Corsicana Stage Race '12

3 Stages - 2 Days 

The first stage was a downtown crit that was fast with good corners, and almost half of the course was brick (some of it was pretty rough too!) I didn't know how my legs would respond after a hectic week at work and less than ideal training in the last several days leading up to this. I must admit that I'm pretty sure mentally my mind wasn't in the right groove... But nonetheless I wanted to do what I could for my team-mates. I ended up feeling great but due to my minimal crit racing experience I wasn't positioned well at the end.. Mad props to Alex for animating the early part of the race!! I think I race a bit too conservatively a lot of the time, I'm going to work on that though!!! 

Warming up!! 

Stage 2 was a short 4 km or 2.5 mile TT... it was a fast one!! Caleb and Alex and myself were all in the top ten.. I forgot my heart-rate strap at the motel so I had no feedback besides speed, but honestly it was short enough that one had to basically go full gas the whole way... 

Stage 3 - 66 mile Road Race. After seeing where everybody was on the overall the night before the race, we decided to see if we could animate the early break. Literally less than a minute in Alex ripped up the left side of the road and I was right on his wheel! 4 other riders came with us and "boom!" that was it. Surprisingly the field let us ride away (I'm sure they thought we were crazy!!) For the most part we all worked together pretty smoothly. As we came closer to the end it became apparent that we stay away, then the pace dropped enough that big bad Brant Speed (the reigning TX TT champ) bridged up to us with 6 or so miles to go.. Now we were all pretty tired from being out front all day so I knew Speed (how cool would that be to have that last name??) would attack before the finish... and he did... The problem was me and Alex had been out of water for an Hr or so already after a fiasco in the last feedzone, so I was on the verge of cramping all the time.... I ended up watching Speed ride away. Ryan Droomgoole (the eventual winner) was the only one able to follow. I tried several attacks coming into the last miles but, nada..... Alex gave one last dig at 1000 meters to go and I opened up my sprint at 200, I had a good gap on the guys but in the last 50 meters my legs completely cramped up and John McAllister pipped me at the line... 

A big thanks to Dallas Racing/ Zac Lylte for putting this on. Thanks to my team-mates who make it  fun all the time. Thanks to all our sponsors!! Th!nk!Finance, Ft. Worth Cycling etc.... Also a big thanks to Berridge Bikes for helping me out of a jam... 

Travis, 

JMSR '12 Stage 4 (Crit)

The mayhem is about to start!

 Wow!!! That was advertised to be one the toughest crits around, and it didn't disappoint. The finish was on a steep uphill with a pretty strong headwind. After staging near the front, I missed my clip-in at least 5 times! so most of my race was spent trying to move up near the front.. For me at least it turned into just hanging on in the last 5 laps.. I ended up with 12th in the sprint up the hill.

One the many turns..

Ouch!! That one hurt.. 

All in all, with the exception of Stage 2, I'm ok with how my weekend went. It was a great learning experience for me. I'm going to all the positives I can out of it....
A big thanks to all who made this weekend possible - Alex for lining up all the housing and logistics and keeping us on an even keel. Rene, our masseuse/soigner. All my team-mates. And lastly my sweet wife Denise for putting up with all of us guys and being so much help all weekend.

Travis,

JMSR '12 Stage 3

91 miles and a lot of punchy climbs on the 3-lap 23 circuit after a 11 mile run out to the loop. I will be the first to admit that after stage 2 my morale was a bit low!! I was questioning my lack of experience and just about everything else. But, after a good talk with my coach Dee Bell, my wife and team-mates I tried to just focus on the this stage.
We started out under mostly overcast skies and cooler temps, and quite frankly I was pretty apprehensive about how my legs would respond. But, after the first 30-45 minutes I could feel I was on track again!! If you've ever raced, you know the awesome feeling when you know you're going just as good as everyone else!!! That was Stage 3 for me.. With Caleb sitting in 11th on the GC we wanted to either have the race stay together or get him in the break. When we missed the break and the gap was getting a bit large with half of the race done, I moved up and with my "re-discovered fitness" went to the front started putting the hammer down! With the field in full chase mode we quickly started reeling in the break, with the break of 9 in sight, Kyle made a move to bridge up on a climb. Perfect!! no more chasing now! so I sat at the front of the field for a bit to give the break a chance, but the several teams with nobody in the break started chasing again. When it became apparent the break would be caught I drifted back but still tried to stay in the top 25. We caught the break with about 5 miles to go, and then it was on!! With the mostly flat run-in to the finish the speeds were very high.. The last several K's were just a constant fight for position, with about 800 meters to go I was feeling good and in decent position but after having to move out in the wind to come around guys that were falling off, I finished 8th... I'm ok with the result racing against the best in the nation!! I feel I've made pretty good progress for just being my 2nd year!!
Next up, the toughest crit I'll have ever done!!

Travis,

JMSR '12 Stage 2

110 miles, the longest race I've ever done and it showed!! Coming into this race my fitness is supposed to be peaking and my numbers show that it is, but at this level a lot of things factor in on the outcome of a race, for example, not eating or drinking right during a race can seriously affect even the best laid plans... But, more on that later.
We started out under sunny, hot and WINDY conditions, now I've raced and ridden in some pretty nasty Texas wind but this was wild!!! After a 3 mile neutral roll-out the attacks started, and they didn't let up till about 20 miles later when the right mix got away. I had a small crisis when I dropped my chain on a climb and despite all the helping hands that pushed me along I had to stop and manually put the chain back on, somehow Caleb and Kyle managed to see my plight and waited up for me and helped pace me back to the field.. crisis averted!! The next 50 miles were pretty smooth till a big crash took out about 15 riders. Now up to this point I was feeling very good, but Mt. Gaylor with its 9 mile climb was looming at mile 70.. We figured that this would be the deciding point in the race and that a select group would power over the top and stay clear, so we tried to stay near the front to avoid spilts. Now everything was going great, we had 3 of us near the front, Caleb, Kyle and myself. but about half-way up the climb I started cramping up and I knew I wouldn't be able to keep pace without completely locking up... so, I watched the field ride away knowing I wouldn't see them again.... after riding alone for a long time I hooked up with a small group and we rolled together till about 5 miles to go and then after a hard pull I completely blew up!! so I rode the lonely ride of shame all by myself till the finish, almost 10 minutes down on the winner... talk about humbling!! Caleb manged a fine 11th and Kyle won the sprint out of his group a few minutes back.
So, today is another day and we'll keep the chin up and ride hard....

Travis,

JMSR '12 TT

Heading out

One word- WOW!!! That was very very painful..... I didn't know what to expect not ever having done an uphill TT before, but now I know!! It's like the hardest TT ever!! On a flat course its possible to build up some momentum but not on this one!! It was 9.5 minutes of pure pain. While I'm pretty disappointed in my final time I know I left everything I had out there. 23rd place is nothing to write home about but it does give us some freedom going into tomorrow and later stages. Caleb rode an excellent TT finishing a bit over 1 second faster than me! Look out world, that kid is going places!!
So tomorrow we have 110 miles on tap and the forecast is calling for strong winds and pretty warm temps.. now  for a good nights sleep!!

Travis,

Yes, it was that hard!!

MSGP '12

4 Stages- 3 Days in Brookehaven MS.

A small 3 man team of Alex Gibson, Caleb Fuchs and myself traveled to our first destination race of the year, The Mississippi Grand Prix. A twilight crit (our first), an 85 mile RR, a 3 mile TT and an 80 minute circuit race. 

The crit was fast and fairly smooth, although there were several crashes. I ended up in the top 15 after feeling very good the whole race, but I lost position going into the last several laps and never got back up front as the pace picked up. But as this was a time-based race we were satisfied to just stay out of trouble and not lose time.

Saturday morning we decided to mark the strongest man in the race, Matt Davis, and just shadow him as we knew he wouldn't let anybody up the road without him going along. The course was nice but not hard enough that a break could get away on, so we ended up all together at the finish. I ended up with a 3rd in the sprint which I was pretty pleased about as the finish was very chaotic and narrow and no one team had anything organized. Saturday evening Caleb and Alex went 2/3 in the TT with Caleb just a mere 1.5 seconds off the winning time. I was never able to get the legs opened and going and ended up in 7th place. After the results were finalized we, as a team were 2/3/4 in the GC going into the last and final circuit race.

Sundays race course was a 6 mile loop with a NASTY and rough section on the back side, and with very windy conditions we didn't know what to expect. Again we shadowed Matt Davis as he had won everything up to this point. After 4 laps a small group got off that Caleb and myself managed to get in, after working pretty well together and putting time on the main field it became apparent that we would stay away.. then the games started!! but we stayed away till the end with Matt Davis taking the win to go 4 for 4!! Caleb pulled out a strong sprint for 3rd and I finished 5th. So we ended up 2nd and 3rd on the GC!! All in all we were pretty pleased with the weekend considering there were just the 3 of us. We are still learning so much and having fun!! Next up is the Joe Martin Stage Race... 

Travis,

Racing'

Wow! I never expected it would go this long between posts but here's a little catch-up. It's been a hectic and busy spring so far with us being very busy at work, and trying to train right plus get some racing squeezed in whenever I can!! But, no excuses... So far this spring everything has primarily been building up for my first major race of the year- Joe Martin Stage Race. But that didn't mean I just raced for training so far this spring! I managed to pull out a win and several podium spots plus several GC podiums at Stage Races.. I've been fortunate and not had to miss much time at all in my training. So, Joe Martin is coming up in less then 10 days time!! I'll try to see if I have the gumption to blog everyday...
Travis,

Racing Season!!

Doing work at Mineral Wells Stage Race

The racing season is now in full swing, and I'm loving every minute of it! All of those long rides this past winter are now starting to  pay off. Even though my goal isn't to be in top form this early in the season I have been able to be competitive in the races so far.. My big goals for the year aren't till later this spring...

AR Training Camp

The 3 Amigos!

   This past weekend 2 of my team-mates Alex and Caleb decided to come up to my house in AR to get in a good weekend of training. We were blessed with beautiful weather and good times!!!  

Getting ready to roll! 

Going up!! 

Having fun!!

Beautiful Scenery

The climbs are hard!

Tired, but happy!!

    On Saturday we drove up to Mena and rode the Talimena Scenic Highway, I've driven it lots of times but never ridden it, I don't know why because it was a fantastic ride!! Strava Data: Day 1  66 miles and almost 7000' vertical!!    

          Sunday we waited till after lunch to hit the road, the temp was a beautiful 60ish degrees!! Thanks to Alex and Caleb for making the drive, we sure enjoyed having you guys here!!

First Crash

The last few weeks have had their ups and downs! First off several days after coming back from Training Camp I got hit by a pickup that pulled out in front of me while on a training ride!! I actually didn't break any bones or ruin my bike except for the front rim. I sustained some pretty bad road rash and deep bruising though.... This all happened several days before my first race of the year, and me not wanting to pull any excuses I decided to go race 4 days later.... No the best idea I've come up with!!! I did OK I guess but I didn't have any snap, I rolled in the bunch though and got some good, hard training done so all was not lost.

Nasty

It hurt worse than it looked!

Now it's over 2 weeks later and my right arm which took the brunt of the fall is still very tender and sore, so Denise finally persuaded me to go to the Doctor and get it checked out. The local sports doctor/chiro thinks I have torn ligaments and/or tendons!! no bueno!!! He sent me to a specialist in Hot Springs and now they've schedualed me for a MRI. It seems like I can't catch a break this winter from the bad luck!! Oh well, surely better luck lies ahead!!

L to R: The author,Alex Gibson,Caleb Fuchs,Todd Farrell,Jeff Klein and Club President Patrick Dougherty

The Author

                                                                         

Team Picture

Kits!!

This past weekend Jan.14-15 Th!nkFinance Cycling Team met at Possum Kingdom Lake, TX for a training camp. We were very lucky to have near perfect weather!!  After a 6.5 hr drive I arrived at team-mate Alex Gibson's condo, several of the Elite Team were there already having come down earlier.
 I was stoked to receive my bag full of team kits etc... Thanks Alex for doing so much in getting everything ready.
Saturday morning after a restless night I woke up feeling half-sick! I manged to hold down some food and after some deliberating I decided to go ahead and ride, that's what I came to do right??
We had a group of 17 including the women's team. After about 4.5 hrs we got back to the cabins and then several of us headed back out to get some more miles in... I ended up with 98 miles so it wasn't too bad for me not feeling very good!!
Saturday evening we all gathered together for dinner and then afterwards we worked on our racing schedule for '12. Exciting!!!
Sunday I woke up feeling almost 100%, we had another beautiful day albeit a very windy one!! We lost some of our number so we didn't have quite as big a group. Some of us chose a longer route than the rest of the team so we manged 82 miles. After some solid climbing and some race simulation provided by Todd Farrell my legs were pretty tired!!

Caleb Fuchs: Our strong-man!

Getting ready to roll..

Big ride

Just finished my longest ride to date! 125 miles, 6.5+ hrs on the bike makes for a long day! It's still good fun though...
It's sometimes a bit hard mentally doing a long ride like that, but it works best for me to take it a little bit at a time.
The key for me have enough energy to get through the day is to start eating early and often and keep eating till I'm home. Here's what I ate today: 1 apple, 1 banana, 1 Honey Stinger Waffle, 1 almond bar, 2 granola bars, 1 KitKat, 1 corndog, 1 Oatmeal Creme pie, 1 Red Bull, 1 Coke, 1 med. cappuccino, 5 bottles of water.
I made the mistake of not eating soon enough and paid for it the rest of the day..