Not much happenning

I wish I had some interesting news or something exciting to update the blog with. I have basically been training and waiting to win the lottery. Which I dont think will ever happen since I don't play the lottery. I think it might be time to seriously pursue some employment opportunities since my bank account is similar to the draught that SoCal is experiencing right now. Which is dissapointing because I really enjoy having nothing to do but ride my bike every day. I think is part of the reason I have begun to feel amazing during training and group rides. But such is life.

There was a crit in Lenoir this past weekend, but I opted not to race for monetary reasons. So I drove out there with Ed and his family to support the team and watch the race. It was fun but kinda strange at the same time. I'm not used to being on the sidelines. The course was brutal and so was the heat. Which I think I would have liked quite a bit... but then again thats easy for me to say in the shade eating cheez-its and drinking a dew. We had the biggest team there and everyone had a relatively good race considering the course and the heat. I think it was a decent day in terms of cash too.

I won't be going to fitchburg and since Dalonagah got canceled, I don't think I will be racing this weekend at all. This is a little discouraging just because I want to take advantage of my fitness at the moment. But who knows maybe Im still on the upside of the curve. We shall see.

I was talking to Brent yesterday via aim yesterday and I guess hes going to have his second surgery soon. I guess his leg isnt healing like it should be so just be praying for him. Hes got a long road to recovery ahead of him so stop by and leave him some words of encourgement... http://brentbookwalter.blogspot.com/

Until next post...
-ride fast, take chances

Roan Groan...or just groan?

Roan Groan Road Race went as follows...

first 35 miles: sitting in and feeling good.

After we turned back onto 19E: someone decides to take me and 10 other riders out. I go down fast and find myself at the bottom of a pile of bikes with a truck pulling a horse trailor skidding to a stop just feet from my head...

After I can see my muscle tissue in my right fore arm: A sweet ride to the local hospital in an ambulance. 13 stitches and a destroyed powertap wheel (which the truck ran over) later i get to go back to arden.

..."Welcome back to NC."
-ed's mom

California Dreamin'

After finishing my first pro-am stage race at Edgar Soto, I was finally able to go back to the mother land and mentally refuel. It had been about six months since I had seem my family and it was nice to be back where I still call home. My stay was somewhat uneventful which is exaclty how I like it. Although, I was fortunate enough to crew for my mom at one of her endurance horse races just north of L.A. She made winning look easy by completing the 65 mile course an hour and 4 minutes faster then her competition, as well as beating the course record by 4 minutes. It was exciting to see my mom doing what she loves, while making other people look like they dont know what theyre doing at all.

I didnt want to leave the land of sunshine again and almost decided not to. But that would mean missing out on certain opportunities that im just not ready to walk away from quite yet. This weekend I'll be rollin up to TN again with the team to do the Roan Groan Omnium near Johnson City. Its very close to school so it will be mostly on roads that im familar with. First race is tommorow morning and it finishes at the top of Roan mountain, so it should be an interesting race. I'm not sure what the housing situation is like but ill try to keep the blog updated as the race unfolds...

Edgar Soto Crit/RR Final GC

Stage 3 (Criterium, 75 minutes)

Criterium 75th

GC after crit 64th at 9.31

Stage 4 (Road Race, 108 miles)

RR 62nd

Final General Classification

61st, 41.37 down

Edgar Soto Stages 1 and 2

Stage 1 ITT (6.9 miles)

80th place, Time: 17:02

Stage 2 Circuit Race (6 laps, 66 miles)

24th place

General Classification After Stage 2

55th, 6:45 Down

I dont know why its so hard for me to keep up with this stupid blog and im sorry that I cant be better about. Well, I'm settled into my new place in arden, NC and so far i have nothing to complain about. One of ed's friends is graciously letting me stay in the lower story of a 2 story house. Its pretty nice to be alone, but at the same time i miss a lot of people.

As far as racing goes; here are some results from the couple that ive failed to keep everyone up-to-date on...

Tour of Virginia
Stage 1: 154st
Stage 2: 124th
Stage 3: DNF

Walnut Grove RR (spartanburg, SC)
Cat 2: 16th

Tour of Virginia was a lot faster then the entire Capri-Foudnation team was prepared for and subsequently we all DNF'ed on the 3rd stage. It was frustrating for a lot of us, but also gave us a taste of what racing in europe would be like.
The walnut grove Road race was a fairly flat 82 mile race down in south carolina and i think i could have easily ridden to a top 5 if i didnt have some digestive issues during laps 2 and 3. My stomache made it pretty hard to even finish the race, so 16th was the best i could come up with.

After another dissapointing month of racing and not being able to race on the collegaite national team in Kansas, Im trying to focus on whats ahead of me. The Edgar Soto Memorial stage race starts this friday and ends next monday; based on the teams that have registered so far, a top 50 finish would be respectable at this point. I'm also looking forward to this weekend because i get to see a certain girl again...

A lot has happened since my last post... For starters we got our new team kits which I'm pretty stoked about. And, after several weeks of playing the email game with USA cycling, I finally got my Cat 2 upgrade. So now I am officailly a cat 2. Which also means I will officaially be starting the the Tour Of Virginia. Also, I think I'm finally over that horrible sickness I had as well, because I'm starting to feel like I know how to ride a bike again.
This weekend is our home race for Lees-Mcrae and there will be plenty of climbing to test out the legs for TOV. I will also be looking to get some good results in order to secure a spot for collegaite nationals in May.
Hopefully in the coming weeks I will be a little bit more consistant in terms of my form. I'm starting to feel strong again which is very encouraging. The end of this semester is almost here which means the real racing is just around the corner...

Its Been a rough couple of weeks...

Wow, the last three weeks have been seemingly meaningless in terms of bike racing, riding and traveling. The only thing I have managed to do is wear myself thin physically and mentally. With a handful of DNF's and DNS's; my confidence quickly deminishing. With some serious races looming larger on the horizon, I need some results to prove to myself and others that im ready to take on the season.

Going into the 2nd weekend of the Greenville training series (March 3-4), I started to feel a cold coming on so I decided not to race. It turned out to be a good decision because that saturday night I did not sleep a single hour, but spent the better part of the night with a high fever and throwing up whatever I tried to drink. My condition improved slightly the next day, but I decided that it was time to see the doctor. They put me on antibiotics and by the weekend i was feeling much better. Which happened to be the weekend of the first collegaite race at Georgia Tech with the Lees-McRae squad. Still on the meds, I made the decision to race with very low expectations of even finishing. I could definately tell that i hadn't ridden my bike in 8 days but somehow managed to help the team out a little bit and finished 5 minutes down on the main feild. The next day was another road race and was more of what I expected the first day. I was forced to abandon after 42 miles of riding in what was left of the shredded peleton.

The second collegaite weekend at University of Georgia Athens was no better. In the road race I made it through 3 miles of the gusty 15 mile rolling course. I had no power to close down gaps or follow wheels. I felt sick again so I didnt even start the on campus criterium the next day.

So after three weeks of draining myself for appearently no reason, I'm taking a rest week so I can try to find the form I had coming out of base. Hopefully I can use this time to catch up on school work and some positive time in the saddle. Also, I hope my next entry will be more positive as well.

Ride Fast, Take Chances...

January Nationals

January Nationals

(heres the race on paper courtesy of my PowerTap)




January Nationals was a great opportunity to really see where my form is. It was an informal road race that had about 80-90 people make an appearence at. The race consisted of 7 laps of rolling hills for about 8 miles a peice. After the first neutral lap the pace picked up and Dan williams (Capri) got in a break with 5 others and reached a maximum advantage on the feild of 2.5 minutes. This relieved the rest of us of having to do any work. About lap 4 I could see the break starting to come back and I got ready to start covering moves or possibly try and get away if I had the legs. With Dan back in the feild on lap 5 I felt it was time to see how I felt and I began attacking relentlessly. I got away a couple of times but the were all brought back with no trouble. On the final lap Rich Harper (Ambercrombie & Fitch) made the move that would eventually win the race. Unfortunately I was still recovering from one of my attacks and was unable to respond. At this point Rob (capri) got in a chase group and also was able to stay away. As soon as I was recovered I attacked with 2 others following and began chasing the leaders as well as the other chase group. My group was within 15 meters of the chase group when the 2 riders I was with attacked me to try and prevent me from making it up to the next group. By the time I finally struggled my way up to the chase group alone there was about 500 meters to the line and they had started to sprint. I had very little left but what I did powered me by 2 of the riders in the group for a solid 6th place finish half a wheel length behind my teamate Rob.

I'm very happy with where my form is at in these early season efforts and I hope that it will be a foreshadow of what is to come once things get a bit more serious. till next time...

Ride fast, Take chances

Final Results January Nats
1. Rich Harper (A & F)
5. Rob McConnville (Capri)
6. Carson W. (Capri)

Winter Series #2

Capri-Foundation Goes 1, 3

Unfortunately the second winter series crit didn't have quite turnout that I think everyone was hoping for, but despite the small field size it was still some quality riding. It was a fairly uneventful race with everyone taking 2 lap pulls until ten laps to go. With ten laps to go, the group sped up considerably and everyone prepared for the sprint. Ed easily took the sprint with me two wheels back taking 3rd.

Winter Series #2 Final Results

1 Ed Burress
2 Unknown
3 Carson Worts

Capri-Foundation Finishes 1-2 in Winter Series #1

Well, I started off the season just as well as I could have hoped this weekend. Friday evening Ed and I drove down to raleigh for the first race of the 2007 with the new team. The race was on saturday at the NC speedway and was my first taste of racing with some Cat 1-2's. I didn't quite have a plan coming into the race other then just to see where my form was and try to get a good result. The feild size was relatively small so it was kind of hard to know what to expect.

The race got off to a hard start with Lucas (Capri) attacking off the line. As soon as lucas was back in the feild Dan (Capri) and another rider countered with me following. I quickly realized that the break was too fast for me that early in the race so I got shelled out of that group, but was able to hold about a 10 meter gap. I didnt have much hope of staying out alone that early in the race so I had to either sit up or hope that someone else would bridge up and give me a little help. It wasnt long before Darby Harris (Carolina Triathlon/Ryobi) came by and I was able to jump on his wheel. In about another 7 laps we had made it safely back into the feild. There were now 4 riders one lap up on the feild; Darby Harris, Dan, Me and one other rider. The next 20 minutes the team did a great job of controlling the pace and making sure no one else got away. Ed told me to follow Darby and go with any of his attacks, so thats just what I did. Sure enough Darby attacked with about 15 minutes to go and I went as well. This time I was ready to go and we put another lap on the feild fairly quickly. Shortly after we got back in, Dan attacked solo and lapped the field all by himself. Now that Dan, Darby and I had 2 laps on the feild, the team once again made sure it stayed that way. With 10 laps to go everyone (the team) did a perfect job of making sure it stayed hard enough to prevent anyone from trying anything. Then, with 2 laps to go Ed gave me a leadout that would have made Boonen proud and I was able to take the feild sprint as well as the overall victory.

So with the first race behind me, I think I have a lot to look forward to this season and I'm very pleased with my form. The team had a very dominating ride and I look forward to working for them as they did for me yesterday. Next weekend is the second race in this series....'till then,
ride fast, take chances

Winter Series #1 Final Results
1 Carson Worts Capri-Foundation
2 Dan Williams Capri-Foundation
3 Darby Harris Carolina Triathlon/Ryobi

Capri-Foundation Master Schedule

Capri Foundation Master Schedule

November
11/18-11/19 Team meeting in Ashville/UCI Cross

December
16th Southeast Regional Schedule Meeting -Winston-Salem, NC

January
1/11-1/14 Testing ECU HPL Greenville, NC
1/19-1/21 Team Training Camp (Asheville, NC)
27th Wake Co., NC Motor Speedway Training Criterium (Team's event)

Febuary
3rd Wake Co., NC Motor Speedway Training Criterium (Team's event)
4th Capri Foundation Century (Wake Co., NC)
16-18 Valley of the Sun Stage Race, AZ
24-25 Georgia Cup-Albany, GA
24-25 Greenville Spring Series, SC

March
3/3-3/4 Greenville Spring Series, SC
3/10-3/11 Knoxville RR/TT-Maryville Crit, TN
3/10-3/11 Greenville Spring Series, SC
17th Lascassas RR/TT, TN
17th Franklin St. Crit, NC
18th NCSU Crit
18-19th Brooks Omnium, GA
24th Charolotte, NC
25th Charolotte, NC
25th Jefferson Cup Road Race, VA
31st Greenville, NC Criterium

April
1st Greenville, NC Criterium
4/8-4/9 Georgia Cup-Gainesville, GA
4/13-4/15 Patriots Trail Omnium, SC
4/14-4/15 Local NC race weekend? Raleigh? Greenville, NC?
4/14-4/15 Knoxville Criterium/ Raccon Mt Road Race, TN
4/21-4/22 Low Country Criteriums, SC
4/24-4/29 Tour Of Virginia, VA (NRC)
4/28-4/29 Tour de Moore/Meadowmont, NC
29th Athens Twilight, GA

May
5th Wintergreen Time Trial, VA
1st-6th SE Crit Series
5th Dilworth Crit, NC
5th Town Mt. Time Trial, NC
5-6th Highland Rim Classic Omniun, TN
5-6th Raleigh Wake Habitat RR/Crit, NC
5/11-5/13 Joe Martin Stage Race, AR (NRC)
5/19-5/20 Grand Fundo RR/Nashville Crit, TN
5/17-5/20 Tri-Peaks Stage Race, AR (NRC)
25th Raleigh Twilight(NRC), NC
5/23-5/25 Georgia Cup-Savhanna, GA
5/25-28th Dragon's Challenge Omnium, NC
5/25-5/28 Edgar Soto Stage Race, TN
5/29-6/3 Mt.Hood Cycling Classic, OR (NRC)


June
2-Jun Davie Co RR (Age graded states)
6/9-6/10 Georgia Cup-Dahlonega, GA
6/9-6/10 TCR Omnium/Roan Groan RR, TN
6/15-6/17 Race for Kids Sake
6/23-24th Avery's Trace RR/TT-Cookville Crit, TN
6/23-24th NC State Games Crits, NC
6/28-7/1 Fitchburg Longsjo Stage Race,MA
30th State Games Crit

July
5th-15th National Championships Festival, PA
21-22 Georgia Cup- Rome, GA
20-22 French Broad Cycling Classic, NC
23-27th Tour De Toona, PA(NRC)

August
8/4-8/5 TN State Champs Omnium, TN
7/30-8/5 Cross Roads Crits, NC
18-19 Georgia Cup-Augusta
18th Mt. Washington HillClimb, NH
18-19th Marx&Bendorf Stage Race, TN

September
1-3rd Georgia Cup-Atlanta/US 100K Championships(NRC)
1-2nd NC/SC State Road Race Championships, Greenville
9th-11th Winston-crit/Elon-crit/Carolina Cup, NC
16-17th Georgia Cup-LaGrange, GA
25-26th Chattanooga Criterium/ River Gorge Road Race, TN

October
13-14th Hincapie Cycling Series, SC

I lost my password...

So i thought that it would be nice to finally post something on my blog yesterday, but i ran into a bit of a problem... I couldnt remember my password. So i re-affirmed what everyone already knew about me; im an idiot. I spent all yesterday trying to hack into my own blog and since they have so many friggin security features i was unsuccessful, so i said screw and made a new one. now i forgot what i was going to say.
oh well it probably wasnt important anyway...

-ride fast, take chances