Happy Thanksgiving

Some words of wisdom:

http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail178.html

Tough day inthe saddle

What can I say. I rode like water, I couldn't pick it up. No surprise. Still a great time as always. Couldn't realize I had actually had fun until my eyes came uncrossed.

There might be a few people concerned about my performance today. To them I say don't worry. I have a month till Nationals and plenty of time to get my fitness back before the road season.

For now I'm going to go back into my living room and continue watching "Fire Fox" with Coop.

Ho hum

That pretty much covers my cross season this year. Not enough races. Being sick. Not enough training. Blah, blah, blah.

That brings me to this weekends State Championships at Basset Creek. I was getting all excited, ok trying to get all excited, about the race when I heard from the boys at BT (Bike Throw) how the Cat 3 race was stacking up. Oh snap! I'm thinking what's the point. I've sucked it up all season. Haven't really trained in 2 weeks. Still feel like crap. Now this.

I had such high hopes for my cross season this year. Those hopes are in the toilet. :P

I guess I could whine about how things have turned out (done) and how badly I'm going to get spanked on Saturday (TBD), or just not show up...

Or, or I could just toughen the %!&# up!

Here's to you Stewie!

2nd to last

Well today I tried my hand at the A Race. All I can say is thanks to the crew at Grumpy's/LGR. You guys put on a hell of a race with the sweetest course! It really felt euro. Like I know what that means... Anyway, the course was so much fun that I didn't even realize how bad I was sucking for my first A race. Thank you!

www.skinnyski.com

I'd write up something for a race report but my cold and lack of training really put me into a not so comfortable place today. I can't remember much except thinking how cool this course was. There was a little mud :P that kicked my butt. Did anyone ride that ditch every time? I managed to ride it on laps 1 and 2 but made friends with the Earth on lap 3 and decided to dismount and run it the rest of the race.

www.skinnyski.com

Again, I went out too hard from the start and faded back, and back, and back. Oh well, I wasn't expecting much on the day but my goal was to not come in last place. Job done!

I want to give a shout out to everyone who cheered me on today; The Fam, Pete, Dan, Ben, Jay, Kristy, Rob, Leslie, Ty, Jean, and it sounded like others. It really helps on days like today.

Next up:

Milaca ( maybe)
State Championships
Nationals

Good and Bad

Well, I was feeling kinda crappy just before my departure for the race today and decided to bag it. I just knew that if I raced I'd be wasted and probably end up sick. Wa wa, I know. But I've got some very important meetings for work next week and can't afford to call in sick.





The good part about missing the race was that I was able to install this...

a brand new Sram cross crank onto my trusty old Redline. First estimates show that it shaved 2lbs off the overall weight. NICE!

With a wheel change I might be able to get it down to 19lbs just in time for the Grumpy Cross.

Who's your favorite?

Listening to the Bike Throw I thought about how cool it is that SR and Homme are reporting on the local bike scene. So it got me to thinking who my favorite local rider is...

So I'll throw that question out to my readers, all 5 of ya.

Who's your favorite local, not including yourself:

Twine Ball Torture Fest

(Pic: Sport.be)

This weekend I drove all the way out to Darwin , MN for the Twine Ball Cross. I was pleased to find that the drive was well worth it. It was a hard course with plenty of climbing both on and off the bike. I was hurtin the whole time. I just couldn't recover after each effort.

I ended up finishing a little better but that could have been a result of the smaller turnout. I think there were 40+ racers in the B's.

Oh well, I finally got some CRY points which was nice for what could be my last B race. I've decided to give it a go in the A's at the Red Barn Classic. Not that I've posted any results that warrant the move to A's, but it's all about pushing myself to get better. I'm hoping that it will make the 45 minutes at Nationals hurt a little less.

And no the pic up top is not from the Twine Ball race. I just thought it was a cool picture of the three amigos.

Cool Cross vid from the 50's

Boom Boom Cross Jam

Results aren't up yet. I think I came in around 15th. Got third wheel on the start and avoided the accident that took out Pete and Tim from Grumpy's. :(

It definitely was an improvement on Hudson for me. Just can't seem to go fast enough. I'll have to work on that this week.

I'll be back wearing my Silver next week @ Powder Horn. Just wanted to give my friends at BCR some airtime.

Thanks http://www.skinnyski.com/ for the pics!

Practice + Confidence = Success

You feel good every time you learn something new. Especially when it comes to cycling. Well, at least I feel good.

Most of you have already mastered re-mounting w/o having to do the little stutter step. Today was the day that it finally clicked for me. Very much like when I learned (from Doug Swanson, H-wood Cross Clinic) how to dis-mount by placing your right leg in between your left leg and the bike (sweet spot) instead of bringing you right foot around and basically kicking you left foot off the pedal. It's really weird cause I don't think I could go back to the old way (stutter step).

Since I decided to go to Nationals and race the 30-34 masters event :P, I've decided to actually train for cross this year. Hudson wasn't a great result but it was a great opportunity to check my fitness and see how much I need to improve. To help in the motivation department I even have a little course set up in the park across from my house complete with grass, pavement, sand, a run-up and two barriers. If nothing else it's fun freaking my neighbors out. I'm sure by now they think I'm a freak.

Next up:
Boom Island Factory Cup. I've never raced this one so I'm looking forward to it and hopefully in better form.

One down

Yup, while I sit here eating my post race sandwich I can easily say I have work to do. I ended up 19th on the day for the B race. Now, in a few weeks that 19th place won't sit so well with me, I was very pleased with my performance. Technically I rode well, even when I got tired. It's been over a year since my last cross race and I quickly remembered how hard these things are. At least now I have a good gage on where I need to be. Net net, I'm stoked for the season.

Enough talkie talkie...

Don't worry Mike, it's all good. ;)

ToA???

This would be awesome if they could pull it off. However, it conflicts with the Vuelta and the Tour of Missouri, etc. And take a look at the dates and distance. 30 stages. Can you say doping problem. I mean really 7500+ kms. Very cool, but it doesn't make sense and I don't see it happening.

http://www.velonews.com/race/dom/articles/13387.0.html

Your thoughts:

Huff Crash-Tour of MO

Ooch!... Damn!

Too funny

Not for you younger readers, some bad language:

Floyd forced to cough up TdF title-Ha ha

That's right. Cheat and you lose dude!. I'd put up a link but you should have a problem finding the story. It's everywhere.

And the douche bag of the year award goes to...

Colin McRea 1968-2007

Being a huge fan of rally racing, this was very sad to hear:

http://www.rally-live.com/wrc/en/index.shtml

Here's a video tribute:

H-WooD Cross Clinic

Wow! That was a good time :)

It was fun getting back into the swing of things and Doug and Aric had a lot of good tips--Thanks!

The clinic was all I needed to remember how hard cross can be. I must be getting old, the bod is a little sore, and the lungs need to be worked on a little before my season starts.

But that's why I love cross.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the Hudson cross race...

Things that are Cool and things that are not:

Things that are cool:

1. Grumpy's/LGR putting on a cross race at the Velodrome (super cool)
2. Vuelta starting today
3. Team Slipstream getting a bid for the '08 TdF (hopefully)
4. Me being able to race cross this year :)

Things that are not cool:

1. Tommy D crashing out of the Vuelta
2. Critical Mass acting like an ASS! (way to make bikers look bad)
3. Lance pulling the plug on Disco forcing riders to look for new deals--if they can.
4. Public bathroom shenanigans

It's official

More pain and torture in my future. I've moved up a notch to cat 3.

Hell ya!

Now onto better things, like cross. After taking a year long break--I'm baaaaaaack!
I'll start it off with B's and see when I'll be able to hang with the A's. Of course that means I'll have to race with Paul again. :

I hear that Sickboy is making a come back too. Or did he race cross last year. I guess I thought the whole world stood still while I wasn't racing. Maybe not?

Mud, Sweat, Cold and Vomit...

...Awesome!

Make sure you all make it out to the Hollywood cross clinic on the 9th!

Race re-Crap

That about covers it. What a waste. Went way way too early and popped before the line for a top 20. LAME!. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Oh well, it's time for cross. :)