Re-joining the Jet Age(brian)

After having both computers go to jesus on the same week, we are finally back to normal. We've had pretty much blackberry only internet access since the 16th. Frustrating to say the least.
The Mac had a simple but serious problem w the main power supply and the company laptop finally admitted that the domestic goddess/computer killer shouldn't have dumped a latte into it.
You'll be happy to know that they are happily re-combobulated and back on the desk glarinig at each other(the computers that is).
To catch you up on the swine swaray and Santa celebration would take way too long, and let's face it...this isn't one of Doug's posts. I'm aiming for a single sitting read here.
I know it's not nice to take pot shots, but Doug's in Florida, bellied up to a tikki bar, half in the bag explaining cyclocross to cuban nationals. Or maybe that was just the way I pictured it.

Let's sum up the trip by saying we had lots of tasty pork products, had some good rides with an old friend and that miniature dachsunds are dogs for people who like cats( i like cats, but I can never finish a whole one).
Imagine tiny puking dog-like creatures that were in ill health and constantly underfoot. Heaven right? Welcome the in-laws new pets!!! After summing up the situation i was glad they didn't buy them any "long lasting" dog toys.
Great moments? you betcha! one of the little cuties simultaneously lost it;s bowels and it's lunch on me at the same time! It was as tho the dog had exploded. Bygones little fella. I've been in your shoes many a time.
Luckily I got to get out on the road bike in warm weather with Rhett(real name!!) and get some sanity saving miles in.
One of the other cool things we did was to visit the Barber Motorsports Museum. The man has a serious jones for classic european and american motorcycles and lotus race cars. I'm fairly confident in saying he has one of each lotus f-1 car ever made. Way too cool. W the kids in tow the dom goddess/former bike chick and I searched out and found a replica of the BSA Lightning I used to ride when we were young and kid free. Bombing around Davis Island off Downtown Tampa and riding pub to pub.


Homeboy Rhett let me know that there is a spring criterium at the Barber Racecourse. Road trip is being schemed as we speak. I'll post up the date so that any takers can jump in. It's a serious auto race course with banked curves, chicanes and all the go fast features that a multi-zillionaire would build himself!
We made it home safely and in my tiredness I agreed to a Seiler ride Sunday morning early to agree with the godess/computer killer's schedule. I know, I know. We've been down this road(literally and fig for that matter), but I wanted to really test the power meter on some local climbs( i could almost power an electric train w my output....a small one that is)
It ended up w Me, Seiler and Kelley the tri-chick. We left the usual park meeting place and it was good to be home. As we turned onto the boundary road, Kelley asked "where are we going?"
"right" I replied. You know when you're riding w a buddhist that the destination is less important than the journey, and he's not going to tell you anyway.
40 miles and the hills in and around Sleepy Hollow later, I pulled into the driveway. Done. Happy but done.

Edwin Tells It Like it is(brian)

Another beautiful morning under stars and barsAnd F series pickups and rusted out carsAnd they're eating breakfast at the strip barJust to have a peek..

I can't go back to alabama without thinking about Edwin McCain's "beautiful life".
Tomorrow i hit some local "epic" hills w my old friend Rhett. I am preloading with bourbon and road food. It could only be special.

Santa's Birthday Party and Swinefestival

Since it would be just plain silly to stay in town 2 weeks in a row, we are about to load up the family truckster and journey southbound to the outlaws pad in Birmingham.
For all my bitching, i do generally enjoy these people. I get to be an insider on the whole christmas thing which I've never really understood, and I get to see old friends, family and get to lay expansively on someone else's couch.
I've got plans to ride while I'm there and I get to test out the new power tap.
I know, I know. The pwr meter will have settings set up just for me including
A Empty
B Is it in yet?
C Grandma
Etc
I guess it's going to have me ghandified when I try to get the power to weight ratio just right. I believe I've made my last stop thru Doughdaddy's Donuts(god forbid!!!)
So when I get the chance I'll update on the pwrtap and all the goings on down south.
For now I hope everyone enjoys celebrating
And to bastardize my wife's saying
Be happy as hell and have a merry anything you like.
Best
BS

Fear & Loathing @ the Biltmore Hotel(brian)

Predictability has its upside. If you went to one of our sales mtgs looking for the truth, you'd have been questing in the wrong direction. The good news is that my cat-like reflexes and cagey sense of my own initials(bs people, please. Know me baby) kept me out of trouble. I always enjoy the first day of the mtg as we look at the body count, and tally up how many of us survived the year. This was a tough one so the circle was that much smaller. We all drank one for our fallen homies and ran our tabs up in salute.
I guess my companies most accidently funny compulsion is their unwavering belief in the power of stating a "fact" enough times that the younger more malleable examples take it as law. Im not a strict follwer of such codes and therefore am always expecting the corp BS to jump out like Cato waiting for Clouseau.
The other thing the Co believes in is the power of beerboarding. This is the use off ever increasing amounts of alchohol to get you to incriminate urself.
"How do you like the new vp?" "Great"
"Have another beer."
"How do you like the new vp?"
I walked into the party/interrogation room just in time to pull a longtime friend who had been overcome by the new corp message and become apoplectic in front of Sr mgt. Just in time, i whisked her one way while an accomplice distracted the wolves by asking complicated questions about football.
I've said many times that my company has based its operating policy on the Pink Floyd song "dogs" from the animals record. Thats a whole other story in itself.
The one nice moment was a trail run/climb from the hotel up Squaw Pt. It turned into a 2600 ft climb through rocky terrain to an amazing peak. Having just finished reading Bryson's "a walk in the woods" it was well timed and an amazing run that ended in a full on all fours climb for the last section. My quads are still burning.
All in all its good to be home.
And if any of the corp greedheads are reading this, you know im talking about those other guys right?

Clean Racing "role model" (doug)

So, I had a pretty cool day today on a couple of fronts. First off, I got to go to my local YMCA, the place I hang out about 10 hours each week, and help make a commercial to support the Y. I'm not sure I'll end up in the final cut, but I was happy to participate, talk about how the Y helps me, and maybe even get my 5 seconds of fame. It was quite an ordeal, with make-up artists (apparently I need it), still photographers, directors, producers, and the whole deal. It was fun, I didn't mess up too much, and I hope it all makes for a good commercial. They interviewed and photographed about 20 people for a 30 second commercial, so I'm not sure my footage will get chosen, but it'll be fun if it does.

After that, I snuck in a spinning class and a quick 30 minute run, and then headed off to work for a bit (that's not the other exciting part).

After work, I finally pulled the trigger on a holiday gift for myself that I've been talking about getting for more than 3 years (I don't say Hannukah or Christmas b/c I'm, as my 4 year-old daughter puts it, "half and half", which could be another post altogether, since I'm really nothing and nothing - a la Christopher (not Peter) Hitchens http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmnVQLOd9Lg, but I digress). Anyway, with the help of a gift card, a coupon, and a sale price, I finally pulled the trigger on my often talked about, silly indulgence -- an indoor herb garden (Brian and friends, please note this is for herbS, with and "s", not herb, as in high school).



I'm sure I've not bothered to mention my love for cooking on this site before (why would I have), but I've got it good. I am a chef wannabe like no other, and am constantly putting together my own menus and recipes that require fresh herbs to make them "authentic". To that end, I have tried growing my own herbs (with and "s" again, B) many, many times. In flower pots, in a garden, in window boxes...all to fail miserably. Today, hopefully, I finally have the solution. The AeroGarden indoor herb garden. It's a "foolproof" (we'll see about that) system that allows you to grow and maintain 6 plants, year round, indoors. Let the experiment begin. Today I "planted" basil, dill, thyme, oregano, mint (duh, for mint juleps), and cilantro. I'll keep you posted how it goes. Happy Chrismakkah, Doug.

Now I know (doug)

Lately, I've been told that I look young for my age. I thought it was probably because of all this cycling, running, and exercise....Who knew?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I_PeLNzxNQ

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeer're off to see the dullards(brian)

Well the scienticians at my company decided it would be better to have our national sales meeting on this years books rather than next year. so instead of closing out the year and spending the holiday time with the family I'm off to a meeting to be re-certified on the information the company pays me to train people to be certified on. That may be the third line or so from "alice's restraunt" I can't remember. This means that I'll be running and sitting on stationary bikes racing secretaries.
I have learned over the years that proper preparation for these meetings is crucial. you can't read Thompson on the way to the event. You end up mumbling about corporate greedheads and searching for ether and trouble in general.


Instead, my airplane book is Chuck Klosterman's "sex, drugs and cocoa puffs" this should do a much better job of getting me fired> Then I can be unemployed and really focus on biking. And the weight thing should be no problem in my new life as an "urban camper". oh well kids, gotta fly now, old man winter didn't come thru with the corporate bail out of snow.

Recovery is boring (doug)

I'm with Brian on the recovery thing. The idea of not doing something just doesn't work for more than a day or so. I had every intention of taking a week or two off after 'cross ended, but that has not been the case. I have been able to stay off the bike (and probably will for the most part until March), but no break to speak of. After planning out my training schedule for the Marathon in April, and seeing where the winter/spring sprint triathlon series falls in relation to the running, I got anxious. In addition to two CRIT classes, two strength/muscle conditioning classes and a spinning class last week, I was also able to get 23 miles of running in, including a great 8 mile run (on a treadmill mind you) on Saturday. I took Sunday off, skipping the Sunday ride with Brian in favor of a day of family shopping and dining out. I seem to have a bit of a shoulder strain right now (I felt it a little last week, but kept doing everything, and it really started hurting this weekend), which kept me away from CRIT and BodyPump this morning. I got a good 5 miles in instead, and then did as much lifting (Cybex Circuit) as I could without involving the shoulder. I intinially wanted to start swimming again this week (I really need to get back to some distance swimming regularly), but not with the shoulder either. I expect, then, to just do some serious running this week, mixed in with one spinning class and maybe another day of lifting (shoulder free). I'll decide on Friday morning if I feel good enough for CRIT, but I may just take the full week off, since that class really puts pressure on the shoulder (with all the push-ups, bear crawling, crab walking, and wheelbarrowing). Considering the next 3-8 months for me are going to be completely consumed by running and triathlon (with just a tiny bit of road cycling mixed in occasionally), I'm considering starting a separate blog to track my "road to the Ironman", so I don't completely clog up "Love the Pain" with my technical, non-cylcing triathlon/marathon babbling. Thoughts? Maybe I'll put up a poll, if I can figure out how.

Wallowing in the Off-Season or A Nearly Perfect Day(brian)

My schedule kept telling me to rest, but the inactivity was making me such a restless pain in the ass that the far better half threw me out the door Sat to "blow the stink off me". It was great to roll easy on the road bike and i even ran into the webdude in the park. The pace felt good but i needed to push it(webdude was done with his ride and still softpedaling faster than me)
I started the usual daisy chain of emails to the usual suspects. Ride tomorrow? Last warm day for a while. Preliminary group was Doug, Thabksgivingdavid, Fatty and the papist. Seiler was running trails w Sasquatch and the rest were doing the 70 m team ride.
After the usual family and gynecological issues arose, it was just me, Fatty and Pope.....and a 30mph wind that stayed w us.
What started as an easy spin made it almost out of the park before Fatty wound it up and shot off the front. Pope and i took turns chasing him down all day. It was a great wake up, slap back to reality. Pedal ur bike dude!! And the dude did abide.
We did a normal 30 mileish route that took us onto River Rd and headfirst into the wind. I really had trouble hanging onto the draft, and had to chase back on a few times. After the turn around the wind shifted so that it could still be a headwind/crosswind/annoyoance. I did a better job of staying centered in the draft and got some decent speed. It just felt good to push it harder than i'd planned for further than i'd thought.
A ride like that burns a lot of calories, but i was able to easily over come that by cooking a zillion calorie dinner for the fam(not something i do enough)
I pulled an old recipe from a rest the domestic goddess/seargent and i frequented in Atlanta eons ago. Bistro steak sandwhiched, pomme frites and a pant load of red wine.( The key to the frites is a combination of cornstarch and frying them twice). I could actually hear my arteries harden(yes it was the arteries)
So much for my conversation w Curtis about power to weight ratios. Maybe i can make more pwr????

The New Era(brian)

I'll use little words, speak slowly and try to be interesting. I saw this today and thought "shit, I'm going to miss Bush!" it shocked me. All this hope and opportunity is really great and all, but I'm going to miss the unifying force that hating Bush was for all of us. Even my hardcore republican dad thought this chucklehead was easily our dumbest president yet. The impact Bush had on bringing together a nations worth of sarcasm was something we may not see again for years. G'bye lil buddy.

Enough with the ink (doug)

I've apparently created a monster with the tatoo post. A friend (covered in ink) once told me that once you get a tatoo, you can't stop. Apparently, once you (or your co-blogger) post a tatoo themed joke, Brian can't stop either. And the beer post? Hey B, I'll have sonar notify us when you're approaching english. I though this blog was supposed to be easy to read (and interesting, for that matter). No more cutting and pasting from beer bottle labels...especially after indulging in the contents first.

Just wait until one of us posts about the tennis exhibition we're going to tonight (wtf?). They better have plenty of PBR there...

#9? #9? #9? (brian)

In keeping with this week's apparent theme of "a tribute to myerson", or all ink week, whathaveyou. I wanted to address our continuing battle to get Fat Tire Ale in the village. Many have witness the carnage that ensues when the last of the doemstic seargent/goddess favorite ale has been sniped by a party guest we have come to call "beer theif". In a pentacostal display of apoplexia that is best not described here at least one decereberate male was eviscerated on a party boat at the lake for similar transgressions.
Since it's not available here, and oour road trips during cx season were limited(by me) we needed not just a substitute but a methadone level option that would at least hold us until our friends at the distribution company(fatty) are able to break the New Belgium blockade.

Enter Magic Hat #9. It's not a carbon copy of the Ft Collins flavor but a damn acceptable alternative. It has many of the smooth qualities that made/make Fat Tire the ale that it is. we are stocking up heavily, although it is readily available. Running out is a bad option.

I had hoped to keep similar quantities of our local brewery BBC's belgian style ale "hell for certain"


Description: Belgian style ale. This higher alcohol (7.5%) beer is brewed with Belgian malt and yeast and spiced with coriander, sweet orange peel, and an additional secret spice. This beer is a full-bodied amber ale. With a big malt body balanced by it's spices.
Right now we are splitting the fridge space for both while leaving room for Doug to bring the PBR described by oour beer sommelier Fatty as the "urban hipster ale". hand that man a fixie and some emo lyrics.

So far thats the off season, beer sampling, important meetings with Mr Roberts(from the fl trip) and Garner at the Cafe over Hot Burrito #1 both on the plate and the stereo, and working on next years goals. Aim low baby!!!
I'm looking forward to getting back on the bike, but with a sales meeting in pheonix next week (timing??????), i may have VERY fresh legs for the spring trainig series.

Hey, Steven Didn't Tell Me This was Required(brian)

Sorry to glom on to Doug's idea to the right >>>>>>>>>>>>>
But when I joined the BC/TL I had no idea we would be "branded" in such a fashion.
I have to meet with the web-dude about this one.

Great! Now What?(brian)

So cx season is over. For some it went out with a bang(seiler), for others(me) it just went....I already miss the taste of ice cold beer after riding my guts at least partially out. It'll be fun to see how all of our friends in attendance do at KC Nats, and I guess I'll catch up on some current events.
Did you hear that OJ was guilty? No, this is about something else he was also guilty of. He said he was just rying to get some of his things back from his friends.....with several armed thugs who helped him break down the door. We'll miss you Juice. Who will get thrown out of over-priced steakhouses here in the village next Derby? I don't know how you can leave me like this. After all we've been through, granted thats been mostly you. I like waiters and don't have any crazy exes that know where I am. Another reason I'm not on facebook.
Here's a quick warning that's been posted at the "facility" where our man is headed.




Tonight I put the road tires back on the good rims, and back onto the road bike. It was depressing and felt a little bit like cheating. I'll have to buy something nice for the cx bike, like a nice lubricant(who doesn't like that?)
It's time to start getting the base miles in for road season. I'm looking forward to it. I don't mind the cold within reason, and like the long rides.
It's also time to really start getting to know that mountain bike i bought over the early fall. Nice Kona Four Deluxe thats been ridden a shamefully small handful of times.
I'm really looking forward to riding trails and running again.
My other mission is to get this guy through a few choice Who & Ramones tunes he wants to learn. Hmmmm, beer, mtn bikes and playing guitar with child 1.0. I may survive this off season yet!

Thank god he looks like his mom.

Bittersweet, or Just Above Mediocrity (doug)

Well, the cyclocross season is over - at least as far as the OVCX goes. Yesterday's final series race at Brookside Park in Indianapolis was a fun one. The course was pretty cool, with some pretty decent technical sections and the normal fast paved sections (you know, the ones where everybody freight trains past me). At least (good for me) the paved sections were uphill, so I had a chance to use some hill climbing skills to hold my own better than the flat, fast straights at some other races. The course also had its signature stone stairway (around 24 or so stairs) and a couple strategically placed barriers (one man-made, one fallen tree). To make this better (or worse depending on how you look at it), there was about an inch of snow on the ground, packed pretty slick, and the temp was around 20 or so degrees, so the ground was frozen, slippery, and hard as a rock if you went down.

There was very large turnout, especially considering the conditions, but I expected that with many guys needing the extra points to get their spot in the final standings, and/or to get one more race in to qualify for some OVCX prizes at the end of the season if you raced in a minimum of 10 races (of the 13). This was just my 8th race of the season, so I was strictly here to stay as high as I could in the final standings. That's where the mediocrity comes in. My goal in these races (as well as in the final standings), the same as in the triathlons, is Top Half of Age Group/Category. If I can stay in that top 50% of the people my age/skill level who bother to come out and do this stuff, I'm pretty happy. Now in the running races (especially the triple crown races where everyone and their mother show up), I have slightly higher goals, but for the triathlons and 'cross, where only the die-hards are there anyway, top 50% makes me feel like I'm ahead of the game, for the most part, or at least in it.

So, the race SEEMS to go well. The start was a mess, mind you, with all 3 categories starting at once, and only the top 5 in series points in each Category called to the front (I was tied for 6th with my teammate, John "Fatty" Harris, so we started in the middle of the pack). I ended up in the middle of a complete melee to start up the hill, but got through it pretty well, even made quite a few passes sprinting up the paved hill to start, and hit the hole shot feeling pretty good (although there were plenty of guys ahead of me). I thought I handled the technical parts of the course very well, passing people when I could (the course was set up with plenty of room to pass in numerous places, so I never felt "stuck" behind anyone, really), and riding "my race" (if I really such a thing). The snow and ice made the course pretty hairy, so I just focused on riding smart, taking the best lines, and staying upright. Despite all the little danger zones on the course, including the treacherous steep downhill, off-camber, sweeping turn heading into the stair run-up, I never went down once during the entire race. I hit a "wall" around lap 3, where my legs tired out on one of the flats, and I let 3 or 4 guys race past me, but regained focus, passed at least one or two of them back on technical sections, and passed plenty of guys who had just gotten better starts but were tiring out. Somewhere around lap 4 (we did 5 total, which was surprising considering how tough the course was - I though we'd only get 3 or 4 in for sure) I passed teammate Fatty, who was on the ground working on his bike. He had been well in front of me, and got wrecked by somebody. I really wanted to beat Fatty and finish ahead of him in the standings, but not this way. He had me by a good 15-20 seconds before he went down, so that was kind of B.S. Anyway, as I crossed the finish line, I felt like I'd had one of my better races. I couldn't think of more than a few real mistakes I'd made, and I thought I'd given pretty steady, hard effort throughout the race. When the results posted, however, I was a bit disappointed (to say the least) when I saw that I'd finished 12th. My worst finish of the year! On a course that seemed to play right into my hands. Wow. After a little reflection, though, I just don't think there is much more I could have done, and once I saw the list of finishers, I believe there were 3 or so guys who don't normally race in our Category who raced down to either finish the year on a lighter note, to earn points in a second category, or to help strategically with team racing. So, feeling so good about how the race seemed to go, and considering the field, I still feel pretty good...AND, since there were 24 finishers, I still got my Top Half (although I wouldn't have had Fatty not been taken out). Sorry Fatty, I owe you one. On a not so mediocre note, our friends and teammates Michael Seiler (KY State Cyclocross Champion, Men's 3/4 Masters 35+) and Steven Webster from Team Louisville, with some help from our teammates who raced down to help control the race a little bit, finished 1st and 3rd, respectively. Solid!

So, how did this all effect the series standings? Mediocrity, baby. Of all the folks that raced over the course of the season in our Category (there were 65 total, but more than half of them only raced 1 or two races), there were 17 who managed to race the full 5 races for series ending standings (remember, the 2 USGP races didn't count toward our series ending points race). Actually, there were only 16, but our teammate John West, who is a great racer, finished 10th overall, despite only racing 4 races, so I'm counting him as a "finalist", since he beat quite a few guys who raced 5 races. Had he raced all 5, he would've finished a solid 7th. Anyway, of those 17, where do you think I finished? 50%. 8th. Perfect. I'll take it. I'll admit I had higher expectations at the beginning of the year, but I learned some important lessons about race selection (there are two races that I should have done, that would have probably landed me in 6th place rather than 8th), learned a ton about what I need to improve on (ahem, road/speed skills and power) and still think I raced very well in the events I participated in. Michael and Steven also finished 1st and 3rd in the overall OVCX series standings respectively, which is excellent for both them and the team. Congrats guys! Most importantly, of course, is that it was so much fun. Great times, cool teammates, amazing racing, and amazing fun. I can't believe it's over. I miss it already. Hopefully we can get down to Knoxville for at least one of the Knoxie-cross races, and/or maybe we can get the Devil himself (Dulin) to set us up some weekend throwdowns if the weather permits. For now it's back to the road (running, that is), back to the trainer, and back to the pool. Maybe a couple of weeks off first, though (if you call CRIT taking time off, that is).

The Iceman Cometh and Freezeth His Ath Off(brian)

A prelude to the Brookside Cyclocross Cup.
Our final race of the OVCX Series is upon us. Brookside. The only indiana based race. This should be interesting, i hear its a very technical course. And you all know im Mr Technical! On top of that its scheduled to be 26 for a high so think low 20's at race time with and inch plus of snow on the ground as we speak.
Of course im jacked! Epic conditions, a great chance for Bikedicks teammates Seiler & Webdude to finish at the top for the series, and i have no rush to get home aftr. Possibly the first CX race of the season where im not expected to wipe off the detritus of the course and hustle home.
Im looking fwd to freezing my arse off while drinking and watching the rest of the races. And theres a sweet raffle for swag that i would love to have. Zipps, cx frames and other good shite.
Thank god webdude is bringing the Airstream. There is no better place to warm up and re-charge than the Airstream depending on the nature and number of pungent teammates.
So, im hoping to have injected a little common sense into my starts by taking off the candys and putting the eggbeaters back on. I knew better but wanted the platform for sprinting at the start.
We all see how that worked. Its great when even my non-racing wife looks at the bike and questions my pedal choice.
Between her and the papist, i am shamed into listening to advice i learned from Myerson forever ago.
Now my debate is wether to take off the Fangos and go back to the Racin Ralphs for the wknd. The Ralphs are way more aggressive and may be better for the snow, but will be slower elsewhere.
Thoughts?

Another New Favorite Site(brian)

Follow the link to the Unholy Rouleur, a great CX site that details the suffering of narrator Jim as he makes his way thru the season. It all seems vaguely familiar, if a little better written than our fare.
Check him out and remember blogger etiquette. Its not nice to visit without leaving a comment.
enjoy

It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Gets Hurt (doug)

Well, as usual, I let about 10 days or so go without getting on the blog, but I can see that Brian has been keeping you (or at least himself) busy with ramblings about ribs, new uniforms, his social life, and even a little bit about cyclocross. Solid stuff. Since I last posted about the Lexington race, and my first try on the KHS, I've been busy, but (also as usual), hadn't been on any bike (except a YMCA Spinning bike) . I have however, had some fun, and might as well mention as much of it as I can. I'll try to give each "standout" event a short (for me) paragraph of its own, ending with this past weekends "Storm The Greens, KY State Cyclocross Championship", which Brian summed up so well in his post, and Marcia captured so well in the photos that B posted.

I'M SIMPLY TOO OLD FOR SLAM DANCING AND DIVING INTO END ZONES

I think I posted about the Lexington Race last Thursday (the 20th) and mentioned at that time that I was continuing the cross training, THINKING about going to Columbus for the OH State Championships, and also planning to play in an Flag Football Grudge match between some classes at the YMCA. The deciding factor was to be the Dropkick Murphy's concert on Saturday night, and it definitely decided for me. We had some friends over for the OSU/MI football game (not so exciting this year), including some friends down from Dayton, OH, who were coming in for the concert. After the game, we headed downtown to the concert venue. The concert was excellent! The show was nuts, with good opening bands (Everybody Out and The Angel City Outcasts), lots of slamming, screaming, bagpipes, and beer. I honestly haven't been bounced around in a true mosh pit in a long, long time. I took a few good elbows to the head/face, went totally down once (helped up immediately in true hard core fashion), but had a blast. The "WALL OF DEATH" is something I won't soon forget, where the lead singer essentially parted the crowd, and then with a 1-2-3 sent both sides of the dance floor at each other at full speed, a la Braveheart. The melee that ensued was absolutely a blast, and I think I worked off more calories in that 90 or so minutes than in any sporting event lately. A different kind of pain, but still one to love.

So, no Columbus CX that next morning, but just as well. I got some rest, hung out with the family for the morning, and then had the big football game that afternoon. It turned out to be a total blast. We probably had 20 or so CRIT members show up, and the cycling team had about the same or a few more. I'll spare too many of the details, but I'll admit the cyclers put up a better fight than I expected. We played 8 on 8, and rotated in players for much of the game. We had a fully marked field, with referees provided by the Y. With 4 guys and 4 girls on the field for each team at a time, everyone was getting a feel for how things were going to go, and the first quarter started off pretty slow. I actually didn't play much the first two quarters, but by the end of the second quarter, I had played two defensive series, and was having a blast. After the first half, it was 13-6, and I wanted to play some offense. I was able to get in for some more series in the 2nd half, and got to make some plays. Actually, I was fortunate to be on the field at the right time, with a group of great athletes. I was able to run for a TD on an end around, and throw for another, when the rotation left us with nobody better than me as a QB (yikes, I know), but with super fast receivers. We ended up winning 25-19, I think (the PAT's were tough...no kicking, all 2 pt. conversion attempts). The trophy presentation was a good laugh, and was immediately followed by a challenge for a "re-match", but at dodgeball. That should be fun. Anyway, as much as the game was all in good fun (and it was), it was not a "friendly game" while we were out there. Nobody wanted to lose, and both teams put up a good fight. I can say for sure that at least one guy broke his thumb, one girl broke her foot, another girl suffered a neck sprain, and if my condition was any indication, there were countless others just plain hurting. I personally left with a few pretty large gashes (one on my leg and one on my elbow...there was more tackling than flag grabbing most of the time), and I moderately strained my hip flexor (I didn't necessarily know this at the time, but I'll get to it in a minute). Too old, trying to run too fast and/or dive across the goal line like a real athlete....That'll teach me.

EARN YOUR TURKEY

So, late Sunday night, as I try to explain to the family what a football star I am, I start to tighten up pretty good (probably as I thawed out). By the time I got to CRIT the next morning, I could feel something really stinging. I made it through class, wimping my way thru anything that hurt too bad (mainly the ab centered exercises, as they are the ones that seem to require using the hip flexor to lift the leg). It was a faint enough, that I couldn't be sure if it was a hip flexor or a groin thing, but regardless, I figured it would get enough rest through the week. With the holiday approaching, and the hip worrying me, I took it pretty easy the whole week. Nothing Tuesday, and just a 45 minute spinning class on Wed. We had all kinds of family get in on Wednesday night, so let the T-Day festivities begin. I was registered, as always, for the YMCA Turkey Day Run on Thursday morning, so with my folks (in from Dayton), my sister (in from Dayton), the in-laws (in from FLA), and the rest of the family all nestled in bed, I got up and headed out in the 27 degree weather to run the (approximate) 10k. They do a funny little thing where they alter the distance just enough, then don't give any times/distances on the course, and then have a contest to see who can "guess how far you ran". I'm not sure they really even know, and I'm not sure how the winner is picked (I'm pretty sure my Garmin had it close and I didn't win). I think they just do it to save the money and trouble of having to mark the course and put timers out there. Regardless, it's always packed, and always fun. Surprisingly, or not so considering the relative pace, the hip flexor didn't bother me a bit, and I am pretty sure it was on it's way to "better", if I'd just left it alone. Anyway, I finished the 5.8 miles in 45:27, so I was pretty happy. That was good enough for 14th of 56 in my Age Group, and 156 of 761 overall. I can't complain (I'm learning to accept mediocrity). Extra congrats go to two of my CRIT friends, Holly and Carolyn, who finished 2nd and 1st in their age groups. Awesome.

So, back home for a great day of eating like a pig. We had 22 or so folks over to the house for a big T-Day dinner, good conversation, a little libation, and football. As I mentioned, we already had both sets of folks and my sister, and then my Aunt and Uncle joined us from Columbus, my brothers and sisters in law came over, and some good friends who recently moved here from New York joined us as well. It was a great time, but I was ready to sleep when the time came.

POST GLUTTON GUILT

Friday, I was up early again, and (here's where I pushed it, I think) headed to the YMCA before putting in a few hours for work, helping to orchestrate the "Black Friday" events and promotions. It was a special day of classes, being the day after T-Day, and I opted for a 75 minute "abs and cardio" class. I was able to get through the whole class (it felt great after all that eating/drinking the day before), but at times I could really feel the pressure in the upper leg, and think that probably re-aggravated the strain from the football game. By the end of that class, it hurt a bit. Dumb. I got to work, and headed to a couple of key dealer locations, and mostly took calls/emails, talking to folks and making sure they had the "biggest sales day of the year" well in hand. I also was finally able to get to a car wash and wash the Lexington mud off of the KHS. After some time at home with the folks, we got out Friday evening for a party with a bunch of Alison's H.S. friends, and then were able to meet some of the folks from CRIT class out at a local dive for some more beers and bourbon. It was fun to get out with them instead of just sprinting and doing bear crawls next to them.

Saturday, I took it completely easy, hoping to give the strain time to rest. I still wasn't sure if it was a groin, or a hip flexor, or both to be honest, but I knew I'd done something. I just hoped it wouldn't bother me too much at "Storm the Greens".

CROSS THIS

The weather leading up to Sunday was very nice, but it all came crashing down about midnight on Saturday night/Sunday morning. The rain started falling, as did the temperature, and things got nasty. By the time I headed down to our course, it was messy. I felt well rested, though, and ready to race. Brian has already given a pretty good rundown of the race, so I'll just add my little bits. As I said, I felt pretty darn good, but after the pre-ride, I realized that it was definitely a hip flexor, and not a groin issue. Not having been on the bike, I hadn't been able to try anything cx specific, but getting off the bike, lifting the bike, and running uphill/up stairs, irritated the leg. Not to the point where it was going to be a huge issue, I didn't think, but I knew I was going to need some rest after the race. I actually went back to the care and tried wrapping the groin/hip flexor, just to see if that could help, but the ace bandage and tape was not comfortable for riding, and I thought that would just be worse. I was just going to take it easy on the run-ups and be fine. I actually got a pretty good start from the third row (with both 35+ and 45+ starting together in a terrible mess of an unorganized start). I was even able to pass a few more people on the initial straightaway, and probably hit the hole shot in around 10th overall, if not better. The first portion of the course went pretty smoothly, until the first dismount/run-up. There was a bobble and a small wreck in front of me as I was dismounting, and I got caught up in it and went down. Whatever I did, either trying to avoid it or trying to get up in a hurry (damn instincts), REALLY bothered the strain. I got back on the bike and got going again, and then realized that it was going to be a tough day.

[BEGIN CRYING] After a couple more turns, the back portion of the course turned into a nice long, flat, fast, grassy straight, and the "freight train" came by me. They had taken the idea from the USGP and brought it to this course. This type of course, I have realized, does NOT suit me. I don't blame them (the course designers), mind you. It's their home course, and they are technically road racers. Don't get me wrong, they are good cyclocross racers, too, but the whole idea of cross is that there is much more to it than pedalling fast. This whole idea of putting all the technical riding into a cross course is what makes it even remotely possible for someone like me, who can't even stay on the same lap as most of these guys in a criterium, or stay within 10-15 minutes of them in a road race, to end up 7th or 8th consistently. This particular venue, though, really doesn't have much "technical" anything to it. They try, with a set of stairs here, or a sharp turn in the mud there, but really it's just a bunch of flat, straight sections, broken up slightly by a few obstacles. I'm not complaining; just merely making an observation that on more technical, hilly, courses, or courses with more obstacles, I am able to keep up at least to a degree with these experienced road guys, (6th, 7th, 8th, 8th respectively), whereas at this location (and probably any courses like it), I am not (10th on Sunday and 42nd and 57th at the USGP -- in a larger group mind you, but the percentile is still weak). Fortunately, as long as I can have a reasonable showing in Indiana next week, this race won't count. So, all that said, I spent the rest of the day fighting to pass people on the technical sections, just to have them pass me on the flat sections, then wreck in front of me in the sand, on the turns, in the mud, etc...Couple that with the fact that I was walking up each set of "run-ups", to avoid hurting the leg any worse, and you could here me muttering "what an f-ing day" all over the course. [END CRYING...FOR NOW].

Despite all that, it was still a blast, and I even had my first sprint finish. Of course, it would have been cooler if I had paid attention and seen the guy coming, but I was too lazy, didn't look at his number as I passed him for the last time, and had no idea he'd was coming for me down the final stretch. Steven gave me a heads up, "you better go, Doug!", but by the time I got back up and going, I was being edged out at the line (thanks Marcia for that awesome photo of my lazy @$$ being out sprinted - I'm still sitting back in the photo...I deserved to lose that one for sure). So even with all my troubles, I could've been 9th if I had just waited 1 more minute to sulk. Lesson learned. As a team, however, we had some tremendous finishers, highlighted by Michael's State Championship winning effort in our race, and Suzanne's Bronze medal finish in hers. Congrats to all the KY State Champions! And congratulations to you if you actually made it through this entire post in one sitting (or at all for that matter).