Cross F'n Rules

Yes it does....thank you e-richie for making the most badass t-shirt on the planet. And thank you for pointing out the obvious and beating that drum...because we are hearing you man...Big Time!

Who will be the king of the mucky muck? photo by Rob Bauer

It was a split squadra weekend for hup this weekend. A bunch of us pointed the compass north to contest the Vermont Verge weekend and to hunt for the oh so ellusive verge points!! Thanks to the glory of twitter we kept in constant contact! With Hupdates on the minute...lots of crazy stories coming out of the Green Mtn State...Mike W on the podium!!! We need to sort through fact and fiction but I believe I heard a report that my coach was bit by a donkey...I do hope his tetnus is up to date...The Fabulous Five....Tom, Ronnie, Eli, Marky Mark and myself stayed local and hit Blunt Park! And man am I glad we did!

Ronnie looking beat after laying down some mad watts!!! He got the holeshot in the 3s almost brought it home but it was not to be...soon my brother soon...it will happen I can feel it. None the less the man rode possessed! Big T did the double dip racing masters 35+ and then the 3s...he got bloody in the process but efforts like that will pay big dividends in Nov! Marky Mark raced tough in the 4s whose leader put down faster laps than the combined 1/2 field and Masters 35+ field! Ok whoever was driving that 4 train might need to get their upgrade on...

It was a perfect day to fly our home colors...pouring rain all day, greasy as all hell. We had two ez-ups and plotted and schemed on how we can pre-game and tailgate cross like its never been done before! Oh you wait it will be good. It may take a month to dial in but look out at Noho cause its a coming...

Rob Bauer and Big Tomeke lined up in the 35+ field looking stoked! Rob is the coolest guy on the planet and shot some incredible pictures. He also won the fastest upload on the planet as I wasn't even 1/2 way home and I see the finest shots ever taken of my ugly self coming up on facebook. If he can make my sorry ass look this good on a bike he's good trust me...

Why again do educators think cursive is a dead form of writing? Really? Have they seen Indy Fabs new logo? Gorgeous

Blunt was just a fantastic day of cross. I felt sooo sick all week. Took good care of myself rested up but I did force myself to do openers on saturday and am so happy I did. I am now a true believer in openers. My life is insane. Basically I forget everything, cannot concentrate and am a bundle of nerves leading up to race day. But if I do openers I can race well...no openers no race so well. It will be like a religious experience for me...call it Saturday Mass for the Church of cross. 

Blunt was a great race course. Super greasy, muddy wooded nastieness. All the roadies were complaining. There were yardsale crashes that defy all logic. I saw one guy go down on pavement and slide by me like he'd been shot out of a cannon. I hate to think what his ass looks like right now..not pretty I assume. The Fangos rocked! I was freaking out on the warm up lap as I was sliding all over the place. When I went back to the car I pumped them to 25 psi and did it again. Presto! The magic number. I railed the course. They are such a fast mud tire. You slip around a bit and they pack up but they also shed it and are really really fast. I am sold...and with an FMB casing? Just the bees knees.

So somehow I found myself out front for a lap or two....How did that happen? Roadies crashing all over the place I guess. After a few bobbles and some strong men coming by I ended up 6th out of 20. Super stoked about that. Especially as 5th was real close...Learnt a lot today:

#1. And it probably sounds like a broken record but my teammates rule! I just love hanging out with these guys. They keep my shit from falling apart...and me going into full on freak out mode. Plus all the other cool cats that we just get to hangout with each weekend make this time of year so killer

#2. FMB/Fangos kick ass and you can drive over them in your van and they don't break..true story. I am such an air head right now. I roll out of the parking lot after the race only to hear Ronnie yelling my name and holding a wheel in the air. That's funny I think...oh shit. My wheel must have been propped up in front of the van and I ran over it right in front of Ronnie! Thank god it somehow fell perfectly in between the wheels and was not smashed into a million pieces! 

3. Openers---can't race without them! I am too old to race without openers...plus I have the perfect little circuit 10 minutes from my haus to just rev up the engine and dial in the machine

4. Cross Fuckin Rules!! Hell yeah. Sadly I was too shy to ask Mr Matt Kraus who lined up in the 35+ for his two cents about why cross fucking rules in his opinion but don't despair I will be getting over my bad self and insert myself into the public and add a new feature to velocb.blogspot...we will pose this question upon the unsuspecting at cross races all across NE...be prepared to answer the question of why it rules for you!