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...

All Good Things... (Part III)

In a departure from its Star Trek TNG namesake, I now move on to part III of my life since I took an unplanned vacation from the blagosphere.  This part will be shorter and hopefully wrap up everything...

The next big thing that happenned was that I finished my daily driver for the winter.  Pictures of the new Vassago Jabberwocky in all it's sexy orange-ness will be available as soon as I remember to bring a camera on a ride.  The build-up story is actually kind of funny.  Bretto emailed me at like 2:30 last wednesday saying that whY Be Racin cross practice was cancelled and that I should come ride.  I followed up with the fact that I didn't have a MTB that was in riding condition yet.  He followed with an offer to help me built it with his spare parts.  This we did, and I took the Jabberwocky on its maiden ride on October 15 at 6:30PM under the lights of my NiteRider TriNewt.  It was beautiful.  I don't know how I ever rode bikes with small wheels.  I also really like that I have to re-learn how to ride technical stuff now that I no longer have the aid of 4 plush inches of suspension under me to cover my ass.  This winter will be most fun.

I think that's it.  The next thing I did was race some more cross, but I will have to tell you about that later as it's fucking late and I want to go to fucking bed...

All Good Things... (Part II)

In the tradition of semi-obscure Star Trek quotations, I continue my updates on my life in the last month. The next major thing is the Fe Cross (those of you that know your periodic table and cyclocross racing should be laughing right now). The Fe Cross is held over two days: day one (Saturday 10/11) is the Fe Cross Lite, your standard length cross races featuring the famed spiral of death, which is more fun than it's name sounds. Day two is the actual Fe Cross, a 100km point to point cyclocross race which covers roads, mostly dirt, and singletrack within Michaux State Forest. At the behest of Coach Zach, I did not race Sunday's Fe Cross because I have done so many long races this year. I'm glad he said that. I need to be focusing on regular length cross anyway.

So Friday I helped The Legend and Kuhn set up the IC Lite course. We had it up pretty quick and then hit the trail for a late afternoon ride with Kuhn, Zach and Chris. It was fast and good. Then I went to bed.

Next morning I work up earlyish and headed back to Camp T for the C mens IC Lite race. When I got there Zach chastised me for racing C's, so Zach and El Bretto decided by vote that I could do the B race for free since I helped set up the course. So the C race...

Small field, only about 25-30 riders. I had a crappy start as usual (note to self, work on starts). I found myself in about 7th or 8th and started picking through the riders until I was in 2nd. The leader, some kid named Daniel from NY, had gotten the hole shot and was still in the lead. I worked on realing him in, but it was to no avail. He stayed out for the win, and I had myself a nice gap on 3rd. And that was my first 'cross race.

The B race didn't go as well. They were faster. I didn't have fresh legs. Running uphil without fresh legs hurts me. The same Daniel kid won the race (sandbagger...). I ended up 15th. Not bad I guess. Some pictures:

B race, down the big descent


B race, over the barriers

To be continued...

All Good Things... (Part I)

So I suppose I should start with what I left off with last time. Mountain biking. Specifically the end of the 2008 mountain bike season. The last race was the Bear Creek Summer Showdown Weekend, 9/20-21 (christ that was a long time ago). Saturday was the MASS STXC finals. I was sitting pretty in 2nd place in Sport A for the series, so I naturally wanted to improve. I was looking to win the race. I did that, but not in the manner I had hoped. I was hoping for the epic battle for the finish, and all I got was a nice 4 laps of the course at a semi-fast pace. The other two (read: 2) guys in the race were not interested in racing. At all. Way dissappointing. Post race I hung out with Jay and ripped up the super-d course trying to keep up with him (pfh...). T'was good. That night I enjoyed some good food at the lodge, a soak in the pool, and a nice Die Hard.

The next day proved to be more interesting. Sunday brought the XC Finals races in all their rocky glory. If there's one thing that Bear Creek has it's rocks. Not rocks like Michaux though; these rocks have been engineered to provide the most fun, most difficult, and most sustainable trail by our good friends at IMBA (for they are good people, 10% rule be damned). So the course is hard, fast, rocky and flowing. The best. It's probably one of my favorite XC courses. So I lined up for my first XC-length race in a long while against my old friends who probably thought that I had lost touch with my bike. The gun went off and immediately the fastest group of us (about 7) made our way up the opening road, around, and into the singletrack. Hal, who had taken the holeshot, jumped off and ran the fun rock section and caused a huge bottleneck behind him. I repayed him for messing up the flow once we got to the main fireroad climb up the ski slopes by setting a solid tempo trying to shell riders off the back. He immediately went off. We hit the first descent and I hit the flow with a bit of a gap. Flow was interrupted when I mis-read a section of trail and took the wrong line. Todd took over the lead. I rode with him for a while in the back of the course, then more stupid mistakes on my part allowed him a gap. He held that gap into the second lap. I knew I was out climbing him so I laid it down on the climbs. I had almost bridged back up to him by the first singletrack, when I laid it out in the first turn. Ouch. Back on bike, go faster. Bridge back up on the fireroad. Todd descends away. Bridge up on the back singletrack, Todd sees me and runs and I clip a pedal on a rock and almost nut my stem. I spend the rest of the race trying to chase back up but he has too much of a gap. So the last race of the 08 mtb season continued my season long trend of first loser. I'm ok with that. I think I rode a good race for a while, and I enjoyed the podium time.

So that's mtb for this year. That race officially retired my good ol' Spider (I did one ride on it after that). And put me on the market for Vassago parts (shall be addressed at a later date). I'd like to thank all my sponsors who have supported me throughout the year: Intense Cycles for their awesome frame whose true potential I only realized this year, Evomo for their awesome clothing, Ergon USA for keeping my hands super-comfy when everything else was not, Crank Brothers for keeping me securly attached, and TekBolt for keeping things tight. Your guy roxors. I'd also like to thank all those who have supported me this year, especially my parents.

After a bit of recouperation time (much to the dismay of Coach), I turned my attention to the next big thing. That thing is a dirty little addiction called cyclocross.

And now it is time to officially announce my 'crossin plans for 08. I will be riding for the Allied Milk Cycling Team. I know, I know the irony (I'm allergic to dairy... shhh don't tell anyone). Dan, manager of the team, hooked me up with a sweet bike for cross. Now at races I throw my legs over a Van Dessel Hole Shot. It's a pretty frikin sweet bike. Full 09 SRAM Rival grouppo, Kore brakes, FSA kit, wheels, and crank. It's candy apple red paint glistens in the sun and just sreams "Hey big boy lets go jump some barriers and ride throw some nice sloppy mud." In a metaphorical sense that is...

To be continued...

Jake has been absent from the blogosphere for a while now. He will be absent until he gets his shit together.

Thank you,
The Management