Sunny King Crit

I’m not in a plane, but I am in the backseat of a van headed somewhere across the lower-right part of the US. We have four people + all of our stuff + my bike bag +exactly 1 million wheels in one minivan so space is somewhat tight. As stated in the name of the vehicle, it is a “miniature” van, so I have sixish sets of wheels on my lap. Here’s proof:

We are headed from Anniston, Alabama to Charlotte, North Carolina. Before I get into that, let’s rewind to which I am going to talk about as Thursday but I really don’t remember what day it was.

Thursday I got on an airplane in Seattle to make my way South for the bicycle tournaments in Alabama. My flight took me through Vegas, where instead of blowing all of my money gambling, I blew all my money gambling. On airport food-because my flight to Birmingham was delayed by somewhere from 2-5 hours. The airport wasn’t quite sure. The delay would mean I was set to land in Alabama at midnight, which is exactly when the shuttle to my airport hotel stopped running.

After spending almost thirty dollars on two meals and two coffees, I left Vegas. Based on this blog, it’s now apparent that what happens in Vegas does not stay in Vegas, it goes on craneimal.blogspot.com. I’m fairly angry at myself for making such a basic joke about Vegas but I’m in a van, not a plane. I’m not in my optimal thinking zone.

The best part of my 3.5 hour flight was the free TV that was accessible through the normally extremely expensive airplane WiFi. For some reason you could watch the TV without buying the WiFi, so I watched the Mariner’s game. Which was dddope.

Southern hospitality started almost immediately after I got my luggage in Birmingham. I found a taxi at almost the same time as another person, and since it was well past midnight “there shuuure aint gon’ be another taxi for awhile now”. Since I was now 14ish hours into my travel day, I knocked the other guy over the head with my bike bag and took the taxi on my own. Just kidding, can you imagine? We shared the taxi, and I got out first. I pulled out my wallet to pay my part of the fare, and my cab-sharer said he would pay my fare! I love saving $7.

Demis picked me up in the morning and we drove the hour to Anniston. Here I met my friends for the next couple days:

 

We had great hosts who made sure we had everything we needed all weekend. They’re the owners of the local Mellow Mushroom pizza establishment, which before this weekend I had a different impression of. I thought it was fast food, similar to Little Caesars. From this thought, I had always avoided Mellow Mushroom’s while traveling in the South. I was wrong! It is good pizza. Now you know.

Anyways, bike racing. Saturday was the Sunny King Criterium. It is a long rectangular course on a hill, so the finish stretch was uphill. It’s always shocking doing twilight crits after doing races in the sunshine, so I chopped my shadow A LOT. I felt good in the leg area of the bike race and tried to be active and present, but I was struggling with the game of chicken that happened every lap on the downhill, narrow-fenced corner. This game = who will brake last! If you won the game, you went into the corner with speed and didn’t have to reaccelerate hard leading into the climb. If you lost the game, you were all of a sudden 50 guys back going 10mph. If you really lost the game, you ran into the fence. I never really lost, but I did lose most times which made most of my race a mission of pedaling my way back into the important part of the bike race, rather than pedaling my way off the front of the important part of the bike race.

Naturally, one of the laps I used my brakes too much was just about when UHC decided to start pedaling fast. As the field strung out single file, I was the happiest I’d been all race but was too far back. Gaps were opening everywhere, and I did essentially a 4 lap solo time trial effort to try and get back to the front.  This meant my sprint at the end of those four laps was a massive 12 watts, and I finished 17^th on the day. Crit racing is splendid though, because for 17^th place I made $240.

Saturday night included many of the joys of twilight crit racing: Home at 1030, eat, shower, in bed at 1115, and not fall asleep till 1AM. This isn’t normally a problem with crit weekends, but instead of a crit Sunday there was a road race!

I just realized that this post is too many words and I haven’t talked about the road race yet, so I’ll do two posts. Cool. I’m talking to myself right now, so get out of my mind.

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San Dimas Stage Race

After a whirlwind two-day return to Seattle, I am back on the plane and heading South-east towards Alabama and two weeks of crit racing: Sunny King and Charlotte.

It’s easy in this profession to always be moving forward- always focusing upon the next race or the next trip. Often times experiences or moments get left in the past, simply a hazy memory in our relentless journey towards... something. I think that’s one of the reasons bike racing, as well as bike racers, as a whole exists. We have short-term memories: often choosing to forget the pain each race brings, the shuffle of travel on our daily lives, and the really bad moments. You always remember the good moments simply as a snapshot and the bad moments as something to build upon. What happens to the details? One of the reasons that I started this blog was to have an excuse to do something involving funny pictures. Another reason was I wanted to have a record of all the experiences that I get the pleasure of having while doing this racing thing.

San Dimas Stage Race was a late addition to my calendar, and one that I was very excited about having the chance to do again. After throwing up/away my Tucson Bicycle Classic, I was ready for an early-season stage race to get a chance to help the team in any way I could.

I’ve done SDSR before, with mediocre to average results. Although the road race is sketchy and the time trial is uphill, I’ve always enjoyed racing here. The punchy climbs in the road race suit me well and although fairly steep, the time trial is a time trial. And I like those.

Friday morning started off with me spending money, which seems to be quite standard for life on the road. We didn’t race till later that afternoon, and I needed coffee. Again, this is something quite standard for my life. However, the Motel 6 had no means for boiling water, so Carson and I purchased a $20 kettle at Target, effectively turning our room into AeroPress party central. After somewhere between 3 and 18 AeroPresses, we rode to the race. Then we went right past the race and headed for an hour-long spin. I schemed heavily here: things like pacing tactics, last minute weight loss methods, and which flavor drink mix would best bring out my crazy. I settled for lemonade flavor, and got about my warmup.

For those who haven’t done the TT up Glendora Mt Rd, it starts off with about a minute and a half of false-flat heading into the first corner, and with that the first pitches of the climb. The overall effort is 4.25 miles, or if you want to make your race seem longer, some amount larger than that in Km’s. The first 90 seconds are the only time above 20mph all race.

Time trial reports are boring. I rode hard, was happy with how I paced it, and finished feeling like this:

You can choose which one I was, because truthfully I felt a bit like both.

Results came in and I was very pleased to finish 6^th on the stage. This was my best result in a time trial at this level and I was content, for many reasons. I’ve put in a lot of work this winter on the time trial bike, so I knew I had the practice at sustained efforts for an extended amount of time. However, this wasn’t really a time trial as much as it was a hillclimb. I was on a road bike, not a time trial machine. Sure they are different styles of races, but in the end it is still a matter of focus, brain disease, and desire. Our team stacked the top 6, with Gregory in 2nd by a second and Daniel not far behind in 4^th.

Then, something amazing happened. We went to Olive Garden for dinner.

Besides that, there was an earthquake. My favorite part of this earthquake was when every questionable character outside smoking at the Motel 6 became an expert on natural occurrences like these- trying to make conversations about the epicenter and wavelength frequencies.

The earthquake caused some concerns for our road race course, as the loop circles a large dam.  Our start was delayed, and our race shortened as a result. Luckily, the dam didn’t break because I don’t like swimming that much.

Luis got up the road in the breakaway, taking the lead in the KOM and Sprint jersey competitions. Myself, Gregory and Daniel all tried our hand at following moves across to the break, but had no success. I finished comfortably in the front group (for the first time at SDSR), but the break had stayed away. It was an unfavorable move for us, and as a result we all lost several spots in the GC.

Going into the crit, we had Luis in 4^th, Gregory in 8^th, Daniel in 9^th, and myself in 12^th on the GC. We had two goals: 1) protect Luis’ lead in the sprint competition 2) be active with Greg, Daniel and myself, forcing a difficult race which would hopefully allow Luis to get away in the final moments gaining precious GC seconds.

Both Carson and I wore a long sleeve skinsuit, which means we meant business. Also hilarious, it was warm out and pretty much the only people wearing long sleeves in the race were Carson and myself- the two dudes from Seattle who in theory should have been way warmer than anyone.

Also, Tela came to watch me, and since she doesn’t get to see me race much anymore I knew it was important to not suck.

For the two intermediate sprints (60 min to go and 30 min to go), we had to make sure that either Luis won or one of us scored points to keep the closest threat from moving into first in the competition. I was in great position for the first sprint and won it- taking the 15 points and a 3 second time bonus. The second sprint came soon enough, and I found myself second wheel with Luis behind me. I started my sprint with 800 m to go, cornered hard, and dug to the line. Luis stayed on my wheel, letting me win the sprint while still securing points for himself.  With the sprint competition locked up, it was time to start thinking about the finish.

Luis towed me around, providing by far the smoothest last five laps of any crit that I’ve done at this level. I lost his wheel with one to go, made a big surge to get it back, and went into the final corner 5^th wheel. This is also where I finished, which makes it my best crit result at this level since 2011. 

The time bonuses from the intermediate sprints moved me back up to tenth overall (take that Kennett!) and into second in the green jersey competition. I was happy with how I rode, but also needed to keep the weekend in perspective.

This is my job. Our team’s job is to win races. We didn’t win any of the stages, so although my personal results were strong for where I’ve been in the past, there is still room to progress. Because of that, I am happier with winning the intermediate sprints than I am with the 5^th in the race. I did a job that helped the team achieve an objective, and as I continue to develop in my first season as a professional, I need to continue to do what I can to help my team and teammates achieve their goals.

San Dimas was a good momentum and confidence builder for myself and I plan on growing as a rider with every opportunity I have to race.

This post was long, sorry. There also weren’t any jokes, and most people probably didn’t read this far. That’s fine though, because this weekend is something that I want to have record of. I was able to look back at my first trip to San Dimas in 2011, and I plan on looking back on this post when I win San Dimas in the future.

Reflection over, NOW I can start thinking about the next races.

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This is interesting to me, part 2

I’ve been watching a lot of cinematic explosions lately. This confirms a fear of mine: that I am not a “cool guy”. Simply put, cool guys don’t look at explosions. They turn their backs and they walk away. And walk away in slow motion. With diamond covered boots. Or something like that. TM

Again, I was misleading with the text that I am creating on my backpack robot. I made it sound like I was watching explosions within the cinema, but that hasn’t necessarily been the case. I also was writing from memory some of the lines from the song “Cool Guys Don’t Look at Explosions” by Josh Groban.

I know what you’re thinking, and I want to ease your mind. I can be trusted because I HAVE been watching movies and television. They were symbolic explosions for two reasons. Ok, three reasons: 1) The movies I was watching were terrible 2) They were mind-blowingly good 3) There were actual explosions in them.

The benefit to flying on airplanes again is that it gives me time to do my best thinking. So far this post has been far from my best thinking and instead is about 200 words of mindless rambling. Actually, that kind of reminds me of how I survived some classes in College. I did this by continuing to demonstrate my point while evaluating the responses of the studies that portrayed no significance, relevance, importance, implications, meaning, weight, consequence, value, or magnitude to the thesis at hand. As you can see, this is still not my best thinking- but I already have 260 words written- who’s the real winner now? You are.

OK, back to movies and TV. Craneimal faithfuls may remember a certain post I did where my mind exploded when I saw Andy Dwyer from Parks and Recreation be one of the heroes in the film Zero Dark Thirty. The contrast was hilarious to me and I quickly thought of several more examples of actors or actresses that stepped out of a known role and into something completely different.

Let’s look at some more!

Andy Samberg- Known for SNL and The Lonely Island music group, Andy Samberg is a comedic and often times sophomoric actor. Never fear with Andy, for a fart joke is near. In fact, the song mentioned at the beginning is an Andy Samberg special! Then I was watching a heartbreaking movie with excellent acting and lots of drama, and Andy Samberg played one of the main characters. In Celeste and Jesse Forever, Andy plays Jesse, a victim of heartbreak. It’s actually super depressing and dark at times. There are few fart jokes. I was confused. He’s actually a very good actor, so you should watch it.

Steve Carell- Oh, The Office! That’s funny, right? Or the one where he’s suicidal and runs behind a VW bus a lot? (you know the movie, I can’t remember the title and I’m on a plane and the internet is $8.99 and they won’t accept Jelly Beans that Steve gave me as payment) Well that movie is still a comedy. Once a goofy actor, always a goofy actor, right? WRONG. If you want to see Steve Carell as a verbally abusive and cheating “father figure” you should watch The Way Way Back. This film was actually delightful and despite Steve being a bit of a meany, I highly recommend it.

Ron Swanson- OK, that’s not his actor’s name, but if I say Ron Swanson you know whom I am talking about. Nick Offerman has portrayed the mustachio’ed manly man who runs the office on Parks and Recreation and eats all the bacon and eggs.  Let’s flip away from TV and into a starring role as the father who isn’t really there for the main character in The Kings of Summer. Watch it. There aren’t any anti-government or breakfast food jokes, but Ron Swa, sorry, Nick Offerman plays a very convincing mean guy.

Every once in awhile I like to step out of my normal movie interests and immerse myself in a different type of cinema-culture. To translate, sometimes we watch movies that Marissa chooses as well. I am proud to admit it that I have seen Love Actually several times and find it quite enjoyable. You may think that I am going in the direction of Liam Neeson playing the wonderful father in that film and the violent hero in the Taken movies, but I’m not going to focus on that. There is another contrast that is MARVELOUS. Maybe it’s because I don’t normally watch Romance Dramas. When I see actors in those films I instantly think of their other portrayals. That’s my curse, I guess. The best character in Love Actually is Mark, a love-struck dude stuck in the friendzone with his best friends wife. Classic. He is so hopelessly in love with her and there is nothing he can do about it! It’s a true Beauty and the Beast story. Andrew Lincoln builds up his courage and confesses his love in the moment shown below, and everyone smiles.

Then, because she’s already married, he’s punished by getting sent into an almost apocalyptic world overtaken by zombies in The Walking Dead.

Sherriff Rick has a tough go at it and he is constantly reminded that he shouldn’t have gone for Keira Knightley- because much like Orlando Bloom in The Pirates of the Caribbean, she already had plans. Tease. This comparison allows us to analyze Johnny Depp, a pirate in that film. Johnny captains ships, which is a similar role to being a driver. Jason Statham was a getaway driver in the Transporter movies. Jason Statham and cars connect with the new Fast and the Furious movie (that I’m sure will be amazing) and that film stars Dwayne Johnson. Dwayne also acted in Snitch, where he worked in an office like Steve Carell. Working under Steve at Dundler Mifflin was John Krasinski: a man who battled Matt Damon for a City Government position in the movie Promised Land. City Government brings us back to Ron Swanson, who acts along side Amy Poehler, an important part of SNL. With that irrefutable sequence of connections, you can now assume that Andy Samberg will be the next hero in this season of the Walking Dead.

#spoiler

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Jamis Hagens Berman Team Camp

Despite cultural differences and language barriers, bike racers are all the same. The last several seasons, well actually my whole racing life, I've been on a team composed of people my own age and background. One of the things that excited me the most about Jamis Hagens Berman is the range of cultures and backgrounds that the team is made up of. For the first day and a half of camp, I was here with three teammates and a mechanic- from Argentina, Cuba, and Spain. There was some english spoken, but the group speaks spanish.

Before coming to camp, I was quietly confident in my spanish speaking skills. "I have a Minor in Spanish!", "I practiced a couple times on Dualingo" and "I meant to watch some Pixar movies in spanish" were all some thoughts that I had leading into camp. In fact, I even acquired Buscando a Nemo, Los Increibles, and my favorite, Ratatouille, to watch prior to the season.

It turns out that my Spanish education experience was far from enough to prepare me for real-world speaking experiences. However, I think that my base level of understanding was huge in making me a bit more comfortable in this new world. As the week went on, I was already understanding more, having full conversations in spanish, and feeling more confident with the language as a whole.

I always knew that I'd have to throw myself out of my comfort zone and into the deep end in order to fully grasp the language, and here I am. In the middle of the ocean, and I didn't drown. I look forward to being able to swim in the future. Voy a practicar mas!

My trip to Arizona was broken into three parts: The early part of the trip, which involved the Old Pueblo GP and some training ; shooting photos and videos with the entire team when they got back from Vuelta Mexico ; and the unfortunately timed illness that swooped through our hotel.

First, I got to start my season off with a twilight crit. I did the Old Pueblo GP in 2012 and it was a far from memorable experience, so I was excited to have another crack at it. Guido, Ruben, Tyler and myself lined up for the 75 minutes of darkness ready to officially break in our new bikes, equipment, and clothing. Hopefully without actually breaking any of it.

Photo from Cycling Illustrated, Rebecca Reza

Although the end result from the race wasn't what we were hoping for, I was happy to get some snappy efforts in the legs and have a pretty decent race. The first crit of the season is always a bit of a shock, and having it be a twilight race adds to the experience. I only chopped my shadow once, which is a victory in its own sense.

Sunday and Monday were some big training days. Monday took us to Mt. Lemmon, where the general consensus was that although we didn't reallllllyy NEED to climb for 25 miles, we did NEED a large cookie. The cookie cabin at the top of Mt. Lemmon is something I've heard legend of, so naturally since some of my favorite things involve bikes and cookies, I was more than interested in a long climb with a mission.

Great success!

Click this picture to see it bigger. This is about the halfway point.

It's about a 25 mile climb, but never very steep. That's nice because then when you descend for 45 minutes, you can actually pedal most of the way down.

Tuesday and Wednesday were photo and video days. We had a photographer as well as a videographer from Jamis following us in the van for our rides. Wednesday was the fun day, as it was the first time that I've ever gone training in a skinsuit and an aero helmet. We were riding the time trial bikes, so naturally I was excited, and I think the footage that we got will look very cool.

We were doing a TTT behind the van, and our "gentle photoshoot day" turned into a bit more real of an effort. You see, the draft is huge behind the van, which means that the speeds are high. In order for the guys behind not to be coasting or on the brakes, the speed has to be HIGHER. Our TTT turned into a fairly brisk 15 minutes- one where no one wanted to say that they were hurting, but everyone was. Hopefully. Maybe. This was my type of fun.

We took some more photos on Wednesday, including head shots and team photos.

And thennnnn I got sick. Not much more to talk about, other than I had a very rough Wednesday night. I woke up on Thursday and found out that three others had a similar night. I was scheduled to race the Tucson Bicycle Classic, but with San Dimas right around the corner it didn't make sense to push it on a weak system. I went home a couple days early, and slept until this morning.

Although not entirely the best ending, my first camp at the Professional level was a great experience. I'm glad to get to know my new teammates and staff, and am really excited to get to race with them soon. Seeing Gregory in the leader's jersey at Tucson Bicycle Classic was a bit of a stinger, because I would love to be riding the front for him this weekend. However, with San Dimas starting off with an uphill time trial, I think my chances of a long day of tempo aren't too far away.....

Hasta luego.

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Summarizing

Ok, wow. This will probably be a long post. I'm not going to apologize for my absence because I hope that it made your heart grow fonder.

I just spent too long searching YouTube for a clip that I thought appropriate for that strange introduction to this post, but I could not find it. Since things are ALWAYS funnier when you try and remember them and then explain them with words and commas instead of video and audio, here's the clip:

Film- Coffee Town
Actor- Ben Schwartz

The trick to helping your friend get a date is to lower the target's self-esteem before your friend goes in. Like this. Hey, what happened to your face? Is that chair going to be strong enough for you? Didn't you mean to order Diet?

I didn't use quotes because I have absolutely no idea if that's how it goes and I'm not trying to get arrested, you savages.

Let's fill in the gaps of the last month:

First, I've been well. Thanks for asking. Second, I've recently decided that in order to make my mornings unbelievably exciting, I stare at my morning coffee until I see an image. Then I drink it. This morning routine is based off of the whole tea leaf reading lifestyle made famous by Harry Potter and Miss Cleo. I've been noticing something strange- all of my accidental creations are forming into marvelous animal creature shapes! Check it out:

This is a bearded giraffe:

This is an adorable Koala bear:

A brave Sea turtle:

A jelly fish with HUGE eyes:

A duck:

This one I couldn't really make out the animal shape I made so I just poured coffee all over the place.

I'm not sure what this accidental-drawing skill means for the season to come, but I can only be excited that wild creatures are starting to show themselves in my daily routines. I do hope that I can latte-draw a rhino or jaguar here in the next couple of weeks so that my mentality can stay fierce.

Continuing with coffees and animals, I saw this van while leaving my go-to coffee establishment in Seattle.

We've worked our way to about mid-February. Next, Marissa and I went to Valentine's dinner at Brimmer and Heeltap in Ballard. It was awesome and I had a good time. However, I couldn't help myself from being distracted by the shirt that was staring at me all meal:

It's nice that our Valentine's Day dinner had a lazer show too!

Then this happened:

We got our typical nice week in February where everyone wears shorts and thinks Winter is over, followed by our typical biggest snowfall yet. Yes East Coast, that is about two inches of snow and I'm calling it our "biggest snowfall yet". My bad. This weather scared me and my road bike, so I got on an airplane and flew down to Southern California to hang out with Steve Fisher and do some bike practicing.

I got to LA and I found Steve in a bit of a slump:

You see, his multiple case shipment of Jelly Beans maybe was taking over his living situation. He was trying to save some for the Apocalypse, but I showed up and started making lots of political decisions:

This made Steve a HAPPY chappy!

I forgot to take more than one photo while I was there. So enjoy this photo A LOT because it's all we get to reminisce upon:

I returned from California and started plotting for my first race of the year. The Ice Breaker TT is my usual season kick-off, and this year was no different. I squeezed into Carson Miller's skinsuit (I get my clothes at team camp next week) and pedaled hard. I was able to get the win, which breaks my streak of... not winning... at the Ice Breaker TT.

photo credit: Woodinville Bicycle

We're caught up to present day! Speaking of "Present Day", I got my training bike in the mail yesterday. The new Jamis Xenith is way better than last year's bike, and last year's bike was the best bike I had ever ridden. I'm very excited to get racing on it. Marissa says that it's "a million times more beautiful" than my bike last year, so feast your eyes:

Go ahead and make fun of me for taking a photo in the little ring. Whatever!

Let's talk about more racing! The season officially starts for me this Saturday at the Old Pueblo GP in Tucson. I fly down on Friday, meet my teammates, get my kit and other bike, race, then have a week of team camp in the sun. Following team camp, I do another race: The Tucson Bicycle Classic.

It's been a long winter, and we're four days from take-off.

THERE ARE NO MORE PICTURES, SORRY.

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Focusing on the Little Things

Biking is happening. This has been fun and as we approach race season, focusing on the little things becomes more and more important. Remember people, the decisions we make today play a big factor in how we race come, uh, three weeks from now. Little things: awesome. I'd like to share one of the things that I've been focusing on to try and make the 2014 season my best one yet.

I've been thinking about parts in bike races that are hard for me. Certain moments in races that stand out are those pesky mountainous terrains where little people pretend that the road didn't change gradient, when really it did. So what little things apply here? Food choices? Equipment? Gearing selection? All of these are relevant, sure, but I've pinpointed something better, something different, to help me make it over lumpy terrains a bit easier. I've discovered how to simply... eliminate those climbs from bicycle tournaments. Proof!

I was experimenting here, and although I did the same climb eight times, I only did FOUR climbs. 

Getting more precise with my calculations. Same climb, six times, or WAS IT??!?!?!

How'd I do it?!?! A Lake WA loop basically flat?

I've been experimenting with this technology for awhile now. Check out stage two from Joe Martin Stage Race last year!

Unless Steve did 4,500 feet of climbing during his three-mile cooldown, you can tell that I had some excellent line choices as well as a successful trial of my new anti-uphill technologies. As you can see by the 2,288 feet of elevation gain, my technology still wasn't perfected.

After nine months of practice, I feel better about my "climbing".

Look out Tour of the Gila, I've figured out how to essentially ride through the center of hills. You know how a mole just kind of burrows its way through bumpy terrain? That's basically what I've been doing on the road, but to a more extended degree.

I'll sell you the technology behind this skill for 100 trillion million dollars.

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All this happened in 2013. I enjoyed it.

Whoa, it's 2014. Wild. Since everyone has forgotten about the excitement and jubilation from the 2013 season, I feel obligated to look into the rearview mirror a bit and share what I found to be fantastical-highlights from the 2013 season.

This is a different sort of highlight reel: less focused on things like results or attacks but more on the experiences and accomplishments throughout the season by myself and my teammates. It was a pretty great year for HB Cycling on all fronts, and these are some moments that reflect that to me.

BAM 2013

1) Let's start with the obvious. Four members of the 2013 HB Cycling roster signed professional contracts and three members signed with strong elite teams. That's an incredible turnover rate for a team, especially with the state of professional cycling in the US. In the year's past, HB Cycling had averaged about one graduation a year. This season, with the team ending, seven of us secured contracts and guaranteed another year of chasing the bike racing bug around the world. I think that shows the incredible program that was built- our graduations were in a large part to the hard work that Alan, Doug and Burke put in throughout the season. So throw yo' hands in the air for:

• Steve Fisher: Jelly Belly Professional Cycling Team
• Jon Hornbeck: Kenda 5hr Energy
• Chris Stastny: Firefighters Upsala CK
• Me: Jamis Hagens Berman

• Colby Wait-Molyneux: HBU23
• Stuart Wight: Team H&R Block
• Ryan Miller: It's a surprise!

2) I somewhat lied, highlight number two *led* to a result, but the true highlight to me isn't the result by itself, but how we got there. Flash back to the Ballard Crit. This race as a whole was one of my (and I think the Seattle crew's) biggest racing highlights of the year, but my highlight reel focuses on a specific moment within the race. The absolutely absurd speed of David Fleischhauer's last-lap leadout. There isn't much else to describe there. David was setting me up for the finish, since I had lapped the field earlier. I panicked and yelled at him to go way too early. I heard some form of primal grunt followed by what I can only assume was 1800w for the entire last lap. His leadout was so incredibly fast that he decimated the field behind us and shredded my legs to pieces. I saw a lot of feats of cycling power last season, but I firmly stand behind this statement: This leadout was the most impressive piece of cycling I saw (was a part of) last year, pro and amateur combined. It was just so fast, and way longer than it should have lasted. I'm shaking my head right now thinking about it. Crazy.

It was the last lap.

3) An overall highlight for a lot of us was the Tour of Walla Walla trip in general. It was the first moment for me where I was in a position to win a GC and had to call the shots on the road, it was the first time that our team really gelled together, and we all gained a new confidence in eachother and our abilities. It was a pretty great weekend, made better by the fact that we had a team made up of people from: Washington, Oregon, California and Utah. The real excitement, and real highlight, came when I was driving home across the pass with the Californians (Danny and Staz) and we nearly ran out of gas somewhere in that area that has no gas stations. We barely made it to the gas station at the top of Snoqualmie Pass, and all of a sudden the California Kidz saw snow. This is not normal for people who live on the beach or in the desert, so to top off a great weekend with some midnight fun made it an especially memorable trip.

4) Having phone service at Gila when no one else did, haha suckers.

2013 was the best year that I have had in cycling, both on and off the bike. I'm sure I speak for all of my teammates when I credit the incredible program that we got to be a part of. I'm very excited for the new team and new challenges that await me in the next couple of months, but for now, I practice my pedaling. Bye.

"Abraham Lincoln once said that if 'he had six hours to chop down a tree, he'd spend the first five hours sharpening the axe'. You have a great task ahead, but you are not yet sharpened. It will take time, and require great energy"

-Excerpt from Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior, by Dan Millman

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