blind date at the dairy #2
five things i learned tonight:
1. i can go deeper into my pain cave then i previously thought. the back of it seems to be filled with slobber and snot drippings.
2. my strong points are barriers, fast flat sections, turns; my weak points are running & rough terrain. can we stop riding through the middle of pastures, please? i’m terrified that my hands are going to come off the bars. hoods? tops? drops? someone please tell me the best way to get through those sections.
3. if i only shave on fridays, my legs are stubbly mid-week. i hope no one noticed . . .
4. if the guy at the start line next to you says that it’s only going to be a five lap race; listen, but also realize he may not know, or may be an evil genius and trying to psyche you out. after 4 hard laps, when the lap card said 4 to go, i wanted to cry. i couldn’t because there was no liquid left in my body to make tears, but i wanted to.
5. know how your bike works. i dropped my chain with two to go and it was like the couch in ‘long dark tea time of the soul’. i couldn’t see how it was physically possible to get it back on. it seemed stuck below the inside chain helper. perhaps it was oxygen debt, but it took my brain a long time to figure out how to push the damn thing out of the way and get the chain back through. lesson learned. also, don’t set your bike down so hard after a barrier. duh. i think i probably lost 20 spots there.
killer race. fun venue. nice job by the promoters and the obra staff. kenji and candi are super nice and deserve all kinds of props.
have fun at the big cross crusade kick-off this weekend out there. while you are dripping snot into the open corners of your mouth, i will be pressing cider at a harvest party in a tiny little town outside of eugene. fall isn’t completely about cyclocross. just mostly . . .
Barlow Report
Report: This report comes from Heather Westfall after her first cross race
The Battle at Barlow was a great introduction for me into the craziness of cylcocross. I lined up with the B women on the hard tail that I had raced for so many years! However, riding the hard tail didn’t last long.
My rear tire flatted as I bunny hopped onto the pavement section. 50 yards later, the tire was completely flat. I looked up to find Dave Roulo from Filth and Fury holding his bike. I eagerly convinced him to let me use his cross bike. Luckily, we both use Crank Bro’s pedals.
For the remainder of the 5 laps, I rode his Jake the Snake. Even with the seat position sitting higher than I would have preferred, the bike got me around the course just fine. I had never carried a bike on my shoulder, but managed to figure that out very quickly as the rail road tie stairs would have been brutal pushing the bike.
5 laps later, I ended up in 4th place out of 20. I thank Dave again for lending me his bike!
Great job to David E and Brian Thiel as well. Barlow was Brian’s last race in the great state of Oregon, as he’ll soon call Boston home!
Also a special thanks to my parents, James, Christine Thiel, and a friend Karen, for all the shouting during the race! The support DOES help!
Cross upon us
It’s that time of year again kiddies, after a mostly dormant summer, the VRV-ers are rolling back into action; Hood River a few weeks ago and the Battle at Barlow yesterday.
Write-ups and results to come, but here’s a good link and story about yesterday’s event
Battle at Barlow
hood river double cross (day 1)
well, my first cross race of the year is in the bag. officially, i finished 12th, just outside the points. this sounds less impressive when i tell you that there were only 17 riders in the field. oh, well. i came in hoping for a top 20 finish and it turned out to be guaranteed.
i started the race with candi giving me pointers on my number placement. i will know i’ve arrived when i finally get the f*(&ing number pinned on correctly. i was in the front row and in the top 5 through the first couple of turns, but those 6 quickly separated themselves and i lead a line of another 6 or so for most of the first lap.
on lap 2, the passing began. first one rider came by, then another, then a couple more. things began to string out a bit. when i came through the start/finish line on lap 3, i was shocked to see that the lap card said 7. in fact i said, ‘Seven?! Are you f(*&ing serious?” as i rolled through. i settled into my ‘seven laps remaining’ pace and tried not vomit. i also began focusing on my skills, practicing my pithy interactions with the spectators in particular. here are some highlights:
spectator: nice job, man! keep it up.
me: where the ^&%$ is my beer? are you going to give me a beer?
spectator: no beer today, man.
me: is this a cross race?
spectator: tomorrow, man. come back tomorrow.
me: not bloody likely.
spectator: go! go! go!
me: it’s just the vomit that’s slowing me down . . .
spectator: c’mon man! you can get that guy.
me: are you talking to me or him (gesturing to the guy behind me on the run up).
spectator: you man! you are the winner.
me: you obviously haven’t read my bio.
me to a photographer (pdxcross?): how the hell can there be an uphill headwind in a cross race?
photog: you’re racing in hood river. duh!
me: this is such bull%$#@.
in the end, it was a vast improvement over last year’s hood river race in which i crashed so many times i lost count, broke a finger and finished dead f$%^#@!$ last.
and that’s what it’s all about, right? getting better and having fun.
oh and beer.
p.s. – a big shout out to dave, who raced in a much larger master’s field and finished unofficially in the mid 30′s. sorry i couldn’t stick around to watch you race, bro. i had to sneak away so that no one could watch me vomiting.