Travis Burandt and I took the plunge and drove to Burlington, NJ to race the Giro Di Jersey last week. The race was a 5 day stage race: Crit, Road Race, Time Trial, Road Race, & Circuit/Crit.
We left last Monday around 6am, I think it was more like 6:30 or 7 by the time we left. We were trying to get the bike racks working properly. As you read, we had problems down the road...
After a few arguments on which way we were going, when I say arguments, I mean with the Garmin Nuvi...Travis always insisted the Garmin was ALWAYS right...lol
Travis took the first drive shift. We traded off each gas tank, which is pretty difficult considering the VW got an average of 350-450 miles per tank and 30-35mpg...Lots of time before you stop again. Also, Travis and I were dehydrating ourselves to cancel out all the unnecessary stops =) Definitely not recommended.
Our first stop was somewhere near border of Louisiana and Mississippi. It was time for lunch, so we chowed down on some delicious tortellini pasta salad that Travis' mom made us...It was amazing! Thank you Travis' Mom!
As we started to eat our pasta, we had the sunroof open and I look up to see my Cervelo P3 time trial bike sliding off the bike rack on the roof of the car!! We pull over to fix the problem...Thule has this crappy design that wouldn't tighten enough to hold the bike rails on. We grabbed a bunji cord from the trunk and strapped it down. The journey continued, but with eyes up on the bikes the whole time...
The first day of driving we made it to Knoxville, TN. We make a phone call to KB to book a hotel for the night. Thanks KB!
Just as we arrive outside of Knoxville, we hit a parking lot of traffic at 10:30 at night!! Apparently they like to work on the freeways at night in TN.
The next morning, we woke up to get a easy hour ride in before we hit the road again. We didn't want the legs to stiffen up before a 5 day stage race. We went on a nice ride along some river, it was beautiful out there! We came across a pack of Labrador retrievers, which were definitely sprinters and not climbers...they were chasing us up a hill. We managed to get away with no injuries. We took a few photos along the way to keep the fans updated back home.
We made the return back to the hotel, only to come across the same pack of labs...they were on the hunt this time! This time we were going downhill, so we had them beat from the gun! Nice try Doggies!
We were on our way! Next stop, Burlington, NJ! We still had about 10-11hrs in today's drive.
We were drafting behind a trucker in Virginia somewhere, only to find him swerving to try and shake us off his tail...So as we're passing him, he flipped us the bird, and gave us some words of wisdom...haha...At that point, I thought he was for sure going to murder us at the next rest stop...I saw it in a movie once!
The day was narrowing down, so we made a nice stop at Macaroni Grill to fuel up with Carbs. We drew some nice photos and posted them for our twitter fans. It was us driving along...then a Dinosaur came out of no where!....then he ate us....the end
We finally made it to Burlington, NJ at the Promoters house, Tom and Erin Licker, with Red and Teddy the dogs. We survived the journey there!
Next up...Giro Di Jersey!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Racing Rapides - Alexandria, LA Day 2
Day 2 - Criterium
My legs felt kind of roasted from the solo bridging I attempted from yesterday. I had to help Travis win this Race! Time to suck it up! Travis had to win and Matt Davis had to get 3rd in order for Travis to win the Overall.
The Crit was only 60 minutes, so Travis and I decided to go from the gun and try and lap the field...Whistle blows, Travis is practically already in the first corner before I get clipped in!! haha
We hammer it for atleast 5 laps and just schredding the field! Travis and I have about a 30 second gap on the chase group of 8 guys with the pack 30 seconds behind following. After about 5 laps we were caught and everyone shut it down to 17mph...It was quite sad...
The race turned out to be a game of cat and mouse with WCC and LA'Sport...They had 6-7 guys, we had 2.5...I say 2.5 because Craig was only able to help pull a break back one time...Thanks Craig! Shawn and Eric dropped after the first 3 laps. They road hard.
Russ went on a solo flier with 10 minutes to go. He was half a lap up on the field...no one went with him...sad...With 2 laps to go, Kris French goes on a solo flier to try and get away from the field. We see Russ flatted with 2 laps to go...Sad for LA'Sport, now they have to pull Kris back.
Only one of there guys pulls and can't reel in Kris. I take over with 1 lap to go and Travis is on my wheel. I pulled Travis all the way to the end and we barely miss Kris at the line.
Results:
1st - Kris French
2nd - Matt Davis
3rd - Travis Burandt
4th - Ronnie Strange
Travis doesn't get the overall win. Tragic...Great weekend though
Overall Omnium:
1st - Matt Davis 55
2nd - Travis Burandt 45
3rd - Kris French 41
4th - Ronnie Strange 31
Thanks to the Promoter, Volunteers, and Officials for putting this event on. It was awesome!
I'm not sure what's to come...June seems to be a very slow month in racing.
My legs felt kind of roasted from the solo bridging I attempted from yesterday. I had to help Travis win this Race! Time to suck it up! Travis had to win and Matt Davis had to get 3rd in order for Travis to win the Overall.
The Crit was only 60 minutes, so Travis and I decided to go from the gun and try and lap the field...Whistle blows, Travis is practically already in the first corner before I get clipped in!! haha
We hammer it for atleast 5 laps and just schredding the field! Travis and I have about a 30 second gap on the chase group of 8 guys with the pack 30 seconds behind following. After about 5 laps we were caught and everyone shut it down to 17mph...It was quite sad...
The race turned out to be a game of cat and mouse with WCC and LA'Sport...They had 6-7 guys, we had 2.5...I say 2.5 because Craig was only able to help pull a break back one time...Thanks Craig! Shawn and Eric dropped after the first 3 laps. They road hard.
Russ went on a solo flier with 10 minutes to go. He was half a lap up on the field...no one went with him...sad...With 2 laps to go, Kris French goes on a solo flier to try and get away from the field. We see Russ flatted with 2 laps to go...Sad for LA'Sport, now they have to pull Kris back.
Only one of there guys pulls and can't reel in Kris. I take over with 1 lap to go and Travis is on my wheel. I pulled Travis all the way to the end and we barely miss Kris at the line.
Results:
1st - Kris French
2nd - Matt Davis
3rd - Travis Burandt
4th - Ronnie Strange
Travis doesn't get the overall win. Tragic...Great weekend though
Overall Omnium:
1st - Matt Davis 55
2nd - Travis Burandt 45
3rd - Kris French 41
4th - Ronnie Strange 31
Thanks to the Promoter, Volunteers, and Officials for putting this event on. It was awesome!
I'm not sure what's to come...June seems to be a very slow month in racing.
Racing Rapides - Alexandria, LA
I went over to the Racing Rapides with the Woodlands Cycling Club Team - Shawn Harris, Eric Pendland, Craig Fitzgerald, and Travis Burandt. I have to say first, the WCC Team is a great group of guys! The whole weekend was a blast! I want to thank the Master Racers, Shawn, Eric, and Craig for putting themselves out there to help out Travis and I in this race. "Have you called your mother?" haha joke of the weekend
Day 1 - Time Trial and Road Race
We started off the day thinking our hotel had continental breakfast, only to find out it was $8 and the buffet was crap...So we decided to hit up IHOP.
We arrived at the race sight around 8:35 and our start time was 9:25...We still needed to unload the trailer full of bikes, get dressed, get pinned, etc...Panic mode!!
I was able to get about a 10 min warm up for the 3 mile time trial, which went pretty good considering the warm up.
Results:
1st - Matt Davis 6:02
2nd - Travis Burandt 6:09
3rd - Ronnie Strange 6:15
Road Race:
Travis and I planned to both get a breakaway and take 1/2, but it never works out that way. Russ "Big Daddy" Walker went off the front on the first lap and built up a 1-2 min gap on the pack. On the 2nd lap, I attacked to start a break, then Travis attacked...I followed others, but a gap was formed at the hill climb. I was cursing myself because I should have made the break...
I tried to bridge across after the hills, but only to pull others with me, so I shut it down. I waited and the pace slowed to a 18mph pace...the gap got bigger and bigger...We approached the feed zone and I grabbed my feed and accelerated to 30mph to try and bridge across.
I noticed a LASport guy and S3 guy were on my wheel, the LASport guy wouldn't work, so I dropped the hammer and dropped both of those guys. I ended up solo for 3 laps trying to bridge up to the breakaway...No dice...I was 2 minutes behind the break, and 2 minutes in front of the pack...What do you do?
I kept on trucking and finished 7th overall by myself. Travis was 2nd.
Omnium Standing after Day 1:
Matt Davis
Travis Burandt
Tracy Martin
Ronnie Strange
Kris French
Tomorrow is the Criterium
Day 1 - Time Trial and Road Race
We started off the day thinking our hotel had continental breakfast, only to find out it was $8 and the buffet was crap...So we decided to hit up IHOP.
We arrived at the race sight around 8:35 and our start time was 9:25...We still needed to unload the trailer full of bikes, get dressed, get pinned, etc...Panic mode!!
I was able to get about a 10 min warm up for the 3 mile time trial, which went pretty good considering the warm up.
Results:
1st - Matt Davis 6:02
2nd - Travis Burandt 6:09
3rd - Ronnie Strange 6:15
Road Race:
Travis and I planned to both get a breakaway and take 1/2, but it never works out that way. Russ "Big Daddy" Walker went off the front on the first lap and built up a 1-2 min gap on the pack. On the 2nd lap, I attacked to start a break, then Travis attacked...I followed others, but a gap was formed at the hill climb. I was cursing myself because I should have made the break...
I tried to bridge across after the hills, but only to pull others with me, so I shut it down. I waited and the pace slowed to a 18mph pace...the gap got bigger and bigger...We approached the feed zone and I grabbed my feed and accelerated to 30mph to try and bridge across.
I noticed a LASport guy and S3 guy were on my wheel, the LASport guy wouldn't work, so I dropped the hammer and dropped both of those guys. I ended up solo for 3 laps trying to bridge up to the breakaway...No dice...I was 2 minutes behind the break, and 2 minutes in front of the pack...What do you do?
I kept on trucking and finished 7th overall by myself. Travis was 2nd.
Omnium Standing after Day 1:
Matt Davis
Travis Burandt
Tracy Martin
Ronnie Strange
Kris French
Tomorrow is the Criterium
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Texas State Crit Championships 2009
It seems like yesterday I was typing about the samething. As you can see from the photo, that was the 2008 State Crit Championships. I will be changing it soon.
It was a blistering day in Fort Worth, TX, as usual...Everyone decided they wanted to line up right as the Cat 3's finished, which was 15 minutes before the race actually started.
I kept rolling around and trying to stay warm. I chatted with the coach for a bit and started about mid-pack. As we were waiting for the call outs, Veggeburg (MS?), decides to start up, "lost that Lovin' Feeling" song...It was hilarious, just about everyone in the back joined in singing. Thanks Veggie, great icebreaker!
The race started off pretty quick as usual. Stefan Rothe went off the front solo for just about 20-30 or maybe longer, I couldn't remember. He racked in just about every Prime possible!! Great job Rothe!
He was finally pulled in and then TX Tough took over the front till attacks went off one by one. Carlos was in a break, it was pulled back, heath was in a break, pulled back.
With 5 laps to go, there was a 2 man break and Heath, the Motor, pulled that break back, another VW guy went off the front, Heath pulled him back with 4 laps to go...Then another VW guy went off the front and the Heath pulled him back too!!
Heath Blackgrove pulled back 3 different attacks with 5 laps to go and finally pulls off just before the last turn and yells, go Ronnie! I took off sprinting to lead Carlos out and I dive in to the last corner, but Chad Cagle cut me on the inside and I had to brake!!
Carlos was right next to him, so I was stoked! I just followed those two in and Carlos threw his bike just a bit further than Cagle and took the Texas State Crit Championship Win!! I finished 3rd. Not bad after a lead out!
1st Carlos Vargas
2nd Chad Cagle
3rd Ronnie Strange
4th Bryan Fawley
5th Kevin Kremke
Thanks again to all the promoters, volunteers, and officials!!
It was a blistering day in Fort Worth, TX, as usual...Everyone decided they wanted to line up right as the Cat 3's finished, which was 15 minutes before the race actually started.
I kept rolling around and trying to stay warm. I chatted with the coach for a bit and started about mid-pack. As we were waiting for the call outs, Veggeburg (MS?), decides to start up, "lost that Lovin' Feeling" song...It was hilarious, just about everyone in the back joined in singing. Thanks Veggie, great icebreaker!
The race started off pretty quick as usual. Stefan Rothe went off the front solo for just about 20-30 or maybe longer, I couldn't remember. He racked in just about every Prime possible!! Great job Rothe!
He was finally pulled in and then TX Tough took over the front till attacks went off one by one. Carlos was in a break, it was pulled back, heath was in a break, pulled back.
With 5 laps to go, there was a 2 man break and Heath, the Motor, pulled that break back, another VW guy went off the front, Heath pulled him back with 4 laps to go...Then another VW guy went off the front and the Heath pulled him back too!!
Heath Blackgrove pulled back 3 different attacks with 5 laps to go and finally pulls off just before the last turn and yells, go Ronnie! I took off sprinting to lead Carlos out and I dive in to the last corner, but Chad Cagle cut me on the inside and I had to brake!!
Carlos was right next to him, so I was stoked! I just followed those two in and Carlos threw his bike just a bit further than Cagle and took the Texas State Crit Championship Win!! I finished 3rd. Not bad after a lead out!
1st Carlos Vargas
2nd Chad Cagle
3rd Ronnie Strange
4th Bryan Fawley
5th Kevin Kremke
Thanks again to all the promoters, volunteers, and officials!!
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Texas State Criterium Weekend Day 1/2
I drove up to Dallas on Friday to enjoy a wonderful weekend with Momma Karen and the Ray family. They are truely amazing and I just want to thank you for everything Momma Karen does for cyclist!!
Day 1:
The first was Saturday and I decided to sit this one out. I was scoping out the competition to see who was wearing themselves down for the State Crit =P The key riders I saw who was riding strong was Craddock and Sol Frost. I think Europe is really paying off for Craddock, the kid is going to be pro in no time at all!
Dave Wenger took the win with his usual attack at the end and everyone let him go. My teammate for the weekend, Carlos Vargos finished 3rd.
Day 2:
This was the GS Tenzing Crit and it loops around a college near the Superdrome in Frisco. This course is pretty wide open with some nasty cross or headwinds.
I joined Barry Lee, Heath Blackgrove, and Carlos Vargas for the State Crit weekend on the Hotel San Jose Team. These guys are a great group of guys. About halfway through the race I noticed my tire was hoping in the corners...I thought I ran over a thumb tack or something and it was just stuck in there.
Heath got in to a 3 man breakaway with Ian Dille and Mitch Comardo. Heath rode away with the win, Carlos was 4th and I finished 15th. After the race I noticed my tire had a 'S' curve in the tire...I've never really seen that in a Continental 4000s tire...I was pretty disappointed with it. I should have won the pack sprint. Matrix Team had a pretty awesome train going, but no cigar.
State Crit Championship was the following day...
Day 1:
The first was Saturday and I decided to sit this one out. I was scoping out the competition to see who was wearing themselves down for the State Crit =P The key riders I saw who was riding strong was Craddock and Sol Frost. I think Europe is really paying off for Craddock, the kid is going to be pro in no time at all!
Dave Wenger took the win with his usual attack at the end and everyone let him go. My teammate for the weekend, Carlos Vargos finished 3rd.
Day 2:
This was the GS Tenzing Crit and it loops around a college near the Superdrome in Frisco. This course is pretty wide open with some nasty cross or headwinds.
I joined Barry Lee, Heath Blackgrove, and Carlos Vargas for the State Crit weekend on the Hotel San Jose Team. These guys are a great group of guys. About halfway through the race I noticed my tire was hoping in the corners...I thought I ran over a thumb tack or something and it was just stuck in there.
Heath got in to a 3 man breakaway with Ian Dille and Mitch Comardo. Heath rode away with the win, Carlos was 4th and I finished 15th. After the race I noticed my tire had a 'S' curve in the tire...I've never really seen that in a Continental 4000s tire...I was pretty disappointed with it. I should have won the pack sprint. Matrix Team had a pretty awesome train going, but no cigar.
State Crit Championship was the following day...
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