Update
My grandfather passed away this week. He was diagnosed with colon cancer and passed away a few days later. This horrible disease takes another one of my family. The Six Day is going well. Mark and I are up five laps on the next team. But we are still pushing a head. I am getting fairly tired, but I know that every time I roll out for a race I am getting stronger and it will come back in a few week for AVC and the FSA Grand Prix. My friend Ben from college track and field came out to watch last night. His friend works with Darien at Nike and apparently they found out they all knew me. The B field at the Six Day has been very fun to watch because it is still a very close race. All the teams but one are all still on even laps. It is a slugfest every race to get those precious points. Andrea and Jeanie have stepped up their game since the first night in the women's field. They are currently in second place overall, 2 laps down to Jenn and Miranda and one lap up on third and fourth place. Andrea started a summer BioChem class this week at PSU. I looked over her class notes and quickly became happy that I was not taking that class. Lastly, for those of you that have not heard, Zak Kovalcik broke his collar bone yesterday during a crash. It looks like Bike Central is going to be hosting an extended Friday afternoon/evening race, including Sprints, Keirins, and Points races, next week on the 4th of July. They will be trying to raise some money for Zak as he tried to pay his bills for his injury. There should be more details later, but you should put it on your calendar now. 
Lessons Learned
Day two of the San Jose AVC started out early. Andrea had signed up for the sprints and 200 meter TTs for seeding started at 10:00. At 10:00 it was also well over 90 degrees. I was out there to support Andrea as she is not really s matched sprinter and does not really understand the game too well. Her 200 time was good, but not great, so she got seeded near the bottom. The first rounds for all the women were three ups. Andrea came in second after almost coming around Beth Newell on the final straight. This sent her to the rep round where she took on Jeanie and won it without a problem. Her quarter final round was against Beth Newell again. This time Andrea took control of the race, double jumped her and took her the long way around. The tactics worked and she moved onto the semi-final round. The semis and the finals didn’t go so well, but there was a lot to be learned and she still placed 4th overall. Not too bad for coming into the race with no expectations. Andrea then went out and was able to take 9th in the women’s scratch race with a strong finishing kick. Shelly Olds won the race after taking a lap and still getting in the top five in the final sprint. The men’s scratch race was fast and full of breaks and attacks. I tried to not exert too much energy, but with around 7 laps to go, there was a break up the track that I did not like the look of, so I buried it and brought them back. That gave me 5 laps to rest up for the finishing sprint, which was very fast. I spotted Grant coming over the top and knew that would be a good wheel to take. The final two turns were a bit sketchy, but I managed to stay in it to take 5th overall. I should have been more aggressive before a lap to go to setup for a better sprint, but those are the lessons to be learned. Overall it was a good weekend of race. I felt good about all my races, and it gives me a little bit more confidence for training for the AVC and the FSA Grand Prix. Next up, six days straight of grueling racing in the Alpenrose Six Day.
A good day
It was 93 degrees today. I really kind of wished I was back in Portland where it is a bit cooler. Other than that, it was a good day in San Jose. Andrea and I got to spend the day with some of the nicest bike races around. Keyln Akuna came over in the morning and we hung out for a while, catching up on what is going on and eventually went to the store to buy some food and then to the bakery for some lunch sandwiches. Matty Martinez met up with us later and we spend the afternoon watching "Get Smart". Very funny, you should go see it. It was then time to head off to the track. Inside the bowl was hot. Kenny likened it to Alpenrose in the middle of July at AVC. Our muscles were already fairly warm, but we still took some laps and got used to the track. It is a 333 meter track with very short straights and a banking that has a traction speed of zero. But it seemed to be fast. After baking for a bit, the keirin heats were up. I was in the third of four heats. One went through, the next three went to the reps. I was match up in heat with two Momentum cycling guys. One was Adam Duvendeck, the other one was really fast too. Brian threw me into third wheel, right behind the other Momentum guy. After the motor pulled off, we quickly came around the guy on the front, and Duvendeck was right on top of me, putting me in a Momentum box with guys that have legs as big as my waist. But, I still was able to somehow use some keirin-fu to get Duvendeck out of the way so I could make a run at it. But it was a bit unsuccessful. I came in second. The rep round was frustrating. I had Grant and Dave McCook in my heat. Came in third, but they later relegated McCook for trying to take the lane when it was occupied (by me) and throwing a nice hook in corner two. So it was off the finals. I put on the biggest gear I have ever ridden, a 50x14, which I think is around a 96.5. It was going to be fast and furious. I got third wheel again, with Kylen and Gio Ray in front. There was a lot of fire power, including Duvendeck and Massie right behind. The motor came off and the sprints came over the top from behind. But Keyln was not having any of it, putting in two had accelerations to keep them up track. This eventually spelled his doom as Massie finally got over the top of Gio to take the win. I rolled in for fourth place. Andrea had a great race in the Keirin, making it to the finals with a great long move over the lap in the rep round. The other girls just couldn't catch up once she got it rolling. Her final round was not great, placing 8th, but it was good training. She also did very well in the points race considering she has a pulled abdominal muscle. She stayed in it all the way as other girls were dropping like flies, and she even put in a nice sprint at the end to move up a good number of places. The Miss and Out was okay. It was a 36 man field and it slowly dwindled down as I stayed in the top 10 riders for a while. I was feeling really good rolling along, but made one bad move and got boxed in for 10th place. The night ended with a 6t0 lap Madison. Andrew Armstrong and I hooked up for this race. His a great guy and was really excited about wearing a pink jersey for a bit. We had a good race, staying with two other teams that eventually took a lap on everybody. The Slipstream and First Rate Mortgage guys were a bit faster than us in the sprints, but we hung on in a slug-fest of a Madison to get that final podium spot. Overall, it was good day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. It's late, got to go. Here are a few pics.  Andrea and Matty  Warm Up
 Madison Podium
My Team Works
The Gentle Lovers are clicking. The Cat 1/2 squad is now 7 men deep and everyone is racing as one team for one goal. The Cirque du Cycling crit was last Saturday evening on Mississippi Ave. I arrived at the race right at the beginning of the Cat 3/4 race and was blown away by the number of spectators watching the race. The restaurants had course side dining tables and the sidewalks were packed. The course itself was interesting like two lollypops. It doubled back on itself along Mississippi and then circled around a block on each end. This made for a very fast course because of the length of the straights. The crash marred Cat 3/4 race had the officials very concerned about the safety of the course. I heard a few of the incidences were caused by spectators that may have thrown back a few too many. I was a little surprised to see that a break got away and actually stayed away to win the race. It is always a great feeling to pull up the start line at a race and look back to see that the six best looking guys in the pack are all wearing the same jersey as I am. Markwelder, Hulick, T-Bear, Watts, Danimal, and Cabana Boy were there to make it a night to remember. The race started off quick, with Rubicon and the Lovers throwing themselves off the front and the field became single file from beginning to end. Eventually a break of about seven went off, with Watts and Hulick represented in it, but no Rubicon riders up there. Mark and I stayed near the front to cover attacks until it was close to being caught. I launched one more time and a lap or so later it was Hulick, Joe King, Carson Miller and I off the front. Aaron Coker soon bridged up to make it five and we sat between 7 and 10 seconds off the front of the field for a long time. Hulick and I swept up the primes as they came along. The rest of the lovers were at the head of the field playing great teammates and tried to cover everything that went off the front. When Zach Winters and our sudo teammate Pete Groblewski (Garage Cycling) eventually bridged up later in the race, that sealed the deal for the break and we started pulling away from the field. With five laps to go, I was going around a left hand corner after a little rise and all of a sudden my bike was trying to shoot forward from under me. I looked back real quick to see Zach laying on the ground, then I heard that terrible sound that no bike racer ever wants to hear; spokes hitting carbon fiber. Tow spokes on my rear wheel were busted and slapping my frame as I rolled along. I rode for about a second contemplating if I could finish the race on this wheel and quickly decided no. There was a pit around the corner, but I had no wheels in. I still tried and luckily there was a charitable soul who had a complete bike hanging in the pit tent. I got a quick wheel change and Zach and I waited for the break to come around again. One more lap and the free lap rule would not have been in effect. The last few laps seemed to ease up as we knew that we were going to stay off and people started to think about the finish. Carson tried a few desperate moves to get away, but Kevin was always there to shut it down. Joe lead it out around the last corner and it was a slight downhill sprint for 300 meters. About halfway through the first of three blocks, I took off, not wanting to wait for anything to happen. Zach was behind me with Pete and Aaron on his wheel. I rolled in for the win with Pete and Aaron following behind. Kevin came in 6th and Tony placed 3rd in the field sprint for 10th place. What a great race it was. It is so much fun racing on a selfless team with guys that will throw it down for the greater good. I am off to catch a flight to San Jose. Hopefully I will have some pictures and some good race reports tomorrow or Saturday.
Track Racing
We made it a hard night of track racing last night. I have been trying to race as aggressively as I can to get ready for San Jose. Got first in the Miss & Out and even helped Zak up track in the sprint so Mark could take second place. Got third in the Scratch after taking the first few laps (there was $2 up for each lap) and then Mark and Zak slipped away. Our omnium ended with a 50 lap points race where Mark and I put a lap on the field. A quick Madison ended a very full evening of racing. David and Dan earned their Cat 3 upgrades. So now the Lovers will have a squad of 4 in the Cat 3 field. I can't wait to see them try and work out some team tactics there. Million Dollard Bike??
What?!?!
Third at Tabor, who would have ever thought that was possible? I think I was more surprised than anyone else. The final sprint for that race is crazy, and I finally got to experience it. It has those nice sweeping corners, except it feels like you are going in slow motion. And it seems that you have enough time to think about every pedal stroke. It was something like this; “Wow, I am going really slow and it is still a long ways to the top. This really hurts, but I made it this far, so I can’t stop now. Okay, now my left foot is down, let’s push on the right one now. Ouch! Wow, I am going really slow…” Anyways, it was good to finally semi-conquer that damb hill. At least I proved to myself that I can race on it. And thanks to the Lovers for forcing me to race it.
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