And of Cross It Begins

Cyclecross or Pyschocross - That is the question.

The bike is ready - upgrades - Challenge Griffo clinchers with latex tubes - nice, great grip.

This week I started off with the Hub ride after my night of poker winnings. A nice paced ride with a smaller group. I rode with Andy, Matt and Devin. The next morning I did Knucklehead for the first time in since I went to Florida. The ride was a little slower - a lot of big guns were missing to keep the pace constant. I was not in the mood to pull so I sat in and did no work but hang on. Hubbers on the ride were Matthew, Tim, Adam and Jeff - we all did the short ride.

Rode after school with Jeff both Tuesday and Thursday.

Tuesday Night was our cross practice at Steger SchoolMatthew, Dave Smith and Lady racers Stephanie, Jamie and Suzanne Johnson were in attendance. This is a great place to practice.

Thursday was my first Forest Park cross practice. The coarse was really cool. The only negative was a huge hole - which of course I hit - and went right over the bars doing a complete summer-salt. Didn't mess much up - just felt stupid.
After practice, I rode over to the Art Museum to listen to the St. Louis Symphony with Judy and the girls - complete with fireworks. It was an awesome evening!

Saturday Hermann Night Cross!!!! Let the pain begin.
In attendance for the 4's - Me and Tyler and a friend of Alex's. In the 3's was a whole crew: Rock (whom they missed pronounced his name for the State Champ call-up) Matthew, Eric, Robert and Joe. For the 1's was Devin and TimLook, I'm not last!
The good - It was really fun to be out there and I stayed upright - even off the off-camber downhill switchbacks and the sand/mud pit and I got called out by Aero for props. The bad - I sucked. It all began with the start. Great position, the horn sounded and I could not get clipped it. I tried, failed, tried again, failed again. Tried again and I got it. Now I was in the back - Shit. And pretty much, there I sat. The only successes was catching two guys in front of me - but I did get lapped by the leaders and I finished 42 out of 49. I have to face it - I will never be good at cross - but I do have fun so let the season begin!

On a non-related note - what has two thumbs and just bought a track frameset - ME - but details on that later.

The end of my non-racing summer

My non-racing summer has come to an end - with good time.
Gateway Cup. I got to admit - I really wanted to race Lafayette - but I did not. However, I did have a good time...Drinking Beer!
Lafayette was quite a partyI also made the Hill which was also quite a party
I want to give a shout out to my Cat 3 and 4 buddies in the mix all weekend - Bryan Sauter, Bill Howells, Robert Mayfield, Dave Smith, Chris Miller - If I forgot anyone - my bad.

Did play a little poker at The Hub
which was amazing - Finally I won. After all these years of just giving away 10 dollars - I finally came away a winner OH Yeah!

I have done a little bit of riding:

I have been doing The Hub Saturday rides which has been good. Two weeks ago, I refused to go Ballas and rode home Geyer - I am so done with the Ballas Roubaix - Fool me once = double pinch flat at 30 mph - Fool me twice = Crash at 30 mph - I won't get fooled again. This last Saturday I had a nice laid back ride with Devin, Matt, and Andy. Last Wed. instead of doing the Hub ride, which turned out to be one of the smartest things I have done lately, Phil and I rode with Team Revolution on their Ted Drewes ride - which was fun... bikes, 30 chicks and Ted Drewes - could be heaven - except there would be a lot of nudity. On the Hub ride, Nate was pulling and when he pulled off locked up his breaks and went right over the bars going at 30 mph or so. Bill said his bike went like 10 feet in the air and he landed in the street on his head and back. He was out cold and an ambulance was called and Nate was taken to the Emergency room - I heard he broke three vertebra in his back - bummer. Last Sunday I did one of my few Knucklehead rides which was fun
It was not that fast and I just sat in and did no work up front. Matthew and I did our first cross practice and that was awesome - I am looking forward to riding some cross, The best part of cross so far was taking the bike out to Castlewood with Bella
she rocks!
One final note - Congrats to Devin Clark on finishing 2nd at Edwardsville and earning his points to become a CAT 1!!!! Way to go Devin.

Ballas Sucks

You know what they say - Shit Happens.

I've been having a great time commuting to work. I have been cutting back a little because of my car. Currently I have a VW EOS Convertible - man, I look good in this car. When I bought the car and watched the top go down, I looked at the salesman and said - I'm leasing it - There would be no way I would keep it outside of warranty with the hydraulics and moving parts - if one thing goes out it would be $1000. I had a front light go out and it was $225 - no kidding, that's insane (it was nothing for me because of the warranty). Well, anyway, in December my car is up - so I figure I have one good month of convertible weather left - and I am going to enjoy it - commuting will have to wait!


The New Belgium Urban Assault - Great times with Judy. We finished and had a blast. The only thing that pissed me off was no costume contest - come on - Dora and Diego Kicked ASS. We were super surprised how many people did not know who Dora and Diego are - God, grow the hell up and have kids already - it's Dora the Explorer

So here it is - my big crash. This has really fucked me up. We were on the Saturday Hub ride 2 weeks ago and I was feeling fine - my form was sort of returning - thoughts of some Gateway racing was in my head - we turned on Ballas and was behind Matthew, mid pack going about 30 mph downhill, when out of nowhere was a good 6-8 inch rock and all I remember was my handlebars turning sideways and me skidding on my shoulder to a stop - and Bryan falling right on top of me! So the damage - Luckily my wheels and frame were OK - the only harm was my handlebars cracked in half and my shifters have cosmetic damage, My helmet cracked, my leg and shoulder left a good amount of skin on the roadI also big time bruised my left side ribs. I did get right back on the bike and commuted on Tuesday and rode the Hub ride on Wed., taking the cut-off which was good for me. Talked with Phil about racing maybe Lafayette Square at Gateway - but at this point - no way. I have just gotten to the point where my ribs have stopped hurting when I breathe - bummer.

Really looking forward to cross season - I signed up for Herman Night Cross - should be a blast. I'm thinking about getting some Challenge Grifo Clinchers for this year - I would love to ride tubulars - just lack the wheels!