CX season just started for me :-)

My cyclocross season has just begun, thanks to Bissell and Glen hooking me up with this Pinarello CX. Anybody up for some trail riding this weekend?

Top 5 Questions about next season...

Over the past few weeks, I have had a lot of friends and family asking all sorts of questions about my team for next year. So I thought I'd put together a little blurb on some of the more popular questions.


Question #1: Are you racing the Tour of California?
Answer: Not in 2009. Bissell has 15 riders on the team and most of them have been competing at this level for years.

Question #2: really!?.. so is it the "real" team?
Answer: yes, it is the real team. Is there a "fake" one that I need to know about??

Question #3: Are you quitting your job at 3M?
Answer: No. Unlike other professional sports, there are no quarter million dollar minimum salary requirements in cycling. However I may have to take some extra vacation and figure something out over the summer. My management at 3M seem pretty excited for me and have offered to be flexible.

Question #4: So how much do you make.
Answer: See the last patagraph from Paul Mach's blog on Monday, November 10th.

Question #5: What kind of bike?
Answer: Pinarello Prince spec'd with Campagnolo Record 11 and Easton wheels.

So that's the top 5 for now.

Photo worth 1000+ words

I had some time yesterday to rifle through some pictures from the past couple years of racing. This photo came up and it opened up a flood of amazing memories from last season. It was taken by Ronnie on a training ride with the team earlier in the year. It reminds me of just how much RedPeloton means to me and how proud I am to be assocated with them. We spent a lot of time together doing all sorts of fun stuff. From cross country skiing up in Tahoe, driving around in Ronnie's and Andrew's team cars going all over the state, volunteering at all sorts of community events (there are quite a few that haven't made it on the website yet), and epic rides on Saturday morning, we sure had a lot of fun. It will be amazing to see the team grow and continue to represent the NCNCA as the primere team from Sonoma county.

Day 2 of blogging

I am going to try not to put too much junk on the site, but I want to get int the habit of writing regularly since the last 2 times I "started" on this blog, I left it hanging for months....

So Today is quite the rainy day in Petaluma. It started raining last night. On the one hand, it will be nice to see the countryside turn deep green again. On the other hand, I do not like riding in the rain unless I am racing. But fortunately, the rainy season coincides with the off season. The plus side of that is that most of my training is in the form of lifting weights at Parkpoint (inside), swimming at Parkpoint (I am already wet), 1 hour powercranks sets (inside), running (kinda sucks to get the sneakers wet, but what can you do?), and 3 hour endurance rides on Sundays (I can go in the afternoon when it's typically dry).

My main objective over the next few months is to establish a strong core and KEEP THE WEIGHT OFF!!!!!!!! Currently I am only 7 pounds from my "racing weight" and it has been holding there for a while, so I think I have found an equilibrium. But tonight is the night for gools and goblins to give and recieve candy, so I got to be careful tonight. But before I do that, I have a 1 hour run. Hopefully that will make up for the sweets tonight.

New season, new year, new team, new motivation!

Apparently it's been over a year since my last post. I plan on changing that trend from here on out. My goal is to keep this site up to date in order to keep my friends and family in the loop. So here is the clif notes from the past year for both my readers out there (thanks for reading mom and dad).

2008n started out great. I spent a lot of time at Parkpoint Health Club in Santa Rosa lifting weights, swimming, running, and all sorts of activities off the bike. I also had the opportunity to cross country ski at Royal Gorge up in Tahoe. Between all the off the bike activities I was doing, I was in pretty good shape.

There were quite a few races along the way, but for time sake I'll just focus on the ones I did well at.

First was the Chileno Valley grasshopper. For those of you that do not know what this series is all about, it's the official unofficial race series in Sonoma county, which often see the local pros, this year it was Levi , Scott, and Kris. Shockingly enough, I hung with them over the Marshall wall and Willson hill (or they let me ride with them, whatever...). Then going up burnside they dropped me like a rock! Much to my luck, Scott crashed after narrowly escaping a car when he was making a left turn. He was able to get back on the bike right as I passed by and we rode to the finish line together. I don't know exactly how it happened but we sprinted to the finish and ended up second place. This was the first time I had ever been able to hang with pros. So it was a very thrilling day for me and one that my friends bring up every time I have a bad day (thanks guys!).

After that, there was a series of top 10 finishes at real races. A few wins, a couple runner-ups, and a spattering of top 6 finishes got me my 1 upgrade by June. So I registered for my first NRC race, Tour de Nez. Quite frankly, I got spanked. No excuses. I got served! But it was a good reality check, I have a lot to learn and a lot of fitness to gain and that is pretty motivational to me.

Over the course of the season, I had been joking a little bit about going pro in 2009. I was joking simply because I was a little embarrassed to talk about it and really didn't know if it could even happen. Fortunately, I visited Norcal Bikesport one fateful afternoon where some team mates Shane and Glenn were chit-chatting. We talked about the whole "pro" thing and they seemed to have confidence that I could make it happen if I tried. So I started talking to one of my other good friends, Andrew. He hooked me up with Glen Mitchell, the director of Bissell Pro Cycling. Glen and I talked about it off and on for a few months and just two weeks ago, he decided to give me a shot.

So now, I have a lot of work to do to prepare for next season. Core strength, cycling specific lifting, running, swimming, and a teaspoon of cycling is in the plans for a while. Training camp, which will be held in Santa Rosa, starts at the end of January and I have some pretty big shoes to fill on this team. So wish me luck!