Hoboken

Hey guys, well Hoboken is in the books. It was a gnarly day on the bike, but i made it out in one piece. The course was pretty darn flat, we did 3 big laps which were 50 km, and 4 small laps that were 9 km, making for a 190 km race. It was an hour and a half drive to the race, we all piled in the sprinter, and we were on our way. I kept the boys entertained by bringing my 20 questions toy (courtesy of natalie), and we were easily entertained, dropping our jaws in awe as it guessed all of our wild things we thought up, for example, socks, forklift, chapstick etc...

We got to the race, went to the bathroom, had a quick meeting, all the essentials for pre race, and then headed to the start line. The sky was toying with us greatly, the clouds looked ominous, and i tried to be optimistic, but we all knew it was going to downpour, the question was when. The competition for today's race looked tough. Among the start list, were a few pro continental teams, with teams that had participated in Paris Roubaix, and Flanders (the pro races).

Hoboken started out super sketchy, and stayed that way the entire race. As the race started i felt a bit of pain behind my left knee, near my hamstring, and the sensation never left, but got worse as the day went on.

On the first big lap, there was a pretty gnarly crash, with two U.S riders among the carnage (Jacob Rathe, Travis Brandt). I felt lucky to have missed it, literally two riders more to the left and i would have been among it. Travis was down for the count, Rathe made it back to the peleton. Oh did i mention by this point the rain had started? well yup it was comin down. Oh another thing i didnt mention, it hadnt rained in Hoboken for a few weeks, which means all the oil came to the surface of the road. The roads were literally like ice. Every turn people were going down. The adrenaline rush was off the hook!

The race progressed, with 2 other U.S riders crashing in two seperate crashes (Charlie Avis, Christian Perret). Gavin pulled out, he has been sick. At this point in the race, about 100 km in, we were down to 4 americans. One the last big lap of the race, so at about 110 km, the rain really started to come down, i could not see a thing. I had some really close calls, some i dont know how i stayed on my bike. The small local laps were hard, with many cobbles. Other than my throbbing pain behind my knee, I felt great. My power on the flats is really coming around. There was a group off the front of about 14 guys, then my group, which had the 4 remaining US riders in it. It was a long day on the bike, about 4.5 hrs, and i have another race tomorrow to look forward too. Should be loads of fun. Love you guys, hope you have a wonderful day. Thanks for everything all you guys do for me. Driving back i couldnt stop thinkin about how fortunate and blessed i am. Why me? I dont need anything than i have to be happy. Love you all, have a great remainder of your weekend.

Here I go Again

Well 2009 turned into 2010 and it has been a while since I have updated my adventures. Since the last post there have been other journeys including a trip to Yellowstone, multiple trips to Island Park (where we are now the proud owners of a waterfront lot), and our annual February pilgramage to Phoenix to the Valley of the Sun Stage Race, but the real fun is just beginning. On May 10th I will leave my lovely, devoted wife who will be helping Katie care for our new grandson and wing my way to Belgium again. Connor is already there racing for the US National U23 Team and I will hook up with him and we will drive, bike and eat our way from Belgium to other places in Europe. Depending on his race schedule we may be in Luxembourg and Italy or he may end up doing the Tour of Berlin which would take us a different direction. Regardless we will drive, ride and eat our way around Europe for a couple of weeks. I will make every effort to post regularly mostly just to make you jealous of the places we are seeing and the the food we are eating.. More later - Tchau.