12-20-2007

Winter Time Ride   

 I left you many months ago, but i return after my tenure as a student-teacher eager to get ready for this upcoming season. I am home in Wexford and met up with Andy Munas today for an awesome ride. We met at Trek of Pgh and left for what would turn out to be 55 miles. I was privileged to ride with not only Andy Munas, but also Mike Friedman of Slipstream Sports, Ryan (sorry I forget your last name), who will be racing in Italy this season, and Fixed Gear. Both were exceptionally strong and even though they were keeping their heart rates at 60% effort, I was working hard to keep up at times. After a week of riding alone it was pure joy to ride with a group again. 

 I also received great news today from USA Cycling. A couple weeks ago I applied for the Stenner Scholarship and I heard today that I won the award. I am excited because this will bring great publicity to me and to the club. 

I should be checking in more often now.  

todd  

12-12-2006

I will be going to Hawaii over break to train with Aloha (Jeff W.). That is going to be amazing.

todd  

8-27-06

Little League World Series

The LLWS occurs every year a little over 25 miles north of BU in Williamsport and although I have attended games each of the last few years I have always driven. This year the goal was to ride to the game. Sam Steve Charlie Friis and I all took off today around noon to make our way up to Williamsport. The short story is that it was a failure in terms of seeing the game. The good news was that the rain didn't stop us from having a good time on the ride into Williamsport and a short stop at Lycoming College and the local Wendy's. O the off season is so nice.

Until next time

todd

7-30-06

Tour de 'Toona Crit

The crit strategy was simple. Finish in front of the two guys that I was tied with after the RR. I was pretty stressed last night trying to keep my mind off the task at hand without much luck. I kept to myself and did everything I knew to make sure my elgs would recover.

After a few laps warming up, the first part of the race was staging at the front. I was able to get a front row position making the first few laps much easier. I stayed toward the front as I listened to a few crashes occuring behind me. I wasn't feeling 100% but I had great help from Jon Beyer from my WBI team. A handful of times I had fallen too far back in the field and Jon brought me back into the top ten.

One the last lap I was way out of position and Jon was on the other side of the pack. I couldn't wait for him so I had to get to the front on my own. One the backstretch I got myself to fourth in the pack. The front two guys were teammates with the guy in second position was tied with me in the points. The third position guy was no challenge to me in the GC. Coming around the last turn the guy in front of me took off and I had to decide to stay with him or to mark my GC rival. I decided to mark my rival and sat on his wheel until about 50 m. I came around him but he was really strong and nearly matched my acceleration. It came down to a bike throw. Neither of us knew who won, but we both realized whoever got second would be the overall GC winner.

After a few tense moments of waiting, I heard from the judges that I won the bike throw and as a result the overall. Another yellow jersey and a kiss from the podium girl. It was as exciting a finish as there could have been.

I can't say enough about my WBI teammates and the help I got over the course of all three stages. I can't say my run at the GC was planned, but it sure made for a great weekend.

Next up: Not sure

todd

7-29-06

Tour de 'Toona RR

Well the race itself didn't treat me too kindly, but the overall GC fell into my favor (almost). 'Toona is a stage race by points not time, so today I had the goals of getting more points while preventing my GC rivals from getting points. I finished 39th place, but my rivals didn't get too far ahead. Actually, I finished the day in a three way tie for 1st but sit second overall as the result of tie breakers.

Everything will be on the line tomorrow for the crit. A smart, strong ride can put me in the yellow overall.

I will check back in tomorrow.

todd

7-28-06

Tour de 'Toona Circuit Race

Most people hear the name of this race and laugh. But the 'toona stands for Altoona as in the small city in the middle of PA. Each year they put on a big stage race (this year it happens to be the 20th year).

Charlie, Steve, and I are all staying at Dan Himes' house outside 'toona which is awesome and makes a stage race a much more enjoyable experience. If you have ever done a Cat 4 stage race you know that you race in the morning and are done by mid-morning. Its hard to kill most of a day in a hotel room, but having a house with jacuzzi makes it a lot better.

The race was an absolute success for Bucknell. The course was 19 miles long and we did 2 laps. On the last lap I had ok position on the last stretch before the finishing turns. A little luck ran my way as the attack came my side of the road and I grabbed the wheel. The last kilometer had six turns and a short mildly steep climb. I hit the first left hand turn in third and got to the top of the climb in second and decided to just go for it. The turns were my friends as the pack couldn't keep the high pace through all the turns. I held on and had a nice gap at the line. Enough of a gap to zip up the jersey and make it professional.

The success doesn't stop at that. Steve had great position in the pack sprint, but narrowly got edged at the line missing the podium by half a wheel. Either way a Bucknell 1st and 4th at a stage race the size of 'toona is a great result.

Now the funny the part is that the first congratulatory words from Charlie were: You get the yellow jersey tommorrow. So yeah I will be wearing yellow and will be doing my best to not have my A sample test positive for doping (see the Landis story if you don't follow cycling news).

Next up: 'toona RR -Lets see if I can keep the jersey or if Steve steals it off my back

todd

7-23-2006

Bucknell shows strength at local crit

This past weekend there were two races that are local to BU in relative terms. On Saturday, Kahler, Ron Marquette (our team adviser and mechanic) and I raced a crit in Berwick. All three of us have been battling it out for town signs on group rides this summer and it showed during the race. We worked excellently together always having a man in the break and controlling the front at the same time. With our help, Kahler was on fire taking both primes and the overall victory. The victory was in large part do to Ron's huge effort on the back stretch. Ron threw down the proverbial hammer and forced the group into single file. I was on Ron's wheel and took over once Ron pulled off. Kahler started his sprint early but it didnt matter. No one could touch him and he easily took the victory. I was able to hold out for second place. The only thing that could have been better was Kahler's victory salute.

After the 4/5 race we hopped in the cat 1/2/3 race to expand the field. It hurt a lot. We didn't make the decisive break. Ron Marquette was more of a man than me and held on for seventh.

Next up: Tour de 'Toona

todd

7-17-2006

The story of Nick Bax

I watched him race in a juniors race this past weekend, destroy the field, win the race, hop the in the 1-2-3 event, destroy the field in a 4 man break, and finish fourth. It was 95 degrees out and the course was brutal with a short 17% grade hill and barely any time to recover.

<>You ask why I am telling you this? Well last week an email went around Bucknell that a prospective student by the name of Nick bax stopped by. So I went over and talked to Nick and asked him how his visit at Bucknell was, and I was going to try to answer any questions and push him towards thinking stronly about coming to Bucknell.

Well my conversation with Nick was pretty short because when I asked him about his visit he kindly let me know there was no such visit. So if the email about Nick visiting was a joke, I congratulate the prankster becuase it was a successful joke. Evil but successful. If it was a mistake I am curious as to how many Nick Bax's cycle.

Either way Nick was a nice kid and gave me a few minutes of his time and he now knows Bucknell exists and has a cycling team. So maybe sometime in the next two years he will stop by for a visit. And Bucknell cyclists can get excited all over again.

So until the next time I prove myself a fool in front of a "prospective student"

todd

7-10-2006

And so I join the elite fraternity of those with journals.

<> I have been racing more or less every weekend this summer and it has been full of 19 mile circuit races and races that feel the need to have hills.

I made it up to Fitchburg MA with Steve a couple weekends back for the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic. This race is a huge Cat 4 race and also brings in large fields for the other categories. The ITT on the first day didn't return great results for either Steve or me, so with the overall title out of reach we both focused on stage results. The next day in the classic cat 4 19 mile circuit race we both followed through placing in the top ten in a field of 120 riders.

The road race was another story though and although 50 miles weren't the problem the steep finishing climb put me in my place ... 8 minutes behind the leader.

The crit was on the last day and a nice rain storm accompanied the race before the Cat 4. The painted crosswalks weren't kind to skinny rubber tires and I saw a rider in the Masters race slide around 20 feet on the pavement and get up without a tear in his bibs, it was some nice hydroplaning. The pavement was still slick when Steve and I staged and it was scary for the first few laps before the pavements dried. Steve put in a huge effort on the last lap for me, but I didn't exactly reward his effort finishing in 11th. It would have been much more successful if it weren't for a kamikaze move of a guy who took the last turn so tight he went onto the curb and then back onto the road slowing everyone behind him down.

Well that is more than sufficent for my first entry.

todd