Got my car fixed its my Birthday.....

Ok, so in 3 hours is the BTR crit and I am just waiting to head over to the race. As it is in my backyard, almost literally, I am looking for a good result. My mom is coming over to watch the race today and I can not say enough about my mom, all I am going to say is most amazing woman EVER. I decided yesterday to buy Jay Rafelds Ridley Crossbow (cyclocross) frame, fork, headset, brakes, and a few other small pieces from him. I also oredered a 2006 Shimano 105 Groupset and some new pedals and shoes for a few cyclocross endeavors. It is not gauranteed that I am going to race cyclocross, but I am gong to get away from the road bike for a good month and just go out into the woods and be alone and hammer myself to exhaustion. Other than that, things are better than ever. I turn 25 today, but I still feel like I am 18, so we will just say I am 18 for the seventh year in a row. OK, I am gonna go shower and go out to the race, hopefully all goes well today! Take care everyone as I may take a hiatus from blogging for a few weeks! Later

Rain Rain dont go away!!!

OK, so I have been a really busy tike lately. I actually have been putting a lot of time into my math class as I really want to understand every aspect of my future. So this has taken away from cycling ( not really though, theres always time for a ride), blogging but more importantly my TV and sleep time. I think I have gotten 6 hrs combined in 2 nights this week. So I went and did the Wednesday night ride tonight, thinking my legs would be shit, but I had some quality legs. One gentleman came up to me during the ride and said, "can you stop trying to rip our legs off." It was actually pretty fun with myself, Jay Rafeld, Jeff Hamilton, Taylor Birmann, and Ben Renjema came down to say hey and cruise with us. At one point I jammmed on the gas and it immediately started pouring, and not that piddly shit that u see outside called sprinkles. This was full blown Major Taylor RR 2005 rain. Most of you can recall that, haha. But I better stop this ranting and raving, I am pumped for my last road race of the season, and my birthday on the same day. Now it is off to Ludwigs for some math nerding by the 2 of us. Oh yeah, I may be getting a cross bike, be afraid, be very afraid!!! Later!

Hi, my name is stupid!!!

I am sitting her after just getting out of math class and I just realized I muffed the quiz today. What a dumbass I am. We had to factor this polynomial. x squared - 15x +14. Me being the jackass I am and always being in a hurry, I think I got it wrong just because I lacked my thinking skills at the moment. It is really and easy equation though (x-1)(x-14). Damn me, I am so stupid. But now, it is time for work all weekend. I am so pissed that I fuct my math skills up today. Other than that I hate the cold, but riding must be done. Later terds.

Leelanau ROCKED!!!

In one word, HOLY SHIT, ok so two words, haha. Well I haven't been on lately because I was sick and was unsure of how my form really was, but it came around in time. Friday night Dave and I headed up to his great aunts cottage and previewed a bit of the course with a narly descent. It was narly due to the fact that it was all tree covered and it was 8 pm so you really could not see going into the corners, not to mention the damn bird that flew at me on the way down, so needless to say I was worried about the race and what was going to happen.
Race day was full on, we suited up, hooked up our radios and got to the line really early and we were ready to go. I got lined up next to last years winner Nick Reistad and had a few Jokes with him. Thats the funny thing about cycling, everyone can chat and get along pretty well.
The race rolled out of town and up the climb out of Leeland, which was much easier than last year. Really the race did not get hard till the first KOM and I easily made it over there. Then I see a hand up, which means someone had a flat, and to my dismay it was Jeff our team captain. Me being the teammate and caring person I am I pulled over and told him to take my wheel, but the wheel truck was right there, so myself, Jeff and Jason Brake had to chase back on to the group which was rather easy. I was super pissed that the guys on our team watched Jeff roll back with the flat and no one offered a wheel to him, thats not team riding.
Anyways the race went over KOM number 2 and I was still feeling well, but at the third KOM, which was Tower Road ( named so for good reason) I found myself grinding up it in my easiest gear only to find I was the last guy over with the main group. Next thing I know a West Michigan Coast guy just sits up right in front of me. DAMN IT!!! I chased hard at 36 MPH (slightly downhill) for a good 8 minutes only to explode after not catching back on.
On the way up Tower Road I saw the LION OF FLANDERS flag and all I could think of was this was exactly like a European hard mans climb. For the rest of the race Jay myself and Rob Iser sat in and made a little tempo, but at one point "papa Tony" started yelling at everyone to work, but all the major players were up the road and we had no chance of catching them so I said, " Sorry God I am below you and I don't want to work anymore" as a joke. He got uber pissed at me and started berating me and at the 4th KOM he took off from the bottom. I bided my time and nearing the top I just shot by him like he wasn't moving. His reply to that was, "oh now you are gonna start working". All I told him was, "I know who is up the road and where all the Horsepower is and its not in this group." He commented something about him being a man and not a pussy. Needless to say, I didnt seem him after that. So we came to 80 miles and I started to look at my computer a lot on my bike. The last 25 miles were dragging ass, so I told Jay with 2 miles to go I was going to jump and make an effort. Finally that chance came and I went for it immediately getting a gap and blowing by Ben Renkema(National Champ and State Champ) after he got spit out of the main group. Well with about 1 kilometer left I got caught, but stayed right near the front. The sprint was more like a slow motion grind and I came in right behind Jay, around 35th place out of 158 starters. I was so tired, but I still managed a victory salute for the crowd just for fun. Thanks for the great commentary today Joe. This was the BEST and HARDEST thing I have ever done in my life. I can not wait for another go at it next year.
So my season is all but over now, there is still a criterium in KZOO on my birthday and I am going to do it for fun and enjoy the last dig for the season. I have learned so much from many people this year and proven to myself that I do belong in the field I am racing in. The only problem is that I want to train harder than ever and be a REAL factor next season. Thanks Sunrise boys for a great second half of the season. I would not trade it for anything. Also thanks to Ada Alltel boys for making me love this sport and still being friends when we see each other. Now I am off to sleep and work for a few hours before a three hour recovery ride tomorrow. Hopefully I will have some pics in short order. Also a huge thanks to the Sunrise support team for the great Feed Zone work today, other than the one dropped bottle I had it was PERFECT. Adieu!

911

Five years after the terrorist attacks and I have changed a lot. Deep down I am the same guy I was 5 years ago, but I have different things to care about now. In 2001 I was contempalting not running anymore for WMU and trying to get healthy. I had so many injuries while I was running in college. I think I got to compete healthy maybe 5 times total. Since then I have found cycling and have had a job for the past 3 years. If you would have told me 5 years ago I would be acing a bike 105 miles this weekend I would have told you thats fucking NUTS!!! It is nuts, but it is really what makes me tick. The weather has sucked here the past couple days, which means full winter gear like arm warmers, leg warmers and jackets. Its too early for it to get shitty out.... or is it. Oh well, the riding has to be done. Other than that everything is extremely well. Although I hate little girls, aka girls who think they are women and are still little fucking girls in their head. Oh well, I have no time to worry about that as I work 35 hours a week and am taking classes and have to fit riding in somewhere. It is hard, but it can only make me a stronger person. OK, enough BS I have to wake up at 7 am for class and work all day and then riding on the trainer at night. Woo fuckin HOO!!! I have a potty mouth today, haha. God Bless America!!!

Ponder this!!!

Cornering off of Maple Hill at Rockford!!! This is a new favorite of mine. Look at the cut in my claves!!!
The HOOTERS guy is showing the hurt face while I am just hanging out!!!
Josh, Ben and myself are in this pic, I am hanging out near the back!
Moving on up, this is another awesome pic, the calves are explodong again!
Digging to hold on, look at the head wobble I have going!

I have had a difficult last few days, actually the last week has been hard. I really wanted to race, but when it came down to it I realized how tired and worn down my body is. I can not even fight off a little cold right now. I took Monday and Tuesday and did not even look at my bike. Just a time of year that it is hard to get into a mode of normalcy for me. I am going back to school, which I found that I actually care about now. My first degree I got by sleeping through classes and just being a smart ass the whole time. Honestly I did not deserve that degree, so this one I want to work for and mean something. I really let my teammates down by not attending this weekend and that hurts me more than letting myself down. I just hope they understand if I had it my way I would race everday. The only positive that came out of last weekend was that I got to hear the live audio feed from the USA Road Championships. I was really pulling for one of the continental pros to win it, but the UCI guys had an arrangement and when is Hincapie going to lose in his home town??? Other than that I got out for a good 4 hour ride today and I was not to pumped to be riding but I just put myself through the pain to get ready for Leelanau. I am actually going to ride the trainer for 2 hours tonight also to get some more time in. I realized I race much better and feel much better when I train A LOT. What is A LOT you may ask, well for me about 20-25 hours a week. So heres to all my teammates, I hope I can repay my debts to you guys at Leelanau!!! OVER AND OUT!!!

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!