new bike, kits and the gulf coast

Last week my new team bike and our new team kits arrived. The new Cervelo R3 SL with Sram red is a big upgrade from the 20lbs steel bike I’ve been riding for the past few months. The new kits are also a bonus as always having to wash shorts to keep riding with clean bibs won’t be a problem any more.

I spent Easter weekend with Ben and his family at the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It was a good mental vacation in between all of my traveling. We went deep sea fishing and were very successful and even had time for some good riding. However not everything at the coast was exciting, even today three years tafter he destruction of hurricane Katrina can be seen. I was amazed at the destruction it caused to the entire area, we saw houses that were flooded and left vacant as if the hurricane was only yesterday. As we walked around the beach and town Ben’s mother Ellen pointed out where things were before the hurricane and as I saw were there no longer. Although some people did come back and chose to rebuild, I question there decisions as another storm of Katrina’s force is bound to happen again.

Luckily there are no hurricanes in Oregon
Ian

Southern Cooking

Well ya’ll know that the food down in the south has its own style and flavors, which is more than tasty and usually fried. Fried chicken is a southern food found even in Oregon, but the fried catfish we had at “catfish haven” the other night was truly a southern specialty. A plate of French fries, fried cornbread and fried catfish is what I ordered and common mean down in this part of the country, but my favorite thing in the south has to be the sweet tea. The sweat tea is amazing, I’m not one for soda or sugary drinks but this is delicious, and what make a good sweet tea great is the ice. The smaller the ice cubes the better the sweet tea, I never thought ice could make such a difference but it does.
Staying in shape isn’t hard down here as Ben has been showing me some great rides but staying lean for the hills might catch up to me if I keep up with the southern ways.

Ian

Tour of Tuscaloosa

The Tour of Tuscaloosa started Saturday after noon for Nathan and I with a junior criterium in downtown Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The junior field had some good riders but Nathan and I had not problem finishing 1-2. After our short junior race it was time to start thinking about the nights big event, a 50 minute pro ½ twilight criterium. I have watched twilight criterium before, however this was more than a twilight crit. The course was a long 1.2 mile loop that passed through downtown which was lit well, however the course then descended a steep hill to the river which lead to a series of dark streets that were not lighted. I’d ridden the course earlier in the junior race so I knew how to take all the turns, but on lap one of the pro ½ race I felt as I was on a course I’d never ridden.
Despite the dark streets as strong winds the race went on and turned out well for our team (Hot Tubes). Nathan got in an early group of the front which happened to hold off the chasing pack until the end. He was under geared in his small junior gears for the final sprint but still took 3rd. Ben and I both finished in the pack behind, and road in a supporting role of Nathan.
The road race the following morning started less than 11 hours after the finish of the twilight criterium, so we didn’t have much time to rest. We woke the next morning to cold humid air, we arrived at the start and were ready to race. Ben, Nathan and I covered every move for the first three laps thinking that something would stay away off the front. However nothing did and after 4 laps Ben called it quits and Nathan followed on lap 6. I managed to finish in the pack. It was a hard race and good training as well.
Now I’m at Ben’s house outside of Jackson Mississippi where I will be for a few weeks until our team training camp in Georgia April 18th .

Ian

From the Wild West to the Dirty South.

Training camp in Arizona finished last Sunday and it was time for the long haul from Phoenix back to the Browns’ house north of Memphis, Tennessee. Although most of the drive looked the same (dry desert or grass plains) we were kept entertained by the high winds that blew with such force that we saw numerous fifth wheelers tipped in their side. Thankfully Nathans dad (Mr. Brown) is an airplane pilot, so the strong winds didn’t faze him. As we got deeper into the South the more I could start to hear the accent and see the difference. In the South the people live with more tradition, which is far different from the West Coast and its progressiveness and modern way of life. It’s almost as the south is more relaxed than out west, people don’t worry as much about what car they drive or what street they live on, and surprising to me the people are much more friendly. On our rides the past few days I’ve noticed that every car that passes us the driver waves, we haven’t been honked at once. I’ve already become accustom to the friendliness out on the road by waving to every oncoming car.

The roads around here are also all in excellent condition, even the back roads that don’t have cars are smooth and newly paved.

This weekend I will travel further into the South and participate in a criterium and road race in Tuscaloosa Alabama, before I meet up with my other teammate Ben and stay with him in Jackson, Mississippi for a few weeks before team camp in Georgia.

So far at Nate’s I’ve drove a riding lawnmower and been bass fishing. I’ll post more after the race.

Ian



Mt. Lemmon

It’s by far the longest climb I’ve ever done, a 27 mile epic that took us from the desert floor through cool rock formations, then into alpine trees and finishing with snow. A.J. Myer and I rode the climb together at a steady but quick pace and summited in a little under two hours. After we summited it was time for the long fast downhill to the heat of the valley, which was so quick the we were catching and passing cars the entire way down. The other riders followed, however most found that 13.5 miles of climbing was enough and turned around at the half way point. Lemmon is not a climb I would want to do all the time, but I definetly want to come back again and see if I can climb it faster.

Ian

Two hundreds

Tortilla flats was all it was made out to be. An easy ride for the first fifty but an all out race the last fifty. Not only did we ride one hundred miles it was also one hundred degrees out on the tarmac. The ride was beautiful winding through canyons which are rivaled only by the great Grand Canyon itself. When the riding got fast my legs felt good, in fact I set five new watt average bests on my 1,5,10,30 and 120 minute power records. However, the long day didn’t come without damage to the pack, three riders called it quits before the fifty mile mark and on the final climb things blew apart. It was another great day on the bike, but tomorrow will be another death ride up the slopes of Mt. Lemmon.

Ian

climbing high

It was another hot and great day of riding in Arizona. Today was for the climbers with lots of three and four mile climbs and a hard ten miler which took us above the altitude where the famous saguaro cactus grows and where deep breathing is a common sound. The camp is run very professionally and every ride is followed by Jose the camp mechanic and his Sram neutral support car. However, the best part of the follow car is the water, on a day like today I drank 8 bottles of water and loaded up on sunscreen twice.
Tomorrow we have a century planned and by the sounds of the others who have been here before it may turn into a race over the last 20 miles. My legs have been feeling good up to this point, but tomorrow might be another story.

Ian