Year End Recap... in pictures

This has been a bang-up year.  No words can describe the adventures I have had in the past 12 months, so I will start at the beginning.  Sometime in april...

Rockin it at the US Open Mountain Bike Relay: First race of the season, and of the MASS calender.  Look forward to it every year.

Rob like taking naps on his trainer in between laps, long walks with his dog, campers, and riding bikes for 24 hours alone.

Up and adam...

Bandon is still fast even without a shirt on... maybe even faster

Over the "river" and through the woods to the pain cave we go...

Chasing with Sam T. Hammer at the Bike Line Fair Hill Race

Gapped...

The last hill at the Greenbrier Challenge... yeah for the big ring

Podium musings at Greenbrier... always the bridesmaid

Somewhere near the endish of the 12 Hours of Lodi Farm

After 12hrs solo at Lodi

No pictures from French Creek, the weather was decent, but somehow the camera was left in the car...

The best people, El Bretto and the Wiser Weiser at the Rocktober Challenge

(henceforth known as the "Kuhn you have to send the moto's out to find my soul, I think it fell out of my body a few hours ago" Challenge)

Pre-race musings

Post Race warmings.  It would have been fine if it was ten degrees warmer

Campsite at Tour De Tykes, Danville, PA

My campsite at the Stoopid 50

Singletrack at the Stoopid 50 pre-ride/warm up

Guys XC Classic: somewhere at the end

Marysville Stage Race: Night ITT

(Photo Courtesy of Don Pagano)

Start of the 6hr Enduro at Marysville

(Photo Courtesy of Don Pagano)

Hill Climb race at Marysville

Short Track at Marysville

East Coast Nationals @ Windham Mountain: Rolling in for 2nd place

Mountain Bike Nationals: 2nd place and stuff

Wilderness 101: The last bridge of 3 Bridges Trail

Some stream time after the Wilderness 101

God's Country Marathon: this race was bad.  Enough said...

Iron Hill Classic Start: The end of the MASS Endurance Series

(Photo Courtesy of Don Pagano)

Flying at Iron Hill Lap something or other.

(Photo Courtesy of Don Pagano)

6:30AM Start of the Shenandoah Mountain 100.  Awesomest race ever. Period. End of Story.

Peter Kennedy (C3-Solay.com!) and I grooving on Tilman Rd. at Shenandoah

(Photo Courtesy of Bob Popovich)

No pictures were taken at the last mountain bike race, the Bear Creek Summer Showdown.  I left the camera in Carlisle for that one.  That is the end of Mountain Bike Season.  I took a bit of a break (too long according to Coach), then went full on into cross.

Iron Cross Lite: 2nd place in my first real cross race

Iron Cross Lite B Men

Granogue Cross... back when short sleeves were the order of the day.

Wissahicken Cross- The Barriers

No pictures from the Beacon Cross, HPCX weekend.  Rain prevented camera use.

Mercer Cup Day 1: Over the fly over

This is the I need a pit bike picture.  Mercer Cup Day 2.

Whitmore's Super Cross Cup.  The run up on day 2.

PA State Cross Champs.  And my sister (in the tie die) makes a guest appearance.  She hasn't been to a race since my first race ever in 2004.

This is my non-pro moment for the year... not proud of the arm warmers pulled down with not color matched base layer showing.  Boo.

The car before Nationals.  5 bikes, 2 riders, a bunch of gear and food.

Zach's bike decided to attack his car on I-70 near Alliance, OH.  The fork came off the roof rack and the bike swung down, held on by the tire.  Zach was screeming like a girl.  Then he duct taped his mirror back together.

The Secret Henry's Team Wedding Tent... Courtesy of DCCoD

My Custom Jersey for the DII Collegiate race

No pics of me racing.  No one had a camera during my race...

So that was my year.  Any questions?  Too bad...  I'm really looking forward to what next year will bring.  Very Very Very good things are in store.  Very good things...

The entire Internet needs to see this...

Follow the link... It is amazing... Those that were there know. Those that weren't need to know...

Aaron Shrink Wrap

What is a KCCX?

A KCCX is this thing that happens where you drive halfway across the country to race your bike.  Twice.  This is the type of thing that one does when they are crazy, stupid, broke, or other various not-so-nice adjectives.  This is the type of thing that I do.

Went out for the KCCX which, for the second year in the row, is the US National Cyclocross Championship.  So yeah, it's important and it completly justifes driving half way across the country to race it.  Oh, and by halfway across the country I mean Kansas City, Missouri.  Went out to race the U23 race as well as the Divsion II Collegiate race.

My goal for the U23 race was to not get pulled since it was effectively a pro race.  I got a third row call-up.  The race started and I was shot so far out of the pack that it wasn't even funny.  The start was so fast.  I managed to pull back a bunch of places on the climb, but it wasn't enough.  I was caught by the leaders at the barriers and pulled when I hit the road with one lap to go.  Oh well.

The collegiate race went a little better.  Got a second row callup with my homemade jersey.  Had a really good start.  I think I was 7th or 8th into the first turn.  Ended up 19th.  I think I had a pretty good race.  The course was hard and had a lot of climbing, which is good for me.

Now my 2008 racing season is officially over.  Officially. Over. Wow.  It's been a long, awesome season.  I will throw up a season recap thing later this week when I feel like getting it together.  Now to a Christmas Party...

A race... a ride... and some turkey

In that order yes.  Last weekend was, as I previously said, Whitmore's Super Cross.  You heard about saturday, and sunday went pretty much the same.  Raced, ended race in a sprint.  This one, though, I lost (maybe) by about two tires.  I caught the guy on the road at the end, and rode his wheel untl the finishing straight, then attempted the tactical sprint win.  I couldn't really tell who won the sprint exactly, but I think the results said I might have one.  Too bad I have no idea who I was sprinting against so I can't really check the results... anyway...

The sprint... too bad it's not zoomed properly

That's basically what happenned.  Zach and I then drove back to Carlisle (5.5hrs).  Between driving from Slippery Rock to Carlisle, then Carlisle to Montauk, NY, then around the area and back he racked up 980mi for the weekend.  Pretty horribly impressive if you ask me.

Spent the rest of the week trying to get my Clemson Island stuff wrapped up.  Clemson Island is the location of the final project for Field Geology.  It's pretty impressive.  There are lots of cool faults and folds.  The entire project would be a lot cooler if the entire outcrop was not crappy sandstone and siltstone.  Booooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggg!!!!! Sedimentary rocks are no fun at all...

Clemson Island prevented me from leaving for break after my classes were over on tuesday.  Went back out on Wednesday and took my last measurements and samples.  Yeah.  It's done though and that's what's important.  Today though, it was all made better by a ride.  As usual.  I took Juni (the singlespeed) out for a spin around Brandywine Creek SP.  Rode the trails I learned to ride on.  It was only about an hour, but a good spin nonetheless.  I found some interesting rocks there.  I believe that they are a blueschist.  The rocks are really cool because some of them are of a metamorphic grade high enough to have large augen garnet porphoroblasts.  Very not boring.  Very nice in fact.

Then I drank Jinx, ate turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and all the regular Thanksgiving fare.  And not I sit here, slighly fat and happy watching a movie.  Not a better day could have existed.

Some more racing things...

So here I sit in my hotel in Montauk, NY watching TV and relaxing after a very nice race today.  But I will tel you about that later.  First off, last week found me back in good old New Joisey for the Mercer Cup, the East Coast stop of the USGP.  It was muddy.  Very very muddy.  I raced the Cat 4 race, which was at 8:00 in the AM... which meant a really early start to the day.  Like up at around 4AM, leaving around 5AM.  Offered an interesting twist to the weekend.  But anyway.  Alyssa came out with Zach and I, so she got the full experience of an international field in the elite race.  I got a start about 60th on the grid and finished 18th on Saturday and 11th on Sunday.  I didn't get any pics because it was raining-ish for the morning.  There is a picture of me here though, from saturday.  Sunday was a little worse.   And by a little I mean a lot  The course becae less riding and more running as all the climbs because absolutely unridable.  Well, they were ridable, but would require lots and lots of effort that would complety make your legs explode mid-race.  Jeff killed it in the Cat 2/3 race, taking the win on Saturday and pulling out a solid second right under a Coloradan kid about his age.  Both days Zach and I help keep the pits tight with Yozell, FatMarc, Jan, and a few others for the Elite race.  There were 8 of us and we were pitting for 5 different people.  It was a good time of running back and forth through ankle deep mud to wash bikes either right in the lake, or at the bike wash station.  It was a lot of fun.

Jeff doing the thing he does so well

Zach fighting hard

  So after the week at school where I had a few long nights and a buttload of work, Zach and I headed out to have dinner at my Aunt's in Long Island on out way to Southampton, for the Whitmore's Super Cross, a MAC, NACT, and UCI wekend.  Raced this morning in the B's.  Z didn't have the best of days (mechanicals suck...), but I felt that I had one of my better days.  Sprinted with a UVM kid for some place in the field.  Don't know much else.  I'm going to nap now... Tomorrow's racing should be good.

This cross thing is pretty cool...

So I think I got my first real taste of what cross racing is all about this weekend.  I headed out Friday night late after my Jazz/Symphonic Band concert with my mom and Zachary to the wonderful land of West Chester for the night.  That would be our first stop in a journey to race cross across the "great" state of New Jersey.

First up: Beacon Cross in Bridgeton, NJ.  As a side note, Bridgeton is the town that one of my great-grandmothers as well as one of my great-uncles were born.  That adds an intersesting little twist to the weekend.  Zach and I left two hours early, leaving time for me innevitbly getting lost in the Philly area as I always do.  We made it in a little over an hour, just in time to watch Gunnar race in the C's.  T'was a good race and he pulled out a win in the Jr's and top 3-something overall.  That kid is f-in fast.

The Beacon course is best described as a sandy power course with a lot of long flat sections with swoopy sandy corners.  Zach and I started kitting up right after the C's finished, and it, fittingly started raining.  Yay.  By the time we were finished dressing and starting out warm-up it was full on pouring.  Double yay.  We did some laps of the course and found the corners to be getting slicker and slicker.  This race would not only demand serious power output,  and mad serious bike handling skillz.  Yo.

Race start, 3rd row (better), right behind the C-dale rep.  The gun goes and we are off and, since I have no hole-shot or anything of that nature, I find myself mid-pack again. Crap.  Working up the entire race.  Don't remember how many I caught, but I made up time on the straights (mmmmmmmmm power...) and the climbs, and the one technical descent where sick mtb handling skillz helped me rip.  Lost time on the beach run though, which sucked.  The Ampitheater of Pain (as Ken called it, and anything that is moderatly fun/difficult... it's always the ____ of pain/death/torture etc.).  T'was a good race.  Ended up 33rd, which is my bes MAC B's finish to date.  Zach ended up winning the sprint for 4th.  Awesome.  After that we got to watch Weston ride to a good win in the A's.  It had stopped raining by then.

Because all of our stuff was soaking wet, we decided not to follow our original plan of driving directly to the next race and camping out and headed towards to Bergey's homestead.  Took us about 2.5hrs to get there, and they were nice enought to put us up for the night.  Thank you Bergey's!  Next morning didn't go as planned.  The plan was this: wake up as Gunnar and his dad are leaving for his race, the C's, at ~6:00AM.  Leave by 7:00AM.  Be there way early, get a solid warmup, race hard.  This is what actually happenned.  Wake up as Gunnar is leaving at ~6:00AM, go right back to sleep, wake up again at ~7:50, utter a collective "oh shit," get in car and leave, get lost twice (my fault), arrive ~9:55AM, kit up, do a lap, race at 11:00.  Zach's race went very well.  He ended up 3rd.  Awesome for him.  My race went less well.  I was having trouble hitting the muddy sections in the right gear, and after getting lapped by the smooth flowing Jeffery Bahnson, ended up a lower-mid-pack 45th.  Oh well.  I'm over it now, and I'm not going to make excuses.  Now I get to look towards the next race.

Zach and I livened up the pits for the A race with copious loud heckling and chips and salsa (mmmmmmm), and watched one Adam McGrath kill it for a well deserved win.  He had ridden 2nd wheel to Wes all day Saturday.  His bike is really light and I want it.  It's a fully tricked out Gin and Trombones and I want it.

After that, we helped Tom and co. pack, and headed out for our about 3hr drive back to Carlizzle.  All in all a very very, good weekend.  So what is cross about?  Friends, helping others out, racing, hanging out, talking shit, heckling, standing in the rain screaming for someone as they fly by in a wet, anerobic haze.  That and more.  And it rocks.

Trenton USGP is up next.... back to Jersery I go next weekend...

Another day in the field

Hoo hum... another day in the life of the average Dickinson geologist. Spent the day in the field beginning our final project. Mapping and measuring a section of a ~250 m long road-cut on US-11/15S across from Clemson Island. It should be a fun project once I get my shit figured out. I have some thrust faults in mine! And they are blind! And a nice big anticlinal fold to go with it! Super exciting! Three weeks will be spent standing on this road. I hope something comes of it...

Heading home after the Jazz/Symphonic Band concert tomorrow night w/ the Zach to go to the next MAC races: Beacon Cross in Bridgeton, NJ and Highland Park Cross in Johnstown, NJ. Back after that hopefully with some interesting results... or a least bette results.

Obligatory Applause Here...

Something just set in today:  I helped elect the first African American president.  A frighteningly awesome thought.  Cudos.

In other news: the top two headlines on my BBC news feed on my iGoogle home page are as follows:

-World Leaders Hail Obama Triumph

-Russia moves missles to the Baltic

Conicidence??????

A screenshot to prove that this actually happenned:

HiRISE

So our semi-weekly-ish geology department seminar today was awesome and I thought I should tell everyone about it.  We got to listen to a talk from a lady from Temple U.  who is part of NASA's HiRISE project.  That's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment.  It's basically a huge camera on the MRO (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) which is cabable of taking photographs of the martian surface at ultra-high resolution.  Max resolution is somethin on the order of 30cm/pixel.  If it were pointed through your window it could easily resolve you sitting at your desk reading my blog.  Yeah... way fuckin cool.  She had images of the martian surface where the easily resolved the Opportunity rover, as well as the landing of the Pheonix rover.  Like I said way fuckin cool.  I would post pics here but they are way too high res for google's photo-handler to deal with.  So I will post up the link  The HiRISE website can be found here.  For those of you who are link deficient:

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/

Visit it.  Download the images as wall papers.  Bask in awesome exogeologic glory!

Crossin updates

So contrary to popular belief I have been 'crossin it up as of late. Last weekend was the Granogue and Wiss UCI cross weekend. Which freakin kicked ass. It was my first MAC race, and I lined up in the B field. At Granogue, since it was a UCI C1 race everyone got call ups based on your race number. I was number 761. Numbers for the B race started at 700 (aka Jeff). I was about 7th row. Ended the race in 53rd. So I moved up. Yay.

Zach is so pro... start of Granogue

I just make it by... into the barriers section at Granogue

Next day was the cross race at the Wiss. It went much the same. Missed the mass call up at the start and started pretty near the back again. Worked up to 45th. The best news is that Topher (that's right, that Topher, like 5th place SS at the 101 Topher) had a little duel going, and I ended up beating him. I suppose that's good.

The next weekend (it's 10/25 now) was the Whirlybird Cross at Bryn Athen College. Funny fact: I did a wrestling tournament at that very gym in 11th grade and won. I knew as soon as I pulled into the parking lot. Unfortunately, passed wins didn't give me speed, and 2 crashes and a pit stop later (to fix both derailleurs) I finished a lackluster 21st. smaller field, so in about the same spot.

So last weekend I didn't do any cross racing and instead hit up Big Flat with Brett, Donna, Larry, Jim, Don, and Lin for a sweet ass ride on new trails. I love the camp trails. Ride finished on Camps 1 and 2. Sessioned Ego Rock for a while (see here for pics). It was awesome, and Juni performed admirable. For those of you who are looking at your computer screen with a disturbed glare, Juni is my singlespeed. Don't know why I chose that name, it just seemed to fit.

Now I have a research proposal to write... peace. Maybe I'll be better about updating from now on... probably not though...