Wattage cottage

Well today was the TT and it was a pain train for sure. It was pissing…ahh now this is the beauce I remember from 2005. It was raining hard enough at one point it actually hurt. It was awsome…no joke I actually enjoyed it…quite epic…hard and crazy. In the end I was able to pull out a 3rd place which I was more than happy with…it was what I thought I could do if I had a good ride… and I did…. so perfect…Svien ended up second and Ryder Hesjdal rode away with the jersey…but we all had good rides and that is how it shakes out…check out the pic…Rocky as a cyclist no? I Coulda been a contenda…

DON’T FRIG IT UP

Well if the Pan American Points race was being run on festivase rules I would have won by a land slide. I for sure had the best feats of strength…unfortunately that is not how these things work…so let me break it down for you.

The race started off well…In the first few laps I was away in break with some strong contenders…The bell rang, I won the first sprint with ease. We continued our pursuit of the hind end of the field. The bell rang again…I sat on the back of the group of 5…with a tone of legs to sprint with…but it was early in the race and if I started wining sprint after sprint the group might just sit up and we wouldn’t get the lap…I needed that lap. We got the lap shortly after…the rest of the race was aggressive and blur. I tried my best to keep track of who was who…and kept scoring big points whenever they where available. I had two things working against me…1 I was the only Canadian in the race..no help… no deco…if the Canadian guy went they all knew I had lapped the field so there was no hesitation no check. I on the other hand was working with nothing but decoys everywhere. In the end I just couldn’t keep track of them all.

With no board and exact idea where I stood all I could do was listen for my name in the Spanish garbled sound…I was in the “top 4 contenders” but was not sure…all I knew is it was close but with who I couldn’t say. And in the end I was tied…for 3rd with the Mexican…but didn’t know…and he did…took a flyer and finished just a head of me on the line…If only I had gone for that one sprint early on…I would have won it and had a silver medal…but that is racing…All I know is…if there are points…and can get them I will from now on…and deal with the repercussions later. EVERY time I have been in a points race and had a chance for early points and left them, I have regretted it. The points is a complicated and mature race…This is the best I have finished at this race in the points…but somehow it is still an extreme disappointment…the potential for so much more existed…It takes such a long time to get these things right…but at least no I feel like I have the tools…and like a master carver…I just need to learn to use them…so all that really stands in my way is time spent carving…which in my case is racing my bike…still…soooo frustrated.

pursuit of…um..pain

Well I have been training for Points Race as many of you may know…as a result this is my face after a pursuit…for the love…that hurt. but the time was ok. Close to my PB’s and with not real work on it…but let me tell you I am opened up now…I just love this picture…I think Andrea pretty much got what pursuiting at this level is all about…the best part is every guy that does one will have this look in his eye at one point. Andrea is one of my roomates back in Burnaby…and let me tell you she is pretty good with the old camera as well…this could be a pain poster…or something…So yeah check out her other pictures on canadian cyclist or her web site.

Points race tomorrow…time to feel the burn.
later
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Rethink your mental space…

“Success at any endevour, on any scale, is enlightenment…”
- IronMIike - From a man who understands the true meaning of success better than anyone I know.

Tipping Point

Well I think the beatings on friday got me fired up for the points on saturday…I came out pissed and tried to stamp some authority on a race that I feel holds my future on the track. I qualified 2nd in my heat behind olympic gold medalist Mikhail Ignatiev. A good start no prizes but it got the job done and got me feeling better about my riding anyway.

The final came around again in only a few hours so I went back to my casino/hotel and ate a casino/hotel sammy…that was gross and not ideal but fuel anyway.

In the final it was pinned from the gun. I scooped some points in the first sprint then a dangerous group rolled away and I wasn’t there..bad move…but with me and a few others working for almost 60 laps we held them at half a lap and slowly pulled them back. Then once we where a group I rolled away. And who else was with you ask, Mikhail Ignatiev. Dude was a wrecking ball…oh yeah and did I mention he rode the team pursuit and won only 5 min before…the rest of the race was just him putting the wreck on…and me hanging on…in the final sprint I had a good turn of speed but bad position…with smarter riding and similar legs I can improve on the 8th place finish I had here…but it was a good start to a world cup season that I hope is on an upward trend…coming in I didn’t feel like I would ride very well…and thel legs didn’t feel great here. I rode with alot of fight but in the end the job got done…more or less. Anyway I will be heading home to BC and hopefully get a solid 2 weeks in before I head to Moscow…If I can keep my form moving in this upward direction I think moscow will be a good race for me.

Thanks for all the support and emails over the past few days…it helped a lot.

We need Some “POOP OFF”

Well After the first day of racing at sydney we team Canada has come out a little worse off then a porche under a telephone wire. Travis, Gina and I all…all seasoned competitors came out looking like JIT’s…What the heck happened. We have all raced at this level before…what is the problem? Well the general concensis seems to be lack of current experneience. We have experience yes but the first world cup is always a wake up call… “johnson pull your head out of your ass”. I basically rode a respectable pursuit…good time (4:35 somthing) and 2o min later jumped on the track for the scratch qualification…granted I was probably the only guy doing that and if I had been in the race and not had the legs maybe I would complain but that is not what happened…I had the legs legs where comfortable infact. I just made a tactical errors…was not cut trought didn’t grab the balls of it or whatever…in the end I didn’t qualify in a race I should have been able to no problem. I just made a bad move…granted it was a very bad move…probably the worst move of my international career actually…and in the end it made for no spot in the scratch final. Now don’t worry I am going to brush off pic up and hit it hard for the points tomrrow…that is the one I am REALLY here for anyway…the scratch was almost an option…and I am happy with my pursuit time…even if it didn’t put me where I expected it too.

But the long and the short of it is…we need to race more…not sally johnson sissy races but really hard ass stuff…at least once before we roll into a world cup. Every year we all come out with good motors and make tactical mistakes against guys that have 1 or 2 mor races allready under their belts this season…no point in puttinhg all your eggs in one basket if there is a hole in the bottum that you can see. I am lucky cause the stupidity I seemed to suffer from came in the least important race for me this year…if there was one race this year I could suck in it was the scratch here. Anyway I am going to use the poo remover to clean teh crap out of my sheets and use more than cromagnon portions of my brain tomrrow…that with my half decent engine right now should produce something a little better. Wish me luck…