Well I got up on stage 5 with a fever after being sick all night again.  I talked to our team director Pat on what I should do, and he advised me not to put myself in the hospital, as racing with a fever is reckless.  He compared it to driving an overheated car.  Now keep in mind Pat knows what he’s talking about as he has done almost every pro tour race there is…so needless to say, I took his advise and pulled out.  Sitting in the caravan all day feels horrible. But I guess I can’t really help what happened and I fought it as long as I could, pushing the limits.  When the body has had enough the body has had enough.

 

Stage 1- Stage one was a 129km circuit race around Xi’an, and it was pouring rain.  We started at 10am.  The race was full gas the whole time it never slowed down once.  It took something like 2.5 hours to finish.  About half way through there was a massive pileup of 70 or so riders.  I went down but luckily I landed on someone.  I checked my bike and got ready to chase.  Teammate Tanner Putt and I chased for a whole lap before catching the group ahead of us.  We eventually made it to the front and settled back in. I made a few moves just to stay warm.  It came down to a field sprint; my goal was to finish without loosing skin.  Hard day with much more to come

 

 

Stage 2- Stage two was 181km from Xi’an-Baoji.  Pouring rain again, and about 60 degrees, very cold for someone like me.  I wore a rain jacket and hoped for the best.  The rain didn’t let up the whole time, pretty miserable day.  I sat in, went with some moves, and rode at the front, back, getting really bored.  Somehow two guys got away and pulled out 4 or 5 minutes on the race.   I sat in and let the big pro teams do their thing, but the never managed to pull the two guys back.  A field sprint for 3^rd was in order.  The stage took around 4:15 to finish, I just sat in and got the time of the pack.

 

Stage 3- Stage three was going to be a challenge as I had gotten very sick the night after stage 2.  Bad food poisoning along with what comes with that.  I was sick all night, couldn’t hold down any food, just bad.  I got up the next day at about 6:45 and went to breakfast, eating only rice.  Stage 3 was 112km from Baoji-Feng County with a cat 1 climb 30k in.  The climb was about 16k long.  I was looking forward to this stage before I had gotten sick, but now my goal was to survive.  On the way to the climb I knew I was going to be in for a long day.  We hit the climb and I had nothing in the tank, so I struggled up the climb in the Groupetto.  At the top of the climb there was still 80km to go, I sat in as the pace got harder and harder.  I just clung on and finished 4 minutes down on the winner.  Teammate Tanner Putt pulled out a 4^th place finish, congrats to him. 

 

Rest Day/transfer day- the rest day wasn’t really a rest day, as we had an 8-hour (500km) transfer from Feng County-Mianyang.  Driving through China was beautiful and interesting, we drove through huge mountains and very cool roads.  It was raining again today, so not racing was ok! We arrived in our hotel tired of the car and ready for a good nights sleep.  I am still sick at this point, trying to fight it off and hold down some food, but still struggling. 

 

Stage 4- Going into stage 4, a 204km stage from Xianhai, Mianyang-Suining, I was still feeling sick.  We started at 10am again after a 20km drive to the start.  There were 2 laps of a very hard circuit, I sat in and didn’t crash.  I started to feel sick about halfway through the first lap… it was going to be another very long day as quitting is not an option.  After the circuits we headed out to the highway for a throw-down.  I sat in and felt worse and worse, until I started heaving, not able to hold down any food except a gel every once in a while.  We hit the feed zone at 108km in, and grabbed a bag taking what I could use out of it.  I started to feel worse and worse as the day went on.  The last 20km were hell, I struggled to hold down anything, even water.  I finished in the field cramping up everywhere you can cramp, literally.  The stage took 4:40 to complete.  I have never felt as bad as today after a race, I pushed myself farther than I though possible to finish. I felt like I was going to pass out/had the chills/threw up/dizzy/migraine/ etc. After riding back to the hotel in the car, a doctor came to see me.  Sure enough I have a fever of 101, with chances of starting tomorrow looking slim.  I’m going to get good nights rest and try to eat.  Ill take it hour by hour and hope for the best for tomorrow. 

 

 

Tour of China

 

Travel-

Sep 6^th- Getting to China was a nightmare.  I was supposed to leave on the 6^th and get there on the 7^th.  It takes a day and a half to get there if everything goes right.  I left Atlanta on the 6^th on a delayed plane, and arrived in Washington/Dulles with 10 minutes before my connection to Beijing.  I ran through the airport, looking like an amateur…Missing my flight my 5 minutes.  My solution from there was to stay the night in Washington, and catch a flight at noon the next day to Beijing.  I got to the hotel at 3, and never left the room.  Ordered food to the room and everything, felt pretty good too.  Did a little Skyping and T.V. watching, just chilled. 

 

Sep 7^th-The next morning was pretty chill, as my flight did not leave until 12:40.  I caught a shuttle to the airport and in short, made my flight.  This flight was so long I started to not know what to do with myself.  15 hours on a plane is torture, especially when you only have one seat with people next to you. 

 

Sep 8^th- Yes the flight took me to the next day.  By the time I had landed, I had been up for 24 hours with 1 hour of sleep.  Getting through the Beijing Airport was quite an experience, but I figured it out after staring at signs trying to figure them out.  My next flight was to Xi ‘an, and was a 2 hour flight.  Needless to say this one was easy, and I slept through most of it.  Arriving in Xi’an would have been a relief, if I had a ride waiting on me to take me to the hotel, but, well I didn’t.  So I walked around the airport looking for the guy that was supposed to pick me up for a good hour and a half.  Keep in mind I have now been up for about 32 hours with 2.5 hours of sleep.  I finally found him, and of course, no English.  Now we have to wait an hour for the next group to arrive, I am miserable and don’t even feel human by now. 

 

Sep 9^th- Yep it’s now midnight and the next day, after an hour and fifteen minutes of more waiting, we leave the Airport.  The drive to the hotel was about another hour, but we finally got there.  Although this should made me happy, I felt no emotion. I was so tired at this point I couldn’t even fall asleep.  The prologue is in the morning at 10.

 

 

 

 

Prologue- The prologue didn’t count for anything but you get 90 bucks for staring and it was a good way to open the legs up.  After 3 or 4 hours of sleep we got up and ate breakfast, then headed to the race.  It was flat and fast out and back.  I think I was 39^th or 40^th, not sure…but not so bad after coming off that travel.

 

 

Stages 1-3 updates coming

So,

Senoia Ga Cup



The weekend started with a TT, but because it started at 8am
and was 2 hours away, we decided to skip it. Sleeping in and enjoying the
morning sounded much more inviting. After lying around sipping coffee and
watching cycling videos, in an attempt to get motivated, we (Blair Turner
and I) headed to the 5pm race. The course was an 8-mile circuit, around the
small town of Senoia. The course would be easy, flat, and pretty straight
forward, but the 25mph crosswinds complicated things. Blair and I decided
to get aggressive from the start and try to get away early. Our plan worked
out perfectly, something that almost never happens in cycling races. The
field foolishly let both of us get away on the first lap together, along
with Big John Atkins. Big John has some fans in Senoia, as we were deafened
each lap from the their cheers. The 3 of us worked together flawlessly,
rotating through taking strong pulls. With one lap to go, a group of 4
snuck up on us and closed our 1:30 gap to 20 seconds. With 3k to go, the
group of 4 was 10 seconds behind us, I refused to be caught, and went to the
front. I knew in order for us to win, I had to sacrifice myself for Blair
(selfishness in cycling never pays off) and hope he had the sprint to finish
it off. I went to the front of our 3-man break and hit it from 2k out as
hard as I could go. With 1k, it was time to dig, I was chewing on my
Thomson Stem telling myself I could go just a little longer and a little
harder, with 200M I swung off and it was up to Blair. I saw his hands go
up, we won and I rolled in for 3rd. it was done perfectly. The group of 4
finished 7-8 seconds back. True teamwork at its finest.



The Road Race the next day was pretty uneventful, a break with Tim Stone
(Dad in a pro/1/2 breakaway? Yes!) Got away early and was caught 15k to go.
I was aggressive throughout the day, but the Peloton would not make the same
mistake twice, we were marked out of the race. This did not stop us from
being aggressive, attacking relentlessly. With 5k to go, Iron data (with 9
or so guys in the race) had a lead-out train trying to start up. I wasn't
going to have this, as they had followed our wheels all day, keeping the
field together. I attacked hard, forcing them to chase harder than they
wanted to, eliminating a few guys from the lead-out. With 4k still to go,
they were to weak to carry it to the finish. Blair then countered my move,
was chased back, and I went again. We continued countering and forcing
chase until the line, but were outsprinted by Aerocat (the only team willing
to "race" bikes that day). A good learning race, we could not have been
more aggressive.

I really slacked off on the updates, 595 days since my last post..."slacking" is the wrong word.   A lot has happened in 595 days, I wont even try to get into it all, I figure its better to start new and go forward.  This winter has been my hardest ever.  I am more motivated than years past and am also enjoying spending 3-5 hours on my bike everyday (most don't understand why we cyclists enjoy this).  We (Hincapie U23 Development team) Have had our 2 team camps, and I really like the team this year.  I have been taking classes at a local college. Balancing my classes and cycling is really a full time job. 

Soto was a nasty one, we started at 3pm, the hottest part of the day.  I started at the front and held my position well through the whole race.  The first 15 or so miles of the race were really sketchy...tons of aggressive fighting for position.  The first 3 climbs were not too hard, but around the fourth, the real attacks started, no one really got away but the field split up a bit.  Halfway through the first lap, I attacked, 4 guys went with me, we were away for a while but it didn't stick, I just sat in until the end of the first lap.  1k from the line, there is a huge 20-25% climb, about 600m long, at the top, everyone was breathing pretty hard, I attacked again...4 guys went with me.  We immediately got a huge gap and before I knew it, we were up to 1:20 gap.  Eventually a Garmin/Slipstream guy and Kelly Benefit guy bridged up to us to make our move that much stronger.  Our gap held for about 30 miles, and we were reeled in slowly by the Hot Tubes team just before the final climb.  I held on and was still in the front...the peleton was down from 78 starters to about 15-20, I was still feeling good, I sat in.  With about 12 miles to go, the feed zone climb came, I was still feeling great, I got 2 full Cold water bottles from Nancy ( the greatest water bottle handeroffer/stepmom in the world) and My Dad.  Just after putting my bottles in their cages there was a crash right in front of me, I high sided my bike and slid sideways to avoid it...I managed to stay up.  Just as i got back in the groove, I looked back to see a flat tire from sliding, I was done.  I got off and waited for the wheel truck...it took him about 3 minutes to get to me because of the crash.  After the change I just rode in wondering what could have happened.  It was a great race and course, but a bit of bad luck for me.



At The Start


The Big Climb


The Reason I wasn't there

Ive been riding in the rain a lot lately, so I thought I would post a ride when it was nice. 
Its about 85 degrees and humid...I love it
I call it the illegal climb ride because we were in FLAT country and found a small "climb" that went up to a transmission tower and a bunch of generators, the climb was fenced off with no trespassing on it I should have taken a picture of it, we snuck around and went up anyways, it was cool and steep, we could see for miles and miles..it must have been the highest point in that area for a looooong ways.

On Friday I will be going up to TN for Edgar Soto, a Worlds Qualifier...check in soon for updates and news!!

Sporting the new jersey                                                                                              



My Kinda Road in GA




The place we were not supposed to be



My Dad and I

This weekend was a good one, the State Championships was on the calendar.  I didn’t go into this race very rested, was still excited about it.  I decided to do the Jrs; the field was a good one.  My main competition was the Fulton Flyers, Matt Lipscomb’s team.  My plan was to get in a break with Matt and bring it to a two up sprint.  We rolled out hot at 12:05, it was pretty uneventful for the fist 15 miles, and then the hills came.  Matt attacked a hill like it was the last hill of the race, I jumped on his wheel and we were gone, I turned around to see the field Exploded on the stair step climb.  We got a pretty good gap and then went out of sight.  From then on we tapped out a sick rhythm, the official came up and told us we had 9min… we were gone… we eventually caught the field that started ahead of us…10min ahead of us!  Before I knew it there was 1k to go, I was glued to Matt’s wheel and just waited for the move… it came at about 200m to go, I was able to come around at the end for the win.  We ended up adv 24.5mph on this very hilly course.  It was a great race!! Congrats to Matt, new 15-16 State Champ!!

New Jr. State Champion (17-18 Podium)



The Sprint



Matt Lipscomb and I...the old papa 1.2

Its been awhile since I last Wrote.  I have had a few results since then....Ill talk about my main results in the last few months.  one of my last good results of 08 was river gorge, I was feelin really good in this Pro1.2 RR, I was well positioned for the win in the cat 2s, I chased all the breaks and ended up 3rd in the 2s on the last climb....it was a good day.  I also got my VO2 tested again this winter and I hit the world record!!! 94!!, I was only able to sustain 90.5.  I continued to train through the winter weight training and WBLs.. it was a cold winter. 

A big result towards the end of the year was:
Georgia JR. STATE TT CHAMPION

2009:
My first race of 09 was Tundra TT, I did the Pro1.2  I got 2nd....Great start


My next race was Harbins Pro.1.2, I got in a break and held it for a majority of the race, I was caught in the last couple miles and had nothing left, I decided to call it a day... 

My third race of the season was Rome GA Crit, It was pouring rain and 40 degrees, I Was riding aggressively the whole race...I attacked into a corner and slid out across the road at 30 mph....ouch.  I got back into the race with quite a bit of Road rash....I finished 7th.  It was a good recovery.

Number 4 was Gainesville Omnium.  I was a domestiqe for the team in this one...I worked for the guys...Mid pack in the RR, 7th in the TT, and 7th in the circuit( field sprint).  We won the race overall and every stage.....Dominance

My next race was in Charleston SC for their PRO State Championship Crit...I was riding strong Throughout the race and was keeping it aggressive, I was around 5th wheel when I went into the last lap, I got swamped in the slightly downhill Sprint with my jr gears!!  i managed 14th out of about 90 starters...OK result

Athens twilight was the next 09 adventure for me...I raced the jrs.  I won this Crit in an uphill sprint from a breakaway.  First win of the year...it was a great feeling and a good one for my resume

The very next day I raced the Roswell Historic Crit in the 17-18 Jrs....I won this one too...Back to back wins  yea!!!   Things are looking up for the big stage races that are coming up...including

Tour De Atlanta
Tour Of Red River Gorge
Tour De L'abitibi
National Championships in Bend Oregon
Some local Pro1/2 Climbing races and a few state championships coming up......

More updates To come soon