(photo by Claudette Lajam)

I like to think of last week as the Epic weekend of humiliation! It’s not everyday that you get the chance to since up for TWO things that are going to make you look bad.

Saturday was the Silvermine TT up in Tuxedo Park, NY. Being the TT specialist that I’m known to be, I squeezed into my skinsuit and drove up to Silvermine with Chad to show people like Mike Beckerman and Patrick Littlefield who’s the boss. I was obviously pretty successful in showing them who’s the cock of the walk in these here parts… is the sarcasm oozing through your monitor yet?

I’ve been getting more and more comfortable on my TT bike lately- the new bar extensions i got made a big difference. Next up I need to buy a saddle that doesn’t ravage my Dingleberry wonderland (thanks schmalz). The fizik arione is a great saddle for regular road riding, but sitting on the pointy, unpadded Tip like one is prone to doing is a bit painful… I guess i should buy one of those tri-geek saddles…

Self depreciation aside, The Silvermine TT was put together really well by the Westwood guys. The course was varied and challenging, with rollers all over the place. obviously a rolling time trial (or any tt for that matter) isn’t my strong suit, but I guess that’s why i do it. You’re bound to get better if you keep trying… OR if you keep buying more expensive aero equipment…

As a tangent- the promoters of the Green Mountain Stage Race have decided to make this year’s 1st Stage a Cannibal TT. you can only use equipment that’s legal for road race use; no aerobars, Snazzy helmets, or nutjob TT bikes allowed. a pair of deep dish carbon wheels is as far as you’re allowed to go. They cite the reasons for doing this as “leveling the playing field” and “encouraging carpooling.”

To be honest, I think its great. my opinion might be skewed, but to me TT’s are all about removing variables, and riding as fast as you possibly can. TT equipment can be financially prohibitive for some people, and it also gives a certain advantage to those who can afford it- but that’s not my point (and I’m not being a class warrior here). I think the competition is much more satisfying when a person’s body is what determines the winner- not the stuff he buys. I think Kierin Track racing in Japan has that sort of idea- they all have to use the same kind of bikes, equipment etc- the real winner is not determined by the bike, but the man.

I also think a cannibal TT is going to result in different people winning it. Some people are great time trialists not because they put out insane numbers, but because they’re aero as shit and modulate their efforts well. It’ll be interesting to see who’s at the top of the GC after stage one of GMSR. Then again, I don’t think it’ll do me that much good going cannibal, considering i got passed by a Westwood guy racing Cannibal @ Silvermine while i was as aero as I’ll ever be…

Sunday’s CRCA Race was more fun and more pain. The B field had the option of Racing with the C’s (sandbagging) or Racing with the A’s (sucking). Even though racing with the C’s would have increased the chances of Shoving Bacon in my mouth, I decided to race with the A’s and see what it was all about. It was a ton of fun Racing with Bandits and Empire guys in the field. At one point in the race I was reminded of the old Sesame Street book cover:

except it was more like this:

(photo by claudette Lajam)

or maybe this…

It was also fun to race with hooligans like Kyle Peepo (who ended up winning the race). My legs were a bit tired from the day before, but I sat in, had some fun, did a little work, and didn’t get dropped. Kyle and a bunch of Guys broke away early on in the race and it stuck. JK and Wiswell ended up bridging up to the break and stayed away as well. Our team missed getting people in the breaks, so we exercised futility and tried to reel the break back in wayyy to late in the game. It also didn’t help that the break had, y’know, Cat 1’s and 2’s in it… Congrats to Peppo on the win by the way.

Green Mountain is around the corner… I’m super pumped for it. I’m going to devote the next three weeks to both training for it and wondering why in the hell I’m signed up for it. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a one-man shit show on my part, but I can guarantee it’s going to be fun anyway (or maybe because of that fact.)