Awesome run

today. Dad, Uncle Scott, Nate Loman, Royden Kern, and Royden's brother in law J.B. ran at the Happy Days Visitors Center and Kendall Cliffs. It was a great morning. A little cold though, but we all were warm about a mile into the run. We all ended up running for just a hair short of 10 miles and the trails were fantastic. My ankle felt great throughout the run also. I'm running with an ankle brace also to keep everything in line. Awesome day running. Merry Christmas to everyone and their families.

Later

Another Season Gone

Another cross season has come to an end. This year's cyclocross season was much bigger than the previous years. Also, the completion has increased which resulted in a lot of fun and fast racing. Thank you to Solon Bikes, Spin, Chagrin River Valley, and Stark Velo for the awesome races venues this year. Also a big thank you goes out to the Johnsons and Mr. Boughton for having us tear up the farm again. This year's course was very fast and muddy. As the races went on, the course started to loosen up and so did the mud. With all the mud on the bikes, the temperature was in the low thirties, high twenties, which caused the mud to freeze on everyone's bike and caused a lot of people broken derailleurs. Thanks to everyone who raced our series and maybe next year will be bigger.

Trail running is on my mind now for this winter, and when the snow falls, cross country skiing. O yea.

What a jump.

States was such a blast. The whole team did great. Matt and Shawn were second and third Ohioans, I placed eighth, and sadly John Proppe had a mechanical in the Elite Race. Jon Card won which wasn't a big surprise. Rudy raced great and won the Elite Master's race with Jeff Craft having a great finish as well. Dad raced the Cat 3 masters 35+ race and placed 7th Ohioan. Nate Loman won the Masters cat 3, 35+ making him the Ohio state champion. Uncle Scott raced a phenomenal race and place third in the cat 4 35+ race. After a horrible starting position, Uncle Scott raced into the front of the group and held it for the whole race Awesome job!! And lets not forget about Robert. Robert raced the Junior race first and destroyed every other junior. After winning the Junior race, Robert also raced the Cat 3 race and did very well. It was a fun weekend and great racing TLE!!!

Right now I am unable to race the final race at Boughton Farm. I sprained my ankle yesterday running into school. The doctor says I have a grade three sprain which is the worst sprain you could get. A grade three sprain is worse than a fracture also which means I can't have any pressure on it for quite some time. It's going to be tough but I have all winter to heal. I will see everyone on Sunday!!

Later

Weekend and Today

Sunday's race at Kirtland Park was killer. We spent alot of energy in building the course Saturday and giving the course some finishing touches on Sunday. The race was super fast. I didn't feel too good throughout the race, but got a second wind with three or four laps to go. I ended up finishing 11th and had an awesome sprint with Jason at the finish. Dad and Uncle Scott raced a hard race also but they both said they weren't at their best performance either.

Today there was a group of 8 guys that met up at my house to get in a longer ride on the nursery roads before the big meal. We left my house at around 9:30 and finished around 11. So Jeff Craft, Dad and I went out again after everyone left and rode for another hour or so and finished our ride with about 2hrs 45min. It was a great day and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. State Cyclocross Championships this weekend in Dayton. Pumped.

Kent State Cyclocross

Saturday was a perfect day for a cyclocross race. The sun was shinning, barely any wind, and it was 65 degrees. The day before the race, we had 9 teammates come down and set up basically the whole course. So the day of the race, we were able to come down a little later. We had lots of racers again, about 130 total. Uncle Scott raced awesome in the B field once again. He looked very good in the woods and looked like he had lots of power. He finished 13th in a very stacked B field. Robert looked good as usual also. He finished 8th overall, and had a great sprint at the end with another racer. Good job today Robert. Kevin Ward looked had a very fast race as well. Awesome job guys.

The A race was stacked as usual. We had lots of teammates in the field which was great to see. I felt pretty good during the race at first, but then started to feel the pain as the race went on. With a crash, a flat tire, and few bobbles, I managed to finish 8th. Dad raced great finishing 19th. Everyone looked great today. Thanks to everyone who helped set up and tear down the course. We couldn't ask for better weather and it was a very fun day.

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.

Belated Wendy

Sunday was our first race of the Bike Authority series. Wendy Park is the perfect venue for a cyclocross race and what a race it was. Started setting up the course on Saturday, and finished Sunday morning before the race. It was definitely a faster course this year and less flats. Total amount of racers:146-our biggest yet

The A race took off like a bat outa' hell. It was mayhem to the first corner. I felt really good and I was in the front of the group. Matt Weeks formed an early gap and was gone. Soon in the first lap, I found myself with a group of six and we already had a gap on the others. In this pack was Shawn Adams, Mike Mihalik, Gerry Pflug, Ernie, and two other racers. I was feeling really good during the first couple laps. About halfway through the race, my shifter to my rear derailleur broke, so I was spinning like crazy to try and stay with the group I was in. After another lap, I just couldn't stay with them because they were downshifting and taking off on the pier section, and I couldn't downshift so I dropped back a little bit. I felt great though throughout the whole race and I finished 8th out of a lot of A racers. Dad looked awesome. I saw him a few times on the course and he looked really strong. He finished in the 27th spot. I was really surprised that my Dad and I didn't get a flat this year. Last year we both had three flats each. Great day and great race. Congrats goes out to Matt for taking the overall win. Robert had a great race, finishing 8th in the HUGE B field. Julie finished 3rd in the Women's.

This weekend is Michigan Double cross. I'm pumped.

Miller Paul Marut 5k

Today was the third annual Miller Paul Marut 5k running race. It is a fundraiser for my baby cousin that passed away 4 years ago. My Uncle Jeff and Aunt Jen organized this race, and wow, was it great. There was over 300 people who pre-registered and there were more people who came for same day registration, so there was close to 400 runners in the whole thing! That is a record in Concord Twp. history. The 5k course is great going out because it is all downhill. But exactly at the turn around mark, it is uphill which was going to be very challenging.

When the gun went off at the start, I took off and got the whole shot. Right away, I had a gap on the bunch of racers behind. I felt great when I passed the first mile mark. My first mile was a 5:12. At the mile and a half marker, I heard footsteps behind me and soon after that, a runner passed me and was gone. I tried staying with him, but his pace was flyin'. At the two mile mark, Nick was standing there calling out the times, and he said that I was at 11:21. Wow. I'm really feeling good at this point. After the two mile mark, it was a long gradual hill until the finish line. I really pushed myself to my limit to stay in second place. After the long hill, I came across the finish line in second place with a time of 17:55 for a hilly 5k. I was very glad that since my family organized this race, I finished second and first in my age group. Also, in top spots where Dad and Uncle Scott. They both finished first in their age groups and both had a time in the low 19 minutes. They finished 5th and 6th. Dad said that 5k course was the hardest he has ever raced in. Aunt Carrie raced and finished great, as always. My two little cousins, Brock and Jake also raced and ran awesome. I think we should have a family training run coming up here pretty soon. Now we are ready for some good ol' eatin' at my Aunt's pig roast! Can't wait. Next week is Wendy Park. I can't wait for that either. Bring it on.

Best Weekend Ever

We woke up bright and early (or I should say cloudy/raining and early) to drive down to Presque Isle for the annually huge Triathlon. It was pretty crappy weather while we were driving down, raining and pretty cold I thought. When we arrived at the Park, there were so many people already in transition. After signing up and the body markings, we set up our transition. Two things started bad for me. One, I grabbed the wrong pair of swimming goggles. Two, I forgot my race belt at home. Luckily, Kevin Park had an extra race belt and I raced with that. But, I had to deal with the goggles that always let water in. It wasn't that bad though.

Before the race, everyone had their wetsuits on and everyone was ready to go. It was raining and cold. Instead of the race directors to hurry up and get the race going, they sat there and talked forever about the course and every turn there was. So instead of my race starting at 8:00, it started at 8:20. My wave was huge. There had to be over 200 people. The start of the swim was chaos. I thought I was going to drown. Every time I tried to take a breath, I was kicked in the face or slapped by someone else's hand. After all the chaos, I found a groove and started to pass other racers. I didn't feel the best on my swim but I managed to get out of the water in top 15. The bike was great. I had so much adrenaline from the swim. I started passing quite a bit of racers during the start and middle. In the 12.6 mile bike loop, I averaged around 25 mph. I was about 5th in off the bike. During my transition, I probably had the fastest I have ever had. I was out of transition before the current fourth place racer, which put me into fourth place. Right out of transition, I knew I was going to have a great run. I soon caught and passed the racer in front of me, and I moved up to 3rd. At the turn-around cone, I was close to 30 seconds behind the second place runner. Unfortunately, I was unable to catch him, but I closed the gap to 15 seconds behind at the finish, and I ended my run with just a hair over 22 minutes for 3.5 miles. I ended up finishing 3rd in the 39 and under wave with a time of 1:06:42. Kevin Park soon came in the finishing shoot with the fastest time. So in the end, I finished 4th overall and 1st in my AG. out of around 350 people.

Dad, Uncle Scott, and Aunt Carrie all had fantastic races as well. Dad finished his race in 1:10:10. He said he had one of the fastest runs after the bike portion that he ever had, avg. around 6:45 miles for 3.5 miles. He ended up finishing second in his AG and 14th overall. Doug Sedivy finished 3rd in their AG. It's always really fun to watch my Dad and Doug race because they are such good friends, in yet, they are so competitive with each other; in a good way. Great racing to watch! Uncle Scott raced phenomenal again. Not really sure what his finishing time was, but finished 3rd in his AG and 24th overall. Awesome job!!! Aunt Carrie looked great as always in her race. It must have been very chaotic for her in the beginning because the women's group had to start with the 39 and under wave, which was huge! She blasted through that and had a fantastic race. Anyone who ever raced the Presque Isle Triathlon has seen how many people come to race, rain or shine. Even though it was raining pretty hard, everyone came to race and their was alot of competition. I can't wait to race it again next year.

After the Triathlon, my family and Uncle Scott's family all drove back to Doug's cabin to eat, fish, and spend the night. I love staying there because it is in the middle of nowhere and it's so peaceful. After a huge meal........Nick, my cousin Jake, and I took the canoe and paddled down river to try and catch some river fish. After a couple miles down, Nick casted out and caught a good size smallmouth bass, but Nicks drag was too tight and unfortunately the bass snapped Nick's line. After that, we didn't catch anything. But, it was a blast trying to paddle back upriver and trying to make it back up the rapids (which we totally failed to do). When we came back, we all took a trip to downtown Franklin. There, we ordered two huge pizzas. When we came back to the cabin, everyone had pizza. I ate so much during that day, but it was worth it. Afterwards, the whole family, Doug (who is our second family) and his two friends; we all sat around the fire, until it was late enough for all of us to hit the sack.

This morning, we had breakfast over the fire and it was the biggest breakfast I probably have ever ate. French Toast, Bacon, Ham, Sausage, Eggs, Toast, it was huge. Hey we have to treat ourselves right? All and all, this had to be one of the greatest weekends I have had in a long time. This was our last Triathlon of the season and now.......................Bring on cyclocross!

Lorain Triathlon

Sorry everyone about not updating my blog lately. I promise it will be updated more now that cyclocross season is almost here. But, today was the Lorain Triathlon. Uncle Scott, Dad and I drove down together and arrived there 2 hours early. After a short bathroom break, we drove to the local Convenient Food Mart store and bought some coffee and Joe Palmer's Half & Half iced tea/ lemonade. When we came back, there were already people starting to put their things in transition. So we took all of our bikes and gear out of Scott's truck and set up our transition.

The water was pretty cold when you first walked into it. But, the further you swam away from shore, the warmer it got. Shouldn't be the opposite way around? The waves were pretty powerful during the swim and I ended up 5th or 6th out of the water. After the swim, we had to run up a hill to get to transition and Eric Gibb was telling me that I need to make up quite a bit of time on my bike because there were quite a few racers ahead of me. I had a fast transition and jumped on my tricked out Scott TT bike and took off. Right away, I was passing the racers that were ahead of me on the swim. About 2 miles into the bike, I passed the racers that were ahead of me and I thought that I was in the lead. But, I found that I was in second by seeing the lead police car quite a ways ahead of me. I ended the bike in second place and avg. around 25 mph. After the bike, I had another fast transition and I took off on my run. Doug and Nate from the Bike Authority tent said the guy that was ahead of me had about a minute gap on me. Crap. About a half a mile into my run, I was feeling great. I felt like I was sprinting. When I turned a corner, I saw the leader about 30-45 seconds ahead. I kept him insight the whole half of the run. At the halfway point, I was only about 5 seconds behind him. A half a mile or so later, I caught the leader and we ran together for about two football lengths. I picked up my pace and it was fast enough to pop the racer I just passed. I was finally in the lead and I came across the finish line with a time of 1:03:43 and a victory. I put about 10 seconds on the racer I passed too; I felt great on the run.

Dad soon came across the finish line with a time of 1:06:39. The racer that finished seconds ahead of him ended up getting 3rd overall which meant Dad placed 4th overall. He probably had the fastest bike split I'm guessing because Doug told me that it wasn't long after I finished my bike, Dad came in. So he must have been motorin'. We both said that we will probably be having upset stomachs now because we swallowed lots of water today because it was so wavy and dirty. Plus we didn't race with our wetsuits either for the purpose of the swim being pretty short. Scott had the best race he ever had in my opinion. He finished the swim with a great time. He wasn't really used to the beach starts yet but he managed to escape the school racers that kick u in the face every time you try to take a breath. Scott said he felt great on the bike and he ended up getting stuck by a train for a couple seconds. He had a smokin' run as well and finished with a time around 1hr 09min and some odd seconds. He finished 1st in his age group as well and had the 1st place spot by over 6 minutes. Most likely in the top ten also. Awesome job Uncle Scott!

Great day today and this weekend is the Presque Isle Triathlon, which will be the last one of the season. We are leaving Friday afternoon with Uncle Scott and his family and camping out in Presque Isle, racing the next morning, then going to Doug Sedivy's cabin to fish and spend the night. So hopefully the weather will be good next weekend.

Peace

GCT..........

or I should say GCD (Greater Cleveland Duathlon) for the second year in a row. When I woke up this morning, I could hear the howling wind. After loading up the truck, it started raining. I was very upset because now, the swim is going to be cancelled because of the dang wind. So when we got to the race, it was still raining; very hard, and windy. About 15 minutes after we put all of our gear in transition, they called the swim off. Instead, we were change the triathlon into a duathlon. For the international distance, it was going to be a 5k run, 40k bike and a 5k run. For the sprint, it was a 2 mile run, 12 mile bike and another 2 mile run. Dad, Scott and I did the international distance. My first run was around 18 minutes. My first mile was around a 5:30 something, and when I saw that time, I tried to tell myself to slow down a little bit because the bike course is pretty tough. Dad and I train on parts of the bike course, so we have a little bit of advantage. The bike was hard, as I was expecting. Windy and of course, hilly. I averaged around 23.2 mph for a hilly 40k course. My transition from my bike to my last run was very fast. For my second run, I felt the fatigue in my legs and my torso area. Also I was starting to get a stomach cramp so I had to control my breathing better. Every water station (there was two), I grabbed water and poured it over my head and down my one piece. It started to get really hot and it was difficult to get a good breath. I ended up finishing in 6th overall and 1st in my age group with a time of 1:44:36.

Dad raced awesome as well. He had a very fast first run. His bike was also great averaging around 22 mph. He ended up finishing second in his AG. The guy who came in first, finished one place ahead of me in the overall standings. Dad looked great today and there are some pretty funny pictures that were taken by my Mom. But we are just saving those. Uncle Scott and Aunt Carrie raced great as well. They were both really competitive in their classes and for Aunt Carrie's second race, she did awesome. Scott is getting better every race he does and he will be in the top spots in his class next race for sure. Great job to everyone who raced today. Thanks goes out to Mickey for another great year. He puts on this race and does great. Thanks again Mickey.

Late.

August

Starting tomorrow, Dad and I are scheduled to start do nothing but triathlon training for August. We got a couple of big triathlon's next month, including the Greater Cleveland Triathlon next weekend. That is always one of the biggest triathlons around here put on Mickey Rzymek (USAT) and then Presque Isle later in the month. Going out for a ride today and hopefully the rain will hold up. It's looking pretty dark.

Later

Fairport Triathlon...

aka the Pirate Triathlon was today at Fairport Beach and you couldn't ask for a better day. Lots of people were already putting their stuff in transition two hours before the race. It was packed. The race directors set the transition area in a different place which caused more time to be put on the overall results. The swim was great. I'm almost positive I got the holeshot but then a couple guys passed me. I finished the swim in 11 minutes and in fourth place. I jumped up into second place after I grabbed my bike and exited transition, and quickly passed the racer in front of me. I rode the bike course in first place in the 30 and under wave. The bike was great also. After the bike portion, I slipped on the running shoes and took off for my run. I was still in first place in my wave. The run course was different this year. It was shorter than last year's course, making this year's 2.9 miles. I was still in the lead and ended up finishing the run in 17 minutes and 46 seconds. For the overall results, I finished the race in 1.01.46, getting second place overall. The overall winner was Kevin Park. He finished in around 57 minutes. Dad raced great also. He finished 5th overall and 1st in his age group. Scott finished in the top 10 and 3rd in his age group. My aunt and Scott's wife, Carrie finished great in the women's race and 5th in her age group. Awesome job to all of the Marut's and special congrats goes out to Aunt Carrie because this was her first ever triathlon, and she did great. Lets not forget about Doug. He finished in 6th place with bad knees. Those didn't slow him down thought during the race. Nice job to everyone who raced and we will be gearing up for the Greater Cleveland Triathlon in two weeks.

Later

Nothing...

really too exciting going on lately. Still riding almost everyday and running quite a bit also. Dad and I have been doing a lot of Tri workouts since we have some triathlons coming up soon, including the Fairport Triathlon this weekend. I feel really good and I think I could pull out some good results in my up and coming races.

Later

Day 3

Today was the last stage of the Tour of the Valley. It was an hour Crit in downtown Youngstown. I was in 7th overall before the start of the race and I really wanted to race smart in the Crit so that I could move up in the GC. I ended up racing for about a half an hour, then I got a flat tire. Instead of going to the wheel pit, I took my Dad's bike and tried to catch back up to the field. After about 3 laps, the official said that he was pulling me. I told him that I got a flat tire and I was riding until the group caught back up. The official told me to go to the wheel pit and looked at my Dad's bike and asked me, " We're is your flat tire?" I told him that I already exchanged bikes with my Dad and when I told him that, he immediately DQ'd me. He said that he was following the rules and I wasn't allowed to do that. I was very upset at the time because that just blew my top 10 GC result.

Luckily, the Cat 3 field payed out to the top 15 in the GC and I ended up finishing in 11th place overall in the Tour. I had a lot of fun this weekend and I enjoyed racing with my teammates in the Cat 3 field. Every teammate did great and I'm glad we all raced together. Pete ended up finishing 5th overall. Awesome job Pete!! Thom Dominic won overall. He played the whole race perfect, and it was fun racing with him.

Dad raced great today also, as well as the whole race. He finished 11th in the Crit and 10th overall in the GC. He did great this weekend and he only had a few other teammates so it was very challenging in the Master's race. Awesome job Dad. All of the other racers from TLE racing in the Pro, 1,2 race did great too and it was like watching an actual professional race. All 4 races were so fast and I'm looking to maybe upgrade to a Cat 2 next year, so if I'm going to race the Tour of the Valley again next year, I'll be racing with those guys. That's going to be wicked hard.

Great job to everyone who raced this weekend!

Day 2

Today was the 67 mile road race stage. It was suppose to rain around noon and my race took off around 9:45. Started off frustrating. The race itself wasn't frustrating, it was my computer. It worked fine when I was warming up, but when the race started, it wouldn't register. The race was brutal. In the first lap, the group dropped a whole bunch of racers on the KOM climb. It was a three mile long hill that was very steep. The KOM points were only given on the first lap, so the pace was very fast up the hill, which ended in half of the field being dropped. After the first lap, I already downed 1 1/2 bottles and had a whole pack of cliff blocks, a gel, and half a power bar. In the second lap, the feed zone was very small so I had to be in the perfect position in order for me to get another bottle. It worked out perfect and my Mom handed me off another bottle, which couldn't have been any more perfect. During the second lap, the group dropped more and more riders. My legs started to cramp up after the big hill, but I still had power to stay with the front of the pack. At this point, it was Pete and I left from our team. We didn't want to do a lot of work because there were a lot of riders from other teams. Towards the end of the race, it started to get really windy and the clouds opened up and it started pouring. I liked it, but didn't like it at the same time. I liked it because it cooled me off a ton, but it was also dangerous because now the roads are wet. Thankfully nobody crashed because of the wet roads. The group sprinted it out at the end, with me finishing 9th and Pete a couple places behind me. In the GC, I dropped from 5th overall, down to 7th overall. Pete is tied in 5th overall currently. Tomorrow is the last stage in Youngstown. It is an ending Crit and hopefully I can do well so that I can raise my overall placing. I just have to race smart and hopefully my legs will feel fresh. Bring it.

Later

Day 1 continued............

I raced the Cat 3 Crit in Canfield today at the Tour of the Valley and it was great. It was a short 0.89 mile loop with lots of corners and fast stretches. Lots of racers in the Cat 3 race and I tried to stay up front as much as possible because there were a lot of attacks today. We raced for about an hour and averaged around 27 mph. I finished 5th overall and Pete finished 4th overall. So Pete is in the top spot for the GC, finishing second in the TT and 4th in the Crit today. I ended up finishing 13th in the TT (official result) and 5th in the Crit today. So that puts me in the top 10 overall I'm assuming and I need to stay in the top 10 for the rest of the race.

Dad looked awesome as well today. He had a very fast Master's group and it was great watching the race. Dad ended up finishing 10th in the Crit and finished 6th in the TT, earlier in the day. So overall, my Dad is still sitting in 6th overall in the GC.

Tomorrow is a hilly 67 mile road race for me and 34 miles for my Dad. It's suppose to rain tomorrow but the rain won't affect me I don't think, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Updates Tomorrow

Day 1

This morning was the opening Prologue TT at the Tour of the Valley. It was only a 5.6 mile course but man............ it was fast. Everyone was flying. I finished the TT with a time of 12:09 avg around high 26 or low 27 mph. I finished 12th overall out of a lot of racers. Pete was rockin' it out finishing with a time of 11:29 which put him in second overall. Dad raced the Master's and finished 6th with a time of 12:46. Robert, Julie and Rudy all finished awesome and the whole team looked great. The crit that I'm racing starts around 3:45 today, so I'm really looking forward to it, and hopefully finish in the top spots. The post crit race report will be up later tonight.

Peace out!!

Psyched

Well we are off to Tour of the Valley tomorrow and I'm so excited. It's going to be really fun and can't wait until the opening TT on Friday. I'll keep updating after my races this weekend. Good luck to all who are going also and everyone have a great weekend.

Peace out

Twin Sizzler

Yesterday was the Twin Sizzler in downtown Medina. There was a lot of people already in the registration building and the bathrooms were already filling up, and we arrived early! We signed ourselves up and went back to the truck to sit on the tailgate and pin our numbers on. When we were all lining up, Shawn and Jeff asked me what race I was doing. I said "The 18 and under race". They told me to just race with the 19-34 group. I had no problem with that because I would get a better workout and it would be a better race anyways. When the gun went off, Dave Steiner and another Spin racer immediately attacked and gaped the group. No one really bothered to go with them because it was too early in the race. A couple miles later, Shawn and another Spin rider took off and no one went with that either. So three Spin racers were up ahead and Shawn who is a teammate. For the rest of the race, nobody did anything. There were very few attacks and jumps. About 3/4 through the race, three other Spin riders took off and I tried to go with them but for the whole race, I was doing a lot of work along with Brett (RGF); riding up front, going with attacks, etc. I also tried to be up front alot to pick up the pace. Shawn was already way up front so it didn't really matter to try and pick up the pace of the group. It was very frustrating because the team with the largest group of racers, didn't do anything when attacks went off, or when it was their time to pull. A lot of the times, some of them would stay up front and just ride tempo, which caused me to fill up with frustrated adrenaline and pick up the pace.

The group that started behind us were the 35 and over group. They started a few minutes behind us and the 35 and over group ended up catching our 34 and under group a couple of miles before the finish. Everyone who raced this race knows how the finish is. It is full of pot holes, deep road cracks, very tight finishing stretch. Before we hit the finishing stretch, I look over and see my Dad pulling off to the side into a driveway and I could see him looking down at his back wheel. At this point, I didn't really care if I finished or not. I slowed down and let the group pass me, then turned around to see if my Dad was OK. The back brake pad ended up loosening up and lodged into his back tire. Talk about bad luck. This is the second race he has done on his Super Six High Mod. The first race ended up into a grocery bag and this race, the brake pad causes his back wheel to lock up. He said he was feeling great too. "O well" he said, "Maybe it was meant to be". Jeff also was with us and us three ended up finishing together. After the race Dad, Shawn and I rode for another 15 miles and came back and had an iced coffee. Tuesday, I'm hitting up Westlake then resting for the rest of the week. Tour of the Valley starting on Thursday and I want to be in top shape for that.

Later

Long and tiring weekend

This weekend was very tiring for me. Friday Dad, Scott and I rode down to Fairport Beach and swam for a while, then rode back home. It was a very good recovery workout, and it would have been better if Scott remembered his swim goggles!!!! Its all good though. haha. Yesterday, I took off from bike and triathlon training. The training I did was Firefighter training. After we replaced a hot water tank in my garage, I was called to go to the fire station. I was there around 11:00 and stayed till around 7:00. When I first arrived, my Explorers class went over all the car extrication equipment on the fire engines. After all the reviewing, we had like a 2 hour meeting on Teamwork. At 3:00, we suited up in our fire gear and went in the back and saw three crashed cars. One, flipped on it's roof. The other two were on all four wheels but one had the tires flat and had the roof caved in. I was very surprised that I was picked to be one of the two Explorers to be picked to drill with the firefighters and do car extrication. My other classmate and I operated all the gear. We used the spreaders and cutters and basically cut all the cars to pieces. At the end, I was exhausted and was highly dehydrated. I have to get used to all the heat if I want to do this as a profession though. So truly............ I worked out too yesterday. I had a blast and I have a boost of confidence now that I was one of the two Explorers picked to drill with the actual firefighters.

Then today Dad, Scott and I did the whole Greater Cleveland Triathlon Olympic course. The swim was hard because it was very windy. The bike was hard at first because we had a 20 mph headwind. But, it was super nice on the way back. I felt great on the 10k run. We kept the pace pretty good and at the end of our run, we sprinted it out and headed straight for the water to cool down our legs. After our workout, we worked at my grandparents apartment, holding up dry wall and ripping up carpet. So right now, I'm beat and my shoulders feel like I have a 300 pound man pushing down. Tomorrow looks like rain so I'm not really sure what I will do. Until then........................... have a good day!

Hot

Today Dad and I skipped out on Westlake and rode for 60 miles in 2:50. We rode some hills also and took everything pretty hard. At the end of the ride, we averaged a little over 21 mph. It was very hot and windy today, making the ride a little harder. I took two water bottles and both of them were just about gone at around mile 50. After the ride, we drank so much that we didn't even want to eat supper. Tomorrow Dad and I are heading down to the beach for a 30 minute swim workout then running for about 4 or 5 miles. Also, our teammate/ friend, Scott Carter crashed in a training ride the other day and broke the head off of his pelvis and had to have surgery. The good news is the doctors say that he will recover quickly because he is in such good shape and very healthy. So his season is shot but hopefully he will recover quickly.

Late

HD Father's Day

Today Dad and I had a great workout. We wanted to get in a full Olympic distance triathlon for our training, but when we arrived at the beach, the water was so muddy and full of debris from the hard rains we had a couple days ago. So instead of swimming, we jumped on the bikes and rode the Greater Cleveland Triathlon Olympic distance bike course. We wanted to keep the pace pretty fast and we rode for about 1hr 12min, with some hills. After the bike, we put on the running shoes and ran for 6.9 miles. The run was great, our legs felt pretty good and we averaged around a 7:10 mile. After the run, we took the bikes out again and rode the Fairport Triathlon course, which was 13 miles. It was just a cool down ride, but there were parts that felt pretty hard. Hope all the Dad's had a great Father's Day and hope all the Dad's that raced this weekend had safe and good races.

Now I'm watchin formula one racing in HD with some chicken fingers and a nice ol' Dr. Pepper. Time for some chillaxin'.

Out.

Off but not

This morning was suppose to be one of the Greater Cleveland Triathlon training days down at Headlands Beach. We woke up this morning to pouring down rain, and also it stormed like crazy last night. When Dad and I arrived at the beach, Mickey was there of course with his tent all set up and ready to go. He's a trooper. Rain or Shine, Mickey is there. So when we were driving to the beach, the roads were all flooded and what not. We had some major rain last night and it even flooded the parking lots at the beach. There was only a few people that worked out, but there was people like me, Dad, Frank, Adam, and some other people that were just happy showing up and chatting with each other. Afterwards, Dad and I decided to leave and I happen to look down the other end of the parking lot and see Doug (mechanic from Bike Authority) blastin' through all the flooded water in his car. Very funny to see.

After we arrived home, we changed clothes and headed to my grandparent's apartment and worked for the rest of the day. So we took off from training today, but we did lots of work which technically, seems like we worked out today! Tomorrow, swim workout and a bike workout. The water is pretty warm right now, time for open water training.

Peace out

Lion's Duathlon

Sunday was the Lion's Duathlon in Willoughby hosted by NCN. While we were packing up to leave in the morning, it was pretty cold. I had to wear a sweatshirt and a beanie/winter cap. When we arrived at the race, we signed up, put everything in transition and got dressed. Before the race, Dad and I did a warm up run for about 10 minutes, and that warmed us up a lot. Plus the sun was out too, so it started to warm up.

The start of the race was very fast. Lots of adrenaline in everyone. I was in about 5-6 place in the first 5k. I finished the run in about 18:50, then jumped on my bike and tried to hit it pretty hard. I rode past all the racers that were in front of me on the run except one, which was one of our teammates. The bike course was 3 laps of a 6.5 mile loop, including some uphill sections. I was in second place in the start of the bike and ended my bike portion of the race still in second place. After I ran out of transition, I didn't see any other racers. I was feeling pretty good at this point, but I still wanted to run as hard as I could because I know that the second run is where all of your time decreases. I felt really good in my second run and ended up finishing second overall with a time of 1 hr. 30min.

Dad also had a great race. He finished 1st in his age group and probably in the top 10, but the results aren't up yet so we still aren't really sure. But, he said that he was suffering pretty bad on his second run, but he still finished strong and looked great. Awesome job Dad. The whole team looked great. Mike and Christina raced great, with Christina taking 2nd overall in the women's race and Mike looked great as well. Nice job guys.

Well, gotta go to work. See ya.

Great Weekend

We arrived at Clay's Park on Saturday to pre-ride the bike course of our triathlon, and all I can say is Chippewa Creek is nothing compared to this bike course. I ended up at the water park for a couple hours and Dad ended up riding the course and running afterwards. When the day was done, we arrived at our hotel and ate at a restaurant called, Rockne's. It is similair to an Applebees but much cheaper and I think a little better tasting food.

This morning we drove back to Clay's Park and we weren't the first ones there this time!! There was a lot of teammates also from the Bike Authority/Fleet Feet Team. The first wave, 39-, went off first. I had a great swim. I felt really good and I thought I had my technique down pretty good. I was fourth coming out of the water. I had a very slow transition, but still managed to bump up to 3rd out of transtion. The bike course was super hilly. There really wasn't any section of the course that was flat. O yea the parking lot was the only flat part of the course. I came to transition in first place in the 39 and under, with another teammate behind me. I was still in first place in the beginning of the run, but then Christian, my other teammate caught me and passed me. I was also caught by another racer and we worked together for the last mile or so, and we were really running fast. At the end, the racer I was working with and I sprinted it out and he finished about a half a foot length ahead of me. I ended up finishing 3rd in the 39 and under wave, with a time of 1:07.30 and 5th overall out of around 170 racers.

Dad's wave was the 40+ year old racers. He had a great race too. Lots of competition in his group and he was 2nd out of the water and had a slower transition also. He was 3rd on the bike and had a good transition before the run. Dad had a really good run finishing with a time of 1:10 and finished 1st in his age group. Awesome job Dad. The whole team did great. Brian Stern won overall, Nate Loman finished 2nd. Awesome job to them and the rest of the Bike Authority/Fleet Feet Tri Team.

So far so good.

This has been a pretty good week so far. Yesterday, Dad and I rode a pretty hard 40k with the TT bikes, then did a brick run after the bike. We ran for a little over 2 miles, but we kept it at a pretty good pace. When we were done running, we cooled down with a cool down spin on our road bikes. I was admiring and drooling over Dad's new Cannondale Super Six Hi-Mod bike. Today, Dad and I hit up the pool and did a short but fast swim workout. Tomorrow, I'll probably ride, and Friday is the last day of school for me so, I am hitting up the beach with my friends for the day. Then on Saturday, the family and I are heading down to Clay's Park for our triathlon, then racing Sunday. I'm really excited and hope the fitness is there to get some good results.

Later

Hard ride yesterday. Rode some hills and took them pretty hard. Today I hit up the track at my high school and ran intervals along with running the bleachers. Tomorrow looks like a triathlon training day. No Westlake this week because of Explorer Firefighter Class. Clay Park Triathlon next Sunday.

Late

Tight legs

This morning after church Dad, Nick and I drove over to the track at my high school for some track running. We started off running for about a mile or so then did some intervals and ran up and down the bleachers. After our intervals, we ran for another 2 miles or so. At the end of the workout, we finished with about an hour and ran for about 5 miles, with hard intervals and sprints. Nick doesn't run a lot but he did today. He did a great job and ran the whole time. Good job Nick. He needs to start running so that he can get his running speed up for baseball. Hopefully by next season, he will be a lot faster.

When we came home, Dad and I went out for a ride. We wanted to take it easy and spin more because our legs were pretty beat. We ended up riding for about 1:15 with 21 miles. It was another good day and tomorrow we aren't doing a lot, just trim the bushes and Nick and I have to work. Everyone have a good Memorial Day.

See ya.

Headlands Training Day #1

Dad and I and Doug, from Bike Authority worked the Mentor Headlands Training Day #1. It was a beautiful day today with no wind at all barely. Dad and I rode with the first group. It was a really good ride averaging around 21 mph and when we transitioned in the parking lot, Dad and I put on the running shoes and ran the 10k run course. It was the first run since I sprained my ankle. My ankle hurt for the first mile or so, but then it felt really good. I was very happy with today's training. Some of the other triathletes even swam! They said the water was pretty cold, even with the wet suits on. Crazy triathletes. Afterwards when we came home, we did some yard work and Nick and I went fishing for the rest of the day. Tomorrow is just an easy recovery day. See everyone at Westlake!!!

Awesome weekend.

Friday after school, my friends picked me up at the local grocery store, because it was easier for them to find the grocery store than to find my house. I got picked up and we all headed to Concord Fire Department. When we arrived we picked up our class instructor, who is also a Firefighter Paramedic. We drove from around 4:30 and arrived at our hotel in Harrisburg, Pa at about 10:00. We would have arrived earlier but we got lost and didn't know what exit we were suppose to get off at. After calling the chief to get directions, we found the hotel and quickly fell asleep.

The next morning, we all woke up at around 6:00. The Fire expo started at 10:00 but we wanted to go early to play catch with the football. The problem was that we didn't have a football, and we had to find a Walmart or something to purchase one. We tried and tried to find a Walmart, or any place that would sell a football. We ended up getting lost again!! It was pretty funny though. After we found a Target, we bought a football and came up the expo about an hour early. So we played some football for an hour. When the expo opened, I walked in and the inside was huge. I have never seen such a huge place before. The building was called the Farm Complex I think. There were 4 or 5 rooms, but the rooms were monstrous. After about 6 hours of walking, looking, taking pi cures, and buying, we all headed back to the hotel. When we were back at the hotel, the chief called and asked if all of us wanted to go to his hotel to swim. Of course we said yes. After the swimming, we went to this restaurant called "Fire Mountain". This restaurant is officially the best in the whole world. All you can eat buffet, of real cooked food, for 10 dollars and some odd change. When the eating was over, we went the Bass Pro Shop and I bought a new camo wallet. That is my favorite place to go. This morning we woke up, ate breakfast and arrived back at Concord Fire Station at about 3:00. Then my friend drove me home.

With all the walking I did this weekend, my ankle is really swollen, but I can walk really good now. I can even run a little bit. But, I still have to let it heal before I really run on it. Well that's about it for now, awesome weekend and hopefully this week will be good to do some more training, since I didn't do any type of training all weekend. :)

Big Weekend

Well tomorrow I'm leaving for Harrisburg, Pa with some of the kids in my firefighting class and our instructor who is also a firefighter/EMT. There is a giant expo there and my class is staying for the weekend to learn about the new and improved tools and equipment. Everyone that went last year said it was great, so I'm excited to go. My ankle is almost back to normal now. The swelling has gone down tremendously and I can walk pretty normal on it now. It's just that both sides of my foot are black and blue and purple. It felt good today though. I rode the trainer for about 45 minutes too. I just spun the legs with no pressure. It's been hard not being able to do anything in the last three days. I just had to do something today. Laying on the couch and icing my ankle from the time I came home from school, to the time I went to bed sucked. I get home from school early tomorrow though, so I will most likely ride the trainer again or maybe get outside for a while, then come back and get ready for the big weekend.

later days.

Happened again.

Monday, I was at school and I rolled my ankle really good. I was walking down the stairs and my right foot slipped off of one of the steps and it rolled on the next step down. It hurt so bad that I just sat down in the middle of the hallway and pulled of my shoe to see if it was swollen. Sure enough, it was. Major swollen. I rolled my left ankle a couple months ago running. This roll was a lot worse than a couple months ago. When I rolled my ankle a couple months ago, I was running, and when my ankle rolled, I just stopped for a second and walked it off for a little bit. I was able to run home, and that was about 3 miles to my house. With the recent ankle roll, I could barely even walk down the hall. So when I arrived home, I put the ice pack on and plopped down on the couch for the rest of the day. Yesterday, I missed Westlake because of my ankle, it still hurt really bad. Dad went though and he did great. He made one of the breaks and rode awesome from the sounds of it. He just missed a 2 point prime by a half a wheel length. Awesome job Dad and all the LE racers who were there. Today, the swollen on my ankle has gone down quite a bit and I can walk on it a lot better. It's been three days since I last worked out, and I feel like crap. O well, it has got to heal so that I can come back strong.

Later.

Friday workout.

Dad and I got in a good workout today. We first started off running a 5k at a pretty good pace. When we came home, we put on our bike clothes and took out the training bikes and rode for about 24.5 miles. We took it pretty hard too, averaging around 196 watts. Tomorrow, we are waking up bright and early and riding for about 2 hours, and our friend Doug Sedivy is arriving at our house at about 7:30- 8:00 am. We want to ride early because my bro yo has a baseball double header starting at 10:00 am. Then after we are done with our ride, we can sit back, chillax, and enjoy some baseball.

Late.

For the next couple of weeks.

I'm not racing this weekend or next weekend. I'm not making it next weekend because I'm going to Harrisburg, PA with some of the kids in my firefighter class. We are going to leave Friday and arrive home during Sunday afternoon. I might be able to make Westlake next week though. I would like to start running and swimming more so that I'm not rusty for Tri season. A good workout to do is doing a hard ride and then jumping off your bike and running for about 3-5 miles, but take it pretty hard. Good brick workout, and that is what I will be doing a lot now for my training.

Peace

Sunday Sunday Sunday

Raced the Covered Bridge Race today and couldn't ask for a better day. The team received the new clothing kits and I chose to wear my long sleeve skin suit. Felt really good in the beginning of the race. First lap was super fast. In the middle of the race, a few racers, including me, worked together and caught the break. Lots of RGF guys in in it. It was a pretty good size break. Matt and I were the only one's from the team in the break. In the main group, we had my Dad, Pete, Chris, Josh,Mike and Todd. I was with the break for the last 3 laps. Very fast and very hard to stay with these guys. About 3 miles to go on the last lap, Paul took off and we all knew that no one was going to catch him. So it was a race for second place. On the finishing stretch, I moved up front of the group and sprinted it out, finishing 5th place. I was very happy with my performance and everything worked out perfect for me today. Dad finished very strong, finishing in the front of the chase field. Everyone raced great today. I don't know what my avg. speed was or the total time because my computer bonked out. Looks like I need to purchase a new one coming up here pretty soon.

When Dad and I arrived home, we took down the TT bikes and road a nice 25 miles. So with warm ups, the race, cool down, and the ride with the TT bikes, we rode for about 70 miles today. Hey it's a beautiful day, you got to take advantage of it.

Peace.

Looking good.

Tomorrow is the last Covered Bridge race and the weather is looking great again. Hopefully there will be as many people there this week as there were last week. I'm going to try and finish a little better tomorrow than I did last week also. I didn't really have very good legs at the last race because I did a lot the day before and I was on my feet for the whole day. But today I did some openers and didn't do so much, so hopefully I will have good legs for the race.

Talk to ya

Fast and Hot.

That's the two things I will say about today's Covered Bridge Race. I raced in the A group and right off the bat there were attacks. My legs felt pretty good today, and I was surprised they felt good too. Yesterday I wasn't really able to hop on the bike because I had firefighter class from 9:00-1:00 in the morning and then when I arrived home, we did quit a bit of yard work and car washing. By the end of the day, I just wanted to sit around and relax. This morning, when I was warming up with my Dad and Phil Hines, my legs didn't feel too good. But, as the race went on, they felt good. My legs started to cramp on the last lap and I really couldn't sprint at the end. I finished with the field and it was a good race. We had Shawn, Brant, Todd, and Jeff in the A field as well. It was another fast race, but it was very fun and I'm looking forward to next weekend.

In the Masters race there was Dad, Brian D, Nate, and Scott C. My Dad said it was a great race. He said he felt good and he had better legs than yesterday at RATL. Although his legs started to cramp up at the end also. Lots of attacks and lots of work up front but a great race. Nate ended up taking the win in the Master's field also! Great job Nate! We probably won't race RATL next week, just race on Sunday. Nice job to everyone who raced today in the 90* heat.

LATE

Lookin' forward

to the weekend! From what the weather man says, it is going to be 83 on Saturday!! And just as warm on Sunday. Can't wait till the race this weekend. I will most likely have to miss Saturday's RATL because I might have firefighter class, but I will be definitely racing the next day at the Covered Bridge Race. Really looking forward to the racing this weekend and hopefully the weather will turn nicer so that I can get out on the road. So far, it looks like it is going to rain for the next day or so. Trainer will work I guess......... drag. But at least warm weather is coming!!

Peace out.

RATL

Today was the first Race at the Lakes. As soon as Dad and I arrived we saw the red lights flashing from the ambulance. Way to start off the RATL series. Dad's race was really fun to watch. Lots of attacks going on and it was super fast. Dad finished great. He thinks he finished around 9th place. He looked strong, and while he was in the parking lot section, he attacked the group and got a really good gap. It looked like a car taking off around a corner, it was that fast. Especially with those new Zipp 404s.

My race was pretty good. I felt great in the beginning of the race. I had some attacks and
I brought some other racers back a few times. About 5 laps into the race, I looked down at my wheel and it looked like I had a flat. It sure felt like I had a flat too. CRAP!! So, as everyone was finished passing me, I pulled over to the side of the road and felt my tire. No flat........... So I rode a couple laps by myself and waited for the main group to come back. When they caught me, I moved in with them and finished with them. Jeremy and Paul were together in the break, so I don't know who won. Even with me riding by myself for a little bit, I still averaged close to 26 mph. When we got home, we put on the work boots and crappy jeans and shorts and did mulching and mowing the lawn. I'm pretty beat right now too.

C ya.

Almost race time!!

RATL tomorrow. Im really looking forward to the race and I know that it will be another wicked fast field again.

Race write up tomorrow

Roubaix Ride.

After church this morning, Scott, Dad and I headed out to Middlefield for the annual Paris Roubaix Ride. Last years ride was cold, windy and raining. And only 5 people showed up including me and Dad. Today the weather was fairly cool, sunny, but still really windy. A big jump from last year, 10 people showed up including myself, Dad and Scott. Starting off was crappy. 4 flats in about 4 miles. The ride was great, including some awesome Amish country roads and some nice hills. There were 8 total flats during the ride, which had to be a record. Luckily, me, Scott, Jeff Craft and a few other folks didn't flat. Dad had 2 flats in like 6 miles into the ride. Next year we need to bring a lot more tubes. We finished with a hair short of 35 miles in a little over 2 hrs. That was ride time. It took a lot of extra time changing tubes. So really the ride had to be close to 3 hrs haha. Thanks Jim Behrens for another great Roubaix ride and I'm already looking forward to next years. Next week is RATL on Saturday and a Valley race on Sunday. So I will be on the bike lots again this week.

Happy Easter
LATE

Duathlon

Today Dad, Scott and I raced the Headwaters Trail Duathlon hosted by Janet Edwards and the CTC. I started off running with Dad and we didn't really want to kill ourselves because the bike course was very hilly and it was very windy. So we both were running in 3rd and 4th place until the first transition. I put on my cycling shoes and did a cyclocross remount and started the hilly bike loop. I was first place out of T-1 and I was still maintaining the lead after I finished with my bike. The last run was hard. It is a weird feeling when you jump off your bike and start running. But after about a mile or so, I was back in my groove. I ended up finishing 1st overall in 1:22:49, which was a course record. So I felt really good about that. Dad finished 2nd with a great time of 1:23 and Scott finished 5th, and this was his 2nd or 3rd mulisport race. Awesome day today and looking forward to eating some good Easter food, since we are having Easter Dinner tonight. Dad, Scott, and I are headin out to Middlefield in the morning for the Roubaix ride.

Late.

Paris Roubaix Ride

this Sunday. Since Easter is the day when the the real Paris Roubaix is on, Jim Behrens is hosting his annual Paris Roubaix Ride. It starts of in Middlefield and you ride all through the Amish Country and lots of dirt roads. This is my 3rd or 4th year doing the Roubaix Ride, and I have a lot of fun every time. On Saturday, Dad and I are racing a duathlon, so hopefully the legs won't be too spent for the Roubaix Ride. Everyone is welcome to come and it will be a great ride and you will have a lot of fun.

word up!

Palm Sunday Ride.

Today looked great to get in another long and hilly ride. Since we were in good spirits this morning after church, Dad and I decided to ride the old Greater Cleveland Triathlon half Iron-Man course. You would expect a triathlon course to be flat with some high speed sections. Not this one though. This course consists some of the biggest climbs around and some hills that aren't really big, just like miles and miles long. I think this was the third time riding this course so I didn't really know where I was going. I had to rely on my Dad to show me the way. When we arrived home, we had 65 miles in 3:30. Great training ride, great training speed and a great day. Now I'm just waiting to eat some bacon cheeseburgers made from our new grill! Perfect food for the training diet. ;)

Late.

Windy nowhere ride.

Had another great ride today. Started off riding East into Austinburg, along with doing quite a bit of intervals. With those hard intervals came the gusts of wind. Yesterday, my Dad rode the TT bike and had a tail wind going out and a major head wind coming back from his ride. Well today was opposite. Major head wind going out. The fastest speed we saw was 23 mph in the head wind (including our intervals). At the half way point of our ride, we stopped at a funny looking intersection in the middle of nowhere Austinburg. We took some pictures and started to ride back home. When we started riding again, we looked at our computers and it was reading 19, 20 mph while we were riding up a short little hill. TAILWIND!!! yes. Finally the head wind was over and now we have a tail wind all the way home. We ended up riding for 43 miles with good intervals. Tomorrow is looking pretty crappy so I'll most likely go for a run, maybe ride an hour or so on the trainer.

Over

52 miler.

It was a great day to ride today. Dad and I went out around 3:10 and we were scheduled to have a long, hilly and hard ride. We hit all the major climbs around my crib. We had to sit all the climbs and jump out of the saddle and go at a good effort on the rollers. It was a very hard training ride and my legs are feeling pretty spent right now. I did weights yesterday and when I was doing squats I was saying that my legs were going to be sore and tired for the ride. But they actually felt great today! We finished with 52.2 miles and lots of climbing. Then the family assembled our new grill. Mmm, burgers and hot dogs.............. Perfect food for the training diet!! That's what my Dad says all the time when I eat junk food. haha.

END.

Malabar Farm Road Race.

Today was the Malabar Farm road race and what a beautiful day to have it. I raced the 1,2,3 race today and it had to be one of the hardest races I have ever done. The race consisted the usual super fast suspects. It was a 54 miler for the 1,2,3s which consisted a lot of climbing in a 10 mile lap. The first 3 laps were great for me. I wanted to race really smart because I was the only Lake Effect racer in my group. My legs felt great up the climbs and I was really happy with my performance. During lap 4, my legs were starting to cramp up and I was feeling really fatigued. At the start of lap 5, I bonked pretty bad at the top of the big climb and fell back from the main group. It sucked too because both of my bottles were empty and I already used up my Cliff Blocks and my gel. So I ended up riding a whole lap by myself and finished by myself. I didn't feel quite as bad because 1) There were a lot of racers that fell back from the field because the attacks up the major hill were crazy fast and 2) It is the first race of the season and there is a lot more racing to do this year. I lasted 4.5 laps with the field and it was an awesome race.

Dad had an awesome race. He raced the Master's race, which was 30 miles. It was the first race with his new Zipp 404's and those worked out great for him today. It was another very fast field, with him taking the win. The Master's field started 3 minutes behind the 3-4 racers and around the middle of the 3rd lap, Dad and a few other racers just about caught them!! They must have been haulin. That is sweet, first race of the season and already a win. Awesome job Dad!! Chris Riccardi raced the 3-4 field and placed, what he thinks 9th or 10th. Also, congrats goes out to Jeremy Grimm for a great 2nd place finish.

This week looks great, which means more training outside!

Later

It's here!

Well the pre-race nervous/excited feeling is again upon me. This weekend is the Malabar Farm Road Race. I'm racing in the Cat 1,2,3's. Hopefully the training I did this past winter helps me a bunch for Saturday. We have been riding a lot of hills lately, and Malabar Farm has a big hill, along with some other shorter ones on the course. I feel really good on the climbs on my training rides and I feel very strong punching it after corners. This is my first race of the season and I can't wait till race day!

Later.

Super Weekend.

Today Dad, Todd, Jared, Dave Steiner, and I rode from Squires Castle. Before everyone arrived, Thom and Derick from Spin rode up to say hi and talk for a bit. They already had a lot of miles in and was just ending their ride. We all rode for about 47 miles and quite a bit of hills too. It was pretty cold at first, then as soon as we started riding, layers of clothes were coming off. About 4 miles till the parking lot, Todd took a very hard pull, which led to a hard paced, race-like pace lines. We sprinted it out at the end and my legs were just screaming from yesterday's ride.

Yesterday was the TLE race strategy clinic. We were very happy to have Jacob Fetty work on the teams race tactics and strategies. After about an hour and a half talk, the team suited up and met at the the Old School in the Valley. Jacob had us group up into 4 teams of 5 people and each team had to come up with their own strategies and try to win a lap. We rode on parts of the old state TT course- about a 3 mile loop. Jacob randomly picked people to go out on breaks and the remaining people try to bring the break back. I was in quite a lot of breaks and attacked a lot too. We finished with about of 33 miles- A super hard 33 miles.

I felt great on Saturday at the LE clinic and my legs didn't feel too good on today's ride, but I am definitely ready for Malabar Farm this Saturday.

Git it Git it!

Thursday.

Today was a great ride. Dad, Scott, and I rode for 42 miles with lots of hills. It was getting a little cold and the skies were turning dark, which meant the rain was coming. We ended up beating the rain, which ended up turning to snow. I get home from school early tomorrow, so I'll be on the road again.

Peace.

104.5

miles in the past two days. Not bad. Dad, Scott and I rode the TT bikes today, finishing with 34.5 miles. It was another perfect day to ride. I'm going to try and ride before work tomorrow. I get home from school at around 1:35 so I might be able to get out for a little bit. It's going to be 65* tomorrow! But unfortunately the temps are suppose to drop by the end of the week. But, it's starting to get up there.

c ya.

Sunny Sunday.

Today Dad and I met Shawn, Rudy, other teammates and riders at the top of the Brecksville Reservation. It was about 10* warmer than at home so I was deciding if I should wear tights or not, because I had a pretty good chill from this morning when I woke up. I ended up sticking with the tights. It was a beautiful day to ride. We ended up riding 3 hrs 46 min. with 70.11 miles. Lots and lots of hills, along with some great tempo riding. After yesterday's race and today's ride, I'm pretty beat right now, but I felt really good throughout the ride. When we came home, I had to finish a painting for Art class, and it is due tomorrow................... haha. I'm definitely not going to be and artist when I'm older. Tomorrow, Dad, Scott and I are taking out the TT bikes and ride our 40k course. It is suppose to be SUNNY, WARM, and hopefully NO WIND.
Great day today and fantastic ride.

later days

St. Malachi Race

Today was the 29th annual St. Malachi race. Dad, Scott, and I ran the 5 mile race. Pete and Jane also raced the 5 miler. Good to see them. There was so many people there! There had to be over 1000 racers ( including the 2 mile race ). It was very cold this morning, but we chose to race in long sleeve shirts and running shorts, no tights. I'm really glad I didn't race in tights because it became hot very fast. I had a really good race. I finished with a time of 30:43 and 2nd in my age group ( 15-19 ). That is a 6:09 pace I guess. I didn't think that I was going to run that kind of a pace at all before the race went off. Dad did an awesome job as well. He finished with a time of 32:50. Scott finished in the low 34s, which was his PR. Scott said that there was no way he would keep a 7 minute pace. He ended up running in the mid, to upper 6's during the race! After a cool down and getting dressed, we traveled down to McCarthy's Ale House and had some cokes, (me) and beers (Mom, Dad, and Scott). Mickey was also there with his new GF. Nice to see him at the race also. We had some nice weather today and everyone had an awesome race. Tomorrow, Dad and I are meeting Shawn and others at the Brecksville Reservation to ride 3-4 hours with some hills.

Late.