I ain't 'fraid of no spokes...

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Bicycle Races Are Coming Your Way

I ain’t ‘fraid of no spokes
11/11/2007

It’s been a good while since I’ve updated my narcissistic corner of the interweb, so here goes:

cross has been super fun/painful. I quickly decided to take a break from training hard and just do cross for fun. I may be permanent pack fodder, but who cares as long as i’m having fun,right? I started to feel burn-out by the end of the road season, and any more training into the fall wasn’t going to happed. Still, I’ve been racing almost every week and enjoying the cross scene with my friends and fellow bike racers.

As being lazy is the theme of the fall, I’ll sum up each race briefly here:

Central Park cross in Schenectady
sum up: Chad and i rolled up to central park in Schenectady for a cross race put on by the CBRC. I would just like to note that when i first heard about this race a year ago, i thought there was a cross race in Central park. THE central park. I still think it’s false advertising. anyway, the course was a good looking one with a nice mix of technical sections and some flat grassy goodness. a highlight of the course would have to be the huge falled log that you had to climb over during every lap. I know what you’re thinking- dead wood’s boring (unless it’s on HBO), but this seemingly normal log had a wasp’s nest in it. NICE! a few people got stung and one unfortunate dude slammed into it twice during the race. good times. I finished somewhere in the middle of the pack, and avoided getting stung by wasps. I think its because i started sporting the green meanie on my bike.

grrr. watch out. nothing says “don’t F*ck with me” like a squeaky toy on a bicycle. After the race we had our traditional diner lunch and stuffed ourselves with trashy diner breakfasty goodness (Toto would be proud).

Southampton Super Cross

I hit up the first day of the Whitmore super cup race in Southampton. it was a huge turnout, and a bunch of the big dogs were in town. The course was fantastic. it was fast, technical, and painful. a couple of run ups, some off cambers, and some sand thrown in for good measure. I must have biffed about 4 times during the race. I stuck on Chad’s tail for most of the race, but never had the chance to pass his gangly ass. At this point in the cross season, my goal has shifted from placing in the race to just beating any other teammates in my field. After the race (and once i stop coughing up mucus) , we checked out the pro races. before the big boys went out, I got to meet Erwen Vervecken and chatted with him for all of 30 seconds- the photo should amuse you:

I know what you’re thinking- and no, despite my height, I can still get on most major roller coasters.

Casualties: Littlefield has a domestic dispute with a ‘cross barrier, Bravo tears his rotator cuff, and of course, CJ loses more dignity:

Granogue

Granogue was a interesting this year. Last year this super-hard cross race was my 2nd cross race ever. I came in 2nd to last and almost puked. This year I had a pack-fodder finish, but it was comfortably in the middle (Yay mediocrity!). The course was beautiful as ever, and the run up was just as menacing as i remember t. The organizers at Granogue really do put together one of the best race events in the northeast. The course was fantastic, the ground was a bit muddy, the off-cambers were tricky, and it was pretty grueling. one of the vendor tents was selling “Bart Wellens kickboxing academy” T-shirts. I’ve gotta have one. A ton of people came out for this race, and we all convened by the beer tent to kill the kegs that a local brewery had left for our enjoyment. Is there really anything better than beer after a cross race??

As the B race finished, someone comes up to me to tell me that my teammate Ethan had crashed during the race and was asking for me. uh. oh. lets just say Ethan is to crashing as I am to talking about bacon- it happens more than it should. Ethan says he thinks he re-broke his collarbone. nice!

I ended up driving him back to Westchester and decided to forgo the next day’s race in PA. turns out he didn’t actually break it- which is a relief. however, it was funny as hell to hear him tell me during the ride back that “it doesn’t really hurt like the last time.” hmmm, a clue!

Chainbiter 9.0

I like the Chainbiter course a whole lot. It’s a giant sandtrap. its a well-designed course and a ton of fun. Unfortunately, my race didn’t last long- crashed out in the first lap. I slid out on a sharp turn, and the derailleur decided to make out with my spokes. snap, snap, see you later! last year Chad’s Chain exploded mid-race, so i guess it was my turn this year.

The highlight of the race turned out to be going back to Littlefield’s to each about a pound of artisanal cheese and drink who knows how much good wine. Every race should end that well!

Craigmeur 2

The Halloween race at Craigmeur is a ton of fun. I was more concerned with winning the costume competition than with doing well at the race. I really wanted to do Mario brothers with Chad, but it turns out that Kmart doesn’t even sell overalls. Aw well, backup plan:

I managed to win the C-race (the costume contest, that is). A few lessons were learned at this race:
-Don’t race hung over
-Don’t race with a proton pack on your back.
-If you’re that much of a narcissist, be sure to not race the same field as Marco if you want your picture taken.

I could barely lift up my head with that thing on my back. Ah well, who needs to look where they’re going during a cross race?

Highland Park

today’s race at Highland park was alot like old people having sex: it was icky, slow, and hotter than I thought it would be. I woke up this morning to a thermometer telling me it was 30 degrees outside. I put about 4 layers on and drove out to the race, only to have the sun come out and be in th mid 40′ s right before the race started. The ground had frozen overnight, but it quickly thawed right when the race started. it made for a trickier course. Big ups to the Rutgers guys for putting together such a great race. the weather was perfect, the course was challenging, and the race was a ton of fun. I had a good rhythm going for most of the race until i slid out on some sandy dirt and dropped my chain. after that the race was a one-way ticket on the pain train. I was able to ride the muddy switchbacks that had people running, and even manage to do a ridiculous rear-wheel slide on one muddy turn without falling. Tokyo drift style, yo. (what a terrible movie).

Next week is the GP of cross in Trenton, NJ (exotic!). That’ll be the last big cross race of the season for me, although i might hop over to do a few more Augusta races if there are any. I’ve decided to not even think about racing at nationals this year, because a bike race is just about the only interesting thing to do in Kansas city. They should do nats in portland or rhode island (again) next year.

Hopefully the weather stays brisk for a while before it becomes nut-bustingly cold again. I’d really like to put off riding on my trainer again until i absolutely need to…

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