Well, it has been a bit since I gave an update…so here we go.

After the sauna that was Philly, it took me about a week to feel right. Right in time for one of my favorite events…Nevada City. I mean is there a better race that is more tailor made for me? Nice hill, with no recovery before you kick right back up that thing. I mean really ideal for me….or NOT. Nevada City is kind of a hometown race for me so I have tried to race it as many times over the years as I could. This year’s event, like every race this year, was my last and overall I felt like it was one of my better Nevada City’s. Lucky for me I had an “on form” Nydam there to take the pressure off and he ended up having a good day getting second to Justin England. At the end of the day, I did some good work to launch Nydam and then finished stronger than I started. One issue that pissed me off was that I kept dropping guys in my group and in the end it was me and another guy setting a great rhythm, but we got caught by the “chase” group right at the line. So every guy we dumped got on the chase group and as the official moved us over to let the chase group do their sprint, those guys had tagged on and passed us. End result was I should have gotten 10th, but ended up 21st. Now, I would never really care about 10th, but cash is cash when your paying your own way into races. I guess I should not be surprised because according to my 35 plus buddies they started pulling those guys off the course 2 laps into the race. 2! And these were guys still in the money slots. Sufficed to say I am sure there are some pissed over 35 guys. Oh yea, thanks for call up in my home region. Oh wait, I did not get called. What I did get was the, “and there is Mike Sayers picking his nose!” WTF! Bitter, old, never made it guys with a mic.

Next was the Mighty Tour de Nez! One of my favorite races of the year in one of my many old home towns of Truckee. There were some major changes to the race this year from a course stand point. I was not super stoked on the changes, but those guys are trying to build a big event, so I tried to make it all positive (a big thanks to Tim and his crew for all their hard work and support they have given to me over the years). There were 5 of us local BMC guys there, and within the first half hour I should have known it was going to be a tough week. Right off the bat we lost our sprinter, Tolleson, to a broken collar bone. Better watch your back Hanson. We rode pretty well for the next couple of days with Mckissick killing the TT to take the jersey. The big road day was a ridiculously hard circuit road race that was pretty much 3 miles up and 3 miles down all at 6500 feet. The issue for me was that I knew the minuet I woke up that morning I could tell the cold I had been fighting just won. Bottom line, I got shelled on lap two and spiraled out of control. I could not generate any power and I was man down in a big way. In the end, we lost the jersey and I was out and on my way home. Nydam had a good day. And the next day some teams got a taste of their own medicine when the teams started attacking them from the blocks and they could not rally. It Just goes to show you what comes around goes around and next time some teams should think things out before they just start attacking to get rid of guys from the drop of the flag. You know, if you give some help very often teams are willing to pay you back, but screw someone and they want to screw you back.

I had planned to take a week off the bike to really recover and start my reset for the last bit of the season. The cold put me way over and it took me 3 days just to feel normal, but as I sit here, I am feeling normal and well rested. Got lots of house projects done which was cool and I am ready to start pounding out the big hours again. It has actually worked out pretty well since the state of California is on fire and it has been “unhealthy to breath” outside. I hope the wind kicks up and clears this ash bowl out.

So my next races are on my own up in British Columbia at BC Superweek which is another one of my favorite races.

One thing I will not miss in cycling is contract season. Philly is the unofficial beginning of guys looking for a contract for next season. It is where the stress really starts to build for guys who do not have deals for next year. I always hated to go through this part of the year. The part of the year where you are not sure if you will make the cut and have another year, or two, of stability. I will not miss it! Good luck boys!

So that is it. Late.

This week’s post is sponsored by UCI, out of competition, vampires who have to sit and watch you drop a deuce so they can get your 100 milliliters of urine at 7 am.

Havoc