jpmurph

San Dimas and Redlands Done and Dusted

admin — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 17:28:07 +0000

Well, this has been the most successful start to a season I’ve ever experienced for a team that I was on. Seriously though, we won Old Pueblo USA Crit series opener, San Dimas Overall and Redlands Overall. All with different riders I might add. Kenda 5 Hr Energy sits on top of the team and individual NRC Leaderboard. Wow. I don’t see how it could get much better than this. My goal, however, is to continue this trend into the coming months. My form has been a little bit shaken by my crash a valley of the sun(broken hand, finger and strained back), as well embarrassing TT moment at redlands where I crashed yet again. I was heading for a fast time, but lost about 25 seconds with my mistimed blunder. Anyhow, I am looking at the next 6 weeks of racing to be my strongest yet. Riding the front in defense of the yellow jersey has historically been the best way to get needed form going, and that’s all we’ve done so far!

Next up for me is battenkill. In just over 2 weeks time, I’ll make my next showing and hope to continue our team’s phenomenal streak. We shall see. Thanks for reading.

Camp done + Cast off= Game on

admin — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 21:12:35 +0000

Last week the entire Kenda 5 Hour Energy Presented by Geargrinder Team met in Tucson, AZ for the annual training camp. The camp went great. Awesome equipment, Staff and Racers. We did lots of great training around Tucson, even though my left hand was in a cast…

After a quick 3 weeks in a cast, I finally got my cast cut off last friday. Finally able to get some training in the legs, I’m pretty pumped to get started racing next week in San dimas. We will have strong roster for next week and kenda pro cycling will be looking to shake things up. Should be fun.

Will update with more soon.

Down but not Out

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:34:14 +0000

Well it was quite the weekend for me here in AZ. My season started off with a bang in the TT. Taking the 22km win over Jamis’s Amaran. I was quite pleased with this showing that my form was not just good, but the work i’ve done on my tt bike lately was paying off.

Then the road race… The police official decided to let a car through on the course moments before the mens pro/1 group came blazing by. After we made the right hand turn, even the guy on the front had very little time to react. A few riders squeaked by, but those of us who were 10th place or so were not so lucky. The guy just in front of me slammed into the back of the car so hard he went through the rear windshield. I hit the back right of the car, and ricochet off flipping and landing on my back. lots of others followed suit and the race was immediately shut down. I managed to escaped with merely a broker left hand and a broken finger. Oh yeah and 1 broken frame. Masi was on the ball and they had me a replacement the very next day. If only bones were that easy to fix! The bikes ride awesome and the service to match. Now I just need to heal up so i can ride it again!

Off and running

admin — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 14:02:30 +0000

My 2012 season began yesterday with the TT at Valley of the sun. To start the year off with a TT is always a tough way to go, and a 22km for that matter was no walk in the park. The main reason for myself and Ally driving out to AZ was to get in a good race and since Valley of the Sun had a nice long tt it made perfect sense. Anyhow, with training camp a mere 2 weeks away, I wanted to test the legs and see how all the winter training has gotten into the legs. Had I done enough? Too much? Still too early to tell… I did have my coach Jason Tullous on hand for the tt to keep me in line…

I have to say I am glad to get that tt out of the way. The one thing I was reminded of most while on my Mercury Trident machine was just how much TT’s hurt! I finished with a time of 28.56, and by the finish I was nearly cross-eyed. I was stoked to see the results to find I had won. The goal was to push myself and just get a good effort on the tt bike, so the win is pure bonus. Never hurts to stand on top of the podium, something I haven’t don’t in a long long time.

Next we move on to the road race today, it’s 90 miles or so and has a little hill on the finish. 5.8 laps will sure to see some fireworks.

Check ya later.

Warming up in AZ

admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:21:06 +0000

Out in AZ now, left the amazing roads of Asheville to get up on some early season warmer weather, and also a bit of racing. Me and Ally are heading up to Valley of the sun this weekend to get the legs moving before the season really begins. My team camp will start here in Tucson in the upcoming weeks, so being here early and letting my pale skin see a bit of sun is a pretty good idea for me.

New year, New deal, NEW ENERGY

admin — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 14:44:30 +0000

So yesterday I went out for a ride in the midst of a pretty hard training block. Yeah, I know, nobody wants to hear about training and that is not what this is about. If you do want to know about training, it’s going fine. Almost good even. But yesterday, I started my ride with a little climb up town mountain(asheville). I immediately turned around to the top and rode home. Not even an hour into the day. I had been doing some harder rides earlier in the week and to say I was “feeling tired” was an understatement. I was totally blown out. I was pretty sure I was heading home to call it a day. Anyways, I get home to see my girl Ally all ready to ride. I decide I can definitely go out with her and get a few more hours in. I ate some food, still felt tired. I topped off my bottles real quick, only to see my new sponsor, 5 hour energy, sitting next to my bottles. I hadn’t really hit these before, but I decided if there was a day to try it, it was today. So I took one down…

10 minutes later we leave the house. I immediately sprint down the sidewalk, while looking back to see where ally was. OK, now I really like coffee, but damn. This stuff (5 hour energy) just saved my day. I went on to ride a while, feeling like I had wings. Yep that’s right wings. So, to make a long story short. This stuff works. Next time you are about to give up on your day of training or whatever workout or if your just not feeling it. Give it a whirl. Maybe don’t do it everyday, but really it’s the bomb. OK, that’s it.

OUT

Murph

And it continues.

admin — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 10:01:57 +0000

And the season pushes on now almost done with August. This will be my longer season so far in my career, although I’ve had more race days in the past, this year it’s looking like I’ll get about 70. Nonetheless I am feeling the effects of the long season that began in Australia in January. Actually, since December it’s been full tilt with a 3 week training camp in Spain that had me in Europe over the holidays. Anyhow, I’m happy to report that I’m actually quite motivated for the last month block of races I have coming up. I head to Pluay this weekend and then a fair few one day races in September in and around Belgium and France. Trying to keep it together here now in Belgium. With a lot of racing coming up it’s kinda nice that most of my training is just recovery and maintenance. Keep the leg speed up and bam your good to go. Ok, the rain has broke for a bit, gotta hop on the bike!

The Belgian Inevitable

admin — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 10:59:53 +0000

So as I’m drinking my coffee this morning in lovely gent, Belgium, I glance out to the window to catch my old friend, Mr. Sunny blue sky. So I take my espresso to the dome and begin the process of getting dressed to ride. Every ride has some sorta tactic to getting ready, I generally throw everything I think I need into a pile, then throw it on. Whatever that’s not important. On to the belgian inevitable . The moment I zip my jersey and get my shoes on, the rain starts. Out of nowhere! it’s 45 minutes later now and it’s still raining. Where the hell did the blue skies go? I don’t know, they are gone. But I’m patiently waiting on the return. I’ve done too many rides in the rain this year to start wet again, so I wait. I suppose another cup of coffee is in store? I think Yes.

Well, it’s been a minute

admin — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 01:23:53 +0000

I admit it. I sometimes lag on updating my site. Maybe it’s motivation, maybe I don’t think I have something worthy to write or possibly I’m just busy traveling/racing/others. Regardless, I’m back now to for a quick blurp. I’ve taken a small break to mentally prepare myself for the second half of the season. I’ve had a good chunk of hard racing since starting in Jan, and I’ll be going into October, so it’s super important to shut it down for a bit this time of year. Lately when I’m not riding, I’ve been going bowling. I went down to Augusta to help/watch Ally race. During the days while she was out training and with her team, I hit the lanes. It was awesome cause while the roads were nearing 100 degrees, the bowling alley had to be 60! So I would go ride a couple hours(easy) and then cool off with some bowling! I’m not that good, but for some reason I’m addicted. Yep, I even have my own ball and shoes(financially the shoes make since). Best game I had was a 167… but my worst was probably a 75.

Now I’m up at my parents house putting down the hours getting the form back for the last half of the year. Let’s see if I can get enough together to get a late season ‘W’. It’s been too long since I’ve thrown my hands up and it’s time to change that. I start back with Tour of Wallonie at the end of July, so I have a few weeks to get the legs moving and up to speed.

Hell of the North

admin — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 09:50:07 +0000