Jan 29th. Oooof!

Christophe badgered me the other day to start blogging again. "Dooooooo it!" he said. Starting is easy. As is forgetting all about it and going south of a year between posts.

I have been racing 'cross pretty much non-stop since September cobbling together one of the best seasons yet. It's been more about finding the perfect line and riding it as fast as I can while being smooth and oozing confidence than it has been about about results. Its funny because the results have been coming. A few trips to the podium, a few near misses to box and a lot of hard on the rivet racing deep in the cave. A lot has come together and clicked for me. Unexpectedly.

Mixing strong coffee with early morning rides, embrocation has become the ritual - the smell and the tingle signals go time.

Paying attention to the finer points of the preparation has yielded better quality in each ride, digging deeper from within and allowing the fall spectacle to overwhelm the senses.

Coming home totally blown has also become common place. They say that success breeds success. I have found this to be true. The great rides have snowballed and bad legs have been hard to come by. More time has been spent counting down until the next ride or the days until I toe the line again. Like a caged dog I can't wait to be released.

Speed, confidence, smoothness and strength. Cyclocross in 2009 has been good to me.

Hoogerheide Pre-Ride

Pre-Ride this weekends Hoogerheide World Chaponship Course: 

Takes a little while to load but totally worth it. I'm going to a World Championship party at 7am on Sunday. Beer and Waffles - as it should be. Totally awesome. 

Toe the line.

Set today's race course this morning on my way to work. A racer's course for sure, it was nice to ski in the early morning hours. Dead silence. First run is always the best. I shouldn't have been persuaded by the lack of sun at 7, I bet skiing the sunrise would have been amazing.

Bank it.

Skiing is Skiing. 

You have the good days of awesome, prime, goormed snow. And then you have the days like yesterday when its a sheet of ice and you use your face to stop a few times. 

 

It sucked. I didn't want to ski. And my legs are all sore from not having good technique.

But later this year when I come screaming down a hill and cut a sharp turn only to realize I'm on a sheet of ice, I'll stick it without thinking about it - all beacuse I sucked it up and skied an hour and half on shit frozen product.

It all adds up one way or another.

Knock, knock.
You still there?

January '08 started with all good intentions - train, fitness, race, rinse, repeat.
But then life happened.
Perhaps a touch of laziness added in.
I road. The passion was there. Exploring the roads and trails of my youth.
I love climbing again.
I toed the line twice. three times?
The highlight was sprinting for the line at Gloucester.

I've made a few changes. Thought about blogging again. Someplace to add some photos. Talk about the adventures past/present/future.

I'm Nordic Skiing now. Volunteering as a coach.

Tomorrow I'm racing. I could care less how I finish. I'm more excited about going for broke and blowing myself up. See where the line in the sand is. See how I stack up against my team. Take a look around and see whats inside.

Now that you're up to date, Lets see where this goes.

hup hup

It's the new cycling

Back in the game.

Its right around the corner:

Sound on!



Good thing George has a real bike this year...

I've moved.



That guy is my new neighbor. But apparently no one in my circle knows who he is. (well the two of you that do, go riding with him on occasion so it isn't as exciting.)

I forgot to call about the group ride. Hope its tomorrow.

Stolen from Molly Cameron's blog:

Oh Cipo, what are you doing?

Does that guy in the back ever not wear a trucker cap?

All ya need is one

Timbs for my hooligans in Brooklyn

Just spreading that bike love around...

Stolen From Cyclingnews.com

Motivation.

Trees Fall Hard

Below is the crash that took out Tree Farm at 'cross nats in KC. If you are the woman in my life, you are better off skipping this:



Ouch.

"Separate but equal is inherently unequal"

US Mountain Biker Georgia Gould has petitioned the UCI to offer equal prize money for men and women in the top 5 spots. There is an article on Velonews about it and also a link below if you'd like to sign the petition for equality.

Click here to sign.

Cover Boy

So back at the Mountain Bike Nationals I took this shot:


Being part of the Twin Six Tribe, I rooted for the only T6'er in the pro mens field. Upon returning back to the 'hood, I sent Brent at T6 (waaaaayyyyy cool guy) and e-mail with the photos for their enjoyment.

We got the '08 Twin Six catalog at the shop today and I'm checking out the 50 or so little pictures that make up the cover.
"holyshit, thats my photo!"

Racer superstar, expert potato masher, pro dog walker, swiffer vac wonder kid and now I got the cover shot!

I leave in the morning for the Milian fashion show; I'm shooting for Vogue.

Picture stolen from Pez Cycling News:


Forget the screaming people, check out the mountains in the view. This is whats so cool about cycling. You ride your little ass up huge mountain passes, through valleys, down alpine descents, to the liquor store, on a set of rollers...those pedals, your legs, some wheels; they take you places. You see things. Experiences are different, life is had, enjoyment mingles with pure sweet pain.

For the love of the ride. For what lies around the next bend.

Oh Snap!

Flemish is the only way to watch 'cross.

Oh snap:

(I cleaned that messy work area today btw)


outtie

Words are overrated, lets photo dump:

been racing. been sucking. what can you do? I have the handling skills, I just need the power. But next year right? Looks like I've snapped.

saw this guy during a race and my thoughts went something like this:
"oh shit jay, what the fuck did you do to yourself? your seeing things"
"maybe I didn't see that"
"shoot. shit. uh, uhm.... mary had a little lamb...."

I got to see that guy. He's pretty rad. Good to warm up with a friend just shooting the shit. 'sept for the fact that you can't see who the hell he is:


I stole all of those pictures from different places on the internet.
If you have good eyes, you can see me at the start someplace in the middle of the pack, right side.

Like I said, good eyes.

Also, check this out:
http://www.crosstube.net
pretty cool site for cx vids in super low, grainy resolution. just the way i like.

this was too many words.