Pre CX

I guess I'm gonna give this cycle cross thing a try tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Hopefully I can stay out of one of these

Extremely urgent and horrifying news story!!!!!!!!!!!!

This just in!!!!!!!............................Brad now has a chainring on his left calf!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a baller!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm pretty disappointed. I was hoping for something like........

Or ........

Or at least....

There shall be pictures.

Interbike

Brad Nelson and a few others are going to Vegas for Interbike this week, while I get to stay in Indy and go to school. Awesome. He promised me that he was going to get a tattoo. If any one has an idea what he should get, leave a comment.(preferably humorous)

Today Dad and I tore up the trails on the cross bikes today while Brad was to lazy to change his flat on his X-bike. So he wimped out on us and used his mtn bike. Brad and I had fun but Dad was a little shaken up after a confrontation with Mother Earth(after trying aerobatics and vaulting over his bars). So Brad and I went around for another lap, and I'm proud to say that I did beat him. Even though I only did half the loop, but its all good!

Zipp T-Shirt Instrutctions

For those of you don't know, Zipps are the best bike wheels in the world. http://www.zipp.com/

Here are the instructions that came on Brad's shirt he won on Sunday.

Zipp Shirt Maintenance Instructions

Your new ZIPP shirt will require occasional maintenance in the form of cleaning after soiling shirt from energy bar/drink spillage, excessive wear and other unforeseeable reasons. (Note: for best washing results we recommend removing shirt first.)

1. To remove shirt for cleaning, grasp shirt firmly at bottom edge with both hands and pull directly over head. (Note: helmet, hat and/or sunglasses may need to be removed first)

2. To protect the valuable artwork from nasty synthetic detergents and maintain the highest possible aesthetic of the multi-color hand-silk screening process- turn the shirt inside out.

3. Place in the washing machine (the big white one on the left). Wash in cold or warm (not hot) water with colors of the same ethnic background and political bias. Use a minimum amount of the evil detergent and, for the good of mankind, put the lid down and step away from the bleach. (Bleach is the mortal enemy of color, and as such has sworn to do everything possible to erase it from the face of the earth.)

4. The best drying process to further protect the aforementioned spectacular graphics, is to line-dry or air-dry(yes there is an 'air-dry' setting on your dryer). If you don't have time for this lengthy process, because, like most, you have nothing else to wear or simply have a special function to attend and this is, of course, your favorite article of clothing, do ahead and put it in the dryer(the big one on the right) - but be cautious, we cannot be held accountable for the possible permanent devastating effects. If you must, please, please use 'low' heat unless you plan to give the shirt to a much smaller(infant size) friend or family member.

Once dry, repeat step(1) in reverse and it is once again time to don your fabulous ZIPP shirt and venture fourth into the world with pride and confidence.

Unfortunately, we are sad to say; like all things in nature, cotton also has it's limitations and your ZIPP shirt will not last forever. When this sad time comes, the stains too deep, holes too plentiful and your friends refuse to be seen with you in public, you can take solace in the fact that the soft cotton makes a great bike cleaning rag. And you can still be close to your favorite ZIPP shirt while working in the garage for years to come.

The Huntington Challenge

Warning! this is a ridiculously long blog post! Call in to work sick, skip school, cancel the plans, drop the kids off at the daycare! You're gonna need to make some time.

Last weekend Dad, Brad Nelson and I traveled up to the Huntington Challenge. This is no ordinary race. It's two days long with 70 miles each day, based on time. But the real kicker is that there are cyclocross/mtn bike sections thrown in between the road sections. The off road parts were between 3-7 miles long, varying from short track to mountain bike trails to zig-zaging fields with miles and miles of yellow caution tape. So if you only bring a road bike you're SOL. I found out last year when I got in a break about 30 mins in with Chase Hoeffer. We took a wrong turn somewhere and got about 30 miles off the course. Guy East and Weston Luzzader had reached the off road sections and they said there was no way a road bike could win this race. This year, thanks to my coach, Dean Peterson, I was equipped with a superb cross bike.

We arrived pretty early to get registered and man was it cold! It was a frigged 40 degrees! We get there, unpack the bikes, get dressed and as soon as I'm done pumping up the rear tire, the pump rips the valve clean off the tube. I scramble around looking for a tube and luckily find one and slap it on the wheel. After our freezing pre ride, we line up for the start and I get another flat just sitting there! Dad and I then run back to the car and throw another tube on the wheel and get back just in time for the blow of the whistle. OK! First adrenaline rush of the day out of the way! Now we're off and cruising until a masters rider with a road bike attacks and gets away to get a bit of a cushion for the first cross section. 50 mins into the race we hit the dirt(or actually freezing wet grass) and I keep my lead position for the first mile or so until I take a wrong turn, luckily Brad saw me and yelled at me to get my butt turned around. I then turned my butt around and sat on Brad's wheel to get the hang of handling the bike in dirt, then put in my own attack and got a few seconds gap. I proceed to hammer and gain about 2 mins by the end of the first cross section. By now I'm the first cyclist on the road portion, which also means I have the lead vehicle. Not 2 miles out from the cross section I get a flat, again!

By the time I get it changed the lead group(Brad's group) and the entire pack passed me including Dad. He stopped and readjusted his seat, because he was having a disappearing seat post. In the trails it kept on dropping down on him. So we got going again and started pacing our way up. But to no prevail, I hit the most historic 40 mile bonk that anyone has ever seen on the face of the earth! I'll spare you the minor details, but I lost all my strength, my vision(for about 5 mins), and around 40 mins to the leaders. Dad had to baby me all the way to the finish. He told me to go on alone with about 10 miles to go, because he was still having major problems with his seat post. With one mile to go I had ANOTHER flat! Dad caught up and switched wheels with me, so I could at least have a minuscule chance on GC. Brad got 6th on the day only 5 or so mins down. OK! Glad that day was over.

Day Two

The next day we woke up around 6ish to pack up and take advantage of the free hotel continental breakfast. We get to the course a little behind schedule courtesy of me for not having a clue on whats going on. We have just enough time to put our numbers on and we're off again! I had totally learned my lesson the previous day, and that is............... to attack as hard as you can and as many times you can in the first 10 mins..........ok maybe not. The game plan of the day was to sit in for the road sections and stay in contact in the cross sections, and maybe make a few moves by the end. We get to the first cross sections only 10 mins into the race. (We rode the course backwards from yesterday for the first 20 miles) When we hit the off road section, I'm about 10th rider back. Not exactly the place where I wanted to be, but I make my way to the front eventually and take Brad's wheel. He is one of the most knowledgeable and street......."trail" smartest person I know. Its a safe bet that Brad will pick the right lines, plus I can see over him if I need to look ahead. The group gets to a log barrier to dismount and my speedplay pedals get so clogged up. I couldn't get clipped in for another mile. I got fed up when my left shoe came loose on a fast downhill and I nailed a log at the bottom straight on........racking myself........big time! I though I was gonna puke! After I regain consciousness and remember who and where I am, I grab my only bottle (the other one had fallen out some time in the trails) and hosed down both cleats. FINALLY! I can get back in the pedals. By now the cross section is over and I bridge up to the break in a few mins. Maybe 20 mins later we hit a gravel road which leads to another off road section.

You have to remember that it was 40 something degrees, and we crossed 2 or 3 river crossings. I couldn't feel my feet for the rest of the day. So after the river crossings I almost bite it on the gravel, and tempo it at the front until the road. Right before we got to the road section, I heard this big BANG! That sucks for somebody. The group I was with had all 3 major teams represented with at least 3 people from each team, yet no one was driving it. I looked back and Brad was no where to be found. It turned out that the big bang was both of his wheels flattingat the same time. He only had one tube, so he fixed his rear wheel and just kept on trucking with a flat front! He rode 2 HOURS with a flat front wheel including the off road sections. There was a ramp in one of the cross sections that I luanched off of, and apparently Brad tried also! (with a flat front tire!) He then lost control of his machine and shot off the trail. I asked him why he did that with his flat tire and he responds "I had to jump it." Ladies and Gentleman, Brad "B-Rad" Nelson for you!

So anyways........... there was this one master in my group with a road bike who kept on hammering trying to get a break on the guys with the cross bikes, yet he wouldn't quite attack. He would more or less role off the front and we would just sit on his wheel. He kept on getting frustrated so he just kept on tempo-ing it at the front, for some reason. Which amused the entire group. We get to the 3rd cross section and I get to the front and tempo it, not going to soft or too hard at all. I look over and Dad is yelling at me from the feed station, he's actually talking to me and demanding answers from me, as I'm concentrating on the course. He apparently got lost in the first cross section. (Should have had that GPS on you, Dad.) After this section I look back and have a gap. I started picking the thorns and pricklies off my jersey, drinking and eating. I then look back and there is still no one there! he lead vehicle in front of me, so I know I'm not lost . I start tempo-ing it again and going harder and harder. Now I have about 40-50 more miles to go and I'm trying to decide what to do. Fall back to the group, or try soloing it in, while the master pulls everyone back up to me. Hmmmmmmm........Its clobbering time! So I start drilling it, and it was so incredibly boring! The only incentive I had was to get to the next cross section as fast as I could! Not to have a repeat of yesterday crisis, I kept downing bottles and gels. The people in the lead vehicle were very nice because whenever I finished a bottle I would wave it up in the air and they would come back and hold on to it for me. It felt very pro tour-ish. I'll try to condense the rest of this for you guys: I TT it all the way to the finish and after 2hours and change of being out alone by myself, singing hundreds of song lyrics and talking to cows about politics and the weather, I only gain 5 mins. That's actually a fair amount of time but it was no where what I needed to gain back from the catastrophic amount of time I lost yesterday.

We waited and waited and waited about 1 hour for Brad to come in. We then got some pizza from the race promoters, some schwag(they had a random drawing for free stuff), some ice cream and our money. Dad was one of the first to be drawn in the giveaway so he got to pick out a zipp carbon bottle cage, Sweet! We just paid for our entire trip! Brad got a zipp shirt with the funniest instructions I have ever seen in my life. Yep, the shirt had instructions! (I'll post them some other time when you people get out of the coma I've just put you in) I got a mtn bike tire. The thing I got out from this weekend is that......CYCLO CROSS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And hopefully you'll be seeing me out there soon tearing it up on the trails! Sorry for the lack of pics. I forgot the camera. I'll get some up soon! Thanks for reading!

The First Annual Marion Classic Criterium

This weekend I headed out o the Marion Classic Criterium. From my understanding its an old race that a lot of people liked. We get up there and it is storming pretty hard. I was planning on racing the Pro 1,2,s but I just wasn’t too sure with the current conditions. Yet before it had started to precipitate Brad Nelson raced the Cat 5s........and won........common Brad! Are you serious?!?! For those of you who don't know Brad, he is an 18 year old professional monkey biker, a cat 2 wheel suck and a cat 4 racer. HOLD ON! Those are his words not mine, and I think he's proud of it. A subdued congrats goes out to you Brad. Anyways...... The course was a short steep hill, flat section and a technical down hill about 100 meters before the finish. And did I mention, on about every turn there was a manhole cover? After watching the 3 man strong masters race, I decided to man up and suit up. I have to say, trying to get a skinsuit on a wet figure is no walk in the park. After riding the course only two times I figured that the decent was going to cause some problems, and to my relief the officials decided to shorten the race from 75 mins to 55 mins. Only ten men were to be paid after this soon to be epic race, and there were eleven people lining up at the start. One poor soul wasn't going to have anything to show for his day’s efforts. Before the start its still raining and getting chilly. The race starts and I take off the front and lead up the hill, stall on the front and take the downhill 3rd rider back. For the next 3 laps I sit in, but after a prime I attack up the hill and get away. I stayed out by myself for 2 laps until an Inferno racer, Ryan Gamm, bridged. We then proceed to hammer until 20 mins to go where as my rear wheel flats. We were on the back side of the course and 0% chance of me getting down the "decent" to the wheel pit to get a change, not that it mattered because I decided not to put my wheels in the pit. Great idea. Fortunately for me we were about to pass Chase Hoeffer, and I yelled to him " Chase I got a flat!" And before I could request anything, he rips off his rear wheel and switched it out with mine! What an awesome team mate! I then fly down to the wheel pit to receive my free lap and wait for my breakaway compatriot to come back around through the finishing stretch. On Borris's (the coolest French USCF official you'll probably ever know) count I take off to join Ryan again. Two laps later, right as we were getting in a rhythm, my bike starts to bounce and slide uncontrollably......... another rear flat! This time it was on the downhill section. I was incredibly lucky to keep it up through the final turn. Brad Nelson, his Dad and my Mom were all standing on that turn and as soon as I came around they all realized the problem at once. Brad later admitted he was impressed that I was able to keep the rubber side down. So I just roll into the wheel pit and tell Borris I had received another flat. Without any wheels in the pit and no free laps left I was S.O.L. I was pretty bummed, yet satisfied with my overall efforts. Ryan then lapped the pack and went on for the win. Nice ridding Gamm! After the race the officials pitied me enough to give me the prime I had won in the break. A big thanks goes out to Chase Hoeffer, Mr. Nelson, Mr. Dewalt, Mario Camacho, Steve Goar, all the officials, all the corner marshals and police men. Without you guy's this race couldn't have happened! I'll get the pics up later. Until next time, keep on keeping on!

rain rain go away!

When the weatherman says "heavy rain at 7:00" he actually means "heavy rain at 3:30"
Atleast it was warm. If anyone is looking to get a 56cm cross bike off there hands I'll be willing to do so....if the price is right.

Gateway Cup- University City

Monday was the final day of racing in the Gateway Cup, and I was ready for it. I was planning to go full out to try to get the big result. The course was another rectangle, with the backside being a steady upgrade and the front side a long down hill sprint. Not too encouraging of a race for juniors. Apparently not discouraging enough for at least eight other junior racers. After Mom and I walked a little bit of the course we set up camp around the car and chilled for about an hour. After getting warmed up and pinned up, I set out to secure a front line starting position. The temperature was creeping around the triple digits, and the sun was glaring down on The University City Crit, in other words, it was a scorcher.The race starts and I'm top 5 for the first few laps, and my lungs just aren't up to par yet. I try sitting in the pack for a few laps and after a close counter with a crash, decide that it probably won't to bad of an idea to move back up to the front. With the long downhill section it was pretty difficult to keep a safe position. With 3 laps to go I'm feeling pretty gassed and dangling off the back, just willing myself to think of reasons to stay in, and not pull out. I started contemplating of what I could do before pulling out.......put in a huge attack........drill it at the front...........or just drop out. I then looked over and saw my incentive. There was a junior I had talked to and gotten to know throughout the weekend, John Tomlinson. He was cruising around the back of the pack.
"Hey John! You want up to the front?"
"Yes please!"
"Alright, LETS ROLL!!!!!"
We then shoot up the right side of the road and into the top ten. Then I realize that I'm at the front.........and I'm feeling a little better. Ok, change of plans. I guess I will finish it. So John and I are at the very front now, as in 1st and 2nd wheel. There is only 1 lap to go so we start trucking it. I have to go early know not to get swarmed and by the top of the hill I burn myself out, and rolled in for field finish. Oh well. I accomplished the majority of my goals, though.
1 Stay up at the front
2 Stay out of crashes
3 Finish
A big thanks goes out to my Mom! Without her I definitely wouldn't have had any fun this weekend......or ever for that matter. Thanks Mom!

Rest day

Today I decided to skip the race. I've been fighting a chest cold for the past week and I just really needed the rest. It definitely wasn't an easy decision.

Gateway Cup- Tour of Washington St. Louis

The race directions only specified to look for " the really tall buildings downtown." Yet the entire downtown area was made up of really tall buildings. So it took us a while to find the race. This course was once again a rectangle but had a slight uphill and downhill on each long side. The finish was on the vertex of the hill and 500 meters from the last turn, so it was quite a drag race to the finish. My plan for today was to keep a low profile. I've been battling a chest cold for the past 5 days, and it's pretty hard to breath. This time I get a pretty good starting position. To some it up, for the entire race I attained my goal by sitting no more than 6th wheel back. I only went on the attack once or twice, but it was only half hearted. On the last lap I got swarmed again, and decided to keep the rubber down. I pulled out on the 3rd turn and watched the finish from the back but, there was a crash in the last 300 meters. And unfortunately it included Kevin Moore, who raced for the Indy based Bacardi team 2 years ago. Fortunately he was alright, the only casualties was a few Kserium spokes, a durace derailleur, and a Castelli kit. Before I had pulled out I was actually on Kevin's wheel, but something was telling me to back down to fight another day.

Gateway Cup- Tour of Lafayette Square

The Tour of Lafayette Square was the first twilight crit I have ever done. I was really nervous because I didn't know what to expect, except I had, however, heard that this race was a crash-fest, with all of the shadows and darkness. It was hard to tell if someone was next to you or behind you. It was about a mile each lap and the race was 45 mins + 5 laps long. When the race before us ended I thought that everybody was going to take a lap so I go around,but when I came back to the line, everybody was already lined up. The race starts and it takes me 3 laps to get to the front. By then the sun has gone down and it is completely dark, except for the single light on each turn, which created a weird shadow effect. I sat at the front for a few more laps and went for a prime, and took a chance off the front for a few laps. With all the teams here though, nothing was getting away. That still didn't discourage me form going off the front a few more times. But in the last 10 laps I kept a good position in the front about 5 riders back. With 4 laps to go there was a crash on the second corner, leaving a rider out cold. They had to bring an ambulance on the course while our race was still going on. On the last lap there were at least 3 crashes, but coming into the last 2 turns I got swarmed and just sat up. No need to lose skin for 30th place.

Downers Grove

The day started out with a uneventful 3 hour drive to Illinois with my Mom, yet was anything but in the end. We got to Downers Grove about 3 hours before my race (we didn't plan on the time difference, thankfully it was in our favor) So Mom and I went out to get some breakfast, and shot over to the race. The big thing I noticed driving in the Downers area is that, there are a ridiculous amount of expensive car dealerships. As in Porsche, Maserati, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Lamborghini, and well you get the picture. So we get to the race and registration isn't open yet so I ride the course a few times, while my Mom waits in line. Half an hour later I'm registered and ready to race. I get a nice intense warm up and head out to ride the course again. I then cut back to the car on a sidewalk, a couple is also walking on the sidewalk also and I' thinking that they'll go single file..........but they don't. So I jump off the curb and jump back on, except my wheels catch the sides of the curb and I hit the deck.

I wasn't going too fast but I landed pretty hard. I stayed on the ground for a few seconds assessing the damage to myself. (After a crash, no matter how soft or bad it is, always, always, ALWAYS, stay on the ground for a for at least a few seconds or until someone comes over to you. The first thing you should do is to check yourself out, not the bike! Don't worry about your bike. You can always get a new bike put you can't get a new collarbone or arm. And for a bit of legal advice, if a car is somehow involved always call an ambulance, and never say that you are ok or fine. You may be in shock and dazed and feel ok at the moment but when the adrenaline wears off you'll be one sorry cat.) So I just stayed on the ground taking a breather while testing my back, chest, internals, legs, and arms for immediate damage. My mom was over me in a fraction of a sec and slowly helped my up. When I knew I was ok, I then checked out the bike. Ok, handle bars twisted an opposite 90 degrees from the wheel, brake pads rubbing, saddle pointing a different direction then the top tube, shifters bent inward.......not a pretty sight. But miraculously it was all fixable. So I got back on the trainer for another 15 mins to regain my bearings, while my Mom pinned my number on. As I'm warming back up it starts to rain. And now the current 60 degrees is starting to feel a little chilly.

Now I head over to the start line to get a nice starting position. Thankfully they let us just scramble for starting positions rather than calling us up by registration. The race officials decide to shorten the race from 30mins to 20mins. While they're telling us the rules, I'm starting to get colder and wetter. The race starts and I start losing ground because of the slick conditions. I decide I'd better move up soon or attack, so I don't get caught up in a wreck. A lap later there was a prime and I attacked right after it on the hill and manage to get a little gap. I keep my cool and take my time going through the turns and hammer on the flats. Before I knew it there was only 1 lap to go. I remember thinking to myself, don't ruin this, don't crash, don't crash, don't crash!!!!!!! So I took my own advice and added another one to the win column.