Monday, November 28, 2011

Psycho Cross Day 2

This is going to be a short one.

The weather Sunday was awesome, 60 degrees, sunny and just a light breeze.  We had the pleasure of enjoying that right up until about 30 minutes before the A race went off.  In that half hour leading up to our race the clouds rolled in, temperature dropped to 45 and the rain settled in.

One of the reasons I enjoy these small races is for what happened next.  As all six of huddled under shelter trying to stay warm the official proposed a shorter race if we were feeling it.  After a short discussion we settled on a laps.  The faster we rode the faster we finished.

Ross Brody led through the first single track section, I sat second wheel and that's where I finished the day.  Without even trying I managed to finish second overall .  I definitely would have preferred first but hey, all in time.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Psycho Cross Day 1: Good Result, Crap Legs


It was a week of essentially no training and I was loosing motivation.  Fast.  As I type this I have 15 days and 4 races left in my season.  I had to race this weekend, if for no other reason than to remind myself I can still ride a bike somewhat fast.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Psycho Cross/OBRA State Champs: A New Way To Race Bikes

all photos courtesy of Will Sullivan Cycling
Over the past few seasons of both road and cyclocross I've gone into every race with a clean bike, a well prepared body and a plan.  I've been doing a little experimenting this season.  Part of it is out of laziness, time constraints, motivation and the willingness to try something new.  I didn't really plan it, it just kind of happened.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Awesome Photo

Normally I just tack photos onto the related post but I feel this one deserves its own post.
photo credit to PDX Cross for this one

PDX Cross
always seems to put out an awesome set of photos each week.  This is easily one of my all-time favorites.  Thanks for being out there each week and providing free photos for all us cheap-asses!

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Cross Crusade P.I.R.: I Got My Legs Back!

Sometimes it's just faster to run
(photo courtesy of Dave Roth)
Last Cross Crusade of the year and I pull the second-to-last number callup.  Not necessarily how I wanted to round out this year.  Before my race a teammate asked me if I was going to win.  Ha, not really a chance of that, but heck, I'll go out there and see how many people I can pass.  Have fun and pass people, that's all I was looking for today.

I raced this course two years ago at the USGP and it has always been one of my favorite courses.  Today was my chance to revisit that awesome course.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Edgefield CX: I like my bike again

The past few week have been kind of rough on the racing front.  First there was the flat at PIR then the next week I got turned into a speed bump, then the following day I flatted again.  Needless to say, I just wanted to go out and finish a race without anything happening.  That's what the Bend/Halloween races were for.  I didn't fo well but I got my confidence back that I can ride a bike without crashing, flatting or doing something stupid.  Plus, when you're dressed as Kermit the Frog it's hard to have a pissy attitude.
When this week rolled around I knew this was kind of the make-or-break for the season.  If I did well/put up a good fight then I knew I could keep racing for another month.  If not, then well, I'm pretty much just one more person on the startline.