First win of 2010

Ended up winning the crit, and overall at the Highland Rim Classic this past weekend. I got tenth in the road race, but I was heading for a top 3 finish until I flatted with ten miles to go. Oh well I made up for it in the crit!

After I good solid first block of racing the legs are coming around. Looking forward to the next half of the season!

I MADE IT THROUGH SPEEDWEEK!

So I survived the 9 days of madness, although I didn't come out completely clean. I crashed on the 3rd to last race in Spartenburg, and had to quit the race. These were some of the hardest races I've done, but I felt better throughout the week, and ended it strong. I feel like I'm finally getting fit. In other news, college is out for the summer so I'll be able to pick my training up. Hopefully soon I'll post some pictures of speedweek. Thats all I got for now,

aj

SPEEDWEEK!

So I'm in the middle of speedweek. For those who don't know, speedweek is a series of seven of the fastest crits in the country against some of the fastest guys in the world. All in nine days. If someone thinks they are fast, come to speedweek and chances are you will be put in perspective! Take myself for example, my last GA cup race I was in a break-away that lapped the field. Even with a avg. speed of 28 mph this seemed easy for me. Two weeks later at athens twilight I'm hanging on for dear life at the back of the pack which was reduced from 150 riders to 30! To say these races are hard is an understatement. They are hard as hell. Its probably been the good ole junior days in Italy and Croatia since I have suffered this much on a bike. The good news is as much as I'm getting my ass kicked, I'm getting faster as well. I have managed to finish all races in the field so far (knock on wood), which is no easy task. I have also been feeling better each race. The past race I was on the front and even attacked a few times. I ended up 16th, which is my top result so far. I have three more races to go and I hope I continue to feel better. Maybe before the series is over I'll have a result worth writing about.

Belize Cross Country Classic

No matter what people tell you about this race, you can never be mentally prepared until you experience it.
The day started early Saturday morning at around 4am. Me, Chris, and John awoke and ate some breakfast prepared by the locals supporting us. When then heading to the start line around 5am still in the darkness. The race begins at 6am, which may seem like an strange start time for a pro race but the fact is if you dont start that early the heat will make it down right dangerous. So we arrived at the start line and was greeted by hundreds of fans already out. After going through the bike check and signing in we lined up and prepared for the maddness to begin.
The gun sounded and we took off like it was a crit. Chris warned me that the start was crazy and dudes are killing themselves. I was not wanting to get sucked into all the attacks and hard riding so I just cruised to the back and proceded to tail gun it for the next 30 miles. There really wasnt much action the first 70 miles except for an early break, but with a few efforts the our team managed to get the break within a reasonable distance and John then bridged the gap. So as we started our journey back to Belize city we had John in the break, my legs felt good, and the race seemed easily so far.
From the turn around til around mile 90, me and Chris were covering moves, however we missed a decent size group that was bridging the gap to john, so I jumped with another dude and that was the last I saw of the main field. Me and the Mexican rider made it accross the gap quickly, and I found myseelf along with John in a lead group of ten or twelve. Many times breaks this big don't work. To mmany guys will want to sit on and get a free ride. Unfortunatly this was the case so I attacked in an attempt to restore some order. They caught me and John attacked bringing 3 dudes with him and that was it. That ended up being the winning break, and john went on the get 3rd. My race for the win was over, however my race for survival was only begining.
My half of the break continued to work together in order the stay away from the pack but we were caught by a select group of 20 with my teammate Chris who went on the get 9th. This catch occured with around ten miles to go in the race. With 135 miles already in my legs I was in no such state to mix it up with the guys in the group so I sat in the back just trying to get home. At this point our team car is up with john so no more water for me an chris. And its around 150 degrees (not really but in my mind set it seemed like it). Oh yea I forgot to mention the 30mph head wind blowing in our face since the turn around. As I said above, despite everyone's advice about the heat and wind I was not prepared. This has to be something like the very depths of hell! My advice is if you ever plan on doing this race, go to your local gym, set your trainer up in the suana, with a fan blowing right in your face, then ride 7hrs.
So I finished and all in all it was a great experince. The people are so passonate about cycling in Belize and it really creates an awesome environment. I really hope to return.

Belize

Well I made it to Belize,

Last night I got sick from something I ate and threw up once but I am fine today. We woke up at 5am this morning and did an 80 mile ride with no breakfast and averaged nearly 22mph. Chris is an animal. It was a really cool ride, we rode the first 70 miles of the race to a town called San Ignacio and ate breakfast there and someone picked us up and drove us back. The whole country is crazy about this race to. Harkey and John always told me it was the biggest sport here but I didn't think much of it until I got off the plane and the lady at customs asked me if I was racing. Harkey is a superstar here; we will be riding through the city and random people yell his name and wish him luck for the race.........Anyways I think we can do well at this race. I'll keep everyone updated,

aj

Tour of Tuscaloosa

This past weekend I raced the Tour of Tuscaloosa. It started out with a twilight crit that my buddy Ty Magner from Loco's cycling team won. I must say that right now Ty is practically unbeatable in the crits. Going into the race I knew there wasn't a chance in hell that I was gonna outsprint Ty, so I knew I was gonna have to get in a break in order to have a chance at winning. Unfortunatly no moves got organized enough to stay away. With 2 laps to go I attacked with a strong rider and we got a nice gap. There was a moment where I looked back and started to think about what victory salute I was gonna do. But about halfway through the last lap the roaring wind was taking its toal on us, and Ty's team had the field strung out. We were caught with around 500 meters to go.
I came out of the crit empty handed and disappointed. I soon got over the disappointment of not getting a resullt and looked back on my ride with a good deal of satisfaction. I mean I don't have a bad sprint myself and no doubt I could've been top 5, but I find myself no longer being satisfied with a top 5. I've had multiple results this year, yet no win. To me one win beats 3 second places. And I did what I had to in the crit to win the bike race. I have no regrets, and honestly the feeling of knowing you did everything you could've to win the race is comparable, if not more fulfilling then a "top 5".
Going into the road race I was determined to make it a hard race. So right from the gun Frank Traviaso attacked. The man was on a differant planet today. He ended up taking 4 guys with him a dropped all except one who had a flat. But anyways I missed the move that he went with and then started my plan of making the race hard as hell. On the course there are two hills that are somewhat hard and for the first few laps a attacked up each one. The race was extreamly fast. Thirty miles into the race I looked at my computer and saw we had an avg. speed of 27.8 mph. With around 30 miles to go over the hardest hill of the day I found myself in a break of 5. We ended up rolling it and staying away. By this time Frank was all alone so we were racing for 2nd. Once again on the hard hill of the course I attacked with Rob from the Loco's team. Once again we were caught by the break with about 1k to go. Ty waxed our group in the sprint and I came in 3rd in the group which was 4th overall. When I looked at the results I saw that Ty was relegated from littering and I was promoted to third. Although I gladly took the 3rd place money I still considered myself as 4th, and found it ridiculous that they relegated Ty. I'm not supporting littering but c'mon. Don't take away a teenagers result, maybe give him a small fine or something.
Anyways I'm happy with how I rode. I rode to win, and I know Adam was watching and proud. I'm going to get some much needed rest monday and tuesday, then I head to race in Belize on Wednseday. I'll be there until April 6th. Hopefully I can get some photos up.
Thats all I got for now,

aj

A Blog I Never Thought I'd Write

As many already know Adam Little was killed while riding to work a week ago. I've been lucky enough to have known Adam since 2006. Adam was many things to me. He was a teammate, my team manager, but most of all he was a great friend. I'm not sure If i've ever met someone so unselfish. He was always looking to help people. He helped me become a better cyclist and person. I could talk to Adam about anything. From bike races to issues like going to college. I'll always remember Adam Little as someone who would go out of his way to help others. Adam was a role model in every way. He was a great dad, a great rider, a great friend, a great teammate, and a awesome person. He was positive about everything, even if things went awful in a race. I'll strive to be as good as a human as Adam yet i'll probably never be half the man he was.

A few days before the awful accident that claimed his life, Adam was telling me in a email how great I was doing, and just about how he was excited to see the results I would get throughout the year. Well I know he will still be watching and I'll get him those results. This year will be dedicated to one hell of a man.

aj

Albany Races

Well the Regions bank weekend in Albany, GA, is in the books. I really considered this the first big race of the year. The field wasn't huge however there certainly was not a lack of talent. Many of the southeast's best pro riders where there. The races kicked off with a short time trial of 4k. I gave it all I had but felt like shit when I finished. I just knew that I rode a terrible time trial, and I was very suprised to see that I ended up 2nd. I guess that efforts that are that intense and short hurt everyone this early in the year. Anyways Thomas Brown from Mountain Khakis pro team won it with me in 2nd and Frank Traviaso in 3rd. I was really pumped to be in between these guys on the podium. They are for sure legit pros........So later that afternoon was the crit. It started off fast and intense, but it wasn't long before I found myself in a break with 6 other guys. There where 4 pros and myself along with 2 of my good friends Ty Magner and Sebastian. Everyone in the break was super strong so I knew we were gone. So to make a long story short we stayed away but my legs were garbage when it came to the sprint and I settled for 5th. My good friend Ty mixed it up with some of the best pros to finish 2nd. Me and him have talked about being pros an such for as long as we have known each other so it was really cool to be in the break with the big boys mixing it up together. Going into the road race I knew i was one of the strongest. Apparently everyone else thought that to because I was def. a marked man. The race was 90 miles so I'll do my best to sumerize it. A strong early break got away. 2 of the guys from the break stayed away and I was able to force a break in the last 10 miles. I ended up second outta the break 2nd so i ended up 4th place.
All in all I'm very pleased with the weekend. I really feel like all the hard work this winter is paying off. I'm able to mix it up with the pro riders and feel strong while doing so. I'm looking forward to April and May where I know Ill be twice as strong as I am now. I'm finally getting a grasp on my back issues that screwed my last few seasons, and things are looking good as far as cycling goes. I think I'll be able to pull off something big this year.
Motavated as hell,
aj

Albany Races

Well the Regions bank weekend in Albany, GA, is in the books. I really considered this the first big race of the year. The field wasn't huge however there certainly was not a lack of talent. Many of the southeast's best pro riders where there. The races kicked off with a short time trial of 4k. I gave it all I had but felt like shit when I finished. I just knew that I rode a terrible time trial, and I was very surprised to see that I ended up 2nd. I guess that efforts that are that intense and short hurt everyone this early in the year. Anyways Thomas Brown from Mountain Khakis pro team won it with me in 2nd and Frank Traviaso in 3rd. I was really pumped to be in between these guys on the podium. They are for sure legit pros........So later that afternoon was the crit. It started off fast and intense, but it wasn't long before I found myself in a break with 6 other guys. There where 4 pros and myself along with 2 of my good friends Ty Magner and Sebastian. Everyone in the break was super strong so I knew we were gone. So to make a long story short we stayed away but my legs were garbage when it came to the sprint and I settled for 5th. My good friend Ty mixed it up with some of the best pros to finish 2nd. Me and him have talked about being pros an such for as long as we have known each other so it was really cool to be in the break with the big boys mixing it up together. Going into the road race I knew i was one of the strongest. Apparently everyone else thought that to because I was def. a marked man. The race was 90 miles so I'll do my best to sumerize it. A strong early break got away. 2 of the guys from the break stayed away and I was able to force a break in the last 10 miles. I ended up second outta the break 2nd so i ended up 4th place.
All in all I'm very pleased with the weekend. I really feel like all the hard work this winter is paying off. I'm able to mix it up with the pro riders and feel strong while doing so. I'm looking forward to April and May where I know Ill be twice as strong as I am now. I'm finally getting a grasp on my back issues that screwed my last few seasons, and things are looking good as far as cycling goes. I think I'll be able to pull off something big this year.
Motivated as hell,
aj

2010 race season has begun!

I realize it has been a while since I last posted. Life has been really busy lately, but I feel like i'm starting to adjust to the whole college thing. Anyways the 2010 race season has snuck up on me! I mean it really seems like just yesterday I was training for ironman in the fall. Now im racing!

So I kicked off the season with the usual races in Greenville. I really like these races. The course aren't to demanding and the fields are top notch. So its a great way to test the legs out. The first weekend went good, but I didn't really get a result. I felt good but things just didn't go my way. This past weekend things were much better though. I got 4th in the Fork Shoals road race. The field was tough and had many pro riders in it. The race was a bit harder then last weeks so I got to test my strength. I ended up bridging up to a big move on the last lap and got 2nd in the break sprint (2 dudes where up the road already). I felt like this particular ride was significant. Normally i'm not the type of rider that can bridge across the breaks. Solo efforts just aren't my thing. However I feel like I've really improved my weaknesses over this winter. I'm feeling stronger then ever, my team is rocking it, and I am very excited for the upcoming season.

Next race is Albany, I'll post an update after it!

Also check out the picture. The dude next to me is Sebastain. He is living in my hometown for a few months and is from Germany. Not to mention he is a hell of a rider! Strong as any US domestic pro. A great training partner and has become a great friend of mine.

A DETOUR

So its been a while since I've updated........Partly because i'm lazy, and partly because i've been busy as hell. The whole detour thing is what has kept me busy. So lemme tell you about it.....

Over winter break the track coach from Piedmont called me and said he was willing to work with my cycling if i ran for them. Now at the time I was just riding, living at home , and working at Kmart. I love my house and my family, not to mention the area I train in, but I have lived in Dalton, Georgia my whole life. So it was time for me to get a way. So after a twenty minuete conversation with the track coach, I packed up and hit the road.
So here I am in Demorist, GA going to college and running a few times a week. The coach has been great working with cycling. In fact I was able to run at practice last week, and still manage 20hrs total on the bike. Demorist is like 20 miles south of Helen, so its in the heart of the North GA mountains. The terrian is stunning. It's ironic that I stayed away from running in college because I thought It would keep my pinned down and limit my cycling, but actually I feel free as ever. I'm riding and running more then I ever have, and I'm fitter then I've ever been. Oh yea that whole thing they call college isn't so bad either!
I'll keep it posted,

aj