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

Andrea and the Mods II

Andrea and the Mods

Pony up punks

The following is from Renee's site. I will put in $25. Can the rest of you commit to a few clams? Maybe we can hit a $100 from the fine viewers of Crossmadness. If you commit, I'll pay it and collect from you later.

Support Tristan's trip to CX Worlds

Being selected to represent the United States at the Cyclocross World Championships in Hooglede-gits, Belgium is a huge honor for Wisconsin racer Tristan Schouten. However, that honor comes with a $1500 price tag. Let's show Tristan that Wisconsin supports him by helping defray those costs.

There are many ways you can help Tristan. You can donate directly to Tristan at his Paypal account via credit card This is very fast, easy and secure. He has an account set up and you can send a donation tthrough your own paypal account if you have one to Tschouten@gmail.com Check Tristan's blog for the most current info on donating.

Madcross.org will also be helping to raise funds for Tristan a number of ways. You can purchase a 2007 Cyclocross calendar, poster or other item from the MadCross store and all profits will go directly to Tristan. You can also make a donation and receive a 2006 Wisconsin Cyclocross DVD with all funds donated going directly to Tristan.

Stay tuned for other information on fundraising.

Brotherly good times