Putney!!!

The Handup. That may be the picture of the year for this year's NECX season. Eyebob (aka Bob Tyzsko) took all the pictures in this gallery. I had no idea he was this good a photographer. Man my friends have so much talent it is ridiculous. Why the hell do they let me hang out with them? I mean seriously. I have zero talent. Unless having fun is a talent which I guess it is. Anyway back to the Handup. That is Matt Myette uber fast Zanconato team rider and all around cool guy on the left handing, or stuffing, a cookie into Jerry Chabot's mouth. Now there is a lot about this photo that is off the hook. For one Matt's form is perfect. He hasn't interfered with the rider at all he merely did the hand off or up if you will. Like a good QB handing the rock to a running back. Smooth. Second is Jerry's taking of said handup. He didn't miss a beat. And look behind him the hounds of Hell are hot on his heals. Baller that is all I am saying.

Below is a sequence Bob shot at a small technical transition of the course. I love all the details he captured. I usually hate seeing pictures of myself as I am so damn fugly...but sometimes fugly can get it done...but here the form looks good for once.

Hup Honey in the wild! I love how much detail you can see on the bike...I have no idea how Eyebob got this much in one shot.

This may be my favorite of all time. I love how the bike is out in front, the saddle is outboard of the elbow, maybe Myerson's constant hammering of technique is begining to get through my thick skull...

The Line! Ok I love, love, love this one because you can see Michael Zocchi rocking the secret line. Matt Myette and David both told me about this during warmups. I didn't really know what they were talking about. Once the whistle blew I was just seeing red and trying to stay on Dougie's wheel. The fact that I was on Doug's wheel at all was mind blowing. Secret lines were the last thing on my mind. But Michael found that line and rocked it!

The Flying V! Holy crap. This picture is horrifying in one sense but also beautiful. Again Eyebob shot a sequence. Bam, bam, bam. He races cross with us so he knows what is going to look good. I love that the feet are off the ground but I am not too high. The thigh is sliding over the saddle and not just sending all my weight right on the saddle..

Thanks Eyebob for all the great photos from Putney. It was great seeing you. Hup! Hup!

Ain't no Rest for the Wicked

Can I see your hands in the air? Dana Prey cranked out about 10 push ups while doing a keg stand. It was impressive to say the least! That girl knows how to throw a party I will say that

One of the first conversations I had with SBZ aka Sara Bresnick-Zocchi was about how she always wanted a skinsuit party. But no one would ever throw her one. I thought it was pretty funny at the time. Here is this badass former world cup racing elite mountain biker talking about skinsuit parties when all I am interested in is learning how to ride a mountain bike in New England without ending up in a body cast. SBZ basically took me under her wing this last summer and saved me from myself. I am forever in her debt! I still suck at riding mtn bikes but I at least don't jump off my bike at the mere hint of a drop off or a wood bridge. But I digress this is about SBZ. Sara is kind of like Clark Kent. When you meet her you do not even get one iota of the badass hiding behind the October hat and the prana t-shirts. She seems just kind of earthy crunchy and super chillax. Yeah and Clark Kent seems really nerdy and weak when you first meet him. But when SBZ comes out of that phone booth step aside man cause its either lead, follow or get the fuck out of the way. The pedal is to the metal and it is on!

SBZ clawing her way up Putney's brutal runup! She rode so well at Putney! Her teammate Sally took the W with Sara 2nd!

Thankfully she has some amazing friends. Like friends everyone dreams of having. They have her back and know how to blow off steam but also bring it. They are tough as nails but also just filled with personality. Just like her. And her friends love her to death. So they gave her what she really wanted for her 35th birthday. A skinsuit party. It was part house warming party for the new Crossresults.com teams frat house and part SBZ birthday bash. All the cool cats were there. They even let me and DJ Robert in! Well DJ is actually very cool I am just a dork. I can't help it it is who I am. The party was totally insane! Two of the funniest quotes of the night were " I went to art school and we never had parties like this" and " We had parties like this in California" I thought to myself yeah maybe in the Castro on Halloween..It just proved one more time that living clean is such a waste of life's precious nanoseconds. I mean really why bother? Keg stands, beer bongs, dance parties that would blow your mcl out, Murat in a speedo, Jello shots, Glenn Danzig...on and on and on. Were Resultsboy, Steven and I geeking out over a pair of brand new FMB fangos in a doorway while this was all going on? Yeah we were. It was that type of party. We were bikers after all.

Glenn Danzig and DJ...yeah it was that kind of party..

I gave DJ the heave ho around 12:30. I have much respect for that man. He partied like it was 1999! Me I didn't have a drop of alcohol. Not cause I am straight edge or anything but as I was the designated driver and had to keep it tight. But if you can get a contact high off 50 drunken bikers in skinsuits I sure did. I still do frankly. It got me sooo stoked to race in my skinsuit for Putney it wasn't even funny. I even thought about it as people were dancing and general mayhem was ensuing all around me. I hadn't rocked a skinsuit all cross season. Not once. Mostly I just wasn't in to it. Not sure why. But at the party? I was like Hell Yeah man! I will be rocking this beer stained, jello shot sprayed sweat covered Noir B sample at Putney. I hoped it wreaked of alcohol and sweat. Is that wrong? Probably but the whole point was and is you don't have to be so damn serious all the time. SBZ was doing keg stands friday night and got 2nd in the elite field at Putney on sunday. Would she have won if she had gotten 12 hours of sleep both nights? Who knows and frankly who cares? The crossresults.com team kit has skulls and bones on it there should be a rock and roll clause in each rider's contract...

But back to what I was thinking about all night while laughing my ass off talking to so many drunken bikers on Friday night. Putney. It is possibly the pinnacle of New England cross. Gloucester and Noho obviously are beyond compare but Putney? If you want to consider yourself a New England crosser you MUST do Putney at least once. Preferably you will hold it in the reverence that it deserves. It is like Pipeline for surfers. If you have never dropped into a double overhead wave at Pipeline are you a surfer? I guess you are sort of. But being able to ride pipeline is the thing of legends. Putney is the same. It can chew you up and spit you out like no other race. It is unapologetically brutal. Even in "good" conditions like we had sunday it poses a lot of challenges that we just don't see at any other race. There is the corn field where the souls of the weak are crushed, there is the drop off and the runnup. It is NOT a grass crit. And then there is the vibe which is the complete opposite of the buzz saw of a course. West Hill has put this race on for a long time. It is such a downhome feel. Kids have a burrito stand everyone hangs around eating cider donuts and just having a great day. Its what you think Vermont should be.

I lucked out this year. Not only was I completely jacked and stacked to wear my skinsuit I had two uber fast guys in my van. You know what the secret to getting faster is? No its not training that is for the weak. It is hanging around fast people. The skinsuit party is a perfect example. I picked up at least 3 spots just by osmosis at that party. I got another 2-3 by having David Wilcox and Matt Myette in the van with me on the ride to Vermont. I am kidding, sort of. Being able to pre-ride a race course with people like David and Matt is almost an unfair advantage. They see EVERYTHING. All the good lines, where to make moves etc. They don't even need to articulate it just by following you get a radar lock on how to go fast.

I had the best race of my whole entire season on sunday. I have been getting a lot of mentoring from a lot of really fast people. I am really, really lucky to have the friends I have. I think when you pack four of the sexiest steel cross bikes into a manvan good things are bound to happen. So I have my wingmen for the rest of the season. If you have a cxey steel bike and bring Newmans mint oreo's we might consider letting you hitch a ride with us...maybe...Oh and the other guys in the van yeah they did pretty ok in their races as well! David Wilcox rocked out to 2nd in the elite men and Matt got 3rd in the 35+! Thanks to all my biker friends for this wild ride of a cross season! I don't want it to ever stop...

Oh I almost forgot one of the best parts of the whole day/race. On like my third lap I come crawling and clawing my way up the Runnup. I see Joy to my right with a hupcake handed out. I grab that hand up take a HUGE bite and pedal as fast as I can. I get a huge piece stuck in the back of my throat! I literally think I am going to choke to death. I finally swallow it but am now gagging for about two laps. When the pure sugar finally hits my brain it is like someone strapped a jet pack to my bike! Thank you Joy and Kim for making the Hupcakes and making cross sooo much fun this season. You two are the BEST!

The Dirty Truth at Noho

The Dirty Truth at Noho is that sometimes living wrong is living right. What I mean by that is that its easy (well sort of) to try and live right all the time. Get plenty of sleep, eat healthy not drink blah, blah, blah. But as the Red Hot Chili Peppers say life is not a read through. We get one ride on this crazy ass rollercoaster and you have to live it. Noho/Eastho has become my adopted home away from home. Any chance I get I try and get out there. Some of my favorite people live out there, the vibe is unreal and whenever I am up there it just feels like "home." And it feels like that because all my friends up there make me feel so welcome.

So before we get too far gone into the Gonzo side of this post a huge thanks to Meg, JD, Al, Adam, Mukunda and the whole Noho crew for making us feel so welcome any time we head up the Pike to Noho. I love you all. Seriously. Ok back to the living wrong. Last year at Noho we packed like 8-10 dirt bag bikers into a hotel suite. That was wrong in so many ways. I vowed this year to do it a bit more "civilized." Ended up just me and Mark Bernard, Steen and Dave Chiu for the weekend. All proper and gentleman like. Ahhh yeah. Friday night was chill. We had a few beers talked zombie shows then hit the rack. We rolled up to the venue set up the Hup tailgater at club row right in between Fatmarc and the MAC crew and the Indy Fab cats. JD set us up perfect! Joy brought the most insane Hupcakes of all time. Basically Gourmet Hostess cupcakes. They were gone in a second. Thankfully Joy saved one for Adam before they were all gone. The course saturday was super hard. We got to see Fatmarc in his blanco Stormtrooper skinsuit! That was totally bananas. Those MAC crossers do not mess about. Next year I am making a pilgrimage to the MAC as I have to witness this firsthand.

But so no one gets the false impressions that every race Hup NE does is all Hupcakes and smiles let me set the record straight. The buzz saw that Noho was to be started to take its toll early. DJ Robert came back to the tent after a pre-ride before the Killer Bs and said he'd crashed up top on the rooty section. Ok no big deal. It was sketchy as hell up there. I sucked so bad up there it wasn't even funny on day one. But Robert is just chatting me up not really seeming injured or in distress. Then he mentions it again. Ok I will bite. What hurts I ask DJ. He says its his shin. I suggest we take a looksee as his race is staging in like ten minutes. He pulls down his leg warmer and "HELLO" Holy shit! Dude took a major core-sample out of his leg. I get all calm and just say ummm yeah lets go talk with the emts. They start working on it and he almost faints as they are digging around in there. He sits down and they clean it up and wrap it all up. We ask the townie emts if they think it will need a stitch. No it should be fine. So the big glob of fat you pushed back in is ok? Oh yeah no worries.

Alright! So DJ staged up with his massive wound and had at it. That kid is tough that is all I am saying. I would have been drinking beers in the lounge chairs and heckling. He smartly hit the er on the way home and got 3 stitches. The rest of the day went fairly without incident. We had a great day hanging out. Watched the races all day and then headed home. But back to the Dirty Truth. So the Dirty Truth is a beer bar in downtown Noho. I have always wanted to go during CSI weekend as it is the biker hangout but I have always wanted to go to bed early for racing etc. So lame. This year I got kind of lulled into it. The MRC boys Steen, Todd, and Mark said the Dirty Truth had great burgers and oh it would be a chill night no biggie. I am pretty much a two beer dude. After that its just not pretty. We walked to the bar from our hotel found a great spot with Gewilli and Jerry and had a beer with those boys before they retired for the evening. Well once G and Jerry left the MRC boys just got the wild eyes. Dave Chiu showed up and it just went all Motley Crew Behind the Music. I had to finally push the eject button when dirty George Michael circa Wham showed up and was looking for the "sex party." Once Mark started high fiving and suggesting we do shots of jager Todd and I ran for the door. But the damage had been done.

As Todd and I are walking home I ask Todd how many beers we had. He answers back two. Two I think. Holy shit we had two at the hotel. I texted SBZ from the bar asking her how many beers were too many and like Todd she said two. Ooopsies. I am f'd. I lost count but I think we had 3-4 pints of beer at the pub. So anyhoo. We walk home. Hit the rack and I am having bed spins. I haven't had bed spins since the early '90s. I pretty much resign myself to not racing as it seemed like it would be a total shitshow. I felt sort of stupid about it but frankly I had such a great night out with the boys and had already had such a great weekend of cross that it seemed a small price to pay. Call it a price of admission for living life. But I wanted to get to the venue to do some laps with Joy as we had just set her up with the most Baller set of cross tubular tires on the planet. Pictured above is one of a pair of Special Edition Molly Cameron FMBs. They are insane. Robin egg blue casings Racing Ralph tread pattern. Sick. I show up feeling totally hungover but its cold enough that it actually starts to wake me up. Ahh the healing properties of Fall in New England. I kit up and Joy and I head out for some laps on the course

We do a bunch of laps and just dial in the lines. I am loving the course and my legs actually feel better than the day before. How is that even possible? I am still resigned to not racing but haven't really told anyone. After our laps Joy heads to staging. She gets a good start and I head back to our tent. I am sitting there just watching the race go by and planning my escape when Clint from If mosies over and starts chatting me up a bit. He has one of the smoothest conversation styles of anyone I have ever met. He is such a nice guy. Very similar to Adam and Al. Very zen like and easy to get along with. He kind of softballs me with why aren't you getting ready to race? Aren't you next? I let the cat out of the bag. I tell him I am bailing. He looks at me and talks me down off the ledge. I would tell you our conversation but he's my lifecoach you go find your own. But in all seriousness his words meant a lot. This is why I keep getting deeper and deeper into cross. The people just are amazing. You think you have the best crew in the world and then the circle keeps getting wider and wider.

So Clint gets me all stoked to race in about 5 minutes. I grab my Honey ride to reg, get my number, pin up and rush to staging. I line up next to Dave Reed a visiting Hup from Seattle who happens to hail from Amherst. What a turn around. I go from bailing on the race to being stoked and able to finally have a teammate in the start chute right next to me. Oh its on now. We got a great start, the dogs of war were unleashed and chaos was all over the place. Long story short I had one of the best races of my life. The result may not show it but I felt strong and rode with Dave for a solid two laps where we were actually able to go tactical on other riders. I have never experienced that in all my years of racing. Being able to work with a teammate is incredible. He pushed me way harder than I could have. We ended up 38 & 39. It was a great day.

When I got back to the tent after racing I saw Joy's bike on the ground. It looked kind of funny. You know how you can sense something is wrong but just don't know what it is? I looked closer and saw her rear tubie was flat. Oh shit. I felt like puking. It was like taking $120 and just lighting it on fire but mostly I felt so bad that Joy's race got screwed up by equipment I got for her. Then I looked at the tire. Holy shit it looked like a shark attacked it. Again I thought did I screw up her brakes or something. No it literally had two huge gashes and a slice all across the sidewall like someone threw a Ninja star at her from the bushes.

I finally see Joy and she tells me the whole crazy story. I won't go into the details. Its part of cross racing. I nearly decapitated Tom Stevens in the sand pit with a late lap crash. He had to pit and it probably cost him some spots. So everyone has been guilty of messing someone elses bike up in a crash etc. But its what happened next that just blew my mind and made me so proud of Hup and of Joy. The team we have right now gets it. Joy told me she didn't want to get all mad about what happened because that is not how Hup rolls. And she is right we keep it classy and keep our heads even when the shit hits the fan. She picked the now FUBAR bike and runs up the runnup. She has like a half mile run through the woods to get to the pit. Along the way she bumps into Alec Donahue who encourages her to keep running to the pit. God I love that man. She runs the WHOLE way to the pit gets a neutral wheel and finishes the race! Like I said I am so proud to be on Hup. So many people would have just lost it chucked the bike over the tape sulked off and been so pissed. Probably started a facebook or twitter flame war. Nope. That is not how you do cross right. Bad things will happen. You just have to keep fighting the good fight.

Hup got a bit roughed up at Noho but its all good. That is how we become better cross racers. Cross is not for the weak. Not for the weak of heart or spirit. CSI lived up to its 20th anniversary. Everyone had such a great weekend. The courses both days were amazing. So many great memories and stories. We get to pack so much into these road trip weekends. Next weekend is Putney! A New England cross classic if there ever was one. We are going to lick our wounds, get some fresh tubies glued up and get back to racing the cyclocross. I am already counting the days until Sunday.

"Where can I find a coach when I need one"

Mr Canada Dry (aka Shaun Adamson) pictured above posted a link up on his twitter feed a while ago. It is from a blog post titled: Where can I find a coach when I need one. It is long and in small reverse type (note to bloggers if you want someone to read your blog make it readable) which I personally cannot stand but it got me thinking. I won't presume to take a guess as to what resonated with Shaun about the post but it got me thinking a bit. I don't totally agree with all the blogger wrote but it is worth reading. Ok I will admit I skimmed it a bit but did read the salient points of the post and understand what he was saying and the reasons why. It is a well thought out post. Read it and see what you think. I have heard some friends state similar things about the business side of coaching over the last year.

But to me it was more a launching off point. I have been thinking about coaching a lot lately. And the amature side of the sport. For some reason the topic is even more polarizing than my love of all things Campy and Italian. I am still taken aback by the blind devotion people heap upon SRAM. Its not like their shifters have a bad habit of just randomly exploding at any given time because they were made in China but I digress, anyhoo back to the post. The two things that struck me are calling what we do (we as in all us non-payed racers racing cross) a hobby and the issue of what a coach is. Let's start with my utter hatred of calling cross a hobby. Cross is NOT a hobby. I think maybe people who haven't participated in an endeavor that elicits such an all consuming passion feel more comfortable calling cross a hobby.

It probably goes over better with the in-laws or girlfriend when explaining why you go race to just say oh its my hobby. End of conversation and no one thinks you are a freak. I get it I really do. But once you cross the line of potentially getting hurt every time you click into your Time pedals and get to the start grid with 90 other jacked up bike racers intent on killing each other it is no longer a hobby. When another racer would try and win or gain a spot or two by putting you at grave physical harm it is no longer a hobby. When you break bones and lose flesh it is no longer a hobby. When it is all you think about 24/7/365 it is no longer a hobby. Scrap booking is a hobby. Yahtzee is a hobby. Cross is not a hobby.

I don't buy the if you spend thousands of dollars a year on something its not a hobby because plenty of hobbies are outrageously expensive. Damn the old guys with their remote control model racing sail boats probably spend double what your average Masters racers spends a year on cross and that is saying something cause those dudes do not mess about. To me cross is much more like MMA or any other eastern pursuit. The ritual alone separates cross from a hobby. Is the Japanese tea ceremony a hobby? No I don't think so. It is a life changing ritual. Cross is that for me. And I think it is that way for lots of other crossers. So can we please stop calling cross a hobby? Thanks. Ok on to the coaching business.

Saying you have a coach is like saying you just cycled through a series of epo injections and filled your veins with the blood of a thousand virgins. Why is it so wrong for an amature cross racer to have a coach? Seriously. I think part of the problem is the sport is so young. We are talking about 100 years right? Let's take yoga. Yoga has been around for maybe 2,000 years. People have no problem putting the guru label on even the most pedestrian of yoga teachers. A yoga teacher commands a level of respect unheard of in our society that seems to have lost the whole meaning of respect for someone more enlightened/knowing than we are. We are all peers and special little snowflakes. Guess what no we aren't. There are people who are way more talented than we are, know metric tons more about cross than we ever will and can eek speed out of even the most talentless individuals on terra firma. That is what coaching is about. I hated traditional sports when I was young. I endured them but hated them. Coaches back then just yelled and screamed at you and played the most talented people. That isn't coaching. Coaching is teaching. Coaching is making someone a better/stronger person as well as an athlete.
That is what a good yoga teacher does. It is a physical practice but the lessons go way beyond the physical. I guess that is my whole problem with the article Shaun linked up. I get that coaching needs structure and guidelines. Adam has fought for years to bring credibility and professionalism to coaching making it a business instead of some dark art. And yes coaching should and can be very scientific and structured to make the athlete faster. I get that. But to me that is not the kind of coaching I am looking for. I have no interest in a power meter. I went over a decade without any cycling computer of any kind attached to my bike. I bought a Garmin edge this year mostly to be able to track interval time. A 30 dollar timex watch would be just as effective.
I have always jokingly stated that I am "uncoachable." Which may be true as it is described in the linked article. What I have always been from my days playing hockey and training in martial arts and now practicing yoga is willing to learn. I have always been a sponge. I have always been open to new ideas and very interested in the technical and mental side of sport. I have never been a workhorse that could train themselves into the ground and stare at numbers to support my supposed performance growth as an end all. The coaches I have gravitated towards are more friends/mentors than traditional coaches although I have benefited HUGELY from their traditional coaching methods. I have also hugely benefited from being surrounded by such talented racers who happen to be coaches.

My first foray into coaching was at last years Cycle-Smart training camp. What Adam and Al do at that camp is nothing short of incredible. It was an exclamation point about how important the technical aspect of cross is. Its fine to be fit and be trained to the gills but if you don't know how to race cross, don't know how to drive a bike and don't have the mental toughness to race cross you won't last. And you won't do well over the course of a season. I haven't lasted in cross because I was naturally gifted or talented. Let's face it I am at best a mid-pack masters racer who just makes up for a lack of talent because I have really fast friends who help me out. After that camp I worked with Al Donahue from Cycle Smart for the season. He brings so much experience and such a calming effect to such chaos that helped me immensely through a really hard season to get to the point where by NBX I was experiencing what Matt Kraus so beautifully calls "Zoom, Zoom time." Both Al and Adam are amazing coaches. What Adam has done for the business of coaching can't even really be measured. What is also so great about Adam and C-S is it is an open model. Adam is not afraid to post up numerous articles for free for any seeker to read and use. Frankly I used those articles and the prescribed workouts a solid year before I went to camp. I still refer to the articles now.

So what is the point of this long winded post. That point blank saying having a coach is a waste of time or money is crazy. Adam, Al, Sara and Cort have done amazing things with their clients. I could go on and on about individuals who have benefited hugely from their help. I have benefitted hugely from all of them. They are all so open and available and willing to help. Thinking you don't need a coach or don't deserve one is not fair to yourself. Cross is hard. It is chaos. The season is over in a blink of an eye. All these coaches know what it takes to race cross in New England at the highest level. You need to know where to find a coach? There you go pick one of the above and you will be all set!

Going up to get Down

DECX as the cool kids are calling it. Or Verge #3&4 at Downeast, Maine at Pineland Farms. The last time I did this race it was the "old" course. It was 2005 and my first season back in the NE. I think it had rained for three solid weeks leading up to the race. It was pretty much my baptism into how different things are in New England compared to the San Francisco Bay Area. SF had mud. Lots of mud. But this mud at Downeast was different. I found out how different as I was running up a camber sunk to my knee went to pull my foot out and left my shoe behind. This all happened in front of the announcer who of course saw this as opportunity and began heckling me relentlessly. And yes the announcer was my good friend who had lured me to this god forsaken excuse for a cross race. He was merciless. But I was hooked. Sure I got lapped. I never got lapped in Norcal. Who knew these guys from Boston were so damn fast? And why was no one fat? I mean seriously? In Norcal the population is skinny but the racers are a bit on the say zoftig side. Here back in New England my whole reality got flipped.

Fast forward five years and bam! Its like I never spent 14 years out west. I am right back to being the same white trash towny I was when I left. Ok maybe the edges are a bit softened and I am more cultured. Ok that is a stretch. But anyway back to 2010 Downeast. This year was another west meets east crossapalooza. The Pedros elite team had hinted at the bike sponsor they had lined up for this cross season. I knew who it was and was so stoked to see the bikes. Chris King hired my good friend Jay Sycip a while back to launch and foster their new bike brand Cielo. Jay is one of the coolest cats I have ever known. Not to go off on too much of a tangent here but his tequila chili pasta is still one of my favorite comfort foods of all time. But back to the West coast invasion of Cielo bikes at Downeast. Christine Fort was traveling with the Pedros guys and tweeted a teaser of David's new frame the night before the race. It was a bare frame on a hotel bed. It was HOTT!

As I was getting ready for my race the Pedros Love Van rolled in. David got out of the sprinter and pulled his "bike" out. The steerer was uncut, the crown race wasn't pressed in, etc, etc. Not ready to race. But David is a professional and he wasn't racing until much later that day. And he had a van full of tools! By noon that bike was looking pimp as hell. I mean look at it! The Pedros team paint job is insane! I took as many pictures on my iphone as I could without making David too uncomfortable.
Ok enough geeking out on the Cielo's back to the racing. I loved, loved, loved the new course. It was a mile of swoopy, bermy cxeyness. Granted when I got to the venue it was about 20 degrees and at 10 am as I was pinning my # on my jersey I thought to myself. No way am I getting out of the van. No way. Then I saw dudes rolling by trying to warm up and thought ok fine I can do this. First really cold race of the year is no joke. I slapped on some hot embro, leg warmers, beanie etc. After a couple of laps it wasn't that cold and frankly after each crazy roller coaster berm I forgot about how cold it was. My race was great. Well other than seeing Tom Stevens cartwheeling across the gravel, his bike flying through the air at me and half the field locking up their brakes before ramming me from behind. Luckily I avoided Toms bike (barely) rode the tape to the outside and was free.
The rest of the race was just pinning it and trying to stay locked onto NegaCoach and Derek Grigg's wheel. As Adam's mechanic would say, "brake, corner, sprint" Again I loved the course. I know people still have residual from the mud bog of last year. I could see it in some racers eyes. I would say how much I loved the course and Pineland farms and they would look at me with black eyes all vacant and ask me if I was smoking crack. Maybe its just the towny in me but I like a downhome race. I like cows and farms. I had hoped we got to race through the barn with the cows in it. But that would have been gross I guess.
But back to the downhome aspect. How many races do you have a hot potato with chili on top of it waiting for you post race? The Maine Cycling club rocks for putting on this race. After the potato/chili combo I had a second lunch up at the Pineland farms visitor center. The second lunch was even better than the first. I bought a pie for my sister-in-law who had let me and Dave Chiu and John crash in her barn all weekend. But back to the Pedros team. I am biased in this obviously as I am really good friends with all of them but they are doing such a great job. From top to bottom. They bring so much positive energy to cross. Steve Lehmann is amazing to watch as he takes care of all his racers. I have been really good friends with David Wilcox for a while. The more time I spend with him the more I love him. Seriously. He showed me something saturday. Forget his gonzo bike build. While that was totally impressive it is who he is. This is the same man who went to Costa Rica and built a fleet of Luna Team bikes for Marla Streb. He is bascially MacGyver.

But back to David. I have had a few hiccups this season. One that kind of got me down. Not worth talking about but it kind of burst my usual halcyon cross bubble for a few weeks. Sure you could say I lost my mojo. Anyhoo. One of the great things about a free pass at Downeast and staying 30 minutes away was that I could hang out worry free and watch ALL the races! The Elite mens race was soooo fast! We were in a great spot by the start finish. We saw the leaders come through, then the second group, then third group, a couple of stragglers. And no David. Damn. I was soooo bummed. Its tough when you know your friend just got dealt a major shit sandwich. Finally he came through. No yelling. No panic. No shaking his head and being all dramatic. All Business. And it was on. He fought back hard. We all had no idea what had happened. He just kept moving up and up. At the end he fought his way back to 15th. That is insane!

After when I heard what happened I was blown away. I am not going to go into it. It got my blood going. Its not for me to talk about. But the fact that he stayed positive and did not let what happened on that first lap break him down was a total inspiration. I am bottling up how David rode saturday and putting that in the bank for a bad day. He is one tough hombre and what I love about him and how he rode saturday is everyone assumes tough means being a jerk. Yell, scream, fight, blah, blah, blah. Complain about every bobble or thing that goes wrong. No tough is having some crazy shit go down and rising above it and ride your own ride.

What a great weekend. I hope next year they stick with the same creative course design and that the weather gods smile on them! Thanks to everyone who made Downeast happen!

Das Nacht Weasels Cometh

"If you don't have snot bubbles coming out of your ears then you aren't going hard enough"-Larry Longo.

That is Larry pictured behind Elite winner Merredith Miller and Leah Pappas-Barnes. So many things about that quote and picture sum up the Night Weasels Cometh. This was NOT a hipster tractor pull. It was wicked fun in a way only New England can serve up cross but make no mistake about it, it was more a MMA title card fist fight than a cross race. It was brutal. I had the best first lap of my life courtesy of Ron Steers in the 3 race. You want to get to the front of a cross race? Follow that man. He found lines that didn't even exist and passed EVERYBODY. He would pass like 20 guys in one 90 degree turn by going wayyyy outside. But I don't belong at the front of a race. And certainly not a 3 race with a bunch of young dudes hopped up on NOS soda, gummy bears and a chance to race cross at night for the first time in their lives. You think people were amped up? Yeah that would be an understatement!

So back to my very brief attempt at racing da Weasel. I came through the start finish line way up. Like top 15 and kind of still in contact with Ron. But I quickly lost his wheel and started riding like I do and not like Ronnie does and that is when the bad things started to happen. It is also when I started hearing Colin's voice in my head. And not good old Rooter style heckling like "put out more watts" or one of my faves "Stop Sucking!" More like work stuff as in "is the prize list for the 4s done?" Ummmm not exactly. I think that is when I crashed into a stake got entangled in tape, dropped my chain and slid down a hill in the mud. That is also when the grim reaper in the form of Seth Davis arrived. I did two more crash filled laps as I was really going for the "best crash of the night award" and then pulled the eject button. I haven't stepped under the tape of a cross course and quit in the last 5 years. But it had to be done. I had work to do. But those three laps? They were amazing! That course was sooo much fun in a punch you in the face then let you ride a mud filled luge track on your cx bike kind of way. Lesson #1 of cross racing. It is really hard to work on a race and then race the race. For an old man I think its impossible.

The fact that Linnea Koons worked 10 times as hard as I did and was able to be fresh and rip the course apart in the Elite women and do so well racing and promoting the race proves what a cross god she is. Granted she is from New Zealand about twenty years younger than me etc, etc but make no mistake Linnea may be one of the toughest (and funniest) people I have ever met. But back to the Night Weasels. What a night! So many people put so much hard work into creating one of the most insane evenings of cross I have ever been a part of. Ski Ward was so great in getting the venue ready for the race and just opening up their venue to us to let us just have at it. So a huge thank you to them!

Meredith Miller and a bunch of other Elite racers were so supportive and such sports about the race! They came out in good numbers and they put on such a great show for everyone! Could it have been that they all got a glimpse of the custom trophies that Leah made and wanted to win one so bad it hurt? I think so. Leah's trophies were a perfect example of why Night Weasels rocked. Everyone got so into it and put their own creative stamp on it. Leah brought back the long standing tradition of Boston Cross's trophy parties. Linnea built her Stairway to Heaven. Steen and the MRC/John Harvard's crew printed up a special cross label for their New Belgian Strong Ale. And they brought a ton of beer out for us all to share!

There were a ton of examples of this type of support from our friends. The Pedros guys rolled up and handled the bike wash like it was a UCI 1 race. Forget the fact that they just did Gloucester and were going to do Providence that weekend and were likely exhausted. The fact that you had the GM/President (Matt Simpson) and the VP (Matty Bracken) washing bikes and racing with the elites and kicking butt speaks volumes not only about them as a company but the commitment they have to supporting the grassroots and their friends. They are great partners and great friends! Thank you Matt and Matt and the Pedros crew. You are all doing such amazing things its not even funny. They have brought grassroots racing up a whole other level this year!

So many of our friends just stepped up and got sooo involved. The main point of this ridiculously late blog post is to say thank you to everyone who made this night so special A huge thank you to Colin and Linnea for taking me on this wild ride of race promoting in New England. When Colin first asked me to help I jumped at the chance. When I asked him what he wanted me to do he just said "do what you do." That is both hilarious and awesome at the same time. I think I made him a little nervous initially with my unchecked ADD but what are you gonna do? He did ask me a pointed question as we were scouting out the course the week before the race. He kind of softballed me with "so have you ever worked on an event before?" I calmed him down letting him in on my former life as a hack for the Sea Otter Classic and Napa Worlds. But those two events have nothing on Night Weasels. Nothing.

Thank you to my Hup teamates for racing and volunteering! Thank you to the Crossresults.com team for all your hardwork. Thank you to all our friends and sponsors: JRA cycles and Brian McInnis, Derek Griggs, Pete Smith of Mad Alchemy, Indy Fab and Leah, BikeJD for stepping up as our presenting sponsor, Zanconato custom cycles for some insane FMB tires, Newbury Comics, All Hail the Black Market for bringing the darkness, James and Linnea of the Embrocation Journal cycling team, Pedros for their constant support and encouragement, Wheelworks, Steen and John Harvard's and all of you Cross FANatics who make this sport and this region so insane!

The last/first biggest surprise of the whole night? Yash came to our race! Our good friend and Hup teamate Stephen Link somehow kept this a surprise. When Yash walked in it blew me away. I instantly stopped freaking out and settled in and knew it was gonna be a good day and I wasn't even gonna need my Ak....last bit and I am sure you have all seen it by now but this video by David Deitch rocks so hard I just can't stop watching it....http://www.vimeo.com/15689862

Holy Week Mash Up (Part One)

Every religion has a Holy Week. Each religion has its own set of rituals and beliefs but the basics are the same. Penance, sacrifice, atonement, suffering, release, and transformation. At least that is the hope. You go through a week (or in some cases a day) and come out transformed. Cleansed if you will. Imbibed with a new sense of purpose. My religion is Cross. By any definition I worship at its feet 365 days of the year. Is this healthy? No probably not. Is it transformative? There is no denying that it has changed me as a person and as a biker.

I have talked about my love affair with cross and how it all started on the sand dunes of Sea-Tac at Nationals over two decades ago. But New England. Wow. Unless you have lived here and let yourself be absorbed by its cross culture you have no idea. None. I jokingly refer to it as the Sparta of cyclo-cross but the more I become imbedded in the culture the more that reference doesn't seem that far off the mark.

The Gran Prix of Gloucester has always stood out as one of the Monuments of cross in the United States. It kicked off what a lot of us were calling the Superweek of cross. Superweek has a nice ring to it no doubt. But Holy Week may be more accurate. Gloucester-Night Weasels-Providence. What a week. I am going to do a mash up of all that happened. No race reports just what matters most the culture, the vibe, the magic.

Gloucester.

The biggest story about Gloucester was the women. The 3/4 women to be exact. On day 1 there were 100 women lined up for the 3/4 race! Can you even believe that? Talk about growing the sport! The year prior there were 60 women. Sixty is a great number don't get me wrong. But doubling the number of participants in one year! It was a great day for cross in New England. It made me proud to be a part of this culture.

Hup United's women's ranks have also grown in the last year. We have also seen our ranks double. But what has really blown my mind is not just the energy and comradery these women have brought to Hup but the fierce competitiveness they have shown week in and week out. They work hard, they don't ever complain or blame a bad race on something or someone else. There is a lot to be learnt from these women and the example they set about how you conduct yourself as a bike racer. Style, class and fierceness.

Fierceness? When I saw the pictures of Meg and Michele on the runup at Gloucester I was blown away. Now that is how you do it! I put that image in my suitcase of courage and said that is the face I want when I am racing! I want to race with a fierceness like they do! The pain face that they both have says it all! These are good friends and teammates not rivals and they are killing themselves to go as fast as they can. No settling in and taking it easy. Fighting for every step, every corner, every spot. That is how I am racing the rest of this cross season!

So to all the women in New England bringing their A game to cross every weekend I say chapeau! You all get it! Keep fighting the good fight! And most importantly thank you to my Hup Teammates you ladies are amazing.