Alkek Sprint Night

Joseph and I went out to Houston for the last Spring race of their season. Due to the blazing heat, it was a low turn-out. Joseph also raced out there the night before, then did a 3 hour ride in the morning, so he was pretty blown before even starting his flying 200m Time Trial. He was grossly under-geared, but still pulled off a pretty good TT and almost edged out his first opponent during in his first match sprint ever. He finished off the night with a 3rd Place and some tired legs.

I tried a new gear ratio for my flying 200, but I think the headwind on the back-straight was working against me. It was the slowest 200m TT I've done so far at 12.1 seconds, but somehow was enough to barely squeak by for top time. Since we only had 5 riders, I had a by-run for the quarter-finals. Dan Morgan got a really good jump on me in the semi-finals which forced me to chase for a full lap. I was laughing at how bad he got me. It was like I was sleeping up there by the rail. Brendan Sharp and I had a really fun Final—conversing in the first two turns. I drew the obligation, but could not get him to come around me. We waited really late to start our sprint, which was a good thing for me, but my reaction times were still lagging.

Next weekend: Tour of Lawrence!


Semi-Finals: Dan Morgan vs Jed Rogers



Finals: Brendan Sharp vs Jed Rogers

Lots of racing

OK, so it's been a while since we've updated the blog. However, we've been real busy racing, training, and recovering. The Venza has been strategically placed at every single race we've been to and we've had a handful of spectators come take a peak and learn about it.

We had a great time in Tulsa a few weeks ago even though our firecracker of a sprinter and attacker was back in Austin healing up from two consecutive crash weekends. Friday's crit ended well despite a crash that took out Joseph early on—I snuck down under a bunch of guys in the last turn to pull of a second place. Saturday's crit was super hot. Aaron Sinclair from Houston rode very strong, covered some attacks, and got in a break mid-race. Joseph was also very active covering breaks, going for flyers, then on the last lap made a miracle happen. I was winded after going for a silly prime with 10 laps to go and I slid really far back in the pack. Joseph came back, latched me on to his wheel and with about 1km left, pulled me from about 45th to about 15th and delivered me perfectly into the inside of the last turn. I cut the turn as hard as I could and sprinted the last stretch to get 7th! I could not believe what we had just pulled off. Sunday was really hard for Joseph and I because of the hilly course, but Aaron rode really strong and finished the race respectfully. After everything was said and done, I was able to hold on the 5th overall at the 2009 Tulsa Tough.

The team will be headed to the Alkek Velodrome this weekend for a Texas Cup race. Wish us luck.

Colton Jarisch of Velossimo and I warming up along the river in Tulsa

Friday night's strategic parking on the inside of the first turn

Saturday's Crit finish line parking job

Hustlin'

Saturday after LaFico made a miracle happen

We heart Tulsa

Joseph hearts salsa