blogging about my rides has certainly become extinct this year. i became way too focused on miles, average speeds, heart rates, and watts and forgot about the real fun of just riding to ride. im sure this had nothing to do with the unfortunate luck i dealt with during the year, more to come on that. but it made the year feel more incomplete.

so lets see. since my last post in june....

i had another first place finish at the fourth of july race. awesome. broke away on the last lap and was able to cross the finish line sitting up pointing at stacey. that was great. after that it went up and very down. july 27 i crashed and destroyed the scott plasma. this happened only 3 miles from the finished line! i was on the yellow line and another rider was trying to come into the line and cut me off. thing was, he was outside the line which wasnt allowed. i put my elbows out trying to establish my position and he lunged in at me. i then pushed my arms further out and he forced his was into me knocking me over and i pancaked into the ground. i should have just let him pass me but in the moment you dont think like that. 3 months on that bike and it was gone. almost a full crack through the top tube

one of the seat stays was also badly cracked as well. i sustained some pretty bad damage too...





after that alex was great as a friend and team mate. oh yeah! forgot to mention i was asked to be on a small team, propeller racing. small group of guys who are fun to ride with and all very nice. alex is cat 4 and ken and i are cat 5. also raced with marco from rahway river park and good old mike from out in somerset county.

once alex lent me his GT i was able to get back on the bike and win another race! the zeppelin crit. and this was the first time i was paid! so now im a pro! ha!!!!
this was another great race. and i felt my tactics were starting to come out. there was one racer who i felt was strong and knew he would be someone to contend with in the final sprint. he and i with 3 other broke away with 3 laps to go and worked together to make a nice gap. on the final lap i waited until he was at that back of the pace line then exploded with about a quarter lap to go. 3 turns later i was ahead and finished again sitting up. this time, very angry and feeling lethal!





notice the torn left shoulder of my jersey from my recent crash. classy.

my next race was on august 9th which i felt was one of my best races even though i didnt win. the tour of vernon was a hilly 33 mile course that really tested me. this was a great team showing for us. we had four racers. ken, marco, mike, and i. the course was an 11 mile loop so we encountered the same hills 3 times. on the first climb the group seperated and i stayed in with the lead group while ken, marco, and mike stayed back and blocked. it worked and the lead group stayed away. at one point me and one other guy broke away for almost the whole second lap until a car slowed us down before we got caught. we would have gotten caught anyway i think but the car didnt help. on the last climb me and one other rider battled it out but he was too strong for me and pulled away. i finished second, totally exhausted and feeling like i just rode 200 miles.

some of the rides i had done solo in the time frame between the races dont even come back to me now. this is the sad part of not blogging. i remember climbing warrenville road again. and remember some of my rides out to hillsborough. but after that they all blur together. races stick out more for me because that was my focus this year.

i felt that after the tour of vernon my power and desire started to diminish. my legs started to ache, and i didnt totally feel into it like i had earlier in the year. to further that on august 24 i had what was my most ridiculus crash. yeah, another crash. at the state crit champs mike and i were racing together and i just blew it. with 2 laps to go mike fired off the front as planned and the whole group bit. i stayed in the pack and waited. with about half way to go the pace started to fire up then the sprint started. the sprint was between 3 guys that i was included in. i geared up and started to pull away. the finish line was in sight then i look up and bang! right into the curb i didnt see and forgot was there since i wasnt looking! i bit the dirt and was so furious. i could have held my breath and walked to the finish it was so close. ended up with these...


thankfully i didnt sustain any road rash or major cuts in my upper body since i was half on the road and half on the grass by the curb. the bike was fine as well. so now i was very down. i felt like i shoudnt be racing and was just not cut out for it. i had the strength and endurance. but my wits were not enough to do it. i needed a pick me up. something that would remind me of how much i liked to ride and how racing wasnt what defined me as a cyclist. so i bought another new bike! my third bike this year. a scott speedster. picked up the frame on ebay and pieced it together with the left over components from the plasma.



i want to pick up a different stem but it rides nice. it has nearly the same geometry as my cr1 but is aluminum with carbon only on the fork. after the money i have spent on carbon seeing how it cracks i dont think i will be riding it anymore.

im happy with this bike. it feels nice and im not scared to have it banged up a little bit by an accidental drop or a possible scratch.

so here i am. 3543 miles since 01/01/08 and feeling good about the fall. my attitude has changed since the beginning of the year and i feel good. moved to summit where my commute is the furthest since riding to work. 14 miles round trip with 500 feet of climbing. feel like it is going to make me very strong and can tell its helping me stay in shape. :)