Pacebend Cat 2s 80 miles

the break:
Photo courtesy: Nicki Kupecz

As always it was a beautiful, perfect day in Spicewood Texas. Every year Pacebend has proven why it is one of the best venues in Texas. I arrived to the start of the race with fellow Jr teammate Jake Boone. Things were looking like it was going to be a great day of racing.

-The race started out with a mad dash to the first turn before things settled down.  Once the pace calmed down Jake and I moved up to the front of the group to keep an eye out for any early breaks that might want to get away. Early on the first lap of the race a few groups tried to get away early. One of these included a dangerous group of 15 riders, when I saw this group go I jumped across to it, but we were quickly brought back. Eventually a small early break of three went up the road allowing the pack to calm down. I was feeling a bit antsy with this small group pulling away even though it was still on the first lap. I quickly found Jake and we talked about what we should do about this early break, we both decided to wait for it to come back on its own. While the break was up the road several small groups of riders tried to bridge the now 45 second split. Jake and I followed wheels to these chase groups but they were all quickly brought back. After a few laps of nervous energy from a lot of riders, the break was eventually caught. However the race didn’t get any less stressful. After making the connection with the break a strong counter came from the pack. I looked up the road and figured that it was still too early get in a break.  However three other racers took after the solo rider and formed a small group of four. Both Jake and I saw this and still didn’t think it was going to stay away. The gap the lead group got on the field increased quickly to one minute and then to ninety seconds. The pack seemed to be taking a nap and uninterested in chasing down the quickly pulling away leaders. I was getting nervous from this lack of interest, especially now that I found out two of the three largest teams had a guy up the road. While I was trying to decide on what to do about this break a group of two attacked on the far side of the road out of the front to bridge to the leaders. I was waiting at the front of the main bunch for the time gaps to come in while trying to hold my composure. Now at just over halfway through the race there was a lead group of four with a two-minute advantage, and a chase group of two with a one-minute advantage. When I heard these splits I moved up towards the front and waited for the hilly section of the course. As we hit the hills I started to do a lot of work on the front to try to get any split going and start a chase, but every time I pulled off a teammate from a racer ahead would soft pedal through to try to disrupt the pace. I was getting angry with the team tactics going on (because they were working!) and put another attack on a slight downgrade. This must have surprised the pack because no one was chasing and I quickly got some daylight on the group and started to bridge towards the leaders. After a few minutes of solo bridging I looked back to see Austin Stewart (Elbowz) bridging across to me. The two of us came together and formed chase group 2 with a minute to bridge to chase group one and another minute to the leaders. We were both taking strong hard pulls at the front up the hills and across the flats quickly closing in on the groups up front. We eventually caught a fellow Houston racer Pedro Martinez (Sun and Ski) in the middle of the gap. A little over a lap after Austin and I started bridging we caught the chase group and now formed a new chase group of four. We kept the pace high knowing that with four racers we could catch the leaders (1 minute up the road now) relatively quick. All four of us took equal pulls and worked hard at the front bringing the time gap down. We caught the leaders exactly one lap after Austin and I caught the chase (two laps after I got away from the bunch). Now we were getting some new time gaps saying that we were only 20 seconds up the road from a large group. I looked back and to my surprise and group of around eight to ten had been bridging across to us. As soon as they caught us we formed one large lead group of 11-15 riders with all the large teams represented. We continued to work hard with over 30 miles to go towards the finish line. Within the break there were a few attacks to try to get rid of the excess amount of riders but for the most part things stayed together as we charged towards the finish. Some of the teams that had more than two guys in the group started sending riders up the road to try to split the group. I tried my best just to follow wheels to prevent my self from getting stuck behind any dropping riders. As the laps started ticking down so did the snap in everybody’s legs. As we started the final lap we were still a large group of almost 15 riders moving towards the finish. As we were cruising along I kept an eye out for any of the strong looking guys that might want to try to go solo towards the finish. In the final kilometers all the late moves that tried to go all got brought back and everyone was getting ready for the final sprint towards the line. When we were in the final kilometer I positioned my self up towards the front of the group on the right side sitting comfortably on 4^th wheel thinking I had got my self a good position for the uphill 250-meter sprint. As we hit the base of the hill I was sitting third wheel and started my charge up the hill on the right. As I was starting to come around the riders I was behind almost every single person behind me surged around on my left. I quickly tried to get behind them to get some momentum for another kick for the line. Unfortunately this second kick never came and I finished behind the bulk of the break getting an 11^th on the day.

Photo courtesy:
Nicki Kupecz

After this race I was very happy with how I made it into the winning move and how I was almost in the position to get a big result. Now I just need to work on that finishing jump and positioning. (I was a little bit too close to the front for this finish) Better things will be coming these next couple weeks that I am certain about. Not just for me but also for my team, Jake finished in the top end of the pack sprint and Cody and Stephan both placed top 10 in the pro 1 race

Walburg Cat 2s 72 Miles

As always it was a beautiful, perfect day in Spicewood Texas. Every year Pacebend has proven why it is one of the best venues in Texas. I arrived to the start of the race with fellow Jr teammate Jake Boone. Things were looking like it was going to be a great day of racing.

Photo by: Nicki Kupecz

The race started out with a mad dash to the first turn before things settled down.  Once the pace calmed down Jake and I moved up to the front of the group to keep an eye out for any early breaks that might want to get away. Early on the first lap of the race a few groups tried to get away early. One of these included a dangerous group of 15 riders, when I saw this group go I jumped across to it, but we were quickly brought back. Eventually a small early break of three went up the road allowing the pack to calm down. I was feeling a bit antsy with this small group pulling away even though it was still on the first lap. I quickly found Jake and we talked about what we should do about this early break, we both decided to wait for it to come back on its own. While the break was up the road several small groups of riders tried to bridge the now 45 second split. Jake and I followed wheels to these chase groups but they were all quickly brought back. After a few laps of nervous energy from a lot of riders, the break was eventually caught. However the race didn’t get any less stressful. After making the connection with the break a strong counter came from the pack. I looked up the road and figured that it was still too early get in a break.  However three other racers took after the solo rider and formed a small group of four. Both Jake and I saw this and still didn’t think it was going to stay away. The gap the lead group got on the field increased quickly to one minute and then to ninety seconds. The pack seemed to be taking a nap and uninterested in chasing down the quickly pulling away leaders. I was getting nervous from this lack of interest, especially now that I found out two of the three largest teams had a guy up the road. While I was trying to decide on what to do about this break a group of two attacked on the far side of the road out of the front to bridge to the leaders. I was waiting at the front of the main bunch for the time gaps to come in while trying to hold my composure. Now at just over halfway through the race there was a lead group of four with a two-minute advantage, and a chase group of two with a one-minute advantage. When I heard these splits I moved up towards the front and waited for the hilly section of the course. As we hit the hills I started to do a lot of work on the front to try to get any split going and start a chase, but every time I pulled off a teammate from a racer ahead would soft pedal through to try to disrupt the pace. I was getting angry with the team tactics going on (because they were working!) and put another attack on a slight downgrade. This must have surprised the pack because no one was chasing and I quickly got some daylight on the group and started to bridge towards the leaders. After a few minutes of solo bridging I looked back to see Austin Stewart (Elbowz) bridging across to me. The two of us came together and formed chase group 2 with a minute to bridge to chase group one and another minute to the leaders. We were both taking strong hard pulls at the front up the hills and across the flats quickly closing in on the groups up front. We eventually caught a fellow Houston racer Pedro Martinez (Sun and Ski) in the middle of the gap. A little over a lap after Austin and I started bridging we caught the chase group and now formed a new chase group of four. We kept the pace high knowing that with four racers we could catch the leaders (1 minute up the road now) relatively quick. All four of us took equal pulls and worked hard at the front bringing the time gap down. We caught the leaders exactly one lap after Austin and I caught the chase (two laps after I got away from the bunch). Now we were getting some new time gaps saying that we were only 20 seconds up the road from a large group. I looked back and to my surprise and group of around eight to ten had been bridging across to us. As soon as they caught us we formed one large lead group of 11-15 riders with all the large teams represented. We continued to work hard with over 30 miles to go towards the finish line. Within the break there were a few attacks to try to get rid of the excess amount of riders but for the most part things stayed together as we charged towards the finish. Some of the teams that had more than two guys in the group started sending riders up the road to try to split the group. I tried my best just to follow wheels to prevent my self from getting stuck behind any dropping riders. As the laps started ticking down so did the snap in everybody’s legs. As we started the final lap we were still a large group of almost 15 riders moving towards the finish. As we were cruising along I kept an eye out for any of the strong looking guys that might want to try to go solo towards the finish. In the final kilometers all the late moves that tried to go all got brought back and everyone was getting ready for the final sprint towards the line. When we were in the final kilometer I positioned my self up towards the front of the group on the right side sitting comfortably on 4^th wheel thinking I had got my self a good position for the uphill 250-meter sprint. As we hit the base of the hill I was sitting third wheel and started my charge up the hill on the right. As I was starting to come around the riders I was behind almost every single person behind me surged around on my left. I quickly tried to get behind them to get some momentum for another kick for the line. Unfortunately this second kick never came and I finished behind the bulk of the break getting an 11^th on the day.

The Break:
Photo by Nicki Kupecz

After this race I was very happy with how I made it into the winning move and how I was almost in the position to get a big result. Now I just need to work on that finishing jump and positioning. (I was a little bit too close to the front for this finish) Better things will be coming these next couple weeks that I am certain about. Not just for me but also for my team, Jake finished in the top end of the pack sprint and Cody and Stephan both placed top 10 in the pro 1 race

Tour of New Braunfels and Team Camp 2011

It has been a long and hectic off-season but the race season is about to officially start up again at Tour of New Braunfels. This race isn’t to important in terms of finishing because it is the start of the season for me, but a great chance to meet some of the new racers on  my newly revamped FCS Cycling team for 2011.

After a short 3 hour drive to New Braunfels with Bike Barn racer and friend Wally Groda I was picked up by Team Director Tim Redus and James Karthauser. Two guys I have gotten to know over the years of my cycling through coaching, development camp, and Tour de L’Abitibi. Once I got to the team house we were staying at I quickly met the racers of the team that would be with me this weekend. This includes Tucker Gerald, Cody Foster, Stephan Hirsch, Booey Hottenstein, Jake Boone, and Jack Funk. Will Rader and Zach Noonen weren’t able to make it to the race/camp this weekend.

Omloop 2/3s

Team Dome

The weather was perfect for the first race of the year. Light Winds and the temperature in the 60s. This first race is a short circuit race around a small 2-3 mile loop for 50 minutes.  The race started out very calm and speed was slowly picked up as the momentum of the field started going. We started with a large group of over 60 riders and must have been one of the bigger fields of the day. As the race progressed I was able to move up with my teammates Jake and Booey towards the front of the field to try to get a good position.  We wanted to be in the front early in order to respond to anything that could have the potential to stay away. Once we were up there I felt moderately comfortable in the pack but I could tell that my pack handling skills weren’t up to par. Booey and Jake seemed pretty comfortable being towards the front of the group with me. As the race progressed we as a team tried to stay in the field and conserve energy for the sprint. Every once in a while Jake or me would follow a wheel into a small break that would quickly get reeled in on the very fast smooth course. On the final lap about a mile and a half from the finish line it was time to get in a position for the sprint. I worked up the left hand side of the pack on the downhill section and got right behind Jake who has been riding in the top 10 the entire race. He saw me get behind him and immediately gets to the front to drill it to the line in order to give me a lead out. When he started to hammer I was pushed off of his wheel by another racer and was out of the draft. I continued to fight for position but was now sitting 4^th wheel and slightly in the wind to the left of the line. Jake continued to drill it all the way to the to the 350 meters mark. At this point I could see racers starting to come around me in my peripherals. I get out of the saddle to try to push it to the line before I get boxed in. About 2 pedal strokes into my sprint I had to do some emergency braking as Jake pulled off to the left and got directly in front of me as he floated back from his lead out. I desperately looked for an out but I lost too much speed and started floating backwards behind my teammate.  Both Jake and me ended rolling in with the back end of the pack. Fortunately Booey was able to get a top 10 with a 7^th place for the team in the race.

After the race the team and me met up and discussed what happened. The Team raced phenomenally, the only fault I could see is I just wasn’t aggressive enough when I needed to hold Jakes wheel and I kind of let a top finish just get out of my reach. Nonetheless It was a great race and an awesome season opener. The team and I rode back to our team “dome” where we spent the rest of the day eating, and relaxing.

Road race P 1/2s

From the moment I got out of the team van I knew that today was going to hurt. The wind was blowing a still 15-20 mph and the course offered little protection and I had 72 miles of racing to complete. In this race I would be racing with my Cat 1 teammates Tucker, Cody, and Stephan who I didn’t race with the day before.

I ended up getting a really poor starting position in the race and found my self in the back half of the pack in what I personally thought was a very slow start. As the race started rolling I kept trying to find a way to move up towards the front but I wasn’t finding any open gaps. It wasn’t until after the feed zone on the first of six laps that the cross winds started to move riders around. The wind started shearing at the pack coming across our right shoulders and pushing the group closer and closer to the yellow line. I was trying my hardest to hold my position and move up but the speed was slowly getting faster. I desperately tried to spin my gears to hold any draft I could but I was getting closer and closer to crossing that yellow line and risk getting penalized, or worst get my team disqualified.  I quickly tried to start a second echelon in the back of the group as a last chance to try to get a draft going but as more riders tried to work with me the more and more they ended up putting me back in the gutter. I looked up to see in my horror that I was now off the back of the race on the first lap with half of the pack in the incoming traffic lane. I quickly got as low as I could and kept pedaling. I was able to form a small group of 5 and then we were able to catch onto the back of the main field in the head wind. As soon as we made the connection I was able to move up to the front of the thinned out-group and find my teammates. The next two laps felt a little bit easier now that there was an established break off the front and my teammate Stephan was in a chase group trying to get across. However every time we got into the crosswind section after the feed zone I kept getting pushed into the gutter and over the yellow line. I refused to go across it fearing I could end up getting my team penalized. However it was this following of the rules that got me off the back a second time in the race. After getting dislodged from the group a second time there was nothing I could do to try to get my legs to work. I was officially off the back. I completed the lap I was on and pulled out of the race a lap early. I was fried and defeated by the winds of central Texas.

After the race I got with my team to discuss what went on in the race. All of us missed the break that stuck and the chase group with Stephan was caught around the same time I was ejected off the back of the group. However it turns out that the entire main field was disqualified from the race from continued yellow line infringement. Something that I was afraid would happen just by watching the strung out-group take up the entire road without concern for incoming traffic. None the less it was a fun race while it lasted and gave me a sneak peek of what I should expect from the P1 /2 races of the year. I cannot wait to head out for my next race with better legs and more confidence to get a better result.

Tour Of Austin 2010

Tour of Austin P12

After another ride with my one of my favorite Pearland cyclists Ronnie Strange we arrived at the Driveway Race track where stage one of the tour of Austin will take place. This Stage is a 3.4 individual time trial on the famous driveway race car and crit course.

After heading up with Stranger Danger I was able to get all my stuff ready and find my team. The course was the big loop that used the top and the bottom of the course and. We had to do about two laps around it. After finding and hooking up with the team I proceeded to warm up on the trainer to get ready for the race. With the race being so short I wanted to be at the line warm and ready to roll. After a good 20-25 minute warm up I rolled over to the start ramp on was waiting for my start time.

Stage one 3.4 mile iTT

When the timer said Go I launched myself down the start ramp and sped into the first corner which officially got me on to the course. I got in my aero tuck and starting to put the hammer down. Heading down the back side of the course I put my bike in the bigger gear and spun as fast as I could to keep my speed up. I was holding nothing back since it was only two laps. Half way through the second lap I must have sounded like a oxygen deprived pack a day smoker as I was trying to get every bit of oxygen into my lungs to power me to the line.  I came across the line at full throttle putting in 100% into that effort. Later that night I found out that I finished 15^th doing the course in about 6:28:20in the Pro 1/2, my best 
result in this field all year.

Stage two 50 mile Criterium

The course for the first crit in the race was the same venue as the one that we raced the TT bikes on the day before. The race Started off very fast and we were quickly doing well over 35mph on the back stretch. My goal in this race was to just do what my team wanted me to do which was to follow and sit on wheels. The racecourse was very fast but the roads were so wide that the speed didn’t help string it out that much and everyone was able to stay in contact with the field for the most part. As the race progressed I could feel that my legs were getting worn out from the very high speed going down the back side ever y lap and my Jr gear restrictions weren’t helping me ether. By the time the race came down to the final couple laps I tried my best to get to the front to help out my team in any way I could but The course was too wide and fast for me and I ended up pulling off on the final lap as things started to get sketchy in the field.

Stage three 90 min e’stigma criterium

With the completion of the first two stages of the tour of Austin complete. My teammate Andrew Gonzales was sitting third in the omnium race and the goal was to try to keep the race together so he can sprint for maximum points on the line. The race started out very fast as most of the races do with attacks going from the gun from all the big teams. I found myself in the middle of a strung out pack and trying to get to the front. By the time I got to the front of the race the race already had a break off the front with a few riders from every team including Brett Crosby from Metro Volkswagen.  Even though we had a guy in the break I still told by the team to get to the front to try to bring everything back together so Gonzo had a chance to win maximum points in the sprint. I was at the front with a couple other teammates in a rotation at the front of the field. I was taking pulls as long as I could trying to bring back the group that was about one minute off the front of us. After a few laps of being in the rotation I could feel that my legs were starting to feel the sting of a long 90 minute race. After a couple rotations at the front there was a lul in the pace and a few riders attacked and formed a chase group. One of these riders was Gonzo who was the rider that we were trying to get the win for. I took a breather and sat near the front of the pack taking a few pulls until I pulled off on the final straight away knowing I contributed to the team and had no energy to contribute to the final sprint. The main break was never caught but Brett won from the lead group, Gonzo finished third in the chase getting so valuable omnium points and Tyler Jewell won the field sprint. It was a good day for the team.

Stage four 90 minute ‘Pickle Criterium’

After Gonzo Performance yesterday in the crit he moved tied for a podium position in the omnium, so the primary goal of the team was to try to get him on the first place pedestal. Something that would take a lot of hard work and maybe a little bit of luck. By the time the race started the weather was very hot with the temperature already past 100 degrees and the wind was picking up from a small storm that just went through. When the race started I could feel the fatigue from already racing 3 days before and didn’t know exactly how my body would respond to this race. The race was extremely hard. Harder than any other previous race I have ever done before. Every lap there was a long up hill and a downhill which were both on the cross wind sections of the course. The race started out with a bang and every lap I found my self sprinting with everything I could to try to stay in contact with the group going up the hardest section of the course. I tried my best to get to the front but I couldn’t find the energy to move up after a couple laps of sprinting up the hard side. Every time I tried to move up I got blasted by the strong head wind and ended up losing even more spots that if I just hung on. I lasted at this pace for about 28 minutes before I just unhitched from the pack and rode to the side of the road to try to breath. This was by far the hardest race I ever started.

Hotter than Hell Weekend

Hotter than hell 100 pro 1 cat 2

After a smooth start to a new school year it was time to drive up north to race the Hotter than Hell 100. This race consisted of a crit Friday night, a 100 mile road race Saturday morning and a crit Sunday afternoon. I went up to Wichita Falls with fellow Pearland rider Ronnie strange as well as a few of the racers from Texas San Jose racing team, including Carlos Varges and Travis Brant.

                  When we arrived at the convention center to pick up our race numbers and packets the entire place was filled with racers as well as riders that will be doing the 100 mile charity ride that goes off after the racers start.

Crit 1: 

The Friday night race was a very fast course with tons of people watching the race from all around, when the race started it started off really fast and I found myself in the middle quick a moving peloton. I quickly found myself in a position where I needed to move to the front to be ready to follow attacks and help out my team in any way possible. After spending almost twenty minutes moving up a few riders at a time I finally made it to the front fifteen riders where I wanted to be. Things were going smooth for me in terms of positioning but I was starting to feel the pain of holding my position and the race was still far from being over. At about forty minutes into the race I could feel all my energy going away and starting losing positions as I drifted back to the back of the strung out field. Once I made it to the back I gave it one last push to try to stay connected with the field but the speed was too high and I came off the back of the pack and rolled in.

In terms of cycling I thought I did great in terms of pack control and being where I wanted to be, I just didn’t have the energy or snap to stay with the pack in the ending half of the race.

RR: The Hotter than hell 100 is was going to be my first 100 mile road race and I was excited for this event. The race started out very fast as we left the neighborhood. We were cruising down the road at 30 plus like it was no one’s business. For the first couple of hours I pretty much just rode in the middle front of the pack trying to stay out of trouble and stay sheltered from the wind that was lightly blowing. With still about 30-40 miles left in the race a break went off the front with a few riders from every team including my teammate Russ “big daddy” Walker.  Back in the pack however all the teams seemed content with letting that break go off the front so there was no big chase to bring everyone back together. As we hit the final 10 miles of the race my team had a rotating pace line going at the front of the pack and I jumped in to help out the best I can. We kept things under control for the next 20 minutes before some of the other teams started bringing their riders to the front for the lead out in the final 2 miles. I tried to move back to the front to try to help out my team with a final push our sprinter. As I was moving up in the final k there was a big crash right in front of me on the overpass. I slammed on my breaks and was able to get around it without falling. However by the time I got my rhythm going the field was in full sprint mode and I just rode in the final 900m easy to try to save some energy for the third race of the weekend. From the break that stayed away Big Daddy took a solo win. It was great day for the team.

Crit2: The start of crit number two was set in the middle of the day by the convention center. It was very very hot and even windier; the course its self didn’t look that complex but with the high winds it was going to be pretty hard. The race started out very fast like I knew it would, I quickly found myself in the back end of the field at the mercy of the riders at the front. Every lap I tried to move up but anytime we hit the strong crosswind section I could feel that I was losing positions to the stronger riders. After what felt like an endless circle of laps I was on the tail end of the group getting whipped around as I tried to hold contact with the group. Once the race was in the final 20-30 minutes I lost contact with the group and was quickly off the back in the strong cross wind section. I pulled off a lap later to prevent getting heat exhaustion.

Recap: I defiantly feel like I had a good weekend with a lot of positive reinforcement.  Mostly in terms of working with my team in the road race and being able to move around better in the pack.

Special thanks to my team and sponsors for allowing me to race this race with them. Another thanks to Ronnie Strange for Driving me all the way from Pearland for this race and Kyle Anderson and his parents for allowing me and some of the team to stay at their house over the weekend.

Tour de L'Abitibi

The first time I heard of this race was 2 years ago back when I was 14 at the southwest regional camp in Lubbock Texas. Tour De L'Abitibi is the largest and only UCI jr stage race in the western hemisphere. The race takes place in  the small town of Val d'Or in Quebec Canada. In order to get to race you must be on a team that gets invited and have a racing age of 17-18.

Getting to and from this race has got to be one of the most difficult accomplishments I have conquered. I left Pearland and flew to Tulsa where I met up with teammate Alex Battles-Wood and was then picked up by the team director Tim Redus before we headed on the 3 day drive to the Great White North. Once we got to Detroit we met up with the rest of the team which composed up Will Rader, Cody Tapley, Alex Parks, as well as our mechanic Mike Wooderd and Soigneur James Karthauser.

After a very long drive from Detroit to Val d'Or we finally made it to where we would be racing for the next week.

Stage 1

The first stage in the Tour de L'Abitibi was going to be my first taste of what racing against some of the top Jrs in North America would be like. In the first 200m of the first race there was a major pile up directly in front of me causing me to have to dismount my bike and jump of the pile of bikes and bodies. I was able to quickly rejoin to main group after a few minutes of chasing with a few other guys that got caught behind the the crash with me.  Once I caught onto the group again it was time to start moving to the front of the 156 person peloton and prepare for the rest of the day's stage. As the stage progressed I found that I was able to move up to the front of the field relatively easy  since we had full rolling enclosure. The only hard thing was that I was having some trouble staying up at the front as was cycling through from the front to the middle of the pack for the rest of the day. After a very fast run in to the city circuits I was at the back end of the pack and quickly found my self surrounded by dropping riders. I did my best to sprint around the opening holes but I couldn't get around all of them and I found myself solo in no mans land just about thirty seconds off the back of the dwindling main group. I went into TT mode to try to catch the rear end of the group that I was never able to catch. I finished about 1 minute behind the group. Not the best way to start a stage race.

Stage 2

The start of stage 2 was a lot smoother off of the line as there was no crashes in the first two minutes of the race. I started to move up as soon as I could but the race was still in town and it was  on some really narrow roads we were riding on. That was when there was a major wreck directly in front of me and I had no where to go but into it. As I ran into the pile up I was locking up both my brakes and my rear wheel was fishtailing around the right side of me. As I hit the group I flipped over the right side of my bike and landed on my side and side of my helmet. The worst of the wreck was when I was sliding on my back  when some large rider ran into my bike and he flipped over and landed on my legs pushing them enough to hyperextend my back causing excruciating pains. And before I could get up a second rider rode into the side of my face tearing up my sunglasses and somehow knocking my contact lenses out of my eyes. Once I stopped sliding across the ground like a rag doll I stood up as fast as I could to find my bike and begin chasing back onto the group. But by back felt terribly wrong and I couldn't stand up straight. The race doctor saw this and made me lay down to make sure I didn't break anything. After laying on the ground for 30-45 seconds she let me up and said I could get in the ambulance if I wanted to but I said no and got on my bike and started chasing. By this time however the caravan and the field were way out of sight and I still had about 60 mile / 95 k left to the line. After I cleared my mind and got focused on the chase I relized how bad a shape I was in on my solo chase, my back was in unbearable pain, my helmet was shattered, half my face hurt from where I was ran over, there was a crack in my fork, my left shifter blade was cracked strait through, I was bleeding out my left knee, all my water bottles fell out, and the worst of it all was that I had no way to see the road up ahead  of me since I somehow lost my contacts in the crash with another 2.5 hours of racing to do. While I was mindlessly chasing I caught 2 more riders. Out of this group I was the strongest and was taking massive pulls for 5 minutes at a time to try to keep the pace as fast as possible. The other riders including one of my teammate Booey where taking shorter pulls since they didn't want to slow the speed down and he said he wasn't feeling well.  This continued till it was about 40k from the line where I couldn't even hold the pace I was pulling at earlier for even a minute. Shortly after this point I hit the wall when all my emotions, pain from the wreck and fatigue from chasing so hard with no sign of the group started combining leaving me feeling the worst I've ever felt on the bike. After barely able to hold onto the wheels of my group I was able to make it to the circuit where I was quickly dropped by my Teammate on the climb on the circuit. I finished the race cold, sore, bleeding, blind, and crestfallen, and in extreme pain. And over 30 mins behind the stage winner.

Later that night after being checked my the doctors I received the worst possible news. I missed the time cut by a mere 90 seconds. After hearing this I couldn't believe it. I never felt so torn apart. The only good news I heard was that Booey, who was with me after the crash and was in my small group of chasers made the time cut by only 8 seconds. One of the narrowest margins ever at this race.

Stage 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

For the rest of the week up at the race I was pretty much team support and got to see how the racing was from a mangers point of view and see the stress of the caravan first hand. Something that seemed as stressful as the racing itself.

Well I would like to give a special thanks to all the people that made this experiance possible for me. I would like to thank my team Will, Alex B, Alex P, Cody and Booey. As well as my team Director Tim Redus, Mechanic Mike Woodered, and Soigneur James Karthauser. I would like to thank my sponsors Hotel San Jose, Juwi solar, Reed and Scardino,Austin Subaru, As well as Metro Volkswagen, The Pearland Cycling Club and the Pearland Racing Team. I also want to thank my coach David Wenger of Durata Training for preparing me for this race. And most of all I want to thank Mom and Dad for all there love and support.

Now I want to head back next year even stronger and make a good showing next year.




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Off to L'Abitibi

Heading off to canada. I will try to update blog when I'm up there but no guarantee.