Amazing advances made in eye care: Dr. Taylor

My best friend getting some press.

Eye Care

Arms to the Sky

Saturday was the Hugo Road Race which my team Swift Cycling puts on. The Cat 4s had a 90 rider field limit which filled up by preregistration the week before. There were a total of 579 racers with 512 finishers. I had an awesome 2 weeks of training prior to this race which had me feeling confident and my legs feeling strong. Chaz, Jeremy, and Matt lined up with me for the race. We had to start on the last row, because we were late to the start line due to our volunteer responsibilites. With no warm-up, we headed out and spent the next 18 miles trying to weave our way to the front. I was only able to get up to about 50th before the first turn. After the turn, things strung out a bit and I was able to move up a little further. At this point guys were starting to open gaps from the crosswind and rollers and there was a lot of heavy breathing, so I decided I better move up quick. I saw Matt move into the wind and head for the front, so I jumped on his wheel and we went all the way to the front, then drifted left and slowed down to enjoy the draft. This is where our team finally got back together and hung out until the 2nd turn. After the second turn (now with a left right cross/headwind) the pace picked up a bit as a few riders got off the front through the feed zone. I had drifted back again so Matt pulled Chaz and I back up to the top 10. From here I settled into the pack about 20th, while Matt, Chaz, and Jeremy patrolled the front. Chaz and Jeremy got in some short breaks while Matt blocked. Once Chaz got caught he drifted back and told me to make sure I was in the to 20 going into the last turn as all hell would break loose. Sure enough it did. We now had a cross/tailwind and the pace was crazy 30+ for the last 8 miles. The pack instantly split with me sitting on the back of the main group of 30 riders. Eventually 20 more got back on. Chaz came by and I got on his wheel, then Jeremy came on my right so I jumped on his wheel , and this is where I spent the next 7 miles. Chaz was right next to me giving me the distance as my odometer stopped working and I wasn't familiar with the finish. 5 miles, 4 miles, Move up, 3 miles, etc. With about 2 miles to go the pace picked up again and Jeremy started moving me up. We were sitting about 25th, when he started to hammer and I just sat on his wheel as we kept moving up. We were about 1k out when there was an acceleration on the left and things started to split up. At that point Jeremy went all out to get me to the front, with about 500 meters I yelled for him to move left as he detonated, and I was now sitting 4th. A CPT rider jumped at this point and got a good 15 meter gap so I started to close It but came next to another guy so I sat back down to see if he was going to go or not, because I didn't want him to jump on my wheel. One look at him and I knew he was cooked so I started again. The last guy in front of me saw me coming, but couldn't accelerate, and at that point I knew I was going to win. I came by him and had a couple bike lengths and time to throw my arms up and get my first win. Finishing time of 2:39:36 for 64 miles with and avg speed of just over 24mph if my math is correct. Matt finished 11th, Chaz 16th, and Jeremy 48th. The results moved our team into 3rd place for the Best All Around Team Competition. I can't thank my teammates enough. It was great to finally see all the hard work pay off. I also wanted to thank my coach Mark Legg for helping me get to this point. Next up is the Dead Dog Classic this weekend and the team is now really motivated which is nice. Unfortunately we will only have 4 of us instead of the 7 we were expecting. I'm just excited to finally work together as a team and actually race.

Louisville and City Park

I basically imploded at the Louisville crit. 95+ temp took its toll. I had no problem hanging with pack but got chest pains about 20 minutes in. It felt like my respiratory tract was on fire so I pulled the plug hoping to get some rest for city park. I hate DNFing but thought it would be best. Next day I felt much better at city park. This is a very technical course with several turns and 2 turns and 4 round abouts. I started off well, but on the second lap I was sitting about 25 when two guys in front of my got tangled and almost went down forcing me to slam on the breaks and that was it. The first group of 20 were gone. I then spent the next 10 minutes working with 4 others to get back, but 2 of the guys didn't know how to do a rotating paceline. Pretty frustrating. We then had 4 more join us and I thought we would get back. We got the gap down to 10 seconds, but this GS boulder would pull through and block then you pass him and he would cut you off in the corners. Total tool. The gap got back up to 25 seconds so I had a go solo as the group I was with wasn't going to get back. I got it down to 15 seconds after a lap and half, but wasn't going to be able to catch on without blowing up, so I sat up let the group catch me and sat on the back until last lap. Typical last lap - I was sitting 9th going into the last 2 turn around, watch guy in front of me (gs boulder) touch wheels trying to cut corner (big suprise) and go down, next round about watched another guy go down taking the corner to fast and then another guys just fell over, but I don't know why. I ended up taking the field sprint again for 23rd. Even though the result isn't good, I felt like I was getting my legs back.

Rocky MTN Omnium

My parents came out for this weekend while I was trying to find my legs. It was a little rough considering I had taken off 16 days from being sick and our trip to Italy. I ended up 22nd in 8 mile time trial 1:26 off the winner. I was pretty happy with this considering I didn't have a TT bike or aero bars and it was only my 5th day back on the bike. The Circuit race next day wasn't as fun. It was a 1.2 mile circuit where I ended up 29th after getting dropped on the 1/2 mile (200 ft elevation gain) climb after about 3 laps. I had no legs and the 90+ temp was brutal. The last crit was in downtown Golden and probably the funnest race so far this year. My result again was 29th, but the course was awesome with 8 turns. There was probably about 1000 spectators which was pretty cool. I held on for about half the race then rolled solo for about 5 laps, and then waited for a group of 7 to catch me and basically waited for the field sprint which I took. Overall not bad considering how long I had been off the bike. Wish I could have pulled a better result while my parents were in town.

More Pics

The Past 30

Well it has been awhile since I posted, so I'll try to catch up. 1st Cori and I had a wonderful trip to Italy. No special occasion just a trip we've been wanting to take. Started in Venice and spent 2 days then on to Bologna/Forli. In Forli we caught a stage of the Giro d'Italia. From Bologna we took the train to Florence and spent 3 full days. On the fourth day we rented a car and drove down to Montalcino where Brunello wines are made. We then spent 2 days in Milan before finally coming back. Florence was by far our favorite. The food, wine, gelato and atmosphere were uncomparable. Cori's favorite part was a private cooking class she took in Florence, mine was probably the food and wine in Florence.