Worlds and Vlaamse Gewesten

If you haven't already seen the result Worlds didn't go as well planned. The air pollution made it hard for me to breathe and I could never get a full breath. I was at my limit from the first kilometer and only lasted 7 of 10 laps. The rest of the team rode great Nate was driving a big break for most of the race and Rathe had a good finish in the end for 17th. Thats pretty much it about Worlds it was one of my worst days on a bike and there is not much to say about it. I have put it behind me by now and moved on to the next races. During the week Rathe and I did a Kermesse to make some money and get some training. I wasn't exactly looking for a hard race but, it is Belgium and there are no other types of races. It was a tough 7km lap with a lot of wind and a nice climb. I must have been in 50 attacks and breaks there was no hiding on this course. Rathe got away with two others on the second to last lap and stayed away to win the race in a great sprint. I attacked my group with 1km to go and almost held it but got passed by 2 riders at the line to get 6th. It was definitely more fun than training and after riding to and from the race we had a solid day and made some good money. Yesterday was a UCI 1.1 in Belgium called Vlaamse Gewesten. It was 134km of flat roads and wind. Nate made a break of 12 about halfway through. I tried to bridge with Eastman and a few others with 40km to go but the group was not working well and we didn't make it. Then on the last lap I bridged to a chase group containing Boswell and Rathe. We drove the chase group hard for the last 12km and got within 5 seconds of catching the break which was down to 7 at this point but never made it. Boswell lead out the sprint from the last Km and Rathe hit the front with 500m to go after that leadout my only option was to win that sprint for 8th, Rathe held on for 10th and, Nate was 3rd. Second on team GC not a bad day! Also, Edwig Van Hooydonck was at the race and said that Nate was the best rider of the race and name to remember for the future! Pretty cool coming from a 2 time Ronde Van Vlaanderen winner.

Liege La Gleize

The last week has flown by and Worlds are rapidly approaching. After arriving in Belgium last Tuesday most of the worlds team raced a hard 3 day stage race in Liege, called Liege La Gleize to prepare for Worlds. There was no pressure on the team other than to get some good training for Worlds and win the team time trial to show our team strength. Stage one was one of the hardest days for me on the bike. I had a small crash after about 15km. No big problem my chain was tangled but the mechanic fixed it quickly and I was back on the bike quickly. My brake was rubbing for a while but I eventually fixed it. I was almost made it back to the peleton after about 5km of chasing but could not close the final gap. I ended up back in the cars absolutely dying wondering if I would ever make it back. The field got slowed up around a roundabout and I finally was back after about a 25km chase, and I was dead. There was no way to move up in this 180 man peleton so I was at the back until Downtown dropped back with 10km to go to bring me up for the sprint. With 1km to go I was sitting about 7^th until a French kid took me off the road and into a gravel driveway causing a huge pile up. I lost about 10 places and ended up 11^th, not what I was hoping for. Next was the team trial. We started hard posting the fastest intermediate time, maybe too hard. We lost 2 riders out on course finishing with Lawson, Boz, and myself in 2^nd 24 seconds behind the French. The next stage was rolling with 3 categorized KOMs. Downtown made the early move and took each KOM. Boz bridged later and finished in the second group 1 minute behind a lead break. I was in the 3^rd group with Lawson and split the field with repeated attacks. Rathe dropped out, he was on antibiotics from a bee sting earlier. Boz was sitting in 4^th overall starting the last day, Nate in the KOM jersey, and Lawson 13 seconds out of white. There were 7 KOMs on this stage making it easily the hardest. I helped Nate secure his jersey for the first half. Then after a crash with the yellow jersey I chased back to help Boz. I spent the last 20km on the front hammering to reduce a gap to a break. The yellow jersey dropped out and Boz ended up 2^nd! Lawson took the white Jersey and Nate won the KOMs, not a bad weekend! No we are in Moscow trying to avoid being murdered or get food poisoning. Each meal has identical food some greasy meat, greasy potatoes, greasy fish, and some great desserts. I wonder what we are eating most of! The road course is super hard with many steep, steep climbs and twisty short descents with banked turns! Should be a great, tough race, I am looking forward to it!

KY and beyond

A lot has happened since the last post. Red River Gorge ended just as well as it started. On the hardest stage of the race we had a few mishaps, in about 5km the race turned upside down for me. After the first KOM our whole team was in the lead group, until the descent. First, Nate dropped his chain and about 5 seconds later Lawson flatted. I dropped back to pace Nate back to the group and Stueee gave Lawson his front wheel. That was fine we all made it back easily but, immediately as I joined the lead group I flatted my front tire. Got a great wheel change and again was back pretty shortly after using the caravan. This time about 2 minutes after catching back on there was a huge pile up on a hairpin corner. I crashed and slid about 25 feet and ended up off the road. When I finally got back on my bike to start chasing the caravan was in pieces making it difficult to chase back on. When I eventually made it back it was at the base of the second and hardest KOM. I ended up in the 3rd group on the road and knew we would never make it back. I enjoyed the rest of the stage in the grupetto while my teammate ahead were tearing the race apart taking 2,3,4, and 6th and keeping yellow and almost taking the KOMs as well. The last stage was a crit and time gaps were mostly too big for this to be a big GC decider. I wanted the stage win to make up from the previous day. When I saw Anders off the front with a couple others I knew it was time to bridge. We spent the last half hour off the front and I won the stage in a sprint of course. I picked my stage win carefully as this stage had by far the best podium girls, they were dancers for a semi-pro arena football team!

In case you haven't already heard I was nominated to the Junior World Championships Team! Worlds are in Moscow on August 9th if there is some sort of coverage I will post a link. I am in Belgium right now preparing for Worlds with the rest of the team. We are doing a 3 day race this weekend called Liege la Glieze.

Red River Gorge Stage 1 an 2 by Lawson

Stage one and two are done with here at the Tour of the Red River Gorge and so far Hot Tubes has been extremely successful. Stage one was a 1 mile out and back time trial. Charlie Avis took the victory over Adam Leibovitz and Jacob Rathe. Nate was our top finisher in 4th with Gavin right behind him in 5th. I was able to take 7th on the stage and jump into the white young rider's jersey. Stueee took 11th, Boz was 21st, and Anders was just a few places behind him. We were way more dominant in the 99 km road race that afternoon to take 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. About thirty kilometers into the race Boz, Nate, and Anders got into a 12 man break that got about 30 seconds up the road. Jacob Rathe put in attack to try and bridge and brought along the yellow jersey, Charlie Avis. I jumped onto that group and we got about 10 seconds on the field. Because I had three teammates up the road I just pulled through that group to make sure that they wouldn't try and attack me. Although I wasn't putting big efforts pulling it was still one of the hardest breaks I had ever been in. Rathe was an absolute animal and was doing the majority of the work. The pack was completely strung out behind us and even though we were going all out we only had a maximum of about 10 seconds and were caught about 10 kilometers later. I was pretty tired after that and spent the rest of the race just sitting in the pack on covering attacks. Up in the break, Anders attacked without 5 km to go and got a small gap. Nate then bridged up to him and the both of them crossed the line to take 1-2 (Anders over Nate) about 15 seconds ahead of Boz who lead the rest of the group across the line. I finished with the pack about 1:45 behind along with Gavin and Stueee. Later today we have a 24 km TT. My start time is at 12:24

Hot Tubes Domination!

Today was the Attleboro Crit. Hot Tubes sent a full 7 man squad for this local Pro 1-2-3 Crit. The team used this race as a warm up for Red River Gorge UCI 2.1 Stage Race in KY next week. After about 10 laps into the 60 lap race Ian, Lawson, Stueee the Canadian, and myself found ourselves off the front alone. After settling into a team time trial for 15 or 20 laps we lapped the field. The rest of the team set tempo at the front of the pack keeping the race in control for the remaining laps, until we lead out Downtown who took the field sprint making it 1,2,3,4,5 for Hot Tubes. He claims he's the next Cav. Since I was the last leadout man I ended up taking the victory. My fourth crit win of the year, one of these days I'm gonna win a road race...

By far the best part of the day was capitalizing on the excess food after the race. We left the race with 2 large pizzas, 2 footlong subs, and close to 100 bagels. Hopefully that will be enough to fuel our team on our long drive to Lexington, KY tomorrow.

Welcome to My Blog!

This is my first blog entry but, hopefully it won't be the last! Not much is going on right now. I just finished up the Fitchburg Longsjo stage race with Hot Tubes. The team rode great with Downtown Nate Brown taking the TT and the overall win. Ian "The Indian" Boswell riding great for the team and taking the win the circuit race. Lawson aka Bert Grabsch took the win in the road race, and I finished it off with the W in the crit. Anders and Ben G rode great for the team contributing to the overall victory and each of the stage wins.

Right now the team is resting up and preparing for Tour of the Red River Gorge in KY next week. This is the first ever UCI 2.1 Junior stage race in the US. In order to be in peak condition for this event we have invested in a wiffle ball and bat which seems to be improving the team's eye hand coordination and keeping us occupied.

Stay Tuned for more!