FOLLOW SPEEDWEEK!!!

Ok. Shoutout time. The entire Team Exergy Speed Week hit-squad deserves some GliderBison love, so here we go:

CARLOS ALZATE gets the biggest and baddest shoutout of all. He's FRIGGIN LEADING Speed Week. Yes, you heard that right. Do you see this:

We call him "Hollywood" 

INDIVIDUAL OVERALL

Men
1. Carlos Alzate, Team Exergy – 944 pts
2. Luca Damiani, Kenda/5-Hour Energy – 928 pts
3. Hilton Clarke, UnitedHealthCare – 925 pts
4. Jake Keough, UnitedHealthCare – 909 pts
5. Andrew Dahlheim, Bissell – 834 pts

(complete points breakdown here.)

Yeah. Badass. Or, as they say in Colombia, vacano.



Next up: ERIC BARLEVAV!

Eric is sitting 7th overall right now, and has been consistent all week, snatching a 10th, a 5th, and a 4th so far. With a smile like that, I have no doubt that Eric is every bit as successful chatting up hotties after the race as he is sprinting for the money. Good luck this weekend Eric, both on and off the bike!



Next: BEN "BONE CRUSHER" CHADDOCK. Solid riding from the neo-pro! Ben, you make Whitman proud! Ben is sitting at 15th overall, and is really rising to the occasion, providing crucial assistance to Carlos and Barly all week.

Look at Ben CRUSH those bars!

Lastly REMI MCMANUS. Remi is showing us young whipper snappers a thing or two about how to GET IN TO SHAPE QUICK. I raced with Remi in his first race of the season, the 1/2 crit at Redlands (held at the same time as the Sunset Loop circuit race). That a month ago. Now Remi is slaying it at the front of Speed Week crits, helping our boys. Killer job Remi. Keep it up!

GET 'EM REMI!

Website Gnomes

Team Exergy has seven gnome interns. Their names are Bee-Bee, Bim-Bum, Plip-Plop, Boppy McPop, Bo-Boo, Bing-Bong and Adolphus Algernon Waitsburg III. We contracted these gnomes for the entire season through Fairy Finder Ltd., a job placement agency for magical creatures. They work for gumdrops or orange slices (the candy, not the fruit). At first we didn't take their sugar requirements seriously, and assumed they'd be content to continue working in exchange for sour gummy worms or Red Vines, but oh how we were mistaken. They turned their adorable little gnome noses up in the air at our offer, and promptly went on strike until the flow of gum-drops was restored. While their attention spans are short, gnomes are marvelously well-suited for certain tasks. Bo-Boo can glue a tubular tire in under four minutes. Contrary to popular belief, Gnomes are extremely computer savvy. Bee-Bee can write code in Java and C++. Plip-Plop used to intern over at Blizzard Entertainment and helped with artwork in World of Warcraft. Bo-Boo is rumored to be a member of Anonymous. Recently the boys have been hard at work crafting our new website. Things weren't expected to go live until March 1, but in light of yesterday's victory, our manager decided to launch the site anyway. Gnomes love schedules, so this decision sent the little fellows into a full-blown tizzy. They labored through the night, consuming thirty-five pounds of gum-drops in the process. This morning the Exergy service course is littered with sleeping, exhausted gnomes and piles empty candy wrappers, but the fruits of their labors can be seen here:

www.teamexergy.com

CHARGE!!!!!

CHAAAAAARRRRGE!!!!

Wow. Now THAT's the way to kick-off a season! Team Exergy! GO TEAM EXERGY!! WE WON THE RACE! Carlos Alzate. Learn that name, and learn it well, because you're going to be hearing it a lot this season. Things went from good to better -- we tried to shatter the field in the crosswind, but fairly quickly realized that wasn't going to happen (the winds just weren't right). So we changed tactics, and sent Andrés Diaz up the road. Once he was brought back, we attacked and covered until Carlos got away with one other rider, then posted up behind the chasing team. Carlos dropped his man with 10k left in the race, and finished a solid two minutes ahead of the field. Team Exergy lined it up for a leadout, and even though things got slightly muddled, our sprinters still finished 2nd and 3rd in the field sprint. That makes 1st, 3rd, and 4th on the stage, and our leader has a solid advantage over the rest of the field. Tomorrow's TT should suit us quite well. YIPPIE KAI-YAY!!!!!

A Rainy Day at Training Camp

It was a rainy day yesterday. The forecast for the afternoon looked good, so instead of riding in the rain, we took the morning away from the bike. We rested our legs, but tested our upper bodies with a pull-up competition. The results are as you'd expect: cyclists are upper-body weaklings. I only did 4 pull-ups, but if you see how far I have to travel, I'm clearly doing twice as much work as everyone else. Mark it eight Dude.

Also, just so you have a basis for comparison, here's what it looks like if you spend as much time doing pull-ups as we do riding bikes: 

Training Camp: Full Swing.

Aaaaah. Training camp is now solidly under way. The van from Boise made it, at long last, to our host house. Everyone else had much smoother travels, even our two Colombian riders Andres Diaz, and Carlos Alzate (yes, Carlos Alzate has both been to the Olympics and has his own wikipedia page). I'm thrilled to have Spanish speakers on the team, y estoy practicando mucho.

Yesterday was a bit of a mish-mash. We slept in late, and had a leisurely morning. Then we met up down at the Ventura Harbor where we spend a few hours setting up everyone's bike (most of the riders were hopping on their new Felt F1's for the first time). 

Quin and our mechanic Chris make final adjustments. 

Team Exergy's 3-ring circus. 

Erik Slack gets cute with the camera.

Then we went on a short cruise with some local cyclists to make sure everyone's gear worked properly. This marked our first "Ride the Wind," ride -- a chance for local cyclists to sample some Hammer Products, and go for a ride with the Exergy boys. We'll be doing these Ride the Wind rides all year long, whenever we have the time.

Today we went on a good old fashioned training ride. Just the team. Gorgeous roads. Amazing weather. We opened it up on some of the climbs, and started feeling each other out as riders. Ben goes uphill much better than his gigantic legs would suggest. Carlos is like a cat on the bike. Eric can pop a wheelie, and hop on his back wheel as if he's on a trials bike. It's great to see how strong everyone is. We also had Brian from Velo Images in the car all day snapping photos of us -- judging by his previous work, we've got some very cool photos coming our way.

Now it's time to eat some wonderful food, get a massage, and then have a short meeting before going to bed. Tomorrow we get to do it all over again.

Rough stuff, this training camp.

UPDATE: Here's our ride from today -- check on that loop! Everything you could ask for: beaches, lakes, mountains and rivers.

The Adventures of Chris Hong and Krogg

The time has come.

You all remember Chris Hong. He's one of the most recognizable riders in the north american peloton. I first mentioned Chris in my Top Five Mutant Bodies of the Tour of the Glia, where he took the title of "most minuet male." He then reappeared last year during the Elkhorn Classic, where he climbed up that final climb with the wings of an angel (leapfrogging from 16th to 1st in the GC). Well now we're teammates, and oh how I'm excited for the year ahead. I'm going to start what I hope to be a multi-part series entitled The Adventures of Chris Hong and Krogg.

Naturally, I'll let Krogg do the honors. Take it away Krogg:

The Adventures of Chris Hong and Krogg

Episode 1: Sponsor Camp

Story begin when Krogg and Hong go to Sponsor Camp. This kind of like summer camp, mixed with job training, mixed with Christmas. Krogg and Hong do many fun things at sponsor camp: race go-karts (which neither of us do particularly well), play lots of foosball (which neither of us do particularly well), eat yummy food (which we both do exceedingly well), and whole team go out on town (which Krogg do much better than Hong, but in terms of beers per pound, Hong have slight advantage). Krogg and Hong also do lots to prepare for season: meetings with staff, photo-shoots, and many many sponsor presentations to learn about cool new sponsors. During sponsor presentations, Krogg and Hong take notes about different sponsors. Hong just graduate from Harvard University. Hong study pre-med. Hong accepted to medical school. Here Hong's notes: 

Pretty good notes. 
On other side of spectrum, Krogg graduate from Whitman. Krogg study art. Here Krogg's notes:

Also pretty good notes. 
Despite differences in style, Krogg and Hong now very well prepared to represent sponsors throughout season. Ask Krogg question about PowerCordz for instance -- Krogg know answer! 
Krogg and Hong also receive all kinds of new gear, including new clothing. Mighty mastodons -- new kits look amazing!! Here Krogg and Hong pose with new kits: 

Krogg and Hong have many daydreams about upcoming season. So much support, so much racing, such high hopes and expectations. Krogg have much much more exciting news to share, but Sponsor Camp still going full swing, so stories must wait. Tonight: big party at the Exergy corporate headquarters. Krogg and Hong plan on getting dressed up like fancy cavemen -- long pants, button down shirts, shoes -- the works! This pretty rare occurrence for Krogg and Hong, so wish us luck. 

Updates From Sponsor Camp

First off: the vehicles. Check out the awesome decal job on the trailer.

 Also, we have one of the few new 5-door Mini's in the country, and it looks amazing. I was astonished: the thing is downright roomy inside! Even in the back seats!

I'm a big fan of the new Mini ad (featuring our car, the new Countryman). Our assistant director Scott Cross claims the driving in this commercial is "pretty tame" compared to what's he's done in the caravan.

Next: the gear!
Remember those boxes you saw earlier? Well today we got to open those boxes.

New gear makes everyone happy. Ben:

Quinn: 

Barlevav:

(Note: in case you can't tell, Bav is from LA.)

Much more to come.

MAGIC SHOES!!!!!!!

I GOT ME SOME MAGIC SHOES!!!

Gosh it's good to be on this team! In this post, I'd like to sing the praises of yet another one of our sponsors: Foot Dynamics. Located right on Main Street in Boise, this place was all to convenient to find.

I went to Foot Dynamics to get some foot beds for my new Bont shoes. I was expecting to receive some nice little pre-made insoles, possibly ones that I cook in the oven a little bit before doing so. Oh how I'd underestimated Foot Dynamics! I had no idea what I was in for, but upon entering, I was brought back to a special fitting room where I encountered this crazy contraption:

Yes, I know it looks like a medieval torture device. In fact, as I sat in the fitting room, my mind started to run wild with potential uses for this machine (most of them extremely painful uses). However, it's actually an orthotic alignment doohickey that makes custom foot molds. Then, with a poof of blue smoke, Jeff Jacobs -- make that board certified pedorthist Jeff Jacobs -- emerged from a trap door in the middle of the floor. He waved his magic wand over my feet, whispered an incantation or two, and then made me stand in the alignment doohickey, before disappearing behind a curtain, where I assume he reached into his red-velvet-lined top-hat and pulled out these bad boys:

 That's right -- these are 100% custom orthotic insoles. Goodbye gross old blue Specialized footbeds (that smell like cat urine). Hello Food Dynamics Custom Awesome (that smell like unicorns!).

UPDATE: 
But that's not all! Then we cooked my Bont's to a nice-and-toasty 160 degrees:

And Jeff pasted some pads to my boniest joints (to give them a little more room inside the shoe once it's been molded):

Finally, I put the new insoles in the nice-and-toasty Bonts and then put them on my feet. I stood still, with my knees slightly bent for five minutes (just like the instructions said), and presto! Fully custom shoes!

Thanks so much Foot Dynamics!

Exergy News!

Cool new stuff on the Exergy front.

First off -- we've got our wheel sponsor: Williams Cycling! These wheels are awesome. Williams makes a great range of wheels -- from carbon clinchers, to deep dish tubulars, to disc wheels, and Powertap options. These should make our Felt bikes look really really good. Thank you Williams!

Next up, I got a chance to meet our team's soigneur, Mark Dauenhauer. He assessed my injuries and gave me a wonderful massage. He also had some excellent stories. I'm so excited to get to work with Mark throughout this season -- I have no doubt that he's going to make a big difference, both in injury prevention, as well as recovering from hard races.

Next, Exergy made the front page of the Daily Peloton. The article highlights several of the Idaho companies that are joining forces to support the team. Very cool stuff.

And saving the best for last, we got a friggin foosball table at the service course. I'm pretty rusty (read really awful) but our director Tad is an excellent player. Here's Tad, showing off some of his skills:

Back in Boise! Hangin' in the Service Course.

Well the winds of next season have blown me back to Boise. Here I am, in the land of potatoes, starting my life as a professional cyclist in earnest. I'm surprised how different I feel, considering so little has really changed. My life will, for most intents and purposes, be very similar to the one I've lived these last several years. I'm still going to be scraping by financially. I'll still be going to (many of the) same races. I'm still going to be working hard, and giving it my all -- however, my perception is wildly different. I'll send you over to this blog, written by a professional distance runner, which does a good job summing up the difference that an attitude can make.

Right now, I'm chilling out here:

Yes, that's the view from the inside of the team's Service Course.

This is what we're doing today (read the name on there):

Sorting goodies. I don't get to use most of this stuff until our sponsor orientation at the end of the month, but here's some of the treats I get to look forward to:

Casual clothing from Castelli. Sweet!  And these bad boys:

Holy shit these things are nice. Bont -- thank you. These will be my first new shoes since 2008! Here are my current shoes (hand me downs from Adrian Hegyvary -- he used these in 2009, and I used them last year):

The internet is wonderful, and it allows us to do many amazing things, like send you an image of my shoes -- fortunately for you, however, one thing the internet does NOT do, is transfer the smell of my shoes too. When I take these bad boys off they smell exactly like cat urine. Exactly. Like. Cat. Urine. I can't express how excited I am to get new shoes, especially ones that smell like new shoes.

YEAH. YEAH YEAH YEAH.

Team Exergy News

Here's the latest from Team Exergy:

First off, we've received some nice press from the Boise Statesman:

Boise-based cycling team going pro in 2011

Second, the gear fairy has started to work her magic, dropping off our new Bont shoes! Check it:

Third, if haven't already, be sure to "like" the Team Exergy's facebook page, and to follow Team Exergy on Twitter -- they've already given away a tee-shirt giveaway, and I'm sure there will be more goodies up for grabs in the future. Don't miss your chance to get in on some sweet Team Exergy gear.

Briefly in Boise

My layover in Portland was delightful. Quinn and Ben are going to be fantastic teammates. I'm so excited to see what both of these guys are capable of. Here we are, lookin' sexy:

Then, against all odds, the Grey Glider made it safely to Boise! I'm here in the land of potatoes, blue football fields, and most importantly, the Exergy Pro Cycling Team! I'm extremely excited to be here (even though I'm leaving for New Mexico tomorrow) -- things are starting to congeal. I got to swing by the service course today, and my jaw just about hit the floor. For those who don't know, a service course is basically a team command center. It's part warehouse, where the team manages its equipment throughout the season. It's part bike shop, where the mechanics assemble and maintain the fleet of bikes. And it's part war-room, where the team managers plot our racing season on wall-to-wall white boards like generals directing their troops. It felt pretty cool to see a giant chart spanning the whole season, race by race, and to see my name atop a column which will soon be filled with check-marks indicating I'm on that roster. Right now, Team Exergy is scrambling to finish setting up the service course before the first waves of equipment start washing up in Bosie. I got to meet several important staff members, and helped assemble racks of shelves which will hold boxes of kits, helmets, glasses, shoes, nutrition, and bikes -- glorious bikes! 

While I was there pounding racks together, Cyclingnews released this little gem: 

US Is Home To 10 UCI Contentintal Teams For 2011

So there it is. Ten continental teams. We're on there, so it's official.

There should be lots more exciting news coming from Team Exergy in the coming weeks. 

Oh and another thing -- is it me or are ballerinas making some sort of comeback? First off there's Kanye West, who is definitely a douche-bag (his words not mine), but a talented douche bag who makes excellent use of ballerinas in his video Runaway: 

Next there's Natalie Portman running around her own nightmares in ballet slippers: 

Portland Living!

So here I am in Portland, staying with my good friends and new teammates Ben and Quinn. Things have been lovely -- upon arrival, I swung by my good friends at Coalition Brewery, and was thrilled to see the place is thriving. I sampled several of their finest brews, and had some jolly good times with old friends. Thanks, as usual, Coalition. Then yesterday Ben and I rode long and hard in the pouring rain. Much of the farmland we rode through was flooded (or flooding I should say), and we rode through some puddles that reminded me of fording a river in the Oregon Trail (we opted to caulk the wagons). Then we followed things up with a hockey game:

Things went nuts when the Winter Hawks scored their first goal, thus initiating the infamous "bear toss." That's over 12,500 bears on the ice.

 There's Tom-A-Hawk.

I will say that sitting in a stadium seat for 3 hours with blasted legs was hard. Hard. Ouch.

This morning, after a nice breakfast, Quinn grossed us all out:


I'm only kidding. He's not actually grabbing his crotch; Quinn is teaching us some kettle ball technique. Quinn is both a kettle-ball badass, and a very good instructor. He made that 20kg kettle ball look light and agile:

And he helped Ben achieve some good form as well. Ben gives the 'balls a try.

Then I tried. I learned that I am not a kettle ball badass. Things to work towards.

Exergy News

First off, some of the boys have been uploading their bios to the team site. Learn more about Team Exergy and pick out your favorite racers!

Next, if you're interested, you can order your own Team Exergy jersey. We don't have pricing for the public available yet, but if you're interested, send us a message through our contact page, and be sure to change the category to "Order Clothing."

Lastly, we've added Prologo Saddles to our list of sponsors.

 I'm especially excited about their TT saddle, the Nago Evo TTR -- that thing looks real slick:

This is What We Shall Wear!

Behold, the Exergy Kit for 2011:

 

Felt Bicycles, I Dream of You!

Oh yeah -- check this out!

That's right, Felt Bicycles will be sponsoring us this year. For those who don't know, Felt has a reputation for making some of the best bikes on the face of the planet. For the past several years they have sponsored the Garmin-Transitions pro cycling team -- which means their bikes have been winning the biggest races in the world. If Felt's road bikes are fast enough to carry Tyler Ferrar to sprint victories at the Giro and the Vuelta, and their time trial bikes are good enough to  get Svein Tuft across the line fist at a pro-tour prologue (both Tyler and Svein are Broadmark alumni I might add) -- then I'm pretty sure they'll be fast enough for me.

Let's take a moment to appreciate our future rides:

So luscious.