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