The road less traveled part 12. Almost the end.

Day 12, Bingen to Koblenz. We weren't 2km out of Bingen when it started to rain. Hard, then even harder. Fortunately, I had my rain gear out of my bags and ready to put on as the skies were pretty dark when we got up. My dad and brother weren't so smart... Being that we knew it was our last day of riding, it didn't seem so bad if we just bailed out and jumped on a train bound for Koblenz. We rode all morning in the rain, stopped for lunch, (mmm, sausage salad again) and then kept riding after lunch because the sun had come out. Not for long, though so we hopped on a ferry to St. Goar and took the first train out.

I don’t know what it could mean,
that I’m so sad: I find,
A fairy-tale, from times unseen,
Won’t vanish from my mind.

The air is cool and it darkens,
And quiet flows the Rhine:
The tops of the mountains sparkle,
In evening’s after-shine.

The loveliest of maidens,
She’s wonderful, sits there,
Her golden jewels glisten,
She combs her golden hair.

She combs it with a comb of gold,
And sings a song as well:
Its strangeness too is old
And casts a powerful spell.

It grips the boatman in his boat
With a wild pang of woe:
He only looks up to the heights,
Can’t see the rocks below.

I believe the waves swallowed
The boat and its boatman,
That’s what, by her singing,
The Lorelei has done.

My brother and I standing high above the Rhine on top of the Lorelei. The folklore gives the name both to the maiden and to the rock we're standing on. This was one of the few moments of the day when it wasn't raining.


This fortress looking building was a toll collector's house. When a boat would come along, they would stretch a big chain across the river and collect the toll for the local baron before letting the ship pass. note to Jim: see, taxes aren't a modern liberal idea :)

View from the top of the Lorelei.

Three lonely looking steeds on the ferry to St. Goar. I love my bike but not enough to stand out in the rain with it.....

State Championships

Loading up the trusty, rusty Race-mobile on Sunday morning at the Rusty Tool Shed. 3 guys, 3 bikes, 6 sets of wheels.... noooo problem.














When Russell, The Boy and I arrived at Sun Prairie for the race, we ran into ace photog and all around swell person Renee from Madcross who congratulated me on my comeback to racing. Some comeback. 20th place in the fours race. Better than this guy though. He got himself a shiny new cross bike this year. I think he should just give it back if he's not going to ride it....













Truly an enjoyable course. JP Ericsson and the Brazen Dropouts team put together another tough course for states. Wisconsin cyclocross is a top notch series thanks in part to this club and all the others who work hard to put on the races.












Seems like only a few weeks ago we were planning for the cx season and now it's over. Well, there's Chicago yet but that's just an excuse to overindulge in Chicago's best culinary creation after the race.







Next up: season recap.

Need painting?

This is a blatant plug for a good friend of mine, Mike from Colorwheel Painting. He's been working on my house for so long that he needs some paying work pronto. If you know anyone who needs paint work done before the holidays, he's your man. I can personally vouch for the quality of his work and of his crew. Contact him at 414-501-1991 or check out his website here.

That's one good lookin'.....

.....BIKE

I think it makes Mike look so good that he should own it. First $1100 takes it (the bike that is).

What I won't be doing today

Many thanks to Renee Callaway at Madcross.org for the great pics. I think I look alot better than I felt in these.

Estabrook

What a waste of time on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. 1 1/2 laps. My first ever DNF in a race of any kind. Got a super start, first to the turn off onto the grass. Lost a few places to the strong guys over the rest of the lap and then, BOOM, no more legs. Hamstrings felt like overstretched piano wire and I was done. I don't know what I did the week before last that was so bad but it's haunting me now to the point where I don't know whether I should try to finish the season or just cash it in and recover. What a drag.

Painful

No, not my muscles anymore, just my wounded pride in posting about my meager race results last weekend at Washington Park. It was, as usual, a well organized event and a fun course. Props to Velo Trocadero for another great race this year except for handing out PBR instead if French cigarettes for primes- maybe I'd have ridden better.

I'm getting old(er), or, a story of inadequate recovery; that's my leadup to the race. Saturday: race Whitewater, Sunday: race Cam Rock, Monday: easy ride, Tuesday: ass kicking, nausea inducing workout, Wednesday: medium ride, Thursday: another ass kicker even harder than Tuesday's, Friday: off, Saturday: medium ride. By the time Sunday rolled around, I was just cooked. Spent. Useless. So what do I do? Yeah, sign up for not one, but two races. I know, I know, the depth of my intelligence is astounding.

Half a lap into warmup and I'm on the ground trying desperately to work the kinks out of my hamstrings. Another half a lap and I know one thing for sure: today is going to suck. Bad. I don't need a double race day, I need a double rest day. First up is the 4's race, which I won last year at Washington Park. The race starts and I'm in trouble by the first set of barriers. No repeat on this one... By the second lap, I'm getting passed by guys I beat with one leg tied behind back. It was all I could do to just hang on 'til the end. 12th place. Wow.

By now you're thinking, "ok smarty, you at least bailed on the second race, right?" Wrong. It so happened that my wife and kids and my dad were going to be on hand for this race, the only one which any of them will get to see this whole season. No skipping this one, no matter how much I wanted to. If I thought my result in the 4's race was sub-par, this one was downright pathetic. Russell even commented that I was an embarassment to my three year old daughter who was cheering. Word. One bright spot is that at least I wasn't DFL. Nor did I get lapped- my only goal besides finishing this damn race. 19th place. Yippee.

So after the race my dad comes up and says "hey kid, you're not a kid anymore, you need decent recovery". What a genius. Now I know where my big smarts come from. So this week's training plan looks a little different than last week's. Monday: no ride, Tuesday: no ride, Wednesday: 45min easy, Thursday: no ride, Friday: one hour easy, Saturday: one hour easy. My hamstrings are still a bit sore but nothing like Sunday. Estabrook is a fast course and looks to have extra barriers this year- a plus for me. The weather looks to be an un-cross like 50 and sunny but I'll survive it. Give me 40 and rainy, it weeds out the wimps.

Next up after Estabrook is Janesville. It's a new venue and I hope it's better than our other new venue this year, Whitewater. After that it's the championships in Sun Prairie. That is always a fun and challenging course by John Ericsson and the Brazen Dropouts crew. Don't forget to put December 3rd on your calendars. It is the date for the Illinois State Championships at Montrose Harbor in Chicago. Last year this race was held in the snow- truly memorable.