Cross Weekend One

"Tensions ran high, but we ran higher". So goes one of my favorite quotes from the My Rules photozine. Nothing is quite as fondly remembered as the butterflies in your stomach as you line up for some event your not so sure you can do.
That was the thing running through my head as I lined up for my 1st cross race. Buy a bike on Wed, race it on Saturday? Sometimes you just have to jump first and look second. I had practice mounts and dismounts on this bike for about an hour.
Got to the race(Plymouth North) early to be able to preride as much as I could. First off which way does the course go? Luckily, people at a cross race seem friendlier than at a road race so that question gets answered quick. Off I go one set of a barriers and one run up. One pretty technical( for me!) single tracky section. Pre ride ended fast.
My mind was racing-how many layers to wear? what tire pressure?. Would I even notice a difference on tire pressure? What would be worse a flat or a rougher ride?
Line up for the start. A prime for the hole shot and a prime for the first lap. Based on that, I knew it would be a fast start. I lined up in the second row and didn't challenge the start. First time through the barriers was ugly. Luckily no one was watching. The run up was much better and after one lap, I was pretty sure it would be okay. Just another 30 minutes in the pain cave. Off the back, but okay with that. Shifting the SRAM wasn't a major problem, but my thumbs were ghost shifting where the Campy thumb levers should have been!.
Andrew from October was there and gave me some encouragement which was appreciated as racing off the back can feel like a lab experiment as you ride drooling past people talking and laughing behind a piece of tape. The urge to fake flats and get some neutral support Zipps was running high.
Bell Lap and it's over. Last place? Hard to know since I didn't get placed in the results.
It is obvious why cross is so popular. Fast and fun and over pretty quick.
Packed it up pretty fast after the race

Day Two. Plymouth South. Get to the race nice and early. My legs felt OK, not great, but not lead either. Start to preride and right off the bat, this is a harder course. Off camber corners after the start. Steep Sections. And a ton of riding around a soaking we soccer and baseball field. Steep hillsx2. Lots of wind and it was a loongg lap. Two warm up laps in, I am feeling like I might be in over my head. This is killing me and I am not even going full gas. But since it is technical and challenging, I decide to skip the race and preride until the racing starts. Maybe I can figure out how to ride some of it with some practice. Good move. I got in about 90 minutes of training and bailed when the racing started. Watched the races to see what lines people took. I felt lame for not racing, but I think it was the right move. My 1st season goal is in December, so I need to bring what little "form" I have to a boil slowly and not burn it out when it doesn't really matter (excuses, excuses, I know....._)

There is something to be said for trying new things. Your mind gets fully utilized as there are hundreds of decisions to make and you can't go on auto pilot. I read somewhere that one of the keys to keeping your mind sharp as you get older is to pick up new hobbies and activities (they suggested learning new languages), and as long as I don't crash on my head, I think cross will keep my mind engaged for the foreseeable future. Just dialing in tire pressure seems like and endless quest. Never mind maintaining the mental upgrade list for another bike......

Koppenberg Cross Race

Koppenberg is a killer climb in the Tour of Flanders.Now imagine having to turn right onto a mud path at the top of it??? And then climb it lap after lap???? This footage is crazy.
Mass young gun Luke Keough finished 7th in the juniors race. He is having a good run in Belgium. You can help support him by buying raffle tickets here.
That is it from Arlington's biggest cross poser

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..............