Advent Traditions, Old and New

I wanted to share this with all you Lugs out there, brothers sisters mothers fathers wives and friends. It's the first Sunday of Advent today and this year I wanted to do a little more to celebrate and to prepare so I made a book out of the years of Advent writings that Dad typed up a few years ago. It turned out nicely, so now Tomo and have something to read each night and lots of space to add our new memories. In this way we'll be able to share the time together each night and, in our thoughts and prayers, with all of you as well.

 

Videos from the Kansai Cyclocross Race

Here are a few videos from the Kansai cyclocross race that was this past week.

The sand stretch is what makes this race famous.



Barriers in the race. Check out the height difference between Barry Wicks and the Japanese national champion.



This is a racer who kind of got turned around and seems to think that he was racing in the water.

Pro Cyclocross Racers Take on Japanese Cyclocross

Here is an entry from Barry Wick's journal on Velonews.com. He was just over in Japan racing in the biggest cyclocross race series in the country.

http://www.velonews.com/article/85398/barry-wicks--journal-head-speed-concept

Long Time No Post...

...But lots of thoughts of congratulations on your races, Lug Bro Numero Uno. I haven't been riding much here. It's been cold and I've been, well, down, I guess would be a way to put it. Not that a person can't ride when he's feeling down, just that I've figured I need all the rest I can get on the weekends. I do go out on my Bianchi to take photos and hit the bakeries in town. Here are some shots of the autumn leaves. It's peak time for the colors here. The Gingko trees have a rich buttery yellow and the maples are just starting to turn their bright red. It was a three day weekend this weekend so we had some time to enjoy it.

Congratulations again on the racing. I wish I could be there to see it, but the video's a lot better than nothing! Thanks to Corey for that.

 

 

 

 

Yet more Video!

Here is yet another video from my race today. I am not sure who is taking all the views of these races (well, yes, I do know his name, Corey Green) but I could not point him out at the races.

I am the guy in the plain gray jersey (I didn't wear my Bolla stuff today)


Promotion Cross - Rear Camera from Corey Green on Vimeo.

Today's race was in Lexington, at Veterans Park, which in the past has been one of my favorite courses. However it has been at least 3 years since I raced there and the course has changed quite a bit in that time. The region has had quite a bit of rain in the past few days, and so in addition to a new course, the ground was also quite wet and muddy. I had quite a time getting to the race, because I forgot the directions this morning and so had to stop at a gas station in Lexington to ask how to get to the park. Then when I got there I ended up having a flat time about 5 minutes before the start of the race, so between those two things, I had very little time to warm up.

So, here is how the race went for me. I did get past the guy do the video and was riding in 4th place for awhile, then got passed on the 3rd lap, so I was trying to hang on for 5th. I was riding okay at that point, but dropped my chain going over one set of the barriers and then crashed towards the end of the 3rd lap. Also the conditions and the course did not suit my strengths, as there were too many starting and stopping points, and I started to fade by the start of the 4th lap. I was passed by four other racers in the last lap and while I did try to hang with them, by the end of the race I was just happy to finish up. I still placed in the top 10 and came home was an extremely dirty bike.

Some Pictures from Sunday

Well, here are some pictures from my race on Sunday.

They are in reverse order, but oh, well.

Another Cross Racing Video

Someone posted this video to one of the racing listservs that I am on. It is the first lap of my race on Sunday, though again I am not in it. The quality is not the best, but still kind of fun to watch.

It's Finally Here

So, here is the Cinelli 1A stem for Dad. This stem has probably traveled more than any other stem in the history of the world, as it has now crossed the the Atlantic Ocean 3 times.

So, Dad here is your stem.

Second Place

Today, I drove up to Yellow Springs, Ohio to race at the John Buyan cross race. I went up with Keither Morlen, a team-mate of mine on Bolla. We left Louisville around 7 and made the 3 hour drive up to the race, getting there with about an hour before the start of the race. Originally, I had signed up to do 2 races today, both the C and B races, but when we got there and I started to warm up, I wasn't really feeling like racing all that much, especially in the cold (today was the first day that it really felt like Fall - it was windy, sleeting a little bit, and about 40 degrees).

The organizers of the race grouped a bunch of races together, so I was also racing against the 35 plus and 45 plus racers (along with some juniors). So, total there were 75 people at the start line for this race. Unlike last week, my starting position this week was not that good, but I was able to sneak up one row in the starting grid. At the gun, we all took off, but unlike Keith, I did not get that good of a start, as my shoe did not clip in quickly. I finally got clipped in and took off after the field. I was probably in about 20th place at this time. I was not happy with this situation because I knew that the leaders would get away from me quickly and I would be stuck behind a bunch of other racers at the barriers and the sand pits on the race, which did happen the first lap (the course today was well laid out and had some unique feature to it, such as log barriers and some short stretches of single-tracke - kind of like mountainbike racing).

At the end of the first lap, I had worked my way up to about 15th or so, and I started to pick up speed and pass other racers as I caught up to them. I kept trading positions with a couple of others who were working their way through the race also. At the end of the 2nd lap, I was probably in about 10th, and I could see the main chase group about 20 seconds ahead of me. I really gunned it through some of the straight sections to try and make up time on that group, and by the end of the 3rd lap, I had caught that group. I hung on the tail of this group for a little while before passing some of them in the sand pit (most people tried to ride through the sand, but I chose to run it, and that usually proved to be just as fast, especially since a lot of the other racers crashed towards the end of the pits).

There were now about 4 of us chasing the leader who was about 30 seconds ahead of us. Most of these other guys were not in my race, but one other Cat. 4 racer was hanging with the group. At the start of the last lap we were still all together, and I knew that I wanted to try to drop the other guy in my race, so I started to pick up the pace again. I wasn't able to drop the guy, though I was the dictating the pace (which is a good thing to be able to do in a race). Eventually, though the guy did me a favor when he got bogged down in the sand on the last pit, and I got a lead on him that he would not be able to overcome.

I ended up finishing second in my race and 6th overall. Keith also had the best race of his season and finished 9th in our race.

In the end I stuck with my decision not to do a second race because I was cold and wanted to get home sooner. As for finishing second, I won a mountain bike tire, which is pretty useless to me, as I do not have a mountainbike any more. However, I ended up trading with the winner for a cross tire. But that still does not answer the question of why would you only give away 1 tire? Maybe the organizers want us all to take up unicycles.

I don't have any pictures from my race, but I did take this one of Morgan Webb, a local masters racer, bunny hopping the barriers during his race.

Last warm day?

Here are a few pictures from my ride today. It was an amazingly beautiful day here in the Ohio Valley, about 65 degrees and while there was a strong wind blowing, I was able to avoid it for most of the my ride.

Kate is out of town this weekend at a library conference in Nashville, TN, so it is just the dogs and I for a few days. The morning started off kind of poorly as it was raining and looked like it was just going to dull, dreary day, but around noon, the clouds started to disappear and by the time I left on my ride at 2:30, there were almost no clouds in the sky.

My ride took me north of Charlestown on some of the winding old roads that just meander over the small hills with no apparent destination, they all just kind of run into each other at different points (unlike the grid like roads in Michigan). In the end, I just kind of putz along on these roads for about 2 hours before returning home and getting back to work on the house. All in all it was a very nice day.

Fall Colors

Here are some shots from a couple of recent rides that show the lovely fall colors that we have had around here lately. Kate was saying yesterday that she didn't remember the trees being this colorful last year (probably because of the extreme drought we had), and she was right.

Lap 1 of my race last week

Someone (not sure who) had a video camera on their bike for the first lap of my race last week. I am not in the video, but it was funny to watch as it gives an idea of what racing cross is like. ***Warning*** Don't watch if you have had any alcohol or get motion sickness.