Been a while.

Since my last post, I have been fairly busy! I got my new sweet BH built. The G4 is by far the best bike I have ever ridden! I got a Retul bike fit courtesy of Gary Woolfolk at Richardson Bike Mart. It is a bit expensive and a little time consuming, but if you are having any fit issues, I highly recommend it! Source Endurance also does it now for all you Austin folks. A couple of days later, we headed out to the Phoenix area for Valley of the Sun. the race went pretty well overall. The highlight of the race was definitely Shannon winning the woman's crit. The guys rode well. We were where we needed to be at the finish of the road race and we certain to get 2-3 guys in the top 10. Within the final kilometer, the lead moto pulled up to us and said the finish would be neutral because of a wreck in the Cat 3 finish. oh well. The crit was pretty hard but it was a good test on the legs. The end result wasn't quite up to par, but I am satisfied overall with the weekend. Before we headed back home, we waited for our sweet new clothes to arrive at BH. They look pretty sweet!
Once we returned to our homeland, we had a short week to prepare ourselves for Pace Bend. The cat 2s headed down early to tackle Walburg, and most fared alright. Pace Bend was a little different. Not very hard if you were sitting in, but the finish is always a little tricky. The team rode very well. I think it is safe to say, we controlled the race. Early in the race, I found myself in a break that included Ian Dille, Mith Comardo, and Chad Cagle. Ian and Mitch were killing it in the break. Chad wasn't showing his full hand and Nathan instructed me to sit on. The break got up to 45 seconds but for the most part, just stayed around 20 seconds. We ended up getting caught with 4 laps to go. Lucky for me, by the time we got caught, I was still fresh. I was able to cover more attacks and go with stuff that looked threatening. On the last lap, Stefan was left off the front after attacking his breakaway companions, Peter and Bryan. With 3k left in the race, the pace slowed down and I saw an opportunity to attack. I jumped pretty hard and bridged up to Stefan and rolled through him. He was able to jump on my wheel, and after a couple of rotations and some miscommunication at the front of the field with the lead out. We were caught within the final kilometer. Bummer. Benji ended up 10th and overall, the team rode pretty strong. Just a few more kinks to be worked out. I am bummed we are having such a hard time sealing the deal. It will come. Probably when it matters most.
Awesome job to our woman's team again! Casey took the big win with a lot of team work back in the field by Whitney and Ashley. Shannon also wont the field sprint for 3rd. Very deserving.
It was good to see everyone again back at the race. It was a fun race and I am looking forward to Memorial Day for the next rendevous at the State Crit.
As soon as they are sent to me, I will post some pictures from Valley of the Sun and some other stuff.
Next is an off week from racing and then off to Baton Rouge for Rouge Roubaix.
Check back for updates.

Thanks.

Andrew

Living Well

So last week during my off day, I had the chance to utilize one of the team's new sponsors for '09, Living Well Dallas. They are a company that specializes in healthy living of all aspects of life. They do all sorts of things, from massage to a life and organization coach. It's really quite handy. I went in for acupuncture and massage. I have had a ton of massages before but never acupuncture. I was really just trying it for the experience. Basically, acupuncture is like going to a chiropractor. However, instead of applying pressure to different trigger points to activate your muscles and cells, you insert needles in said trigger points. The needles are a couple of inches long and unlike hypodermic needles, these are completely solid. Once the needles are placed in the desired location, you just lay back for 20-30 min and let the needles do their job. It really is pretty cool, and surprisingly pain free. I am pretty excited to make another appointment at Living Well. They seem to be pretty knowledgeable about their respected field and are very helpful and supportive for athletes. For those interested in either massage, acupuncture, life coach or nutritionist; Please go to the Living Well website and make an appointment with Ty. Tell them Andrew, from the Metro VW cycling team sent you. They should be able to get you right in.




On another note. I got my BH time trial bike the other day. The thing is pretty sweet! FSA hooked us up with their Vision aero equipment and chain rings. I have never used a 54t chain ring before so I am pretty excited about that. I was able to ride it a couple of times last week. Once for 4 hrs and then again for 2 hrs. I am getting used to the larger chain rings and the position is awesome. Comfortable yet aero. Hopefully I can get good at this whole time trialing thing. The bike will definitely help! I am still waiting for my road bike to come in, but it shouldn't be too much longer. Only 2 more weeks until our first race at Valley of the Sun in Phoenix, Arizona. I will post pictures of my new bikes as soon as I get them both together.

Thanks for reading,

Andrew