Olympias Tour, Stages 1&2

Well so far has not been Ideal for myself but more will come. Yesterday was a 10km TT. It was going to be hard with basically all of Trek Livestrong dominating their TT bikes and going really fast. I managed 21st which was so/so but I know if I had taken the corners like I had wanted to i could have shaved off around 10 seconds, so that was frustrating.

Stage two was way more disappointing. There was supposed to be 30km of crosswind after 11km and we were all riding the front with Raymond off the front but the crosswind never came. Instead we were all welcomed by a nice tail wind. It was really nice. After 80km we had been told it would be all crosswind but instead it was head wind which was really nice. Basically everyone on our team thought it would be headwind the whole way to the finish so we became a little complacent and quit fighting for position. We came around one corner and I saw Rabobank amassed at the front and the only thought that came to mind was "F$#K" and sure enough the race was split. Howes and I worked hard to close gaps to get to the second group... As soon as we got there that group split and we were screwed. I kept working hard trying not to loose hope... From here on out though I can only race aggressively and try to make up time before we hit the hills in Limburg. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully Holowesko Partners can ride the race that we are all capable of.

On another note, congrats to Trek. Their team rode the front all day for Phinney and he came up with the goods for them in the end. Super impressive!

Well its time for a massage so I'll try and update some more later this week. Keep your fingers crossed.

Wolvega

Hanging out here at the ever so luxurious Van der Walk hotel here in Wolvega, NL. Pretty bored waiting for the race to start. Tomorrow is the first stage which is just a short 10km prolog. There are some good teams here with Rabobank, Katusha and Trek Livestrong. I think everyone on our team except our dutchie would be thrilled if the wind subsided and took it easy on us as we race down the coast this week.
The trip over was pretty good... Howes has a slightly different experience as he was not allowed on the plane since his passport was not in great condition after a trip through the wash machine. He finally made here this morning the day before the race. Hopefully he bounces back quickly and is his normal self by the monster stage in Limburg. The Limburg stage should be pretty cool with most of the climbs from the Amstel Gold race being included.
The main thing I have been looking forward to each day is the coffee machine in the breakfast area here. You press one button and have a large cup of good espresso. So pumped on that. I will update with photos as soon as I find my cable...

Walker

Gila!

So I am currently in Silver City NM for the Sram Tour of the Gila. This is a really hard climbing stage race. There are also a lot of big hitters here like Levi, Lance, DZ, and Tommy D. We are half way through the race and I have had some good days. Got into the break on the first day, we went from the gun and werent caught till 3km to go on a 153km race. So that day has made the next two days a little more difficult with some more fatigue.

I will give a more detailed update later.

This morning I was looking at my buddies blog www.thatdarkkidkevin.wordpress.com and found a sweet video of a cupcake cannon. I think team Holowesko Partners should purchase one and bring it to Olympias tour and unleash some pastry hell on all the little Dutchies. Hope you enjoy the video, let me know what you think.


Walker

Battenkill!

Just got back from the "American Queen of the Classics" the Tour of Battenkill.

There is only one word that comes to mind when reflecting on the race itself, EPIC! This race lived up to its self proclaimed American Queen of the Classics title. This race had everything, steep hills, dirt, cold temps and rainy weather. Going into this race our team leaders were Tito and Howes. The rest of us were just to cover moves and get into any move that went up the road. I think there was one section before the longest climb of the race where it felt like Caleb and myself were constantly jumping on to the back of wheels. I was pleased with how my form was for this race, I made it over every major climb and dirt section with the front group except for one exception...

After the rain really started coming down before the first Long dirt section it was apparent that mud was coming. Half way through the long dirt road i couldnt see out of my glasses and knew that i was with other riders and just assumed i had kept my position up front. As soon as we hit pavement I wiped off my glasses to realize that we had been dropped. That was scary. Myself and one fly V rider worked to get back up there. Luckily we were able to do it before the last dirt climb. Once the second lap started the temp really dropped dramatically. There was a break off and everyone was fairly complacent to let it roll but that meant relaxing and cooling down. Soon no one could feel their fingers and that made eating and using the brakes a bit dodgy to say the least. Soon Toast came up to me and i had to try and get food out of his back pocket when I couldnt even get it out of my own back pocket. Luckily we started going hard again shortly once the break was caught.

I cant even explain how strong Calebito was! He was in the big break then went off the front with Floyd. It was truly impressive. Unfortunately with not being able to get food out of my pockets I was a little bonked coming into the last climb at 10km to go so I just rode in on my own. Getting to the finish and hearing Caleb had won made all the work for the team with the suffering and shivering worth it. Felt good to have the team work so well and pull it out.
Hopefully we are able to get a little momentum rolling and pick up a lot more W's this season. Up next for us is Gila, Joe Martin, Olympias Tour, Paris-Roubaix U23, Philly, Beauce and Nationals. I think a lot of the courses at these races could suit the team well. Fingers Crossed.

Also, this website www.elcyclista.com has some cool shots from this last weekend. The website is pretty cool, check it out.

(Photo cred: Conor Brady) www.elcyclista.com

Go Time

Wow, it has been over a year since I have updated this thing! Sorry to anyone who has ever thought to see if anything new was up... Hopefully some of you still read this. Well I am going to try my darnedest to keep this thing up to date the ENTIRE season. Cross your fingers.

As of late I just got back from a short two day trip to a friends house just north of Cabo near La Vantana. It was pretty sweet and once I get some pics from the trip I will put them up here. I am also currently packing for a race called Tour of Battenkill, 200km, 57% dirt. Should be a cool race. Now that I have a new phone hopefully I will be able to update from the road more easily which will make blogging slightly more enjoyable when i can do it whenever and wherever i want.

Well I think thats all for now. I will try and get picks up from NY soon so you can see what the course looks like.

Walker

P.S. if Emmanuelle Chriqui is reading this... You are gorgeous! Can i take you out?