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.