Savidge Business

Olympias Tour, Stages 1&2

2010-05-18T07:58:00.002-06:00

Well so far has not been Ideal for myself but more will come. Yesterday was a 10km TT. It was going to be hard with basically all of Trek Livestrong dominating their TT bikes and going really fast. I managed 21st which was so/so but I know if I had taken the corners like I had wanted to i could have shaved off around 10 seconds, so that was frustrating.

Stage two was way more disappointing. There was supposed to be 30km of crosswind after 11km and we were all riding the front with Raymond off the front but the crosswind never came. Instead we were all welcomed by a nice tail wind. It was really nice. After 80km we had been told it would be all crosswind but instead it was head wind which was really nice. Basically everyone on our team thought it would be headwind the whole way to the finish so we became a little complacent and quit fighting for position. We came around one corner and I saw Rabobank amassed at the front and the only thought that came to mind was "F$#K" and sure enough the race was split. Howes and I worked hard to close gaps to get to the second group... As soon as we got there that group split and we were screwed. I kept working hard trying not to loose hope... From here on out though I can only race aggressively and try to make up time before we hit the hills in Limburg. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully Holowesko Partners can ride the race that we are all capable of.

On another note, congrats to Trek. Their team rode the front all day for Phinney and he came up with the goods for them in the end. Super impressive!

Well its time for a massage so I'll try and update some more later this week. Keep your fingers crossed.

Wolvega

2010-05-16T10:48:00.003-06:00

Hanging out here at the ever so luxurious Van der Walk hotel here in Wolvega, NL. Pretty bored waiting for the race to start. Tomorrow is the first stage which is just a short 10km prolog. There are some good teams here with Rabobank, Katusha and Trek Livestrong. I think everyone on our team except our dutchie would be thrilled if the wind subsided and took it easy on us as we race down the coast this week.
The trip over was pretty good... Howes has a slightly different experience as he was not allowed on the plane since his passport was not in great condition after a trip through the wash machine. He finally made here this morning the day before the race. Hopefully he bounces back quickly and is his normal self by the monster stage in Limburg. The Limburg stage should be pretty cool with most of the climbs from the Amstel Gold race being included.
The main thing I have been looking forward to each day is the coffee machine in the breakfast area here. You press one button and have a large cup of good espresso. So pumped on that. I will update with photos as soon as I find my cable...

Walker

Gila!

2010-05-01T09:11:00.006-06:00

So I am currently in Silver City NM for the Sram Tour of the Gila. This is a really hard climbing stage race. There are also a lot of big hitters here like Levi, Lance, DZ, and Tommy D. We are half way through the race and I have had some good days. Got into the break on the first day, we went from the gun and werent caught till 3km to go on a 153km race. So that day has made the next two days a little more difficult with some more fatigue.

I will give a more detailed update later.

This morning I was looking at my buddies blog www.thatdarkkidkevin.wordpress.com and found a sweet video of a cupcake cannon. I think team Holowesko Partners should purchase one and bring it to Olympias tour and unleash some pastry hell on all the little Dutchies. Hope you enjoy the video, let me know what you think.

Walker

Battenkill!

2010-04-20T14:49:00.006-06:00

Just got back from the "American Queen of the Classics" the Tour of Battenkill.

There is only one word that comes to mind when reflecting on the race itself, EPIC! This race lived up to its self proclaimed American Queen of the Classics title. This race had everything, steep hills, dirt, cold temps and rainy weather. Going into this race our team leaders were Tito and Howes. The rest of us were just to cover moves and get into any move that went up the road. I think there was one section before the longest climb of the race where it felt like Caleb and myself were constantly jumping on to the back of wheels. I was pleased with how my form was for this race, I made it over every major climb and dirt section with the front group except for one exception...

After the rain really started coming down before the first Long dirt section it was apparent that mud was coming. Half way through the long dirt road i couldnt see out of my glasses and knew that i was with other riders and just assumed i had kept my position up front. As soon as we hit pavement I wiped off my glasses to realize that we had been dropped. That was scary. Myself and one fly V rider worked to get back up there. Luckily we were able to do it before the last dirt climb. Once the second lap started the temp really dropped dramatically. There was a break off and everyone was fairly complacent to let it roll but that meant relaxing and cooling down. Soon no one could feel their fingers and that made eating and using the brakes a bit dodgy to say the least. Soon Toast came up to me and i had to try and get food out of his back pocket when I couldnt even get it out of my own back pocket. Luckily we started going hard again shortly once the break was caught.

I cant even explain how strong Calebito was! He was in the big break then went off the front with Floyd. It was truly impressive. Unfortunately with not being able to get food out of my pockets I was a little bonked coming into the last climb at 10km to go so I just rode in on my own. Getting to the finish and hearing Caleb had won made all the work for the team with the suffering and shivering worth it. Felt good to have the team work so well and pull it out.
Hopefully we are able to get a little momentum rolling and pick up a lot more W's this season. Up next for us is Gila, Joe Martin, Olympias Tour, Paris-Roubaix U23, Philly, Beauce and Nationals. I think a lot of the courses at these races could suit the team well. Fingers Crossed.

Also, this website www.elcyclista.com has some cool shots from this last weekend. The website is pretty cool, check it out.

(Photo cred: Conor Brady) www.elcyclista.com

Go Time

2010-04-15T19:12:00.003-06:00

Wow, it has been over a year since I have updated this thing! Sorry to anyone who has ever thought to see if anything new was up... Hopefully some of you still read this. Well I am going to try my darnedest to keep this thing up to date the ENTIRE season. Cross your fingers.

As of late I just got back from a short two day trip to a friends house just north of Cabo near La Vantana. It was pretty sweet and once I get some pics from the trip I will put them up here. I am also currently packing for a race called Tour of Battenkill, 200km, 57% dirt. Should be a cool race. Now that I have a new phone hopefully I will be able to update from the road more easily which will make blogging slightly more enjoyable when i can do it whenever and wherever i want.

Well I think thats all for now. I will try and get picks up from NY soon so you can see what the course looks like.

Walker

P.S. if Emmanuelle Chriqui is reading this... You are gorgeous! Can i take you out?

Cali

2009-04-05T09:58:00.004-06:00

Well, the first two races are over. Overall they went pretty well. The only bummer thing is that since my training started a solid month late or so the form just isnt quite there. On the bright side I should be on good form by the time the team heads to europe and mentally fresh. Our schedule over there is, Olympias Tour, U23 Paris-Roubaix and Circuit Montenez(if the race is held) Then we come back and do Tour de Beauce in Canada and Philly week.

Hopefully I can be on good form for all of this.

The really cool thing that we were able to accomplish at Redlands was winning the Overall Team classification, youngest team to ever do that. Hopefully things will only get better.

Walker

Getting ready!

2009-03-18T15:45:00.003-06:00

I am super excited to leave tomorrow! Finally I will be able to see if all this training that I have been doing has been enough to propel me to some good results this season. Howes and I will be getting on a plane tomorrow morning and will be joining the rest of the team to race San Dimas and Redlands. I did the races last year and they are really fun. The uphill TT the first day of San Dimas is a really cool climb, it would be equally cool to have some good climbing legs; so i guess we will see. Keep the fingers crossed.

It will be really fun when Toast joins us at Redlands later on this week. Its always fun hanging out with that kid. So leading up to these races I have only been able to race two collegiate crits and one pro crit. The collegiate crits are really fun because it is a lot more like a game and can actually try some tactical things and see what works with out having to dig very deep.

Well gotta go pick up the new kits from the service course, hopefully they are pretty cool. Also have to figure out what my plan of attack is to get to the airport!

Hello?

2009-02-22T18:27:00.006-07:00

Well I will start this off with a big o'l SORRY. I know its lame that I havent posted anything since... um... June. Ya thats it, june. Wow that was a long time ago. Well a lot has occurred since then. Finished up the season, rode well but never got a personal W but was an asset to the team. So after a hard season i signed a lease for a new apartment in Boulder with my friend Tag who is a really good downhill ski racer and is racing for the CU ski team this year. Started classes in the fall and have been training a lot and working on my education at the same time. Sometimes this proves to be hard but luckily i havent had to cut class time short for riding time.
One cool thing that happened this fall was going to Grand Cayman Island for a "bike race" The race was temporarily cancelled due to a Hurricane. Of course, we knew about the hurricane prior to leaving but me and team mate Stetina figured we were up for a little adventure... Flew to Miami thought, well if they cant fly us to the Island worse thing that happens is that we have to fly back home. Fortunately we met up with the only other team mate I was able to convince that it was a GOOD idea to fly into a Hurricane and we got on the last flight to the island. Got there the rain and wind were crazy. One cool thing was that Christian VdV had actually been up for an adventure aswell and was there with his wife. In the end we did get some solid riding in but more time was spent swimming with Stingrays, Snorkeling and sampling the local food and of course the Pina Coladas. Wow, those are good.

Stetina, showing how the fierce wind could hold you up.

The calm after the storm

Stingrays feel weird

We did get some racing in too

Christian won over all and Pete got the stage

On the final day we went snorkeling. I almost had to lay the smack down on a huge fish.

Well now all I have to do is keep training and I look forward to racing soon. I think I might do some collegiate racing to build up for the more important races this spring. Ok well this whole catch up thing is tiring. If anyone still reads this I will try and keep up with the updates.

Been awhile

2008-06-05T11:43:00.002-06:00

So I think last time I checked in I had just finished up Tour of the Gila! Well since then I have been doing a lot! Actually thats a lie. Most exciting thing that I have accomplished lately has been securing my housing in Boulder for the next year starting on August 1st. So thats pretty cool, me and my friend Taggart are going to live in an apt. together, he races for the CU ski team so it will be nice living with someone who is also focused on their sport.

As far as racing goes, I havent done to much lately except a local MTN. bike race last night! It was really fun. Mr. Filipe Merheage was there. He was fast. I was happy cause he didnt beat me by too much! haha. Only 1min 40sec. When he passed me I broke out a little bit of the flemish that I have been able to pick up over the past few years. He did a double take, responded then rocketed past me. I know that I would have been a lot closer has my technical skills been up to par. Since I have only ridden my Mt. bike twice this year i was a little sluggish when the trail when down. Im hoping to get some pics for you guys to see, but until then...

Have fun
Walker

Gila!

2008-05-12T14:15:00.002-06:00

So the first stage was pretty hard, mainly because of the rough cross winds. I was riding well and some people got gapped off so myself and 10 others had to chase back on. At the base of the finishing climb I was in the front group of maybe 40, but of course i was 3 riders too far back and a mile into the climb there was a crash. So I had to stop and walk over the people on the ground; i was feeling good and definitely think I could have atleast been up in the top 20-25 on that climb.

Stage 2 I crashed on the decent and had to chase back on by myself in a tail wind section, that sucked. Got back in and just finished in the peloton.
Stage 3 I felt alright, i could tell I was using someone elses TT bike but not too bad. At least I had a TT bike (thanks Peter)
Stage 4 just sat in trying to conserve for the last day.

stage 5! I was good over the first climb, I felt good but it was hard. I was gapped off on the downhill mainly because I was lacking the balls and then once I saw the crash it made me think that my feeling of the decent being sketchy was legitimized. On the second climb I was with Baldwin and some other good riders but soon remembered that I was stuck with a 42x25 and was grinding at 55 rpm when they were at 75-80 rpm. I decided to take it a little easier because grinding so hard was not feeling so good. On the last climb up to Pinos Altos I rocketed up there since it was shallow enough for my gear to be alright. So I felt really good and I finished strong, did 3800 kjs.

Now I am at home just enjoying summit county, but not enjoying the mass amounts of snow we have been receiving and more is on the way! Apparently this is all due to Global Warming. Weird, warming=snow?

I came across an interesting article while I was perusing my friend Alex Howes blog. Go and read the article, kinda paints a gloomy picture of the future!

Walker

Good Day Sir!

2008-04-29T10:01:00.002-06:00

So I am just sitting in a Motel Six in Silver City NM. This is quite the lavish lifestyle, let me tell you! Last time I updated I had gotten back from California. Well coming back I did a race in Co. Springs. It was awesome! Although I felt like my heart was going to explode when I went a little too hard. The road course was really cool, it was the 1986 World Championship course and had a good amount of climbing. I felt really good and think that had I been acclimated I could have done something. Hopefully I am now ready to tackle the Pro1 field here at the Tour of the Gila. Wish me luck. I forgot my camera cable so I wont be able to upload pics until I get home.

Walker

Cali

2008-04-08T16:26:00.004-06:00

So I must apologize for the lack of updates. I have been some what busy and have lacked motivation to get on here and write something....So here is a race re-cap...

San Dimas...
Well I was a little disappointed after the uphill TT. It went up Glendora Mt. for 3-4miles. I think I would have done a lot better had it been a little longer, that said I didn't do horribly. Just not what I had wanted. Oh well. For the road race I felt really strong but I lacked good judgement. So when we went up the climb I would freak out and go from 3/4 of the way back up to the front of the peloton; needless to say but after 10 times up it I was tired. So i rolled through the finish in with the grupetto. Unfortunately we did not make the time cut. So i had to sit out the crit the next day. LAME i know. So the uphill TT was not horrible and although i was strong in the RR my strength could not make up for my stupidity...

This is a section of Glendora Mt. RD. pretty cool

Redlands...
So the prologue was alright, nothing special. I am pretty sure on a course like this a TT bike would have been much faster but whatever. I was still in the top half of the race. But I was also at this race to work and to learn. So because Peter and Tommy D were the fastest the next day I had an opportunity to suffer for them... HealthNet was really dumb letting a strong break with Botero and Baldwin go up the road and get 5 minutes. They started to chase but were not getting anything done so Kirk and I were told to go help. Sitting in the train I was having to try and recover at 380-400 and pull even harder. One lap of that and I was fried. So then with my job done I was able to just roll in behind the peloton. While Kirk and I were at the front we managed to pull back about 2 minutes on the break... that felt good, it was also nice to see that in the group that I was rolling in with there were 3 HealthNet guys with me.
In the Crit all I did was sit in and suffer. With so many corners my back was screwed afterwards. My back was out of alignment it turned out so that probably did not help.
Now Sunset was really cool. Really hard but really cool. There were alot of crashes which was not good. It was nice though, I think after 3 or 4 laps the field was down to 50-60 riders. My back was still bothering me so I wasnt able to do much. I made it up Sunset with the lead group 10 out of 12 laps before I was fried. I think part of it was my back and just from having done so much work all race...
So all in all Redlands was really good I learned and lot and suffered. It was really cool just being able to ride with Tommy D and learn from him...

This is Kirk(on the left) and I(on the right) during sunset

Peace
Walker

San Dimas

2008-03-27T20:19:00.004-06:00

Just sitting in my hotel room; extremely bored. So today my team mate Kirk and I rode the uphill TT course that goes up Glendora Mountain rd. It was really cool. Many of the corners were concave almost like a velodrome. No wonder people enjoy riding motorcycles up and down it. So wish me luck tomorrow, I would love to be top 20 but with the strength of the field here that is a tall order. More to come later after the race, or when I get bored enough.

Walker

Getting Ready...

2008-03-26T10:17:00.001-06:00

I fly out this evening to San Dimas, California for some racing. pretty excited. Also, my friend has started up his own coaching company that I have started working for. The website is www.laketraining.com Everyone who needs coaching should check it out. If you email or call LakeTraining tell them that Walker sent you. haha. But seriously. Ok thats it. More from Cali later.

Walker

Boredom

2008-03-17T23:00:00.003-06:00

I got this nifty video off of my team mate Danniel Holloways blog and thought it was a worthy enough clip to share with all of you.

http://view.break.com/470052 - Watch more free videos

On another note, mustache march is really coming along.

It really just looks like I have have not bathed in a substantial amount of time.

Mustache March!

2008-03-11T21:37:00.003-06:00

So I was finally able to race this last sunday! It was much needed. The group rides out of Boulder are just so sketchy. So 60 riders started, I think only 16 or so finished on the same lap. 10 of those in the lead group that consisted of mostly Toyota United riders like Henk Vogles, Baldwin, England, Clarke then there was Hamilton Dan Schmatz and Stefano. Unfortunately I was racing more like a road race and was always in the top 5, so when moves went it was really hard to go with it without the whole peloton sitting on me. Unfortunately I could not get into any of the good moves. I was strong even though the whole week previous had been easy because of getting used to a new position and new shoes.Oh well, it was hard and I got some good work in. 1100 KJ's in a hour aint bad.

But it is march, and with it comes a mustache, or mullet if you have the hair for it. I dont really have either but I have given it my best try. Just looks dirty like I cant afford a razor. Oh well. I guess I will have it right up until Redlands.

Might not be able to see it, but trust me its there in all of its glory.

Walker

Im an idiot!

2008-03-03T11:43:00.002-07:00

seriously, i made a big mistake. Im currently in the airport on my way to Phoenix. Turns out my original flight was yesterday! Hopefully it wont turn out to be too big of a deal, The thing thats hard about it is that I am going down there to ride my bike in front of potential sponsors. If I am lucky which is fairly rare they will look past my lack of judgement and go ahead with a great investment and jump on board with the Slipstream train.

On another note, I did the group ride out of Boulder on saturday. It was sweet, sketchy sweet. There were soo many people and there was a good size crash on highway 36. Probably one of the worst things possible. But I felt really good, once we got to Carter Lake I let loose and went for it. I blew up pretty good but was able to recover on the flats over the top and take the sprint... Never thought I would be able to say that I was first in a sprint. Granted it was just a group ride, so in a race I probably would have been destroyed. Oh well it felt good.

Well wish my luck in Phoenix.

Walker

Revelation!

2008-02-18T15:51:00.003-07:00

A Chipotle Burrito is a lot of FOOD!

Now this might not come as a surprise to most but I am used to downing one big one at a extremely fast pace. Today was an off day; only riding an hour and a half it did not seem like a full burrito was warranted for "recovery" but because of the easy accessibility and availability it only made sense to swing by and pick one up on my way home. This time around I decided to stop myself at about half way, wrap it back up, and save the rest for later.

My stomach feels better and I think I have discovered a master two seat session for eating one of these behemoth foil wrapped beauties. On another note the guys are killing it in Cali.

Walker

Routine

2008-02-16T20:47:00.002-07:00

I have slowly developed a routine living down here in the Independent Republic of Boulder. Its nice wake up make a delicious latte or americano on the extremely nice espresso machine that I have at my disposal here in Boulder. The riding is awesome as well for it being February.
So I am on the Roster for Redlands, it should be really cool working for the likes of Dave Z and company. Hopefully I will be on super solid form so I can maybe even get a good result at San Dimas before I play bottle gatherer. But if anyone wants to ride let me know, starting to get kinda lonely here all on my own in this huge house. Well thats all for now.

Walker

Journey Home

2008-02-04T16:13:00.000-07:00

Coming home from training camp was chaotic to say the least... The last night in Silver City it actually snowed! The roads were so pretty icy, at least for a desert. The next morning we got to the airport only to find out that our flight had been cancelled to Albequere. Luckily for us there was a Charter flight service right down the road. So we bought a flight for 6 of us and off we went. The plane had to be THE nicest plane I have ever been on and it was only a prop plane!

We got to the ALB airport with 10 minutes to our next flight, had to check in and go through security! It was nuts but so fast that we were able to get coffee before our flight. The worst possible travel day (driving 12 hours from Silvercity) turned into one of the nicest possible. The only thing was that I had to leave my bags behind because there was not enough room for my bike and duffle bag, this was the cenerio for most but everyone else lives in Boulder and was able to pick their stuff up the next day. Hopefully I will be able to get my stuff today!

On a better note I have free housing in Boulder! So now I will be able to hone in my form for Redlands so that I can ride strong in support of DZ.

Thats it for now,
Walker

Camp

2008-01-27T20:01:00.000-07:00

Is good... Got here thursday evening with no time to ride. Only time for dinner and getting to know some of the older guys that I had not met before. It was awsome sitting there and seeing all of superstars that I normally associate with Velonews or on VS. during the Tour of other races that they show. The most interesting person to sit next to at dinner thus far would definitely be Dave Zabriskie. Some of the stuff that he says is super funny especially with the demeanor with which he says it. For example last night Tim Duggan and I are talking about me possibly renting out his house for super cheap in Boulder if I cant find something else that works out better for me. Dave then chimes in with,

"You should just move in with me and be my scribe. Every time that I say something that touches you spiritually you would have to say "Amen Zabriskie"".

Its these comments that he unleashes that are super funny. Look for a DZ quote board to be on Lucas Eusers website. I dont know what that website is but when I figure it out I will let you know.

The riding here has been super tough too. Two days ago we rode 175km with over 10,000 ft. of climbing. Needless to say I was tired. One exciting thing is to think about how good of shape I will be in shortly. Probably the best I have ever had this early in the season. Well thats it for now.

Walker

Flughafen!

2008-01-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

I am sitting in the Tucson Airport, really bored. This place is pretty nice compared to other airports that I have spent time in, I mean obviously. Only nice places have free internet, or this at least applies to airports. So reflecting on my time here in Tucson it has been very valuable. This is definitely the most I have ever trained in January. Period. Its nice to think that after these 20 days down here in AZ I have hopefully laid the solid foundation needed to turn this season into one of the best ones I have had. So after a travel day today, rest day tomorrow followed by yet another traveling day I will finally be at training camp in Silver City NM. Checked the weather and it looks like it should be creeping up into the 50s once I get there. So not the worst conditions ever.

Also after camp I am trying to move to Boulder so I can train at a lower altitude than 9,000-10,000 ft. Hopefully everything comes together and the progression will continue. Until next time, ride hard.

Walker

Boredom

2008-01-18T09:28:00.000-07:00

So Tucson is really starting to reach its limits. The riding is alright and the temps are really nice but man so many drivers just want to take all the cyclists off the road that they pass. Its scary sometimes how close these people will get to you while your riding.

But on a different note I go to training camp next week in Silver City NM. Should be pretty fun except for the fact that yesterday the team rode 3.5 hours in 28 degree temps. Doesnt sound too fun but hopefully I can bring some of these nice Tucson temperatures with me. Also Slipstream was featured on ESPN check out the article.

Well thats all for now.

Walker

Under the Cactus Needle

2008-01-10T16:35:00.000-07:00

Finally!!! My legs are starting to get their endurance back. It was pretty sad... After my first ride down here in Tucson I was wrecked. Just so tired and only after 3.5 hours. Lame. But after this last week I can tell my endurance is getting back to where it needs to be before training camp in Silver City NM. Yesterday was 4.5 hours with a lot of climbing and today was 5 hours with some good climbing efforts and I still have energy. YAY. Visible progress is real motivation booster.

Overall the riding here is about so-so. There is some sweet climbing and some cool roads the only thing is that you almost have to choose, lots of climbing or cool desert roads. The reason that a choice has to be made is that we live on Players Club Dr. This is located on the opposite end of town from the great climb called Mt. Lemmon. So for instance coming back from climbing Mt. Lemmon the other day I am almost positive that I hit ever intersection on a Red light possible. At first became some what comic but as the ride went on and I grew tired it was not much of a laughing matter. Right out side our door here on Players Club Dr. are some really cool desert roads that are in located in a park so there isn't too much traffic.

One the lighter side deserts must have some of the most beautiful sunsets around. It was crazy the abundance of colors that I was able to see the other night. But thats it for now. Thanks for reading.

Walker

Tucson

2008-01-05T15:00:00.000-07:00

Finally in Tucson, and man it feels good. Being able to ride three hours today without arm or knee warmers was quite delightful. The situation set up here is really nice. I have a large Futon that i can call my bed. Chad and Sheldon did a good job in finding this place its pretty secluded but in one of the nicer areas of town. The picture is of Gates Pass. It is pretty much right behind the apartment, it starts off light in grade but the last kilometer or so gets pretty steep. Well thats all for now. Time to go get some food.

Walker

Sick/bored

2008-01-02T13:20:00.000-07:00

Woke up today with all of my sinuses throbbing. Definitely not the best way to wake up in the morning after a good few weeks of Holidays. Hopefully I will be able to kick this illness before I leave on Friday for Tucson. Arizona should be a great place to kick off this new season of racing. Just to be on the road will be a great change of pace from the lonely life on the rollers that I have been experiencing these last few weeks. Thanks.

Walker

New Year, New Steed

2008-01-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

Happy new year to everyone! Up in Breckenridge it has been a very white week for the hollidays. I-70 was shut down all the way to Denver because of Blizzard conditions and white outs. That made for some very interesting driving. But now I only have 3 more days until I leave for the warmth of Tucson. I am really looking forward to this especially with my new ride that I picked up in Boulder a few days ago. Well i guess its time to once again endure the mental struggle that is associated with the trainer.

Walker

Holidays

2007-12-26T10:18:00.000-07:00

Christmas went really well up here in the Tundra. Breck has been receiving some snow and it dumped all day yesterday. The falling snow really added to the christmas feel. Besides having a nice christmas the rollers in the garage have been getting a lot of use.
This use will soon come to an end when I got the Tucson where the sun is high and the temperature is hot! Im really looking forward to it. From Tucson I will go to Silver city NM for the team training camp and then straight from Silver city to Nassau in the Bahamas. I can not even tell you how much motivation and excitement I have for this upcoming season.
Well its time to go lift and then ride my bike. Happy Holidays!

Walker

Finally!

2007-12-12T21:37:00.000-07:00

Done with school. This is such a relief. The experience of college was a good one with the class numbers at good o'l FLC being comparative with those found in High School. I would say that really helped. So I am pretty confident that I finished up with no C's. This is rare for me so Im pretty stocked on it.

Now that school is done I am looking to focus all 100% of my attention back to the bike. I am currently trying to figure out what I am going to do after the first of this year. I was looking at moving to Boulder but that seems like a poor choice mainly because the weather there is not a whole lot better than up here. So to Tucson it is... or at least possibly. So stay tuned to hear what happens.

Happy Holidays.

Walker

Dango Blues

2007-12-07T13:26:00.000-07:00

So just finishing up my last day of classes. Really uneventful. It snowed last night, now its raining very hard. I would prefer the snow just because i would not feel so damp all day. So I will most likely end up on a stationary and in gym and some roller time in my room. Heading back home for Christmas on wednesday. This break could not come any sooner. Well off to my last class. Wish me luck.

Walker

Rain Man?

2007-12-01T14:21:00.000-07:00

So these last two days have been very full. Full of rain. It has just been about 3-4 degrees too warm for the water to freeze so instead of walking through snow on my way to food this morning I was forced to circumnavigate the Dango's very own great lakes. Bummin that I left my camera at home so i cant get any pictures up on here from all the rain. Oh well. So now I am off to ride the rollers in my already cramped dormitory. Wish me luck.

Walker

Welcome to the DANGO!

2007-11-26T20:29:00.000-07:00

Yep, back in the Dango. Unfortunately i arrived to more snow here than in Breckenridge. This was a really big let down. I should be able to get out there and get all of my training done and keep working hard. My earlier morning rides before classes start should be a bit more frigid than usual. Only two more weeks of classes and one week of finals until I am back for christmas break then the plan is to move down to Boulder or somewhere else on the front range so that I can train even harder. I hope that everyone else is having a good winter and holiday season.

Walker

Thanks Giving/Beginning a new Season

2007-11-22T23:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Thanks Giving!

So after a long time of using the other .Mac web site I finally decided that I would never invest in the year payment option. With that decided its time to get this blog rolling once again.

After what was a pretty lousy first year in the U23 ranks I was really demoralized; now however I feel like a kid who just got his first new bike. I have been riding a lot and have never had so much motivation. I am really excited, especially if I can keep all of this momentum that I currently have rolling through the new year. What's caused the sudden change in feeling towards training??? Well I have started working with a new coach, Max Testa. I first talked to Max last year at a training camp with U23/VMG team in Salt Lake City. Now that I have started working with him I feel like I am making the right steps to make next year the best it can possibly be.
After finding a new coach who I liked I now needed to find a team that I could ride for, and after much talk JV decided to give me a second chance in the sport by offering me the final spot on his new U23 development team that is a part of the Slipstream family which is really cool. I am very thankful for all of the opportunities that I have laying in front of me.
The only thing that is not going so well as of late is that I had my "wisdom" teeth pulled 2 days ago. I was able to ride today with out much pain but the grand thanksgiving meal that I had helped my mom cook was another story. It was a bummer to no be able to eat much turkey or anything really besides Stuffing and Mashed Potatoes.

Well I hope that everyone had a good thanks giving!

W

Tour of the Bahamas

2007-02-04T13:10:00.000-07:00

So the race ended today with a 105 mile stage. This was a pretty hard race. I got into a few different early breaks just tryin to help out the team and had some good early attacks and then just tried to finish after burning all the matches. Yesterdays circuit race was crazy. There was a big field and a yellow line rule, so that made things interesting. there were a lot of cars on the course with the field not really obeying the rules of the yellow line; that is what made it fairly sketchy. Now we have a training week with photo shoots and team building stuff. Hopefully I will finally have time to take some pictures.

Walker

Bahamas

2007-02-01T19:54:00.000-07:00

So I got to the Bahamas yesterday around 9 pm. So pretty much i got off the plane and started sweating bullets. Today we did a 3.5 hour ride pretty easy. The only thing on the course here that could possibly do any damage to the field is wind. It got decently windy in the afternoon today.

The only thing that is not so good about this weather here is the humidity. I get out of the shower dry off and then I walk out side and start sweating.

Walker

Cali

2007-01-24T10:35:00.000-07:00

so we left SLC on the 20th for California. On the way we bumped into Rob and Big. That was pretty cool, we talked to them about their show and why they were in cold Utah instead of beautiful cali. So after that we got into cali and the weather has been awesome. The first day here we rode about 70 miles, then the next two days were both about 130 mile days. So now Im pretty tired. I think that today will be shorter.

Walker

Salt Lake

2007-01-17T21:57:00.000-07:00

So today was the first day of training/testing camp here in salt lake city. I had some tests today that went alright for it being january and coming from the artic abyss of Breckenridge. Since today was the first we got our new bikes from specialized which are sick and everything else like shoes, bags and all that jazz. Hopefully tomorrow goes well.

This is the new team van.

Ready to go

2007-01-13T12:02:00.000-07:00

I am so ready to leave for SLC on wednesday its not even funny. One thing that I am totally stoked about besides all of the new gear is getting to ride outside instead of on the freaking rollers.
Also, hopefully my man Brady Kappius can sell all of the old stuff that I gave him so that I can finally afford a new Mac Book. My current IBM has definately seen some better days.

Snowy Blues

2007-01-05T13:34:00.000-07:00

So it seems like just about every week we have been getting hammered with snow. For me this is kind of expected since i live at 9,300 ft. But for my friends down in denver/boulder this is a lot of snow that they arent quite used to.
I just cant wait for training to camp to start on the 17th in Salt Lake City. The only downer is that last time I checked it is very cold in SLC this time of year. After the camp though I think that I am going to stay with my team mate Ben Bradshaw out near Ontario California for some much needed good weather.
The only true benefit to this snowy weather is the snowshoe adventures that come out of it. Well i hope that everyone is having a good holiday season.

Walker

Christmas!

2006-12-25T15:40:00.000-07:00

Marry Christmas everyone. Well today was a cold day here in Breckenridge Colorado. Fortunately though i was able to clean up in the present department. I got a new camera from my brother so i can update this thing with a lot of pictures; a Computrainer from my parents to keep the indoor training interesting and a new Nike watch. After lunch my brother and I went for one run up at the mountain. It was so windy. So here are some pictures that I was able to take while we were out there.

the view from the small 2 seater.

and the only good shot that i could get of my brother.

Finals Week

2006-12-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

So finals week started today. Im going to have a hard time keeping up with training and studying, but I was able to get it all in today so i have no doubt that I will be able to do it in the coming days. Ok well i best go study or do some crunches or somthing.

Out to Lunch

2006-12-12T22:06:00.000-07:00

So at school your supposed to stay on campus for lunch. Me and my friend Herwehe have been seeing how fast we can leave school, get lunch, and come back. Today we set a new record. 10 minutes. That was all nice and grand until we realized that we got back too fast. Because we were so fast we met the Chuck, the local enforcer out in the parking lot looking for kids that are up to no good. Being that we are both seniors we used our skill and trickory to get out of trouble. I think that is one of the few things that I will actually learn from high school, how to get my ass out of a jam.

I guess the only other things i will actually take a way from my experience at Summit High is what I learned in business class and Contruction Tech. In construction we are building a house to 1/8 scale. There are four of us in this group and three of us can fit into our house. Here is a picture of Hugh. Hugh is the Captain of the Football team, he is also very large; yet he can still fit inside.

Down with the Sickness

2006-12-11T15:54:00.000-07:00

So after recovering from 36 hours of Keystone last weekend, I promply got sick. I hate it, all i want to do is train but with a temperature of 102 that seems a little out of the question. Oh well. But as you guys can see, this is my first blog. Hopefully I will be able to work out all of the kinks.
I also have to give a big thanks to Dr. Tom Palic. He is my new chiropracter and is awesome. If any of you need any adjustments you should hit him up.
www.PalicFNC.com

Walker