Belgium Bound

It's official, we are heading to Mol, Belgium for the Masters World Championships in Jan08!! Oh my this is exciting. It's been on my mind all year, but just hadn't pulled the trigger. When a few locals were going and had everything lined up for accomodations, it made it that much easier. Mark from localcycling.com has been over for the last 3 or 4 years and has it down pat. He has friends on the ground and knows how to navigate the country on a budget. We'll be staying at Zilvermeer, right on the race course, in some cool little A-frame cabins. Since my better half is coming too, we've planned it so I race about the 3rd day there, then vacation/party the rest of the time. We'll for sure hit Hoogerheide for the World cup race on Jan20, then off to Brugge, Antwerp, maybe a couple days in Amsterdam, and if everything works out right cap it off in Paris.

So right now its just get through the massive workload, keep training for Nationals, take a week break, Christmas, then ramp it back up for the final stretch into Worlds. It weird to even say that, but its ON! I'm going to Belgium!!

Jingle Crossings & Ferris Wheel Lines

Well two days of racing a difficult course at the Jingle Cross races in Iowa City, IA left the legs feeling a little weary. It was mad fun though!! Huge fields, new bike, cold weather, what else could you want? The staging was done by registration and bib# so I was in the back. #74 of 90 something starters on Day 1, which was the last couple of rows. I couldn't see or hear the ref and next thing you know people are going and I still have my jacket on. Throw the jacket and let 'er rip and tear through the field, taking no prisoners. The first runup was mayhem... everybody was falling and couldn't get any traction up the muddy slope. By the 2nd lap I'm sitting in 4th!!! Few more laps go by and one of the KC locals swings by me and I grab his wheel. He bobbled in the sand section and I went down behind him... he got a gap on me and I could never bring it back. My shifter would not shift after getting gummed up with sand so I was constantly struggling with that the rest of the race. Finished in 6th, felt pretty good. The X-Fire performed great and felt so light on the runups and barriers. I'm really going to like this bike.

Day 2 - It was rumored the top 10 from day 1 would get call-ups to the front, so I was ready for the chance to make the podium. Well it didn't happen and again last 2 or 3 rows in a 110 person field. The course was reversed today with a long steep runup. Tried to get through the field today but everytime I'd make a move, somebody was flailing in front of me. Two big crashes in the first lap made things intersting, luckily I steered clear. Keep slogging through them and near the end of the first lap, I'm passing on an inside corner of a tight muddy section and I literally get pushed into a bush. There I am hanging off the ground, sticks poking my back, feet still in the pedals when I hear and I quote "That's what you get mother fucker!" I don't even know what to say.... pull myself out of the sticks, get going, and catch right back up to the guy and was like what was that... he says "wait your turn". My response "This is a race you punk, not a line for the ferris wheel!", accellerate and dust him. Make my way to 11th and that's all I had. The huge runup killed me. I still couldn't believe the attitude from this guy, sure I made a hard inside turn which probably cut him off a little, but they were going slow and I had already made up 60-70 places, come one. If you aren't aggressive you can sit at the back and that's where you should be.... or in line for the ferris wheel.

Here's some video from my teammate Mr. Dunsmuir of the Elites on the first runup.

Check out the pics.

Wells taking snapshots .. of me

Elite Lineup - Horner Tilly Wells

Muddy Runup

SupaFast Downhill - Bjorn

Markos Bob Brown

Thanksgiving Day Double

The weather has finally turned to winter. Snow and temps in the 20’s, yowzers. Out here in rural northern Missouri, the roads aren’t that safe, so I rode around until I found the ultimate training spot, the country club golf course!! Hopped the gate and got to it. What a great place to ride! In the interest of not getting into too much trouble if I got caught, I stayed close to the cart path on the grass or gravel trail. Rode for about an hour in the spitting snow then headed back to the house, by the time I got home my feet and ears were frozen. It took hours for the toes to come around even after a hot shower. Ate like a champ and of course the Thanksgiving post-meal coma set in hard. Took a 2.5 hour nap, holy crap… that never happens. Woke up about 4:30 and thought, “hmmm, maybe I should go for another ride?”. Geared up and headed in a different direction this time. It was starting to get dark so I steered to one of the nearby dirt roads that led to a conservation area. It was actually a nice ride with lots of up and down. I went by this big group of cows and then they started pacing me down the fence for a long way. The whole bunch of 30 of them, running next to me on the road was kinda funny. I had to stop and take a pic… eyes in the dark. Got chased by one dog , it was hard to tell how close it got, but I just stayed on the gas and he never got my leg so guess not too close.

The Fields Have Eyes

A Day in the Life...

Thinking back to a previous post about the Juggling act we non-pro racers go through, I was inspired to delve into a little more. As I began the last 4 week phase of training before Nationals, work has also started its year-end run for the finish line. The workload at this time of the year is at it’s max, two seriously high profile projects are in the works as well as prepping for Cross Nationals. Below is a recap of last week's Monday leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday.

The rest week ended Sunday with a 2.5 hour easy road ride. Then trying to get ahead on the week, I worked from about 6pm to 1am Sunday night. Monday started early and ended late. The day went in this order….work, training, dinner & family time, re-glue tubie, and build the X-Fire.

7am Start work put in 10 hours on revenue targets

5pm Time to ride 1.5 hours EZ spin with the LTrain out on the road 75 degrees!

6:30 Family Time --Help with Dinner, time with the kiddos, then bedtime
9pm Start the re-glue process – another layer on the rim and base tape. Sunday night I was looking at the Dugast and pulled it back a little and the tire totally came off in a section. Ripped the whole thing off and time to re-glue - ugggg

10pm Get some libations going, crank up the tunes and build up the Ridley

11pm Another bourbon rocks

1am Finally getting everything done and adjusted – fatigue is setting in.
1:30am Head to bed and get some rest before 7am hill repeats and the test flight on the X-Fire.

Oh man, this is hard work. What would it be like to have a mechanic? Or a Nanny? Or Just get paid to Ride? I’m sure it wouldn’t be any easier, just different. On with it…

X-Fire takes Flight

The X-Fire is freshly built with one test flight under her now. Getting ready to load it up on the car and head out. I'll put it through the paces this weekend with back to back race days in Iowa at the Jingle Cross. The massive hill will test its climbing ability and descending prowress. This baby weighs in at less than 18 pounds!! Lugging it up those hills might be a bit easier than before.

Euro on Euro

Snow is starting to fall today, then the weather is supposed to clear up for the weekend. The temps are expected to be around 40 degrees for the high in Iowa, so this is going to be perfect cross weather... FINALLY!!

Jingle Cross - - Heartland Tour

There's going to be some miles put on the ride this weekend as we make our way to the Jingle Cross races (approx 800 with all the detours). Leave Kansas City today heading to Milan, MO for Thanksgiving with some of the in-laws. Leave the kids there with Grandma for a couple days of R&R (Rest & Racing). The tour leaves Milan and heads north to Des Moines, IA for a visit with some great friends (old Denver friends), then to Iowa City on Saturday morning for races on both Saturday and Sunday. When we are totally exhausted on Sunday afternoon, we'll bounce back down to Milan, spend the night, and finally head back to KC on Monday.


View Larger Map

Milan is conveniently situated in the northern part of Missouri near Iowa, with no access to interstates or major highways, just twisty curvy back country roads littered with farm trucks, tractors, and deer. This makes for an extraordinarily long trip to and fro.

Rest Week and Nats Course Ride

Luckily this was a scheduled rest week as work is smoothering me, its really starting to stress me out. This juggling act of Family, Work, Training, and Racing can be likened to that guy juggling the 4 flaming objects as another gets thrown in, what will happen? Will he keep them all spinning in a harmonious cycle or will they all come crashing down in a flaming fury? A couple runs and some easy road rides was really it this week with the exception of yesterday. On Saturday an "unannounced" show and go on the Nationals course was rumored to be happening so of course I went out there to see who was going to show and throw down. By the time we got rolling, there were 25-30 peeps to ride in the course and test the newly built stairs. The Start/Finish long paved hill is hard! Each time thru, it gets steeper and longer. The stairs are also going to be a big factor in the race as they are right before that finish section. There are probably 12-15 steps on each of the TWO back to back Stair sections. The steps aren't that tall, but the spacing is just enough to make it awkward. Not close enough to take 2 steps and far enough to make it a real long one step/leap. Trebon and Wicks won't have any trouble, but for the rest of us not endowed with 40 inch inseams, it will be challenging. At the top of the 2nd set, there is another 50m of slight uphill.... to run or remount, it could be the deciding factor. I didn't get a pic yesterday, but I'll try to post one soon.

The Powers Stack

Steve-Z Photography caught this sweet sequence at the recent Redline Cup at the Boulder Res. Jeremy Powers is the Sinsei of bunny hopping barriers but it is nice to see he is human. As many times as he flawlessly bounds over the barriers, we all know he must have stacked it hard trying to perfect his technique. Double click to enlarge the sequence to get a close-up view of this, you might not see it again.




In the first photo he has the look of 'Oh Shit here we go'. In the 2nd photo, he's setting up the landing with the flying squirrel. And finally the roll, right up to the barrier. A little further and he'd been right on top of the 2nd barrier, yikes. JPows is still super-human in my book.

The Eagle has Landed... Repeat the Eagle has Landed

I should really say the Phoenix has landed cuz this beeeatch is on Fire. The X-Fire arrived on the doorstep the other day and finally got some pics of it to post up before I gets her built up. Missing parts you say? Oh Yes, Missing parts that are integral to getting it built up. Headset is missing one cup, bearings, top cap, and the seatpost wasn't in the box. Sinclair is hooking it up though with an overnight delivery... new headset and a Ritchey post as the Thomson is on backorder. So they should be here on Friday and I'll be riding the Nationals course on Saturday for another "practice" race to ride the course in.

Initial impressions:
1. The all carbon is HOT!
2. The seat stays and chain stays look like ripped calves with those sculpted lines
3. Paint job is sick - nuff said
4. It weighs next to nothing and wondering what it will end up at on the scale fully built

Check it out...

Sweet Simplicity


Now those are some legs


A headshot for the books


TailFeathers/flattened brake bridge...ooooooo

The final build will look something like this:
SRAM Rival Shifters
Salsa Bell Lap bars
Thomson Stem
Cane Creek Aros 58 carbons
Dugast Rhino tubulars
TRP CR950 Carbon Canti Brakes
Thomson post
Selle Italia Flite Classic Ti saddle

Time to get it on! Just need that headset before I rip apart the newly renovated Slingshot and end up bikeless for the weekend.

Sunflower CX

Another balmy, un-cyclocross weather day with temps in the mid-70's for gods-sake!! Enough of that already. Where are the slippery, wet, wintery conditions that exemplify the spirit of 'cross? Apparently not here in the midwest. Sunday's race was out in Lawrence, KS at the nearby Clinton Lake. Saturday I spent much of the morning rebuilding the Slingshot with my SRAM Rival drivetrain that I'd been holding onto to mount up on the never-arriving Ridley. I said F it and built it up cuz as soon as I do that, the Ridley will arrive. Got a quick ride on it Saturday afternoon and was just hoping the cable didn't stretch too much during the race. It was a fun day as the family was coming with and we were picking up the bro-in-law from school at KU.

Get out the race, register, and go for a quick warm-up ride. Line up in the front row again (been lucky with that all year). Ready GO! I can't get my left foot in the pedal but keep hammering it down the pavement to the over 90 degree left hand turn. Finally I get clipped in and make the turn in about 12-15th spot. The leader goes down hard right at the barriers and the field splits around him like a traffic circle. Over the triple barriers and around the long sweeping corner. We get to a straight away that is a mix of gravel and dirt and its pedal to the metal! I move up to 2nd place and sit on the leaders wheel. That was way too easy, I just went by everybody and settled in nice and easy. I continue to sit on this wheel for the entire first lap where I should have attacked as I was feeling it and everybody else seemed to be holding back. Back to the start/finish at the end of the first lap and I do attack and leave the field by at least 150m, through the barriers and on with it, solo. I'm riding both of the sand pits with not much issue and generally feeling great. Then the "Kid" catches up with me and we ride the next lap together until I make my first mistake. Double barrier section through it and back on, Nope. The bike was bouncing in a rough patch as tried the remount and got the back of the seat right in the sack. OH! Try again, success, but no chain. I can't push the chain back on with the lever, so have to get off the bike and put it on by hand. Now the kid is up on my by 30 seconds. Off to the races and start to reel him in by about 5 seconds per lap but just can't pull him back. Then Problem #2, chain drops to small ring and I can't push it back up to the big ring. Cables have stretched or loosened enough that there's not enough tension to push the chain over the big ring. OK, so running in the high end of the small ring and still going fast enough. The separation between me and the chase is enough I don't have push it too much but I want to catch this kid. Last 2 laps and I'm flying through all the sections, whoops a little bobble in loose corner, and it was then I decided 2nd place was good enough. The weekend before I pushed too much and made bad mistakes and crashed which cost several places. So I conceded the win and was happy with 2nd. Still could of, would of, should of, but it is what it is. If it weren't for mechanicals and mistakes everybody would win every weekend.

Riverside Racing

This weekend the Riverside Cyclocross festival featured races on both days with a reversal of the course on day 2. The venue is very close to home and sat right on the Missouri river next to one of the riverboat casinos in a sweet little park. The course would test the handling skills of the best riders. Beautiful sunny weather around 60 degrees both days, can't beat it.

Day 1 - Good start, sitting in 3rd, but just can't bridge up to my teammate in 1st. Head through Harter's Horseshoe, a downhill rutty section toward the river where it turns to sandy dirt in a horseshoe shape and back up. The Up part was dug out to make back 2 back ditches that were "rideable" but sketchy. #2 goes over his bars in front of me and I run it, sittin pretty. Next big feature is real off-road, a log across the trail that is easily one foot tall, maybe 14 inches with a steep hill right behind it. Bunny hop the log and ride the hill. 20 feet further, another smaller log with a downhill on the other side, bunny hop and into the rolling downhill double track, its wicked FAST. Out to the twisty grass and turn it up. Onto the sandpit/volleyball course and I decide to ride... the deep carbons cut through it like butter and actually gain speed coming out... Kick Ass, I knew those things were worth it! Barrier section guy comes flying by me bunnyhopping the boards!! Not the bump and jump type, full-on BMX both wheels off clearing 'em by several inches and Supafast! I catch him on the straight sections and get by him. He does it again on the next lap, AHHHH! Next thing he blows a corner and goes through the tape, ah I got him now. Well he continues down the side of the course and cuts the tape back in. Now I'm gonna protest if he beats me. Well it didn't come to that as on the next to final lap, in the wooded section I get up and over the big log and hill then got bucked on the 2nd log and endo with front wheel turned into the brush. Pick myself up and ready to go but the tubular is partially off the rim, FUCK!! I scramble to get it put back on the rim, finally get it pushed on and ride it gingerly half a lap back to the pits. Change out the front and of course now several riders have passed me. I try to ride the sand on the bell lap, but the Ksyrium on the front just didn't cut it, bogged down at the end, guy passes me runniing. Relegated to 9th, aint that a bitch. No protest but I tell the guy to go back in where he went out next time. The barriers were low and I'd like to see if he could actually do that on regulation barriers. Photo is Jim going over the bars, but is probably what I looked like too, except I was flying on a downhill slope.


Day 2 - Pissed off ready for vengance. Big field today with 40 starters (Lucas and Songer included due to the payouts). Good start and rolling with the front group of 5 or 6, hear a crash after the first tight corner, at least its behind me.... that's why the start is so important. The tight technical turns aren't feeling that smoothe today. One downhill tight left is getting me everytime where I actually lock it up to make the turn. The uphill swoopy double track section is fast and now there is a step up jump over the log, hit it perfect every time. The front group has formed into 4 guys and I'm leading the chase but they are on my ass, especially in the corners. Lucas pops of the front and Brendan passes me, so still in 4th. Josh passes me and Mike goes on the pave' section... I jam it to not let him pass, looking down as I floor it, I miss the cones and blow through the corner. So frustrated, turning around to get back on course only to see a couple riders get spots on me. Bury it to get back on, Mike crashed and I pass him. Hammer it to the finish and still end up out of the money. 7th place.

So mad about a weekend full of mistakes. Both days mistakes cost me several places and some cash. I had 3rd locked up on Sat and probably 4th on Sunday. What did I learn?? Well.. 1)Pay attention in those technical sections with jumps, be smart and dont try to go too fast 2)Don't land on your front wheel with it turned, Doh 3)Its ok to let somebody pass as long as you stay on their wheel and pass them later 4)Keep your head UP you dumbass! That's why you missed the corner. The bunny hopper is actually a supafast mountain biker who regularly wins Expert and Open categories so that makes me feel a little better. Think I'm gonna start practicing those jumps.

O' Ridley Where Art Thou?

Oh my F'in God!!! It has been over 6 weeks now and still no X-Fire. I knew there would be a wait, but this GD ridiculous. The bike was supposed to ship from Reno on Monday via UPS and it is Friday today, so it better get here. There's probably not much of a chance that I'll be able to race it this weekend. Even if is shows up today, I spend several hours building it up, I won't feel comfortable racing it. I guess Sunday could be a possibility, but that is predicated on the thing arriving today. Each day the UPS may just rolls by without stopping, Oh the disappointment. ARRRRRGGG!!!