Pause

I like this shot from Tom Robertson. Seen at tomrobertsonphoto.com via freemantransport.com. Check out his site for more nice photos.

-Joe

MTB

Wouldn't mind either of these Indy Fab's right about now...






-Joe

TOU Stage 4

Jeff Louder of BMC was one of my first favorite riders when I started following pro cycling last year(I know, nOOb). He won the tough looking stage 4 crit of this year's Tour of Utah. He attacked about halfway through the race on the 1 mile course that had a 12% kicker. Riders were getting dropped left and right, and also being lapped! Crazy... My friend Eric Lippincott was there actually handing out bottles? Eric if you happen to read this, hit me up!


(photo: velonews.com)

-Joe

KBS Orca

Not usually a big fan of Orbea's, but this Kelly Benefits edition one is pretty nice.



-Joe

Posted

Only because of those blue hoods. I like that blue... and maybe the wheels too...



-Joe

Donuts

-Joe

EDGE

I want some EDGE wheels... 1.68 or 45 clincher? Yeh, Yeh.








http://www.edgecomposites.com


-Joe

Looking Forward

Yeah, I know.... lack of updates.... although it's all good because I've been quite busy with the daily happenings in everyday life. Working, chilling, racing, riding, planning.... planning for what? HOC Cycling Team next season. Yup. We're going to do this! As of now, Jonathan is working on the kits once again, and they're looking FRESH. I'm so stoked on it for next season. Jersey, bib, vest, cap, and gloves. If you are reading this and would like to get an order in, shoot me an email at hocroad@gmail.com. I will shoot you over the mock up we have of the kit details once we get them, which should be very soon. We aren't producing a whole lot for the first time around, they're mostly going to be for the team, which is right now comprised of less than 5 people hahahah. But that's alright, we will build strong! On that note, a big shout out and congratulations is in order to Naveen for his win at Dunnigan Hills RR last weekend. So stoked for you man! And Kevin as well, putting in some nice solid efforts for Naveen.... looking good for next season boys!

Interested in riding for us? Send an email of interest to hocroad@gmail.com.

In other news, my left leg has been numb for the past couple of days. Doc says it could be a kinked/pinched nerve, and hopefully it will go away soon. Haven't felt any pain with it, just the fact that I can feel it is pretty annoying though. At least it doesn't hurt.... anyway, I still raced with it even though maybe I should have rested last Sunday. I won't do a race report this time around for the last two races, but I'll just post the photos from them. The way my schedule is looking like for the rest of the season, it looks like I might only be racing 2 or 3 more times... Excited to race with the vegas boys when they come through at the end of the month! I'll be going to Europe in the middle of September and then NYC for early October for a little R & R! Looking forward to it.... Oh yeah, I want a mountain and TT bike.... which comes first? I'm also waiting for Curtlo to get back to me on the decals so I can get the cross bike re-painted. Hurry up yo!

More soon and thanks for reading!


Timpani Crit









Suisun City Harbor Crit










Kevin at the front, pacing Naveen who is right behind him in the photo.



(Photos by Saskia and Hors Categorie Photography)


-Joe

Copper Town Circuit Race

Kevin and I woke up at the crack of dawn to drive out to Copperopolis for this circuit race. Weather was great and definitely warm, and the course was really fun too. Closed road course with smooth pavement. The turnout in each field was pretty damn small actually, and it's a shame there wasn't more racers. Kevin raced in the 4's and did well I believe, and in the 3's, I took 9th and Rainier sprinted to 3rd. I believe that result for him was enough to upgrade to cat2!? Wow, congrats man. Although I'm not surprised, as Rainier was a beast before the start of this season haha... thanks for helping me stay motivated man.








Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/swoo/sets/72157624500243381

-Joe

San Marcos Crit

So a couple of weeks ago Saskia and myself drove down to LA to visit some friends and I also planned on racing down in northern San Diego with Chcuk and Ryan from Las Vegas. Long story short, it was my very first cat3 race and I was pretty excited for it, especially because I was going finally race with Chcuk! Anyway, about 10 minutes into the race my gears started to play tricks on me, skipping up and down, and then finally just not shifting... before I know it, I look up and the race is down the road. Bummer. I managed to finish the race however, with access to only a couple of working gears. I guess it's important to note that there was a short and punchy climb on the backside of the 1.7 mile course which presented a problem for me with my messed up drivetrain. When I got back home, I realized my rear derailleur cable was fraying all over the place inside the hood. Need to grease that more often, thanks to the tip of Travis from Freewheel. Good thing that cable didn't snap during the race! Nonetheless, we all had a good time racing and hanging out, even though it was just for the day. We'll all be racing together again in September here in the bay area, which should be lots of fun.

-As always, thanks a bunch to Saskia for driving and taking photos =)


Ryan in the 4's





Myself





Chcuk

-Joe

Sky

One of my favorite race photos that I've seen in a while - this is during the UK championships that Gerraint Thomas won. These guys are DIGGING!





Seen at pezcyclingnews.com, photo by Ed Hood

-Joe

Updates...

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. The days have been pretty busy for me with work, riding, and racing. Although between my last post about the San Rafael crit and now, I have made the upgrade to cat3, so I'm pretty stoked on that. Obviously the racing is a bit more punchy and aggressive, so it makes for good racing, and ultimately it's going to make me a stronger and smarter rider (hopefully!) which was my original goal at the beginning of my first road racing season.... also, Rainier is about to make the leap to cat2 in his first full season... we both started as cat5's this year, and I'm pretty damn stoked for him. Good job man, maybe I'll see you there sometime in the next couple of years haha... Two days ago at the Copper Town circuit race I also met Fergus for the first time, and got to race with him and Rainier. Then yesterday we all raced the Timpani crit in Santa Clara and I saw first hand "how it's done" in my first cat3 crit race. With one to go Rainier blasted up to the front to lead out Fergus for the win and it was awesome. Rainier was so stoked for Fergus, that I got super juiced too! Stoked for both of them, and when results like that happen, it motivates me to get myself up there too. Pack finish for me, as I just had a lapse of concentration with 2 or 3 laps to go. Not really sure what happened, but before you know it, it's the last lap and I was too late trying to make my way up to the front. Quite disappointed with that, considering I feel pretty good about positioning myself for the end of the race, but what can you do. Oh well, no excuses, my legs were more or less toast at the end anyway. Time to get back on it!

I will post photos of the past couple of races in the next couple of days. Pretty excited for September as well, with some friends from Las Vegas planning to visit and race up here. It's all been our first year of road racing, and I met Ryan, Chcuk, and Nathan through HOC and riding track bikes. Good dudes, and I think they're all doing pretty well this year. Actually Chcuk is a cat3 also and has been racing for a couple of years. He's the strongest Filipino rider I know HA!


Oh yeah, new HOC kits are being worked on right now by Jonathan and myself, and they're going to be sick so stay tuned...

-Joe