Top Guns names...

...I just got mine today - I'm Slider. You remember slider, right? He was good at Volleyball:
http://www.mobygames.com/developer/shots/developerId,47964/developerShotId,1342/

Thanks a lot to Colin's family for letting me stay with them in New Jersey.

Jake vs. New Jersey

The score:

Jake 1 - New Jersey 2

message from Jake to New Jersey - I'll be back to kick your ass in 3 weeks. Giro d'Jersey.

Comings and Goings

So, as you may have noticed I've stopped updating my blog with my weekly training - that's because its the time of the year were I start doing double blind, super top secret training to get ready for the big races. Actually, that's not true - I just started getting lazy.

Before anything else - I'd like to congratulate my wonderful girlfriend Helen on graduating from UVM and for being part of something pretty special - she was part of the first graduating class of UVM's Honors College. I was there and it was pretty awesome.

Also, my sister is off in Egypt now - she's taking a 4 week trip over there to visit our parents and to travel. She should have some good adventures.

Right now I'm at the end of my first "racing trip" of the year. I came down to New Jersey for 3 races in 5 days. One road race and two big money crits. The road race was put on by the US Cycling Hall of Fame and it was a pretty cool course. One loop - 80 or 85 miles - flat first hall with a few punchy climbs and lots of rolling hills in the second hall. I ended up 3rd and rode a pretty aggressive race. Amos ended 6th and all 4 of our guys finished.

Monday (Memorial Day) was, as it is every year, the Tour of Somerville. A pan flat 4-corner $15,000 crit down here in Somerville, NJ. Its got long long straight aways and it gets pretty dodgy towards the last 5 laps. There were more crashes than I remember from previous years and I think there were a lot of guys left at the end who thought they could win (myself included). It turns out I couldn't win though because 200m before the second to last turn I slammed into a pot hole and PSSSSS! my rear wheel went flat. I was sitting about 10th wheel and had vision of podiums and big cardboard checking in my eyes. It was not to be. I watched the race zip away through those last turns as I rolled up the home straight at 5mph.

On a side note, wintertime x-c ski teammate and Kenda Raleight rider, Eric Tremble won the Cat 2 race at Somerville. He used a beautiful move - although trademarked by me - and attacked with 2 turns to go and suprised the field. He held his gap down the home straight and just held everyone off. I've caught him off guard with that exact move at both the local Tuesday practice crits up in Burlington - so it was cool to see him give it a try himself and have it work.

I'm off to get a podium haircut and then its another $10,000 crit tonight. Hopefully a more challenging course so that there aren't so many guys in the last couple laps.

Go ride your bike!
-Jake

The bike finally has a name!!!

So, my new steed finally has a name. My hog, my mount, my stallion, my ride, my scoot, my whip, my rizzi, my french rocket, my chopper, my sled, my wheels, my weapon, my sword, my boy - he's got a name. Jimmy. His brother, who I rode for the last 2 years, was Timmy.

As a general rule of thumb I think it is good for your bike to have a name if you plan on racing well on it. For example, I've never had a time trial bike with a name yet and I've never really time trialed very well. However, Timmy was the first road bike I ever raced that I named and I became a much better racer on him. Naming a bike is not something that you can really force - but something that just happens. You can think and think and think about what to name it, but the name won't come to you until it's ready.

I feel much relieved that my new bike is finally named. Jimmy is quite a bike. We're still getting to know eachother 100% - but we're getting there.