Boss Cross, Day 2

Boss cross 2 was last Sunday. it was good. besides that, well, im too tired to think right now.

Bicycles are awesome.

People are awesome.

Peace.

Boss Cross, day 1

Well, that sucked.

After a great first 30 seconds I felt like s*it and quit halfway thru, but I started soft pedaling way before that. 

I had a bad feeling. Didn't ride Thursday or Friday and my warm up was pretty minimal. Last week I rode the rollers at home then had a good warm up before each race, and I felt great. 

Tomorrow I will be more prepared. I simply can't be on the start line with cold legs and expect to feel okay.

Besides that it was neat to be at a new venue. Joe f hooked it up. Tomorrow is an different venue...

And a new day!

Joules Cross, day 2

Well, I had a post typed up but accidentally erased it. 

In a nutshell... Did the open race and had probably my best cross race of the year. Great start, great middle, great end. 

I'm still getting destroyed by the majority of the field but I'm getting destroyed a little less each time. Except for the very fastest guys, pretty sure I'm losing even more ground to them. I mean, Joe s lapped me with 4 laps to go, for cryin out loud!

Anyway...

Psyched for what's next.

These next few weeks feel like the meat of the season. Boss cross, Colavita cup and boulevard cup, then HPT in Topeka. 

For the first time in my racing career I'm skipping jingle cross so I'm lacking my usual focal point. this ruts and guts race in Oklahoma sounds interesting, though. It would be nice to take a trip and race some other folks.

We still have a lot of cross to go and my motivation is still thru the roof.

Fill it up again!

Joules Cross, Day 1

I raced Cross yesterday. Joules cross in Lawrence, KS.

It was a perfect day. Chilly but sunny which meant bare legs and no gloves. For some reason I'm always happier when i can comfortably ride without gloves. 

Anyway...

It was one of those days where everything just came together. More so for stuff outside the actual race than the race itself, although I think my race was pretty good, too.

X and I had tickets to the days ku football game so I couldn't do the open race. Luckily the single speed race was at the perfect time and Britton happened to have his brand new custom titanium single speed available. So I rode that, and...it... was... awesome.

Light and fast and beautiful. I'm mean just look at that thing! It's a fu*cking work of art!

Contact Britton at Volker Bicycles. He's got the hookup for custom titanium frames and he wants to hook you up. You deserve it. It rides like a dream.

This was to be my first ever single speed cx race. Maybe 8 to 10 of us lined up and I got a good start.

Joe f. took off immediately and in the first 1/4 lap I got around teammate Michael e for 2nd. Shortly after that Evan f and teammate Matt y passed me. Then 

Maybe a lap later got passed by someone I didn't recognize and was sitting 5th.I kept him in my sights and ultimately made up around 15 seconds to pass him in the last lap and finish 4th.

After getting destroyed in the open races it was nice to be actually competing with people. 

Single speed was physically hard but not too hard to get the hang of. Plus I swear I'm close to some pretty good fitness. 

I'm racing day two of Joules today, open this time, hoping for a good showing.

The football game was great. We lost but it was still a perfect fall day in Lawrence with my lovely wife. 

Thursday in KC

Note: this all took place yesterday but my phone wouldn't publish it till today.

Some days you're feeling it. Feelin like ridin. Feelin it so much you don't even need to use the "g".

Today was that day. 2pm rolled up and all the sudden I couldn't wait to jump on my bike.

At 2pm I'm at work, but that don't mean I can't get excited about pedaling! And make a plan.

Probably need a more detailed plan.

Riding your bike is a great stress reliever but it's even better when you don't have much stress that needs relieving. That meant getting my work done so I could have a clear head.

It was a manageable amount of work but never the less my ever increasing anticipation of pedaling my bicycle called for some upbeat iPod music to kickstart things.

I typically suffer extreme hunger pains around 3:30 and if I plan on riding a snack is a must.

The work day ends and I'm out the door on time. NPR is talking about our government. Humans are a bunch of idiots. I hate it, i listen anyway, for a bit.

Traffic is surprisingly light and now I'm on 96.5 the buzz. Tame Impala. 

The light traffic and shining sun make ideal conditions for a coffee shop pit stop. I'm lucky to have a good shop w/ outdoor seating on my way home. Homers coffee house. Check it out. 

Home but before I can ride I need to water the new grass seed. It's coming in nicely and we're getting the hang of this home ownership thing. Just dont ask about the clogged shower we haven't addressed for 3 weeks.

Now... It's ride time.

I've developed a route recently. It's pretty dialed in.

If I have an hour, which is the plan for this ride, I go to the Plaza and back. Tip, ride up by the Raphael and then by the Library. Good way to easily get out of the Plaza.

Then, in a nice surprise, I ran into Joe Fashion and the Brookside ride.

They happened to be headed my direction. Home. 

Riding your bike is great, especially when you really want to do it. Thankfully for me that's almost every time. I'm lucky.

I hope this doesn't feel to self serving. More so than the typical blog post. Just tryin to do a little entertaining. 

I appreciate your time and hope you find your own little piece is heaven. For me, it's post ride beer and string cheese with a side of mini pumpkin.

Warning: PDA

Cross Out Cancer

Raced cyclo cross at cross out cancer yesterday.

Fun course. 

Beautiful weather.

This was the smallest open race so far this year. 11 starters. My start was good plus I managed to avoid the early crash but any good fortune was quickly erased when I went into the tape twice in the first 1/3 lap and had to stop both times to untangle. I was riding like a recently escaped hamster. Mindlessly running into one wall after another.

That pretty much decided my result as everyone else was long gone by the time i figured out how to turn. Still, after about two laps of negative thoughts and introspection I started to feel stronger. And I kept getting stronger all race. That was fun.

The day before I did my longest ride in probably 6 weeks. Close to 3 hrs. Because of that I was worried about how today would go. Now I'm encouraged. If I can feel that strong after such a long ride it must mean I'm on the way up.

Maybe more important though is that I work on the non fitness stuff. Like turning. And pre riding the whole course multiple times. And showing up to the start line totally warmed up. I'm way out gunned when it comes to fitness but if I'm smart ill improve where I can.

I haven't had a complete race yet. Saturday at 360 cup was my best but still took a few laps to really get going. I want to put it all together at the right time. 

A quick note on the barriers at 360... I loved em. Anytime the barriers are set up In a way where u can hit them fast and leave them fast... its a good thing. It's fun. 

We need more barrier position like they had at Cross Out Cancer.

KC cross rules!

360 Cup CX. Days 1 and 2

360 cup cx... Day 1 and 2

Saturday was awesome. I felt pretty great. Unfortunately my great is only good for almost last in the open race... But at least it's something. 

Lets back up a bit...

I felt like i was flying back at the 4 day Gateway Cup race. That was my last race of the season on a road bike. 4 days in a row of Crits. Granted it was cat 4 and we raced 45min at the most (not the 50 min to 1 hr for these cross races) but I felt amazing back then.

Then we took a week long Mexican vacation (totally awesome!) and after that I was pretty sick for a week. So I lost a lot of fitness... but i know it's buried just under the surface.

Saturdays race confirmed that. Even though I was getting royally spanked I still felt in control. I wasn't dying every second of the way. Instead I was out of the saddle at will and riding with my head up. 

On top if that the course was great. Lots of fast turns.

My race might have been better but it took me a few laps to really warm up. I got in a descent pre race warm up but I had taken the previous two days off and lately that has been equalling poor performances. 

Day two was worse than day one. I'm not quite ready for back to back racing. After a pretty good start (ie 3/4 of a lap) I felt fatigued. Not nearly as much pep as the day before. If I could take the start from day two and combine with the rest of day one I would be halfway to a good result.

Anyway...

Would have finished last but had to quit halfway thru when I bent something riding over the mini barriers. 

I'm getting smoked everywhere but especially in the long strait sections. Most everyone else has several more speeds than I do.

Right now I'm like my 1990 Hyundai Excel but I'm hoping to move up to my 1993 Acura Integra by the end of the season... Although I may only be able muster my 1998 Mercury Sable. 

Day 2...