Waste of July. Racing Recap.

Renfrew Ras was a hit. Really well done. I thought that I was going to win for about 100 pedal strokes. Oh well.

The next weekend was a mountain bike race in West Virginia. Sitting 3rd, feeling ok and my freaking bike falls apart. Totally not my fault mind you, just components failing. That is like 2/4 races this year that I have had mountain bike mechanicals. Dang.

Lost River Classic:
We load up the car, leaving enough time to get there over 90 minutes early! This is awesome. We are near Somerset and the front tire blows. No full size spare. Need to buy a tire and have it mounted. Race against time, hoping the start is delayed by 20 minutes or so. Iphones are evil because they accurately tell you that you are going to show up the minute the race is starting. We pull up with 8 minutes to spare, 13 for Brody doing the 3 race, and like 18 for Patty doing the Women's race. We are denied. Kind of bogus.

Instead we found a 5 mile dirt climb to go up and down. We were headed down the backside when the skies opened up. We were just aimlessly riding, so we had to decide if we should turn around or continue exploring the valley. We are all standing silently in the pouring rain AND A TREE FALLS OVER. It made a sound. We got the hell out of there.

2 Race weekends in a row that were a bust. Oh well. Wilderness 101?

tour fever or sickness?

So it's that season. It's sunny, the tour is on, jocks at bars are talking about Lances chance at winning, blah. Brody and I went for a ride(a super serious one where we did "openers" as prescribed by training and racing with a power meter!!!) and were amazed at how many people were out on road bikes, and of those people how many had carbon wheels. Whatever.

The first reaction is to be annoyed that so many people are into "your" sport. I honestly feel that way sometimes. I say hello to the dude on the 10k bike and HE has the nerve to cool guy ME!?! It makes me want to turn around, chase him down, cool guy HIM, then attack him, wait for him up the road, and attack him again! But I am slightly above this. Its not my sport. Just cause I love something so much doesn't mean that people who don't love it as much aren't allowed to do it as well. Rewritten as a note to myself: Not everybody has to be as passionate as you about something to enjoy it.

So after riding Saturday I went to the South Side Works "exposed." It was an artist market that was set up for the weekend, and Amy was selling Garbella stuff. After loading in for her (man if I was going to be a roadie, I should have a chain wallet and groupies right?) I went to REI to avoid the heat.

On Saturdays members are allowed to climb The Pinnacle, which is a 5 sided climbing wall. I thought "what the heck," and signed up to try doing it.

THEN IT STARTED. I was the dude rolling down freeport road on a 10,000 dollar colnago. These dudes who brought gym bags and changed before their workout were just eyeballing me and talking loudly about their climbing exploits. They all brought their own climbing shoes and harnesses. I had the lender pair, which resembled the beige roller skates that the skating rink would rent. They were talking about reading bouldering magazines, gear, traveling to climb, chalk vs eco balls (?).. just all kinds of crazy climbing stuff. Maybe they were insecure, maybe I am insecure, but they were not nice to a dude who wast here alone, that is all.

I could write about how I cleaned a line that one of them couldn't, even though it was my first time climbing a wall, but they had left at that point so it only gave me personal gloating satisfaction. But I wont.

Instead I will just say that if you are a cyclist or or something else (why are you reading this if you are something else?) ... be nice to the new guys.

In case you didnt know.

Danny Chew is riding his bike to Alaska.
When I told him that he is going to have tons of headwind, he responded "not on the way home." Oh I guess he is riding back too.

I checked his GPS tracker thing that he gave me, he is in Thunder Bay, ON right now. He is going across Canada. That is really far, like 10,000 miles round trip.

hello world. Hosting a clinic on how NOT to sprint.

1 week without a keyboard has left me without putting anything down here.

Last weekend was the Raccoon Rally. Brody and I rolled up to his camp to sleep for the weekend. It is in the forest. WE SAW A BEAR. True story. Then another bear. Then a coyote. Then a bald eagle. Seriously. Then we thought we were men in the woods and we shot the AK-47, but could only shoot it 5 times each because it hurt our shoulders so much. Not men.

Cioccio (my teammate) won the road race on Saturday. That was awesome.
I was sprinting against another dude for 5th and a truck somehow got in the way. I asked what he wanted to do (with like 500 meters to go)... I said "want to split the money or sprint?" and he said "whatever." So we soft pedaled in. When they paid out, he wasnt there, so I took it upon myself to take my half of the money. HA!

Sunday was a mountain bike race. I wish I had a powermeterthinger on my mountain bike, because I try much harder or something on it. Like I try harder on climbs because they are longer, and nobody can really counter attack you, or if they do the race isnt really over. Or something. Anyway, I got outsprinted in a mountain bike race. How is this even possible? I had a huge gap after the last climb,and the dude came back on the last downhill. He was nice and good, but I should really have been able to hold it, I had like a minute on him.

I dedicate my 2nd place to the dude who 5 minutes before the race started told me that I should switch tires because I had the wrong ones on. He was super sure of himself and super cocky. If you ever read this, I want you to know that the winner also had the same tires. Brett said that he passed you as the sports overtook you. You had a 10,000 dollar mountain bike, but apparently the right tires. Maybe you should worry about you instead of me?

And I have dug deep to find some awesome photos of me being outsprinted over the years:

First up: This was this weekend. Downhill sprint against a good bike racer. I tried hard, but just couldnt win. I should have ridden in solo, but I rode my brakes down the last descent like I was on ice.




Second: This was Turkey Hill this year. I made it into "the move" and was in a break for like 40 miles with 4 other dudes. I figured "sweet 5th or 4th will rule.. I can outsprint Brian cause I did that earlier this year." Wrong. 7 guys bridge up and I get 12th out of 13. (look close to the right of the winner for my orange shoes) Brian got 2nd.



This is an old one, and I dug it out to complete getting outsprinted in all facets of bicycle racing. BCA cyclocross in Hagarstown MD. I was riding super well and beat a few really fast dudes. I am blocked by Steve Gordons super serious victory salute, but I am there. doh.