Jonez World

My steed for the week… smooth as silk and fit perfectly thanks to Jelly the mechanic.

285 - Pippy 280 - Eneas 286 - Mr. www.mattshriver.com

Every legit professional team needs a Canadian - Dustin

New England Allstar, The Hoss, Mr. Dan “The Man” Greenfield

Bitter sweet ending for me today. I had a great time riding for TARGETRAINING this week and was pleased to see that our hard work netted Mr. Pippy a top 10 on GC, but I’m bummed that it is over. The old timers on the team warned us this morning that the crit would be fast and furious with few finishers. I love these kind of crits. Pippy and I pulled a so pro move and rolled up to the front of the line after 99% of the field was lined up. Front row baby. Usually people will harass riders for this kind of maneuver, but they were afraid of my guns. Only something like 68 dudes finished the race today. That means that almost 100 people dropped out this week…pantsies. Oh the race, we rode around in circles, a group got away, it came back and there was a field sprint. Crits are much easier and shorter than climbing, so I think I may start to be a crit specialist, the only problem is I am lacking a sprint…

Headed home to Nor-Cal tomorrow. Actually I’m not sure where my home is right now…

One more picture of #1 fan and I on our wedding day…

YEP, SHE’S HOT. SORRY BOYS, SHE’S TAKEN.

Well the major GC shake up prediction was correct. Today was tough no matter how you slice it. From the gun we put Billy and Dan on the front to help the Health Nuts set tempo. I think we averaged 30+ mph for the first 1:45. Over the top of the first climb Wherry, Baj, Baldwin, and some Navs made it over first with the second group containing Frank, Dustin, Health Nuts, and myself. On the backside we nailed it with Dustin and I trading pulls with Mr. Wattage (O’neil), TJ, and Louder. You ever been on that group ride where the guy in front of you is pulling super hard and you are struggling just to hold his wheel… well that was what I felt like pulling through behind O’Neill. We were gaining time on the lead group when we went off course and lost about 25 seconds. This allowed a group of about 25 to catch us that contained Henderson of HN and Shriver. So we had three to work up front. The second climb caused us to lose Dustin and others. By the time we hit the bottom of the third climb the 2:30 gap was down to 1 min. As we started to climb, I blew. I cracked harder than I have in a long time. Matt lasted almost to the top of the climb and did the same. This left Frank to fend for himself. He did a good job and is in 7th on GC tonight. He’s just a few seconds out of first and there are tons of time bonuses up for grabs tomorrow, so my works not done.

Not too much to report. We went around in circles, with the Health Nuts pulling us around. Finally the HN got mad because they were the only ones working so the TTrain boys went to the front to pull the break back. O’Neill, ha… Henderson who? We have big names like Greenfield, McBurnie, & Elliston. In true Tour fashion we hit the front with 30k to go and pulled a 2:30 gap back to 20 sec and maintained Frank’s 2nd place on GC. Tomorrow is the stage that I have been nervous about all week. Shriver & I have been protected all week for tomorrow’s stage so we can support Frank. Time to suffer. Big climbs and major GC shake ups are in store tomorrow. I’m having a great time and enjoying the week, also I’m learning a ton which is really cool. Time for bed.

I crashed not once, but twice today. Yesterday a guy crashed coming out of the parking lot and I made fun of him. Today my pay back arrived. I was descending around a right hand turn on the first lap when my front tire blew out. I hit the deck and my bike went flying. Ouch. The worst part was that I was about 6th wheel and Frank (2nd place) on GC was on my wheel. All I could think about was please don’t hit me Frank. That would have been a great way to make an impression on the team. So after all 180 riders passed me without hitting me or my bike, I got a quick wheel change from the boys at Mavic and it was off to the races. Dustin came back and paced me up to the group, then Billy took over. Just as we were about half way through the pack another crash happened! This split the field and half of our team was caught behind it, including me. Oh man that was another tough chase. We got back on as the break went, so things finally slowed down which was nice. I caught my breath and hung on until the finish. With about 200m to go a Colavita guy’s front wheel turned sideways in the railroad tracks and went down hard right in front of me. I made it around, but am not sure it I got pack time or not. We’ll see how it goes. Time to rest up for tomorrow. Today took a lot out of me.

Quick update, but we… more specifically Frank won, and Matt and I pretended like we got the victory by putting our hands up too. Pretty sneaky of us actually because all of the reporters couldn’t tell which one of us had won;) Okay, check out cyclingnews.com for the details.

Last Tuesday I received a phone call from the director of the Nor-Cal powerhouse team, Owens Healthcare. The call went something like this:

OHC: Interested in racing the state championships this weekend? If so call me back… oh yeah, not the CA state championship.
CJ: Not the CA… hmmm I sure hope it is Hawaii.
OHC: Well, not quite Hawaii, but close. Meet me at the airport at 6:45pm.
CJ: The airport?!?
OHC: Yeah the airport. Hanger #… Here’s the code.
CJ: Okay.

I rolled up to the airport to see the new OHC Sprinter Van. A nice ride in normal circumstances, but just beyond the van was our mode of transportation for this trip… yep, the team plane complete with a pilot who loaded my bags. We hoped in the plane and a quick two hours later landed in Montana. Not just anywhere in Montana, but northern redneck Montana. As we rolled up to the hanger for the evening, some guys came running toward the plane. I was like what the heck is going on? Then I realized what was happening, they were rolling out the red carpet for us! Yeah, that’s how I roll.

On to the race. Smallish field. We set out to try and get Mr. OHC some upgrade points. About 5 miles in, I attacked trying to set something up and it stuck. Oh boy, not what I wanted. 55 miles solo. People were yelling, “Go Floyd.” And I was thinking to myself, well actually I was in the hurtbox so I wasn’t thinking anything. But, if I had been thinking clearly I would have packed 71 water bottles like Floyd did on his epic stage, silly me. After I was caught, I set out to help Mr. OHC who ended up 2nd. Not a bad result.

After the race I got a phone call from Targetraining saying they would like me to race Tour de Toona with them. So we jetted, literally, back to Redding. I booked a flight out for the next day and after 20+ hours of travel, three cancelled flights, and a shuttle ride I made it to Altoona. The TT guys are pretty cool and seem to be riding well. I’ll let you guys know how the race progresses.

Thanks to EVERYONE that came out to support me at Cascade. I had at least 15 people in the feed zone screaming at me, urr for me, on Sunday. This has become one of my favorite races of the season. The courses are super tough, competition… well Navs, Health Nuts, & Toyota Divided decided to field their A squads, and the fans are the best. Stage one should have been an easy one. Just sit in and wait for the final 3k climb to the finish. The organizers added many new twists to this year’s race, including cross winds. Like a fool I missed the first echelon and lost 3:20 right off the bat. Stage 2: I made the finial selection of 13 guys, but was unable to hold it for the last 5k. Fast forward to stage 6: Crazy circuit race! One of the most difficult races I have done all season. At one point, on the last lap, there was a group of 12, including the top 11 on GC and me. First wherry attacked, o’niell countered, countered by louder, countered by baldwin, countered by moniger, by grajales… what the heck am I doing here??? It was unreal watching these guys crush each other, but no on was willing to give up. It was simply incredible. I just followed wheels and prayed that I didn’t get caught out. Eventually, the guys waited for the domestics, and the sprint. Congrats to my man Niel Shirley for winning the race. Well deserved win for Niles. I rolled in with the leaders group and grabbed 22nd on GC. Had I not screwed up the first day I would have been top 15, but that’s racing. 22nd is not stellar, but this is definitely one of my hardest earned and best results of the season. The form is coming around and Dr. Testa and I convinced great things are just around the corner.

My sister and I are planning on replacing my dad’s dog for his birthday. I say “replace” because his dog has passed away. How classic is this; my dad totaled his truck, after some kind lady ran a stop sign and collided with him, then upon his arrival at home he found out that his dog had passed away. I think a country music artist or two has written a song about this very thing.