The end of a good season

So the season is pretty much over. Well, for me at least!

The plan was to race up until the Yuasa Criterium in mid-September. But, two weeks ago at the Tour of Millersburg a guy decided to crash in front of me 2-miles from the finish in the road race. I hit and flipped over him and landed hard, fracturing my wrist in two place, bruising a rib from landing on his pedal and getting some nice cuts on my arm from a chain ring.

As always, it could have been worse...


Two-days after the crash I was out on my bike.


Not fun holding the bars with one hand. But I was keeping the hope that I could maybe make a quick recovery, but that's not how broken bones work. A week later my arm was put in a hard cast. Doc says 6-weeks. So either I keep riding with one hand just to keep some form, so I can MAYBE do one or two races in late September. OR, I can just call is a season and take my usual end of the season break now. I choose the latter. So now I'm taking my break early. No pun intended!!!



Overall it has been a great season. No real good results to report on my end, but overall a great learning experience on everything from tactics to training. Participated in some really big races. Most of them were the real deal, so it was awesome to gain that experience. I was feeling burned out my Millersburg anyway, so the wrist breakage hasn't been as big of a deal to me as it would have, had it happened back in June! That would have SUCKED!

It (the season) started doing long 100-miles rides to the Derby all winter with Mike, then went on to doing my first UCI stage race at the Tour of Belize in Feb. A bunch of local races in March and April. Great races in May and the Tour of Ohio in June. Getting spanked by the pros in Mt. Holly and Iron Hill in July. It's been challenging, fun, exciting, adrenaline rushing and at time frustrating. But I wouldn't take any of it back for the world.

After a nice break, I'll be ready to start building up for next season!

Best,

TG

Tour of Ohio Stage 4&5

Friday and Saturday were the last two stages of the tour of Ohio. Fridays stage 4 was a really cool circuit race in a residential area. For those of you who are local racers, the course was very identical to the Grandview Heights race in Lancaster, PA. The course had a nice little hill on it, which really wore down on the legs every lap. It was a really fast race. The back side of the course was a gradual down hill, but even then I was always in my 53X11 holding on for dear life. Gabe got into a really good break containing (initially) 18 guys. They stayed aways almost the entire race until it was brought back with 7 laps to go. This was really weird, because all the teams were represented in the break. Apparently some guy riding essentially for himself, went to the front and pulled it back for no apparent reason. From there it was a sprint, and Inferno took 1st&2nd. Inferno is a really good crit team with lots of horse power. After the race, some of the locals invited us over for a party. They were incredibly friendly and we all had a blast!

Stage 5 was a really weird way to end this race. The race was supposed to be 50-miles. It left from Denison University and headed out to country roads for 4-laps on a 7-mile circuit. After that, we would head back to the University and do 10-laps of a 1-mile crit at the school. The finishing crit course was really strange/dangerous. You would go up a 20-25percent grade on a brick road for about 1/4 mile. Then make a right turn at the top onto some freshly paved asphalt (laid 3 days earlier, yet slick at anything!) then zig-zag our way to a 500meter decent down a cement hill that was at least a 25% grade! At the bottom was a 180degree turn, followed by a 90degree left, then another 90degree right, then you were on the finishing stretch. All we needed was some rain to make it even more sketchy! Sure enough, there was a severe weather warning. While out on the open roads for the first circuits, the sky got really dark. Greg got into the big break of the day. Winds picked up a lot, some hail came down, rain, lightening, and we even saw a funnel cloud forming. I couldn't believe the race wasn't stopped, but there was really no where for us to go! We were on wide open back roads, surrounded by fields. As we made it back into town, they lowered the laps of the finishing crit to just 4-laps. The roads were super slick making the course ridiculously crazy and the descent totally insane. The race shattered into little groups of 1s and 2s. It was like a cyclocross or MTB race. I am not sure where everyone finished, but it was chaos.

So that's the tour of ohio!

untill next time

TG

Tour of Ohio Stage 3

I was able to race today! Although I am 1hr back on GC! Oh well, no worries.


Today was stage 3, a 60 mile road race. It was supposed to be flat with a few climbs, but was actually very rolling with some pretty tough and steep hills. From the start, Greg and I tried to cover a few moves but nothing stuck. Dan hung around at the front for a really long time and attacked numerous times and bridged a bunch of gaps. The course was basically started in Mt' Vernon Ohio, went to another town than came straight back. On the way out on the rolling roads, we were absolutely cruising at 40+ Mph. Dave Felpel told us that a few times he saw 55mph on the speedometer in the car while in the caravan. The high speeds make any kind of breakaway short lived, as the main field had an incredible amount of momentum. The pace was pretty high going up most of the climbs, which really put the hurt down on everyone. Heading back to Mt. Vernon there was still no break up the road, so it was evident it would be a crazy finish.

Here is how the finish was: Wide main road, with a hard right hand turn that led up a pretty steep twisting climb to the finish. This meant that everyone was going to fight to be the first through that right hand turn if they were to have any chance of getting a good place. And remember, we are also going down this main road at 40+mph!!! about 5 miles from the finish, a deer almost took out the field. It ran out from a field to our left and just barely missed the front of the field. The deer was running at maybe 20mph, and we were moving at 40 or so.... So it was pretty damn close. Also the distance of the race ended up being 75 miles, not 60. Since we thought it was only 60-miles, we opted out on having anyone in the feed zone (as did most other teams). So everyone ended up being out of fluids towards the end of the race. Mike started cramping up bad and I was afraid he would fall off the back, but he was able to hang on.

Zac and Greg were dropped on some of the earlier climbs, so it was Dan, Mike, Gabe and myself going to the finish. As I expected there was a big crash just before the final right hand turn, as riders tried to move up on both the right and left sides of the field, which compressed everything and caused bars to touch and wheels to hit wheels, which caused riders to hit the deck. I was able to avoid the crash, which held up myself and a bunch of others. Gabe was up front and was able to take 11th on the stage. The pay out only went up to 10th place. DOH!!

Time for bed.
TG

Tour of Ohio Stage 2

Today's 70-mile road stage was another rough day, with some bad luck mixed in...


The legs felt, eh. The pace wasn't too bad. The climbs were MUCH more significant and difficult that we had expected. I mean, it's Ohio, how bad could they be? All I have to say is I really wish I had not left my 11-26 cassette at home! All I had to use was a 11-23, which was pretty hard to turn over. The climbs were not too long, maybe a mile or so at the most. But those suckers were steep!!!

Greg and Zac were in a bit of trouble early on the climbs. Mike, Gabe, Dan and myself were hanging out towards the front. Gabe got into a really good 4-man break which gained a significant advantage over the field.

Then, Gabe was standing on the side of the road next to his bike waiting for the shimano neutral support. Zac and I dropped back from the field to wait for him... And wait.... and wait.... Turns out Gabe broke his chain and needed a neutral bike, so they had to get his seat height set and switch his pedals... This ended up taking almost 5 minutes. That ended our hope of ever getting back to the main field.

We just rode along so we would make the time cut. Zac's dad Dave was driving our support vehicle and rode past me to head back to the main field. As he past he asked if I needed anything, but I was fine. A minute later my rear tubular went flat! So i ended up being stranded on some rolling hills, surrounded by forest in who knows where Ohio. No one was around! The first sign of life I saw in all that time was a police cruiser 1 hour later! I was getting pretty concerned anyone would ever find me out there. I ended up riding the flat tire 5-miles on my $1,500 carbon wheels, hoping I could at least find someone. No dice.

I am being told I can start tomorrows race because an official was taking numbers of riders a few miles before I flatted, which means I might just get a bunch of time added to my GC position.... BUT I am not 100% sure if I will be even racing tomorrow.

Mike and Dan had good rides. Mike was the best finishers, placing in the top 20 we think.

all for now, I'm out.

T

Tour of Ohio Stage 1

Hey Folks,


I am going to make this short and sweet, as it is late, I am tired and have to get up early tomorrow for the Stage 2, 70-mile road race....

Todays stage was insane!

Picture this:

70 riders on a .5 mile loop. One roundabout, 4 narly 90-degree right hand turns (one of which went onto a very sketchey brick road.

From the gun, it was single file. Riders were lined out pretty much the length of (at least) half the course. My legs felt good, and I started to move up a lot.... I was despritly trying to get up to the front, but riders were popping left and right. Eventually the officials pulled almost half the field, even though were were only around 100 meters... from the leaders..

At one point, I went through one turn REALLY fast and almost went over the hay bails! Gabe also made a dramatic save on the same corner. Sketch Fest!

Only Gabe and Mike finished.

This was actually a "proulouge". Basically, it sets up what the general classification will be like starting tomorrow. Everyone who was pulled from the race got the same time as the finishers. The top 3 finishers today only got some time bonuses....

At the race representing Team Alliance are:

Mike Miller, Dan Wilson, Zac Felpel, Gabe Lloyd, myself, and Greg Lovell.

Greg Lovell is a Super sprinter from Belize. He will be racing with us for the summer. This kid is fast! He was a bit dissapointed with how today went, but he is not used to short, technical crits here in America. Right now he is blasting some strange reggae music in the room next to me. We are staying at some really sweet dorms here at Denison University and Grainsville, Ohio.

Tomorrow will be a nice road race, with a 1-mile climb to the finish.

Thats all for now

TG

Update

What's up?


It's been a while since Belize. A few people have told me that they have been checking out the blog that I never update. So since there are some people reading this thing i'll update...

So far the season has had it's ups and downs. That's bike racing though, nothing to get bent out of shape over... The first real races of the season (A few races in New Jersey, Lower Providence, Ephrata, ect ect) have been a big learning experience for our team. We are learning how to work together and utilize each others strength. The biggest thing I have learned about myself is that I need to be more attentive and aggressive. I guess by nature I am just a laid back, nice guy. I tend to let other rider move in front of me and I don't take the opportunities to make more things happen in races. I am trying to improve on both of these things. Basically I have the engine, I just need the driver....

This past weekend I hope was a bit of a break through for me.

At the Turkey Hill Classic, I got into a 15 man break on the second lap. It turned out to be the winning move. I was with the break for around 65-miles. I felt great and didn't miss many pulls... Unfortunately I cramped up really bad with 2 laps to go and lost contact with the break, which was down to 9 guys by then... It was a bummer! My teammate Dan Wilson, was with me in the break and stayed with it till the end, and got 3rd in the sprint. Overall I felt like I was working pretty hard in the break. Maybe a bit too hard.

The next day in Philly was the memorial hall crit. The team did a great job of controlling the race. I covered a bunch of moves and made it into one break that had the potential to be race winning.... In the end, Mike, Dan and Fred helped get Karl to the front with 2 to go. Karl was the first guy going through the last turn, but was out sprinted in a drag race to the finish.

This weekend I am taking off from racing, but will be back the following week with Union Gove. I hope to do well there. I remember 4-years ago I did this race. It was my first cat 1/2/3 race. There was a break well up the road, and the field had already given up hope of pulling it back. I went for it on the last lap and finished solo for 12th place. My heart rate was around 205 bpm for those 3 miles i was away. After I crossed the finish, I threw up. I think I was sick then for 2 or 3 days after... The race has a bit of sentimental value for me now, I guess... Plus it's 4 miles from my house.

That's all for now.

TG

Picture diary from Belize

STAGE 1












Team Presentation


Random Pics

Tour of Belize Stages 5&6 Conclusion

Hey all,



I am doing this post from the philly airport. Sorry I couldn't get online to post about the last 2 stages. Here is the scoup....


STAGE 5


This was the epic stage of this race. If anything was going to change on general clacification, it would happen on this day. From the get go, it was fairly calm in the field. Mike was hurting early in the race and let me know, so that I could take over feeding duties for Gabe and Tony. Mike had to drop out of the race as we reached the first climbs of the day. I was at the back of the pack getting ready to float back into the caravan to the team car for bottles. Little did I know we were reaching the largest climb of the day at the same time. I got stuck behind riders who were getting dropped. Tried to get back into the main field, but not enough gas in the tank. I was bummed I couldnt be there longer to help Gabe and Tony out more, but there was nothing I could do. Gabe and Tony rocked all day long and stayed with the field. Gabe finished in the top 20 and Tony in the top 30. The roads on this stage were REALLY bad. Every single joint in my hands, and every muscle in my arms were soar after the race from all the jarring. As you rode, every bump sapped that much more energy out of your legs. It was a very long 182km! I finished with a group of about 30 behind the main field. Gabe and Tony are riding strong!

Stage 6

Final day! I felt relief that we were finally on the last leg of this race. Each morning became more and more difficult to get up in the morning. Gabe crashed 2 times already and had soar ribs and hips. He was barley getting out of bed! It was down to just 3 of use now. Gabe, Tony and myself. All I wanted to do today was help out Gabe as much as I could and make sure that he had bottle so he could get to the finish and secure his place in GC. Mike was in the team car in the caravan behind. On the race radio he said "90-miles and you will have completed your first ever UCI stage race". That game me a lot of motivation. A UCI stage race... WOW. I stuck around Gabe at the front most of the way through the race, getting him and Tony bottles. As we reached very long stretch of road that is notorious of strong cross winds, the USA national team went to the front and throttled it. 30+mph into a cross wind and the field totally shattered. I knew this was going to happen, so I stayed towards the front, but I guess I was not up far enough, because riders started to pop in front of me, and before I knew it I was moving backwards away from the leaders. Tony missed it was well, so we rode in a group together. Gabe, being the stud he is, stayed with the leaders all the way! He crashed again (3rd time!) going into Belize city. He quickly chased back on the finished with the field. Unbelievable. Great Job Gabe! He finished just outside of the top ten on GC. A great result for sure! The bad news, is the money he won will have to go towards fines that the team owes for not using the proper prosedure during feeding in the early stages. This was purely missunderstanding of the UCI rules on our part. Oh well, that'll happen. 150 swiss franks.

So that's is! My first UCI stage race complete! 800km of racing. Counting the miles we rode before the race started, I put in a little over 700 miles this week. I think a little relaxation is on order right now.

Thanks for the support, and for reading!

Alliance is going to rock this season!

best,

TG

Stage 4

Hey folks,


Today was stage 4 of the tour. 140km. We were all pretty beat as we went through sign in. Gabe's back and ribs are really soar, and Dan has been hurling most of last night. We think it is because of the heat. Dan still started today anyway.

The race was really fast right from the gun. Most of us figured guys would be tired from the previous days, but we were Way wrong. Heading away from the city, we were moving along at 38mph. Tecos was controlling the front, trying to prevent an breaks. About 30km into the race, the USA national team moved to the front and totally drilled it into the cross wind, and shattered the field. I was too far back, and got stuck in a smal group. Guy were getting droped left and rght, leaving huge gaps. I chased HARD to close gaps. Myself and a rider from Tecos did almost all the work, as maybe 30 or more guys sat on our wheels. It was pretty frustrating. We ended up pulling at 25-30mph for at least 40km and were getting close to the caravan behind the lead group. But the lack of cooperation in our group doomed us, and we ended up never catching them. Mike, Gabe and Tony were up there, tearing it up. Gabe and Tony ended up in the top 20, and Mike close behind. Dan and Joe had to drop out of the race early on. There was on hill on the course called "Cement Hill". Yes, it is cement and also really steep, very similar to manyunk wall, but maybe 1/4 of the length. What made it harder, was that before you hit it, you go threw a one lane metal bridge, and then make a hard 90degree left turn onto it. Tomarrow will be going DOWN cement hill, making a hard right, and going threw the metal bridge from the other way. That should be interesting. 182km tomorrow, in what I am told it the Queen stage of this race. The roads will be the worse so far, with some hills thrown in. It will be a tough one indeed!

Shefield has us at a unbelievable resort right now for the next 2 days. I ahve never seen anything like this. It looks like it is right out of MTV crips. A dissapearing adge pool, each room is seperated into huts, coconut trees everywhere, a few exoctic birds, a menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner ect ect. This evening, we went out to eat in town, and then went to check out the Mian runis. That was an awesome sight! Being able to enjoy this incredible country, eat good food and not think about the race really helped us all out big time. I hope to be strong enough tomorrow to stick with Gabe and do what I can in helping him out. My legs are feeling surprisingly good, and I really do not feel nearly as soar as yesterday.

that's all for now. Ciao!

Big Belize Update

Hello all,


Forgive me for the lack of posts to date. Getting internet has been really sporatic. I decided to just type up my blog on a Word document, and paste it on here when I had a chance. So today is your lucky day! Sorry for misspelled words and no pics. I have a ton on my camera, but no time to upload them (yet, Also, sorry for possibly incohearent rambling, it was all done in the little time I had had between racing, packing for other hotels, ect ect...


I love this place!....


Sunday Feb 10th, 11th, 12th
I am in Belize!
I arrived on Sunday at around 1pm with Mike Miller and Dave Brown. Dave and his friend Bo, who came later this evening, will be helping with the fliming as well. Dave has a very, very expensice Hi-Def camera and is planning on shooting at least 40hrs of content, and making a 1hr documentary.

Shefield Eck is our team manager and guide during the tour. He picked us up at the airport and took us to our hotel. Shefield is a great guy, incredibly friendly and an awesome host! He is a die hard cycling enthusiast, so he is just as pumped as we are for the race.

What do I think of Belize? Umm… Honestly I do not even know where to begin. I love it. After getting 2hrs of sleep in the past 48hrs, I was exhausted but as soon as we got off the plane and it was 85 degrees and sunny, the exhaustion seemed to just disappear and I could not wait to get on my bike!

I will say that I was nervous seeing the condition of the roads. Very bumpy, lots of pot holes and ruts. Mike and I met up with Tony Taylor, who will be riding with us for the tour, and went for a 30mile ride. The roads here are flat and go for miles and miles. The people are really freinly. I have never seen anything like this place in my entire life. It is just complete culture shock. What makes it easier, is the fact that English is the primarly language here, and Beleizian dollars are in a 2-1 ratio with the US dollar, and most places accept US cash. This makes life much easier.

11th

Mike and I met up with Tony at 7am for a another ride. The idea is to ride early and beat the heat! We rode over the team time trial course. We ended up with about 60miles until Mike and I go back to the hotel. Mike, Bo, Dave and I went out then to check out the ocean and take some pictures.

The rest of the guys arrived today at around 3pm. Dan Wilson, Gabe Lloyd, Joe Witman, and Joes girlfriend and team helper, Dana Cumo. They quickly got their bikes ready, and we all went out for a 20mile ride. It ended up getting dark faster than we had expected, so we ended up stuck 10miles out, on a main road (and the drivers here like to go fast!) with out much visibility. Out of no where a random motorist puts his four-ways on and stayed behind us, all the way back into the city. This is definitely the national sport!

12th

Busy, Busy, Busy day before the race!
Went out and rode around 45miles, practiced doing some different kinds of pacelines on the TTT course to see what would be the most effective. After that, we went out to eat and then immediately had to go to sign in. We were going to do some snorkeling, but no time, no dice. We then ran back to the hotel, picked up out jerseys and bikes and headed back a few blocks to the team presentation. After done with that, we got back to the hotel and found out that we had to pack up our stuff for Wednesday. Shefield booked us rooms at the end of the first stage. Since it is 200km away from where we are now, and Thursdays stage starts from there, we would spend most of the day traveling back and forth. And we still needed to fill our bottles, clean our bikes, and work out the other logistics like radios, feeds, ect ect. Luckly Jackass 2 was on just as we were finishing, so Mike and I were able to have a little comic relief and the end of a very long day.

13th (morning before race)

Today will be the first stage. 198km. Dana informed us that Joe has been up from 1am-5am throwing up. Right now he is trying to get at least some rest. Hopefully he will be a able to get through today…

STAGE 1

A LOT can happen in a 198km bike race. Especially when the distance is misjudged by the organisers, making it more like 200+km (135miles).

At the beginning, there was attack after attack. Our boy Joe, being sick as a dog, ends up getting into the first big break of the way. Being the trooper he is, he stuck in there for at least 80km, and at one point had an 8+ minute gap on the main field. It was pretty increadable. Gabe was able to bridge with some other riders and combine with the break already up the road. Very good timing, as Joe was hurting and had to drop out of the break, but Gabe was able to make it up there and get our jersey represented. Gabe ended up staying with that 22-man break and suffer till the bitter end. His seat even dropped down, had to get that fixed, had 2 wheel changes, and had to take extra long pulls because he was the only loner in the break. All other team had at least 2 guys in the break. Back in the field, Mike went for it with about 50k to go, and stayed away with a small group of guys. Dan broke away too, passed Mikes group, and almost caught the lead break! As for me, I hung around Joe for a while to make sure he was alright. I was constantly looking down at my odometer, watching the miles tick away, waiting until at least 5 miles to go, and try to get away from the field. 115 miles into the race, and with 3 of our guys up the road, I attacked 4 or 5 times. Finally I was able to ride away from the field, and drug a few guys from Tecos and Santagos with me. I even let a guy have one of my bottles, as I figured I wouldn’t need it. Heck, all I had to do was suffer the last 5 miles and get to the finish. WRONG. Ends up there was at least 15miles until the finish. I suffered like a dog trying to keep the pace up. Eventually 10 more guys bridges up to my group, incuding the yellow jersey of Marlin Castillo. 125 miles, I was absolutely toast. I had to drop out of my group and hope the field would not catch me. The last 5-10 miles were the longest of my life. I was getting chills, and struggles to stay at 20mph, and watching at small groups caught and past me. Joe eventually caught up to me, and we rode into the finish together, just a few seconds ahead of what was rest of the field. I was increadably exaushed after that ordeal. I lost at least 10 lbs of water weight. Completely drainded. Needless to say, it was an epic day for sure. There you have it, stage 1. 5 more to go.

Stage 2

When I woke up today, I was pretty soar. Not just my legs, but my hands. Every joints in my hand ached from the constant and unforgiving vibrations of the roads here. I also was really starting to get some nice saddle soars. Today is also our double stage day. 105km back to Belize City, and then a 40k Team Time Trial in the evening. Stage 2 was pretty crazy. Tecos, who had one of their riders in yello stayed at the front and controlled the field. It was fast right from the start. We were going at least 27-30mph for the first 20km, until team started to realize that nothing was going to stick. Gabe and Dan crashed right in front of me. It was a freak thing, we were not going very fast, apparently a USA u23 rider hit a rut and went onto Dan, taking him, Gabe and a few other out. Mike and I waited to Dan, then eventually Gabe emerged from the caravan. Gabe was the worst off with road rash on his back, and side, and some mechanical stuff done on the side of the road. We road all out for about 10-15min and caught the field. From there, we just sat in and tried to stay out of trouble. We need to just get through this stage in one piece! Luckly, that is what happened, and the field stayed together and ended in a bunch sprint, which everyone crossing together.

Stage 3
Team Time Trial. I was really eausted from our stages so far. As I write this, I am laying on my Hotel bed It has been the first time I have been able to sit down and relax since 5:30am this morning. It is 10pm right now. The racing is one thing, but traveling from hotel to hotel, cleaning my bike, packing, getting food, eating, makes for a very, very busy day! Back to stage 3. Going into the TT, I was not really expecting much out of myself personally. We only had 6 guys, while most of the other powerhouse teams had 9, along with the full TT getup, and full support crews. We stared the TTT pretty fast, doing a double paseline, each guy pulling through, one after another, short pulls. At first I was hurting, and was not sure how long I was going to hang in there. We needed 4 guys to get to the finish together for a final time. Going out on the course, it was all headwind. Totally brutal. Very, very painful. All of us were on the rivet, trying to keep the speed at 28+mph. Dan threw up right in front of me, and soon after had to drop off. After we got to the turn around, we had the tailwind, but that dosent mean things get easier. It just gets faster. Mortoring along, taking pulls at 32mph. with around 10k to go, Joe popped and fell off. This brough us down to Mike, me, Tony, and Gabe. We had to stay together from there on out. We suffered like dogs and made it to the finish in 56:30. Avg speed around 27+mph. It was probably the most intense suffering I have experience on the bike…..hmmm… I guess since yesterdays 130mile killer, LOL…. My glutes hurt like crazy after the TTT was over! I have not been leaned over a bike in that position, while riding at that intensity, for a long time, if ever. I was afraid I might have strained something, because I could barely get off my bike afterwards, or even bend down to tie my shoes. Luckly, things are feeling better after I was able to get some stretching in. Hopefully by tomarrow morning I will healed enough to be somewhat comfortable on the bike. Overall I surprised myself in the TTT and we were able to still get in a descent time, given the number of guys we have, and the fact that 2 crashed earlier in the day, and the other is getting over a stomach bug. I am exhausted. Time for bed, and then we have 140km tomarrow from Belize City, to the Guatemalin border. Thanks for reading! And yes, I am having the time of my life. Even with all the suffering! That’s what it’s all about .