2007 Results

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

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

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

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

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

If you suck...

...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

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

"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

"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

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

...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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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....

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.

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.