A murder of one

I 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.
Hmmpf. That sucks.
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.
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.
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.
In the mean time, here's some digital media from day 1 of the Louisville USGP:



photo cred Tobi Herron

download

Whew, 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!

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.
Most alarmingly, I've got two new bikes in the basement that have been there for a week yet remain in the shipping boxes.
Sweet bikes, for sure... now I just need to make time to build them.
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.
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.

and with that, I'm out.

later.

-the ATM

Cross updates

As 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.
So first and foremost, things are rapidly approaching with the first annual BloomingCross, 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 Two Johns Podcast coffee!
OK, so race reports...
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!
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.


Photo cred to Tom Moran and Lauren Half

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.
Eh, I'll take the racing... the other stuff will be there tomorrow!

Oh yeah, work has been kicking me square in the pants lately too. That's about all I have to say about that.

I 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...

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.

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.

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 OVCX calendar in Bloomington with Rad Racer Ryan Knapp. 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.
No matter, it's definitely worth the effort.
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.
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.

later
-the ATM

Apparently...

...They have not been dealt a good hand in life.

It's scenes like these that always make for great rides.

P - I - M - P

um, yeah, so the Dugast order showed up, and Kyle had a great idea for a photo op...

The front derailleurs of my discontent

That's twice - in two weeks, no less.
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???
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.
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!
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.
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...
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.
I'm going to have to stop talking about it so I don't wet my pants.

anyway, enough for now.

later.

-the ATM