TORRANCE CRIT 2008

ok, finally some form and redemption, albeit stymied by a huge pile up in front of me on the last lap.

the torrance crit went off very successfully for noah, wes and i. no one crashed and we all put in a good hard effort. the torrance crit is 4 corners of pure speed and some good ol fashioned bumping and skidding. noah was first off the mark and held his own up front for most of the race, while wes and i yo yo'd through the group. it was wes's first race of the season and even though he is getting a late start on things, he held his own and got stronger through the race. i too held my own and got some confidence back that had been lacking since coming back after surgery. i felt stronger and more comfortable as the race went on. i would say that every flat and or crash was due to a carbon rim blowing up, some guys keep their bikes upright, others did not. going into the first corner of the last lap at full rivet, about 10 guys went sliding across the lane as i was deep into my corner and as my back wheel went sideways and said hi to the front wheel, i finagled my way through the carnage and got on it to finish as best i could after going from 30+ to 3+ and still in my 53/11. all in all a good day, i am proud of the efforts that noah and wes put out, as far as i am concerned they did the colors proud and i walked away with a big smile after i caught my breath and could talk again.


[never start at the back of the field at torrance, oops, as passing is pure grit]


[wes getting his game on]


[am i really smiling?]


[chester and blue moving up]


[i will be able to talk in a few minutes]

WEEKEND RIG

so heres my weekend story, first i start off saturday putting in a great 2 loops of la tuna / verdugo / kenneth loop, a total of 68 miles of grinding rollers, la tuna, team TT speedwork with noah and paul. it was a truly great hard threshold workout, the boys really impressed. we did some speed work and team TT work on the downside from la tuna backside, on honolulu to verdugo, at a respectable 28mph + average [with stop lights]. noah and paul really let it fly. than after all that on saturday and a nap, i of course had to finish sizing my TT rig before a 6:45am sign-in in san diego sunday morning. needless to say in true blue fashion i got to our southern HQ in la mesa around midnight, stayed positive and set the alarm, it went off at 5am, than again at 5:20am and again at 5:30am, i felt like crap and blow off the fiesta island TT prep race [SDCV omnium next friday - sunday] and slept in for another few hours, woke up with the start of a bad i need sleep headache. i proceeded to arrange a ride on fiesta island to test the rig and sizing with big boy action masiguy jackson. the bike went great, it is really smooth and the position i believe is spot on, so not everything was a complete lose. after a few too many laps and an hour or so later, getting pushed around by the crosswinds, stupid drivers and trying to finagle tim into using his massive maggie size to block the ever changing winds lost its charm right about the time my head said 'enough, you can do what ever you want TT boy, but i am shutting down until i get some sleep and aspirin'. so that was my weekend. positive- TT rig is sized and ready to dominate [ie, i have to hang on], my head no longer feels like it did when i was in the andes the first time, and is back to normal [shutup].


[paul refueling for another lap over to the frontside of la tuna from glendale college, sporting his snazzy red shoes[ed. ok, so you can't see them, but trust me they are snaaazzzyy]


[paul striking a dominate pose or wondering why the hell he is doing the loop again]


[hi my name is tim, yes i am a dork. hi i'm jim, yes my head hurts and yes the wind is blowing]


[tim showing his disapproval of me being in front on him]


[proof i was in front of him]


[tim put his pride aside long enough to snap this great shot]


[finally where i should be, that is having tim's, huh, should we say large frameset, protecting me and setting quite the drafting precedent for the rest of the peloton]