Tour of Atlanta

Well ToA is done and team CTM had is best team performance to date. Once again CTM has proven to be on of the strongest teams in the SE. With 4 guys in the top 10 masters GC including the overall lead..I decided to join them in Monday's crit to help secure Jim's overall lead. In the process I was able to win the stage with Rick Creed flying in behind me for a close second. More to come on the Masters recap. I then jumped back on my bike an hour later to race the final crit in the Pro 1/2 with hopes of securing my 14 place in the GC. The crit was hard in the beginning and eventually a group of 7 got :45 on us. I decided to do what I could for John Murphy from Health Net who was leading the overall and helped me in the TTT jump up in the GC. After pulling for a few laps...John attacked and well I almost found myself flying right off the back. After a few ridiculously hard laps I was able to recover and get myself back toward the front. The break was brought back to below :15 by the last lap all done by John on his own. The guy is STRONG really really STRONG! I rode through with the group thus securing my 14th GC finish and top 10 among non pro riders. Not a bad day at all for team CTM.

Tour of Atlanta Update

Well it's been three days and five stages. Thus far things have gone rather well. Thursday was the ITT in which I finished fourth. Not at my best due to just coming off a bad virus... lungs still not 100% but legs were good.

In the evening we did 800 meter street sprints and first of all they were a lot of fun. I managed to win the first heat, get second in the semi-finals and fourth in the final round. Not bad for the first go at this and man was it a lot of fun!

Friday evening found us in a wet and technical crit. Got away and one guy came up to me. We built a lead of 35 seconds by the end and it earned me the leaders jersey--1st on GC, whew-hew! It's always fun to have but is the pressure ever on and you feel it shortly after earning it... Now you have to defend and keep it!

Saturday was the TTT in which we did okay finishing the top 3 teams. At the moment we're not sure where and what the time gaps are due to poor management on Georgia Cup's part. It appears I've fallen to second overall by about 20 seconds. We'll see tomorrow...

In the afternoon was our road race and after many hard attempts by all six of us it came down to a field sprint. Rodney Dender took second and Steve Sperry fifth.

More to come in the next few days. We'll go for it tomorrow and Monday in two crits. Looking forward to it and surely going to try to put a dent in things... Much fun and legs are good!

Team mates are doing great too with three of us in the top 10. I'd fill in all the details but must run!

Jim Cunningham

Episode 8 Finished

Episode 8 is complete:

In this episode, I attempted to hijack the 'Two Johns Podcast' and had fun with an interview with one of the Johns. I also gave an update on my knee surgery, reported on the Collegiate National Road Championships, and had a fascinating interview with David Karoodsma of the Britta Climate Ride. Check it out!

National Number ONE

CTM's own Rick Creed is ranked number one in the country in Masters 44-49 crits. This is not bad since Rick is just now finding his form. He and Sperry will be a duo to be reckoned with at Masters Nationals in Louisville, KY in June.

Knee surgery #1 complete

The first step to recovery from my not-so-spectacular crash while skiing in Canada is complete. Surgery #1 = re-attach the LCL to the Tibia. The LCL runs down the outside of your leg and attaches your Femur to your Tibia. My Ligament was intact, but had pulled a chuck of bone off the Tibia. In this surgery, they cut a 5 inch incision on the side of my knee, drilled a screw into my Tibia (an anchor with sutures sticking out the top of it), then sewed down the chunk of loose bone.

The other small incisions were for a scope to go into look at my ACL in the middle of my knee. That ligament is also blown, which will require a 2nd surgery and complete replacement of the ligament with material from a cadaver, zombie parts.
I'll be on crutches for the next 6 weeks till the bone heals, then go back for the ACL surgery in July. No real training for me till at least October.

Episoe 7 of Podcast, Quick Update

Episode 7 of the podcast is out. It is just a short one to update everyone on my knee injury. I wrecked it skiing in Canada and need surgery. The good news is that it will give me more time to make podcasts.

Pro contribution....

Well I have done it for 2008..I made my official pro donation this past week. I would highly recommend everyone doing the same...where you might ask...well it just so happens there are many events left where you can make your own donation. Simply look up the events schedule for the USA Crit series, register and ride your bike well over 30 mph for as long as you can. Oh ya I might need to mention your start position is critical as trying to move up positions while going over 30 is well for me nearly impossible but that's just me.

Beafort 140 guys start 25 finish on the lead lap....37 finish total...yes over 100 guys DNF including me
Walterboro 140 start again but where you start is where you stayed as moving up was impossible..70 DNF including me
Greenwood actually got to race my bike and got off the front...finished 52 oh ya
Spartanburg...choose the M35+ instead and still had not legs got 5th in Field sprint and 8th over all..
JimmyT had great race getting off with about 3 laps to go and staying away for a solo 3rd place finish...another lap and he would have caught the leaders.
Dilworth choose the M35+ with JimmyT and Rick joined us after sprinting for 4th in the M45+ race. Got into a break with 10 other guys. Little did I know Ryan Jenkins was off the front before the break got together. Covered 3-4 attacks one of which reached Ryan and then saw Patterson attack and Ryan then counter to join him. We got caught by the remaining 7 for so and then watched the last attack by Mark Jellous go up the road with 1 to go. The wheel I was following the sprint decided to sit up with a bout 500 meters to go..and well it was go or no go..I choose to go and got caught at the line by 2 guys for a 7th...NO GOOD! which leads into below

OK ok a little fun but the USA SE Speedweek crits were that fast. I had gone to Athens and done the AM P/1/2 race to qualify for the Amateur semi final. I got into a break with 6 over guys..one of which flatted and received 3 free laps??? hmm later this same guy got back in the break and then won the race. Oh well..I rolled in for a 7th yes last in the break but I was saving my legs for the evening's race..so I told myself. I choose the evening race or Amateur semi final over big race due to just the shear number of crashes every year. This years 2008 version was no different and I am sure you can find many race reports validating my claim. So back to the ASF...they shorten our race as they do every year to 30 mintues. The race was fast from the start and a break of two rolled off and stayed away about 8 laps into the race. There many attempts to bridge including one by myself but none were successful. The field would be sprinting for 3rd. Coming through for 1 lap to go, I was setting top 10...I guy comes flying up on the outside on in turn 2 and goes down and almost goes down but makes the guy in front of me break hard. Move back to 20 or so...great. I try and move up with no avail but out of the last turn I have what amounts to the best sprint i have had in well along time. I pass about 12 guys and take 6th in the field sprint for 8th overall. I most have left my legs in Athens...see above