Neglected

Well, I can't say I never got my moneys worth out of this $4 shift cable.

I've had my Madone for almost 2 years now and have never changed the cables. I guess that's since it's my road bike and it never shifted poorly on me once, but the last few rides have been hell.

The cable was so frayed I couldn't even pull it though the shifter. Ended up cutting it again and pulling it out strand by strand.
I must swap cables on my mountain bike at least 3 or 4 times a year if not more, I have never let one go this far, Leonard Zinn would be so disappointed.

When Hell Freezes Over

That's how I feel about the trainer, but damn it's 22 degrees and with the help of these 25mph winds the windchill makes it feel like 6. I can suffer but that's just insane. Hey Mike, you still communitng to work? To make things worse, Boulder has cabin fever. He's all wound up and the slightest sounds get him all out of sorts. Everytime the winds blows he thinks someone is outside and he runs around like maniac trying to find them. Then he wants outside and whines until I let him where he then quickly realizes no one is there and it's way too cold for him so he wants back in. The downside of working from home.

I've had to resign myself to the trainer this week, the trainer is actually a great workout, it's consistent, it's warm and you control the tempo of your workout, but alas it's so freakin' boring. I've heard stories of John Stamstad riding the trainer for 8 hours straight doing nothing but staring at a cinder block wall, it was his way of developing mental toughness. I guess that's how you win the Iditarod/Iditasport 8 years straight. No thanks. Even with an extensive movie collection and Boulder keeping me company I can't do it anymore, maybe I'm too spoiled with these extra long falls and short winters that even a week indoors is too much.
I can't wait for Saturday though, a group of us are heading out around Frederick to get some climbing in, tired of these flat Davidsonville rides. But first I need to put new cables on the road bike. I looked into the little gear indicator window on the cable housing and could see the cables were frayed and rusted, nice.

Since I grew up in the area I lead these rides and think up the routes, there are so many roads with little traffic it's hard to decide on a direction, but it's pretty much just up and down various spots on the Appalachian mountains. I enjoy putting these routes toghether, it's almost a cruel hobby. Here's the route profile for the weekend. I did promise the group no dirt roads this time, we'll see.

NUMB 3rs

It's finally that time of year, the time when I struggle to go outside and ride or force myself onto the trainer. Mother Nature seems to finally be getting around to punishing us with some cold weather which is looking to get even colder here in the next week or so.

Saturday I went to listen to Hunter Allen present on training with power. I was impressed with the amount of knowledge he possesses and not just theoretical but practical. If I had the money for a coach I think he would be my first choice, but since I don't I have to settle for trying to decipher my own power files. What was also good was that he can take the science (complex math basically) and break it down into something a cyclist can understand. If it were Coogan lecturing I probably would have felt like Rob Morrow on Numb3rs trying to understand his genius brother explain how a math equation can solve a crime spree. Just give it to me straight doc, I'm a bit slow on the uptake.

Sunday I decided the trainer just wasn't going to cut it and that it WOULD get above freezing outside. I doubt it ever did and even so, the wind took any chance of it actually feeling that way out of the question. To prepare myself for the ride I prep'ed my usual high calorie breakfast, chocolate chip pancakes, here you go Nystrom, these pics are for you. About 2 1/2 hours into the ride I wish I went with the extra calorie version and added Nutella.


Oh, yeah. King syrup is the key. Aunt Jemima may have the pancakes but her syrup is just too watery.










Don't be afraid, they'll burn off after 3 hours of just trying to stay warm in this weather, not just from riding.


So let's just say it was cold, fortunately I took a backup set of gloves because 45 minutes into the ride I couldn't feel my hands. At about 2 hours, I tried to pull my fingers out of my glove using my teeth and couldn't figure out why my fingers wouldn't slip out. I finally realized as I was biting the tip of a glove finger my teeth weren't clenched together and that my finger must be in between them and that's why when I tugged the glove didn't come off. That was fun.

The worst part of the ride wasn't the cold though, it was riding down a hill I can usually coast over 25mph on and realizing I'm pedaling around 300 watts in the 39x15 and only going about 17mph. That sucked.

Looks like this week is indoors, the temps are in the 20's with the wind chill keeping it in the single digits. I hope it warms up as I've planned a team ride out in Frederick, time to get some serious miles in, the MASS schedule has finally been posted so there's something to work towards.

Just Another Fad

The past couple of weeks I've noticed a shift in the Blog-o-Sphere, people are beginning to abandon this pseudo-anonymous world of self delineation in the online universe. I don't read alot of blogs, I have a handful of interesting ones maintained by people who I find interesting and with whom I share similar interests. But I've noticed lately that out of that handful, maybe 5 or 6 regulars, one has abandoned blogging all together and taken down their site and another has simply stopped posting. The remainder don't seem to update as often and have either 1) lost lost interest, 2) finally realized they have less time to post, 3) there is actually nothing blog worthy going on in their lives, or 4) a combination of all three.

Personally, I fall into #3. As I sit here, I realize that a week has passed since I last posted and there was nothing all that interesting to post. Sure, there were things that happened this week that were relevant and will have a long term impact on my life, but it's not something I would share here. Some things are just too personal. I don't know who, if anyone even reads this blog and really I don't even care. I post what I want when I feel like it and that's that. Blogging is a love it or leave it deal in my opinion, this place is for me, not you and I'll do with it as I like.

Time to go ride.

To New Beginnings

Last night was the first annual ABRT/Latitude team party. We held at Sonoma Restaurant and Wine Bar in SE D.C., it's owned by Eli Hengst of the Rockville Harley team so if you're ever in DC near Capital Hill, stop in the food is great.

Even though this club is 20 years old, I say first annual because after all of those years of continued sponsorship from Snow Valley Water, our relationship ended at the end of '06 leaving us to find a new title sponsor. On the up side it has provided a new beginning for the club, really it as been more of a revitalization. Arch also saw it as an opportunity to step down as president after 14 years of service. It was nice to see everyone come out, I think this year will be special. The Rite Aid guys also joined us which was pretty cool, got to hangout and meet them. The Rite Aid pro team was born out of the Team Snow Valley elite program and this year I think they have the firepower to make some real noise on the NCR circuit.

Gina and I got the opportunity to host a couple of the guys for the night as everyone of the team stayed in town to do a ride with us at Davidsonville. We had Ian Ayers who came over from Colavita, Bill Elliston who rode for TargetTraining and Clayton Barrows who rode for an Italian/British continental team in Europe. All really cool guys, Ian's got alot of energy, oh what it would be like to be 24 again.

Although a much better weather day than yesterday, it was still a chilly morning, in the 20's. We got up early and hung out for a while chatting over coffee before they headed off to a team breakfast. I passed up the option of diner food and prepared my usual pre-ride stack of chocolate chip pancakes, I call them calorie cakes, especially after drenching them in Kings syrup.

Everyone trying to figure out what to wear, would it actually warmup any today?













Got a little captain in you?

BB checking to see if we were going to get snowed on. It started 5 minutes after finishing the ride.










Letting the fast guys do all the work.

Hey, you guys wanna be my lead outs?

Where's Your Biker Gang?

I'm not saying I know anything about this, but...

this jackass ran a stop sign making a left turn almost hitting a couple of riders already through the intersection then slammed on his brakes in an attempt to have the rest of the group slam into the back of his piece of shit Scion. Whether a punch was thrown, I didn't see nuthin'

http://www.somd.com/news/headlines/2007/5212.shtml

Kinda funny how the AA police couldn't find a group of 50 cyclists riding 20mph.

4 Degrees

Right now that's the difference between being freezing and 40 degrees outside, the latter being more mentally motivating to go out and ride in. As I sit here dressed for the first time since probably last March in leg warmers and a heavy winter jacket staring out the window at the last few remaining leaves shaking on the tree limbs in the steady breeze, I glance down at a fresh pound of coffee beans just ripe for brewing and imagine just kicking back with another hot cup of coffee and enjoying a "slow" day.

This is where that motivation comes into play. I have yet to sit down and make my plan for the season and set my goals as alot of people are doing this time of year. I told myself at the end of 'cross that I would just ride for a month or so and just enjoy the bike, free of structured workouts and training goals. What I've found in that time is that I crave that structure and I miss it because my riding has purpose and I can expect results, but I have to step back and remember there is plenty of time for that and to just enjoy riding for the sake of riding. I think we forget that sometimes and that's when we burn out.

Death of a Salesman

No this post isn't about Willy Loman and it's taken like 2 days to finish as I'm so spent and am stuck between time zones.

I returned from our sales conference in San Diego and I feel like hell. I slept like a rock Thursday night and then proceeded to sleep most of Friday afternoon. This is the second one of these little shindigs I've attended since entering the sales profession. The first was with my former company 2 years ago, they held it in Baltimore, you can imagine the excitement? This year was definitely different. In most part because of the culture this company has. It's amazing the difference there is between working for a fortune 50 company with 120,000 employees and one that is privately held with less than a 1,000.

An important fact about sales people, they drink, ALOT. I guess it just comes with the territory. How else are you expected to get a customer to cough up their money to you? And seeing as they play golf, who wouldn't hit the bottle after chasing a little ball around for hours, that you hit? Being that my employer is based in St. Louis, well you get the picture. These guys like to party, can you say Bloody Marys at 8:30am during the keynote speaker?

I managed to muster up one good night of over indulgence. Imagine 100 sales people descending upon a single bar with an open tab. Maker's Mark and Ginger Ale or 7&7 was the poison of choice. I find it easier to pace myself with the hard stuff and the hangover isn't as bad, no worrying about the cleanliness of a bar's tap lines.

Fortunately Wednesday was a rest day of sorts. Some people went off to a golf outing while the rest of us were free to roam San Diego as we pleased. A group of us chose to hit the zoo. After the best meal of chicken enchiladas at a restaurant in the museum at Balboa Park we made our way into the zoo which I've been told is one of the best in the country. The zoo is nice, but confusing as hell. I don't know how many times we went through the monkey exhibit. Unfortunately most of the animals must not have been happy with the weather and refused to go outside, that or they're Union.











On Thursday Gina found a pair of Boxers running around our neighborhood, she ended up taking them to animal control which is right up the street. When we got up Friday she called to see if anyone had called about them. Since no one had called, we decided to go over and visit them. They were more than happy to have someone to play with. Fortunately while we were in the room playing with them, the owner walked in and saw us. He just moved to the area and when he let them out they took off on him. Too bad, I think Boulder would have loved a new brother and sister.
Last night Gina, Chip and I had dinner and went to see Children of Men. An ok flick, I knew what to expect but I was looking for a bit more closure on the ending. British trying to be melodramatic. The best part of the movie was the camera work.

I managed to drag my ass out of bed this morning and head down to Davidsonville. I was hoping the weather would dampen everyone's mood to push the pace, no luck. The group was shattered after the first 45 minutes. My week of sloth and gluttony was definitely dragging me down although I managed to hang on. Right now I have the biggest dehydration headache, need water.

Coincidence?

I truly believe that sometimes things happen for a reason and that events in our life are governed by something outside of our control. Some call it fate, others their faith. I'm not going into the details of personal beliefs here.

Now to my point. My last post I went on about the eventual demise of our civilization at our own hands for the sake of profit. When I posted that I had a bunch of unread emails sitting in my inbox. Several of them from my friend Arch. Arch is a wise man but he usually sends me jokes and the like so I didn't open his email until tonight, and for what reason I don't know (maybe that I'm bored out of my mind sitting in a hotel room), but I almost shit myself when I went to the link he had forwarded in the email.

I'm not promoting this or have even bought into it myself as I haven't yet read the entire site. All I'm saying is, is this just a coincidence?

http://www.terrapass.com/about/index.html

Something to Gnaw On

Is global warming real you ask? Just step outside jackass and tell me the last time it was 75 degrees in Baltimore on January 6th. While we're all outside enjoying this freakish weather, think about this...

A 41 mile long piece of the polar ice cap just broke away. The entire coast line of Rhode Island is only 40 miles. Fuck warring over oil, along with all of the pollution contaminating our fresh water supplies, as stupid as the movie Water World was (remember that gem? Kevin Costner the flipper action-hero), that shit is about to become reality. It's already started, states like Colorado stemming the flow of water to the desert, Oh No! The Belagio can't have the most awesome water display in Vegas. And Canada wanting to stem the flow of fresh water into the U.S. while the poor Japanese want to send barges to the arctic to bring back chunks of ice for fresh water.

The thing I hate the most is feeling so helpless to do anything about it. Yes, there are grassroots efforts to save the environment, I contribute every year to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, but they're kept in check by the big money only be allowed to make a good showing while not stifling the economy. The amazing thing is, the Bush administration and the brain donors put in charge at the EPA (former CEO of a big Chemical polluter, I mean company) have found a way for businesses to make money off of polluting by selling, uhm "trading" their carbon emissions units to companies who need to pollute more than their allocated lot of C02. Brilliant!

I'd better stop because I'm going start rambling, but you get the point.

Anyway, one last thing to contemplate before jumping on your bike for a long ride, Maryland has 10 times the carcinogenic toxins found in the air than is deemed safe by the EPA, and we know they're not setting the bar very high to begin with. And don't think you're safe because you live out in Garrett county or some other remote neck of the woods because that's for all 23 counties in the state.

Check It Out

Just released today, about 2 weeks early was the second single, Kingdom of Doom from The Good, The Bad and The Queen. Straight from the UK with an incredible line up, the full album should be the best thing to come from across the pond since The Clash's London Calling.

Helps that the Clash's former bass player Paul Simonon is in the band.

A Dog's Life

Dreaming about rabbits and squirrels...That warm patch of sun to warm your head with...

Der Schmerz

Well, the new year has come and gone without much notice really. It's not like you could tell from the weather it's January anyway. We haven't really been up to much, although I did log a pretty big week as far a miles.

Let's see, highlights of the past week:

1. The Riley's were in town, got to hangout and have dinner with them, unfortunately didn't get to ride. John even brought out some sweet new rides fresh from the Trek factory.

2. Survived Christmas at the in-laws

3. Got in my first fixed gear ride, 3 hours. Legs are still screaming.

4. Hung out at the Nystroms for an early New Years dinner along with Sean, Cynthia, Bernie and Tina.

5. Went to a New Year's party which saw the entire Mt. Hebron fire department show up at 11:30 for what turned out to be a melting roll of electrical tape left in a sconce by the previous owner of our friends new house.

6. Realized I can no longer stay up past 11pm without severely hampering my ability to sleep.

As for New Years resolutions, I don't believe in them. I quit making them a long time ago. You feel better about yourself at the end of the year that way.

Merry Christmas

Boulder was up early, he knows it's Christmas and he was crying for me to get out of bed so he could have his present. Shortly after removing the squeeker and some stuffing from both his and Riley's toy, the boy was wore out...

Belgian Santa

I was in the liquor store and just had to pick this up for the holidays. If this is what Santa brings you in Belgium then we're moving.
Update: This is not a Santa or and elf, it's a Gnome. After a visit to the brewery's website it made more sense. Thought the Belgian's just had a twisted sense of Christmas, oh well.

http://www.achouffe.be/

Davidsonville

It's been a while since I made the Saturday D-ville ride, it's probably been just as long since I did a 3+ hr ride. I think this ride may have also marked the first time the entire team Board was together at one time.

I rode the 'cross bike as I just wasn't ready for the fixie in a group. The gearing was perfect though for spinning, but I did get pinched at the end when Ace wound it up on Harwood and I just ran out of gears to hang on.
Here's Dana in his Velo Bella wind vest, and he wonders why we pick on him? As if the pink bar tape and the teddy bear pictures weren't enough.
















The casual pace at the start made it easier to take pictures. Later on it wasn't so easy. Make me respect those photographers riding on the back of motos alot more.










Stop to fuel up before heading down to North Beach.

The Truth Is, I'm Not Natural

Yes, I know with all of the scandals plaguing the sport, why would one more person come out? Well, I'm here to say that yes, my cycling perfomance is not natural. I wasn't born with some incredible Vo2 to LT ratio or an incredibly high power to weight ratio or whatever other ratio makes guys like Trebon and Nys wicked fast on a bike.

I have to work for every watt my scrawny ass can put to the pedals. So, unlike last year when I took a few weeks off, got fat and slow before starting what was to be a severely inadequate off-season preparation and base program, I decided to hit the gym today. I like the gym, I just hate the first workout, to be more exact, the after affects of the first workout. I lifted legs as my shoulder still can't bear weight. On the first rep of my first set of squats I realized why my season sucked.

Where had all of my strength gone? I've never come back into the gym this weak.

Makes me glad I started today.

Gina asked me what I was going to post about now that 'cross was over.

Just random shit like this I guess.

CX Nats Race Report

The Experience

There's nothing much I can say that will fully convey the experience of CX Nationals to anyone who wasn't there. It's just one of those "you had to be there" kinda things. But it was just a bike race you say. Well no, not exactly. Yes, first and foremost we're there to race, but there's so much more. That's why it's taken a few days to let it all soak in and begin to organize itself into a cohesive memory. It was also difficult since it marks the end of the season, one that went by way too fast and won't be here soon enough next year.
After a crappy stay at the Super 8 in Stamford, CT Wednesday night, Gina I made it to Roger Williams Park around noon and meet up with the DCCoD crew to help setup the "MAC Althletes Village". This was a super pimp setup brought together by the organizational mastermind of Tom MacDaniel. What do you expect, he promotes Granouge and make awesome race faces
Once erected, the tents housed a fully stocked food area and a rider lounge fully heated with plenty of seating. Trainers were setup outside the tent and a pit area for storing the bikes, and the trailer was used for changing (also heated), someone likened us to a religeous cult compound.

Everyone kitted up and got ready to hit the course for a few practice laps. This was one of the best experiences of the weekend, probably 30+ Mid-Atlantic 'crossers taking to the course at once. This reminded me of the Thanksgiving day mountain bike ride at Avalon. Everyone just soaking in the course and the company of fellow 'crossers. We rode like we owned the place, and by the end of the weekend, some did.

The Racing

Persoanlly, this weekend was not what I had expected. Warming up on the course Friday just a couple hours before my Masters race I took a hard spill. I went over the handlebars and landed upsidedown square on my right shoulder. As I hit the ground I heard a crack and in that split second thought to myself, "did I drive 400 miles to have my season end like this?" As I lie on the ground in a heap, I got that nausious feeling when I've really hurt myself and I realized I could barely feel my right hand. As I sat up I knew it wasn't my collarbone, but something wasn't right. BB came by and helped me back to the compound where the ice and advil started.

By the time my race came around, I was sore and stiff. My back fared worse than my shoulder and dismounting/remounting was difficult. My front row start kept me in the chase until the first time up the run-up where I dropped my chain and had to stop to get it back on. From then on my race was survival mode. 53rd.

fatmarc scaring children and small animals with the Trucker 'stache

BB smoking it in the 30-34

Saturday was a rest day but we got up early to go watch Morgan in the Junior 15-16 race.

Face it, the kid's got more skills than you. I managed to do a few laps to try and stretch out my back and see how the shoulder would hold up. Bike control was sketchy as best and I couldn't stand and pedal. Things weren't looking good.





Bad Andy taking Dan Coady to the woodshed
on the turn at the base of the run-up in the
Elite Champs.









Sunday came and so did more pain. The weather was chilly and the stiffness was even more set in. We got on the course for the morning warmup session, a little damp but nothing to worry about right? Hell no. I already posted the carnage of my lap two in the B- race. Worst part was I knew to be careful as I watched E-town dump it on the first lap on the same section. Ethan went on to have an awesome ride along with alot of MAC guys, Ferrari, Ellicott, Spanky, Linder and Lindstrom we out there killing it.











I can't say I happy with my riding but I wouldn't have traded the experience of this years nationals for anything. Thanks to everyone who made this happen the list is long but at the top are Tom and Suzy, THANKS!

'Cross nats - The Pile Up

Thanks BB for capturing my lowest point of the 'cross season on video. Sitting in the top 15 I got a bit cocky going through this section on lap 2 taking too high of a line and paid the price. It wasn't so bad that I dumped it, but somehow my chain dropped and got stuck under the chainguard, then to spite me it wrapped around itself several times for good measure. I ran to the pit as most of the field passes me.

The rest is just what the carnage of 140 or so guys trying to ride the course looks like

More to come...

Last Minute

I know with a whole two and a half days left before rolling up to Providence I will forget something. I just hope it's not my shoes.

Yesterday Gina and I hit Sunny's Surplus to pick up a rubber rain suite and some nice waterproof boots. Last year I ran around in sneakers all weekend, not a good choice.

Later, Nystrom and I headed out to Rockburn for a short spin on the pit bikes to make sure they were dialed in. Of course, I can't seem to get the headset and fork tight enough so the whole front end was rattling and braking was horrible. We decide to venture over to the Patapsco side where Chris flats so I did my best impression of an ITT and rode back to his house for a tube and a CO2. I get back, Chris replaces the tube and goes to pump it up and of course the CO2 is spent. Fortunately we're near the trail entrance so I take his wheel down and borrow a hand pump from some guy riding a fully rigid cro-moly Trek 820 circa 1994, decked out in full downhill gear, okay, whatever. We decide to cut our loses and take it easy on the way back.

The rest of the day was spent watching football and decorating the Christmas tree. I'll be surprised if this thing is still standing by the time we get back. Boulder loves Christmas ornaments.

Because This Is What We Do

The final countdown to nats, days and hours, not months and weeks or even weeks and days. Right now if you ain't got it, you're not going to get it.

For that reason I made the journey to the 1st state to hang out and practice with the DCCoD instead of doing some local training on the road out in the cold, alone. That's for after 'cross. The DCCoD has a nice course setup at a middle school around Newark. I was up at 6:15, I don't get up that earlt to go to work! On the road by 7:15, get gas and coffee (but coffee shop not open, apparently never there that early either), and with a slight detour and a call to my GPS Gina Gina for some navigational assistance, I made it.

fatMarc, E-town, Tom, Paul and the rest of the DCCoD were out in full force for the last practice of the season. Auer showed up with a bunch of C3'ers to round out a good little mix of Mid-Atlantic 'crossers. With the freezing temps overnight, it felt like we were riding on the road, the ground was frozen and fast. After some hot laps and some barrier work, we all headed off to a local restaurant for some pizza and make predictions about nationals and how pimp the DCCoD setup will be.

After practice I anxiously drove home to see if the shifter I bought was in the mail. The mail hadn't come by the time I got home so all I could do was hope. The mail finally came and there was a little box, sweet, the missing link to completing my pit bike, well almost.

I love riding bikes, but almost as much as I like riding them, I lke working on them, sometimes. Tonight started out as one of those times, but quickly turned sour when I realized I bought two sets of brake cables, one Dura Ace and once XTR, the XTR was suppose to be shifter cable and housing. Shit, trip to the Bike Shop. That's ok as I still needed bar tape.

Finally get home, shift cable, housing and bar tape in hand I go back to work. I decided to work in the laundry/dog room as the garage is a bit chilly right now, the dogs were so confused. Everything was going along fine until I ran the front brake cable and realized the housing was too short, F@$%! Redo the housing, fumble with stupid cable noodle, spend next hour dialing in front brakes, again. I love Empella brakes but man they can be finickey. Bar tape, no one had white bar tape, so I went with blue, but it was Bontrager. I love Bontrager components, but some things they just shouldn't make, tires and bar tape are at the top of that list.

3 hours later, pit bike complete. Why build a pit bike now you ask? Because this is what we do, and if for no other reason, why would I travel 600 miles with only one bike? I could have spent the season with Frankenbike in the pits, but I decided Frankenbike and I just needed to part ways, a clean break, it was better that way, for both of us.
So a chance listing on eBay a few weeks back led me to purchase another Ridley Supercross. I'm really happy with this bike, so much so I'm probably going to ride it on the road this winter. Plus, it was a good deal and now I have a pit bike for next season, kill two birds with one stone.

Number 2, ready for nats

What Not to Do

There are some simple rules in life you learn such as

1. Don't piss into the wind,
2. Don't tug on Superman's cape,
(Ok, those two were from Jim Croce)
3. Don't eat the yellow snow
4. Always check the beans and frank before zipping up

To name a few. Well, I'm adding to my list:

Don't watch horror flicks while riding the trainer in the house alone while it's dark out.

I'm usually not freaked out by horror flicks, I'm usually laughing at the rediculous plot or the idiot character who didn't pick up the dead cops gun. But for some reason while watching Silent Hill last night I was just freaked out. Doesn't make 15 minute LT intervals any easier I can tell you that.

I'll go back to watching action flicks from now on.

MAC Verge Series Part 6: The End, Well Almost

Sunday was the final MAC race of the season. This course would have suited me a month ago, but after HPCX and the PA weekend my fitness went downhill for a bit and I fell off the training wagon so this course hurt a bit when it shouldn't have. Although it was fun, I don't think 4 days for a total of about 7+ hrs on the singlespeed mountain bike was adequate training last week.

The race start was a Cluster-F, thanks to fatmarc's storytelling and an officical that decided to NOT give us a 1 minute count down. Nothing like standing straight legged with two feet on the ground when the whistle is blown. Most of us stood around like lost tourists staring at each other.

For the most part a rode a technically solid race, the only blip was on the first lap getting caught behind some guys who couldn't make the short, rooty hill on the backside and a gap opened.

Game Over

That's ok, it was still fun and I rode that course better than I did 2 years ago.
I rode this uphill with the logs in warm-up but found it was just faster to run, granted I could get unclipped. For some reason my pedals just didn't feel right, really loose. When I wanted out I couldn't and when I didn't want out I was fighting to get clipped back in.

The high speed decent kept you on your toes.

I think I ended up 18th in the MAC series. Not what I had hoped for but then again the competition was top notch. We may be the Killer B's but damn we have fun.

I'd post more pics but Nystrom beat me to it and snagged the good ones. I'll remember not to share them until after I post! I get first dibs on nats pics.

Awesome season to everyone, can't believe it will be over in two weeks. Thanks to everyone who made it happen.

Back to Back Wins

I scored my first two wins of the season today. Well, they actually came back in October but the results weren't official until today. Both wins came at the Cyclocross Nationals Registration held online in October at Bikereg.com.

Overcoming fierce competition from a 175 entries in the B field and 105 in the Masters, my superior Internet connection and almost flawless information entry process allowed me to open up the winning gap in the entry process in the B Men's Under 35 and Masters 30-34 categories. The two wins should secure me a front row start at each race where I can make a complete ass out of myself by not being able to get clipped in at the start and being passed by the field.

"I was worried there for a second as the website flashed an unfamiliar screen asking me if I thought there was any reason I deserved a callup for the Masters race. After composing myself, I checked No and continued on. Apparently it didn't affect the outcome of the race, however, others I talked to were completely baffeled and their hesitation may have cost them some spots." - Chris Harshman

Atleast being front row Dennis Smith will actually have to take a picture of me, you would think.

Please Clean Up Your Gene Pool

Mama don't let your kids grow up to be Dumbasses. I bet someone's parents are proud.

Turkey Day Vacation

Nothing like a 4 day weekend to make you hate Mondays even more than usual. This year Gina and I decided to actually host dinner, as we kept offering in the past but always bailed. Instead of having it Thursday though, we waited until Saturday when my brother and his wife could make it up from Virginia. Gina's parents came down Friday and spent the weekend and my parents and grandfater made the trip down off the mountain Saturday.

Gina and her mom were up early Saturday preping everything, I slept in for a while recovering from a wind blown road ride on Friday, first ride since the race weekend. Not long after getting up I was put to work making the stuffing and cutting up potatoes.

Around 11 I slipped out for a short mountain bike ride, our traditional Turkey Day ride got rained out and it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving w/o hitting the dirt. Since it was short notice and somewhat unplanned, I ended up riding solo. I ran into Nystrom trying out his new singlespeed. The trails were nice, with some slop here and there. My legs we revolting from the previous days torture ride, but it was fun.

When I got back I helped throw everything in the oven. Until Saturday I didn't really ever see the need for "good china", maybe it's not so much quality as it is just quantity, as we used every plate, utensil and serving dish we own. The turkey came out great, and Gina's dad took to diassembling it, we got ripped off b/c our bird had no wishbone.

It was a good meal, everyone enjoyed it, or so they said. Afterwards we took to the family room for some dessert and football where I then realized we don't have enough furniture.

MAC Verge Series Part 5: When it Rains, There's Mud

What a weekend. I think I'm just starting to recover enough to talk about it. There's not much to say, this photo pretty much sums the whole experience.

Photo by Todd Leister

Apparently there was alot of complaining about the course and the race all together. I'll admit I was a bit upset at the lack of hoses, but atleast we had a river to clean our bikes in, just like the Pilgrams used to do. Plus, if it weren't for the mud, this course would have been pretty boring.

Overall it was my best 'cross weekend ever and got to spend sometime hanging out with the C3/ADG guys. Saturday I finally got into the top ten, even with the stacked field. I probabaly ran a good 3rd of the course. There were sections that were just completely unridable, ankle deep mud the consistency of peanut butter, and others that were just suspect.

Photo by Todd Leister

Nystrom was on my wheel for then entire race, I realized early that running was the better option as I could re-open gaps after he closed them on some of the longer power sections. Sometimes the difference was dismounting a few feet earlier and remounting a bit later to keep momentum and not getting bogged down. Fortunately (for me atleast) Chris thought he was in the top 10, if not I would have had to work alot harder. On the downside I somehow managed to shred the casing of my rear Dugast.

After the race we hit the hotel just across the river in Jersey to get cleaned up and finished dialing in the bikes for round 2. We hit a nice little restaurant for dinner with Auer, the Gerlaks, Bad Andy and his wife Kat. Good food, good company.

Sunday came way too early, even after calling it a night at 9. I kind of expected the course to firm up a bit but that didn't happen. I think someone actually went out with a hose and and soaked some of the course. The promoter took out the long running section and added another long power section through the hay field but for the most part it was another day filled with running anything that was suspect.

Sunday was probably my best start, no one seemed to want to take the lead out until fatmarc finally drilled it and Mayhew and I jumped on his wheel flying into the second corner that was a soupy mess. I took the far left line right up against the tape so I didn't even make the shot.

Photo by Dennis Smith

I quickly realized the toll all of the prior day's running had on my legs. One one goal for the day was to not get beat by anyone who didn't race the day before. At one point I'm coming by the pit and Nystrom is running out the entrance and I asked him what the heck he was doing. Apparently his pit bike wasn't in the pit, and unless you change bikes, you can't go out the exit. I finished the day in 14th, which I'm really satisfied with, and I didn't get beat by any one-dayers.

All-in-all a solid weekend. Now it's time to recover and prepare for Reston.

Respect

No way I'm ready to post a race report, just too blown physically and mentally. I do feel the need to send a few shout outs.

1. Promoters rock.

Regardless of how well a race is run or not run or how much the course doesn't suite your personal strenghts, be thankful there are people out there willing to take the time and effort to search out venues and put on races in the first place because without them we would just be dorks with expensive bikes and alot of really tight clothing, so quit your B-atching and race your bike.

Here are just a few you can say thank you too at some point in your illustrious cycling career: Tammy Ebersole, Tom MacDaniel and the DCCoD, Mike Hebe and Kris Auer.

2. Cycling Spouses.

Be thankful you've found someone willing to travel with you every weekend to bike races, or atleast support you as you travel without them, cheering you on out in the cold, wind, rain and snow while you ride your bike with your freinds through the mud. There ARE better things they could be doing.

Even though Gina couldn't make it this weekend to snap more awesome photos of us playing in the mud, I came home to a nice big pot of chili and some cornbread.

3. Anyone who supports cycling

Let's be realistic, we're not in Europe. Cycling in the US is below red headed step-child status in the world of sports here. First, we were blessed with a land owner willing to let us trash his property in the pursuit of a bike race this weekend. Then there are all of the other volunteers and supporters who help make things happen.

Special thanks to Suzy Gerlak, after Saturday's mudfest, she collected our muddy, sweaty kits and headed back to the hotel and not only washed them, but scrubbed them by hand first, clogging her own shower in the process.

4. Last but not least, the Racers

'Cross is unique in that both on and off the course everyone is a brother in arms. There's no other sport out there where as you're passing by someone on the opposite side of the course, they're cheering you on, even though you may be seconds from catching them. When was the last time someone said, "Hey man nice job, keep going" as you pass them in a road race?

Some of the good people: Chris Mayhew, Marc Vettori, Ethan Townsend, Chris Nystrom and the list goes on...

MAC Verge Series Chapter 4: Law of Averages

Day 1. Lower Allen, PA "The Classic"

LA is another one of those fitness courses, not overly technical, just a need to ride clean lines and grind out a steady diet of tempo. This course has never favored me, but things are a changin'. I used to suffered on this type of course but for some reason this season my fitness has changed so that my body prefers this type of course.Another good start up the road and through the rather long prologue kept me in a good position starting the first lap. I don't even remember the gaps opening but that's how it usually happens. Once again I find myself riding with Morgan along with Nystrom and going back and forth with a couple other guys.






















We lost Nystrom a couple of laps in, apparently due to an unexpected pit stop on a slick sweeper. So, as it has been for the past couple of weeks, Morgan and I worked together to try and close the gaps as we knew we were getting close working our way into the top 10. As we came through the switchbacks at the start of the last lap after the barriers, as if scripted, my last lap bad luck continued as my chain jumps off the chainring to the other side of my chain guide. I dismount to replace the chain and Morgan goes, I don't blame him, I'd would have gone too. After finally getting the chain back on after a second try I start to chase. The gap was only a couple of seconds, not too bad. I managed to pull Morgan and another guy back on the long back stretch but couldn't hold them to the road for the uphill finish. I finished 14th, best of the season so far.

Day 2. HPCX, Jamesburg, NJ "The New Classic"
It's sad that this may be the only year for this course venue. This was a brutal followup to Lower Allen compared to the traditional Highland Park course which was basically a flat dirt crit with two fairly insignificant climbs. Although we awoke to no rain, it was obvious it has rained over night to leave the course sticky in some places, slippery in others and just plain sloppy everywhere else.

We got there early and I got a few practice laps in, learning the course and riding different lines, all of which changed by our race. The first 500m of this course was the determiner. Up a soggy incline to a 180 turn then a short stretch to a twisty run-up similar to the old HP course, up, down then up again. It was ridable in warm ups but the early races made it quesitonable to ride, especially in traffic. The killer was the long uphill stretch of road and grass afterwards. This entire section was my undoing.











My legs felt great during warmup, but as we took off from the start, I knew I was in for a long ride. The first time up the run-up I flashed back to the last lap at Beacon atop the Ampitheater when my legs just seized. As I remounted and tried to pedal, there was just no reponse from the engine room, complete power failure. I kept going hoping to recover as I was being passed by what semed like the entire race. As usual, Morgan works his way up to me and we are once again riding together. This time I just could hold it, I lost contact after the run-up and could just never close the 20m or so gap. The last 2 laps I fought off Luke Sauders of HVB and finnaly got a gap on him of all places after the run-up. I ended up a disappointing 22nd. I love the mud, but this power course just put a hurting on me.











So if I take the 14th from Lower Allen and the 22nd from HPCX and average them, I'm at 18th. Pretty much where I've been most of the series.

Got Mud?

Close Call

We almost lost a dear and beloved member of the family this week.

As I was driving up to Lancaster Saturday I knew something wasn't right. She kicked and groaned and made me pull over to the side of the road to give her a chance to catch her breath. And when we arrived at the race the horrible smell emminating from her told me it was her time.

But I'm happy to say that after a major tune up, Special Sauce is back, stronger than ever and ready to rock the MAC circuit this weekend. From E.C. to Harrisburg, PA to Princeton, NJ and back to E.C., SS will be humming like brand new, well almost brand new.

It really was a close call, I thought for sure it was something much more major, not unlike the half-blown transmission we drove to Providence, RI and back on last year for Natz'. It was one of those rare occassions in automotive repair when the parts actually cost more than the labor.

Anyway, get well gift baskets of candy and fruit can be dropped off if you feel so inclined or just stop by and say hello at either Lower Allen or HPCX. Don't know how I would get to my races if SS died.

Cheeze

No MAC racing this weekend as I was still a bit blown from Beacon. I spent most of the week fighting off a cold and my training was in the toilet, so it was for the better.

With 2 MABRA races, but not quite ready to make a withdrawl from the pain bank, I decided to hit a non-series race up in Lancaster, PA. For several reasons I was hesitant to enter this race to begin with, the least of which was the potential for just a poorly designed course. There were only 14 registered, but there was atleast one MAC racer I knew I could benefit from racing against.

The course was "swoopy" as another rider described it which pretty much summed it up. It had all of the classic 'cross course feaures and plenty of barriers, 3 sets of doubles and a couple smaller ones at the bottom of each incline you could either dismount for or as I chose to do, bunny hop.

The race quickly separated on the first lap with a group of 5 breaking away. Unfortunately the guy I expected to be riding against pulled out with a mechanical after the first lap. But there was a Fort rider there I've never seen and he was pretty fast. He opened up a gap and I was just not willing to put in the effort to close it, so after dropping the two guys on my wheel at the start of the second lap. I rode steady tempo working on skills and tried to not work harder than I had too to finish second. A good effort to keep the legs open on the off weekend.

For a local race with little turn out, they paid cash for the B race so I was happy to atleast make back my registration plus some, even got a nifty, plastic trophy to go with it. Unfortuantely Gina couldn't make it so no pics yet, although there was a guy snapping photos, hopefully I can track down a shot bunny hoping the barrier on the run-up.