More to come later

I will post about Christmas in a couple of days. In the meantime here is something to keep you entertained.

This past weekend

So this past weekend was pretty good. I got out of school for Christmas break on Thursday morning, got a good ride in on Friday and the real excitement started on Saturday. On Saturday I met two of my teammates and we rode down to Greenville SC to do the Sulivan charity ride. The charity ride was in place of the Winter bike league. The ride was 63 miles and included Craig Lewis and George Hincapie. After the ride about 4 of my new teammates and I went out for another 20 miles which included a climb over Paris Mountain. Sunday included a one hour recovery ride and another dinner at my girlfriends grandparents house. I am headed for Shreveport Louisiana on Thursday to spend a week with my mom, stepdad, brother, and my grandpa for Christmas. Also next year I will be riding a Specialized Tarmac SL Pro. Thats all I have for now.

Front

Back

The bike I will be riding next year

New Team and having fun while riding

So I thought I would let you guys know that for 2009 I will be racing for Globalbike presented by Catoma outdoors. The team is made up of 10 cat 1,2 riders and is based out of Greenville, SC. I am very excited about next year and being part of a great program. You can check out what Globalbike is all about by going here. So be looking out for us all over the southeast and more in the 2009 racing season! I also went on a pretty cool ride today. I decided I would climb one of of my favorite mountains, Barewallow. The climb is 2.5 miles long and averages 7%. I took some pictures of todays ride and also some video climbing up the mountain. So here they are:

Wearing the jersey I won from Dilworth Crit








The start of the climb



The top of the climb.

UWBL

Yesterday was the first Upstate Winter Bike League. There were about 140 people riding in the A's. It was a fun day riding with the new team and meeting some new people. After the ride about 25 people went to Barleys for some pizza.  If you have not done the UWBL before I highly recomend it. Its a great way to get a good ride in and practice skills for bike racing. Starting in January the rides will be 90-100 miles and there will be attack zones. Points will be awarded from the placing in the attack zones. There will be a points leader vest and an overall leader vest. The rides are every Saturday and they start at 10a.m. at Carolina triathlon. Thats all I have for now but I leave you with this funny video. I will also be posting about my new team in the near future.

MARIO KART (REMI GAILLARD)
by nqtv

Off Season

Its been a while since I have updated this blog. I find it hard to sit down and come up with something entertaining to write about. I ended the season in October on a high note by getting 4th place in the Greenville Spring Series and took about 2 weeks off the bike. Lately I have been riding 3 times a week and running 1 or 2 times. Last night I went to The Orange Peel to see one of my faovrite bands Puddle of Mudd. It was amazing! It was the 3rd time I had seen them and it was by far the best show they have done. Sadly I forgot my camera and was unable to get any photos. Thats all I have to talk about now but keep checking back because I will be posting about the new team  I will be riding for next year in the coming weeks.

-Andre

One of my favorite songs from Puddle of Mudd

Carolina Cup

Yesterday I did the Carolina cup in Greensboro NC. I did the Juniors in the morning and the Pro 1/2 in the afernoon

Juniors: The first lap everyone was very ancy and guys were trying to get away. Every move was brought back and I just sat in and saved energy. Went the field went across the Start line for the start of the second lap they just sat up so I decided it would be my turn to out in an attack. I quickly had a gap and I got to work to stay away. I was joined by Alder Martz and Daniel Greene. We worked together pretty well with me doing most of the work. Alder tried to get away but I was on his wheel like glue. I was on the front for the whole last lap and at about 250 meters from the line a started my sprint and held off Alder and Danielle for first. It was a great race and I was confident going into the Pro 1/2.


Pro 1/2: My goal for this race was to sit in and try to get a top 20 because that was how deep the payout was. The start of the race was pretty chill with a break going away early. Eventually things started to heat up and the field got serious about catching the break. Guys were attacking like crazy and my legs were tired from the Junior race earlier in the day. I just barley missed the group of guys that went up the road and caught the break. Not for sure what place I got but I think it was at least top 25. I was happy considering it was only my 3rd pro race. Not many races left in the season, but here is what I have left.

September 13: Asheville Grand Prix
September 20: Dylan Mitchell Memorial Crit
October 11,12: Downtown Greenville Cycling Classic

National Crit

So today was the National Crit. There were 134 riders that started the race. We did 30 laps which was 50km. I felt really strong and was able to move around easily and even went to the front to help pull breaks back. I was getting really confident with 2 laps to go that I might be able to get a top 5 but I used a lot of energy bringing back the 6 guys that were up the rode. Once I brought the break back guys countered and I could not go with it. With 1 lap to go 6 guys were up the rode once again and the field pretty much gave up on chasing them. Coming around the final turn some guy slid out right in front of me which slowed me down a little but I still managed to get 23rd. I am pretty happy with that but bummed because I felt really strong and could not get a higher result. The road race is on Sunday so hopefully I will get a good result from that. I'm feeling really strong and I think I can get a top 5.

-Andre

Day one in Cali

So nothing really to exciting going on today. Dad and I went to Huntington Beach this morning to check out the surfers. That was pretty sweet. I put both my bikes together and sadly during transportation my fork on my TT bike got pretty gashed up. I went and rode the TT course and let me tell you it is one hard course. Im not really expecting to much from it. Im more focused on the Road Race and the Crit. I will keep yall posted. all for now

-Andre

Nationals

So the trip to California went smooth. There were no delays and the flight was not bumpy at all. My dad an I didn’t get to bed until late. Like 2 Eastern time! Ouch. I’m going to go out and ride the TT course today and get to know it the best that I can. I go off tomorrow at 1:30. Im not really expecting to much from the TT but who knows maybe I will put in a good ride. The qualifying Crit is Thursday morning at 7. The National Championship Crit is later in the afternoon at 3:30. I have nothing going on Friday and I will be going and seeing my aunt who lives an hour and a half away. Saturday I have a 50KM qualifying Road Race and Sunday is the 110KM race. I will keep yall updated as much as possible. All for now

-Andre

Update

Wow, I really need to update my blog. It has been like a month. I told myself I would not do that but it happend. So I am now a cat 2! WOO HOO! I am heading to Fitchburg next week for an awesome junior stage race. I hope to do pretty good. I have gotten in some good riding here lately. After fitchburg I am doing the French Broad then its off to California for Nationals. After Nationals I am doing the NC/SC state road race championship then I will take a little break and do the Downtown Greenville Cycling Classic. I know I am in for a world of hurting when I do my first cat 1/2 race. I will try to update more often now

-Andre

Ring of Fire

Last night I decided to do the Ring of Fire. My legs were already dead from a workout that I had done earlier in the day. My plan for the race was to just sit in and get a good workout. But as always I try to get in breaks and sprint for points. I didnt get any points until the last sprint. I managed to get second on the last sprint which got me 6 points since the last sprint is worth double points. I ended up getting 11th for the night. One of my goals for this year is to get top 3 at the Track. I will be doing the Tomato Head RR in Tennesee this weekend. I hope to get some upgrade points. All for now

-Andre

Cycling Manager

So I have been playing this awesome game called Pro Cycling Manager. Its pretty awesome. Here is a screenshot.

Ring of Fire!

So the first Night of the Ring of Fire went good for me. I felt strong and was able to bridge up to breaks and contest some sprints. My intentions for this race was to just sit in and get a good workout. One of my goals for this year is to win The Ring of Fire one night. It looks like Industry Nine is going to try and win these events. I look forward to the next Ring og Fire! All for now

-Andre

Dilworth Crit

This weekend I went to Dilworth to race in The USA Crit series. The race did not go so well for me. I managed to get a second place in the juniors. I did not realize that someone was off the front until 5 laps to go. My legs didnt feel good at all and I knew that the Cat 2/3 race was going to be super hard and fast. I managed to get 1st in the 17-18 year old but second overall in the Juniors. I got a yellow jersey and a sweet trophey. I always managed to come away with a 500 dollar scholarship prime to Lees Mcrae. As for the Cat 2/3 race I mangaged to hang on for aobut 4 or 5 laps before I got dropped. Then I got lapped and then I decided it was time to bail out of the race. So I pretty much had a bad day. I am doing the 12 hours of Tsali on the 17th and then Roan Groan on the 7th of June. I may try to do a crit or something in between. All for now.

-Andre

Sitting in the pack.

Looking strong

A Weekend of Crits

This past weekend I went down to Charleston to do the Low Country Volkswagen crits. It was a blast. On Saturday I did 3 crits. I did the Juniors in the morning, the cat 2/3 in the afternoon followed by the cat 3/4 directly after. Sunday I did the Juniors and the cat 3.

Saturday
The Junior race was the first race of the day. It started at 8:00. The plan for this race was to attack and if I could get off the front then sweet if not then I would just sit in and contest the sprint. I never was able to get off the front and stay there even though I tried a couple of times. On one of th laps I heard Prime lap and I was like sweet! So I manged to pick up a 20 dollar prime. I was feeling strong and was at the front of the group for the last lap. Actually I had been at the front for almost the whole race. I camp around the last turn following Josh Antleys wheel and put the power to the cranks and flew past him getting myself a first place finish. I would have 5 hours until the next race.

The Podium

The cat 2/3 race was much harder. I managed to hang in pretty good until about halfway through when I got gapped on one of the turns. Somebody bumped me and about took me out and It took a lot of energy to catch back on. Once I did get back on I started to fall off and never could really recover. I bailed out with 5 laps to go and decided I was going to race the cat 3/4 race which was right after the 2/3 race.

I felt a lot better in the 3/4 race. I have no idea how I manged to still have energy and the legs to do a 3rd race of the day but I did. I didnt get the best starting postition but I knew that I would be able to move up to the front easily and thats exactly what I did. I got in the top 10 and staye there. I felt great. I was covering attacks and sitting in saving energy. We came around to the start finish line and I heard 3 laps to go! I kept my position up in the front and tried to find the strongest guy in the field so I could get on his wheel. With 1 lap to go people were getting crazy and making really dangerous moves. I got passed by about 10 guys and was now sitting in about 20th. We came around the final turn and I could see the Finish line. The group started to sprint and I went around 7 guys and ended up with 13th. I was happy with the finish and was looking forward to Sundays race.

Sunday
Today was the SC Crit championships. I would be doing the Juniors race in the morining and the Cat 3 race in the afernoon. The Junior field had a pretty good sized field. There was a team called Carolina Cyclones and they had 5 guys working for one guy. I knew they were going to be attacking every chance they got and I was prepared to cover them. We lined up for the start and the official told us that the last turn was wet and that we needed to be careful. Then he said the magic words "go". We were off, The Carolina Cyclones had a guy go off the front from the get go. Robert Antley covered that one and that would be the last one he covered. Once that guy got caught Carolina Cyclones did it again! They attacked the whole race until they manged to get their man off the front. I tried my best to bring him back but no one was interested in helping me. He stayed away and it came down to a field sprint for second place. I got passed by one guy and got third. If it was not for all the work I did I think I would have came away with second but I was still happy with the results.

The cat 3 race felt like it was a lot easier. This time it would be Land Rover controlling the race. They had a guy in a break the whole race. I was able to stay in the front easily and even manged to get in a couple of breaks. None of them stuck though. I rode really strong and was happy with how I was able to cover the attacks and get on peoples wheel easily. I was sitting about 12th wheel coming out of the final turn and I knew I wold be able to get around some guys and get a top 10 finish. Well just my luck and accident happend right in from of me. I managed to go around it but also got passed by about 8 guys. I was still really happy with the race and feel that my fitness is coming around.

My next race will be in Athens GA, followed by the Dillworth Crit. All for now

-Andre.

Going to Charleston

Im leaving for Charleston this afternoon to race. I am feeling good and hope to come home with soem good results. I will post the report this weekend. All for now

-Andre

Running Errands

Since the gas prices are getting so high and the fact that I have a Jeep that gets about 15-17 miles per gallon I have decided im going to start running my errands on the bike. Today was just that.

Some Stats:
Ride Time:3:26:18
Distance: 60
Avg Speed: 17.3
Avg HR: 150

I decided to take a self-portrait while riding.



Henderson county is known for its apples, off to the right
are some apple trees that are bare. During the summer
its nice to stop and eat one.

My Early Cycling Days

The First 2 Wheel Bike I Had

I Hate

Being sick. For the past 2 days I have been off the bike due to a sinus infection. Hopefully tomorrow or the next day I will get back into the swing of things and get back on the bike. My next race is next week in Charleston for the Low Country Volts wagon race. All for now

Rock Hill Omnium

So my first weekend as a Cat 3 went great. I rode down to Rock Hill SC, to do the Omnium even know the weekend called for a 100% chance of rain. I rode down with Frank Obusek. Frank and I rode to a lot of races together in 2006. Friday night would be the White Rose Sprints Saturday would be the Old Town Crit and Sunday would be the Patritots Trail Road Race.

Friday Night
The sprints in the Rock Hill Omnium are unlike any other Omnium I have done. Most Omniums consist of a Time Trial, Road Race, and a Criterium. I was scheduled to go off at 7:40 in a heat with 7 other guys and 1st and 2nd would automatically make it to the final heat while 3rd,4th and 5th would get a second chance to try and make it. Frank went off an hour before me and told me the best thing to do would be sit 3rd wheel until about 200 meters out. I did exactly that and came around two guys to take the win advancing me to the final round. The final round would not start until 8:25 but do to a strong thunderstorm system the start got pushed back until 9 P.M. I went down to the start line and got clipped in while someone held my seat. The rain started coming down again and I was getting ancy as I did not want to get soaked. The official blew the whistle and we were off! I found myself leading the group of 7 guys and with the rain starting to pour I hit it as hard as I could 300 meters out and managed to hold everyone off. I got 120 bucks for the win and I was now the leader of the Omnium.

Saturday
I was registered to do the Juniors but skipped out in order to save myself for the crit that would follow later in the afternoon. I would have my Strong teammate Adam Penny to help me out and try to keep my first place overall. The rain held off and we were off at 11:45. With the course being went and slippery from the rain the night before I knew the chance of a crash was high so I would be very careful. The race would be 25 laps. I was feeling pretty good until a crash happend in one of the turns. My teammate Adam went down in the crash but was not hurt. He went to the Wheel pit and got his free lap. After the crash I had to chase down the leaders and after I caught them I was hurting bad and I would suffer the rest of the race. A breakaway of 3 guys went up the road with 2 laps to go and Adam did an Incredible job to bring them back and help me get a 7th place finish. I made 45 dollars for that place and gave Adam 20 for all the hard work he did.

Sunday
Sitting 3rd overall in the Omnuim only 1 point out of second place the plan today was for Adam to bring back breaks and protect me. The race would be 90 miles. Two 45 mile laps. About 7 miles in a 4 man break was established and they had a 5 minute lead by mile marker 35. When we came around and finished the first lap I grabbed a water bottle from my girlfriend Morgan and found out that the break was only 3 minutes ahead. Now the real race would start. Adam went to the front and was working extremely hard so the break would not stay away. Adam is such a hard rider and a great training partner. The break eventually got caught at mile 70 and the Peleton was Groupo Compacto(All together). A 2 man break went up the rode with 10 miles to go and they would never be seen again. Adam was cracked because of all the hard work he had been doing all day. I needed to get a good finish. My legs felt great and I knew that if I could get to the front of the group I could do really well in the sprint. As we turned on the finishing road and had only 1 Kilometer to go I was finding it hard to move to the front. At 400 meters the group started sprinting. I flew around a lot of guys but only enough to get 15th. I got 5 dollars for 15th. As of right now im not sure if I lost my Omnium spot but I probably did. Overall it was a great weekend and I am feeling really strong. Its great to have a strong teammate such as Adam and be able to come away with results. My next race will be in 2 weeks down in Charleston SC.

Warm Weather and A Nice Ride

Adam and I rode together today and did some hill work. It was pretty tough but I felt good on the bike. We climbed Terrys Gap, Locust Grove twice, and Hutch Mtn. For those of you that dont know these climbs Locust Grove is a beastly climb. It hurts, especially on the second time up. My legs are feeling good so far this year and my training is going good. I hope all the hard work pays off. I would out pictures up but my computer is being stupid and it wont let me.

Assault on the Carolinas

I decided to brave the cloudy skies, the chance of rain, and cold weather to do the Assault on the Carolinas. Part of me wishes that I would have not have done it. We started the ride and it was a good fast pace until we hit the first big climb of the day Walnut Cove. That climb separated the field into a bunch of different groups. I managed to go over the top with the lead group of about 25 guys. After the climb it started sprinkling and then it started lighting. After that the skies opened up and we got poured on. For about 20 miles I could barely see in front of me. I made it to Caesars Head with the lead group of about 25 riders. I Rode up the climb at my own pace with 2 other guys and came over the top about 5 minutes back from the lead group. We got to where we were supposed to turn and the policeman made us turn right instead of left. Oh man that caused some problems. We ended up having to ride an extra 12 miles and and extra 35 minutes. It was still a great ride and I felt really good. I'm excited about this up coming weekend and racing in Rock Hill.

This Past Weekend

Was pretty exciting. I went riding with Adam and Billy on Saturday. I rode from my house in mills river to meet them in Fletcher. We decided we would ride to Asheville and climb Town Mountain. A long the way we climbed some other pretty steep hill and Adam and I did intervals up it. Its always fun to go out and ride with a couple of teammates and chit chat. Im not going to go into great detail about the ride we did but here is a picture looking down the parkway after climbing Town Mountain.

Finally!!

I got my upgrade to cat 3. Im pretty stoked. Looking forward to racing 3's in Rock Hill. Nothing new lately, just been riding and training. Hopefully something interesting will come up and I can post it on here.

Last Weekend of Greenville Spring Series

Sunday March 9th
This race went awesome for me. It was at the Donaldson Center and I figured since it was free to enter I would do the Juniors race. In the first 2 miles of the race I attacked hard and was off the front. I thought to myself "sweet i'm off the front, but wait can I hold it"? Turns out I could. By the end of the first lap the field was no where in sight. By the middle of the second lap I figured all I had to do was hold my pace and no one would catch me. Third lap started and I knew I had the race won. I came across the finish line and out my hands in the air. It was the coolest thing that has ever happened. I had always want to win by a solo breakaway. I waited for 8 minutes before the field came across the finish line. So far the season is going good for me. My next race will be in April in Rock Hill.

The Win!

Me Hammering

Sat March 8th
Todays race was the River Falls Road Race. The course really suited me. It was a 6 mile loop with a one mile climb at the finish. I felt really good today and thought I would have good results. Well I was wrong. At the start of the race it was sleeting and really cold. I was wondering exactly what I was doing racing. The first left I felt incredible and I was sitting comfortably in the top 10. We hit the hill really hard and already people were falling off the back. Towards the end of the second lap I hit a big pot hole and my wheel locked up between my brake calipers and was way out of true. I had to stop and get off my bike to try and fix it. I managed to fix it good enough to ride back the the start finish line. I bailed out of the race do to the problem and figured I better save my energy for Sundays race.

Weekend Race Report

Saturday
I headed down to fork shoals with Frank and Erica to race in the cat 4 race. With high hopes of winning and being to upgrade to cat 3 the team said they would help me out if all things worked out well. Well lets just make this one short. Things didnt work out to well for me. At the start of the race the official said that the field was 189 strong. I thought "wow thats insane". By the second lap it seemed that half the field had fallen off. On the third lap there was a guy up the rode by one minute and the field started hammering to catch him. People started falling off the back left and right. I found myself struggling to hand on. My lower back was really hurting me. I eventually did fall off the back and tried so hard to catch back on. I caught plenty of people a long the way who had fallen off. None of them which could hang with the pace I had going. I was disappointed for getting dropped but looked forward to racing on Sunday.

Sunday
Sundays race was much much better than Saturdays race. I did the Junior race today because I was going to be going to a Puddle of Mudd Concert in Charlotte. More on that later. So at the start of the race Evan Wynn and I were at the front setting the pace at a nice tempo. We eventually let a team from Salisbury do some work. At the end of the second lap Josh Antley attacked and Evan got right on his wheel. I sat in the pack and waited to see if anyone was going to go after him. After I saw that no one was going to go after him I attacked on the outside to try and bridge up to Evan and Josh. at 30 mph and a super hard effort I managed to get up to them. next thing I know and was expecting anyway was AJ Meyer came up to the break. AJ is a super strong cat 2 Junior. Before I knew it the 4 of us crossed the start finish line with one lap to go and we had a good gap on the field. We worked together really well until AJ decided to attack about 2 miles into the 3rd lap. With his attack it made josh fall off the back and left Evan and I chasing after him. To make a long story short AJ won the race. I spent the entire third lap trying to catch Evan who was about 5-10 seconds up the road from me. Josh ended up catching up to me with 1 kilometer to go and road my wheel to the sprint and out sprinted me by less than a bike length. I ended up getting 4th on the day but was very happy to be part of a breakaway.

Before the Start on Sunday

The Break

The Sprint for 3rd

AJ Meyer

This Weekend

This weekend is going to be so awesome. On Saturday I am going to greenville with my teammates to race. Hopefully I will get a win and be a cat 3. On Sunday I am going to race at the Donaldson Center and after that I am going to a Puddle of Mudd concert in charlotte. I will have pictures posted of the race either tomorrow or sunday.

Oh the weather outside is cold

So with the weather being 36 degrees and 20 mph winds I decided it would be a good idea to do an indoor trainer ride. I was going to go to VeloSports and ride but I have to be at work by 2 so there was no way I could do that. I have decided that riding indoors is not as bad as I used to think it was. Its nice being able to watch t.v or listen to music in the peace of my room. I ended up doing 1 hour of hard intervals. I am tired and now I have to go to work. Hopefully all my hard work will pay off and I will be a cat 3 by the end of the Greenville Spring Series.

BMW Performance Center Feb 24th

Today my girlfriend Morgan and I went to the BMW test track to do some more racing. I was feeling pretty good coming off a win the previous day. I had high expectations to finish well. I did a good warm-up on the trainer with Calum and decided to go down to the track and get to the start line. I looked around and I saw a guy by the name of Ben Gabardi, Ben is the reigning national champ in the 13-14 year old time trial and Crit. He was surrounded by 3 of his teammates from the Hincapie Barkley team. I knew it was going to be a fast race and I knew there were going to be some hard attacks coming from the Hincapie Team. About 2 laps into the race a hard attack was launched by one of the Hincapie boys. I found myself bridging up to him and looking back with a good gap on the Field. We eventually got caught and once again another attack was launched, this time I didnt have enough strength to go with it. Two of the Hincapie boys managed to escape, one of them being Ben Gabardi. I decided to just sit in and contest the sprint for 3rd knowing there was no way we were going to catch the guys up the road. On the last lap I found myself up front and on the last turn I stood up and sprinted as hard as I could beating the field by 2 or more bike lengths. It was a great race weekend and I cant wait to do it again next week!

Donaldson Center Febuary 23

I decided to do the Junior race today because I am low on money and I figured I could make some considering it was free to enter. It was probably one of the slowest Junior races I have ever been in. It was more like a group ride. It was still a lot of fun. I didn't know any of other kids names except for Calum. There were a lot of Les Amis boys; about 7 or so. None of them wanted to do any work. I tried attacking a few times but the group always brought me back. Calum just hung in behind me as I was teaching him about staying out of the wind. Some kid led the entire group for 2 laps until the end when he got burned out. In the last 2 miles of the race I found myself on the front with people attacking and I had to cover every one of them. About a half mile out some guy I didn't know attacked hard and I spent the next 400 meters or so catching up to him. When I caught him I decided to just go hard and sprint at the end. All worked well as I found Calum right on my wheel and the group about 2 bike lengths back. Calum started to go and I put in everything I had into the sprint and won by about a half bike length. Great job to Calum. He has some talent.

Warming up before the race

Sprinting For The Line