Bicycle Races Are Coming Your Way

• Out with the road and in with the Cross

  9/19/2007

  
  I’ve been going full throttle with racing since late march, and started to relax and taper a week or two ago. I was starting to feel constantly tired and burnt out, and ready for the road season to end. All those hours in the saddle had been starting to wear on me after training and racing for so long. Hence why I’m so looking forward to cyclocross season. I’m ready to relax. I’m ready to get out of the city every weekend, and get back into a scene thats a bit more relaxed and a bit more fun than the at-times tense and elitist road scene can be. It’s fun as hell to go all out for 45 minutes, get extremely dirty, and then drink a beer and ring some cowbell. I’m so pumped i could poop myself. I’m in much better shape than last year, and my cross bike is just a bit more obnoxious than before. you might think the gold Chris king headset and carbon bars are ostentatious, but how else am i ever going to win a cross race?!?!?!?.

  Two Weeks ago Bear Mountain was supposed to happen. I’m not going to say that i was praying for it to be canceled, but it really did make my weekend all the more pleasant… Any weekend where I’m not getting dropped on Tiorati is a good weekend to me…
  Our team got together for an epic ride up to Cold Spring- north of Bear mountain. the weather was perfect, and after our normal combination of crashes/sprints/shit talking, we all ended up at a restaurant in Cold Spring, totally Bonked out. Bacon cheeseburgers never tasted so good. I couldn’t remember the last “fun” ride i had been on- a ride without a training goal or mileage to prep for a race- it was great. everyone had a great time (including Ethan, who apparently has an asphalt fetish and loves to make out with it whenever he can)

  This weekend was a weekend of transition- Friday was my 24th Birthday, and instead of getting wasted, i went to Le Bernardin for dinner and then rode in a cross race the next morning. Classy!

  Chad and I headed over to Augusta (cyclocross capital of NJ) to hop some barriers and get dirty. They were giving away a Van Dessel to the person who won the hole shot, so the C field was quite a talented one. it was pretty funny seeing cat 2 and 3 roadies show up for a C race. Fun times nonetheless. The course was full of turns that went from grass to loose gravel in the middle of the turn, and they were particularly treacherous. as i was practicing, i completely slid out on one of the turns due to my tire pressure being too hi. I must’ve bent my derailleur hanger as well, because after five minutes my chain ended up in my spokes and i had a snapped spoke to deal with. fifteen minutes before the start.

  i ripped the bad spoke out and got a crash course in re-truing wheels. given that i had never re-trued a wheel before i think i did a pretty good job…

  

  The cross race started faaaaast. the Adler guys went off to do whatever adler guys do at the front of races (i haven’t had the pleasure of being up there yet, but i hear the occasional act of man love happens during the sprint). I did my thing and focused on staying fluid and finding a good rhythm . I passed a few people during the race, and learned how to better deal with long off-camber sections (keep pedaling) the run up was fine and the course was sort of technical and tons of fun. Came in 13th out of about 44 starters. fine by me. I’m so ready for cross.

  

  That being said, I rode this morning’s CRCA race- it was the team finale- 2.5X team points. as our team was ahead, we wanted to keep the race aggressive and solidify our first place standing. The first lap alone was stupid fast, and people kept being aggressive. while our team didn’t manage any solid results, kyle and i did mix it up in the sprint- i believe we were both top 15. Next time I’ll try to avoid the guy that decides to stop sprinting in the middle of the field sprint (not naming names). Nevertheless I thought the race was really fun and I’m 90% sure we’ve retained our 1st place standing in the team cup.

  

  This week is a great time to reflect on the past road season. Today’s race marked the 1 yr anniversary of me bike racing. I still remember being terrified at the idea of being dropped during that first CRCA race, and was so proud of myself to not get dropped during that first race. over the year, I hooked up with a great team that really had alot to do with why i enjoyed racing so much this past year. the very fact that they put up with my obnoxious ramblings every time we ride is amazing in and of itself. I love riding with them, and They’re a big reason why i have so much fun doing all this.

  

  I’ve ridden god-knows-how-many miles and spent too many hrs on the trainer at 5 am in the middle of the winter. I’ve lost 14 lbs since i started in January and upgraded to a cat 4. I’m looking forward to the next road season to see how i can improve and be a better racer. While we all sacrifice quite a bit of time (and money) to do this sport, i think its one of the best things in our lives. but then again i can only speak for myself.

  
  Time to start training for cross. I’m going to start running stairs and also might take up this new fad called uh, jogging. I believe it’s jogging or yogging. it might be a soft J. I’m not sure but apparently you just run for an extended period of time. It’s supposed to be wild.

  

  Peace out homies- time go to eat sausage and drink wayyyy too much beer.

  

  

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