Omloop Het Volk
Written by Steven Cozza
Saturday, 26 June 2004

Omloop Het Volk June, 26

Omloop Het Volk did not go so well for me but went great for teammate Shawn Milne who road to a 5th place finish. Shawn is one of the older riders on the team and has performed incredibly well all year. For me I just felt really sick and weak during the race. A day prior to the race and currently I have been infected with some dam stomach bug again. They just will not leave me alone so I have been on the toilet more so then is normal. All I have to say is that I can’t wait to have a normal stomach again. I have four days now till the big stage race in Spain. I can only hope that is enough time for me to kick this stomach bug and get my strength back. I have lost a bit of weight and need to put some back on. Losing 6 to 7 pounds in a month is far to much for my body type at this level of competition so I have found out. Well we will see. In the early parts of the season I was at 170 pounds and now I'm at around 164. I think I race best right now at around 165 to 166 so I'm going to try and keep it at that for awhile. Its like I'm doing experiments over here with my weight. Oh the crazy life of being a dang cyclist. Now I'm off to the stage race in Spain than back to Belgium to see the first stage of the Tour de France and than back to California on July 6th.

That's all for now,
S, Cozza

I felt like a kite on a bike : - )
Written by Steven Cozza
Friday, 25 June 2004

Brussel-Ingooigem June 23 2004:

This was by far the windiest craziest race I have ever done in my life. Brussels-Inooigem was a 1.5 road race in the heart of Belgium. Since the Belgium National Championships is this Sunday a lot of the top pros came out to this race to give there legs a test. I have never done a race against such top competitions so I was really pleased with just finishing around 28th place. The race started out with a 30 minute roll out, out of Brussels behind the officials cars. As you can imagine even the roll outs are nuts even though it is supposed to be neutral but in Belgium there isn’t really such a thing as Neutral. Finally the race got underway and the rain started coming down so hard it stung and burnt the skin and eyes. You wont believe me when I say this but the days winds were clocked at as high as 120 kilometers an hour and even free ways were shut down because of the dangerous conditions but no way hose they of course let us skinny 150 pound objects keep racing through the Hurricane force storm. The race went on and we got blown around and around and soaked to the bone. A few times my front wheel got blown off the ground and I almost crashed. I began to feel quite sorry for the little Japanese guy who took refuge next to me during the last hour of the race. I was like a big rig truck to him. I think I probably saved him from getting blown across Belgium and into the North Sea. The race became a race of survival and my goal was just to keep going and not to give up. I would do everything in my will to cross that finish line and I did after 4 hours of racing. Well there you have it. This was a true classical Belgium race. Dodging leaves, cement pulls, branches, trees, cars, cobbles, and racers themselves. There was one incident that I would like to recognize as well during this race. A lady was walking by the course and was struck by a falling tree and died. My heart goes out to her and her family and all those that new her.

Thanks for reading,
Next up – Omloop Het Volk.

PS: I put a some new photos in my photo gallery from this race.
–Cozza

Pasta More Pasta More Pasta and Truck Loads of French Bread
Written by Steven Cozza
Tuesday, 22 June 2004

The Tour of Nevers 2.12 France, June 17-20-Ingooigem June 23 2004:

Just recently I finished up with the hard and challenging Tour of Nevers down in France June 17-20. This race was a 4 day 5 stage race with top French amateur teams. The Average age in the race was 25-30 so you can just imagine how fast it was. Some of the guys in the race were even x Tour de France racers. Knowing this didn’t discourage me though it only made me more determined to beat them. Every day was a suffer fest for me and I barely hung on by a string of dental floss. Stage 5 was by far my best result of the stage race coming in 7th on that days sprint finish. I couldn’t believe it because usually I don’t stand much a chance in the sprints but from this day on I’m going to think otherwise. After the race we left immediately to try and beat the traffic jam that would be as we passed through Paris on a Sunday night. Well ggggg’s I am glad I got this race behind me for it wasn’t my best performance just another mind opening experience to how truly fast the guys are over here. One day we had two 7 k climbs three 4 k climbs and like five 1 to 2 k climbs. That doesn’t sound like much but when the race is 150 kilometers long and the guys are going as fast as Vespas do over here, it begins to wear on you. I actually ended up surprising myself on that day witch was pretty cool. Coming up next on my agenda is Brussel-Ingooigem on the 23 of June a very tough 1.5 race against top amateur teams and than Omloop Het Volk on the 26 of June another 1.5 category race. Those two races should go very well for me providing that I do not get sick or anything for everyone in the house right now is passing around the cold. So far me and two others are the only survivors. After that I head to Spain for the Tour of Bira a killer stage race with loads of climbing. The part of this trip that I am most excited for is going too stage two of the Tour de France on the 5th of July. I may be missing the 4th of July back home but damn all be finally getting to see live the race of my dreams. Let’s hope Lance wins the prologue so I can see him in the Yellow Jersey.

Well until next time thanks for reading,
Carpe Diem Amigo’s,

Steven

Back on Track
Written by Steven Cozza
Monday, 14 June 2004

GP Criquielion (1.6) June 13

After going home for a short break from Belgium back home to California I am back and ready to roll. The first few races back here I felt a little slower than normal until I raced in this weekends GP Criquielion. The race consisted of one big loop of 60 kilometers and than ten 9 kilometer finishing circuits. After looking at the profile Noel our director instructed us to pay close attention to early moves for we new this race was going to break up in the first hour of racing. An early move of 40 guys got away with teammate Murphy and me in the break. Since there was so many in the break Murphy and I just sat on waiting for more attacks but soon the field closed in and it was back to one big group. I didn’t really feel like sitting in all day so I was ready to go with any move that went. Three racers attacked on a small farm road and gained a reasonable gap so I decided to bridge up to them. After choking on my own lungs while trying to stuff my face with a cliff shot and chasing for nearly 10k I finally managed to catch the three loan leaders of the race. To my luck the race behind me started chasing hard and a group of 40 bridged up to us from the main race. As the 40 or so riders caught us I did a quick look to see if any of my teammates were in it and to my luck none were. I did my best to sit in as much as possible but with 50k to go attacks were going left and right and I blew myself going with the wrong move every time. With one lap to go the group I was in narrowed down to about 25 guys and it shattered on the last few kilometers of the race. I went with the wrong wheels and blew hanging on to a 23 place. As the rest of the race came in I saw my teammate Murphy take 3rd in the field sprint coming in around 27th place. Thanks to Luigi our team’s mechanic we had few problems during this race with our bikes and to Chris the teams Seigneur for we had ready to go race food and feeds on every lap. Without the technical support of Noel and, the support of experienced guys like Chris and Luigi we would not be the team we are. After the race we all rolled back to the team car and Noel asks do you guys want to ride home for some more training? We all agreed that it would be best so we road all the way home rounding out the days work in 5:45 doing 210 kilometers. What a day that was. Thank god we had dinner waiting for us at home cooked by Noels wife Eles. Well that just about wraps it up for this week. We have some bigger fish to fry in races coming up this week in France.

Thanks for reading,
Steven Cozza

Carpe Diem
Written by Steven Cozza
Monday, 07 June 2004

Racing to the Toilet in Luxembourg
Written by Steven Cozza
Saturday, 05 June 2004

Back to Belgium I go. I just recently arrived back in Europe for another session of blood and guts racing. Immediately after the first full day of being here I was sent off with the team to Luxembourg for 2 one day races. Being pretty fresh off the plane I suffered from horrible jet leg and almost fell asleep on the bike. Not only did I have jet leg but I had a horrible bout with a stomach bug and needed to stop and use a mobile toilet on the side of the road during the race. It was literally a shitty race. I lost a whole 7 pounds in just two days. I am now currently getting much stronger from that and feeling much healthier. Since I took some time off in between Europe trips I understand it will take me some time to get my speed up to date but I have some great races coming up this month all the way till I leave for home again July 6th. The sun is finally shining here and is actually in the low 80s this week. It's unbelievable. Me and a couple of my teammates walked around town today with are shirts off it was so hot. We even went swimming in the town's canal. That is unheard of in Belgium so I feel pretty lucky to be here at such a nice time of the year. I only hope I don’t catch some weird disease from the canal water. I opened my Eyes up under water and I swear it was like chocolate milk. It was definitely no Lake Tahoe but at least it was semi refreshing and a good way to have some fun. I feel like I am finally getting use to this place and feeling more at home while being here. Everyday over here is an experience and a new adventure just waiting to happen. I look forward to the races to come and the US Nationals in August and than finally back over to Belgium to finish off this years racing season.

Thanks for reading,
Carpe Diem my friends,
Steven Cozza