| Home | Journal | Gallery | Resume | Links | Archives | Guestbook |
|
Hmm its been quite some time now since I last did a report on how things where going with me and my cycling.
Besides me injuring my collar bone in April this has been a pretty successful season for me and especially for my team now called Garmin Chipotle.
The last two months I have been back here in the USA doing races that I have not been able to do in a long time. Even though Id rather be racing
over in Europe because I feel those races more suit me its always nice to come back state side and get back to your roots. First off was Philly
week in early June. It was the first time I had raced these races and it was a blast. Super hot and muggy though and my legs were not top notch
but felt pretty good and were only getting better each and every race. After Philly week I decided to drive myself down for the local Tour de Nez
a race in Nevada and California around the Reno, Tahoe area. I was at this race by myself so I knew it was important for me to race aggressive
here trying to get in any and every break that went. I did just that and got great fitness while doing so. Most of the time I was fly fishing
on the Truckee river icing my legs while doing so. This race was just a great refreshing break for me and on top of that I placed well too coming
in top ten on just about all the stages and placing 10th overall. After Tour de Nez I had almost three weeks before the Cascade Classic which I
was really excited for because we would have a full team of 9 there. Working up to that race I was given a pretty moderate training program with
the first week being mostly recovery workouts to heal up from Nez followed by a bit more specific climbing workouts for the Mountain intense
Cascade race. Cascade fast approached and I was ready to go. it’s a great race and Bend Oregon is just a bonus. The air is just so clean and
pure up there especially now since all the fires are taking over California so it was nice to get away for a week. I came out with a 9th place
in the time trial and a 4th place in stage two so not to bad. My teamates raced great as a team and we won the overall team GC.
Thanks for reading, Steven Pictures and race results for... 54th 4 Jours de Dunkerque - 2.HC... Slipstream WINS first stage of the first grand tour the team has ever done: The Giro de Italia Submitted May 11, 2008 The whole team here at Dunkirque went nuts at the finish of stage 5 when we
found out about the Giro squad's victory.
Thanks for reading, Steven Almost Back on Track Submitted May 2, 2008 It has been quite a bummer missing all of April's great races because of a wrecked collarbone. After going for quite a few check-ups back home, the doctors concluded that it was a non-unioned fracture which is presumably a collarbone crack that never really heals unless acted upon. Kevin, our team chiropractor, kindly sent me a bone stimulator which is like an ultrosound machine but for healing non-union fractures like mine. I can tell you it's been one frustrating month but nothing I am can't handle. Ten days after the crash, I was back on the bike training. It hurt and still aches now and then but I can deal with it. After about two weeks of good solid riding, I got the flu again or something quite like what I had at the Tour of California and was forced to go on another weight loss plan because of weird bowel movements accompanied by vomiting for about 5 days. It now nears May's month of racing and I am chomping at the bit. I can't wait to just get back out there and race. Enough motor pacing and training! I want some real action! I told my directors this so they are giving me my first race back being the French race Trophee de Grimpeur, followed with 4 Jours de Dunkerque in France. These are during the first week of May so I fly out tomorrow I think. I am not quite sure on how my form is but my guess is it's pretty good. I think May's month of racing will really help me get back into the swing of things and set me up for the rest of the year. Even though this month has been a bit low for me, it has been very uplifting watching all my teammates stomp it at the races here in Georgia and in the Ardennes. We are just getting started. It's a long season, full of many more successes. I am sure of that! Thanks for reading, Steven Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile Keep checking back, TofC pictures coming soon!
Pictures and race results for...
Another interview with CycleTo...Read more Written by Steven Cozza I flew home the last day of De Panne right back to the States. It's so horrible going from such great form to nothing, barely even able to put a T shirt on. I sometimes feel things are meant to be for a reason and in this case there really was a good but horribly sad reason. After flying home all day from Europe, I had my parents pick me up. I'm always really excited to see my dog Teddy when I get home. She's an Australian shepherd who just turned 11 years old. I have never scene such an old dog act so young. She is seriously still like she was when she was a puppy and still even looks like a puppy. When I stepped out of the car she exploded with excitement like she always does. My parents finally broke the news that she has terminal cancer and only 1 to 4 months to live. I was totally shocked and broke down for about 10 minutes as Teddy licked all the tears off of me making me even more sad. So now that I'm home, she's hanging out with me 24-7. I'm even going to bring my trainer over to my parents house and ride next to her. She is going to the dog park every day and is getting as many bones as she wants. I'm crying as I write this because she is like a a second sister to me. Growing up, Teddy brought so much love and joy to my family and was my running partner during high school cross country practice. There were plenty of times when Teddy turned a depressing day for me into a happy one. I'm just going to do my best to enjoy the time I have left and not show her too much that I am sad because she always can tell when I'm hurt or having a bad day and I know she doesn't even know she's sick yet. I could go on and on about how great my dog is but I would have to write a book just alone with what she has taught me in life. First my guinea pig, Wally, died this past November and now my dog Teddy. Man. Along with all this sad stuff, I need to focus so much on healing. I go for more X Rays today and then maybe an operation. We will see, but I am determined to get back to racing ASAP; my guess is late April early May. That's all for now. Stories from the trainer coming soon. Thanks for reading. Steven De Panne - Stage Two Written by Steven Cozza In today's stage two at De Panne, my Spring campaign came to an end in the blink of an eye. After about 180k's of easy racing, I went to move up the right side when I got totally tackled by a German rider. Later on, I heard he had his head down and just smashed me from behind. When I was on the ground in pain, all I wanted to do was get up and beat the crap out of him. If it wasn't for him crying in pain I probably would have. Later on, at the hospital, I learned he had only sprained his pinky. Man, what a wimp! I came off a bit worse with a broken collar bone to the left side. The exact same place and break that I got in November. Man, I just can't get a break in this sport. I'm pretty bummed and surely depressed about this. I just want to punch a hole through the wall. I'm not ready for a break and am in the best form of my life. I can't believe this. I hope I wake from this nightmare soon. I'm pretty dark right now. Sorry for such a downer report. Tyler and Maggie gave me some advice and told me to keep my head up and that it's a long season. Then Huub came in the room and helped me get dressed. This all made me feel better, raising my spirits a little. I love this team because we're like brothers here. Anyway, I'll be back racing in three weeks I'm sure of that. Back to the race now. It was probably the easiest slowest race I've ever done. A break of two took off in the beginning so that the rest of the race was controlled and crawling. It wasn't until the three finishing circuits that things took off. Watching the finish of the race from the hospital TV, it looked as though Mark Cavendash was untouchable. My teammates finished safely and solidly today ready to go into tomorrows 119k road stage and the finishing 13k time trial. I'm hoping the best for them and wish so badly that I could be out there in the mix helping out. I'm determined to come back from this injury stronger than ever. More to come tomorrow. Thanks for reading. Steven De Panne - Stage One Written by Steven Cozza Today's stage one at De Panne was very good and bad for Slipstream's classic crew. For three quarters of the stage, it was fairly mellow, with one racer going off the front and gaining up to 10 minutes at one point. Approaching the first of two 38 k finishing circuits, we had our first cobblestone stretch. When a cobblestone road approaches, the peloton goes crazy and the stress meter goes way up. This race isn't nicknamed the three days of "bleep hole" for nothing. There were three times when I had my brakes lock-up and was sliding out of control to where I thought I was going to die. Luckily, that never happened but we did have Chris Sutton crash into a ditch while trying to avoid a pile-up. And "Meatball" broke his machine as well as Huub doing the same at a very fast moment in the race. They never managed to make it back. Will crashed as well and banged his knee pretty good but managed to impressively hang in ' til the finish. While all this chaos was going on at the back of the race, Magnus,Tyler and Martijn were crushing it at the front to help Team Slipstream stay in the running for the overall G.C.. Martijn road well in a break for awhile before it got reeled back in just before the finish. Since I'm writing this report, you would think I would want to talk about how I raced. Besides the fact that I felt strong but failed at racing at the front during crucial moments, I'm going to forget about today and focus now on tomorrow and the final day's TT where I think I can go fast. All in all, there were no broken bones and I think today was another great step up the ladder towards our big goal, Flanders and Roubaix. With tomorrow's stage being long at 228 k, I think this will suit us "classic boys" just fine. Check in tomorrow after stage two for the inside scoop. Thanks for reading. Steven Pre De Panne write-up! Written by Steven Cozza The classic crew made it back up to Belgium today. First up on our plate is Three Days of De Panne on the windy coast of Belgium. This race is three days, just like the title implies. What's missing from the title is three windy, rainy, sand in your eyes days, cow poop sprayed in your face or dangerous race. De Panne is known for its danger. In fact, some teams refuse to have their riders do it before the bigger and more important races right around the corner: Flanders and Paris Roubaix. I personally am stoked for this race as well as my teamates. Since I was a little junior racing over here, I have been watching this race on TV. It's a dream come true to be racing in these races alongside riders such as Magnus Bagsted. In the next couple weeks, I have a feeling I'm going to learn quite a lot from Magnus about how to ride those cobbles. The first day here is a 190 k day, the s econd day, 228k and the last day is a 119 k day in the morning with a 13.7 k tt to finish off the race. These longer stages are crucial for getting ready for Flanders and Roubaix. Thanks for reading. Steven Stage Five, Vuelta a Castilla y Leon Written by Steven Cozza
Stage 5 was a hard rap for Castilla y Leon. Right off the bat, there were two
hard climbs. Since there was nothing really flat before the first climb, it was flat
out over snow covered mountains. I had the most trouble staying focused while trying
to check out the great views. After the second climb in the beginning, the
peloton came back together on the descent while Pat jumped way in a break of 4
that stayed away until the final monster climb of the day just 25 k before the
finish. Over that last climb, I felt great and made the front group of skinny
Spaniards with Christian and Martin. We flew the rest of the way to the finish.
With 6 k to go I attacked but got nowhere. Then, 1 k to go came faster than I was
ready for so I started the sprint in bad position. Christian, on the other hand,
pull ed off a nice 6th place and kept his top ten overall. All and all, it was a great
week for me and the Slipstream boys. I am now ready for the spring classics of
the north. Look for us in Belgium next week.
Thanks for reading. Steven Stage Four, Castilla y Leon Written by Steven Cozza
Thanks for reading. Steven Stage Three, Castilla y Leon Written by Steven Cozza
Today's stage was 160 kilometers on a flat course with lots of crosswind. When a major break of three riders went, the field road tempo the rest of the way with a lot of stress going into each crosswind section thinking the field was going to blow to pieces every time. Well, the Astana team controlled the race and road the front until we hit the 25 kilometer finishing circuit and all hell broke out. The last 25 kilometers were so stressful and dangerous. With about 9 kilometers to go, we caught the break and it continued to go nuts. We had to fight to stay in the top 20. With every second ticking, there was almost another crash. Tires were sliding, guys throwing head butts and punches just to stay near the front for fear of the field splitting in the crosswind. The run up to the finish was a one kilometer climb. I was in no position to help out Tyler or even go for it myself. My plan was to just stay upright and finish within the time of the winner. We all managed to do that and now we have 4 Slipstream riders in the top ten.We are all pretty stoked but realize that what we are in for tomorrow is a difficult uphill finish to the 160 kilometer day. Since 3 of us, out of the 4 in the top ten are not really climbers, it is going to be very hard for us to keep our first place overall in the team classification. I am hoping it snows tonight and covers the mountain top finish so heavily with snow that it gets cancelled and redirected into a flat finish. Boy would that be great!
Ciao, Steven Stage Two, Castilla y Leon Written by Steven Cozza
Stage two of Castilla y Leon came at us faster than we were ready for, literally. We thought the start was at 1pm but it was really at 12:50 so we were chasing to get in the race during the neutral lead out. It was a good adrenaline rush for sure. The stage was 140k with 3 big climbs that ended up not being that hard and quite gradual. After about 30k of flat out racing in the beginning, a break of 3 riders finally got away. The race was a pretty good tempo until about one hour left in the race when the Astana boys started to reel back the escapees. The hardest part of the race had to have been the last 3k. This last stretch had about 2 kilometers of cobbles in it throwing the little Spanish guys all over the place. We had a nice finish with Tyler taking 6th and Christian, Huub and I keeping our spots in the overall general classification. We also moved up into first place for the overall team classification, so this was a great result for us. We can only hope that we can keep the overall team classification away from the Astana guys who are riding like raging Spanish Bulls. Tomorrow's stage is a nice fast flat (but windy) stage. We will give it our best to try to support Tyler in a sprint for tomorrow's stage. A stage win would be the icing on the cake at this race.
Thanks for reading. Steven Individual Time Trial, Castilla y Leon Written by Steven Cozza
Today was the prologue for the Castilla y Leon stage race in Spain.
Since we are at around 4000 feet it was quite cold today. The time trial was a 9.7 mile roller coaster of a course. It was so nuts I was sure someone was going to die. Up, down, around and around it went on fairly icy roads. Since the first racer wasn't off till after 2PM my teammates and I road out to the course this morning to wake up the legs and check it out. I think we were all pretty nervous after riding it because of how nuts it seemed. After quite a bit of laying around it was time for me to get in my 50 minute warm up before hand. It was so cold that while on the trainer I was all bundled up.
Happy Easter to all the fans. Steven Under the Tuscan Sun Written by Steven Cozza
Today's race in Italy, Monte Paschi Eroica was totally insane. From the gun it was nuts. Eroica is a 185 kilometer race with 60 kilometers of dirt. The dirt sections are broken up into smaller segments with the largest being 13 kilometers long. Before every fire road dirt section it was a fight to the death to just start them in a good position. I had no fight in me and for some reason was scared, so I started all the dirt sections in the back. Since I was feeling so good I was able to just fly passed everyone before the dirt section would end jumping from one split to the next. I had no pain in my legs today, no chain and even at times felt like I was on a rocket ship not a bike.
Ciao for now and thanks for reading. Steven Back Over the Pond to Spain Land Written by Steven Cozza
On my way to Spain in style.....
Thanks for reading and more to come thankfully not from under the bridge. Steven February 16th, 2008 Follow me during the Tour of California, click on the links below! Team Slipstream Chipotle Training Camp Silver City New Mexico 2008 Death March in the Desert Written by Steven Cozza After working closely with my coach Dario all winter and logging in some great winter base miles I was all ready for the more intense training I was about to face at team camp. Camp this year was in Silver City New Mexico which is known for its good weather, hard climbs, no traffic and at high elevations. The perfect combination for a training camp where there is over 20 riders. After settling in and getting all the new team clothing and equipment for the year we were ready to ride our butts off. Every third day we had a core workout to do on our more easy riding days. We worked hard in two day blocks. Two days hard one day easy, two days hard one day easy. The easy days consisted of a nice Coffee shop ride down to the towns Coffee house or we had photo shoots. The two hard days ranged from 4 to 5.5 hours long and consisted of different intensities depending on what we were training. Some of the hard days were team time trial work where we went out and did 15kilometer intervals and other ones were just all climbing intervals. We even did some days working on lead outs for our sprinters. They were really fun but hard at the same time. Since there were no cars where we were (because its out in the middle of no where) we did two lead out trains right next to each other so it was like a drag race. At the end of each day I was always pretty wrecked but surprisingly not as bad as I had thought I would be. Because of my training all winter building up to this camp I was really able to adapt quickly to the new work load at altitude with no problem at all. Since Silver City is a really small town out in the middle of no where there is not much to say about what we did in our spare time. The only thing our hotel was near was a Walmart so we started going there and getting model airplanes and helicopters break them and then bring them back to return for another one. It was wrong to break them and then bring them back but Walmart has a satisfaction guaranteed so they take back just about anything. Ha what a Pro cyclist does with his spare time. We managed to make the best of where we were and kept pretty busy with all the massages we were getting, core workouts and meetings we had to go to here and there along with photos and interviews with the VS. Channel and other such media groups. After a good winter and hard three weeks at camp I feel I am ready for this years racing season. I hope to start off with my first race being the Tour of California and then leave for Europe. It is going to be an exciting year for me and Team Slipstream. Thanks for reading, Steven MAKING IT POSSIBLE FOR THE BLIND TO RIDE Read more... |
