Boss Cross #3

The third Boss Cross race was at little Barry Platte Park just 4 miles from my home. Andy and Regan were in town from Manhattan so we got up on Saturday morning and cruised over together.
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The best thing about the race Saturday was the Colavita Corner. Wow, the crew was out en force! Racers were either delighted or scared or a little of both as they exited the second sand-run.
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I did the Masters race as a warm up at 11. My legs felt dead for most of that race but started to wake up some near the end. I took it easy for the last 5 laps b/c I wanted to save myself for the SS.
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Britton lined up on the front with the leader's jersey on for the SS race. I started right behind him and when the whistle blew we went into the first corner with a couple other guys at the front. Britton got out front right away and I jumped onto a couple of guys wheels and marked them for a few laps. Britton was moving on, so with about 4-5 laps to go, I jumped the guys in front of me and spent about 2 laps working my way up to Britton. He and I rode together for a bit and on the bell lap, he attacked and proved that he was deserving of the General Lee jersey. I tried to follow him but couldn't pull back the 15 second gap.
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Andy got another win in the 3 race and took over the jersey in that cat. So we now have two Colavitas in leader's jerseys! Andy's race was awesome- he battled 2nd place dude all race until the last lap where Andy put it down and powered away. Truly inspirational. That's why we race!
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Race evaluation: Great course. Good vibe. Toilet situation sucked. Thanks for the beer once again, Boulevard.

Pee-proof pants

Swrve pee-proof pants.
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My GF, Michaela has a pomeranian and by default, I have a pomeranian. A known characteristic of pomeranians is that they have 'excitable urination'. My question is this: If you're breeding dogs, and you're breeding in, or out, certain characteristics, wouldn't you breed out the excitable urnination??? Seriously. Apparantly this is an endearing quality amongst pomeranian owners. So...
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I rode up to Zona Rosa tonight with the intention of using my Dick's Sporting Goods gift certificate but only made it as far as the bar. I was sitting there drinking when my good ol' friend Will from NYC called and said he just landed at KCI. So he came over and we had a drink and dinner and some laughs and then I headed home. Oh, I had a steak cooked Pittsburg Rare- that's basically bloody and cold inside and burnt on the outside- haven't come to a ruling on that just yet...
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Anyway, I rode home and on the way stopped and grabbed a sixer of Lunar and in my own excitement of arriving home and opening said beer and seeing said dog, I forgot about the most prominant pomeranian trait... excitable urination. I encouraged her up on my lap and she jumped up and proceeded to let loose. Only, here's the thing. I was in my Swrve knicks and as she let loose on me- tongue wagging- the pee beaded and cascaded right off me and onto the couch. Couch be damned! These pants are awesome! I jumped up when I realized what was happening and suddenly I realized the miracle that had occured. There was absolutely no pee on me! No pee on me! No pee on me! Sing it with me, "No pee- uh-uh- On me..." It shed right off, I tell you! Incredible.
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So, just one more great thing these pants do. I live in these on the bike in fall-winter-spring. Now I know I can love my dog Sadie in them with no worries. Rad.

Smithville CX

photo by ROGER

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Did the SS and the Open race at Smithville today. The course was awesome. Very similar to last year but with a few extra turns thrown in that made it slightly more technical. The beach was far more easier to ride this year b/c the sand was a little wet and it packed up nice. Some ruts formed but it was still fast and the bank up from the wet area was way hard and fast. Cross Guru thought he made the run-up unridable this year, but he's going to have to try harder if he wants to keep me from pedaling up it- bwaaah-haa-ha...
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I was excited to start the SS race on my new White Ind./Sun wheelset. Britton and I both got a good start and went into the first turns with the front riders. He and I rode with two other riders for a lap and a half or so and then he shot off the front coming out of the lake. I got onto Hammontree's wheel and stuck there for awhile to see if Britton would ride away with it. He dangled for awhile and then started to pull away a little, so I went around Hammontree and Britton and I finished out the race together in front. We got 1-2. It was my first win in awhile.
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In the Open race, I got stuck behind 3 pile-ups within the first minute of racing. It was over before it started for me. I finally got through the bottleneck of the first few turns and started cruising but I was either trying to go way too fast and overcooking everything or Vittoria Evo's suck compared to Michelin Muds. I was all over the course and couldn't hold a line with the Vittorias so on the second lap I pitted and traded my geared bike for my SS with the Michelins and finished out the race on it. I was having more fun on it anyway. I managed to catch and pass a few fellows but more importantly, I had a blast on the awesome Smithville course.
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Teammate Andy won the 2/3 race so he and I mixed our 6-pack winnings of Weston Brewing Festival Ale and Wheat. I'm enjoying one of each now.

It's A L I V E ! ! !

The SS is up and running again on a new set of wheels. White Ind. ENO and H2 hubs laced to Sun rims. White Ind. is so awesome. I told Britton what I wanted and he had the stuff from W.I. in hand 4 days later! I also splurged and got a W.I. trials freewheel. It's got great engagement with 72 points but what I like the best is that it's perfectly round! I can tension my chain just right and there are no tight or loose spots- beautiful.
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I'm running 39-18 at Smithville this weekend. Rain is in the forecast and I'm hoping and praying that it gets sloppy. I'm really not in good race condition and sloppy conditions would help me a lot by slowing the fast guys down. Then it becomes a bike handling game.
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Rumor: Manion's Cross II! Actually this isn't even a rumor anymore. There will be a second Manion's Cross coming in November. I went out and started scoping out a new course tonight. There may even be a double barn-burner. And pavement. More info. coming soon...

Eat or Race?

Money's tight. Had to drive down to Wichita to complete my duties as president of the Kansas Association of Mappers and to pass the torch to the next pres. Spent money I didn't want to and now I'm on an all-time tight budget. So, I used my race money for tomorrow to buy food tonight. 20 bucks got me all this stuff at Dollar Tree:
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I'm riding over to the BLVD Cup tomorrow to support my team and hang at the Colavita Corner. I'll get back to racing soon, but I'll have to pick my battles carefully. For now, it'll be nice to get out on the bike and enjoy watching some racing after a week spent on the road in a suit.

Blue Bomber

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This is what I'll be kickin around on this winter. This was my first real high-performance road bike. Dave at The Pathfinder in Manhattan, KS gave me a great deal on it after it'd been sitting in the shop waiting for a home for a couple of years. That was in 1995. It's been dressed up many different ways since then and it's been across the state of Iowa more times than I have. It was the first bike I took on Ragbrai. Together with a borrowed red Specialized Allez, my friend Corey and I rode every mile as The Blue Bomber and The Red Rocket, respectively. The Turd Rocket and the KYBO Blaster came later... but those are different stories.
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I can already feel the good this thing is doing me after just a few rides. It's great to be back on a SS again. I'm using a geared hub wheel on the back with a QR but as long as I keep it clamped down tight and don't wag too much when I stand up, it stays put. Most the rest of the stuff is "junker" parts but somehow they seem to work together well on the ol' junker Paramount.

Swayze

Damn, that was hard.
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I'm tired all over... even my nipples are tired.
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Stopped at CVS for a 6 pack on the way home and saw they had BLVD 12s on sale so I grabbed one of those instead. Kind of a crooked ride home with that in one hand. I thought it might straighten me out but it didn't... so now I'm just going to get bent.
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Waiting for my Colavita pasta with oil,basal, rosemary, parmesean to get done... One more Pale Ale.
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Oh, good turnout tonight for the race. If you missed it you'll want to be there next week. Good crowd, nails-down racing, and a special surprise...
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RIP Pat

180 at full speed

Put some wheels on the ol' Paramount and rode it down to Volker for the Monday Recovery Ride. I'd forgotten how much fun that thing is to ride. I used a bunch of spare parts to build it up including the Sugino messenger ring I won at last year's Barnyard CX and an old wheel I've been using on the trainer. It worked OK but a real SS wheel with a bolt on hub would've been better- I threw the chain twice going down to Volker. Got horn-blasted by two successive semi trucks crossing HOA. Then I got cut off from the left by someone pulling onto SW Tfwy and squeezed into a parked car- that's when the second thrown chain happened. I swatted the guy's hood and cursed him and he just stopped (in the middle of SW Tfwy!) and starred at me and let me finish. That was nice of him, I guess. Some days.
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Once I got to Volker, things got better, except Britton wouldn't let me have any malt liquor. I tightened down the skewer to the point of metalurgic compaction, added a rear brake, and we set off for our group ride. A couple of mechanicals later (not mine) and a short ride around midtown landed us at McCoy's for post-ride refreshments.
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Then the ride home... The ride home was incredible. Crisp night air. No wind. Darkness. And me alone on my bike. I negotiated my way through downtown and across the river, then up through Briarcliffe and into Riverside. I hit a stride heading into Northmoor and never stopped pedaling full-gas the rest of the way home. Every light turned for me and every intersection was clear. I was in one of those rare ride states where you don't feel yourself doing anything. No breathing, no work. Just the scenery wooshing by. Beautiful.

Can you hear me knockin'?

Just got back from Vampire Weekend at Starlight. I highly reccomend. Wow. I haven't got a good dose of energy like that since Franz Ferdinand in Larrytown many moons ago. Those boys know what they're doing.

Raced my first Open race today at Boss Cross 1. Finished 21 out of 28. Meh... Didn't get lapped, so that is a minor victory. Winkler was en fuego- that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.

Britton grabbed the SS leader's jersey which is a nice General Lee lookalike, er motif... well it's a shrine I tell ya! Anyway, awesome jersey and the BK got him some. Good luck hangin' on to it tomorrow.

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Here's some pics of friends: