matts cycling blog

cx nats

I decided last minute to make the trip out to Rhode Island for cyclo cross nats. I've been running alot and i'm still quick on the bike. So hopefully I will do well.

posted by Matt Brandt @ 6:16 PM 1 comments

Ouch!

Hi Matt,



I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the fine reports from the Tour de l’Abitibi have finally caught up with you. I see here that the exalted chief commissaire, Claude Deschaseaux fined you 30 Swiss Francs during the event. We have paid the UCI on your behalf and now need to be reimbursed. That amounts to $27 in American dollars. Please contact me about paying this. Thanks.



Shawn Farrell

Technical Director

posted by Matt Brandt @ 9:49 AM 2 comments

Our fearless leader

posted by Matt Brandt @ 9:36 PM 0 comments

Double Weekend

The chicago cross race on saturday was rough. I only raced b's, because I had to get back for the wca banquet. Aaron slipped off the front and no one chased. So, it was a win for team wisconsin. I ended sprinting for 2nd with a Joe farris never heard of him. I got cocky and went to early into the win and he nipped me at the line.
Sunday was the wisconsin state title race. I had the jrs race first. Which was a little bit harder then it normally is. I went hard from the start trying to gap everyone and then ease up and rest for the senoirs race. I ended up getting a 30 second lead and held it there for the rest of the race. Another State jersey YEAH! The B race was Extremely tough. There was an alan guy from out of state who pushed the pace super hard from the start. Jack Hirt and myself were the only ones who got lucky and were able to bridge up. By Mid race we had a 45 second gap. I was hanging on for dear life. Not wanting jack to win the overall or the state title. Gasping for air I finally popped with half a lap to go.... Jack won the jersey, but all was not lost. I stopped a foot before the line so tom got 3rd and myself 4th. So Tom should win the overall by 5 points. I got an earfull from some of jacks friends his "goons" as I call them now haha. They weren't to happy about the move I pulled stopping before the line, but thats team work you gotta do what you gotta do to win.

posted by Matt Brandt @ 8:11 AM 1 comments

Super IQ

So... Way to cold to ride today. It was snowing on my way home from school, scary. I got bored, and took the super IQ test and got a 100 so that sucks. Jeremey is 31 points ahead of me. Anyway last night I went for my first run of the year, ran out to pets and back. All together about 6 miles, my knees didn't hurt so that was cool. Might go do it again tonite since im to lazy to ride.

posted by Matt Brandt @ 1:02 PM 0 comments

chi cx #4

So just a recap of the race today. The course was awsome 3/4 of it was rolling "real single track no sissy stuff with a couple berms thrown in. I got the hole shot into the single track and railed the pace. Pete stanilous came up and rode the 2nd section like a mad man but tripping over a baricade took out his chances early in the race. So I led the race in the single track getting a small lead each lap only to be chased down on the open windy rough sections. About 30 min into the 45 minute race I decided to give it a go and ripped through the tight stuff opening a 10 second gap before the open section. I pushed hard and opened up a sizable lead enough to hold off a hard charging Kip Spaude.
It felt good to get a win again after losing saturday. Damn those stairs.


Damn those stairs..

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posted by Matt Brandt @ 5:05 PM 0 comments

Estabrook park cyclo

Today was the Washington Park cyclo cross race. Right next to the wonderful milwaukee river. The course dried out alot after all the flooding in there. It ended up being very tacky the kinda mud you hate. Just makes it so tiring and slow. Anyways on to the race. I got in a top 5 spot right from the gun following Tom straight to the front. The 2nd lap I got on the front and let my "mad skillz" do the work. Bunny hopping the barrairs on the backside of the course and opening a small gap. It was really early in the race, but i decided to see what happened and pushed hard to open up the gap. The gap kept getting bigger and bigger I had at least 20 seconds at one point. Jack Hirt somehow got away from the chase group and bridged up to me. He caught me and we started working together. Our gap exploded it got bigger and bigger each lap. Lap after lap dragged by finally after 14 laps they rang the bell. I tried to pull the same move again like on saturday bunny hopping the last set of barrairs, but I didn't get a gap this time and jack was right on my wheel. I knew it was to late to sit up so I just put my head down and hammered. I took the inside of the final corner forcing him to try and come around me on the outside. He came around but just a little to late. I got it by a wheel length.
Tom ended up 4th, Aaron was 7th I think? Patti took 2nd in the womens A's she was prolly still a lil tired after winning that 1100 dollar frame saturday.

posted by Matt Brandt @ 3:12 PM 0 comments

You know you're having a bad day when...

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posted by Matt Brandt @ 9:05 PM 0 comments

chi cross

The Best race ever? I think so. It was a great course 2 sets of barriars 1 hill run up and even a ditch jump. The B's race was up first. I got the hole shot, but let it go in the first grass section grabbing 2nd wheel. 2 albertos riders rode a very hard tempo with in a lap I was the only one left with them. I thought I was gonna die. One of them would block me and the other one would attack getting a gap and leaving me to close it everytime. They did this most of the race one of them would rest and the other would attack me. Just as I was about to bonk barely even being able to see straight. They rang the bell for 1 lap to go. I had a plan going into it. It was perfect a small sand trap before a set of double barrairs dead flat. I fought to get into the front for this section. It was almost as if it were a game of chicken who would grab the brakes first? We were side by side going into the sand pit. The other guy freaked out and grabbed the brakes. I had it I perfectly hopped the barrairs and opened a 100 foot gap right away. I had a huge grin on my face as I cruised across the line taking the win.
The Jr race was kewl I rode around bunny hopped the barriars showed off a bit. I picked up a sweet pc 89 sram chain for the win.

posted by Matt Brandt @ 8:18 PM 0 comments

Stickers

Well today was interisting Steve and I went to this place called "signs by tommarow" how ironic the name.... We ordered up some stickers with our names on them Steve only wanted 2, and you had to buy a minimum of 20 dollars worth so I ended up buying 38 stickers that say Brandt on them with the Italian flag. Should be pretty cool when there done sometime next week.
After that we hooked up with Dave and went for a couple hour ride on the road. Wonder if anyone went to pets today?

posted by Matt Brandt @ 3:26 PM 2 comments