Good coffee is going mainstream.  Down with Starbucks.

Nationals in Greenville were epic.  I’m going to say the hardest race I’ve done so far this year.  From KM 0 the race was full gas.  Had a great day for 90% of the day.  As the race was going warp speed up Paris Mountain I was feeling comfortable, just sitting behind Levi and spinning.  Each lap I felt solid and more and more guys were getting popped.  Last time up the climb and it was my turn to suffer, went from feeling great to just empty.  Really suffered the last 40km just to finish, rode solo until BJM and Blake caught me with 2km to go.  Bummer, wasn’t looking forward to sprinting!  Led out the sprint with 200m to go and had a decent jump but soon I reached full body cramp.  Seriously, full body.  Back, chest, arms, legs.  Everything.  Still managed to keep the legs turning over but wasn’t able to hold off BJM.  8th place on the day and one of a few to finish.

Drove straight from the race to Atlanta, ate a pizza then tried to go to sleep.  Lay in bed, completely awake til 3:30.  That is the worst feeling when you are exhausted but just can’t unwind from a hard race.  Just lying there, exhausted and willing yourself to fall asleep.  With a heart rate of 100bpm.  Eventually fell asleep and awoke to….a 5 a.m. alarm to race the Atlanta 100k.   Cold pizza and coffee for breakfast.

Riding to the start I struggled just to get over a few small hills.  Legs completely wrecked and sore from the previous day.  Maybe this race isn’t such a good idea…  Race starts and guys are attacking out of the blocks.  After 10km I started to come around and started to follow a few moves, basically riding for our fresh guys who just arrived, Vas, Oleg, and Siro.  With 30 km to go a group of 8 had 30 seconds without anyone from our team.  Bernard gets on the front and begins to ride tempo, I start swapping off with him then take a huge pull over a roller and bring the gap down to 5 seconds.  Milne finishes off the final few hundred meters while I drift back through the field.  Only 25 left in the front of the race so I just slot in at the back.  On the descent I came up the inside of the field, followed a wheel, and found myself in the breakaway.  Easy as.  Me and Siro in a group of 20, field sitting up.  Did what I could for Siro the final 30km, keeping things together and bringing back any breaks.  Coming into the final sprint, 50mph downhill, Siro was on his own.  No sprinting legs for me today…Siro hit the front 20m too early and just got nipped on the line.  Downhill sprint like that is all about leg speed and timing.  Hoppy timed it right to take the win for the Jits.

A few well deserved rest days in Athens, GA relaxing with my teammate Cesar.  Many hours spent at the Jittery Joe coffee roaster, think I know where I’ll be ordering my green beans from in the future.  Had one night on the town in Athens, not much drinking for me, a bit of dancing and barhopping.  Ran into Bruno from Quebec….him and his buds spend the night in jail.  Lesson of the night?  Don’t pick fights with frat boys and don’t run from the police.  Oh, and if you do run?  Don’t get caught by the overweight female officer chasing you down.  Poor Bruno…

Went up to PA for Univest GP.  Started off the day still feeling fatigued from the previous weekend.  Two days of 100% effort can take a surprising amount out of you.  Rode the race fairly aggressive early on. Covered all the major moves, went across to anything dangerous, and went for the KOM’s.  Ended up second in the KOM competition and thought I had played the race smart, entered the finishing circuits in a group of 15 with Bernie and feeling good.  After a few circuits a group of 20 came across…and I started to cramp.  5 laps to go and after doing what work I could for the boys I pulled the plug.  Shawn who had almost quit 5 times that day made an about face, started feeling good with 20km to go.  Went across to the winning break, attacked the break, then won his two up sprint against the Taco rider.  Another win for the Nav’s, odd race.  Next year…patience.

Todd Herriott has retired.  Great rider. Strong,  hardworking, reliable, and honorable.  He’ll be missed.  Tried to buy him a round of drinks at the hotel bar after the race but him and the Colavita boys were already cut off by the time I arrived.  At 9:00.

Back in beautiful Boulder and loving it.  Parker this weekend.

Average tt for me, couldn’t get going in the first half then rallied and came around for the second half. Feeling good though, think that the road race today is going to go good. Hard circuit with a solid climb on it. After the first few laps I am predicting a big selection is going to happen in the field and a few of the hitters are going to go across to the early break. I’m going to be patient and follow Hincapie….