On Form

Reading Peter's blog has reminded of that wonderful feeling that indicates progress. The end of the school year involved light riding and rest, but this summer, getting home and just killing it has been great so far.

I must hang my head today as I did not get out and ride, but spent the day with my Dad out at the boat yard cleaning the bottom of the sail boat and visiting my grandmother afterwards. It's all right I suppose, tonight I just might stretch and do some core work. Monday'll be an easy 2-3 hours, Tuesday 100k hard and Wedneday probaly the same. Thursday easy and friday not at all: the state championship comes June 10th.

Yesterday was my first team ride, and there were six of us. Apparently I am the youngest guy on the team; most of the guys are either masters 1/2/3 or 1/2 and there are some very fast women as well. I set out with Jon (team leader), Jeff, Rick, Tom, another Jon to ride the parts of the state road course and tour the hills around alpine valley. If only there were mountains... Initially I was pretty nervous about performing well despite it being a group ride (not without KOM's and Stop Ahead sprints). It almost all rollers of varying length, I think the longest climb back out of the valley was maybe 4 minutes tops. Before we left, Jon gave me my shorts, so now I have a complete kit and he offered me gloves as well, but i've already got the identical set. I appreciate how color-coordinated our team is, Despite the absence of white (sorry Finn) we still look fast which is what, half the battle no? We're blue and silver/grey, the kind of discovery blue. Nonetheless, I was able to stick with my guys the entire ride, including some very generous pulls. Three favorite moments: 1: the first sprint jumped at this little town named Lyons where one of the 10 superweek events will be held. Rick, Jon, and Jeff went and gapped the rest of us. I stood up and not only chased back on but passed on the left, crossing the yellow line, whoops, and managed to take the sign by a half a bike lenght from 6 bikes back initially. When we stopped for cokes in glass bottles at a small mom and pop store the guys laughed and said that I should be made a 2 and have done with it. 2: on one of the corners of the state RR Jeff attacked up this 10% hill, it's a 1000ft hill and it goes up 100 ft. I pulled around John and stuck on his wheel and then "counter" attacked in the last third (Brian arent you proud?) and just pulled Jeff the rest of the way up the hill. It felt good to match the attack and I recovered fairly well. 3rd: More rollers. Near the end of the ride, we took the road called Nature Rd. it was fairly winding and had short STEEP rollers. I attacked on the first one and over the next two I couldnt see my team mates, they eventually caught me when I slowed two hills later and when I looked back it was awesome to see my team working together to reel me in. I fucking love team and team-work. I pipped Jeff and one sign and we turned at the stop when our team went straight; we had to catch them and after we corrected our turn, I worked for Jeff to chase him back on. I must say, domestiqueing gives one a new kind of energy and you don't get all that tired...

Just read finn's blog, that ride sounded great.

Post ride, the 6 of us had pasta salad at Jon's house and he tossed me my first skinsuit. I must say, skinsuits are pretty fucking raw. Jon run's our main sponsor, Lakes Area Physical Therapy and therefore, all our gear is free. In addition we are sponsored by the Bicycle Doctor, in Dousman, WI. It's quite a respectable shop, just might get the Giro Atmos in Discovery colors to match my teammates, like Peter says, I really only spend money on food and anything bike related, even a bit unnecessarily. Maybe I'll even get those Zipp 404's...


Upcoming Races:

June 10th:WI State RR, Spring Prairie
June 17th:LAPT Crit, Madison, WI
June 24th: UWW Crit/RR, Whitwater, WI
July 4th: MN State Crit, Northfield