August....here we come!!

Okay, so I know it's been a few weeks since I last posted.  It's been a ride indeed.  Lots of ups.....lots of downs.  Overall, no complaints.  I'll start by getting the negative out of the way.  After returning home from Kansas City, I had a horrible week or 2 of training.  Could not seem to find my legs and had a few races that didn't go all too hot for me.  Did a hard road race with Todd and Jake T. in West Virginia and had a rough day on the climbs...got popped out just 30 miles into the race.  Not good!  Came back the next day to race my heart out at a local crit.....found myself in the break all day (trying to disguise how terrible I felt) and held on until the last 1/2 of the last lap when I blew up.  Again, no legs.  Went into the following week of training and didn't finish a few of my rides.  At this point, I'm ready to pack up, head home and call it quits.  A solid conversation with my coach later and I'm back on it.  Sometimes we just need a reminder that this sport is not only hard....but long!!  Everyone goes through spurts of having great legs as well as horrible legs.  Anyway, all this was leading up to the PA State Road Race Championship in Birdsboro, PA.  5 of my teammates were making the long drive to come and do whatever they needed to do to get me the win/jersey.  I'm proud to say that we accomplished our goal.  I wrote the race report for our team website and copied and pasted it below.

 Robeson Road Race (PA State Championship), 84 mile road race P 1/2/

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Birdsboro, PA

Results:  Rick Norton (3rd), Jacob Mueller (5th, 1st PA finisher-jersey, gold medal), Todd Hesel (12th)

Squad:  Rick Norton, Blair Berbert, Jake Tremblay, Todd Hesel, Russ Brown, Jacob Mueller

Tough, rolling 7 lap course with 2 climbs significant enough to cause a selection.  Being the only PA resident on the team, the plan was that I would be in either a late race break or keep me fresh for somewhat of a sprint finish.  Bottom line....we want the PA jersey.  Mission accomplished.  First and foremost, I have the best teammates in the world.  The race started off fast with Russ Brown setting a pace that PA riders are still gawking about.  He was also responsible for covering early moves which he did a fantastic job of.  The first 3 laps were rather uneventful, but it was evident to all that we were out to race as we set a high pace.  The rollers/2 climbs per lap, were starting to wear on most riders, and during the 4th lap, after a hard Rick Norton pull, I rolled off the front solo.  Without putting too hard of an effort in, I looked under to see a lone rider bridging up.  We would roll together for a few miles before 2 more riders made their way to us.  We now had a group of 4 with roughly 36 miles left to race.  I knew I needed and wanted at least 1 teammate with me so I decided to take easy pulls in the break.  Just as I thought, 12 miles later, Todd and another non Kelly bridged up.  We now had 6 total with both Todd and I included.  We would roll the next 12 miles with Todd doing a great deal of work.  It was somewhere during this episode that Todd quietly informed me that he had nothing left.  He would prove himself wrong later in the race.  He worked so hard to keep me fresh and going into the last lap Rick and 6 other riders bridged up.  Perfect!!  This was the perfect scenario for us as Rick and Todd would turn themselves inside out to keep me ready for the finish.  Several riders would attempt little attacks here and there as Rick and Todd would cover them all.  Finally, 2 non-PA riders got away and we decided to let them go.  Soon thereafter, Rick would roll off with another non-PA which would prove to be the perfect scenario as this would force others in the break to chase.  We would not see them again as Rick ended up taking 3rd place.  Meanwhile, our break was rolling along with everyone looking at each other for direction.  With Rick securely gone, Todd got on the front again to make the race hard.  I would sit and wait for my jump.  With 1k to go, all uphill, the attacks began and I knew I had to pull through as Todd's job was done.  I went with the attack, sat in and jumped as hard as I could to take the field sprint and the PA State Championship.  

Huge props to my teammates.  They did a fantastic job.  Murray, as always, was huge for us.  As some may know, I go through bottles more than anyone else in US Cycling.  Without Murray and feeds, we don't survive.  Thank you Murray.  Poor Blair had a mechanical early on and after pulling over to fix it, he would not be able to reattach to the group.  He'll be back and ready to go for Page Valley this Saturday.  Rick Norton crushed himself on this race.  Again, his late race move would prove to be priceless in taking the pressure off me.  Jake Tremblay coupled with Russ Brown set a killer pace early on.  It was their job to make the race as hard as possible for everyone.  They clearly succeeded.  Jake would flat somewhere nearing the 4 lap mark while Russ pulled himself out after his workload was done.  Todd would stick with me till the end.  He carried me in the 6 man break, and than again in the last lap as things got dicey.  He also learned a lot about himself as he rode through the 'red' the last 24 miles.  Impressive!   It was a great team victory and we plan on carrying it out this weekend for the MABRA RR Jersey.

Pic 1 of 2 of the crew from the PA Championship Road Race...(L to R)  Rick Norton, Todd Hesel, Jacob Mueller (tiny medal...jersey to come soon), Jake Tremblay, and Russ Brown.

Pic 2 of 2 

This week has been awesome.  My training is coming back....slowly.  Tuesday I got out with my good friend, Stephan Kincaid on a recovery ride.  We hit up the Java Coffee shop, Suloman's Ice Cream Store and than the swimming pool with Hunter and Scooby.  A great day of riding, conversation and quality time with my friend.  Good stuff!  Random pictures from the ride below:

Random "Murphy House" at some camp/resort we biked through...private property...we got chased out!!

 

What!?!?!?....a pay phone???  Had to get a picture of this as it was on the Murphy House.

Seven Stars Farms Yogurt....found at Sulomans Milk Store (they also have amazing ice cream).  Anyway, this is my dad's latest kick.  He swears by this yogurt and its a local farm that makes it here in PA. 

Wednesday brought some intensity and my legs responded well.  Not 100% yet, but they are coming back.  My last target goals of the season are Green Mountain Stage Race and Univest, both in September.  For now, we focus on this Saturday in Page Valley, WV.  It's the site of this year's MABRA (Mid Atlantic Bicycle Racing Association) Road Race Championship.  This means we are fighting again for another jersey.  We need to defend our title from last year as teammate Kevin Gottlieb won it.  The course is a challenging 74 mile race with a significant amount of climbing.  Sunday we may jump in a crit just down the road from the road race.  It'll be a great weekend as we plan on staying at teammate R's cabin in the Shenandoah Valley (picture above).

Off the bike, life continues to grow interesting.  Not sure where things are all going, but my 1yr adventure is fast approaching its end.  I've been in the process of doing some networking to start my search for a job of some sort.  Looking at the cycling industry is my natural inclination.  I've got a great deal of contacts in the industry that are all willing to help me break into the business portion of it.  Companies like SRAM, Cannondale and Trek are of interest to me.  Again, not sure where it will all go, but I can feel my focus slowly shifting.  For now, I will continue to enjoy the ride it's been.  I've got August and September to give it my all on the bike.

Late night and its time to relax.  Bedtime will soon be calling.  Results from this coming weekend to follow.