Finding The Funk With Elvis

More Pro as of 2/19/08

2008-02-20T09:45:00.004-06:00

I will be attempting to conduct myself in a more adult like manner, more PRO you may say. You may not?

bookmark this... http://davebreslin.blogspot.com/

Fishing has been a little slow... http://wildmountaintrout.blogspot.com/

Rocky IV TYPE TRAINING DAY

2008-02-06T15:46:00.000-06:00

I haven't talked about riding a bike in a while since base training is just a slow grind that numbs my creativity. Today was different. I headed out to get in 4 hours in the wind, often snowy but more often sleet in my face conditions. I thought about turning around when I got up on the levy and the west wind was forcing me to ride at a 45* angle to stay on the bike path, but then I thought about EP and knew he would be sitting in his tanning bed getting ready to go train in some sunny climate and pushed on.

I rode up passed the Chain of Rocks Bridge to Fort Belafontaine and did a loop on the gravel trail and then tried to find some new trails which turned out to be a little soft. A little soft might be an understatement. It was peanut butter mud and I had to stop to clean my tires and brakes because my wheels had stopped spinning. The STL is not blessed with the endless BOCOMO style gravel roads I read about. When I left the Fort the weather picked up and the sleet was coming at my grill pretty hard. I pushed on knowing that at this point EP was probably sitting in a hot bubble bath shaving his arms.

I passed by Spanish Lake but didn't think that riding the trails would be so much fun in the mud so I did a loop around the Columbia River Bottoms. It started out great. 23 mph on my CX bike singing along at the top of my lungs to a sweet show from the solid year of Phish, 2000. "Forgive me if I don't sing in the key!!!" I knew that I was sliding into the pain cave without feeling it and would have to claw my way out; it was an out and back. I hit the turn around point and it was like magic; the sweet Glide>Axilla> Taste eargasm. I sung along as the NW wind belted me in the face with more sleet. This time it hurt and I could barely see the trail through my not- so clear- iced- up- lenses. I stopped at the visitor center, filled my bottles while Trey had the Taste peaking like a 1995 Bordeaux, or so I have heard, help me out with that one if you can!

By the time I passed the Chain of Rocks again I was ready for my first real workout of 2008. I didn't really have a choice. I got my heart rate up a had a nice 30 min long tempo effort which felt easy. A good base helps.

The endorphin rush has awakened my senses once again.

what a game.

2008-02-04T08:26:00.001-06:00

The cake was really good. At least a woman who was at the party ate the "score" before the majority of people knew what was up...

Riding in the snow and baking...

2008-02-03T11:19:00.000-06:00

It's amazing how much free time I have when I have a rest week... I did have some fun riding in fresh powder on my mountain bike on Thursday night and again for 2 hours last night. Last night was tough because it had become kinda slushy... I'm ready for the game today.

I almost thought twice before I wrote the 19-0 on there... Almost.

More moving motivational moments...

2008-01-29T09:43:00.000-06:00

Read into this. If you are a Giants fan or lying there for an hour in your tanning bed, know that I watched this movie last night and it meant a lot to me. Now I'm going to train... BONSAI!

Gisele as well: A day in the life of Tom Brady

2008-01-26T09:47:00.000-06:00

You may wake up some day in the morning and wonder: What would it be like to be Tom Brady right now.

Well I have your answer.

You wake up around 7:30 a.m. You look beside you and remember that you are dating Gisele Bundchen. So you say good morning. Then you walk into your apartment kitchen, and slice your self a nice warm piece of Coach Belichick's humble pie.

You open up the sports section of the Boston Globe, flip to the football section and admire your stats for a quick moment.

Now, it's time to raise some paparazzi hell. You go look in your old storage closet and find a plastic medical boot that you used once when you were injured in college.

You then, at that moment, decide that you have hurt your left ankle. You choose to wear this out, not thinking what Patriots fans will think of this. Then you call Gisele in and tell her that she's coming on a walk with you.

You walk out. Then go outside.

All of a sudden a bunch of photographers come running toward you flashing film at your mysterious medical boot. You get so bothered that you decide to go back home. By then, it's time for practice.

You hop in the Porsche and drive on down to Foxboro and park inside Gillette Stadium. You walk into the locker room, and every one of your teammates is just looking at you blankly. You know why they are staring. They saw the pictures of the boot.

Which brings us to our main point. Being Tom Brady might be fun, but pulling off the scandals that Mr. Brady does, might be near impossible.
-bleacherreport.com

Blackness...

2008-01-23T10:00:00.000-06:00

Tarmac Pro. Cat II road racing is too hard so I'll just be all the pro I can be training on tubies... This bike is really fun to ride.

Epic Marathon. Will be 22.5 lbs (with pedals) with Stans 1210 gram race wheels...Pirtle wrecking machine.

The S-Works Tricross. Check out the TJ approved TRP carbon brakes below.

Jens Seven Aerios. I rode the rollers for the second time this year yesterday b/c it was too icy. It sucked.

The his and hers edition S-Works Tricross. Definitely gay.

2007 Results

2008-01-20T13:14:00.000-06:00

MO Norba Series- Lost Valley Luau - 3rd place Endurance class
MWFTS- Rim Wrecker, Council Bluff- DNF Marathon Class
MWFTS- RIM Wrecker, Council Bluff- DNF Expert Class
MWFTS- Rhetts Run, Cosmo Park- 1st Marathon
MO Norba Series- National City,Castlewood- 3rd Endurance Class
KYMBA Series- White Lightning, Canal Loop LBL- 1st Expert
Heartland Sports Series- KC Cup @ Landahl- 2cd Expert
WEMS- John Muir 6 hr solo- John Muir Trail 2cd 6 hr
AMBCS- Three Legged Dawg NRC Race, AR. 3rd Expert
DINO- Muscatatuck AMBC Race, IN. 3rd Expert in class/ 13th overall
MWFTS- Tall Oak Challenge, Binder Lake- 1st place Marathon
MWFTS- Show Me State Games, Rock Brige State Park- 1st place Marathon
Heartland Sports Series- Rapture in Misery 12 hr, Landahl. 1st place 12 hr Solo
Ohio Mountain Bike Championship Series- Mohican Wilderness 12 hour, 1st place 12 hr solo
Mesa Cycles Burnin' at the Bluff 12 hr solo- Race ending mechanical @ hr 2/12- DNF!
Midsouth Endurance Series- Lakeland 250 (4hr 10 min), Memphis, Tennessee- 2cd/ 2cd overall
Bubba CX Series- Spanish Lake- 2cd place A's
Bubba CX Series- Faust Park- 11 place A's
Bubba CX Series- QUeeny Park- 5th place A's
Bubba CX Series- Winter Park- DNF
Bubba CX Series- Unger Park- 3rd place A's
MO CX State Championships- Hermann- 3rd place A's, Cat III State Champion

cold foraging

2008-01-18T09:03:00.000-06:00

things have been pretty slow around here. i've been a crazed maniac, a willy wonka meets hunter s. thompson flurry of activity, in my obsession with high end light bike parts.

i have two new bikes which i will unveil with photos on here soon... for now i will only say that even Murphy was impressed when I took my new Epic Marathon out of the box at just over 25 lbs and had it down to 23.5 in about an hour... the kicker is that i have some wheels and rotors on the way that are going to bring it down to 22 lbs. fo' real.

next up is a tarmac pro. i put my cosmic carbones with some conti sprinters on there and am going to ride it this morning... it's tough. i also put a pair of ksyrium es's on my S-works cx bike to train on and will be racing on the Carbones with some Dugasts that Sven sent me next fall... life is swell in my little world.

lastly, i have been cold foraging lately. i put in 17 hours last week and am working on 18 this week, all outside. while some folks call winter training cold forging, i call it cold foraging. i basically ride around freezing my ass off for hours thinking about food. the only problem is the cold weather has slowed my brain so much that by the time i get home and try to bring the feast all together i leave out crucial elements. for example... i made chili for jen and i to have for lunch on wed morning, so after 4.5 hrs of pedaling i wanted some bad-ass nachos. i went to schnucks to buy sour cream and tortillas and came home with 2 bottles of wine, 2 cartons of silk chocolate soy milk (mix that with chocolate endurox and you recover like rehab), some nachos and some brussell sprouts that looked tasty. i totally forgot the sour cream, a must have. so i pull a cork and start to make my nachos. at this point i'm starved and piling it on. tortillas, chili, cheese... it looks grand but wtf, where's the sour cream? while looking in the fridge i see the big jar of jalapenos staring back at me which really pissed me off...

Brokeback Brady??? My hero likes goats?? EVEN BETTER! Bahhaahhaaaa

The Party's Over... time to detox

2008-01-02T15:19:00.000-06:00

I used to see this t-shirt at Phish shows "Betty Ford is for quitters," and while that may be the case I'm still signing up. Sometime during CX season I convinced myself that beer drinking was a part of CX to make myself feel better. Today was day 1; ground zero. Time to build a new foundation and see if I can teach my body to go fast for shorter periods of time on the mountain bike. March is right around the corner.

16-0. Did you watch the game? Are you kidding me? Clutch. Need I say more?

Missouri CX State Champs

2007-12-11T09:10:00.000-06:00

Everyone who showed up and raced Sunday is a Champ in my book. The race was epic. The conditions looked like any I have seen in the awesomely radical Belgian CX races of my dreams and really hard. The only downside to the whole day was me feeling totally unvalidated in my victory because of some weak sauce competition who took the easy way out. You know who you are.

Anyone who made and excuse or was worried about the driving conditions is a chump. It reminded me of mornings driving from Boston to VT at 3 a.m in an Acura Integra with 3 ft of fresh snow on the ground with my buddy Joost, so we could get to Stowe and lay fresh tracks. Or Maybe guys who surf in hurricane like weather in search of the perfect wave. A little ice too tough for you? You know who you are. I even saw a couple guys at the race who should have been in my class that didn't race??? Or maybe people were saving themselves so they can get lapped at nationals? Good thinking! Next year when the promoter decides not to go as deep and do all the work for nothing (except for the 32 rock stars that wouldn't let a little mud and ice keep them from having fun), who do you think will be the first one to get on www.stlbiking.com and complain about how watered down the course is when we are riding loops around the Big Shark sales floor at 72*?

It seemed as though everyone who was racing Sunday meant business. Some people have realistic goals for Nationals and are peaking like a sweet Trey solo during an encore at the last show of a tour. For others, myself included, this was the big show. Whether your scope of racing doesn't extend beyond the regional level, or like me you didn't realize how great CX was until recently and reality isn't starting at the back of a 150 person field, there was something on the line here in everyones mind. Some people were just out there racing, the thought of peaking nonexistent at this point of their racing endeavors, maybe with fingers crossed at the starting line in their lobster claw gloves, hoping for their first win. Whatever it may have been to you on a personal level, the mystique of the State Championship race brings out peoples A game.

The masters field had some of the big A names in it and Scott Dunsmuir dominated. Instead of taking the Tom Brady approach as of late, Scott jumped out in front early and maintained a steady lead over Harre and Nagy. Unfortunately the Cat 4 race was dominated by those from across the river but all around nice guy Drew Black was the first Missouri rider across the line and pretty stoked about it. He's a nice fella. In Sven Nys style the FBC points leader let MJ lead for most of the race and then came around him in the last 200 m. MJ has stated that he tried to give him the finger but couldn't feel them and was too tired to raise his arm. Giovanni Fondolini had a great race and blew his loyal fans kisses as he crossed the line, a true Italian paisano. Old Man Murphy hung in there with some of the masters and is now more determined than ever to host a short winter CX series since he improved on the fitness/booze consumption mixture.

Since Matt Laberta and I were the only Cat III cross racers in Missouri that were able to find the zipper to their skirts in time for the race, Buddy put us in with the A's. I double checked with Josh before the start of the race to make sure he was wearing more than BKW's, I got the humble nod; no amount of embrocation was strong enough to try to keep looking pro in these conditions. I was pretty stoked to see if last weekend was just a flash in the pan or if I had figured a this CX thing out a little and could hang. I got a pretty good start behind Nate and could hear Josh gently coaching me from behind "c'mon Dave I don't want to get totally fucked here, pick it up." So much for slow starts. Instant separation on the first lap. They both rode away from me. State Champ fever outweighs starting slow, even for those slightly more pro than the rest of us. The two dominant Missouri CX riders, teammates, would force each other to ride on the rivet forcing one to crack. By the time I got to the top of the stairs I looked back to see Rico and Dust dismounting, I was flying. In the next couple of laps my lead on those guys grew quite a bit, and I noticed that Rico had dropped Dust pretty good.

As the race went on I was getting that euphoric feeling and going harder and harder, it was coming easy and the laps were ticking by fast. I was charging through the sand and riding the tough stuff pretty well for myself. Every time I would pass the pavilion I was getting fired up hearing all my friends yelling and the bells ringing. I set this goal for myself after the first race at Spanish Lake and was achieving it with perfection; it didn't matter who I was racing that day, I was feeling IT and flying. Josh and Nate lapped the rest of the field. Maybe they let up a little when I was out of sight, but judging by what other people told me, I think I was able to maintain the gap between us. I was pretty happy about finishing 3rd to those guys again and at how well I rode. Winning the State jersey lacks merit when there is only one other competitor, but like I said before, it wouldn't have mattered who I was racing that day.

Unfortunately, like all kickass-face melting Trey solos that have you riding a wave of euphoria; grinning ear to ear, starting by moving slowly to a few licks, people wondering if this is going to be one of the good ones before really taking off- erasing all doubt, getting down hard to the machine gun notes, taking it to places you've never been, faster, faster, then the uncontrollable breaking point where it is so good you are just jumping up and down, eyes closed, head and shoulders back and the music is just wailing!!!! So good- but it all is brought down with some thundering bass notes that put your feet back on the ground, the sugue back into reality, the arena stops shaking, the house lights come on and the fun's over. Often times when Phish was playing that well they didn't care whether they would have to pay some hefty fines for playing too long, they'd come back on stage and rip another tune because they loved it so much and just knew it when they had that connection. I'm feeling it now, the fitness is that good and I could probably push it if I had a stage to play on. Strange to have it so late in the season without feeling burnt. The house lights are on and it's over, time to go to the after show party and talk about how great it was...

Definition: That's PRO

2007-12-08T22:46:00.001-06:00

http://www.belgiumkneewarmers.com/2007/02/pro.html

If you suck...

2007-12-04T10:08:00.000-06:00

...And winning is just too hard, take a Sunday afternoon and watch the Patriots game. These guys are so clutch it is unreal. I laid out the Tom Brady- late in the 4th quarter- clutchness analogy to my boy CC before his race this weekend and he won by less than a wheel length on the line!

Jen isn't sure if football is played in innings or periods but watched the whole 4th quarter last night and now she keeps talking about having Tom Brady's child. Watching the Ravens fall apart and start freaking out on the field was classic. So not-pro it was pathetic.

Sven Nys has choked this year, Tom Brady hasn't. Recognize.

Bubba CX @ Unger Park

2007-12-04T08:45:00.000-06:00

Conditions were perfect.

Our man CC won the C race by a 1/2 a wheel length. We all were rocking Delta Bravo deluxe edition Mowhawks and looking pro as hell. Russ, MJ and Corey placed up there in the B race and my legs were on fire from my new embrocation. Fire. Pain. Fire. Conditions really were perfect.

This race started as I thought CX races would, real fast. Other than my first race at Spanish Lake (when I went out as fast as I could, rode away from the field, then blew up hard) I have felt that the starts were slower than I would have expected. My 39x12 for the slightly uphill, muddy start was a too stiff and I was bogged down and didn't get the jump I usually do. I made the push and moved up on the first little nasty downhill and started to put it down. When Nate came by my on the outside he was really moving and riding super smooth. I tried to stay with him but wasn't able to hang for long. I looked over my shoulder and had a pretty decent gap on Josh and Harre and was pretty stoked. I think I held the gap for two or three laps.

The difference between the way Josh and Nate start is really interesting to me. I've never seen either of them race a big race but both times I've raced (been in the same race) as Josh he has started in the back and you don't really see him for the first 15 minutes or so and then he comes by and blows your doors off. Actually, it's less door blowing and more of a grind from 4th gear to 5th gear at low RPM's, you know, when it takes a little while to get them back up before you really start to accelerate. Nate starts like an XC racer; all out off the line, get into the woods first, open up a gap, find a rhythm, back it off just a little, and then sit on the lead and force other to chase and make mistakes. I tricked myself into thinking that maybe Josh wasn't as good in the mud and I would be able to hold him off, then I made the mistake and hit a pothole on the back stretch of pavement, 28 psi in my carbon rims and thought I cracked both of them.

When Josh came by me it was as if I was going backwards. After keeping a 30 second gap on him for a few laps he opened up a gap on me twice that size in the field and just kept going. I knew I wasn't going that slow since I was able to keep a 30-40 second gap on Harre and some Team Mack guy for most of the race. I started to get a little nervous that I had punctured my rear tire because it was feeling really weird on the pavement and rubbing my brakes like crazy. I knew if I stopped I would have lost my lead on Harre and figured that I had cracked my wheel and it was out of true so I kept going. With 3 to go it was worse but Harre had dropped the Mack guy and was closing in on me.

Ironically both he and Josh came up on me at the same time, right at the bell. I jumped on his wheel for the last lap and Josh was nice enough not to demoralize me by lapping me, Harre and I were the only ones not to get lapped. I heard Ricos voice in my head telling me to settle down and be patient. I was thinking about the course and knew with my big meat 50 tooth ring and the way I was going through the first few turns out of the back stretch of pavement I had a good shot at jumping him. I think he must have been feeling it or playing it safe because the whole last lap was more like a match sprint. I just sat on his wheel and followed his lines.

When we hit the pavement I kicked my front derailleur into the big ring and put it down. I opened up a decent gap only to be slowed up by a lapped rider through one of the turns and had to push hard again. I never really got as big a margin as I thought was safe, but had enough to hold on for 3rd. For me this was a victory of the race within the race.

Turns out that my tire had rolled 3/4 the way around. I can't believe it didn't come off. Guess 28 psi is a little low. I also have learned that there is a such thing as insulated long sleeve skin suits from Josh. I never would have guessed that you could look pro as fuck and be warm. Mind boggling.

Potential Mesa CX Series

2007-12-02T10:16:00.000-06:00

"Trails suck unless they are wide enough for a cross race."

This is the kind of attitude that keeps Americans from being competitive in the Euro-CX scene. Man up son! Maybe the beer and frites is a better route for you because the racing is just too hard. In my CX racing career (4 races) I have adopted a new rule to live by; WWSND?

What Would Sven Nys Do?

Belgium knee warmers-check. Super Euro haircut- check. Deep dish carbon wheels-check. Super hot girlfriend-check. Quitting a race because his hands got too cold...

On another note, Mesa (me especially) is a little bummed at the level Big Shark domination that has been taking place in the races. I mean, Derek Loudermilks mustache isn't even euro! It might be acceptable at Sturgis but c'mon! When Josh Johnson and Nate return to town after chasing UCI points they are able to race the Bubba courses on 23 mm tires! Harre seemed to be the Euro egg, rolling into races in the bling bling Audi, hard techno bumpin. But then he helped Derek out in a couple races- which knocked his Belgian hard man status back down significantly. Sven would have screwed his teammate for the W.

Murphy was so overwhelmed by the Shark attack he downgraded to the B's only to have to deal with the Biggest Shark in the pond, hopefully his new haircut helps. Ogilvie seemed to have been convinced that Dereks tough guy non-euro look was the answer and shaved himself a handlebar 'stache. Matt James has declared that the Big Shark long sleeve skinsuits are too rad to even try to compete against and told his sponsors that he isn't going to win until he has one. I have admitted defeat, realizing that Jerry Rice was wrong; looking good doesn't make you play better and keep praying that the next race is going to be at Berryman and 6 hours long. Giovani Fondolini hasn't even been showing up to races, too upset to show his face after legally changing his name and not having considered "Dieter Housenstraeten," which would have rolled off the tongue nicely in the Belgian cross race announcers voice in his dreams.

Which brings me to my final point. The Mesa Sven Nys Invitational series is going to be all the Euro it can be with hard races, beer and Sven Nys himself. That is, if he accepts the invitation we sent him. We offered him $100 bucks to show up (no travel expenses included.) We also offered him some beer , as long as he was willing to bring it, we would reimburse him as it's too expensive and hard to find here. Mesa figures that if all else fails in our attempts to knock the Sharks off the podium, Sven Nys is the answer. Keep your ear to the grindstone for more details, we just sent the e-mail last night (the only part of this post that is serious).

Bubba CX @ Winter Park- Belgium Knee Warmers Mandatory

2007-11-27T09:39:00.000-06:00

"A true hardman opts to forego the knee or leg warmers and instead chooses an embrocation to cover the knees. The liniment provides warmth for the legs and keeps the blood circulating and muscles supple. Embrocation and the sheen created is affectionately known as "Belgium knee warmers". The hardest of cyclists will sport bare legs in the most ruthless of conditions."- http://www.belgiumkneewarmers.com/

I'll keep this one short, like my race. Felt great, really exited about the conditions, looked super pro with my Belgium knee warmers and fresh cut Mohawk but I could have used some better gloves or heated brake levers. My hands went so numb they were slipping off the bars and I couldn't use my brakes which weren't working so well with the brand new pads and Cosmic Carbone Pros. I had the legs and the course suited me but was a little to antsy and attacked early thinking I would be able to make up a couple seconds on Rico, Harre and Mr Mustache himself, Derek Loudermilk, on every lap. Unfortunately there was enough flat and straights for a powerful group of three to outweigh the skinny technical rider. I was trying to get them to make mistakes when I hit the off camber downhill turn. Pain free slip and slide crashing is cool and I even managed to put the first scar on my right hip- EVER!

When Dr. Mark caught me on the back stretch with my hands under my armpits I started to sprint to get on his wheel; my hand slipped off the bar (from the drops) and I almost ate it on my face. The next couple turn were no better and I pulled the plug, warmed up a bit in the car, joined the beer drinking party and watched a pretty cool race unfold.

On the bright side- I have some new gloves on the way and it looks like conditions will be perfect again this weekend. Let it snow, I've got the heat on my knees.

CX Addiction

2007-11-20T08:31:00.000-06:00

Ask anyone who knows me, I'm a little bit obsessive compulsive. I'm at the stage of my life where instead of having lots of interests/hobbies I try to excel at a few. I started bike racing in 2003 I quickly found something that I could REALLY get into. I like the training, the nutrition, the feeling you get when you have good fitness, the mental game (especially with the endurance MTB racing), messing with all the neat-o equipment and winning. I really like to win. For me it's never just for fun. My real fun comes when I am winning. The cool thing about racing bikes, to me, is that there is a never ending source of material to research, components to compare and people to race. I don't care if you want to piss on my parade and tell me it's local racing and I take it too seriously, I enjoy it all.

I didn't really discover my identity as a bike racer until this season. In 2003 I figured I was a mountain bike racer (sport class) and would never race road, and by the end of the year I did my first two Gateway Cup Crits. 2004 I found out early that racing expert was hard and raced a lot more on the road then made up for the off-road miles I missed by training for and racing my first 12 hour solo mountain bike race that fall. 2005 was a full season of road racing and then another 12 hour solo race. I was finding that riding lots of miles was taking the snap out of my legs and was having an identity crisis. 2006 was all Power Tap all the time. I basically rode myself into the ground watching the numbers on that thing. Various factors led to my season totally sucking and by mid season I was so burnt out that I was fly fishing more than riding. I was doing ok at Gateway Cup until I crashed on the Hill and finished off my season by getting shelled at U-City. I wasn't having any fun. I went to the Catskills and fly fished for a week and then went back to Boston and fished for another couple weeks on the Cape. When I got back to town I bought a mountain bike and made some plans for the 2007 season.

This year was pretty intense for me. I was training by feel instead of by numbers and my fitness was improving with every race. I figured there would be a breaking point and my recovery started to take a lot longer after my first 12 hour race in August, but the result from the next one in Ohio 3 weeks later showed that I had pulled up on the throttle in time and was even stronger. The Burning race was a dissapointment from a result standpoint, but I was riding really fast and it was coming easy. By the end of Oct I had raced something like 60 hours. I don't normally look at racing based on hours but when races are 3.5-12 hours long you have to. The crazy thing was I was still totally focused on racing/training and really exited about CX.

After just 3 CX races I'm hooked. The energy and intensity is like crit racing but it's not about the dude that can punch it out of a pack with 200 m to go. It hard racing. You have to be a good technical rider, be able to put down some serious power for extended periods of time and endure some suffering. The atmosphere is great since it is so spectator friendly and St Louis has the potential to get ever better. Next year I've already started making plans on ending my endurance race season a little earlier, doing more XC races during the course of the season and taking a nice breather before getting the engines fired up for CX season. I learned pretty quick that a cheap COMPACT cross bike isn't made for racing CX and will have some kickass new equipment in time for the rest of the season which I am really exited about, after all, cool bikes are how I make my living. Most importantly I learned quickly that there is a fine line at this time of the season between staying sharp and getting greedy for fitness. Luckily I think I caught my mistake in time and can still build a little, mostly just from racing.

Right now I'm still thinking in terms of Bubba points instead of UCI points, but it's making me happy.

Bubba CX @ Queeny

2007-11-18T19:13:00.000-06:00

...just got back from our annual Mesa shop mountain biking trip to Asheville NC on Friday and was feeling pretty beat; some pretty epic rides/ hike a bikes, lots of beers, some great food and a little trout fishing. That news will have to wait until the photos are up, so for now it's the CX race I almost didn't do.

Today was a great race for me. Other than missing the Nageltronic Express Train on early in the race and missing the selection, I am pretty happy about what went down. I tried to keep the reigns tight early on, maybe a little too much, but was pretty stoked that I was able to open up a gap on some strong riders working together and watch it grow as the race went on. The guys in the shop were giving me a hard time when I put on the pretty 50 tooth DA outer ring (because Shimano doesn't make a 48 tooth and it's purdee'er) but I was able to turn it to my advantage on the downhill today so that was good. I never really felt like I wanted to quit, the legs were there and that was good too. The intensity is starting to feel a little more bearable and I don't think I offered the photographers any cute photos like I did at Faust, all good.

Todays field of 20 was pretty strong so a 5th place finish made me pretty happy. I upped my standard 2 beer a day program while we were in Asheville to a 10 beers a day minimum and got back on Friday night in time to go to my buddy Pete Rothschild's 60th birthday bash. The party was crazy. Donna had rented out ALL of Frazier's for 250 people with a top-shelf open bar all night and some amazing food. Needless to say after today and the race at Spanish Lake that I got all liqoured up the night before I'm starting to think that booze and CX go together like Terrance and Phillip.

Never have I wanted to quit a race so badly

2007-11-04T20:50:00.000-06:00

That was really hard. I want to write this now so my memory of the pain is still strong. I guess it's always easy to make excuses on why I didn't do a little better, why I got smoked by guys that I beat last weekend but it just boiled down to not having the legs. My legs were shot. But here are my excuses anyways...

Hindsights 20/20 and I know what mistakes I made, not in the race, just in the week leading up to the race. I was pretty jazzed about my finish last weekend and knew that the "big guns" would be showing up so I got greedy and dug a little too deep this week, wanting to be sharp. Instead I rode myself into the ground and starting doing some interval work thinking that I might be able to prime myself for the effort. I was fueling myself on Halloween candy and not eating normally. I should have been just keeping the legs warm and riding a little and instead I put raced Sunday, put in 2.5 hours Monday, the same with tempo work on Tuesday, 3 hours with 30 minutes of threshold intervals on Wed, a night mountain bike ride on Thursday, 2.5 hours on Friday and a 1 hour race tune up on Sat morning. I know my fitness is good and don't need to be doing this kind of riding this late in the season. I guess if there is a bright side it would be training through a race like today for this...

I'm by no means saying that I would have been able to mix it up at the front today, but anyone that watched the race or came up behind me would have seen me going backwards after the first lap. I actually didn't even go out as hard as I did last week and avoided the early total anerobic blowout, but as the race went on I began to seriously power down. I wasn't able to hold anyones wheel after they passed me, no matter how hard I tried. I kept thinking about quitting but stuck with it figuring that I would have to catch someone, I usually get stronger as the race gets longer. When a Team Mack guy came by me late in the race I told myself I was going to hang with him; he dropped me in 30 seconds. With two laps to go I told myself I was going to close the gap and pass him but it just wasn't there.

As miserable as it may sound it was a great race. I can't say I learned anything from it, which sucks, but I really enjoyed it. Everything but the condition of the course. The course was brutally bumpy and I have to figure out a way to get some more cush, maybe 4" of suspension.

We went to The Scottish Arms and the good news started to roll in. The Patriots pulled through late in the 4th quarter. This guy is clutch, and the guy who has been looking at my Saab 92-X called to say he wanted to buy it, which means a new Element on the way for me! The Sheperds pie was good and the bartender made me the best bloody Mary I have had in a long time. Cape Cod Country club kind of Bloody Mary... Yeahussss!

Lunch meat and my left hip

2007-11-02T08:58:00.000-05:00

Night ride at SIUE last night. I kept expecting Dawson or Dust to jump out of the woods and break my spokes with sticks, as promised if I ever tried to ride in IL, and it through me off my game. MJ and I were talking about CX license categories and going to Asheville next week, just cruising along, when in an instant I found myself flying through the air over my bars. I haven't had a crash like this all season; one where you don't see it coming. I hit left hip first and then on my head. It's always my left hip. My left hip is pink and scarred and my right hip is white and smooth. On the same note, another cool thing about using two Light and Motion ARC HID lights is you can watch your bike fly through the air in slow motion at you from the ground. Something hit me right behind the ear and opened up a nice little gash. Oh well. For some reason I had put some air in my shocks and rear tire but not the front. I hadn't ridden the bike since the race in TN a couple weeks ago and had about 10 psi in the front. The tired burped going around a turn and it was lights out for my left hip.

Here's my buddy Zach with a big deer he choked to death while camping last week. Zach is slowly learning that once you start racing bikes you start to suck at everything else you were once good at. Zach had spent the day chasing Bambi around in the woods but was still not recovered from the 7 laps he did at the Burnin 12 hour. Out of Delta Bravos secret endurance mix he was feeling real tired and drank some beers. true to form, Zach passed out on the ground next to his campfire and woke up with this deer licking his face. Zach grabbed it by the horns and choked it to death knowing that an all cereal diet was already tested and would never work. I think I count 10 pts?? Remember the top-secret mix Zach? Fill my freezer Holmes!

I am afraid that MJ will never read my blog again after this post.

Spanish Lake CX

2007-10-29T08:30:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about trying some CX racing since I started racing mountain bikes in 2003, but always had an excuse. This year I sucked it up and bought a bike and for the first weekend since March was unable to find a MTB race within 5 hours to use as an excuse; so I went to Spanish Lake.

I was a little bummed before the race started because aside from some familiar faces and the AWESOMENESS OF THE MESA CHEER TEAM I was getting a little bit of the road racing vibe. There were some sly grins when I asked rookie questions like how fast do we go at the start, can we cut the course if we flat and is it more like a mountain bike race or crit? I felt a little relief when my buddy Rico Matthews lined up and we joked around a bit and talked about some quality MTB racing the weekend before. There was also a huge amount of support coming from the Mesa crew and extended family like Jen, Adrienne, The Adams Family, The Snell/ James gang, The FBC alleycat points series leader and the scary Hairyfella himself...

I started fast, too fast, and rode away from the other riders. The first turn was pretty tough but I was able to get through it smooth and fast and open up a decent gap right away. I was pretty surprised. I rode the first lap and a half with a decent gap and then was caught by Chris Harre and desperately tried to stay on his wheel but he dropped my ass. There was a chase group of John Matthews, Derek Loudermilk and a Team Mack rider so I eased up and jumped on. The rest of the field was pretty much out of contention at about 20 minutes in.

No coasting. I wasn't used to this. I figured that I could start the same way I start expert races, be up at the front and then rest on a descent. But there weren't any. Instead I had to power ride through peanut butter which I am not so good at. Rico was doing lots of work but I was being too realistic I guess; we weren't going to catch the leader, I needed to recover to hang in there and wanted to stay well out of sight of the chasers. The Mack rider sucked at the technical stuff and was attacking, with a tail wind, going into the downhill 180* uphill, only to screw the rest of us up repeatedly. Rico pleaded with me to take a pull. He wasn't giving up the desperate chase. If it had been either of the other two I would have told them to beat it; the Mack rider had been trying to get away alone all day and Derek seemed to be riding smart and playing the same game I was, but Rico was someone I respect so I pulled. I pulled hard enough for a lap to deter any counter attacks and prayed they wouldn't come.

They had put the lap cards in a corner I was taking off the brakes, full tilt boogie. I had no idea what was going on. Every lap I was hearing the bells and hearing my name coming from all my friends and it was pretty much AWESOME. I really had no idea what was going on though and my heart was just pounding in my ears. The other riders in the group weren't too pleased when I was asking how many laps were left and if there was a bell lap after the last lap? I mean, it is my first CX race I'm not responsible for knowing this stuff. I thought I was going to be dropped way before this.

2 to go. It happened as it always does. 45 minutes into the race and the legs are ready to rock. Crits were the same way. I didn't have to worry about the legs being there 45 minutes into any race I this season, more like 8 hrs in. Too bad they hadn't been there when Harre caught me... But they were there just in time and Team Mack went for the downhill, tailwind, attack a little too hard and went looking for one gear too easy on the uphill. He shift it into the spokes and bunged us up. Like a sweet Trey solo pulling itself out of the super space funk and drilling some high notes over the top, Rico and I hit the peanut butter and put it down. We dropped the other Big Shark rider pretty quick, he must have got behind the Mack guy, and we opened up a decent gap. For the next two laps Rico was telling me to settle down and take it easy; I kept asking him if we were going to get caught... he was calling me a rookie. I pulled pretty hard for the last couple laps and tried to reason with Rico. I wanted a truce to stay together until we hit the blacktop, which he agreed to. He later told me that I could have dropped him if I had attacked him so that's why he was cool with it. I pulled my ass off and was feeling a serious adrenaline rush I used to get racing crits; I have to admit that I had missed it and it felt good. I thought I was giving him the perfect lead out but didn't care... He's my buddy.

We hit the pavement and I began the kick. I only glanced under my arm once and didn't have that much of a gap. We were really racing for the second to last turn and I was a little worried with the speed we were carrying into it. I did the two wheel slide wide but made it, killed the last right hander and put in a couple strong turns of the pedals before the finish. We really were riding on the rivet and it felt great... John told me he was thinking about going inside on the second to last turn and I thanked him. We would have both been doing wheelchair races at Barnes that night if he had.

This is my first cross race. Deal with the drama-queen-going for second place report because I am exited about it. It feels good to have some motivation this late into the season... Maybe not be so fun when the big guns are there next weekend so I'll enjoy it while I can.

Another state, another series

2007-10-25T08:37:00.000-05:00

While searching for more mountain bike races this season I came across a race called the Lakeland 250 which was part of the Midsouth Endurance Series in TN.It was a 250 minute race at a gerbil track outside of Memphis the same day as the Land Between the Lakes race, but this one was longer and had enough money to interest me, so I went.

The loop was only 3.5 miles long but had some serious climbing. We ended up with 6400 feet in just over 4 hours. 3 laps at Council Bluff would be about 3,000 feet and take most folks about 4 hrs if that gives you any idea.

The PAYDAY was as follows- 1st $150, 2cd $100, 3rd $50 and then another $50 for the fastest first lap. I had visions of Rendezvous Ribs on the ride home and covering my gas and hotey...

There was a pretty good turn out considering there was another great race less than 2 hrs away in Kentucky as well as the Womble Classic in Arkansas. It was a mass lemans start for the classes; under 39, over 39, singlespeed and womens.

Fastest Lap:

I made it up the hill to my bike first and had a little laugh when I saw the good ol' local boys had turned my bike around but still made it into the woods first and opened up a little bit of a gap by the top of the first climb. This course was cool because there were plenty of places you could look back and see your competition to get time splits. I was feeling pretty good right away and had about a 10 second gap. I was riding nice and smooth and the effort was coming easy. I was really surprised when someone caught up to me at the end of the hills section of the course. The next section was some tight singletrack and then some double track before the finish. I slowed up just enough for him to want to pass and then jumped back on his wheel; I didn't want to hit the double-track first. He put in a little extra gas trying to shake me but let up when he realized it was going to be a head to head sprint for the last mile or so...

We hit the double-track and I realized this guy was no stranger to match sprints when he started looking back at me and slowing up. There was one more super tight section of single-track before you popped out by a lake and had a long run in to a sharp right onto a gravel road and another left into the finish. I sat on his wheel and tried to jump him on the straight. I didn't get any kind of a gap and he was turning 29" wheels on the flat which was to his advantage. I took the right hander onto the gravel wide and opened the door for him to pass, which he did, and then got back on his wheel. After the next left hand turn there was a gate and it narrowed up to the finish line. When we passed through the gate I jumped him to the outside and had enough of a kick that I was going to be in the money. Then I saw the rut from the erosion.... I let up to avoid crashing and lost the prime...

In the lead

The next couple laps were recovery for both of us. Unexpectedly about 45 minutes in he let me ride away. I didn't really attack or anything, just sort of rode away from him until I got around the next corner. Out of sight, I attacked. Things started to fall into place for me. I had opened up a decent lead and was able to get a split every lap along a long straight portion of the course. My legs were really heavy from the lack of real training but I was keeping my lap times pretty consistent. My lead kept growing until it was about 1 min+ and I noticed that he (Russell Griffin) had been caught by his teamate which was really bad for me; two people on the flats could make up some serious time.... Which is exactly what happened. One lap I had close to a minute and the next was down to about 20 seconds. When Russ caught me on a climb I was really surprised how fast he dropped me. I didn't react and just kept making pace. That was at about the 2.5 hour mark.

Not in the lead

I can't say that I'm used to this kind of racing. Most of the MWFTS races and 12 hour races this year I would get a lead, stay consistent, watch it grow a little up until the 3 hr mark and then watch it open up... This was serious racing. I tried to focus on consistency rather than get caught up in chasing. I figured he had to crack. He didn't. As we neared the last 45 minutes or so I slowly began to reel him in. I started to gain some ground and thought I was going to be able to pull it together. Towards the 4 hr mark I started to feel better and push a little, I knew I was going to make it in before the cutoff and wanted to save enough for the extra lap.

I opened it up on the last lap; I figured I had nothing to lose knowing that the third place guy was WAY behind and even if I blew up I'd still finish second... I started to close on Russ and noticed he was closer when I turned every corner....I was big ringing everything and starting to see spots and flailing on the bike....I turned down the straight along the lake and there he was... I closed a bunch of ground and took some chances on the loose gravel turns into the finish.... but it wasn't enough. I lost a 4:19 race by 12 seconds and a $50 prime by less than a second. What a great race though!

Re-cap
What a great event and great series. The promoter, Chris Irving, was super nice and was giving me time splits every lap. I haven't raced one out of town race this year where the "locals" helped me out. He was super friendly and had free beer, burgers and dogs after teh race. They had tons of schwag and since it was the last race of the series I stuck around for the overalls (Russ one the series overall which made me feel better about getting smoked) where they dished out some kickass trophies. At just 4 hours from St Louis I'm going to try to do the whole series next year, check it out... www.rbs-racing.com

Some good things I can do real good

2007-10-23T10:01:00.000-05:00

My race report from TN this weekend will be coming shortly; I don't consider coming in 2cd by 12 seconds a good thing I do...

This year has been a good year for race t-shirts. Early in the season MJ and I got a decent ringer T at the Rhetts Run race, one I actually wear occasionally. Next up was a pretty cool simple T from the NRC race I did in Arkansas where the promoter told me he would mail me one... Not only did he actually do it but it's a cool, simple design and I wear that one even more. The Rapture in Misery shirt is cool and black. Need I say more? Black t's make the rotation frequently.

Then came my chance to design a T for the Burnin'. There is only one guy that likes the things I do as much as I do. John Hairyfella likes him some kitties, Eye of the Tiger, flames and Metallica. We went on a vision quest and there was no stopping us from designing the coolest race t shirt ever. If you got one, you know.

Next up on the Awesomeness scale would be my guacamole and sweet potato cheeken quesa-dillas. Both of these delicacies have reached the point of perfection. The guacamole is more of taste thing so I can't count on getting the point across, but I will share the quesa-dillas with you-
-marinate cheeken in GOYA Dominican marinade for a day and throw on the grill at low temp for 10 mins a side
-cube a large sweet potato (1/2") and put on a low boil for 10 minutes or so (you want to be able to squish it with a fork)
-when done mix with some black beans, the chopped cheeken, cilantro, little salt and some diced jalapenos if you are going to half ass it and not make the guac
-warm up a griddle or flat surface of some sort
-put some olive oil on a paper towel and pat one side of a Buena Vida whole grain tortilla
-put on skillet and add as much of a Mexican cheese blend as you want
-add mixture to top of cheese, another layer of cheese, and the other tortilla top (pat down with olive oil.
- now you want to flatten this thing out with a spatula or your hand. the sweet potatoes crush and taste almost like the cheese.
-now don't burn it

Burnin': the awesome and the not so awesome

2007-10-07T20:39:00.000-05:00

Pre-race
The day started like any other race day for Jen and I; some strong coffee, choking down a 600 calorie paste, trying to listen to some music to get my head straight and some half hearted hellos to other racers... This was this big one for me, I had pretty much tailored the rest of my season around this race and had some pretty big personal goals that I really wanted to achieve. I wanted to set a new course record and win the race. Jen had a personal goal of doing seven laps and repeatedly told me she didn't care about anything but "I want that trophy."

Do it, do it!
Up until I heard D-wayne was racing I was really planning on pacing myself, but trying to capitalize on what I thought would be his biggest weakness decided to get in front on the first lap and put the screws to him. I guessed that going really hard would probably do the most damage to his legs that weren't fully recovered from the monster effort he put out two weeks ago. I was really fresh and rested and knew I could recover from an early effort. I was hoping to bank as much time as I could by turning 1:15 minute laps in the first 8 hours so that my lighting transition time and night laps could be way slower. I needed to pull off a 1:20 average to get in before 9 pm to do 10 laps. We lined up for the Le mans start and I wished him luck.

Lap 1
I was about 6th into the woods and it was on. The legs were there. A group of us opened up a little gap quick and I was feeling "it" so I pushed. I would yo-yo D-wayne and then put in a little bit of an effort to get out his sight around the next corner. I tried a couple times without going to deep in the first 4 miles but he would slowly creep back up. We were XC racing with the wicked fast riders on the first lap and it was rad. I hit my 24 minute pace marker at less than 18 minutes and other than sweating heavily I was feeling like it was going to be a great day.

I didn't see too much of Dwayne after the second big climb, or as I came though the rock garden, popped out on the dam and was about 10 minutes ahead of my pace marker. I let myself down and glanced over my shoulder before I went back into the woods across the dam and he hadn't even came out of the woods yet- I figured I had about a 30+ second gap and continued to ride just below my LT trying to stay out of the red. I was riding smooth and not making any poor mistakes. The course was dry, hard packed and super fast.

Liz, Peetey, Jill, Taylor and Gauge were a full on NASCAR style pit crew and were committed to doing anything to help me achieve my goals which was awesome and I can't thank them enough for being so willing to help. I came through for my first lap at 1:05:50 (not incl. the run), handed the all star crew my bike, logged in and jumped on not wasting a second to open a cooler or grab a bottle. I was relaxed and later learned that I had a 1:30 lead after lap one.

Lap 2
It was time to dial it back and find some rhythm. I slowly began to pull in the reigns and concentrate on pacing myself. Jen and I had listened to a really great Phish cover of Joe Walsh's Walk Away before the race where Trey was just drilling this repetitive groove while segueing into it and it was looping though my head. I knew that I had a decent gap and that Dwayne would have to really work a little to catch me and was banking on him letting me go. His pace would be almost the same as mine so I was more focused on just getting my shit together than trying to putting more time on him knowing that we would be going back and forth all day. I hit the top of the double track climb at 21 minutes which was slower than the first lap but 4 minutes faster than my 1:15 lap pace. I got into the second section of the course and was riding smooth. Things were looking good.

I came though the rock garden and was just spinning in my middle ring on flat ground when I heard my tire spraying Stans. I kept riding on knowing that the Stans would do the job. It didn't. I stopped and tried to clog up the hole a little bit. When that didn't work I added a little CO2 to it and then it blew the Stans out in one big puddle. I had a gash under a tread on the brand new tires. I fumbled for a tube trying to stay calm and reassuring myself that I was less than 2 hours into a 12 hour race.

Remember when?
In 2003 I came up on Ryan Pirtle early on the first lap who had a flat and an empty CO2, I had an extra and give him one. I flatted later in the lap and was back on track in no time. I had really no expectation since it was my first 12 hr race and wasn't the heady endurance freak I created and am now. About 1.5 miles from the finish I flatted again and ran up the final climb. I dropped back at least 4 places but still went on to win.

Back to lap 2
So I take my wheel off and start working on it and Dwayne rolls up all smiles and is totally bummed at my misfortune. I literally had to threaten him to get back on his bike and race, it is a race and those are the breaks. I yank my UST valve out and get my tube in and give it some air. More leakage and the gash is bigger than it looked. I keep my tubes folded up with a tire lever and elastic band and it looks as though I had bent the valve and it was cooked. I try to add a little more air from my only 40 gram Big Air cannister and it's empty at this point. Run 5 miles? It sounded good for about 50 yards but after hearing my wheel bouncing off rocks and feeling the pain in my shins I walk. That's when #2 Jeremiah Bradshaw comes by, and so on.

Thank everyone that asked me if I needed any help, and my aren't there a lot of 29'ers out there! No little tubes for you!. Really though. I personally don't feel right screwing up someone else's race because I am unprepared. You paid your $50 bucks and lap 2 on a 12 hr race the adrenaline is rockin' and you are hoping your team gets out in front for bragging rights. I didn't want to ruin anyones party. If it was later in the race, people are in survival mode and the race is decided for a lot of folks then that's a different story, but it wasn't the case. I will learn from my mistakes.

The Walk
Jen and I did quite a bit of hiking when we were in Kauai in April and I complained about it. I don't like to run nor do I like to hike. I like to ride my bike. I hiked the 5+ miles and realized that now I couldn't achieve the one goal I was really hell-bent on doing, setting a new record, and slowly the realization crept in. Slowly the blisters began to develop between my toes and my legs began to get heavy. My shins are what keep me from running and they were screaming. Knowing that I was going to be almost an hour behind, an hour off my nutrition, and was going to take me at least 15 minutes to get my bike back together I started to get pretty down.

More than anything I wanted to race D-wayne and see what both of us were made of. I wanted it to be 12 hours of racing, not me lapping the field and winning by hours instead of minutes. But it wasn't going to be. My shins and feet were really feeling it as I climbed up the hill and handed in my baton. I knew I could get back on and maybe even claw my way up to a podium spot but my goals were shattered and my head wasn't in it so I opted to watch Jen race and kick it with some friends. About 10 minutes after I hung it up for the day D-wayne came though and it crushed me to see how disappointed he was to see me sitting there. Sorry man.

Watching one of these races unfold
Jen was rocking it and it was really cool to be able to help her out a little bit. These races are so much different when you aren't racing them. The solo race was actually pretty close up until about 3pm when Jeremiah sat down and didn't get up. He had been within 10 minutes of Dwanye all day but the 6 hour mark is definitively a breaking point in these races. I think many riders set this is a marker and give themselves a break when they hit it, but one you stop moving you REALLY stop moving. I was surprised to see Dwayne sitting down for about 5 minutes in between laps and eating. I get so focused during these races I don't like to stop and I pretty much keep to myself but every lap he sat down Dwayne and I talked about this and that proving what a nice laid back dude he is. I wondered to myself if it would have been different if I was still racing?

I was asked to sub a lap for Tom Albert and John Rines team and reluctantly did. Chris had set a blazing fast 1:01:40 lap and I wanted to see if I could come anywhere close. I figured the beer would be that much colder if I felt like I earned it a little, funny when you consider 38 miles to be not much of a ride... I struggled for the first ten minutes to warm my legs up which were heavy and burning but once I did I started to feel pretty good and passed a bunch of people. The course was in rough shape and much looser then it was in the morning, pretty tough to rail some of the turns. My lower back has been really bothering me lately and it was on fire. Going from balls kitty>walking>sitting for 2 hours>bezerker balls kitty is really hard. I don't know how guys on the wicked fast teams can handle this. My Garmin gave me a 1:05:40 lap time, which was pretty quick but WAY harder than my first lap... I was wasted.

The real racing begins...
It takes awhile for things to unfold in these races and by the time I got back the race was over for lots of folks. Cramping, crashing, mechanicals, and wasted legs had whittled the field down considerably. Jen was cruising non-stop and had her eyes on the prize. She was on schedule to come in before 9 but I was really questioning if she would tough it out for another night lap with no one pushing her but herself. Dwayne was on auto pilot and just needed keep turning the pedals to finish up 9 laps and win his first Burnin! The DRJ wicked fast trio was in a close race with Bruns, Best and Davis and the lead kept changing.

Jen came through for her lighting transition and was looking really fresh, it was the first time she had stopped all day as I put on her lights. She was headed out on #6 at 6:17pm and at a 2 hr pace would set her up perfectly for a womens solo record!

When she came in at 8:15 I was amazed that she just kept moving and didn't even consider stopping, she really wanted to earn the trophy and was setting her personal goal which made me unbelievably happy. I told her all she had to do was ride safe and finish this lap and she would do what she said out to do and beat most over 1/2 of the men!

The DRJ/Double D and the B cups race was in full effect and Chris set out at 8:45 with a 40 second lead on fast man Doug Davis who had some blown legs. DRJ won a battle at RIM on the last lap due to a mechanical and I'm sure CP had this in the back of his mind when he set out... But that didn't stop him from stopping to help out a girl on the trail who couldn't get her wheel back on after a flat with his race on the line!

I think D-Wayne finished up 9 laps in around 12:45, Jen came in with with her record setting ride in 13:30 minutes and the party began! I was amazed that in his first attempt Zach Brace finished up 7 laps in just over 11 hours, upset that Matt Keeven doesn't get his breakthrough finish and impressed that the two top solo guys had raced a 24 hour race two weeks before. Nice job Mitch!

Nice job to you all but especially to Dwanye and Jen, you guys continue to impress me. While it was hard to handle having my season end this way it made it much better watching the two of you do your thing and succeed.

Thanks so much to everyone that was there to support me. Robert, Liz, Peetey, Gauge and Taylor Edwards and Jill Barry- thanks so much! You made the racing part easy and worry free and the defeat even more so. I had a blast!

So that's about it for me. One more mtb race at Land Between the Lakes then it's time to relax, do some cross racing and start thinking about next year. What an unreal event the 2007 Burnin' was!

Ready.

2007-10-03T18:32:00.000-05:00

I don't even know what to say. This is going to be hard. Both Dwayne and I have been having great seasons and when I talked to him last week he told me he was feeling fresh after the 24 hr race but a couple 12 hr days at work were getting him down! He is insane, but I don't doubt that his formula is dialed and we are going to be doing some racing! Not to mention the other 15 other solo riders, any of whom could shine... 12 hrs is a lot for stuff to go wrong and the race can change in a lap. It's funny to me, I have raced in 8 states this season and the strongest riders ar right here!

Since the Rapture in Misery on August 18, though the Mohican Wilderness 12 hour race on Sept 15 and up to now I have been doing maintenance workouts and resting lots. Coming out of the RIM is felt like I had an unreal base and didn't want to push it into the red. I went into the Mohican race wondering if I had done too much resting but the result assured me that I was dialed. No I am asking myself if my training/ resting ratios have been good and there is only one way to find out at this point. I did a little testing last week at Chubb and I was riding pretty fast times for me and I know that my base got even better after the Mohican race and some epic test days at Council Bluffs. I am 4/4 in 12 hour races and have learned quite a bit, but racing against Dwayne with where he is fitness wise right now is definitely going to be the biggest challenge so far.

So good luck to you Dwayne, as well as all the other 12 hr solo riders.

"Only the fittest of the fittest shall survive!" Jah!

CX Fever....

2007-09-26T09:38:00.000-05:00

Cyclocross? I don't even know how to spell it but I've made the plunge and got a bike, mainly because it's white. I'm not sure what's appealing to me about a 1 hr long sufferfest but I guess it will be good to do a little intensity after the 12 hr season wraps up at the Burnin'. Everyone seems to be talking about practicing dismounts and running but I'm most stoked that I have a decent bike to ride from my house up to the trails at SIUE and back.4 hrs of pavement on a mountain bike to get to and from the trails sucks, but not anymore! I have decided that since I haven't had a road license in a year, instead of upgrading to a 2 I will downgrade to a 5 and race the C's. The thought of racing against RP, Fletcher and Nagy is not very appealing. The only thing appealing about that is that I will be drinking beer way before them after I get shelled like peanuts at Busch Stadium. This is good because from what Matt James and John Farinella have told me "cross isn't about racing it's about looking cool and drinking beer." I figure I've got the looking cool part down and I'm good for about 3 beers nowadays. Anyone have a white long sleeve skinsuit for me??

We all went and rode at Lost Valley last night. The lightning on the way there was pretty intense but I insisted that "it will be dry in the woods." It wasn't even raining very hard when we got kitted up. I had just gone super deep tuning the White Knight including a full pulley overhaul, Mavic F-hub service, complete drive train clean and extensive polishing. It was dialed. John F, MJ, Kyle, Professor MTBR, the FBC series points leader and myself set out and it was immediately apparent that someone had spilled huge amounts of Pedros Wet Lube all over the trail making some very slick top-layer trail conditions. I don't know who did it but it was upsetting because after telling these guys how dry the trail would be "in the woods" they might have thought it was the rain that created the sucky conditions.

The FBC points leader attacked on the double track climb, clearly realizing how much better mountain bikes are WITH GEARS and Kyle got me close enough for me to close the gap and take charge in the big ring... JF was telling me on the ride there that Michelob Ultra is "an athletic beer and perfect for before a ride," but when I hit the turbo booster provided by the carbs in my 2006 American Lager Medal Winning PBR and dropped all those fools he was surely thinking otherwise.

I was charging through the Pedros and lighting the trail on fire with the dual Light and Motion HID setup I was running and starting to hear Eye of the Tiger blowing through the trees. Conditions were perfect! But them someone changed the channel to some Bette Midler and I lost focus and in an instant it was over. I had cut a 20mm gash in my rear tire and even Magic Stans Spooge couldn't save me. Without a pump, CO2, tire lever or tube I was forced to wait what felt like hours for those guys to catch up and bail me out. Refusing to use a pump and with 2 half empty CO2's I limped back to the car LOOKING FOR OWLS? with John on about 12 psi, ideal pressure according to Murphy.

The evening ended with some over priced Mexican food that resembled lasagna in Chesterbubble where people don't care if it's good as long as it's expensive, Cha-ching $$ margaritas that didn't even faze this lightweight and me hosing down my bike at 12am when MJ refused to prove to me what a nice mechanic he is.

Aren't you glad you came Matt?

Weirdness.

2007-09-21T09:13:00.000-05:00

The RIM took me a really long time to recover from. Compared to the race I did last weekend it was easy, but I think I made a couple big errors in racing and recovery that really screwed up my world. I got on my bike yesterday after taking 4 full days off the bike and was amazed at how I felt. Turning the pedals was weird for about a block and then I started feeling the Eye of the Tiger kicking in. I wanted to dominate people in Forest Park and was really wanting to go hard...Everything was good. So I left it all in the tank.

After work I did some more riding and it was all systems go again. Then I ran into professor MTBR in the park and rode with him and his new Niterider MiniNEWt- this is a great light for Forest Park night racing folks! And it also saved a lot more space on your bars then the equivalent 3 $19.99 Serfas lights you would have to use. So DG, the next time you see some fancy pants on a Schwinn Varsity up ahead attack him on the downhill and hope that there is no one flossing the trail in fruit boots more than 30 feet ahead!

Conclusion- 1) I am glad I took the cash last weekend instead of the Mini NEWT 2) I can go faster using my Jedi Skills that LED lights.

Mohican Wilderness 12 hour race.

2007-09-16T21:25:00.000-05:00

Mohican Wilderness 12 hour race, Ohio- 17,000+ feet of climbing, east coast rocks and roots, major rock gardens and super tight single track... This race was really hard. Usually I am able to stay pretty focused until the 7 hr mark or so. This race I was trying to think of ways to quit 2 hours into it.

It was a 12-12 race but the temperature dropped over night and was a little windy and about 50* at start time. I like to race in the heat and usually don't have to warm up too much. I didn't and that was a mistake. I was about 5th on the bike after the Lemans start letting the super-fast team guys set the pace, right behind me was another 12 solo rider (Bob Mika), followed by another 12 hour solo # plate.

It's hard to explain the first climb on this course. It's pretty much straight up, narrow, rocky rooty single-track with short sections where you go side to side before going straight up again. No joke. The real kicker was the last 100 meters was the stiffest straight up a power line climb on loose stuff. The first lap was carnage. Occasionally I would take a look back and see guys in the 2cd group walking- and this was with fresh legs. I let the front runners go and tried to get some rhythm going but my heart rate was red-lined already. I looked back at the crest of the first climb to see everyone was dropped except for the guy who had a 12 hr # plate. I realized that he was riding a single speed and attacked him in the flat field at the top of the climb. I yo yo'ed him for awhile until I decided it was time to find my groove and settle in. I was riding with a Sierra Nevada duo guy when he came up behind us. We all rode together for awhile and caught another team guy, so the four of us just rode at a XC race pace. When we hit the last climb that led into a rippin downhill and then a long flat big ring section that led back into the start finish area he attacked me. The guys in front of us hadn't been riding the downhills well so I think his plan was to get a gap on me. I wasn't too worried though because I knew I would catch him on the flats, which I did, and then attacked him so I could grab a bottle coming out of the start finish. The fastest lap of the day was 47 minutes set by a guy on a 4 person team, our first lap was 51 and change. I was worried with the pace.

He was back on the trail first since he didn't have to stop but I caught him pretty quick by drafting someone up to him on a flat and then attacked him again. I knew his gears were his biggest weakness and was racing like it was a 2 lap XC race. I kept looking back on the big climb and would see him get close and then drop back some or see him walking the super steep sections. My second lap was 52 minutes again and I had put 1:30 on to him.

My next lap was about trying to find some rhythm and ride smooth, but it was nearly impossible to do on this course. It was all pretty much up and down and the descents were really technical and very narrow. I talked myself into slowing up a little figuring he would never be able to climb like this all day and I was right. My third lap was 55 minutes and he was no where to be seen. I later found out that he stopped to put an easier gear on the back apparently his crew told him that the race director had given him the wrong number plate and I wasn't in his class. He was doing the 24 solo! I didn't see him again until I lapped him about 3 laps later.

It was really odd for me but I had to keep telling myself to stay focused and that it was this hard for everyone. The course was just brutal. I did manage to find a decent groove and my next 3 lap times were all right around 58 minutes. I was riding all the rock gardens well and was spinning up most of the steep ups in my 24t and passing people on the climbs almost every lap.

At about the six hour mark I lapped the # 2 guy and stopped for some Red Bull. I was feeling ok but there was still half of the race left and two riders not too far behind. An hour isn't all that much of a lead when you consider a major mechanical or cramping. I wanted to open up my lead
so I headed out for one more lap before putting my lights on. I was still turning just under 1 hr laps and had found a little groove but was physically being beaten down. My lower back was torched from all the seated climbing, my wrists and hands were very sore and my arms and neck were screaming from pulling on the bars so hard on parts of the climbs. The legs were pretty good though...

I stopped just before 7 and grabbed my back-up helmet with my Light and Morion ARC, put on some knee warmers, a long sleeve jersey and another sip of Red Bull. I needed some wings to get up these climbs. I didn't have to turn the light on until 8 and my lap time slowed to just over an hour. On the next lap I stopped to grab the Ipod and started out with some sweet Peaches> Mind Left Bowie Phish. First it was switching to the gel gloves, then the Red Bull, then some Advil, and then some more Advil- the music was all I had left to look forwards to except for a Little Debbies oatmeal creme sandwich and winning. The "best of Phish jams" compiled from about 1000+ bootlegs works great for me, the Little Debbie messed me up on my last lap...

But then it was over. For the second 12 hour race in a row I had set a new course record and lapped the field. Cannondale/ Bear Naked Pro team rider Garth Prosser did 8 laps last year (first year for the 12 hour race) as well as the guy he beat and Tinker did 16 laps in 24 hours in 2005 on the same course. I did 11 laps in just over 11 hours. It was hard. Bob Mika was really strong and ended up with 10 laps in just about 12 hours and the third place rider did 9 I think?

Jen rocked the house in her first 12 hour a stuck with it way longer then I thought she was going to on that course. She finished 7 laps in 11:47. For someone who hates super technical riding this was SUPER impressive. She would have been Furby if he had shown up for sure....

Today we ate some kick-ass RECOVERY breakfast at a smoke free Waffle House, drove for six hours and then ate some awesome RECOVERY steak burgers, fries and milkshakes at Steak and Shake before we drove the remaining couple hours only to some home to find that the kitties had a big party this weekend while we were gone....

Re

The kitties are happy...

2007-09-10T08:47:00.000-05:00

...unreal recovery is back! Yesterday was the perfect pre-race weekend training day. Long early morning road ride with some efforts, good stretching, ice bath, nap, food, beer, good movies on TV with feet up and a decent nights sleep. Today my legs feel good and I'm exited to train even though I am going to take it easy all week.

On another note while riding in the rain both Friday and Saturday I flatted my front tire, then again on the ride Sun. I guess I need to stop neglecting the Seven. I think I've bought 5 pairs of S-Works FastTracks LK's this year but no Mondos for the road bike... Time to buck up son. Friday night was a pretty surreal ride. I had my Ipod on while rolling around the park when the storm hit. It was pretty nasty for awhile. When you can't hear the wind but are being blown all over the bike path it's weird.

The only good thing about this post is Jens picture of the kitties.

Training and watching lots of Rocky

2007-09-05T08:59:00.000-05:00

http://youtube.com/watch?v=eC1es2w3Rk8

The fitness is good but the recovery time grows longer with each hard workout. I'm down to 3 maintenance workouts a week with lots of rest and a couple recovery rides. Jen and I are going to Ohio for the Mohican 12/24 hr race in 2 weeks and then it's 3 weeks until Burning at the Bluff. We went down to Council Bluffs with MJ and Liz and the Jeremiah Bradshaw family clan. Jen and I rode a night lap on Saturday and we both rode 4 laps on Sunday. The first 3 I did with Jeremy which was good because it forced me to ride to a different pace than I'm used to. We ran into Matt Hayes who rode with us for a bit- he is fast and looking fit. My last lap alone was a good sign. I was tired but I still able to turn a 1:13 after 3 1:15 avg laps. As crazy as this sounds I think my laps could have been faster and more consistent but I was riding with someone else who has a totally different riding style than me and we were stopping at the beach every lap so Jeremy could check on the fandamily. I don't like to stop at all, my legs are good once they get going but take a while to warm up again. I'm shooting for a 1:15 pace at the Burning so being able to nail the pace each lap is good.

The VS. channel has been busting out Rocky all week. Keep a good rotation of Rocky I, II, IV and mix in a little Chariots of Fire and 24 Solo in there and you will take the Eye of the Tiger to the next level. I'm eating raw meat and eggs right now before I go do a double century in the rain... I've gotta work on the greasy fast Italian speed.

Taking Care of Business!

2007-08-19T13:51:00.000-05:00

I don't know where to begin. Everything was perfect. I put in a decent run and managed to get behind the 6 0r so super fast guys to get a break from the dust and pile ups behind me and started to establish my grove. I felt so good it was not hard to keep the pace I wanted to make. My first lap was about 55 minutes, my fastest of the day. Jeremiah Bradshaw was doing a really good job of staying with me up until about 3/4 the way through the second lap. My legs were feeling so good it was easy for me to spin through the course and go just a little bit harder on the technical stuff. My new nutrition mix was working really well and I was only taking in about 240 calories per hour and more water than I usually do. I didn't eat one gel the whole race.

A little before the half way mark I stopped for some Red Bull and got a time split of about 15 minutes over a guy named Mark Cole. By 8 pm Jeremy was in second place again, Mark had dropped out, and I had 50 minutes on him and managed to catch him and lap him. The next couple laps were a little rough. My first 9 lap times had all been less than an hour, mostly 56-58 minutes but # 10 was 1:02 and #11 was 1:07 I think.... My Light and Motion ARC Li-Ion battery ran out at the start of Tasty Goodness on my last lap, but thankfully I had a Petzel to get me back. It was freakin' dark in the woods with no moon and lots of cloud cover! I ended up finishing 11 laps in 11:05 which was pretty solid. I was really happy with my pacing and the fact that my nutrition plan worked so well. Jeremy came in a solid second place with a full lap over third! Sweet jesus!

The story of the day was Bob Arnold and Wes coming over with beers in hand to congratulate me and tell us that they had closed a 20 minute gap in a couple laps and the merchant of fast Chris Ploch headed out to see if he could seal the deal just 4 minutes behind the leading team. The guy he was chasing had set the fastest lap of the day.... Chris dominated him. Bow down KC!
St Louis shows up to represent! Act like you know!!!!

Bob Arnold was giving me shit for drinking my PBR's after the race but they tasted so freakin' good!

None of this would have happened without the help of Adrienne, Liz and Robert who were totally supportive for the whole race and kept me motivated. Thanks! Too bad Liz is such a DB though!

Rapture in Misery 12 Solo

2007-08-15T12:37:00.000-05:00

It's go time for me. Just got back from a spin on the mountain bike making sure the new cables are good to go and everything is working right. It was. My legs felt great and it was hard to keep the reigns tight and deprive myself of that endorphin rush I have been thriving on for the last couple months of hard training. I figure that I about 85-90% ready for this one and hope to build some more endurance, race long again in Sept and then at the Burning race in October.

I still have to see how I'm going to fit all the lights, spare Garmin battery, extra cage and flat kit on the bike. Then I am going to lay out the nutrition plan, label and mix the bottles, put the new rubber on the bike and go get an hour massage. I'm pretty exited about the massage seeing as how I have only had one other one in my life... I've got the Ipod ready with 8 hrs of pure high intensity Phish jams... They would drive most people to jump off a bridge or put a loaded weapon in their mouth but for me it's pure eargasmic pleasure. I had goosebumps for most of my ride today and it was 90+ out. I've been listening to a lot of the Dead lately but I am trading in that rusty old V-Dub bus for a shiny new Ferrari piloted by Big Red himself, Mr. Ernsest (Trey) Giusuppe Anastasio.

Jen, Adrienne and I are going to leave first thing Friday morning, set up the EZ-ups and pre-ride the course. Adrienne is supporting me and I can't thank her enough for being so stoked about it! Jen and Robert Edwards are racing the 6 hr solo and Liz is going to help support all of us. Hopefully the beer will be nice and cold by the time I'm done.

Lastly my new team kit came in today. The polyester might be a little warm but at least I'll feel good about the way I look when I die of heat exhaustion...

Taking Care of Business as usual.

It's almost time....

2007-08-09T21:28:00.001-05:00

Free Time Photo show...

2007-08-08T09:19:00.000-05:00

Seven Axiom Ti Custom, DA 10 s, Ritchey WCS Carbon bar , stem and seatpost, Roval Fusee Star-fish demo wheels, Selle Italia Gel Flow Diaper Saddle...for the long days.
Giant Anthem 0. Serious Business.

Ghetto Gear and Little Buddy.
Little Buddy assuming the position.

Day off and I'm resting. Not spending 6 hrs on the bike means free time. It's 9 am and I'm bored.

Show Me State Games- Too hot for a skinsuit

2007-08-06T08:15:00.000-05:00

I lined up at 11 am and it was already 90 frickin' degrees. I was feeling the effects of a heavy week of training, was trying a whole new nutrition program and was lined up next to some fast dudes and chickies. Jen was pretty exited that there were 4 other women racing the marathon class.

Dan Furman was there on a Trek 69'er single speed, Matt Keeven was there on his new 29'er 1x9, the series points leader was there and there was some not so pro looking dude rockin a skinsuit??? I mean, unless you are Geoff Kabush rocking a white Canadian National Champion skinsuit in the short track you are suspect. So I kept a close eye on him. Other than that the field was about 15 deep which was cool.

The race started and I rode. After about a mile I crested a hill and looked back to see Matt Keeven coming down the descent leading up to the hill I had just crested. That was the last I saw of anyone until I started lapping people. I was feeling really good and able to keep my heart rate low. There were two Stinging Nettle like sections and every time I hit them I big ringed it knowing Keeven had a 1x9 and Furman had a SS. On the climbs I just settled in and spun. There was one really pretty section of bottoms which ran parallel to a cow pasture and all the cows came out to watch. They were really friendly and I would MOO to them on every lap but towards the end I was feeling deprived of protein and thinking of stopping to grill one up, unfortunately I didn't have a chainsaw or matches...

I wasn't using any Hammer products for this race, this time I was using my own SECRET mix of a bunch of different powders, ect and it was going down easy and my stomach was happy. I had some Red Bull towards the end and it gave me wings.

I crossed the line on my 7th lap at 2:59:10 and wanted to bust out one more for training but the officials held me down and told me I was done. "It's all over little buddy SIMMA DOWN NOW!" Dan came in about 15-20 minutes later and the 3rd place guy was a bit behind him. Matt Keeven had some catastrophic failure and fired up his BIG FOOT truck to 4 wheel his way back to the Lou. Jen finished 7/15 and 2cd in the womens and we both won gift certificates to SHAKESPEARES PIZZA from Kurt, the owner as schwag... NYOCE!!!

More of the same...

2007-08-03T09:06:00.000-05:00

I wish I had some funny stories to or something. Instead I ride, eat and sleep. I guess I'll keep talking about that a little. Most bloggers name their blogs based on what they are going to talk about. I have gotten off the beaten path. More talk about kitties soon, and some sweet picture updates too.

This weekend we went down to Council Bluff to do some camping and get some miles in. Before I was trying to get Kyle to come down and party and he said something about not remembering the last time he drank 10 beers. Neither could I.

Since Jen was too afraid to bring the gallon of sangria I drank some beers. We grilled some great steaks, some corn on the cob and washed it down with some smores. Just as I was getting my swerve on Anne, Rex and Jen called it quits. What can I say, they are all old. 7 beers deep. Unless I want to be the lone soldier around the campfire trying to accomplish my goal I fall short of it. Weak sauce.

Sun morning came and I was feeling pretty good. We all rode one lap together and then split up to do some training. My next 3 laps were 1:12, 1:09 and the last one would have been my fastest by far but I caught Jen just after the beach and she was upset that I lapped her and gushing blood from her knee so we finished off the lap together, I think for me it was 1:10 or so. Jen ended up with 3 laps and was happy with how she was feeling on the MTB which is a huge improvement.

Wednesday I set off at noon up the Riverfront Trail for a nice cool 95*+ ride. I wanted to belt out a 5 hr solo flat century. I was doing pretty well but my nutrition in the heat has been a problem lately and I fell into the K-hole for awhile at the half way mark. I came out of it and finished strong but ended up with a 19.7 mph avg instead of 20. I was riding my new Seven Axiom Ti bike with a pair of Mavic R-SYS demo wheels which are pretty light but not aero at all. I put a pair of Roval Fusee Stars on to try and they are way faster on the flats. Should have had them on Wednesday to seal the deal.

I'm going into the MWFT Marathon race this weekend overly tired and then it's all about pulling in the reigns and focusing on rest and preparation for the Rapture in Misery 12 hour on Aug 18. I'm going to try to find one more 12 hr in Sept and then BURNING AT THE BLUFF 07!!

Listen to the Dead.

Saddle time

2007-07-26T15:11:00.000-05:00

Trying to build some sort of endurance for a the Rapture in Misery 12 Hour race.... I was having so much fun doing expert/ marathon races there that it crept up on me... So i've started to string together some rides like this in hopes of surviving the race and using it as a building block. We'll see I guess. Jen and I have been doing quite a few St Charles Epic rides, and I re-discovered how great riding in Jeff Co is. Bring a map, lots of calories, and stop for water whenever you can. My ride yesterday was great but I feel weak for skiping Jim Weber at the end. I was cooked and it was 6:30. When I rolled in I had 98.85 miles and 8'500 feet of climbing though. Not a bad day....

One more thing....

2007-07-12T17:44:00.001-05:00

Don't ever, ever, ever, even think of messing with Carlitos Big Gear Barbados. I'll bet my kitty (your choice, and you know how much I love my kitties) you'll get the horns.

te-kill-ya update- 1/2 Tequila, 1/8 Grand Marnier, 1/8 lime juice, 1/4 Naked Peach-Guava and ice- blend.

This is a mediocre concoction. I'm going back to the OG next...I need to sleep tonight, right?

Neato stuff you should know about

2007-07-12T16:41:00.000-05:00

Ice baths- after extensive blog research I realized that all the cool bike racers take ice baths to flush their legs. Here's the recipe- sit in tub, get Ipod ready to go, fill cold water to above thighs, empty 3-4 bags of ice in, wrap towel around body, turn Ipod on loud, bite towel to get through initial 3 minutes of pain in your ankles, jam out to some tunes, sit for 10 minutes and then rinse off. Instant recovery! I don't know where these dudes are from but you definitely don't need to wear a speedo and you don't want to have any of your buddies over for this.

Air conditioning- Ours is out of commission for a few days. Don't be tricky and think you will be able to sleep in this inferno called Missouri. Self medicate. I bought another bottle of Los Cazadores te-kill-ya. I will sleep tonight.

Rest- After 4 sweet weeks of racing it's nice to rest. I rode to work on Monday and got a ride home so I wouldn't get my white kit wet and dirt-taay. I haven't touched my bike since. I feel lethargic and am rewarding myself with liquor and sweets. This weekend Jen and I are going to do a double St Charled Epic. Ease back into some training if you know what I mean.

Fishing- What I tend to do when I have alot of spare time when not riding. Farinella knows what's up- read my other blog if you think I'm joking.

Day late and a testicle short...

2007-07-09T22:13:00.000-05:00

Jen and I went to race in what E.P has labeled "the Sport + class" (marathon) at Binder Lake and were pretty upset when we realized we had missed the annual testicle festival. Oh well, there's always next year I guess.

The race went well, but I was a little blown from the heat. My first two laps were sub 29 minutes. I think the fastest expert lap was 28:10 so I guess I was going good for a Sport + rider... I think I won by about 10 minutes over the other guy who did the same distance... It was hot. Jen beat a dude and I didn't lap her until the 4th lap even though she still lost the bet. She ended up doing the five laps the rest of the chumps did though.

More later. I still have heat stroke and am upset about missing the sweet festy..

DINO AMBC- wicked fast.

2007-07-03T08:52:00.000-05:00

Another sweet weekend of 10+ hrs in the car. That makes two in a row. This time I had my little buddy Emilie for company though which made it go by much faster. People kept telling me how great this series was and how fast the guys are and since it was an AMBC race I figured I'd see how I could do.

In this series they line up all the Pro/Semi Pros together and then have all the Experts start 1 minute behind them and score everyone off the same starting time at the end. I think there were about 15 P/SM's and maybe 30 Experts. I wasn't expecting such a huge start and was lined up in the second row with no chance for a hole shot.

I went into the woods in about 10th until we hit the first 180* turn into a wall of a climb and half of the guys got off there bikes. I sprinted up the climb and settled into about 5th place. It was a really challenging course with plenty of climbing and no real recovery- you were either climbing or cutting tight single-track. I passed a couple riders and tried to settle into a pace and keep the front group in sight for the first lap.

By the second lap I had settled into a little bit of a pace and caught another rider and sat on his wheel for for the next lap. Not too much else really changed other than me tricking myself into thinking that I would start to catch people as the race went on as I usually do.

Coming through the start finish n the start of the 4th lap I made the mistake of not grabbing a bottle because I didn't want to get gapped off his wheel. I didn't have much jungle juice left and it turned out to be a mistake. We stayed together for the first half of the lap and I attacked him on a short section of pavement before going back into the single-track. I kept trying to drop him and got a couple gaps but he was able to close them. Towards the end of the lap I started to go backwards and felt like I was going to cramp.

Coming through on the last lap I went to grab a bottle with him still in sight but I dropped it and didn't go back for it. I crammed a bunch of calories in hoping to at least maintain whatever position I was in but started to go backwards and got passed by a couple more riders.

I really thought that I had given up a bunch of time on the last couple laps but looking at the results I'm pretty happy. I ended up 3rd in my class and 13th overall, about 9 mins off the winner. The weekend before I was 15 mins off the pro's time that won so I'm guessing my top-end is getting a little bit stronger. Too bad they only paid the top 8 guys overall... This is a really great series and a totally different kind of racing than I have done so far. Racing in a bigger field all grouped together is the way to go. One more weekend of racing and then it's time to change gears and get ready for some 12 hr racing!

NRC racing.

2007-06-26T08:07:00.000-05:00

I guess I expected to show up in Little Rock, AR to see tents, team vans, and huge fields similar to my experience at The Joe Martin Stage Race. Instead it was pretty much just a better run local mtb race. There were about 6 pros there which was about 1/2 of the P/S/E field size. Still getting back in the swing of things on the mountain bike this season I opted for the 30-39 race.

The race started out on the road. It was flat for about 200 yards and then up a short but stiff climb and the single-track started at the top. I sat on a wheel to the top of the climb and then attacked and got the hole shot. Me and one other guy rode away from the group (about 15 riders?) on the first section of trail which didn't have any major climbing. I was red-lined as usual not quite used to the expert starts, I don't really warm up until about an hour in. I had heard the first climb was tough but really had no idea. I went into it at 125% and made it up the first section ok. By the middle of the climb I was getting my swerve on trying to focus on the trail and realizing that 95* in the woods is damn hot! Thats when the local Richard Machycek came by me. Too bad I couldn't have pre-rode the course the day before instead of working, driving 6 hrs and sleeping in a tent. That's the way the ball bounces for a wannabe G. So I finish the climb and see two other riders closing on me and am in full on recovery mode. I knew if I pushed it I would end up in a deep dark K-hole so I backed off and let them pass. Then one more.

For the next half a lap I focused on recovering and settling into a nice pace and learning the course. My second lap through I started to feel good and caught a couple of the 19-29 experts, shelled in short order by the pros. I was feeling optimistic that 26 miles was just long enough that people might not be ready for the heat and length and stuck to the secret mix and crammed some electrolytes into my system. By lap three I was flying. I had found my rhythm and knew the course well enough to maintain some momentum. I started to see a rider ahead who saw me as well and began to steadily close. It was a 19-29 rider who had a teammate in my field, who he told me was just ahead. On the next climb I caught sight of him and put it down. I didn't really have anything to lose as I was in 5th place at this point, out of the moolah. I caught him and was surprised when I looked over my shoulder at the top of the climb and he was not there. I put it into the big ring and focused though the next two big downhills and bottoms section.

On the last section of the course with about 3 miles to go I caught sight of another rider. At this point I figured there was no way he would slow down but at the crest of the last big hill I caught him, reached the short section of double track at the top, threw it into the big ring and dropped him after a short chase. I was pretty surprised at the power I had so late in the race and stoked to have moved up into a podium spot on the last lap!

The last mile of the course is pretty rocky with no big hills just some short power climbs so I concentrated on riding clean and protecting my sidewalls. I was pretty jazzed about my finish when I saw another rider. I closed on him coming into the last 150 meters of double-track. He gave me "the look" and dumped some gears. I put it down and came across the line about a bike length ahead. He had a double-digit pro # which sucked because I didn't move up into 2cd place but was pretty cool that I just waxed some pro in a sprint!

All in all it was a great race. Super challenging course, ok turnout and well run. The 12 hrs of driving and not having anyone to split gas with sucks though. Better than racing on the road though!

WEMS JOHN MUIR 6 HR Race

2007-06-11T16:50:00.000-05:00

Another weekend of camping, sangria and racing. And it was good.

WISCONSIN

Jen and I went up to Wisconsin to proceed with the master plan and get into some longer racing. I raced the 6 hr solo and she raced on a 4 person team with Anne, Rex Kwon Do and a dude named Dave that Anne knew from working a Trek. Both Anne and Dave are WI natives eat cheese like rats and talk funny, in a Milwaukee sort of way.

We got up there on Friday afternoon and set up camp at the Whitewater West #75. Our car camping has become competitive. Matt and Liz James went deep by registering at REI for their wedding and got the instant mack-daddy set up and Jen and I are right there with them after making some key purchases over the last couple years. We continue to awe Rex and Anne, this time with Tiki Torches and a brand new queen size air mattress that inflates in 45 seconds. So after we got squared away we headed up to the Emma Carlin trail system to get a little ride in and stretch our legs. The trails in the Southern Kettle Moraine Region are legendary. All the trails are marked, one way and only kept open if the conditions are ideal which keeps them primo. 1.5 hr spin and I was feeling better than good. Oh yeah, getting squared away also included parting with some serious greenbacks for camping passes, parking passes, and trail passes. WI keeps their state green with green.

Sat morning and it's go time. The 12 hr race starts and 8 am and ends at 8 pm and my race was from 1-7pm. Perfect time to get the tent set up, check the bike, get Jens stuff ready, mix my drinks and get some calories in. There were about 250 entrants I would guess and a bunch of easy up tents in a row, just like the big leagues. So the mornings going well and I am getting in the zone and not having to rush at all. My loop was about a 25 minute race pace lap so around 11:30 i start to creme up the chamois and get ready to check out the course. I found the race director, Ken from team Cyclopath, and asked him about the start of my race and he kept responding in short like I was bothering him. Screw those out of town guys they should know this shit like the locals! So it's before 12 and I head out to pre-ride my loop, at least what I thought it was from Kens description "everyone starts the same way." He didn't mention anything about the two completely different trails (that I had no way of pre-riding the day before because they were closed) that split off right after the start. Thanks Ken.

Sweet, sweet singletrack. All one way and with amazing flow. But why is it taking me so long? I can't turn around because racers were coming through the tight singletrack in Jedi mode and I start to get nervous...12:30 and I'm stressing when I come along a bike patrol and he tells me I'm screwed unless I swim upstream. Swimming upstream, racers coming downhill, silent on the hard-pack single track screaming at me. 12:45 pm my start sprint faster and dismount to peak around the turns. I pop out of the woods and see two course marshals standing next to a huge sign that reads 12 HR LEFT - 3 & 6 HR TO THE RIGHT which was not there before. I sprint back to the line, check in with the scorekeepers at ***1:08 pm***, grab a bottle and take off....

RACE TIME

Towards the end of lap one I start to catch some pack fodder. Since I had no idea how many people I was racing against I ask how far from the front they think they are. "Way back" was the common response. Two laps of almost Expert Race pace with some occasional rest while waiting to pass...

1.5 hrs in and I start to lose a bunch of time sitting on wheels waiting to pass... 2 Hrs in and more of the same and my legs are feeling the effects of the heavy duty early efforts. I get pissed considering how much less energy I would have expended had I had the hole shot or been in the top 5 as usual... 3 hrs in and I realize I am clawing my way up and am feeling much better after a water hand up from Jen. The top secret mega mix was working and I was recovering from the start and the people were thinning out quite a bit. I was settling in to a very steady 23.5 -24 minute pace and it seemed like people were tired enough at this point to be willing to get out of my way as I flossed by... Right around 3.5 hrs and I get the bad news 7 th place, 17 minutes off the leader.... Then it happened. I passed this one guy towards the 4 hr mark and asked him where he thought he was. He said "pretty close to the front, maybe 3rd" I sat on his wheel for a little while, watched him standing up and struggling on the small climbs and then dropped him... The next lap I came up on a guy in red and white and asked him how he was doing. I could tell he was hurting . He told me he was in second. I dropped him on the hill after the Emma Carlin connector trail (I only know that b/c we rode it the next day) and was really surprised that he didn't even respond... At this point in the race I was really starting to feel good- optimistic and the legs were good. Jen and the crew had no idea I was in second and the time off the sheet told me I wasn't and was WAYYY back but I figured the sheets hadn't been updated recently and kept on. I was dying for some chamois creme but didn't want to stop. It was really getting to my head that I might lose this race by less than the time I missed at the start and getting pissed. I rode with aggression... I came though at around 4:50 and realized I was going to be able to squeeze in a couple more laps when it occurred to me that I didn't know the format; do I race up till 6 hrs or is it like our local series where if you come though up to 5:59 you get to go out for your next lap??? The longer the better for me, but the bad news came on my second to last lap.... You only get scored on what you finish before 6 hrs.

My last lap was pure Jedi flossing. I had been dropping to the middle ring for must of the climbs (if you can even call them that) but this lap I just churned the big ring thinking in the back of my head that just maybe.... a flat, bonk, he doesn't go out for the last lap... But no dice. I didn't catch the ghost rider I had been chasing all day. My last lap was 23:08. My first lap was 21 (on my Garmin) including all the time spent passing... I was pretty much dialed for this race and had to settle for 1st loser with a sweet medal to show.

Condensed Recap for the rambling impaired:

*I started 8 minutes behind a 30 person field.
*I passed 29 of the 30 people
*I rode for a full hour before a 6 hr race...half of which was at race pace.
*I consumed 2300 calories, no solids.
*I lost by less than 7 minutes.
*I spent over $350, I won a medal.

ALL THE REST

Jen did really great and turned out some pretty fast lap times. In an official sangria induced announcement around the campfire that night I forced her into agreeing to do the Burning 12 hr solo this year. Whether she remembers is another thing.

Sun we rode the Emma Carlin connector trail. The first 35 minutes was good. The rest was a death march for me. Jen was kept dropping me and smiling. We ended up riding for 2 hrs and my avg hr was 96 bpm. Not so good when your body doesn't want to respond.... Resting as we speak.

***the sangria jug was not emptied on this trip. Missed my little buddy Emilie and Mike, even though it was nice not to have to listen to him all weekend. Still trying to talk Emilie into her true calling. Sangria and mountain bikes.

Keep your ear to the grindstone peeps, you're suspect!

Memorial Day and KC Cup Racing

2007-06-05T09:31:00.001-05:00

Part I

I took a weekend off from racing and headed down to Hooshy fest 07 at Council Bluff with a bunch of quality folks- Jen, Rex Kwon-Do, Anne Dr., my little buddy Emilie, Mike Flanny, Matt James and his understanding wife Liz. Some other riff-raff showed up to ride and or party like The Edwards Klan and Sment and his lady friend.

It sure seemed like it was going to storm all weekend but we didn't get hit with a drop. After consuming way too much tequila, I was feeling confident with my skills that I had been neglecting while concentrating on racing and practiced consuming a bunch of Mexican beers. When I felt I was up to speed I decided to go to work on the sweet bottle of high end (that you can only find on the bottom shelf) gallon jug of Carlo and Rossi Sangria. I perfected the recipe and saved a little to share with folks the next night.

Ahhh, the headache. Didn't keep us from doing some epic riding on the Middle fork though. We headed out after clearing out the cobwebs and got in a good 3.5 hrs. Jen attacked the trail like no other, as did Gauge Edwards and they both lost but have some sweet scars and bruises from the battle.

We got back and Black Matt wanted to put it down so we set off around the lake at a blistering pace with Flanny. I cut my sidewall and Matt pushed on for an estimated 45 min lap. World record shit folks.

Sun night was a classic campfire party and seeing Emilie get down to some serious sangria to the point of tring to suck the fruit out of the jug was clasic! We woke up the next morning to this monster spidy in Emilie and Mikes tent. It was as big as my little buddy Emilie and Flanny made her get it out after making her get him beer after beer the night before he was too hungover and scared to deal with it. We have some pretty sweet footage of Jen telling Emilie to "just pick it up" with Flanny gigling in the background.

More riding on Monday on the North Trace with Emilie, Jen and Mike. The trail wasn't in the best condition and neither were out chapped asses. 5 hrs saddle time on the MTB the day before was a bit much for the sweet cheeks so we called it at about 3 hrs, packed up camp and headed off to the Mexican resty and just not wanting to let the fun end we all headed to Ted Drewes to eat and people watch. We definately felt like we had earned it but most other folks there had not. Good times.

Part II

KC CUP at Landahl

Mud. No mud tires. Bad combo. With no long distance action I did the expert race. I was second in the woods and about 4 of us shelled the rest of the field on the first climb. About 3 miles in I was riding up a rocky ledge and flipped backwards off the side. I banged up my knee pretty good and two guys passed me. On the second lap I had caught back on to #2 until I had to stop to clear the mud out so my wheel would spin. At the beggining of the 3rd lap I caught and gapped the # 2 guy pretty quick and was starting to feel good. I began to put it down and chase hard. I had no idea how far in front of me # 1 was but churned out my best lap of the day. I was hoping to see him on the 4th lap but was getting caught behind all kinds of riders I was either lapping of from other fields and wasting lots of time being "polite" after running someone off the trail and over the bars at the Castlewood race. I ended up less the 2 mins down and had put more than 4 mins on # 3 on the last lap. I felt pretty good but had wrecked my knee pretty bad. It looks like a giant melon. MJ took a respectible 5th place.

The Heartland Race series is the heat. Huge fields, huge payouts and one big happy party. They had BBQ, free beer and it really was a "Dirt (mud) loving good" time like they promised. I'll be back.

Part III

This weekend we are headed up to WI for some endurance stuff as long as my knee gets better. Jen, Ann, and Rex are going to do a team 12 hr and I am going to go for the 6 hr. More later. Cheers mates!

BTW, on the way back from the KC Cup Matt and I saw a billboard for the Bull Testicle Festival. Yes, it's real and we are so there!

Under the Radar....

2007-05-23T12:48:00.000-05:00

...that's how I like to fly. State RR Championship weekend. So rather than buying my 07 road license and risk potentially winning another cat III state RR jersey and the ridicule that would follow on fisting, I loaded up the Saabaru and headed off to KY for some mtb racing.

I was told at the start of the season that sponsorship was going to be awarded to team players who have good attitudes who are " going out there and getting it". That's what I am liking about mountain bike racing. Everyone at the race has good attitudes, I am the only one responsible for how my team does and if you are going out there to get it you lose. It's a time trial. I feel re-vitalized!!! I am so exiting about racing this year. No matter where you race mountain bikes people are friendly. I didn't know anyone at the race and people just kept coming up to me to ask where I was from and congratulate me on my win. It is a good feeling.

The expert race was a long one, 33 miles, and after doing endurance races and hard training for 3 weeks I was burnt but I got to the front of the 5 person 30-39 field fast and didn't see anyone after that. I managed to catch either 3 or 4 of the 5 19-29 guys who started 2 mins ahead of us as well. I was feeling ok until the third lap when I fell into the

K HOLE...

The K hole is a bad place, just ask Matt James. I started to wonder if I was going to finish the last 1/2 of the lap. The K Hole just kept getting deeper. I ate some gels and an Enervit cheerpack and drank the rest of the top-secret drink mix. The guy who put on the race, a 40-49 expert guy from the Wood and Wave bike shop came by me. I limped across the finish line, pretty far ahead of the next guy but it took a toll. I am sitting here today petting my kitties and weaving some nice baskets trying to get out of the k hole.

I won the race and got $60 bucks which was cool. Doesn't really hold a candle to the $10 gift certificate I got to West County Cycles after getting waxed by Dwayne and Kurt at the Castlewood race (hardest race ever), but it was still nice.

Going to HOOSIERFEST 2007 at Council Bluff this weekend! Can't wait...

Caslewood Endurance Race

2007-05-17T16:59:00.000-05:00

Another decent race for me with some real improvement since the last time I raced with Dwayne and Chris. I'm getting a little more used to the fast starts which is basically Chris and Dwayne blowing any of the pack fodder out the back in the first mile of the race. Chris flatted which totally sucks but I was happy that I was able to keep him off after seeing him every now and then after I passed him on the second lap. Other than that it was pretty much the same.. just get on it and try to maintain. My threshold HR is right around 174 and I rode at 172 avg at Rhetts and 171 at Castlewood so my pacing is pretty much dialed. Seeing Kurt dust off the mountain bike and do so well was very cool but seeing Dwayne put it down at the end of the race was unreal. Nice...

back in the saddle

2007-05-07T08:31:00.000-05:00

Things...

I raced at Rhetts run this weekend. I haven't raced there since the 2003 Sport class State Championships. That place is pretty rad. The course was in perfect condition and I was enjoying every lap. All 8 of them. I avged 24 min laps and feel great that my last lap could have been just as fast as my first and I am starting to feel comfortable flossing the mtb again. I wish I could say it was a mechanical free day to show my buddy Dan G wrong, but that guy has cursed my bike and I am screwed. The freehub on my 2 month old Crossmax SL's would not freewheel from the start which forced me to pedal through all the technical sections and downhills barely allowing me to rest. I also poked a hole in my front tire with a 3mm stick and had to stop to add air. Who get s flats from sticks you ask???

Here are some photeys from Jen and my trip... http://www.flickr.com/photos/furryblackcat

I would also like to congradulate my homey Eric Pirtle for setting the new course record and winning Syllamos Revenge in AR this weekend. That is pretty sweet, hope he didn't get too muddy.

Out of office notice...

2007-04-16T23:22:00.000-05:00

Jen and I are leaving for Kauai tomorrow morning. When I get back it's say goodbye to cookies and say hello to a couple 30 hr training weeks. I'm actually pretty exited now as I have found some motivation. The BIG Mutha F'er aka the Lumberjack 100. When I heard that Chris Eatough, Tinker Juarez and probably Chris Ploch were going to be there I figured I better start training.... But for now I'm only thinking about pretty little pina coladas with umbrellas....

peace.

You know how we do it.

2006-12-04T10:07:00.000-06:00

White Knight
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

White Bike. 23.7 out of the box.

It's white. destroy.

In search of a sherpa

2006-12-04T10:02:00.000-06:00

Big as my Arm
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

So, the fly fishing thing. Last weekend myself, Russell and Larry McDumpster went down to the Current River to do some camping and trout fishing. The camping lacked a couple key elements- mainly smores and a campfire. I love smores and I love a good campfire. Larry was had set up camp that afternoon and I didn't get down there until about 8 pm and set up in the darkness. We promptly opened a fresh bottle and had a couple sips of Jameson Irish Whiskey. Feeling refreshed and somewhat warmer, even without a fire, I went about setting up my tent. Car camping for me includes a queen size deluxe air mattress that has to be pumped by foot- no easy task. Calls for more whiskey.

Russ showed up about an hour later. Pretty funny to see a blinging Porsche roll into a quiet campground in Southern Missouri at 10 pm in November. Looked like the meth had arrived. Sweet. Russ grabbed a glass a went for the whiskey. We had saved him the better part of a sip.

The next morning was pretty freaky. I woke up to what I was sure were werewolves howling outside. Come to find out they were only some crackas hound dogs running around chasing each other.

Other than the werewolf attack things went pretty normal. We shook out the cobwebs, made some breakfast, broke down camp and headed down some dirt road to the access. Larry, who had fished the day before, was ready before I was. I am methodical and anal in my preparation and don't like waiting for anyone. I always like to be the first one on the river. Larry not only was ready first but he then chose to go fish upriver, virgin water for me, and I trudged downstream to water I had fished once before in August. We all had wet our lines by about 9 am.

After about an hour I had caught one small brown trout. Russ caught up with me and we flogged some rising fish for a little while. I got one more on a tiny 24 fly which is about the size of this letter J. I headed downstream to find more fish, which I did.

It was warming up now and I had started to get into some slightly larger trout when Russ catches up with me again. Larry and himself had caught a couple fish, were beat and wanted to get home. I was just around the corner from a part of the stream I had never fished but I walked back with him hoping either he or Larry had some frosties for a mid afternoon snack. All I got was a mouth full of dust as they drove away.

It was about 2:30, sunny and the fish were biting so I headed down the trail to the spot I had just been fishing. First cast and I had another decent rainbow on. As I turned the corner I saw some sweet deep water and snuck around behind it on the bank so I could get the drift of my dry fly right behind a big rock into some pocket water.

It was like seeing a whale enter the water after breeching. A kind of rolling suction. My fly disappeared and I was on. At first I didn't think it was that big. One solid run and I thought it would have been like all the others. But then this fish started tearing line off. Keep in mind that I have a 6X 3.4 lb tippet on and there are lots of rocks and branches. The fish continues to take me downstream and every time I get it in close it tears off more line. Finally I get the fish in close and drag it (I haven't bought a net yet) up onto the bank and just as I do the line breaks, no joke. The fish almost flopped back into the water.

The sad part of the story is the only pics I could take alone offer this beautiful wild rainbow no justice. I would guess it was about 4 lbs and was right around or a little over 20." By far the biggest I have caught so far. It was pretty exiting for me.

Vote for DAVE AND THE DESTROYERS IN 2007!!!!

Twice as furry

2006-12-03T09:34:00.000-06:00

Twice as furry
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

Sorry for the lack of material. I have been busy cloning the Furry Black Cat.

Here is the update:

Mediocre Race season, cloned my kitty, went to Colorado, learned to fly fish, became o/c about fly fishing, caught lots of fish, crashed on my bike, caught more fish, went back to Boston, didn't get in any bar fights, watched 12 hr race, bought lots of bottles of whiskey, ate lots of cookies, installed some hardwood floors in Jens house, rode my bike a little, it got cold, stopped riding my bike again, got a new mountain bike, carved nemesis initials in headboard (EP, RP, CW) and am now trying to find my Survivor CD so I can start listening to Eye Of The Tiger and training again.

Well thats about it. Oh yeah, I'm going to start my own little mountain bike club- I thought of a really catchy super nifty name....So in 2007 watch out for....

DAVE AND THE DESTROYERS!!!!! YEAH! The coolest team around. Yeah.

Big Red

2006-06-20T09:19:00.000-05:00

Big Red
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

The good ole' days are over. For the first time since 92' when Phish opened up for Santana, Big Red took the stage while the sun was still shining to play to a half attentive audience. You could easily tell who showed up to see Trey play- because they were swaying and twirling like trees in the desert on the lawn at UMB.

I started seeing Phish in 95. The first year they started to sell out the "big venues." The year before I had seen Jerry make the walls sweat at the old Boston Garden, ironically that same year I started smoking lots of ganj. I never saw Jerry play his guitar again but I did manage to see Phish play in Mass, Maine, New York, Florida, Las Vegas, North Carolina, Ohio, Connecticut, Wisconsin, and the last show ever in Vermont.

So on the eve of the big money race I consumed the equivalent of $7 brewskeez that the winner in the Pro race would walk away with. Ironically, I had a couple margaritas with the winner last night. I also did myself a favor and stopped into Bass Pro Shops on Sunday. Lemme tell you, if you're bored and want to see some comedy, head up to good ole' bass pro shops on the weekend. On the way out I smelled some fried dough and set myself up with some funnel cake, a brat and a coke before going up to Winghaven. That made me feel much better.I was in no shape to be racing and opted to stand in the sun for 5 hrs complaining about how bad I felt.

Oh well. Time to get back to training. I actually found myself getting exited to get up and ride today, a welcome change. Back on track.

Wow, what was I just talking about? Ohh, Tom Petty rocked. It was a fantastic show. Even if my boy wasn't capable of unleashing his Jedi skills like he was in this picture.

I'll have what he's having.

Abba- better than punk rock

2006-06-16T09:14:00.000-05:00

abba
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

My buddy Dan G was hanging out at the shop yesterday. He's pretty smart. Most of the time I don't know what he's talking about so smart. He likes to cook and drink wine. I'm guessing he's pretty good at it as well. He teaches at Wash U, smarty pants. He can dominate you on the track if he cared.

So we're all hanging out listening to some music and Dan puts in some punk rock screaming bullshit. It sucked a rhinos nuts. So after a restless evening of tossing and turning I woke up, made some Kaldis Sumatra, pet my kitty, and started working on my fishing rod bumping some sweet ABBA. Now this my friends is some good music.

Alot has happened since I bloged last- i crashed in a guardrail at Rolla, i flatted in IN 8 miles to the finish with no wheel truck and got to hear crazy Charlies life story, I saw Rusty and family pulled over on the side of the road coming back from the State Championship race with a bunch of bags of blood on ice ( who would have guessed?), I won a race that actually wasn't a win because Rusty wasn't there, and I've been packing on the LB's. Kevin WIllbanks saw me for the first time in a couple month and in his Beevis tone was like "Breslin, you look big, huh, huh."

More to follow bitches, keep your ear to the grindstone.

Luck: When preparation meets opportunity

2006-05-15T13:28:00.000-05:00

Big Fish
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

If you don't want to hear the sappy story, than beat it.

Before I began racing bikes and was living in Boston I was a pretty serious surfcaster. Basically a "surfcaster" is someone who fishes from the shore rather than by boat. It's obviously much harder. You need to find the places to fish, the tides to fish those places, how the moon affects those tides and what lures to use. I used to target the type of fish in the pic, the striped bass. These fish grow up to about 70 lbs but the kind of "holy grail" is a 50 lb fish among surfcasters. For you bike racers it would be similiar to winning an NRC race in your category. The world record from shore is 78 lbs. These fish like to feed at night when they feel safer coming closer into shore and like to feed where there is really good structure (like rocks, ect.), deep water and strong currents. I used to fish 4-5 nights a week, all night long, depending on the tides and how the fishing had been. Slowly I really got good at it. I began building my own rods on carbon fiber blanks, making my own lures and keeping extensive log books. Some nights I would catch a half a dozen fish over 20 lbs, up to the mid 30's. That would be a rockstar night. Most guys would keep the fish since it's a great table fish but I really just enjoyed letting them swim away and hope they would return when they got bigger.

2001 was my first year in St Louis and EP hadn't got me into racing full on yet so I planned a 2 weeks in June to go home and fish based on my logbooks and moon phase. I went home, got my gear ready and started to find where the fish were. 4 nights later I caught this one. 2 am, no one around, current moving at 5 knots on a lure I made. It all came together. This one was 47" long and weighed in at 40+ lbs. Look at the size of the mouth and tail. This was one beast.

I don't remember how I got so into it because my dad didn't fish at all but he would always go with me to seminars and stuff like and I remember this old timer having a hard time believing the sucess I was having and saying I must be really lucky. I'm not to good at remembering quotes but I distinctly remember my dad saying,"You know Dave, there's no such thing as luck. Luck is when preparation meets opportunity."

So this season I was preparing on another big race. I won the sport class mountain biking state championship my first year racing, I won the 12 hr race my first attempt, I won the state road race as a cat 3 and I beat my own time at the 12 hr race when I tried it the second time. I felt confident that if I planned for it I would be able to do well at Joe Martin. I knew that planning to win Joe Martin was totally unrealistic, so I was shooting for top 10. I won my first race this season the week before and was feeling like it was all coming together. Boy was I mistaken.

The road race started off as I thought it would. Attacks from the big teams. About 10 miles in 2 guys got off and were out of site. Nobody could believe that they would hold it. The finish to the road race is crazy. Big 4 lane open road with a slight climb at 1k and a downhill finish. It's a drag race. I was feeling good and was able to get on a leadout which blew up at 250 m just in time to jump on 2 more hot wheels. I sat in and came around one of them on the line, less that a length from the field sprint winner. That's it for the good times.

I showed up to the TT and my head wasn't in it. I was really hot and was getting on and off my trainer when trying to warm up. Anyone who really knows me has seen the amphetamine effect that I get on race day. I usually am over-amped. Not that day though. I came out too strong and caught my 30 s man about 1 mile in, then I decided to stand up and drop him like a road race. Bad idea. I crossed the line at 10:50. 20 seconds slower than last year. Very bad.

Sun morning was more of the same. I just wanted to get out of there but knew that since the GC was so close from 8th place to 30 th place that the crit could change things alot. I was 25th overall and less than 1 min off the top 10. I was having more trouble with the eye of the tiger though. Nothing was getting me amped up. I lined up at the front and went into the 1st turn on about the 5th wheel. Things started to thin out quick but by 2 laps in I was totally cooked and having trouble holding wheels. I didn't feel any of the legs I've had this season. Game over. I ended up finishing up with a very small group 1.5 mins back. I attacked them before the last turn and dragged one Tyson guy with me whose teamate was yelling "don't work for these guys go for the sprint." What the fuck? There's a group of 5 of us trying to chase and he's going to save his legs for the 24th place field sprint! It didn't matter, and he did take me by less than a wheel length on the line.

So, on to the next one. Unfortunately this type of racing is probably the last chance I had at the little big time; watching some super strong local cat 1,2 guys suffer made me realize that.

Fun at the bank

2006-05-05T20:54:00.000-05:00

Cookie_Monster_patch_link
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

So Matt James and I roll to the bank this afternoon. Standard procedure for bike shop lifers. We're one step ahead of the rest though, we didn't CASH our checks and go load up on 40's and cruise the streets for a fix.

So I'm standing in line at the bank and this dude in front of me is in some big dirty t-shirt and shorts. He's super fat. He's the guy that Hardees is targeting with that new add with the jail bait telling the sub shop dude in her f-me voice that "I want a burger with a Philly cheese steak on top... Because I like meat." Whoa.

Anyways, so fat boy is taking out $10 g's in low bills. WTF? On Fridays at my bank they have free cookies, damn good ones at that. So I start to go to town on this plate of cookies. Everytime the blonde chick goes in the back room to get more cash I stuff my face. Then I realize that I'm on camera. Fuck, stealing cookies from a bank? The other chick and her co-worker come out form the back smiling at me, caught red handed with a mouth full of cookies and crumbs on my lips. I just smile. So the blond girl asks me if I'm the guy from Mesa and if I want any cash back. No 40's for me so I say no but realize her plan. Fat boy is looking at the skinny dude with shaved legs and a fistfull of cookies like I'm some sort of freak who's going to cut him in line. I tell her that I don't mind waiting and grab some more cookies. When homeboy grabs his wad of cash and rolls it up and stuffs it in his pockets the funs over for me- or is it? I get up to the counter and she smiles and offers me a full tin of cookies to take back to the shop! Sweet Jesus!

Japanese Muscle Torture

2006-05-04T09:01:00.000-05:00

Major Dickason
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

Couple quick comments before I go to work.

If you like cheese then load up the fandamily and get to Trader Giottos. They have this Cheddar with carmelized onions that is off the chain. Melt it on some good bread with a little vino.

Tosh told me yesterday that he ordered some coffee from Peets. This stuff is the shit. Best coffee ever, what? You don't think so? SUCK IT. Apparently he bi-passed the Peets warehouse and they gave him deeper discounts ordering the quantities he does directly from the grower in Columbia. Tosh is hard for me to understand sometimes, the last thing I need is for him to be all fired up on this stuff talking a mile a minute.

Lately I've been noticing something weird. I've been trying to shed the last couple LB's for Joey Martin and can't. I look at my legs and ask Jen if they look bigger as I flex in the mirror. Nope, still a skinny white boy. I think I've got it figured out though, my brain is growing. Stop fueling it with malted hops and bong resin and presto! Wicked Smaht. That's all I got to say about that.

Yesterday I read the forecast and it said increasing chance of rain all day. It was already cloudy at 10 am and I needed to ride for three hours but I really wanted some blueberry pancakes, so I procrastinated. Yum. SO I get out there and about 1 hr into the ride it starts pouring. The good thing about rocking the Ipod is you don't hear how close the thunder and lightning is. I froze. My hands went completely numb from the wrist down. I only got in 2 hrs. On the bright side it was a great excuse to make a bubble bath and listen to some Elton John!

Photo finishes, Overalls, sandbag, Gravel and Rest

2006-05-01T09:27:00.000-05:00

Photo finish
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

Wow. This was such a weird weekend for me. I'm still not really sure how I feel about it but when I look at it on paper it was pretty good.

The Mesa 3 squad went pretty big;
richard B 2, Andy Burgess 4 at Carondolet
El Guero 3 in the TT
Andy Burgess 3, Furry Black Cat 5 and a Mike "big money Prime" Flanagan at Forest Park
and Andy Burgess 3rd overall

The Godfather was telling me to "do my best and take it easy in the turns" for the TT and to "try to hang in there" on Sun. He knows much better than I do.

I showed up to the TT after work and they handed me a number, I had 18 mins to get dressed and warm up. Not good. I was off the side of the road within 1 minute. I managed to get moving again and really pushed it. My legs were screaming going from cold to a 120% effort. 3 rd place? Is that good? How much time did I waste in the ditch. Damn.

The crit on Sun was even more bizarre for me. The first 40 mins of the race I was in the back. I could hear my buddy Bill Howard yelling "Go Brez" every lap from the grill as well as Adrienne and Russ to "hang in there." I couldn't find the front for the life of me. I was in some serious pain. My quads were locked up from two straight weeks of hill repeats and uphill sprints. Two weeks without any rest trying to get my body ready for some real racing yet still I was dumb enough to be asking myself why I was hurting so bad? The Godfather was right "try to stay in there." Towards the end of the race I told Andy Burgess to mark the sandbagger dressed up like a cow in disguise. With 3 laps to go I found myself on his wheel? I had found the front?

2cd to last corner I was still there, I watched the move happen- 3rd wheel, wide on the corner, sit halfway up the false flat, go like hell. I had told Andy the night before at Nacho Mamas this was the move, I was even on the guys wheel that I told the others to mark, it was perfect. The legs were not. I was in slow motion. It happened and I watched, just like I said it would. Damn.

The funny thing was I spent most of the day beating myself up about it. Go off course in the TT and still get 3rd. Miss the move in the final 250 meters and still get 5th and have your team bring home some serious bacon? I guess I've been feeling that good lately. No matter what the circumstances are I hate losing.

If Richard had eaten more breakfast on Sat morning this finish would have been different. This kid doesn't eat. I'm working on this young grasshopper slowly. Nice job though!

Nice job to Nick and Rusty too. 1 st and 2 cd overall. Too bad I couldn't have raced Sat morning :)

Now it's time for some serious rest. 12 days to go.

"Don't stop till you get enough!"

I WILL BREAK YOU!

2006-04-30T07:34:00.000-05:00

I WILL BREAK YOU!
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

Damn, I feel like I'm facing off against Ivan Drago this morning. Kinda looks like Rusty too.

For all you that think think I'm not able to pull off a 5:04 TT...you're right bitches!

To be honest I didn't believe it myself but wea asked the official twice and she verified it. I was sub 6 but know I'm going to be scored at 6:04. I heard Nick spent some time in the gravel as did I. I felt like I was driving a tractor trailer in Colorado- get a little too much speed down the hills, the brakes shut down and just drive into some gravel to slow down. It covered the tops of my 404's. 21 mm tires were not the right choice. I guess Nick would have had a pretty good time if he would have stayed out of the gravel and I know I would have saved enough time for...

So today we have RB with a 2cd place, me with an assumed corrected 3rd place in the TT and our new Ali Jet, Andy, with a 4th. Guess I should have tried to leave work on Sat. This just deepens my hate for Trek in general.

Let's see how the crit goes ladies. I'm glad Big Shark is helping us stuff our new purses. Thanks fellas, that's really swell of you!

EYE OF THE TIGER

2006-04-29T13:55:00.000-05:00

rocky
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

Race day. It's raining and I'm working. I love racing in the rain. Hopefully the Mesa Squad will fill their pretty purses as usual.

I was up early on Itunes. I got some motivational music to listen to for the TT warm up

Eye of the Tiger- Survivor
Don't stop till you get enough- M J
All night Long- Lionel Richie
You're so vain- Carly Simon

Watching Rocky as a child was very motivational for my brother and I. We used to watch the movie and then beat the everliving shit out of each other. Sweet. Really though, if Rocky doesn't get you fired up you're a pussy.

I'm coming off a full two weeks of high intensity training. My legs feel sore all the time. No rest, no messing around. Getting Stronger- like Rocky.

Wed I was running a little short on time so I drove out to Greensfelder and did a Melrose to Bouquet to Fox Creek up Allenton Loop. Then I pre-rode the TT course, did 3 TT repeats up Allenton, did a heated TT loop (against traffic, ohh not soo smahty) rode another Melorse loop and gave it all on Bouquet and then did another TT loop. It was a solid 3 hrs of repeats.

Familiar finish. Note the chick on my wheel.

2006-04-26T10:50:00.001-05:00

Familiar finish.
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

More Shelling

2006-04-26T10:50:00.000-05:00

Settle Down Richard!
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

Found the front.

2006-04-26T10:49:00.001-05:00

Found the front.
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

Trying to find the front on the first corner

2006-04-26T10:49:00.000-05:00

Trying to find the front on the first corner
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

Richard What's Happening?

2006-04-25T09:23:00.000-05:00

Richard What's Happening?
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

Weekend in Indiana.

Since I had to work on Saturday it eliminated any hopes of stage racing. I pretty much slayed myself last week doing the type of workouts I really hate to do, mainly sprint and hill repeats. So the weekends rolling around, my legs are cooked and I couldn't think of any better idea than to find a road race.

The race was actually more of a circuit, 4.5 miles x 10 laps. It reminded me an awfully lot of the Joe Martin Crit course. My boy Richard B, Jen and I woke up at 4 am, jumped in the rowdy Audi and got on the road. Jen would not allow 4 hrs of Phish so I sang to Elton John at the top of my lungs for 4 hrs in protest on the way there.

The race started fast with the Sound Hearing team that had a huge roster of riders attacking one after the other for the first half of the race. Richard demonstrated his dominance by chasing every single one down single handedly. Half-way through the race a lone Proctor masters rider began attacking. Attack after attack he was reeled back in. About 30 miles into the 45 mile race he attacked at the base of the hill and Richard and I closed it and kept going. We reduced a 40 person field to about 12 dudes and the 4 cat 1/2 women who were recing in our field as well. Things started to get pretty tiring when either Richard or I would pull through and people would just line up behind us. I was like "Richard whats happening?" With about 2 laps to go one of the girlies attacked our field and we just let her go, but the Protor guy bridged up to her and brought another cat 2 girlie with him. On the last lap they were just sort of dangling out in front of us but no one really seemed to care. I litterally turned around and asked the other riders if it really was the last lap because the pace was so slow. At the top of the last climb Richard and I got on it, I didn't want to race for second place. I set off and chased with Richard on my wheel. About 500 m out he put in the monster pull and put us about 30 meters off the lead group going into the final corner which was about 250 to the finish. I closed it and kept going. Unfortunately I dragged a CU rider up to the line and he came around me for "My first win ever!" I was the first loser again, Richard finished in the money at 6 th.

The coolest thing about the race was the end. Richard, Jen and I were changing when we noticed a big group of riders around the finish line. I was thinking they were having problems with the camera and it was going to turn into some BS like Froze Toes or Hillsboro. So I headed over and asked the official about the results, she asked my my name and handed me the duckets!! I asked her for my teamates and she gave me his too! Sweet Jesus! We were on the road singing to Elton within 45 mins!

HITOSHI

2006-04-19T08:06:00.000-05:00

HITOSHI
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

This picture needs to be seen. Check out the rain and peloton nipping at his heels. This was a 150 K road race in Japan. I'm sure Tosh can fill in some details.

I like it a lot.

The Big Show for little people

2006-04-18T09:05:00.000-05:00

The Big Show
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

6 weeks. That's my prime time training window. I don't know who told me about the magic number but is has worked for me in the past.

The week before Hillsboro I was scheduled to take Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday off to get in a big block of hrs and after Dogwood knew it was time to ride some hills. Tues I ended up riding a big Wildwood loop hitting all my favorites and putting the hurt on myself on the climbs, and riding tempo between efforts. I ended up around 5.5 hrs.

Wednesday morning I woke up feeling great, and it was damn sunny. I called up Mike Flanigan and Andy Burgess. Andy tried to remember some quote about "making hay" when the weather was good then over the course of the min long phone call totally blew off the rest of his day of work to go ride. This guy is my hero. Andy doesn't fuck around. He's all about being a euro-trash metrosexual high roller and riding his bike. There are some people who start racing bikes locally because you can suck and go without notice- 7/8 of them have aero bars. I'm not talking about guys who get into it in their 40's, I'm talking about the fancy pants who has been racing for 10 yrs without a win. When you see guys some guys in crits you know that they don't have any athleticism to speak of, aside from maybe playing a little tennis on Sundays so they can prance around in very tight white shorts. Andy works hard and is now the Mesa 3's squads new last 10 meter hope seeing that I continually fall 10 meters short. If short white tennis shorts were in style in Italy Andy would charter a jet over there tomorrow to be outfitted; Addidas Rod Laver shoes, Le Tigre white polo shirt and of course a nice set of green and white Addidas three stripe headbands with matching wristbands.

I rode out from Soulard and met them at Greentree Park. We rode out to High Ridge, through Eureka, up Alt and Old State and then did a big Wildhorse Creek loop to put the nail in the coffin. Then we pacelined down Clayton sprinting for town line signs until the pulled off on Geyer and I realized I had to get all the way across the city and my legs were fucked. I ended up just under 6 hrs and went home and ate like a champ. These are two solid riders and good guys. They are both totally jazzed about racing as a team and are willing to do whatever it takes to win. Watch out.

Thursday wasn't so hot. Had I been controlling any of my efforts the 2 days before I might have been able to log another decent ride but I was totally worked. I ended up doing a super easy 2.5 hr ride, just cruising. Friday I got in another 2 hrs, 3.5 hrs today and then include the 3 hrs I did last Sunday and that puts me in at 22 or so. For me the volume isn't as big a deal as the type of intensity I was able to put out on Tue and Wed- I needed the hills.

I took some much needed rest the week after Hillsboro and the segued back into some work this weekend. Sunday Jen, Scott Rendall, Mike Lanyon and me went out and scouted some new loops in Jeff Co. We found some. Let me tell you if it's called Tower Road it's called it for a reason, 20% climbs. We ended up putting in a solid 5.5 hrs of hills and me being the nice guy that I am took them back up into High Ridge via Franks. Coming down from High Ridge Mike and I decided to put it down a little and pacelined most of it at around 30 mph. When we hit the flats at the horse stables I was redlined trying to keep the pace and he came by me alot faster, I opted to keep a little in the tank. We did find some nice families having a Easter meth cookoff and picked up some bags cheap, sweet!

That's about it I guess?

Boss Hog

2006-04-13T08:44:00.000-05:00

Boss Hog
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

I'm getting one of these. This is my little brothers new puppy, now I know why they put these things on the front of Mack trucks. Grrrr. I told Jen that I want one last night, hopefully the Easter Bunny brings me one. My brother flew from Boston to Indy to pick it up, I think it set him back a little less than 3 g's.

I remember when my brother and I were in high school and college. He was a couple years behind me. We used to fight, lots. As kids we would either be brawling with each other, the other kids in the neighborhood or kids we played hockey with. Brian had alot of aggression and living close to the enough to the city my dad thought that a boxing gym would be a good outlet for his aggression rather than at school. My dad has probably regretted that decision more than anything else. Bri had the same amount of aggression, he just knew how to fight that much better.

In high school Brian started getting big, like from my size to 6' 215 size and we both decided that it would be a good idea if we stopped fighting with each other. I remember the last fight we had, exactly the same as the two brothers in "A River Runs Through It" in the kitchen. Probably the biggest thing I learned about fighting from him is that the people that talk aren't the ones you have to worry about; the guys you worry about are the ones that don't say anything before they drill you in the face.

Anyways, say hello to the Furry Black Cats newest cousin Boss Hog.

Floyd?

2006-04-09T22:36:00.000-05:00

Floyd?
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

Check out RP's wheelie across the line. Sweet skills!

Wah Wah Wah

2006-04-09T20:00:00.000-05:00

Cry baby
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

So after the race today I was forced to ask myself
"Self, do you race bikes to place the best you can or to demonstrate how much you can verbally assault your competitors because things aren't going your way?"

Picture this, it's a nice sunny Sunday morning, you take the kiddies to church, have a couple dougnuts afterwards and head over to the park to watch a nice bike race. It's a sunny day, it's pretty outside and you've got your kids along because you thought it would be fun. What you get is so big jerk dressed in blue yelling at another rider at the top of his lungs to "fucking pull Mesa, nice fucking purse you fucking pussy." Classy. That's what I call GOOD SPORTMANSHIP!! Keep yelling while I wax your ass.

Let me clear things up. Mesa had a plan for the Tilles Park Crit. When I created a nice little breakaway of 8 after winning a prime and I noticed that the numbers weren't so good also knowing that I am a decent pack finisher I opted to pull through occasionally and let the real tough guys waste their legs and breath yelling at me. Ironically another guy, Rusty P had the same idea as me.

So the gap is dwindling and some lifer cat 3's are seeing their chances at a big win go down the tubes and it's too much for them to handle. You want to know what the kicker is? You know who was chasing the break down? Big Mouth McGees teamates!! Fucking jerk stores.

So it comes down to the kick with one Dogfisher 20 meters ahead and I lead it out. My boy Rusty blows my doors off and the leaders- the leader holds and I get 3rd. Mesa also got 1/2 in the field sprint.

Okey dokey grasshoppers, other than me not having such good legs the last couple days and Rusty blowing my doors off which is the better scenario? Embarrass yourself in public, sport some quality potty mouth in front of the kiddies who just thumped the bible with mom and pop for a couple hrs and have a quality sugar buzz working from the doughnuts, attack the break to be reeled back in in 20 seconds, and subsequently ruin your shot at the podium? Or number 2- Have your team on the front setting the pace and controlling the race, win a prime, setup a break, play it smart in the break, keep your mouth shut and ride your bike, get 3rd in the kick and have your teammates do well in the field? Hmmm, I don't know?? This bike racing thing is still a mystery to me. Do well or see how tough I am??? Tricky questions.

Rusty is free to start the trash talking , NOW!

I'd talk more about Hillsboro but I don't have too much to say other than it sucks to look over your shoulder to see how many guys are behind you and not to see anyone. The worst part was riding back alone it that cold north wind. The legs were just not there. Once again Mike Flanigan proved himself to be one tough mother f'er. Too bad he wanted to ride across the locals lawns instead of the cobbles!

Dogwood Road Race

2006-03-26T11:50:00.000-06:00

Dogwood Road Race
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

You ever ride with headphones in both ears and the music really loud? I do most of the time. Wicked Smaaht. That's pretty much what the Dogwood Road Race was like for me this weekend. I had no idea what was going on around me.

Things started poorly before the race even began. Any of you who know me know that I am anal retentive about everything. My music, my bikes, my car, counting calories, my facial hair, my sleeping; you get the idea. When I was younger I used to have this dream all the time that I would be getting ready for a hockey game forgot a crucial piece of equipment like a skate or helmet. As I began bike racing the dream changed. I'd forget a shoe or helmet or something major. I'm also OC about all my equipment. If I think a race tire has a minor cut I'll replace it and I always ride my race wheels the day before the race to make sure they shift well out of the stand.

So Jen and I roll into Bradleyville early so we can drive the first and last climbs so she can get an idea of how fucking hard they actually are instead of just listening to me say "Jen, they are really fucking hard climbs."

About 1:15 min before race time were suiting up and oiling each other up with heated oil. It was hot. Then I realize that I grabbed my skinsuit instead of shorts. For a normal person, not a big deal, but of course I freak out. I hate wearing my skinsuit, it is not what I want to be wearing for 53 miles.

Ok so problem 1 is not such a big deal, I cope by putting my jersey on over it so I have pockets for my stuff.

By the time the hot oil session and suiting up and subsequently putting more clothes on when I realize that just because the high was in the 50's doesn't mean it is at 11 am, it's time to line up. What about a little warm up you ask?

So I cruise up to the line and realize that my Tufo S3 Lite which should have 140 psi has about 50 psi and I ask the official to hold on, yes I was THAT GUY, and switch my wheel with a Open Pro Ultegra training wheel which has been rebuilt and I have NEVER ridden since I started using the PowerTap. No time to check the shifting of course. For a guy who has enough computer hardware on his bike to rival Bill Gates in training to go to having nothing at all; no hr, no power no mileage no time, NOTHING- it was pretty fucking weird.

So the race starts out and the man in white attacks and attacks and the people in the field laugh and I remind them that he was a National Time Trial Champion in his day and until they win one to shut the fuck up and chase.

The first climb was MUCH longer than I remembered. That's all I got to say about that. And my rear wheel feels really weird. I keep asking people how far we have ridden and what time it is.

Cruising along a guy rides up to me and is like "Hey man, aren't you the furry black cat?." Pretty funny. Scott Dunsmuir rides for Ozark Cycling Club, is number 2 ranked cat 3 road racer in MO (I'm 3rd) and also has his own blog.

http://rollitupdoestheworld.blogspot.com/

Pretty funny until Scott and a handful of other guys attack close to the top of the feedzone climb, not a blatant attack in the feedzone seeing as how you don't need a feed in a 53 mi race, and I'm still wondering what the fuck is the matter with my rear wheel? Why am I going so slow?

So we regroup and begin to chase. By we I mean me and two other guys (Doug Davis and some DentWizard kid who was pulling his brains out to reel it back in until he was blown off the back. Nice effort though dude!) with about 8 in tow. So we are close, maybe 10 secs and are cruising down this huge downhill at the 35 mi mark. My rear wheel is shaking and I can't tell if I have a flat, my brakes are rubbing or my wheel is in the dropouts crooked?

So I pull the biggest dumb ass move I have pulled in a race. I stop to look. Keep in mind the wheel truck is following the break, my rear wheel is in the truck and flat and we were close to sucking up the break.

Game over.

The crazy thing is I think the only thing the matter with the wheel is the tension. My PT wheel is laced with a little deeper, stiffer DT Swiss rim and my Zipps are super stiff. This wheel was all over the place climbing and at high speed and felt really weird.

Jen on the other hand, got a feeling of what it is like to race with legit pro women (Kelly Benjamin) and finished the race in the money, 3rd in her first race in 10 years. She came up to me after the race and was like, "wow, those are some really fucking big climbs!"

The Furry Black Cat was very happy to be released from my training dungeon when we got home.

Big Gear Barbados

2006-03-24T09:18:00.000-06:00

Big Gear Barbados
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

Wow, has it been that long since I have deprived my loyal reader? I'm really sorry John, I can hear Hot Rod yelling at you to get out of the office as you stroke your beard and repeatedly hit refresh. Like I said I'm sorry.

So last weekend was my first crit of the season. I felt great. I watched Chris Rottiger dominate the womens 4's field with the big money move going into the last corner. Nice job Chris!

Mesa was at the front of the 3/4's race the entire race. Working it. It was impressive team work for a 3's race. Racing as a team for the team. Nice.

I used Chris's move and attacked the leadout group going into the last corner on the bell lap. I dove outside and snapped away from them pretty quick. Somehow Big Gear Barbados (multiple time Barbados National Champion) jumped on my wheel. Downhill sprint, big dude who outweighs me by a wheel barrell full of coconuts, and oh yeah, he can freakin sprint. So I got second. First Loser. The worst part is I tried to get him on Mesa but it didn't happen. I guess there's only room for one REALLY big black dude on Mesa, my man Lonnie.

Carlitos is going to be tearing things up in the 1/2's shortly. He got 3rd at Froze Toes because "some tall white squirrly fucker with long hair rode me into the ditch in the sprint, mon. I'm going to catch up with him, mon, and he's going to wish I hadn't." He was reffering to Steve Tillford. When Carlitos asked told Mike Weiss his creditials apparently Mike didn't believe him and wouldn't give him a 2 liscense. Mike, if you are reading this, please hook him up!

Speaking of total sandbaggers, anyone who has raced as a 3 in Missouri in the last decade probably knows of Ryan Halloran. This guy has won more 3's races than most 3's will race before they upgrade. Let it be known that I'm not going to complain to any officials, but I may have to pull a Murphy and show him where the corn grows. He is the Jedi Sandbagger.

Other than that my dumb ass was installing new brakes and rotors on the Rowdy Audi yesterday in preparation for the rode trip to the Dogwood Road Race this weekend and missed the socket wrench with the hammer and hit myself with full force across the back of my hand. Why was I hitting the socket wrench with the hammer you ask? Exactly. Jen's driving to work today, hopefully they work, good thing I have her as the guinea pig. Thanks hot sauce :)

Tonight I head to Dogwood Road Race, I painted a big ol' confederate flag on the sides of the Audi just to fit in. Hopefully they will appreciate that and not burn me on a cross for driving a foreign car.

"You don't get a refund, if you over pray"

One Bitchin Sunburn

2006-03-16T18:51:00.000-06:00

SRR
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

Nice. I got out today for 3 1/2 hrs and it was sunny. I've got a pretty good little sunburn working for March, but not as good as the one I have in the pic. Look at my face/arm compared to the chump standing next to me. Del Torcho.

That was probably one of the better days I've ever had. The win really was unexpected and for me, it was a big one. I can only thank Luca Fagundes, on the second floor, for getting me there. Jen had been in California riding her bike for over a month and she flew in to town that night. She had to wait for me at the airport while they took this gay picture. I picked her up and then walked down to Chimichangas and sat outside and housed some serious margaritas and chimichangas. The rest of the night was fun too.

Today I had the pleasure of riding with the little muscle himself, Eric Pirtle. I didn't have 20 questions to ask him but I asked him a few.

Delta Bravo- EP where have you been the last week?

EP- How did you know I was gone?

Delta Bravo- Because Kari kept calling me and having me over so she could practice her new massage technique.

EP- What's her new technique?

Delta Bravo- I'm the one asking the questions here short stack! How long does it take you to shave your whole body?

EP- Twice as long now that Gay G has moved out, he made bathtime lots of fun.

Delta Bravo- Do you miss him?

EP- Yes, we're looking to adopt a 10 year old asian boy. The people at the adoption place think I'm gay though.

Delta Bravo- No kidding. How's your brother Ace?

EP- He's good, he just got a new BMW. I was trying to talk him into the Turbo VW Bug, it's much cooler.

Delta Bravo- Ohh.

Well that's all for today folks. If you need any Shimano Shoes, GU products or maybe a new Bianchi bother Eric for some. He's got a garage full and wants to share it with STL cyclists and he can't say no to hot dudes in lycra.

Stay Down!

2006-03-13T18:12:00.000-06:00

_1775842_ali_150
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

Man, I'm worked over like Sonny Liston. The cool thing about it is I still have more juice after my hardest week of training so far, but still in need of rest. I started doing my L4 stuff on feel instead of sticking to what I though was my funtional threshold power (270 W) and found I could complete the efforts with some ease up around 285-290. I'm going to do some more testing this week.

Jen did the same week that I did and went out and rode a hilly 5 hrs solo on Saturday. Her HR was above 180 for over an hr! She told me she was going hard on the hills. Snap! I'd croak. So Sun morning we got fueled up with excessive amounts of coffee that should be considered illegal when made at that strength. I had woke up grouchy and with a headache from the previous days sugar fix but we still managed to get on our bikes 2 hrs before we normally did last summer on Sundays, 12:30 pm. We went out and rode another hilly 4.5 hrs and I figured, damn this chicky must be cooked! No complaints though. So we get home and have a nice big meal and the only natural thing left to do- sleep. 4pm. Sleep. I haven't napped like that since kindergarten. It felt great. So we rallied and went over to Kaldis so we could both sleep knowing we had our fix lined up in the morning and also headed over to Cold Stone Creamery for 1000 calories of pure delight.... Mmmm. I got the strawberry delight or some shit like that, strawberry ice cream with graham crackers, caramel, and whipped cream. Jen got this Mint Chocolate chip with a brownie and fudge mashed up in it. We managed to convice each other that no, we didn't really need the chocolate covered waffle bowl this time like we have every other time.

It was so freakin hot I couldn't sleep. I turned the fans on, opened the door to the 2cd floor deck in the office, you name it. Aside from taking a bath in ice water I did it all, to no avail. So I did the only logical thing left to do- ate some crit winning cereal- fibers good for sleeping which is very, very serious business.

I slept like a champion, until the freakin tornadoes rolled in again....

Sylvain Springs this weekend. Mama said knock you out bitches.

Dropping Bombs

2006-03-12T09:40:00.000-06:00

Dropping Bombs
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

I ate so many Peanut M&M's and cookies yesterday I felt sick all last night and woke up with a headachee this morning. We had a little party at Mesa for our customers yesterday and I unleashed the beast. I keep really tight reigns on my diet during the week and "loosen up a bit" on the weekends but this was an all out eating fest. I got home from work and tried to ride before the twister got to me, I was burping chocolate the whole time and really felt rather sick. I've been keeping a training and diet log for the Godfather of St Louis Cycling, Tosh, and was planning on using yesterday. I would totally hose his data if I was managing to stay +/- 500 calories everyday and then bust out a +6000 calorie day filled with pizza, peanut M&M's and cookies. I didn't even eat my normal piece of chocolate cake for dessert last night!

I was reading some of Michael Barrys book before bed and he was talking about Manuel Beltran and why they call him "Triki." El Triki is the Spanish version of Cookie Monster on Sesame Street. Apparently myself and Manuel need to have a little cookie contest to see which skinny white boy is the Trikiest.

My training has been so focused as of late that I haven't done any of my epic 5 hr rides since Jan!! Today is the day. My legs are shot from this week, but I've got a rest week coming up so I'm going to find me some hills.

Tom Boonen is a badass- if he's not on drugs.

Vanilla

2006-03-10T10:25:00.000-06:00

handmade_bike_show_065-1
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

The Gay Taliban sent me some pics from the handbuilt bicycle show in San Jose. If you click on this pic you can see a couple others. Thanks Gay G.

I don't have much wind in my sails after a tough week of training. I've still got the energy to go cruise around the park, mostly in the woods up behind the pavillion.

Jen and I went down to the new Mexican Place in Soulard last night, Chavas, for a drink. The margaritas were average. It seemed kinda sterile to me. The menu is pretty straightforward. I guess you don't have to try to make mexican that special but it seemed a little bit bland.

I hit 1800 miles on the season last night. I have no idea what that means. I guess that's probably about 14 hrs a week avg. I do know that the avg length of my training rides has gone from about 4 hrs last season to 1.5 hrs this season. Shorter training rides and cereal, my secret to crit domination.

The Dungeon

2006-03-09T15:05:00.000-06:00

P1010036
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

THis is where I workout. I've been reading alot of other Cat 3's with blogs talking about their training, so here's a little idea of what I'm up to below. I'm 153 lbs (of twisted steel and sex appeal) and my max hr is 200 and change. The hr zones on this are off by one line so my max appears under my avg.

I'm lacking any new material other than this lame stuff so maybe after I go ride I'll have had some quality time to come up with some? Maybe I'll try to get Ron on the phone for another interview?

Check it;

Power-Tap #1:
Duration: 10:00
Work: 168 kJ
TSS: 16.1 (intensity factor 0.985)
Norm Power: 281
Distance: 3.851 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 251 307 280 watts
Heart Rate: 144 168 162 bpm
Cadence: 75 141 92 rpm
Speed: 0 27.9 23.1 mph
Torque: 67 94 81 lb-in

I had to delete the rest of the data and my 3x10 1:1 all looked identical to this one. That was was too much data unless you are Chris Carmichael.

The all cereal diet didn't work

2006-03-06T17:17:00.000-06:00

DSCN4850
Originally uploaded by jacobsenmuller.org.

Man, this fella looks tasty! My kittens almost as big as this furryblackcow.

I'm all about a good piece of meat, of course that means different things to my buddies EP and JG.

Obviously there's not much going on. I went out with my buddy Nick Sat night and had a couple glasses of wine at the house with Jen before we went out, a couple of pints with dinner and then another five or six beers at Molly's in Soulard. I used to do that kinda shit to myself on a daily basis. Now it screws my world up. Sunday was miserable. Just to give you an idea of how bad- I made my coffee at a bunch of Advil and spent the next 4 hrs trying to mess with the USB port configuration so I can dowload the info from my PowerTap- I didn't get it to work and it definately didn't help my headache.

On another note I spoke to the Gay Taliban himself last night who had spent the day at the handbuit bicycle show. What did I learn from Gay G- I need a Vanilla.

Go eat some meat.

All Cereal Diet?

2006-03-04T20:11:00.000-06:00

optimum_rebound_cereal_products
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

I'm a big fan of cereal, mostly of the high fiber and protein types. I buy Kashi by the truckload. It's the perfect food.

Until recently. I was reading a bike magazine at work, and though that may be hard to believe, I came across an ad for Natures Path cereal with a guy winning a crit with a Natures Path jersey on. Now seeing as though I've never seen anyone winning crits with Kashi jereseys on I figured I better saddle up the donkey and go get me some.

Low and behold!! They had it at Trader Joes and it was two-fitty a box just like Kashi! Sweet Jesus! I bought 6 boxes of this product based on the race winning qualities alone.

So after trying it I must say that I will eat all six boxes and try not to eat them in one sitting- eating cereal is serious business.

So I asked Matt James, "Matt what do you think of an all cereal diet?"

Matt replied, "Brah, you gotta eat some vegetables."

Dat da duhh- What Matt didn't know is that I take a Juice Plus type of pill made by Hammer where they somehow cram all the good stuff from 5 lbs of veggies into 3 little pills!!

I'll let you know how it goes. Protein and fiber ladies, you heard it here first. The secret to winning crits is just two-fifty a box.

DO IT, NOW!

Atlas Peak, Sonoma, CA

2006-03-03T10:11:00.000-06:00

Atlas Peak, Sonoma, CA
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

This was a really nice climb. I wish I was out in CA riding today. I'd love to get in a nice 5 hr ride up in the hills around Sonoma. The climb up behind the Art Museum just isn't quite the same.

Plays guitar way better than you

2006-03-02T21:44:00.000-06:00

Plays guitar way better than you
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

Whoa, what a long day.I did some marathon grocery shpping this morning, shopped for a ficus plant, shopped for a piece of glass to make a dope coffee table with and played happy homemaker for the afternoon. I cooked up another big batch of top secret chili for lunches, and then made Jen and I some lean butterflied pork with stuffing and roasted green beans with olive oil and garlic. The stuffing was the heat. Some shallots, mushrooms, butter and a little marsala wine.

I'm no wine snob but I do like some good wine. I bought a bottle of the cheap cab from Trader Joes and have to say that I had no complaints as I polished most of the bottle off while I cooked. No complaints.

See this guy? That's the real big red. Big Red Trey Anastasio. He plays guitar much better than you- that's a fact. Even "I'm" Matt James "Bitch" has listened to him rip on my Ipod and been like, "Whoa brah!."

Today I did some very hard intervals in the basement. Very hard. I'm training really hard this year to be able to dominate the mental midget himself- Mr Napoleon Ron Clipp in a straigt up sprint. Keep your ear to the grindstone and get back on the 32oz Coca Cola's short stuff.

20 Questions sounds like fun. hmmmm

Next up we have a dog and a baby dog! No really, we have RON CLIPP!

Delta Bravo- So Ron, how much Coca Cola do you drink a day?

RC- Hot Rod! Since I've had this anal fissure I can't drink that shit anymore, and besides it makes my face get all red.

Delta Bravo- Tell me more about the fissure?

RC- Talk about red in the face homo, I push so hard my eyes popped out! Then I blew out my anus!

Delta Bravo- Whoa! Is that why your so angry all the time?

RC- What the fuck? Why you calling me angry you fucking homo!!!!

Delta Bravo- You're from Texas, right Ron?

RC- Damn straight hot rod!

Delta Bravo- This one time, I watched a movie. And there was this quote, man, " Only steers and queers come from Texas and I don't see any horns."

RC- (Very red in the face) YOU HOMO!

Delta Bravo- Settle down Ron.

This interview ended before all 20 questions were answered because Ron started to chase me. Three words- ANGER MANAGEMENT- HOMO!

Hi Ron :)

Gentle Lovers Team Issue

2006-03-01T08:23:00.001-06:00

gentle llovers
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

I have been recieving phone calls from loyal readers (ha!) saying they are enjoying my drivel, I can hear the laughter in the background at my expense. Excellent Smithers!

So check this out-
http://www.vanillabicycles.com/
These are the nicest looking bikes I have ever seen. I see one in my future, far off future. You have to wait longer for one of these than a Richie Sachs! I'm especially fond of this dropout, Gentle Lovers. Nice. Giddy-up donkeys.

More nice weather today. Jen and I will be cruising around the park again afterwork. If you plan on assasinating me- this is your chance. See you there!

This is what Willbanks looks like sprinting

2006-02-28T09:02:00.000-06:00

This is what Willbanks looks like sprinting
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

I am a mini-Russ in training.

I do have to fight the power though...Russell the Muscle hooked me up with a PowerTap and I'm addicted to it. (Hopefully something cooler comes along in the next couple weeks so I can gank his brand new Dura-Ace SRM.) It's hard not to want to test myself with this mack-daddy training tool. Ignorance is bliss and I was one dumb little sherpa to think that pro's just had them on their bikes to look cool. Doing interval work with power is like driving at night with the lights on.

Using it at Froze Toes gave me some kind of crazy back of the head confidence as me and my new teammates controlled the race. Chasing down breaks was no a matter of monitoring my efforts and when I was in a break with Doug Davis I could easily see how much I could push each pull and still recover ok.

There was one big problem with my power reading from this race- with 200 m to go and that pony-tailed hippie freak camped out on my wheel yelling for me to go, whatever type of tricked out geek computer he had on his bike was recording much higher power than mine! Too bad he wasn't racing for Mesa, then it would have been a perfect leadout!

Nice job Willbanks!

STAY AWAY!

2006-02-25T12:07:00.000-06:00

mardigrasinc-L
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

I live in Soulard, actually by the grace of God I live in Lasalle Park which is 3 blocks away.

I'm scared.

I used to go to many a large Phish shows- 100,000 plus people at a couple.

Hippies know how to handle their drugs. Drink some GOOD beer, smoke some ganj, eat some mushrooms, and just before they head into the show they pop a nice little kicker like E or sink some molly in a parachute. Then it's customary to drink more, smoke more and if it's the last show in a run of shows near your hometown (or end of the tour for the real dirty hippies) you also might wash the above mentioned prescription down with the rest of your stash.

Granted I've seen some intresting sites. For NYE 1999-2000 Phish rented out Big Cypress Indian Reservation, right in the center of Alligator Alley, the highway that cuts from East Coast to West Coast right through the Everglades. Big Cypress was smack dab in the middle- the middle of nowhere.

It was madness. On the ride in we drove through the toll on the East Coast and hit traffic instantly. I later found out that some dumbass, not a hippie, was riding on the hood of the car in stop and go traffic, fell off the hood and was run over by his buddy- DEAD.

So we sat in traffic from 3pm until 6 am the morning of Dec 30 1999. Party like it's 1999 is right. We drained most of our beer while stuck in traffic.

The weirdest thing of all was peeing. There was a small grass shoulder on the road and then some swamp grass and very shallow water. There were tons of people so you would just walk the 15 feet to the waters edge and let it flow. Keep in mind this is the everglades and it's the middle of the night. When I tell you that we were litterally pissing on Alligators I kid you not. We realized this when we were driving out in daylight and anyone who has ever driven down Alligator alley knows what the snap I'm talking about.

Back to my orginal thought, not easily contained within the boundaries of the 8 cups of Ethiopian Harrar I just drained...So Phish played for about 5 hrs on Dec 30 and then did a dinner time set (3 Hrs) on Dec 31. The then proceeded to come back around 11 pm and played all night long, no setbreaks, until sunrise. It was the most memorable musical and communal experience of my life. Nothing to do with the above prescription of course! God forbid. Anyways, me and a bunch of bleary eyed hippies are trudging out of this field to a truly magnificent sunrise when I notice this meathead looking youngster (not a hippie) screaming and yelling while his two smaller buddies are holding him by his arms. The bunk fed meathead broke free and ran. He ran headfirst and dove into a full trashcan?? Wow. Now that was hard on the noggin under the circumstances. I'm still scratching my head?

Back to Soulard. Hoosiers + testosterone producing nudity + cheap Busch Light = Stay the fuck away.

Get it?
Got it?
Good :)

please understand that the spelling errors are purely laziness.

One more word on facial hair.

2006-02-24T09:57:00.001-06:00

As Gay G knows, sleeping is serious business.

So is facial hair.

This winter I watched in horror at EP's fruitless attempt to amuse the mustache man himself, Tom Albert, by growing a beard and then trimming it down to a mustache for the annual New Years gay train at The Ranch.

Good at playing off being gay he is; good at growing a mustache he was not.

So Jan 1 I set out on a mission. Show Kari what a real man looks like. Suck it EP.

On another note, Jen pretty much refused to acknowledge my general being last night when we went over to the bar with some friends last night. She was not intrested in any free mustache rides.

I did get some pretty weird looks though, yesssss!

It's game time now bitches!

2006-02-24T09:55:00.001-06:00

P1010028
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

After a long day of trimming and feeling pretty gay for taking pictures of myself I'm ready to whip it out.

Free mustache rides.

Hard Winter

2006-02-24T09:55:00.000-06:00

P1010027
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

After a winter of hard training and beard growing I am ready. The furry forest on my face would only slow me down as I put my schnoz into the wind at Frozen Feets...

"You Won!"

2006-02-15T08:23:00.000-06:00

magic
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

"Won what?"
"The wet t-shirt contest motha f****r"

I used to love me some Ice Cube back in the day. Phish and Ice Cube. Keep it simple...Back to my point....

There's a really cool place in Clayton called Ivey-Selkirk auctioneers. They have some auctions for the likes of Ted Debiase but then they also have some ghetto ass auctions in the "Jackson Room."

So basically you can either go to the auction and hold up a little card or you can do it marathon style like Jen and I.

Basically you go into this huge room with all sorts of furniture, lights, rugs, paintings- you name it. Everything has a tag, and I mean everything. The fucking light switches on the walls, the pencils they give you, the other people in the room. So you go in the night and do like Jen and I did- bid on everything, as fast as you possibly can.

I guess I didn't know much about absentee bidding but Jen sure showed me how it works. We ran around this room and filled 3 legal pads with items we were bidding on, from 10 duckets to the price of a new set of Ksyrium Sl's.

Then you wait. We waited and waited. We finally admitted defeat and realized that we weren't high rollers and are measly bids couldn't even afford the pencils.

Dat da duh! We were wrong. We WON! I guess that's the hard realization though. You don't win, you buy. We won a good 5 bills worth of stuff including that cool Asian armoire looking thing in the right of the pic, the cost of renting a truck to haul this shit and then Jen throwing her back out helping me move it up the stairs and the subsequent bill from the chiropractor. Damn.

They do have another Ghetto Auction coming up though, check it out. They have some very cool stuff...
http://www.iveyselkirk.com/

It's him

2006-02-08T23:37:00.000-06:00

8dec
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

The FBC up in your grill. Straight outta Compton. This is one bad ass beast.

The new rig

2006-02-08T23:31:00.000-06:00

Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

When it comes my time to win I won't even notice, cause I'll be too busy looking good!

Steel is real chumps. Act like you know.

Black Cat

2006-01-30T09:50:00.000-06:00

The black cat won't leave me alone. He is going crazy trying to get back in here. Meowing at the top of his little lungs. He's one loud little f*****. I had to cut his computer time short because he was jumping all over the keyboard and chasing the cursor around the screen. He's one lucky little black cat. Last night we tried to let him sleep with us because we had a couple glasses of wine with fellow pet freaks EP and Kari- big mistake. I passed out and woke up with him on my head and cat piss on our new white comforter. Damn. More on the Lucky Black Cat later...