But still wicked sore from the racing, and knee is feeling tweeked again from the upped intensity over the last week.

Sterling in the briefest of briefs was a typical race and not quite feel it on saturday and have a freaking blast actually racing on sunday. some day i'll figure out how to make it work both days. Sat course seemed much more techincal, twisty, and harder than sunday. Sunday just flowed really well for me, and I felt like was racing.

more later...

have to deal with the saga from Saturday afternoon... more on that later...

How sweet the sound. Esp coming from The Drop Kick Murphy's

Yeah they're up there as a favorite of mine with Black47, Young Dubliners, The Pogues, the list goes on.



Happy Thanksgiving MoFos
Diolchgarwch Hapus for you Welsh MoFos

Best value race at Nationals?

I think it just might be.

I'm kinda screwed with the whole weighing in at the start - gonna be another back row start. But that's still gonna be a damn good time racing around in the Herd.

Extra beer ticket too? Brilliant.

but man I noticed this and thought - now that's cool.

free reusable cups to encourage purchasing of the quart containers. LOVE that ideal.

well done SF.

6am and out the door, shorts and t-shirt. Running in the dark. The tuesday morning route is actually pretty well lit with the exception of my street and the short stretch of bike path. The rest could be done in the middle of the night. Well strike that. I forgot about the Beach section and the Stairs. Those sections were pretty dark and by the time I got to the stairs the sky was getting just light enough to illuminate the dark wet wood of the sprint work section. That's the downside of running along a west facing shoreline. Still it was good hard lung burning work.

odd having the temps at 48°F bright and early on November 24th.

Got the girls out the door and suited up. Knee warmers and shoes were right were I left them from last nights ride home in the pouring rain. And they were soaked.

So I went with no knee warmers and wet shoes. Gloves were soaked too, so bare handed the ride in. It wasn't raining but on the run i felt a vicious headwind. Running into a headwind sucks more than riding into one.

Slathered up the legs with a bit of the top coat oil (nothing added to it) for the ride in. And said screw it and just hammered. Coach has an hour of Z3 with 10 150m sprints for this afternoon. I don't know if i can get a continuous hour of Z3 but I can probably book it home at Z3 and hook up the trainer and hit the balance of the remainder of the hour at the intensity on the trainer and then add the 150m sprints. Which I think might work out to being about 10-15second efforts. Feel free to correct me, i'm usually wrong and my intervals are all time based, i have no bike computer, no power meter, no nothing. And yeah, time based meaning I use the iPod on the trainer to keep track of the work out/intervals by making a playlist for what ever the work out is supposed to be.

I haven't done an interval outside yet, besides the longer 20-30minute ones that are incorporated into the commute. Yeah. I don't do the outside interval thing. For some reason I prefer the tunes and the predictability of the trainer. It more closely approximates a race course. Training on the road you have to be constantly aware of what's going on, and I just can't turn that mental focus off except on the trainer and on the cross course.

So anyway - i have a few more thoughts and comments about Lowell and Battenkill, but i'll save those for later.

heddwch
G

What dieter did makes sense. I'm sure he ran it at a loss last year even with the huge fields. More fields means more cops more officials more this more that more more more more...

Supply and Demand. At the prices last year ($45?) he filled what 3 cat 4 fields. Certainly $ was not a limiting factor and that's an ungainly number of racers and it led to totally eff'd results.

Raising the entry fee makes sense. People came out because it is an awesome race. Where else can you get that kind of experience. Heck people pay nearly 4x as much to do Mt Washington. Talk about expensive.

Put it all in perspective. i'd love to do Mt Washington just to do it but I can't justify, much less afford, to spend that kind of money to race. I'd like to go do battenkill again, but I can't justify the drive out to pay $75 to race around and get dropped. Because without a doubt even if i get down to 5% body fat and really train hard and intelligently I'll still probably get dropped.

That and i've finally (after 3-4 years) come to the realization that i'm a big guy and I have more fun and do better on those boring flat crit things (ala thompson speedway). I'd rather pony up and do two or three races at an event like that than get my ass whupped at battenkill.

Here are a few other povs from the local tubes
http://stokepoges.blogspot.com/2009/11/take-stand.html (pulled i guess)

exit17: calling-the-whambulance-bike-races-are-expensive/

euphoriabeforetotalimplosion: creeping-fees-in-competitive-cycling.html (I'm diggin Dylan's comments there towards the bottom)

When it comes down to it $75 isn't that much. It is what a Verge weekend costs. When you look at traveling to VT/Catamount it probably is cheaper to race at Battenkill. And at least battenkill you get one long ass hard hilly wicked competitive (drop your ass) well supported race vs two grassy hilly slog fests. Me I'd rather do the cross stuff but, I tell ya. I hate battenkill (the race) but I love it just the same.

3 years in a row, there was a reason I kept coming back. Last year I had pretty much decided not to return, this new price structure sort of doesn't make it likely that I'll change my mind. Which is a good thing. We've got some great roads out west of the big city, plenty of dirt and rolling hills. Maybe one of the guys on the team will do it and need some company on training rides. That's enough for me.

So. Yeah, nothing ground breaking or different or what not. I wish Dieter all the best and to everyone heading out there, have fun. The race is still way cheaper than the other "epic" (overused i know) races (VT50, Great Glen 24hrs, Mt Washington...). And unlike D2R2, it is actually a race, that is if you don't suck and get dropped, and even then, you're still racing.

And Racing is different than riding around. Even a smack down isn't a race.

That's why cross is so cool. No pretending, you race or you ain't a cyclocrosser.

heddwch
G

Footnote:
Shedd Park Comments:
-Fix the start/finish so it makes sense and works for the field sizes
-put officials on platform with start/finish fencing (metal or snow fence- ala Plymouth N/S, NoHo)
-hire a results service (JD or Attwood for example)
-make sure there are HUP cakes next year

As shot by my daughter. She took three pictures while I was racing and managed to capture the whole team racing. G-Ride, C-burke and Me.




Then on the drive home, a circle of a rainbow around the sun.

There's no secret about success. Did you ever know a successful man who didn't tell you about it?
- Kin Hubbard

For getting results out in a timely manner.

But that said - Chabot still got hosed and instead of being listed as finishing after Shawn he got a DNF. Maybe that's Karma for pulling into the pits and not finishing the 35+ race.

And I'm dubious about the finish, although my 23rd probably is about right when I sit back and think about it. And like my daughter pointed out, I was really happy with my 49th place finish at NoHo, 23rd is a LOT better. Kids have a great way of putting what matters in perspective. I'd hoped to stick with Marvin but man he was railing the corners and carrying more speed than me through them, hell everyone seemed to be doing that to me.

Checking crossresults.com I have three new Skulls and that's a good thing. I beat the guy who took the place in front of me at Plymouth South. Granted the three new Skulls are from guys who have just stepped up to 35+ open races, but still. I like those new skulls. I had a boat load last week. Should have snagged a screen shot of it.

It will be curious to see the points for the race calculated. It looks off hand like a pretty stacked field. Either way at 15 races the next race to drop out of my points is the lowest scoring one. Hopefully this won't replace it as such. It is okay if it does - the race was wicked hard, and the day was awesome.

Next year though I hope to hear they've hired someone to do the scoring AND maybe found a reasonable starting solution. Maybe that new parking lot would make a good start finish section. That lap card display thing 10 feet off the course, not on the start line and on the outside of a turn (where you have to take your eyes off the racing line to see) was just poorly thought out placement.

But if even Adam Myerson had fun racing, well you can see what it has grown as big as it has. We can hope for improvement next year right?

From Dave Moulton’s blog this morning

This is a terribly important entry (please read it - he is far more eloquent than I am on the subject - but you know i'm going to try and add something else).

Please, everyone, when you are commuting by bike, training on a bike, just riding around, please follow ALL the motor vehicle traffic laws and signage. Sure half of the cars here don’t stop for stop signs but some do, and when cyclists stop for stop signs, stop lights. it helps everyone (cyclists as a whole). If you are wearing team clothing you are giving the people who see you a nice target and then everyone who wears that kit gets labeled. We look pretty different to each other but one cyclist looks like another to an outraged motorist. Finally here in the Ocean State it is legal (for some stupid reason) to ride on the sidewalk. Sidewalk riding may feel safer but it empowers those drivers who feel it necessary to yell at people on the road to “get on the sidewalk.”

Something to think about a bit as you are riding. Please don’t enable the haters.

Just because you can do it and get away without direct punishment, doesn't mean you should. We all have to ride out there, lets keep it safe w/o alienating and pissing off the people steering 2 ton bullets.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. And please stop handing them the stick.

heddwch
G

A RODRIGUEZ fillet brazed cross bike.

With a damn MAVIC groupo! Bars (351s) Brake hoods, seat post, bottom bracket, crank, Open 4CD rims, Mavic Hubs (F&R). A pac-nw style installed rear fender.

A freaking sweeeeeet classic Seattle Cyclocross bike. From way back.

And yeah I made them let me take pictures. And I was assured it wasn't going to be locked up outside.

Check out the shots (they ain't pro and stuff - this is just the bike stashed Point and Shoot in hurry up take pictures mode)









The bike is probably easily dated by the components. I wish I could put my hands on my old Mavic archives. I think they are in storage somewhere. I have the catalogs that these components are listed in. I'm going to target that it is probably vintage 1985-1990. Not a touring frame (no braze-ons), steeper head tube and longish chainstays but too short for touring.

The person I saw with it wasn't the owner, he was returning it to a Seattle native working here. I'm going to have to track down "the REST of the story" one of these days.

I'm not wild about the paint but i'm really really excited by this bike. How freaking amazing.

What a brilliant way to start the week!

So cool...

heddwch
G

Somewhere mixed in the unsettling bit about the car and the joy and fun with my oldest, there was a race.

Oh crap - bacon wrapped around a hot dog. Mexican Hot Dog? Holy crap those look good.

So I parked up top - grabbed an open spot by superstars Mike and Cathy and my nemisis supreme from last year Chris White. Set up the tent. Pulled out the bikes, and K wanted her bike together so she could ride down the around by the playground and such. We headed down, I got my number, bought a couple raffle tickets for the first drawing in the Harry Lam Benefit, put K's name on them. And then headed up to get dressed. Got on the course and finished a lap and a half or so. It was going to be an interesting course. A good handful of elements that just owned me. The antithesis of Plymouth south, mentally mostly. Instead of feeling like i owned the course, it was the opposite.

But at least I knew what I was getting into when we lined up eventually.

Before that I tried to keep my normal pre-race routine. It was going pretty well but man I was just not feeling it. I was excited to race but the week off, the car, the high from last weekend really combined to undermine a bit of the steely focus needed.

Warm up was just sitting on the trainer. Team mates hanging out and chatting while I tried to get a few openers in but that didn't work so well, well it worked in that I got plenty warm, but didn't juice my focus a lot.

Got off the trainer and headed down and met up with K just as they were announcing the first round of Raffle winners. Her name was called. And she came down from the upper level of the building carring a brand new Specialized helmet, a medium and it fit her perfectly. She's all done with her old one now. The new one is the same color as mine and she pretty much wore it all the way home in the car and around the house. She was ecstatic. I lined up for the race, mass confusion about if the 45s and 35s would start together or separately. They couldn't do a 30s start because we were making it around the course in less time than that, so they thought - sure lets do a 2 minute gap. Okay. I was front row between superstar Mike and someone else. It was shoulder to shoulder bar to bar, Elbows were out defensively across the row. It narrowed down pretty damn quick going around the track.

I settled in feeling pretty good, up top not to far back and the pace felt fast but manageable. There were a handful of fast starters that I didn't recognize who were letting big gaps open up. I did my best to get around them and charged around chasing the conga line of leaders. That run up with the barriers at the bottom was long and not steep. I would have much rather ridden that and had them put barriers below the other section that was steeper and shorter. It would have been much more to my strengths. But coming down from the top section we hit the first left after the parking lot, then a hairpin right then a hairpin left and my front wheel hit a rock and i was on the ground in a split second. Hit my head pretty damn hard on something solid too. Rattled me a bit but I managed to get back up and back in line after only having 4 people pass me. I could see G-ride up there. We all drilled it and cleaned the rideable short steep hill and kept motoring. Around the tennis courts and through into the "forest" where the grooves were getting deep. I ate those grooves up. No problem and generally hit them faster and gained ground on those ahead of me going through that section. G-Ride had eaten it there though. He wasn't looking happy but I jumped and tried to give him a draft/tow/recovery back up. Then he wasn't there anymore. Weird. At some point Wade Summers came through me and I had the brilliant idea to just stick on his wheel. I followed those yellow spokes for a lap and a half. He gunned it around the track and and I hung on that wheel, and stayed there, he'd gain some ground and I'd reel him back. Then the next time around the track he attacked and gapped me and I couldn't quite respond. But I kept it steady and started pulling him back a bit. Then we hit the pinwheel and he rode it faster than I did. Brought him back w/in striking distance after the run up but there was no contact to be made again. But i kept working it.

It was impossible to see the lap cards - all the people the lack of a defined official location and just the awfulness of the results killed the whole "feeling," that sucked. It is a good enough race that they need something more than what they had. sure - that's acceptable for your first race if you don't care so much about that, but it is unacceptable for the status the Shedd Park race has taken on IMHO.

So with no clear "how many to go" ever it was difficult to judge effort and pacing. A few guys who i'd passed early made their way back towards me, Wade finally vanished from visual contact and I kind of went into ah shit mode. I wasn't attacking the few straight sections with as much power as I could have. And I was getting worse and worse riding the pinwheel and the downhill 180s. Wheels were coming off.

Coming into what I had THOUGHT was the final lap (saw a 1 to go card but didn't get a bell) I was holding off a hard charging rider. And he slowly gained ground on me, but I dug deep to keep him off my wheel. But then coming into the tennis courts before the turn into the forest, I see superstar Mike still racing. What? Huh? And that threw me for a loop. Maybe we have one more to go? Okay. It sucked basically. That little seed of doubt totally submarined my focus once and for all. The guy came around me on the track and I let him ride me off the wheel. And he came through and we were both like "are we finished" on official standing down the ways about said "all finished" or something. It was strange.

Then 2 hours later results are posted with just numbers. No one remembers their number. Well I remember G-ride's he was 303, C-burke's was 404. Mine? No clue. 24th is what it says on the sheet. No times, just placing and numbers. Frustrating.

But I headed back up, cleaned up and dropped back down with K to check in with Yash and the HUP crew and see everyone (and to get my wheels out of the pit). I was dead. Legs body - completely toast. I suffered out there and it was great racing I just wish a few things had gone just a little differently. Granted it was a stacked field. Matt_S showed up and Myette came out or retirement Mark G rode with the 35s instead of the 45s and super coach Kurt P crushed it with Pete Smith riding his wheel. It was pretty damn stacked. Granted the Corner Cycle mafia of Bold Hines decided to race with Frank and Mark and Shawn, Myerson and Spinmo in the 2pm race. So it could have been even more stacked. As it was only a few of the 45+ guys caught me so that was a positive thing. Solobreak and Cronoman never caught me so that's always good. On an off day i can easily lose more than 2 minutes to those guys.

And i consider yesterday to be an off race. I'm always better on day two but today I'm sitting around writing up a race report instead of racing.

Heading back to the car with K's bike and the pit wheels I was winded half way up. I had to stop and collect myself and was gassed just getting back up there. Checked out the car with G-ride, chatted a bit, ate some food. And K and I headed back down to check on the second raffle of the day. We stuck a few more tickets in there and she won some Mad Alchemy mellow cold weather embro and chamois cream and a killer pair of those Zancanato socks. And J. English - I've got something for you for Sterling. K wanted to try the socks on when we were driving home. She loooooved them. And literally hasn't taken them off since. They are a bit small for my flippers. She had so much fun. She was stuffed full of hupcakes. The Bacon ones were her favorites by a landslide.

A great day with my daughter, hanging out with some of my great friends and team mates, and the weather was pretty damn nice too.

This week my coach has me starting phase 5. Yikes. Three doubles left till the season is over.

see yall out there
heddwch
G

I skipped lowell last year. The year before we came to the line for the last lap and saw one to go for the second time. WTF? Seriously? And either that year or the year before I don't think I even got scored, or G-ride didn't. Total bush league official scoring history at that race.

The race is getting as big as Suckerbrook, pony up and hire someone, it will make a huge difference. Waiting around for 2 hours to see a sheet with just race numbers on it with no times, no way to know who was where, who you finished around, or if the timing even closely matched where you think you finished is crap. How can you protest if you don't know what's going on? Anyway. The end of the race was a cluster and was one more distraction from racing balls out to the end.

The first distraction was on the drive up. Curtis bailed on the race, he had swim practice in the morning and just didn't feel like racing, and my oldest didn't want to spend a day with her sister, so I loaded up the tent her bike and my stuff and we headed out on was really was a most awesome father daughter day. We left 20 minutes later than i had planned, and I decided that maybe this was a morning to get some coffee. Stopped at the Coffee Exchange to fill up my mug with a nice PERU french roast brew, and we were on the road.

And then:
I start hearing a new "wind noise" at highway speed. What the hell? No extra smoke, still have power but that noise is new and that gives me pretty damn close to a full blown anxiety attacks. And I don't race well after them (cue the drive up for the road race at WMSR sitting in traffic). Having my oldest in the car with me probably actually now that I reflect a bit helped keep me from a total melt down but it wasn't that much of a factor given that we were already a little late and time wasn't something I had to spare. She was unaffected and maybe her faith in her Dad's ability to fix anything or my assessment that we'd have no problem getting there kept her relaxed. But there we were on 95 with extra wind noise. We hit 128 and I seemed to be able to punch it and there wasn't really much smoke, but the noise was definitely engine/exhaust/boost/air related. Passed the first emergency turn out and I thought that's what I should do. Looked for the next one. And pulled in and hit the brakes. Got out left the engine Idling and popped the hood, I can hear something. Where is it. Feel around, no leaks on the intercooler piping. But oh the coolant line has come out and the screw between the boost lines worked loose. Grabbed a screwdriver and fixed that. And looked around trying to find the source of the sound. Definitely coming from behind the engine.

Oh, there it is.

Air (exhaust) is blowing out down by the turbo. Shit maybe the flange between the header and the turbo is leaking. Too hot to tell. But it is exhaust and I seem to have some power - if it is the flange there's still enough air driving the turbo.

So we make it to the race, and at some point it got louder.

After racing I grab G-ride to maybe aid in investigation, popped the hood and started poking around. Only to find the down pipe completely detached and resting on the completely rusted studs and nuts. So that explains the 'sound' and that is good and not good. Good in that it is a diesel, exhaust isn't that hot (yes it is hot but not turbo gasser hot) and there's plenty of cool air out there now to keep underhood temps from skyrocketing. And it is drivable mostly. The turbo does a good job of making it pretty quiet and with no pipe attached there's no resonance tuning making it even louder. But the bad is i've gotta find an inexpensive/affordable replacement. Not to mention there are 4 studs going into the turbo flange. This is really going to suck trying to get them off/out of there. And some may have remembered my head gasket exhaust flange saga with the broken bolts and the busted stud. These are 4 studs and 4 rusted nuts going into the turbo. The easiest thing to do would be to buy a new turbo, new oil lines and a whole new down pipe from TDIparts.com but that bill would be a couple thousand dollars. I've got time but I have no money. But I'm dreading trying to get the flange off.

Hey the Cat is probably plugged based on the slightly lower fuel economy and mileage on the vehicle, well no more putting it off.

Looks like I may have figured out what to do on Friday this week. Not much point buying the pipe yet until I can get the flange off the turbo. Really nice timing though, leading into the last two verge races. Sort of like how the season began.

So that's not even the race yet. But the near anxiety attack and the situation really killed much of my focus on racing.

But despite the car and the race, I couldn't have had a better day with my daughter. We had a blast.

Oh on the way home she asked how the engines worked. So I had here pull out some paper and she diagrammed/sketched with my instructions a cylinder (direct injected diesel of course). Pretty cool. She's getting older and we've got plenty of battles to come but yesterday was one of the days I will cherish. And on that whole side of things, the raffle tickets to support Harry Lam's recovery were the best $$ spent. More on that in a bit, or not. Maybe I should just keep writing. It is a Sunday right?

But LIVE now: Superprestige Cyclocross Elite Men live video feed from Hamme-Zogge: http://www.vt4.be/super_test/superprestige.swf

I'll write later

heddwch
G

Or Shedd Park. I've always just called it Lowell. I missed it last year with the massive mud bog. But the previous two years I made it. Lowell was where the super spy photos of the croll twisted like a pretzel under me as I sprinted on the cinder track were taken. It is one of CTodd's favs iirc. It usually is a good show. Every year though it has been different.

This year it will be back to 35+ and 45+ together. And we've got a pretty decent sized field for both for a non-verge race.

Truth be told, Sucker Brook, Canton and Lowell are probably three of the biggest non-verge venues in New England. For good reason.

I managed to get the bike washed last night. Not spit polished clean, but it no longer is sporting massive amounts of mud and grass. I've got goals for the race tomorrow. And I'm even working on a plan. The schedule should be finalized before i get everything ready for tomorrow tonight. 10:45 start is different enough that I have to re-think everything. It'll be good though.

It's been an interesting week. Can't believe Nationals are almost here. Crazy.

heddwch
G

with the diesel engine



(best viewed in HQ - on youtube)

results were changed - damn...

Wait - never mind.

Results are the same - they are just missing 9th place over on BikeReg. Probably like that on the score sheet too. SWEET.

Still 10th!

And I need another decent race and i might actually break into the 300s!!!! HOLY CRAP!

That's a start!

At least about his comment on the most updated blog. Sorry, got busy and a bit withdrawn after a few comments and reading a few things.

That NoHo incident still is fresh, and I do appreciate the verbal support from my friends, and it helps but ever so often I kind balance between being angry and sad and just sort of locked up in an introspection loop.

I'll get through, esp thanks to the great people in this community we have here in New England racing Cyclocross. Seriously. I know the scene may be huge in other parts of the country but it is a tight knit family we've got here.

Racing Cross in New England is like walking into Cheers (back on the TV show before it went crazy marketed commercial) "Where everyone knows your name." And if they don't hang around long enough and they will. It is pretty awesome.

I finally signed up for Shedd Park. Gonna see if I can build on this rest week. Last night wasn't so restful. Got crazy busy and all of a sudden it was 4:25. Getting changed and on the bike and out the door in 5 minutes was a record in itself, but getting home by 4:50? Holy Flerking SHNIT. I even soft pedaled for a minute or two going through the Riverside Arenberg Forest. I haven't made a time split that good even with the TT bike and disc wheel cover. It felt awesome.

But not exactly what Coach wanted me to do this week. Hey I got home in time and didn't hold up those headed out the door.

The end is coming up soon. The end of the season. I'm going to have to start racing more in august to get a bit fitter and faster earlier in the season. And that means crits. Road races don't do squat. Esp around here too many hills for a fat guy like me. I need nice flat crits. Boring as hell maybe, but they seem mentally tolerable sitting here knowing what kind of benefits they'll pay out during cross season. That said, it is hard enough to get to all these cross races with the schedules. Now I have to try and hit a month of two of crits to get ready? Man. We'll have to play that one by ear when the summer rolls around.

Signed up for Lowell (did I say that already? - screw it i'm not scrolling back up to check). Time to dig out the Race Predictor!

Oh and yall bring some Cash for a T-shirt, get one for yourself and one for me. Along with getting your raffle tickets from the HUP gang to benefit Harry Lam and his family, pick up a t-shirt to wear. Skulls and Beers.

You'll need one at Nationals if you are going to you can stand out amongst the sea of Left Coasters (we all know which one is the real "lame" side anyway). (Yeah i'm talking harmless smack - those boys over there are big enough to take it, and unlike Treefarm i'll be clear - i mean it all friendly and stuff).

HOLY SHIT.

So I head to crossresults.com, and noticed all the skulls and the first one says "NEW DEFEAT: GARY DAVID" so awesome, and i go to tweet that and get 1/2 through the tweet and realize, wait a minute. That's from Plymouth, and the alarm bells go off and it clicks! RESULTS ARE UP!!!!!

And even better?

Some how i'm TOP TEN!!! Yeah seriously. Two in a weekend? A 9th and a 10th. So all that moping about sprinting Chad for the place to get top ten was for naught. And those Crossresults points are nothing to sneeze at (for me). Should see another green Arrow when Results Boy runs the numbers.

Okay Blogging with Coffee in the system is wicked way more fun. I wonder if I'll sleep tonight. WHO CARES. That coffee over at Legend Bikes that Pete made. HOly crap that was AAAAAWESOME.

Anyway.

Scattered. Anyone keeping up? Did ya read the bit that Parkin wrote about JP? Word! on that man. Good stuff. And it says something about wanting to race against the best (loosely translating to me racing the Elite Masters here in New England). You want to go up against the best. Getting beat by them is expected, but when you have a good day? Holy crap.

His music reference is pretty bang on. You can play in some session somewhere, but at a real gig where people pay money to hear you (i'm going with the irish musician parallel) that's something different. Sure anyone can sit in and play at sessions all over the country, bring your instrument and some ability, and make it happen. There's bound to be at least one good person, but it is like racing a 3/4 race. Being one of the better ones is cool for a while but you ain't gonna learn as much, or have as rewarding an experience as you do sitting with a band.

I should stop waxing and working this allusion. I could probably go on for a while on that. Esp given my background as a musician.

So yeah - when you are in Town. Check out the coolest bike shop in the Fox Point Neighborhood of PVD: http://legendbicycle.com/. And see if Pete has the coffee maker going. Bring some cash and some spare time, shoot the breeze and hang out, and enjoy a bit of nectar.

Yeah. I could so easily go back to drinking a half dozen double shots of espresso a day.

Pumped for Lowell.

Lets get this rumble started. CCR, G-Ride, Helicopter Matt and his annoying seat post (hell i'd take the fucking bottom bracket out, get a god damn hole saw drill bit and cut the damn thing out bit by bit instead of racing with it like that for 3-4 years), Buckley, and Hersey, hell even Marvin is jumping in with 'us' for a change. It is gonna be a slug fest up there in the 35+ on Saturday. Gonna be a good show.

There is that GeWilli enough for today? I really should toss in a handful more links, i've got them laying around... but i'm hitting publish.

heddwch
G

(yeah I'll get around to writing the plymouth south race report soon).

I still have to wash the bike for saturday. it being cold out and all sort of cooled off my motivation to bust out the hose and brush.

Clydesdales Championship?

SERIOUSLY?

can't be can it?

I have been solidly over the 200# mark (not by much but the scale never gives me a 1 instead of a 2).

Gotta be a joke?

I'm heading to dig out the official guide that came in the mail yesterday for mention.

(Hey i was all over the clydesdale mtb cat when i was racing MTBs in michigan back before the car took over my life).

Plymouth North
Saturday November 14, 2009.

Forecast was looking good. That hurricane had brought a good Nor’easter and the weather was killing it down here, but the radar showed that Plymouth was just on the outside edge of the rain. Got the car loaded up, headed into the city to grab my team mate Curtis aka Skinny White Dude aka wicked fast. His ‘A’ bike is up at Hot Tubes getting the top tube fixed (sanded and new layers of carbon) so he had his ‘B’ bike and ‘C’ bike. With the rain coming down we put mr. almost pro’s B bike inside and left the aluminum ones on the roof to get completely waterlogged on the way up. And man it was heavy at times. So much rain. But it let up a bit as we got there. At least the rain did. It was windy enough to take down some tents that people had set up.

We got a nice spot on the corner of the building well out of the wind and between the building and the tent we were totally dry under there for warm ups. Curt got part of a lap in on pre-ride. Giulia assured that the course was as identical to last year as it could be. Except it wasn’t quite. It was actually more like 2007 IIRC. There was a bit of a different wrinkle, but still much the same. Got numbers, got set up, started warming up. I went with a new embrocation. Skinny used the last of the Leg Salsa. He’s addicted to that stuff like crack, esp that lingering burn post race. My new one? Nothing special, nothing secret. Actually crediting G-ride for the plain old Ben-Gay (well target brand ultra strength stuff), but I added a nice wrinkle to slathering up with the old school stink of camphor and menthol. Once the Ben-Gay was worked in, I added the pro ‘look’ and cleaning aid and water/windproofing. I used a simple mix of olive and sunflower oils. Simple, wicked cheap, and nice and shiny. Makes post race clean up in the mud super simple. The oil keeps transpiration down to a minimum and thus evaporative cooling, and it makes the legs all shiny. And if I’ve learned anything hanging out with Skinny, you start going fast when you start looking fast. We all know that’s pure BS but hey it works for Pete Smith (exit17 link).

Legs all ready to go, hop on the trainer, wait. Shit I forgot the slick road wheel with the skewer that fits in the trainer. But I did quick a swap from the ground down skewer (I guess the bike slid along on more than the left hood in the crash) to the spare wheel’s skewer, it worked but not ideally, gotta remember to modify that side of the clamp, but it worked. Hummed along on the knobbies.

Out of the wind warming up was good. Did a quick re-pinning of skinny when I noticed his number on the wrong side and we rolled down to the start line, did a quick ride up the steep run up and got ready for the start. Quite a bit fewer people this year (only 15 finishers) so we had more or less on single row with a few people lining up behind. Curtis and I got the far inside. Curt next to the cone and me planning to run his flank giving him the clear hole shot, yeah, that was the plan. Kevin Buckley was lined up behind Curtis (probably the best starting position actually). Chris gave the 30 second warning and Kevin asked if I was going to wear the jacket, because he couldn’t see my number (or something he phrased it pretty well –I can’t remember the exact words). I looked down and in a split second realized why it was so comfortable sitting there at the start line, I still had my long sleeve winter weight jersey on over my skinsuit. SHIT. That’s the problem with perfectly matching kit. I got it unzipped halfway when the whistle blew. Panic. SHIT. I got it off and tossed it to the side, aiming for a dry spot, but wouldn’t ya know it blew right into the middle of the biggest puddle.

And I was off. Dead last. Not just last but everyone was out of the field almost. I had some work to do. I messed up Curtis’s focus, but I guess it didn’t really affect the outcome too much, he won.

I drilled it, great – so much for chilling and surfing the wheels. I had work to do. Jamming time. Jump across wheels, dig to get up to a faster wheel, jump again. Pretty soon I was up where I should be, but that was a book of matches I didn’t plan on burning right away. Around the barrier smooth. A bit of a few slick spots before it and then there was the old wrinkle and I totally flubbed it. Lost 3 places and a huge time gap to the leaders before recovering. Wheel slipped out and I stopped. Back around and we headed to the barrier and then the downhill. I was back on wheels, in line and we hit the pavement. I did a decent job of staying on the wheels in front of me on the sidewalk, then hit the left turn into the mud right in the middle. And I tried to ride the middle. Even the folks with Cubus tires or Rhynos couldn’t ride the middle, me and my worn out Fangos? Not a chance. There I was upright spinning the rear wheel not moving… much. (sorry about the ellipses erik needed them). To add insult to stupidity I was in the big ring from the sidewalk jamming, and under that load I couldn’t drop the chain (constant pressure just to stay upright and move about a cm a pedal stroke). I managed to suck it up and find some grass and get moving but I lost a couple places but more importantly the wheels I was on hitting that mud were looooooong gone. Shit. Dug down jammed around the tennis courts hit the run/ride up trying to ride it. I slipped out just before the top and lost more spots. WTF I’m riding like a moron. I dug down and really worked to get some time back. Got a rider or two back, got passed by one person maybe and I just worked it. Jammed it hard in the straight sections. Found the best lines in the turns and started riding smarter. But the second time down the downhill I lost more time in that single track. Gaps opened up after that, it took me a good couple of laps to get the hang of it and not lose so much time. I managed to figure out the lines, tried riding the run up, made it but slowly.

Then Chris caught up to me. He got on my wheel through the downhill section single track. And I gapped him on the sidewalk but only enough that he had time to get around me in the slippery stuff after wards. I was still trying the far left side, he jammed on the right and had a ton of traction and was flying away from me. “damn, that’s the line.” After he zipped past me I had to get on the wheel but he had a decent gap already. And he hit the run up and dismounted and ran it. With my lackluster riding of it I got off. And FLEW up it. Woah. That was #1 easy and #2 wicked fast. I was on his wheel at the top. And it took no effort. Amazing.
But Chris managed to gap me coming into the start/finish chute. I got some great encouragement from the sidelines and I funneled that into power. His gap was a handful of seconds. But I dug down and pulled him back by the time we hit the place I bobbled on the first lap. I hit it hard on his heels and he washed out, and I made the pass on the right and took advantage of it. We were hitting the section he was getting most of the time out of me. And I drilled it as best I could. I came out with a gap and didn’t look back. We had two laps to go, well a lap and a half. I just dug and dug and rode hard. I was 9th, knowing that (from the sidelines) was huge motivation. Hit the right side after the sidewalk and rode it hard. Someone else was coming up on me but I dug down and was charging hard. Chris wasn’t around, weird. Flew up the run up and ran up and finished hard and strong. I checked back and saw no need to sprint and chilled across the line.

It was hard, it was tough, but man it was fun. I hate that downhill single track, but I figured out the bottom half though and I nailed the run up and made up some of the couple minutes I lost on that first lap.

The rain held off and the wind didn’t really pick up until we’d finished.

It was an awesome day racing.

heddwch
G

That's what I thought when I looked at the plan for the week this morning. Damn. That means I've finished phase 4 and next week I start in with Phase 5. I've been questioning my coach lately. It is pretty clear he ain't got a clue, but we sat down together and put a plan on paper for the season. Working backwards from Nationals. This means CX Nats are not that far away.

Why rest when you are at a Peak? Well actually I think I know the answer. And I've probably never been disciplined enough to do just that. It is cool that Plymouth this year and last has been a peak of the season. The course suits me well. The hills at PSouth aren't long enough to sap my strengths and there is just enough recovery built in. I could have raced a touch smarter in a few places, dug a bit deeper in others to hang on to 10th and maybe had a shot at 7, 8 and 9, but probably not. But the race left me feeling pretty good about the plan that my Coach worked out.

We'll see if I can build from this. It will be interesting to see what the legs have in store for Lowell. And I finally checked the bikereg page other than to see the date. WTF? 35+ starts at what time? 10:45? seriously? That's so atypical for the season. sure it is only 45 minutes earlier than a Verge one, but this last stretch of races have been 11:30 or later IIRC, making this seem kinda early. More time to hang out and buy raffle tickets post race.

I got wondering a bit on the ride in. What if I moved up the phases by a month or two? How long can I carry Phase 5? Something to think about next year. For the most part it all seems to be working. Most everyone else has gotten faster this year too, I'm keeping pace with some, getting gapped by others and leaping ahead of some... But this is really only the 4th season back on the bike. Still building I think. Getting old sucks but I feel like I've got more room for improvement. I'm only now starting to figure out how to go hard the whole time. That or I'm finally figuring out what fitness feels like (again- kinda forgot in those years off the bike getting fat).

The bike is still sitting covered in Mud. The line for the treated sewer water from the HS was long and the water smelled funny and I just stuck it on the roof after cooling down on the trainer. All nice and covered in mud. By the time we got home with the side trip to see the Mayflower II and the Rock (i just walked around catching up with family on the phone) and the drive home. the mud was completely dried and I just washed the shoes and said screw it, i'll wash it later. Not sure when actually, but i'll try and get it clean before Lowell. Still have to sort out a permanent replacement for that front wheel that was destroyed at Noho.

When will the results from Plymouth be up? they usually take a while iirc.

Surprise visit from a rep. Including Lunch. It is a good Monday. Kind of interrupted the flow and used up my race report writing time. Oh well. The price ya pay.

At least the weather is nice out there. Although "some models" are showing a chance of rain on Friday and maybe Saturday. Will Lowell be muddy? *shock* a wet race in New England in 2009? No way!

heddwch
G

Plymouth South is my Favorite course.

They made some really nice changes this year and it still suited me really well. The worn out fangos hooked up beautifully today, unlike yesterday, I had legs today.

And i was kicking myself all the way home. A corner cycle guy got past me on the last lap after the barriers. I got hooked on the saddle and nearly had a face full of barriers and that adrenaline surge from the panic and save gave him the chance to jump around. I got on his wheel when we hit the pavement but the energy it took to get on his wheel by then left me with no sprint. And I thought: "just roll in, you've beaten GCD, it was a good race." And it was all good till i saw the results. Wait WTF? 11th? I could have had 10th? Self ass kicking began. Only about 3 min behind Kevin Hines and Sam Morse.

A real write up for both days will be coming along. 11th out of 26th or something today (sunday) and 9th out of 15 on saturday. Sunday was such a better race for me. I lost well over a minute more than normal on the first lap saturday just from tire slipping/lack of traction. But the folks running Rhynos and Cubus tires were slipping out in the same spots, so well that made me feel better.

Awesome weekend racing. Just awesome.

Heddwch
G

(thanks for the shout outs Paul)

That's today. A whole round of plymouth coming up for those not venturing out to NJ for the weekend. Question is: will G-ride saddle up and make an appearance or will he stay home chillin and take out his mtb for a ride or two? What ever he decides he'll still kick my ass at Lowell and beyond, i've come to accept that fact this year. If he doesn't show, then that's one less race he's beaten me in.

CSI was my 12th race of the season, and considering i didn't do anything before WVCX/SBX weekend, that's not too bad. It matches my total for 2006 (first year back racing after 6 or so years completely off the bike), and puts me only 4 away from the last two years season totals. It has been a good season this year. Lots of fun.

Plymouth North means a lot to me for some reason. It is one of the races I have actually done every year. I've always done the M35 race. And the course hasn't really changed much. A few wrinkles here and there, one side of the tennis courts or the other.

2007 and 2008 were the best. In '07 Mark Nicholson, Lucy and I headed over for a rainy windy cold (nor'easter) edition. Lucy ate Mark's banana in the car while I was racing. He had a great race and we headed back and the next day I loaded up and went solo to Putney. In 2008 I think i drove to North alone. Wasn't sure who was going. And it was strange not to go to Plymouth North w/o someone. But I raced, and had fun. Marvin and Chris White killed me there. The next day, Plymouth South. Well. Shit why bother re-writing.

Point about Plymouth South in 2008 (at least the point I want to make right now) is after dropping Mark off at his house, Lindsey (who had hung out with him while he raced) told me that he was her favorite Mark. I've got a lot of friends named Mark, and she gets along with alot of people but she knew there was something special about him. He was amazing with her.

And...

Shit...

My eyes are leaking and I'm a hairs breath away from flat out sobbing that he's not going to Plymouth with me this weekend. That we aren't going to stop at the DD/gas station there just before getting on 95 in PVD. That we won't get to talk about all sorts of stuff on the way there.

I miss my team mate, my friend. I miss watching him shrug off his win like it was nothing. He was really one of the greatest people I've ever met. There was never a bad ride when he came along. His smack down route is the best anywhere.

I think I will race for Mark this weekend. not because I am fast enough to race for him, even though he didn't care about placing, he was as enthusiastic for first as he was for me being almost last. At plymouth south I had a great race, mediocre results by code monkey and skinny white dude standards, but I can't help but credit Mark for letting some of his boundless enthusiasm and energy and joy rub off on that drive there and back.

I guess in '06 i rode up in Mark T's car with him. He endo'd practicing and didn't even race. Went over to the hospital with a separated shoulder. At least I was there to drive him home.

So this weekend more than any I'll be thinking about my friend who fought a long and brave battle with Cancer.

We still miss you Mark. We still miss you.

Race safe this weekend, Race strong, but don't ever lose sight of the joy for the sport that Mark let us see.

heddwch
G

Well not really but he's getting awefully close to it.

http://www.velonews.com/article/100001

“I get frustrated with them sometimes — it’s that lame East Coast stuff,” Trebon said. “But if I have the fitness I know I have a pretty good shot.”

F*n Serious?

Now is he talking courses or actually racing in a Race where he has competition from wire to wire? Now Timmie's got the Lame label, but that Kona freak just pissed off all of the East Coast. Well at least part of the east coast that is reading Velonews online.

No JPow though, but hell I hope Jamie and Timmie "LAME" Johnson kick some ass.

I'm gonna be slogging away in the mud at Plymouth. Or at least the wet squishy grass. Tire choices now are playing in my head. Go with the truest hard core mud tires (28 vredestien clinchers pumped to 50-55 psi) or stick with the Slipos. We'll see what the course looks like tomorrow.

Heddwch
G

First time on the bike since Saturday's race.

I don't know if it could have been a more beautiful day on the path that morning.

couple moments of zen... totally uncropped, the horizon is probably all out of kilter, but this is what my little CCD captured. And it seems i've dropped the camera enough to have dislodged that bit of dirt on the internal optical path.





And then on the 5th, I saw the first brants of the season. here's a blurry crop from an unzoomed snapshot of a quartet of my friends.


ride safe, be careful out there,

heddwch
G

Dump some $ in the fund for Harry Lam. It is what needs to be done.

This donation fund has been set-up on behalf of a UCI official, Harry Lam from Utah, that was injured in Northampton, MA on November 7th. Harry sustained a head injury, brain bleed, and broken nose after a collision with a rider. Fortunately Harry did not require surgery and has already begun working with a physcial therapist. He is in the early stages of recovery and has a long road ahead of him. The good news is that Harry was being released from the hospital today, 11/11. We want to thank everyone in advance for their generosity in helping Harry and his family with his medical expenses.

Every bit helps. Make a difference for Harry and his family through the recovery. It could have been any one of us needing the help.

Best thoughts and wishes to Harry and his family through the recovery.

-GeWilli

That song gives me goosebumps every time. My wife did a lot of work researching the fisheries and shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, and so it was hard not to be touched/affected by the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. I didn't catch every special but I caught enough of them to be impressed by these ore carriers and as a saltwater guy, the power of the mighty Gitchigoomie. That's some scary water. Waves coming at you from all directions, nothing nice and predictable like it is off the Grand Banks.

I missed this yesterday, so I'm posting it up here and now. And yes. I do like this gordon lightfoot song. I actually knew the song long before i knew anything about the ship.

heddwch
G

#passmeanotherbeer

I offer a salute to all the veterans out there. The decorated and unsung hero and all those that support their actions.

I want to say thank you for everyone who has served this country at war, thank you for putting your life on the line for our country and what it stands for.

May we never forget those who paid the ultimate price in the service of our great nation, these United States of America.

Thank you Veterans.

Thank you.

-GeWilli

Got some GREAT shots by THE one and ONLY Mark SOOOOOOOOOOOOUPS Suprenant. You can see his photos in Velonews and on blogs of folks around New England.

The one shot I asked "did you get it" with me jumping. Well he got it, he got the launch. I stuck the landing perfectly, floated down rear wheel just before the front and zoomed off. It was wicked fun. There's another shot with me doing the BMX keep the wheels on the ground extension.




That green guy at the bottom of the hill between me and Kevin Buckley is the one I mentioned that was killing me in the flat sections but I'd gain lots of ground here and on the run up.
John Foley, 29er crew dude was behind me for a while, I actually passed him, but after the barriers before the sand he took off - sort of like he decided it was time to start racing and boom he was GONE.

I like an escalator because an escalator can never break, it can only become stairs. There would never be an escalator temporarily out of order sign, only an escalator temporarily stairs. Sorry for the convenience.
- Mitch Hedberg

And NoHo was officially underway.

I moved up a bit after the initial delay but only to get boxed in against the fencing. So I had to hit cruise control a second as the leaders were way up the road already, nice and strung out. Floating along, all boxed in when people freaking STOP dead infront of me to "ride up" the ramp.

SERIOUSLY? We went from rolling along at a pretty good clip to being basically stopped. Jamming on the brakes I barely avoided stacking the tire into the guy's cassette in front of me. It wasn't a good situation. Then of course it was a massive sprint out of that. I moved up a fair bit until I got boxed in there on the grass before the left hand turn. Everyone was moving up on the outside. I managed to gain a few spots- hit the turn and sprint towards the sand pit. People were stacked and piled up at the Post at the apex. Some tried riding it, I said screw it - first lap, we're running that sumbitch. Off, flying around, the carnage and tangled bikes parted as I hit the apex and I planted and cornered and ran to the other side and did a longer acceleration on foot than most and was up to speed and passing people again. Passing people running and then having enough speed to accelerate past them was pretty cool. Hit the next turn and back. I tried to keep moving up. I could see G-ride ahead at one point, pretty far ahead, but not that far ahead, cool, I made up a boat load of spots. It took a while to catch Essenfeld, I don't remember where I passed him but he was up there somewhere.

We hit the pavement again and I settled in. No passing here. but it wasn't a cake walk. We flew into the run up and came to a virtual stop. I managed to wind up on the right side and found perfect stairs in there. And effortlessly just walked up. Seriously. It felt effortless.

I hand not pre-ridden the course this year. We didn't get there with enough time. But I'd heard it was basically the same, some minor tweaks to the off camber downhill line but more or less classic NoHo (of the last few years with a start wrinkle put in). The roots felt good on the tires - I didn't bottom out much so I probably had a touch too much air in them and the grass was a bit bumpy so i could have had gone with a few pounds less, but either way it wasn't a big loss, the roots felt luxurious on the tubulars, relative to my previous years. I was moving up, passing when I could. Following lines assuming someone else had pre-ridden it. Found the big divot and rode through it on the set up for the right hand turn after the gazebo. Hit the down hill, yelled at the dudes in front of me "NO BRAKES" and they didn't put them on. Until we hit the left? Seriously? Braking for that left hand turn over the tracks? Seriously? No F'n way. Hit the track crossing, past the pits. Jamming on the pedals. Holding the gaps, staying in line. Around the tree, right hand u-turn 90 degree left over the tracks and UP THE HILL. It was touch and go making it up on the first lap no dab. But god damn it, i rode that fucking hill every time clean. I was even happy with the 8.2 one of the spectators gave me. Hell I'll take an 8.2. Esp since at that moment the guy who kept reeling me back on the roadies sections kept dabbing and riding that and then walking the top section (he eventually rode off and finished a couple places ahead of me).

Winding through the woods and paths I was unprepared for the lack of barriers up there. Woah. No barriers? Sweet. Hit the pavement, sprinted to stay on wheels, stuck like glue and rode on down to the first jump. first time through I BMXed it. I kept those tires stuck to the surface. NO AIR. Air is slow. If you bike is in the air you can't be pedaling or controlling where it is going. Landing can roll you a tubular or worse. Soups got a shot of me (he said he got it) when I deliberately caught air when I noticed him crouched in the photog position (the cane laying on his knee gave him away). We'll see if it shows up some time. That was the last lap.

So over that, hit the next turn wide and cut it and felt great- passed a few there. Hit the barriers. But that was a surprise. Oh, here they are. Took the inside (right hand) line first. Whoops, that's the slow way to get on and try and make the immediate 180 turn. Second time through I did the same thing. Then I got smart and started taking the outside and that was way faster for me. I could hit the turn without slowing down.

The next section heading to the sand was slow and windy. I tried to sit on wheels when I could but people were dying and I jumped around when I could. Hit the sand with speed and Cut left to right. I'd heard mention of a line to the left of the second pit where there was some grass. I beelined for it and found it. AWESOME. I so totally rocked that sand. Brilliant. Railed it out of there sand flying everywhere. Hit the return and headed back to the finish line. On the pavement I think Rob was there with me, or maybe that was the next lap. I've got an automatic reaction to sort of make it harder for people to stay on my draft unless it is a team mate. Even then I'll sometimes do it to G-ride. So we head through the finish line and back to the run up. Still decent traffic, but I had a clear shot at the right hand again. Vaulted up. Man that felt effortless again. I LOVE THAT RUN UP! I wish it was 2x as long. I was just killing it there and the right hand side of the run up was a perfect set up for a decent line headed to the roots.

Racing people here and there, Cole finally caught up to me thought. One of the few people who actually caught and passed me. He got me and gave me a little road runner meep meep as we dove down off the pavement up top heading down. Cole can hand the damn bike. He's a monster with it. So I figured I'd follow his line. Oh, that's the line i was taking. Okay. Damn didn't learn anything new. After the barriers he kind of wasn't going that hard. It was easy sitting on his wheel. But hell he finishes way ahead of me usually, maybe this is the secret. I hung out behind him for a while. A couple guys caught up to us and I decided I wanted my line through the sand and nailed it again, and I wanted first choice on the run up. There was one time on the run up that I had to take the left. It might have been this lap. I don't remember quite specifically.

Either way it was a battle and I decided to not wait for Cole, and he faded fast. Next time past the MRC camp I heard him say "out of gas" at least i think it was Cole.

Then I started a one two battle with a guy in a green skinsuit. Back and forth. he was very strong on the flats and "roadie" sections of the course but technically very weak and couldn't ride the "ride up" very well if at all. Turned out he couldn't run the run up well either.

He'd get a gap going into the pavement and I'd get everything and more back on the run up. back and forth. He finally put in a really hard acceleration or just a moderate one with me sliding a bit. Not sure which. Probably the latter. Kevin Buckley came up to me and as did a few others. Man Kevin's been killing me this year. There's just 2 to go or something. One of two things, he's having a bad day or i'm having a good day. I think more the latter. So we come out of the turn by the barriers and a EnCoeur-SkiVelo dude stacks it into the tape. We'd been shadowing him for a while. Kevin and the couple guys he was with jump around me. One of the guys being the green skinsuit roadie. He hits the sand first, "I'm thinking looks good he rode the first section just fine" we hit the second and he's taking the prefered outside line. But wait. Someone staked it in closer. And he bogs down and comes to a complete stop. I had a full head of steam and plenty of power to make it through. Had to do a wacky foot dismount. I got mad at him. But I nailed the wacky foot remount and gapped the whole group. They came all came by me at some point again though. Finally that SkiVelo dude gets by me. I think he attacked me on the paved path before the road section up top. He got a gap. Just a second or two. I was chasing, and he was motoring. I made up a bit of ground going through the sand.

We're on bell lap now. I know if I can just keep him sort of close I've got a good shot of getting him in a sprint for the line. He opens it up on the grass going to the pavement the whole time a friend of his was shouting instructions and encouragement in French. He hits the pavement and has a good gap. More than I wanted him to have. But I dug down. I got the rpms up. and started the sprint. Rpms up, shift, rpms up, Standup and wind it up. He looked back before i had gotten to the 46x12. I was coming for him fast. It was going to be close. He looked back, and I was headed right for his wheel to grab a draft and he dove a bit left to the barriers and I just let out a big braveheart roar and dropped it in the 12 and stood up and cranked with every muscle in my body. I pulled up even and timed it perfectly. I beat him at the line despite his bike lunge.

Last week at Canton Michael Zocchi was sprinting to bridge the gap to beat me. I was leading. I knew there was a chance he'd close the distance. So I focused on getting the cadence way up and when he jumped I was able to jump and drop cogs while keeping the RPMs up going up the finish and I held him off.

The finish at NoHo was the same. But way better. SkiVelo guy (Martin Valiquette) had more of a gap than I had on Zocchi, and I closed it down and I was elated.

I didn't care what place it was, other than it probably was better than I normally do. And I raced hard the whole time. I raced. It was amazing. The whole race i was battling. I had to think, I had to dig deeper than I knew I could a couple times. I rested (but maybe shouldn't have) sitting on Cole's wheel. I had maybe the most fun/best race this season. If I had started up with G-ride and hadn't had to battle from dead last? Who knows. As it was I battled from the back, beat 30+ people and had a blast.

But I crossed that line going very fast. I initially thought hey, probably 30mph or so. But I was in that 46-12 and I think i was not grinding the gears, so I may have been going closer to 35-40mph. Either way, pretty freaking fast. And I won the sprint. That and with Milliman and Person missing I was both the biggest and tallest in the field.

And then the something happened.

I'm riding high recounting the race. I finished 49th. That wishbone from Wright's Farm was prophetic. I did break into the top 50. I was 49th! Sure I was 44th and 50th at Providence, but the field wasn't as deep or as fast as it was here at NoHo on saturday. There were more people and many more faster people. Sure a handful of fast guys didn't show up but that's the the way the dice roll. So with this rolling good feeling, I'm not going to say anything now about what happened after the finish line. It happened so fast I'm not sure it would be right to try and put words to it here. It would be impossible to in fact I think, to capture it in words here.

So I'm not going to. At least not now, maybe never.

That's NoHo. Canton was pretty much the same. Racing people, awesome sprint at the finish. But I was sick and started out really easy, unlike NoHo where i started and was full gas for two laps trying to pass people. I got a bit in gappy land at Canton. Got shuffled off a wheel i wanted to stick on a couple times but it was still a blast, good fun racing.

Manged to get my run in this morning. Ten minute warm up run down to the beach, and the tide was out this morning unlike last week and I was able to run down the beach to the stairs, and i turned it up to 11! Hell yeah 11 sprints up the stairs, with 5 paces in the really dry loose sand before the first step. Finished those and ran back along the beach with my shirt off because IT WAS FREAKING HOT OUTSIDE (55°F) and thinking I would make a tall scrawny looking baywatch life guard. Popped the shirt back on before I hit the boat launch and jogged slowly home. Then had a nice slightly slow medium commute in maybe a Zone 2, slight bit of work but nothing too stressful.

I can't believe I rode in today with short sleeves. It is freaking NOVEMBER. Not supposed to start off the day with shorts and short sleeve riding weather?

But hey, I'll take it.

heddwch
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I haven't had a second to work on NoHo Part 2. Made a few phone calls over lunch to my parents who had heard word of the accident via my siblings instead of writing. It is a regular monday with stuff breaking but i did make a breakthrough with trouble shooting a dead scope. Hoping to have it up and running tomorrow. With luck it will be.

Made a call to my Doc to give me the once over to make sure there isn't anything wrong with my neck or spine, and to leave it in the hands of a medical professional to give me the "okay, you're just sore, nothing is out of place." That's how I feel at the moment but I know things can creep up a few days out that weren't noticed right away.

It just good that I've got a head full of rocks. Lets see if I can find some time to roll the rocks around enough to get the words out of my head and on here about the actual race. And hopefully by the time I get around to writing about the incident and my perspective, things will be okay and headed to a full recovery for both parties involved.

I just realized I never even really got Canton's race written up. I'd better not slack off.

heddwch
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"The only eyesore and disturbing thing [on the weekend ride] was the amount of obese men with loud, smelly leaf blowers. There were dozens of them, most wearing Patriots’ gear. They were everywhere. For crying out loud, PICK UP A RAKE. Burn off a few calories."

and then there are these two:
If you ever start feeling like you have the goofiest, craziest, most dysfunctional family in the world, all you have to do is go to a state fair. Because five minutes at the fair, you'll be going, 'you know, we're alright. We are dang near royalty.'
- Jeff Foxworthy
An executive is a person who always decides; sometimes he decides correctly, but he always decides.
- John H. Patterson

I think my race at NoHo really started with friday night. We joined the folks from my wife's work at a Rhode Island institution: Wright's Farm Restaurant. It was an interesting experience. The chicken was actually pretty damn good. The fries, and pasta and salad, not so much. I even managed to have a little restraint, finishing the remainder of the salad instead of the chicken or pasta, and I didn't leave feeling bloated or too full. A remarkable achievement for being my Father's son.

But one thing magical happened there. I was dissecting a chicken quarter (a slab of breast meat and bones) when a little wishbone appeared. Woa. Cool. So I turned to my oldest daughter who was sitting next to me and said, make a wish. We pulled on it and i got the big half. She asked what I wished for. And i hesitated to say it because, well you know, wishes are supposed to be kept secret. Well, I first said that but then realized, why not share the wish?

My wish? Simply: To be top 50 at NoHo on saturday. With 85 people pre-registered, me sitting in 57th in the race predictor with a good half dozen people or more people who are much faster than me listed as 'unknowns' a top 50 would be a huge achievement.

NoHo looked to be a stronger field than Providence, and even a bigger field than Gloucester (I'm referring to specifically the 1.2.3 35+ race). A lot of fast guys were making the trip. Granted a handful didn't make it, some didn't pre-reg due to illness, some didn't show for other reasons (Milliman, McCormack). But still for me to break into the top 50 would mean having a great race.

It would mean a great race for me personally, it would mean a steady improvement. Last year I showed up there with my new tubulars, and with strep throat. The rear tubular was destroyed on the first lap and I wound up getting lapped by everyone. It wasn't a good race by any means. At all. It was bad. I had registered for both days and didn't come back on Sunday. NoHo wasn't on my original calendar. But I didn't want to have a completely empty weekend and racing just on Saturday at Canton was a nice change. So I registered on Tuesday or Wednesday as number 71 (i think, my race number was 178). And most of the people who registered after me (besides Michael Cole) had verge points like G-Ride. Meaning getting a top 50 meant battling from the very very very very end of the field from the gun to hopefully beat 30+ people.

Certainly Possible, but my previous good finishes at PVD were from a first or second row behind the verge point holders. Quite a bit different than starting absolutely last. Even at Canton I managed to move up about to the back half of the middle of the field past the start finish line.

NoHo was going to be the test.

It proved to be more of a test than I had even planned or could imagine. I'd hooked up with a ride from my friend Ted. We rode around OTB at Bob Beals the one time i did it. He'd pull like mad on the hills, and i'd motor on the straights. Each of us just about dropping the other. And we finished. And a friendship was formed in battle. We raced together a bit that year in Cyclocross too. He's back stateside and in Newport and was heading up with space so I took him up on the offer with a planned pick up at my house between 7 and 7:30am.

So I've got everything outside and ready to go for the race at 7:15. The girls are getting ready to head to ballet and I notice the front tire on the golf is really low. under 20psi low. Shit. So the girls all head off in the Passat (race vehicle) but before they can take off i have to add some fuel.

That bit of craziness finished, I hung out in front of the house with Lucy. Then I grabbed the floor pump after a while and pumped up the front tire. It takes a while to fill up a car tire with a Silca Super Pista.

Wait some more. Now Ted gave up a cell phone when he came stateside this time. Something about being tired of having one glued to his ear for the last 6 years. So he was riding up w/o any means of letting me know if there was trouble.

8:15 and I started taking stuff out of the Golf. I had to go to the race. I was going to go and I couldn't wait around until it was too late to get there and race.

He showed up at 8:20 swearing appologetically. Between a gas pump that wouldn't pump more than a trickle or shut off and his own nearly flat front tire, a closed bridge he sat on for 30 minutes, and not quite wonderful directions from Google Maps he was very much delayed.

But we loaded up quickly and were on the road by 8:25. Now the whole time I was working hard to keep the anxiety level down. It took all my mental capacity to do it though. I just kept saying, relax, he will be here. He's got my number, if it came down to not getting here he would find some way to call. Heck I even contemplated cracking into one of the post race beers as a relaxation aid. But I didn't. Heck I didn't even race with any caffeine this time, no coffee, no caffeinated gels, nothing. Even skipped the sports legs.

After a nice ride up (sure is way nicer making that drive with someone to talk to) we got there at 10:25 or so. Not time enough to pre-ride, but time enough to say good luck to the 45+ guys lining up for their start. Got number, pinned up, got the trainer set up. Got some warm up in. Took wheels to the pit. Caught up briefly with Matt Simpson, saw a good number of folks, tried to heckle/cheer the guys racing but it was a focused short warm up on the trainer. My legs actually felt pretty crappy with the couple solid intensity efforts I did. Almost dead. But I hoped that the trainer would get the lead out of them. I'd seen the way they were starting and it looked good. Lots of room to drill it and move up if you could before getting to the steep run up.

Got to the starting line as Alan or Richard or someone was calling "Second Call To staging." Then the pointers started getting called up. I was chatting with Chapman for a while and mozied over and finally, my number was called up. Only Cole was still left to be called up. And he stayed back about 10-20 feet behind the last guy. We were jarring back and forth. It took me a good 20 seconds of standing on my toes scanning the massive crowd of 81 racers to find G-Ride in the bunch. Holy crap was he waaaaaaay up there.

Then the whistle blew.

and I'll have to get to the exciting part of the race and the finish line incident in a little while.

The girls have been playing outside for a couple hours now, such an amazing day today. I hope everyone is having a great and safe race up there at NoHo today!

heddwch
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