Success for Successful Living

I'm breathing fresh, clean, thin mountain air in Flagstaff, AZ. I got back on Sunday night and I've been wrecked since I got back. After my last race in Monterey, CA on Saturday we drove 5 hrs to Ventura. I went to bed at 12:30 am and was up at 4 am to drive to LAX. I caught a 6:50 am flight to Phoenix where Angi picked me up. The race, little sleep and the travel was enough to wreck anyone but now I'm also trying to adjust to 7000ft of altitude. Recovery is ssslllooooooow.

Enough complaining. Here is the good news. WE WON. It was the first NRC (National Racing Calendar) victory for the team this year. Not only did we win but we kicked butt - we had 3 guys in the top 4. The short story is that a break formed with myself, two teammates (Brad White and Brian Jensen) and one Rock Racing rider. Brad White secured the King of the Mountain and Sprint jersey while in the break. It came down to a sprint finish and Brad volunteered to sacrifice himself in the lead-out. Brian was gracious enough to lead me out from 200m to 50m to go and I came through for the win.

Drivin' the break up the climb.

My teammate Brian Jensen and I on the top 2 steps of the podium.

Brad White getting his moment of glory for being crazy strong. He won two jerseys!

I'm framing this jersey.

So next is the Tour of the Gila in southern New Mexico. It starts on Wed. next week. Its a super tough stage race - over 24000 ft of climbing in 5 stages. We are hoping to continue on this wave of momentum and get more good results. I also would love an opportunity to pay back my teammates for their efforts and selflessness.

Stay tuned.

Hanging out in Ventura

I've been hanging out in Ventura, CA since last Friday. We raced in Santa Barbara on Saturday and in Ojai on Sunday. We lead out one of our sprinters on in Santa Barbara and got the win. In Ojai after a tactical race in 95 degrees heat myself and two teammates were left in the main group of 20 riders. We did our best to lead out the fastest finisher, Alessandro, and he came in fouth.

This week has been good for training. I did a couple long rides with good climbs and yesterday I spent an hour motorpacing along the coast. Living the dream. I'm so tired today that I can't seem to get off the coach.

We're racing Sea Otter in Monteray, CA on Saturday. Our team won the race last year so there is a bit of pressure to repeat. With some of our main competition doing the Tour of Georgia the field will be a softer than normal. I hope we bring it home.

Peace

Oceanside 70.3

I did my first 70.3 race on March 29th in Oceanside, CA, and it was a great experience!!!
I went to the race all alone at about 5 am, got the bike out of the car and put the race wheels on. I rode to the transition, which was about 1 mile away from parking with my coffee, wetsuit, and all the other equipment in my hand. My age group was in the water at 7:20 am. I was really surprised-I really enjoyed the ocean swim. The 1.2 Mile loop went by in no time, run through transition, do the cyclocross hop onto my TT bike and I was off on the bike course. The bike course was great. There were 2 no passing sections and unfortunatelly those 2 sections took a long time because the person in front of me went really slow...I ended up riding a fast 2:40 hrs (including the slow section :-(), the fastest female split was 2:30 hrs-I think that I might have gotten close to that if I would not have started in wave 13, the hold up in the no passing sections and also if I would have known how to pace myself-there was a bit of energy left over!!!
OK, then the 13.1 Mile run-it got a little bit warmer and I ended up running a little bit slower then I wanted...but that's OK, it was my first Half Ironman and only my second Half marathon ever!!!
I ended up winning my age group and qualifying for Kona and the 70.3 World Championships!!! I turned Kona down, but I took the 70.3 Spot-I AM GOING TO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!
The greatest part is that I would have won the next age group as well. I ended up being 5th Amateur.
It was a great and fun experience and I cannot wait to do my next Half Ironman!!!

Tschuessi,
Angi

Lab testing

My good friend, coach and training partner, Doug Loveday AKA: Lovedawg, is finishing his Masters degree at NAU. He is doing his research in cycling, of course, and several local cyclist, myself included, volunteered to be his "guinea pigs".....I mean test subjects.

Its a good thing Doug is a candidate for The Nicest Guy in the World Award because anyone else would've had a difficult time finding volunteers for this torturous protocol. Above is a picture of Doug telling me to "man up" and push harder. Not really....he was nice. But I did suffer.

What we have been up to...

Here is a little update on what we were up to for the month of february:

We started our racing season this month. First we raced at the McDowell Circuit Race in Phoenix. I had a 35 min. race at 8 am in the morning-and it was very cold...it is true what everybody has told me about deserts!!! They are freezing at night and in the morning and they are hot during the day. I won the women's Cat 4/Masters race and I also took home a pair of continental tires that I won in a prime. Jr took 5th place in the Pro 1/2 field (the men's races are crazy-there were about 100 people in the race). There were two pretty bad crashes in JR's race-luckily he was not involved!!!






This is me at the McDowell Circuit Race.





JR at the McDowell Circuit Race.


The next day we raced in Scottsdale at the Old Town Crit. This race was awesome, the course was very short and had 8 corners. It was my first chance to race with the Pro women and it was a lot of fun. My category finished 5 minutes before the Pro's, I ended up second. Jr and his teammate worked together and his teammate ended up in second place-JR had a really good race, he was responsible for keeping the pack off of his teammate.


The following weekend was the Valley of the Sun Stage Race. Unfortunatelly I was too late to register for it, but it was a lot of fun to watch JR race. The TT was on Friday and it was raining on and off. JR felt really good during the TT and he took 7th place. Saturday was a Road Race and JR and his 2 teammates looked really good out there. The 2 ended up taking 5th and 7th place overall. I made JR get up really early in the morning on the last Stage of VOS (about 5 am). I was competing at a Triathlon in Chandler. It started at 7 am, and it was very cold-almost everybody has trouble getting their helmets off after the bike because of frozen fingers...I felt really good and took first place in the women's field and second overall!!!

Finishing up the running part of the Chandler Triathlon.



JR in and another guy attacking during the Criterium at VOS.

Last weekend we went back to Phoenix again to race in the Scottsdale Grand Prix. I just received my upgrade, therefore I was allowed to start in the Cat 3 field!!! Yippie!!! My race was 45 minutes and I felt really strong. I won all 3 Primes and I took the overall win :-)





Scottsdale Grand Prix.


JR's race was 70 minutes long-he had such a great race. He looked so strong out there-but after 50 minutes, during a really hard effort, his chain snapped and he was out of the race:-(



I am just glad that he can handle his bike really well and he managed not to fall. Imagine going all out and all of the sudden there is no resistance anymore...


So the last few racing weeks were a lot of fun (also because we got to go to Phoenix and escape the Flagstaff snow!!!).


Flagstaff!!!


Next weekend we will be racing in Yuma at the North End Classic.


Ciao

Back in Flagstaff

We are now back in Flagstaff-after a 20+ hour trip from Germany to the US. Everything was included on the trip: people getting sick on the airplane, seats in the middle, delays and again seats in the middle as well as seperated from each other...But we made it and all of our luggage made it as well.

We forgot to write about the Circus we went to. It is called Weltweihnachtszirkus and it has many many famous artists. There were also some really cute cyclists from Mongolia. Check this out:

The things flying aroun in the air are plates. So the girls were riding a unicycle with one leg only and the other leg held plates and those plates were thrown from one girl's foot onto the other girl's head. They caught around 5 plates like that and at the end one of the girls caught a teepot with her head only while riding the bike. By the way: the unicyles were about 1.50-2 meters tall!!!

Back in Flagstaff we went Cross Country Skiing-what a great workout. Here are some pictures:

The end of January will be our first bike race for the 2008 season-the Swiss Crit in Phoenix.

It is surprising that you can go skiing and road biking on the same day in Flagstaff-the streets are clear of snow, but in the ski trails are full of it. But we are expecting a snow storm next week. We might have to go to Sedona to train then.

One thing is for sure: OUR BUTTS HURT FROM TRAVELLING!!!

Italia

What a country! I got back from Italy yesterday. I spent 5 days with my teammate "The Bazz" and learned the Italian/Bazzana way of life in Bergamo, Italy. I had a great time and valuable experience. A big thanks to Bazz and family for the excellent hospitality. I hope I can return the favor in AZ someday.

This post will be mostly pictures since they can explain the beauty much easier.



We went for a hike in the hills the first morning. Bergamo got its first snow of the winter just in time for my arrival. This is actually a pic of Cene a few kilometers from Bergamo and the village where Bazz lives.
Bazz with his girlfriend Anna and her 7 year old son Patryck.

These were the views that greeted us on our ride in the hills outside Bergamo. Amazing scenery here and according to Bazz Bergamo is not the best of Italy. I hope I make it back someday to see the rest.

And what would a trip to a european city be without visiting the old city and seeing the castle/fortress. Its an amazing experience to walk by buildings and on roads that were built so long ago.

Tomorrow we're heading back to the US. We'll be working for Cliff Bar this weekend at the Rock n Roll marathon Expo in Phoenix. Next week back to my real job - training. I'm really motivated to get back on the bike and log some long rides. The vacation has been great but its time for structure and familiarity.

Happy New Year everone!

Ciao, JR