Joe D and Michael Cera

This is a Public Service Announcement.

Joe D (Haymarket/Trek U23) may or may not actually be Michael Cera. Decide for yourselves.




Please note that this is not my huge important announcement. That should come Tuesday or Wednesday.

Some things you just can't prepare for

If you don't get enough sleep the night before a race, it's because you didn't get enough sleep.

If you didn't put quite enough air in your rear tire, it's because you didn't put enough air in it.

If you didn't do your stairclimb workout last week, it's because you didn't do the workout.

If you get stung by a bee while fighting for position in the first chase group during a race, ain't nothin you can do about it.

Keep your eyes open for something appearing soon in this space. You'll know it when you see it.

Listening to The Xx/Deadmau5/Kaskade.

hot and dangerous

You guys, I love the new Ke$ha song.




Unrelated, I feel strong right now. Anticipating results at DCCX.

Great success: BCA and Winchester CX

I survived. Top ten in both my C races, and not last in both my B races. I'm most excited about the two hours of extra sleep I get before races.

The 9am race in Ft Ritchie was held on a course composed primarily of chocolate pudding. The 11am race was held on a course composed primarily of wet plaster. I prefer pudding.

The race in Winchester was [expletive deleted] incredible. What a course. Jim Barnett Park has remarkable potential as a cx venue, and the Winchester Wheelmen used every bit of that potential with their course design.

In any case, I've really focused this year on making sure to register within a few minutes of a race's opening on bikereg. The difference being in the first few rows makes is absolutely enormous. I started the day on row two, and was immediately top ten coming into the first set of turns. Over the course of the race, I think I passed one guy (and lapped a few towards the end), and wasn't passed by anybody. Solid race, uneventful, want to race at Winchester every weekend for the rest of the season. I took 7th and immediately spun out my legs to prep for the 3/4 an hour later.

Photos credit LP and Bruce Buckley

Big up to RJ from the Bike Lane and everybody else who pulled double duty this weekend.

Yesterday was also my last 4 race. I'll be racing Bs full time for the remainder of the season.

Listening to a mashup of MGMT, Justice, and the Ramones. Forget Clenbuterol; listing to the Ramones pre-race should be on the banned substances list.

Double, double, toil, and trouble

Doubling up both days this weekend. After, putting in for my 3 upgrade. Totally unprepared.

Let it rain, let it rain, let's get muddy.

Listening to the Foals album. Going to the show Sunday night, where I'll be sitting on the floor, drinking protein shakes out of PBR cans.

From Turkey Day to Charm City: Thoughtful transitions

As of yesterday, my road season is officially over. This year's Turkey Day experience played out remarkably similarly to last year's. The field was smallish, and I had the legs to make and cover a handful of attacks. The Stars and Bars were rolling four deep in the men's cat four race, including one W3 rider. The three of us more familiar with the men's scene joked at the beginning of the race that we'd be riding for Monika (killer headline photo, btw). Turns out that's exactly what we did.

I knew coming into the race that the sole DVR and DC Velo guys would be very strong, and that ABRT would at least play a role in the race because of its team size. Early on, some young bloke from Princeton attacked, and I bridged up with two other riders. After we made contact, I barked a few orders and the break was underway. It lasted all of a lap and half. I can only imagine that ABRT had a hand in the chase. I covered another attack or two in the middle bits of the race, and another two by alternating ABRT riders in the closing laps. I felt good about the last ABRT attack, trading pulls as we developed a few second gap on the field. Unfortuntately my breakmate's teammates weren't able to lock down the chasing field. I had neither the gas nor the motivation to push through the last few laps, and watched the scattered and disorganized sprint finish from the back of the bunch. Monika took 8th, and from this day forth, shall be simply known as the Man Eater.

Just for laffs, check out my power file, grabbed from my new iBike power meter. See if you can spot the attacks/covers.


I started yesterday's race with an eye on results. I made the wrong gambles and gave my body more credit than it apparently deserved, but I gave it a go. As cross season approaches, I've got eyes on results just the same, but I'm going to try to play it a little smarter Monday to Friday, so those weekend gambles pay off more often. I've put together a training schedule from now until 28 November, based largely on Chris Carmichael's Time Crunched Cyclist. I tried to be honest with myself as to what my schedule would allow, and the time crunched plan promises results with even fewer hours than I've got. One of the tough parts of the training regiment: rest days. Some weeks have two (or even more, gasp!) built in already. I've got so much energy on rest days I can hardly coax myself to bed before 1am.

So to keep myself occupied on those rest days, I'm focusing on another transition. Finishing my MA program (hire me) doesn't mean I can stop learning about and contributing to the discourse on development and conflict in an African context. I'm working on a paper--no, an article--for submission to the Review of African Political Economy. If you're interested in that sort of thing (or aren't, whatever), you can find much more, slightly biased, information by checking this out.

Listening to the Limousine remix of Kites by Geographer. It's got a nice Yeasayer feel to it.

Video games? RFK crit? DC champs? Matt & Kim?

First, why is there no cyclocross video game on any platform? I asked this over some manner of "web deuce" application, and was retwittered by one of my favorite cyclocrossists. Maybe we're one step closer to tapping R1 to sprint, if you get my drift. For those of you not in the know, Pro Cycling Manager is an ideal rest day activity.



Second, what happened to the RFK crit? I love love love being able to ride to races, and add love x 1 for riding to races inside the district.

Third, why aren't there any DC district championship races? The RFK crit would be a great DC crit championship, and DCCX would be perfect to earn the CX stars 'n bars.

Fourth, what do you think about Matt & Kim's new aesthetic? I was taken aback at first, but I'm encouraged by their choice to stick to tried and true lyrical themes.