Andreas Freund

Too Much Yahoo!

2010-02-17T00:00:00-08:00

My training thus far in the season has been going fairly well. Last Sunday I watched my brother get second at Cherry Pie in Napa. I’m still criterium-shy, but on the way home my dad and I got off at Fairfield. From there we rode back to Davis with a stop in Vacaville to do Mix Canyon, a rite of passage for cyclists in the area. Mix has an average grade of 9% over 4.5 miles, but the grade gets steeper near the top with a maximum of 23%. It was my first time, but I plan on climbing Mix more often; it’s an awesome climb.

On Friday my brother and I made some delicious peanut-butter cookies using homemade peanut butter to make sure we would be well stocked with calories for Sunday’s Pine Flat Road Race. Then on Saturday my family drove down to Fresno to spend the night there. I had fairly low expectations since a majority of the pre-registered riders were from the new Yahoo! Cycling Team. (Typing that exclamation mark is already annoying me.) They have a whole slew of the best riders from northern California. At the same time I was really excited about racing since the course is so scenic and fun.

My breakfast next morning consisted of the remaining cookies and a heavy slice of Starbucks lemon-glazed pound cake, washed down with iced tea. Not exactly a complete breakfast. After making a few wrong turns we arrived at Pine Flat Lake with a little less than an hour until my start. I spent half that time waiting in line for the bathroom. After taking care of business all I needed was a dollop of warming cream, and I was ready to start.

The first part of the race goes out and back along the lake on rolling terrain. I just chilled at the back of the pack and watched the fog rolling over the lake. After that we hit the main descent. I struggled to hang on and had to spin as fast as I could with my junior gears. I even dropped a rider who couldn’t spin fast enough with normal gearing. Once we got to the flats a breakaway was quick to go. Since it contained mostly Yahoo! guys, chase attempts were broken up by other Yahoo! teammates. I just did my best to conserve energy and didn’t contribute much to the efforts of the non-Yahoo! riders.

I forgot how long the final climb is and started going hard pretty early. I couldn’t keep up with some guys who bridged but eventually found myself in a small group. Winning the sprint within that group, I came in eighth, despite my stomach’s beginning to ache badly. That’s when the race back to the bathroom began.

I’m pretty happy with how my race turned out. It gives me confidence that I’m doing a good job training right now. I just hope that Yahoo! doesn’t bring all their guys to every Pro/1/2 race I do this season. My brother and dad both did the 3s race, doing okay while managing to avoid a traumatic crash. Fellow junior Adam Hodes (Tieni Duro) won that race.

This coming weekend my team will have a small training camp. The weekend after will be the Snelling Road Race, which I’m not exactly looking forward to. No climbs, no fun.

Eating Mud

2010-01-25T00:00:00-08:00

Northern California has been getting drenched for the past couple of weeks, and I value my sanity too much to go riding every day in the cold rain. So other than some training on the rollers, I hadn’t prepared much for the Early Bird Road Race. It’s a small race, so my lack of saddle time didn’t worry me too much.

After I finished my last final Friday afternoon, went home, and shaved my legs, we left to have dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Stockton and arrive in Patterson the night before. Before going to bed we read a message on the Velo Promo website that county vehicles would be clearing the road of rocks that had fallen down in the rain. Great! Rocks + Wet roads = Flats We woke up Saturday morning to the sight of rain, which we hoped would stop pestering us in a few hours. After a Starbucks breakfast of a maple nut oat scone and a butter croissant, registration, and a short warm-up, we were ready to start and the rain seemed to have given up for the time being. The Pro/1/2 field had nine starters including myself, and my dad and my brother were in the Cat 3 field of about twenty. I was hoping that the officials would let the Pro/1/2s race with the 3s, but the peletons were large enough for that not to happen.

Soon after we started, the rain did too. One of the three Chico Corsa guys in my race attacked at the beginning for whatever reason, and we promptly reeled him in. Then one of the other riders from Chico pulled us all the way to the climb while my face got sprayed with mud. As soon as the climb started, the 3s caught up to us, so all of us were in a jumble the rest of the way to the turn-around. Despite my minimal preparation, I felt good and was the first from my race to get up the climb. Then I tackled the cattle-guard-ridden descent at a comfortable speed. Eventually I was in the lead group along with the third Chico guy and a rider from Reno Wheelmen. But I started to feel increasing resistance from the bike, and a little bunny-hop confirmed my suspicion that my rear wheel was flat.

I wasn’t too bitter about my misfortune. No biggie. I just rode back slowly, destroying the tubular in the process. At least I had the opportunity to take in the scenery: the clearing sky, a small river, grassy pastures, and countless cows staring uninterestedly at the dirty passing rider with the noisy wheel. Eventually I finished (last). My brother’s luck wasn’t too hot either; he hit a pothole, flatting the tire and severely hurting the rim. He still put in a great effort and finished seventh. My dad placed fourteenth after helping Alex. The winner of the 3s was fellow junior Daniel Farinha (San Jose Bicycle Club).

With only one more semester of high school remaining, I can finally relax a bit. At the same time, I’m a bit worried about how I’ll remember my high-school years, whether my memories will be dominated by studying and boring training rides. I’m hopeful that my last season as a junior will be particularly memorable.

The Beginning of the End

2010-01-02T00:00:00-08:00

It’s the beginning of the end of my years as a junior, not that that means much since 17-18s don’t do many junior races anyway, which is probably a good thing. Race against nine Team ~~Monopoly~~ Specialized Juniors? No thanks.

The highlight of my winter break was probably the trip my dad, my brother, and I made to Palo Alto for a few days of riding. On the night that we arrived, we treated ourselves to dinner in a small, deserted Italian restaurant. Then we watched the Robin Williams stand-up special on HBO, which I thought was more crude than funny.

The next morning we feasted on some Svenhard’s cinnamon horns, the staple of the motel breakfast, and went for a ride. We headed up Page Mill Road, which had some pretty steep stretches, but we took it easy. Then we rode along the ridge on Skyline Boulevard, where we stopped at a vista point. After getting back to the motel we went to get a snack, in the process braving the traffic that was clogging up all of Palo Alto. Then we walked around campus for a while and spent an hour in the bookstore. I got a graphic novel called Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth, and it’s about the twentieth-century foundational crisis of math. The book was fascinating to read. After the bookstore we went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant that my parents used to go to years ago. Finally, we went to the movies to see Fantastic Mr. Fox, which I found much funnier than Robin Williams’s act. My brother and I especially liked Kylie the opossum and Petey. It was a great day.

For our second ride we rode up Old La Honda Road, then went down the other side of the ridge, and rode up Alpine Road. I was really impressed by the way my brother was climbing, who, for the first time, dropped my dad on a long climb. Of course, I made sure not to get beaten. I’m okay with being shorter than him but not slower; however, he apparently has other ideas. On the way home from Palo Alto I got stuffed at Fresh Choice.

The whole time we were riding, all I could think about was how much I want to go to college there. And the climbing was a nice change from the riding around Davis. Yesterday I got to do some more climbing at the season-opening Mt. San Bruno Hillclimb. For most of the way I set the pace for Bjorn Fox (Above Category) and a couple of Team Swift guys I didn’t recognize. I thought I was going fast, but apparently my fast wasn’t fast enough because I couldn’t shake them. Eventually I attacked and got a gap but started to blow up quickly. I managed to hold them off for the win. My time (16:47) was pretty much the same as last year’s, but I’m blaming this on the fact that every field started on its own this year, as opposed to the previous years, when the juniors started at the same time as the 3s and Pro/1/2s. That helped because I had some really fast guys to ride behind. My brother improved, finishing fifth this year, and my dad finished third in his first 55+ race. But the best part was that I didn’t win any video games!

Now I only have one day left before I go back to school. Finals are in a few weeks, and then I only have a semester left of high school. I’ve submitted all two of my college applications, so now all that’s left to do is cross my fingers for four months.

Pictures

Getting Into the Holiday Spirit

2009-12-06T00:00:00-08:00

Last Sunday my family did our annual French Meadows ride starting out of Foresthill. I’ve already written about how awesome this ride is and described the route, so I don’t think I need to elaborate much further. However, this year’s ride was a little different since we encountered a whole lot of snow. At least fifteen miles of the seventy-five-mile ride were covered in snow and ice. I walked part of the way and rode the rest after getting used to riding in the snow. At one point I slipped on some ice and fell over at a slow speed.

Nevertheless, I thought it was a fun ride, and we got in some great climbing. And speaking of snow, Davis might get some tomorrow morning!

Pictures

Is Anybody Home?

2009-11-22T00:00:00-08:00

Yes, I’m still here. It has obviously been awhile since I’ve last brushed the dust off the old blog, but I doubt that anyone cares. I’m obviously back in school, and it’s definitely stressful especially with college applications on top. Then again, I limited myself to three universities, so I’m not as panicky as I could be.

I’ve gone back to training some in the dark now that Daylight Saving Time has ended. That gets kind of boring, so I took some initiative to start a junior team ride but was met with limited success. I didn’t know how difficult it would be to find a time at which we’re all free.

I finished reading For Whom the Bell Tolls today. The ending made me sad, but I liked the book.

That’s all I have for now, and don’t expect any more any time soon.

Wrapping Things Up

2009-08-30T00:00:00-07:00

The long-awaited end of the season is finally coming close. My first race after my slaughter at Patterson Pass was the University Road Race. My family stayed the night in Santa Cruz to make the next morning much easier since the Pro/1/2s started first. The eve of the race we had dinner at the Santa Cruz Diner, which I particularly like for its relatively long list of vegetarian dishes. We had dessert at an ice cream shop across the street, where I got a huge cone of Mexican chocolate ice cream. The “Mexican” means that it tastes a little like cinnamon. I felt bad eating it knowing that it wouldn’t help my performance in any way.

We woke up to a cool Santa Cruz morning and rode to the start. I normally don’t like races with short courses like crits or circuit races, but University is an exception. It is almost evenly divided between climbing and descending with virtually no flat sections, making it plenty challenging. I lined up at the start not feeling so confident, and to make matters worse I saw Ned Overend, former mountain biking world champion, lined up next to me. Of course, some Kelly Benefits pros were also there. Like at Patterson, I lasted for about a quarter of the race. I managed to get lapped, but I finished and had a good time.

Yesterday I did the Winters Road Race, which I like because of my familiarity with the course. As I anticipated, the 17-18s and 15-16s were grouped together, so I got to ride with my brother. The field was fairly large, but we knew that our main competitors would be the three guys from Whole Athlete. Unfortunately, one of them went down all on his own within the first two miles. Our group was passed by the Pro/1/2s at the bottom of the main climb, Cantelow. But then the two Whole Athlete guys decided it would be a good time to break things up. I started yelling at them not to pass the Pro/1/2s, but they wouldn’t listen, so we ended up passing them. The same thing happened last year, and it really bothered me both times. I understand the desire to split up the field, but it’s silly to try to confuse others by mixing with the other fields. It would have been nice for some of the other newer juniors to get to ride with the field for the first lap, but if that isn’t even possible, then attack when there is room to attack.

So at the top of Cantelow it was just the two Whole Athlete guys and I. We were obviously again passed by the Pro/1/2 field. I let the other two pull since I wanted my brother to catch back on, which he did, along with another junior. The finishing straight was a minefield of goatheads, so one of the Whole Athlete dudes got a flat. It goes without saying that we didn’t wait for him. At that point the lead group consisted of two 15-16s (my brother and the other guy) and two 17-18s (the last Whole Athlete and me). There were attacks again up Cantelow (not by me) so that the second and final time over the climb the two 17-18s were off the front. Apparently my companion did not understand that the two guys behind us were not in our race, so he did a whole lot of work to stay away from two riders who had no incentive to chase. I took a few pulls and then latched onto his wheel once I saw the one-kilometer-to-go sign. He started the sprint, and I fairly easily got around him for the win. Likewise, my brother won his race.

So that might be it for this year’s season. The Esparto Time Trial and the Fremont Peak Hillclimb are possibilities. Right now my main focus is to get a grasp on the schoolwork that I’ll soon be flooded with.

Finally A Really Hard Race

2009-08-14T00:00:00-07:00

One day last week, my dad crashed on his way home from work. He managed to break his jaw, forcing him to stay home during our weekend racing trip, which he insisted we do without him. So on Friday we left him with the blender and headed off. Our first stop was the Warnerville Time Trial course, which my brother would be racing on the following day. We prerode it on Friday and found it to be windy with plenty of rollers.

After our ride we drove to our accommodations in beautiful Manteca. We ate at a nice brewery/restaurant downtown with live music. On Saturday we headed back to the course for Alex’s race after a Starbucks pastry-run. As usual he put out a great ride with a smoking 53:33.0 to land him sixth place in the 3s. We headed back to the hotel with plenty of time left in the day. Alex forgot his bathing suit, so we settled on relaxing in the room. After we were all relaxed-out, we went to the movie theater to see The Hangover, which, for some reason, was still playing. I didn’t have huge expectations beforehand, but I thought it was a pretty funny movie. Then we struggled to find another appetizing-looking restaurant in Manteca and went to a pizzeria.

On Sunday we said goodbye to Manteca and left for the Patterson Pass Road Race. I knew that I wouldn’t do so hot in the Pro/1/2s, but I was looking forward to the race nevertheless because brutal races like that are definitely my favorite. I started with a full stomach from the previous night’s pizza and therefore ate nothing during the race. Nutrition is certainly a weak point of mine. The first time up the pass wasn’t too bad, but I had trouble keeping up the rest of the first lap because I was spinning out whenever we weren’t climbing. The second time up the climb was much harder for me than the first, so I got shelled.

At that point my excitement for brutal races had waned a little, but I was still determined to finish the three remaining laps. On the second-to-last lap I was lucky to get caught by A.J. from my team and Phil Mooney, a fellow Davisite. Both had had flat troubles, and Phil was even in a position to do really well. So I rode with them for a lap and then did the last lap (slowly) on my own. After 90 miles I was relieved to see the finish line. Cody even waited to see me cross it.

The race might’ve been long, hot, and hilly, but I don’t regret doing it at all, especially since I finished when so many other riders in my field didn’t.

Picture

Someone forgot her helmet

Back Home

2009-08-04T00:00:00-07:00

The day after the road race at Nationals was the time trial. The course was out-and-back, going up a gradual climb for about six miles out and then coming back down. My brother had a great ride that I knew would be hard to top. Sure enough, I was several seconds slower than he was for the same course. Nevertheless, I finished in the top 30 of my age category, which I thought was satisfactory. Hilly time trials are not something that I practice much at all, and I could tell because somehow I managed to use my glutes almost exclusively, so my butt was really sore afterward. After the time trial, we drove down to a river that my road race course crossed. We swam around a little although the water was a little shallow. It wasn’t quite as nice as the swimming holes in New Hampshire, but it was still fun. To end the day, we had dinner at a pizza place in Bend with a bunch of other northern Californian families. We also drove my brother’s crit course. Somehow USA Cycling always manages to find some pretty bad courses for Nationals, and this year it was the crit course for the 15-16s and younger. It went around a warehouse or something and included a very slight climb and descent as well as some sketchy-looking turns. I was worried that Alex might get caught in a crash.

On the following day, I went for a ride in the morning with my dad. The riding around Bend seems to be pretty nice with plenty of rollers and climbs and very little traffic. I could certainly feel the efforts of the previous two days in my legs. Later in the day was the crit. Alex made sure to get a good spot at the front of the pack while lining up, but a crash in the first lap forced him to the back, where he stayed for the remainder of the race. He said that the course wasn’t as sketchy as we thought earlier, and he managed to finish safely.

By Sunday afternoon I was finally back home. The main part of my season is now over, and I don’t have too much to show for it other than a dent in my frame. But I’m still having fun, and I’m looking forward to ending my season with some Velo Promo races.

Adventure Week 2

2009-07-30T00:00:00-07:00

The award ceremony at l’Abitibi was fun despite leaving empty-handed, not surprisingly. While my teammates were partying I stayed at the room to try to get as much rest as possible before an early wake-up. I think my strategy worked because I was feeling very awake at around 4:30 in the morning. After finishing packing and putting the boxes in the trailer, we left a little after 6:00.

That started the six-hour drive back to Montreal. We hit some serious rain on the way, and a few times we had to regroup our three-car caravan. After a little delay after missing the exit to the airport, we made it. Without getting to say goodbye or thanks, I rushed to the check-in as quickly as possible to leave myself the maximum amount of time at the airport.

Everything went smoothly, and I got on my flight to Washington, D.C. The small plane had no in-flight entertainment, so I passed the short amount of time snacking on trail mix. To my disappointment, I was not greeted by President Obama at the airport. I grabbed a sub at Subway and was soon aboard the plane to my next destination, Portland. This plane had some televisions but not personal ones, so I was forced to watch whatever was on. I saw an episode of This American Life, which I liked. I’ve heard the radio show before, but that was the first time I saw the show. Then they showed 17 Again, which I already saw on the way out, so I passed the time the old-fashioned way, reading a book. Finally I watched the finale of Top Design. That was fascinating.

Eventually I arrived in Portland and finally got to see my dad again. All of my luggage timely arrived, and then we drove for three hours to the hotel in Bend, where my brother and my mom were already trying to fall asleep. My brother and I have both done our road races here at Nationals. His race started out way too fast, so he got dropped, lapped, and pulled. My race was today. I initially thought that the course was really difficult, which I liked, but during the actual race not enough people got dropped for my liking. I finished in the main group, but I didn’t really contest the sprint, so I didn’t get a very special result. I’m still fairly satisfied, but I’m also looking forward to not racing with 100 other sketchy juniors for a while. Either I need to improve my bike-handling skills, I’m just not stupid enough to ride riskily, or a little bit of both. But for now I’ll stick with hilly Pro/1/2 road races.

Tomorrow are both of our time trials. I’m not that excited.

The Last Stage

2009-07-26T00:00:00-07:00

Yesterday’s circuit race did not go very well. Coming over a small hill on the second lap, the pack slowed down for some reason, and the morons behind me didn’t react in time, so I got plowed into. I got a few scrapes, nothing too bad, but my beautiful bike got a dent in the top tube, probably from the handlebars. That really pissed me off. I don’t think it’s harmful to the structural integrity of the bike, and I hope I’m right.

I kept riding with some various dropped riders, and the pack ended up passing me less than a kilometer before the finish. That was lucky because it meant we didn’t have to do another lap since all riders must finish during the same lap. So I got to start today. Once we were back at the high school, the medical team here put on some bandages, so I was ready to go. Tim, our team director, treated us to dinner at a restaurant in Val-d’Or since the other guys on our team did so well on such a tough stage. I had another pizza, but this time it was “Greek”-style with olives, feta cheese, etc.

Today’s stage, the last one, went from Senneterre to Val-d’Or. It looked a little rainy at the start. My main objective for this stage was to stay upright, so I just stayed at the back where no one could plow into my rear. The race ended with nine five-kilometer circuits in Val-d’Or, where it was raining. I started getting road grime spat up into my eyes, so I was nearly blind doing the laps. I was in no mood for pushing my luck through slippery turns, so I lost a little bit of ground during the laps and finished 30 seconds or so behind the front.

I’ve already packed my bike and had dinner (another vegetarian pizza!), and next I’ll attend the awards ceremony in the auditorium of the high school. As per the tradition, I guess the plan for most of the people here is to party in downtown Val-d’Or. No thank you.

Overall, my experience here has been mixed. Not crashing is always the foremost goal, so in that sense I failed, which was certainly disappointing. I also didn’t like the courses that much. I didn’t really know what the terrain would be like when I signed up for the race, but it ended up being way too flat for my liking. And most stages ended with short laps, turning the stages into virtual crits.

On the other hand, I learned so much about international junior racing here. Whether I like it or not, at least I know what it’s like. I also met some cool people, my teammates. All in all, I’m glad I went.

l'Abitibi Update

2009-07-25T00:00:00-07:00

I haven’t written anything since Tuesday, but I’m trying desperately to catch up. On Wednesday my day started pretty badly. All of the riders had to go to the UCI bike check with their time trial bikes. The majority of riders brought dedicated time trial bikes, but some, such as Sam and I, just brought clip-on aero bars to put on our road bikes. Unfortunately, the guy from the UCI said that since July 1, my aero bars have been illegal. I knew that they were a little funky because they have a sort of “y” shape, so they only grip the handlebars at one spot. So I was in a bad mood for the rest of the day.

Wednesday’s stage went from St-Mathieu to Val-d’Or. I was getting a little more comfortable moving up to the front, but unfortunately I happened to be at the back at the wrong time. A break of 15 or so got up the road, and I was so far back that I didn’t even notice for a while. None of our guys made it, and the peleton was three minutes behind, so that put us pretty far down in the overall standings. But missing the break was secondary to the fact that teammate Tucker crashed. He hurt his hand pretty badly, although he says it’s been getting better. Fellow northern Californian Charlie Avis made the break, and he ended up third. We stayed around at the finish to watch the podium, which was cool. However, I left wondering whether I will ever stand on the podium of such a big race.

On Thursday I woke up really anxious about the upcoming time trial. I was thinking about the worst possible outcome, which would be not making the time cut. The setting for the start of the time trial didn’t help. It starts at the bottom of a dark, cold mine shaft, so all of the riders, one wave at a time, had to get on board a mine tractor to get to the bottom. We got into a room where we were debriefed on the procedures for starting. Each rider had exactly 10 minutes to warm up on a stationary bike or a trainer. All of the bikes had been taken down the night before, so I found mine waiting for me in the trainer. I started very shortly after my warm up and headed up out of the mine. The climb was fairly steep and short (only about 500 meters), but I decided to take it easily to prevent blowing up before the eight miles that would actually have a large influence on my time. So I got out of the mine alright and began the rest of the course. It was fairly windy, and there were some slight grades. By the time I had finished I hadn’t passed anyone, but nobody passed me either, so I was happy with my performance, given my lack of a proper time trial bike. Of course I lost quite a bit of time overall, but by that point I had given up any hope of doing well on the general classification anyway.

In the afternoon on Thursday we did a road stage, Malartic to Val-d’Or and back the same way. Soon after we arrived in Malartic it started to rain, and it didn’t stop for the rest of the day, so it was a very wet race. I was definitely more nervous than usual riding in a large pack on the slippery roads and without being able to see much through my sunglasses, but it turned out to be a fairly safe stage. But again I wasn’t in a good spot for the sprint, so I just finished with the group. All of the teams were supposed to have dinner in Malartic, and there was a dining hall set up with food, but our team decided to eat at a local restaurant. That turned out to be a lot of fun. I had a great vegetarian pizza, and we talked for a while, making up for having to ride in the rain.

Friday’s stage went from Rouyn-Noranda to Val-d’Or. On the bus drive out it looked like it would rain the whole time, and we passed through a few showers, but once we got to actually racing it was very sunny, which was a great relief. Our team tried a few attacks, and I was off the front with two other guys for a little bit, but the U.S. National Team had a very firm hold on the race to protect the brown leader’s jersey. When we got to Val-d’Or to do our three circuits, we found that it had rained a little there, so I was even more uncomfortable going through the turns. I ended up about 30 seconds back from the pack since I lost so much ground during the circuits.

Today is the circuit race around Val-d’Or. The laps are longer than the usual circuits, and it’s be about 100 kilometers long. My guess is that it will be fast and hard, so I’m not really looking forward to it. Tomorrow will be the last stage, and then the day after I get to fly to Portland for nationals. Hopefully I won’t be too burned out by then.

The First Stage

2009-07-21T00:00:00-07:00

So yesterday we got up early at our nice hotel to pack everything up for the six-hour drive to Val-d’Or. I got to meet all of my friendly teammates. I was really worried about my bike when I packed it, especially because my dad wasn’t there to help me. But luckily when I opened up the box everything was fine.

The entire race is headquartered at the high school in Val-d’Or. Each team has its own room, and we get to sleep on mattresses on the floor, which are actually quite comfortable. The food isn’t bad, and there’s plenty to eat. The team that I’m here with is called the U.S. Western Regional Team, which was put together just for this race. Our kits are pretty interesting; the tops have the colors of the Texas state flag, and the bottoms have a tiger-stripe pattern. They are certainly unique.

Yesterday each team got an official team photo taken, and then the teams were presented on a stage in front of the city hall. The announcer listed off a good result from each rider. Mine was supposed to be my win in the 3s at Berkeley Hills this year, but it got turned into a win at the “Beverly Hills Road Race.”

Today was our first stage. After loading up all of our bikes into our trailer (we’re the only team without a full roof rack) all of us riders got into the school buses for the trip to Preissac, the town where the race would start. The terrain here is very flat, except for a few rollers near Preissac. My goal for the stage and for the race in general is to stay near the front. I was partly successful. Our average speed was very high at about 27 miles per hour, which is to be expected of a UCI race, but it was still easy to ride in the draft. Moving up was harder though. I got right at the front a few times, but then I got a little timid holding my position and kept getting pushed back.

The actual hard part of today’s race and for almost all of the stages was the finishing circuit. With about 10 kilometers to go the race enters Val-d’Or, and it basically turns into a crit. We did three laps on the three-kilometer circuit, and I made the mistake of starting at the back coming into the circuit for the first time. The turns and speed in the circuit made it very difficult to move up, so I ended up finished in about the last third of the pack. There might have been a slight gap, so I might end up with a little bit of a slower time.

The highlight of the day was really that no one on our team crashed. The race was pretty safe, except for a couple of spills. Not crashing is the main objective. I know that I won’t really do so hot overall, so really this a learning experience. And I’m definitely learning a lot about racing at the international level.

For more information about my team’s experiences here check out my teammate Riley’s blog. He’s actually posting pictures.

Adventure Day 1

2009-07-19T00:00:00-07:00

Today began my adventure to Canada for the Tour de l’Abitibi. Everything today went very smoothly. Sam and I had a direct flight from San Francisco to Montreal. I passed the time watching Idiocracy on my laptop and 17 Again on the seat-back screen. We found all of our luggage quickly and met up with Tim, our team director, and our teammate Steve.

We’re staying at a hotel in Montreal tonight, and tomorrow we’ll be driving to Val-d’Or, race headquarters. We had a nice dinner at the hotel bar, and right now we’re just watching T.V. in Sam’s and my room. My first impression of Canada is that it’s a lot like the U.S., but it’s weird with everything in French first then English. I feel like a stereotypical ignorant American expecting everything to be in English.

I’ll try to find some time to write some more tomorrow.

Inaugural Post

2009-07-10T00:00:00-07:00

I suppose I’m switching blogs. There’s really no particular reason for it; I just decided I’d mix things up a bit. Please note that I’m not promising to keep this one any more up-to-date than the last. So don’t get your hopes up.

It looks like I have some catching up to do. The last time I wrote was right before the Sea Otter Road Race. It turned out a lot like Copperopolis with the short story being me getting shelled and riding a slow last lap by myself.

Berkeley Hills, which I did in the 3s, ended up being a lot better. I think the course suits me fairly well because the climbs are more like huge rollers, so I can comfortably sit in and have plenty left for the finish. That’s exactly what I did, making my move with a few hundred meters to go. After passing a guy, who, although I didn’t know it at the time, was off the front of my race, I took the lead and came across the line first with a small gap.

Panoche aka Road Race Districts turned out to be a really hard race. We, the 17-18s, did the full course, which was close to 70 miles. It happened to be a scorching hot day, and I actually took water from every feed. Every feed, that is, except the last (and most crucial). The condensation built up on what would have been a refreshingly cool bottle of water made it slippery. Needless to say, I dropped the bottle. Luckily a motorcycle ref came up to our field, which was then dwindled down to about five or six guys, to hand out extra water. But unfortunately once everyone else got their water he drove off. So I had to ride the last leg of the race without water. I don’t know if you could call it dehydrated, but I was pretty pooped by the end. For the second year in a row I got beaten by Peter Taylor (Team Specialized) in the sprint.

My next notable race was Mount Hamilton. Finally, for the first year ever, I hung up the climb. The rest of the race ended up being pretty easy, so I figured I would have a pretty good shot at placing well in the sprint. I’m almost certain that I could’ve won it, but I had bad placement leading up to the finish, so I got boxed in and finished fourth. That’s still good given that last year I rode the last 45 miles by myself.

By this time I had accumulated 46 of 25 required upgrade points, so I figured then would be a good time to make the leap into the 2s. Then I thought, What should be my first Pro/1/2 race? I need something memorable for this momentous occasion. Then it came to me: the Pescadero Road Race! When I saw that the Pro/1/2 race at Pescadero would be 105 miles long, I knew that I had made the right choice. This was confirmed when I woke up at the hotel in Half Moon Bay and saw that it was raining. Of course, it was a really hard race. I only made it up the climb with the peloton one out of four times, but, other than on the finishing lap, I managed to catch back up. Coming in 32nd I only beat four other finishers, but I was proud of my performance considering that there were about 55 starters. Daniel Holloway of Team Holowesko Partners-Felt was even there, and he was one of the 19 who dropped out, although I’m sure he was just taking it easy.

This year I went to my first USA Cycling Development Camp. There’s a lot to write about it that I don’t feel like writing, but the main idea is that it was a whole lot of fun. Straight out of the camp my brother, my dad, and I went to the Gold Nugget Junior Stage Race. Every year I complain that people won’t come to Gold Nugget, and this year will not be any different. The courses were the same as all the other years: scenic and challenging. So even without tons of competition, finishing will by no means be easy. There were only five guys in my race, three of whom were from Southern California, which should really make us Northern California juniors ashamed. I was completely wasted by the end. This race will quickly die off without more interest, so disregard its undeserved reputation of being a joke and come to Gold Nugget! As for my placing, I had a chance to win the overall with a time bonus on the final stage but flatted with about a mile to go. For those of you keeping score at home, that has only been my second flat in a race.

My next race will be another stage race, albeit a slightly larger one: the Tour de l’Abitibi.