love the pain

waaaaaaah! im in the saaaaaaaand!

2009-11-14T07:25:00.003-05:00

Thanks, I guess? to the Dean for sending me this lovely snapshot from the gunclub race. that's exactly what it felt like. There's clearly something wrong with me that I enjoy this.

he's in the bandman!

2009-11-13T07:16:00.002-05:00

After ramming my car into bambi @ 65mph the other night, I finally felt like getting back on the bike to see if I was going to be able to race this Sunday @ Infirmary Mound in C-bus. My lunchtime ride took me around the usual haunts, and as I circled RRCC I decided to find Eva Bandman park-the rumoured new home for cross in the village.

I almost missed the sign, but turned in and saw a mid-sized soccer field, I took a lap and noticed two men appraising the area. As I made my way back to the parking lot I saw 2 metro lou vehicles. Opportunity strikes!

I had thought one of them might be Jason Cissell, the parks guy with whom many of us have spoken. It turned out to be Marty Storch and an associate. He was very open and was more than happy to talk about the situation. More than anything he was surprised that there was so much opposition to what is happening. Here's the lowdown.

They don't love the dog-people either. Not the law-abiding folks. We all get along w them, but the folks that battle us battle them too.

RRCC is not an option for us. STG is our last hurrah, let's make it count.

The city is committed to creating a worldclass facility for us. I am down with that. Bruce Fina, who designs amazing courses for us ev ery year at USGP and Simon Burney are the go to guys. If we begged the city to do this for us these are the people we'd beg to have design it.

Right now, Bandman is a nasty rough diamond. If the city comes through, it could be amazing but it will be ours. No fighting dog-people. No crazy altercations. We will have a real home.

Check out the details of drmandrola's conversation w Bruce Fina on his blog or bikeclicks.com. Sounds like a little communication is going a long way.
Like all of you(except dug),
I'll miss RRCC a lot, but if we work with the city and hold them to their commitments....I'm not known for optimism, but maybe this works in our favor.

And yeah, I'm racing Sunday. Neck hurts, but so does cross. I'll live

Pick Your Battles...(doug)

2009-11-11T23:37:00.002-05:00

So what?! I haven't posted since the (LATE) night before the USGP. I've been in a bit of a funk. I don't have much time, so let me give you the rundown. As I mentioned, I wrecked a little bit during the Friday practice for USGP. I didn't think it was much more than a bruised ego, and I raced just fine both Saturday and Sunday. In fact, I had a freakin' ball! Brian has given a good synopsis of the events, but Saturday was good an muddy, and Sunday was a little faster and less muddy. Brian had it all together Saturday (ahem, I'm not sure I've seen him brag about his 7th freakin' place finish), and I had it a little better on Sunday. Actually, I ended up with a 12th and an 11th for the wknd, which was better for the overall standings than I could've hoped for. I would LOVE to go into detail about the fun that I had both days/nights with Brian, my buddy Jon (50 mile J), and the rest of the Rogues, but that would take longer than even I'm used to posting. Thanks Rogues for a great weekend, and special thanks to: Fatty for the beer/tap/tent; Marcia and Michael for the coffee/donuts/photography/support; Team Sandbag (John Osgood and Curt) for the long trip, comraderie, and the t-shirts; Shannon for the great company, good beer, and cool swag; and my buddy Jon for making the trip (side note: Jon is now addicted to cyclocross in Michigan).

Anyway, after the weekend was over, and the beer and adrenaline wore off, the shoulder never got better. After a few days, I eventually talked to Dr. OneDood at his 2nd office (BW-3), and then got another opinion from a friend who is an Orthopedic Surgeon. "Class 1 AC Separation"...essentially a separated (sprained) shoulder. I had to skip one of my favorite races of the year, the Gun Club Cross the next wknd to give it some rest, but as it turns out, the race was a mud filled run-fest, and I had a wonderful weekend with Alison and the kids, so it all worked out. With the two decent finishes at USGP, I actually have some flexibility.

So, after a couple weeks of mostly rest (no CRIT, just spinning and running), another favorite race came up. The Promotion Cross in Lexington. Looking at the schedule, there are only so many races left, and I need to get at least enough in to count 7 finishes that I'm happy with, so I wanted to do this one. The weather was going to be perfect (for a fair weather cyclist), too. I did not pre-register, because I was really waiting to see if the shoulder felt o.k., but made the decision to race because of the weather. I'm glad I did. I missed it. Although I had a rough go of it (two crashes, including one right on the injured shoulder, and a dropped chain), I still finished 9th, which will help bigtime in the standings (that will get rid of the "28th" from earlier in the season. We had a great turnout of Rogue teammates and friends (read Brian's account of the day, including honorary Rogue Ben's heckling). Oli and Michael continue to own their categories, which is really cool for the team. Brian also got a little closer to his USGP1 form, and is starting to average "top 10 near" finishes, which is fun. He and I are now battling for spots on the race course and might even be able to work together pretty soon. His progress from averaging 20th (first couple races) to averaging 10th (last couple races) has to be worthy of "most improved" and "most impressive". Hard work DOES pay off kids.

So, where does that leave me? I've got 8 races under my belt. 6 finishes between 9th and 12th place, the 22nd from Harbin where I messed up my back brake, and the "Darkhorse incident". I need at least one more race before Storm the Greens to give me some leeway. Had my 9th place finish at Darkhorse been scored right (instead of being given the 28th), I'd have a little more room, but I think I'm going to be fine. That's why they only take 7...to give room for error (theirs, not mine). So, I was actually going to skip the Columbus race this weekend because it was so far away, BUT, the weather is going to be so nice (70 degrees and sunny) that I can't pass it up. I just registered, and am going to try to find a place with some friends to crash up there to make the race easier. This way, if I can finish Columbus with a decent score, I technically don't need to race any more races, in case the weather just gets ridiculous. I can only assume I'll race Storm the Greens no matter what, but this allows me to make game day decisions for the rest of the year. Thanks, honey. Oh, the shoulder? Yeah, it hurts like hell, and the telltale "lump" on top won't ever go away, I'm told. It'll remain "separated" for a bit, I suppose, but will have plenty of time to heal come Dec 7 and beyond. Once CX is over, I have nothing until the February/March triathlon season starts.

where we at with this?

2009-11-11T10:01:00.001-05:00

As I related in the last post, there's a lot going on with the home for Louisville Cross.
The are facts, there are suppositions and there are rumours.

Here are the facts as I've come across them.

The city of Louisville wants to find a permanent home for cyclocross on the River Rd corridor. That's awesome. No more fighting the dog-people, control of what happens and a schedule that works more around us. Also, if its still on River Rd, it should still be a place we can ride to. Driving to ride my bike seems crazy.

It likely won't be @ RRCC. There's too much back story to go into, but keeping our current course is not looking good.
The worry is that it will be in a place that has issues that make it inferior to where we currently are. That's totally valid.
Another great thing that's come out of this is that the cross community has gotten organized. A leadership group made up of designates from each USAC team got together for a first mtg last night @ Cycler's Cafe(I was deer hunting in the wilds of IN, bow season's ovr but camry season just started!)

From the reports I've read from Seiler(read his commentary on Lou Dirt Club) and others, it was productive, passionate and a good first step. There is talk of fighting to keep RRCC. That would be great, we have roots and history there, but if we have to move we may have options we haven't even considered. Mr Lyons had the idea to study courses in europe and incorporate thos elements into what we do at a new place. Cool possibilities.

I've gotten several emails from Jason Cissell @ Parks(as has tallgirl), and he seems determined to make this happen sooner than later. That would help ease the fear of losing RRCC and having nowhere. He seems to think we are a few days away from an announcement. That means any efforts to change the final plan need to move quickly.

The one thing that could help this move in a positive direction would be to have a lot more open dialog. The biggest issue that had people digging their heels in was that a group had been mtg with the city behind closed doors. Once again, more communication solves the problem. If you can get the city's ear and get us what we all want, cool. But secret mtgs always cause backlash. There are so many people that have built this community up to where it is, surely there's a way to give them a voice.

My hope is that this new leadership group can help steer things to a better solution, and that wherever we end up, be it RRCC or Eva Bandman, that we are able to keep growing this.

Now I just want to race my bike with my friends and have some fun. Is there a way for all of these things to happen at once?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch

2009-11-09T06:35:00.003-05:00

With all the uproar over the ridiculous situation at RRCC(and keep roaring, dont give up), there was still some amazing racing to be seen. The weather was warm, sunny and a perfect day to be out. Lexington's Promotion Cross was Sunday. This has always been one of my favorites. Its fast and flowy and technical and has the most ridiculous barrier section of any course we do. Straight up a massive hill.
It's awesome.
Oh the humanity. The sixth time up that thing was searing pain and jubilation that I wouldnt have to run that mother####er again.

I rode down with the Papist and the usual crowd soon formed. Dug pulled in behind us, Shamwow and Little willy had come down in the Bain Family Truckster with a tin of Debbie's magic poundcake(FORESHADOWING). Sherri and the Rev Blackwell were there. B-dub even brought the wife. It was all good.

We pre-rode the course and the boys from Pedal the Planet had really worked on the course. Lots of familiar features plus some new sections that were a series of 180's up and down hills that had you flying across the course.

It was a mass start for the 4's with Masters blended in. We took off and it was sweet agony. I couldn't figure out why Oli kept yelling "c'mon honeyy, get up there". I was totally mystified until I realized her husband Paul was behind me. Oli heckles so hard she made the Mandrola's blush.

We all rode well and Sham-Wow took fourth in the open's, Dug was 9th, I was 10th and Pope was 14th right behind. our boy UDFJerry was 5th ot 6th maybe? good race. Nice, I love it when I really racing with my friends, all of us putting it all out there. Spitting cotton, eyeballs out, turning yourself inside out...whatever your preferred metaphor is. We all kicked a little bit of ass in a large fast field.

Then Sherri popped open a cooler filled with Rogue ale and Magic Hat. Yes, I feel slightly guilty bragging about getting to drink beer in the sun with my friends in mid-November. Sorry?

We made our way to the hideous barrier section to cheer for Oli and thanks to us, she again demolished the field. She won going away. I'll admit, I've never lusted after a Cannondale before(big companies usually turn me off) but hers is really rad. The Salsa isnt going anywhere for now, so just a comment.

We stayed for the 3's to cheer/heckle/berate/abuse Seiler. Some of the more creative taunts? " go, tallgirl go"(his wife's nickname), "don't hit the tree, dont hit the tree, okay hit the tree"
And add another victory for Mr Seiler with 3 wins on the season. Not too shabby.

My favorite moment of the day involves the aforementiioned poundcake. We're at the barriers and the riders are absolutely giving everything they have. Including every drop of moisture in their bodies. So it was only natural that sham-wow and little willy started offeriing poundcake handups. The first taker is probably still chewing(and it was amazing poundcake). He was laughing and trying to swallow for a couple of hundred meters. (ps-yelliing SWALLOW at anyone in public is dicey, just sayin)
We knew we could count on the boys from Team Hungry to participate, and they did, although they may regret it.

So yesterday was a blast, but we still have the RRCC situation to deal with. I don't know if I can put it any better than john does, so make the jump and read drjohn and see what he has to say about it. It would be a shame to lose whats become an icon in the OVCX. Do what you can, but dont just sit there bitching. I've got that covered.

civil unrest

2009-11-06T08:05:00.000-05:00

No, I didn't yell at the kitchen lady or any of the other dog people yet. Not yet.
Yesterday we got some bad news that the dog-people will be taking over part of RRCC and fencing it in as a dog run. Obviously, this means that cyclocross and cross country running and soccer and all of the other activities at this multi-use facility will be moved so that dogs can crap there.
The google map shows the area they are taking. Its not all of the course we use, but it takes a lot of it.
Public outcry was more subtle than expected. A few folks tried to posit alternatives. This was received w mixed reviews. I can explain why. So many of us, many far more than me, have put a lot of time, effort and thought into making RRCC a great place for cross. Is it the ultimate? Of course not. But it was damn good. I know that the guys leading the kidscross efforts are upset not just because they lost something, but because this is where they spent time with their kids. That's time well spent, outside, no video games.

I've been told that it is official and I've been told that its not. Noone seems to have a solid answer yet.
The dog-people begin selling permits to use the place Nov 30th, so they feel pretty confident.

So what do we do? Fight or flight?

Bobrow intimated on the message boards this morning(can you intimate on a msg board? Really) that an alternative is in the works.
That's good news unless it means driving to go ride your bike. We need something and we've been spoiled to have what we have,something where we are welcomed and are comfortable.

Zack's idea was to go more covert and find new places and see what options we are overlooking currently. I like that idea as well. Sometimes new is better, but losing what we have is still going to suck. Maybe we'll find someplace that's equally accessable that has technical features we haven't even thought of. Could be.
I'd like to put effort into that. Hell, it'll be fun trying even if we get chased out of a few places(poss moreso if we do, god knows its been a long time since I've been hassled by the man)

We could also find new areas on the current property. A community effort and possibly that could work.

I'm not trying to go "chicken little", but we can't just wait until the fenceposts go in to come up with an alternative.

I don't have closure for you on this. If you have ideas, nows a good time. And try not to piss on the folks who are down about this.
Key word is "try"

Race Across The Sky... Again

2009-11-05T06:26:00.002-05:00

For those of you, like me that missed the first showing of Race Across the Sky, the film about the Leadville 100. It will be shown again November 12th. Hopefully our bootleg town will have a showing. Last time we had parent/teacher conferences, so this time it's on. Everyone raved about the movie from the drama of the competition to the scenery. Can't freakiing wait.

Gun Club/ Run Club

2009-11-01T21:16:00.003-05:00

This is definitely the wettest cross season of my short racing career. I've been replacing corroded parts and cleaning the bike constantly. Im really tired of stuffing my shoes with newspaper. But it is what it is. We had a ton of rain Friday and it changed the Gun Club course into a wild festival of falling, sliding and general hilarity.

This is one of my favorite race courses. Out in the middle of nowhere, at a shooting club with a really nice lodge(with a roaring fire +10 pts)
Normally this is a hard course with a BIG climb on the backside leading to some singletrack then barriers etc. The rain changed everything. I lined up with the right rev blackwell(welcome back on the grid my man), molnar, the dean, udf jerry etc. I was sans posse w Dug, Fatty and the papist being pressed into other svcs for the day.

After a start that could only be called lazy(or lackadaisical for those of you not into the whole brevity thing) I was way in the back chasing. Obviously we know what I'll be working on this week.

For a course with 2 sets of barriers, I was off the bike 6-7 times per lap, and that was just the times I planned on coming off. the big hill was a sort of run up. I shouldered the bike and hustled as quick as I could. Others tried to remount at the top but this was foolishness. I was able to pick some folks off there by running the whole hill. Oli suggested we ditch the bikes and just make it the Gun Club 5 k. It would've been way faster.

Luckily, sherri the super-fan was with us. It really does help when somebody's screaming your name(in a good way, okay not that good. sheesh) So the support from teammates was great. I ended up with a shocker, mid-pack finish. 17th out of 30 something. The bad starts are killing me. The sand was fine and tho I'd like to have done better in several sections, the opening sprint is where Im losing ground.

So we had Paul(mr oli) racing to 14th in the 4's in his first cross race. Sham-Wow(webbber) got 5th and keeps killing it. The story of the day was Oli with the win in her category. Strong work woman.

Post race, I hung in the lodge with Depot Joe and Molnar-who lectured me on the rules of the tribe. How the hell is it he knows more than me AND Brad Goldberg? Scary.
But there was actual food there. I hope this is a trend that continues. I like being fed.

So here I sit, muddy kit soaking in whatever the domestic goddess/laundry mgr dug out after the washer failed to get my whites a sparkling. the shoes are stuffed with newspaper, too wet to even put on the dryer rack yet.

We have sunshine for the week leading into the ProMotion Cross in Lexington. Im looking forward to (hopefully) a dry, power course

The Dirtiest Thing I heard @ USGP

2009-10-30T05:11:00.004-04:00

Let me misquote Janis Joplin by saying I'd like to write a post of great social and political import. Oh lord won't you buy me a mercedes benz, my friends all drive porsches, I must make amends

Damn, that got off track fast. The point is that if youre looking for insight and clarity, you have as much chance of finding it here as you do at Fox News.

Hopefully you come here for abject stupidity,
Here it is.

I've mentioned before that our local race annouceress Rachel Faegerberg(sp? really?) cracks me up. She will out of nowhere throw in the unexpected zinger. Like when you're on the Green Monster. Eyeballs out. Spitting Cotton. SUFFERIN. And she makes you laugh. Granted it sounds like scrooges death rattle when you do it but hey. Nice work.

USGP was no exception, though there is a grerat deal of debate as to what was intentionally funny, and what was funny like this

or my personal favorite....

bvecause american vertebrate paleontology is funny shit.

Anyway after the big buildup, here's the big let down

The Dirtiest Things I heard @ USGP

There's a lot of action going on the backside.

He made good time on the re-mount.

He's really going hard on the backside(different enoough to be it's own)

He went down hard on the wood(after someone stacked it on the barriers)

She's got quite a gap on her(dude that's nasty)

The weather today? It's supposed to hit 69.
response from un-named local cycling legend and coach. I prefer the 68, where you do me and I owe you one.

Thank you ladies and gentlemen, I am a freaking 9 yr old aren't i?

Okay, enough of that, bring on the Gun Club

Anatomy of a Heckle

2009-10-28T15:04:00.004-04:00

I'm mainly writing this one for Anna Seiler so that she'll remember that although her mom and dad's friends like to have fun, that they're semi-decent people. Well, the papist more so than I, but anyhoo.

After Sundays race and some cheeriing for team mates, I hooked up with the papist, tallgirl and littletallgirl to watch the pro men's race and see how it's really done. we prepared ourselves with some liquid carbohydrates, we went to watch the uphill sandtrap and see the lines and the speed that these folks carry. We cheered and called out our favorite racers names and watched all of them come thru. Then we waited. And we waited a bit more as the last racer made his way thru. The crowd quietly watched him fly thru the trap and as he passed he yelled back at us "WEAK".

That's right. He heckled us. Now I'm not known for holding back anyway but this was a direct challenge. We dove in. Numerous laps went by with different lines tossed out, tho we give tallgirl creative credit for "dude you're giving us too much time to come up with new material" We actually saw his shoulders shake as he laughed. This was our type of guy. But our youngest attendee was worried that we were bullying the rider. I can deal with that, it was important to make sure she saw the difference between good natured heckling and bullying. Mean-spirited we're not....mostly.

So we decided he needed a hand up.
We waited and as he came thru, the papist and I yelled for him, and in he swung

This proved it, this was our kind of racer. I wish I had the picture of the perfect hand-back to Sham-wow. Flawless.

We wanted to make sure that there were no hard feelings. Especially for yelling things like "lap dance coming" as he was getting passed by the leaders. So we brought him a BBC APA, which is known to solve all problems.
turns out his name is Bill and aside from being a really big dude(which would have curtailed the heckling if we'd have seen the size of him first), he's a good-hearted guy racing with the top pros and having a tough weekend. We'll be pulling for Bill in the next stops of the USGP, and doing some serious distance-heckling.

After that, it was Monday morning before I knew it and my car looked like this. I did get some sweet t-shirts and swag. I'll post that later but next up "the dirtiest thing I heard @ USGP"

hi fives to all involved

USGP- More Day 1 w/photographic evidence

2009-10-26T16:09:00.005-04:00

Lucky for us, Tallgirl took an absolute pantload of pictures and was kind enough to let us share them thusly. How about that RRP fan above? Not bad taste for the younger set, eh?

So you see, Day 1 was a good day. I came out of the start breathing fire and feeling confident. It's nice to know I have it in me somewhere, I just wish I knew how to make it consistent.

One look at Dug says it all, it was tough out there.

Here you see the papist gunning it on one of the straightaways, kicking ass and making fb friends along the way.

the mud was really tough stuff. You can see it here

And here's what happens to you when the sketchy rider in front of you takes a digger in the mud. 21 stitches and Zack was pretty non-chalant about the whole thing. "yeah, I think I could see the muscle, maybe I'll get it checked out" I'd have cried for certain.

Here's the dean, handing it to all of us. Better houseguest than a bike racer and he beat me at both.

Yeah, that'd be Jimmy. Did I have to tell you that? Probably not. Hey, he's wearing the "jimmy sleeves" unlike Dug's, his don't come off without a laser.

Seiler moving like a freight train. Dude, didn't you just cat up? Go do it again.

Fatticus Attacks!!

Du-Wayne, doin it up.

Best picture of the day? yeah this wins it.

Oli and some random female racer. Is that someone famous? What? she's from Georgia? So What? OOOOOOHHHHH, I get it. Is she a member of the tribe? A name like Gould and all. We'll take her.

Aaron putting on the clinic in his Rapha cap.

We'll have a less facebooky post tomorrow on the joys of heckling the pros and some day 2 action!!

hi five's one and all

USGP Wrap Up- part 1 of many!

2009-10-25T21:02:00.000-04:00

What a great weekend. After working hard at it all week, an amazing racecourse jumped out of Bruce Fina's mind and onto RRCC.

What do we hit first? Friday after pre-riding the course, I hung out w my 10yr old as he did a kids clinic from the ClifBar developement team. Really nice guys, so patient. So skinny. So damn young. I wish I could hate them, but they were amazingly nice to all the kids(even the bratty one, no not mine)

Friday night @ the BBC Taproom we watched the RedZone Kids(mine included) present numbers to the pros. Really cool to rub elbows w Trebon and JPow and co. I'll post my pix of son#1 w Stu Thorne later but he now knows how cool that was,

We also hooked up w our houseguest for the wknd, Shannon "the dean" Smith from Darkhorse. We repaired ourselves to Brownings w the Seiler clan, oli& paul, the haliori(stop it), Zack the hupster,et all. Things were rolling.

After a dark-thirty wakeup, Shannon and I met Dug and his man-friend John Coleman(50-John) to set up the tent and pre-ride.

We also got to try out the new chip system. We made extra sure that everyone was nice to Barb and Mike and got our act onto the course.

I got a special surprise, I didn't expect to see the domestic goddess/race widow at the start w the kids. Maybe that was it but I had the best race I've had. I felt strong and aggressive and fought thru the pain to keep rolling. I caught Dug on the finishing straight mid-way and slapped his ass to get him to stay with me. Traffic got in his way and I ended up 33 out of 106, getting skunked by my houseguest at 21st(how rude!)
As you'll see tomorrow when I'm not totally wiped and worn from the pictures, I got to race and hang w Dug, 50-m John, Molnar, Pope, Shannon Seiler, Jimmy(in a mexican wrestling mask) Sham-wow, Ben too many to mention. I'm sure somebody is pissed.

Did I mention getting totally heckled by Rachel our announcer? First time I've laughed DURING a cross race. Day one I felt great.

We got to see Oli and Brooke and Zanne crush it in the ladies race.

Fatty and Seiler and Duane raced in the 2/3 race and brought it! For the guys that just cat'd up they looked right at home.
Dulin and Kennedy were handing it out w singlespeed power and right in the mix. WOW! As for our Rogue
It was nice that our team hung together and cheered for each other. Sherri volunteered both days and screamed her lungs out.

More to come, but I'm beaten and battered and ready to crash. Marcia took many many pix and was kind enough to let us use some so, tomorrow.

T-minus....oh, whatever. It's here! (doug)

2009-10-23T23:57:00.003-04:00

So it's pretty much Christmas for me. The weekend is here. B and I spent our time staking and taping the course. I got to participate in part of the Simon Burney clinic, and then it POURED down rain Friday night. I went back out and rode the course a bit tonight, and may have permenently damaged my shoulder, but learned a lesson.

So, for those of you who can't make it...

The big cluster of readings on the bottom is where I wrecked and sat around for a minute deciding if I'd actually broken my collarbone or just brused it.

I also got to spend a little pre-ride time with the awesome TSB guys from Michigan, and then walk the course with my buddy Jon, who's down for his third and fourth cyclocross races, respectively.

I am not sure what's going to happen tommorow with this crazy crowd (Jon registered late tonight and got race #98, so it's going to be a crazy field), but I'm looking forward to a great day of racing, cheering, cowbelling, airhorning, and drinking.

I LOVE this sport!

Closer, Closer, Almost There

2009-10-21T21:08:00.003-04:00

The Monster awaits, and Doug was ready to recieve as you can tell from his position as "bottom" there with the Green Monster. We rolled to RRCC to help get things moving some more towards completion. It was the usual suspects again-bobow, Dulin, dr john, mama cross-mcshane, nikky, little ring etc. a few others that always show.
Really nobody else? Guess not. Things were good

You can see the elders of cross were really impressed by Doug's contribution. That's a look that says, hey man, good job.

We worked until things became a complete cluster. then I high-tailed it to cherokee to ride trails on the cross bike and fill the training schedules requiement of getting heckled by real mtn bikers(mr goldberg) while on the wrong mount. Gee, that reminds me of something from the beginning of this post.....what was the moounting reference again?????

Still Life

2009-10-21T10:25:00.003-04:00

Some people travel in style. Shannon Stevens-Smith from Darkhorse and our guest for the weekend looks like he's got everything but the bike ready to go.

The GP Cometh

2009-10-20T17:51:00.004-04:00

And so it begins, our yearly quest to follow Bruce Fina's genius into Cyclocross wonder. Okay maybe that's a stretch but under the direction of Dulin, Bruce, Bobrow - you know, the usual suspects things got started as we worked to turn the mother course, RRCC into this years USGP course. You can see the picture of Morgan Webb working arborist magic, the better picture would have been when he was in the tree sawing limbs but that is only alleged to have happened in case there could be repurcussions.

There were the usual 700 bikeclicks/team louisville guys following Mark Luking's orders as they constructed the Green Monster. I so wanted to tell them they had to move it like 7 degrees. Maybe just Duane, hmmmm. I need to make a call.

After driving a couple of hundred stakes into the ground, I was too tired to even make a dirty joke about pounding wood. Allright obviously not too tired, but almost. Doug drove around in Dulins truck after riding Dulins bike. Please cheer for Doug by yelling "go Mike. Go" it just kinda flows.

Lots of volunteers, Flower and TimO , Dr John and his son future Dr Will (who gave great instruction as to where to pound in the stake with the 20lb stake pounder)helped stake things out with all kinds of folks, all of whom gave the stink eye to the d-bag rider who was riding the course while we were building it. Keep it classy San Diego(you know, San Diego comes from the German......nevermind)

We even got fed lunch!! Im willing to work for food, I could even make a sign to that effect.

We should have this thing built up soon and its going to be awesome. Different and technical and fast.
And of course, the Monster will be waiting.

I'm always shocked at how it looks like an open field like I've seen so many times when I ride it. All the places you train your eye to look, and then suddenly it starts to take shape.

And then its a race course. A really good one.

Go help out. don't be a d-bag and ride while we're working. Let's show off this weekend after all the work is done and the racing and drinking can begin.

Cash for Klunkers?

2009-10-19T20:52:00.004-04:00

Hardly. Its the bling'd out ride that our old friend Chris Jones of Champion-Sys will be riding at the USGP this weekend. After a 2nd place at CrossVegas and some seriously nice finishes in New England, look for Chris to rock the mother-course this weekend.
Nice when they ride the sweet German bike we can't even get.
I like it and it remeinds me of a former company president from years ago who told us all in his heavy French accent "it's all about the fuckus" maybe this was what he was trying to say?

Don't forget to look for the Love the Pain/Rogue Racing/ Dark Horse/ Beer Anonymous tent for tunes, beverages and general Hi-larity.

The count down is getting to the little numbers isn't it. Bring me the USGP or the head of a statistician. Either way I'm good.

Roll Tide Bitches

The Essence of Cross (doug)

2009-10-19T01:28:00.015-04:00

So, you remember my buddy Jon, who kicks my ass in a triathlons on his first try, right? We got a great race review from him after his 50 mile trail run, too. But can he race 'Cross? I begged him to try. And guess what I got?

The best damn video description of the sport you could ever ask for! This guy is a good cyclist...a great athlete...a tremenous father...a marginal cyclocrosser...and a hell of a fun guy. Don't quit this 'til the end.

http://www.vimeo.com/7131463

Friday Fun

2009-10-16T11:04:00.004-04:00

Why is this man smiling? Indeed, why is Shannon Stevens-Smith from Darkhorse Cycling and one of the leaders of the Masters Cat wearing a Love the Pain/Rogue hat? Why wouldn't he? All the fast folks seem to have them on this year. Click on the icon below Seilers head to the right and get your own. As noted, MichaelSeiler can be removed from the bottom of your cap if so desired.

So its off to Birmingham for me. This seasons damage so far is one bottom bracket, some cranky hubs and rusty cables. While the bike is getting some tlc and a respite from me flailing away atop it for the weekend, I'll be at Oak Mtn State park riding the mountain bike(slowly) and hanging with old friends at the Alabama game.
Roll Tide bitches.

Good luck to everyone racing in Bloomington this weekend, and be nice to Mike and Barb...cause I said so thats why.

USGP next week!!! nofa-king way!!!

a message from the chairman of the board

2009-10-15T10:46:00.001-04:00

I wanted to make sure that everyone heard this from Mitch Graham, the man who makes OVCX possible.

Folks,

As many of you know, the past two years have seen tremendous growth in the Category 4 and Category 3 fields in our OVCX events. This is amazing, and what many of the promoters have been working for in our region for over 10 years now....

But.....we haven't been doing the things on our end at a systems level to be able to properly score these big fields quickly for you (shocking news). Most importantly, we haven't been setting our event schedules up early this season so that our great officials can do the job that they are capable of doing.

So without pulling lapped riders, and without sacrificing the big fields, here are some of the things we will be adjusting in future OVCX events to help facilitate accurate scoring:

* a minimum of 20 minutes of dead time (Open Course) after the Cat 4 and Cat 3 races for the officials to sort the finishes and deal with disputes in scoring

* dedicated volunteers to specifically track lapped riders so that they are properly placed in the scoring
* long enough courses to minimize lapped traffic

Chip timing is useful for backup, but our officials need the conditions in place so they can do the job they are capable of doing. Having one race scheduled to start (as has been happening up to this point) right after the finish of another makes it impossible to properly sort results for them.

Quickly and accurately scoring our huge Cat 4 and Cat 3 fields is our number one priority right now.

I want to thank all of our officials (Andrew Frey, Ron and Karen Garrett, Mike Hewitt among them) and Barbara Saive with 2WheelSports, and Chris Halioris our awesome statistician - this series wouldn't be what it is without you!

This is an exciting time; let's support each other this season, accomplish some goals, and most importantly have some fun!

See you at the races!
Mitch Graham
OVCX Director

Thanks Mitch, hopefully everyone respects how quickly these changes have come about. Now lets have some fun!

other than that mrs kennedy, how'd you like dallas?

2009-10-14T10:41:00.000-04:00

After a weekend of really great race courses(with dodgy scoring as noted) its time for a break. Doug is in marriage-optimization mode and I am taking off for an Alabama football game with the domestic goddess/tide fan and some mtn biking @ Oak Mtn state park. That means no race report this weekend but lots of bourbon for all involved!

If you were wondering if all the bitching and complaining had an impact? See the message I just recieved(you did too if you're registered) from Scott Bond longtime promoter.

All Please note - start times have changed ! - this is in response to some of the lessons learned this weekend at UCI3 - Cat 4 Open race now start at 10 am --- and cat 4 Master's start at 10:45 ------ by splitting these races - this should eliviate some of the scoring headaches. See everyone on the 21st Thanks Scott Bond Speedway Wheelmen

Nice work Scott, and thanks. Lets keep the dialog constructive on our end.
Oh, and
ROLLLLLL TIDE!!!!!!

The Morning After

2009-10-13T08:14:00.003-04:00

"there's no justice like angry mob justice"-homer simpson

First off, thanks to everybody that commented here as well as on www.ovcx.com and bikeclicks and all of the different interweb outlets. We had some great conversation.

We heard from a ton of racers who showed frustration and a real energy towards working to help improve things.

We heard from promoters who were definitely interested in the conversation and gave us some insight into their side of the situation.

We heard from an official(thanks Andrew, not easy to wade into a shark tank like this) I really didn't know a lot of the challenges that these folks face.

We had insight from pro racers that have seen both sides of these events. Big thanks to Chris Mayhew and Adam Myerson. I think you guys really helped us turn the ship towards building and away from the tearing down.

We heard from people who were supportive, we heard from folks that just like a good lynchin, and we heard from others that don't see the problem. Hopefully everybody saw a group that wants to help grow our series into the bestr in the country.

The question is-Where do we go from here?

We got great insights from all corners. How do we capture that and work with each other instead of the other direction?

I've had some conversations with Steven(webguy on www.bikeclicks.com) that let me know that there's more attention that just us bitching. Thats great, lets keep the (positive) conversation going on bikeclicks in the ovcx community thats a great place for a lot of this conversation so that if we need to reference back to something, it'll be easier to find.

What other thoughts and ideas are out there? Where should we be going?

Waste of time and money (doug) - Better get two or three beers for this one...it's a doozie.

2009-10-12T09:16:00.010-04:00

Well, I've had it. It took a complete failure on some folks part to do it, but they did it with flying colors, as far as I'm concerned. I wasted a perfectly good 3-day weekend, blew $90 in entry fees, plus another $100 or so in travel, and destroyed a perfectly good rear brake, all for nothing. I wasted time I could have been spending totally focused on my family, dragged them out of state for an overnight stay where we rushed around, working the whole weekend around 'cross, and spent hard earned money paying promoters to "official" the races, all for nothing. I went into this past weekend excited about the real "beginning" to my second full year of 'cross. Two top ten finishes in the first two races, 7th place overall in "the series", and the first time I've actually started taking the races and the series seriously. I've made an effort to plan more races, and to prepare a little more for the races (when was the last time I ran 3 races w/o having beers to prepare for them?). All that excitement about getting better, making progress, working harder, ended this weekend in what I can only call a total joke of event from an officiating standpoint. I was very sadly made aware at just how pathetic it has gotten, and how incapable of SCORING races really are. This says nothing about how the folks who sponsor these races, volunteer, set the courses, work the events, and even they way they do the registering (sometimes the same people trying to score the event later) do their jobs. They are amazing, and the events are fun (I want to be very clear on that, and will get to it later), but something HAS to be done about the scoring one way or another. I realize people have been quietly (and some a little more loudly) complaining for years that something needs to be done about the way some of these races are officiated/scored, but I've always been pretty quiet about it. I'm not the guy who cries b/c I get placed 10th instead of 7th or 12th instead of 10th. I'm also well aware that I probably get put 6th instead of 9th once and a while (unless the guy who is really 6th isn't married and had the time to wait around 4.5 hours for the results to be posted so he could "protest" within the 15 minute window). If it's easy, we fix it ourselves. On more than one occasion last year, I either asked someone who was behind me or had someone who was ahead of me ask to verify to the results table that we needed our finish positions to be swapped. Gladly. These are minor mistakes that will happen. But this year, maybe due to the larger fields, it's gone WAY beyond that, and something needs to be done.

Let me digress for a bit after that initial rant (oh, it's not over by a long shot), and first say again that I LOVE cyclocross. I don't think anyone who knows me (especially my family and friends) or anyone who reads this blog can deny that. In fact, I don't just love it, I'm obsessed. I'm addicted. I talk about it constantly. I even send out emails to thousands of unwitting friends and family every week begging them to come out to watch it, or try it each week (I won't be asking them to do that for a while). This weekend made me sit back and say, WHY do I love 'cross? Why am I even doing this? Something I've never had to ask myself before.

So, why do I love cyclocross? I LOVE the exercise for sure. That 110% heart rate for 40 minutes. The "I can't breathe, but I still need to pedal" feeling. It helps me stay in the best shape I can imagine over the winter, while having a ball. Awesome! I love the atmosphere. I love festivals. I love parties, and I like to have a beer or two (or 15). 'Cross has that vibe for me. Finish the race, find the kids and the teammates, grab a beer. Music blaring, cowbells ringing, kids screaming, "go mommy!" and "go daddy!". Friends screaming, "pedal faster!", "hey Doug, this is a race you know!" and "why aren't you trying?!" (I think those are all Duane's by the way). Hippies, Hipsters, athletes, roadies, mtb'ers, all meshed together in a big party every weekend. It's Awesome! I love the camaraderie. Not just with my close friends and awesome teammates (both old and new) that you hear about on this blog (Steven, Duane, Brian, Fatty, Pope, Michael, etc.), but with the guys I've met from other teams, in other cities. Guys I race with, and often side by side with, every week, as we race the Cat 4 35+ races for spots in "the series". The guys from Queen City Wheels stand out in my mind. Dave Nissan and Jerry Hayes, who I've been racing with now for over a year, and Scott Lyle, who I formally met this weekend, and who I raced nearly shoulder-to-shoulder (I should actually say wheel-to-wheel -- his back, my front) with for all three races (although you may not know it looking at any results). All just great guys, and plenty more I haven't mentioned, obviously. The end of every race is a parade of high fives and "great race" exchanges, and I love it! So, all good so far. No amount of officials' incompetence can really screw any of that up. The folks who put on these races do a great job of getting the courses set up for fun, and the good people keep showing up to race. The last reason I love cyclocross (or triathlons, or running marathons or 10k's or doing any "organized" race) is for the COMPETITION. That's where this weekend (and the series in general) starts to go downhill.

Now, what competition means to me, versus what it means to anyone else, may be different, but from most of the guys I talk to, I think i'm in the majority here (comments gladly accepted to the contrary). You see, all the reasons above are why I come out and race 'cross races. The reason I PAY SOMEONE to do it is so that they can keep track of me and the other people racing, and when it's over, they can tell me where I finished in relation to those other people! Seems kind of simple. If I didn't want anyone to keep score, and I could just keep track myself, I wouldn't need to pay anyone, right? I mean, I know I'm not going to win. Just like I'm not going to win a marathon, or a half-ironman. I would just like to know if i'm making progress. I pay to have it scored so that there is an official record (for year end series standings) of how I stack up to other guys of my like ability who also take the sport seriously enough to race each week. If the extra hours I put in practicing dismounts, or cornering is helping. Did I get faster? Did I beat that one guy who usually just edges me out? Can I only drink 10 beers before each race (vs. 15) and finish 5th overall in the series instead of 8th? That's it. And guess what? That tiny amount of benefit is worth $25-30 per race that we get charged. But if you can't do that, then wtf am I paying you for? Of that $30, what's the breakdown? $1 for the tyvek race # and safety pins? $2? $5 to the prize kitty (I doubt that much makes it to the winners). I'd say $3 for the "registration" effort, but I'm charged a $3 surcharge for that. The courses are set up and run by volunteers (I know, I've done it a few times). SO WHAT AM I PAYING FOR!? I can only guess it's for the officiating/scoring, which isn't being done properly, if at all.

As I mentioned before, I know these guys I'm racing with each week for the most part. I've raced 5 races this year so far and finished with the same 3 or 4 guys each race (again, you'd never know it by looking at the results), except for the last one where I broke the bike. I know right where I finish every week (give or take a spot or two) and I know who I beat, and who beat me. You think I don't notice when the guy I've been trying to catch all year pulls away. Hell, I've been staring at the back of his jersey for 25 laps this year already. You think I don't notice when I pass him? Hell yeah I do. You think I don't notice if my legs just don't have it, and the guy I know I always beat by a few spots comes cruising by me? I do. We "debrief" each other after the races, over beers and high fives, talking about who "got" who, and which part of the course hurt the worst. It's not "official", but we know how we're doing, and I know who I beat and who beat me each week. So, after we finish, and every has a good idea of how and where, and we talk about the great race with our friends, and laugh about who beat who, and then we see the "official" results 3 hours later (if you're still on site) or 2 days later when they finally get around to posting them, and you see that you didn't finish the race at all, or that you were a lap down, or that all the guys you beat actually beat you, It's a little annoying. Frustrating, really. And more importantly, it's a stupid waste of my money. Someone is taking money for something they are not doing. And I think it's crap. Every race, there are numerous (10-20+) errors and complaints in EACH of the lower categories about how the scoring is screwed up. These folks can't keep track of who's on what lap, let alone who's in what position. Story after story each week about top 5 racers being scored a lap down, or friends of mine who knew they were a lap down being scored in 2nd place. Total random chaos. This is not just me. It's just the first time I've been screwed so bad, multiple times, that I've snapped.

In the first two races of the year, I finished 10th in both. The first one went off without a hitch, although I believe there may have been different folks involved. The second one definitely had it's issues, although I was fortunate enough to be relatively issue free. I believe I finished somewhere between 8th and 10th, so 10th was an "argument free" placement. Many others were not so lucky that day, I know. Then came this past weekend. The big UCI3. The weekend I didn't do last year, b/c it places a large burden on my wife for me to race 3 consecutive days, 2 hours from home, and honestly, as much fun as I have racing, I can happily survive on one race per weekend (or even every other weekend) to get my fix. This year, however, I made a commitment to myself to race more races, focus more, and try to gain ground in the overall series standings -- hopefully a top 5. I was 7th going in, and I was sure I could have a couple good races (or at least one) of the three, and make some ground up.

Friday's race was "epic". Really. I think that term is overused, but this was crazy. I'm going to leave the actual race reports to Brian for the most part (he's chomping at the bit to write). The course was a total muck fest, where you were essentially either racing on wet, muddy pavement, sliding down a hill on your ass, or running/walking through 3" of mud. It was a fitness and endurance course, and I finished 10th again. How do I know? Because I wiped out on one of the last turns, and Scott Lyle (new friend), who I'd been battling back and forth with the entire race, got past me and finished just ahead of me in 9th. I had to out sprint another to keep another guy (#650) from passing me at the line. Brian and a few other friends of ours were done already when I finished, having been just barely lapped before x-ing the line after lap 3. I was thrilled with my finish, until I was told by a friend later that evening that when they finally posted results that I was 28th. Scott was 9th, #650 was 10th, I was 28th. Apparently a lap down, behind EVERYBODY. The "results" had been posted around 4 pm (we were long gone back to Louisville), so I'd missed the "15 protest window". F-me.

So, dejected a bit about being screwed, but knowing I had two more races left (and I was going to race enough this year to drop at least one race), I headed back up to Cinci for day 2 (this time with the family in tow). Before the race, Scott actually acknowledged to the scorers that I finished behind him (and indeed races all the laps), to no avail. Whatever. So this day was another GREAT racecourse, and another good race. I again raced with (read: just behind) Scott and a couple other guys I recognized, plus some other QCW guys I hadn't met (since this was their sponsored race). The course was excellent, and although I can't pin it down quite as close, I believe I finished somewhere around 7th, but it could've been as bad as 11th. I'm not sure how many of the "new" QCW guys ahead of me were actually in my Cat., and they had a little train ahead of me cruising through the course that I couldn't catch up to. My main point of reference would have been Scott ahead of me, and then I notice Jerry (Hayes) come across the line about 7 or 8 racers behind me as I was just cooling off. Also, after having talked to the scoring table before the race about how Friday's results were messed up, I actually made a (half-joking) effort to look him in the eye and literally point to my number each time I passed the start finish. I was going to make sure I got credit for this one. Anyway, I was really happy again that I was able to overcome my frustration and put such a good race together. I waited around for 2.5 hours, but the results never came, and I was late for a date with my wife and kids at Kings Island. I finally saw the results posted at race 3 the next morning (Sunday), and was horrified to see myself listed at 31st, a lap down again, behind EVERYBODY. Classic. I couldn't even use the "Scott Lyle" approach this time, b/c they'd screwed him up too. Are they even watching the race? Now, since they had just posted the results, they allowed for "protests", so I did file a complaint, but haven't seen any updated results yet. I was told by Jerry that they had been revising them and re-revising them all day, and that at one point I may or may not have been 16th (still behind him, though, so probably still another 8 or so places off). Not sure where Scott was placed. I guess you just take whatever they make up and like it. It's noon on Monday and there are still no results from any of the days posted on our www.ovcx.com results site.

Sunday was good and bad, I'd say. I'd just about had it after I saw the 31st place from Saturday, but had to get ready for a race. Alison and the kids were out to watch, as was another friend from H.S. and her children. I was thrilled to see that they had decided to use transponders for the race! Finally, some legitimate results! I got around the course for practice, and realized I was missing a few gears. The svc. manager for Darkhorse Racing (Dave, I believe) was super cool and did some quick work on the rear derailleur and cabling and got it shifting like a dream. My second practice lap was excellent, and I felt great. Maybe a great finish on Sunday could help ease the pain of being screwed not once, but twice, by idiotic scoring the first two days. The course was tough, but fun, and crossing the start/finish line with one lap to go, I was either in 6th or 7th -- I was at the back of a chase group of three guys, and one of their friends yelled "you're in 5th!", so it depends on who he was yelling at. Anyway, after the s/f line, there was a double sand pit, separated by a short winding section. As I came out of the second pit, a place that had been giving me trouble all day, I jumped on the bike and it stopped/skidded. The back brake was fully engaged and locked. Ugh! I stood there for what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only two minutes trying to loosen the cable, twist the screws, anything. I'd have to say that 15-20+ people passed me, but not sure how many were in my Cat. (most probably). Finally, someone from off course (I think it may have been the announcer) said to "just rip the cable off the brake". So I did. POP! The brake popped open, I jumped on, and finished the last lap with no rear brake. Great! The one result that is bound to be accurate, and I mess that race up. Grrrr. So, probably a 28th, a 16th, and a 25th(?) for the three days. Now don't get me wrong, I had a blast all three days, but if I had know I wasn't going to get series credit for racing them, I wouldn't have done them just for fun (or maybe just one). I would just do the races that are more convenient. I feel like the money I paid to the promoters was stolen from me. Don't say you're going to score toward an overall series if you can't do it right!

So, not to list a problem without a solution or two, here's what I've thought of.

1. Mandatory transponders. Enough said. That way, we can all be part of the series, and know we're actually being scored right.

2. I we're not going to mandate transponders, I think there ought to be a "don't score me" option. If the results are going to be such B.S. anyway, I don't need them. Screw the stupid series (which is bogus due to the scoring anyway), let me come out and enjoy myself, but don't charge me a fee under the guise of scoring. I've got better things to do with my money than pay for non-existant scoring. Drop my entry fee to $5 to cover the tyvek race # and my share of the winners pool. I have a USAC license (or I'd have to get a one-day), and I'll race my proper Category. Just make the 0-99 series #'s for "no score" (or make them a different color) and the officials can just ignore those numbers when they go by. I'll know about where I finish like I always do, but I don't have to pay and then wait around for some promoter to tell me otherwise. The promoter/scorer will make less, but they'll actually earn it. In fact, if enough people choose not to be scored, they may actually be able to keep track of the ones left. Hell, I'm in 7th overall, and finishing in the top 10 in the races, and they can't get me right. The only folks who should care about being "scored" are the top 5 who have a chance to podium.

3. At the very least, if you're going to charge for the "service" of scoring, lets get ONE common place that the result have to be posted, available online, and maybe a deadline of some sort, and then give folks the right to protest on that posting is made. We can't all wait around 3,4, or 5 hours for the results to be posted, just to have a chance at the 15 minute "protest window".

Whew. I don't know who reads this blog (let alone this ridiculously long post), but I'd love to hear comments from anyone, whether you're in the ovcx, or some other series.

Do all series have these horrible scoring issues?
Do you use transponders?
What are some of the solutions?
Am I being a big baby?
Should Brian buy a size larger skinsuit (okay, I just threw that in there for fun)?

prelude to Harbin

2009-10-11T06:42:00.000-04:00

My office smells like mud, angst and triflow. Time to head north again. Maybe theres a whiff of hope in there as well. Ahh, Im always this way before a race. Bring it.

UCI Weekend -Day 1

2009-10-10T10:08:00.004-04:00

The first day of the UCI Cincy Weekend was foreshadowed by days of heavy, heavy rain. The good folks from Darkhorse racing did their best to make the Devou Park course work with the mudslides that had appeared. Riding to the course w Fatty and Dug, we passed thru their version of the highlands-gorgeous old homes, manicured lawns. All I could think of was the line from Fight Club "I just felt like destroying something beautiful" and did we ever. Why did they let us tear a new one into a beautiful park? I can't know. I could be told but my mind would reject the information.

At registration we had a great talk with Barb and Mr Hewitt about the results issues. They are fully in favor of the move to chip timing. Talk about foreshadowing!!!! Back to that later, but look for timing chips to appear at the Bloomington race.

Numbers pinned and a random guys van pushed out of the mud(dumbass), the signs and symbols were practically smackinng us in the face. This was going to be tough. We pre-slid the course and found that a good portion of this would be on foot(and for me on ass and on face). Fatty gave us some mtn biker wisdom which I failed to follow and we lined up. The call ups for the open 4s were first. Really Micah? Still a 4 after winning how many races last year. There's a word for that, and it rhymes with schmandshmagger. Said hi to Shannon from Darkhorse, lined up a few dudes down and got ready.

We took off up the pavement and immediately hit mud, sliding riders and chaos. This continued until they let us stop. I finished around were the officials randomly assigned me at 22nd, but Doug who was a qtr lap ahead got royally screwed and placed @28th. I believe I can feel this one. Been there, raced like that.

We rolled off the course, got some clean clothes and some beer and went over to watch the 3 race. Okay, we had a brief detour to feed Dulin from Bob's Redzone, but charity does begin at home, right? plus I'm taking credit for his excellent finish!

I felt better watching really good riders like Fatty, Lee Hauber, Marty, Du-Wayne and Garner slip-slide all over the same places we did. If they had nailed those sections I would've had to quit. Fatty came thru like he was in his element, hasn't raced since the short track series and still hung with them. Nice.

As we heckled our friends, Du-Wayne slid up to us for a beer hand up. He chugged away and took off only later to complain that it was too hoppy. Some people. got to take it easy on him as he got screwed in the results as well. Not on his race finish, but as we walked the course we saw Garner gutting it out in the mud and called him in "charles!! beer! beer!" he came, he drank, he got called out by the race announcer as getting the first beer hand up of the day.
Poor Du-Wayne, we have started talking about putting timing chips on the riders livers, but its a tad more expensive and the line to give your chip back moves really, really slow.

We found hot food and got to hang with Ryan Trebon and Barry (wicknasty) Wicks who came in 2nd. I wouldv'e loved to have seen tootall going at it in the mud!! next time, next time.

We also got to harrass McShane for stalking Katie Compton, but only because I was jealous, remember how hot she really is in person?? oh yeah.

We got to heckle Nevitt(also from Bob's Redzone, but the other Bob's Redzone....no, none of us understand that either) mainly for his FROM or for race only mustache, before having to hightail it back to the village.

Dug is there for Day 2, JavaJohnny's. Hopefully he'll have a great race and give us a good race report.