Josh Carter Reports in From Colorado

3/19/08

I'm heading back home to the midwest after a 3 week work trip to Denver, CO. At first I was looking forward to training at altitude, but then I got there ... I felt like a smoker! After a few days of riding by myself in the mountains, I called on our long lost ABD teammate, Zach Watson to see if he'd take me out on the local training ride. We hooked up with the Saturday group ride in Boulder and I was thinking 'I'm in in good shape, this is going to be fun.' Boy was I wrong. I never thought that I would ever say I hate riding on flat roads ... but when you throw the flat roads a mile above sea level when you're used to training at about 200 ft. elevation it really changes things. And then we went uphill. It wasn't the climbing that hurt me the most. It was being dropped by the women and being passed by the guy 4X my weight ... and then chasing the group for 30 minutes to catch back up to the group as they stopped for a break. Four and a half hours later we ended up back at Zach's house and I was a mess. It literally feels like you're breathing through a stir-straw out here.

I just have to thank Zach for helping me find some really awesome places to ride. He and his wife, Erin (who used to race with Julie back in the day), were awesome to hang out with.

Sunday. Race day. There was a criterium the very next day in City Park, CO (suburb of Denver). Criteriums = right up my ally, right? A 60 minute crit ... no problem, right? Apparently I didn't learn my lesson the day before because this was the best and the worst race of the year so far. It was a 1 mile loop in the shape of a triangle with three (yes 3) roundabouts. There were about 80 riders and a lot of them were pros. From the gun I made good position in the front of the race. I missed the first 6-man breakaway but a lap after the break got away I bridged across with Jonathan Clark and Henk Vogels from Toyota United. I tried to sit at the back of the breakaway and catch my breath, but after 4-5 laps I couldn't recover and got dropped from the group.

I stopped pedaling to recover and tacked onto the 3-man chase group that included Pete Lopinto, Tyler Hamilton, and another guy I didn't know. A couple laps later we made it to the breakaway ... so now I'm back in the lead group (go figure). Again, sitting at the back of the break I tried to recover and 4-5 laps later I got dropped again.

I went back to the field and I sat at the back of the pack for about 10 minutes, wanting to quit the whole time I was back there. I just couldn't recover without getting the oxygen I needed. While I was at the back another chase group got away ... now there were about 16-17 guys off the front and the race only paid 3 places deep. So then I thought 'there's no money left for the field, I might as well race hard and get a workout ... if I get dropped, I get dropped.' So I attacked again with about 10 minutes to go and formed a 3-man chase group. About a lap later there was a big crash in the pack (behind me) and the officials pulled what was left of the field. My 3-man chase group picked up a few of the guys that were dropped from the other chase group and I just kept pulling really hard, taking really long pulls. With two laps to go I decided I didn't want to risk anything with no money on the line with all of the roundabouts on the course. So I went ahead and pulled out early.

All in all, it was a good race. It shows that I have good form; I just can't breathe at altitude. I would have liked to see how this race would have finish had it been at sea level.

I'm now on my way back home to St. Louis. I'm looking forward to team training camp and the Hillsboro Roubaix. I'm very excited to be with racing with the guys for the first time together this year. I have to wish Alex and Ebert good luck out in San Dimas while we're racing in Hillsboro.

Until next time,

Josh