Colorado, Mountain time!!

I'm first day here we had planned to race. It was the Colorado State Crit Champs. Feeling the altitude of 1600m just walking around, it was to no surprise that I was going to feel it on the bike. We warmed up for 30 minutes or so, me breathing quite heavily. Still I lined up to start what was going to be a tough race for me. Philip had previously lived here over the winter just past, so he was somewhat at an advantage. The race rolled out, 40-45km/h average, although the race was hard for me, if I was breathing alright there was only one real hard section, it was a long straight with a side wind then a fast right hander into the head wind. I stuck with the 70 or so Pro 1/2 men for as long as my lungs could take. This was 30-40 minutes in, I sat and rolled around the closed off streets watching Philip still racing. He ended up come in 13th, a great result.
After the race we decided to go do another hour on the bikes, just around the flats.

The following day was even harder than the day before. We planned to do 4 hours up in the mountains. Starting in Boulder riding up the must do climb of Flagstaff then on to the town of Nerderland, across the peak to peak highway and then dropping back down to Boulder. Making it to the top of Flagstaff for me was the toughest part, I had gone out a little fast, forgetting how hard it is to recover at altitude. But after an hour of climbing we had made it to the top. But this wasn't the real top of the ride. We descended down the other side until it came to a dirt road, even more descending got us to the bottom, then it was just a climb up to the town of Coal creek. It was then a flatish ride to Nerderland, my legs were hurting after climbing for 40km but I seemed to be getting used to the altitude with most of the ride 2000m+. We made it to Nerderland just before the afternoon storm hit. We found refuge in a coffee shop and was planning to wait it out until it was safe to descend back down to Boulder. But the problem was it wasn't letting up. A few hours later after scumming off the shops wifi, Philip called his brother to come collect us. I was glad that in the end we didn't get wet. It took away the factor that we could have gotten sick. Happy that we didn't. I have some photo's to come.

Calum

Crash

Last race was barely worth racing, we had already decided we were going to drive after the race part of the way to Colorado. It was a 90km crit, but this time the field was terrible. The thing about I small field, it did mean that you couldn't just sit in and had to work. There had been a break away up the road and it look like it was going to stay away, with 8 laps to go one of the huge Germans swung up the road because his team mate had done the same. I didn't get out the way quick enough and crashed. The annoying part was in the 3rd last lap the break was caught. That's bike racing.

Calum

Willow Springs Road races.

Tuesday and Wednesday were 2 100km road race in Willow Springs, on the outer edge of greater Chicago. Tuesday was a 5km lap with a 1km climb each lap that at the top was the finish line, the race panned out just as the first had, heaps of breaks. One huge one with 10 riders in it, that one should have stayed away, but somehow the remaining riders were able to pull it back. The race resulted in 2 riders off the front, then another 2 in the middle. So 4 riders up the road. Then on the last lap climb more went off the front. I came in  leading the rest of the guys. 15th again.

Wednesday was a 16km lap, I had ridden at the back for some time before moving up to get in some break. Followed some good wheels, the German and Columbian, one of these breaks was up the road and could have gotten away with 2 laps to go. But only 4 out of 8 were actually pulling turns on the front. The South Africans have been getting riders in the breaks but then aren't pulling through, a tactic that the rest of the riders don't fully understand. Race ended with single riders off the front in the last lap. I rolled in with the bunch, couldn't get through the line of Germans blocking the road. But that's racing.

Calum

Chicago

We headed down to Chicago to stay with another couple, but before we got there we decided to park in Lincoln Park and ride the road bikes into down town Chicago. It was about a 3km ride along the foreshore, bikes everywhere along with people walking, running, skating, roller blading, playing volley ball or swimming. Everyone was out enjoying the sun. We rode into the Navy Pier, did a lap of that to take in the view of the city from different angles. Then into Millennium Park where there is a strange mirrored sculpture which the locals call 'The Bean' which is understandable, we hung out eating Chicago style hotdogs before we moved on to ride a bit into the actual centre. It's a pretty cool city with all the building and next time I'll have to stay there in a hostels to check it out throughly, not enough time this time round. 

Downtown Chicago

'The Bean' and my hotdog

'The Bean'

Calum

Cycling life

We may have got up early but we sure didn't beat the heat. 110 Fahrenheit (43 celsius), 2.5 hours in the saddle, with the most part of an hour sitting at 25km/h because I couldn't hold a faster pace. It sure did hurt, but one thing it did do was through me in the deep end, making the following day (race day) easy to handle.
The morning of the first race in Wood Dale, IL we went for a roll in the morning, end up with a nice 60km in the bank. Then one thing that I have been enjoying after a morning ride was my mid day nap, of about 2 hours, then off to the race in the suburbs of Chicago. It was a 1 and a half hour drive and we got there with plenty of time.

Lining up with an international field reminded me of the times racing last year in Belgium. This year I've had the chance to race with South Africans, Germans, Dutch, Columbians, Mexicans and also the Americans. The field wasn't huge but still consisted of 40 or so. An alright size for a 1.1km crit course.
First laps were slow, but with the lap counter starting at 85 there was plenty of time to get things going. I didn't know how i'd fair going straight into a fast crit, but I seemed to be feeling alright. The front straight was flat and came into a long left hander downhill, from there was another straight this time head wind, left again on a 250m climb of about 5%, followed but the front straight. The corners weren't technical at all so when the pace was on it didn't have much room to slow. Fastest lap we averaged 52km/h. Moves were constantly trying to get away, I had gotten myself in a few but they didn't have much luck. The move that stuck was 2 riders eventually lapping the field. In the end it came down to what should have been a bunch kick but one of the riders leading into the second last corner took himself out and the Texan i'm staying with Phillip Snodgrass (DNA Racing). I was forced to loose a lot of speed, in the finish ended up coming in 15th. 160km for the day. Not too bad at all.

Calum

America

After what was already an annoying flight (15 hours to Los Angeles) it only really turned worse, having to stop in Los Angeles airport for 4 hours, it may seem like a short time but it's a pretty boring airport to be spending any time in. Those 7 hours before the flight home are going to be fun I bet. The hour in Denver was alright, I knew I was on the last leg and having slept from Los Angeles to Denver I was feeling quite good.

The run in over Milwaukee was a sight, being Independence day, the descent into the airport was an array of fireworks popping up all over the city. Once I got in, I was just to find my luggage and Phil was there to pick me up. Just a further hour drive took us to Racine, Wisconsin where i'll be staying with Phil and with a couple Art and Cathy. It's amazing that they are accommodating me for a few weeks. This will be my base for a few weeks and we'll be heading to races by car. Most are 2 hours max away. First race Saturday now, tomorrow is supposed to be another hot one like today, 40+ degrees. But then next week is going to cool down to 25-30 which will be perfect for doing kms.

Today was hot!! We drove into town just to have a look, I found myself taking photo's of a large majority of the houses that had 20 flags out the front, Phil assures me it's only because of Independence day but I'm not sure I believe him yet. We'll see. After the drive we hit up Walmart to do some shopping. It's quite large with heaps of product, as for the quality i'm not so sure about. Next time i'll see if we can go to Wholefoods, which I think has better quality products.. But I have been told these such items will be hard to find. It got 10 degrees cooler in the evening so we went out for an hour on the bikes. 32 degrees I found is still quite warm when you've come from living at 10-14 degrees. So naturally I was sweating a considerable amount. Then the rain came in, which was really great. It was only a heavy shower but was perfect timing as I was getting really hot. We ended the ride dry which was a plus also. Dinner was followed by watching yesterdays stage of Le Tour, Goss will have one next time.

Temp home

Average America home the day after Independence day

Walmart

It's off to bed for me, getting up to beat the heat.

Calum