Night Train

Jack chilling with his legs crossed and
Kyley after her night lap.



Jim after his night lap, he matches so well...


Keith and Stella snuggling while
Jacob graps a bite to eat in the
background.



Owen and Billy having a heart to heart
waiting for the awards ceremony

Night Train

Adam worn out after the last lap.. which calls for a keg stand!! 12 seconds worth:) These guys started with stands at like 10 am. They were lovin life by the end of the race!!





Cheers to Velo Sports with beer provided by
the Wedge Brewery

Night Train

Praying mantis with PBR








Owen shooting the shit and Stella and I sharing kisses!!

3rd place winners...
whitey tighties

Track Race

Another race at the track this Tuesday on the fixed gear bikes. There was a small turnout so I was combined with the "A" field again, along with Alan, John, Aaron, and Jim.

The night went well, I did descent in all of the races including a 4th in the points race, I had the legs to place in the 2nd race of the night, but got blocked in. Oh well.

French Broad Classic

Don't have much to reprt on this one. I got dropped both days.

George Hincapie's family was at the race on Sat, that was cool.

That is all I have to report.

Cowbell Challenge

This past Saturday was the Cowbell Challenge. The race was held on a private farm in Davidson, NC. Velosports assembled a team to take on the 4 person open division. We had Billy McCracken, Nathan Wyatt, Jim Clark, and me. The venue was great and we had a pretty good spot to set up our mini camp.

The race started at 10 am, I would be first to go. I lined up as close to the front as I could get (they were letting the pros take the front line). I went off as hard as I could, I wanted to get a shot at the bonus prizes that were being given away (King of the Mts). I started making my way towards the front down the gravel road, I made the first right hand turn and made friends with the gravel right off the bat. I checked my bike to see if it was ok and continued on, everyone was asking if I was alright, but I didn't have time to think about that at the time. I saw blood dripping on my shoe, but I wasn't going to look. I was a little gun shy to start the single track, but that went away as I caught traffic and tried desperately to move up.

The entire middle part of the course was tight twisty single track, it was great fun but hard to make up time, and there was definitely no place to pass unless someone "let" you by.

The last part of the course opened up along some fields and speed was possible again. I opened it up as fast as I could and passed a dozen or so more before getting to the only steep climb. I passed a couple more up the hill, went through the make shift "slalom" course, up the last climb and finally to Nate waiting for the hand-off.

We had to switch an ankle bracelet to our next rider, I was terrible about getting it on and we probably lost 15 seconds or so every lap.

The guys were awesome, Nate tied the fastest lap, and we all stayed pretty consistent. We had no real issues except for Billy messing up his fork. We had a great day and ended up first 3 laps ahead of the second place team.

Go Velosports!

State Championships

On Saturday we got educated by Andy's teamate Rich Harper, I felt good for most of my race but bonked at the 70 mile mark. Made my way in slowly.

On Sunday the pace was faster causing all of the breaks to be brought back, I felt good for the race and stayed with the lead group up until the finish where I realized I had burned 1 too many matches chasing down 2 breaks and going off of the front at least 3 times. It was a good race.

Mountain Sports Festival

This past weekend was the Mountain Sports Festival. Velosports was putting on races on Friday and Saturday. Friday was the road and fixed gear night. I was racing in the "A" category and finished well in the races, but no wins.

Saturday had "fat tire" and fixed gear night. I ended up with 6 wins out of the eight events. I had an awesome night. I got to hang out with the team after the races and have a good time. No long drive home afterward, it was an awesome night. I can not wait until next year.

Track Race

Last Tuesday was the fixed gear race. I ended up tied for 2nd thanks to Frank, Kirk, Leslie, and Erica. I will be moving up to the "B" category.

Tomato Head Crit

Sunday was the crit. Downtown Knoxville was pretty nice when we actually got to where we were going, that was as good as my day got. I had "concrete legs", they felt very heavy at the start and hardened as the race went on. I sucked today.

Andre did awesome, took 4th in the crit and the omnium!

Tomato Head RR

Had to go with Frank's report for the day:

Andre 5th - The master sprinter sprinting in his junior gear!Adam 20th? (after a busting his butt to bridge gaps, catch multiple breakaways and great lead out for Andre)Frank 25th (actually finished a long time after the field finished....buthe DID finish!)OJ 26th (rode with frank for much of the ride, made some good jokes aboutthe locals)Lots of horses, trucks with trailers backing onto the race course, morehorses and carriages.....horse caravans, people thrown from horses, horsesbacking into cyclist after they were spooked, horse poop, a couple dogs,some rollers, road-side garbage, lots of head wind, did I say horse poop?,and horses. What a fun and COLORFUL bicycle ride in TN!1st Favorite Quote of the Day from OJ: "Did that just happen?" Referring to the pausing-seconds immediately after he and Frank passed the horse andcarriage caravan while they were pulling onto the race course. "Oh, look atthe bicyclist".....little did they know what was in store for them.2nd Favorite quote of the day from Frank: "STOP!" Frank yelling at adriver backing his trailer onto the course just before the masters fieldcame through. (Oj and Frank had been dropped from the cat 3 and weregetting caught by the masters field.)3rd Favorite quote of the day from a lady thrown from her horse: "I justwant my horse back." Frank and Oj turn and look into a field on the side ofthe road, there were 3 horse galloping about and returning to theroad......Oh my, lets get out of here!And no, we didn't almost get lost going to the race and nobody got car sickand the bananas didn't stink up the car after they were sitting on top ofthe dash board in the sun. :-)

The only thing left out was the guy peeing during the race, the snake in the road, and a dog that actually got his mouth on my foot.

Yee-haw

12 Hours of Tsali

This past weekend was the 12 hours of Tsali. Velosports sent two sport teams and Nate from Carolina Fatz was doing 6 hours solo. Frank and I left his house at 7:00 a.m. making sure that we were getting enough coffee into our bodies along the way. We met up with Doug briefly on the road to Tsali before he decided to make a pit stop. We arrived at the venue, and thanks to Smoky Mountain Bikes, we were able to set-up with them and have a great spot, easy to load/unload our stuff, and have a great position to watch the race and switch out riders.

We got everyone registered and ready to go, then started to get into race mode.
Dave from SMB got started early changing tires for me and fixing Andre's bike, hub, brakes, etc. to get us ready. I changed Frank's stem and now we were ready to roll, and Andre ready to run.

Adam and Andre started out the race with the LeMans start (600 yard run) and did the first lap. They came in from the first lap in 2nd and 3rd positions (frickin' awesome), and the race started. Billy and I were the 2nd riders, Frank and Doug went 3rd, and David and Alan took the 4th spots. One of the teams moved into 2nd place ahead of us and we started trying to catch them. We started moving between the 3rd and 4th places in the race with team # 30 making the race really fun. I started cramping on my 3rd lap, costing my team a little bit of time, but I moved my cleats and felt much better on my last lap. My last lap was in the dark and was great. The only issues I had were a raccoon running out in front of me and a bat landing on my helmet (it happened).

When all was said and done, Team #2 took third for the sport class and Team #1 finished 6th. It was an awesome day, we had no bad accidents, no big mechanicals, and everyone had an awesome time.
Thanks to all of my teammates, Team #2 and Team #1.

Thanks to Dave, Pam, Phil, and Karen from Smoky Mountain Bikes, they helped keep us rolling and fed.

Thanks to David and Terry Berger for a great event, the weather cooperated this time and the race was awesome!

Check out all of the pics

12 Hours of Tsali

Nate on the Podium for 6 hours solo!

Go Doug Go!


Thanks Dave and Terry for a great race!
Sycamore Cycles!

Smoky Mountain Bicycles

12 Hours of Tsali

We are thirsty

12 Hours of Tsali

Billy Chillin

Frank

12 Hours of Tsali

Start of the race.

12 Hours of Tsali

12 Hours of Tsali

Track Night

Suffering on the 4k

Athens Twilight

Saturday was the Athens Twilight. Andre and I went down with Evan along. We left Asheville around 6:30 am and made ouw way towards Athens, we arrived down there around 9:15 and had to find a place to park and registration. These projects took about 20 min. I started getting ready for my first race at 10:15. The weather was great, not too hot yet, and no rain (yet).

I lined up for the Masters 30+ race, their was only about 40 riders or so in the field with most of those being cat 1 and 2, the top 10 would qualify for the race tonight. The race started off fast, but smooth, I was in the middle of the field feeling good and rolling along. Then Jason Sprouse from I 9 started the attacks and they didn't stop, I eventually got shelled off of the back with about 10 min to go, but I wasn't the only one so I kept going just to finish the race and stay warm for the Cat 3 race in about an hour. I finished 23rd.

When the Cat 3's started lining up, they took the line before they were supposed to and I had to line up at the back (this would become a problem). The race took off and was moving pretty well, it felt sketchy for a 3 race but I was going to find Andre and just move up slowly. On my first attempt to move up, I got behind a few riders that ran into each other on a flat in the straightaway (is this a 3 race?). This caused the first gap that I had to make up. The corners were also causing big problems for some riders, so the speeds at the back were going from 17 mph back up to 30+ mph at every turn, this was getting really tiring. On my next attempt to move up, some guy just hit the curb on another straightaway (are you kidding?) this caused a gap right before the turns, so now I had to accelerate and decelerate 3 times on this side. People started coming off the group and eventually I got caught behind one of those guys and could not close the gap back to the field, my day was done and no racing that night. Andre raced a smart race and got 17th to qualify for the show, where he finished 5 th among a field that was filled with mostly 1's and 2's, congrats to Andre.

Clemson

The course at Clemson had been changed for Sun, the big climb and descent had been taken out leaving a 5 mile loop that we would do five times.

My start was slow (like always), I wasn't sure how I would feel after sleeping most of Sat.

The first half mile was dust city on a new part of the trail, my lungs are still brown, after the race settled in I passed a couple of people and began looking for my strong and weak points of the course. After I figured out how I wanted to ride, I started working on moving up, I felt a little stiff because of the technical nature and roughness of the course, but overall I felt good, I was climbing OK pushing the flats, but a little slow on the downhill.

Even though I seemed to be feeling good through the whole race, everyone else must have felt better, I couldn't make up any places in the last 15 miles, even though I kept seeing the guys in front, I could't close the gap.

Not sure of my final position, the full results were not up yet.

First fixed gear track race.

Last Tuesday, April 15th was my first fixed gear track race. I would be starting out in the C class since I was a newbie. I had some teammates in the race with me, so I thought it would be a fun night. My legs were a little tired, and didn't have much snap, but I pushed through.

The first race of the night was a scratch race, where the winnner is the first one across the line on the last lap (pretty basic). One of the guys Marshall turned out to be fast and on his game, he took first in the race, with Frank 2nd and me 4th.

The second race of the night was a "point-a-lap" race, this is where the winner of each lap gets a point, the rider with the most points after 8 laps wins. Marshall was very strong in this race and timed all of his sprints perfectly, even with Frank working his butt off for me, I couldn't hold him off. Marshall took 1st and I got 2nd.

The last race of the night was a "points race". Riders race for points on every 3rd lap (for our race) to get points, 5-3-2-1 for 1st-2nd-3rd-4th, respectively. I was feeling good for this race and some of the other guys also wanted to try and keep him in. I only missed one sprint in the race, a break got away and took the points, but I earned enough points to take first for the race.

Overall, I was 2nd in the omnium (results had me at 3rd) and had a great night for myself and my team. Frank was definitely a big help mentally and physically, and Leslie being in the field was definite motivation.

Everyone that put on the event did a great job, thank you.

Track racing was definitely much more fun than I thought it would be, I can't wait until next Tuesday.

First Cat 3 Race

My first Cat 3 race was in Spartanburg, SC on April 14. Some of the pros said the course was tough because of all of the small steep climbs. The weather was very cool compared to the previous week. The group was about half of the size of what I was used to in the 4's. The race rolled off, I was feeling tired from moving, but I hoped the feeling would pass as the race went on. The Bio-Wheels guys were sending attack after attack, working on the field. I was content to just sit in and see how my day went, The climbs were tough, but nothing I couln't handle. I tried to find a sweet spot in the field, but couldn't. As the race went on, people fell off and I was getting closer to the back. This caused me to start working around gaps and that starting wearing on me. Finally, on a short little hill, two guys (that were also struggling) opened a gap in front of all of us and the field, I couldn't close it.

I kept riding to finish the race, I made a wrong turn and had to back track some, but I still maanaged to pass one more and rode in to finish.

I need sleep.

Moving

Sorry, race reports have been slow, Lindsay and I bought a house and have been moving. Along with working out of town that doesn't leave much free time.

Upgrade

I am now upgraded to Cat 3.

Can't wait to race with the faster crowd, new speed to get used to.

Luckily I have some strong teammates waiting for me in the 3's. That makes it a little easier.

Uwharrie XC Race

Sunday was the first XC race of the year. I went with Alan, his wife, and the whole family. We arrived with plenty of time for me to get ready and warm up, warming up would prove to be tough because it was so cold. I wasn't really expecting too much today, just wanted to see where my fitness was compared to the other guys. I had a much better start than usual, as I was sitting in 3rd place, after a 1/2 mile or so I moved to 2nd and sat on the leaders wheel. He was looking for his team mate, so we slowed slightly and settled in. Now, there were 4 of us at the front with a gap, I was feeling good and ready to have a good day. I drifted back a little as we hit some hills, but the long flat ahead would close me back up slightly. We got to the top of the course and now I was with the 2nd group of 3 with the leaders in sight, I was not pushing too hard and I felt like I could move up if needed. After, the first downhill, I crossed the creek and went to climb only to find that my chain was off. I had to stop to fix that, now I was in the 3rd group. I stayed with them until the start of the 2nd lap, Neal pulled off and I set sail to move back up, I left the guys in the third group and caught the next guy up. I went tto the top with him and one other guy and I was looking to hit another spurt after the downhill.

That didn't happen, being off of the mtn bike for a month told on me. I had to be running with too much pressure, I started feeling the bumps, then the front wheel washed out on me and I went down. My right calf cramped and I had to lay on the ground for a minute moaning like a cow giving birth. I got back up and saw my rear derailleur hanger was bent, I rigged it to get rolling again, and went a few miles before I shifted the derailleur into the rear wheel and the chain behind the cassette (awesome). I limped in from the 2nd lap with no east gears on my bike, I thought about hanging it up for the day, but I saw Alan with an evil grin on his face as he was handing me my water bottle, so I sucked it up and kept going. I tried to stay smooth and calm on the last lap, and I made it around with no problems. I finished 8th and got to watch one guy finish a few minutes after me (poor guy).

No good gauge of fitness, my skills were at a 3 out of 10.

Short Movie

GTS #4 - March 2

Sunday was race #4 in the Greenville Training Series. Frank and I both felt like 80 year olds that arthritis and today we would have no Andre or Calum. We agreed that we would sit in for the first couple of laps and see how are legs would respond. I felt like I was going to get shelled after the first hard effort. Many of the questionable riders from yesterday were not in today's field, and it showed. The first lap was relatively smooth, some hard efforts, but nothing too bad. I felt pretty good with all of the accelerations with no signs off falling off. I was moving around the field pretty well and I was feeling pretty good. I wasn't sure where Frank was, but I caught a glimpse of him every once in a while, so all was good. He looked relaxed and I felt relaxed, maybe the day would be OK. Towards the backside of the third lap someone went clear, there was no chase and I was comfortable sitting 3rd wheel, the one of the Greenville Spinner guys opened a gap to chase him down, I figured that if I was going to go, he would be the one to go with since he had a few teammates in the field to hopefully slow things down. I caught him and we worked together to catch the leader, two more guys caught on and I thought we were working together well. My wife became my cheerleader, along with Stephen and Erica as I went by and gave a little more motivation, but apparently the field didn't let the last two guys get too far, and all of us got caught. I sat back in the field and worked my way up until the last lap, I was 2nd wheel and trying to see exactly where I wanted to be. Then the field sped up and the guy in front of me didn't, I was boxed in and losing spots, I couldn't find a hole to duck into and ended up at almost the very back of the field, I saw Frank go by on the other side of field, and I thought "oh no, my race is over". Then some on "Frank's side" popped with 500m to go and "my side" began to move up. I was on the left side, because I thought I would have more room after we passed the 200 m mark and the road opened up. Everyone kept accelerating and I was going with them, when "the sprint" began, I found that I had more people to work through than I thought (I felt like I was sprinting through a pinball machine) and only got back up to 24th.

Overall, it was a good day, Frank and I both did OK, and made it through the race with the lead

group.

Race #3 at GTS on March 1st

They said there were 189 riders to start this race (seems like a high number) for the Cat 4's. Our goal today was to get Andre in a good finishing position and ultimately, a win. At the end of lap 2 Frank informed me that Andre said his back was hurting and he was behind us. The beginning of lap 3 saw the field start to come apart on the 2nd hill, Frank and I were beside each other and both had to maneuver around slower riders and close a gap to get back to the front group. The pace didn't ease at all as we topped the hill and headed for the turn, the pace stayed high for another mile or so, until we hit another hill and again riders starting coming off of the back. I could still see Frank (this added to my motivation even though I was tapping my red line) and decided I was going to move towards the front and stick close to him. Two guys went off of the front and then two more, I was not in a postion to go, so I hoped the group had some gas left. Eventually I was on the front and I didn't really want to work, but I didn't want to give the race away either, so I did my pulls and tried to catch the group with one other guy during the long stretch before we turned into the last hilly section. We did not get away, but now the four up the road were closer, I fell back into the group to regain some strength for the uphill finish. The pace started ramping up and now the gap to the four riders was very small, I was working my way back up to get a good position to up the last hill, I was in 6th or 7th in the main group as we made the turn, but I was fading, I decided to go to the slow side of the road and regroup for a few seconds so that I could catch a wheel and give it a go for the line. As I was catching my breath, someone decided to make a terrible move across the road (no reason, we had the entire road) and he slammed into my handlebars, now my rest would be on the ground, on my back. I got up quickly, did all prelim checks and pedaled in with my crooked seat across the line. I was very frustrated because of all of the hard work it took just to get into position and then get taken out when there was tons of room and nobody had to fight for a position. Oh well, I am walking and the bike is OK.