Keepin it real since 1984

WWW.BRENTBOOKWALTER.COM

2011-04-21T19:02:00.001-04:00

ATTENTION!

This page has been moved to...

www.brentbookwalter.com

Thanks for checking in!

Deposit

2010-01-05T10:35:00.003-05:00

Check out my twitter if you are looking for the "day-to-day"

Not a whole lot to report right now. I've been making "deposits" for next season. Gotta have the physical, mental and emotional bank chalk full this time of year. It won't be long before the miles and "at home" time are getting cashed in during races and when on the road.

still kickin

2010-01-03T00:09:00.001-05:00

Its been a while. I need to get back at this. check 1,2.. 3 and to the 4

THE time is coming.

for the very first time...

2009-04-17T13:58:00.007-04:00

I'm not sure where to begin. The past week has been one for the books. No, I didn't win the lottery, didn't notch any bike race wins, didn't even meet any crazy movie stars. I did however get to sink my teeth into a race I've been admiring and looking to since I knew bike racing existed, that being Paris-Roubaix.

It was big for our team to get an invite to such a prestigious race, and it was then equally exciting when I got the word that I was on the teams roster for the race. As always, I don't think you can fully appreciate a race or happening without experiencing it first hand and looking back at the past week, I can't say how much that applied to my experience at P-R.

Yea, its a long race at 260km. yea, its a brutal one with 60km of gnarly cobblestons (let me add that these are not normal cobble stones, but especially jaw rattling, crash causing, tire blowing cobbles which in my experience are found nowhere else in the world). PR also has a world class field, but I can't put into words out all of these pieces fit together to create an incredible race. Such high stress, energy and tension within the pack. Even greater energy lining the sides of the roads. thousands of fans, unlike anything I've seen before, and crashes crashes crashes everywhere. I was caught up in 3 of them, but only had some lost time and a bent chainring to show. Normally, 3 crashes in one race would be terrible luck, but I learned that Roubaix is not a normal race in this respect. we had 2 teamates sacrafice their bikes, another a wheel, another double flat, another injure his hand and another finish the race with a concussion after an eager fan stuck a flag poll through his front wheel! so all things considered, my ride went fairly well and next time I get a shot at doing the race I'll start that much further up on the learning curve.

its a shame the early kms of the race don't receive more coverage as they were by no means uneventful. Of course the part of the race with the biggest amplitude of insanity and chaos was the forest of arenberg, closely followed by the Carrefour de l'Abre. Rolling into the velodrome was also a big moment. It was a great feeling to have made it through the previous 260km of chaos and be arriving on the drome. My first time ever riding on one!!

ok, enough talking. some pics...

carving up the cobbles. no, they aren't always a single file affair.

hurt so good. check out the sweet dirt line on the arms!
just a preview of the crazy fans. We open the door to the van and our soigneur greame is mobbed by "trading card" grabbers.
a huge equipment and logistical effort by the staff to get us going for one big day of racing.
a riders eye-view from the podium at the team presentation. yes, i busted out my camera while I was up there.
A calm Arenberg a few days before the race.
That's all I have for now. Currently, I'm hanging in Nivelles, Belgium. A week and change until we head to Switzerland for Tour of Romandie. Trying to kick a bit of plague out of the lungs right now, but a couple days of downtime were in order anyway.

see ya

They make roads out of what???

2009-04-09T15:36:00.001-04:00

We rode the first 10 pave sectors today. Pave is an interesting word
for them. I'd prefer to call them "body thrashers".

I was surprised to see how "unflat" the route in general was. Lots of
gentle rollers, up and town. The cobble sections that have a rise to
them are gonna be leg breakers. Imagining the race w 260 km of that,
its easy to see why "sturdy" fellas usually excel here.

We got our bikes geared out with a few PR trick parts. Different
forks, chainrings, pedals, and of course wheels. Thinking about
sliding some padding in my bars too.

Gotta love hanging in french hotel rooms. All of my stuff is literally
never more than an arms reach away.

Gotta rest the wrists.

send me the power, please

--
Sent from my mobile device

Merci

2009-04-08T14:56:00.000-04:00

I like to think I look forward, while also being mindful to the
past.... 2 years ago today was my belgian lightpole encounter. Amazing
to think all I've learned and worked through since then. I'm really
fortunate and blessed to be where I'm at today. Speaking of which.....

Arrived in belgium today and made the drive over to northern France in
preperation for the big dance with the old ugly lady who is
"Paris-Roubaix" this sunday. Really exciting to think I'm gonna be
part of such a historical and massive race. Its a big step for BMC to
get invited, and an honour for me to be representing the team here. I
have no doubt that it will be a brutally twisted day, but I don't
think you would find many cyclists out there who would decline the
chance to have a go at it. Gonna check out a few of the cobble sectors
the next few days and will hopefully have a few reports.

Pre- PR trip, all has been well. We had a great weekend in Redlands a
couple weeks ago with Louder bagging the overall, the team really
rising to the occasion to defend and also bagging 2 stage wins along
the way. A big personal highlight being part of it. Looking forward to
more of those.

France equals lame internet, so phone update means no picks. Check out
www.podiuminsight.com for a few great galleries from redlands.

For those social networking junkies out there, I caved in and caught
the "twitter" bug. Easy way to toss out some quick updates while on
the road, so follow me at www.twitter.com/brentbookwalter

More from the "hell of the north" this week.
Wham bam

--
Sent from my mobile device

Hi, my name is Brent

2009-03-19T09:43:00.001-04:00

And I made it through my last block of racing with no blog updates.
Blitzed through my first belgian races of the year. Spent a whopping
10 days across the pond the first week in March and have since been
recovering, training and hangin at home. Spring has arrived and the
weather has been downright dreamy for my past couple easy days.
Downside is that everything is blooming and flowering. Especially the
mucous factory in my head. Allergy mania!

Out to Cali today for San Dimas and Redlands. Then back to chatt for a
week before heading back to europe. Looks like I will get my first go
at the big nasty which is paris-roubaix. Oi! Exciting that BMC got
the invite to such a prestigous race. One of those races I remember
watching as a kiddo in my mountain bike days. Gonna be wild and
brutal!

BMC boys got a good roll going last weekend with Chad Beyer winning
the Tour of Murrieta. Looking forward to keeping that flow going the
next two weekends. Gonna be fun to hit dan dimas since its been a
while since I've done that one.

For now, its back to the airport slog. Wholesome fun for thw whole family!

--
Sent from my mobile device

hey bucko...

2009-02-12T17:06:00.010-05:00

A few pics from my recent adventure....

oh weird, wind.

how excited can you get to drive into the middle of the desert to start a bike race? chad will tell you...
build an entire city at one time. Brilliant!
motorized bike rack
window washers looking for work should maybe call this place
scenic
qatar forest!
Markus shopping for a new pet
crowd control at the start was always in issue...
grip it and rip it

AND wizards....

2009-02-09T02:24:00.001-05:00

Seeulaterbye Qatar. Strange place, strange race. We all made it thru
and from the sounds of it, took a step forward in improving on the
teams performance there last year. No "break on thru to the other
side" type stuff but little steps forward start to add up. It was
great working with the new guys on the team and after 6 days of racing
we were more unified than when we showed up.

I'm wondering how long its going to take my body to adjust back to
normal time. Currently, I'm about 24 hrs into the trip home and still
have another 20 or so to go. Looking forward to a little decompress
and then hopefully some good riding/training. The mountain bike sounds
fun right now. No team racing until march 1 or so, back to belgium.
I'm thinking I need to invest in a scooter/driver combo for motor
pacing. This past week was a cruel reminder to just how "fast" racing
is and I really don't know if its possible to prepare or simulate that
without a race, a robot or a maybe a quickstep clone to ride with. Any
other ideas? Maybe all 3?

Thanks for the comments. I wasn't able to smuggle any camels out of
qatar, so sorry to those of you who requested one. Maybe next year.

Pics to follow at some point.

Why don't airports have more accesible power outlets?

--
Sent from my mobile device

Why can't we be friends...

2009-02-04T14:45:00.001-05:00

Another stressful, tense day in sand land. Team worked well together
and all stayed out of trouble which is more than can be said for a
handful of the guys. 2 more days. Good news is that I think we've
ridden every road in the country, so we know what were getting. The
bad news is that we know what we are getting and that is a nice set of
junk roads in insane wind which all looks EXACTLY the same. Whooop.

Thanks for the comments....

Food has been decent. The accomodations are actually the main redeemer
of the trip. Pretty normal stuff with a few "regional" options. Buffet
style. Trying to save as many pasta matches as possible for the rest
of the season.

Pics to come. Internet here is like 30 bones/day so the dingleberry is
my main source of sanity preservation.

And yes. PMA.

Ma' al Salama

--
Sent from my mobile device

Saving the trees?

2009-02-03T08:54:00.001-05:00

We drove over an hour to the race start today. Literally in the middle
of nowhere. They put rugs on the desert floor and tents up. There was
also a small toilet building. Inside there was a toilet, and a hose
with a sprayer, like the one on your kitchen sink. No toilet paper.
You use the hose instead. Yea, really. Remember that movie demolition
man, which takes place in the future? They didn't use tp either, but
shells instead. In qatar, THE FUTURE IS NOW. Wrap ur head around that.

The award for brilliance today goes to the race commasaires, and team
car drivers who repetedly drive around the pack of riders by going off
the road, into the rubble, flinging chunks of rock and sand at the
riders. Add a nice 20 mph cross wind to that and u have a tasty and
dangerous rock/sand cocktail flying through the pack.

Today was fast. We had to have averaged around 50km/ hour. The sickest
part about that is that there were some cross wind sections which were
so strong it was hard to keep ur bike on the road. Not just a few kms
at a time but nice 10-20km at a time. Ugh those were rough.

I am realizing more and more that to be a good cyclist, you have to
reject and deny any thoughts of logic which enter your mind. If you
think its a no brainer to do a particular thing in a race, you should
probably do the opposite because that is what everyone else will do.

Markus was a stud again today, made the front group. its impossible to
use words in describing what a feat that in itself is. He then
finished a solid 8th.

The rest of us survived. 3 more days.

Please send any extra mutant strength lying around to:

Brent bookwalter
Endless Desert patch 352
Rock and rubble road
Qatar

--
Sent from my mobile device

Crusty brown crouton town

2009-02-02T09:17:00.001-05:00

that is from taylor, but I like it. A good way to describe this place.
I can't understand why people live here. Or why there is a bike race
here. I overheard at least 10 guys today talking about how ridiculous
it is. Stressful, dangerous. So much energy, such high winds,
dangerous roads at times. Rough way to start the year.

We all survived today. The neutral was bezerk, 50km/hr, over
threshold and guys taking risks. Chad jumped into the early move
which was surprisingly given a leash thanks to an early headwind.
Eventually we turned into crosswind and it blew to pieces.
Lots of nice scenery, meaning rubble, rocks, sand and desert. Guys
getting blown and pushed off the road. Real nice. Zberg made the 2nd
group. I think 14 guys went to the line to fight for the win. I got
gapped off the group I was in and slid back to tony, taylor and
jacksons group where everyone continued to fight eachother until
finally realizing it was futile, rolling to the line a ways after the
leaders. Like I said, we all made it thru safely.

More of the same tomorrow.....

--
Sent from my mobile device

This one time.....

2009-02-01T11:13:00.001-05:00

Qatar stage 1, ttt.

Felt like we rode fast. But not exactly smooth. And relative to the
other teams here, not very fast. A lot to be learned. Little to be
dwelled upon. The first big dig of they year always feels extra spicy
and today was a perfect example of that. Deep into the windy desert
tomorrow and it is sure to be nothing less than alienville with cross
winds and plenty of fighting.

(Insert inspirational song. Here)

--
Sent from my mobile device

Qatar facts, from jamie

2009-01-29T04:59:00.001-05:00

Qatar has no income tax, and along with bahrain is the least-taxed
country in the world. also the has the highest per-capita, not part
of the arab emerates. also trying to get the 2016 olympics there.

Also, it takes 3 full travel days to get there from the USA when u
stop in swissland for a night. Kinda like getting leg massages for 3
days in a row, except the opposite.

PMA

--
Sent from my mobile device

Bb on bikemonkey

2009-01-28T10:28:00.001-05:00

http://www.bikemonkey.net/

--
Sent from my mobile device

...Like butter plays toast

2009-01-28T06:05:00.001-05:00

Already time for the first race of the year. A solid off season and
'09 training camp in the books. A few new heavy hitters on the team as
well as a great core group from last year. I'm really excited and
happy to be back with b to the mc for this year.

Right now I'm in transit to zurich switzerland where ill be meeting up
with the rest of the crew before we head to Qatar in another day.
Sand, wind, linebacker cyclists, camels, first race of the year, aso,
all make this one an exciting way to start. Keep on reading to all u
die-hards out there and ill work on the updates.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Saddle up partner

2009-01-16T19:15:00.001-05:00

www.bmcracingteam.com

--
Sent from my mobile device

We pay for this

2008-12-21T00:25:00.001-05:00

Sitting in a plane. On a runway. Again.

--
Sent from my mobile device

For Ed, Scott and the dudes at Bell's MTB

2008-11-11T21:15:00.021-05:00

Turns out this blog thing still does work. As I tell my parents, no news is good news and all is well. Since the last post and finishing up Utah, I blitzed through the rest of the season. Uspro RR and Missouri. Settled into the off season for 3 days and got the last minute call to go to Italy for World's. Caught some plague while in Belgium before the race, but still a great experience and one I hope to get a crack at again. From there, it was onto my new home base of Chattanooga, TN. Plenty of off season adventures, moved into my new dwellings, Jamie time, Halloween, hiking, mtbing and the usual hoodrat things. Its been swell. Bout time to get back on the bike. Hence the update! You know, blog pictures are better than facebook pics....

From the top.... missouri

Mike sayers. doing the pro thing. completely screwed. mvp. retired. an honor to have been on the same team with him.
belgium. again. plague.
but Italy is niiice
not my day
where i be kickin it
scoping the new area
what? we can go hiking?! YESSS
man builds fire
collegic shenanigans
michigan. lmc. reppin
I'm her biggest fan
BOULDERING!

halloween. no buy costume policy
vo2 intervals
solo hike equals weak pictures
but good views
tis the season
seeulaterby

If I gotta choose a coast...

2008-08-19T21:33:00.011-04:00

A solid 6 weeks on the west side of the country and I'm now back in NC. Cascade Classic, Acclimating time in Durango, Pre-Utah team camp and Tour of Utah all in the books and all turned out nicely. The first few weeks at altitude were primarily painful, but it all came together this past week at tour of Utah with Louder taking the overall, the team winning team GC and everyone from the riders to the staff putting together an awesome race. As always, pics say more than words....

After Cascade, I headed to Durango, CO to get acclimated to the high/dry and hang with coach Rick a bit. Here's a few of his pets which would greet me on each trip in and out of his place...

I started missing the trees pretty quick. desert. with one "s"
Hooked up with Ben Kneller and Shriver of Jittery Jo's for some training and local racing. Thanks guys!
After a few weeks, transfered into the high mountains of Utah for team acclimating/training camp...
Great times training and hanging with the BMC crew

Everyone on the team had a great week and it showed the last 2 days of the race when we really put things together.

Louder and his daughter Milana. You can't coach that

Its just like a mini mawl
Season is winding down. USPRO RR in a couple weeks. A few more race days after that, still "TBA" Heee Hawww

get a grip

2008-06-18T21:00:00.011-04:00

Good times as of late. pics tell the story best....

Went straight from Picardie to the homeland for Tour de Leelanau. Super cool to get a shot to do a hometown race where the entire teams is there. We need more races like this one in the states. Team rode great and Taylor sealed the deal. We also snagged the kom prize with the boys lining me up nicely to take top points on every climb. You can't coach this...

Jamie made her first trip to the mitten and we made good use of the saturday race, spending sunday in authentic northern MI.

Back to the south. Unfortunately, no philly week for me this year, but that meant I finally got a shot to hit up the Roan Groan road race and the Settler's Life Omnium which its part of. Not often you get to finish a local race with a 7 mile climb!! botched the road race, but snagged a win in the crit and the overall. former teamate and michigander scott stewart joining me in the post up after we pulled off some nice "unofficial" teamwork.

Sheedy took a go at his first masters race. yes, that means 30+. He handily stormed away for a slick solo win.

Sick nasty heat over the weekend. Rough for the racing, but perfect for hitting up some of the area's sweet spots.... despite what you see, i'm actually not wearing a white t-shirt in this pic. and yes, we took a flying leap off the waterfall in the background :)

Jumped in the truck for the brutal drive to Michigan. The drive was brutal has usual, but I can happily say I finally have all my junk out of storage in the LMC bike room. Only took me 18 months after graduating. Anyone interested in beefing up their collection of garage sale items??

The reason for the trip? My first rate homie from high school, Steve, was getting Married to his longtime girlfriend and also good friend of mine, Carrie. scary, but an event I just couldn't miss. (mr. groom to my immediate right)

"Mossy oak" Camo vests and ties. Serious style

Swapped out the truck while in Mich for somthing a bit more comfortable and friendly on the wallet when it comes to the crazy gas prices. Maybe pics of the new beast to come. Banner Elk has been in prime time summer mode since I've been back. quiet, but you can't complain with dreamy temps and sunny skies.

Finally, the big news of the day... Jamie scored a solid top 20 result at the mountain bike world championships today!!! Started DFL and worked her way up through the field for a very solid ride in the U23 women's race. Awesome to see it work out well after watching her work so hard to make it there and then be ready to compete with the worlds best. Congrats Jamie!!

Training, training and more training on the menu with maybe a local race here or there until I meet back up with the team at Cascade in early July. Quite the change of pace from the race race race routine that i'm used to, but compared to last summer, I am living large and enjoying it!

comment yo!

And another one

2008-05-17T12:54:00.001-04:00

No crashing for us today. Whew! Team rode well, and Alex rode like an
alien to lock up the k.o.m. Jersey as long as he finishes tomorrow.
Fighting almost all day in the pack. Not to the death, but enough to
keep it stressful. We got franced on for an hour or so. Danillo
flatted with 15 km to go so I gave him my wheel. Good to work on that
caravan riding stuff. Double day tomorrow. I've never been a fan of
two road races in one day. You tell these dudes they only have to ride
for 100km at a time and its pretty wacky how fast they can go.
Tonight's hotel is a hit so far. Our rooms are big enough for me to
completley open my suitcase!!

--
Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

Do you like baseball johny??

2008-05-16T14:54:00.001-04:00

Kinda feels like I'm stepping up to the plate in the major leagues,
but have been playing more t-ball than hardball this season. Its
coming along though

Tour of picardie. Not my favorite part of france. Plenty of meat
wagons laying down the power here. Covered over 100 km in the first 2
hrs of racing.

Crashing sucks. Crashing because you hit a teamate who has also just
crashed is double whammy. I think I'm fine though. Guess that's what I
get for trying to help the boys mix it up in the sprint. Sketchy. Knee
is a little sore but other than that, just touched up the road rash
from romandie. Just building character, right?

Looking forward to the mitten next week. Check out...

http://www.tourdeleelanau.blogspot.com/

Overcooked pasta. Mmhhhmmm

--
Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

up to the date

2008-05-10T12:18:00.009-04:00

Whoa, comments. That deserves a bit of an update...

made it through Tour of Romandie. Plenty of character building during over the week long race, but what an amazing event. Scenery, competition, and the race in general were all top notch. A few pics...

Hung out in Grenchen, Switzerland for a few days before the race. I think this was the flattest road we rode the entire time i was there.

As I mentioned before, race kicked off with a 2km prologue. Take it from Nathan, you can in fact smash yourself from a 2km effort.

Louder perfecting his prologue form on the trainer
Made it to foot of the Alps for the stage 3 tt.
Amazing views on the big mountain day where we climbed almost 11,000 ft in just over 60 miles. After full gas for the first couple hours of the race, I transformed into a grupetto superstar. No easy way up a 20 km climb, but I limped my way to the finish and actually got to soak up some scenery.

The rest of the epic terrain was taken in during transfers

After finishing up in Lausanne, I jumped in the car and headed to Luxembourg to meet up with my old homies on the national team. Cool to kick it with them after missing much of last season. They are tearing it up this year coming off some recent big results at Fleche du Sud. Luxembourg was not a bad place to hang out. Amazing weather and some really nice roads to ride.

Also a few rare moments to relax and play tourist for an afternoon

The city of Viandan was probably one of the coolest euro cities I've checked out. Check out our accommodations for the week!

Ok, just kidding, but we did take the time to check out this killer castle and force a little culture into our brains.

Blast from the past, back to Izegem, Belgium for the moment and kicking it at the national team house. Tour of Picardie is next weekend and then its back to the homeland for Tour de Leelanau. More when I have it.

Giddy up

Yea, really

2008-05-01T12:59:00.001-04:00

Tour of romandie this week. No small feat, but a great opportunity.
Last year at this time I was on my back dreaming of racing again so
I'm doing my best to soak it up and make the most of the leg crushing
that's being dished out. A brief recap so far...

Progue: a whoppin 2km and I think the shortest race I've ever done. It
still hurt a plenty but was good for opening the legs and getting
easing into the racing from all the pre race hype.

Stage 1: ouch and brrrrrrr. Rain off and on all day and temps
dropping to near freezing at one point in the stage. I learned right
away that there are few flat roads in swiss land, felt like we were
goin up or down all day. But mostly up. Carried a few 30 lb. Rain
soaked jackets for the big dogs on the team and did what I could to
help. Limped in with the grupetto.

Stage 2: super ouch. A bit more flattish meaning we were only
climbing for 5 or 10 km at a time. Went alright until abou 60 km to go
when the pace started to pick up. I got tangled in a wreck and did my
first real pavement surfing of the year. Chased my brains out in the
caravan for about 20km but never could latch onto the pack. Went into
tt mode to make the time cut and finished 13 min. Down shatered.
Luckily the body seems to check out ok so far. Soreness and scrapes.
Props to ian for making the early break and scoring the team some tv
time.

About halfway through but the hardest is still to come. Ill be
accepting donations in the form of leg power for the rest of the week
so send it on over.

--
Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

Have I quit blogging??

2008-04-24T08:46:00.000-04:00

No, but for anyone who still checks here for updates, I know, I am way overdue.

As usual, no news is good news and I am now on my way to switzerland
for my first dose of euro racing in over a year. Made it through my
first few races back while spending the month of march in cali. There
are still plans for logging a few pics and maybe even a detail here or
there. I'm sure the racing life will allow time for that!!

Wordicle

--
Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

Test

2008-04-22T14:50:00.001-04:00

Mobile test... Check 1 check 2

--
Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

been a looong time...

2008-01-23T21:48:00.000-05:00

and just like that, I'm back in the blogging world. Plenty of good excuses for my absence. All kinds of exciting developments in my world since my last post. Walking, standing, riding, new team. Boom shaka-lacka Here's a few of the highlights, in attempted chronological order...

Even though i wasn't quite cleared to do so, I started dabbling in the bike riding thing towards the end of September. Also kicked things off with an amazing new lady in my life, Ms. Jamie Dinkins :)

Headed to Indianapolis to take part in the rockin wedding of Jake the Snake.
We all broke it down "freestyle" but were no match for the slithering of the snake on the dance floor. check those guns!

Made it back to NC just in time to celebrate Mr. Sheedy's /the roomates bday. He got a singing reindeer and won't stop raving about the thing that it does with its tail.It was supposed to be a surprise party so we hid out in the kitchen. 30 minutes later and we were still waiting for him to walk inside.

Not too shabby of a place to be once the colors start changing

boo ya
made a trip back to the mitten. Was actually kinda stoke for my first road trip since my crash, but the novelty wore off about an hour in.

celebrated a bday with my bro taylor. yea, he's 17 and rockin a sweet stash.

Even grandma made it back to kick it. Wow, it feel s good to be standing on two feet!!!

Back to Banner Elk to spectate and cheer on the LMC crew at Collegiate MTB nats. MI boy and LMC freshman Mike Anderson stormed to the Mens D1 STXC title. Shizam!!

Sunglasses were mandatory after dark. Teamin up with former roomate "Balls Hayes" for a wicked pasta feed at the banquet.

Carved a couple Pumpkins with Jamie. Mine is the tough looking one. you know, because I'm... ok, whatever. Sheedy didn't have a pumpkin so we set up a golf ball and candle for him. At least it was round, right? Back on a road bike and loving every minute of it.

Riding + Jamie = Smiles

My first summit of Roan Mtn. since March.

Back to the great lakes and the mitten for Christmas

Did I really train here a few years ago???

more solid times with the fam.

Then out to Cali for a way overdue week of hanging with former roomate, current teamate and first rate homie Taylor T.
Diggin the west side.Ok Taylor, you win. the riding out there is rad.

Finally the long awaited kickoff to the '08 season with Team BMC at training camp. We look good eh?

Black is the new white

Super stoked to be part of such a great team. The full sha bang!
fortunately, i think my tt setup will be a bit faster than Taylor's.

That's all for now. more to come if there are still people reading it???

no news is good news

2007-09-23T23:18:00.000-04:00

Even though blog activity wouldn't suggest it, I am alive and well. Making good progress with leg rehab and getting back to "living" in general. I can't describe how great it feels to stand on two feet and get back on with some pedaling. Good happenings to recap on, so I hope to do it up in detail sometime soon!

Round 2

2007-07-14T23:43:00.000-04:00

Just over 2 weeks into the second go with my leg, and the days of the longest summer I've ever experienced are still continuing to pass. Some of the days are just passing by slower then others!!! I've decided that if you ever want to really savor "time" or are scared of that "where did the time go" phrase, you can either A) Induce yourself into a large amount of pain. B) Do nothing but lay on the couch or in bed. or C) Both of the above for really making time stand still. (may cause temporary or permanent insanity).

The good news is that the surgery went well. Doc's were pleased with what went down and say there is no reason now that my tibia should not really begin to kick into gear. Out came the erector set...
And the finished product....A few less days in the hospital this time around helped my cause, not to mention being at home. No one likes spending time alone in a hospital room, so my brother Taylor brought me someone to keep me company. she was quite the trooper, just standing in the corner day after day. A few of my friends finding that "brent on high amounts of pain meds" was a solid source of weeknight entertainment.
The only hicup with round 2 thus far was the discovery of a small amount of infection from cultures taken during surgery. It was suspected that the type and size of infection found was perhaps just a contaminated culture, but since we are dealing with a non-union fracture and one which required hardware, we leave nothing to chance. that means.... massive amounts of sweet antibiotics for about 6 weeks!! which in turn means i get to walk around with this lil buddy sticking out of my arm for the duration of the antibiotic injections which I have to do daily. Other then hooking up for those infection destroying sessions, I've been doing what I can to keep my mind busy and the body from fully going to sleep. Of course plenty of DVD/TV action, luckily the Tour is on now. Kinda hard to watch guys doing what I'm missing so much, but it knocks out a chunk of the day. Dabbling in a bit of reading and continuing to make up for the lack of time I've spent in the "homeland" over the past couple years. No swimming this time around since I can't submerge the above apparatus in the water. Bummer! The leg is looking good though and I begin some therapy next week to get my knee mobility back. I thought I had stiff legs after a long flight, but 2 weeks with no knee movement has made me realize what real stiffness is!

more whenever I sense the days starting to roll by a bit faster

Here's to "seeing the forest, not the trees." thanks to BR for that one.

Mulligan?

2007-06-25T23:04:00.000-04:00

I've been staying somewhat busy lately. Filling up my days with whatever I can and generally continuting to improve. Less pain, more mobility, more crutch time, all good things. Unfortunatley, the bone in my leg isn't following the same trend. I got the word last week that there is still little to no healing around the main fracture area. 11 weeks + no bone callous = surgery. I never really did like math, and I don't like that equation, but that's the fork in the road that i've come to and it's time to bite the bullet and go to the next level with my recovery. Thursday is game day. At least this time I will be close to home and in an english speaking environment! Plus, I don't have the issue of my bone EXPLODING right before surgery to factor into the equation so it won't be so bad.

Game plan? remove current plate/screws, drill a hole into the top of my tibia, gather bone shavings from inside my tibia, pack shavings into fracture site (circled in red), and then pound a LONG nail down the length of my tibia and secure it with screws. at least they will be using adult construction equipment this time and not pieces of erector set like before.
Sounds like 1-2 days in the hospital followed by a return to my pro couch surfer lifestyle. A true pitty since I have been working hard and making progress at moving in a more active direction. Mellow kayaking and some beech time have been thrown in the mix latley. Neither are very crutch adaptable. The river has already claimed one crutch and the sand almost ate another. Yes, I still can't shake those tanlines or my mid section paleness. Is it genetic?...
The pool has become a daily routine. Still a rockin release and great way to get the heart rate kickin, but I don't know how triathletes do it. how could you truly enjoy swimming after you have experienced the beauty of the bike? Other than that, kickin with with a few of the MI homies and trying to make the most of my longest stay here since I was in high school.

Oh, USADA dropped by the other day. I haven't raced in 3 months, likely won't be racing any sort of bike for at least another 3 months so its a good thing they felt it necessary to collect some of my urine. There are races all over the country right now going on with no control, so I guess I just have a hard time understanding what they are doing having some guy (a nice chap by the way) drive hours to come visit me. Don't get me wrong, I would drive a few hours to hang out with myself and watch myself pee in a cup, but seriously, right? time and dollars better spent elsewhere?

before i forget... A big CONGRATS to Scott Stewart and my VMG/National Team boys for bringing home the "best young rider jersey" at The Nature Valley Grand Prix last week. This kid has been a cat 2. for like 12 months and scored his first pro/1/2 road race victory recently racing up Roan Mtn. in Tennessee. Now he's baggin leaders jerseys at NRC stage races. more big things to come from this skinny kid.

Enough for now. I'm accepting luck, thoughts, prayers, energy and anything else positive which will help with the surgery/recovery routine. I'm sure my blog will be getting more action in the near future. until then...

stay away from those light poles.

"The best way out is always through"

2007-06-05T23:46:00.000-04:00

I like it

8 weeks since my lightpole encounter this past Sunday. The big news on the medical/healing front is that there really isn't any big news. My last xrays were takin about a week ago and provided some encouraging news and also some not so good. bad news first? the gap or void in my bone where the fracture was the worst is still there and unfortunately showing very little or no sign of improvement. The good... the fractures which extend up towards and into my knee joint are still stable and are showing good signs of healing. game plan... wait for another couple weeks until we hit the 10-12 week point. If there is still no sign of some serious bone healing around that gap, its time for a bone graft and some new hardware instillation. Grow bones GROW!!!

The most noteworthy news as of latley is that I'm no longer "boycotting my upper body" (c/o chris saxton). yes, thats right. workin those guns. mostly in the pool. I've been loggin some solid pool time which has done huge amounts for my state of mind and overall well being. Having the heart pumpin and lungs gasping never felt so good. not only is it bueno for me, but the swimming also provides the bored lifeguards with a healthy dose of laughs as I flail through the water. you try swimming without using your legs!

I'm still staying somewhat in the loop in the cycling world. Gotta throw a huge congrats to my teamate John Devine and the entire national team for scoring a couple huge victories for the team in Spain and France the past couple weeks. Even though it kills me to not be there for and with those guys, its still really inspiring to get word of their success.

I was bummed to hear about another cyclist get whacked by a lightpole last week. In case you hadn't heard, Andy Jacques-Maynes took a tough spill. I don't know Andy very well, but after just going through some similiar tough spots as he's going through right now, I can feel for him. Check out his getwell blog and send him a shout of encouragement, even if you don't know him. It really does help to know others are thinking about you and sending some positive energy your way!

no pics. yea, thats lame. soon though.

ciao for now.

Good enough?

2007-05-15T19:30:00.000-04:00

Sunday was 5 weeks. 35 days, no bike, no walking. Its going ok though. I have 3 good doctors in the loop now and just over a week ago we came up with the game plan of "wait and see". not the most comforting approach, but the CT scan came back as good as could have been expected and all 3 docs are thinking and hoping that the hardware in there will be "good enough" and that the bones will start to heal. Swelling-minimal, mobility-good, incision healing-very good, bone alignment-good. 4 really positive things going for me, so hopefully now the bones will start to knit back together and everything will stay lined up!

here it is....how does it look to you??? and how, did my fibula not snap in 2???

I'm doing my best to enjoy or make the most of my idleness, but I still find myself pulling my hair out every now and then. fortunatley, i've been moving and grooving a little more every week. Crutch time is up to a few minutes now, and I've made it through the past week without the wheelchair in the house at all. I can drive!!! no major trips, but just getting out of the house and having some freedom does wonders for the mind. Scott S made the drive to the east side last week to cripple-sit me for the day, and Clara was here for a few days last week. It was great to see her, catch up a bit and take my mind off the obvious. as for this week, its looking forward to xrays on Friday. the newest daily activity is hooking my leg up to a bunch of wires and "watching it heal" ultrasound on the bone and E-stim on the quad. HEALED!

I know its getting old, but I still gotta say THANK YOU to everyone who comments, emails, calls, visits, prays and wishes me well! I'm excited to return the support at some point.

ciao for now

"that's a bummer"

2007-04-28T18:46:00.000-04:00

Almost a week since I made it back home. Really good to have the trip overwith, and also nice to be home around a supper supportive set of family and friends, but I still can't get away from the fact that my leg is busted up in a big way.

Not much going on here. This week has been spent figuring out how to navigate our house on crutches or in a wheelchair. Sick amounts of tv and internet, along with some healthier reading and even a few visits from the local support team. Each day by itself doesn't seem to go by too slow, but when I think about a week or a month as a whole, it starts to look like a rougher go. The order of the day and this entire process seems to be just staying positive, which i'm finding is tougher and tougher. I never realized how mentally and physically dependant I was on "going, moving, rockin, ripping and riding around". Still, everyone that I've talked to who has been through similair says the mental approach is key and I have to do whatever it takes to stay positive and not dwell on the brokeness.

The latest and not greatest news came yesterday when I saw the orthopedic doc here for the first time. He took new xrays and took a good stare at them, "hmmmmmm". Then procedes to tell me he's not especially psyched with how the Belgian surgeon put me back together. It sounds like the bone is aligned nicely and it looks ok now, but he's worried about the structural integrity of the hardware he installed and how my healing bones will respond to it. So what does that mean??? Good question!! CT scan next week to take a closer look, but this guy said he couldn't rule out the possibility of having to Redo everything and start from scractch. BAM!! Its mind bending to think about having to start over now, but I suppose we have to see what this next test says. Eitherway, I have to work out a second opinion. These docs just blow my mind sometimes.

I would have uploaded a few pics, but I figured me laying on the couch, or a picture of my computer wasn't exactly blog material. Maybe this week I'll be able to get out a bit more and find some blog fuel.

Thanks to everyone who continues to comment, email, write, call, pray and send their best!!! You are all keeping me kickin! (with one leg at least).

boredom?

2007-04-18T17:00:00.000-04:00

bed, chair, couch, toilet, couch, bed, or somthing like that. not the most exciting days latley, but i'm making some small improvments and looking forward to Monday when i get to head home. Its been another eye opening experience learning to cope with my broken leg, but in the big picture, i'm doing alright. i'm able to move around a little with crutches, though i can only take about 2 minutes of being upright before the leg blows up and i gotta take a good rest. lots of elevation and thus, staying in one place. i think thats the hardest part so far. just being stuck. fortunatley, i have a good team of guys helping, not to mention the team mom Els. I'm also dabbling in a little physical therapy. I can move my knee to about 90 degrees now and am doing everything i can to retain a small amount of muscle.

Bjorn and Walker on standby to give me a hand. thanks guys!

stop shrinking!!!!

ouch! quite the sewing project if you ask me. it has improved a bit from when this pic was taken though.

I had to take a pic of the sweet hospital meals. i think this was dinner maybe?

getting ready to leave the house for my lest race without metal in my leg.

I'm hoping to get outside today. Els found a wheelchair for me, so I'm hoping to be tearing up the streets of izegem. If any of you know where i can get a set of D's for the chair, let me know.

Thanks to everyone who continues to write, call, comment and pray!! I can't tell you how much it helps!!

plates and screws

2007-04-15T14:17:00.000-04:00

Its been a week. A pretty rough week. I'm still kickin though and on my way to recovering. A few pics to get it going. I'll shoot for a full report soon.

Thanks to everyone who has called, prayed, emailed, thought and taken care of me.

April?

2007-03-31T11:37:00.000-04:00

2 blog updates in 1 week. that could only mean that I'm in Belgium. Not a bad week though. Lots of the usual, settling back into the routine here. Racing a good ole Belgian style 1 day race tomorrow. St. Truiden Aalst, or somthing like that. every Belgian that i talk to about it calls it somthing different, so I'm not actually sure what the name of the race is. sounds flattish, windyish and hardish of course. should be good to rev up the legs again though. unloaded a few pics from my camera. nothing too fancy but....

sweet belgian terrain from this past week.

The first year guys (19 year olds) did a big u23 race with a strong international field on Wed. They all rode solid. Bjorn after finishing in the front group.
Walker rockin one of the smaller cobbled climbs at GP Waragem.Of course, plenty of canal time this week. One from spain last week. not a bad hotel room view if you take all the sweet constuction away.and another. and a few clouds that i thought deserved a shout.
thats all. Wish me luck tomorrow.

almost...

2007-03-25T16:09:00.000-04:00

here we go. back at it.

the last week or so of the banner elk time was nice. good to be in once place for a bit and even better to finally knock out some decent training. I forgot how much I enjoyed a few of the rides in the area. It was quickly rapped up though, and before I could settle in any further, it was off to Belgium to begin my first Europe trip of the year. Travel day was rather bon considering the magnitude. one layover and no trains, I can dig that.

Hung at the mostly empty house in Izzy for 2 nights, then hopped a short flight to southeast spain to meet up with a good chunk of the crew who had been there for the previous week. Vuelta Cartagena began this past thursday. plush hotel. for the week. and internet at a race in europe? weird. 4 days, 4 stages. its in the books now and i think everyone is happy with how it went. heaps of top 20 stage finishes and 8th and 12th on the overall.

First race I've ever done in spain.Painfullly close to snagging a W the past 2 days. At yesterdays TT they actually said that I won at one point since the only guy with a faster time was initially penalized for hanging onto his team car on the climb. Sweet! oh wait, they changed their mind. 2nd by a close 14 seconds. bunk or rama if the guy really cheated but what can ya do? stage 4 today. a short one, but a wicked profile with 3 stout climbs, especially with these wiry spanish chicos. team rode great and caleb and i hung tough to make a final group of 20. brought home a close 3rd in the sprint with caleb in 5th after a vicious attack in the closing meters that almost held off the field. we're gonna get it right sometime soon. thats the latest. back to belgium tomorrow. 2 more weeks and its to the states for Tour of GA. see you then?

i used to read word up magazine

2007-03-05T09:39:00.000-05:00

i think that past few weeks (since mid Jan.) have been the longest running "in country" trip I've ever completed. and in Feb!? thats one way to get the cycling season going I guess. Tour of Cali is a wrap. What a race! not the most stellar race from me personally, but a world class event in the U.S. so you gotta dig it. my week in cali was a long one. a brutal awakening after a tough winter of less then stellar prep, but i'm happy to have made it through.

giving what i had left in the tank during the tt...

Back in banner elk now. trying to ward off the last stages of the plague. good to be back in the area. extra good to see the peeps who i hadn't seen in a bit. flippin chilly here tho. the collegiate team is already on a tear with some solid results in the greenville, SC training races this past weekend. Its a bit weird to not be rockin and rolling with them like usual, but exciting for me to hear they are stronger then ever.

The lack of classes is slightly odd too. hence the time for the blog post. odd in a good way i suppose, but I have to say this past week is the most its hit me. now i can look forward to being the creepy guy that graduated and still hangs around!!

A big thanks to Jason Lummis for reminding me how old I am with these sweet blast from the past pics....

sooooooooo???

already?

2007-02-17T20:28:00.000-05:00

the real start to the race season is here. I can't say I'm super amped, particularily focussed or that I'm busting out of my skin to start, but I'm getting there. by the time of my prolgue start tomorrow, I'll be ready to rock.

So far, everything regarding the race is top notch. plush hotel, good food, organized events and a swanky team presentation. I'm sure the rest of the week will follow in the same way.

paul sherwin, dave towle and bob roll gettin the black tie crowd going...

yesterday (also my bday), the team made a day trip to nearby sponsor "Specialized" Cool to meet the people and minds behind the gear we are riding. they hooked us up with some new space age tt helmets so make sure to check the pics tomorrow. We'll be the good looking ones in the spider man kits!

check out the new tt rigs specialized gave us!

not a bad blup on cyclingnews about us. a small quote and pic from me...."It's a little overwhelming and we're all a little anxious," explained Bookwalter. "You think about it all year, but when you roll into the parking lot and see all the teams and all the riders, the magnitude of it kind of hits you. But it's still a bike race and we're all strong and capable riders. I think we all want to leave some mark on this race. We're definitely the youngest team here, but we just want to have an impact and represent and show these guys that we belong here."

smile. its a rainbow.

thats all for now. Wish me luck!!!

2007-02-08T20:41:00.000-05:00

back from Italy, on the bike for a week (knee starting to hold up), off to Salt Lake City for some testing with the new team, over to California for a training camp and finally across the continent to the bahamas. some good, some bad, some ugly, but all in all; everything seems to be moving into the right place.

Of course I've missed some hot photo ops, and only realize this now when i'm looking to post. here's a few from this past week in the bahamas. Off to California tomorrow. just over a week till that kinda big race out there.

The one and only Dave Towle was brought in for our team presentation. ingnore the mismatched helmets.
Team building anyone??
we flew a few private planes to another island in search of better roads. no bike box required.
cyclists + beech = pasty white, tanlines and lots of sunscreen
new sporty sweatshirts. hmm, maybe sporty wasn't the word.
this place has lots of beech
can you get used to the new colors?
come back readers!! i'm still here!!!!

Sicily

2006-12-29T14:31:00.000-05:00

Buon Natale e auguri! or somthing like that. I'm in Sicily right now. With Clara and her parents. having a swell time. a few pics of the area. plenty more to come. but remember, Europe hasn't discovered the internet yet.

Clara's mom loves stray dogs. and we learned that stray dogs like power bars!
I think I rode out there...
A beautiful lady and a beutiful view
Not sure what was going on here. looks like an Italien sausage fest to me.
Mount Etna. a volcano, and a biggie.
Ciao for now

signed, sealed, delivered

2006-12-16T21:13:00.000-05:00

I'm yours.

4 years of college, degree. in the books. Finished up on Tuesday and it feels good. Not amazing or earth shattering in any way, but it is nice to know I accomplished somthing which I set out to do over four years ago, or even 16 years ago, depending on how you look at it. Life as usual right now since everyone is on break between semesters, but i'm thinking I'll be super psyched come next fall when i don't have to buy books, show up to classes and convince my teachers its cool if i Come back a month late.

On to the present... Congratulations to my wonderful girlfriend Clara! The 2006 women's Collegiate Cyclo-Cross National Champion! (thanks to scott jackson for the pic) I had to make the announcement on here because cyclingnews seems to think the u23/collegiate women's events aren't quite newsworthy, at least immediatley following their race. Brilliant riding by the entire LMC women's team to kick the weekend off. They went 1,2,3 in the collegiate division and had 7 girls in the top 15. Pressure is on the men for tomorrow. Whatever happens, sounds like a great weekend of CX racing. i miss it.

Layin low the past couple days. Robbie King is still kickin it here and I have another guest roomate in the skinny MI kid while Sheedy is up in Rhode Island. My knee has improved a bit, but it is still not great. Rick and I made the executive decision to take some more easy time. As much as it kills me to do so, especially with this dreamy weather , it is the best thing to do for now. i don't wanna be nursing this thing through base season then have it blow up once i start racing. Easy, short rides. not what i want to be doing but what has to be done. Went hiking today, a solid change of pace.

I'm lookin forward to next Wed. Off to Italy to spend Christmas and New Years with Clara and her Family. I sure will miss seeing my family over the holiday, but I'm excited to check out a new place, minus the racing which usually accompanies any travel I do. Looks like I've hit blog quota. Ciao for now.

check out our sweet tree.
sugar mtn had some start of the ski season firework show tonight hiking??

From the sidelines

2006-11-20T13:45:00.000-05:00

10 comments = A new blog entry

plus I have a few pieces of eye candy from the UCI cross race in Hendersonville this past weekend. Watching cross makes me realize how much I miss racing it. Yea, when your out there your wondering why you would ever subject yourself to such a massacre, but there is a certain beauty to being on a cross bike and rippin through mud or layin a nice arc through a grassy corner. I miss it. trying to keep the eyes on the future though and get my knee healed up. It was still great to watch Clara, the LMC kids and a handful of others I hadn't been able to catch up with in a while.

Clara in cool down mode.
NC state champ John Hamblen put up a brave fight the first day.....
but was tag teamed by these two. they clearly ate their wheaties for breakfast.
the womens field stacked with cheerwiners.
sheedy got the award for most places gained from start to finish.
long sleeve skinsuit!!! oooo la la

Looks like Sheedy, Clara and myself are packing into the 4 runner and heading to MI for thanksgiving. a short trip but will nice to see the family before the whirlwind of training and racing begins.

turkey, chicken, duck, tofurkey??

oooooo.........

2006-11-12T21:29:00.000-05:00

the blog situation is getting rather desperate. I've got nothing. well not much at least.

made a quick trip to Park City, UT the past couple days. Had to get my knee checked out. Kudos to Dr. Eric Heiden and Max Testa for taking a look and also to usacycling for making the trip happen. looks like the knee will be ok. gonna start easing back into the pedaling and hopefully all goes smoothly.

I was in the airport thursday and I saw an amazing sight. A guy peeing at the urinal, eating a bag of chips, with both hands. thats the effort and talant i like to see. don't worry, he most definitley made a promt exit, sans hand washing. classy.

my second favorite airport sight was a person running next to the moving walkway, going the same speed as the people walking on the moving walkway. brilliant. good exercise i suppose.

That old man winter dude butted his way into banner elk last night. what a punk. i didn't order any snow. tomorrow looks on the up though.

does anyone still read this?

ALIVE

2006-10-27T11:55:00.000-04:00

Its been a while and I've realized that I'm "un dun." It's time to end the blogging off season. Not to be alarmed though, the proper "off season" is still in full effect. No use in doing a full backtrack of the last month. A boat load of radness has happened as well as a few roundhouse kicks to my face, the main one of those being the return to school. Should be my last semester though and overall it has been going alright. I've managed to dabble in a bit of colleigate mountain biking and that has been great for the sanity levels. Road racing in Europe to Mountain biking witha bunch of college kids. Biggest contrast ever but one of the best if you ask me. Last weekends collegiate nats in NM was likely my last. Can't help but being a little sad and bummed about that, but it is about time to take another step. Its great knowing that the team is headed in a dominating direction and has a hot set of young, up and coming riders to throw it down and turn heads.

Sheedys bday. he got beat up by a girl ...................Saxton rockin with fine style

Get ready. 18 miles. 5000 ft. of climbing Kevin H. MVP

scott got a concusion in Florida.
The LMC convoy starting the 30 hr. drive back to NC
Jesse pooped his pants
not my best race. but a fun one. scope the new kit.

ciao for now

D U N

2006-09-21T04:00:00.002-04:00

All done. game over. Not a great ride, but threw down what i had. Good write up and a few quotes at Velonews.
Congrats to the US ladies!! Amazing riding and an honor to be on the team with such top notch competitors. In other news, I had my first "competition" blood test yesterday. Vampires showed up at about 8am and i was one of the lucky ones to give them some of my blood. A few south americans weren't allowed to race because there hematocrit was too high from their blood tests, but mine was nowhere near that point. actually over 3 points lower then what it usually is. guess i need some rest.

Doing what i can to help out the team over the next few days, as well as trying to enjoy myself a bit before i head back to the gauntlet of schoolwork which awaits me. US Elite TT'ers baldwin and Zabriski roll out in a few hours so be sure to send them a tailwind!!

Thanks to all for the thoughts, prayers, love and support!

Ciao for now

10

2006-09-18T16:47:00.000-04:00

i suppose 10 comments on my previous post warrants a new update. no recap on the recent haps, just the here, just the now.

Arrived in Salzburg, Austria today for the road world championships. I race the TT on wed. no RR for me. I've had a little flare up with my knee over the past week and there are 3 other great guys slotted in for it. Steve Cozza and I are the crew for the U23 tt and John Devine, Craig Lewis and Tom Peterson will be reppin the red, white and blue for the RR.

I flew my first "Ryan Air" flight today. a sweet euro budget airline that i've heard much about. not bad though. So far things here are rolling along. I'd say about half the American team has showed up and i'm sure the rest will be rolling in over the next few days. i'll take a gander at the course tomorrow.

the door to our bathroom has a big window in it. there is a cupid painted above our beds, and there is also a rotating mirror which allows you to look into the bathroom (through the door) from the bed. weird.
Goodnight

what time is it?

2006-09-08T16:18:00.000-04:00

A fine picture to display what is happening around here.
Racing this weekend. Wish me luck and leave me some love.

gopher510 (1:48:36 PM): update your blog you tool

2006-08-31T04:57:00.000-04:00

guess I'm a bit overdue.

Its getting quiet around here. Earlier this week a bunch of guys escaped the clutches of Izegem. Tomorrow 2 more get out, and the rest of the crew besides myself and John are racing at a race in France. Just the two of us for the weekend, and even to the rest of the season its a minimal team.

GP tell was a slick race. Hills, mountains and hills on some rad twisty cart path roads. Unlike anything I've ever done before and super exciting to race in that kind of terrain. The prologue was my best results of the race. 7th place, and just a second or so off the podium, but the main thing was that i got to rip this sweet "video game" course. check out this pic, this was probably the widest part of the entire prologue course. So once again, no out of this world performances from me, but not horendous either. I think thats kinda indicative of my form right now. Still able to hit a good level, but a little tired and not as consistent. From here on out the formula is simple. maximize rest, keep the body tuned and focus when the race days come. I think 4 or so race days until worlds. then the TT and i'll find out about the road race soon.
Going to switzerland made me once again think, "why can't the national team be based somewhere else?" I think this area would do.

Lots of hard thinking on deciding which direction to head teamwise next year. Fortunate and lucky to be in my current situation though.

I thought I was in a good place concering my late arrival to school. Until now my advisor hadn't really expressed much concern about me being fashionably late, but all of a sudden its a last minute scramble to get things sorted out. can we please just do our job? also streaming out of the "brent bookwalter complaining network" is my current predicament of not having a place to live when i get back to school. my roomate jesse has been a total champ in the hunt for a decent place, but it seems the banner elk scene is not prime territory at the moment for a place to our liking. The specialized tt bike is just not doing me right so i'm doing my dangdest to get the Ridley over here. Wow, I almost forgot how nice those bikes were.

kieth jennings
mr. bolian. mvp for teamate and overall good guy. he broke is arm a week or so again. speedy recovery bolian!wish me luck. with.... everything. thanks for the comments. keep em rollin.

ciao for now.

both dishwashers are broke

2006-08-18T16:34:00.000-04:00

Whew! back to blogging. The usual excuses for the recent lapse... France, no internet, hard racing. Since my last post, I've wrapped up Tour de Namur and a few 1 day races on the west coast of France. Just a quick summary since I'm not feelin a full race report.

Namur...Ok but not great. Body seemed to be a bit angery with me after removing those large chunks of skin in the days leading up. Had a couple decent days and a couple bad days. TT was dissapointing and by the last day I was feelin kinda whacked so Noel decided it was best I not start and save my mathces for the coming weeks. Props to Nick and Andy who both made it through the last day with strong rides.

Bretagne Races...First observe the pick to the left... me modeling our fashionable "team" casual gear in our plush accomidations. Different crowd in France and I have to say I wasn't feeling any love. Each of us did 3 of the 4 races over the 4 days and overall it went alright. The drive was absolutley bogus though! Its not often we have to travel 8 hours to a race in Europe, and i can't say i enjoyed any part of it. It was nice to check some new scenery though. Why can't the national team be based in an area like this??? The races were all circuit races and a few of them had a good bit of climbing. Day 1 I ended up 12th after picking my way through a pretty destroyed field. Day 2 Nick rocked out the field sprint for a bon 5th place. Day 3 we botched it big and missed the first group of 17, but did what we could to limit the damage as I snagged the field spring for 18th. Last day was tough. I think Nick was our top dog somewhere in the top 20.

So there's the rundown. I'm almost inside the "1 month to go" window till the end of the road season. Giddy up! Lots of laying low and a good bit of rest for another couple days, then its off to Switzerland for a 5 day stage race called GP Tell.

School starts in less then a week. oh wait, I won't be back there for over a month! I know, sounds a bit excessive, even by cycling standards but I'm hoping I can pull out one more semester of a late arrival and graduate in December. So far the teachers I've been able to get a hold of have been alright to work with so lets hope for more of that. Anyone back in MI should be sure to check out the Priority Health Rockford Criterium NEXT weekend. A big prize list, action packed course and a great crew of helpers putting the race together are sure to guarantee an awesome show.

Best of luck to my Priority Health boys and Clara along with her fellow Cheerwiners for this weekend at the U.S. crit championships!!!

ciao for now

butt surfing

2006-08-03T07:18:00.000-04:00

yesterday was rough. it looked like it was gonna be a rad race. cloudy skies, strong winds and a few solid climbs on the route were sure to make a selective race. unfortuantley, i didn't really get to give it a go. top 30 wheels, I make the first left hand turn into cross wind. Of course the field kinda panics and eveyone smashes their way to the gutter. They must have missed the memo that most bike races are in fact, not transparent and when you hit one, you bounce off eachother.

A pretty good pileup ensued. I went crashing down and even manged to hook my jersey on a riders bike who was still moving at a good speed. After dragging me across the ground for 20 meters or so he finally stopped and I calmly released myself from his bike as he flipped out yelling and jumping up and down like a circus monkey. i don't know what this dude was freakin about. yea, he was watching the race ride away but at least he had his skin, somthing i couldn't say for myself. After using a saftey pin to close the giant hole in my shorts, I got a new set of wheels and began to chase. At first i couldn't even see the last follow car for the race, but eventually I began to make up some ground and finally caught on to the last group on the road, seeing the field had already been shattered into bits. I just from group to group, and made some solid ground up but finally pulled the plug as i rode throught he feedzone and got the "cut it" sign from chris. ugh! damage? right side. butt cheek, skinless. arm, patchy skin loss. back, scrapped and bruised.

so that was that. Murphy and Sheldon ended up riding great, both making the front group of 12. Murph dieseled his way in for a sweet 5th place, Sheldon just out of the top 10. Awesome to see those guys put in a good ride, but also tough to watch as i was wishing i coulda been in there throwing down with them. I guess mass quantities of chamois cream do not make the shorts invincible.

More dissapointment this morning as Noel told us the teamd Did NOT get an invite to Tour de L'Avenir, also known as the Tour de France for young riders. stinger! i got my first taste of L'Avenir last year and its a bit dissapointing to think I won't get another shot at it this year. Why you ask? deponds who you talk to. mainly because the organizers can make whatever decision they want, but i can't help but think the recent crap with Floyd didn't play into their heads.

Still planning on Tour Namur starting saturday. 5 days, 6 stages of tough racing in the hills of belgium. Last year, i finished top 20 GC there so hopefully I can get recovered from this spill and put in a solid ride over the 5 days. monday has a TT, after a RR in the morning of course, but the TT will be cool. my first one flyin the stars and bars! I can pretty much guarantee i won't have internet access from saturday through tuesday or wed, but i'll keep my fingers crossed and roll out another update when i can.

down the street. wanna come visit?
ciao

2 weeks

2006-07-29T10:59:00.000-04:00

Its saturday, which probably means very few people are spending their summer weekend reading "this", but even less people are emailing me! I was on a good roll until today with incoming and outgoing emails which seem to roll the boring belgian day along, but today I've hit a cyper stump. maybe its because i've been here for 2 weeks now and the simplicity of our days is finally sinking in. I'm not complaining, nor am i yet officially "bored" because i know i need to stock as many of these easy going restful days as possible. The coming weeks of brutal raciing and living in some abandoned belgian dorm are sure to make an uneventful day in izegem highly appealing. Here's a fresh action shot of me today.

Floyd eh? not good. I say wait for that B sample to be tested and go from there, but its still a roundhouse kick to the face of the cycling world. Plenty of people already ranting about it so I'll just say that it really bums me out and leave it at that.

Raced a couple days ago. Reninelst, a 1.2 uci race. It went ok, but not great. Beleive me, I know this already seems like a reaccuring theme over here but I'm gonna do my dangdest to fix it. Anyway, 185km of belgian small roads and wind. a few uphill rises but nothing i would call i climb. We only had 4 starters from our team, but Andy and I stayed strong and finished. maybe around 30th for me. I gave it my all trying to get into one of the small groups that stayed away off the front but it just wouldn't happen. The good news is that i did this race last year and can honestly say i felt improvment since then. lets hope the improvment will materialize into somthing one of these days.

Other big news includes that I'm actually reading a book! yea, i know surprising and terrifying at the same time considering I'm still a month or two out of the academic season. It hasn't been half bad though, and I think I might actually finish this one. "Cloud Garden" by a couple backpackers who were kidnapped in the Darien Gap of South American. Keeping me entertained so far.

not sure if you've had a chance to scope it yet, but Team Priority Health has updated their website with a TeamBlog section. posts are sure to be flowing in from all the PH guys so give er a gander every now and then.

Riding has been mellow for the past 2 days, some good exploring but no leg thrashing. that will come soon enough. here's a couple shots from one of my recent rides in one of the few nearby wooded areas.

US national Team; 1 Liege dorm; 0

2006-07-26T13:55:00.000-04:00

We may not have won the race we did last week, but we did outsmart the hotbox, garbage dorm that we stayed in. take a look....

that is state of the art "full moveable blanket curtain", as well as a handy "fan stand". what makes it even better is none of the euros down the hall thought of anything even half as cool. you woulda been psyched too if you coulda felt how miserable and hot this dumpster we stayed in was.

Another noteworthy part of the 5 day, 500+ mile race through the hills of Liege was the rediculous amounts of skin being ripped off my rear end by the shorts we had to wear. wow, i hope these things break in. until then, massive amounts of chamois cream.....So how did the race go? ok. 3 of us made it to the finish. the first day i snagged a top 10 in record belgian highs. 103 f or so? sick to say the least. the next day i rode terrible, missed a feed and was without water, in the gutter for over an hour in some bad crosswinds. that whacked me pretty good and i basically spent the next couple days trying to recover from that heat exhaustion experience and hoping my legs would come around. The last day was pretty epic with some gnarly climbs from liege-bastonge-liege.

The past couple days have been spent trying to heal the legs a bit. Surprisingly I haven't been really bored since i've been here, for belgian standards at least. I've been able to chat with clara just about everyday and that of course helps a bunch.

Here's a pic of my belgian ride. i miss the Ridley but this one is pretty smooth too. check out this diddy. lets hope i get to do some time trials in the coming weeks!
One day 1.2 race in a nearby town tomorrow. Noel said he won't be surprised if we all get dropped. confidence inspiring eh? well, he just wants us to know it will be tough. thats ok, thats how we like it right?

ciao till then

goo and poo

2006-07-18T16:43:00.000-04:00

my head is stuffed with goo and i kinda feel like poo. that sums it up.

it seems that my head has recently been invaded my mass quantities of mucous. it started as a bit of sneezy and itchy eyes and now has progressed to full congestion. not cool. rather frusterating really. i'm starting my first euro race of the season tomorrow. you would think my head would be filled with race thoughts and excitment. well it is sorta, but mostly just filled with snot. legs feel alright. rested for sure. maybe that will make up for it.

I sneaked into my room and took this pic. Its Mr. Mucous, fresh off one of used kleenex and waiting to be reunited with his relatives which i've been blowing outa my nose all day. not sure if you've seen the u23 national team kits for this year? well they look like spiderman. I'll do my best to get a pic or two from the next few days so i have blog worthy images to post. in the meantime, if your looking for eye candy. head to to www.clarabeard.blogspot.com not only does she look beautiful, but she recently did some cool races and saw some rad scenery which will likely be on another level to the belgium pics i could be taking.

Today I met Johan, the guy who will be our director for this weeks race. He seems like a decent guy. not Johan brunyeel, but if your name is Johan and you are belgian, you must know a thing or two about bikes and bike racing.

thats all for now. web access during this race is unlikely at best, but i will give you all the good word when i return.

ciao

i'm back

2006-07-16T16:31:00.000-04:00

the house i left just over a year ago in lovely Izegem, Belgium hasn't changed much. Its been a quiet place since i got here yesterday. There are only 6 guys here right now, and Noel and Els are in France running a Tour De France camp for the heads of state at usacycling. The weather here is insane right now. warm, sunny, unlike the norm.

I made it through my travels without any major hickups, although my upper body is wrecked from hauling around the ridiculous amount of crap that i decided to bring. what was i thinking?? I'm pretty sure what sealed the deal on that one was my 20 min. walk from the train station in Izegem to the house. Apparantly there was some dude to pick me up at the aiport, but he definitley wasn't where my flight came in because i scanned that place to the max before i finally accepted defeat and hopped on the train. turns out this dude even had a sign labeled "BOOKWALTERS" ("S" inclueded. thats how you know its good). anyway, luckily the rad train skills that i aquired last summer were still somewhat intact and i made all my train hops without too much mad dashing up and down stairs.

2 mellow pace rides so far. good to just get out, stretch the legs, recover a bit from last weekend and slowly let the body adapt to the new environment. probably the same recipe for the coming days since we start the Tour of Liege on wed. supposed to be a 5 day stage race with hilly road races everyday. I'm sure that will kick our bodies into gear.

until we start racing, and in between all the races I'll be an internet fanatic since there are limited things to do here. shoot me an email or leave me some love in the comments section to keep me in touch with the homelands. i'm up for suggestions as far as post topics too.

until next time.

I feel dirty

2006-07-14T18:10:00.000-04:00

First of, a few pics.....

diggin deep in the closing meters
how do i look?
close but not quite.
can you see me?? solo bridging to the break. ouch!!
i wonder if scott new he was gonna see a bear during the race?

traveling and large amounts of it has been the recipe for yesterday, today and will be as well for tomorrow. Yesterday was wack. my dad and i drove to Philly to get my passport sorted out. A big Thank you to Harry Bookwalter for that one!! well, after about 12 hours of driving, 2 hours waiting in line and another 2 hours waiting in a coffee shop I came away with a new passport. i think next time i will skip the "leaving my passport in storage at school part" and just bring it with me so we can skip that saga of trying to get it back which has occured over the past few weeks.

I didn't make it back in time for the crit yesterday, but sven, scott and grahmo all rode well. Graham bridged up to the winning move, then with about 3 laps to go, put all his marbles into another 3 man move which looked likely to stick but unfortunatley was brought back. he still ended up 9th though, and scrappy scott pulled down a solid 15th. Wait till these kids show back up in PA for U23 nats next year with another year of experience under their belt. I think they'll be turning some heads.

so now i'm in New York, at the airport. about another hour or so here and then I'm off. I feel like a dirtball, and i'm sure its only gonna get worse between now and when i arrive in brussels tomorrow morning. Its almost time to turn off my phone to let it hibernate for the next couple months. i don't know about you, but i think verizon should put a tower in Izegem, Belgium.

maybe in my next post i will type in flemish!!!!

a GREAT day

2006-07-13T14:09:00.000-04:00

Seven Springs, PA. I have to say I've really takin a liking to this place since its been so kinda to me over the past couple years. Starting with collegiate mtb nats in '04, then again in '05 and now with the U23 road National Championships.

Yesterday was the day I've been looking for and thinking about for a while now, the TT nataional championships. the course was great for me and we even had a nice steady downpour of rain. I gave everything I had over the demanding 30km and came away with my first U23 national championship. It feels great after coming so close in the road race only a few days earlier, and after just missing the top spot on the podium repetadly in road, mtb and cyclocross the past couple years. Its awesome to really put your mind, heart, body and soul into somthing and then have everything come together on the day you are shooting for. Whats even better is all the great people I have to share it with. Thank you to everyone who has believed in me, not just for this goal but always, throughout my cycling career and even beyond cycling. Your comments, thoughts and prayers mean a lot!!!!I'd love to roll out more of an in detail update on the RR, TT and the week in general, but as usual I'm rippin around trying to get stuff done, last minute. I'm not gonna be able to race the crit tonight because as i type this I'm in Philly, waiting for a few passport issues I have to get sorted out. Looks like its all coming together though and I'll still be able to fly out tomorrow morning to head across the pond and join up with the U23 national team. I think my first race over there is less then a week away, but i'll be sure to keep the updates coming while i'm over there.

ciao for now

computers, ugh

2006-07-07T00:08:00.000-04:00

well i've once again proved to myself that I'm a retard when it comes to computers and most other forms of technology. I swapped computers with my stepmom since mine is falling apart and i needed a reliable one for the europe jaunt. hers is almost new so its plush to be rollin with one that works, but i had no idea how much work it would be to get this one "brent" friendly. programs, files and all that stuff i need from my old one. I proly put 6 hours into this today and have gotten almost nowhere. boooooo.

Fitchburg ended up alright. It was a bummer to not be able to keep sheedy in the leaders jersey. in no way, shape or form was that because of how he was riding. that kinda frusterates me when people are like, "what happened to sheedy?" the better question would be, "what happened to the team" cuz after all, this is a team effort, especially when you are trying to defend the lead. We did a good job of it in the circuit race, even with little or no radio communication and no director or mechanic. the next day in the road race we went in with a good plan, with a couple options depending on how things unfolded. It went one of the ways we had anticipated and planned for, but just didn't work out in the end. The good news is that Ted and I both moved up on GC, me to 5th and Ted to 6th. We maintained the last day in the crit and came away with a respectable result. Personally, I was happy to score a top 5 at a NRC race. With a little more experience, a little more form and a little more luck I know I can be right there for that top spot. The team came away from the race with some good momentum and excited to head into the rest of the summer. The guys are lookin sharp so look out!

The past 2 days have been spent trying to recover a bit and looking ahead to the rest of my summer which is rapidly approaching. saturday i leave for Seven Springs, PA for U23 road nats. then on July 14th i head over to Europe to join the national team. I also have to have all my stuf in order for my fall semester at school since i likely won't be coming back to MI before school starts. Whew! that is a bit to think about.

I better get my butt in gear. i should have some pics on this computer sometime in the next year or so. keep checkin back though, i could sprout a few computer friendly brain cells.

ciao

Sheedy Wins!

2006-06-29T23:09:00.000-04:00

day 1 of Fitchburg today. 6 mile TT, kinda rolling but mostly uphill. my teamate and good friend Brian Sheedy SMOKED it! he was starting to really look lean and mean at tour de beauce and it appears he's got that last extra bit he needed after a few days of rest and then winning the MI state time trial championships this past weekend. Great win for the team and really awesome to see Brian put in a good ride. 8th place for me. felt alright out there, but definitley some solid room for improvment. Today made me realize how much Mark and Ben help us at races. We're all pulling mechanic/director duties this week as well as racing our bikes. Good thing we're all such great teamates :) Circuit race tomorrow. word on the streets is that its a toughy. wish us luck!

the next one

2006-06-27T23:00:00.000-04:00

on the road again today. out of MI, through canada, across the wiiiiide state of New York and into Massachussetts. Made good time but it was still a full day. Fitchburg starts thrusday with the TT. no, mechanic or director for us at this one so we are on our own. host housing for the week as well, nice quiet place about 45 min. from the race. Good job to our young guns at the Tour of Ohio. Grammo kicked off the first stage with a nice 5th place. Also a big congrats to Thor for getting the team its first NRC win of the season at the Tour de Nez last week by winning the TT.

The past week or so since Beauce has been filled with a good bit of rest and enjoyable time at home. I hit the local mtb trails a couple days last week for my first dose of much needed singletrack riding in a long time. swell times as always. gotta try to open the legs up a bit tomorrow which may be hard after a week of couch time, but hopefully this weekend will kick me back into gear and ready me for U23 nats and my upcoming europe trip. Looks like the national team guys are putting in some good rides over there so i'm psyched to join em in a few weeks.

no fresh pics, but i have been missing Clara in very large quanities. i'll share this one which i have been looking at rather frequently.

beauce pics

2006-06-21T21:27:00.000-04:00

R and R

2006-06-21T11:16:00.000-04:00

back to the blogging world for me. this will be a long one so bear with me. After a rough philly week in which i crashed 3 times in just over a week, i wasn't exactly psyched to write and once again explain what happened; however, i feel like my luck and racing has turned around a bit since then and I'm back on the up instead of on the down.

aside from my crash in the final 200 meters, philly was actually a pretty good day. Last year I didn't makethe final selection there, for a number of reasons, just not having "i"t being one of them. This year though was different and it gave me a new appreciation for the race. Its definitley different then any other race we do all year, especially making it to the 6th hour of racing. I know all those big pros like julich, horner and even pate always say the race isn't hard enough to force a really small selection, and that very well may be the case because we still had 30 or so guys at the finish, but for me, racing the full distance of 250km, and still being there to actually "race" at the end was a tough feat. anyway, the team rode solid throughout the day with Glen and I made the final group. It was great to have a guy like Glen by my side to keep me going and give me all those pointers that only a veteran like him could share. unfortunatley, i took a hard spill in the closing meters of the race as everyone was blurry eyed and diving for wheels. It really sucked to be that close to finishing that race strong and with a good result, but the positive is that i was there and now i know what it takes.

post race was also a bit of a sad time because i had to say my goodbyes to Clara. she's off to Italy to spend a good part of the summer with her parents and rip some legs off over there. I'm already missin her like crazy but at least now I am home and able to have plenty of phone and computer contact with her.

on to the next race.... right after philly we had to drive up to Quebec for the Tour De Beauce which started on tuesday! 250km of racing, a travel day and then a 6 day stage race. ouch!!! upon arriving in quebec i felt like i had been hit my a truck and then trampled by a heard of bulls. i really wasn't sure how i was gonna bring my body to race, but brian and glen convinced me that my body would come around once we got racing again. well, eventually my body did begin to come around, but not before 2 of the most horrific days on the bike i've had in a long time. the first two stages were absolute misery, filled with constant suffering and pretty much total mental and physical breakdown by the finish. i lost time both days and also had begun to watch the best young rider jersey slip out of my reach which was tough to see, knowing that had i come to this race fresh and at my best, these races would have been near perfect for me. on the 3rd day, things began to turn around. Glen, Brian and Tom rode like maniacs all day keeping Teddy and I up front and out of the wind. i can't say how crucial and helpful this was since the day would end on the beast of a climb, Mount Megantic and serious time gaps were sure to happen. The climb was insane. only the 2nd mtn top finish i've ever done and also one of the hardest climbs i've ever raced on, but I rode alright and ended up 15th on the day, putting time into the columbian kid who was leading the best young rider competition. It wasn't a massive result in itself, but the team had finally got things to click a bit and set us up for a good stage 4.

Stage 4 was a double day. 15km TT in the morning and a crit that didn't count for GC in the afternoon. Once again i wasn't sure what to expect out of my smashed legs, but it went quite well. I ended up 8th on the day and also was able to take over the red jersey as new leader of the best young rider classification. Zirbel crushed the course, holding a top 3 time for almost the entire day until that last few heads of state took the the course. still, Tom ended up with a highly impressive 6th place.

The next 2 days were a brutal set of circuit races. rad courses with wacky amounts of climbing and all kinds of leg breaking attacks throughout the days. stage 5 got whittled down to a select front group of 30 in which both sheedy and I found ourselves in. brian rode like a hauss once again making sure i was up at the front ready for any more splits that would happen. The last stage was more of the same and also the hottest of the days at a blistering 95 degrees! a long drag of a climb that was popping guys off the back from lap one and then a roller coaster decent back to the start finish. with our reduced team, we played it safe and stayed out of trouble all day to finish in the whittled down bunch and clinch the red jersey for Priority health, ending a hard week of racing.

doing this from my bros computer so pics are n/a but i will see what i can do in the next day or two.

Back in MI now for a few days of R and R. hope the summer is treating you all nicely!

ciao ciao

and another one

2006-06-09T15:44:00.000-04:00

a quick update to report some not so good news.

i crashed again. last lap. glen pulls an amazing effort and brings me and robbie in the top 10 wheels coming into the final and crucial climb with only maybe 2 miles to go. then BAM! someone sprints up my right side, hooking the back of my handelbars and sending me into a disco spin. game over. not cool. one of these days it will come together though.

heading to philly tomorrow. wish i was there today. wish me luck and no crashing. comments are fun too.

ciao for now.

BB

take a gander....

2006-06-06T16:09:00.000-04:00

i realized today that i have my camera and battery charger but no batteries. Luckily Tom Z was nice enough to sponsor me with a pair of AA's for the coming days, as well as these dandy pics. thanks Tom!

if your looking for carnage pics, headhere.

good, bad, worst and ok

2006-06-06T16:04:00.000-04:00

another entry for die hard "brent bookwalter" fans. no pictures once again, just the report.

we're finally settled into a place which we'll stay for more then a day. the past few days have been crazy to say the least. ups and downs as usual but i have to say more downs in this stretch. we went into the CSC invitational thinking it couldn't get much worse then captech, but it did.

Good: We started the race off great. Everyone got into good position early and was looking strong. After Brad Huff of Tiaacreff escaped solo only a few laps in, Glen put in a hard attack, and continued to string out the pack once caught. as soon as he let up, i hit it HARD! and got a gap right away, bridging to Huff. We instantly went to work and before too long had built a 20 second gap. That early in the race i really wasn't thinking we would stay away long, at least without being joined by more riders, but we were making a good go at it. later we were joined by another punk, who's name i will not mention because i really don't think too much of him after his childish behavior then ensued. anyway, we kept hammering away and byt his time i was getting a bit wacked.

Bad:i sat on a bit trying to recover and just as i was starting to pull through again i ate it. thats right. crashed! and that was it. game over.

Robbie and Teddy rode strong to finish solid, in a destroyed field of only 25 or so.

Worst: Aside from my tumble, Eddy and Rich also went down, both ending up in the hospital. Rich with a schnazzy 15 stitches in his chin. Eddy with a broken pelvis. thats right kids. that big bone that holds your legs in place. not good. the team sure is gonna miss Eddy int he coming weeks, not just on the bike but as a friend on the road as well.

So So: Lancaster was yesterday. 90 miles of brutal ups, downs and accelerations. my body was a bit thrashed from the day before. riding in break and crashing are both hard on the body, but i was set to give it a go and see how i felt. i made the selection to the last lap, then dumped my front wheel into a pothole and cracked it. Knowing a wheel change at that point was impossible, I fumbled with my front brake enough to get the wheel to clear through, but in doing so I lost all my position for the most crucial part of the course. Gaps started to form and I cramped myself and soon found myself off the back with a group of others. I surfed through the caravan for a bit, then rode it in.

Hopefully we’ve hit our quota for “hard luck” days and will be on the up now. With such a young team we should be growing and improving every race.

Time to go motor pace off a few amish horse and buggys.

ciao

$4.00???????

2006-06-03T09:46:00.000-04:00

Another pseudo-lame entry with nothing really exciting to report, but what else do I have to do?

Made it up to Arlington, VA yesterday for the CSC invitational crit which takes place today in a few hours. 100 laps, 100km at some rediculously high speeds. I think in a few minutes i'm gonna start spinning around in clockwise circles so i don't get dizzy once the race begins. CSC is here with one or two other euro teams. Last night in our hotel, there was some sort of fire or for some reason some of the "in-room" sprinkers went off creating quite a mess. they wouldn't let us back into the hotel for a long time. I guess a few floors above us were flooded and people had to be moved out. All of our team was in the clear except for Sheedy and Zirbel who had some water leak into their room from above so they had to be moved across the hall. The Hyatt hotel continued with its amazing performance this morning. Jake and I ventured to the resaurant for breakfast. $11 for pancakes which tasted like cardboard. they were even advertised to be topped with fruit but no such luck. only butter and syrup. who wants fruit when you can have butter???? i then proceeded to order, 1 cup of coffee. key word: 1!!!! they bring out a french press, pour me a cup and leave the press on the table. i say, "oh thank you, but i only want one cup." apparantly they don't sell 1 cup and the french press full of coffee i didn't drink cost me another $5. what a rip.

Oh, I almost forgot to update everyone on how the Captech Classic went the other night. I think absolute MISERY! is the best way to describe it. I got a sweet front row callup and felt great for about 5 laps. i won the first KOM sprint and then it was all downhill from there. i could give you a bunch of excuses but i just basically sucked. the only consoloation is that everyone except about 30 guys sucked i guess. I did get to experience some sweet heat exhaustion during the race. extreme overheating, chills, goosebumps and even a few puke episodes were all on the menu for me at some point during the race. ultimatley, i ended up pulling out with about 12 laps to go realizing the best i could hope for at that point was to hang on and finish just outside the top 30 since there were just over 30 guys left at that point. I really hope that knocked some kinks outa the system and opened me up because i don't wanna have to go through that again. we'll see. today's course isn't exactly taylor made for our team, but hopefully we can ride a bit better then we did on thursday night.

Lancaster tomorrow. Reading on Wed. and Philly on Sunday. we're in host housing all week. out in the middle of nowhere i think so the updates may be scarce. if your feeling inspirational, shoot me an email or a comment. i'll try to make the next one a bit more upbeat!

ciao for now.

jed, dorthy and the cats

2006-05-31T22:49:00.000-04:00

we made it back to Richmond, VA for the second year in a row for the Captech classic which takes place on the hilly downtown streets tomorrow night. The drive out was long and i did my best to help out our mechanic BenO by sleeping a good bit so he could focus on all the driving. Good work Ben!!!

Jake and i are staying in the same host house as last year which is working out well. Jed and Dorty are a great young couple who have taken us in this year and last. tonight they let me borrow the keys to one of their cars to roll over to a neighboring suberb to see Clara! its only a been a week since she left MI but i gotta say i've been missin her a bunch and it was great to see her and get to spend a little time together before we get crackin at the racing tomorrow.

rode today with a few of the guys. not a bad one, just bloody hot! I'm workin on my new state of the art weather machine so we should be seeing pleasant temps and sunny skies in no time.

once again i've gone lame with the pics. no new ones bu t here's a shot from the last school assembly we did while i was back home.

captech tomorrow evening. probably one of the hardest crits all season. a dandy of a hill which provides for some solid selection. last year it was sorta a breakout race for our teamm as far as how we went about getting a result so hopefully we can pick up where we left off. the boys are lookin fit and everyone is psyched to get rollin!

oh! check out www.velonews.com and watch the "shop talk" clip from collegiate nats. some good recognition for collegiate cycling and some kind words from the best announcer in the buisiness, Dave Towle.

enough for now. if your lookin for more updates, be sure to head over to Jake the Snake's website. he's been doing daily updates on the happenings around here.

over and out

BB

MI

2006-05-23T22:36:00.000-04:00

There's no way to recap all that has happened since my last update. I've had quite the break fromt he blogging world, but for good reason. since my last post i've raced collegiate nationals and made it back to MI. I'm sure you've all seen the report from nationals so i'll spare you the reading.

MI has been A ok. "A" ok beacuse i convinced my main squeeze Clara to come back with me. i think she was a little overwhelmed at the thought of venturing to the amazing state of Michigan since she had never been there, but she's takin to it quite well and it has been GREAT to be with her after the mayham of finals and collegiate racing has subsided.

aside from catching up on sleep and getting a bit of rest, i'm doing a few gigs with Priority Health. last week Wed. and tomorrow.... school assemblies. we get to talk to little kids about being active, eating healthy and all that good stuff. after our school time tomorrow its straight back to GR for some Grattan racing action.

pics and more updates to come

ciao for now

signed, sealed, delivered

2006-05-07T12:59:00.000-04:00

finally done with my 8th and hopefully 2nd to last semester of college. the exam week was a bit rough but i'm done and one step closer to getting that rad piece of paper which will declare me an "educated" and potentially contributing member to society. whoo hoo!

I've been celebrating in fine fassion. sleeping in till 11 and going about the day with nothing that even comes close to resembling a schedule. I dig it. riding has been mellow to help the body recover from the school stress and the hectic race schedule the past few weeks. here's a few training action shots.

No racing this weekend, but I did race Friday night in Spartenburg, SC at a criterium which is part of the US crit series. It was great to see the crit crew on our team that didn't do shanendoah. the course was a narrow, .5 mile action packed rectangle which meant we were treated to a mind numbing 70 laps. To top things off, it was raining and very wet! not the kinda race i get really psyched for, but i was looking forward to opening the legs up a bit after a few easy days after shanendoah. Once we got rolling, it wasn't all that bad. the wet roads actually served to keep things interesting and a little more singled out. my legs felt fairly peachy and i gave a go at a few moves early on, soon realizing that a couple of the other big teams weren't into the breakaway thing. from there i just tried to keep it safe and in good position. had a fun front flat tire with about 12 to go, but got back in there and did my best to get back up front to help Rich in the sprint. we couldn't quite latch onto eachother among the chaos of the final laps but we both punched it in for top 10's. me in 8th and rich right there in 10th.

All of boys seem to be riding good and are getting their race legs back after not doing any racing since the cali stint. We're still working the details out on getting organized in these flat and fast bunch kicks, but i'm sure we'll put it together before too long. I think we're in good shape heading into the next block of races. we're a bit behind on the actual racing this year since we didn't get to do tour of cali or tour of georgia, but eventually its gonna pay off as i'm sure many of the teams are starting to get a bit tired this time of year. We have a full book of matches and we're going to lightin them up very very soon!!

the LMC crew is heading out to Kansas on Tuesday for collegiate road nationals. my last collegiate road nats so hopefully they turn out to be a rockin time with some swell racing. Our team is looking great and i think everyone is ready to rip it. You never know what is gonna happen at collegiate nats. its probably one of the weirdest races ever. 100 or so riders and hardly any of them have ever raced against eachother, especially in a situation where each team only is allowed to race 4 riders per event. makes for an interesting and somewhat challanging dynamic where some pretty odd things can happen, but we're all excited and ready to give it a go. TTT on friday, RR sat and Crit on Sun. Wish us luck!

ciao for now

One more day

2006-05-02T13:42:00.000-04:00

2 exams, 1 research paper and 4 smaller papers to finish. then i'm done, for the semester.

still i thought i needed and little more procastination to allow for another update. the guys at blackbird images were kind enough to let me know i could use any of their shenandoah pics for the blog, and we all know how fun pictures of very very good looking people are. they're probably a bit heavy on the "brent" but hey, this is my blog.

Shenandoah

2006-04-29T21:42:00.000-04:00

I've been racing the Tour of Shenandoah in Virginia for the past week. We're staying in these rad cabins in the middle of nowhere and we just found out yesterday that their "lodge" has wireless internet! Eureka! i've kinda lost touch with the outside world but that is usually the routine with stage racing. its been a great race. Amazing courses and a tough field. good thing the Priority Health Cycling team brought their A game. I can't even begin to start to bring you up to speed on the past few days, so you should check out the race website for full down low.

exciting huh? the team has been Brilliant and i can't say how proud and happy i am to be riding with these guys and involved with such a great team. so today? TT. 15 miles rolling out and back. i usually like these sort of things but you never know what you'll get after 4 really hard days of racing. Ended up going great! I bagged my first win of the season and also gained enough time to move into GC leader! i can't give enough thanks and props to the team this week, all of them have been incredible. it says somhing about a group when you can have 3 different guys within the team wear the leaders jersey throughout the race (eddy and Tom). sheedy has been amazing, turning himself inside out driving breaks and keeping us where we needed to be. Jake is the wheel man. not only does this kid snag the KOM jersey on day 2, but he then selflessly sacrafices the jersey. Tom flats on day 3, I flat on day 4 and like a true champion jake pulls over both days and hands up his wheel for the better of the team. Thanks Snake! little scott stuart has been a pleasant surprise for all of us. in only his 1st race as a cat. 2 he has been tearing it up at the front, covering moves, riding in breaks and playinhg the roles of super domestique. Same goes for Grahamo, what a stud, mile after mile and bottle after bottle this dude has been making it happen for us. so there's a recap of the crew. oh, can't forget to mention director mark and mechanic Ben. i don't know how these guys keep their heads on straight taking care of a buncha hight maitnence hooligans like us, but they're gettin it done with fine style.

so stage 7 tomorrow. a dandy of a crit. one more day to tear it up, ride smart and go to work. should be an exciting one!

for your viwing pleasure....

not sure what the updates will be like in the cominda days. school, exams. the works. my head will be wracked but i can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

tschuss for now

OFF weekend

2006-04-17T11:16:00.000-04:00

Check out this tub of Nutella. Straight from Italy C/O Clara. I've been making some good progress on it. hopefully i can kill it before the school year ends. I heard the Nutella they sell in Europe doesn't have hydrogenated oli in it, meaning its better for you then the stuff here. true??
I've managed to pound out 7 straight weekends of racing this season. Overall its been swell and I'm satisfied with the progression, form and fun times that have been had. This past weekend was spent, not racing. kinda nice. wed. i packed a bag and headed to the airport to fly up to MI. Woke up bright and early Thursday morning to head to Priority Health Headquarters. It really felt like after and traveling and waking up that early i should be jumping on my bike but nope, instead i spent the day hangin with the team and crew of awesome friends, family and supporters at our "offical team unveiling" breakfast and info briefing, presentation (with a little speech by me), luncheon, ride, party and finally some catchin up with high school buds and downtown rockin with my teamate Tommy. A action packed day! oh, i even got a stack of the newly released Brent Bookwalter Trading Cards. a very hot item i must stay.

so anyway, I really feel we have one of the best if not the best sponsors in the buisiness. For being a first year cycling sponsor, Priority Health has reallly stepped up nicely. I'm impressed. not to brag, but i really am a lucky guy. so many friendly and supportive people behind us. It was great to have a chance to go back home and catch up with the classics and meet a bunch of new people as well.

Riding the lovely country roads of MI with Brian and longtime friend and sponsor Rob Wynalda. i wonder how many total trehsold intervals i've done on that road?
just for sport, a pic of my race bike. first time i got to ride it since cali. very beautiful if you ask me.
the team getting ready to hop on the bike and be "unveiled"! to the MI community.

Flew back to the South on Friday. Made for a whirlwind trip but i wanted to get back to train, do some schoolwork and have some Clara time. Rode the Roan Mtn. loop with SS on Sat. killer views!! didn't feel bad on the climb either. The weather here is unreal, record highs. yesterday was one for the books. 80 or so degress, sunny, 105 miles, 13,000+ ft of climbing. only bad thing... it was easter sunday, meaning no gas stations open, especially those billy bob stops int he middle of nowhere. it was lookin grim for a while, our salty selves were emptying fast but we found salvation in a beautiful pepsi machine. good thing i had some 1$ bills.

the pirate was nice enough to have a few of us over for easter dinner yesterday. almost like being home. off/easy day today. wish me luck on the homework stuff. i gotta get stuff sorted out before heading to VA for tour of shenendoah a week from today. .

in case your bummed out about your monday activities, here is a pic of a pair our troublemaking freshman. arrested last week for painting the road for our home race. today is clean up day. good work boys! i think they should leave this on there...

PICS!

2006-04-11T19:35:00.000-04:00

here's a few more pics from this past weekend. if i had better computer skills i could get more up here but for some reason a few just won't transfer. Thanks to Went's mom! hope its ok i stole them from her photo album.

team gathering sunday morning at the the coffee shop.

Danny, bleeding out of his eyes per usual.

more pre race pow wow
teamate scott jackson attackin solo in the first 10 minutes to help set me up for the winning move.
the LMC spread
big man scott stewart using his sturdy 130 lb. frame to get off the front, making people hurt.

productivity, or not

2006-04-10T22:11:00.000-04:00

Monday once again, and that means I'm again in denial, not believing that the school week has begun another brutal cycle. Fortunatley we're rockin out to a 3 day week c/o the Easter holidy. I'm flyin back to MI on wed. for the "Priority Health Cycling Team" media event and official team unveiling. should be a fun day of a little hoopla and also a great chance to get to see the fam, a few friends and meet the people at Priority who are giving me this great opportunity to race my bike. Oh, our website is up. Check it!! they even have a link to bring you right back here.

This past weekend LMC hosted its "home" collegiate road race for the season. It was fabulous to get to race right out our front door and have some awesome support from the school and community. A big thank you goes out to everyone who watched, cheered and helped out with the races! We even had our own version of "the devil" at the top of our road race climb. I'll be sure to locate some pics and toss em up here.

We started the weekend off right by placing 1,2 in the team time trial. It was my "race" ttt effort with 2 of the 4 guys on my team and they all rode like champs. We had a few hicups but were moving pretty good out there. once we get a few more kinks worked out its gonna be scary. here's a hot pick of us getting ready to start. thanks to my teamate went for the pic and my bud Stu for letting me rock his TT bike and disc wheel.
we finished saturday off in stellar fashion, rockin the criterium as well. Everyone rode aggressive and strong from the gun, allowing me to slip off the front in a group of 3. I attacked the break and managed to lap the field just before race finish for the win. it was nice to catch them just in time to watch my teamates line it up and also take the field sprint. nice boys!

RR. Sunday. 60 miles. around 8,000 feet of climbing. i'll spare you the play by play, but it worked out great. with me fortunate enough to take the win, while scott J was 3rd, Scott S 5th and the other boys stacking the top 10. props go out to mr. fairbanks from cumberland university who gave us a good run and helped stir things up a bit.

leave me some love

peace.

the schnozeberries taste like schnozeberries

2006-04-03T20:17:00.000-04:00

only a few weeks left of school. not sure how i'm gonna get all that work done. UGH!

raced my first collegiate race this past weekend. our conference is sorta lame this year. there are a few really strong guys on the other teams, but we are the only team with 10 riders in the A field. i guess we are the healthnet of the southeast. good times though. i bagged my first race win saturday in the crit. the rest of our guys are lookin really good though, i'm impressed. the toughest thing for our team is going to be deciding the nationals team. only 3 or 4 guys in each event and we probalby have 8 or 9 guys who would be for sure nationals roster material on other teams.

off day today. nice. chem lab today. not nice.

hoping my easton parts for my training bike come this week. the (nonteam) domocles is pretty hot but some easton carbon parts will complete the ensemble.

a bit of old news, but you gotta check out the issue of velonews with floyd on the cover. (tour of cali floyd). its the one that has a little write up on each U.S. pro team. anyway, it has a nice petite pick of brent bookwalter under the "priority health" section. scope it if you haven't yet. i gotta give a big thanks to the best announcer in the cycling buisiness, Dave Towle for his kind words. Thanks Dave! you da man! on a sidenote..... i really hope the san dimas stage race brings in Dave next year, their announcer gave a strong effort but definitley fell a note short of Mr. Towle.

home race for LMC this weekend. proly one of the hardest courses in the U.S. 60 mile A race with about 12,000 feet of climbing. Giddy up!

i know i'm slackin on the pics. i'll be sure to do a photo diary of this weekend. my mom is coming into town so maybe she can help out with the pics thing.

priority health media event/team unveiling in MI in a week or so. im' heading for a day or two right before the easter weekend. sounds fun.

appreciate the randomness.

check out my boy taylor at a solid 1.1 in france. dang, i wish that kid still went to school here. he made the early move in this race below, somthing that i can say is dang hard. good ride taylor!

peace

SLAMMED!

2006-03-30T13:26:00.000-05:00

I just was informed yesterday that we have only like 20 days or so of class left this semester. factor in that i'll miss at least another week for racing and all those test and deadlines get quite intimidating. would you all keep telling me that i'm almost done so i just don't pack up and quit?

So i'm back to good ole Banner Elk after a fun and mostly successful racing trip to Cali. The team is awesome, the equipment is tops and even the people from priority health who came out to interview and take pics of us were great! I definitley got some hard racing in, and the legs seem to be turning over nicely after just a few weekends of racing. I gotta give a big THANK YOU to all my teamates for their help, and support that past couple weeks. i can't say i expected to be in a sort of "protected" role but it was an amazing feeling to have them behind me. Bonus thank yous to Tommy and Tom who rescued me just 5 miles into the Circuit race at redlands when i flatted. speaking of Redlands, that circuit race was pretty rad. we need more races like that. hard, exciting and very spectator freindly.

Its been good to get back to the Elk and get up to speed on everyone's spring break happenings. miserable to be back to schoolwork though. i missed a lot, to say the least. we did some TTT practice yesterday. I've also done like 4 loads of laundry since i've been back.

no rad picks today but soon. collegiate racing at UGA this weekend. the team has been riding fantastic so hopefully i don't botch things up. i left my race bike with the team in cali. i hope they ship it to me soon, my training bike doesn't have my name on it.

ciao for now

We Look Good

2006-03-24T00:45:00.000-05:00

I finally managed to get some eye candy for all you eager onlookers. some new kits and a bit of a photo shoot today. not ideal prep for tomorrows TT but fun to mix it up. start time tomorrow is 12:06. send me a tailwind!

Cali

2006-03-21T20:51:00.000-05:00

as you can probably tell, i've been going through slight amounts of internet withdrawl and consequently haven't been able to update this puppy very often, but voila! here I am again.

The past days and weeks have been pretty action packed. the fresno and san dimas race weekends are in the bag. our team is looking solid and improving with every race we've done with eachother. I gotta give a big thank you and congrats to the team for this past weekend as they allowed and helped me to win the White Jersey as "best young rider" in the san dimas stage race. We also managed two 2nd place stage finishes for the weekend which is pretty exciting and a good indication for things to come. if you haven't scoped it already, check out our teams results and some pics of the hottest team in the peleton.

The crit was a big day for me. the rain was coming down as we started and this helped me to escaape into a break on the first lap with Gord Fraser and my former teamate Karl Menzies. We stayed away for almost the entire 90 min. race, getting caught with less than a lap to go. sorta dissapointing to work so hard and come so close to staying away but it was some awesome race effort for the legs and not bad to have our team represented out there as well.

for some reason i can't post pics on this computer but check me out and here again

host housing this week before redlands. we're staying with a realy nice family in a beuatiful place. hopefully i acn figure out how to get some pics up soon.

ciao for now

SPRING BREAK!!!

2006-03-14T20:35:00.000-05:00

WHOO HOOO! yesterday was the first day of my spring break and wow has it been crazy! 10 or so hours of sleep a night and a nap thrown in for good measure was wild way to start it. when you add a couple hours of riding and a crazy salad for dinner i begin to think i maybe have to control myself for the next few days.

another spring break made up of bike racing, but thats fine by me when its with a great team at some hard races. i could go for a bit of better weather. today was dreadful. we had planned to hit the mountains for a good group session but instead opted for the nearby flatlands since it was windy and rainy. i gotta say it was maybe the lamest ride i've done in a while. straight roads, lots of wind. yuck! the only thing that made it bearable was some solid guys to ride with and Frank driving the van behind us to give us bottles and a fresh set of gloves for the way back. thanks Frank!

still no pictures. i know i'm slacking. i'm begginning to aquire a couple good ones but can't seem to remember my camera when i finally find a place where my computer will pick up a wireless signal. keep checking back and a promise some solid ones sometime before eternity.

tomorrow we're leaving merced, CA which is fine by me. this place is kinda lame. down to san dimas we go. i can't say i'm psyched about the drive but at least i won't be the one behind the wheel getting lost per usual.

i hear our new team site should be at least partially up soon, so keep looking for that. i better start practicing how i will style my hair for some team pictures!

ta ta

a quickie

2006-03-11T21:02:00.000-05:00

all the latest and brief info from cali...

racing again. at some NRC races. team is awesome. a few of the same great notables from last season and a nice few additions that are all tops! new bikes, rad. no new kits yet but hopefully soon.

yesterday was supposed to be a rockin mtn tt, like 2500 ft. elevation gain in 10km. turns out it snowed up there and apparantly in california, snow makes you melt or mutate or somthing because they won't ride in it. so instead we did a bland 35 km flat and windy tt. our team didn't have tt bikes since we planned on using our climbing legs so it was a bit of a rough experience. definitley not one to include on the resume. road race today. dead flat but some good km's and and a bit nice to get the legs tickin over outa the corners a a bit. haven't done that in a while. bloody cold. maybe 40 and rain towards the end. i thought we were in the sunshine state. so our mr. sprinter flatted on the last lap which thwarted our plans a bit, but we still gave it a good go and from what i saw today, we should be lookin in fine shape with a few more rides together.
minimal internet contact so my daily schedule has been modified a bit. hopefully this will change int he next week or so. crit tomorrow, wish me luck!

oh, a big congrats to the collegiate crew. i heard through the grapevine that mr. winger snagged a BIG W!!! way to go boys!

also congrats to a MI native who just won the tour of Tawain. mr kirk obee. since i don't have any new pics to show you. here's a dandy of me getting ready to pounce on mr. obee last year.

over and out.

the start

2006-03-09T01:28:00.000-05:00

Today marked the official beginning of significant travel for the '06 racing season. back to "out of bag living" and those lovely trailmix dinners. quite the day today. my mind was in the meat grinder from the start with chem lecture this morning. who knew there was so much to learn about little invisible particles with a negative charge. from there it was out on the bike for a quick 90 min sanity spin, then back to class for zoology lecture and lab. we got to disect crayfish and had to rip off all of their appendages. did you know crayfish have like 30 different appendages? i'm glad i dont' have that many, i have trouble keeping track of my arms and legs.
now i sit in the Las Vegas aiport. my flight from charlotte to vegas was kinda bumpy and took bloody forever! now i get to sit around here for a couple hours and finish the trip into fresno at about 4 am eastern time. i can now say i've been to Vegas and i'm not sure i'll come back. these slot machines are everywhere and the "DING DING DING!" is killin me. maybe i'll have to try it another time when i'm not overtired and going to race my bike.

Central Valley Classic in Fresno, CA this weekend. the first stage of the omnium is supposed to be a sick uphill TT, but apparantly the road is still pretty snow filled and they may change it. not much sense in thinking about it i guess, i'll find out soon enough. new bike tomorrow too! should be about the same as my training machine, but nonetheless, thats always exciting. not sure what kinda internet life force i'll have for this next block but you can be sure if there is one nearby, I will find it!

ciao for now

more red

2006-03-06T18:22:00.000-05:00

i know the main feature of my last post was "burn lines" but i got a couple more dandys this past weekend and wanted to share them with all those important people who read this. i've been hearing that the tan, golden bronze stuff is the look of the past and this summer, red skin is in!!!! i hope i can balancec cycling with all that skin modeling i'll be doing.

where did i aquire these beautys? Greenville, SC. i ventured down there with the collegiate team for my 2nd weekend of racing this season. no earth shattering results on the weekend. Sat. i raced with my sole southeast priority health teamate, Eddy Hilger. Eddy rode like an animal. just a lap into the racei helped launch him into a break that stuck almost all day. Eddy ended up holding the field off solo until 1 lap to go. I countered hard upon his catch and got away with a nice but scared group who wouldn't work it with me. it came back just before the finishing climb. Eddy gave me a solid leadout, but i jumped into the headwind rise too quick and ran out just short of the line, slipping back to 5th. one of my collegiate bros Ed Burress came in just behind in 6th. I need some work on that sprint, but all is well. that was about my 4th day of the season with that lactic acid stuff in my legs, it should only get better from here. here's a action pic of mr. hilger in the break.

Sunday I raced a crit on the BMW test track in Greenville. rode with the other cat 1/2 riders on my collegiate team. they are looking good and it was nice to be back flyin the green and gold LMC colors with them. a flat and fast course alomst 4 lanes wide proved anything but ideal for break aways, but i was persistant in trying to shake it up and get some intensity in my legs that will hopefully help for the next couple weekends. Finally with about 15 min. to go, i escaped with one other rider. For the next couple laps i dropped the hammer to establish a bit of a gap. my companion was giving me what he had but i definitley coulda used a bit more as i charged like a bull through the headwind everylap, only to have him come through and decrees speed in the tailwind while i quickly caught my breath before taking another charge. back in the pack, team Nerac/outdoor lights (the only full pro team there) had their full team of 12 or so riders on the front aiming to pull us back. my time trial effort came to a dissapointing end with one lap to go as the pack swooped in on us preparing for the sprint. a bit of a bummer to get caught but also refreshing to have put in a good effort and also see that almost the entire nerac team had been blown to bits in pulling us back. with only 1 lap to go, i did my best to retain position. i found one of the newest and strongest additions to our collegiate team, scott Jackson, and did my best to bring him into the first few wheels of the race as we entered the final corners. scott had a nice finishing kick and ended up 6th. kudos to the rest of my collegiate team as well for a solid weekend of USCF racing. this spring should be a good one.

back to school today. ugh. only 2 more days and i'll be headin out to Cali to finally assemble with the full Priority Health team. from the sounds of it they are all rippin out there already so it will be great to join them. I'll be sure to check in from the west coast.

addio for now.

a week

2006-02-21T21:25:00.000-05:00

another week, another series of mostly usual events. Last Thursday was a totally rad day. primo weather and a long ride that allowed me to get a nice set of sunburned arms! yea, i know my fair skin self shouldn't be jumping up and down because my skin always burns to a crisp, but we're talking February! the pic doesn't do it justice, these were some bomb tanlines by brent bookwalter Feb. standards!

My bday was also this past thursday, the BIG 22. Thanks a bunch for everyone that called, wrote, posted and sent their bday wishes to me. spent a little time this past weekend doing combined bday celebrating for me, my roomate Jesse and Teamate Wes, all who are having their cake day this month. speaking of cake, my girlfriend made me a rockin dirt cake and even put it in a flower pot with flowers!

It seems like everyone on campus is sick, the plague must be going around. i'm staying clear as best i can hoping to dodge it. school has been wicked hard too! Chem test and zoology test in a 2 day period. my brain is mush. Just about done with the "base" phase of my training. for the most part its went well and i've made some solid progress, but i am psyched to get racing. I thikn i'm gonna give er a go this weekend in Greenville, SC at a couple of RR's. A BIG congrats to my teamates who brought home the first victory for the "Priority Health" cycling team this past weekend at the Valley of the Sun Stage race in Arizona. Our new man, Tom Zirbel took home the TT stage win and overall honors! A few more weeks and i'll be out in Cali rippin it with them for a solid block of the early NRC races. Giddy up.

I hope everyone's been reading up and or watching the Tour of California race coverage. Sounds like a top notch race with a wicked deep field. Good luck to my bud Taylor who is 3rd right now in the best young rider comp.

i'll try to post the first race report type post, after this weekend.

ciao.

USADA

2006-02-15T20:56:00.000-05:00

"USADA is dedicated to preserving the well being of Olympic sport, the integrity of competition, and ensuring the health of athletes." i agree with this mission as much or more than anyone else out there, and will do whatever i can to help the fight for clean athletics, especially with cycling. its too bad there are dishonest, no good scum of the earth cheaters out there who wreck it for the rest of us and force all of us clean riders to go through a bunch of extra precautions. recently i was requested to enroll in USADA's OOC (out of competition) testing program. I think probably because I spent some time with the national team last summer and am now "fully" in the books with USA cycling and am in part being supported by them while I am racing with the national team. I have no problem being part of such a program, as i said and truly mean i would do anything to help the fight for a clean sport, but being enrolled in this program is a bit inconvenient and time consuming to say the least.

4 times per year I have to submit a form that has detailed and specific info on my whereabouts. this doesn't mean, "oh i'll be at school" or "i'll be at home" or "i think i'll be training with my teamate in GA". This means, what days i'm traveling, where i'll be staying, where i'll be training while i am there and lots of other info all of which has to be submitted months in advance. this is so the USADA testers can find me at all times if they want to conduct an out of competition drug test or just desire a cup of valuable urine. not a huge deal, but how in the heck am i supposed to know what hotel or host housing i'll be staying at 3 months from now, much less where i'll be training while I am there? yea, i can submit updates but that calls for another additional night of sitting at the computer or filling out paperwork. I wonder if my teachers would consider that a quality excuse for not writing a paper or studying for a test??

In other news, we're almost to the week countdown till the first race of the year down in Greenvile SC the last weekend in Feb. training has been rolling along per usual. one last nice day tomorrow before winter comes back to smack us once again, just in time for the weekend. happy late vday to everyone. oh, i was surfing blogs per usual and found a cool link on my former teamate, Garret Peltonen's site. check out his site, then check out this link for a few stellar audio file interviews by the one and only top notch cycling announcer Dave Towle. A sweet 5 min. blurp of yours truly from cross nationals is just a short scroll down the page.

http://www.towlefiles.com/listen.jsp

i'll leave you with a pic of casey, our dog at my mom's house. she's a sweetie. i think i shoud bring her down here so people can see that dogs don't have to be savage beasts that eat cyclists.

nice donkey

2006-02-11T19:53:00.000-05:00

I met two ass' today. nice little fellas.
the drive pavement of yesterday was brutally destroyed last night as the snow and slush began to fall. by this morning it was full on winter and time to saddle up on the mountain bike for a backroad excursion. solo. pleasant and peaceful climbs on snow covered dirt roads, as well as a few miserable and wet pavement descents. brrrr, those were cold but it brought me back to those days when i used to train in the MI winter. i'm not sure how i did that. anyway, here are a few pics from today.

the slush tried to eat me, but i managed to escape.

now thats better...
sweet place for a chimney.
i was getting sorta warm, so i stopped for a swim here
one for the mom..
are you buzz lightyear??

1000!!!

2006-02-09T21:00:00.000-05:00

I recently noticed my pagecounter hit "1000"!!!!! so thanks to everyone who checks in on my happenings. i realize most of the page views are from scott, clara or myself; but i'm glad there are a few others out there who enjoy "keepin it real" as a healthy distraction. lots of the usual going down in banner elk. winter has delivered a swift roundhouse kick to our faces the past few days. full on snow, wind and chilly temps. this past Sunday, Clara, Scott and Myself ventured out of the mountains to the Winstom-Salem area where it was sunny and about 20 deg. warmer than B.e. it turned into an awesome day, we ran into my team director, Mark Olsen and his Wife Sheryl who just happened to be down in NC for a couple weeks of MI winter relieft. Totally crazy to run into them, but it worked out great and was way nice to catch up with them. Today I had to drive a bit to ride once again, this time a solo trip to johnson city, TN. The typical "don't know where i'm going" ride but it was sunny 5 hrs. with dry roads so i'm a happy camper :) Have you seen the new E-caps catalog?? I think there are a couple different versions of the cover, but here is the "best" looking one......

It's ME!

thanks to the guys at E-caps/hammar nutrtion. if any of you ever need any vitamins or supplements, check em out and say i reffered you, they'll give you a nice 15% off!

jesse saw the catalog and is already practicing for their 2007 edition. any form tips for him????

poop

2006-02-04T11:11:00.000-05:00

its saturday and the weather has turned to full on crap. 40 and rainning right now, with snow and cold temps as far as we can see in the future. good thing i opted out of zoology yesterday to pound out some miles and allow the sun to hit my bare legs one last time for a while. i found a bitchin new climb, 40 rpms and some serious power output just to make it up. turned to gravel at the top too!! suckiest part about the ride was definitley riding through Boone. If i ever say I'm gonna move to a big city, i hope all of you kick me in the teeth to remind me of my extreme disgust for traffic and stoplights. walnuts and bananas in pancakes is the recipe for this morning. happy late bday to scott stewart who turned 19 this past thursday. dang i feel old. i haven't shaved in a few days, first out of laziness and then for the thought of winter protection. it might be time to make it happen though. check out the latest issue of velonews for a write up on my homie, ex-roomie and linebacker turned cyclist, Taylor Tolleson. we've begun our preperation for our collegiate race here. it should be another doozy filled with sick amounts of climbing and some sketch decents. here's a pick from last year....

bad spinach

2006-01-31T20:56:00.000-05:00

I think the Spinach I have in our fridge is bad. I just ate some and my stomach is a bit mad right now. to the garbage it goes. had yoga class today. Namaste!!! i think that means "i give the best of me, to the best of you" or somthing like that. our teacher is always saying it. She also uses all kinds of other wacky words that i can't remember. she sure loves some yoga and isn't afraid to get up in your grill and show you how to do the moves. hopefully my teamate dave doesn't get too excited when she is positioning his buttox. after a good dose of yoga, i ventured out on a ride with my roomate jesse and the lovely clara. a bit chilly, but no dogs and i only got dropped a few times so all is well. i had to wear tights for the 3rd time this year as well as plenty of other snowman garb that makes me look large and in charge. i sure could use all those cold weather riding clothes that i lost at cross nationals c/o the pirate. in other news... we got our electric bill today and we knocked like $20 off of it from last month. good thing jesse and i are related to polar bears. look at how good we look....

The Trainer king from Texas venturing into the tundra
name that road...see you later bye

i live out there, so don't go there

2006-01-29T14:49:00.000-05:00

I've been tryin without much sucess to pound out some zoology notes. WOW, this stuff is boring. The sun is coming out so it looks like i might rethink my idea of an off day and head out for some healthy active recovery. yesterday was rad. we had a rockin group ride of about 10 riders, all of varying abilities, head out on the 5 hour Iron mountain loop. I have to say i was impressed with such a large group making it through a ride like that. kudos to lmc cycling. i even got to pull down the knee warmers for a good bit and maximize my sunshine absorbtion. giddy up! no camera on the ride but here's a lovely post ride pick of yours truly.... yes, i take pictures of myself. just for your enjoyment though. haha.

i just found an old bag of carrots in my fridge. not sure what the shelf life on carrots is, but they seem ok. on other news, i'm doing a load of laundry, "whites" as we speak and i also just renewed my license plates online. hot dang, thats productive.

i hope by now you've all headed to cyclingnews.com and checked up on our fellow Americans at cross worlds. congrats to the juniors on what looked like some solid riding. what most people don't realize is how incredibly HARD it is to actually race to your full potential at the World championships. my sympathy goes out to Mr. Troy wells. apparantly he got crashed while riding in 5th by some Swiss punk and broke his elbow as well as both carbon wheels on his bike. the amazing part of it is that he somehow went on to finish before heading to the hospital. that takes some GUTS! I gotta say I'm pretty happy that I decided not to petition my way onto the worlds team. If selected, it woulda been great to work with the awesome American Team over in Europe, but i think the costs would have outweighed the rewards for me. plus, its been really nice to just focus on training the past few weeks.

ok, i've said enough. ciao.

they got him

2006-01-27T12:06:00.000-05:00

Friday at last. i'm stuck in class till 2:00, missin some plush sunshine. hit up the coffee shop during the dead zone today and had a delicious matte latte. two more days of riding and then i get a few rest days to recover before making the last push through my base phase. i rode the Roan Mtn. loop yesterday, one of my favs and a solid 5 hours. The team here is having a "goal" meeting tonight so we can all get on the same page and start crushin some heads when the racing season begins. I gotta say one of my top team and individual goals for the collegiate season is to defend our Team Time Trial title. that event is dang painful, but its such a beautiful art when it comes together like it did last year at nats. sadly, my 3 TTT companions from last year have all moved on so we'll be starting from scratch, building from the ground up with a solid set of new guys who i'm sure will impress. here's what we're gunning for.....
On a more serious note, the code red pirate (coach Doug Owen) watch that was issued in December has been temporarily suspended. Looks like they got em folks!!!!
cheers

Get a Leash!

2006-01-25T15:11:00.000-05:00

Crammed in a ride today between classes. ventured out on a short section of buffed out dirt road. I was almost turned into dog food. these pups are usually agressive, but today they were out for blood. I delivered a swift and sturdy kick to the face of the brown one, He didn't eve FLINCH! yea, just kept chasing a lunging at me. i inreased speed and finally shook him, but gollllly he was a pain in the arse. you gotta wonder what kinda treatment from their owner makes a dog behave like such a useless beast?

Here they come!
Thats the one that got a size 45 Carnac in the face. He's a sturdy fella.

had to wear tights today for only the 2nd time since i've started training. can't complain there. yesterday i did my first race specific preperation. intervals? sprinting? time trial? no, no, and no. I unrinated off my bike while riding. gotta tune up those skills before the long early season races. I managed to empy the bladder and not even splash too much on the shorts, all while never stopping. I think i'll have some fine form with a little more practice. also got my power tap working. knock on wood. maybe it will work for more than 2 weeks this season.
my eyes need rest. i spent the last hour looking at protozoa in a microscope. don't you wanna be a biology major??

monday and deer

2006-01-23T23:02:00.000-05:00

gotta love mondays. class all day and my first chemistry lab. does a biology major really need chemistry?? ugh, i suck at this stuff. i'm taking the 2nd semester of a two semester chem. course. the kicker is that i took the first semester 3 years ago when i went to grand valley. yea i know, brilliant idea brent. so to say the least, i'm a little behind and my mind is already wacked! today was definitley one of those days when i had to keep reminding myself it was a good idea to be going to college and trying to race bikes at the same time. Training has been goin solid though. did a solid 11 strong group ride yesterday and managed to avoid the rain for all but the last 20 min. good thing my new Ridley has stealth mode. By the way, my teamate Wentworth did some research on the model of my bike "Damocles" and the EPIC Sword that is painted on the top tube. The Greek story about the sword of Damocles goes to exemplify the idea of "why don't you try walking a mile in my shoes" as to say the lives of others aren't always as glamerous as they seem. Wow, that is a pretty solid quote for a cyclist. wouldn't you say??

Thanks to my mom's new husband Jack and his superb hunting ability, Jesse and I ate some tasty deer meat last night. after eating it my stomach began to rumble and then all of a sudden BAM!! check out this pic i took when we were done eating. maybe Jack shoulda left him in the woods.

Jesse wins!

2006-01-21T15:08:00.000-05:00

Time for an update, which usually means its a bad day to ride outside. My roomate Jesse "balls" Hayes doesn't let that stop him. he's loggin some solid trainer miles today. i get to listen to the hum of the trainer and him sing along to songs of "Caddyshack" look at that form!

I made the call yesterday to take an off day today. the legs were a bit tired on the bike yesterday and I have my weekly hours in the bag. had a cycling team gathering up at Danny's place last night. the usual cycling shin dig but not a bad time. even threw in some hacky sack for good measure. We had a recruit with us last night too, fast mtb kid named Kyle Hemmaker. good guy. hopefully we didn't scare him away. My boy Taylor and my teamate richie are racing the track world cup in L.A. this weekend. right about now they could be bleading out of their ears and filling their body's with poisen. hope all goes well for them. not sure what to do with myself today. probably continue the everlasting process of cleaning up my room, sleep some more and maybe hit the grocery store. the tour of my phat pad continues today with our freshly cleaned kitchen. wanna come over and cook us dinner?

The Dead Zone

2006-01-18T10:37:00.000-05:00

Well its Wed. and that means my class schedule is crap supreme. sweet chemistry from 9:30 to 10:30, then zoology and zoo lab from 1:00-4:30. who does that?? UGH! the time between is basically "the dead zone". not enough time to do anything cool or productive, but too much time to just sit on my arse idol.

WAIT!!! whew, productivity achieved. just got a call from the coach "Mr. Rick Crawford" what a guy. mvp. discussed the upcoming training a bit and just caught up. of course usacycling and noel's national team program were brought up. apparantly a few kids at fort lewis just dropped outa school to be race with noels program. thats a great opportunity and I hope it goes great for them, but I also hope they did it for the right reasons. It really sucks to have to make decisions like that based on fear, pressure and intimidation. that seems to be an inreasingly large aspect of the sport the more I progress, decisions, decisions decisions. its really hard to make the right ones for the right reasons when there are guys out there who abuse their power and pressure developing riders.

well enough of that, I hope i didn't step on anyones toes. just the thoughts in my head at the moment.

after a couple dreamy days of riding, old man winter has kicked me in the teeth. wind, snow, clouds and cold temps were the recipe for this morning. looks like today will be my first roller base hours for the year. i hope for sanitys sake there won't be many more. what happened to my core workout muscles? I attempted some abs and such this morning and it seems all those muscles have disolved.

this is what i see when i step outside....

check it

2006-01-13T17:36:00.000-05:00

take a look. this is my latest project. A "Astue PC Desk" is the precise name I believe. It was a grand christmas gift from the dad. that catch was that I had to fully assemble it. yea, I'm not sure how it happened but its together. A sturdy metal frame complemented by a beautiful fine grain wood. I'm counting on it to yield countless hours of productive studying.

The riding has been dreamy the past few days. overshot my weekly hours a bit, but couldn't help it with the shining sun in the sky. mr. ipod has been my loyal companion, along with a few choice teamates. more stellar group rides to come i'm sure. I'm tryin to get an independant study so i can drop this oil painting class i have. you may ask how can it get easier than oil painting? well the fabulous world of "independant studies" can often fill that requirment. they're calling for snow tomorrow. jesse and i are on our way out the door now to build a sweet dome over banner elk so we can still ride. i'll let you know how it turns out. here's a pic of my new noble stead before its maiden voyage. pretty hot for a training bike.

Long Time No Blog

2006-01-10T19:39:00.000-05:00

To all my 5 loyal fans, sorry for the delay in an update. I'm back in NC, the B.E. and its pretty rad to be back. picked up my lovely lady at the airport, did some catching up with the roomate and even hung with the "Classic" a bit who just recently returned from exotic plaes across the world. also saw the dave "money shot" flynn and rode with Stu "bagel" Lamp. riding has been dope. i've logged some solid miles the past couple days. thanks to my new friend the sun, i'm pretty sure i'm no longer vitamin D deficient. thanks sun! my bags have vommitted all over my room so that needs to be taken care of. BIG NEWS. our collegiate coach is enrolling in classes and will also be racing with us this semester. i hope usacycling lifted that no pirate rule. classes start tomorrow. boooooooo.

this is the only pic that i can access on my computer. its so sick (the bad kinda sick. ill) that i can't even download pics or access old ones. i'm takin her to the doc tomorrow.

jesse thinks he's a rapper

The mitten

2006-01-03T18:59:00.000-05:00

Another day of standard operating procedure in the mitten. still no sun and i'd be lyin if i said it wasn't starting to crack me. rocked out to a plush 12 hours of sleep last night. oh! I shaved my legs last night for the first time since cross nats. they were beginning to look a little too similair to the legs of chewbaca, so it was time to smooth em out. plus its almost time to startin dialin in the training so its fitting. yes, cyclists are an odd breed. I rode my bicycle today! felt nice to get outside and move a bit, i think my body is a little happier. it better be, because its about to get a lot of it. I heard a new biggie song on mtv today. do they have old sound tracks of him rapping before he died?? thats the only thing i can figure. there seems to be a little monster that has creeped into the back of my throat and made it a little sore, but hopefully another good night of sleep will kill him. i looked down there with a flashlight, this is what he looks like.

2006

2006-01-02T19:13:00.000-05:00

The new year hoopla has come and gone, along with the rest of the holiday season. always seems like a big build up for just another day. still some good times though. did some skiin at boyne and watched my friends huck and hurl themselves into the air. somehow i managed to stay on the ground thanks to Noel's voice in my head (come on Booky, time to get serious). little bit of a bummer to not be the skiier i used to be, but cycling=sacrafice right? I'd like to find out who or what stole the sun becaues it definitley no longer exists in MI. Man, I'm flippin tired. less then a week before its time to head back to NC. I'll miss the MI crew but I'm psyched to see the suspects in banner elk, and am also pretty stoked to do some training. congrats to my mom who got married this past friday. i offically have a full set of step parents now. BIG news on the team front. my team here, Advantage Benefits/Bissell just pulled in a new and rather large title sponsor that looks to be a great fit with the team. so new name, but still the same great roster and organization that has been set up for 2006. more news to come on that. my rooms a mess, i better look into cleanin it up.

anyone wanna buy a bike?? FELT and GIANT FOR SALE

morning... sorta.

2005-12-30T12:09:00.000-05:00

usually i update this diddy before callin it a night but Today!!! MORNING!! sorta. i just woke up so that qualifys. chowin down to some cheerios mixed with cinamon toast crunch. brings back caf memories. still haven't ridden since cross nats. moms getting married today. i get to walk her down the aisle with my bro and light some candles or somthin. how long do christmas trees stay up after the big day? ours is still up. Also, who is gonna buy my bikes??? too bad people don't read this to find out i'm selling them. headin up north for some skiing tomorrow. maybe there will be snow up there. 20 days without the sun here. i thought that only happened in antartica. i've never heard of "global darkening" before so it must just be fabulous MI.

pick up the new velonews. they finally put a rad guy on the cover. i pulled down a pint sized quote in the cx nats write up. brings back memories of that race. hmmmmm.

Merry New Year

the classic will return. Jan. '06