Daniel Holloway

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:19:00 +0000

Hey all. Here is a new VLOG, during the races its a bit easier to do some video stuff rather than type. Hope you enjoy it, I have more on the youtube channel.

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:28:00 +0000

Hey all,

So last update was catching you up with what has gone on for a long while.

Now I am in Spain doing 2 stages races, the first one; Vuelta Zamora went well. Had a solid opening prologue to get 4th, the 4th again on day 2, the finish wasn't exactly what we all thought but that is how the dice rolls. The next 2 days of the race were a day for the boys that go up hill. I felt good on the first climbing day and was more or less with the front group. Our rocket climber had a mishap on the first big down hill and got some road rash, I road with a group of 8 just behind the lead group to wait for him to come from dead last on the road to my group at the top if the second climb. He had some awesome help from Austin and Cole to get him to the bottom of the 2nd climb and he flew up that to catch myself and Travis at the top. Once he was on I put the wood down to close a huge gap to the front group, a full team was on the front drilling it to make it as hard as possible. But they couldn't stop us! haha. Once we got there we had 5 guys, Me, Chris, Travis, Larry and Carson. My job was now to look after those guys and get them whatever they needed to stay fresh. I got popped on the next climb and road in with the middle group some 10min later. The next climbing day was rough, a windy ride into the bottom of the first Cat 1 climb, and then two Cat 2's to finish off the day. Road in with the groupetto to save as much as I could for the last day. The last day on paper looked to be all down hill, but we were fooled. A ton of rollers popped up and made the day harder than expected, but the boys road another great day and I got 2nd only because the finish was 100m sooner than the info we were told. USA had a great race overall, never outside the top 10 on the stages and Butler got the best young rider jersey, and 6th on GC. With everything that happened in Zamora I was fired up to do well in Palencia.

We had 3 days in between races to relax and see Zamora a little bit. Austin and I went on some cool easy rides to check out the city and got to see some cool views from the top of some big rollers.

Day 1 of Palencia went super. The team road great to make every big split in the cross winds to have 2 or more guys in it and then in the end killed it to bring back the break. On a long windy freeway climb another team put the hammer down towards the top and one of the teammates let open a gap to let his 4 teammates TTT away, since the team kept me fresh all day it was time for me to do my job. It was all instinct to jump across, but half I freaked a little and said to myself "WTF, your crazy! your trying to catch 4 guys doing an all out TTT!" "NO!! you have to make it, your team didn't do all that work for you to be a pussy" and like Jim Miller told me, "See stars! and you can rest when you get there". Once I was on the wheel it was pretty much a free ride, with one more small Cat3 all I had to do was play it smart. Over the top it went from 4 on 1, to 1 on 1, back to 2 on 1 for the last 5k. The 3 of us worked well for the first couple K and then one guy started to sit on, I wasn't keen on that so I opened the gap and then jumped him so he had to work. Now with both of them working to have to catch me inside 3k I road 80% into the block head wind. With 2k to go you could see the field right behind us and the left hand turn with 1k to go right up the road. I got us to the left hand turn and knew as soon as we got the cross tail one of the guys was going to jump me, luckily the weaker one jumped and didn't get so far. I took a sec to recover and take a deep breath, with 500 or so I hit out super hard and gapped his teammate and passed him at +or- 100m. I had plenty of time to enjoy the W, and point at USA across the line.

At the end of the day I took home 4 jerseys and Big Check. Yellow, Special Sprint, Combo Jersey, and Finish line points Jersey. I will do all I can to hang on to the Yellow the next couple days in the Hills, I know I can climb with the front 20 here; all I have to do is ride smart and most of all SUFFER!

I will try and do some video stuff as it is a bit quicker for me and maybe a little more funny. I think it gives some different insight on myself and the team. Hope you all will enjoy it. Now on to day 2.

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 20:07:00 +0000

WOW!!! It has been forever since I gave the people who look here an update. I am alive, to those who may have thought otherwise. MAN!!! There has been a lot that has gone on the past 5 MONTHS!! The time has totally flown by, and I am having a blast.

March... I left you all in Mexico. On the queen stage there I didn't finish, and missed 3 days. I went home to get fresh air and solid training in before World Track Championships.

Track Worlds were next in Poland. I was totally amped and ready to go for a jersey there. All my training had been great, and a medal at my first World Cup gave me tons of confidence. My Dad and Grandpa came over to watch me race. It was awesome to have my Dad around to chat and BS with, was like having a big chunk of home with me. My first race was the Scratch race, as every world level scratch race it was a roll of dice. The dice didn't include me this time around. Next up was the Madison, before the race even started we knew we capable of a medal. We did everything right and by we I mean mostly Colby (my partner). He was on fire all trip, had one of his best points races and had amazing legs in the Madison. Me on the other hand was not so hot, I tried as best I could to keep up but at the most crucial point of the race I came apart. I think we ended up around 8th all said and done. I learned a lot from this trip and plan to bring a jersey or two home sooner than later.

April... After worlds I took a few days off to refresh my head from everything that happened at worlds, and was back to training for my trip to Europe on the road.

MAY....The first part of my trip was with the USA National team, and then would meet up with FELT-Holowesko for the 2nd half. My first race went well, 6th in a 1.2 Hoboken and then a 1.12 in France I had solid legs on a course that didn't suit me. The next race was another 1.2 in Holland, the day started okay legs felt good was following moves and what not. Not doing anything crazy just moving around the field like normal another guy and I bumped he flipped shit and did a reverse uppercut and nailed me right in the jaw. Surprisingly I didn't crash, but my jaw hurt like hell. I had no idea what to do about the situation, I floated back a little bit to figure out how bad I was hurt. Nothing seemed to be too wrong so I kept riding with a mouth that hurt like heck. Some 50-60k's later I found myself on the ground after getting break checked over a speed bump. I hit pretty hard and called it a day. Next race was Tour Haut Anjou in France. I road a really solid TT there, and had a great ride to get 2nd on the last day.

Next up was Olympias Tour in Holland with FELT, it is there World Championships which makes for a crazy race. I didn't have to hot of a race and got sick on the 3rd stage.

JUNE... It left me pretty rough to recover for U23 Paris Roubaix. At Pairs Roubaix I bridged to the early move to take pressure off our team leaders for the first half of the race. Once we got caught I had nothing left to hang on and ended up finishing on my own. It was a long long day, and I had to talk myself the whole way in. I wasn't not going to finish Pairs Roubaix.

After Roubaix I flew home to my much wanted bed to relax and get some chill time before I had to fly back out in 5 days to race Philly; Americas premiere one day race. I had no idea what to expect from the race and my body. All stories I've heard about Philly have been war stories, so I tried to not let it sike me out. From the gun on race day I took off, half out of joke, half out to get my legs started. Im not sure why I wanted to get my legs going, I had 156 miles to get them going. Soon enough I found my gap growing and the pack or anyone else uninterested in chasing. 1 guy tried to bridge to me but never really made it, my director told me to wait for him to get within 10 sec but that never happened. Once the gap started to stabilize, all I could do was laugh about the situation and keep riding. It got hot pretty quick and my butt started to cramp on the 4th lap. After taking a portion of the lap pretty relaxed my gap to the other solo chaser dropped and he caught me going into the 5th lap. I was only able to stay off one more lap before the field caught me, I gave it everything I had to try and stay with the group. I had locked up the KOM prize if I could finish the race, but I had payed for my adventure and was unable to finish. That was an epic journey I will never forget.

After Philly it was time to work on the track form to get ready for the AVC and a 6-day in Italy. I got a sweet care package from Oakley with the new Jawbones all in RX which is amazing. I re did my bathroom with my aunt who came to visit and help Pops with the tile downstairs. My bathroom is now amazing. Thank you Aunt Hjordis!!! Sold my Rambler. The AVC went well, I won the scratch race and got 2nd in the Miss and Out, Points Race and Madison. Mis-Calculated both the Miss and Out and Madison and left it a little late in the Points race. But I did put on a good show, and that was important to me. Had 2 badass Kiwis stay at the house. Jason Allen ( Jas ) and Hayden Godfrey ( Hash ). Both awesome dudes with a crazy experience and personality. Got a new bed!!!! Its amazing, the dog loves it too.

July.... Fironzola 6-day was the next adventure. Was a really cool race and perfect for what I wanted to do with training, could ride in the mornings then do a solid work load on the track. The racing wasn't crazy hard but it did have its moments. I was able to take home a Miss and Out win one night. Back home it was back to road training to get ready for another Road trip to Europe. I raced San Rafael Twilight and had a really good race ended up 3rd. Before I left to Europe a good friend passed while riding his bike. Chris "HippStar" Hipp will never be forgotten. I will miss you my friend!!!!

My first race of the trip was Ronde Van Valaams Brabandt, a 5 day stage race with a short TT on day 3. 1st day I was on the move of the day, seeing plenty of races that virtually end in the 1st 5k of a race I wanted to be there if it stayed away until the end. When it came back I didn't have my head on and the race went away. The rest of the week was to chase stage wins. I had another solid TT but had to go in the worst conditions of that day, that is bike racing. I was able to get 2 field sprints with the help of the team, but small groups were off the front. Our next race was Tour of Namur. A hard 5 days in the south of Belgium. Lots of BIG rollers and short steep climbs, I think we did over 5k of climbing per day, some days less some days more. The first days I road conservative as we were told in was a really hard race. Some of the days weren't has hard as we were told and also the guide book was off like no other, climbs were 10k to soon or late. They didn't have nearly enough flagmen to stand in front of road furniture at all. That caused some really bad crashes, one of the worst I've seen. After 4 days of not knowing much at all and nothing to lose, I did everything I could to be in the days big break. Knowing a lot of the guys in field were super tired from the previous racing; the break might have a chance to stay away. The break was off and I was in it. 25 or so guys total. A few guys were only 50seconds off the GC so they were going real strong to try and make it stick. I sat on and enjoyed the ride. 50k's or so to go some guys decided to have a nap in the middle of the group. I was able to dodge the carnage. The front half of the group wasnt sure to keep the gas on or wait up, and the back half was left chasing. The peleton was close behind, I wasn't going to sit up and say "the field is gonna catch the 5 guys ahead" I wanted to be the last guy caught to make sure i was in it to win it. I kept following wheels as the smaller group started to attack itself and it got smaller and smaller. It was finally down to 3 guys from the original move and a new guy with fresh legs. Feeling stellar I kept my head in the game to make sure I didn't make any mistakes. The last big obstacle for me was the last climb with 15 or so K to go. It was a lot shorter than I thought but long enough to drop one guy. Once we were over the top we got news that 2 guys were bridging up to us. The last 10k was pretty much all down hill, and with less than a min gap it was going to be close to keep it to the finish. Noel told me to sit and do little to no work and let the fresh legs do the work. I did just that, I knew with 2k to go we were gonna keep it tell the end. After the long week of misplaced signs and what not I was totally unsure if the 1k sign was right. I kept an eye on the 2 guys I thought were going to try a trick on the end and the other sprinter for the finish. The other sprinter got the jump on me with 250ish to go but I was able to run him down and take it at the line with a bike throw. My first W in Europe, what an amazing feeling.

August... For the past week we have been maxin' and relaxin' recovering from Namur and making sure we are 110% for the next to races in Spain. Vuelta Zomora and Vuelta Pallencia. Wish me luck as there is a lot of climbing ahead of me.

I will do my best to keep ya in the loop. Also check out twitter.com/The_Hollywood and Robo.to/DHOLLA for quick updates and silly short videos. Hopefully I will have a Flip soon and can do a couple videos for yal.

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:58:00 +0000

In no particular order

The view from our hotel after day 2.

A super zoomed in shot of the active volcano we were riding around for 3 days.

The same mountains when we arrived that night. Isn't the brown sky awesome.

A sweet view from the apartment I stayed at in Girona. It was so much better in person, sorry for the crap photo.

A cool little town I ran in to while riding in Girona.

A solid race on sunday to get some confidence back under the belt.

Austin stoked about the police escort after day 3. We would have never made it to the hotel if it wasn't for the escort.

A nice waterfall in front of the hotel of day 4.

Some mansions on the hill.

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:14:00 +0000

Hey-O

So I am back from my latest adventure over the water. The trip started off rough with destroyed luggage, arriving the afternoon of race day for the Six Day.

Things turned around in Spain, I got some good training in a totally relaxing place. The World Cup went good, I got 3rd in the Scratch Race and Colby and I got 5th in the Madison. With my 3rd place in the scratch I qualified for Worlds, so I am gearing up for that. I am doing a stage race in Mexico March 1-9 and then 80-20 Speed work/Endurance up until worlds. I hope to get over being sick soon and stay healthy threw out worlds and the rest of the year. I feel good things for this year.

Podium Pic

My new Hot Fire from the Specialized guys!

Some random shots from the Six.

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 18:59:00 +0000

A view from the penthouse.

Having a nice little break on the last day.

My set up for the 6's. Thanks DZs Nuts for protecting my junk. Oakley for keeping me looking fresh. NormanTech for saving the legs, and Specialized for keeping the feet looking dope.

Surprise!

How my bag showed up to Copenhagen. WTF!

I miss her a lot!!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:13:00 +0000

Hey all. I been doing some Twittering lately. check it out.

twitter.com/dholla

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:56:00 +0000

I have been pretty busy since the last update.

I got some adjustments to my position from Curtis at Revolutions in Fitness

Training has been going well. I have been in Silver City, New Mexico for the past 10 days or so at team camp. Everything went well here, except some knee problems that I have been working threw.

I am off to Copenhagen, Denmark today for my final Six Day of the year, and a World Cup. I excited to go back to the Six Day, I have really fallen in love with the environment there. Also it is my first world cup so I am a little nervous for that.

After I get back from that trip I have 2 weeks at home before I leave for Vuelta Mexico. Should be a tough race, it is at altitude and has pretty long hard days in there. But if all goes well, there is a couple flatter days where I may do well.

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:31:00 +0000

Howdy!

What an adventure this whole trip has been. Starting with spending 30+ min to find Colby when I first got to Amsterdam, to a 6 day in a small town, to another train ride with 2 minutes to run 500+ meters with luggage to the next train.

Staying in Mettmann Germany for 10 days was fun except the weather. Being at an actual apartment instead of a hotel was really nice, it gave Colby and I a chance to have some time to ourselves which everyone needs on such a long trip. ( Thanks Ina Tutenberg for the pad) With such crappy weather Colby and I only got out on 3 good rides outside, 2 of those were pretty cold. We got to do a local track race in Buttgen (pronounced boot-gen) which was nice to open up the system before we headed to Zurich. We rented a car for a few days to have some mobility and take the time to check out Dusseldorf a bit. With no euro card for the Garmin, we had to go back a few years and use maps to get around; that was a blast.

We drove down to Zurich with Andy Beikirch who is a veteran on the circuit. He has been super nice to Colby and I, helping us learn the circuit and the ins and outs of the secret circus. Once out of the ruckus of the citys Andy wanted to rest so I took over the driving. Autobahn here I come!! Unfortunately there was some light rain, bad drivers, and the van has winter tires on it so I wasn't able to take it over 200 kph. Cruising at 180 got us there in good time anyways. Gotta love the open road!

It was awesome for me to see all the snow covered trees and buildings, it was like some of the pictures. Coming from Cali I don't get to see such beautiful views. Arriving on the first night of racing, it was important to stretch the legs, get a massage and get some solid food in me before the racing began. The first few laps of the night were rough, but the legs came around and I felt pretty good considering all. The night went smooth, just relaxed, kept my head up and learned the jerseys and who is with who. Every six day has different sponsors and different jerseys, so it's a bit tricky the first night. But there is a bunch of the same riders from the first 2 sixes, so I have picked up some of the guys riding styles, bikes, hair styles and what not to help distinguish teams while Im cross eyed.

We (as in Colby and I, and most of the other teams) don't have control of what sponsor we ride for. It's all picked out before we get there. In our case this wee, we got "special" stars and bars jersey's to rock, and the Italians got the red white and green for them.

So far after four nights I have won 2 races, the Team Derny (which was a whole different story in itself) and the Ballastrad sprint. I have also been designated the new ballastrad leader. ( the guy who pumps the crowd up with different gestures and starting the wave) a big honor considering the last guy who did it had the job for 10 years. The guy who was doing it here had to leave because his wife went in to labour. It seems that people are okay with a few americans on the circuit so far, so I'll do my best not to screw it up.

Here are a few pics of racing and what not.

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:05:00 +0000

So the Zuidlaren 6 is over and I am in Germany now between the races. On the 9th we are headed down to Zurich Switzerland. I'm pretty excited to see if Switzerland is how it is in the pictures.

So this 6 went pretty well. Colby and I have totally cleaned up our exchange and have become pretty efficient. I crashed myself pretty hard on the last day putting on a good show with Robert Slippens in the team Miss and Out final. At least I have some time to rest up and get my knee and my shoulder back to 100% or close to that, they say Zurich is pretty hard.

Here is a few pics of the week.

Taking a nap on night 6

Colby and I.

Andy Beikirch taking a snooze on day 3

Our bad ass staff. Gary and Joerg

Colby....well being Colby.

Derny drivers keeping busy

Overview of the track from the bridge.

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:02:00 +0000

Hey hey.

I am in Zuidlaren, Holland ( Colby and I just call it Zoolander because it seems we can't pronounce it right) right now for another SIX. This one is way different than Dortmund, the track venue is a lot smaller and the budget is much smaller. The racing isn't quite as hard, a lot of the guys are really tired from racing super hard in Munich and Gent. Last night was our first night of racing, we did well coming top 5 in all our individual events and finished where we needed to be in the final madison.

I will look for more opportunitys to win a few more individual events this go around. I will get some pictures up soon.

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 03:28:00 +0000

Hey Hey.

The winter has started off in a different fashion for me this year. Instead of sitting around eating donuts and ice cream, I am racing a few Six Days in Europe and eating pastries and ice cream. The first trip over was a load of fun and a great learning experience. Colby and I raced Dortmund for our first of 3 Sixes and we could possibly have 3 more which we would be cool. The special reason Dortmund was really cool, was it was one of Eric Zabel's last races.

The atmosphere at a Six is totally crazy, imagine a disco in and around a velodrome with 8 thousand people screaming and that is what you get. Something totally new for me was riding at the rail at almost full gas with nothing but a spot light on you. It was either almost dark or crazy color strobe lights going off. Another odd race was the "Ballastrad sprint" or rail sprint, for 20+ plus laps your at the rail in one big single line at medium pace while trying to get the crowd to do the Wave. All the riders would follow the leader who clapped and played to crowd and would start the wave and all the riders would follow his lead. A total bizzare race but the crowd loves that race.

It didn't take Colby and I long to get used to the racing and the way everything works from getting your chamois cream applied, to your equipment taken care of. (shoes, helmets, gloves, glasses all laid out ready for you to put on) You don't have to lift a single finger until you throw a leg over your bike. After every long race you have your jersey and undershirt shirt changed by a sougnier for a dry one, it is a bit chilly in the arena and you don't want to sit around in a wet jersey; that would be amateur.

So other mentionables are the sweet Lazer show, The Great Jean Peirre Goy ( he is a crazy motor bike stunt guy) He would ride wheelies the whole way around the track and other crazy stuff. The Robbie Williams tribute band, it was amazing how much these people loved this guy, and the Super Stayer racing. That isn't the real name of it, but it is derny racing behind pretty big motor bikes where the driver stand ups for a better draft. It used to be really popular but has died of, but the Germans just love it.

Now I am home for about 2 weeks before I head back over for 2 more Sixes. I might try and squeeze in the Revolution in Manchester between the two but I am not sure yet.

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:16:00 +0000

HELLO HELLO!!

First off I wanna give a super THANK YOU!! to my parents. They made life so easy down there for me to do my thing. I wanna say Thank You and I love you to my Girl for keeping my relaxed and positive when I was feeling tired. I monster THANKS!!! to Dave K at FELT for hooking me up with the best frickin' bike I've ever put a leg over, makes riding hard that much easier. And Thank You for everyone who said good luck and good job, rooting for me and being a fan. If your not a fan, I still feed off your hate. :-)

So track nationals went super well. Garmin took all the Endurance events and the KILO. I personally had a wonderful week. I came home with 5 medals, 4 gold 1 bronze. I think that is more than anyone else at nationals.

The Team Pursuit went awesome considering all the little details that were left out. About 2 hours total of team practice, about 2 hours on a brand new bike and position for myself. Our 4th guy is no expert but stepped up HUGE!! Plus having a sponsor on the team made us all step up a touch. Plus we were only a second slower than lasts year winning time and they overall had a stronger motor and a lot more time invested.

The Kilo Mini Phinney Slaughtered everyone, there is to everyone who said he could only go 1:06.

The pursuit Phinney again did what he know how to do and easily set the track record and took home the gold.

The scratch race went beyond what I had hoped for and planned for. Colby and I had talked about how we were going to approach the final sprint and let me do my thing; but that never happened. I ended up taking 2 laps on the field, only one rider was able to gain a lap. Colby did an amazing job keeping everything under control while I was off the front. I personally couldn't believe how it all played out and how great I felt.

The points race was my turn to slay for Colby while he worked over the field to take a dominating win. Colby ended up taking two laps on the field with one other rider and I got 1 lap. In the end of it all I ended up 3rd and the 1st U23 rider.

The madison was yet again another fantastic race. I have not felt that good on a bike, let alone a brand new track bike in quite some time. I was a bit nervous going into the race with how long it was and it was the 4th hard day of racing. But right from the gun Colby and I put pressure on everyone and showed we were there to win. The most impressive ride was the 3rd place team both guys are under 18. They really shocked me.

Now it is time to relax for a couple weeks before I start to ramp up the miles and speed work before the 6days.

And for the most exciting news is Rose and I adopted a Doggie. She is a Beautiful miniature Bulldog, she has a perfect brindle coat and a sweetheart personality. I can't wait to spend the next couple of weeks with her and spoil her rotten with love.

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 03:31:00 +0000

Hey all,

So I am in LA right now getting ready for track nats this week. It all starts tomorrow with the team pursuit and scratch heats. I am feeling good and ready to go. The pursuit should be a blast, gonna be pretty tough but should be good.

I got a new bad ass Felt. Holy crap this thing is crazy stable and stiff, ready to be road like a bat out of hell.

Found out I'm not doing Chihuahua due to travel times. I'm bummed but not devastated. I'm right on the edge of good and bad, so I don't want to push it before the sixes.

I will try and update as much as possible.

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:23:00 +0000

I am back from Missouri now.

That was such a great experience for the future. I learned a lot and had tons of fun.

I am trying to recover from a upper chest infection. I may have been racing with it, but it is hard to say. I leave Sat for a race in D.C. which should be a blast. After that I get a week to get ready for track nats, and the Vuelta Chihuahua which goes from oct 6-12 in the middle of Mexico.

Right now its all about spending time with the lady and enjoying a moment of relaxing.

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 03:29:00 +0000

Day 2 and 3

Day 2 was the longest the stage of the tour and I could for sure feel it. Even though there is no substantial climbing here, we did over 4000 feet of climbing. The circuit was really hard due to how sketchy and long the stage was. I tried to help Tyler as much as I could but missed out a bit in the final lap. I'd like to think I helped VDV out a bit by giving him a nice shove as he was coming back after leading it out from 1k to go, but I'm sure it didn't make much of a difference.

Day 3

OUCH!!! That hurt!

After getting time cut last year, I put down a fast half of the race and kept a hard tempo the second half to make for sure it did not happen again.

VDV absolutely killed it today and took the jersey. The rest of the is gonna be tough, but I'm ready to do work.

On the flip side. My roommate Blake crashed really really hard today around the fastest corner on the course. His tire blew out and he went off a steep embankment. All the details of how it all happened are still unknown, but I'm relieved to say he is awake and responding normal.He ended up with a concussion, a broken clavicle, cracked sternum, cracked iliac and lung contusions. Blake has been my roommate for the 2 races I have done with Garmin, for the rest of the week I'm going to be thinking of him and try to do some more work for him. Wish him a speedy recovery please.

Who knows if I will have enough energy the rest of the week after riding the front.

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 03:08:00 +0000

MIssouri Day 1

Everything went better than I had hoped. I had the legs to help Tyler stay safe and as fresh as possible. He ended up 2nd which is awesome, but we know we can get that first spot. We are all super motivated, and ready to do all the work needed to succeed.

Tomorrow is the longest day of the tour and the weather is supposed to be good, so that makes everything a little bit better. The legs feel better than they did before so that gives me an easy mind to sleep with.

Time for bed.

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 02:04:00 +0000

Tour of MIssouri

Holy CRAP!!! What an adventure! Last time I was here, it was a totally different. A different team, different teammates, different thought process, everything is nuts. Sometimes I catch myself a bit star struck from guys like Dave Z, The Pate, VDV. But they are just normal guys. Last year the team van smelt bad, and had trash all over it, but now I get to ride to the races in a tour bus the Stones would roll on. (okay maybe not that lavish but its still a huge tour bus) Something I am not all used too.

We did this awesome meet and greet at the Garmin headquarters today which was rad. That whole team of people is amazing and awesome to have behind us. The Q&A was awesome, bunch of laughs and great questions. Tomorrow we do a big group ride with 150+ employees, that should be a blast.

Two more days tell the action starts, I'm excited for it to all start.

Time for Space Legs!

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 07:41:00 +0000

I found some time at 330 a.m. in PA to sneak in a short blog about what's going on with me.

In 20 min I hop in a shuttle to get to the airport to fly back home from another couple days away.

Downers went pretty well for me all things considered. First Downers pro crit, a little sickness, and missing a little fitness. It was great that VDV showed up to give the home town crowd something to cheer for. I was a bit surprised to see him after everything he's done this season, to put himself in a spot where crap could happen. He made the home crowd happy, and was able to walk away with his life. LOL. I ended up 11th which isn't anything to be upset with and gives me plenty of room to grow.

I was at home for 2 days before I had to head back out to the east coast for Madison Cup. Colby called me up and asked if I wanted to go it with him, how could I say no? The racing went really well, we got a lap early in the night and held on to it. I was really happy with legs since they havn't been on a track bike in a while.

Well time to get my things together to get to that shuttle.

HOME SWEET HOME!!!

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 04:04:00 +0000

Hey all I'm back in Chi town for pro crit. U23 nationals went really well for our team. 2 stars and bars and a bronze from me. I fell short =( The team road a killer road race to destroy the field and sweep the top 3 spots. My race was lack luster as I missed the split that stayed away and my group got pulled for falling more than 3min behind.

Here at Downers I'm feeling pretty good, if anything I'm nervous. This is for sure a totally different race than the elite race. The field is going to be pretty deep with speedsters. Hopefully a little luck floats my way and I can crack a respectable result.

After this I head out to PA late next week for Madison Cup. I'm excited to finally get to race with Colby, and after that I either do Tour of MIssouri or head to Europe. As this season is amazingly almost over, I'm even more excited for next year as the I will be racing a whole lot more both here and in Europe. I'm also looking forward to how my body is going to change over the winter.

Time for sleep!

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 04:49:00 +0000

Howdy!

So I am back from Chi town and in LA for U23 nats.

Elk Grove went pretty well, a great tune up for this week. Same heat same distance more motivation, should be AWESOME!

The TT at Elk Grove was not so hot, bad warm up means bad TT. The road race went much better, a totally odd race for that level. Chaos was name of the game, a fast technical circuit on neighborhood streets. Before I knew it the race was half over and the race was split on half, I was in the back with Horner and Zirbel. Starting to feel the lack of food and heat Horner cracks the whip and gets a spilt with a few guys. I knew that was my ticket it to the front group so I had to make it. After sitting on for a bit I decided to help with the chase. Not feeling great I still ticked on taking pull for pull with these two super strong guys. After it was all said and done we closed the 2min gap. Once we hit the circuit I was pretty cooked, I just hoped for the best. At the finish I ended up 7th after most of the top guys crashed out in the final corner. I barely made it home after the race. The crit was not super exciting, the course was an L shape and more neighborhood streets. An early break went early and took all the money and time bonus seconds. Wish I could have made it. The chase started early to keep the break in check so it didn't make it to teh finish. At first I was following wheels but there was so much jumping that it was getting annoying, so I decided to help with the chase a bit so I could go threw all the corners nice and smooth and then sit top 8 for a while. The plan worked and I got a nice ride tell 10 or so to go before the other teams started to fight to keep there train second in line. I went back and forth trying to fight and slot in where I fit in. The race kept getting more and more hectic so I stayed as safe as possible and still trying to give myself a good shot and getting some good money. I ended up 20th on the day and 15th overall which payed pretty well for the weekend.

Back here in Cali, the TT was today. Stetna toally killed it today to take home Stars and Bars. Calebke put in a steller for a small climber. He is my roommate for week so I totally ready for him to kill it after talking with him. My TT went okay considering a few factors, I ended up 22nd on a pretty TT/Climber specific course so I'm satisfied. The crit goes off tomorrow night and I havn't seen a team more excited and ready to roll. The course isn't the best one out there but it should do.

What's cool about being down in LA for nats is that Oakley is pretty close, so a few of us went over to get a tour by the ring leader. That place is so rad, I could spend all day there looking at everything they have there. They have glasses upon glasses in colors upon colors. Just all sorts of great stuff and super cool people, I would love to pick so many brains there about how these amazing pieces of eyewear come about. I got some pretty sick stuff too, pics tomorrow.

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:15:00 +0000

Hello all.

The past two week have been pretty good to me. I have been able to get some good rest in, quality time with my lovely lady and family.

Last weekend I got my head kicked in pretty good at the Watsonville crit after not riding all week, but I got some redemption on sunday winning the SLO crit. My last race as an amateur and in the stars and stripes. I'm now a Stagaire on Garmin-Chipotle. I was so stoaked to receive the opportunity this year, I really thought that if it was going to happen it would be for next year. I'm just happy with myself for putting in the hard work to get this far and I am more motivated than ever to ride hard.

I just want to give a big thank you for everyone who has helped me get this far, and all the support.

Right now I'm hanging out in Elk Grove for a big money weekend, and to tune up a little bit for U23 nats in LA next week. As far as my schedule goes I'm not quite sure whats going on after that, possibly Tour of Britain or Tour of Missouri and after that who knows.

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:49:00 +0000

I am back from the cascade classic now. I was having a pretty good week until saturday when I had a asthma attack on the first climb 15k or so in to the race. I havn't had an asthma attack in a while so it was scary moment. As I was getting passes by the caravan cars I told Chann what was going on and he just relax and keep going. Relax is what I did, I was able to recover enough to ride back to the caravan and hand sling my way back to a group that made it back to the peleton after a long decent. After riding in the group for a bit my body just turned off. I dug a big hole while I couldn't breath and my body was pissed. I did everything I could to make it to the feed zone so I could make it home.

Bend is a really beautiful place and it was awesome place to be for a bike race. I wasn't mad after so much traveling to be in a place like that, plus my girlfriend showed up for a few days which was rad. Now I am back home taking a few days off the bike to let my body recover. I have about 3 weeks tell I start rolling again and start the traveling. First is Elk Grove in Illinois then back to Cali for U23 nats, and back out to Downers Grove for Elite crit nats.

If anything interesting or crazy happens I will let you know.

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:27:00 +0000

An update while I have a few min.

After Tour of PA I flew straight to Michigan for the UIV 3-Day. Being that MIchigan is not a very friendly bike community and the roads are not really conducive to ride on. I only road a few times that week and it was for a short time on the track. On friday my legs wern't so hot and the goal was to make the top 10 teams which was pretty easy to do. My legs felt better each day but my teammate had some bad luck and crashed twice and was not allowed to continue racing. I left Michigan feeling pretty good with my legs after a hard week before.

RIght now I'm in Oregon at the Cascade Classic getting it put to me in the Hills. So far the first two stages have gone by and Im still kicking enough to ride. Tomorrow is the TT and a Crit. The TT starts out with a up hill and then down hill to the finish, Im only nervous because Botero and Levi are flying and I hope the 25% time cut is enough.

Time for more R&R!

noreply@blogger.com (DHOLLA) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:59:00 +0000

A beautiful end to a hard race.

The team road so hard for me today in the rain. The whole race they were at the front pushing the pace and keeping me safe. A BIG Thank you to the team.

Now I am off to Michigan for a 3day track race next weekend, and then to Cascade to roll with the big boys. Lets see how my climbing really is.