greg the day

so it was hot and hard today, to say the least. the fahrenheit peaked over 100 today out in the far reaches of the valley and we climbed over 3000', with the average going over 6% with most climbs hiting +18%.

today was the day of greg. he showed what 10 months of hard training and dedication can produce, and did he produce today. he stuck my wheel on every climb and was mixing it up on the rest of route. he really impressed today and rode like hell. with his pending powercranks training to start soon, he is only going to get faster and tougher.

the day started out by warming up on the cahuenga climb over to the valley and hollywood way. we progressed through the scorching valley via glen oaks to hansen dam and starting climbing the full length of foothill. greg was right there every time i would look over my shoulder. what a possessed ride he had up foothill. we than found our way over to inverness [back side of chevy chase] and climbed the steeps up to the girls school at the top that overlooks the rose bowl. from there it was down chevy chase to the other end of glen oaks. we than made are way up barham and than cooled down by climbing the 15%+ climbs to lake hollywood and down from 'the sign' to beachwood and home. it was a hard day and greg stepped up and took control of it like a true champion. i am and was impressed by his effort today and how good he has truly become. it is nice to see all of his hard training and dedication finally start to pay off. props to you greg, you truly are a hard man.

quick note

just a quick note to mention some other things going on with the team.
GPtv has renewed their sponsorship for another year, thanks so much g-money.
also we have a new sponsor that has signed on to be represented by team becher+ master wheel men, a huge welcome and thank you goes out to PERONI for their support of our efforts in 2007.

now go buy some peroni beer and have GPTV produce the show....

more transition

hey, i know.
we have been gettting in some great rides recently during our transisiton phase, before we start all of those real base miles. long slow distance here we come.


[noah and i over looking the valley]

noah and i had a few fast sundays recently, one out to topanga canyon. it was noah's first time doing the full length of topanga to ventura and he nailed it.


we have also been making a habit out of mt. wilson on our long wednesday rides. the last time up we were joined by todd 'don't let the weight fool ya' munson. it was of course an epic training day and todd pulled more than is own on the way up. and used that weight advantage on the way down to smoke my powercranking arse. this particular ride goes out to tennysons imaginary girlfriend and her nonexistent car that broke down and prevented him from going....

[proof todd was there]

[and now the group picture up top of mt. wilson, sucking in the microwaves...]

state champion

the last weekend in july saw team becher+ win it's first state track championship. team track speedster, tim jackson won the 35+ pursuit and kilo events at the arizona state championships, held at the velodrome in san diego. we all want to congratulate tim on an awesome effort and look forward to him repeating the feat in the california state champships next year. don't forget to check out the sweet ride tim was on, as in the new '07 MASI pursuit track bike and the new '07 sprint track bike.


[tim getting reading to suffer]


[tim getting his kilo start on]


[tim looking good in the team blues]

determination

[update] this is the face of real determination, of a real hardman, a real heroic effort, of a 36 year old kicking some serious real arse today. cycling doesn't get more real [better] than this.

voigt restores

what a great stage today at the DT [deutschland tour]. jens voigt restores faith in cyling for myself and millioins of fans. oh, wait, i never lost faith in the greatest sport on earth, unlike some wishy washy whining cheese eating surrender monkeys.


[what a true hardman]

jens rode hard all day and stuck to levi's tail up some of the steepest roads in germany / austria today. what a gallant passionate ride, the stuff to bring a tear to your eye. we all know what floyd did on stage 17 [TDF], that was possesed and historic, but what jens did today was heroic. floyd on a good day can do what he did, but the 35 year old jens was not suppose to be there at the finish 2sec ahead of mr. leipheimer [a mountain climbing, stage race winning super man]. way to go mr. voigt, you truly are the man.


[erik taunting the climbers]

speaking of men, how about the effort of mr. zabel today and for fighting the entire race. most racers would have given up [did i mention he is 36 now] like a wuss by now, but not erik, when you look at the results today, he, a sprinter, picked up mountain points today and was on a long break away up the beyond-category hahntenjoch [yes beyond category] with s.lang ahead of the leaders. they established an 8min lead over the DT contenders [well if eric had stayed away, i believe he would be in yellow]. way to go eric [and sebastian]. what a great day of racing, thanks jens and erik for for showing the youngsters what it is truly like to be a hardman and for giving us some beyond category racing action.

ok, so it has been a while since i last blogged

[cursing up nicholas canyon]

ok, so it has been a while since i last blogged. you know the usual suspects, work, work, work, and trying to get an appointment with dr. fuentes is almost impossible these days. we have entered the transitional phase of our training, now that the race season is pretty much over for now. soon we be starting our base miles over again. in the mean time we have had some really good rides, noah, greg and i worked well together as a team a few rides back and won the sepulveda sprint line. i set it up well and lead out from about 600m and than faded back as noah took over and lead out the competitors, while greg and regrouped at the rear. greg decided that he was going to lead me out, as opposed to me leading him out [greg has got the sprint legs]. so greg hammered it and we surprised the group as we passed everyone up with about 200m to go, and pulled around greg and easily won by a bike length or so. the team worked well and it was great practice. kudos to noah [the decoy] and greg [the hammer].


[this is where we are headed]

now on to the killer ride yesterday up to mt. wilson in the angeles national forest. greg and i headed up the mountain[s] for 5800ft+ [6500ft total for the day] of continuous climbing. the weather was perfect, about 85 -90, cool breeze towards top and sunny. powercranking for 2.5 hours of climbing is not child's play, but is some serious training [and fun]. to get to the top was no easy feat on powercranks. greg did a spectacular ride and climbed like a mountain goat the whole way up, in true greg 'hard man' fashion. this ride was dedicated to dave 'flatlander' jarrett and to noah 'to much work' witlin. see you both up at the top next time.


[greg and i going through the burn zone]


[almost there]


[greg at the top of mt. wilson]


[at the top]


[greg and i on the other side of the mt. wilson]