The Wager

WARNING - DO NOT ATTEMPT TO READ THIS ALL AT ONCE: IT IS A RIDICULOUSLY LONG POST AND YOU WILL COLLAPSE FROM EXHAUSTION


I think it was about a week ago, Nydam called, needed a ride home from the airport. So he called, asked if I would be willing to drive him. Me, with my busy summer schedule, wasn’t sure if I could fit this in. oh wait, all I do is eat, sleep and ride. It’s been a great summer, just being able to concentrate on riding. Well, anyhow, I said I could, he said he owed me. While I was driving him back he mentioned my last blog post, and that he had never responded to it. He said that he would reestablish sluffbugger as a way of repaying me for the ride home or else he would owe me…I thought for a bit, hmm those BMC jerseys are pretty cool, if you don’t restart it, like really start writing on it, then I get a jersey. He promised me, a brand new jersey, if I don’t restart sluffbugger. I thought for a second, now I hope you don’t restart the blog, cause I would like one of those jerseys. He was a lil bummed, “oh, wow, I thought you actually cared about the blog, your just another bike nerd.”

Well, its been a past a week since he told this to me, and I have yet to see a post on sluffbugger. So I’ve been thinking that I would bug him, but considering that I have not written anything on my blog either, I decided that I better post something before I bother him about something. But, on the other hand, if I don’t remind him, then I get a BMC jersey, tough call. But I will risk it to see sluffbugger come out of the cave.

So, initially when I started this blog I thought I would post stuff about each race and more, but now there are so many races that pile up that the thought of writing about each one piles up too quickly and I just get overwhelmed and then they start piling up and the job becomes to big and I don’t write anything.

Nydam mentioned that he should restart the blog, as it helps him let out stuff just as much as I and other people enjoy reading it. I told him that reading his blog a few years back was what opened my eyes, to yea, I can be a pro cyclist. He’s not some superhuman, I can be like that. It was a good day hanging out with him, talked about my racing, just keep learning, staying positive. Then we went for a ride, and even though he’s been hurt and not able to ride as much, he still looked like he belonged on the bike. He looked so comfortable on the bike, just a piece of him, it’s amazing how easy it is to see the smoothness of someone who rides their bike a lot compared to those who don’t. There is this point that you begin to look more at ease on a bike then doing anything else. It just becomes natural, Nydam just looks natural on the bike, that’s where he still belongs, even though he will not get to race the rest of this year, I know that there are more years of racing in those legs, I can see it. That BMC and him are just, one.

Now, heres a gap filler of all the blogs that I missed. Maybe I will write a sentence for what should have been each a blog post.

School – since summer began people have been asking me how I did my first year of college. I tell them “I passed” and I get looks or they ask now what does that mean, of course you passed. What were your grades…did you do well?? And I reply, yes, I passed. I guess that doesn’t seem like a big accomplishment, but for me it was, in high school, trying my hardest usually meant A’s. This year was different, I would give it my all and that would mean a B if I was lucky. College is different, its not so much about how hard you try, they don’t care how hard you try, it’s simply do you know the material or not. And I guess my best skill has always been that I will try really hard, and that doesn’t mean that I can show that on a test very well sometimes. So trying to step my cycling up a level and passing my first year of college was tough, to me, it was an accomplishment.

Mt. Hood – The pre-reg field did not intimidate me as much as it should have. I did not race the way I felt I should have. My first big stage race with pro’s, but these were pros that I race often, like every weekend, the guy who won the race, I race most weekends. It shouldn’t have been that hard. But it was, and I raced more trying to survive rather than racing racing. I was scared to attack, thinking that I should save something, so that I could survive. If I had attacked then there would have been a reason for exploding. But no, I was just pack fodder, just followed wheels around until I couldn’t follow anymore and then crawled to the finish. I never really got to race. All in all a disappointing week. But “stay positive” learn from the experience, now I know what to expect, I can race these guys, I just need to go out there and actually race and stop trying so hard to surive.

Nevada City – Took some time off from racing after hood. Recollected myself and got started with some track racing, which I have fallen into an excitement about. Anyhow, by now everyone has heard about Nevada City and how amazing it was with Lancemania etc. Well, yes, I got to race the man, and yes, it was cool. It was a really good weekend, I drove up the day before with my old team, team swift and hung out with my friends on Coach Laura’s property in smartville, about 30 minutes from Nevada City.
So, this is my favorite race, even before lance was coming etc, its been my favorite race, the course, the atmosphere, I guess I’ve just always been enthralled by this race. I remember being there when I was like 5 years old and watching it. Then I remember watching Steven Cozza race with the pros and I thought it looked so cool. I had done the Junior race, but there were so many more fans for the pro race.
Now it was my turn to do the pro race. My goal was to make it past the point that they stop pulling riders, since they only leave about 50 of the 130 starters on the course, the other 80 riders get pulled from the race and do not get to finish.
The first lap after the neutral period I got on Lances wheel, there wasn’t a lot of fight for it, which was surprising, I was like, come on, I’m riding on Lances wheel, Ive watched you on TV since I was 3, 4?? I rode by the top of the hill on his wheel and gave my family and friends a thumbs up, how cool is this.
I don’t remember any pain the first three laps, I couldn’t feel any pain, I don’t know if my legs felt amazing, riding behind lance, the crowd, the adrenaline, the combo. Then on the third lap, a break had started to form, we were near the top of the hill and lance jumped, I jumped and couldn’t follow him, but was now pulling the field, I gave it a little bit of gas, and then gave the nod, for horner, who was on my wheel, and levi, just behind him, that they could pull, they sortof sat up, not about to pull lance back. I jumped back into the field. Some stuff happened the next time up the hill and I found myself not able to follow, and still it didn’t hurt, I just didn’t have the power to be there, I wonder if it just doesn’t hurt as much with that kind of crowd cheering you on. Found myself in a group racing for about 17th place, we were rolling and then Horner lapped us and my group decided to follow him, I should of dug deeper, I was starstruck or something, “no, no, no don’t follow him, wow, now horner is pulling my group, I cant follow this, chris horner is pulling” I eased up and tried to find my pace. Then with like 5 to go I was riding with my dad’s friend, Jeff Angermann, my dad raced with him in college and now I was racing with him, ha that’s cool. Then kids at the top of the hill started sticking their hands out for high fives. It was like a dream.

During my training rides there are those little flappy reflector things along road that are about the height of a kid, I like to pretend that they are kids asking for high fives, so I ride by and slap them, and they wobble, and I guess it keeps me motivated as I go out and train, like people are actually out their cheering for me. Got have something out there to keep you motivated on some days.

So when I saw kids actually wanting a high five, I was like, hell ya, and started giving those kids high fives the last few laps. I didn’t start putting around, but I opened my eyes for the last few laps, and just tried to embrace the moment, it was an experience that I wanted to savor, I remember racing down the hill, smiling as I looked at all these people, for a bike race, wow.

The best part was after the race finished, there was a victory lap thing, and fans everywhere I could see had their hands out giving out high fives, I rode around giving high fives around the entire course, it was surreal.

So I guess, thanks Lance, that was awesome.

This past weekend – Still trying to get my upgrade from a cat 2- to a cat 1. So I was gunning for this weekend as a good chance to get some points and finish this thing off. First was Leesville gap, I was riding pretty well, racing for 5th place, tire started splitting, bulging, about to explode, I was really hoping it wouldn’t go flat, I would be stuck out there in the valley until my dad decided to drive out and find me. I got dropped from my group just before the feedzone, got there and was able to get a wheel change from my dad and then I finished it off riding solo most of the way, finishing 14th or something.

Then Davis 4th of July Crit – I signed up for 2 races, there was a cat 2/3 race that I thought that I could win, haven’t won a race in a while, thought it might be nice. Got a break going in the first few laps, got caught, was about 10th wheel going into the second corner, bang, people go down in front of me and Sam says I went straight over the bars, landed on my head, scraped up my hip a bit. Don’t really remember a lot, hit my head pretty good, I was sitting on the pavement and I remember thinking I should get onto the sidewalk. Then I was sitting on the grass, heard some guys fighting, I was thinking to myself, chill out guys, this sucks. Some medics came and I was still pretty dazed. Cleaned out my wound, said I might want to go to the hospital for the road rash, naw I’m racing again in a few hours, just clean it up so I can go put on a new pair of shorts. Pro race didn’t go so amazing either, couldn’t find legs to get to the front and make anything happen, was hoping to gun it for the sprint, get some points, but with a lap to go I was too far back and it was sketch, so I sat up and rolled it in.

So it all came down to Sunday, the SLO crit, drove all the way out here because they had a lot of money on the line, even though there was a local crit in Oakland. I was happy when we got there, it was a really cool downtown crit and there were quite a few people out to watch. The course was good for me, a bit of a hill makes a crit so much easier for me, I can move up at ease when theirs a hill for me to move on. So I was following attacks, went solo a few times, then with 20 min to go, hmm, rear wheel felt weird around that corner. There is this thought process that I go through when I think I have a flat, I need to be sure, because it would suck to sit up and realize, wow its not actually flat and now I need to get back to the front, so I moved to the side of the pack and jumped up and down a few times to test if it was feeling flat, I hit a few bots dots, yea, its going flat. Rolled into the SRAM pit, got a wheel, my director was their, told me to go straight through to the front. Then the official didn’t put me in till the last moment, into the very back of the field, “wow are you kidding me, ive been top 20 all race and you put me back in the very back.” I was so angry and I jumped as hard as I could on the hill to move to midpack, next lap, jumped again and found myself solo off the front, “hmm, im not going to hold this” and I eased up a bit and got back in the pack, tried to stay on Bahatis wheel, field kept swarming on me and found myself in about 25th place through the 2nd to last corner, rider in front of me rolls his tubular, sh** not again, bam, right hip destroyed, I watch as a rider flys over me and into the fence. I am so mad, cannot believe this happened to me again. I rolled across the line fuming. Not my weekend.

We went camping that night, that was cool, except sleeping was terrible, since both of my hips are destroyed with road rash.

Maybe I will actually do short little updates for the rest of the season, only time will tell, I still need to write thank you cards for my sponsors people who have helped me that I had meant/should have sent out in January, wow those are way overdue.

Seriously, this blog post is way too long, and I think I wrote it more for myself then anyone, so if you made it this far…wow, I hope it wasn’t terrible to read all of that. Mostly I wrote this so that I could bother Nydam that he needs to update Sluffbugger.
So until next time,
Maybe I will add some pictures, that will be more fun to look at than reading all of this.

Thanks,
Tyler

The Scott Nydam Technique

So basically,
I have realized that most race reports are boring,
its true, I guess that they are good for sponsors, but actually just writing out what happened in the race is so boring to read,
I would know...if it is boring for me to write.....then how can it be fun to read???

"We went really hard, and then someone attack and then we went hard again and brought him back and then we did this sprint at this line and it was great!!"

The type of race reports that I like reading are not usually about the race itself,
its the odd stuff that goes on, Will Frischkorn is good at writing these, and I also particularly enjoy reading reports by Michael Barry.

But,
my favorite writer,
is Scott Nydam,
he writes these posts that are like poems,
its a race report poem,
and Im not sure how he does it

He used to have this awesome blog
"sluffbugger"
if I recall,
just kidding,
I couldn't forget that

Since then he has gotten a pro website and has hit the bigtime,
so he doesn't post as many of his awesome "Poems"
but thats OK,
since he is getting interview by big time websites
left

and

right

and hes training his butt off,
it's understandable...
I suppose,

before he was really big time though,
my teammate Ryan Eastman and I decided to name a hill after him.
It was Trinity road.
Now you must understand,
that we named this "Scott Hill"
BEFORE
he conquered it in the Tour of California in 2008
We told him that morning before his big day,
that we had named this climb after him.

He dismissed us tho
You see, he is a modest guy,
He told us that he didn't deserve to have the climb named after him.

Then he took off that morning,
racing his bicycle,
while he took off we drove to the climb,
hopped on our bikes and rode halfway up to where we could watch this guy climb,
and the rest of the "world class" field.

As we were driving, he had attacked,
as luck would have it,
he was alone off the front,
He was climbing his hill by himself,
faster than the rest of these world class riders.
I like to think that we helped inspire him
either way, he definitely earned his hill that day

Standing along that climb...we heard that there was one rider off the front,
we hoped in our heart of hearts that it was Nydam,
when we heard it was we went crazy,
We had a BMC banner and had put on our running shoes,
literally,
and then around the bend there he came,
we were on a rather steep section,
and for that reason when he neared we were able to run along next to him
and keep up
we yelled and cheered
and
he even smiled...

and that was the most fun that I have ever had as a fan.

Anyways,
It is Scott Nydam's birthday today,
and so this post is just a Happy Birthday.
and a commemoration to his great writing,
hoping that the sluffbugger will return,
I know that he will race great,
but where has his writing gone?

Either way,
let it be remembered
Trinity is SCOTT HILL

Snelling Road Race

Not a great picture of me, but that was the sprint


I think I will start posting again,
so we will start at the beginning of the year,
this was my 2nd race of the year,
and I got a 4th in the P/1/2 race, which was a big result for me,
starting to find my way in the real races, so here goes:

Today we had the first team race of the year, Snelling Road Race. When we got to the race we got to pick up our new Pinarellos, so I was definitely excited and ready to go race.
We took off for the neutral rollout and there was a lot of tension in the group. We finally got the go ahead that we could race and it was on. The pace was fast throughout the race, with constant attacks. We tried to make sure to have a rider in the dangerous breaks, so through the first half of the race Sean, Vince, Blake and I were covering moves. None of the moves were sticking though, perhaps due to many large teams in the race.
Unluckily on Eric went down early in the race and messed up his elbow. He was taken to the hospital for some stitches, and we saw a gnarly picture of his torn up elbow. Hope he is doing alright.
On the last lap and there was a small break. I expected that they would be brought back so I decided to get ready to see if I could put in a good sprint. I found where Daniel Holloway was and preceded to follow him for the lap. On a small hill about 3 miles from the finish Holloway attacked. I followed and was able to bridge to the break. I hit the last rough section with the front group, where upon the field had caught our break. I was still happy that I had bridged to the break though, since it put me into perfect position. I followed Jackson Stewart and Holloway sitting 6 or 7 back from the front as the Cal-Giant team led out the sprint with about 3k to go. I came around the final corner right next to Blake and Holloway led out the sprint from there. I gave it everything and was able to finish in 4th with Blake right behind me in 5th and Evan in 11th.
Jackson Stewart ended up winning, Rock Racing’s Danny Finneran was 2nd and Daniel Holloway of Garmin in 3rd. Followed by Lombardi! A good day for the team.


This is what it looked like driving home. In my little suzuki car we fit 3 people, 4 bikes, 10 wheels and everyones luggage etc. I can't believe it fit!!

Alright

...so I lied....
Did not exactly update
I know that EVERYONE is going crazy waiting for a new post from me

So I am on a sweet U23 team called Lombardi Sports

And I got tested yesterday by Daryl Parker, a professor at Sacramento State.
Got to hang out with him for a long time and he explained all the results of my test, as well as told me a lot about science of cycling and gave me some textbooks since I told him that I am studying to have a job like his.
Anyways, the test went real well. Got to see huge improvements since my last test two years ago.
Have had a 29% increase in my VO2 max, to put that into perspective, taking EPO would give you an 8% increase...
So with my VO2 max at 76.5 I am feeling pretty happy as well as putting out 6.5 watts/Kg. I am psyched, physically I have the body to make it in this sport, now just have to keep working like crazy and hope it works out.
Body fat at 4.29% was also good, definitely did not have the freshman 15.

Speaking of school, passed my first semester so that was awesome. Was pretty worried, was so difficult was very unsure of where I ended up. With just about a 3.0 at berkeley, I am definitely happy.

Am trying out this new twitter thing. Seems to be the new cool thing.
check it out:
http://twitter.com/tylerbrandt

Change

I guess this is a good time to write a post. It's been a while, yea yea, a long long while. There have been quite a few changes in that time. 

First off - Barack Obama - the new president. A brighter day 

will come, I sure hope so, I am happy, his election gives me more reason to stay in this country. Europe is still where I want to be, but I feel much more comfortable staying here with Obama leading.

A big change in my life.

I am in college now.

Living on my own.

UC Berkeley - GO BEARS

Football team is currently ranked 21st in the nation.

This is also the #1 Public University. 

It's an awesome place.

I have been working my butt off just to survive here, but I am having fun and learning a ton.

I have graduated from Team Swift.

And am off to another team.

Yet to be decided, I will let you know when I find out. 

Wherever I end up, I am working to become a professional cyclist.

That is the goal, my dream. 

"If you give something your all it doesn't matter if you win or lose, as long as you've risked everything, put everything out there." "I mean, haven't you ever loved something that much" - some quotes from my favorite movie "For Love of the Game"

That's how I think about my life, you got to risk everything to do what you love, and some people don't understand some choices, because they might have never loved anything that much. 

Well, I am getting back to training.

Finally raining, so it must be time to train. 

My first race for Cal is this weekend.

MTB on a course that I know pretty well, Tamarancho, about a mile from my house.

Hope that I have good legs, even though I am not training for it at all. Just for fun.

A brighter day...

I await

Next post I will know what team I am on.

I hope to find out soon.

I am sure tired of this process.

-tb

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