Puppies, politics, bronchitis and racing

I finally gave in. The kids and Carey worked me over pretty good and now we have a three month old puppy named Otis. I can’t complain. Seeing the kids completely enamored by the pup is worth cleaning up his piss and shit.

Speaking of piss and shit, Clinton scored a victory in Penn. Tuesday, however at what cost? Obama still has more delegates, more votes, more states, and a hell of a lot more class.

Thanks to all the political pollution, I am still trying to recover from bronchitis. I sound like shit, I am easing back onto the bike, and I race this weekend in beautiful Deer Trail where the forecast is for wind and lots of it.

Race and wind? Didn’t I just do that? Oh yeah, Haystack TTT. Just because you have teammates with you in a time trial, it doesn’t make it any easier. We managed to pull off 4^th place with less than 20 seconds covering 2nd-4th places. Not bad considering we never practiced and our start look more like a Mt. Evans HC finish with everyone scattered. I’ll take the heat on that one. My starts are so powerful that not many racers can match the intensity and power I produce (nor the bullshit I talk).

I head back to Redlands next week, but this time only for a couple of days. No bikes and no races. Just work. I’ll get back in time to get throttled for Lookout Mountain HC. Why do I race again? Oh yeah, it builds character. But I thought I was already a character?

Ride hard,

J-Rod

Picking up the pieces

After having been away from home for a week and a half (seems longer), I am finally back where I belong. While Redlands is especially nice this time of year, there truly is no place like home.

I officially kicked off the race season in San Dimas this past weekend. This race in my mind was listed as one of my priority races. I knew the course from last year and had already written my victory speech blog entry. The time trial was hard but I managed to secure a solid third place and only 27 seconds behind the leader. The road race I won on a solo break beating the pack by nearly a minute. The crit was more ceremonial than anything and ended with me still standing atop the podium as GC winner.

Unfortunately, that is not how the story really played out. The true story went something like this: I sucked ass on the TT, sucked even more ass on the road race, and because of all the ass sucking the previous two days, I was not allowed to suck any more ass for the crit.

For me, the weekend will be remembered for the road race. I was out of the race before it really began. The race was on a 7 mile circuit with one KOM climb (not very long, but really steep). The first time up the climb, I slid to the back as my heart was about to come through my chest. Near the top of the climb, I popped. Unfortunately I could not chase back on and that was it. I was out of the race before the first lap was complete. As I approached the start/finish I was ready to call it a day. However instead of pulling off, I kept going. I knew inside that I had to keep racing until I finished the race or until I was pulled. I was later joined by another rider and together we urged each other on until ultimately we were pulled from the race.

I will analyze things trying to pin down what went so wrong, but in the end I will take the advice of Mark and “just be Manny”. Thanks for the tip and a place to crash.

Be sure to take a look at the photos Lisa took at the race. There are some great shots in there.

Don’t suck so much ass,

J-Rod