tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45657776101341538552024-03-13T01:30:06.831-07:00Miscellaneous Mexlerwerkstapping into the psyche of meAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.comBlogger138125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-11274101668445657192012-03-12T21:14:00.000-07:002012-03-12T21:14:00.082-07:00I Want it AllI've always enjoyed riding my bike, and in the last 10 years I've made it more of a priority to ride said bike, whatever bike that may be at the time. I like to say my favorite bike is the one I'm on. What's mildly funny to me is that many people think <i>all</i> I do is ride and race mountain bikes, which couldn't be further from the truth. For the last many moons I've done a majority of my training on the road bike, mixing in specific MTB efforts and intervals at key times in the race season. This has proved beneficial since I've been able to achieve most of my MTB goals over the years.<br />
As I continued to log the road miles I found myself becoming ever more enamored by all things road, to the point that I really wanted to commit to doing more road racing. As it turns out, however, one can't effectively train for both road and mountain, and do really well in both. This has afforded me a certain luxury of not <i>needing</i> to do well in the road events I've done, using them more for race fitness than palmares. But still, it left me wanting.<br />
Alas, a modicum of pride prevented me from moving on before having a semi-substantial result on my MTB goals check list. To that end, one goal that has eluded me was the Indiana state series Elite XC title (loyal readers will also recall my oh-so-close-to-winning-MTB-nats 2008, but I already <a href="http://mexlerwerks.blogspot.com/2008/07/so-close-ever-so-close.html">wrote about that</a>). After a few years of series podiums I quietly told myself at the beginning of last season that if I won the series title I would focus solely on road events for 2012.<br />
Naturally, the first MTB race of the season saw me contract some insane virus that clipped my ticker to finish a rough 11th place. Crap! One race in and my season goal was all but shot. Given one's two lowest races in the series points were thrown out I still had a chance, but that meant no room for error if I was to skip the last race of the year as I traditionally had in years' past. To add insult to injury, the second race of the season saw me have a near head-on collision at a 2-way spot on the course. Left chasing, I managed seventh but missed painfully valuable series points. At that point, I had mentally thrown in the towel. I set about the rest of the season to just have strong individual results.<br />
Turns out, I did. As one of my annoyances of the series, one can do trail work or other advocacy to gain bonus points to make up for race deficiencies. While I appreciate the trail work that results from this, I don't really feel a series champion should be decided on whether one did trail work. That being said, everyone has the same rules so I did trail work AND raced strong, thus winning the series title.<br />
So, yeah, I want it all, but rather than wanting it all right now I guess my age has provided me with a bit more patience to understand that work is required to attain goals, and sometimes that work takes a few years. That, and since I still like riding bikes I kinda enjoy the journey and experience of NOT getting every goal every time. Feel free to Insert cliche'd quote about savoring victories only after experiencing defeat, but bitter defeat sure does make victory taste pretty freaking sweet.<br />
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So with that, I'm out.<br />
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-the Mexler<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-70900728435028634652011-06-26T20:12:00.000-07:002011-06-26T20:12:12.499-07:00Enjoy the SilenceWhat started out as a brief hiatus turned into full-blown blog writer's block. Try as a I did I couldn't get a creative idea substantial enough to be a post to pop in to my noggin. I suppose one could "blame" Twitter, what with it's 140 character forced brevity, but realistically I just was at a loss. The way I look at it Twitter is a Tourette's-like media that in rare instances can be not humorous, and blogs allow for a more long form narrative.<br />
While I don't have the desire, nor you likely the time, for a full blown run down of the goings-on of the last year, I'll try to hit the highlights:<br />
I 'got lost' and got lost on some decent Arizona single track:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Me0zhwL9JoU/TgfhBiuBqcI/AAAAAAAAAx4/SI28wVi7mYo/s1600/2010-06-30+19.25.41_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Me0zhwL9JoU/TgfhBiuBqcI/AAAAAAAAAx4/SI28wVi7mYo/s320/2010-06-30+19.25.41_small.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Photo cred: me</i></div>Pressed for time I zigged when I should have zagged and ended up on the wrong side of the canyon with no daylight and a foggy-at-best memory of where I wanted to be. Given there was no cell coverage (and thus no Google Maps on my phone) I forged ahead where I thought I should go and survived. It was fun.<br />
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I raced my MTB:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gQ5_sIfznWA/TgfzU0lCa4I/AAAAAAAAAyY/5uoj4ikwWtU/s1600/East+fork+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gQ5_sIfznWA/TgfzU0lCa4I/AAAAAAAAAyY/5uoj4ikwWtU/s320/East+fork+02.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Photo cred: Jeffrey Jakucyk</i></div>I won a few races, didn't win a few races, won the Short Track title in Indiana for the 3rd time in a row, had an all around solid MTB year.<br />
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I raced my CX bike:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j-u2Rg9gr0w/TgfrPAM5ZNI/AAAAAAAAAyU/aA0LF5clRx0/s1600/Sun+2_wp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j-u2Rg9gr0w/TgfrPAM5ZNI/AAAAAAAAAyU/aA0LF5clRx0/s320/Sun+2_wp.jpg" width="263" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Photo cred: mountaingoat_99 (flickr)</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"> A semi-nationwide tour saw me in Cincinnati, Louisville, Madison, Chicago, Portland and Bend. Had a really good season for the smaller races but sucked hind tit in the USGPs. That blew.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">I put on a CX race: Along with Ryan and Don, I put on BloomingCross 2010. Thanks in no small part to Barry Wicks from Kona Factory Racing, we had about 30% more people attend this year's race. I have to say he is quite simply one of the coolest cats out there. At the USGP following my race, he almost rolled past me when I was warming up but stopped and talked to me for a solid 5 minutes. He easily could have just said "hey" but no, not the coolest cat out there! </div><br />
I sold my house: I finally sold my house in Columbus which could not have happened any later - you see, after looking at about 15 - 20 less than 'ideal' houses over several weeks I found myself bumping up against current rental house lease expiration. Alas, I found a great house that suits my needs and have signed agreements in place. All that's left is an inspection and signing my life away for the next 30 years. For what it's worth, by 'suits my needs' I mean 'has a 40 foot deep garage'.<br />
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With any luck I've got more words percolating in my noodle, so I hope you got to Enjoy the Silence while it lasted.<br />
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wait, I mean I hope you were waiting with baited breath while this block passed.<br />
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anyway, later.<br />
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-the MexlerAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-20375532587483597562010-05-18T20:04:00.000-07:002010-05-18T20:08:09.182-07:00World In My Eyes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I've been meaning to post a bunch of pics I've taken over the last few months for some time now, so enjoy.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S-izRhT-OLI/AAAAAAAAAvQ/Vvk4dE102pk/s1600/2010-01-09+14.53.29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S-izRhT-OLI/AAAAAAAAAvQ/Vvk4dE102pk/s1600/2010-01-09+14.53.29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S-izRhT-OLI/AAAAAAAAAvQ/Vvk4dE102pk/s320/2010-01-09+14.53.29.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">This is a picture from a ride we did in January where we ended up on Lake Monroe. An by on, I mean ON. The posts you see used to be a 'road' that appeared to be reclaimed by the lake. The thin ice I was standing on tipped me off to that. I turned around.</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S-iz1zk65nI/AAAAAAAAAvY/cobEhxCswCw/s1600/2010-02-23+22.31.37.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S-iz1zk65nI/AAAAAAAAAvY/cobEhxCswCw/s320/2010-02-23+22.31.37.jpg" /></a></div>I've had a long term plan to put a small subwoofer in my car to tighten up the bottom end since, for all their virtues, BMW cannot engineer a car stereo. I think the best attempts were some Harmon/Kardon iterations but they still sounded like muffled garbage.<br />
The challenge here was to install the sub and not lose any storage space since prime directive of the car is to haul bikes and other miscellaneous things that require, uh, space. Putting a big fat cube in the cargo bay is quite antithetic to that whole notion.<br />
Of course, a small sub requires a small amp, which helps with packaging but still takes up space. Being mostly virtuous, it turns out my car has some space where some optional electronic modules would mount. Since said optional modules were not there I opted to install my own. Once the load floor is installed you can't even tell there's an amp in there.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S-iz9rhzw4I/AAAAAAAAAvg/bIn8V41kC1w/s1600/2010-03-14+20.08.00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S-iz9rhzw4I/AAAAAAAAAvg/bIn8V41kC1w/s320/2010-03-14+20.08.00.jpg" /></a></div>This brings me to the project I started while watching the Super Bowl. As I said, space is at a premium so I decided to mock up a box to check for sizing and installation ease. It worked like a champ because the sub box fit the first time without fuss. Naturally I didn't take any pictures of it after this stage, but I promise I will. The last year or two, any project I work on tends to get 90% done to where it's functional then it sits long enough until I get tired of looking at it not finished. Once I have some spare time I 'll finish upholstering the box and take a few pics so you can see it. Again, I promise.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S-i0VYKiv1I/AAAAAAAAAvo/jdvvaLUTyMQ/s1600/2010-04-13+10.57.12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S-i0VYKiv1I/AAAAAAAAAvo/jdvvaLUTyMQ/s320/2010-04-13+10.57.12.jpg" /></a>Bridal Veil Falls - Dupont Forest, NC. If you follow my Twitter feed you saw a pic from here. As I'm sure many (including myself I'm sure) have said, this is where the chase scene from The Last of the Mohicans was filmed. Not ashamed to say that's a good movie. Makes it all the better to see first hand the place where it was filmed.<br />
Oh yeah, this and the next few are from our spring training camp. It was 80 degrees and awesome.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S-i0cHVL4II/AAAAAAAAAvw/xPKK-nHqZkw/s1600/2010-04-14+13.49.31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S-i0cHVL4II/AAAAAAAAAvw/xPKK-nHqZkw/s320/2010-04-14+13.49.31.jpg" /></a></div>John Rock. Kinda funny because it's not only a rock, but I'm pretty sure I saw a plaque saying the guy's name for which the rock was named was John Rock, like "hey, that's John Rock's rock"<br />
Unfortunately my camera was my phone and autofocus picked the trees on which to focus. Eh, you get the gist.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S-i0jEoxtOI/AAAAAAAAAv4/J9S95ZaOaz4/s1600/2010-04-14+14.19.49.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S-i0jEoxtOI/AAAAAAAAAv4/J9S95ZaOaz4/s320/2010-04-14+14.19.49.jpg" /></a></div>Beautiful waterfall on the descent down Butter Gap.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S-i0sc9b3YI/AAAAAAAAAwA/auSVrjKArFE/s1600/2010-04-14+18.56.44.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S-i0sc9b3YI/AAAAAAAAAwA/auSVrjKArFE/s200/2010-04-14+18.56.44.jpg" width="149" /></a></div>"Now it's a ride!" Not sure when, but somewhere on the descent down Black, I did that. As I see it, this is the best kind of cut to have; it doesn't hurt but there's blood so you can say it was a good ride.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S-i1H8u2zxI/AAAAAAAAAwI/HxNUVdh23DY/s1600/2010-04-19+11.13.45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S-i1H8u2zxI/AAAAAAAAAwI/HxNUVdh23DY/s320/2010-04-19+11.13.45.jpg" /></a></div>Another car project more born out of necessity. The rear windscreen wiper seized on my car, which illustrated to me exactly how much I need a rear windscreen wiper.<br />
I ordered everything to replace except the one part that was really rusted solid so I got to drive around for a week with duct tape on my car to cover the hole it left in case of rain. The edges were cut with scissors, not ragged tears so it looked like it was supposed to be there.<br />
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I'm also not ashamed to admit that.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S-i1OAT1T3I/AAAAAAAAAwQ/zyTUhrsp0Nk/s1600/2010-04-19+11.14.03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S-i1OAT1T3I/AAAAAAAAAwQ/zyTUhrsp0Nk/s200/2010-04-19+11.14.03.jpg" width="151" /></a></div><br />
That big ring of rust is not supposed to be there. After 30 minutes of wailing on the spindle with a BFH, I decided to count my lucky starts for not having missed the spindle only to connect with the rear glass, so I had to cut away at the metal bracket from underneath. I guess you could say I'm getting wise in my old age.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S-i_OIEoyFI/AAAAAAAAAwY/1igFAtiwujI/s1600/2010-04-28+08.08.31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S-i_OIEoyFI/AAAAAAAAAwY/1igFAtiwujI/s320/2010-04-28+08.08.31.jpg" /></a></div>I just think this is a neat picture. I suppose its like most pictures from vacations and such in that they remind you of your time spent wherever the pic was taken. In this case, when I left my house to commute from Bloomington to Columbus at 5:30a it was 38 freaking degrees. If my car had been in the garage I would have without a doubt driven in to work, but I drove in to work the day before and ridden home after work, so my car was 45 miles away. Instead, the only option was to man up and ride, so I did. Did a few intervals, too. Parenthetically I don't recommend threshold intervals 60 minutes after waking up.<br />
Anyhoo, along the way, there was much fog and temps were up to around 40, so the leading edges were pelted with water vapor, but not enough to form drops and drip down. The result was that my brake and head tube, along with shins were perfect magnets to collect road dust. On the last 20 min of the ride, once the sun came up, the dust dried to what you see here. Pretty cool, but it didn't matter that night - I still washed my bike.<br />
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In other news, as much as I may like the house we're renting, I'm really getting tired of not owning it. The house has a nice layout but there's so much I look at and want to fix/change that it has me longing for another house I can call my own.<br />
Of course, before this happens I need to sell my house in Columbus. This is proving more difficult that I thought. Yeah yeah, economy and housing market blah blah blah, I'm not buying that excuse - there are plenty of houses that are on the market for a freaking week. If they're going that fast people still want houses. From the discussions I've had with my real estate agent I've decided people are just plain stupid. Not dumb - S T U P I D. To decide to buy a house based on the color of the wall, not the brand new furnace that will last the next 20 years completely blows my mind.<br />
Anyway, I need to stop thinking about it. I'm pretty sure this situation has given me the headache I've had for the last 3 days.<br />
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So with that, I'm out.<br />
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-the MexlerAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-63713470648684606682010-05-04T08:05:00.000-07:002010-05-04T08:05:11.723-07:00Sweetest PerfectionFor many years now I've structured my season around July so that I could have a good race at MTB Nats. This worked out well, especially in 2008 when I took second at Mt Snow in Vermont. Even before that race I somehow bonded with that course and it has become one of my favorites - some really good climbs along with some insane rocky rooted out descents.<br />
Anyway, the down side to this is that I've never had really great spring races. Sure I've had pretty good results but never <i>great </i>results. Top 10s, top 5s but never really having the chutzpah to make the podium and feel content with how I did my race. This has meant there have been plenty of time spent towards the end of the race when I was racing by myself, with waning motivation only to beat myself up later because I would lose a bit of time from lap to lap and end up with positive splits. At least for me, when I don't get the positional finish I want I look for ways to make myself feel better. Positive splits do not make me feel better about a race effort.<br />
For this year I decided to put more emphasis on early season form since racing into July kinda peeters out with only a few MTB races on into August. Of course now with cyclocross taking more emphasis and starting in mid-September, it's a little hard to wind down from a peak then quickly wind back up for a solid cross season while still having the motivation to race (and more importantly train) when the late fall hits and the weather turns to shit. Since I have really never had a great race at the DINO series opener at Winona Lake, I set my sights on it as really wanting to podium, perhaps even take the W. Signs were pointing to a good execution of plan when I had a good showing at the PRO race wave of the SERC series at Tsali trails in Bryson City, NC a few weeks back plus good sensations at the DRT Brown County State Park Hesitation Point time trial (minus the mechanical mishap...), but one never knows until the finish line is crossed.<br />
After a week of great weather the trail reports were that they were blazing fast and ultra dry, but reports were calling for some pretty nasty storms the night before. Usually at Winona the magic mud sheds water well, but the pre-ride showed otherwise. I decided to switch to the mud tires to avoid potential issues then headed off to toe the line.<br />
Throughout the first lap the lead group of 4, including, and being pulled by my teammate/coach/friend/business partner/all-around good guy Don put some serious time into the rest of the pack. About 2/3 of the way into lap 1 a crash whittled us down to 3. Starting into lap 2 another crash left Don and me 20 seconds up on 3rd place so we tried to hold a steady high pace. Alas it was not to be since Matt Battin was in 3rd and he was, as he generally can, able to close the gap. With Matt now leading into the third and final lap, Don caught a root and yard sale'd, forcing me to stop for a second while Matt rolled up the trail. Once I got going again I was pleased with how quickly I calmed down and set about closing the gap. It took some time but I brought it back, then went to the front to set the pace. Matt and I were pretty even except on the climbs where I seemed to have just a bit more, so I rode to stay in front as well as ride my own race. Towards the end I sprinted hard out of a sharp corner and got a few seconds, then kept attacking up the series of short hills that ended up getting about a 10 second gap. There was only one minor panic moment with lapped riders, through no fault of theirs, where there was no room to pass so I had to wait what seemed like an eternity for an opportunity to get around. It all worked out and Matt was far enough back that my small lead was preserved. I carried this through the remaining bit of trail to post up for the win.<br />
So I feel pretty good to have achieved the first of my season goals and I guess this is where I have to resist adding too many new goals trying to cash in on my good form. While I can't say it was a perfect day for the team result we wanted it was pretty damned close since Don was able to recover from his crash to hold on to 3rd place and consolation prize of fairly deep gash on his leg. I can say, however, it felt pretty close to perfection to be able to ride a strong race in its entirety then seal the deal in the waning minutes to grab a victory at a target race, and that is pretty sweet.<br />
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-later<br />
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the MexlerAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-43940363120075224162010-04-12T14:06:00.000-07:002010-04-12T14:06:10.436-07:00Race and recover Its funny how no matter how long you've been racing you still get nervous before a race. I find myself constantly checking my watch to make sure I get to the start on time, and from that constant checking comes constant verification of my pre-race schedule of warm-up, nutrition, clothing and bike prep. <br />
Anyway, the Knobscorcher always has a good turnout and the PRO field ended up with about 25 guys all intent on being first into the single track after a short gravel road climb. I got a reasonable start and pulled a bit of a maneuver to get into said single track in a respectable position but paid for it on the first longer grinding climb. Knowing that there were still 2 hours of racing to do I eased off a bit and rode within myself and was not too proud to use my 27t front ring instead of grinding away in the 40t. This paid off towards the end of the race because I could stay on the skinny climbers' wheels then dig deep towards the top and use my size and technical skills to drop said climbers on the rooted out descents. After all was said and done, I ended up 8th which, if I'm not mistaken, is my best result in a regional PRO race. Nice!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S8OKLQJUwlI/AAAAAAAAAuw/S67K11-yvhI/s1600/2010-04-12+14.03.26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S8OKLQJUwlI/AAAAAAAAAuw/S67K11-yvhI/s320/2010-04-12+14.03.26.jpg" /></a></div>Today's plan was to get up, clean bikes then take a recovery ride out to Caesar's Head just across the border into South Carolina. I say recovery ride, but even if the hills are longer and not as steep they're still hills. Regardless, it was an easier day, unlike what we have planned for the rest of the week so it was welcome. I can already see the color returning to my legs after a long winter of leg warmers and tights, so this week of 80s and sun will be very much appreciated. Oh yeah, and there is no shortage of sweet riding around. The pic is about half way up the SC side of the climb to Caesar's. At least I'm not the only one with pasty white legs.<br />
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So anyway, I probably ought to get ready to eat or something.<br />
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later.<br />
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-the MexlerAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-30827421066460885122010-04-10T20:39:00.000-07:002010-04-10T20:39:26.954-07:00....and ResumeI uncharacteristically started my 2010 racing season on the road, but since I bailed on the Chickasaw Classic (100% glad I did, BTW) such is life. I'd never done a proper cat 1/2 road race, just a couple of crits here and there, until I picked up an Ohio Valley Spring Series race last weekend. I was a little disappointed with my result only because I have to relearn this whole nutrition thing when it comes to a 3 hour road race and having less of a calorie deficit is key. Alas, I failed at my attempt and got dropped on the climb on the 5th of 7 laps due to, uh, upset stomach. Anyway, I still finished the race and almost bridged back up on L6 but just couldn't close. Regardless, I got in a great 3 hour race effort at a much higher effort that I would have been able to do otherwise, and then I did some hard MTB efforts on Sunday to test my efforts after recovery. <br />
As a result of some no-go planning that fell through for work trips out to Arizona (and the resulting mini-training camp that would have followed), I was able to plan on attending my team's full on training camp in North Carolina. So here I am. To start things off, we're all racing the Knobscorcher at Tsali so I'll kick off my MTB racing season against some heavy hitters on a climb heavy course, so I should definitely get a good result. I do have to say I feel like this year I've been able to ride better technically and push myself more into corners so who knows, maybe I will actually get a good result. In any event, I'll give it the ole college try regardless.<br />
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OK, I'm out.<br />
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-the MexlerAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-66723931200296358772010-03-28T11:38:00.000-07:002010-03-28T11:43:06.043-07:00PauseI decided to hit pause on my race season start... call me smart, call me a sissy - either way I'm NOT racing my MTB today in 50 degree pissing rain and mud. I usually open my racing season with the Chickasaw Classic an hour south of Nashville, TN but the weather forecast for race day was a consistent 70% chance of rain throughout the week. Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to a sloppy and/or cold race; anybody who races cyclocross in the late fall <i>will</i> at some point have a nasty race. I raced cyclocross last November in North Carolina in 40 and rain, which ended up taking about 2 hours in the car with the heat cranked and 4 layers of clothes to stop shivering. Hell, I even did Chickasaw a few years back in sub-par conditions. The day before saw torrential rain, and race day was overcast and maybe 45 degrees. The course was a non-stop peanut butter mess, but I had already made the 5 hour trek so I toed the line. It worked out well for me since I ended up with the win. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S6-fvUgEsQI/AAAAAAAAAuo/y-D-Y_hJX6k/s1600/finish+line.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S6-fvUgEsQI/AAAAAAAAAuo/y-D-Y_hJX6k/s320/finish+line.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Still eager to race this weekend, I even looked into driving 6 hours North to hit up Barry-Roubaix, but I would have been severely time crunched to work a mostly full day, come home to pack, and leave early enough not to make it another post-midnight bedtime. That, and it was supposed to be about 30 degrees at the start of the race. Again, somewhat sissy-ish but at this point in my racing career I think I benefit more from not beating myself down early in the season for a training race. This will pay dividends in spades come November when I <i>am</i> driving to New Jersey for the USGP, and still have the motivation to do so. It's always way better to want to race but not than to force yourself to look for motivation and half-ass your effort.<br />
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Soooooo, I'm sitting at my desk, enjoying my second pot of coffee on the day getting a laundry list of things done that would have otherwise put yet another time crunch on me - boxing up eBay sales, paying bills, watching Ghent-Wevelgem, downloading training data. OH, and blogging. Can't forget about that.<br />
<br />
later.<br />
<br />
-the MexlerAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-15654080714409189162010-03-13T06:25:00.000-08:002010-03-13T06:53:59.892-08:00A pain that I'm used toAs cyclists, we tend to have a high threshold for pain. It always ends up the same - "What will it take to get me back on the bike?" or better still, we just push through the pain and deal with it. That second part really encompasses a wide range of pains; from the mundane dull pain from a hard effort, to the more acute pains associated with crashes and missing chunks of skin and flesh.<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">Most of us have a number of stories of pushing ourselves to our body's limits to give up and suffer a far worse pain: the pain of regret. This typically manifests itself in any number of ways such as self-loathing, doubt, questions and maybe even resignation. Happily I haven't come close to resignation, but have definitely danced with questions, doubt and self-loathing many times over the years. My typical pattern is a period of self-disgust, then after stewing about the events for some time I doubt myself and the work that I put in to get where I am (this passes quickly), then questions of motivation arise. Most of the time, if after a race I'm back to normal around half way home. Of course, it could be because at this point I've stuffed my face with some type of comfort food but I try not to pay attention to those things because they bring on a whole other subset of regret.</div>Anybody who has turned a pedal in anger for any length of time has almost certainly had some incident happen to cause some type of physical pain. I've had a few road rash incidents that have resulted in a few weeks of pants stained from wound seepage around the knee. Not trying to sound too modest, but those are injuries where you just double wrap the gauze, walk slowly and with a limp, then carry on about your way.<br />
It's said that, on average, we'll have a bad crash once every 7 years or so. Since I had two crashes happen one month (31 days exactly) apart I figure I'm good for at least 14, maybe even 21 if I play my cards right.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The first is, to date, my worst crash ever. Not really in terms of bandages and tape, but out-and-out pain. It was the first mountain bike race of the year and I was on a completely new bike and didn't have my position on the bike quite right (grossly wrong, as it turns out!). Long story short, my long-time friend and teammate, who was directly behind me summed it up best "Well, once your face hit the ground, your body just kinda went limp." I have to rely on his account since I really don't remember anything from about 10 seconds prior to 30 minutes after when I woke up in the ambulance. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S4YDxg8ScdI/AAAAAAAAAs0/s2tPQUIc6kU/s1600-h/DINO+damage+002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S4YDxg8ScdI/AAAAAAAAAs0/s2tPQUIc6kU/s320/DINO+damage+002.jpg" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S4YDwJwA6II/AAAAAAAAAss/grLDmFm68p8/s1600-h/DINO+damage+003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S4YDwJwA6II/AAAAAAAAAss/grLDmFm68p8/s320/DINO+damage+003.jpg" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S4YDtjmWunI/AAAAAAAAAsk/adJWrnriwUg/s1600-h/DINO+damage+004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S4YDtjmWunI/AAAAAAAAAsk/adJWrnriwUg/s320/DINO+damage+004.jpg" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S4YDp9-mo7I/AAAAAAAAAsU/-zmVi5GrYsA/s1600-h/DINO+damage+007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S4YDp9-mo7I/AAAAAAAAAsU/-zmVi5GrYsA/s320/DINO+damage+007.jpg" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So the end result was a few scrapes and scratches, a bent rim, a concussion and a good story. I wouldn't really find out the worst of the damage, though, until about a month later which dovetails nicely with my road crash a month later.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">That one resulted from me decelerating from 30 mph to about zero by way of a 90 pound dog in the road. I tried everything short of riding into the ditch to avoid the dog, but the dipshit kept running towards where I was going to be. With 5 other guys directly behind me not able to see the dog, standing on the brakes was not an option so I hit the dog, went ass over elbows and landed in the ditch.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S4YG7wyuF-I/AAAAAAAAAs8/Vu7L5XfsYII/s1600-h/road+bike+damage+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S4YG7wyuF-I/AAAAAAAAAs8/Vu7L5XfsYII/s320/road+bike+damage+001.jpg" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S4YG9eP5owI/AAAAAAAAAtE/HsNiA1n5jqY/s1600-h/road+bike+damage+004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S4YG9eP5owI/AAAAAAAAAtE/HsNiA1n5jqY/s320/road+bike+damage+004.jpg" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Again, scrapes and bruises, but I also got 25 stitches in my shin from where my cassette scraped my shin. Believe me, I've tried to work out the physics of how that could happen but there is no other thing on a bike that can provide 7 equally spaced slices. Not surprisingly, stitching skin that doesn't really have any meat underneath it is pretty hard to do. Painful, too. In line with pushing through the pain, I remounted my bike and rode the 10 miles home, but did have a friend drop me off at the ER. Thanks, Terry.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Throughout the previous month I had shrugged off a lingering back pain that I figured would just go away. Alas, no. After being head over heels for all the wrong reasons twice in a month, I decided to push through the pain no more. X-ray film at the chiropractor showed the signs of a hyper-extended back that I can only guess was the result of feet touching ground <i>over</i> my head when my face stopped forward progress in my mountain bike crash the month prior (think situp except bend the opposite way). Fast forward a few years and I still get knots in my back that usually take a few days of deep stretching to remedy.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So anyway, that's the long way around of saying I've had some pains in my day, but I've gotten used to because I love it. As I type I'm still dealing with a nagging pain from about a month ago that feels like it could be a pinched sciatic nerve resulting from a forgot-to-account-for-suspension-sag incorrect saddle position. I guess the only thing to say is don't crash, always stretch and don't ever get old. The wisdom you gain from living and growing older does not fully compensate for the pains you gain. Trust me.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">later-</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div>the ATMAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-23497226201054705802010-01-20T19:57:00.000-08:002010-01-20T20:06:27.402-08:00A sign the Apocalypse is nigh<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S1fP_nlqTNI/AAAAAAAAAsM/WoI4qwQmGpE/s1600-h/2010-01-20+22.44.01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/S1fP_nlqTNI/AAAAAAAAAsM/WoI4qwQmGpE/s320/2010-01-20+22.44.01.jpg" /></a><br />
You'd have to know me to understand the gravity of the above picture. When I first started riding a road bike I chose Campagnolo components not only because they had a great reputation, but also because service parts are readily available. This appealed to my 'do it myself' approach that had served me so well in the past (and still serves me well to this day). For about $15 in parts, you can have a functionally brand new set of shifters. Sign me up. In fact, I still have that entire gruppo I bought almost 10 years ago. The last few years the parts have served well on various iterations of cyclocross bikes to good effect.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>In addition, once I find something I really like I stick with it with a passion - not unlike what most people know Italians to have. In line with my do it myself strategy, staying with one brand longer allows me to 'get to know' a company and their design and product philosophy in the same way one gets to know a person. This is a huge time saver because one doesn't have to invest scads of time to re-learn subtle nuances for any given thing.<br />
<br />
Anyway, back to Shimano. People I ride with regularly know me as a Shimano hater. In part that still holds true; I really don't like the Shimano mountain bike gruppos. To me they feel mushy and generally not positive. Ever since I switched to SRAM 4 or 5 years ago, I've become ever more used to the flat out solid gear engagement and not only audible, but tactile clicks for each gear change. Don't get me wrong - Shimano make good mountain components or they would not be as well known as they are. I even have a Shimano front derailleur on my mountain rigs.<br />
<br />
All that being said, there are a few annoyances with Campy gear that got me to thinking it wouldn't be bad to try something else. They're really not that big of a deal but they stayed in the back of my mind over the years. For example, freehub bodies. Of course Campy has to have a different style than Shimano because they believe it to be better, but this makes it difficult to test out a change if you've got a good number of wheels. Since I'm a wheel whore, I fall into that difficult-to-change category. This leads into cassettes. Shimano (and SRAM) cassettes are generally 1/2 to 1/3 what Campy cassettes cost. This makes outfitting wheels with cassettes an expensive proposition when you're the aforementioned wheel whore. There are a few other things but they're really not important enough to merit attention, but they do add up to plant a seed of doubt.<br />
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On to the actual riding. I've had the gruppo on my road bike for just over a week and I finally was able to log some solid miles on the road (trainer miles don't count in this case). As expected, it took about half the ride to purge my Campy shifting habits. I expected no less, but the shifting is quality. The ergonomics are good, as well. Different, naturally, but just fine. The different hand positions I've come to use with Campy ergonomics will mostly not work on the Shimano so I'll have to come up with new ones. Such is life.<br />
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So a week in I'm not in love, or even smitten for that matter, but I'm confident it will always do the task required without fuss. Since I'm ever increasingly looking for ways to have free time, that alone may mean the gruppo finds favor with me.<br />
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But let's be honest: What Italian man hasn't had a mistress at some point in his life? Maybe this is mine. They are a passionate people, you know.<br />
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Later.<br />
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-the ATMAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-58263966735183087082009-12-12T20:38:00.000-08:002009-12-12T21:15:55.202-08:00...and with that, I'm out!Another season in the books. I didn't have near the season ending race that I wanted to have, but as they say, it is what it is. <br />After nearly wishing for more work emails to arrive just so I could have something to do, race day finally came. The course had thawed nicely, so it was a sloppy, muddy mess, not the frozen mess of the past few days. The soil around Bend is all volcanic ash, so everything was gritty. Traction wasn't really an issue, but there were still plenty of ruts to avoid, and there were also a few sections of loose mud that were somewhat treacherous.<br />Because of the atrocious sign-up protocol from USA Cycling, I drew a 7th row starting position. As per my typical shitty starting position protocol, I had to aggressively force my position without taking people out. After 3/4 of a lap I was in about 25th, so that worked out. Over the next few laps I picked a few more people off, and was just about ready to make contact with a group for 18th when my front wheel washed out in one of the aforementioned ruts. It wasn't really a bad crash, but I lost a bit of mojo and it took a bit to get it back. In the mean time we were still picking off some guys that had gone out too hard. I think the highest I got was up to 14th but then with 1/4 of a lap to go I had a blow out and had to run/creep to the finish without letting too many people pass me. All told, I ended up 20th. Not nearly where I wanted to be but unless I would have made it up to 8th or better (callups for next year) it didn't really matter.<br />So now I'm getting all my stuff packed for the trip back to Portland tomorrow after Ryan's race, then jump on a plane Monday morning and back to the real world. Ugh.<br /><br />A few parting thoughts on my week here:<br />-Oregonians, or at least those from Portland and Bend pretty much all stop for bikes and pedestrians. All the time. Crazy.<br />-Once you get past the tragically hip-ness, everybody is pretty cool. Alas, an occasional shower wouldn't hurt though.<br />-As I pretty much already knew, Jeremy Powers is quite possibly the nicest guy out there. At the number party for the USGP, I flagged him down just to say hey, and he ended up talking with us for about 10 minutes and was engaged in the conversation the entire time. Class... Pure class.<br /><br /><br />So anyway, yeah. I'm out.<br /><br />-the ATMAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-70009286360304512582009-12-09T18:43:00.000-08:002009-12-10T15:48:57.419-08:00Wrapping up in OregonAs silly as it sounds, I haven't had time to post a new entry even though I'm smack dab in the middle of a ten day vacation. To catch you all up, day 2 of the NCGP was, as it turns out, an introduction to Nats - but more on that in a sec. After day 1's not stellar result I moved up one spot to 15th. The real story was the weather though, in that it was 40 and rain. It took me two hours to stop shivering even with the heat cranked in the toasty warm car!<br />Fast forward through a week of work and I was on a plane heading out to Portland to finish out the USGP series, then a week of chillaxin between Portland and Bend, where the 2009 Nats are being held.<br />First, I'll hit on last weekend's racing at the final stop of the USGP that had me galavanting across the country in search of glory and race schwag. After a mixup with numbers I found myself with #107 and no callup. Calling on some modified <a href="http://www.jeremypowers.missingsaddle.com/">J-Pow ninja skills</a>, I finagled my rightful spot on the front row and knocked out the hole shot, <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/SyBteYAYRTI/AAAAAAAAArk/VW9meE6NlGQ/s1600-h/4161215818_ae07bd987d.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/SyBteYAYRTI/AAAAAAAAArk/VW9meE6NlGQ/s320/4161215818_ae07bd987d.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413447120706880818" /></a><br /> and after clawing back from a flat tire back up to the lead,<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/SyBvAlRlr0I/AAAAAAAAArs/f97Ptv0Xsfw/s1600-h/4161405776_525d2859af.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/SyBvAlRlr0I/AAAAAAAAArs/f97Ptv0Xsfw/s320/4161405776_525d2859af.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413448807895904066" /></a> I lost the sprint for the win. Dummy.<br />Day two was a little less hectic at the start only because I asked anybody and everybody how to make sure I was on the front row. I was a little off and ended up third on the day, but that was good enough to lock up third for the series, <span style="font-style:italic;">which is nice</span>.<br />So after hitting a few local bike shops, we headed back to our host housing to get in a day-after-race ride and stumbled onto an awesome twisty couple mile climb. Can't find that in Indiana.<br />Now I find myself holed up in a hotel room in Bend, dodging the 20 degree weather waiting for Saturday to come so I can put the wraps on my season. Not that I'm wishing it away - I'm not - but I am anxious to see how the good form I'm on stacks up against others' good form. I'm sure the course will be interesting - it's frozen now but after a few degrees higher tomorrow, coupled with a shit-pile of racers to mangle it up means it's gonna be sloppy. This means I've got my work cut out for me since I'll line up in the 7th row. Eh well, it wouldn't be a race otherwise.<br /><br />Game on.<br /><br />-the ATMAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-49922567466935927382009-11-21T14:54:00.000-08:002009-11-21T17:34:46.527-08:00It's all a blurThe tranquil weekends off between the 3rd and 4th rounds of the USGP were pretty tame, if seemingly a bit too short. This is in stark contrast to the past two weeks. As you may have read in the previous post, I headed out to New Jersey for the 4th round and had some pretty good results; I took 6th on the muddy Saturday and ended up just missing the podium for 4th on the not as muddy Sunday. As I'd hoped, I was able to be on the road within 45 minutes of finishing my race, and ended up getting home at about 12:30.<br />1400 miles in the bank.<br />Monday and Tuesday flew by since I had to prep for a semi-planned trip to Peoria on Wednesday, but the trip came and went with little fanfare.<br />500 miles in the bank.<br />I got back around 6 - about the same time Ryan got home. It was about 45 and rain, and I was going to get my rain gear on when Ryan brought up the trainer. It didn't take much to convince me that wasn't a bad idea, but I one-upped him with me not riding at all so I could overhaul his hubs since the bearings were not really spinning. at all. Anyway, this worked out well since I knew I still had plenty of other things to do in preparation for this weekend's trip to North Carolina that would more than take the place of riding the trainer for an hour. After getting everything ready to go, I called it a day. Friday found us making great time so we were able to smash a few pre-ride laps before the sun went down. After dinner, we got some interwebbing and TVing done and I was cashed out by 10:30.<br />Now for the race. Eh, Even though I felt ok, my legs did not respond well to all the travel I've been doing. At least that's what I'm telling myself anyway. The course was refreshingly tacky, with only a few tight corners to speak of, but it had close to a half-mile of pavement and a longish run-up (my favorite!) plus a single track climb with a few hidden roots. It's definitely a course for big legs but as I searched through my travel bag, I apparently forgot to pack them. I fared well in the corners but floundered elsewhere. I rolled in for 16th, fairly disappointed but at least I have another day to make up for it. We shall see.<br />After this weekend? Another 1000 miles in the bank.<br /><br />Alright, time for some bike maintenance.<br /><br />the ATMAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-23419585362994247262009-11-14T17:24:00.000-08:002009-11-14T17:53:40.593-08:00Sometimes I trick myself into thinking I'm smartMy weekend started a day early so I could spend the day driving from Indiana to New Jersey. I was pretty torn as to whether I would leave at 5a so I could make it in time to pre-ride the course, but the thought of sleeping in overrode any other thoughts. Turns out this was a good thing since I got an email around 11a saying pre-riding was canceled due to 40+ mph winds. Score.<br />On top of that, I was surprised that I was was not mentally blown after 12 hours in the car heading to the New Jersey rounds of the USGP. It really felt like just another car trip to a race. I suppose this is where the smarts of taking a few races off pays off. The real test, though, is in how I feel tomorrow on the way home when I'll be getting home around 1a, without having showered or had the leisurely afternoon that I had today.<br />Anyway, race report: The race today was brutal. The worst peanut butter mud in which I think I've had to race. There was even a pan flat section of course that was so loaded with mud that it was faster to run it - that was my least favorite 200 meters of course. I think the announcer, Richard Fries, said it best when he compared it to adobe since the mud had loads of grass in it to keep it all stuck together. I took a bike change half way through the race just so I could shed the seemingly 20 pounds of mud that had accumulated around the cranks and BB. Ugh.<br />Anyway, I decided not to spectate the woman's or men's pro race so that I could get back to the hotel and begin the deconstruction/reconstruction of both bikes' drivetrains, etc. It only ended up taking around 90 minutes so I was able to get cleaned up, stretched, and head off to a semi- early dinner. This of course laid the ground work for time to lay down this sweet blog post.<br />So I'm quite content, not nervous for tomorrow. Pretty much gonna take what I can get and leave it all on the course, then pseudo-wash my bikes, repack my car and make like a tree and get out of there.<br /><br />and with that, I'm out.<br /><br />-the ATMAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-55735419569644130262009-11-11T08:36:00.000-08:002009-11-11T09:24:32.448-08:00Funny stuffSo I've been making the most of my two weekends off from racing; I cleaned out most of my house in Columbus so I can rent it out in the coming weeks (10+ years of shit accumulation takes time to sift through) with only about 2 hours worth of finish work left, worked on Project Bike Rack v3.0, cleaned my car, built a few bikes, slept in and actually did some proper training not otherwise possible with weekend racing.<br />Of course, now that I'm back racing it's starting to hit full-force - drive to New Jersey for the 3rd round of the USGP, then back to work on Monday, then drive to Peoria, IL on Wednesday, then return on Thursday, then pack and get ready to leave for North Carolina on Friday, then get back to be at work again on Monday.<br /><br />Last weekend when I wasn't racing I ran into some friends, so we stopped to chew the fat for a bit. Shortly before we parted ways, I saw an ex-girlfriend drive past us. Now I'm not one to wax ecstatic about past relationships but I had to chuckle upon seeing her because she would always want to go out every night, and couldn't understand why I didn't want to drink like a fish night after night. She even equated having a drink to having fun - as in, no drink = no fun. Leave the bar before midnight?? Are you nuts?? I think my favorite was when she asked what I wanted to do that particular night. After I offered up an evening of Low Quality Time (couch, dinner, conversation, etc), she responded with already-purchased comedy club tickets. Great... thanks for asking!<br />Anyway, this clearly was doomed and we eventually broke up. Her break up platform was based on me wanting to spend more time riding bikes than spending time with her. Now I know I spend a fair bit of time training, but in the grand scheme not <span style="font-style:italic;">that</span> much, and when time spent with her is buying dinner and drinks at $50-$100 per night times 2-3 per week, which would you chose?<br /><br />Why is all of this funny? Because when I saw her last weekend, I was on my bike. <br /><br />later.<br /><br />-the ATMAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-46414862480806140252009-10-31T08:14:00.000-07:002009-10-31T20:21:01.525-07:00A murder of oneI finished round 4 of the USGP with another 8th place. Not bad, but not what I was looking for either. As I was reflecting after the 3rd race of the series, it really hit home that I have done a lot of shit in the last 5 weeks - not the least of which was 11 races. I guess you could say I'm cooked. I've not really done any focused training which I think is a big part of why I've not done better than what I've done so far. Funny how one's mind wanders during a race, and at some point I thought about taking a week off from racing. Also funny is how much in sync Don and I are since he suggested taking a week off before I could say I was thinking about it. So after some pondering, I decided it best to take a few weeks off from racing so my next go at a race will be the USGP in New Jersey. I thought when I first set my cross schedule my lighter road racing load in the summer would carry me through from late September through Nats in mid December. Alas, as it turns out, I'm getting old and can't sustain that.<br />Hmmpf. That sucks.<br />Anyway, it's actually been really good this past week once I committed to not racing. I finally got my new bikes built in both road and mountain form. For the mountain, an Epic Marathon carbon tames the bumps and for the road I got a Tarmac Pro in matte carbon. I was originally planning on sweeting it out with white tape and a white saddle but both Zach and Ryan talked me into murdering it out.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/SuzycoOzrXI/AAAAAAAAAqo/Mf9Q70L-rWk/s1600-h/Tarmac+Pro+005.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 210px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/SuzycoOzrXI/AAAAAAAAAqo/Mf9Q70L-rWk/s320/Tarmac+Pro+005.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398956626960166258" /></a>Now of course the white saddle doesn't exactly make it murdered out, but that's only temporary until the new black saddle can get here. Regardless, it's pretty sick. I've also ordered a set of FSA's black 11 speed specific chainrings so they'll make it all the better. <br />I can't really post any pics of the MTB since I'm going to be swapping out the brakes and gruppo, which would essentially mean you'd get to look at a sweet frame and fork setup. Eh, just wait a week or so...I'll get there.<br />In the mean time, here's some digital media from day 1 of the Louisville USGP:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/Suz45zLv5vI/AAAAAAAAAqw/pgs93mcLRuw/s1600-h/day+2+USGP+115.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/Suz45zLv5vI/AAAAAAAAAqw/pgs93mcLRuw/s320/day+2+USGP+115.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398963725186098930" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/Suz6h8Zg8YI/AAAAAAAAAq4/qhn3tqfHecw/s1600-h/day+2+USGP+161.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 220px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/Suz6h8Zg8YI/AAAAAAAAAq4/qhn3tqfHecw/s320/day+2+USGP+161.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398965514366153090" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/Suz7ML4M-dI/AAAAAAAAArA/lkc1BMnaK2s/s1600-h/day+2+USGP+136.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 192px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/Suz7ML4M-dI/AAAAAAAAArA/lkc1BMnaK2s/s320/day+2+USGP+136.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398966240075905490" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">photo cred Tobi Herron</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-65968811698050540792009-10-24T19:34:00.000-07:002009-10-24T20:29:33.538-07:00downloadWhew, glad that's over. Last weekend was the culmination of a huge chunk of time I've been spending in order to get the inaugural BloomingCross race dialed. By all accounts, it was a cracking success even if attendance was down more than we expected being a non-Cincinnati-local race. No matter, we learned a lot and will make next year's BloomingCross even better!<br /><br />As a result of all that, tho, I've got a laundry list of things to get caught up on. Meh, such is my life.<br />Most alarmingly, I've got two new bikes in the basement that have been there for a week yet remain in the shipping boxes.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/SuO82KqkiAI/AAAAAAAAAqg/-YsRw_WyxKY/s1600-h/38065712.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/SuO82KqkiAI/AAAAAAAAAqg/-YsRw_WyxKY/s320/38065712.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396364417281853442" /></a>Sweet bikes, for sure... now I just need to make time to build them.<br />In my spare time I've been burning up the highway miles to and from races and pulling down reasonable results. I netted a 15th place in the Friday UCI in Cincy, but faded a bit for Saturday's race to get 23rd. For Sunday's race, my legs were just not there so I rolled in for 26th.<br />I really had zero expectations for BloomingCross, since my day started at 5am to brew coffee for the race. Add in about only a bowl of oatmeal and a Clif Bar from 5a to 3p to eat, and I ended up in 7th place. So now I'm in the hotel room, getting some interwebbing done, and reflecting on my 7th place in the Masters 35+ category in the third race of the USGP of cyclocross series. I've been playing a bit with my preparation to see if I can get rid of the typical mid-race funk that I seem to have and it seems to be working. I'll try a few more things for Sunday's race - perhaps I can pull up a few extra spots and crack the top 5.<br /><br />and with that, I'm out.<br /><br />later.<br /><br />-the ATMAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-88447951103282709332009-10-10T05:15:00.000-07:002009-10-10T06:53:17.811-07:00Cross updatesAs seems typical much has happened since last I posted, and while there has been alot of racing, there's also been some me-not-on-the-bike stuff going on, too.<br />So first and foremost, things are rapidly approaching with the first annual <a href="http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=9363">BloomingCross</a>, my first crack at promoting a race (along with Ryan's first time, too). It's been pretty hectic the last few weeks but the light is at the end of the tunnel. I know there'll be a few more sleepless nights in the coming week but it'll be worth it. Can't wait to show my adopted home of Bloomington the awesomeness of cyclocross. So if you're in town on the 18th, come on out to Twin Lakes Sports Complex. I'll buy you a cup of <a href="http://twojohnspodcast.com">Two Johns Podcast </a>coffee!<br />OK, so race reports...<br />Zach, Ryan and I piled 3 dudes, 6 bikes, 18 wheels and all our gear into Zach's Subaru and headed up to Madison for the first round of the USGP. I did the Master's 35+ races and got some solid results of 8th and 10th. I could have gotten better on Sunday, but I flatted on the last lap and had to ride slowly back to the pit for the B bike and lost 3 spots in the process. Still pretty pleased with my first showing on the national level... Round 2 is in Louisville in 2 weeks - can't wait!<br />Last weekend was round 2 of the OVCX series, and the long straight plus a front row start gave me the hole shot through the first sector. Flyin' Ryan Knapp came around me shortly after and just slaughtered the field. Hitting my usual mid-race lull, I hammered home for a not bad 5th spot.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/StCRot6-VbI/AAAAAAAAAqY/_1VNO0upWiE/s1600-h/climb2.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 211px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/StCRot6-VbI/AAAAAAAAAqY/_1VNO0upWiE/s320/climb2.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5390968882670228914" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/StCQXB7LaoI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/rCrIoucTdak/s1600-h/DSC_0548.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/StCQXB7LaoI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/rCrIoucTdak/s320/DSC_0548.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5390967479290522242" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Photo cred to Tom Moran and Lauren Half</span><br /><br />It's a little weird - I love race weekends that keep me two days away because there ends up being downtime for things like blog posts and general interwebbing that I don't normally get loads of time to do. At the same time though, because I'm away I don't have the time to do things that have been getting pushed out like finish bike rack v3.0, wash car, organize sock drawer, etc. <br />Eh, I'll take the racing... the other stuff will be there tomorrow!<br /><br />Oh yeah, work has been kicking me square in the pants lately too. That's about all I have to say about that.<span style="font-style:italic;"></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-38844150273904159532009-09-25T09:11:00.000-07:002009-09-25T09:35:45.952-07:00I seem to have this affliction that requires I have way more to do than time in the day. Unfortunately this makes some things fall of the edge of my plate like Grandma's gravy on Turkey Day. Such as this blog...<br /><br />Anyhoo, I had this awesome outline for a post in my head after a cracking good Labor Day weekend of riding, but the time came and went and with it, the justification for column-inches on a recap. To summarize, however, Don came up with a new word to describe our first day's ride: Epiticity, which is a scale from 1 - 10 that ranks the epic-ness of a ride. Factors include awesomeness of the parcours, conditions, flats, and general bonking. Our ride was about 8 since we hit about 15 miles of deep gravel, had two flats (3 minutes apart), it was fairly hot, and we only expected about 2 hours that turned into 4.5 hours. This allowed me to tap into the "Just in Case" $10 bill in my saddle bag. The result was a Belgian PowerBar (ie, ham sandwich). Epic.<br /><br />So for the last month or so, I've been 90% moved in to the new digs in Bloomington. All I can say is it is awesome. Wish I moved years ago. The rental house we're in is a little worse for the wear, being built in the 60s and all, but the world's largest man cave for bikes makes up for it. We've finally got it mostly dialed so pics are forthcoming.<br /><br />So the biggest time sink I have going on now (aside from the job that pays my bills) is that I am promoting one stop on the <a href="http://www.ovcx.com">OVCX</a> calendar in Bloomington with <a href="http://ryandknapp.blogspot.com">Rad Racer Ryan Knapp</a>. The race is on the 18th of October, so mark your calendar! Of course, in the mean time I'm usualy up until at least midnight, and sometimes past 1. I can push thru the fsatigue mostly but sometimes my body just shuts down. <br />No matter, it's definitely worth the effort.<br />In racing news, my 'cross seson is officially underway starting off at the King's CX weekend just outside of Cincy. Typical early season cross racing means dry, dusty and hot, which was Saturday's race but that gave way to 60 and rain on Sunday. I ended up with a 6th on saturday anda 4th on Sunday, which is a nice kickstart to the season since I usually start of slower during early season and get faster as the weeks progress.<br />So this weekend is the first installment of the USGP series in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. Conditions look to be similar to Sunday's race, so it should have about a 7 on the Epiticity scale. Can't wait.<br /><br />later<br />-the ATMAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-17753147456164441682009-08-12T16:24:00.000-07:002009-08-12T16:25:44.153-07:00Apparently...<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/SoNPeLPOdmI/AAAAAAAAAqA/47Axl-8ZCgs/s1600-h/%3D%3Futf-8%3FB%3FSU1HMDAwMDEuanBn%3F%3D-744154"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/SoNPeLPOdmI/AAAAAAAAAqA/47Axl-8ZCgs/s320/%3D%3Futf-8%3FB%3FSU1HMDAwMDEuanBn%3F%3D-744154" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369222560587085410" /></a></p>...They have not been dealt a good hand in life. <p>It's scenes like these that always make for great rides.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-46270608643016907722009-08-07T18:45:00.001-07:002009-08-09T14:29:06.887-07:00P - I - M - P<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/SnzZZw8d6oI/AAAAAAAAAp4/8Vb983jgB2c/s1600-h/pimp+002.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 181px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/SnzZZw8d6oI/AAAAAAAAAp4/8Vb983jgB2c/s320/pimp+002.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5367403892577266306" /></a><br />um, yeah, so the Dugast order showed up, and Kyle had a great idea for a photo op...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-24000775073705878012009-08-05T05:00:00.000-07:002009-08-07T18:07:59.985-07:00The front derailleurs of my discontentThat's twice - in two weeks, no less. <br />I lined up at the start of the Brown County State Park off road TT only to hear a crazy crack at the start, and the accompanying grinding noise. At first I thought it was a crack in the frame given the loud noise I heard, but after some on-bike diagnostics it turned out to be the chain rubbing on the front derailleur cage. You see, somehow the chain grabbed the cage at the start and twisted the entire derailleur assembly on the seat tube. Perhaps the recommended torque is not enough???<br />In any event, I ended up second by 23 seconds. Bummer for sure, but I'm starting to think all things 'cross, and wrapping up my MTB season so I can start training for cross is sounding more and more appealing, for several reasons.<br />First off, fall is a great time of year... crisp mornings with some reasonable temps during the day, just low enough that either arm warmers or a long sleeve jersey are appropriate for when the sun dips down. We've still got plenty of warm days left; This is clear, but it won't be too long!<br />Second, new bikes. How sweet is it to get a new bike and tear in to the build up. It's even better for 'cross when you get to build two bikes! Man, I can't wait.<br />Third, and probably more important for now is that I'll be moved over to Bloomington. Note I said 'moved' as in, already done. I'm not really looking forward to the act of moving but once done, I'm totally in. Moving my crap from 10 years of the same address is going to be a challenge...<br />Alas, all will be good since the house we'll be in will have what should be heralded as the man cave of all man caves. Now keep in mind, 3 dudes living in a house generally means that the entire house is a man cave, but 3 guys that each have at least 4 bikes a piece, along with 5 - 6 sets of wheels per dude means there is going to be an entire wall devoted to storage of said equipment.<br />I'm going to have to stop talking about it so I don't wet my pants.<br /><br />anyway, enough for now.<br /><br />later.<br /><br />-the ATMAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-81996386497271053852009-07-28T20:48:00.001-07:002009-07-28T20:53:55.015-07:00Moving right along<p>Aside from a rain-induced hiccup, my racing season marches on.  The DRT stop at Wapehani was a good one, with a more World Cup style lap count – 6 laps of about 6km each (yeah, with World Cup counts comes World Cup units).  A nice small hill to sort out the pecking order into the woods saw me in P1.  I must have subconsciously channeled <a href="http://toddwells.com">Todd Wells</a> because I was railing that trail like I never have before.  I had a small gap that I was just trying to maintain (not extend) since I was feeling good and wanted it to stay that way.  Unfortunately my first semi-mechanical of the season dropped in to see what condition my condition was in, in the form of a slipped front derailleur cable.  This left me with a tiny 29t front ring with which to ride.  Not ideal since I’m more of a big dog guy, but I wasn’t going to take a technical break to fix it.<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/Sm_GkxMTkKI/AAAAAAAAApw/XntxyPnsLsM/s1600-h/DSC_3608%5B12%5D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="DSC_3608" border="0" alt="DSC_3608" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/Sm_GlaknO-I/AAAAAAAAAp0/YNvmgCtK6ng/DSC_3608_thumb%5B10%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="170" height="244" /></a> </p> <p align="center"><em>Photo courtesy Matt Link</em></p> <p>I still rode well, and the 29t really probably helped in a few small punch climb sections.  I rode yet another consistent race which makes me think I’m a little better at pacing than I have been in years past.  In any event, my last lap (actually the last 3k probably) wasn’t so awesome.  On the last steep climb I noticed my HR was about 30 bpm below my normal race average.  Clearly this is not good.  I ended up hemorrhaging several minutes to first, but held on for second.  Of course I can’t download my data because Vista 64 doesn’t have IrDA drivers, but that’s beside the point.</p> <p>Anyway, last weekend’s race was <strike>postponed</strike> canceled due to rain, which left me with a Sunday to make up for no race effort.  I wanted to get in a good hard road ride with some climbs so that I could beat myself down.  All told, I got 4 hours in and just under 70 miles in with two hard 5 minute efforts plus a few county line sprint dubbyas so I guess I get the virtual Green jersey.</p> <p>Speaking of Le Tour, I was disappointed at the end that it was over… it seemed to fly by, with excitement every day.  I guess I expected Contador to win but it seemed like he was always looking for approval and acceptance as a force to be reckoned with.  Was it me or did his eyes seem like he was looking for someone, <em>anyone,</em> to give him a thumbs up?  I guess he would have been looking for a pistolero from somebody, or whatever the hell stupid logo is on his hat.  Anyway, he was most definitely the strongest guy, even on TT day, with taking 30 freaking seconds out of Mr TT himself… I pity the fool, Fabian Cancellara.</p> <p>I do have to say thanks to DVRs… there is no way I would have been able to watch coverage as efficiently as with 2x and 3x speed fast forward.</p> <p></p> <p>Finally, this weekend should be a cracker (learned that from David Millar and Bradley Wiggins!) of a good time… Revolution Bike and Bean is hosting the midway point SAG of the HMBA century with burgers, dogs, PBJs and various other goodies.  Of course there will also be coffee and espresso, so come on out to 10th and Grant in Bloomington for some sweet fun.  I’ll even buy you a shot of espresso if you mention this post.  If you cough up $5(with proceeds going to HMBA) , you can eat grilled goodness, too!  While you’re there you can register for the DRT off road Time Trial at Brown County State Park on Sunday.  It’s a point to point from the North Gate to Hesitation Point.  It’ll be awesome, mainly because there will be hotdogs at the finish line.</p> <p>later.</p> <p>-the ATM</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-64174466060476127632009-07-10T05:02:00.000-07:002009-07-13T05:24:03.632-07:00yes, no and yesI've had a bit of time to reflect on my performance in the cross country race over the July 4th weekend, and while one can always want more/better/faster I can't really complain about a 3rd place finish. <br />Things were moving along really well starting at about 12:15p on Saturday with me having just won the short track race then finding out I'm the the state champion as a result, but about 12:30 things started turning pear shaped. You see, that's when the rain started and didn't really stop until about 11p that night. It was no gully washer - just a steady light rain that kept going. This sucked big time because Muscatatuck does not really do well with rain. There is a lot of tree cover that makes even the smallest amount of water sit for days waiting to dry out. While the local trail crew had done a great job of changing things to mitigate that, the simple fact is that the trail is mostly a dense clay that turns into peanut butter when wet.<br />There was a sparkle of hope when a race day report from a friend who had already ridden a lap came back the trail wasn't THAT BAD and his bike wasn't loaded with mud to back it up. Unfortunately, my pre-race recon did not give me warm fuzzies and I was on the limits of safe low tire pressure. Anyhoo, I had a great start and took second into the woods. I felt like I was cornering like a sissy but had good climbing legs so I pushed when I could. After superstar Slowinsky passed me (he apparently felt bad early on) Gentle Ben and I settled in to a good battle for 3rd/4th with him cornering better than me but I seemed to be climbing better. I took my opportunity to push it on a climb and created a gap to Ben. I was able to hold it to the line for third behind untouchables Matt Battin and Slowinsky.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/SlsnL2JmmvI/AAAAAAAAApg/icF2Y_3ZPbU/s1600-h/DSC_3470.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 222px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/SlsnL2JmmvI/AAAAAAAAApg/icF2Y_3ZPbU/s320/DSC_3470.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357919266155174642" /></a><br />After about 3 hours worth of cleaning, the talley was one spent chain, two rebuilt (but semi-worn out anyway) jockey pulleys, one likely destroyed crank arm, and perhaps the worst is what appears to be blown BB bearings. I'll dig into that this week.<br />Fast forward a week and I was finally able to toe the line on my road bike for the first time this year. Alas, a flat tire only 15 minutes in and no spare wheels meant my day was done. At least I was able to keep upright when the rear went flat leading into a corner. Even better was that nobody went down getting around me as I had to straight line the corner.<br />On to Sunday's MTB race in Warsaw at the great Winona Lake trail, I took third into the woods after Dave McComb lit up the start. Matt Light was setting a mean pace and him being a local to the trail I was not in any hurry to take a pull. It didn't take long for Matt's two teammates to bridge up so I was, um, outnumbered. 1 vs 3? Sweet. I probably rode a little too hard trying to stay 2nd wheel in front of Isaac Neff and Chad Salla, which was remedied when my front wheel washed out in a sandy corner and they came around. This turned out to be good since I settled into my own pace and got bits of micro-recovery. By the end of lap 1 I had bridged back up to Isaac and Matt but Chad had already checked out. I was able to get around them to start lap 2 and eventually brought it down to 25 seconds, but Chad was able to drill a section or two and stretch it back out to a minute.<br />If I hadn't had a set of BB bearings seized, I would have won. Totally. I swear.<br /><br />Later.<br /><br />-the ATMAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-12344360963850300932009-07-04T12:12:00.001-07:002009-07-04T12:12:06.079-07:00Muscatatuck STXC reportAs it turns out, the short track event was the state championship. So now I'm the short track state champ. I wonder if I should get a jersey made for that...<br>Anyway, the start chute was rather short and my thought of lining up to the outside didn't net the position I was looking for. Alas, I had to settle for 5th wheel. After two or three laps, tho I had moved up to 3rd wheel after a few bobbles from the guys ahead of me. With first and second content to pull me around for the duration, I was content to let them. At the end of 2 to go I launched an attack that was apparently pretty good since it stuck and I was able to post up across the line. <br>So now I guess I like short track races. Much better result than the first (and last) STXC race I did back in 06, anyway.<br>So now I'm chillin out for tomorrow's XC race watching Le Tour. Sweet.<p>Later.<p>-the ATMAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4565777610134153855.post-25105915935835873312009-07-03T10:55:00.000-07:002009-07-03T16:34:57.056-07:00'Bout that time, eh?You know it's getting to 'cross season when goodie boxes start showing up.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/Sk5G16h5VVI/AAAAAAAAApY/VGutoa9wC80/s1600-h/blog+post.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 259px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_J3Pj0l0o6Vs/Sk5G16h5VVI/AAAAAAAAApY/VGutoa9wC80/s320/blog+post.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354294899048535378" /></a>Fresh bar tape, a few new Campy freehubs and a pile of sweet Grifo XS tubulars. With any luck, I'll be able to start rebuilding the Record hubs and Mavic Reflex hoops next week, but that will require removing 2 years of glue which is no too terribly appealing. In any event, I look forward to building another set of wheels.<br /><br />In racing news, I started my sizeable racing block last weekend at the OMBC event at East Fork. I was a little disappointed with the start since we weren't going balls out up the opening climb (where I set my 1 min max power last yea), but then again we weren't going balls out. I took 5th into the woods after the ~2 mile road section and was riding comfortably. Unfortunately, I got slowed by a few bobbles in front of me and didn't want to/couldn't bridge the 20 second gap. With a coupla PROs like <a href="http://humanacycling.blogspot.com/">Anthony Slowinsky</a> and Brad Wilhelm ahead of me, I didn't figure it wise to try to bridge only to hemorrhage time later.<br />As expected, I started feeling better as the race progressed. This was bolstered when I passed the guy in 3rd who had flatted and asked if I had a pump. I did not, so I could not oblige. Let me say that I <span style="font-style:italic;">would have</span> dropped a CO2 cartridge had he asked for one, but I'm not going to potentially strand myself by giving up my CO2 gun so a competitor can continue. If he did not prepare well enough then this is not my concern. Carrying on, I was solidly in third going into the final lap and was just about to throw in the 'chase' towel when I saw P2 about 30 seconds in front of me. I'm assuming he had shut down until he saw me because that's what the gap stayed and I definitely gave it the ole' college try to close said gap, so any efforts by me were matched by him.<br />At the end of the day, I ended up 3rd behind Slowinsky and Wilhelm, and I was only 2:30m behind Anthony and 30sec behind Brad. Sure, Slowinsky flatted and ran the last half mile in but I wasn't 6 minutes behind, either.<br />So the next race is the AMBC event @ North Vernon's awesome Muscatatuck Park, and starts Saturday with a Short Track race followed on Sunday with the XC race. Fingers crossed, I have a good weekend.<br /><br />later.<br /><br />-the ATMAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07349496642876803159noreply@blogger.com0