Evan bowman

I think its funny that people keep trying to get me to join Twitter. I update my blog once in a blue moon, my facebook message return time is about a week, and I generally hate text messages so don’t hold your breath folks. Anywho, i’ve owe everyone a big update and i’ll get around to it in the next few weeks but until then here’s a few pictures to keep people happy.

I’ve been doing some very tough racing the past few months and had the opportunity to race with some of the best riders in the US if not the world. Its been cool to race alongside big pro teams including: Astana, Bissell, Team Type One, BMC, Rock Racing, Garmin U23, Land Rover/ Orbea, Colivita, and many more. I’ll include more info on those racing whenever i write my update.

Cheers,

Evan

Yeah yeah, its been a while

Ok, here’s the update:
So i moved back to the Cali 2 weeks ago and lately i’ve been spending my time just relaxing, riding, and eating. I must say that the change of scenery has been a positive one coming this late in the season, its nice to be back near the ocean and in the Berkeley hills again. 

I’ve raced the past 2 weekends up here and Blah Blah they’ve been hard and brutally fast but I feel like I’m actually riding pretty strong right now and hopefully i’ll start having some results before the season’s over.  Most of the stuff this time of year is Pro1/2 so i’ll use these races for training purposes and hopefully own some souls at the 2’s only races when they pop up. Speaking of which, for those of you who don’t know the Tour of the Gila was a disaster for me so i’ll now be targeting Cascade Cycling Classic in the end of July for some more points (Its another 5 day stage race and has a separate 2’s field to boot). 

I’ll try to get some pictures up in the next few days but until then here’s some fun news instead of the usual crap about my life:

Oh, the Irony…just think about this one for a minute or two:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/05/carbon-neutral-rescue.php

“We now have proof that God drives a Hummer” -Peter Segel from NPR

And lastly here’s a funny video that i stole from someone elses blog:

That last post was a little depressing (and maybe a bit to long?) so I’m gunna top it off on a positive note.

I know the economy sucks right now (its really not so bad if you’re young, single, have no investments, and ride a bike for a living) but I learning an interesting fact the other day on NPR.

Apparently there have been less shark attacks this year than the last few so here’s some simple math: less people traveling + less people swimming in shark infested waters = Less shark related deaths.

Lookout Nemo the sharks are probably getting hungry

Also, It looks like I’ll be an Uncle in a few months! Congrats Adriane and Nick!

Lastly I’ve given my notice at TriSports.com and I’ll be leaving AZ May 6^th for the summer. Living back at home after 4 years is going to be difficult but the cost of living will be down so I can focus just on my racing. There’s just no more racing in AZ past May and it’s way to hot here during the summer to train every day.

Yeah, its happened again (actually 3 times already this year). Cycling is an absurdly expensive sport when you look at equipment costs combined with replacement costs of nutrition, tires, and clothing. All stuff that wears out over time but when you’re riding thousands of miles its just part of the game. Ok, so you factor in those costs as part of cycling but nothings worse then replacing stuff unexpectedly.

Well, about 3 months ago I experienced the crash that kept on giving.  To save myself some time I’m going to quote an email that I sent my good friend Mark (dude, if you’re reading this I’m sorry but I don’t feel like re-writing my story).

One:
“Training the past few months has been pretty good a few hiccups here and there with my pulled tibilas anterior and well, I did crash about a month a go ha, that’s a good story. Uhh, so I was out on a training ride finishing my 3rd hour and going onto 4 when I was taking it pretty easy and just relaxing with my hands resting gently on the bars coming down some rough pavement near my house. Basically I hit a good-sized bump that popped my hands up off the bar (mid turn…not good!) I grabbed the bars but the road was turning the other direction and as I began to regain control I went off the shoulder and hit a big ditch which threw me and my bike back up on the road (I would learn later when I went through my SRM file that I was going 29.7mph, oops). I ruined my brand new 09 kit (only used 3 times), My front Shimano carbon clincher wheel (replacement cost $325 which I haven’t ordered yet), cracked my helmet, broke the buckles off both my shoes, scratched the hell out of my Ipod (which still works!), and ruined my front tire. This sport is way to fucking expensive. Luckily I was fine just some good road rash and probably like 30 cacti spines in my legs. I hit hard but due to the rough pavement I didn’t slide much so I’ve had worse road rash.

But wait, it gets better! So after crashing I checked myself out and since I was only 20 minutes from the house I figured ‘what the hell I’ll just ride back’ even though both my hands were bleeding (as luck would have it I took my gloves off like ten minutes earlier) and my helmet was broken but I was still in one piece. So I picked my ass up, straightened my handlebars, opened my front brake and started riding (I had to undo the cable since the front wheel was so out of true and it still rubbed!). I got no more then a quarter mile down the road when my front tire blew out from rubbing against the brake pads causing me to almost crash a second time. Whew close one. I started calling friends to have someone pick me up and eventually Jon took me home so I could clean out my wounds.

Crashing sucks but I had a 4-hour ride I HAD to do the next day so I sucked it up and kept moving. It affected about a week of training but I was still getting my rides in (maybe a little slower then usual). It’s good to be young!”

And the crash that keeps on giving:
To make matters worse my Saddle snapped in half a week later on a training ride when I was still an hour away from home so with the leather holding it together I sucked it up and well…took it in the ass.

 Two:
This is just embarrassing so we’re not even going to get into this one. I wouldn’t even define this one as a crash but more of a fall per say. Luckily I was riding slowly and since I had my hands on my helmet at the time my cheek broke my fall and took the impact… I think next time I’ll just find a 5-foot wall to jump off and land on my face. 

Three:
This one is hot off the press and just happened this afternoon. 5 laps into the Crit I was sitting in great position (top 10 out of 100) and in slow motion I saw the guy in front of me go down with his front wheel right in my path. Fortunately it happened as we were exiting a corner so our speed was already down plus I managed to slam on my brakes milliseconds before crushing his front wheel and going over my handlebars. A few scratches here and there but nothing too bad; most importantly my bike was ok. I took my free lap and managed to get back into the race (fyi: anger combined with adrenaline is an awesome combination for racing) so within a few laps I had made my way back up to the front. I didn’t finish all that well in the end (maybe 20^th) but I can’t really use the crash as an excuse, I’m fine. 

Broken stuff minus my Ipod, Bib Shorts, and Skin

This post is based entirely on the views of the author and do not reflect those of the hosting website wordpress.com. This is not intended for the easily offended including religious types and overprotective mothers; as a matter of fact if you do get offended easily you should probably stop reading right now, I don’t think we shouldn’t be friends, its just simpler that way.

Ok, now on to my point.

I don’t care if you’re religious, I don’t care whom you pray to, and I definitely don’t think we should start a war because of it. Whether it’s Jesus, Allah, Buddha, Zeus I know lately someone out there somewhere is laughing on me. It all started about two months ago when I was hanging out around the house before a ride talking to my roommate Ron Jensen aka the Bad Luck Fairy (Think *** from the monsters mixed with Tinkerbelle sporting some sweet cyclist tan lines).  So the conversation started something like this: “wow Ron, I’ve really been surprised by these tires they’re pretty grippy and amazingly I haven’t had any flats yet.” “Oh man Evan, you’re in for it now.” In general I’m not a very superstitious person so I didn’t think a whole lot of the conversation so at this point it was still fairly funny.

Fast-forward 2 hours into my ride as I just turned around at the furthest distance from my house in Saddle Brook Hill, a good 40 miles a way. Suddenly as I’m cruising back home a nice 3” dry wall screw enters the top of my tire and exits out of the sidewall tearing a huge hole in my tire and rendering it useless. Queue Evan cursing for incessantly. So I pulled off the road and waited an hour for someone from work to bring me a new tire, tube, and floor pump. Oley, if you’re reading this you were like a beam of light in an otherwise dark world that day.

And this has happened a few times lately. The first day out on my new bike I was talking to Ron in the garage that morning about the bike and then no more then 15 minutes into my ride I blew out the Kevlar bead of an almost new $50 tire and once again sat on the side of the road waiting. This time Ron paid for it though since he was the lucky one to come bring me a new tire.

And the rant from today’s ride.
I started out the ride with an hour on my trainer and while my boredom began to set in the weather seemed to get better. Finally I decided to finish my ride outside so I went back in the house to put some warm clothes on. I swear I was gone for no more then 5 minutes yet when I came back to the garage it had begun raining (not sprinkling but raining). Ok, no problem, so I go back into the house to put on more waterproof clothes. And again, I came back 5 minutes later the clouds were gone and it wasn’t raining anymore. Maybe I’m making a big deal over nothing but it’s a pretty obnoxious way to start a ride and I just cant help this feeling that someone up above is laughing their ass off as I waste time.

Has anyone wondered what life would be like without the glorious drink coffee? How many of the worlds problems could have been solved or avoided if everyone simply enjoyed a hot cup of Joe before heading out the door in the morning and F-ing things up. I love coffee. I drink it every morning. It helps wake me up when the sun hasn’t risen yet and it helps my bowel movements in the mornings when I don’t have much time. I like my coffee black, the blacker the better.

Some people prefer Wine, UA Students prefer cheap beer, but my poison is that wonderful black gold called coffee. Its not that I rely on it every morning or that I have to have it before I get out the door, its just that it just makes life so much more interesting. It’s like getting a head start on your day and seriously, who can say ‘no’ to that? Honestly, I feel bad for the people who feel that it’s bad for their health or the others who simply don’t like the taste. What the hell? You guys are missing out!

Nothing beats a nice relaxing morning with a cup of coffee.

Ok, that wasn’t really an Ode but more of a Rant… whatever.

After I got back from Nationals I continued to ride easy for about two weeks before taking an entire 3 weeks off the bike. 3 whole weeks! By comparison, I don’t think I’ve taken 3 weeks off the bike in the past two years so this was a pretty odd experience for me. Talking it over with my coach we decided that I’ve had a pretty hard year, and one that probably couldn’t have gone much better then it did. The 3 weeks off was time for me to let my body and mind recover from all of the work and sacrifices I’ve made during the past season. I used that time to sleep in, eat whatever I wanted to, and I even went home for a few days at the end of my break to just relax and recharge the ole’ batteries.

It was nice to be able to get my mornings back and have time to meet new people and bring back some parts of my old life. I spent a weekend camping and mountain biking in flagstaff and I even had the opportunity to go rock climbing on Mt. Lemmon, something I haven’t done for almost a year now. All in all, I had a great time off and even made some cool friends along the way but by the end of the 3^rd week I was ready to get back on the bike.

Randomness…

Last weekend I went out to Bisbee, a small town southeast of Tucson, for The Great Bisbee Stair Climb. Somehow I got dragged into the event by a friend and before I knew it I was running again. I know, I know….did he just say running? It’s been like 8 months since I’ve run but anyone who really knows me understands that I’m a sucker for any adventure that sounds like fun, and it was. We went down the night before and were fortunate enough to get some host housing in an old church (which really smelled but hey…it was free). The next morning we volunteered for a few hours passing out t-shirts and timing chips before beginning the race at 9am. The race came out to be 4.3 miles (no sweat right?) but the kicker comes when we had to ascend 1034 steps along the way. I ran the event with my friend Stacey and with a finishing time of 38minutes she took 2^nd in her age group and 4^th overall. The sign of a true athlete became clear when she wasn’t happy with that result knowing that she could have run faster and pushed herself a little bit harder. Me on the other hand, I was just happy to have finished and kept pace with her!

I’ll tell you though; I don’t think I’ve ever been as sore as I was come Sunday morning. I think I nearly fell out of bed when I tried to stand up because my calves and quads were just rigid with pain. Whatever, the pain was totally worth the fun I had.

FYI: I’m back to full time training again and I’ve already reduced my hours at work to make time for riding and recovery.

100 down 934 to go!

Well folks, how bout an update? I think I’ve procrastinated long enough so here I sit, staring at a blank screen with some good music and a cup of tea (don’t worry I’ve already had my coffee). Hmmm, where to start? I won’t lead into it this time about how long it’s been since I’ve posted, I think we all know that it’s been a while. I do want to say ‘thanks’ to everyone who’s been reading my blog and continued to bug me about updating it. Sorry it hasn’t worked but it’s nice to know that some of you actually care.

In my last post I had recently upgraded to Cat 2’s and little did I know my life was going to get a whole lot harder. I ended my season about 2 months ago but in that time from May to August I competed in nearly 10 Cat 2 or Pro ½ races, and being honest that experience has been quite an eye opener. I don’t know if the word ‘competed’ is quite accurate in this situation, maybe I should use the phrase: ‘held on for dear life’. The level of racing dramatically increased and while it’s been a breath of fresh air to be so challenged it’s also been humbling. My fitness peaked at Sea Otter, Tour de Gila, and TBC but since upgrading my focus has changed from trying to win races to trying to finish them. Being positive about the whole situation, I’m not intimidated by the new challenges but more so motivated. I think my dream is becoming clear and it’s quite obvious the level of work I’m going to have to put in to be competitive at this level.

Racing now is much different then it was at previous categorie;. There are a lot more tactics and teamwork involved throughout the race and it’s no longer as cut and dry as before. Suddenly you’re racing with guys who have the endurance to continuously attack and then there’s the fact that the races are getting longer and therefore you really have to evaluate which attacks and moves could potentially change the race.

My season culminated this year in Anaheim, California at the U23 National Championships. I spent about a week out there with 6 of my teammates and I raced all 3 events including the Time Trial, Crit, and Road Race. Keeping this entry short I’ll spare you the details and just say: Nationals was a great opportunity and a learning experience. I was out in California competing against some of the best U23 riders in the nation, many who have been racing at least twice as long as me. In the end I finished mid pack in each discipline, a result I’m pretty happy with.

Next up…Off-season!

Well I'm either really really far in front or just barely hanging on the back...i'll let you decide

Getting my TT on at Nationals

     By my rough calculations, I think it’s been about 4 months since my last post. I guess that means its time for me to sit back down and fill people in on what’s been happening in mi vida.

    After having some seriously good results lately, I just submitted my request for a category upgrade. As of last Friday I am now officially a Cat 2. Nothing to spectacular, but it just means I’m now one step closer to making it at this sport. I’ve been told that this upgrade is one of the biggest and hardest transitions in the sport. Even though I am not considered a ‘Pro’ by any means, I’ll now be racing against them at some of the smaller races. Since the commitment required for racing at the Pro 1/2 level is much higher then any other, there aren’t enough riders in each category for some of races and thus the organizers combine the Pros with the Cat 1’s and 2’s.

     In order to upgrade ones category’s you have to earn a minimum of 25 points. Points are awarded for top 10 finishes and with a bigger field size more points are awarded. There’s a bunch of other minor details and rules so it’s actually much more complicated then that, but for times sake ill spare the details. I basically, earned this upgrade by working my ass off and winning races, especially this past month and a half.

     It all started withthe Tucson Bicycle Classic, A local 3 day stage race. Stage 1 was an Individual Time Trial through the McCain Loop behind gates pass. At only 3 miles long its an incredibly short TT (it took me just 8:12), but for those entire 8 minutes you’re basically going anaerobic andas absolutely hard as your body will allow. After the race it was all over, I walked away a little pissed off thinking that I had done horribly, only to find out through a teammate later that night that I had actually won the stage by 3 seconds. Its a good thing that the results were posted at the same time that my dad and I were at a fancy restaurant. For the first time I became one of those people that we all hate dearly as my phone kept ringing/ i responded to text messages. This meant that I would be wearing the yellow leader’s jersey the following morning! Over the next two days and with some help from my teammates I defended my small lead and managed to secure my 1st place in the overall General Classification (GC).

Yeah, we had like 5 people taking pictures right now…who are you supposed to look at? Oh, and Kyle won the 2’s!

     Two weeks after winning TBC I flew home to the Bay Area to race the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey. This is a race that I’ve wanted to do for years now, and with some funding from my parents I was able to make it a reality. Truthfully It was really all a big excuse to head home for a few days to refill on wonderful Sushi, Bagels, andCoffee…err I mean race? Either way it was great to be home for a few days before making the short 2 hour drive to Monterey, a beautiful yet horrifically hilly city located right on the California Coast. The next two days were spent busting my ass up hills that would’ve been hard to walk up, let alone chase crazy California riders at blistering speeds up. The feed zone on day 2 was dubbed “The Wall,” Ill let your imagination run on what that one was like. Either way, I did some serious racing at a very high profile race and still managed to pull off a respected 10th in the circuit race, and 14^th in the Road Race.

Hating Life up the final climb…(I beat him)

 
This was just nuts…The Sea Lions conquered the dock, and as soon as one moved it became a mess of flopping lazy mammals…aaawesome

     Only a week and a half after getting back from MontereyI left town again to drive with my old roommie Mike to Silver City New Mexico for a 5 day stage race. Now I’ve never been to New Mexico, but let me say this: Silver City goes down as one of the worst cities I’ve everbeen too; maybe only second to Globe, AZ. As a joke I plugged Starbucks into my GPS, only to findthe closest one was 91 miles away…91 miles!!! I didn’t even know that was possible these days. To make matters worse, our host housing was with some crazy middle aged man who owned 5 cats and an estimated 1200 DVDs (loner?). Anyways, The Tour de Gila would be my first 5 day race and goinginto it I had no idea how my body would react to 5 days of difficult racing. Did I mention that we would be covering 260 miles with roughly 18,000 feet of climbing in those 5 days (really only over 3 if you don’t count the Crit and TT), oh, andbythe way…the town sits at 7000’ elevation to begin with. Yeaah…this was going to be a fun race.

The Peloton

One Day…

Yeah…I’m actually second overall, it just so happens that I’m also shorter then the 3rd place guy.

     I went into it with the simple goal of survival, something often easier said than done. I managed to do slightly better then that, finishing 2nd overall for the entire race! It began with an easy 4^th place finish the first day and  8^ththe next. Knowing that there were 5 days of racing i made sure to take it easy the first few days in order to keep my legs fresh for the Stage 3 Time Trial. My tactics paid off as I won the TT and moved up in the GC from 6th to 2nd. The final two days were a Crit followed by the final Road Race. Sitting at 2nd in the GCi became a marked man for the final days so I re-evaluated my survival plan to a more defensive one, making sure to keep it safe andonly chase breakaways with riders who were close enough to threaten my standing.

     It’s important to know that there are two ways to win a stage race, one is to be the strongest rider, and the other is to be the smartest. By conserving energy on the first two days I was able to take a stage win, move up in the GC, andsecure a good finish. Second is great, but as everyone was so eager to tell me Monday at work, I was the “first loser” in the race. Thanks guys!

Whatever, I still walked away with $500.

 
Just a sample of one of the stages.

     Tour deGila provided me with some of the best training I’ve had all year. The race managed to provide me with my longest race to date, the longest and steepest climbs to date, the craziest descents (its never a good sign when an ambulance is parked midway down ‘just in case’) to date, and some gnarly winds too. The best part about the entire race was the fact that we were burning so many calories each day that we were forced to eat as much as our stomachs could handle; which for me meant I could finally eat whatever I wanted to. Ill be the first to admit that I’m a total fat kid at heart. Luckily I managed to stay safe the whole week, although there were plenty of crashes and broken bones/bikes throughout the Tour. Aside from all the voluntary pain I went through during those 5 days, for some reason I can’t wait to do it again next year!*

*note: cyclists are idiots

     Well folks, I won’t be doing any other races for the month of May due to my moms wedding coming up in Kauai next week. Until I race again, ill continue to train my ass off to prepare for some more ass whippings.

     As of this past week I’m on a diet thanks to Julie Goldstein to see if I can’t lose a few pounds and make it down to 137 for the end of the season.

 Here’s some more random images for your viewing pleasure

$15,000 worth of stuff in a $5000 truck…awesome
 
Mike looking mighty aero on a bike thats 10 sizes to big

Mt. Lemmon Motivation Cookie
 
We finally got a team van!

Thanks for reading,

 Evan

     I started this Blog a few months ago with the intentions of making it an easy source of information to help keep friends and family updated about my busy life. Usually the information is about the new and exciting things that are happening in my daily life or other things that aid to my success like the free equipment and personal services that people donate Team WM and myself.
     Tonight I want to take a break from writing my catch-up information to touch on some of the realities of being a cyclist aspiring to make a professional career. While the perks of the sport are awesome, being a professional athlete isn’t as glamorous as some people make it out to be; especially in a sport with such low revenue.
     In general, cyclists are only trying to make enough money to offset the costs of life, travel, and equipment. The years of training put in by any cyclist prior to a pro contract are usually accompanied with debt or other financial hardships. There are no guarantees in this sport, there’s no reassurance that after years of training you will be offered a pro contract, let alone a salary. I think it’s important to mention that while there are a few professional riders making large salaries the high majority are barely making anything; as a matter of fact, there are several pro’s who aren’t getting paid at all. Most cyclists rely on donations from family or friends to help offset some of the expenses.
     To survive in this sport cyclist must make a few sacrifices in their day to day lives to help cope with the extreme costs. Currently I’m living with 4 other guys (5 total) to help bring our rent down. We don’t really own furniture, we pay for internet but not cable, and we avoid using the heat and air conditioning. Don’t take this the wrong way, I live a good life, but it’s a structured one in the way that if it doesn’t relate to cycling I don’t do it.
     To be a dedicated cyclist I think you have to be a little crazy simply because there are so many unknowns. Every day you follow the same routine: eat, train, eat, recover, eat, sleep, and then you hope that the race results follow. With no end in sight the whole process takes a lot out of you, yet to be successful you must keep going, keep pushing, and keep hoping that it all works out in the end.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is this:

Cycling is a freaking tough sport and it really requires a lot of dedication and trust. My only suggestion is this: whenever you have an opportunity to help a fellow cyclist out, whether it’s financially or not, the support is always much appreciated.

Thanks for reading