Thursday, June 30, 2011

My Nationals Recap

This year Junior Road Nationals were in Augusta, Ga. A week before Nationals started I gave my bike away to Larry Nolan, so that would not have to pay an extra fee to fly my bike out to Georgia. Which means I had to ride a bike that did not fit me for an entire week, then race Nationals. When I got to Georgia, the first think I noticed was the heat and humidity. Day by day I began to not notice the heat or humidity as much. This was because I was drinking Gallons of water per day. My first race was the Time Trial. I don't specialize in Time Trialing, and to make it worse I did not have a Time Trial Bike, so I was on my Specialized SL2 with Zipp 303's. I got a good warm up and set off. I had already road the Time Trial course the day before so there were no surprises on the course. After my Time Trial I felt like it wasn't my best and was not my worst. But I knew that the Criterium was the next day and that I would do better. Before the start of the Criterium it was hot. The team got there about an hour before the race and we started to get cold so that we would perform better. During the race I had 3 full bottles in my bottle cages and my pockets. I quickly drank one bottle on threw it to the parents. But the rest of the race I struggled to drink water. Just because the pace was so high and the pot holes were all over the road. After the race I rolled-out and road back to the parents where the parents were waiting with water and ice/ ice vests. We cooled down and road back to the houses so we could recover for our final race of nationals, the Road Race. The race started at 8:00am local time. Which is 5:00am California time. So I was a little tired as we drove up to the parking lot. But, as I started to move around I woke up and was ready to race a hard race. I came to the line 20 minutes before the start and everyone was there. So I started at the back. But, during the race I moves up with ease. On the last lap, coming up the final hill I fell of the pace of the pack. At this time I thought we still had another lap to do. So I was going to crest over the hill and drill it back in to the pack, but as I saw the finish line I noticed that everyone past the finish line were sitting up and the race was over. Even though I did not get the laps right it was my best road race I had ever done. And that is what happened to me at Nationals.

Every second counts -- sounds familiar, where have I heard that before?

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. It sure feels better when it's the former of the two.

Six laps of the Canadian Masters Time Trial course in the two days prior to the race and you'd think you had it pretty much dialed in. Think again.

With my finish in last year's championship, I was the last man to start in this year's race. If my memory serves me right (I'm on the road so don't have the results at hand), and at my age that's always questionable, the man starting a minute in front of me today finished 11 seconds slower than me last year but that was after I dropped my chain shifting to the small ring on the last hill on the course so 11 seconds isn't really apples to apples. Nonetheless, I had a great carrot in today's race.

It was a 21.5 kilometer loop with five corners, I caught him with 3 dead straight kilometers to go and decided to bury it from there, perhaps a little far out to give it absolutely everything. At the 1k to go sign I remembered an intersection. I took a quick peek and noticed a course marshal flailing his arms, especially the one holding an orange flag. Totally asphyxiated and seeing stars, my reasoning abilities weren't at their best but for some reason the orange flag caught my attention and I sat up. With the reasoning capacity of an intelligent door knob at that point, the best I could figure was he wanted me to turn right.

Now in the six training laps in the prior two days, never once did the course turn right here, it was dead straight to the finish line. Why the hell did he want me to turn right??? As I braked and started my turn, I yelled at him "which way do I go?" With a surprised look, he yelled "go straight, go straight!"

Correcting my turn to get back on course, I destroyed myself to the finish line but was deeply puzzled by what just happened. I started to convince myself that it didn't matter because I still finished in front of my minute man and no way would anyone best his time?

Cooling down I saw a course marshal that looked like the guy with the orange flag, surely he wasn't an identical twin. I asked what happened out there? He apologized and said he was waving at the cars to make sure they didn't enter the course and assumed no rider would be paying attention to a course marshal, especially with 1k to go. Darn, my survival instincts got the better of me. At least my wife and daughters can draw comfort from that notion.

Well, to make a long story longer, here I sit in my Maple Leaf jersey, Canadian Time Trial Champion in the Masters 50 to 59 category, a mere 1.33 seconds faster than the second place finisher. Being the winner, I can forget about the man with the orange flag. Had I lost by 1.33 seconds, it would have haunted me to my dying day. Every second counts.

Before I sign off, I have to give a big shout out to my man John Hunt. A year ago at this time, after years of trying, he finally convinced me to come and see him so he could get me in a better position on the time trial bike. I finally listened and after he made some major changes, I now have two National Time Trial jerseys. Oh yeah, he just had surgery on Monday to repair a hip he broke a few years ago. Thanks John and here's to a speedy recovery!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Nationals 2011...hurt so good.





My whole season has come down to this one moment, Nationals. All of my hard work and training leads up to these races. It is a test of strength, ability, and knowledge. You are racing with many junior racers you have never seen before, everyone is a threat. You hope and assume that your coach has brought you to the highest peak so you will be at top form at Nationals. This is how I view Nationals, my 2011 Nats were bittersweet, but my encounters unavoidable.

Day 1, the Road Race. Usually road races are 50-80 miles, well not when you're 14! My race was 33km. Shorter than the elite criterium and the U23. I headed over to the road race course getting pumped for my efforts in the race. I was riding around the course surveying the turns and the straightaway to the finish. I roll up to the loading zone, 20 minutes prior to my race start. There was already half the field! We jumped out of the loading zone, I stuck out my elbows and darted to the start/finish line. I managed a top spot on the line. The group and I sat there for about 10 minutes. I tried to control my breathing and give my legs as much oxygen as possible. 3...2...1... and we're off! The first lap I felt really good, the field was on every single move. We blasted through the finish to see 2 to go. I led up the climb after the finish and through the tight turns. I tried for a breakaway once again, but nothing got away. It was approximately 1.2km to the finish I was sitting 2nd wheel following one of the most recent attacks. The rider cuts to the right, takes out my front wheel and I'm on the ground. Kids after kids riding into my chest and falling on top of me. I lay there for a second, get up and walk off the pain. My bike was wrecked, my National Road Race was wrecked. I assessed the bodily damage, and nothing was internally hurt. My shifter was broken, the rear Zipp 303 I was riding was broken, I couldn't go on. I see down the road a big man, with a strut like Larry Nolan. It was Larry! Who almost walked a mile to make sure I was okay. Lots of road rash and tire marks/bruises on my chest. I got a ride to medical where they cleaned me up. You always know when your teammates love you when they are told to go away from medical because they are crowding. I love you guys. I walked over to the van, got in and we started to drive away from the course where my skin was left. We did a little adventure! Off-roading in the team van, made me laugh quite a bit. I knew that for some reason that wasn't my race to win. I told Larry, "Jesus did not want me to win today, he wanted me to win the next day, and the day after the next day!" I definitely think that my attitude affected my TT, quite a bit. When everything looks or seems for the worse, brush it off your shoulder and hope for the best the next day. I was not completely disappointed about the RR, I still had two more days to receive a jersey. I went to sleep, on my right side hoping I would not ruin the bed sheets with my fresh-cut wounds.

Day 2, the Time Trial. My second race was the time trial, my specialty. For most of the day I hung out around the house. Awaiting my TT, awaiting the pain that I ride for. It was about 2 hours before my race, I did about 30 minutes of complete spin to open up my legs from the day before. Then I rested. It was about an hour to go to my start and I started my warm-up. I was in the zone. The pain of the day before seemed to slip away. I was ready to do what I do best. I was in the start gate. 10......5...4...3...2...1 and I was off on the most excruciating 10km of my season. It had big rollers with a nice descent that followed. I maintained the same ratio I had over the flats, on the climbs and clicked it up to my hardest gear and flew down the descents. I was in deep trance to catch my 30 second man. The gap kept closing, I kept going faster. I started my final kilometer of my TT and railed to the finish, catching my 30 second man on the line. My time was 13:35. The closest time was 13:41, and still one rider to finish. The last rider comes through with a time slower than mine. I am National Champion. I become swarmed by Matt, Larry, and my coach Felicia. I saw a tear come from my Mom's eye as well as Larry and I. It is the best feeling in the world to win such a title for a sport you are so passionate about, and to win after the worst luck the day before the TT. I think it was staying positive that helped me win, and the ability to shut out all pain that could have let me lose the race. I am just about the happiest kid alive.

Day 3, the Crit. I did my normal routine, ate breakfast made by the one and only Mrs. Nolan! I acquired all my stuff and headed over to crit course. I warmed up and watched the other races go down. It was now my turn to race. They called me up to the line, I had a top spot. My race started, there were many early attacks. I had to really dig to respond to those attacks, I lost my pop after the TT. There was an attack with 12 to go that really lasted for about 5 laps. I gambled. Following my contenders attempts to bring it back. It didn't last. I sat in to respond to attacks rather than attacking myself. I waited for the sprint. It was 1 to go! We sped around the course we were about to embark into the 3rd turn only 400m from the finish. I had fourth wheel, there were 3 kids competing for 5 wheel. All of a sudden my rear wheel locks up and I skid for about 20m. I did not go down, but dragged my competitor. His bike was tangled in my frame. My rear wheel lost about 4 spokes and my frame was cracked. I was pulling pieces of tape and hood out of my rear wheel. I noticed the blood on my bar tape, no idea where it came from! My crit was also ruined by something unavoidable. I was in perfect position to sprint. Oh well, I still brought home one jersey, in the race of truth. It was bittersweet. 2 DNF's and one win, but I have 4 more years to attempt to claim the title in the Criterium or Road Race. I can't wait for next year! Thanks for reading. I also wanted to thank the team and anyone else involved for making this a great experience. Again, thanks for reading.

-Jack Maddux

Nationals 2011

I got into Augusta, GA on June 22nd; just 1 day before the National Time Trial. I got off the plane, jumped in the car, and drove straight to the team housing. Team housing was great and I can't thank enough to Susan O'Donnell for all her work to stay at these nice houses that were right near every course. I got to the house and immediately got dressed and drove out the the TT course. I slept on the way over there and didn't want to ride at all. I got out on the course and got in a good rythm and was wide awake. I liked the course and was excited for the next day.

It was bright and early and my group (17/18) were 1st up. The humid air hit all of us as we warmed up on our trainers and rollers and even with ice on our backs, we were still melting. I got out on course and felt good compared to most TT's that I've done. I ended up placing 34th out 108 riders and I was satisfied enough with that result considering that I got there a day before.

The criterium was the next day and I was the guy for everyone to work for in the 50km race. It was fast from the start; as expected and it was hard to move up. We had guys follow all sorts of attacks but nothing was getting away or getting more than 10 seconds. Unfortunately, an attack went in the closing laps and we missed it. We started to set up for a field sprint, so I had Jeff Perrin help me move up into position for the sprint (he crashed bad earlier in the crit and still managed to help lead me out). Hot Tubes came up right before turn 3 and I jumped on their train and sprinted to a 6th place overall (3rd in field).

We had a rest day before the road race but it was still an early start at 8am. It was only 95km long but it was sure to be a tough race. We were up there in almost every big attack and it looked to be a field sprint with only 10 miles to go. That is until 2 guys got up the road and I realized it was a Hot Tubes guy and nobody was chasing. I attacked out of the group through a small hole where only few could fit through and was able to bridge solo right away. We worked together for 4 miles or so but that's when I realized I couldn't keep doing those kinds of pulls if I wanted to win a National Championship. I took a short pull and got yelled at; I took a pull off completely to catch my breath and really got yelled at. Eventually, the non-Hot Tubes rider kept riding and the Hot Tubes rider sat on me while I was waiting for just to pull through so that I can catch my breath but instead he attacked me to bridge back up to the other rider. I didn't have the jump at the time and went onto time trial mode trying to chase them back. I was averaging 28-30mph trying to catch back up to them but I just stayed at 10 seconds behind then. The field was also charging hard, trying to catch the lonely 2 up the road and myself trying to chase. There's a hill that lasts for 600 meters in the last 1.2km and at 800 meters to the line I got caught by the field and my chances at podium and top 3 and possibly winning were over. Marcus went on to finish strong for 8th place.

Overall, it was a good trip for the team as Jack Maddux won his TT in his age group (13/14) and we had a couple other podiums. I would like to thank all the parents that came out and put their time and hard-earned money to let us race our bikes to have the chance to win a National Championship. I would especially want to thank Darryl and Tania Smoth as the adults for the house I was in as they everything organized and everything was smooth. I also want to thank Larry, Wyatt, Steve, Fred, all of our sponsors, and anyone else who contributed to this amazing trip and experience. I'm looking forward to returning to Augusta next year for U23 Nationals!

Thank you for reading.

--James LaBerge

(written at Augusta Regional Airport)

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

OUT OF THE SEAT...ON TO THE PODIUM!

I remember my first crit race last year…I hung in okay and placed 4th in the Jr. 13/14 race. After the race my parents mentioned that I never got off of the seat to sprint for the finish. Looking at photos, sure enough they were right! I was down on the seat while my competitors were standing on the pedals, out of the seat and sprinting. In the following weeks I practiced standing up and sprinting on training rides or whenever I thought of it. This was working okay but my mom suggested that I should go to the track for some high speed cross training. So we went down to the track and signed up with Track Coach, Tim Roach. I borrowed my neighbor's track bike and started riding the track on Monday and Wednesday nights.

The track is different than the road. The bikes have no brakes and you cannot coast. They call it fixed gear. After a couple of sessions of basic training I was given the okay to participate in the nightly group warm up of 40 laps or so. After the warm up we would do various exercises from sprint training to intervals to time trialing and mock races.

Keep in mind I went to the track to improve my sprint but found out the track is really a lot of fun and a great workout. I increased my top-end speed, developed a smoother pedal stroke and improved my bike handling skills. Sure enough with my new found track workouts, I was able to sprint for wins in local races, sometimes with total dominance. Especially for crit racers, there is no better training for the road than racing on the track. Bottom line is, if you ride the road you should ride the track, and if you ride the track you should ride the road. Fast forward to 2011, I’m still training at the track and winning some crits and road races thanks to cross training at the track.

See you at the track….

Diego Binatena

Monday, June 6, 2011

Dunlap TT

Yesterday was the NCNCA (Nor cal/Nevada) State Time Trial Championships in Davis, CA. It was raining the night before but luckily the rain held up while we did our TT's. Jack Maddux was 1st in the 13/14 age group and won! Congrats to him as he has been on a tear this year so far. Next up was Matt Valencia in the 15/16 group and finished in 2nd. 2 straight podiums and it was up to us, the 17/18's to deliver another win and state championship to the team. Chris, myself, and Andrew were up 1st going that order respectively. Andrew had a fast time and ended up finished 3rd and Chris and I finished 10th and 9th, respectively. Marcus and Torey were up next and they both posted some really fast times. Marcus came in to finished 5th, and Torey had the fast time of the day and won! Overall, we cam away with 6 victories at Dunlap TT including wins in the p/1/2, masters 35+, 45+, and 55+! It's great to such winning style by the team and I'm glad to be apart of it because National Championships are coming up and that's our end goal.

On Saturday, Marcus Smith raced at Dash for cash by himself in the wet weather and braved himself to a 9th place and earned him $100 for being the 1st U23 accross the line. Congrats Marcus! With nationals coming up soon, it's great to see our strengths starting to come out.

Thank you for reading,

                                       James LaBerge

Sunday, June 5, 2011

They must be on drugs…

...the cows, they are so big in Belgium, they MUST be on something…

Now back to what I was originally going to write about, my trip to Europe with the US Junior National team. I set off to Europe on a Monday morning. The travel day went as smoothly and hassle-free as possible. All was good as I arrived in beautiful, sunny, warm Brussels. It even said gullible on the ceiling of the airport! In all seriousness, it was a typical Belgian day, cold, wet and cloudy. I met up with other juniors that had been invited on the trip. Dean Haas, my friend and teammate from Team Specialized, Ben Wolfe from one of the states on the east coast that isn’t New York so I could never remember it, Austin Boswell from a place where they shoot animals to feed themselves (Bend OR), Eric Volotzky from one of those small cities by LA that isn’t LA and where there are always wildfires, and Kristo Jorgenson from that place up north where they grow potatoes (Boise ID).

Now that we know who I spent nearly three weeks living and sleeping with, let me tell you how the actual trip was. Racing in Europe is literally having someone else’s’ handlebars brushing up your hind side and a crash/some kind of traffic furniture/attack/150 guys in front of you at all times. Sounds fun!

The first race we started was “3 Ettapen de Rundfarht”. This was started off with an 8km time trial through a park near Frankfurt. With 3 turnarounds and 5 turns, this sure seemed like a tough little course. I finished around 50th on the day. Not very satisfied, I was greatly looking forward to the next day, a 113km road race with approximately 5,000 feet of climbing. (I must have overlooked the climbing part to be so excited about it). Unfortunately that was not a fantastic day for me either; I got dropped going over the cat. 1 climb around half way through and rolled into the finish with a gruppetto. Now would again be a good time to state that gruppettos are not really easy. In order to make time cut, we non-climbers still have to go pretty hard throughout the remainder of the stage. Now to the final stage, a 100km or so out and back road race with only two cat. 3 climbs, not too bad, except for the rain. By that time, I started to get acclimated to the feeling of racing in Europe I sat pretty well that day and finished with the pack.

The second race we did was “Driedegaase van Axel”. Another 3 day race, this time in Holland, with testing factors such as cobbles, massive crosswinds and extremely narrow roads. Excited about racing in such conditions that would suite my strengths more as a “rouleur”, I readied myself for stage one, a hectic 120 kilometers with six sections of cobblestones, the first one coming just within 8 kilometers of the beginning. I finished in the top 60 on that day, unsatisfied again but it was an improvement. Unfortunately, that day had taken a lot out of me and I never felt as sharp or fresh the remainder of the stages.

In the end I was proud of being able to race at such high level races in Europe and being given the opportunity to do so was exceptional. The amount you are forced to self-teach while racing in such tough, fast and arduous races is second to none. I am able to bring all the knowledge back here to the United States, and with nationals just around the corner, I could not feel anymore ready to succeed. Hopefully I will be given more opportunities to keep moving up in the cycling scene and return to my home continent in the near future.

Finally, I would like to give a huge thank you to everyone who helped make this trip possible and ran it as smooth as possible. Ben Sharp for giving me the opportunity to race in Europe, Viggo (soigneur) for always being there at the races and around the house for just about anything we needed including massages! Aaron Fairley and Andrew Haggerty for being great mechanics and van drivers, and Nicole for making us some incredible meals while we were at the house! At last but not least, I would like to recognize Billy Innes. The amount of work and time he put in the make sure everything went perfectly and all of us need not to worry about a thing was amazing. Even when we ran into trouble that was out of everyone’s control (top secret story, will divulge in return for money) he kept his cool and still managed to get us to the race almost seamlessly.

Thanks for reading!

-David Benkoski

Going Up

In Northern California our bike racing season is really long. We start competing in January after months of training and preparation. With a little luck we’ll race through August and into September before shutting it down for a break.

Junior riders look for early race successes and the opportunity for a selection to the US National Team abroad. Mid-season (now) means District Championships and in a few weeks, Nationals. For masters this is pushed out even further with Districts in June and August, and Nationals in early September followed by Worlds.

Such a racing schedule means it’s nearly impossible to have good, let alone peak, fitness for the duration. Cushing early season races is great for confidence but brings the risk of being too good too early, and flat later in the year when it really counts. Conversely, going out and getting beaten over and over in the season’s opening weeks is as challenging as the hardest workout, and requires an unwavering discipline to keep moving forward without losing motivation.

Over the past couple weeks we’ve seen hard work and patience pay off. The juniors have won District road race, crit and TT championships as well as taken top podium honors at nearly every other race contested. All this bodes well with Nationals just around the corner, where the culmination of fitness, confidence, racing skill and patience will pay off.

-Chris Lyman, masters teammate

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Racing in the Rain (Almost)

On June 4th I was signed up to race the Cat. 1/2/3's race, at 2:45, at the Dash for Cash Criterium in Pleasanton, CA. In the years before, when we go to this race, the worst it has gotten has been light sprinkles and mid to high 60's. This year was not like any years before, in that the weather report was low 60's and 90% chance of rain. But, at around 9:00, my older brother, younger brother, and my dad drove to Santa Rosa, Ca to buy a car for my older brother. When they left my dad told me to get the bikes ready to go so that when they get back we could all leave right away. I finished getting the bikes cleaned, wheels on, and lunch packed at about 10:00. I sat around the house for the next three and a half hours, until I got a phone call from my older brother. He said they were still filling out paper work and they were not going to make it in time to make the races. So, I decided to unpack all the things I had already packed up many hours earlier. This took a long time because I was so bumbed-out that I was not going to race with my teammate Marcus Smith. An hour into my unpacking I realized that the next day was Dunlap Time Trial in Davis ,Ca, and Marcus was signed up for that race as well. I got so happy I almost threw the bananas into the freezer. The rest of my day was happy and I was in Davis in no time.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Europe

Wake up at 8 am.  Jump out of my bed.  Eat my muesli and yogurt for breakfast.  Ride at 10.  Chill for the rest of the day.  A usual day in the National Team House in Izegem, Belgium.  This was a great experience for me to be on the junior national team.  I raced with 5 other team mates, Austin Boswell, Kristo Jorgenson, Erik Volotzky, Ben Wolfe and Team Specialized's very own David Benkoski.  We raced the 3-Ettapen Rundfahrt Frankfurt, Germany and the Driedaagse van Axel, Netherlands.

Europe really is a different place; the food the culture and the customs are different than ours in the United States.  The biggest thing I found that was different was the roads.  Although they still drive on the right side of the road, I found the road to be extremely confusing which I have to say is a good thing I wasn't driving!  I found myself very confused most of the time in Europe surrounding simple things like roads.  Pasta, bread and oats in different form became a staple of my diet (not that they aren't already).  During my stay at the hostel in Frankfurt I had pasta for every meal for three days straight and I actually got sick of it! Europe all and all is a great place to visit and I found it a huge honor to be invited to race there.  Staying at the house is really a great lifestyle.  Your only obligations are to ride your bike, eat and do an occasional load of laundry.  I am looking forward to my next opportunity to race across the pond! I want to thank USA Cycling and Team Specialized Racing for making my Euro trip possible!
-Dean