DNF

Once again I DNF'd my final race of the year. At Ice Weasels I finished the singlespeed race but then dropped out of the 1/2/3 race after four laps or so. Getting beer feeds was difficult. I guess I need more friends... I did take a funnel full from Reuter's friend but when I did she looked at me like she was going to call the cops or something. It was that bad. And hardly any pics of the SS race showed up on the web, least not that I found. Anyway I'm DNFing this entry too, but I'll post it as proof that I'm still alive. The DNF Green Monster never really took off like I wanted it to either. No one even gave me shit about dropping out of Ice Weasels and then not posting it. And I did not enter Battenkill. I don't know why they open up reg on December 21 every year, but it makes no sense to me. Hype I guess, and it sure works. I could not even remember how many times I've raced it. Blog archives to the rescue. I did 2006, 2008, and 2009. In 2010 I just did the pre-ride, and that might be my plan for 2011 too. Thanks for keeping the faith.

Half-Assed Ice Weasels Promo

The Ice Weasels Cometh will feature singlespeeds, short shorts, bulging quads, weasels in kilts, free beer, hurdles over flaming servers, and awesome custom schwag. Colin Reuter action figure not included, cupcakes sold separately.

This was supposed to be an elaborate diorama featuring a Colin Reuter action figure, Honda Fit model, broken SRAM shifters, helmet cameras, flaming servers, Carharts, Crossresults.com skinsuits, medically-implanted at the wrist smartphone, COFFEE, Exit17 sidekick, and hot PRO girlfriend. Whoops. The project proved small for my imagination, but too big for my ambition. And you just try to find a suitable action figure with male-pattern baldness and a slight build. The red ski suit was easy, but the closest I could get was a shaved-headed GI JOE built like Mr T. And even that was thirty bucks.

But anyways, this Saturday is the third edition of the Ice Weasels Cometh at White Barn Farm in scenic Wrentham MA. I missed last year because I was in friggin' Bend, but I'll be back in twenty ten in all my red shorted 56 toothed chainringed glory. This Saturday. Route 1A just south of the center. Thanks for reading.

Wrap Up

Solo on a dualie. Bars were too wide and stem too short, but on the fast stuff it's like a motorcycle.



Not so great on the climbs if you ask me. Overlook had been recently graded anyway. Never rode an MTB faster than the way down.



Ocean on one side, canyon on the other. This place rocks.

Eleven days, two cross races, two cross workouts, one XTERRA trail race, a twelve mile trail run, a ten mile back-country hike, three road rides taking in four canyons and around 10,000 feet of climbing, a mountain bike ride, and two massages. I guess I had a good trip. It was a little chilly though, barely got above 65 most days. Super clear this week though. Thanks for reading.

Glendale Cyclocross

The Glendale course sits in an upscale urban park.



Rockin' Rob Kramer absolutely killed it off the start in the 35+ race, riding in front group of four for two laps.



Solo and Kramer posing for animal crackers post-race.



Robin rides the sand pit.



Solo eating a pumpkin cupcake. WTF is the world coming to?

Glendale, the Gene Galindo Turkey CX. For me this was a repeat, but they adjusted the course a bit, making it totally awesome, fast and flowy, with alternating hammer and recovery sections. No call up for me. This was the SoCal state championships too, so even though everyone in the 45+, 50+, and 55+ started together, we were scored separately.

Being in the last row, I still picked the wrong side for the start. I'd preridden all of the course except for the start/finish stretch, as with chip timing pre-riders are not allowed to pass through there. I got pinched onto some roots that I did not know were there and lost ground. In the chip results, I'm one of the few whose fastest lap was not the first, instead doing my quickest on lap two. I moved up steadily, but by the time I cleared all the traffic the leaders were gone. In the end I got 4th/11 in the 50-54, 8th/31 overall. The winner was former Honda factory motocross pro Johnny O'Mara. Stuck around to watch the two Rob's, feasting on a catered Mexican buffet provided by the race organizers. Life is good again. Thanks for reading.

Topanga Turkey Trot 10k

Being away from home means missing the traditional local running races the morning of the Thanksgiving holiday. But they must still have these things out here right? I'd been meaning to try one of the X-Terra Trail Series races for a few years now, and sure enough on Thursday morning the Topanga Turkey Trot was fairly close by. The event offered 5k, 10k, and 15k options, all on trails in Topanga State Park. The 10k course profile showed around 1400 feet of climbing, so I chose that, and signed Robin up for the 5k. The 15k started earliest and I did not expect it to have a big turnout but I was wrong. It turned out to be the largest with around 300 runners. There were around 225 in the 10k and 160 in the 5k. I guess the series is a pretty big deal for some people, thus most of the serious trail runners did the 15k.

Topanga canyon is the home of the legendary Geo Snelling, college roomate of Gewilli, but there were no sightings. We got there pretty early, yet the parking was already full and we were directed to an overflow lot at Topanga High School, which was up a steep hill. A long line was already waiting for the shuttle, so we decided to walk. One of the kids manning the lot advised us against this, as he said it was "freezing cold." I think it was around 40 in the shade and 50 in the sun... Well it turns out that the race site was 1.5 miles from the boulevard, up a 10% grade. So the walk was a decent warmup. We got our numbers just as the 15k started. For a $45 entry fee, the event organization was not exactly top notch, but the situation was manageable. Rob went off for the 5k, and twenty minutes later I lined up for the 10k.

The first 1.25 miles of each race went straight up fireroad, climbing at least 600 feet onto the ridge. The views were spectacular. The Santa Ana winds have been blowing all week, which clears the air. All the Channel Islands were visible. But of course there was no time for sightseeing. The first mile took me 9:07, and I was pretty close to the front of the pack. A short downhill led to some rocky uphill singletrack. By now we were pretty spread out. The middle was all fire road again, some up and some down. Then we ended up on a steep descent, merged with the 15k runners again. Running as fast as I could, I still got dropped. I'm much better going uphill.

Eventually I passed a mile four marker. The distances at this event were highly suspect. The 15k may have been true distance, but the word was the 10k was closer to 10.5, and the 5k was actually a full 6k. At any rate, no records were broken. I was expecting the fire road to head right back to the park, so I was quite surprised when we turned on to extremely narrow and steep single track with a mile or two to go. The trail was barely wide enough to pass, all switchbacks, with wooden water bars cut into a lot of it. Some of them were a two foot drop. Running full speed down this, suffice to say your legs took a pounding. Some dude caught me from behind, but at ever place the trail crossed the ravine, there would be a short uphill at the switchback and I'd sprint away. Then he'd catch back up on the downhill. This pattern went on for about a mile. Nearer to the end, the trail opened up a bit and got rocky again. At one point I stumbled and barely caught my self, windmilling forward with my face about a foot from the ground (or so it seemed). We were catching some 5k backmarkers too, but most let us by without incident. At the end of the trail there was a hundred meters or so of uphill and I opened a gap. Good thing, as I was not expecting a long downhill sprint on a paved park road back to the chute, but I held on.

My finish time was 52:51, 8:32 pace if you believe the distance. At the start I'd spoken to the eventual winner who'd told me his 10k PR was 31:30, and he ran 46 something. So at 14 minutes off my recent 10k times, I guess I did OK. I was sixth overall, and first in the 50-54 age group (they do not use your actual race day age here, I guess because the series ends next year) but it did not matter to me because the medal is not engraved and I'd have been first in the 45-49 anyway. Rob won her age group in the 5k too. The weather was nice and they at least had muffins and scrambled eggs for everyone, along with finisher medals and decent T-shirts.

The shuttle ride back to the parking was the funniest part of the whole day. The bus was built with maybe 24 seats, and at least sixty people crammed on this thing despite the driver pleading "no mas" after about thirty had boarded. And we're driving straight down the twisting grade. I envisioned it ending something like this. We made it though, and then ground up the other side of the canyon to the school. Let's just say things did not smell too good around that bus when we unboarded. Thanks for reading.

Tuna Canyon

Finally rode this today with Rob K. In the daytime of course. Road was closed due to landslide but we got through. Wish I had a helmet cam. Descends around 2000 feet in just a few miles. One lane, one-way. What a blast. Thanks for reading.

Convert Cross

You can see me hiding in the back, one of the few with no arm warmers. Seriously guys, it was at least 60 degrees...



Caution tape is for pussies. Barbed wire = no cutting the course.



SoCal CX races still have serious competitors who use mountain bikes. The stairs were insurance against anyone attempting to ride this.



If my bars look too high on this bike it's because they are.



Lake Casitas was the venue for rowing at LA84



The 45+ share the course with single speed women in CA.



With over twenty national titles already at 18 years old, Coryn Rivera is just a plain old badass bike racer.



The rideup was steep, making it a good spot to mash big gears and make up time, at least for me.

This weekend I traded a race in perhaps the least scenic venue in the country for the natural splendor of Lake Casitas in Ojai, CA. The Ventura Convert Cross would open my 2010 west coast CX tour. After arriving here late Friday night, we headed up on Saturday to assist with course setup, as Rob's Judgement Velo/Trek Bikes of Ventura club co-hosts the event with the Successful Living team. Well the normally arid Ventura county got a few days of drenching rain, making some parts of the course a muddy mess. Just doing a few test laps pulled so much muck onto my frame that at one point the wheels simply locked up. I'm serious. "Peanut butter" does not adequately describe the consistency of mud. It was more like dog shit, without the smell. Not what I'd planned on. Saturday night I cleaned up the bikes and went to town with wax and other homebrewed mud repellents for the frames and our shoes. And during the night it rained more, hard.

Sunday though, on the short drive up to Ojai the sun shown brightly. There was some snow on the peaks in the distance, but only at elevations over 5000 feet or so, and even that would disappear as the day went on. The wind was up, and things actually dried out rather quickly. We were again helping with setup and all though, so I never did get a chance to pre-ride and see how much it had changed. The 45+ was the second event of the day, at 10:30 am. There were 25 guys registered. I lined up second row, behind those who'd earned callups in the SoCal series. We had chip timing for this event, which is kind of cool, as your fastest lap time of the day gets published, neat for comparing fields. But with the course drying out, turning the sticky, velcro like mud of the morning into fast hardpack by afternoon, well, things just got faster. At least that is my story.

I did not get such a great start, getting edged off my line by a mountain biker no less. Then at the first turn onto the grass, which was wet, heavy, and uphill, I failed to execute my planned shift into the small ring. I'm a Shimano guy, but my west-coast bike is SRAM, and I did not have it down. This cost me a few spots. I think I was more than halfway back. After a minute or two of damage control, we exited the twisty grass onto the second of two fairly long sections of flat pavement, where I opened up the four-barrel and moved ahead. But then we 180'd onto some grass where, having not pre-ridden, I plowed myself into the deepest, wettest mud, well over the tops of the rims. Not exactly graceful, and surely burning more fuel than I'd have liked, I plodded along. At the muddy plunge into the the 180 and the stairs, where my wheels had stopped turning the day prior, I pre-dismounted and ran in order to protect the bike. It was pretty fast, but the mud had been dried and tamped to the point where riding the downhill and 180 was clearly more economical, if not a time saver as well, so I did that for the remaining laps.

The second lap went better. At this point I was still fairly close to the top five, but some guy rallied by me and rode away. The third lap was tough for me, but by then I'd figured out some good lines and had an excellent rhythm on the flowy course. Which was a good thing, as by now it was time trial time. The only company I had was lap traffic, both 55+ riders and single speeders, who just ride weird. I thought some of them were just warming up, as they ride slowly to rest for the difficult sections, where the have to ride super hard and fast in order to keep the gear rolling. Whatever. I'm passing, so if I'm in your way a second later, too bad. My grandparents did not brave the U-Boats and the icy Atlantic so that I could ride around in one gear at 40 rpm. They wanted a better life for me, with STI and a 27 cog out back. Thanks Grammy!

At the finish it turns out I was 8th, 1:37 down on winner Edwin Rambuski. So about a third of the way down in the field, same as at home. I'd been hoping for better on this course as it was pure power all the time, very heavy, perfect for me really. Without the first lap mistakes, and maybe a better warmup it could have happened. Did a cooldown ride out and back on Casitas Pass, then had lots of fun the rest of the day, many, many dogs at this race, but no beer. We stayed until the bitter end and did course teardown. Saw a Cyclocrossracing.com kit, sure enough it was Rob Kramer (he and Rosalie had four dogs with them) and we are set to do a ride down the coast on Friday. Maybe I'll have more pictures for another post. Thanks for reading.

Putney Conclusion

Hurdling the log run ahead of JimmyE (Svelte) and Mr Hamel (Joe's Garage). Yes I saw the thin rideable line on the right but at this point in the day the sideboard had not been pushed back so far and the right pedal hit it. Plus there was a stake lurking in there. So we ran.



Around the food table. Good place to recover. No close encounters with Benji or any other small, unattended humans this year.



Slaying the famous Putney runup with the proper around-the-head-tube shouldering technique. Photos and contact lenses courtesy of EyeFNBob

Where did we leave off? Don't remember, but I almost missed the start, ending up in the back of the field. Tried to take the wide line up the hill, but others could not hole the inside and drifted way out. This still got me into the right onto the grass on the inside, and that worked out for a few spots. But I was back there, and one dude proved difficult to get around. A gap opened. Then he bailed on the pump track, and I squeaked by. All the way around the cornfield to close the gap. Passed a bunch of guys in a group. That may have been on the second lap. Turns out they were 35+ backmarkers, and I was not as far up as I thought.

Spent the race in a group with Timmy, Jimmy English, and Ed Hamel. May have been other guests coming and going. I'd get away but then get reeled in when I tried to recover. Then Timmy went with me second wheel. So I went slow and he rode away. I knew this was a gamble as there were other guys up the rode and if we did a slow lap we'd really have our work cut out for ourselves to catch them. But I was suffering and the lap cards read 5 to go so I sat up and then sat on. Eventually Jimmy brought Timmy back, but never once did I take a pull on the long dirt road or in the cornfield.

With two to go (I think) somehow I got a small gap after the cornfield barriers, so I really drilled it. This got me to the road with nobody on my wheel, and I lit it up. By the top of the runup I'd rid myself of the group and it was time trial time. In the cornfield I reeled in a guy from the 45+ (there were lapped 55+ out there too, so it was confusing). Exiting the cornfield, up ahead I saw the black Hup United skinsuit of ...Baker. He is my number one Crossresults victim. He is not supposed to beat me. In fact, I not-so-secretly consider him to be my Grim Reaper. Chip is a good cross racer but he does not race road and could stand to lose a few kilos (that's free Nega-Coaching there dude). This was going to hurt. I'd been in solo attack mode for over five minutes, and now I'm sprinting up the dirt road. At the turn before the runup, I had his wheel, but was already throwing up in my mouth a bit from the effort. I run well though and had to give it a try. There are two lines up the runup. The right line was steeper and harder, but shorter and generally faster. The left line was longer but easier, and I could make it work for me. Flying up with my head down, BOOM! Little did I know my man Garabed from the 55+ was trudging up with the flashers on. End of progress. Chip remounted first, returning the favor of my victimizing him all season long. Good job. I slumped across in 11th, with tire tracks all over both arms and legs from race-long full-contact running up the cliff.

For an old times sake cooldown I bundled up and rode over to West Hill and up the old finishing hill from the road race. As I alluded to earlier, the Tour of the Valleys was a special 100k, single loop Spring classic road race back in the day. Today's riders are spoiled by nearly instant results and online reporting down to last place the very next day. Well racing in the dark ages was not like that. Very few races had finish cameras. Even those that did only picked and posted the top six or ten riders. If you were fortunate enough to place, you might see your name in fine print in the back of VeloNews a month later, gaining some notoriety. Putney was always different though, and with the slo-mo hilltop finish they'd pick and place each and every rider, with finish times. A few weeks later we'd get typewritten full results in the mail. Maybe I'll scan one and put it up soon.

The usual Putney hijinks of burritos, cider donuts, beer, and wool clothing expenditures in the shop ensued. The weather was awesome. We came, we raced, we saw, we heckled. Sorry this took so long. Thanks for reading

Putney and Old School blah blah blah

Better late than never. After getting all opened up at the 5k on Saturday, I even got out for a nice road ride that afternoon, surprisingly finding myself with time trial legs. Shut it down at 90 minutes rather than letting myself get carried away in the nice weather. Sunday I made the pilgrimage to Putney, taking the 128/2 route. On 91 north I had a flashback to my first trip to the Tour of the Valleys, which was in May of 1987 I think. It was a foggy morning, and as far as the eye could see (which wasn't very far), every car had a roof rack full of bikes. That was probably my first time witnessing a convergence of hundreds of bike racers on a location, the same location I was headed to today, the West Hill Shop off exit 4. The TotV, or simply Putney, was perhaps the original New Engand classic and arguably the best road race of its time. Nobody skipped it. One big loop. And no longer with us of course. I must have blogged about it before. More on this later.

The cx race has been around for a while too, long enough for G-Ride and Rooter and everyone else to talk about it as being "old school New England cross." For the record, the oldest courses were Plymouth North High, Wompatuck, Mansfield Hollow, Putney, Mt A, the Plymouth intermediate school, Pittsfield, and a couple of other central CT locations whose names escape me. The original "Cycle Smart" was at horse field next to some UMass dorms, but that did not come along until 89 or so. They are calling Putney 20th annual so I guess maybe it was not as old as Wompatuck and Plymouth. And though it started out at the shop on basically the same course we use now, for a time it re-located up to the top of West Hill Road itself, across from the Putney school. I think they may have done that because the original course was considered to "old school" at the time...

So exactly what makes an "old school New England" cross course? Jerry seems to think they were not "roadie" like he found Putney. That one makes me laugh. Who do you think cyclocross was started by anyway? Or mountain biking for that matter. In those days, if you raced bikes, no matter what kind, you raced road. Nobody had got a mountain bike as their first bike. So there. But it's not like the newer Verge series grass autobahns aren't better race courses. Ironically, one of the Putney elements G-Ride complained about, the "flow killer" set of barriers back in the cornfield, are one of the attributes the old course all had: a dismount every minute or two. Combine that with a few sections narrow enough to bottleneck any field of over thirty riders, some crude non-lumber hurdles, and throw it a runup steep enough that you need to use your hands to scale it and you have all the elements of a back-in-the-day New England cross course. I used to get so aggravated that course designers (including the still famous one) used to be like "we need a barrier here" if any section making up more that 20% of the course length could be ridden without dismounting. I called it the "sundial method." You see, mountain bike clipless pedals had not yet been invented, and dismounting/remounting was a very important and difficult to learn skill, giving huge reason for the old guard who generally promoted races (designing or consulting for course builders) to throw in lots of dismounting.

I got to the race early, riding a few test laps with the Cronoman before the first race started. Pretty much the same layout as always, although the "slippery slope" (lot of quotes today eh?) ain't nearly what it used to be. Not sure if they've cut it down or if it's just naturally been flattened by soil washing it's way down, but it's pretty tame these days. There was a time when it was a vertical plunge into a giant mudhole. At least that's how I remembered it. The cornfield though, that has not changed at all, nor the road or the big-assed runup. We skipped that in warmup. I have a theory that hitting the courses for a hard pre-rde is a BAD idea for an old dude like me. I need some kind and gentle spinning before that kind of work.

I had a PRO parking spot near the portos. Man it stunk. You guys need to change up your diets a little. Then Eyebob came by with some contact lenses for me to try. Buck was impressed that I retained an eye doctor just for installing race day vision. This was my first time ever wearing contacts. I'd even bought some new landscaper protective glasses at the Depot the night before, just for the occasion (saw my man Pimpin' Fred for the first time in 33 years too, but that's another story). With eyesight restored, I got on the trainer to finish my warmup, with parked next car Dick Ring giving me intel on how the earlier races were affecting the course. I got into my warmup a bit too much though, forgetting that there were not callups at this race, and that we'd be using the "old school" method of hanging out near the start for an eternity before the race if we wanted to be near the front.

Hey you know what? My flight is almost boarding. I will finish this later. Thanks for reading.

FS

I didn't get a table for the bike swap tonight, and can't be there on time anyway, but if you're interested in any of this stuff, or need anything else in particular, email me at jellysidedown at the gmail and I can arrange to be there later tonight. Thanks for shopping.


56 cm Scattante CX frame and fork with nice Shimano BR550 brakes, seatpost, Reynolds stem and bars $100
Tubular track wheelset with tufo tires. Campy Victory rims, Campy track rear hub with 126 axle. Have 120 axle. Includes 2 cogs $125
Assorted fixed cogs new and otherwise.
Old 57 cm Rossin setup as a single speed, ready for Ice Weasels $100
LG Yo Eddy frameset, broken big one inch fork but can be repaired (I think), has replacement fork in there, canti posts but has guides for hydraulic lines (not cables) make offer
MTB rim brake wheelset, XTR hubs, Mavic 517 rims, brand new Fire XC Pro tires ($80 value) $140.
42 cm Cinelli model 63 crit bars and 12 cm Cinelli track stem $80
9speed Ultegra STI levers, front is triple $100
9 speed Ultegra triple cranks and BB, both 170 and 175 $60 each.
Some other Ultegra 9 speed stuff brand new in box.
Some 8 speed cassettes NIB and near new.
Lots of other stuff

Get the AED

It's Thursday already, not enough time for proper reporting. In a nutshell, Saturday the Walpole Cami 5k, first 5k I've run in over two years. In 2008 I ran four of them, the slowest being an 18:55 and the fastest an 18:10 PR. With my 10k times this fall being 39+, I was worried about breaking 19. Course was certified but a really dumb layout, with a tight loop off the start that actually crosses itself? WTF? And then they sent the walkers off first! Got there late, no warmup, and all this may have had me go out nice and easy for a change. Not sure as I did not see a mile one marker. Mile two came up in around 12:11, just on track for a high 18. In the last mile there was some downhill and I finished up in 18:41, very satisfied. Sunday was the world famous Putney CX. Above we have the Cronoman and a little post race drama, captured courtesy of EyeBob. Will try to bang out a report later. Thanks for breathing.

Noho Report

From a racing standpoint, this past weekend's two races at Look Park in Northampton were more of the same for me. Nice weather, strong fields, finishes in or near the 20s. With the accuracy of the race predictor you gotta wonder why we even run the race. For Saturday it had me around 30th out of 82 pre-reg'd riders in the 45+. The ever important (if you listen to the pundits) starting grid would be arranged by Verge points, and I was assigned bib #32, narrowly making it into the fourth row of eight riders. Everyone behind us was lined up by order of registration.

The start chute was on grass. I wanted the edge, but being the last one called for this row, I ended up on the right. This was not so good but my start was nonetheless OK. Maybe my starts have gotten better, or maybe having everyone lined up in rough order of how well they've been doing just makes things more, well, orderly. After the first chicane we dumped on to the pavement and I tried to make my way left. I'd scouted a wide line through the muck at the end of the road. The runup was a cluster as always, but I think I managed well enough.

[Insert long story about all the silly details of the middle of the race here]

OK, there were a few things of note that I remember. It took until 3/4 of the way through the first lap for Soups to pass me. Not sure what was up with that. I was up in a group with Helicopter Matt Domnarski (Horst-Benidorm), who has been beating me this year, and Evil McKneivel (JRA) was not far ahead either, and these facts led me to believe I might be having a good race. The ever-present Derek Griggs (KHS) was right there too, along with a Noreast rider who turned out to be Charles Bourdages. He was worse of a bull-in-a-china-shop than me on the tight sections, but could throw out mad power on the straights. At one point Brian came out of the pit right into our battle, but I don't remember if I ever passed him. He soon rode away. Matt was leading our group most of the time. Once early on he was spinning a tiny gear the size of a teacup like the Marinara Boy Basso, making me think his shifter was broken or something, so I tried to pass. He fought back to the death, which I found weird, as we were headed for the pavement into the wind. Fine with me. There was no pressure from behind, and I did not think we'd be catching the guys up ahead (translation: I was close enough to my limit to be content sitting on).

Oddly enough, on the tight sections, the hurdles, and the runup I was having no issues staying in contact. I was running the sandpits, as riding it was not a high percentage play. So, cutting to the last lap, into the big runup those guys seemed to slow prematurely. I don't know why. I slipped by at the last second, and bolted up the left side of the hill. On top I rode as hard as I dared. Not looking back, as far as I know Derek came with me but the others fell back. In the last few turns Griggs passed me, and I followed around the last baseball diamond roundabout. Coming back to the pavement, a last minute check revealed I was still in the little ring. Through the last chicane I did a lot of shifter paddling, getting up to the 46 and over to the middle of the cassette. I think Derek may have been in his small ring all the way to the pavement, because when we got there he hesitated a second before standing up. I had already started my jump and went by him on the right to finish 19th, just 2:50 down on the winner.

At first I was very excited by this result, having broke the "three minute barrier" as well as beating the race predictor by more than ten places. However, I later learned that 15 of of 82 registrants had no-showed! So there were only 67 starters. Three good guys had crashed in front of us on the first lap too. With one out of six not starting, that would put my place on the race predictor closer to 24th. Subtract the crash victims and that makes par around 21st. And, time gaps at Noho are always small for some reason. More on that later. So not really a breakthrough, but a solid race.

Solid enough for me to be satisfied the pressure was off, and sit around the camper pounding beers with Timmy, Garabed, and a string of socialites who came by all afternoon. We stayed till the end, watching all the races, both heckling and encouraging. Timmy made chicken thighs with mushroom sauce that he served over spaghetti squash. This was living. Then we stayed over in nearby Greenfield as guests of man-about-town Jay McDonald (NCC) and his girlfriend Rachel, taking in a few more beverages at the People's Pint. Seems everyone has a story about losing race focus Saturday evening, and we were no different. Nothing too major though. I had a sweet potato and mushroom burrito and two pints of Farmer Brown Ale.

[Insert Sunday race story here, nearly the same as Saturday]

Maybe not exactly the same. The course was similar, but different. What sets the Noho layouts apart are that the turns down on the grass are all fast. There is none of the stop and go tight shit, even up top. The low tier is the fun part though, with almost everything being either a constant or increasing radius turn, which means non-awkward and high exit speeds. I had more trouble up top than on Saturday though, which required me to chase back on more in the fast parts. Once again it was me and Derek. Matt was further ahead. Andy Durham (CCB) let a huge gap open on the first lap, and so I made a slightly sketchy pass, leading him to return the favor and then some with a full-contact move in the fast gravel turn. Then he slowed down. I don't get it, as if he'd just let me by we'd have closed the gap to the rapidly disappearing train up ahead. By the time I got around him for good Matt and company had ten seconds. Sunday's legs weren't what Saturday's were, and I never really got on comfortably. Eventually Derek came around me and filled in the gap, but then he dropped his chain at the top of the runup (yes we were running it at this point in the day, when it was still quite loose, though Matt rode it successfully almost every time). In the end I crossed behind Matt in 24th, just 2:14 down on the leaders this time.

On Saturday, everyone who finished ahead of me had a bib number lower than mine, meaning they started ahead or beside me. On Sunday more of the same, except for Jimmy English (Svelte) who was wearing #76 meaning he started DFL. That is some ride. As for the small time gaps, I think it's just a fast course with no real bottlenecks, and the leaders tend to play cat and mouse due to the drafting nature of the layouts. So again a solid ride, but more or less a par performance. We hit the beer tent after for FREE and EXCELLENT High and Mighty Stout, capping the weekend off nicely. No pictures, what can I say, we relaxed and had fun. Thanks for reading.

Nega-Coach and the Senator Elect

Yes it's true, before moving into politics, Kelly Ayotte was a pretty decent bike racer. Here the newly-elected US Senator from New Hampshire gets some last minute racing advice from a then portly Nega-Coach at the Fitchburg Circuit Race. Somewhere around here I have a picture of her racing cross in a Team Bonk kit at Wompatuck. Nega-Coaching can help you succeed at more than just bike racing! Congratulations to Kelly, even if this is kind of like making it to the majors but then playing for the Yankees...

Canton Fall Classic 10k

Wait, I thought Canton was a cross race? Yes, Saturday, which was new, as in the past the bike race often conflicted with the Canton Fall Classic running race, which goes right by the cyclocross venue. In fact, in 2006, I was even dumb enough to race both of them on the same day. So enjoyable was that little adventure that the next year I attempted to repeat it but was thwarted by mysterious forces beyond my control. Probably for the best. In 2008 I think I skipped the CX race, and beginning last year it started cx Saturday, running race Sunday, solving my problem.

The Canton 10k is a big deal to me because I've probably done it more times than any other running race. The first time was 1993, my first 10k ever and the furthest I'd ever run in my life at that point. The course is relatively hilly, mostly down for two miles or so, then one big wall before more downhill to the low point in the third mile. 3.5 - 5 are mostly up, gaining quite a bit, culminating in a wall on Dedham Street right at the five mark. The last mile is false flat uphill, but it seems pretty easy and fast compared to the prior sector. In 93 my time was 48 something. I was at the peak of my bike racing career then, having won a few bigger (for me) races that season, but I was no runner. Then through the 90s I continued to dabble in running each fall, but opting for the 5k option at this race in the years I did it. That continued up until 2003.

In 2004 I must have started running more often, and since then I've made the 10k every October, save for the 2007 debacle. My best time was in 2008, when I was killing it in my sneakers. The history:

2009, 11th, 38:21
2008, 12th, 37:35
2007 missed it
2006, 17th, 40:27
2005, 12th, 41:43
2004, 27th, 44:27

The course is not certified, but it's exactly the same every year, and I've no reason to believe it isn't legit. With the hills it's not fast. Typically Canton only draws around 175 runners each for the 5k and 10k, which start together before taking divergent paths just after the one mile marker. This year they somehow more than doubled that, so good for them. The quality has been lacking though, with just a handful of really fast guys showing up, as evidenced by the not-so-fast times of my top 20 placings. The race is well run for the most part, but awards are always a totally disorganized shit show, dragging on for what seems like hours as runner after runner from 5k and 10k age group podiums goes up to the table, hears the speech about what the best prizes left are, then takes their time picking through envelopes and other goodies. Many people leave, and the fast "money" runners probably avoid the race for this reason. Too bad.

I almost did not go. My knee was feeling twingy on Friday, but during the cx race Saturday it was fine. When I got to Canton Sunday I felt good warming up, even though the 3/4 mile from where I parked to the race was all I did, save for a few strides waiting for the fun run to end and the races to begin. At the gun it's flat for about 1/2 mile before starting down the hill toward Ponkapoag. You're mixed in with the 5k runners, many of whom are fast school kids, so it's hard to tell how you're doing. Not that pacing is my strong suit. Plus, with the undulating nature of this course, splits are never close to even anyway. I hit the first mile in 5:53. The leaders were WAY ahead. Half of the twenty runners ahead of me turned off for the 5k.

Mile two was 5:57, I think, again mostly downhill. I knew this was too fast but it's downhill so I kept on truckin. On the wall I caught a kid in front of me even though I slowed down a lot. There were not a lot of footsteps audible around us. Pretty lonely actually. Mile three ends in a downhill but it still took 6:18, quite a drop. We bottomed out through some road construction, starting the rolling grind up Elm Street. If there was a mile four marker, I missed it. I knew I was going slow though, yet I still caught the kid (who had pulled away on the descent) again. This process then repeated itself on the next downward dip, and he held the gap this time. I was fading in mile five, same as last year. Onto Dedham street, the last hundred yards of mile five is the wall in front of the Colgate building. My split for miles four and five was 13:18, or 6:39s, a pretty bad plunge. This put me at 31:35 or so with 1.217 miles to go. I knew my stretch goal of sub-39 was in jeopardy, but I still had to try. And I felt pretty good in spite of really pushing it all the way to the end, but alas the clock was at 39:18 when I crossed. At least nobody caught me from behind. My closing pace must have been around 6:21, just over my race average of 6:20, so I couldn't have botched the pacing too badly.

Four seconds slower than at Dorchester, but on a much tougher course, in high winds, the day after a cx race. I'll take it. The minute I lost since last year, and the two since 2008 matches up pretty well with the 2 seconds/mile/pound theory, as I'm up a few from last year and a few more from the year before that. So one of my goals for November is to lose two kg. Any bets? I cooled down, helped myself to a bunch of take away foods, changed at my car, jogged back, and still had to wait at least forty five minutes for my turn at the prize table. I'd finished 10th overall out of 360 or so, first out of the 56 male 40-49 group (despite finishing behind a 50 y.o. and a 58 y.o., so much for this getting easier next year). When I finally got up there all the cash and supermarket gift certificates were gone, but I managed to score a $25er to Tri-Town Discount Liquors, which should be good for a quartet of 22's. Thanks for reading.

Canton Cup CX

No pretty pictures from this one. Maybe something will turn up. Canton is sort of the hometown cx race for me, being only six miles or so from home, and less than two from work. I like this race, but maybe I've looked at it with rose-colored glasses because it's close to home. Or maybe now that I've had a chance to get used to the structure and organization of the big races (I've done five doubles already this season!), the missing attention to detail at races like this one is starting to bug me. Don't get me wrong, I still like its long, fast course with lots of pavement, but for $30 (x 400 riders) I think a timing service for full results, proper staging, and MUCH better course security are warranted. Maybe next year.

This event also sports a 3/4 Master 45+ instead of the standard 1-4. Kind of weird. But good for me, I guess. The race predictor had me 16th for this one. I thought I could do better, especially since I actually rode my bike twice this week. To further my cause, I broke my rule about never working on my cx bike. Deciding that having brakes that could actually slow me down might somehow help me ride around the course faster, at 8 PM Friday night I commenced to install new Swiss Stop pads in my aging Froglegs. The rears went OK, but since I'm a perfectionist (just because I hate working on bikes doesn't mean I'm a half ass), and my kitchen lacks a bench grinder, hand-filing the cable housings and all that (like drinking a Corsendonk) pushed it out to around 10 pm by the time I started working on the fronts.

This proved to be a pain in the ass, and the alloy pad holder on one side just wouldn't adjust and stay put. So I went to take it apart, and SNAP. The P.O.S. was all seized, and now it's busted. Fuckin' aye. Up to the bike room, rummaging through the junk bins eventually yields a pair of LX MTB cantis, the low profile kind. Well they have to work. I know they are not good with drop bar levers, so I set them up with the pads WAAAAAYYYYY out, and low and behold, they seem to be OK. Maybe that would have been my photo. I finished everything up about 12:40. Fuck.

Saturday I got to the race at 0900, getting on the course before the first event. Part two of my plan was committing to run a file tread on the front. I've been training on it all week (a pure file, no side knobs) and had confidence. With all the pavement here, and the tight sidewalk, I felt giving something up on the grass would be more than offset by gains on the pavement. Of course, I did not have one glued up for the rear. This year's layout was faster and bumpier than in the past, but there were no deal breakers as far as changing my tire plan. I rode as fast as I could around the corners, testing them by pulling the foot out Tim Johnson style. BTW, I realize riding no gloves is all the rage this year, with the Nine Ball Diaries surely being responsible for this, no matter what anyone tells you. Well, I consider gloves important safety equipment, and I wear them all the time. Long fingers and short sleeves. Sue me. Putting the foot out though, watch Tim, he does that all the time too. So screw you.

I tried a Michelin Jet on the rear, but it was underinflated and I was sliding all over the place. For the race, I compromised and put my aging red "slicker than owl shit" Tufo on the back. My logic was that it's sort of like a file tread, not as knobby as my Fango anyway. And I'm not an embro guy either, having made it 25 years without using ANY lotions, oils, butt lube creams, etc, but I won a bottle of Freddy's Choice warming oil at the Rehoboth TT, and I've been slapping some of that shit on my legs for good luck. Hasn't hurt yet. And so ends my intensive prep for this race. I got all of two minutes on the trainer before realizing it was 10:45 and I'd better go hang out next to the starting line and prepare for the rumble/clusterphuck. But I ended up second row anyway. Whatever.

On the whistle I got out pretty decently. Maybe I'm racing in a slower crowd or something, but my starts seem to have improved. At least I'm getting close enough to the front that there's some room to move. This being a 3/4 race, with no 4 only masters category on top, probably had something to do with that. I went into the woods in around 10th. Even more encouraging, it was a very tight line and the leader was just ten bike lengths ahead. This is something I'm not used to. But it would not last.

Down the sidewalk and over the barriers, so far so good. Into the twisties I was still on John Grenier's (Fuji) wheel, but then on the second 180, about halfway through, I dug in the left pedal and immediately ate shit. Luckily Chip and the other two guys close behind me went around rather than over me. I got up quickly, with only the three of them getting by, but I'd jambed my thumb really bad in the fall (but didn't break it, thank you full gloves). And of course crashing and scrambling up generally pushes one closer to his limits. I did not get back to the line of riders in time to draft on the running track, or the autobahn straight that comes later. Actually I don't think I got a second of draft off of anyone after the first half lap.

So this would not be the race of my life. The laps were fairly long, so we expected to do only four, and that was how it worked out. I worked back up to Chip and company on the pavement, but then the Paul Weiss (Portland Velo) caught me from behind. The next three laps would end up being a battle between me and him, as gaps opened in front and behind us. Tom Stevens told Paul from the sidelines he was 13th, which made me 14th. I tried hard to drop him on the second lap, but he was firm, and he passed me going through the short barriers. On the third lap I just stayed behind him as best I could, trying not to make any mistakes. I was kind of torn about chasing after the next guy (Doug Aspinall (Joes) I think, and focusing on beating Paul. I chose the latter, staying back until the end of the sidewalk section, then attacking up the little rise into the short barriers. Getting through there well, I charged around the gravel corral, but in the twisties he was coming back. I did NOT want to tow him around the track, so I attacked HARD on the short bumpy straight into the hairpin that led back toward the runup. I held several bike lengths lead and nailed the clip in and screwed down the track before he got a chance to catch the draft. Aspinall looked like he was coming back to me but on the homestretch he disappeared and even got scored ahead of Geoff McIntosh, so maybe he caught him. Anyway, I got 13th.

Afterward I cooled down and watched the 35+, and Mary came by with her two new puppies to spectate, but I was still on the trainer and never got a chance to chat. My man Dee from way back also came to spectate, as well as Il Brucie, and we took time to heckle the twin towers Gewilli and Trackrich mercilessly before high-tailing to Napper Tandy's for some post-race nourishment. Thanks for reading.

Downeast CX Day 2

Chasing Hamel into the barriers. Full left unclipped step-through and downtube grab for high uphill barriers. And no, I never practice.

Before I completely forget. After missing my callup on Saturday, I made sure that didn't happen. By Sunday I'd slipped far enough in Verge points to only be third row, but there was an empty slot in row two that I helped myself to. Only problem was that I'd only been around this layout twice, and there were a few spots I wasn't comfortable with. Well, not exactly the only problem. On the whistle I thought I was racing well, but so was everyone else, or so it seemed. My slide backward started early, like 1/4 of a lap in. The little off camber after the woods (not the big one with the barriers) gave me some trouble. Then I'd been warned about a slick spot over by the pumpkin barn, but I wasn't sure exactly where it was supposed to be, so I was too cautious over there too.

On the pavement I was OK again. Wayne Cunningham (Wheelworks) was not having a great day either and I ended up chasing him. Then on the third of five (or six?) laps, for the first time this year I was caught by the 55+ leaders, Timmy Groesbeck (CCB) and Ed Hamel (Joes Garage?), who had started 1:00 behind us. I let them through right away, figuring they'd pull me up to Wayne. But they seemed to slow down. I sat there and recovered, but then it was like "hey, he's getting away!" I had no choice but to ride around them and start chasing. They did not seem to mind, but I did not want to interfere with there race either. Having just had a half lap of recovery, I reeled Wayne in and passed him. But, as could be predicted, when I took a secret outside line along the tape in the twisties (there was tight grass there, and slick mud on the inside) he tried to come back around, and dumped it. The two 55+ did not get caught up in it though, and the three of us rode away. After one hard pull up the pavement and beside the cow barn, I waved them through again.



Here the Cronoman battles the ever present Cunningham on Saturday.


On the last lap I had five to ten seconds on Wayne. No 45+ were in sight ahead, I don't think. But Hamel tripped on the logs and fell. Tim rode away. I just followed, but Wayne pressed hard in the final half lap. So I rode safely until the asphalt and then lit it up, finishing up about 3:50 behind the 45+ winner, in 27th once again. We stuck around for all the later races too. You've seen some of the pics already. Thanks for reading.



Robin is an Adam fan, so she was really glad we stuck around to see the old guy spank the kids and get his first ever UCI CX win. And he's sportin' the Verge balls and schlong contrast stitching too, just like the new BOB kits.

Peoples

Robin and the Fortinis.



Solobreak, with Paul Weiss on this side of the camera for a change. He kicked my ass both days (for a change!) too.



JRA Brian, aka Evil McKneivel, and Robin.



The Cronoman and the lovely Ms. Hansen are hat models.



Pineland and Solo at sunset.

Downeast CX Day 1

There's no substitute for cubic inches. Your hero opens up the throttle to put some distance between himself, Derek, and Chip.

Since I didn't do so well, this might start off as a different sort of race report. If you were there, you might be bored. This is for those who missed it. Downeast was awesome. All the amenities of a Verge series race, but with only about half the people, in a huge and relaxing farm setting. The course was fantastic. Just about every surface you could imagine was included: heavy farm grass, groomed lawn grass, tacky mud, slippery mud, gravel, hardpack, pavement, concrete, and even little bits of sand and cow shit. I thought it was pretty Euro, especially the pasture and the 300+ meter paved incline that's missing from so many of our races. And there was some elevation change, but all of it was swoopy up and down for that roller coaster/berm-shot feel. On the Friday pre-ride, before the grass had been broken in, the course seemed sure to be heavy and slow, but after a few thousand laps of tamping, I ended up doing both days entirely in my 46T big chainring.



The weather was awesome on day 1, crisp and clear.



Me and Derek Griggs (KHS) seem to find each other every race this year. He told me I'm his top Crossresults nemesis.



Robin got another chance to race East-coast CX, doing the double in the 3/4 women. Big fields and cooler temps were a welcome change! Photo by Don McEwan

So like I mentioned yesterday, I started near the back. On the pavement I thought I did OK, but then at the first little roller coaster dip someone from ECV had a foot down for some reason and I got pinched. Then on the loose gravel behind the fire truck garage there was a sprawling crash, pretty much blocking the course. Great start. Not. Chip was right in front of me, but he moved up smartly for four or five spots while I got frustrated for most of first lap. This was my first race with not just one, but two Challenge Fangos gifted to me by Soups. They were better than my old tires, but my real problem is my bike doesn't fit me so well. The combination of short, 42 cm chainstays, HUGE setback, 15 mm too-long-for-me top tube and generous fork rake leave me with way too much rear weight bias. I've got the saddle almost slam-forward, and a 100mm stem, so my pedaling position is pretty close to my road bikes, but with no weight on the front wheel I just can't turn this thing on gravel or slippery stuff. At least that's my story. I've been chasing a new bike for a while now, but that's another frustrating tale, and it looks like I'll be on this sled for a bit more yet. I know, excuses...

On the pavement, as we see up top, I moved up. I may be a little (cough) heavy right now, and losing fitness, but I still found a turn of speed when I needed one. Eventually I settled in to a race-long battle with Derek, who just wouldn't go away. I'm not sure if we reeled in many riders or not, as sometimes it's difficult to tell who is a 55+ being lapped and who is just coming back in the 45+. In the end I crossed in 27th (I think 45 starters), a full 4:00 down on the winner. Not what I'd hoped for, but I honestly felt good the entire race, no dead laps, and I was digging for speed on all the power sections beginning to end. This was a real sprint workout for me. The only rest sections were in the tight turns, and the rest was out of the saddle, don't let up stuff. That's all I got today, enjoy the pictures, thanks for reading.

You write the caption

???

Solo and the announcer profilin' at, where else, the start/finish.

So it began

Pro tip: It's not a good sign when you're back there with the guys wearing full leggings and off-the-rack bike shop jackets.

We've got lots of media from the past weekend's racing, but not a lot of time today, so I'm going to feed this to you in byte-sized pieces. Saturday, my two lonely Verge Series points should have had me starting in the second row, but once again I wandered off to irrigate the pasture and missed my callup. Back of the group for you! Too bad, as we'd gone up on Friday and ridden six laps of the course, plus I got in two more the morning of the race. Of course on Sunday, I did start second row, but had only been around the new layout twice, and did not exactly have it dialed... But that's a story for later. Thanks for reading.

The King of Style

Lots of cool shit happened this weekend, but finally meeting up with The King of Style has to be some of the coolest. Ted and his bro were spotted spectating at Downeast CX on Sunday. In case you missed it, Mr. King signed with Liquigas earlier this month, Pro Tour baby, and there was much rejoicing. Thanks for the photos Ted!

Douching it up in Dot

Post race festivities with Les, Angel, and some poor girl unfortunate enough to be in our vicinity when the camera came out.



These are for Jonny, because he disses running so much.

No cross for me this weekend. Three reasons: I had stuff to do, I needed a break, and I'm not a muddah. And it was time for the Boston Firefighters 10k on Sunday. Last year my mate Les, an almost-retired firefighter from Chelmsford turned me on to this race and the magnificent after party. Florian Hall, headquarters of the BFD Local 718 is home to many great running races, but this one is the best of the best. Lots of races give you a free "beer" afterward (usually a cup of Coors Light...) but how many have you two-fisting Sam's Octoberfest for three hours after crossing the line? This one does. And we did. As you can see, the band has gone home, the parking lot is emptying, and we're...

Oh yeah, the race. This is a super flat and super fast 10k out and back, straight up Morrisey Boulevard, around UMass, and back. Around 800 runners turned out, many of them firefighters, but with both the pub series final and the Bay State marathon going on the same day, not a ton of serious club runners come out for this one. Which is fine with me. I've been running at least twice a week, but my fitness has been in a steep decline of late, for various reasons. Darkness, burnout, non-athletic activities... you know how it is. And nearly all my running has been on the steep, rocky trails of the Blue Hills this year, not exactly speedwork. I've only run one race this fall, the Walpole 10k where I opened the season with a 41:05. Now last year, on zero training, I put in a 42 something at Walpole yet roared back for a 38:49 at the BFD10k, in the pouring rain. So I really had no idea how this would turn out. My plan was to go out at 6:25-6:30 and see what happens.

I did not get in a great warmup, and my second PB&J of the morning was probably one too many. Not only that, but since it was 38 degrees when I got up, I expected chilly weather and only brought a long sleeve jersey to run it. Well it warmed up a lot by 10, but at least the wind was coming off the water pretty good. After meeting Les, I cued up near the front and off we went. I had almost twenty runners in front of me, and it felt pretty easy, but then I noticed Brendan Lynch (HFC) was leading, but really not very far ahead. This indicated I may be running too fast, so I slowed a little. After a half mile things opened up, but my HR was still only 140, so I held my pace. The first mile came up in around six flat. Hmmm. maybe too fast. Feeling OK, I did not slow down much, and before long my HR was 150. Then 154 as mile two passed in 6:14. Now I was worried. If my HR got to 157, I slowed a bit. Some of the other runners had faded and now things were spread out. Entering the UMass campus, I found myself in a three way battle with the lead woman and the lone wheelchair racer.

On one side of the school there was no wind and it got warm. The loop is totally flat. The third mile was 6:22 and now we were going straight into the wind. The wheelchair dude was bumming at this point. I drafted off anyone I could, but back on the boulevard mile four had taken 6:28. This was still keeping the HR at 157 or less, but now with two miles to go I figured I could run it up a bit more. Mile five was 6:21. It's all flat, so not much to talk about here. One dude did come from behind and pass me. By staying on him a bit I dropped the wheelchair and the lead woman. But then I got dropped. Too bad, as he reeled in at least one more guy. My HR was 160+ now, and I was doing my best to find some turnover. I've had a nasty blister on one foot all season too, and now it was hurting. They had a mile six marker and that came in 6:22 as well, then I think I fell apart a bit in the final .217. Crossed the line with an official time of 39:14, so 25 seconds slower than last year, 11th overall. I think this works out to a 6:20 pace.

I was not as wrecked as normal post-race, so maybe I didn't try hard enough, or maybe I just metered my energy better and did not have to die a thousands deaths the entire second half like I usually do. Les came in at 46 something I think; he only got beat by one woman with a baby jogger. She was no match for him at he beer truck though. His buddy Angel from the New Bedford FD (kneeling in front, top pic) kicked my ass with a 38:30 but since the firefighters get their own awards, I still got 3rd in the 40-49. Thanks for reading.

Providence and Gloucester

Gewilli and Solo going by the pit on lap two. I will write this up later. Photo courtesy of JLS

Well I guess I never even wrote up Gloucester. Here is the reader's digest version: Day 1, downhill start, 5th row middle on the grid, got to the right edge of the pavement, taking the inside high line onto the off-camber dirt. Well, apparently someone else had an idea of inside that was more inside than mine, and I got cleaned out as he squeezed by. Getting your bars walloped from behind just as you hit sloping gravel at speed buys you a quick ticket to the ground. Lucky for me none of the 40 guys bearing down from arears ran me over too badly, and I even got up and remounted before they all passed. But so much for a good start. I don't recall too many other details, other than making decent forward progress for a while and then tangling with my teammate the Cronoman, who races me harder than anyone else. That was dirt trip number two if you're keeping score. At the end I got caught by a back-from-an-earlier-tangle-with-somebody Helicopter Matt D. Going for the big ring after the last chicane I could not get the chain to jump up, so instead I executed plan B and paddled the rear changer to the 12. And of course the front then decided to go up to the 46. At the time I did not realize what had happened, and the gear was so big it felt like the rear wheel had popped out and was rubbing the chainstays. I could barely turn it and in the last hairpin on to the pavement I'm thinking "how did that happen with vertical dropouts?" which of course it did not, but that's the sort of thing that goes through my mind during moments like this. So I got nowhere near Matt in the sprint, and ended up 29th on the day, which really wasn't bad for two crashes and a 78 rider starting field. I was 4:10 down on the winner though, nothing to be proud of. Spent the rest of the day drinking beer with Timmy, Crono, some other mates, and of course Paul Nixon. Guess I remembered more than I thought. It's coming back to me now. At Gloucester, the beer tent (which was more of a corral to contain the area where beer sales were licensed for the day) is situated in such a way that all you could see was the run-up. If they really want more people to hang around, they should a) make it much bigger, and b) put it over on the edge of the hill where you can see everything, and c) put a big screen in there. Or something like that.

Day 2 at Gloucester at least we started uphill. I should have been in the third row, but they announced "six minutes to staging" and I went to do one little sprint and came back to find five rows already staged. It was a total shit show; they may as well have just done the traditional rush to the line. On the gun I just rolled up the inside, then did the "second sprint" to move up a few places entering the grass. In the video you can see I come through 41st, so not a horrible start by my standards. I thought I had a good ride, but I don't remember much at all at this point. In the end I was again 29th, after a mad sprint finish against Bill Thompson (Keltic) which I proudly took from the front by delaying as long as possible and then matching his jump, almost like I knew what I was doing. Same result by placing, but this time only 3:12 back from winner, which is more like it.

I did not race at Night Weasels. But just in case I did, for Providence I registered for the 35+ on Saturday, and the 45+ on Sunday. My logic was after a rough week at work and a late Wednesday of Weaseling, the extra hour on Saturday morning would come in handy. Plus the 35+ has the course all to themselves, so it's a more legit race, not to mention having Gewilli and Shah-Bow for company. In the end, I barely recognized anyone on the start list for the Weasel, and it was cold and rainy Wednesday night. I even got as far as working from the Framingham office in order to be closer to the event. At 5 pm however, sitting in my car in the parking garage, staring at the gas guage on "E" and thinking about driving home at midnight with a muddy bike and clothes, the Should I stay or should I go decision was to just drive home. Night Weasels was by young people for young people, and I'm old people. It was the correct decision...

Thursday I even found time to ride my road bike for 45 minutes, my first ride since Sunday. Friday was another busy day at work (new chain of command), but I forced myself onto the trainer for the first time this fall for "openers" which meant a little pedaling just to prevent rigor-mortis. Saturday I had some errands to run, which I did on the way to the race. Pressed for time, I checked out a lap of the course wearing a helmet and street clothes. Then the 45+ went off, leaving Timmy's trainer vacant, so I got kitted and warmed up, a little anyway. Somehow I got to start in the second row, right next to Markie Mac. My plan was to give it a try, but slide back to where I belonged early on, as the 35+ are much faster than the 45+ (even though the two out of the top three guys are over 45). Sure enough, by the time we hit the second turn, the only one behind me was Gewilli, and I think he passed me too. I was really trying to just follow Chabot, as he's pretty smooth and fast, but weak enough that I should be able to use the straights to close any gaps.

Some riders started falling by the wayside with bike issues early on. They should try my strategy of hardly ever letting tools and bikes get near each other. Up on the nasty top part of the course, Gewilli had the back wheel of his bike flopping back and forth like the tail of a beached mermaid. Mofo is not easy to follow. He got away by a few spots, but once we got back to the pavement, completing lap one, Shah-Bow had a line of about six guys behind him. As if he has a motor. Sensing the urgency of the situation, Willi blasted up the side to the aid of his team mate and hit the front. It was kind of touching and impressive in an elementary school play kind of way, seeing the kids work together in their little matching suits. But now I had six bodies between me and the only two guys I cared about racing against, so I was forced to leave the comfort of the pack and mover around everyone to get behind them before the grass. Which I did, and I think the pic above was snapped shortly after that. Not sure where Shah-Bow is, but I'm thinking he moved back in front. It was right after this that I made the "he's like a Subaru Justy" comment. That came to mind because it's a 3 cylinder, and he wasn't exactly hauling, but perhaps Fiat X1/9 would be more like it, good handling, no motor. Mostly I was just trying to heckle them in a calm voice to demonstrate contrast from Willi's gasping for air.

I believe we completed another lap without anyone really challenging our train. Then at the start of lap 3, Matt M came by us, apparently coming back from a tire issue. Knowing he was younger/stronger/faster than the clowns I was with, I jumped on his wheel, hoping for a tow to the promised land. We got through the 180 by the pits smooth and faster than I usually go, which of course took us to the next turn, a high-speed 45 degree off-camber left-hander around a tree, much faster than I was planning on taking it. Matt used up ALL the course, bobbling a bit on the exit as he flirted with the tape. Well, I was not so fortunate, and basically careened out wide, taking a stake with the front wheel just as it was sliding out from under me. Relatively heavy impact, but it was soft ground and I held the bars all the way down (that is how you keep your clavicle from getting busted). With Chabot on my wheel, I immediately went fetal and waited for the aftershock, but he did not hit me that hard. He was able to get up and take off fairly quickly. I lay there stunned for a second before getting to my feet and rolling away. Being pretty close to my limit just before the crash, I was now totally blown from the impact. And I had to stop and straighten my shifter, which Jerry must have landed on or something. Giving desperate chase, I was way into the red and tripped on the stairs, dropping the chain of the bike in the process. Everything going from bad to worse. It took a clumsy and slow half a lap for me to regain my composure, eventually passing a rider or two and getting maybe 15 seconds behind Gewilli. I got to two to go and heard them saying the leader had 1 to go while I was riding up the hill behind the pavilion. Taking a last minute run at Willi on the final lap was on my mind, even though it was a longshot. But then they pulled us entering the final straight! Huh? I was like WTF Kinnen, we're not lapped, and she says "80% rule." Well I'll be damned. To the uninitiated, this is a rule where if you're 80% of the leader's lap time behind, you're all done, even if you're not actually lapped yet. This was the first time I'd seen it used in an amateur event. Never had taken the time to understand it before, as it only applied to the pro race. So I looked it up, finding it contains an exception for when the leader is on his/her final lap, which in this case they were. So it would seem the rule was mis-applied in our case, as we were taking the bell at the point we got pulled from the race. The next time the leader crossed (about a minute later) his race was OVER AND WON, meaning of course we were not in any danger of being lapped, which is the reason for the last lap exception. Hopefully the officials learned something from our protest and see it our way in the future... At any rate, I still got in 45 minutes and five laps, which is all I would have got in the 45+ race had I done that, so with a race on Sunday coming up, I took this in stride. We stayed in the park and drank beer while watching the other races all afternoon. A true ritual.

Sunday I was in the 45+ where I belonged, which meant getting there a little earlier. The layout was another familiar Roger Williams Park course, with some sketchy narrow sections fenced off to facilitate using as much of the park as possible. Again I got to start in the second row, as my lonely two Verge series points earned me a call up. This time I was behind Carl Reglar (Danbury Audi). On the whistle he missed his pedal, but I managed to get to the left (inside) and make a fair sprint to the grass. After two turns and I'm looking around and the guys I'm with are all the people who've been finishing minutes ahead of me all year, so I guess this was a good start. Probably my best ever. Into the chicane I'm clusterphucking the inside line around the fencing and this dude from Beacon Cross takes exception, body checking me into the fence. Whatever, as I'm pulling a dick move, but if I don't do it someone else will. So on the next fence pole, I do it again, and this time the guy gets really pissed, slam-chopping me again. Kind of silly as I think it cost him time, so I guess he wanted to make a statement. Turns out he was the guy who won the 45+ race on Saturday. He rode off and I never saw him again. But I must have had a really great start to be up that far!

The turn where I bailed on Saturday was also part of the course on Sunday. During warmup, I'd had Saturday's 35+ winner, 51 year old national champ and ex-ISDT pro Kevin Hines give me a riding lesson. Thank you Kevin, this was a big help, and I got through there clean as a whistle every lap. I found myself in a train with Brian McGinnis (JRA), Dave Belknap (Cycle Lodge) and a few others. Like I said, guys who have been ten spots ahead of me all year. I struggled with the lines in a few sections but for the most part it was the same as last year so it was not too bad. I stayed with these guys for two laps. It looked like we were going to do six. One by one these guys trickled by me, and then going up the pavilion slog I got gapped off. Seems maybe my Saturday recovery strategy of nothing but beer between my pre-race meal and 6 pm fish tacos was catching up to me. Classic middle of the race bad patch, and the group rode away. Bob Bisson (Gearworks) and a few other guys came by from behind too. Prior to the slide, someone had said I was 18th. With about two to go I got a bit of a second wind, and by now I had the course figured out better. Soups was still in sight in front of me, but I had Keith Button and Andy Durham (both CCB) breathing down my neck. I realized that downshifting more was better, as I couldn't muscle the climbs as easily as on the first lap or two. With one to go my goal was to hold off Keith, so I started really sprinting out of every corner, then recovering going in to avoid mistakes. This worked out well, as did my 36x27 on the steep ride up, and I held him off, finishing 19th, just 3:01 down. I guess several guys ahead of me had issues and dropped out. My mate Billy C had crashed heavily behind me somewhere, cracking a rib or two. Wonder if it was the same one he broke when I fell on him in May 2009? Heal up dude.

After a cooldown ride we focused on draining the cooler. We had a number of special guests stop by our campsite. I promised someone, whose name I don't recall, that I would pimp Phit Pills on the blog, so there you go. Today I got to ride my road bike. And Gewilli gave me some sauce to eat, maybe tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

Gloucester Tease

No time for a meaningful post, so I may just trickle out some great images from the weekend to try to tell the story with pictures for now. Here is your hero on the finish hill, day 2, courtesy of Nick at bicykel.com Thanks for viewing..



The pavilion turn, day 1.Courtesy of Nick at bicykel.com.



Battling Wayne C, early day 2.Courtesy of Nick at bicykel.com .



Day 1, hurdle pain, eagle face.Courtesy of Nick at bicykel.com.



Chicane action, unclipping, day 1.Courtesy of Nick at bicykel.com.



Hurdles, day 2.Courtesy of Nick at bicykel.com.



Hurdles, day 1.Courtesy of Nick at bicykel.com.



Off-camber concentration, day 2.Courtesy of Nick at bicykel.com.