Fish and Chips. Dood thats funny

The Tour de Louisville is back at Fishstix which means a few things.
1. There are some homeless goats out there, since we'll be racing on their normal pasture.
2.Time to climb, repeatedly
c. Time to argue about results.....
Wait, strike that last one. It seems that the Team Bike Clicks.com who are from Louisville, have gone firmly into the jet-age and will be using timing chips. Seeing that we recieved a personal message sent out via purplerides and ovcx.com telling us to blog about it, what choice did we have?
This really is a huge victory. I know that we pack fodder should be happy to be allowed to race and this concession is overkill, but it does a great service to the sport. I can tell you from experience that the guys in the back are giving as much effort as the guys in the front, they just arent as fast/talented/coordinated.
Those guys(selfish move here) deserve to get counted correctly. Why? Stupid question.
Thanks to BC/TL for making this move. This is good for the OVCX and in general its good for bike racing. This was fluffed off previously as moving towards making this a "participation sport where everybody gets a medal". that thinking is clearly being pushed aside for the more reasonable idea that if you paid to be in a race, and you arent an impediment to safety, then race and we'll tell you how you finished. You may get pulled but you'll be counted. You know, treating your customers like...well..customers.

The bottom line is that the BC/TL guys putting on the TDL and the OVCX et al deserve thanks for making this happen. With fields swelling to 100 racers in the cat 4's its time to count past the top ten. And so they have. This makes a great series even better and prevents me from spending the day on the interwebs defending any co-bloggers who may have gone apoplectic(wether that was funny/justified is beside the point)

See you all at fishstix on Sunday. There'll be a welcome home celebration for the goats shortly after the elites race.

Shawnee? Sho Nuff.

By Friday, I was predicting that Id finish exactly where I did. quite the scientician am I.
Question for Mr Wilson remain..."all?"

And Some Days You Just Feel Like This

Hopefully somebody will post up about Shawnee CX. Im just not feeling it, so Im doing everything but riding a bike this weekend. Somedays you need a little punk rock and a break from the training schedule

Kings CX Video from Jeff Cyrus-OVCX 1

More video from what may be the most well documented race in OVCX history! Great footage from JC. Apprently my name in this movie is "c'mon rogue", which is better than the names I've had in some of my other features like "romancing the bone" and "caddyshack 2"
enjoy

Rad Racing GP Singlespeed Bar-Mounted Video

because, as JC will tell you, theres damn little thats as cool as singlespeed cyclocross


Rad Racing GP Singlespeed Bar-Mounted Video

more pictures from kings cross

thanks to jeffrey jakucyk for letting us use these pictures, go to his website and buy yourself a copy of that picture with you making that face that makes your kids laugh and old ladies cry!

jeffrey jakucyk

This is a great shot of one of the climbs. Look at all the dust in the air, most of that is now in my lungs. Notice Ray Smith just outside the tape shouting at me, likely with grave dissapointment.



Heres one for the ladies. If you ever ride to a race with Joe, get him to share some of the txts he recieves. Apparently the ladies love Bobs Rogue Mill


jason garnaret thinking hard about why he let me ride his wheel for so long


fatty....flowing...its who he is. no training , just riding.


okay, here you go, cross face 2010...im not getting any prettier so enjoy it now.


gryzwald powering to his podium spot


this wasn't race day, its why hes not allowed near schools.

we are supposed to be getting some video...ahem..I said we're supposed to be getting some more video...that'll have to wait. For now just revel in the majesty presented before you, while I get ready for Shawnee!

Rogues Gather at OVCX #1 Kings CX

so what happens when you add 502 to the 513? its not 1015(thank you jcps), it was the first official gathering of the Louisville Rogue Racing Project with the Cincy group. carnage was sure to ensue. The Pope and I rolled up to the race early and were immediately greeted by Jason,who gave us the low down on the course, the tent and the refreshments. At this point we're both thinking that this is going to work out pretty well. I'd been struggling with a massive sinus infection, so I made sure to spread that excuse around pre-race. We found Dug and prerode the fast swoopy race course. This was going to be fun! I made sure to avoid the mental errors from AppleCx and was ready. the heckling began at the line up as Butch took pix and doled out parcels of shit talking. We do need to get the 513's up to speed. All pictures require someone to be behind Dug mocking him. Its what we do.

So, back to racing...we took off and Capt Kirk was off the front, Doug, Pope and I rolled out and had a decent pace. Jason was in the mix and I rode his wheel for most of the race. As you'll see from the video we stayed in that order for most of the race. The legs felt okay, but I needed to pass a few folks to matter in this race and I did not have that much in the tank.


You can hear Seiler mocking me in the foreground....sigh. Kirk nailed 3rd and the rest of us did a fine job as pack fill. doug and the crowd in the vid pulled away from me at the end as I died death #1001. the big news was that MrBain won the open 4's on his birthday!! thats how to celebrate. If only he was old enough to drink. or smoke...or vote..or..crap his mom'll read this so we'll stop by congratulating him politely.

The 3 race had to be held in our abscence...I think they were okay with it.
Seiler, Fatty, Butch and Stierwalt represented the black and white and did so well. Butch and Stierwalt have just upgraded and are getting a feel for the pace in the 3's. Fatty turned in his usual top ten without training, and Seiler?
This picture tells it best.


Nice shot of him taking the sprint for second....sandbagger. It looks like this expanded group of rogueish goodness is going to make for another fun season. Lets face it, we absorbed a preponderance of the peeps we were hanging with last year.

I love the feel of a cross race. Its like being part of a traveling circus.....that has a lot of beer. I was excited to see folks like Tom from shamrock, Trevor(rival!!)and the rest. It was like catching up with family.

We got to ooh and ahhh over cool gear like McShane's Leopard(dead sexy in naked carbon) and JC's tricked out Salsa singlespeed(and sidi tat!) We talked about bike geek type stuff, tires, brakes etc that drive a good spouse bad.

In general, Cross season is back. Now ....do we race Shawnee or hold out for OVCX#2 at Fishstix? Both? Good answer, very nice answer. Stay tuned for more pictures and lots of stressing(by me) over all the little details.
Its what we do.

I'm Baaaaaaack...again (Doug...yes, Doug)

Ha, you thought you were rid of me. Well, welcome back CX season. I just pulled the ol' mutt off the garage wall and pumped up the tires (yep, the same tires I started with 3 years ago). I put the trusty steed on the back of the Sprintmobile to take her out to the MTB Depot for a lookover, and wouldn't you know it, my wife "accidentially" shuts the garage door on her. HA! She thinks that's going to end my illustrious career as a Cat 4 Masters Sweeper? Not a chance. The bike survived, just as my body has, with no care, concern, or proper treatment.

I wasn't able to race in the "pre-season" Apple Cross races at Huber Farms (although the kids and I did make it out Sunday afternoon to pick some apples and watch the 1/2/3's finish -- way to go Nevitt!), and although I was not planning to race any races outside the Louisville area this year, some family schedule changes have given me the opportunity to race the first race of the season at Kings CX this coming wknd in Cincinnati. Not sure how it will all work out, but I'm ready to put my "summer of apathy" training schedule to the test. I'd be lying if I said I've ridden more than 250 miles total this year, including Barry-Robaix, my LBC rides, and the Short Track Series. I've probably run more miles than I've ridden a bike over the last 8 months, and I've been trying to keep up with my CRIT (boot camp), so let's hope that might be enough to keep me in the Cat 4 hunt.

Lastly, food for comment (mainly for Pope,B, and the TSBers, but anyone chime in): So as I was taking the bike back off the garage wall, I noticed I still had the bell on the handlebars from Barry-Robaix. Is it acceptable at all to keep the bell on the handlebars and "ding ding" around a CX course while racing? Let's assume I'm in last...OK then? In the off chance I'm not in last...ok then?

Cross Advice From Cipollini and Kings Cx Cometh

Yeah, I stole that from a tweet from Dale and its remarkably similar to the advice marcus Moran always gives us-"you dont need brakes, they'll just slow you down"
The other quote that I found on the same site was equally inspirational, as JFK so often says
"Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of schtupping Marilyn Monroe." John F. Kennedy
poetry, right? Although Im not sure how it applies to cycling...I'll let it sit for a while and it'll come to me.

So AppleCx is in the books and it was, as the kids say "a stone groove". Okay, maybe kids havent said that in a long time, but I think it'd be cool if mine did. AppleCx was the bomb and Joe is getting a rep as a man who puts on a damn fine race(short track, anyone?)

Now its time to think about KingsCx, the first OVCX race of the season. After 2 days of sinus infection and a 14hr workday, I havent really done anything to improve on last weekends amazing performance. Lots of mistakes before a mechanical related to those mistakes(low pressure, bumpy course, rolled a tubie)

So this week we know to make good decisions( I swear I just said this to my 6 yr old), but it really does mean everything. Air pressure, nutrition and mindset.

Cipollini's quote goes right to the heart of my woes. Time to crash from racing too hard, rather than have glorious parade laps of shame. Last weekend, while running about 24lbs of pressure in the tires, wearing long sleeves and not thirsting for blood...I rode too cautiously. It felt like a slog because I had concocted the perfect recipe for one. Braking too much in the corners, not taking enough chances. Lets see how the opposite works this weekend.
Its the Costanza approach. And as George would say You can stuff your sorries in a sack, mister!
Hell its cross season. Beer, bikes and football. Complaining just seems gauche

AppleCX Tomorrow! Cross Comes Home

It seems unbelieveable that tomorrow is the first day of the CX season and we are starting it off w a brand new race. JoeC and the BRM boys have busted some arse to put together an amazing 2 days of racing.
Two separate courses, swag and all sorts of crossy goodness all @ Hubers so the family can do more than pretend to enjoy watching you race and then watch you watch racing(ueah, we know you do it, but I rather you faked it and let me pretend).
Kids will pick apples and race and have happy parents, sounds perfect.
KidA has a CC meet Saturday, so I'll be joining on Sunday but I'll be racing AND announcing...just not at the same time..I think.
Be there to test out those legs. Let the race nerves begin!!

Black Mountain - "The Hair Song" (Official Video)

I found the kid from the REM video. You know which one. Geezer.

Black Mountain - Old Fangs (Official Video)

Its Tuesday, lets get heavy

training tips from the cyclocross pros

That’s a Pile of Bikes

That’s a Pile of Bikes

So Cool and yet so pretentious.

I really do hate myself for liking this, actually I look down upon myself for not being nearly as hip or fashionable, but its a damn cool video.
Rapha Paul Smith 'London' Film ident - EXCLUSIVE