UPGRADE...Looking for a Team

Ya, thats right. I'm a 4 now and I am pretty happy about it. Not a huge deal in most cycling arenas but it was a stride for me and I am ready to keep moving forward. Adveraged a top 15 all season with a couple of top 10's so I hope to be very competitive next season. Time to train and build the engine.

Thats all. Just riding as much as possible and looking for a team to get on with. There are some cool ones in town but I don't know the guys so that won't work. Then there are some teams I can be on tomorrow but they have allot of freds on them so that doesen't seem appealing either.

Delimas,

j

Wine and the Bike....Racing and Upgrading

I haven't been on the bike in 2 days. I will be tomorrow though racing. I also like wine and have made it my business for the last 4 years. Its cool. I was reading a post on Belgium Knee warmers site that talk'd about the love of cycling and wine. Its weird that my life has the same parrellels as do others. Wine is so much like cycling its fucking crazy. Maybe not to the typical person, but to people who know, well, they understand. I don't love wine cause it gives you a nice buzz, although its a plus sometimes. No, I love wine because it enhances my life, as does training and racing. You don't get that from everything. Really, what the F do you do daily or every 2 days that really enhances your life outside of making $$ (which actually gives me a headache more than too much wine). If you don't know wine then learn more about it. Read about it and ask people who know about it. Its so important in life that its crazy. Europeans have known this for a long time and thank God passed it on to us Americans. Oddly enough, most of the racers I look up to are Europeans. Go fucking figure. I can't help where I was born so I won't bitch.

Anyways, just a rant while I wait to go pick up the wife at the airport. I should be in REM sleep but she is getting in at 11:55 pm..Sucks for me but she's the bomb so whateva....

Wish me luck tomorrow night. Its a big night for me....UPGRADE!!!!!

John

P.S. Wine of the week. Mibal Perfil 2003. You prolly can't find it but if you do get 5 bottles or all they have if you can afford it.

Flanders.....Again

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1438501764/bclid1406165222/bctid1473768260

I know I will never be here, but once you understand it all makes sence. Real racing at its truest form. I have had passion in my life on allot of levels, but now I uderstand what its like to live and breathe it, day in and day out. I just want to go ride it.

j

Getting There!

Man, today was a GREAT day! I hit the early Sunday ride that for the last 2 time I have been dropped on and I killed it today. Nothing has felt better than being in the mix on this ride today. Even beats all the races this year..Granted, the muscle on this ride could have clobbered me at any given moment but they didn't and i ended up in the mix at the sprint at the end. Didn't win but fuck, I made it! Training has been paying off and I've been riding smart which I am happy about. Hard efforts with RECOVERY. I'm so looking forward to next season. Man I got plans and I can't wait to see then through. In the mean time its build this engine and get ready for the fall. Then prepare for next spring. I love having a plan. Off to bed now. Soar legs, tired eyes and this Malbec isn't helping. Sinday is my only real drinking night so its on and I'm out.....Nothing like being in the wine business.....

j

Gaining...

I've been riding pretty hard lately and i think its paying off. Got a strong finish in my first crit and this weekends rides were fast and hard but I hung in there and held my own. I don't really have a training plan for he rest of the year. Basically I just want to build the biggest engine I can up until the fall so I can start with something good for winter training. Kinda like building a muscle car. Your not gonna put a tiny block in there and hope its got power. You want to start with a freaking Hemi! Or whatever, I don't know anything about muscle cars. Critting it up again tomorrow night which will give me my upgrade. No big deal to some but its a stepping stone for me that I am proud of. Now its time to think about really becoming the racer I want to be. I'm 35 so I'm not planning any world domination, but I can be competitive for sure. Have been all year anyways. Thats it. Same stuff and nothing new. Signing up with a team in a few weeks which will be nice. Get my kit and start representing. Maybe a grill too? Not sure. In the mean time I am saving up for some new wheels. Zipp 303's? Reynolds? Not sure, but I want some.

Ya,

j

First Crit

Ya, thats right I did my first crit last night. See, I'm a true road racer. I like distance and the pain that comes at the high mileage mark. Thats racing. )my own opinion). But last night I headed out to a crit. Nothing like racing for 30 minutes. Gay. Anyways, it was pretty fun. Basically you just hammer and attack until the bell rings. Well, you know this. I don't need to tell you. Anyways, I got 3rd. There was a 2 man break that stuck and I got blocked by one of there teamates so I didn't get in. I towed the field for the last 2 laps (lazy F'er's) and got a jump on them at the sprint. Wasen't to hard to get the 3rd. I'll go back and do some more, but the ROAD is where its at.....Come on Spring of next year....

j

Racing Again ......

Man, when races come and go I really miss them. Now I know why I am so addicted. I f'ing love it. Win, 8th place, 21st...Whatever, I'm in. This past weekend Seabass, Neal and I headed down to Coldspring Texas for some. We left Friday an hour late cause Seabass is always late. Headed down to Huntsville where we checked into out shitty La Quinta right across the street from the clink. Ya, Huntsville State Prison is a hell hole. Don't go there. I'm serious. You will not like it. You don't get treated well in prison and this one is even worse. After a glass of Kroger's finest Cabernet it was off to sleep for an early morning. 5:15am early. We headed to Coldspring in the morning light following other cars with race bikes on racks. Its eaiser than getting directions. To spare you with all the details the race was nice. Good roads and some good climbing. We rolled out, about 55 riders and it was typical attack here, attack there but nothing sticking. The San Jose guys basically stayed up front and covered all attacks so I just laid back and tried to maintain a top 15 position in the pack. It was 3 16mile loops and on the 2nd we were heading up a climb and I heard the normal sound of spokes breaking and carbon scraping the cement. Not a fun noise. 'bout 8 riders went down. This broke up the field a bit. On the last lap we were rolling pretty good and there is a right turn that heads to the finish line which everyone was positioning themselves for. After the turn it was about 4 miles to the finishline and needless to say the hammers were down. Neal and I worked our way up front and held our ground. We were coming up on the finishline which is a 8% grade for about 1000 meters. Ouch. Not a fun place to sprint. Neal jumped first, way to early and this started the sprint way out. Neal cracked and went off the the side. I proceeded to hammer it out begging my legs to keep going. I held one San Jose guys wheel, jumped to get him but to no avail. All in all I think I got 10th. Not terrible since I was sick for a week and a half before. Sunday I rode 5 hours on soar legs so I think I got me some good fitness in this weekend.

Until the next race.....3 weeks to go.....

j