OUCH!!!

Bruised but not broken, I will be racing tonight on a neutral bike. Couple open wounds still on the hip and calf, but Pipp said to "man up." Wish me luck!

Grand Rapids Criterium August 8th

One of Team BISSELL's other sponsors, Advantage Benefits, is organizing a race in Grand Rapids. It is the Meijer Grand Cycling Classic, to be held August 8th in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan.

I will be there for sure!

Tour of Dairyland - Grafton Criterium

Erik, one of our gracious hosts.

Sheldon showing off his clean ride for the ladies.

Sheldon throwing Fort Collins gang symbols on our recovery ride.

All in all, the day wasn't too bad. Sheldon and I had a good morning. We stopped at the Roastery Coffee Shoppe on the way out of town for our morning ride. On the 90 minute trek, we got some good photography in as you can see from the photo above. I also had time to soak up some sun! Additionally, Sheldon and I spent some time cleaning all the mud and sand off our bikes after last nights rain-fest criterium.

As for the criterium in Grafton today, it started out pretty well. Lots of fresh legs were there and once they had some time to thrash themselves, the pace became manageable. A small break went up the road and got almost 1 minute on the pack. Then Pipp told me that he and a few other guys were gonna roll at the front and for me to sit in. This was SUPER NICE since I didn't have to cover any stupid attacks. At about 10 laps to go, they boyz had the gap down to 12 seconds, but Sheldon was left at the front shaking his elbow and no other people wanted to help out. So ther free wheels started flying again and the gap quickily grew back up to 1 minute. I was still sitting very comfortably in the pack surfing the 10th - 15th position. And that's when tragety struck....

Going around the last corner at 6 laps to go (the pit closes at 7 to go), I was pedaling through the corner with the rest of the pack and made a mid-turn tragectory switch due to some pack movement to the outside. I hit my right pedal against the ground with enough force to lift my back wheel off the ground. Down I went. I have always wondered how people can crach themselves out of a race solo, but now I know. I know it was my own fault and I should have been able to go through the corner like I did the 30(ish) other times before. But somehow I just biffed it.

On the bright side, I did pimp the points leader coming into the race for a prime. That made me feel pretty good.

Really, I just feel bad that Sheldon and Frank dug so deep for me and I biffed a corner, something that I typically do very well. But that's why Frank is one of my hero's... after working his tail off that last half of the race, he still came up with an impressive sprint to take 3rd place and the overall lead of the Tour of Dairyland. GO FRANK!!!!

Enjoy the pics below!

1 layer of skin removed from my calf.

2 layers of skin removed from my hip. I think it looks worse in person, but maybe that's just because of the massive welt and the pain.

Tour of Dairyland

Just a few updates...

WNWCWC

These are still going on. Fritz Wisor has committed to leading them from now on in my absence.

Tour of Dairyland - Blue Mounds

Mile 15 of 90 I got caught up in a wreck that messed the bike up, but not me (kinda). Me and 3 other guys wrestled a head wind for about 5 miles to catch back on. I had about 1 minute to recover before blasting up the longest climb of the day (8850 feet in 88 miles). About half way up my legs were lactic loaded and I ended up in a group that was contesting for 20th place at best. Good news is that Frank Pipp was able to come out with a 4th place on the day and Sheldon was about 15th (we think).

Tour of Dairyland - Waterloo

90 minute crit with a 50 foot climb on the back side. We did a pretty good job of getting into breaks and covering moves. But in the end, the rain and slick pavement got the best of Frank and I. Good news is that Sheldon felt good under the conditions. However, no real result. Looking forward to tomorrow... 85 degrees and sunny! California weather if you will!

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.