Illinois State 'Cross Championships or Good Things Come in 3's!

FUN!!

Man, I feel gyped..
all the rest of 'cross season was hot, dry, and bland. :( Today was none of those things!

It was a tad warmer than yesterday.. about 33 degrees at race time. After an awesome pancake breakfast at Rachel's, I headed back home to get ready. I decided to ride to the race instead of bring the car. With the right timing, I should get there warmed up, ready to register and get on the course for a quick warmup.

I think I've said it before, but I think I'm really zeroing in on how to dress for the cold. I was a little chilly starting out for the race, but warmed up pretty quickly, without overheating or sweating too much. That is a huge load of my mind. But, once the race started, I can tell you that the cold was the last thing on my mind!

I got there and registered. I tried to get out on the course for a pre-lap, but it seems they were running behind. At 2pm they were calling for 2 more laps for the 1/2s.. So I planned on taking a lap when they called the 4's to line up. We're usually standing there for 10-15 minutes anyway. Well, that wasn't to be either. When they finally did call us up, they went right into the race intro. Looks like I'm doin this one cold (so to speak).

So they blow the whistle and we're off. I'm sitting near the back of the pack of about 40 riders again. With the snow, mud, and ice, I would like to have been out front, but figured where ever I was, I had to watch for other people stacking it up. It was messy for the first 1/4 mile. A short starting straight led to a series of tight turns. People where hitting the brakes all over the place. One guy behind my got the right idea and ran the whole section the first time through.

This led to "cricket hill" as I've heard it called. A 2 pack of barriers led to a long b***h of a run-up. We mounted back up to ride down the back side of the hill in about 5-6 inches of deep loose snow. At the bottom, the first sucker punch. A 180 turn with a barrier immediately after the turn into another nasty long run-up.


Again, back on the bike to a sweet long snowy downhill. Shortly we reached the most technical part of the course. Several tight, back and fourth esses climbing up and down the hills either side of one of the bridges in the park. A somewhat technical descent to a loose lefty under the bridge, then sucker-punch #2.. another quickly lefty RIGHT into a barricade.. damn, didn't see that coming. A quick run-up, more esses, then back down on the other side of the bridge and under again. From here, it was mostly flat, a chance to pick up some speed, with some not too terrible turns. Then I spot a cool little 20ft. down-up. This should be fun. I hammer the peddles to get up some speed, and BAM! Sucker-punch #3. Some sadistic so and so put a barrier RIGHT AT THE TOP OF THE HILL!! I could really have used some practice on this one.. It took a good two laps to figure it out since you had to pick up enough speed on the downhill to coast the last part of the uphill while dismounting. Not easy. The last bit into the start/finish was not too bad, save for several branches that seemed to want to reach out and slap you off the bike. There were lots of spectators in the start/finish, making it easy to drop several gears and hammer through, aided by the fact that this was the only solid, non-muddy footing on the whole course! Ultimately my strategy of keeping the rubber side down served me well. I heard several people bite it behind me, and saw at least two go down in front of me. I stayed up and picked up places.

Man, that was fun! I wish there were more like it. I kinda wish I had done the Masters race. But, alas. There's always next year.

Thanks to Thomas and Katie for coming out and being an AWESOME cheering section! And for taking pictures. You can see all of Tom's pics from the race at slackphotography.blogspot.com. He's an awesome photographer! More of his work is at www.slackphotography.com.

Good night!

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Now playing: Gotan Project - Track 04
via FoxyTunes

Where does the time go?

Wow... where have I been?

Not a whole lot to report these days. It's cold. Really butt crazy cold. It all started a couple weeks ago at Thanksgiving.


I joined Robert and about 15 other hardy souls for the Annual Thanksgiving Day Turkey Role at Pontiac Lake State Rec Area. It was a chilly, wet, snowy day. It had rained for 24 hours prior, and then a couple inches of snow on top of that. Not the best conditions, but a fun time was had by all!! I started off riding a pretty good clip, but then slid out pretty good on an off cambre section and took it pretty easy from then on. After the ride I managed to get a couple pics...


Our fearless leader


A couple mysinglespeed.com boys...


My buddy Andy's hot new Soul Cycles Hooligan.


Time to go home.

It continued today with a xXx team ride up to Highland Park. 15 Degress with a wind chill of 8 at ride time. Got in 50 miles in 3.5 hours. I think I've just about got my winter gear down to a science. I was layed up pretty good today. My only downfall was when we stopped in HP. I had a cold apple juice, and got a bad case of the shivers. They continued pretty bad until we finally got back on the road and up to speed.

Tomorrow is the last Chicago Cross Cup race of the year. The Illinois State Cross Championships! After this morning's frosty ride, I decided the wise thing to do is to race only the Cat4a's in the after noon. Getting my gear all sweaty in the morning, and trying to race again in the afternoon would not be such a good thing. So, one more cross race of the season. I don't know what my goals are for this on. Probably just staying upright will make me happy. Some folks went out to "dig out" the course today, but I still expect it to be a challange. Last year's pics show some pretty gnarly off cambre turns. Wish me luck!

Burrrrrrrrito run!

Man, it's about time I had some biking to blog about.

I finally got my sorry butt back out on the bike last night with the WRCS ride # 47 of 48. Robert had dubbed this the Burrito Ride, so our penultimate destination was Qdoba restaurant for some big fat burrito goodness.

Starting north of Royal Oak as is the Wednesday night norm, there was much speculation as to which Qdoba we would patronize that evening. Nancy played a little Mexican roulette and parked her car at the Royal Oak location and rode her bike to the start from there thinking that would put her at her car after eats rather than having to get back on the bike after the Qdoba cool off.

Nancy lost.

Leaving the senior center parking lot promptly at 6:50pm, Robert announced that our mealtime milieu would be either the Troy or B'ham locations. Doh!

There couldn't have been a better night for the Burrito Ride. I got in the car to leave for the ride feeling pretty crappy. Low blood sugar I'm sure. I had eaten well yesterday, just not enough. But let me take this opportunity again to say how much I LOVE Espresso Hammer Gel. A couple shots of this stuff before the ride, and I felt like I could've ridden forever. The one thing it couldn't do, however, was make my tummy feel full. Enter the Chicken Burrito.. :D I've never devoured a burrito so quickly. I was like a ravenous coyote.. but I digress...

The pace was a little more brisk than the previous rides I'd joined. It felt great. I guess the idea was to earn our calories, and to get a couple extra miles in before the stop. We hit all the regular spots, Berkly, Royal Oak, B'ham (where we ate, btw..) and I think even farther west. I don't really pay too close attention to where we are. That's the best part of these rides for me. I just turn my brain off (I know, not a big stretch from the rest of my day) and follow the wheel in front of me. This is why i think I would enjoy road riding (just to break up the mountain biking, of course.) Alas, only enough dough for one working bike (read: one wheelset) at a time right now, and I don't think my fat 2.35s would fit between a road frame's stays.

And the weather! What a perfect night for a ride. Sure, it will get more perfecter as it gets warmer, but after several rides with wind chills below 0 deg. Fahrenheit (I can't believe I spelled that right on the first try!!) it was nice to ride above the freezing mark. I left the jacket in the car, and was actually able to take my time getting ready outside my car. My toes stayed toasty all night, and I even started to feel a little flushed during the heart of the ride. Warming up after our stop was not an issue at all. For someone who used to be truly (again, spelled right the first time) challenged at dressing for the weather regardless of what I was doing, I'm really starting to get this winter riding gear thing down!

Last night I learned that the Monday night ride from American Cycle & Fitness in Royal Oak on Woodward goes on year round. Looks like I might have found myself a new weekly ride.

So that brings mile total mileage in February to a whopping 50 miles! That's a hair under my mileage for last february, but on the whole I'm still up 130 miles. March last year I did 240 miles. I'll make my goal for this year 300 miles. Look out, March, here I come!

Beat up!

Man. I'm wrecked! Ray's will take it out of you... I managed to keep the rubber side down, for the most part, but just the riding will leave me sore tomorrow. That and the face plant I took in the foam pit...

Bryan, Adam, and I met at Crispy's place this morning around 8am. We pilled in the F-150 and headed south. A short drive and we were pulling into the lot behind Ray's. The guys gave me a tour starting on the Gary Fisher XC course. We moved on to the Sport Course, pretty cool, but rough in my 36/16 gear on the Loki.

Next was the Expert area. This is, of course, where everyone hangs out. Tons of lines for stunt riding, such as a double teeter-tooter, an elevator, and skinnies galore.

Also off the Expert area is the rhythm jump section. Crispy and I had decided to devote a good portion of the day to learning to jump. This was the place to do it. I had a blast. The only jump I was able to clear and land on the tranny was the one comming off the Red Bull wall ride (see below), simply b/c I was able to get enough speed off the wall. I'll do better next time!

We rode until about 7pm. By then either our bikes or bodies or both had quite, so we started for home. 4 Chicken Grilled Stuffed Burritos, a lemonade, a root beer, and one bitchy-ass taco bell drive thru girl later, and we were on the road. Thanks, Crispy, for drivin'!!

Here's some pics from the day:


Ok. I'm going to bed now.

Ray's MTB

This place is Schweet!!!

I don't ever want to come home!

Stuntz!

So I finally got a chance to check out the stunts at Bryan's place. What a blast! And amazingly I didn't break myself.. Yet... The potential is definitely there.

I didn't have a bike to ride, so I borrow bikes as folks got tired. In the mean time, I managed to get a few pictures.

I hope to be building some stunts of my own soon. These guys make it look easy. But, as with everything else, it just takes practice!

PSSWC 2006

Hell(riders) Yeah!

PSSWC 2006 was a blast. I wasn't even riding a single speeder last year for this event, but I heard how much fun everyone had, so I was eager to check it out this year..

Most of us staged in the parking lot at Hudson Mills Metro Park. I was running late as usual, but just managed to meet up with the entire group under the N. Territorial bridge over the Huron. Jajones gave his instruction, we got our tiles, and we were off on a short "parade" to the trail head. The Chief explained that this ride was what you wanted to make of it. If a race was what you were hankerin' for, then once we hit the trail, you could put the hammer down. Otherwise, you could make a social day of it. Despite the likes of Lummis, Q, and the Chief himself in the lead group, I decided for the former.

Running a taller gear than I've ever run at Poto, I was concerned for the first couple climbs. Add to that about 45 other single speed junkies trying to scraggle their way up those two bastards, and it was challanging to say the least. I had a small slip requiring a quick run up to the top, and I was back off to the races. I traded spots with a guy named Dan for a while. I think he was running a smaller gear, and slowed a bit on the climbs, so I asked to pass going into the Hills of Hell, and put a little space on him.

I eventually caught up with the Chief himself. Since the Keg of Jolly Pumpkin Bam Beire was in his truck, not to be freed until he finished, I figured I'd found just the right spot.. :D We rode together, also trading spots, for another few miles. We shared the trail that day with a butt load of Boy Scouts out for a fall colors hike. On my two very favorite down hills, we had to slow for the gaggle of scouts we encountered. I was still able to put a little bit of air under the tires off some of the water bar drops, so all was not lost! We were eventually caught up by another rider, possibly Dan, not sure.

All along my ride was feeling a little squirly. Just now and again it seemed to shimy a little more than it should out of a corner. But now, pushing to stay ahead of the two nuts on my tail, I could feel the fker really start to wander all over.. I mean it felt like the thing was dog tracking down the trail at points. I kept looking down at my rear tire, sure that it was flat. But not only did it look good, but root confimed there was pleanty o' O2 in there.

So I pulled over to inspect, letting the Chief and guest go.. Didn't take long to see this:



So, may day was done (the riding part, anyway.) All that was left was the walkin'.. Took just shy of an hour to get back to the parking lot (and the BEER!) There was lot's o' sympathy, and much head scratchin'.. In the end, I'm sure I'll get a new frame from Soul Cycles, just not in time for Iceman. =(

So, Wednesday I'll be pickin' up a Bianchi P.U.S.S. from Keving P, that crazy fixie kid.

Laters!

Full Circle

This weekend brought an interesting completion to my summer mt biking season.

To start the season, I did a few pre-rides out at Yankee Springs in prep for the TT race out there. After our first group ride out there, a few of us made it over to the Bells Brewery for the first keg of Oberon of the season (we were there they day it was released). Then, this past Saturday night, I ventured on over to a Bell's Racing team party, where they were said to have the last keg of Oberon from the warehouse! And to top it off, I followed that up with a ride at Yankee on Sunday!! It's really funny the way those things seem to work themselves out sometimes.

Paula and I were on our way out to Grand Rapids for Kisscross race #2 at Richmond park. Both of us being planning and time management challenged, we didn' t get out there with enough time to comfortably suit up and warm up prior to the race. So we watched from the sidelines, though I did manage to get a couple laps in with teammate Jon Ressler between the B and A races..

If you're the sort of person that enjoys the out doors AT ALL, I hope you got outside this weekend. It was absolutely gorgeous out. It was likely the last time I'll be able to ride in shorts and short sleeved jersey this year.. =(

Well, good week all.

soup

I needed that!

What a weekend.

It had it all.. sun, sand, lake, nekkidness, laughs, friends, falls.... Like I said, everything!

First, the riding.

Saturday we rode the segment from Marilla to Dilling rd. It was suggested that we go from Dilling rd. to Marilla, as the climbing was loaded toward the Marilla trailhead side, making for an arduous return trip. Unfortunately, Tom wasn't familier with how to get to the Dilling Trailhead, so we nixed the idea.. (bad, bad idea...)

This trail is a BLAST! It's a constantly rolling trail, up and down, and the downs are a scream.. While not terribly technical, they are fast and they hug the side of a steep embankment of the Manistee river. You've got to break check around some fast turns where overshooting means a long trip down to the river (if you don't make friends with a tree first), and the off angle waterbars seem to keep wanting to push you off the trail! This was a bad time to forget and leave the front fork locked out!! On the way out I felt great! I didn't see what all the fuss was about.. there seemed to be equal amounts of up and down, and so the ride back should be no more challanging that the ride out, right?!?!

Along the way our group got strung out, many choosing to return to the trialhead after getting about 1/2 way out. I pressed on alone most of the ride until I was caught by Dustin as i chatted with a gentleman out to do some trial maintanence. We rode on toward Dilling, until we met Chris and Al who had just turned around at the Dilling trailhead. Dustin and I decided to turn as well, and head back in as a group.

Yeah, that lasted long.

Al in 38x16 and I in 36x17 were the only two SSer's. And we soon learned what all the fuss was about. While the up and down was nearly equal in proportion, they were no where near equal in pitch!! Going out the downs where much steeper than the ups. Hence, going back... well, you get the idea.. Al and I were soon dropped by Dustin and Junior as the long climbs sapped our legs for the downhills. Al and I pressed on. Let's just say that some pledges were made, bonds forged, and we made it out alive... (Al, I'm still trying to figure out which part I would have started with..)

We were greeted with cheers and, most importantly, cold beer at the trailhead. A great ride with great friends!



More to come later!

Me time.....

Wow.. it's been a little bit since I last posted.. I'm indanger of losing the interest of my two readers.. (if Nero counts.. ;) )

Anyway....

1.5 hours and I'm outta here.

This weekend is for me! No racing, no weddings. Just good friends, good beer, good times, good vibrations, good'n'plenty's... well, you get the idea..

The summer 2006 Luv NakedTri weekend is on. Well, it remains to be seen if there's be any gratuitous nudity this weekend, but with a keg of Mill's IPA and som Jager, my money's on skin!!

Unfortunately, there's been no real riding of late to report on. I've been working late, and the weather's been a little crappy.. I REALLY want to get a road bike so I can do more rides out of my house. And the Tour always gets me wanting to get get out and mash on a little bike!!

So, wish me luck. I'm going in. If i'm not back by Tuesday, send in the rescue squad...