love the pain

2012 - RRP at World's End

2012-01-20T10:48:00.002-05:00

2012 training has begun. And since the world is going to end this year we decided to start our training with a party. We ate official team sushi

And cake

The ladies built pyramids

And then we made it rain up in here thanks to Mr. VIP himself
Registration opened for the Sub 9 Death March Jan 1st. I think Cox and I won the registration race (hey, a win is a win!) I have hyped this race many times as the best race I have ever ridden. The t-shirt design for 2012 only raises the bar.This year is bitter-sweet as this will be the last race for our TD racing teammate Huddle before he moves to North Carolina. We will miss riding, racing, and hanging with you but will be super jealous of the awesome riding you are moving closer to. Godspeed my friend.Speaking of moving to awesome places to ride, Jon Timmons will be flying the RRP colors in Nashville from now on. Again, sad to lose a great friend but Nash-Vegas will be a better place with the Timmons family and now we have an excuse to get down to some killer Central TN riding. Jon submitted a top 10 at the yearend party which was freaking spot on. Read it here. I couldn't get any pics of Jon to upload here but he does exist.

2012 Flying Pig Marathon registration goes up in price Feb 1 so go here and register for this super fun marathon. The RRP 513 will have a ladies 4 person relay, at least 3 or 4 Half runners, and one full 26.2 this year. The non runners are talking about bringing Heckle Hill from Kings CX to Eden Park. I hope the Pig can handle being covered in Rainbow Unicorn vomit of Awesome. Wonder if Team Hungry could be talked into bringing the Heckle Monster?

A number of folks are registered for Cohutta and Mohican already so it looks like we will have a nice big 513 contingent in the NUE series. Jeni is committed to racing for the overall this year and doing Cohutta, Syllamo’s Revenge, Mohican, Lumberjack, and Wilderness 101! This in addition to a number of 12 and 24 hours races. Safe to say she will probably rack up the most race miles of 2012.

And last but not least: want to get some early race miles in your legs? Looking for something better than the triangular torture device in your basement? Come race the Winter MTB Series at Harbin Park. Pre-Reg here to save some $$. Don’t want to race? We need volunteers to help too.

Posted from 10 Forward while enjoying a fine Romulan ale.

J

... and that's a wrap.

2011-12-06T18:34:00.003-05:00

That's me failing to grab a dollar handup and the CX gods punishing me by wacking me in the face with my bars. And so ended 2011.

2011. O-V-E-R. Stick a fork in it. D-U-N. I suppose I should have some profound words about the year that was, or a witty year in review write up. I apologize in advance for lack of wittiness and lack of profoundness. Wow, both of those are actual words according to MS Word. Who knew?

2011 did see the “maturing” of our little race team experiment. We capped out at about 25 riders and I think everyone is comfortable with that number. There are a few people who have standing invites to come ride with us but for the most part we are where we need to be. And I cannot say enough about the quality of the people who I call teammates. I would (and have on more than one occasion) trust my kid with any of them. As said by more than one person we are not a team, but the fastest family in the area. Well, some more fast then others but you get the idea. It’s weird, I have friends on other teams, good friends, and I am sure they share a bond with their teammates but we have truly built something special. I love each and every one of these guys and gals and look forward to sharing more races, podiums, epic rides, training rides, heckling contests, and most importantly, beers, with you in 2012 and beyond.

As for actual racing, we started the year at the Sub 9 Death March and that is still my favorite race/ride/event I have ever participated in. We actually raced pretty well too. The summer was not as “epic” as I had planned and did only the East Fork XC race and the John Bryan 6 hour race on the MTB. JB continues to be a close 2nd to the <9DM for pure fun. I did however, get talked into racing some local Wednesday night crits on the road bike. I went into it saying “these are training for CX only” and left wanting more. I am looking forward to the crit season more than is healthy for a non-roadie!

CX was a bit of a letdown for me this year, I was in the best racing shape of my life, I bought tubies and had aspirations of a solid top 15 overall in the Mens 35+ cat 3 class this year. Well, the OVCX schedule conflicted with my life a bit and I did not do enough races to qualify for the overall series. But if I had, I would have had that top 15. Yay. OK, so it was not much of an accomplishment but I felt like I was racing pretty well this year. All in all I have no regrets, and as Myerson so famously cried, “It’s just stupid bike racing, but it means everything.”

For 2012 right now the plan is to race for fun. At the end of the CX season some of the fun of racing was going away, being replaced by the drudgery of training, racing, cleaning the mud off the bike AGAIN, and doing it all over next week. I have found I really like the endurance racing more than the XC stuff, and maybe more than CX (blasphemy!). The <9DM is on the schedule for sure, hopefully some kind of early season 6 hour or 50 mile type MTB race (April/May time frame), I am trying like hell to make Hillybilly Roubaix fit (June), a bunch of Wednesday night crits (June/July), John Bryan 6 hour if it happens again, Maybe the 6 hour at the 24 hours of DINO, Wayne Ultra, and the Sub 9 Gravel Grovel. CX may take a back seat next year. Who knows though? Half the fun is planning this crap just to see it never come to fruition.

If the interwebs are lucky I might blog a little more too…until then, Merry Christmas!

Having your CX cake and puking it back up

2011-11-08T12:13:00.004-05:00

There’s been a lot of talk about the CX Hangover from STG followed one week later with the Cincy3CX weekend. That is a lot of CX in 8 days. Not to worry though, USGP Derby City Cup is this weekend. Consider that your Coughlin's Red Eye of CX.
Quick recaps: Storm the Greens. Not held at an old golf course anymore so the name is sorta dated. The venue moved to Eva Bandman park, home of the USGP and the 2012 Master’s Worlds and 2013 UCI Elite world champs. And a big ass mud puddle.So the venue is world class, and I went into it with high expectations and the Papa John’s crew did not disappoint. Jeni had the RB (Rogue Battlecruiser) set up course-side for our home base. I brought the whole fam-damily and the Farrell clan was in full force too, setting up a day of racing, drinking, and child-wrangling. I don’t think drinking a High Life while racing makes me a bad parent. I mean, I passed on the bourbon shot hand ups.

This was Halloween so we all got to play dress up. Jeni and Sparkles (the Horse, not the Mullet) stole the show.I loved the race, I felt good, loved the course, rode a great race. Still finished dead mid pack. I am nothing if not consistent.

On to UCI3. I raced Friday only as I liked the course the best last year and these races carry no OVCX points now. Plus I wanted to just cheer and heckle on Sunday. And heckle we did!

The course Friday was brutal for me. Probably my worst race ever. All power climbs and 2 inches of mud everywhere. I had nothing in the tank. I was not lapped but I was pulled a lap early. I did not mind at all. I did get to see and hang with the Van Dessel team of Tony, Julia, and Jennifer again. It's always great to see them.

Sunday we decided to bring it! And it was brought. Basecamp was set up Saturday night with the RB
and then we went to work during the races!
All this resulted in a heckle-off challenge between us at Rogue and the Shamrock team for the OVCX Finale at Kings CX in December. Buckle up boys! Buckle up!

Mid Season CX Post

2011-10-19T15:46:00.002-04:00

Shit, half the Cyclocross season is over already. Where did the year go? Oh well, a few snippets and observations so far:

• When new teammates are fast they just make the rest of us look slow. Since joining up in mid September, most of Bryan’s race days have ended like this: (although the see-thru skin suit may be a bad look...)

• Masters aged racers are delicate, fragile little things. Seiler, Segal and Kay are done for the season, Jerry missed a few weeks, some dude I don’t know taco’ed a wheel and reportedly he spent some time in the ER, and Matt is still nursing his busted up wrist from trying to hop barriers.

• It it’s raining it’s Wednesday.

• There are at least 13,674 children racing for Lionhearts and RedZone combined.

• They are ALL faster than me.

• They all have $9,000 bikes.

• I am jealous.

• Racing at noon > racing at 8:00 am.

• Convincing one of your teammates to buy an RV is a worthwhile endeavor.

• Running into an Airedale sucks ass.

This season has been fun so far, and I am hoping I can keep some kind of form through the next month of sporadic racing and dwindling daylight. I am however already looking at next year’s race schedule. Sub 9 Death March is locked in, at least one “epic” MTB race will find its way on to the schedule, hopefully another gravel road race (or 2), some local 6 hour races, and then back at CX. I so want to do the American Ultracross Championship Series but that is probably a gravel road right to divorce. So, if anyone wants to do these races and let me live vicariously through you, that would be appreciated.

That’s it till STG. I will try to get some race reports or at least a recap or two up during the remainder of the season.
JG

Tell Me Again Why I Thought Catting Up Was A Good Idea?

2011-09-12T13:58:00.003-04:00

Huber’s Apple CX on Sunday, the Bob’s Red Mill Oatmeal Cup, was my first “non-beginner” Cyclocross race. What’s funny is all the sandbaggers (errr, “rookies”) from last year in the 4s lined up next to me again in the 3s… the more things change…

I was told that Huber’s Apple farm/winery/restaurant/vineyard was a great place for the family and a great cx course. So, I loaded up the wife, child, father in law, mother in law, brother in law, and 2 nephews for the 2 ½ drive to Starlight, IN. Can’t find it on a map? That’s because the only thing in Starlight, IN is a silo. Seriously.

We arrive at the venue and I must say, Joe Huber has quite a spread. I unload, register, change and pin a number. The fam heads over to the farm to take hayrides, pick apples and ride ponies while I warm up. The course is fast but challenging. A steep run up is rideable but at what cost? A double sand pit the same. Overall a great test for the new tubies (worked flawlessly) and a good reminder what CX is all about (sweet, sweet pain). Big props out to the Bob’s Red Mill team for course design and a well run event. Those guys are 100% class. And not slow on bikes either.

My race was fairly uneventful. Good start, sand pit tangled everyone up, the fast guys dropped me, I caught and passed a few riders, I held off Christian because he only had 2 gears. I was the last rider not lapped so my final lap was lonely until the elite guys warming up caught up to me. Having my father in law as a cheering/screaming lunatic on the hill climb made it hurt a little less. The shouts of “C’mon Rogue!” always push me a little, and having my daughter ringing her “jingle bell” at the sand pit always makes me go faster. Not so fast I can’t smile and wave though… and best cheer goes to my wife who channeled Ricky Bobby combined with the Trent to Mikey speech, screaming at me in the sand that I was an “Animal in the sand! A SAND ANIMAL!”

This year in the 3s is going to be a challenge. 45 minutes is a loooonnnnnng time and all the racers are fast(er). Hopefully I can “race myself into shape”. After my race we headed over to shop for overpriced pie filling, took a lap through the corn maze, and then sat down to the buffet dinner the racers got at a discount. DAMN! Mrs. Huber can make some fried chicken and apple cobbler. This was probably my first race ever where I did not leave with a calorie deficit. I am glad this place is 2.5 hours from my house because I would be racing Clydesdale.

Here are crappy cell phone pics proving I climbed the steep hill.

And here is the real reason we came down here. Dad’s race can’t compete with this.

Apple CX Weekend-Its Okay

2011-09-07T15:55:00.001-04:00

So why did I start this off with Pearl Jam covering a Dead Moon song?(and go look up the original, solid 80's Oregon husband and wife punks). I guess between starting a new job, working like crazy and training less than I'd like to as I upgraded to Cat 3's, this is my thought....not a great plan for winning but this first race is just to jump in deep.

So whats on the menu?

We have a big weekend coming up here in the village. Friday we have Ryan Freaking Trebon doing a crossy clinic over at Eva Bandman. Thats a solid start and would be awesome even if Apple CX wasnt Saturday and Sunday.
But it is, boys and girls.
I'll be missing Saturdays race due to a conflict w KidA's CC schedule, but I'll be there to get my ass handed to me on Sunday as we haul it thru the orchards at Joe Hubers. Im thinking JoeCz and the BRM CX boys and ladies have a few fun things up their sleeves.

Time to throw it out there and see what happens.

A Tree Farm @ Apple CX?

2011-08-18T08:20:00.002-04:00

Oh yes, cyclocross season is coming and theres already some cool shit afoot. Like what you say? Inquisitive little shit, arent you. How about a clinic with Ryan Trebon to kick off Apple Cross? You better believe I registered myself before I posted this. Im a huge fan and cant wait to see if he can teach normal sized people some of the trick that are usually reserved for the more "seiler-esque" in the group.
And then theres the main event. Apple Cross is at Huber's Apple orchard, so theres actually stuff for your family to do instead of just standing around pretending not to be embarrassed by your "racing" efforts. What? Just me?
Well, we had a blast last year. We had lunch and picked apples all after a good effort at sucking on the cross course.
I like racing thru the orchard and the setting just feels like fall.
Check out the website. Hubers AppleCross
No, seriously, do it now.
More to come on this...

Shhhh! I think I hear cowbells in the distance…

2011-08-16T15:16:00.004-04:00

If you haven’t heard Cyclocross season is here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Time to glue up the tubies, procure your fine embrocations, and be able to say “I put on my new skinsuit” and not have it be creepy.

Ever wonder what a CX bike would look like if Christmas threw up on it?

Only in CX racing can we get excited about ugly bikes. Sure, those swanky Iglehearts are bad ass. And the Quantonium injected, Unabtainium alloy/Carbon fibre mix frames weigh like ½ a pound and are at least 63% more vertically compliant and 72% more laterally stiff. But there is always something special about the ugly franken bike most of us race. And there is something to be said about putting $600 wheels on a $100 bike like I will this year. My wife sure had something to say about it… My current cross frame only has 2 dents and the stays only have two coats of touch up paint. That’s practically brand new for a CX rig.

Anyway, registrations are opening. All the OVCX races this year are on Bikereg.com for one stop shopping. We have Huber’s Apple Cross and the Lionheart CX as pre-season races this year. And for the first time the Ohio Valley gets a USAC Regional Masters Championship race.

This week all the practices are starting and next week the weekly CX TT series in Cincinnati starts. Since the road time trial is called the “race of truth”, I am dubbing the CX version the “race of it’s-not-a-lie-if-I-believe-it.”

Hup-hup buttercups.

Racing for Relief

2011-08-09T12:32:00.004-04:00

The John Bryan 6 Hour Race for Relief is the fundraiser to pay for the port-a-johns at the mountain bike trail head at John Bryan State Park in Yellow Springs OH. A good cause we all benefit from when nature calls. And it is one of the most fun events of the year. Add to that Jeff Cyrus and I took home 3rd place last year and it's no wonder I was looking forward to it.

Saturday night I had trouble falling asleep. Mayhap is was the 3 lbs of pasta from Pompillio’s (of Rain Man toothpick scene fame) or the tub of ice cream I washed it down with. Dunno, but as the midnight Sportscenter came on I figured I had better get to sleep. I awoke at 5:15 am, stumbled out to make coffee, glanced out the window into the pre-dawn and wondered why my neighbors left a strobe light on all night. Turns out it was actually lightning. Uh-oh, I have a 6 hour MTB race today… oh well, maybe it won’t rain.

I eat some oatmeal, drink some coffee, handle my morning bidness, and get dressed. Pack the cooler with PB&J sandwich, a recovery drink, and a 24 oz can of Hudy Amber. Grab the 5 gallon water jug and head into the garage to wait on Cyrus to pick me up. Stierwalt was supposed to carpool with us but because of a moment of sweet-cx-barrier-bunny-hopping stupidity he now looks like this:
At about 6:15 I am huddled in my garage while thunder and lightning crash and the rain is pouring down sideways. Good omen for a mountain bike race right? Jeff and Cox get there and we head north toward Yellow Springs. About 30 mins into the drive the rain stops and the roads are dry. Reports from the Rouge Racing Project Shanty Town that J-Roo and D-Train set up are of no rain on course! Sweet.

We roll into the parking lot to see this:

That’s what I’m talking about. Our home for the day, RRP Shanty Town.

96 total racers were participating. RRP had 18 (18.75% of the field!). Including the greater Rogue Family of: QCW (Dobrozi’s, Petrov’s, and Big Air Jer), Sparky, Corey, BKing, the BWR crew (Jimmy Road Rash, TBBE, Gerry, Mama Petrov, Gers, TJ, and Scott), Marty-Mar, Bill, B-Horton Who heard a Who, the Lionhearts (Nickzilla, Kenzie, and Rachel), the Trek Store Cincy team of B-Jet & Matt and the Redzone Haley Duo, we had damn near half the field covered with people to cheer for/heckle.

Bryan Horton came bearing gifts from Team CNC: so the day started proper.

We milled about, getting dressed, forming team “strategies” and the solo riders were trying to mentally prepare for between 50 and 90 miles of “fun” .

Last year I started for me and Cyrus so this year he got to do 4 laps and me 3. The start was LeMans style, with a pretty long run, uphill.

Huddle looking manly as he skips through the bikes Jeff at the start. Notice Darrin running the wrong direction... he was not the only one to "lose" his bike in the confusion After that it was back to camp for the teammates to wait for them to exit the woods. About 55 minutes later the leaders come out of the singletrack. Brent, Cameron, James, Joe, Marty all together. There’s one of the Haley’s, and one of the Dobrozi’s. Those kids are like freakin’ Tribbles, must be a million of them. Placke was in there, Evan takes off in the lead of the men’s duo. Darrin and Jeff exit together in a group. Looks like RRP are dominating the front of the duo race. Gary and I take off chasing Evan and the other Dobrozi. I try to hold Gary’s wheel for as long as I can but he is not interested in waiting on me. I let him go knowing I cannot afford to blow up on lap one. In the turns I see Gerry from BW up ahead. I know Joe had a great first lap and she is the leader in the co-ed duo. Slowly I start to reel her in. On the entrance to the second part of singletrack Corey had caught me. We both catch onto Gerry, we pass, and Gerry settles on my wheel. The miles tick by and we are in a smooth groove. In some of the power sections I pull away from Gerry and then catch Dobrozi right at the exit. Jeff takes over and I go try to cool down and get a status update. Looks like I gave up about 4 mins to Lunsford. Corey made up all the ground Jeff gained on Bryan on their laps and Dave and Evan are still in the lead we think.

My next lap is quite uneventful. I pass some people, some people pass me. I am pretty sure I am not racing any of them. I got to ride with Huddle for a while till he decided it was time to drop me.
From the looks of things the pointy end of the male solo race is flying! No huge gaps with time to rest in the pits. The top 4 are separated by about 1 min. James had a great write up about the pointy end of the race here.
As the laps and hours tick be the day becomes a blur. It’s hot. The “hills” on the course all feel like Everest, the recovery time is not enough. But it is a blast. Jeff gets back on his 3rd lap and we are sitting somewhere between 5th and 7th place. Corey and BKing, Darrin and Gary, Dave and Evan are well out in front of us, there is another group we don’t know, and the Dobrozi clan is out there somewhere. I need to turn a lap near to an hour to send Jeff out for a 4th and get us a 7th lap. It is much harder to hammer this lap, I have no power so I try to stay smooth and be more efficient. As the time ticks by I start to worry I will miss the cut off. I come out with about 10 minutes to spare. Mission accomplished.

As the results come in we start to realize the dominance the Cincy area showed with winners in just about every division/category. I am not gonna list them all, go here for the results.

Turns out Jeff and I beat our time from last year by 2 minutes yet came in 5th this year. That’s what we get for convincing all our fast friends to come race with us! This event gets better every year. No fancy prizes, no uptight rules, no USAC points on the line, it is just good old fun with a great group of people. The pro’s always say the course does not make the race, the racers do. That’s true everywhere. The course, the prizes, the glamour, those things don’t make a great race. The friends old and new, the competition, the feeling you cannot let your teammate down, those things make the race. And the beers afterward, those help too.

A few more pics.

Darrin, before he washed his legs off, and Gary holding some hardware.
Joe (The Best Bike Blog Ever) looking smug and showing of the newest fashion trend: Cycling-Dork Chic while Gerry holds an imaginary beach ball. Of course they were walking to the top step of the podium so they get a pass.
Sweet RRP banner and Matt's frame hanging just in case... he loaned his wheels to Corey for the race.

Fools Gold- This Is Gonna Hurt Me More Than Its going To Hurt You. Promise.

2011-07-29T08:28:00.003-04:00

If you remember this graphic from last years Fools Gold 50, you know that the real pain was at the beginning. I prefer it that way, but looked at this link sent by @bikezen's brother in law.
Fools Gold 2011
Somehow its now 8400 ft of climbing....oy.
At the 5m mark you start the bulk of the work, cresting a 1500 ft climb at 9ish miles. It maxes out around 17%.
No. Really.
I guess skipping the hill repeats is a bad idea.
Our boy Mahokey at xxc mag always says "sometimes fun hurts pretty f**cking bad. I think Im starting to understand what those asterisks are hiding.

Like Coming Home

2011-07-28T14:33:00.003-04:00

Long time no blog, right? I know its been a while since I've darkend this domain. Glad that Garner-Ray has been keeping things interesting. Okay he's been writing stuff. Interesting might be a push, but he's one of those "creative" types, so it's nice to pat him on the head and keep him where we can see him.
So where the helll've I been and is it worth writing about? For the most part, just around and not really.
In the last few months, or at least since February, I've been laid off, rehired and then recruited to join a former competitor. and we ran a short track mtb series that you may be familiar with.
I've been feeling like my next endurance event ought to be on one of these.

Granted I've been doing a good bit of lifting. These things get heavy after the first few.

And I've been doing my fair share of these. Thats not a filter. I really look that blurry when I ride.

And thats not even a furly! Those are still going strong. Nothing better than having that 2:30 feeling at 11:15, right?
All of the career changes gave me a lot of time to ride, but not a lot of motivation to do things blog-worthy. When Im crushed with work, family and racing , I'm happy as hell. I now know that I could not retire at this age. I would be a danger to myself and all those around me. Granted, it was nice to watch a lot of the tour in real time. I'd rather be busy. And so now the TdF is over, theres talk of Cyclocross in the air and I've signed up for a 50 mile mtb race. Back to Georgia for another crack at Fools Gold w Seiler , Collins and whoever else gets tricked into going. This is the pace I like. Busy as hell with the new job, training for a cool race and trying to fit it all in early so I dont miss time with my kids and the domestic goddess/most patient spouse ever.

Without going on for no reason(its a blog so that mightve been redundant), its good to be back and with the mtb season wrapping up and cx getting ready to pop. I guess its time to dust this bully pulpit off and start flinging invective around again.

So you've been warned.

Crit’n and Podiums and Such. Or, a mid-summer round up of Loving The Pain in multiple ways in the 513.

2011-07-18T15:17:00.005-04:00

Unless you live under a rock or in a cave, you know the Midwest has seen an exceptionally wet spring/early summer. Actually, if your cave or rock were in the Midwest you knew it was wet. You probably drowned. So, thanks to the rain our summer mountain bike racing got off to a late start.

Northern OH was actually blessed with a decent first week of June so the folks racing the Mohican 100 lucked out this year and avoided another mud-fest. A good number of Rogues and Friends of Rogue raced both the 100K and 100 mile versions. Huge kudos to all those who raced! It is on my short list of races I want to do it just has to fit the schedule.
Late June saw the MTB Time Trial series start up at England Idlewild. This being the first year for the series at that park there were a few bugs to work out but overall it was a huge success. D-Train Roosen (nee Grosch) took home 2nd overall! End of June also saw Stephen Huddle depart on his ITT of the Tour Divide (see Prior post and comments).

July is when the racing really started though. July 10th was the East Fork OMBC race. Last season we brought home multiple podiums and a 2 wins so we had plenty to race for this year. The day started with us hanging one ginormous Rouge Racing Project banner on our tent near the finish. Our other ginormous banner was hung on the turn onto the new section of singletrack ON THE COURSE. Yeah, we were that team! Matt stepped up and raced in the big boy race with the experts while most of us stayed put in the sport (cat 2) category. Ted, Barry, and Dave represented in the Novice group. The sport race started with me, Butch, and a group of about 4 others taking the hole shot. With about ¼ mile to go to the singletrack I got on the front and tried to put down the hammer. No big gaps but we all hit the singletrack together with a decent gap back to the chasers. I was slowly moving backward through the field as the 40+ group was catching me. Jeff and Becher came by me about halfway through lap 1. I figured I had settled in to about 10th overall in the 30-39 group and was pretty much all alone in the woods. Oh, did I mention it was Africa hot outside? 95+ with 95% humidity. I exit the 9 miles of singletrack and begin the 2 miles of road with 2 guys on my wheel. I dispatch them on the paved climb and have a huge gap back to the closest chaser. Feeling pretty good I see Evan and one other in front of me. I close the gap to them on road and am about 200 feet back on the singletrack. Knowing I have them reeled in I settle in to a comfortable pace. Except that is when disaster strikes. Exiting a small bridge my back wheel catches a root, handlebars clip tree, I dab my foot to keep from going down and instantly cramp in my calf. DAMN! Stop, rub out the cramp, drink, and take a GU. No one passes me thanks to the gap I had from the road, but I hear ‘em coming. As I struggle to recover a few folks pass me. I settle in on a wheel for a while of a younger racer until we hit the tech trail and I hit a bump and hear a really loud crack from my saddle. Crap, now what? Fearing the worst, I stop and see my saddle is pointed nose up about 30 degrees. Not broken on the rails, only bent (squished is a better description) so I try to pound it level. No luck. I ride home with a cramp, a very uncomfortable and broken saddle, and a 17th place finish. Turns out Butch had the same cramps and wound up top 10ish or so. RRP was represented on the podium though with a win in the 50+ novice from B-Huge, 3rd in Sport 40+ for Jeff, and 5th in 40+ for Becher.

This past weekend saw the running of the first ever Hueston Woods XC Classic. I sat this one out but Jeff was 2nd in 40+ Cat 2, Darrin 2nd and Dave P. 3rd in Cat 2 30-39, J-Roo took 2nd in Expert women, and Butch came in 5th in Cat 2 30-39. We had a few more race but unsure of their final finishes. Again, it was hot, hot, hot! Also, congrats to James Billiter and “local legend” Marty Sanders for their 2nd and 3rd place finishes in expert men.

Sandwiched in between those 2 races was race #1 of the Mainstrasse Crit series. This was the first time racing on the road for each of us 4 RRP racers. We represented pretty well all things considered. Jeff was on pace to score points before an untimely flat, I was lapped with only 4 to go, Butch had a solid mid-pack finish and Ted was super pleased with his race proclaiming afterward “Not DFL! That’s a win, baby!” I figure anytime you leave a cat 5 crit with no broken body parts and no broken bike parts that is a successful race. Add in the fact we were racing on cobblestones (only in the turns, thank you very much city of Covington!) and I will take it every time! Some pics of us trying to fit in with the roadies are below.

Vaya con Dios Amigo!

2011-06-21T19:45:00.006-04:00

You remember that movie ya'll watched last year? The one about those crazy folks riding damn near 3,000 miles on their mountain bikes? Fully self-supported? Ride the Divide.

Well, this guy
is leaving for his 3rd Tour Divide. That's right, we have a bona-fide Rogue teammate doing an ITT on the Tour Divide. Yes, he has done this ultimate test of endurance/fitness/mental (un)stability twice before, but never as an ITT. (That stands for Individual Time Trial, not the technical community college)

Huddle chose not to leave with the "Grand Depart" because most of the northern section of the route was still snow covered so he is leaving on 06/24/2011 totally solo. This presents him a very different challenge. Namely, fighting off bears all alone. Oh, and having no one to talk to for at least 21 days. Just a man alone with his thoughts. And chamois cream. Lots and lots of chamois cream.

The email we all received today was:
"packing up, last minute additions, printed the re-routes(dont' want to use them), freaking out, super nervous, etc etc.

Track me here: http://tourdivide.org/leaderboard
or here when it's up: http://trackleaders.com/tourdividei.php?name=stephen_huddle
listen to me here: http://mtbcast.com/site2/feed/ "

Hopefully he finishes up in New Mexico looking like the first pic and less like this one:

You can read about some of his prep work and recaps at www.stephenhuddle.net

Godspeed my friend!

3 Words- Read. The. Paper.

2011-06-14T07:20:00.002-04:00

Nice article on Short Track in the local fishwrap

Lego Zombie Electric-Slap Army

2011-06-13T21:06:00.006-04:00

I'm not sure what that means either but it's something that my youngest son said, and this post is about him and his brother. You see, we have the Short Track Mtb Series going on right now. I'm one of the promoters, I'm the MC, lotsa jobs between me, Joe Cz, Fatty, Seiler and the rrp family. On top of that, my boys love to come and race and this post is about them. It's about having to learn sportsmanship in public. (Im hoping this doesnt get soap-boxy. Positivity isnt really my thing, you know.)
They're both gracious when they do well, it's the lessons they have to learn when shit goes wrong that's hard. It's hard because you want them to do the right thing, or help them learn what that is. For example, last week my electric-slap creating son(sorry it makes me laugh), had a mechanical that took him out of the race. It was really hot. He was already tired. His back brake locked up, so he was giving it everything he had, but the bike wasn't going anywhere. My wife got to him first and helped him off the course. I tried to explain to him that it wasn't his fault and that he'd tried his best but the storm clouds on his brow looked more than vaguely familiar. My boy has his dad's temperament...unfortunately. The wife walked him over to a chair so we could get him cooled off emotionally and physically. Tall girl offered him a popsicle, but got the glowering look. I told him to be respectful. I told Tallgirlky that I was glad he hadn't learned the f-word. She said he may not know it, but he was thinking it in his head.
So how do you teach them how to act in the moment? We fell back on the lessons we've taught him in his meager 7yrs and talked him thru it. In the end, even tho he was somewhat rightfully pissy, a Popsicle and a little time and he was all good. We fixed up his bike and he is ready this week. Don't call it a comeback. Ok, call it a comeback. Whatever.

So the story about son #1, kidA is a little different. We were out for a mtb ride on Saturday afternoon. I was a little shattered from a road ride that morning so we were at chatting pace as we came around a blind corner. Unfortunately, there was another biker coming the other way at top speed. Thank goodness I was on the front. We hit head on. Neither one of us had time to slow much so it was a pretty hard hit. Bikes and bodies collided and dood and I both hit the terra. I got up, checked to make sure kidA was okay, he was safely back but a little shaken. The super-collider on the other hand was still laying in the weeds holding his arm. This was bad. I helped him up as we listened to the air hiss out of his front tire. He and I both started apologizing and checking ourselves for missing pieces. It's not as tho I can lie to you and tell you that I've always demonstrated proper behavior in front of my kids. I try, but its not necessarily my strong suit. Saturday was different. We helped the other rider with his stuff, gave him my phone to call for a ride and acted like grown ups. Even if we were out playing mountain bikes. We took my battered bike over to the boys at OYLC and it needed nothing more than a new brake disc(they build a strong wheel over there). The conversation kidA and I had about the crash, about the other guy, and about how we all acted was an opportunity I rarely get. I had a chance to point to my own behavior as a positive example. Not sure if thats happened before or if it will again.
As a post script to this, the next day I got a call from a number that I didnt recognize. It was the other guy. He was calling to re-apologize and check on me. Thats impressive. Lotsa folks would've just moved on. this guy offered to pay for my repairs(I declined). I sat down with kidA and talked with him about it. Really, Im usually a cautionary tale at best so I had to take my moment. I guess this thing about having to learn lessons with all eyes upon you is what everyone goes thru. I see the moment happen and it goes all slow motion, and you hope in that brief second that something you did right colors the next thing they do. Sometimes it does.

Okay, so we'll get back to the usual racing stories, scatalogical humor and heckling on the next post. As you were.

Short Track. Tomorrow. Really.

2011-05-24T12:50:00.000-04:00

Ride It Like A Rental/ Countdown to Short Track

2011-05-16T17:40:00.003-04:00

Yeah dude. Its only a few days before Short. Track. Racing. begins and we are almost(alllmost) ready. I have the same look as mr lebowski(or eldooderino if youre not into the whole brevity thing), stunned and a little slack jawed over the whole thing. But just like christmas in whoville, like it or not, short track is coming.
Where've I been? New Jersey doing some new job training....and riding the mtb pictured below in between things. I havent ridden a geared mtb in a while, let alone a full susser. good times, my frineds. Good times. You know the rental bike thing does shock me tho. Think about rental cars and how well we all treat them, no? You know the difference between a rental car and a jeep? Only so many places you can go in a jeep.

Stay tuned for big short track updates in the next day or so, once I recover from tomorrow's furly with seiler and haley. Im so screwed.

Post-Mini and Pre-Short Track Blues Explosion

2011-05-01T17:45:00.002-04:00

I keep going back to JSBX this week and I dont know why. Check the Black Flag cover. Lovely.
Maybe its because the Rogue nation crushed the Derby Festival Mini Marathon in its asterisk yeared new course? PR's all around. Not a bad way to start the day.
I ran under an assumed identity due to some previous and well covered financial challenges. That meant that @mynameiswilson and I were vying for top wilson. We started out fast and eased into a really comfortable, yet surprisingly brisk pace. We stayed steady and were feeling like world beaters, until zachael(@bikezen and @sourceofdenial) bounced past us in gazelle-like fashion. No, I wont pick a more masculine animal. Im just bitter that way.
I ended up pipping Ben for fastest Wilson in our group but just narrowly. According to the results, I ran like a fairly fast young lady....hmmm. I did feel pretty that day. It didnt hurt that Fallgirl kept cheering us on from different locations. The new course is pancake flat and fast as all get-out. That didnt make the later miles hurt any less, we just got to them(and thru them) faster.
Great finishes from the aforementioned as well as DUG, Ana, Bessie and Im sure Purvis mightve lapped me.

Now that, thats behind us I get to spend some time flying back and forth to New Jersey for some new job training....yeah. Whats better than leaving New Jersey? Not many things. Its like the end of an Alannis Morrisette song about irony. Youre glad its over because nothing about it was right. Soon, soon peoples this will all be over.

Did everybody get the latest copy of xxcmagazine? run your ass over to www.xxcmag.com so you can read Joe Bellante's take on the Death March and see some great photos of RRP folks getting way lost as described here previously. You read Bellante, right? click the link and hump on JB's leg for just a bit. Its good stuff.

After that we have the Short Track Series starting at the end of the month. We hope too still host this at Eva Bandman but a return to Seneca is always a possibility. I cant wait for the fast and dirty, and for the t-shirts that our boy Kacha at Stomach of Anger is putting together.
Check his stuff out here
He's the real deal, y'all.

More from the Short Track preparations as they come. I'll post the t-shirt as soon as Kacha finishes dealing with our transitive ideas and changes....sigh. It's going to be great and you know that somewhere on there it'll have at least
3 Words......

Derby Festival Mini Marathon Tomorrow

2011-04-29T07:02:00.001-04:00

I thought a little JSBX would be motivational as so many of us will be shuffling around the downtownish parts of Las Ville in the morning. I know @mynameiswilson, fallgirl, misserseiler, DUG, and myself are running as are Mrs Pope, Mrs Dr Grynwald and Zachael. Should be a rogueishly good morning.
Maybe I'll decide not to go roman candle this year.....maybe
Goodluck to all and to evryone I forgot to mention....yeah you too. okay

Decisions, Decisions

2011-04-24T12:06:00.003-04:00

So with the new/old job running full force there wont be too much traveling around. The local mtb race scene is filled with cool options tho. Decision time.
Dino vs Ky Pts Series?
What to do?
Dino link

Ky Pts Series link
Probably heavier on the ky pts series since theyre local, they have a singlespeed category and Rusty(organizer/promoter) is one of our own. What about you lot? Whats the race season filled with?

Short Track Updates and General Hi-Larity

2011-04-22T14:27:00.005-04:00

Like old friends, I thought I'd gather us all back together here for a bit. As many of you know we've had an "interesting" first qtr around here. Getting laid-off and re-hired by the brothers J, traveling and training (for work...sad face) has left precious little time for my favorite topic......

Short.
Track.
Racing.

That link's a little taste from Sea Otter this year.

It always inspires me to see people that fit and that fast. Watching folks like crowd and rogue favorite Georgia Gould tear it up makes you want to furly(sometimes) and definitely gets the juices flowing around putting on our favorite race series. In spite of all the crazy negative shit swirling around, or possibly because of it, I was able to hunker down w Seiler and senor czerwonka for some conspiratorial planning(and drinking). somehow it'll all come together, likely at the last minute. As for my training on the bike? Hmmmm
With all of the disruptions around here Im reducing my goals from coming out like this

To something more like this......

which may be my painful reality. You think anybody willl notice the "cancellara style" motor I installed? Those 26" wheels are starting to look small these days, no?

Everybody knows that this year short track is presented jointly between Rogue Racing Project and Bob's Redmill, krekt? Good to be working with them, as we have a close relationship btw the two teams(bordering on a restraining order for one mr neviiteaux, who will remain nameless...or first-nameless)

So back to all things fast and dirty. Did I mention that this year we are partnering with Stomach of Anger for Short Track T-shirts. What? Short Track Shirts? 3 other words, right? Check their site, they are the bomb and Im not even kidding. Any business based on inside cycling jokes has got to be a player on this team. Plus we got to hang w them at Barry-Roubaix and they are good folks. Go buy something from them while you're waiting to see what they come up with for us....Im betting it'll be summed up w some familiar verbage....btw 2 and 4 words, prolly.

What else do I have for you? Hopefully a freaking draught to dry out Eva Bandman so we can get to racing and training. It'll all happen, tho patience is not my greatest virtue(nor is silence). I've talked to a lot of the usual suspects and have a few locked ini to help out. Bobrow will again run the kid races(he's an odds on favorite to win at least 3).

Shit, I promised hi-larity. I got nothing. Definitely not the passover joke I was told yesterday, even tho it did make my kids laugh. Kind of a small audience.

So lets review...
Yours truly- working his ass clean off
Stomach of Anger-selling you shirts
short track-coming faster than you think

Fontana STXC for those of you feeling fast and dirty

2011-04-06T09:38:00.001-04:00

A little something to make you think about some
Short
Track
Racing
from Cycling Dirt.org

Barry-Roubaix 2011. A View From The Other End Of The Elite Pack

2011-03-30T15:44:00.007-04:00

Barry-Roubaix 2011 has come and gone. Sorry its taken a bit to get this story together. I'm still recovering, from the ride and the weekend. We had a serious crew lined up for this years event. we had Coleman and the Pope coming back from last year as was Osgood. We somehow tricked Seiler, Porchpony, Fatty and Gryzwald into coming. To read Seilers race report click here
He had a really solid race and will happily talk wattage with you on his site. We also, somehow got suckered into racing elite this year. No short 35 miles of fun in the winter-cold sun. 65 miles ! 2 loops! we were totally screwed, and we knew it.
In the planning, we relied on Coleman for the local knowledge. We didn't realize he'd been blacksmithing in his garage, but that comes into play later on.

You can see the packing preparations. What to take for 17 degrees and grave'/dirt for 65 miles? sled dogs? parkas? This was my start.

Of course we needed healthy vittles to get us northward.

Green bikes, everywhere the eye could see. Whats the budget on that?

Our first stop was to pick up Fatty from the airport, returning from a beer convention. Go ahead and let that thought settle in for a moment. Leaving a beer mtg to go to a bike race. One can only assume its the result of extremely good karma. For more details, again...go to seilers site for all karmic explanations.
Next stop was our annual/bi-annual pilgrimage to Brasserie Brugge. Belgian House made ales and frites filling a massive metal cone. Our portion was labeled l'enorme on the menu. They were under selling it. Seiler and Porch Pony met Pope, Fatty and I there to ingest as many calories as we could without affecting the gas mileage of our vehicles. fail.

While we were working our way northward, Coleman and this piece of craftsmanship were hurtling their way south. Its a "burn barrel". took me all weekend to realize he wasn't saying "bum barrel", tho I'm not sure theres a difference. He filled this creation w charcoal and we were able to return to heat and hot food. SCORE.
Our next meal(in K-zoo) was served by a waitress named Chantal Canada....No! We didn't eat at a "gentlemens club". I'm not sure if that was her "server name" or her real name, hard to say.

We crammed all of our stuff into a room that was soon crowded w 7 guys, bikes, gear, beer and assorted weekend things. Porchpony's lego-jacket took up almost an entire wing.

The next morning we were off and rolling. 1000 racers!! I heard a lot of names that I knew-Tristan Schoouten, Brian Matter, etc. Real racers. I was in a race with people Id read interviews with. Im not thinking they were worried.
As always, promoter Rick Plite pulled off the impossible by making the neutral roll out work. We were moving! 160 some odd started the 65 miler, I cant remember but I think it looked like this.

We were hauling some ass as we hit the 2 mile double track of doom section. Carnage everywhere. Im not sure how some of those folks crashed going in a straight line. didnt seem possible. We were moving fast and knowing that I had 62.5 more miles of this I backed off the pace just a touch. Rolling along the gorgeous dirt roads I came across Aaron Hawkins. Amazing in a sea of riders to run into a friend hauling it up a hill. We compared notes on important stuff like snacks and gearing before separating.
Somewhere between there and the steeper hills, I flatted my rear tire. I got a chance to use my new frame pump. Flawless and faster than dealing with CO2. I got going again and tried to make up lost time. Pope and Coleman couldnt be too far ahead, right? As I got ready to turn onto loop 2, some of the 35 mile racers heckled me! Punks. I almost turned around to give them a piece of my mind, but I had a long way to go. I was getting tired and my lobster gloves werent letting me get to my food as easily as Id hoped. I made a conscious effort to eat and push ahead at a better pace. I hit the double track again and it hit me back! Twice I landed on my ass in not so technical sections. I just wanted to get to the middle section of the course which was fast and flowy. Once there I was able to eat again and try to make up time. The SAG vehicle caught up to me, and I asked "hey, are you the broom wagon" fearing that I was that far back. He calmed my fears but hung around like a vulture. I had no desire to quit, but having the option ride beside me was not good. I sped up as he slowed to talk to another rider. I reached the "drummer hill" where l;locals had crowded around for the first lap, cheering and shouting. It was a lonely climb this time, and not a fast one. I got to the final paved section and tried to get my pace moving. Out of nowhere, a Shamrock rider came blasting past me. No! I can catch him. I found a new reserve of energy and got down in the drops pounding my legs as hard as I could. Finish line! I knew that I wouldn't catch him but Id made up time. Hope my group was still awake.

Things back at Camp Rogue were "muy tranquillo" as one of the pros had put it. I parked and changed and went into my usual full-body shiver for a while before gorging on Colemans home made chili. That was good stuff. It was worth waking up to a hotel room that smelled like a combination of meat and dood to have that ready post race. (in all honesty, I was really worried about the "beefy" smell in the room until I realized he was cooking) Gryzwald had already bolted for las ville, but Osgood was hanging strong after a solid finish in the 35.
I made the rounds, had a few Founders IPA's while I got to talk with Stomach of Anger's Kacha at their tent. Check them out, you may be seeing a lot more of them everywhere "shortly" if that hint isnt too subtle.
After our few social stops it was time to head back to the room. Sleep was catching up fast.

Im not going to give out details of anything from that night. I'll concurr w Seiler that Osgood can hold his liquor and that I am $5 poorer for it.
I am also certain that they probably repainted our room after we left because of the overwhelming smell.
All in all it was a great weekend. We all raced well. Seiler finished well towards the top, followed by Fatty, Zack, Coleman(monster ride) Pope and me. turns out a 3rd of the 65 milers dnf'd.
We ended our trip with Reubens at Shapiro's Deli in Indy. I still have agada. It was worth it.

Brrrrrrrrrx!

2011-03-23T14:17:00.002-04:00

We are so screwed

signs of spring

2011-03-19T15:48:00.003-04:00

I blame @winstonsbrand for this but the warming weather always makes me dust off the pave's and put them on until we are thru the spring classics. Its always around the Ides of March(take that jimmy) and I start to think about gravel roads and cobblestones.
Its still warm enough for arm warmers and embro early and then the sun has been burning off the chill. As my term of "funemployment" comes to an end, im going to try to get as many last miles in as I can.

Lets face it, my UofL Cardinals just opened March wide for me to go riding.

We have all manner of Barry-Roubaix related banter coming and an actual interview for a change as we talk to JC Breslin about his upcoming paralympics effort. It may just be an excuse to show a picture of a sweet steel tandem track bike or it may have been the best sory at NAHBS. You decide.

Truly Marching Dead

2011-03-16T15:49:00.004-04:00

As many of you know Gryzwald, Tim, Stierwalt and Gary took a little longer than most to finish the Sub 9 Death March. Here's why: Morons? You make the call...

Special thanks to Joe at TBBE for publishing their story. Also be sure to check out The Best Bike Blog Ever's article about the Death March in the next issue of XXC Magazine

The Great Rock n Roll Swindle or The Sub 9 Death March Race Report. You Call It What You Like

2011-03-13T19:05:00.010-04:00

We knew we were screwed when we saw all the maps. The preparation, the planning. Done by the other teams that is. We didnt have shit. Bupkus if you will. Hell, garner-ray had been posting routes for weeks. We'd paid it no mind.
The Sub 9 death March is an amazing event that requires all of those things. Or...If you're a certain porch pony, otherwise known as Poncho Van Zandt, otherwise known as my partner, you say "ahhhh, fuck it" and race any way. We charmed and scammed our way thru the entire thing and had a freaking blast. I guess I could rewind and start from the beginning to properly disparage our team mates and passengers in the BFT(1) that took us northward. Cant skip disparagement on these pages, right?
Hold tight for the Great Rock and Roll Swindle.

Rolling up to Brown County in Gryzwald's truck, and he and @therealtimbrown start discussing their series of maps and cue sheets.

I'd love to tell you that Poncho and I merely exchange knowing glances and played it cool, but you people know I dont hide things well. I immediately went into Mission Impossible mode and started snapping pictures. Espionage is a first reaction. Im not proud. We got to the race and folks were talking about secret navigational markers and satellite imagery. I had evel-jacks wookie-stickered lunch box filled with beer. I figured it was a fair fight. We could've panicked, we couldve said screw-it and just stayed behind and finished the beer.
Instead we figured we'd let everyone else play by their rules and we'd play by ours.

At the start line we half assed a strategy and tried to get out in front of the pack to let them sort themselves out. It may have looked like I was just trying to keep up w my partner, but this is the story Im going w now.
As we flew down gravel roads and singletrack, gryzwald and @therealtimbrown rocketed past us. This is how gryzwald always looks when he passes me. The momentary slow-down into the acceleration....sigh. gone. We didnt see them again until the end, but thats coming. Patience chirren.

Im glad garner-ray posted his pictures because ours were....hmmmm. Disrespectful? Not to the cemeteries but to everything else including each other. Maybe thats why we kept ending up on our own? Heres our more "normal" shot. We had to adapt to keep our direction holding friends from running away in horror.

We were setting a really good pace when we happened upon Will Sherman from Shamrock Cycles and his partner. Thank god Will's the kind of guy that he is and let us hop on and ride with them. They got us thu the rest of the required stops. I dont have a picture of them, so here's the company website. Go give Tim O'Donnell some money and get a sweet, sweet steel bike. Seriously. Awesome.

Just as we were descending towards a final time bonus I flatted(surprisingly for the first time), changed the tire and blew out the tube in my hurry. Now Im on my own and walking down a gravel road. Poncho returned and soon after we saw Stierwalt, Lunsford, Brown and Gryzwald. They'd been JRA(ftnote 2) for over 3 hrs. We asked how thatd happened? They'd had coordinates and planning that the military wouldve been impressed by(or intimidated, either). Gary was riding w his foot taped to the pedal. Hard day. I gave up my right cleat figuring we were done and almost to the finish. Remember kids, no good deed goes unpunished. Shortly after parting ways, Poncho blew out his rear tubular and we were hoofing it for 5 miles in carbon-soled shoes.
In the end, All made it home safe. We hung w Rick Plite from BRX(2 weeks! giggity, giggity), the remaining Rogues(butch, Hez, Sherri, etc.) and the Shamrock folks and shared beers and stories.

As the parking lot emptied, we got more and more concerned about our still missing comrades. 8 hrs into their day and no sign. VM's were left with increasing levels of taunting/concern. We were getting worried about their safety and our own(715 dinner rez w the wife wasnt looking good) We took the bft in our own hands and took off "in search of" as they came wheeling into the lot. They looked as though theyd escaped a prison camp, not a bike race. Tales of nipple high water and big foot by the herd were cast around, as though testing for belief. No takers.

All I can say is that these folks(the promoters) got their race done right. Big tip of the helmet to them for a lotta hard work and preparation that went into this event. With the exception of our wandering traveling companions, it seemed to go off without a hitch, and lets face it....they came home with better stories than a mid-pack finish wouldve brought anyway.

Footnote 1- BFT= big fucking truck. Most commonly found in texas or driven by texans. Carbon Footprint is not offsettable. Not a hybrid.
Footnote 2-JRA= Just Riding Around. An aimless jaunt thru the countryside without concern for time or direction

Sub-9 Death March recap

2011-03-13T16:03:00.006-04:00

The "death rig" aftermath:I have been trying to figure out how to recap a race that had no set course, no real pictures of racing action, and was 5 hours long. Well, some people took longer. Much longer. And may have cost our team beers in our little inter team wager with the Bio Wheels/Reece Campbell teams, but I digress...

We raced in teams of two around the Hoosier National Forest looking for 10 checkpoints. 9 were historic cemeteries and 1 was a fire lookout tower. We were armed with a bike of our choice and any maps we could procure. A total of 11 Rogue Racing Project teams toed the start line. My partner, Jason Cox, and I were side by side. The whistle blew. The start was not that hectic so we inched forward, finally reaching the road. I look around and about 7 of the 11 RRP teams are all with me. Except my partner. I soft pedal and everyone else heads out to the first checkpoint. I still soft pedal. We hit the first gravel road section, finally Jason catches on. Turns out he had a mechanical; his rear wheel slipped in the dropouts. We begin to hammer the gravel road as fast as we could. This was no regular gravel road though. Fresh gravel about 2 inches deep. Downhill felt as if you were skating, uphill or flats was just soul and energy sucking. We catch most of the Rogues as we leave the gravel and enter Combs "road". And road is being generous. This is a 4 wheeler trail at best. Brutal climbs, muddy downhills, at least 10 little streams to cross. Basically as much fun as you can have on a bike fearing for your life. We reach the first cemetery and we all regroup. Pictures taken and we are off. Notice how I look like this is fun still? Back the way we came down Combs "road". On one particularly fast section of the double track Dave, who is new to the team, learned a valuable RRP team rule: Don't follow Butch's line! Ever. High speed endo, bike and rider are good. Let's roll. At the next checkpoint on our route, Robertson Cemetery, we are a group of 6. Me, Jason, Dave, Evan, Stephen, and Butch. Notice Jason still looks happy...We roll to the Fire tower next. Gotta climb it to get the bonus time. Its about 200 feet tall. Built in 1941. It's a windy day. We were wearing MTB shoes. It was "fun" to say the least. Jason enjoying the view. Out to Todd cemetery, and then finally a paved road! Hammer down to Mitchell. Over to Hickory Grove church. We are starting to have less fun... Roll on to the singletrack we need to ride to hit Callahan Cemetary. At this point we are close to 40 miles and 3000 feet of climbing in. The singletrack is impossibly steep in sections. Hike a Bike. Checkpoint found. Definitely less fun...Ride the trail to the road on the other side. Best part of the race. A huge pine forest section with hundred feet tall trees. Smelled like a Christmas tree store! Looked like Washington state. Just gorgeous. Worth the pain. At this point I hit a giant mud hole a a good rate of speed. Ass over tea kettle I go. Elbow deep mud. No broken bones, lets roll. Back on pavement we hit Hanner, Cornett, and Fleetwood cemeteries before we head in. All in all, 5 hours in total, 4 hours of riding time, all 10 checkpoints, 1,000 grins, 1,000 grimaces, 2 endos, 1 powerbar, 5 GU packets, and one hell of a good time.

The Sub 9 Productions folks set the bar early and high for best race of the year. It is gonna take something pretty outstanding to top this. This race has a permanent home on my schedule from now on.

http://www.sub-9.com/ for more info on Sub 9 Productions events.
http://www.2pedalsphotography.com was the official photog for the race.

I am sure Brian will have his view of the race up later on too. Stay tuned.

Jason

Death March is tomorrow. Heres some motivation

2011-03-11T10:29:00.004-05:00

I've been reading about these and their legendary deliciousness. So if Im going on a Death March, I oughta have good snacks at the very least right? Right. Got this as a text from Drew at OYLC. If I had a job Id buy that whole damn tower. I really do ride to eat. I wonder if they go with beer? I know there must be something that doesnt.

This is stolen from the guys at www.singletrack.com, whose web site is coincidentally, www.singletrack.com If watching Absalon try out mavic wheels doesnt motivate you, then switch websites now. You're not in the right place.

I figured we'd close with a little somethin from Old Shakey. This'll be my theme song as we passenge(its a word now, bitch) to the race tomorrow at oh dark thirty.

Now lets take down those fools from Biowheels, proper!

Death March Smacktalk Fires Up

2011-03-06T22:12:00.002-05:00

With the Death March gravel road race coming up this weekend, the level of feces being tossed is at truly new and impressive levels. The Biowheels boys and the RRP513's are laying it on thick. This is why I love racing, especially the offbeat ovrly ridiculous shite we do!!
Bring it on, just quit calling that ketchup-stew y'all have "ribs". That's just wrong.

This Tuesday I'll be singing this all day Drive-By Truckers "Get Downtown" Live on SIRIUS XM Outlaw Country

2011-03-05T17:21:00.001-05:00

CyclingDirt.com's take on BRX. Bring It!!

2011-03-05T11:06:00.002-05:00

The other best website in the multiverse www.cyclingdirt.com hasa a great feature on BRX, who's cant wait for this event? this guy. you know it!

okay, hold it now, hit it!!

Michigan's 2011 cycling race season kicks off in just a few weeks with the “Barry-Roubaix … The Killer Gravel Road Race”. Barry-Roubaix will test riders against rolling gravel roads (80%), pavement, one mile of rough two-track, rocks, sand, mud, and possibly snow and ice, along with 2200 feet of climbing over its 35 mile loop.

Held in Middleville, Michigan, the race will begin and end at the Gun Lake Unit, Yankee Springs Recreation Area on March 26th, 10:00 A.M. Racers will challenge themselves while navigating the rough two-track known as West Sager Road, then zig zag their way as far east as Cook Road near Hastings, MI. Throughout the race, cyclists will travel many of the dirt roads, and a few paved roads in Barry County, for a total of 23, 35 or 62 miles depending on the class entered.

Last year’s event was a huge success, drawing over 800 racers. On-line registration has already begun, and this year’s event is expected to draw over 1000 racers, many from as far away as FL, TN, IL, OH, IN, PA, KY, WI, MN and Canada. 2010 Iceman Commeth Champion Brain Matter will be on hand to give past Barry-Roubaix champions Derek Graham and Michael Simonson a run for their money. Female Champion Mackenzie Woodring will defend her 2009 and 2010 titles.

The organizers have obtained permission from the Sheriff’s department, the State Police and the DNR, and look forward to making this an annual event for years to come. The event provides a welcome boost to the local economy, bringing racers and their families into Michigan where they will purchase over night lodging and meals not only during race week, but also during training visits and vacations throughout the year.

Founders Brewing Co. is the title sponsor, joining with many other local and national companies to make this event possible. Custom trophies and medals from local wood carver Nelson Wood, as well as a $2000 cash purse will be on the line.

For more information, please visit www.barry-roubaix.com or contact Rick Plite at 616 863-3291.

CyclingDirt will be on the scene all weekend filming races and interviews. Tune in that weekend to catch all the action from BRX!

one more stoney lonesome post before its all about the death march

2011-03-04T10:17:00.004-05:00

See the map behind Tracey? Shoulda stolen that.

Heres the creek crossing, It was a stright up jump into it.

and here we go again. Not even sure how I got back there. That girl behind me was 5'4"...I hope she had a snorkle.

The bike ended up looking like this. I thought about telling Billy that Id just come from Cherokee and the trails were a little sloppy. Couldnt do it to him. He'd blow an aneurysm

On the cannon...right. Wait. What?

2011-02-28T21:34:00.000-05:00

I always ask the same questions of myself after a race.
1 how'd you do?
2 was it fun?
3 would you do it again?
So this past weekend was a southern mountainbike blow out. We drove down to Birmingham to see the outlaws and do some riding. More on Saturday later. Everybody wants the Stoney Lonesome report.

If you've ever been to a restraunt on opening night, sometimes your steak isn't right. If the staff is awesome and evrything else is done well you know they'll get it sorted.

Tracy McKay, promoter of the event nailed 99% of what needed to happen.
Staff was amazing. Helpful, pleasant and just what you need.
The race started LeMans style. I'm sure I was the only one laughing as we walked away from our bikes and down a steep muddy hill. Thank you karma for the fast payback from short track.

The next thing is a cannon firing over our heads and we took off running. I'm loving this. I use my meager crossin skills and mount the bike and am in 8th or 9th place overall. Its a small race, there's only a handful of experts so I'm past the first corner prolly 5th in the sports.
Then we hit the creek crossing. Straight down we jump into thigh high water. Straight up climbing to get out the other side. Crazy shit, but that's what makes a race. Character, we'll call it.
The awesome start was followed by some climbs that had me dismounting and running the SS29er. No worries, it was all in the plan.
Problem was, the course marking was dodgy at best. Wrong turns and reclimbing the same hills made for a lot of confused riders stopping mid race and asking each other where we were.
I re crossed the creek after doing 10miles of the 8 mile first lap and bailed. I had no idea how I'd gotten back and folks were calling it.
This has potential to be a really cool and really fast race.
Hats off to Tracy for recognizing this and getting it together for the next edition.
So my questions, right?
Howd I do? Good start, no finish.
Was it fun? Hell yes it was. It was a day racing my mountain bike w all manner of ridiculocity around me. I'm good with that.
Would I put this back on the calender? If I lived closer I'd definitely do it. I won't commit to anything on next years schedule but the folks that ran this deserve to get another shot.
More on the weekend later, including evil-jack riding singletrack for the first time. Let's just say there were tears and there was determination. Good comes from days like this. It was amazing to see him get the hang of it. Maybe he'll teach me....

Israeli Metal? Israeli Metal

2011-02-25T13:37:00.000-05:00

Wilderness loop invasive species under attack by Olmsted

2011-02-24T13:40:00.001-05:00

3 Words... no, no wait, we didnt do it this time. See the real story below.
Wilderness loop invasive species under attack by Olmsted
check it out on the KYMBA website

MTB Race News Interview W Adam Craig

2011-02-24T08:58:00.002-05:00

This is just a link to an awesome interview w Adam Craig SSCX National Champion, MTB BadAss and Rally Car dood. Read and enjoy. This is a great site-check it often(mtbracenews not us) LINK!!!

Wait, You Let Lemmy Drive?

2011-02-24T08:45:00.000-05:00

As the boys and I start to plan our various trips to races like Stoney Lonesome(appropriately, just me) Sub 9 Death March w Poncho Van Zandt and BRX with too many of you I needed a good road trip/driving video. This one has Lemmy driving a limo. Its not that different than last years journey to Michigan. Picture Dug as the guy in the yellow shorts.

Old 97's-Champaign Illinois

2011-02-23T07:35:00.003-05:00

I went to Headliners to see the Old 97's w the Papist and Faticus last night. Damn thats a good show. Qunitissential bar band.
"And if I die fearing god and painfully employed"
well parts of that at least.
Also a Bon Voyage to Drew from On Your Left as he makes the pilgramage to Austin for NAHBS. Im expecting lotsa pictures to drool and dream about.
What do we think this years big trend is?

Oh and thanks to the papal one for pointing out that wherever we stay for BRX, I'll be negatively affecting their employment statistics.
It's good to have friends.

Stoney Lonesome Update. Race Day Approaches-giggity, giggity

2011-02-22T06:46:00.000-05:00

The Cannon is ready,

Now, for the update:
2/21/2011
MOST importantly - RIDERS PACKET will be sent via email on Wednesday.
I rode the trail the other day and instead of mud and soup, the course was remarkably, smooth and HARD PACKED. No need for mudders today!
The 1st / 2nd creek crossing, ( its the same goin and coming ) will pose as a definite obstacle, its about thigh deep with steep muddy embankment back onto the trail
I have taped about 75% of the trail and will resume taping the unknown on Wednesday & Friday before the race
RACERS MEETING - Sunday 8:10 AM SHARP!
RED BIKE COFFEE will be supplying plenty of the umber liquid from heaven as well as stoking up the AWARDS. Word is they will be coming to the race with coffee in tow.
I have confirmation from several riders that they will DEFINITELY BE HERE but waiting to register on RACE DAY
T-shirts ordered through JRAG
Division updates
EXPERT - XTERRA CHAMPION Casey Fannin will be using STONY LONESOME as a warm up for his season, Lori Goldweber is said to be coming up, as well as Travis Sherman, Brian Toone and Joe Vacca to line up head to head
SPORT - Looks like these guys are going to put on a show. Entry into this division is increasing everyday
BEGINNER - Trophies 3 deep for sure will be required...
HIGHSCHOOL - we have our first High School rider, probably smoke everyone - no pressure Josh
Thats all for now... grab your buddies, grab your bike, come race with us!

First Mubarek, then me and now Ghaddafi?

2011-02-21T10:51:00.004-05:00

All of us quality despots seem to be losing our gigs these days. For those of you who've been spared the ad-nauseum details on my last few rides, lets just use the term "differently-employed", shall we?
What do you say when you lose a job that you used to love but have grown to not love?
If you're me, you say its time to ride....actually I put hanging out w evel-jack, kidA and the domestic-goddess/employed person in the house as my first and most important role. Lets not kid ourselves, over the years theyve put up with some bizarre and erratic work hours that swung from never-home to "would you please get up, you're killing the grass" levels of hanging around.
So I have some time on my hands to enjoy my family and train like never before. I actually could have a spring where Im in a shape. Any shape other than oblong will be good.
If I dont sound as bitter as most folks in this position, its because I have friends with things going on that put day jobs into perspective-such as this post
Kinda makes a few weeks off work seem like not a bad thing, right?
'Zactly.
So I have several Gravel-Road races coming up such as the Sub-9 Death March, Barry-Roubaix and even a mtb race in Birmingham, the Stoney Lonesome XC.
Training for those events has been fun and something to focus on. This Saturdays' ride thru JMF(not sure what the J stands for, but you can translate the other 2 right?)was a great barometer of how fit Im not.
“It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired-you quit when the gorilla is tired.” Thanks Mr Strauss, but this go-rilla is knackered/shattered/dog-ass-tired. This mornings pre-work(for zack) mountain bike ride was just icing on the cake. It always seems a little like cheating when I've been doing big miles on the road bike and then get to play on the mtb.
We rode our first furly of the year this past week and I got the most training hours in that I've seen in a long time, so we'll see if it translates to a faster me or one that just bitches more about being tired.
Place your bets.
More to come and lots of Stoney Lonesome updates to follow.

I've been sitting here waiting for this to exist

2011-02-17T13:04:00.002-05:00

Apparently I'll be sitting here for a bit longer, but this looks like it should have my name on it in a "carlaseum" kinda way.
I saw this on Mahokey's facebook and no mention on www.xxcmag.com

more to come chirren, more to come

Stolen From Mud and Cowbells

2011-02-16T10:14:00.001-05:00

This is amazing photography from Chris Millman. Classic Flandrian folks.
Check it here.

And now for something totally different

2011-02-08T19:04:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since any sort of 513 update has made its way over here to LTP. So I thought I would bore all 11 readers of this blog with some mundane ramblings.

Somehow I let Segal convince me that doing the Sub 9 Death March was a good idea.
What's more insane is I somehow convinced Jason Cox to be my partner in this endeavor. Currently there are 6 teams made up of Rogue Racing Project team members with at least one more and possibly up to 4 more teams to come. The bulk of the rest of the pre-registered riders are OVCX regulars so the normal hilarity will ensue. If you have not registered yet, go here now and do it. I expect Matt S. & Gary L. to do well in this early season race. I have been eating ice cream and drinking beer. Matt, on the other hand, has been doing things that result in this:
That's a drive train caked full of ice and snow. Gary's racing goal this summer is 800 race miles so I assume he will show up in "form".

If old man Winter would kindly march his ass out of my life I would be much appreciative. The rest of my summer plans are starting to take shape. So far my Summer "race" schedule looks like so:

March 12 - Sub9 Death March - see above
June 11th - Haw Ridge 8 hour MTB race. www.tncupmtb.com I am super pumped for this; never ridden here, race sounds fun as hell, and more than a few Cincy area teams and riders are talking about it.
July 10th - East Fork State Park OMBC XC Race
August 7th - Race for Relief 6 hour race at John Bryan State Park - Need to defend our 3rd place Duo finish last year
September 11th - 24 hours of DINO @ Versailles State Park - most likely 6 hour solo version for me.
OVCX in the Fall - Cat 3 this year. I am terrified. They all have huge quads, tattoos, and fine embrocations.

Some how I seem to have become an endurance MTB racer... well, at least I have become a guy who enters endurance mountain bike races. I guess what I do can be classified as racing by definition if not by results. Looking forward to see all my friends and fellow racers, old and new.

That's about all I got for now. More to come as I actually start to "train" and "race" this year.

JG

Das Pro Und The Rookie

2011-02-08T10:04:00.001-05:00

Das Pro Und The Rookie

Hey Winter!!!

2011-02-05T11:10:00.005-05:00

yeah, you with the typewriter.

Im so done with this back and forth between thundersnow and almost decent weather. One day we'll have near 40's and the next its snowpacalypse all over again. Thouroghly freaking done with this.
Of course the warm days occur when Im busy so Ive been out riding on a damn small number of them. Lucky for me I have a decent pit crew for after, so the bikes arent all nasty.
He gets paid in oreaos and cheezits, which may explain my winter conditioning, or as the koala-chick calls it "winter-ass" or WAS-winter ass syndrome.
It really does make you appreciate a sunny day, few as they've been.

But with the gravel road races looming such as Sub 9 Death March and BRX, I have been paying a lot of attention to my beloved Igleheart- Mrs Green.

Now she wont be wearing those new hoops in the gravel, but Ive learned my lesson about not having my equipment dialed before cross starts, so Im getting it all done now.
Stop laughing. I know that I'll be making more changes, I just dont want to admit it....yet. Like you arent. Soon we'll race on the gravel and then the mtb season which means Short Track. Lots to look forward to, once we get thru the muck ahead.

Ride the Divide Tonight

2011-02-01T07:26:00.002-05:00

Thats right baby, come on out to see the real deal. KYMBA fundraiser @ Cyclers Cafe and then trudge down to the Baxter to see Ride the Divide to get inspired or to feel like that 5 hr training ride was a cute start.
Bring it!

velo louisville stalks drew dillman! go peep in

2011-01-26T13:59:00.000-05:00

velo louisville

Stoney Lonesome Update-Cannons? Really?

2011-01-25T18:07:00.003-05:00

As I continue to hector my friends about going to Alabam for some serious mountain bike goodness, I got an update from the promoter today. Its getting better all the time, just like Neviteaux's tweets!!

the man said the following
The Cannon is ready,
Thank you for being a part of the 2011 STONY LONESOME XXXC MTN BIKE SERIES.

Our first 3 races will be used to encourage participation in our summer clinics. Our summer clinics are designed to facilitate the participation in our 100 mile/ 24 hr race to be held in the fall. The course is certainly challenging but designed for those who prefer a less technical course leaving room for head to head competition.

You are receiving this because you are either a sponsor, registered rider or interested sponsor.

Now, for the update:

1/25/2011
•Registration has been extended to RACE DAY, under the advice of area bike shops and others... Thanks.
•Current registration is in the upper teens so far with verbal commitment from 20-30 other riders in 3 states...Our website is showing 115 FB likes which may help to forecast an even higher number of riders...
•The Vulcan Triathletes have been encouraged to race, by design, to encourage a crossover of athletes / increased participation
•Geoff Leonard of BIKE LINK will be video taping the race for future video promo's
•Briane Toone/ owner Topo Creator has extended his professional skills at converting our course into an INCREDIBLE topo map go here... MAP of COURSE
•Travis Sherman of DADDY MART is contritbuting some very cool Jersey's for giveaway items
•Mark Reimer / JRAG is helping us out with event Tshirt.
•The starting Cannon is a humble 36" Carbide Cannon with a 4" diameter barrel, this will insure a definitve start that no-one will miss...
•WERNER'S Trading Company of Cullman is in the mix for a full SERIES SPONSORSHIP allowing for a few cash primes along the course... THANKS ROB!
•GRAB the GOLD bars is our newest product sponsor.
•HONEY STINGER has extended cost plus shipping so that we might offer this to our riders
•Vanessa from AMINO VITAL is awesome to work prividing water bottles and sample product for each rider!
Will we offer cash prizes? Sure but we need 2 more series sponsors to do this...

1/17/2011
•Marketing efforts and support have been driven by the use of Facebook, Twitter, and general email
•Marketing efforts now include brochures and flyers at local bike shops,
•Registration is being managed by www.prerace.com thanks Lucas for keeping us organized!
•Online calendars sharing our event include, AL.com, Cullman Chamber of Commerce, MTNBRACING.com, SINGLETRACK.com, PRERACE.com and SORBA
•We have also sent information to over 25 regional bike shops.

GET INVOLVED!
We are looking for 2 more series sponsors!
We are ALWAYS looking for prize and prime sponsors!
Local Yocal Team Sponsorship - Sponsors can buy registration for 5 - 10 riders at a time at a discount/ distribute among the locals as a perk or gift!

This is what we have secured;
•1500 acres
•80 miles of developed trails
•Ample parking
•Spectator friendly course
•Live, musical entertainment for spectators
Sponsorships so far:
•Amino-Vital
•Bob's Bikes
•State Farm Insurance
•Kenda
•Daddy Mart
•TopoCreator
•Stony Lonesome OHV Park
•Red Mountain Rovers
•Grab the Gold Bars
•Pepsi / Cullman

We also want to thank the following for their support, guidance and encouragement.
•Roger Byrd - Bobs Bikes
•Travis Sherman - Daddy Mart
•Brian Toone - Topo Creater
•Brent Marshall - BAMA CycloCross
•Geoff Leonard - Bike Link

Registrants -
We have a great course! Fast Jeep trails with plenty of climbing and creek crossings.
Overnight accommodations are available onsite.
SWAG BAGS are functional and cool.

Das Pro Und The Rookie

2011-01-24T12:06:00.000-05:00

Das Pro und The Rookie B-Roll Hoogerheide World Cup and Masters World Championships from Twenty Pound Skull on Vimeo.

">Das Pro und The Rookie

Das Pro und The Rookie B-Roll Hoogerheide World Cup and Masters World Championships from Twenty Pound Skull on Vimeo.

How To Ride The Snow by Uncle Frank

2011-01-24T11:56:00.000-05:00

The Black Keys - Sinister Kid (Live on KCRW)

2011-01-24T11:45:00.000-05:00

A Few Words From The Prez

2011-01-24T10:51:00.000-05:00

A few comments from Billy Davis of KYMBA

Everyone is welcome to join us a Cycler's Cafe on Feb 1 from 5:00 - 6:30 KyMBA Louisville open house. The KyMBA Louisville leadership team will do a short presentation at 6:00 on the "state of the chapter" including an online demo of brand new website, forum, and facebook pages. See you at Cycler's Cafe. You can rsvp on the current facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?e..._invites=0 or our meetup page: http://www.meetup.com/Louisville-Mountainbikers/calendar/16163876/

Be sure to get your movie tickets online they are $5 cheaper. http://www.imathlete.com/events/Eve...?fEID=7982.

Social Distortion - Machine Gun Blues

2011-01-18T16:27:00.001-05:00

Theres more snow coming this week, so here's something positive. The new social d disc is out and its exactly what you need to get through the storm of the century of the week. Welcome to antarctica, apparently.

Getting Loopy from the Snow

2011-01-18T15:12:00.007-05:00

Its crappy outside. No witticisms. It just sucks. We had a few moments of sunshine over the weekend but they were a mere tease as the forecast calls for more badness and no let up in site. This always hits cycling folks hard because we are outside people. You want to be a spin class hero? Take your primal jersey to the gymn and talk about the club ride you "won". Dont get me started on the horrified spin class instructor who couldnt get over the dirt on my mountainbike shoes. THEY ARE MOUNTAINBIKE SHOES.

Do that away from me if you would as the weather is about to incite violence.

As my man John Goodman said in Raising Arizona, "Id rather light a candle than curse your darkness".

Hell, it was funny when he said it.

The point was(and oh yes there was a point), theres still some options to ride outside. Its the surest cure for the "caps lock voice", right?

Now we've talked about not being the guy riding the trails when theyre nasty, as thats how you destroy the trails and therefore become the scourge of the cycling community. Do you want to be a scourge? No, you do not. Even if you dont know what a scourge is, and I assure you its bad. Like worse than porch pony's laundry bad. Unmentionable.

Right now Im trying to avoid feeling like this....and I have a solution for you if its hitting you as well.

So that brings us to the loop. the riverwalk. the greenbelt. I dont care what you call it, but apparently its the most underused resource in town. It goes something, exactly like this. Heres a link to a better description.

Miles of bikepath with nary a sole to bother you. There are a few organized rides but not many. We usually hit the Loop during the bad weather days when the roads are icey and dicey and the trails are in the "iffy" category. Weapon of choice? Depends on conditions. CX bikes, Mtbs, SS29er, Road bike if its warmer.

As you can see, even when conditions could best be described as "blurry", you can get your ride in without spending time on the triangular torture machine(per mr collins). Lets face it, you want to ride outside, right? The loop will take you from Cyclers Cafe to Mike Linnigs. You'll see parts of town that you would likely never see and get as long of a ride as you'd like. Not the place for hill repeats, but you arent doing those this time of year anyway, right? Good base miles with your friends...on bikes leading to guilt free beers after.

done and done.

Shhhh-No Talking During the Movie

2011-01-13T07:11:00.003-05:00

I hate it when people chatter away during the movie. After the movie? Thats a different story, and after RIDE THE DIVIDE(cue angelic chorus) we'll have our own Stephen Huddle from Rogue Racing Project 513. Stephen is a 2 time veteran of the race, so he should have lots to say. Óave you met anybody on my team that didnt have a lot to say?

February 1st @ the Baxter Theater

and remember to save an empty seat between you so nobody thinks youre a couple.

unless you are, and thats cool too.

Scroll to the next post for the details

Ride the Divide

2011-01-11T17:20:00.004-05:00

seriously, we can leave that empty seat between us that makes us look more manly. It's all good.

RIDE THE DIVIDE, AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY FILM,

ON MIDWEST MID-WINTER TOUR

Ride The Divide, the award-winning feature-length documentary about the world’s toughest mountain bike race, will continue its Midwest mid-winter tour when it descends on Louisville on Tuesday, February 1, at the refurbished Baxter Avenue Theatres. The film chronicles the story of several mountain bikers who attempt the 2,711-mile race named the Tour Divide along the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains. The movie was named the Best Adventure Film at the 2010 Vail Film Festival.

This film has become an instant cycling classic, and made its television premiere in September on the Documentary Channel. But the Adventure Cycling Association said the film should be seen on the big screen: “The cinematography is stunning!” Added UpaDowna, “Ride The Divide is one of the most inspiring real cycling movies … in a long time.” Epic Riding summed the movie up as follows: “In a word? Fantastic. In more words? Moving, funny, inspiring.”

Ride The Divide embraces the inspiring stories of three of the racers who experience the immense mountain beauty and small-town culture as they attempt to pedal from Banff, Canada, to a small, dusty crossing on the Mexican border. There’s Mike, a 40-year-old family man who uses this challenge to chart a new course in life; Matthew, a leader in extreme endurance racing who’s competing for his fifth time; and Mary, the ﬁrst female rider to race this route. As they set out, they will attempt to accomplish what very few have been able to. Over the course of a few weeks, they’ll attempt to climb over 200,000 vertical feet along the backbone of the Rocky Mountains.

They’ll experience mental breakdowns, treacherous snow, hellacious blisters, and total fatigue. Above all, they’ll race with no support – at times in total isolation. The tests of endurance and the accomplished moments throughout Ride the Divide prompt us to reﬂect on our inner desires to live life to the fullest.

Ride The Divide made its debut at the Vail Film Festival and was named the best adventure film at the event. Outside Magazine proclaimed that “(t)he toughest bike race in the world is not in France,” after reviewing the film.

Ride The Divide will be shown at 7 p.m. at the Baxter Avenue Theatres located at 1250 Bardstown Road in Louisville. Tickets are $15 at the door, and $10 in advance at www.IMAthlete.com/Events/RideTheDividemovie or http://www.imathlete.com/events/EventStore.aspx?fEID=7982. The event, sponsored by VO2-Multisport of Louisville, is a benefit for the Kentucky Mountain Bike Association.

Stoney Lonesome Mountain Bike Race

2010-12-30T16:31:00.000-05:00

This seems like a really cool idea. Im hoping to combine a trip to see the out-laws, an Oak Mtn ride and this on Sunday. I love a good plan.

Something To Do While You Wait For The Next Holiday

2010-12-27T07:38:00.000-05:00

I know many of you have seen this, but I cant watch it enough times. The commentators sound like theyre having as much fun as the racers, maybe more

holiday greetings and a look ahead

2010-12-25T12:56:00.000-05:00

Now we come to the quiet time, when the rogue nation scatters itself across the country. I'm hoping that everyone has a great holiday, and that the liquor store by Dougs house is 24hrs.
Looking ahead, there's a lot to be excited about in 2011.
So far we have plans for
Sub 9 Death March
Barry-Roubaix
Some fools are doing "loving the hills" again
And then, well....I'd say there are 3 Words for it
Short
Track
Racing
Its coming back bigger than ever. Stay tuned but we hope to improve on last year. Tall order, tho.
Then some endurance mtb stuff like Fools Gold and more before we head back into cx season.
For now, I'm in Birmingham riding Oak Mtn mtb trails and pondering my in-laws fascination w swine at every meal. Seriously. Every meal.
I'll be off the bike for a while around the new year as I'm finally agreeing to getting gelded. Its wrong when the doctor has you "in hand" and compliments your quads, right? Not just me?
Granted, I'm sticking w him. Hell, we have a relationship now.
Allright, I'm getting back to some full-on family-fun-time and eating competitively.
Merry Everything and stay gold, pony boy.

2010 Year in Review, w Thanks to Michael and Marcia Seiler

2010-12-19T09:57:00.001-05:00

a.quest.for.understanding: A Year in Review:

Marcia and Michael put together this look back at the greater rogue family, from Storm the Greens wild party in 2009 to Brookside in 2010. Turn up the volume, enjoy and dont forget to count the cross-faces.

this pretty much sums up the elite men's race

2010-12-13T14:21:00.001-05:00

This photo montage shows the tale of the race

JPow and Todd Wells were both fantastic, but sometimes the fates intervene.

Congrats to TWells for an amazing performance

Andrew Dillman @ Nationals on CyclingDirt

2010-12-12T09:03:00.002-05:00

That pretty much says it, right? Louisville has a lot to be proud of, watch him throw it down right....here

It ain't over yet

2010-12-10T21:46:00.002-05:00

Just like it wasn't over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor. A video of the Brookside Cat 4 race. And some sweet ass dance moves.

Kersting and Dallaire Get Three Wins in Two Days of Indy Zipp OVCX presented by Papa John’s Indy DoubleCross

2010-12-08T17:25:00.001-05:00

Cool mentions of all the cool Louisville Racers we know. Great recap of Little Caesers win right about here

OVCX'd Out! The Final Wknd

2010-12-06T15:33:00.008-05:00

The party's finally over and I cant believe the season is done. Sure, we have friends going to Nationals-good luck to McShane(pick one) Joe Cz, Mr Myerson on the front row where he belongs and all the rest. For us regular schmoes(and yes Im talking about garner,ray there) the cross season is done, kaput, over, this is an ex-cross season.

you get my meaning.

The final weekend was a lot like the rest of my season, crappy starts equal crappy races and some opportunistic singlespeeding got me on a podium. A pattern? starting to be.

The "greater rogue family" had a lot to be proud of.

Gryzwald winning the Cat 4 35+

Ray"little caeser" grabbing 2nd in the open 3's( and riding his ass off to a cat 2 for next year)

We had Fatty on the podium on sunday for the SS race

Aaron making an all too rare appearance and grabbing silver for the IN SS state championship

and even I grabbed thebottom step on Saturday in the SS race plus my first holeshot!!

Stierwalt and Butch had great finishes in the 3's. Thats how to move up. Im making notes.

We had post race traditions both old and new

old-having beers and lunch at Brasserie Brugge with good friends

new-chip and garner, ray decided to have our own cat 4 old man awards, which really was a last chance to drink a beer with those guys before we all upgrade(props to Christian for going cat 3 early)

Im making no mention of the annual tradition of me crashing hard on the downhill into the dismount,no mention at all!

As always with this group, there were some excellent heckles. The best was based on the worst parenting we've heard so far. Some over-eager cross parent yelling at his 12 yr old daughter during the race to "spread your gap honey! spread your gap"

Its really true, you dont need a license to have kids, this guy was brutal, although that was the heckle of the day on Sunday!

I've now taken to calling garner, ray the "157 magnum" based on his race number 2 Brookside, and "the gunshow" hes sporting.

Did Sparky really call me "jason" in the tent at the post race shindidg? yep. Im growing a mustache. be warned.

This has gotten scattered, and Im figuring most of you skipped to the pictures anyway, but heres how it went down

Ft Harrison-Saturday

Gryzwald and I rolled up to Indy and saw the snowy wasteland ahead of us. In all reality, it was a fun course. It felt like sledding. He won the 4 35+ race and was poised for the series.

I rolled around and tried to keep warm until my 2nd race. They lined up the SS boys in front of the women and children. Thats how it should be, and with no traffic to navigate, my fear of getting caught fired me to my first holeshot. We're still waiting for the photographic evidence...anywho, the heckling from our friends at the Shamrock tent was heavy and consistent.

I bet if we were seeing more pictures of me on the bike, Id finish better, Im just saying. The research is there.

Sunday Brookside

More of the same but for double points. Gryz took the win and the series. Strong work.

I was in a full body shiver waiting for the sscx race to begin. I was pretty excited to be racing with Fatty and Aaron. Unbelieveably, they sent the Jrs off first, then the women, then a min later....us. I backed off the hard start out of fear of the ice directly in front of it. Winding thru traffic in the snow is just not my forte'. Basically anything under the category of "bike handling" is not my forte', but I digress.

I knew I just had to have a decent finish to do okay in the series. Dead legs and no handling skills, but still ended up 6th for the SS series.

Thats Jacob Virosko out front there. Turns out he and his wife had dinner at the chez a few USGP's ago. I guess you really can't talk to me when I'm drinking, huh?

Good shot with Fatty and Aaron flanking him. Notice the look on my face? 4 races in 24 hrs. Thats what that loook says.

Next yr with the equipment sussed out early, I wont have the dnf's dragging my #'s down...oh well.

its been a great yr and we are already talking smack with our friends in Indy about some epic gravel races. Beer bets are expected!

I'll be posting some more pictures as they show up and stories as the repressed memories come crashing back like a wave of regret...what? just me?

Indy Double CX Wknd Begins

2010-12-04T05:52:00.003-05:00

Its going to be a crazy snowy, wet wild and wonderful weekend to close out the cross season. with changes to the OVCX categories(still developing) and UCI stupidity everywhere, Its great to have mother nature finally give us some crossy weather to offset all the dirt-crits we've done this year.

Last chance to hang with all the cross-friends for a while, so Garner, Ray has cooked up the idea for some Cat 4 old man contests that should liven things up.

I've made a last minute equipment change, because thats a lways a good idea.

42x20 sounds a lot more raceable for me than the 42x18 on the SS was. We'll see

Heres a great interview with Katie F'n Compton by somebody else to get your motor going here.

And a race day video that features one of the fastest beautiful women I've seen in mainstream films that didnt cause me to "clear history", here

Time to hop in the truck w Gryzwald. Details as they happen to occur to me.

Hey look, the UCI wants to sing us a song!!

2010-12-02T14:41:00.001-05:00

North American Cyclocross Series Face Uncertain Future: WTF? The World According To Adam

2010-12-02T13:11:00.001-05:00

Visit cyclingdirt.org for more Videos

">Heres the link

thanks to CyclingDirt.com for creating this and to Adam for his insights

Just In: UCI Rule May Cause Verge And NACT Cyclocross Series To Be Banned

2010-12-02T07:12:00.000-05:00

Just In: UCI Rule May Cause Verge And NACT Cyclocross Series To Be Banned

O-H...I-O State Champs

2010-11-29T21:20:00.007-05:00

513 part time blogger here again as the KY portion is tapering for the SSCX finale in Indy next week.

Oh, the best laid plans as they say... Not that I have the ability to target any races but I had hoped for "good sensations" as the Euro's and hipsters like to say. I really enjoyed the John Bryan race last year and I was coming off back to back top 10s.

I arrive at the park about 8:00 for my 10:00 race. We had the women racing before us so warm up laps would be less than the usual. And it was about 27 degrees upon arrival so "warming up" was all relative, but it was a nice looking day.
Registration went fine, number pinned fine, tires inflated fine, grabbed Kirk for recon lap. All seemed fine but my bike was shifting funny... oh well, new drivetrain, its just breaking in. Well, the massive amounts watts I was producing on our recon lap were too much for my brand new, very fragile Ultegra chain. SNAP! I proceed to run around frantically looking for anyone to help me fix this as I have no links or pins. A huge thanks go out to Scot Hermann and his horrible Movember mustache. Luckily he had a spare pin and we got the chain fixed in time for staging but no warm up to speak of. I got the hole shot and then it was pretty much all down hill (or uphill in cycling terms) from there.
No legs and I was questioning why I get up early and ride my bike in the cold. But the heckles kept me going. I could hear Jeff, Butch, and Darrin early in the race actually cheering and urging me on. A few laps in and they were pretty much just encouraging me to finish. Lots of "you can do it, keep cranking, you're still not last!" I suffered to a 12th place finish. I blame my chain but I think turkey and pie and no time on the bike in the last 2 weeks had more to do with it.

Congrats to James for the win and the OH champs jersey, Chip was second and said he got caught behind a Tan-Dumb team on the singletrack, that had to be fun, B. Horton from Reser rounded out the podium and Kirk rode well for a 4th place finish.

Here's me leading a bunch of people early in the race who will finish in front of me. But hey, no leg warmers!

There was a sandpit, which early in the day was frozen. It caused much carnage in the open 4's. It posed no threat when ridden at my speed.
I got no pics of Jeni or Sherri in the ladies early race (see chain issue above) and none of Darrin in the open 4's but all 3 rode well and have had strong showings here late in the year.

In the 3's Matt continued riding his way into an upgrade to the big leagues next year with another top 10, Jeff rode really well, seen here on the high side on the log, including a crash into Mark Farmer seen here,
and I am pretty sure Butch got drunk from handups.

Onto the good stuff:
Best heckle(s):

Jeff telling me my mountain bike license was revoked for not riding the logs

Corey telling me he was getting me a tissue for the next lap

Me telling the leaders of the cat 3 race who had a sizable gap "Congrats, you guys are riding right into cat 2 licenses!" and all the spectators laughing
Gatch on the PA saying Corey had been "dispatched quite handily" by Mike Schulze in the SS race

I gave out 3 handups of Brooklyn Brown ale. 2 of which went to Butch. Jeni and Darrin also had a handup for Butch, theirs was 12 oz of Dundee lager. Butch took it and negotiated the barriers and the singletrack while still carrying beer. Sounds like he had a good race!

A Rad Dog Italian "Sausage" (vegan, tube-shaped mush like substance), while quite good, produces noxious gas about 2 hours later.

Cyclocross is still awesome even with a bad race thanks to my friends and teammates. Like Dave below, in his first race. Oh we cracked a beer afterward to celebrate that! Pretty sure he is hooked now too.
A huge thanks to TJ, Phil, Team Dayton, the sponsors, Karen and Doug, and all the folks that make this race happen. Every event involving these folks is always top-notch and well run. The six hour MTB race at JB is a must do event for any one who has not done it either. Just a blast with good racing, good food and good people.

See everyone in Indy for the finale next weekend. Rumor has it there may be some extra shenanigans in store.

World Cup Koksijde 2010 -this is amazing

2010-11-28T10:28:00.000-05:00

If you were feeling good about your skills, this may ruin your day. Koksijde is ridiculous. Huge crowds and the coolest course yet.

This Year Im Thankful For...the long arm of the law?

2010-11-25T11:27:00.002-05:00

Judges and law enforcement protecting cyclists and not laughing off death like in years past. Im thankful that people swerve to avoid hitting squirrels but dont understand why they swerve towards the 2 wheeled humans.

Heres a great example of justice coming thru...click here

Granted they shouldve fried this asshole, but since we arent doing that this year, lotsa time in the greybar hotel will do nicely. Wait'll he finds out why they call it the "pokey"

Btw prosecuting this dude and the arrest of the "red-truck" dirtwad, it almost feels safer to ride here in the village.

And Im thankful for bad reality TV. Sue me

Ky State Championships-Bringing It All Back Home

2010-11-23T21:09:00.008-05:00

Well, at least part of it. I've been struggling to get back motivated after a mostly lackluster season. Sometimes it just takes a little something.

Lets face it...I can sit around ruminating that Strummer and Thompson are still dead, and that inspiration has to be lying around here somewhere in this jumble of stuff, and its on me to find it.

I spent Saturday making some changes to the Igleheart and the beloved SingleSpeed(Slow Only). I swapped some saddles around and changed some position things. Raised and Lowered saddles until I found something different that still worked.

A test ride w Zack and Joe Cz @ Eva made me think that I had just a little bit of voodoo left for this race.

I actually had a race plan, although it amounted to giving the Cat 4 35+ race a fair shot, but saving something for the SS race if I wasnt going to pull some magic out of nowhere.

I pre-rode the course and thought the usual-great course, gotta push it here, watch for traffic there and god help me in doing this without gears.

I had a decent first half a lap, but got off the front group and faded further as the race went on. In the 4th lap I actually heckled someone back...a sure sign that I wasnt pushing it hard enough. The SS race was heavy on my mind. Joe Cz and I had schemed away about the other riders and what they had to throw out there.

Quite a line up. You can see Bill Crank chilled out in the back waiting to throw it down upon us, as he surely did.

Extra points for Ben Wilson for-

A having a bike that matched his kit exactly. very PRO

B Getting the hole-shot on the aforementioned 30lb blue beast

JC surely had the sweet setup with the Salsa/Zipps combination and embro'd to the gills. Quite a crew. You can see Czerwonka commenting about the impending pain.

it looked a lot like this....

Lets say 42x18 is the gearing of agony. A 20t cog is going to make its way back there very, very soon. the 18 let me ride most of the way up the short steep hills but then a wall was hit and it was speedy dismount time. I felt every pedal stroke of the first race in my leggs, but I kept a count of who was ahead of me in the race.

At the end it looked like this for the State championships

Bill Crank 1st place SSCX

Joe Czerwonka 2nd place SSCX

Yours Truly 3rd place SSCX

It was cool to stand on the haystack with a good friend and grab the new necklace. Even if I did get extorted by another McShane child for food in the waiting!

The other RRP family members to podium were

Gryzwald 1st place slow medium old men(cat 4 35+)

JHardin 2nd place slow and really old men (cat 4 45+)

Ray(little caesar) 2nd place Cat3

Rachael's family and she had some new jewelry and McShane rides for Bob's Rogue Mill so we count him and his 1st place in Elite Masters.

The Promotion folks did an awesome job, I always say that when I do well. the ice cold Orange Crush was spot on after that hot and hard race. I was proud as a porch pony.

nice work. Now just a few more and time to chillbernate. Im trying to see if that word'll catch on...

The Only time you'll See Doug and I in VeloNews Unless We Run Over A Cyclist

2010-11-20T10:46:00.002-05:00

VeloSnews

Great article by Chris Jones about his experiences here in the village. Its always great to have Chris in town. Great racer and and equally great guy. Having him on the Rapha-Focus(pronounced raahhh-fuhh, thank you) was just icing on the cake.

Like other pros such as Tim Johnson and Georgia Gould, Chris is a regular person who just happens to be freaky fast.

And its also cool to get name checked in national cycling media, instead of those neighborhood watch items I normally get mentioned in....

Promotion for Some, SloMotion for Me

2010-11-19T12:53:00.002-05:00

The OVCX continues and Im jumping back into the fray after a couple of schedule conflicts on the previous races. This weekend is one of my favorite courses, The Promotion CX in Lexington. Usually a fast, fun course annnnd its the Ky State championships. I dont have any misperceptions of winning, but I'd like to get close. I still think Im the biggest thing btw me and racing better. Easy diagnosis, difficult fix. We shall see. Gears and SSCX on Sunday.
Bring it!

Tell Me Again What All Those Gears Are for?

2010-11-16T08:49:00.002-05:00

The singlespeed cross bike project is finally up and running after some fits and starts. As many of you remember, I decided to convert the Salsa to an SSCX bike when the Igleheart got built. More on the Iglebike later, but basically once everything was moved to the new bike I was left with almost enough spares to re-build my favorite bike. Without worrying about derailleurs anymore. Simple, right? Yes I am.

In talking with Drew&Derek @ On Your Left about the decision btw using a chain tensioner vs building a wheel with the Eno eccentric hub, we decided to do it right and go with the Eno. This seemed like the ultimate solution and they built a beautiful wheel as always.

Now part of my due dilligence in making this decision was to read the reviews on line. As always, the internets were a wealth of information and its actually hard to find a negative review of this product. The only negative review I found was debunked by the crowd online.

Feeling good I took the Salsa out for a test ride and it was fantastic.

I got it ready for USGP and made sure that my chain tension was correct and got 3.5 laps in before dropping the chain. WTF, right? This isnt supposed to happen.

I figured that it was operator error, as thats usually the culprit. Back to the shop for some adjustments and additional inservicing on the correct way to maintain this.

I lined up at Storm the Greens and when the man said "go", I did. About 10 feet before dropping the chain. Now, the winner of that race happened to be riding a SSCX Moots. Gorgeous and coincidentally using the Eno hub. He was gracious enough to spend some time looking at my set up and check for some of the more common errors. He was stumped. I knew that it had been set up correctly and have a ton of faith in the work that Drew and Derek do. He looked again. I looked too(for no good reason), chins were scratched and then

finally he saw a possibility. The hub didnt seem to be making contact 360 degrees on the drop out. My beloved Salsa was somewhat of an anomaly in that it had a ridge along the bottom half of the equator in the drop out region. Or, more plainly said, From 3:00 to 9:00 there was surface to surface contact but around the top of the horn the was nothing. Because the seatstays are designed to flex, and because there was not full contact it was just enough room for the hub to pivot under stress and drop the chain.

I called the folks at White Industries and they were unusually helpful(no, really). They brainstormed with me and I took 2 of their theories back to Derek. He looked over the situation and agreed that the best option was to grind down the small ridge so that a flat surface would result and full grip could be had.

The fix was perfect, and I tested it at RRCC as well as a trail ride thru Cherokee/Seneca. The stop and start of a simulated race start, sand traps and rooty trail climbs were met with smooth, predictable pedaling and a sweet ride. I did my best to get the bike to dump its chain but every check revealed the same tension. SUCCESS!! Only I would have a complicated singlespeed. This was a huge relief as I'd gone thru all sorts of options that I didnt want to excercise in looking for ways to fix the situation. I'd thought about switching frames, but this just has the feel of being "my bike". I've logged a lot of miles on it as a cross bike, mtb, road bike and gravel road racer. Im glad that the On Your Left guys were able to help me transition it to its new life. the singlespeeding is a good time. If I want to catch the guy ahead of me, I need to pedal faster and stay off of the brakes. Think less-Pedal harder. I could do that....sometimes. And sometimes its nice to just ride trails on it with Kid A.

tales of a tallgirl-siltstone trail half-marathon

2010-11-14T21:35:00.002-05:00

so usually Im here making funny(to me alone) comments about the content of some amazing photos documenting our exploits taken by one mrs seiler aka tallgirl(not ironic). We decided to flip the script and detail a serious accomplishment that she had herdamnself this past weekend. lets face it, its hard enough to ridee a bike in jmf, running there is just ridiculous. and yet, two of our rogue racing family(didnt leave mrs bearden out) took on the race and kicked its ass.
Tallgirl won her age group and was 5th overall in the womens group. Take that young chicks.
When asked for some quotes, all we really got was "goddamn thats hilly", and some mention of sandwhiches....and cookies....and beer...and several other food groups that didnt really seem to go together. well earned, well earned.
we'll be back to talking about all things scatalogical and cyclocrossical later this week, but daddy tired now and seeing that todays intervals induced serious verping and wishes for death I believe we'll leave it all here.
Congrats to Marcia and Valerie, awesome finishes!

The Great Poo dodge of 2010, or OVCX @ Infirmary Mound

2010-11-14T19:30:00.006-05:00

What, 2 race updates in a row from Jason? Either I am ambitious or Segal is slacking. You make the call.

I decided to go ahead and race at infirmary mound. Many of the fast Cat 4 35+ guys from KY did not want to make the drive so I figured it was a good chance to sneak some points. I got to the park early to get a good pre-ride in and warm up since I heard great things about this course. The first thing I noticed were the piles upon piles of horse shit ON THE COURSE! Well, that is nice. The horse poop section was immediately followed by the flood wall around the lake, or as Sparky named it "Swan-shit lake". Yes, 2 types of fecal matter occupied about 1/3 of the entire race course. Ironically (or not) enough, that was how I felt the whole race.

I got a good start considering the staging went like this: top 5 of the open 4's, top 5 of 35+ and top 5 of 45+ called up. About 5 of the 15 total were at the race so the front row was sparse to say the least. The official then said, and I quote, "now the rest of ya." Um, yeah, so that was neat. Anywho, I settled in about 5th wheel overall after the start behind Chip. I held his wheel for 1/2 a lap and a few of the usual suspects passed me. I raced with Dell (45+ from QCW) most of the race and we picked off a few and were picked off by a few. The course was deceptively hard, a good headwind by the lake slowed you down and the climbs were all long, shallow power climbs. The singletrack section had the big runnable ride-up which was all rooty, steep fall line trail so there very few places to recover. I wound up 8th which was better than I thought I did cuz I really was not "feeling it" today. I'll take back to back top 10's into my "bye" week though.

Congrats to Chip for climbing up on the top step in back to back weeks and Scott "Sparky" Lyle for getting on the podium. Even if he did have to file a protest for it. I left right after the 3/4 women's race so I did not see the men's 3 or the elites. The Cat 3 35+ report I got said the 513 RRP crew looked strong, all riding together and coming home 13th (Matt) 15th (Jeff) and 17th (Butch).

Jerry Hayes' had a standing bet with his daughter. She wins her race, he races in her socks. Congrats Emma!

Mama Petrov was on camera duty for the 4's and I got a few of the ladies. Please note my camera has no idea what the date is.

Me near the start, cloudy day
Lance demonstrating how most of the field "rode" the run-up.
Sparky showing us how it was done.
Me showing everyone how it is not done. However, I cleaned it the next lap. I have no idea how I went all ass over tea kettle up a steep up hill...
Jason Reser of Reser Bicycle Outfitters and a dog are seen here heckling Sparky's bike washing skills.
Sherri Cross face!
Hez Not Cross face.
Sherri climbing the front hill.
Hez showing that front side hill who is boss! But can someone tell me why she had to borrow my embro when she has on long sleeves, knee warmers and tall socks?
Good luck to everyone at Promotion CX next week. I am taking that one off so Brian will have to provide insightful witty commentary. Thanks Cap City folks for hosting, it was fun. I will see everyone at JB in two weeks to race off my turkey, gravy, and pie.

Click, Click BOOM! Gun Club CX

2010-11-08T19:41:00.014-05:00

Gun Club CX. If you have never experienced it these words and pictures will not do it justice. This is more than a typical CX race. More so than any of the other OVCX races, this race truly embodies the CX spirit of the races being events, spectacles even, rather than just a “race”.

Last Wednesday most of the regular Cincy CX racers went out to recon the course with John Gatch. Gatch is the diabolical mastermind of Gun Club CX. He is perhaps more famous as being one of the Johns from the Two Johns Podcast. He also is one of the voices of OVCX as one of the more animated announcers on the tour. Oh, and he is the guy wearing leiderhosen and suspenders at the races…

They pulled all the stops out this year. Roto-tilled up the sand (didn’t matter, it was still super fast, more on that in a moment), added a very technical creek crossing with two lines to enter and a steep hill directly following the creek which was a run up for many. It was rideable if you had momentum from the creek and did not get bogged down in traffic up the hill. The rest of this super MTB friendly course was the typical short steep climbs, the singletrack, the gravelly twisty turns, and the smell of grilled meat from the HUGE grill next to the tiny little pit area. Oh and added to all that were these guys:

What the hell Gatch? Seriously, a drumline? Gun Club CX is sensory overload.

Since the 4s were going off at 4:15 and finishing sometime around sunset I arrived at venue around 1:00. Just in time to see the finish of the Elite Masters and the Elite Women. Nikki won the women’s race, and B-Jet Donovan-Billiter (wife of official Gun Club Artist James Billiter) took home 3^rd. Some combination of the usual suspects for the men were on the podium. I was not really paying attention as I was trying to navigate the crowds to get to registration. I missed the 3-4 women’s race but Heather got her best finish with a 5^th in the old lady 4s and Sherrie put in a solid ride too. They said there was still some frost on the ground when they went off. Sounds like cross season is finally here.

I registered, pinned a number, and settled in to watch the Cat 3 Masters race. Butch, Jeff Cyrus, and Steirwalt were representing the Rogue Nation and all 3 are strong MTBR’s so I expected a good showing.

As you can see here, Jeff and Butch are ready to go. Steven Gers of Bio Wheels is contemplating something… perhaps a top 10 finish for him today?

They were off, around the big turn, through the straight away and into the sand. Like I said, it did not scrub any speed and Butch decided to go all human-bike bowling ball and a few others were happy to oblige as the pins. Carnage ensued. Matt and Jeff made it out in good position but Matt’s rear der was all jabberwockied. Jeff looked strong all race and had his best finish, 11^th. He just could not catch onto the Bio Wheels paceline right in front of him. Matt was behind him somewhere, strong mid pack considering he only had about 3 gears all race. Butch fought back from the sand carnage to come home 22^nd, but it was an inspired 22^nd.

The open 3s were next, Tim Brown was the lone Rogue in this race. He and Joe Cz were warming up together so I am sure he rode well, I was debriefing Matt, Jeff, and Butch and did not see much of this race. Tim did bring a tiny little dog with him though and try as we might, we could not convince him to race with a basket on his bike and put his dog in it.

In the Elite men a crash at the start line left Josh Johnson with a broken bike so he ran the first half lap to the pits. It was entertaining and he took it in good spirits and did not quit. Bob’s Red Mill basically rode a paceline at the front the entire race. I went to warm up for real.

The 4s started with me on the front row since the only race I can win is the registration race. The open 4/kiddie fun ride went first and us old dudes had a 15 second delay. Nolan won the 4s but Spencer Petrov rode well to come second and as you can see he is about 70 lbs and blurry.

Segal told me I had to put up a pic of “the young Mr. Bain” so here it is. Apparently there is some stipulation in Segal’s contract that no pic = no cookies and that would be bad.

I got a decent start which I knew was key to hold off the faster roadies who were not as fast in the techy-bits. At one point after the creek and the runable ride-up, and after the next little steep hill that some people ran, I think I was leading the race. This did not last long as Chip, Tim, Tracy, Jeff, and Bryan went by. A few more passed me, I passed a few back and then we settled down. I was able to pass people on the two run ups as I rode them, or rode most of the big one until someone would stall in front of me. I am not sure who was right behind me at one point, I thought it was Christian Ambjorn but someone was yelling at him to “Get past Garneret! Go!” I held him off which makes me feel great. I love this course, it suits my abilities and I raced well. Jeff Hardin, Rogue in the Cat 4 45+ caught me and I rode behind him most of the race. We crossed the line together, him winning the 45+ and me notching my first top 10 with 9^th. Cyrus stuck around to take pics and give me a beer afterward so huge props to him. Some more pics:

Jeff getting a good remount and Matt behind.
The view down into the creek crossing
This is what the run up looked like in traffic on lap one
And here's me riding it on lap 2

Proof I cleaned it

You could've gotten PAID at the top!

A blurry Jeff H. taking the win in the 45+ 4s and me right behind for 9th 35+

Me scaring this poor girl as I dry heaved after the race. It was brutal but a blast. Get it? A blast, like a shotgun?

Next week is Infirmary mound in C-bus for the joint OVCX/Cap City race. It is unknown if any LTP correspondents will be there so Segal may just have to post obscure music videos for 2 weeks. Thanks for reading (or at least looking at the pictures)

Jason

DESCENDENTS. Austin, November 7, 2010

2010-11-08T17:30:00.000-05:00

While we wait for Garnah-Ray to post a race report, I thought Id share this from Austin. Should've blown off work and hopped in the car with Jimmy. Stupid job.

New Tubular Racing Ralph Cyclocross, Mountain Bike Tires from Schwalbe

2010-11-05T16:22:00.000-04:00

New Tubular Racing Ralph Cyclocross, Mountain Bike Tires from Schwalbe

Friday Motivation from My Morning Jacket, pardon the chatty chick in the background

2010-11-05T11:49:00.000-04:00

Storm the Greens -every picture tells a story, don't it?

2010-11-02T07:47:00.009-04:00

They say its good to have friends, and maybe thats true. I know the saying isnt, "its good to have friends with cameras when you're getting beaten", but what the hell. Here's how my day played out in my battle for mid-pack supremacy. Picture me singing quietly in my head as Im sure Im doing here.

Company? Why Id love some.

Nice pain face. Why you hiding it from us? No, really he was sharing the funniest anecdote about Churchill...wait no that was Fatty. I dont remember what this was about.

Here's your coat, whats your hurry? We were just bonding. I didnt get to finish my story!! rude.

Right! so we'll just catch up later then? okay. Nice being on this club ride with you.

There's onlly a few things more horrifying than that...and they all happened at Storm the Greens...Mike Kennedy's costume still has me waking up screaming. That man is dedicated if nothing else...besides being in touch with his feminine side.

Whats even cooler is that he beat soo many of those guys wearing half a dress and giggling the whole damn time.

then there was speedo guy, who was really funny until he rode a parade lap during the little kids race. Creepy, thy name is speedo guy.

And then there was Dug"the blizzard", who got that nickname for getting DQ'd(eh, eh? nice) during a sprint for thousandth. Like I've said. A man's gotta work and Blizz and Cav, they gotta push the limits sometimes. And really, whats better, a "meh!" finish in the race or a quality story plus nickname?

Oh and Seiler won his race. yawn.....boring, back to shemales and DQ's right? Congrats to him and Little Caeser for fine performances out there. Caeser's gotten more holeshots than..wait is this a family blog? Crap, when Mr Bain's 18 I'll finish my broken metaphor. Cursed youth!

More later, now go vote and then shut up about it. thx

Happy Halloween-Time to Storm Those Greens

2010-10-31T07:25:00.002-04:00

Dawn has yet to break but anticipation here at Rogue Sub-Headquarters is palpable!

The Igleheart(bullseye) and the SS(blitzen) are as ready to go as they'll be. 5 sand traps!!! 5! Fast power course today with lots of places to check whats on the saddle and stomp on the pedals.

Surely more to come

Wisdom from the land of Embrocation Cycling Journal: Prep

2010-10-30T10:55:00.001-04:00

If its not possible for me to be the guy in this tale, then Im going to need to have his ass kicked for him for being the person we all sooo strive to be.

Embrocation Cycling Journal: Prep

A few more recollections on USGP Derby City Cup

2010-10-29T12:59:00.003-04:00

A few videos from last weekend to show some pro views on the races. Nobody has video of Kirk taco-ing Zacks wheel, thats the one I wanted.

Behind The Barriers- w Jeremy Powers

Behind The Barriers- w Chris Jones on how to pronounce "Rapha"

USGP Wrap Up-Prepare to be underwhelmed by this post after the amazing weekend!

2010-10-27T21:01:00.007-04:00

We'd been waiting with baited breath for the USGP. are you kidding me? A brand new course, in a brand new place and Bruce Fina's at the helm? Hell yeah we were excited!!

day 1 as always was its own unique course. short, technical and really super hard! You can see from the pictures how tough the course was. Unrideable sand(even by the pros) vertical switchbacks. you name it, Bruce threw it at us.

Heres a shot of The Mantis, pro rider for Embrocation Cycling Journal and fun guy to heckle. Note the wristband from last night's binge. Class touch, that.

Whos that behind Kennedy? Thats Ezra. Fastest Singlespeeder there. His registration for Day 1 was the best I've ever heard

First Name-Blue Bike

Last Name-Bearded

Im a big fan. He rolled up to us in the chute waiting for the SS race. We looked at the blank bike and the beard and we all knew he was fast. Nobody rolls up like that unless they are. If he'd been on platform pedals Id have gone home then!

This is Chris Jones taking a digger in the sand. You want a better picture? Go to the Rapha Contest here and vote for picture "F". Help our friend Drew at On Your Left out with this one.

And Chris, even if we say RAAA-Fa instead of RAH-FA, we're still good peeps. Pope and I pitted for him and Zack McDonald who paid us back on Sunday by doing BMX tricks off the mound leading into the barriers. Nice touch.

Here's me riding as fast as I can away from a picture of Papa John. The pink RAAAA-Fa hat must've been good luck.

Sooo dry and dusty. Whats the motivation to go on? Oh yeah, Fatty stocked the Rogue tent before he left town!

Anybody remember my bet for when the new team bikes would show up? Yep. Saturday, while we were racing. I dunno if it mattered. I'll be posting about how amazing this thing is later! Zack showed up with boxes of custom steel goodness and cupcakes. Nobody's topping that!

Heres a good shot of Zack's ass on the green monster. Im thinking stride may have been an advantage for him here? Although it freaks some folks out, the monster is probably the easiest part of the course. Gravity wins every time. Stay on her side.

Ray, or "little caeser" as he's now known, rocked the course and left his mark. He insists on eating really shitty pizza the night before a race. Im thinking natural ingredients may not be his thing. Whatever. Its working.

Heres Seiler cruising thru the barriers. You can see the huge hump leading into them. Crazy hard. You can see that he's thinking about that conversation we had that one time that meant so much. Was Segal right? Damn...ooops barrier!

Did anyone ever tell you how cool Georgia Gould is? Trust me, they undersold it. She is easily the most approachable pro athelete I've ever met. she strolled by the rogue tent and hung out, just shooting the breeze and swapping stories. Everywhere she goes, she leaves a trail of new fans. she even came back for cupcakes......Really!

She was balancing her bike and USGP trophy from kicking total ass both days. One of us asked if they could help. She was already next to us. Spooky, really. She thought she could jump tape faster than I could eat my cupcake. Listen sister, we are all big fans, but we do have our strengths. Mine were the cupcakes and the special treat that Debbie Bain brought. Chocolate chip cookies baked by Meredith Miller. They tasted as though they were baked by a woman with amazing legs. Its in the chips!! Georgia was so dominant that it was unreal. she Owned. Pure and simple.

Look at the dirt on my face. Thats what my lungs probably look like. Think about whats on the bottom of the Ohio river...thats what we were aspirating all weekend. YUCK!!!!!

doug rode strong on Saturday, or at least compared to me.
short courses w lots of dismounts are not my strong suit. Sunday's course was more my thing.

Day 2 was a longer course with more power sections and fewer dismounts. Being on Fatty's bike and not totally comfortable, this made for a better day. You can read results and rankings at the USGP site, but hopefully this little tryptich provided by TALLGIRL PHOTOGRAPHY has brought it home. We came, we raced, we drank beer and ate cupcakes. When it was all over, we were all amazed at the new venue. Sure the parking sucked and it was dry as a bone. Little things that you hae to deal with in the first year. I just got back from Wed night cross and everyone there is blown away that we have this facility! As young Mr Bain said, "there's a million courses on this course". Of course.

Thanks for all the pix TG

SSCXWC Tales and Ales

2010-10-25T18:39:00.000-04:00

Simms Edges Studley, MacKenzie Takes His Third SSCXWC – UPDATED: Photos, MFG Race Report, Podium Results

Storm it with Parbo

2010-10-25T07:08:00.001-04:00

Joachim Parbo wants to help you Storm the Greens

And you thought the CX-y goodness was going to slow down... After a wonderful weekend of CX action at the USGP Derby City Cup, come spend time with Danish Cyclocross Champion Joachim Parbo. Learn new skills or hone the ones you have as we roll towards Storm the Greens.

Clinic content - 2hrs(beginners, children, experts, weekend warriors):

Plan turns and efforts smart, save energy, race fast.
Tricks on how to read the course to your benefit.
Drills that will make your riding smoother and more efficient.
Personalized advise for each participant, correcting errors
Cyclocross bike fit (quick personal fitting if needed)

Start time: Tuesday, October 26th - 5 PM @ RRCC, home of Storm the Greens.

Possible Q&A afterwards @ restaurant
Racing, training, eating and sleeping
Technical discussion, brakes, carbon wheels, tubular tires etc.
(parents of children welcome)

Pay on site, cash only:
Children below 16: 15 USD
Adults: 25 USD

Parbo bio:
4x Danish CX Champ (2006, 2007, 2009 & 2010)
MA Political Science
Bike Path Inspector & Events Coor, City of Aarhus

World Top 50 rider
Best Worlds result - 31st place
Best World Cup result - 21st place
Raced in 14 countries
29x USA UCI top-10 results

USGP Insanity Begins!!

2010-10-22T13:05:00.001-04:00

USGP Weekend is here!! You can tell by the sights of Georgia Gould rolling down River Rd and Curtis Tolson motorpacing Tim Johnson.

Its on, even a nice write up in the local fishwrap, the Courier-Urinal

Cyclocross park wheels into action

BY CHRIS QUAY • CQUAY@COURIER-JOURNAL.COM • OCTOBER 21, 2010

Taking an undeveloped wooded area on River Road and turning it into to a world class cyclocross course — that’s how city officials and cycling enthusiasts described the development of the new Cyclocross Venue at Eva Bandman Park Thursday morning.

“We’re proudly opening a new venue that is putting Louisville on the map,” Mayor Jerry Abramson said during a ceremony commemorating the opening of the course.

The course — which will host the Derby City Cup this weekend for its first competition — cost $125,000 to build and was designed by Bruce Fina, executive director of the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross.

“This truly is a world championship course and venue,” Fina said at the opening.

He said the course has garnered international attention, which led to it being named as the host for the 2012 and 2013 Masters Cyclocross World Championships as well as the 2013 Elite Cyclocross World Championships, the first time those events will not take place outside of Europe.

Cyclocross is a form of bicycle racing that combines different terrains, such as hills and wooded trails, and requires the cyclists to sometimes carry their bikes over or around obstacles.

The sport is beginning to catch on in the states, but it has been more popular in Europe. “We’re going to blow the minds of the Belgians, and the Czechs and the Dutch when they come here,” Fina said of the world championships.

City officials, including Metro councilwoman Tina Ward-Pugh, D-9th District, Karl Schmitt, executive director of the Louisville Sports Commission, and Mike Heitz, director for Metro Parks, spoke at the opening.

“We hit a lot of singles and doubles,” Schmitt said about attractingsporting events to Louisville. “Every once in a while we hit a home run,” he said referring to hosting the cyclocross world championships.

The course sits on 59-acres just off River Road minutes east of downtown.

It was designed with a “360 degree” approach so that riders can get views of the downtown skyline, the Ohio River and Beargrass Creek at different points on the course.

Cyclocrosser Brian Segal, who helped open the new course for the first time Thursday in a symbolic ribbon breaking over one of the course’s grassy knolls, said he was impressed.

Segal will compete this weekend in the Derby City Cup. “It’s fantastic,” he said, giving kudos to Fina for his design in “taking a blank piece of land and turning it into a world class course.”

Reporter Chris Quay can be reached at (502) 582-4241.

Hizzoner Makes It Legal!! Eva Bandman Cyclocross Venue

2010-10-21T13:42:00.003-04:00

The pictures tell the story. There you have Mr Bruce Fina, Tim Johnson and Hizzoner Mayor Jerry making it legal and officially opening up the Eva Bandman Cyclocross Venue. With the exception of Duane there was nary a pervert in site. Maybe the sand features scared them off? Its a gorgeous course thats going to kick my ass. In fact it already did as I tried to ride an acute elevation change on the single speed in baggies....going to run that when on the non-geared bike.

There were interviews with the Courier-Urinal and everything. I'll link to it when they run out of news and print it.

More to come...And Then PARBO NEXT TUESDSAY? you gotta be kidding me!!

Remember that lack of motivation? This should kick its ass right down the street.

Stay tuned chilren, this story has some legs on it.

Let The USGP Rumpus Begin!

2010-10-20T07:43:00.000-04:00

Its finally upon us. The USGP Derby City Cup is this weekend!!! Damn right its worth 3 exclamation points. We get our first chance to race on the new course @ Sandman(without being called Vandals), a chance to watch top pro level cyclocross right here in the village and we get to party with our friends at the Rogue tent.
Let me just say that the later the day goes, the stranger the strangers in the tent seem to get.
Don't forget that this event doesn't build itsself, so go pound stakes and wrap some tape. You're building your own course here. This way you can scout the best heckling spots.
Also....attention gamblers...we will be taking wagers on how many laps I will get in the SingleSpeed race before being pulled. I have a feeling meester dug will be the bookie for the day. So bet and bet often as the proceeds will go to the Little Rogue Urban Achievers or as we call it "the lush fund"
Let's face it, this is the first time you people can make eye contact with someone @ Sandman. Stand proud and bring your cowbells and vuvuzelas.

predictability and change

2010-10-18T09:45:00.000-04:00

Einsteins Definition of insanity is something to the effect of "doing the same thing over and over yet expecting a different outcome"
That pretty much describes my race @ Bloomington CX this past Sunday.
Blow the start>fight back to the middle>Contador the crap out of the Pope>finish w too much left in the tank.
Let's face it, the only thing that was really flowing on Sunday were the excuses, and they we recycled(we're green here bitches)
The course was fast and flowy with nary a technical section to be found. That should suit a guy without technical skills, but....ahhh you read the top.
Can I really bitch about racing my bike on a gorgeous day, battling w Pope and Shamrock Tom then riding thru the changing leaves of Brown Cty on the way home? Apparently yes, but its gauche so forgive me.
I knew the weekend was helter skelter when, while riding mtn bikes w Kid A on Saturday we ran across Anthony Slowinski on a cx bike. Clearly the earth had tilted off its axis and pandemonium was imminent.

I shook it off by going to the dog park and testing out the new Racing Ralph tubies while drjohn sat on my wheel. That hot lap of mine may have been the slowest recovery lap he's done in a while. I'd like to think that his good performance Sunday was at least partially due to riding w a limiter. His fresh legs had to be to my credit.(Seiler said to celebrate the small victories so I'm going with that one)
Sundays race had some good RRP highlights w Grizwald taking the win by dominating the field and taunting them from off the front. I have no idea if that really happened as I was so far back that tales of the front only drifted back as legend and were in printed scrolls by the time we got there.
So today our friends @ On Your Left take away the gears from the trusty Salsa as we try to further handicap myself. Should be a blast although the SS cats for USGP suddenly have Curt and Osgood from the TSB and a bunch of other fast guys. The relief in that is that while I'm dying my thousandth death in the 4 race, I should only have to worry about completing 1 lap in the SS race before getting pulled. I'm hoping its a complete lap....
There's a chance that we'll be debuting the Iglehearts @ USGP so stand by for updates on the arrival of the delicious steel steeds. Remember I used the word "chance"

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

2010-10-15T11:37:00.002-04:00

Wow, that karma shit really works, huh? Thanks to Doug for the link. Damn thats funny

CHAMPIONS DOG RUN FENCE RELOCATION SCHEDULE

As noted in the October Newsletter, the front section of the Champions Dog Run will be relocated so that it does not "hang over" the boundary line between the portion of the property operated by Metro Parks and the portion operated by the Louisville Water Company (LWC). LWC has contacted us and told us Phase I, which will include relocation of the front fence section and dog run entrance, will begin on Wednesday, October 20 and should take about two days to complete. To prepare for this we have made out the following timeline. Please review carefully.

Sunday, October 17 - LDRA gate materials and signage will be removed.

Wednesday, October 20 - LWC contractors to begin fence relocation work.

Friday, October 22 - Estimated date of completion.

Saturday, October 23 - Cross country event at Champions Park so the dog run was going to be closed anyways.

Sunday, October 24 - Gate materials and signage to be reinstalled.

We appreciate everyone's cooperation and patience. If any changes come up we will be sure to send out another email.

new toys/changes for the second part of the season

2010-10-14T17:11:00.002-04:00

As I've mentioned, we have the Igleheart Team bikes showing up this week, and I cant wait. This is my first custom bike and getting to pick each part, and having the communication with Christopher Igleheart throughout the build process has been an incredible experience. One of my last minute preparations has been to get some new rubber on the wheels for the new ride. I have a set of the racing ralphs getting glued up @ On Your Left and they do look grippy-tasty. Report to come.

But what to do with the Salsa? I've been pretty excited about the new OVCX SS mini-series thats been announced and the Eno hub is the solution that we're going with to turn the con crosso into a solo geared machine. We'll see how it shakes out but this is a bad mother waiting to be fleshed out. It'll be paired with an open pro rim, so we are sticking to the classics. More info and pix to come.

USGP Clinic-cool stuff

2010-10-14T13:20:00.001-04:00

Superstar Cyclocross Clinic w Meredith Miller and Jesse Anthony p/b Specialized!

Join Meredith Miller and Jesse Anthony of the California Giant Berries / Specialized Team on Friday, October 22nd at 4:30pm for a very special debut ride of the new cyclocross venue at Eva Bandman Park!

You'll get pro insight from two of the best in the business on how to approach the course and its new features for race day. Even cooler - you can check out Specialized's cross bike line up while doing it. SRAM equipped and ready to demo!

Space is limited to 25 participants so don't delay! Register on BikeReg.com here:http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=11410

USGP Next Week? Holy Crap! What Can We Do To Help?

2010-10-12T18:47:00.001-04:00

Funny you should ask. Here's a note from USGP honcho Joan Hanscom with an urgent request for help. You folks know that this community has come together each year to make this happen. Rumour is that people working usually get lunch as well. Just a rumour.
Here's the cadence of events, I'd love to see some new faces out there instead of just the same stalwarts of the community.

Take it away Joan-

t's that time of year where I coming begging for help! The USGP is running at the new cyclocross venue and we could use some hands getting 'er ready.
>
> Whitney Vogel is coordinating volunteers (whitneyvogel@insightbb.com) so if you are interested in the opportunities below and would like more information (with specific times) you can get in touch with either of us:
>
> 10/18 - 10/19: Green Monster Building!
> 10/20 – 10/22 Course Set Up / Fence Post /Signage
> 10/23 & 10/24 Parking
> Registration, Course Marshals, Runners
>
> 10/24 Course Tear Down
>
> Thanks so much in advance for anything you can do!

Thanks Joan.
Let's make this thing happen like we always do. Plus, you won't look like a tool pre-riding if you're out there building. Just sayin.

Dont Mess w Debbie-More UCI Reporting

2010-10-12T17:04:00.002-04:00

Seeing that I've done damn little racing, I'm counting on those in the circle to keep me looped. This is kinda cheating since she left this as a comment, but it stands on its own....and I've mentioned the cookies, right? Exactly. I'm not messing with the supplier of baked goodness over posting privileges.

Next time let me know aforehand and we'll do this up proper!

and now, a word from Mrs Bain(reprinted entirely without permission or even a warning shot)

Will and I talked on the way home about seeing if you'd let us do a guest blog for the UCI 3 weekend. I see that already happened and he doesn't have time anyway, with school & training & racing & mowing the lawn & texting friends & facebook & all those other teenagery things. However, I wanted to add a couple of things. First, Jason said he didn't have a witty title for the Devou race but Will deemed it "The Great Depression." For anyone (besides 12 yo Spencer)that is a very apt title! It was even depressing for the spectators, starting with the mile or so hike from the car because the cop wouldn't let anyone thru to the parking places you could see up ahead. Apparently the fact that cars were leaving didn't justify letting anyone else thru in. By jove, the fire dept said it was full & he considered it full until everyone left! The set up was not as nice as last year, and last year was no picnic. They didn't let us anywhere near that nice museum with indoor plumbing :-). The 2nd thing I'd like to add, is that Devou & Java Johnny both kept alive your designation of the Men's Cat 4 Open/Children's Race...and it wasn't my child who won this time. Congratulations are in order for 12 y.o., 81 lb, Spencer Petrov, who seemed to float thru the dust & over the bumps of Devou Park and to the awesome 13 y.o. Ian McShane who tore thru a great course at Java Johnny's on Sat! The streak was disrupted at Harbin Park by some upstart guy from California whose name we don't recognize. We have no idea who he is but we've theorized that he's probably some pro's mechanic who decided to jump in & race on Sunday morning. Most of the Cat 4 Louisville children (including mine) raced the junior races on Sunday so they could get home in time to finish their homework & let their mothers' prop up their poor tired feet after running around in the dust for 3 days :-)

Well said...now about cookies for USGP.......what goes w Bourbon? I mean, you've seen our tent.

UCI3 - and that's a wrap!

2010-10-11T19:40:00.002-04:00

Dear sweet little baby Jesus in a tuxedo t-shirt all hammered drunk, this past weekend was one big ass long pain train of CX. And I mean that in the best possible way that only a CX'r can understand. Oh, guest blogger Jason here. I got no pictures of Saturday (I did not race) or Sunday (I am lazy and did not take any) so you will have to go to facebook, twitter, cx magazine, velonews, podium insight, or just about any other semi-legit media outlet for your viewing pleasure. Here at LTP you are lucky you get a guest blogger, much less a real blogger with real insight and pictures.

Saturday night after the race my family and I and Heather F. and the JK-47 headed to my folks place to hang with the Van Dessel Factory team. I volunteered my parents to be host housing and they got Jennifer Maxwell, elite female from Van Dessell. Julia Casals and Tony Billota (her teammates) joined us for a cookout, some beers, and story telling. They left with some sweet RRP t-shirts and I left kinda drunk and not really looking forward to suffering through Sunday.

Sunday saw race day 3 start with a frantic phone call to me from the venue. They needed 7 large bags of ice stat. I was all that stood between racers, spectators, and potentially warm beer! So I got the family unit home and down for naps and loaded the truck with gear and headed across town. I got ice unloaded, parked and changed just in time to see the Cat 3 men go off. Michael "Dudikoff" Seiler rode well and got to climb onto the second place stairs for his effort in teh 45+. Steirwalt finished off his weekend by notching 3 consecutive top 10s in the 3 35+ group. He will be on a few podiums as the season goes on. My prediction is Gun Club. The elite masters were up next; Mark Legg and two other dudes rode around by them selves for a while with Legg crossing the line first. Elite women saw KFC go 3 for 3. Strong rides werw put in by all the OVCX regular ladies on Sunday. J-Pow took the men's race ahead of Trebon and a Rapha rider.

Captain Kirk had his dreams of riding two races in the same day dashed by the license po-po so he took out his stomach full of anger (and who knows what else) on us poor cat 4's. Kirk took home second and put a big gap into the overall OVCX standings. Newest Rogue Tim rode up at the pointy end of the race in the open 4's and scored a top 10. The race was hot, dusty, long, and generally miserable for me. I hate the long power climbs that all the roadies love. Good thing about big fields though is you are always racing somebody. A special request from my friend Scott "Sparky" Lyle, if someone could please bring a live chicken, 2 shots of whiskey, and some eye of newt so we can cast the flat tire demons out of his bike, he would greatly appreciate it. 5 races, 3 flats. Not a good way to start a season.

All in all a fabulous weekend. It is best summed up by the scene that greeted me as I crossed the finish line in 17th place on Sunday. Barely able to keep upright, ready to keel over, wanting to curl up in the fetal position and suck my thumb, Lance Brown tossed me a PBR. Yeah, that sounds about right.