Malabar Farm

Good to be done with that race. Now time to ride home, well almost home.

I cropped myself out of this pic, cause these guys look like racers.

We had a total of seven Panther/RGF pb Felt racers today. I told the guys I had some frustration that I needed to get rid of early in this race. So I took off on a downhill, have to use my weight advantage, before the last climb of the 10 mile loop. I grew a quick 1 min gap before the end of the first lap and took my time to the 4 mile flat section, then went hard again. I still had 45 seconds on the chase group and over 1 min on the field. I knew the chase group would catch me so I waited for them at the top of the climb, they would have caught me before the next lap anyway. Plus I saw D.C. coming and knew that he would help me out. Then P.M. Came out of nowhere and bridged up to all five of us. I rested before the climb to make sure I could go with the climbers up the 1 mile climb. I rested to much and at the top I attacked because one of the riders sounded like he was done. No more attacks were made until we passed the line with one lap to go and D.C. took off after one rider attacked. Paul and I were able to get away from the other two riders. D.C. won the race, Awesome! Paul helped me get 2nd place as he took 3rd. As for the other 4 riders I heard Andy Clarke, and Andy Moskal pulled back everything. In the end Andy Clarke pulled back everything so Andy Moskal could get the record for the fastest speed up the 1 mile climb, Lazer had to be in his 53-11 going up that climb. The hammer products worked great again today. The Felt bike took a beating today with a 198 pound body flexing that bike so hard the headset came loose. I had D.C. and my Dad tighten the headset back up before I rode back home 25 more miles on worse roads the the bike race was on. I love that Felt bike it is so sweet! Panther/RGF pb Felt Cycling Team has already made a huge impact in my life already, I Love this Team!

Hueston Woods Bike Race

Chris Durand and I after the race. Chris went solo on the last lap to take 3rd.

Chad telling Ben how he beat me in his little chain ring. Ben took the field sprint for 4th.

I was telling Ben how much Chad enjoyed being on my wheel down the downhill sections.

Wow I need to lose weight!

Dad and I drove around the course before the race. It looked like I had 3 climbs today, but nothing too big. The race started out fast with Inferno and Roadhouse up the road after the first 2 miles of the race. I attacked to try and join the others and everyone was trying to do the same. Once 12 of us caught Chad Burdzilauskas and the two other riders Chad took off again. After 8 miles of the race Chad and I took off from the 9 man chase group and the field of 20 or more had already decided to quit 6 miles into the race. I had all the Hammer gel I needed and I forgot to drink with 20 miles left so I drank half a bottle in 3 seconds. My legs never really felt great like I thought they would today, but they must have been good enough. I wanted to win today, but Chad wouldn't let me. Chad and I worked good together for 42 miles and almost had too much fun in the end. We had 1 min and 30 sec lead over the chase group and it came down to 13 seconds in the last 3 miles. The Lord had blessed me with great legs today even though they felt weird. Thank you Lord for blessing me with the ability to ride my bike.

Praying for our time at Splash Harbor

Caylin wanted to pray for our safety and our fun time at Splash Harbor. She is so sweet!

Splash Harbor

This past weekend we went to Bellville and stayed at the Comfort Suites Splash Harbor. It has a small indoor water park inside of the hotel. Caylin absolutely loved it. I think she went down the water slide a couple hundred times. She screamed with excitement everytime she came down. One woman told her son to follow Caylin because then she would know when he was next.(Because of her screams.) We thought that was pretty funny! We asked Caylin if she liked Kalahari or Splash Harbor better and she said both!

Mid Ohio Race Course

This weekend we had planned to have camp in Charleston, SC. at the Fernandez residence. Our prayers all go out to the Fernandez family. We had an awesome time last year and are very thankful for all the plans that went into going this year.

Caylin and Becky were getting ready to go to Comfort Inn Splash Harbor and I was going to meet up with them later after the race. I enjoyed watching my Dad's race, he took 7th place and worked with the chase group to catch Tym Tyler who won. Great job Dad! Our Team lined up for the race, well most of us did.

We had Polo, Paul, Dave, Moskal, Clarke, and I. It was a nice day with temps in the 40's and Sunny. I attacked with 17 laps to go on a 2.5 mile course and was joined by Tris and Thom. I had all the Hammer products I needed before and during the race and knew I would need some after the race as well. I had a very hard week of riding and didn't know how my legs would react. After letting Tris and Thom work for 3 laps I decided to try and push it by myself to see how they would do. I ended up dropping Thom and Tris was going good so we worked together the rest of the race. I saw that my team was doing a good job of splitting the field but 4 others were coming hard behind us in the closing laps as we were about to lap the 3/4 field. The 3/4 field let us go around without a tow and I decided to hit the pace harder. We kept the same pace as the 4 behind us, and my Teammate Andy Moskal was in that group working hard to get into shape for this year.

As Tris and I lapped the remaining riders Tris and I were offered help but I told them no! My heart was talking at that point then I thought about it later. I was still glad we didn't get any help after knowing the outcome of the race. I was hurting and didn't know if I could beat Tris in the end. So on the last lap I tested my legs early before the big climb and the Felt bike jumped up above 1600 watts instantly. My legs were my big concern, but the Hammer products worked perfectly. I don't know when Paul pulled Marco Aledia up to the chase group of four, but Marco pulled out an impressive 3rd place finish. Andy Moskal took a close 4th place and Paul finished in the top 8 with a lead out to Andy Moskal. Good day overall but will only get better as time keeps ticking away. It is early and the season has not even started for some yet.

I thanked our great cheering section after the race, Andy Clarke's Family was there Cheering me on as well as my Dad, Wife, and Daughter. I then went swimming for a couple hours after I had the buffet at Der Dutchman. Then woke up the next day and ate another Der Dutchman buffet meal and took Caylin swimming again and then for a bike ride to the park. Had a wonderful weekend all within 1 hour from our house. Thanks too Becky's mom we had a great time staying there. She had felt bad she couldn't take Caylin to the Beach in SC because Granny and Ann were sick with the Flu. Granny got out of the hospital Sunday so thank the Lord she is recovering well.

The Lord has been working on my heart

Today in church I felt so happy. I feel like God has been working on my heart to listen more to others and to live life full of love. This all started in our classroom when Wendy had placed a verse of Love into our discussion. I love our class and I am very blessed by the message of prayer John preached today. I also read from the new book I have, For Men Only. It is about how to be a better husband and how women are like "swamps". I didn't say it, the guy who wrote the book said it. I have so much to learn. I had tears coming down my cheeks after church today, happy tears of joy.

The Hilliest Race I have ever done

Today was a perfct day for long riding and that is just what I did. I have the sun on my legs and arms to prove it. Today was the real test of the new sponsor I have. A shout out to Wes for helping me all winter long and for his introduction to Jason. I have something every cyclist wishes he had. More on that stuff later when the time is right.

I rode the course with Dad before the race started. I have to say that this course was going to be a big test for me. Our group of 15 started out easy and just riding up the major climb for the first time. I have to admit it was far from easy even the first time. Nothing really happened until after the 2nd time up the major climb. I had dropped my chain from too much pressure while trying to shift before the major climb. I think I was in the lower chain ring for more than half a lap everytime. We had a strong headwind and cross headwind. We really had very little tail wind sections because it was on the downhill part of the course.

I felt great about the F1 Sprint Climbing and the Hammer products were working overtime today. Well I managed to make an attack work at the top of the major climb and we had a group of 4. Andrew Willis, Jason Stoner, Marco Aledia, and myself. We had worked together and had a great gap from the rest. I then tried to power shift again to the lower chain ring, I dropped the chain again. This time Marco was pushing me while I was trying to get the chain on it. It seemed like forever. I even got my hands dirty while he was pushing me.

They all waited for me as I had to get off my bike and shift it to the lower chain ring. I saw the others coming and I knew I had to work hard to stay away. I blew myself up geting to the others waiting on me, I felt so bad that they had to wait so I lead the charge as long as I could to stay away from the others so it would just be us 4. Marco, and Andrew kicked it on the 18% part of the Major climb the last time up the monster of a climb and my legs could only go for a couple of pedal strokes. Marco won and Andrew took second and I took 3rd. I talked with Jason who took 4th after the race. He is a great guy, I enjoyed talking with him all the way back to the Orchard.

Good news is my Dads Tufo tires worked good and I enjoyed riding with a tail wind back home for another 22 miles after the race. Thanks to my Dad for the support and time waiting till my legs were run dry. My family had a great day shopping as well. Thanks to God for a beautiful day, to family, and sponsors for this great day of cycling.

Bowling

We took Caylin bowling Friday night. Jeremy and Caylin really did well. Let's just say the gutter was a magnet for my ball! Caylin was giving me instructions on how to hit the pins. She told me to aim for the middle. She even showed me where to stand to release the ball. Here is a 4 year old who thinks she is a professional bowler. It was pretty cute though!