New Team

I was very pleased to finally get some closure the other day, to a long dilemma of what team i would be racing for in this upcoming season.  I am pleased to announce that I will be wearing to colors of Five Star Waste Vegetable Oil its a local pro team in San Diego that has had some great results in the past few seasons.  Under the watchful eye of director Justin Beope I hope to be given some great opportunity's in this upcoming season, we hope to be able to attend some pretty large races.  On the table for next season is tour of Missouri, tour of Utah, Super-week, and all the NRC races on the west coast, and possibly some on the other coast.  So in short this year is going to be a lot of fun.

The thing that the team and myself will be focusing on for next year is longer road races and stage races, for the team the glory will be enhanced at these larger races and it will give much more exposure to sponsors.  For me, I hope to progress in longer races in hopes of readying myself for the races that I will encounter in Europe, I would like to ride my way to Europe in the next few years and the only way to do this is through longer road type races, rather than the shorter Crit type races, which are nonexistent in the European racing scene.

these are some of the reasons i believe this team is a great fit for me, there are some other reasons too, the fact that we will be riding Colonago Bikes and the new Campy 11 speed are just some pluses that I guess I'll have to live with!

Cheers

REST

resting is so important to being a cyclist that it cannot be pushed enough, the end of the season taper is far more necessary than any miles during the long season.  after the season the rest period acts as a reset button, no matter how hard the season has been or how long the season has been the one or two months off at the end of the season is the best thing that a professional cyclist can do.  

During this rest period it is also good to remember to not take this time completely off the bike  i like to ride 10-12 hours a week which is pretty much no riding at all, but during this period it is very important to keep the legs used to the bike even if you are not putting in the long miles.  

Another great thing to do during this period is to find some type of cross training.  since these are the winter months if you live at high elevations, nordic skiing is the obvious choice for cross training.  most people will make the transfer to cyclocross, but this is not big enough of a change for me, i need a completely different sport.  another great cross over is ice skating, preferably speed skating, but unfortunately we don't all have speed-skating ovals in our back yards, hockey will also do.  another great thing to do in the off-season is to ski or surf these two activities have no similarities to cycling and therefore promote a well deserved break after the season.

whatever sport you do chose in the off season just make sure that you don't push the limits and hurt yourself.  also make sure that you don't come back to the bike to early this will prove as a much disservice 

WAVING

A timeless question that has bothered me over the past few weeks, if birds of a feather flock together then how come cyclist don't wave to other cyclist?  its a simple harmless hand wave from a person to another, simply implying that i would like to say hi to you today.  since when has a hand wave been elevated to the point where the passing cyclist doesn't rate high enough for a competitive cyclist to be able to exchange had gestures of the complementary type?  Just because someone does not compete in the cycling world and does not have the same status as you doesn't mean that they don't deserve a simple hand wave.  the superiority complex that many cyclist suffer from, i believe has to do with racing status, and the value that they give themselves over others.  the truth is that the competitive cyclist actually less deserving of a complementary hand gesture than the non-competitive cyclist.  why you may ask? i believe it is simply due to the fact that the competitive cyclist has some goal that he is training for,m the non-competitive cyclist does it for the love of the sport and overall fitness.  

as a competitive cyclist I believe that we owe the weekend warrior cyclist, more than most would believe.  the weekend warrior cyclist pays for our careers, between the jerseys that they buy and the coverage on tv they pay for, we owe them more gratitude than realized.  however I do not believe that the problem en-lies within the professional cyclist, professionals realize where their support base is.  the real problem en-lies with the weekend warrior that is no better than the other fitness nuts that they may pass and not wave to on the few rides that they do.  I have been out on rides and gotten dirty looks because I'am in my kit, simply because the weekend warrior doesn't believe that he is riding next to a professional, this gives him no right to not greet the passing cyclist no matter what class.

So please if you are a weekend warrior cyclist the next time you see someone out for a ride pro kit or not please give them a friendly gesture and make sure to promote the sport that we all love and share

Cheers

MEXICO

At first i thought that racing mexico was going to be scary and crazy, but in fact it was quite enjoyable. i went down to mexicali this weekend for a 3 day stage race, and i don't think that we could have seen more hospitality from the mexican people than we saw.  The people down there where awesome, from the organizers to the rival teams everyone down there was more than nice to four americans who don't speak spanish.  I would like to thank everyone associated with the vuelta mexicali 2008.

     The weekend however was plagued with bad luck for me, the first stage I had three flats and the chase  back on was into a charging head wind, not something that i would recommend for fun. then in the final 5k i created a break of 6 riders and we where fighting for 12th place or so, wining that sprint for 12th was actually very satisfying because of my other mishaps. 

     Stage 2, a long climb looms on the race profile, 12 miles and 4400 feet of climbing, the climb went well for me considering i am not a climber by any sort of the word. crossing the top 4-5 min behind the first rider over, i tried to pull back as much time as possible on the downhill.  after the downhill i tried to keep it as steady as possible but started to fade in the ruthless beating of the headwind. joining a small group of about 4 riders we took turns and crossed the line about 16th place, surprisingly still a very satisfying finish.

     Stage 3, the crit that was supposed to be shorter, we where reassured at the start line that the crit was going to be 60k well the race organization mis-measured the course and it ended up at 100k.  however i was not even able to finish and sprint against Justin Willams "rock racing" because my chain broke,  hopefully this string of bad luck has  been cleared of my system for next season, and i can get back to racing my bike!

San Diego

As i have told all my relatives and close friends i recently moved down to san diego, let me tell you traffic sucks! aside from the traffic i am really enjoying it down here, there is alot of cycling energy which motivates you tremendously to get out on your bike. The day that you opt to take a rest day, you ride to starbucks and see 6 people on bikes, then you are like shit they are out training what am i doing. then you have to go get on your bike, this makes for a good riding atmosphere. it really puses you to succeed and as most of my friends and family know that is what i moved down here to do.

living in the city is a whole diffrent experience for me, the fact that everything is so accessible and close to hand is a feeling that i have not yet adapted too, the ice rink, starbucks, apple store,trader joe's, whole foods, and any other shopping endeavor are less than a mile away. this is quite the feeling when everything you need is so close. i belive that tis is the reason americans are so fat, also because they use their cars as wheel chairs but thats another story.

cheers

CHAMOIS CARE

The amount of work or asses do on the saddle is heroic and to punish them by not using chamois creme is ridiculous, this is the best product that i have found, lets put it this way any time i do a long ride without it i don't do myself any favors. thhe contact points to a cyclist are the most important to your success on the bike, you have to enjoy riding your bike to be able to progress. this is a product that helps to make sure you wont regret doing a few extra miles!
try it!!

Cheers

CYCLOCROSS

Cyclocross is much harder than it seems, i raced professional mountain bikes and now pro 1/2 road but cyclocross is a whole different animal. i did my first cyclocross race last weekend, expecting at least to be able to stay with the leaders for most of the race.  This was not the case however, i was only able to stay with them for 4 laps, and on the 5th lap i really realized that none of these sports are the same.  The complete skill set, bike handling, strength, and finesse that cross requires is very impressive.  to the casual spectator or rider these skills that elite cross racers posses are not evident, but after you race along side these talented athletes it becomes apparent that these racers are a much different breed than any other subdivision of cycling.  so this is me giving major props to cross, and i can't wait to race again,

Cheers

Colby on the Scene

Colby Elliot was here