The roll out...

Mitch with an update on my racing so far...

This season I have opted for a late and gradual start to my racing. The idea here is that I'll have more left in my legs later in the season for our time in Belgium and the months to follow. Some days it's been hard seeing the results and finding other peoples names atop the results lists of the early season races I usually do well in, but meanwhile I'm growing increasingly excited for the racing in Europe and jam packed July and August.

So...I casually began the season in March with a criterium in Sacramento in front of home town crowds where I got to lead Ryan into the last corner so he could sprint the rest of the way in for 3rd. Next was the famous Copperopolis Road Race. This was an ambitious first road race at 105 miles of bone-crunching bumpy roads, but as I had planned it served as a good training ride. Although it didn't leave me much strength to show off with towards the end of the day.

Then I had to skip some races in order to move our things from our apartment in San Rafael into storage and into our new and highly affordable(tiny) guest cottage in Novato. Yikes-moving sucks! The reward was a weekend training in Tahoe to whip myself back into shape. Very nice!!!

I finally began a real bike racers schedule May 11th at the Madera County Stage Race. The two time trails at the race went well. I've never been a great time trialist so the middle of the pack finishes were fine with me given that I was just getting rolling. And I felt pretty good after a 4th in the criterium and a 9th in the road race.

Next was the Sea Otter Classic. A very tough Pro race on Monterey's Laguna Seca Raceway. While I had hoped to improve on last years performance where I was one of only a handful of amateur cyclists to reach the finish line, this year I was guilty of some bad pack positioning when the peloton suffered one of it's major fractures. So, despite feeling stronger than ever before going into that race, I got caught out in the wind on my own and as people hung up their bikes everywhere behind me, I would never see the races lead group again. There's always next year?

This weekend is the Wente Classic Road Race and Criterium. I did well at these last year and am looking forward to them now as I continue to build my fitness in preparation for the 5 day Mt Hood Cycling Classic Stage Race against the Pros that takes place in Portland and Hood River Oregon beginning May 13th.

Keep cheering and I'll keep pedaling...

Mitch

Early Season Success

Hey all,

Ryan here. I think its about time we start posting on this thing a bit more regularly and letting you all know how things are going. While our goal is to race on the famed cobbles of Belgium, we've been racing a bunch already in California to get in shape, test out the legs, and seek our fifteen minutes of fame.

I'm happy to report that I've been lucky enough to nab some good results before a hellish finals week left me a broken shell of a man. Through a combination of good legs and soft fields I managed wins at both the CVC Tower District Criterium and the Sequoia Classic Criterium. For those of you who might not know what a criterium is, its a short race, usually around an hour, where cyclist do numerous laps of a short course (generally under a mile). I like this kind of riding because its fast and technical and lends itself to big guy such as myself. I have a sweet picture of the win at CVC, but I'll have to check with the photographer before I post it here(last thing I need is to get sued over copyright infringement:) Until then heres a link: http://kellyshimamoto.smugmug.com/gallery/4493548_KkbV9#P-12-12. In a rare bit of luck, some company actually filmed the Sequoia Classic and you can watch video of the sprint. Its at this address: http://www.ibnsports.com/cycling.asp Click on the link for Men Cat 2. The race itself is a bit tedious if you're not in it, so I suggest fast-forwarding to the end.

I managed a few other top ten finishes, but things really have been a bit slow since finals week. Theres something about working non-stop for two weeks, barely sleeping, barely riding and eating everything in sight that tends to hurt one's cycling performance. Thats the life of a collegiate bike racer I guess. I did jettison that ridiculous mustache that I had... but, and I hope this is just coincidence, I haven't gotten top 5 in a race since I shaved it. I really hope theres no correlation or who knows what I might start growing. Incidentally I knew it was time to shave it when my cousin looked at me, made an icky face and told me I looked French. It was not a compliment, and kids don't lie.

So, it looks like the challenges facing me right now are, in no particular order ;)
1) getting back into race shape in time for the Collegiate National Championships
2) spreading the word about the Race To Belgium, and
3) graduating from college.


Thanks so much for all your support!
-Ryan

Progress Report

Mitch & Ryan have been busy boys in April. They've attended races everyday that they haven't been at work and school. We're gathering some racing reports and results to post soon.

Good news on the fund raising front...we've started to receive your donations. $600.00 raised so far. That's 10% of our goal already raised :). Of course that also means we have a long ways to go.

Keep spreading the word...

Thanks to all!!!

Fundraising Kickoff!!!

Allright! As of this evening we've officially begun spreading the word about our website, and our search for contributions has begun. Right now we're at $0.00 raised, but stay tuned...

...hopefully that will change soon.

Thanks! :)


Mitch & Ryan