Arizona Camp
I’m now down under the hot sun of Arizona at a training camp in Scottsdale. The day before I left I did my first road race of the year outside of Olympia Washington, in the cold wet weather of the North West, and now I’m in Arizona riding with my biggest worry being trying not to get sunburned.
Today we did an awesome ride in the 85 degree heart, and yes I got sunburned. The week ahead is going to be full of long hard rides, which one of the days will be Mt. Lemmon, a two plus hour climb that reaches over 9,000. More post and pictures will come in the following days.
Ian
Monday, March 16, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Miles in Chico
After three weeks of training in Chico I'm back in Bend for a two weeks before I'm off to somewhere else, but where I don’t know yet.
The riding in Chico was amazing, there are dead flat roads in the valley that you could ride forever and see few cars. However just east of Chico are the foothills of the Sierras' which offers all sorts of different and great climbing. We all know that riding in the hills is hard, but I never before realized that long flat rides can be just as hard. Riding on the flats you never get a chance to stop peddling, you are applying pressure to the peddles the entire ride and that starts to catch up with you after a few hours.
Here are some photos from a few of my rides.
Enjoy Ian
The riding in Chico was amazing, there are dead flat roads in the valley that you could ride forever and see few cars. However just east of Chico are the foothills of the Sierras' which offers all sorts of different and great climbing. We all know that riding in the hills is hard, but I never before realized that long flat rides can be just as hard. Riding on the flats you never get a chance to stop peddling, you are applying pressure to the peddles the entire ride and that starts to catch up with you after a few hours.
Here are some photos from a few of my rides.
Enjoy Ian
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Back for 2009
Hello to all, and hope the New Year is bringing good things. I’m back in the saddle training for the 2009 road season. I completed high school two weeks ago, and now really focusing on my training for my final year as a junior racer.
Currently I’m in Chico, CA for one month training in a climate that is more accompanying to cycling in the month of February. The New Year has also brought a new team for me, and I will be racing for Hot Tubes Junior Development Team. Hot Tubes is a team based out of the east coast, however has riders from all over the country. I’m excited for the upcoming race season and will keep you up to date.
Ian
Currently I’m in Chico, CA for one month training in a climate that is more accompanying to cycling in the month of February. The New Year has also brought a new team for me, and I will be racing for Hot Tubes Junior Development Team. Hot Tubes is a team based out of the east coast, however has riders from all over the country. I’m excited for the upcoming race season and will keep you up to date.
Ian
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Back at Home
I’m now back in Bend and back at school. It’s good to finally be home for a while and not be living out of a suitcase.
The race in Croatia didn’t go well for me as I pulled out on the final stage after 5 km after I got another vertigo episode. I also ran into trouble on stage one when I broke my steer tube and had to get a spare bike. Jacob however rode well finishing 16th on GC and top 20 on each stage.
Next up for me is some time off and maybe some cross.
The race in Croatia didn’t go well for me as I pulled out on the final stage after 5 km after I got another vertigo episode. I also ran into trouble on stage one when I broke my steer tube and had to get a spare bike. Jacob however rode well finishing 16th on GC and top 20 on each stage.
Next up for me is some time off and maybe some cross.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Ride with the Lion King and all his Safari friends.
The US womens team is racing here in Italy near the house so we went today to watch them, and it turned out to be one of the best rides of my life. We took the hilly way to the race which was hard but awesome. The riding here is amazing and the climbing is even better. After a technical descent we traversed across the valley and went up another climb to get to the finish. At the finish is where things got magical, while waiting for the race to come we saw the lion king him self (Mario Cipollini) riding up with his friend Jorg Jakshe. After I got my picture with Mario we went down the hill a little to get a better view of the race, there we saw Thomas Dekker and three other riders on team CSC. After watching the finish we headed back to Lucca, but it wasn't any ordinary afternoon ride, we were rolling and talking with Mario and all the other riders listed above, plus the womens team containing Kristian Armstrong who just won a gold in the Olympic time trial. It was by far the strongest group I have ever ridden with and it was sweet.
I will try to post pictures but it hasn't been working.
Living the dream from Italy with the lion king
Ian
I will try to post pictures but it hasn't been working.
Living the dream from Italy with the lion king
Ian
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Giro di Basilicata
Seven hours south of Lucca just above the boot heel of Italy in Basilicata is
the home to the 3 stage 3 day race we did last weekend. The race started Friday
afternoon with a 107km road race with one good 15km climb in the middle and a
hard 3km finishing climb. I was in the days first big crash but came out
unharmed. Thankfully I was one of the last people in the pile up so i landed on
top of the others. After some hard chasing i got back onto the pack and found
out that both Jacob and A.J. were off the front. A.J.'s group was caught
shortly there after however Jacob was in for the long haul. Jacob survived the
whole day off the front and finished 4th and was winning the K.O.M. Nate was
aggressive later in the race and finished 5th. I came in 19th with the rest of
the team close behind.
Stage 2 was the queen stage with several hard climbs. Everyone made it over the
first climb together and in the lead group. The second and biggest climb of the
day was different, gaps opened and near the top everyone on our team but Jacob
was in the second group on the road. We never caught the leaders but Austin and
I put in a hard chase and finished only a minute behind Jacob. It wasn’t a great
day for the team after our strong showing on stage one, but the heat and lack of
water on stage one really drained us for the second day.
Stage 3 our plan was just to attack, attack, attack, and so we did. It was a
long 119km race and 20minutes in it began to pour rain which was off and on for
the rest of the day. The rain made for some slick roads and lots of crashes. I
was in a lot of different moves off the front but none were a success, going into
the final big climb at 30 I was blown, I got dropped out of the lead group and
soft-pedaled it to the finish in the pouring rain. Jacob continued to show great
form and took second on the stage which made the day a lot more worthwhile for
everyone.
We arrived back in Lucca last night and will stay here until Thursday when we
will leave for Croatia for a nations cup race which has a much stronger field,
so hopping to rest up this week and try to carry any form I still have this late
in the year.
the home to the 3 stage 3 day race we did last weekend. The race started Friday
afternoon with a 107km road race with one good 15km climb in the middle and a
hard 3km finishing climb. I was in the days first big crash but came out
unharmed. Thankfully I was one of the last people in the pile up so i landed on
top of the others. After some hard chasing i got back onto the pack and found
out that both Jacob and A.J. were off the front. A.J.'s group was caught
shortly there after however Jacob was in for the long haul. Jacob survived the
whole day off the front and finished 4th and was winning the K.O.M. Nate was
aggressive later in the race and finished 5th. I came in 19th with the rest of
the team close behind.
Stage 2 was the queen stage with several hard climbs. Everyone made it over the
first climb together and in the lead group. The second and biggest climb of the
day was different, gaps opened and near the top everyone on our team but Jacob
was in the second group on the road. We never caught the leaders but Austin and
I put in a hard chase and finished only a minute behind Jacob. It wasn’t a great
day for the team after our strong showing on stage one, but the heat and lack of
water on stage one really drained us for the second day.
Stage 3 our plan was just to attack, attack, attack, and so we did. It was a
long 119km race and 20minutes in it began to pour rain which was off and on for
the rest of the day. The rain made for some slick roads and lots of crashes. I
was in a lot of different moves off the front but none were a success, going into
the final big climb at 30 I was blown, I got dropped out of the lead group and
soft-pedaled it to the finish in the pouring rain. Jacob continued to show great
form and took second on the stage which made the day a lot more worthwhile for
everyone.
We arrived back in Lucca last night and will stay here until Thursday when we
will leave for Croatia for a nations cup race which has a much stronger field,
so hopping to rest up this week and try to carry any form I still have this late
in the year.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Italy........WOW
Well Italy is worlds away from the rough windswept roads of Belgium. My travels here went fine and I met up with Ben and all the other riders Monday morning in Milan. From the airport we had a three hour drive south to the town of Lucca which we will call home base. The house is the headquarters of SRM Italy and the home of the women national team for the US.
The riding here is amazing and you know just how good it is because Mario Cipollini and Bjarne Rijs both live next door. On our first ride we went to Pisa a saw the leaning tower of Pisa, which was one of the more historical things I have ever seen. Even though there is so much history of humanity everywhere it almost takes a back seat to the natural geographical beauty of the area.
The weather is awesome and I’ve changed from riding with leg warmers to riding with sun screen. It’s been a big change of lifestyle as well. Life here is deffently more about looking the look and walking the walk. The drivers are also another big change from Belgium, they aren’t as friendly to cyclist but this is still the best place that I have ever ridden my bike, the climbing is awesome.
Yesterday we did an long ride and we all would have bonked had we not stopped and grabbed a couple cokes, and it worked magic because we all made it home.
Below are some pictures but they don’t even really do justice to the actual beauty of the area, it is really something you must experience yourself.
Ian
The riding here is amazing and you know just how good it is because Mario Cipollini and Bjarne Rijs both live next door. On our first ride we went to Pisa a saw the leaning tower of Pisa, which was one of the more historical things I have ever seen. Even though there is so much history of humanity everywhere it almost takes a back seat to the natural geographical beauty of the area.
The weather is awesome and I’ve changed from riding with leg warmers to riding with sun screen. It’s been a big change of lifestyle as well. Life here is deffently more about looking the look and walking the walk. The drivers are also another big change from Belgium, they aren’t as friendly to cyclist but this is still the best place that I have ever ridden my bike, the climbing is awesome.
Yesterday we did an long ride and we all would have bonked had we not stopped and grabbed a couple cokes, and it worked magic because we all made it home.
Below are some pictures but they don’t even really do justice to the actual beauty of the area, it is really something you must experience yourself.
Ian
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