Team training camp

After spending a couple days in Houston, Texas with my parents and family I was off to my teams first training camp of the year in Tuscon, Arizona. My parents dropped me off at the airport early Christmas morning and I was off. Every day we rode a little more than 3 hours on some of the best roads around. It felt amazing to be riding outside in sunny and warm weather. After riding, I took a shower and then got a massage. I got the all-star treatment. My favorite ride is going up mt. Lemmon.  It is a 40 minute ride to the base of the climb and then the climb is 28 miles to the top. I only made it to mile 14 because after that it gets very cold. Climbing a mountain gives me a sense of joy and freedom that I cant explain. Also, once u turn around, the descent is very fast and fun. 

The riding wasn't to he most important part of the camp though, getting to hangout with some of my new teammates was the best part. We watched a couple of movies and went out for ice cream one night. I am leaving this camp with new friends, a little more fitness, and excitement for the upcoming season. My first race is in a month and a half which I can't wait for! 

I am sitting here at the airport ready to go home and I would like to thank IS Corp Cycling, Billy Jones, Mr. Roth, and my parents for giving me this great experience. Thank you everyone for supporting me in reaching my goals. Happy new year!!!!

Why Do I Race My Bike?

Why do I race my bike is a question that I ask myself A LOT. After racing on the track saturday night, I went to bed very sore, tired, and needing to take my inhaler. I missed hanging out with my friends to race my bike, but why? Well, these are the answers that I came up with.

1. I feel accomplished after I finish a race or training ride. I know that I am working hard towards my goals and that my hard work will pay off. There is no other feeling like finishing a 90 mile race and knowing that you gave it your all.

2. Cycling provides me with goals in life. I am a highly motivated person and having goals drives me every day to work hard. If I can dream it, I can do it.

3. The people and places that Cycling has taken me to are amazing. I have raced all over America and have even raced in Belgium! I would have never been able to go to Europe if it weren't for cycling. I have also met the most wonderful people through cycling. I feel very blessed to know the people that I do. They truly care for me.

4. Cycling also keeps me in shape. If I wasn't cycling, I would probably be 15 pounds heavier and eating whatever looked good.

5. Competition. I am very competitive and I am wired to compete. I like trying to do my best to overcome my competition and rivals.

Those are a couple of the reasons that I love my sport. I feel as though my bike is my identity, and I wouldn't know what to do without it. Life is not very easy for me and cycling gives me an outlet to plug into when I need to let my anger out. I sacrifice a lot for cycling, but it has given me so much in return. Cycling has also taught me a lot about life. Cycling has taught me that life isn't easy, you have to work for what you want, and patience is key. I love my sport and I wouldn't do anything over in my life.

Thanks for reading and being a part of my life.

Winter Fitness

One of the problems about living in Michigan is that the winters are nasty. They are cold, wet, cloudy, dark, and just straight up miserable for me. I personally hate being cold and I do not prefer to ride outside when it is in the 30 degree range. Therefore, I have been riding my bike in my basement which is not a lot of fun either. To keep up my motivation for training I decided to go up to London, Ontario to race on their indoor velodrome (a wooden, steeply banked oval) on saturday night. The velodrome is about 2 and a half hours away from my house and is located in an old hockey arena that is not heated very well.

The racing started at 7 and was in a tournament format. It started off with four groups of about 11. The top 6 from each group qualified for the semi-finals. Then the top 6 from each semi final qualified for the final race. If you did not make it in the semi-finals, you had one more chance to make it into the finals by getting 1st or 2nd in the "last chance race" for the riders who didn't make it through the semi's.

So the first heat went smoothly for me. The semi finals were a lot faster and I finished 7th, one off from qualifying. Even though I was really tired, I hopped back on the bike to try and get into the finals. The last chance race started off super fast and I just followed wheels and conserved myself. Near the end of the race I felt very good and I made my move. I caught two riders off the front and passed over them. I finished 1st! Now I had to worry about the 140 lap final scratch race with the best riders. The race was super fast and it exploded immediately. At lap 40 my legs had had enough and gave up on me. I finished 8th overall.

It felt very good to race again and especially to ride a new track. My goal is to go to junior track worlds this year and  I am feeling very confident in the fact that I can do it. Thank you for reading my blog!

Putting Things into Perspective

I believe that everyone sees life from a different point of view. I also think that our points of view are created by the experiences that we have had in our life. I do my best to see life through the point of view that everyday is precious and that tomorrow isn't guaranteed. My point of view is created from the fact that life hasn't always been easy for my family. In October, 2010, my friend and cousin Kyle Zuleg was killed after a tree branch fell on him while he was camping. It was a clear night and it was a freak accident. I honestly could not believe that it happened until I was actually going to Chicago for the funeral. Kyle was only 16 and had such a great life ahead of him.

Also, early onset Alzheimers runs on my dad's side of the family.  My dad's dad had it, and I have lost an aunt and an uncle to it already. Since my dad does not have it, I am safe though. Early onset alzheimers is a genetic disease where your brain slowly fails. Many elderly people get alzheimers, but early onset alzheimers starts when you are in your mid-late thirties. While in Texas, I am living with my Aunt who has early onset alzheimers. We just celebrated my Aunt's 44th birthday the other day and she has 3 young children. The disease is getting worse every month and it is hard to watch. I am not even sure if she knows who I am.

I am not saying this to make people feel bad for my family. I am saying this because staying here has given me a new take on life and family. Because of the fact that my family has gone through so many struggles, we are all very close to each other. I would do anything that I could to help out one of my family members or friends who needed me. If I ever get upset at how life is going at a certain moment, I just need to realize that I woke up with great health, a roof over my head, and I have a great family. We should all take time to enjoy the little things in life that make us happy!

Sincerely,
Richard

this is my cousin's website: http://www.kyleshineson.org/

Its Hot in the South

Well, Im going through my second full day here in Houston, Texas and Im getting used to things. I was expecting it to be warm down here, but I was frying on my ride today. I thought that I was in a desert with no shade. I almost ran over a snake too, which you don't see in Michigan that much. Anyway, I did a 50 mile ride today and I though that I was going to die from the heat, haha. I am definitely a northerner. I guess that being hot is better than freezing my butt off though.

I am having fun playing with my younger cousins, two twin boys who are in fourth grade and a girl who is in sixth grade. The boys have already kicked my butt at playstion and xbox. They are super good at Call of Duty, which my parents would still prefer me not to play. Yes, being an only child makes me a little sheltered. Yesterday we celebrated my aunt's 44th birthday and it was a lot of fun! There was good cake and we were all in a happy mood.

I am keeping up with my school so far, Im only 2 days in, but I am proud of myself so far. Its hard to concentrate when there are so many Texas cowgirls I could be chasing outside. I am having an awesome time here and I am getting some good training in. Thanks for reading!

Whats Up In My Life

Hello good friends and family, thanks for reading my blog. Lately I have been doing a lot of schoolwork, cycling, and trying to spend some more time with friends. I am in the part of the cycling season that some some people call, "the offseason". A lot of competitors find this a time to relax and kick back, but I find it the time to work even harder and try to improve on my weaknesses. I have been doing a lot of stretching, core work, and I have been spending a lot of time on my bike. I also decided to hire a nutritionist to help me make sure that I am fueling my body with the best food possible. I am really feeling a lot of improvement all around and I am feeling the rewards of my hard work.

My schedule for the next couple of weeks kicks off with the Iceman Cometh Challenge mountain bike race in northern Michigan. This race attracts over 4,000 racers from across the U.S. and has a great atmosphere. It is 30 miles of challenging trails and dirt roads that takes about 2 hours to complete. It is the one mountain bike race I do a year, but I always have a lot of fun at it. I leave for this race tomorrow afternoon and I am super excited for it!

After the mountain bike race, I will have to come home that night and start packing up things for Texas. I am leaving for Houston, Texas on Tuesday and will be there for two weeks while staying with family and getting in some really good training. I will bring my school with me and work on that while I'm there. I think that it will be a nice change of pace for me and I love being around with my family!

I have one final exciting announcement. I will be racing for the IS Corp Junior Cycling team out of Wisconsin this upcoming season! They have produced many great riders on and off the bike and are invited to the Tour de la'Abitibi (a UCI stage race in Canada) every year. I will be getting to meet all of my new teammates very soon and I am excited about being able to race with such a great group of people.

That is the summary of what has been going on in my life lately. I have very big expectations for this upcoming season and I am going to come out swinging. I am taking care of all the little things and I will let my legs do the rest. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed.
Sincerely,
Richard

Fall

Well, It has been too long since my last post. I finished well at the Green Montain stage race over Labor Day Weekend and then I took a two week break off of the bike. Before I talk about what I have been doing though, I want to talk a little bit about my season overall. I competed all over the country, took two trips to Belgium, and met a lot of my goals. I upgraded to category 2 and I adjusted to the faster and longer racing pretty quickly. I want to thank everyone that has supported me for making this season so great. I would like to thank all of the older category 1/2 riders for teaching and watching out for me in races. I want to thank Lucas Wall for being so patient with me and coaching me to be my best. I am very thankful to everyone who has encouraged me and sent me nice messages over facebook and in person. It helps knowing that other people are in your corner. Finally, I would like to thank my family, they are the most important people in my life and nothing comes before family.

After taking the two week break I eased back into training and hit up the books. Now I am putting in a lot of time on the bike and preparing for the next season. I have signed with a very exciting team for next year (that I will announce soon) and I have a lot of cool races and goals on my calender. Everything is going alright in my life right now and I am pretty happy. This upcoming season is going to be great. Thank you for reading.
Sincerely,
Richard Rainville

Off Season

My season finished off over the Labor Day Weekend in Vermont at the Green Mountain Stage Race. This race was four days long with some of the nation's best juniors. I felt very good throughout the race and I finished off 17th overall out of 75. I am glad that I ended my season on a decent note.

Now that the season is over though, its time to take a break and stay off the bike for a while. These past two weeks I have been focusing on school, work, and I have been hanging out with my friends a lot. It feels good not having to worry about which workouts Im doing on which days. On monday I will start riding again on the trails with my mountain bike and do some longer rides on the road. I am excited to start training for next season. Thank you for reading my blog.

Last Days in Belgium

Well, I leave Belgium tomorrow to go back home. These last couple days have been pretty calm and relaxling. The only thing that I have to complain about was the heat these last two days. It got in the upper 90's which is very hot for Belgium. There is also no air conditioning here which lead to all my chocolate melting :(  I probably should have put it in the fridge though. Today I went for a ride to Gent (a fairly big city about 20 miles away) where I got completely lost once I reached the city. I did end up finding my way back though. I packed my bike up a little while ago and I am praying that TSA doesn't decide to take a chainsaw to it.

I am super glad that I was able to come back here for a second time this year for more racing and learning. The racing did not go as well as I wanted it to, but I still got more experience racing at an international level which is important. I want to thank Holly and Greg Germer for providing me a great house to stay in, Tim Redus for providing a great racing trip for me and great dinners, John Kelly for helping Tim run the trip and taking me to a couple of my races, Daniel Sterling for lending me his bike box and supporting me in making my racing dreams come true, and I would like to thank my awesome Mom and Dad for being my biggest supporters and cheerleaders. I also would like to thank all of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and my friends for being such great people in my life.

This trip has been another chapter in the Journey of Rainman. The journey to the top is not easy, but I am never going to give up. I can't say enough how glad I am to have such a great group of supporters surrounding me. I have one more race this season over Labor Day weekend and I am going to give my all. Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed!

Here is a short video on why racing in Europe is so important and what I am trying to accomplish in cycling: http://vimeo.com/47605727

town square market

Every thursday during the summer  there is a market that happens in the town square of Oudenaarde, the town that I'm staying in. I didn't have plans in the morning, so I decided to go check it out. It was such a cool scene. Over a hundred vendors were set up with their tents and everything else that they needed. There was everything from food vendors selling fresh meat and cheeses to vendors selling clothing and jewelry. The whole town square was packed with action and I thought that it was so cool. After looking around and buying a pastry I decided to go eat at a cafe with Thompson, a racer from Wisconsin on the trip. We each bought a coffee and a pastry. After eating, we went to another cafe where some other friends were at and we had more food there. I loved visiting the town market and I enjoyed taking all of it in.

Later that day I went on a good hour and a half ride with 3 others to burn off all of the goodies that I had ate earlier. It was a really nice day for a ride and I had a lot of fun riding through the countryside. I am meeting so many great people on this trip and experiencing a complete other culture first hand! thank you for reading and I hope you have a great day too.

Update from Beglium/race weekend 2

I have been taking in everything that Belgium has to offer in these past couple weeks. Over this past weekend I did two more races. The race on Saturday was 10 laps of 6.3 km. It went through small narrow farm roads, had two hills to climb up and two downhills that were very fast. There was also "road furniture" like concrete curbs in the middle of the road. There were 90 starters and about 16 of those were other Americans from the USA national team, slipstream/garmin junior devo team, and others from the trip I'm on. It was sure to be a fast race. For the first 6 laps I sat comfortably in the middle of the pack making sure to conserve my energy. On the 8th lap I followed an attack up a hill on the backside of the course and the two of us quickly built up a gap. Later on in the lap I messed up on a turn and the other guy gapped me and I was stuck by myself. I gave it my all to stay away, but I was caught early on during the last lap. I finished up a minute behind the field. I am proud of my effort in this race because I gave myself a chance to win. It didn't work this race, but it may work in my next race.

My other race was the next day on Sunday. I woke up with a sore throat, headache, and a stuffy nose. It was one of those days where I had to man up and just do the best that I could in the race. This course involved 12 x5 km laps. Each lap involed a little over a km of a very hard cobble section on the finishing straight. There were 105 starters in this race and it started off fast. The first 4 laps I was dying and trying to hang on to the back. I was getting whipped around every corner and I thought about dropping out. On the 6 lap I started feeling a lot better though and I made my way to the front. I made some attacks during the last 3 laps, but it was clear that it was going to come down to a field sprint (while I was on the back 8 riders got away). I positioned myself at the front and stuck my elbows out. I gave it my all and I finished 41st.

I am disappointed with how this weekend went, but I have another race on Tuesday. Hopefully I will feel better by then. I am truly becoming a better racer over here and I am seeing a lot of improvement in myself. Thank you everyone for reading my blog and supporting me. I have the best friends and family in the world!

second race of the trip

Today we had a race in Zingem, a town about 7 miles away. I got an awesome massage from Holly Germer yesterday, co-owner of the Chainstay, so my legs were feeling ready to go. The course was short and we had to do 13 laps. The race started off fast and I was feeling good. I was very aggressive and was almost always at the front staying out of trouble. With two laps to go another racer named Phil O'Donnel took off and soloed to the finish. A group of 3 others took off and also stayed away. I missed out on those opportunities and I had to fight my way to the front to get in position for the sprint. We were flying on the last lap and moving up was hard. On the last corner I got bumped to the side of the road and came out of the corner slow. I was passed up by 10 others and I finished 25th in the race.

The lesson learned is that even if your feeling good things don't alway go your way. I need to be more prepared for sprints at the end of races and I need to keep my elbows out.  It is a decent result and there is always another race to do better in. Congrats to Phil O'Donnel for winning and Grayson Brookshire for getting second. I am having a lot of fun!
Thanks for reading,
Richard

First couple days

I have now been here at the house in Belgium for a couple days now and I am adjusted to the time difference (Belgium is six hours ahead of Michigan). I had my first race the day after I arrived and I was still tired then. The race was 63 km long and was on a 7.5 km long circuit that winded and twisted through the country side while leading us back through town each lap. The race started off fast and stayed that way. I was doing a good job of positioning myself at the front and staying out of trouble. I even found the strength in me to put in some good attacks. Halfway through the race it started to rain and the corners got slippery. I took a sharp turn at a wrong angle and my wheels slid out from underneath me and my body slided up against the pavement for a couple feet. By the time that I got up and checked my bike the field was gone. It was a really windy day and that made catching the field by myself impossible. I got pulled from the race and got 30th place out of 70 some racers. I am disapointed about how the race went, but thats how it goes sometimes.

The last days I have been chilling around the town square and riding around the country side with some of my friends. My next race is on Sunday and I am very excited for it. Thank you all for reading!!!!!!

Its been awhile

Wow, It has been a long time since I posted on here and I apologize. To catch up on things I did decent at road nationals in Augusta (not what I had hoped for) and did fairly well at Track Nationals in Pennsylvania. My partner Alex Riva and I did the madison together and got 3rd.
What's happening now is that I just arrived at the Chainstay house in Belgium where I will be spending the next 3 weeks. I am once again trying to conquer the races of Belgium and I am doing it with the same people that took me on the trip earlier this year in March. I am coming into this trip knowing what I have to do and I plan on getting some results. My first race is tomorrow, I am not sure how it will go though knowing how tired I am from the flight and getting used to the time change. I am so thankful to be racing in Europe again and I can tell that this will be a great trip.

Preparing for the National Championships

Since my races over Memorial Day weekend in Iowa I have been riding a fair amount and getting my body ready for one of the biggest races of the year, the road National Championships in Augusta Georgia. This is the biggest race for road cycling in America. This race is where the best juniors from around the country all gather up in one city to compete for the title of being the national champion. Needless to say, this weekend is very competitive. There is a time trial, a criterium, and a road race. My goal is to get a national championship. I wouldn't go to any race if I didn't think that I could win it. The National Championships are my place to prove that I belong on the national team.

My mind is certainly ready for this big event, but I have had some problems with my body lately. After pretty much every race I have thrown up or felt nauseous. At first my coach and I thought that it might be something that I have been eating. I have looked at EVERYTHING that I have been eating and I am just not sure what might be causing my stomach problems. I went to the doctor a week ago and he thinks that it is heart related. I did an EKG and I had my blood taken, but both turned out normal. Tomorrow I am going to the University of Michigan hospital in Ann Arbor to do a stress test and have an echo performed on me. The doctor hasn't let me do any hard workouts in the past week so I am kinda unhappy that I can't train the way I want to before nationals. I am hoping that everything goes o.k. tomorrow and that the doctors say that I can race.

Anyway, I am excited for nationals and I will be putting up a new blog everyday while I am there. I am also almost finished with school which is a good feeling. Thank you for reading!!!!!!!

Memorial Day Weekend in Iowa

This past weekend I spent the Memorial Day weekend with my parents and team racing in Iowa at the Quad Cities. This is a very famous and historic weekend of racing in some very cool downtown areas. My parents and I left early friday morning so that we could stop and eat lunch with my grandparents who live in Illinois. I don't get to see them that often so when I do it is a treat. I loved being able to see them! After eating lunch, we finished up our last hour of driving and made our way to the hotel. The night was finished off with a great Italian dinner and going to bed at a good time.
My first race was early Saturday morning in the downtown of Burlington. This weekend I decided to just do the junior 15-18 races since these races are more important and attract a lot of junior talent. We had to do eight laps where each lap consisted of a really steep and twisty cobbled climb followed by a really fast decent. The name of the Race is Snake Alley. The climb really does look like a snake. Here is a video of last year's race: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0InwFypMe-c . I was not able to stay with the front group of racers last year, so my goal was to stay at the front this year. The race started off really fast, but I was able to hold my position and fight hard. On the last lap I went to the front and drilled it up the climb hoping that I could help pace my teammates up and stop attacks. I got to the top and everyone passed me. I reached the bottom of the descent and picked off a racer in the sprint to place tenth out of over 50 juniors. After the race I overheated and threw up though. Something has been going on with my body lately and I am not sure what. Hopefully I can get that figured out soon.

Sunday was the Melon City Criterium. I will save you all time on this race because my chain got caught in my frame on the first lap and by the time I got it fixed the field was already over a minute up the road. I chased for a couple laps, but then I gave up.

Monday's race was the Quad Cities Criterium which consisted of 14 laps of a big figure eight shaped loop with a lot of corners. Last year I got 4th in this race so I had some confidence. After not feeling great on Saturday and dropping out on Sunday I really wasn't sure what was going to happen though. I attacked right when the race started and I soon opened up a decent sized gap on everyone else. I knew that I had 14 laps to go so I had to pace myself. 2 laps into the race it started to rain really hard and I startes slipping around in the corners. I figured that there would be a lot of crashes in the field and I was right. With 4 laps to go I was 15 seconds ahead of a group of 20 chasers. I realized that I had a chance of winning. I still had a small gap when I crossed the line with 1 lap to go and I put the hammer down. The field came 10 feet away from catching me in the end, but I held them off by myself and crossed the line in first. It was a great feeling!

I had such a great time this weekend and I would like to thank my teammates for helping me out and being such great friends to me. My team also did really well over the weekend and I am so happy for them. Every single person on Prochain cycling gave it their all in every single race. I would also like to thank my coach Lucas Wall for all of his advice and dealing with all the crap that comes with training a teenager. I know that I'm not the perfect athlete to coach, but he somehow manages to always be able to make me improve on my love of this sport. I would like to thank my family for always supporting me and cheering me on. I would like to thank Honey Stinger for all of their great nutritional products and Enzo's Cycling for their chamois creme. I don't know what I would do without the great sponsor's that I have. Finally, I would like to thank my parents. They are the best in the world and they are always so proud of me. It is their 19th anniversary today and I love them so much. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What's been going on lately

Nothing crazy has happened to me since my last post, but Ill do my best to make this post sound interesting. I have been racing really hard lately and I am only a couple weeks away from finishing up my sophmore year of highschool. My training rides have been pretty exciting lately. Yesterday I got attacked by some geese who were protecting their children from me and I almost ran over a squirrel. What really scared me is that the geese started hissing at me and even jumped at me and tried to bite me. haha.

Since my last post I did a local spring training series race at Ann Arbor where I got fifth in the pro 1/2/3 race. I was able to make it into the winning breakaway of 8 and gave it my best in the sprint. The next weekend I did a road race called, Cone-Azalia. The course consists of a rectangular 10 mile loop with 4 miles of gravel and 6 miles of paved road. The pro 1/2 race had to do 7 laps. The first 3 laps went fine and then the pace started to pick back up. I got dropped 55 miles into the race and then I rode with one other for the last part of the race. 3 others caught us in the last mile so I had to bring out a hard sprint. I got 20th place out of 30some riders. It is a hard transition going from cat 3 to cat 2 and racing with the professionals. The races are longer and the riders are better. I am learning a lot and I enjoy the high level of competition.

This week I am preparing for a two day stage race in Grand Rapids this weekend. Saturday consists of a 14 mile time trial in the morning and a criterium in the afternoon. Sunday consists of a 90 mile road race. I can't wait!!!!!

Also, I would like to wish everyone mom and expectant mother out there a happy mother's day! My mom means the world to me and I am so thankful for her. She is always cheering me on and supporting me. I feel so blessed that I have her!!!!!

A day in my life

These last two weeks have been pretty casual for me. Here is what my daily schedule consists of. I wake up at around 8:30, eat some waffles, cereal, and bananas, and then I go on the computer to check my e-mail and facebook for a bit. By 10:00 I am sitting at my dining room table getting started on my schoolwork. Homeschooling is one of the sacrifces that I have made to help me become a better rider and be able to travel to bigger races. It can become very lonely at sometimes, but I also like having my own schedule. At noon I walk down the street to visit my dad during his lunchbreak at the middle school he teaches at. Then I walk back home and finish up my subjects. When I am done with school, I go do the workout that my coach has planned for me.

Thats pretty much what my monday-friday's are like. Besides from school, I have been doing the local spring training series in Ann Arbor. Last weekend I upgraded to a category 2 which means that I get to race with the best in Michigan this year. I never dreamed of being a category 2 a couple years ago. I have really worked hard and I am ready to race at this very high level.

Today I did at time trial at Willow Metropark. This is a 13 mile tt consisting of 6 laps around a closed course. I did not perform nearly as well as I thought I should have. My goal was to acheive a time that was under 30 minutes. The course conditions were not very fast though. I ended up getting 7th place in the pro 1/2 field with a time of 30:53. I was not feeling my best today, but I gave it my all.

Happy birthday to my awesome coach Lucas Wall!!!!!!!!

Tour of the Battenkill

Well, I just got back home from New York. My team and I arrived at registration at 5:00 on friday afternoon and then we went to recon some of the course on our bikes. After the ride, we went to go get dinner at this cool old hotel in the downtown area of where the bike race was. After dinner we went to our hotel where all five of my teammates and I slept in one room. Lets just say that it was crazy.

We woke up early in the morning and I had two giant waffles and some bananas. My start was at 11:30 so John, Weston, and I arrived ten minutes early at the start line. The race started off very slow and picked up a little now and then. I am not a fan of junior races because of the fact that no one wants to keep the pace up. 40 miles in everyone was still together so I decided to change that. I attacked on a flat gravel section and broke away by myself. I gained at least a minute gap and charged ahead for 7 miles until I was caught by seven others. Besides the seven that caught me, the field was torn apart into shreds. I was happy to see that I did my job and that my teammate John Murdock had made the group of 7.

When I got caught the breakaway was going very fast and I did my best to try and stay on. The 7 sped up though and I got dropped. So for the last 15 miles I worked with another rider to stay away from everyone else. I dropped the other rider with 5 miles to go and then time trialed to the finish. I ended up eighth and John endud up sixth out of 43 riders. I am not happy with my result, but there are no excuses.

I am very thankful for my supportive team, parents, and family that let me do this race.

p.s. I threw up after the race. I guess that means I did my best and I should have no regrets.

Back in the Groove

Wow, I have had a great start to my season so far. I was fortunate enought to be able to do Valley of the Sun Stage Race in Arizona in February and then head off to Belgium for a couple weeks of racing. Needless to say, I have had a good early season. Since getting back from Belgium I have been able to catch back up on school, see some friends, and get in a couple of local races. Training is back on schedule and it feels good to be back in the regular routine. Today I am heading off to Ohio to meet up with some teammates who I am going to carpool with to a race in Cambridge, New York. This race is called the Tour of Battenkill. It is a 62 mile long race with some tough hills and gravel sections. The great thing about this race is that it has a fairly large junior field and I will have teammates in it with me. I never enter a race that I don't think I can win and this race is no exception. I am very fit right now and Lucas Wall has been doing a good job of keeping me on track with my training. There will be some very strong competitors, but that is why I am going all the way to New York for this race. I am always a little nervous when going to a big race, but I am feeling confident in the fact that I have done all that I can do to prepare for this race. My next post will be on how this race goes. Thank you for reading!

Day 17 (My last day)

Today I am all packed up and about to go to the train station which will take me to the airport. I can't thank my parents enough for always supporting me and cheering me on. I want to thank Lucas Wall for his great coaching and making sure that I was prepared to race here. I need to thank Alexey Vermeulen for all of his advice and thoughts on Europe after kicking butt here last summer. Thank  you to the Chainstay for providing a great place to stay. I felt like I was at home with their amazing hospitality and their wonderful dog Belle. Their website is http://www.thechainstay.com/. Finally, I need to thank Tim Redus for providing the trip. I always had a great dinner to look forward to thanks to him. Tim also took me to some really cool cities, helped me out at the races, and basically made sure that I was having a great time. His website is  http://vertexcycling.com/. He is having another trip in August and registration is open for that right now. These last two weeks have been the best ever! Thank you everyone for your support and reading my blog. Im not looking forward to my flights, but It will feel great to hear English again.

Day 16

I had my last race here today.There were 124 starters. I have never been in a race with this many juniors.  The started off very fast and I had a very hard time trying to stay in good position. I made it to the front once, but soon I was in the back again. After 3 laps I got dropped and rode with three others. What made this race interesting was the fact that there were 2 sections of downhill cobbles. One had a turn at the bottom which force me to brake. Braking and shifting are very difficult when your hands and body are being vibrated at a fast pace. On the first lap bottles were flying all over the place on the cobbles which made it dangerous. I am disappointed with my results this past weekend, but it is a long season and I had barely ridden outside before coming here.

Day 16

As expected, today's race was super hard. It was on some really narrow, windy, and turny roads. I got caught at the back before entering the narrow roads and the yo-yo effect started. I tried to move up, but there was ditches on each side and absolutely no room to manuever. The courses here are insane. I wish I could have done better, but if anything, I got more experience and fitness.

Day 15

Today was everything, but boring. I woke up early and Tim and I went to the start of E3. One of the belgian spring classics. There were thousands of people walking around and surrounding the GIANT sign in stage. Everything about it was so cool. I was on a mission to get autographs and see my favorite pro riders though. I went to the street with all of the team buses and cars. It was packed with people. Every team had a super cool set up. Their buses are really big and look very luxurious (I got to barely peak inside). On top of the team bus, there were two team cars loaded with shiny new bikes and wheels. My favorite rider is Fabian Cancellara because of how he is able to just ride away from everyone else, so I waited outside the Radioschack team bus. Fabian was the last one to come out and when he did, everyone started screaming their heads off. Cyclists are rock stars over here! He didn't sign for anyone though. I even chased him down the street and begged, but he wouldn't even look at me. It is still cool to say that I have been right next to him, let alone even see him in person.

Once I found out that I wasn't going to get his autograph I went on the hunt again. I got Sylvain Chavanel, the French national road champion, and George Hincapie to sign for me. I have to say that George's jaw is very big in person. He was super nice to me and I think that he is a great role model. After that, everyone was at the start line. I was definately star struck after getting both of those two to take time away to sign for me. The start line was super crowded so I just decided to watch the big screen on the sign in stage.

Next Tim and I met back up at the car and went to a cool bike shop in Ghent. This bike shop had everything you could possibly need. It had hundreds of bikes, every single component group out there, and any clothing item you could dream of. American bike shops can learn a thing or two from the bike shops here.

After the bike shop we went back to the house to watch the rest of the race. Tom Boonen won it. I went on a hour ride to get my legs ready for tomorrow's race after watching the finish. We had beautiful weather today. It was super sunny and warm. I am super nervous about this weekend's races knowing that they are my last for this trip. All I know is that I will do my best and see what happens. Thank you for reading.

Day 14

Today was a pretty lazy day. I went on a ride and pretty much hung out for the rest of the day.

Day 13

Today I followed the pro race, Dwars Door Vlaanderen, in a car. It was Tim, Greg, me, and a photographer. First we went to a cobbled road and saw them go by, then we went to a short climb. If you happened to be watching the race on the T.V. or computer, you can spot me at the 42 km. I am the shirtless kid waving his shirt around. I never have the chance to see pro races in the U.S. so I decided to go as crazy as I could. There were so many people at this race and I also got to see Mark Cavendish go by. I only saw him for a second, but only in my dreams could I see the World Champion so I was super excited.

After the race, I went on a short 50 min. exploration ride to check out the town.  It is pretty confusing over here with roundabouts and so many different streets. When I got lost, I just searched for the town square tower and went in that direction.

Also, I have seen so many professional team cars either parked on the side of the road or just driving on some rural back roads. Yesterday I saw the Radioshack-Nissan bus parked on the opposite road of the grocery store. Also, there was a Quickstep car at my race on Sunday. Those are just a few instances. I find it super cool that they are all around.

Day 12

I had a pretty lazy morning today. At 1:00 I went on a ride with Jared, Ashley, a pro dude, and 3 pro women to recon the last 100km of the womens Tour of Flander's course. It is pretty safe to say that I hate cobbles by now.They rock your body like crazy. Your arms and hands vibrate at an unbelievable rate. I also have crappy water bottle cages that have my bottles fall out which is really annoying. Anyway, the ride was really hilly and hard. It was a lot of fun and it was a beautiful day outside. I came home to an awesome dinner made by Tim and relaxed for the rest of the night. Thank you for reading.

Day 11

Today Tim tooke me to Brugge, a really old mideivel city. The town square was huge and there was a really big tower and a ton of near architecture. There were a LOT of chocolate shops and the coolest ones (i'm a teenager) were the ones that had chocolate body parts.I was thinking about buying some, but then I asked myself a serious question: do I really need a chocolate penis? After a long debate with myself I realized that I didn't.  For lunch Tim and I went to a really neat waffle restaurant. I ordered a waffle with strawberries and chocolate syrup. Needless to say, it was AMAZING!!!! It was gone after 30 seconds into my tummy. We basically just walked around for a couple hours and took in the scenery. Today was really awesome and I really enjoyed being a tourist. Its my last week here so I am really going to try and make it a great one.

Day 10 (fourth race)

Today I got up early and went to a church down the street for mass. After that, I walked back to the house and got ready for my race. Today's race was about half an hour away. When we got there, it started raining hard, so I just got dressed in the car and waited it out. 20 minutes before my race the rain stopped, but the roads were slick. The course consisted of a long uphill and some flat, windy roads. There were 76 starters in this race and I was feeling very confident. There were 10 laps and for the first 7 laps I was feeling really strong and I was controlling the front of the race. I could see that I was stringing out the field around the corners and I just felt great.

Going through a corner on the 7th lap though my wheel hit some gravel and I slid out. It was one of those crashes where everything goes slow mo and you are thinking about how bad this is gonna be when your body slides against the pavement. Well, I got up, made sure my bike was o.k., and started chasing. The thing is, the pack was GONE when I got up, I knew that there was no chance of catching back up, but there could be some dropped kids up the road that I could pass up. My rule of thumb is that I will always go hard even when I'm dropped until I get pulled. I caught up to 4 dropped kids up the road and then dropped them and moved up to one more kid up the road who I also dropped. I got to do all 10 laps and I finished 39th.  Not the best result, but I finished and did my best.

CORRECTION: The ex-pro rider who I rode the Tour of Flanders course with is NOT in his early thirties. He turned 29 two days ago and his name is spelled Jered. I also found out that he only weighs 155 pounds (hes a lot taller than me) and can produce 400 watts for 20 minutes. No wonder my ride was hard with him.

Day 9 (third race)

Today was my third race here. It was an hour away and the weather was cloudy and cold. There were 74 starters! The only race in the U.S. where you can get 74 racers 15-16 years old in one race is nationals. This was just a local race. The course consisted of a downhill, an uhpill, narrow country roads, and a lot of hard turns. The race was 8 laps long to equal a total of 67 km. The race started off fast and stayed that way. If you want to stay near the front in a group of 74 guys, you have to take advantage of every open spot that you can move up at. This race seemed to go a lot easier for me than last week's did. I was more aggressive and used my energy more wisely. I even dropped the field a couple times and I bridged up to a break away up the road once. I was not only hanging on to my dear life in this race, but I was making things happen.

On the last lap there were 3 guys up the road and about 27 of us in the pack. A lot of kids were dropped in this race. I moved up for the sprint and I finished in the middle of the group. I am guessing that I got around 20th place because the results say that I finished in 36th. Belgian officials get the results posted a lot faster than the U.S. , but there is no protesting and they aren't as careful with making sure the results are correct. I am dissapointed that they messed up, but there is nothing I could do about it. I know where I finished and I am very happy with my result. My goal for tomorrow is a top 15.

Day 8

Today was a lot of fun. I got in a nice ride that opened my legs up for tomorrows race and then I went to go visit the Tour of Flander's cycling museum. It is only two miles away so Tim and I walked to it. This museum was really neat and had the whole history of cycling. I saw an autographed Fabian Cancellara jersey from when he won the race. There was so much cool cycling stuff there. There was really old bikes and helmets. I don't really know how to explain how cool it was.

On the walk back to the house all the kids were out of school and at the bars. The drinking and smoking age here is 16, but the driving age is 18. Anyway, they basically all get drunk after school. Tim made some really awesome salmon and shrimp for dinner that I quickly ate up. After dinner I got an awesome massage from Holly Germer (owner of the house with Gregg Germer), she made sure that my legs were ready to tear it up tomorrow.

Now I am here wrighting my blog and getting ready for bed. My goal for tomorrow is to do the butt kicking instead of taking the butt kicking. We will see how that goes. Good night.

Day 7 (Ive made it through my first week!)

Well, it has been a week since I have arrived here. Today I went on a ride with another guest who is staying here name Jared. He is an ex pro cyclist and now he is a cycling journalist and photographer. He is in his early thirties and he is a kick butt cyclist. We decided to ride the last 90km of the Tour of Flanders course. This included one time up the Koppenburg and three times up the Pattersburg and Ode kwermont(not sure if I spelled that right), and a bunch of other cobbled sections. Today was super nice, but this ride was torturous. My hands hurt so badly after doing a 2 mile section of cobbles. I can't believe that the riders are able to do this race. I only rode the last part and I can't imagine doing it after already having done 100 or so miles. So I got a new perspective on the Spring Classics today and I got some sore legs and hands.

Day 6

The days here just keep getting better and better! Today I had breakfast and then went to the nearby canal to do some intervals. I worked myself pretty hard during those efforts which felt good. When I got done with the intervals I rode back to the house to get a bite to eat, and then got back on the bike to ride 4 miles to watch a pro race. It was called the Nokere Koerse. This was a big deal for me because I have never seen a professional road race, nevertheless, be able to ride to one. When I arrived near the finishing circuit the streets were lined with people.There was a betting board and lots of beer tents. It was like a carnival with a ton of food stands and music. It was so neat watching all of the pro's go by and all of the team cars follow. It took me awhile to realize that this was actually happening. I have always wanted to see a pro race and I finally was.

After getting back from the race I got ready for dinner. This was not any ordinary dinner though, this was a dinner with Jonathan Page and his family at the house where Im staying. For those of you who may not know who he is, he is a big cyclocross superstar. He is from New Hampshire, but resides in Belgium for most of the year. I have seen him at races before, but never had the chance to talk with him. He was super nice and I even got a photo with him (check my facebook).

Today was pretty much the greatest day ever. I have never been more happier in my life than I am right now. I can't thank my parents enough for all that they have done for me and Tim Redus for providing me with this opportunity. I feel as though I am in a dream right now and I am just so happy. Thank you everyone for your support.

Richard

Day 5

Today was an awesome day! It started out with a trip to the grocery store to get some waffles and bananas for me and Tim(my director) got some stuff for dinner later today. While at the grocery store I saw this special cereal that isn't sold in the U.S. that my friend has really wanted, so I picked up that too. I also got some chocolate to bring home for some friends and family. The real souvenir shopping doesn't begin until I take a day trip to Brugge where all the cool shops are.

After lunch I went on a ride with Tim and Gregg (the house owner) to ride the "holy trinity" of cobbled climbs. First I rode the Koppenburg, then the Pattersburg, and finally the Oude Kwaremont. These climbs are famous being part of the Spring Classics races such as Paris Roubaix and Tour of Flanders. These climbs are super steep and super bumpy. I couldn't believe that I was riding the same roads as Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen.

Today was really great and I just finished some really awesome spaghetti and meatballs. I am loving my time here and there is some really cool stuff planned for tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

Richard

Day 4

Not much happened today. I slept in, had some food, and got in a nice recovery ride. Other than that, I hung out for the rest of the day.

Day 3 (second race)

Today was a lot like yesterday in the fact that I sat around most of the morning to rest up before my race. My race was 54km today and had 56 other riders.Today's course was a lot more technical in the fact that there was cobbles, super narrow roads,  and very tight turns. Today my goal was to stay in the top twenty in terms of positioning, but that never happened. Every time I got to the front, I saw myself at the back two minutes later. Positioning is really an art that you have to learn here. So, being at the back, I got whipped around every corner. After 22 miles I couldn't take it anymore and I got dropped with 6 others who rode the rest of the race with me. I got 3 in our little sprint. Overall I ended up 31st and ended up making another 5 euros. I can honestly say that I have never suffered more in my life than I did today. What matters is that I did my best and I never gave up. I have a cool week of training ahead of me and then I get to race again. Thats pretty much my day.

Day 2 (My First Race)

A lot happenned today to say the least. I woke up, had a bunch of waffles, and chilled out before having to leave for my race in the afternoon. When I arrived at the race I found out that registration was in a bar. There was a tiny room in the back of the bar with a couple officials where I registered.

I got my bike ready and warmed up for a couple minutes and then lined up. I got a front row start which was really nice and there were about 50 other 15-16's in my race. The race started off neutral for the first 400 meters and then it was off. The race was 65km long consisting of ten technical laps. I quickly found out that the pack is very aggressive and that you have to fight for every spot. Unlike the U.S., there is no yellow line rule here, anything with pavement is fair game. Many kids would hop the curb and then attack on the sidewalk! The course was very flat which made the race very fast. Every single corner you had to sprint out of. After 7 laps,  I blew up and rode solo for the next two laps before getting pulled. I finished 27th and even got 5 euros in prize money. The race was the hardest I have ever done and now I know what to expect for tomorrow's race. By the way, the race took place in a rural area and the smell of cow crap filled the air.

After the race, I had a cookie and got back in the car with my instructor to drive back to the house. On the way back to Oudenaarde, we had to go through Izegem, so we went a little out of our way to go see the USA national team house which was really cool. Those were pretty much my adventures for today and I am going to rest up for tomorrow's race.

Day 1 in Belgium

After some long and dreadful flights, I have made it here to Belgium. After leaving the airport with the camp manager, we took a train to the town of Oudenaarde. When I arrived at the house I will be staying at for the next 2 weeks I unpacked my bike and ate some lunch. Lunch basically equalled some really great tasting waffles. After lunch, I went out for an easy spin to loosen up my legs and make sure that my bike was working well. After the bike ride, I went to the local grocery store to stock up on some food. Me and the cashier had some trouble understanding each other because of our different languages so she had to have the next person in line translate to me.The main languages here are French and Dutch, but most people are able to speak English pretty well. The town square is really neat with a giant church in the middle. Well, that pretty much sums up my first day here. I am pretty tired from being awake for over 24 hours so Im going to hit the hay. My first race is tomorrow and hopefully some rest will do me good.

P.S. You have to pay to use most public bathrooms over here. I learned that when this lady started yelling at me in French after I left her restroom without paying.

Welcome to my blog

I got bored so I decided to create a blog. If you want to read it, go for it.