Speed
Originally uploaded by Ben J-M

I feel the need. Photo courtesy of and copyrighted to Joe C.

Racing action
Originally uploaded by Ben J-M

I've been packing boxes all day to get ready to move to watsonville Friday, but I took some time out to hit the nightly track workout. It's nice now the sun is down and it's cool.



Nice guy and track newbie Dan Martin took a bad hit crashing out of his second track race ever, after winning his first. Ya gotta learn but hitting the deck is not the way, Dan. You had is worried a bit but glad to see you walk it off.

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My little boy's growing up, out of the crib and into the toddler bed.

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it was the fastest of times, it was the slowest of times...

Philly this year was strange for sure, i guess everone says that every year but this one was perplexing. too many teams thinking they HAD to be in the break, too many guys going hard up the wall, too many guys waiting around for a sprint finish, it all added up to no break getting significantly away, no let up of the pace for almost 6 hours, and a huge crash at the finish because everyone thought they could win the big one.

we DID do the race in record time for an average of over 27 mph, but it was never hard per se. or, at least it was not as hard as it could have been, no one really smashed it up the wall (i guess no euro dopers to ride the thing in the 53X15 which, seriously, has happened) and no team went to the front and rode hard for more then a half a lap. there were constant attacks and my impression was that it was run off like a 100k crit...X2.5 times.

at the end coming off logan circle T-Mobile was winding up their leadout and everything looked to be going according to plan when the wheels fell off big time, i guess a Successfulcrashing.com rider went straight into the train and the whole pack exploded. lucky for me the crash fanned right and i was on the left, so i only had one t-mobile flailing on the pavement in front of me. a quick hop to the left made sure he didn't get my chainrings inserted in his head but i think i may have clipped a pedal...sorry dude. i snuck a peak right and saw bikes flying, guys hopping the median straight into the oncoming caravan, some try and hop the median and failing, and i had to look away. it was mesmerizing and terrifying at the same time. i'd like to see the replay on youtube, i'm sure it was crazy.

anyway, survived that one and just rolled in for top 30. Emile was almost top 10 (11th), avoiding the whole mess entirely, and rich made it through unscathed and just coasted across for 50th.

We got 'er done rural style after Reading, Emile and I rode the 75k back home with a few unexpected hills. This motorpace session more then made up for it, watch out we're going to be super quick come Sunday.



Well maybe...

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Andy got a cool carbon fiber chest brace to keep his back from moving around too much, he'll probably have to wear it for 8-12 weeks. Stinky!



He's looking worlds Better than last night, and I've gotten to hang out all day. He got a big stack of get well cards today, and it very much brightened his day. Thanks all!

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We've created a website with lots of information and updates on Andy and his progress. please go to:
also, if you'd like to email in notes of support, or contact us about helping Andy or the family, please direct to "andy" at jacquesmayniacsdotcom.

I've known fred for several years now and he still holds downthe "Fred" title pretty well. At least he wears jerseys with sleeves now.

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Scotty rode the break like a champ today...until he got crashed out in the last few laps. I did a hit out on the last hill and it made Jelly Belly hit early with rich on the wheel but the line came too early and we were 2nd and 4th.

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Day two is done and it was a bit wierd.

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And its a long transfer back to Silver City.

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I sucked wind all the way up the last climb today, I really didn't have it today, not like if normally have it anyway.
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So that might be better then I thought.
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We just got done withe the TT at the of the Gila, I went okay but felt like I was sucking wind pretty bad by the end. No idea what the results are, check thbe Gila website for those.

We're staying 25 miles out of town with a great host family, living is good and we're well taken care of. The only problem is there's no cell reception or internet so connectivity is only available when I'm in town. I'll try to keep the posts coming.
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read on to learn how to glue tubulars.

I've been up in the coastal range the past few days, first of all it's great to be back home and riding my home roads for a few days, but spring has also sprung and that means everything is growing like crazy, including poison oak. There are huge thickets of this stuff growing along every inch of the road, with large branches hanging out over the shoulder. I can't imagine what its like to go mountain biking. Just thinking about it makes me itch.

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The tour's over, I ended it with an effort off the front with two other guys but flatted anticlimactically and went back to the bunch. I was cooked by a lap later and drifted off the back to pull out when Omer flatted and I was right there to help him chase back on. I worked hard at that and then I was REALLY cooked.

Not having the right prep the week before the tour has turned into grinding myself into the ground, being a little tired has turned into being sick, and the whole week has really worn on me. The good thing is my legs never went into maximum so I think they should be good once I get well and a few long rides in me.
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Our second car in the caravan.

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The race was a nightmare, and then it's a traffic jam getting off the mountain. It takes an hour to drive 15 miles to the hotel.

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at least i look fast.

from someone over in OV Land.

Anonymous said...
AJM is actually doing Goergia and it was BJM in the break last week at Sea Weasel

4/19/2007

where do you people come up with this stuff!?!

This is all butter.

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Is the best I could do in the TT today, I could tell early that the legs weren't under me today and I just felt like I was groveling along. I think if I could have had a better prep week I might have been able to drive a bit harder and gain that minute or so that would have put me in the top ten. But who knows, that TT is an absolute brute and I would have suffered regardless. Fortunately for me I feel like I'm on the upswing and I hope that my Priority Health teammates and I can put our stamp on the race. We still have three good stages to ride and I think we're going to get some good poortunities to put the name out there.
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i did an interview with cyclingnews.com a while back, it's finally come out so read here to get the scoop.

and there was no need for us or any of the other teams to chase.

really, people, think about it. we're not there for GC. plain and simple. i'm the strongest guy on the team right now, and i'd be out of the top 20 after brasstown. toyota and jittery's was about the same, grajales was 18th or something in the tt and justin england would be fighting for top 10 in the big climbing day. i'm talking about super strong guys here and we'd all get smashed. i think all the teams were smart, recognize the situation, cut bait and now there's a huge opportunity for stage wins coming up over the next four days. it's on like boiled corn, as Emile would say.

so today we had a pro-tour training ride, a big group went away and that was all she wrote. we tooled along for close to five hours and took it REAL easy, you could stop at any point in the race and get back on without even getting your heartrate up. the roads were pleasant and the climbs might have been hard to race up, but we wouldn't know about that. when we got close to the finish, a half an hour down from the race winner, the stupid USA team ramped it up to win the sprint for the laughing group. if this is the future of american cycling then we have a lot to worry about.

here's some KOM action.