Mellow Johnny's Classic!

It was a hot tough day in Texas, but I pulled off the top 10 I've been looking for! It was nice to see Ryan Woodall and some Texas racers far up in the results also. 1/3 of the 70 field DNF!

Great weekend in Austin so far - big thank you to the whole family for keeping me hydrated out there. Thank you to you guys for supporting me all along and helping me reach this level.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/us-pro-xct-3-mellow-johnnys-classic-1/elite-men-cross-country/results

Dopers?

Not sure what to say about the Landis allegations - only those involved know the truth - and have to live with it. Doping hurts the sport and too many people at the pro road racing level are more interested in money and fame than sport.

It only discouraged me for a few minutes, then i remembered this verse...

'You've all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You're after one that's gold eternally.' 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

WBR Update

Also a quick update on The Idyllwild Challenge donation to World Bicycle Relief! I can't say enough good things about this local race!

http://www.worldbicyclerelief.org/blog/

Good Week

It's been a good week! Things are going well at work, 17hrs on the bike, saw some friends, went to church and actually relaxed over the weekend. It was mostly a base week training wise but I ended up getting in a good amount of tempo climbing and ended with the como street ride sunday. Now I need to find the right balance of intensity this week to get me in top form on the start line at Lance's ranch in a couple weeks. Most of the amateur fields are looking pretty full and the total number of racers is well over 750.

Also swapped over to a 2010 frame recently...

A Real Day in the Life (of a pro cyclist in the US)

7am - finish breakfast and roll out for work

8am - working it

one of many snacks consumed during the day

late afternoon - view hasn't changed much

5:45 - 7 more to go on ridge park

I have to admit the view on the way down is pretty nice

7:45pm - 2300 calories later

8:12pm - dinner and tv - and that's it

Idyllwild Challenge

Awesome weekend of racing in Idyllwild. I say it everytime, this is the best course I have raced on. This year we were treated to even more great trails with the Sunday time trial and super d. I felt fresh and raced well the entire weekend. A small mistake by another rider let Manny get a gap at the very beginning of the XC and 2.5 hours later the gap was close to the same - i was 1:30 back for 2nd place. It's amazing how we can race that long on all kinds of trails and finish that close. I really wanted to win this race, but can honestly say I left it all out there and was really happy with my race even though it's the 3rd time I've placed 2nd there.

We put lots of time on the rest of the field so the overall win was going to be between Manny and I on Sunday. I knew making up 1:30 in a couple 15 minute races woud only happen if he flatted or crashed, so my goal was just to win both events. He edged me out again in the TT, but I was able to return the favor in the Super D (also time trial format) and a tough effort at 15 minutes all out. The campground is also beautiful and I really recommed this race to everyone. On top of the great racing the promotors also donated some of the entries to World Bicycle Relief this year! It doesn't get much better than that.

Now rest! Whenever I take a few days off my body goes into crazy recovery mode and I'm more hungry, tired, and grumpy then a regular training week. I have all kinds of things to catch up on this week, but hopefully I truly do take time to rest, there's a lot more great racing to go after this summer!