Avery Trace, Cookeville

Quick update – we just drove up to Nashville and our spending the night with family before I head up to the road race and tt tomorrow at Avery Trace. Then possibly the Cookeville crit on Sunday. Stay tuned for more details tomorrow after the races.

Nature Valley Grand Prix Stage 6 Photos

Here is one last post from the Nature Valley Grand Prix with photos that I took of the last stage. It was killing me to have missed the timecut and not be able to do this epic criterium with the infamous Chilkoot Hill, but it was definitely some excellent racing that I got to watch.

My daughter Analise was the only Toone that got a chance to race on Stage 6 of the Nature Valley Grand Prix – the stillwater criterium. She did great and I had to run to keep up with her. She won a medal for her efforts. Way to go Analise! In the background, note the complete team bikes in the pit for the Healthnet and Toyota United teams! The pro race started right after the finish of the kids race.

Jesse rode an incredible race finishing 3rd in the amateur competition and 18th overall. Way to go Jesse!

Rory Southerland and John Murphy (Athens, GA) having a chat before the start

Dominque Rollin taking the sprint points on Lap 1

A video showing just how steep the climb is. I was positioned at the START of the steep part of the climb (> 20% gradient). Watch the Healthnet rider drop his chain and then get back onto the back of the pack. Amazing!

Nature Valley Grand Prix Photos

Here is a quick post with some photos from one of our team managers (Tim Ramos).

2008 Nature Valley Men's Composite Team

2008 Nature Valley Men's and Women's Composite Teams

Warming up for the Cannon Falls road race

Jason and I getting to the start line early – Cannon Falls

Brady and I on the finishing circuits – Cannon Falls

Kristine and Analise in the kids race (in the background)

What’s Next

I won’t hide that I am very disappointed about missing the timecut yesterday in the TT. A focus for me for the remainder of the season will be to work on my TT and improve my overall power output. I went for a ride today and felt miserable, so I believe I will take the next two or three days off the bike completely. As far as racing goes, the next race for me will be the Fitchburg-Longsjo classic in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. It’s a great race that I did 10 years ago, and I am looking forward to being an active part of the race.

Nature Valley Grand Prix 2008 – Wrap-up

I downloaded my heart-rate data this afternoon and was surprised to find my time trial time was slower than I had thought it was, and it turns out that with Ben Jacques-Mayne’s incredible TT performance, I missed the time cut by 14 seconds. So my racing is over. I am hoping to get a couple good rides in while the weather is nice and then we’ll be heading back down to Alabama. Thanks for checking in on my racing.