Weekend Challenge

What a great weekend of racing. Lots of competition both Saturday and Sunday. The course was awesome, mud and wettness included. Saturday, I finished 4th in the A race and felt like I had one of the best races this year. Dad looked awesome as usual and finished strong. The course was very wet and muddy, along with some tricky single track. Today (Sunday), the course was in reverse, but it wasn't as wet and muddy. The only major part in the course to get you wet was the large mud puddle in the back section. Other than that, the course was pretty dry. I started off feeling great and finished feeling strong. I ended up finishing 6th out of another stacked A field. Uncle Scott and Dad had great races. Uncle Scott finished 7th in the B field and looked great throughout the whole race. Dad was in the A race as well and finished strong. He had a very good start but had some difficulties, bobbling it up with a few riders at the first sharp turn. Robert looked awesome through his race as well. With finishing first the day before, he ended finishing third today. On the podium both days. Awesome job Roberto. All of TLE raced awesome. Shawn finished first today, and Matt 2nd. I really enjoyed this weekend of racing and thanks to Brett Davis and his father for allowing us to race in his property for another year. Its always a lot of fun. Later

Racing in concrete

Saturday was Spin's 'Cross Your Heart' cyclocross race. The weather before the race was pretty bad. It was pouring down rain the night before, then it didn't stop raining until the morning of the race. There was a lot of people already in the parking lot when we arrived.

Uncle Scott raced the B race and stayed in the top 10 the whole race. He looked great the whole time and I can see him soon bumping up in the A race next year. He ended up finishing 8th out of a lot of racers. Awesome job Uncle Scott. Robert raced very well also. He was in a group of four and was in third place for a while. The group he was in ended up passing some lapped riders and Robert said he got caught behind a racer and lost it. He ended up finishing 7th and had a great race.

The A race was stacked like usual. After the gun went off, I moved my way from the second row and moved up pretty quickly in the top spots. The huge sled riding hill was towards the beginning which broke up the field pretty fast. I thought I raced well throughout the whole course. Every section was similar to wet, thick concrete. It just sucked the legs right out of you and plus add on the HUGE sled riding hill and your legs are gone. So it was a very hard race. I ended up finishing 7th place. I had a great ride battling it out with Jason Halloran, and at the end, finishing up with Rudy. Dad raced great also today. He battled it out with Bob Martin basically the whole race. So he said it was a hard, and his legs felt good going into the race. The whole team did great great today, with four placing in the top 10. Matt finished 2nd, Shawn finished 3rd, Rudy finished 6th and I finished 7th. Next week, we are traveling out to PA to race the Raccoon Valley Cyclocross race.

UCI cinci day 2 and 3

Sorry about the late post. I had a lot of catching up to do from this weekend. Well day two was pretty hard for me. Raced at the Java Johnny's cross race and started in the 5th row, which sucked pretty bad because that ruined my chance of getting a good start. Anyway, started off feeling very strong, I would have to say I was in the top 7. Then, the more the race went on, my legs were getting shot and racers started passing. I ended up finishing 11th. Not bad, but not what I really wanted. Dad raced the Elite Masters 1,2,3. He looked great but he said that he wanted to race in the Cat 3 masters race for day 3.

Day 3 was at Harbin Park. What a great course. It has to be one of my favorite courses of all time. Again, at the start line, I started in the 4th row. But, there were twice as many racers for the 3rd race. The start was wicked fast. I got myself in a good position and kept it throughout the whole race. A couple of racers and I were really battling it out, and it was really cool to hear the announcer guy mention all of our names once we entered and raced out of the sandpit sections. I felt really good throughout the race and finished 10th overall. I was really happy about finishing in the top ten because there were lots of Cat 2/3 racers this day. Dad raced the Masters 35+ Cat 3 race and finished 6th overall. Even though the Masters started 30 seconds behind the Cat 2/3 field, the Masters ended up finishing in the middle of all of the Cat 2/3s which meant, the Masters were flyin'!

It was a great weekend of racing this weekend and it was a real pleasure watching how the pros go to work. Very inspiring. This weekend is Spin's Cross Your Heart and Hope to Die cross race in Willoughby. Very excited for this race because the course is great. I love cyclocross.

Day1

at UCI Cincinnati. Wow was it muddy today. The race was on a very nice golf course, which soon turned to a mud, slopfest. I started out in the third row during call ups at the starting line. When the gun went off, I blasted out and went around everyone that was in front of me. Before the first turn, I was in second place. I then moved up to first place during the first lap and I was feeling great. During the first 3 to 4 laps, me and another kid my age battled it out for first and second, and I was very happy too because 1) I was in the lead and 2) there were two kids leading the cat 2/3 race. But, unfortunately I started crashing on off camber sections and slick downhills, which caused me to loose quite a bit of places and I was in 6th place. I must have crashed 5 times in two laps. I started off great and finished good, but I was disappointed because of all the crashes I had. I ended up finishing in 4th place. Tomorrow and Sunday will be better.

Dad didn't race today because he wanted to save his bike for tomorrow and Sunday. Uncle Scott raced awesome again. He raced the cat 4 Masters 35+ and finished 12th out of about 56 racers. He looked great the whole time and it was awesome watching him race. He will be up in the top spots in no time. Postings will be up tomorrow after Day 2 at the Java Johnny race. git it git it.

Very excited

about UCI Cincinnati next weekend. I'm very happy with the way I feel in training right now and hopefully it will all come together for the three day festival. I'm racing the Cat 2,3 race and I am looking forward to the fast and hard racing. This week's training is going to be very easy except for one day, which consists of intervals. Racing Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Can't wait.

Later

Michigan day 2

All I can say about the second day of Michigan Double Cross is Robert is the man. Robert started off racing the junior race on the first day but bumped up into the B's for the second day. Robert almost got the hole shot in the beginning of the B race but was still in fourth place into the first corner. Robert looked awesome during the whole race and ended up finishing tenth in a wicked fast finishing sprint with another racer. Awesome job Robert and it's going to be fun watching him throughout the rest of the season.

I raced the pro,1,2 race again and there were more racers on the second day than the day before. I finished in 12th place the first day and I was hoping to finish better the second day. I had a great start. I was in fifth place for the majority of the first lap and top ten for the next lap. After the first couple laps, the field started splitting up and I found myself with the same group of guys that I raced with the day before. This time, there were four of us instead of three of us. On the second to the last lap, I took the barriers as fast as I could and then attack afterwards. My plan worked and I broke away from two of the riders that were in our group. I ended up finishing 13th, but I was very happy in not getting lapped by top guys in the race. Matt had another dominating race and finished 5th. The day before, he finished 4th. Awesome weekend Matt. I was really happy with my performance this weekend and I'm very excited for UCI Cincinnati in two weeks.

Julie finished 4th in the Elite Women's field, Rudy won overall in the Masters 45+, Nate finished top ten in the Masters 35+. Dad took 6th in the Masters 45+ and looked even faster than the day before. Lots of competition in the Masters 45+, who caught the Masters 35+ right in the beginning, and they started 30 seconds apart. So that shows how fast that race was. It was great watching my Dad and the team race so good this weekend. This is what I love about cyclocross.

Michigan Double Cross day 1

Today was the first race in the Tailwind Michigan Double Cross race. Last year, it was a UCI event, but this year it wasn't. The course was in the infield of a race-car track. There were around 4 dismounts during the race including two sets of barriers, a sandy/gravel part, and the 'ORANGE CRUSH', which was a big orange flyover with steep steps and a fast down ramp. To start it off, Robert raced the Junior 15-18 race and had a little bit of bad luck at the start of the race, but regained his composure and finished strong. Tomorrow he is racing the B field which consist of Cat 2,3,4 racers. I raced the pro 1,2 race and it was one of the hardest cyclocross races I have ever done. It started off super fast, and didn't slow down a bit. I was in a group of three throughout the whole race; battling back and forth. But, around the middle of race, I felt like I hit the wall a little bit. After the next couple of laps, I regained my strength back and raced strong throughout the rest of the race. I finished in 12th place. I was pretty happy with my finish but I felt like I didn't race like I usually do today, so hopefully I will have better legs tomorrow. Congrats goes out to Matt Weeks for another awesome race. He was in the front the whole time and finished 4th. Lets keep it up for tomorrow!

The Master's race and the Women's field was stacked. Nate Loman was in the in the 35+ race and Dad and Rudy were in the 45+ race. Like always, it started off wicked fast and didn't let up at all. Julie had a stacked women's field as well. Dad looked great throughout the whole race. In my opinion, I think this was one of his best races he has done in cyclocross. It was very fun watching and cheering him on. Dad ended up finishing 5th in the Masters 45+. Awesome job Pops. Julie finished 3rd in the women's field. Nate finished strong and Rudy finished great, despite the front flat tire he had right at the last two laps of the race. TLE looked great today and can't wait for tomorrow.