events

This week has been full of all sorts of events. Some were good, some were really bad.

The wednesday night race was rough, I got clobbered by ODB, Pat, and Shawn. But they are all real quick, so you need the a-game. A last minute decision was made to race single speed at nationals and take my brothers along for the ride. Rather than running a stupid chain tensioner I decided to go ahead and get a new Kona Kula 29er frame. It came on thursday so I could build it up in time to leave friday. The national championship race is always a good place to test ride a new bike.

The test ride went well. Single speed competition was fierce, I was 12th. My time was good, so I’m pretty happy. However I did notice that there were a few pros who skipped the xc to race ss, namely guys on the podium. That is kind of lame. I know, I know, I skipped the xc to race ss too, but… Us semi-pro racers have to qualify for the xc, the pros don’t. And plus getting hit by a car kind of threw a monkey wrench into the periodicity of my training/qualifying schedule. And, these dues put their gears back on for the short track. Whatever, I’m out for fun not glory. Real men would have raced the ss and xc though, like Betsy did.

This week I am rolling to Cape Cod for a job interview. That could be awesome, although it is kind of sad that my (relatively) carefree student lifestyle is coming to an end after a 27 year run. But the prospect of having a savings account with money in it or maybe getting some dura ace or xtr is quite exciting. I don’t know, the jury is still out on all that high end stuff.

So the really bad event this week was the death of my friend Tim Putman, in a motorcycle accident. He was a bike racer, we weren’t super close friends, but it was hard not to like him. We went together to Highland Hex a couple years back, it was pissing rain and everyone else we knew bailed that morning. You couldn’t have spent a shittier 6 hours on the bike, he was tough. We’ll miss him and be praying for his family.

I’ll avoid ending on a low note at the expense of another local mtb racer. I’ll try not to name names (sorry Chris). At nationals Stan, my brothers, and I were staying with a bunch of guys, among them several friends from Ithaca who work at/are affiliated with notubes.com. After the pro men’s xc race we were hanging near the finish, and one of said friends was talking with Ryan Trebon, who had just finished 2nd. I was trying to be cool, putting out the vibe, like “yeah, I am with these guys who are chatting it up with pros and whatnot”, guilty of being awesome by association basically. All of the sudden Trebon goes “Whoa that guy just ate shit on those stairs” and I look to see our local friend lying tangled up in a three-way with his Scott and a pine tree. I pulled a total Judas and was like “Oh man, who is that guy?” Sorry, Chris. But after Trebon went away I went to see of Chris was ok. He had mulch all over himself and even in his mustache.

dudes

Wow, right!? Posting two days in a row, amazing. Big news, I have been ordained by the church of dudeism. So just drop a line if you want me to perform some sort of ceremony like a wedding, or something that is not a ceremony, or a ceremonious ride. Or if you just want to hang out.

Anyway, until next time…

acquisitions

My wife is a total pushover when it comes to second-hand bikes of little use for racing. Thanks honey. At the moment we actually have more town bikes than proper (too) expensive bikes. The new ones are so sweet.

A Raleigh, acquired from Dan.

The Columbia Twosome Erin, June, and found on our way to the farmers market.

My cx wheel, post accident.

My sub 1400g wheelset courtesy of notubes.com...Thanks guys!

So, my foot is healing pretty well and I feel really fortunate having sustained injuries that are only relatively minor given the circumstances. Nonetheless, I’ve been off the bike for a bit and jumping right back into racing is not a smart idea. Riding feels alright, walking not quite so good, and running is right out. Anyway, with crap results and mediocre fitness I’m more interested long chillin mtb rides than anything else. We’ll see, what looks to simultaneously maximize efficiency and fun.

Last night Stan, Dan, and I saw the Avett brothers. Awesome.

firsts

I’ve had a few firsts the past few days. Unfortunately none of them have been at the end of a race. At the Rice Hill BBC race was the first time I puked in the middle of a race and still finished ok. On the third of six times up the hill I slowed up to unload a little fruit and gatorade, and had to chase back on. I was in a break. You could argue that when I puked on the last lap of the Slippery Rock ‘n’ Roll circuit race back in 2001 and placed 3rd was another, but that was more towards the end although it wasn’t near the line. It was also the first time a won a prime (sp?) against a fast guy, aka Ben Jamesson. I ended up placing 2nd to Ben.

This week was also the first time I’ve had a real collision with a car. Great. An oncoming motorist made a left turn in front of me and I rode right into her. Hard. Somehow I managed to eject from the bike, maybe over the car, and land on my feet. I’ve always said that I had cat-like reflexes. Not so good for my right foot though, as I’m now unable to walk with out a cane. It could have been a lot worse though, so I feel lucky.

We’re headed to WV this weekend, that is an easy place to rest with no bikes. Hopefully I’ll be good to go when I return next week. Once again, I have to thank my friends/teammates for coming through like champs, especially Andy for showing up on the scene lickity-split.

Can I get some fitness?

Amen, brothers and sisters of the velo-church of funk.

There will be no pictures for you this time as the camera batteries were in fact dead.

Where to start, how about club racing? The Buffalo Bicycling Club is quite nice and I like the races. They can be frustrating at times because there are a lot of pack-welders who disapprove of the grey wolf attack-the-pack mentality. I attack anyway, because I don’t like sprinting. A couple of weeks ago was the club championship race, open to non and associate members, like the old USPRO champs in Philly. There were some pretty strong riders who were not in contention at the race and so my plan was to get in a break that they would surely be in and then use tactical wizardry to defeat any other full club members who might be eligible for the grand championship. That plan went off without a hitch, and the only other club member was my teammate, big Jimbo Cowle, the defending champion. At the beginning I drove hard and burned all the matches I didn’t have to help ensure we would stay away. And then at the end Jimbo and I found ourselves watching the flurry of attacks that would decide the winner. We duked it out for seventh place, and the title of club champion…Jimbo cramped and I soft pedaled, happy that he didn’t make me throw up while stripping him of the championship title. This is the 3rd year the club champ has been from our team, that is cool.

After I won the big championship they invited me down to E-ville for the Wednesday night mtb series. Kind of like those criteriums over in Europe after the Tour. I ate smokin’ Tom’s BBQ too soon before the race. I really wanted to win, because last year I won all the races I entered, and they announced there would be prizes in addition to trophies this year. And I love prizes. At the beginning ODB and Pat were riding at throw-up pace so I had to back off because I was tasting lots of BBQ. Then Pat crashed and I caught up to ODB. It was pretty exciting and I ended up winning by a little bit.

After all this I almost thought about just retiring, but weeknight victories and 7th place championships taste so sweet I just had to have more.

So I met up with Stan down in State College, PA for the Stoopid 50. All of the recent racing might be giving me some fitness, because I had a pretty awesome start. Rolling into the woods with the lead group felt pretty sweet. In spectacular fashion my front tire blew off the rim which was unsweet. The race was long so I fixed it up and kept rolling, passing dudes like it was my job, rolling back towards the front and feeling nice. Should have stopped to put a little air in the rear rather than try and wait it out to the aid station. Punctured the rear, burned most of my CO2s and then flatted the tube 5 minutes later. Walked a bit, bummed a tube and pump from a passing racer, repaired, rode a bit, and flatted again. Luckily it was close to the aid station and they had more tubes there. I decided to wait for Stan, who was not far behind, and ride it in with him. After a little jibber jabber with Erin and June, some swedish fish, Stan’s leg cramping so hard he fell over, some pringles, and 50psi in my tires we were off. We rolled in fun mode for the remaining 15 or so miles with Stan’s leg occasionally busting out with some crazy rigor mortis style cramping and me cruising ever so gently through the rock gardens so as not to flat and be forced to walk more. We finished it up in style and proceeded to eat a crap load of food and then drive back home. That course was so sweet, everyone needs to go ride in State College. In addition it was a super fun father’s day, my first, thanks girls.

I’m doubling up the racing this week with Tuesday night at the track and Weds night mtb. Sooner or later all of this will catch up with me and I’ll have a good race. And one more thing, if you hate riding with a pack, try an Ergon bag, I’ll even let you borrow mine.

Stay classy out there.

It is now June

Bought some Metalica off itunes, hit play, and turned the suck knob all the way up to 11. And kept it there. Past little while goes something like this…

Went for an awesome weekend to Kelly Cup/Baltimore with Andy, Kenny, Ben and Cej. Got dropped at Kelly Cup. Drove to NJ rode smart-ish at Boundbrook. Got a good spot for the sprint, taken to close to the curb, hit the brakes and sprinted to 13th, threw up all over someone’s front yard and then drank a Miller High Life. Tried not to crash at Somerville, success. Then tried to get a good spot and sprint, failure, 58th place. Probably the most awesome part of the weekend was staying at Andy’s mom’s house. It was like a b&b with awesome food. Thank you.

Mohican 100. It was a gnarly weekend, with a cabin. There were so many people there you wouldn’t believe it. The start was so fast you wouldn’t believe it. Gunnar stopped to take a shit in the woods after like 2 miles and I didn’t believe it. I yelled at him something about rules against revealing ones nipples while he removed his jersey as I rode past. My legs felt unsensational. It was hot and I rode very slow in the middle of the race. Erin and June met me at some of the aid stations, that was so awesome I felt like stopping for a picnic and not continuing the race. Placed 23rd, 25 minutes slower than last year. Great. But with Darin, Stan, Robert, Stiv, etc, etc, etc it was a sweet weekend overall.

Commence voyage to Tuesday night track and Wednesday night mtb races in search of race fitness.

A huge thanks to my many awesome team mates, particularly Dan, for never hesitating to hook me up with tires, gallons of sealant, and even half a rack of bbq ribs. You guys rule.

Six Hours

The Highland Hex 6 hours race was yesterday. Same old story, crumby legs and an ok result. Darin made the trip up again and so we voyaged just like old times.

I didn’t make it to the line in time for a front row spot, so there was a little traffic early on. Once I made it to the front I drilled it and my legs turned to wood. I just kept going anyway, and stayed at the front hoping the legs would settle in. Eventually things thinned out and it was Steve Johnson and I. At the end of the lap he stopped in the pits and I kept rolling into the lead. For the first three laps I lead, stretching the lead a little bit. My legs felt heavy and not at all snappy which sucked.

Eventually I was caught, and kept it rolling steady in second, starting too feel a bit tired. At the end of lap 5 I flatted and was subsequently passed by 3 riders. That took the wind out of my sails. I kept cruising but couldn’t really accelerate all that much, so I kept rolling at a steady tempo. Steve bonked and and came back over the course of the next two laps so we were rolling pretty close together. At the end of 7 laps Steve and I realized were going about 3 minutes too fast. We took a breather in the woods to make sure we wouldn’t have an eighth lap. We rolled in just a few seconds after six hours.

I had hoped to do better, but still not a bad result. The Hex is well promoted with an awesome course. Being second in my age group made for a nice payout. The 7200 ft of climbing was just the ideal prep for Mohican 100. Darin was third in our age group, an awesome result for his first foray into long races. Moreover, he rode for four hours with this giant gash in his tires. Pulling a total MacGuyver using his number plate to patch the tire. Between that, and heading out for lap 7 just minutes before the six hour mark.

untitled

Lately it has been a long time between posts, hopefully someone else out there has been writing some entertaining stuff for you. Anyway I am back to write, and the next few week(end)s are shaping up to be pretty awesome. So things might really start to pick up here.

Bike racing, that is what this thing is all about. This past weekend it was Bristol Mt road race. A field of 18 made for a sucky race. A Canadian, who in my head is called Red Beard for obvious reasons, thought the neutral roll out to the start would be an awesome time to break away. Dork. Everybody else reacted by pedaling really slow and not working together. Eventually there was some action and two guys got away. The field had been conveniently whittled down to 7 guys, 3 of which were useless idiots who didn’t know how to take a pull, and 1 other who smartly wouldn’t work because he had a teammate up the road.

Eventually I started to worry that the break would stay away. I knew that an attack would prompt a furious chase by the idiots, so I just took a hard pull up a hill and rode off the front. Red Beard fell out of the lead group and I blew by him. After about 10 miles another guy came up to me which was sweet because I was in the hurt locker, big time. We worked pretty well caught another guy from the lead group about 5 miles before the finish. But then we dawdled a little too much an he found a friend and they caught us back on the climb up to the finish, with less than 1k to go. We were all farting around and then someone started to ride fast and I didn’t, so I got 5th which sucks. Good thing I didn’t eat any of my food and only took 2 bottles for 3 hours of racing. Luckily we had to park 50 miles away from the start so I could think about this on the long ride back.

Dr. Shriver and his lady friend Jesse were in for the weekend so that was awesome. He rocked his way to 16th in a stout cat4 field. Excellent. What is even better is that Darin will be returning next weekend for Highland Hex, and meeting up for Mohican, and there will be many many more rendezvous. So stay tuned for that.

Here is a picture of the mtb. ODB hooked me up with some sweet xtr cables, so I am probably going to win everything in sight this year. Also, notice the motocross style decals for all my sweet sponsor hook ups.

so rattle can semipro

Sure, you may know a lot of semipros, riders as slow as me are a dime a dozen. But how many semipros, or even pros for that matter, do you know who have frames painted to match their lawn furniture?

Thats right, I gave the old Gary Fisher taxi cab a nice rattle can job. With some leftover paint that I had used on the lawn furniture. It’s a real nice country green, colonial maybe. It makes sense since I train in my yard so much, doing a lot of laps and stuff. So now my bike will fit right in.

No pictures yet, because the paint is satin finish I had to use a lot of clear-coat. I tried to use a lot and make it look shiny but there are some ripples in it. Luckily the crappy paint will be covered by stickers. Stay tuned.

wooden legs

Hey I am still here, but my legs have turned into wood. That is how I feel. Maybe the last time I wrote was when I was in Richmond, almost a month ago. On the way home we stopped in WV, and I rode there and my legs felt sweet on the climbs. My legs must have been left in Jimbo’s bike box at my in-laws place.

Since then I have done 3 races, and at each ones my legs felt like garbage. I did a BBC time trial on my road bike and got 6th which is ok for crap legs. At Paris to Ancaster I wanted to do awesome, but I got 23rd. That is still my best finish ever, but I could have done better if the suck knob wasn’t up at 11. Yesterday I did a BBC race in Marilla my legs felt so crappy but I was going good on the little hills so I just kept covering a lot of moves and trying to get in a break. There were about 5 of us doing that the whole race. Finally a good looking move got away but we got caught just before the finish. My vision was blurred so I didn’t even try at the end. Joe Halter was attacking a lot and I heard he puked right before the finish, I’m glad I wasn’t the only one so wasted from the effort.

In tech news Keith Meyer at Timex came through for our team with the sweet hook-up again this year. I now have the equipment necessary to download data from my HRM, and then I can show it to you here. Just need to figure out how to make it work on my mac. I can tell you my max was 208 at PtoA. Awesome. Also I’ve got some super top secret notubes.com wheels and Ergon gear that should be arriving soon, along with another iron or two in the fire. Of course the Wachovia team gear, which is also in the super top secret phase. But it will dazzle everybody. So stay tuned.

On a non-cycling note. I did not get any jobs so we are staying in the W-NY a little while longer, probably until this time next year. It’s pretty cool because being in grad school is a lot more chill-axed than working.