Brian Park Criterium

I was not planning to race this weekend but my teammates Louis and William said they were going to the Brian Park race in Virginia. It is a great course that I did last year and it is very close to my grandparents so I decided to go up again this year. This course is either up or down hill. There is a long steady climb and a short steep climb on a course that is about a mile and a half long. There were about 12-15 riders in the junior 10-14 race, but William and Louis did not come. The race started very fast with a break going immediately. I was good and made the break with 3 other riders. When we hit the steep climb I did not have the power to stay with the lead two riders so I dropped back with another rider. On the second lap the rider I was with dropped me again on the steep climb, but on the long climb I bridged back up to him. This went on for a couple of laps when I couldn’t keep pace anymore. I ended up in 4th place coming in ahead of the pack by over a minute!! I had ridden very hard and was more pleased to see that each rider who had beaten me was 14 years old. It was also nice that my Pappa got to see me race.

This week I will do my training race on Tuesday and some hill intervals later in the week. I really hope to do the team ride on Sunday. I am getting excited for the state road race championships. I am getting stronger and more confident and I just want to rider faster.

NC State Crit Championships

This past Monday on Memorial Day I went to race at the state criterium championships. This is a very flat course with lots of pot holes and cobbles on the course. It was a pretty rough course. I have been waiting for this race all season and my dad kept reminding me of that all morning. I think the field was really a good one. There were some very good riders in the 10-14 year old class. The race started and I got a bad start because I did not clip in my pedal very well. But a strong rider named Korby Chappel got a bad start too so I was not too worried. Then in the second corner my teammate Louis Guillen crashed very hard. Because of my bad start I was behind the crash. I did not go down, but really had to take action not to crash over Louis. I came out of the corner in 4th place and never improved my position. For a few laps on my own I kept the gap to the top 3 constant, but then I started falling back. I ended up in 4th place at the finish. I was upset to say the least, but that is bike racing and you have to live with bad luck sometimes. Louis was not hurt too bad.

There were lots of crashes in every race that we saw. My friend Wyatt Briggs finished 3rd in the older junior race and then did the Cat 1,2,3 mens race. He rode awesome but had a terrible crash with only 2 laps to go. His back was totally tore up and bloody. Wyatt is tough and I am glad he is not hurt too bad!! Charlie Brown won this race and his masters race. He is a great rider.

I was not going to race until the state road race championships, but there is a real nice race in Richmond, VA this weekend that I want to do. I get to stay with my grammi and poppa and then go to the race on Sunday. I raced there last year and really liked the course. I hope to do both the junior race and the cat 5 mens race.

Kenny van Hummel is now leading the UCI Europe Tour standings!! He gets to wear a special white jersey in all his races for the month of June. Sweet!!

Last, I want to congratulate my teammate Thomas Wrona for such a great weekend of racing at the Tour of Atlanta. He got a couple of wins in the mens cat 4 races and now has enough points to become a cat 3 racer. Great job!!

Historic Wake Forest Criterium and Training Race

This past Sunday I raced in the mens cat 5 criterium in Wake Forest. My plan was to race this race and then the junior 10-14 race but things did not work out like I planned. The cat 5 race went well. I am just lacking the ability to stay with the leaders when the pace gets to around 28-30 miles an hour. I felt pretty good on the first short hill but then making the turn onto the finish straight I could not keep on the wheels in front of me. It was a 20 minute race on a hard course in the rain and it took a lot out of me. About the time the junior race was getting ready to start it was pouring and getting pretty cold. Since I was tired I decided to call it a day and not race. I’m glad I did!! I have not seen it rain so hard with such strong wind!! It was like a hurricane.

On Tuesday I raced the cat 4/5 race that I have been doing for speed work. It was a fast race!! I did not really improve from the last time I rode it, and the same thing happens every time. When the pace gets up to 30 miles an hour I can not hold the wheel for very long. I was in the race for the last 15 minutes and the average pace during that time was 25 miles an hour, but there were no big attacks and the pace did not go up higher than 26 miles an hour. I did work my way around in the pack of about 30 riders and feel pretty good in the action. It is really fun to be in the pack going at a fast speed.

For training I am going to have to work on my high speed ability. That and getting more power! I am racing this weekend at the NC State Criterium championships and then I am taking a couple of weeks off to focus on training. My dad and I have a good hill to work on my power and I think I will hate that hill after a while!!

Our friend Kenny van Hummel is on a hot streak. He now has 5 total wins for the season. He has won his last 3 races in a row!! Kenny is really fast in a bunch sprint. His next race is the Tour of Belgium later this month. It is now almost certain that Kenny will be the sprinter for Skil Shimano in the Tour de France this year!!

Kenny van Hummel

I wanted to tell everyone about a friend of my family. His name is Kenny van Hummel and he is a professional bicycle racer for the Skil-Shimano team in Holland. He is a sprinter and he has had some very good results in the past month. He won two races in a row with the best being the first stage in the 4 days of Dunkirk!! My dad and I are really excited because his results should get him on the Tour de France squad. I can’t wait to watch this summer and actually know someone in the Tour. It will be crazy. I hope one day in the next couple of years to be able to go to Holland and get a chance to ride with Kenny. He says he will show me all the tricks!! If you don’t have a favorite root for Kenny!!

Training ride with my team

On this past Sunday I went on a training ride with some of my teammates. I was the youngest by a lot. I met a lot of the men that race for the All-Stars and they were all very nice. It was my longest ride ever. It was almost 50 miles and we averaged around 19 miles an hour. We rode just at 2.5 hours. I was tired, but very happy. This weekend is our team’s race and I am going to try the mens cat 5 race as well as my junior race. I like the course a lot and hope to ride well. I will let you know!!!

Working Hard

Well, I have been working very hard in my training and racing. I know I am getting better. Last week I did a power at threshold test. I am now using the same course that I used about a month ago. My goal was 4 watts per kilogram. I went out hard and really felt good. Near the end I think I bogged down with my gearing and did not keep up a good pedal cadence. But in the end I felt like I had done a good trial. When we got home and made the calculations I rode at 3.92 watts per kilogram. Man! Once again just under my goal. I was close though and after a few minutes of being mad I felt OK. My dad who rode behind me on the test thought that I lost some power when I was pushing too big a gear. I need to pay more attention to that. I also did the Dilworth criterium in Charlotte this past Saturday. It was a tough course and I did not ride well. I had a major problem with the corner at the bottom of the climb and lost contact on the first lap. I rode hard the whole race and felt pretty good. The pro race was awesome. Those guys were hammering up the climb every lap and it never slowed down. I love watching those guys ride and someday I will be in there too.

This week is my rest week at the end of my first training block. So I am not doing any intervals or really hard riding this week. Just some easy tempo rides and relaxing. Next week I will start my second block of training and I can’t wait for the Wake Forest Criterium our team sponsors.

My dad and I need to figure out how to put pictures here. We will put some on when we learn how.

Tuesday Training Race

My best ride ever!! I raced in the mens cat 5 race and stayed in the pack for most of the race. I was completely dead at the end and almost fell off my bike. I was really happy to be in a pack of 30 riders. I got to practice my skills in the pack and moved all over. I am psyched because my training is working! I am getting faster every week now and soon I will be able to get some good results with the older boys. I am not afraid in the pack at all anymore and can’t wait to race again. I don’t think I am racing this weekend in Sanford. So my next race is in Charlotte. I can’t wait because it should have a lot of really good pros and cat 1 riders to watch.