Oh Yes It's Almost That Time

There's only one more cyclocross race before the my favorite season starts, SNOWBOARD SEASON! I have a killer new board and bindings coming in via UPS this week. Can't wait to get them and start doing carpet 360's and boardgrabs getting ready for some serious rippage of the terrain parks at Weston, and the newest hot spot this year, KEYSTONE!

Oh ya, get ready Keystone, t minus 2 weeks and counting...

BTW, for all you snow junkies out there, Ride is doing a promotion. Sign up, use their search engine and you win points in which you can later cash in for Ride products. You'll find it here...



Maybe I can score a sweet trucker hat...

I'm Not A Runner

What a sweet ass race... I've been waiting for that shit since all you crazy nutty cylocross racers have been trying to talk me into doing it. All the talk about just how fucking great this cyclocross racing is. Ya, your right. I said it, I love the shit. This weekend race was made for me, kinda...

You see one thing I lack horribly in when it comes to cyclocross is running. Especially when it comes to running up steep long hills. I ride a bike, I don't run. Although after this weekend, I learned that it's something I'll be loading into my arsenal next season, hell maybe even a little this season coming into OUR state championship.

They started us with the Open class at the Destad KS State Championship Race. I coulda gave a shit less about this race, I'm not from KS, I can't win State, and I missed last weeks race taking me out of the overall running. I wanted to have fun, I wanted to race in MUD! I got both...

I had a pretty awesome start, I had an even better first couple of laps. I was stoked when I ran up the hill hearing Cameron shout out "Dude your like top 5!" Who would of guessed a couple of single speeders could toss it up with the open guys. Only in a race like yesterdays...

Songer rode strong, but I felt stronger. I could have done alot of things differently, but I did what I did, and came up short of the win. I was riding behind Songer comfortably, more comfortable than ever before. I even led a bit, but wanted to keep it low key till the last few laps to go. That worked until he put a gap on me. I closed it alright, that's right, I'm not that big of a bitch. But then I layed it out sideways on one of the corners. Totally washed the front end of the bike out like I had just hit a patch of ice. Wallowed in the mud like a fucking pig, but quickly got back on it. At this time he had 30 seconds on me and we had two laps to go.

I worked and worked, but with each of the three running sections I lost power. My legs felt like cement. I was toast... Last lap was a blur, my only regret was that I didn't lay it down harder. I could tell Songer was pushing it and my legs just didn't have it. Turns out he had a bad last lap and won by only 10 seconds. Oh well, I was happy, I had a fucking blast, and I got to toss it up with the Open guys like a pro, with one gear...

If you missed it, I'm truely sorry, you missed the best race of the year. I did everything wrong coming into the race just to see how much it would matter... Didn't seem to matter much. But for our State I'll probably refrain from eating all you can eat crablegs the night before, downing a bottle of wine, and otherwise partaking in illegal activity that would likely be frowned upon by our great governing clusterfuck that is know as USCF.

Good times, man good times...

Quote of the race that made my day, "You have spikes on those tires?" Brian Jensen as I slice a downhill right corner passing him. Yup, spikes and fucking tire chains...

Lake Cycling

If you're not buying Lake Cycling shoes, you need to be... I swear, I've never experienced customer service like theirs, EVER! I just got off the phone with Chris, I had a few issues with a couple pair of their shoes, and as always he was spot on with his service.

I bought a pair of their top end 401's a year back, and competly destroyed them at Ouchita this year. I talked with Chris, and he informed me they had an issue with said shoe, which I why I was able to buy it at the discount price. No biggie, he said send them here, and I'll fix them up. Not only did he fix them up, but he sent me a replacement pair of 235's to ride while I was without the 401's. That's a $200 pair of shoes for free, just so he knew that I had something to wear in the meantime.

Oh by the way, when you call their number, it rings a few times, and a real person picks up. Eat that shit big 3.

So fast forward to today. My 401's had a broken dial from eating shit at the Swope XC race. I've been bullshiting about calling, but finally called today. He hooked me up with the BOA e-mail and told me what to do to get a new dial system sent to me, for free. Also my 235s have had an issue with the rear sole cup coming loose. The stichting broke a few months ago, and finally broke loose. Again, no biggie said Chris, send me a picture, take them to your local shoe smith, and I'll re-imburse you for the cost.

Holy shit, I mean how much better can you get? Well let me tell you... My buckles came a little loose and flop around a bit. I don't give a shit, they still work, but they click clack sometimes. I'm not picky, especially with a free pair of shoes. While I was talking to him about the new pimptastic 235's coming out, he told me they went to straps because they're trying to get away from buckles. I told him my deal and he said he was shipping out the new and improved buckle system as we spoke.

Now you may ask why I've had so many problems with my shoes. Understand that on a normal year, I would go through 2-3 pair of Specialized shoes. While I never really tested Specialized shoes warranty, I don't care. They fell apart like junk, while as the Lake shoes just have little issues here and there. Not completly falling apart issues like I had with Specialized. I ride hard, I'm hard on my shit. If a pair of shoes last me a year I'm utterly amazed. The 235's look like brand new after 6 months of constant abuse. A little work on the heal and I'm good. The 401's after the repair still are holding strong also.

Lake is the shit in my book and I hope they can be the shit for you too. Check out their website at www.lakecycling.com.

And here's a pic of the new 235. Oh ya baby, RASTAFARIAN! I'm checking a pair come March, these are just to sweet to pass up.

Boss Cross 3 - Ups and Downs

Wow that one awesome, painful race...

Cameron smoked us in the SS class. I had a good gap at one time on Songer, he came back, and beat me at the very last minute of the last lap. Almost...

I borrowed Kevin's Tricross to race the 3/4s. Couldn't muster the strength for the SS in two races. Probably the hardest race of my life, there were times where all I wanted to do was collapse and die. Started out horrible, towards the back, but found my groove and started picking off riders left and right. A few laps in I found myself behind Mark Cole. Put it down on the techinical section to get a gap. Slowly built it up and then went to maintaining it.

Could't catch Travis, he was riding well and I didn't have shit for snap. I came around and saw 5 laps to go and almost passed out. The last half of the race was a blur, pound it on the hills and sappy sections and hold on for the rest. Managed to take 4th though, which I was happy about.

Won 20 bucks in that race, and a Giro hoodie for a 3rd in the SS class. Another good day of training.

Yesterday we woke up early, popped the first top of a bottle of wine at 10 and finished the third bottle around 5. Good day of relaxing and enjoying the weather. This time change has me all messed up.

Wanna ride tommorow night? Legs get snapped at the Tuesday Night Training Races... Meet at the west side of Berkley Riverfront Park, just below the Grand St. viaduct.