Joao is me

Mangia, Beve, Bici by Graham Howard

2011-10-20T01:25:00.001-04:00

Fat Man Tours - 2011 Joao - The Fat Man "So where's the fat man?" We were routinely asked following introducing ourselves. "I'm the fat man" Joao always proudly replied, embracing their confused looks with satisfaction. And he's serious. Sort of. At 5' 8" and no more than 160lbs it's not the simplest thing to understand. He still fits in his Castelli kit. "Yeah, they make it in lots of sizes"

Chianti eating, drinking and riding Tour

2011-07-31T22:02:00.003-04:00

It started as an idea born on a ride late last season when I just wanted to connect with the area I was living in. An area I truly loved. It was simple. I wanted to ride these amazing roads without looking at a powermeter. I wanted to eat at my favorite restaurants and at the homes of my favorite friends without thinking of the scale. And I wanted to drink my favorite wines from the area by the

As Hard as I Could

2010-11-15T23:09:00.006-05:00

I wasn’t a great rider. I never made an actual break, even though I covered many. Over the course of the year I went back to the car for countless numbers of bottles, rode at the front for more miles than I can remember. What I can recall: almost every time I got dropped and rode through the cars—I used to joke that sooner or later the organizers were going to have to assign me a caravan number,

Finishing Up With New Friends

2010-10-28T22:08:00.001-04:00

It’s hard to believe that the season just ended. It feels like it was yesterday when I was lining up for France’s Etoile de Besseges, my first race of the season, but in reality that was early February. Somehow since then winter ended, spring began and turned into summer and now we’re on the tail of autumn. I’m about to pack up my apartment and head back home to Brooklyn and my family. Since

End of Season Chianti Eating, Drinking and Biking Tour October 12-18

2010-09-14T10:54:00.011-04:00

Do you know the picture of Tuscany you see in postcards? That's where I live. Whenever people come and visit me here in the Chianti region of Tuscany they leave completely mesmerized and transformed by this place. Between the breathtaking views on our rides, meeting some of my local friends and eating in some of my favorite restaurants they always walk away wanting to come back and often they

Chateauroux Classic Powertap Data For the Little Motor

2010-09-07T13:10:00.007-04:00

In my last blog entry I shared with you my training schedule for the month of August. Now I thought it would be helpful to share with you a file from one of those races including an interpretation of the race and the data that you see on the file. The race was Châteauroux Classic de l'Indre Trophée Fenioux on August 29th. The race was won by Anthony Ravard from Ag2R – La

August Training

2010-08-20T12:59:00.006-04:00

People have often asked how I train. What sort of load do I do and what kind of training do I do after stage races. Below is my training and racing schedule for the month of August. Although the schedule is fairly detailed its sometimes changed due to fatigue. If for example I have a hard time doing certain intervals I’ll stop the intensity part of that day’s training and might even take a rest

Cakes and Altitude

2010-08-01T03:57:00.006-04:00

In Paris, the Monday after the Tour de France is an interesting scene at the airport. Lots of cyclists and fans trying to make their way home. It’s cool—except that I didn’t do the Tour, so everytime someone noticed my logos and gear and asked me how the race went, I had to mumble how sorry I was and explain that I was only there for a team event on the last day.Cervelo put on a luncheon for Tata

Me and My Knee

2010-06-30T02:23:00.001-04:00

After I crashed at the Tour de Suisse, the team ordered me to take a week off the bike. Although I knew I needed the rest, for some reason when you’re forced to do it, it feels like work. Maybe because I worried about the knee—which I’d smacked hard—constantly. When I decided to start racing again back in the fall of 2006, even as an amateur, one of the things I worried

An Unforgettable day

2010-06-21T13:52:00.004-04:00

I had just gotten back from a four-hour ride where I had felt pretty good when I got the call that told me I was racing the Tour of Switzerland. I was excited. Thor was going to be there and we hadn’t raced together yet. That was good. Andreas Klier was on the roster, too; the last time I raced with him was in 1992 at a junior race in Holland. I got a top ten. He won.

Decisions of the heart

2010-06-14T14:17:00.001-04:00

After leaving the Tour of California early, I was pretty fried. I don’t think anybody likes to quit, regardless of the reasons, but it was extra hard for me because one of my goals for the year had been to finish every race I entered.Obviously, I’m working on some new goals now.I’m also trying to fix whatever it was that was broken in California. I called my nutritionist and asked what else we

Recalibration

2010-05-23T00:49:00.001-04:00

Stage 4 of the Tour of California taught me something important about the difference between the other racers in the pack and me: I have to be absolutely on my A game to be part of the action; they can fake it—find a way to hang in there when they’re feeling bad.This shouldn’t have been a surprise, because it makes sense. I’m not exactly coming off the couch—I was at a level that let me race

Goals and Gruppetos

2010-05-17T19:47:00.001-04:00

When a teammate wins a stage or a jersey—or does both, like Brett Lancaster did for Cervelo TestTeam Monday during Stage 2 of the Tour of California—there’s always a bonus to go along with the feelings of accomplishment and satisfaction the whole team experiences: We know that the next day we’ll be riding with a definite and important purpose.Maybe it’s just my status as a new member of the

Crowds and Crashes

2010-05-16T20:46:00.000-04:00

During Stage 1 of the Tour of California, the first thing that struck all of us on the Cervelo Test Team was the crowds. There were an unbelievable amount of people on the course, thousands and thousands all along the road—not just the start and finish, which were packed, but basically the whole way there were fans. I’d say there were probably more people lining the roads today than any other

Waking Up

2010-05-14T10:19:00.000-04:00

You leave stage races fairly exhausted, and you begin preparing for another one right afterward, so the riding you do in between is fairly easy. But it didn’t feel that way to me after Castilla y Leon.The normal schedule after a stage race is that after traveling home, on Monday I do a coffee-shop ride. That’s an hour and a half, and the whole time I wonder how it was possible that I rode so fast

Champagne and Suffering

2010-05-01T09:04:00.002-04:00

After the northern races that gave me such a hard time, I was glad to be getting back to Spain for the stage race Vuelta Castilla y Leon. Our team was built around sprinter Theo Bos, who already has three wins this season. We were hoping to get him some more stage victories.The race starts on a Wednesday and finishes on a Sunday, with four road stages and a time trial. For me, that would mean

A Tough Week at Work

2010-04-15T16:44:00.000-04:00

I’m a little self-conscious about complaining too much, since I’m living the dream of many cyclists, so I realize that saying I’m tired can easily come across as seeming whiny. But I am.I have more than 20 days of racing already this year, and although my body has been recuperating better than I expected, my mind might be starting to crack. I was able to finish my first stage race, the Etoile de

Pack Skills

2010-04-06T17:19:00.002-04:00

As a pro, I’m getting in big miles — and I’m not talking only about the 20 days of racing I already have in my legs. I’m talking about the travel.I've just embarked on a two-month trip. I left Nice last Wednesday after being home for two days after the Volta a Catalunya. And when I say home, I don’t mean my real home of Brooklyn, but my European home just outside of Nice. On Wednesday I arrived

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day

2010-03-23T13:16:00.001-04:00

When I was back home in New York for six full days after the Tour of Murcia (hadn’t spent much time at home since the beginning of December), one of the highlights was the breakfasts I was able to have with my son — such a change from the team routine that I was even Tweeting photos of it. I’m a big breakfast fan. (At one point, during my former life in publishing, I even blogged a Battle of the

Bike for a Cuban - DELIVERED

2010-03-20T12:51:00.007-04:00

Some of you may remember the post I did back in February 2009 about trying to get one of the Cuban National Team guys (Lisuandy Alonso), whom I met at the Tour of San Luis in Argentina a bike. Basically I got an e-mail from a buddy of mine who owns a bike shop in Mill Valley (a little place I like to call heaven on earth) while at the race talking about this picture he saw of a Cuban guy riding

Murcia - Feeling Stronger

2010-03-09T05:50:00.006-05:00

Going over the climb on stage one, giving my roommate a little hand on Stage 2 and with Victor Rodrigues the other Portuguese rider in the pack just before the start. Thanks to Tim de Wale for the race photos.With one more stage race down—the Tour of Murcia—feel stronger. That’s a good sign. For a while, I was starting to think that if I spent any more riding among the cars, I was going to be

Doing My Bit

2010-03-02T13:25:00.007-05:00

I just finished the Classica de Almeria, which was my second race of the year but my sixth day of racing. Stage races compound exhaustion pretty fast.Almeria was a bright spot, though, because our Dutch sprinter, Theo Bos, brought home our first team victory.I hit it off with Theo at our first camp back in November. I have some orange in my blood, dating back to my junior days when I raced in

First Race Etoile de Besseges in the bag

2010-02-12T18:45:00.001-05:00

I was so relaxed before the start of my first race as a pro for the Cervelo Test Team that I was actually worried that I wasn’t nervous enough. I wondered if I wasn’t taking my new career — and the whole upending of my life — serious enough. Lucky for me, once I got on the team bus to head to Etoile de Besseges, the five-day French stage race that more or less kicks off the European season, I got

Blog Entry I did for CycleOps

2010-02-04T04:16:00.001-05:00

There are a lot of professional cyclists out there that nobody has ever heard of and I am no different. But I am probably one of the unlikeliest stories in the European peloton this year. The main reason is that I am just like you. Up until December 1st I manned a desk like most of you and cycling was a passion (more like an obsession) but like most of you it had to be

Here we go. One week and its on

2010-01-27T14:42:00.002-05:00

In a little over a week I am going to put on my Cervelo Test Team kit and start my first professional race in Europe, Etoile de Besseges. Just weeks ago I was a businessman running a sales meeting in New York City.Weird? It’s beyond that. When you achieve your life’s dream, your life feels like a dream. You keep waiting to wake up.When I started my job as Bicycling’s associate publisher in 2004,

Hello fro Portugal

2010-01-25T15:14:00.001-05:00

I’m a little over a week from the start of the season and just finished the second training camp of the season. In December before the holidays about eleven male and five female riders got together on the Spanish islad of Tenerife for a week. The weather was great and the riding hard. In Tenerife you are either going up or your going down so we got plenty of clibing in. Most days we did

Cervelo TestTeam new website

2010-01-17T17:49:00.001-05:00

Check out Cervelo's new team websiteCurrently at the team training camp in Portugal. Will have an update soon with hopefully some photos.

It's Official

2009-12-30T04:47:00.001-05:00

Well it's now official that I will be riding in 2010 for the Cervelo Test Team. Thank you all for your support and looking forward to 2010 as this adventure continues. New York Times Piece

Hello from Tenerife

2009-12-15T15:06:00.001-05:00

Writing this from the first official team camp of the year in Tenerife. Today we did five hours and the legs felt good. Tenerife is a great island. The weather has been good, in the mid 70’s and sunny most of the time. Today we got some rain and a lot of wind. The only drawback of the island is that there are no flat roads so you are either going up or down. Today we

First Tests of the New Season

2009-11-25T05:57:00.006-05:00

Beginning of November usually means the start of a new season. And with that there is a trip to Salt Lake City to do some testing with Max and find out where the fitness is. October was a good month. I rode consistently but didn't do much intensity just solid medium endurance work. The trip was uneventful. Delta hooked me up again which is always nice. If only they did that on International

I hate Not being funny

2009-11-11T04:46:00.004-05:00

Seriously what is up with that? Most of the time I think I am pretty funny. I spend a whole week writing jokes and rehearsing them in front of the mirror and then on my weekly sales call watch as my delivery tanks. Perhaps it has something to do with practicing my delivery in front of a mirror but actually delivering the jokes (soon to be pizza) over a conference line. My partner in crime

Serious Training About to Start

2009-11-08T21:38:00.002-05:00

October is one of my favorite months in the season. Genearlly it's a transition month and all I need to do is ride 4 or so times per week and I can do the Gimbles ride every weekend. Gimbles is a ride that started just after WWII from the old Gimbles parking lot in Yonkers and does a Tour of Westchester. It's the local ride I grew up on and to this day still one of my favorite things in the

Riding to Vegas for Breast Cancer

2009-09-20T22:22:00.005-04:00

Most of the time when I am riding I am either training and looking at the powermeter or I'm worried about getting home before Liam gets to sleep or before Tiiu gets really pissed off. The summer months offer extra hours of daylight which is nice but as many of you know balancing riding with family and work is challenging. So when the fine folks at Specialized invited me on their annual epic

Article in Luso-Americano

2009-05-13T15:32:00.003-04:00

Luso Americano is a Portuguese community newspaper in the US and for most Portuguese immigrant families its a staple. I use to get a lot of press in it when I was younger and racing seriously but never got the cover. So it was really nice to get the cover in this bad boy. Can't figure out how to post the actual article.

Good Things Happen When you Commute by Bicycle

2009-04-10T10:34:00.005-04:00

Ah so apparently Spring Break in the toddler class is two days so I got to ride my bike again to work today. A good day indeed. And I got an added bonus this morning. As I was riding up Lafayette Street I noticed a little store called Kauffman Shoe Repair Supplies where you can find these babies: What are they you ask? Well for those of you who are more cerebral inclined you probably have made

Commuting to Work

2009-04-09T10:58:00.007-04:00

So this morning Tiiu tells me that Liam is on Spring Break. Spring Break? He's three and a half and he has Spring Break? Crap that's costing me $152.32 for one day of school. So now I don't have to drop him off at school and because my wallet is missing (later find out Liam hid it under his bed) I've got no money to get to work so I decide to ride my bike to work.Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge -

Battle of the breakfasts

2009-03-29T12:16:00.011-04:00

I have a weakness for food. Sure I've written about it and you don't come here for those writings but writing about races is boring and this is easier. Besides one of my favorite bloggers, no correction - one of my favorite people in this universe is Ted King of the Cervelo Test team and he never writes about racing. He writes about all sort of strange things and manages to be funny quite often

Merced Done - Didn't Crash

2009-03-01T18:14:00.002-05:00

It was a hectic weekend with plenty of crashes as usual at the Merced races. Fortunately neither myself nor any of my teammates bit the dust. I didn't feel all that hot this weekend but finished both days respectably and Andy Jacques-Maynes managed a 3rd in the 200 Km road race after riging a break for a good part of the race. We represented strong with Ben in the moves as well as Paul Mach,

Heading to Cali

2009-02-27T07:57:00.003-05:00

I realize I haven't updated the blog lately. This week has been particularly busy at work and I only managed to get out on the bike once and it was on the trainer. Here is Liam saying good night to daddy. Not good but here I am sitting at the airport and they are calling. Heading to do the Merco Classic in Merced. A 40 mile criterium tomorrow and a 125 mile road race on Sunday. I've done this

A bike for a cuban?

2009-02-09T11:16:00.004-05:00

You know you've been riding a long time when you can say that you competed against the soviets. I remember racing against riders from the eastern block and on many occasions getting my butt kicked by guys in pretty much BMX cranks. It was crazy some of the equipment these guys were on.Recently at the Tour of San Luis I was reminded that the latest and greatest equipment isn't always necessary

Team Camp

2009-01-31T01:28:00.005-05:00

Ah yes team camp time again. So different than last year. No longer one of the new guys, still not one of the good guys and I get to make a little fun of myself and a lot of fun of everyone else. The first three days Burke and I tried not to get everybody sick so we hate by ourselves and pretty much were miserable trying to get over this cold. We had team pictures taken and other photo shoots.

Don't cry for me Argentina

2009-01-26T19:47:00.000-05:00

Well about to board the plane with a heavy head cold. Let's see it was 20 degrees in NYC when I left 10 days ago, the high here was 112 on one of the stages that somebody pointed out to me was literally through the desert. What's that spread. Damm. An 11 hour red eye flight in coach and then a 5 hour flight (although I did get upgraded), should do

Game Over

2009-01-23T18:29:00.003-05:00

After almost 5 stages I finally packed it in today. It was a 205km stage with a 2 climb at 88km and a cat 3 and 1 to the finish. Unfortunately I didn't make it over the cat 2 climb and pulled off at the feed zone after 105 km since I wouldn't have made the time cut. Can't really say anything was wrong except that my legs were just empty on the climb. I was told after the stage that it was over

Stage 4 done and polished

2009-01-22T20:32:00.003-05:00

On the bus on the way back from stage 4. 160 K with two Cat 2 climbs. The last one was 20Km long and 15 K from the line. I was popped for good about halfway up and coasted in with about 10 guys. It was a very up and down stage and its really hot here. The argentinians who have the leaders jersey controled the race pretty well and I even managed to get in a short lived move with Juan Jose Haedo

Stage 2 and 3 Update

2009-01-22T08:09:00.002-05:00

Yesterday's stage finished on a climb so at the bottom I got into a group that was going at a nice tempo and came in about 8 minutes down on the winner. I had a little run-in with the car mirror as I was getting bottles and I'll try to get some pictures of me on the ground. Not hurt but a little embarrasing. Today Tom Zirbel was second in the TT and Ben 4th. Tom had the lead until the last few

Stage 1 in the bag

2009-01-19T18:13:00.002-05:00

Ben Jacques-Maynes spent 140K in the break and bagged the Mountain Jersey so it was a good day for the team. I managed to sttay out of trouble and finished in the first group. The stage was suppose to be an easy first one but because of the cross-winds it was fairly tough. It also ran about 10K long which isn't nice when you're already in the hurt box.

Legs up on MLK

2009-01-19T07:48:00.003-05:00

Laying in my bed with my legs up waiting for the first stage. All the stages are afternoon starts so the mornings are free which is nice. Yesterday was the team presentations in the town square and there were a few thousand people there. The cycling culture in Argentina is amazing. Cars pass and they beep (and not the NY angry beeps) and take pictures. At the presentation people were taking

First Update

2009-01-18T14:30:00.005-05:00

After a thirty hour trip I arrived on Friday night at around mid-night. Lucky for me dinner is served late here. Since by the comments you are all more interested in Basso (photo credit Kirsten Robbins) here is a nice photo of him. My prediction is that he will take it somewhat easy but ride the TT all out. My body is a little out of wack after such a long trip and especially my lower back.

Argentina here I come

2009-01-16T09:09:00.003-05:00

At the airport about to board the plane to Argentina. I'll try to do daily updates and promise not to make them too boring. Results can be seen on cyclingnews.com and I suggest you guys start from the bottom and work your way up. Kidding. I'm really looking forward to doing this race. I spoke to Aaron Olson whose already down there and racing for Colavita and he said its been in the 90's. I went

Dinner at Grimaldi's in Brooklyn

2009-01-11T19:48:00.001-05:00

Here is the best pizza in NYC on Old Fulton. My dad, Hugo, Liam and Tiiu and the Pizza. Mom and Luciene were on my side of the table.

Countdown to Tour de San Luis

2009-01-10T00:09:00.002-05:00

9 days left to the first race of the season and I haven't shaved in months. My legs that is. Argentina here I come. Camp numero 2 went rather well. Unlike last year I managed two weeks of training without a) getting sick, b) getting divorced c) getting fired. All good things in my book. Two 25 hour weeks and saw some mates as well as a few friends/clients down in San Diego and San Francisco

Slow news day again -- in Portugal

2009-01-05T17:26:00.007-05:00

Most of you don't read Portuguese, unless of course you are in Portugal or had a really boring weekend and decided to learn it by buying the Rosetta Stone (in which case you speak Brazilian Portuguese) but this past week I got a call from a Portuguese reporter who was really digging hard for a story so after everybody else must of said no she called me when I was in California.

Happy Holiday's From Our Family To Yours

2008-12-25T11:43:00.001-05:00

Liam and Daddy's Adventure in Beverly Hills

2008-12-23T23:33:00.001-05:00

So Tiiu is out with the girls tonight and I decided to take Liam on an adventure. First we bought a little Christmas Tree with mom and then we went out. I asked Liam if he wanted to go see Santa and he said no. "Well where do you want to go" I asked. "The restaurant" he said. There is something seriously wrong that he associates food with a

Sitting on plane heading to Camp #2

2008-12-19T21:57:00.001-05:00

There was a huge storm in New York today and the flight was suppose to take off at 6:30 and right now its 9:45 and were still in the plane. Tiiu is entertaining Liam whose already done 2 puzzles and sang about 5 songs. Right now its Bob the builder. I've finished the Times and just realized that I could test the mobile blogging feature on my blog.

3 Incredible Photos

2008-12-15T23:43:00.005-05:00

Look I am just not that funny. I know it, you know it. My blog isn't going to be read because it cracks people up. Teddy King is funny, Richard Pryor is funny, Rodney Dangerfield now that's funny. Joao Correia - just a funny name. So I have to go out of my way and do some serious investigative journalism in order to grab attention and as everybody knows I suffer from low self esteem.

Some Photos from Europe

2008-12-07T11:51:00.013-05:00

I'll download some more photos from my European trip when I am home including an interesting one with the man knows as the Tashkent Terror. Certain unnamed cycling magazines have been publishing stories about how difficult it is to find him and how he won't talk to anybody. Blah blah blah. I don't know what the big deal is. He wasn't that hard to find.So I tought I'd share the photos of my new

First "Training Camp"

2008-12-03T11:58:00.008-05:00

So finally the first camp. Sort of; its a private camp I do every year. Training starts on November 1st or so and then around Thanksgiving I like to do a 5 day block. This year I came to Italy to see my daughter and then to see some clients the week after Thanksgiving. I based myself in Lecchi in Chianti which is about 20K outside of Siena and unfortunately the weather wasn't cooperating. It

I JUST WANT TO EAT

2008-11-14T23:14:00.005-05:00

OK this is ridiculous. I really just think about food all the time. I'm not hungry all the time but I think of food all the time. I get up in the morning take Liam to school then go to Cafe Macchiato for a quick latte. What I really want is the damm ciabata toasted with butter as well. So I sip my latte and read the paper quickly and then walk to the Northwest corner of 48th Street and Third

New Season Starts Now

2008-11-07T21:14:00.013-05:00

Wow is it already November? Normally I like to test at the very end of October to see where my baseline is for the first period of training starting November 1st. Yes I am a big dork. But this year on November 1st I was at a Bissell event in Grand Rapids with Tom Zirbel and Ben Jacques-Maynes as well as new director Eric Wohlberg and team manager Glen Mitchel. If Glen ever gets me the pictures he

Camp Twinlakes Wrap Up

2008-11-03T22:14:00.011-05:00

Thank you all for donating. I was really touched by the amount of people who donated including some of my teammates. OK so I had to step on some necks but most of you did it willingly and for those of you who needed coercing or in some cases bodily harm. Hey your still an all-star in my book. Besides physical scars heal but what you've done with your donations will last a lifetime in my heart.

Camp Twin Lakes Fundraising Drive

2008-10-18T15:44:00.005-04:00

As many of you know last year I made a pledge to dedicate my 2008 season to Saul Raisin and donate 100% of my prize money to one of his favorite charities Camp Twin Lakes a not-for-profit organization that offers year-round recreational, therapeutic, and educational programs for children with serious illnesses and life challenges.Throughout this year and with the help of some great teammates I

Fat is back

2008-09-18T17:35:00.004-04:00

I do have a good blog entry in me. But today is not the day to talk about my recent trip to Europe and bumping into Andy Hampsten at the top of the Gavia. That's for another day. I was just forcefully moved to a new office a few days ago and I was sitting here organizing a few things when I bumped into these pictures from two years ago. Ah good times.

Eating Well Magazine Article

2008-08-13T14:10:00.001-04:00

I get a lot of questions about how I lost weigth and started to race again. Obviously when your 190 pounds going up hill isn't easy and I had to loose the weight but what I found in the process is that food can be a performance enhancer as well and I started to look at nutrition as an important part of my success on the bike. I was recently featured alongside Dana Torres, Apolo Ohno, Mary Lou

I'm baaaccckkkk

2008-08-11T16:20:00.009-04:00

Hello sports fans. After an unbelivable number of requests (2 to be exact) I am back on the blog to update everybody on what has been going on. Let's see last time I was getting my ass kicked somewhere, I believe that was in early July. Wow that's a month ago. Happy to report that the ass kicking continues and I am now neck and neck for the inter-team competition of Bissell's most consistent

This was a great idea

2008-07-09T16:54:00.002-04:00

In the last few weeks I have been asking myself a lot "What the hell was I thinking". Seriously and people most of this is of course done with a lot of sense of humour even if I am the only one who gets it but really what was I thinking? Tour de Nez was Wunderbar. I mean I was as useless as I could have been. I blammed it on the altitude and shrugg it off and kept on pedaling. Nationals in

Boy it just keeps getting better

2008-06-22T19:47:00.006-04:00

You know how sometimes things just can't get any worst. Well they can. I was getting my ass handed to me all over the east coast and now I have opened franchises and have expanded to the west coast. Technically in my last 8 starts I have had 0 finishes. After joyous Philly week I tought I'd go to a local training race called Floyd Bennet. It was a race where last year I actually got dropped

The Rest of Philly Week

2008-06-12T21:59:00.003-04:00

I took two days off work after Tuesday's race so that I could arrive relatively fresh to Reading on Thursday. On Wednesday we all went out for an easy ride and spirits were high for Thursday. The Reading course was hillier than Lehigh and it had a a 500-800meter long climb each lap and on the last three laps it was a 2.5 Km climb which was sure to break the race apart. The rest of the course

Philly Week

2008-06-04T18:21:00.003-04:00

A quick post from the host house about yesterday's race. Oh was that tough. My job was to get in the early breaks. I sort of did that. Well not really. Technically I am not sure that 4 seconds up the road for 20 seconds with 10 other guys is considered a break. Especially when I saw the Liquigas guy come up wait for him and then suck the hell out of his wheel to the move. It was quickly

Review and Philly Week

2008-05-30T16:28:00.004-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posting in the last 10 days but it has been hell keeping up with work, training, racing, marriage and a two and a half year old. After my last post I did a few NRC criteriums including Willmington, Kelly Cup and Sommerville. Sometimes I think I'm a good crit rider (usually on a climb) and sometimes I think I'm a good climber (usually in a crit). I'm starting to think that I

Hey You People Aren't so Cheap After All

2008-05-22T01:28:00.002-04:00

So I have gotten some nice surprises in the last week including three donations for a total of $800 to Camp Twin Lakes. The first wishes to remain anonymous but thank you for getting us started. Mike Sundet a former client and now friend also added to the pot and I really appreciate that. Keep the beer coming Mike. People buy Anheuser-Bush beer. And yesterday Kirsten Budden who is a killer

Joe Martin

2008-05-10T22:30:00.010-04:00

Today was day 3 of Joe Martin and I finally had a good day...sort of. The team had a great day with my boy Teddy King popping a flyer with one K to go and sticking it. Here is a play by play of that. Way to go Teddy T. We'll have to have a glass of celebratory bubly this evening. The first day of Joe Martin was a 2.5 Km uphill Time Trial. I didn't do so well. I rode it as hard as I could

Come on donate you cheap bastards

2008-05-09T22:48:00.003-04:00

OK so I have raised $1,000 dollars to date in prize money for Camp Twin lakes (see side bar) and a month or so ago I called upon my friends and supporters to try and do some matching so that we can help more kids with serious illnesses enjoy the outdoors and experience the joy of childhood. To date nothing. Bubkas. Now I know there are folks reading this blog - about 200 per day to be exact

Stop the Presses

2008-05-05T22:46:00.005-04:00

Before you all read it in the sports section of the New York Times tomorrow, or a major news organization like bicycling.com. I wanted my fan base to know it from me first. Yes the NRC rankings are now updated after this weekends races and I am ranked officialy. Wait for it, wait for it. Yes 100th position with 5 points. That is only 287 points away from Burke Swindelhurst the original Kazee

Tour de Ephrata

2008-04-29T19:51:00.007-04:00

I was looking forward to spending the weekend at home and getting ready for what is going to be two and a half months of fairly non-stop weekend traveling to various races. I had even signed up for a Prospect Park race. Then I saw this great little race in Pennsylvania and some of my friends from Empire were doing so I decided to go down there and race. It was 2 days and 3 stages so it

Sea Otter

2008-04-20T15:24:00.006-04:00

It seems that most of my posts are coming out of airports these days. There is a new rule at home that I can't go on the internet in the evening after training so no blogging from home, and I can't blog from work to be fair so it seems that when I get a few minutes its always at airports. Right now I am waiting to board a flight back to New York from San Francisco after Sea Otter. It was

Eddy Merckx is pissed at me

2008-04-09T10:36:00.004-04:00

I could tell by the tone in his voice that he was pissed. We were running late for our lunch and when I phoned to tell him we were on the way and should be there in 45 minutes I knew he wasn’t happy. I was in Belgium this past week for a few meetings and our Editor in Chief Steve Madden and Executive Editor Bill Strickland were arriving that morning from the US and their plane was late. But

Quick Post from JFK Airport

2008-04-01T18:43:00.003-04:00

Well I landed last night after 4 or 5 flights in what feels like the same number of days. Had the chance to go to a great Speedplay event in San Diego on Sunday where Sharon and Richard invited one of their top pros to come and ride with some friends. I'm on my way to Germany now for a few meetings and some riding with our Editor in Chief Steve Madden, Bill Strickland and Jason Nikic. Over the

It must be a slow week in cycling news

2008-03-25T16:59:00.005-04:00

since for some reason there were two articles written about me this week. I'm especially excited about one in a Portuguese cycling website which you can see but probably not understand here. The second one was a real surprise since I do remember speaking to Lyne from roadbikereview.com at camp a few weeks back but didn't really think she was going to do something just on me. Well here is that

Week in Review and Today's Prospect Park Race

2008-03-24T02:03:00.007-04:00

I love racing at home in New York. Or at least I think I am going to love it until I have to get up at 5:15 for a 6:30 start. And folks that's 6:30 a.m. This morning I did my first race in NYC this year and it was nice to see some friends out there. Notably absent was Dr. John Lohner who was stuck at the hospital doing what was probably a double shift. I was disapointed since I just really

Visalia Criterium - Sequoia Classic

2008-03-16T22:11:00.013-04:00

Today's criterium went better in terms of place than yesterday's Time Trial but ironic enough I didn't feel much better. I had absolutely no snap in my legs and while covering the few moves that I managed to cover (and trust me they weren't many) I was barely hanging on to the wheels and thankful each time we were quickly brought back, surely helped by the fact that I couldn't really pull

Exeter Time Trial - Sequoia Classic

2008-03-15T20:45:00.004-04:00

The good news is that Ben-Jacques Maynes won. The bad news is that I was really awful today. Here's the sad part. I didn't think I was so awful. That's when you know your in trouble. Even you don't realize you suck. I ended up finishing in 21st place missing the money by one place just to add insult to injury. Ben killed it beating second place Rory Sutherland of Health Net by 49 seconds.

Merced Weekend

2008-03-07T18:31:00.009-05:00

This past weekend was the first race with the team and it was a good weekend for us. Ben Jacques-Maynes was third in the criterium and 2nd in the road race. For me it was the first race where I had a role to play outside of follow the wheels and finish as high as possible and ended up placing top 30 both days. My father also came out to California with me since he hadn't seen me race in over 10

Fantastic News

2008-02-25T15:30:00.006-05:00

Delta just called and I've been upgraded on Friday's flight...Just wanted to share that with all of you.

Post from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport

2008-02-18T01:52:00.008-05:00

Why do they call it Sky Harbor if were boarding airplanes? Do planes sail? Yes they go into the sky but they don't sail and their not boats. That's the type of question that I ponder at 12:30 in the morning after a 3 day stage race and before boarding a short red-eye to NYC. The short ones really suck. Not quite long enough to really get a good night's sleep and you leave really late and

Deja Vu Valley of the Sun First Race

2008-02-16T23:37:00.007-05:00

Is it suppose to rain in Arizona? What happened to the draught. The day before I left my buddy Effraim told me to bring a rain jacket. Huh? A rain jacket to Arizona? So I packed my rain jacket and sure enough it was raining in Arizona. Here's the thing about drivers in Arizona. They don't do so good, I mean so well, driving in the rain. It's kind of like Floridians driving in the snow.

It's Racing Time

2008-02-14T19:09:00.003-05:00

A quick post from JFK Airport. I'm on my way to Valley of the Sun for the first race of the year. The camp ended last Sunday with a nice hard 5 hour ride that included a 45 minute climb. It was a fun but tough week. This Sunday is also the start of the Tour of California and we have a solid team there with both Tom Zirbel and Ben Jacques-Maynes as contenders for the prologue on Sunday. As

Pictures Get Your Pictures Here!

2008-02-06T21:52:00.000-05:00

OK so I finally got pictures for all of you guys. Beth Skau one of the fine Bissell folks that is here with us was kind enough to share some of her shots with me. The past few days have been long but steady rides with not too much intensity. Today the real camp started and for the next five days it is going to be go time. 5-7 hours per day with plenty of climbing and hard riding thrown in for

No camera again

2008-02-03T20:14:00.000-05:00

OK I confess. I forgot the camera. Some of you have e-mailed me asking for photos but unfortunately I don't have a camera. I promise to try and get some photos to show you of the team training. For now below is my team card. That's all I could get. The good news is that my wife won't yell at me since the last time I went somewhere by myself I brought the camera and she couldn't take any

Oh yeah the riding has begun

2008-02-02T20:44:00.000-05:00

Although the hard part of the camp and structured riding is really from the 4th to the 10th, time has come for the rubber to hit the road. First day we did 4 hours and a few of us went an extra 2 hours to recon some of the climbs in the Tour of California. Boys will be boys so there was some I'll show you mine if you show me yours on the climbs and let me tell you these guys don't joke around.

Team Pictures

2008-01-31T20:22:00.000-05:00

So its not all fun and games. No we don't ride all the time. Sometimes we are expected to stand around all day and pose for pictures. Sure fantastic if you are a male model but I came to this outfit to ride. Obligations, obligation. It rained all day and we did team pictures in 38 degree weather and then riding shots outside. Some of the photos were done inside so that was good. Here are a

I miss California and I'm freezing my nuts off in NYC

2008-01-27T23:25:00.000-05:00

So last week I'm riding in Santa Rosa in leg warmers and a long sleeve jersey and thinking "man it isn't that warm". Yesterday I was riding out of Brooklyn (in da house) and wearing a long sleeve base layer, long sleeve jersey, sleeveless jersey, thermal jacket and a wind jacket. I'm talking about a high of 28. And to make matters worst it was overcast. My question is what happened to all of

First Training Camp/Family Vacation Southern California

2008-01-03T21:37:00.000-05:00

There would be pictures but we forgot the camera at home. That was definitely Tiiu's responsibility. I was in charge of transportation, accomodations, hunting, gathering and safety. She just had to make sure we didn't forget Liam and the damm camera. So blame her for no photos. Our original schedule was to go to Moab between Christmas and New Years for some riding but about 3 days before

Missed my flight--AGAIN!

2007-12-18T21:59:00.000-05:00

Damm it here I go again. The ticket said New York to Milan on Delta so I went to Delta and was suppose to be at Alitalia. So I missed the flight and ended up getting on a plane to Milan through Paris meaning that I would miss most of my meetings for the day. Ah but at least I got to quickly go into the city to have breakfast and see if I could find those bikes that my boss keeps talking about

2008 Season Dedicated to Saul Raisin - All Prize Money Donated to Camp Twin Lakes

2007-11-23T09:18:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I spoke Saul and he told me the news that he wasn't going to be able to return to racing. He received the news from Roger Legeay the Director Sportif of his Crédit Agricole team. Knowing Saul for a little less than a year I have always been amazed at how positive he is despite the difficult circumstances both him and his family have faced since his accident in April 2006. Although

A New Season Starts

2007-11-04T23:04:00.000-05:00

Salt Lake City might as well be my second home. I went there so much this year to test and see Max and Nanna that my wife is suggesting that I rent an apartment out there. I've been hitching for the transition period to come to an end so that I could start the work of the new season. Officially that starts on November 1st. Max had told me not to come in late October since he could still give

João how did this all start

2007-10-29T10:22:00.000-04:00

I get asked two questions a lot. The first one is "João how did this whole thing start" and the second usually is "Jesus man how did you get so fat". I'll start with the first one now and leave the second one to another day.It was May of 2006 and I was doing the Dieci Colli Granfondo in Bologna with the Pinarello team. Somehow I ended up riding with Fausto Pinarello (see picture) and a before I

Bicycling December Editor's Letter

2007-10-28T12:00:00.000-04:00

End of the Season

2007-10-26T23:30:00.000-04:00

This has been an interesting year. The season really started back in November 1st of 2006 when I decided that I would race this year with the goal of participating in the Portuguese National Time Trial Championships. After 11 years of not racing at the pro level it was an insane goal but it was the kind of goal that I needed to be able to focus on getting back into shape and loose the extra

Weekend in Portugal

2007-10-22T12:00:00.000-04:00

I went to Portugal to for the inauguration of my godfather's bust. Antonio (Alves) Barbosa competed in four Tour de France's and was 10th in 1956. It was a fun occasion and I was accompanied by one of my closest friends Ricardo Scheidecker as well as future Ceramica Flaminia rider Ricardo Martins and Discovery rider Sergio Paulinho. We got to do some riding together and one of the highlights was