Wednesday night ride.... Omaha style!

Ladies and gentlemen of Santa Rosa... here is one thing that I LOVE about Nebraska! Every Wednesday night after daylight savings time... WEDNESDAY NIGHT RIDES!!!!! Omaha and Lincoln!! Needless to say, it was great to be back on the old stomping grounds and hammer out a few cross-eyed kilojoules. There are a lot of new faces around and that makes me really happy too.

Major props to Team BISSELL up at the Nature Valley stage race. Tom Z'izzel crushed it and Pete-Da-Pistol came in a close third. Can't wait to see how they do tomorrow!!!


By the way, somebody needs to tell the Nature Valley promoters to get some X-Large leaders jerseys, as the Big Red BISSELL train has arrived!

I like my chicken fried Cold beer on a Friday night...

Back in Nebraska!!!! Brings back good memories of day's of old. Turned on the radio when I got in and Zac Brown's "Chicken Fried" song was on. Perfect for this occasion.

So for those of you who want to know, I'm in town for one of my best buddy's wedding on Saturday. So congratulations to Matt Johnson and Emmaly!!! After that it is off to the tour of the dairyland for some racing. Then it's back to Cali! I'll keep y'all posted on the racing when I can.

Congratulations to Paul Mach!!!

Paul Mach had his first big win of the year today. Currently, BISSELL is sitting 1st and 2nd on GC in the Mount Hood Cycling Classic. Check out his blog for updates at www.paulmach.com. Word on the street is that the whole BISSELL team kicked in a bunch of work to make it happen, including Morgan Schmitt who is 2nd on the podium. This goes to show how important a strong team is to winning. GO BISSELL!!!!!

-Timmo

On the move - Oregon

Yesterday I drove to Oregon to see what my good friend Matt has been talking about all these years. I can definitely see why he likes it up here. Take the good parts of Northern California (big trees, plenty of lush vegetation, lakes, streams, and a plethora of hills. I'll post some pics after the ride today.

Bull's Eye! West Branch Race Report

The race started out with three non-BISSELL riders rolling off the front a few miles into the race. Knowing that bridge attempts by BISSELL would cause a hard chase and possible harder counter, we sat in the pack and let the gap grow. There were a few attempted bridges from other riders but as expected there was a furious chase and then an immediate speed drop once the front of the chase knew they did not get away. Then at about 15 miles in, we took a right turn that took us into a pretty fierce cross wind. So I decided to give it a good effort in the gutter and see who could follow. Surprisingly, after about a minute of head down pedal mashing I glanced back to see that there was only 1 rider on my wheel. This was good news to me as I did not want to drag the whole pack up to the break. Additionally, with 5 guys in the break and none on the same team, there would be no pressure on any individual to make it work. Once Alan (Essex Brass) and I made contact, the 5 man group started working together pretty well. However, after a few miles it became obvious that the 5 man group was not going to stay a 5 man group. Over the next lap the 5 man break reduced to just myself and Alan, the guy that bridged up with me originally. We discussed the situation and decided to work to see how long we could stay away. This would help the BISSELL team should we have gotten caught since they would have been able to sit in while we were off the front. As fortune would have it, we were never caught and I was able to separate from Alan going up the hill to the finish line in the last mile. Additionally, since the BISSELL boyz had little pressure through out the race, Derrick Graham was able to separate from the pack at 1 lap to go to take 3rd. Gentel Ben followed up in 5th too.


Good work to all BISSELL riders.