Bring me your well-trained crazies

...and I'll race cross with them.


In my line of work, I get to meet lots of people every day--usually something like 250 folks. Yesterday, I noticed one of these 250 and felt a strange sort of cosmic connection with him. He was a wiry sort with a partially-kempt mustache and devilish soul patch, but it was his eyes that I recognized. I'd seen those enthusiastic rapid movements with a hint of crazy somewhere before.

About once a week, I'll have someone recognize my wheel-and-flag USA Cycling lapel pin and talk to me about cycling. So after the tour, this gaunt fellow approached me with his female companion. She asked me something relevant to the tour, and then with a bit of a huff, introduced crazy eyes to me: "and he's got a question that's not relevant to anything."

Perfect, those are my favorite.

"So I see your pin. Do you race?"

Whoa, actually those are my favorite questions. "Yeah, just finished my road season and I'm getting ready for cross. Do you?"

"Yeah, I race cross."

So that's where I've seen that crazy before. Cross races.

Dammit, I'm excited for September 20 at Charm City. Who gives a what about the shape my legs are in right now and how I'm about 28 lbs over racing weight? Cross races are fun. Always. Until the temp dips below 20F. Then they're fun when you finish top 10, which I'm not really into.

Listening to an acoustic version of She Moves in Her Own Way by the Kooks.

This kit is magic.

This kit. This is the magic one. As my small hipster friend says, wearing the GW kit is kinda like I'm a lady, in that strangers talked to me.

I've competed in school colors before, and it was cool then, so I'm sure it'll be pretty good times riding for the first Commander in Chief of the Continental Army and his famed velocipede regiments.
Also, someone get on the road-results.com compiling duties--we'll all thank you and you'll be very popular. Almost like you're wearing a GW kit.

Listening to a pleasantly bouncy remix of Flux by Bloc Party.

I'm still ready for cross season.

I had my first cross practice of the season a few days ago, and I forgot how absolutely foolish it is to carry a perfectly rideable bike up a hill and how painful it is after a few laps above threshold. Fort Reno Park is still an awesome place to train, but whoever maintains the place stopped cutting the grass on my favorite ride-up. Seucks.

In any case, I signed up for the Charm City CX race today--both the B and C race. I checked out the race predictor at crossresults.com, and it seems that I'm totally outclassed in the B race. So I'm excited. Also, I just saw that the crossresults guy(s) launched a new website--road-results.com. The cross website is awesome, in part, because of how widely it's used. We (and by "we," I mean "race promoters," of which I am not one) need to get on the ball with reporting MABRA races to road-results. If you're reading this, it's because you like seeing things on the internets machine that tell you about bicycle racists in our fair region. And given that our fair region is filled with nerds, you probably like playing with numbers (like the numbers on crossresults).

So get to it, promoters.

Listening to Ratatat's Big Slippa Mix of the Comeback by Shout Out Louds. I couldn't stop listening to the original when it came out a few years ago, and I have a feeling it'll be the same story with this remix.

Srsly, is it cx ssn yt?

First, watch this:






Now... I did the Coppi cat 5 last weekend, and I'm ready for cross season. I yo yoed on and off the back for the first six miles, and I lost the group on the unpleasant climb on the unmarked road on the backside of the course. I rode a little with an NCVC guy and an Evolution guy, but it was a more or less very uneventful race. I did manage to hit my highest ever speed on a descent: 45.7mph. Pretty exhilarating hurtling down tarmac in my underwear and a little piece of plastic on my brain at that speed.

More importantly, I'm done with hills this summer. I could dedicate myself for the next 6 weeks to race in West Virginia and Tennessee, or I could ride base for cross in the fall (and drink beer and watch the TdF and hang out with a small hipster). I choose cross.

Speaking of which, I'm converting the double crank to a single. I want to stick with my FSA Gossamer crankset, but I'm interested in recommendations on chainguards and gearing for the front and the back. Any suggestions?

Watching the "Dolly Parton" stage of the TdF and listening to L'Amour by Louise Attaque. Also, Lance just said "good morning" into the moto-camera. What a whore. Also also, the Cervelo TT boys have very big faces. Anorexia? EPO? Anorepoxia?

I have to post this while Nocentini is still in yellow

I went out to LA in February to watch Stage 6 of the Tour of California. I got a spot on the climb just up the road from the Rose Bowl parking lot that was included on the 5-mile course ending circuit.

The important thing to note about this particular stage is that Rinaldo Nocentini was the winner. The important thing to note about his victory (and my presence at the ToC) is that I got some cool shots of him as he rode away from the publicity tent.

So here you go, while Nocentini is still in yellow...





Listening to Girls & Boys by Blur, but very quietly; my roommate is asleep.

Headline: Garmin Posts 3 Riders in TdF Top Ten GC

After notching a solid second place in the team time trial Tuesday, Garmin-Slipstream Sports took over the 2009 Tour de France top ten in General Classification. Three Garmin riders, Bradley Wiggins and David Millar of the UK and Dave Zabriskie of the US sit at 6, 10, and 9, respectively. Each rider is within 1'07 of race leader Fabien Cancellara of SaxoBank.

Well, that would be the headline if Astana didn't have five guys in the top seven! Holy shit, I guess this is what it would be like if the Yankees got what they paid for and won 125 games every year.

More importantly, my picks for the TdF final GC:
1) Alberto Contador - he'll come back to life in the high mountains
2) Carlos Sastre - he was just climbing too well in the last week of the Giro
3) Andy Schleck - I have so much faith in the kid, I can't not put him on the podium
4) Lance Armstrong - he looks fantastic and he's riding so smart right now
5) Andreas Kloden - another "I've been on the podium at the TdF, but I'm a domestique this year" Astana rider
6) Denis Menchov - he's already fallen back with the TTT, but he'll settle in
7) Christian Vande Velde - but only as a testament to the strength of his team
8) Kim Kirchen - see above
9) Cadel Evans - in spite of his team
10) Levi Leipheimer - four out of the top ten ain't bad

What do you folks think?

The body wants what the body wants

And right now the body wants to scream in pain. I imagine my jaw is infected, but I'll find out one way or another later this week.

I just stumbled upon a GamJams Coaches Roundtable question that I submitted (sound of own horn tooting) about riding unattached. It's a great discussion, now if only all of the other riders in the area didn't have the chance to read it too.

I had my first ride post-op Sunday. I'm aware that this may sound like I recently returned from a medical tourism trip from Thailand. I did 90 minutes tempo on the trainer, as I was afraid to leave the house with the knowledge I could start bleeding out the mouth at any time. Note that this does not generally prevent me from participating in other leisure-time activities. The ride went as well as could be expected, and I streamed a netflix movie for good measure. Pretty solid, for a talkie.

So now I'm thinking, my legs feel good, the pain in my jaw is manageable, how's about a real training ride. So I had a big bowl of squishy pasta and squishy vegetables for lunch in preparation for intervals at Hains Monday night. What I failed to take into consideration, though, is that painkiller-assisted sleep does not always work as well as its standalone counterpart. So I slept until the evening TdF coverage (those tricky fucking Columbia riders!) then packed in for an early night's sleep.

Oh, hello jaw pain, I didn't expect to see you tonight. My jaw feels like my legs do in that split second before I pop. It has for the last two hours now. This is downright unbearable. I can't even force myself to suffer on the bike this much, but maybe I will now. These are all growth experiences.

Here's hoping the pain in my jaw turns to pain in my legs. Listening to Frederic Chopin's Nocturne No. 37 part 1. It put me to sleep in high school, maybe it'll do the same now.