The Other King David

Word up

2009-06-11T13:59:00.000-07:00

So a lot has happened since my last post. I am back at the team house getting ready for some local race(s) this weekend.

The stage race in Spain was freaking hard. It was a 2.12 race so anybody any age can show up. Several of the better amateur Spanish teams and a few Spanish (pro) continental teams showed up along with VC La Pomme Marseille and the juggernaut Russian Lokomotiv Team. My legs hurt just typing this. Some of the guys who did Isard the premier u23 climbing stage race in Europe said the climbs were harder at Tarragona then Isard.

Lets give a short recap:

Stage 1 was a 134km ride with two very hard climbs in the first 40km and then lots of rollers to the finish. I thought this was the hardest stage of the race and I think everybody suffered on our team. Some Russian, a couple of ex Spanish pros, and an ex French pro attacked on the second climb (I cant hold 800 watts for 3mins unlike these guys). A group of about 40 formed after the two climbs then counter attacks started going. All I could do was watch. I set a new max wattage for 1.5hr and 2hrs racing. The only good news from that day. Carter Jones managed to get away with a group 20km to go and finished 29th 8mins down. 7mins later Chris Butler and I rolled in with a group for like 40th. Then 10-12 mins behind us rolled in the rest of the team.

Stage 2:

I dont remember it as it was pretty quick stage. I got into a big break of riders of like 30 guys off the front. I sat on as the Russians and VC La Pomme guys drilled it. The field caught the break after the last descent with like 4okm to go and we spinted for like 14th in the field as some of the break survived. I got 31st on the stage.

Stage 3:

Frustrating day as I had pretty good legs. I missed the break. Then attacked the field with like 60km to go and sat at 20-30 secs for a good 10km before being reeled in. I made the front selection over the last climb but the remnants of the break stayed away. I finished 21st on the stage and 11th in the field sprint. Haha

Stage 4:

Rain greeted us for the start and much of the stage as I hung on for dear life up a 8 mile climb as we avg 14.5mph up it. The legs were 'no bueno'. At this time I would like to point out whoever made the course profiles for this race was drunk because according to the profile we have a slight descent then another climb then a descent then 30km later the last climb then the descent down into the finish. Apparently, we had the 8 mile climb, 15km of rollers, then the cat 3 climb, descent, 2 4km climbs then a descent then the cat 2 8km climb that killed me.

Long story short, it was by far the hardest day. Right before the last climb I was not feeling too good (legs). Like it hurt just turning over the pedals. I got locked into last position up the climb and I almost made the front group over the top but got tailed off. The climbing in Spain is crazy. Everybody sprints for the first couple km or so. Yes, sprint. I think its a game. Who can hold 500 watts the longest? Everybody settles down once the group is thinned out at a hard but doable pace. Then at the top everybody freaks out and wants to be the first to the top (not because of KOM points but because of idiocy) so we have a 500 watt jump the last couple of minutes. At this time I would like to point out, that I black out staring at the wheel in front of me. Okay in better words, remember Space Balls? Remember when Lonestar and his goonies are trying to escape the clutches of Darth Helmet and the guy who makes fun of Harrison Ford's character says lets go to Hyperspeed, then the guy who is making fun of Chewbuccha says no we need to go to Ludicrous Speed! Well thats how I feel whether it be crosswinds in Belgium or climbs in Spain. Finished like 3mins down on the field in like 30th

Stage 5a. Notice the A, as Stage 5 has two stages (a & b). Stage 5a is a short 5km uphill TT starting in a small Spanish town and climbing to a castle. Now what I found out from preriding it is it is a stairstep climb. Every couple hundred meters or so it pitches up and over 15%. What is especially nice is on these steep sections while you are going 7mph at 450 watts there are signs telling you how steep the % of the slope is. Now just add 95 degrees, 20mph headwind, and an ex pro Spainard chasing you up the climb and thats what my TT was like. Oh I forgot to mention the last 300 meters of the TT is over 18%. Now preriding the climb the first time we did it in 16:30 with no wind. When I got done, I did a 14:05. 6 seconds off the fastest time so far. The official, my DS confirmed my time and the officials at the top even told the DS before he went down that I had the second fastest time at 14:05. So later on just before Stage 5b started we were finally handed the results, hoping to be inside the Top 10, I saw that I finished 16th in the TT 23 seconds back from my time. When we went to the officials they said that there is nothing we could do as the second race is about to start and they would have to change results or something like that BS. So I finished 9th with my time of 14:05. But the freak who won it (he is Russian) did it in 13:05. 1 min faster then me and 26 seconds off the record. One of the officials who spoke English said that's not normal as the guy who set the record in 2003 was implemented in Operacion Puerto and he had a tailwind when he set the record. Scary....

Stage 5b.

As if the Russians did not have enough fun beating everybody senselessly in the TT. They decided to team attack with 2 and 4 in GC on a short 87km stage. The stage was raced alongside the beautiful coastline which meant wind. After 20km half the field was gone. Only Larry Warbasse and I made it. The yellow jersey's team frantically chased the breakaway group containing 2 and 4 in GC as they were less then 40 seconds off to win the GC. On the last climb which was a nice 7km climb at about 4-6% was steady. I started feeling pretty good and we rounded a corner and bam there is the 1km to the top marker and right above that is a pitch that says 11%. The field went crazy as 25 of us made it over the top of the climb. The yellow jersey frantically chasing all by himself now with 24 riders in tow. Mono e mono (something like that right?). However he pulled the gap way down and they finished just 7 seconds ahead of us. I finished in the yellow jersey group at 29th or something on the stage.

So I finished 31st overall. (30th if you cant the TT blunder) haha

But an awesome race. I hope to come back next year and improve upon my results.

Tomorrow a local kermess,

David

Legend of Kermess Racing

2009-05-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

Last post I promised to update everybody with a post on Kermess racing. Well here it goes...

Kermesse in French and Kermis in Dutch mean carnival so when a kermess is raced its basically a carnival with a bike race around the town. Kermess lengths usually range from 100-130km on 3 to 15km laps often on technical circuits or up a steep hill or, my personal favorite, cobble sections. Unlike UCI races which put on the other races, Kermess racing is put on by the local townsfolk. In other words, the Belgian Mafia run the kermess racing scene. To go along with the Belgian Mafia is the racers who are usually retired or ex-pros. So they have quite a bit of time to train and race practically all week long. Next thing, the Kermess racing is divided into two categories: Elite/without contract/u23 and Pro/with contract. In the Elite kermesses, there is no anti-doping control, if there is somehow anti-doping control then the fields are a lot smaller. Now the best Kermess racers are the best because of the following: no anti-doping control, they know a bookie (people can bet on any kermess races), and they are in a league or alliance together with one another. In each race, there are about 10-12 kermess kings sometimes more or less depending on the size of the payout. They all know each other and know what the odds are on that rider to win. So they ride to make the break and when they do they decide which rider is the most beneficial to ride for (who can make everybody the most money, or if that rider is racing in his hometown). If one of the kermess kings does not make the break, they immediately drop out and drive to the next kermess race (races are held at 2pm, 3, 5, 6). So if he misses the break in the 3pm kermess, he has time to drive to the next one and make the break in the 6pm race. A very regular occurrence.

Let's say that you make the break with those riders. You will be approached and asked to not sprint or to not win for $x amount of euros. If you agree then you get the money if you play it right. If you dont agree, they either ride you off the break or crash you and you will never be allowed to make the break again.

These Kermess Kings do not claim the prize money because they receive unemployment checks from the government. They make the real money (and quite a bit too) from the betting as the bookies are aligned with the racers. In other words, its a fixed race. It is a freaking hard fixed race though. I have raced kermesses and watched the Tour de l'Avenir winner, Jan Bakelandts get dropped from a break. Our directors would come up to us before the race and point at the Kermess Kings saying this guy beat Boonen last weekend in a pro kermess. Or this guy dropped Devolder in a kermess last year. It is scary...

Okay so I am back in Luxembourg training for Tarragona which starts June 2nd. Promise to try to give updates. We should have internet there...

Later,

David

2009-05-25T01:11:00.000-07:00

Found this on a cycling forum. Looks pretty interesting talking about the wattages at the Giro.

Introduction

The return of two famous riders in this centenary Tour of Italy.
van Basso and Lance Armstrong this year trying to return to the highest level.
Before they stopped racing in 2005 and 2006, they were the two best grand tour racers. In 2006, Ivan Basso won the Giro, flying with 440 watts of average climbing power

He had, in particular, an astonishing performance at the Monte Bondone with 460 watts average for 45 minutes, better than Miguel Indurain in La Plagne in 1995.
Before his first retirement, Lance Armstrong won for the seventh time the Tour de France in 2005 with 425 watts of average power standard. [and regular performances at 450 watts]

Ivan Basso also presents his physiological data on the sitewww.mapeisport.it.
Shortly before the Giro, he developed 412 watts in the Giro del Trentino during the ascent of Alpe di Pampeago.

For Lance Armstrong, this is an interesting challenge and a great unknown. During his mini retirement, he kept in shape by participating in marathons and mountain bike racing.
Over the past two years, Alberto Contador took over as the best specialist in stage races in three weeks.

He won three major national tours, but with a much inferior level of performance in the mountains: 425 watts average (435 maximum) in the Tour de France in 2007 and 410 watts average (425 maximum) in the Giro 2008.
Contador did not defend Giro title. On the contrary, Carlos Sastre, Denis Menchov and Levi Leipheimer are the ones facing the two "ghosts from the past".

Stage 4: PADOVA-SAN MARTINO DI CASTROZZA

The first serious confrontation between the favorites of the race took place at the end of the fourth stage on the climb to San Martino di Castrozza.

During the stage, the first pass of the Giro, the Croce d'Aune, was been climbed together by the pack at 393 watts average.
It is a relatively high value that has not really cracked the peloton with 80 riders still in the peloton at the top of the first pass.

Voigt, De Bonis and Bellotti started the rise to San Martino with a lead reduced to 2'10 "on the pack of favorites. Voigt dropped his latest escape companions, but would be caught and passed by the pack at 2 km from the arrival.

Several teams (LPR and Acqua & Sapone) take turns on the final climb's modest 6% slope. At the end of the climb, Basso of the Liquigas team took the race in hand. Soler attacked twice, but he was cauht by Di Luca in the last fifty meters.
Danilo Di Luca won the stage in a sprint of 30 riders. Lance Armstrong was dropped in the last kilometer and conceded 15 seconds. 33 riders came to the top of San Martino at a 430 watts average.

This calculated power is a valid one [by "valid" they mean it's not abnormal for a group this large], because starting from 25 km / h, riders placed in the middle of the group can benefit from drafting wheels.

We thus had 33 riders who have developed more than 400 watts for 26 minutes. This shows that the overall level is high and conforms to recent years. For a first contact with the mountains, Lance Armstrong has been very resilient.

Croce d'aune
Peloton: 393w
Voigt+Bellotti+De Bonis: 373w

San Martino di Castrozza
Peloton: 430w
Armstrong: 425w

Stage 5: SAN MARTINO DI CASTROZZA-ALPE DI SIUSI

The riders of the Tour of Italy must this time climb at the end of the stage the long climb to the Alpe di Siusi. The rise of 24.9 km was relatively easy until 7km from the finish.

Breakaways of the day Voeckler, Serpa, Ochoa, Visconti, Pietropoli had 1 minute advantage on the peloton at 15kms to go. In front of the peloton, the Liquigas team set a fast pace on a rapid pace. The advance of the escapees rapidly decreased. Bunch packed () at 10 km from the finish.

A peloton of about 80 riders arrived together at the last part of the climb to the Alpe of Siusi. Cheula attacked, then was joined by Devenyns but took only 5 seconds and the peloton came back to them quickly enough.

The Liquigas team powered on at 410watts for the first mile. Armstrong was dropped at 6.5 km from the summit. A little further forward, Garzelli and Cunego were dropped from the pink jersey group.

The top group contained only 25 riders at 5 km from the summit. It was still led by Szmyd, teammate of Basso. The latter then took over and accelerated gradually. He maintained an average power of 430 watts. Only 7 riders could follow: Di Luca, Leipheimer, Horner, pink jersey Lovkvist, Menchov, Sastre and Arroyo.

Arroyo was distanced, Lovkvist yielded but then came back. Basso slowed somewhat in the last kilometer, Rogers returned and Menchov won the sprint.
The first six of the stage, Menchov, Di Luca, Lovkvist, Basso, Leipheimer and Horner have developed an average power of 425 watts for about a little over 26 minutes.
The stage was short (125 km) but with a very long final climb and a partial recovery in the middle.

Basso appears less strong than in 2006. We believe his real power to be 417 watts (69 kg). Armstrong was dropped and achieved a worse climb than the previous day. With 375 watts of average, he was 80 watts from his maximum threshold (between 2000 and 2005 at the Tour de France).

Alpe di Siusi
Menchov, Di Luca: 425w
Lovkvist, Basso: 424w
Leipheimer, Horner: 423w
Sastre: 420w
Arroyo, Rogers, Kessiakoff: 419w
ten Dam: 418w
Soler: 412w
Pellizotti, Simoni: 411w
Cunego: 381w
Armstrong: 377w

Stages 6 and 8:

The analysis is boring. all you need to know is that Garzelli's failed attack in stage 6 (not 8) was insanely powerful for a solo man.

Stage 10: CUNEO-PINEROLLO
The only climb done at speed is too short (under 20 mins) for conclusions to be drawn.

Stage 12 ITT
Comparisons to usual climbing performances cannot be drawn easily due to the riders using time trial equipment to improve performance. Still, the strongly prevalent idea is that Menchov and Leipheimer's performances were quite superhuman.

Conclusion (AKA the important part. If you skip all else, read this)

What is the trend after 12 stages? Menchov, Leipheimer and Di Luca appear in the mountains to be just above the others. Menchov has just completed perhaps his finest achievement as a cyclist in his absolute show in the Cinque Terre time trial with a climb of 21 minutes at almost 470 watts (again, time trial equipment used).

Leipheimer is in a very good year, better than the Tour de France 2007 and Di Luca has regained his form of the Giro 2007. However, the road to Rome is still long, nothing says that the trend will continue.

Sastre is currently at the same level as the Tour de France 2008. Garzelli was a great animator [of the race]. He has not won a stage but currently enjoys fabulous fitness.

Basso does not have the same potential as at the Giro and the Tour in 2006 and 2005. It would be about 30 watts above what he's shown this year.

After a period of 3 seasons and a recent fracture of the clavicle, Armstrong was already a surprise. He's improves over time. The american probably does not have the same weight as when he won the Tour.
His relative climbing power is 415 watts maximum, or 40 watts less than in 2004.
To be among the favorites of the Tour de France, he must in a month and a half lose a few kilograms and improve 20 or 30 watts (absolute) power.
Armstrong is able to improve this way in such short a time, as he has already proved in the past.

Other riders have already been in bad shape in the Tour of Italy prior to shinin in the Tour de France (Greg LeMond, Jan Ullrich ...).

-----

I am doing well. Just getting warmed up for Tarragona in 8 days. I did do some races Thursday and Saturday. Thursday was really sketchy but I came out okay. Saturday is a local kermess. Got shoved into a ditch with 30km to go. Dont worry I am okay. I well try to make a post dedicated to kermess racing in a little bit.

David

Europe...

2009-05-19T02:50:00.000-07:00

So I imagine a lot has changed since my last post. I guess I could write about swine flu or whatever its called now. Think I will go with bike racing in Europe instead...

Short recap what has happened since Valley of the Sun: training, racing local races, winning a crit (stop laughing), almost dying of hypothermia in the road race, crashing 4 days before Redlands and spending some time in the hospital and a weekend trip on lortabs, then racing in Bisbee, AZ (weird town) with crazy Mexicans (they wear armwarmers and legwarmers in 100 degree heat, and team attack in feed zones). Now I am sitting in Kautenbach, Luxembroug getting ready for the first series of my races.

Now I have been over here for 8 days so I will recap the first week for you:

Flight started off well, I flew from Chattanooga on a pack of gum with propellers. The flight attendant would speak into the intercom like the plane was a 747 when she could have just turned around and told all 12 people the pre-flight safety instructions. The dude sitting next to me, looks like Hulk Hogan with hair starts laughing as he looks at his phone, he leans over to me *I cower in the corner as I thought he was going to beat the crap out of me* and says, "I get my horoscope everyday (points at his phone) and says, "Be very careful today. Stay away from all sorts of transportation" He laughs after this and says, "gotta love this." I proceed to laugh and cry at the same time. Crying because I might die on this pack of gum. Laugh because Hulk Hogan with hair is wearing a pink shirt and comments about his horoscope.

First day in Europe I get picked up, drove to Izegem, then hope in a van and go to Luxembroug as the Izegem house is too full. First not in LUX, I got food poisoning. enough said. I lived near the toilet the first night. 2nd Night, still sick. Third night, first day downstairs. Stomach still messed up. Fourth day, I am told I am racing Tryptique Ardennes. Great. Tryptique Ardennes is an awesome race but I just wasnt healthy and unfortunately I got the short end of the stick and had to start TA. Start of TA, first time on my new road bike (I had been riding a 58 size frame the day before, dont ask why), its raining = a bad day for me. Seat post dropped with 50km to go and we couldnt fix it. I got dropped big time and got pulled in the local lap. They told me I wasnt starting again the next day.

Fast-forward a couple of days and I am just now starting to get over this stomach bug. I finally feel normal and I can train reguarly now. My next races are some local races in Belgium the 21st, 23rd, 24th. After that, its open in the air.

Thats all for now. Not an ideal start, but I still have some days left.

David

Valley of the Sun

2009-02-15T22:40:00.000-08:00

Alright first race of the year!

Sean Mazich, Scott Stewart, Carter Jones, Kevin Soller, Larry Warbasse, Stevie Cullinan, and I lined up for the Valley of the Sun. Rock Racing, Ride Clean, Bissell, Ouch, Livestrong, and a Mexican team showed up among several others.

First day:

TT: uhh not much to report. I didnt have a TT bike so barney King (Our ds) told me to soft pedal it. My cool down was putting it in the small ring the last 2 km. It was a strict tailwind out and headwind back which obviously helped my TT bike (or lack there of). Now I would like to bang a few nails into the table (w/e that saying means) and say: in cycling especially bigger races, we have designated riders (aka leaders) who we are working for. Since I was the only who did not have a TT bike, I was obviously out of the hunt to be the leader for VOS. Whoever did well in the TT was going to be the leader. Carter got 11th, Stevie 12th, Soller 14th or something like that. Therefore we worked for those guys. When there are big races you conserve your strength. This isnt a local race. There are legit guys here. The guy who won (the TT and the overall) is the current Elite National TT champ (he crushed everyone there). Then at the OUCH camp, John Chodroff dropped Landis on Palomar (or that's what i heard). If you noticed there were a couple of "slow" pros out there. You think they actually tried? Not at all. Its a hard concept for people to understand to sometimes for racers to back off a bit instead of giving 110% each race. Dont get me wrong I am by all means not some master of tactics or w/e in cycling.

RR: Perhaps the most frustrating ending. I will start with about 7km to go. Our whole team is on the front leading out Sean Mazich. I am second wheel behind Soller. Soller takes an epic pull to the base of this little roller. I take over and sprint up to the top of the hill (around 5km to go). I pull off and Scott Stewart attacks. 2nd place in GC, Ben Kneller, follows and then cracks as Scott lit him up. Then the Bissel guys chase it down. So with about 3km to go, there are two or three Bissell dudes, some other riders, an Ouch guy or two, then Carter, Sean, and Me, behind me Soller and Stewart then 10 other riders. So like 25 guys left. 3 of us in the top 10. then the motor slowed down and came up to us and told us the race is stopped. Everybody sorta ignored the official until the lead car dropped back, everybody finally figured it out that we were actually neutralized. I couldnt believe it. An uphill finish in the headwind, and we had like 5 guys in the top 15. I usually never say things like this (may be it is the fact that I am lying in the airport at midnight in Denver) but I am CONFIDENT in that one of us was going to end very near if not on the top spot of the podium.

*The crash was a pretty scary. Apparently a guy in the cat 3 race went over the bars and cracked his skull, broke his shoulder, and another dude broke his shoulder.

CRIT:

Think the Chattanooga course but slicker and faster. 6 turns, 5 left, 1 right. I got a good start around the 2nd row. the tactic was to just go up the road and line it out to shell all the extra baggage. Chodroff, who is super strong, but struggles in crits, was our target which aligned with Bissell's tactics. We sent numerous guys up the road and came close to winning all the primes. Yada yada (*Seinfeld joke*) There are about 50 guys left in the lead group the last 3 laps. Chodroff was dangling at the back. I bring Mazich and Carter up the front and jump around Rock Racing's leadout train for Justin Williams and Bahati. It was crazy bumping elbows with those guys. I was screaming at them to get out of my way (probably from the Red Bull and the caffeine Jelly Beans : ) Finally I got free with around 2 go to go and I waited for the last corner on lap 2 to jump. I jumped on the last corner just before but a Kenda Inferno rider grabbed my wheel. But I decided to keep going. I went through at the front on the bell lap and tried to keep the pace as long as I could. (Note: just before the first turn on the course is a median). I swung off on the left just before the first turn. Carter Jones and Chepe Garcia (rock racing) jumped away on the inside of the median. They were gone. Sadly, Garcia jumped out of the last corner with a bit of a gap to Carter and held it to the line. Garcia is a solid veteran and has been racing before Carter was born!!. had Carter not won 4 primes that day he might have had enough to get the win. But that is bike racing. He finished 2nd. But that time bonus and the gap to the field was enough for him to move up to 6th and solidify his lead in the best U23 rider. Freaking awesome riding by the team!

Hope I make it to ATL,

David

Kickoff with some good hard training

2009-01-31T13:44:00.000-08:00

Not even going to apologize for my lack of updates this time.

Anywho, my writing well be off a little bit as I have just got back from a 112 mile WBL ride. WBL is Winter Bike League which is organized winter training with attack zones sprinkled in. Quite a bit of riders show up like around the 100 mark. Always strong guys show up. i.e. John Murphy, Frank Travieso, Nick Reistad, Matt Crane, Tim Henry, Bruno Langolois, etc. Apologize for all the misspelin's.

Today's ride was the 112 mile ball buster up to Mt Alto and back. The first attack zone started around the 42mile mark and lasted for 6 miles or so. The attack zone consisted of Mt Alto climb (a 3 stair stepper climb around 10-15mins long then a righthand turn at the top and another 2-3 miles to Alto City Limit sign. Not much too report Im afraid as I dont remember any :P Tim Henry, Nick Reistad, Matt Crane, and myself got away and pacelined it to the sprint where I got owned by Reistad and Henry after Matt's leadout. Got 3rd. My roomate, Nick Housley got 8th.
20 or so miles later was a short 800 m steep climb called Crackback hill. Tim Henry jumped early with the Jelly Belly duo and I just couldnt go and got like 4 or 5 or something.
Fastforward another 20 miles (that's 94miles) and the last attack zone took place. 9 mile flat to rolling stretch attack zone. I dont know what happened again. There was like 15 of us. And Tim Henry went off and benefited from the lack of cooperation between everybody. Matt Crane blew the doors off to get 2nd. I was pulling on the front as hard as I can and he just went around me like I throughout an anchor. I tried a couple of times to get away but I didnt have anything left after the attack. I watched the sprint from a safe distance. Rolled it in with the lead group and capped off the day with 112miles just over 5.5hrs. I need a beer (jk parents!)

Valley of the Sun in like 2 weeks!

David

2009

2008-12-24T10:18:00.000-08:00

Well if your wandering (all 3 of you who read this) why I havent updated in awhile its because there isnt much to update about. Im being honest! School was fun and hard. I curse my astronomy teacher forever. Oh and I swapped teams to Waste Management based out of Phoenix, Arizona. Kind of far away but good news is that I will have some time in the sun for the training camp starting Jan 1st which beats rainy, 35 degree weather here. Last Saturday, I broke my rear wheel up a climb 2hrs from home (never buy a VeloMax wheel). So i had to pick which part of the wheel would rub, either the c-stay (aka the frame) or the brakes. So I rode 2hrs back home rubbing brakes in pouring rain. very fun day to say the least. I think I averaged like 13mph home. I swore a kid passed me on a sidewalk. But then again I dont think anybody is as foolish as a bike racer who trains in the rain. Now Christmas is upon us and I am starting to feel a rest week coming on before camp, which is going to be awesome. Hopefully more updates in the future as the 09 season starts to get rolling.

Go out and see some movies this holiday. Some good ones like: Seven Pounds or Jim Carrey's Yes Man for kicks. Valkerie (spelling??) is supposed to be good.

David

May be this should be in the Olympics...

2008-09-03T19:25:00.000-07:00

Natz wrap-up

2008-08-14T17:57:00.000-07:00

Back in the South or as Little Nicky would say the "Deep South" from Nats.
So here is how I shall sum up the trip:

TT- 33km of fun....start-cool little golf cart path roads and it goes up for 4.5miles-*so far so good*-almost catch my minute man at the top (he's fast) *smiling so far* - downhill- false flat into headwind = :( - i then go into hibernation mode for the rest of the TT as it is just crosswind or headwind on these flat or steep rollers then i got off of my bike, crawled into a hole and died.

Crit- Location: Anaheim Angels stadium. Distance: 60km divided into 35 laps of joyous fun. Before I begin I would like to describe the National crit courses. For having the best crit racers in the world we put on a crappy crit course for NATIONALS. Its in a freaking parking lot for Pete's sake. We might as well went into the Angels stadium and rounded the bases for an hour and 15mins. As usual there are crashes in a wide open race. Big crash with one lap to go. I was sitting around 40th just staying out of trouble. Guys start stacking it on the right into the barriers. I see fans scattering. I begin to move to the left...nope...guys crashing there. Go up the gut! Dude falls into me I let out a battle cry that resembles that little raccoon off of Pocahontas and I manage to not fall. 1 point David

Road Race- YAWN....120 miles no big deal...20 mile circuit or hot dog loop go up a road turn around go through start/finish turn around at the same road and do it again in the suburbs. The course was wide open as in who would win and 3 lanes of roads on each side divided by a nice median. 2 nice 2-3min climbs and a 1km uphill to the finish. We averaged 28-29mph for the first two laps then the break got away. Butler and I just covered the attacks before and of course that went and we were out before we knew what happened. But we tried anyway. There is also a rule where you would be pulled if you are more then 3 mins behind the race. Which is dumb b/c what if you crash, flat, mechanical, you could still come back. So out of the 150 something that got started, 13 "finished". I made it around the 90mile mark. Butler 100mile mark. They scored Butler but missed me somehow (whateva...). The officials never told us what was our final lap so we rolled at the back when we could have sprinted for some good placings. If the race would have been run the right way Butler would have a Top 15 and me a top 25 which is a decent result for us considering we only had 3 guys while most teams had quite a bit but I dont think we could have touched Slipstream with the shear horsepower and #'s. So congratz to 'em.

Hopefully next year TheOC will put on little better courses (may be with some hills??)

Now Im in Athens, GA for the fall Athens Twilight commonly known as college. I shall be holding the fort down here for a bit. Next races:
River Gorge (aug 23rd)
US 100km
Dahlonega, GA (sp??)
Saul Raisn Crit
Michelin Crit

I shall try to keep you up to date...
David

OMG!!! New Post!!!

2008-08-03T20:20:00.003-07:00

Well I am on a cross the country trip currently in Albuquerque after two days of traveling from Chattanooga. I got a couple of stories and some info about states you should(nt) visit.

First:
In order to get ready for Nationals, I had to stock up on some food and drink. So I wonder over to the GNC store which sells anything from vitamins to gun powder. If you havent been into one then let me give you a little layout. The cashiers desk is in the middle surrounded on all sides are certain sections one with vitamins, whey protein, gels/bars, pills for football players, and the untouched herbel-natual-vitamin section. The employees are not some typical teenager but a really big-muscular-body-building-freak who-for-some-reason-has-very-little-patience and-has-a-high-temper working at the desk. I go in looking for muscle milk (for the ladies and the taste) and some gels. He is talking to another meat head while I head over to the muscle milk section. I listen in:

[macho man talk/on]
Meathead: Yeah...I work out like...5 days a week. You know the biceps and all.
Employee: Awesome
Meathead: I was wondering if I use this type of protein powder it will help me.
E: Totally...this protein powder helps you build muscle and recover quicker.
M: Cool so when do I drink it and stuff?
E: After each workout session.
M: I like to eat chicken not much of a read meat person but I try to when Im doing like 3 hour workouts.
E: Yeah...so what flavor you want?
[Macho man talk/off]
*at this point I have succesfully found my strawberry flavored cytomax muscle milk..tastes awful but i know its fine within the doping controls AND its on sell!!!*
[Macho man talk/on]
M: Where's the chocolate? Yeah I dont want none of that girly strawberry stuff
E: Yeah chocolate is the best flavor
[Mach man talk/off]
*I stare down at my discounted-strawberry-flavored-muscle-milk and almost cry but I manage to compose myself and hide the label from 'em and quickly escape to the gel and bar aisle.*

So I have been to a couple of states I have never been to before: Arkansas and Oklahoma. Arkansas was alright saw the Mississippi River through Memphis which was nice. Anywho, Fort Smith, Arkansas was home to a very nice Marriott and the Lil Wayne concert down the street. After being asked and declining...oh say...10 offers to buy Lil Wayne tickets I decided to drink my strawberry muscle milk instead and watch some TV.
Oklahoma is pretty much a flat Alabama. Bad roads, hot, and no teeth.
Texas or the panhandle part of Texas, also known as hell. I mean there is NOTHING in this part of this desolate country. It looked like something filmed off of No Country For Old Men. The wind was howling and the heat was brutal. Carpenter summed it up best, "David, you must really hate this place, flat, windy, hot, and desolate." I responded, "I guess this is where Satan spends his winter and spends his summer in Belgium."
After driving through my hell, we appeared in the great land of New Mexico. Just take Texas and take the macho-Texan cowboy motto out and add a little bit of green and some taller shrubs and that sums the first part of New Mexico up. The second part of New Mexico is hell for everybody else as it is mountainous. We got caught up in a cool lightning storm outside of Albuquerque so New Mexico is moving up on my list a bit...So tomorrow we head out to the border of Cali and Arizona. Should be nice and hot....

David

2008-08-03T20:20:00.001-07:00

About that time...

2008-07-13T01:07:00.000-07:00

Friday I finished my last race over here which means my trip is coming to an end. Before I go into some juicy details about Friday's race I would like to talk about a another race I did 6 days ago.

WILLEBROEK -1.2
Pulling up to the start line I realized this is a different race then normal. I was going to race against the best competition that i have raced while here. Several teams that have raced races like Paris-Roubaix, Tour of Flanders, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Amstel Gold Race, Tour Down Under, Tour de Langkawi, etc. My next thought was this is gonna hurt...bad. I introduce my time line back for this special event for this 190km race:
13:00 - Start
13:01 - I am at the front riding in front of TV cameras!!!
1302 - I hate my life
1303- I am spun out in my 53x11
1304- Blanking out
1400 - Hey look it has slowed down, and we are going kinda slow in the headwind. 50km down in the first hour. Only 140km to go!
1405- Wait...why are we turning? Oh...no...
1406- Single file...crosswind...Turn g-force destabilizer on. Approaching Mach 1 speeds....Tunnel vision setting in...help me...i wish i took up golf...
1415- its over!!! i survived! hey why is the group so small?
1419- turning right...you've got to be kidding me
1420- I hate crosswinds (repeat thought process from 1406)
1500- 2 hours into the race. a little less then 100km to go!
1523- my tummy is getting hungry!
1524- searching for food...
1525- missed my feed :(
1540- drop back through the field to get bottles.
1542- yeah i got a bottle!
1550- hey! why is the race getting hard again?

And from this point on I dont know what went on. I just remember a lot of pain especially from my leg region. At one point the field was guttered out single file flying along a bike path when I hear that familiar metal-scratching-the-pavement noise followed by yelling. I look up in time and see one guy hit a 3 foot high metal post on the bike path. He guys over the bars. the 2nd guy does a 180 and I T-Bone him. He falls, I dont...know how. David 1 -- Belgian 0. 16km to go I bonked which in non-cycling lingo terms is running out of food. May be the missed feed had something to do with that ;) Or the fact that nearly 120miles is a tad long for me. But it was a fun race and one the hardest I have done.

--------------------------------------------
Geel - 1.12 top-competition
Another 170km, flat, windy, cobbled race that suits me. the top competition means the best teams show up and also i think top-competition in Flemish means "lots of crashes". Luckily none of us got caught up in them. My legs were on the dull side and I paid for it. Not too much I could do about that. But this is the part where it gets interesting.

I am called for "Doping Control" which is to give a urine sample so they could test it and see if you are taking any performance enhancing drugs or not. Now most people never talk about this aspect of cycling so I shall try to give you some details on it. First, I reported to the control with my director. I have my passport and my rider's license. The controller checks me off and I sign a green sheet indicating I have reported to doping control within the hour after the race. (you have 1 hour to report to doping control after the race). i stand there and chug water for a bit then walk inside and sit down with the 9 other riders who were selected "randomly" plus the 1-2-3 for the race. I sit until I am called. 50 mins later, I am called into a back room where there is a doctor sitting there. He fills out a pink slip of paper with my address, basic info, the controller's names, agency, what medicines i have took the day of the race. (Now you are supposed to pick out a cup to pee in and once you pick that cup up the controller cant touch it until you seal it off, didnt realize this until after.) I pick it out but one of the controllers handles it. We walk to a broom closet sized bathroom. As with any person once somebody walks to the bathroom, the instinct is to close the door. I almost shut the door on the controller. But he nudges his way in the 3x4ft bathroom. He makes sure I am actually pissing in the cup and not cheating. W/e...that's done. So I start walking out of the building but the controller grabs me and my urine and says no come back to the back room. The doctor and the controller fill out the pink sheet some more. I pick out a box and the urine is split into two jars: Jar A, Jar B. (They test Jar A first to see if there is any indication of performance enhancing drugs. If there is they check the B sample. if the A sample is positive, they check to see if the B sample confirms it or not. If B sample is negative for drugs then the athlete is free.) Anyway, I seal the jars with this crazy lock system. I put them in the box. He asks me if I have any comments about the control. I dont know what to say so I say nothing. I get a copy of the pink sheet. Like I can read Flemish anyway...It was a weird and eerie experience for sure. But hey if it keeps cheaters from cheating I dont care. Any more questions dont hesitate to ask...

yeah i know

2008-07-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry to all my loyal readers (mom and dad) that I havent been updating much about. Havent really done anything lately. Recap the race in France: hot like 100F hot which makes it feel hotter when you come from the great white north aka Belgium where your last race was in armwarmers. The next race was a flat, cobbley, windy race with really strong orc-like belgian dudes. Then I have been sick and just waiting to race this weekend! Internet has been slow or dead at the team house but now everything is okay! This short video may explain our problems at the team house and what happens when the internet is down:

Promise more updates this week!

David

Race Report catch-up

2008-06-18T13:19:00.000-07:00

I am a bit behind on my race reports and this post will most likely be long and boring. Just bare with me:

3de MEMORIAL NOEL SOETAERT (14/6) - 1.12IC
1st time the race was held and 15km or so away so we rode there. And it was another flat, turny race with a 12km loop done 12 times. It rained a bit...okay a lot. Which made racing fun and there were some tricky sections. One time I went around a turn and guys slammed the brakes..therefore I lock my brakes up. I am completly sideways drifting through the turn as if I was racing a Porsche 911...I even did a bit of growling to make it sound like I had an engine. Anywho, as I am sliding toward the concrete wall of death (yes there was a concrete wall on this turn) a rider compelty t-bones me...and falls over. I am fine and managed to keep it up right as I hear all kinds of carnage behind. 1 point for David, 0 points for all the Belgians behind me. As I moved up through the field...one of the Cycling Center guys (another American team) asked me what happened to the field as we both looked back. I tried unsuccessfully without laughing and said "I guess they got gapped in the crosswind". Well most of them caught back on and it was gonna be a fun field sprint! I managed to move up for the sprint with Matt Brandt (our sprinter that day). Keep in mind it is rainy, windy, and on these small roads that a golf cart cant fit on. We went around a corner with 2km to go and two guys sandwiched Matt and he went down and I just sat up and finished 69th in the field. Averaged 46kmph and did 95km for the first two hours. I think I shifted once the whole race. We rode back and got in 180km that day.

ROMSEE - STAVELOT - ROMSEE (17/6) - 1.12IC
Back in the Ardennes! Last time in Tryptique I got beat up on pretty good but I could feel my form coming back. We got lost on our way to the start and showed up with 25mins before the start. Scrambled to get everything organized, pin #'s on, sign-in, pre-race rituals, etc. Guy East, Max Jenkins (u23 national champ), Chris Butler (teammate back home), Matt Brandt, Christian Parrett, Jason Short, Chris Montelone, and myself was the roster for the race under Noel. The race had 11 climbs ranging from 1-5km in lenght and varied with gradient. The first couple of climbs I felt very inconsistent: either having a green moment or my red bars filled up a little too fast (gotta love cycling manager). 55km in the race blew apart. I made the front group. 40 of us were together and a 10 man break up the road holding a 1-2min gap. Everybody had 3-4teammates in the break while I got stuck by myself With 60km our group split into two and I was caught in the 2nd half 30 secs down. I attacked over an overpass and bridged most of the gap on the flats and the last bit on a climb. Then with 20km to go we entered the circuits. But to get to the circuits we had to do a 3km climb. I had a really bad moment. Red lights flashing everywhere...trying to grab wheel...almost at top...most close gap. I got tailed off just at the top and got f*cked by the cars as they drove right past me (thx assholes). The circuits were a 3x8k loop with a 1km climb to the finish. I found a small chase group and just finished in there. But hey it was an awesome experience being in the sharp-end of the race with some pretty legit guys. I think the guy who won was the only guy from the break who stayed away. May be I could have gotten Top 15 had a little better tactical mind and didnt have a red moment on that 3km climb. But hey it was all good and now my form is starting to show up. It was an awesome race and 48 riders finished out of the 186 who started.

Next races:
21/6-22/6 - TOUR DE MAREUIL - FRA - 2.13IC
24/6 - GELUWE - BEL - 1.12IC
29/6 - DINANT - BEL - 1.12IC

David

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-15T12:16:00.000-07:00

Here's to the best father in the world!

That one was for you dad! (if you look closely there are frites right there!)

David

Racing Roundup

2008-06-11T01:26:00.000-07:00

Sunday and yesterday I had two races. Sunday was a race in Waver and Tuesday was a race in some town that starts with a "B" Beseele I think.

WAVER - 1.2 TopCompetition - BEL
Waver is a fun 180km jaunt around the countryside of Brussels. The first 75km were divided into two laps with 2 descent climbs each time. One even had a cobbled descent! Oh joy!! Followed by a 25km trek to the finish where we did 5x15km local laps with a 1200m cobble section. Now this race is a TopCompetition which means that ALL the big teams in Belgium short of the ProTour teams can show up and most of them did. In the neutral I was brought down in a crash. Nothing serious just a few scrapes. Caught back on just in time for the flag to be thrown down and it was on! Mach 5 to base we have engaged! 55km in another crash on a descent. There was nice bump in the road that if you just ran over it you would flat. So everybody was trying to be all macho and jump it. By sheer luck, the dude next to me bunny hoped right onto the bump and he went superman in front of me. I run over some part of his body or his bike. And I lock it up as others are crashing around me. A dude hits me from behind and I can feel his spokes and carbon rims melt and cut into my skin!! We are tangled but still moving I kick him off and I hear a thud behind me. Hah! Take that! Meanwhile, a 20 man break rolled away just after this little incident and they sat at the 30-60sec mark until the local laps. The first lap was balls out. I was holding on for dear life. I got in a good position for the cobbles but riders still opened up gaps and my knee is really starting to hurt. I ignore it b/c I am a macho bike racer. I bridge and take some of my teammates across to the front end of the field. But I am completly shattered at this point. 2nd time around I get caught dead last into the cobble section. I would like to take the time to point out the cobble section was one of the cobble sections where there is a small dirt path on each side of the road and we actually never rode on the cobbles but the battle for that small line was insane and was harder then just riding on the cobbles. I chase and chase for a lap but nobody is willing to help me and we were 20 secs back (if that). The rest of the group drops out with 2 laps to go and I am the only one who keeps going. I talk to myself: "Its only 30km, you can do it"
"Haha it is only 25km to go"
"I feel so alone"
"Everybody is staring at me"
"My knee hurts really bad"
"I hate cobbles"
"Please pull me"
It is weird how your mental side always gives up. I went from 30kms of fun to please pull me out ASAP! Which they did. Out of the 220 who started only 101 finished. 70 of those in the front two groups. My knee pain was from saddle slippage of 1cm. We averaged just under 28mph...

Beleese - 1.12InterClub - BEL
Yesterday's race. The race was characterized by a 12.5km circuit with tons of traffic furniture and about 15-20 turns all on small roads and 500m of cobbles. Interclub means almost any pro team can show up with no age restrictions. For you cyclo-crossers out there, Fidea team showed up minus Bert Wellens but everybody else was there. Those guys were stunt man they would jump over medians and ride in the grass and pass everybody, crazy. The first few laps were mad. Guys cutting each other everywhere. I just sat in the 30/40th position watching and conserving. The cobble section there was a crash where Chris Butler went down (he is fine and fell into the grass) as the road bottlenecked into the cobble section and sent riders scrambling for position as there was 10inch cement slab on each side of the cobbles. I being in my Paris-Roubaix form would just ride down the center and in most of the cases was faster. A group of 20 got up the road and they were brought back with 4 laps to go. We each took turns covering moves. I cam back from one as we hit a series of turns and Matt Brandt got away. I brake checked through the turns and Euros yelled at me to chase and I did just very slow. They got a big gap quickly. Matt finished 7th or 8th. Howes in the Top 20. Jason a little bit behind Howes and me in the back of the field watching the sprinters go at it. After the race the staff drove us 20 mins down the road and dropped us off. 40km back totaling 190km in 5hrs and 7mins. 3hrs 35mins were racing out of 150km. It was a really good race though and was definitely the most technical course I have done by far. A course that would be built for AJ Meyer. Reminded me of the Chatt crit with all the bad roads and turns except that it was 3.5hrs long. I wish I could compare those races I did Sunday and yesterday but I really cant. Even though both were flat and had cobbles they were totally different and, not trying to sound weird, but both were hard in their own special way :P Looking at a kid's power files from both races: yesterday's race had a higher wattage average and bigger 5-60sec power numbers but Sunday's race had a very high 5,10,20 min power. Weird how that works...Well Im off to go ride to the coffee shop. Talk to you later!

David

Roubaix pic

2008-06-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

Check out the dude's legs in front of me and the fact that my eyes are rolling into the back of my head probably b/c I was starring at his calves too long... This guy btw won U23 Tour of Flanders and several big races so far this year so I feel good about myself being near him.

Yesterday was 170km ride with the group. We did 21 steep climbs (some cobbled) ranging from 500m-2km. It started pouring rain on us 2 hrs in and stayed with us for another 2hrs then we rode on some wet rodes for the last 1.5hrs totaling a 5.5hr day in the saddle. It was a really tough day to say the least. But I did eat and drink a lot and I put in 5 pounds of food/gatorade into my system from my pre ride weigh-in till my post ride weigh-in. So that is cool...
David

Part 2

2008-06-02T02:42:00.000-07:00

My Roubaix experience did not end quite yet. I got into the team van and we drove to the finish in Roubaix. We drove the last couple kilometers and I instantly recognized where I was. We turn to head into the velodrome but park next to it near the showers.

These showers are legendary in the sport of cycling. They have housed all the greatest names: Coppi, Merckx, Rik Van Looy, Roger De Vlaeminck, Moser, Sean Kelly, Hinault, Tchmil, Tafi, Museeuw, Ballerini, and current cyclists like Cancellara, Boonen, Hincapie, O'Grady, Backstedt, etc etc. I walked into one of the booths and there was Sean Kelly's plaque on it. Wow! One of the toughest riders to ever walk (or should I say pedal a bike) on Earth. It was surreal moment as these guys are my heroes and I was standing in their footsteps.

David

2008-06-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

12 Hours ago I was about to dig into my delicious bowl of chocolate cereal when Noel walks into the kitchen and tells me I am doing Paris-Roubaix and have my bags packed by 9hr30 as the one of the riders was sick. Still comatose I stare at the bowl of chocolate delight and look back at him, laugh, and ask him if it is a joke (57kg kid doing Paris-Roubaix, is pretty funny i think.) He smiles and says no. Great...Here goes my Sunday coffee shop ride that I had so eagerly planned out the night before. I am told to do whatever I want. I could pull out a the neutral start if I wanted to. But I am starting the classic from hell. I haver never pre-ridden the course, single bar tape (most of the guys had triple), but luckily I had a computer and markers where the cobbles start. 20 mins into the car ride, I give up my computer as one of the riders (not gonna say any names) left his SRM computer at home. So there I am with no idea at all what is in front of me, except for a lot of cobbles and pain.
THE RACE
12:15 - We start
12:16 - I consider dropping out of the neutral
After this I dont remember anything about time so here it goes: The racing started off typically fast, snail like through corners, impala out of corners, riders touching wheels, slamming on brakes, people dying, well... you get the idea. Now I did have a way to tell if the cobbles where coming up: when everybody would start cursing usually mean the cobbles where 500m away or so. Oh before I forget...one thing that was really eerie was that the countryside was masked with fog that resembled something off of a horror movie which is fitting for a race called Hell of the North. 50km in is the first cobble section: i have no idea when that is but I just dully follow the riders in front of me and all of a sudden a bunch start bouncing up and down like they were wind-up toys. I start bouncing up and down. First thought runs through my head: cobbles are badass. Then it starts getting real muddy everybody is sliding everywhere. A motorcycle/dirt bike goes down. The whole field roles to a slippery stop. I, being in my cobble racing mode, jump off the bike jump a la cyclocross style onto the hill next to the cobbles and run across it as all the riders stare at me in disbelief. I move from 80th to 1st in a matter of seconds. Some people join me in my cyclocross path. A group of 40 emerge from the first cobble section looking like something off the Band of Brothers fighting in the ditches against the Germans in WWII. Three of us our in the group with all the favorites. We start turning it up and we are gone! Then all of a sudden, around a turn the commissar's car is completly stopped along with the mavic guys and one of the riders plows right into them. Everybody else stops followed closely by cursing. Meanwhile a bunch of riders catch up and everybody is eating and drinking whatever they can get, people are getting bottles, treatment from the doctor, water squirted on their shoes so they could clip in. While I am stuffing my face, I look up and I am the last person on the road in this chaotic pit of death. It looked like the field rode through a cobbled mine field. I saw one bike of our teammates that was completly cut in half (pics will be posted later). Now I am last because I thought I would be the gentlemen and sit next to the official's car as he yelled in some French crap at the riders. But of course I forgot that racing is war in Europe and nobody has any time of day to listen to the French so everybody went around me and there was this constant shuffle of cyclists until we all just clipped in and took off. Now after this the last 2hrs I dont remember much. I remember being caught behind a crash on a cobble section and catching back on just in time for another one. Then I remember cursing Satan for building cobblestones for the sole purpose to make a big person feel good about themselves and to kill Spanish cyclists and myself. But nonetheless I was in the cars coming back after the cobbles with 60km to go and Noel goes, "David you've done a good job and I want you to drop out at the feed zone." I dont argue with people who are of a higher authority :P so I pulled out with 3hrs 15mins racing (only 1hr 45mins left). Summerhill finished 7th overall in the lead group, Austin finished 29th but was in the lead group until he crashed with 20km to go. So good race for us! I am looking forward to smooth roads ahead...

David

How to kill time in Belgium

2008-05-29T05:26:00.001-07:00

Occasionally and just occasionally everybody becomes a little bored over here. Face it we do not have a lot to do: train, eat, rest, recover, sleep, race, then repeat. Steps to avoid losing one's mind in Belgium:

1. When stuck at the team house: watch as much American TV shows as possible: The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, CSI, even Friends. Makes me feel like I am at home. Avoid Jim (the MTV of Europe with the same 20 pop songs playing over and over again) at all costs as it will suck you into a vortex of bad music.

2. Internet: read the NY Times, CNN, Comcast news update, w/e, blogs, youtube. Anything that keeps your mind up to date on the world and the US of A.

3. Update your blog...

4. Watch bike racing...on Eurosport = English = British commentary = Paul and Phil = Versus = America

5. Eat. Already explained what to eat in the Belgian Guide I wrote a few back. There is a scientific study that shows that people eat when they are depressed. So far I have gained 3 pounds :(

6. This one I found takes a boredom pretty quick and my parents will find it shocking: reading!! OMG! Yes mom and dad I have read while I am over here! I recommend a good spy/double agent/triple agent/fast pace/in your face/page turner novel. Finished a couple of books already and luckily at the house everybody leaves their books for each other to get by.

7. Count euros! very fun to do when you have a lot of them

8. make up stuff on your blog! (like #7) it keeps people on their toes and you from losing your mind, everybody wins!

9. make fun of euros (the people), who doesnt make fun of a man who wears girl jeans and capris?

10. Take pictures...i havent done that but i will eventually.

11. Facebook

12. play video games

13. wash clothes (hey, its something to do)

14. i am proud to add this last one: blackberry

15. the last step: escape the house, go to the square, eat frites, go watch a movie in Roesalare.

Gotta go count some euros!

David

Tales from the Flemish Hills

2008-05-28T06:54:00.000-07:00

I thought today would be a good day to ride out toward the Flemish hills that are caked with rider's names on the legendary hills that decide the fate between the strongmen and weak. My route would start off from Izgem, head over to Inglemunster, jump on the N357 to Waregem and head to the center or "centre" as it is known over here, magically stumble across a bike sign with the # 4, then precede to almost crash looking at the schoolgirls i mean architect wonders of the town's cathedral, follow the #4 bike rout until I head in the direction of Nokerse, ride some curvy golf cart roads around Nokerse that wind its way through the countryside on some hills, jump on Tour of Flanders roads for awhile, ride back to Waregem, Deerlijk (yes that is a town), Harelebeke, Kuurne, Kortrijk, and back to Izegem. Very fun ride to say the least. I had a very nice crosswind or headwind (sometimes both) on the way out but had a very nice tailwind back which made up for it. Whoever says that there are only 16 hills in Tour of Flanders, you are dead wrong, some of the hills I rode were just as hard as the bergs had no name. The only thing that would indicate as part of the course was a sign "De Ronde". Here are some pictures of the climbs I rode (I didnt take these, courtesy to cyclingnews.com)

Nokereburg

Kermesses Friday and Monday!

David

Stop! Hold the press! (EDITED)

2008-05-26T04:30:00.000-07:00

Well not really but I do have an announcement to make....

I am not doing Paris-Roubaix u23 or racing Haut Savoire. There is a mistake in the rosters as the number of riders that can start and there is one person left out and that is me :( I will be doing 2 or 3a couple of local kermesses should be fun no matter where I race.

David

Westouter Kermess

2008-05-25T14:05:00.000-07:00

Found the results for the kermess. Not sure how many started around 90-100 or so.

24/05/2008- WESTOUTER (W)
1.12B - ind.reg.wedstr.(100-120 km) Elite z.c./U23
(115 km - 14 x 8,215 km)

1. KUYPERS Nico CYCLING TEAM LISPANNE DE HAAN VZW 02:45:00
2. VERMOTE Julien WIELERGROEP BEVEREN 2000 VZW :09
3. DEPOORTER Dries NEW HEEBRA-LOMBARDEN 1:45
4. MOERMAN Detlef WILLEMS VERANDA CONTINENTAL TEAM
5. GHYSELINCK Jan WIELERGROEP BEVEREN 2000 VZW
6. DEMEULEMEESTER Wouter WIELERCLUB MARKE VERANDA´S CLOCHET VZW
7. BORRY Kim WC SOENENS-GERMOND INGELMUNSTER
8. JOSEPH Stijn WIELERGROEP BEVEREN 2000 VZW
9. RAEDT Nielsen C.T. KEUKENS BUYSSE KNESSELARE
10. KUYPERS Bart KENTUCKY CT MIDDELKERKE
11. VAN SPEYBROEK Bart SPORTING CLUB MEERSE - KLUISBERGEN 3:45
12. BUYSE Bram WIELERCLUB MARKE VERANDA´S CLOCHET VZW
13. MASSON Christophe CCI DIFFERDANGE
14. CALLEWAERT Cédric NICCA CT - VSV LANGEMARK
15. DAUW Jasper CYCLING TEAM LISPANNE DE HAAN VZW 4:20
16. HEUGHEBAERT Dries CYCLING TEAM LISPANNE DE HAAN VZW
17. SERRY Pieter FORONEX CT / WIELERPROMOTIE Z-W
18. STEYAERT Kris KSV DEERLIJK GAVERZICHT VZW
19. RYCKAERT Johan KSV DEERLIJK GAVERZICHT VZW 4:50
20. CARTLAND RICHARD
21. VANCRAEYNEST Kevin WIELERCLUB DE SPRINTERS MALDEREN
22. VERCOUILLIE Kristof KSV DEERLIJK GAVERZICHT VZW
23. SCHIETGAT Pedro KENTUCKY CT MIDDELKERKE
24. LAPIERE Ward TEAM BOUWKANTOOR LIPPENS-DESCHUYTTER
25. VAN NUFFEL Tim CK PODBORANY(EASYPAY)
26. LIEFOOGHE Bert FORONEX CT / WIELERPROMOTIE Z-W
27. VANDENBROUCKE JEAN-DENIS VERANDAS WILLEMS BOYS
28. BRUYNEEL Giel KSV DEERLIJK GAVERZICHT VZW
29. VANDENBULCKE Hannes KSV DEERLIJK GAVERZICHT VZW
30. VANHILLE Xavier WC SOENENS-GERMOND INGELMUNSTER
31. VLAMYNCK Nick BCV WORKS CT INGELMUNSTER
32. LAPERE Kris MEZ TEAM BELGIUM SNELLEGEM
33. BLANCKAERT Bart MBK - DELSOL TEAM
34. COMMEYNE Steffen C.T.- DJ.MATIC-KORTRIJK
35. DEBACKER Bart NICCA CT - VSV LANGEMARK
36. FEYS Wim PROV. AFD. WEST-VLAANDEREN WBV
37. G TALBOTT DAVID USA CYCLING TEAM
38. HEUZEL Jelle NICCA CT - VSV LANGEMARK
39. BREYE Stijn C.T.- DJ.MATIC-KORTRIJK
40. DE MEYDTS Sven WIELERTEAM DECOCK-CAPINO MOORSELE
41. DEBONNEZ Detlev VERANDAS WILLEMS BOYS
42. POLLIE Dimitri MBK - DELSOL TEAM
43. VANBELLE Mathias KSV DEERLIJK GAVERZICHT VZW

Kermess

2008-05-25T03:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got a taste of one of real kermess racing. For those of you who dont know kermesses are typically 100-170km of a 5-15km loops that rides around and finishes in a local city street. This kermess was 115km on a 8km circuit. The race started on cobbles then kicked up a 1km hill that got steeper as the climb went on the max grade was like 12% then it is a hard left and, i think i forgot to mention that yesterday was really windy... talking about a steady 30kmph wind with gusts up to 60kmph!!. so after that left turn we were hit dead on from right by the crosswind, the course weaves a bit then there is a two tricky turns in another small town then a left out of town and a straight shot back into the start/finish town (dont remember the name, it was close to Kemmel and Iper though). The race was characterized by the hill and the crosswinds which as our DS said only 10 or so guys will finish this race which is scary considering there were over a 100 starters. Now I will give you the play by play of the race yesterday by lap:
3:03 - Race has started
3:14 - one lap down, 13 to go
3:28 - wohoo it slowed down!
3: 30 - 3 guys from the same team (the best team in belgium: Beveren 2000) attacks, i bridge to them on the hill
3:31 - my legs hurt really bad, now for the hard left
3:31 - immediately regret my decision to bridge to the leaders as they put me in the gutter
3: -- - losing track of time, vision narrowing, holding on for dear life
3: 43 - where am I?
3: 44 - vision repaired, can think now, i am in the 2nd group, 11 laps to go
3: 46 - thoughts run through my head *stop attacking please*
3: 47 - haha it is the hills and you cant attack here
3: 49 - but the Belgians can attack in the crosswind :(
4: 00 - 4 laps done, 10 to go,
4: 01 - running low on fuel, need water, systems crashing, mayday mayday!
4: 02 - see our DS holding water, target locked on
4: 02 - this is David Talbott to base, requesting flyby,
4: 02 - water recieved :),
4: 05 - water is nearly finished
4: 17 - 5 laps done, 9 to go
4: 18 - lead group is just in front, dont have enough energy to bridge :(
4: 18 - my group explodes in the crosswind, i make the front split
4: 34 - done with crosswind section, survived, 6 laps done, 8 to go
4: 49 - 7 laps done, 7 to go,
4: 50 - a British guy talks to me then attacks! i chase him down and tell him to work with the group steady, everybody ignores me, so i attack on the hill.
4: 49 - back in the group in the crosswind
4: 52 - i hate kermesses
5: 05 - 8 laps done, 6 to go
5: 08 - hello mr. crosswind! dont mind me... i am the tiniest guy in the race... i just want to finish please dont hurt me!
5: 21 - 9 laps done, 5 to go
5: -- - too busy eating to look at time. David is hungry
5: 36 - see guy waving yellow flag, what does this mean? the people in my group are sprinting. que? realize that it is the end for our group. we were pulled with 4 to go
5:38 - take # off and rode 2 more laps

The race finished and 12 guys actually completed all 14 laps. I finished somewhere around 50th and the only "finisher" for our team. Carter Jones had stomach cramps, Chris Montelone flatted. Fun race freaking one of the hardest races I have done (granted I havent done that much). Rode 45km back to the house including two bergs in the Tour of Flanders, one paved that hit 15% and the other the Kemmelberg both the descent and the ascent on cobbles. Scary! Cant imagine racing up let alone down the hill.

Roubaix countdown begins today: 7 days

David

Paris-Roubaix

2008-05-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

In a sick twist of irony I am doing Paris-Roubaix u23. For those who are unfamiliar with Paris-Roubaix, picture 180km (110miles) of hell, well except that it is actually cold. Its nickname is not just called Hell of the North for nothing. It is a typical northern French race with rain, wind, and these little things called cobblestones. These cobblestones are a tad different then the cobbles that line small side roads that jut away from the town square in major cities across Europe which are neatly arranged to show off the antique and delicate side of Europe. These Roubaix cobblestones are different. I swear they were arranged by the devil himself or a bunch of drunk French workers. As these cobblestones resemble chaos instead of a neat pattern that would make them ridable. Now for the irony part: being a 125pound climber, one would figure that I would go to France to a different race called Tour de Pays Hauts Savoire. The region is the most mountainous in France and for that matter Europe. After all, Mount Blanc the tallest mountain in Europe is located there as well. Paris-Roubaix is known as a hard man's race meaning that the rider who wins can glide over the cobbles, power across the crosswind sections in piss poor conditions. So yeah but it looks like I am doing Paris-Roubaix and that is fine with me, after all this is the single hardest one day race in the world and I am doing it. I leave you now with picture of the most famous cobbled section of all, the Forest of Arenberg:

David