Why do I still blog

Crappy day all around. Had to stock a lot of beer and beverages for the drunken idiots in kalamazoo!!! what is a lot.... try about 600 cases of liquids, mostly 30 packs of brew. We did the math and it came to more than 10,000 lbs of lifting shit. So needless to say I had some shitty legs today!!! Oh well, still have some racing to do this weekend. Sorry I hate being on this right now and I have to wake at 6 am to work, so I am out!!! Peace Creeps...

Super Pissed

OK, Now Jer Bear is not so pleased. First off, a shitty day at work. Then I come home to surf the web and realize the results are up for Rockford. I click the link in anticipation and to my dismay i find that I was placed 47th. What the FUCK??? Yeah i said it. I worked my ass off all year to get some decent results thus far and Rockford was a super hard race and I raced well. Only for some idiots to place me behind guys who were sitting on the side of the road watching the race. Nothing against anyone who raced, because I have a lot of respect for almost everyone in the 1-2 field, minus a few. I did not work all year for some "volunteer" to fuck up and screw me in the rear. Basically all i am saying is have people who are in the sport do the results, and for that matter people who have an education and can spell. Everyone on the sunrise team knows how I rode so i should not be dissappointed, but shit, if you are going to have a race do it right and if guys are off the back immediately, yank their asses. I can not believe this happens at races with such a huge following. I know how I did, and results now are meaningless to me. Why??? Because on any given day some pedestrian who is at a race to help out can dictate your fate regardless of how you did. Way to drop the ball, that is to whomever was in charge of the results at Rockford. I would like to give them a Karl Menzies double bird salute......
To top it off, today i started the Wednesday night ride and Jeff attacked straight away. I chased and then Jay and the cop bridged up to me. We caught up to Jeff and shortly there after I felt my bike getting a lil squirrely, and it took me a minute to realize my Maxxis Courchevel is coming apart...literally. I have raced and trained on them since February, so I can't be mad, just happy it didn't happen in a race. Luckily a gentleman was there to pump my tire back up and I made it 1 mile and it was flat again. So I called Louie and he came and got me. So the rest of my night consisted of me training on my Zipps. FUCKING A....what a day!!!

Its a new day!!!

I was celebrating here because I heard a Michigan guy had won the race. Too bad it was Ben and not Jeff, but 2nd wasn't too shabby either, but they are both my pals nonetheless. After thinking about it and how the fella to my left is looking at me it was probably not the best idea to be looking away at this point of the finish!!!
Mark and I coming out of corner #8. I am on the far left of the pic.
Mark and John finishing at Downers grove.

Why is Jeremy so happy??? Because I don't have a care in the world. Everything happens for a reason and I am just pumped to get through work this week and race for 3 straight days. You would think I would be sick of racing at this point in the season, but Rockford made me realize I am coming into great form again. Today I had to slave away on the trainer for 2 hours because of the monsson that hit KZOO today. Oh well, its all gravy on this side of the state. Peace kids!!! Thanks to Katherine for the pics, aka Sunrise Sports Cycling Team #1 supporter!!!

Its Picture Time Kids!!!

The 4 Amigos, oh u did not hear they added uno amigo!!!! After the national championship race!!!
Me at Rockford doing about 30-35 MPH, this is in the last 10 minutes or so and I look to be at ease!!! HAHA, little do you know it was a scorcher!

Here are a few pics from Downers Grove Illinois and the Rockford Criterium!!! Thanks to Mr. Boboltz for the Rockford pic and thanks to Mark Caswell and his wife for the Doners Grove pic. Thanks to Jeremy for looking so damn awesome, oh wait is it wrong to thank myself, NOPE didn't think so!!!!

THE ROCK!!!

OK, so Rockford was awesome!!! Priority brought almost there whole pro team, minus Brent. Kirk O'Bee from Health Net made an appearance, and the best Michigan racers were there as well. The field was about 70 strong for 10 minutes or so. The first 15 minutes are so fast in Criteriums and this was no different. So plan A was to survive the first part, which i did rather easily. Last year the climb was excrutiatingly hard, this year I was big ringing it every time up. A group of the Priority pros got away and everyone was content with letting them show there pro team off, or actually not dumb enough to go with them haha. Halfway through I was feeling good, but it was HUMID OUT!!! So I put in a little attack up the climb and as I went by Jeff he asked who was left from our team and all i could say was, "you and me baby". The attack didnt go anywhere as I am not all that powerful. So I decided to sit in and wait till the end. The pace heated up real fast with about 10 minutes to go. I got popped off the group with 5 minutes to go or soand just cruised from there. I guess there were only about 25 finishers and I was somewhere around 20th. Not too bad for a kid with no talent in his second year of racing. Then i got to drive straight back to Kalamazoo and work from 6pm to 2 am and then get up and do it again from 9 am to 4 pm. I was not satisfied with my ride yesterday so i ent out for a nice 4 hour ride and did some hill work. Sad thing is it was more like a 4 hr tempo ride as I got in 83 miles. I also got to visit the ambulance after the race as I had heat stroke again. I have found something that a lot of athletes can't find.... The way to completely annihilate myself and go back and keep trying to find that zone that is just too uncomfortable for pleasure. I guess that has to be my best assett, so if I can get down to 135 lbs. and train consistantly the sky is the limit. I mean I have been racing for 2 years and have beat many guys who have been doing this for 10 + years, so should I be dissappointed in myself??? I guess thats what makes me an athlete, always looking for something more and never resting on what I have done or talking about what i think I can do. Let the legs do the talking, and hopefully they will speak loud enough for people to hear it. Over and out good buddy!!!

Its upon us

ROCKFORD CRIT..... PAIN is all I remember from this race last year.. I believe I took 12th, but this year will be totally different as I am in the service of my teammates. Everything for them and if I finish then thats a plus. I felt really good today on the bike, maybe because I finally put my comp on after I saw how Graham did his up. It didn't fit on my K-wing bars so I had to mount it on my stem. I also redid my bar tape and I have to say white looks amazing. OK, I better get some sleep and get back to work. I hate working till 2 AM!!! BOOOOOOOO!!!! Over and out good buddy! Thanks for lending me ur car for the race Adam, as my car is not trustworthy!!!

Vuelta a Espana is a delicious third dish!!!

I believe those are wings, cuz the man can FLY!!! Hopefully we see this A LOT!!!!
Can someone please give me a shot of Jack, or rub some ointment on my stomach?? PLEASE!!!
I wonder if Saiz or Fuentes can inject me on the fly??? Too little time to find out!!

So the Vuelta starts this Saturday and there will be guys slugging it out for the third Grand Tour of the season. Menchov, Sastre, and Valverde are my top 3, that is if Valverde can make it to Madrid in one piece. I would love to see Sastre win a Grand Tour finally, he deserves it!!! Anyways these guys up top will not be there, other than Petacchi, and I hope Ale-Jet turns on the turbo boosters, because watching him sprint is a ture work of art!!! I am OUT!!!

Quickie

Thats me at the National Championships, but I don't look too happy to be racing!!!

Here is a quickie, because I think I got that pic from Downers Grove!!! Still waiting on a few from Jeff and John! Where the hell are the other pics fellas, hehe!!! Over and OUT!!!

Rockford is coming up!!

Meet Karl Menzies, though he may not look like it this guy is a bad ass on a bike. More results than I can think of! He will be at Rockford and he will most likely be giving these to the field as he rides away!!! Photo courtesy of Garrett Peltonen! Hope you don't mind G!!!

So the Rockford Crit is this Saturday and I hear Karl "ten" Menzies will be there. This race is really one of the harder crits I have ever done in my breif cycling career, but it has a nice kicker in the middle of it to sort things out. At this level though everyone can pretty much grind up it and stay in the group as the second half is all downhill. Last year Ben Renkema blew the race to pieces in the first 4 laps. Hopefully this year I can play a hand, or maybe I will be working for the team. Who knows, but whatever it is I will have to be ready.
School is also about to start back up and Jacob and I have been talking about being co-presidents for WMU's cycling team this year. I just hope everything runs smooth like it did last year and we can raise some decent money for vans and hotels while on the road. OK, now I have some sponsorship proposals to work on for myself and the WMU team for next year so I am out!!! Me being a teacher is going to be scary for ur kids, don't ya think?

PHEW!!!!

Ah so another day and an extraordinarily hard ride for a Tuesday! I met up with Jeff Hamilton ( cat 2 runner-up at Downers Grove this past weekend) and we did some good work on the bike. We did some hill repeats with accelerations after the crest of the hills. Hit 6th street up twice and he lost me 3/4 of the way up the last time. He can not only sprint but he can climb too. SCARY!!! Seriously though he put the hurt on me in a big way, but it is always good to ride with someone as accomplished as him. We had a good talk about what he expects of me next year and how much I can improve. I also let him in on the notion that it is easy to race aggressively like I do when I know my teammates can back me up if needed. I really enjoyed todays ride other than the smackdown I was given. It was just nice to get out and get efforts in with a true hard worker like Jeff. I just hope some day I can aspire to his level in the sport, but we will see. I am a little pissed about some things, but I got myself into it so I have to dig my way out! Other than that I am looking forward to Rockford and getting the hurt layed upon us by Manzies and O'Bee. Should be a bloodbath, but I am ready to suffer like a stuffed pig! OK, I have a lot to do and the day off tomorrow so I will be saying so long. Hopefully this pic from Downers shows up on here, if not I apologize for the inconvenience!!! OUT!!!

Downers was kind of a downer!!!

Bensenville Criterium @ Superweek 2005
Bensenville again, cornering!
Same corner same place!!!
Downers Grove National Championships 2005!!!

So I have returned from Downers Grove in one piece, but the race was good, kinda!!! We got to the line early but I missed my clip not once, but 4 times. I never unclip my left shoe at the start and that may have been the problem. Regardless I had really good legs, but it was just hard to move up on the course. I spent 40 minutes coming from the back of the pack to almost the front, but not close enough. We averaged 27.5 MPH for the race, which isn't too fast, but I am just pissed I couldn't help Jeff out. Finishing races of this caliber are hard enough, but I have worked to hard to just be pack fill. Michigan boys went 1-2 in our race. Ben Renkema won and Jeff (my teammate) was 2nd, so it was good to have our jersey get onto the podium. I looked at the results after a cooldown and realized I was not in them, so I protested and received a fine for having my number "placed incorrectly" . Fucking beauraucratic dipshits. I got 21st, but the finishing camera did not show my number so who knows where they placed me. I sat up cuz I heard a Michigan rider won it and I thought it was Jeff, but got pissed cuz it wasn't. Congrats to Ben and Jeff, you guys make Michigan look really good in the sport. We got some sweet pics from a professional photographer and I hope he emails me them. Until then here are a few from Superweek and the National Championships last year. I was about 15 pounds heavier last season and you can tell. Oh yeah, I was so pissed at how I rode at Downers Grove I put in a 2 hour ride when I got home. So yeah I am not content. OUT!!!

Lots going on

So I have had so much good news lately I have no reason to be depressed.... and I am super busy to boot! First off I want to say thank you to everyone who has believed in me and looked out for me in cycling, not just Josh, Louie, Dave, Jeff, Jay and my really close cycling friends, but also people like John Rigdon, Joe Lekovish, and I have to mention Doug Gatto for his seriously sweet pictures that he provides for all Michigan racers. Without all of you the world would be a much dimmer place. OK, I have found out some news about next year, but can't divuldge anything. All I will say is I love the team I am on and the guys I race with. We have confidence in eachother and thats all I can ask for. I also was asked to go do an interview for the Tour of Leelanau race with the promoter Steve Brown and John Rigdon in Lansing on Wednesday. I don't know if I can make it to the meeting though.
I also found out the 4 man 50 Kilometer TTT is a go!!! WOO HOO. Finally down to the big one.....DOWNERS GROVE. This is the National Championships of Criterium cycling in the U.S. I am heading out tomorrow with Josh Tarrant and doing the Elite 2 Race on Sunday. I have had great legs all year really and can not let this chance pass me by to have great legs again. I will admit that I have a problem accepting the fact on how much I have improved. I know there are still guys who are stronger then me, but it doesn't scare me or deter me from making the steps necessary to get to that level. Honestly with how everything has been going lately the only concern I really have is how much time I will put in to better myself when October 1st hits. I am not taking any time off after the season. Maybe a day here or there, but I WANT to get better and prove I can do some exciting things on a bike. There is just so much to look forward to, and beliving in something is the hardest thing to do. If you believe in something, I mean truly believe, then it is a miracle. AND I believe in myself!!! OUT!!!

P.S. Danielle I hope everything goes to plan for you and I have my fingers crossed, and bring ur bike with you for a little spin before you start running again!

A breath of fresh air!!!!

So I feel a lot better these past two days. Got in some solid time on the bike Tuesday, and tonight Taylor and I battled out the first sprint of the Wednesday night ride with me claiming the victory. Honestly I do not think he ever came out of my draft. Regardless, I did not want to over-do it with just getting out of the hospital, so I cut off after the sprint and headed in and did a little tempo. Its weird how I have went from feeling like death to feeling normal in a few days. I guess I just take feeling normal or even good forgranted. I will not soon forget though how good it feels to ride my bike and be free. I realized how much I missed it when I couldn't move for 4 days. Anyway, the big show is this weekend. The National Championships in Downers Grove, Illinois. We are going to have a decent set of guys there for Sunrise and I have high ambitions, not because I am cocky, but because I am confident in myself and my teammates. Finally, teammates that I have complete confidence in, and I have to tell you it feels phenomenal. OK, I gotta roll to work at 7 AM. I may do a long post tomorrow. By the way, Happy Birthday Adam, and the dinner at the Bee's was awesome. Too bad my big mouth always gets us into trouble. Skeet Skeet!!! HAHA, later!

Doping and Diarreha

So things are OK I guess with me. I have been to the hospital to sort the affair with my stomach out and have only ridden once since Friday. It makes me so mad because i want to finish the season well, but things happen for a reason and I have had a great season thus far..... better than I could have asked for I guess. We will see what happens.
Second, I will finally come out on my stance on the professional cycling doping scene. I am so depressed that the sport I love is scrutinized by everyone and they think we are all on something. While I was in the hospital the nurse gave me something into one of my IV's and it was second nature to ask her exactly what it was and what purpose it served. I guess it is very true that anyone can put something into an IV and you assume they are doing it to help, but people are shady these days and you really can only trust those you know very well. I just can not wait to feel better and try to get back to racing and competing. Its all up in the air right now. Later! Congrats to my good friend Josh who placed 3rd in the ITT at Hines Park and then him and Rob D. set a new course record in the TTT, nice job Josh. Sorry if I seem a bit down, its just really hard to not feel normal. Oeace!

Heres the low down

UGH!!! Thats all I can really say about yesterday and today. I was fine while I was at work and then got home and showered and WHAMMY, I was incapable of moving. So why is this so??? Well I was working with insulation all day and got poisoned from it. I guess taking a warm shower after working with insulation is not good as the warm water opens up the pores. So needless to say I did not ride yesterday, but I did manage an amazing 45 minute death march today on my TT bike. I just feel completely annihilated and hope to feel better for the races this weekend. We will see where the lord takes me? Off to work Commies!!!

Wednesday night thrills and chills

Blazing down the home stretch in an attack!!!
One of my favorites, check the backround (that tells you I am going FASTTTTT!)
Another one of my favorites, with the pack strung out!

So another Wednesday night rider in Kalamazoo has come and gone. I really did not intend on going to do it as I left work early today because I was sick. But I made some promises and I kept them. So I rolled out of bed after a long nap and still felt like shit, but gave it a whirl anyways. We did a 54 mile loop and it went by really fast until the last 7 miles when I started to cramp up and didnt feel to great. But I sucked it up and got on with it. What does a rider do when he is in pain and miserable..... never say die. So I got home and still felt like shit, probably because I can not eat regularly because of the intestinal virus I have. I will not use that as an excuse for my performances though. It does not affect my mind and thats more powerful than anything I have. Onto more Important things, I drank some champagne last night and may have made out and messed around with a girl who has a boyfriend. OOPS, but to make it perfectly clear she was the one who initiated things. I constantly wonder how I get myself into these situations (there is so much more to the story that cant be told due to its content and rating), but I cant regret it if the guy gets pissed at me. SHIT happens. On a final note I received my student financial aid award letter and I will not have to pay for school this year, as I received enough to cover my tuition and a little extra. OK overall summary is I am really happy, I just wish I didnt have that waterlike diarreha 4 times after the ride tonight. Now that I have made you vomit I bid you adieu!!!

Dont ask me

Hanging near the back after an attack off the front!!!
Moving back up to the front!!!
Chill inspector!!
Moving fast down the home straight!
Honestly Graham and myself look rather bored at this moment!!!

Do not ask me what I think of Floyd Landis and the testosterone situation. All i care about is my image and that I am clean, but cycling may take it in the ass for this one!!! Here are some pics to lighten the mood!!! OUT!!!

This is not a test!!!!

So Matt and myself are sitting around watching some MTV. More like reality TV that plays music here and there now, but thats a whole other story in itself. I hear a knock and I immediately think its Adam who has come over to leech our internet for free, so I begin hamming it up for him. I look through the view finder and it is Matt's lady friend. She comes in crying and all she has to say is, "Matt our kitchen burnt down today." Matt has to claw himself away from his CPU due to the fact that he is in the midst of a vicious game of World of Warcraft (NERD ALERT). Needless to say I began laughing and the culprit was Kearstons roommate who was making some fried chicken and decided to walk away for a minute. Note to all, when frying food do not walk away, also if you are a complete moron DO NOT walk away. BOO YA!!!

Strengths

Early on and I am up front as usual!
MMMM Sweat is tasty!
Still up front!!!
Hanging out on the front!!!
Same as the last one!

So I have been away for a while because I have had no internet as I moved, but I am back online now. Updates will be more regular now I promise. So what have I been up to? Work and racing and thats about it other than helping lou and lindz move lately. I have some pics of Ada crit to post so they are here too. Thanks to Doug Gatto as he took about 12 pics of me during the race. I raced like a champ at Fenton and kept Jeff reasonably fresh for the finish. I covered 7 attacks that I could count and I rode tremendously well for the team. So Ada was coming up and I took a lot of advice from people and kept it cool at the beginning. Needless to say the race was hard, as we averaged around 29 MPH for and hour and a half. I tried to keep Jeff and Jay fresh by covering what I could, but I an was the big man of the day. I got caught behind a crash with 2 and a half laps to go and was the only one behind it to regain the field. I guess West Michigan coast had about 9 guys leading out Ben, so they truely deserved the win. I am just dissappointed I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and I could not help Jeff and Jay more at the finish. I will give more news later. Sorry if the pics are a little blurry as we were really cruising in this race. Out to ride now!!!

Heres a few more

Corner #3 and chest hair team!!!
Survivors!
Fenton Road Race, riding next to my friend and teammate Jay!
Thats a good lean to get ready for the corner, look at the far left of the pic!!
The roar of the little beast!

More pics!!! I am OUT!!!

I am back

Eat some chest hair, this race was a scorcher!!! This is whats left of the 68 starters!
Open jersey for extra comfort.
From up top please!
Very early in the race!
Corner #3

Havent had a lot of time lately, actually no fre time to be exact. No updates though, cuz I have to get to work, but there are some pics. I have done a few races since my last update and they were Lansing Common Crit and Fenton Tour des Lacs Road Race. Both ent well and I will give a full update later!