Xilinx CX race

Check out this sweet video from the Xilinx cross race this weekend. Hint: look for the guy in the BKB kit.

New season. New approach

It's been a long time since I've last posted and I'm sorry. To give a quick recap of last season: I was over-trained, over-worked, over-tired, and over-invested. All of these factors resulted in me under-performing. I raced hard through July and was continuously placing in the top 15 but never had a good couple of weeks (or even a good day) where I could ride away from the competition.

There were a lot of factors contributing to my lack of success this season, the greatest of which was my approach to the sport. I lost sight of why I do this whole cycling gig: because it is fun. I was so focused on my training and focused on performing that it became a second job for me. Come the end of July when I realized that I would not achieve my goals I was able to step back and reevaluate my situation and what I want to make of my riding. My goals for this season: ride, train, and race to simply enjoy it. With this approach I believe the results will follow.


I have also decided on a new approach for my blog. My previous entries have been blow by blow accounts of races and I hated writing those almost as much as I'm sure you hated reading them. My new approach for the blog this season will be to detail more about cycling culture and the places I see and people I meet in traveling and racing. I will also be talking about the cool and funny things that I come across in the process. My last plan is to be adding more photos. I never got a chance to take any during the road season but now I'll have more chances since cross races are in a centralized location and my races will only take an hour out of my day there.


Here's one to get it started:

This is the new bike for the season. Pretty sweet, right? HUGE thanks to Ubikes and Specialized for aiding me in my desire to promote our shop and brands on the cyclocross course.

Hopefully some of you are still following this blog after my 3 month hiatus and will be excited about some new posts.

Race Report: Hugo Road Race

Today I went to Hugo, CO with Firle and Cameron to do the Hugo Road Race. The Course was a 78 mile loop on some of the flattest, straightest, most unexciting roads that Colorado has to offer. It was a chilly day and a pretty boring race until the last 15km when it really started picking up. A lot of attacks went at that point and I took a shot at getting away as well but was unsuccessful. Because of the lack of difficulty in the terrain the race came down to a 60+ man field-sprint that was host to the sketchiest riding I've seen in a long time. People were pushed off the road and into the ditch on at least 4 occasions. I guess the moto wanted in on the action as well as he kept rolling up on us making things even more chaotic in the final kilometers. I ended up crossing the line just behind the sprint but boxed in and never really able to open up my sprinting legs. Although I had fun because it was still bicycle racing and I got to spend some time with Cam and Firle, I think that I'll skip out on this race next year and just go for a ride.

Check out my race profile

Race Report: Tour of the Gila - Stage 5: The Gila Monster

Today was the 5th and final stage of the Gila. The route was similar to the Inner Loop that we did on Wednesday but we rode it backwards starting in town and finishing at the summit of Pinos Altos (a category 2 climb).

The race started at 7:30 this morning and it was unbelievably cold. The course started with a few long and gradual climbs heading out of town. We went over these pretty quickly and the group stayed together. One primal rider left on a break away there.

From there we descended into a valley and then gradually climbed over some rolling hills to the continental divide. After crossing over the divide the pave really picked up. The break had a gap of about 5 minutes and was beginning to threaten the top GC guys.

Things realty heated up with about 20 to go when we hit the start of the category 2 climb. The GC leader immediately threw in an attack and the peloton shattered. I went with the attack along with about 9 other guys. I was able to hold on for a few miles but felt terrible and was dropped with about 14 miles to go. It seems the 4 days of race efforts leading up to today had taken their toll and my legs were absolutely cooked.

Although I was no longer contending the stage win I tries the keep my pace up in hopes to sneak back into the top 10 GC. At the end of the day I finished 10th in the stage about 1:30 back from the stage winner. I knew the riders that I needed to gain tome against to get back into the top 10 were behind me but I wasn't sure if I had created a substantial enough gap.

Sadly, I was only able to gain about 30 seconds on the riders who had pushed me put of the top 10 in the ITT and that wasn't enough to move up. I was still 12th overall.

Although I didn't have any huge moves that would have won me the race, the thing that most certainly lost it for me was the ITT. This is clearly something that I'll need to really work on and eventually get the equipment for if I would like to do well in an event like this in the future.

All-in-all it was a fantastic experience and is something I would like to do more of. I am already looking forward to returning next year.

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Race Report: SRAM Tour of the Gila - stage 4: Downtown Criterium

Yesterday's stage was the downtown crit in downtown Silver City. The course was set up like a traditional 4 corner crit and had a few add-ons to make it a little more interesting. The most substantial of these was the climb on the back stretch. It was actually quite steep and on a few of the slower laps I was tempted to drop to the small ring in front to get over it (I was running an 11-23).

The race was pretty uneventful and I just sat in and finish with the group to rest up for today. There was a pretty high-speed crash that I narrowly missed with about 5 laps to go but I sneaked by and finished at +0:00 for the day.

After the race was over Graham and I hung around town and ate and watched the pros race.

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Race Report: SRAM Tour of the Gila - Stage 3: Tyrone Individual Time Trial

Well. That one hurt. The winds were exactly as brutal as they were predicting. I borrowed a 606 wheel setup and an aero helmet from a teammate which was pretty sweet. I was definitely hesitant to use it as there were pretty strong crosswinds but am glad I did as it still wasn't super impossible to fight the gusts.

The course today was 16 miles long and began immediately with a 5 mile climb up Little Burrow Pass. It was a pretty gradual climb and I had a hard time finding my tempo. Close to the top I was passed by the rider who started after I did and I thought to myself, "this is going to be a long 16 miles". After a quick descent there were 2 miles of rollers before the turnaround. It was there where I was passed by another rider.

Thankfully I had a much stronger second half and would not be passed again. The climb back over the pass was much steeper in the other direction and I made up some time there. The 5 mile descent to the finish was the hairy part. There was a strong tail/cross wind with some huge swirling gusts. Due to the tailwind and going downhill I was spinning out in my 53-11 doing about 55mph. The hairy part is when a huge gust would come and almost rip the bike out from underneath you.

I made it in safely but lost a lot of time. I finished 38th at +6:08. Ouch! This took me quite a ways down in the GC from 6th at +1:28 to 12th at +8:20. Ouch! I need to keep in mind why I am doing this race and what my intentions were when I entered. I came for the experience. I came to find out what sort of rider I am and to learn about my strengths, and weaknesses. I knew starting today that time trailing is a big limiter for me but now I see just how much improving I need to do and I now have an objective for the coming months.

While the leader's jersey may be beyond reach for me now, doing well in the GC is still a possibility and my chance will most definitely come on Sunday in the Gila Monster road race. Tomorrow is the downtown crit which I plan to sit in and relax on. It will be on Sunday on the CAT 2 climb in the final 50k where the final selection will be made.

Good night.

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Race Report: SRAM Tour of the Gila - Stage 2: Fort Bayard Inner Loop Road Race

What an awesome day in the saddle! I'm laying in my tent right now just relaxing before going to sleep and recapping about today. Before going into today I'd like to correct myself about my finish position from yesterday. I actually finished 7th and started today at +1:26. I was pretty surprised when I heard that I had lost so much time on the final section of the climb but it does make sense as I was definitely way in the red.

That is where I started today (in 7th and 1:26 off the leader). We rolled out of fort bayard at 10 and started our 80 mile route at a blistering pace. It seemed like people who weren't too happy with their times from yesterday were out with a vengeance and I was happy to get sucked along. Around mile 8 we began our first climb: 1000 ft up the pinos altos. I rolled over it fine and the group stayed together. On the descent from the summit I was sitting around 20th and was behind some very sketchy riders.

We dropped down to 6500 ft before starting another 1000 ft cat 3 climb up meadow creek. Things got a little more broken up on this climb and I went over the top in 5th heading into a very tight and technical descent. On the way down I advanced to 3rd and was feeling very fast on the hairpins and switchbacks.

Once we got down to the valley there were 7 of us off the front and we started a rotating paceline. I was certain that this was going to be the move to win the day but after about 5 minutes those dreams were shot. Although there were 7 of us, only 3 of us were doing any work. After about 20 minutes and extending our lead to a max of 1:30 over the field, we were caught and it was again gruppo compacto.

From there we rode a pretty easy 20 miles through the Gila, over the continental decide, and then down to the Mimbres River. There were a few break away attempts but nothing would stick.

It was at the Mimbres and the following cat 3 1000ft climb where the attacks started. A few riders were able to secure some pretty substantial leads on the long, shallow climbs there. It was also on those climbs that the lead group whittled down to about 20.

Coming into the finish we picked up all but one break away rider and were really picking up some speed. As we turned into the final mile into the fort there plenty of attacks but I just hung in and set up my sprint. As I was just about to luck it into high gear another rider pulled in front of me and blocked my route. After going around him I was still able to gain some spots before the finish but not enough to contend the win. We caught the break at the line and although he still was able to cross first we were all given the same time.
I finished 6th for the day and am sitting 6th in the GC at +1:28. Tomorrow is the ITT and I'm definitely nervous about it. Time trialing is not one of my strong points but I need to do well in order to maintain my position in the GC. There will be a lot of climbing as well as a mega crosswind which will hopefully improve my odds of doing well particularly since I don't have any TT equipment. I'll let you know how it goes

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Race Report: SRAM Tour of the Gila - Stage 1: Silver City - Mogollon Road Race

Just got in from stage 1 of the Tour of the Gila and so far it is beyond epic. Today's stage was a 73 mile point to point race with one major climb. We rolled out of Silver City after a parade lap around town and were instantly faced with a few miles of climbing. After climbing out of the town we rode down towards the Gila River basin. It was mostly downhill with a few rollers at that point and it was around mile 10 where two riders broke off the front. Near the first feed-zone which was around mile 20 we were told by a race official to continue on the road we were on instead of taking a right and climbing up a short hill (which is where we were supposed to go). The two riders off the front had climbed up the hill and done the additional loop and by the time the race officials had made a decision about what to do they were about 5 minutes behind us. We were then forced to ride neutral for about 20 minutes to allow them to catch up. It was pretty frustrating (although certainly not as frustrating as it was the the two in the break) but everything seemed to get a least a little sorted out.

After we crossed the Gila River we starting gradually climbing although it was mostly rolling. The course was pretty flat and, except for a four-man break away getting away, the race was pretty uneventful until the end. The last 7 miles was the Mogollon climb. This is where all the excitement happened for the day. The road began to steadily pitch up and there were a few sections that went u[ to a 13% grade. This section was only about 2 miles long but it really split up the group. The course then flattened out for about 1.5 miles before the start of the final climb. It was there that I found myself with about 10 other riders in the lead group (minus the four that were still in the break-away). The final climb started with 4 miles to go and pitched between 7 and 19%. In the first 2 miles of the climb we caught the break and the group I was with whittled down to 4. It was at the 2-mile-to-go mark where another rider put in an attack, my legs were already screaming at me and I was left behind. I kept the group in my sights for a mile but I was already gasping for air and loosing steam. I lost sight of them with about 0.5 miles to go but finished just behind them and somewhere around 5th place (it was hard to tell who was in our field as we were passing some straggling masters).

It was a pretty awesome day and I felt really good. I'm sitting pretty high up in the GC and am looking to hold onto as much time as I can. Now I'm eating some food and drinking a whole bunch of water to get ready for a huge day of racing and climbing tomorrow. Tomorrow's race is around 80 miles with 6000ft of climbing.

Sorry that this post is void of pictures. I will add some once I get them.

Race Report: Deer Trail Road Race

I just finished up with the first race of the season: the deer trail road race in deer trail, CO. It went very well considering that I was trying to take it super easy as stage 1 of the Gila is on Wednesday. The course was very boring. Two out and backs that we did twice totaling 60 miles. It was super flat with a few rollers and dead straight. It was snowing lightly which made it a little less bland and more epic. With about 20k to go the pace started really picking up and the group diminished in size. Coming into the final 2k I felt that I had great positioning and was gearing up for the sprint when a group of 7 broke off the front. I found myself just behind them with two others and a completely shattered peloton. My group of 3 wasn't able to reconnect with the leaders but I made it to the line before those guys for an 8th place finish. I worked hard but was never concerned about blowing up despite riding away from about 40 other guys. I'm feeling good about my fitness and am really looking forward to seeing how I'll fair at the Gila and through the rest of the season. Also, the race wheels kicked ass. I was astonished at how much faster and lighter I felt on them

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Fruita Trip and the New Bike

About a week and a half ago I went with Kate and a bunch of folks from Ubikes to Fruita, CO for 3 days of mountain biking. The terrain and trails in Fruita were spectacular and world class but totally different from the style of riding that I've done in the past. The trip was wonderful for so many reasons other than experiencing the trails in Fruita. The first was because of the bike I was on. We received some Cannondale demos from the Cannondale rep including the new Jekyll and the Scalpel Ultimate. I was riding the latter which was tricked out with SRAM XX and weighed about as much as my cyclocross bike (around 18.5-19 pounds) which is totally insane! They keep the weight so low firstly with the carbon Lefty fork. That is an instant savings of about about. Beyond that they keep weight down by going for the expensive/weight saving equipment wherever possible and removing the pivots from the rear triangle and allowing the frame to flex to create rear suspension. The bike was unbelievably punchy and climbed superbly. It didn't have quite enough travel for what I was trying to do with it but it was not created to excel at taking big drops. Another reason that the trip was so sick was because of the fact that it was a company trip. Kate and I are both so happy to have come to Colorado and are amazed with Ubikes and the way in which they care for their employees.

I also finally got my road bike for the summer and it is sweet! I went for the Specialized Tarmac Comp over the Expert that I had last year in order to save a few bucks. My friend, Zach, convinced me that I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the SL2 and the SL3 frames and he was absolutely right. I also swapped out the 105 that came on the bike and put on my Ultegra that came on the Expert and then was on my Ridley for the CX season. I'm definitely going to be testing the longevity of the Ultegra gruppo as I'm planning on putting it on my CX bike this fall as well and then hopefully finding an inexpensive TT frame to put it on for next year. The big improvement in my equipment this year though is definitely the weelset. They were custom-built by a mechanic at Ubikes named Chris and they are 38mm carbon tubulars with Dura-Ace hubs, DT-Swiss Revolution spokes, and I'm gluing them up with Challenge Strada tires. the tire is super interesting as well as it is a 24c with a max of 200 PSI. I'll let you know what I think of them once I get them glued and race them.

All-in-all everything is awesome. I've been spending a lot of money recently trying to get my equipment together, which is not sweet, but I'm really looking forward to this road season and am very excited about my team, the races on my schedule, and where I think I'll be able to take my fitness this year.

The Team Kit is in

The new team kit is in and I went on an epic ride with Kate in it today. We rode north on 36 to Lyons, up through St.Vrain Canyon to the Peak to Peak highway to Ward and then back down. It was about 65 miles with a little over 6000 ft of climbing. The route was amazing and super scenic. Check it out: EPIC RIDE

On the team kit. It is sick. I was really worried about the colors originally but found them to look way sweeter in person. Kate and I stopped at Spruce once we got back to town for some espresso and food and she took this photo of me eating my blackberry and chocolate scone. Kate got a lot of food....she bonked a little.

Keeping it fun

Base miles are great. Sometimes, however, they are arduous and inexplicably painful. Recently I've been feeling a little bit more of the latter than the former. I've also been fighting a light cold which just makes me feel terrible whenever my HR gets over 165. Because of this I've been breaking slightly from my workout regimen in order to spice things up and put an end to the long, flat miles. Two days ago I went mountain biking with Kate and DH out at Hall near Lyons instead of doing 2.5 hours on the road bike. This was pretty killer and the climb was super technical and challenging. We did a loop at the top of the climb and then descended the same technical route we had ridden up on. It was at this point (me riding a hard-tail Specialized Stumpjumper Comp 29er) that I slammed into some boulders and went OTB....twice. Kate got to witness the more impressive of the two instances when I got jammed between some boulder and was still clipped in hanging upside-down. I'm still hurting but it was super worth the break in the routine. Today was quite warm and I had 4 hours planned on the bike. I started in the morning and headed out in the valley towards Lyons and Hygiene as usual but the further north I went the colder it got. Since it was so warm (about 65 degrees) in Boulder, I decided to head back south and head up Lefthand canyon for some climbing. I missed heading up the canyons and it was really great to be in the mountains on a bike again.

Featured Product Archive: February - Winston's Brand Hot Ebrocation

This month's featured product is Winston's Brand Cycling Skincare. Namely: their hot embrocation cream. I purchased this embro at the end of this past cyclocross season to see me through late November and December racing and was quite impressed with the product that they're producing. It is currently being made in small batches by two folks from Fort Wayne, IN. Although many embrocation cremes can keep you warm there are a few things that set this embro apart. The feel of the creme is clean and light and it doesn't leave an oily residue. It also lasts for quite a long time and smells great (a lot like pine). Most importantly though is that at Colorado CX states, when the temperature was near freezing, it kept my bare legs warm and cozy and propelled me to a 10th place finish despite having a terrible start and needing to pee the whole time. The next time you're looking for some Belgian knee-warmers I would definitely recommend skipping the mass-produced stuff and going for some Winston's. They have four heats of embro and also make chamois creme. http://www.winstonsbrand.com/

More Base Miles

It is now March and the season is really starting to loom closer. I've been spending huge amounts of time riding the past 3 weeks and am definitely relieved to finally be getting a little R&R. I took this photo a few weeks ago when we got some snow and I decided to put on the CX tires and go for a ride instead of sitting on the rollers. It was totally worth it. My first race is about 5 weeks away and it is time for me to get my equipment together. My rims came in and are ready to be built up. I placed my order for my Team Hotel San Jose kit today. We should also be having a team meeting soon where I'll learn about what bikes will be available to me so I can make my decision. There've been a lot of rumors about what the bike options will be and they seem to be ever changing. The possibilities are: Gary Fisher (Trek), Trek, Cervelo, Felt, Fuji, and Scott.

I've been putting in some really epic rides recently. I've ridden Carter Lake a few times in the last few weeks as well as a killer ride with Graham out to Fort Collins and back hitting up some of the route from collegiate nationals from a few years back. This photo is from the sandwich shop we ate at in Fort Collins where they had a Velonews where they reviewed aero road bikes. This got me very interested in the Cervelo S-series. Everything has been a lot of fun and I'm definitely looking forward to my last base period.

Snow and the velodrome

I've been spending a lot of time outside and been doing a lot of fun things since my last post about Serotta Bikes. I finished up my first huge week of riding and spent just over 20 hours training last week. I'm currently in an R&R phase and only doing about 11 hours this week. We've been getting some snow here in Boulder so I've spent a lot of my hours off the bike either snowshoeing, skiing/snowboarding, or hiking. I've been trying to learn how to ski and was up at Eldora yesterday and convinced myself to go down some black runs. I took them pretty slowly but was happy that I got down them on my second day of being on skis.

Kate and I have a day off together today and went for a hike in Gregory Canyon just outside of Boulder. We had a great time and the snow was pretty fun. We definitely wished we could have had a dog with us though and think a lot about how much Luke would like it out here. We're now at Laughing Goat enjoying a cup of coffee and playing Scrabble. I'm writing this while waiting for her to play her turn.

I wanted to share this link with you about Doug Emerson who is the owner of University Bikes and is spearheading the effort to create a new outdoor velodrome in Erie, CO. http://collectivehunch.com/velodream/  The video is copyright protected so I can't repost it to play directly here but I'd recommend following the link to Collective Hunch and checking it out. He's still in the fund-raising stage but has the permit to begin building. Once built, the velodrome would be vastly superior to the current indoor velo here in Boulder (which we still have a blast on but it is a little tight and steep to be safe for all-out efforts). It would also be large enough and well-built enough to provide a venue for racing and hopefully attract some top track athletes to the area. I'm hoping that it would also give rise to a whole new series of racing including some things like match sprints and maybe even some 6-day races. Look out for me in the IU kit going around the track. I didn't know they were going to be filming that day but just by chance was supporting my Alma Mater. You might be able to spot Kate as well in some black knickers and a blue Interbike jersey.

Serotta

This evening I went to Ubikes with Kate for a presentation from Ben Serotta about his bicycles. We had a great time and learned a lot about his brand and what he is trying to do with his bikes: create the best riding experience possible. This means that his frames are designed for performance, longevity, and great compliances. Ben mentioned outright that this mean his bikes are not always the lightest as he does not sacrifice the handling and feel of the bike for this feature (However, we weighed the high-end carbon bike he brought in that was outfitted with SRAM Red and it came in at 15.45lbs without pedals). Serotta offers fully-custom, semi-custom, and stock bikes to consumers and seems to have been doing a good job of it for almost 4 decades. They offer bikes made from steel, titanium, and carbon fiber. The most unique thing about their bike manufacturing is how everything is done in house. While many bike manufacturers now go to outside sources for their materials and even outsource assembly, Ben Serotta creates all of his own tubing and assembles and paints all of his bikes in his two locations here in the US. The attention to detail in the design, manufacturing, and assembly of his products is simply mind-boggling

Base Miles

It is once again the time of year when I need to start building a base for the coming seasons of racing. The other day I rode for about 5 hours NE of here and then headed west into Lyons before coming back to Boulder. The ride was great and the scenery was fantastic. I was on dirt roads for about 40% of the ride and was very infrequently passed by cars. In Lyons I stopped at Barking Dog Cafe for an americano and a bit to eat. The coffee was decent but the cinnamon raisin bread-pudding was outstanding! The chocolate croissants also looked great. I would definitely recommend heading there if you're ever passing through and looking for something small to eat.

On the topic of base miles: I've been really finding it difficult to convince myself to get on my bike recently. The long rides I've been doing have been a blast. I pick destinations and just go for it and have been having a lot of fun spending time on my bike. It is sadly the short rides that I've been having trouble convincing myself to do. Waking up at 6 to get in around 2 hours before heading to work has not been easy as it is usually dark, cold, and almost always windy. Doing my base work in January has also been quite strange. Usually I start my base around mid-October in order to get a good peak for the Little 500. This year though I did a lot of cyclocross racing through December and am no longer racing in the Little 5 and can plan my peak(s) to occur during the road season. I'm pretty anxious to see what type of results I will be able to produce having a peak during the road season instead of the usual case where I've already had my main peak and am just trying to extend it without burning out through the rest of the season. In any case, I've been getting in my time but am definitely looking forward to some warmer, sunnier days. I just need to keep reminding myself of the difference that the time I put in now will make to the rest of my season and maybe keep looking for cafes to stop in to keep myself motivated in the meantime.
 

A word on tire selection...a few words I guess

This post is about winter tire selection. I recently purchased my winter training tires and wanted to share some thoughts about what I selected to run. After the end of cyclocross season I decided that I wanted to take of the 700X32 Challenge Grifos I had been using and switch back to a durable all-season road tire for my upcoming base miles. In the past I have trained on tires that were a little more race oriented but decided that it just didn't make sense to do that. I had notoriously bad luck when it came to flats this fall season and probably had about 15-20 flats in all. Because of all of these things I was looking for a tire that would be extremely durable, with a little bit of tread to get me through the winter grit and be good to ride on dirt roads, and with a good amount of flat protection. I ended up going for some Specialized Armadillo Roubaix folding tires (as seen here). They are decently weighted for being a pretty strong tire (although I'm not too concerned about weight on my training tire) and have a really nice tread pattern. The center of the tire is smooth like a summer tire which helps keep rolling resistance down while the sides of the tires have a crossing tread pattern to provide traction while cornering. So far I've found them to feel really great while riding and to be surprisingly supple.

My next challenge will be to find a tubular for racing on this summer. I'm thinking that I'd like to go with something with a tan sidewall and a friend of mine suggested that I run a pair of Challenges. I'm pretty hesitant to do this as I had a lot of problems with tread of my CX Challenge tires separating from the carcass of the tire. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. My boss has Schwalbe Milano tubulars on his TT bike and they look great. Has anyone ridden them and can tell me about them?

The beginnings of a blog

So this being the first entry in this blog I feel that it is only right to explain a few things. Namely why I decided to call the blog "Bananas and Waffles". About me: I recently graduated from Indiana University where I got into cycling and moved to Boulder, Colorado in order to be around some excellent terrain for riding bicycles. I am not sure what I'd like to do as a career yet and have decided just to do what I love until I figure that out. Since moving to Boulder and being around all of the excellent cyclists that live here I have decided to see how far I can take my own cycling ability. Because of this, my day revolves around a few select things: training and eating (not to mention my girlfriend Kate, my family, friends, sleeping, and working full time as a rental technician at a ski shop).

This is why I have named this blog "Bananas and Waffles". These foods are by far my favorite cycling snacks and really describe my life as a cyclist. Why bananas: They are the perfect training food for eating on the bike. They seemed to have been designed by God so that they fit perfectly and securely in a jersey pocket. They are a good source of energy and aid in recovery. The best part is that they come in biodegradable packaging. Why Waffles: I really got into these this cyclocross season and have found that they can't be beat. Firstly, they reign straight from the center of cyclocross itself (Belgium). On a cold day of racing in the wet and mud (although we didn't get much of either here in Colorado) a Belgian waffle is the perfect snack as it is crisp on the outside, hot and almost custardy on the inside, and how I take it, almost entirely covered in chocolate syrup. They are hot, filling, and have a great mix of simple and complex sugars to help you fuel and recover.

So this is what this blog is all about. I plan to detail what types of things I am up to as far as training rides, what foods I'm making and eating, and what life is like for me in Colorado in general. I'm not sure if anyone will read this blog but if you do I hope you enjoy it. This blog is in part a way of sharing what it is like to be an amateur cyclist attempting to become a professional and in part a way for me to chronicle the things I'm doing so I can look back on them.

Happy reading!