I finally won the jersey at the state hillclimb championship. The race is 20 miles up Mt Graham in Safford. The start is at about 3400ft and the finish is over 9000ft at a decent grade (maybe 7% average) with quite a few steep switchbacks. This year a Mexican team (P&S) showed up with some strong guys, but fortunately they weren't eligible for the state championship jersey. After a few early attacks, Carlos Lopez (winner of Tour of Guatemala 07) attacked the lead group. I didn't respond as I was thinking about the jersey.

I guess all that suffering out at elite nationals did me some good. I felt pretty good in training this week and pulled out the win at the Kitt Peak hillclimb TT yesterday. Most importantly, I beat a certain Bradley Saul's time from 2002 by 2 seconds!

check for yourself...

Last weekend was the elite national championships in Orange County, CA. I hitched a ride out from Tucson with my buddy Neil (saunier extraordinare) and Thomas (16 y/o cat 2). We arrived in Disneyland tuesday night, got packets and cruised over to Cara Gilles' pad in Huntington Beach.

Not too much to say about my Fitchburg this year. It started out with a time trial in the middle of the thunderstorm (I was one of a fortunate few late starters). I had a decent road race but couldn't quite stay with the lead group of climbers. Then came the circuit race which is always hard, but this year was particularly hard and I was having a bad day. I got seriously dropped and lost any hope of decent GC place. I was able to survive the criterium the next day, and actually felt like a bike racer again.

Let's see... big money crit down in Providence, RI? or charity hillclimb right here in Vermont? Yeah not much of a choice for me. Fortunately I won and got a sweet trophy (see photo). Not a super-strong field I must admit, but the climb and conditions were pretty epic. Hopefully a good chance to get the climbing legs going before Fitchburg next week. Sorry for the miss-matched kit on the podium Bradley, you can dock me 10 days salary.
- David

To prevent the posting of a certain alleged race report bearing my name, I offer you this genuine glimpse into the Elkhorn classic.

The drive up from California (Bradley, Justin, Emile, Brett and myself) was EPIC. Here are a few of the highlights: 100+ lbs of fruit, the compost bucket seat, Pneumatic Cafe in Reno, camping at Rye Patch SP, Winnemucca, Basque Country, slots, "Fruitland" ID, and of course, the strawberry sour straws.

Last weekend I convinced the OA team crew (Bradley and Justin) to head up to Nevada City Classic, a notoriously hard crit that always draws a strong field. On Saturday we stopped in Sacramento for a little crit to get the legs going. It was a flat, fast D-shaped course with 2 easy corners. Somehow a couple of guys managed to crash on a straight away right in front of me, taking me out. With only 4 laps to go and a bent rear wheel I didn't bother finishing. Luckily I wasn't too banged up, just a bit of road rash.

Today was the state championship road race in Globe, AZ. It was 87 miles with one big climb. I decided to be aggressive and started a 4-man break about 5 miles in. It might have worked but one guy dropped his chain and went back to the main group. This meant his team had to chase, and with 7 good guys it was only a matter of time. We held them off until about 35 miles to go. The break had taken quite a toll, and when it was time to go on the climb I found myself just off the lead group of 5. I tried to get back on the downhill with one other guy, but they were gone.

Today was the Thunder Road TT in lovely Sahuarita, AZ. The course was a straightforward 16 mile out-and-back: gradual up on the way out, down on the way back. A good chance to see where the fitness is after not racing for a while. Despite a breakfast of alka-seltzer and half a expresso gel I managed to push it pretty good on the way out, kinda cracked on the way back, but managed not to lose to much time. Ended up 2nd in p/1/2 behind local specialist Ron Jensen.

Stage 1 was a 3+ mile TT that starts downhill and finishes with one longish hill, then a small steep hill up to the finish. I felt pretty fast out there with a full TT setup and sprinted by my 30 second man on the final climb. Posted a 7:50, good enough for 5th place.