Friday, October 23, 2009

a few reviews

1) Race Across the Sky (film) Amazing cinematography. They really captured a lot of emotions and the feeling of the race. Within 15 minutes, I wanted to move to colorado and ride bikes for a living. If you are a hardcore cyclist, weekend warrior, just interested in the sport, or just like a real interesting movie about accomplishment this is a must buy on dvd.
Besides the several pro riders they were following, there were other stories of the amateur riders, which helped give many perspectives of the race. Really cool. Two thumbs up.

2) Rays 09-10 (giant indoor bicycle park) I will only discuss the changes from last year.
First of all, I really miss the kona jumps. I miss the redbull jump.

So, the rhythm room is geared for bmxers. Riding a 26" is really really tight. I still haven't mastered clearing all of the small (kona sized) jumps. It is super tight to keep the speed without flying off of the edge.

I mustered up the courage to attempt the medium jumps (huge), but not as big as the huge jumps (Extremely gigantic). Anyway The 'medium' jumps are also really hard to get through. I am able to clear the first 2 big jumps, but then its a 90 degree turn. With the pro line last year, the kenda hip was really easy to master, no such luck this year. This will be a challenge to clear both of these. As for the big line. not in this lifetime. They are really really really big.

Next up is the pump track- I love how this thing is continuous now, my only gripe before was you had to stop after one lap. They also added a fun little jump in the middle. Only issue now is it is a little difficult to get up and down from the ramp.

The XC changes aren't huge. Only major stuff is the redbull box is now a couple of dropoffs. The sport room has just a few extensions to the obstacles nothing huge. The larger entrance is nice as well. Well, my back is messed up from all the jumping that i haven't done since april. Time to throw on the biofreeze.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

I rode my bike and it got dirty


cool pic compliments of RobertS


I rode my bicycle at the Spin Cross my heart and hope to die cyclocross spectacular. It was fun. It was a little chilly before the race started. My belgium knee warmers held up great however. www.madalchemy.com I was the very last person to line up. No biggie. I passed a good few on the sprint to the hill. The hill sucked. It was steep. I couldn't run up it. I had to walk it.

Ended up riding with Chip the Rip Meek for a good portion of the race. The baseball diamond was fun I thought, and that cool little steep 15foot downhill. The last lap I pushed the pedals hard and on the 2 little hills after the big run up, and was able to put a gap on the guys around me. Finished 14th.

Afterwards was cycling related fun and merryness with all the cool kids who ended up going to the willoughby brewing company. My team TLE raced super well today! Great job to all those who put up some good results.


No racing this weekend for me. But I am going to be watching the Leadville movie Thursday night. Contact me if you would like to join.

This posts soundtrack is dedicated to flecher since he got me hooked on the pit.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

my new cap


Yup. I'm writing a blog entry about my new cycling cap. It is black with a red stripe. It looks fast. I even got it custom embroidered with 'team lake effect' on the side. And it pretty much fits- hard to do when you have a super small dome. www.walzcaps.com

Todd Field vs me saturday.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

UCI3 Wrapup

Day 3 was harbin park. Legs are starting to get a little stale, but nothing to worry about. The course ended up being fun and tough. The field was huge. I ran through the sand everytime- probably a mistake on my part. The slow grinding uphill before the sandpit was just killer- i came to almost a complete stop at the top. I always would make up time on the screaming downhill- brakes are for the weak. The drums and bongos and tons of spectators made it really fun. I ended up with 24th. I think the 'Newports' gave me 1st in style points however.

I can't think of a favorite course. All 3 were different. Friday was a slop fest, and I ended up doing okay in it, keeping my rubber down(somehow) , and riding past the road weenies. Saturdays weather was beautiful, I liked the sandpits, and had a great bunch of people cheering me on. Sunday had a fun screaming downhill, and a sweet mud pit, and the coolest atmosphere.
I will be going next year for sure! I will sign up sooner than the very last minute.

Great job to all my teammates and local riders who raced their hearts out down there.

Next up, Spin's Cross my heart and hope to die cyclocross spectacular.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

UCI day 2 Java Johnny's

Todays race was awesome. Much nicer weather! Great spectator weather. The 2/3 race had a LOT of people in it.(i heard a rumor of 100 people starting) The pileups started as soon as we hit that first grain of sand. Soon enough things got spread out a bit. I felt good again. I only made one mistake every single lap, which was running up the short steep hill, while most everyone else rode it. I don't know, it seemed slippery, and I wanted to make it all the way up. Not sure how I ended up at all! I will let you know when the results are up.

It was great weather to cheer on Bill, Rudy, Julie, and Matt in their races.
Some highlights from watching the races:

I bought a cowbell for $3.
Jeremy Powers bunnyhopped the barriers almost every lap for the crowd.
Ryan Trebron is 9'13".
People were getting beer hand ups.
I got sunburnt.

Harbin Park tomorrow.

Friday, October 9, 2009

UCI3 day 1 - cyclo stampede

Me and Johnny P line up in the last line- what we get for waiting till the last minute to pre-reg. We go. Oh yea, did i mentioned it rained inches and inches of rain last night, and today. I have never seen so much mud. There were people falling all over the place. Somehow I think I was the only racer in our race to never fall. I passed alot of people on the techincal stuff. Yea, seriously. I did good on it today.

My remounts are way better than my races last month. Only issue I ran in today was landing back on my seat, it moved and pointed up. Seeing as I didn't want a saddle up my ass, I slammed down on it and temporarily fixed it. Ended up 14th out of 50 or so. Nice job to teammates Johnny and Tony who raced real well. 7th and 6th respectively. Matt Weeks who raced with the real big boys, and put up a valiant effort versus an insane group. Scott Marut, and Nate Szabo also raced real well.