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.