It's Just a Race
Written by Steven Cozza
Tuesday, 29 March 2005

Well the past two weeks have not gone exactly the best for me. The past two races my performance was just about garbage. GP Waregem went great for us as a team with our team leader Tyler kicking serious ass coming in 2nd. We road super strong as a team so that was great. Where it all went wrong with me was I pretty much used up every spare wheel in the car with mechanicals. I was just about having the worst luck kind of day I could possibly have in a race. My form was not the best at this race but I was in the top 20 in most of the hard sections until I got a mechanical right before the old kuaremont a crucial cobble climb that you must be in the front for. Since all the follow cars were all trafficked up I had to wait like 3 minutes for a wheel change and after that I road like hell to try and chase back to the main group but there were still 3 cobble climbs to go and there was know way. All I could do was race with the second group of about 60 riders back to the finish. It was a depressing day for me but a great one for the team as a whole so that was good.

I was really looking to the next race coming on the weekend to have a good ride. The start of the race was really good with all our team on the front through a dangerous cobbled section driveing it hard to try and split the field. This ended up not working but at least we were on the front keeping out of trouble with the crashes that happen in the cobbles. About half way into the race I rubbed my wheel against another rider's derailer and ended up breaking a spoke throwing my wheel out of true. This totally sucked because I once again had to go back to the team car which was car number 27. I ended up having to waist a lot of energy coming back into the race jumping from car to car until I made it back on to the 200 rider field. I was feeling pretty good in this race and new I could be a big asset to helping us do well. It wasn’t till I was going into a sharp turn with like 6 riders abreast that I ended my race. I jacked up my front wheel once again and immediately thought I needed a wheel change when in fact I found out after the race my wheel was not as messed up as I thought it was. I could of road it at least to a better section in the race to do a wheel change but instead changed it right before a hard cobble strait away. This was it for me and I was never able to get back into the race. I ended up riding the last 20ks with some other dropped demoralized Belgian rider who tried speaking with me the whole way. We both kept our heads up and even shared with each other some of our own countries energy bars. He had never had a cliff bar before so I gave him mine and he gave me some coconut chocolate tasting thing that was quite good. I was expecting him to pull out some waffles too but he never did. The race ended up being another great success for the team with Tyler winning the days race. This at least help make me feel a little better.

The past two weeks come close to being the worst weeks in my cycling career. I plan on pulling my head out of my ass soon and getting on with some good racing. This coming up week we have a three day stage race called Triptique Mount Chateaux which is going to be a great competitive race and than the following week after this we have two days of Gaverstreek another great stage race for me. The last race we have is on April 13th Cote Picardied in France. We will race this one day race and than fly out the next day to race the Tour of Georgia. The season is long and I constantly find myself getting to anxious to get results when I should focus more on the race as a whole not just the end result.

I hope to have some good news on here in the weeks to come whether it is news of a win or just simply a great ride.

Thanks for reading.
Steven

It Runs in the Family I Guess
Written by Steven Cozza
Friday, 18 March 2005

Steven,

Hope you can race in Georgia. If not we’ll have to wait until nationals, but that is ok. We just want to watch you race. It is very exciting, cycling, especially when your son is racing. You have a sweet career.

I should have been a cyclist. I would have raced against Eddy Merekx and the boys. I would have given them a run for their money. I would have raced like a bull dog hanging on to their wheels until they dropped one by one and then I'd win the race. I would have been the toughest kick ass competitor around. I'd been so tough that I'd throw mud in my face before I raced just to feel dirty and mad as hell. Then after the race the seigneur would have to pry me off the bike because I'd want to keep going. I'd be foaming at the mouth. I'd never stop. They'd have to shoot me off the bike.

Well, in my next life. We all have dreams!!!!

Love

dad

A Tit Bit Nippily
Written by Steven Cozza
Tuesday, 01 March 2005

March 1, 2005 Belgium: The first race of the year came at us like a snow storm. It felt like we practically just stepped off the plane into a 145kilometer, -5C, snowing and cold as ever Belgium race. This brought nothing but a smile to my face because just a week ago we were all complaining about the 65 degree but raining weather back at the training camp in San Diego and now its 25 degrees and snowing here in Belgium. Talk about shocking are body

After having the team meeting the night before all seven of us sounded pretty pumped to get racing again after a long hard winter of training. There wasn’t much pressure on us mainly because we are all still recovering from jet leg and also it was for all of us the first race back over in Europe this year. Before the race even started I was completely stoked because of the harsh weather conditions. The more snow the more exciting as I see it. I don’t think my other teammates quite felt the same but we all managed to make the best of the conditions. After all we are in Belgium, what else could you expect? On the drive to the race starting near Brussels we thought we were in for a sunny day. Not a chance. Even though it was sunny it started snowing off and on just on the drive to the race. Only in Belgium can it snow and be sunny at the same time. After an hour drive in the sunny, periodically snowy weather we began the process of getting ready for the race. Every rider pretty much has his own way of mentally and physically getting ready for a race so we all got to business in the changing room.

Finally after getting our legs rubbed down by our seigneur with what seemed to be gallons of hot cream all the tense minds and frozen bodies came to the start line. When I stepped outside I kind of wish I had rubbed the hot cream all over my body. We all looked like a bunch of Popsicles getting ready to slide down the road together. The shots were fired and we were off to a start fighting to get behind the nice warm exhaust of the car that was leading us out. The only one who survived the race ended up being the guy who got behind the warm tale pipe. Just kidding, well kind of. It was so cold during the first hour so of the race that I felt like I was back up in the mountains on my way to Everest. After about an hour of fast racing we all seem to be finally thawing out. Attempts were made to break away from the peloton but nothing was sticking. After the first cobblestone section finally a break of 10 riders got a good distance up the road. None of our guys were in it so teammate Matt Crane made an attempt to bridge up to the brake with 4 or so other guys and made it across. We were all stoked because we had someone in the move and new we could just sit and wait for the next group of guys to try and bridge up. Having a teammate in every break is insurance and takes a lot of pressure off the team from having to do a lot of work wasting energy. Since we only had one of our riders out of the 15 in the break this wasn’t the best winning ratio so I kept my eyes opened for any opportunity to bridge up with other riders. With just halfway through the race about half the riders and all our team but Tyler Farrar and myself were out of the race. A few of our guys flatted out through some of the cobble section and the others just didn’t have great legs because of jet leg etc. The break narrowed down to only a few riders that ended up staying away. The rest of the field seemed to be lazy and not motivated to bring it back so Tyler and I made sure to just focus on getting good conditioning from the race rather than look at the negatives of not having much luck and being in a winning position. I was a bit disappointed because I felt extremely well and was able to put in good hard efforts but never managed to go at the crucial most important moments. This race was by far the best I have ever felt for a first race back over here in Europe so that was a good sine. I am confident in the races to come that our team will post some impressive results along with some wins. This will now be my fourth season over here and I still have a lot to learn. Part of racing well over here that our director Noel always points out is not just physical strength but having experience and racing smart tactically.

Our next race is not now till next week so we are putting in good training hours as a team through the Flemish country side sometimes pre riding some of the cobble climbs in races to come. The rides are incredibly freezing so cold that the water in our bottles begin to freeze but this will only make us tougher as riders.

And now it is time to let the dedication, sacrifice and hard work in training pay off in our racing.

Carpe Diem,
Thanks for reading.
Steven