"Hogan's Heroes" ...a cycling blog

Is it spring yet?

2012-02-05T11:49:00.015-05:00

Here is a sneak peek at our Astellas jerseys:

...except ours are going to have the sleeves and side panels attached (haha).

Meanwhile at Purdue, a short spurt of warm weather means wearing less cycling clothing and going for longer rides. We sometimes stop by the local cafe that sponsors us afterwards.

Pretty Euro eh?

Colorado

2011-12-27T11:50:00.039-05:00

Winter break is usually the time when I head to Vail, CO to ski with the family, but this year was different. We heard from my dad's parents, who live in Monument near Colorado Springs, that the Vail resort hadn't gotten very much snow at all. Only about 19 inches of base had accumulated on the mountain, compared to 41 inches last year. Though I was a little bummed out about not being able to ski, I realized this might be the chance to ride some of the best roads in Colorado, something my dad and I have always talked about. After all, we didn't need to bring all that ski gear with us on the trip, which opened up a couple spots on top of the car for bikes.

We eventually make it to my grandparents house in Monument, CO, and already I'm itching to ride. Unfortunately all the snow that wasn't falling in the mountains was instead being dumped all over the Springs, Denver, Boulder, etc. I took this as an opportunity for a mini break in my training and some snow activities. First I tried out the cross country skis, which are kind of tricky to handle with their narrow width, then traded them for snowshoes. My dad, brother, and I even headed to the golf course and hiked around for a few miles. This is when I really started to notice the altitude effect on exercise. I would describe it as getting only half a breath's worth of oxygen for each breath you take, kind of like hyperventilation. Sounds fun right!

After four days of waiting for the snow to melt a little we finally had the chance to ride. Garden of the Gods was our best bet for clear roads, and we managed to get in about an hour of riding in the area. The next couple of days I stayed near Monument, but there was still some nice riding to offer in small towns like Palmer Lake and Perry Park.

Garden of the Gods^

Papa Sills heading into Palmer Lake^

The Tuesday after Christmas was our chance to do some real Colorado climbing. My dad and I mapped out a couple routes and headed to the best cycling city of all, Boulder. According to Map My Ride's classification, we were going to do something like two Cat. 2 climbs and a Cat 4 in 20 miles for an elevation profile that looks like a mountain stage of the Tour. No big deal. It was his idea actually.

After the first steep climb up Linden road we started to reconsider our original plan that had over 2500 feet of climbing. However, that little devil on your shoulder that always says, "come on you, don't be a whimp" obligated us to push on. The climb of Lee Hill road was more gradual than Linden and I got the chance to snap a good picture of the amazing scenery. Dad took a rest and got a cool action shot as well.

Lee Hill road, about 3.5 miles at 5.6%^

Wednesday was my last chance to ride, so I decided to get a ride down to Colorado Springs and see what last bit of climbing I could muster. I planned out a route with a Cat. 1 climb to Crystal Park (once again, this is according to Map My Ride, not sure if that is comparable to a TDF Cat. 1 but it definitely means it's going to hurt!) and a Cat. 3 climb to Cave of the Winds. I started up the road to Crystal Park only to reach a road block a mile into the ascent. There was this lady at a booth that said it was a private, gated community. Laaaame. So no Cat. 1 climb, but I still had Cave of the Winds to do. I rode through the quaint historic downtown of Manitou Springs and found myself on the climb, much steeper than I expected with multiple hairpins. To make things worse, the climb was on an exposed ridge with little cover to the strong winds. I was literally crawling up at 50 rpm in my 39X27, but eventually I made it up.

How's that for a hairpin turn^

IN CONCLUSION, I have to say that riding in Colorado for the first time was just as hard and thrilling as expected. Hopefully I can come back someday and squeeze in some training along with the skiing and Christmas stuff. I really don't know how the pros were able to ride such difficult climbs at over 10,000 feet altitude in the USA Pro Cycling Challenge (much too long of a name).

Being the start of the new year, it seems fitting to make one of my resolutions to be more blog posts. I'm extremely thankful for all of the support I get, I want to let people know how things are going as I chase my goal of becoming a pro cyclist. So, I pinky-swear to update regularly, especially since I have a good feeling about this next season. I didn't want to say anything too soon but I think it's safe to say things are coming along well for the new team I've gotten on board with, Astellas Oncology powered by ABD. I am going to be racing with some pretty darn good bike riders and I'm hoping I can step up and help the team win some major races. More on that later.

Purdue Cross race @ Marian

2011-11-23T19:52:00.010-05:00

I started out well in the top ten through the first lap

"Yeah, you guys wish you had tennis shoes!"

I really needed clipless pedals actually

To make any cross course tougher,

just add ridiculously off-camber switchbacks

Planet Adventure did an awesome job with our/Marian's race, and we're hoping to work with them on a big criterium event around the Purdue stadium to celebrate the 30th anniversary of our cycling club.

So basically what happened is I started out in the top ten, then fell down to 4th from last due to cramping, lack of handling skills, etc. It was something I had to do, and unlike the mountain bike race awhile ago, I raced A's. The funny thing is that I upgraded from C's in the cyclocross category on the spot as I was registering. My race resume, uploaded from a borrowed iPhone, was as follows:

flk;ng;oainrvml

USA Cycling of course realized this was a most sufficient resume, and approval was granted. If only this worked for the road season...

Greetings from the President

2011-09-29T21:22:00.012-04:00

Of the Purdue cycling club that is. It's been busy but I've enjoyed the role so far, without too many setbacks. I don't have to worry about social security or the economy, so that's a plus. I do however get the privilege of organizing meetings, events, etc. Recently we ran our annual fall Purdue mountain bike race weekend. As for the event organization aspect, let me summarize: race mistakenly gets cancelled... un-cancelled and signing of papers begins... meet with University who say they need to "verify a treeline" on our course... morning of race day, screw the treeline and put the course through it... everybody enjoys some great racing.

Cracking a joke. I was too busy reconstructing our tent truss to notice

The cross-country course was looking too mountain-bike technical for me, but I did decide to race the short track the next day. This was going to be my first ever mountain bike race, and just as I had done for my only two cyclocross races, I rounded up my tennis shoes and some platform pedals. Now, according to collegiate rules, new racers must start their first race in the 'C' category. That's right, a road 'A' rider has to start out in the C's. I wasn't complaining though, plus I think without clip-in pedals I would've gotten roasted in the A's. The race was fun, I rode as hard as I could from the gun and lapped all but one rider. That was enough to get me my first

mountain bike win. Next time I don't think they'll let me ride any category except A's.

Post-race, and it's time to put in our clothing order with Hincapie. Not with George Hincapie silly, with the sportswear company! Anyway, my roommate Matt Hohn came up with a sweet alteration to the past year's jersey, check it out:

Julian and Sam displaying our super cool bib shorts

The shorts are the same as last year except the back panel is black instead of Gold. As you can see, the jersey is basically the same with inverted colors. Interested in getting one of our kits? Order here: https://sites.google.com/site/purduecyclingclub/clothing

Other things that I've been involved with are things like free bike tune-ups for the Boiler Green Initiative day, where we got to fix lots of squeaky brakes and rusty derailleurs, and lending bikes to Habitat for Humanity to use in the Hilly Hundred, who returned one of our bikes with handlebars twisted in all 3 dimensions. That's alright though, it'll get twisted back with a hard sprint or two...not.

This is also the first year I've been living off campus. Our own cycling club house, the "Bike Haus", has been passed down for several years now, and it was my turn to settle in. I get to live with four awesome guys who are passionate about cycling, the club, and most importantly, school. Two of my roommates are mechanics too, so it can't get any better! Well, that's all for now. Time for me to get ready for winter hibernation and wait for next year.

Where have I been?

2011-08-18T20:41:00.014-04:00

Well, it's been awhile since my last post. I've been pretty busy, unfortunately too busy to race at all in July. After Nationals, I took a week off and then started my "highly-anticipated" corn pollinating job. I was working full time and on the weekends, hence the no racing. Basically I went around and put bags on all the corn's private parts, then the next day took the bags off and self-pollinated each corn stalk. This went on for about two and a half weeks, and though it sounds laborious, it actually wasn't that bad. So the end of July rolls around and I complete my job, then hit the airport and I'm off to Vermont for a family vacation. It was a ton of fun and just the rest from the humidity that I needed. There were many activities and I was even able to get rid of my cycling tanlines.

Once I returned from Vermont, I was eager to race again, and just in time for our team's own race weekend in Winfield. I had been training hard all of July and was hoping to do well, or at least put in a good performance for my team. It turns out that I would have to settle with a good performance. Not racing at all for a month and a half took it's toll on me, but I was able to do my best to help Freund get the win on Saturday and McVey get the win on Sunday.

Saturday's twilight crit was all out from the gun. With a small field and rainy conditions(it hailed during the previous race!) I knew it would be a day for the breakaway. I was able to take the crowd prime at 1.5 laps in, then I continued my attack and was soon joined by Wayne Simon, Andy Crater, and Ryan. We were working well together until Crater decided to try on what seemed like every other lap. Being more of a sprinter than Ryan, I took the role of chasing down every single attack from Crater.

It would take a huge toll on me but I was still hanging on. Though The we were motoring along at a good pace, the field managed to come back to us with 10 to go. Ryan, Crater, and Wayne would again attack off the front, and I found myself in a chase group with Bryan and Ben. If only I had the legs it would've been perfect, but I couldn't handle it anymore and dropped off. I finished the race in 8th place with a little sprint ahead of Luke Seemann. As long as ABD got the win, it didn't matter to me, and with Ryan's win and other high placings, we had racked up a good amount of dough to split up.

Sunday's race started out almost the same way. We had a larger field this time, being a Cat 1/2/3 race with separate placings for the 3's. A few laps in, Ben counter-attacked off the front of a small group, and after looking back to see a sizable gap back to the bunch, I decided to attack and join him. Not to my surprise, Wayne Simon and Andy Crater both bridged up, along with Cory Hickman from the Scarletfire Racing team. Just like the day before, Crater wasn't helping the breakaway much with his constant accelerations. After we were caught, I slipped back in the group and let my teammates cover some moves, hoping to save myself in case of another dangerous move or a sprint at the end. Unfortunately I had made a big mistake before the race even started: I didn't bring enough water. I was starting to cramp up with about 15 laps to go, and even after a not-so-legal bottle hand up from my dad I was still feeling the efforts from the day before. Knowing that I wasn't going to be able to stand up and sprint, I tried my best to lead out Konrad. He lost my wheel with a lap to go, but was still able to pull off third place in the 3's. While all this was going on, at the front of the race Bryan had attacked from a lead group with about 16 laps to go. Having Ben and Ryan in the lead group to block for him, Bryan time trialed his was to an awesome win.

Bryan on his way to a dominating win!

These were some of my last races of the year and I have to now look ahead to life at Purdue. I have the privilege of running the Purdue Cycling Club this year as the new president, which I'm pretty excited about. It's going to be a super busy year for me, but I don't think my passion for racing will fade at all.

A Hot Week in Georgia: Road Nationals

2011-06-27T20:40:00.056-04:00

My trip down to Augusta, GA this year for U23 Road Nationals was an absolutely awesome trip. We didn't have a full team for Nationals but I ended up going down with my teammate Ben Damhoff, his girlfriend Molly, Jessi Prinner, and Jessi's parents. Two vehicles were required to get the party on the road, so we stuffed six bikes in one large van while Jessi and her parents drove alongside us in their own car. I'll keep the wordiness to a minimum as I try to describe this mess of a trip in a single blog post. Here goes nothing.

Tuesday

Agenda: Bust down to Georgia in 12 hours

As expected, the drive down was as much as we could handle in one day. Molly had the great idea of playing a game, and so I thought I might as well play along. I was thinking of some sort of sign game or "I Spy" or something like that, but no... Molly's "game" would soon put us in grave danger. She instructed us to weave in and out of the roadway reflectors that separated the lanes without touching them, while Ben tried to avoid the surrounding traffic. I couldn't take this terror any longer, and thinking fast I blasted the radio to distract Ben from Molly's voice, and soon he was able to regain focus to stop playing the game. That was the last suggestion we took from Molly for the remainder of the week. Other than that bit of trauma, the trip was rather boring of course.

Wednesday

Agenda: Preview TT course and pick up racing packets

The TT course would prove to be the most scenic race course of the weekend. Starting just inside the South Carolina border, it crossed over a huge dam into Georgia, through rolling hills surrounded by forest, then made a u-turn to come back and finish at the end of the dam. Ben, Jessi, Jessi's father, and myself all set out to take a look. I wasn't planning on racing the time trial, but I needed to get a ride in anyway as my first race wasn't until Friday. We went off at an easy pace and Ben and Jessi made a few hard efforts to get ready for their time trials the next day. While they were riding a little longer than an hour, I stopped and took the opportunity to snag some photos:

Jessi decided to try out some motorpacing and rode the course once more, and in the meantime Ben and I rode down a remote road on the other side of the dam. We found a small boat ramp and took off our shoes to wade in the refreshing water. We even took out some chairs to sit in the water and enjoyed the view of the massive dam that spanned the state border.

No one else knew about our relaxing hideout

Packet pick-up didn't go as smoothly. After Ben and I picked up up our packets and race numbers, we got in a long line to get Ben's TT bike checked out. This is not a mandatory check, but it's a good idea to check the night before to make sure the bike meets measurement regulations. Being a tall rider with a large bike, it was the dimensions that would force us to make some silly modifications to his bike. To make a long story short we had to add foam strips to his handlebars which were "too thin" and violated the maximum ratio of a 3:1 airfoil, and we also had to move his bars back a few centimeters. What made it ridiculous is that Ben had checked his bike at two NRC time trials previously this spring with no problems. At least we didn't have to saw off part of his frame, like some riders had to do to their $10,000 Specialized bikes. That was enough frustration for one night, and Ben needed to get some rest for his race the next day at noon.

Thursday

Agenda: Ben and Jessi's time trials/Tune-up ride

Once we got the the race, and before I did anything else, I took Ben's bike up the the officials to have it checked once more. We hadn't met up with Jessi and her parents the night before, so I also took her bike to get checked. Luckily there was no need to add any foam strips to her frame. While Jessi was warming up for her time trial at 10, I set out for a short ride with some leg-opener efforts . I took a scenic route along the South Carolina border and put in a few short intervals, then made it back in time to see Jessi finish her race. She clocked in a very good time in her field, enough to take third place! As with most good time trialists, she said that it was extremely painful and not fun at all, the signs of what a time trial should feel like if you do it right. Next up was the start of Ben's race. I rode over to the starting tent and what do you know, the ridiculous officials say that he needs to move his TT bars back even further. Ben kept his cool though and quickly adjusted his position a couple minutes before the start. Off he went, and 39 minutes later we saw him post up a time that was fast enough for second place. This was great news, but there were still many elite riders still to go. At the end of the day, Ben's time put him in the 20th spot, a very respectable result at Nationals.

Friday

Agenda: Downtown crit

We arrived to the downtown venue a few hours before Ben's race and decided to walk the course first. It was sort of a letdown with the backside of the course littered with glass, sand, and numerous potholes, and most of the businesses on the homestretch closed down. The course was literally in the heart of the ghetto of Augusta. There wasn't very much parking so we ended up on the side of a busy street under a tree, with complementary background noise of locals trading for cigarettes and blasting hardcore rap. The 95-degree heat took its toll on Ben during his race, however he did put in a great effort. About a third of the way through his 80 kilometer race a break of about nine riders went up the road and quickly got 20 seconds. Ben seized the opportunity and made a monster bridge to the break on the home stretch. Unfortunately Ben lost one of his bottles when it popped out on a bump in the road, and he decided it was best to drop out instead of risk becoming seriously dehydrated.

Luckily my race was later in the day when the temperature had dropped almost ten degrees. The U23 crit started out somewhat fast, but the course was open enough that I was able to make some major moves up towards the front. I had bad position in the beginning but within several laps I was up there with the Garmin and Livestrong boys who were dictating the race.

Somewhere in the back there

In the first three laps a break of about eight had gone, so there were still many riders at the front that were putting in the work to try to bring that group back. I was feeling good, so I took a couple pulls at the front and maintained my position. During the closing laps I tried my best to stay near the front, but once again I fell victim to the large swarm of riders that always bunch up at the end of almost any crit. I found myself about 25 spots back, then on the backstretch of the last lap, a Livestrong rider in front of me just plain sat up and let all the other riders get away. I was forced to go around him and lead out the rest of the pack, and in the end I was able to hang on for 31st place. Not what I was hoping for, but not that bad either considering the circumstances I was in.

Jessi's race was a bit of a mess actually. A huge storm rolled in just as the women were about to start, and the officials made the decision to cut down there race from 47 laps to 20 laps. By the time I got changed out of my cycling clothes it was already 5 to go, but the wind and rain was coming in even faster. Jessi was able to battle it out for a place mid-pack as the race ended in a massive bunch sprint, and then as if on cue, the rain started pouring down. Chris Uberti from Panther had met up with us earlier that day, and after he joined Ben, Molly and I for a quick dinner, we headed back to the Motel 6. Living in Greenville, SC, Chris was able to drive to the crit that day in about an hour, but we liked the company and he stayed in my room at the hotel for the next two nights. I told him he had to help feed me the next day though and also be my personal mechanic/soungier/servant.

Saturday

Agenda: U23 Road Race

For my U23 road race, Ben was nice enough to let me borrow his super cool prototype Bontrager wheels. I would find out that the 38mm carbon tubulars would help tremendously over the 14 mile hilly course, which I would circle 7 times for 102 miles. It was going to be another hot day with temperatures climbing over 100 degrees. I rolled up to the start line towards the back, and after we started a lot of the riders were very jumpy and nervous. A few miles in we had to pass through this barricade (did I forget to mention this course was in the Fort Gordon army base?) and a rider in front of me got too close to the side, nailing a post which sent his bike into the pack. Just like the crit the day before, I avoided a crash by narrowly missing his bike, but this time I bumped hard into the rider on my other side. I slammed down onto my top tube as my feet unclipped, skidding a few feet before I was able to put my foot down. I almost lost balance but was able to just barely stay on my feet. I quickly remounted and started to chase through the caravan back onto the field. It wasn't more than five minutes since I had gotten back into the field that there was another crash right in front of me. I'm not sure what happened but I was caught behind a huge pileup and was forced into a grassy ditch. I stayed on my bike and struggled to make my way back onto the road, then began chasing the field through the caravan. It was a familiar scenario for me.

By this time, about 40 riders had escaped off the front of the field in various breakaways, so I had no choice but to sit back and conserve energy for the next 90 miles. Each 40 minute lap, I was taking two bottles and an ice sock (pantyhose filled with ice and stuffed in the back of your jersey), which seemed to be working for me. The longer I rode, the smaller our group got as riders became overwhelmed by the heat. I could see it in their faces that the heat was hurting a lot of guys, and many also fell victim to cramping. Surprisingly, I was feeling absolutely great. Usually in long road races I start to cramp up between 60-80 miles in, but this time I didn't cramp up at all the entire race. With three laps to go I started to take cokes instead of gatorade, and my attention to how much I was eating and drinking started to pay off. A lap to go and the main field had dwindled to about 25 riders until we caught another 15-20 riders that had fallen off the pace of the breakaways. I was feeling on top of the world as I took a few pulls at the front of the group. It was amazing being there in the mix so far into the race alongside pros from all over the country, and I'm sure they were wondering who I was. With three miles to go there was an attack of four guys, but unfortunately I was boxed in at the time, so I had no choice but to watch them ride away and focus on the sprint of the remaining field. Coming into the last kilometer I was third wheel as a Livestrong rider ramped it up to lead out his teammate on the finishing climb. The Livestrong rider in front of me attacked on the climb with about 500 meters to go, and I dug deep to stay on his wheel. Around the last turn with 200 meters to go he looked back to see if he had a gap on the field, but I was right there, with Josh Berry from RealCyclist on my wheel. I opened up the sprint and had enough to hold off the field for 26th place. It was a great result for me, as I was originally hoping to just finish the race regardless of my placing. Even though it was only 26th place, it felt good to beat all the pros and Cat 1's in my group after 100 blazing hot miles.

Sunday

Agenda: Ben and Jessi's Road Race

Ben and Chris needed to get plenty of rest for their big race, and with Jessi's race starting early in the morning we got their in time to see her finish. Strangely her race stayed intact almost the entire time without much attacking until the last lap. We got there with a lap to go and Jessi was sitting well in the pack, thinking mostly about surviving through an unfortunate cold she had gotten. She toughed it out though and rolled in for a top 40 placing after a group of about five riders escaped to contest the win. Her race finished just in time for the midday temperatures to reach towards 100 degrees, but by this time we were used to it, right? Ben’s field started onto the course for a fairly quick first lap, while Molly and I drove down to get a good spot in the feed zone. The first time through a group of a dozen riders got off the front to dangle in the range of 45-60 seconds range, a move that didn’t seem too dangerous at the time. Just like in my race, Ben and Chris were taking one to two bottles per lap plus an ice sock. The cooling methods were working well for Chris, but then a flat at the top of the feed zone and an extremely long wheel change by the neutral mechanic forced him to chase for the next lap and a half. It wasn’t looking too good for Chris, and the next lap around he dropped off by our car and helped us with feeding Ben. Ben stayed calm and was slowly making his way up in the pack, waiting for the inevitable catch of the break and counter attack. That move would never come and for some reason every rider decided to ride as defensively as possible, keeping the group intact. He had no choice but to save energy for the final sprint up the finishing climb. The result for him was 24^th place, which wasn’t at all bad considering how many riders started. We had hope for the big win or podium spot, but what could he do against 200+ riders that were too afraid to make an attack. A callout from Dave Towle of the top 24 was a nice consolation though.

Monday

Agenda: Back to the Midwest

There isn’t much to say about the drive home, so whatever.

It had been a long week for all of us, even those that didn’t race, and we were eager to get home. Nationals was a great experience overall, and a chance to ride against different riders from all over the country and put in a noticeable result for yourself. I was hoping for a better result in the crit, but I still couldn’t believe my own abilities to survive the road race as well as I did. I’m anxious to get another chance at Nationals next year to see if I can place even higher.

TOAD (not the amphibian)

2011-06-19T16:37:00.011-04:00

Not much happened for me in terms of good results after Champaign, just some very tough racing at the Quad Cities races, the IL State Road Race, and the Tour of Galena. My teammate Ben did great though, and I was happy to help him get some big wins. Check out his reports here.

This last weekend was the start of the Tour of America's Dairyland, basically 9-10 days of ridiculously fast criteriums with a road race and a time trial. I only raced the second and third crits, Thiensville on Friday and the Giro d' Grafton on Saturday. Thursday night as I was getting things ready for the next day, I was surprised to see on the race flyer that there was a Cat 2/3 race a few hours before the Pro 1/2 race at six. I realized that this would be a good opportunity for me to get a result and some upgrade points, so I planned for doing both races.

The 2/3 race wasn't all that easy, not that it was fast, but it was constant accelerating as riders were moving up and chopping corners like children with knives. Seriously, it was a scary "chop-fest". I tried to stay out of trouble and avoid the numerous crashes, while at the same time trying to conserve energy for the Pro race later in the day. A tricky balancing act indeed. It seemed to work out though as I started the last lap third wheel in a pack that for the most part had stuck together for the entire race. Out of the last corner I was second wheel with 200 meters to go. It took me nearly the entire 200 meters, but I was able to come around and cross the line first for my second win of the season!

Just what I wanted, the prestigious Cow winner's jersey

Next up was the Pro race, and I knew that it would be tough for me after already riding two and a half hours. Surprisingly, I actually felt really good for the first half of the race. I didn't feel under pressure from the pace, I was able to move up, and I started to believe I might be able to put in another good result on the same day. Just as I expected though, I started to feel my legs aching and cramping with about 15 laps to go. I drank more Gatorade, tried to stay seated in the corners to save my quads, and stayed calm. I slowly started to move up and was looking at being in the top 20 with a few laps to go, until a large crash set me back. I narrowly missed an Aerocat rider's head who fell in front of me, and once I was clear I saw that I had lost about another 15 spots. In the end I managed a top 40 place, but to be honest I was just glad to finish. That was 75 miles of crit racing in one day.

The next day I decided to skip the 2/3 race, hoping that by saving my legs I might be able to put in a good result in the Pro 1/2 race, which paid money 30 deep. I didn't count on the fact that it would be a constant, somewhat helpless struggle to get to the front of the race when I started towards the back. The whole race I was trying to move up here and there, but the pace was just fast enough and there were enough riders moving up in the same spots I was that I seemed to be stuck in one spot. The constant sprinting out of the corners started to wear on me and I was hoping to get the race over with.

According to my power file, I was doing

a 1000+ watt sprint almost every lap

With about 10 laps to go I was still around 40-50 places back, and I had almost given up hope of getting to the front. I made a few more moves but this only got me a handful of spots and I was still way too far back. Then Bryan came to my rescue and we flew up to the front, leading the pack 1-2 with four laps to go. Coming down the home stretch I was still on Bryan's wheel as I started to sense a swarm of riders coming around on both sides. I scooted around Bryan and rode alongside three Kenda riders and a Mountain Khakis rider in about sixth place. I still had a good chance of staying up there, but I made the mistake of feeling content with where I was. If I had the chance to redo the race, I would've moved up to second or third wheel, anticipating what would soon be a ton of riders swarming to the front. However I did not do that, and I found myself back about 30 spots with two laps to go. My last chance was to follow Jonny Cantwell's wheel, who was right in front of me. I figured if I was boxed in that far back, I might as well be on the wheel of one of the best crit racers in the world. My second mistake was leaving Cantwell's wheel to try and get back on Bryan's wheel as he went up the inside of one of the corners for a second leadout, only to get squeezed by the pack diving to the side. I ended up finishing with another top 40. It was a close, nail-biting finale, but the fact that I was there and had the chance to get a good result is a morale-booster for me. I learned a lot that race about moving up, and I'm excited to see how I'll do at the U23 National Criterium Championship next weekend. It'll be a fun, hot week in Georgia.

Tour de Champaign

2011-05-25T16:09:00.008-04:00

Before I can even talk about the racing I first have to give a huge thanks to Mark Swartzendruber for organizing another great year for the Tour de Champaign. He really does know how to put on a good event. Even though the turnout wasn't as good as the last two years, I still think it was a great weekend with some hard racing. This year I thought the courses were awesome, and in my opinion they were the best courses we've had so far. Seriously, for anyone that decides to skip the Tour de Champaign next year, they're missing out on some of the best crit racing in the midwest.

So here's how it played out on Saturday. We had three guys racing for ABD including myself, Ben Damhoff, and Bryan McVey, against a field of about 30 riders. There was definitely some firepower with 5-6 Nuvo guys, Josh Carter, and Dave Williams of Bissell lining up at the start. This next bit might sound like I attacked and completely destroyed the field, but it's actually a little different than that. I was front row at the line and when the whistle blew, I kind of sprinted to the front and took the first two turns fast. What I was really trying to do was be in the top 5 guys those first couple of laps, as it was a pretty technical course with five turns in half a mile. In reality I ended up soloing off the front the next three laps, taking all the corners at crazy speeds, until eventually I saw Jonathan Jacob of Nuvo bridging up to me. By the time we got together and started taking pulls, we had about 15 seconds on the field. Jonathan was pulling through like a madman and it was all I could do just to hang on. I think I was pulling about half a lap for every 2-3 laps he would pull. We were pulling ahead and soon had 25 seconds, then 30, then we were about to lap the field. It was clear that Jonathan could have done this on his own, so in all fairness I said to him, "I'll let you take the win, no need to attack. I promise I won't contest the sprint, just let me get second." He nodded and this gave me some relief knowing that he wasn't going to try to attack me (if I had taken equal pulls with him, I'm pretty sure I would've dropped myself).

^One of the few laps I pulled

^One of the many laps he pulled

So we lap the field and soon learn that Dave Williams broke away and is about 20 seconds behind the field with Jeff Schroetlin trying to hold him back. Even with Schroetlin, who's also on Nuvo, trying to slow him down and just sit on, Williams was still gaining ground. I told my teammates to get to the front and keep the pace high, along with Jonathan's teammates who had the same idea. Eventually we make it to the final lap without letting Dave Williams catch us, and I slip back in the bunch to take second. When the race was over I was more than happy with second place. Jonathan was obviously much stronger than me and he deserved the win.

The next day was not so great. After registering, warming up and getting to the start line on time, the officials had to make the executive decision to cancel both the Cat 3 and the Cat 1/2 race due to some strong thunderstorms that were coming our way and a three-hour tornado watch. It's a shame that the Tour de Champaign had to end that way, not being able to put on the final races on what I thought was one of the coolest courses I've ever seen. Well, maybe next year.

Ben looking focused before Sunday's race got cancelled

Back to racing

2011-05-18T22:43:00.007-04:00

I didn't think the day would ever come, but it did. School actually ended! My sacrificing of my social life and training paid off, and I'm now officially a junior. What a relief! Now training to become the next Cancellara commences (yeah right Hogan, in your dreams). I've got a big year of racing ahead of me and I'm going to need all the training I can get. On the schedule are races like Dairyland, Elite Nationals, Superweek, and Elk Grove, to name a few. I actually raced my first criterium of the year, Monsters of the Midway, a week after school got out. The weather was just great. I mean 50 degrees, raining, and 20 mph winds, what more could you ask for? I was planning on riding my new team Trek Madone for the race, but with all the great weather, I didn't want the sun to glisten off the frame and blind the other riders.

So maybe the weather wasn't so great and it scared away a number of riders, as we only had about 25 guys in our field. Still, there were some big names at the start line, including two Bissell amateur riders that no one knew but who obviously looked strong. About three laps in, one of the Bissell riders and Robert Fasse of Bicycle Heaven attacked and had about a 5 second gap. I saw this was a good move and bridged up to them, then got to the front and started driving the pace. The Bissell rider wasn't looking too convinced that we would stay away and I wasn't trying to play any games this early in the race, so I continued to take some hard pulls until we got about 20 seconds on the field. For the rest of the race we were just dangling in front of the field about 20-30 seconds ahead, but I knew that if I could get the Bissell rider and Fasse to go all in then we would make it. It comes down to the final lap, and I stop pulling about halfway down the back stretch. We start to play "cat and mouse" and start to slow down. I looked back and saw that the gap was still at least 20 seconds, so I figured we couldn't possibly be caught going around the last two turns. I was wrong. As we exited the final turn with about 300 meters to go, I see Fasse open up the sprint. I was a little confused at his tactic because it was way too early to start the sprint. A moment later and I understood why he started sprinting already. I see a rider out of the corner of my eye sprinting all out, and then it hit me that the field had caught us! I of course take this as my cue to start my sprint, and was able to come around Fasse and the Bissell rider with about 50 meters to go to take the win. A little too close for comfort! Still, a win at Monsters is a great way to start the season and I was happy to know that the decrease in my training hadn't hurt me that much. I couldn't find a photo of the finish, but I'm pretty sure my victory salute was something along the lines of this:

Hey, it's better than having someone from the field pass you in the final meters for an embarrassing post-up like this:

To top it off I got to celebrate my 21st birthday the following Monday. I decided to go back to Purdue for the night and go out with my buddies and...well, I'll leave out the details. Anyway, the Tour de Champaign is this following weekend, something I've been looking forward to for a long time. I always enjoy racing in front of my family and friends, but most of all I enjoy not having to pack a bag and driving 10 minutes to the race. If all goes smoothly it's going to be a fun weekend of racing.

Been Awhile

2011-04-13T13:24:00.003-04:00

Wow, it looks like I've been slacking on the blog posts. I should have more stories to tell now that the racing season is underway. So far I haven't been able to race as much collegiate as last year, but still put in a good result here and there. Check out my report on the Mizzou Road Race: https://sites.google.com/site/purduecyclingclub/announcements/untitledpost

The only other two races I did after Mizzou were Hillsboro, where I got 17th for the second year in a row after a windy day (and a little bit of cyclocross maneuvering), and our Purdue Road Race, getting somewhere in the top 20. After those races I realized I might need more work in the hill-climbing portion of my training than I thought. So, that's what I'm up to right now.

One month until racing!

2011-01-29T20:49:00.010-05:00

Our first collegiate race is only one month down the road, a hilly weekend in Kentucky at Lindsey Wilson. It's hard to believe, considering there is still snow on the ground and has been for all of January. I think it's safe to say it's been an exceptionally tough winter for most midwest racers, and I've found myself resorting to the trainer and rollers more often than I'd like to. Anyway, enough boring trainer talk. Here's an update in pictures:

Skiing in Vail, CO

Cold ride

These aren't our kits, but the new kits for

the Verizon Masters team look pretty cool

Mike Sherer made it to the pros!

The classics are almost here...

...and that means my favorite

road race, Hillsboro-Roubaix

Update

2010-12-11T16:13:00.002-05:00

So during my break from studying for finals, I decided to write this blog post, and give a little update on what's been going on. Way back on Halloween, we hosted our cross race on Purdue's intramural fields, and just like last year, I borrowed a bike and slipped on my tennis shoes to line up against a field of 14 collegiate riders (about half of them were from Marian). The course was super tough with no place to rest at all, and somehow I managed to hang with Leibovitz for most of the race until I took a little spill on the last lap, and rolled in for 6th. It was brutal enough that I would probably put that race in my top 5 hardest races ever.

After our cross race, I took a couple weeks off the bike, which gave me some time to catch up on school. In terms of riding, there's really nothing much to write about from when I started training again up until now, but I've been getting excited about our team for 2011. Mike Ebert and Billy Dwyer have been working hard to get things ready for next year, and a few weeks ago they took a trip to Italy to finalize our equipment sponsors, along with Ron Ruanphae who filmed the events. I shouldn't speak on exactly what we'll be riding next year, nor should I speak on who I'll be riding with next year until everything's set in stone. All I can say is I think the team is going to be stepping up to another level, and the recent signing of Mike Sherer to Kelly Benefits Strategies is great for the future of the development program Ebert had envisioned. Besides the Verizon team, our Purdue club team has been making good progress as well. I'm thankful to have a super strong rider like Joey back in school to help me out against the Marian Fleet, and we also have some promising new freshman in the club that could really do well in the spring. Speaking of Purdue, did you know that next week is something that the university calls "finals week"? Which brings me back full circle. So, until 2011, I've got four final exams in my way, and then it's freedom for a month.

Well...that's about it

2010-10-05T12:50:00.010-04:00

Man, I can't believe the racing season is already over. It's been a long year, starting with collegiate racing at the end of Febuary, and now just finishing with the Fall Fling circuit races last weekend. I was pretty excited for these races; my goal was to mostly to have fun, and I wanted to be aggressive and try out some new tactics. Instead of just waiting for the sprint on Saturday's windy 2-mile loop, I attacked at the start of the second lap and was solo for about five or six laps. I wasn't planning on staying away solo for all 45 miles, but I wanted to set up Ryan for a counter move or a bridge. Soon I was joined by Scott Rosenfield, then Chris Mosora, Rob Kelley, and Andrew Lister, but no Ryan. I worked with the group for the entire race until five to go, when the attacks started. Lister eventually sneaked away in one of these attacks to take the win, Mosora soloed in for second, and I duked it out with Rob Kelley for third. What a painful way to take third.

The next day was a 75-minute race on a 9-corner, 1.5 mile course. A couple of laps in, I jumped on Mosora's wheel as he chased down an attack by Ryan, and the three of us went clear. Despite being a Verizon masters rider, Mosora was still several points up on Ryan in the GC, so we did what we had to do and left Mosora behind. The two of us rode into the finish 1-2, in what had to be the most painful breakaway of my life. Ryan was motoring along in a huge gear and I was on his wheel begging for mercy. Pretty soon, I went up to him and said,"hey, can we take it down a notch? Please?!" He looked at me and said,"just drink more Gatorade, you'll be fine." I was thinking, Ryan, this isn't football! Somehow I managed to finish, after riding 30 or so minutes in the red zone. I don't know how Ryan does it. So I finish off my racing season on a high note, and look forward to training hard this winter so I can hopefully come back stronger next year. First season with the Verizon U25 team...a blast!

Next up for me is lots of training. Also our Purdue cross race, which I'll be racing if I can find a bike to borrow. Funny, my first ever blog post was about our cross race last year. Now that racing is over my blog posts will probably follow a trend similar to this graph:

However, if anything remotely interesting happens to me and I can somehow tie it into cycling, I'll be sure to post it on this cycling-related blog. Well, that's about it, so here's to a rockin' fun racing season, courtesy of Joey Iuliano:

Sills #3

2010-08-30T20:50:00.006-04:00

Believe it or not, there is another Sills coming into the sport of cycling... my 12 year-old brother Henry. His first ever Junior race was Winfield's Sunday crit, which included 5 laps up a killer hill. 5 laps doesn't seem like very much, but for the 10-14's on a hilly course that's a lot to ask for, and Henry rode a great race. He tried an attack, stayed with the group for the first 3 laps, then held off the kid behind him for 4th place...in his first race! In my first race, I got dropped on the first lap and finished 7th out of 6 (at least that's what place I felt like I got). I had a great time helping him train, giving him race tips, and then watching him have a blast racing. Maybe Verizon U25 will have a young junior next year?

The Green Mountain State

2010-08-17T21:41:00.011-04:00

Every year my family and I take a trip to Northeastern Vermont, where we relax and do lots of lake activities that we can't do in boring ol' Champaign, IL. This year, because of summer school finals, I wasn't able to go with my family right away, but I soon joined them in Vermont (after a long delay at the airport) and was able to stay for a week. It's basically tradition that the night I get there I try to catch a bass off the dock, but this year I was greeted with temperatures in the 50's for the first two days, and that was enough for me to make up the excuse, "I won't be able to catch anything during this cold front, so I'll fish another time." Really, I just didn't want to go out in the cold. So it slowly gets warmer, my dad and I go for some bike rides, and soon I've convinced him to go ride Bald Mountain with me, a 3-mile ascent with deep gravel and some steep sections (the deep gravel is on the steep sections, just to make it more difficult for bikers).

About halfway up we had some rear derailleur trouble when a dog chased down my dad causing him to eject from the bike. He was ok, but the derailleur hanger was not, so I rode up to the top and borrowed a phone from a someone living up there and called for a ride back home. After that excitement, the next couple of days were perfect for some waterfront activities. I tried out the kneeboard for the first time, which was pretty fun, and also did some snorkeling out to my man-made bass structure.

We had some visitors too... a family of ducks stopped by twice and walked up on our lawn.

I went out on the dock every night trying to catch Mr. Bass, but with no luck. Soon I gave up on night fishing and got up early in the morning a few times. Still no luck with bass, so eventually I succumbed to perch fishing, because I needed to catch SOMETHING.

These little fish are fun to catch, but nothing like the huge adrenaline rush of having a 5-pound smallmouth jumping around on the end of your line in the pitch black of night. One of these years I'm going to wear a heart rate monitor when I go night fishing, I bet I might actually get up towards 180 bpm. Morning fishing has it's luxuries though, like bringing breakfast in the boat and enjoying the beautiful sunrise warm up the glassy lake surface. That's something that never gets old.

Speaking of Vermont, I'd like to acknowledge some of my loyal blog readers who also visit Vermont in the summer. Dan and Katy, thanks for following my blog from all the way in NYC, and thanks to some other new readers who I met on my trip!

Superweek-ing

2010-07-30T12:13:00.004-04:00

As a first-year Cat. 2, I was a little intimidated coming into the Superweek races and racing against some accomplished pros. I remember it was only a couple of years ago that I was trying to get autographs from guys like Karl Menzies and Jonathan Cantwell, and now I was racing alongside them. The races were probably the fastest I've ever been in, especially on courses like Evanston and Downer Ave., but I still felt great during the 60-mile crits. I didn't have any incredible results, but I was able to help Sherer and Freund as much as I could to get them some high placings, and had a lot of fun too. My favorite race of the three weekends was Schlitz Park, because as brutal of a course as it was, it suited me pretty well with a steep hill. Here's a sweet video on the race by our very own camera man Justin Teichen: http://vimeo.com/13532567

Evanston was certainly one of the coolest crit courses I've ever raced on, a little technical but super fast. Some of the other races I did were Beverly, Geneva, and Kenosha, all pretty fun courses. A lot of people started to dislike Superweek in the past couple of years because of various reasons, but all I know is I had a great time racing. The races were organized, the courses were great, and the crowds were supportive. I'm definitely looking forward to going back next year, but for now it's on to the Tour of Elk Grove, where I'll get to try out my new Quarq power meter. More on that later.

TOAD and Proctor

2010-06-30T07:40:00.006-04:00

If you followed the Tour of America's Dairyland at all this year, you probably noticed Verizon U25 in the headlines several times. We took the first yellow jersey with a huge win by Ryan in Shorewood on the first stage, and after that we took back the jersey with consistent sprinting by Mike and a 5th place in the Road America stage. For the final weekend, we tried our best to hold Mike's 3rd place in the GC, but unfortunately on the last day the two riders below him got away in the winning break and he dropped down to 5th. I'm sure he's pretty disheartended by that, we all are after busting our asses for our leader, but looking at the bigger picture we had a GREAT Tour of America's Dairyland, and Mike's 5th is VERY impressive. He had to fight against pro teams for 11 days, and he managed to hold off some super-strong riders below him until the final stage. You can't say that Mike didn't exceed any expectations.

I think I exceeded my own expectations too, of what I can do at such as high level of racing. The first day I rode in Thiensville I got dropped with about 15 minutes left of racing. The course was wet and the accordion effect out of the corners was terrible. The entire race I tried to move up as much as I could, but used too much energy for the 90-minute crit. The next day in Grafton my goal was to move up using as little energy as possible, and I started to get the hang of passing guys in the corners, rather than sprinting up in the straights. The next weekend in Fond du Lac I started in the second row on the line, so position came a bit easier. However, this time my goal was to mark as many attacks as I could along with Danny to keep Mike fresh for the finish. I finished in the middle and Mike ended up getting 6th, so I think we did our job. The following day was the Downer Classic, home of the $5000 super-prime, which attracted Karl Menzies and Hilton Clarke to the race. Again, our goal was to mark attacks for Mike, but halfway through the race a dangerous 10-man move got off with the rider in 4th place. Ebert, myself, and Danny all took monster pulls to help Orbea bring it back with about ten to go. Surprise, surprise, Hilton took the sprint with Menzies in second... and Mike had another nice result in 9th place. Sadly, the next day he would lose the 3rd spot on the podium, but not without a valiant effort. Instead of Dairyland, I went down to the Proctor crit that day (now the Peoria Cycling Classic) with Verizon Cat 3's Joe Tortorelli, John Herrel, and Ethan Stone, so that I could meet up with my dad and get a ride back to Champaign.

The 1/2 race didn't have as great of a turnout as in year's past, but the field still had some firepower. Things were sooo sloooow in the beginning, but then the attacks started on lap 2 and we were racing. ABD rider and former Jelly Belly pro Brian Dziewa showed up and the two of us teamed up. I said I was feeling pretty good and he was willing to lead me out if it came down to a sprint. In the meantime, we both attacked and countered, with Brian covering a lot of early moves that helped me get away with 9 other riders (Dave Moyer, Scott Pearson, Bryan McVey, Tomasz Boba, among others) on one of the counters. We quickly gained 20-30 seconds on the field, and were putting in a few more seconds on them with each lap. With about 25 minutes left, Dave Moyer of XXX racing launched the first attack from the group, and after a couple laps off the front he was out of bridging distance. We tried to get a paceline going to bring him back, but he was strong enough to keep us at bay. In the end, we sprinted it out for second and third (after a bajillion attacks from Scott Pearson). I was a pretty tired after marking the accelerations at the front on the last lap, and I have to admit I was a bit too confident with my sprint, so I got beat at the line by Andrew Lister of Dogfish. At the time I was a little disappointed, but looking back a 3rd place in the 1/2 race at Proctor is a great result. Brian was best of the rest with a last lap attack that held off the field for 11th place, so the two of us had a great race.

Success!

2010-06-14T15:22:00.003-04:00

What a great weekend of racing! After some disappointment at the Memorial Day weekend races a couple weeks ago, I got back some confidence with a sweet win in the 2/3's race at Sunday's Tour de Grove, and my teammate Danny Robertson came in right behind me for second. But before that, I was able rise to the occasion and put in a good performance the day before at the Midtown Alley criterium. The course was similar to Monsters with two long straightaways and four turns, a little over a mile in length. Mother Nature once again decided a crit with fair weather would just not be exciting enough, so she let the rain pour down torrentially for our entire race. Towards the end the wind picked up and the rain came down even harder, making it almost impossible to see the rider in front of you. I started to move to the front to keep Sherer out of trouble, but he flatted with two to go, and I was left to sprint it out coming off of Will's wheel. I managed a 9th place after a few riders faded in the closing meters due to a long sprint.

Sunday's schedule split the 1/2's up, having a 2/3 race and then the NRC Pro/1 race. It was a great opportunity for Danny, Waylon and I to get some good results of our own. Conditions were hot during our race, with 90+ temperatures, and a lot of riders feeling it. Danny and I got into a small 3-man move early on, but that didn't stick. Then Waylon went off the front solo for almost a lap, hoping another rider would join, but again that didn't stick. Eventually some strong attacks went off the front, and with a lot of bridging and counterattacking, there was soon a group of 11 guys, including Danny, myself, and Verizon masters rider Dave Stone. The group wasn't very cohesive, but we did our part to pull through and motivate them just enough to keep the break alive. Last lap, coming into the second to last turn, Dave Stone signals to me he'll start the leadout. Once Dave accelerated, Danny jumped onto my wheel and the three of us went into the final turn on the front. Dave's leadout was super strong, and I don't think anyone else had the energy or firepower to challenge him. Through the final turn, he swung wide and I opened the gas with 200 meters to go. Danny swept my wheel and made sure a Verizon U25 1-2 finish was in the bag. The field came in over 30 seconds later, but unfortunately Waylon went down hard coming through the last turn as he geared up for the sprint. Nonetheless, us cat 2 guys did what we wanted to do, taking home the win. Probably even more exciting though was Sherer's spectacular result in the NRC race later in the day, a win in the field sprint for 3rd place! I'll let him tell you more about that.

Abridged Update

2010-05-24T21:34:00.003-04:00

Going back to Monsters, it was a fun race of non-stop attacking from our Verizon U25 team. In the end I slotted between Freund and Sherer with one to go in an attempt to get a leadout going, unfortunately I couldn't keep the pace Freund had set when he pulled off and he ended up taking one more pull. Sherer had no choice but to go at 300 meters and got nipped at the line. I think we can pull off that leadout next time we get a chance.

Jumping ahead to Champaign, another fun race on Saturday by the Assembly Hall. Last year I won this race in the Cat 3's, this year I held on for dear life. I did manage to get one prime, but after that I was toast and finished towards the back. Good thing Ryan and Will dominated the breakaway for an epic 1-2 win, complete with a Droid texting victory salute!

Next day the heat got to me, as it did with many guys. Over half the field dropped out. How cruel Mother Nature was to have two weeks of low-60's and then all of a sudden a 90+ day with lots of humidity. I was at the front for the first few laps, then sprinting out of the hairpin turn got my heart rate high enough where I couldn't get it back down (avg. of 190bpm for the race), and I drifted off the back. So I got lapped a couple times, met up with Chris Uberti, we sprinted it out for fun, and that was it. A great weekend to put on our races, excellent venues and no rain! A huge thanks to Druber for all his hard work. Check out his blog (see my blog list) if you have any sweet ideas for next year or want to get his take on the events.

Last collegiate post: Nationals

2010-05-10T22:09:00.007-04:00

Friday's national road race championship on the Blue Mounds course was by far the most exhausting race I've ever done. On a day with perfect conditions, the 14-mile course would be considered very difficult with it's multiple hills and a mile-long climb to the feed zone each lap. The weather that day was almost as bad it gets for riding a bike...low 40's, steady rain, some wind but luckily not too much. The miserable conditions made the freezing 45+ mph descents just as tiring. The constant ups and downs meant a lot of shifting and braking, which is not so easy when your fingers are frozen and completely numb.
It was so cold and wet that my arms and legs were sore, and it was painful to get out of that saddle to sprint over the top of a hill. With that, I'll tell a little bit about the racing/death march.

On the first lap I knew I had to get warmed up as soon as possible, so I attacked on the first steep hill and stayed off the front for a couple of miles. I knew I wasn't strong enough to stay away alone, it was merely to raise the heart rate and get some feeling in my body. After I got back in the field, I made sure to make my way to the front by the foot of the long climb. This way I could drop back through the field while climbing and not get dropped. Well I got dropped anyway, but because I started at the front I was only off by a little bit at the top and was able to catch back on after the descent. This is how I rode for the next four laps...slide back through the field on the climb, get dropped, and catch back on. On the second to last lap, I got to the front before the climb, got dropped and then tried to catch back on again while descending. This time however, they were gone. I joined four other riders who had also lost contact and the five of us rode at a reasonable pace for the remainder of the lap before the last time up the climb. This time up the climb, there was an additional 1 mile of ascending to the finish. At this point I really just wanted to get done as soon as possible, so I went up the climb at my own tempo, dropping my companions. I caught a lone Marian rider by the time I got to the feed zone, then dropped him once I made the right-hand turn for the last mile of climbing. Rolled across the finish line in a delirious state for 33rd. I was about halfway from the last finisher, and that means at least half of the riders that started didn't finish. Definitely an extreme race, as Joey put it.

There's not much to say in the crit. The first few laps were uber-fast, and once I settled into the 28 mph average I tried to move up as best I could, but once I got caught in the back, that was pretty difficult. For some reason my wrist started to act up, which I think was from a slight sprain a week earlier, probably from weight lifting. I just couldn't stand up to sprint out of the corners like I normally did, it even hurt to brake before corners. My guess is the cold from the road race exacerbated the sprain a little. Oh well, you can't do decent all the time. I just wasn't having a good day. So that's it for collegiate racing, now it's time to race every frickin' weekend and rack up some results with my Verizon U25 team!

Regionals at Purdue

2010-04-25T23:34:00.010-04:00

This year our team got the chance to host midwest regionals, and I think it's safe to say we did a pretty darn good job. Thanks to a lot of help from everyone and especially our main-man Joey we pulled off a great weekend of racing, starting with a TTT and road race Saturday, then ending with a super tough crit on Sunday.

TTT (Course: 7 miles, flat)

Men's A TTT podium

With the fast pace we were holding at SIU before Joey's flat, we knew we could put down a very fast time. Pre-TTT went off smoothly in terms of getting the aero postitions right with the equipment and a little warm-up, except Naveen almost missed the start after deciding to ride off within two minutes because he needed to "open his legs some more". Luckily he rolled up with only 15 or so seconds to spare. So we started off pretty fast, in fact we dropped Naveen within the first mile. Not as planned, but we couldn't wait for him, so Joey, Chris and I trudged on and ended up finishing third, just 4 seconds behind Lindsey Wilson. Slightly disappointing, but still a great time.

Road Race (Course: 7.5 miles, 9 laps, two tough hills)

The plan was to always have at least one of our guys in the break. We also considered a leadout for Chris if it all stayed together, which we thought it might with the flat straight sections. Turns out I ended up making a strong attack to bridge to a break, with Will Nowak on my wheel, and riding away with the 8-man break for the remaining 50+ miles. I probably wasn't the best guy to go in such an early break with my "distance problem" but I made sure to drink plenty, eat plenty, coke later on, yatta-yatta-yatta, same thing as Hillsboro. I tried my best in the sprint but ended up getting 7th. Still, that was my best result for a collegiate road race yet.

Crit (Course: 1 km, steep uphill finishing stretch)

Doing my best to slow down the chase

The chase group sprint finish

Man this course sucked. Not that it wasn't a cool course, around Ross-Ade Stadium, right behind my dorm...definitely a fun course. But it didn't help that the basically the entire time it was raining. The first couple of laps were all-out, and starting a little ways back I had to jump around plenty of guys to get up to the front group. Chris Uberti made a nice attack early on with Leibovitz and after dropping him ended up staying away. I did my best to slow down the chase form Lindsey Wilson (and Marian after Leibovitz dropped back). At one point he got up to 50 seconds on us, about 30 seconds from lapping us, when one of the Lindsey Wilson riders fainted at the side of the road, forcing the race to stop as the ambulance needed to get in. This was good for me actually, I took on another bottle, and talked to some friends that braved the wet weather to watch me suffer. After Chris got his 50-second head start, we began racing again and I began blocking again. Once he lapped us, I slipped back a little bit and started to think about my own sprint. I was feeling pretty good as I went through the last turn third wheel and jammed up the hill. I couldn't get around Matt Brandt or Greg Christian though, and finished the race with another fine 4th place. Hats off to Chris, what a way to win your last collegiate race in dominating fashion.

Happenings

2010-04-14T22:51:00.002-04:00

What is happening...well a lot is happening. Besides a nasty crash in the Tilles Park crit the day after Hillsboro that I'd rather not elaborate on (basically some serious road rash on the left side, mainly under the arm as I hit the pavement chest first), my form has been coming along much better than I thought it would. I've been quite aggressive in the crits with some reasonable results, with essentially no interval training at all. My big result came this past weekend at Hillsboro. Honestly, my first goal was to finish the race, if not finish the race in the main group (a.k.a peloton, if there is such a thing at the end of the Hillsboro road race). I made sure I was plenty hydrated before and during the race, ate plenty of food, conserved energy, yatta-yatta-yatta. Probably the biggest thing that helped was the coke I drank over the last lap, never had tried that trick in a race before. Anyway the race stayed together almost the entire race, until the major splintering of the bunch occurred on the crosswind back-sections on the north side of the course. I had to work my tail off jumping around guys who left gaps, and with a strong pull helped bring back a good sized group of riders to the main field. After that, it was a matter of waiting and waiting, until the inevitable attacks on the last two hills...which didn't happen. Surprisingly, the main group (by now about 40 or so riders) stayed together over the last two hills, which was lucky for me considering how spent I was. I saw Sherer get right on the back of the Panther train, so I decided to sit back a little farther and sprint for myself. Ended up coming in 17th, out of 125 guys, so I'm very pleased with that result. I really did not think I could do that well in an 87 mile road race, I'm more of a crit guy and the long distances are something I have to continually work on.

Now, I was planning on going right back into collegiate racing after Hillsboro, trying to gain some points for the team to qualify for Nationals, but after my crash, my beat up bike, and my school grades being on the edge, I decided it would be best to take the weekend off. Gotta get those grades up, it's getting down to crunch time.

Le Report de SIU

2010-03-28T22:40:00.005-04:00

The TTT went off without a hitch, if you consider a flat tire 4 miles from the finish that forces the team to stop successful. We recruited Chris L. as our fourth rider, expecting him to drop off, which he did, but was still a huge help early on in the headwind. But man we were haulin', can't wait for our regional TTT. Later in the day...the 60 mile road race started off with a Lindenwood rider going from the gun, and he managed to stay away until 3 miles to go. Buuut, before that there was much drama. A Lindsey Wilson rider went next then a Marian rider. I got in two promising moves after much attacking with Rob Bush, Kip and some other guys, but nothing stuck. Luckily Drew and Joey ended up getting in the chase group that DID stick, so I sat back just to finish. After a lot of slow chit-chat riding I won the field sprint for 15th. The crit the next day didn't look too appetizing, with steady showers in the morning. But the course suited me and my legs felt good so I was anxious to race. From the gun spider monkey A.K.A. Ben Damhoff went and lapped the field, as expected, as the rest of us sprinted out of every corner without making any gain on him. Later on I jumped in a move with Rob Bush, Kip, Leibo, Matt Brandt, and two other Lindenwood riders. We didn't lap the field but we got close, mainly because once spider monkey lapped the field he started pulling us back. At the start of the last lap Leibo attacked and I was forced to chase it down, which set up Rob for an attack which netted him 2nd place, then I was beat by Matt in the sprint. 4th place is my best result yet, so I'm pretty stoked. Aaaand...that's it.

Team Camp!

2010-03-21T00:54:00.004-04:00

H-okay, so...ze team camp.

I can't tell you how excited I was about the coming weekend as I pulled into Ebert's place (temporary place, actually) right in the middle of Winfield's Sunday crit course. Shortly after I met up with Danny and Sherer before heading out on our first ride for the camp.

Thursday:

It was supposed to be an easy 2-3 hour stroll, until Druber showed up. He pummeled us in the wind and up the hills and I was glad to get back to the house. My legs felt like crap but Rosa's cooking really hit the spot and made the difference, and after dinner Ebert sat down with all of us for some one-on-one meetings (oh yeah, Will showed up for dinner and the meetings, great to see him again).

Friday:

Woke up at 8:45 to get ready for the 9:30 AM ride, realized it was actually 7:45, went back to bed. Woke up again and this time got ready for real. The agenda for this ride was to work on leadouts and get a feel for some aggressive crosswind pacelining. I'm pretty sure Sherer and Danny will be up to the task of making it to the line first in sprints this year, but unfortunately my small size won't lend much of a leadout. The PM ride saw the additions of Freund, Janowiak, and Meyers, along with Billy Dwyer and some ABD club members. Going out the winds were as annoying as a 6-year old boy crying over dropping his sucker. On the way back the faster speeds yielded some town-sign sprints, and a couple of times it looks like Billy stuck it to Meyers in their two-up sprints to mailboxes or whatever those two saw on the side of the road. Dinner this time was courtesy of Druber, and o-m-g, it was d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s. Rosa's desserts topped it off and we ended up with 6 happy cyclists, nuff said.

Saturday:

Late morning, Ryan and I did the indoor TT held right down the street, or I should say I attempted it while Ryan smashed it. He clocked in at 14:09 for the hill climb course, and I at 14:55. He was an absolute powerhouse. While he was cooling down, he rode the course again against some masters riders, and towards the end he pulled a "Contador" attack and sprinted his way up the hill at 600+ watts. Yeah, he's pretty strong people. Once we got done cleaning up the place and taking computrainers back to Prairie Path Cycles, Waylon, Ryan, and I hit up a great restaurant with Ebert and the rest of the ABD family and stuffed our faces one last time before heading back home.

Next up, I'm headed south to SIU for some collegiate racing.

New Bike Pics

2010-03-14T23:35:00.010-04:00

If any of you have never seen a Trek Madone up close, they're definitely one of the sharpest looking bikes out there:

Lindsey Wilson

2010-03-07T23:11:00.006-05:00

At the start of the weekend, my honest goal was to simply finish the road race, not a small feat considering 75 miles with 4 climbs and a steep 20% rise just before the finish. Instead of bridging and attacking like a maniac like last weekend, I stayed put for most of the race, conserving my energy. It was all I could do just to finish the race, but my legs felt reasonably good on the last climb and I ended up finishing second out of the peloton (only about 12-15 riders in the end) to my teammate Andrew Otte, getting 16th. It truly was as beautiful of a course as it was brutal.

The crit started out a bit nerve-racking, as I rolled to the start 2 laps late, and begged the officials to let me roll in at the back of the pack. I'll make sure to double check the time from now on before I go warm-up. So I spent several laps making it to the front, and saw Chris Uberti attack off the front with a small group including Will Nowak and Rob Bush, which was a great situation for us. When it was clear they would stay away, I ended up in a chase group with three other guys, got reeled back in, then tried to lead out Chris for the sprint after they had lapped the field. I was hoping he was on my wheel but the second to last corner was so hectic that it would be hard for any small leadout. Anyway I finished about 3rd or 4th in the field sprint, and I couldn't be happier with the result considering I nearly missed the race. Now it's time to take a break from collegiate racing for a couple weekends, get in some riding over spring break, then spend some time with the Verizon U25 guys at a team camp.

Murray State-Brief Summary

2010-03-01T23:18:00.003-05:00

So my first collegiate races were this past weekend, and it gives me a chance to put up my first race report. My teammate Joey has posted up a more extensive report, so I'll highlight some main points of my races. First of all, I was very impressed by the other A riders on my team, Andrew, Will, and Joey. All of them were in the mix both days, getting into breaks and what not, and sometimes I wished I had as much energy as they did.

The road race on Saturday started out well, I had planned on staying in the pack for most of the 64 miles and waiting for the sprint. I told myself I wouldn't last the whole race if I got into an early break, but once we got going I couldn't control myself, and ended up in a few initial moves. One of the moves I got in was the third chase group on the road on the last lap. We ended up getting 45 seconds without much trouble, but unfortunately we got reeled back in and after that my legs were shot. I got a flat before the last turn a few miles from the finish but my legs were cramping anyway.

Felt a lot better during the crit on Sunday, chasing down some dangerous moves and waiting for the inevitable sprint on the flat open course. I was in 10th or 12th spot starting the last lap, but went too fast around a corner and went up on the grass (which was mostly mud), got back on the course, moved up several more spots in the closing turns, and finished 20th. Exciting stuff, but nerve-racking.

What a fun weekend, I had a blast with the guys on the team during the races and hanging out. Next weekend, Lindsey Wilson

Time to reflect

2010-02-18T16:34:00.007-05:00

Riding has always been my escape from society, and has given me time to reflect on the ups and downs of life. After my close friend passed away yesterday, I realize just how fragile life is. Never take it for granted. Enjoy every bit of it.

Because there is nothing funny on my blog so far

2010-02-06T10:28:00.002-05:00

I also posted a pointlessly funny video on my twitter (see panel at right)... oh boy!

Verizon Wirless powered by ABD

2010-01-31T23:11:00.003-05:00

The team meeting went well as hoped for. It was nice to finally meet the guys and some representatives of the core sponsors, and it looks like we'll have a solid group of people working behind the scenes so that we can perform our best. The team website is supposed to be up and running within a couple weeks, but for now I'll just touch on some of the main points for this season. First off we are apparently filming a documentary, racing and team meetings and everything in between. Speaking of filming we'll be using helmet cams for some of the races/rides and posting them to YouTube, etc. making sure to give our deserving sponsors plenty of exposure. There's going to be a big emphasis of exposure for sponsors, as our team is being given a lot of playing ground from smaller sponsors depending on us to spread the word. The season slated for us includes races like Quad Cities, Dairyland, Superweek, Elk Grove, Winfield, and a bunch of other races I should mention but don't have the time to write. Our team manager/coach Mike Ebert and his partners in crime have big visions for this developmental program, not only for this year but in years to come. All I can say is I'm honored to have been picked to be a part of this team, and hopefully I can help it grow and be a part of something midwest cycling hasn't seen before. Can't wait to race!

Scratch that

2010-01-29T17:44:00.004-05:00

We'll be riding these instead of Gary Fishers:

Our second team meeting, and my first, will be this Sunday. I'm uber-excited to meet the guys, and deal with some other logistics like headshot photos, race schedule, rider agreements, etc. Until then, don't go and crash your bike on the next ride people, I'm just telling you in case you were thinking otherwise.

It's official

2010-01-09T19:49:00.003-05:00

Verizon U25 Team presented by ABD:
Ryan Freund
Waylon Janowiak
Luca Lenzi
John Meyers
Danny Robertson
Mike Sherer
Will Nowak
Hogan Sills

Developmental team coming together

2010-01-05T20:10:00.003-05:00

Since being contacted way back in September about becoming a part of a Verizon Wireless developmental team, plans have been changing almost constantly. It finally seems as though things are more set in stone now, and I feel like I can talk about the team a little more without sending the wrong ideas. I'm still not 100% sure who is on the roster, so I'll leave that until later, but as for the equipment it looks like we're getting some nice swag from Prairie Path Cycles. Pactimo kits, pro deals on shoes, helmets, glasses, and a bike of course:

Our next team meeting should be soon, and hopefully by then I can better understand who I'll be going to battle with. Should be an exciting season.

Off to the Slopes

2009-12-17T19:04:00.002-05:00

Well I'm off to Colorado tomorrow to visit my grandparents and enjoy some awesome skiing at Vail. Which reminds me, to remind you, that cross-training and adequate rest are an important part of any training plan, especially in the winter months. I've just finished my weight lifting phase, but before I go into my preparation months of LT work it's essential that I get some rest. Thus my Colorado trip is more than just a Christmas break, it's also I time to flex the legs a bit with skiing and rest up. And don't even think about gorging yourselves with candies and cookies like our friend Jan Ullrich. It's ok to let yourself go slightly, as I've done by a few pounds, just remember that losing weight is harder than gaining it. With this in mind, I'll be back riding in early January and then a later on heading to Chicago for our first U25 team meeting. Hope you all have a safe and fun holiday season!

TDF 2010 outlook

2009-12-04T17:12:00.003-05:00

I know it's only December 2009, but it's never too early to start talking about next year's big races, especially the Tour de France. Things look even more interesting than last year in terms of which teams have the big guns. There's basically going to be three teams going with the tandem attack: Saxo Bank, Astana, and Radioshack.

The Schleck brothers of Saxo Bank represent the epitome of combining two team leaders, they essentially race together as one uber-racer. Then there's Astana, who is probably looking at an even more tense situation with Contador and Vinokourov on the same team than in last year's tour with Contador and Armstrong. If Contador is the team leader, which will almost certainly be the case, I can't picture Vinokourov being the perfect super-domestique...he's just too aggressive and cocky to fall in line with what Contador wants him to do. I think Radioshack's tandem of Armstrong and Levi will work without a hitch, and I think Levi rides better as a domestique than a leader in the grand tours. In addition to those two, Andreas Kloden will play a huge role in the grand tours as well, and he may even find himself higher up than Levi on Lance's list of domestiques. Contador is still the best grand tour contender at the moment, but Saxo Bank and Radioshack are going to give him a run for his money if he wants to make it three TDF wins. What of the other contenders? Cadel is moving to BMC, and I'm not sure if that was a great move with no standout pure climber on the team. Then again, he didn't have much help in the mountains on his Lotto team either, who are trying to fill the void left by Cadel by signing Roman Kreuziger. In my opinion I think they shouldn't waste their efforts in the grand tours with Roman, they're better off signing a good rider for the classics, that's where they really get most of their results. You can't forget Carlos Sastre, but I think he already had his moment in the spotlight. He'll be a factor in the mountains and a stage win is likely, but he doesn't have a strong team with him like he had with CSC, and probably won't win the tour again. Garmin continues to surprise me, and I'm anxious to see what Vande Velde can pull out next year (Wiggins has left for Team Sky), a podium in the Tour would confirm their status as a grand tour threat. You all know the rest of the contenders...Menchov, Valverde, etc. They should think realistically about their chances with Saxo Bank, Astana, and Radioshack all gunning for first. I say top ten for them and that's it. Anyway you look at it, it's going to be a battle royale at the 2010 Tour!

Winterization

2009-12-01T16:17:00.004-05:00

It's been great being able to ride in this unseasonably warm weather throughout my foundation training...today, the first day of December, it was a nice 52 degrees. If it had been like any other midwest early winter, I'd have to find someplace to ride my trainer. I doubt my roommate would appreciate me sweating my balls off in the dorm room, and the stationary bikes in the gym are a poor substitute. Fortunately I haven't had to ride my trainer ONCE while I've been at Purdue. Thus, my foundation training has been exceptional. I rode a ton of miles from August to mid-October, and from then until now I've been gettin' my sprint on with some lifting and on-bike resistance training. Winter break should be nice, as I get to take some time away from the bike and do some skiing, then come back strong and rested in January. So all in all I'm on track with moving up to Cat. 2 next year, and joining a sweet U25 team...more on that later.

Friday the 13th

2009-11-13T16:31:00.002-05:00

So once again the occasion lives up to its reputation for bad luck. Took a spectacular fall on today's training ride. My front wheel slid out on a downhill corner (the famous turn onto Division Road for you West Lafayette riders), and to top it off I had an audience of two cars to witness. Nothing like sliding across the pavement at 30 mph.

DIY: Amateur to Protour in less than a year, by Matthew Busche

2009-11-09T18:47:00.006-05:00

Step 1: Win Tour of America's Dairyland's toughest stage

Step 2: Ride the Elite National Road Race, and take 5th

Step 3: Upgrade to pro with Kelley Benefits

Step 4: Place 7th overall at the Tour of Utah

Step 5: Ride the USPRO National Road Race, and take 5th again

Step 6: Sign on with the Radioshack Protour squad

Waddup

2009-11-07T22:35:00.000-05:00

So I'm in college now, moving up to Cat. 2 next year...guess I should make one of them blog things. So here it is, for any of you that are interested in the happenings of my young cycling career. I'll start off by quickly summarizing this past year on the Verizon Wireless cycling team: a few second places early on, good weekend at Winfield with a third and fourth, peaked for late June/early July and ended up getting in a two-man break four days in a row, where I won Tour de Champaign Saturday and Sunday, won Superweek's Richton Park Monday, then got nipped at the line at Arlington Heights Tuesday. After that I said goodbye to top form, went on a church mission trip in Kentucky for a week, went to Vermont for a week and a half, then came back and started doing base miles. I did a few more races in September, but only as training races. The REAL highlight of my season was winning my first ever cross race, hosted by our cycling club at Purdue. I didn't consider racing at all until the day before, when my teammate Joey gave the option of borrowing a bike. That night I thought, why not race, so I looked up some cyclocross tip videos on Youtube, and showed up the next day in tennis shoes and a t-shirt. Chris Uberti was happy to lend me his bike for the B's race, as long as I didn't jack it up before his A's race..."don't worry Chris, this is my first cross race and I've never jumped over a barrier before." Anyways, I returned his bike in one piece, but only after breaking away the first lap, making a fool of myself dismounting and remounting, and coming across the line first. That was a lot of fun. As for now, I continue to look at the trainer hanging in my dorm, which I have yet to use thankfully. Soon enough the time will come, that time when it's so cold out it would take longer to get dressed than it would to set up the trainer for an hour. Later