The Strava Battle

For a teenager, I'd say I'm pretty behind on the whole internet networking biz. Up until a week ago I had no idea about this whole "Strava" thing, where you can upload your workouts and actually compete with other people that have done the same ride or segment. At first I didn't think much of it, but after uploading my first workout into it yesterday I'm sort of hooked.

Its kind of like a drug, that works pretty much instantly, how long it will last I have no idea but I definitely want more of it, now. And the funny thing is, in order to get more of it, all I need to do is ride my bike, which I love anyway. Now, however, there is even more incentive to spend longer hours on the bike, so that I can visit KOM (King of the Mountain) spots and poach the hell out of them.

If said poaching is successful, this will then spark a competitive fire with those I have beaten, and will cause them to begin riding even more, on the quest to earn the little gold trophy icon engraved with the number "1" as a reminder that they were the fastest Strava user ever to go up this mountain.

Now this all sounds fun and great, but there are people that I like to call "ultimate poachers" out there that everyone needs to watch out for. These guys are ruthless, they feed off the glory of digital awards and bragging rights. They'll do anything, and I mean anything, for these KOM's.

They're a rare breed these guys, and some of them can be even your closest of friends. Rumor has it, their ringleader is the most notorious poacher Strava has ever seen, a man that has no remorse for the dreams he shatters when he logs a KOM. They say he rides to kill, leaving nothing but 2nd places in his path. His name...is Jared Nieters.

These poachers like Nieters need to be stopped, and we as a cycling community can stop them. If we work together we can end the reign of ultimate poaching, and make the land of Strava a happy and peaceful place once again. Understand that not all of you will make it, but your efforts will forever be remembered as you fought for the future of Strava and the fun competitions that are KOM's.

Thank you.
- Darion


On a separate note, I will be racing in NY this weekend on dirt and gravel roads at the Tour of the Battenkill. It will be tough, painful, and hugely fun. As Jared Nieters says, "Seacrest out!"

XO Communications p/b Cisco

As many of you know I'll be joining team XO for the 2012 season. I'm excited about it, I think its a really good position for me to be in. The level of riders I'll be learning from is huge, a lot of ex-pros from pretty big teams like Rock Racing, Snow Valley, Rite-Aid and a few guys that have spent a lot of time racing in Belgium.

The team camp we had in Asheville, NC a couple weeks ago was a big confidence booster, for everybody. I think I speak for the team as a whole when I say that everyone on board this year is super strong, knowledgable and overall just a well rounded group of guys, both on and off the bike. Its important that a team get along well, and know each other, especially in a sport as trying as cycling. I'm happy to say, I think thats exactly what we have this year.

The riding in Asheville is great, its no wonder hat pro teams like United Healthcare choose the location for training camps. Whichever way you choose to ride you'll find yourself going uphill for hours at a time. The 12 days were filled with some long rides, a good focus on team building, and food, lots of food.

It was all fun. Except for a small run in I had with a pick-up truck that left my bike pretty hurt and my front wheel unusable, but I recovered just fine and thanks to a great teammate, Jared Nieters, the owner of the best bike shop in the world (Haymarket Bicycles), the bike was up and running the next day.

We were also lucky enough to get some good racing in at the Greenville Spring Training Series in SC. The first day was pretty rough for me, as I covered the first attack of the race which ended up turning into me and one other rider being chased down by the peloton for 40 miles. But, it meant my teammates in the race didn't have to chase, so they could sit back and rest up while I suffered. 

The next race, and final day of camp, turned into an awesome way to finish up the week as our teammate Adam Farabaugh took the win against a solid field. The guy is pretty strong. Overall it was a fantastic time. The team, sponsors, and everyone else involved is pretty excited for what should be a seriously successful season.

Training w/ Trek Livestrong

I've been back in TX since the start of January to finish up the last bit of aerobic capacity training for the winter with the usual 20+ hour weeks. The last 3 months of training have been hard to say the least but also extremely productive. Mentally, I feel really confident in my abilities on the bike, and physically, I can say without a doubt, I'm in the best shape I've ever been in.

The one thing that stands out to me the most though, is that my mentality hasn't been worn down at all. I think its the people I train with that I have to thank for this. Being in the saddle for 5 or 6 hours straight by yourself can be pretty wearing on the mind. Having a group or a training partner to ride with can make all the difference in the world when gathering the motivation for those longer hours.

As I said in my last post, I've met up with a few of the Trek Livestrong riders that are living in Austin for some training. Getting 5 hour rides in with Nate, Gavin and Lawson is always a great experience. There's always something to talk about as well, whether its asking for their advice on the sport, listening to Lawson make fun of my Garmin or just talking about what most teenagers talk about, girls and parties, haha. There's never a dull moment, except for the occasional short, 18% grade uphills known as "conversation killers." The point is, being able to train with other people makes the riding less painful, more enjoyable, and so much easier.

This past Sunday was my last ride with the guys before I head back to VA tomorrow morning to finish up winter training and get ready for the 2012 race season. We all met up at a cafe in downtown Austin for some coffee before heading off. The ride consisted of 5 hours with Kristian House, Nate, Lawson, Gavin and Glenn Kasin, Trek Livestrong's sponsorship manager, who only joined us for the first 30 minutes. The weather, besides being a little cold when we first got started, turned out to be nice enough for the gloves and arm-warmers to come off, which is always good.

Although the ride turned out to be great, I was having different thoughts in the beginning when less than 5 minutes into it I flatted...I'll be honest, having only been cycling for a little over a year now, I haven't had much practice when it comes to changing flats. Nevertheless I got to work. The extra stop gave Lawson some time to visit the gas station across the street for some extra snacks. So, in a way I was a hero (not really) and a few minutes later, we were back on the road.

As it turns out I wasn't the only one in store for a flat. Nate flatted right on the finishing stretch, an unlucky day for tubes. It did make me feel a little better about holding everyone up in the morning though.

So, other than the two flats, and also the devastation of finding out that Lawson's favorite pudding caffe is closed on Sundays, it was an awesome day. Oh and one final note, how about Will Clarke's 70k solo victory in yesterday's Stage 2 of the Tour Down Under?! EPIC!

A Different "Winter Wonderland"

I'd be lying if I said I don't feel guilty for not blogging in over 3 months, but what better way to start off a new year of hopefully more consistent blogging than by posting on the last day of 2011.

The last 3 months for me have been all over the place. I started out by making the 26 hr drive to Texas shortly after my 19th birthday in October. I can't say I enjoyed the road trip as its hard to find positives to 26 hours alone in a car with only your thoughts and a battery dead iPod, as well as a 6 hour "sleep" in the drivers seat of a small Ford hatchback. I can say, however, that the misery of getting there was totally worth it, because the weather, views, and roads that greeted me were awesome.

I lived and trained in San Antonio and Austin with a good friend of mine up until Thanksgiving when I drove down to meet my parents for the holiday in St. Petersburg, Florida. Unfortunately, I didn't get much training in while I was there, the lack of quiet roads without traffic lights didn't help. But it worked out well as I used the time there as a rest and recovery period, which as it turned out was very needed.

I came back to TX with a burning motivation and immediately got onto the bike again. I hammered out a couple 20+ hour weeks with a few long trail runs in the mornings and some solid power tests, was in the gym every night at 8 for core work and stretching, and was having my legs dug into a few times a week by an active release therapist to ease the strain of the road.

During those 2-3 weeks before Christmas I was also lucky enough to connect with some guys that I really look up to for a couple rides. If you know me, you are probably aware of my goals in this sport, the biggest of which being the Trek Livestrong U23 development team. So, you can imagine how stoked I was to ride with some of the guys on that team that are based out of Austin. I worked out the plan with Gavin Mannion, and met up with the rest of the guys, Lawson Craddock, Nate Brown, their coach, as well as 2009 British national road race champion, Kristian House, at a small coffee shop in downtown Austin.

The ride was awesome. A solid 5 and a half hours in TX country, on some beautiful roads, with some really down to earth and easy-to-talk-to guys. It was nice to be able to ride with guys that are my age, and that are as good as they are, to hear what they had to say about their experiences with cycling and their backgrounds with the sport. When I fly back to TX next week I'll hopefully be hooking back up with Gavin to try to plan a few more of those "blog-worthy" rides.

This has been my life for the last 3 months, waking up every morning with a bit of an ache in my quads, long nights in the gym, deep tissue massage recovery, hundreds of emails back and forth with my coach, thousands of miles of driving, healthy "sale-only" grocery shopping, and memories that I'm probably never going to forget. I'm loving every moment, and to me thats whats most important.


THE PLAN


So, until the 5th I'll be here in VA with family, riding every once in a while, but mostly just relaxing and enjoying the time off. Then I'll be back in TX to continue some serious training for a few weeks.

Now, the plan was to head down to the island of Nassau in late January, to participate in what was going to be my first race of the season, the Tour of the Bahamas, with a few teammates on XO-Comm-Harley-Davidson. However, because of not enough riders able to go, and unfortunate illness of our team leader for that race, its just not going to happen.

Really it came down to, either I can waste the money doing a 3 day race in the Bahamas, or I can head back up to VA at the same time of that race, to participate in the EPIC Haymarket Winter League "Race" Series. First of all this won't cost me anything, and speaking from experience, this series is probably the hardest "race" type simulation you can do at this time of the year. There's even a leader's jersey this year which is awesome!

So, that's the plan. I'll be headed back up to VA in late January to continue training here for a month, or two...or three. Honestly, I don't know how long I'll stay, it'll all really depend on how well the training is going and how my body is reacting to the climate change. At the end of the day, thats really what I have to look at. "Is going here, or doing this, or eating that, really the best thing for my training and maintaining my goals?"

Thanks for reading