how to do it right

then



now

OFF! - UPSIDE DOWN from jake burghart on Vimeo.

this is a timeless formula for making a kick ass video.

of course

Good read from time magazine here on wingnuts. This section hit home to me
"Vanderboegh is hardly a man of action himself, living these days on government disability checks. Even so, when he wrote a blog post in March urging followers to protest the health care bill by breaking windows at Democratic Party offices, they did so across the country."
Of course the patriot on disability had time to agitate against health care....

If that wasn't enough try this article on CIA incompetenece from Harpers. Rendition? Remember that?

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.

the curious case of Judas Priest song titles

cheater
ripper
deceiver
sinner
starbreaker
exciter
invader
grinder
steeler
troubleshooter
jawbreaker
turbolover
painkiller
night crawler
devildigger
demonizer
hellrider

To the casual observer, this might seem like a list of things ending in "-er", but to a true metal maniac, it is clearly a list of Judas Priest song titles-all with one thing in common.
At work yesterday, most likely thanks to an Ipod's shuffle mode, I heard Exciter followed up by Invader. Couldn't remember if they were on the same album or not, but thought it was weird. Which was all it took to get the gears of my mind spinning towards some useless record nerd analysis. The results of which are the list above

10% of all Judas Priest Songs end in "-er" 17 out of 167
69 % of non live or greatest hits contain at least one "-er" title. 11/16
28% percent of the songs on the live Unleashed in the East end in "-er"
0% of my childhood favorite Screaming for Vengeance's song titles end in "-er"
4 out of 4 of their 1st 4 lps contain an "-er"
This does not include plurals or phrases like Defenders of the Faith
I also cannot explain the 1997 dalliance with "-or" titles (juggalator and abductor)
I guess that since the singer's nickname was Ripper they felt safe to experiment. It does have a Halfordian precedent in Dissedent Aggressor from 1977's Sin after Sin....

I can be fact checked here

I suppose I could have written a race or non-race report, but variety is the spice of life.

This video does not stand up to the test of time very well

better


best

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