Mike Olheiser

Welcome to California.  It is 66 degrees and sunny, and I am sitting on the porch writing to you.

Prologue:  Pretty much a 5k, but uphill for 3k.  I hope to get some good pictures as I take some or some show up online, but none so far. I think there were at least 6 photographers taking pictures.  Normally I do not see this, but the photographers were out in the road trying to get the perfect shot.

The good, the bad, and the ugly: I think I would have enjoyed having my TT bike, but after Delta Airlines picked my pockets with a 175 dollar oversize fee for a 30 lb bag they threw out on the same conveyor belt as regular luggage, I am not about to ship the bike w/o good reason.  Just got results, 25th. Not bad for being a month behind in training.

I will try to keep you updated, and try to get some good pictures for you.  Thank you. Trainhard, Mike

Stage 1:  105 miles, what I would call a circuit.  It was a hard day, but nothing too bad.  I finished 55th on the day, but move up 3 GC spots. 
This is a picture near the Start/Finish one of the 5 times we would pass through here on the day.

Stage 2:  Criterium. This was a 9 turn 1 mile course.  Everbody who is reading this knows how much I love crits.  Anyway...the best part of the race was getting called up to the front with the rest of the top 30 riders.  And I moved up 5 spots on GC.  I am now sitting in 17th overall.  The second best part was my morning ride, I got to ride out of town toward Big Bear Lake.  It was a nice break in the day.  I didn't get to the lake, but was impressed by the view above the city.  I think this is the crit.  Bad picture, but the only one I found.


Stage 3:  94 miles. This is where the fireworks begin and end.  Talk to you in the airport tomorrow.

Stage 3, Pain fest, 1000 vertical feet right off the hop and a total of 94 miles (I completed about 91 miles, but was
 not allowed on the closing circuit, thank goodness).  Now I know why I train so many hours.  Just didn’t have any legs
from the start.  Four days of racing is hard enough, but four days of racing (out of shape) sucks.  I stayed with the
front group till the last lap and ended up chasing on the way to the closing circuits. I was just not willing to go to
the front and suffer more.  Finished 55th and plummeted down the GC to 42.  Oh well, I got some good miles,
and now time to turn in the screws on the training and get ready for THE GILA.
After the race:  I thought this was interesting.
http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/03/news/what-it-takes-to-ride-with-the-pros-wattage-numbers-from-redlands_109894

What a fun time.  If you have not done this race, you are missing out.  We started the pro 1,2,3 field with about 100 guys.  You could just feel the nerves and the excitement as soon as we rolled out of the parking lot.  A small break went up the road in the first mile of racing, but if you know this course, going that early is a death march.  I am glad it wasn't me leaving the proctection of the field for the unknown.  Fast foward to mile 30.

As we were coming toward the first section of dirt, guys were flying all over the place trying to get to the front of the field.  I got swallowed up by everyone and went in the dirt in a worrisome position. 

At this point you know who is comfortable on dirt and who is not.  I yelled at some guys to pedal thier bikes, and as they did, I went flying by them headed for the front.  I made the front and turned the screws in a little, but was happy to chase wheels at the front and stay out of trouble.  After 7 miles of sand and sliding, we popped back out on the pavement with about thirty guys.  The field started to swell to about 50, I think, as we headed for the second section of dirt.  Fast forward.

We headed for the wood bridge and the second section of dirt, or sand box.  It is a bad sign when you hear a hisssssssing sound, I was really hoping it was the guy next to me.  Not so lucky, but with a good guy named Travis, I had a new wheel on in about 20 seconds and was back chasing to get to the front.  In my mind I thought the race was over, but I powered my way back to the leaders by the end of the hilly 3 miles of boulders and sand (Hello to the guys sun bathing in the sand on the way up the first hill, I'll bring the lotion for you next year).  I grabbed a bottle from Nicole and tried to rest a second.  Short lived.  San Jose started attacking, the field did a good job covering the attacks for the most part, but my legs would never fully come back from the massive effort I'd just put out.  Fast forward.

I think the third dirt section suprised some people.  Christian, from VW, and I came into the dirt flying.  The boulders were flying out from under our wheels as we tore up the hills (the road was the worst I have ever seen).  We quickly caught the last of the break (started in the 1 mile, we were at about mile 80, sorry guys, but nice effort). I got one quick look behind me and we were separated from everyone and putting time into them. We quickly decided to work together to maximize the gap on everybody else. 

I may have scared myself once or twice on some of the corners, you know what I am talking about if you have ever riden a road bike on gravel.  We hit the tar flying, with no sight of the remnants of the field.  We continued to split pulls for the next several miles, then o crap! what was left of the field was coming hard after us (about 10 riders strong). It was no time before they bridged the gap.  Apparently they did not want me in the break.

Well, now this sucks, I pretty much put my last effort into that break.  At one point I tried to attack, I laughed quietly to myself, my legs were dead.  San Jose keept up the attacks until Sullivan (San Jose) and Matt Davis (La Sport?) got up the road.  Futile.  No one would work. Let's get to the finish.  5th.  Sorry guys, I tried.  Great effort from everybody, Allen was great and thank you Travis for the wheel.

What a great race again this year.  Result at:  http://surgesports.com/ttt2010/2010results.htm



Check out Lillie Glassblowers at:  http://www.lillieglass.com/



A true test of fitness, you against the clock.

Find the details on the race at:  http://www.tourofsouthland.com/         
This will be the jersey our team will be wearing for the race.

Day 1 - Travel day, I think 19 time zones
Day 2.5 - We made it, nobody has a bike, but we are here.
Day 2.75 - Still waiting for our bikes, any suggestions.

   
Day 3 -  I think. We got our bikes last night and finished putting them together today, Sunday, Saturday for anybody reading in the US.  Went for a 60k ride, and got some good lunch.  Now watching football and waiting to go to the team presentation tonight at 6:30. 

Race Day 1:  TTT – We had an ok run for 5 guys thrown together and racing together for the first time.  We got 15^th.  Afternoon was an 80k RR, they were not kidding about the wind.  There was also a big crash which neutralized the field, Seth broke this nose, and it took Stefan a minute to figure out where he was.   I finished 20^th and moved to 21^st in the GC.

Race Day 2:  163k RR, it was fast from the gun.  Both Stefan and I got into a few moves, but all the moves would come back, except the last move in the last 10k.  The 4 riders put all of 3 seconds into the field despite a massive effort.  If you have checked, they changed Stefan and me on the results, but I finished 14^th  Still waiting to see the GC.  Everyone is good today, finishing in the field, and looking forward to tomorrow.
Race Day 3:  88k this morning, not too much exciting to report.  A break went up the road, and ended up getting 32 seconds on the field.  I finished 20^th, and the rest of the boys finished safely in the field.  101k this afternoon, excuse me, holy shit.  15k into the race we turned to go down the coast, and got sideswiped by a 30 mph wind.  The field blew to pieces, I saw what was happening, but was too late to do anything about it.  I ended up in the first chase group, but I knew there was no way we were going to get back to the leader, they finished over 7 minutes ahead.  We battled the wind for the next 70k and I ended up getting 20 seconds on the field in the last 2k, with Kevin and Greg finishing right behind me and Stefan losing a little time.  Tomorrow we do a couple of climbs, let’s see what happens.  More pictures at http://sethrubin.blogspot.com/

Race Day 4:  131k of pure fun, with a hill top finish, but it was racing as normal, with breaks coming and going.  The guys raced strong, but it was the hills that were going hurt.  I think we all finished in the top 60 out of the 100 left.  I felt pretty good leading up most of the last climb (3 guys from the break up the road), but only managed a 7^th place finish, but that ended up moving me up to 15^th in the GC.

Race Day 5:  Another 100 mile day. A break went up the road early and the rest of us watched.  I would have like to tag on, but as it has been going, I have not made the breaks all week.  Well, this stage ended with a 3K climb and I was hoping to catch the break on the climb.  But not to be.  Three riders stayed off the front and I finished 7^th.  Not a bad day, with 2 stages left to go.

Race Day 6:  This was another 2 stage day and the last day of the tour.  We were told that this was going to be a fast stage.  We did 80k in a hour and a half.  I made the climb with 5 other guys including Stefan, but after about 55K Stefan was popped which left 5 of us.  We never slowed down, and I was working very hard and in the last 5k I rolled off the front only to be pulled back, but in the last 300 meters started my sprint and held off the other 4.  Great stage win.

The 2^nd a stage of the day and the last stage.  The winds decided to kick back up.  We fought the wind for the entire 60K dwindling the field down to about 20 riders.  We finished the circuit and I finish 14^th I think, but moved to 11^th overall, what a fun, but tough week.