Christopher Jones: Jonez World

Cyclingnews strapped a camera onto the front of my follow vehicle during the stage 7 time trial at the ToC. Here’s a pic of the set up. I’ll post the video once it is finished, it should be entertaining.

Cuteness defined:

I survived! This race was an adventure every step of the way. My first clue that this was going to be different came when one of the race organizers met us on our jetway upon our arrival. He then ushered us to the front of the imigration line and a quick hand shake and wink later with the officer we were free to enter Casablanca.
On a personal level the race was a rollercoaster. From my initial weight loss, to suffering like I never have before just to finish the first 3 stages, to the almost win of stage 6, to somehow pulling off a top 15 overall my race was constantly changing. As a team we had an extremely sucessful race when you consider there were only four of us. We won the overall teams category, the sprinters green jersey, three stages, second overall & on two stages. Not a bad showing for our first race of the year.
Enough with the boring stuff, here is one final tidbit of the chaos during the race. During the final stage of the race we were echeloned in the cross wind. The front group was about 25 guys. We were flying along in the cross tail wind when I heard Mike Creed yell “basketball!” Yep, some joker kid thought it would be funny to roll a basketball into our group! I pulled out some serious Kung-fu evasive maneuvers and didn’t go down as the ball bounced right in front of me.
Some parting thoughts on Morocco. Many people have expressed to me their interest in visiting Casablanca. After seeing the country, my advice is to visit Merakach then Rabat before going to Casablanca. Both are substaintally cleaner and offer more tourist opportunities. The walls and old fortress in Rabat are something that I wish I had more time to explore. My advice on food is to make purchasing some of the local olive oil your #1 priority. The cloudier and darker in color the better. We were buying a liter (yes we went through multiple liters) for about $3. There are two Moroccan versions of the crepe, both are awesome and are served with breakfast. Yes, the couscus was fantastic, but we were only served it one time. The local tea, which reminded me of matte, was excellent and was often served in place of coffee. Hands down, the best meal I ate though was the one I discussed in the last email. If you ever find yourself in Morocco, take the chance that you might get sick and hit up a local food joint. Just make sure that you wash your hands first.
Back to enjoying my post siesta afternoon in Madrid.

Christopher Jones www.christopherjones.info

I’ve lost track of the stages and towns. I know that there are 3 stages left and the race has 12 total so 12-3=… Ah I am too tired for math or humor this morning.
The team racked up another W on Thursday when Aldo won the sprint. He was batting 1.000 in the field sprints until yesterday’s stage when he ran 3rd. I’ve spent some quality time on the front riding tempo over the past few stages keeping things together for the sprints. We are confident that Aldo will win a couple of more stages this week. If he doesn’t, we might just leave him here.
The culinary highlight of the week came yesterday at lunch. Some of the Moroccian racers took us to lunch and showed us how to eat their local cuisine correctly, yes with the fingers and some bread. It was easily one of the top three ethnic meals I have ever experienced. The first course some kind of thin stringy vegtable with chicken and the second was lamb with dates. Both courses were amazing and hopefully the local racers take us out for another meal tonight.

Tonight I’ll get some pictures of the town of Rabat. When we arrived last night it was dark outside, but supposedly the city is an old walled fortress.
Christopher Jones www.christopherjones.info

Professional athletes are often asked the key to their success and if they have any advice for an aspiring pro. Often times the standard scripted answers are given in response; hard work, dedication, & raw talent. Here is one reason that I don’t often share; The Golden Arches.
As a cat 5 on the verge of going to Le Tour, my #1 fan decided that I needed to lose a few lbs. She came up with the plan that I would have to cut out my McFlurry a day. These would have to be reserved for days when I podiumed. I have abided by our agreement since, only tasting the awesome goodness from McD’s on days when I ran top 3. Here is where the motivation comes into play, stage 6 of a 12 stage tour where I haven’t been able to eat more than toast for five days, my stomach is finally settled down, I am in the winning break, and we pass three sets of Golden Arches during the last 30km. That my friends is motivation.
Here is me doing my best to look as freaky as Ronald McDonald.

Time to go shopping in Tanger.
Christopher Jones www.christopherjones.info

Hi -

Sorry that the flow of information has been slow, but that is just the Moroccan way of doing business!

Most you know the trouble I have keeping the weight off, so when I arrived here I enrolled in the local version of Weight Watchers. After one meal on the diet I have already lost 10 lbs. Amazing stuff, but don’t try this at home.

I’d like to thank my homies on the river ride in Sacramento for their help in preparing me for this race. Similarly to the RR, the Tour of Morocco is complete with senseless attacks, crashes, and yes even post race fist fights one of which involved a girl.

Overall the race is going well. We unfortunately lost Shaun and Javi from a crash on the first stage so are fighting with only four riders. Currently Kobza is in second overall and we have won one stage. We have 6 or 7 more stages left and we expect to notch a couple of more wins and take the
overall.

Here’s a shot from our hotel one night. The scenery is stunning in some areas with cliff side villages similar to
those seen in southern Spain.

Hopefully by the next update I’ll be off of my special diet and able to sample some of the local cuisine.

Where you been? Yeah you; where have you been? Ah on vacation, kind of like me. After a sucessful cross season all things cycling related in my life (including you mr website) have been neglected. This neglect was forced at first and has been embraced lately. With TT1’s road season not scheduled to start until almost April, I saw an opportunity to step away from the sport and lifestyle of a professional cyclist for a while. Skiing, skiing, and well more of the s word have been the order of my downtime. It had been 6 years since I shelved the sticks along with my appetite for the steep and deep. That was too long and this offseason was the binge. I toyed with planks of all sizes and enjoyed my time on all of them. On Max’s advice I have picked up skate skiing, or I should say tried to pick up, since I dug quite a few divots on the skating lanes at the Auburn Ski Club and Royal Gorge. I not sure if his goal was to humble me by being passed by 7 year old girls, or to just wear me out by telling me to go skate for 3hrs. I know what you are thinking, 3hrs isn’t that long, you ride your bike for 6. Trust me, the average heart rates from skating were much higher than riding. Still don’t believe me, come join me for a flailing session sometime.
Now it is time to get back down to business. This week kicks off the return to my training routine. We are starting a new tradition of January training trip to Maui. What better way to start off on the right foot than in a warm climate with lots of sun block?
I feel refreshed and know this season will be filled with sucess. TT1 has imported quite a few talented riders and poached some from other domestic teams. We will be a younger and hungrier team this season and I am excited about all of the young guys.

Took a short trip out to race New England Worlds and the Providence Cyclocross Festival last week and made my annual sacrifice to the food gods of the east; namely dunkies, Claire’s, and Lulu’s.  I’m not a coffee guy (insert gasps here), but it always amazes me how people have their coffee prepared at dunkin donuts; extra cream and sugar, really is the coffee that bad?  DD’s coffee already comes with cream in sugar in it, the ratio is something like 1:1:1 (coffee, cream, sugar).  Claire’s LCC is something that every person should enjoy at least once during their lifetime, if not daily.  #1 and I made sure to eat extra for some of you who will not make it out to the Haven to partake.

The racing a was decent, 3 seemed to be the number of the trip.  Three 3rds and a 6th thrown in there just to keep it real.  I’m not sure where my mud skills on the first day of Gloucester came from, but hope that they stick around for a while…  Thanks to all of the fans who came out to watch the racing and heckle me with chants of “roadie.”

Up next is some R&R this week. Collegiate MTB nats are in town this weekend, so we’ll be headed up on Friday to check out the next generation of shredders.

A little road update, the season ended on a great note both on a personal level and for the TT1. Moises (not Moses, Mr. ToM announcer) took the KoM jersey at the Tour of Missouri and the team spent a couple of days in the most aggressive rider jersey. I fought hard all week to integrate into a breakaway. I finally got my wish on stage 7 spending some time off the front with 5 pro tour pedalers. Thankfully it was a short stage!
I am happy to say that for 2010 I have signed on for a 3rd season with TT1. The boys run a great program and have an inspiring message to spread about diabetes. I will miss my man Gord though.
Now the cross season has opened up. I have been racking up the travel, 6 flights, 5 races, and 4 different states over the last 8 days. Oh and I crashed more times in my first cross race than I did during the entire road season!
I have scored a few results during this first trip, my biggest of which was my 2nd at cross vegas. This race, like vegas in general, is over the top out of control. Everyones’ sponsors are at the race and want the bragging rights that come with a win at our ‘largest cross race.’ Unfortunately, I fell just shy of the W and was the first loser. The crowd was crazy, and besides the guy who spit beer on Jamey and I, kept us motivated to do the unthinkable and hold the elite group of chasers off.
This cross season and the results that are upcoming would not be possible without all of my sponsors. Thanks to Champion System, Focus, Williams Wheels, fizik, Crank Brothers, Thomson, Smith Optics, Mavic, & Action Wipes.
Here’s a picture to help motivate you to go out and buy their products. Look at this beauty!

Up next: New England Worlds aka. Gloucester GP. I have some unfinished business at this race after flatting out of the lead on the final lap the last time I raced here.

Three, actually four summers ago I remember receiving The Call. I was on a mid summer haitus in Montana when I received a call from the boys over at TARGETRAINING. They asked if I could be in pennsylvania in 36 hours to race for them. I had no idea how I would get there, but before my brain could compute the logistics the word ‘yes’ came out of my mouth. I somehow made it to the race on time and will never forget the pride I felt when I rode in my first professional race.
Since then my career has progressed as I moved to NERAC and for the past two seasons raced for Team Type 1. Neither of these teams had added a rider mid-season until this past week when Will ‘Willow’ Duggan joined TT1 at the Tour of Utah. Immediately I remembered being his shoes, new to a team and ready to please. I also remembered that I like to exploit new guys in these situations, so I-Mac and I set out to have fun with the kid. I can’t list everything here, but Willow had a great attitude and handled the razing well. He is talented and is a good addition to TT1. Yes ladies, he is young, single, and looking…looking on websites for a Russian mail order bride that is. Kids these days…
D Lill rode well for second overall and best Utah rider while the rest of us floundered around and played back-up singers for him. If the race can iron out a few minor problems, such as keeping riders on course, it has a great future.
Up next is USPro.
I don’t have a picture of Will, so here is a picture of Cass, who is beautiful as always, holding the end of a rainbow.