Firday Night Lights

I finally got a chance to race a friday night series event here in Indianapolis with all my Marian College homeboys, andwe had a blast. The whole team is a little smashed from training 2x-a-days so we were not feeling great, and subsequently lost the first two races to very strong guys from other teams even though we outnumbered them hugely. In the final race we just quadruple teamed them and sent guys off the front until they got frustrated and stopped chasing... sort of lame, but its a bike race... and we wanted to win.

Our new team kits came in as well; Rob here in front is sporting both the new clothes and some amazing 70's feathered hair.

The races went as well as could be expected, I am right on target for a nice big peak. You could say I am in the valley right now, having worked so hard on the bike, to where I am super fit but a little tired and not as explosive as I need to be. There were signs of the old sprint however, on a few prime laps. I found out afterwards that I had accidentally sprinted like a total psycho for $3.50, literally. That has to be the smallest prime anyone has ever won.

Below here are some photos that you can check out at your own risk. I just salvaged my memory card from the camera I put through the washing machine, and found these gems. Jaime and I had never been to a nice hotel, and the Boise twilight race promotor put us up in this ritzy joint that gave you mints on the pillows and sweet robes, so naturally we had to go big with them. Have a look in the background at the chics working out on the TV, Jaime has really bad taste in television, its either chics working out or Telemundo.

Madison Cup Part II

Madison racing is easy... NOT!!! Poor Josh is about to be hurled back into the fray here and looks none too happy about it. "A" for effort for sure though.

Wild Ol' Weekend

I was starting to wonder when those magic legs would come around this year... and they finally showed themselves at the Madison Cup! Going into this event I was a little nervous, I had done a very small madison race, which didnt really challenge my skills, but 15 teams of top American and international guys with 500+ screaming fans is totally different. My partner was Josh for the night, and he taught me pretty much all I needed to know (how NOT to die) in a minute or two, and before long it was time to dance. In this photo Mario Mazza and I are getting pumped up in out cubicle, something you dont get at most tracks.




After getting a sense of how the race operated, Josh and I got into a rythm of attacking about 2 laps before the sprints and holding on. We got on the leaders board in 3rd doing this by the second madison of the night. (3 races are held to find an overall champ.)
Check out the goods!!! My new Avanti Pista track bike, and Zipp disc and 808 sitting atop trutrainer rollers makes for some serious rubbernecking at the track...

In the final race, which was 100 laps, the other teams were wise to our strategy, but we didnt have to wait long for the field to start shattering. The team which won, Garmin Chipotle, were on the attack again, and we very nearly bridged up to them and took a lap on the field, which would have earned us 2nd place. But the inneficiency of our exchanges left us both sub 100% and we never fully made contact.

Though we came down a little bit in the results in the finale, both Josh and I were really pleased to have earned 5th. It was one of those races that makes you say, "this is why I love bike racing." Another big part of that is the level of support Erin and Marty give to the riders their hard work also brings a great crowd (not just moms and girlfriends, but real fans!) to the track.



We also made a stopover at the Kisena velodrome so I could qualify for nationals, which I did. Heres the next thing I learned about madison racing- its akin to getting hit with a dump truck. My body was so shattered, I struggled through the whole day, packed up and headed up to the final race of the weekend, Chris Thater. We struggled a bit during this one, Hayden and I were arguing over who was supposed to lead who out, but not in the usual way, this time it was like this: "no way man, I have crap legs, Im leading you out," "no way, get on my wheel, its your turn." So just like that I have a world champion leading me out for the field sprint. Turns out we both had crap legs and I came in 42nd, and Hayden somewhere a little further adrift. I found out afterwards that when I lost the wheel in the shuffle for position, Ivan Dominguez got on it and pretended to be me and tried to talk Hayden into leading him out! The tricky fella! It didnt work, if you've ever heard him speak, you'd know it wasnt me pretty quick, I aint from Cuba!

If youd like to see more photos from the weekend, check out www.edwinhadi.com, he does some really excellent work!

Race and Rest

Crit nationals have come and gone again without another stars and stripes jersey for the wall. It played out like is usually does, lots of crashes, yelling and screaming at eachother and a big ol’ field sprint at the end. After positioning myself in the front for what felt like the 100th time that day I was lost in the shuffle and was looking at best 20th place, so rather than chance the inevitable wreck in the final corners I sat up and watched as guys raced past me for the lower placings.
To be honest it was pretty disappointing, but my mind and body weren’t in sync and it’s not the sort of race you can force a result by force of will. Maybe next year I’ll take a flyer! The good news on the day was that Marco got 2nd and Matt got 5th! That was pretty excellent stuff.

I’m back in school again, it’s nice to have started getting my final semester out of the way. We’re spending a lot more time on the track preparing for collegiate nationals, dialing in our team pursuit squad, sorting out our equipment and putting the finishing touches on our fitness. For me its all about resting the long, hard road season out of my legs and getting my leg speed back up to perform in track races.
I wish I had my camera! If you recall a previous post, I washed it with my race luggage and its gone the way of the dodo. The reason being, I have a sweet new track bike! Check out their website, http://www.avantibikes.com/track/pista-pro.aspx?bid=101. I can’t describe in enough detail how sweet this ride is. I’ve never been on something so stiff, light and agile on the track, but not only that; its really sharp looking, almost like a piece of artwork. I’ll be racing it for the first time this weekend at the Madison of the Americas in T-town and the elite nationals qualifying race in Kissena NY

pain session

What is a pain session, you ask? 3 kilometer team pursuit efforts followed by standing starts in a 96 inch gear. What does all that mean, you ask? The Marian College cycling team is back in town and we are dong two-a-day workouts on the track!

We have a very large group or riders this year, and plenty of roadies making the track conversion, but under the guidance of coaches Hopkins and Peterson theres no sketchiness. Even more exciting for me, there is no backtalking, no whining, no eye rolling or fake injuries to skip out on practice. I think this is due mostly in part to the vibe they get from the coaching staff, but also from the other seniors on the team and myself.

As for my own performance this week, I could have hoped for livelier legs a week before the national championships. The Marion Classic races took a little more of a toll than I had thought, and the very challenging track sessions on day one of our training camp put me deep in the box. I am coming around pretty well, riding a little better each session to where I felt pretty quick last night, but no where near the form I will need to defend my track title this september, so plenty of work to do.

Coming up --- Downers Grove, followed by Madison of the Americas and Chris Thater.

New Site Launch!

Greetings All - From here on my homepage will be www.bvdgracing.com. This blog will continue but be linked from the new site. It is a work in progess so check in through the coming week or two as I put the finishing touches on it!

Bennet