Dirt Returns

Hello all - its cross season again! I really have had a lot of adventures recently and didn't blog about them... sorry. I owe you some pictures on the slow days.

Yesterday was my first team Proteus practice and that was rad. Five good laps. Three one lap races, and then a two lap race. I have to say, I fare better at these longer distances... so this year, my big race is going to be Iron Cross. I was off the bike this summer due to a wrist injury, so i missed 24 hours of big bear, and any other mountain bike races i might have done. I must say - I am quite excited to ride an endurance race.

As it stands, Charm City and Ed Sanders are coming up, and getting ready for them has reminded me how much this sport hurts.

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This off season I took up trail running to increase my aerobic strength. It feels like it has helped, so we shall see come raceday.

The bike is the same, except i replaced the seat post that kept breaking, and i have installed dirt drop bars, which will require me to redo the brake and shifter housing. New tires (maxxis mimo), but that is no bigs. Essentially a stock Felt F1x. If i get some money together, i will think about some race wheels, but the reality is that I am not fast enough to justify them. In any event, the mountain bike needs new wheels too, and possibly needs them more so than the cross bike.

Back on the Rollers : Winter Training

Okay that was fun. The off season and eating - that is. I felt like poop back on the rollers. I did an easy 15 miles last night -

it was beyond necessary.

I love training on rollers because it forces me to focus and helps me work on pedaling in nice tight circles.

I am also going to try to get back into gym-going-mode. I want to start lifting weights, especially doing work on my forearms, and squats. This year I found out just how jarring cross is on your upper body - so thats something to work on. Squats are amazing because they give you "explosive power" or so I have heard.

So I found this cool website - and I will put it up on my links.


They automatically track your results, i figure by license number or whatever. Its way cool.

I will keep posting my winter training updates, and pics from bike rides that I do. I am looking forward to lots of off-road riding this winter.

Portraid of the Rider as a Young Man

Photo Credit

Double Race = Double Tired

More Fun Race Pictures

The Proteus team looking good in green

This was the ramp that we climbed many a time.

CJ was not very thirsty after the race...

Yo is all smiles when its all over.

What You Know Bout Riding Dirty?

Riding Dirty

I did two races yesterday. My day started at six A.M. It ended at ten thirty P.M. Here is my story.

I got to the first race at about eight thirty, thinking I would warm up and take pictures. I only took one picture of my muddy cleats. No matter how "mudproof" your shoes, cleats and pedals are there is no substitute for mud practice. The course would have been unmemorable, except the weather made it awesome. The laps were long so we only did four of them. I impressed myself by placing 25th out of 51. I also got a time for the first time - and I raced this course in 45:20. That was seven minutes and change off the leaders, so I feel great about that. This was the end of my rookie season and I have learned a lot about cross racing, and racing in general. During the race I thought that I did really crappy - but I was pleasantly surprised by the actual results. You can find the Rockburn Results Here. I had an awesome fall, once on a remount after some barriers I tried to jump on the bike and the bike went left and I went right, falling flat on my face. The race announcer made fun of me. He sucks, but I got up and kept riding. This is a photo at the very start of the race with me next to the winner.

The drive up to Philly was uneventful.

Arriving at Bilenky an hour before the race it was pretty clear that everyone was waiting for us. We had coordinated with Bina so that they would start the races late enough to allow us to arrive. One guy yelled at me and jim

"AW NAW"

When he saw us getting out of our car with our cross bikes. Clearly we were giving off the image of people who were good at cross racing. We were just here to have a good time. Bilenky was our fun race, our reward for working hard this morning.

I got fourth (unofficially) in the race. Thats my best place ever. Granted, I did the five lap easy race, and I should have ridden in the ten lap hard race. However, I was real tired and decided that I had enough for the day.

The junkyard course was really fun. It went down a hill, then a run back up over some barriers and through a bus. Then you zig-zagged through some cars, and some puddles of motor oil, then up a huge wooden ramp. The ramp was pretty scary. Then you went around a bend, under the ramp, and back to the beginning of the course. If that was the only race I had done - I think I could have kicked some serious ass. However, I was dog tired at the start of it. I don't know how I held onto fourth, except for the distinct memory of cutting off someone for fourth place. I know that we were just racing for fun... but I don't get to place single in the single digits very often so it seemed like a good idea to make the most of it. It figures that Ryan d won the easy race, he go so many prizes he couldn't clap for other people. Jerk.

Just kidding Ryan!

So that is the end of the cross season. I may go down to North Carolina for a winter race - but we will see. It will be nice to take a break from training and do some more leisure rides. I am going to try to find some good mixed terrain rides that the cross bike would be a lot of fun to take out. Or I will put slicks on it and road ride it. Whatever. It will definitely make it to some single track this winter.

Just because cx season is over does not mean I am going to stop blogging. No sir. I will be doing lots of rides and I will keep the world updated. I will do my best to limit the technical crap, and keep up with the good pictures.

I got home and passed out. It was an awesome day. They don't make em like that everyday so you have to savor ones that good.

Snow Ride Pictures

This is a collage of what the bike looked like after I finished doing 10 miles on the C&O Canal in two inches of snow. It was an awesome ride.

Can you tell which gears I was using?

Snow Ride on the C&O Canal.

So I have been blogging less, because I have been doing fewer training rides. Last night I went on a really cool ride. It snowed here in D.C. yesterday so I took full advantage of it and I went down to the C&O canal for my first snow ride on the cross bike.

It was really fun. I did about nine miles on the trail, which I think is pretty good given how much friction there is riding through snow. When the terrain is snow on dirt, its pretty manageable. I was working hard to cut through it, but it felt secure riding through it. As long as I did not take any sharp turns. Snow riding isn't as hard as I thought it would be. I love my cross bike!

I fell once on a bridge, because the wet/icy wood underneath the snow is a death trap.

So going out - I made my way down to the canal. That happens to be a decent warm up - I cut across some snow covered parks just to get an idea about how the bike would handle. Cutting through snow requires a higher cadence, but it is not as hard to drive through as sand. The tires don't sink into the snow - they cut through it. In sand the wheel sinks into the sand pit - which makes it very unstable. Riding through snow is not that unstable.

When I got down to the canal it was clear that a lot of people had been down there earlier. I made it out to fletcher's boat house and there was only one other tire track left - and of course the return track. The rider was no longer out there, but how far did he go I wondered. Had I more lights, batteries and time, I would have followed it all the way just to see how far he made it. My goal was to do five miles out, and five miles back - which is what I ended up doing. However I know there is another rider out there - and I'll never know how far he or she got.

I saw a jogger too, he seemed pretty happy. I really like winter riding, there is something pure about it. Its cold, wet, snowy, rainy, or whatever but you don't care. I go out to burn calories because I love to ride.

When I am out on a long ride like that, sometimes its lonely. Other times I find myself thinking about my life and where I am going. I am at a point in my life where I am trying to find a new job, and going out on these rides helps to congeal all the things rolling around in my head. Sometimes I think about who I am, and what kind of man I am. I know who I am, but no one has ever substantially challenged that and I have never been forced to make a stand about it. I know that one day it will come and I maintain quiet resolve that I will be ready for it - scary as it seems.

It is strange to be out in the woods alone with your thoughts sometimes. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

So on the way back I bumped into my friend Rene. We rode home most of the way together, and just as I was going to veer off towards my house, I slipped on my bike for the second time. This time only my left foot came unclipped as I fell. My handlebar just barely caught Rene's spoke and he went down too. It was pretty funny - people around us were asking "are you okay?" Rene had a good sense of humor about it, and then we parted ways.

I went home and took some pics of the bike (pics to follow) and put it in the tub so all the nastiness could drain off of it. I need to change the brake pads before the races on Sunday. The last races of the season are coming up - Rockburn and Bilenky Urban Cross. Doing 2 races on Sunday is going to be an awesome way to end the regular season.