If you were looking for my name in the National Championships results I apologize for you having to scroll down the page so far. I think I ended up in 71st which is pretty ridiculous... I'm pretty sure that's the furthest down I've ever finished in a race. I got off the fifth row really well and rode around about twenty riders on the first lap, slotting into somewhere around twentieth spot. After getting caught behind a couple of fallen racers I tried to keep the pressure on and despite a couple of little slips of my own I did my best to keep the pressure on. I was doing fine until I pinched the rear tire losing all of the air and all of my chances of finishing up with any sort of result. For anyone that was there, I flatted right before the ditch heading towards the two stair run-ups. That left about a mile or so of running for me before reaching the pit and my spare bike. By the time I finally got my hands on the other bike I lost so much time that I only had time for one additional lap before the officials yanked me off the course. I don't know how close the leaders where to me but it didn't really matter when it comes right down to it. Pops and I are on our way back home to Seattle and hopefully if the weather cooperates well be back sometime on Thursday. There's only so much more hotel living I can take for this season.

KANSAS

I've been on a bit of a DVD buying rampage the last month and have added about ten new movies to the collection. Most of them are previously viewed Blockbuster buys and ended up costing not much more than a rental. Besides what else is there to do on the road day after day living out of a hotel room? After finishing up the last Verge New England Series last Sunday with a fairly respectable ride and a couple of local Rhode Island Narragansett brews, pops and I packed up the gear and hit the road Monday morning from Boston. We arrived yesterday here in Kansas City, KS and made a trip to the Nationals venue after having some lunch with my great uncle Clete. We made it to the course a little early but that gave us the opportunity to watch the 40 minute Masters 45+ race and chat with some of the familiar faces that made the trip from Washington. Today was also the first day that I have actually ridden my bike since leaving Boston; for the entirety of the road trip west I was only riding my bike on the stationary trainer in the hotel room. Last night I actually set up the bike and trainer outside of the hotel room in the deserted parking lot and rode for an hour and a half to get used to the cold air in my lungs. There hasn't been much else happening. The weather channel is forecasting snow tonight and possibly more to come Saturday afternoon with sunshine predicted on Sunday for the Elite Mens race. Either way it's going to be epic conditions as the course continues to get shredded over the next 48 hours. In preparation for Sunday I put in some nasty looking spikes in my beautiful white NorthWaves, replaced the rear derailleur cable and cable housing, and have gotten a hold on some vegetable oil spray for my bikes. I've never actually used vegetable oil on the bikes but it is supposed help keep mud from building up on the bike frames, meaning less buildup and drag. We'll see tomorrow if it works when I pre-ride the course. Later.

W.E. Steadman GP

After fueling up with delicious breakfast sandwiches with Thom and Ashley in Cambridge Pat (my dad) and I hit the road south to Goddard Park in Rhode Island. The park is in a beautiful spot along Greenwich Bay, just one of the many bays and inlets in the state, and included a run along the beach before heading back into the forested areas. The course was really fun today and despite having a poor start I worked my way up through a good chunk of the field on the first grass/mud sections. Then after having a little lull midway through the race I finished the last three laps with some authority by pulling away from a chasing group of four and catching Fior di Frutta rider Toby Marzot on the last lap, finishing with a bit of time to spare in 13th. The race at the front was apparently a four man race between both the Wells brothers, Jesse Anthony, and Chris Jones. In the end it came down to Anthony and Todd Wells for a two up sprint with Wells getting the honor of the top spot. Tomorrow the weather is apparently supposed to supply a crafty front of frozen rain, so that could add to the excitement.

Back in Boston

Red eye flights are always kind of hard to do. The one last night wasn't too bad and only lasted about four and a half hours, leaving Seattle at 10:40 PM and touching down in Boston by 6:30 AM. I always feel a little bit disoriented after a flight like that because you miss a full night's sleep and then usually feel like sleeping for the rest of the day. After groggily waking up from a five hour nap I ate some oatmeal, watched most of the movie 300 and then built up the two bikes before jumping onto the stationary trainer for an hour of power. I'm not quite sure how well the indoor ride will help prepare me for tomorrow but I sure as hell wasn't going to venture out into the cold and slick, icy streets of Boston for a two hour ride, it's bad enough when the roads aren't slushy and slippery. Tomorrow is the first of the last two races in the Verge New-England Cross Series and I'm going to throw down. I'd like to end this season on a high note following through with a good ride at nationals. It will be a tough stretch ahead with around 22 hours of driving from Rhode Island to the national's venue in Kansas City but luckily my dad flew back out to Boston with me and will be helping out for the rest of the time on the road. The plan is to have the team van and all it's current possessions back in Seattle in time for Christmas time with the family. Portland: First day I didn't do that great; the second day I destroyed the rim of my front wheel on the first lap and struggled to stay on the lead lap... and ended up getting lapped my Ryan Trebon with two laps to go. When I went into the bathroom after the race to wash my face I didn't even recognize myself I had so much mud caked on my face.

See You In Portland

NonStop from Boston to Seattle 6 hours 20 minutes.

I packed up the bags and placed them neatly into the well organized team van but not before taking one last ride, at least for this year, in Northampton. It wasn't an ideal day for driving the bicycle, but I bundled up and headed out into the cool and rainy afternoon anyway. The neoprene shoe covers and windstopper bib pants did little to stop the rain and standing water on the road from reaching my skin and I knew from the start that it was just going to be an uncomfortable day. After completing the scheduled workout I rolled my soggy bottom back to the house with the comforting thought of a warm shower soon to come. After giving my bike a much need wash I safely stowed my belongings, said goodbye to the guys, and headed out on I-91 south towards the Mass. Turnpike and Boston. Despite the nasty low lying clouds and relentless rain, I navigated through the surprising light commuter traffic into Cambridge, where I'll be staying before flying home to Seattle on Wednesday evening for the two USGP races in Portland.

Sterling

It was really really cold out today. I went outside for about five minutes to clean out the car a bit in order to make space for Jeremy Powers to ride along with me to the race and my finger tips were completely numb by the time I went back inside. I think the high today was around 37 degrees, in the sun, making me break out the leg warmers to battle the brisk conditions at the Sterling race. Jonny Sundt was there today and was denied a start position at registration because his payment for a fine was yet to be recieved, and that's after he drove up from Virginia. I wasn't sure how my legs were going to react to not riding yesterday, combined with 6 hours of driving the team van up from Pennsylvania but I did my best to get in a good warm-up. My warm-up today was so good that I could actually taste blood in the back of my throat, that was probably caused because of all the cold air. I rolled into the starting grid right behind Tim Johnson and was hoping to stay out of trouble as the race settled out over the first lap or two. I ended up sliding out my fron tire on a little root on an off camber corner during the first lap and watched as a group rode around me and away. With no mechanical issues from the little crash I got riding again but felt a little bit of panic and fatigue starting to settle in as I tried to regain the places that I had lost. There was a really large group behind me but they were unable to latch onto my wheel, and once I got back into a good pace they were out of site for the remainder of the race. A little over half way through the race I caught up to a couple of riders and battled it out with them for most of the remainder of the race. One of the guys crashed himself out of the group and the other guy wouldn't let me escape despite some efforts to ride away from him on the run-up that I could ride, but would then let the pace slow down when he got on the front. Thankfully I managed to narrowly beat him to the line even after leading for most of, if not all of, the last lap. After the sprint for 11th I stopped riding and then had a coughing fit for about five minutes that was probably caused by all of the cold and dry air, it was pretty fun. All in all I think I went as hard as I could today and with that I am happy.

Hey oh!

I just finished peeling the spuds in preparation for Turkey Day Dinner here in Pennsylvania. Before that I took advantage to the sun and 60 degree temperature to take a nice two hour ride out into the country side of cow manure filled farmfields. This area of Pennsylvania is pretty cool and reminds me a lot of Belgium, mostly because of the rural roads and the smell of the fields. I also like riding around and seeing the Amish men working in the fields and the kids going home from school. It makes me feel like I've gone back into time or entered onto a movie set. I know cyclists arent' suppossed to admit that they've been training much but I just finised a good little block of work after coming back from a five day hiatus off the bike. Last week I was fighting a cold and I made a choice Friday morning to skip the USGP races in New Jersey. I have a lot of travelling and races left and I didn't want to dig myself an unnecessary hole for one weekend of races that I didn't have much of chance at. Short and Sweet. Have a good Thanksgiving.

When keeping it REAL goes WRONG...

just in case you don't visit jpows.com as much as you should.

Lost In Jersey

The past weekend caused for more loss than gain but at least I've learned a few lessons from it. I don't want to wine and complain too much about the past weekend in New Jersey regardless of how ridiculous it was or how frustrated I got while it was happening. But basically I went into the start of Saturday's race already defeated from the 9 hour drive on Friday combined with not being able to find the course until it was almost too late. When I got there the rider start sheet was already being printed for my race but the women at registration were kind enough to let me sign-in and start. After going out fast, I gradually started to feel the affects from the non-existent warm-up and started going slower and slower until I was just riding my bike around at a leisure pace. After cruising for a while I decided that with four laps to go I should try and open up the legs for Sundays race so I proceeded to race my bike for the rest of the 60 minutes. Oh yeah I forgot that about two laps into the race I pinch flatted my front tire on a chunk of concrete. Just happy to be done with the day I headed to host housing where I was fortunate enough to have a nice, nutritious, and relaxing dinner with the Gordon family. After a good night's sleep I had higher hopes for Sunday's race and was pleasantly suprised when my uncle Tom, aunt Diane and her sister Beth rolled into the parking lot to watch the race and cheer me on. I started off the day well finding myself in the top three for the first lap and a half and gave them something to cheer about when I attacked the large group of 10-11 after passing throught the start finish. I was hoping to shed some of the other riders in the group but did a better job of dislodging myself after staying on the front for the remaining lap. Jonny Sundt was back a ways but was watching the lead group and yelling at me to relax and be smart, good advice considering that I was doing too much too soon. From that point on I quickly self-detonated and could feel the fatigue in my legs resisting my forward movement. Ka-pow! After that my body and mind had had enough and I felt like ending the season right then and there. I ended up finishing 17th on Saturday and 12th on Sunday making for a some what dissappointing weekend considering I was banking on earning needed UCI points for the upcoming US Grand Prix weekends. To top it all off I now have to try and rid a cold before the coming weekend.

24 hours from hell

If you ever need advise on how to turn a five hour drive into nine give me a call. I left the comforts of the 1757 built farm house in Hadley yesterday afternoon and after stopping at Joe's Garage, for a new cassette to accompany the chain, I hit the road just in time for rush hour. First I got caught in traffic heading through Hartford which was nothing compared to the horrors of NYC which was made even worst with at least one accident brining everything to a hault for at least an hour. It was of course a huge mistake to go through the city but what's done is done and the lesson has been learned. After I finally got on the NJ turnpike I made good progress towards the host housing outside of Atlantic City all be it four hours later than expected. Then when I was almost there, off the highway, on a weird strip of suburia driving on a roadway seperated by a concrete divide prohibiting any left turns I screwed it all up. I finally made it to the other side of the divide after going around a loop d'loop and then instead of turning right down Second St. I turned right and went back on the highway that forced me to drive ten miles in the opposite direction before I could turn around. By the time I back tracked and made it to the house it was 11:45 and I didn't want to wake everybody so I drove to the strip and found a decent hotel for the night. I woke up this morning hoping that I had everything dialed for the day. I fueled up got some groceries and hit the road towards Bridgeton. The icing on the cake was getting to Bridgeton and not being able to find the park that the race was at. I drove around for a while, nothing. I finally called my dad to read off directions and made it there thirty minutes before game time. Short story going something like rushing to get everything ready in twenty minutes and going to the start line without a warm-up. Jonny Sundt was racing today and rode well, I finished 17th but I'm going to try to win tomorrow so stay tuned. Peace.

Finally.

It's been a long time since I felt like a rode a good race and now after Sunday's ride I feel like the momentum is finally working with me in the direction that I've been trying so hard to go... forward. In most of the other races that I've done since leaving Seattle I felt like I was constantly struggling to hold my ground in the race with the idea of moving through the groups of other racers an unlikely possiblity. I was hoping that this feeling of going backwards could be attributed to the enormous volume of driving and the constantly changing environment, but an excuse regardless of how good is still just an excuse. So with all of that apparently behind me this past weekend my legs felt wicked awesome and after a slow closed up race on Satruday I had the day I was looking for in Northampton at the Cycle-Smart International. Begining the day with a not so good night of sleep on the living room couch, it was only made worst by my stomach feeling a bit flipped after the previous night's post race Mexican food. After getting my stomach back on track it was time to drive the ten long, grueling minutes to the race course where I had plenty of time to pre-ride and prepare for the race. The race was put on by my friend Steve Weller and he did an awesome job getting everything dialed for the day of excitement, despite having a late 3:30 start time on the first day of day light savings time that caused for an unexpected twilight finish to the elite mens race. After nearly running over the fallen Davide Fratini (Colivita-Sutter Home) mid way through the first lap I did my best to keep my foward motion and move my way through the field of riders that were starting to string out along the course. Luckily for me there wasn't any advantage to riding in a group on this course allowing for me to take my own lines and set my own tempo for most of the race. With 4 laps to go in the race I finally settled into a group after I caught a couple of riders, first year u23 Jerome Townsend and former Giro d'Italia rider Justin Spinelli, they latched onto my wheel as I pulled through and only Spinelli was willing or able to offer a pull on the front. I was getting a little tired of the two of them because Townsend wouldn't pull and I felt like Spinelli was getting in my way and slowing me down more that he was actually helping. After about a lap with these two Fratini managed to ride up to the back of our trio and sat on until two laps to go, where he then launched a hard attack soon after we hit the paved finishing straight that only I could follow. He gapped me off a bit on one of the grassy sections but I kept him close in sight as the gap started to open to the dropped Townsend and Spinelli while it simultaniously started to close in on the three riders in front consisting of Jamie Driscoll, Matt White (both Fiordifrutta) and Ryan Leech. I charged all the way to the finish and almost managed to snag Fratini on the line, unfortunately for me it wasn't to be and he took the last UCI point away with his tenth place. Fratini and I finished on the same time and were less than twenty seconds to that next group of three which is encouraging for me. I just finished up with a solid day of training here at the Hadley, MA farm house, that is home to the likes of Matt White, Jeremy Powers, Steve Weller, Al Donahue, and Brian Hayes. I'm planning on hanging out with these dudes for a few more days before getting back on the road for the following weekend. The next race is in New Jersey and I can't wait. Oh yeah the guy pictured above somehow managed to get on course while we were racing making for an unexpected moving obstacle.

Louisville Is A Wrap

Well my prediction for the weekend's winner was way off and it was Jeremy Powers throwing down again on Saturday and Tim Johnson on Sunday to add to an already impressive back to back weekend of wins for the Cyclocrossworld riders. My racing wasn't so hot and after a couple laps I felt like I was going backwards quicker than forwards and felt like, as Adam Craig would say, I was "riding like a small child." After the race I was pretty demoralized and was thinking of calling it an early weekend by not starting Sunday. Long story short I pulled myself together and pulled off another average race that was good enough to get my moral back. Now I'm hanging out with my good buddies Matt Shriver aka the facebook stalker and Troy Wells at the Wells family compound in upstate New York. It's been a quit night for trick or treaters here at the house, with about six in total, and the boys are busy stealing the wifi signal from the neighbors and getting in internet time before bed... just a day in the life. We headed into the town of New Paltz today for a bit of coffee and some good people watching after the hour long recovery ride, that was much needed after my 14 hour drive from Louisville. The roads around here are really nice with constant rolling hills and very few cars to deal with. I've been lacking the off road skills lately at the races and the cyclocross training race planned for tomorrow will hopefully help hone in those skills and restore my confidence. Either way I'm mentally prepared to throw down this weekend. Parting words... the time is now the place is here just do it.

PA to KY

I rode to the Louisville course today with my host house guy Santiago. Pretty much as soon as we got there the clouds started to unleash an unwelcomed amount of rain onto the already saturated ground. The muddy corners went from tacky to greasy within a lap and I wasn't all that interested in trying to ride at race pace with my rear file tread tire providing absolutely zero traction. After four or five laps my bike and legs had built up enough mud and grass to build a small hut so I decided to head over to the power washer for a bit of a clean up before riding back to the house with Santiago. I arrived yesterday evening after driving about 10.5 hours from my aunt and uncle's house in Pennsylvania and so far Louisville seems like a pretty cool city. The area I'm staying in reminds me a bit of Capital Hill in Seattle with lots of restaurants, bars, music shops, and big, old houses... the main difference being that it's cleaner and it's not quite as funky, meaning from what I've seen there aren't any drugged out homeless people. The race should be difficult tomorrow and although I'm not going to be in contention for the "W" I know it's going to be an epic battle with all the top US talent like Tim Johnson, Jeremy Powers, Ryan Trebon, and Barry Wicks all ready to throw down. I was talking to Wicks earlier today and he told me that Trebon will be helping him tomorrow to try and take the win, should be fun to watch but I'm hoping to put myself into a good group and finally get a respectable result.

Granogue

Oh man. This weekend was a lesson in what not to do when you're trying to race well. Day one was is in beautiful Delaware on property owned by the Du Pont family. This was my first visit to Delaware and it was a short but good one considering the race was only about nine miles south of the Pennsylvania border. I was pretty confident going into the weekend after a solid four days of training in the 70 degree temps on sun soaked farm roads of Amish country in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. I've been staying at my uncle Tom and aunt Diane's house and they've been taking way too good of care of me which has been awesome. I had host housing arranged but the house is so well located in Lititz, which is near Intercourse and Blueball, that I decided to head to the races from here since I was already settled in. The drive time to Delaware was about and hour and a half but was prolonged by traffic lights and what seemed like an unnessecary volume of cars. I put the pedal to the floor when I had the opportunity and made it to the race by about 2pm which I felt was plenty of time for a 3:30 start time; and it would have been but unfortunately the race started at 2:30 (roar of laughter here). I ended up pulling into the race parking at 5 after 2 and then had to run to registration, pin numbers, dress, put my wheels on, and then I really had to pee. I rolled up to the starting area and was only there for about a minute before the race official told me I had to go to the finish line for a special call up with all the other super stars. This was good because it gave me a chance to actually ride my bike before the start. After some last minute shuffling on the start grid I ended up getting demoted to the third row, whatever. I had an ok start but then crashed on an off-camber (I didn't see the course before the first lap) which put be back a few more unnecessary places but it was only a few scrapes on my calf. I got rolling again but it took me a couple laps and another minor snafu tangle with a pole before I got the course down and the pain from no warm-up out of my legs. After that I was on cruise control and I moved my way through riders from 30 up to 20th spot quickly closing on the next rider just seconds up the road. I finished strong and I felt like if I had actually been on time my good legs would have ridden me to a good result. That's just life when being a dumb shit.

gloucester photos

photos curtious of Thom Koschwanez thomnews.com

Gloucester

Another weekend of racing is in the books here in Gloucester, Mass. The weather was cross perfect after the rain and thunderstorms rolled through Thursday and Friday, opening up for the sun and cooler temperatures. There were plenty of riders present to contest both days of racing but the favorite had to have been Tim Johnson with Ryan Trebon and Barry Wicks (both Kona) racing elsewhere. Saturday started out well for me as I moved up through riders on the starting 200 meter steep, paved, hill and entered the grass in the top fifteen. From there the race started to split apart and I did my best to keep position or move forward through the chasing groups. The biggest suprise was seeing Tim ride past me on the second or third lap after riding through the field from 35th position after he had rolled off his tubular tire on the first lap and had to run his bike to the pits. I did my best to stick his wheel but he put the pressure on me going up the start/finish hill and I never saw him again; he ended up finishing 6th after getting beat in a sprint. After that I tried to follow some wheels but mostly ended up riding on my own and finishing up 19th. The same thing happened on Sunday when Tim had another mechanical and had to claw his way back, passing me once again, on his way to 2nd behind the charging Jesse Anthony. My friend Thom took the commuter train in from Boston and it was nice to have some support cheering me on. I didn't have the ride I was hoping for but at least it was an improvement from last weekend and Thom had a blast experience his first cyclocross race ever. After the race we went and got some pizza and then drove down to Salem to hunt some witches. The town wasn't what we were expecting and after feeling a bit socially akward at the 2007 Wizards and Warlocks Convention we hit the road back towards Boston. All in all it was an ok weekend but I would like to get some better results... soon! I'm off to Pennsylvania tomorrow to hang out at my uncle's house before the weekend of racing in Granogue, Delaware and Ludwigs Corner, PA (yeah I have no idea where that is). Pic above is Thom and I on the Charles.

I almost traded the team van for this rig...

Long Island\lon-GI-land\, noun:

1. An island in southeast New York, USA with an area of 3,567 square miles and a population of 7,448,618 as of the 2000 census, making it the largest island in the 48 contiguous U.S. states and the most populated in any U.S. state or territory.
2. Long Island is known for its affluence and high quality of life.
3. The island is much longer than it is wide, jutting out some 118 miles from New York Harbor.

Well after two weeks on the road travelling across the country I decided it would be fun to spend some more time in the car and drive to the tip of Long Island for a double weekend. I didn’t have the Long Island weekend in my original schedule of races, because I didn’t know about it until Troy Wells told me about it, and it just so happens that it worked out to head out there after a little pit stop at my uncle’s house in Pennsylvania. It was another good chunk of driving out to the isle especially with the construction, tolls, and traffic heading through NYC. We had booked a hotel in Edison, NJ for the weekend to save some money but unfortunately our estimated drive time of two hours turned into four. So with the hope of finding a different, closer hotel or better yet some host housing we packed everything back into the van Saturday morning and hit the road. Luckily for pops and myself the house that Troy Wells, Matt Shriver, and Greg Reain (Canadian Champ) were staying in was otherwise unoccupied for the weekend so we commandeered a couch and some floor space for the two following nights. The house was near Sag Harbor and was only accessible by a sandy, rocky, dirt road that cut through the woods and down a very rutted out little steep hill. Inside the house was a stockpile of camping gear, bikes, motorcycles, two Bronco trucks, a dune buggy, and pretty much everything you could ever need to climb Everest. The racing weekend turned out to be a great one for Barry Wicks who got second to the word champion Erwin Vervecken in a sprint to the line on Saturday and then pulled off a big win on Sunday after Vervecken fouled up a section of course and broke his rear derailleur. My weekend on the other hand wasn’t as successful and I ended up finishing 20th on Saturday and 25th on Sunday… yikes. I’ve already put that weekend behind me and attributed the heavy legs and poor riding to the long hours in the car driving across the country. My focus is now on this double Gloucester weekend that will be starting in a bit more than a few hours. It’s really cold this morning but the storm clouds are out of sight and the sun is shining bright.

A whole heap of miles

I've been trying to get some more photos on the blog but I've had trouble getting internet access for my laptop and that's where all of my photos are stored. So it's only been about ten days since I left Seattle but all of the days have kind of just blurred together, but in a good way. I was hoping to find some sort of interactive map so that I could pinpoint where I have been thus far; if I did have one I would already be able to check off Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. After driving to Las Vegas for the CrossVegas race I headed east with my co-pilot/dad, Pat, to eastern Iowa for a couple of nice days catching up with family friends on their farm near Dubuqe, the town that my ma and pa grew up in... Thanks again Calvin and Barbara, glad we got to spend some time with you guys and we look forward for your visit to Seattle. After three solid training rides in Iowa we hit the road again late Tuesday afternoon and ended up at my uncle's house in Lancaster Co. Pennyslvania late Thursday evening. It would have been a bit earlier but I needed a quick ride to break the monotony of the long day in the car. It can get a bit difficult trying to fit in my training when travelling on the road like this but as long as I don't get stressed about it, riding in completely unfamiliar areas can be a fun experience. For example Thursday afternoon I got a quick hour long ride near the border of West Virginia in southwest Pennsylvania on quite, two lane roads that rolled up and down, and through and around small farms and a few towns. A different time, while in Colorado, my dad and I unloaded my bikes and took a little spin along a bike path that paralleled a beautiful mountain river, nothing epic but it sure was nice. Anyway this coming weekend is racing in Long Island, NY aka the Hamptons.

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CrossVegas

Well it was no StarCrossed. When my dad and I got to the venue all that we could see was a 500 meter grass loop. He got me pretty worried when he told me he thought that the race was only going to be going around the loop like a Nascar race for an hour. Luckily, I guess, the course made its way up and down and all around a couple of different fields in the heaviest grass I've ever ridden in. The grass had recently received a good bit of rain and as a result made for a very thick ride, with thick mud like resistance. Everyone's tires sunk a good two or so inches into the grass and it made my bike feel like I had over tightened my headset. Not only was the grass heavy but so was the start list at Vegas. The Interbike trade show brought out a very elite group of cross racers which will be very rarely duplicated even at the biggest races to come on the U.S. national calendar. With all of the "special" call-ups for guys like Jonathan Page, Adam Craig (who wheelied to the start grid), Todd Wells, and probably 20-25 other rediculously fast dudes I ended up starting in the fourth row despite having bid number 21. Anyway, it was a pretty hectic start with a fare bit of contact in the corners with the highlight being the first run-up that most of us could only walk up due to the bottle necked traffic jam. Unfortunately I ended up losing places instead of gaining ground on the front group(s) and from there on it was a constant battle to move up. In an early attempt to bridge up to a large group of about eight guys I red lined a bit too much and blew my self up for what seemed like a lap and an half or two before I could regain my momentum and any consistant power output. Once I finally got rolling I started to make my way through riders and small groups but was mainly riding solo which was some what of a disadvantage with the wind blowing through the fields. Adding to this was some super bad stomach cramps which were so painfull at one point that I thought I was going to have to call it a night. The cramping hit quick and without any warning but eventually faded and I managed to latch onto a small group that had slowly realed me in, led by Adam Craig of Giant. Adam was kind of goofing around, drinking some beer and picking up money from the spectators, but he still would hammer in every other part of the course. He and I pretty much rode the other guys that were in the group off our wheels, and then with a lap and a half to go I managed to gain a bit of a gap over Adam on the run-up. From that point on I caught a few riders like Troy Wells that were going backwards and then put the hurt upon myself to keep Adam and the then trailing Wells from overtaking me on the last lap. I got in ahead of those guys in some unknown spot but I was just glad to get that race over with cause it was hard. To top off a not so great performance someone stole my long sleeve jersey, along with about eight other riders' warm-up gear sometime during the race. We searched the infield near the start finish and asked the race promoter and officials if they had seen anybody walk off with a bunch of jerseys, coats, and leg warmers... nothing, all of it gone. Some poor guy from Colorado had his wallet with driver's liscence, credit cards and everything else, in his jersey pocket. If you see a '07 long sleeve Hagens-Berman jersey on eBay or some other website let me know cause it may be mine and I wouldn't mind having it back, especially when it's sub 30 degrees in New England.

StarCrossed + RAD GP Weekend

Well after about two days on my feet helping to set up the StarCrossed course at Marymoor I had a suprisingly solid race weekend. I started at StarCrossed on the second row, which was sweet, and was elbow to elbow with Trebon going into the first corner. I ended up following the Danish champ Joachim Parbo the first time around the track and passed him on the inside the first time coming off the track and was going to try and bridge up to the leading trio of Trebon, Wicks and Heule. Unfortunately coming off the track Parbo and I collided... someone had changed the course sometime after I left at 2 pm and the start of our race, so I kept going straight when I was supposed to take a 90 degree right hand turn. I set the course on Friday and had ridden it probably close to 20 times so silly me I thought it would be the same for my race that's why I didn't pre-ride the course that night. After that debacle the game was back on but the chase goup I was in was never able to make a dent on the leaders advantage. Our group ebbed and slowed and eventually swelled to 8 riders at the end. I was feeling comfortable in the group but didn't feel the need to go to the front and push the pace, the last lap came up quick and I sat up in the last few corners not contesting the sprint for 5th through 12th, I was 12th. Sunday was a beautiful day down at Steilacoom for the RAD Racing GP. When I arrived the women's race was already underway so I was too late to pre-ride the course but luckily the course was pretty much identical to years past. I had another good start and made my way towards the front heading into the infamous sand run-up. The race sorted itself out and I managed to fight my way into the second chase group. I didn't want to hold back like I did at StarCrossed and I went to the front to set the pace. I managed to ride Erik Tonkin, Troy Wells, and Michael Gallahger off my wheel and soloed the last bit of the race on my own with Tokin quickly closing in on me with one to go finishing off the day in 8th. I was pretty content with my riding for the weekend and I'm looking forward to getting stronger and faster as the year continues.

I'm off to the other coast...