Monday, October 31, 2011

Boss Cross 3... BMX style

Yo,

First of all, im sitting on the couch getting ready to watch Chiefs / Chargers Monday night game, it's Halloween, pumpkins are carved, Beer is near by, so is the candy... life is good.

Now, on to Yesterdays boss cross race...

The location was the Raytown BMX course and a portion of the course was actually on the bmxtrack. So cool. The carnage that followed, not so cool.

I got there early with X, she rocked the open race and had an exciting 3rd place finish after riding in 4th for most of the race. Even won a little money. there was still a few hours until my race so i was enjoying checking out the venue and snapping some pics when i see my good friend and teammate Brett being carried thru the parking lot. he's favoring his ankle. Apparently he was warming up, crashed, and rolled his ankle something awful. It quickly became obvious he was in major pain. Now, Brett is a tough guy, mountain biker, rides a ton, has been known to live is places without basic utilities. Plus he's had a tough hand dealt to him growing up. So seeing him react the way he did told me it was bad. After 20-30 minutes of filling out forms, changing positions, assessing the situation, it's decided he needs to go to the hospital. It was probably obvious all along but i guess nobody wanted to accept how bad it was. At least i didnt.

i was prepared to drive him to the hospital but X stepped up big time and said she would do it, allowing me to stay and race. She rocks.

After some x-rays it turned out he broke his ankle and i think he needs surgery. Major bummer.

Keep your head up brother, you'll be back soon!

At this point i still have about 2 hours till my race so im on the bmx track watching the racing. I pick a spot which should allow for some great photos. Right beside all the 'waves'. i call them waves, it was a series of close little humps. The next race is the Singlespeed / mens cat 4. The race starts and, predictably, Kent Woermann is the first singlespeeder to come thru (this dude is unstoppable) followed closely by Britton. Next up are two more Colavita dudes, Andrew and Michael. But neither of them make it to far. Andrew comes into the 'waves' to fast, loses control, and crashes hard, real hard, right on his head. he basically slammed the hard pack dirt surface of the bmx track with his face and helmet. This happened right in front of me and it was immediately clear it was a bad crash.

Micheal did basically the exact same thing but must have done a better job of falling because he was up and racing again before i even noticed. Andrew was not getting up so quickly.

Luckily Mark Horn was also standing right there so we both rushed over to him. At this point the tail end of the ss race is rolling thru followed closely by the entire cat 4 field. Andrew is still lying on the course but hidden behind the waves so we had to make sure he didn't get run over. Mark and i try to attend to him while also waving riders around us. We tell Andrew to stay on the ground and catch his breath. It looks iffy for a bit but after a few minutes he sits up and does not appear to have any major damage. Thank god for helmets. I saw first hand how important they are.

In the end he had a gash in his chin that required a few stitches and got his bell rung big time, but appears to be fine besides that. It's a good thing hes young and strong. I'd hate to see the result of that crash on an older dude.

So after attending to a second teammate and getting him all squared away i look at the watch and my race starts in 45 minutes. racing is kind of an afterthought at this point but im already registered so it's time to roll.

This post is already really long so lets make it even longer with a detailed race report.

The cat 3 race has about 20 starters and im on the front row. They say go and i feel good. probably 5th after about 30 seconds. caution is my key word over the bmx sections but it doesn't really hurt my position. Then, After the first lap or so, that familiar scenarios begins where people in front of you start riding away. They're right there, but 'right there' keeps getting farther and farther away. After about 3 0r 4 laps a lead group of 4 is established. Carl, who finished 2nd to me last weekend, James, whose been getting faster and faster, some dude i dont recognize, and my teammate David are all there. David was behind me for the first lap, then passed me and rode right into the lead.

I find myself about 15 seconds behind the lead 4. Scott from trek is with me and maybe somebody else.

i get a gap on them and am chasing solo. then, very unlike me, i trip on the barriers and fall to the ground. i get up, re-tighten the real wheel, scott catches back up, and off we go. We kind of work together but i also kind of attack him, we probably should have worked together because the course lent itself to drafting, but i'm an scatter-brain and couldn't think strait.

Its funny, i won last week and didn't feel nearly as fatigued during that race as i did yesterday. i dug deep yesterday but it just wasn't getting me that far. Plus yesterday i was in scampering hamster mode almost the entire race. Meaning i never got in a grove. Constantly shifting, changing positions on the bike, looking around, no flow.

In the end Scott opened up a gap on me and i finished 6th. Not happy but not mad either. I think the power and fitness is there, just need to put it all together.

After crossing the line i found out David won, very cool.

okay, time to end this novel, the chiefs are up 10 but the second half just started.



Sunday, October 30, 2011

Halloween Party's

What a great holiday.

Getting dressed up and hanging out with your friends is great but hitting up McDonalds at 1am and having the teenage gal whose working the drive thru take one look at us and, without hesitating say, 'zombie nurese'... well, thats awesome.

Yes, we are zombie nurses!

Friday, October 28, 2011

Critical Mass.... Halloween Version

Being that Halloween is on Monday i had to stop by and check out the critical mass ride tonight since i knew would be a festive one.

There was a short period of my life where i was a regular at Critical Mass but i haven't been for a while, actually, the last one may have been Halloween last year. It was good to go back. Plus negotiating a slow moving peloton of casual drunken cyclists on bikes in various stages of fully operational is great practice. People are weaving, ducking and diving everywhere!

Enjoy the photos.


Sunday, October 23, 2011

I won! Shawnee Rescue Radcross

That's right, I won the 3/4 at the cross race today!

POW!!!

Not counting the beginners Mountain Bike i won three years ago (I totally sandbagged that thing, pre teens and old dudes didnt' have a chance) this is the first bike race i have ever won. It feels good, and surreal. I've done tons of races since i stepped out of my comfort zone in 2009 and joined the Colavita / Parisi Coffee cycling team, road, mountain, cross... and finally, after countless hours, miles, espressos, flat tires, dropped chains, big fields, small fields, fast fields, faster fields, frozen toes and salty helmet straps... i crossed the line first. Joining this team and this sport was one of the best decisions i ever made.

Everything clicked today. I worked my ass off but still felt good the whole time. When i passed the leader at the beginning of the second lap i barely had to attack, it just seemed like he was fading and I wasent. After that i kept cruising. Truth be told i was nervous, this was uncharted territory for me. 10 minutes into a 45 min race and i'm in the lead with a gap of around 10 seconds. I was worried about blowing up. Albert Pujos was flashing thru my mind. He hit 3 homers in game 3 of the world series the night before and people were talking about how great he is at focusing. So that's what i tried to do. Focus.

I've imagined my finish line celebration numerous times (i like the Chris Horner solute) but in the end i simple rolled across, no celebration, just happy to win.

X was spectating and cheering me on the whole time. It was kind of a magical moment.

Now, lets be honest. Lot's of the people who usually beat me were not there today so the end result might have been different. Might. They'll be back though and i cant wait to line up next to 'em.



Saturday, October 22, 2011

Juan Pablo Dotti the Doper

Damn you Juan Pablo, you were my boy when i wrote this.

Now i read this.

I fine it odd that the one time i single out some random rider it turns out he was on drugs. He has performance enhancing drugs coursing thru his veins in the pictures i took. I snapped pictures of a doper, while doping, who later got caught. That's like getting a picture of big foot.

What more can i say besides... F*ck it dude, lets go bowling.



Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Tuesday Night Universe - Hyde Park

I have seen the light and it is Hyde Park.

Did the TNU cross race and the course out there is totally awesome. One of the best courses i've done all year, sanctioned or un-sanctioned. Props to Ricky Skaggs (Brett) for making it happen. Hyde has a lot going on and he uses all of it. Very creative on his part. I've heard several times that there used to be show and go races there years ago (late 90's?), before the scene in KC was what it is now, i see why. What a great park.

More info here.

Come out next tuesday, you'll be glad you did!



Monday, October 17, 2011

Last weekend (Marathon relay and Joules Cross)

Last weekend was full of exercise.

Saturday was the team relay for the Kansas City Marathon. This is the 4th year i've done this, lots of fun. It's a five person relay, i ran the final leg, 6.4 miles. The Kansas City Marathon is a pretty big deal, i think 11,000 people participated this year. My leg started down by UMKC then zigzagged over to the paseo and then north to about 18th st before finishing at crown center. Out team, Frank Reynolds' Little Beauties finished 5th overall. A great day.

Here i am streaking to the finish, in yellow.


Sunday was Joule's Cross in Lawrence, KS.

This was an awesome event. Food, beer, payouts, fun course. Pow!

I did the 3/4 race. It paid out to 5 spots so i thought i would win money, i didn't.

I'm too tired to do a recap, but i finished 8th. Not what i was hoping for but better than a kick in the head. I came away from this race thinking two things, attack and believe in yourself... Okay three things, attack, believe in yourself, and pizza and beer is a great combo.

Joe, i'm coming for you.

Enjoy the photos