Where Ya Been

Well as many of you have noticed I have done little more than set foot in Ontario so far this year. So I figured I should give you a bit of a heads up as to why I am MIA while the rest of my team is there flying the fuel colours. Well, at the moment I am in Calgary preping for the National Track Championships that will happen later this week.

Here is the event Website where you can follow the competition: canadiancycling.ca
It will also be on CBC sports Saturday this weekend...although I am not sure what events.

After this I will be joining the team in Kamloops for road nationals.
If any readers have any questions about the events or the track in general post them up and I will tell you what I can.

Read on »

Rochester and Racoon Rally!

Lined up with the Bucker and Pozzy show against a wicked field of crit goons Saturday night in Rochester NY. Scott Page (organizer) has been so excited about this race and took care of the JetFuel boys once we got there. So lining up for $10 000 at 8:30 under the lights on a wonderful figure eight course right smack in downtown Rochester with screaming fans contributing to a electric atmostphere, gets even the most seasoned vets fired up.

The pace was fast and furious from the gun, with Navigators, Kodak, Snow Valley and Colla Vita Bolla all watching each other for the right mix to make the move. The move did check out and Pozzy was in it for the team, our pace dropped and the tounges were out, as the heat was still in the air. The move lapped the field and I tried to communicate with Pozzy but it was nuts once the trains started and the final lap was well over 60k fast. Lined out I fell in behind Jittery Joes Hopkins an Aussie sprinter and stayed, not enough horses left to bring Pozzy to the front to battle. Mark finished an excellent 10th and I 14th for a decent performance.

Suprising how few canucks were here for such an incredible event. Andrew and most of the forums have touched on the Provincials, the racing there and the other factors - get yourself to an event like this and you realize the potential of 10 speeding is still here.

Took advantage of some free hotel rooms and headed to Ellicotville for a mountain bike race the next day with my brother. As we are prov champs (88 and 90) we were excused from the boredom. The mtb race was hard! Straight up hill for 40 minutes on grassy singletrack, lots of fire road and wide trails. After close to two hours the six man break that included Dan and I fell to pieces with another crushing day of heat upon us. I found myself alone and really thirsty (had 1 bottle) but in the lead and brought her home in front of a few American riders.

Reflecting on the weekend, the two disciplines are entirely different. Flying into corners at 50km an hour in the dark, I don't blink, nothing scares me. Flying down a grassy downhill at 40 km an hour and not knowing what awaits me there, terrifies me! I'd take 10 speedin over the dirt anyday but it's always fun to mix it up.

Read on »

A Critique of Ontario Racing

I've got to say that the racing at this past weekend's Provincial Championships was disappointing - too few riders in the field were there to race as opposed to finishing. Racing abroad and then here in Ontario can be a trying experience and definitely shows up the differences in style.

I don't think that the riders here in Ontario are any less able than those we race against overseas, I think that the difference is in attitude towards the racing. In Belgium and in England they race with a never-say-die attitude, an early break does not mean that the race is over. Racing continued there behind the breakaway as riders repeatedly tried to get to the front of the race - all the riders were there to try and win the race. Many failed and were dropped, in Lincoln there were only 35 finishers out of at least 100. The point being that finishing the race isn't the point of racing, winning is. Riders here in Ontario need to take a more aggressive approach and also keep in mind that it's not always best to wait for Jet Fuel and Italpasta to make the race - take the racing to us, it would be a lot more fun. Having a break that rolled up the road in the first 5km win is a bit embarrassing.

Race organizers must also play a role in making Ontario racing better. For instance the course on the weekend offered little in the way of challenges, and the race was also too short. If it had been another lap the break probably would have come back as their gap was down to one minute at the finish. The races need to be challenging and longer, in that way we can develop some home grown talent. If the races are always less than 100km, as they seem to be this year with almost every race shorter that last year's (while entry fees increase), then we will never develop riders capable competing beyond our borders. Without riders improving and competing successfully abroad there will be little incentive for youngsters unpopular to attempt great things in this sport.

Read on »

I'm Back!!

To say the least I was bummed out after dropping out at Beauce two weeks ago, but now I'm back! Having missed out on the racing at Beauce, which I was counting on to get me ready for Nationals July 10th, I've had to put in some extra miles and hope that things come good.

This last week was tough but, it's the first time I've been fresh enough in the summer to put in some real training and I've really enjoyed putting in the miles in the heat. The best ride of the week was with Buck, we went up to Collingwood ( a ski area north of Toronto that the Niagara Escarpment runs through) to do a big day and a couple of repeats on the Scenic Caves climb. Before heading up I told Buck to put on his 26cog. He just looked at me like I was silly, but hey why would he believe me?

The Scenic Caves climb is 9 minutes, and is so steep that we were riding almost all of it on our 26s at what was probably not much below race pace. We did two repeats of that and then another decent climb out of Creemore, home of the local micro beer brewery. I've got to admit that Buck had me on the rivet a bit on the climb, but that was just what I was hoping for someone to push me to my limits.

Already I'm starting to feel the benefits of the mileage and think that it should really lay a great base for the rest of the season. One more week of hard work, then a quick rest for Nationals and the campaign for the second half of the season will have been launched.

Read on »

journeymen video

Well in Belgium I managed to smash my camera in a door...3 or 4 or 5 times. Now that Beauce is over I figured I would rumage through the vault of Jefuel Shorts and present to you some never before seen footage of the journeyman cyclist's life on the road. I know it is like a flash back show on Sienfeld but those are still good for a laugh. The camera should be back from the shop shortly after road nationals and I will be back with new footage. So this will be the last dose for a while...Enjoy click here to view: Belgium Shorts /

These movies are in .mov format and are best viewed using the QuickTime player. The movie files are not recommended for low bandwidth modem connections, they are about 7-9MB each. Now having said that, you can still view them with a modem, you'll just be waiting a long time for the movies to download. Have fun let us know what you think.

If you have trouble viewing the videos from the pop up link above, surf to the raw directory and select a video file for download or view. cyclingteam.info/zach The video from this entry is jfshorts4.mov

Read on »

The Rain and Pain….

... will hopefully bring gains. That is pretty much how I am feeling about my Beauce experience. It has been a few long days for me…actually a long few weeks…I think my months on the road are really starting to add up and I am feeling less and less like a trained athlete... oufff.

The race this year has been a real challenge for me. Lots of pain, not a lot of power, especially early on. I have spent more time than I hoped chasing the pack instead of the leaders. But it has been a hard year this year, and there have been a good number of great riders packing it in early. Andrew being one.

It was really starting to get me down, I had hoped after Ireland that I would come here climbing and riding better than ever. That has not been the case. The speed of the races have not been high, I just haven’t had what I or my team have needed.

But I have to pick myself up and look at what I can get out of this…and from that perspective it hasn’t been a total loss. I finished my first 180km day ever, and in a stage race no less. I have struggled through inches of cold rain and bad roads. And I have fought back from being dropped my fair share of times. All things you need to become good at-- even as the strongest rider in the race. When I come into a race really flying I will need these tools just as much as I need them here when my form is less then good.

And finally today on the 5th of 6 days, my legs feel like they are coming around. I was helping out in the group and generally being much more productive. We had Charles in break and he won the stage. So, for today anyway, things started to turn around.

So its been a good Beauce, even if my results don’t reflect it. There was quite a few times when I just wanted to wait for the broom wagon--but if I had I wouldn't have have been there today. Now I just have to make sure I am really recovered for Track nationals…it's coming pretty quick. But with the legs coming around I feel much better about it.

Read on »

Rest weeks suck

Yep, a whole week of easy rides. You know, its weeks like this that I realize how much I love racing, and how the hunger to train and race hard, and win drives me through the week. This week I have nothing to do on the bike but spin. I got home on Monday after the Nature Valley GP, and since then, I've just been riding easy, spinning the legs for a few hours a day.

Let me tell you, I'm so bored on the bike that I find myself pretending that I'm suffering when I climb one of the longer hills by my house. I'll look back, and imagine seeing a long single file line of riders behind me with the suffering "I just sucked on a lemon" face.

Only about 30 minutes or so after the climb I was riding down the Niagara Parkway, a really scenic, beautiful area, and up ahead I saw a not so serious recreational cyclist up the road. I know it's a rest week, but I figured a quick 200m sprint wouldn't hurt anything. So I picked out a street that this cyclist was going to be approaching soon, and I launched with the speed of God in me to catch'em before reaching the street sign, it was coming down to the wire, I threw the Cervelo into the 53/12 on this false flat downhill and it was over. A 60+ year old woman with a lime green reflector vest and Cataract protection shades on handed it to me. I should have thrown my bike and then I would have got her.

I got a Steve Bauer Bike Tour in this week, so that was a great easy day with pay!

No race this weekend. I was hoping to get up to Ottawa for the Preston Street crit, that’s a great race. But on the brighter side, maybe I'll see that old lady on the Parkway again and show her what’s up.

Hat's off to the Canucks showing up in Beauce, good job, enjoy that weather!

Read on »

Beauce - I`m done

Well folks a little sad news from your favourite blogger in Beauce, I`m out of the race. During the second stage I ran into some minor back problems. At the midpoint it started to cramp up and pretty soon I was going nowhere fast; there was no power going to the pedals. And so I climbed off in the feed zone.

Having come here with what I thought was some pretty good form it`s completely demoralising to be out of the race. Now I have to regroup and come up with a plan for the rest of the season. The real problem is the bruising that my ego has taken and the sudden lack of belief in myself. Over the next couple of weeks I`ll have to put in some good work to build up my confidence and hope that the legs come good. I`ll keep you posted as to how it goes.

Read on »

Stage 1: St George - St George

Tour de Beauce Bell
Unrelenting courses full of hills, rain and crummy roads - welcome to Beauce, a 6 day race held outside of Quebec City. From the weather forecasts it's looking like the race will live up to its reputation; they're calling for rain everyday.

Zach and I are here with the National team, trying to get some results and build on the form gained from our European trip. For this edition of the race the traditional hilltop finish on Megantic - a 5km climb at 18% - has been taken out, leaving everyone guessing as to how the racing would shape up. Many were saying that things would be more aggressive as riders tried to steal time in breaks. In the end today's first stage set the stage for the coming week with a break that gained a minute on the pack. I don't think that it means GC is sealed up but it will mean that one of the teams will be trying to control things.

The Canadian team missed the break when it happened, which left us with the job of helping with the chase in the last 20km. With the break at 2 minutes it was too late to bring them back but at least we could try and limit the damage.

I'm not sure how the legs are, I was okay today but nothing special. Maybe I'll improve as the week goes on, let's hope so. Now it's time to catch some zzz's, 'till tomorrow.

Read on »

Jet Babies

We're happy to announce some additions to the Jet Fuel family... Bill Stathoulopoulos and his wife Tanya had twins on June 5th. A boy and a girl. Babies, mother and Bill are doing great and the team and extended Jet Fuel family couldn't be happier for Tanya and Bill. It's hard to pin down what Bill is and means to the team, but let's just say he's important and we wouldn't be what we are today without his contributions. Thanks Bill and congratulations to you and Tanya - hey to Ilias and Aris.

Read on »

Ziggy's KW Classic

The weather would dictate the day - hot and humid!! With most of the usual suspects away preparing for Beauce the KW O-Cup was left to Ontario's part timers. Lining up for the Jet Fuel team were homeboy Josh Hall and myself, that's it. Joey Joe Joe had wedding plans (not his), the Buck and Pozzy show were 15 hours away in Minnesota and Andrew, Zack and Matt were heading to Beauce.

So we had a lot of moves to cover and Josh took over covering the first two major moves and bringing the break clear up the road to a comfortable margin. With Ital and Gears for company the only team left to chase was La Biccicletta and that they did. Midweek standout Heath Cockburn took some massive pulls to bring the groups back and set up a counter for his man Darko. The final move went with two laps remaining on the hill and it was 15 men strong with Josh once again represented. I climbed over the hill in 39 -19 (as I did each time up) and realized it was time to wake up and get going. Crossing to the break solo I knew I had good legs and that I was one of the fastest in the selection, so Josh and I sat and waited for the finale.

Coming into the final chicane (into a headwind) the lead group was chasing down a motivated Rob Mann (KHS). The sprint started way too early with Rob Rice (Sudbury) lighting the fireworks. Josh took me up into the action only to have Darko ride straight into him and beyond. Once this boy has the 11 wound, it is tough to get by him. Instead of taking his wheel, I tried to drag race him and ultimately lost by a wheel. Not a bad race, decent action and attacking, wicked heat (thanks to Katrina for the feeds) good times had by all!!

Results Senior 1 & 2 Men 120 km

1. Darko Ficko (La Bicicletta - J Lindeberg) RS1
2. Tim Lefebvre (Jet Fuel Coffee) RS1
3. Jason Valenti (Coach Chris.Ca / All Season Sports) RS1
4. Aaron Fillion (Ottawa Bicycle Club) RS1
5. Jason Skialski (Preferred Care) RS2
6. Eduardo Maset (Pavan Cycling Club) RS1
7. Benjamin Jamesson (Shickluna) RS2
8. Bryan Rusche (Cyclissimo Cycling Club) RS2
9. Daniel Maggiacomo (Italpasta - Transport Belmire) RS1
10. Michael Moore (Gearsracing.Com) RS1
11. Rob Rice (Sudbury Cycling Club) RS2
12. Robert Mann (KHS Bicycles Canada) RS2
13. Danny Souter (Cycle Cambridge.Com - Kicx 99.5) RS2
14. Dan Staffo (Queen City Cyclists) RS2
15. Josh Hall (Jet Fuel Coffee) RS1
16. Kyle Smith (Vaughan Midweek) RS2
17. Paul Rego (Coach Chris.Ca / All Season Sports) RS1
18. Chris Atkins (La Bicicletta - J Lindeberg) RS1
19. Damian Kurzahninski RS2
20. Andrew Hickman (Mississauga Bicycle Racing Club) RS2
21. Paul Telisman (Advantage Benefits) RS2
22. Simon Knott (Aztech / Cyclepath) RS2
23. Patrick Shea (KHS Bicycles Canada) RS1
24. Benjamin de Bray (KHS Bicycles Canada) RS1
25. Erich Baumhard (Ind.) RS2
26. Jeff Weber (Gearsracing.Com) RS1
27. Damian Kurzahninski RS2
28. Michael Dennis (Vaughan Midweek) RS1
29. Dan Lefebvre (Gears Racing.Com) RS1
30. Michael Luther (Queen City

Read on »

Nature Valley Stage 5 wrap up

All the hype about this "super hard crit" - "The hardest crit on the NRC circuit" "The hardest crit in America" was pretty much true. The %18 200m climb that we started at the bottom of was a pig! There were a ton of people screaming on the hill, I couldn't hear a thing. Right when you think the suffering is over, after a few turns, it's back up another climb.Most of us did in the big ring every lap, but over the top, it would get strung out, single file, all the way to the bottom of the climb again. It was a very technical course, with 9 corners a lap. The finish was on top of the hill. So there was little time for recovery.

There was a nervous feeling around the pack at the start. The race was only 1 hour long, many knew what they were up for, and others that have only heard horror stories about this race, (uhh, me) couldn't wait to get it over with. On the first lap there were riders getting dropped, by half way, the field was cut in less than half. I was looking for a good stage finish, and I had some legs under me, but I ended up missing the final move, that didn't get much more than 30 seconds on us. On the last lap in our "main field" there were only about 17 riders, the rest were droped, or pulled out.

So today was as hard as they said, and that course is not one I or any others in today’s race are going to miss. I ended up 24th on the stage, 38 seconds off the winner, and moved up one spot to 9th on the overall general classification after 5 days of racing, 4 minutes, 3 seconds off the winner, John Lieswyn of Health Net. I'm pretty glad with the way it turned out, in the top 10 on GC, alongside some pretty good company.

Pozzy raced hard all week. Coming in on 45th on GC, and a top 20 stage finish, he did pretty well. Mark's got some tuff miles in his legs this year, with 2 back to back stage races, after some down time back home, you can count on him re-building to wicked form.

Up next, well, I don't really know. Since I got home from Europe, I was so busy getting this trip together (having it planed, and not knowing for sure if I'm going the night before...yikes!) I haven't even though about it. I think there's a race in Ottawa next weekend, but I may not go. From now until then, my backside is going to see a lot of cushion.

Read on »

Nature Valley GP Stage 4

Today was really freaking hard. I don't think anyone was anticipating such a hard day. The circuit was a lot easier than in stage 2, a small hill, with a good kick over the top, but nothing crazy. When you add in 80k of gutter and cross winds, blowing at a measly 60kph and two gravel sections, that little hill on the finishing circuit feels like it never ends.

Off the gun, the race was really slow. For the first 20k or so we averaged about 24kph. The peloton was joking around, laughing at how no one wanted to race; Jelly Belly and Health Net had other plans. The pack made a right turn onto a rolling, wide open road, with gusting winds that were throwing riders all over the place, and Jelly Belly and Health Net threw down, in minutes the pack was blown into 6 groups, some getting minutes over others. I found myself in the 2nd group, Pozzy in the 3rd. After being positioned like a junior in the 2nd group, at the back, I quickly found myself alone, in no-mans land. I was soon joined by fellow Canuck Dustin McBurnie (which I didn't know until I saw his maple leaf socks.) Him and I hammered for what seemed like forever, and finally threw in the towel and sat up waiting for the 3rd group to catch us. We were in good company however, after a while, we ended up with 3 Navigators, and 2 or 3 other riders from almost every big team in the race. It wasn't until the last hour of the 4 hour and 10 minute race that we caught the front group, but by that time, the winning break of Gord Fraser, Carl Menzies and Danny Pate already had 1 minute. Our group was only 25 guys or so, the rest got pulled before they came into the circuits, to prevent timing errors that happened on stage 2.

The heat, distance, and winds wore on all of us, and in the last few laps, the "pack" blew apart again, and again, with many groups of ones and twos. The results aren't up yet, and I'm not sure where I finished, I'm guessing top 20, maybe top 15, but my oh my, it was a hard day. Hats off to Gord Fraser, Carl Menzies and Danny Pate, they were at the front all day, Gord ended up waxing them for the win. I tried to get away many times, and finally did on the last lap, with 2 other riders.

So after the crazy crit last night, I was sitting 12th on GC, I may have snuck into the top ten, but there's also a chance I lost a few positions. I'll have to wait until tomorrow morning to find out.

You know, today, at the start, I felt like garbage. I wasn't sure weather or not to come to this race as I got sick the day after the Ras ended, and with 2 days of traveling while sick, and only 5 days at home before I had to drive here, I wasn't too keen (or good, example Welland crit.) This week has been full of ups and downs. Like in the TT, I had some weird leg nerve problem, then stage 2 road race, I had wings. Stage 3, I though I was going to die. Stage 4, I got dropped from the dropped group, and somehow managed to claw back, dig so deep I didn't know my own name, and manage to put in a solid ride on the hardest day yet. I'll never understand how the body works, but in the end I'm glad I came. I seem to be able to suffer at a high level right now. All I have to do now is dig deep, and empty the tank in tomorrow’s crit that's famous for turning GC upside down.

Read on »

Nature Valley GP Stage 3

Oh the legs didn't turn around so well tonight! But I thanked my lucky stars it was only 1 hour. Stage 3 was a short 1.3k 6 corner bumpy crit. The start finish stretch was lined with thousands of fans; it was a pretty exciting. By the time we finished it was just getting dark.

Racing was super fast off the gun, and the whole pack of around 130 riders were lined out single file, and even getting dropped in the opening laps. My poor legs tonight reflected on my position pretty much the whole day, in the last half of the field. As we all know that’s a horrible place to ride a tight 6 corner crit in, because if you ever had to move up, it would take you about 3 days to get anywhere near the front. I even got caught up in a few crashes, but I kept the rubber side down. I was quite content to just sit in today and let the sprinters have there day, and look forward to tomorrows 163k road race that finishes on another hard circuit. So after an hour of riding the wheels, it came down to 3 laps to go, and a HUGE crash took out most of the front guys. Word on the street is Jelly Belly's train took it too hot into the first corner and crashed the Health Net train, but I don't know that for sure. Just like that I was in the front. My sprinting legs didn't want to come out, so I just rolled across the line somewhere in what was left of the "pack". Pozzy was a few bikes ahead of me, although I think he was feeling a little better than me, as he was riding in the front most of the day. In the end the stage went to Shawn Milne, of Navigators. Full results aren't up yet, and I think the GC changed up a little bit, not sure if it will bump me out of 17th or not, we'll see.

So I'm glad that day is over with, I'm really starting to dislike crits, oh well.

Up next, stage 4, 163k. I'm running out of days to get a good ride in, so I'll be all over the front like white on rice tomorrow. I’ll let you know how we do.

Read on »

Nature Valley GP Stage 2

Last night’s sleep was a restless one. I wasn't sure if I would be able to start stage 2, a 150k rolling road race that finished with 6 laps on a circuit with a pretty killer 1.3k climb that hits 13% over the top. The stage didn't start until 5pm, so Pozzy and I did a coffee shop ride around 10am, and my mysterious nerve pain was still there. But I thought I would still kit-up, and start the race, and see how long I could last.

Glad I did. At the 60k mark, a group of 17 of us got away, including 2 Jelly Belly’s, a Colavita and Health Net, 2 McGuires, 2 Fiordifrutta, a Navigator, and a few others. With such a large group I wasn't too keen on driving the break, as everyone with a teammate was sitting on, and I'm not one to do any more in a break then the next guy: "racing smart" if you will. Soon we all got to rolling though smoothly, only breaking it up for the sprint points; I wasn't interested in those. The gap quickly got bigger, up to 2 minutes 40 seconds, with a chase of 9 coming across, lead by Health Net. The chase caught us about 8k before we got to the finishing circuits, and then the racing started. John Lieswyn of Health Net, the eventual stage winner, started throwing down attack after attack; Jelly Belly and Colavita both had 2 cards to play as well, and were always near the front. It wasn't until the 4th lap and 2 laps to go on the circuit that Lieswyn got a good enough gap with Navigator Shawn Milne and Jelly Belly’s Caleb Manion, to stay out and win. I was in the chase group with Tyler Farrar racing for 4th, and on the last time up the climb I took my last withdrawal out of the Suffer Bank and lost contact. I came in alone, for 15th, 1 minute 3 seconds back.

Pozzy finished up in one of the many small blown-to-bits groups, 6 minutes back.

So, I'm glad my nerve problem went away. It's tough on the morale when you know you should be coming up on some good legs, so you drive 15 hours to test them, only to suck, because of a problem you cant pinpoint!

When I get back home I'll get it checked out. For now, I'll focus on my 17th on GC, and try to sneak up - a top 10 would be really nice - but apparently Sunday’s crit has an 18% 200m climb, which blows the field to bits. Oh boy.

We'll see what we can do.

I'd like to say thanks to Tyler "eggy" Holtzman. Pozzy somehow convinced him to take a week off life, and come out here to help us in the feed zone, and work on the bikes. He's been a great help, and hasn't piled up my car yet. Thanks Egg.

Read on »

Nature Valley GP Stage 1

Well, Pozzy and I are in Minnesota racing the Nature Valley GP. I've heard a lot about this race, but never got around to doing it, as it's a 15 hour drive from home in Niagara Falls. We broke the drive up by stopping in Milwaukee, and staying the night at our friends house, Tim and Sherri Conway, who we met through host housing for Superweek 3 years ago.

Yesterday morning I woke up with a very painfull nerve problem running through both of my legs, in the same spots. It's hard to explain exactly what it is, because I really don't know what's causing it, how I got it, or anyting about it. When I need to flex my legs for anything, walking up stairs, sitting down, sprinting, or climbing, I get a very deep and extremely bad pain through both of my quads. This has happend twice in the past, but the last time was well over a month ago. I can ride, and go hard, but the pain hammers me when I have to stand up on my bike. So in today's 8k TT, off the start ramp, I had to remain seated, as well as comming out of the turn around.

I felt good in the TT, but I couldn't stand up on the bike what so ever. Certinly not meant as an excuse, but not exactly a helping hand either. If the pain doesn't go away before tomorrow's road race, I might be a spectator before I even get on my bike. Pozzy said he felt anything but good in the TT, and he finished 1:07 back. I was 3 seconds slower then Pozzy at 1:10 back, the winner, Chris Baldwin of the Navigaors team rode a fast 8:40:19.

Hopefully tomorrow our "post Ras-good legs" will come around, and the race report will have some good news! If anyone has some ideas as to what this mysterious "nerve pain" could be, feel free to e-mail me bucker@cyclingteam.info as my doctor had no clue!

Read on »

Hot Hot Hot!

Whew, yesterday we did the first race of the year - at least for those of us stuck in the far north - in what can truly be called summer-like weather, 30C and sunny. In other words we were baking on the hot asphalt as we raced the Rose Festival Criterium in Welland.

Off the gun we were riding hard and all through the day breaks were coming and going as guys made efforts, faded and then surged again for another try at the win. A big problem in the heat was recovering from big efforts, you needed to make sure that you didn't overextend yourself and blow the legs; there were a few guys out there with some mighty red faces.

Somewhere at the mid-point - the race was 90 minutes long - Tim and Josh made it into a break of 8 or so guys. Ital had Jeff Hansen in there and Gears had Ryan Roth, so all the 'teams' were well represented. For a while it looked like it was going to be the move of the day, in fact I thought they were going to lap us. But then Heath Cockburn of LaBicicletta and Bruce Krip from Midweek put themselves on the front and kept the break within 30 seconds. That was close enough for someone to bridge across.

One of the tough things about racing in Ontario is that I'm heavily marked. That means that to get away cleanly I need to wait for the right opportunity to present itself. And it did when a prime was called that everyone in the pack sprinted for, leaving them a bit tired and open to a counter attack. I bridged to the break, which seemed to be coming apart with riders spread over the road.

Attack followed attack and at one point when I was away with Ryan Roth I was feeling pretty close to succumbing to heat stroke with chills running up and down my arms. We were caught by the break, thankfully, after Jeff and Dan from Ital put in a good chase, but that left them tired for the finale. In the last 4 laps,countering one of Jeff's moves, I was able to get away solo, the best way as you know that if you can get to the line you've won the race.

At 2 to go it looked like I was cleanly away for the win with a good 10 second lead on the chase. I was surprised then when with 1 to go I looked back to see Ryan leading the chase and coming on strongly having closed the gap substantially, oh oh. For the last lap I put my head down and hoped that the guys wouldn't be able to hold the pace. Luckily, that was the case and I had ample time to throw the hands in a victory salute. That makes two wins for the year and another race in which Jet Fuel Coffee put two guys on the podium with Tim finishing in third.

I did hear that Thorben from the Pavan team, who ended up second, totally hung it out in the last corner. Josh said that he figured it was 50/50 that Thorben would crash as they came through the corner, guess he didn't. All in all it was another great race in Ontario with lots of attacking and aggression, the way it should always be. We can take a lesson from the never say die attitude of the Belgian's - the race ain't over 'till you cross the line.

Read on »

Reflecting on Europe

So, while there may not have been any bands playing, streamers flying or confetti in the air to welcome us home as we got off the plane in Toronto I still consider our trip to Europe a resounding success. Expectations were high when we left - last time we were in Europe we won a stage in each of the GP Ringerike and the RAS - and the guys were all primed for a hard three weeks.

In each of the races we did we factored into the racing in a significant way; the results sheet doesn't always show what really happened out on the course. It was in Belgium that things really started to come together, especially with Zach's two second places. Best of all was that the first of these was really a team effort, we all contributed to the result in some way and that is the sign of a professional outfit. From there to the end of the RAS the team rode to the front of the races.

Zach showed on this trip that he has what it takes to ride competitively on the road. With a good turn of speed and a superb sprint he's a danger in any break. And in Ireland made the break of the day on two stages, not an easy thing to do.

Buck came through with a ride in Ireland that shows that he is finally starting to come into his own, finally starting to ride like his supporters know he can. His fifth place on one of the toughest days and his ride in the Wicklow mountains opened his eyes to the possibily that in the future he could in fact go to the RAS and ride for a spot at the front of the GC. At last the hard work is starting to pay off.

Mark made some great moves as well during the RAS. He too got into some good attacks, doing his part in the team's strategy to animate the racing. Mark is one of those young guys that you can see has the talent to go somewhere and racing like we just did in Europe will take him to the next level.

For myself, I was a little disappointed with how I rode - some days I was good and some terrible - still, it's early in the year for me. It's just a few weeks ago that I finished up exams and there is a whole lot of racing to come. Throughout the summer we are going to be at big races and somewhere along the line the form will come.

Lastly, gotta say thanks to Dave Butler (our manager for those who don't know) for putting together a great trip and to Letti, Ronan and Neil for coming out and helping us in Ireland. Really, without their support we would be in a heap of trouble.

I'm already dreaming about next season. I can't wait to go back and ride in the rain on the Emerald Isle, hit the cobbles in Belgium and grovel on my knees up to the hilltop cathedral in Lincoln. Man, racing is awesome!

Read on »