Friday Jingle Cross Vidyah

Hopefully next season I don't have to work during Jingle Cross. This year would have been good for me withthe running & mud. My Team Mate Andrew Coe won the 2/3. Wish I would have been there.

Jingle Cross 2009: Friday Night Cross from Gizmo Pictures on Vimeo.

Night ride?

Its that time. Time to pull out the ssmtb to get those winter rides in. I like to do my winter rides in the dark. Added finger & toes damage. That said I use my light these days a few months @ a time. Stick it back in the box & forget it till it gets cold again. Well that strategy bit me in the ass. My battery doesn't want to take a charge. I have other lights but really like my handlebar mounted Jet light to to illuminate the trail. Then I use a led headlamp for focused light where my head points. I'm hoping a slow trickle charge for 12 + hrs will give it enough juice to get me another season.
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Forrest Gump I'm not

Every Thanksgiving Day for the last 8 years I've had a little tradition, run the Turkey Trot 5k. Over time Amber joined me. Then my mom, dad, sister & her family have joined us. The last couple of years Ambers sister has joined us for a little stroll. I started out the tradition running for time. The year Amber was prego I walked with her. Because of cx the last few years I've been running with Amber.

This year my cx season wrapped up early so I figured I'd run for time again. Only 1 little problem with that plan. I've ran maybe twice in the last 9 months. Oh well I've always said I can break 20 min at will in a 5k. Time to walk the talk.

Turkey Trot am I laced up my racing flats(I was serious about going fast) loaded up the family and we were off to the races. I got my warm up in by running to the start about a half mile. This was a mistake. It made me peak to soon & cost me at least 15 seconds.

Any way long story short. Guns goes off. I take off settle in with some high schoolers wearing state cx tshirts. I figure if they made it to state they can break 20. First mile goes by in 5:56. Heart rate is up but not maxed. Second mile goes by in 6:22(still below the 6:25 I need to average to go under 20). Heart rate is creeping up to threshold. The third mile is slightly uphill into the wind. Being a cagey old bastard I tucked in to get a little draft saving just enough foe the finish. Mile 3 in 6:22. Sweet. Legs still have a little & the finish is downhill. I cross the line in 19:13. Damn warm up cost me a sub 19.

There you have it sub 20 at will. Though it cost me. I've hobbled around for the last 3 days with legs that feel like I got worked over by a mob hit man with a baseball bat. That which doesn't kill you I guess. Now I have a new mark to shoot for.
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This is what I'm talking about

Be Nice to us at the back. We give you our lunch money

Time Lapse?

The CDALE Mafia. This pic looks like a time lapse photo to me. Pretty cool

3am musings

Its my Friday & I'm seating at lunch wondering about my 4 off(sun-wed this time). What to do? What to do? I'm sure Amber will have a few honey do's. I think I'm going to do some much needed bike maintenance. Perhaps get all my steads rideable. Not happened in a long time. I need to hurry up because its almost ss time. That time of the year when I break out my ss bikes & spin around at low speeds. Last years ss excursions numbered 1. Chain kept coming off. I got pissed & went back to gears. This year I'm hoping to put more effort into it. Not enough effort to want to race ss. That experiment was a failure for sure. Though several years ago I came close to winning a cat 3 race on my sscx. Probably would have got the W if I could have kept my chain on. That leads me into one of my winter projects. To convert my sscx into belt drive. Not any buy it off the shelf belt drive either. One that I fab up. I haven't worked out all the machining details yet but plans are being formed. Ill post my results once done. Well that's enough rambling. I've literally just blackberried this post in.
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Kayak Video Request

I had a request for Kayaking video from TK. Not the greatest quality but it'll do till I get more footage uploaded. Oh yeah yes this is me in the vid

DeStad Series Final Vidyah

Taken From JJ's Blog who took it from Bad Goat. I talked JJ through an embed so I figure I can post it too. This is the Sandbagger's race right after the men's Open.

KS State CX, DeStad series finals

This is just a quick brain dump before passing out. I'll steal some pics & edit it later when I steal me some intraweb.

As most of my 6 readers know I've been stuck in a rut this cx season constanly(or the glass half full version consistently) in 12th place. It was starting to be a broken record. Frankly it was troubling me & was worrying I might be the first racer ever to get fired from a club team. Luckily JB is patient with his riders.

Anyway the weather was cold & crappy with more crappiness falling from the sky. That usually means mud. I don't claim to be a mudder by any stretch of the imagination. I do have some pretty good results in the mud though.

Good start. Jammed up by a wreck. Chased. Duked it out with a few single speeders. Got in a rythem riding safely. Worked my way into 3rd for several laps. Got caught by former road pro. I crashed taking former pro with me. Exchange words with former road pro. He gaps me after seeing the wisdom of my words. I chase him. Catch him. He gaps me. I chase fruitlessly. Hit the bell lap. SKC teammate is closing hard. Ride smart last lap. Punch it to the finish. 4th place. The curse is broke. Start shivering uncontrollably. Get warm. Ran about 23-25 psi in the Challenge Grifo 32's.

Now I need sleep. More later.
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Wet CX Sunday??

Looks like it could be a wet rainy one this Sunday for the finals of the DeStad series. Though it seems the St.Mary's grass drains well so likely just greasy.

I don't even think I'm going to panic & bring my sscx as a pit bike like I have in the past when it looks wet. I know this strategy is going to catch up too me sooner or later.

I decided last year it just wasn't worth it to run two dissimilar bikes in cx. until I can lay may hands on a used Ridley that I can set up as a clone of my race bike I'll be gambling with my pit strategy.

Though in the Midwest we truly don't have a lot of mudfests...thank god. It just adds to the expense of a race. Mud specific tires, new cables, new chains & brake pads add up in a hurry.
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Proof is in the ranking

Thanks to Jeff Winkler I have proof that I'm the worst open cx racer in the KC area. The worst that races consistently anyway. I think I'm going to use my ranking to petition for a downgrade. Its either that or shame enough people into upgrading so that I can get out of the cellar. I knew I should have stayed a sandbagging geaser beater.
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Coolest CX pic

Stolen from Cyclingnews but worth it. This pic rocks!

The seasons over before it really gets going

This CX season has been one of transition/turmoil for me for sure. Thanks to my job status; first worries about not having one & money that goes with a job. To now working a weird 4on 4off night shift, CX has been pretty much on the back burner. Thanks to winning the DeStad Series last year I got to at least race the DeStad series for free this season. Add in the generosity of my main nemesis Jeff Yielding I got to let Butthead spank me again @ Hermann Cross.

Needless to say this season has had its ups & downs. With my bonehead decision to quit beating up on the geriatric crowd & race Open I've been taking my lumps. My main goal of the year had been to reclaim my Masters jersey from Jeff. Well I emailed Jeff last night to let him know it was his for the taking again since I can't get out of work. More incentive for me to race my ass off Sunday & bring the heat to Jeff's return to Kansas. That now leads me to my more immediate goal of finishing in the top 10 in a race this season. Especially since this is looking like it could be my last race of the season, since I have to work weekends from here on out thanks to how I cycle out on 4&4.

I say oh well. This season has made the fire burn for next season. I've always said a good CX course for me is one that exposes my weaknesses. Last year it was making the hour. I worked hard on that & I'm now on the lead lap. This year its the lack of top end speed. That's one of the MANY things I'm going to work on for next year. Expect a blog update on my goal setting for next season.

I hate to admit it but i just set a PR for the year by riding 9 straight days. That said its easy to see why i've been so sporadic this year. Need more riding

Going to try several methods of mobile blogging. Tonights test will be via SMS.

Veterans Cross race report

Sunday the legs were tired. This being the first double race weekend for me. I had limited expectations. I got to the venue @ St. Mary's early enough to catch a few pre-ride laps. I managed to go through 3 sets of wheel/tubie combos before settling on the Grifo's @ 23 psi(god I love low psi).

Since this is a Destad race I got my #2 call up for winning the Master's series last year. I figured I'd put this too use with the start being uphill on the cobbles. A good start I got. Actually brake checked to not hit the grass in first. No need for the hole shot for me. I guess there was a crash or mishap & it showed since Shadd kept the tempo in check & kept looking back. I couldn't care since I knew I was going to drift backwards.Proof I was sitting in 2nd. FYI I have a taste for the front again & I'm thinking it would be nice to spend more than two laps up there...just sayin. Probably not going to happen in this season of transition.

Anyway I faded. Did a gut check & went into tt mode. Got caught by Cameron riding a fixie mtb. That hurt the old pride a little, but hes a former MTB national champ so not too bad. Stayed on lead lap to get another freaking 12th. That's about all I have to say about that.

Grand Prix HPT

Pics will have to come later. Turns out the neighbors my be on to me & the intraweb is spotty to non existent...kinda like my CX season(like that transition?).

Saturday I loaded up the family & headed to Topeka, KS. I loved the Grand Prix HPT last year so I really wanted to make the trip again this year. There is something about CX on a car dirt track at night that is appealing to me . Its appealing but not my kinda of racing. I just don't have that kind of top end speed in my legs these days. Not enough crit racing. Guess I'll have to bite the bullet & upgrade to 2's on the road as well so I can get my ass handed to me in crits as well as CX. All in the name of speed I guess.

The course was a little different this year with the addition of some extra grass off track. Good call since it made the lap a little longer, which made my chances of staying on the lead lap better. The start went up a little grass hill with a tight S turn thrown in to snub speed before going around a washed out gravel like ice turn before hitting the track. Then a balls out spin out your biggest gear down wind run on the track. Dive into another loose turn. Go into the wind on the track. Shoot into the bumpy infield. Then a series of turns that actually put you back on your self. This was my favorite part of the course. Then off for a into the wind turn tail wind run down the back side of the track. Then a sketchy turn(Everyone was actually running this) up a set of stairs to get out of the track onto the grass. Next up was a leg sucking slog throw grass. Then up a steep little bitch of a hill back around some chicanes to another stair run to the finish.

Not really much to report on my race. I ran the Grifo XS for the first time this season. I went with 40 PSI(I went for speed over comfort). Made the grass bumpy but manageable & was nice on the track. In the S turn after the start I hit traffic HARD. I smashed into someones wheel & had the favor returned to me from behind. Didn't unclip but all momentum was gone going onto the track. Then I pretty much came unglued & went backwards. After a few laps following faster wheels than mine hooked up with a Colvitia guy. Dropped him then when on a TT to stay on the lead lap. No small feat with a former road PRO & #3 U23 of the USGP up front. I put my head down & stayed on the lead lap. Crossed in 12th my usual place. If there is a 100 people or 12 it seems I'm 12th.

BikeBlogs.com Blog of the Day

Where was I & how'd I miss this? I was BikeBlog.com Blog of the day October 23

Cross Is Cross in any language

Gloucester '09 Christian Science Monitor

Christian Science Monitor does cross

What a train wreck

As they say on the Twitter: " Internet is HARD." If you run a CX team you should NOT air your laundry on the web. You should Definitely NOT post email threads! I'm shocked is all I can say. I'm not a PRO but I know unPRO moves when I see one. Hopefully this doesn't hurt his Team & his precious sponsor. Some serious BAD press.

Edit: Links are fixed for those who emailed me asking me what the hell I'm talking about. Also let me clarify that I'm not saying who's right or wrong. I think there was wrong done by both parties. I'm saying something like this shouldn't be made public the way it was made public.

Hand Ups in CX?

Why not should be the question. We can swap bikes almost at will. Why not be able to take a bottle in a designated feed zone? Its one of those UCI rules that make no sense at all. With CX season starting earlier and earlier every year it only makes sense to have hand ups. With the announcement of Sven Nys to the UCI Cross Commission maybe this will change.

"I hope to make a contribution," Nys said. "Do I have issues I wish to raise? Sure. For example, I would like to know what the issue is with getting hand-ups in cyclo-cross. The rules need to make sense ..."

It truly doesn't make any sense. CX is a growing sport & the UCI needs to grow with it. Hopefully they won't throw wrenches at it like they have in the other disciplines.