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OKKKAAYYYYY!

As promised, Behind the Barriers summer edition up and running. I hope we don’t disappoint and if we do…TOO BAD! Haha, just kidding.

Take a ride with Sam Smith as he and I go from the RAPHA cycle-club in San Francisco where we shred the roads of San Francisco TRICKKK and hang out afterwards with the fine folks from Rapha.

In the next installment, we get a private tour on the floor of the Jelly Belly factory with yours truly. We’ll follow that up as we navigate onto a dead end road as we drive up to Tahoe for the Tour of California and have to take a 4 hour detour. Needless to say, it wasn’t awesome.

Think of these videos as an appetizer to hold you all over until we rock and roll into the cyclocross season and…

Thanks for watching!!!

File the Tour of California under HILLY. It was once again great to be able to race in such a fun, well run and HARD event! It was also amazing to have so many people screaming “j-pow!” out there on the roads of California.

I’m going to tell you guys this. It doesn’t matter if you’re Chris Horner, Jeremy Powers or a category five racer just starting out. When your ripping along on the road and someone is screaming out your name, freaking out and running along the side of the group, it’s pretty awesome. It’s motivating and keeps me smiling, even if I’m in the hurt box. Thank you again to everyone who came out and made it happen!

This year I jacked up my California prep by 1%. Think about it like a nice loaf of bread that you just baked. If you cut into it too early or while its still piping hot, it flops and doesn’t come out perfect. That’s what happened to me.

Last year I had perfectttt form coming into TOC. This year I had too much stuff happening outside of racing. A couple of my good friends got hitched, which gobbled up some crucial weekends of racing. I wasn’t allowed to race another weekend I wanted to because of the new UCI rule regarding non-USA cycling sanctioned events.

Long story short, I was a couple days late and a bit rushed in getting everything perfect. In retrospect I needed those events before I got to California. My weight was good, but with all the climbing, I should have gone into it lighter too. I tried for the break-away opportunities on the last four road stages once I got my legs under me, but those stages were mostly dominated by climbers and that’s my story for not making the breaks.

On stage 5 I tried to go on the attack about 3k from the first KOM. The race had been going ballistic from the second the neutral ended and then it finally happened, I was clear after a good whap during a lull from the field! My buddy Lars Boom mumbled to me “(deep voice) POWERS now is de time mon” I had the gap, but when I looked left about 20seconds later, three guys went by me like I was standing still.

‘Okkkaaayyy.’ When it flattened back out I was about to give my best effort to bridge across, then Bernie Eisel berated me “You don’t serrriourrssry thinks weeze going letz you go!” I should have gone anyways and told big deal Bernie to go kick rocks, but… I didn’t want to be jitty and I slowly retreated to being pack-fill again.

20 minutes later Oscar Freire launched an attack and took a couple guys with him. Lucky for me I was taking a leak and getting bottles for the guys when that all went down. So, getting into the breaks wasn’t for lack of trying.

It was a little bit of a different team that Jelly Belly brought to this year’s TOC, compared to last year when we were in the breakaway just about everyday. We had a pretty young crew. For some of the guys it was there first time racing against a field as deep as the TOC brings. We suffered a little from that but I can say we rode the best we could and didn’t give up on trying. To me, that’s commendable and the young guys learned a lot from the experience which is good for the future and the team’s chances as we move into the bigger domestic races later this season.

Some folks were saying this years TOC was the hardest edition they’ve ever done. I would agree. The climbing was hard and without the use of radios, the breakaways didn’t get much time. There was constantly pressure on the pedals in every stage to keep the breaks at bay. Plus without the 1^st stage and the amended 2^nd stage, it definitely gave the GC guys less time to work out the details.

That’s just how it goes. Once again I was happy to be part of the event and the experience. Thank you to AEG and everyone from my Jelly Belly team that made it possible for us to participate this year.

Lastly, as promised: Sam Smith and I were in California, taping a couple summer episodes for Behind THE Barriers! We’ve got the event I did at the RAPHA San Fran cycle club and then the days leading up to the Amgen tour of California for you guys to see!! It’s awesome!!! Look for that this week on BehindTHEBarriers.com. Thanks for coming by!

This morning, I woke up and said to my teammate Sergio Hernandez: “it’s not gonna happen, we aren’t racing.” There was snow all over the place and I just knew that Andy Schleck and all the other tour contenders weren’t gonna risk it. The risk of crashing and messing up a race like the Tour de France to go 50 miles up the side of Lake Tahoe for the Tour of California – or any other race for that matter – was too high.

Regardless of my first instinct, race officials postponed the start. After a while, we got directions from our directors to get kitted up, only to find out we weren’t gonna rock out (or freak out, like my buddy Anthony Clark (from the J.A.M fund / NCC team)) would say.

I was fine with that decision. While it was only lightly snowing at 6300 feet in South Tahoe, I know what that picture at 8000 feet (the 1st KOM) probably looked like. It wasn’t sunny, you could say. Further more, I like having my collar bone in place.

So while it stinks for the fans who came out, took days off and changed plans to watch us, I’m truly sorry. I hope somehow we can make it up to you and that you guys see our decision as the right one.

The road we were supposed to race on – the same ones that we drove on – were dangerous in the car, you can image what it would have been like like with 150 guys not able to see everything and getting sprayed in the face with salt and cold water. Sickness, hypothermia and serious crashes were all possibilities if we had gone out there and raced today. It could have been extremely dangerous.

As much as I love cycling and battling the epic conditions on the bike from time to time, today it just wasn’t possible. Thanks all for checking in. Onward to tomorrow!

Got some big news brewing: check out www.behindthebarriers.com and follow @BehindTBarriers to find out more!

Also!! Check out Clinton Sparks NEW “AWESOME” mixtape! It’s dope and too good to be free! Thank him @clintonsparks on twitter!

My Awesome Mixtape by clintonsparks

This blog post is long overdue. I know.

The road racing season is here and things are moving along really well on all fronts for me. My form is good, the new ‘cross program is good, my road racing calendar is set for the next couple months, the Grand FUNdo and Grand  HUNdo have been launched, the J.A.M. / NCC team is doing great this season and I’ve even begun nailing down dates for the ‘cross camps I’ll be doing this summer and fall.

The J.A.M. / NCC Team

I’ve been training like a mad man for the Amgen Tour of California which I leave for on Wednesday of next week. The first stop on that trip is in San Francisco, CA for a day with my friends from Rapha and Focus bikes.  We’re going to be doing a ride from Rapha’s cycle club in San Francisco around 2pm. Everyone is invited to come along!

Afterward the ride (which should take 2-2.5hrs) we’re gonna have some beverages – hot and cold – and talk bikes for bit.  One of the other things I’m pretty excited to let out of the bag now that everything is in place is that my friend Sam Smith – you know him as the other half of team Behind THE Barriers – is coming to get some content and create a couple of early episodes of Behind THE Barriers!!  Yes, we’re doing it, as many of you had hoped.

I also have some things in the works for this CX season that I’m not letting out of the bag yet, but I’m promising to bring some NEW flavor for everyone who comes out to watch the races this year to make it a really great experience!

This weekend I’m racing locally at the Sterling Classic Road Race in Sterling, MA. It’s an 88-mile race that I consider a New England classic.  Over the years I’ve been in the top five in Sterling on a couple of occasions and I’m hoping to continue that trend this weekend as I’ve been training really hard.

It hasn’t been easy to race this year. One race I did last year I couldn’t do this year because it wasn’t sanctioned by USA cycling while another big race I wanted to do in Vermont I couldn’t because I was the best man at my buddy’s wedding that same weekend. Even though I wish I could be in two places at the same time… I couldn’t.  So I’ve been hanging out behind the Vespa and really focusing on the work outs without racing. It’s similar to last year in the amount of intensity before the Tour of California, but still without the hard road racing days. It’s always hard to know exactly what you’re bringing to the table.  I hope it’s good!

The reason I haven't been racing...

Next post I’m going to write about my trip to the heart doctor and how crazy it was to see my heart humping along on a computer screen during a routine echocardiogram!

In the meantime, check out this sweet new training tune: Smash the Club by Kardinal Offishall featuring Pitbull, Lil’ John and my boy Clinton Sparks!

Kardinal Offishall – Smash The Club feat. Pitbull, Lil Jon, Clinton Sparks by JustDoHits

Jamey and I lead last year's fundo

Easthampton, Mass. – Cyclocross racer Jeremy Powers is leading cyclists through Massachusetts’ Pioneer Valley with one goal in mind: fundraising. Powers and long-time friends Alec Donahue and Mukunda Feldman are hosting the second annual GrandFUNdo on July 30th to raise money for their J.A.M. Fund.

This event covers 65 miles in one of the most scenic areas of New England. The ride includes more than 20 miles of challenging dirt roads and climbs over 3,000 feet. Participants have the chance to rub elbows with some of the area’s famous cycling experts, and test their fortitude on the difficult course. The GrandFUNdo welcomes riders of all ages and ability levels, but the course is not for the faint of heart. For those wishing for an extra challenge in 2011, the GrandHUNdo should satisfy. An extra 20 miles of pain will leave you feeling like you just rode 100 miles. The climbing and rough dirt roads make for a tough day of riding, but no one will be left behind, and no one will leave without a smile on their face.

Everything is taken care of during the FUNdo. An experienced crew of volunteers from the J.A.M./NCC racing team – the combination of the J.A.M. vision and the organization of Feldman’s Wheelhouse Sports cycling team – make sure everything is safe and secure. In case of flat tires or mechanical failures, SRAM has provided follow cars. At halfway riders climb to the GrandFUNdo’s most anticipated attraction – an ice cream truck rest stop. When the ride is over, participants can sit back, relax and enjoy the FUNdo’s famous post-ride activities. Among them are an open-pit pig roast, plenty of great food, beer from High and Mighty brewery, and an extremely generous raffle with prizes provided by Jelly Belly, FOCUS Bikes, SRAM and Kenda

In 2010 Powers was joined by former national cyclocross champion Tim Johnson, cyclocross superstar Jamey Driscoll and former criterium national champion Brad Huff. Those same star attractions plan on returning for year two, with a few more hot on their heels.

Powers, who rides professionally on the road with Jelly Belly p/b Kenda and with Rapha-FOCUS for cyclocross, is in the second year of his ongoing mission to raise money for J.A.M. Fund. The ride is the marquee fundraising event for the cause, which is the brainchild of Jeremy Powers, Alec Donahue and Mukunda Feldman (the J, A and M in J.A.M., respectively). The fund gives young Pioneer Valley area cyclists the opportunity to pursue athletic and personal goals through rigorous training, solid support, mentoring and leadership opportunities.

Young riders in the Pioneer Valley are encouraged to apply for J.A.M. grants and become part of the J.A.M./NCC Cycling team. In its first year, two J.A.M. grant recipients were able to travel with Powers to the Jelly Belly p/b Kenda training camp in California. Anthony Clark and Jeremy Durrin were able to experience just what it means to be a professional cyclist, and reinforce their desire to improve both as cyclists and individuals.

You can come to the GrandFUNdo for many reasons: the ride and the challenge, the food and the laughs, or the passion and the cause. But we will all come for one, main reason: the FUN!

For more information about the GrandFUNdo, visit: www.GrandFUNdo.com. For more information on the J.A.M. Fund, go to: www.wheelhouseracing.com/j-a-m-fund.

What an awesome first training camp I had with the J.A.M. Fund / NCC (Northampton Cycling Club) team this weekend in Easthampton, MA.

You guys are probably wondering, what the heck is Powers doing? What is this team thing he’s doing, does he own this team? Is he riding for this new team? What is J.A.M. / NCC?

NCC Elite Team back in the day

Well, let me explain, hopefully quickly and effectively. Back in 2003, I raced for the Northampton Cycling Club. I was a cat 4 on the road. Racing with the “NCC elite road team,” I managed to work my way through my category upgrades. At that same time, I got together with my new teammates Alec and Mukunda and eventually, they became my best friends. I was going to college in Westfield, Mass., which is 20 minutes from Northampton center. I was working with Adam Myerson, who was my coach at the time, and riding with John Verheul, who was my coach a couple years ago, and Kevin Monohan, who you would all remember as back-to-back criterium national champion.

I looked up to those guys and the riding community that was based in what we call “NoHo” (Northampton).  That summer, I moved in with Al and Mukunda into an apartment in NoHo.  All of those people showed and taught me how to race my bike and win. Thanks to them, I was a category two on the road pretty quickly.

Later that season, I managed to join two of my NCC Elite Team teammates at the U23 World Championships. Alec had been the manager of the NCC Elite Team and got Matt White, Mike Cody and me all spots on the worlds team. I also got my first pro contract with Jelly Belly that same year! I was 20 years old.

So, thanks to Alec and Mukunda, I learned how to not get shot out the back of category 1, 2 races while we ripped around the north east. They also showed me essential life skills that I hadn’t picked up in the college life I had come to know pretty well.

Training camp with J.A.M. / NCC

Fast forward 8 years. Mukunda took over what was the old Louis Garneau team “Wheelhouse Sports”  team. Alec and Mukunda re-connected with the Northampton Cycling Club, and for the next two seasons, the Wheelhouse Sports/NCC was the place to be. Finally, Al, Mukunda and I created J.A.M. Fund / Foundation last year.

To help raise money for J.A.M. (Jeremy, Alec and Mukunda) we put together the Grand FUNdo, which is on July 30th this year.  Then we sat down, decided to rebrand Wheelhouse Sports for the 2011 racing season as  “J.A.M. Fund / NCC.” We also persuaded my sponsor -  FOCUS bikes – to deck the team out with the new Ilzalco framesets and we have some awesome partners and friends who have helped really make this thing become a reality.

So, this weekend we had a blast and got together for our first J.A.M. team training camp and it was awesome. Today we did a five hour, 100-mile ride up to Brattleboro, Vermont and finished up with a big dinner and beers over at Mukunda’s place.  Look out for the riders to be spreading the word about J.A.M. and putting their stamp on a lot of events all over North America this year.

Thanks for reading and if you’d like to learn more about Wheelhouse Sports, the team, it’s riders, the grand fundo, etc.  Check out their website at www.wheelhouseracing.com or on twitter: @wheelhouseracin

I’ll be bringing my talents to Rapha-FOCUS for the 2011 cyclocross season. Click the photos below to find out more info!

What a trip we had! A lot of fast driving, bad jokes and beating up on each other on the rides. It flew by this time around. We did the biggest races, hit the best bakeries (at least I did) and shopped at the biggest supermarket in Paris. I think it’s safe to say we went BIG!

I’ve been trying to get to the point in cyclocross where I can leave the United States after a hard season with a lot of mileage in the airplane and races in the legs, then get to Europe and throw down for Worlds. In 2009 my big goal was to have a good world championships and I didn’t, so it was back to the drawing board.

Looking back on it, my body was always smoked. Sometimes, I’d get lucky during Christmas week, but then die a slow death leading into worlds. The December trip where I typically go over and race 5 races in a 10-day stretch got eliminated this year, which helped a lot. I also focused more after nationals, which included going south to train in warmer weather in Greenville, SC. The formula is finally taking shape after a lot of years of trying different things. In interviews, I say I’m proud of the season I had. It’s not because I got 16th at worlds or whatever else I did or to be cocky about it. It’s because the system that was in place did what I wanted and now, moving forward, I can refine that and make it better and maybe next year I’m in the top ten and then in Louisville… who knows.

So it’s Monday. I’m still waking up at 5am everyday. I can’t really kick the jet lag, but that’s okay, because tomorrow I head to Jelly Belly camp in San Diego where I gotta get up at 4 in the morning to catch my flight.

This year, I have sooooooo much cool stuff planned. Honest! I hope everyone that’s reading will be involved in the new stuff that I’m talking about.

One of those things is the J.A.M fund/Foundation team that’s taking shape right now. This year, my friends Alec, Mukunda and I have set out to raise the level of cycling in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts, build on the program they’ve had in place in years past, and help some truly talented young cyclists move up in the sport.

The team is outfitted with new bikes from Focus Bikes and two of the riders from the program (Jeremy Durrin and Anthony Clark – shown above) are going to be the first to benefit from the money we raised at the Grand Fundo last July! The two of them are flying out on February 11th to train with me and the Jelly Belly P/B Kenda team for 5 days in San Diego. They’re gonna live and train with the pros and maybe next year they’ll be at the camp, not as guests, but as teammates! This is the kind of opportunities I love being part of.

Thanks for reading and see you guys on the road. OOo…

Also, check out some new tunes I’ve been rockin’ lately, courtesy of Clinton Sparks!

Ahhhhhhhhh. Belgium, France, Netherlands, Germany… I’m running loose in Europe, eating pastries, antagonizing/imitating the live stock on long rides and listening to tunes as I get ready for this weekends world cup in Hoogerhiede, NL.

Speaking of animals. James and I ran into this dog in France. Who does that to their dog??

Bob Marley in dog form

Bob Marley re-incarnated. Sorry, I gotta blog about the crazy stuff I see on the road. This is for you guys, but it’s also for me, think of my blog as my running diary of crazy memories that I share with the public.

So far the trip has been great, we’re really getting this euro stuff down to a science. Over the years I’ve accumulated the essentials from years past that help make this trip easier: coffee grinders, rain coats, spare helmets, gloves, fenders, a couple pair of shoes (riding and casual), some clothing and jeans in case bags don’t make it … the list goes on. This past weekend I raced HARD for the first time in about a month. Opening up the legs up from “training” felt pretty good and I think I’m still on the up and up. I’m hoping for a little better this weekend in Hoogerhiede and then in Sankt Wendal for the world champs.

If you guys read this, I’m sure you all saw the final Behind THE Barriers episode. Unfortunately, there isn’t going to be any encore as many are predicting. That was the last one… Sam’s not here, there’s no content being generated, the budget was kicked long ago and I think we have a lot of great content to go back and laugh at. Looking forward to next year, I can’t wait to make Behind THE Barriers, better and more positive then it was this year. BTB for me was about bringing the people who couldn’t be at the races… TO THE RACES. It made sense on a lot of levels, but most importantly, let the newbies of cyclocross see how much fun a cyclocross race can be and hopefully grow this awesome discipline of cycling.

In the final EP of Behind THE Barriers, my friend Clinton Sparks made a cameo. I have to tell you guys, Sparks is an awesome guy, someone I look up too and enjoy following, probably the same way you all like reading this blog, I like doing that with his adventures. So to hang out, listen to new music and get the guy behind the magic 1 on 1 is awesome. Also. the HOWL, that happens…ALL THE TIME. The AWoOoOoO! (that’s Sparks) Of course we put a spin on it, but hey…the copyright goes in his favor. Thanks to everyone who watched this year. Sam and I promise to bring you an even better season next year!

I’ll leave you guys with this shot of my teammates and I with the undisputed KING of ‘cross Sven Nys. It was nice to finally get a shot with him after all these years in Belgium:

Thanks for an awesome season and all your support with these videos!!! Next year will be even cooler. We’ve got some really great stuff coming with Behind the Barriers Season 2! Thank you again, see you soon!

“Behind The Barriers” Episode 14 from Behind The Barriers on Vimeo.