old photos

going through some old photos and this bunch really made me wish it was the start of the cross season..... All from Northampton Day One 2009


miss this dude

how come?

Every year at classics time, there are hundreds of articles on spring classic tech. They generally rehash the same tired factoids(wider tires, double bar tape, chain watcher, etc) with tons of photos of fmbs on mavics classics pro wheels and other rebranded goodies.
BUT
There is no equivalent in cyclocross-especially at Worlds. There were 2 big deals I can think of this year. Nys on the Michelin/Dugasts and the Pipisquallos that Vos was running. Am I really supposed to believe that was the only thing going on under the radar?
Cross has way more access to the bikes, the pits, the real deal? Why is there so little uber secret photo leaks and undercover journalism?
People need to get on it.
Somewhat related, did anyone run disc brakes this year? Was it the lack of forks? When(if?) will we see them at the top levels?

signs you are over the season before the season is over

1. bike still dirty from last weekend
2. forgot that bike is in shop, not in basement
3. dirty kit is in car, I think....
4. ...hopefully everything else you need for the race is in your car
5. only openers you do the day before are on bottles and cans
6. fantasize about how fun a training ride to Harvard in the freezing rain would be
7. trainer covered in laundry
8. haven't checked points list on crossresults.com-or even looked at it all week
9. accepting wearing leg warmers cause you're too lazy to shave your legs
10.saturday night-did someone want to go out for a beer?

Velo-Cross

This was a pretty fun course which had all the necessary features-bmx action and pump bumps-check, long ass run up check, sketchy pavement to asphalt transitions-check, 2 sets of barriers-check, a little mud-check, spray painted rocks on the single-track-check. I had a shit start and bad first lap-one crash, two dropped chains. I was in full baby mode for the next lap til I mentally got my shit together and just settled in to race my bike. After that it was fun. Short lap would have had me doing 8 laps but junior soul stealer Nate Morse caught me and that gave me a pass on the last lap.....

The "track" portion of this was not too exciting, but the infield was laid out well.


Those in the know said the course ran the opposite way so you had to get up this last year.


There was a lot of scary rear wheel in the air action. A lot of people were struggling with the concept "pump" and "rhythm". This is a fast way to end up "face down, ass up"....

One of the two sets of barriers

Berms

I thought these things got recycled?



railing it



For those of you who don't know what goes down on a bmx track check this out-and pay attention to which wheel is up....


I was running low on batteries so that is it for photos. took a lot of blurry throw aways today. Shedd Park tomorrow. Waffle hand ups? Four Loko hand ups? Be afraid!

couple more shots from eco cross

I wrote race report for this on the team blog, but here are a few photos from the men's 4 and the elite race. This is a rad event-where else is the elite field 50% current or former national champs? More people should do this, but I think they will need a longer lap if they get bigger fields.










more photos here

required reading

Big Bikes got me through the summer, but Cyclo-What is the fall favorite blog!

Race Report Simplifier

At this point in the season, signs of fatigue are setting in. Bike stays dirty longer. You stay in bed longer, etc. So blogging and race reporting is starting to slow down.
To make my life easier, I have boiled my race reporting down to a multiple choice madlib. Could have been a flow chart, but multiple choice is easier. Feel free to use if helpful.

1.Today's race was______
a. wetter than I like
b. too dry
c. too muddy
d. too hot
e. too cold

2. I had a ____ start
a.good
b.ok
c.terrible

3.I tried to go fast, i ______
a.did
b.failed due to_______
-legs
-head
-mechanical
-crash
-random body issue


4.Race ended, I ________
a. can't wait to look at cross results
b. did exactly what the race predictor expected
c .don't want to see to look at cross results



5.I am_____ for next weekend
a. stoked
b. dreading

6.I need to _____ coach
a.fire my
b.hire a


Add in a couple self deprecating remarks about handling, poorly maintained equipment, and maybe sketchy canadians or officials and it is a wrap.

Watching the Weasel a non-race report

My ribs and ankle were still pretty banged up from Gloucester and with 2 more days of racing in Providence on the horizon, I decided not to race the Night Weasel. That said, there was no way I wasn't going out to support this event. Rolled out in a downpour which fizzled out the closer we got to Ski-Ward in Shrewsbury.
Course looked fun. Technical wet and hazardous as well. I was glad I left my bike at home-cause I would have lined up if I brought it and I would have crashed for sure.
Nick,Billy, and Thom lined up to kill it. We posted our tent up on a nice muddy corner that would deteriorate nicely over the next few hours.
I got my heckle on as the other dudes raced. Buying a new camera before cross season seemed smart, but trying to learn how to operate it at the races is not a good plan. I got a couple hundred blurry shots from this race.
Races continued. Beer was drank. Veggie burgers eaten. Rad night. Elites were killing it.
Amazing prizes. Where else are FMBs on the prize list? And not for the winners either-sick!
Pedros did major community service on the bike wash front.
SkiWard deserves major props for letting this happen, and Colin,Linnea, and Chip deserve even more major props and thank yous for making it happen.
Packed up and rolled out. I really, really hope this race happens again next year. A New England Super Week seems like a great idea.

things I learned at Gloucester

Everyone should already be OD'd on Gloucester coverage, but here are a couple observations.
It was always my impression that barriers were meant to be leapt over with the grace of a gazelle. They are not to be climbed over like Visigoths storming a castle. This year at Gloucester, I realized that might not be the case. Wave after wave of riders were planting their foot on the top of the barriers as the went over them. Fast guys were doing it. Pros were doing it. And they all seemed to be getting over them faster than I did.....


Another observation. The one armed javelin carry was very popular this weekend. Whether over the barriers or up the run up, it was seen in it's full glory in almost every race


Last observation is the escalation of pre-ride wardrobes. Last season the NBD preride in jeans seemed to be pretty standard. It seems like by the end of the season the elites will be preriding in suits or tuxes or maybe some fully articulated Patagonia preride suit. Sorry no good photographic evidence of this sartorial trend, but watch it's trickle down effect into the 4s if you get up early enough.

Oh and Mark McCormack is still wicked fast

What about a race report? Gloucester wasn't a great race for me last year and that may be becoming a tradition. I DNF'd one day and got 54th the next. Walking wounded-rolled my ankle and bruised some ribs crashing after riding like an asshole. Weather was perfect and it is always an amazing weekend no matter how you ride. Good kick off to the Mega-Cross Week.

devil is in the details

28th or 32nd? Which is a better result and which feels better? Hard to say. Loon Mt was a survival fest for me so finishing 28th out of 38 was not the end of the world. 32nd out of 94 looks better and maybe even feels better, but you have to weigh terrain and competition and your own performance. In the end I am stoked on each result. Loon was a total unknown and despite crashing, I was able to hang onto the lead lap. Hard training. Epic terrain. Just like on TV....
I had raced Suckerbrook the year before so I had a benchmark. I finished better than last year and rode better as well. Despite the other people, so much of cross is internal to me. The results tell the story, but there are so many other ways to judge and experience the race.
A new race and a New England classic. Good way to spend a weekend.
This week has been a blur or tire gluing and Gloucester prep....
Craziest week is on deck with 5 races in 9 days. Get stoked

road trip to vermont with some bike racing

Nick should once again be manning the race report on the team blog, so I will bloviate here. Fact-no matter how old you are, road trips rule. Load up some dudes, drive a bit, and let the hijinks begin. For us one hijinks started too soon. We lost a wheel of the roof before we were out of MA?? FML.
Driving into Burlington around 10. The last hour of the drive in full Translyvanian Hunger fog. Hit the youth hostel where we were staying-fear of bed bugs be damned. Right off the bat, I got off on the wrong foot with the inn keeper-apparently zombie jokes are off limits up here. Any way, we sacked out with dreams of race success.
We departed early and arrived at the Catamount Family Center in more fog.

And it was fucking cold. Fact-there is never a wrong season to bring winter hats to Vermont.
As the fog cleared,the dread set in. Course tap snaked its way up and down an hillside.Wet grass was everywhere with no pavement in site.
2.5 preride laps resulted in some grass covered bikes and an increased sense of impending doom.

Pinning on 3 numbers made me feel super pro. Before I was ready, it was call ups and time to get it on. Early reg'ing got me a front row start. I was ready to drop anchor and reverse hole shot as soon as possible.
Saturdays race was a 4 lap suffer fest with a lot of climbing and a cool ride up a bmx jump the wrong way. Hard as hell, but rad. Race was tough lots of climbing.
Blew up after 2 laps and pretty much chalked up the rest of the race to hard training. 16th was the result.
Parbo on the jump

We got to hang for the rest of the day, get sunburned, and watch people crush the course. Nick was running the camera so I just got to chill.
We headed back to Burlington with thoughts of Flatbreads pizza dominating my mind. I get grumpy when I am hungry and I was in dick mode. Standing next to and empty table for 15 minutes before getting seated at the same table did not help. Couple beers, a salad, and half a pizza later it was back to happyland and time for bed.
Up early enough to sit in a Starbucks parking lot for 20 minutes before we arrived(no surprise early) to the race. Sunday's course was less of a kick in the nuts as far as elevation, but the challenges came on some tricky downhill corners and medium length run up. Why do people try to get all 300 on things like this and try to ride up them only to flounder and die? If you can't ride it every time in practice-run it. It will be faster. At the start, I somehow found myself accelerating away and coming close to getting the hole shot. At which point I let of the gas and lost enough positions that I spent the rest of the race trying to get them back. Lap 2 found me passing Nick which would have ruled if he wasn't running with his bike. He made it to the pits and got himself together and was off. The course doubled back on itself enough that I was able to try and yell some encouragement to him. Maybe too much as he caught and passed me! Way to go Nick.
We managed to finish 12,13,14 on Sunday.
After a little chill time we packed up and rolled out. Really nice race. Good weekend. Good road trip. Hopefully a good warm up for NH next weekend.

Quad Cross

I was stoked to do this race cause it is one of the only races of the year that I can ride to. Riding to a race-outside of Wells Ave isn't really an option so this was a cool thing. Packing for a race with a car means you don't have to think too much-just throw it in, but when you are carrying everything you need on your back, you need to put some more thought into it. I could think all I want, but I still needed team mates to come through with things like a floor pump and pit wheels. It takes a village for one man to ride....... Speaking of team mates, Thom and Nick headed out Saturday night to help with course set up.

2nd time doing Quad Cross. Weather was pretty similar. Dry and cool. Course was a little tougher-they ran it into the woods and found some sand to make the run up a little tougher.
We had the whole team there. Billy,Nick, and Thom were in the 4 and I was in the old 4s. Had a decent start. Starts are not ever my strong suit so decent is an improvement. Took a lap or 2 to get it together, at which point I was in a group of about 8, and we proceeded to beat on each other for the remaining laps.
People definitely came out to race and were diving into ever corner and sprinting out of ever turn. Dusty as a hell-which I was reminded of when I laid down for a quick nap on the last lap. Crashed in a completely unremarkable left hand turn. Chalk that one up to last lap jitters. I get more uptight and nervous in the last lap than at the start. Once I realize it's the last lap, I tend to think to much and what handling I have goes out the window. Tons of people were out and it was nice to get a pretty thorough level of heckling throughout the course.
Hung out til the Pro race and then road home.
This was an extremely fun day and I think Quad Cross has earned it's spot on the calendar.
Nick has a race report on the team blog. Check it out. Maybe the other slackers on the team will have something to say soon. VT weekend with 3/4 of the crew on deck.

never the same.

One of my favorite things about cross is the constant flux. You can have a race at the same place every year and change the course to make it different. Even if you don't change the course, weather can give you 2 totally different races. Even hour to hour. If you do 2 races in one day, you are not really riding the same course-especially if it rains. You need to be ready for anything.
For example Palmer MA. I have done this race 3 times. 1st time it was later in the year and a mess of frozen mud ruts and grass. Last year was an epic mudfest with submerged roots and pouring rain. This year it was dry and hot. Still had roots. Roots everywhere. Popping out of the ground like zombies trying to free themselves from their graves.
race report on the other blog later.

Cross Season

Posted a race report from our team's first race on the new team blog. Check it out
Or follow us on Facebook.

Rain, Mud, and Fun all on day one of the season? Stoked.

new kits on the block

Going to be racing cross for the Newbury Comics /High&Mighty Beer Co. this season. Stoked. More news to follow.
High&Mighty Beer Co.
Newbury Comics

so much good stuff on the horizon

Putting these tires on a spare set of wheels got me stoked. Cross season in a few weeks, D2R2,Mt.Agamenticus.Cross Practice. Can't wait. Never mind vacation right around the corner.
I don't know what it is about the Paves, but at 24mm their profile looks so much fuller than its 23mm challenger. Same thing with the Conti 25s. I am turning into a bigger tire disciple.

Roubaix Cross

Roubaix WC round was amazing to watch even with a glitchy streaming feed. Cyclocrosschannel has it right above. You know that downhill to right turn was gnarly if Nys and almost everyone else was running it.

PS I guess shitty pre-fab skateparks exist in France too....

genius

this is funnier than the cyclocross hipster video. xtranormal is pretty rad

A couple more shed park shots

I wasn't really in photo mode this weekend, but here are a couple more.

Panoramic majesty of the downhill S's. (just kidding...)


S-Bends


2nd Run Up/Ride Up.

Mad Alchemy Rules.

end is near

Big race weekend. Shed Park in Lowell and the last race of the Accelerated Cure series in Easthampton. Friday night was a bit hectic as I had no clean kit, a dirty bike, and needed to get in a trainer ride to open up the legs.
As the season has dragged on, it has become easier and easier to roll up to a race with a less and less clean bike. In my head, I want to race every weekend, but in reality it the legs are cooked and it is harder and harder to get out of bed.
Regardless, we rallied to scenic Lowell. Got there early(even for my standards). Course was pretty rad. Half super tech and half roadie safe hammer zone. The goal was to race the 4 race and the 3/4. Based on my lingering illness and almost non existent training, I was skeptical. I did devise the formula for trouble.
Bad Weekend=MT < OZB. When minutes training(MT) are less than ounces of beer consumed(OZB), you are setting yourself up for the beatdown.
4 race jumped off. Rode my usual midpack fodder self. The spiral of death was hectic the first couple laps and bikes were getting tangled(pay attention-this becomes important on the last lap).
Spiral of Death

fully loaded



I was feeling good on the run ups and was managing to catch and pass people. Last lap and I am neck in neck with one of my many nemesis, heading into the last run up (ride up for a lot of other people). I dismount and start to run-pushing the bike. The bike does not roll. Rear wheel is jammmed and the bike is dragging. WTF????? Get to the top and am baffled. Chain is on, not jammed. Then I realize the wheel isn't in the dropout..?WTF. Clearly massive watts were not the culprit. I end up flipping the bike over and beating it back into place-losing a bunch of spots as today's nemesis floats off to Valhalla. Fully bummed, but unbroken, I remount and finish.
My conspiracy theory is that in one of the trips through the Spiral of death, I must have tangled with someone who pulled my quick release loose and it finally got me.
I need zapruder film to confirm, but I have a feeling that all I will see are pictures of me punching my rear wheel....
Race over and now it's time to think about the 3/4.
It was a sunny day, how did my bike get so dirty?

Legs that were cooked when I got up, weren't any better after the first race, but what the hell. Line up and give it a go. After 3 races, the course was more chewed up than my first run through. SOD was a muddy wreck.

The woodsy section had some rutted, drying mud that managed to buck me around like an idiot everytime. So, in true coward's fashion, I rolled off the course after a lap and a half. Day over. Packed up and headed home. Not washing the bike was not an option, so it got done. Bike-life was not over though. The Bicycle Film Fest was in town showing Where are you Go. The trailer for that movie looked cool, so we went to check it out.

It was pretty cool. See it if you can. Time for sleep cause Easthampton was another early roll out.
We rolled up to a very cold Easthampton. Pre-ride was kind of a bumout. A lot of hate was dished out towards the course. Boring with some hectic, sketchy mountain bike sections. It did have a sandpit. Morale was at an all time low on the start.
I actually started in the small ring and planned to ride at the back and treat it like training, or maybe just drop out after a lap.
Half way through the first lap, I managed to almost clip a tree. Nick passed me and told me to chill and "take a deep breath". Turned out to be good advice. Once I was racing, the course was fun. Not a sketchy crash fest. Second race in a row where I was really feeling good on the run ups. Passing people and going hard every lap. The sand pit was similar to Northampton on the first day. Thanks to some good advice, I road the sand better than ever. Thanks PedalPowerCoaching! I was enjoying it more every lap and then it was over. I bobbled the last ride down/run up muddy section and lost a couple spots, but was still happy.
New rule-No negative nancy shit before the race. Just listen to Slayer and get ready to do it.
The 3/4 race was an option.... but not really. Burritos and fish tacos were next on the agenda. Followed by coffee and the cruise home.
2 weeks and 2 races. Then it is time to start building for the road season.