No worries, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, I've just been busy. I'm currently putting the finishing touches on my off season...all 14 days of it. Except for the moodiness and yearning to ride more than two miles to work, I'd say its been pretty good. The holidays were a whirlwind of visiting family and trying to see all the friends I could. It seemed like every meal was huge and I had to live up to my name and eat, eat, eat. My parents are in town for some business and pleasure (its a good mix if you ask me). They have currently taken over the bike room. Ahem, the spare bedroom. They have taken a liking to hanging things off of my bikes. Poor girls. I'm going to start a new thing. You stay over, you hang something off my bikes, we take a picture. It'll be your visual stamp and record you stayed.
I received my "FREE SAGER" bands. Lucky wanted to rock 'em for the cause. He's wicked upset about how Sager got screwed over. If you haven't gotten the 411 on Sager's USADA saga, read this. You can see how tore up the Luckster is.
Murphy has made a stop by the metro Boston area....it's now cold and snowing and I start training again on Monday.
I've been searching for the past two days for the words to convey what my first Elite championship was all about. Two days later and I still don't have the words for it. I've been on the other side of the fence cheering on my favorite racers, but I've never lined up against the best of the best with a national championship on the line until Saturday. The crowds were huge. Coming full steam into the barrier section the first lap was something I will always remember. It was so loud. It felt like there were 10,000 people screaming and all the cowbells had an "11" on the their amps. Everyone was having a good day. People were absolutely flying. Myself included. It felt like we were those little white balls in the lottery, bouncing around inside the container but always in control and smooth. Pure mayhem from the outside, but a graceful dance inside the tape. All the interesting characters that make Cyclo Cross crazy were on hand and in full force. From a racers point of view, there were few sections that weren't lined with people making the option of backing off nil. I have my best races when my head is clear. There is very little that I think about besides just giving everything that I have to the task at hand. Racing changes people. The ID comes out. The nicest people off the bike become monsters on it. I have lots of other pictures of the weekend here. A big thanks goes out Heather for taking amazing shots like this: Also thanks to Christophe for taking pics (I stole some from you bra) and also this video:
Overall, I am quite happy with how things went. I'm still in awe of the sights, smells and feelings of the day. I was lapped by eventual race winner Ryan Trebon with two laps to go, but lasted long enough to be classified and finished 90th out of 133 crazed professional cyclists.
At this stage in the game, it feels good to race against racers of this caliber and hold my own. Its sad that my year is over when I'm still fired up to keep going, but I'm sure it will all translate into solid training in a few weeks.
I've been feeling tired and clogged up all week. Something about sleeping 13+ hours last night hooked me up. Maybe I'm a little too in tune with my body, but it ceases to amaze. Had a fantastic spin with the Turkish Tornado today, complete with a cappuccino stop. Nothing too hard, just enough.
Wise man once told me, if your standing, find a way to sit. If your sitting, find a way to be horizontal.
I've even been able to get some quality time in with my masseuse.
Today was a good day on the business side of cycling as well. Things are coming together nicely. First we've gotta show those pro fellers what its all about. No pressure, just all fun.
It's kinda sad really, just one last race. Overall the 2006 Cyclo-Cross campaign has been a fantastic one. Results weren't really there, but dang, I learned a lot and seemed not only hold on to the fitness that I had, but gain some more.
The Caster Cross' could have gone better (when can it not?) but I was able to blow all the cobwebs outtah my mottah and last longer in cross race than I have all year.
The amazement of the race came as Tim Johnson (one of the nation's top CX'ers and road racers) passed me. Being the gentleman that I am, I moved over and gave him the track. Being the gentleman that he is, he said "Thanks man, I appreciate it" (or something like that) I'm drooling allover myself, not really seeing straight and have a large amount of snot pouring out of my snoz. And he can talk. While winning the race by a large amount. Sigh, someday.
My new kicks came. They are as sweet as they look.
One of my favorite parts of giving my camera to my Heather is the amazing pics I get. (photo credits to her by the way!!) Frankly during warm-ups I missed the dude wearing pink crocs.
I believe this one is for big G with love from Heather. He's rockin' the Vanilla.
This one is tops. Check out the kid on the left's face. I haven't shaved in two weeks, but I didn't think my legs looked that bad. Awesome shot. Yea she knits, check out the cabling on these bad boys.
During a check of all registered riders I noted that, according to the DOB you listed in BikeReg, you are currently registered a race that you are no longer eligible for. Being a national event, the age requirements are different due to the selection process for worlds. I am moving you to the correct category, Elite Men, race time Saturday 200pm. You will keep your original registration time/start position.
If there are any other concerns please let me know.
Thank you for your cooperation. See you next week.
Meesha Registration Coordinator
Granted, I turned 22 hours ago, but my racing age is still 22. He who wins Nationals gets to go to worlds. *If* I were to win, I'd get to go, but the race is in early 2007, and my racing age would be 23, to old by just days. So, I'm racing in the Pro ranks.
I'm going from a field of 46 to one of 130+.
On the day that registration opened, I completed my registration at 12:06, 6 minuets after it opened. I should have a kick ass starting spot.
I tried to post this on Sunday when I had all these great stories filling my head. But the blog wasn't working right. So I tried again on Monday and messed everything up some more. Then this morning I messed up the pictures using the spell check. So lets have a contest. You look at the pictures, make up a story. Leave that story in the comments. Best story will win a dope prize.
