Journal of professional cyclists Ian MacGregor and Timmy Duggan

Winter Wonderland

First week of December and Colorado is in full on winter mode! Ten days ago I received an email from a former Type 1 teammate asking about the weather in Colorado over the winter. I told him it might snow but it doesn’t really matter cause the next day it’s 45′ and it all melts away. Well, I think now I’m responsible for the last ten days being record lows. At this time in the year I just make the best of it and hit up the nordic skis, the gym, and some trail running in the snow. Let’s just hope that this record freezing trend doesn’t stretch throughout the entire winter. Timmy’s up at Beaver Creek watching the world cup ski race today, the high there today is in the single digits! I’m back from the gym and sitting on the couch with a hot cup of coffee waiting for my Broncos to crush the Chiefs!

We’ve got some exciting things happening with the Just Go Harder Foundation, scholarships are on there way to some deserving athletes - more info to come shortly. With the holidays coming up why not add a couple bags of JGH Foundation coffee to your shopping list!?!

Kelly Benefit Strategies Pro Cycling Team released their final roster for next year. I’m excited to be part of a team with such great potential.

New direction for 2010

Not too much news coming from me the past few weeks. However, I’ll be racing with Kelly Benefit Strategies Pro Cycling for next year. I’m excited for a change of scenery and looking forward to getting the ball rolling towards a new season.

At the hospital…must be the offseason

No, I didnt crash or hurt myself.  There are a few short weeks in the offseason when its a great time to get any health problems, dental or vision work all cleared up when there is no racing or hard training for a little while.  You dont want do be dealing with any medical procedures in the middle of the season that you could have dealt with at a different time.  So I spent Monday at the hospital in Denver getting a roto rooter treatment of my sinuses.  Or, more properly, a septoplasty, sinusectomy and turbinate reduction.  My nose has been pretty much totally blocked my whole life, enabling me to breath out of one side just ok only on the best of days.  But after Dr. Pashley cleared out the turbinates and polyps and straightened out my septum I should feel like a new person.  I cant wait to see how I feel on the bike with a fully functional respiratory system for once in my life! Not to mention the lack of a constant stuffy nose and a newfound ability to smell and taste food!  Should be good.  Just gotta wait for the swelling and blood and snot to leave my sinuses in a few more days.  Im definitely taking it easy for a few days but should be feeling normal soon again.Thanks for checkin in

Bid on a Signed Garmin Jersey to Benefit Just Go Harder Foundation

Check out the Pros Closet to bid on a Garmin Jersey signed by the Tour of Missouri winning squad.

PEZCyclingnews Interview

Check out my end of the season interview with Ed Hood at PEZ Cyclingnews

Colorado Time

Wrapped up the season last week with a solid team result at Giro di Lombardia and now I’m deep in the midst of some serious chill time back home in Colorado.  I raced a full on schedule from January to October with hardly a break from racing and its really good to be back in Boulder and Nederland after spending about 3 weeks of the last 9 months here.  Ive definitely gotten a superconcentrated dose of everything Colorado in my first week back.  First on the list was a pint of the local microbrew on a sunny deck and some Chipotle burritos and Glacier ice cream.  Then I did a little wandering around in the mountains with the dog, some firewood chopping,  and some deer hunting with Ian.  Of course an hour after I left on the last day of hunting Ian shot two deer without me.  Perfect timing eh?  Then Loren and Karli and I went down to the San Juans for a little camping trip.  We had perfect fall weather the first day, woke up to several inches of snow the next and went for a pretty wintery hike, and then beautiful weather again the next.  We went out for another long hike and Karli tried to make friends with a particularly spiney porcupine, which didnt end up so well for her.  She got a face full of quills and we hiked/ran 4 miles back out to our car and drove to the clinic in Telluride for a little doggie surgery.  No worse for the wear, she was back out hiking with us the next day.  Again, we started out in nice weather, but ended our hike in a full on blizzard.  We got back to Boulder just in time for a foot and a half of snow to dump on us.  So I had I think maybe 3 days of a proper fall before we went so quickly to winter.  Oh well, at least I dont have to worry about riding my bike today.Thanks for checkin in

The offy

Maybe it’s spelled ‘offie’ or ‘off-e,’ my oral aussie slang is getting better, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to spell half of my new vocab. In any case, its the off season! That means, some long awaited beers, some time in the garden, social visits to all those I have ignored for the past 9 months, and of course a little less riding!

This past week was the 2nd rifle season. Timmy and I headed into the forest in search of some protein and iron sources for the coming winter. Over the past few years I’ve gotten quite a few local cyclists to imbrace their inner hunter. I’m sure it’s quite a sight to see skinny cyclists drag a deer that weighs more then any of us…

Paris-Tours

I hate when everything goes well for the first 225kms only to fall apart in the end of something out of our control.  And thats what happened at Paris-Tours on sunday, the last flat-ish classic of the season and a great chance for Tyler to round out the year with yet another win.  After some fast crosswind action throughout the race, we helped to chase down the break and position Tyler for the technical finale.  All was good until he was brought down in a crash very close to the front in the last few km of the race.  Luckily no injuries but we had to miss out on any profit from our work for the day.  I landed on a nice soft pile of guys earlier in the race as well during a fast cross wind section.  Getting back into the field hurt more than my crash did I think!One more day of “training” and then its off to Italy for my last two races of the season, Giro del Piemonte and Giro di Lombardia. Thanks for checkin in

Come support LERT at Oktoberfest

Come to Lake Eldora Racing Team’s annual Oktoberfest Fundraiser October 10 at the Millenium Hotel in Boulder.  The beer tasting and premier of Warren Millers new film, “A Long Cold Walk” will benefit the youth skiing and cycling programs under LERT.  Find some great stuff at the live and silent auctions, including a USA World Championship Cycling Team signed Jersey and a ride with my self and other pro riders.Thanks for your support!

World Championships

Not the best day for us at Worlds yesterday, both our leaders for the day didnt have great legs and didnt finish.  I at least got a really valuable experience and learned a lot ha ha.  (When the race sucked you better have learned something right?)Anyways, having my first world championship under my belt is a good step up for me.  The race is quite different in a lot of ways and in the future Ill have a better handle on how it plays out.  First of all, pretty sure that was the biggest and longest day I’ve ever raced a bike.Heres some data from my Garmin for you geeks out there:Distance: 263kmTime: 7 hrsTotal Climbing: 4655 metersAvg Power: 262Kilojoules: 5345Crashes: 1Wheelchanges: 1 Needless to say, when it really hit the fan with 1.5laps to go, after over 6 hours of racing, I wasn’t quite able to throw it down like normal!  You cant train like that, thats for sure.  The race definitely bumped my physiology up a notch.Also, the dynamic of the race is different as well.  Over 200 riders…a huge field on a tight repetitive circuit.  The mixed teams, some of which, like Spain, Italy, and Australia, are truly all-star teams,  are a different element to a normal pro tour race.  And our own team is a mix of riders from several trade teams and a different director.  Drunk crazy fans lining the entire course for 14 km.  Truly a special atmosphere.  On the climbs I wish I had earplugs sometimes.  And its just long as hell. Im excited for the future as USA Cycling is starting to integrate a more cohesive national team with the goal of attaining top results in world and olympic championship competition in the coming years.  Its not something that can be thrown together in the 2 weeks before a race.  A national team coming together and winning at that caliber is years in the making. Some down time at home now, finally a light at the end of the tunnel to wrap up the season.  3 more weeks!  Paris-Tours is up nextThanks for checking in