The Dirty Thirty

So, Saturday, November the 7th, was what some would call my birthday. My THIRTIETH birthday. This just in... I'm old.

And so it goes.

Well, I woke up to a beautiful sunny Colorado day, went to breakfast, and got my shit together to... yeah, you guessed it... head to the races. This race was at some private school, east of town, and thusly named Schoolyard Cross.

When I got out to the race, the pro men were racing, and the first dude I saw was COMPLETELY covered in mud. I was utterly dumbfounded. We hadn't got ANY weather since that 24" snow storm a week and a half before. Well, turns out they took a low spot on the course, and made a mud pit. And it just so happened the first guy I saw racing had wrecked in said mud pit. Pretty funny.

I paid my money, and got on the bike to do some recon on the mud pit. It wasn't too bad, more or less just a straight shot, but they kept putting more water on it between laps, so the conditions were unpredictable at best. The rest of the course was fun, fast, and twisty... just how I like it.

After a faster/sketchier than I'd like start (hopefully that's me just being a little gun shy from the wreck from last week, and not my age), we made it to the mud pit, when the dude in front of me decided to get into the fencing a little, and stop in the pit. Needless to say, I slid into him pretty hard. I stayed up, he didn't, proof below:

(I think I need to say photos courtesy of www.photo-cycle.com)

Well, I am glad I didn't get ejected into that dank mess. But I did lose about 20 places in the mix-up, and when you haven't really been training, at all, them there spots are hard to get back.

The cool thing about being 10-15 miles east of Boulder is the awesome back drop.

Needles to say I made some turns:
Jumped off, and then back on my bike a few times:

And really got pretty diiiiirrrrrtttttyyyy.

And guess what place I took.... Yep the big number THIRTY!
Coincidence... I don't think so!

Pretty good way to break in a completely new drive train...
Don't ya think?

Next, the plan was to hurry home, shower, and head out to the birthday dinner. Upon returning to mi casa, I discovered my awesome roommate had bought and hid 30 Mountain Dews. It was like Easter, but eleventy billion times better!

I've only found about 26 or 27 so far.

A big group of us went out for some eats and libations.
During which I was gifted this:
In case you can't read, its a Candy Corn Soda.
It tastes EXACTLY like Candy Corn Soda.

More drinks followed, which may or may not have been concocted using said Candy Corn Soda (thanks goes out to the accommodating bartenders). I think I had a Candy Corn Soda and Rum, a Candy Corn Soda shot, and a Candy Corn Soda and Vanilla Vodka. Good times were had!

Oh, and I almost forgot, I also was made aware of the fact that one of my friends whom I've rode with throughout the summer, played Vicki, the robot, on Small Wonder. No joke!

Hallo-weenie

The Big Races were in town this weekend, and with a foot and a half of snow falling on Wednesday and Thursday, it looked like we were finally going to get some good 'cross weather. I only signed up for Saturday's race, which looked like it was going to be a mud bath, and despite the suns honest effort to dry everything out, the course did not disappoint. My luck, on the other hand, decided to take Halloween off.
Mere seconds after this photo was taken at the start of the race (I'm on the far right), one of them MFers in front of me took me out. It's funny looking at this photo and seeing how much room I have over there, and then to get pinched off on that same side moments later. Needless to say, I hit the tarmac at a brisk 24 mph (according to my little computer), and 4 or 9 guys hit in to me.

I scraped myself up, straightened my handlebars, fixed what a could of the bike, and set out for the group, about a minute back. My front wheel was bent, and was rubbing the whole time, but I still got to play in the mud.

The Pain Cave:

And then, mere seconds after this photo was taken:Catastrophe struck again.

I am pretty sure that is NOT what it is supposed to look like.
That was with 1/2 lap to go. Bummer.

Turned out to be an expensive Halloween.
Fun non-the-less though.

Guns Blazin'

Epic. That describes what real 'cross racin should be like. For the second time this season, adverse conditions hit the area. Snow, cold, and plenty of mud and sand were dished out at the race. Unluckily the snow stopped, about 10 minutes before our race.

They did the call ups, and I got a decent second row position. The whistle goes off and I work up to about 6th or 7th when the race hits the mud. Sick of getting hit in the face with mud, I immediately attacked, still on the start stretch and picked off everyone but my buddy that was in first. We rode like that, till the sand run-up (which really really sucked), where, in a moment of glory, with all my guns blazin', I charged to the head of the pack to take a significant lead for the rest of the first lap. (See picture)

It was pretty rad.

Of course, the fast guys caught me, and I ended up somewhere around 12th, but with the conditions and the amount of fast guys out there... I'll take it.

I'll try to post more pics when/if I get them.

What an amazing way to spend a Sunday!

I'm on a bike

This is the rocket fuel that lit up my engines to a 14th place finish yesterday in the Cat 3s at the 'cross race yesterday. Pretty stoked with that result based on my level of training, or lack thereof.

Towards the start, I'm in about 4th-5th, entering the sand for the second time.

It was a fun, greasy, cold endeaver. Even with the race starting at 3:45. Most of the race was on grass, still wet and snowy from our snow storm on Friday/Saturday. Made some of the corners 'interesting' to say the least. It's always fun to two wheel drift your bike thru the turns.

Hopefully I will find some photos on the internets so I can post. Hopefully they will show the gnarly bloody nose I had for half the race. The bloody nose was of course from a fight I got in with 18 hooligans, not from the cold, dry air. Promise. Update: found the included photos. No sweet bloody nose ones.

This hill damn near killed me EVERY lap.

Thanks again go to Jimmy and his Six Degrees to Slush flicker page. He is at most races and takes photos for everyone... for free! You don't get much cooler than that.

And now, enjoy this:

Thoughts on my Bike

And so it begins...

Well, the 'cross season kicked off for me this weekend. I doubled up this weekend in them Rocky Mountains (yeah, I took two pairs of gloves). The races were in Frisco, which sits at around 10,000 feet, and a couple miles away from Breckenridge.

(I'm the cross-eyed one in the middle)

I had decided to upgrade a class, from the fast class, to the faster class. And as such I thought it would be a wise decision to properly carbo load on friday night. Well, I'll just go ahead and put it out there, that a lot of beer and multiple shots is not the best way to do it... at least not for me.

We cruised up in style via the SG Sprinter Van, with yours truly in the captains seat.


My race on Saturday kicked off at 3:45. It hurt. Bad. I only threw up in my mouth once. I finished 29th out of 44 starters. I'll take it given the circumstances. I made 1 dollar from the beer can hand-up, so that was sweet. (Somebody was putting dollar bills on the top of beer cans next to the course so you could ride by, lean over and pick it up. It took me three laps, but I finally grabbed one!) After a decent nights rest at a hotel, we made our way over to day two, at the same location, but a different course. It was suggested that Sam and I, who were both supposed to race at 3:45, move into the Pro-open class, so we could race at 12:45 and go home earlier. It was decided an 45 minutes prior to race time that this would, in fact, be the case. I threw my jersey on, got about 15 minutes worth of warming up in, and proceeded to take last place. It was awesome. (there were 2 dudes that did not finish, so I guess I beat them)
I scored two dollars this time, heckled the crowd for not heckling last place, took a big gulp of PBR, and finished the race with my hands raised, containing a PBR, which made the race official laugh out loud (LOL).

As of now, I don't have any photographic evidence of day two, but will post when I get it. I may add a couple more photos of day one as they become available.

BOBCAT!!

I am pretty damn certain, that I saw a f-ing BOBCAT on this evenings ride!!!! WAY RAD!!! Like... RAD-to-the-MAX. Obviously the above photo is not one I took, but yeah, pretty dang cool.