I may be kind of fast, but,

They are much faster.





























Conservative start today, which put me behind it too much to make any difference, the course was slightly different, I liked it better, the spot where everyone, including Jon G, Art and I went down wsa covered with scrapes in the concrete from bike parts, nice.

I was all alone after 2 of 5 laps. A group of 3 were working hard to make contact with me, I worked hard to keep them off, 1.25 laps to go, one rolls his tire, a bit later the other 2 make it up to me, I work harder to stay in front, cause I wanted to set the pace and choose lines, on the back side I took a few 'secret lines' and put a small gap, but they pulled it back by the fly over 'Green Monster' bridge

I held them off and came across the line for 46th, damn, 46th, wow, uh, yeah, hmmm. Oh well.

Mom and Dad came out and watched and snapped the photos, only got one of me, cause they just knew I was wearing orange. They seemed to enjoy it, introduced them to Thinners dad, just to let them know, people older than me do it to.

Jon G. got 13th. A Train went down again, got back around me a bit later and pushed it to 29th.

Kathy got 14h and Mitch and Sam K were in the 40's in a huge field. Mitch pulled Chris Horner around the whole race, Horner was wearing a Pedros jersey, hmmm new team for next year?

Quick USGP#1 post

1. Got to venue, not in race mindset, see Petersons, A Train and Jon G, While pinning on numbers, start talking to guy parked next to me, who after 10 minutes of talking, looks at me and says, 'Bob?' It ended up being a guy I went to Grad school with.

2. 3rd row start spot, cause of registration time. Decent start, most way through first lap (2 mile long laps) see Atrain on the side of course in obvious pain (he abandoned) Next ime through the same section, I go down hard, real hard, almost drop, but kept going, even though I went backwards. Did not end up last or lapped. Was sitting around 25th at time of fall. Was fun just the same

3.A little road rash is all, and sore shoulder,but i will be back Sunday.

4. Kathy rode a great race, tarted on back line made her way up,left halfway through mens elite to get cleaned up and meet old friends for dinner.

Woo, them boys are fast in 35+

For the ATRAIN

So, this is a 'Holler'
















And this is the Million dollar 'BARN' where 'Cletus' keeps his Million dollar race horses, oh yeah, that is small compared to some they have here.
















Taken on a nice 15 mile cruise on the CX bike in Woodford County.

DIA Gate B90

On my way to the KY. United Express' Denver terminal is nuts, at least I saw them throw and I mean throw, my bike on the plane.

I spent the weekend racing bikes

And hanging with like minded people.

Saturday Photos here

Sunday Photos here

The 2 days saw different flashes of race brilliance and fun factor, they showed me progress on a few area I consider my self weak and in the end they showed how much fun it can be suffering with friends, regardless of results.

Saturday was to be rainy/snowy and brutal, the drive up to Ogden was proving the forecast wrong, warm and dry, but as the morning went on the course deteriorated. Lyna had a race that we all dread, the mind not in the game, but since she is an endurance rider, she pushed through.

I had a descent start, stayed towards the front, found some good lines early, was trying to hold wheels and keep speed through the Twisties. The course was ful of mud and leaves which created a mulch like clinging substance, a second bike and a pit person would of been great to have, but i didn't have either. At about 25 minutes in I was running 3rd, right behind Sam. Kracht was right behind me. I was feeling strong and had some in the reserve tank














At 31 minutes in I had been running in 2nd and pulling Warsocki back, I was feeling good, riding smooth and powering out of the saddle where it was good to.














About a 1/4 lap after the above photo, in the twisty section, a bit after a charging on fire, clean biked Ohran got past me, my front tire washed out and put me into a tree, hard, I got right back on, told my self to ride the adrenaline, well there was no adrenaline, quite the opposite, I got passed by Sam and Kracht after that. The below picture shows a visible (to me) change in posture and race mojo. about 5 minutes post tree hug.














With around 3 laps to go, Daren got around me, I held onto him pretty tight until a lack of rear brake put me into the tape and got me caught up in the tape pole. I then had to dig deep to hold of Dr. X, who was charging hard. Kracht lost his crank while in 3rd, so I ended up 5th on the day. All in all a good result, but I will have the what coulda been in my head for a while.















Sunday dawned a bit cold, but blue skies, which my bike was grateful for, but deep inside I was sad, Wheeler is a great cross course, although it does not suit me, lots of drag strip sections, very little technical, leaves skinny little me a bit off the back here. Top it off with the Cat 1/2 roadies that show up for the 35+A race, well then it is gonna be a hard long day.

Lyna had a great race and seemed to be having 'fun' out there.














I got the call up again, although they did not update the standings after Saturday, as soon as I lined up we were off, I tried to get out to the front, cause I wanted the hole shot, I got around Sam about halfway to the singletrack and made it through first. I led for most of the first lap and the group got around me a bit after the off camber section. Kind of fun, but then i was a bit blown up.















I got popped off the back, out of the top 10 for a while, but slowly made my way back, I caught onto to Kracht and we worked together to get up to Gary. The 3 of us then rode together for a lap or 2, Krachty got around a slowing A group rider, right before the off camber and got a gap, Gary and I tried to pull him back, but I popped at this point.




















Good job to everyone out there. About 800 photos will be up on flickr at some point. Saturday A and 35+ only, Sunday every race bu C men and B Women (Battery left at home)

And for those who cheated, I don't know who did it, but heard a few did, why didn't you just skip the off camber section and really get a good result for it. Hell on the last lap, I couldn't get out of my left pedal and ripped a gash in my knee trying to NOT avoid the barriers, I went over them and still finished, with lots of blood on my legs

If you cheated, Karma is a bitch. If I was a promoter and had 2 independent sources, you would be DQ'd and banned for the next race. Ridiculous, what is at stake here for any of us, NOTHING.

Sorry bout the rant. that behavior is right down there with EPO and blood transfusions.

So Wednesday it is off to Cletus land for home cooking and another double weekend of racing.

Perspective

One important thing, before my race, I got to talk to Marty and meet his wife. He had come out to watch K. Wilde race. It was great to see him and see him doing well. He was talking about getting a recumbent and talking about how he was able to put weight on one leg and will soon be on both.

It gave me a new outlook on the day.

Dang, that was one crazy weekend

Friday was begun with work, of course, stopped by the shop and found Twitchy putting together my new road rig. Built up mostly with parts from my old one. Thanks to Ohran for the frame/fork/cranks and Eldevick for the seatpost and bar. And of course the twitch-meister for the build,














Wow this bike rides nice, 45 minute spin Friday evening, felt effortless. I love me some SI alloy cranks.

Friday night was a 'Utah Bachelor Party' for my buddy Tyler, consisting of Sushi and Go cart racing. I am pretty sure I got whiplash on the second round when 5 people put me into the wall on th second corner.














Saturday I slept in, made it out to the RMR for UTCX#3 Lyna was in the wedding so unable to race. I was in the wedding but figured the math in my head that I could race, shower and make it to Silver Fork in time. The course was hard, I am not a fan of that much pavement, But Linde, Dave, Gary and I had a good thing going, Chuck made it up to us after Gary went off the front and Dave dropped, but took a digger on the off camber gravel. I tried to shed Linde a few times in the last 3 laps, no Bueno. I then went into the grass section tooo hot and Linde came under and around me. I was pretty sure who ever got up the grass first was gonna take it, i was right and i gave up there, I did ride the 'run up' 75% of the time, and it was 6's in speed, but 1 less time off the bike per lap. It was good to have a battle, and good to see the front group so close and good to see i have gained some non climbing speed.

The wedding, I made it to silver fork by 3:30, wedding was to start at 4, well it did not start till 4:30, I sat and waited around, took control of the groom and best mans need to get dressed and relaxed. Nice time, made it home early and proceeded to obsess over Shannon B's solo effort at Moab, by midnight he was in the top 4, so I went to bed, woke up this am and it looked like he called it at 5am, Ty told us he got a ride back to the camp on his 11th lap, his body gave in, still an awesome ride. at the front for 17 hours.

I think I will go for a recovery spin today, mostly to combat the damn sore neck from the go cart racin not the cx racin.

SandBaggin

So, Granny Gear has thrown the smack down to at least one person. Um, I hope they did the same to other teams, cause singling out one person blows. just a quick perusal of some Utah teams I know have people racing down.

Now for something like 24 hours of Moab, I don't think it matters, but if they are going to regulate, the damn well better build criteria and xact rule and damn well better have someone enforce the rules.

I think Beginner/Sport/Expert/Pro and some age categorization is good, it grows the sport and keeps people from getting too discouraged. The answer is for people to be honest with there abilities and fitness and cat up to challenge themselves.

People who complain, damn well better look in the mirror. People who cat down, usually have a good reason, If i am only able to get 25% of the riding I am used to, don't race for a few years, get sick and make a comeback, cat'ing down is OK. If I got 3 friends doing a 4 person team at some 24 hour race and my fitness has left for the year, i don't think cat'ing down is a big issue, reality is, my history at 24 Hrs of Moab hhas been racing as an expert when i was a mediocre Sport class rider. But again, The opportunity was there.

Telling a Semi=Pro or Pro that heir only choice is Sold/Duo or Coed Pro Am is ridiculous. Why? Well Solo is for a few tweaked out freaks, Duo is likely harder than solo for most, Coed Pro/Am requires a woman on a team, Uh, yeah have you done a count of Men vs. Women racing bikes?

Bring back the open cat, that will work it all out.

In the end this sport, for me, is about pushing myself and trying hard, it is also about building community. I have to be honest with myself and about my abilities, which means I at some poinrt, may need to cat up, or even cat down. Again, be honest, you may be surprised.

Quote of the Day

If you ride bikes then you are a friend of mine. If you wear your sisters pants then expect to get made fun of.

-Art Oconnor


That is great, although I think i will get Art a pair of My Sisters pants cause they would go great as after race attire;

Utah CX #2

The week in between CX#1 and #2 saw me miss work twice due to a nasty cold, Friday being the most recent day off. Friday night I was not even going to go up to Heber to support Lyna. Saturday morning, however, I woke up and felt human. So I gathered my crap, including all my cold weather gear and we headed to Heber.

The weather held for most of the race day, only spitting on us here and there, however the course still included some serious mud. Which led me to not pre-ride.

Lyna had a slow start but made here way up in the race, she ended up 5th, however 3rd and 4th were within reach for her.

I got a good warm up on the trainer under Racers canopy, got a call up for the front line, for my finish last week. I had a decent start, pushed it a bit, the first barriers came up on me sooner than I expected. But I made it over ok, the first bog came up and we all bogged down, Warsocki took the worst of it, going to a complete stop.

For the first couple of laps I was running top 5 and pulling people back. My body just did not have it in it to sustain. At the point that Kracht and Jay B came around me, I could not get the rear D out of the 34, eventually I kicked the derailleur and it started shifting again, I just slogged through the rest if the race, literally and figuratively and finished right ahead of a charging Linde, for 9th place.

Thanks to Chris S for letting me ride to his House and then he actually cleaned my bike for me and let me shower, that was much appreciated. He had a good race in the B's for a top 5.


Then it was over to TC's for some food and fellowship. Good times, yep and good food.

Utah CX #1 2007

Off to O-Town and Fort Buena for the first of the 2007 series. Lyna decided to race with th A women this year, so she went off at 10:30. She did not get much of a warm up in and took a while for her legs to come around, she ended up 4th in a tough field and did not get lapped by the pro women, which is assume. I did not get to see much of her race as I was prepping for mine.

The course was short and turny, as Dr. X says, this may not be such a great thing, but i liked it all thing considered. The 'run up' was in the course and during my pre-rides I never cleared it. The barriers were in an odd place, turn before and turn after, so transition was key. One of the mid course log crossings got a bit beat down so both of them ended up being easily rideable.

I think there were around 15 35+ A's out there. I started conservative, not wanting to blow, had a nice slow down before the first log hop, probably sitting out of the top 10 at this point. About 2 laps in I started to move my way forward, got around Denny, Gary and others, was on Skylers wheel for a while, Bart came around for the 1st time and Skyler jumped on his wheel, soon after Linde came around me, right before the run up I got around him, then proceeded to bog down at the top, soon after I caught and passed Skyler, I was likely running 5th at this time, with Warsocki, Sam Moore, Krieg guy and Dave Wood in front of me, Skyler caugh back on and passed me, Dave Wood was falling back, Linde and Denny were hard on my rear wheel, Denny ended up dropping, Linde could not close the gap, even though his barrier skills are far superior to mine. I rode the run up about half the time, if i would of made it more often I could of likely gotten around Skyler and Dave, but alas, hindsight. I think I ended up 6th, not getting lapped on the short course by anyone in my category is nice and bodes well for the rest of the season. I had fun, even though my hands were raw and my head set was loose for half the race. Bike ran good, a few out of the saddle ghost shifts, but nothing horrible.

Looking forward to Heber.