick and dirty for now is:

i was off the front all day, got caught 1k to go, then sprintin rob campbell took the win! go bobs! back at it tomorrow in portland!

48 times

2008-03-07T07:11:00.002-09:00

in the past 2 days, i have seen the same stretch of road 48 times. that's 24 times up and 24 back down. it's strange how i liked it the first 35 or so times, but then it clicked in my head that this stretch of road was evil. all it did was make my legs hurt more and more each time. but after 35 times i felt obligated to finish up on it. i have the same workout next week... and as much as i hate to say it, i'll probably be back unless i find a more inviting place.

all that aside, we're bike racing tomorrow! i'm about to knock out my pre-race ride and finish packing, then we're headed up to olympia for the night. we've got all the good eats packed up, all the good tunes loaded, and hopefully the good legs are ready to throw down too. as pumped as i am, i think everyone else on the team is at least as pumped.

i'm actually typing right now because it's 39 degrees out and the high is supposed to be 57... so more stalling = warmer? eh. i'm going now. see ya at the races.

sun's out!

2008-03-05T16:04:00.002-09:00

i got to take off my leg warmers today! and it only took 2.5 hours of warm up! woooo! pasty legs be gone!

d - ropped

2008-03-03T13:00:00.002-09:00

we had a group ride yesterday... about 8 of us in blue, with a few bode guys, and a few others (including sam johnson, hagens-berman). it was a great day for a ride, and a great ride. here are the three parts i remember:

1. i flatted because of a hole in the side of my tire. annoying.
2. sam j. was about :30 into a hard pull into the wind when we started a 4 man train to sprint to the city limit sign... he beat us.
3. we hit the last 10 k climb of the day... and very quickly it was just stu, sam, and myself. stu used the term 'humble pie'... i'll straight up say we got schooled. i put out 4:00 of 372 watts sitting on sam's wheel, and i still got dropped. and by dropped i mean DROPPED. like, he had 2:00 into me by the time it was done. I've got a couple excuses, but not 2 minutes worth. it's no secret that he's riding well since he got 2nd in the valley of the sun TT without a disc wheel, but it's different to watch him ride away. good riding sam!

anyway, it's good to have it handed to you every now and then... i'll definitely be riding harder in my workout tomorrow!

interviews out, racing in

2008-02-29T17:13:00.002-09:00

my last 2 med school admission interviews went well at the university of utah. you can never really tell how well they went, but i know that i didn't suck, which is nice. they both went long because we had plenty to talk about. they were a 4th year med student and a dermatologist, both very nice. we'll see just how nice they are in about a month when i hear back.

in the mean time, racing starts in exactly 8 days. i can't even describe how ready i am to go throw down the hammer. today's workout went super well and i'm ready to hurt some legs. i'll have one more good week of solid riding then it'll be mason lake (olympia, WA) and banana belt (portland, OR). Until then i'm going to keep writing about my anticipation!

last interview!

2008-02-26T15:28:00.003-09:00

My last medical school admissions interviews EVER are coming up Thursday in Salt Lake! Hopefully they'll be my best ones yet too! I'm already accepted at Rocky Vista in Denver, but Utah would be 80K cheaper (not including interest), so I'd say it's more than worth my time. Plus, Utah is a great school too... in fact, it used to be my #1 choice.

It was kind of inconvenient of them to schedule me during season, but it'll work. Here's my day:

6:30-10:30 am: work
11:30 - 2:30 pm: ride
3:00 pm: airport
5:00 pm: arrive SLC

then the next day i just interview and fly back.

did i mention the new teamb0bs-bicycles.com website is awesome??

day 2

2008-02-25T12:49:00.002-09:00

the weather came to play! it was a toasty 45 or so the whole time. i know that doesn't sound too warm, but it felt tropical. I was even ditching some layers. Once we hit the final climb, everything was unzipped.

the team did an EHB loop from Boise to Emmett to Horseshoe Bend and back... it was a blast! And just like I suspected, Stu wasn't done after the ride, so he and Rob and I added another hour of crushing my legs. 108 miles later, I was ready to be done with the bike. It was a great to ride with everyone and see them riding so well.

bike racing is just around the corner! 12 days and counting.

training camp day 1

2008-02-23T15:38:00.002-09:00

this morning before photos...

although the weather looked like it was going to be TERRIBLE today before/during our photo shoot, it shaped up well for us. All of our guys were there and three of the ladies made it. I don't have a clue where we went, but it was flat and there were many cows. It was a nice loop though... then stu, calvin and myself decided to ride a little more. I'm not sure why we decided that but i'm glad we did.

The team looks awesome this year. I'm expecting some sweet things to happen! And what better way to see how we're doing than on the brand new website! Mayfield did some serious work on this thing, and it shows. We all have our own blogs on there, and we can all update it... so between 20 of us, the thing should be pretty up-to-date.

Today is going to finish up with a feast, so I'm going to go hit that up. Another big ride tomorrow coming up! Except it's supposed to rain/snow from what I hear. Builds character. See ya out there.

1-2 jab

2008-02-16T14:41:00.005-09:00

sure, the tour of california starts tomorrow. sure, valley of the sun is going on in arizona right now. but the real race of the year was TODAY in boise, idaho. as luck would have it, i happen to live in boise, so it worked out well enough for me to go play. it was a different race... we had to stay in an easy-ish gear the whole time, so my legs were spinning around FAST (109 avg for the race). I had a 30 second stretch at 135 rpm (zingzingzingzing). ANYWAY, there were a number of spectators coming out for the event of the year (2... who both knew us, thanks cathy and katie!).

look windy? i'm the blue and white one...3rd wheel.

Representing Bobs-Bicycles.com were myself and Stu. Representing George's were about 10 guys... and I didn't really look back much but I think there were about 20 starters ish. So there were some attacks, Stu and a G-squad guy were alone for a lap, then they came back, then many more attacks....then the race ended on a hill. so i jumped early really hoping stu was there too... all i saw behind me was the green of thomas grant from BODE... yikes. so i dug a little, which did nothing. then i slowed down hoping to save a bit for the upcoming sprint... then i jumped and had a good half wheel, then a blue streak from the left went blazing by! yeah stu! (his stomach feels better by the way) he won. i held on to 2nd. pretty good finish eh?

gotta love bike racing!! can't wait to do it again in 3 weeks in WA and OR!

3 second update

2008-02-16T06:56:00.001-09:00

1 - i shaved my legs yesterday! it's been about 5 months!!! i forgot how good it feels.... errrr..

2 - it's bike racing day!

3 - i hope stu's stomach has settled down. whooooa boy.

work pays off?

2008-02-13T10:05:00.003-09:00

of course this is all theoretical... we'll see if my bike actually goes faster in a month.

way #1 to go faster: (only works for uphill)... lose weight. throw your water bottles, wear less clothes, have one less candy bar. something. less stuff you bring against gravity = faster. however, i like to hydrate, eat, and be warm, so cross this off my list.

way #2: ride your bike. This is the one i've been working on the last few year, and i think it's slowly but surely working. yesterday i did a workout (6 x 5:00) that i've been tackling for a couple years now so i compared the numbers from Feb of 2006 and Feb of 2007. i don't want to give my exact wattages, because you may lose all respect for wattage and wonder how on earth i got my cat 1 upgrade. or if you're really curious, just let me know. anyway:

2006 - cat 4-3
2007 - cat 3-2-1 (15 watts = 4.7% increase)
2008 - cat 1 (17 watts = 5.1% increase)

it's still early, and this isn't a completely accurate way of measuring fitness, but at least i'm not getting worse! jonathan over at JDS sportcoaching must have a good reason for hurting me so often on the bike! i'm doing an LT test next week, and those numbers don't lie, so hopefully it goes well. Even still, the only way to really see progress is to look around at a finish line and see if there are more people in front of you or behind you.

way too long of a pre-season post! enjoy the outdoor riding!

get out get out get out

2008-02-08T19:35:00.000-09:00

We got to ride outside today!!!!!!! It was a scorching 41 degrees!!

I got home from a good day of blood drawing, and Stu said to get ready in 5 minutes... so in 10 minutes I found all my gear, ate some lunch and took with him and Buster-B. By the way, 40 degrees isn't warm. Knee warmers were a stretch. Insulated booties would have been helpful to prevent my numb feet... And winter gloves probably would have been smart. Irregardless, we were riding outside!!! WHOOP WHOOP!

Wheels: thanks for all the help!! I'm going for 66's. If for no other reason than the red decals will match the bike. and it all comes down to looking good.

Racing: fixed gear race next weekend looks pretty inviting... it's probably going to hurt trying to spin the 39 x 15... but it's racing!

Harry Potter 7: rocks. i'm chipping away at it!

Glasses: the new Gin glasses rock my world. i like all 3 styles i have!

wheel you help me?

2008-02-01T20:09:00.000-09:00

It's time for me to get some racing wheels. I'm narrowed down to 4 sets. It comes down to depth and tubular/clincher. So here's my two questions:

1. Tubular or clincher?

2. 46 mm or 66 mm depth?

Here's a couple little details....

1. Clinchers are 180 g heaver in the 46s, and 285 g heavier in the 66s

2. Tubular tires and clincher tires are pretty darn similar in weight

Which set would you get?? Aka which set should I get?

They'll be used for road races and TT's...

Thanks for the help!

Team Bobs 08

2008-01-31T17:27:00.001-09:00

I think I'm pretending to bike ride... that's what it looks like, right?

Stu and the long sleeve... yeah, those are natty champ stripes

Just trying on the white glasses... black or white? I can't decide...

White is tight in 08

By the way, our roster is:

Calvin Allan

Brandon Archibald

Rob Campbell

Tad Hamilton

Justin Mayfield

Justin Rose

Kevin Rowe

Eric Rumps

Erik Slack

Chris Stuart

Matt Weyen

lookin good!

2008-01-31T07:09:00.000-09:00

well, not looking good yet... but tonight is the night! the 2008 team bobs-bicycles.com kits will be distributed tonight! which is timely because, i need to do laundry... but why do laundry if you can just get new clothes instead!? we'll have a model show tonight and get some pictures...

it hasn't stopped snowing here in boise for a long time now... it has caused my trainer and i to get very close. i'm reliving the 2004 tour right now to pass the time on the bike.

i can not wait to start racing in 6 weeks!

as for medical schools... denver is still in the lead, but i am still waiting to hear from reno... and i'll be interviewing at utah at the end of february... so who knows. utah and reno are half the price of denver, so i'm keeping my options open. either way i'm very excited to start school in the fall! i live through stu right now because he is taking a couple fun mediciney classes that keep me on my toes.

see ya soon with pictures of the new team bobs!

where's my sunshine?

2008-01-23T08:07:00.000-09:00

The sun's out, but the heat is not. AKA get on the trainer. There's not a whole lot to say about the trainer. I get on it, watch some TV, listen to some good tunes, suffer, then get off. Our 'riding' room is about 20 degrees cooler than the house and has three fans.

in the air

2007-12-29T12:07:00.000-09:00

that's right, we finally found a good internet deal, so I can use my computer in the warmth of my house! no more late night parking lot ventures for me! it's great and it's been less than a day! if you have internet in your house, take a moment and just enjoy it. i'll wait. ......
ahh. i feel better already.

so then there's this school thing. the deadline for des moines has come and gone... and i didnt do anything about it, so that's off my list. a lot of people said i should go there... but denver just appeals more.... not just because of the location, but because of the idea of starting something new. i'm not much of a 'follower' when i can help it. i guess this is one way of showing that. but to throw a curve, utah invited me for an interview yesterday. NOW WHAT?!? do i go? it did used to be my #1 choice school.... oh, and it's half the price of rocky vista.

i'll be contemplating. any input is welcomed!

merry christmas/kwanza/new year/hanukkah!

it's still cold

2007-12-15T13:50:00.000-09:00

riding inside on the trainer didn't get any more exciting over the past year. hopefully i won't be on it for the next two months... but if so, then oh well. better than not riding at all!... or is it?? we rearranged the house so the bikes could have a primo place in front of a TV and 3 fans.

alright, here's the med school update: i still haven't decided between Des Moines and Rocky Vista (Denver). There are too many great things about each school. Basically right now I'm waiting to see how much each school gives me for scholarships. With two great choices, I can't go wrong. So I'm ok being bought... hopefully. I think Des Moines makes me decide by Thursday. So they either give me a scholarship by then or to Denver I go!

other than that, I'm just still working at the hospital drawing blood. and for you people out there who whine when I come in the door, relax. it hardly hurts. i'll let you poke me if you really want. i think it's kind of funny how the 10 year old kids tend to behave better than some of the older people. and that's that.

guitar hero 3 for the wii is scary addicting. but awesome at the same time.

#2

2007-11-21T16:47:00.001-09:00

Thanks for all of the comments!!! I love them! This is a very exciting time for me!

...and, believe it or not, Des Moines University in Iowa accepted me today too! It's kind of weird to go from getting rejected the past two years to having options now. I'm not looking forward to making the decision... there are so many plus sides to both schools. Think I could just go to both?

Here's my month of traveling for interviews by the way... 3 different trips, 4 different schools. The red one was a long 3 days!

have a great thanksgiving!!! and if you're going shopping friday... better you than me!

accepted!!!

2007-11-16T17:23:00.000-09:00

i got a call today from the brand new DO school in Denver, and they said I'm in!

rockyvistauniversity.org!

2 months in 500 words or less

2007-11-14T07:25:00.000-09:00

remember me?

med school update: i interviewed in Des Moines last week... it was a super sweet school. Definitely one of the top 5 D.O. schools in the country. They'll let me know yes/no/maybe the Monday after Thanksgiving. Pretty quick turnaround!

Right now I'm in the Boise airport on my way to Denver and Reno for interviews Thursday and Friday. Denver is a brand new D.O. school that I think will be awesome, and Reno is the M.D. program that wait listed me last year. These are a couple of my top choice schools, so it's nice to get the interviews done early! Other than that, I have one more interview in California at the end of the month.

SO... that's where most of my time goes. The rest of it goes to work, which is going well. I'm used to the 5:30 am shift now... and I love getting off at 2 pm!

And the training is coming along well... better than this time last year. Too bad racing doesn't start for at least 3 months. I'm working on next year's schedule too... I'm pretty excited! The team is looking great!

Time to hop on the plane!

where has justin been?

2007-09-16T14:34:00.000-08:00

it's been a while since i've said anything on here. i have a list of excuses. but who likes excuses? not me. but i'm typing, so here they are.

1 - no internet in my new place!! (which i'm seeking counseling for)
2 - i work a lot. i've been going in at 5:30 am these days!!! the hospital is sweet though. i still love it! i'm getting better at poking too, i'm learning how to get those arteries!!
3 - i haven't touched my bike in a few weeks... so there's really not a whole lot to say!

i could definitely come up with some more, but i'll save them for a rainy day.

lastly, the medical school application has begun again. i sent in applications a couple weeks ago, and the secondaries should be coming within the next couple weeks. 11 schools are on the list right now, i'll keep ya updated as i hear things... which will be over the next 9 months. what a process. good thing it's worth it!

a crit racer?

2007-08-27T15:19:00.000-08:00

After lasting for about 25% of the race at crit nationals, one would probably not have very high expectations from the Idaho State Championship crit either, right? Well get rid of the rain, and I'm a much happier camper. I actually like crits when it's dry.

The team did a ton of attacking, riding off the front, covering, etc etc for the first half of the race. I thought I was in good postion a lot of the time, but they were all better. I saw every teammate off the front, it was awesome! At halfway through the hour race, I attacked to bridge up to Tad... and it was us with 2 BODE guys, who didn't have any intention of working, so I attacked out of that group to give Tad the free ride... but they never brought me back. After 30 minutes of pedaling by myself, I won!

I definitely did not see that win coming, but I was stoked about it! Thanks for everyone who came out to cheer, it was great to hear everyone!!

I've said it before, but I'll say it again, this team is awesome!

get out your broom

2007-08-25T17:41:00.000-08:00

it's a sweep for bobs at the idaho state RR champs!

1- Justin Mayfield
2- Matt Weyen
3- Tad Hamilton
4- Tim Root (BODE)
5- Brandon Archibald

no need for me to finish when my boys are sitting 1-2-3-5!!!!

i'm going to post more, but it's time to move!!!! want to help? didn't think so. any ideas for a house warming PARTY?? gotta break the new place in right!

potato champs

2007-08-24T11:27:00.000-08:00

It's almost time for the world famous Idaho State Championships! I was looking on cyclingnews and cyclingtv, and they don't mention anything about coverage for these races, but I'm sure I just missed the links. I think there's 11 guys registered for the road race tomorrow... I can't say that I blame them for not wanting to do 91 miles this time of year, but I sure hope the field is a little bigger! The crit is looking better, and I'm looking forward to a DRY crit. (i probably just blew the odds of that by mentioning it though).

As for my non-biking life, it's finally coming together just in time! I got a job at St. Alphonsus hospital as a phlebotomist... and hopefully a clinical lab assistant too (TBD). Stu, Blake and myself are signing a lease to rent a house tomorrow after the race, so we won't be needing to collect boxes to live in anymore. And school starts next week... and of course by school I am referring to the one class I am taking, physiology of sport. I'm really looking forward to that though. A fun filled fall to come!

And on the off-chance cyclingnews doesn't get a race report up, I'll be in touch after the race tomorrow. Let's hope like heck that I can borrow some wireless from the new place!!

amendments to previous post

2007-08-20T12:38:00.000-08:00

1. Did I say 100 guys? I meant 170.

2. Apparently I still suck at riding in the rain, so I take back the "I hope it rains."

3. I said 90 minutes... Well the race was 110.... but I raced for 31 (that's not me, I didn't crash)

The race would have been awesome dry. As it was, it was drenched and I sucked. The other 3 guys, Matt, Brandon and Rob did great.... they went down a couple times but are ok. I think there were about 20 crashes in the 110 minute race. Ouch. I've gotta get back to house/job hunting. What a pain.

packing up!

2007-08-17T11:05:00.000-08:00

I just got done sticking my bike in a box... I've done that so many times, but it just never seems to be easy. I'm in the process of designing a new bike box. Here's my preliminary sketches.

I'll be in touch from Chicago! I heard it's a rainy forcast for the race Sunday... Nothing like putting 100 guys on skinny tires in a race with tight turns in the rain for 90 minutes! Seriously though, I hope it rains!

does it end?

2007-08-14T13:33:00.000-08:00

here's my number collection... minus a few that didn't get home. only 4 more weeks of racing!

we're packing up the house and moving right now... hopefully we get the house we want over by BSU... all i know is we have to move somewhere soon!

talk to ya from chicago in a few days-

as seen in today's idaho state journal

2007-08-10T08:23:00.001-08:00