HALLOWEEN PSYCHO-CROSS

And there were some truly scary folks about today. Russell in his schoolgirl outfit, diaper boy, Pegasus-Speedo racer to name a few. Ahhh, Washington Park. What a perfect day for a bike race, 40s-50s and sunny with a nice cool breeze. The Trocaderos always seem to get the nice days for their race. Four years I've raced there and four years of great conditions. Well, it could have been a bit better with a little rain or snow but I'll take this anyway.

40+ 4s for my first race of the day. I figured if I mugged with this guy I'd get some good mojo going and maybe place higher than my usual 4th or 5th.

'Twas a nice thought. Here's the one fragmented sentence race report: Official says go, I blast off for the hole shot up the hill, keep the momentum for about two thirds of the first lap when Tim Mr. Get-the-f*ck-out-of-my-way Theobald and his posse of neer do wells comes by me like I was having a picnic in the park, shit!, push, push, push, I'm never going to catch them but I'll keep trying and at least not let Lewis catch me, do some nice full speed bunny hops, have some fun and roll it for 5th. Again. man, I'm gettin' a little tired of 4th and 5th place. One of these races I'm gonna make it to that de-lux podium in the sky-i-i. Or something like that.

I should have mugged with this guy before the start as that would have been some good mojo indeed.

The man was on a mission. Wasn't nooooo one catching Mr. Tim today. As for the rest of the miscreants, Russell was nowhere to be seen and neither was Steve R. I'm thinking that the costumes just added a bit too much drag to catch those who were, as Randy says, haulllllllin.

Not to be content with just one ass-whupping, I jumped into the 4s race with the aforementioned Lewis shortly after the end of the 40s. Better to not cool down too much, ya know. Lewis and I rode around and heckled each other for most of 3 1/2 laps before deciding to throw down and show those young whippersnappers what us old guys were made of. Didn't quite end up showing anybody anything but it was a good time after all. I think my best lap all day was the 5th lap of the 4s race; I railed every corner and actually felt pretty strong. Of course I did my best to hack up both lungs after finishing. Something about extra effort and a cool, dry day that does a real number on my old, tar encrusted lungs.

Next up Kletch and Estabrook. I think that the Kletch course is a super top secret Polska training ground 'cuz I haven't been able to find it. Rumor has it that Maciej has put together a tough course- I'll believe the rumors. Estabrook is always a good time and a sheer power course as there's no elevation gain to speak of. Lewis suggested doing a quad day: 40+4s, 4s, 30+ and 40+. Either he's been hitting the wacky tobaccy or he just bought stock in Amgen. Or maybe both. I could see mayyyybe doing the triple with the regular 40+ but the quad? I jes don tink so, Lew-ees.

Props go out to Casey, Patrick and the rest of the Velo Trocadero team for yet another fine edition of the Halloween race. Nice decorations this year too. This next bit is going to seem a bit odd, but I have to give credit where credit is due and that is to the officials this year. Whatever new system Heidi has put in place is actually working. Results are posted quickly and I haven't heard of any disputes this season. It's great compared to previous years where you'd wait around for an hour and the results would still be all ef'd up.

How could I forget?

I forgot to mention in my Gibbs Lake report the best part of the day: in the 4's race on the second lap, I managed to drop my wheel into a hole trying to remount after the second set of barriers. My end over end roll, with my bike, was pretty impressive if I do say so myself. Even the official standing there agreed that it was rather elegant. Too bad Renee wasn't there to record it.

Make mine a double please

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, beeeee therrrrrrre. Gibbs lake that is.

I have to start this report with the following question: what happened to fall? Damned if we didn't have a nicer weekend than any in recent memory. Now I like my rainy/cold/muddy races as much as the next guy but there is something to be said for 65 and sunny. When we finally do get seasonal weather, I'm afraid my system won't know how to react.

On to the one fragmented sentence race report for those short of attention span: Go!, hit the first turn in second spot behind Lewis, sucky corners, lose spots, cool tree barrier, settle in, Russell catches and motors on up the hill, nice, groove on, enjoy the colors, see Lewis on the side WTF?, catch Tim T, oh crap drop chain, roll in for 5th again.

Since it was such a nice day and I was feeling energetic I decided to jump into the 4's race too 10 minutes after my 40's finish. I won't do a race report except to say that by the time I climbed that hill at race pace for the 8th time my legs were starting to get noodle-y. I had a good time heckling some other riders and got a great workout on the day. Considering I had done 4 laps of the course in warmup, that made for 12 laps total. A good day.

My hope is that I am racing into form. There's nothing like racing to get you into race shape. If nothing else, I've thus far been consistent, but I feel like I'm getting better. Hmm, everyone else must be too....

Thanks to Michaels Cycles for a great course and a well organized event. Thanks again to Renee Callaway of Madcross.org for pics and video- check her site often for updates.

Whitewater CX

I've been wondering where to go with the one fragmented sentence race report for this race and I think I've got it: Rich says 'go' and off goes a line of 20 some guys all heading for the same chute, I get in top five, fast barriers, bu-bu-bu-bumpy ride hang on tight, nice downhill/shoulder/run, get passed by then drop the Brazen Hussies guys, ride around in no-man's-land, hold off Russell, wonder when the hell they're going to post laps??, all the sudden it's the bell, cruise in for my by now familiar 4th place finish. Eight laps in all I think.

So last year this was the most pathetic race and course, and as noted elsewhere it costs more than the other races for some reason but I scored a nice seat bag so that's ok. All the other dudes complained about the course this year but I had to remind them of some of the redeeming qualities like the fast dismount barriers and the nice barrier/run/barrier section. A race like this probably favors my strengths though so maybe that's why I liked it. What strengths? I can hear you saying.... Well, the get in the groove and motor type since my technical riding skills are severely lacking and there weren't many needed for this race. F*ck the rest of 'em; I had fun, besides, what would I rather be doing on a beautiful fall day?

It's all good aka Badger Cross

That's right peeps, it's all good. All good at Badger Cross that is. The Shedmaster and my bad self took another cruise to the land of liberalism today. Well, a bit south of there but close enough for me to feel good about it.

A quick trip in The People's Chrysler and Badger Prairie Park popped into view. I saw Renee Callaway of Madcross.org on the way in and thanked her for ordering some good CX weather for a change. It's about time. Many course changes this year made the new course one of the best I've ever raced. If you weren't going uphill or running barriers, you were negotiating off camber downhill slaloms that were getting muddier and slipperier by the lap. As the punks say: man, that sh*t was DOPE.

40+ 4s again today. Here's the one fragmented sentence recap: 16 guys, fast start up the pavement, dive into the course, Lewis crashed, took over 2nd spot, got tired, lost spots, Lewis passed me, he laid down for another rest, Tim from Hollander passed me, The Shedmaster passed me, he laid down for a rest, no gain for me, rolled in for a 5th, Russell a 4th.

A few other notes on the day are in order: I suck at cornering and used the WRONG tires. It was raining the whole time, perfect for CX but BAD for me and my poor choice of rubber. Lesson learned.

Next week Whitewater; in a word, yuk. I asked JP Ericsson to give them some help in course design. He said it was hopeless. Sunday brings the second edition of the Janesville race which I missed last year but am excited to race this year.

Thanks to Renee, JP and Capitol Velo Club for a great, well organized race on a fantastic course. Who'd a thunk a bunch a Madison chicks could put on such a great race?

Still alive.... barely

Cam Rock CX today. Raced the 40+ 4s with the Shedmaster hisself. Go ahead and make fun of the category but I'll take it any day over the two alternatives: 40+ regular where I get shellacked and 4s regular where there were about 295 racers. The 23 in my race sounded lots better; besides, we race first so we get rock star parking. That's worth the price of admission for me.

Anyway, I won't bore you with the race report details, just a quick recap cuz I know you all (well, all one of you- thanks for reading mom) have short attention spans. Got in the top 3 at the start, passed by Russell, passed Russell back when he was resting in the dirt, crashed Russell and he busted up his shit, got passed by a Hollander guy, and hung on for 4th place. Out of the money but respectable enough considering I've raced a bike precisely once since last CX season, which if you were paying attention was a complete disaster.

Thanks to Paul Roltgen, Lewis Clark, John Ericsson and the rest of the Brazen Hussies Krew for a great race. Next up, Badger Prairie and Madison vegetarian extraordinare Renee Callaway's big party at the park. Mmmm, burgers made of veggies; with enough free beer, I could grow to like something like that.

Stuff, Stuff and More stuff

So we did a little cross practice last night at Estabrook. Some day I will learn that I cannot completely neglect whole muscle groups for months on end and then go running around like a teenager. I'm sore.

Note to self: The Beat Down will not be any fun the day after the first cross practice. On a better note, I am very happy that some of the mad skeelz (such as they are) seem to have stuck around from last year. I didn't hesitate to go full speed into the barriers and re-mount without stutter stepping. Gotta work on cornering and off cambers and the like but that's no surprise. A few good rides on the mtb trails with the Gunnar and some polish (not Polish) ought to come back to those skeelz.

In other CX news, Russell and I talked to Bob Schueler from Hampshire Cycle Club and we will get to have some input into the state championship course for this year, being held at a new venue; Hales Corners Park. Sun Prairie is still on the schedule but not as the championships. I'm psyched for a new venue.

It's going to be a perfect fall weekend so grab your OFF! and head to TosaFest for some good music and cold beer. Friday night brings Paul Cebar and the Milwaukeeans from 8:30-11:00 and guitar legend and Tosa native Greg Koch and the Tone Controls will be playing Saturday night from 8:30-11:00. that's some decent talent for little old Wauwatosa.

Cross Practice

Tuesday evenings, 5:00 until dusk at the south parking lot in Greenfield Park. That's the lot just east of 124th street off of Lincoln Ave in Worst Allis. We'll have barriers and a short course set up.This is mostly for skills work so get your workout in before or after. The first race is September 29th at Lapham Peak. Click HERE for the complete schedule.

There will also be practices at Estabrook Park on Wednesdays starting at 5:00 as well. Estabrook is east of Port Washington Rd and south of Hampton Ave. These practices are put on by Hampshire Cycle Club and they will have the full race course set up and in use.

We have ten races in the series this year (eat your shorts, Chi-Town, you only have five!). What's even better than having 10 races in our series? NO TRAVEL. No whole weekends eaten up by driving and pre-riding and yada, yada, yada. The farthest races are Janesville and the Madison area, so come out for some lung searing fun.

cece

Remember, you heard it here first...

As reported in Velonews.com yesterday:

Kashechkin tests positive, suspended

By VeloNews.com

Filed: August 8, 2007

The Astana cycling team announced Wednesday that Kazakh Andrey Kashechkin tested positive for homologous blood doping following an out-of-competition test in Belek, Turkey on August 1.

Kashechkin was suspended by the team pending the outcome of his B sample, should he request that the follow-up test be conducted. Kashechkin's teammate, Alexander Vinokourov was suspended following his own positive for homologous blood doping - the use of a donor's red blood cells to enhance endurance - during the Tour de France.

"The positive test by Kasheckin is another blow to the credibility of this team," said an Astana spokesperson. "This new blow will only embolden us to impose even more draconian measures for a clean sport."

My money says that home boys Andrey and Alex got their bags-o-blood mixed up so now they both get busted for homologous blood doping when what they really meant to do was autologous blood doping.

Fess up boys......

Interesting racing

These pics are from a bike race that my brother was at in a small town in the south of Holland. It was a 10 hour race with four man teams like our WEMS races, but criterium style instead of MTB. I suppose that a town needs to let some traffic through in the course of ten hours of racing....

H.U.S.H. Eisner Museum

Camp

Mr. Bicycle himself (and yours truly)

water park fun

Tri-clinic selected pics

FG Sam not being elusive (for a change).

Future FG Skylar with girl of the hour Amber.

Need I caption?

David being elusive, hiding behind this bike.

FG Sam. I had to use the old mirror trick.

The clinic and fundraiser were a great success. As usual, Dave imparted way more wisdom than anyone could process at one time. Jeff Senn was in attendance and blushing from all of the accolades; genetic freak anyone? The biggest lesson to be taken away from the clinic? technique and form, perfected, offer what is essentially free power. Use all of the quadriceps muscles, the hip flexors, the back and glute muscles through good form first and THEN worry about power and strength.

Over the years, Dave has told me all of these things, but when I'm out there on the road, I tend to forget them and revert to my same old bad habits. My late New Year's resolution is to make good form the cornerstone of my riding this year.

pic of the day, snow #2

Click the pic for the full size file

M. river parkway- pic of the day

more b&w- camp anokijig

Live Music