Dictionary.com defines a prologue as "a preliminary discourse; a preface or introductory part of a discourse..." Instead, I define it as "as exercise, equivalent to repeatedly striking oneself in the head with a hammer, in which one wastes an entire day to go race for less than 10 minutes for the simple purpose of establishing who sucks more."
After 2 of the most hectic weeks of my life to this point it's off to another race. This one the OBRA Road Race State Championships held at Silverton, OR. Never heard of it? Me either.
Someone recently told me that the average college graduate must send out 38 resumes/applications before obtaining their first job. I don't know if I refused to believe this because in my mind that was an obscene number or because I didn't want to admit that I was fast approaching that number. SRAM, Acumed, Stryker, Johnson & Johnson, Biomet, Miosek, Specialized, Trek, Nike, Oakley, Intel (just to name a few); they all had my resume and all I'd received were polite emails (read: form letters) explaining that although my skills and background (I have no background) were impressive they've chosen to go with another candidate. And then out of nowhere I receive an email from a teammate essentially say "send this guy your resume." End of message. After a blind email thinking I was throwing my resume into yet another abyss I received a prompt reply and an interview the following day.
Shortish story even shorter: I'll be working at Renovo Bicycles as a design and test engineer. I had to choose between working at a bike shop mindlessly adjusting derailleurs and building kids bikes and a real, honest-to-God engineering job. No contest. Work starts Monday. Welcome to the good life.
So, no recap for Stage 3. Easy 4-corner crit, stayed safe and burned as little energy as possible. Tried making my way to the front but kept loosing spots so resigned myself to hanging on the back. Yeah, not the ideal spot but it was safe.
Stage 4: 2 small circuits, 2 big circuits, 41 miles, how bad could it possibly be? The proper answer is "holy f*** what the hell just happened."
So, it's been a while and I've neglected this again--here's the shortest, most complete update I can come up with.
Since returning from Colorado I broke the Scott yet again. You know how something bad is going to happen even though you really don't want it to? Yeah. That's my relationship with that bike. I was tired of messing around with it so I dropped it off with the guys at Veloce Bikes in Hawthorne and let them work their magic. And magic they did work. 2 weeks and $30 later I had a bike with a replaceable hanger!! Let's just say this has been a huge relief knowing that if/when I break that sucker again I can fix it in 15 minutes, not 15 weeks.
I just came to the realization that almost all of these posts are written/posted after midnight/1am; looks like this one will be no different.
So after a solid 2-3 weeks off the bike I'm back on it, this time cranking out the boring winter miles. When I got back on I know I'd want to immediately jump back to the fitness I was in August but alas, it wasn't too be.
This race was the event of my first win (in the lowly Cs) last year and the course is always fast with an ample amount of mud mixed in so I was definitely looking forward to this race.
Ninkrossi at Washougal MX Park and Cross Crusade #3 and Sherwood Equestrian Center. Makes for a full weekend.
After last weekend's slog-fest out at Heiser and my subsequent skipping of Cross Crusade #2 I was looking forward to a full weekend of racing and not destroying bikes.
So enough time has finally passed that I have forgotten the hell we all went through on August 14th. That said, the video and picture below bring all of it back. Maybe it's time to put this memory on the shelf for a while. In the mean time, enjoy the video below.
Hood River Double Cross: two days of racing, two chances to win.
terrible picture of me but you get the point
(Photo credit: Katie Doyle)
I rode with Stephen, one of my UP teammates, out to the races this past weekend, meaning getting up way to early to race on a course while the officials are still putting up all the barriers. While the idea of hanging out for 6 hours before my race didn't sound like a bunch of fun at the time I found a way to make it fun: be the most obnoxious spectator out there. No one comes out for the morning races so I had some making up to do. Let's just say I laid down some Cross Crusade-quality heckling. Making fun of skinny guys, people on $6k carbon setups in the beginner race and cheering my a** off for every person on a mountain bike getting thrashed by the field. Hell, I had a ton of fun and I still hadn't even raced yet. Alright, I'll get on with it.
Cyclocross training
in April 2009-terrible
form and all
(photo credit: Stephen Street)
Today marks my one year anniversary of my first bike race.
When I started training seriously in May 2009 I really had no clue what I was getting myself into but I knew cycling was something that I enjoyed and would hopefully satisfy my longing to be competitive once again. Little did I know that it would take hold of me and transform me into (what I hope has been) a better person.
During tonight's race at PIR I began thinking that exactly one year ago I was being pulled around in the 4/5 race and just holding on for dear life. Here I was a year later in the 1/2/3 race putting in attacks, blocking for a teammate up the road and racing alongside some of the best amateur racers in the nation. Ok, enough blabbering, here's a look back at some of the past year's highlights: (after the break)
So I finally gave into the pressure. After spending the last two weeks all but strangling myself with an inner tube to get on my cross bike I allowed myself that simple pleasure the past two days.
Yesterday I spent an amazing 3 hours on the bike scoping out some new training grounds, getting used to file treads again, ripping through Forest Park and testing a beautifully glued set of fresh tubulars... only to bust my derailleur and hanger!!
ok, so this picture (yes, that red blur is me) was from a while ago (6/23) and resulted in this post from fellow racer Steve. Still, a very good race and didn't realize that we had that big of a gap on the rest of the field. Steve, if you're reading this you're one hell of a racer and I'm looking forward to racing with/against you in cross this year.
I only have 2 more weeks at Acumed, then I’m free!! (for 2 weeks until school starts…). I realized the other night just how fun, full and awesome this summer has been. At the start of the summer I was kind of apprehensive because everything seemed to be going my way and falling into place just the way I’d planned it (it’s never happened to this degree before). That said I’m sitting 2 weeks away from the end of my internship, 3 weeks from my move into school, 4 weeks from the start of school and 5 weeks from my last road race of the season. But most importantly it is only 40 days until THE FIRST CROSS RACE OF THE SEASON!! You have no idea how much this video makes me miss cyclocross. Immediately following the completion of the Eugene Celebration Stage Race I am riding my cross bike until the very moment I have to hop in a car to drive to Eugene.
Looking back on this summer I’m amazed how much (racing) I’ve managed to cram in. I joined an awesome team at the end of May and it’s been non-stop since then. Elkhorn Stage Race, Mt. Tabor Series, High Desert Omnium and Lord-knows how many PIRs; it’s been a great summer. Glancing back through results I realized that I finished top 10 in almost every race I entered. I don’t know if that means anything but I’m marking it as a successful first road season. Oh yeah, and I reached my goal of “Cat 3 by the end of the season” about 2 months early…
I guess the entire purpose of this post is a giant “thank you” to Portland, OBRA, my team, my friends who’ve put up with my insane training/racing schedule and oh yeah, my aunt and uncle who have provided me with an excellent place to stay and some incredible food. So, THANK YOU ALL!
I’m going to cut this one off but I have a bunch of material for another post: getting put on a watchlist, blackberries, and just general Portland awesome-ness but I’ll save that for another time. Until then, get outside and enjoy the sunshine while it lasts! I’m going to be pleading for rain as soon as I finish the last stage in Eugene: CROSS SEASON IS ALMOST HERE!
Sorry, one mention of a friend "Andrea," (I think that's what I called her)--the one who was on the New Orleans trip, who placed SECOND in her age group of her first triathlon. For being a sprinter/hurdler not bad mixing it up with us endurance types!
The new frame has arrived! Add that to a free new Dura Ace chain and rear derailleur courtesy of Shimano customer service and the future is beginning to look a little brighter.
New frame is a Jamis Xenith Team, essentially the same weight as the Scott but has tapered headtube and BB30so looking forward to those upgrades. Ok, enough talk, here she is:
After going to both Cycle Path (local Scott dealer) and Revolver on Thursday I set out on Saturday determined to find a solution to fix the $20 broken part which would salvage my $2k+ frame.
Between Southwest Bicycles, River City, Athletes Lounge, Bike Gallery AND Veloshop the only thing I came up with was a very small chance at a warranty. So, at the end of the day, I'm stuck looking for a new frame. :( --yes, that is one of the only times you will ever see me use any form of stupid 'emoticon'.
I attended the Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge swap meet today in hope of finding the perfect frame at a reasonable price. No such luck, the only frames there were too large, over-priced CX frames.
Next option: appeal to my fellow OBRAites. There have been a few Scott Addicts in my size up there in the past so maybe I'll just get lucky. That said, I've already started the search for a new frame. While I REALLY don't want to buy a brand new frame there's not a whole lot of other options. I had a good chunk of change set aside for a new cyclocross bike to be purchased through a team deal but it looks like that may have to wait a little while.
In the meantime, I'm going to continue to lust over sub-900 gram frames and hope something magically works out... yeah right.
For those of you that know me fairly well you may know that some of my engineering friends have nicknamed me “Grumpy Gus.” I don’t remember the exact evolution of this name but I have to credit Pat G. with it. Anyway, Grumpy Gus left on Wednesday night and Depressed Derf has moved in.
Instead of reading a race report from Tabor on Wednesday night you’re going to be reading about the shattering of dreams.
I like bikes too much, I don't see the appeal in grad school and I want to design, build and break stuff "when I grow up."
This blog is my attempt to exert some amount of control on a tangle of a life that I have rarely have control of.
Since returning from Colorado I broke the Scott yet again. You know how something bad is going to happen even though you really don't want it to? Yeah. That's my relationship with that bike. I was tired of messing around with it so I dropped it off with the guys at Veloce Bikes in Hawthorne and let them work their magic. And magic they did work. 2 weeks and $30 later I had a bike with a replaceable hanger!! Let's just say this has been a huge relief knowing that if/when I break that sucker again I can fix it in 15 minutes, not 15 weeks.
For those of you that know me fairly well you may know that some of my engineering friends have nicknamed me “Grumpy Gus.” I don’t remember the exact evolution of this name but I have to credit Pat G. with it. Anyway, Grumpy Gus left on Wednesday night and Depressed Derf has moved in.
