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St. Vincent Bubba

I woke up this Sunday a bit early, around 8 and watched all of the videos on here to try and get motivated. They motivated me, but more so for the 2010 road season. Really sweet videos though, none the less. I was checking the weather repeatedly, and was hoping for the rain to come around 2 as was said to be a possibility. Like I said before, I don't really think I race well in the rain. It's just a blast. I got to the course and was greeted with numerous "dude, best course evar!", "have you ridden it? sweeeet!". After registering and getting ready, I prerode the course before the b's took off. I was impressed, but a bit let down after all the hype. It was really nice to have a course that wasn't just weaving back and forth through a field. It had some twisty stuff through the trees, a "double" sandpit, some pavement, a strange barrier, some stairs you didnt have to run, some mud, and a few good hills. Thinking back on the course it was pretty fun, but I don't know what I actually liked about it. I had read on the forum that there was a stair runup, which I was psyched about. I really wish they had taped the side of the stairs so we had been forced to run them, or try and ride. I think my favorite section of the whole course was the little S turn right before the downhill on the pavement, and then the following drop back off of the pavement onto the dirt again.
For some reason I didnt think it was going to be a big deal to line up on the front. It was perhaps the most important starting spot Bubba we have had this whole time. Sure Josh can work his way up from the back. He's an exception though. The rest of the top 5 dudes all started front row. There were also a few front row guys who I normally smoke during these races that it took me 2 or 3 laps to catch. Basically, the gaps got big, quick. I was riding alright through the first few laps. I was maybe 3rd to last on the first lap through the upper section of the course, then was able to move up to tenth over the next few laps. Maybe 3 or 4 laps in I was riding with mj trading places back and forth. Looking back on things we probably could have actually ridden together and worked together and had a better race. Instead, I think I panicked as I had been beating him pretty consistently this year, and was seeing that he was going quicker than I was. I threw down a few little surges, and he did as well. We really yo-yo'd back and forth, and hardly ever actually rode together. Although I mentioned how I would have liked the stairs, I think the climb next to them was probably my strongest place on the course. Quite a few laps, I came into that section maybe 10-15 seconds down on someone ahead of me and was easily able to close the gaps midway up the hill. The muddy section was a total pain in the ass. It was so deep and so rutted. What I noticed throughout the race is that as the mud was getting churned around there were large rocks that were coming up to the top of the mud. I felt like my wheels were dying. I ran the mud section all but maybe two times. I just didn't feel like I had the speed to get through it without working my ass off, and I figured it'd also keep my bike from gunking up. I didn't feel like I raced well at all. My mind wasn't in it. I wasn't thinking about the race. Also, I noticed during my race that my legs didnt feel warm. They felt cool the whole time, I could never really get them going. I think a better warmup is needed. The rain finally came yesterday so I'll head to blackburn today and enjoy it in its best state. Hopefully I can get some more hours on the bike this week.

Bellefontane Bubba

Bubba last week was okay. The race was in Bellefontane park up north, it was a pretty big and nice park. The course was really fun during the warmup but I don't know how much I liked It during the race. It was a bit of an energy sucker. Also, it was 80+ degrees and I was dehydrated. Not a really good combo. Anyways, I started pretty well, differently from most of the recent races. I was sitting 3rd for the whole first lap, and watched Bridal and Yielding ride away. After having two races that were 14+ laps long, it seemed a bit early, and I didnt want to blow jumping up to them, or pushing it too early. They stuck it out and Josh was the only one to catch them. I ended up 8th I think. A bit disappointing as I was thinking this might be an easy weekend to score a podium spot. Oh well, I didnt ride a whole lot the week before. I rode my griffos the last two days at blackburn trying to get tire pressure right, assuming this dry spell would continue. But it's supposed to rain tomorrow. I like racing in the rain, but I'm not sure it's a strength of mine. We'll see.

Bubba Cross Weekend 3 (2 for me)

Halloween cross was this saturday. I was undecided on whether or not I was going until 8:45pm when I was at a party and decided to leave and head to the race. I had packed my car incase I made that decision. I got to the race at like 9:40, registered, forgot my number, had to change brake pads and air up 2 sets of wheels. By the time I was dressed, finished with all that stuff and embrocated it was 10:30. Go time. They did call ups based on registration, and I was last, with costumed riders getting first row. I was playing catchup to the group I thought I should be in all night. At one point I was closing in on Josh for 4th place, but could never quite get to his wheel. Then DB came by me and I started fading from there. I felt good for about 3 laps then the adrenaline wore off and the no warm up wore in. I wasnt going good for another ten laps or so then had a bit of a resurgence towards the end. I think we did somewhere in the region of 16-20 laps, or a shit ton. Coming through and seeing 12 on the counter is a lot different than seeing 4 after doing a few. Demoralizing. There was also a lot of mud. I ran one section that was super slow almost every time. I have come to the conclusion that I might be too light for the mud, or maybe I just suck in it. I like the wet stuff, but the peanut butter sucks. Anyways I got caught by some dudes and caught some dudes and finished 8th. It was cool cause my girlfriend came, who was dressed as Margot Tenenbaum (I was Richie, pre suicide attempt, but was out of costume pretty quick). It did suck racing at 10:30, which meant getting home at like 12:30 and getting the bikes washed by like 1am, after being harassed by a Public Safety officer. Eating soup and hummus at 1:15am post race is pretty weird.

I think I was the only person who slept well that night, that I heard of. I had unclogged my rear der, and was ready to roll at 2 today. I registered early and was banking on the call ups again when I decided to go preride a little. No deal. I showed up to 3 or 4 rows of racers already. Boo. Boo to "rule" changes from day to day. How about we get staged in overall Bubba placing? That'd be nice. And official. Anyways I was chasing from the back again. I believe I got up to 6th passing the slow and steady Mark Nagy, only to be passed back. Cousin Dan passed me again on the last lap after I bonked bigtime in the final three laps. I was feelin all kindsa jelly allover. I rolled in in 7th. I think I'm 8th overall right now in Bubba and Bubba Cup standings. I think I shoulda been 4th or 5th both days so a bit of a disappointment. I hate to blame a bad race on a bad start, especially at a bubba race, but I really think had I been on Grbeans from the start I'd be fine hanging with him again.

In other news, sKeaton and I made some beet/apple/ginger juice last night. Shit is toxic. I cut the hell out of my thumb, and the bandaid I just took off smells like hole right now. The beets have questionable benefits and harms, from vocal chord freezing, to aphrodesiac to "cleaning out" your digestive system. We're hoping to reap all of the benefits, and avoid the possible death from beet. We were inspired by Robert and his beet eating. We're going to have him over to learn us some cooking techniques.

USGP Louisville

This past weekend Grman and I headed out to Louisville for the USGP race. We both opted to do the 2/3's race as opposed to the U23 race, instead of buying a UCI license and shelling out $45 per race to maybe finish. The course was awesome with a lot of muddy sections. A pit bike would have been real nice. I'm scratching any thoughts of a time trial bike for next year, and instead going to get a pit bike. We have a pretty interesting story from the Saturday race. First, we were staying with the SEMO guys who got in at about 12:30am. Grman and I were asleep and got woken up, and stayed up while they shuffled around for another half hour or so, and went back to bed at like 1:15. They got up at 6, and were really loud. And turned on all the lights. And yelled. And left the door open when they left. So it was a pretty bad pre-race night. We got to the race at like 9:30, rode over and got our chips, came back and started to get ready. These two masters came over and started talking to us, and the conversation eventually turned to us thinking we started at 11, and them thinking they started at 11:15. We both knew our races couldnt start that close together, so one of them rode over to check. He came back and told us our race was called to stageing and they were lining up. I was changing brake pads and Grman was pinning his number. Shit. I dropped my pants and changed in the middle of the parking lot and the two masters helped us pin our numbers and pump our tires while we embrocated and grabbed anything we needed. We sprinted to the start line right as our numbers were getting called. Mistake #1. Mistake #2 was registering a week ago. I was starting 104th spot, ten rows back. I didnt see the leaders. The race was pretty raw for the first lap. Throwing elbows, dismounting and running past dudes. I raced pretty ok, but didnt feel great on laps 2-4 I think due to lack of warmup. Grman, who started in 87th I think, ended up 10th, and I ended up 24th passing a solid 80 guys.
We ran into Richard at his Specialized booth and he invited us to crash with him that night. I worked the pit for Logan and it was pretty sweet, then we headed out and had a nice dinner and had a lot of fun hanging with Richard. Sunday we came to the race with Richard at 7am. Prepared and on time. The course appeared to have dried out so I declined to set up a pit bike with Richard. Mistake. The course was still wet and muddy. On the first lap, I dismounted a minute in and ran for about 200m, it was easier to just run past the people that were trying to ride. Then, later in the first lap, on a downhill/uphill U-Turn that had a section of pavement right at the bottom, I washed out my rear tire, and ate it hard on my right side. The little pin that holds the shift and brake lever to the shifter body popped out but not all the way. I couldnt really use my rear brake and my shifting was unreliable, but after I finished and actually got a good look at what happened, it was an easy fix. I started 99th and got all the way up to 27th. Grman I think started in 83rd and finished a very respectable 6th. All in all it was a really good weekend. We had a lot of fun, raced pretty well considering our start spots, and got to ride some real courses. The courses out there were legit. There were 3 mandatory dismounts the first day(stairs, barriers, green monster), and 4 the second day(stairs, stairs, barriers, green monster)(one stair set was possibly rideable both days). Thats a lot more than the one dismount in STL. There were also 2 or 3 sandpits, that got really packed down so they were easily rideable, but had they not been that would be a few more. Also the mud made for a lot more dismounts, especially on the first lap. People around here need to HTFU and quit whining about cross being hard, or cross courses being hard. The only bad thing around here is that the courses arent hard enough, or they just plain suck like the Ronde Course. No pics from the weekend found yet, but there must have been 20 photographers snapping during our race.

Bubba Cross Weekend Numero Uno

So this past weekend was the first weekend for Bubba Cross races here in the STL. Cross season has now officially started, not just silly preseason races. Both races were at Faust Park this weekend, Saturday being a night race, and Sunday during the day. The saturday course was pretty fun and somewhat tacky. The weeks rain had left the ground soft, but not wet like I had hoped for. I started the race pretty conservatively, but jumped around about ten guys mid first lap. I ended up being with Mark Nagy and Jeff Yielding battling for 6th. We dropped Yielding but he kept clawing back. I was way faster than them both through the barriers and the climb that immediately followed. Coming through the start/finish into the last lap I was following Nagy, and hit the first turn super hot. I slid out/somersaulted and ended up about 5 feet past my bike. I hopped back on, but my shifting was out of wack. I only had my 12 in the back. I noticed my cable had popped out by the headtube, I kept going until the barriers where i stopped and asked the Lindenwood boys for some help. Nagy and Yielding had gotten away, and Pence, who had been in hot pursuit of our trio, had passed me. In their drunken confusion they just started hitting my rear deraileur. I took off and was able to hold off whoever else was chasing, and took 9th. Kinda bummed because I was pretty sure I could have had 6th or at least 7th, but thats bike racin. I was more upset by the large dent I found on my downtube when I took my bike off the roof back at campus. I put the dent, and my horribly sore knee together, and deduced that my knee is what did the damage during the crash. Pretty bummed, but the frame's still functional. I have an excuse for a pit bike for next year now. Grbeans took 2nd to Butthead, which was rad.

Saturday came and again another race. I started pretty conservatively again, but was eager to move up. I was with Kurt Fletcher and Yielding, and saw Grbeans, butthead and nate slipping away. I was hesitant but I jumped up to buttheads wheel and off we rode. Us 4 rode together for about 3-4 laps or so. It wasnt really hard to stay with them, but then nate started attacking. I kind of blew up trying to follow at a bad time up a steep climb. I lost contact with them but stayed about 50 yards off of them for another lap or so. I made this attempt to make a few bucks right after losing contact with them, perhaps not the smartest idea.



I held off the chasing group of 5 to take 4th place. I was very happy with my ride. Grbeans and I are going to make a good attempt to dethrone the local nys/albert duo and show that there are some new kids on the block. on a side note, I rode my EC90 Aeros with Challenge Fangos, 34 up front and 32 in the rear. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.

great movie, great scene