Road Rage

Aftermath after a little road rage during the first day of Training Camp

Story Coming Soon!!

Merry Christmas

Have a great day spending time with your family and friends!

Feliz Navidad!

Crit Racing

Well since i won't be allowed to race until April, I try to do anything I can to stay motivated. My last Dr. visit my ortho was upset with me trying to get on the trainer. He reminded me my deltoid is still not attached and any stress on it can injure it more. I keep forgetting that its not only my clavicle but also the deltoid that I messed up.

I was surfing the web TXBRA and saw that the Matrix Challenge next year just happens to be the same time as AthensTwilightCrit I think anyone that races in the US needs to try the Twilight Crit in Athens GA atleast ones! I've done it the last two years and it is one of the biggest races due to the fans/music/racers/venue it just an awesome crit.


I just hope my next follow up in Jan my ortho lets me get on the trainer. I'm going crazy not being able to wkout or atleast he will let me get back to work.

New Year - 2009

Well since the new year is coming and after seen people committing to things that are way out of their league, I have decide to make it official!!!

I will commit myself to racing the next Olympics (in Leeds, England), and will also gear up for the IRONMAN Championships in 2yrs.

You heard it here first!

I will quit my career as a firefighter/paramedic to live the Cycling Dream of becoming a Pro Cyclist

I have to heal up first! 2wks down 14wks to go!

I have raced in UCI 2.1 Stage Races and have plenty of National Racing Experience. Now its just about putting it all together!

To find out ways you can support me in this quest please visit the “Sponsors” tab.

This Sucks!!

Wkly Video

My Home Town

The Cut

Well I am now trying to get off my pain meds. Although I don't think its such a good idea, i will try. I have my follow up appointment with Dr. Hopkins to see what I can and can't do after a week from surgery. I wish I could take advantage of Living Wellness Center for a nice massage but I will have to wait until Thursday to ask my Dr. if I could go and try that with an injured/useless right arm.

Quick Update

This is me on the BH CX BIKE

This is the nice dismount

this is leo in deep thought, "No more dirt bikes for me!"

November Training

This month has been hard on the training. This off season i'm taking a slightly different approach on my training. I'm actually going to do more pedastals and go back to what Emile likes to call "Old School Training method" I'm lucky to be on the Metro VW team in 2009. It is looking like this is going to be a really strong team. I just hope I can make the traveling squad this time around.

Old School

Close Call for Dallas Fire Crew

Article

Mississippi Grand Prix

Well, yesterday we drove down to Brookhaven, MS. Now that we are here we will be going out for an easy ride this morning and then get ready for the crit tonight. Weather Channel says it might rain. SUCK!. Tight crit with rain equals recipe for disaster. The MS Grand Prix is a crit on Friday, RR and TT on Saturday and then a short circuit on Sunday. I did this race back in 05' but did not have teammates in the race due to a bad crash in the Friday night crit. This year will be different and we will do better. Its time we all get on the podium! We have a great team and now its time to show everyone else.

Results coming soon...

Tuesday Nighter

Well I'm scheduled to be riding the ambulance today and I will be able to take 2.5hours off work to do my training. It's pretty tough to get motivated to go do a hard workout after you've been getting your face kicked all day with some ridiculous 911 calls. that's life and i deal with it. It made my shift go by a little faster or at least it helped.
The crit; well i wish i would have had time to warm up but since my time was limited I just rolled around for about 10min. It was windy again at the race but I like it like that. Races like this actually make you stronger, or so I tell myself. Start of the race Chris decides to get an attack going and then gets reeled in after a lap of suffering. 1 lap later I attack and get off the front for a lap by myself and then Brett comes across. As soon as he did I was praying others would come or they would at least shut us down. I was getting rid of a lot of weakness in my body today. We never really pushed it hard or at least I don't think I did because my legs felt like crap. I only came out to the race to get my leg going for this weekend but I think I did more then that tonight. Brett and I finally started to get a good tempo avg about 27-28mph. That's what Brett said, i forgot my head unit. Again, I'm at work and kind of busy. I couldn't not have asked for a better workout then I got tonight. When you get to the point of thinking of stopping or giving in and you just keep going hard, that is when you know you are getting stronger. I made a mistake by waiting to try and sprint it out on the last lap. I got the cards and played them this way tonight and I'm very pleased. Brett took the win and I got second, again. My week of hard training is over and now I will just be waiting for the hard work to come out for SpeedWeek.
Mississippi Grand Prix this weekend. I raced it back in 05 and had the overall won until the last day when it was a 12 on 1 crit. I lost and was not able to keep the overall. Oh yeah I was out their without any teammates. Maybe it will be different this year, or maybe not. We will just have to wait and see.

SPS #3

I was scheduled to race THE ROCKY MNT STAGE RACE but due to my career getting in the way again. I could not go to this race. I took it easy on my legs to try and recover from the beating I've been giving them. I wanted to race and the only thing I could do was to go to the Track. Last time I was at the track or on my track bike was at Nationals qualifier last year. I was a little perturbed but this is the best mock racing/interval training that will get me ready for the crit racing season. I got to the track about 6pm and got all my stuff ready. I was looking over the bike and made sure everything was tight. I got on the track to make sure I felt comfortable. While I was warming up I started to wonder if I should have taken my wheels to get re glued. The first race of the night was an 8 laps scratch race. A crit on the track for me. Its a sprinters race but since I lack the sprint I decided I wasn't going to let it come down to a sprint. 4.5 laps to go and I counter a move and take a half lap and I'm just trying to drill it and get a lap on the field. I come close and get within 75meters and with 1 to go I just put into cruise control, knowing we still had 2 more races to go, and ride it in easy. Taking the first win. Next race is a points race, I hate because again you have to have a quick punch. This is what I was here for to get work on this. DO WORK! 60laps point race, I come in 3rd. Knowing I'm tied with some MSU guy for 1st, I know I have to win the next race. Unknown distance is the last race and I was being watched very carefully by the MSU guy. He wasn't letting me take a breather at all. Attacks were flying left and right and I made sure I was in every single one. The decisive move came when Matt Stevens attacked and MSU guy went with him. Our break caught them and as soon as it did I countered that attack and went flying solo again. I quickly got a half lap on the break of 5 and was just drilling it! trying to lap the field. I finally got on the same stretch and could not close it. The 5 guys were not having any of it. After 5 laps of almost making it, I finally dug deeper and caught the back of the front group. I was finally up a lap and could sit in comfortably. All I had to do now was follow moves and hope nobody would get away without me being on it. I won the last race and won the Omnium. Made me feel good to get a hard workout and a good result. Finally my work is starting to show

Next race should be Mississippi Grand Prix and then off to Athens, GA.

Local Crit Training

The last couple of weeks I've been doing some hard rides. I've been experimenting with my training to see what actually works. All my rides have been on a watts/kg style. "Pain is weakness leaving the body" type thing. I felt a lot of pain leave my body this last tuesday at the local crit. I have been riding about 2hrs to the crit and then racing. This time it hit me hard. I wanted to animate the race and get the break going. So I must have launched as many as 2 attacks! Ha! it was actually more. A break was established and it was when I was countered that it went. I finally covered another move and 2 of us made the jump. Edgar Ibarra was riding like a beast. He was just drilling it and my legs were tearing from the hip socket. With 5 laps to go I told Edgar, man take it easy! I'm on survival mode. (it was actually in spanish but I'm translating for you) Out of the 7 guys in the break only 2 were not working. I should have been one of them but I wanted to go to that place! That place everyone hears about but only a few get to go. I thought I was there but with 1 lap to go, Edgar again attack at the start/finish line and he hit the break hard. I mean so hard he gapped everyone and we were going 28mph! I ofcourse basically did everything but throw him the finger. He dropped me so hard it felt like I was going the opposite way. Story ends with Edgar taking 3rd letting Bret win and me limping with one of my legs over my shoulder in last from the break in 7th. After the race he said, man I was trying to set you up for the counter. I said, I'm out here for the workout. Well a Hell-O-Workout I got. I got home and cried for the next two days.

What I used to do, back in the "young" days

Team Camp

Well the Team Camp has been over for a couple of days now.  I have to admit it was a lot of fun and I think this is a great group of kids with a lot of talent Nathan has put together. I have been sick for the last 2 weeks but  Austin R. tells me "you make to many excuses" I guess I have to "man up" I guess its time to start getting ready.

We got the new kits and they look great.  It seems like everyone on the team is a national champion of some sort, except for little Will and myself. 

Peter is riding freakishly strong and I'm sure he will upgrade to a Category 2 within the next 2 months. 

I'm excited about Valley of the Sun stage race this weekend.  It will be a tough race. 

I know I'm suppose to write a TRUE story about my work and what i had to deal with last night.  Nothing different from any other night, we got our arse handed in a silver platter all night.  

True story - 

Pt- I'm having chest pain

Medics - can you discribe it?

Pt- It hurts

Medics -Do you have a medical history

Pt- No

Medics - ok, do you take any medicines for anything?

Pt - Yes

Medics - for what?

Pt- for the pain in my heart

Medics - do you know what the pills you take are for?

Pt- yes for the pain in my heart

Medics- What kind of Cardiac History do you have?

Pt- what is that?

Medics - ok, are you allergic to any medicines?

Pt- No

Medics- I'm going to give you Nitro and Aspirin for your chest pain that you say you are having.

Pt - I'm allergic to Aspirin

Medic - Ma'am, how old are you?

Pt- 28

Medics- does  "heart disease" run in your family?

Pt- Yes

Medics- what kind?

Pt- the one that gives pain to your heart

I will end it there and just take her to the closest hospital

Until next time

Valley of the Sun departure - Thursday morning.

Obama is the future!!!

The future

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes We Can

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionistst as they blazed a trail toward freedom

Yes We Can

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

                                                                
Yes We Can

It was the call of workers who organised; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose a moon as our frontier; anda King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land

       

Yes We Can to Justice and Equality

Yes We Can to Opportunity and Prosperity

Yes We Can to Opportunity and Prosperity

Yes We Can Heal this Nation

Yes We Can Repair this World

                                                                    
Yes We Can

                                                                      
Si Se Puede

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics... they will only grow louder and more dissonant...... 

We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything falsee about hope

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillonn are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; tha we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the Amercian story with THREE words that will ring from Coast to Coast; from Sea to Shinning Sea;

                             YES - WE - CAN

 

Barack Obama

Proof

This is how my day began this morning at 6:50am.  I can't make these things up. To answer the question, Yes we did have to go and Yes I did have to rescue the kittens from "up inside the sofa". Now where is your proof Will the "Snot" Snodgrass? Nathan called me today and said my bike "might" be ready. No specifics on it yet, other than "might".  I will keep my one reader in suspense until the next call.

Another sad day at the DFD

Well today I'm just trying to recover from my "trainer" workout.  For the first time I actually don't look forward to going to work.  I have started doing these intervals on the trainer and they suck.  While on the trainer I'm praying I get to finish my workout without gettting any 911 calls(calls that we get dispatched on) in between.  But it never fails I will usually atleast get one to two runs.  It's always tough getting motivated after the second one.  

 As I continue with my blogging I will give you an insight into what really happens behind those 911 calls. Not even my buddy Will the "Snot" Snodgrass can make up stories like this.

3am this morning a call is placed.  We answer to the given address (an apt complex) and talk with the caller: Caller states, Yes I called because my neighbor upstairs is having nightmares. I want to make sure he is ok, that is why I called for an ambulance and the police.

Yes, people really call for this! I will give you more interesting stories of the Dallas Fire Dept. Not even my buddy Will the "Snot" Snodgrass can make up stories like this. -like his "daily conversations with Santa"

Till then