"O LOOK A BUTTERFLY!"

Heres to nice weather and fun in the sun.

2010-03-06T10:19:00.000-05:00

Yeah loving the sun and warmer weather, spring is coming slowly but surely and i am going to spend as much time as i possibly can outside. I have been riding outside a few days a week and loving my new Giant team Pelotonia powered by Roll: bike. One more week of classes, papers and test before spring break, then more training, time with the family and then off to Ohio of the big Pelotonia Team weekend.

Holy Snow!

2010-01-31T21:24:00.003-05:00

So we got a good 10+ inches in our second fluke snow storm. When will global warming kick back in? O yeah never mind.

So since i cant ride outside i resorted to an hour+ trail run or trudge threw the snow and 2 hours on the rollers tonight. Not the most exciting ways to train but you make do with what you can.

My latest accomplishment is riding the rollers with no hands and only one foot clipped in. Yeah i get bored.

Classes are in full swing and as you can tell by my previous blog. Team Pelotonia powered by Roll: is in full swing. So go to the link and help me raise money for a good cause. 100% goes to cancer research! http://www.pelotonia.org/ride/riders_profile.jsp?MemberID=48021&SearchStart=0&PAGING

Please help fight cancer and check out Pelotonia.org

Hello

2007-09-17T17:26:00.000-05:00

Hello as you can tell i am never on my blog anymore. so i am not sure if anyone reads it anymore because there is nothing to read but a short update is here finally. i am back in school and resting, although i think i am over mono finally. so its prep for next season starting now. i am not sure who i am going to ride for at the moment but i think things will work out. okay well that about it, if anything cool happens i will be sure to type about it.

New Team and set up

2007-07-31T22:11:00.000-05:00

So thats the new ride and i am glad to say i like it alot and her name is Taylor. now i am riding for monster health team that has hooked me up thanks to Russ Blake. I also have to report that i am feeling much better. i think my mono is getting much better. i have done two hard days and felt good so far so now i race this weekend for my first big test.

The worst great news i have heard in a long time!

2007-07-16T14:59:00.001-05:00

So what could be so bad that its great? well nothing actually but i am happy and sad all at the same time. i got a blood test done because i knew there was still something very wrong with my performance in races and just in my everyday life. the test came back positive for mononucleosis.
i guess i have had it for the most part of the season that i spent in Europe. this explains a lot of frustration that i have been having for the entire year with my lack of results or satisfaction with how i race period. i am take the next 3 week off that bike other than and occasional short easy spin a few times a week i am not doing any hard activity. i am hoping that it will work its way out of my system in time to have a run at a good end season. Ether way i am ready to go for next year and kick so butt. Thanks for reading and i hope all my boys in Europe are still doing well.

Staying Alive

2007-07-11T10:53:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone long time to talk.
anyway as you can tell i am home and have let everything slip. its great to be back and see my family and sleep in my own bed.
I have felling the there is a problem physically or mentally not since i have been home but since the beginning of the season this year. So i went to the Doc and had a blood test done yesterday so they can tell me if it is in my head or if i truly am having a problem. i have decided not to do nationals or altoona so i am not going to be doing much racing for the next three weeks. I hope all my boys back in belgium are doing well. and Scott get facebook so i can talk to you or email me. elgaunto@gmail.com

later

Racing

2007-06-13T01:35:00.000-05:00

Okay so racing in europe yeah well that should explaing my entire problem rite there but ill elaberate. No one is any race is ever content with a move wether he has 5 team mates in a 6 man break away or not if tehy are not in it then they will attack till they are. No on knows how to corner very fast but that is not a surprise. Hand slings being passed around when it is in the guter is a normal thing to give or get. okay well i could go on forever about the belgium logic but i dont want to wast your time.

Just a few pictures of a few of us going to a local race last week.

CYCLING.TV

2007-06-07T04:48:00.000-05:00

So the team is supported by cycling.tv and they did an interview of a few of us and put a neet video together about the cycling center and i am in it so check it out. http://cycling.tv/events-and-media/video-on-demand/free2view/000068508

Motivation

2007-05-29T14:22:00.001-05:00

I have come to the conclusion that this may be the kind of motivation that i need in races.
"There where horses and fire And i killed a guy with a trident."
"I have been meaning to talk to you about that you might want to find a safe house, maybe a close relative. lay low for a while you are probably wanted for murder."

Belgium update

2007-05-26T06:37:00.002-05:00

You might think the is an exaggeration of the truth but i dont think i looked much better than this when i was done with GP LYS LES LANNOY UCI 1.12
We had a 1k cobble section every lap for 11 laps and the cobbles where covered in mud and other things that are not so nice. Now for everyone at home ill try and paint a picture of wet cobble races. wet open grate bridge but you are going 30kh and cant slow down or your screw and the grate has 2 inch lips at random sticking up to throw your bike off and then you had to go threw tow cornersas well. if you got caught with two people next to each other and could not make the corner you had to shoot off into the mud along the rode and regain composior befor the ditch starts and you fall head first in.
o i almost fogot i crashed in the first 4k of the race as well. there was a bad corner that was taken to fast and somone slid out in front of me so i rode my front wheel straight into their back causing me to flip over my bars and ending up on my feet some how. let just say that was a blessing from god i could of ended up like jimmy casper below.
And last but not least i conquerd the trecherious cobbels and end 23rd.
the race started with around 150 and 28 finished the race.

Race update and Bernard Hinault

2007-05-26T02:03:00.000-05:00

So at last mondays race we had the honor of meating a few of the tour de france's past heros or winners if i must. this is me with Bernard Hinault and he still looks faster than me haha.

When you went into the room i did not remember what he looked like but i know exactly witch one he was just by his presents in the room.

A few of the guys after that race waiting fro the presentating to end.

Sorry this blog update took so long but i was hoping to get some good pictures off the internet but they still have not posted any after the races last weekend. incase you dont know i took 23rd in a uci 1.12 last sinday. It was the most miserablely joyful day all yeah i was frozen head to toe and covered in mud do to the rainy conditions and the muddy cobble sections. But i was able to push threw and i finished my first uci, it was about time. i raced again in france the day after but only finished 63rd or somthing but i finished. when they post pictures of me covered in mud i will post them.

Should of seen it coming

2007-05-17T01:41:00.000-05:00

So i had a three hour ride yesterday woopdeedoo rite. NO
okay yeah but i went with my bud Aaron becasue he had to do 4 hours. so we rode threw beermen on the rode to beermen we saw a rider infront of us and thought nothing of it because everyone and there uncle's pet canarie pretends to ride for eather quick step or predicto lotto. Little did we know that 2 minutes later-

Lief Hoste

Yes i said Lief Hoste!
he was riding threw beernem to mean up with a team mate for a ride.
crazy i tell you.
o then he said i was a cool guy and wanted me to sign a contract and ride on predictor lotto.
okay so that is a lie but i can dream cant i.

Chateou in Gent

2007-05-11T03:34:00.000-05:00

If you can read dutch then this tells you about the Chateou.

Look at the piece of wood mounted to both sides of the window thing they are mounted on ever one of the notch things on the top of the Chateou. I talk about it becuase i can not figure out what they were for. i have a few ideas but they still dont completely make since. i love figure thigs like that out but i am stumped on this one. can someone help me out?
you can see them again in the picture above sticking out at the top.

Well if the actuall armor dose not work he still assumed the corect position haha.

These had to have been Goliath's swords they where huge.
(objects are larger than they appeare in the pictures)

I was so sick of stairs after all of this, and by the end of the night i was sick of walking and wanted to just fall over.

Scott Jackson my partner in crime for the trip.

Gent

Parts of the back of the coart yard just inside the gates.

Salvador Dali expo

2007-05-10T12:21:00.000-05:00

Okay so the man was completely crazy but he was an interesting and impressive artist. Yeah his drawing, paintings and sculptures are wierd and a little creepy but hey he was an artist so that should explaine alot.

Happy 21st JIm!

2007-05-10T06:58:00.000-05:00

The birthday boy with his St. Bernardus Abbey.

This a Westmalle tripple or trappist and to my resent discovery it was at one point nominated the best beer in the world. i am ont sure where it is ranked now but the runner up for the last few years has been St. Bernardus Abbey.

If you think his choice here is hard you should of seen the menu of beer the bring you it is so confusing just to figure out the the heck each one is. the menu is color coded by fuit beer, Abbey beer, draft beer, weet beer, and more that was all i could remember for now but it is impressive trust me. around 400 beers for your choosing, i believe.

Happy 21st Jim!!!!!
(dont worrie no young man were intoxicated or beer abbused in the making of this blog post that was brought to you by Elliot Gaunt and the Cambranes bar)

Ride to Holland

2007-04-29T03:31:00.000-05:00

So i rode to Holland and took a few pictures and ill let them speek for themselves.

That name sounds familiar

Wait what the............

Greetings

2007-04-24T03:02:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone
There has not been a post in a long time and i apologize for that. my camera is mia for the moment and a blog post with out pictures is not worthy of a post.
There is not much to report for races or training. my last couple of races have not been so great. I haven not been riding the well at the moment but am hoping that i come around soon.
I had an off day yesterday so we went into Brugge for a few hours. I got a cup of the best coffee in the world well so i thought. it comes with a little scoop of scream and a little pastry, it was amazing. Then had some of the best pizza ever as well, all in all it was a great day to relax and experience a few new things.
I must thank my family for the encouraging emails and messages they are very helpful. I think about you all every day.

Easter

2007-04-09T01:36:00.000-05:00

Okay so i forgot to do a post for Easter so here it is. Happy Easter everyone!
I did not eat any chocolate :( o well its over rated.

To Brugge and back

2007-04-04T10:58:00.001-05:00

Most of these pictures tell the story for their selves. So enjoy a few of the pictures of my adventure to Brugge। And for the picture above, yes that is a slightly evil grin. For the record Belgium waffles really are that good.

Nothing short of Coffee in the morning

2007-03-29T05:04:00.000-05:00

(Elliot Gaunt)
O yes testing again and funny enough the picture look alot like the last time we did this.

(Scott Jackson)
This i have to apoligize for i could not help myself. i took this picture during Scott's test. after we do the lactate/wattage test we have to do one more "little" test, yeah rite little! okay so we spin for about 4 min after the test and then we have to go as hard as we possibly can for three min stragin no stoping at all. as soon as it begins you sprint as hard as you physicaly can spiking the watts some wher over 1000 for some of us and then you have to hold the highest wattage you can for the remainder of the time. but wait there is more they forse you to do one more all out sprint in the last 15 sec of the segment.
Okay so the point of explaining all that was just to tell you that this picture was taken about 1 min into Scott's 3 min all out segment. keep in mind this is all after doing the lactate test till you cant push any harder for any longer.

(Elliot Gaunt)
I put this picture up to tell you, okay or complain a bit about getting my ear pricked. Getting my ear pricked was really no big deal but they do it ever 3 min during the test. So you get to 350watts and yeah it hurts and what do you know they are next to you pulling on your ear trying to draw blood. NOT COOL!

(Dr. Dag)
This is the lovely machine that i now hate with a passion it caused me much pain. And the news it produced was not quite waht i was hoping for either but now i know and can fix my traing regiment in hopes to be flying later in the season. The man you see there is Dr. Dag Discovery's team Doc. If you watch the big races on TV chances are you have seen him in one of the Discovery cars at some point.

(Scott Wenzel)
Okay so this is my wierdo room mate but whatever i like the guy. he may look like an ideot on a bike and played baseball threw high school but he finaly found a real sport. So now he is the strongest on the test acording to the testing so i am pround of him haha. But now we are trying to learn him to race as bernard would say. I am alway giving him as many pointer on how to sit in a field in europe, if you really can do such a thing, as i can.

Cold weather training, Magnus Backsted, and more coffee

2007-03-19T14:37:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone,
This is my second up date on my trip so far. I have quite a few things to share with you some interesting some boring but hey you are the one reading so hope you enjoy it.
Okay where to start? Yesterday is a good place. Jim Camut, Scott Wenzel, Sebastion and I went to A UCI race with the team to observe how thing are done at big races and to see exactly how hard the big races really are. Well I must say that are hard that is for sure. Only one of the Belgians out of 6 finished the race. Its was the youngest steven van vooren who ended up somewhere in the 60’s. there where very strong head winds or just winds in general. The weather was cold, windy and on, off rain all day. We returned home and awaited the arrival of Magnis Backsted to the cycling center.
Today
This morning we ate breakfast as normal around 7:30 and prepared for an early ride with magnis at 9. The weather out side was much worse compared to the day before. It was snowing , 7 C and windy. But as sure and every person that has a jobs work rain or sine there we where out riding our bikes in hypothermic weather with tv cameras and reports following close behind. We did around an hour of riding completely drenched, with the snow still beating down on our already frozen bodies. We returned home covered in lovely fertilizer curtsey of the splendiferous local farmers. We jumped into the showers to clean ourselves up. We jumped ever so carefully and one at a time I must add. Shortly after the showers and the quick bit to eat we migrated into the lounge room for our talk with Magnis. We asked questions and he answered everyone of us to a T. we then were free to do as we please or so we thought. One at a time we where sought out for tv practice interviews. After we where all interviewed we gather again in the lounge room to review ourselves and the representative for cycling.tv told us how we can change the way we are doing things to make it better for interviews. I didn’t think I did to bad but as most of you know I can talk and when asked a question I told him all my thoughts and they loved it but he used me as an example and I quickly talked myself into a corner. Although I did exactly what they said to do earlier and showed personality I still need to answer the question and leave it at that. A good lesson learned that has opened a few doors already. After or review session one of the reporters for cyclosport that has been here talking to us all day asked me to do a personal blog on his new web cite. Needless to say I was encouraged and I am excited to do it. Well now I have eaten dinner of Mexican rice and chicken sat down at my jet engine that I call a laptop and have raped away at the keys to bring you the best story or up date I could.
So there you have it my first few eventful days in Belgium.
Hope you are all well.

Elliot Gaunt

Captain America saddles, bike fits and Napoleonic poses.

2007-03-17T13:12:00.000-05:00

So i have a captain America Saddle on my bike now. A little tacky but i am rocking it. haha

So i got a bike fit from franc on Friday and there was not to drastic of changes other than my stem. my saddle was moved .5 cm forward and 1mm up. Although my bars and stem where dropped all the way down so i have one spacer on top and that is all. for those you don't understand that just lowers my handlebars around 2 cm. lowering my entire upper body. most everything else has stayed the same.

The city center in Brugge. I felt i had to strike a Nepoleonic poses.
We then proceeded to work our way over to the cafe for a little Belgium coffee.
Riding threw Brugge we tricky, not only did we not know our way around but it was all cobble streets so trying to navigate our way around and stay up rite on the bike was an adventure.

The Beginning of the Adventure

2007-03-14T12:23:00.001-05:00

Belgium the world of Waffles, bike races and cobble roads.
Jim Camut, Scott Jackson and I all made the long trip from the states to our new team house in Oostkamp Belgium. there where a few dilemmas we had to over come but we were persistant and came out on top. On the 7.45 hour flight to Copenhagen, neather i or the guys where able to get any sleep. We did get a little nap on the train threw belgium from Brussels to meet Ann. We are now sitting wasting away time till we get to pass out for a much need night of sleep. It has been around 33 hours since i have slept last but thats part of this sport.
There will be pictures and stories to follow so stick with me.
wish me luck and thanks for reading.

Early Season Fun

2007-03-08T15:52:00.000-05:00

Virginia not the best state for cycling but hey the weather was warmer there. Wouldn't you drive 4 hours just for 15 degrees of warmer weather to ride in?

so the first race of the year is done. not my best races ever but hey its really early in the season and it was alot fun. i was scared i was going to fall off but luckily i didn't. there where two crashes and i was able to avoid both, although i had to hop over one of the racers bikes laying in front of me, no biggie. i ended up in fifth place but mainly i was to get a little speed in my legs and it felt good. you know how cyclists love pain maybe you don't but now you do.
while i was there i did a few rides with Mr. Jones. the first day was 62 and sunny simplnd windy for the remainder of the time i spent there.y put it was heaven but the next few days where far from fun. it became cold, wet a
i am not home preparing to jet on the 13th.

Thanks Chris And Cristy for the great time and food haha.

Hardcore Training

2007-02-22T13:07:00.000-05:00

Back in good old Lock Haven PA to do some winter training if you could not tell by the picture. i arrived home on the 15th after a long long trip the weather was not bad for flying but when i got into PA it was atrocious. My mother and two of my sisters drove 10 hours just to get me at the Philly Airport and then i drove the 5 hours home, so yeah a long trip. But now training continues in another place in preparation for the season in Europe. so there for i must be a died hard and train in all weather to gain my fitness for the rest of the season. i have been doing sober skate skiing sessions every morning for around an hour. for those who think sober mean i am not drunk in Europe or in cycling it mean no breakfast early morning workout with out food in order to lose weight.
next i will be going to VA for a week or so to do some longer rides in warmer weather and hopefully get one race in my legs before i leave. i will be flying out of Newark NJ on the 13th for Brussels Belgium. i will be living in Belgium till ether June or maybe as late as September. hope to see most of you before i go.