First Blood

"You'll need a gentle reminder of the things you can do on a mtn bike that you cannot do on a 'cross bike, but a couple of falls will soon refresh your memory!" -Simon Burney. Hell Yeah. A summer of shredding on the sola with disc brakes has made me cocky! You gots to respect the cantis and the 32mm contact patch! And who knew three year old worn out mich muds don't offer the same cornering my brand new 2.0 mtn bike tires offer up. Aug 2 was my first "hard" cross ride. And for me the start of cross season. Did the Red Raider loop with purpose and speed. But back to the First Blood. I was about 45 minutes into my loop mixing some elements together. Riding a circuit I've done 1,000 of times I was dreaming of some new Rock Lobster socks and going through a mental check list of things I need to get done to be ready for Palmer on the 28th. Kablam!!! Zen bitch slap upside my head....I went into a 180 turn at speed from grass to dirt and just hit the deck hard....it actually felt good. Is it sick to say that? In the annals of bike crashes it was nothing. A tiny trickle of blood flowed down my leg and I felt alive and that hell yeah cross season is here with its requisite mud, and dust and blood. I rode hard but got my head back in the game so I didn't make any more mental mistakes. Felt fantastic to be out on the cx bike playing with dismounts, runups, carrying the bike suitcase style versus on the shoulder...which is faster right? Depends. I found in some ways I was lighter on my feet and faster suitcasing the bike up some technical runnups...something to work on this pre-season. Because all its about from now on is getting fast! 

Bumped into the Pan Massers around Babson and cheered them on from the opposite side of the road. Got my long loop dialed in for cross practice. Had a great ride. Alarm clock ringing and psyche wide awake...

Post ride I installed a new BB7900! I am on the cusp of going shimano...6700 looks so hot, 7900 what can you say? And when I pulled my old shimano bb out of the bike what did I see? The usual rust and nastiness I've faced with campy the last 2 years? Clean. Pristine. Phil Woods grease still green and sexyissimo easton 7000 bb shell shining at me...

How many different brake pads do I need to try before I find a set that don't stutter and works right? Been through swiss stops, koolstops, shimano xtr with swissstops....back to the thinline koolstops that Paul's sends with his brakes...I am such a tweaker...left the swissstops on the back because for some reason they work in the rear and are hott...27 days till the pedals get turned for reals...