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.