Gent-Ieper March 14
Written by Steven Cozza
Monday, 15 March 2004

Wow what a crazy race! Gent to Ieper was a 145 kilometer road race. The course was very challenging having us go up the Kemmelbeurg a cobble climb twice. At the start there were 210 guys in the race and at the finish there were only 86. My job this race was to be a support rider (domestic) and help out our strongest guy at the moment Shawn Milne. That means that my job was to pretty much try my best to keep him out of the wind as much as possible and when he needed to get to the front I would be his draft to bring him up to the front of the 210 racers. 15 kilometers into the race I crashed, but had no trouble catching back onto the race because I used the cars in the caravan to draft off of. Next I got a flat and had to go back to the team car for a wheel change. I again used the cars in the caravan to draft off of so I could get back into to the race, and I did.

This race we were able to use radios, so our director Noel was giving us info on when the cross wind sections would be coming up. Whenever there is a cross wind section coming up everyone fights to get to the front of the race trying to grab the best wheels for the Echelon. An echelon is formed when there is cross wind and the riders ride more on an angle kind of like when you see geese migrating and they are in the form of a V. Well that’s a lot like an echelon except for it looks more like a slanted l. It was my job the whole race to kill myself to make sure that Shawn was always in a good place in the echelon. When Shawn broke his wheel Noel radioed me to come back to help pace him back up to the race and I did. On my way back up to the main field I pulled Shawn all along keeping him protected from the wind so he could save energy. I was moving up the left side of the road, when a guy pushed me with his arm into a ditch. I flipped over my bars and got right back on my bike to chase back up to the race for 3rd time. I got back on and went straight to the front when I found out Shawn had another mechanical problem so I went back to the caravan of follow cars and found Shawn, to once again bring him back up to the front of the race. By this time the race was all strung out with riders gritting there teeth and just trying to hang onto the wheel in front of them for the best draft. I flew past all the riders and brought Shawn to the front again. By this time I was so blown that all I could do was try to recover the best I could before the climb to come in 1 kilometer. I didn’t recover in time and was just giving it hell to stay in the race. The rest of the 60 kilometers I chased and was only 100 meters behind the group when we hit the cobble climb and that was it for me. I had done my job in keeping Shawn as fresh as possible for the deciding moment of the race. Even though I wasn’t able to race for myself I felt so incredibly strong. My legs are finally starting to come around and I think I will have some good luck in the races to come. I felt as though if I was racing for myself this race, that I could have done very well, but as a new rider on the team I have to earn respect and help out the older riders.

In the third and final crash of the day that I was in, I managed to bend my bars in such a weird way I can’t believe nothing happened to me besides the usual brushes and road rash. This race was like a war zone and I have a feeling the rest this year in Europe, will be even crazier. I had so much fun and can’t wait till the next battle. We have a race on 17 and than one in France on the 21st.

Peace in the Middle East
Steven

Training Camp In Spain, February 13th to March 8th, An Overview
Written by Steven Cozza
Monday, 01 March 2004

So far the camp in Spain has been going quite smoothly. We arrived in Calpe Spain, a small English and German populated coastal town where older people come to live, for their retirement. After exploring the huge Villa we would be living in for the next 3 weeks, we immediately suited up and hit the roads with our bikes. We were so ready to log in some long hour rides and long hour rides we did.

This camp was definitely a base endurance camp with some efforts on the climbs and flats. I have been doing 5 hour rides everyday with the occasional easy 1 hour days. Since we are surrounded by mountains we have been working on our climbing like crazy. Calpe is a real training haven for European cyclists and I don’t think I have gone a day without seeing a professional cyclist. The second day we ran into victor Hugo Pena who we made plans to train with. A few days later we ran into Joseba Beloki’s brother which was pretty cool. David Miller and the Cofidis boys are in the area, but we have yet to see them.

Since the riders don´t have cars it has been quite hard to go out and explore the towns, but we manage to find ways to the cities like hitchhiking. We are getting good at that ha ha. The English people usually just give us the finger though. The whole experience of trying to get down town is just a riot. I wish we could walk, but it is 8k away and riding our 5 thousand dollar road bikes and leaving them outside of stores is not an option, so hitch hiking is our best way of transportation; or if lucky the team car will head down town.

The Villa is great that we live in. It is really big with a pool in the back, but sometimes it´s good to just get out and smell the fresh Mediterranean air. The sea here is really great with Hawaii colored water. Trips into town include stopping at the Internet Cafe´and of course trying to sneak in a meal of Paella, (Spanish rice). Yummy, unbelievable stuff with seafood and all. There´s nothing better though than going down to the quite town of Maraira on an easy day and going for a cappuccino on the beach. The locals here are so funny and fun to try and talk to. Another rider and I went down to the weekly market in downtown Calpe and I had such a great time trying to talk to all the Spanish people. We went for lunch and were super hungry for some Paella so we were going around the streets asking Spanish people where the best Paella is. They kept pointing us in all kinds of directions. It was a funny scene in a Market place surrounded by lots of Spanish people.

Now with only a week left in Spain we are beginning to finish up with our last bit of training here and than start to prepare for the stage race this Friday. The race is a three day stage race with lots of climbing. The race is suited for the pure climbers so for me it won´t be the best race but I can hold my own on the climbs and hopefully will surprise myself and the director Noel.

Since this is my first year racing in the U-23 races this will be a year of testing for me so they can see what kind of rider I am, that way they will put me in races that best suit my talents the next following year.

There are really three types of riders. There is the sprinter, climber, and the time trialist. Some people are good at two of them like me. I am okay at climbing, but really good at time time trialing so I would be known as an all around type of rider. Other riders specialize in one category or another. Some riders are pure sprinters where others are pure climbers. This has to do a lot with your body type, but also and mostly with your mind. I think your mind is your only limitation when you get to a certain level of performance. I have seen many riders go through the program over here in Europe and not benefit from it, but instead self-destruct because of it. This is because of the mind.

It is very hard to race over here and live the life of an up and coming potential Pro cyclist. You train, rest, eat and sleep. If you are not good at keeping yourself busy when it is down time you can get bored and boredom leads to all sorts of problems. Its symptoms begin slowly and can sneak up on you, the first thing being, loss of energy and motivation.

Soon you become fatigued and irritable and gradually you lose your tolerance for others. Boredom being one of the biggest reasons why I have seen many riders not make it over here but another big reason is the level of difficulty the races here present. Riders who make the national team are so use to winning back home in the U.S. where competition is not even comparable to the European competition that when they get over here they get there butts kicked a few times and don’t know how to cope with it. I believe that if you want to make it as a Professional over here you need to have the physical talent but you must have the mind for it as well or you are just going to achieve nothing and fail to reach your dreams.

I hope this gives you a little more insight into the world I’m in right now. Besides all the stuff I just wrote. All is well. Thanks a lot for reading.

Peace - Steven