Washington Halloween CX

I am still trying to get past the cold that kicked in last week and I woke up Saturday not feeling good at all. But I already lost too much fitness from my week of inactivity and if I don't want to get completely shelled in my last few races I had to try and race on Saturday. That and the Washington Park race is one of the best courses in Milwaukee so I wasn't going to miss it.

When I got there, Kate was kind enough to lend me her wings. They went well with the Seagal kit.

The first two laps my legs felt strong and I was moving up from the back. I had just about closed the gap to a large chase group when I went down in a dusty corner where I was pushing it too much. After that is was a race between me and two MyWifeInc guys.

I was trading blows until the last two laps when my cold caught up with me and I got a serious stomach ache (I had been fighting it all day). I finished on the lead lap, beating about 5 guys, which altogether was a small victory for the day. Super fun day.

Lauren got some more great pics and videos.

Conference

Double Double Deuces

Kletsch Park CX

Sick. Half a race and done. It's not heavily in my lungs like it is for Lauren, and hopefully it won't get there. Racing Washington park is questionable.

Would you like that bag filled with sand?

I had a Blast this weekend in Beechwood. I had to do the 2 lapper because of commitments later in the day. One the best things was when Scott and I were watching part of the 3, 4 lap race at the rock garden and I ask a local 12 year old speedster how he did in his race and his reply was," Top ten I think, but I had some sandbaggers in my race."

I replied, "Uh, that was us, you make sure you knock off two places when you tell others your results."

At least we got to ride, plus I still got to put the screws to Scott. Ronsta killed it. Wish I could have stuck around longer. Thanks a ton Curtes brothers!

A very few pics.

Grafton Pumpkin Cross aka The Little Engine that Couldn't

Not much to say about the last race other than the engine wasn't there. I had no acceleration or power. To give you an idea, my average speed was only 1mph faster than last week's race and this was a much faster course with more flat straights to open up.

Rode most of the race by myself. It was a true mental test though and I made it to the end, up the big hill 12 times. The technical skills seemed on point, although that could have been attributed to the slow speeds!

Oh well, it happens. I plan on having a Blast this coming weekend. A short one because of my nephew's birthday party, but at least I'll get out there.

As per usual, race photos here, from my wife Lauren.

CrosstheDomes

This past weekend was the WCA Cyclocross #2 "CrosstheDomes" by my wife inc. They put on one heck of a race, with a course that had everything. The weather was crosstastic--low 50's with intermittent rain showers.

This week I tried something new, actually warming up for the race, and I think it helped! Well, actually it is hard to tell. Less than a minute in there was a chain reaction of pile-ups coming down a hill into a 180 uphill turn. I was in it:

As the peleton sped away I tried to get going again but my shifter was turned in--so the cable was stretched--so my chain wouldn't sit in a gear-- so I had to stop and jam the shifter back into place. It took a long time and I actually had the thought that I was going to DNF after 1 minute of racing. But I hopped back on and played catch-up through the 35+ masters who started 30 seconds after us.

Then I crashed two more times in the first two laps. One pushed the shifter in again, the other was in the same place as the first where I was cooking the corner too hot and I did this fancy "front tire slip otb downhill into 2 akido roles back up grab the bike and remount" without losing much time. Although, I felt it all over Sunday morning.

In general I had no handling skills, partly front tire choice, partly lack of skills practice. So I was taking the techy stuff way too slow for most of the race, but I was much faster when I was upright!

I had one more mechanical with 2 laps to go. After the barriers I somehow got my chain jammed in my Paul chain guide. It took me a long time, well 30 seconds, to get it out. Which allowed this fellow to bridge the gap.

We played cat and mouse the last lap. I punched it up the big hill (that isn't him in the picture below, he was riding the hill too):

But I didn't attack enough once I had the small gap. We went back and forth, rather slowly, the rest of the lap. He came around the last corner with a 3/4 bike length lead and kept it through the uphill sprint.

I just need to put the pieces together and I think I could have some good races this year. Once again Lauren took a bunch of pictures, check them out if you like. She also took a video with her phone upon Ryan's request. The lens is a little dirty but it works. It also shows Cale's tremendous effort to ride both sides of the pit.

The Feel of Fall

There is just something about living in a climate that has distinct and extreme seasons that can affect your mood and tastes with each season. This can be a good thing, like "Yay, heat","Yay, crisp air!", "Yay,snow!", or "Yay, green stuff again!". Or it can be a bad thing such as in "seasonal affective disorder". Thankfully for me, it's the former.

Fall is here which means the colors are changing, cyclocross on the weekends, coffee or spiced cider in the afternoons, and The Bad Plus and Mr. Bojangles on the stereo. Who would want to live on the West Coast where it's always 75 degrees, ultimate Frisbee(see Jerry Town), Diet Rite, and Jack Johnson (at least that is what Ryan, Justin, and Chris taught me)