Thursday, December 17, 2009

Lost at Sea



I was actually lost at sea once.  We were adrift in the Pacific off the coast of Costa Rica. Our 16ft panga getting blown out to sea for 10 or 12 hours.  But that's another story.  The issue now is the way I feel after not touching a bike in nearly thirty days.  I am lost at sea again.

Other parts of my life go on as usual, but I'm a bit out of sync.  In the last year I have finally been able to spend a fair amount of time on my bike; for the first time in 5 years.  After no riding for the last month I know the bike is once again an essential part of the whole.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

OTB

Off the bike.  It is good and it is bad.  It's been over three weeks since I've rolled.  Two weeks was good, three weeks is not good. Time to do whatever it takes to  get out there.  Get out on the frozen tundra, clean out the pipes.  It's been so god damned cold everything in the garage is frozen solid.

My last attempt at getting the CX rig running was the night before States when I had the garden hose in the shower...  No it's not what you think; the thing was iced up solid and my bike was caked in dried mud from the last Green Mountain CX mudfest.  Eventually I got the thing thawed out and was able to spray down the bike, leaving a brown stain on the otherwise white blanket of snow in the backyard.  Our babysitter was intrigued, I tried to explain but she didn't get it.

It's 22 degrees. I have to go pick up my daughter from school so I throw the bike into the garage. When we get back I go out to spray some lube on the chain and take a spin around the block to see how she's runnin'.  Frozen solid.  Drops of water from the spray down are suspended from the top tube.  Done.

That was a week ago.  Time to get back out and fly with the birds.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Give Thanks

My first CX season is done.  How could I have let those last three races slip through my lazy fingers.  Out of town for a couple, and on injured reserve for the last.  But it was more than that.  I lost the drive at the end of the season.  Shorter days, family commitments, but mostly me.  I still raced a lot more than I had planned on, and now I have lots of room for improvement next year.

The best thing about not being able to race at the states this year was that I got to watch all the boyz in my class do battle.  The course looked brutally good and it seemed to play a large part in the outcome of the races throughout the day.  I watched the start from up on the hillside and saw Faia just dart out across the parking lot.  He was on a mission from god... or someone.  Its strange how from a distance it doesn't look like anybody is actually working that hard.  Just figures rolling easily across the frozen tundra.

We know otherwise.  After 45 minutes in the ring of fire, Faia rolled a tire, Baker took a flyer way off the front, and the rest of the gang just dug deep, crashed hard, and did what they could.  I was shooting the race, but got so caught up yelling and screaming that the shots don't do justice to the suffering that was going on.

And Webber!!!   If you were there you saw it, if you weren't, you should have been.  What a great race between two good friends and teammates!  Great to see Keller just losing his shit in the pits as his two homeboys dropped the field.

What a great ending to an epic CX season on the front range.  Lots of good CX weather made it extra special.  Thanks to all the people that make these races happen.  Thanks to everyone who gets out there and race.  Thanks to all the guys in my class who welcomed me into the field and taught me to suffer again.  I look forward to more next season!