Saturday Night...Thermal undershirt, thermal longsleeve, jersey, armwarmers, bibs, tights, two pairs of wool socks, bike gloves, ski gloves, balaclava, skull cap...Ok, now I was willing to exit the confines of the warm cosy, womb like confines of my truck. Fifty minutes till start time and 21 degrees...What the hell was I thinking. I exited the truck and immediately returned to put my super-warm Pearl Izumi jacket courtesy of Skoshi...And then, still cold, shivered over to the registration table to give the maniacally grinning Scott Hubbard my $17.00 and racing license. Then I jumped on the bike and rode a few laps to preview the course and warm up. Let me tell you, you do not warm up in 20 degree weather. The preview was worth it however. Despite Jamie's heroics in lighting the course with industrial floodlights, there was an icy section of single track through the woods that had nothing but the full moon (beautiful, but not conducive to high speed racing), and a barrier section that I didn't see until my buddy Eric who was in front got a mouthful of gravel and handle bars. The packed ice and snow also made handling a bit "interesting".
The race itself felt like Europe (If I knew what Europe felt like). It was just a blur of stinging cold air, camera flashes, cowbells and hoots and hollers...Absolutely amazing. I think that I turned in one of my better efforts after a bad start, but the grand plan was to warm-up in the B race and then go for cash in the A's. Since there were only 16 A's registered, and since the money went twenty places deep....Well....
Anyway, my plan fell apart as soon as I entered the Tove Shere Hospitality Suite & Warming Tent and began to thaw out. Every extremity imaginable flooded with fresh blood that until then was pooled to preserve vital organs, and I collapsed in a blubbering heap of pain. By now the temps dropped down to 16, and no way was I going out there...Not even for all of five bucks. Game over.
Photos to come. Law finals...two weeks. Panic sets in...But first...NM Cyclocross Championships...Sunday Morning, December 2nd...Hyder Park....Six blocks South of Nob Hill, between Welsley and Richmond. Will also have itty-bitty kids race and Bump & Thump (think demolition derby on cross bikes).
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
It's Movie Time
Racing with the Prince (artist formerly known as?) at US Grand Prix of Cyclocross.
http://www.cyclofile.com/2007/11/mercer-cup-usgp-cyclocross-nj.html
...And now, for some local New Mexico action. That had to hurt...Yeah, stretch those legs boy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3hLXmZzuZc
I did the same thing that very day, but on the first barrier. Sadly, no video...So, you just have to settle for Brad.
http://www.cyclofile.com/2007/11/mercer-cup-usgp-cyclocross-nj.html
...And now, for some local New Mexico action. That had to hurt...Yeah, stretch those legs boy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3hLXmZzuZc
I did the same thing that very day, but on the first barrier. Sadly, no video...So, you just have to settle for Brad.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
It is done...Almost.
Waddled over to the start line on Sunday, tired and sore, not fast...Still, rode smooth, had no crashes, one minor bobble in the stream crossing (cold, wet, muddy...typical cross stuff) and rode my way into 10th place...Got my one point.
Wednesday, turned in my open memo, done with Legal Research, Reasoning and Writing. Went out for a training ride and then drank lots of beer afterwards...Now I realize that I have other classes. Well, back to the salt mine.
Saturday's Race is at Rio Bravo Park. There is a big hill in the middle of the field from which you can watch the entire race...Fun! Sunday's race is at Dennis Chavez Park; tons of steep climbing with deep grass there...not fun...painful. That's it, except for State Champs no more cross for another year...Back to triathlon.
...And yes, I still say the Silverman types are special kind of sick...Cross hurts, but only for an hour.
Wednesday, turned in my open memo, done with Legal Research, Reasoning and Writing. Went out for a training ride and then drank lots of beer afterwards...Now I realize that I have other classes. Well, back to the salt mine.
Saturday's Race is at Rio Bravo Park. There is a big hill in the middle of the field from which you can watch the entire race...Fun! Sunday's race is at Dennis Chavez Park; tons of steep climbing with deep grass there...not fun...painful. That's it, except for State Champs no more cross for another year...Back to triathlon.
...And yes, I still say the Silverman types are special kind of sick...Cross hurts, but only for an hour.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Crashy McCrasherstein.
300 meters...four crashes. Yep that is new one for me...They weren't even the technical ones, the ones where you try to ride something really hard and keep coming off. Nope, definitely nothing like that. Today was the first day of Los Vecinos weekend in Tijeras, an annual cyclocross extravaganza that is just as much fun to watch as it is to race. So there I am on the second to the last lap, and I'm about to catch a group of riders and make it a race. Well, I focus on the guy at the end of the group, went into a tricky (not hard) chicane, clipped a pedal and went down. Remounted, hit the next very easy chicane, and went down again. Then, I managed to do it again on a gravel patch, and then again when I missed a line and hit a rut. For good measure I managed to repeat the trick one more time 50 meters before the finish in a hard turn on some grass. That is five crashes, and all onto my left shin...There is no skin there now. Tomorrow I'll try it again...Hope to keep dermatological damage to minimum.
Oh, and thanks to NMCross for the coffee and cookies and hot chocolate and bagels and burritos and orange juice and donuts...Wait, are they trying to make everyone else fat and slow? I'll ask when I waddle to the start line tomorrow morning.
Oh, and thanks to NMCross for the coffee and cookies and hot chocolate and bagels and burritos and orange juice and donuts...Wait, are they trying to make everyone else fat and slow? I'll ask when I waddle to the start line tomorrow morning.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Of Grass and Closed Memos
I'm a little addled today...Called on twice in two classes, a citation test and 14 page closed memo on long arm jurisdiction and implied warranties yesterday. On Sunday I actually decided that my entire memo was junk and started over, and then on Monday I turned in my rough, instead of final, draft on accident...That was an uncomfortable office visit (turned out "o.k." in the end). I must say that sometimes I wonder about my choice to abandon my seven hour days, 183 days a year at subsistence salary. Right now it sounds pretty damn good. Anyway, six weeks left this semester.
Saturday, before agonizing about the memo I raced NMCX#4 at Wildflower Park (Balloon Fiesta Park). I dreaded this race as I remembered last year when I had a touch of the flu. It was sleeting, the course was all wet, deep grass (except for the sandpit) with lots of climbing (90' per lap), and I struggled to finish second from last. Well, it wasn't so bad. Yes, the climbing was still there, and the grass was deep, but that is where the similarities ended. First of all, the weather was great and I wasn't sick. It got even better when Steve at the Bike Coop incorporated about 500m of drainage ditch into the course, and the crab apple minefield on the climb was absent this year. This was a wild, fun course.
We started in a mass sprint up the concrete ditch to a 90 degree exit out of the ditch, into the grass and then rode a fast grassy down hill for quarter mile to a swooping 180 degree dismount section. From then we attacked the main deep grass ascent that was infested with giant crab apples last year. Went over barriers, and then we entered some fantastic grassy chicanes where you could just tear into the corners unless you went down (I didn't, but a few did). The course then took you through the sand pit in two directions, followed by more grass chicanes and a fun dive back into the drainage ditch. Fantastic!
Anyway, the field was big (34) and the start was a cluster, but uncharacteristically I managed to hit the first turn out of the ditch in the middle of the pack and spent the rest of the event contesting 9th and 10th places with six other rider. Unfortunately this one, for the second week in a row, turned into a bike race. Those HURT. In the end I finished 14th, not enough for points, but I was never out of contention, finished in an uphill sprint, and I'll take a top 50% finish in a cross race any day (at least until I improve). One final thought...I was outsprinted in the end by a 14 year-old...I guess that I need to shed some of those post IM (distance) pounds.
PS-Cross is the most fun you will ever have on a bike...Where are the outlaws? www.nmcross.com
PPS-Oh, and I just picked up my next memo assignment...and this one is "open". Can you say 756 citation hits? Oh joy of joys!
Saturday, before agonizing about the memo I raced NMCX#4 at Wildflower Park (Balloon Fiesta Park). I dreaded this race as I remembered last year when I had a touch of the flu. It was sleeting, the course was all wet, deep grass (except for the sandpit) with lots of climbing (90' per lap), and I struggled to finish second from last. Well, it wasn't so bad. Yes, the climbing was still there, and the grass was deep, but that is where the similarities ended. First of all, the weather was great and I wasn't sick. It got even better when Steve at the Bike Coop incorporated about 500m of drainage ditch into the course, and the crab apple minefield on the climb was absent this year. This was a wild, fun course.
We started in a mass sprint up the concrete ditch to a 90 degree exit out of the ditch, into the grass and then rode a fast grassy down hill for quarter mile to a swooping 180 degree dismount section. From then we attacked the main deep grass ascent that was infested with giant crab apples last year. Went over barriers, and then we entered some fantastic grassy chicanes where you could just tear into the corners unless you went down (I didn't, but a few did). The course then took you through the sand pit in two directions, followed by more grass chicanes and a fun dive back into the drainage ditch. Fantastic!
Anyway, the field was big (34) and the start was a cluster, but uncharacteristically I managed to hit the first turn out of the ditch in the middle of the pack and spent the rest of the event contesting 9th and 10th places with six other rider. Unfortunately this one, for the second week in a row, turned into a bike race. Those HURT. In the end I finished 14th, not enough for points, but I was never out of contention, finished in an uphill sprint, and I'll take a top 50% finish in a cross race any day (at least until I improve). One final thought...I was outsprinted in the end by a 14 year-old...I guess that I need to shed some of those post IM (distance) pounds.
PS-Cross is the most fun you will ever have on a bike...Where are the outlaws? www.nmcross.com
PPS-Oh, and I just picked up my next memo assignment...and this one is "open". Can you say 756 citation hits? Oh joy of joys!
Friday, October 26, 2007
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