Boone Bound

So i leave for Boone, NC towmarrow morning for a skiing trip with my senior homies and my brother. 6 days no bike! Damn training camp on the 1st will hurts, but i think i need this break. After the shittiest weather ever, ive still managed a decent base for this first half of winter. Needless to say my motavation tank is on e, so i shall go to the mountains and come back on full! (hopefully).
Lata

From Camp

Team Camp

Team camp was really good......The weekend kicked off Friday. We all hung out at Rich Hincapie's house and met the new teammates and caught up with the old ones. After some good food we watched a movie then got some sleep. Saturday was epic! Ok the first 2hrs were chilled....Then we stopped at a store where i procedded to grab some grub. When i walk out i see half the group rolling out. In that half i thought i saw the juniors on our team, so i dart after them. When i catch up i relize thier are no juniors in the group and that i jumped on George Hincapies group with the u23 guys and we are heading to do a 5hr ride as opposed to the 3.5hr ride i was planning on. Then i see Ty rolling up to the group. He decided to embark on this epic journey with me. Anyways to make a long story short 3hrs and 2 climbs later my legs were completley trashed! But it was really sweet because me and ty chilled at george's house after the ride. Sunday was another relaxed 3hrs. All in all a great weekend of training. I met all the new guys and thier all real cool. I think this year's team is more like a family then any other team i've been with.

Well thats all i got for now......-

In full swing

Yep im back at it full time now......It feels like my season just ended......I can hardley remember the off season!!! But then again being back riding is nice. Even though i bitch and moan about riding alot of the times, when i take time off the bike i relize just how much riding is apart of my life.
So our first camp of the year is this weekend.....Im looking forward to seeing everyone again and meeting new teammates. It should be good times...............Also my first church basketball game is 2maro. I'm fully prepared to dunk on some fools. Its been freezing cold in the durty south here lately, and if it isnt freezing then its raining like hell....Thats all i got for now,

Ill hit it up after the weekend,

aj

READY-4-WATEVA

So thats me ready to whoop ass in a cross country race. NOTICE the sweet socks and huge leg muscles that i circled!!!!

And so it begins......

Yea the 09 season is here. I'm pretty much riding full time now. Motavation is hard to come by this time of year but im still turning the pedals over......Its cold as hell to, that never helps. Well there really is absoulutly nothing to write about....nothing new going on in my cycling world......Someone motivate me!

Lately......

Things have been good. Cross country is now over, i finished the year decent, i ran in the 17's for my last 2 races. Im honestly a little sad its over. I mean its hard to beleave how fast life goes by. It feels like yesterday when i was a freshman running, and now i've ran my last high school race ever. wow. On a lighter note, i finally rode a solid three hours on sunday. It felt good to ride despite my poor condition. I think im gonna start slowley riding again. Its almost church leauge basketball season again, in preperation for it ive been ballin at the local courts lately. well thats all i feel like rambling on about for now,
until next time,

aj

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

I have signed up for the 2009 edition of FORD IRONMAN FLORIDA. I figure it will be a good way to occupy myself in the off season of bike racing.

Update on the off-season

Im back from Hawaii and im to lazy to post pictures! Other then that serious training has begun. "Training for what??" your probably thinking.......I can tell you its not cycling!!! I havnt been on my bike in 2 weeks and i see no start in sight! but anyways what im training for! HOOTERS! Yea its that time again. Every Wednesday me and my buddies make the pilgrimage up to Hooters where we pour our heart and soul into eating as many wings as possible! The season began last week, and im very out of shape. Despite my poor condition i was still able to eat more then anyone at the table. Its gonna be a long hard road if i wanna break my record from last year (62) but i feel that if i work hard enough i will surpass it.
Wish me luck!

aj

p.s. I hate running!!!!!! is it possible to enjoy racing 5ks?

Hawaii..........

ROCKS!!!! So yea im out here chillin lika villin in the Aloha state. Its beautiful out here. Yesterday we went to Volcano National Park. It was sweet, when i get home ill uplioad some pics. Today i went snorkling and saw some crazy colored fish and swam with some sea turtles! Im also trying to run alot. I ran 1 bloody hour today! it dam near killed me....... The big Iron Man world championships is 2maro, ill post after that,
living the life,

aj

The last race.......

So the last race of the year was today. I def. feel like i ended it on a good note. It was the Saul Raisin Crit, in my home town Dalton, so that was def. motavating. Me and teammate Steve Carpenter got in a early move of 8 guys that included John Murphy from Health Net. Me and Carp attacked the move alot but John kept everything in check. We lapped the field then teammate Dave Talbott kept everything under control. The last lap was hectic and i tried to mark John but ended up getting gapped in the last coner, but still held a strong sprint to get 2nd in the race. It was a good result, and i ended the year with mixed emotions. In one way i feel like training alot after that good result, but all in all i'm looking forward to taking a long break. Its been one hell of a year. The season started in Feb. and ended in Oct.!
Off to Hawiaii for a much needed vacation!

aj

Almost Time For Worlds!!!!!!!!!

No not cycling worlds.......IRONMAN worlds. Yep its in Hawaii, and me and my family will be going to cheer on my dad, whose going to compete. He won't admit it but i think if everything goes right he will be the world masters champ.
HERES A INTERVIEW SLOWTWITCH DID WITH HIM:


Andy Meyer is Kona 2008 bound
Written by: Herbert Krabel
Date: Tue Dec 04 2007


For our series "Profile of an age grouper" we talk to Andy Meyer who won his age group at Ironman Florida in 2007 after almost 2 years away from triathlon. This Cohutta, GA native raced Ironman Florida in 2004 and 2005 and then pretty much raced road bikes for the next 2 years. He was also busy supporting his cycling protégé son A.J. as a driver, masseur, cook and proud dad. In the fall of 2007 he returned to triathlon and won his age group at Ironman Florida.

Andy Meyer

Age: 45
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 143 pounds

ST: When did you first consider doing an Ironman Triathlon?

Andy: I actually have a brother, Pat and a friend, Ben Eicholtz who talked me into doing IMFL about 3 years ago. I had always toyed with the idea of doing an IM since my early twenties, but starting a career and family took precedence. I followed the sport closely and Dave Scott, Mark Allen, Scott Tinely, Mike Pigg, and Scott Molina were all idols of mine. I was in awe of the incredible effort, perseverance and fortitude these athletes exhibited. No way would I ever be able to do an Ironman. I had done the usual bike racing, running races, short course triathlons, mountain biking and adventure races. Pat, Ben and myself were looking for a new challenge and they suggested we all try an IM. I had always been one who struggled early in any kind of race and felt stronger as the event proceeded. This seemed like the natural choice as they so convincingly argued. I had reservations about the training time commitments not to mention just being able to finish an IM. We picked IMFL because it was close to home and gave us all summer to train. I completed my first IMFL in just under 11 hours and was hooked. I realized I had so much more I could improve upon. The next year I dropped another hour and again realized I could go even faster with better training, diet, and nutrition. The third time was the charm as I had a blessed day and everything came together for another 30 plus minute improvement.


ST: Prior to IMFL, what triathlons did you do in the last few years?

Andy: In the last 3 years, I'd done IMFL 2004 and 2005 but skipped 2006 to help my son, A.J. get his cycling career going, plus I also wanted to improve my running (8th overall '06 Atlanta Marathon and 2nd master). I had also done the Chattanooga Waterfront 2005, and the Cohutta Springs '04, '05 and '07 triathlons for fun. Mainly, I'd been doing masters road cycling events though.


ST: How did you build up for this year's Ironman Florida?

Andy: As a husband of 22 years with a wonderful wife, Karen, who makes training/racing at all possible, plus a dad to 3 sons and a full time job, I tried to focus on what would give me the biggest improvement for the least time investment. Nutrition and diet were the obvious choices, but so was running improvement. In the two previous IMFLs I had neglected running to work on my weaknesses, swimming and cycling. I ran in high school and college, so I just counted on my natural running ability. In both those races I swam around 1:00 and biked 5:00, which put me in, reach of a Kona spot, but suffered at the 18-20 mile mark on the run with 4:08 and 3:50 run splits. I actually began my IMFL '07 buildup with the '06 fall Atlanta Marathon. I was able to carry that over into the spring and work on swimming through the winter along with riding, racing and training with A.J. and his team up until May, and then the formal training began. In May, I began 3 months of base work, followed by 2 months of strength work, then 1 month of taper/race specific work. All the while, I was able to get back to my college racing weight with the loss of 5 pounds. Thus I was at IMFL '07 with a stronger run; a swim and ride that were equal to previous years and 5 pounds lighter.


ST: Were you actually gunning for a Hawaii slot?

Andy: Kona was a very distant dream. I actually thought that was well out of the question and I never even entertained the thought of an age group win! One thing I've learned about IM racing and training, it is not about the outside race itself, but about the race inside your mind and body. I've finally come to understand what Mark Allen was saying about racing an Ironman. I just wanted to be better prepared than in the past years and what ever happened would be fine. Kona had only faintly entered my mind, but to tell you the truth, I was going to hang up all the racing and training after this race. I've been racing/training since I was in middle school and at age 45, I wanted to travel and enjoy watching A.J. race. I also have older son, Hunter, a freshman who plays basketball for the University of the South, and I wanted to travel and watch him play too. My youngest son, Conner wants to start bike racing juniors next year, so another young cyclist needs to be managed, but most of all I wanted to spend time with my wife as she has spent our whole marriage sacrificing for my training. She deserves so much more than I could ever repay her. It is time I start repaying her! Well, when I got to the 13.1 mile mark of the run, she and A.J. told me I was leading my age group and I'd better not walk any until the race was over! Then I knew Hawaii was in the equation and she wanted to go! That night, before roll-down the next morning, we, as a family, decided maybe I could train for one more year. We all wanted to go to Kona.


ST: Rumor has it that you are constantly supporting your talented son A.J. Can you tell me more about that?

Andy: My middle son A.J. is a better cyclist at age 16 than I ever was, or will be. He's been fortunate enough to be selected to race the last 2 summers with the 15-16 year old U.S. National Team in Belgium. You can see him driving the break during a race in Belgium in the picture. (Ed. left) He also placed 4th in the road race and 2nd in the criterium at this years Junior Nationals. My father (A.J. grandfather) and I have been shuffling him around the country to races for the last few years. We play mechanic, masseur, cook, driver and on occasion proud parent. Since I'm at these events with A.J., I try to race the masters if I can, but sometimes it is more important that he has all the support needs. We are on opposite ends of the athletic development curve; he's on the way up and well let's say I've seen better days. I get him through a race, then after that, I can train or I get up early in the morning and fit in a workout. It's all about time management skills! I've been fortunate to meet so many good people that have actually helped me with A.J. and my training; Coach Brown and his son Nathan, Lynn and Bill Joslin, Chris and Lori Harkey, Steve Carpenter, Rich Hincapie, Marshall Martin, Jeff Gibson, Ron Swope, Saul Raisin and the Scenic City Velo club.

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Euro Trip Summary

So im finally back home from my euro adventure. It feels good to be done with my season. Europe was great i'll try to some it up or else this post would be a novel. After the Giro Di Bascilicata we did this badass ride to watch the womens race. While we were there i proceed to have what i be leave to be a hallucination. But after a 2nd look i realized that this was reality and I was looking at Mario Cipolini ride up. Mario is totally my hero, so my and Boz proceeded to get our pic with him, but it only got better. it turns out Mario lives in our same town so we rode back with him, Thomas Dekkar, Jorg Jaske, and some CSC dude. It was great. So that was that. The final race we did over there was a nations cup in Croatia. Everyone was saying it was the strongest junior field outside of the world championships. Racing there was good. I had my ups and downs, but the last day i finished in the lead group, and got 26th. All in all this trip was a hell of a success, maybe not result wise, but i got to race against the best riders in the world and see what it takes to make it at the highest level. I also got to see what i believe to be some of the most beautiful sights in the world. Damn im lucky......Oh yea so my season is over but im still gonna do the Saul Raisin crit on OCT. 4th. Not training for it though. BY GOD ITS CROSS COUNTRY TIME!

AJ

1st race

So our 1st race was called the giro di bascillata or something. It was def. not easy but i felt like i was able to compete good. The first day i attacked alot in the 1st part and actually got into some good moves but nothing stuck. On the finishing climb i got popped and soft peddaled it in. Jacob got a solid 4th place for us and Nate followed with a 6th place, so we actually had something to work with on GC. The next day was a bad day for the whole team. Everyone except Jacob missed the front split on this massive 20k climb, so i chased for nate with other teammates then sat up on the last climb. The last day i felt great. I was giving the field hell attacking like crazy until the first big desent. I then proceded to crash hard. It was raining and my wheels just slid out at like 35mph. So after i got myself in order the peleton had a good min, on me. But i tucked in behind our car and chased for a good 30k when i finally caught the pack. I felt good when i caught up and actually made it over the main climb with the lead group of like 20 guys along with my teammate jacob. I tried to help jacob the best i could, and with 1k to go i bonked and probably cruised in for a top 25. Jacob got 2nd! so that was great. I felt alot strong then my results showed, and had i not bonked the last day im pretty damn sure i couldve gotton a top 10, but thats that and hopefully Croatia will be better,
thats all for now,

aj

Italy

Is awesome!!! Besides the fact that i have been here 2 days and my bike or luggage still hasn't came. Not to bad though, im on a team bike, and i even rocked one of nate's spare hot tubs kit for the first 2 rides! The house is awesome, and we are in an absoloutly beautiful area. Surrounded by sweet mountains, some are even snowcapped. Today we did a 4.5hrs ride and it seemed like an 2.5hrs!!! This place makes me relize how lucky i am to get the chance to come here. Even if a get my ass kicked the whole time over here i wont regret coming.
living it up,
aj

Italy Bound

So I leave for Italy 2maro. It should be good times. I did some great riding this weekend with my coach Carp. We rode in the mountians and my legs felt pretty darn good. Not sure if that will mean anyhting racing against fast Italians but I guess i'll find out soon enough. My computer is totally out of commision right now so not sure how much i'll be able to update but i try......italy here i come

sat. crits

Sat Crit am.

I went in an early move that stayed out for about 15 mins. when we got caught the winning move of 6 riders went. After that things were really negative, finally i was able to get away with some strong guys and we never could close the gap on the leaders but we held of the peleton and i ended up finishing 9th.

sat. crit pm

I decided to be mre conserveitive in this crit, which turned out to be a bad idea. the winning break ended up being the first one. Once again it got negative when the break was formed. Finally I got away with DLP rider Tommy N. We ended up staying away and i got 7th.

So they weren't bad my legs felt good, the only prob. was that im still sick. I ended up not doing the 100k classic so i can heal up. Next race is somewhere in Italy, fun fun.

Scooting along........

Yep just scooting right along........i was feeling really good after river gorge, hopefully that will improve going to europe. After my killer sprint workout Wens. Ive had a little cough an a sore throat. hopefully it will blow over. Im doing 2 crits down in the ATL sat, so that will tell me how im feeling.....But yea i had a killer workout wenseday, Carp forgot to give me a workout so i got creative and went back to my bmx roots! warmed up for an hr then did 5 20 second sprints starting out at 1000watts and worked my way to 1300watts by the last one. Besides that im just scooting right along with some easy rides and such......
hollar back

THE FIELD SPRINT

River Gorge Weekend

Sat. was the road race. The field was damn near the NRC level. Jittery Joes, DLP, Inferno, and Rock Racing where represented. Our plan was to set up our climbers. We started the race with like 90 guys. Unfortunartly we missed the main early move, so me and carp set hard tempo up until the main climb and pulled out. Our climbers had a bad day so the plan kinda failed but oh well....For most guys its really hard to be consistant this time of year anyways. On the bright side I felt really strong.

Crit.

So after feeling good in the road race i was really looking forward to the crit. I felt great the whole race, and raced aggressively. I missed the winning break of 4 that went almost from the gun. After that the racing got really negative. I ended up getting in great position on the last lap and taking second in the field sprint. I really thought I had it won! I was killing it the whole time, but with junior gears I just ran out of gears and 1 dude pipped me on the line.


So I was happy with my legs this weekend. I think my form is really coming around just intime for my trip to Italy. I've now come to the conclusion that im destined to be a classics rider, because I always feel great in the spring and fall.
I'll keep it updated.

aj

Cross Country Race 1

So despite not going to a single practice this season my coach is gracious enough to let me run in our first race. Before the race I knew my running form was not the greatest. I hadn't ran in about 10 months. So my stratagy was to get in the early break! lol Here is the race from my mind:

Boom! the gun sounds the race starts!

I'm on the lookout for the early move. Oh! my teammate is attacking. I'll go with him.

A third runner has joined us. We have a gap!

Damn this is hard. I begin to sit on the break.

Wow this isnt the same as cycling, im about to get dropped!

I'm still hanging on! The race favorite has bridged up! Looks like im in the move.

We pass the mile mark at 4:57! Shit i've never did a mile that fast!

Im dropped, I've hit the wall.

So yea i got dropped but then recovered and hung on for 5th place, which wasnt bad considering there were like 200 runners! And i havnt ran all year. Moral of this story is cycling tactics have no effect in running races. Oh well i got till october untill I have to run again!

So it continues.........

Yep, by this time of the year im normally eating anything and everything in sight, and goofing of at cross country practice. Not this year. I have been training fairly hard trying to muster up some form for my Europe trip in Sept. I'm racing River Gorge omnium this weekend so that will tell me how I am. I've been feeling good, but I've learned to never trust that. I guess i'll find out this weekend with this damned mountian race!!! Its probably the hardest race I'll do this year. We got some guys that can place well in it, if not win it so i'll gladly be doing the whole domostic thing. At least i'll have the good ole excuse, "I was working for my teammate." if i do bad. I'll update after the race if i don't die out there in the rugged southeast mountains!!!

Nationals

Nats. went good, but def. couldve been better. I got 8th in the crit, by winning the field sprint. My teammate Ty got 4th, which was good.....2 top 10's from one team. The rode race was on an easy course, and really crappy racing. Ty was attacking like crazy, and sometimes I would counter, but nothing got away. Finally a move got away and we missed it. I took 3rd in the field sprint for 10th. So all and all it wasnt a bad nationals, i got 2 top 10s plus im a first year in the 17-18 age group. I think i had the legs to ride better but oh well.........Time to train hard and get ready for Europe.
aj

Just when i thought nationals was it......

So my next race is nationals which is in 5 days or so in Orange County , Cali.... I thought that was the end of my season, but no.....It turns out I will be going to race a stage race in Italy in September with the USA national team. After that I am doing a stage race in Croatia. So instead of taking to my usuall off season ways after nationals, i will be doing some hard training to get ready for theses to big euro stage races. I'm actually pretty motavated for them. I have learned to really appreciate my time at home though....I think I have spent a total of less then 2 weeks at home this summer. I'm starting to learn to live the life of a pro racer. No one said it would be easy. I have really took the time lately to relise how lucky i am to get to see the world. Regardless of whether i make it as a pro racer or not I'll never regret all the years of sacrifices and hard work i have put in.....I mean how many teenagers get to see the world?
Viva La Vida baby,

aj

The rest of Abitibi

So my grasp on the young riders jersey lasted one stage which unfortunatly for me was a time trial. Yea I did a typical ajet time trial and finish 22nd place and lost the jersey.....hell maybe one day I will master the race of truth. The rest of the race I felt good but didn't have great luck. The crit was pretty easy for me, I launched a few flyers but nothing got away, On the last lap I got caught behind a crash so I just finished in the back of the pack. The next day i decided to race aggresive. Like 40k from the finish a got in a 3 man break and with like 15k to go our gap was 35 seconds and i thought it might work, but the group became disorganized and we were caught about 10k from the line. Overall the race was good I ended up 19th on gc, so I was happy. Next up is nats,

aj

Back in the young riders jersey!

So yea i fell to 10th overall yesterday, but the guy that was one second ahead of me in the young riders jersey crashed so im in the jersey now. The stage yesterday was good, I launched an attack with 2 laps to go but it didnt really go anywhere. Ty got 9th so that was good We got the tt today and a crit at night. I'll have to ride the time trial of my life to hold position.....Hopefully I'll suprise myself,

aj

Stage 2

So i stared the stage in the points jersey.....That was pretty cool. This is the first race i've done with so many national teams and strong guys. I think there are close to 170 riders in the race, The first hour was insane, It took me about 1 hr to adjust to this crazy racing. Guys are fearless, but hell thats euro racing, so whatever.....Anyways crashes were left and right, thankfully I didn't go down in any, one dude hit a parked semi head on and is messed up, hopefully he will be okay.....Anyways i got into a few moves, but the only one that ever amounted to anything was with like 40k left into the race. It was a really good one to, the race leader was in it along with like 6 other guys.....I really felt strong in this move, and drove it like crazy, but it never got organized so after like 10k we got caught. Coming into the finishing circuits I felt strong, and stayed top 20 the whole time on them. With one lap to go my teammate, and strong sprinter Ty Magner sprint his ass off cause he thought it was the last lap, so that screwed him. On the hill of the circuit I got swarmed and had to make a huge effort to get back in decent positon, so I managed to get like in the top 15 for the last 500meters but i was tired from the effort and ended up like 12th. Not bad but couldve been better. Im now 8th overall and 12 seconds down. Also im third in the best young rider jersey standings, but the french guy who is winning is 17 so the jersey goes to the next guy which is one second ahead of me, so with some work today i might get the jersey. I'll update later.
aj

HOLY SHIT!!!!!

Sorry for the languege, but i just got 2nd place in the proluge up here in Canada. This is the best riders i have ever rode against! The current world champion from france is here, along with like 15 differant national teams......I`m currently leading the best young rider competion as well,
i`ll keep it updated,
aj

On the way to the great north

So we've managed to arrive in this forign land called Canada. We are in the capital, which i do beleave is called Ottawah......Its a really badass town, maybe one of the coolest I have been too before...........Needless to say the trip up wasn't without heavy causaulties!!!! We were driving in New York close to the Canadian border when I decided I would drive for a while,,,,,,This led to the unfortunate event of getting a speeding ticket!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep the po po got me........I was giving a ticket for doing 77mph in a 65! Hopefully my racing will be more successful then my driving, 2maro we head out to Abitibi, and friday we race......I hope to keep my millions of fans updated but considering that i will be somewhere similer to Alaska i can't make any promises.


aj

For Ricco

For calling out half the peleton then getting busted doping!!!!

I'm now,,,,,,,,,,,

Getting ready for the two biggest races of the year, L'abitibi and Nationals. So this friday I am leaving home until like August 11th. First i'm driving to Greenville, where I'll do 2 crits to wake the legs up, then Me, Ty, and Steve B. are heading to the great north........Canada! There me and Ty will race with team Flordia against national teams from all over the world. I'm not even sure where the hell in Canada were going. But hopefully my legs will be good enough to get some results. After that its off to Orange County, Cali, for Nationals. I'll try to update the blog while i'm on the epic crusade.

aj

A SEXY BEAST

Yea this is yours truely screwing around at the dorms in Fitchburg.......

Fitchburg

So I went to Fitchburg with not the greatest form..........I was using this race to get ready for L'abitibi and Nats. Also our teams goals were stage wins and the green jersey, so I was hoping to contribute to those. The time trail thursday didn't go so well for the team. I lead the team with an 11th place finish, Ty who was probably the fittest rider from our team, broke his seat so his tt was screwed. I was pretty disappointed with my 11th place finish considering I got 9th in the tt last year, but when i looked at the time, i was faster this past year which just comfirmed that the compo was much tougher. The 2nd stage was a mountian stage, not being much of a climber i knew i was going to race aggresively in the pursuit of some green jersey points, I attacked from the gun and the pack let me go....I was some joined by a hottubes rider and we built up a lead of 1:40....I took the first green jersey sprint. Then a lead moto came up and told us a group of 7 was bridging and both of our teams were represented, cool i thought. Well the 7 riders came up and my great teammate Rob Bush was with them, unfortunatly Hottubes 2 best sprinters were there was well.....We dropped a few dudes in the break when we hit the feedzone climb, and going into the 2nd sprint A hottubes rider attacked and i was forced to chase with a hottubes rider on my wheel. The best I could do was 2nd for that sprint.......I was 3rd on the last sprint which put me 5 points down, but that was cool, the race offical told us at the start that there were points at the finish line. So we hit the final climb and a hottubes guy attacks with a coast to coast rider....Me and Rob just kept steady tempo up the climb, and was reeling the 2 riders in towards the top but couldn't close, going into the last 200meters Rob had about 10meters on me, so I asked him If I could take 3rd so that I would be in the green jersey...I would eventually regret this but at the time the green jersey was our main goal so this made sense. So our team took 3rd and 4th on the hardest stage. At the podium I receaved the green jersey and all was good, until the next stage were I was listed as 2nd in the points compotition, they claimed there were no points at the finish.......I was pissed, I mean they were the ones that announced it at the start, hell they even gave me a jersey at the finish, but the part that made me the most mad was that i took a podium from rob because we thought it would give me the lead, but what ever......


Circuit Race

I'm getting bored typing this so i will be quik. My main goal was the points in this race, and the points leader: Simon, was a big dude and the sprint line was uphill, so i was confident. I easily beat him on the first on, the 2nd sprint i couldnt get his wheel, and the best i could get was third, on the final sprint I once again easily took it. After this I was to drained to contest the finsih so i just cruised in with the pack, while Ty turned in a 5th place finish.

Crit

Simon had 5 points on me, I new the crit would be hard because the sprint was flat. Sure enough the 1st sprint I went as hard as I could, but Simon beat me. After this I knew this year he was the best sprinter in the race so I gave up and sat in the pack. With 1 to go a break was up the way so our team tried our best to pull it back for Ty. I drilled it into turn 3 with Ty on my wheel, I swear we hit the turn at 40 mph, then Ty took over, He got 3rd in the field and 5th on the stage.

I ended up 5th overall which i was very happy with, this is the hardest junior stage race in the country. My form wasn't all there either, so when I'm on top for nats, i think it will be a differant story,

sorry for the long post,
aj

A lil update

I have took some time off since I have been home......I started to ride again yesterday, and I def. feel refreshed. Here is what the next part of the season has instore for me.
I am racing in Rome, GA like the weekend before Fitchburg. I will only be doing the ttt, and the crit, to loosen up for my next race which is Fitchburg Longsjo Classic, which is the biggest junior stage race in the country. I won a stage there last year, and finished 9th overall so hopefully I can improve from that, but the main focus for this race is to tune up the fitness, for one of my biggest races of the year. Which is L'Abitibi in Canada......It is a UCI junior stage race....There are no big mountians in this race so I feel like I can do well there. Next is nationals, and well nationals is nationals.

aj

Ky

Kentucky turned out better then i thought. My legs felt a little better although not 100%. I opted not to do the tt, instead i opened my legs with the crit, which scared many racers away because it was like scary sketchy........I ended up suprising myself by winning it! The next day was the road race. I was working for my teammate Ty Magner, so part of my jobs was to cover the early moves. I ended up in a move with Alder from hottubes........We built up a led over 1 minuete. Shortly before the 2nd climb, Andrew Barker and Gavon Manion bridged up to us. At this point I started sitting on more, knowing that my current fitness was not going to hold up well against my 2 new breakaway companions.......Anyways the pack caught us on the 2nd climb and I was dropped, but caught up to the pack, and proceded to chase a whole lotta shit down.........When we hit the final climb of the day I punched my ticket and cruised on in.........Ty road strong staying with the select group untill the finish where he cramped but still managed a top 15.
I'm now resting up, getting ready for the 2nd half of the season, which includes races such as Fitchburg, L'abitibi, and Nationals.....
looking forward to getting back in shape,

aj

So..........

I attempted a race this weekend......Notice I said attempted! I was DROPPED 20 miles into it.............Yea I have been training like hell and finally hit the wall....I never really new about overtraining, i always heard people talk about it but I never actually suffered from it untill now......It all started by doing 2 huge pro stage races in may....I felt shitty after those and following my coach's advice I took it easy for a while.......Well I started to feel better so against my coachs advice I hammer in the mountians last week...and I serously felt it in the race......I just couldn't respond to any hard efforts.....Im really bummed because next week is the junior world quilifier......I'm taking it easy this week and hoping to get my legs back under me, with a slight miricule i will be back for KY.........At this point all one is able to do is look at the positive side of this debacle....I learned my body's limits and after I recover I think I will be stronger then ever.....Definatly in time for nationals.......
A wise dude once told me..."You win some you lose some." Hopefully the one I lost was Roan Groan and not KY.
Another wise soul told me "Shit happens, you gotta flush it down the tolit and move on."
So I'm taking the positives, getting some masasuses, and moving forward.

AJET

Boyton World Championship!!!!!!

Yes, you've heard right.....the Boyton World Championship ride is back starting this Thursday at 6:15!!!!!! This ride is in honor of North Georgia's famous mountian man Davey-Boy..... Davey Boy is stepping his game up from the mountians of GA to the mountians of Colorado.....So in honor of his departure were bringing back this famous ride.
So now for the history: This ride is were I first developed a taste and love of killing myself without any regard to the punishment of my body (in other words BIKE RACING) I would turn myself inside out for no rewards of any sort of cash value.....Nope the reward of Boyton is much more important.....Its the reward of pride and honor!!!! As a young wipper snapper I would consistantly get my ass whooped by the old legends of Chattanooga like Steve Carpenter, Ron Swope, my dad, Davey Boy, David Randolph, and everyone's arch rival's......THE TRIATHLETES!!!! They're a road racers worst nightmare.....They ride at the front hammering away for no cause except to cause pain on poor little kids like me......When I was a young boy I would be hanging on for dear life, cursing those damn triathletes and swearing revenge on them some day!!! So who were these peleton terrorist??? Well they went by the names of Marshall Martin, Jeff Gibson, and the king of all hammer heads...Keven Richerson AKA KR.....
So come witness the classic battle that will go down this Thursday......It's likely to be one that will be written in the legends along with Homer's great myths....

AJ

TOA

So the tour of atlanta turned out to be the tour of toshiba.....Why you may ask........well here is why.....It consisted of 7 days, 3 crits, street sprints, flat rr, ttt, and a flat tt. Toshiba is the number 1 crit team in the country so this race was made for them. The tt was bad for me.....I think i couldve had a top 15, but Buford's finest directed me the wrong way on the course, when i got back they let me do it again but i was fried, and on the 2nd tt i rode to a average 26th place. The street sprints were ok....i got a time bonus but toshiba kicked my ass in the 2nd round. The next day was a twilight crit with a U-turn in it, so i got a shity start and half way through the race I got popped. The next stage was a ttt, our team started with 7 guys and u had to have 3 to finish. i felt strong was pulling well....Our team ended up finsihing with 3 guys and i was one of the three so i was happy....Our team was 5 seconds out of 3rd and the first ameture team so that was good.....in the rr a big break got up the road so we rode tempo at the front with rock racing and jittery joes, so that was badass....The pro guys gave us alota props....The break came back and i finished in the field.....The next day was another crit, and i tried mixing it up in the sprint but i just didnt hav my normal kick.....Ty did a hell of a job for tenth......I was really fried so the next day, and last stage i jumped in the cat 2/3 crit,....I still felt like shit, but managed to get 3rd........The real story in our man Chris Butler getting 5th overall!!!! And the first non NRC rider!!!!!! He also got 2nd in the tt behind John Murphy and right in front of Frank Traviso!

A damn good race for the team but I felt fried and did my best to help the team....I think racing like 14 times in the past 3 weeks might have something to do with it, so ima chill for a little while and hopefully come back strong as hell....Thats all i got for now,,,,,

aj

this week

Has been good........i got in about as good training as you can get while trying to recover from a big stage race and trying to stay fresh for another huge stage race.....Anyways I did a test up Fort Mountain and it was good.....I'm much stronger then last year, that is for sure......Tour of ATL is coming up.....I'll keep it posted.

aj

Joe Martin .....the rest

Well to make a long story short..........I had a hell of a tt....but after that I didn't ride as well as i wanted.....The race was much harder then expected. In the 110 mile stage I was feeling strong but got popped on a 9 mile climb.....I'm really not to mad, because I don't train for 110 miles so I think it was the shere distance that got me......anyways I rolled in with the 2nd group. Nick rode strong and stayed in the lead group....The next stage was 100 miles and I felt strong making the split on the climb this time, but it all came 2gether for the final sprint which we had set up perfect with a damn good leadout train with me on Ty's wheel and Hutton on mine.. But with 400 meters left my front tire blew, and it screwed everything up....Oh well shit happens....You just gotta flush it down the tolit!!! The crit was horrible, it was more of a circuit race with a step climb....The 2 100 mile days got up with me and I blew....Nick finsihed in the lead group though placing 17th overall. On the bright side it was killer training.....Here are some stats....2nd day we average 24 mph, with a 9 miles climb in the course!!! 3rd day we avg 26 mph for 100 miles!!!! This race will pay off!

aj

Joe Martin Stage 1

So I felt good went as hard as i could and got 13th.......Not bad. I'm the highest placed rider on the team and 40 seconds down on the leader.......On the bright side top 15 riders on gc gets paid. We got two 100 mile stages back to back coming up so maybe we'll make something happen.
I'll keep it updated,

aj

The Double!!!!!!!!

Yep so this was probably one of the most successfull weekends of racing in a while.........I raced 2 crits this past weekend both being amoungst the biggest crits in the US. The first was Anniston so I'll just start my report with that one.

Anniston

Me an teammate Ben Gabardi lined up in the cat 2/3 field......We knew we had a shot at winning so from the start we were attacking like crazy.......I spent a good part of the race in multiple moves....Finally with 30min left in the race Ben got of the front with a huge gap.....I honestly thought my work was done, but with 4 laps to go Ben was reeled in.....so i positoned myself for the sprint, and with 1 to go Ben went to the front and pulled more and strung the field out....(this is after he just spent 20min solo of the front!!!!!!!) I came through thew last corner 5th wheel and just gave it hell all the way to the finsih line and gave out a total roid rage yell!!!! and crazy victory solute.........trust me though its not roids just an over due victory!!!!!

Roswell

We started this race with 5 guys......me Nick, Chris, Talbott, and Tyler...once again we attacked like crazy letting everyone know we were there........but like 20 minuetes in a 30 man pile up occured, with 4 of us being caught in it........We were all ok, but Chris's bike was screwed so he had to pull out.......When we got back into the race I was panicing cause the race was sketchy as a damn cat 5 race, but luckily teammate Tyler immedialty towed me to the front.......With one lap to go Talbott went to the front and totally killed it, when he pulled of Nick immeditlly took me to around 5th wheel through the last corner.....I once again started to sprint and started passing people.....I can remember thinking "Holy Sh**! I'm about to win again!" And so I completed the double,,,,,,actually I should re-phrase that, HINCAPIE/BARKELY DID THE DOUBLE!!!!!! Cause I wouldn't of have a snowballs chance in hell without the help of my teammates and sponsers..........

Also I wasn't the Only one to win this weekend......I was a small part of the Team's success.........Old man Carpenter pulled out the big W in the master's crit in Anniston in a field that included Frankie Andreau.....then took 2nd in the Master's crit in Roswell.......Veto also scored a top ten in that same race,,,,,,,,Ben Gabardi got a junior win in Anniston. But it doesnt stop there...........Chris Butler won the 2/3 race in Dillworth!!!!!!!!!!!! And Cinthea got 3rd in a huge women's field.............All I can say is that I am truely blessed to be on this team........

A heck of a weekend for the Hincapie/Barkley family!!!!!!!!
Hollar at everyone after Joe Martin



ps I hit a car during my warmup before the crit in anniston, but thats another story!

Athens

So yea our team pretty much kicked ass.............in the morning races we put Chris in the winning move, and I got into a chase group......So everyone quilified for the nighttime race. After the pro race in the monring I decided to jump in juniors and help my teammates out.......I was pretty much wasted from the pro race but I did what I could.
So I got to the hotel and ressted up for the big show.....no not the one Bahatti from Rock Racing won, but the ameture one, which is still one of the hardest crits in the southeast......well the race got underway and we were covering all the moves, finaly Nick Housley got away with Eric Murphy.....we did a hell of a job covering moves in the field and disrupting the chase, In the end Nick got 2nd and the rest of us cruised in with the field......Great ride by Nick to put out team on the podium in one of the hardest crits in the southeast,
Next up Anniston and Roswell,
ill keep it posted,

aj

Crit Season!!!

So its here.......got Athens this weekend......expect Team Hincapie Barkley to drop a bomb of whoop ass this weekend!!!!! I think we can def get a W this weekend, i feel decent so i'm hoping i'll pull something off. But anyways ima be busy here soon......here is a list of my upcoming races,
Athens
Anniston
Roswell
Joe Martin Stage Race

Ill keep it posted
aj

So here I am.............

Up here at my bro's college. Which is Sewannee...........riding up here couldn't be much better,,,,,,,,,,,climbs everywhere and no traffic....I love it. The food is killer as well..........Im training hard getting ready for the upcoming races, which are mostly crits, but thats cool I'm good at those anyways.
Thats all the good I knnow for now,

aj

Chatt GA Cup

We started the weekend with a 5.5 mile tt Sat. morning. The conditions where great. I didn't feel great, but I rode a decent time, and got 21st. Our team road great with Chris Biutler getting 4th, and Nick Housley getting 7th. Going into the crit we weren't trying to do anything special, just mark moves, stay safe, and finish in the p-ack, it sounds like a reasonable goal, but this turned out to be a very hard feat to accomplsih. I felt great, but luck wasn't on my side. I got a flat, and got back in easily. With around 8 las to go I tried to position myself for the sprint finsih, again I had bad luck and just as I got into the top 10 my chain jumped and caused me to hit the curb breaking my dereailer. So I went to the pit, and the mechanic told me my bike was totaled but I jumped in anyways and road the last three laps stuck in my biggest gear and finsihed in the pack............Sundays 90 mile road race was one of the hardest I have done. Team Toshiba road tempo the whole race, keeping it together. On the last lap everyone was attcking and into the headwind section we were touching speeds of 40 mph!!! Many guys were dropped in thios section. We hit the climb already tired, and the pack killed it up the wall......the pack was split into many groups, our man Chris made it over in the winning break, Steve Carpenter killed hinself to put our 2nd highest placed rider, Nick, into the second group on the road. I was in the third group and we ended up catching the 2nd group- making it a select group of 25ish.... I just finished in the pack with Nick. Chris finished in the leading group.......Our team did and outstanding job, getting 2 men in the top 10. The annoucer kept saying this was the best field GA cup has ever seen. Six differant NRC teams were there, so I'm really proud to be apart of what our team did this weekend,

aj

Wow!

I stole this quote from my teammate Dave Hutton's blog......

"I look up to Levi, but I don't have cycling idols," he said. "It's great to be racing with such good riders, but my idols are just normal people."
--Martin Erlandsson--

This is a great bit of words,,,,,,and i really relate to it and take it to heart.

aj

Gainsville

So this was the 1st stage race of the year for me, and the 1st tt. I awoke sat. morning to rain, which lasted all day......That was cool with me i kinda like the shit weather.......but anyways, the tt went better then expected for me. I was the 1st rider off, so that sucked, but I ended up riding decent enough to finish 13th in a stacked pro field......even better was my teammate Chris Butler who finished 3rd behind John Murphy and Frank Traviaso. Nick also rode strong finishing 7th......Then the road race came an hour after the tt which was almost as crappy as the weather. Anyways it was hard for around the first 65 miles with no big moves getting away. By the last lap the field was down to around 30 riders and I made the selection and was feeling decent. Thats when the winning move got away and we didnt manage to stick a rider in it. With around 6 miles to go I flatted and since a break was up the road the wheel truck was with it....so i sat on the road in the rain until a nice soul picked my pissed off self and drove me back.......So going into the last day Chris was 4th 16 seconds outta 3rd....so we were trying to get him in a move, but the crit was probably the hardest i have done this year so we couldn't get him in one.....I tried to get in position for the sprint, but with 3 to go just as I was planning on intruding the Toshiba leadout train, big John Murphy Lunched a attack that keep the speed above 35mph the last 3 laps....I ended up getting 13th..........overall it was a good showing for the team.....hopefully we will get em in chatt town.

aj

First stage race of the year.........

is coming up this weekend.........Also it will be my first tt so we'll see how it goes......The Hincapie Barkley is bringing a strong team to Gainsville so watch out....hopefully we will get a good result......training is good......i got a small issue going on with my knee but hopefully i will get over that fast. I'll update after the race,

aj

Nothing like.................

Riding close to 4.5hrs in the cold and pouring down rain!

Another Podium..."big thanks to Matt Winstead....lol!"

Me an my teammate David T. went down to Alabama on Sat. to race a circuit race held on a race track. Its a great course with many sweeping turns and three small hills, one coming 600 meters before the finish and was made difficult by a stiff headwind. So we started the race with a plan of marking all major moves, and if the peleton was still together at the end, David was gonna attack the last lap, and I was gonna do my thing in the sprint. There was a solid field, with big guys like Matt Winstead (Inferno Racing) and Micheal Olhieser (Multi world master champ). My legs felt like shit thanks to me, my brother, and my friends hike to the very debts of hell and back.......Actually it was an awesome hike, but thats another story. So the race got underway with me and Dave marking all the moves, once dave, matt, and micheal got of together and i thought that they were gone, but they were reeled in and I countered wit some other dude, and we were actually gone for a good 10 min or so.....but the other dude gave up and sat up, but me, I kept my head down and drove on into the wind like a true idiot.....soon enough I was caught, and I settled back into the field. It was really uneventful until the last lap were 2 guys were off the front, one being local Chatt. rider and good friend Jon M. from the Krystal team. I really thought these guys had it in the bag, until good ole teammate David made a strong move with a half a lap to go. All the big boys were on this move, and it ended up good for me because we caught the break, and it came to a mass sprint. The sprint was downhill, so I worked with what I had and overcame a shitty position to finish 3rd.....not bad since my legs were crappy.......Well I'm gonna try to get some good training in the next few weeks and get into shape, so that I can hopefully turn all these top 3's into wins!!!!!!! Big thanks to David for setting me up perfectly for the sprint.
holla holla holla

aj

CRAP!!!!!!!!!

Thats what I think about the UCI and ASO.........I can't express how pissed off I am with their bitching with each other.......Its absolute shit. They say doping will tear this sport apart! Hell a bunch of guys in suits are just as close to f***ing this sport over then doping. Its even more painful to see the disagreements when this sport is my future career of choice. Politics suck.

aj

jus chillin

yep........i've jus been chillin latly, trying to stay healthy and all.......I got a race this weekend.....hopefully I can do alrite, I havent been training all that hard lately, I got a little sick so I have been resting up and just spinning the legs.....I'm going to my bros college this weekend and hanging out with some friends then racing on sat......Planning on some good training this week.....thats all the good I know now,


aj

another good weekend

So Friday i was sitting in Spanish class dreading the 40k tt i had on Sat. Thankfully i receaved a text from my dad asking me if its cool if we bail out of the tt and go skiing in Ohio. So I was like hell yeeee!!!!!!! But the buzz was immeditly killed by my evil teacher who scolded me for having my phone out the procedded to take it.....Damn that women!!!!!!! So now i got 2 days of ISS this week.....BOOO!!!!!!!! but anyways I went skiing sat. in a monstorous blizzard. Drove back today and stopped in Maryville for a crit. I was not expecting much since i hadnt been able to drive the past 2 days aside from a 30min cruise on the hotel bike. I started the race and former teammate Geri Mewwit went away. I knew this was a dangerous move and I tried to bridge but couldnt make it. I settled in the field hoping I could get a move off.........With around ten minuetes to go me, Dirk, Brad Spears, Kent Bowstik, and some other dude got away......Geri then lapped the field and came up with us..........With like 4 to go me an Geri attacked the break. With 2 laps to go Dirk bridged, and we were gone. It was a down hill finish so i knew i had to find away to get away from Dirk to secure my 2nd place, so on bell lap as we were lapping the field I attacked through a conner cutting off pretty much hafe the field(sorry guys) but it gave me a gap i needed to score a 2nd place finish.......my new best result in a pro race...............Thats it for now..........hollar at ya boy!
aj

btw mad props to Geri for killing us all!!!

GOOD WEEKEND!

So the road race sat. was 75 miles. A rolling course was made hard with winds from hell!!!!!!!!! Oh yeah George Hincapie was there as well which made the race harder then the fierce winds. Some dude from Bissel was there as well, and this dude was the guy that was in the break with George on the stage of Cali that was cold and windy, so he was a beast. I ain't gonna lie, it was a bit intimidating lining up against 2 guys fresh of tour of cali. There were over 100 starters, and many pro teams. There was an early break that got over 2min. rather fast. George was taking monster pulls through the cross winds, splitting the pack. Thanks to my Euro experiences I was able to stay in the front an avoid the splits. Unfortunately my teammates Steve and Talbott got caught in a last lap split and got popped. With about 7 miles to go the early break was reeled in and George was up front making my life a living hell. My neck was cramping(not sure how that happens), but thankfully my legs held out through the last c cross wind section. with around 5k I positioned myself for the sprint. It was a fight though I nearly went down twice while fighting for position but held it up. Going into the last 1k I had good position sitting about 8th and George was giving a killer lead out. At like 250meters the bissel guy and Thad Dullen opened up the sprint. 2 guys in front of me popped so I went around them but couldn't quit close the gap to them so i battled it out with the field and ended up 3rd overall!!!! Def. 1 of my best results in my life. I was happy........but damn that race was hard!

Sun

I raced juniors in the early morning road race. It was a good field for an American junior race with close to 50 riders, I bridged to the break with 1 lap to go and attacked out of it to get a solid victory! My teammate Evan held of the break for 2nd place. Another Hincapie Berkley 1/2! In the pro race that afternoon I pulled out halfway through caused my legs were trashed, and its to early in the year to kill myself.......Overall a good weekend,

aj

Hincapie Berkley's 1st win of the year!!!!!!

Im looking at the ground for whatever reason in this photo, but yea thats me an Gabardi going 1-2.

FIRST RACE WEEKEND

Sat.

This was a 56 mile rolling circuit race, nothing bad as far as terrian, but the wind made up for the lack of hills. Our team covered many of the early attacks, but the days break slipped away without anyone from the team in it. Me, Nick, and Dave went up and set tempo for 30min or so, with the Time team, we brought the gap down, but didn't have the firepower or fitness to reel them in, but hell its Feb, so i aint worried. Anyways the wind made this normally easy race, hard as crap. I was happy to just finish in the field that got reduced from around 100 riders to only about 30 main field finishers. My teammate David Talbott launched an attack around 5k out and held of the main group for an 8th place finish. All an all I accomplished what I wanted to do, and woke the legs up for Sundays race.

Sun.

Juniors
Me, Ben, and Tyler did the juniors race in the morning to wake our legs up for the latter races. Me and Ben ended up attacked with a group of 4 and dropped both riders. We came across the line together with our hands up. (may sound gay, but felt cool) Tyler controlled the field really well, and finished up 4th.

Pros
My job in this race was to stay on the attacks, and if nothing got away, be apart of Ty's lead out train. So I pretty much followed alot of moves, and rode my ass into the ground. If only a break would've worked because the team had a guy in every move. Anyways the whole leadout thing fell through because we had Chris in a move that looked like it was gonna stay away, and didnt get caught till three to go. At that time, Ty had gotten on Geri Mewett's wheel, so when I learned this I decided to wing the sprint, and see if my sprint had survived the long winter. Needless to say it survived, actually it got a hell of alot better. I finished 4th in the race, which i thought was good, considering my legs were trashed, and it was a fast sprint so junior gears totally screwed me (I think thats all my excuses!). Overall a good result for such an early race with a stacked field. Thats bout it,

aj

Killa Days!

Yea the past 2 days i've logged in a total of 8.5hrs......i'm taking advantage of our week off from school. Today I did a crazy ass ride with fellow teammate and coach, steve. I even wore a helmet in honor of Hutton's scolding in the last post lol! But anyways we rode out to this climb that was hard as hell (try like 15% for the first mile, and it dosent get much easier!) Yet as bad as the climb was, the road up that god-forbidden mountain was worse. So I finally make it to the top of this mountain only to be rewarded by an 8 mile ride on some rancid dirt road. Despite all the bitching and moaning it turned out to be a fun ride. A little over 4hrs. I'm really sore, so i'll probably just take it easy and try to get my legs back under me for the races this weekend. thats all the good i know,

aj

Good Weekend

Yep. Had a cool ride this weekend up near Brasstown Bald. Three big climbs, three hrs. I took the crappy picture on top of Hogpen. But anyways, first race of the year this coming weekend......its gonna hurt. I don't have school this week, so expect to see many posts and hopefully i will ride a lot, if i'm as bored as i'm thinking i'll be.

aj

TEAM CAMP

Was great!!!!!! Great times, riding and exc. The Hincapie Barkley team is looking great! First off we got our new team bikes. I have rode a lot of differ bikes and this one is the BEST BY FAR! Stiff as hell and lighter then a feather! Anyways we did a good ride sat. that was around 4hrs. We did some good paceline work and a few other efforts but nothing killer.......That night we went to a HEADSTRONG presentation which was amazing......its crazy the things you can improve without ever stepping foot on a bike.....we learned all kinds off usefull mental things.....Sunday we did tts up Paris mnt........I rode decent.....felt like shit but thats expected this time of year. I actually impressed myself. It was one a my few efforts of the 08 season, and i managed to go sub 10 on the climb and avg 375 watts.....not so bad for weighing 148.....Anyways that moves me on to the next topic..........CHRIS BUTLER (i think thats how you spell his name) any how he is our newest teammate. We heard he was a strong climber, but we had no clue......The prodigy rode 9:01 up the climb!!!!!! For those how don't know how significant that time is i will enlighten your mind. George Hincapie's, yes the same George who won Plat'de something, best time is 8:56!!!!! Man its gonna be a killer year for the team..........A big thanks to Rich, Dave. both steve's, Randy, and all the other Greenville guys who made this camp and team happen!

aj

Training this week..............

Has been pretty good........Last week I was sick for around 4-5 days which completely sucked....I didn't eat or anything. I'm finally starting to feel healthy again..I did a great ride today with my teammate David T.....We had to set out dreadfully early since I had some plans for the night....anyways we rolled out at 10:30 and did 4hrs, and like 3 climbs......I got some good tempo in on the climbs.....at first my legs felt dreadful but after a while they started to wake up......anyways the season is damn near here which I'm really excited for. I won't be in shape for the early races but I'm still looking forward to getting back in the peleton, and doing what i can for the fit guys on the team.......hopefully we'll pull out a W in the early season pro races....I know the cat 3 guys on the team will dominate!!! I swear they are so strong...If there was a cat. 3 tour de france we would probably win it! lol......well hope everybody is staying healthier then me.

aj

Update!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!ifdioregre!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I went to see the doctor Tuesday I think?????? anyways the guy told me i dont have gang green so i get to keep my fingers.....blah blah blah.....unfortunatly he said i wont be able to feel a few of my fingers for 2ish months which sucks....oh yea he said i shouldn't ride in weather colder then freezing for awhile.....so i have pretty much been hitting up the trainer for 1hr everyday this week........today i said the hell with the trainer and went for a run..... I plan on riding the rest of the week on the road, so that will be fun for a change........oh yea i'm making a crusade to my bros college this weekend which is cool cause training up there is awesome........
thats all i know for now,

aj

BEYOND EPIC

So me and my dad decide the we were gonna do a mountain bike ride Sunday since the temps. were in the low teens, and no one wants to ride on the road when its that cold......At no time in between Friday night (when we planned this crap) and Sunday did I ponder the idea of doing a 5hr mnt bike ride in snow and Arctic temperatures. So I awoke Sunday morning with a solid 5 hrs of sleep (Had a late night) and we set off to the rugged North Georgia Mountains. One reason why I like this particular ride is because its all on remote gravel roads, which is practically just as good as riding on the road, but anyways back to the story........We started this journey to hell and back at 9am sharp....at the temp. was approximately 13 degrees.......No biggie I am dressed accordingly! (so i thought...) as we approached the 30 min mark, I try to drink from my Camel back, when i make the dreaded discovery that my camel back has froze! 3hrs later and like 6 climbs later it is still frozen and I still haven't drank! At this point I'm getting cold. Then around the 4 and a half hr mark while descending some climb in the snow, I hit a patch of ice that was beneath the snow and hit the deck.....sliding off the damn road into snow. So I have snow all in my clothes and I'm pissed of! Any normal ride I would have went through my whole damn cell phone until I found a ride home, but NOPE. I'm in the freaking Cohutta Wilderness.........So its the 5 and a half hr mark.....My dad done turned on his ironman endurance and dropped me....Now I haven't felt my hands in like 3hrs, I'm bonking like nobody has before, because my hands are to numb to get food out off my back pocket!!!!! I really think at this point I would have sold my soul to Davey Jones himself for a lift home......but no i keep on pedaling......after we hit the 6hr mark i just became delirious.......I'm not sure what kept me going but I did indeed make it back to the car at damn near 7hrs........(6.45)......I truly felt as i had just road through all 7 layers of Hates. I could not feel my fingers or toes. I just got in the car and slept. When i got home i took my glove off and discovered that one of my fingers was black, and need medical attention right away....so here I am typing and I still cant feel my fingers.....its swollen as hell, but the color has returned....so hopefully it will survive....I hope everyone enjoyed this story of this ride, because I'll be damned if i ever do something this stupid again!!!!!!!

The Team

Check us out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

www.hincapieracing.com

READY 2 ROLL!!!!!!!!!!!

TEAM CAMP

Day 1
It was like 19 degrees the whole ride. This was the coldest day in 3 years for this part of the country Needless to say we got in a good solid 3.5hrs. Nothing but rollers, but still a good ride.

Day 2
We rode from my house and did 3 climbs that were around 1.5 miles each and steep, nothing to epic though. We only hit it hard once on Horn Mountain, and I found out just how out of shape I was. We ended up doing 4.5hrs

Day 3
We rode from David Talbotts house and first climbed Suck Creek (Almost 10k)at a steady pace, then hit a hard 2 mile climb that was steep as hell. Thats when we really drilled it, boy did i hurt. After that we climbed a famous Chattanooga climb called the "w" road. It is such a cool climb with some epic switch backs. At the top Me, new teammate Ty Magner, David Talbot, Dave Hutton, and my old man, did the climb again. The ride was amazing, we ended up getting nearly 5 and half hrs in! With 4 climbs.

Day 4
This was the last day of camp and everyone was tired and all......We did a little over 2hrs, but I was still pretty tired after that. Just to lift the moral I went retro on the ride today (will post pics)

So over all the camp was great! Everyone on the team is great. I really have become more of friends with everyone as apposed to just teammates.....I think we will accomplish alot this year. Big thanks to the coaches Steve and Shane for putting such a great camp together, and my mom & dad, & the Joslins, & the Talbots for great food. And anyone else I left out.....Oh yea HUGE thanks to grandpa for driving swag!
Hopefully I'll get pics up

aj

New Years

So 08 is here.....and racing is right around the conner......I had a good new years, hanging out with my friends and all.....We gotta big training camp this week so that will be a good time, I'll def. take pics this time. Well i didnt go to bed last night so i better get off here and catch up on some sleep.......
aj