Out of the Concrete Jungle and back in the saddle again

All done with my mini east-coast tour. G-force and Muller saw a ton, and so did I. It was cool seeing the sights again in D.C. and NYC. While I've been on break, I've managed to get some running in and acclimate the legs for 'cross season, so I haven't been completely sedentary. I'll have to admit that I overdosed on 'city' though, and am really chomping at the bit to get back on the bike and rev-up for 'cross. This week is all about getting back in rhythm for this weekend's 24hr Challenge at Seven Springs. I'll be part of the Gretna Bikes/Lupine Corporate team. This team is S-T-A-C-K-E-D with talented riders such as Das Schobernator and Bad Andy. I'm really looking forward to throwing down a few blazing laps and leading the team to victory. AND I get to use some of the super-pimp lupine lights for my night lap. I'll be sure to have pics and stories from the weekend come Monday!

Today I saw......

Magic Johnson. But I couldn't get my camera out fast enough, so you're just going to have to take my word for it.

Heresy!!!!!!

The downward spiral of wandering continues. Today I wandered across a pair of Klipsch Heresy II speakers at a garage sale, with consecutive serial numbers. These puppies are out of production, but still sought after for their great sound. Sold new back in the early 80's or late 70's for around $500/pr. I can still get a good chunk of change for them should I decide to let them go. And I only dropped 40 bones on them! To be honest, I'll probably just sell them to help continue my rabid addiction to cycling, but am afraid that I'll think twice once I plug them in and hear the beautiful sound they make. I think it's time to get the Led out baby, yeah!

You Can Do Anything.....

....But lay off of my Blue Suede Shoes.

This is what happens when I take time off the bike. I wander around aimlessly, try to avoid eating junk food, and I buy crap. Luckily, I have been doing good with the diet, and I only bought 1 item. A pair of Blue Suede Shoes baby! As for the aimless wandering..........well, I was always a sucker for that.

Combating chronic depression and a recent job loss?

Get raging drunk!!!

Meet Tyler Hamilton......

Heeeeeeeeeeeere's 'cross season!

Somebody out there likes me. It's such a warm feeling. Here's a sneak peek of what I'll be riding this fall. Look for me at MABRA, MAC, & USGP cyclocross races near you, on one of these......

Resting on Disappointment

2 weeks of big races are over and I am going into a small block of time off before ramping up for 'cross season. After Vermont I only had one chance at redemption, and that was in New York at the Windham Pro XC Tour event. I signed up for the Cross Country and the Short Track knowing that I was sitting on good form. Helping keep the mood cheery for the week was my friend Judy who flew in from Colorado to race the women's XC and STXC (Congrats on going to Worlds!). We got on course Friday and after 1 lap I knew this was a course I could do well on. Climbs weren't too steep, and had technical portions mixed in. The descent was butter, with lots of places for style points. Unfortunately we got kicked off after 1 lap because of the start of the Cat. 2 & 3 XC races. We finished the ride on the road and called it a day, satisfied with what we had accomplished.

On race day, I slept in a little trying to get as much rest as possible. I knew that since the course was even shorter and faster than Mount Snow, I would be getting pulled at some point. My goal on the day was to prolong the inevitable as long as possible. Call-ups were confusing, as I was called up waaaaay in the back, as opposed to near the middle the weekend before. The start, like most of these races, had me on the brakes almost as much as on the gas as riders in front of me avoided other riders and tried not to hit the deck. As we passed the finish line trailers and started to climb, I realized I was going to get caught in a major bottleneck and started to settle down for the inevitable. After getting off and running through a short section of singletrack, it was back on the bike until the next section where I lost balance trackstanding after a rider pulled off and stopped in front of me and was forced to run again. On the bike once again, I made my way up the climb, passing riders steadily until the descent. This went on for laps 1 and 2 (the passing, not the stopping) and into lap 3 where a got slowed down by what must have been allergies. I blew snot rockets up the climb on the third lap and barrelled down hoping to get one more lap in at least, but alas was pulled in 52nd position out of around 75 starters. A slight improvement from last weekend, which is sad considering I broke my cleat last weekend. I'd say the difference was in the starts, as I started better and was snappier at Mount Snow due to cooler weather. The heat was on at Windham for the start, and I had to ease into the race. Even though I was getting stronger/faster each lap, I didn't stay close enough to the leaders on that first lap to give myself a 4th lap of racing. I probably would have made up another 5 to 10 places if I had kept going for another lap, as riders were blown up all over the mountain, ripe for the picking.

In conclusion, I'm disappointed in my finishes, but still confident that I am on the right track and can make this cycling thing work at the professional level (what that means exactly I'm still pondering). I'm going to take my motivation into the 'cross season and put it to good use throughout the Mid-Atlantic. If all goes well, I'll make an appearance at National Championships and then who knows what else?

Until next time, shalom!

Mount Snowed

Doh!

That's how my race went on Saturday up at Mount Snow. Not to mention that they cut the course to 4.2 miles, leaving out many of my favorite sections of trail. Still, the course was classic Mount Snow. I got up to the area early and had a few days of pre-riding and inspection. Come race day, I felt I knew the course well and had the legs to cover it in a timely manner. At call-up, I was actually in the second of 3 groups. Moving up in the world!

I felt slightly nervous and confident at the start, and when the gun went off I took off smoothly, waiting until the climb proper to start making moves. This plan worked well as I made up enough spots to enter the singletrack mid-pack with riders closely packed ready for more passing. On the first technical descent though, I hit my left pedal hard on a rock which moved my cleat and broke off a portion of the plastic shim between the cleat and shoe. Now this may not seem too bad on the surface, but in fact this tiny piece of plastic not only carried the physical weight of my body upon my pedals, but also the hope of a high finish on the day. My left foot would not stay in the pedal, and with the long and rough descents on course, I had to take it much easier than intended on the downhills. Oh yeah, and I rodeo'd (one-footed) myself off the trail 6 or 7 times. After a lap of giddy fun, I came through 5 minutes down for a 25 minute first lap. The second lap went better, but not much, and got pulled after 2 laps. Ouch! If I was a proud man, this would get to me, but I'm a little slow, so I'm heading up to Windham this weekend for another ProXC Tour race to avenge my poor performance at Mt. Snow. And if that isn't enough, I'll be lining up for the Short Track on Sunday as well. Double the fun, double the excitement, hope everyone can handle it.

Sorta doubt there will be anything even close to a moosefest while I'm up there, so will have to get creative in order to entertain myself. Any ideas?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STACEY!!!!!

MY SISTER IS 25 TODAY!!! SHE MADE IT!!! YEAH!!!

Moosefest!

While on my way to Mount Snow on Wednesday, I passed through the town of Bennington, VT. As I drove through, I noticed a ton of painted moose on the side of the roads in town. How odd, I thought. But today, during some down time, I decided to drive down again and go on a mission to photograph all the moose in town. There were plenty of good ones, and one of my favorite was the photo collage moose. Anyway, you've probably figured out by now that I'm a little bored. The fact is, there's NOBODY up here right now. I believe there are people arriving tonight for the races finally, so tomorrow should be a little more action-packed.

The course is primo, as usual. I've just about nailed all the various lines on the descents, and have one more day of riding on course to fully dial it in. I'm psyched to race on Saturday, and happy that I race at 2pm this year as opposed to 8am last year (I didn't even wake up until after the race!). Full report to come after.

Joker of Spring

Aww shucks! That's how I feel about this past weekend's racing. After braving dangerous torrential downpours to make it to the venue, I was hoping my good sensation would translate into a great result. The legs felt great, but the course was left a mess after the morning's races and proved difficult to ride 100%. After a few sections of running, the legs started feeling dead and my pace slowed leaving me to a 6th place finish. I felt I had a lot more horsepower in reserve on the day, and am hoping that the Mt. Snow and Windham courses aren't too sloppy so that I can use it all.

Saturday night, I hit up the Lehigh Valley Velodrome with Lenore for some Tandemonium track racing. It was sick! At the end, they put all 10 tandems on the track at once for one final race of the night. That's 20 riders, 10 bikes, very awesome! In my excitement I forgot my camera, so unfortunately no pictures from the night.