Left in the dust...

Rowan finished his race unassisted yesterday without training wheels, which is more than I can say for myself. He was beaming and I missed it because I was warming up for my "race".

Sheri felt a lot like I did yesterday but she Womaned up and finished. She raced until she had to puke, which makes her one hard chick. When she gets race fit, you chicks out there might consider recognizing because she is going to rip some legs off. She also got bit by a dog while running across the venue to look for a place to purge the devil after her finish.

Listen, assholes. If you don't have control of your animal then don't bring them to a WORS race. The offending asshole didn't even apologize and was nowhere to be found once Sheri had her wits about her later.

My throttle cable was disconnected yesterday. My legs might have been there but they didn't want to answer the call to race. I watched the Elite field walk away from me in the dusty field knowing I had no racing in me on this day. This course brings out my inner suck. Couple those things with a bike that doesn't want to stop and I had a recipe for injury. There is some good though. On the line, behind the best in the Midwest; my stomach was flipped upside-down and I was downright nervous. I haven't felt that way since starting my first Sport SS race at Iola last year, and it was exactly what I was looking for. My reality for now was that I would have had the same result no matter what number was on my bike.

Quitting is for losers, but nothing has me seeing red more than a recent dnf. 9 mile forest should make a good backdrop for redemption. Pete is pretty spooled up for this race as well. We are shooting for a solid 20 laps worth of Goat and Stringbean chasing. Sheri got the scoop on last years winning secret nutrition. I hear Chris Eatough eats babies to stay fueled. Ramen noodles are cheaper and easier to prepare.

Bear Left, Right Frog

I’ll be racing at night for the first time at 24-9 next week as a duo with Peter C. When I registered us in May, I laughed when the confirmation page said “championship” on it. Everything is coming together for these next couple of weeks though. Over several night rides at QR, I have the lights dialed. Riding fast, alone at night with an iPod full of crazy shit is pretty awesome. The lights seem to accent strange features of the trail and the trees. I keep thinking that I am running over frogs that are sitting right in the middle of the trail. The first time it happened, I nearly crashed trying to avoid squishing the poor frog. It might have been a rock doing its best frog impersonation. I did not stop to investigate.Everything was flowing perfectly in the dark last night. Only my lousy ass, noisy juicy 7s were interrupting the flow. I will try the Strokers tonight since Sheri stole the Martas. The legs feel mighty good right now also. Standing up and mashing up climbs feels effortless. I wonder how long that will last. I have firmed up my decision to race as an expert starting this weekend. I won’t come in last and I won’t be killing any dreams. In that respect it will be just like racing Comp SS, but with one more lap and much less passing. Other than that I have no idea what it will be like. It feels like the right time, and a 36x19 feels like the right choice to climb those CR switchbacks in the up direction 5 times.

Doping and Poison Ivy

We attempted to sit and watch the first real mountain stage of the TDF last night recorded earlier on the DVR. Even with the ability to zip through commercials, we couldn't stay awake through the end. It takes these non-dopers way too long to climb those damn mountains. I woke up later just in time to see that some narrow-assed Italian climber won the stage. I could have guessed that and went to bed early.

On our ride on Saturday, Ryan and I discovered rather quickly that the first few ungroomed miles of the H8TR trail are not ridable in July. The weeds were taller than us but I insisted we power through it and go looking for Charlie anyway. I have been rewarded for my tenacity with my first allergic reaction to poison ivy. I may be showing up to my first Expert race with legs that look like stubbly rotisserie chicken drumsticks. I am a dumbass.

Mid Season..... or CX base?

Last time I made a blog post attempt, I bonked mid sentence.

The WORS race over 4th of July weekend at Eau Claire was a good time. With some spirited encouragement from Sephie, Rowan learned to ride sans training wheels in about 2 minutes. I felt warmer and more snuggly inside than a basket of puppies while watching him stand up and hammer across the field. He was a bit more timid the next day and I probably got more frustrated with him than I should. He was either shaken from one of his falls, or he does much better when girls are watching.

Sheri jumped out front for the holeshot and had a good race. Rowan and I ran through the woods frantically with a camera and a sack of pre-race food trying to find Mom and cheer her on. That chick is going to be fast when she actually has time to ride and train.

My race was a bit of a mixed bag. I felt good and strong and kept it upright the whole race (from now on I think I will bounce myself off the ground at least once as part of my warm-up). I did have a hard time though just letting riders slip away from me. On the lead out, I sat right on the Curteseses but then just let them get away when gearies started coming around me on both sides. It was like getting swallowed. I think I am way too timid in a pack, sitting up when I still have some top end to spend. I have been doing the same thing this year in the singletrack. When Bill came around at Eau Claire I just watched him walk away one pass at a time without even checking into my LT. I think I'm getting beat by experience at this point, and it still takes me two laps to develop a sense of urgency. I might upgrade now to shock the system, and improve my “laps/hours driven to get to race” ratio.

I took 5 days off the bike to be completely rested for a 12 hour single speed attempt at Blue Mound. Now the rain date is the same day as the Badger Prairie CX race, so I'm torn. With the race off, Ryan and I logged 90 miles to Illinois and back on the H8full Badger trail. It was my first ride on the Ridley Supercross and it felt great but out of its element. It wants to accelerate over and over again, and it is set up a bit too racy for sitting and grinding in the dirt for hours. Back in our neighborhood, deep into hour 5, we pulled a 900watt sprint to catch a couple of nerds on scooters down Seminole. It was a much needed ride and a good time as Ryan makes a good training partner.

With the Blue Mound race off and over, I took the Vassago out of overbuilt enduro mode. With the switchblade back up front and some light, fast tires stans'd up I ripped a bunch of laps at QR last night. The good lines we once had through the rocky upper part of the climb are washing away; about 6 feet of that climb is getting more difficult and is a great testing ground for SS climbing traction.

Tired and satisfied, we watched a bunch of nobodies race over some mountains on TV somewhere in France. I think the BKB could send over a team and make Tim a GC contender this year. Tonight's stage might be worthwhile though. Like many cycling fans, I'm trying pretty hard to wrestle myself from vapid indifference over what remains of the TDF.

Tagged.....

Apparently I've been tagged. Thanks Amelia. My posts are pretty random anyway, so here is some numbered randomness.

1. Rowan likes to give Moonkee wet willies. Before you say "awww, that poor cat.", remember the cat has no damn job.

2. Speaking of Raptors, we were woke up this morning by the dreaded Kinderaptor at the buttcrack of dawn. Much like a bear attack, the best defense is to lie still and stay quite. I am much better at this tactic than Mom is, so she usually takes the brunt of the attacks.

3. At the time trials Wednesday night, I threw my bike in the truck with disgust and took off home after 1 lap. There are days like that on the bike, it was not a good one. I must be subject to some manstral cycle, because it seems to happen about once a month.

4. I played guitar in a punk band in high school. We had a bunch of original material, but also did covers from the Misfits, Dead Kennedys, and many other 80's punk classics. I did vocals on only one song, a cover of "Jesus Entering" by the Feederz. I won't link to it because it is more offensive than vomit. We didn't play at any weddings or graduation parties. We were members of the Racine/Kenosha area punk rock Elite for about 6 months though. We recorded a "Christmosh" album in Joe Cycenas' basement with a single microphone and a boombox in December of 1990. We are older than old school.

5. I have a new nephew born over a month ago that we have not driven to Racine to see yet. We have been selfishly bike racing and stuff, but it goes like that sometimes. My family in Racine seems pretty far away these days.

6. My first mountain biking experience was in 1995 in Jacksonville, FL. My old friend Pete Schiavone pushed a bike at me he had borrowed from his Dad. I think it had a kickstand on it, and didn't shift. It may have even been a woman's frame with the dropped top tube. I don't remember if it actually was, but I'll say it was just to complete the picture. He took me to Hanna Park near Mayport on the beach. They had about 8 miles of pretty fast rooted trails there, really fun stuff. I dropped Pete pretty quick with a big ass grin on my face. No helmet, no shirt, no water. I bent the shit out of that bike. The handlebar, fork and wheels couldn't be saved. Within a year I was racing in Florida, albeit getting my ass kicked. Thanks Pete.

The tagging stops here, we are packing for a bike race. The people I might tag will probably be there in real life.

Happy Independence Day. Don't let them do that to you.

WEMS weekend

Jesus didn't want us to go to the WEMS race this past weekend. But we said screw that hippy. The Hypocrite wagon broke down on us on the way home from Suamico last week. Luckily we had 350 miles left until our warranty expired so the fix was 300% cheaper than the cost of the tow back to Madison. Thursday when we picked it up it promptly broke on us again, so we spent our Friday waiting for the truck when we should have been on the road.

Evil prevailed and we arrived at LT Friday night just in time to catch a pre-ride with some Chainsmokers. Sheri promptly assumed the registration duties which continued all weekend. When she finds a dropped ball she likes to run after it, spike it and dance. Props.

Race day. Lots of fast people showed up for the SS race so I was starting to wonder about my top 10 chances. Slow start. I haven't ran since last August save for a few sets of barriers in November, so the Le mans start had me feeling goofier and slower than I already am. I hopped on the bike close to the back of the pack then passed 6 or 8 guys in the first couple of miles. I then rode most of the race leap frogging with Roger from Muddy Cup. Through the entire first lap and part of the second, I would power past him in the open areas and on climbs then he would go by me in the twisty stuff. At the start of the second lap, Roger said something to me like "if you had some bike handling skills to go with that big motor, you would be(something flattering that I forgot)". I took that to mean that I was riding the singletrack like a wuss, so I stopped being such a wuss, eased off the brakes, and kept him behind me for the rest of the race. He stayed close until the switchback climbs up to the Levis top out. I stood up and jammed with him 20 yards back or so, and heard him blow apart like a General Motors product. He said something admitting defeat and when I looked back he was walking. I didn't want to screw this up so I kept laying it on thick for the rest of the race. In the end I really wanted another lap and felt I could have caught one or two more. 11th place behind some pros and fast guys ain't so bad, but it was again a learning experience. I learned not to be so damned lazy in the singletrack, and not to make Roger's mistake. If you tell a competitor he sucks, he will try harder not to suck and kick your ass in the end.

Rowan took a solid 4th place in the under 6 year old 1/4mile Solo class. He is so ready to lose the training wheels. I think we will give it a good shot over the long weekend at Eau Claire. Sheri rode the 3 hour race at a social pace but crashed her bike hard enough to spew hydralic fluid and fork oil all over it. That crash earned her a nice brake upgrade to the Magura Martas and a rigid carbon fork. The Vassago is rigid again too until Hayes fixes the noisy dampener problem. I was louder than the gearies out at Levis with that fork. Lots of racin' action to come and everyone is feeling fine.

It was a very cool event and a good time. I like the WEMS scene. Drinking beer and laughing at the guys packing up their cars like zombies after 12 hour solos is fun. I think I just about made a couple of guys sick while flipping over my kabobs as they were staggering around sipping gingerly on juicy juice.

1 part visualization, 6 parts beer.

During our weekly Friday night tearing up of fine Mexican cuisine, Sheri was talking me through keeping my season from spiraling out of control. She told me when we got home I was to take a long shower, shave the legs, and visualize jumping into the singletrack in front of Jerry. I was pretty sure I was going to need more than just visualization to pull that off, but I tried it anyway. At this point I'll try anything to get my head screwed on straight again.

We arrived at Suamico yesterday just in time to set up in the rain. The beer hour came around quick with no hope of a pre-ride. I think I had six beers total before the night was out and slept like a..... half drunk bike racer I guess.

Warming up with an ipod full of Slayer should be outlawed by the UCI. Slayer inspires an unmatched sense of urgency, and it set me right for a good race. Just a mile or two into the first lap it looked to me like Jerry was under geared, so I figured I would use the 36x16 to my advantage and try to put a bunch of people between us on a long slightly downhill section. That worked for a while but I wondered how soon it would be until I would see him again. I worked with Dave Bell (okay he did most of the work) for the majority of this lap and on and off for the rest of the race. Jerry showed up before the 1st lap finished up and we managed to stay together until I could yo yo no longer just before the start of the 3rd. We had a group of gearies with us that kept snapping back and forth like an accordion. The little rain shower we had during that second lap was killer, and only added to the grin factor for me. After the elastic snapped I sat in no man's land for much of that third lap, trying to close on that group which I could only catch a glimpse of on long straightaways. Turns out that after I fell off this group, Jerry commenced to nuking what was left of the gearies with his turbo-cadence. I came in for another 4th and another 21st overall. It was the most fun I've had in a bike race by far, and I'm pretty jazzed for the rest of the season now. The Vassago/Manitou combo sang sweet melodies to me for 36 miles. I could not be more happy with this setup. Thanks to the Chainsmokers injured reserve again for the support, Dave for the pulls and the encouragement, Momma and Rowan for kicking ass, and Slayer for more of the same.

Free your mind....

...and your ass will follow. One would think that coming into a race with low expectations would lead to zero disappointment in the outcome. Not so. The truth is that the low expectations are part of the problem, perhaps even the root. More saddle time and less bitching is forthcoming. The Jaberwocky is awesome even though I wasn't having much fun on it's shakedown ride. I'll be putting a boinger on it when it arrives at Willy tomorrow and calling it done.

Sheri didn't get any photos of me because I'm a quitter, but these guys were representing.When I was trying not to tip over, the Daves were some of the first to come by me with some words of encouragement. Then they killed it together for 2 hours. I want to be like them when I grow up, minus 26 gear choices of course.

I think I will be skipping the race at Suamico next week and playing superfan/babysitter while Mom lays it down for the Cit women. I'll we be using the trails though to dial in the bike and get a bunch of off-road miles in. I'm putting some Hi-rez focus on the SS champs race and the 12 hours @ Blue Mound, with Eau Claire sandwiched in there. It is also time for some weekday racing to keep the motivation fresh. The WORS Comp SS points race should be interesting all year, and the class has been populated with a bunch of fast guys each race. I'm happy that I went with my gut and didn't upgrade. I think I need a couple more years of miles on my legs and quite a bit more experience. I'm getting better at learning to enjoy the journey. It is becoming easier for me to span time gracefully with my family. The ride could not be what it is if it weren't for every individual root and rock.

I am a regular feller

I haven't been doing much liberal jabbering on here lately. It is partly because it is dirt season and I have been busy at work, but mostly because others do it so much better.

Long and lean, clean and mean

• Steel.
• Black.
• Named after both a demon prince, and the legendary beast of gibberish poetry.
• Fits my monkey armedness.
• Black.
• Frame costs less than the crankset from a citizen racer's $6000 Trek.
• Wet Cat geometry is well suited to post apocalyptic riding that might require riding over or negotiating around lots of skulls and burned out cars.
• Steel.