Longest race ever!!

So yesterday i participated in the 120 mile pro 1/2/3 road race around the quabbin. It was awesome to say the least. It was definitely one of the hardest races ive done. it wasnt all that bad which was crazy, my legs felt great and i was able to follow moves and actually move around during the race. It was fantastic. With a main group of riders up the road after the first lap, the field didnt really think there was much left to race for. So my team, wheelhouse racing, moved a couple riders to the front and tried to keep the pace up for a while. and after a while at the front, people started racing again.

I learned a lot about racing yesterday. i spent a lot of time next to jeremy powers in the pack. and he would tell me what was about to happen and when it was going to get hard, he was very close on all his predictions, and sometimes within seconds of when he told me. so it was cool racing next to him and telling me what i needed to do. I am very happy that i just finished the race, nevermind actually being able to ride hard the whole time. I even actually through down a little attack before a big climb on the back side hoping someone from bikereg would come with me, but they didnt and that was a big wast of energy so then i just sat in and waited to the racing to happen.

At the end of the race we were going over some rollers and things started getting interesting. bikereg sent a few guys, then the rapha pro dudes followed and al told me to wait for the pros, they went and so did al (team captain and coach), and i was a few seconds to late and missed the final move. i was desperate to get into it because i was feeling so good. i followed one guy and then tried to bridge but it was over at that point. (and this was about 115 miles into the race!!) so then i sat in and waited for the final climb. Then powers turned to me and said "you better hit this hill so hard, i dont want to see you again!!" so i waited for the incline and went for it. I got a pretty big gap and the BAM!!! my legs started to seize and they didnt want to move... so i sat up waited for the group. got back in. and powers said the same thing on the next part of the climb.. "put it all out there" he said. so i went again, got a descent gap again and started pumping... the hill got steeper and so did the pains in my leg as they were cramping, a group of 4 guys bridged up to me and passed me just before the line. But i left it all out there at the end and came in 24'th. in very happy with that, being the longest road race i have ever done. it was pretty awesome.

So that was an awesome part of the weekend. Im very happy with the way im riding and cant wait to race the rest of the season. Ever since i got my coach (alec donahue) i have improved so much. and this race season is looking good so far with the way im training and racing! cant wait to see whats next.

no pics right now, but here is an awesome video of Lee Peters from UVM absolutely losing it at the end of the race on saturday. he unclipped from his pedal as he crossed the line.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79STP9QvOPk

it was a nasty end of the race, i went down in the corner coming into the sprint. so that sucked. but im fine and my bike is as well!!

later

-jd

almost graduated!

so these past few weeks its been really tough to balance the work/school/ biking in my life. With the end of my college career winding down there has been a lot of stuff going on. A lot of group presentations that are worth 50% of my grade, papers for finals and still having to go to class. This really hurts my riding time. but because i love cycling so much, i usually will bail on a class during the day or skip out of a meeting a little early just so i can get my training time in. Priorities! But this semester is coming to a close and i have one final out of the way and two more to go.

Last weekend at army was really fun. The whole UMass team did so well. and as the president of the team it makes me really proud of the new guys that have come onto the team and stuck with it. It great to see them having there chance to do well in races and have a blast like i do. I still need to get hucker joe to realize that being directly on the front at the end of a race is not a good thing at all!! hes so strong and could definetly win the C's. UMass is bringing out our secret category C weopens this weekend, so you all better watch out during the C road race for some UMBRC action. and hucker joe, the king of going down hills.... he came in 3'rd at the Army Hill climb... thats nutsssss.

As for me, i did pretty well. i was very happy with my results at the circuit race when i won the field sprint for a second place. too bad max was way the heck up the road for first place, but whatever. winning the field sprint was really cool. I cam in 8'th the next day in the hill climb and 6'th in the crit. so i scored some points and hopefully will go to nationals to get spanked around by guys like Pavel Gonda who has been dominating everything he enters.

this pic is me winning the field sprint

Needless to say, racing is the funnest thing that i do. And this weekend i am preparing for the hardest race i have ever been in. Its 120 mile really hilly road race with a really stacked field. There is a pro team from the UK coming, a lot of guys that races the Pro UCI race last weekend. basically, i thought this race would be really cool to try and do well in last week. but now, i just want to survive in a field like this and hopefully help my stronger/smarter teamates do well. Like Alec Donahue, my coach, who finished with the lead group at Battenkill last weekend. Hes very strong and can stay with these guys at the Quabbin race. so it should be some fun times.

last night i Glued tires to my new HED stinger 6's wheels... and that was the worst thing i have ever done!! it was very sticky and extremely difficult to get the tires on straight. it took us about 3.5 hours to do my wheels and his.. I never realized how much work goes into those things and feel bad for the people that have to glue 25 of those wheels for a pro team! But now i understand all the work that goes into it and it makes me appreciate it a bit more. and i definetly will only be racing on them. After sniffing glue for 3 hours we were a bit light headed and wanted to get some good food. and we ended up at a pizza place at 11pm eating lots of pizza. i blame it on the glue.

But im at work right now and should probably be working.. not blogging... This weekend is also the conculsion of the ECCC race schedule at dartmouth. should be a good time. and the end of year banquet will be going down as well!! good stuff

this beer is awesome and everyone should buy it.

have a good weekend everybody

-jeremy

bike racing and business plannin

So, im sitting here near Westpoint NY at another ECCC race weekend. im eating frosted mini wheats out of my empty hungry man dinner plate thing. The hungry man was definitely a good choice, since the rest of the team had to wait a half hour for rice to cook and have a very lame rice and bean burrito.

Last week was the battenkill race. It was less epic than last year, the dirt roads were very hard packed and not that bad. The race was ended when Pavel Gonda took off from about 14 miles in and stayed away all day. I am very jealous of his victory and his victory salute as you can see in the below image. He looks very happy. I had the privelage of brining him down to Yale after the Battenkill race. He talked about how his legs hurt really really bad. A very nice guy and i wish the best to him as he will be leaving us to head back to the Czech Republic after he graduates from NYU. Congrats Pavel.

Ive recently realized that i need to keep the things that i love most in my life, an active part of my life. So many time you lose track of the things that you love, like friends and hobbies and other things that you may love. Im about to graduate from college, and then im in the real world. I just dont want to work 40 hrs a week for the next 40 years, retire and then do nothing. I want to keep my life a full and active as possible. I think thats the main reason i am starting my own business, so i can have the freedom to be my own boss and be in charge of the amount of money i make by worker hard for it. So before i graduate i want to make sure i have my priorities in line and keep the things that are best in my life as active as possible.

I have completed my business plan for the Real estate investment company i am starting. Although i still have not come up with a name yet. I thought i would take an Native American word, since i am native american, that meant something like security or safe or something. So i looked up some words and they are all a million letters long and un-pronounceable. so now im back at the beginning. I would appreciate some help. if anyone that reads this blog of mine, feel free to comment on this post or message me with some ideas. It needs to be serious and have nothing to do with bike racing. Awesome.

i dont really know why i have this blog. i hope you enjoy reading my crap.

These guys are so fly:

will update on what happens at westpoint at a later date. and hopefully there will be pics

later