Well it is over.  The Tour of Ga was a very tough week of racing.  The American peloton has really brought it up a few notches.  All the stages were very fast and all the teams made big impacts on the week.

I will say that I won’t miss racing up Brasstown bald…a more acurate description for me is riding up or even surviving up the climb.  It is a pain in the ass at the end of a tough week.

We got a little rain in the final stage yesterday which made the downtaown Atlanta circuit a little slick.  There was also some glass on the roads which causued 45 flats among all the teams.  I alone spent 3 laps, some 30 miles, in the cars trying to get my guys back into the field.  After Jackson flatted for the 3rd time I got him back and blew to bits.  As I sit in the airport waiting for my flight home this morning I have a nice head cold working which explains my lack of energy over the last two days of the Tour.

I would give BMC a B+ for the week.  We could never get a guy in the significant breaks and we did not win any stages.  We did have two guys, Nydam and Lill, up on GC, but I know we can do better.  Yesterday, we had Lill in the break that went to the final lap, but he flatted out.  He said he felt good so who knows what would have happend, but the team gets a B+ and I give myself a c+ for the week.  I just could not find my way into the breaks this week and I need to do and lead better.

I will say that I picked the winner of Brastown.  I know it is hard to believe, but I picked the Belirussian the night before in our team meeting so I have witnesses.  I guess I know my stuff when it comes to that.

I would like to say thanks to the State of Georgia, the volunteers of the race, Medalist Sports, the other teams and their riders, the host cities (both new and old), the Gov of Ga, my team staff and management and my friends and teammates in the peloton for making it a good week for me.

One other situation I want to address that pertains to this Blog.  What I write here is how I see things.  I have never and will never claim that it is the unaquivical truth.  The thoughts here are my opinons or my observations and should be taken as such.  I enjoy telling stories and most people seem to enjoy hearing them so I do my best.  I am a person who says directly what I think and I will never pull punches.  I expect others to do the same, but  at the end of the day, I will 100% stand by what I write and accept any consequences that come from my entries.  I think the American peloton is full of overly sesative and defensive individuals.  Those guys that are my friends, and those who know me, know what I stand for so I never need to explain anything to them.  Those guys that think I am a jerk or an A-hole most likely don’t know me and never will.  I am sure my wife would tell people I don’t care what people think about me.  I got to where I am by hard work and sacrifice.   My friend’s and teammates, both past and present, know what kind of individual I am and what I stand for in life.  I hold myself to the highest standard and expect everyone else to do the same.  There are a lot of times where cycling is a job and I treat it that way.  Sometimes, cycling is fun and I really try in enjoy those times most of all, but I get paid to ride my bike and I feel a heavy burden to fullfill my contractual responsibilities. There are some many days that this sport is far from fun, but I choose to be here and I must always remember that fact.  I really feel all pros must look at it this way. 

At then then end of the day, I love to get a reaction so expect to keep reading some fun things here.

Finally, good luck to my teammates racing in Switzerland this week.  They have a major undertaking at hand, and I am sure they will show how good they really are.

So thanks for reading.

Havoc

Quick summery of the day:

1) I sucked

2) BMC was good

3)Slipstream rocked it

4)today I hated racing my bike

5) Tomorrow and the next day are very, very hard

6)BMC races Tour of Romandie next where the weather will be bad (sorry guys)

7) Havoc jr is not feeling well and his mom is cracking which means his dad is cracking

I need to have a good day over the next two days so that I can get to sunday and maybe do something so Tour of Ga in not a complete waste of my time

9) I think Danny Pate will win tomorrow from a break

Late

Houston, we have full ignition.  That was the theme in stage three.  We raced the first two hours well in excess of 50 km an hour.  It was the same theme as the previous stage with every team wanting a guy in the break.  A group of 4 finally went away, but I think they only stuck because there was a horrendous crash just as they were attacking which involved a Sliptream, a Health Net and a Toyota rider.  I am pretty sure we were going about 50 miles an hour down this wide open roller.  It was one of those crashes that was just plain scary, but I think everyone is alright.

One of the riders in the break was the Mexican rider from Team Type 1.  He is a solid rider and if the break stuck my money was on him over Frank Pipp of Health Net.  Unfortunately, we again missed getting a guy in there.  You have to believe it was not from lack of trying.  Jackson was in several promising moves including the one right before the “magical” combo went away.  He flatted out and I was forced to bring the group back when I saw him swing to the side. I must have covered a million moves, and I was in some good looking combos, but there was always one team that missed out.  Frustrating!

Yesterday’s stage finished on a small circuit.  The break was brought back by CSC and High Road just before we got to the circuits, and the circuit was really tough.  It was only about 3 km around, but it was all up and down with some pretty tight, down hill, full brake corners.  I was trying to help our sprinter Danilo, but he flatted right before we hit the circuits so I switched to trying to help Darin Lill and Nydam, our GC guys.  I was not feeling that great at all yesterday so once I got those guys withing the 3 km mark I just started drifting and ended up last rider in the front group.  That is called the veteran drift.  In the back of my mind I was think of the TTT and how much energy the next two stages would require, so when I realized that I did not have the legs to really get a result, I started to conserve.

My friend and old teammate Greg Henderson, from High Road, took out the sprint.  Greg is a great rider and he must have really dig deep to get it done which is his usual MO.  So today is the TTT on the Road Atlanta race cousrse.  It should be 10 miles of pain.

Later

Havoc

Not a lot to report today.  Very long day today.  We finished with 2 laps of a 5 mile circuit.  The circuit had a very small hill that had the first KOM’s of the week so the KOM jersey was up for grabs.  Quite frankly, I was expecting more out of the hill.  It was pretty small, but Frank Pipp used what I am sure was some inside info, provided by his ex-manager Jeff Corbett who now works for the Tour, to get a jump on the field to grab the jersey.  Frank is a good pro so he will carry the jersey well.  The impressive move came right after when Oscar Sevilla hit out with Ted King on his wheel.  They got a good gap, or I should say Oscar got a good gap.  I used some veteran experience to get a perfect whip off the front of the field to tried and bridge across.  The move initially looked great, but I got half way and stalled.  I then looked foolish because I could not close the gap, but you can’t make it if you don’t try, I guess.  Anyway, King I don’t think took one pull, that I could see, but Sevilla was a motorbike holding off the field for most of the lap.  Very, very, very impressive on Sevilla’s part.

The first hour and half of the race was an attack fest and we at BMC tried to get into a workable group, but could not make it happen.  Finally Justin England, from Toyota, got away.  One of the Jelly Belly guys used the old “hey I am going to go ahead for a pee…errrrrr……psych…I have a gap now so I am going to attack” to eventually bridge across.  I mean if you can’t attack at 50 km/hr like everyone else you probably should not be attacking.  Justin was a threat, the other two guys were not, but High Road and Slipstream took up the chase and got them back about 30 km later.

There was a big crash inside the last km.  Three of our guys hit the deck.  I guess Jittery Joe’s guy threw it away and took about a dozen guys down.  It happens.

I am pretty tired and hungry so off to dinner I go.

See you tomorrow,

Havoc

Here are some photos of the kid.  As you can see he is quiet handsome.

Today was stage 1.  It was a pretty good day for BMC.  We had guys in all the breaks of the day, and I think we all felt pretty good.  The stage was flat and very fast.  I think we did 113 km in about 2 1/2 hrs.  It was pretty much full gas all day.  Personally, I was feeling pretty good, and man was it awesome to race in the warm sun.

Scott Nydam continued our Tour of Cali roll by winning the Most Aggressive Jersey.  He slipped in a good break with about 30 km to go and he was by far the best guy for GC so he was driving hard.  He said the break was working well until Bernard Van Ulden started attacking with about 15 km to go.  Who knows what that guy was thinking, but the break started not working well at that point and was caught with 5 km to go.  I think the race jury recognized his sillyness and gave the jersey to Nydam for his tactical intelligence.  It was a good day for BMC and we are all feeling happy.

So tomorrow is longer and a bit harder.  It was pretty nervous today in the group today, and I am hoping tomorrow things settle a bit.  I will say I picked the winner before the start; the Cuban Missile won!  No surprise since he is the fastest guy in the group.  Congrats to Ivan and Toyota.

Later,

Havoc

So, I guess a quick intro. First, I swore I would never do a blog, but I felt like it was a good idea for what is going to be my last season as a pro. I also have some personal sponsors that I would like to pimp: Northwave shoes, Kona Endurance supplements and Herriott Sports Performance centers. Todd at HSP is my personal coach and I do some consulting for them so please everyone go check out those companies. They have been really good to me and they are all leaders in their respective fields.

Now the big company I need to mention is of course BMC bicycles which is the title sponsor of my cycling team. Andy Rhiis, who owns BMC, is a great sponsor and a saint of a man, and I am really glad I will finish my career, which will end up being 13 years as a pro, with the best organized team I have ever been a part. BMC rocks as a company and they are such cutting edge bikes that it is a real pleasure to work for them.

So, let me give a little background on 2008.  I have pretty much raced out of the US for most of the season up to this point.  I did the Tour of Qatar, and after catching the flu that went around, missed Tour of California and then headed to Belgium for about 3 weeks of getting my ass kicked.  Now I am in Georgia for the Tour of Georgia which I am pumped for.  It is just great to be racing in the States on nice wide roads with the sun shining in the sky.

On the personal side, my wife is Nicole and she is a VP of commercial real estate for Iron Stone bank.  If you are in need of a new building for your business give her a call.  I have a kick ass 1 1/2 year old son named Brody.  I live in and love Sacramento California and my favorite food is Peet’s Coffee and New Belgium Brewery’s 1554.

That is about it.  I have arrived in Tybee, GA for the start of the Tour and I will keep you up to date.

Havoc

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