This one is a bit of a throwback. All the rage during the 90's and early 2000's, Spring Mount vanished for a while, but Randy Bergey and associates have been working hard to bring it back. A proper balance of some fresh new singletrack and classic older sections, the course should take on a contemporary and also nostalgic feel. It's where I made my racing debut back in 2000, taking it to the first timer class at the tender age of 12.

Rapha Gentlemen's Race - New Paltz, NY from RAPHA on Vimeo.

From a few weeks back. I had the pleasure of acting as last minute sub for Team Bicycling. 125 mile, 6 person, team time trial. Our experience was the definition of teamwork. Epic as well.

All the cool kids are doing it

The Marysville Mountain Bike weekend.

So there's this race goin on next weekend. It's totally cooler than whatever race you were thinking about doing. The format is has changed, so bring a friend, or two. It's not over July 4th weekend this year, so you can't play the holiday card either. Just register.

Final Thoughts

Our last event here was the Bundesliga Cup race in Albstabt. The course was, again, very steep and very short. 7 laps, 4.5km lap, 600ft of climbing per lap. The climbing was broken into two seperate sections. One was right off the start, lasted for about 2.5 minutes and had me pushing my granny at 4mph. The second was a bit longer, not quite as steep, but finished offf with a nice kicker to throw you into the red zone. U23 and Elites were seperated this time so the playing field was a bit more even. From the start I tried as hard as I could not to red-line during the prologue loops but put in a nice little surge just before the singletrack to get a couple more spots on the opening climb. The rest of the race was a blur and the next 7 laps flew by. In the end, I finished 29th out of somewhere around 80 U23's and smoked the kid with the ugly mullet in the sprint. I was pumped.

Saturday evening were the Albstadt City Sprints. We all assumed it would likely be a short track event. Turns out it was even shorter. The format was totally different than anything else but was interesting and made for a cool event. It started with a qualifying ITT, one lap around a normal ST length course. Lap times were less than a minute and a half. I qualified 9th, one spot and half a second behind Jose Hermida. The top 30 of the 70 or so qualifiers were randomly placed in 5 heats. Each heat ran two laps on a shorter tighter course but total race time was still less than two minutes. Top 2 from each heat advanced and so on until there was a winner. I got shoved out quick at the start line and failed to make in past the first heat, but it turned out to be a good opener workout for Sunday.

Now I'm killing time until we head to the airport. My bike is packed and sitting in the van outside. I'm ready to go, but i don't want to. I wish I could stay here. I like it here. It's only been 18 days since we were unpacking our bikes, but it feels like months. My last ride in town on Friday I spun out to the Rosskopf downhill. Its a 25 min fireroad climb to the top, and 10 minutes bombing straight down the bermed descent. I got the bottom after one run which was all I planned on doing. I had to ride the whole thing again. I will probably never have the chance to come back.

I've had the time of my life

http://www.scottusa.com/news/bike/2037

Swiss Racer Bikes Cup

I feel like yesterday was a success. Let me define success.

-I got a top 25ish call up at a European UCI cross country event.

-I did not crash.

- I pushed hard enough to make my quads cramp. My quads have never cramped before.

-I only got lapped once.

-I took this super sweet pic of Russell.

Synapse- The race was hard. Eye-opening. Humbling. The course was a blast. 4km/2.5 miles. 11 laps. Descents were steeper than anything I've ridden before. They were more fun than anything I've ever ridden before. I think I'm hooked on the Euro race format. I finished 45th out of 60.

Now for my pics

Uncertainties

It's the eve of the biggest race that I will have ever done. I'm halfway around the world, sitting in a dark stairwell, the only place where the Internet connection is sufficient, sipping water from my bottle. The Counting Crows is playing over the tiny speakers of my laptop. I'm wondering if I've prepared myself for this. I'm trying to settle my nerves.

Why do I get so nervous? Why do I always have trouble sleeping?

Perhaps the reason is because I see bike racing as a game of chance. Training hard, eating right, sleeping enough, putting together tricked out bikes. To me, these things just increase your odds of a good result. But there's so many things that you can't control. There's always a royal flush to beat your straight, and nothing trumps waking up on the wrong side of the bed. That's what makes me nervous.

Stuck somewhere between a USAC National events and a UCI World Cup, the Swiss Racer Bikes Cup event tomorrow is a little intimidating. There's 60 elite men in our field. My starting number is 54. I was number 54 last week....

Press!

A very brief write-up on the race this past weekend in Switzerland.

http://www.usacycling.org/news/user/story.php?id=4171

The Grind

7am: Wake up. Roll over and go back to sleep.

8am: Wake up. Roll over and go back to sleep.

9am: Wake up. Get up for real this time.

9:01am: Breakfast. Typically cereal, granola, and/or nutella sandwiches.

9:15am: Bowel movement. Its taken a full week to get back on schedule.

10:00am: Ride. 1:00pm: Shower/laundry

1:30pm: Lunch. Typically 1-3 pizzas.

2:30pm: Nap, emails, blogging, MTV.

7:00pm: Dinner. Typically an additional 1-3 pizzas.

11:00pm: Fall asleep to german MTV music videos

My perspective

Easy day.

1.5 hour spin.

Took the train to Freiburg.

Hazelnut ice cream.

Spent 5 euro.

Ate a doner.

Wathed MTV.

Ventured onto a Euro sex shop.

Cigarette vending machines.

Even the stairways are bike friendly