Two down in the South

Well I guess I gotta post sumpin bout first cuppla days of the speed week series. Tom Buzas was right bout the Athens crowd and the drinking but his warning bout possible beer bottles being thrown on the course did not happen thankfully. There was a massive crowd and many were consuming and getting their swerve on. Good time for all there cept a professor that day did kill his wife and two others earlier thus a manhunt was in progress just off the course. Not fun for them...serious stuff. Unlike racing which is fun n games right. So yeah ...stacked field and there was a stunt moto guy doing trix 4 the crowd so much delay with call ups n shennanigans. Nervous waiting. The race starts and two corners in a crash causes a chase which was a great beginning...the race seemed to stretch out to a vanishing point with it being dark and a 150 rider field. I moved up some and got passed some. The counter read 43 and starting to feel it. At around 35 I was thinking at least get to the 20s fore bagging it. I was caught behind a rider down and went into his rear wheel and tried to hop but only went over the bars ...so I got a scratch on the nose and restarted with like 15 others. Down into the 20 sumpin lap to go I was closing small gaps and they were serious efforts. The teens went by and I was just counting each lap as a victory and just telling myself to do one more...7 to go and I was last guy ..at round 4 to go I moved up a lil and rode Evan Faders wheel awhile cause he was not hopping out the saddle on the backside climb and his wheel was less stressfull to follow... 2 laps left and speed really pamped up and more gaps 2 close...bell lap and I hopped around some spent guys and realized a tiny gap had opened up and I was no longer in the field sprint but I finished 56th and I finished. Historic Roswell was fast and narrow but we had daylight and smaller crowd. The last stretch was out of the saddle out the corner every time and narrow backside was lot of bunching up. Perfect for teams to set up moves and block. The race went by faster though and I was able to ride big name wheels and stay closer t the action. The cramps came and went. I got to 5 laps left and movad up more. At what I thought was. 2 to go I was in perfect position and at the mistaken bell I shot by many and would have had a topt en in the field sprint. But after crossing the line I was astonished the race kept pedalling on...a guy beside me asked me wasn't that the last lap? I was shocked but realized some error was made as I was being passed on both sides...the real last lap on the backside was madness and much bumping and pushing...very nervewracking but out of the last corner and out the saddle. I tried to give it another push but it was weak and I landed 54th I believe...oh and yesterdays crash messed with frnt deraileur so it fell to small ring in middle of race causins some tension and words. I worked it out last night at the room in Beaufort and today is the race I look forward to the most down here cause this town is where I really started to train 4 racing and where I livad and went to college. Hello Beaufort . Alaskan crab legs last night and hopefully good race legs tonight !

broken bike

crash replacement cost 1900 $ not sure if that is a reduced price or just the same as to buy new with a nice name....lame deal and trek will never get my money again...bammas. I thought they would ask for 500 $ or sumpin reasonable. I like the Giant and it performed well today.
Columbia is always a great workout and nice and wide so it is a user friendly course. I got a forty $ dollar prime in the 35 plus and 8 th place which landed 25 $...the prime was at three to go and I kept going hoping to get a split going but to no avail. I was riding relentlessly in the 123 just to get my fitness up for the upcoming speed week series and to try to reel back the move up the road but blocking by dc velo and LSV proved to be too much ..oh and also Immediate mortgage. Harley was left out for the second day in a row...pretty unusual but the large majority is up at battenkill so thus an explanation for that. Hipp and Fuentes proved though that they do pretty well as the smaller contingent and Dave got fifth I believe in the 123 with much work put in and three up the road...no lame sprinter sitting in for them today. Josh had a great weekend with a fifth or fourth ? yesterday ( plus they won ) and a win today...and at their own race which is always nice. He spoiled the two LSV guys efforts to counter him and the stronger guy won.

Ready or Not ( photo #1 worried #2 resigned )

Well...so I have been remiss in my duty to put a post up ? This post is about the future and present. Presently I am still trying to get this new bike fit for me. The new bike has this ( Giant advanced TCR ) ...has this seatpost that has to be cut at your desired height. The hacksawing of the frame for me required about 15 or 16 measurements of the same distance ..( old seat height on Madonne ) compared to the new frame where the cut should be made..once the clamp is inserted into the cut seat mast it adds 1 and a half in. so this compounded my nervous measurements and multiple checks before I actually cut the damn thing. Old school and not wanting to screw up made for a very nervous build for me. Busy week it has been and really struggling with the juggling of bills, overdrafts, and job supervising and estimating..plus registering for events . Riding was not accomplished at all besides down the street and back up after the bike was assembled around ten pm.
Thus the post title....ready or not. Olly olly in come free. Is it too late to post a photo of the broken frame of three races back or four ? maybe.. but I still might get around to it...bad mojo dough. I am going down to Speed week in Ga. and S Carolina and N Carolina. I went to college In SC and my bro lives in NC so I will have a somewhat nearby base camp. Good to get away.. Syn fit crit today was sorta frustrating bc the race split in half and it was too many DC Velo guys up there and too many Richmond Pro. So none of them would work if a split went from the break on the pretense that they didnt have to. If left behind and chasing.. none of them would work to bridge on the pretense that they did not have to. The two Battley riders( Hipp and Fuentes ) were outnumbered but they played their cards well and maybe won the group sprint for third, but they could not contain the race like usual after multiple moves went and came back...some I was in and some I helped bridge. Maybe around ten laps left, J. Meidhoff went away and was never seen again..a few laps later a Richmond Pro went off solo also and was gone up the road...too much looking around and too much team tactics. Thats of course if neither of those teams were yours. But the group sprint was fast and there was Ken Young and Craig Dodson and Josh and Immediate had Githens and Pete Custer and the two harley sprinters and Van Dessel and kelly and and and ,...you get the picture. I got fourteenth..I got some bills paid..I got some work lined up..READY OR NOT...going down south..but there is Columbia menana..ciao. (Dog in shot was in Dupont circle.. guys name in photo is Spencer.)

OUT WITH THE OLD IN WITH THE NEW TWO

Fuck ...the time for me is never good to buy a new bike ...but now is the time. I could post a photo and maybe I will, but imagine a frame broken in half along the down tube and also another complete break just below the top tube down the head tube. The new one will be a Giant advanced sls or sumpin its cool...the bike.. and the price 4 me is sweet...much less than the crash replacement from trek....soo ...bout last weekends racing ? life is tough and so is racing thats why I do it..it keeps me reminded of the basics...stay upright...stay humble...and be nice and kick ass. I try, at least, to do all of the above. See you on the course of life ... :)

OUT WITH THE OLD

The new season begins in two days for me with the Jeff. cup race. I have seen this race change courses so often but the last few years have remained unchanging. The old routes were more difficult. I remember racing against Eric Saunders and Jon Hamblen years ago before they went pro. Jon went to the navigators and Eric went to Europe for a while and came back to join Kodak/Sierra nevada. Both guys are cool dudes and jon is now with Time and Saunders is the team organizer i believe and jason Snow has hung it up for the most part I believe and is managing the Time crew. I gotta call Mark Light and get the scoop sussed out. Anywho...this post is more intended to highlight the new kit and plug in the new team.
The last few days have been real busy for me with all the new contracts getting honored and the completion of another shed project and powerwashing, pruning, mulching,...jobs. Not any riding but I will ride Friday at the point and do some tomorrow to get ready some for sundays intro race.
Soo yeah,...I am stoked to be with THE BIKE RACK WASH. DC ...the owners are very cool. The new kit is gonna be sweet with the BEAR DOG LANDSCAPING LLC logo on it and also the changes in the design will be tight. The guys on the team are amped to get under way with racing this year and that is good motivation for me. I have lately been in a sort of slump as far as various problems and hurdles but persevere I will. Like the little choo choo going up that mountain...I know I can I know I can...sort of thing. Right ...out with the Bike Lane ( though I was appreciative of their support..Adam especially thx) In with the new though.. The Bike rack. Mercenary Schmidty. In the photo it shows me getting swallowed by the field in the ING 123 race. I had just finished the masters race in which I was solo for maybe 12 laps and the field in that one was about ten feet behind me as I crossed the line..my teammate nima came through me and got third I got fourth and Ramone one with the help of mark Warno. ( who was also my teammate till mid season when he went to Immediate mortgage. So in the last lap a route one guy went to the front and i was on his wheel the whole last lap. He spilled in the last turn and there I was suddenly on the front with way too far to hold off the fresh field behind me..I gave it the old school effort and got pretty far till the sprinters came through me and I lost seven spots in about thirty feet. Bo lee got me by a bike throw for the last guy to go by me. damn...but at least I was still in the money.

THATS COOL...

Can he do that..can he say that ? Yeah he can do that.. You might wonder what the hell...where the hell is chris going ? I am referring to the amazing and glorious results of a simple ride. The effects that a simple display of fitness can have, on an otherwise sorta mediocre level of talent, that engenders super arrogance. I have always wondered about what it is that enamours me to this sport ?
I do not think it is the jock mentality or the clean cut personna that many illustrate or the silver spoon class that seems to fill many categories. I think the thing I can relate to is the tuff man wins thing. I was born and raised on this sort of thinking. Not by mom and not by any other adult but by my brothers and our friends and enemys. We got in fights, we all scrapped and we all survived ..for the most part. Most of my friends were scrappers and we all knew each others abilities. So among us we knew who not to tangle with..or who you could test the waters with.
Enough about the fun of high school and onto the current life concerning bicycles and racing with them. The fitness aspect of racing crits is important. The fitness aspect also takes a back seat if you have no nuts, or if your female, than you are a cautious rider. The logic being that if your fast; then what does it matter if your also fast to hit the brakes: and fast to create explanations about other guys that got in the way... See the problem well in advance and dont be part of it. Experience also pays in dividends in that you can see where you best let the knuckleheads spar around you and stay away and ease the throttle. The speed thing gets muted if your on the pavement or relegated to the back because of fear. Fear has a great place though and the term is replaced with common sense and talent...talent to stay upright and get to the last lap. In a fight this applies also because it has similarities. If you hold back and get hit first the catchup game is on...if you go first too early then maybe you could have avoided having to break away too early and the whole thing maybe could have been finessed better...all about reading the game and the other players...
The intended purpose of training is that your supposed to pull your punches yet still get a workout in, and this fine line can be hard to achieve. Sparring with new guys can be frustrating, in that to them they have too much to prove, and thus can be dangerous to be around. Maybe taking it too seriously. Racing is more like a gang fight where training is like a sparring match. In sparring you want to similate the real thing but not to the point of serious injury or jeapordizing ones capability to perform for the real deal.

BACK IN THE DAY

Back in the early days of my introduction into cycling I was doing university educating in South Carolina. I was a bored guy with a girlfriend all the way across the state. She was at the main campus and I was still in the satellite campus in Beaufort South Carolina. This was a drag and it eventually led to my first big 140 mile solo run out of the lowcountry and into the agricultural land of cotton and kudzu. She was worth every stroke...of the pedals..to go there. I was on a mission.
Her name was Josephine Iacavidou..she was from the birthplace of Aphrodite and the also the stoic Zenon..I believe. ( to enlarge the piture above just click on it n drop down..shoulda been put in better ) The island in the middle of the meditteranean known as Cyprus. ( greek ) Her father went to war against the invading Turks in 74' and has not been seen since. The policy of the Turkish army was to keep the captured Cypriot men prisoner and reintegrate them eventually into their society and make them marry a Turkish women. The island was split into two and the division is known as the green line. Josephine was given a scholarship for two reasons from the govt. of her homeland. First she had a father who fought for their freedom....secondly she was a straight A student. I benefited from getting to know her in that she was a great tutor for my lame algebra skills. Plus she was awesome as a person and great to look at.
Soo I went on the road and travelled past yamasee ( the name of a marshland indian tribe ) and past many big plantations. I never rode that far before and I was carefull to go easy to not fry myself. I eventually passed many towns and small country hamlets until I finally got into the suburbs that mark Columbia S.C.. I was a nuisance for the dorm because I slept in the dorms lounge on the sofa and the girls in their pajamas probably felt awkward with a guy there. Oh well...it was worth the trip and after the weekend I rode back. I did the trip a couple more times and grew more confident. With that confidence came mistakes. I got caught with 40 miles to go still, once, and it was too dark to continue. I stopped at a remote country store where some hunters were gathered. I asked how far I had to go and told them why I was soo stupid to be stranded this far away from anywhere . They passed the bottle some more, joked some, and one of them gave me a ride to where there were at least city lights. These guys were real southern and they showed me some southern hospitality. Gave me a camouflauge jacket and all. That could have been a real bad situation. Not sure if its better to be stranded in the middle of nowhere or in a magalopolis. At least in the woods you can make a fire but no money in the city, and cold, means you have to break a law for room and board. A new teammate said I should put this story up...thx for the suggestion Grayson.