Off Season

Just got back from a 2 hour hike with my dog. Off season is in full effect. Running, doing 5Ks, attempting to strengthen my core/gut, and trying not to gain too much weight.
It is also the time to review the season and try and prepare for next year.
hard to believe I only did 10 races. Started early and ended early. My summer got owned by lyme disease and my kids getting ready for college. That said, I did have a good spring, so overall stoked. Best result? Ouch, probably Sturbridge RR. 39th. Mt.Agamenticus was super fun despite the pain cave-maybe because of?

As far as worst where do you start? Wells Ave crash that ruined me and Billy's bank accounts. Norwell margarita purge. Blue Hills handlebar fiasco. There were a lot of not so sweet moments.
Biggest regret? Missing Deerfield, not upgrading to a 4, and not racing cross this year.
Next Year?
Battinkill, Marblehead, Sturbridge (or Palmer-whichever one goes uphill more), Blue Hills, Myles Standish, and Deerfield. I want to hit a late summer race either Hilltowns or GM stage race. Something to keep me turning the wheels through August.
Then try out cross!
What will be harder, finding form or finding cash for a cross bike and gas to the races?
Based on the roughest calculations it is 150 days until my next race. Rollers are out. Get busy!

Dog in a Hat

Bare knuckle, hard times bike racing in Belgium. The sales pitch for Dog in a Hat is a no brainer and most bike riders are grabbing it like zombies grab fresh brains. The good news is it is a good book.
All the seedy side of cycling is here th drugs, buying races, etc. There are tons of memoroable moments.
It even has funny stories about racing cross. What else do you need?

Italy's next big thing

It wasn't too long ago that people were anointing Visconti to be Bettini's successor. Well, say what you will about Paolo, but I never saw him shopping for make up looking like this..... WTF???? Looks like growing up Gotti hits the motherland. And not Ivan Gotti either!. Give me Ballan any day.

As seen in the photo above, it doesn't get more Italian than pulling a pink jersey over the national champs jersey, but he has a long way to go before I can get over the whole manscaping thing.
But what's worse? Plucked eyebrows or Cera-enhanced bravado? Visonti beats Ricco. (until proven otherwise.........)

Planks/Tombs split 12"

Tombs side opens up with a pummeling track that drives like Black Metal and has a real bleak relentless pounding. "Cypress" is up next. Slower, moody jammer that kicks into a Motorheady Swedish rocker after a couple minutes. "cheval noir" closes it out with another switch up. Female Vocals are in effect. This is that morose, melodic shit that I fucking love. Kind of a codieney/seamy dirge ballad.
Planks are some German rockers. 3 tracks from them. Heavy for sure. Knut,Black Cobra, you name your favorite post-core, post-metal bangers and these guys hold up pretty well against them. Regardless, Tombs are the main event for me.

If you hit up Black Box fast enough you might be able to get it on red wax! Comes with a card to get a digital copy for free so your ipod can get pummeled too. Get it now before their Relapse debut gets everyone wise to whats up and you miss out.

records on the curb...again

Driving to grab lunch last Sunday, I saw three boxes of records on a curb in Belmont. Drove past, cursed myself, and turned around.
First box had a bad Metal looking record by Axe, so maybe not a total waste. It was hard not to pull over immediately to check them out, but I was in a rush to get lunch. Whoever this was had a pretty odd collection. The entire collected works of UFO and Michel Schenker coupled with a healthy serving of mid 80s dance 12"s.
As I sat there I realized I couldn't seriously drag home another 300 records of marginal worth(there are only so many fights with the wife worth having), so while I ate a quesidlla, I paired the three boxes down to one and left the remainder in my parking space. Let it be some other OCD record nerd's problem. Pass it forward.....
Outside of the obvious spinal tap brilliance of UFO/MSG, there were a few good finds
Piper was one of them
Billy Squier was inescapable when I was in 7th and 8th grade. He and Foreigner were like the sorta fake hard rock/arena rock shit that cooler kids listened to while I was totally in the thrall of AC/DC and Joan Jett. So I was pretty surprised by this Piper album. Only a dick, would be overly critical of an album that came out of the trash, but this was much less produced than the solo Squier and straddled a power-pop/hard rock faultline. Super catchy(and of course cheesey, but no worse than Guns and Roses for example)
This was a nice surpise to find in the trash. As far as the UFO/MSG... Lights out London and The Attack of the Mad Axe Man really don't hold up so well..............

Say What You Will

Saw these guys open for Maiden when I was in 7th or 8th grade. Cape Cod Coliseum. My first big Metal Show. I bought a totally ridiculous sleeveless checkerboard shirt. Looked like Vans so I figured it was cool.
So who would have guessed that almost 30 years later, this dude would be in flogging molly? Go figure.

Cycling Odds and Ends

These are some serious leg warmers. Pro only.
Nys manages to headbutt the barriers one day and win the next.


More Race Footage here. The huge grassy rhythmn sections look like they would be super fun to ride.

Good list of who will be riding for who next year here.

Winter is right around the corner. Cold ride on Saturday. Colder on Sunday and frost on the windshield this morning. Watch out.