Snow Day

Well, the skies cracked open the first snowfall of the season this morning. There is maybe a quarter inch dusting on the ground, just enough to coat the roads and make me have to dust off the car. Fun stuff. I checked the forecast and it looks like we might get a couple more days of snow this week. Makes me wish I was back in the desert. Adios.

Quick Update

28 Degrees in Cincinnati today. I've had three different groups try to get me to ride today, not feeling it, though. Might get out on the cross bike or the mtb later this afternoon. Didn't get into the race this weekend due to missing registration, but I was thinking about skipping it anyway and calling it a season. Time to reset the batteries and figure out the plan for 2010. Adios.

Deep Thoughts About...Deep Thoughts.

So I was going through the blog today trying to find a classic picture, and realized that this thing is almost four years old. I've thought about killing it many times, and am glad that I haven't. I know that this stuff isn't Hemmingway, and I don't have the followers of this guy, but it is fun to write and get a few comments every once-in-a-while. Besides, most classic artists aren't recognized for there work until they're dead, so if I can keep things going or another fifty years or so, maybe I'll be famous too! Right.

Cross race this afternoon in Indianapolis: Elite Masters 35+ for me today. Should be a fun one, and hopefully dry, let's hope I fare a little better then the last time out. Adios.

Quick Update

"This update fueled by Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet"

The last couple weeks have been pretty busy. I finally got assigned to a project at work, which is great 'cause now my days have a purpose, which is nice. Can't comment on what it is due to security concerns, but I can say that we are using some cool technologies such as Lombardi Teamworks and Adobe Flex, and I am pretty psyched to be involved with the whole process. I typically spend half my day watching my team implement code, and try to absorb as much as I can in the process.

Not much riding these days due to the increasing work hours, coupled with decreasing light and decreasing temperatures. I have been doing a bunch of Yoga, and luckily haven't paid for any of it! Seems like most of the studios out here give you a free class if it is your first time there, so I've been jumping from studio to studio and riding the free train for a little while now. Unfortunately, that will probably end soon and I'll have to pony up for an admission fee soon. Oh well, such is life...

Cross race this Sunday in Indianapolis. It is the Indiana State Championships and I have signed up for the Masters 1,2,3 35+ race. I am officially old, 9-5 desk job, and racing masters! WTF!!!??? Traveling out there with a friend of mine who is also racing 35+, should be a good time. Adios.

OVCX Gun Club Cross, Quick Race Report.

Rough day today. Lined up with the Elite men at the OVCX race in Miamiville, OH. Course was 50% roadie, 40% mtb, and 10% xc runner. It was really muddy out there when I road the course on Wed, but most of that had dried and settled in to some seriously sloppy, thick stuff by the start of the race today. I'm still trying to get the mud figured out, after having spent the last ten years riding in sunny Tucson. I think that the time out there has made me forget my mountain biking roots, 'cause right now I am struggling big time cornering in the mud. Either I'm not getting it, or my tires just aren't right, but something need to change soon. My current setup of Bontrager Jones at around 35-38 psi feels like riding on ice in the corners. Might switch to a set of Michelin Muds for the rest of the season...Or just train more...Or do both.

So the race went something like this: Fast start, sliding all over the place, lost position, regained position, lost position again, passed a couple guys, started to feel good, felt bad, slid some more, felt worse, dropped out with 3 to go. Not good. Adios.

Louisville, KY, USGP Weekend Recap

Over the weekend I made the short trip south to Louisville, KY for round 3 & 4 of the United States Grand Prix of Cyclocross. I have dabbled a bit with cross over the years at the local level in Michigan and Arizona, but have never been to a cross event of the size and scale of the USGP. The UCI Cyclocross Festival in Cincinnati a couple weeks back was a good introduction to big-time cross racing, but the USGP series brought the level up a notch.

Almost all of my cyclocross experience has been on a mountain bike, with some success. I experimented with a true cross bike a couple years back, but never really felt comfortable on it. This year I've decided to try it again and picked up a sweet ride from a good friend of mine. The debut ride was at the Masters 35+ race in Cincinnati, and I snapped my chain after crashing on the second lap. Ditto on day 2. Not a good start. Thinking back, I've realized that I have never finished a race on a cross bike, as mechanicals have always came up. Gotta fix that quick.

Bit of a tangent there, so back to the weekend. Bike is working sweet now, I put a new chain on and got in a decent week of training to break it in. Lined up in the last row of the Elite Masters 35+ and figured I'd ease into it and just try to pick guys off as the race went on. Off goes the gun and here we go. Race was brutal, the ground was so soft it felt like you were pedaling in wet cement. I moved up to about the halfway point of the fifty man field, but that was about as far as I would get. Suffered like mad and finished in 27th. I swear my bike must have been ten to fifteen pounds heavier at the end from all the mud caked onto it.

The course had dried out a bit by Sunday, but there were still some big mud holes scattered about. A reroute added a wickedly muddy stair section that came immediately following a nasty, off-camber 180 degree turn. Started back row again, but my strategy today was to hit it hard off the start and try to hold on. Made it up to around 20th, but no further. Ended up finishing 22nd and felt like I had a knife in my lower back on the last two laps. Forgot how hard cross racing can be. Adios.

UCI Harbin Park Pro Men Cyclocross

Footage of the pro men's cross race at Harbin Park in Cincinnati, OH Oct 11, 2009.