Mt Biking

Some of my friends think I have a bad taste for music. It all started freshman year driving to a race at around 6:00 AM in the team van. I was listening to "Barbie Girl" on my ipod. I was sitting in the back and noticed everybody slowly turn their droopy heads back at me. My headphones were up too loud. I don't know why I had it, I went for a week listening to it. Its catchy.. OK? But none the less, even though I listen to a lot of great music (that other people would call great too), the talk is true. I just downloaded a couple of Grove Coverage songs. Haven't heard of them? It's music you might hear at a roller rink.

In other news, I have officially entered my mountain biking phase. I borrowed a sick bike from Justin M., and he is letting me keep it so i can practice riding it.


I'm really afraid this is going to happen.

-JZ

21st

Today is my birthday. I am finally part of the fun.

It is illegal to buy alcohol after Midnight in Virginia. I went to Kroger last night at 11:50. They wouldn't sell to me. I walked out embarrassed and unsatisfied with a bag of sun chips and a loaf of bread.

New obsession - Weeds, watch it. Makes you want to deal drugs.

Going out tonight to the cellar and beyond. I'm thinking firehouse for dinner. Booyah.

Crash

A lot has changed since I last posted. I moved back to Blacksburg, VA. I have a full-time internship with dish-network in Christiansburg. But I don't answer phones. Racing wise, I did the second rainy roanoke crit and got dropped. Mostly because I couldn't corner well after I few close calls with some back wheel slippage. I got tired of chasing back on after every turn, so I got dropped after about 15 minutes.

Today I finished up an omnium in TN/VA. There were only 12-13 guys in each race, which was kind of weird. In the RR, I started a break with one other 10 minutes in, and Timmy C. quickly bridged up. We worked together well putting in over 3 minutes on the field. I wasn't feeling well, and my pulls turned into no watts, so I opted to drop out of the break instead of sitting on after about 40 miles. Tim and the other guy, Jason, made it until the last lap before getting reeled in. I finished in the back of the pack, 11th.

The crit was supposed to be downtown, but they changed the course at the last second. So instead, we had a 1 km course with 4 u-turns. Living hell. Watching all the day's races before mine, I figure I should just be in the top 3 the entire time or I was going to get gapped out of the corners. I did that right from the gun, and by the end of the first lap I was off the front with one other. On the third lap I messed up a turn and crashed, mostly because I was trying to match the speed of my breakaway companion, who can corner like crazy. He went on to lap everybody, I jumped back into the race and finished in the field.

Congrats to Andrew Olson for winning the Category 1 Omnium. All in the TT.

This was all a test to see if I can type for work tomorrow.

-JZ

Living at Home

I am in Michigan living with my parents over the summer. It was nice for about two days, then it started to feel a little bit like high school. I would move out, but I don't have a car. My mom is giving me a car for my last semester of college, or whenever I get a job, so I have to wait until then. Living at home does have its perks, however. Unlimited amounts of food at the house with a blank check to go get more at the grocery store. Lots of free time to ride and to work on personal blogosphere like websites that I will try to be done with by the end of the summer. Free transportation to races plus entry fees when my dad races with me and all the bike parts I can find in the house are fair game. (We have more than 17 bikes + parts in the house, so I never have to go to the bike store) All of this for doing some household chores and cooking dinner two nights a week is a pretty good deal.

Our family has a new dog, his name is Bear.

His nickname is the "automatic peeing machine." It is exactly what it sounds like. He spends most of his time in his cage, but when he comes out, better not touch him, because he'll pee all over you. He is only 9 months old, so hopefully he'll grow out of it.

Here's one of him licking my crotch.


In other news, we are camping this weekend on Lake Higgins, up near West Branch for this weekends race. It should be a lot of fun, hopefully not too much fun the night before the race, I want to do well.

Oh, and sorry for that last video, it was really stupid. But I got another one to make up for it.

Worst Video on YouTube

Tour Das Frankenmuth

Le tour de F is a flat course. 20 ish mile laps, 5 laps, just under 80 miles. I developed a chest cold the night before, which I felt did not affect my race at all. The race started off raining making it kind of miserable. The goal for today was to watch the big teams, mainly Bissell, to make sure I was in any break that looked good. Out of all the teams there, Bissell was the team that wasn't going to miss the break, so I based my efforts on that.

The 3rd lap I got in a break of about 10 riders that slipped away from the field. Even though the break was big, we rotated fairly well, with only one rider sitting in (Bissell had only one rider in the break.) I was OK with racing for second place. Another group of 10 bridged up and we started attacking from the break. Eventually everything got back together by the next lap.

When we got brought back, I fell to the back of the field, while the winning break with both Williams brothers rolls away with 4 others. I hear Bissell talking about how they wanted to bridge, they only had one rider in the break, and I looked for the next move to go up the road.

By the last lap, nothing has escaped from the field yet, and there was still attack after attack, but people were losing their snap. Finally one Bissell and green team rider (named the green team, because I don't know who they are,) had a small gap on the field, with a wolverine bridging. I jumped across with a Dayton rider and we had a group of 5 that the field let go.

We worked together the last 5 miles or so to the finish, I had myself pegged for second out of the break. The one Bissell rider was a great sprinter, and a couple of the other riders were having trouble pulling through. We rolled into the final k and took the left turn onto the finishing straight with a good gap on the field. I see the people lined on the side of the road cheering us on and I jump. I went for about 5 seconds when I realized the finish line was waaaaay too far away. I looked back and the Bissell rider has a big smile on his face as we both realized my mistake at the same time. He jumps around me, taking 7th by a long shot. The other three riders competed in the sprint and I tried to jump on their wheels, but alas, I am an idiot. So last out of the break, 11th for the day, just inside the money.

Shout out to David Williams who took the win.

Next week is West Branch. There is some climbing so hopefully it will be more exciting than the flat race we had today.

JZ

Summer Vacation

I just got done with a monster 5 hour ride. My legs hurt.

Yesterday was Kensington, and I was very disappointed. I was riding with the front group, still feeling fresh, when others started popping off the back because of the distance. I had a mechanical (only slightly my fault), and I had to stop and fix it. I started to chase back on, and got a good look at the race when I approached the turn-around and saw the field(s) coming from the other direction. The group split into two, with a 3 man break still up the road, and many riders were dangling off the back. I never got back on. I think I could have placed 8th or higher.

Summer vacation is finally here. Yesterday after the race Derek came down from Lansing and me Alex, Derek, Elisa, Zack and co. spent a night on the town in Ann Arbor. Stories have been shared, camping trips have been planned. The next month is "Road Race" season in Michigan. One of the only places to have one. Coming up in the next few weekends we have two road races and one stage race. The next criterium is June 20th.

Colligate nationals was last week, and it was probably the most fun out of the last three years I have been. The trip was full of inside jokes, and new nicknames. The bff's and I will reflect on these memories everytime we get together. Results wise, we didn't do so well. The altitude makes it much harder for us to compete. Tim had our best result for both days like 64th place.

Family movie time, stay tuned for a recap of my next race, tour de frankenmuth.

-JZ

ACCCCCCCCC Crit

I lapped the field with 8 others in the crit. It started as 4, then I bridged up solo over a half lap. Then over the next 20 minutes 4 others joined our group making it 9.

Joey and Winck made the break strong.

We lapped the field with 1 lap to go. Here is a picture of us right when we caught the field.

The breakaway just joined on the back-left side of the photo.

When we caught the field BW tried to get me through to the front, but I couldn't hold his wheel. I started my seated sprint from the back of the field, went as fast as a I could, and watched as the back of the field rode away from me. I was 8th, second to last of the break. I should have done better, I was very disappointed with myself. It was one of those races where you swear really loudly on the backside of the course during your cool-down lap.

Yet again Joey laps the field, then goes on to beat everybody in the field sprint. I have no idea how he does it.

After the race we had the award ceremonies for the conference. The VT team did well, winning the Men's A, Women's A and Men's C overall, and second in the team competition to Navy.

Up next is collegiate nationals. My training for conferences was to taper for 4 weeks, and I did not have the legs in the end. I think this time I will train hard for the next 2 weeks, then take an easy week before nationals.

F*&KING CONFERENCES

Two words: BW is the man. BW is like a mechanical pencil. You use him for awhile, but then you run out of lead, so you put him in your backpack. Then, the day of your final exam, when you don't have any other writing utensils, you pull out Ben and desperately try to get more lead. Turns out there was one piece left, and you get an 'A-' on the test.

Ben Warren was third for the day, but not before going off the front solo for 3 out of the 6 laps.


2 words, bad luck. Webb flatted the second lap. Eoin fell and hit his head, got back into the group, then flatted on the last lap. Tim broke a spoke. Still 3rd and 4th (Ben and Reid respectively) with the only two teammates left in the field is pretty good.

Kudos to the Men's B squad for setting the fastest time on the course in the TTT (including the men's A), with a time of 56 plus change. Over 26 mph average.



Kudos to the Men's D, Andy wants it. He deserves if for speed walking the crit course on a full stomach after the banquet with J Frink.



Good Luck in the crit tomorrow. Thanks, I need it.

JZ

Guest Blog Post

jz's given me the opportunity to guest post, i'm over at his place watching the office, so i have some time to recall one of the better stories i know about jz

jz's training is probably going pretty well, he's a man of understatement so you never really know how much riding hes doing or how its going but it looks like he's shaving his legs and right now he's doing a bike fit with sara so right now the priority is the bike

i was at the race on Saturday really gutsy riding by the vt squad, i'll turn it over to jz now because he has quite the story to tell

ok well race morning i wasn't sure how things would go, training without the powertap this last month has been difficult, but going back to riding by feel makes you feel closer to the bike, and much closer to the effort of riding hard, the feeling of your lungs in your throat, your chest hurting so much after a hard effort that you think your lungs are trying to leap out of your chest, squinting like the pain will stop if you shut your eyes

i felt that pain saturday morning at the road race, after the roll out, i started riding tempo at the front of the field, not hard, but i just rolled of the front, after a glance back, i really put some hard pedalling in and spent the next thirty miles off the front, i envisioned my power animal, i saw myself riding through a hurricane, i am a warrior preparing for battle, i'm on the front line of the battle field

i just had my pubic synthesis reset, oh yeah, my socks dont match

JEFF CUP

Starters = 125 riders = INSANE. Aggressive level = 5. Sketchyness = 5. Cramping Lap = 5. Place = 30. Finishers = 68. Mountains in area = 1. Mountains on course = 0. Johnny D Placing = 3. Tim's Jamoke Level = 11. (does that mean that 11's the new 10? or is 11 higher than the old 10?)

Spring Break/ Training Camp #2

This week has been most excellent for riding bikes. Eoin, Reid, Sam C., Steven and myself drove down to Eoin's house for some gorgeous weather and ice cream cake.
(Mrs. McDonnell's third batch of ice cream cake this week)

Monday - Rode through UNC Campus for around an hour to holla at some ladies. Steven talked to some girl at a stop light. Later he talked about how he talked to a girl. We visited some of the famous landmarks on campus including the well, the sun dial, bell tower, the garden and a castle that is the host of some sort of secret society (though we don't know what.) Total miles: 5, 10 at best.

Tuesday - Steven's last day with us before he left for DLP training camp. We rode for 2.5 hours then did 6 x 3 min v02 max efforts up a climb. The whole team got in on it and treated the efforts as races. Total ride time: 3 hr 45 min.

Wednesday - The crew rode for 2 hours in the morning then rested before a twilight training criterium with the NC State cycling team later that night. The course was the NC State crit course but backwards. There was about 20 people there and it made for a fun race. It is not often I get to participate in a race at night, and it got me thinking about the Athens Twilight Crit, which I may have the opportunity to race next month...





Thursday - 100 miles. Similar to last year's 100 mile ride in its epic-ness, but different in style.

A Reflection of last year: The ride was an unofficial "race." Owen Nielson and Reid took off around mile 25 and finished 45 minutes before everybody else. Left in the ride is Steven, Eoin, Bryan and I. With 20 miles to go Bryan attacked, and with no reaction with the remaining 3 riders, started to ride the last little bit by himself. As Steven, Eoin and I came into the last 2 miles, we see Bryan come in from a side street up ahead. It was obvious he made a wrong turn. Bryan sees us coming 100 meters away and starts to hammer. With the help of Steven and Eoin, I launch myself up to Bryan and catch him before the town sign. EPIC.

In this year's ride we decided to make it a "tempo" ride, where we would a do a double paceline, with the people pulling doing tempo and the people sitting in recovering. Tempo turned into low lt, thanks to Will from NC state. We sprinted for county signs and by the end of the ride we were exausted. Near the end of the ride Eoin, Reid, BW and I rolled it up and sprinted for the last sign. Reid wins the county lines sprints points competition and the overall win.

But wait, we only road 93 miles. So we rolled around for 7 more miles around chapel hill. I bonked hardcore in that last 7 miles and could barely push the pedals on the way home. Not top sporter. Good thing there was ice cream cake for instant recovery!

Friday (today) - the weather is crappy so we didn't ride. (Reid rode the rollers on the porch) We are talking now about if anybody if going to show up for the P-ride tomorrow.

That's it for now. No races this weekend, so maybe I'll finally do PB&J post I have been wanting to do.

New Bikes and NC State/WFU

Bike Number 1:


The "Silver Flash" was born on February 21st, 2009 at 11:30 am. The NC State Road Race # 2 was at 12:00 pm just 30 minutes later. I had enough time to get dressed and roll around for 15-20 minutes before the start of the race. Usually in road races you can get by with no warm-up, but this race was an exception. Starting from mile one the race was fast. I went into the red zone a couple times attacking and trying to get into the winning break, which made me feel very nauseous. I felt bad the whole race, and riding a brand new bike, which I did not have time to adjust properly, made it even worse. Oh well, I have nobody to blame but myself.

The next day I re-adjusted by bike and felt alot better. The WFU crit on Sunday was at Dixie Fairgrounds, where the wind was insane. Warming up on the rollers was almost impossible and I made a complete A-hole of myself falling over a few times. Just like the road race, the crit was fast from the beginning, but I was ready this time. There was a crash about 7 minutes in involving my teammate Reid Beloni and a Pfieffer rider. Both cracked their forks. I was to the left of it and had to slow down to get around it. When I looked up at the 10 riders in front of me, they were taking advantage of the crash and putting the hammer down! I managed to get back to the group and was the only VT rider left in the race. Or so I thought. Tim came out of nowhere a lap later and caught on and now we had two out of about 12. One pfieffer rider took off and ended up lapping the field. Tim got away with Turner Johnson, and they almost lapped the field as well. Tim ended up finishing 3rd, and I placed 3rd in the field sprint finishing 6th overall. I had the perfect leadout for the sprint and was the only rider to have a clear shot up the non-wind side, so in theory I should have walked away with that race. But my sprint sucked.... I need to practice that.

Although I had a bad intial ride on my new bike, the bike is actually awesome. It's an Alan, a hand-made brand from Italy- an aluminum frame with carbon stays and fork/steering tube. The bike is huge and it only runs 18.4 pounds. I got this frame and group set dirt cheap from Stratton Delony. He runs a bike shop called Keirin Culture based out of Roanoke. If you ever go by there stop and check it out. He has done alot in sponsering the VT cycling team.

Bike Number 2:


No I did not get a new Trek time trial bike with comic carbones. This bike is my dad's and he is allowing me to use it for the colligiate season. Hopefully I can make it to go fast this weekend at the Navy TT.

That's all for now, I am going to go rebel and mix some toppers with some hybrids.

-JZ

NC State Crit

The NC state crit was pretty bland. They shortened the race to 45 minutes. I spent most of my race chasing down Lees McRae riders who were constantly off the front. Near the end I was at the back, waiting for a crash in the chicane. I didn't bother trying to move up at the last second, I don't trust half the collegiate A field. Here are some pictures:

Coming out of the chicane:


Getting ready to pounce on Steven:



Steven and I start an early break:


Riding behind Sean and John Doyle:

First Collegiate Race, NC State

I am tired so let's make this short.

The RR was dull until my man Ben Warren made a "real" attack off the front. What I mean by "real" is that he attacked hard enough so nobody could go with him. As a result, BW rode half the race by himself while Tim and I blocked back in the field. After a few fast periods of racing courtesy of Navy and NC State, BW came back right before the last of four laps.

The fourth lap was the hardest. Everybody was trying to make a new break, and I stayed near the front and followed attacks. About half-way through the lap, a break started to stick with Reid in it and 4 others up the road including Andrew from Navy, Sean Barrie, Andrew Troy and Turner Johnson. I counted the number of people vs. Reid in the break and decided that I should try to bridge up. I attacked the field, bringing one Navy rider with me and after riding 45 seconds at 590 watts I made it to the break. So now there were 2 VT and 2 Navy riders with representation from GT, VCU and Pfieffer. The break went on to hammer up the next few miles of false flat. I did not pull through in this time period, I merely sat on the back averaging around 280 watts. Finally we got to a place where I could recover and I started to rotate with the group. I confessed to Reid that my legs were blown and I had no sprint. I told him to expect a late attack from me.

1 km to go. Time to attack, but no, Sean Barrie was near the back with me, and Reid was stuck in second position behind Andrew. Attacking would be stupid. Reid realized he was in a bad position and he looked back to see what he should do. When he looked foward, Andrew had a gap, realized it, and started to make a run for it. Reid then looked back again at me- "JOHN!" Time to go to work. I got on the front and put out what watts I had left. 520 watts for 40 seconds and then I was blown, closing the gap to Andrew halfway. I blew up 200 meters from the line, and Reid took off, a bit too early but with lack of a better option. He held a great sprint all the way to the line and took second, catching Andrew but getting caught by Sean Barrie before the line. Still a decent result, 2nd of the day.

Kudos to Eoin and Tim for shutting down the field once the break was set. We performed well: Reid 2nd, Me 7th, Eoin 9th, Tim 11thish. We have shown that we are a strong team and we will be marked, as always, in the future races.

That wasn't that short. I will post about the crit tomorrow.

Owen Cup

A lot of people get "butterflies" before every race. I have been racing for awhile, so I tend to only get butterflies before the first couple races of the season, as well as before big races. This morning I woke at 7:30 to eat (3 hour rule, 3 hour rule) to prepare for the Owen Cup. Butterflies kicked in and after breakfast(eggs and oatmeal), I felt nauseous. I got over it as soon as I got on the bike, as always, on my way to Bollos...

RACE REPORT:

The course consisted of laps of about 25 miles. The first half lap is hard with non-stop rollers. If you are from MI reading this it is the equivalent to riding 15 miles worth of laps at kensington, but not the big laps, the small ones. Then the race drops down into the valley via Sandy Ridge for a strong head wind on the way back and not so many hills. At the end of each lap we ride up a 2.5 mile climb up Harding and Happy Hollow to the start of the next lap. On the last lap the race goes up an "alternate" ending and finishes up at the top of Harding.

With about 20 riders starting with the A's, the first half of lap one was somewhat fast. I got in a break with Steven Gordon Pro Bike Racer and Scottie Weiss early, too early, and it came back. We arrived at Sandy Ridge and the race stops. Andrew Olson was off the front and dangerously opened a large gap on the field. Steven unleashed some fury on the front but got pulled back. We eventually started working together in a nice smooth rotating pace line. We caught Andrew going up Harding and the group is together for the start of lap 2.

My race ended over the top of the post-switchback climb on the start of lap 2 when I realized I couldn't shift down in my rear cassette. My shifter was jammed and I was stuck in my 25, switching back and forth from my 39/53 up front. I sat up as I watched the remaining 10 riders ride away from me on the descent. Among the riders left was Scottie Weiss (Kenda), Reid Beloni, John Delong, Sam Froulich (really a triathlete), Andrew Olson, Aaron Synder (2007 Owen cup champion), John Webb, Steven Gordon (DLP), Aarons fellow Mtb. friend and maybe one or two more.

After I got dropped I stopped and figured out that I had to hold my big shifter to the right while I pushed the little one to the left in order for my piece of *&$* shifter to work. I should have figured this out while I was still in the group. I rode the rest of the race with the B's and headed back to the top of Harding to watch the end of the A race.

The end of the A race goes as follows:

Reid gets away at the start of lap 3. Steven goes after him starting at the county line hill. Steven catches Reid at the notch of Harding less then one mile from the finish. (very dramatic) They ride together to the finish, Steven has the legs to win the sprint. Nice Going.

I haven't been "performing" too well recently. I sat up at Andrew Gold, I sat up at last Sunday's race ride, and I had an mechanical at Owen Cup. Excuses, excuses. Hopefully things will turn around by the time the season starts in one week. Chances are I will be dropped in the road race as a result of eating too much of Mrs. Mcdonnell's ice cream cake.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for next week's race report of the NC state weekend.

P.S.

Ever wonder how long it takes to write a post such as this? If 'M' is the amount of time it takes to eat a one pound bag of m&m's and 'N' is the amount of time it takes to eat a extra large cheese Firehouse pizza, then this post took (M+N)/2 time.

Andrew Gold

My Andrew Gold was pretty unexciting, so I will tell it in John Delong's point of view...

Today I rode hard at the front. I continued to ride hard until almost everybody was dropped. I took it easy riding with what was left of the group until we turned off Dry Run onto Mt Tabor coming back into town. That's when I decided to rip some legs off. I caught Reid who was up the road and won the race.

The End

Motivational Poster

I made this myself:

First Day of Class

Yesterday was the first day of class. My early determination to pay attention in my first class was trumped by drawing pictures of bikes and Godzilla:

This drawing was completed in a class called "Professionalism in Computer Science," a class made as a requirement for all CS students because we are anti-social, are bad at public speaking, and don't know how to write. The first assignment is to submit a cover letter and a resume- an assignment that I have completed 5 times since I started college. I think I am going to dislike this class.

Every semester I get at least one class where I decide in the first 5 minutes that I don't like the professor. The professor of choosing this semester started the day off right by standing in front of the class and addressed us like a bunch of 5th graders with her shrilling, annoying voice:

"How do you know I am the professor.. Is it because I am standing here? How do you know I am not just some old lady standing up here... How do you know that..? How do you know your in the right class..? Because it says so on your schedule..? How do you know that?"

This went on for awhile and I closed my eyes and pretended it was all a bad dream until she stopped. She eventually started talking normally so at least its not like this all the time.

My second class on my first day was "Operating Systems," which the professor told us most of his class last semester found "hard," while the other portion found it "excruciating," so I am excited for that. He did, however, leave us with a joke I found funny, but you probably will not. (unless you are in CS)

Three men, a physicists, an engineer and a computer scientist, are traveling in a car. Suddenly, the car starts to smoke and stops. The three men try and solve the problem...

The Physicists says "This is obviously a classic problem of torque. It has been overloaded the elasticity limit of the main axis."

The Engineer says "No no no, the problem is that is has been burned the spark of the connecting rod to the dynamo of the radiator, it can easily be repaired by hammering."

The computer scientist says "What if we get out of the car, wait a minute, then get back in and try again?"

It is cold outside so I am going to hop on the rollers before class.

Adios,

JZ

New Pepsi Team

I am currently trying to nail down a Pepsi sponsorship for a new team for the 2009 regular racing season. We will have "The Pepsi Kid" deal with all of our public relations:


I am also working on sponsorships from Firehouse Pizza, Smuckers Peanut Butter, and Welches Jelly. Watch out Coca-Cola!

I fixed my bike, but it is ugly

I worked on my bike non-stop (during commercials) the last couple days and I present the finished product:


I made the handlebar tape match the seat, but unfortunately, they don't match the rest of the bike. Not to mention the brown and orange tires I have on there. In cycling I believe in a few strict rules (in no particular order)

1. The 3 hour rule. (2 hour rule for some road races)
2. Don't walk around after 5 p.m. the night before your race.
3. In order to go fast, you have to look fast.
4. Protein night before, carbs two nights before.
5. Never eat pancakes.
6. Make sure you bike is ready the night before the race, not the day of.
7. Cold water at the end of every shower.

According to rule number 3 on the above list, I will need to work on my bikes appearance before the season starts on Feb 7th. (Owen Cup)

Lance Armstrong a hipster!!!???

This goes against everything I used to believe in.

(Lance shows up about halfway through with a white t-shirt)

In other news, the weather here in Blacksburg sucks. 15 degrees F outside today, definitely too cold to ride. The weather seems especially bad after beautiful 80 degree weather in Daytona Beach, Florida, where I spent a week with some of my VT teammates. Read Reids blog for more info on that.

I don't mind the weather as much as I should since my bicycle is currently being repaired...

Quite a bit of work needs to be done to my bike, including replacing the bottom bracket, handle bar tape, fixing my powertap mount, lowering my front derailleur, replacing my break pads, replacing my chain and a few cables with a bit of cable housing. Don't ask me why I let all of this build up until now.

Yes... I am finally changing my bar tape, so quit bugging me.