Vanderkittens Cause for Paws Crit

Yesterday my teammate Josh and I went out to the Cause for Paws crit. There was no Cat 3 field so we raced the Cat 123 field. It was a hot one so I was trying to keep hydrated as much as possible. We lined up and were ready to go. We were racing for 60 mins. The race started pretty steady with attacks starting from the gun. Josh went with one with a Fat Frogs guy. They stayed out for a couple laps before they were brought back in. I went with a couple attacks but nothing really stuck. I did bridge a couple gaps and chase down a couple breakaways. Josh went for a prime and won it. He was riding very strong. Then with about 5 laps to go teams were starting to get organized to set up there sprinters. I was riding in great position. I had a few guys that I was watching. The last lap guys were ramping it up some I was still in great position. I held on the wheel in front of me and sprinted around for a 5th place finish. I was sprinting but not like I should have since I thought there was still a couple riders away. But I'm very pleased with my result in the Cat 123.

Wintergreen Ascent

The family and I went up to Wintergreen Ascent Hill Climb this year. We drove up on Friday, scoped out the course and went to Afton Mountain Winery. Saturday morning we drove up to the top of the mountain. The warm up went well, go some good intervals in. The next thing I know it is time to head down to the bottom via the shuttle. Made it to the bottom of the mountain at the start line. Rolled around keeping the legs loose. Got to the start line with about 5mins before I was to go off. Started the race feeling good. Not trying to go to hard but keep the power right below my threshold. I was feeling good but knew that this was the easiest part of the race.(first 3miles) Then the turn into Wintergreen. Right at the guard shack it was pretty nasty and then the heart rate was up and never came back down. Then the legs were still feeling pretty good. But they just did not want to turn over the pedals. Then the last turn up on to Devils Knob. How sick of a climb that last mile was 15% grade. Over all I finished the race. I was hoping to be in the 40's but ended up with a 50:47 for the 6.75 miles and average of 9%grade. I was happy to be at the finish. Next year I will be in the 40's!

Rest Week

After 7 weeks of some good threshold training here is a well deserved rest week. I was off the bike all weekend due to a work related class out of town all weekend. Today was spent working around the house and hitting an easy ride late this afternoon. Legs and lungs felt pretty good today. Hoping to have some good strong legs this coming up Saturday for the Wintergreen Ascent. I'm shooting for the lower 40's.

Thursday I will be heading up to Yorktown to get in a ride with Todd Helmick and Dan Gibson. Hope to get some pictures while we are out.

2010

Well this year was off to a slow start due to a broken hand. I crashed at Bryan Park CX race last Oct. Did not know it was broke. I started a 7 day hike from Front Royal to Waynesboro. That was when we got blown off the trail due to the nor' easter, mad rain and cold temps was not fun. So in the day before Thanksgiving I had surgery(3pins put in my left hand). So it was not a productive winter on the bike.

The first two Snowball Crits went OK. I tested my legs and lungs and had no success with it. The second crit I attacked and could not get back on. Went to Greenville,NC for a crit and was destroyed again. Smithfield Hammer Fest was the same way but I was gaped and could not close the gap with 3 bike lengths. After the previous crits I was like wow is this how my season is going to go. Had a pretty good Langley Crit. We did not win but the team rode really aggressive and strong, just not strong enough.

So I figured that I really need to improve my threshold. So for the past 7 weeks that is what I have been doing. Hopefully it will kick start the engine and keep me going for the rest of the season.

I did have my personal best at the Conquer Canal TT earlier this month. My time was 29:47 was was a min faster then last year. I had pretty good numbers my average power was 276. Not bad since I am only weighing in at 157lbs. I just need to work on my aero position and hopefully move up in the results.

Mount Washington NH

Last week James Goyet, Mike Tamayo went up to New Hampshire to climb Mount Washington. Probley on of the most difficult climbs due to the weather changes that can occur. After flying into Manchester, NH with no problems. We got our rental car and drove up to North Conway. Pretty killer town with 3 ski resorts almost on top of each other. We must have spent 3 hours in Eastern Mountain Sports just checking everything out. Well with an early rise on Wed we got in the car and dove about 25 mins to the mountain. On the way there it was pretty nice outside with temps in the low 30s and little wind. We got all dressed and signed in and hit the trail up to the summit. The snow was pretty packed down for the most part on the first trail. With in about 15 mins we had to stop and start shedding layers. I was down to a dry fit tee shirt and opened the zippers on the legs of my pants to let some cool air in so I would not overheat. We made it up to Lions Head trail head in about 45 mins. Pretty good time. That is when we put our crampons on and long sleeves back on since we were not going to be moving as fast up Lions Head trail. It was my first time using crampons so it took a little getting use to them. Some parts of the trail were almost vertical. It was crazy to use the ice ax's and crampons to climb up the trail. Now were are getting above the tree line. The winds started picking up and gusting pretty good. We trekked up to this big rock pile and used it for a wind block. Ate a little and readjusted our boots and crampons. At this time we could see a front coming in but we could still see the summit. So we started up to the summit. While trekking up the side of the mountain we were almost being blown over with 70mph+ gust winds and temps down -10. The winds were steady about 60+. So the summit we were. Not bad we made it up in 3 hours. 4miles with 4000 feet elevation change. Then it was gore tex pants and jackets put on. James showed us how to glaciade (slide down on your butt) down the mountain. So we started sliding down. Parts of the mountain that took us like 25 mins to climb only took like 20 seconds to slide down. So we did that when we could. It got pretty crazy when we were doing that in the tree areas. I got a little nervous then. A awesome trip if you like hiking this is a mountain to climb.

Williamsburg Ride

Sunday 3 of us from our team and James friend Drag went out to ride the old Williamsburg Road Race course. We parked at Wallers Mill Park and went on our journey. I have rode most of the roads with XXX Todd back a few years ago but could not rember all the turns. Luckly we had maps and people that could read them. It was nice to get out and ride some different roads. We ended up with 57 miles. We hit a few small climbs nothing really big. The car wash climb was the worse but still not to bad we all powered up it with no problem. We slowed down once we reached William and Mary's campus. We were flat free all day til about 1mile from Wallers Mill Park. James picked up some glass from a broken 40 oz bottle that was on the road. Over all a great day for riding in Williamsburg. Great temps as well.

Thanks for the picture Josh.

Fuji SL-1

Well I finally got around to building up my new bike frame that I got from our sponsor All About Bikes. I built it up the other day. The bike is built with Sram Red drive train. This bike is super light and really responsive. This bike is ready to hit the mountains for some good climbing with my new 11-28 cassette. I switched saddles to the Bontrager RL. WOW what a nice saddle. After a decent time in the saddle with my old Specialized saddle my butt would begin to get sore not with this new Bontrager saddle. I wish I would have made the switch a long time ago. If anyone is looking for a '06 Specialized S-Works Tarmac in a 56cm let me know I have one in the garage that will soon be on eBay.

Loft Mountain

Just got back from a weekend of hiking and camping at Loft Mountain. Went up to the mountains with some guys from work. Some just wanted to get away and others wanted to get away and do some hiking along the AT and other trails. We arrived friday around 2. Set up camp and hit the trails for some 5 miles of hiking. Along The Frazier Discovery trail we saw some bear poo but no bears in sight. Like to see one but glad we did not see any. At the halfway point we took a break some took the paved path back to camp and the rest of us head back up the trail for some nice evelvation gain. Back at camp ate some dinner and got in the tent knowing we were going out for about 10 miles the next day.

Day 2:

The day started with a nice view of the sunrise through the trees and cool temps. We all got some breakfast in us and hit the AT. We hiked the AT for about 30 mins and broke off the AT to Doyles Run and Jones Run trail to see some nice water falls. The trails took us down from the summit to the valley. After passing all 3 water falls it was now time to hike up out of the valley. It was about 1500 ft of evelvation gain for us to get back up to the top. Once back up at the summit of the mountain we stopped for a break and some lunch. After lunch we hiked back up the AT for the next 5 miles to get back to camp. Some guys were getting tired and sore. But we all finished back at the campsite with about 6 hours of hiking.

Here are some pictures enjoy!

New View!

Well the house in VB finally sold and we are now located in Chesapeake,VA. We are very with our house choice. We are in a very quite neighborhood with NO jets flying over our heads shacking our pictures in our house. I'm able to commute to work via my road bike. Very short ride like 20 mins at a easy pace. I'm pretty stoked about being able to do that since fuel prices are still through the roof. I have only had to drive twice since we have moved in. ( approx a month now) Well here is a view of our backyard. More house pictures of the house to come.

ID3 Racing

Well Allison, Lauren and I packed up the car and headed out to Salem to her sisters house for a weekend of racing. The first day we went to Downtown Roanoake to race. The course was kinda techincal to what I have been racing on this year. It had 5 turns with in 0.7 of a mile. The field started off with about 30 racers. 15 mins into the race my computer fell off. Not sure if that was a good thing or not. So no more mointoring of the heart then. So a few attacks nothing was sticking. Then 2 guys got away and stayed away. After a few more laps there was only 12 guys on the lead lap. I was feeling ok at this time. Heart rate was kinda up but not too bad. On the second to last lap the acceleration went up and I was fighting for a good position. I was kinida hard to move up. So I know that I had to put in a good sprint. The sprint came up and I finished 10th place. Not bad at all I was pleased.

Off to Blacksburg for the final race of the series. Once again the field was a decent size of 30 racers. We started the race on a climb. We all stayed together for the first few laps. The first half of the race was a climb and then on the back side was a nice decent. I was feeling really good in this race. It was kinda techincal with the climbs and decents. About midway through the race the field was destroyed leaving only 8 riders on the lead lap I belive. With the bell lap comming up I placed myself in 3rd wheel. Knowing that the finish was going to be a climb sprint. I was ready for it. We started the back of the course and started to decent through the turns when my rear tire blew out and tacoed the rear wheel. That was pretty scary since we were in a turn at about 30mph. Needless to say that I DNFed the race. Well that is racing but I was pretty upset not to finish the race when I was feeling so good. Next year I will be back!


Thanks to Allison for talking all the pictures.

In the zone

Yesterday Todd and I went up to Sherando to do some mountain biking. The tempature was in the upper 80's. The only time the heat was an issue was on the switch back climb. I did alot better this time then last. Only had to walk the last switchback and ahalf. Still not good on riding the switch back so I have to walk the bike around the switch back. After we finished the climb it was on to Torey's ridge. That place will put you in the zone, as Todd told me it would. Once at the top on the ridge line it was very breezy and that felt good. Over all it was a good day in the mountains. I felt like I lost like 5lbs of sweet.

Been a While

Title says it all. I has been a while since I have posted. I hate posting without pictures. I hope this will be the last one for a while without pictures. My camera went bad. Well I have been racing, working and hanging out with the family. I have been racing pretty good so far this season. I scored a nice 4th place finish in the VA State Crit a week ago and scored a 5th place this past weekend at Langley Speedway. The Langley race was the first race to get paid in. I was pretty stoked with that. Not much money but money is money when fuel prices are as high as they are.

Still have about half the season to go. My goal is to be upgraded so I will be in the same category with the rest of the team. Also been getting in some long rides getting ready for the SM100 coming up in the end of August. That is it for now. See ya on the road.

Weekend of Racing

To start the weekend of racing off we started at the Sportplex in Virginia beach. I did the Cat 4 race only since the masters race was right before the Cat 4 race. The race started off slow which was a good thing. Then after a few laps the speed increased. There were a few attacks here and there but nothing stuck. The race came down to a field sprint. I was in pretty good position coming into the final turn. Then started my sprint. I got up to a pretty fast speed and was reeling guys in til I had to hit my brakes and then restart up my sprint due to traffic in front of me. Still came out 9th place. Not a bad of racing.

Sunday came the rain and also the Casey Auto Crit. I was already signed up for the 30+ and the Cat 4. So off to Newport News I went. Got there and it was not raining bad yet. After warming up a little with Teammate Josh. We went to the start line. The rain started and did not stop during the race. Only 16 of us started the race. On the first lap the guys were hitting it pretty hard. I was holding my own. Until the attacks started. I belive 5 guys broke away and stayed away. Josh tried to pull me back up to the group but I just could not get on the wheel. So I just keep my pace up. After a while myself and a Natures Path rider were taking turns pulling each other around. Then it came down to the last lap. I was not sure who was who at that time and I know I need at least to be in the top 10. So I started my sprint and finished 9th over all. Thanks to Josh for keeping me going. Mission accomplished.

Teammate Kyle and I did the Cat 4 race The roads dried up and the rain stopped. Nice I was thinking. After the race started the attacks started again. I was not wanting to chase anything down since my legs were not really feeling it. Elliot Obrien attacked and stayed away. No one really wanted to chase him down. The race was going good til about 3 laps to go when there was a crash near the start/finish line. I heard it and just kept the pace the same. That threw me up in the top 10. Then on the back stretch of the course I made my was up to be 3rd wheel. I was like great position for the last lap. On the last turn we were really hitting it. I know my legs did not have alot of gas left. So I put the best sprint I had and ended up 8th over all. I was happy with that.

A great weekend over all I had 3 top 10 finished. No pictures on Sunday due to the weather. Thanks Kevin for the picture above.

Fat Frogs Langley Crit

Well I made it out to the Fat Frogs Langley Crit on Sunday for some speedway racing. I did the cat 4 and the 30 plus race. The cat 4 race was pretty smooth til the last few laps it started getting kinda crazy but everyone stayed up right. Being it was on a speedway the race was pretty fast. I had an average of 26.6mph for the entire race. Pretty fast for a cat 4 race. I made it up to the front and did some pulling, but after seeing nothing was going to stick I just decided to set up myself for the sprint. It was hard to hold back from going after the 100.oo prime not saying I would have got it but I still sat in and rode with the pack. When I saw the lap board read 5 laps to go I made it to the upper half of the pack. On the last lap I thought I was in good position but that was wrong I went into the last turn and and had a train pass me on the outside and that was the position to be in. So I gave it a little sprint knowing I was not going to take the win and came in 17th and teammate Kyle came in 12th.

Now after a little break and some lunch came the 30 plus race. This was my first masters race. I lined up on the track with teammate Jon Nisbet. After the false start with myself, Kevin and Danbo we regrouped. I started looking around and seen that the field was stacked with alot of fast guys. My whole goal was to stay with the group and finish with the group. Well after a few laps 4 guys broke away and stayed away. Then about 20 mins into the race 5or 6 guys were off the front of our pack and I decided to see if it was going to stick. So I went for the bridge and hit it pretty hard and gave it almost all I had to get up to them. They were about halfway down the back straight away and we were in the first and second turn. I made it just about the all the way to the guys when I looked back and seen that I brought the rest of the guys with me. That was cool to me since we were all back in the race together. The rest of the race was fast! Teammate Jon Nisbet was not feeling all that well. But he set himself up in the last few laps for the field sprint. I think he was like 4th in the field sprint. I finished 22nd out of 36 riders. Not bad for me. I downloaded my power tap after getting home and it showed that it was a fast race. The race average was 27.8mph for 50 mins.

Well see you guys this weekend at the Sportsplex!

Dismal Dash TT

1:07:50

Well this was my true first TT on my New Orbea TT bike. What a great time I felt I turned. With a time of 1:07:50 and 22mph avg I felt good. I almost felt like I could have did a little better if I had a computer on the bike. Oh well maybe next time. After a teammate came in(Kyle) he told me to save some energy for the ride back. So on the way out I tried to keep the heart rate up but not to high. At the first turn it my time was around 13 mins and then the turn around it was around 31 mins. After the turn around to come back it was like hitting a brick wall. I knew I had to really push it to beat my time last year of 1:17. So I just got into a zone and worked. After making the last right hand turn I knew it was not long then. I hit the turn around 50mins. So I ramped the heart rate up and hit it as hard as I could to the finish line. Over all I was stoked with my time. Now I have something to shoot for next TT out there. Thanks to ABB for putting on the race and for keeping the rain and heavy winds away.

Snowball Crit #2

Yesterday was the second Snowball Crit out at the Sports complex in Virginia Beach. Glad to see that the wind settled compared to Saturday's wind. The race started out with 2 laps that at a slower speed then the attacks started happening. One group had a breakaway and with Josh in it and a few others. I thought it would be great to have 2 teammates in the breakaway. So I attacked and headed to the breakaway group. After attacking into the wind I was close but a far away at the same time. The gap was to big to bridge up. I fell back into the pack and recovered. I spent most of the race in the front half of the pack. When 5 laps were left I decided not to try to work any more and have some energy for the Field sprint. The second to last lap the pace picked up and then the last lap it felt like everyone set up til the last 2 turns when the paced picked back up and the sprint started. I was feeling good when the sprint started. I got out of the saddle and started my sprint and had a rider sitting in front of me so I had to dart around him and ended up with 4th in the field sprint. Jon took the overall win. Good job Jon. The team looked good in yesterdays race. See ya at the VBW Smackdown this weekend!!

NC Road Race

Well yesterday James, Jon and myself drove down to Sanford,NC to a 3/4 road race. About a 4 hour drive with only 4 u-turns. Not to bad. So after finding the race site. We get the car unloaded and head up to get our numbers. Well first thing first. They have no more pins to pin your numbers to your jersey. #2 no toliet paper in the 4 porta- johns. After getting some baby wipes we were good to go. Then comes #3 we line up and start the race. It started of with attacks right of the jump. Just rember we have 56 miles to go. The race started with a nice little climb and then some rollers. Well we were comming down a hill and onto the flat road area. I was on the outside of 3 wide and near the back of the field. When a paper cup blew in the road way and someone got out of control and caused a nice big crash at about 30mph. I went to the left and locked up my breaks and lost a rear tire and then road over someone on the ground and lost my front tire and bent my rear derailer. So im out of the race with .82 miles of racing and about min &45 secs into the race. Not a happy camper at this time. Jon and James went on and did some training on the course as I waited for someone to come back and pick me up. Well that did not happend. So I had to walk back to the start line. Well just hope the rest of the season goes better.

New Years Day Ride

Well today the Wheelmen went out for a team ride today out in the windy section of Pungo. Out to the Creeds store, over the Blackwater bridge and back. It was a nice pace heading out with some nice gust of wind coming from every direction( like always in Pungo). Heading over the bridge towards Blackwater was a bear especially for Tim and Jennifer as they were on a tamdon with a very strong west wind. Over all a great ride. Much easier on they way back.

T-Bone

This happened a few days ago. Just got my hands on these pictures. This accident happened early Thursday morning on RT 17 out in Suffolk. The van lost control somehow and got sideways when this rollback wrecker hit the minivan. The driver was pinned in the van and the passenger was ejected out the side door of the minivan. He ended up under the van, between where the rear wheel should have been and bumper with about a foot of his upper body under the van. When we arrived on scene I was like WOW. Thinking no one could be alive in this van. But after treating him and flying him to Norfolk General he was still living at that time. Here are a few pictures of the accident.

MTB Day

Well I took out the mountain bike to day to New Quarter Park today. What a beautiful day it was. Just out taking it easy on the trails since it was supper windy back at the beach. There were so many leaves on the ground it was hard at first to see where the trail went. But over all it was a great day on the trails and also back home on the beach cruiser on the board walk. To bad I could not get in touch with xxx himself for some company. Maybe next time.