This post was written by Jeremiah Bishop on September 15, 2009
SOMETHING NEW. –JEREMIAH BISHOP.
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This post was written by Omer Kem on August 27, 2009
I meant to update again a few days after my last post. That didn’t happen, so here I am….
In the previous chapter of my crazy life I thinking I was talking about Cascade. I don’t want to talk about that anymore. There are plenty of race reports to read and tell you all about Rock Racing and Operation Puerto kicking me and my team in the head….
Something much entertaining is the story about me trying to get to Grand Rapids for a sponsor race. So, it all begins at 3:30am on Thursday morning. My flight leaves at 6am and it’s a hour drive to the airport. The airport is a flurry of activity at 4:45am as I am standing in line to check in. I have a bike as well as my duffel because after this weekend in swampy GR, I go straight to a Utah training camp. I think the Albanian national Basketball team was there in front of me, aka massive skinny white guys, taking up lots of time. My airline of no choice is United. The person at the counter takes a look at me and my bags and sees nothing but dollar signs. As Rick James said to Charlie Murphy, “what did the five fingers say to the face?? SLAP!!!!”….. $195 later, I am off to stand in another line….
I make it to the gate. Finally I can sit down. Seating area 3 is called eventually. I have a middle seat, glorious…. We proceed to sit for a while. Then we roll out to the runway. Now we sit for a while longer. Then the more time we spend sitting, the more my spider sense thinks something is “going pear shaped” as my director would say…. Ok, the cabin gets the ding dong. The captain says the radar doesn’t work. He also makes sure to tell us that this is important. So, after over a hour of sitting. We are going back to the gate….
Back at the gate a team of highly trained individuals are ready to fix the problem. 5min later, another ding dong tells us that the radar is broken. But it can be replaced!!! But there isn’t a unit in Portland to replace it with, damn!!!! But, there is a unit in Los Angeles, hooray!!! But, it will be 5hrs before it is here, damn!!!!
So now everyone is grumbling about getting where ever they are supposed to go. Me especially because of GR being a sponsor race and all. Then as we start to file off the plane we are given a number which is the order that we shall be called to discuss the next step. I am number 154….
I am of course a very savvy traveler, so instead of waiting in line, I walk out of the gate and find another united kiosk. The very nice women says that I can go stand by on the next flight which leaves in a hour. Yes!!!! One hour later, I am bumped. Don’t worry they say. There is another flight soon. What happens again?? Bumped!!!! Damn it. What the hell!??? I was bumped from 4 flights in a row. Then, I hear the call. My original flight is fixed and now boarding. I make my way over to the gate. I have to get a new ticket or something. I walk up to the counter. Remember, I have been awake since 3:30am…. “sorry sir. You chose to go stand by. There is a premier member who has taken your seat on this flight”. What…..?? Now, envision me LOSING IT…. “sir!!!! If you don’t calm down, I will call security”…. I didn’t calm down. Security was called. They told me some things very quietly. I then calmed down. I also decided at that point I wasn’t going to Grand Rapids….
I learned something from all this…. United oversells every flight to probably still not break even financially. Don’t lose it at the airport. Waking up at 3:30am sucks. If you do lose it at the airport, you will probably not get anything from the airline in terms of compensation for how much time they wasted. Flying sucks…..
Oh, I should mention that after leaving the airport that evening. I went back the next morning. I got bumped off 3 more flights and then decided I wasn’t going to GR. United got me a flight to Salt Lake for the next Monday. I had to go to San Fran on route. Makes sense….??
So there is a day in the life of a pro cyclist. While sitting at home, not GR the next day. My manager sent me my flight to Nationals in Greenville. Guess who gets to go another round with that 6am flight to Chicago??? Gotta love it….
Omer Kem
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This post was written by Sheldon Deeny on August 1, 2009
Due to a series of unfortunate events which have left me sans bicycle for nearly a week, I’ve missed out on a good bit of training. With all the rain the past few days, I didn’t feel so bad about not riding. Today, however, was gorgeous, and I hate missing opportunities to ride on days like this. I still don’t have my road bike (or any other suitable bike to train on), and I was feeling pensive and unmotivated in light of some recent news, but I hopped on my clunker townie and rode down the Poudre river bike path.
My cruise was a simple out and back that didn’t last more than an hour. But how fulfilling it was! Never mind speeding around big money criterium races and climbing over mountain passes. I was just rolling along with my thoughts to keep my company, sun on my face, breeze at my back, gazing at the river, listening to birds, and riding as slow as I pleased. I had the urge to throw my phone into the trees, jump in the water, and then write a poem about it while lying on the riverbank. I enjoyed the simple pleasure of riding a bicycle. I think everyone could benefit from a ride like that now and then.
-Sheldon
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This post was written by Catherine Vipond on June 30, 2009
Wow time is flying by. June has been a busy month with lots of racing and travel. For the first weekend I opted to do a local Ontario Cup race at Boler Mountain, aka Boler Bump, a ski hill built on top of a garbage dump in the middle of a subdivision in London, Ontario. Top to bottom is 25seconds with a couple turns in there, I’m sure it is great for learning to ski but it is more of a bump than a hill. However, the race course was a ton of fun with fast and twisty trails and hard packed course conditions. After an interesting night of missed hotel reservations, driving the wrong way on one way streets, lost motel room keys and being very happy to have remembered a sleeping bag for the sketchy beds, it was off to the races. The fields were relatively small but they were competitive. In the women’s race three of us stayed together for the first half of the race but a steep climb early in the lap split things up and we all ended up riding in solo. I had a great race to finish up second.
From there I headed to Edmonton where I spent a couple nights out of the city, camping in Elk Island National Park. I got in some cool rides there and saw some great wildlife including a herd of bison that did not want to move off the road, I’m glad I wasn’t on the bike at the time.
Edmonton was a really cool race. The venue was right downtown in a river valley. The course was awesome, not a lot of climbing but they took us up every hill they could find. There was some fast technical single track, bike paths, roots and a scary drop that many top pros weren’t riding. The best part about being downtown was all the spectators that came out and were exposed to cycling. I had a good race start but went a bit too hard, faded in the middle, but then recovered to finish 4th. The organizers put on a great post race party as well, though I opted to spend the evening in the emergency room with fellow racer Jean Ann McKirdy (Local Ride/Xprezo) who crashed on the drop Matt Hadley (Xprezo) is riding in the photo below.
Next up was another Canada Cup in Canmore, the site of the 2010 nationals. This is another neat place to race. The race venue is within riding distance of town and is surrounded by mountains. Really I just like mountains! It was pretty fun to spend the week there and enjoy some of the great riding in the surrounding area. The course itself is pretty solid. After a steady 8+ min climb there is some fun technical single track and lots of steep chutes including the famous coal chutes which turn crash victims black. I was pretty tired for the Canmore race, but still rode well to finish 8th, putting me 4th overall in the Canada Cup series.
From Canmore I headed home to Kamloops for a much needed break from racing. I had a pretty easy week but kept myself entertained playing fetch with the cat, reading by the river and watching fire bombers put out a nearby forest fire. The week went by quickly though and I’m already packing up and preparing to head back east for Canada Cup Finals in Bromont, Quebec next weekend.
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This post was written by Peter Stetina on June 12, 2009
Hokay, So… it’s been a long time since I wrote anything about anything, but a lot has happened. Here’s the quickie, for me but also mostly for you, my American ADD-followers. I’m not insulting, I watch the news sometimes, and I, like many others enjoy the quick informative stuff, here goes:
• The last stage of Gila straight sucked. I had to take an emergency pit stop on a descent and lost lots of time. Drove back to Boulder and ate an entire bag of gourmet Aussie Licorice along the way. Talked to some Docs, found out I have Giardia, its been hiding since Tour of Mexico, flaring up occasionally when I go really hard.
• So I have two choices: don’t go hard or take meds. Seeing as the former is out of the question, I hop on the antibiotics and some medical grade pro-biotics (that good stuff in yogurt).
• Finish the meds the day I fly to Europe and go train in Luxembourg, beautiful country. Julian makes it over here finally and we go to France. But first I get a stomach virus and 5/6 guys for the French race have diarrhea and cramps.
• Set up shop in the Pyrenees with great weather and lots of toilet paper. Find a sweet church with the stairway to heaven footpath leading up the mountainside through 7 sanctuaries. I pray to the climbing gods.
• My prayers are answered! First win in Europe!!!! I won a mtn top finish at the Ronde de L’Isard, a prestigious u23 race heavily scouted for climbing potential. I must have been light from all the poopin’… To the victor go the spoils.
• The poopin’ has left me with no reserves, get dropped on the next mtn day. Bummer. Oh well I won something! Finally!
• Fly home and promptly catch a cold. I now have 2 sicknesses in 1.5 weeks. And all form has left my body. Crap.
• Dyanna loves me though and makes me a huge cheesecake, I eat it all, save for a few gratuity slices. Boy do I love cheesecake.
• I come to Quebec for the u23 nations cup and Tour de Beauce. 10 race days (12 races) in 11 days. My own mini grand tour. This should get the system shocked back into racing after being under right? Not, I have no “pop,” my legs feel like gnarled tree trunks and it hurts to just sit in the field. I have a decent ride in the TT and get 7th and come to Beauce.
• Legs still aren’t coming around but I’m not getting worse every day, actually I’m getting ever so slightly better. Maybe by the final stage Sunday I’ll feel like a bike racer again.
• I suffer like a dog and got into the break of 3 on stage 2! We worked super well together and stayed away until the end! Success! I got third, no “pop” still and the field was nipping at our heels so I sold out and rode hard to get 3rd instead of getting caught inside the last kilometer. I’m happy and proud considering my lack of form now.
• Really wanted to try and win the TT this morning, however I went off course 300m in. A car was on course right in front of me, going my speed with their lights flashing. So naturally I thought it was a race official. Wrong. When the course marshal signals for the car to turn I turn with it. Suddenly I’m in traffic and stopped. Motivation=dead. 2 days left. I am pretty pissed right now but will transfer that into my racing. Eyes will bleed!
Think that’s aboot it eh? I can’t wait to get home and take a much-needed mid-season break. Drink some margs at the Rio, brew some brews, cruiser ride, and train smart and be flying in July. I got 5 weeks off travel until Cascade, and I know I can find those legs I had to win in those French mtns.
Despite setbacks with sicknesses, I am optimistic! I find strength in the fact that I’m still finishing back to back stage races even with my form on a season-low, and now believe that once this is all figured out I will be that much faster and tougher.
um… yeah… quebec. haha.
Ever seen a real life oompa-loompa? she thought i was taking a pic kuz she was hot. I guess I managed to keep the willy-wonka song mute til after she passed. no one should be this tan, in Belgium!
-Pete
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