Rutland UCI 1.2

Hello everyone,

Last weekend I did the Rutland CiCLE Classic, its a fun race in the middle of the country of England. It was a very tough race as most of you can see from the title, some people call it the Paris Roubaix of England. It is even complete with the Paris Roubaix style of counting down the sectors of cobbles, in short this race should have suited me.

The race started out with two big laps of Rutland water, a reservoir in the area, these laps where fairly flat and suited my style of racing, being a big guy. Then after the reservoir there came the tough real man sectors of the course much like the famed classic Paris Roubaix these sections separated the men from the boys. I was good for the first few sectors, but after while came the KOM (King Of the Mountains) not suiting my style of racing I went from the front of the group to the back of the group on one measly climb. Maybe it was my weight that prevented me from staying with the group, or maybe it is just getting used to everything over here. What ever it is it defeated me in a way that I will try to prevent from feeling ever again. That day, that bright sunny day in the middle of England I almost got in the broom wagon! when they pulled up by my side and said would you like to continue no almost rolled off my tongue, but i held it and said hell ya. I chased and chased, but i did not give up and then about ten miles later they told me to hit the showers, but I did not give up, and I hope never to stoop to that low again in my career as a cyclist.

after racing the two biggest races of the season in my two first weeks in Europe, I am now going to a smaller race this weekend and hopefully this will bring my spirits up. just gotta hang in there and give it some time, everyone keeps telling me I'll come around, sure hope so!
Thanks for all the support
cheers

P.S. I know I will come around, just takes time!

INTRODUCTION TO EUROPE

The first race that I was to do in Europe was the Souvenir Michel Roques, I thought this was going to be a local road race in northern France no big deal. Well as it turns out every DS1 team in France showed up to this race, and then there was us. At the beginning I was a little nervous, but more excited then after two laps of racing I got dropped. After getting dropped I was slightly demoralized, but I continued to press on thinking that I would finish the race, wrong again. I continued in the race until lap 7 when the field lapped me. Here I was racing in France and getting dropped right away, at this point I'm still thinking that this is some local road race, until I see two of my other teammates who are having coffee at the finish line. this brought my spirits up a little bit, then I talked to them and one of them said "this was the hardest race I have ever done." that helped to bring my spirits up a bit more.

The biggest boost of the day however was just before the end of the race when I was getting something out of the team car I gave my first autograph as a professional road cyclist, this was a very big moment on the day.

When we came back across to the UK we had some border issues with my passport, but we finally got in. I now can no longer travel back and forth, so i will have to talk to my team manager and see what our options are. because that is the whole reason for me moving here is to be able to race in Belgium and France. The next day the team sent out an email that made the disappointment of the weekend go away almost completely, every team in the peleton was a ds1 team in France, that is the level right below pro tour. So my prediction is that 20 or so guys from this weekend will be racing pro tour in the next 4 years, this made everything a little better, but it was still an eye opener to see how far i have to go. so now I'm not eating, at all!

WRONG SIDE OF THE WORLD

Hello everyone,
writing to you from London, England I got here two days ago and already have had some great adventures. The plane trip was great a little long, but didn`t bother me too much, the food was actually really good just not in large quanity. getting through the airport was a bit more of a hassle than I anticipated, immigration wanted to know everything and the baggage boy rolled up with an open bike box and shifters in one hand and said "these fell out", great what else fell out? As soon as I met our team manager at the airport things fell into place, we went straight to the hose of my host family, then I had dinner and went to bed, with no knowledge of what troubles the next day would bring.

The next day we went to the local bike shop bright and early to get my steer tube cut and some cables for my new BMC. After the bike shop we went to james`s house to put the bike together, except all the houses in Europe are very small so we had no space to do the bike in the house, and it was raining. So after two hours of putting my bike together in the dreary misty rain we could begin the real fun. On that note we set off for a 3 hour ride in the rain, man i love England so far. The riding here is very nice the roads are small but every car waits for you then passes you with a lot of room to spare when it is clear. Where I am based it is very flat, But it is still rolling hills however small the hills may be, it makes the training very hard when you mix in the rain and wind as well.

I have enjoyed my first few days in this backwards new world, and can`t wait or predict what the next steps. This Sun we are going to be racing in northern France, a great introduction to European racing on the road. then back to England for two Premier calender races then off to Belgium for some really tough shit! I have enjoyed what little bit i have seen so far, and hope to enjoy the rest, but i have to learn how to ride on the bloody left!
Cheers

WEEK OF LASTS

Today as many of you know I am embarking on a very long journey that will take up the next few years of my life, as i sit here at the LAX airport I think of the last week and all the good times that I had in my short time in San Diego.  This last week I did many things knowing that they would be the last in SD, just enjoying every minute of my adventures.  I would like to thank  everyone in the San Diego area that has touched my life in the past 6 months, you all are so special and I will not soon forget my time in SD, cheers 

A flood of emotions have been running through my body over the past few weeks, and finally it is all coming together.  making this trip happen is something that I anticipated that I would have to do i just didn't expect to be doing it so early, the earlier the better for this adventure tho.  The reason that this trip is such a big step is simply because it will direct my career as a professional cyclist and tell me if I will make it.  Kind of a scary thought that your whole career boils down to the next few months in europe.  Even tho its a scary time its also a very enjoyable experience and I will learn a lot.  So that is why I would like to thank all those that  have helped me to get this far, and to those that impeded my progress JUST WAIT!