Junior National Championships - Day 2

Day 2 – August 5, 2008

Got up early this morning. Have to start acclimating to going to bed early and waking up early, which I have not been doing much this summer. I need to prepare my body because a few of my races start at 7 AM, which means I probably have to wake up at about 4…ouch. We were hoping to ride with the Slipstream boys at about 10, and being part of Team Swift we had to be prepared early so Laura wanted us ready to go at 9:30. So all of the Team was out there waiting and waiting and then waiting some more (We sat there playing with our new video cameras and taking before Nationals interviews with all the riders). We stood there until 10:30 when we decided to go ride without them.

Ethan guided us out to the Time Trial course and it was pretty cool. It starts on this bike path, but this is no ordinary bike path, at some points the path is as big as a regular road. We made it to the start and too bad they had not put up any signs yet (the day before) so that we could know the exact points of the start and turnaround, but we made do. The course has a few decent climbs that are definitely big gear climbs, but Ryan and I are happy for those at least so that we have a chance to compete with those big Time Trial dudes. It is definitely not a pure Time Trialist course, like Dunlap is for example. We got to the turnaround and then Ryan and I did our pyramids on the way back. My legs felt iffy on the way out, but on the way back during the efforts I felt good. I hope that will hold out through this week.

This is the peak of my season, so theoretically this should be my best form of the year, that is the way that it is supposed to work. There was one sketch part of the course during the bike path portion. We go through this tunnel and then it is a hard left and there is a drop in the pavement through that turn. We practiced that on our way back. Ethan raced back to the hotel due to a problem that I was unsure while on the road; he just said that he needed to get back.

We got back and Ethan was standing with his car. Turns out that someone broke into his room and took credit cards and their car keys. Dang, that was not good. I guess the guy came in while Ethan’s mom was in the shower…sketch. He did not take Ethan’s road bike or laptop or anything though…weird. So they had to deal with that and they have moved on to a Marriot hotel.

So the rest of the day involved getting registered, making some more videos and resting. Tomorrow is the big day, National Championships…I am excited.

over and out,

-tb

pictures from today:

Ethan and I leading the team

Down one of the descent's on the TT course

Interviewing Ethan...and waiting for Slipstream

Photo Op while waiting in the parking lot

Junior National Championships - Day 1

We drove 8 hours from our house to Irvine today and here was some of our entertainment, we were cracking up making these, I hope you enjoy them as well!

Day 1 – Monday August 4, 2008

Coach picked me up in the Team Swift van today at 12:30 and Lindsay and Ryan were already with her, plus moo moo, her cat. My dad came in the van because we ended up having some changes in our plans. My dad was supposed to drive my sisters car down because earlier this summer she had hit a deer and it had to be taken to the shop and fixed, but the shop was still not done with the car yet. So he will have to make another trip down to LA when we get back, that’s pretty annoying.

I am glad that he came in the van though so that we have the mechanic along with us to take care of all of our problems before the Time Trial. Having him along also means that I don’t have to sleep on the floor, which was the original plan. Instead we have extended our room stay and I get a sweet bed, Ryan still has to sleep on the floor though…bummer. He’s still just a little guy though, so he can handle it.I am excited to go race, this will probably be my last Junior’s race ever! Wow! That is a crazy realization. I don’t know if the magnitude of it will hit me until this week is over, but I am definitely hoping to exit with a bang. It seems like just the other day that I started racing, but it has been awhile. 4 years now I suppose, that is quite a long time, more than 1/5 of my life so far.I was working on my resume in order to get on another team for next year, because next year I will be too old for Team Swift. Anyway, I have kept track of all the races that I have done, it was amazing to see visually.

Team Swift has been an awesome experience for me and I feel that with this program I have learned enough to be able to compete on a more experienced team. I am driving in the van driving to Nationals. It will be fun to race and hang out with the team. I brought some ping-pong balls and small Frisbees for the down time. We are staying at an extended stay hotel, which is cool because we will be able to cook our own food. That way we can save money by not having to eat out every night and we can easily eat healthy. We are staying there until Sunday because that is when my final Road Race is, so it should be a good week.

I am happy that this year my races are spread out along the week instead of the three days in a row that it was last year. I might end up having to do 5 races though because my fields are rather large and this year they decided to not have field limits that way everyone that wanted to compete will have the chance. I think that is pretty cool, but it might be quite annoying. It might mean that we will have heats, which are basically pre-races that you need to do well enough in so that you can make the cut to compete in the actual race. Those types of races are weird because no one is racing to win per say. It is all about using the least amount of energy and still make the cut. Anyhow, it will be a tough week of racing, but that is the way that it should be so that you feel a sense of accomplishment by winning.

The Van has been pretty fun thus far; Coach got us these mini video cameras called flip video. So Ryan and I have been playing with those and spending a lot of time laughing. Good for our health I suppose. We also have watched a bit of the 2003 Fleche Wallone on my new Mac Book. There is also this sweet camera on my Mac Book, which has these crazy effects that are really funny. We made videos with those effects and they made us laugh for a while. Plus we listened to a comedian on my iPod = more laughing. I guess you could say we laughed all the way to LA.

-tb

Cascade Classic

Been a long time since I have updated, but finally have had some time to write a report, its been a long busy summer, so here you go

Pre- Race

I have been in Oregon for about a week now before the race, I had other family events that were taking place here, such as a wedding, so it already feels like I have been here forever and have not even been able to race yet. The racing starts tomorrow though and I feel ready to race hard and have some fun. Lindsay has already started racing with the pro women and has been doing awesome. Ryan and I have been trying to help her out with cold water at the finishes etc. Bend is an awesome town and it’s been fun to hang out here, but I can’t wait to start racing tomorrow.

Stage 1 – Time Trial

I got an early start this morning so that I could get a really good warm up for this time trial. It is all out from the beginning, as most time trials are, but the warm up was even more important for this time trial because it was uphill on the way out and then downhill on the way back so the time gains would all be made in the first half. I went out hard and was feeling good with my effort, I glanced down a few times to see my heart rate exactly where I wanted it. Then I got caught by a guy and the rest of the climb I pushed myself way past my LT to try and stay about 10 seconds behind this guy, I did not want to be losing more than 40 seconds in the first stage, that would not be a good start. I raced hard and gave it my all so I had to be content with that; my result was not where I wanted to be though. I was basically out of contention for the overall after the first stage, so now it was a tour for stage wins and good hard training. I found out how tough the category 2 competition would be and it was going to be quite a fight.

About to head out

Getting ready

Ryan Racing

Ryan after finishing

Lindsay tearin it up

Stage 2 – Criterium

Ryan and I rode back from the time trial to our host house. We got some lunch and stretched and rested to recover for the Criterium, which was in the afternoon. We then drove downtown to the Criterium course and got a quick warm up in. Then we had to stand on the starting line forever; there was a crash in the master’s race that was before ours. They even cut down our race from 40 to 30 minutes. It was a pretty sweet course through the downtown and there were pretty decent crowds. They would get huge later that night during the pro race. It was amazing; the crowd was 5 deep around the entire course.

We finally took off and I didn’t get out of the blocks too quick. I began to move up, but there were not a lot of sections that were beneficial to moving. I was getting near the sweet spot when the wheel that I was on took the corner way too wide and I was pushed into the outside curb and ended up in the rear of the field. There was not much time left to race and with the important mountain stage coming up tomorrow morning I just took it easy in the back and rolled in with the field. Ryan sprinted into 7th with a flat though, that was impressive! During the race there were Webcor women throughout the course cheering for us, that was really cool. After our race we went for a spin, then sat with Coach and watched the pro women’s race. She was coaching the Webcor team so we got to listen to her tactics as she talked to them through the radio; it was really fun to see how different coaching is for pro races.

Stage 3 – Road Race

We set out early again and drove out to the start of the Pro men’s race. We had to drop my dad off there because he was working for Sram and we got to talk with old Swifties Steve Cozza and Nathan Miller. Steve gave us some tips about the stage, it was really cool to have the inside knowledge. We then drove out of town to where our start was. We started on a climb and some guys decided to drill it from the gun, I was hurting, as I had not gotten a really long warm up. I made it over the top though and then we descended for about 10 miles, it was crazy. The race rolled on and I felt good. The pack was very large and we only got 1 lane so it was hard to move around, but I was good at it, sneaky. It was really fun racing with such a large field.

The race would come down to the last climb though and I was trying to save all my energy for that. In order to appropriate my energy correctly I would need to eat right and drink plenty. Unluckily though our feeder got lost and didn’t make it to the feed zone. As I was going through the feed zone and realizing that she wasn’t there I tried to get bottles from anyone but could not. It was really hot though and I needed some water if I was going to do well. I looked down at my stem, which I had written down the course details on and realized that we still had some flat sections before we would hit the climbs. I decided to go back to the caravan because we had been told that there would be some neutral bottles back there. I asked the commissar if he had any water, he said he did not and he said that the medic car didn’t have any either. (Even though on the last climb the medic car was handing out bottles of water, so the commissar didn’t communicate correctly with me) I ended up being able to get a bottle from a rider that we had been hanging out with, Chris Lyman on Z-Team. I really appreciated that. I made my way through the field and back to the front and soon we hit the climbs. There was a hard part then a plateau and then a last climb to the finish. I suffered up the first half and just hung onto the front group as the field split up. I recovered as best as I could during the plateau then we hit the final climb.

The group hit it hard and I began to realize that if I tried to hang then I would crack and burn, so I sat up and went to a hard tempo that I could maintain to the finish. I hit a second wind and passed quite a few guys that had cracked off the front group and finished in 57th place. A good effort, but still not much to be excited about.

Stage 4 – Circuit Race

The last day, I woke up tired, not a lot of energy on the last day, I can’t imagine racing another 17 stages – like the grand tours…amazing. I also have realized how much easier it would be to be on a pro team though when all that you have to concentrate on is the racing and not all of the other little details like having food and bottles ready and making sure the bike is clean and ready to race. It’s a lot of work. We got down to the start and had a chat with coach before the take off. After the neutral I dropped my chain just as the real race was beginning and just then I feel my teammates hand on my back as he pushes me and I get my chain back on. Now that’s a teammate! The course was fun; it was probably one of the best circuit races that I have ever done. It was a pretty long course; 17-mile laps and we did 4 laps. The course had a little bit of everything and one of the roads was called Tyler Road, which was cool. I got to race on my own road! I did not have great legs, but I was surviving in the front of the group and I was hurting on the climbs, but hanging on.

There was one really steep climb at the end of the lap and that was going to really hurt on the last lap just before the finish. I hit it hard in mid-pack and was able to hold on giving it my all. I hung in at the end of the pack for the finishing stretch and that was all that I could manage. Ryan had a super impressive ride, putting in a 4th place sprint, even with junior gears. I was not able to achieve the results that I had hoped from the stage race, but I got a lot of good training and I hope that will be very helpful for nationals. That will be the culmination of my season before I head off to college at UC Berkeley. Thanks for reading,Tyler Brandt