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| Velonews |
| 04.12.05 (10:15 am) |
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Hi all, I am not sure if anyone still reads this... but pass this one around. As you may or may not know I am trying to get an editorial position at Velonews (tech editor). I have been writing quite a bit for the mag. But I have been having some trouble convincing them to give me the job. So if you pick it up look for the pieces I have written, then if you like them let someone at velonews know. Thanks, Paco
editor at velonews - vnedit@insideinc.com
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| 'Cross nats: One racer's recollections |
| 12.17.04 (6:39 am) |
'Cross nats: One racer's recollections
By Matt Pacocha
Tokyo Joe’s Professional Cycling Team
This report filed December 15, 2004
"That'll work," I told Keith Novello about an hour before the start of the elite men's race at the U.S. Cyclo-cross National Championships this past weekend in Portland, Oregon.
I was referring to his $7000 Moots Psychlo-X cyclo-cross bike, which I had just taken for a 45-second spin. He asked whether the seat height needed adjusting, and I said, "Nah, it'll do," drawing a chuckle from him in response.
"Now I have to ride fast," I said. Keith replied, "Don't worry, man, it's all gravy after this morning."
Keith, the owner of Red Rocks Velo in Morrison, Colorado, is one of the biggest 'cross fanatics I know, plus one of my biggest supporters. And he gets pretty fired up when one of his friends rides a bike fast. So after I won the single-speed 'cross national championships earlier in the day, Keith got busy.
Within 45 minutes he had rounded up a second Moots for a spare. It was unbelievable - I went from a steel single-speed not worth more than $700 to a pair of bikes worth close to $13,000. And within six hours of my win in the single-speed division, I started my warm-up on one of the nicest bikes I have ever had the opportunity to throw a leg over.
8 a.m. Sunday, December 12
I left the hotel in the dark. It had definitely been a while since I had watched the sunrise while warming up. I probably would have to think all the way back to my days as a junior to remember an earlier warm-up.
After the previous day's masters and U23 races degenerated into footraces, the organizers decided to re-route the course around the muddiest parts. With the mud shin-deep in many places I was quite happy to have a fresh swath of grass to pedal on.
After my brief but effective warm-up I found a spot on the front line and waited for the start of the single-speed championship. I was surprised at the turnout - there were 75 yahoos out at 8 a.m. for a single-speed race, which was pretty cool in my opinion. At the gun we raced towards the finish line, 200 or so meters away. The first rider to the line got a bottle of Oregon's finest red (wine, that is), and luckily I made it there first.
After taking the prime, I was able to settle into an almost comfortable pace behind Jamie Driscoll (Richard Sachs), an under-23 powerhouse. He got me up against the ropes a couple times, riding sections of the course that I didn't have the power to make. But I had been racing single-speeds throughout the season back in my hometown of Boulder, Colorado, and I knew that if you didn't watch your efforts in the early parts of the race, they could come back and bite you. So I rode my own pace and tried my hardest to keep things smooth while getting a chuckle from the announcers butchering my name and playing with my nickname - the best version was "Paco Taco" or something to that effect.
After passing Jamie on foot while he was riding I was able to take the lead and run with it. In the end Jamie's early efforts, and those from the previous night's U-23 race, proved to be his undoing, and I was able to ride a solid race, finishing with a comfortable lead and taking a pretty cool win. I collected my spoils, a sixer and bottle of wine, threw my arms up on the podium and enjoyed it.
Then it was back to the hotel for a six-hour break until the elite race - woo hoo, number two - plus some super-fanning for the junior race and the Boulder juniors, Brady Kappius, Adam McGrath, Peter Stetnia and Alex Howes.
2 p.m.: T-minus 1 hour until the big show
I just acquired two very expensive Moots 'cross bikes. Believe it or not, they were lighter than my one-speed; pretty impressive. I already had Keith in my corner throwing elbows to all the guys lining up an hour before the start to sit on trainers. I elected to warm up on the roads, which were a little less claustrophobic.
Just before the start, as Ryan Trebon was called up to the line, a couple of young ladies marched up and dropped trou' to expose the letters T-R-E-E-F-A-R-M written on their undies. I missed it - what a gyp - but luckily I got filled in after the race.
The start was crazy, almost like a kermesse in Belgium, and I was way back, frantically fighting my way from the 60s up to the low 20s. I was running on adrenaline and the crowds - it was very cool, and very loud. It is an awesome feeling when the antics and craziness from the fans flow over the race; it helps you ride faster and harder.
I had a great first 45 minutes, but as the race wore on I cracked. The lack of recovery from the morning races coupled with the adrenaline-fueled start left me empty and contemplating dropping out in the pit on the last lap with less than five minutes left to race. It was one of those high-quality bonks that I've only had a few times in my entire racing career.
After the race I ate almost a whole tray of salami at the TIAA-CREF trailer, one of those bonk-induced pig-outs, washing it down with a nice local brew, Black Butte Porter from Deschutes Brewery in Bend. Then the Boulder crew hit the Burrito House by the Best Western - it was the third time in as many days Frank Mapel and I ate there. The meal was followed by an evening of debauchery to end the cycling season; that story will be withheld to protect the guilty, which was pretty much everyone. I will say that it was fun.
So what do you think? Maybe you should come to cyclo-cross nationals next year. The racing is good fun and your efforts give you an awful good reason to throw down and get down with some of the big names in the sport.
Matt Pacocha is a pro cyclist for the Tokyo Joe's Professional Cycling Team who doesn't get paid, and is thankful that on this double-day he didn't have to shower in some Belgian elementary school between races. You can find him working the front desk at VeloNews, making sure no one runs out of copier paper or staples.
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| Help Support the Future of Our Sport |
| 11.30.04 (7:27 am) |
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Hi everyone,
I am passing this Pay Pal link along. If you click on it you can make a donation to Brady Kappius for his two trips to Europe this winter. He will be racing 2 world cups and possibly the world championships. My only request is that if you do decide to make a donation that you also save some for my former team mechanic Adam McGrath aka- NEWT who will also be making the same two trips, I will have payment info up for Adam asap. These trips will be experiances of a lifetime for these kids and if you are on the fence about sending them some dough, I will highly encourage it, and know that each will apreciate the donation and put it to great use. click on the box.
Here is Brady in his own words-
Dear Friends and Family,
In less than a month I will be embarking on a European Cyclo-Cross racing camp. Without a doubt this will be one of the most demanding and worthwhile challenges of my life. I will be spending twelve days racing in Belgium, Holland and other countries, racing against other talented racers from around the world. This will be my first foray into the European racing scene, and it has been one of my goals for many years now. And if I continue to ride well I am hoping to qualify for the US World Championships Team to race in Germany in late January 2005.
Along with the physical and mental training that I have put forth in the past 17 years of my life, there is also a substantial price tag affixed to these trips. I am writing to ask for your support. The costs for these two trips are expected to exceed $5000 and any donation will help me and my parents pay these expenses. I've set up a PayPal account to accept donations, and of course I can accept checks by mail. If you can afford to help support me during this holiday season I would greatly appreciate it.
You can donate by clicking on the PayPal donation link below or you can send a check to me at the address below.
Thank you so much for your support and generosity! If you cannot support me financially at this time, thank you for your encouragement and support during the year and have a wonderful holiday season.
Brady Kappius
Team TIAA-CREF/Clif Bar
10926 West Bowles Place
Littleton, CO 80127
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| From Bernard |
| 11.08.04 (6:45 am) |
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This is a email sent from Bernard Moerman, Director Sportif of the ABC- Cycling Center Cycling Team and founder of the Cycling Center, one of the best options for development for an aspiring American Cyclist. And one hell of an incredible person.
-Paco
“You are an American from Hertsberge huh, I saw you on TV.”
The season 2004 is over, it was long, hard but very good. The results
and the
media-attention made it happen that the people of Hertsberge now talk
about
“Our Armeicans”.
Our riders had very good results in both our own Cycling Center-jersey
and the
US National Team jersey. Those results start inspiring several
Europeans to
join the Cycling Center programs. But…. First things first.
First of all we need to thank all of our sponsors who made this season
as
successful as it was.
XANGO, SAFECO, BIONAL, ING-bank, RUDY PROJECT, LITESPEED, MAXXIS,
COMPEX,
PENTA-travel, Restaurant UYLENSPIEGEL, COMPUTRAINER, CS-ware, FIZIK,
Restaurant HET SCHAAK, ARTSON, BERRY-FLOOR, VOMAC, OVAL CONCEPTS,
SAMDAM,
SAMSONITE, TACX, COCA-COLA, INTERBREW, Volkswagen TAVERNIER and
ALL-EVENTS.
With these sponsors we could start the season after and entire winter
of
rebuilding and remodelling the actual facility in Hertsberge.
The selection of riders we had this year has never been better. The
mentality,
the seriousness and the desire to find their limits was super. Our
racing
program was very hard but from May on, the group started to show big
improvement. From then on we had lots of races where our riders played
a big
role in the end-decision. Lots of top-10 started to come.
But what was even more impressive was the fact that we started to have
several
riders at the same time hitting good form and getting good results.
The positive attitude and the good results of the riders were
recognized by
European riders and coaches as well. This way we build out friendships
with
teams such as Van Hemert (Holland) Credit Agricole (France) and
Cyclingnews.com
(Australia).
The unique approach and the improvement of the riders was noticed by
the
media.
The result was over 30 minutes of Prime-Time TV in Belgium and Holland.
Several major articles appeared in main newspapers and magazines in
Belgium,
Holland, France and the USA. Even Californian Scott Coady came by for
some
extra shots for his new DVD.
Since our TV-appearance the riders became local heroes and are
recognized all
over the country now. Lots of times people come up to our riders
saying: I saw you on TV.
All these good things are resulting in even more ambition to grow to a
higher
level the next years. At this time we are finishing all plans for next
season.
Becoming the ultimate educational experience in cycling is even more
then ever
our goal. Therefore we are building out staff and equipment so that our
selected team can compete with the best.
Our riders are now finishing their rest-period. The time ‘zonder fiets’
(without bike). Now they are all home I want to say thanks for the
season, the
results, the efforts and the friendship.
But before I say “goodbye, see you next season” I need to say THANK YOU
to some
very special people who contributed big time to this years’ success.
Thanks Dr. Dag your guidance, knowledge and drive is incredible
Thanks Barney King for all the help at the training camp and the races,
Thanks Ben Sharp for all the assistance at the races,
Thanks Francis Van Oost for all the massages and good spirit,
Thanks Herman Boyden for all the support
Thanks “Uncle” Gert De Mey for all the help, patience, introductions
and friendship
Thanks Ann, without you there is no Cycling Center
Thank you for visiting and supporting and know that when you are in the
area
and you wear our team out-fit people might come and say:
“I know who you are, You are an American from Hertsberge huh, I saw you
on TV.”
See you next season,
Bernard
=====
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."
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| veloswap pre sale- buy this stuff |
| 10.22.04 (11:42 am) |
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I know it is last minute but I have some stuff I am taking to veloswap if you want any of it leave your email in the comments section.
Devinci Race hardtail 2002, sid sl, ritchey pro/wcs parts, and a sram drivetrain, all in good condition- $700
TNT/ mavic tubular wheelset w/tires- $100
Wound up full carbon cross fork excellent condition-$250 (retails for $500)
Custom Steel Black Sheep cross fork (compair to indyfab)- $100
Bontrager Aero deep dish Carbon wheelset, mich/victoria tires, DA cassette-$750
Koobi ti saddle, brand new- $30
Misc clothing, seats, shoes, all cheap >$15- leave email
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| What a Weekend |
| 10.04.04 (12:51 pm) |
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What a weekend…. Well I survived, but it was a rough one Intergalactics Friday night, TDD Saturday night and Boulder Racing’s first cyclocross series race. Instead of rambling for pages like I usually do I am going for the highlight plan. Top 10 from each event. Here we go.
IGSSC
10. Dougie shut-up!
9. Where’s whit
8. Pioneer Inn- PBR
7. Lord of Magnolia- Emmy award winning Scenery
6. Travis makes up for a ½ hour flat change by smoking the mid ride shotgun race
5. Danimal hit on by highschool freshman
4. Take back Pearl St.
3. Illegal Petes @ 11pm
2. Dubba down for the 9 count (but not out) on the jersey barrier
1. And the number 1, Monkey love aka Stein actually shows up
TOUR DE DEWEY
10. 24oz Shotgun Prologe
9. Wrong attitude- You raced, you crashed , now blame someone else and try to start a fight
8. Vin- youngest TDD participant ever
7. Doping encouraged and accepted among participants
6. Anne please put some clothing on
5. Polish National Team Lead by an on form B. Hludzinski
4. Luke Skywalker in Yellow- Luke use the force
3. “will every one shut up- SHUT UP” promoter headaches
2. Upset in the Crit- spectator takes down CC during a breakaway
1.The Tour De Dewey Anthology- on the west end wall
BOULDER RACING CX 1
10. 7am setup- useless, completely useless
9. Yep I can smell myself and it’s not so good
8. A little dehydrated?
7. Teton- you’re a puss
6. B Hludzinski still on form
5. Good turnout by TDD participants
4. Racing a singlespeed, hungover on 3hours sleep- bad idea
3. Losing 10 places in 3 laps
2. Dubba- sure didn’t drink enough last night, 3rd place
1. we are lucky stein didn’t show up or he might have gone 3 for 3 on these top 10 lists
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| oct 01 2004 |
| 10.01.04 (11:30 am) |
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Pilot transmission: Pluto pilot, 08:30
Friday, October 1
An early morning Intergalactic Single Speed Championships forecast from Happy Valley. Current conditions: 35 degrees, and a light, wet snow is falling. Clothing advice, from top to bottom. Warm wool socks, shoes, booties, leg warmers, bike shorts, wind pants, underlayer long underwear top, wool jersey (or if no wool jersey lots of layers), some sort of water proof top, two pairs of warm gloves, ski cap, helmet. And finally, a warm down ski parka (packable) of some type if you really want to be toasty on the final descent. Or, substitute all this for a big, furry bear suit. Oh, and don't forget the flask.
May the force be with you.
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| igssc 04 2nd release |
| 09.30.04 (12:27 pm) |
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FOR IMEDIATE RELEASE: 9/29/04
IGSSC 04
GALACTIC GALAXY
CONTACT: PLUTO PILOT
>2004 Intergalactic Single Speed Championships
>
>TO ALL WACKY ONES AND THEIR BRETHEN. THE INTERGALACTIC SINGLE SPEED SPACE
>FEDERATION ANNOUNCES TO ALL A FORMAL INVITATION TO THE LARGEST AND MOST
>PRESTIGIOUS SINGLE SPEED EVENT IN THE GALAXY!
>
>YES, IT'S TRUE, THE INTERGALACTIC SINGLE SPEED CHAMPIONSHIPS WILL BE HELD IN
>BOULDER, COLORADO, STARTING AT THE 14TH STREET AND WALNUT STREET BUS STATION
>AT 5:40 PM, ON OCTOBER 1, 2004, IN THE MILKY WAY GALAXY SYSTEM. THIS EVENT
>IS LONGER, DARKER, AND DANKER THAN ANY OTHER IN THE GALAXY
>
>FORGET THE STUPID "WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS" AND SUCH, THEY PALE IN COMPARISION.
>SO THEY HAVE NEDERLAND? DO THEY HAVE CARIBOU? DO THEY HAVE 2 PAC SHAKUR? DO
>THEY HAVE MERIWEATHER? NO THEY DON'T, BUT WE DO. AND WE SHALL TOUR THEM ALL
>AND MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A LOCAL BREW TO HONOR EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM! OH
>YES!
>
>WE WILL BEGIN WITH A SPACE SHIP BUS RIDE UP TO THE NEDERLAND STAR SYSTEM
>(BRING $2.75 FOR BUS FARE), AND CONTINUE WITH A SPECTACULAR RIDE YET TO BE
>DETERMINED AS FAR AS YOU KNOW (SNOW IS PREDICTED!!!). WE SHALL TRAVEL
>THROUGH THE ASTEROID FIELDS OF WEST MAGNOLIA, THE PEAK TO PEAK GALAXY, THE
>RINGS OF SUGARLOAF AND EVENTUALLY RETURN TO BOULDER.
>
>EVERYONE IS WELCOME. ANY BIKE WILL DO AS LONG AS IT IS OFS - CROSS, CRUISER,
>TOWNIE, TRACK, JUNKER, ROADIE, JALOPY, BIG WHEEL, UNICYCLE, THEY ARE ALL
>WELCOME AT THE IGSSC. THIS IS THE FIRST EVER INTERGALACTIC SINGLE SPEED
>CHAMPIONSHIP SLATED FOR A NIGHT TIME RIDE. BE SURE TO SET UP YOUR X-WING
>SINGLE SPEED FIGHTERS WITH LIGHTS, AS WE WILL TOUR THROUGH DARK EVIL WOODS
>ON OUR VOYAGE FROM NEDERLAND TO BOULDER.
>
>FOLLOWING THE RIDE WE WILL DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY AT A LOCATION TO BE
>DETERMINED. AND THEN, IT'S THE TOUR DE DEWEY THE NEXT NIGHT, SATURDAY,
>OCTOBER 2. MEET AT EBEN G FINE PARK AT 9 PM FOR THIS HISTORIC EVENT.
>
>FOR YOU SLACKERS WHO MISS THE BUS ON FRIDAY NIGHT - MEET AT THE PIONEER INN
>AT 6:20 PM IN NEDERLAND.
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| weekend report |
| 09.28.04 (8:34 am) |
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what a weekend, I was going non-stop. It all started on friday night, Cathy and I went to the Salina cafe with Michelle and Steve. The cafe is really cool, basically just a large dining room where a woman does a four course family style meal every two weeks, nothing fancy just good down home cooking. We worked our way through a couple bottles of wine, and had a really good time, some great stories were passed around.
So the training started Saturday morning up at 6:30 to get to golden gate state park for boulder racing's mines madness mountain bike race. With no warm up, except for raising the BR banner. It was such a good time. Started out with a good amount of smack talking with one of my co-workers, I never really rode with the front guys but I had a blast. Although a really hard crash in the first third of the race put a bit of a damper on it. The course it self was really cool, a super mix of fast colorado singletrack and eastcoast style rocks and roots. stuff that you really had to get in a groove on to ride fast. Hands down the best race that I have done in colorado. And the vibe at the race was awesome; it was mainly collegiate kids and super grassroots, a bunch of mountain bikers to do a great race on great trails. Once again Boulder Racing does it again.
Sunday
Finally, FINALLY we got to ride with Ben and Amber, it seems that whenever we try hang out we have to deal with scheduling conflicts. Ben travels a lot for work and Amber is a student /vet so it always seems like someone has plans. All four of us finally got together for a great ride on Kenosha pass. The weather and ride were great although we missed the leaves by a week and there was a fair amount of mud to contend with. The views were epic and the ride was really fun. Cath scared the crap out of me riding bridges; she had a good crash too. No serious injuries just some battle wounds. I had the chance to ride Ben's maverick for a good 45min, it is a really cool bike, but the fork was the one thing that really impressed me, 3.5 lb 6 inch travel fork, that you can climb up hill with, pretty awesome. It was a great day; it is too bad that we can't do it more often.
hey boulder guys TDD is coming up in less than 4 days, see http://www.offcamber.com" title="http://www.offcamber.com" target="_blank"http://www.offcamber.com hope everyone has been training. Boulder Racing has scheduled their first cross race for the day after, that should be fun- yea right.
FYI- last year I witnessed some mope try to beat down one of the pilots because of a ghost riding incident down 9th st, the ghost bike knocked his girlfriend off her bike. They shouldn't have been there in the first place, people like that are not invited. Listen up! If you don't want to get hurt at TDD, then be careful. Realize there is a good chance of loosing some skin or breaking an arm. If you get hurt and are pissed about it then you shouldn't be there so DON'T COME!
word,
paco
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| mtb race this weekend |
| 09.24.04 (9:58 am) |
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Back to the roots, collegiate mountain bike race this weekend, they will have norba categories as well, put on by Boulder Racing- see http://www.boulderracing.com" title="http://www.boulderracing.com" target="_blank"http://www.boulderracing.com for details. I have been a bit under the weather all week, finally got a ride in yesterday evening. felt kind of crappy but is was nice to be out, it feels like fall already. Already winter not 20 miles to our west, crazy. Possibly riding Kenosha pass on sunday, could be a good one, I am embarrassed to say that I have never ridden it. Finally check out this http://www.fatcogs.com" title="http://www.fatcogs.com" target="_blank"http://www.fatcogs.com pretty cool site devoted to one of the coolest frame builders of all time, I was lucky enough to ride for them one year and I am super bummed that I didn't keep the bike.
Later,
paco
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| race two and a hell of a moto |
| 09.21.04 (7:58 am) |
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well i raced again this past weekend, up in breck, cross racing over 9000ft should be illegal. I started well and was able to think about the race while it was happening. Planning my efforts for the spots where I wasn't at a disadvantage on the single and resting and relaxing in the spots where the disadvantage was the highest. All that is really good, it teaches you patience in racing and you learn quickly on the single. If you try to rush or make up time in the sections where you are at the disadvantage all you do is hurt yourself, and make the even spots of the race even slower. I also thought about being smooth, smooth is fast, but like all other things in life if you try to force them you only make them harder. If you can be smooth at your LT on a course fit for a mountain bike, then you have really accomplished something. I was smooth in parts but not the whole course or race, I suffered on the dismounts definitely giving up too much speed, trying to force the moves. There were a couple corners where I was on rails, faster than I could have gone on a downhill bike. It is such a great feeling, pushing a steel bike through a corner and having it dampen the bumps and hook up like a CU student. I got fifth in the race, I blew the doors off a cocky junior and perennial powerhouse Joe D. Well I don't know if it was actually that powerful but I got a good gap and held it to the finish. I do think if there had been a couple more laps I could have caught forth, he was fading pretty fast on the last lap. PPV's JB had a stellar race leading from the gun and never looking back the guy's got some form right now, but ever modest he thinks he will be coming down soon. Finally Tim got beat for second by an mtb, come on Tim, just kidding- way to start the season swinging.
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday
ICI moto crew- Jon, Lara, Don and Paco
Plan ride from boulder to breck, on dirt bikes via DIRT! Epic, to say the least. We only made it to Idaho springs but it was an epic ride nonetheless. Over 8 hours on the throttle, only dumped it once at the end, turning around in the middle of a trail no less. The ride was filled with jeep roads, high two track, a short stint on I-70, some single track, and a lunch stop at Burger King (when in Rome do as the Romans). You would not believe what people get themselves into in their stock suvs "no honey really, I saw it in a commercial, really" then the axel breaks, doh. We saw some trashy two strokers out cracking silver bullets at 13000ft on the divide. Great Idea- ride to 13000ft and drink beer to keep loose on the rocky descent to civilization (kind of reminds me of good ol' PW, and his buddy Grover). The ol' DR did great keeping up with a new XR 650 and a DRZ just fine. Props to Lara hanging in there on an epic with only a couple days of motorcycle riding ever look out Irm. Overall we didn't ride anything too tough, but it was a great ride to get the skills up. I have to say I am feeling more comfortable than ever on the bike. But cruising the highway still makes me think about the age of the bike. As bad as it sounds riding dirt bikes is a pretty great way to experience the rocky mtns. You see so much, and this weekend was no exception, it was great to see the high country and as an added bonus the aspens were already starting their change, it was really beautiful.
Till next time,
paco
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| cross |
| 09.17.04 (6:46 am) |
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so much for staying on top of this thing, oh well. So big news I pulled off the first cross race of the season last night. It was rough especially not having any Wednesday rides under the belt. But being a training race I figured it was a good place to blow things out a little before the first real race this weekend- Breck. things went ok for the first 3 of 11 laps then all I was able to stay up with the leaders but after a few bumbled remounts I let gaps open and since I was on the old single I wasn't afforded the luxury of faking it. from there on I stayed on the gas and punched it a couple times but I never really did anything but loose time to the leaders. Ran into newt on the bike path this morning, that kid is inspiring he was out on the crossbike this morning at 5:30, we had a quick chat sounds like he is doing well he is going to be riding with gully at all big crank bros races this season. Pretty cool, he definitely deserves it, and with the dedication he has hopefully he can capitalize on the opportunity to get some results. As for my season I am pretty much on the dl, local stuff. But if anyone out there has some extra cash out there I would gladly let you be my sponsor, ha! The one morning where I need to get to work on time (board meeting) I got passed by the head honcho of VN, so I cut it short with newt and rode in with him. He asked why the single, and I tried to give the best answer, "well first off it is a good built in excuse, but most of all it keeps you real” How? "Well on a single you have to be out there for a good time, because if you really wanted to win or at least do well you would be on a real bike” So there you have it folks, this is my the sum goal of my cross season, to have a good time. But I am going to be fast come December, so watch out. Nationals on a single, not out of the question. Talk about shit talking, huh? So who was going fast, well gully won easily keeping it real with hairy legs. Micah was up there too, and believe it or not he kept both wheels on the ground the whole race.
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| snowmass,and such |
| 08.10.04 (11:55 am) |
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Hi all,
well I had a rough time in snowmass, but it wasn't all bad. I got a couple flat tires and dropped out of the race. The bright side is that I was riding much better than I have been lately, and hopefully it is an indicator that I have finally turned a corner in the recovery from this spring. It was really good to see the scene again in snowmass, and it felt pretty good to see everyone. The olympians ruled the crosscountry as you have probably seen. I was out of there pretty quick on saturday, but I hear that Adam Craig put on quite the show in the short track on sunday pushing a 40x16 around the course, is he a long lost pilot or what?
later,
paco
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| I'm back |
| 08.05.04 (9:17 am) |
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Hello everyone,
sorry for the absence, but I am back and I am going to try my hardest to stay on top of this thing. So what's been going on, well I have had some reintegration issues since getting back. Going from full time bike racer to part time everything has taken it's toll. Also the change in racing has been rather interesting as well. I went from racing in cold and wet weather on the flats mostly to hot and dry at 10,000 feet with more than enough up and down.
So for racing it hasn't been the friendliest welcome home. On other fronts it has been great especially friends and family. I have a new job that is really new, and has good potential to keep me pretty happy for a while, and although it is a bit bittersweet it is pretty nice to be working again at least money is comming in again. Time is flying as usual I can't belive that I have been home for over a month.
As I said racing has been rough, last night it went a little better I raced the local weekday short track, and despite some bike handling problems on my part it went pretty well. And considering I droped out of a race this weekend after 20min it went great. My one problem was that I didn't quite meter my efforts well enough and with three laps to go I was pretty used up. It was actually pretty fun though, and I got to duke it out with Ben Duke for a while. I have been following the guys progress at the cycling center pretty closely since I have been back check it out http://www.cyclingcenter.com" title="http://www.cyclingcenter.com" target="_blank"http://www.cyclingcenter.com as I have said before that program is so cool, and I really couldn't suggest a better way to make it to the pro ranks.
anyway we will talk again real soon,
paco
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| last race in europe |
| 06.16.04 (12:38 am) |
So this is it the home streach, my last race in Europe, and it should be a good one. Ronde de L'oise, a four-day five-stage race that starts tomorrow with a team time trial on the outskirts of Paris. It's got some climbing so it should be interesting. We are doing it as the national team, four of our guys and two of theirs, Nathan Mitchell, and Jesse Anthony. Keep an eye on cyclingnews they have been pretty good about results for these races, as I will be leaving the computer behind. I guess the next time you all check in I will be back in the US.
Thanks for reading,
paco
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| only one more week |
| 06.14.04 (6:12 am) |
Hi everybody,
I have been pretty busy with stuff over here. How can he be busy you ask? All he has to do is race and train. Well, I have been directing all of my energy to those two things racing and recovering. Literally all of it. I have been spending much of the time that I am not pedaling lying down, either sleeping or reading. Let me tell you it is a dream come true to be able to focus this hard on something. Overall I think having the chance to do this can account for at least 50% of the improvements that I have made here. Many of the guys here and maybe at the national team house get bored. Well I can honestly say that I have not been bored yet, I think I would be, anyone would be if they lost focus. I also think that having never had a chance like this before, (to focus 100% on racing) has made me appreciate the opportunity, and squeak every bit of it out. I think it may be hard for some who haven’t had a real job with stress; demands and politics, they don’t have any idea how shitty it can be. And that saying you here every once and a while- your absolute worst day on the bike is better than the best day in the office. Well in my life that holds surprisingly true. The reality of it is that I don’t know if I will ever have another chance to be this focused on one thing ever again in my life. Just having that chance has made this trip worth every minute of suffering, and every penny spent. Kind of a tangent, but since I am in my last week here I have been reflecting on my experiences. They have been incredible and allowed me to grow more as a cyclist, and maybe a person than any other single period in my life. So thanks to everyone for the encouragement to get here; and while I have been here. Especially thanks to Cathy for her support, understanding me, and why I had to come spend four months away from home.
I trained all week including a 5-hour jaunt in the rain on last Thursday, I was a little worn down for the race this weekend but it went well. The race was a 1.6 called the 11th GP Criquielion, once again there was quite the array of talent, including the cyclocross world champ Bart Wellens and his Spar Select team. I rode well but missed the main split of 30 or so. But I did contest the first rush (sprint) at the beginning of the race and placed third. Pretty good for me considering that the whole 150-man field was all together and really aggressive. Hey I got on the board. There were 3 climbs and the bunch split on the lead up to the third climb after a descent which is still not my forte, but the descent itself was a small personal victory for me I was able to keep myself in a respectable position. The race finished on 10 local laps of which I rode all pretty aggressively, I was waiting for a group to roll off and bridge to the front group (like Bernard had theorized) but it never happened. The other small victories we had were as a team, we finished all of our racers, a first for this year, and we beat the national team in the team standings, a friendly little rivalry. And the big thing was that we rode smart, if there was an American getting yelled at it was usually one of the national guys not us. We are getting some real respect as a team and it is pretty cool. Well I am still waiting on selection for the stage race that starts on Thursday in France, I think I have a good shot and although it will make for a tight schedule I would be glad to go, plus think of the form it will give me when I get back.
I am super excited to see everyone, talk soon.
Tot Ziens,
paco
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| Weekend Report |
| 06.07.04 (3:50 am) |
So I am really learning what it takes to be a pro here, and yesterday was just another example. We raced the Memorial Philippe Van Coningsloo a UCI 1.5 that started in a town named Warve, about an hour south of Hertsberg. It was a really good race for me, not so much in the sense of finish placing, but because of how well I was able to race considering how last week went for me. And I would have to say that racing well yesterday, brings on almost as much confidence as getting a really good finish.
What brings this all on, well after getting blown out on Monday at Fleche Hesbignonne / Cras Avernas. I got really sick and I stayed that way up until Saturday when I was at least feeling well enough to get a good pre race ride in with some openers. I am actually still a little sick. I only was able to ride about 4 hours during the week, mostly inside on the trainer. So to finish even though I was in the second group was a huge accomplishment for me. Especially since the field was once again no slouch, D1 Rabobank, Cycling News.Com, Deschutes were all there.
The race was a good one as usual, the first 50km had 6 pretty big climbs for around here and I rode really well on them, I was in the top 10 over everyone, and I even made the split the only time it got really hard, but the climbs weren’t the crux of this one, it was the cobbles at the end. I spent the whole morning at the front patrolling and trying to make the early split, so we could keep it easy for Austin and Eric. I did a good job but it took a bit out of me. After the climbs there was 35k of flat ground to cover until the real test started. I ended up running out of liquid so I made the decision to go back to the car, no one else on the team had water either, and for me it was get water or not finish. I made it to the car and back with no major problems, and I got some bottles up to teammates too. And not too far after that the proverbial shit hit the fan. There was a huge wreck at the entrance of the cobbled section, and I made it past with the tail of the group, I would find out after the race that Eric was the guy at the front hitting it so hard. I made the split but not really, I was barely hanging on and one of the guys in front of me popped and then I blew sky high trying to close his gap. I went straight through the chase group back into the peleton where I was able to recover, once I was sound my teammate attacked the peleton got a solid gap and I went with 3 guys to bridge. Our group of 7busted ass for two local laps about 30km and made it back to the chase group that contained 30 or so. It was hard, I mean really hard I thought that every time I pulled through it was going to be my last, but we made it, unfortunately the race was over not more than a km after we caught back on. We finished 7 min back from a group of 40 or so. The thing that pleased me so much was how well I raced the start of the race, and then how deep I was able to dig in the end, and all of that after a week of no training and being sick. Like I said they teach you how to be a pro here and when those guys race 100 times a year it seems inevitable that you are going to have weeks like I did. And to make it through, that seems like a good lesson.
Thanks for reading.
Tot Ziens,
paco
[image]paco_322514424.jpg[/image]
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| oh no! |
| 06.02.04 (4:58 am) |
Well two weeks of spectacular form on my part came to a end on monday, at the uci race in Fleche Hesbignonne / Cras Avernas (1.5). I wasn't feeling too chipper in the morning, but I thought it was just because I had dug so deep on saturday. It was a crazy field, Lambowcredit, Collmans, Rabbobank. I have never been in a race with so many world champions, it seemed like every one of those guys had rainbow stripes on their sleeves. Sven Nyes, and Mario Declerq were among the bunch as well. Pretty much the best field I think I have ever raced. It was pretty cool I spent much of the first hour in the front with the big teams, but I struggled with a 100kph descent, and abandoned in the feed zone with "stomach issues" and a case of bad legs. Once again it was a great experiance, but it looks like I pushed just a little too much because I have had a head cold for the past couple days. Oh well, now I am pretty focused on just getting better for the last few weeks of racing here.
Thanks for checking in.
Tot ziens,
paco
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| Notes on that last entry |
| 05.30.04 (11:14 pm) |
Well I am doing a UCI 1.5, D1 Rabbobank, CA, and Collmans are going to be there so to say improving on my 3 place is a longshot, well that would be the understatement of the century. But I am going to try.
About that last entry, I was pretty excited with my efforts in the race and I don't usually blow air up my own ass so excuse me. I need to say that I was happy to put more than half of my winnings into a pot that was split 6 ways after the race.
The only reason that my group of 3 was able to stay away was because of the selfless efforts of my teammates, many of whom probably could have ridden in the break just as well if not better than me.
Thanks to Bennet for using his head, initiating and driving the first break, his constant devotion to the team and teamwork, and for the cheers during the race.
To Breezer (Jake) for being a team player on a brand new team when he had great legs of his own.
To Isaiah, for sacrificing his own finishing places for fear of helping other teams get guys in the chase group.
To Chris for giving the race his all, and working really well with the rest of the team many of whom were giving orders.
To Jaime for setting false tempo, and messing up the Belgian chase.
And finally to Trevor, sorry about the crash but I owe you a million for the pictures.
They say you will never get a result over here without a great team and saturday we had a great team, 5 of us finished in the top 20, 3 in the top 10. And the work you guys selflessly did for me makes me just want to work harder for you all in the future.
Thanks,
paco
Below are the Pictures from the race, for some reason that slideshow didn't work all that well.
[image]paco_737272905.jpg[/image]
[image]paco_1203908638.jpg[/image]
[image]paco_702776012.jpg[/image]
[image]paco_125359341.jpg[/image]
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| EUROPE PODIUM |
| 05.30.04 (8:05 am) |
Hi paco fans, your all never going to believe this one, I almost don’t. I got third in yesterday’s Kermis. Pretty freaking cool, I think I surprised a lot of people including myself. Apparently Fleche brought on some pretty good form. Now I have three weeks to try to win one of these things, a pretty tall order. But I have to say that I never in a million years would have thought about winning a bike race in Europe. Wow, new perspective is pretty cool.
Here is how it went down.
The Course
The course was pretty ridiculous. One of the ones that scared me pretty good before the race got started. It was crazy, there were two sets of hacked up railroad tracks and a million corners, but the worst was a 90 deg corner off of the start finish stretch, it came off of a normal sized euro road (maybe 6 guys abreast) and funneled immediately onto a brick side street narrower than a boulder bike path, that corner proved to be dangerous with a big crash four or so laps in that would split the group, but hey I wouldn’t know I was off the front.
The Break
My motivation was really high to be the first guy through the first corner and keep myself out of trouble for the first four laps of the race, then reevaluate and go from there. One of my teammates had the same idea, he was third thought the first corner and I was fourth. From the gun the two of us and four others were off the start in a split that had maybe 20sec. Two laps later one of our teammates bridged, and I snapped, just started barking orders; it was really weird I am not sure I have ever taken charge like that before. I was telling the guys to go easy because the break had way too many of us, and there was no way they were going to let us go. Another lap and we had another teammate in the group, but when he bridged he brought half of Belgium with him. This kid has a hard time with teamwork so the plan was to let him do his thing at the front, have two of us helping but only doing 50%efforts, and have one guys sitting on. It went like this for a while. Every lap of the race had a prime and we were constantly at the front but missing out this one guy was even telling us not to sprint for the primes, and then I got pissed, and I plotted for a half lap of how I was going to tear his legs off in the next sprint. And I tried, I have never burned that many matches in a sprint, and no I didn’t win (second), but the sprint that we instigated gave three of us a huge gap. And we went with it, for 16 laps and almost a hundred km’s. I can say that it was one of the hardest things I have ever done in a bike race. Rotating for over 2 hours with two Belgians, one who was a national champion, and one who had at least 40lbs of muscle more than I do, pull for pull baby. It kind of fell apart with a lap and a half to go, one of them attacked and I gave it all I had to go with him and I just didn’t have the legs. Then it was like a nightmare, the other Belgian wouldn’t pull through and I was freaking out about getting caught, I wasn’t getting splits. So I put my head down for the hardest 10k of my life, and got beat in the last 300 meters. We ended up having more than a minute over a small group of 10 or so chasers. Rough but it was still about the coolest thing ever.
Aftermath
I was so blown out. I got huge bear hugs from two of my teammates; one of them almost crashed trying to hug me before his bike stopped moving. Johan was really happy and trying to explain that I had to clean some of the shit off my face before I went anywhere. Then these old guys came up to me, asking about the race in surprisingly good English, theorizing on how many primes I took. I had to excuse myself as I heard my name over the PA system. And I stood on my first European podium; they gave me a heavy pewter plate. Guess what the real kick in the nuts was, no one got a picture of it. Back to the car some dry clothes and a coke later, and back to the now empty podium for a couple pics, they tear these things down incredibly fast. And it was to the bar, to really see how the day went. When they handed me the envelopes I started looking through them for the ones with my number, and the guy says “no, no, all yours” what?!! I had 19 envelopes in my hand, it was crazy, and it totaled almost 200 euros. Pretty good for a mountain biker with a little engine on his first trip to Europe.
Teton sent me an email the other day, he saw my results from Fleche, and he told me he was scared for when I return to CO racing. Well, I think I am starting to believe him. Check out the slideshow below.
Later,
paco
View my slideshow!
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| note |
| 05.29.04 (2:24 am) |
Sorry for the absence, I have a good excuse. The internet has been down all week and we just got it back 10 min ago, but it is so slow that watching paint dry is much more exciting. So all of you who have been sitting on the edge of your seats, forgive me. I am racing again today, which is a good thing especially considering some equiptment problems I have had. Fleche was the hardest and coolest thing I have ever done in cycling, hopefully the previous entry captured a little of that. Monday, I am doing another race with the national team, Noel the director doesn't expect anyone to finish, talk about having faith, I don't know how Walker deals over there at the National team house. Anyway, Talk soon hopefully.
Tot Ziens,
paco
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| finally |
| 05.29.04 (2:17 am) |
I’m back. How’s everyone? Before I get into my latest adventures I just wanted to congratulate my teammate Heather Irmiger (Tokyo Joe’s MTB Team) on her first pro Norba win, which she quickly backed up with a solid cross country (6th I think) and another podium appearance in the short track (3rd). I have said it before, and I will say it again- she is going to go as far as she wants in this sport- Awesome. Along with Heather, Travis got a big W in the cross country, again awesome. I still haven’t lost a bottle yet over here thanks to T.
Back to the nitty gritty euro dog race life, I have been brainstorming since I finished Fleche du Sude on Sunday (yep I finished a UCI 2.6) on how to cover 4 days, 5 stages, and almost 700 km of racing with out boring everyone to death, and with out covering 10 pages with then I went hard here, and it was guttered out there and stuff like that. So I am going to try to cover the 5 highlights of each day/ stage, kind of like one of those letterman lists. If you are interested you can find full results on Cycling News. Here it goes.
DAY 1
5. Didn’t sleep to well, lots of race stuff running through the old noggin
4. Rode to the race, signed in, I was number 10 that was pretty cool.
3. 100kph descents with 150 of your closest friends scare the shit out of me. If I could descend as fast as I go from the front of the pack to the back on those things I would have something.
2. I made it to the local laps and was still able to help my teammates; I helped solidify a split my teammate made with 8 other guys. I was on the front riding as slow as I could through the corners without pissing anyone off. Watching them ride away; it was pretty satisfying.
1. I finished in the main group, my first UCI finish and I even raced the whole thing, and I was only 38sec back on the break. Things got a little tense in the last km when some dude hopped a curb and rolled a tubie. 4 hours in the saddle.
DAY 2
5. Slept good, borrowed a sleeping pill, totally knocked out which is one of the most important things in a stage race- good rest.
4. The feed zone was a mess there were 2 good crashed guys putting musettes into their front wheels, followed by 15min of the pack hauling totally strung out. I got a musette with 2 bottles and food, and I wore the thing on my back for that 15min in the drops while it was totally strung out. I worked on my peeing while riding technique.
3. Our team lost our first rider, Tyson a casualty of a nasty crash on one of the descents; he broke his elbow, and tore the bumper off a vintage Jaguar in the process. I was behind it and didn’t go down, but you know it is bad when there are wheels sitting in the road that aren’t attached to bikes.
2. Epic local laps with a big climb and descent, I made it into my first groupetto. The trick to these is to make it to the finish as quick as you can while going easy, then pass everyone in the group on the line while making it look like you weren’t even trying and just happened to be near the front when you cross the line.
1. Massage, and dinner, I love eating and we ate so much during this race it was almost unbelievable by me, let alone some of the non- cyclists who were around.
DAY 3
5. Felt good compared to the end of the stage yesterday. There were two stages, the morning stage was the hardest of the race, and held a huge climb that was sure to break up the race.
4. The race came apart on one of the climbs before the monster, I made the front group then proved my worth in the weight of gold when I sat up out of the front group and waited for our teams GC contender, then with the help of another teammate rode him back to the group on the descent, while keeping him as fresh as possible.
3. Both Austin, our GC guy and I made the front group on the descent after the monster climb, but I almost got popped on a roller coming into the final climb, gritted an bared it and rode my own tempo on the final climb only loosing a couple minutes to the group.
2. Nastiest euro shower experience ever, more pasta, nap and massage in the van.
1. Stage two, loop with a gnarly descent, and nasty climb, some dude called groupetto in the middle of the race before he was even dropped that made me go even harder, but I still got stuck in a groupetto. Hardest race I have ever done in my life, two races in one day is the most miserable thing. Then we spent an hour in the car back to the hotel, eat massage, sleep. Of note- we were 16km away from hoffileze, so I was thinking about you guys who were there, but I still had racing of my own to do.
DAY 4
5. I ate meat and cheese for breakfast-super euro, musesli, yogurt, 4 pieces of bread with jelly and nutella, 2 rolls, 3 cups of coffee, 3 glasses of OJ, and some cornflakes. Then at our pre- race dinner I was so tired of eating, I never thought I would be there; usually eating is my favorite thing.
4. Holy crap more racing, people were tired, there were a couple crashes and I found my self in a field after one. Got back on no problem. I had good legs, which is amazing after yesterday afternoon. Worked on perfecting my peeing while riding technique.
3. Stayed with the group and then really suffered on the last climb which seemed like the second hardest of the race, came off right at the end with my teammate Mike V. and a couple others we chased super hard on the descent.
2. Went so hard on the final climb and descent that I had this white spot on my glasses or so I thought. Spent the last descent in the caravan 90kph in and out of cars. Bernard caught me with 5 km to go, and I motor paced, it was so hard I really couldn’t even feel anything, and I kept thinking about that annoying white spot on my glasses. Caught the tail of the second group in the last 200meters, and I lost less than a minute to the winner. That white spot on my glasses was actually my brain being starved of oxygen; it went away 5 min after the finish. I am not sure if I have ever pushed that hard before.
1. I finished my first euro stage race something you are not suppose to do, we went to Mc Donald’s for dinner, I had a chocolate shake AND a McFlurry, no burger for me I have read Fast Food Nation.
Other race notes:
The drive home took almost 6 hours, not the usual 3 because it was a holiday weekend in Belgium, talk about being grumpy.
After two of the stages I was so blown out I got into the shower with sunglasses on my head.
My triceps, and abs are wrecked from the race, who would have thought that would happen on a road bike.
My legs still hurt today.
Thanks for checking in,
Tot ziens,
paco
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