Last weekend Brian Alferman, Austin Allison, Nolan Froese, Terry Kennan, Tim Kakouris and I did the Tour of St. Louis and it went pretty well for us.  We knew going in to the races that we had to race for breaks because both crits were flat without many corners.  Saturday at the Carondelet Park criterium the race started fast and about 10 minutes in I put in big counter-attack and after being off for a lap guys started coming across to form a 20 man break with three THF riders in it.  With such a big break Austin, Terry and I had to stay vigilant and at the 30 minute mark a group of four with Terry in it got away.  That group of four lapped the field and around the hour mark the rest of the group got caught.  So we all worked to set Terry up but in the end we couldn’t get it right and Terry ended up second.

That afternoon in the time trial Nolan got a very good third place against some really good time trialists.

So going in to the Forest Park crit on Sunday we didn’t have much a shot at winning the overall so we raced for a break.  It was really fast with nothing going and the whole team just rode at the front marking moves and trying to get away.  About 40 minutes in I attacked and stayed out front for about five laps and when I got caught Nolan launched a perfect counter-attack that formed the winning five man move.  The rest of the team rode at the front in case Nolan’s group got caught, but it stayed away and Nolan got second on the day and ended up second overall for the weekend.  Terry got ninth on the day in the field sprint.
Brian Dziewa

Saturday April 12th

Brian Dziewa (java) takes the top step at Tilles Park.

Under cloudy skys in cool temperatures the THF Realty Cycling  team lined up 5 rider to do battle with the top riders in the St. Louis area. The race was fast from the gun and featured a impressive two man break away with Nolan in it that spent most the day off the front. While Nolan was away the Tim, Austin, Brian and Terry were able to sit back and follow moves but with the high winds and chasing pack the break came back with about 15 minutes left to race. A strong solo move by Brian gained about 20 seconds and as the laps counted down his time gap didn’t. In the end he crossed the finish line alone for the teams 5th victory of the season. As Brian crossed the line the field was in full flight with Tim driving on the front to keep the field together and setting Terry up for a 5th place finish.

Last weekend we went to Arkansas to do the Hell’s kitchen road race. I did this race once before as a cat 4. I remember in the 4s I attacked early and soloed for 40 miles and won by 6 minutes. That was my first Cat 4 race ever and needless to say I was all pumped up about being the next Lance.That was then and this is now and it seems as many things have changed. I’ve moved up through the ranks embossing my self to a category 1 rider. Racing in professional level races is never easy for an inexperienced kid like me. However, unlike the small events, the pressure for you to do well isn’t too high. You can take your time to learn the race and how everyone races. These smaller races, there always feels like there is more pressure on you. I’ve done well for my fair share of cat 1,2 races, but I wouldn’t consider myself a dominate rider in the Midwest peloton.

Hell’s kitchen is a race that splits up due to the rolling terrain, a lot of attacks and one really steep mile log hill. It’s a shame more people don’t come down to that race, as the scenery is beautiful. Rolling hills and some sunshine doesn’t hurt the eyes. However, it can hurt the legs.

We ended up riding 4 and half hours before the race, and it wasn’t too easy. We always met other people who seemed to go hard up every hill. After that we did 20 miles of endurance pace on some flat highway, in skidmark Arkansas. Needless to say, it was dark and we were starting to get a little scared at the end.

Despite the long ride the day beforehand, I felt pretty good. The legs seemed fresh enough and I wasn’t too sore. The race started off pretty fast but that’s the way I wanted it because I was a little cold from standing around at the starting line. A break ended up getting up the road, which had three of our guys in it, one of them being me. I attacked at the top of the hell’s kitchen climb the second lap and then Steve Tilford countered, followed by my teammate Terry. We let both of them get up the road and we were happy with that.  Terry took 2nd, and I broke the top ten and so did Brian Diewza. Austin patrolled the pack and made sure no one could get to the break.

 Thanks for reading,

Nolan

Sometimes it’s hard to be a full time student, a full time bike racer, and have a social life.  There just are not enough hours in the day to always be able to do everything I want.  I’ve heard the pros say it, and I know that I have to make sacrifices sometimes to be successful in cycling.  There are times when my friends will want to do something, and I will have to skip so that I can get my training in.  It’s hard to miss out on the fun sometimes when the alternative is a set of thirty minute all out intervals, but I know that that’s what it takes.  Every day I am at school from seven in the morning until at least three in the afternoon, and that’s not to mention all the homework I have to do at some point before the next school day.  That does not leave a lot of time to get in all the training I need to do.  What it means is that I have to do a lot of riding on the trainer during the winter when it does not stay light enough for me to get outside after school.  I really don’t find that riding the trainer is very enjoyable, but if that’s what I have to do then that’s what I’ll do.  My friends don’t always understand why I can’t hang out with them, or why I have to leave school right away every day.  Under any circumstances, it takes a lot of self discipline to make it in cycling, but I can tell you that it is even harder as a full time high school student.  You’ve really got to love everything about the sport to go out there and hurt yourself everyday in training, and I assure I do love the sport.  That’s why I’m willing to make some sacrifices to achieve my goals in the sport of cycling.