Lesee here. I raced the IL state road race this weekend and despite some interweb hoo-ha about it being poorly run, I thought it was an excellent venue, and fun to boot. I guess they worked out the kinks in time for the P/1/2 boys, because I didn't have any problems with the race. It was run on SST (Superweek Standard Time) but other than that, I had no beef.

There was even a fancy yellow vehicle as our pace car:



In my race there was some breakaway-age and some prime-age. I took part in both. I'm not normally a prime hunter, but what the hell, I like to sell front dérailleurs on eBay just as much as the next guy. Turns out I won 7 of those suckers--primes, that is. Not just front dérailleurs, but coffee too. I'm a really nice guy and gave my teammate the coffee. I hope Steve Spencer likes coffee, because I really need a new cell phone, and I'm pretty sure that if I sell enough SRAM front dérailleurs and 170mm cranksets on eBay, I'll be able to afford one. That was kind of fun. Have you ever seen anyone so happy to win a bag of coffee? Further, have you ever seen anyone sprint so fast for a crankset 10mm too short?



One two, skip a few...

Then I cramped and semi-sprinted for the finish. I got beat by a Jelly Belly and a Boba-tea. For those not familiar with boba tea: it's delicious.

Oh, some old man was off the front too. Apparently he won. You can't tell from the picture though, he smoked us so good he didn't feel the need to raise his arms.

I got the pity-podium spot. It's ok, it's easier for the podium girls to give me kisses from that lower step.


That's all I have to say about that.

Click for bigger picture.

Today was the National U23 Road Race. I was ready to go. Tanned, rested and ready. That's the phrase anyways.

Turns out I made it 15 miles into the road race before I flatted. Shimano gave me a timely wheel change, but it was just not fast enough. Despite being the 12th best TT'r in the field, I could not catch up. I just couldn't do it.

I rode for another 5 miles before quitting. No heroic 50 mile chases. I was totally, 100%, completely shattered. I've never cried after a bike race before, but I did today.

You can put so much energy into one day (or one week) of racing, and lose it all instantly. In a flash. Gone with the blink of an eye.

I've never been so frustrated on a bike. I wanted to get off my bike and chuck it across the road and I nearly did get off and chuck it; but then I'd only have to fetch it and ride an inevitably broken bike back to the car.

The weirdest thing about the whole thing is that I don't have a good outlet for my frustration. I am so angry and frustrated with my bike, but the only thing I can think of to make me feel better is...to go ride my bike.

Tomorrow my plane leaves for Indiana, and all I'll have to show for this stupid (and expensive) trip is a lame 12th place in the TT and a pair of DNF's. I should have ridden some mountain passes for fun, bombed some awesome downhills, and never, ever, bothered to race U23 Nationals.

What's the phrase again?

Oh yea.

"That's bike racing"

Crit today.

Sketchy course with some sweeping turns and one sweeping 180.

Field attacked itself a good amount, and I was in several moves with one looking very good with Garmin, Fiordifrutta, Waste Management and Rock Racing represented. Field was splitting behind us, but eventually it all came back.

Bunch sprint ensued. I was sitting pretty about 15 wheels back, behind 5-6 Garmin guys leading it out. Took someone's skewer in my back wheel, and broke 5 spokes going into the final lap.

That's about it. More later when I'm less irritated.


Update: A couple of people have asked if I was ok from my "crash". I actually didn't go down--it was a simple and unfortunate case of someone getting their front skewer tangled up in my rear wheel. I coasted to a stop at the start/finish, hopped over the barriers and my only injury seemed to be from one of my broken spokes jumping out and scratching my calve. Could have been worse.

Well,

Today was the first day of nationals. The TT. As a few of you may know, I've been targeting this event for some time--my goal event of the year. It's been a long time coming, and frankly it's been a bit of a roller coaster ride--mentally anyways--to get here. I finished SuperWeek a little fried, did a time trial and felt like poo, and then pre-rode the TT course and convinced myself I was going to be slower than molasses in January. Despite all that, I rolled up to the TT course in my clown suit today and gave it a go anyways.

In the back of my mind, I thought about the numerous people rooting for me. A dozen or more people told me how fast they thought I'd go, or lent me equipment, or told me to buck up when I was feeling slow. In no particular order, I'd like to thank as many of you as possible:

Andy Skeen
Mark Swartzendruber
Brett Stewart
Wayne Simon
Steve Spencer
Ryan Knapp
ABD/GearGrinder Team
Greg Christian
Mike Ebert
Lindsay Koren
Craig Erbach
Mom & Dad

I've probably forgotten a few of you, sorry about that. Thanks to all.

Anyways: the TT. I'm fairly certain 'druber is the only one that can make a recap about a TT interesting, so I'll keep it simple.

The course was an interesting one--lots of climbing. The first 1/3 of the race was uphill. We climbed and climbed, and on two occasions I even slipped into my little ring (a 55 x 21 isn't that low of a gear) It was an out and back course, but not in the traditional sense; the course did not return to the start. Rather, we rode ~13 miles to the turnaround, and another ~8 to the finish. That means that we ascended a whole lot more than we descended. A bit of a climbers course.

So I get lined up, qualify for my Tall Skinny Kid morphological exception (80cm extension length) and get on the line. I'm in my 55 x 21, a good gear to start in, or so I thought.

With 15s or so till my start, I back pedal to get my right foot at 3 o'clock. My chain falls off. Somehow I avoided expelling a single cuss word, had to dismount my bike, and get my chain back on.

Lesson learned: Cross Chaining + backpedaling = dropped chain.

So I started my TT with a ~10 second disadvantage.

Luckily, I went reasonably fast, and I placed reasonably high up there:

1 Peter Stetina (Garmin/Chipotle) 44.28
2 Bobby Sweeting (TOSHIBA-Santo) 1.26
3 Taylor Shelden (Team Rio Grande) 1.49
4 Caleb Fairly (Garmin/Chipotle) 2.15
5 Travis Burandt (CRCA/Sakonnet) 2.18
6 Tyler Dibble (California Giant Berry Farms) 2.41
7 Nick Frey (TIME Pro Cycling) 2.44
8 Benjamin King (Kelly Benefit Strategies) 2.46
9 Chris Butler (Hincapie-Barkley Devo) 2.48
10 Kirk Carlsen (VMG/FELT) 2.58
11 Daniel Summerhill (VMG/FELT) 3.06
12 John Meyers (ABD/GearGrinder) 3.07
13 Phillip Gaimon (Fiordifrutta) 3.28
14 Andrew Talansky (TOSHIBA-Santo)
15 Tom Peterson (Garmin-Chipotle) 3.44

Looks to me like a top 10 would have been do-able if I had a touch more luck.

That's all for me right now; a crit is on the plate for tomorrow. I can't wait, I never get to race crits!