From Madison, WI to Gloucester, MA

I've been measuring time by seconds lately. Both racing and in everyday life. If I had 10 minutes to sit on the couch in the last month I would kill for it. I haven't been to bed before 1am in a long time. Too many tires to glue, bikes to set up, clothes to pack/unpack, and then there are the normal everyday things and most of that is getting neglected other than the day job. I had to take a day of vacation to update this blog - and drive to Ohio for the UCI races here!

None-the-less team Schouten has been focused on the races and getting it done. Jamie has been helping me overtime with cooking, lunch packing, errands, laundry, bills and keeping up with Ellie - I work, train, do the above and try to get ready for the weekends.Team Schouten

Madison was a great opener for the cyclocross season and I felt good on the right weekend. All my equipment was here and I managed to get it together by race day meaning lots of late night sniffing glue at midnight after work. The only thing not to make it were the new Hincapie Cyclocrossracing.com kits, that just meant one more race in the PB kits. I managed a 7th and 5th putting me in 5th overall for the USGP series.

Then it was a quick week and a few short nights for a fun weekend back out to my east coast home away from home. The Pulvers invited me out to do Gloucester and I was able to visit my host family from 2006/2007 when I did all the east coast racing. They flew me into Hartford,CT and got me to the races both days in Gloucester. Last time I raced Gloucester it snowed unexpectedly and I froze to death but this year was opposite and I was wearing a long sleeve skinsuit in 70 degree heat.
The races went well here too, I managed a 4th on day 1, but then didn't have much left on day 2 and suffered to an 8th. Maybe a few too many short nights and travel miles. The races in Gloucester and very scenic on the coast and have a great atmosphere. I really enjoyed my time out there and appreciate the Pulvers and all they did to get me there.

Gloucester 2005

Gloucester 2010