Smithville Pain Fest!

I'll give it to him, Songer is one strong son of a bitch. Not to say his mother is a bitch, just a figure of speech. Any dude who can race a master's race solidly, and then come kick some ass in the SS class has my respect. I've beaten him once, only because he had mechanical issues. I've been able to hold on to him a little in every race, even leading him in some. This race I would only be able to hold on for 3 or so laps before he dropped me like a shit from the rear.

I think I needed a 21... The 42x20 has been golden, except for these last two races. I think last weekends race was just some bad decisions from the few nights before, but I know this race coming in I was fresh. The bike worked flawlessly as always, but that fuck you hill took it's toll. Not to mention the sand.

Chris Locke started out like a bat out of hell, almost taking out the lead back in the first turn. Slow your roll bud, you're much better off holding a wheel for the first lap, not trying to run us all into the ground. Songer took a gap, I finally passed Chris on the barriers and made it to Songer. He later dropped me, 3rd and 4th looked strong but dropped off at seperate times during the race, and I took 2nd, again, to Songer.

My back sucked it up, not sure what that's been about. To the Chiro, then lotsa core and back work. It's Songer in first for the overall with me in second. I need to win the next two races...

Thanks to the crew for putting on a bad ass race, it a blast as always with this cross shit.

Travis raced his best looking race yet taking second to Mark Cole. Who I assume is catting up next weekend? I would sure hope so, he's more than ready. Cam raced the open on his fixed mtb, crazy fucker. I held on the last part of the race just making sure I met him at the same crossing every lap to ensure I wasn't losing time. Was sastisfied with that...

Can you say blown up? I rode that wall thou damnit, and made it my bitch almost ever time except for once or twice...

Kevin cracks me up, I can see it running through his head, "I will squash this pussy barrier, and prove once and forall my manly might!"

Get ready for Boss Cross 3 this weekend, it Halloween and I'm sure many shanagans will be going down. Now to figure out my costume...

Boulavard Cup

Tank 7, the shit... My legs, not so much. Boulavard Cup was a C race for me, so I'm still happy at my lackluster performance. Friday night and Saturday spelled disaster with a giant blowup with Jamie led to a bunch of unwanted stress, but that's life. That's women...

I felt decent warming up but once the pre-lap hit, I noticed tight legs. The first lap went well with Cam and I putting in a nice gap. I slowly started to fade from there. Went down on lap 3 or 4 and lost some time. Songer eventually passed me on the three step barrier, I went too wide and ended up outside of the tape. Had to do another quick dismount to get back on course and he saw it. He put in a surge, I couldn't answer.

Felt like quiting many times during the race. I couldn't stay one top of my gear, and my back was killing me which is unusual. I saw 4th starting to make ground so I decided to use some strategy. I sat up on lap 5 for the last half and let him catch up. I knew 5th was out of it, so it would be me and him for 3rd. He put in an instant gap on the pavement, probably 10 or so seconds. I quickly caught him on the first hill and noticed he was feeling it too. I managed to cut him on a corner and took back over 3rd and never looked back.

Caught a second wind, and managed to extend my gap leading into the last lap. Took a beer hand up and cruised in for 3rd. Pretty happy given my weak performance. Got to see what I was really made of, and it will prove to pay off hugely in my future performances.

The race was awesome, the food was amazing, the beer was flowing, and the crowd was awesome. Something about people screaming your name makes you dig deep.

This pic pretty much sums it up for me. Huge congrats to Travis, he put in a nice race even though they wouldn't allow him to race 3's. Cam tore up the SS division on his Fixie, proving he still is and always will be a beast on a bike. Jamie, Kevin, and Jessie also were in attendance, all looking stonger than ever. Good job guys!

Chris Cross EARLY!

Holy shit, someone inform the slackass police to remove my name, I actually have a race report that's not a week old. I haven't reported any good music lately either, so here's one... Company of Thieves, a female led alternative group out of Chicago. I'm not usually one to fall in love with a female led vocal band, not to sound gay or anything, but there's been few that truely grab my musical likings. Genevieve does tho, and Oscar Wilde, acoustic or not, is a great song to start with. Ordinary Riches is the only CD I've run across on Itunes, and it's a pretty damn good one.

So back to what ya came for, the report on what exactly went down this weekend. Let me start by making fun of those who didn't have the balls to come out and race in the colder than normal bulllshit Missouri weather. YOU FUCKED UP! Ha ha, really, you might have missed one of the most kick ass course to date. Then again I'm new to this cyclocross shit, but I heard from others that the course was well loved. Nice off cambered climbs, plenty of elevation, some sweet cobblestones, and enough bumps to weed out the tough from the weak.

I lined the SS class, as we waited to launch just 30 seconds after the 1/2/3's. I managed to find the front line, a postition I always try to grab. I find that as long as I can stay in the front, I can do well. We started on an uphill and I had one of the best starts of my life, with an instant clip in followed by an explosion of pedals to take the holeshot easily. I let Stephen Songer take the led though, because I have also learned that as long as you can hold to this dude, your going to be in the top two. He's been dominating the SS class, but each week I find myself holding his wheel longer and longer. Behind us chasing were Theodore Flemming and Chris Locke. Two more guys I knew I had to look out for.

Songer and I put in a gap early, but it wasn't as big as usualy. He led the first lap, I lead the second, and then he took back over on the third. We had a decent gap built up to this point, and that's when shit luck hit Songer. Coming into the tennis court section he dropped his chain, and I was forced to take the lead. I don't mind this postition but I haven't been in it enough for cross to feel comfortable. This was only about 20 minutes into the 50 minute race and I was a little uncertain how to keep my pace as to not fizzle out and lose my lead.

Well I held it... Took 1st. I felt good, and being able to see how far back Theodore was helped me with my pacing. Songer dropped his chain a bunch more and ended up 6th. This is turning into quite a interesting turn of events with the SS overall classification. Both Songer and I have a 1st and 6th, and both Theodore and Chris have a 2nd and 3rd. That puts their total even at 88 and ours at 84. If I can stay consistant and hold off Songer and those two, I can take the overall. That's going to lead to 3 though races...

Thanks to my old team of Cowtown for putting on quite the event. I really hoped it would have worked out with that team, but I've left to join the ranks of Team Ethos for reasons of we all fit together nicely. Travis did nice with a 6th in a very competitive 3/4 group. I can probably confidently say that there are some definent sandbaggers in that group, Dan O being ommited from that statement. Whoever that guy was who took first obviously looked to be an Open Racer in the wrong class for some points. Guess I won't say much more, but good job Travis non the less. Jamie was also out putting it down in the 4s.


I love that money shot.

BOULAVARD CUP THIS WEEKEND! See you then, or if you'd like you can come test your might Wednesday at the Swayze Memorial Cyclocross Race, I'll be there... Will you?

Boss Cross Late Yes

Damnit man, no matter how hard I try I still slack on the updates. I'm wasting some time so I figured in between watching clips of bad asses like Martin Soderstrom and reading post about how Eatough is making his last big bang this weekend, I present my last weekend recap.

Boss Cross totally kicks ass, those guys put on one hellava weekend. I did awesome, proud of my skillz, and it made paying 160 bucks for a fucking Comfort Inn room worth it. Seriously? Comfort Inn common, I know it was the last room but I didn't even get a reach around. I at least expect some lube with that rape, but alas, I was dry humped.

Saturday I lined the SS race and battled it out with Songer and another 360 racer. Songer took off, I fumbled and wrecked. I battled hard with the other guy but made my pass on the sandy river bottom section. I hopped off, ran, passed, and made it stick. I put it down heavy and put in a gap to take 2nd for the day.

Saturday night was filled with some good food, good brew, and good company over at Trav's house. I only threw back three because I figured I'd like to do somewhat decent on Sunday, so we called it an early night.

Sunday was good. I was in the mix in the SS race, right behind Britton. We caught Songer with 1 and half to go. I fumbled again, they put it down, I lost them, and sat up the rest of the race. Took it easy because I figured I'd try my hand at the Cat 4 race. We started the Cat 4 race 30 minutes later. I felt great, and managed to stay to the front and out of all the carnage that was going down. I did ride shitty the first lap but busted loose on the barriers on lap 2. Put it down hard for the win. I know, I probably cherry picked a bit, but I already had one race in me for the day, I'm new to this shit, and I was on a SS for christ sake. I mean those guys had wheels that cost more than my whole bike. I'm joining the 3/4 ranks next time...

Great weekend, great racing, and great weather. Congrats to Travis for taking 3rd on Saturday in the 3/4's. That was seriously one of the most bad ass finishes I've got the pleasure of watching. Go Ethos!

I got to hit up a couple hours of dirt last night... Binder Lake. Fucking great I tell you. Two weeks my Stumpy has sat in the basement. Ever since the Swope race. It felt great to get back out on the trails, and I was reminded that even though I love this cross shit, mountain biking will always be where my heart remains. I just love ripping singletrack and tackling technical obstacles. Nothing like it...

So no training tonight, hit it hard tommorow night, take it easy Saturday, and race Chris Cross on Sunday. Not a bad plan... I meant to post some pics from this weekend, but I don't have them and even if I did that shit takes time. I'm off to pick up some ribs, some brew, and a can of chaw to post up and watch the gridiron game of MU VS Nebraska tonight. I don't really care that much, but something about sitting on my ass and watching a epic battle in the rain and mud sounds pleasing.

Swayze Memorial Cross Race and This Weekends Asskickings

So if you missed Wednesday's Swayze Memorial Cross race, then I feel sorry for you. You missed out on a great time. To sum it up, you missed Shawn creaming the barrier trying to show his superior bunny hopping skillz, or lack thereof, and Cameron in rare form not know what to do with high speeds, a fixie, and a barrier. He looked goofy as hell trying to dismount. I thank you Cam, had it not been for that fuck up, you would have destroyed us all in the three stage cross race. Oh, but the name of the game is consistancy my friend, something your normally very good about, but you brought a knife to a gunfight, and forgot how to throw it.

Thanks to Briton for putting on a good time, I think he also could have been in contengency for the top spot but unfortantely he took a spill on the first short track race and broke his right Rival shifter. You never know just what may happen...

Me, I raced particularly well in the light of strong players. I put down a decent TT, but had troubles clipping in which cost me some time. I took 3rd tied with Chris Hersey. He managed to one up me on the first race, I had a pass planned on the last home stretch but got caught up in traffic and couldn't pull the trigger. The second longer race had Chris out front for half the race. I then pulled a move, and did like they say and put in a gap. It held, I still got lapped by Cameron, but pulled out a 2nd to wrap up the night in a tie with Hersey for first.

I'll take it, but I know I was not the best out there, just the most consitant. It was awesome training, and my lungs got a searing workout. I felt like I had smoked a quarter sack afterwards, but I knew it was for the better. Unlike had I really smoked that much grass. Oh, the good ol' days.

Gather up the boys cause this weekend the cross action is going to be hot. Parkview is home of the Boss Cross 1 and 2, Saturday and Sunday. I plan on putting the hurt on as many SS'ers as possible, just got the call that my new Surly cogs are in. No more 42x18, I'm taking it a little easier.

Here's the dirt on Swayze.

Here's Boss Cross...

Peace and Love Hombres, get out and ride yur foocking bike.