Keep Swimming I Won't Move

The start of any trip begins with that first step. Eventually with persistance and determination you will find yourself no longer within view from that beginning point but also not within view of your final destination. Yesterday I did something that not only had I dreamt of accomplishing but something that I knew would take a lot of hard work, I put in to upgrade to a Cat4 road. I sent in my request yesterday along with my racing resume and recieved my upgrade conformation a couple of hours later. The idea all started when I was at the team party and a fellow teammate Chris Hudson asked me if I was planning on Cat-ing up this season. I gave him some answer which I am sure he saw right through to my true feeling which was doubt that I could even compete as a Cat4 yet. He was polite and accepted my answer, but what he didn't realize is that he had planted a seed, a seed that grew into questions for me. The next morning I went onto USAcycling's site to check to see if I had completed the manditory 10 road races needed to cat up to a four, I counted 8 road races and 18 Cross races. I thought that posting this to my Facebook status update would satisfy my questions/doubts of cat-ing up, until I get a message a few minutes later from Britton a Cat2 and store owner of Volker Bicycles saying that USAcycling would take into consideration all of my resume not just my road races. I flat out asked him if he thought I should cat-up and he said yes. So here I am again with thoughts of should I or shouldn't I cat up. I knew what I had to do, I texted four more people all on my team, all much faster riders than I am and I asked them their well respected opinion too. All came back saying that I should. So now I have my answer yet I am still hesitant to click on the send button. Why am I so hesitant, what am I afraid of, everyone is telling me to do it but I have some reservations. I remember being 5 years old and living in Puerto Rico. My dad at the time worked for Abbott laboratories. Employment with Abbott included many fringe benefits, one being membership to Dorado Beach country club. It had Chi-Chi Rodriguez's signature golf course, tennis courts, club house, and most importantly a olympic size pool where I would learn to swim.
I only have a few memories of learning to swim and all of them aren't the most positive. The memories are mostly of my trying to stay afloat with the instructor commanding me to swim to her and she promised not to move. If this story sounds familier to you then you will know that she never stood still and she always backed away forcing me to swim further away from the wall and deeper into the pool. I can still remember the panic I would experience when she would back away. With the more lessons I had the less panic I would feel, and eventually I gained confidence, learned to love to it, and even raced on a swim team in middle school. My cycling journey has come to that point where I have to take my hands off that wall and be willing to swim out to the deeper ends of the pool. I can no longer hide in the kiddie pool. I now have to compete with the big kids in the deeper pools.

Knock Knock Who Is It? New Season

So a New season is upon us. I know I have neglected my blog for the last couple of months but to be honest nothing much has happened in my cycling world until this passed weekend. Saturday was our team signing party and what a party it was. Free beer, food, and sounds. Colavita/Parisi is growing into one big family, and a happy one at that. We have gained some new faces and some familiar ones and we are going to be an even bigger force to reckon with this year.

So I remember at last year's signing party when Adam Keck recieved the award of most improved rider, I had secretly told myself that I wanted to win it for next year. Those are big shoes to fill as Adam is a person to respect both on and off the bike. I trained as much as I could all year with my life being turned upside down with the addition of my daughter Lucy. My wife was and has always been supportive of me, I am a lucky man. Well as you have guessed it, I won it. Having all my hard work recognized by my teammates means a great deal to me. Some are and others have been state champs. I remember my first time going out with them for a Saturday morning ride. I kept up with the group for 4 miles and promptly got dropped. They were only pedaling at an easy pace too. My how things have changed for me.

Sunday was our first team ride with all the new guys. It feels funny calling others new and not considering myself a newbie anymore. We had a pretty nice turnout, I think there was 24 people in all. We got into a 2 by 2 line and worked on our pace line for several miles. We also had a "gentlemans race" and it was a blast. We broke up into 5 groups and we raced to an agreed upon destination. This destination was at the top of the second of two long climbs. I am not a strong climber and it is early in the season, but with the confidence of being called the most improved rider I told myself that I was not going to hinder my team in any way. By the time we reached the base of the first climb I was 5th man back and moved up to 4th at the summit. Since the team I was on was all together we took off on our descent on our way to the next climb. We had a large lead on every one else. It was just the four of us at the finish line. I was pumped and surprised at how well I did. The winning team got pizza and coca cola paid for by everyone else. I had already been gone a few hours and wanted to go home and spend some time with Kate and Lucy.

I want to take this time to thank everyone who has given me words of encouragement, it makes it a lot easier to stay focused knowing that I am making improvements in my riding. I have found a great bunch of guys that I am proud to call my friends, and teammates.

Eye of the Tiger

This past weekend was Shawnee Rescue Rad Cross. The mens 4 was at 10am and the mens 3/4 was at 2pm. With so much time between the two I decided to race both. I picked up my new Jamis Nova race on Friday and unfortunately did not have time to ride it before hand. I was a little nervous about this because when racing you have to make many split second decisions at any given time throughout the race. Any mistake or miscalculation and it can cost you your position, your energy, and even your bones if you wreck. I got out there a little early and pre-rode the course and noticed that there was a lot of pavement. So I pumped my tires up to 45 psi each. At no point in the race did my tires feel loose at all. There wasn't much off camber and my tires were hooking up great in the grass. We had a pretty big group, 35 in all. I didn't expect much from myself since there was two sand pits back to back with maybe 35-40 feet of grass between. Almost enough to ride and just a little too long to run. I decided to run it all but when on grass I would roll the bike instead of shouldering it. This proved to be my most hated section of the race because right after that there was no time to recover, you went right in to a gradual climb. No rest for the weary. I managed to finish 18th. The guy in front of me had a pretty good lead for the last two laps and when coming to the finish line I noticed that he let up his pace, he let up his pace a lot. I was a good 200-250ft behind him and I decided to sprint for it. I know that sprinting for 18th is not glorious but I made the decision to go for it. I beat him to the line and did the dorkiest hand in the air gesture like I had just won the whole thing. I immediately felt stupid for doing the gesture but I was happy that I sprinted. More about that feeling in a minute. After the race I ate, drank, and rested. I even had time to go pick up Kate and Lucy. They dropped me back off and they went on to the mall like I suspect they will be doing for many times to come. I have never done a 3/4 race and didn't expect much from myself for a couple of reasons, 1) I raced earlier in the day and 2) I would be racing against 3s. The race time went from 30 minutes in the 4s to 45 minutes in the 3/4s. At one point in the race I almost pulled myself, I was so tired I was basically just walking it. My energy level dropped after lap number 3 of 8. My last two laps I was using as a cool down I was going so slow. I am glad I did it as it helped to push me out of my comfort zone. The course judges placed me at 25 out of 27 but it was an error on their part. I actually finished 24 out of 27. My fellow team-mate S.C. won the race. He managed to lap me once and I was happy he did. It cut my laps down from 8 to 7 total. He looked great out there, really strong and comfortable. That was his day and he took it. Good for him, he has been working hard for that for a long time.


With all that being said, on my Monday night ride I had a word pop into my head, that word is "heart". I have not been able to shake that word since I first thought it. I have been thinking about what it means to me, do I have it, if not how do I get it? I remember watching Rocky 2 and Rocky is challenged by Clubber Lang, and Clubber Lang says Rocky isn't a real champion. Apollo Creed is training Rocky and tells him that he needs to get the "Eye of the Tiger". You know that desire to win, that hunger and need to beat any opponent. I know that I haven't been racing with that emotion. My motivation has been to do better than I have ever done before. Tri-atheletes call this a "p.r." or a "personal record". I wonder if I will ever get that real desire to win or if I will just keep going along trying to beat my P.R.?  Do I even need that desire to win at all cost? Will it make my training more effecient? Lots of questions in my head right now. I do know that I love cycling and I love all the things I have accomplished including all the psychological things I have over come. One being the fear of competing in front of people knowing that I may be judged. It is funny all the things that we can carry in life not knowing, things that may seem insignificant to others but to some it means avoiding certain situations in life. I only wish I had conquered that one earlier in life. Cycling has given me the medium to over come many of my lifes obstacles. For that I love it even more.

These pics are from Jon Peck and they are my faves so far.

I Can Almost Taste It

The last two weeks of cross racing have been pretty good to me. I have managed to finish in my two best finishes ever, but that has only managed to frustrate me even more. I raced in Cross out Cancer two weekends ago and had my best placing to date, 17 out of 40, that is my first top 50% finish in any race including road. I raced the mens cat4 on my sinlge speed bike and the gearing was perfect for the course. No climbing at all and not many straight sections. My handling and my starting in the front really helped me out. I did this race last year and placed 31 out of 46. At this rate ,next year I should be a real contender.  The frustration comes from my wanting to do better. I now want a top 25% finish.

This last weekend was Joules Cross. I was really pumped from Cross out from Cancer and expected good things from myself. I was once again racing on my single speed bike and the course didn't look too hilly. I didn't have a chance to pre-ride the course and wished I had. Lots of straight aways, a spiral of death, strong head winds, off camber loose dirt and rocky sections, and a couple of little climbs thrown in just before the finish line. My gearing was good for the climbs on this course but a not large enough for all the straight sections. I had a good start, coming out of the first turns I was siting in 8th place out of 32 but it was not to be. I was slowly but surely losing my ground to everyone with gears. I faded to 17th place over all. My teammate Levon was racing with me and once again was gaining on me rather quickly. We were suppose to do 6 laps total but we were pulled after 5, If I had known that we were going to get pulled I would have sprinted to the finish hopefully passing the 16th place guy. At the rate Levon was gaining on me, I know he would have passed me on the last lap had it gone to 6, but please don't tell him that I was worried about it, I don't want him to gain any confidence for next week.

For spectating I liked the Cross out Cancer course. Kate, the baby, and I found a nice tree to sit under and watched everyone else race. Joules cross' course was on beatiful land but not many trees to sit under and spectate unless you brought your own tent. Other than that It was a nice venue.

With all that being said, BK has ordered a Jamis Nova race with my name on it. Let's see how I do with my own bike with gears. Several of the guys on the team have this bike and they do pretty well. I will be sure to post pics.

Like a Boss

Boss Cross 1 & 2 were this past weekend. I was only able to race on Saturday but managed to pass by on Sunday to spectate for a little bit. Saturday's race was tough, lots and lots of running. I had a great start to the race, I think about 7th or 8th until we reached the first set of sand. Running is not my thing, it brings my heartrate way up especially when running thru deep, soft sand. I managed to hold about 11th or 12th place until there was 2 laps to go and I started to fade. The race was 40 minutes long versus the usual 30 minutes. I know I would have placed better by 2 or 3 places had it been 30 minutes. My friend and fellow teammate Levon was in the race with me and he was starting to gain ground on me on the last lap of the race. I really started to worry that he was going to pass me, the amount of  time he made up on that last lap made me feel like I didn't have a chance against him. It did force me to push myself even harder near the end and I did manage to hold my place. Levon and I have used each other to gauge how well we are doing in a race. Last year I was only able to beat him in one race. Ironically enough this coming weekend is that race. I hope he is there for a rematch.  My legs felt pretty good and I was able to run a higher gear and get up off my saddle from time to time. I do need to work on my heartrate, it really sucks. I get winded much quicker than my legs give out. 

 I think I am being converted, I have become a cross person. It is a lot more fun than road racing. I am going to have to figure out how I can get my hands on a carbon cross bike with carbon tubulars.

One last thing, my buddy/fellow teammate Jon Peck was good to me on Saturday and Allowed me to once again race with his bike. Carrying that thing thru sand was much easier than my steel bike. He also took an awesome photo so credit goes out to him on that too.

Manion's Cross

There is no better way to have fun on a bike than cyclocross. I heard somewhere that this sport was invented by pro roadies in Belgium a long time ago to help them stay in shape in the off season, but here in K.C. you will hear people say that they do road racing in the spring and summer to stay in shape for cross in fall and winter. This sport is huge here in Kansas City among many other places  in the U.S.. Lots of people say the colder and muddier the better. It also helps that there is usually free beer at most races. This will be my second full season of cross and although I am not all that charged about training I am excited about racing. There are races in this area pretty much every weekend until after the first of the year and the first ones were this past weekend. Manion's Cross is a race put on by my bicycle shop sponsor Volker bicycles of Kansas city. Two days of racing out on the hills of Manion's auction house. Cross is spectator friendly as the courses are usually between 1.5 miles and 2.5 miles long wrapping around the inside of a park, so if you sit in one spot of the course to watch you will have the racers pass by you multiple times in one race. So as you can imagine, it is more of a family atmosphere. This past weeked the wife and baby came out with me on Saturday and sat on a blanket to enjoy the fun and cheer dad on in his poor result do to my rear tire having a leak. I had to stop every lap in the wheel pit and pump up my tire. I knew I wasn't going to do well but I also didn't want to DNF(did not finish). Much to my surprise, I managed to finish 31st out of 34. I thought I was dead last. Sunday was a much better showing for me. I borrowed a teamates awesome "geared" bike with carbon tubulars. In my race I finished 17th out of  30. Middle of the pack is not bad at all for me considering it was a climbing mans course.   

Everybody Limbo

This weekend is Gateway Cup. 4 days of crit racing in St.Louis. I went to watch one race last year and loved the energy the town had for racing. Before this I didn't have a very positive opinion of St.Louis, but we had a great day off watching friends race and having lunch in the Italian district of town.  In the beginning of the season I had put Gateway Cup on my radar but to be honest I lost any interest in doing it weeks ago. It has been a long and hot summer and this past week I did something that I hadn't done in over a year. I took a week off of cycling. I have not been on a bike in 6 days. My right knee has been a little achey and I have not had much desire to ride either. This is the time of year where we are winding down road racing and starting to prepare for cyclo cross. Right now I am not excited about that either. I really don't like winter and I am not looking forward to the below 50 degree weather. Last winter seemed to last for ever. I did try to excite myself for winter by buying a compression long sleeve thermal base layer. I guess I will have to wait until the first cross race to really jump start my excitement. I am making plans to do the Tour de BBQ this year. This is the 3rd year of this ride and from what I hear it is only getting bigger and better. Last year they had Smash Mouth performing at the rap up party. I will be doing the 62 mile route and for those of you who don't know about the ride, the route is designed to go to all the BBQ joints that wished to participate. The first year had 7 stops with food being served at each and every location. All the big names are on the route like Gates, Arthur Bryants, Oklahoma Joe's, Jack Stacks............ this should be a lot of fun and well worth the trip if you are interested. Here is a link for more info. http://tourdebbq.com/