Writing the start of this from the Airbnb in Fayetteville sitting on the couch next to two of my favorite boys, Louis and Jordan. They, along with Tony, Tini, Waverly, and Hailey have been supporting us really well so far, cheering us on and keeping us fed.

Wednesday I left with Chase and we were on the interstate by 2:45. We managed to do it with only one stop, at the worlds nicest Kum & Go, where I bought an Italian Panini made to order. They also complimented my hat.

Thursday Time Trial for the 1/2 field (there’s a pro men and a pro women field here as well) started at 2:30, so we had a lot of time in advance–we woke up pretty late and talked to everyone who had come in different cars. Me, Jordan, and Chase went to the grocery store to get some food for the weekend, then we had breakfast and lounged for a few hours before we headed to the course at 12:30.

The course is three miles long, pretty much all uphill, but it flattens out towards the top and dips down before it kicks back up. I went out a little hard, 455 watts for the first 5 minutes, but this is a course to go out too hard since you get a little respite towards the top. 200 meters out I came up on the guy who started a couple spots ahead of me and thought I could catch him, so I sprinted harder than I would have. Probably saved me a couple seconds.

My timer said 10:24, so I knew I had a pretty good result based on last years times but wasn’t sure exactly how good. Fellow Minnesota racer Jameson Ribbens absolutely blitzed the course with a time of 9:46. Results came out and I was in 12th place, with Chase (64th) and Logan (90th) putting respectable times in. Chase was a little disappointed, and swore to get in the break the next day. We’re joined by U of M alumni Jacob Okamoto (Oko) this weekend and he put in a less than stellar, but somewhat expected time. (133rd)

We ate Italian for dinner and discussed the race plan-I decided I wasn’t high enough on GC to really commit the team 100% to me, so we decided that Oko would do his best to stick in, Logan would cover stuff if he felt good and position me towards the end, and Chase would go for the breaks.

9:45 AM sign in meant a pretty early morning so I could stuff myself with oatmeal and poptarts and make my way over to the start in time. We rolled out on time down a big highway with full road closure, which was dope, and it was kind of boring the first 30 miles. I rolled off the front so I could pee (everyone else was peeing off of their bikes at like 30 miles an hour but I couldn’t work up the courage) and then got back on.

I went to the front to try to make a couple of moves and kind of tried to get something to go. It wasn’t fruitful or smart. especially with 70 miles to go still. A little move got away with Chase in it, and I tried to bridge up over a pretty steep hill and through the feedzone. I lost some time on them through the downhill and decided it would be a waste to try to make it up.

The next 25 miles were uneventful, with a few superfast descents. Somewhere in there Oko got dropped. 72 miles in there is a 10 mile climb–I didn’t even realize it coming up until Logan rolled up and asked if I wanted to get towards the front. He positioned me really well and hung on for dear life until he got popped halfway up.

I thought Chase was still up the road, but it turns out he had been dropped from the break up the climb, then dropped from the group. So I was obliviously isolated after that point. The pace up the climb was frenetic and there were groups attacking and coalescing the entire way up. There were a couple dangerous splits that I was on the wrong side of where 15ish people would get 10-20 seconds on the main group, but they never cooperated very well. We reeled in some breakaway remnants on the descent, but there were still two guys up the road (Peter Olejniczak, Mt. Borah Factory Racing) and Spencer Seggebruch (Big Shark Racing). They were already both ahead on GC so I wasn’t particularly concerned. 10km to go the group was a little sketchy, but I stayed towards the front as best I could. I cramped a little but was feeling ok towards the end. There are a couple pitches in the last 3k that really sucked, but I kept moving up until the final kick up, which a lost some spots. A guy jumped out of the group and caught the Spencer and Peter O, winning the race 9 seconds ahead of the field. I finished in the lead group, same time as pretty much everyone high in the GC. U23 GC leader Thomas Wavrin finished on the wrong side of a time gap, which brought me up to 11th overall for GC and 1st U23.

We ate Chipotle for dinner and I felt horrible all night. In the morning I was really nauseous and didn’t want to eat or drink much, but I tried to do as much as I could. I knew I just needed to finish with the main group on Stage 3, that the race would probably come together by the end, and that I could hold my GC spot.

I felt a little better on the start line, although it was pretty hot. The loop is a pretty flat run in to a pretty hilly circuit of 23 miles which we rode 3 times, then back in to town. A break of 11 got up the road which had some pretty significant GC threats in it. It got up to 3 minutes on the main field and I thought it was gone for good about halfway through the second lap. I sent Chase up to the front to try to help reel it in, but no one was cooperating that well. The last time up the big hill on the circuit I felt horrible, and in a crosswind section I got distanced from the main field by a couple seconds. I thought it was over, and we still had almost 30 miles to go. I couldn’t get any food down so I just kept drinking the bottles I had so I would at least have something in me. I made it back on after a few miles and tried to move further up in the field so I was in less danger of getting dropped but I just couldn’t. But I knew if I made it to the turn off, I could make it to the finish with the main group.

We finally made it to the turn off and I realized the race was survivable. I hung on for dear life. At one mile to go, we go over a highway bridge which is 4 lanes wide, so the field spread out. On the bottom of the bridge, a small crash happened

The last half lap we were going screaming fast trying to reel in the break. How people were riding so hard at the end is beyond me. There was a crash just after a mile that I got caught behind, but Stage Race rules state that if you have a mishap within 5k you get the same time as the group you were in. So I finished at the same time. Peter O. won the stage. I moved up to 10th on GC. All I wanted to do was hold that.

I was ridiculously wrecked afterwards, nauseous, chilled. I felt so horrible. I sat in the car and tried to get some Clif bar down but it wasn’t easy. I ate a protein shake. At dinner we had pizza, and I could only eat a couple of slices. Stage racing is so hard on your body-and this field is next level. That coupled with the super long distances made for the hardest racing of my life.

We woke up, packed, ate oatmeal. Then to to the crit where I knew I was gonna have to rip the technical descent and sprint up the hill every lap. It started off furious, but I felt ok. We came around after a few laps, strung out the entire time, and they called 14 laps to go.

I thought I could make it, but at 9 to go, after a cash prime was called, and a gap opened up, and another gap, I saw the main group drift away. Chase and Logan were already popped, so I had no team support left. I counted 6 seconds to the main field at the finish line. The next time around the damage was a little worse. Our group got larger and larger, and with a few people I recognized from the top 10 in GC, I still thought there was some hope for a top 20 finish for GC.

I attacked out of the last corner last lap so I could maybe get a time gap to the other GC contenders in my group, but I didn’t have anything left and finished with the same time as the 15 or so others in my group. 134 started the stage race and only 79 finished.

I stuck around to see how long the time gap–I thought there was a chance that I was somewhere in the money but I wasn’t. I finished 40th, and I no longer led the young rider competition. I was pretty gutted.

Overall this race was an impossibly hard and amazing experience. It took strength I didn’t know I had. I exceeded my expectations and proved to myself that I’m ready to compete with the big boys. It was awesome and horrible.

My teammates Logan and Chase were amazing, always willing and (most of the time) able to sacrifice for me. I’m so grateful to be racing with them this season on our new team, Apollo Racing. Let me know if you want to sponsor us. We’re gonna win some races this year, I’m sure of it.

Also, if you haven’t already, you should follow this blog. Click on the folder in the upper right corner and click the follow button on the bottom right.

Also thanks to Cassidy.

 

 

After Colorado, we headed to Kansas University in Lawrence, Kansas for two days of racing combined with the amateur fields. We arrived Friday evening after a little hotel confusion and I was tired and hungry. We rode across to the crit course from last year and did a few hot laps. When we got back to the hotel parking lot, I was already getting a little hangry, so when the key for the trailer showed up a whole 20 minutes later I was already deep in my low blood sugar spiral.

By the time we rounded up a cars worth of people to head to Noodles and Company I was damn near ready to flip. But once I got some food in me, things turned around a bit.

The next morning we woke up to head to the Spring Fling Criterium which was only a few minutes away in a state park. We set up camp and got down to some racing.

Notable results: Tini won the women’s BC race, and Waverly raced twice with a 5th place in the open women’s. Men’s C/D was combined with the Cat 5 race, and Louis took a handy win assisted by Alex Turner (sandbaggers).

But my race was the last of the day. Me, Sveddy, and Logan were committed to destroying the race after listening to Look at Me by xxxtentacion (#FREEXXX) all day. Logan was to cover moves that were particularly threatening, but mostly sit in. I was going to try to lever a group clear, which was no easy feat due to the points sprints placed in the middle of the race. Sveddy was there to work for both of us.

The race started aggressively with a number of moves being quickly chased down. Olathe-Subaru had about 6 guys racing and was represented in almost every move that went, but didn’t work in any of them. I tried to go clear but knew I couldn’t hold it with 12 almost mile laps to go.

I came back to peloton and waited for the final points sprint (there’s a cash payout for the 5 race series) and attacked with 4 to go. Two bridged up, an Olathe guy, and some guy I didn’t know at all. The Olathe guy worked a little but the other guy barely worked at all. I was pulling hard,  with a six minute power of 370ish watts while everyone else just hung out. I liked my chances out of three and I knew I had the collegiate win even if I dragged them to the line, but still yelled at them and got them to pull through a couple of times. Last lap I attacked and dropped the not Olathe guy. The Olathe guy sprinted around me before the final corner and had it more or less sealed. I rolled in second with some time to spare. Logan won the field sprint behind someone who attacked last lap out of the field for 4th.

The next day we rolled to Perry Dam for a 40 mile RR. First people went at 10 and the Men’s Collegiate A/Men’s 1/2/3 rolled out at 1. The course was 5 miles, out and back across a windy dam and then up a 1.5-2min climb. The plan was for me to cover all threatening moves if I could and to use Logan and Sveddy to bring moves if I didn’t make it. The field was small, so it was also pretty easy to control. Two guys attacked right from the gun (1st and 3rd from the crit the day before) and no one took it seriously, but I bridged across on the dam and we started working well immediately.

Two laps later an Olathe guy (Kent) and a guy named Hunter Adams joined us. The lap after, Hunter attacked up the hill gapping off the first two break companions. After we didn’t work well together they caught back on. Hunter flatted across the dam.

One to go I attacked up the hill, gapping everyone except Kent. He asked if I wanted to keep going and I got on the front. We worked well together. I figured he could out sprint me (most people can) if I cat and moused with him up the final climb, so I decided to go from the bottom. Up the first ramp he was still kind of on my wheel, so I kept on it and created a little gap. My vision went a little fuzzy, but I finished the effort out and  posted up across the line for the W.

Awesome way to close out spring break and I am feeling confident headed in to Joe Martin Stage Race next week.

I was a little apprehensive about spring break this year-a lot of the people that made Spring break great last year were gone this time around and I was horrified that it wasn’t gonna be as amazing this year.

But for every friend who graduated the program, one sprung up that I was brought closer to this time around. The training was hard and intense, the nights were fun and filled with some great team bonding, and the car rides and dinners contained awesome conversation.

After a crazy busy Friday (work, finishing up some schoolwork, and finishing my first podcast) morning I woke up to Jordan and Waverly outside my apartment before 4 am. We drove over to Louis’ and after a few pee stops, a gas station Subway in Nebraska, and a discussion of the Lutheran perspective on birth control, we arrived in Ken Caryl, Colorado.

The next morning we woke up for a 9:30 AM rollout.

The next 5 days were a haze of climbing and TSS, but I’ll give you some vital statistics.

18 hours, 300 miles

1000+ TSS, 12,000 Kjs

25,ooo feet of climbing

The pictures below are in no particular order-just some I took on the various rides. I hope you enjoy!

Jack

Tini ˈtiːni

Christin Stuschka

Tini is quite small in stature, so her nickname suits her petiteness. Although small, she is a dynamo in races, taking three consecutive victories in the time trial, road race, and finally winning the criterium solo.

Hailing from Germany, when asked for her height: “Inches or centimeters?”

Jordan ˈʤɔrdən

Jordan Konynenbelt

Jordan is watching me write this bio about him, but in a way that makes me feel like he’ll be happy with whatever I come up with. “Just make it lit,” he says.

Jordan makes fun of me for my skinny legs being able to put out the watts that they do, but in a way that feels like he’s happy to mess around with me as well as being eager to compliment me. And he’s handsome.

Ethan ˈiθən

Ethan Barton

Ethan is the sole freshman on our trip this spring break–knowing hardly, if anyone before jumping into the 10 passenger van. He’s already earned a spot most of our hearts, and is well on the way with anyone who hasn’t found a soft spot for him.

He’s funny charismatic, nice-verbose, take that as you will. I’m sure there will be many good times to come with him.

Maddy ˈmædi

Madeline Arpin

Maddy is magical. She is constantly smiling, eager to share her knowledge, and remarkably strong.

A collegiate B, Maddy has some wins under her belt. With a new whip, I’m sure its gonna be a good season for our favorite traveling coordinator.

Sveddy ˈsvɛdi

Daniel Svedberg

Svedberg does a lot with the FTP he has-he’ll admit he’s not the strongest time trialist, climber, even sprinter. But he’s opportunistic. He’s savvy. He can corner and read a pack.

Sveddy has been descending like a demon this spring break, impressing most of us. On a climb yesterday (with a signed speed limit of 15), he screamed around the near 180 degree corner at probably over 30 mph. The outside was deep sand, and although he almost saved it, he slid on his left side, gashing his knuckle. He got up, bleeding relatively profusely, and told us “c’mon guys, let’s go.”

Wild Bill ‘waɪld bɪl

Alexander Turner

For the longest time, Wild Bill rode on a steel, late 20th century bike only one generation removed from a penny farthing. “But it has campy!” He would bluster.

Wild Bill has stepped it up a notch this season, buying the latest equipment and training a purported twenty days in a row. Dis kid go hard.

Lunchbox ˈlʌnʧbɒks

Calder Glowac

I honestly don’t know why they call him lunchbox-and he seems like one of the pillars of the team, even though I think he’s only a junior. So no one questions that his name is Lunchbox. And no one questions his watts, or his impeccable fashion sense, or his ripped to shreds size XXS arm warmers, or the fact that he isn’t a Cat A yet.

K ‘keɪ

Keerthana Jeeva

Keerthana was nicknamed K after our dear coach Kevin could pronounce her name neither consistently nor correctly.

She is perhaps the most talented of us all, as a grad student, talented cyclist, and president of the school of public health. She has a lot of pots boiling, and is bubbly, talkative, friendly, and eager to learn.

Friend frɛnd

Louis Mueller

His given name is Louis Mueller, but I call him friend. We began our relationship after I complimented his sunglasses in the starting grid of a Wednesday night ‘cross race. We both DNF’d, but exchanged numbers and became riding buddies, and then buddies.

Louis is one of the people on the team that I am rarely annoyed with, always amused by, and perpetually in love with. He is an avid hobbyist: outdoorsman, photographer, team instagrammer, crit lifer. His training suffered slightly due to a bad rick and morty habit and an aversion to the trainer, but his legs are coming back and I see a cat three upgrade in his near future.

Coach kəʊʧ

Kevin Lennon

Coach Kevin has a nebulous origin story. I’ve heard that he is a World Champion pursuiter, directuer sportif, birthed on a bike, crit lifer gone elderly, even World Champion Team pursuiter. (did he beat lance?)

As far as confirmed successes, he has raced both Greg Lemond and Lance Armstrong. He has honed the North Central Collegiate Cycling Conference winning team a number of years in a row, winning every time he has coached us (the University of Minnesota Cycling Team)

Boner ˈbəʊnə

Cole Feagler

Honestly Cole is for the most part ineffable. As for his nickname, let me give you a small list of bonerisms.

-Rides Turbo Cottons on the trainer

-Wears a ‘support your local bike shop’ T-Shirt, works at Erik’s.

-‘We should be on the next road over,’ next road over is several miles away and over a large mountain.

Piña ˈpiɲa

Benjamin Kollaja

Collegiate wrestler turned w/kg powerhouse, Ben is another valuable addition to our team. He is nice, quiet, amicable, and has a sweet sweet smile (see picture).

Following up a good race in Arkansas, spring break is his first dedicated cycling trip. He has been smashing it, keeping up with the A group.

Lolo ˈləʊləʊ

Logan Grace

I’m not gonna lie, I coined this nickname for Logan, and at first he hated it. But I convinced everyone to call him the perhaps emasculating nickname, and by the time the 2016-2017 school year rolled around, he began to refer to himself as Lolo.

He’s also fast as hell, multiple time state champion, smart, and knows how to apply pressure at exactly the right moment to get a laugh, or a race win. And he’s our president too.

 

Waves ‘weɪvz

Waverly Konynenbelt (neé Johnston)

In olden times, wives were considered posesions of men. But if anyone is a possesion in this relationship, it’s Jordan. We all see who wears the pants here. Jordan is husband of Waverly.

She’s really fast too, and sweet, considerate, and a terrific wife. Her new bike and hard training will have her flying to race wins this year.

Steph ‘stɛf

Stephanie Hart

Steph’s nickname is wattz, that’s all we know about her. Legend says she out power tested Logan. She’s smart, or something.

 

Blake ‘bleɪk

Blake Weaver

Blake is a design major. It bleeds into his life, his worldview, even his cycling, somehow. Did I tell you he was a design major?

Blake doesn’t talk shit. He talks a lot, but stays realistic, always. He is always looking around, analyzing the views, from a design perspective. Blake is a design major.

 

The Enforcer ‘ði ɪnˈfɔːsə

Ryan Chien

Ryan would prefer to be in charge. Not necessarily of the 10 passenger van, or the cycling team, but honestly, probably the world. That’s why we call him the enforcer.

We didn’t get along very well last year, me and Ryan. But this year, I’ve found a new perspective on Ryan. I appreciate his softness, his eagerness to show people what he knows, his compassion, and all the help he puts the team.

 

 

Jack

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Sometimes I look to the future and think that dates, races, deadlines, and events are so far away it seems impossible I will ever reach them-but without fail, every time, I end up where I never thought I would end up. When I hopped on my rollers after a 6 week break in November and December, Arkansas seemed so ridiculously far away. But last weekend, it finally came, and I couldn’t wait to race.

Friday morning I woke up to a text from UMCT president Logan Grace saying that he was in my building’s parking lot. I jumped out of bed, grabbed a bagel and ran down. We picked up a vehicle from fleet services and I was on the road with 5 of my teammates at 10:30.

We arrived at around 9:30 and went to bed as fast as we could, anticipating a 6:15 wake up call. I slept poorly-I think my conscious mind always feels pretty tranquil but my subconscious and my body must have felt nervous. I woke up before the alarm and we were out the door on the way to a 6 mile TT at a 3% average grade, something that really suits me well. I went 5 minutes after the first starter, so I was a little rushed after registration and pinning my numbers etc. For a warmup, I rolled up the first mile or so of the climb with Logan and realized that my front wheel had gone nearly flat. My valve stem had come loose so I rushed back to the parking lot and fixed it. When I got back to the start I had only a couple minutes until I was racing.

I went out really hard for a couple of minutes but settled into my effort well. I passed the guy who started 30 seconds ahead of me halfway through and then started counting seconds to the the guy who started one minute in front of me, Jonah Mead-VanCort (who happens to be the defending collegiate crit national champion. I knew I had made up time on him when I crossed the line and my time was almost 3 minutes faster than my time last year, so I was stoked.

We went to a grocery store where I got some fig bars (MATT’S COOKIES PLEASE SPONSOR ME) and then went to the road race course.

After lying in the shade of the trailer for like an hour and eating all of the fig bars and bagels I could fit in my mouth, I finally put my wheel on my bike and rolled around with Logan and Chase. We checked out the results-Logan had a decent ride, Chase was 8th and I came in 3rd behind Ben Bradley of Tulane University and Sam Fritz of UMD. I was ecstatic about my ride-I couldn’t even believe that was a plausible result. After a bad power test in January and not a ton of hours on the bike I am incredibly pleased.

We rolled to the start line and had a race plan where Logan and Chase would sit in and I would try to get into the early move. Three or four miles in moves started to go and I was on the front following them. On a downhill tailwind stretch an MSU rider and a Lindenwood rider attacked simultaneously and touched wheels or just lost control and went down. I thought I would be able to get around but when the rider in front of me went down, I was forced into the ditch where I went over my bars and rolled up against a barbed wire fence.

I quickly got up, assessed my injuries. My right shin was scuffed up, my thumb was bleeding, and my back was scraped up from the fence. I was most worried about the barbed wire so I asked the commisare if my back looked okay. She said it looked fine so I got on my bike and started to chase. I chased for a mile and realized my rear shifter was broken somehow, my wheels were rubbing on the brake pads, and my stem and bar were crooked. I turned around and rode back past the crash, where all three of the riders were still lying or sitting on the ground. The MSU rider was lying on his back and I heard after the race that he may have broken his hip.

Collegiate A was the first group off, so the organizers delayed the starts of the next races. A couple officials didn’t know what was going on so I talked to a few of them. An ambulance picked up one of the riders and the next races started. I tried to not be too upset and called my Mom; she told me that difficult moments like these were the moments that make or break an athlete. I agreed and took a car to the feed zone, handing up water bottles the rest of the day.

We went to bed early that night. The next day we rode to the crit course, where I wasn’t sure if I was gonna race or not. In the end I decided to race just to get some omnium points for the weekend-a last place was more points than a DNS. The field was small (12-15 riders?) and the course was a bunch of cones in a parking lot. I broke away solo halfway through the first lap and as I came around to the finishing stretch I realized that there was a stiff headwind and perhaps my breakaway was not such a good idea. Nonetheless, I stayed away for 6 or 7 minutes and got a pretty good gap on the field at one point.

When the field came back together no one wanted to work and a few minutes later Chase, Ben Bradley, and a guy named Pablo from MSU broke away. I attacked a half lap later and took a couple of laps to bridge. Chase was working a lot while I sat on the back. Logan was covering moves in the main group. Eventually Sam Fritz bridged up. We worked together moderately well and got a very good gap on the field, so large that at one point I thought we were gonna lap them. I pulled when I needed to.

Around 10 to go, Sam started attacking hard out of the sharp final corner every lap. He lays down watts on watts and can go again and again. Even so, the group more or less stayed together. I thought that Chase had good legs and was working hard to close gaps and went to the front often to deter attacks and to keep the pace high, as the main group was closing on us.

Three to go Pablo flatted (a fact I didn’t notice until much later) and Sam attacked hard. I was working hard to close with Chase on my wheel. With one to go I looked back and saw that Chase had fallen off my wheel. Sam won, followed by Ben Bradley from Tulane, with me and Chase 3-4 and Logan winning the sprint for 5th. A good day for the As.

We tried to get out of there as fast as possible and got back to Minneapolis at around 12:30 AM. I was exhausted and smelly and my legs felt like garbage. Chase stayed over at my apartment so he wouldn’t have to drive the hour home. We were both so exhausted.

It was an awesome first weekend and I had two really good races with one crash that I was not expecting. Chase and Logan were awesome teammates and I’m so glad I get to call them my teammates. They’ve both been training hard and I hope you guys will see big things in the Minnesota and Midwest scene this spring and summer. Can’t wait to win some races with them.

Jack

P.S. Thanks again to my dear boy Louis Mueller for most of these pics

 

 

Louis’ grandma has a cabin near St. Croix State Forest by the Wisconsin-Minnesota border. We went up for the first time in November, and Louis proposed another trip to come up last weekend.

The cabin is really different in the winter. You can see through the trees. The river is different. There’s less noise. The cabin is on a peninsula, and it’s much more apparent with a longer line of sight. We were treated with really good weather: high 20s both days.

I was walking through campus the other day and was kind of fascinated by how the lines of perspective shift against each other when you move- the corners and edges of buildings all change in different ways based on your perspective. Because of this, I’ve been thinking a lot about space and how different spaces relate to each other. I took a couple pictures of what I thought were good examples

I posted a few photo blogs from Arkansas, but I shot video the whole time we were down there. There wasn’t enough to tell the real story, but here are some clips.

We woke up a little late on day four as it was cooler, and we wanted a little later start. It ended up being our longest day, and hardest at 85 miles.

It was my favorite day.

 

 

Day three was listed in my TrainingPeaks as the ‘Climbing Day.’ Wake up call was early as it was a long day and we had to drive to the start point. We drove down to Fayetteville for a hilly route where we could check out some of the courses we’ll be riding on this spring. We parked in South Fayetteville and rode out.

We rode parts of the collegiate race course (Mar 4-5) and then rode on some of the JMSR RR course, meandering over to Devils Den. I climbed the TT Course twice, and Chase added on one race pace effort. I took pictures.